Here’s a look at your local headlines:
Western New Mexico University Museum and the Francis McCray Gallery of Contemporary Art will be the joint venues for Neo-Mimbreño 2014, a Silver City Clay Festival exhibition, on Saturday, August 2. Neo-Mimbreño 2014 is a juried fine art exhibition of contemporary works influenced or inspired by designs of the ancient Mimbres potters of the Southwest. Artists entering the exhibition were encouraged to creatively reinterpret, personalize, or carry the Mimbreño vision into new formats and media. Neo-Mimbreño 2014 will run from August 2 through August 30, 2014, and is made possible in part by contributions from the New Mexico Humanities Council, Western New Mexico University Museum, the Town of Silver City, and Western New Mexico University. Western New Mexico University Museum is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and closed University holidays.
Dozens of residents gathered at the Cliff High School Gym to hear the final reports from the Bureau of Reclamation concerning the decision on whether or not the Gila River will be diverted as part of the Arizona Water Settlements Act. The report focused on the three main diversion plans from the Gila Basin Irrigation Commission, the City of Deming, and the Hidalgo County Off-Stream Project. Many citizens feel the analysis is not complete enough to go to a preliminary decision next month. For example, none of the reports have taken evaporation, climate change, or endangered species impact into consideration.
Horizon Hospice is making plans to step up and take on those who will need care once Gila Regional Medical Center closes its hospice and home health care programs. Wanda Hall, owner of Horizon Hospice, was with the hospice program at GRMC at the start of the program, believes her staff is up to the task of taking on many of the patients from GRMC. GRMC and Horizon Hospice are continuing to work together to make the transitions as easy as possible for the patients.
Grant County Commissioners met on Tuesday to approve Charlene Webb as the new County Manager. Webb is currently the County Manager for Roosevelt County, but accepted the position recently after negotiating a contract with the interim manager, Abbey Robinson. Robinson has been serving since the May resignation of former County Manager Jon Saari. Also at the meeting, the Commissioners voted to appeal the US Forest Service’s Gila National Forest Travel Management Plan. The reasons for the appeal state the Forest Service did not cooperate with local agencies, and some roads closed by the Forest Service were not included in the travel management plan.
An NMSU Chemical Engineering student recently designed and developed water filters to be installed in houses and schools in Palomas. Palomas Mexico and Columbus, New Mexico, draw their water supplies from the same arsenic and fluoride contaminated aquifer. Columbus has installed a reverse osmosis system to provide residents with clean water, but Palomas’ water supply is only disinfected with chlorine. The NMSU student developed a combination of activated alumina and activated carbon to create a filter which reduces the amount of arsenic and fluoride levels in the water, and also serves to improve the waters’ taste. He also taught members of Border Partners, an area non-profit, how to build and install the filters.
