Local News Releases

Bayard Volunteer Fire Department

Saturday. Sept. 13

Fire, other
Dug Hill Road – 7:34 a.m.
Fire reported at the Hurley dump [Ed.: Tri-City landfill]/it is in the bay/gate is locked and no one is there/caller advised it was a pretty engulfed fire. Whiskey Creek VFD advised smoke and active flames showing/fire units en route/Fire was cutting the locks. HFD advised BFD and WCFD were cleared of scene (9:41a.m.)

Cliff/Gila Volunteer Fire Department

Friday, Sept. 12

Caller advised power line is arcing onto his tree/advised PNM does not handle it/tree is starting to smolder/tree is 10 feet away from caller's home. Cannot see flames.

Sunday, Sept. 7

Unwanted subject – Highway 180 – Arenas Valley
DVO violation – Highway 15 – Pinos Altos
Larceny – San Lorenzo
Burglary – Scott Park Golf Links
Larceny – Slag Road -- Silver City
Welfare check – Cottage San Road – Silver City
Welfare check – Elias Road – Arenas Valley
Suspicious vehicle – Sandalwood Avenue – Silver City
Welfare check – Chino Street – Bayard
Loud music – Rio de Arenas Road – Arenas Valley
Suspicious vehicle – Truck Bypass

Monday, Sept. 8

Sunday, Sept. 7

Suspicious person – E. Yankie Street – 7:29 a.m.
Criminal damage to property – W. Gila Street
Suspicious person – E. Yankie Street – 9:46 a.m.
Welfare check – E. Yankie Street
Domestic disturbance – North Loop
Suspicious person – N. Pope Street – 4:01 p.m.
Disturbance – Ohio Street
Welfare check – Sunset Lane
Welfare check – N. Pope Street – 6:27 p.m.
Suspicious activity – E. 14th Street
Suspicious vehicle – N. Rosedale Road
Unwanted subject – E. Market Street

The Southwest Women's Fiber Arts Collective (SWFAC) in collaboration with the Future Forge Makerspace, is offering community members free mending of clothes and teaching how to mend clothes. This free program will be held at the Future Forge located at 307 East College Ave on Saturday, September 20, 2025 from 10 am to 12 noon. 

Did you know that 66% of unwanted clothes and textiles wind up in the landfill? Or that less than 15% are recycled and the rest, 19% are burned? Mending Our Ways is a program to help reduce clothing waste by teaching community members how to mend and offering free mending of clothes. On the 20th, community members can bring one item that needs a simple repair like replacing a button or a tear in a shirt or pants.

Bird Alliance Program: The deep sleep: Torpor dynamics of hummingbirds in the Americas

Friday, October 3, 2025

7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Harlan Hall, Room 111, WNMU

Silver City, NM

Blair Wolf is interested in the lives of birds and bats and anything that creeps or crawls.  He is a professor of biology at the University of New Mexico. He divides his time between Albuquerque, Mimbres and Tucson. For the last 30 years his research has focused on how animals manage their time, energy and water budgets and how rapid climate warming affects their performance and survival. His work primarily focuses on birds in the deserts of the southwest US, South Australia and the Kalahari desert of South Africa. More details on his research can be found here. 

September 21, at 10:00 am, 3845 North Swan Street  – "Buddhist Concepts of Love"

Joanie Conners will discuss the four Buddhist concepts for love - lovingkindness (metta), compassion (karuna), appreciative joy (mudita), and equanimity  (upeksha). She will also discuss nonviolence and how love of others (and self) provide a path for spiritual liberation. Connors will end with a discussion of how Unitarian values compare to these teachings.

Joanie Connors, PhD is a local psychologist, therapist and writer who explores trauma, love and relationships from an eco-systems point of view. She has studied Buddhism for 25 years and believes it has improved her life 100%. Connors has also written three books of poetry about love and is almost finished with a biography of her father. She is a longtime volunteer for peace, justice, human rights and the environment.

Reserve, NM, Sept. 12, 2025—The South Fork Negrito Creek bridge replacement project is approaching the final stages of construction on the Gila National Forest, Reserve Ranger District. The contractor expects delivery of the major prefabricated steel bridge components from September 17 – 22, which is likely to affect travelers on Forest Road 141 between Reserve, New Mexico, and the project site, 27 miles to the southeast. Trucks hauling large, bulky, heavy materials will be slow-moving and have the potential to temporarily impede the normal flow of traffic.

Petroglyph depiction of an agave plant – photo courtesy of Carlos Martinez del RíoThe Gila Native Plant Society has invited biologist Carlos Martinez del Río to give a talk at its evening program on Friday, September 19, 2025. Carlos is calling his presentation "Pollination, fermentation, and distillation: The biocultural co-evolution of mezcales, bats, and humans." 

As Carlos explains, bats and agave plants (or mezcales) have interacted for several million years. Their interaction has led to the diversification of both and to the very peculiar biological characteristics of bats and agaves. The morphology and physiology of bats reflects their reliance on nectar for carbohydrates and pollen for protein. The once-in-a lifetime sexual reproduction of agaves that requires huge carbohydrate storage was shaped by bat pollination. 

Humans took advantage of this outcome of the ancient interaction of bats and agaves and for many thousands of years have become reliant on mezcales for fiber, food and intoxicating beverages. They have also transformed many agave species by domesticating them. Mesoamerican cultures have been deeply influenced directly by mezcales, and hence indirectly by bats. Pulque, the mildly alcoholic fermented drink favored by the Nahuatl inspired the development of strong distillates with methods borrowed from the Old World. These drinks are experiencing a worldwide boom that is placing bats, agaves and mezcal cultures in danger. What can we do to protect them?