Free Republic

DEMING -- A home intruder was shot on the evening of Thursday, Feb. 2 as he attempted to charge the home owner. Authorities were tipped off when the failed home intruder called Central Dispatch with his cellular phone seeking help for his two gunshot wounds. Justin Hall, 32, suffered two gunshot wounds after he broke into a home on the 5000 block of Amapola Road in the county. The home owner, a 62-year-old man, had called the Luna County Sheriff's Office to his residence earlier that evening because he had noticed some of his personal items stacked in a strange...

SANTA FE (KRQE) - The House Judiciary Committee late Friday approved a bill to ban drivers licenses for illegal immigrants after efforts to find a compromise failed. A bipartisan group had been trying to find common ground with Gov. Susana Martinez and the Senate but couldn't do it. One Democratic version would have continued the licenses but for shorter terms and with tighter restrictions. There was also a proposal to give illegals temporary permits that could be used for driving but not for ID or other purposes.

SANTA FE, N.M. — Republican Gov. Susana Martinez suffered a temporary political setback Thursday in a bid to stop New Mexico from granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.

Date: 01/23/12 Contact: Ed Reynolds, Chief of Police Synopsis: Aggravated Burglary Location: 1800 block of Lamina Loop Silver City, New Mexico Narrative: On Saturday, January 21, 2012 officers of the Silver City Police Department responded to Gila Regional Medical Center in reference to an adult male suffering from a gunshot wound. When officers arrived at GRMC, they interviewed a male subject that brought the male who was suffering from a gunshot wound to the hospital. He stated he was awakened at his residence on the 600 block of Oro, by loud banging on the door of his residence. When he...

No one knows exactly why, but a lot of people are interested in packing heat. In fact, FBI data suggest that gun sales in New Mexico and nationally will hit record levels in 2011. Will Hogsett, sales director at Calibers Shooter Sports Center said strong sales at his store may be due to an improving economy or lingering fears about stronger gun control before the 2012 elections. Sales of handguns and shotguns continue to be the big sellers among people looking for protection in their homes, he said. “The big thing people come to us for is home defense.” The...

A recent decision of the District of New Mexico, United States v. Rodriguez, 2011 WL 6739498 (D.N.M. Dec. 8, 2011) (Browning, J.) , addresses an issue of Fourth Amendment law that touches on Second Amendment concerns: In a concealed carry state, does police observation that a person is in possession of a concealed weapon create “reasonable suspicion” justifying a stop and frisk for a potential violation of the state’s concealed carry law? The court concludes that it does, although that conclusion strikes me as incorrect. The facts of the case are complicated, but here are the basics. A local 911...

COLUMBUS/SANTA FE --(Ammoland.com)- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and New Mexico Department of Public Safety Cabinet Secretary Gorden E. Eden, Jr. have signed an agreement that permits reciprocity between their states for citizens who have valid concealed carry permits. “I am pleased that this agreement between Ohio and New Mexico will allow Ohioans who have concealed carry permits the same rights to carry a concealed handgun in the State of New Mexico, as well as New Mexicans who have concealed carry permits to do the same in Ohio” said Attorney General DeWine. Secretary Eden reiterated those remarks. “As proponents of...

SANTA TERESA, N.M. (AP) - A 15-year-old Deming girl will be honored as a hero Thursday for saving a 7-year-old boy from a potentially fatal dog mauling. The El Paso Sector Border Patrol will hold ceremonies at the Santa Teresa Border Patrol Station to formally recognize 15-year-old Gabriela Ramos, who is a young Border Patrol Explorer with the Deming Post 892.

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A neighbor’s call reporting a stolen license plate led police to a man they say was making fake drivers licenses which he would then sell to illegal immigrants. Sherie Ochoa called police on Sunday around noon after she noticed her license plate had been stolen. Ochoa told police she believed her neighbor, Richard Howell, 58, may be to blame. Ochoa told News 13 that while Howell had not been living in the area long, every since he had come around she’d noticed some suspicious behavior. "There was also a stolen truck out here and we knew where...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The New Mexico Attorney General's Office cautioned parents against an Internet image they said is really a sexual menace called the "pedobear." It started out as a joke, but authorities said the bear has spiraled into something much darker and more evil than they could've imagined. Some images depict the pedobear snatching a little girl, dangling a carrot over two children and joking about not using condoms. "This is the most disturbing one of all, it has the bear and it says, 'Too young to talk, too young to testify,'" said Lynn Southard with the AGO. Authorities...

NBC News has confirmed with a source familiar with the matter that Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, will endorse Rick Perry this week. Arpaio will campaign with Perry in New Hampshire this week, the source said. The Arizona sheriff is known as a vehement backer of tough immigration laws and was a vocal supporter of his own state's controversial enforcement laws. Perry critics have described him as soft on immigration since the Florida debate, when he called opponents "heartless" for deriding his policy of in-state tuition for children of illegal immigrants in Texas. .

GOA member Dr. Ray Seidel alerted me to the stirring of freedom that is taking place in his village of Ruidoso, New Mexico. I have already reported on the first battle with Mayor Ray Alborn and how he tried to impose an unconstitutional gun ban in the village. To get the full story of what happened in Ruidoso, you can go here and listen to my first debriefing session with Seidel. I recently interviewed Dr. Seidel a second time on my Gun Owners News Hour weekly radio program and asked him about several acts of local interposition in the surrounding...

Residents in the foothills of the US city of Albuquerque have claimed that giant owls have moved into the area and are snacking on their small cats and dogs.

SANTA FE, N.M. — A Native American tribe in New Mexico says it has the right to ask residents of a tribal-owned mobile home community for proof of U.S. citizenship and proper immigration documentation.

Immigration! It is the hot-topic buzzword at the moment that no one really wants to talk honestly about. That is exactly why I must speak about it now. I have found in all my life experiences that dodging an issue only results in more complications down the road. For the record, I am the son of an immigrant. I am first-generation. My father first came to America working on a boat. At one point, he was deported back to his native land because of improper documentation procedures. It took him another eight years to become a legal, naturalized citizen of...

More than 100 religious leaders from around New Mexico have submitted an open letter to state legislators in support of a state law that lets those illegally in the country get New Mexico driver's licenses.

Armed citizens, upset by a government disarmament edict, confronted the Ruidoso, New Mexico city council Tuesday night in defiance of an executive order from the mayor banning guns on city property, KRQE reports. Yet despite what anchor Dick Knipfing describes as “powerful emotions,” dozens of armed citizens conducted themselves peaceably, controlling themselves and their anger against what activist and New Mexico Militia leader Bob Wright called the act of a “tyrant.” Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America, who made a special point of flying in and appearing armed, offered a cogent rebuttal to Ruidoso Mayor Ray Alborn’s loopy contention...

Mayor bans firearms on public property. Citizens arm themselves, come to city council meeting and disobey the order. At one guy even slung an AR. Of course Larry Pratt and Bob Wright are in the middle of the resistance. Bob reports the cops were "VERY, VERY polite." With at least 80 armed citizens in the room that was probably a good idea.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—Churches and religious groups opposing the governor's renewed push to repeal a law allowing illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses say their actions are part of a larger and growing advocacy effort aimed at promoting immigration reform on moral grounds. Organizations like the New Mexico Catholic Conference of Bishops and the Albuquerque Interfaith were among those in Santa Fe this week to protest Gov. Susana Martinez's efforts to rescind the state law. They argue the measure helps one of the state's most vulnerable populations. For months, these coalitions of interfaith groups have called on their members to attend rallies...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Federal agents raided a southern New Mexico gun store Tuesday morning and arrested the owner, his wife and their two sons on a 30-count indictment accusing them of smuggling guns across the border with Mexico.

SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - A New Mexico judge on Wednesday blocked a move by the state's Republican governor to make it harder for illegal immigrants to keep driver's licenses in the state. Governor Susana Martinez's administration last month ordered the state to reverify the physical residency of foreign nationals who hold New Mexico driver's licenses in order to get or keep their licenses.But District Court Judge Sarah Singleton in Santa Fe issued a temporary restraining order blocking the program, arguing in a brief ruling that "irreparable injury" would occur from "constitutional deprivations to the applicants

New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez sure is near the top of my favorite governors list these days. While renewing her concealed carry permit recently, the first term governor received a perfect score and hit every target during the shooting portion of the exam with a .38 and .45 caliber handgun. Pure awesome. From the Las Cruces Sun-News:

Immigrant advocates are shaking their fingers at the three suspected Chinese crime ring leaders accused of selling New Mexico licenses. They are also planning a peaceful protest against Governor Susana Martinez' work to take away driver's licenses from illegal immigrants. A woman who helps the immigrant community live and thrive here in Albuquerque said she heard about the nearly four hundred indictments against the alleged Chinese crime ring leaders accused of illegally selling New Mexico driver's licenses. Bertha Campos works with illegal immigrants; making food and helping them earn money. Campos said, "We are a very united community." Campos believes...

SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico is one of just two states, the other being Washington, that allow in-state residents who are illegal immigrants to get the same driver’s licenses given to citizens, as long as they pass a written test and successfully show they can turn and stop and park. But critics, led by the newly elected governor, Susana Martinez, say that the lenient licensing law attracts illegal immigrants from far and wide who fraudulently claim they live in New Mexico in order to get identification cards that allow them to settle into American life. “We don’t have any...

Saw this billboard today just north of Belen, NM on I-25. Both the front and back of this business's reader board had the same setup. I think this billboard/reader board says exactly when a LOT of people in this country are thinking.

HOBBS -- Sen. Pete Domenici will be featured speaker at a national energy policy conference May 27 at the Lea County Event Center titled "The Making of Energy Policy: Where Are We Going?" The conference is sponsored by New Mexico Tech, the Economic Development Corporation of Lea County, and the New Mexico Center for Energy Policy. Co-sponsors are the United States Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute. NMCEP, operated by New Mexico Tech, is organizing the conference, the group said in a news release. Registration will begin at 10 a.m., followed at 11:30 a.m. by a welcome and...

HOBBS -- Sen. Pete Domenici will be featured speaker at a national energy policy conference May 27 at the Lea County Event Center titled "The Making of Energy Policy: Where Are We Going?" The conference is sponsored by New Mexico Tech, the Economic Development Corporation of Lea County, and the New Mexico Center for Energy Policy. Co-sponsors are the United States Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute. NMCEP, operated by New Mexico Tech, is organizing the conference, the group said in a news release. Registration will begin at 10 a.m., followed at 11:30 a.m. by a welcome and...

<p>ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO (USA) - Children at a city-run preschool program in Albuquerque, N.M., are being examined by doctors after teachers learned they had pricked themselves with hypodermic needles that were mistakenly donated to their classroom.</p> <p>Officials say two syringes were in a box containing a stethoscope, medical gloves and other medical supplies intended to be used by the kids to play doctor. At least four children were pricked by the needles Tuesday.</p>

Authorities have ordered an evacuation of Los Alamos due the threat from Las Conchas wildfire. Below is a press release from Los Alamos County that was issued moments ago: Los Alamos County officials are reporting the fire is now threatening Los Alamos. They are ordering a mandatory evacuation which will begin and proceed in this order: Group 1: Western, Quemazon, Ponderosa; Group 2: North Community, Barranca Mesa, North Mesa; Group 3: East of Diamond and the remainder of the town site. White Rock is NOT being evacuated at this time. Residents in Los Alamos should NOT go to White Rock...

SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - Voluntary evacuations have been issued for Los Alamos, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which is threatened by a fast-moving wildfire that broke out in northern New Mexico on Sunday, authorities said. The Las Conchas Fire flared early Sunday afternoon around 12 miles southwest of Los Alamos, charring about 3,500 acres and endangering the nation's nuclear weapons laboratory and its surrounding communities, said Lawrence Lujan, a spokesman for the Santa Fe National Forest. "We have homes and we have the labs, so it's a very, very big concern, not only locally but nationally and...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Former University of New Mexico President F. Chris Garcia was arrested and jailed Thursday in connection with a multistate, online prostitution ring that authorities say was run by a physics professor from New Jersey. Police said Garcia, 71, and Fairleigh Dickinson professor David Flory, 68, were among seven members identified in the top echelon of the ring. Six have been arrested, and warrants have been issued for one more, Albuquerque police Chief Ray Schultz said. Investigators said the ring had some 1,400 members, including 200 prostitutes, but there was no indication that any other universities or students...

New Mexico Supreme CourtPolice officers in New Mexico can take guns away from drivers who pose no threat. The state supreme court ruled on May 20 that "officer safety" is more important than any constitutional rights a gun-owning motorist might have. The ruling was handed down in deciding the fate of Gregory Ketelson who was a passenger in a vehicle pulled over on November 13, 2008. During the stop, Hobbs Police Officer Miroslava Bleau saw a 9mm handgun on the back seat floorboard. Ketelson and the driver of the car were ordered out and away from the car while Officer...

NM judge booked, fingerprinted in political bribery scandal tied to Democrats, RichardsonArticle by: Associated Press Updated: May 20, 2011 - 3:35 PM LAS CRUCES, N.M. - A New Mexico judge charged with bribery in a scandal tied to former Gov. Bill Richardson pleaded not guilty Friday, then was booked, fingerprinted and ordered to hand over his passport. State District Judge Michael Murphy is accused of telling a potential judicial candidate that if she wanted a seat on the bench she needed to donate to the Democratic Party through a political activist linked to Richardson. Allegations in a special prosecutor's report...

A terrorist organization whose home base is in the Middle East has established another home base across the border in Mexico. "They are recognized by many experts as the 'A' team of Muslim terrorist organizations," a former U.S. intelligence agent told 10News. The former agent, referring to Shi'a Muslim terrorist group Hezbollah, added, "They certainly have had successes in big-ticket bombings..." Now, the group is blending into Shi'a Muslim communities in Mexico, including Tijuana. Other pockets along the U.S.-Mexico border region remain largely unidentified as U.S. intelligence agencies are focused on the drug trade... The agent, who has spent years...

http://www.koat.com/r/27113564/detail.html

Link only - Voter ID bill good as dead in NM House, committee chairwoman says

HOBBS -- A Hobbs man is shot dead after allegedly trying to break in to someone else's property. The fatal shooting happened around 10:30 PM Tuesday. Hobbs Police say that Watson Green called them Tuesday night, saying that someone was breaking into his home in the 1100 block of North Denson. Green, 70, told police that he had armed himself, but the dispatch officer told him to put the gun down and wait for police. Green decided to shoot the suspect through the door instead. When police arrived, they found the suspect -- 43 year old Wallace Roberson -- lying...

Democrat Jeff Bingaman is expected to announce that he won't seek reelection in 2012. The loss of the chamber's fifth-most-senior Democrat is a blow to a party that already faces a number of election challenges.

New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman generally cruises to re-election, and if he chooses to go for a sixth term, he would start off as a heavy favorite. But there has been some speculation he will instead retire. In his stead, Democrats should still be in strong shape to hold his seat unless popular former Governor Gary Johnson declines a run for president to make a bid for Congress’ upper chamber instead. With a 56-27 approval-disapproval margin, Bingaman is more popular at home than all but four of the 77 colleagues which PPP has measured in the last year or so....

In a stunning blow to the inexperienced administration of GOP Governor Susana Martinez, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Governor Martinez violated the state Constitution when she prevented a rule reducing carbon pollution from being published as codified state law. The lawsuit was filed by nonprofit New Energy Economy and reflects growing claims that Governor Martinez arbitrarily and illegally sought to suppress the rule. The rule requires facilities that emit more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon pollution per year to reduce these emissions by 3% per year from 2010 levels starting in 2013. The rule aims to...

9:40am UPDATE: New Mexico's Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management has activated the state's Emergency Operations Center to a Level 3 operations status because of the effects of the extreme cold in communities across New Mexico, Secretary-Designate Michael S. Duvall said in a news release. Albuquerque Public Safety Director Darren White told KOAT-TV this morning that as many as 20,000 city residents could be without gas service today. Increased demand has led to lower gas pressure around the city and the potential for loss of service, and the city was contacted early this morning and told of the potential...

A man police are calling a would-be burglar lost most of his calf muscles Monday after an Avenida Cañada homeowner shot him at close range with a 12-gauge shotgun. “(The homeowner) said he didn’t have the heart to kill him,” Española Police Lt. Christian Lopez said. “He shot him in the legs.” Joe Quintana, 28, was still in surgery at Española Hospital late Monday evening after he was shot by Joseph McNeil just before 9 a.m., Lopez said. A slug from McNeil’s shotgun tore through Quintana’s right calf muscle, which destroyed it, and went through his left calf, partially removing...

In a case that garnered nationwide attention, the Seattle man accused of disorderly conduct and other crimes following his refusal to show his ID at the security checkpoint of the Albuquerque airport was acquitted of all counts Friday.

Martinez Halts Environmental RulesPOSTED: 1:51 pm MST January 5, 2011 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Gov. Susana Martinez's administration is making good on campaign promises to drop new regulations aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions by canceling their planned publication in the state register. Officials at the state Environment Department made the request to keep the rules from being published. A state records official confirmed Wednesday that he has received the request and the rules will not be published. The move is being criticized by environmental groups and lawyers who spent the past two years debating the merits of the rules before...

Parents of a little girl who disappeared Wednesday are hoping you can help find her.

Police in Deming, N.M., say a clerk foiled a robbery last week when she hit the culprit on the back of the head with a package of empanadas, a type of Latin American pastry.

One of only three states where illegal immigrants can still obtain driver's licenses, Washington is moving to tighten the rules.Beginning Monday, the state Department of Licensing will require people without a Social Security number who are seeking a new driver’s license to provide proof they actually live here.Washington stands with New Mexico and Utah in issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. And officials say an alarming number of out-of-state residents without Social Security numbers have been obtaining licenses here in recent years – this year more than double what it was three years ago.Officials believe many of these licenses are...

CNN) -- Eighteen people were killed in separate shootings throughout Mexico's Ciudad Juarez on Saturday, marking it as one of the bloodiest days this year in the nation's most violent city, officials said Sunday. In one incident, a family of seven was slaughtered while they were outside their home in the southeastern part of the city, Chihuahua State Attorney General's Office spokesman Carlos Gonzalez said. "Among [the seven killed] were two brothers who we believe were targeted," Gonzalez said. Local newspaper El Diario de Juarez reported that five of the bodies were found inside a car and another two bodies...

Fear and loathing in the American body politic is not confined to the anti-tax Tea Party. Across the spectrum of the Democratic party, every hue is feeling it too. With a fortnight to go to the midterms, moderate "Blue Dog" Democrats are in big trouble. The party's left-wing "Yellow Dogs" are up in arms about being taken for granted by the White House "hippy bashers". Even black bloggers are warning President Barack Obama they won't be "pimped" for him. Gone was the red-faced, finger-wagging Bill... More at Telegraph.co.UK

Susana Martinez is one tough cookie. She has been elected four times as District Attorney. She was named the New Mexico "Prosecutor of the Year" earlier this year. She is the first Hispanic Woman to ever receive the Gubernatorial nomination of either major Party, and she is running on a solid law and order platform in a very Hispanic state. Did I also mention that she's a Republican? And is leading in New Mexico's tight Gubernatorial race according to a brand new Rasmussen Reports survey of 750 likely voters? I guess not every Hispanic in the United States of America...