Marisa Demarco

A chat with one of the founders of New Mexico's Gay Rodeo Association

Bob Pimantel is the kind of guy who wears his light-colored cowboy hat and easy smile naturally. He's about to get a new title: grand marshall. Pimantel is one of three founding fathers of New Mexico's Gay Rodeo Association (NMGRA), and he'll be bestowed the fancy new moniker alongside Mark Marshall at this year's event for his major contributions to the rodeo's parent organization.

A task force's call for more strident penalties for New Mexico bars has been answered [News Feature, "Strong Medicine," July 6-12]. On Aug. 10, Gov. Bill Richardson announced amendments to the Liquor Control Regulations that tightened the rules, though it's not quite the squeeze many bar owners were fearing.

On the frontlines of environmental justice

Overheard at a meeting of the Four Hills Neighborhood Association, held at the Four Hills Country Club: “We must do our part as our city grows. Industry must locate somewhere. I move we get an asphalt and concrete plant to build at the Ninth Hole.”

Wes Naman

Getting into politics, grassroots-style

Martha Dominguez takes politics personally.

Being an indigenous person from Honduras left her with no other choice. Though she says her home country’s government fails to be as openly nasty toward indigenous peoples as, say, Guatemala, it's not above shooting protesters and removing fingernails in a most unpleasant manner.

“My father was the first indigenous doctor in Honduras,” she says. “He had his car blown up."

The car bomb was most likely the work of the government, she says. He survived.

Local group hopes their event will help lawmakers see the shortcomings of mental health care in New Mexico

Mental health care is a community issue people seldom talk about. Yet, this week, it will be a majot topic of discussion.

Wes Naman

Simultaneously duller than a chalk butter knife yet utterly terrifying, last week’s City Council meeting--the first after the Council's monthlong hiatus--oozed paradox. This mad beast meandered on for seven hours, testing the collective resolve of those with short attention spans, but the topics of discussion were far from boring. Floods, gentrification, crime, police brutality, the slow erosion of Duke City history and housing developments turned into illegal speedways were all debated thoroughly. One public commenter claimed city workers conspired to steal 13 of his dogs. Irate homeowners waged a war of words with a shifty cell phone company rep over a telecommunications tower impeding their view. The police department unloaded old German Shepherds at bargain basement rates.

We Need a Reason—We get spooked. In the wake of another attempted terrorist attack uncovered by the Brits last week, I, for one, was pretty creeped out. That might have something to do with my lack of faith in airport security.

Dateline: Canada--A judge in Newfoundland wasn’t buying a drunk driver’s argument that it wasn’t the rum in his rum and cola that caused him to kill a 15-year-old boy in a hit and run--it was the cola. According to the Toronto Star, Robert Parsons of St. John’s, N.L., remained silent as Justice David Orr found him guilty of failing to remain at the scene of an accident. “It is not the verdict I had hoped for,” Bob Simmonds, Parsons’ lawyer, said outside court last week. In March 2005, Parsons struck and killed Matthew Churchill while he was driving his car in St. John’s. At his trial, Parsons testified that he consumed three rum and colas before he got behind the wheel of his car. Parsons argued that he had no recollection of the accident and was in a “state of automatism brought on by a diabetic blackout.” Parsons will be sentenced Sept. 29.

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