Paraplegic says he survived 3 days stranded in N.M. desert
(Photo: Augusta Liddic / The Daily Times via AP)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A paraplegic man, who says he was stranded in the New Mexico desert without his wheelchair, dragged himself about four miles down a dirt road over three days before a motorist stopped to help him.
Tattered and dirty, Ricky Gilmore’s blue jeans tell part of the story. His body tells the rest — the skin on his left leg and buttocks is shredded, his wrist is sprained and his kidneys are in bad shape from going without food and water.
Wow. This guy is incredibly lucky.
» The too-long arm of the law? You could be forgiven for thinking so over the case of New Mexico’s Lori Teel, who was reportedly arrested over $36 worth of overdue library checkouts — one copy of Twilight, and a DVD of the book series’ second film, New Moon. Arrest warrants had been sent out, but not to Teel’s current home — rather, to her childhood home she hadn’t lived at in years, leaving her unaware of the impending retribution. In the course of investigating a disturbance, police arrested Teel in front of her five young children and took her off to jail, where she spent the night. The charges have since been dropped, but that may be cold comfort — I don’t think any of us expect to be arrested for a modest library bill. At least, ahem, we hope not.
Follow ShortFormBlog • Find us on Twitter & Facebook
» Authorities have confirmed that the fire, which formed after two separate lightning-induced blazes converged last week, has now destroyed more than 265 square miles inside of Gila National Forest. The blaze surpassed a fire from 2011 that destroyed more than 153,000 acres, and threatened the Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory before authorities could stop contain it.
Jailed and ignored for two years, Stephen Slevin was awarded $22 million by a federal jury in Santa Fe in one of the largest prisoner-rights judgments ever.
Stephen Slevin was never convicted of a crime. But for two years, he languished in a New Mexico jail cell, going month after month without showers or outdoor recreation or human contact.
His nails grew so long that they curled. Refused medication and denied access to a dentist, he says he was forced to pull his own tooth.
In the photo on the left, Slevin appears in his mugshot following his August 2005 arrest; on the right, he is malnourished and disheveled after two years in solitary confinement.
Photo: Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Department/AP
*wince* How do things like this happen?
Gary Johnson saddles up: The former New Mexico governor made it official today — he’ll be running for the GOP nomination in 2012. Johnson’s cut from a libertarian cloth, but has the sort of ideological tether to that philosophy that may make some traditional, establishment Republicans antsy; Johnson is in favor of legalizing marijuana, for example, and contradicts the party’s usual hard-line stance on Mexican border security and fence-building (a pitch which prompted CPAC to awkwardly “play him off” the stage). Given his stance on legalizin’ it, though, we wish he’d gone full-bore and announced his candidacy yesterday. source
» Immigrants’ rights groups cheer: While Martinez, a Republican, is licking her wounds, advocates for undocumented immigrants have a right to cheer today. ”This goes to show that you come in with a radical, extremist agenda, you’re going to get push-back because New Mexico is not a radical extremist state,” said Somos un Pueblo Unido head Marcela Diaz. By the way, amongst border states, New Mexico is the only one that allows immigrants to get licenses.
Just a hunch: She said “big fat boners,” but we’re sure she meant “big fat bonuses.” source
Copyright 2009-2013 Ernie Smith • Ask us stuff! • E-mail us • Follow us on Twitter • Follow us on Facebook
