WINNERS
Local motorists
Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano tells SFR that at the same intersection where 22-year-old Angelina Cano�s car was demolished on Sept. 30�and Cano thrown out�there have been �numerous� near misses involving other wrong-way drivers. And this is just the latest case of a suspected wrong-way driver on New Mexico highways. As Cano lays in critical condition in the hospital, Solano has requested that traffic engineers take another look at the Eldorado intersection near Bobcat Crossover Road and possibly redesign a medium to mitigate future tragedies. The result should be a safer intersection for every motorist who uses it.
County paramedics
Paramedics typically perform their difficult duties without much fanfare, but every once in awhile an incident comes to light that shows what a hard job they really have. Confronted with the dead body of a 47-year-old man who apparently died after falling into a septic tank on Sept. 28�his foot protruding from the sewage�it fell to Santa Fe County paramedic firefighters to pull the body out.
Santa Fe moviemaking
Hollywood on the Santa Fe River? The success of
3:10 to Yuma
, filmed entirely in and around Santa Fe, Galisteo and Abiquiu (even though the movie�s fictitious gangster storyline plays out in Arizona circa 1870), reinforces the county�s higher profile in the moviemaking world. The remake of the 1957 Western reportedly employed more than 400 locals and has had a box office take of $37 million so far.
LOSERS
Santa Fe County juvenile jail
In the wake of Santa Fe County Deputy Jail Director Greg Parrish�s resignation last week, upheaval at the juvenile lockup has hit a new low. The Associated Press reports that nearly half of the facility�s 80 employees have resigned or been fired as an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct moves forward. County spokesman Stephen Ulibarri has conceded �egregious� activity at the juvenile facility, as well as a �sexually charged environment.� But apart from assuring the public that a new computer system blocks jail computers from accessing Internet porn, county officials aren�t saying much.
State Department of Tax and Revenue
The New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department says it made a mistake when it miscalculated the funds available to county anti-DWI programs this year. Santa Fe County was �overpaid� by more than $200,000�money that will have to be repaid to the state over two years. When the dust settles, the program will have to absorb a 12.8 percent reduction in its budget.
County labor relations
Something�s a little off when the county�s Human Resources staff says it wants to create a new local labor board to boost labor-management cooperation, even though a free-of-charge substitute board already exists at the state level. Sure enough, local union members voiced their opposition to the management-inspired idea, and county commissioners voted it down on Sept. 25. The idea might get a second look from the Board of County Commissioners�at least a few commissioners seem to support a local board over the existing state board in theory�but local unions� opposition doesn�t seem to be softening. The episode has highlighted general labor unrest among a variety of unionized county employees.
