Prep Matchups of the Week

1AAAA Boys and Girls 1st Round of State

Drew Gordon University of New Mexico senior Drew Gordon had his name in the national sports news this week, but not for his play with the Lobos.  This week, Sports Illustrated profiled the recent downfall of UCLA basketball.  Among the reasons listed is a freshman class that included [...]]]> UNM player named in Sports Illustrated story

Drew Gordon University of New Mexico senior Drew Gordon had his name in the national sports news this week, but not for his play with the Lobos.  This week, Sports Illustrated profiled the recent downfall of UCLA basketball.  Among the reasons listed is a freshman class that included Gordon.  The article claims Gordon was among the group that smoked marijuana, sometimes before practice, while at UCLA.  Sports Illustrated journalist George Dohrmann was told practices were often sloppy because of the immaturity demonstrated by the freshman like Gordon.  “Older players tried to counsel them but with little success. Gordon, for one, was very emotional and reacted harshly whenever criticized, several former teammates say. He often disrupted practices and during one session set an illegal screen on Collison that so angered Collison that the two had to be separated” wrote Dorhmann.

Gordon and the UNM basketball program had no comment on the Sports Illustrated article.  The recent claims of Gordon’s immature past take away a little bit from the impressive season by the senior.  Gordon was named the pre-season conference player of the year.  Aside from last week’s letdown on the court, Gordon is having a fantastic conference season.  Gordon is averaging over 20 points and 10 rebounds a game.  He has 13 double-doubles this season!  Alford says Gordon has found himself in conference play.  “From mid-December until now he’s playing at a high level.  There aren’t a lot of players in the country averaging double figures in points and rebounds.”

Gordon has 26 career double doubles and 14 in the Mountain West.  He is now on the career top 10 Mountain West list for double doubles.  Gordon credits the guard play as a big reason for his success.  “Hugh (Greenwood) and Jamal (Fenton) have figured out their roles,” said Gordon.  “I think that’s why I’ve been able to play well and average double figures.  I hit my stride because of them and it’s going to be fun heading into the postseason.”

Sophomore Kendall Williams says it’s all about getting Gordon the ball in the right spot.  “We have a good guard-big relationship,” said Williams.  “We make sure he gets the touches to keep the big guy happy.  He wants the ball in certain spots and if he gets it we see a happy Drew Gordon which is better for everybody”  We asked Williams where does Gordon like to get the ball?  “About two feet away from the basket with his man trying to draw a charge from me so he can dunk it and wave to the fans as he runs up the court,” Williams quickly responded.

Gordon wasn’t sure how he would fit into this mix when he first arrived in Albuquerque.  “Last year was tough,” explained Gordon.  “I was coming off knee surgery so it was tough to catch my stride and mix into the team chemistry without screwing it up.”

“I got a little scared after two knee surgeries that I wouldn’t be able to come back and be athletic and be a factor.  Now I’m really happy about being able to come back and have some big nights.  Having a senior year like this is fun and special to me.”

Gordon knows that time is running out on his collegiate career.  He wants to take this opportunity to prove he can play in the NBA someday.  “More than anything I want to prove to myself I can play at the next level.  It’s not about proving other people wrong, it’s about proving you right and it’s always been something I’ve wanted to do.”

I think we’ve been able to talk some Lobo fans down off the ledge this week.  The UNM men’s basketball team lasted exactly one week in the national rankings.  The Lobos were on top of the world, and conference, after wins against nationally ranked San Diego State and UNLV.  That all changed after a couple losses.  But here’s the reality of the situation.  UNM is still in first place in the Mountain West.  They just don’t have the cushion at the top of the standings they would prefer.

“Are we upset that we were up two and now tied? Yeah,” said head coach Steve Alford.  “But I’d still rather be in this position than fifth or sixth place.”  Let’s not forget, the Lobos still have a chance to win another Mountain West title.  Another championship would be Alford’s third in four years.

Quote of the week

At her weekly press conference, UNM women’s basketball coach Yvonne Sanchez was asked what she could do about her team having defensive lapses where her team falls behind.  “Maybe we should start playing with six players on the court,” joked Sanchez.

Unfortunately, the loudest voice in the news media is remarkably uninformed on energy matters. The price of gasoline, [...]]]> America’s most popular cable news program routinely champions a message of looking out for the folks. I readily support that goal, since frequently special interests, be they public or private, sway the media debate on important matters.

Unfortunately, the loudest voice in the news media is remarkably uninformed on energy matters. The price of gasoline, diesel and all types of transportation fuel affects every American’s pocketbook. Media pundits rightly note that the 10-month payroll tax cut extension will be offset directly by higher fuel prices. Military conflicts for the past 100 years have been influenced heavily by the location, quantity, and availability of transportation fuels. Affordable energy has raised our standard of living, although there is nothing quite as effective as staring at the four-foot-tall numbers proclaiming a gallon of fuel for $ 4 to raise the folks‘ ire.

The Federal Department of Energy was created by Jimmy Carter in 1977 with two of the largest employers, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories, located right here in New Mexico. Looking outside of the nuclear weapons research mission, after 35 years, have well-intentioned government officials selected the next winning fuel to power our economy? Did they select natural gas as the fuel for today?

There has been much political fervor over President Obama’s recent decision to deny the construction application for a portion of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. This needed pipeline would readily supply Canadian crude oil to the United States, reducing our dependency on supplies from Venezuela and the Middle East. With a projected capacity of more than 450,000 barrels per day, it would nearly equal the current supply source from the North Slope of Alaska.

Bill O’Reilly opines that big oil companies will just ship this new oil overseas to China and India. The United States imports crude oil in super tankers, which then sail on their return trip containing refined products such as gasoline, diesel, fuel oil and aviation fuel to numerous locations around the world. Our nation’s economy is desperate to increase exports, be they aircraft, automobiles, cattle, agricultural products or petroleum products. One of the recent trade imbalance improvements has been the expansion of ethylene and other natural gas liquid exports. These exports are made possible through recent shale oil and shale gas exploration activities.

O’Reilly continues to say folks own the public lands (they do), therefore Washington politicians should increase taxes on petroleum exports to somehow increase the supply of fuel in the United States. This knee jerk response will only raise the cost of fuel to every American and negatively affect our trade imbalance.

Most New Mexicans are aware that crude oil and natural gas production powers our state government and private sector economy. Oil producers pay for the ability to drill wells on public lands. Once oil is found, 12.5-percent royalty is paid, right off the top, to the federal treasury, before severance taxes, ad valorem taxes, conservation taxes, bonding fees, regulatory permit fees, corporate taxes, gross receipts taxes, employment taxes, gasoline and diesel fuel taxes and personal income taxes are paid.

Big oil companies control less than 5 percent of known world crude supplies and their profit margins are frequently between 6 and 8 percent. Many believe profit should be removed from our capitalist society, not only in the healthcare industry, but within the petroleum industry as well. The 10-percent ethanol blend, soon to be increased to 15 percent, mandated by the EPA and Congress for inclusion in our gasoline, is subsidized directly by everyone who fills their tank by approximately 10 cents a gallon.

Retail gasoline station owner profit margins on a gallon of gasoline are generally in the 7 percent range. Retailer’s profit margins are much higher on soda pop, snacks and cigarettes.

Gasoline retailers, by law, can only change their posted price once per day. Imagine balancing your books, as a gasoline retailer, when you purchase a truck load of fuel once or twice per week, but then must change your price daily to stay ahead of the cost for acquiring your next truck load of fuel.

Mark Mathis produced a film covering the importance of oil and natural gas to society. His movie, spOILed should be at the top of Bill O’Reilly’s and every politician’s viewing list. We need more civilized debate on this important energy issue, rather than demonizing private corporations. Politicians should implement policies that will increase secure crude oil supplies. That would be looking out for the folks.

Tom Mullins is a Farmington resident, Professional Petroleum Engineer and former candidate for New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District. tom.mullins@synergyoperating.com

Suddenly, he gets it: It’s him!

A smile crinkles the corners of his mouth and lights a spark in his eyes. Shaking his head, he hoots, “Woo-ooo!”

And then, for the next 30 [...]]]> He’s studying the image in the camera’s viewfinder (that’s been turned to face him), trying to make sense of what he sees.

Suddenly, he gets it: It’s him!

A smile crinkles the corners of his mouth and lights a spark in his eyes. Shaking his head, he hoots, “Woo-ooo!”

And then, for the next 30 seconds, my 18-month-old grandson hams it up for the camera, making faces, waving his arms, jabbering away in a language all his own.

That video of Randy is stored on my computer, along with dozens of others, plus Lord only knows how many photos. And that’s not even counting all the pictures I keep on my phone.

I carry them all with me whenever I travel and look at them often, sometimes several times a day. Somehow I can’t quite seem to get my fill.

I wish you could see them.

One of my favorites features Henry, my grandson, almost 6 months old, sitting on his mama’s knee, belly laughing at the antics of his two dogs. It’s hard to say who laughs hardest, Henry or his mama or his nana.

There’s one of Randy dunking a basketball; Henry nuzzling his blankie; Randy climbing in the dog crate with his two enormous Labs; Henry swatting the zebra on his gym mobile; Randy playing drums with his dad; Henry slurping milk from an eyedropper after his mama went back to work and he refused to take a bottle from his dad.

Each of those images captures for me a precious, fleeting moment I would have missed, if someone — my daughter and her husband, or my son and his wife — had not cared enough to record it and send it to me.

Those moments show up on my phone or my computer several times a day — little bursts of electronic happiness that let me feel somehow more connected to my children and grandchildren 500 miles away.

Some people fear, with good reason, that email and text messaging will replace handwritten correspondence.

I hope they are wrong. I love handwritten letters. I seldom take time to write one, but I do love the rare occasion when someone sends one to me.

However, given a choice between e-communication and no communication at all, I will gladly take “e” every time.

My children grew up 3,000 miles from my parents. Sending photos was a lengthy ordeal. I had to: 1) buy film for the camera; 2) clean up the kids and make them sit still long enough to shoot their pictures; 3) take the film to the drugstore to get it developed; 4) go back to pick it up, sort through the photos to find a few decent shots and order extra prints; 5) pick up the extras, stuff them in envelopes (marked “Photos, do not bend!”) and put them in the mail — one set for each of my parents, who were divorced and didn’t share.

It could take weeks or months. Back-to-school shots arrived in Christmas cards; Easter-basket pictures were mailed by July. But they always called, my mother and dad, to thank me for sending them. I guess, with grandchildren, even an outdated photo is better than none at all.

Imagine my surprise, after my parents were gone, to find they had kept every photo, every card or letter I had ever sent them.

Yesterday my husband downloaded to my computer some photos of Charlotte, his granddaughter, who is one day older than Henry. I especially liked the one of her lying on the grass wearing rabbit ears.

I’ll save those photos with the others of Randy and Henry. I’ll copy them on disks in case, God forbid, my computer crashes.

Maybe someday when I’m gone, they’ll find them — along with hundreds of handwritten cards and letters they’ll have sent to me over the years. And they will know they were loved.

Sharon Randall can be contacted at P.O. Box 777394 Henderson NV 89077 or at www.sharonrandall.com.

I could, but have too much decorum to, say the same thing about the [...]]]> We are all familiar with former Sen. Rick Santorum’s recent, ahem, eloquent remark about President John F. Kennedy’s famous speech on the separation of church and state, delivered a half-century ago. Santorum said that reading JFK’s speech “makes me throw up.“

I could, but have too much decorum to, say the same thing about the Santorum candidacy.

Santorum is a pox on the Constitution and on all truly patriotic (as opposed to jingoistic) Americans. He avers study and education as if they were diseases, despite the fact that he has undergraduate, MBA and law degrees. (A bit of hypocrisy there, perhaps?) He calls President Barack Obama a “snob” for suggesting that all Americans should be able to spend at least one year in higher education, including community college or vocational training.

Santorum fails to do his homework and gets his facts wrong with astounding regularity. When he called Obama a snob, he asked the audience why the president hadn’t suggested vocational training, as opposed to college studies. In fact, Obama included vocational training in the same speech in which he advocated higher education for all. On that point, Santorum and the president agree, which Santorum would have understood if he had done his homework.

Similarly, Santorum’s law degree belies the fact he could crusade for so-called religious freedom when he has been trained to understand that no such freedom is at risk. He agrees with the Catholic bishops who claim their First Amendment rights are invaded by health-care reform. Part of that law requires them to offer insurance to Catholic hospital and school employees that covers the cost of contraception. But as Obama recently announced, church institutions are not required to pay for that coverage.

As a law student, Santorum must have read the free-exercise clause of the Constitution and, one would think, have gained at least a modicum of understanding of its meaning. The clause guarantees Americans the freedom to follow the religion of their choice without persecution.

The Supreme Court made clear – in an opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia, a Catholic no less devout than Santorum – that the Constitution does not, however, excuse religious institutions from obeying the law. Scalia wrote for the court in the 1990 ruling on Employment Division of Oregon v. Smith: “We have never held that an individual’s religious beliefs excuse him from compliance with an otherwise valid law prohibiting conduct that the state is free to regulate. On the contrary, the record of more than a century of our free-exercise jurisprudence contradicts that proposition.”

For Santorum to claim otherwise is either the height of hypocrisy or ignorance, or both.

As wrong as he is about the Constitution, however, Santorum is just as wrong about the Kennedy speech. If he took the time to read it, he would see that JFK’s commitment to absolute separation between church and state is what has made possible Santorum’s run for national office. Kennedy’s speech reinforced the point that the Constitution outlaws any religious test for public office.

JFK’s main point was that he, as a Catholic, had as much right to be in the public square as anyone else, be they Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Protestant or (heaven forfend) even a nonbeliever.

The fact that Santorum and other zealots have turned that right on its head to claim that Christians are somehow persecuted by health reform or any other federal law is one of the quizzical anomalies of American politics. While trying to force people who don’t share his skewed and controlling version of Christianity to obey the rules of his faith, Santorum and his ilk are claiming persecution in the process. American politics just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser.

Santorum’s losses in Michigan and Arizona take much of the luster off his presidential-nomination bid and brand him more as outlier than potential front-runner. He’s still a dangerous force in politics, though, who has served to take us back, way back, rather than to move us forward.

Bonnie Erbe is a TV host and writes this column for Scripps Howard News Service. Email bonnie.scrippshoward@gmail.com.

The annual federal income tax headache is drawing closer for wage earners across the country, the time to uncover all those receipts and slips of paper needed to fill out Uncle Sam’s sometimes incomprehensible forms and pay up.

The good news? Taxpayers get an extra two days to send their returns to the Internal [...]]]>  

The annual federal income tax headache is drawing closer for wage earners across the country, the time to uncover all those receipts and slips of paper needed to fill out Uncle Sam’s sometimes incomprehensible forms and pay up.

The good news? Taxpayers get an extra two days to send their returns to the Internal Revenue Service this year. April 15 – the traditional tax day – falls on a Sunday this year. And since Washington, D.C., is celebrating Emancipation Day on April 16, the due date is April 17.

What isn’t changing anytime soon is the complexity of the nation’s tax system and the hoops even those willing to meet their obligations are forced to jump through.

Nina Olson, who heads the Taxpayer Advocate Service at the IRS, sympathizes, maintaining that “even taxpayers who will go to great lengths to comply may inadvertently fail if the rules are so complicated that they — or their preparers — cannot figure out what is required.”

An analysis of IRS data conducted by the advocate service determined individuals and businesses spend about 6.1 billion hours a year complying with the filing requirements of the Internal Revenue Code. If tax compliance were an industry, the advocate service found, it would be one of the largest in the U.S.

Compliance costs are significant both in absolute terms and relative to the amount of tax revenue collected. An advocate service analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data estimated the costs of complying with the individual and corporate income tax requirements for 2008 amounted to $163 billion – or 11 percent of aggregate income tax receipts.  And things aren’t getting any easier. There were approximately 4,430 changes to the tax code from 2001 through 2010, an average of more than one a day, including an estimated 579 changes in 2010 alone.

“Complexity promotes tax noncompliance both by increasing opportunities for inadvertent error and by creating loopholes, which may allow well-advised taxpayers to pay less than similarly situated taxpayers who are not so well advised,” said Olson, who carries the official title of National Taxpayer Advocate. “These loopholes also create a perception that the tax system is not fair, a view that may be used to justify ‘fudging’ a bit here and there to even things out.”

Olson also said complexity “makes compliance more difficult for the vast majority of taxpayers who are trying to comply and increases the risk that they will be subject to penalties or other automated processes, such as unjustified math error assessments, automated lien filings and similar procedures that may burden and alienate them.”

Tax simplification, she said, could go a long way toward improving compliance. Individual taxpayers now find the burden of return preparation so overwhelming that almost 60 percent pay preparers to do it for them. More than 70 percent of unincorporated small business taxpayers farm out the duty to others. Another 29 percent of individual taxpayers use tax software to help them prepare their returns with software packages that often cost $50 or more.

IRS researchers estimate the monetary compliance burden of the median individual taxpayer rose from $220 in 2000 to $258 in 2007, an increase of 17 percent. The National Society of Accountants in their 2010 fee study report found the average prices charged by their members was $229 for a 1040 with Schedule A and $129 for a 1040 with state return and no itemized deductions.

Meanwhile, H&R Block charges averaged $189 per return based on 2010 data; Jackson Hewitt charged and average of $208 per return.

And individual preparers are not always reliable. Olson said studies attempting to pinpoint the precise impact of preparers on compliance are contradictory and inconclusive, but a wide variety of data suggest they make frequent errors.

In 2006, auditors with the General Accounting Office posed as taxpayers seeking assistance and visited 19 national tax preparation chain operations in a large metropolitan area.

The agency found the tax preparation chains made errors on all 19 returns – significant errors on 17 of them.

Neither H&R Block nor Jackson Hewitt releases details about accuracy. But both firms guarantee their work.

In wake of concerns over the quality of paid tax return preparations, the IRS has cracked down, implementing new requirements for paid preparers that it believes will increase tax compliance, thus reducing the gross tax gap between taxes owed and taxes paid, last estimated at $345 billion in 2001.

The IRS now requires all individuals who prepare or assist in the preparation of all or substantially all of a U.S. federal tax return, claim for refund or other tax form submitted to the IRS to register with the service and receive a preparer tax identification number.

The IRS also has mandated that preparers who are not certified public accounts, enrolled agents, attorneys, supervised preparers or non-1040 preparers must pass a minimal competency exam, suitability check and take ongoing continuing education.

Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.

Tri-City Tribune

Farmington Mayor Tommy Roberts recognized Farmington’s once-forgotten Marine, Lance Cpl. Kenneth Lee Worley, during the Feb. 28 council meeting at city hall.

The recognition came by way of a proclamation requested by veterans’ advocate Bruce Salisbury, who has tirelessly worked to get Worley attention in his hometown. Salisbury [...]]]> Worley honored by city council

Tri-City Tribune

Farmington Mayor Tommy Roberts recognized Farmington’s once-forgotten Marine, Lance Cpl. Kenneth Lee Worley, during the Feb. 28 council meeting at city hall.

The recognition came by way of a proclamation requested by veterans’ advocate Bruce Salisbury, who has tirelessly worked to get Worley attention in his hometown. Salisbury sent Roberts an email requesting the mayor to take the once-in-every-four-years opportunity to recognize the young man.

Farmington Mayor congratulates veteran’s advocate Bruce Salisbury, who has worked to get Kenneth Worley recognized for his service, at the Farmington City Council meeting Tuesday night.

“Kenneth Worley was forgotten over and over and over,” Salisbury told the Farmington City Council, when he accepted the proclamation from Roberts.

“I took Bruce up on his suggestion and wrote a proclamation,” Mayor Roberts said. The proclamation dated for Feb. 29 names that date as Lance Cpl. Kenneth Lee Worley Day in the city of Farmington. Worley was born and raised in Farmington. He left the community as an orphan at the age of 14. Bruce’s siblings knew the young man and regarded him highly.  Worley received the Congressional Medal of Honor for Valor after sacrificing himself to save his comrades during the Vietnam War. He died Aug. 12, 1968, in the Bo Ban Provence by throwing his body on a live grenade and taking the full force of it.

Dr. Terence W. Barrett studied Worley’s life and met several times with Salisbury in an attempt to tell Worley’s story and earn him recognition for this sacrifice. Barrett published a book – The Search for the Forgotten 34 – that is available at the Farmington Museum. It chronicles Worley’s life in Farmington and in Vietnam.

“I thought it was a wonderful read about a very sad young man, who was a credit to our community,” Councilor Mary Fischer said of the book, during the council meeting.

The city finally claimed Worley and honored him in November 2009, when he received a plaque at the All Veterans Memorial Park in Farmington.

Tri-City Tribune

The residents of the city of Aztec have been treated to the sight of a pair of American Bald Eagles that are wintering along the Animas River off Ruins Rd. According to Wildlife Biologist John Kendall, Bureau of Land Management, Farmington, who has documented [...]]]> It’s the bird, silly, not the singing group

Tri-City Tribune

The residents of the city of Aztec have been treated to the sight of a pair of American Bald Eagles that are wintering along the Animas River off Ruins Rd. According to Wildlife Biologist John Kendall, Bureau of Land Management, Farmington, who has documented the pair of bald eagles in the past, it is not an uncommon occurrence.

Bald and Golden Eagles like to winter in the same spot year after year. “If I know the pair,” said Kendall, “they like to hang out on Ruins Rd.  There is a tree there and they perch there quite a bit. They tend to stay in the same area.” He said, “Usually the adults will pair up in their wintering grounds and when they head for their breeding grounds, they will leave as a pair. Sometimes,” he said, “they will maintain the same mate through the winter. The two bald eagles in Aztec may be a pair that has been breeding for years.”

Mark Catron, district ranger, Carson National Forest, affirmed Kendall’s statement and said, “It is not uncommon. We will see eagles all up and down the Animas and San Juan Rivers and Navajo Lake. This is where they winter. In the springtime, they migrate north.”

Home sweet home

Kendall said January and early February are the peak times of year when bald eagles can be seen in our area. As a wildlife biologist interested in threatened and endangered species, Kendall went to Aztec for a visual inspection of the bald eagles and said, “I have seen this couple before. This year, it seems they have moved closer to town; a little closer to the bridge so that makes them more visible to the public. I have gotten calls on this pair before.” He inspects the pair and thinks they are probably a male and a female and that they have been together for years. “They mate until they lose a mate,” he said. “They mate for life and they can live 20 years.”

Kendall said, “Generally, bald eagles come here in November and leave in March.” He affirmed Catron’s statement that bald eagles winter along the Animas and San Juan Rivers and Navajo Lake. “We survey them and know they winter here in pretty good numbers and have been wintering here for decades. Sometimes, the younger ones will build a nest but once March comes, they head for their breeding grounds.” Kendall said the BLM does not monitor the eagles with transmitter but suspects their breeding ground may be in Colorado or Wyoming. “We don’t have any documented nests on BLM. Within the next month,” he said, “most of the adults will be gone; the juveniles may hang around.”

Navajo Lake

eagle count: 58

In conjunction with the Bureau of Reclamation, Kendall does a monthly eagle count at Navajo Lake. He said, “We have been doing that since the early 1990s. This time of year, we usually we get anywhere from 40 to 60 birds at Navajo Lake. Last month, we counted 38 mature and 20 immature bald eagles at Navajo Lake.”

Kendall does winter surveys on bald eagles and uses that data as an index of how the population is doing overall.  His data reveals their numbers have remained steady over the years and at the peak, their numbers are between 40 and 60. “It has been that way for probably the last 15 years,” he said.

Bald eagles, explained Kendall, are scavengers and people should not be tempted to feed them. “There is plenty of food around for them,” he said. They winter along the river because fish is their main food source. “They catch live fish but you will see them on dead deer.” Jeremy Smith, New Mexico Game and Fish, said, “They (bald eagles) like to stick to the river corridors because they are equal parts scavenger and hunter. This is a spot on their annual migration and they know the hunting grounds.”

Protected

“Under the Endangered Species Act,” said Kendall, “critical habitat is assigned and any activity that could minimally affect eagles would have to go through Section 7 consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife.” In this area, Kendall said, oil and gas development may adversely impact the bald eagles’ wintering grounds and he notes that what happens on their wintering ground could affect them on their wintering ground. As a consequence, oil and gas activities are regulated so that they do not encroach on eagles’ wintering grounds.

The Bald Eagle Protection Act prohibits the take, transport, sale, barter, trade, import and export and possession of eagles, making it illegal for anyone to collect eagles and eagle parts, nests or eggs without a permit (www.baldeagleinfo.com). “Even if you are tribal,” said Kendall, “you must have a permit to be in procession of an eagle feather.” For Native Americans, he explained that permits are usually obtained through their tribal government and even then, it is reviewed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife. He noted that golden eagles also nest in the area and their featheres are coveted.

“The bald eagle gets all the publicity because it is the national bird but the golden eagle, in my opinion, is just as beautiful. Golden eagles are pretty much here year round but they hang out in high cliff faces and are not as visible as the bald eagle. They are shyer than the bald eagle and tend to fly off if you get near them.” According to Kendall, bald eagles are not shy birds and they will allow people to watch them from a distance.

American Bald Eagle

In June 1782, the bald eagle was chosen as the emblem of the United States of American. It symbolizes long life, great strength and majestic looks.  Our national bird, the bald eagle is unique to North America. Bald eagles are found throughout most of North America, from Alaska and Canada to northern Mexico. About half of the world’s 70,000 bald eagles live in Alaska. Eagles are a member of the Accipitridae family, which also includes hawks, kites and old-world vultures. The bald eagle is a sea or fish eagle (www.baldeagleinfo.com).

From 1967 to 1995, the bald eagle was declared an endangered species. In 1995, the US Fish and Wildlife Service upgraded the status of bald eagles to threatened. According to Kendall, the Interior Department took the American bald eagle off the Endangered Species List in 2007; however, they are still protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

Kendall said, “They used to be part of the Endangered Species Act but in 2007, they were deemed recovered and removed as an endangered species.”  As he explained, in the 1950s and 60s, the bald eagle population was decimated by pesticides and through bio acclimation of their food chain, the pesticides got to the birds and subsequently made the shells of their eggs thin. “Essentially,” he said, “they couldn’t produce at all.”

According to Kendall although there is no known nesting in northwest New Mexico, a bald eagle’s nest is approximately six feet in diameter. He said, “They may build a nest but it is more playing house than for breeding. An adult bald eagle can stand two to three feet tall and have a wing span of about six feet. They are cool birds.”

Tri-City Tribune

State Representative Tom Taylor was appointed by Farmington Mayor Tommy Roberts to serve out Robert’s term on the San Juan Economic Development Service board.

Robert’s resigned from the board and decided to replace himself with Taylor, who was one of the original founders [...]]]> State representative to assist in ‘morphing’ of economic development service

Tri-City Tribune

State Representative Tom Taylor was appointed by Farmington Mayor Tommy Roberts to serve out Robert’s term on the San Juan Economic Development Service board.

Robert’s resigned from the board and decided to replace himself with Taylor, who was one of the original founders of the economic development council.

“I’m very excited about being back at SJEDS,” said Taylor, who joins the organization on the cusp of a massive reorganization. “It’s a slow morphing of people and processes into a new organization.”

The appointment includes a position on the executive committee. “It is the desire of people involved to have the executive committee acting as a steering committee for whatever this new economic -development service is going to look like,” Roberts said.

There is an “expanded mission” for economic development activities in San Juan County, and it is the goal of the SJEDS executive committee to have the process completed by June, said Taylor, explaining the economy is completely different from when SJEDS began.

In its early years the economic development service was heavily focused on the energy industry in the region. Today, with the cost of natural gas at an all-time low, and the costs of production increasing the founders and those involved believe there needs to be a different focus on San Juan County’s economics.

“In our studies we’ve never found an energy based economy that’s recovered on the other side an energy collapse,” Taylor explained. “We need to make sure to find other legs to attract on our economic stool.”

The organization has been studying the economic development business for the past two years and some new ideas need to be implemented. The mission included gathering facts and discovering the problem. They now are organizing to create the solution. “The whole standard of how you attract business into the community is a whole different ballgame,” Taylor said. He is up for the challenge. “I’m very excited about this great opportunity for the community.”

The Farmington City Council unanimously approved the appointment during its Feb. 14 meeting.

The San Juan College Small Business Development Center will partner with Chris Hunter, MBA, to address the common challenge of pricing in a workshop titled Smart Pricing for Small Business, Tuesday, March 13, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Quality Center for Business.

The deadline to register [...]]]> Smart pricing workshop presents new strategies

The San Juan College Small Business Development Center will partner with Chris Hunter, MBA, to address the common challenge of pricing in a workshop titled Smart Pricing for Small Business, Tuesday, March 13, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Quality Center for Business.

The deadline to register is Friday, March 9.

In a slow economy, customers are still buying, but they’re buying smarter. In this interactive seminar, participants will learn how smarter pricing policies can work for their business and customers.

In addition to fielding questions, Hunter will address:  Essentials of pricing; Volume and profit margin; The role of pricing in customer’s decision making; and Pricing strategies that increase cash flow but reduce market share.

There is a fee of $16.07 per person, which is payable at the door, and participants should plan to bring their lunch for the brown bag workshop.

For questions or to register, contact Jill Bumby at 505.566.3528, or via email at bumbyj@sanjuancollege.edu.  Early registration is encouraged as seating is limited.