New Mexico

Judge rules against Los Ranchos development project

Published

2 years ago

May 3, 2024

Judge rules against Los Ranchos development project

It’s business as usual on 4th Street and Osuna as crews continue construction on a 12-acre multi-use center in Los Ranchos.

LOS RANCHOS, N.M. – It’s business as usual on 4th Street and Osuna as crews continue construction on a 12-acre multi-use center in Los Ranchos.

“In the face of the allegations of not complying with the law, and in the face of the planning and zoning commission that they shouldn’t be doing this, even today after the judge has ruled, they are still doing construction,” said Mel Eaves, who is a member of Friends of Los Ranchos.

However, some Los Ranchos residents say there is a lot more happening behind the scenes. Developers started construction in late 2022 which came as a surprise to many residents who say they never held the proper public meetings to get approval to break ground.

“Those procedures require public notice to the residents, and they require that decisions be made in open public meetings,” said Eaves.

Eaves is also a retired attorney and has helped Friends of Los Ranchos pursue legal action. He said when they noticed the construction they warned the Village leadership and developers that they were planning to pursue legal action if they did not follow procedure.

“During that time, we filed briefs, cited the law and told them we were opposed to it. They really didn’t pay any attention to us if anything I think they speeded the construction up,” he said.

More than a year later a district court judge has ruled that developers and village leadership did in fact violate the Open Meetings Act and none of the plans drawn up this far for the project are valid.

“All actions, all approvals previously done in violation of the law are invalid. That means they do not have valid authority to do what they are doing today,” said Eaves.

The victory for Los Ranchos residents is now dimmed as construction continues at the site. Eaves said they will continue to put pressure on new village leadership to put an end to it.

“The board of trustees and the mayor now have the authority and I say the duty, to go to district court and stop construction and to assess a penalty and they ultimately can ask the court to remove the construction,” Eaves said.

KOB 4 reached out to developers and Los Ranchos leadership about the judge’s ruling. They shared the following statement:

“We want a chance to review with Legal Council and the Board, the case finding and implications. We have a posted special meeting to get that understanding.”

They will have a closed meeting on Monday, May 6 to discuss their options moving forward.

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New Mexico

Ice hasn’t stopped trout in northern New Mexico – Alamogordo Daily News

Published

4 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Press Room

Ice hasn’t stopped trout in northern New Mexico – Alamogordo Daily News

Molly Bullard, age 12, of Rio Rancho caught three 12-inch rainbow trout in less than 15 minutes using worms on Dec. 2, 2025 at the Seven Springs Kids’ Pond.

Information and photos provided by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Eli Rodarte caught a 24-inch rainbow trout using worms in the bait…

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New Mexico

Running hot and cold: New Mexico runners earn 17 All American awards at national XC championships

Published

17 hours ago

December 14, 2025

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Running hot and cold: New Mexico runners earn 17 All American awards at national XC championships

YOUTH SPORTS

Gianna Chavez earns fourth in boys 8-and-under race

Ava Denton, of Albuquerque Athletics Track, competes Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025 at the National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championship meet at Blue River Cross Country Course in Shelbyville, Indiana. Temperatures were in the 20s with a wind chill near zero.

Courtesy Carl Brasher

New Mexico had 17 athletes earn All American awards at the 2025 National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championship meet held Saturday at snowy Blue River Cross Country Course in Shelbyville, Indiana.

Gianni Chavez, of Albuquerque Athletics Track, earned his fourth USA Track & Field All American award with a fourth place finish in the 8-and-under boys 2K race. Chavez, an Osuna Elementary third-grader, ran his 2K race in a personal best time of 7 minutes, 44.9 seconds.

Gianni Chavez celebrates his fourth-place finish Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025.

Courtesy Carl Brasher

The top 25 individual finishers and top three teams earn USATF All American awards.

The Cougar Track Club 8U girls team, based out of Albuquerque, placed second and was led by Antonette Marquez, who finished 12th. Other CTC 8U girls team members include Kimberly Reed (31st), Viola Crabbe Maple (55th), Payton Pacheco (61st), Chloe Chino (85th), Emery Grieco (113th) and Zay’a Cheromiah (149th).

Others individual All American award winners include Ava Denton, of AAT, 16th in 13/14 girls 4K; Brynlee Reed, of CTC, 22nd in 15/16 girls 5K; Sihasin Fleg, of Running Medicine, 21st in 8U girls 2K; Eden Pino, of Running Medicine, 12th in 9/10 girls 3K; Nizhoni Fleg, of Running Medicine, 14th in 17/18 girls 5K; Brady Garcia, of Running Medicine, seventh in 17/18 boys 5K; Justice Jones, of Zia, 14th in 9/10 girls 3K; Emilo Otero Soltero, of Dukes Track Club, 12th in 9/10 boys 3K; Miles Gray, unattached, 21st in 9/10 boys 3K.

Also Saturday, at the Brooks Cross Country Nationals in San Diego, Eldorado’s Gianna Rahmer placed 17th in the girls championship 5K with a time of 18:00.7 and Moriarty’s Carmen Dorsey-Spitz placed 25th 18:09.4.

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New Mexico

Anthony, NM man sentenced to prison, sold meth from parents’ property

Published

1 day ago

December 13, 2025

Press Room

An Anthony, New Mexico man was sentenced to nearly 20 years in federal prison for selling methamphetamine.
David Amaya, 43, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute after being caught in an FBI investigation.
Authorities found over 1,100 grams of methamphetamine and two firearms in a trailer on his parents’ property.

An Anthony, New Mexico man was sentenced to nearly two decades in federal prison for selling methamphetamine from a trailer on his parents’ property, authorities said.

A federal judge sentenced David Amaya, 43, to 19 years and seven months in prison on one count of possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, New Mexico federal court records show. He was also sentenced to five years of supervised release after he serves his prison term.

U.S. District Judge Margaret I. Strickland handed down the sentence on Wednesday, Dec. 10, at the federal courthouse in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Williams prosecuted the case.

Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Ryan Ellison and FBI Albuquerque Field Office Special Agent in Charge Justin A. Garris announced Amaya’s sentencing in a joint news release.

Amaya pleaded guilty to the charge in September as part of a plea agreement that dismissed one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, court records show.

Anthony, New Mexico man sells meth on parents’ property

FBI agents began investigating Amaya after he sold methamphetamine to a “controlled buyer” in July and August 2024, the news release states. Controlled buys are when law enforcement uses an undercover agent or a witness to purchase drugs from a suspected drug dealer.

The agents obtained a search warrant on Aug. 22, 2024, for a “specific tow-behind type trailer that Amaya was known to be living in and conducting narcotics transfers out of,” a federal complaint affidavit states. The trailer was located on property owned by Amaya’s parents in Anthony, New Mexico, the news release states.

The trailer did not have a restroom, but agents found a small makeshift bathroom structure with a porta-potty inside next to the trailer. The agents then obtained a warrant to also search the small bathroom structure.

The agents found “a large quantity of white crystalline substance suspected to be methamphetamine” throughout the trailer and bathroom structure, the affidavit states. In the bathroom, agents found a clothing hamper with “a gallon zip lock bag full of suspected methamphetamine” hidden inside.

Agents found a black Ruger .357 caliber handgun containing five rounds of .357 caliber ammunition and a black Mossberg 500 E410 gauge shotgun on the bed inside the trailer, the affidavit states. The news release states agents found “hundreds of rounds of ammunition.”

They also found about 4.42 grams of methamphetamine on the bed and another 26 grams under the bed, the affidavit states. Agents found eight more grams of methamphetamine on a nightstand.

Amaya told agents during an interview that the methamphetamine was his, he had acquired it over a period of time, and did not realize how much it was, the affidavit states. He added he “needed the guns for protection, so people would know he has them, making him safer,” the affidavit states.

In total, the agents found 1,183 grams of methamphetamine.

Aaron Martinez covers the criminal justice system for the El Paso Times. He may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com.

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