(Photo Courtesy of Scott Terry) From left, PNM representative Bruce Ashburn presented Reduce-Your-Use grants to Alicia Edwards of The Volunteer Center, Randy Salars of The Gospel Mission and Annette Toney of Girl Scouts of the Desert Southwest.

By Mary Alice Murphy

Scott Terry, Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce president, announced to the gathered members at Thursday's regular monthly luncheon that the dues structure would change.

"After many years of no change in rates, the board, at its meeting this morning, agreed to increase the dues 10 percent next year, 5 percent the year after, and 3 percent the year after that," Terry said.

He also passed out surveys. The chamber is partnering with the New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange and the Association of Commerce and Industry of New Mexico (ACI) to learn more about the needs of individuals and businesses for health insurance.

The first speaker was Bruce Ashburn, representing PNM, who awarded the company's Reduce-Your-Use grants to three Silver City non-profits.

"The company awards $250,000 throughout the state for these grants," Ashburn said. "We have three winners in our region this year. The first is the Girl Scouts of the Desert Southwest to replace non-functioning windows in the Girl Scout Hut."

Annette Toney, regional membership chairwoman for the Girl Scouts of the Desert Southwest, accepted the $5,000 for the windows, to allow more funding for programs.

Randy Salars of The Gospel Mission accepted an award also for new windows for the Gospel Mission's building to give the group more money for food and programs.

Alicia Edwards received an award as executive director of The Volunteer Center to install three solar panels to provide electricity to their well, which supplies water to a half-acre garden and two greenhouses.

The second presenter was Hugh Hawthorne, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument superintendent, who has been in the position for about six months.

"I came here from three years in Boston," Hawthorne said, "but please don't hold it against me, as the rest of my career has been in the West."

He said one of the reasons he was hired was because one of his specialties is visitor service and outreach. "In 2016, the National Park Service will be 100 years old. We have 38 action items to reach out to the people of America to get them back in the parks. We can't just sit back anymore and wait for people to come back. Part of my job is to reach out to the local community. We just hired someone to reach out to the schools."

Hawthorne said a Facebook page for the Cliff Dwellings had been created just two weeks ago and already has more than 400 people liking it.

"I like to think of visitors as in three categories," Hawthorne said. "The first are the locals, from Silver City, Mimbres to Deming; the semi-locals include those from El Paso, Texas, to Tucson, Arizona; and the third is the rest of the world."

He said those who have recently visited the site might know that a new bridge is being built over the West Fork of the Gila River. "When it is completed, they will take out the old one. Hopefully, floods won't take this one out."

Hawthorne also said improvements are being made to the trail up to the cliff dwellings, as well as to the building where visitors begin their trek. Re-vegetation of areas impacted by the 2012 Miller Fire would be done to prevent erosion, and lastly improvements would be accomplished at the visitor center, which serves not only the Cliff Dwellings National Monument, but also the Gila Wilderness.

To a question about when the cliff dwellings are open, he said they are open 365 days a year. "If you can get there, we're open."

The third presenter was Dwight Brown, the clinical base supervisor of Native Air, which has a base at Whiskey Creek Airport.

"We have been in Silver City since 2002, but have been bought out and changed names a few times," Brown said. "Native Air is owned by Air Methods. Eleven of the 13 of us who work locally live in Silver City. We have four full-time pilots, who altogether have more than 50 years experience in flying. The eight medical staff members, among them all, have 100-110 years of experience."

He noted that another company has also come into the area to offer emergency air flights to other hospitals.

"There are differences between us," Brown said. "We are the only service in the area to have reached the highest FAA rating and the highest certification possible for emergency air service."

He pointed out insurance information brochures to provide insurance in case of a need for an emergency flight out to another hospital. The insurance is offered by LifeShield Alliance and would cover any insurance holder who required an emergency flight anywhere in the country. Individual and family policies are available. He also spoke about the Omni Advantage membership program, which Air Methods has recently brought back.

Brown noted that Native Air has a helicopter base in Silver City, in Deming, Las Cruces and El Paso, where an airplane is also available. Several areas in Arizona also have helicopter bases.

To questions, he said the insurance is for any air medical flight needed anywhere in the country when a person is traveling, and will reimburse part of the bill. For instance, he said, anyone on Medicare does not receive full reimbursement on any bill.

One of the Native Air staff members said LifeShield would pay the rest of the bill in a check written to the policy owner for payment for the air service.

Another questioner asked if the cost of a flight was the same to Las Cruces, El Paso or Tucson, to which Brown said no. "Every air flight service has a skid fee, which is to get off the ground, then it's a cost per mile. For instance, a flight to El Paso can cost $20,000 to $40,000."

To another question about how many incidents the insurance pays for, Brown said: "Whenever you need it, it pays for every incident."

Terry asked for announcements.

Julie Morales, WNMU executive assistant to the president, thanked voters for their support of Bond C, which will allocate $6 million to Western.

Cynthia Bettison, WNMU Museum director, said the museum is very appreciative of the passage of Bond C, as it will pay for air-conditioning and fire suppression for the building. "Previous bond money is allowing us to repaint the museum."

She also noted that, as mayor pro tem of Silver City, each family could pick up one reusable bag per family at several locations around town, including City Hall and the Office of Sustainability. Ashburn noted that PNM payment centers also have the bags available.

Bettison said Lawley Toyota is also giving its customers reusable bags. She said the heavyweight bags could be used 100 times before they need to be recycled.

Bonnie Zelinko of Workforce Connections said: "We've got jobs."

Kevin Cook of Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. said he had three items to announce. "First, the deadline for applications for the Freeport Community Investment Fund is December 1. Second, the company has teamed with Discovery Education to provide 'Dig into Mining,' for schools. On Nov. 13, Freeport will offer online a live interactive tour of Morenci Mine. Third, we are getting closer to evaluating and re-opening Cobre Mine. We will have an informational meeting and answer questions from 5-8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12, at the Santa Rita Fire Station. We want to answer residents' questions about the reopening of the mine and the construction of a new haul road."

Mike Trujillo, AmBank president, said this weekend, the bank is transferring to become First American Bank. "We will have a ribbon-cutting on Thursday, Nov. 13 at 1 p.m. at the Bayard branch, with the Cobre High School Band, and one on the Nov. 14, at 11 a.m. at the Silver City branch, with the Silver City High School Band."

Asburn said PNM is going into fifth grade classrooms to teach energy efficiency. He said the class he went into produced enough energy among the students to power a light bulb.

Linda Pecotte, Republican Party of Grant County president, said she has been receiving a lot of calls about the election. She reported that 30 percent of Republicans voted early or absentee; 26 percent of Democrats and 14 percent of others. The rest of the 43 percent of registered voters who voted did so on Election Day.

"We expect one recount at the state level," Pecotte said. "The public lands commissioner position is locked at 50 percent to 50 percent. It is not final, because provisional ballots have yet to be counted."

She gave the numbers of voters registered in Grant County, at over 21,000 and said one likely reason for a seemingly low turnout is because "we have not had a purging of voter rolls in eight years. One is coming up, probably starting up here next year."

Tom Vaughan of FeVaFotos said: "As an old park ranger, I'm glad to have Hugh here, and I'm glad to hear what's planned."

Faye McCalmont, Mimbres Region Arts Council executive director, said this evening (Thursday) an arts lecture, with Silver City ceramicist Romaine Begay being the speaker at 6:30 p.m. at Parotti Hall on the WNMU campus.

Linda McArthur of the Small Business Development Center said the SBDC was partnering with the Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce to offer breakfast and business counseling for veterans on Nov. 19.

The manager of the Red Barn said the facility would be promoting an NFL ticket on a 70-inch TV, and also said a weekly Trivia game is held Tuesday evenings.

The next Chamber luncheons hope to feature Santa Claus on Dec. 4 and the legislators on Jan. 8.