August 4th, 2014: Local Headlines

Here’s a look at today’s headlines:

According to officials, the heavy rain last month made it one of the wettest July’s on record in parts of New Mexico.  Grant County continues under a Flash Flood Watch through midnight August 5^th.  Thunderstorms with heavy rainfall exist across south-central and southwestern New Mexico.  Showers and thunderstorms producing heavy rainfall will create excess runoff with the potential to cause flooding along drainages, arroyos, small streams, and low water crossings.  Storms are expected to taper off later tonight.

The Gila Friends Meeting Gathered at Gough Park on Sunday to commemorate the 69^th anniversary of the first wartime detonation of nuclear weapons, August 6^th on Hiroshima, and August 9^th on Nagasaki.  The commemoration included silent prayer and reflection, compassionate remembrance, statements, and the discussion of a number of issues related to war and peace.

The Clay Festival also wrapped up this weekend.  Despite the rainy weather, people of all ages were out enjoying the Festival’s many events on Saturday.  Clay Festival Students had created, broken, and glazed their pottery pieces, and then used the fired pieces to create mosaic pottery.  Students also crafted clay teapots, which were cut into three pieces and shared with the class so that each student was left with three unique pieces from different teapots.

The Silver City Museum is hosting Smokey Bear’s birthday on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2014, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. and the public is invited to attend.  To celebrate Smokey Bear’s 70th birthday, the museum will have birthday cake for everyone and prizes to giveaway. This is your opportunity to meet Smokey and have your photo taken with him.

The Matney Family will host Music in the Park at the Glenwood Park on Saturday, August 16^th.  The special guests will be the Canfields, “We Ain’t Much”, Bost Family Traditions, and Jericho: Country Gospel Band.  If you go, plan for good food, great music, and tons of family fun.

Veterans’ Service Organizations, service providers, agencies and others who wish to be a part of the 2014 Military & Veterans Appreciation Day at the State Fair are invited to attend a meeting on Wednesday, August 13 at 1:30pm at American Legion Post 13 in Albuquerque, located at 1201 Mountain Road NE.  The meeting will be conducted by The New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services and the New Mexico State Fair—the two agencies along with the New Mexico Department of Military Affairs which annually present the tribute at the state fair honoring the men and women of our military.

Last week, Senator Martin Heinrich, one of the leading voices in addressing the Central American refugee crisis stated that “inaction is not a viable solution to this incredibly serious problem.” He added that it is “absolutely irresponsible to believe that this humanitarian crisis will somehow fix itself.”  The Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, though it failed on a procedural vote, would have included $2.73 billion dollars to allow for the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice to deploy additional enforcement resources before the funding runs out.  The proposal also included $225 million for Israel’s “Iron Dome” missile defense system and $615 million for the Department of Agriculture to reimburse funds that were transferred from critical forest health and fire preparedness programs to cover enormous wildfire suppression costs this summer.

The Silver City Golf Course recently hosted the New Mexico Women’s State Amateur Championship Golf Tournament.  Local ladies Dagmar Lane and Julie Curran of the Silver City Ladies Golf Association participated and won in their flight.  Congratulations to Dagmar and Julie.