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The Eastern New Mexico State Fair (ENMSF) hosted hundreds of schoolchildren Friday for the fair's annual Kids Day, during which local elementary students had the hands-on opportunity to learn about local agricultural industries, such as dairy farming and cheese making.
ENMSF Office Manager Leslie Robertson said about 600 children — kindergarten through third grade — were involved in the educational event, including kids from Roswell Independent Schools, home schools and All Saints Catholic School.
Kids learned such things as where eggs and milk comes from, and how to make butter at demonstrations such as one presented by New Mexico Ag in the Classroom (NMAITC) outside Hobson's Hall on the fairgrounds.
"Heavy whipping cream is the only ingredient," said Britney Lardner, a senior program coordinator for NMAITC, a statewide nonprofit promoting agricultural education.
The kids were given small tubs of cream and instructed to shake them until the cream coagulated into butter, a task which the students participated in enthusiastically.
A short walk away, Monterrey Elementary School students listened as Aubrey Prince from Goddard High School FFA (Future Farmers of America) led a session on pumpkins.
"Who likes pumpkin pie?" she asked.
Nearly all the kids raised their hands.
"Who likes jack-o'-lanterns?" Prince queried.
Again, near total agreement from the youngsters.
"Who just likes pumpkins?" she asked, receiving a similar response before sitting down to read a book, and pass along more information about the fall favorites.
Inside Hobson's Hall, representatives of Leprino Foods helped student volunteers, Sophia and Fernando, mix a couple of drops of the "magic ingredient" with milk before gently shaking the containers in an effort to create some cheese, as dozens more students from All Saints Catholic School and Military Heights Elementary looked on.
"That's gross, huh?" Andrea Batista of Leprino Foods asked the kids as she showed the results.
"Don't worry, it's not ready to put on the pizza you love so much," she told them.
As ENMSF entered into its final days, Robertson said the 2024 fair has gone well.
"It's been a great year," she said. "The weather has held, the crowds were fantastic, and the livestock shows have been well attended."
Robertson said that the entertainment, such as the cannonball artist and the hypnotist, put on great shows for the crowds as well.
Planning for next year's fair is already underway, she said.
"The board has done a tremendous job at looking towards the future and improvements we can make for upcoming years," Robertson said.
U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM-02) will not participate in a televised debate on KOB 4 with former U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell (R-NM-02) this election cycle, citing a scheduling conflict.
Michelle Donaldson, vice president and general manager for KOB 4, confirmed that her network had been trying to work with both candidates to find a date and time that would work for both of them.
"After a great deal of back-and-forth on possible dates, KOB selected a date. The debate opportunity was declined by the Vasquez camp," Donaldson said in an email to the Roswell Daily Record. She confirmed that the date and time was Nov. 16 at 6:30 p.m.
The Herrell campaign said in a press release that because Vasquez will not take part in the debate, she will be the only candidate on the debate stage that night. She also accused the congressman of dodging voters.
"Gabe Vasquez's decision not to debate is a slap in the face to the voters of the Second Congressional District. New Mexicans deserve to hear directly from the candidates so they can make an informed decision in this election," Herrell said in a press release.
She also accused Vasquez of hiding from voters rather than defending his record of what Herrell deemed "extreme positions."
Steve Pearce, chair of the Republican Party of New Mexico, in a press release called Vasquez cowardly for not taking part in the debate.
"We urge residents of New Mexico's Second District to reach out to Gabe Vasquez and remind him that he works for you. Insist on a debate between him and Yvette and remind him that it is essential for upholding democracy," Pearce said in a press release on Friday.
The Vasquez campaign struck back at the claims, saying that Herrell's reluctance to accommodate Vasquez's schedule, left him with no choice but to opt out of the debate.
"Our team communicated multiple dates and times that worked for the Congressman. Yvette Herrell declined all the dates and refused to compromise," Dylan McArthur, the campaign manager for Vasquez, said in a statement.
Paul Smith, a spokesperson for the Herrell campaign, denied the claim. He claimed that the Vasquez camp wanted the debate to happen on Oct. 21 while they wanted one much closer to the start of early voting on Oct. 8 and that Oct. 16 was suggested as a compromise between those two dates.
McArthur and Vasquez's allies were quick to point out Herrell's absence on Thursday from a meeting of the All Pueblo Council of Governors. The group is a non-profit organization that represents 19 Pueblos in New Mexico on government and cultural issues.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the fundraising arm for Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, said that Herrell was the only candidate in the three New Mexico contests for the U.S. House of Representatives who did not participate in that event or respond to an invitation to do so.
"When given the opportunity to show up for tribal communities, Yvette Herrell was MIA. New Mexicans will remember her continuous failure to show up for them in November," Lauryn Fanguen, spokesperson for the DCCC said in a statement.
Smith did not respond to questions about why Herrell did not attend the forum hosted by the All Pueblo Council of Governors.
Vasquez and Herrell are locked in a competitive race in the New Mexico 2nd Congressional District, which encompasses west Albuquerque and much of southern New Mexico, including a single precinct in the bootheel of Chaves County.
The contest represents a rematch of the 2022 contest when Vasquez unseated Herrell by a margin of 1,350 votes.
The Roswell Independent School District (RISD) Board will meet at 6 p.m. on Tuesday in the Administrative and Educational Services Complex Boardroom, 300 N. Kentucky Ave.
Among the presentations scheduled during this meeting will be one about dyslexia and another about a reading program meant to assist younger students who appear to exhibit characteristics associated with this learning disability.
The United States Department of Health and Human Services estimates that more than 15% of the population is dyslexic. This type of disability is considered to pose a significant challenge to young people as they try to learn how to read.
Christy Surgett will focus on dyslexia. She is a reading instruction Certified Academic Language Therapist for the RISD.
New Mexico has the nation's highest percentage of children with low literacy levels. Surgett uses this and other data from The National Literacy Institute findings, covering 2022-23, to help illustrate the need for honing in on language skills.
"Illiteracy has become such a serious problem in our country that 130 million adults are now unable to read a simple story to their children," Surgett states on one page. "45 million (adults) are functionally illiterate and read below a 5th grade level."
RISD's Strategic Plan requires at least 15 staff members to become Certified Academic Language Practitioners, with one of these professionals working at each elementary school.
All first graders are screened for dyslexia. And a program titled Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling is meant to help instructors determine how to best teach this skill. LETRS is the acronym for this professional development method.
This training is sold by the company Lexia Learning Systems LLC. LETRS requires teachers to make a two-year commitment to complete the program. It can require 160 hours or more, and is considered intensive.
Lexia explains on its website that the training "teaches the five essential components of reading: phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and fluency. It also covers writing, spelling, and oral language."
There is also an administrator course that is separate from the training for teachers who work with beginning readers.
"LETRS instructs teachers in what literacy skills need to be taught, why, and how to plan to teach them. And it delves into the research base behind these recommendations," Education Week reported in July 2022. This notes that this professional development program has become a widely used form of education for teachers in recent years.
This training is meant to allow these instructors to more effectively help students improve their language skills. Reading requires both the ability to identify each word and to understand its context, which makes it more difficult for students with dyslexia to learn how to read well.
The International Dyslexia Association states that the ability to decode words is essential for these youths to become literate.
New Mexico requires all elementary school teachers to complete LETRS training, which is a form of instruction known as Structured Literacy.
Education Week also said there is no individual program that can provide "a magic bullet" for effectively teaching all students how to read.
No action will be taken by board members on this during Tuesday's meeting. Information from these presentations was included in the information packet given to the district's board members.
New Mexico voters are about to get their first chance to make their voices heard in the upcoming general election.
Early in-person voting will get underway Tuesday across the state, the same day that ballots will get mailed out. It is also the last day people can register to vote or update their registration online, or through the mail, ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
Chaves County Clerk Cindy Fuller said those services will be provided between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at Area D on the southwest corner of the Chaves County Administrative Center at 1 St. Mary's Place.
On Oct. 19, early voting and same-day registration will be extended to also include Saturdays from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at the Administrative Center. On that same day a second early voting location will open at the Roswell Mall, and remain in operation until the early voting period ends on Nov. 2.
Two other sites will also open later, one at the Dexter Central Office and the other at the Hagerman Joy Center. Both locations will be open 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Oct. 22, 24, 29 and 31.
The early voting period will end on Nov. 2 at 6 p.m. On Election Day, people will again be able to vote at one of several locations throughout Chaves County between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
New Mexico also allows people to vote absentee. Fuller said voters will have until Oct. 22 to request an absentee ballot either at the Clerk's Office or at NMVote.org .
People can also sign up to be on a permanent absentee ballot list. Those on the list will automatically have a ballot mailed in each election rather than having to sign up each election cycle to receive one.
More information on how to be added to that list is available at the Clerk's Office.
Ballots must be returned by 7 p.m. on Nov. 5 to either the Clerk's Office or any voting convenience center.
Chaves County does not have secure ballot containers, commonly known as secure ballot drop boxes. But Fuller said people can drop off their completed ballots using a drive-thru window on the northwest side of the Administrative Building on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Fuller said that to access same-day voter registration, a person must have a valid New Mexico Photo ID.
People who only have a photo ID from outside Chaves County must bring that in addition to a government document or a utility bill containing the person's name and the address in Chaves County where they wish to be registered.
