I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The governor’s office did not respond to two e-mail messages and a phone call sent Monday and Tuesday, asking why Condit had not returned to the scene of a houseboat accident over Labor Day weekend. The Independent also asked spokesman Gilbert Gallegos to either provide an answer after talking to Condit or to make Condit available for an interview. But answers have not been forthcoming.
After the Sept. 5 boat accident at Elephant Butte State Park involving Governor Bill Richardson, his chief of staff Brian Condit and other staffers, both Richardson and Condit stayed “in the vicinity” for 30 minutes, a gubernatorial spokesman said over the weekend.
One member of the governor’s party that day, state budget chief Katherine Miller, did return to the scene after the accident to make sure everything was OK, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
Gallegos’ statement to the Journal expanded on what Richardson told the Independent on Friday — that the governor and his party, which had included Condit and Miller, had stayed 30 minutes.
The accident occurred shortly around 5:15 p.m. Sept. 5, according to an incident report.
Another unanswered question in the Independent’s e-mails was, if the governor and Condit were in the vicinity for 30 minutes following the accident, where were they in relation to the dam site marina, where the accident occurred?
Condit has acknowledged causing the accident. He piloted an 81-foot houseboat that sideswiped one houseboat and then smashed into another. He was cited for operating a vessel in a negligent manner and damaging another person’s property.
Gallegos told the Journal that immediately after the accident “Condit left his cell phone number with (Leon “Skip” Fay, the owner of the houseboat Condit had piloted) and was available for the rest of the evening.”
But unlike many of the witnesses who spoke with investigating officers the same day as the incident, the report notes that Condit didn’t call officer Chris Bolen until two days later, on Monday, Sept. 7.
Bolen writes in the report, “I then asked Mr. Condit if he had been drinking alcohol that day. Mr. Condit stated that he had not been drinking alcohol and was not under the influence of alcohol prior to or during operation” of the “Bloody Mary.”
The exact whereabouts of Richardson and his party following the boat accident has become a source of curiosity.
