Markey Memorial (Louis-Pierre; Journal)

Bring back the APD "party patrol" in the wake of the murder of a 17 year old Sandia High student in ABQ's "White Heights"? Sorry, Councilors Winter, Sanchez and APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos. "Alcohol and guns" is not the problem. The problem is drugs and organized drug dealing. What you need is an anti-drug patrol because this is not 1999. Today this is an entirely different city.

17 year old Sean Markey is only the latest teen murder victim. Earlier this year two teens were tortured and killed over a marijuana deal gone bad. Recently in the South Valley a family of four was slaughtered in a drive-by shooting, including 17 year old Daniel Alex Baca whose friends say he died because of "the life he chose." Again, drugs and drug dealing. And there are more examples.

Whether the Markey slaying near Eubank and Montgomery was drug-related is unknown. But if it turns out that it was a drive-by shooting at the Saturday night homecoming party where he lost his life, it points to more of the same.

The Mayor says the gun violence is only afflicting "parts of ABQ."  The latest shooting is a deadly wake-up call that all sections of the city are now facing or will be facing the face of drug caused death.

APD and the city council can leave the warnings on alcohol to the state and those DWI ads. People aren't partying like it's 1999. They are partying like it's 2019. What's needed here is vigorous, unrelenting law enforcement against the widespread drug dealing occurring among the youth of our community. It truly is a matter of life and death.

WILD AND CRAZY

That struggle for power over the vacant northern NM state senate seat of the late Carlos Cisneros is shaping up just the way you like it--wild and crazy--like it always is in the politically charged north.

Kristina Ortez

The latest is a new hopeful angling for the gubernatorial appointment to fill the seat and she appears to be the favorite of the many Taos area progressives. Kristina Ortez (not Ortiz) wants the job, say friends, and enviros are pushing her hard. Ortez is executive director of the Taos Land Trust whose mission is to:

Create, Preserve, Protect and Pass on a legacy of open, productive, and natural lands for future generations.

Ortez is a Harvard grad who arrived in NM in 2008 which could be an issue in the native-centric north. Apparently that's no problem for Taos Town Councilor Darien Fernandez. He had already announced a primary run against Cisneros and insiders thought he had a good shot at the MLG senate appointment. Now Fernandez tells me he is out of the race and endorsing Ortez because he believes the Governor wants a female senator and that Ortez aligns with him philosophically. Wild. 

Progressives fret over Dem State Rep. Bobby Gonzales who didn't seem to want the senate gig but now is deep in the running, according to the Taos trackers. He's a Roundhouse powerhouse but at 68 some may want someone younger and maybe a bit more liberal--like Ortez.

Say Rep. Bobby gets the senate nod. Then his state House seat opens up and that would be another appointment but not from the Governor--but from the Taos county commission. That's because the Gonzales House district is exclusively in Taos County.

For the Senate appointment, the four county commissions in the Cisneros district will send recommendations to the Governor who gets to fill vacancies in multi-county legislative districts.

Okay, have a wild and crazy weekend--if you can beat all that.

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