Celebration To Honor Slain East Mountains Residents
By Laura Nesbitt
Mountain View Telegraph
The East Mountain Celebration will be a little bit different this year.
The three-day weekend event will both honor community and celebrate the lives of some community members, said Kenneth Ortiz, sports coordinator for Bernalillo County Sports Department.
The event will honor Bernalillo County Sheriff's Deputy James McGrane Jr., who was killed in March 2006 after a routine traffic stop in Tijeras.
Also honored will be Ben Lopez, state department of transportation supervisor; David Fisher, who worked at an Albuquerque motorcycle shop; and Albuquerque Police Officer Richard Smith. All three were killed along with Garrett Iversen and Albuquerque Police Officer Michael King allegedly by John Hyde in a single day in August 2005.
A multi-use field will be named after Ben Lopez on either Sept. 4 or 5, and the gymnasium will be named after both Fisher and Smith, Ortiz said.
Organizers chose to honor Lopez, Fisher and Smith because they were East Mountains residents, Ortiz said.
The proceeds from three sporting events over the weekend will go to the Deputy James McGrane Jr. Officer Street Survival Training Program, Ortiz said.
The celebration is a collaboration between the Bernalillo County Sports Department and Special Programs Department; Vista Grande Community Center; and the Deputy James McGrane Jr. Officer Street Survival Training Program, a nonprofit organization founded by McGrane's parents, Jim and Rita, Ortiz said.
The goal of the nonprofit is to provide state law enforcement officers with additional training to avoid situations like the one in which McGrane found himself in 2006 when he was shot in the head early in the morning during a traffic stop on N.M. 337.
According to the nonprofit's Web site, McGrane was at work on Christmas Eve several months before he died assisting a truck driver who had crashed in the East Mountains area. The truck driver had "lost all his limbs in the accident and was bleeding to death" but McGrane stayed with the driver until he died, the Web site said.
The East Mountain Celebration will consist of events over a three-day weekend at the Vista Grande Community Center, next to East Mountain High School, Ortiz said.
According to Ortiz:
A youth basketball tournament will begin on Sept 5. and run through the weekend. An adult softball tournament will begin on Sept. 6 and run through the weekend. Finally, a 3K trail run will begin on Sept. 7 in the morning.
Also over the three-day weekend event will be music.
On Sept. 6 from 1 to 3 p.m., Rock Bottom plays country music. From 3 to 5 p.m. Ancient Bones plays folk and rock, and from 5 to 7 p.m. the Stingrays play variety/rock music.
On Sept. 7 from noon to 2 p.m. Jimmy Stadler plays variety, from 2 to 4 p.m. a variety of community music acts will play, and from 4 to 6 p.m. Todd Tijerina plays blues.
There will also be food vendors.
In the event of rain there will be "lots of tents," some for spectators and a tent over the stage, Ortiz said.
All the entertainment is free.
The cost of the trail run for adults is $20, and ages 15 and under is $10.
Adult softball for 18 and over costs $200 per team in a double elimination tournament.
Youth basketball, open to youths 17 and under, costs $200 per team in a double elimination tournament.
Trophies, prizes and medals will be given out the day of each event.
Jim and Rita McGrane will attend along with representatives from the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department, Bernalillo County Commissioner Michael Brasher and other elected officials, Ortiz said.
Registration deadline is September 2 before 5 p.m. for all sporting events.
Register at any of the following Bank of the West locations in Cedar Crest: Grand Avenue, Adobe Acres, East Central, Cottonwood and La Cueva.
For more information, call Ortiz at 314-0417.
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