
Man dies at White Sands
A man was found dead this weekend at White Sands National Monument ($ LCSN). His cause of death has not been released, but highs in the area that day reached 99 degrees, and too little water is a common cause of distress and death. He was found less than a half a mile from the Alkali Flat trailhead. The man is the fourth person to die on the Alkali Flat trail in as many years.
The more things change…
That gnarly story originally reported by the Rio Grande Sun about a sheriff's deputy Tasing a 15-year-old special-education boy in the chest at school gets more prismatic by the day. The New Mexican found that Deputy Jeremy Barnes had been fired from a law enforcement post ($) in Grants for "a pattern of aggressive and confrontational behavior." The Rio Arriba County Sheriff's Office says it was not aware Barnes had been fired.
A good guy with a gun?
A man is dead after he pulled a gun on a woman at a brewery in Albuquerque. Cody Guy Wrathall, 43, was allegedly stalking his ex-girlfriend. He followed her to Nexus Brewery, where he brandished a weapon. Federal agents happened to be at the brewery, too, and shot Wrathall, who then died en route to the hospital.
Local lad does well
A UNM baseball player and alum of Los Alamos High has been selected for a Major League Baseball draft, and will play for the Detroit Tigers. Jared Mang, 22, has been a local star in the sport for a number of years now, and was team captain for the 2019 season at UNM.
That was quick
SFR announced a few weeks ago that we would be welcoming a third reporter into our newsroom for a year, thanks to a grant from Report for America. That writer, Katherine Lewin, who is set to concentrate on Santa Fe's Southside, is already seeing results from her reporting—and some of it came before her story was even published. She talked to residents about a neglected park off Rufina Street, and before she could hit "save" on a story about it, the city perhaps caught wind of her interest and had mowed the high grass. Parks & Rec says it will improve the area.
Fly on in
Airports around the state will see improvements thanks to nearly $14 million in federal dollars, but Santa Fe isn't on the list. Most of the money will go to Doña Ana County, the Four Corners region and in Lea County; Sen. Tom Udall said in a release that he hopes the improvements will both aid New Mexicans in their lives as well as improve local economies.
The right kind of proud
Jerky motorcycle riders vandalizing rainbow crosswalks last week couldn't put a damper on Pride celebrations in ABQ this weekend. Thousands showed up for the Pride parade on Saturday June 8, and Mayor Tim Keller marched, too. City Councilor Pat Davis said that "43 years ago, 30 people did the very first pride. Today there's 30,000 people on Central. That says an awful lot about our city and how far we've come."
Cool it, man
It got a li'l toasty this weekend, hitting 82 degrees at the Santa Fe airport. It'll be about 10 degrees cooler today, with a chance of thunderstorms.
Thanks for reading! The Word is proud of and thankful for her friend who gave Free Mom Hugs at ABQ Pride this weekend.