The past 100 years

From The Santa Fe New Mexican: March 2, 1918: While hunting several days ago, Mr. Langford of Mills was shot in the foot by the accidental discharge of the shotgun carried by Fred Weather. It was necessary to amputate the foot.

March 2, 1993: Marcel Legendre, a parent whose child attends Kearny Elementary School, is expected to be sworn in as a member of the Santa Fe Board of Education tonight, the result of some of the oddest set of circumstances ever to surround a school board election.

District Court Judge Art Encinias ruled Monday that state law requires Legendre be named a member of the school board because he received the second-highest number of votes, 11, in the Feb. 2 election for the District 5 post.

The ruling was made despite a request from school board President Jimmie Martinez that the election be voided and a new election held.

“Eleven votes is hardly any representation for that guy to have gotten elected for the district,” Martinez said after the hearing. Fewer than 250 persons in the district cast votes.

Legendre, 42, ran as a write-in candidate for the District 5 post, which was won by his only competitor, Daniel Gonzales, with 225 votes. But Gonzales, whose name was on the ballot, resigned from his seat last week before taking the school board’s oath of office.