New Mexico

Tucson couple’s bodies pulled from Rio Grande in New Mexico

Published

12 months ago

July 20, 2023

Press Room

Tucson couple’s bodies pulled from Rio Grande in New Mexico

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Two beloved educators and Tucson community members have tragically passed away.

Muriel and Paul Fisher, both in their 70s, died last month in New Mexico.

Their bodies were pulled from the Rio Grande near Truth or Consequences on June 18. Sierra County Sheriff Joshua Baker later told media there was no danger to the public or suspects being sought, but the deaths were under investigation.

The sheriff also says a rental car believed to belong to the couple was discovered, per the report.

Friends of the couple spoke with KGUN 9 on Wednesday, shaken by the news.

Annie Bunker knew Muriel and Paul for nearly 40 years, “professionally as artists, as educators, as close friends.”

“They were an incredible force of power as a couple in terms of being resourceful and always speaking their mind,” Bunker said, praising their sometimes brutal but necessary honesty.

“Our sons grew up taking improvisational theatre classes with Paul,” Bunker added. “They just loved him, as all children did. He just had a way of reaching, and reaching into a child’s spirit and soul and pulling out creativity.”

Before she recently retired, Muriel was an accomplished linguistics professor at the University of Arizona. Her colleagues are still processing the heartbreaking news.

“Muriel was a wonderful and amazing person,” said Natasha Warner, professor and department head for UArizona’s Department of Linguistics. “She was brilliant, she had a wonderful understanding of the language.”

Muriel, who is from Scotland, researched and taught Scottish Gaelic.

“And she was a wonderful teacher,” said Warner. “I had a message from a student just this morning that he took three years of Gaelic language with her, and it was wonderful.”

A colleague and close friend Andrew Carnie, another UArizona professor of linguistics, shared the following statement with KGUN:

Muriel Fisher, a native of Glendale on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, was widely recognized as a world expert in Scottish Gaelic language, culture and traditions. She taught Gaelic at both the University of Arizona and at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the Gaelic College on Skye, and she worked as a researcher in the linguistics department at U of A investigating the unique properties of the language. In 2015 she was recognized for her work with the Excellence in Community Linguistics Award from the Linguistics Society of America. Muriel was known for her deep love of sharing her language and culture with others. She was also a source of joy, glee and magic. She will be deeply missed.

——

This is a developing story. Stay with KGUN 9.

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New Mexico

FEMA inspecting New Mexico properties for assistance process

Published

17 mins ago

July 7, 2024

Press Room

FEMA inspecting New Mexico properties for assistance process

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – FEMA is reminding people affected by recent wildfires and flooding of the next steps after filing for assistance.

The agency said home inspections may be necessary to make sure a home is safe and livable.
Inspectors will contact applicants to arrange a meet-up at homes.

FEMA said people should make sure to authorize another adult to act as an agent if people have evacuated and cannot return.

Applicants should tell inspectors about any disaster-related needs.

To “speed up” inspections, residents can: ensure their home/mailbox number is visible, keep their appointment with the inspector, and update FEMA on contact information. Inspectors will investigate if the house is sound, if utilities are working, and if the home is safe to enter or exit.

FEMA said a typical home inspection will take around 45 minutes, and recipients should allow up to 10 days for the inspection to be processed. If you have questions, you can call this hotline: 800-621-3362. Find more information by clicking here.

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New Mexico

A forbidding wilderness in New Mexico

Published

8 hours ago

July 7, 2024

Press Room

It is 100 years since the US government created the world’s first protected wilderness, at the prompting of a visionary conservationist, Aldo Leopold. Encompassing some 1,190 square miles of forested mountains and desert canyons in southern New Mexico, the Gila Wilderness is not a visitor-friendly national park, said Elaine Glusac in The New York Times, but a forbidding natural region, remote and resistant to entry.

Indeed, few places in the US are so well guarded against the selfie-seeking crowds. There are no roads or “artificial trails” – an absence that has led to “countless tales of lost hikers, encounters with poison oak and arduous river crossings”. And the wilderness itself lies within a larger conservation area, the 5,196 square mile Gila National Forest, where the only roads are steep and winding, making access yet more difficult.

I stayed in Silver City, on the edge of the National Forest, which makes a good base for exploring. From there, it’s a 90-minute drive to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. A complex of 40 rooms built into caves high up on some “amber-hued” cliffs, it was created by a group of hunter-gatherers, the Mogollon people, in the 13th century. Today, it is the area’s “top attraction”, along with the many pictographs they drew on a nearby rock wall – abstract figures and symbols whose meaning is “lost to time”. The cliff dwellings stand at a good entry point into the wilderness – if you can ford the Gila River. On my visit, it was in spate, and I gave up.

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The next day, however, I entered the wilderness at Rocky Canyon, on horseback, in the company of two Forest Service employees. Exploring for eight hours, we passed through a remarkable range of habitats – from desert to alpine – and saw “intriguing” caves, sculptural stacks of boulders, and backcountry hot springs. And while none of the area’s bears, wolves or mountain lions put in an appearance, I spotted many “smaller wonders”, including Montezuma quail, with their “distinct polka-dot breasts”.

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