Here’s a look at today’s headlines:
This Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm, the Silver City Police Department and Grant County Sheriff’s Department, along with the Drug Enforcement Administration, will give the public an opportunity to rid their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. Bring your pills for disposal to Walgreen’s between 10 and 2. The service is free and anonymous. This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that linger in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion and misuse, and rates of prescription drug abuse is alarmingly high. In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines – flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash – both pose potential safety and health hazards.
A memorandum of understanding was signed by President Joseph Shepard and Village of Columbus Mayor Phillip Skinner on Saturday, September 13 increasing the opportunities of education offered at the local level for residents in the Columbus, New Mexico area. The signing marks the latest in a series of agreements that WNMU is formalizing with schools, universities, and communities in the area, and outlines several areas of cooperation recognizing the interests of both organizations to expand learning opportunities in the communities.
The WNMU Office of Alumni Affairs is hosting a weekend filled with events during homecoming the first weekend of October. Events will include the third annual Alumni Scholarship Golf Tournament, the proceeds from which benefit student scholarships. There will also be a dinner recognizing Distinguished and Oustanding Alumni, breakfast, the annual Homecoming Parade, and the Mustang Football Homecoming game against Fort Lewis College. Entries are being sought for the Homecoming Parade. Community organizations, non-profits, small businesses, and candidates for office are all encouraged to submit an entry into the parade by going to http://www.wnmu.edu/homecoming-reserve.
USDA Rural Development State Director Terry Brunner presented a certificate of obligation earlier this afternoon to fund the expansion of recycling efforts in rural New Mexico to the New Mexico Recycling Coalition. USDA Rural Development provided a $30,000 Rural Business Enterprise Grant which will be used to develop small-scale recycling business including the collection of recyclables to the creation of businesses that will be able to create products that would end up in a land fill. The funding will also pay for technical assistance to business owners that are in the process of launching their recycling businesses. Targeted communities include; Alamogordo, Angel Fire, Catron County, Deming, Gallup, Grants, Las Vegas, Raton, Roswell, Ruidoso, Silver City, Taos, Truth or Consequences and Tucumcari. These communities were selected based on the success of current recycling programs, and the potential for the area to grow and expand recycling businesses.
