Carlsbad residents helping out: A local crew from Xcel Energy headed to Lake Charles over the weekend to work to help restore power to the area devastated by Hurricane Laura. Thank you to Xcel and members of the crew, including Mike Suggs, Jack Kruegel, Chance Huddleston and Scott Hoiten. Thank you for representing our community while assisting others to recover from the devastation caused by Laura to Louisiana.
We also received some good news for air services in the area. On Aug. 26, the City of Roswell announced that American Airlines has agreed to continue its flights to and from Dallas-Ft. Worth through October. The airline had originally announced that it would suspend those flights. Discussions are ongoing regarding flights beyond October. Southeast New Mexico plays an essential role to our nation and state economy, and having more flight options out of Carlsbad and surrounding areas, including Hobbs and Roswell, is extremely important.
Mental health has been a major discussion point throughout the COVID-outbreak and shutdown, and we know many of our local kids are suffering a great deal. Carlsbad’s Child Advocacy Center and the United Way of Eddy County have developed “Growth-Centered Groups” to assist children with coping with feelings of isolation and finding healthy ways to cope with their feelings. To secure a spot in the first session, please complete a referral form by Sept. 4. You can complete a referral form at www.senmcac.com/fsg. Please call the CAC at (575) 200-3929.
COVID-19 update. There were four new positive COVID-19 cases reported for Eddy County on Sunday and six new positive cases reported on Saturday, putting us at a total case count of 486. Carlsbad Medical Center performed 74 COVID-19 tests over the weekend and had four positives. CMC has no current COVID-19 inpatients. It is our goal as a community to get Eddy County’s numbers down so that our schools can move into the hybrid model. While a lot of work has gone into our school’s online learning program, everyone agrees that it isn’t the same as in-person education for most students. Please continue to be careful and safe as we move into the Labor Day weekend.
As we announced last week, museums are now able to open at 25% capacity. This was good timing for Carlsbad, as our current museum exhibit, “Medieval to Metal: The Art and History of the Guitar,” will be on display through Thursday of this week. Hours for the exhibit are 10 a.m. through 5 p.m. Please observe posted social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines put out by the state while visiting this great exhibit.
We received a few more names of Carlsbad and Loving baseball standouts this weekend. Robert Martinez played four years for Milwaukee. He later retired from the City of Carlsbad. Will Mathis was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 2013. Carlsbad’s Trevor Rogers is listed as the probable starting pitcher for the Marlins in Monday afternoon’s game vs. the Mets. Let’s hope for another great game in which he keeps his earned run average at zero.
Sincerely,
Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway