The Luna County Commissioners have appointed a steering committee for the creation of a comprehensive plan which will guide county policy and provide direction for county growth and development.

Committee members approved at this month's commission meeting are, alphabetically, Joel Chinkes... Dudley Counce... Bill Duncan... Rick Holdridge... Danny King... Matthew McReynolds... Ricardo Molina... Merlin Norenberg... Robert Pastran... Dave Peterson... Nancy Sherman... Anne Shine-Ring... Fred Tiedge... and Andrea Williams.

The commissioners also appointed members to the county's Natural Resources Planning Commission -- or Public Lands Advisory Committee.

Those members are: Russell Baker... Dianne Cook... Russ Howell... Joe Bill Nunn... Henry Parra... Tom Roy Perez... Totsie Slover... Kevin Speer... and Monte Speir.

Eric Meraz, age 26, was arrested for indecent exposure... Michael Shaffer, age 36, was arrested on a Magistrate warrant for failure to pay fines... and Gilbert Valencia, age 20, was arrested on a Magistrate warrant for failure to pay fines.

Roxann Pearson, age 53, was arrested for shoplifting at Walmart...

Jesus Hernandez, age 18, was arrested on two Magistrate warrants for failure to appear and was cited for possession of marijuana and having an expired registration... Guadalupe Romero, age 34, was arrested on a Magistrate warrant for failure to pay fines... Perla Haro, age 25, of Sunland Park, was arrested on a Dona Ana County warrant for failure to appear... Emily Cleary, age 54, was picked up on a Sierra County warrant... Eleanor Grogan, age 20, was cited for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia... Pedro Martinez-Aceves, age 18, was cited for minor allowing self to be served alcohol... and a 16-year-old boy was cited for minor allowing self to be served alcohol.

Also... shots were fired at an unoccupied mobile home parked off East Birch... a back window valued at 200-dollars was damaged on a vehicle parked off South Zinc... a tire valued at 100-dollars was damaged at a location off South Tennyson... and counterfeit 10- and 20-dollar bills were discovered at two Deming businesses.

Deming High School F-F-A judging teams did well Saturday at the Las Cruces Judging Invitational.

Sophomore Brannick Sweetser was the high point individual in the Farm Business Management competition. Sweetser and teammates placed fourth in the Farm Business Management team event.

Deming's Meats team placed second and Courtney Hurt was the second-high individual... the Landscape Design team placed second and Keri Hays was the third-high individual... the Pasture and Range team placed second with Jason Lewis placing fourth and Brandon Brabson placing fifth in the individual rankings... the Crops team was second with Lyndsie Peterson as fifth-high individual... and the Homesite team was third and Brandon Brabson was third-high individual.

Deming F-F-A Advisor Larry Von Tress said there are two weeks until the District competition which will take place in Deming and Silver City... and most F-F-A students will spend their spring breaks this week studying and practicing for the upcoming district and state contests.

Von Tress said all of the judging contests -- or Career Development Events -- are related to agriculture and are designed to allow students to grow in knowledge of agricultural careers.

Douglas Hestand, age 45, was arrested for D-W-I - 4th offense and on a driving violation for improper lane.
Mickal Roberts, age 61, was arrested for aggravated D-W-I and improper equipment.
Ricardo Meza, age 22, was arrested for possession of methamphetamine and on two Magistrate warrants for failure to pay fines.
Christine Blotter, age 45, was arrested for battery.

Jose Gallegos, age 24, was arrested for giving alcohol to a minor.
Jason Parson, age 37, was arrested for breaking and entering.
Angel Perez, age 48, was arrested for shoplifting and indecent exposure.
Manny Lucero, age 30, was arrested for driving while license was suspended or revoked.

David Loughborough, age 32, was arrested on an Adult Probation and Parole Office warrant for a probation violation.
Remedios Molina, age 19, was arrested on a District Court warrant for failure to appear and on an immigration detainer.
Margarita Portillo, age 19, of Las Cruces, was arrested on two Magistrate warrants -- one for failure to appear and one for failure to pay fines.
Jesse Kriegel, age 33, was arrested on a Hidalgo County warrant for failure to appear and was cited for a stop sign violation. Antonio Holguin, age 29, of Las Cruces, was arrested on a Magistrate warrant for failure to pay fines.
Andres Rodriguez, age 22, was arrested on a Magistrate warrant for failure to pay fines.
Melissa Miranda, age 26, of Queencreek, Arizona, was arrested on a Dona Ana County warrant for failure to appear.

And in other news 4 semi-truck tires with a combined value of over $1,700 were taken from a business off West Spruce.
Nearly $1,000 worth of manicure products and other beauty items were taken from a business off South Gold and a television valued at $400 was taken from a residence off Santa Monica.

The latest House of Representatives redistricting plan proposed by Retired State District Judge James Hall keeps Luna County together under District 32 -- and adds most of Hidalgo County and a portion of Grant County to the representative's boundaries. Hall issued his decision Monday, meeting a deadline set by the state Supreme Court. The justices overturned an earlier redistricting plan ordered by Hall and directed him to revamp it.

The judge's latest plan shows District 32 -- the seat currently held by Democrat Dona Irwin -- being comprised of all of Luna County and all but the northern-most precinct in Hidalgo county, plus the southern most Grant County precinct.

For the past decade... District 32 has been comprised of all of Luna County and only Luna County.

Hall's previous redistricting plan gave District 32 -- Irwin's seat -- nearly twice as many Dona Ana County precincts as it did Luna County precincts... and more than two-thirds of Luna County was in District 39, the seat currently held by Rudy Martinez of Bayard.

Now District 39 starts at Bayard, goes east to encompass the southern part of Sierra County and then drops down at Salem to take in five Dona Ana County precincts.

An attempted armed robbery occurred at a Deming gas station early Monday morning. According to the clerk a female entered the station in the 500 block of East Railroad Avenue at about 1am and asked for five packs of cigarettes.

When the clerk asked for identification, the female instead raised a 12-inch knife and demanded the cigarettes. The clerk chose instead to dial 911 and the female ran out of the store in an easterly direction.

Deming Police officers are investigating the incident.

The New Mexico Elks Association Charitable and Benevolent Trust has announced the availability of scholarships.

Two of the statewide scholarships are for $2,000 per year for four years and will be awarded to the top male and female applicants.

There also are several $2,000 one-year grants and several $1,000 one-year grants available.

You must be a New Mexico resident to apply. Applicants do not have to be an Elk or the family member of an Elk.

Applications are available at the Deming High School counseling office or may be downloaded from nmelks.org.

Applications are due to high school counselors by March 10th, the local Elks Lodge by March 20th, and to the State Scholarship Committee by April 1st. Winners will be notified by May 1st.

Contact Scholarship Chairman Frank Chiprich at 546-8208 for more information.

Another standoff incident requiring a SWAT team occurred Saturday night. 63-year-old Robert Dale Lynn was taken into custody without incident following a four-and-a-half hour ordeal off Highway 549. Sheriff's officials initially responded to a call of domestic violence at the location... and Lynn met deputies at the door with a gun, refusing to come out until they had a warrant. Lynn was arrested early Sunday morning on a Magistrate warrant for two counts of battery against a household member.

Adrian Lopez, age 20, was arrested for D-W-I, careless driving with liquor and having an open container.
Jimmy Mathis, age 30, (the man involved in Friday's SWAT incident) was arrested for breaking and entering.
Hector Prieto, age 41, was arrested for negligent use of a firearm and unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon.

Raul Garcia, age 30, was arrested on a Magistrate warrant for resisting or obstructing officers, driving while license was suspended or revoked and no insurance.
Leslie Cordova, age 59, was arrested on a Magistrate warrant for failure to pay fines and on a Municipal warrant for failure to pay fines.
Franciso Garza, age 30, was arrested on a Magistrate warrant for failure to pay fines and on a Municipal warrant for failure to appear.
Kathy Chavez, age 31, was arrested on a Magistrate warrant for failure to pay fines.
Raul Hernandez, age 27, was arrested on a Municipal warrant for failure to pay fines.

Also a Deming resident reported nearly $500 taken from his bank account in two unauthorized transactions, a window valued at $200 was broken on a residence off Alamogordo Street, and a window was broken on a residence off Laguna Street.

A Deming man has been found guilty of child sex crimes.

50-year-old Charles Samples was convicted of four sex crimes against a minor following a day-and-a-half jury trial in Sixth Judicial District Court in Deming last week. Samples was found guilty of two counts of criminal sexual penetration of a minor, one count of criminal sexual contact of a minor, and one count of criminal sexual penetration of a child ages 13 to 16. The prosecutor in the case was Deputy District Attorney Armand Velez and the case was tried before District Court Judge Gary Jeffreys. The state called three witnesses to testify against Samples, including the victim and lead investigator Bobby Brookhouser with the Luna County Sheriff's Department. The victim in the case was about 10 years old when the abuse began in 2005. Samples, who is in custody, faces a maximum of 52.5 years in prison; 18 of which are mandatory. Velez said he will be sentenced at a later date.