The Seven Cabins Fire was about half contained at the start of the week, about two weeks after it ignited May 14 north of Capitan.

The fire was reported at 28,907 acres as of Friday, May 29 along the north face of the Capitan range. A May 29 report from the Southwest Area Incident Management Team stated a crew of more than 1,000 personnel has the fire 49% contained.

To stay ahead of the fire’s spread, fire lines have been established along Forest Road 57 to remove vegetation and fuels ahead of the main fire. All activity is dependent on future weather patterns.

After being closed for the past week, Highway 246 – also known as Pine Lodge Road – was reopened on the north side of the Capitan range, but a forest closure remains in place extending south from Highway 246 to the Forest Service boundary to Forest Road 57. Stage 1 fire restrictions also remain in effect.

No further evacuations have been ordered, but there are several “set” statuses in place. Those areas include Fort Lone Tree, South Base Road east of Capitan Gap Road, and along Highway 246 from mile marker 13 to the ridge top near Boy Scout Mountain. Officials urge residents in these areas to stay alert and monitor changing conditions.

To continue work on the southern end of the fire, crews, equipment and resources are now staged at Fort Stanton Historic Site.

Todd Fuqua is Editor for the Ruidoso News and can be reached at 575-937-0344.

As of 9:24 p.m. all unofficial results have been posted by the Eddy County Clerk’s office.

In the Republican race for County Assessor, incumbent Rhonda Hatch defeated Republican challenger Melissa Washburn for the GOP nod. Hatch had 2,984 votes or 65 percent of the vote. Washburn had 1,629 votes or 34 percent.

In a text message, Hatch said she has been with the assessor’s office for 21 years and has spent nearly four years as the elected head of the agency.

“I want to thank everyone for your prayers, support, and encouragement throughout this campaign. I truly could not have done it without each and every person who helped me along the way,” read part of her text message.

Hatch faces Democrat Gemma Ferguson in November. The latter had no primary opposition.

Hatch said she plans to take some time off and focus on her family before resuming her campaign for November.

For Eddy County Commission District 1, Henry Castaneda had 391 votes or 54 percent, and challenger Austin Kyle Washburn had 332 votes or 46 percent.

The GOP winner succeeds incumbent Ernie Carlson, who could run again due to term limits. Carlson is a Republican.

No Democrat filed to run in the primary.

“It was a great opportunity to meet the public and learn about the issues that are happening in my county. Hopefully have a voice and a foot in the door that help with changes in the future better for my children and myself,” said Austin Washburn during an interview while results were coming into the county clerk’s office.

For New Mexico House District 66 in Eddy County, Dan Lewis of Artesia led Republican challengers Leanne Gandy and Trinidad Malone. Lewis had 662 votes or 53 percent. Gandy had 398 votes or 32 percent, and Malone had 181 or 14 percent

Gandy from Lea County and Lewis were tied overall and headed for a possible recount as of 11:15 p.m. Tuesday, according to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s website.

Gandy had 999 votes or 45 percent. Lewis had 989 votes also at 45 percent.

The winner replaces incumbent Jimmy Mason who decided not to seek a second term.

Eddy County Clerk Cara Cook said the Eddy County Board of County Commissioners will canvass the votes on June 9.

The Republican Party of New Mexico appealed to the state Supreme Court to overturn an order that Chair Amy Barela must step down.

Thirteenth District Judge Cindy Mercer of Valencia County issued a preliminary injunction on Wednesday, May 27, blocking Barela from serving as chair amid her primary campaign for reelection to the District 2 seat on the Otero County Commission.

On Thursday, May 28, an appeal of that verdict was filed in New Mexico Supreme Court, listing as plaintiffs Barela, National Committeeman and State Sen. Jim Townsend and the party’s treasurer Kimberly Skaggs.

Emery’s lawsuit was filed April 30 against Barela, Townsend and Skaggs by her opponent in the June 2 Primary Election, Otero County Sherrif Sgt. Jonathan Emery, who argued Barela’s role as New Mexico Republican Party chair gave her an unfair advantage in the primary and violated the party’s bylaws.

Townsend and Skaggs were included as those who supported Barela and joined her in campaign activities leading up to the Primary Election.

The appeal continued similar arguments from Barela and her supporters that she was able to serve as chair while running in a contested primary because she registered as a candidate minutes before Emery.

And the ruling could violate Barela’s right to free speech, argued the appeal, by blocking her from not only serving as chair but also publicly endorsing political candidates.

“The (Supreme) court should intercede to protect constitutional rights to speech and association, and to preempt the flood of cases that will come if minority factions of political parties learn that they can take their grievances — including those involving the interpretation of ambiguous rules or social media content that can be argued to implicitly favor some primary candidates over others — to court under a zero-deference, judicial-review regime,” read the appeal.

Timing of candidacy filing questioned

Barela’s candidacy was made official at 9:06 a.m., March 10 while Emery signed on at 9:08 a.m., according to records from the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office.

Emery was seeking the GOP’s nomination to the District 2 seat on the Otero County Commission, which Barela was first appointed to in 2022 and to which she is seeking reelection.

No Democrat signed on to run for the seat, meaning the winner of the Republican Primary will likely run uncontested in the Nov. 3 General Election.

Commissioners are compensated with a $30,000 salary along with health and life insurance. The job of state chair is an unpaid position.

Barela declined to comment on the ruling when reached by the Alamogordo News.

The month’s long debate about Barela’s dual roles centered on section of the party’s bylaws that read:

“In the event the state chairman or any other state officer of the Republican State Central Committee files as a candidate for public office and there is another Republican who has filed for the same office, the state officer shall immediately vacate the party office.”

Mercer found that this provision was violated by Barela when she sought reelection to the post while also serving as chairperson of the state party.

In her ruling, Mercer brushed aside arguments that Barela registered minutes before Emery.

“For conflict-of-interest purposes, it makes no difference whether the party officer was first or last to file her candidacy for public office; the conflict arises because she is a public officer, holding authority and making decisions on behalf of the party, while at the same time running for public office against another party member.”

Chairs Beth Dowling of Sandoval County and Daphne Orner of Bernalillo County were joined as plaintiffs in a separate May 1 lawsuit by county chairs from Chaves, Los Alamos, Valencia and Torrance counties.

After the ruling in the Emery case, Dowling said the second lawsuit would be dropped.

She said the District Court ruling meant the chair seat was vacated, and that the party must call a meeting to vote on a new chair.

Dowling admitted Barela could run again for the post, but said “there will be several other candidates.”

“This is another stall tactic,” she said of the appeal. “Our goal is to educate voters and push forward Republican candidates going into November. “The ruling is perfectly clear.

“The temperature here is that we have to work together and elect a new Republican Party chair.”

Managing Editor Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.

A Mescalero man was charged with kidnapping after police said he grabbed a child at the White Sands Mall.

Virgil Chee Jr., 59, was accused of two counts of first-degree kidnapping on May 12. Police said he used a toy grabber to grab onto a child and then later grabbed the child by the arm in the Five Below store within the popular shopping center in Alamogordo.

The mother of the child, a 7-year-old autistic boy, told police that they were in Five Below when Chee grabbed her son and she had to pull away from him, according to an arrest warrant filed by the Alamogordo Police Department.

He kept following her, the mother said, and then walked toward her daughter until she put a grocery cart between them. She was at the store with her three children, the rest of their ages were unlisted.

Police said surveillance footage showed Chee allegedly picking up a “dinosaur-grabbing toy and grabbed a passing child by the arm with the toy only, before the child pulled his arm away.” Chee put the toy back on the self, then stood near the toys for five minutes before the woman and her three children approached the aisle again. This time, Chee grabbed the toy, held it in front of the boy, and then “grasped” the boy’s right arm with his right arm, read the report

“Affiant observed on the security footage what appeared to be (the mother) pulling John Doe towards her, with the above named defendant also pulling on John Doe, before (the mother) regained custody of her child,” the warrant read.

An hour later in the candy section of the store, the woman and her three children were in a corner formed by two shelves when Chee got closer to them before the woman put a shopping cart between him and her, read the warrant.

On May 15, two days after Chee was first arrested, District Judge Angie Schneider ordered him released, finding that he has little criminal history and that he suffers from renal failure which requires multiple hospital visits every week. Prosecutors concurred with releasing him to the custody of his mother, Schneider wrote.

According to a press release from the Alamogordo Police Department, the Bureau of Indian Affairs arrested Chee on May 13. His first appearance is set for June 8.