Front Page News

Monday, Sept. 30

Stolen motor vehicle
Trailing Heart Drive – Silver Acres
Temporary tag/hasn't been registered/last time he saw it was on Friday. Deputy set up frequent patrol for one month.

Accident-property damage
Highway 152 – MM 23 (9 miles east of Highway 35 junction)
Advised single vehicle off roadway/vehicle rolled down the side of the roadway 40-50 feet/no one inside the vehicle/four occupants/one has laceration on back. Deputy advised passing MM 24- negative contact/passing MM 28-negative contact.

The Grant County Sheriff's Office is asking for assistance ini reference to a missing person. Melissa Dawn Reed (50 years of age) was last seen in the Meadow Creek area off of Hwy 15 in Pinos Altos NM on Thursday, October 3, 2024 ,between the hours of 2:00pm and 3:00pm. Melissa spoke to afriend on the phone and informed him that she was out in this area with another subject cutting wood.

They apparently got into an argument so she left walking back towards Silver City. The reporting party stated
Melissa had sent him her GPS coordinates of where she was. When he went to the location he did not locate her.

Senate District 28 Candidate Questionnaire: Part One – Gabriel Ramos

By Frost McGahey

[Editor's Note:The Grant County Beat asked Candidates questions so voters can determine who they want to vote for. Early voting starts Tuesday, October 8th and Election Day is Tuesday, November 5th. The replies are posted in the order received.]

[Author's Note:Gabriel Ramos has served as the senator for District 28. He was appointed to fill Howie Morales’s seat in the legislature in 2019 when Morales became Lieutenant Governor. However in 2020, he was primaried by Siah Correa Hemphill and lost his race. Hemphill went on to win, but only by a slim margin.

Hemphill resigned her seat this June because she had to take a paying position as legislators do not receive a salary. Chris Ponce was appointed to take her position on the ballot.]

In Part Two, Chris Ponce answers the questions.

Gabriel Ramos

[Editor's Note: Misspelling corrected.]

District 5 County Commissioner Candidate Questionnaire- Part Two: Phillip Schoenberg 

By Frost McGahey

[Editor's Note:The Grant County Beat asked Candidates questions so voters can determine who they want to vote for. Early voting starts Tuesday, October 8th and Election Day is Tuesday, November 5th. The replies are posted in the order received.]

Tom Shelley’s answers are in Part One

Phillip Schoenberg 

District 5 County Commissioner Candidate Questionnaire: Part One: Tom Shelley

By Frost McGahey

[Editor's Note:The Grant County Beat asked Candidates questions so voters can determine who they want to vote for. Early voting starts Tuesday, October 8th and Election Day is Tuesday, November 5th. The replies are posted in the order received.]

 District 5 district includes most of historic downtown Silver City, Chihuahua Hill, the area south of Western New Mexico University including Truck By-Pass Road, Tyrone, the Ridges and Silver Acres, and much of the Mountain View and Rosedale Road.

Current Commissioner Harry Browne is term limited. Shelley did run against Browne in 2020 (Covid) and lost by 34 votes.

Democrat Philip Schoenberg’s answers will be in Part Two.

Tom Shelley

 District 39 Representative Candidate Questionnaire: Terrazas and Begay – Part Two: Gabby Begay

By Frost McGahey



[Editor's Note:The Grant County Beat asked Candidates questions so voters can determine who they want to vote for. Early voting starts Tuesday, October 8th and Election Day is Tuesday, November 5th. The replies are posted in the order received.]

Luis Terrazas’s answers are in Part One.

Gabby Begay

By Lynn Janes

The Silver City Consolidated Schools held a work session and regular meeting, on September 17, 2024. Members in attendance Ashley Montenegro, Michelle Diaz, Patrick Cohn, Mike McMillan and Kimberly Klement. Superintendent William Hawkins also attended.

Work session

Hawkins had a presentation for the board concerning the PSFA (public school facility authority) process. He said he would be doing this presentation many times over the next few years. He would be going over the whole process. He had submitted three letters of intent to the finance authority. The first one had been for Cliff schools in the amount of $45,855,464 for planning and design. The second letter had been for Harrison Schmidt Elementary HVAC system in the amount of $1,900,880. The third letter had been for fire and alarm systems in the amount of $680,462. This puts them on notice that the district will be presenting the plans, and it has to go through review with the finance authority. He listed several state organizations they would be working with, public school capital outlay oversight task force, public school capital outlay council and public school facilities authority.

By Lynn Janes

The Village of Santa Clara held a regular meeting September 12, 2024. Mayor Arnold Lopez called the meeting to order. Mayor Pro Tem Albert Esparza, and Trustees Peter Erickson, Olga Amador and Ralph Trujillo attended. 

Mayors report

Lopez said they had a sewer line break between Aspen Street and Aurora Street. The lines went down as deep as 8 feet. They had J and S Plumbing come and they will be obtaining the parts to have it repaired. The village maintenance crew could not have done the job. They have had Humphrey Enterprises come in twice a day to clean up until the line has been repaired. Some sidewalks still need to be installed downtown. Lopez said they have more projects he will talk about at the meeting in October. He and Sheila Hudman, village administrator, had met with Freeport McMoRan concerning FMI quarterly reports.