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Tag: New Mexico

Rise and Fall and Decline of Organ, New Mexico

Rise and Fall and Decline of Organ, New Mexico

Driving west on US 70 out of Alamogordo, New Mexico, the San Andres and Organ Mountains rise straight up from the desert floor. To the north, triangulated sections of the San Andres Mountains divide the Tularosa Valley from the Jornada del Muerto, a desolate segment of the Camino Real where so many early travelers lost their lives. To the south, the Organ Mountains, named by seventeenth century Spanish explorers for their pipe-like spires, puncture the sky. US 70 cuts through…

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“The Silence of Cricket Coogler” and Corruption at the Highest Levels

“The Silence of Cricket Coogler” and Corruption at the Highest Levels

The murder of Ovida “Cricket” Coogler in Las Cruces in 1949 rocked New Mexico’s political machine and sent reverberations throughout the country. Coogler was an 18-year-old waitress whose body was found in a field south of Las Cruces by some rabbit hunters. She had been raped and run over repeatedly by a car. As the press, particularly Walt Finley, working for the El Paso Herald Post, started digging into the murder, corruption from the local sheriff “Happy” Apodaca all the…

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The Reach of One Person Can Impact So Many

The Reach of One Person Can Impact So Many

“I need to help that little girl up,” said Sean Marusich, after she careened into him on the beginner slope at Ski Apache. As his Ski Apache Adaptive Sports (SAAS) coach gently reminded him that it was her fault, that she was skiing out of control and that she needed a lesson, Sean answered: “But everyone falls sometime, don’t they?” It is difficult logic to argue with, made all the more significant since, nearly 12 years ago, doctors removed the…

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