Contact Information

shenstewcat@gmail.com

Saturday, December 15, 2018

Nutcracker THIS WEEKEND. Such a special holiday event




 DalĂ­ Ballet Company of Ruidoso presents three live performances featuring company dancers and guest artists in the classic holiday favorite, Tchaikovsky’s
“The Nutcracker”
at the Spencer Theater for the Performing Arts in Alto Saturday, December 22 at 2 PM & 7 PM and
Sunday, December 23 at 2 PM.
For ticket information:
575-336-4800 or 1-888-818-7872.
Online tickets purchases at www.spencertheater.com
the mice are one of my favorite parts of the ballet,
so cute!


Friday, December 14, 2018

Saturday, Dec 15 at 9 am - place wreaths at Fort Stanton Military Cemetery

Wreaths Across America   Article written by Holly Braden -- Volunteers are needed and welcome to help place Christmas wreaths on the graves of our veterans this Saturday, December 15th, at 9 am. The wreath laying will take place at the Fort Stanton Military Cemetery. This project is supported and sponsored by the cemetery and the Spencer Theater ushers led by Cecile Kinnan.  It is part of the National Wreaths Across America project.

The cemetery is located on Hwy 220 off HWY 48 on Airport Rd. or through Capitan on HWY 48 to 380 to 220. It is near Ft. Stanton. Wreaths will be placed regardless of the weather, so be sure to check the conditions at Ft. Stanton and come appropriately dressed.

Friday, December 7, 2018

Another choir singing. Public invited to attend.

The Corona and Carrizozo Community Choirs

“Rural Community Choir Heads West for a Lincoln County Christmas”


The holiday music season in western Lincoln County will be made brighter 
again this year with major Christmas concert performances of “Celebrate the
 Child Who is the Light”  by the combined Corona, Ancho and Carrizozo 
community choirs, the largest choral performance group in Lincoln 
County. The group’s initial performance was December 3rd in Corona.
 They now go on the road for a Capitan performance on Sunday,
 December 9, 3:00 pm at the United Methodist Church, 228 3rd Street.
 The final group performance will be on Sunday December 16, 3:00 pm at 
 Trinity United  Methodist Church in Carrizozo. 
The performance time is approximately 35 minutes and the 
general public from across Lincoln and 
Torrance Counties including tourist visitors to the region are invited.
 Refreshments will be served following the concert at each location. 

The 30+ member choir also hails from across Lincoln County – 
Corona, Ancho, White Oaks, Carrizozo, Alto, Ruidoso and the
 ‘rural ranch country’ in-between.
 Choral direction has been provided by Carrizozo’s Scott Shafer and Sherrill 
Bradford of Corona. Rehearsals for the group started in October and have
 taken place in Corona, at the Old Ancho School House and in Carrizozo. 
The concert features “Celebrate the Child Who is the Light” created by 
Canadian composer Tom Fettke.
 The choral work provides heart-warming music and an 
inspirational narration with rich melodies and harmonies. The musical score
 focuses on the birth of Christ, weaving a variety of large choral works and 
several vocal solos, amid the narration of the timeless Christmas story.
 Accompanists include Cheryl Smith of Carrizozo and Becky Kohl of 
Corona, with Bob Curtiss of Carrizozo providing the narration. 
If You Go:                                                                                                                                                  What: “Celebrate the Child Who is the Light”,  performed by the Corona and
 Carrizozo Community Choirs                                                                                                                                                            When and Where: 3:00 pm December 9 at the Capitan United Methodist 
Church  and                                                      3:00 pm Sunday December 16 at Trinity United Methodist Church in 
Carrizozo.                                                                                                                                                                  
 How Much: No Charge. Free! 
For more information on concert dates and times, contact 
Scott Shafer 648.2142 or  Sherrill Bradford at 849-1633.   

Sunday, December 2, 2018

It's Nutcracker time!

DalĂ­ Ballet Company of Ruidoso presents three live performances featuring company dancers and guest artists in the classic holiday favorite, Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” at the Spencer Theatre for the Performing Arts in Alto on Saturday, December 22 at 2 PM & 7 PM and Sunday, December 23 at 2 PM.
For ticket information: 575-336-4800 or
1-888-818-7872
www.spencertheater.com

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Free to the public: NM Wood Industry Summit Comes to Ruidoso November 16 &17


Greater Ruidoso WUI Working Group
 Otero WUI Working Group
Ruidoso, New Mexico 88345
Contact:  Rick Merrick
Cell:        (575) 937-1789
Email:     rmerrick@scmrcd.org

New Mexico Wood Industry Summit Comes to Ruidoso November 16 and 17”

 Is There A Forest Industry in New Mexico ???
Let’s talk wood! The New Mexico’s forest industry will be gathering in Ruidoso for the first New Mexico Wood Industry Summit, to be held Friday/Saturday November 16 and 17, 2018 at the Ruidoso Convention Center. The Summit is designed to meet the needs and interests of the New Mexico wood industry and will include presentations and panel discussions on a variety of topics. A trade show with exhibit booths will also be available as well as special activities for youth. Private contractors, wood users, equipment manufacturers, plus state and federal and tribal government officials are expected to attend. The two day event is free and open to the Public.

“We are interested in attracting people from across New Mexico and the southwest,” stated organizer Rick Merrick (Lincoln and Otero County forester). “Our combined interest of revitalizing the regional and state-wide forest products industry as well as improving forest health and watershed improvement has led to this groundbreaking event.” Merrick added that he hoped the general public would also be interested in attending, particularly young people interested in Forest related careers.  

Don Vandendriesche, Deputy Director of USDA Forest Service’s Southwestern Region and former New Mexico State Forester/USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources/ current Mescalero Apache Tribe  President Aurthur “Butch” Blazer are expected to highlight a strong speaker lineup. Door prizes and other giveaways will be available as well as equipment demonstrations and wood products. 

Event sponsors include the South Central Mountain RC & D, Eastern New Mexico University at Ruidoso, Little Bear Forest Reform Coalition, Otero County Electric Cooperative, MCM Elegante Lodge and Resort, Boss LLC/Rick Evans, Upper Hondo Soil and Water Conservation District, Custom Crates and Pallets LLC, the Village of Ruidoso, New Mexico State Unversity and Garrison Tree Service.
For more information on the summit or to register for the event, contact Rick Merrick at 575-937-1789.                                                             



Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Rain in September

No charts - only inches reported this month 3.39 inches. 

Clarification on Absentee and Early Voting

Regarding the timeline to vote in person in Carrizozo, absentee and (what we historically called) Absentee in Person voting begins on October 9th .  This provides an option for voters to cast a ballot in the Office of the County Clerk as of that date.

However, the Early Vote Site in the County Conference Room opens on Monday, October 22nd.  
              
We are happy to accommodate voters at this time in the Office of the County Clerk but, with limited space and staff, we encourage those who don't have an immediate need to cast a ballot in person to utilize the Early Vote Site beginning October 22nd  which is staffed by an appointed precinct board.    Please feel free to call the Lincoln County Clerk's Office at 1 800 687 2705 ext 6 if you need any type of assistance with voting.

Rhonda Burrows
Lincoln County Clerk

Lincoln County Votes!

Friday, October 12, 2018

Absentee and Early Voting

Yesterday October 9th was the last day to register to vote and the first day for County Clerk’s to mail absentee ballots.   The Lincoln County Clerk’s office has mailed out 474 absentee ballots as of today October 10th.   

Individuals may vote an absentee ballot in person at the Office of the County Clerk in Carrizozo as of yesterday but as a reminder our Early Vote Sites will open October 20th in Ruidoso at the Horton Complex and October 22 in Carrizozo at the Lincoln County Courthouse.     We encourage voters who may not be able to cast a ballot in person at one of our six Election Day Vote Centers to Early Vote at one of these two sites:

Horton Complex                                
237 Service Rd. Ruidoso
Tuesday thru Saturday   October 20th -- November 3rd     10 am to 6 pm

County Clerk’s Office
300 Central Ave. Carrizozo
Monday thru Friday    October 9th – November 2nd   8 am to 5 pm
 Voter Guides which provide information regarding the Constitutional Amendments and Bond Questions are available through the Lincoln County Clerk Office Website

English: https://www.lincolncountynm.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2018-Voter-Guide-English-FINAL.pdf

Spanish: https://www.lincolncountynm.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2018-Voter-Guide-Spanish-FINAL.pdf

Please feel free to contact the County Clerk’s Office at 575 648 2394 ext 6 if you need further information.   

Lincoln County Votes! 

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

e-Waste recycling November 2

The Greentree Solid Waste Authority (GSWA) will be conducting its annual electronic waste (e-waste) recycling event on Saturday November 3rd, from 9:00 am to 12 Noon at the Greentree recycling Center, 26590 US Highway 70 east of Ruidoso Downs. Residents of Corona, Carrizozo, Capitan, Ruidoso, Ruidoso Downs, Mescalero, and the Sun Valley Water and Sanitation District may bring e-waste items to be recycled at no charge. You will need to bring a water or trash bill from the above communities in order to drop off e-waste at Greentree.

Region 9 employees, however, in working with GSWA, may bring e-waste items to the Region 9 offices during the week of October 29 to November 1where a GSWA volunteer will transport them at no charge on behalf of R9 to the Recycling Center.  R9 school districts and the Mescalero Apache Schools should contact GSWA event coordinator Jim Miller at 937.2873 to arrange for large volume e-waste drop-off at the GSWA facility.

Saturday, September 22, 2018

Register to vote!

Tuesday, September 25th is National Voter Registration Day!    The Lincoln County Clerk’s Office urges those residents of Lincoln County who have not registered to vote or need to update their registration to go online at www.NMVote.org and register now.   If you do not currently have a New Mexico Driver’s License but reside here in Lincoln County please call (1 800 687 2705 ext 6)or come to the Lincoln County Clerk’s Office and we will provide you with a paper Voter Registration Form.     The deadline to register and vote in the upcoming 2018 General Election is October 9, 2018.  

Turn out and vote to receive our new I Voted in Lincoln County Sticker!



Tuesday, November 6th is Election Day in Lincoln County.   I am including a copy of the bookmarks we distribute with relevant dates.   Please call the County Clerk’s Office if you need any assistance. 



Rhonda Burrows, Lincoln County Clerk   rburrows@lincolncountynm.gov

Sunday, September 16, 2018

SAVE THE LINCOLN HISTORIC SITE

We the Friends of Historic Lincoln (501c3), and our supporters, strongly oppose the removal of the Highway Department signs which prevent trucks than 65' from utilizing any portion of U.S. Highway 380 from the intersection of U.S. 380 and Highway 70 at Hondo, NM to the intersection of U.S. Highway 380 and U.S. Highway 54 at Carrizozo, NM without permit authorization.  I would like my name added to the petition being presented at the NM Transportation Commission meeting on September 20, 2018.
Please click on the link provided below to sign the petition.
Why Save, Protect and Preserve 
The Lincoln, NM Historic Site?
Currently, NMDOT has deemed the historic, serene section of HWY 380 from Hondo to Carrizozo unsafe for large, oversized truck traffic. Not only for it's narrow, scenic curves, but for touring pedestrian safety and preservation of the historic adobe buildings from excessive vibration. 
A few special interests are demanding the excessive truck weight limit restrictions be lifted. This will enable Hwy 380 to become a heavily trafficked large haul shipping corridor so they may save on transport costs. They are requesting this with complete disregard for the safety and preservation of our Historic Site. Please join Friends of Historic Lincoln in preventing this from happening. The NMDOT meeting will take place Thursday, September 20th and we need your signature for our opposition to be heard.
Thank you!
Lincoln's History
The Lincoln Historical District was added to the National Historic Landmark Register in 1966 and to the State Register in 1968. In 1972 the Lincoln County Commission established the Lincoln Historical District and enacted legislation that ensured strict architectural limits on building in the village and surrounding areas.
Today's visitors can see the Old Lincoln County Courthouse with museum exhibits that recount the details of the Lincoln County War and the historic use of the "House" as store, residence, Masonic Lodge, courthouse, and jail. Walk in the footsteps of Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and other famous and infamous characters of the Wild West. Trace the events of 1878 through the Courthouse and the Tunstall Store, with their preserved 19th-century atmosphere.
Friends of Historic Lincoln is an independent, non-profit corporation organized under the laws of the State of New Mexico. It serves as a support organization for Lincoln Historic Site, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the State of New Mexico. 
Thank you for your support!

Sunday, September 9, 2018

More on paper recycling

Greentree Solid Waste Authority
Contact:  Debra Ingle, Operational Supervisor     Phone:  (575) 378-4697
FAX  (575) 378-4896    Email:     gswa@greentreeswa.org

Local Mixed Paper Recycling Going Away   A few days remain before Mixed Paper Recycling dumpsters will disappear from various Lincoln County locations. Since an earlier announcement to this effect, phone calls and email questions have been raised wondering -- just what is Mixed Paper?

Mixed paper that no longer can be recycled in this region consists of
·         white office paper
·         phone books
·         junk mail
·         catalogs and magazines
·         paperboard - the single layer paper-based material often used to package
·         dry food (crackers, cereal etc.), soft drink and beer bottles and cans boxes
Throw these items away in the trash.

Items that look like mixed paper are NOT included above
these can still be recycled in specifically labeled dumpsters
·         three layer (sandwich style) corrugated cardboard
·         paperback books
·         newspapers including the inserts/ads inside the paper

Items that look like mixed paper but are TRASH include
·         paper towels, tissue paper and paper wipes
·         styrofoam in any form
·         padded envelopes and overnight delivery envelopes of the type used by
FedEx, UPS and Amazon
·         egg cartons of any kind
·         bubble wrap/plastic film and overnight packaging
Throw these items in the trash.

A growing number of businesses and individuals are now shredding white office paper  (non-secure items), junk mail etc. Shredded paper can be recycled at Greentree Solid Waste, 26590 East US Highway 70 east of Ruidoso Downs. A shredded paper collection system is now under design consideration.

In a recent briefing at the Greentree Solid Waste Authority's August monthly meeting, Board members were informed that the plastics market continues to be strong as does corrugated cardboard, steel and aluminum. GSWA continues to work daily with several companies who continue to buy recycled materials. Some items are already available for reuse by local residents but reuse and reduction could see further expansion by consumers in and visitors to the region, according to Board President Ray Dean (Carrizozo).

For more information, contact the Solid Waste Authority office
at 575-378-4697 or toll free at 1-877-548-8772
or via email at gswa@greentreeswa.org.
Information on recent changes in the national recycling industry
is available at www.greentreeswa.org.



Thursday, August 9, 2018

Changes in recycling (& they had us so well trained...)

Mixed paper is NO LONGER a recyclable product.  Changes in Chinese material recycling markets in the past six months have caused dramatic changes in New Mexico recycling opportunities. Since China no longer accepts from the US a number of recycled materials to be repurposed, most New Mexico recycling centers have significantly reduced the range of material they will accept, or stopped recycling all together except for corrugated cardboard. Southwest US markets are insufficiently developed to create adequate demand for many recycled materials.

Two of those materials no longer accepted in our region are Paperboard and Mixed Paper. 
      Paperboard is that thin cardboard packaging in which we get soft drinks, beer, cereal, toothpaste, hair coloring, and a thousand other consumer products (see examples below). Mixed paper is white office paper (unless you shred paper, more about this in a future article), magazines, slick colored newspaper fallouts, catalogs, slick junk mail, etc. If you have been recycling these types of material, you will now need to place them in your trash along with other items to be discarded, eventually to be transported to the landfill.

Mixed Paper dumpster will be removed from our Green Tree Waste site.

Please let your friends and neighbors know about these changes and keep recycling those other things like clean No. 1 and No. 2 plastic, shredded office paper, aluminum and clean steel cans, corrugated cardboard, etc.

Sunday, July 29, 2018

2018 State Water Plan requests public comment

New Mexico First Blog
New State Water Plan open for public comment
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Important announcement: the draft 2018 State Water Plan has been released by the Interstate Stream Commission (ISC) and the Office of the State Engineer (OSE) for public comment. Although New Mexico First is not the author of this document, we highly encourage people who care about New Mexico’s water future to review the plan and submit comments. The draft plan has three parts – a policy section, a technical report and a legal landmarks summary. The comment period is open until August 10. Both the DRAFT State Water Plan https://drive.google.com/…/1nShFo9lSGDWz2KHtBQpZ5ZzMi8DnHfLS
and Comment Form are available online
http://nmose.isc.commentinput.com/?id=n9m8s7
In the 2014 New Mexico First Town Hall on water, participants advocated to strengthen and continue the state water planning process. Accordingly, New Mexico First has supported these latest water planning efforts by organizing a State Water Planning Town Hall in December 2017. This town hall provided the ISC with public input before the draft plan was developed. Given the importance of this work to our state, we sincerely hope you will your offer comments on this new plan.

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Statement from Sun Valley Water and Sanitation District

“A monthly water sample collected July 9 following the NM Drinking Water Bureau protocols showed test evidence of coliform contamination. The sample location was near the La Junta Guest Ranch where the Water District has been doing fire hydrant flushing. After the contamination was reported to the Drinking Water Bureau, Sun Valley System Operator quickly increased chlorination in the system storage tanks and at a nearby well. Within the week, the entire system chlorination was examined and balanced, again by the Sun Valley staff. A larger follow up sample drawn by an independent operator on July 23 was tested by the local lab, which found no further contamination in the Sun Valley System. The required Environment Department posting may be found in the window of the Bonito Fire Station.” 
Thanks. 

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Sun Valley Water & Sanitation DIstrict ongoing improvements

New pipeline for Cottage Grove in Little Creek Estates. 
Replaces pipeline installed ~1969

program of interest at Capitan Public Library: Sunday, July 15 at 2 pm "Precipitation variations in the Southwestern United States" presented by Bob Harper

Climate models tend to predict an increasingly arid 
future for the Southwestern United States, in large
part because of increased evaporation due to rising
global temperatures.  But current climate models do
not handle precipitation well, and are not able to 
accurately model natural variability.

This talk will leave the climate models, 
and present actual precipitation data across 
the Southwestern United States from 1860 to the 
present, focusing on the long term natural variability, 
which to date is much larger than any global warming
related precipitation component.  Multi-decadal variations 
of average precipitation of +/-20% around the long 
term mean are largely driven by Pacific Ocean sea surface
temperature changes.  

Presented by Bob Harper.  He has a A.B. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University (1965) & a PhD in Space Physics from Rice University (1972).  His dissertation was on the dynamics of the Earth's Upper Atmosphere. Harper was also a geophysicist in the Petroleum Industry.

Light refreshments afterwards.  

rain update from July 9th - And it is raining again RIGHT NOW! YEA!


Thursday, June 28, 2018

Cutting trees in the power lines

The crew from Rogers Tree Service with Otero County Electric Company
has adopted a more aggressive tree removal policy within the power line rights-of-way (10 feet either side of the utility pole).
 Rogers is working now in Sun Valley Water District. They will be removing “fast growing trees”, meaning ponderosa pine and Box Elder, Narrow Leaf Cottonwood and Poplar. This should reduce the potential for wildfire starts due to power line sparking, like the small fire down at Martell’s in Little Creek a couple of years ago (power line start, not due to lack of thinning). 

PNM has had that multiple wildfire start problems over the past several years in Ruidoso before resuming a more aggressive removal policy. 


Look for Rogers to be out here in the SVW District for a while.


Resulting tree limbs and trunks that are cut are the property of the landowner. DO NOT take this wood without asking permission from the landowner.