October 7th, 2014: Local Headlines

Here’s a look at today’s headlines:

Grant County Clerk Robert Zamarripa would like to remind everyone that Early/Absentee Voting has started at the Grant County Clerk’s Office: 1400 Hwy 180 East.  Early Voting hours are Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm.  Early Voting at the Bayard Community Center will begin on October 18^th on Tuesdays through Saturdays from 9 am to 6 pm.  The final day for Early Voting at either location will be Saturday, November 1^st.

Absentee and Early Voting for Luna County will be held at the Luna County Clerk’s Office: 700 S Silver in Deming, from October 7^th through the 31^st.  Early Voting will be open Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm.  Early Voting will also be available at the Mimbres Valley Learning Center, 2300 East Pine Street in Deming October 18^th through November 1^st.  Voting will be open Tuesday through Friday from 11 am to 7 pm and Saturdays from 9 am to 5 pm.  The final day for Early Voting at either location will be November 1^st.

Grant County Sheriff’s Deputies received a call early Saturday morning in regards to a missing person.  14 year old Angel Vasquez was last seen with Renee Nino, also known as Renee Hernandez or Renee Martinez.  According to the report, Nino was supposed to take Vasquez home from school on Friday, but they never returned.  The two were last seen together in a 2001 Saturn car, but the car has been recovered by Pinal County Sheriff’s Deputies in Arizona.  Authorities were able to speak with Nino, and were told Vasquez went with him voluntarily and does not want to go home.

Four Chino Mine workers have been released from the hospital after an incident at the mine outside Bayard last Friday forced an evacuation of the area.  The four workers suddenly became ill while working on the Chino Mine’s heap leach stockpiles and required hospitalization at GRMC.  A spokesman for Freeport McMoRan stated that this was an isolated incident and other operations at the mine were not affected.

Border Patrol agents arrested a group of drug smugglers early last week near the Santa Teresa Port of Entry.  An agent noticed shoe prints of multiple subjects around 4 am Tuesday morning.  The all-terrain vehicles unit was called in to help track the suspected smugglers.  The footprints eventually led agents to four abandoned duffle bags of marijuana, and agents continued to follow footprints until three subjects were found about two hours later, headed south toward the boarder.  The other two subjects were found attempting to go back through their initial entry point from Mexico.

A four-month old baby girl was found left inside a car in the Wal Mart Parking lot in Deming.  Deming Police responded after a customer noticed the child and called Luna County Central Dispatch.  Officers took custody of the child to make sure she was not harmed and were approached by a woman claiming to be the child’s mother.  She told officers she forgot the baby was in the car, and had left her other children with a relative.  Isabel Lozano, 22, of Deming, was arrested and charged with abandonment or abuse of a child.