A new Family Dollar store will soon take the place of the defunct Al’s Liquor at the intersection of U.S. 84/285 and N.M. 503 at the turn-off to Nambé just north of Pojoaque.

The Santa Fe County Commis-sion voted 4-1 Tuesday to approve a master plan request from Glenwood Development Co., which plans to lease the land to Family Dollar. Com-missioner Miguel Chavez voted against the project without stating a specific reason for doing so.

The discount chain intends to build an 8,320-square-foot building on the corner. The commission also approved two variances: One will allow the store to display a 75-foot sign — the county code allows up to a 70-foot sign — and another will allow the store’s parking lot to be located in the front of the store instead of behind it.

Speakers in favor of the project included state Rep. Jim Trujillo D-Santa Fe, whose family is selling the land to the developer, and for-mer Santa Fe County Commission candidate and County Development Review Committee member Jon Paul Romero, as well as several other people from the community.

Proponents of the project said it will bring economic development and gross receipts tax revenue to the area, which currently is served mostly by pueblo-owned businesses.

An online petition opposing the project had received 70 signatures, but only one person spoke against the project at the hearing.

Julia Takahashi said the scale of the project was incompatible with the Pojoaque Valley Traditional Com-munity District plan and other uses in the area. She also cited concerns about light pollution and traffic.

Rep. Trujillo’s son, James Trujillo — who brokered the deal with the devel-opment company — said he sought for three years to find a suitable buyer

Locally owned and independent Wednesday, April 10, 2013 www.santafenewmexican.com

50¢

Breaking news at www.santafenewmexican.com MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2009

Monday, March 12, 2009

Two sections, 24 pages 164th year, No. 100Publication No. 596-440Editor: Rob Dean, 986-3033, rdean@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Kristina Dunham, kdunham@sfnewmexican.com Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010

Calendar A-2 Classifieds D-3 Comics B-6 Lotteries A-2 Opinions A-5 Police notes C-2 Sports B-1 Time Out B-5 Taste D-1Index

Often overlooked, parsley has potential as versatile kitchen staple Taste, D-1

75¢

PasapickLannan Foundation literary event Author Isabel Wilkerson reads from and discusses The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration; with John Stauffer, 7 p.m., Lensic Performing Arts Center, $6, discounts available, ticketssantafe.org, 988-1234.More events in Calendar, A-2 and Fridays in Pasatiempo

ObituariesMary (Maria) Serna Vigil, 91, April 8

PAge C-2

NEW YORK — Cookie Monster stands accused of shoving a 2-year-old. Super Mario was charged with groping a woman. And Elmo was

booked for berating tourists with anti-Semitic slurs.

Times Square is crawling with entrepreneurs who dress up as pop-culture characters and try to make a few bucks posing for photos with visitors. But some of these characters are unlike anything you’ve seen on Sesame Street or at Disney World.

They smoke, they use foul lan-guage and they can be aggressive. At least three of them have been arrested in the past seven months.

“He was using words that were really bad,” said Parmita Kurada of Stamford, Conn., who told police she got into a dispute this week with a man in a Cookie Monster costume who demanded $2 for posing with her 2-year-old son, Samay.

Kurada said that when she told Cookie Monster her husband needed to get cash, the shaggy blue creature pushed the boy and began calling her and the child obscene names.

“It was very scary for us, and I was

crying. I didn’t want to provoke him, so I said, ‘We’ll give you the money, but stop yelling!’ ” she said.

Osvaldo Quiroz-Lopez, 33, was charged with assault, child endanger-ment and aggressive begging. His lawyer did not immediately return a call for comment.

Asked by a WNBC-TV reporter why he no longer likes the character he sees on Sesame Street, little Samay

Poor behavior gives street characters bad name

By Verena DobnikThe Associated Press

Please see BAD, Page A-4

Times Square Cookie Monster latest in trouble for inappropriate acts

TodaySome sun giving way to clouds.High 48, low 28.

PAge C-4

Some 150 vehicles, most of them seized from people accused of drunken driving, will be auctioned off this

weekend under the city’s DWI For-feiture Program.

The auction includes 25 city vehicles, including several Chevy Impalas whose glory days as police squad cars are behind them.

The auction is expected to gener-ate between $150,000 and $180,000 in revenue for the city, according to purchasing officer Robert Rodarte.

The program, created in 2009, produced $100,000 for the city last year. The money goes directly back into the forfeiture program.

Some of the vehicles seized under the city’s forfeiture ordinance have been in the impound lot at 1142 Siler Road since 2009.

“This is a backlog of vehicles, [so] these auctions will soon be a regular thing,” Rodarte said. “The program is in the position to be able to sustain itself.”

Under the city ordinance, any vehicle involved in a DWI in which the driver has at least one previous drunken-driving conviction is sub-ject to seizure and possible forfeiture. Also, anyone driving with a sus-pended or revoked license can have their vehicle seized and confiscated.

Owners are entitled to fight for-feiture in state District Court. How-

By Nico RoeslerThe New Mexican

ex-vet faces 48 counts of crueltySeized dogs could go up for adoption if woman fails to pay care costs

A woman accused of keeping 48 dogs in unsanitary conditions on her Edgewood property has been charged with 48 counts of animal cruelty.

District Attorney Angela “Spence” Pacheco said Tuesday that her office

filed the misdemeanor animal cru-elty charges in state District Court against Debra Clopton, 48.

“The charges reflect the evidence presented by the sheriff’s office,” Pacheco said.

Meanwhile, Santa Fe County is trying to get Clopton to pay for the care of the dogs at the Santa Fe

Animal Shelter & Humane Society, where they were taken after depu-ties searched Clopton’s property in southern Santa Fe County on April 1.

If she can’t afford to pay for their care, the dogs could be put up for adoption.

In the meantime, Clopton still has

By Nico RoeslerThe New Mexican

Please see DOgS, Page A-4

Please see DOLLAR, Page A-4

A Jeep Liberty in the city’s impound lot Tuesday is slated for the DWI forfeiture auction Saturday. The auction is expected to gen-erate between $150,000 and $180,000 in revenue for the city.

Vehicles up for grabs

City puts 150 vehicles, most taken from DWI offenders, on auction block

Marco Reyes with Santa Fe Auto Detail polishes a 1984 Chevy Camaro on Tuesday in preparation for the city’s DWI forfeiture auction on Saturday. A total of 150 vehicles will be auctioned, 125 of which are DWI forfeitures. Photos by Luis sánchez saturno/the new Mexican

Debra Clopton

Please see AUCTION, Page A-4

Family Dollar gets go ahead

By Phaedra HaywoodThe New Mexican

County OKs developer’s plans for old liquor store

POJOAQUE