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© 2024 NEW MEXICO NEWS SERVICES  3/24/25

Juvenile crime divides lawmakers

By Sherry Robinson

All She Wrote

     Scott Habermehl was riding his bicycle to work in the early morning darkness as he always did, when a stolen car driven by a 13-year-old struck him. The force of the collision threw the Sandia National Laboratories engineer up over the top of the car. The driver and his accomplices, ages 11 and 15, raced away, leaving Habermehl to die in the road. 

     The kids then posted their escapade to social media, revealing that they saw the bicyclist, talked about hitting him, and then laughed as the driver swerved into the bike lane. The two older boys have been arrested and charged. Authorities are still figuring out how to charge the 11-year-old.

     News of this crime broke on March 18, after legislators sent their crime package to the governor – without a juvenile crime bill. 

     “This case is an appalling and heartbreaking reminder of the serious juvenile crime crisis we face in New Mexico – and our lack of tools to properly address it,” said the governor.

     Lawmakers this session had two bills aimed at juveniles. On March 6, a committee tabled House Bill 134, the one cops and district attorneys wanted. A weaker bill, HB 255, failed in a Senate vote.

     Let’s look at HB 134 by Rep. Andrea Reeb, R-Clovis and a former prosecutor, who had worked with Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman to develop the bill. 

     HB 134 would have changed the state’s Delinquency Act to include 14-year-olds in the definition of “serious youthful offender,” triggering adult prosecution and sentencing, according to legislative analysis. Along with first degree murder, they could be charged with second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, robbery while armed with a deadly weapon, and shooting at a vehicle or dwelling resulting in great bodily harm. 

     On March 6, Reeb explained to the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee, “We’re targeting the worst of the worst” and trying to hold them accountable. “We have 13-year-olds committing murder.”

     Opposing the bill were juvenile advocates. Vanessa Hulliger, of Stronger Together, Never Alone, said harsher punishment doesn’t effectively deter juvenile crime. The ACLU said HB 134 would lead to over-incarceration of kids.

     Speaking in support, Marcus Montoya, of the New Mexico District Attorneys’ Association, called attention to the effect of violent juveniles on the rest of the increasingly fearful community. The most violent kids need to be separated from other kids. 

     Reeb pointed out that under HB 134 kids would still receive a hearing about whether they were amenable to treatment. “We’re not giving up on kids,” she said. “Evaluations will be conducted.”

     Bernalillo County Deputy DA Troy Gray testified that between 2022 and 2023 there were 24 murders by juveniles and 471 crimes involving handguns. Juvenile crime was up 57%. Without the bill, juvenile offenders would be free at 21, even if they were not rehabilitated. HB 134, he said, would give them the “flexibility of time.”

     Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, complained that the bill would commit kids to incarceration with no chance for rehabilitation.

     Gray assured her that they wanted to rehabilitate kids, but they must also be accountable. “This represents the worst kind of behavior,” said Gray. Some kids would continue to harm others as adults. 

     Democrats prevailed in a committee vote to table, but this bill really wasn’t partisan. Sam Bregman, who pushed for this bill, was once Democratic Party chairman. The governor and other Dems wanted it.

     What we saw here was the divide between those who want to give child offenders every chance and those who know that some of them can commit heinous acts. 

     As a former volunteer juvenile probation officer, I see both sides. At times I sat in my car and cried about the kids’ lives. People always ask, “Where were their parents?” Well, most of these kids have zero home life, and drugs, alcohol and poverty play a role. One of the saddest comments I heard: “My mom’s boyfriend doesn’t like me. My dad doesn’t have room for me where he stays.”

     Imagine that you’re 14 and nobody wants you. 

     Years ago, when juvenile crime was in the news, a reader informed me about psychopathic kids and the difficulty of treating them. Some will always be a danger to the public.

     Legislators need to keep working on this. The governor is correct to hold their feet to the fire. 

© 2024 NEW MEXICO NEWS SERVICES  2/24/25

DOGE’s undisciplined flunkies know nothing of government

By Sherry Robinson

All She Wrote

     In the who-what-when that’s the architecture of news stories, it’s usually the who that’s most important and the how that’s least important. But in recent federal firings, I find the how equally compelling.

     Consider the slash and burn of Elon Musk and his DOGE groupies at the National Nuclear Security Administration, an agency of the Department of Energy. 

     NPR pieced together an account from interviews with fired employees. They were shut out of their email accounts before learning they were fired. Some were not notified they were fired. Some received a letter late at night that said, "DOE finds that your further employment would not be in the public interest." 

     Their bosses got a few hours to explain – in 200 characters – why several hundred probationary employees were needed. They were fired anyway. Managers also made lists of essential workers. It didn’t matter. 

     After two days of chaos and a tardy realization that NNSA oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, the administration declared a “pause” on firings at NNSA.

     Oops. 

     I’ve covered layoffs in the past but never one this sloppy and irresponsible. Business people, from time to time, have to shrink the workforce, but they’re always clear on which operations must be preserved and who’s indispensable. They observe laws governing cause and notification. And they often provide a severance package.

     In the current wave of firings, Musk’s flunkies know nothing of government, its agencies, or their functions. They claim to be rooting out fraud and waste, but they’re not trained auditors or forensic accountants – they’re undisciplined coders, and they want all your personal information. Any claims of savings are dubious. Meanwhile, inspectors general, who do know how to spot fraud and waste, were fired.

     Now let’s look at the who. 

     Journalist Andrew Egger, at The Bulwark, spoke to employees at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Among the NNSA casualties were the emergency preparedness manager, the radiation protection manager, the security manager, the fire protection engineer, and two facility representatives, who keep an eye on site manufacturing facilities.

     More widely reported were cuts at the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, where workers reassemble warheads. It’s one of NNSA’s most sensitive activities. Pantex took a 30% hit. Altogether DOGE’s purged about 2,000 employees.

     An Albuquerque Journal team looked at federal firings and found: 14 rangers at Carlsbad National Park, which will force closures as tourist season is getting under way; 20% of staff at Soutwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque – some of them while instructors were teaching class – which cost the school all its tutors; and 25% of staff at Carson National Forest and 40% at Gila National Forest, which thins the ranks going into fire season and tourist season.

     And the Muskovites fired the state’s only qualified contaminant biologist who monitors and responds to hazardous material spills.

     In another oops moment, DOGE fired 950 Indian Health Services employees and had to rescind the action.

     Now freshman Sen. Jay Block, R- Rio Rancho, has introduced a bill to create a DOGE-like Government Accountability to Taxpayer Office in state government. 

     Block is new, so maybe he doesn’t know that the state, unlike the federal government, cannot run a deficit. It’s one reason state government typically runs lean. He also doesn’t know that former Gov. Susana Martinez ran off so many employees that some agencies posted 25% vacancies for years.

     Yes, there’s waste and fraud, but we have effective watchdogs.

     Musk and the far right have proven one thing. They assumed they could swing their fists in any direction and find useless bureaucracy and snoozing federal employees. They have now demonstrated that agencies have real missions and employees do real work.