Los Alamos fire victims
dissatisfied with FEMALOS ALAMOS, N.M.
(AP) - Cerro Grande fire victims say Los Alamos County needs to cut the red tape for planning, zoning and issuing building permits to hasten rebuilding after last May's blaze, a recent survey said.
Of 413 residents contacted, 188 responded to the survey, though not everyone answered all the questions. More than half the respondents said they plan to rebuild or stay on the same site, the survey found.
About 49 percent of 174 respondents said they were undercompensated for their loss and criticized the slow pace of the compensation process.
The fire, which began as a controlled burn on nearby National Park Service land, charred more than 47,000 acres in and around the town and destroyed more than 200 homes.
The residents, who were contacted in October and November, blamed the Federal Emergency Management Agency and, to a lesser extent, the county for not fully compensating them.
"Stop being nitpicking bureaucrats. Issue permits promptly. Don't block any reasonable dwelling," one respondent said of the county.
But county officials defended themselves, saying the responses were written when people were still emotional about the fire and before the county streamlined the application process.
A review of building permits between July 10 and Dec. 12 for homes in the burned area showed they took about 22 days on average, but some took up to 100 business days.
On March 13, the county council will consider a long-term recovery and hazard mitigation plan for the area.
The plan's proposals include updating building codes and the 911 emergency system, reimbursing homeowners who make changes on their property to reduce erosion and drainage problems and establishing an environmental education program.
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The plan also seeks reimbursement from FEMA for county projects, including measures to prevent erosion, rebuild roads, reforest burned areas and provide affordable housing.
Clovis teacher awarded
for using the InternetCLOVIS, N.M.
(AP) - An elementary school teacher who advocates using the Internet and individualized lessons to teach her students science will receive a national teaching award in Washington, D.C., next month.
Linda D'Amour, a fifth-grade teacher at Mesa Elementary School in Clovis, will receive the 2000 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching during a five-day trip to the nation's capital.
D'Amour was hired by the school district 14 years ago to work with at-risk students, said G.C. Ross, a former assistant superintendent for instruction for Clovis schools.
"She's a natural at teaching," he said.
D'Amour, who is pursuing a doctorate in education, described herself as a life-long learner.
Education is moving toward individualized learning where children develop at their own pace, she said.
The Internet has been a catalyst for changing the way science and other subjects are taught at the elementary level, she said.
For example, instead of reading about the Constitution in a book, she can project a copy from the Internet on a classroom wall, she said.
National DA's receptionist sold
drugs out of the office ALAMOSA, Colo.
(AP) - The receptionist for District Attorney Peter Comar has been arrested on charges of selling cocaine from his office.
Comar said Diane Mondragon was arrested Friday morning and was being held on $50,000 bond.
He said an informant called his office two weeks ago, and an investigation was begun. After collecting enough evidence to confirm the allegation, Mondragon was arrested and fired, Comar said.
She had been hired by his predecessor, Bob Pastore, and was on probation.
Comar declined to say how much cocaine Mondragon was accused of selling, but said she had been doing it "for some time."
Because the arrest involved one of his employees, Comar said he is asking for a special prosecutor in the case.
Officials worried census
Adjustments to census
could affect minoritiesAUSTIN (AP) - Hispanic officials on Saturday said they are concerned about Commerce Secretary Don Evans' decision that he will be the one to determine whether to adjust the 2000 Census results.
"It sends a bad signal, but we are still in a wait-and-see period," said Antonio Gonzalez, president of the William C. Velasquez Institute.
Evans on Friday returned to the commerce secretary's office the final say over the politically sensitive decision to adjust raw population numbers with a statistical method known as sampling that some say protects against undercounting of minorities and the poor.
The Clinton administration had transferred the decision-making power to the Census Bureau last year.
The census figures are used as the basis for redrawing political lines for congressional, legislative and state Board of Education districts, which Texas lawmakers will take up this legislative session.
Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer has said that Bush supports using an actual head count over sampling, but that Bush has not made a final decision.
If Evans decided not to use the adjusted numbers, Gonzalez said it would be a blow to minority communities.
"This would be an example of not only not reaching out, but a slap in the face of the Latino community," Gonzalez said.
Al Kauffman, regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said his group is watching the process carefully but said it would be hard for the group to react "just because an official says he's going to make the decision."
If the government plans to use raw census figures, MALDEF is looking at legislation to try to reverse the step. Gonzalez said litigation is also an option.
Gonzalez and others fear that if the adjusted census figures are not used, minorities will be undercounted. Preliminary census figures out last week show that the undercount for minority groups for 2000 was smaller than it was 10 years ago, but still significant.
MALDEF said that between 2.2 percent and 3.5 percent of the Latino population was missed in the head count. In poorer areas, that percentage could be higher, Kauffman said.
"My gut feeling is the Valley undercount would be higher than that," Kauffman said.
The comments came during a news conference at an all-day redistricting seminar targeted to Hispanics. The conference was aimed at getting the Latino community involved in the redistricting process.
Texas lawmakers will start that process when the census figures are released, which could come as early as early March.
Texas, which currently has 30 congressional seats, stands to gain two more seats. The new seats will be filled in the 2002 election.
Two Yemenis arrested
for USS Cole bombingSAN`A, Yemen
(AP) - President Ali Abdullah Saleh said Sunday that two Yemenis were arrested in connection with the USS Cole bombing in the past two days upon their return from Afghanistan.
Saleh also reiterated in an interview with the Saudi-owned Middle East Broadcasting Corporation that there still is no evidence linking Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden to the Oct. 12 suicide bombing that killed 17 U.S. sailors.
"We cannot charge him (bin Laden) because we have no evidence against him. . . We don't have confessions that the suspects received instructions from bin Laden," he said.
Saleh said the two Yemenis, Mohammed Ahmed al-Ahdal and Ahmed Mohammed Amin, are being interrogated. He did not give any other details on the arrests.
It was not clear whether al-Ahdal and Amin are among at least three suspects that the government says are still at large and are thought to be in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan or Afghanistan.
Yemen is preparing to put at least six people on trial for the blast. No trial date has been set yet. But the prosecution phase, expected to last 10 to 15 days, will begin soon.
There has been no responsibility claim considered credible in the strike on the Cole. American officials have said bin Laden - America's No. 1 terror suspect who has pledged to drive the U.S. military out of the Middle East - is a focus of the bombing investigation.
The Saudi millionaire, who lives in Afghanistan, is accused of masterminding the 1998 bombings on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Mayor offers computer
hacker a job interview SNEEK, Netherlands
(AP) - A local mayor has offered a job interview to a 20-year-old hacker who confessed to spreading a computer virus purporting to offer a photo of tennis star Anna Kournikova that backed up e-mail systems worldwide.
Mayor Siebold Hartkamp didn't specify what sort of post he might offer the man, who was arrested by police on Wednesday. But he suggested the hacker - known as "OnTheFly" - would be a good expert on computer security.
"I've learned that former poachers make the best game wardens," Hartkamp told Dutch television this weekend. "We're looking for just these kinds of kids. He should come and have a chat with us."
But he said "OnTheFly," whose identity has been withheld under privacy rules, "should finish school first," presumably referring to college studies.
Authorities charged the man with damaging private property and computer programs, but sent him home with his parents, saying the offense didn't warrant holding him. He has since been out of view.
The mayor said the virus maker was a "modest, well-meaning and unassuming kid" who didn't intend to cause major disruptions, but rather wanted to warn Internet users to tighten security.
