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© 2024 NEW MEXICO NEWS SERVICES 3/31/25

Feds to New Mexico: Burn, baby, burn

By Sherry Robinson

All She Wrote

     Our beautiful New Mexico skies have been stubbornly blue for months, and we know what that means. A few weeks ago, Patrick Lohman, of the online Source New Mexico, reported severe drought across the state. 

     Lohman has racked up more fire coverage than any New Mexico journalist, so when I see a fire story with his byline, I pay attention.

     He also reported that “federal cuts could leave one-third of the state without dispatchers to monitor for nascent blazes and fewer firefighters to respond if they blow up.”

     Go online and you’ll find colorful maps with the color red bleeding across the page to tell us that above normal fire conditions cover most of the state. Two years of moderate precipitation encouraged growth of fuels like grass and pine needles. Now they’re dry as paper. It’s a matter of when, not if.

     “It’s bad, man,” UNM fire ecologist Matt Hurteau told Lohman.

     In February the “Department of Government Efficiency” ordered the firing of 3,400 Forest Service seasonal employees. DOGE’s budget cutters were supposed to exempt firefighters. They didn’t know that 75% of the laid-off employees were trained and qualified in wildland firefighting. They didn’t know that most of the agency’s field crews are seasonal employees. They didn’t know that these crews not only clean recreation sites, they maintain trails and thin forests and that both steps are key to fire prevention. They didn’t know that during a fire, they’re also firefighters and fire support. And they didn’t know or care that the Forest Service is already understaffed, which is why every employee is involved in fire management.

     A federal judge ordered the 3,400 workers to be reinstated, but they can still be fired in a reduction in force. The president has asked the Supreme Court to block the ruling.

     What’s particularly shameful is that the Office of Personnel Management told these people they were being fired for “poor performance,” an obvious lie that hinders future employment. As one of them wrote recently, they willingly sleep on the ground, sweat and freeze to clear trails and clean campsites, and respond to backcountry medical emergencies – all for very little money.

     At the same time, DOGE plans to close the supervisors’ offices of the Cibola National Forest and Gila National Forest. Both house dispatch centers that coordinate fire response by federal, state and tribal agencies and monitor wildfire detection systems. They cover 45,000 square miles. Although U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich has received “assurances” that they won’t close, the General Services Administration has been noncommittal.

     UNM’s Hurteau worries that multiple wildfires in the West will quickly exhaust available resources. We’ll have permanent employees providing incident command, along with aircraft, but not boots on the ground. He also worries that under-staffed fire crews, who by nature and culture give their all, will be injured or killed.

     The one spark of good news is that the state Forestry Division is in the process of training 1,500 full-time and volunteer wildland firefighters this year. It also has 37 full-time wildland firefighters in three crews.

     And the Legislature passed House Bill 191, which creates two wildfire-related permanent funds to bolster the state Forestry Division. The Wildfire Suppression Fund will pay for contract wildland firefighters, equipment and supplies, and vehicle rental and repair. The Post-Wildfire Fund will pay for recovery efforts and environmental rehabilitation. 

     It’s a great idea, but the appropriation is $12 million, hardly enough to make a dent during a major disaster, especially if Forest Service cuts are permanent and FEMA disappears.

     The bottom line is that Elon Musk, who pays close attention to his own bottom line, is leaving New Mexico to burn.

© 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.