Mike Smith
Artesia Daily Press
msmith@currentargus.com

Editor’s note: The Artesia Daily Press has submitted questionnaires to candidates for Artesia Special Hospital District and school board in this year’s general election. The paper is publishing the responses in print in the order they were received.

Karen Waldrip, 45, was raised in Texico, New Mexico and moved to Artesia 17 years ago.

She is a pharmacist at Lowell’s Pharmacy and is seeking re-election in District 5 for the Artesia Special Hospital District Board of Directors.

She was elected to the position in 2021 and faces opposition from Perry Williams, project leader for Conoco Phillips and retired rancher David Romine.

What made you want to run for this office?

“I am running for re-election for the Artesia Special Hospital District 5 position. I would like to continue serving on the board to build on the progress we’ve made over the last four years. As a board we have approved funds for important upgrades to the hospital’s equipment including a new CT device, a new state-of-the-art MRI and most recently the baby box.”

What is your day-one priority if elected to this office?

“My first priority as a board member is to support and improve the hospital. Living in rural New Mexico, it is essential we have quality healthcare close to home.”

What do you see as the biggest needs for ASHD?

“Our biggest need currently is the community’s support for the Mill Levy. These crucial funds help upgrade the hospital’s equipment, maintain emergency services and recruit new providers. I will be sharing information about the Mill Levy and what the funds have provided for Artesia and the surrounding communities. We are blessed in Southeast New Mexico to have the oil and gas industry which predominately funds our MiIl Levy.”

Adrian Hedden

Artesia Daily Press

achedden@currentargus.com

A human skeleton was found along the train tracks near North 1st Street in Artesia, and police are investigating the discovery as a homicide.

A train conductor with BNSF alerted police to the remains at about 2:50 p.m. Monday, Sept. 29, after seeing what initially appeared to be a decomposed foot along the tracks in the 300 block of North First Street, near a loading dock for a tire warehouse operated by Artesia Ford Company.

The rest of the body was found beneath the dock after police responded, said Commander Pete Quinones with the Artesia Police Department.

Quinones said it was unclear which specific bones were found, but that all the remains at the scene were recovered. Quinones said the incident, like all death investigations, was being treated as a homicide until evidence is found to the contrary.

“We have to look at every death investigation as a homicide until we have evidence that it is not,” he said.

Initial reports indicated the remains appeared to be at the location for more than a year, and that the foot bone appeared to have been dragged from the dock to the tracks, possibly “by an animal,” Quinones said.

The area is occasionally frequented by people who are homeless and sleep nearby under the dock, Quinones said. He said investigators planned to canvass the area and speak with people nearby, searching for any information leading to the identity of the body and manner of death.

“It is a kind of like a hidden area back behind the train tracks,” Quinones said. “We are still trying to follow leads and investigate this.”

The remains were sent to the University of New Mexico’s Laboratory of Osteology for analysis to determine the possible cause of death and any trauma apparent on the remains.

Cadaver dogs were deployed by police working with the Office of the Medical Investigator on Tuesday to search for additional evidence. Quinones said police also were checking missing persons reports in the area, hoping to uncover the identity of the deceased.

The investigation is ongoing. Stay with the Artesia Daily Press for updates as information is made available.

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

Rebecca Hauschild
For the Artesia Daily Press

The city of Artesia is grappling with evolving modes of transportation used by residents and the resulting safety issues.

During the City Council’s Sept. 23 meeting, residents voiced concerns about potential traffic hazards caused by motorized vehicles classified by the city as “micromobility” vehicles, including scooters, electric bikes and electric skateboards.

Police Chief Kirk Roberts said city officials were looking at stronger regulations to clarify where such vehicles can be used and how to separate them from car and truck traffic.

“The manner in which people get around is changing,” Roberts said. “There is a larger and larger mix of traffic. It becomes confusing who belongs where and it becomes more dangerous. I think it may become more normalized for that to be the only form of transportation for people.”

He said the city has options such as creating ordinances to better control the flow of such vehicles, which are usually much smaller and slower than cars and trucks. He said it would also likely take grants from the state of New Mexico to help fund new infrastructure such as bike lanes.

“There is no state law against them,” Roberts said. “For us to mandate, we could do city ordinances. Larger communities have bike paths and more options. We may want to look for grants to put in more bike lanes that will handle this.”

Mayor Jon Henry asked Roberts to provide the council with a report on what is allowed, what is legal and what is possible.

In other business:

– Councilors voted to shift the city’s observance of Halloween from Friday, Oct. 31, to Saturday, Nov. 1, due to Artesia High School’s Oct. 31 football game against Mayfield at the Bulldog Bowl.

– The council approved an exchange of property with Artesia Public Schools. The city will exchange 11.987 acres on the north part of Roberts Park valued at $480,000 for the 6.4 -acre location of Roselawn Elementary School, valued at $1,530,000. The school district plans to build a new Roselawn school on the Roberts Park land.

“This is the first stage to approve the exchange agreement,” said Community Development/Infrastructure Director Byron Landfair. “No money is changing hands. After the new school is built then the old school site will be transferred to us at no cost.”

Roselawn Elementary has an enrollment of 183 students in first through fifth grade and provides programs such as English as a second language; science, technology, engineering and math (STEM); and special education. The 39,037-square-foot building was built between 1949 and 1951.

– The council granted a variance for a fence in the alleyway of 1005 Mahone Drive owned by Frank and Adelina Lopez. Frank Lopez said he received a permit to construct the fence on city property in the 1970s to keep people from driving between a utility pole and his property fence.

Staff Reports

In preparation for the test, three observation points were established at 10,000 yards from ground zero to the south, north and west, and each had a direct line-of-sight to ground zero. These bunkers were known as South 10k, North 10k and West 10k. These were concrete shelters protected by wood structures and earthen berms. These three bunkers were the closest manned positions to ground zero during the test.

South 10k was the control center for all test activities and where the device was triggered. Due to deterioration, the Army dismantled South 10k in 1965, leaving only a concrete slab to mark this historic location. The concrete bunkers at North 10k and West 10k remain but the supporting wood structures and earthen berms were removed.

The test leadership were at different locations during the test: Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, head of Los Alamos National Lab, was at South 10k and controlled the execution of the test; while the Director of the Manhattan Project, Maj. Gen. Leslie Groves, observed the test from base camp, ten miles southwest of ground zero and four miles from South 10K; and Dr. Edwar Teller, a leading project scientist, watched from Compania Hill, 20 miles northwest of ground zero.

According to Jim Eckles in his book “Trinity,” a few small instrumentation bunkers were also constructed closer to ground zero. One of those bunkers, which can be seen when driving into the site, is only 800 yards from ground zero. That bunker was originally built to protect Fastax cameras. These bunkers are small and were only built to protect test equipment.

According to Berlyn Brixner, Los Alamos photographer, he had to change plans for some of these cameras. Tests determined that cameras close to ground zero, like the ones at the west 800-yard bunker, would be exposed to high levels of radiation and the film would never survive. Before the test, the cameras were moved to a sled outside the bunker. Brixner and his team fabricated lead boxes to protect the cameras. The boxes were mounted on the sled that was placed at the 800-yard bunkers. The cameras were pointed straight up through windows made of leaded glass. Mirrors were positioned over the cameras and angled so each camera was focused on the tower. These “periscopes” protected the cameras from the direct effects of the test.

After the test, the crews used the thousand-foot cable attached to the sled to pull it back to their position. This eliminated any unnecessary exposure to the high levels of radiation in the immediate ground zero area right after the explosion.

Eckles goes on to write that on the night of the test, personnel stationed at various bunkers didn’t receive much information about the rain delay from 4:00 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. for the detonation. On one of his visits to Trinity Site, Brixner told Eckles he knew there was a delay at 4 a.m. but had no idea of the new test time. Brixner was on top of the North 10k (he was one of the few people allowed to watch the test from outside a bunker) as he operated a 35mm Mitchell motion picture camera mounted on a machine gun turret that allowed him to track the fireball and cloud. The camera was equipped with a 75mm lens and was running at 24 frames per second.

According to Eckles, Brixner said he was never told the new detonation time, but some seconds before the blast his camera powered up, so he knew it was time to go to work (the camera was switched on by the automatic sequencing system located in the South 10k). Then the switch was thrown to start the process, cameras and other instruments sprang to life, flares were ignited, and the device was triggered at a precise moment in the sequence, and history was made in the New Mexico desert.

Mike Smith
Artesia Daily Press
msmith@currentargus.com

Editor’s note: The Artesia Daily Press has submitted questionnaires to candidates for Artesia Special Hospital District and school board in this year’s general election. The paper is publishing the responses in print in the order they were received.

David Romine, 78, is a retired rancher, construction worker and business consultant. He was raised in Athens, Ohio and has lived in New Mexico since 1979.

For 34 years his family had a ranch between Hope and Mayhill near the Flying H Ranch.

He is running against Artesia Special Hospital District (ASHD) Board of Directors’ District 5 incumbent Karen Waldrip and Conoco Phillips project leader Perry Williams.

What made you decide to run for office?

“There are internal problems with the hospital, the way I look at it, and they’re not being addressed. The elected board at this time, they tell me they have no jurisdiction over it. But they are looking at changing the contract of how the hospital is leased. There is an appointed board and I’ve been to them trying to get my medical records straightened out and so far, I’ve gotten nowhere with them. You cannot go in to visit with anybody at the hospital, I have tried. Artesia (General Hospital) and the Hospital District needs to be transparent.

“They are wanting a new hospital, when the hospital that they’ve got now, they can’t keep this hospital running. I’m handicapped, I’m a Vietnam veteran, I am handicapped, and I can’t use the hospital very often. It’s inaccessible to a lot of people. I visit with a lot of seniors; they’ve all voiced their concerns and we get nowhere.

“I have been asked to run for the hospital board. I was the physical plant supervisor for AGH, and I was the director of the safety board. I know a lot of the problems and I know what needs to be done. The way tax dollars are being used and the way it appears with the lack of transparency, they’re being misused.”

What is your day-one priority if elected to this office?

“I need to understand how the present contract is, because when I worked for the hospital, it was under Presbyterian out of Albuquerque, and you could talk to anybody you wanted. The way it is now you can’t. The open transparency to me is a major concern. The people in this district need to be able to talk somebody at that hospital.

“That’s probably the biggest thing. I have received three letters from the hospital about my medical records being sent off somewhere, or somebody having access to it, and this has been going on for many years. They tell me I’m not allowed to see my medical records.”

What do you see as the biggest needs for ASHD?

“Most of my life I have been in building construction. I have been a consultant for businesses here in Artesia. The way the hospital is being run; the elected board needs to be able to see what is going on in the hospital so that they can answer to the taxpayers. The communication between the taxpayer, the elected board, and the operation of the hospital from what I see right now is nonexistent.”

Adrian Hedden
Artesia Daily Press
achedden@currentargus.com

New Mexico’s measles outbreak is over, said state health officials after more than a month without a reported case.

The last reported cases – three infections among adults in Santa Fe County – were reported Aug. 14 and brought the state’s total to 100.

Public health officials said Tuesday, Sept. 26, that the state had crossed the 42-day threshold without an infection, which according to state policy means the end of the outbreak. The time frame represents the maximum incubation period of the measles virus, read a news release from the New Mexico Department of Health.

This year’s outbreak, the first since 1996, began in Lea County on Feb. 14 after a larger outbreak in West Texas spilled over the state line.

State Epidemiologist Chad Smelser, with the New Mexico health department, credited the end of the outbreak in New Mexico to expanded use of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. Throughout the six-month outbreak, the state opened several vaccination sites and made vaccines available at health offices around the state.

Two doses of the vaccine is considered 97% effective in preventing infection.

“We are thankful to the thousands of New Mexicans who received their measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine,” Smelser said. “Fully vaccinated people and those who got caught up with their vaccines during this outbreak prevented it from spreading further.”

The New Mexico announcement followed a declaration of the outbreak’s end in Texas on Aug. 18, after that state also went 42 days without an infection.

In Texas, the outbreak led to 762 measles infections since January, with 99 people hospitalized and two children reported dead.

Texas Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Jennifer Shuford said the end of the outbreak was attributed to the use of vaccines, monitoring and public outreach.

“We arrived at this point through a comprehensive outbreak response that included testing, vaccination, disease monitoring and educating the public about measles through awareness campaigns,” Shuford said.

The outbreak began when infections were reported in late January in Gaines County, Texas, along the southeast New Mexico border. The disease first appeared in New Mexico Feb. 14 when two adults were reported infected in Lea County.

In March, an unvaccinated adult infected with measles died in Lea County – the second fatality of the interstate outbreak.

The outbreak spread west into Eddy County March 11 with the first case reported there, followed by two more in the months since for a total of three in the county during the outbreak.

Lea County ended with 67 total cases – the highest in the state – followed by 14 in Luna County, six in Sandoval County, 5 in Santa Fe and one each in Dona Ana, Chaves, San Juan and Curry counties.

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