The past 100 years

From The Santa Fe New Mexican: Nov. 2, 1917: Albuquerque, N.M. — With the prohibition election four days away the wets are at last out in the open circulating literature and in some instances attempting to confuse the electorate over the machinery on the new election law. It is the duty of every board of county commissioners, acting through the county clerk, to supply and distribute the ballot boxes, booths and ballots. It is rumored that some counties have not yet received the voting booths.

Nov. 2, 1967: FOR SALE. This “for sale” sign appeared the morning after Halloween at the entrance of the state-owned Governor’s Mansion. Said the Governor: “I believe that I have a lease on this until the end of next year and I’m hoping to pick up my option on the residence for another two years.” The realtor whose name appears on the sign said he would move it as soon as possible “back where it belongs.” The capitol, maybe?

Nov. 2, 1992: When Tommy Macaione, Santa Fe’s legendary artist/ character/political gadfly died last week, he apparently didn’t leave a will. But he did leave behind his idea for what to do with the nuclear waste that is supposed to go to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southeast New Mexico.

To explain his proposal, Macaione a few weeks ago provided The New Mexican with a copy of a 35-page, handwritten letter — actually, handdrawn letter might be a better adjective for the tract.

Macaione’s huge, wild scrawl is not bound by page margins or standard penmanship rules. He sometimes wrote, for instance, horizontally and vertically on the same page. Macaione said he mailed the original copy to U.S. Rep. Bill Richardson in July.