From the Pecos Valley Newsroom

After a 14 month hiatus, work has resumed at the Carlsbad brine well site. New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources said during a recent video conference that preparartion on the site began in late August after the state, Eddy County and the city of Carlsbad received 18 million dollars in funding. Work was halted at the site last year when money ran out. Also, concerns were brought forward this week that a series of earthquakes in West Texas in July of 2020 might be causing new problems. Monitoring equipment is now at the site to help detect seismic activity.

The Roswell Independent School District has closed Military Heights Elementary School in order to help slow the spread of COVID-19. An official quarantine involves only two classrooms, however. On social media, the RISD said second and fifth graders would be out of class until October 5th. The entire school is closed to in-person learning today, but is scheduled to reopen Monday.

Street maintenance and improvements are scheduled to take place on South Washington Avenue between West McGaffey Street and Alameda Street from Thursday, Sept. 23, through Friday, Oct. 1. A contractor will be removing pavement from the surface and replacing it with fresh pavement and restriping the finished road.

The work is planned between McGaffey Street and the Hondo River bridge (south of Summit Street) Thursday through Monday, Sept. 23-27. The project will be in the section between the Hondo River bridge and Alameda Street Monday through Friday, Sept. 27-Oct. 1. Work will also be done on concrete “collars” for sewer manholes and water valves throughout the week, Sept. 27-Oct. 1.

Washington Avenue will be fully closed in the work area during each phase of the milling and paving work. There will be various lane closures during the concrete and striping
work.

Roswell firefighters responded to the 1700 block of SE Main Street for a structure fire on Tuesday. The first crew at the scene reported smoke coming from a flooring business there. The flames were located in the shop portion of the A&A Flooring at 1713 SE Main Street. It took about an hour for the firefighters to get the situation under control. No word yet on what started that fire, but damage is said to be extensive.

The Carlsbad Fire Department is receiving a 30-thousand dollar grant award to pay for new emergency communicatioons equipment. The city council accepted the grant last week from the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration. Chief Richard Lopez says the department has needed new communications equipment for years, as the current equipment is outdated and unserviceable.

A Roswell man criminally charged in connection with the shooting of another man last month in the east part of the city was arrested this week in the small community of San Patricio, which is about 50 miles west of Roswell in neighboring Lincoln County.

Alfonso Rodriguez, 22, is accused of firing multiple gunshots Aug. 23 at the 25-year-old victim following an argument related to a previous incident between the two men. The argument shortly before 4:30 p.m. took place outside a residence in the 300 block of South Beech Avenue, culminating in Rodriguez allegedly firing the shots, some of which struck the man with whom he had been arguing while others went into the immediate area of two other people, who were not struck.

Roswell Poclie report a missing teenager has been found safe. On September 5th, RPD put out information on Jaida Marie Fain, who is 15 years old and had last been seen with her family as she was being dropped off for school that day. A new statement from Roswell Spokesperson Todd WIldermuth on Friday said that the girl had been located in Roswell on September 16th. No other details were provided.

The Pecos River Blitz is scheduled for Saturday, September 25th from 7am to 11am, where volunteers will gather to clean up the river. Volunteers are asked to gather at the Riverwalk Recreation Center at 400 Riverwalk Drive in Carlsbad.

Additionally, a cleanup will be held withing the Lincoln National Forest Smokey Bear Ranger District on Friday, September 24th and Saturday, the 25th. Volunteers will restore streams in the forest by building one-rock dams and beaver analog dams in Big Bonito Creek for two days.

The old Roswell Municipal Airport Property is being cleared for future development. In a prepared statement, the city says it worked through the process to show the FAA that it had fulfilled its financial obligations linked to past federal grants awarded to the former airport. While specific plans for use of the property have yet to be fully formulated, an important step was recently achieved that freed up the city-owned land for future development.

The Eddy County Commissioners have chosen October 5th and the date for a public hearing on regulations for recreational pot sales in unincorporated areas of the county. The county’s planning and development agency has now apprpoved drafts of the cannabis licensing ordinance, according to a memo from Community Services Director Steve McCroskey. Right now, the draft calls for cannabis retailers to be allowed to operate from 7am to 2am Mondays through Saturdays and noon to midnight on Sundays.