Bikers save baby from floodwater

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — It was a busy Fire & Ice Bike Rally for law enforcement, but quieter than usual because of two Saturday afternoon and evening thunderstorms that flooded downtown Grants as high as people's knees in some areas.

About 8 p.m., Saturday during the flooding, a woman carrying a 7-month-old infant in a car carrier stumbled in front of the Mother Whiteside Library and dropped the carrier with the baby in it, which was carried away by the moving floodwater. Several bikers noticed the woman's distress and caught the baby, returning it to its mother, New Mexico State Police Sgt. Rick Doty said.

There was no identification made of the women or her child, both Doty and Grants Police Lt. Maxine Spidle said.

Weekend police activity
Spidle said there were 25 arrests, 31 traffic citations and three accidents during the weekend.

Doty said there were seven DWI arrests, five arrests on misdemeanors and 44 other traffic violations, such as speeding and failure to yield at an intersection.

Cibola County Detention Center only had 39 individuals who were booked into custody and most of those were on 12-hour sobriety holds and released, said Capt. Sterling Francis, detention center spokesman

During the three-day event, that began at 6 p.m., Friday and ended at 3 p.m., Sunday, there were about 60 calls for service to central dispatch, according to Grants police call reports.

In Milan, only one minor arrest was made, said Police Chief Jerry Stephens.

"Traffic was busy sporadically, but we had no problems," he said.

Doty said there was an accident at 8 p.m., Saturday, on Lobo Canyon Road where a motorcyclist went over the side of the mountain and the rope rescue team from Grants Fire and Rescue had to be called out. Doty did not have other details because the Cibola County Sheriff's Department was the lead agency, state police only assisted, he said.

There were a few accidents, most without injuries, that state police responded to; state police had six motorcycle officers assigned to hand traffic, for the event Doty said.

One accident with an injury occurred at 1:30 a.m., Saturday, near Elkins Road in Grants where a motorcyclist rolled his bike suffering minor injuries.

Clay Bishop, 47, of Kingman, Ariz., was taken to Cibola General Hospital where he was treated and released, Doty said.

Flooding hits roads hard
Flooding hit Cibola County roads hard.

The two thunderstorms dropped more than an inch of rain within a couple of hours, according to the National Weather Service in Albuquerque.

The heavy rains resulted in New Mexico Department of Transportation, with state police assistance, closing the following roads between about 8:15 p.m. and 11 p.m., when runoff from Mt. Taylor and area hills had subsided: State Route 36, milemarker 43; SR 124 at Budville; SR 117, at milemarker 31; SR 547, Lobo Canyon Road, at milemarker 5; and SR 605, at milemarkers 4 and 11.

Doty said up to about 20 motorcycles had to be towed away from the downtown Grants area because of damage from the flooding Saturday.

The concert in the Bud Pavilion was canceled at 9 p.m., Saturday, also due to the flooding, and many people left the park and the area, Spidle said.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin, call (505) 287-2197, or e-mail-jtiffin.independent@yahoo.com.