Here’s a look at today’s headlines:
Grant County Commissioners bid farewell to former County Manager Jon Saari at Tuesday’s Grant County workshop session and welcomed new manager Charlene Webb. Webb is a Silver City native who has 12 years of experience as Ruidoso County Manager. During the Grant County Commissioners Meeting, Gila Regional Medical Center CEO Brian Cunningham reported improvement to the hospital’s revenue, announcing the bottom line profit for the month of July is up.
The transition of home health and hospice from GRMC continues to local community organizations. Cunningham pointed out that GRMC wants to bring the hospital to the right size for the region and establish the core services that cannot be duplicated in the community, and pointed out that home health and hospice can be duplicated. The hospital is also transitioning the emergency room to Innova, a regional smaller company, from EmCare. The transition is expected to raise the bar of service. Another change being made is to the air ambulance service, which will grant a right of first refusal agreement to Tri-State.
The Bayard City Council met Monday to discuss Hanover’s water situation. The city of Bayard has been providing water to the Hanover Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Association for the past few months due to the declaration of an emergency by the HMDWC, but last month planned to cease its supply because Hanover had not been paying the water bill due based on the agreement that had been made. According to Hanover MDWCA board president Eddie Evatt, a well went dry last December, and the extra water from Bayard is truly helping out. Bayard agreed to keep supplying the town with water on a month to month basis if the association agrees to pay its bill within 15 days from the beginning of each month.
Chief Davalos of the Deming Fire Department will sound the horns and sirens of the firefighting fleet at the approximate times the north and south towers collapsed during the September 11th, 2001 attack tomorrow morning. The sirens will sound about 7:59 and 8:28 am. The sounding of the fleet is, according to Davalos, “a tribute to our fallen brothers and sisters – the emergency responders, Port Authority, firefighters, police and ambulance.” The Deming Firefighters will also be guests at Memorial Elementary School early Thursday morning as the school pays tribute to Deming and Luna County’s brave: the US Border Patrol, US Customs, Deming Police, Luna County Sheriff’s Office, State Police, and the Deming Fire Department.
Luna County Sheriff’s Deputies on were led on a high-speed pursuit with speeds reaching over 100 miles per hour on Saturday through Deming city and county streets. The chase began a little after 10 pm when a deputy spotted the black pickup truck driving at an excessive rate of speed and failing to stop at a posted four-way stop. The deputy took up pursuit and followed the truck through several alleyways and city streets. Fortunately, the only damages reported during the chase were to several mailboxes, though the vehicle nearly collided with another at the intersection of Tin and Pear Streets. Deming Police also eventually joined the chase, and after briefly losing officers in a mesquite field, the vehicle came to a stop in the 900 block of Solana Road. The driver was arrested and taken into custody without further incident. He is charged with aggravated fleeing from a law officer, reckless driving, and criminal damage to property.
