County officials rip sheriff, turning 104 at Micky D's and NMSU tackles practice field

County officials rip sheriff over comments on school security; Stewart responds

Sheriff Kim Stewart was the focus of stern criticism at the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday morning over comments the sheriff made at a community event last week.

Stewart had just left the chambers after announcing a break in a 37-year-old unsolved murder case when Commissioner Diana Murillo accused Stewart of scapegoating the board for a lack of school resource officers in the southern part of the county.

"This is all misinformation, making us — the commissioners — look bad, like we're not doing our job," she remarked.

On Aug. 4, Stewart was part of a panel discussion in Anthony focusing on school security within the Gadsden Independent School District, most of which is located over a large area of Doña Ana County south of Las Cruces including communities that do not have municipal police departments but are covered by the sheriff's department.

The flap continued playing out, long after Stewart left the Commission's chambers — much of it in her absence.

Las Cruces Sun-News reporter Algernon D'Ammassa covered these latest developments for the Sun-News. He said:

Providing school resource officers has emerged as a hot political issue as well as a matter of governance. The sheriff's department says it does not have the personnel necessary to provide school resource officers for sites at the Gadsden Independent School District. It halted that service in 2019.

This summer, however, interest in posting law enforcement at schools surged in the wake of the mass murder at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas in May. Superintendent Travis Dempsey is under pressure from his school board and his community to find SROs, especially for schools in the county's unincorporated communities. Sheriff Stewart caught flack from county commissioners and the county manager for saying she could not get staff approved in her budget, when her agency has about 25 open law enforcement positions.

And all the while, Gadsden ISD is pulling out all the stops to get more eyes on all of their schools: They're recruiting parents to patrol schools, and paying for volunteers' background checks.

Las Cruces man celebrates his 104th birthday at his favorite McDonald's spot

Las Cruces’ Jack Saunders Sr. turned 104 Tuesday, Aug. 9 and celebrated with friends and family at McDonald’s — his favorite hang-out spot for the past several decades.

Saunders has frequented the McDonald’s on North Main Street and Solano Drive for years now, ordering a cup of coffee and an occasional cinnamon roll. He would join a group of others who enjoy spending time together at the fast-food restaurant.

While the COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench in his daily outing, he and his son, Jack Saunders Jr., 75, made do.

“They take care of us; they treat us like family,” Saunders Jr. said.

McDonald’s employees brought out a birthday cake for the 104-year-old Tuesday. He was all smiles as he chowed down on the sweet treat.

Our reporter, Leah Romero, was there to celebrate alongside Jack's family and friends. She said:

I got notice of a birthday party for Jack Saunders Sr. Tuesday morning and quickly ran over to McDonald's on Main Street and Solano Drive. There, I found a group of friends had taken over multiple tables. Everyone was eating birthday cake.

Saunders turned 104 Tuesday and family and friends joined in celebrating him at his favorite local watering hole. He and his son, Jack Saunders Jr., have enjoyed a cup of coffee and good conversation at the fast-food restaurant for several decades now. It seemed to be less about the food and more about the group of people who have gathered at the same place over the years, getting to know each other.

Since the article on Saunders published, I've received several emails from other members of the community wishing the man a happy birthday and encouraging me to find more out about his apparent "artistic talents." I may have to see about another interview with him. Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson, former NFL wide receiver, also tweeted our post of the story, sharing our local story with his more than three million followers.

‘Dorothy was a typical teenager.’ DASO identifies Upham Girl as Wichita runaway

Dorothy Harrison, 16, left her home in Wichita, Kansas on July 25, 1984.

She traveled to Los Angeles and then to the El Paso area. Then, about a year after she left home, someone killed Harrison. Her body was left in a shallow grave near the Upham exit on Interstate 25. For 37 years, her remains went unidentified. She was referred to simply as the “Upham Girl.”

Last year, the case fell into the lap of Doña Ana Sherriff’s detective Melissa Agullo. Thirty-seven years of failing to identify Harrison ended when Agullo made a few calls to the right people.

DASO hosted a news conference Tuesday to announce they’d identified Harrison’s remains. The announcement is the most significant development in the 37-year-old case since rabbit hunters discovered Harrison’s remains on March 10, 1985.

Our public safety reporter, Justin Garcia, was there. He said:

When I started this job, I used to wonder why anyone would talk to me. After all, I'm asking them about how their loved one was killed or hurt or whatever. It's clearly very personal and, in many cases the worst thing to ever happen to someone. But more often than not, people want to talk. 

Eventually, I stopped wondering and started asking. I'd ask "Hey, we're done with the interview, but I have to ask, why tell me any of this?" 

The answers surprised me. I'm no stranger to experiencing tragedy. Like many people, there's been plenty of death and suffering in my life. I'd always imagined ignoring any media requests if something in my life rose to the level of public attention. But the folks I talked to changed my mind. For many, the answer was simple: talking to a reporter guarantees that their story is known. For some whose cases are unsolved, that means a chance at justice. Others just want to see their reality reflected in them. 

I hope the coverage of Dorothy Harrison is enough to bring some solace to the family. Maybe they feel like now, there's a chance that Dorothy's story could have an ending. 

Watching the grass grow: New Mexico State addressing practice football field

The New Mexico State football team has been conducting fall camp practices at Aggie Memorial Stadium. The team's new head coach is not thrilled about it.

Jerry Kill’s team also had spring practice in the stadium, but the August temperatures in Las Cruces and field turf are not ideal for practice compared to cooler temperatures in the spring.

The Aggies hope to be able to return to the grass practice field behind the stadium within the next two weeks, as years of wear and tear made it an unsafe playing surface.

“To fix something like that takes time and unfortunately it's not ready yet, so we are on 110 (degree) turf," Kill said. "It's part of changing things and I think people are working to do that. I would rather have it done right, instead of not right."

Our Sports Editor, Jason Groves, who covers Aggie Football, has long followed this story. Jason said:

The practice football field as a safety issue has been brought up by former football coach Doug Martin multiple times over the past couple years. The football team actually had two football fields, but one was replaced when the school added women's soccer a few years ago. 

It kind of came to a head when the new head coach, Jerry Kill, held spring practice in May inside the stadium because the practice field was deemed unsafe. That's about the time (Athletic Director) Mario Moccia enlisted a turfgrass expert, who is also a professor at the University, to kind of oversee a lengthy process to restore the field. Obviously, when the team started to practice for the upcoming season, also in the stadium, in the August heat instead of the spring, why are they still in the stadium?

They currently practice in the morning, but the temperature on the turf when they finish around noon is above 100 degrees, which can lend itself to cramping or other dehydration issues, but that is preferable to potentially more serious physical injuries that could occur by practicing on an uneven grass surface. It's at least 15 degrees cooler on the grass field. The practice field actually looks better than I thought it would and the team is probably a week or two from being able to start practicing on it.

The Reporter's Notebook Podcast, Ep. 29: A mass shooting in Canada evokes echoes of El Paso

In this week’s episode, we’re talking to Lauren Villagran, who generally covers border issues for the El Paso Times. But she recently crossed a different border — the U.S./Canadian border — to take on an issue that is near and dear to the hearts of El Pasoans and fronterizos. Lauren traveled to Portapique, Nova Scotia, where, one night in April 2020, “in the time it took for the Bay of Fundy’s high tide to drain into the Atlantic and swell back up again to the wooded coast,” as Lauren wrote, “a deranged man gunned down 22 people in their homes and on the street, in Portapique and the idyllic communities that line the west shore.”

As Lauren notes, there were echoes of El Paso's Aug. 3, 2019, mass shooting tragedy nine months earlier: the same number of initial victims, a shooter with easy access in the U.S. to "assault-style" firearms, a hashtag ending in "strong." But Canada’s response differed greatly from those in Texas and the United States.

Lauren was kind enough to join us this week to discuss her trip and her reporting. You can listen to it here.

Damien Willis is a Lead Reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News. He can be reached at 575-541-5443, dwillis@lcsun-news.com or @DamienWillis on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: County officials rip sheriff and turning 104 at Micky D's