VOLUME 10 ISSUE • 34 FRIDAY AUGUST20, 2010 5O¢ Hidalgo County I1,1,,I,,I,",11,,11,,11,,,'11'1 SmallTox n Papers 5026 California Axcnuc SW Scalllc WA 9g136 Xtra Lg 1 T0ppi PIZZP. PIZZ00 0.99 Amid controversy, Council votes to rename City Hall The Lordsburg City Council tack- led a hot topic at last week's meeting: changing the name of the new City Hall building. The Council was approached by Hector Nava and Manuel Ramirez with a request to change the name of the new City Hall from Arthur Clark Smith City Hall to Lordsburg City Hall. Accord- ing . to Ramirez, he was request- ing a reversal of the name on behalf of himself and numerous Lordsburg citizens. He said that the buildin be- longs to the people of Lordsburg and was n e v e r brought be: fore the pub- lic for their input in naming the building tat year. While Ramirez said the group recog- nizes the many years of service ren- dered by former Mayor Arthur Clark Smith, there were other predecessors who may have been more deserving of City Hall will soo receive a facelift. Hidalgo County Fair Carnival Ticket Pre-Sales having thee building named after them. City Councilor Manuel D.V. Saucedo, ,who was supportive of naming the buildiing after Smith, said that the previous (City Council, including Mayor Frank Rodriguez, voted unanimously to name the building after Smith• • . "I be- lieve Mayor Rodriguez and we, as City Council persons, should be concerned about more important is- sues than that of whether or not the name of Mayor Smith should be removed from this building," Saucedo said. Attention, he said, should be focused on weeds, streets, Veteran's Park and the overall physi- cal appearance of the City of Lordsburg. Saucedo went on to say, "We have budgetary issues to" be concerned about .... For example, has anyone estimated the costs that would be involved in ad- • dressing the whim of an unnamed few." "None of us were elected to address personal vendettas," Saucedo said. "I respectfully request of the Mayor and my colleagues that we zealously get on with thle true business of the City and make it a progressive city rather than one wrapped up in vindictiveness and petti- ness," Saucedo added. Mayor Pro-Tern Dana Arredondo said that while she didn't have a ven- detta to s;ettle irl addressing the issue, she would like to receive public input on the isslue by holding public hearings. Mayor Rodriguez agreed. Citizen Hector Nava also said he was not pursuiing the name change based on ill will. "[ do appreciate what he did for the City off Lordsburg, but this building doesn't belong to one person. It belongs to all of us." Mayor Rodriguez attempted to table See CITY HALL on Page 6 Thursday 8/26 is Wristband Day at the Carnival at the Hidalgo County Fair. Pre-purchase wristband tickets at the Hidalgo Extension Office located at 524 E. DeMoss Suite 4 in Lordsburg, next to HMS. Call 542-9291 or call 575-534- 5010 in Animas. Wristbands are $10 each. They will continue to be sold until Wednesday, August 25 at 5 p.m. They can also be purchased at the carnival box office on Thursday for $15. So save $5 per band if you buy early!! Learning by doing Area youth attended a 4-H Day Camp August 2-6, learning a variety of skills, including how to reed a mep (ebove).The five-day event was hosted by the Hidalgo County Cooperetive Extension Service. For the complete story and more photos, see Page 10 of this week's edition. Courtesy photo Lordsburg, Hidalgo County poised to celebrate founding on October 16 at North Park Courtesy submission Lordsburg, Hidalgo County, New Mexico: The date is October 17, 1880. Southern Pacific Railroad tracks have been laid from Tucson into the valley surrounded by the Pyramid and Gila Mountain ranges and the Continental Divide. On this day, track-layers.and.other construction laborers were gathered along the tracks near the tent-city settle- ment where they lived while construct- ing a Southern rail route to the east. Off in the distance, the sound of a steam locomotive could be heard as it huffed and puffed its way up a mountain range from an Eastern Arizona valley to the settlement of Steins, Territory of New Mexico: then across a dry lake bed and up another smaller mountain range to the valley below. As the short train came around a curve in the valley, cheers went up from the breathlessly awaiting crowd. The hard work had paid off! With the first train arriving near the IVleet the Mavericks Lordsburg Municipal Schools hosted its annual Meet the Mavericks picnic at Maverick Stadium Tuesday night. All Maverick and Dogie football and volleyball teams, es well as the LHS cheerleading squad, were introduced to the crowd. Th, e introductions were followed by a picnic dinner with players and their families. Above, the Martinez family enjoys the festivities. For more photos, see Page 5 of this week's edition. tent city and chugging its way up to a water tower and coaling chute, there was an atmosphere of celebration in the. air. Invited dignitaries disembarked from the train and greeted those who had come out to see this new phenomenon: Chi- • nese laborers, Mexican miners, Indian traders, ranchers and curiosity-seekers. Lordsburg was born! It seemed only logical that this tent city should become a town with perma- nent structures: hotels, businesses, churches, social clubs and houses. It would become a railroad center, with shops to repair locomotives, freight and passenger cars--and, of course, the rail- road station. Wagon roads would be con- structed from every direction and the little city on the prairie would become a center of commerce and trade. Eventually, the Territory of New Mexico would become the State of New Mexico-as the fourth largest between Canada and Mexico and both oceans. Hidalgo County would be formed from a portion of Grant County and become known as the "Bootheel" of the state. • The wagon roads would give way to paved highways: The Border Highway (US 80), the Old West Highway (US 70), and others in all directions. Then came Interstate 10! Fast forward to 2010! Once again, the sounds of celebra- tion will ring in the air as Lordsburg cel- ebrates its 130 h birthday bash and the accent is placed on the rest of the county during our Discover Hidalgo County event! Saturday, October 16, 2010, will find streets blocked off near North Park in Lordsburg as games, Contests, fun and celebrations are experienced by young and old alike: something for everyone. The scent of reasonably-priced food booths in a wide range of tastes will per- meate the air; entertainment provided; tours offered; static displays of equip- ment; and just good old fashioned home- town fun experienced. Kids will climb on fire trucks, view the interior of ambu- lances and sit behind the wheel of a po- lice car while pretending they're on a code call, with siren blaring and radio chattering. And, we're inviting you to attend! The best part is that there is no admis- sion charge to the staging area for park- ing. Come see what Lordsburg and Dis- cover Hidalgo County have to offer and experience the taste of the old South- west. We are just a short drive from where you live. So, come--help us celebrate on Saturday, October 16, 2010, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. For more information contact Dick Davis at 575-590-0143 or email dickdavis @ hughes.net. NM eligible for affordable prescriptions Submitted by SEN. JEFF BINGAMAN'S OFFICEIWashington, DC U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman has ap- plauded the Obama administration for implementing provisions he wrote that make prescription medications more af- fordable for patients served by rural hos- pitals and other safety-net hospitals. Safety-net providers - health care providers that treat a high percentage of low-income and uninsured patients - and their patients are able to purchase out- patient medications for discounted prices through the 340B Drug Discount Program. These facilities and patients can save an average of 20 percent to 50 percent of the cost for covered outpa- tient medications. Before the new health insurance re- form law was enacted, these safety-net providers only included high-Medicaid disproportionate share hospitals (DSH), community health, centers, and federally funded programs such as the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) and urban clinics for Native Americans. Bingaman wrote a provision into the law that ex- pands the definition of eligible hospi- tals to include rural hospitals, children's hospitals and cancer hospitals. The ad- ministration announced today that these new providers may apply to participate in the 340B program. "Under the new law, rural hospitals and their patients can save up to 50 per- cent on the cost of prescription medica- tions," Bingaman said. "This is great news for many New Mexicans, whose prescription drugs will now be more af- fordable." The newly eligible rural hospitals include: critical access hospitals, and certain sole community hospitals and rural referral centers. 00PCOMING EVENTS Commodity distribution TEFAP Commodities will be distrib- uted on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 1:30 p.m. to persons 18 and above at the Spe- cial Events Center, 502 West 2 ° Street in Lordsburg. Please do not arrive prior to 1:30 p.m. Democratic Meeting There will be a Democratic Party meeting on Friday August 20, 2010 at 6:00 P.M. at the Corner Cafe, 208 East Motel Drive here in Lordsburg. All pub- lic is invited. Love and Logic classes Free parenting classes are being of- fered each Wednesday at noon at the HMS Conference Room beginning Au- gust 25, concluding on October 6. TO register, call 542-8384, ext. 441. Spaces are limited. Veterans' Services visit Reggiie Price, Veterans Service Of- ficer fronn New Mexico Department of Veterans' Services, will be available to meet with veterans and/or their fami- lies on Tlhursday July 26, 2010 at the Lordsburg City Hall. Office hours will be from 10am-3pm. For better assis- tance, please bring a copy of the vet- erans' discharge papers. More infor- mation is available by calling Reggie in the Silver City office at 575-538- 2377. FairParade Plans are underway for the 2010 Hidalgo County Fair Parade, scheduled for August 27 at 5:00 p.m. This year's theme is Celelrating Our Youth. For more information on the parade, contact the Lordsburg-Hidalgo County Chamber of Commerce at 575-542-9864. Catechism Class registration The St. Josephs Catholic Church Catechism Classes registrltion for lev- els 1-6 will be held every Saturday in August after the 6:00 p.m. mass and Sun- day after the 11 a.m. mass. PAL registration Lordsburg Police Athletic League registration for boys and girls for the upcoming PAL football season will con- tinue until August 17 at the Special Events Center. Volunteers are also being sought for the upcoming season. Cost of registration is $50 per child and $20 per child for cheerleading. LHS yearbooks Yearbooks have arrived at LHS. Stu- dents who ordered a yearbook and paid for it may pick one up at the LHS front office. There are a limited number of extra yearbooks available for those who did not get one ordered and. would like to purchase one. The price is $35.00. Continued on Page 2