Chabad of Taos welcomes its Torah scroll, California woman charged with stalking, attempted murder, new ski area gets nixed
– 10 YEARS AGO – ‘Tree of life: Chabad of Taos welcomes Torah scroll’ By Chandra Johnson August 21, 2008
Reporter Chandra Johnson takes the reader to the celebration of what was then a brand new congregation in Taos: the Chabad of Taos.
This particular celebration was extremely special. It marked the completion of the handwritten Torah that would reside with this congregation forever. Rabbi Yitzchok Mishulovin of Brooklyn, New York had brought his quill pen to Taos to finish the last lines of the Jewish holy text containing the five books of Moses from Genesis to Deuteronomy. In Hebrew, the Torah means “instruction.” Once Mishulovin finished, he handed the Torah over to the congregation’s new rabbi, Eli Kaminetzky.
As Johnson reported, Mishulovin was a sofer, a scribe trained and certified to transcribe the Torah for synagogues everywhere. He said he learned the importance of the Torah as a child while practicing his faith in hiding in his native Russia.
“It is ours. The Torah represents all people, and every person is needed by God to complete the puzzle,” said visiting Rabbi Chaim Schmukler “Together we make the world a beautiful place. The Torah gives us the ability to do that.”
Kaminetsky said that the Taos community was lucky to get its Torah so quickly through a generous donation from Taoseño Ted Gould in memory of his parents.
With the ink dry and the scroll rolled and wrapped in a protective cloth mantle, Kaminetzky and the rest of the Chabad raised a canopy, or hupa, and started a procession from a private home to the synagogue. At that time the Chabad’s worship space was at 208 C Paseo del Cañon. The rabbis and the men of the Chabad took turns carrying the scroll and the canopy, dancing to traditional music played by speakers of a stereo in the back of a car that leads the procession.
Once the group reached the synagogue, each person kissed the Torah as they entered and the rabbis danced the Torah around the room while prayers and music filled the air. The Torah then was lain in its new resting place and a prayer was said. “The Torah is the tree of life to the one who holds onto it and those who uphold it are praised.”
The Chabad of Taos is now located near Kit Carson Park. Its website indicates that Rabbi Kaminetsky is still leading the congregation.
– 25 YEARS AGO – ‘Woman jailed for stalking, murder try’ By Alisa Duncan August 19, 1993
Reporter Duncan must have thought she was being stalked by stalking stories. For the second time in as many weeks, Duncan reported on stalking charges being filed by the district attorney.
Admittedly, New Mexicans now had a new state law, the Harrassment and Stalking Act, passed by the legislature in March 1993 under which both cases were filed, but still.
This time, a California woman, Karen DeStevens, 33, was charged with stalking and attempted murder. Law enforcement was made aware of DeStevens and her behavior when Debbie Carlin of Ranchos de Taos filed a complaint against her and said “she was being followed and watched by an old acquaintance,” namely DeStevens.
According to Duncan’s report, Carlin had counseled DeStevens at a religious school in Florida four years before. DeStevens was self-abusive and saying she had visions. Eventually, she was dismissed from the school because of “delusional” behavior.
When Sgt. Dan Herrera saw an SUV matching the description of DeStevens’ parked near Carlin’s home, he approached the vehicle and spoke with DeStevens. She was arrested the next day and the attempted murder charge was added because, among other things, sheriff’s deputies found a loaded gun in the car when it was searched.
The case the week before involved the killing of Chris Romero after stalking charges were filed against him by Teena Trujillo. Her mother, Frances Trujillo, admitted to shooting Romero when he would not leave their home and said he was taking her daughter with him.
– 50 YEARS AGO – ‘Forest service rejects ski area proposal’
By Scott McCullough August 22, 1968
A proposed bid to build a ski area high in the Sangre de Cristos between Red River and Taos Ski Valley got the thumbs down from the U.S. Forest Service this week.
The $3.5 million bid for a ski resort on 1,200 acres of national forest land had been made a month earlier by an Oklahoma-based investor operating under the name, Resorts of New Mexico. But apparently, the firm could not meet the financial requirements of a prospectus Carson National Forest officials had mailed to 200 interested builders.
Apparently, the Forest Service really liked the Oklahomans’ bid that called for a year-round facility doubling as a convention center in the summer months, a 240-room guest lodge, a center with seating for 300, a day lodge to accommodate 300 skiers three chairlifts, four poma lifts and a 300-seat auditorium. But they worried the firm did not have the financial resources to see the plan through.
But the Forest Service still wanted another ski area. They announced they would reissue the bid the following year.
Meanwhile, one of the reasons they didn’t get many bids in the first place was that no road existed linking Red River and TSV to this new area. But the Forest Service officials told The Taos News that obstacle would be removed by the following May when construction of the 7-mile, $886,000 stretch of road from Red River would begin.
The Forest Service action was the beginning of the end for this ski resort idea.