New Mexican (Newspaper) - June 5, 2004, Santa Fe, New Mexico THF 1 Locally owned and independent Serving New Mexico for 155 years INSIDE TODAY Iraqi children struggle to live In Baghdad hospitals children die each week of diarrhea shortages of medical equipment and poorly trained staff Doctors say if the children were in European hospitals they would easily live Nation World D2 Keeping up with Jones Today Smarty Jones will attempt to do what no horse has done in 26 years win the Triple Crown Sports CI International incident General Motors Corp sells Opel Astras in Germany but is reluctant to ship them to the United States because it doesnt want to get into trouble with the United Auto Workers union And thats not an isolated incident Cars Trucks El Work of the faithful A hodgepodge group is giving one of New Mexicos most famous churches La Iglesia de San Francisco de Asis in Ranchos de Taos its annual El Norte Bl Todays forecast Partly cloudy isolated showers High 88 low 49 INDEX Annies D5 32 Business C7 Cars El Classifieds E2 Comics D6 D5 Horoscope DS Local news Bl C7 Obituaries B2 Opinion A7 Religion Scoreboard C2 Sports Cl Slocks C8 OWest Newspaper Five sections 40 pages TV Book 56 pages 155th year Issue Mo 157 Publication No 596440 Late paper Classified ads News tips 9840363 9863000 9863035 SATURDAY JUNE 5 2004 F I F T Y CENTS GAO Land grants dealt with legally Report says government followed due process when dealing with claims in the 1880s By BEN NEARY The New Mexican A report by the General Accounting Office deals a heavy blow to New Mexicos activists The 200page report released Friday concludes that the federal governments pro for reviewing land grant claims in the later half of 1800s met constitutional requirements Spain and Mexico had made grants of millions of acres to their citizens in New Mexico to encourage settlement The promised to respect private land holdings in New Mexico and elsewhere in the Southwest under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the Mexican War Yet many descendants of those who held New Mexico land grants have long asserted the government erly failed to recognize their claims The GAO report states that beginning in 1854 the surveyor general and later the Court of Public Land Claims looked at 154 land grant claims totaling million acres in New Mexico Of those the federal govern ment ultimately confirmed 105 grants totaling million acres While much of New Mexicos literature has long stated that only 24 percent of claims were confirmed the real total was more than 63 percent the report states In addition to determin ing the federal government granted claimants due process the GAO report also concludes that the federal government no responsibility to keep land grants intact once they were confirmed Many land grants that the See LAND GRANTS Page A6 Plaza shopping center to open Rsu Mew Mexican The new Santa Fe Arcade shopping complex designed by Swiss architect Thomas Krahen buhl brings a classic European arcade design to downtown The building on San and Santa Fe Arcade brings European look to site of old variety store By JULIE ANN GRIMM The New Mexican Shops will open Sunday in a sunlit mall on the Plaza Its the newest retail center to pop up on Santa Fes signature square and a sign of a tour economy that continues to thrive in the heart of the city The manager said Friday that about 39 percent of the space had been leased but he expects about half of the space to be committed by Sundays opening Owners of several spe in the down town area including Back at the Ranch western gear on Marcy Street and Prima Fine Jewelry on West San Francisco Street are opening additional boutiques in the new build ing owned by investor and art dealer Gerald Peters The Santa Fe Arcade covers most of the site formerly occupied for decades by the variety store which closed in 1997 While the outside of the Please see ARCADE Page A5 By the numbers 7 Years since store closed 24 Months it took to the Santa Fe Arcade 39 Percentage of space already leased 2 Restaurants in the arcade one each overlooking the Plaza and Water Street Between 50 and 70 Num ber of shops expected in the new arcade Between 300 and square feet size of the shops 2 Number of elevators 3 Shopping complexes near the Plaza owned by Ger ald Peters The Associated Press Marvin Heemeyer drives his fortified bulldozer down Jasper Street in Granby on Friday Heemeyer reportedly angry at local government went on a rampage in an armored bull dozer smashing buildings and firing shots as police tried help lessly to stop him Coloradan goes on bulldozer rampage Reportedly angry over zoning issue owner runs and guns in armored vehicle The Associated Press GRANBY Colo A muf owner reportedly angry at local government over a zoning dispute tore through town Friday in an armored bulldozer smashing buildings and firing shots as police tried to stop the slow motion rampage Authorities were trying to blast their way into the steel plated cab of the machine with explosives late Friday Grand County Emergency Management Director Jim Holihan said At least one explosion was heard but it was not immediately clear whether it penetrated the machines makeshift armor The siege left a trail of splintered structures in this mountain tourist town but there were no reports of injuries Gunfire was just ring ing out said Sandra Tucker who saw the bulldozer begin the rampage from her office on Main Street It sounded to me like an automatic rifle fir ing about every By late afternoon the bulldozer had come to a stop stuck in the rubble of a metal warehouse Officers clam on top apparently try ing to talk to the man fied by the town manager as Marvin Heemeyer Heemeyer was angry after losing a zoning dispute over land near his muffler shop town manager Tom Hale said He also had been fined in a separate case for not having a septic tank and other city code violations at his business Hale said When he paid the fine he enclosed a note with his See RAMPAGE Page A4 Family of man killed by police settles with city By GEOFF GRAMMER The New Mexican The city of Santa Fe has paid to settle a lawsuit with the family of a man shot and killed last year inside his home by a local police officer In addition to the mon agreement family members of 52yearold Dennis Joe Childers had one other condition before agreeing to settle with the city They wanted a faceto face interview with Police Chief Beverly Lennen The Santa Fe Police Department which has cited a department policy against commenting on pending litigation will not talk about the shoot ing despite the lawsuits resolution Through deputy chief Eric Johnson Lennen declined comment Friday on the details of her meeting with the Childers family The attorney Bob Rothstein said family members wanted to tell Len nen directly how they felt about their relatives death On Jan 13 2003 Santa Fe police responded to a 911 In addition to the monetary agreement family members also had a interview with Police Chief Beverly Lennen call at the Childers home in the 3000 block of Avenida Cor doniz The caller Childers brother told dispatchers the man was drunk and had just used a knife to cut him When officers Joe and Gina Sandoval arrived at the Childers home the man was alone in the house and police entered with guns drawn Nieto shot and killed Childers after the cer said the man charged toward police with what was initially thought to be see CHILDERS Page A5
