NEWS Local news and entertainment since 1969 GET SOLAR & AC Entertainment AND SAVE BIG SAVE YOUR ELECTRIC BILL EACH MONTH 25 YEAR WARRANTY ‘Mano y Mano’ August 28 - September 3, 2020 $89.94 Hilary Swank COMBINED Guide A MONTH gets her space Amana program back Lifetime in ‘Away’ Warranty Last AC Hilary Swank stars in You’ll Ever Inside “Away,” premiering Buy in force next Friday on Netflix. Lic #380200 • 4.38 kw • $36,000 financed at 2.99% is combo price $89.94 for 18 months then re-amortize OAC. page 3 575-449-3277 YELLOWBIRDAC.COM • YELLOWBIRDSOLAR.COM2 x 5.5” ad FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 Explore Southern New Mexico Explore the monthly Desert Exposure, “the biggest little Here are some ways to get your Desert Exposure fix: newspaper in the Southwest.” This eclectic arts and leisure • Check area racks and newsstands • Share stories and photos publication delivers a blend of content to make you laugh, with Editor Elva Osterreich I Volume 52, Number 35 • Visit www.desertexposure.com think and sometimes just get up and dance. [email protected], • Sign up for an annual mail subscription 575-443-4408 Desert Exposure captures the flavor, beauty and for $54 contact Teresa Tolonen, • Promote your organization to NEWS uniqueness of Silver City, Las Cruces and the whole [email protected], our widespread readership I lascrucesbulletin.com Southwest region of New Mexico. You can also peruse or call 575-680-1841 through Desert Exposure our wide array of advertisers to plan your stops on your • Sign up for our semi-monthly advertising with Pam Rossi next Southwest New Mexico road trip, no matter which Desert Exposure email newsletter [email protected], direction you’re going. contact [email protected] 575-635-6614 1740-A Calle de Mercado Las Cruces, NM 88005 6 x 4” ad 575-524-8061 Oh, deer! www.desertexposure.com Calendars set Larry Felhauer of Spirit Horse Designs captured this buck grazing on his roses and drinking from a deco- to return rative fountain behind his house in Picacho Hills. “Because we don't fencePHOTO our COURTESY yard off OF from LARRY the FELHAUER desert, page 12 we regularly get visitors,” he wrote. “In fact, our yard has been designated an official wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. While we've had deer on our patio before, this 10-point mule deer is the biggest we’ve seen.” More of Felhauer’s work can be viewed at www.facebook.com/SpiritHrse. A&E Thayer pens vampire novel page 24 A&E DAAC features Beagle’s art page 30 2 | FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 LAS CRUCES BULLETIN Content brought to you by: Your Partner in Progress Commission approves application to CARES Act Relief Fund to help small businesses The Board of County Commissioners voted to ap- representation from each municipality of the county prove Doña Ana County’s application to the CARES and of the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce Act Relief Fund in a special meeting held on August 4, will facilitate the process. 2020. Click here to see the application. “We are requesting $7 million from the 2020 The CARES Act Relief Fund makes funding avail- CARES Act Relief Fund to support an estimated able to local governments to provide grants to small 1,600 small businesses within the county municipali- businesses impacted by COVID-19. The Cities of An- ties and outside the City of Las Cruces,” said Fernan- thony and Sunland Park, the Town of Mesilla and the do Macias, Doña Ana County Manager. “These busi- Village of Hatch are all partnering with Doña Ana nesses are a vital contributor to the economic stability of Doña Ana County.” The awards allotted to qualifying small businesses will be based on their abil- ity to demon- strate need. Grants are capped at $10,000, un- less the busi- ness provides supportive documenta- tion of great- er need. County on this effort. “More Doña Ana County invested in an economic information assessment, which was created by the Commu- about the nity Economics Laboratory CELab, an Albu- grants will be querque based economic think tank, in partner- available, in ship with the Mesilla Valley Economic Devel- the very near opment Alliance. The assessment estimated future,” said that Doña Ana County is expected to lose more Debbi than 28,000 jobs over the next five years, large- Moore, CEO ly due to the pandemic. of the Great- Doña Ana County will administer the er Las Cruces CARES Act Relief Fund in partnership with the Chamber of Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Com- Commerce. merce. The Chamber will be responsible for the application process. A committee, made up of Connect with us: (575) 647-7200 www.donaanacounty.org LAS CRUCES BULLETIN NEWS FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 | 3 Mano y Mano program back to full strength By MIKE COOK program has returned to fication. Director Franco Granillo sor.” beautifies our community Las Cruces Bulletin full strength, as Las Cru- The program began and Mesilla Valley Com- “In a time of economic and connects people with cens who are struggling in March 2018 and had munity of Hope (MVCH) uncertainty, Mano y services to help prevent With participants wear- with homelessness and expanded to two crews of Executive Director Nicole Mano has provided an op- and end homelessness.” ing facemasks and main- near homelessness assist 10 people each, but then Martinez. The program portunity to those who are MVCH includes Camp taining social distance, the city Parks and Recre- cut back to five-member has returned to full familiar with hard work Hope tent city. the City of Las Cruces ation Department with crews after the onset of strength with safety mea- to make ends meet,” Mar- The Mano y Mano Mano y Mano day-labor local cleanup and beauti- COVID-19, said city Parks sures in place, Granillo tinez said. “We are grate- crews work throughout and Martinez said. ful that Mano y Mano “The Mano y Mano pro- provides consistent work, SEE MANO, PAGE 4 gram means a lot to me,” said Carl Mead, who was a participant in the pro- WelcomingNew Patients! gram before being hired by the city as a Mano y Nicole OswaltGarcia, NP Mano supervisor. “Four times I would not have Pediatrics been able to pay my elec- FAMILY CARE ANDPEDIATRICS tricity bill. And at least 2405 STelshor Blvd. twice I would not have been able to pay my rent. 575-532-1001 And it is because of this V45095 PHOTO COURTESY OF NICOLE MARTINEZ, MESILLA VALLEY COMMUNITY OF HOPE program that I now have We accept Medicare, Medicaid, LC1-L Mesilla Valley Community of Hope (MVCH) residents who are part of the MVCH and City of Las full-time employment as Tricare, CentennialCare and Cruces Mano y Mano program, wearing masks donated to MVCH by Hanes Corp. a Mano y Mano supervi- most privateinsurances. Plan a future trip to Silver City Just about 100 minutes west of When in Silver, visit these great businesses! Las Cruces lies a getaway with way more than 100 things to see and do. Plan your trip today! Silver City, Grant County and HANDMADE, HOMEMADE, HOMEGROWN surroundings offer wide varieties Maker's Market of fun, adventure and relaxation. At MainStreet Plaza Here’s just one example: Every Saturday Aug 1st - Oct 31st 8:30am to 12:00pm Fort Bayard National Landmark www.thefutureforge.org/makers-market 575-313-5665 Driving through the Fort Bayard National Landmark is like stepping into history. Stately buildings, [email protected] soldier’s barracks and the ruins of a hospital are but a few of the discoveries to be found here. There are historic plaques on the road explaining the buildings, parade grounds and other interests along the way. And right next door is the sobering Fort Bayard National Cemetery where the first service member, Sgt. David Boyd, was buried Oct. 10, 1866, and where veterans continue to be buried to this day. 4 | FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2020 NEWS LAS CRUCES BULLETIN State’s early education system ranked in top 25 BULLETIN REPORT share of school districts resources and economic had a last-place score of tend only partial-day pre- over a few decades, due to (New Mexico has 89) that support. 24.2. school,” WalletHub said. lessening the need for so- New Mexico’s early edu- offer a state pre-K pro- D.C. was ranked first “A study by the Na- “In addition, those who at- cial services and creating cation system is ranked gram, number of pre-K with a score of 75.41, fol- tional Institute for Early tend pre-K programs have more productive citizens.” 21st among all states and quality benchmarks met lowed by Nebraska, Mary- Education Research been shown to have less the District of Columbia and total reported spend- land, West Virginia and showed that students risk of future crime than Read the full report at in a survey by the per- ing per child enrolled in Arkansas. The bottom five enrolled in full-day pre-K those who do not. Plus, www.wallethub.com/ sonal finance website Wal- pre-K. were Massachusetts, Ari- programs do better on early education programs edu/e/states-with-the-best- and-worst-early-education- letHub. With a total overall zona, North Dakota, Mis- math and literacy tests may generate billions of systems/62668/. For the study, Wal- score of 53.55 out of a souri and Indiana, which than their peers who at- dollars for the economy letHub compared the 50 possible 100, New Mexico states and D.C.