Friday, July 4, 2008 THE NEW MEXICAN C-7
CALIFORNIA
DWI: Two
locals died
in wrecks
Continued from Page C-1
nologies Inc. in Albuquerque,
use a sensor light shone on a
person’s skin to collect data
about the amount of alcohol
consumed. The results are
comparable to breath tests.
Since Feb. 1, at least 41 men
and women ranging in age
from 18 to 81 have died across
the state in car accidents
involving alcohol. The victims
included Tibetan activist Lob-
sang Lhalungpa, 81, who was
killed when the car he was rid-
ing in was hit by a suspected
drunken driver pulling out of
a St. Michael’s Drive business.
Another Santa Fe resident,
Monica Romero, was hit and
killed on Airport Road in June
by a hit-and-run driver.
DWI fatalities
People who have died in
DWI-related crashes from
Feb. 1 to June 29, 2008. Infor-
mation was provided by the
New Mexico State Police and
may not include all DWI-
related fatalities.
Feb. 2: Barry Ellis, 37,
Grant County
Feb. 11: Jose Ortiz, 46,
San Miguel County
Feb. 16: Eric Gurule, 19,
Rio Arriba County
Feb. 18: Kirk Burns, 22,
Union County
Feb. 21: Valencia Garcia, 29,
San Juan County
Feb. 21: Valarie Joe, 47,
San Juan County
March 3: Sharmaine
Archuleta, 18, Taos County
March 5: Jesús Macias-Gon-
zales, 56, Bernalillo County
March 8: Ansonia Dooley, 24,
Cibola County
March 9: Leon Begay, 31,
Bernalillo County
March 15: Darrell Martinez,
26, Colfax County
March 15: Vincent Gallegos,
39, Valencia County
March 28: Pedro Enriquez,
26, Doña Ana County
March 30: Henry Stevens, 38,
Eddy County
April 6: Kesha Valencia, 21,
Cibola County
April 14: Natasha Mon-
dragon, 19, Rio Arriba County
April 15: Edward Urioste, 49,
Bernalillo County
April 16: Eric Juarez, 21,
Lea County
April 19: Earlene Hererra, 29,
Sandoval County
April 26: Patrick Brown, 50,
San Juan County
April 26: Tadd Luthey, 18,
Bernalillo County
April 28: Lobsang Lhalungpa,
81, Santa Fe County
May 1: Noel Toledo, 49,
Bernalillo County
May 3: Consuelo Quintana,
30, Torrance County
May 11: Julio Barraza, 21,
Bernalillo County
May 15: Jacob Zuni, 33,
Valencia County
May 18: Bart Lilly, 48,
Lea County
May 18: Ryan Lievesto, 29,
Sandoval County
May 21: James Simer, 35,
Eddy County
May 26: Edward Tapaha, 41,
Bernalillo County
May 31: Merlyn Pecos, 29,
Sandoval County
May 31: Mel Bigthumb, 32,
McKinley County
June 1: David Ortiz, 40,
Grant County
June 1: David Navaro, 19,
Chavez County
June 2: Coleen Silvers, 55,
McKinley County
June 4: Enrique Duran, 43,
Lea County
June 14: Jorge Ceniceros, 29,
Roosevelt County
June 14: Edgar Ceniceros, 25,
Roosevelt County
June 16: Monica Romero, 44,
Santa Fe County
June 24: Jonothan Brown, 23,
McKinley County
June 29: Charmayne Cleve-
land, 20, Bernalillo County
Contact Staci Matlock at
470-9843 or smatlock@
sfnewmexican.com.
STIPULA
IRIS PEN
Sanbusco Center 989-4742
• Call 505.699.2360
www.santafepens.com
Fires take turn for the worse in Big Sur
By Catherine Saillant
and Steve Chawkins
Los Angeles Times
BIG SUR, Calif. — The fires
bedeviling California took
another ominous turn Thursday
as a blaze near Goleta triggered
additional evacuations and
authorities shut another
10 miles of Highway 1 along the
flaming Big Sur coast.
Mushrooming in size, the
Goleta fire was declared a local
emergency by Santa Barbara
County officials. Because of its
proximity to populated areas, it
was also designated the top fire-
fighting priority in a state cur-
rently plagued with a multitude
of fires, some of them burning
without intervention in remote
areas.
In Goleta, residents of more
than 120 homes had been
ordered to evacuate by Thurs-
day night. In some cases, the
fire was a mile from homes.
At Big Sur, more than 64,000
acres have burned, 17 structures
have been destroyed, and about
1,300 are threatened.
“The weather forecast this
weekend is for warming and
drying conditions,” said Greg
DeNitto, a spokesman for the
multiagency team fighting the
Big Sur blaze. “That’s not a good
prognosis.”
In a period of less than two
weeks, at least 1,700 lightning-
triggered fires in Northern
California have charred more
than 506,000 acres. About 100
fires continue to burn. A new
fire Thursday burned at least
250 acres in the San Bernardino
National Forest near Yucaipa.
At Nepenthe, the iconic res-
taurant perched on a cliff above
the Big Sur coast, employees
who live in cabins on the
grounds had suffered through
a rough night as the crackling
flames came closer.
But about 3 a.m. Thursday, a
marine layer moved in, slowing
the fire’s advance.
Later in the day, Shane
Stephens, 35, a supervisor in
the restaurant, wrestled with
whether to stay another night
or to heed his girlfriend’s plea
to evacuate the high-risk area.
“I have an older car and only
half a tank of gas,” he said. “I
don’t want to get stranded on
the road.”
Stephens started toward his
car. Then, he paused and came
back. He needed to explain why
leaving was so hard for him.
“This is not like Chili’s in
town,” he said of the restaurant.
“This is place where people
come back years later to relive
memories. It’s known around
the world. It’s family-run and
family-owned. It’s not corpo-
rate.”
He paused, then choked up.
“We are like family,” he said.
“If you could be friends with
everyone in your neighborhood,
that’s what it’s like to work here.
So if this goes up, we have noth-
ing.”
In Goleta, the Gap Fire loom-
ing over the city had tripled its
size Wednesday night, growing
to more than 2,000 acres as it
burned for a third day. Its cause
is under investigation.
Aimed at speeding state
aid, Santa Barbara County’s
emergency declaration was
prompted by both the blaze and
an accompanying power out-
age Wednesday night that left
81,000 customers in the dark,
some for several hours. More
outages may occur as flames
consume thick vegetation grow-
ing beneath transmission lines,
officials said.
“People should take this
moment to be ready,” said
Santa Barbara County Supervi-
sor Salud Carabajal. “Get the
flashlights out and the portable
radios.”
While it has destroyed no
homes, the Gap Fire has spread
over a mountainside about a
mile from the nearest Goleta
neighborhoods. Because the fire
has been designated California’s
top priority, firefighters there
will get first call on personnel
and equipment leaving other
fires, said Santa Barbara County
Deputy Fire Chief Tom Frank-
lin. He said it’s not about size:
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A firefighter uses a special gun to start a backfire on a wildfire burn Thursday in Big Sur, Calif. The raging blaze was one of more
than 1,700 wildfires, mostly ignited by lightning, that have scorched more then 770 square miles and destroyed 64 structures
across Northern and Central California since June 20, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
“The top priority is based on
what’s at risk.”
The 120 homes under man-
datory evacuation orders are
in two rural canyons and sev-
eral hillside areas. In addition,
another 300 households have
been warned that evacuations
may come.
By Thursday evening, the sky
over the Santa Ynez Mountains
near Goleta was rimmed with
orange and filled with billows of
black smoke.
Firefighters were bracing for
winds as high as 40 mph, fear-
ing that powerful gusts could
drive the fire downhill, through
groves of citrus and avocado
trees, and into Goleta’s neigh-
borhoods.
The forecast is much the
same for the next few days,
though “monsoonal moisture” is
a possibility next week. “That’s
good news and bad news,”
Franklin said. “The winds along
with it can be fairly squirrelly.”
What the next few days hold
in store for Big Sur is anyone’s
guess. The fire has been notori-
ously unpredictable, pushed
and pulled in surprising direc-
tions by shifting winds blowing
through the coast’s jumble of
peaks and ridgelines.
As of 4 p.m. Thursday, author-
ities shut an additional 10 miles
of Highway 1 to aid the firefight-
ing effort. They closed the road,
the Big Sur coast’s only highway,
from Limekiln State Park in the
south to Palo Colorado Road in
the north — a distance of about
35 miles.
More than 1,500 residents
have been under mandatory
evacuation orders, though
officials say they have no way
of knowing how many have
actually left. Some of the area’s
famed resorts were at risk; at
the Ventana Inn and Spa, work-
ers slathered buildings with
fire-resistant gel.
At Nepenthe, about 20 work-
ers who live on site chose to
stay on, signing waivers indicat-
ing that sheriff’s deputies had
told them of the high risk.
“I’m staying as long as I can,”
Now Serving...
said Russell Brough, a 15-year-
veteran of the restaurant. “We’re
focused on saving the restaurant
and the gift shop, and as many
of the homes as we can.”
By 6 p.m. Wednesday, gen-
eral manager Kirk Gafill and
his workers had formulated a
rough plan: They would watch
in shifts through the night for
fire coming over the closest
ridge. Important possessions
were packed inside cars and
trucks ready to roll if need be.
If the flames came close, each
building would be sprayed with
a fire-retardant gel.
“I told them, ‘Make sure you
want to stay. I can’t offer you
any personal security. But if you
want to be here, let’s work this
together,’ ” said Gafill, whose
family has owned the landmark
restaurant for nearly 60 years.
As the night wore on and
flames 50 feet tall shot through
the mountains just a quarter-
mile away, some staff members
left. But about 10 stayed the
night. Three fire engines sat
at the base of the restaurant,
ready to protect it if the flames
advanced. Two of them were
called to other hot spots around
2 a.m.
On Thursday, helicopters
dipped over the ocean, picked
up 3,000-gallon buckets of sea
water, and dumped them on the
still-smoldering mountain.
But the fire was still growing
on three directions — north,
south and east. Only the per-
sistence of the aerial attack
kept it from moving west in a
final descent toward Nepenthe,
according to Gafill.
“We are so grateful for any
help we have gotten,” he said,
noting resources have been
stretched wafer-thin in recent
days because of other wildfires.
“This whole community is
based on people helping each
other out. But this is unlike
anything we have ever experi-
enced.”
Saillant reported from Big Sur,
Chawkins from Goleta. Times
staff writer Eric Bailey contrib-
uted to this report.
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Paul Sakuma/The Associated Press
Priests, residents on
fire battle line to defend
Buddhist monastery
By Dennis Taylor there might be a level of fear.
The Monterey County Herald Our practice, though, is to
acknowledge fear, but not let it
MONTEREY, Calif. — take over,” he said. “We focus
About 20 priests, students and on what needs to be done this
residents maintained battle very moment, whereas fear
lines Thursday in the Ventana is something that is based on
Wilderness area of Los Padres future possibilities. Fear is not
National Forest to defend the beneficial because it is based
oldest Buddhist monastery
on the future.”
in the Western Hemisphere A large measure of worry
against flames that were about has been quashed by the enor-
a mile away.
mous level of preparation the
The Monterey County Sher- volunteers did in the eight
iff’s Department evacuated days following the evacuation,
about 75 guests from the Tas- during which they rose at
sajara Zen Mountain Center on 5 a.m. and worked into the
June 23, and another 33 chose night, breaking only for food.
to leave two days later, said Professional firefighters
David Zimmerman, director of showed up last week, helping
the monastery and resort. prepare fire lines and teaching
The 14 who remained have fire-fighting techniques. One
since been joined by six oth- fire marshal and two former
ers, and are staying despite the fire marshals are among the
mandatory evacuation order. 20 who are still there, waiting
The 20-person crew has been for the fires to arrive.
asked to provide authorities Twice-a-day meditation peri-
with the names of their dentists ods now are interlaced with
for identification purposes. testing the fire hoses, maintain-
“But we’re feeling fairly ing the temporary sprinkling
confident here. Every fire- systems, clearing leaves and
fighter who has come in and branches, training in firefight-
seen what we’ve done has ing techniques, hosing down
told us the complex is defend- buildings and nearby foliage,
able,” said Zimmerman, who and monitoring the fires.
has been among those on the Two-man teams observe the
front lines, trenching out 10- progress of the fire throughout
foot-wide firebreaks, rigging the night, one tandem working
makeshift sprinkling systems a 9:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. shift,
and clearing leaves and other the other on a 2:30 to 7:30 a.m.
highly flammable materials
watch.
from the area. “This is our Water is abundant, Zim-
spiritual home. It is a very pre- merman says, thanks to the
cious place to us. nearby Tassajara Creek and the
“There is definitely a feel- 50,000-gallon swimming pool
ing of concern, and I think at the complex.
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