County Commission joins national cemetery campaign

The Valencia County Commission adopted a resolution Monday to support the “efforts to establish a national veterans cemetery” in Valencia County.

Commissioners Frank Pando and Gary Daves voted in favor of the resolution, while Commissioners Helen Baca and Alicia Aguilar were not present for the vote.

“I think it’s a very important initiative,” Daves said. “It’s important that we get in the running.”

“I think the economic opportunity for this is incredible,” Pando said. “There are other places in competition for this, so we really need to get on the bandwagon early.”

“I think this should have been started a long time ago,” said Lillie McNabb, a Bosque Farms resident. “This should be a program for everybody who cares about our veterans, not just a Nick Romero program.”

In other county business on Monday’s agenda, the new animal control ordinance had its first public hearing. Two owners of area kennels, Judy Hummel and Sherry Siegiel, spoke out against various sections of the ordinance. They also said they were not invited to participate during the formulation process of the ordinance.

However, Hummel and Siegiel both had the opportunity to participate on the Valencia County Animal Control Advisory Committee.

“This board did ask for applicants, and only six or seven responded,” said County Manager James Fernández.

“That document should have been available to those who wanted to see it,” Daves said.

Hummel is concerned about wording in the ordinance that refers to dog owners as “guardians.”

“If you’re not an owner, that means they can come in and confiscate your dogs,” Hummel said in an interview later.

Hummel, Siegiel and others present at the meeting expressed concern over the ability of an animal control officer to enter a resident’s property under certain conditions.

Pando spoke out against a section of the ordinance that would require dog owners to put their dogs in a cage while the animals were riding in the back of a pickup truck.

“I have an uncle who has dogs who ride in the back of the truck, and they are very well trained,” Pando said. “We are not the City of Albuquerque. We are a rural county. This is a very restrictive ordinance.”

“Most of the comments that I’ve heard were not the intent of the ordinance,” said Cynthia Ferrari, secretary of the advisory committee. “There’s a lot of cruelty to animals out there, and we need to target that.”

The next public hearing on the animal ordinance will be June 25 at 6 p.m. in the county courthouse.