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By Lynn Janes
The town of Bayard held a regular meeting April 23, 2026. Attendance included Mayor John L. Ojinaga, Mayor Pro Tem Eloy Gonzales, Eloy Medina, , Gilbert Ortiz and Charles Gray. Martha Salas, city clerk, also attended.
The council approved the agenda.
Proclamations
The city of Bayard proclaimed the week of April 20, 2026, to be Cobre High School cheer week and the week of April 20, 2026, Cobre High School power lifting week. They had both placed in the state championships. The teams and their coaches had attended to receive the proclamations.
Public input none currently.
The council approved the consent agenda that included minutes from two meetings, accounts payable and department head reports.
By Lynn Janes
On April 23, 2026, the commission held a regular meeting at the city annex building. Alex Brown, chairman, called the meeting to order.
New business
Raymond De la Vega, Stantec, had an update for the commission. They have submitted phase two of the project to the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), and they will be reviewing the documents. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had contacted them and given approval to do geotechnical testing and some of the property may be under Santa Clara which would help. De la Vega said they have been working on the Hanover water station and have been waiting to hear back from three companies that could provide the interface to be able to charge customers for the water at the station. The company will need to be able to interface with Santa Clara and their software. Stantec wants to have everything ready to go so as soon as funding has been received so they can start construction. He cautioned that now they have to wait on NMED and that may take time. Pricilla Lucero, Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments director, said if he didn't hear back from them within a few weeks they should contact them to try to have it move forward.
By Lynn Janes
(Writers note: this article was written using the minutes provided by the Village of Santa Clara)
The Village of Santa Clara held a regular meeting April 23, 2026, along with a budget workshop before. Mayor Arnold Lopez called the meeting to order. Mayor Pro Tem Albert Esparza, trustees, Peter Erickson, Olga Amador and Ralph Trujillo attended.
The council approved the agenda and past meeting minutes.
Mayor's report
National weather Service in El Paso has sent out an approx. 7-minute video recording of their expectations for the upcoming summer season. The outlook favors a wet and prolonged monsoon.
Here is the link: https://youtu.be/JEdnc0XA4nA . The pdf is also attached.
[Editor's Note: A lot of information came out of this meeting, so this is part 1 of a multi-part series of articles.]
By Mary Alice Murphy
Three years in a row, NM Rep. Luis Terrazas has set up a meeting to bring fire chiefs, the Gila National Forest and New Mexico State forestry together to talk about how to prevent fires, and how to mitigate the effects of fire. He hosted the latest one on Wednesday, May 13, 2026 at the Grant County Veterans Memorial Business and Conference Center.
Terrazas's legislative aide Bruce Ashburn introduced Terrazas, who said: "I want to thank everyone for being here. This is our third year that we've done this, and we work with all the leaders in the community and now, Senator Ramos and the whole panel here, you see, and it's a blessing to have all these people come together."
He noted that ironically two or three weeks after the session held last year, the Trout Fire blazed up in the Mimbres. "These sessions give everyone in the community an opportunity to know what's going on, what Ready, Set Go is. We will go through all of that here. I'm going to speak for myself. I'm here to get information, the most updated information, things change, and so I think we're all here to learn."
Espirideon Varela
May 15, 2026 I Sixth Judicial District Attorney Norman R. Wheeler announced today that Espirideon Varela, 27, was found guilty by a Grant County jury. The jury convicted Varela on:
Count 1: Aggravated Fleeing a Law Enforcement Officer, 4th Degree Felony;
Counts 4 & 5: Possession of a Controlled Substance, a 4th Degree Felony;
Count 8: Resisting, Evading, or Obstructing an Officer Arrest, Misdemeanor;
Count 9: Open Container, Misdemeanor;
Count 10: Expired Registration of a Motor vehicle, Misdemeanor.
This case was prosecuted by Chief Deputy District Attorney Joseph P. Silva and Assistant District Attorney Devorah Kalani.
On October 29, 2024, Silver City police initiated a traffic stop on a truck due to a suspended registration. The driver, Varela, refused the officer’s orders to exit the vehicle and sped away. Officers pursued the truck through residential streets but eventually lost sight of it.
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