Controversial Santa Fe Animal Shelter CEO Departs

Controversial animal shelter CEO departs

Less than two years after coming on board, Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society CEO Jack Hagerman has left the position. Shelter Director of Philanthropy Pamela Weese Powell tells SFR Hagerman’s last day was July 31. The board is now looking for an interim CEO. “We’re just in transition,” Weese Powell says. “We wish Jack all the best. Operations are still normal, everything is still the same at the shelter and we look forward to moving forward and working with the community of Santa Fe and encourage their support during this time.” SFAS also announced a new board member—Elizabeth Rice—along with the return of four board members: Bill Feinberg, Diana Brown, Mary Mitchell and Sheila Vaughn. Several board members resigned recently in response to turmoil at the shelter under Hagerman’s leadership.

One point of contention during Hagerman’s tenure involved the shelter’s inactive trap, neuter and release program for cats (the service is available at the shelter now in a modified fashion). Hagerman wrote periodic animal columns for SFR and sparked a backlash in April with a piece about felines. “I can say first hand what a challenging job managing it for the director or CEO truly is,” former board member Leta Worthington, who served on the board for nine years, tells SFR. Hagerman, she says, “was trying to implement programs that were statistically successful nationwide” but “they did not prove to work well in our small community. The resultant outcry and pushback were more than could be ignored.” The cat uproar had a significant impact on Felines & Friends New Mexico, Executive Director Bobbi Heller tells SFR, with its intake of cats doubling as people who either “believed [the Santa Fe Animal Shelter] would turn them away or who were turned away” bringing their cats to Felines & Friends instead. She says she’s optimistic “balance will be restored” now. “I think overall the board will do everything they can to ensure the right choice and right path forward,” Heller says. Longtime shelter supporter actress Ali MacGraw echoed that optimism in an interview with SFR, saying: “I think that what we have all learned from these past several months is that Santa Feans are passionate about their animals and their community shelter and humane society. I truly hope that this step is in the right direction and will be reflected in even more support for our animals and our all important organization.”

SFPS nixes private special-ed contract

Despite having an approved contract with an outside firm for special education services, Santa Fe Public Schools has backtracked and instead will use pay incentives to recruit its own staff for the program during the coming school year. In June, the SFPS Board of Education approved a $1.5 million contract with Specialized Education Services to address chronic problems filling positions for special education students. The local branch of the National Education Association union, however, opposed that plan and, following negotiations with the union, on July 21, SFPS Superintendent Hilario “Larry” Chavez instead set up special $10,000 to $20,000 stipends for potential employees in the program. “At the end of the day, it’s about the kids in those classrooms,” Chavez tells SFR. Union reps agree. “It’s never a good idea to outsource public education, ever,” Grace Mayer, NEA-Santa Fe’s union president says. “Especially to a for-profit entity.” The change in strategy appears to have been effective thus far: Chavez reports all four of the vacant teaching positions in the special ed program have since been filled, as well as the one vacant social worker position. The district has yet to fill all eight educational assistant positions, but Chavez says the district is actively recruiting and has a few workers lined up for the start of the school year.

PNM creates new heat assistance fund

This summer’s record-breaking temperatures in New Mexico have led to increased electricity use, according to PNM, which reported yesterday two record-setting system peaks over the last month. In response to heightened electric bill costs, the company says it has allocated $250,000 to a new PNM Summer Heat Bill Help Fund, available to income-verified customers who are having trouble paying their bills. Customers can apply for help through Sept. 30 at PNM.com/help. People can also apply for bill assistance through the PNM Good Neighbor Fund. As for keeping bills down during hot months, PNM offers these tips: Raise your thermostat and, according to a news release, “for every degree higher you can save one to two percent on your energy bill while staying comfortable.” Other suggestions: Turn a ceiling fan counterclockwise to push cool air “into your most used spaces”; close blinds during the hottest part of the day; avoid using the dishwasher, washer and dryer in the late afternoon or evening; and grill outside when possible. Find more tips here and schedule a home energy “check-up” here.

State agencies launch infant death prevention campaign

Three state agencies this week announced a new initiative to combat Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID), which a news release describes as one of the leading causes of infant mortality in New Mexico and the nation, accounting for 19.7% of all infant deaths in New Mexico. SUID deaths often occur while babies are sleeping or in their sleep areas, frequently as a result of accidental suffocation. The new Safe Sleep Campaign, officials say, will focus on education and outreach regarding safe sleep conditions. “Parents want to do what they can to keep their babies safe,” Early Childhood Education & Care Department Cabinet Secretary Elizabeth Groginsky said in a statement. “That’s why we’re taking a multi-targeted approach to ensure families, community organizations, and medical and early childhood professionals have the knowledge needed about sleep. Families can practice safe sleep by remembering their ABCs: their baby should sleep Alone, on their Back, and in a Crib or bassinet without soft toys, pillows, bumpers, or blankets.” ECECD, CYFD and the health department are part of the coordinated outreach effort. “These deaths are unimaginably tragic and preventable,” Acting Secretary for Children, Youth and Family Services Department, Teresa Casados said in a statement. “Informing parents about protective practices for babies drives down rates of mortality, plain and simple.”

Listen up

CBS News visits New Mexico and goes behind the scene to show rehoming of Mexican wolf pups. Kris Van Cleave reports on a recent journey for newborn wolf pups, starting with in captivity in New York to introducing them to their new family in a den in New Mexico’s Gila National Forest. Prepare for many cute close-ups of the baby pups, as well as reporting on the threats the endangered Mexican wolf continues to face, and the ongoing opposition to the US Fish & Wildlife Service’s Mexican wolf recovery program. If the segment whets your auditory appetite, in May, National Geographic also devoted a podcast episode to rehoming wolves in the Gila Wilderness (and the Gila’s history).

NM dunnit

NPR previews the second season of the filmed-in-New Mexico AMC hit Dark Winds, based on Tony Hillerman’s Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee detective novels. Starring Zahn McClarnon, Kiowa Gordon and Jessica Matten, Dark Winds’ second season opener, “Wonders of the Unknown,” launches tonight on AMC+ and on regular AMC on Aug. 6 (here’s a sneak peek). “In adapting Hillerman’s work, the show’s creators keep the bones of his ‘70s material, but they also want to go beyond doing just another police drama and capture truths about Navajo life,” NPR writes, noting that “these aims don’t fully mesh. A tad old-fashioned, the series lacks the contemporary snap of Reservation Dogs, a better and more freewheeling show about Native Americans that owes nothing to 50-year-old mystery novels.” George RR Martin and Robert Redford are two of Dark Winds’ executive producers. In a recent post on his blog, Martin mentioned the second season, and said he thinks “it’s even better than the first season.” And, ICYMI last spring, here’s SFR’s in-depth look at Camel Rock Studios, the first Native American film studio, where Dark Winds filmed. Also on the New Mexico detective fiction beat, Cowboys & Indians magazine interviews New Mexico crime writer Michael McGarrity, a longtime Santa Fe resident, about writing, New Mexico and the American West. McGarrity’s new novel, The Long Ago, published last month; New York Times crime book critic Sarah Weinman described it as “more family saga than crime novel” and said she adored it “without reservation, and inhaled [it] in a single sitting.”

If the pipe fits the man

Vox takes the ubiquitous Oppenheimer coverage to new terrain by examining what Vogue magazine has labeled as Oppenheimercore. “Most on the internet have equated Oppenheimer with a goth look, but Oppenheimercore is not just about wearing black,” Vogue explains, “Oppenheimercore can be as classic as wearing a dark suit but with soft edges that symbolize the scientist’s turmoil.” Vogue provides many examples. Indeed, according to Vox, Oppenheimer is “the surprise fashion movie of the summer,” and not for nothing: Robert J. Oppenheimer’s father Julius is described as “one of the most knowledgeable ‘fabrics’ men in” New York in American Prometheus, the biography on which Christopher Nolan’s film is based. Authors Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin write that Julius Oppenheimer “dressed to fit the part, always adorned in a white high-collared shirt, a conservative tie, and a dark business suit.” Oppenheimer’s costume designer costume designer Ellen Mirojnick tells Vox she was struck by how consistent Robert J. Oppenheimer’s style remained throughout his life, with just a slight shift during his time in Los Alamos to adapt to the New Mexico desert by losing the waistcoat.

Nonsoon nonsense

The National Weather Service forecasts a 20% chance for rain today, with isolated showers and thunderstorms after 1 pm. Otherwise, it will be mostly sunny, with a high temperature near 89 degrees and north wind 10 to 15 mph becoming west in the afternoon.

Thanks for reading! The Word slept through the full Sturgeon Moon Tuesday night, but she’s enjoying these photos from folks who caught the show.