1984 Tijeras, New Mexico Pit Bull Ban History

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Syracuse Herald-Journal, Tuesday, December 31, 1983

News briefing

Perspective

Mayor Qoodt calls for racial unity

A BREED APART

PHILADELPHIAMayor W.Wilson Goode has met with community leaders in an effort to come up with a plan to defuse racial tension in the City of Brotherly Love. "This city was created as a model for religious and racial freedom, and we have to continue to be a model for this nation in that regard," Goode said Monday, after the meeting in his office. "We have to send a message... that in this city which William Penn founded 303 years ago any person, regardless of color, can live in any block he wants to live in." Goode said he plans to announce a series of initiatives Friday to help ease tension in the Elmwood neighborhood of southwest Philadelphia, letting him lift a five-week-old ban on gatherings of more than four people. . _ ••

"

- The Associated Press

School moment-of-silence law revised BOSTON — Students in Massachusetts public schools will have a daily moment of silence under a law that was revised to delete a reference to prayer. The new statute goes into effect 90 days after its signing Monday by Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, and was in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision in May in an Alabama case. The high court ruled that the Alabama law, similar to one passed in Massachusetts in 1980, Was unconstitutional because it contained a specific reference to students using the time for meditation or prayer. The revised Massachusetts law calls simply for "a period of silence not to exceed one minute in duration" to be observed at the start of each school day.

- The Associated Press "

Fourth slaying blamed on police ring MIAMI — A fourth slaying has been linked to a police drug rip-off ring already blamed for the drownings of three suspected drug dealers, and a fifth officer surrendered in connection with the ring, police said. Rodolfo Arias, 29, a former "Officer of the Month," was booked into Dade County Jail on Monday on charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, racketeering, two counts of armed trafficking of cocaine, grand theft and aggravated battery. Four other Miami police officers, who prosecutors say were part of a ring known as "The Enterprise," have been charged since last week. A former officer also has been charged.

South

— The Associated Press

Mill worker held in abduction of 2 girls STAPLETON, Ga. — A textile mill worker has been arrested in the abduction of two 12-year-old girls. Authorities say they believe the man acted alone even though the girls originally said there were two kidnappers. Buford Williams, 23, who lives in a rural area near Stapleton, was arrested at midnight Monday as he prepared to leave his job at the J.P. Stevens plant, Jefferson County Sheriff Zollie Compton said. Jennifer Barrow and Elizabeth Tanner were released Monday on the same dirt road where they had been abducted while riding bicycles Dec. 22. The girls said they were raped during the week they were held captive. — United Press International

Elections could shift council power CHICAGO — A federal judge ordered special elections March 18 in seven redrawn aldermanic wards that could shift City Council power from the majority opposition bloc to Mayor Harold Washington's supporters. — "There have been no fair aldermanic or committeeman elections in these wards since • 1981," U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle said Monday. Norgle, who last week approved the compromise remap drawn by attorneys for the council and the Justice Department, said the special elections should remedy the problem. The next regularly scheduled aldermanic election is not until 1987. The elections will coincide with the state primary and will decide the fate of at least five City Council seats currently held by majority-bloc aldermen. The majority bloc, opposed to the Washington administration, currently holds a 29-21 majority. A number of minority plaintiffs filed suit in 1982, alleging a 1981 ward map discriminated against minorities by diluting their voting power. - United Press International

Friends mourn freezing death of student ROCHESTER, Minn. — Students and teachers at Chosen Valley High School are mourning the death of an honor student who died wandering away from the scene of a traffic accident and spending 20 hours in temperatures that reached below zero. "He tried his best in everything he did," football coach Ken Jacobson said of Scott Gardner, 18, of Chatfield. Gardner, an honor roll student, starting defensive end on the football team and a member of this year's homecoming royalty, died Sunday in the intensive care unit of St. Mary's Hospital. Searchers had found him, clinically dead, Saturday in a ravine northeast of Chatfield and rushed him by helicopter the 25 miles to Rochester. Olmsted County authorities said Gardner wandered away from three friends on a county road early Saturday as they walked to a farm after their'pickup truck slid into a ditch. — Tht Astocleted Press

Girl may know who buried her in desert PHOENIX, Ariz. — A 4-year-old girl who was rescued from a 3-footdeep, plywood-covered hole in the desert may know who buried her alive and may be "try'ing to protect the person," authorities say. The child, Jessica Anne Hardesty, was interviewed Monday by a woman detective, but "any time a man walks in the room, she gets pretty obviously scared," said Cpl. Jay Ellison of the Maricpa County Sheriff's Department. "We feel she knows the suspect," Ellison said. "The fact that • she's 4 years old and knows the suspect, that doesn't include a lot of people."

West

- The Associated Preu

Gunman robs California congressman LOS ANGELES — A congressman was robbed while walking to his car from a bank by a gunman who fired one shot that passed through the legislator's trouser leg without injuring him, police said. Rep. Glenn Anderson, D-Calif., was confronted at about 11:30 a.m. Monday, by a lone gunman outside a First Interstate Bank in the Wilmington district, police said. Anderson,-72, is a former lieutenant governor of California. "The gunman demanded money and subsequently fired one shot from a handgun at Mr. Anderson, which passed through his pant leg," Capt. Robert McVey said. "The suspect grabbed Anderson's briefcase and fled in a white van," said McVey. Police later recovered the briefcase, which contained a small amount of monev. — United Press International

Pit bulls have killed 12 people since 1982

By Fred

Associated Press Writer TIJERAS, N.M. - When the dogs finished with her, Angle Hands' right leg was gnawed to the bone. Flesh and muscle had been gouged from her upper arms, and the 9-year-old's ear was ripped in half. "She had lost so much blood the doctors couldn't tell me if she was going to live," said Donna Hands, her voice still breaking as she recalled the afternoon her brother-in-law's four pit-bull terriers attacked Angie on the path between the school bus stop and her home. The child survived, to face years of reconstructive surgery. But the incident fuels a debate growing well beyond this rural Albuquerque suburb. . Similar attacks have led Tijeras and more than 30 other communities across the country to consider special rules and outright bans on dogs known as pit bulls. Sponsors say the laws are necessary to protect the public from animals bred for generations to kill. Pit bull owners say laws singling out their pets are unconstitutional. ' "WE DO NOT DEFEND the attacks. But at the same time we feel it is unjust to punish all pit bull owners because of a few incidents," said Margaret Amacker, president of the Duke City Pit Bull Terrier Club, which is challenging the law with the help of the American Dog Owners Association. The case is due for trial in early spring. • Known officially as Staffordshire Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers or American Pit Bull Terriers, pit bulls are powerful dogs weighing 40 to 60 pounds with square jaws and muscular chests. An estimated 25,000 pit bulls are registered with various dog associations, and their popularity is growing. Owners say they are smart, affectionate and loyal. Pete, the dog in the Our Gang comedies, was a pit bull, as were Tige, the pet of cartoon character Buster Brown, and the RCA Victor dog listening to its master's voice at the phonograph. But the breed has a darker history. PIT BULLS WERE BRED for dog fighting, a bloody and now illegal sport that requires a battle to the death. Over generations, the dogs have been selected for the strength, aggressiveness and tenacity needed to survive the fighting pit. "Other dogs will bite, back off and attack again," said Dennis White, director of animal protection for the American Humane Associa- • tion. "Pit bulls are latchers and shakers. Once they attack, that's all she wrote." Since 1982, at least a dozen people — seven of them children — have died and scores have been severely injured by pit bulls. The stories, bloody and 'sensational, have attracted public attention: • A 4-year-old girl falls off a porch in Oregon City, Ore., and.is killed by a pit bull chained in the yard. • An Edgemere, Md., woman is killed by her two pit bulls. Police find her body covered with bites, skin stripped from her legs and an arm nearly severed. • Two pit bulls attack a Houston w^man as she steps outside to get her newspaper, then they maul a neighbor who tries to help. The dogs are shot after they stand off rescuers and chase a police officer to his car. Such incidents have understandably led to anti-pit bull regulations. When a 7-week-old boy was killed by a dog in Davie, Fla., Broward County commissioners ordered pit bulls penned or leashed and muzzled. Owners were required to buy $100,000 in liability insurance. Dog owners won an injunction against the law.

AP Laserphoto

Margaret Amacker, president of the Duke City Pit Bull Terrier Club in Albuquerque, N.M., gets a lick from Bluebelle, one of her four pit bulls. Amacker has raised pit bulls since 1970. incidents were much easier to incite to attack than other dogs, she said it was hard to draw conclusions about the entire breed.

people with clauses about vicious dogs," he said.

"We just don't know if they are likely to be more aggressive than other dogs," she said. "But those who show aggression are very aggressive. If you are attacked by one, you just don't have that much of a chance."

BUT COMMUNITY LEADERS often see pit bulls as a special threat. After the March 1984 attack on Angie Hands, Tijeras, a closeknit community of 300, banned the dogs and gave officials the power to seize and destroy pit bulls. - •

I. Lehr Brisbm Jr., an biologist and animal behaviorist with the University of Georgia who uses pit bulls to trap wild boars, believes the breed is less of a threat than are other dogs.

"FOR GENERATION AFTER generation, any dog that bit a man in the pit was shot," Brisbin said. "This is probably the only breed of dog that was culled if it bit a man." Many feel the problem comes from owners, who, attracted to the dog's tough image, encourage aggressiveness. Phil Lyons, a breeder in "THE DOG HAS BEEN raised for hundreds Whittier, Calif., calls such owners "Mister of years to kill," said William Bosch, assistant Macho and his dog Lunger." general counsel to the county. "It only takes a "You'll see these guys walking their pit bulls little to set them off." down the street to show everybody how bad But others argue there is no proof the pit bulls they are," he said. are a special threat. While an estimated 1 milPeggy Allen, a Miami breeder, now screens lion Americans are bitten by dogs each year, potential buyers. little is known about the breeds involved. Dogs "I've had a lot of people I considered drug identified as pit bulls often turn out to be other dealers come around looking to buy the dog," breeds. she said. "People have decided that this is the Animal behaviorists split on the question of biggest, strongest, meanest dog they could whether pit bulls are more dangerous than own." other dogs. Kent Salazar, head of Albuquerque's animal Victoria Voith, director of the University of control division, believes no special laws are .Pennsylvania's animal behavior clinic, has stud- needed. He noted that several years ago some ied dog attacks, often observing the assailants. people wanted regulations for Doberman While she noted that pit bulls involved in pinschers. "We have all the means to protect

"There are still dogs like these around, attacking other dogs, cattle and people. We can't have that," said Mayor Felix Garcia, whose wife once babysat for Angie. Pit bull owners say the publicity has brought a backlash. Amacker tells of pit bulls abandoned and abused by owners who become fearful after hearing of attacks. In some cases, pit bulls have been poisoned or shot. John Ulrich, an Albuquerque stockbroker, said that when his pit bull, Sugar, got loose and began frolicking with a neighbor's poodle, the w6man panicked and began beating the dog with a piece of lumber. "Sugar just laid down and cried," said Ulrich. •"I apologized to the woman for the dog getting out, but I pointed out if Sugar was really that vicious, she wouldn't have been able to hit her." Donna Hands was always taught that a bad dog reflected a bad owner. But she said the combination of careless owners'and aggressive dogs was too dangerous to permit. "Picking on one breed of dog might be unconstitutional, but killing a human being is against the law," she said. "Have we sunk so low that the dogs' rights are more important than a child's right to go play in their yard?"

Alexander reflects on 16 years as mayor

ALEXANDER Continued from Page Al Today is the last day people will call him .Mayor Lee Alexander. Tomorrow, he will be former Mayor Lee Alexander. After 16 years, it won't be easy for some to say. Sometime in February, he'll open a law office with his son. Jamey. Many in the press will miss seeing Mayor Lee Alexander at City Hall. But he may not miss the press. The news media has not always been kind. Friday, at his last Board of Estimate meeting, a television reporter questioned Alexander over and over again to get him to share his innermost feelings at what might seem to be a sentimental time. He would have none of it. What did he plan to do after this? "I plan to go to lunch," he answered. What did he want to do more than anything else? "I want to go to lunch," he said laughing. What were all the reporter's questions keeping him from doing? Going to lunch! When Alexander finally relented, his answers were off-hand, low-key and cagey as ever. "I'm so busy right now, I haven't had time for reflection," he said. What did he regret he didn't get to do in his years at City Hall? Become U.S. senator, pave more city streets and get along with a Republican-majority Common Council, were his quick replies. . Will he run for political office again?

"I can't rule that in or out at this time," he said. Will he miss the excitement of battles in the public arena? "I'm sure I'll find new ones in the courts," he answered. Alexander is doing his share of private reminiscing with friends, however. Saturday, he laughed about old times over lunch with onetime campaign worker Hank Bersani, now New York State Thruway Authority chairman. Monday, Alexander lunched with Syracuse University administrator Tom Cummings, who ran his first campaign. In an interview Monday, Alexander sat behind the mayor's desk and spoke with an energy that belied his departure. On his desktop were an empty wire basket and tape and string meant for the empty boxes lying nearby. Today, he planned to open the mail, answer calls, finish packing his personal files and go to the dentist. There won't be a last gathering of the troops. He already said goodbye to the City Hall staff last summer, Alexander said, minutes before he publicly announced he would not seek a fifth term in office. To make the office pleasant for Young, Alexander ordered the mayoral refrigerator stocked with orange juice, Perrier, soda and some beer. He also asked Everson Museum curators to lend some prints and oil paintings for the Office and' waiting room, so the walls wouldn't be bare when Young sits in the mayor's chair for the first time on Wednesday. Lastly, a de^k desk stand has been filled with

freshly sharpened pencils. A cleaning crew will dust and vacuum the office after Alexander leaves. As he does in public, Alexander praises Young in private. Young is a mayor for the 1980s, Alexander said, just as he himself was a mayor for the 1970s. "It's not the fun it used to be," he added. "The '70s were the challenging years, lots of great fights. The real job was done in the '70s when we (urban mayors) woke up this nation to the crisis in the cities." He's proud to leave the city fiscally stable, proud of the political battles that proved he was right. At a Christmas party last week at the Benedict-Moore housing project, a group of children —at the urging of their mothers — thanked him for not backing down in the face of public pressure against its construction. "They didn't know who I was, but they thanked me for their beautiful housing," Alexander said. After the acrimonious debates, the court battle and the bad feelings, the neighborhood is peaceful, and the children have a decent place to live, he said. "I don't have to say 'I told you so,'" Alexander said. "I have the satisfaction of having done it." When he walks out of the front door of City Hall today, Alexander leaves for a two-week vacation in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. No inaugural ceremony. No inaugural ball. No mushy, public farewells. Just the sun, the beach and a new horizon.

_

: A-4 THE NEW MEXICAN

Santa Fe. N.M., Monday, August 10, 1967

Local

Attorney: Teen should get new murder trial By CHERYL WITTENAUER The New Mexican Staff

A Santa Cruz teen-ager serving a life term for murder is entitled to a new trial, his attorney claims in an appeal filed Friday. Winston Roberts-Hohl, who represents 16-year-old Chris Taylor, claims the youth should not have been tried as an adult. Taylor's first-degree murder conviction as an adult should be reversed because a hearing that resulted in Taylor's transfer from Children's Court was not conducted within a 30-day time period required by law, according to a

brief filed with the state Supreme Court. Last November, an Albuquerque jury convicted Taylor of first-degree murder, armed robbery and conspiracy a week before his 16th birthday. Taylor, two other youths and a boy's mother were charged in the fatal shooting of a Santa Fe laundry attendant in April 1986. Earlier this year, District Judge Patricio Serna sentenced Taylor to life in prison, which he said he was obliged to impose under state law. Under state Jaw, Taylor will not be eligible for parole for 30 years.

Roberts-Hohl claims Taylor should not have been tried as an adult because his transfer from Children's Court came nearly three months after prosecutors asked that he be tried as an adult. Prosecutors delayed the transfer hearing in order to find a psychologist who would recommend Taylor's placement in an adult correctional facility, Roberts-Hohl said. The attorney also claims Taylor should not have been tried for armed robbery because of his age. Roberts-Hohl cites a state law that prohibits the prosecution of children

under 16 for armed robbery, while there is no provision to transfer a conspiracy charge from Children's Court to District Court, he said. He also claims District Attorney Chet Walter's attempt to fix a minimum 12year sentence on a plea offer interfered with the discretion of the sentencing judge. Taylor turned down the plea offer and opted for a trial. Roberts-Hohl also said Taylor was denied effective assistance of counsel because the Public Defender's office, which paid for Taylor's representation, did not provide an investigator in a timely manner.

Three co-defendants pleaded guilty to their roles in the fatal shooting of Mary Ann Romero. Greg Roybal, 16, received a 15-yearsentence after admitting he shot Romero in a robbery instigated by his mother, Gloria Bustos. Glenn Herrera, 16, became the state's chief witness in exchange for being allowed to plead guilty in Children's Court. Bustos is serving a life prison term for first-degree murder. She pleaded guilty a few days before her scheduled trial date in July to spare her son from having to testify against her.

NM town's plan to bar pit bulls draws opposition By MARILYN HADDRILL

For The New Mexican

Students Serena Lujan, left, and John Vigil, look over the gym floor plans.

Leslie Tal!ant/The New Mexican

School supporters raise gym Soup labels, trading stamps lead sources to finance project By BOB QUICK The New Mexican Staff

For a small place like the McCurdy School in Santa Cruz near Espanola to build a $1.18 million, college-size gymnasium is a remarkable feat. When you consider that a good part of that facility was financed with soup labels and trading stamps, the accomplishment borders on the miraculous. No one talks about miracles at McCurdy, a small private school with 415 students that was founded in 1915 and is administered by the United Methodist Church. SANDOVAL The emphasis is on a fund-raising job well done that resulted in a gym any high school and most colleges would be pii,ud of. Sunday afternoon, McCurdy School administrators, teachers, students, parents and supporters got views and tours of the 24,000-square foot gymnasium. Hundreds walked across the maple floor, took one of 1,800 seats in the bleachers and peered into the as-yet unused locker rooms and coaches' offices. The first event, a volleyball game against Los Alamos High School, will be played in a few weeks. The new gymnasium replaces the school's McCracken Gymnasium, which was built in 1932. The new gymnasium will

NM Legal Services gets grant from state Bar The Northern New Mexico Legal Services is one of a dozen New Mexico organizations providing legal services to poor people to receive money this year from the New Mexico Bar Foundation. The foundation awards, announced last week, were made from the Interest on Lawyers Trust Account Program. Northern New Mexico Legal Services is receiving $22,000 of the $154,000 distributed statewide.

Police report six deaths in weekend traffic State police said six people died in weekend traffic accidents on New Mexico roads. The victims were identified as Joseph Larry Montoya, 19, of Aztec; Randylynn Marie Allen, 15, of Flora Vista; Ericka Judson, 16, of Belen; Fulgencio Lopez, 45,

be officially dedicated at homecoming on Oct. 10, according to to McCurdy's new superintendent, Sam Sandoval. By then the gym should have a name, too, Sandoval said. Students will vote on it, with the most likely choice to be one reflecting the school's mascot, Bobcat Den, he added. "The board of trustees agreed that we wouldn't name it after one person," said Ernest Sanchez, McCurdy's athletic director. "So many people have done so much, we felt that too many people would be hurt if we named it after one person." One person who might have been in the running for the honor would have been Betty Smith, the woman who suggested using trading stamps and soup labels to help pay for the gym. "She conceived the idea," said Linda Mutterspaugh, the principal of the high school at McCurdy. The word went out to McCurdy School supporters — send us your trading stamps, even the old, wrinkled ones stuffed in the back of drawers, and don't forget those Campbell soup labels. "They're worth about a penny a label," Mutterspaugh said, adding that the giant food-products company allosved the money to be used from labels for the purchase of athletic equipment. The labels and stamps brought in

of Albuquerque; Bernice Smith, 47, of Lincoln; and Tommy Rodriguez Jr., 17, of Albuquerque. Montoya and Allen were killed in a twovehicle collision about 5:30 a.m. Sunday on State Road 173 near Farmington, police said. Judson was killed in a one-vehicle accident about 10:15 p.m. Saturday in Belen, police said. The vehicle she was driving went out of control, ran off the road and overturned, police said. Lopez died in a two-vehicle and pedestrian accident in southeast Albuquerque about 9:30 p.m. Saturday, police said. Lopez was crossing a street on foot when he was struck by a vehicle. Police said Lopez bounced off the vehicle and was hit by a second vehicle. Smith was killed in a two-vehicle head-on collision about 5 a.m. Saturday on State Road 48 near Alamogordo, police said. Rodriguez was killed Friday in a motorcycle-pickup truck collision in Albuquerque, police said.

$244,000 of the of $1.8 million tab for the gym, an amount exceeding all other sources but the $423,000 contributed by the United Methodist Church. "We need to pay another $312,000" on the gym, Sandoval said, adding that the school still is accepting stamps and labels. "Like the 'loaves and fishes,' these stamps have all multiplied unbelievably as we all work together," he added. For all the work done so far, McCurdy School has a gym with some unique features. These include a floor large enough for two high-school size basketball courts that will allow varsity and junior varsity to practice at the same time. There are also state-of-the art lighting and heating systems. Most importantly, perhaps, is the gym's floor, which was built using post and tension concrete slabs, a process that results in a "floating floor" and eliminates any buckling or shifting. "It's a revolutionary process," said McCurdy's former board of trustees' president Harold Brock. "Few other buildings have it." Sanchez doesn't expect McCurdy's students to care as much about the fancy floor as they do about having a big new gym play in, one that won't require some of them to wait until late evening to take the floor to practice. "It will result in an overall improvement in the school's sports program," he said with a smile and a gleam of anticipation in his eye. "There will be a lot more interest in sports."

HAGERMAN — With an estimated 20 pit bull terriers in a farming town of less than 1,000, some Hagerman residents are pushing for an ordinance to ban the breed. Hagerman Town Clerk Ditta McCullough said pit bull terriers elsewhere have attacked people. Some of the publicity has been horrifying," she said, adding that about 20 such dogs are in Hagerman. We sure don't want to allow anything like that to happen here." But pit bull terrier owner Cesar Rodriguez of Hagerman said the town council can expect opposition when it meets Tuesday night to vote on the ordinance. Rodriguez, a New Mexico State University student in Las Cruces, visits his Hagerman home during summers and holidays. Relatives take care of the dog for him while he's away. Confined to a wheelchair, Rodriguez said the dog has been more friend than pet for the three years he's owned her. He said she's never been involved in any attacks. She's just like any of these people's poodles that are complaining," he said. What their poodle means to them, she means tome." McCullough said the ordinance under consideration is patterned after one adopted in 1984 in Tijeras, N.M., just east of Albuquerque. Tijeras Town Hall secretary Mary Reed said her tiny community of several hundred people was the first in the nation to ban pit bull terriers. She said she has received about 25 requests for copies of the town ordinance from throughout the country. The Tijeras ordinance has been challenged in Albuquerque district court by a pit bull terrier owner in the town, and that case still is pending, Reed said. She said that in 1984 a small Tijeras girl walking home from school almost was killed by pit bull terriers. In the unprovoked attack, the child was mauled severely, and must continue to have surgery the rest of her life, Reed said. Hagerman town councilman Tom King said his community's proposed ordinance was more or less spurred on with the large pit bull population in the area." They're chained to doghouses, and in yards. When you're walking down the street, those dogs get a little aggressive about pulling on the chains. And when you have kids, it makes you uneasy. Some (pit bull terriers) dp run loose, or get loose occasionally. I've had some in my backyard, when my kids were there," he said. But Rodriguez said pit bull

Pitbulls

According to the Humane Society, five people have died in the U.S. this year as a result of attacks by pit bulls, tn 1986,13 people died after being attacked by dogs, and seven of those dogs were pit bulls. At least 35 cities around the country have proposed ordinances which would ban or restrict ownership of vicious dogs. DEATHS IN THE U.S. AS A RESULT OF PIT BULL ATTACKS

1986 — 7

1987*—5

'As of June 25, 1987 InfoGrophics -c:1967 North America Syndicate. Inc SOURCE: Humane Society ol the U.S.

terriers, like other breeds of dogs, can be brought up to be either gentle or aggressive. He said he will fight Hagerman in court before he will surrender his long-time companion. Hagerman is 23 miles south of Roswell. Between Hagerman and Roswell is the farming town of Dexter, with about 1,300 population. Dexter also is considering a pit bull terrier ordinance although one has not yet been drafted, town clerk Kay Roberts said. Dexter town supervisor Joe Alvarez estimates that Dexter has about 15 pit bull terriers. While neither Hagerman nor Dexter report any major incidents involving the breed, other area cities have had problems within the last year. In Roswell, resident Dave Blair told a Roswell newspaper in October 1986 that he pulled two pit bull terriers off an elderly man who had been attacked. Marilyn Haddrill is a staff writer for the El Paso Times.

Racing fans

Taos museum benefit raises $50,000

Horse-racing fans are a determined lot from the looks of the faces of Weidon Claunch, left, and Beverly Gantt after the weather took a turn for the cold. The pair drove from Albuquerque for Sunday races at the Santa Fe Downs

The third annual benefit auction for the Millicent Roger Museum of Taos raised $50,000. The auction, July 16 at the Hilton of Santa Fe, was attended by 138 guests. Most of the items sold at auction had a southwestern theme.

Leslie Tallant The New Mexican

Senior center offering classes in GED, ESL Free high school equivalency classes are being offered to senior citizens at the Mary Esther Gonzales Senior Center at 1121 Alto Street. English as a Second Language classes also are available. A minimum of 13 students are required for each class. For information,- call 471-8475. Staff and Wire Reports