Report from Santa Fe; Mary Jane Garcia

You you you you you you report from Santa Fe has made possible in part by a grant from New Mexico tech on the Frontier of Science and Engineering Education for Bachelor's Masters and PhD degrees New Mexico tech as the college you've been looking for 1

-800 -428 -T -E -C -H and by a grant from the Healy Foundation Taos New Mexico Hello I'm Lorraine Mills and welcome to report from Santa Fe. Today we have a very special show with Santa their Mary Jane Garcia thank you for joining us oh thank you it's my pleasure and honor always to be with your show well you wonderful been on it for years you've been a Santa there for 22 years you represent Donia and the county here the majority whip in the Senate and you've been a Santa there like like I said for 22 years 14 years as a majority wheel oh and district 36 is your district so one of the reasons that I really wanted to do this show you had a terrible thing happened to you a crime was committed against you and I just thought to myself they have chosen the wrong lady to assault but please tell us what happened when it happened and what we can learn from this okay Lorraine September 16th I um my sister and I went to Albuquerque I was invited to a

banquet sponsored by Molina Halfcare at the hotel Albuquerque so it was going to start at six so I arrived at the hotel right at six and I parked my car couldn't find a parking there were two major conferences that evening the other one was the uh hospital association having a big conference so I parked at the third row the third tier the one closest to the road and it was the only parking in the whole area so we parked there my sister and I crossed the the parking lot and and we were just a few feet away from the entrance the north entrance which is where we always go through for parties and banquets and uh this young man came out of like nowhere nice looking young Hispanic man probably 1718 or 19 years old and he just asked me um do you know the name of this hotel I said yes I said it's the hotel Albuquerque no sooner I'd said that and and his hands

were on my purse trying to grab my purse brand new beautiful purse and it was it had a very thick strap leather uh it was over your shoulder yes over my shoulder my sister's right next to me and in in pulling my my purse as as hard as he did he threw me down on the floor and the purse was still on my shoulder and he dragged me for a few feet and I said I got to get this off my shoulder he's going to bring my arm little did I know that my leg was already broken at that point my sister tried to run up to this young man but my sister 75 will be 75 soon and this was a young boy that ran off and there was a car not too far from there a small dark light blue faded the blue or blue green coupe and my sister tried to run after him or at least to get the license number well it didn't have a license number you just had a white paper with numbers on it and he jumped in that car the motor was running somebody was in the

driver's seat and they took off the getaway car yeah so my sister came running couldn't lift me up at all that was that was all bloody I I didn't even feel any pain because I was in shock and I said go get help in order and she ran into the hotel and started screaming like a mad woman please my sister is hurt please I need help couldn't come out enough I went wrong so she finally came out with two men that she found in the lobby that were workers there apparently and she told him you've got to come and help get my sister up she can't move she can't get up so they came and then when I when they lifted me up I put you a lot of blood dripping from my elbow from both knees and then I knew I couldn't walk so you you fractured your tibia yes I fractured because I fell on my knee on my leg and on my elbow somehow a very odd fall and so the other knee had a lot of blood as well but it wasn't as bad as the right one

so they brought me in you know I just kind of limped with both of them carrying me into the lobby and sent me down there and I was looking for my friend who was going to get the award from Molina Naomi Farroncook and one of my best friends and and I said I have to see Naomi and explain what happened so I sent them and please call Naomi Farroncook she's in a meeting with Molina conference and what I was there as well is that they were going to issue a $1 ,000 check for the child crisis center in Las Cruces which I was able to get the 250 ,000 from the governor and that means a lot to me and Naomi wanted me and Molina wanted me to go and receive that but I couldn't you know and I told them they brought me a wheelchair and I told them to wheel me in there quickly I had to be with Naomi she found me and she and her friend were in tears when they saw me I said I'll be okay take me to your room for the for the award

and I stayed maybe 15 minutes there in great pain and I tried to eat I couldn't I had a sip of tea and then I saw her receive her award and then the lady from Molina announced about the the crisis center in the $1 ,000 check and they came running to my table and they made the letter to deliver to the crisis center and then after that I said get me back because I need help quickly yeah I'm very hurt I know now that because I could see the blood yeah and I knew that I couldn't move my my leg so they brought the wheelchair back went to the lobby and all of a sudden there's all these people some with black uniforms others in different colors and it was like in a nightmare and my sister I couldn't find my sister where did she go and they told me that she had gone with a lady looking for my purse in in the waist oh yeah yeah yeah and and then all these people begin to question me and

and I had to give testimony and what did they take I described the boy and I was doing all that when my sister came back in and then it took a lot of testimony from her as well she was right next to me but I was all dressed up beautiful new dress a gorgeous scarf brand new purse really all decked out to go to this banquet so I did a target at me because they saw how I was dressed and I had this beautiful brand new yellow purse so I told my sister I'm hurting so much I don't know what to do and they want you to answer all these questions that I just answered for them I didn't have a night decard I didn't have a a health care plan card I had nothing I was undocumented so now I feel I know how they feel when they're undocumented that's the most frightening thought so then they know they're told them could they speed it up so then they brought in some kind of medics

and they came in and and they saw how bad this crate was and the abrasions on my legs and and they tried to patch me up and so then they called the ambulance and then they asked me where do you want to go and I said the only the only hospital I know here is you and them and so that's where they took me my sister wanted to go in the ambulance with me they said no you can't go it's against policy I said hello there you and Naomi and the girls follow me they had my car you follow me to the hospital and I'll see you there went there checked in to emergency more questions more forms and all that and I was like in a days yeah and they took me in the bag and I couldn't see my sister anymore and I told the lady how sooner you're going to see me somebody needs to see me because I'm all broken up yeah and bloody and I don't know how bad I am and I saw some young girl walk in with like a whole bandage around her head and a lot of blood coming from here I saw a

young boy come in young you could hardly see his face it was all just one bloody mess and I was looking at all this and I said where am I is this not a hospital that's going to treat me yeah so then finally my sister's out there knocking and she wants to come in and they even had to scold her and tell her she couldn't come in that in that area so I said it's okay Lord and that's all what are you going to do with me so they took X -rays oh my god the pain was excruciating to move my leg to turn my leg to bend my knee and it was hurting so but they took all the extra rays they needed and then they put me in the lobby where my sister puts me in bed with me yeah so I sat there in the wheelchair for a good while because I was in there by a seven and at 12 midnight I saw oh my goodness I can't take this anymore let's get out of here and I told Naomi drive me to Santa Fe and take me to the hotel I need to lay down yeah that's what I need to do yeah so they had then the X -rays but they hadn't fixed your leg yet no

they had just taken the X -rays and I asked them how soon will the doctor see me and the lady said you'll probably have to wait here all night oh no he might see you in the morning so let's go home I told my sister she can't go like that my dear you're all I said well let's go anyway they took me to the hotel and Naomi and her friend and my sister put me to bed I was crying the whole night with pain no aspen nothing everything went in my purse including my pills including everything my cell phone my camera my car keys all my car all my cards my wallet 480 in cash and three beautiful pieces of jewelry that I treasure well I just want to take that moment because they stole your grandmother silver cross and we're hoping that if we could perhaps show a picture of it and show this this is your official picture and we'll do a close up of the cross of anyone in Albuquerque sees this green turquoise cross it's green turquoise and heavy silver uh -huh

in the back it's a mark it doesn't mark you it's yes silver so it doesn't want that alley okay so that's we want them to contact the show and there's the information at the end and the credits of how they can reach us so um finally when did you get you're not treated well I had to spend the night in my hotel in in Santa Fe and and then the first thing I said as soon as it's a day break I'm going to call a hospital and I thought of the hospital St. Vincent and they told me Senator if you can get here quickly there's hardly any people we might be able to treat you soon and so my sister who has never driven in Albuquerque poor deer at eight o 'clock rush hour and she took me to St. Vincent it's still like a nightmare every time I have a flashback I'm that event and they rolled me in there and it took maybe an hour for them to see me but they were so good knowing they were

so good compared to the other hospital they came in they they cleaned me up and they did all this and then they took not only x -rays the doctor there wanted to take an MRI and he did and then he came back and all of a sudden I see my niece and her husband from those alamos they lived there she's a pharmacist he's a scientist and I thought I was dreaming in the two little girls well my family and home I'd call one sister everybody in you in minutes so she brought me um temporary cell phone so that I could call and stay in touch with the family now so then when this doctor saw me he said you have a very unusual fracture of your tibia and it's called whatever whatever and he wrote it down on the bed sheet said the girls love me because I do this all the time on the bed sheet and so when the other guy came in and he put him what do you call it a boot yeah yeah you're here all the way down they put that on me

and they said I recommend that you go to your doctor in loss cruises and be treated soon because you're probably going to need surgery oh my god what does that mean yeah so I called my orthopedics um that day and as soon as that they could see me would be Monday at 7 30 in the morning so my brother law and my sister came to fetch me and drive me home yeah one of them would drive my car the other take me in the other car so my brother law dashed me to all pass orthopedics to my own orthopedics the next morning and he said well he took more x -rays and he said I have good news and bad news for you I said what's the bad news he said the good news first is that you don't need surgery oh well I took x -rays you don't need surgery and the the bad news is your tibia is broken and we'll have

to mend with that surgery on its own you're going to have to be with this thing this boot in a wheelchair or laying down with your leg up and I said for how long doctor he said I figure four to six weeks well it's been almost a month now my leg feels a lot better the pain is only felt when I twist my leg or try to bend my knee well about Monday I'm going to start therapy PT and it's good yeah but Lorraine you know the thing the message I want to give to people out there particularly to women don't walk alone ever or to senior women don't ever cross parking lots on your own look around you see who who's there had I looked prepared I would have seen a kid coming out of that faded car but if you look you would have seen a kid you wouldn't see anybody yeah he jumped out as we were walking into the hotel then to my sister has in the first thing she has the management there well do you have a cameras

could they have security cameras surveillance cameras and they said no well don't you have any guards we couldn't even find a parking if your parking is filled up throughout the hotel and you have two major conferences going on and then you know what the guy told my sister mine had been the second mugging that day that day he had found out and you know I don't feel good about that I my sister's and I don't want to go back ever to have a cookie let alone to that hotel well so let's look at now that I know that you're okay in pain I understand that and I also know how you'll use this experience yes in terms of law making for the good of the state yes but let's look at the the police response oh the police called me I think when I got home five days after it happened and I said sir I don't even have a police report I don't have any clue that this happened or I dreamed it I mean yeah or is anything that I gave you all that testimony

why hasn't anybody contacted me sergeant whatever detective what is and he was going to do the investigation well days went by and nothing I finally ended up calling the mayor's office because I know him he was a former legislator not called his office I talked to his tech person not five minutes later their commander of the robbery unit called me and I gave him all the same information I had given to the to the police yeah the rookie police I gave him the description of the jewelry that I lost for about the fourth time and I have never heard from them again never it's been almost a month yeah never heard back from them was anything found did they follow up some kind of news well the commander told me this very day I will mail you the police report so at least you have that and I did get it in the mail and I thank him I had no inkling I mean there was no proof that I had gone through this very violent

experience yeah I couldn't believe it I felt really really violated you know as a woman I've never felt that kind of a tackle my body you know and and I urge the women to be very careful don't carry purses just put your lipstick in a few dollars in your pockets where pockets pans with pockets or put a little baggy in front of you yeah don't ever display a purse much less a lot a big purse like I have that's one thing to learn don't carry purses always be aware of your surroundings who's near you but as I was walking into a heritage hotel with a very fine name I've gone to many many events there I said oh we're perfectly fine we're walking we're crossing the parking lot and there it was few feet from the entrance now you've always been told as we all have that you should just let go of your purse not I couldn't it was trapped under my body yes and also your grandmother's cross

uh -huh and I'm sure you didn't care about the money or the phone I didn't care about any of your grandmother's cross about that beautiful cross and a silver lizard with multi color of beautiful gems and our cause that my sister gave me that eye treasure is a Zia a big one with a silver I'm in many pictures with that one I loved it and but those things can be replaced but you know could have been worse I figured you know what if the guy had had a con or a knife could have hurt my sister as well you know so I'm thankful to God that it wasn't worse but I am upset that there was no action taken rapid response and the part of the police on the part of the detective's on the part of the hotel I did get a letter from the hotel's president and the between the lines I read how could we resolve this you know because I've been the friend of this time I've gone to their hotel many times yeah well

my attorney will write him a letter very soon well one of the ways that I know you resolve things and I'm talking about now we're extending into into the political yeah right um when you see a wrong that needs to be righted you are very vocal yes let's talk about some of the you you fought for the ban on cockfighting for over 20 years yes each year you'd come back until I got it through you got it right and you've done that with a shaken baby yes the tragic death of those children deadly child abuse right and so on 66 I'll never get that human trafficking was the last yes the last one I did last year and the hate crime bill and uh uh a quicker amber alert for missing children I've done so many bills learning I know but they've all been related to to you know to humankind today this no yesterday the afternoon I received a call from for some girl that wants to meet with me because they want to give me an award on

on a civil and human rights they looked at my past legislation yeah throughout my career yeah that's what shows up and I always want to make things better for new Mexicans not worse yeah but I'm going to think about what kind of legislation could I do and that's what we'll have you back on when you feel about how to use this difficult gift yes I know you'll make it a gift for a new Mexico exactly um I can't let you go without politicking a little little bit yes um why is this election so important oh my god there are coming elections this election will be the elections of all elections and they're crucial they're terribly important and people must go out to vote because you know besides the regular uh doughings of the set of the legislature in the budget we're going to have to deal whoever goes into the office of the governor has to deal with a major shortfall right now they're saying 200 to 400 million it could be 600 million by the time we get to Santa Fe that happened the last

time we had a shortfall we started with 3 million we ended up with 600 million that's number one we also have to deal with redistricting which a lot of people don't understand after the census record after the census is taken every 10 years the lines political lines are redrawn and throughout the state for state senators for state representatives for congress people yeah and so it's very important that we get people in there that know about that process and how that works and the governor has a lot of say so in how those lines are drawn so we need to ensure that we're competitive that we have a good balance because it will be rules that will hear all the bills on redistricting the different plans but i am amazed to learn Lorraine that people for the most part how is it uh meeting uh recently a political

meeting and i asked people to raise their hands who understood the importance of the census taking and who understood what redistricting was about one hand went up in that i was shocked yeah and that's because he's a a political science retire political science teacher i don't know it's you so that's very important that we do with that that's going to be a major challenge they're redistricting the shortfall another major one will be restructuring of government the state government on among the uh government restructuring task force as an advisory member but i still have some say so and we're looking at possibly collapsing some agencies that are doing the same work could be double work you know looking at maybe repealing or getting rid of certain boards and commissions that no longer play our role or that are also doing the same job as other committees we're looking at the possibility

of of uh even uh you know some type of restructuring in education yeah without hurting the classroom most of us in Santa Fe at least in my caucus do not want to hurt two things and that is education and we don't want to hurt medicaid because education and half care go hand in hand for a good workforce for a good uh society in the mexico so those are some of the issues we have to deal with health care reform yeah those have four major issues right there and the implementation implementation of the new health care reform new health care reform back you know there's um um one of the statistics that i learned is that by 2014 we're going to have a major a major shortage of medical doctors about 400 will be short in the state of new mexico and the state of new mexico because why well by 2012 a lot of the baby boomers that are doctors

will be retiring right so that's one one thing we have to look up and another thing is that although we crank out a wonderful number of superb doctors from our UNM medical school in hospital they take off they go elsewhere they go elsewhere yeah and those that stay in the mexico want to stay in artsy uh towers or artsy Santa Fe or big time city out of a curky and so what about the rural areas yeah the ones that play that role in the rural areas of the primary care clinics and they're going to suffer I mean Lorraine it's sad to say but we're doing major cuts major cuts are going to happen because there's no way that we can balance about it and we can't just take the whole thing out of out of education and medicate you know there's children out there that really need that the mechaite a lot of poverty in new mexico and i'm saying when are we going to get rid of mechaite and my response is when we get rid of poverty in new mexico that's when we get rid of mechaite yeah and so there's been times when we have to use

money from the that tobacco settlement one year I remember they had to take like 17 million out of there to address the medicate for that year but you know it's frightening going in it's not a good time to be a state center no it's a time it's actually a wonder in a way who would want to know because some people are representing us and i heard from all these child care providers and and they were calling me and sending me letters please stop this why can't stop that yeah no legislators can't because that funding came from the era yeah the federal funding the stimulus that is the governor's prerogative you can use that funding 58 million wherever he wants to well we've come to the end of our time i'm so happy to see you doing so well i'm so happy to see you right telling us a story because we read about these things in the paper yeah and we just don't know what it feels like what it looks like and then what happens afterwards afterwards you scared I kind of like tend to look even if i'm in the wheelchair i'm always looking behind me i want to carry a mirror

and look who's behind me right but right now it's my brother -in -law because he's pushing the wheelchair and he's very big six six so i feel safe and also thank you for for stressing the importance of this election yes we want to be sure to please they need to get out to vote there's so many people that are kind of like well they're mad and they're upset and and they look at Washington and they think they they just tag all of us as corrupt individuals because religious leaders i resent that i've never taken the penny from anybody nor would i i'm there to do my job and that is to take care of those citizens of New Mexico and on behalf of the citizens of New Mexico we thank you and i thank you thank you our guest today is Senator Mary jinger thank you from Doniana County Democrat from Doniana County yes Democrat from Doniana and i want to thank you our audience for being with us today on report from Santa Fe if you seen that cross notify me at info at reportfromsantafe .com you'll see it in the credits and we just really want to encourage you again to be sure you go out and vote this is report from Santa

Fe i'm Lorraine Mills see you next week thank you very report from Santa Fe is made possible in part by a grant from New Mexico tech on the frontier of science and engineering education for bachelors masters and PhD degrees New Mexico tech is the college you've been looking for 1 -800 -428tech and by a grant from the heli foundation tells new Mexico You