The Grant County Community Health Council at its quarterly meeting addressed several agenda items.

Member Tony Trujillo, as Membership Committee chairman, said the committee had met and had recommended approving Dr. Darrick Nelson as a member to represent the physician and community health sectors.

Trujillo said the committee had also recommended changing the name of the agriculture and ranching sector to the Grant County Extension Service, at the request of Judy O'Loughlin, who represents the sector as the extension agent. Her request stated that the extension service covers agriculture and ranching, as well as many other sectors, including nutrition and youth activities, such as 4-H and FFA.

Members also approved the last action item, also coming on a recommendation from the Membership Commission, which was to give emeritus status to Sam Redford and Dr. Don Johnson, who served for many years on the council and also served as chairs of the health council. Trujillo said emeritus status allows them to attend meetings and events at any time.

During sector reports, Health Council co-Chairwoman Priscilla Lucero announced that Juan Castañon Jr., who has served many years on the council, has announced his retirement from the Forest Service and will recommend a replacement. "We hoped he would be here today, but he was unable to attend. We think this is the perfect time to thank Juan for his long contribution to the health council in three different sectors, as well as to the community."

Lucero then presented her sector report on economic development. "The (Southwest New Mexico) Council of Governments (of which she is the executive director) applied for the second round of the Promise Zone. "We came in second last year. Anyone receiving the Promise Zone designation would allow entities within the zone to move up in ranking for their federal fund applications."

She also announced that Boutique Air was providing two round trips a day, to and from Silver City and Albuquerque. "To book flights, which cost from $59 one way, call 415-449-0505."

A 2016 capital outlay application workshop for senior issues would be offered Thursday, Jan. 22, from 1:30-5 p.m. at the Grant County Veterans Memorial Business and Conference Center Fort Bayard Room, 3031 Highway 180 E, Lucero announced.

She then asked for steering committee member sector reports prior to the regular membership sector reports.

Co-Chairwoman Terry Anderson, representing the child-care sector, reported she had attended a conference in Denver, Colo., on shared services. "When I returned, I brought together all the child-care providers in the county to tell them how they could use shared services by networking together. We worked with health council-contracted grant writer Jim Coates to apply for a Freeport-McMoRan Community Investment Fund grant."

Mike Trujillo, representing the financial sector as First American Bank market president, noted that the prime rate right now is low, at 3 1/4 percent, but it is expected to be moving up. "Mortgage rates are still low, and we're busy with refinances and buyers. We also expect rates to rise. We anticipate the economy will come out of the recession in 2015.

Cindy McClean of the prevention sector, said the DWI Program, of which she is director, is doing evidence-based assessments at the schools. "Keep your eyes out for a contest that will be open to students throughout the community."

Mary Alice Murphy, representing the media sector, said The Grant County Beat, which she owns, edits and reports for, has expanded its media reach into radio, with headlines being read on every hour on the hour from midnight to noon on Community Access Television Silver City (She later in the meeting corrected the CATS statement to that the headlines are heard on KOOT FM 88.1) and on Silver City Radio at 3 p.m. Friday afternoon and at noon on Saturdays and Sundays.

"Je suis Charlie," she also stated. "We cannot let terrorists take away our rights. We must all protect our rights to free speech and freedom of the press."

Brian Cunningham, representing Gila Regional Medical Center, as chief executive officer, announced the hospital would be developing within the facility a joint family practice clinic, with Dr. John Stanley and nurse practitioner Cindy Moreno. "We look forward to the venture beginning in early to mid-March."

Tony Trujillo turned to Freeport McMoRan's Kevin Cook, who supervises the Community Investment Fund. "We are in our fourth cycle of the CIF," Cook said. "We received 36 applications, the same as last year. Their total asks were for $1.7 million, but we have $500,000 to give out. The evaluation committee is reviewing the applications. We will score them in February and award them in March."

Tony Trujillo noted that the committee members are all volunteers. "I also want to speak to anyone who would question the integrity and ethics of Mary Alice Murphy. If you look up the words in the dictionary, they have her picture beside them."

Evangeline Zamora, representing the disabilities sector, as executive director of LIfeQuest, said the Disability Advisory Council was getting its Silver City-donated building ready for educational forums and for therapy at the center. "We have challenges across the state with support services. We are working with an outdated reimbursement system."

Lon Streib, representing Silver Schools as the superintendent, said the schools are working in collaboration with the Juvenile Probation Office, and especially with 8th graders to make sure they stay in school. The JPO has teachers, who offer classes to those on probation to make sure they stay up with their studies.

"We are also working with early childhood folks to keep our early childhood facility open," Streib said. "In addition, we are trying to implement occupational slots, as well as summer school at Sixth Street Elementary and Harrison Schmitt Elementary, and also some summer school classes at the high school level."

Alex Brown of the city government sector, as Silver City Town manager, said, with the legislative session about to get underway, the big issue for the town is hold harmless, which if removed would be a financial blow to the town.

"The Grant County Water Commission is moving forward," Brown said. "We already had 192 acre-feet of water to offer to Hurley. Now we have 940 acre-feet available to the area, because the Silver City recharge permit application ewas approved. We are also repermitting for the landfill, which should give us 30 years until the next process."

He also announced the New Mexico 90 bridge project on the south side of town would begin mid-February. "There will be one final public meeting, but not for input, just to tell us what's going to happen. The New Mexico Department of Transportation will use the Bypass Road for the detour and for heavy equipment and will repair it when the bridge is complete."

Armando Amador of the veterans sector said veterans had met with the Military and Veterans Affairs Interim Committee. "We are hoping to get a mental health pilot project here. The Veterans Administration Hospital director from Albuquerque cam down and we gave him all our issues. The director is going to see if he can expedite services to vets here. If a provider accepts a contract to provide local services to veterans, it should get paid twice in a month. We also talked to Mr. Cunningham, and he is willing to work with us. We will present all this to the VA. We have to keep services here."

Judy O'Loughlin thanked the membership for approving the change in the sector name. "4-H put up a new sign on Highway 180. It replaced one that had been there for 65 years. We will start the master gardener program within a couple of months. It is a 16-week commitment to intensive training at no cost, except for a mandated number of volunteer hours. We are also offering parenting classes with the JPO parents and other adult probationers. We will train the facilitators. Kitchen Creations continues its diabetic cooking classes. We will offer them two consecutive Saturdays, with a commitment to both, on Jan. 31 and Feb. 7. Unfortunately, we lost our ag agent to love. He asked and she said yes. She lives in Denver. He will work with the state extension service out of Fort Collins."

Silver City Police Chief Ed Reynolds, representing city law enforcement, said within just three weeks, the area had an uptick in burglaries in Silver City and in the Mining District. "I ask you to pay attention in your neighborhood. We ask the public to call in tips and if you see something suspicious, call 911, so we can respond. There have been 14 burglaries. Within the department, we are revamping some of our programs."

The Volunteer Center Executive Director Alicia Edwards, representing food security and community resiliency, said the facility in mid-December completed a commercial greenhouse. "Grant County is No. 2 in New Mexico for senior hunger. We received a grant from Freeport-McMoRan on women in development for 10 low-income women to learn how to begin a food-related business. They will receive a business plan and financial help to be able to start. We will be ready to take names in early February."

Jim Helgert, representing the substance abuse sector, said self-referrals are up. "I think that's a good thing. We want to try to get the state to recommend early-stage licensure, so more people, such as interns, can bill and be reimbursed."

Mary Stoecker, representing behavioral health, said those present would hear from the Southwest New Mexico Continuum of Care Coalition a report about the progress being made. "Efforts are happening on fitness and nutrition with the schools. The community's fitness levels are being assessed by the Women, Infants and Children program, which takes heights and weights. In the 2-4 year-old population, 26 percent are obese or overweight. That's why we continue trying." She asked O'Loughlin if anyone could join the master gardener program. O'Loughlin told her it was a national program and available in many places.

To a question from Stoecker, Reynolds said two certified bicycle patrols are in the downtown area. "There will be two more in the spring."

Maurine Laney, District 1 magistrate judge, represents the judicial sector. "I want to give an update on statistics. This fiscal year, we have 40 percent fewer traffic cases, but felonies have substantially increased over last year. Domestic violence has seen a slight increase and DWI, a slight decrease. District Court has suspended Family Court for the past couple of months, but may revisit it in February. The court is looking to work with the extension office with parents. Judy had been instrumental in bringing help to the most referred, such as grandparents raising grandkids."

The next article will cover a report on the proposed continuum of care. At least a third article will cover reports from programs, priority plan partner reports and staff reports.

Disclaimer: Yes, Mary Alice Murphy, health council member representing media, wrote this article from notes taken at the meeting.

Content on the Beat

WARNING: All articles and photos with a byline or photo credit are copyrighted to the author or photographer. You may not use any information found within the articles without asking permission AND giving attribution to the source. Photos can be requested and may incur a nominal fee for use personally or commercially.

Disclaimer: If you find errors in articles not written by the Beat team but sent to us from other content providers, please contact the writer, not the Beat. For example, obituaries are always provided by the funeral home or a family member. We can fix errors, but please give details on where the error is so we can find it. News releases from government and non-profit entities are posted generally without change, except for legal notices, which incur a small charge.

NOTE: If an article does not have a byline, it was written by someone not affiliated with the Beat and then sent to the Beat for posting.

Images: We have received complaints about large images blocking parts of other articles. If you encounter this problem, click on the title of the article you want to read and it will take you to that article's page, which shows only that article without any intruders. 

New Columnists: The Beat continues to bring you new columnists. And check out the old faithfuls who continue to provide content.

Newsletter: If you opt in to the Join GCB Three Times Weekly Updates option above this to the right, you will be subscribed to email notifications with links to recently posted articles.

Submitting to the Beat

Those new to providing news releases to the Beat are asked to please check out submission guidelines at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/about/submissions. They are for your information to make life easier on the readers, as well as for the editor.

Advertising: Don't forget to tell advertisers that you saw their ads on the Beat.

Classifieds: We have changed Classifieds to a simpler option. Check periodically to see if any new ones have popped up. Send your information to editor@grantcountybeat.com and we will post it as soon as we can. Instructions and prices are on the page.

Editor's Notes

It has come to this editor's attention that people are sending information to the Grant County Beat Facebook page. Please be aware that the editor does not regularly monitor the page. If you have items you want to send to the editor, please send them to editor@grantcountybeat.com. Thanks!

Here for YOU: Consider the Beat your DAILY newspaper for up-to-date information about Grant County. It's at your fingertips! One Click to Local News. Thanks for your support for and your readership of Grant County's online news source—www.grantcountybeat.com

Feel free to notify editor@grantcountybeat.com if you notice any technical problems on the site. Your convenience is my desire for the Beat.  The Beat totally appreciates its readers and subscribers!  

Compliance: Because you are an esteemed member of The Grant County Beat readership, be assured that we at the Beat continue to do everything we can to be in full compliance with GDPR and pertinent US law, so that the information you have chosen to give to us cannot be compromised.