JOURNAL CENTENNIAL
Progress and protest in New Mexico
Seven years 鈥� from 1966 to 1972 鈥� were marked by modern wonders and civil unrest
Editor鈥檚 note: The Journal continues its Centennial Sundays series with some key moments in the mid-1960s through early 1970s.
The 1960s and early 鈥�70s were a mixed bag for sa国际传媒官网网页入口 and New Mexico, with the construction of iconic landmarks on one hand and incidents of violent civil unrest on the other. The bricks and mortar projects changed the city skyline while certain events changed attitudes and led to reforms.
Here are some of those moments as captured through the lens and pens of Journal reporters and photographers.
Welcome to North America鈥檚 longest tram
The 2.7-mile Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway opened on May 7, 1966, carrying dignitaries up the steep Sandia Mountains on what is still North America鈥檚 longest tram. The next day, the Journal published an eight-page broadsheet special section, filled with stories, advertisements and photos touting the technological and mechanical wonders of the project, which connects the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 foothills (elevation 6,559 feet) to the Sandia Ski Area (elevation 10,378 feet).
One headline promised an 鈥淯nforgettable Experience,鈥� during which passengers will 鈥淰iew Wildlife, Thrill to Beautiful Scenery.鈥�
The two-year, $2 million project required more than 5,000 helicopter trips, airlifting workers and materials. It involved innovative construction techniques expected to save 鈥渕illions of dollars鈥� for future contractors tackling jobs over 鈥渕ountain goat terrain,鈥� the Journal wrote.
The project was the brainchild of sa国际传媒官网网页入口ans Ben Abruzzo, a real estate developer and world-renowned balloonist, and Robert Nordhaus, a prominent attorney who was inspired after seeing other trams during a ski trip to Switzerland.
The tram 鈥渋s a tribute to the vision of two men who wanted to provide sa国际传媒官网网页入口 with a major tourist attraction,鈥� concluded one story.
That vision became reality: More than 12 million people have ridden the tram in its 60-year history.
A basketball court 37 feet below street level
The roof was built first. Then 55,000 cubic yards of dirt were dug out to create a bowl-like sunken structure with a floor 37 feet below street level.
Why this unusual building technique? To save money. The result? A structure that became one of the best known basketball arenas in the country 鈥� for its unique construction and its loud and raucous fans.
The 15,000-seat University Arena, aka the Pit, replaced Johnson Gym, which had been built just 10 years earlier with a seating capacity of about 7,500. In 2009-10, the Pit underwent a $60 million renovation that added 40 suites and other changes but kept the sunken court design.
The Lobos men basketball team played its first game in the Pit on Dec. 1, 1966. More than 12,000 watched the nationally sixth-ranked Lobos squeeze past a scrappy Abilene Christian University, according to the next day鈥檚 Journal 鈥� the 鈥渓argest (crowd) to ever watch a basketball game in the state.鈥�
Cornerstone of a Downtown renewal
The sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Convention Center opened on Oct. 6, 1972, as a cornerstone of the city鈥檚 long-term and sometimes controversial urban renewal efforts to revitalize Downtown.
sa国际传媒官网网页入口 was behind other cities in tapping federal funds to restructure their aging cores 鈥� often razing blighted areas to make room for new public structures.
Though it took several years for an sa国际传媒官网网页入口 urban renewal plan to be approved, the opening of the convention center was met with plenty of fanfare and a who鈥檚 who of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 and New Mexico.
鈥渟a国际传媒官网网页入口鈥檚 new Convention Center opened Friday night amidst a flow of praise and a note of optimism that the $9.2 million structure will serve as a key step toward the renaissance of the Downtown area,鈥� said the Journal story of Oct. 7, 1972.
About 1,000 people packed the center as a $35,000 pair of jeweled scissors loaned by a local jewelry store were used to cut the ribbon. City Commission Chairman Harry Kinney gave the welcoming address. Other speakers included Gov. Bruce King; Jerry Geist, president of the Chamber of Commerce; Fred Luthy, president of Metro 70s, an organization of banks and financial institutions in sa国际传媒官网网页入口; and George Schreiber, chairman of the Urban Development Commission. Mahlon Love, chairman of the State Police Board, served as master of ceremonies.
The center underwent a massive $300 million renovation that was completed in 2015.
From Land of Enchantment to the lunar surface
New Mexico鈥檚 Harrison 鈥淛ack鈥� Schmitt became the first scientist and next-to-last human to walk on the moon as part of the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972.
He and Mission Commander Eugene Cernan spent 22 hours over three days on the lunar surface.
Among their exploits: Schmitt discovered a patch of orange soil, providing critical evidence that the moon once had experienced volcanic activity. The pair brought back 254 pounds of lunar samples, the largest return of any Apollo mission. They also traveled 22 miles in the Lunar Roving Vehicle, venturing farther from their landing site than any other crew.
An Associated Press story in the Dec. 13, 1972, Journal quoted Schmitt as calling the landscape a 鈥済eologist鈥檚 paradise.鈥�
At one point, Schmitt lost his balance on a slope and performed a slow motion tumble into the lunar dust. Footage of the tumble and him struggling to get back up became a well-known highlight of the mission.
A courthouse takeover
Reies Lopez Tijerina and about two dozen armed members of the Alianza Federal de Mercedes stormed the Rio Arriba Courthouse in Tierra Amarillo on June 5, 1967.
Aimed at reclaiming land grants for Hispanic descendants, they planned to make a citizen鈥檚 arrest of District Attorney Alfonso Sanchez and free members of their group who had been arrested days before. However, Sanchez was not at the courthouse that day.
Local attorney Carlos Sedilla told the Journal later that day that he had just gotten into his car to leave the courthouse when shots rang out.
鈥淚 sure looked death in the face,鈥� he said, describing how he saw armed men jump from a truck and run into the building firing guns. A bloodied man walked near his car and disappeared behind another vehicle.
The Journal headline the next day blared, 鈥淕unmen Raid Courthouse.鈥�
The story under the headline reported: 鈥淎 State policeman and jailor were critically wounded by gunfire when the raiding party, apparently led by Alliance leader Reyes Tijerina, blasted its way into the courthouse as the arraignment of eight members of the Political Confederation of Free City States 鈥� known until this week as the Alliance 鈥� ended.鈥�
The story continued: 鈥淎bducted by the raiders were two hostages, United Press International reporter Larry Calloway and Deputy Sheriff Pete Jaramillo. Near Canjilon, where part of the raiders fled onto the hills, Calloway broke away from his captors. Jaramillo was dragged into the heavily wooded area adjacent to the tiny village, but later escaped.鈥� (Calloway later joined the Journal and was a political reporter and columnist for many years.)
A front page photo shows a line of men, women and children, including Tijerina鈥檚 adult daughter Rose, being led out of the mountains near Canjilon by police hours after the raid. Tijerina was not among them.
The National Guard joined the massive manhunt for Tijerina, which ended in his arrest several days later.
The raid did not result in land being returned to original heirs, but it significantly raised the awareness of land grant issues and Tijerino as a major figure in the Chicano movement.
Bayonets vs. UNM students
鈥淏ayonet-wielding National Guardsmen, State Police and city police moved onto the University of New Mexico campus Friday evening and cleared the Student Union Building (SUB) of student demonstrators who occupied the structure since Wednesday,鈥� the Journal reported in its front page story on May 9, 1970.
鈥淓leven persons, including four news reporters, were injured in separate incidents outside the SUB after the initial confrontation inside the building. Most suffered stab wounds.鈥�
The story reported that 122 people, mostly students, were arrested in the initial peaceful sweep.
The group joined student strikers across the nation in opposing President Richard Nixon鈥檚 announcement to move American troops into Cambodia. They also mourned the deaths of four students at Kent State University, who had been killed by Ohio National Guardsmen during a similar protest just a few days before.
Two days into the UNM sit-in, a district judge signed a temporary restraining order calling for the eviction of students from the SUB. At 6 p.m. May 8, police moved in and told students to leave or be arrested. Many left. Others sat on the floor and were escorted out by police to waiting buses.
鈥淭he building was clear and the crowd outside was contenting itself with taunting the lines of city police guarding the entrance,鈥� the Journal reported. 鈥淭hen the National Guard 鈥� approximately 200 strong 鈥� rolled in from the direction of Johnson Gym.
鈥淏ayonets were fixed to their M1 and M14 rifles.鈥�
The Journal reported that the guardsmen deployed into two lines, splitting the crowd. 鈥淎t this time, the student strike marshals appeared to lose control of the crowd and the guard officers apparently lost control of their men in scattered incidents.鈥�
Various skirmishes occurred and 11 people suffered injuries.
One television newsman told the Journal he was stabbed as he held up his camera filming the scene.
One injured student said, 鈥淭hey (the guardsmen) were jabbing at us and a guy on crutches fell down.鈥� The student said he was trying to help the person who had fallen 鈥渁nd they came over and stabbed me twice in the arm. 鈥�
Most of those injured were treated and released at local hospitals.
The student strikers wanted UNM to publicly denounce the invasion of Cambodia, among other demands. UNM President Ferrel Heady later sent a telegram to Nixon disapproving the U.S. invasion of Cambodia, and the faculty began teaching free classes on the issues of the strike, increasing awareness of political and civil rights.
Violence shatters summer evening
A summer night in 1971 broke out in rioting throughout sa国际传媒官网网页入口鈥檚 Downtown after clashes between police and youths who claimed a history of police brutality.
鈥淲indow breaking, looting, burning and shootings erupted in sa国际传媒官网网页入口鈥榮 Downtown area Sunday night following a major confrontation earlier in the evening at Roosevelt Park between heavily armed police and nearly 500 youths,鈥� the Journal reported the next day. 鈥淧olice said nine persons were treated at three city hospitals for gunshot wounds. Three of the injured were reported in critical condition. Dozens more persons were injured but not seriously.鈥�
The crowd at the park, estimated at nearly 1,000, began gathering for a scheduled rock concert. The park disturbance erupted at 5:30 p.m. when police attempted to arrest a young man on a drug charge. Within minutes, police were facing an angry crowd.
鈥淣umerous witnesses told reporters the youth were angered at alleged police brutality,鈥� the Journal reported.鈥滷ive police vehicles were damaged, two of them set on fire. Police resorted to tear gas to disperse the crowd鈥�. Gunshots rang out and ambulances converged on the area.
鈥淎t the height of the confrontation, police left the area and regrouped.鈥�
The crowd then dispersed, but many headed along Central Avenue to Downtown. More than 1,000 gathered outside the city-county jail complex, which was set on fire.
The crowd split into groups, shattering windows and setting fires. Businessmen, armed with shotguns, were seen standing outside some businesses. The rioting continued until the early morning.
More than 1,000 National Guardsmen were called in to restore calm.
The uneasy quiet lasted until the next afternoon, when a rally was held at Roosevelt Park. Lt. Gov. Roberto Mondrag贸n was one of the speakers and accused city police of years of brutality 鈥� especially against minorities.
After the rally, several hundred rioters again stormed Downtown, looting and breaking windows until the National Guard again helped regain order.
Total damages were estimated at $3 million along a 5-mile swath of Central Avenue, and more than 40 people injured. More than 400 were arrested.
In the wake of the rioting, almost all of the windows in the Journal-Tribune building at Seventh and Silver were bricked over. They remained that way until the newsrooms moved to their new home on Jefferson Avenue NE, where the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 remains today.
Mondrag贸n鈥檚 comments led to strong opinion pieces published in the local newspapers both condemning and supporting his statements.
The violence shone a light on police behavior and discrimination against Hispanics in sa国际传媒官网网页入口. The unrest also added fuel to complaints that minority communities were not represented in the at-large voting structure of the City Commission. In 1974, residents voted in a new system: an elected mayor and city councilors elected from specific districts to ensure better representation.
Karen Moses is a former editor of the sa国际传媒官网网页入口. Reach her at kmoses@abqjournal.com.
Coming April 19: T.H. Lang took the reins of the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Publishing Company in 1971, at the age of 24. Over the next 30-plus years, he created nearly a dozen companies, flew reporters to major news events across the country, won a landmark libel case that helped protect journalism for years to come and oversaw the major expansion of the Journal as the leading news source in New Mexico.
