KIT LANEY/DIAMOND BAR

Forest official charged with abusing cows

Marcia Andre, the supervisor of the Gila National Forest and an employee of the U.S. Forest Service, has been indicted by a Catron County grand jury on one count of cruelty to animals. The indictment stems from the winter 2004 roundup of hundreds of head of cattle that belonged to embattled rancher Kit Laney. A federal court ordered the impoundment in December 2003, after ruling the rancher was in contempt for failing to follow earlier court orders. Also indicted by the grand jury on one count of animal cruelty was Neddie Archuleta of El Rito. Archuleta was the cowboy contracted by the Forest Service to round up the cattle. Under state statute, the charge is a misdemeanor. The description of the charge states the defendants negligently mistreated, injured, tormented or killed an animal without lawful justification, or that they abandoned or failed to provide necessary sustenance to an animal under their custody or control. The indictments were based on the testimony of seven witnesses, including Kit Laney’s former wife, Sherri; Russell Laney of Reserve, a relative; Joe Delk of Mesilla Park; Zeno Kiehne of the Messenger Newspaper in Reserve; Dr. Robert Morris of Edgewood; Gary Webb of Lake Roberts and Catron County Sheriff Cliff Snyder of Reserve. Bruce Burwell, chief deputy district attorney for the 7th Judicial District in Catron County, said the indictments were only the beginning. “It isn’t the end of the book, it’s not the first page, its not even the first sentence,” he told the Sun-News Tuesday. “We have a long way to go. Like any criminal case, it will develop.” Burwell said an arraignment would be the next step and that the state then would have six months to bring the cases to trial....

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