Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 13

fi 1 jVI etro Wednesday, May 4, 1983 Page Section Duke of Alburquerque To Visit City His Family Namesake By RICHARD BEER Journal Staff Writer The Duke of Alburquerque himself Don Beltran Osorio Diez de Rivera Martos Figueroa will be in the "Duke City" next month for the opening of the Albuquerque Museum's major new exhibit on local history. Museum director James Moore said Tuesday the duke was invited not only because the city was named in honor of one of his ancestors, but also because a tapestry presented to the city by him 27 years ago will be a key part of the exhibition. "Since it was his gift we felt he should be a principal guest at the exhibit," Moore said. No specific itinerary for the 65-year-old Don Beltran has been worked out yet, other than attend ante at the exhibit's gala, invitation-only opening on the evening of June 24. But Moore said, "He's a quite a horseman," so he is likely to visit some local horse breeders.

The museum exhibit opens to the public June 25. The duke's previous visit to Albuquerque was in July 1956, when he presented the ancient tapestry, or repostero, to the city in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of its founding. The 12-foot square repostero was one of dozens made in Sicily around 1620, for the house of Alburquerque, and is the only one the family has given away. After deteriorating somewhat over the years, it was restored by the Textile Conservation Workshop, in South Salem, N.Y., and returned here. "It's almost a priceless piece of work," said Mayor Harry Kinney.

Both Moore and Kinney said at a news conference that the duke's presence for the opening will be yet another boost for the exhibit, which they expect will attract nationwide attention. It will trace the past 400 years of local history, with a particular emphasis on the era of Spanish conquest. Moore said the exhibit will include the only set of 16th century Spanish horse armor in North America. "There is virtually no museum exhibit the country that is this complete on the Spanish Southwest," Moore said "It has some national significance." "The exhibit is really the dream that founded the museum years ago," although the museum will have been opened nearly four years by the time the exhibit opens. "It has taken a long time to do this," Moore said.

Money to assemble the exhibit came from voter-approved bond issues in 1975, 1979 and 1981. The duke's title goes back to the 15th century, when it was granted to one of his ancestors by the Spanish royal family, for service to the crown. The city of Albuquerque was named in 1706, in honor of the eighth Duke of Alburquerque, who at the time was Spain's viceroy to Mexico. Somewhere along the line, in the 19th century, the first in the duke's family name was dropped from the spelling of the city's name, accounting for the difference between the two spellings. A Shocking New Medicare Plan Raises Concern High-Wire Act Linemen for the Public Service Company of New Mexico took advantage of a relatively wind-free Tuesday to do what birds have done since the first power line was erected in London 101 years ago.

Perched 50 feet above the ground on bright orange fiberglass ladders, the linemen literally became part of the line carrying 345,000 volts of electricity to the South Valley. Using the "bare-hands" method, the linemen can repair the live wires without any interruption of electrical service. The men can grasp the high-voltage lines because their ranged platform and the pulleys that make movement possible are designed to become part of the electrical circuit. They are never grounded. The electrical current thus doesn't flow through their bodies, just as it doesn't flow through the bodies of ungrounded birds when they are perched on high-voltage wires.

The procedure is a relatively new one. The hot-wire specialists wear special suits, each costing $700, which protect them from the heat and sparks generated by their close proximity to the high-voltage lines. As the "hot stick" in the photo at right shows, there really is electricity in those lines. The crew members working Tuesday on the West Mesa were completing the mandatory 40 hours of retraining required every year by PNM. Hrfcw ft bSfw-V if 5 Journal Photo bv Rjchar.1 By BYRON SPICE Journal Staff Writer Many questions still surround a federal plan to control Medicare costs, and the answers could spell trouble for the nation's health-care system, Dr.

Frank Jirka, president-elect of the American Medical Association, said Tuesday. Spiraling medical costs are forcing physicians to rethink how they treat patients, but more study is needed before a prospective-payment plan for Medicare is implemented, Jirka said during an interview. "I think the waters are still murky," he maintained, noting the new payment plan could result in an erosion of quality in health care or could simply shift more Medicare costs to private patients. A urologist from suburban Chicago, Jirka will assume the presidency of the association this June. He is in Albuquerque to address the New Mexico Medical Society House of Delegates this afternoon at the Four Seasons Motor Inn.

Last year, Congress approved a bill to institute a prospective-payment plan for Medicare patients. Instead of reimbursing hospitals and physicians on the basis of their costs a system that critics say lacks incentives to contain costs the new plan would pay a predetermined fee for treatment of a specific type of ailment. The provider would profit if costs could be kept under the predetermined fee, but. would absorb a loss if costs climbed. The AMA, however, is unsure whether the 467 categories of diagnoses upon which the fees will be based are realistic.

The federal Health Care Financing Adminis tration expects to phase in the prospective payment plan over a four year period. "I don't know if 1 hat will be enough time," Jirka said. "I personally would like to see more pilot programs." In addition to questions about quality of patient care, still to be determined is whether hospitals that are unable to control their Dr. Frank Jirka, President-Elect of AMA Like To See Some More Pilot Programs" Journal Photos by Jim Fisher Bomb-Blast Case Returns to City costs will simply shift their excess Medicare costs to other patients. Jirka said the association has a number of projects under way designed to find the most cost effective means of treatment.

Though the outcome of treat ment for a given patient might vary little from physician to physician, the type, length and cost of treatment often vary greatly, he noted Costs of patient care traditionally have not been a focus of physician training, he said. The AMA now is experimenting with "economic grand rounds" in hospitals as a means of identifying these practices that are unnecessary and those that are most effective. The association also has brought together a number of societies of specialists to examine the cost effectiveness of treat ment. For instance, a two- to three-day course of treatment for a urinary tract infection might be just as g(Kd as a two to three week course. Jirka suggested.

The AMA also is placing an increased emphasis on preventive-health care. Jirka about half of the $287 billion spent annually on health care could be if people would stop smoking and dnnking, exercise regularly and adopt healthier habits. The AMA will continue its efforts to have physicians exempted from Federal Trade Commission regulations, Jirka said. Legislation that would have accomplished that died in the last Congress. Pursuit of the FTC exemption has caused some to accuse the AMA of trying to be above the law Jirka contended state regulation of physicians and their business practices is sufficient.

FTC concern about price fixing has prevented the medical societies in Maine from establishing a set of discount fees for the needy, a move Jirka said would have benefited the public. "I don't know if there will be a plea agreement, at this point." Esquibel filed a civil suit against Long for $9 6 million on Friday in federal District Court in Albuquerque. Guilty pleas in criminal suits can be used against defendants in civil suits, Lutz said. At the time of the explosion, Long was fourth-year student at the University of New Mexico's Robert O. Anderson Schools of Management.

He lived at the Citadel Apartments. The bomb exploded when Esquibel picked up an ammunition cannister near a trash receptacle for the apartments. Esquibel's chest and jaw were shattered. Arteries and nerves in both of his arms were severed. He was in the hospital until December and has not been able to return to work.

Long is the 22-year-old son of wealthy Ixiuisville real estate developer D. Irving Ing Clay Long, the Kentucky man charged with making a bomb that exploded in the hands of a maintenance man at an Albuquerque apartment complex, will return to Albuquerque for the handling of his case. Long's case had been transferred to U.S. District Court in Louisville, after he had agreed to plead guilty to one count of manufacturing and possessing an illegal explosive. Iing was originally indicted on three such counts.

Under the agreement, two counts were to be dropped. The charges stemmed from the injury last October of Citadel Apartments maintenance man Joseph Esquibel. On Tuesday, Long changed his mind and told authorities in Louisville that he would agree only to plead no contest. U.S. District Judge Thomas A.

Ballantine then sent the case back to New Mexico. Long's action nullifies the plea agreement made in Albuquerque last month, U.S. Attorney William Lutz said. "We have to start over from the word he said. Rock Roll Is Music to Ears of Fair Manager Moriarty.

Steve Anaya has the luxury of a seven-member commission, with six members appointed by his uncle. "I don't know if the fair wants to go into the promotion business, but I think it's a good idea," Steve Anaya said. Former state legislator and one-time gubernatorial candidate Odis Echols is the commission's vice chairman. He and Anaya have been contacting promoters and agents across the country, not only to fill a few openings on the all-star rodeo bill, but for rock concerts they would like to stage at Tingley or the horse-racing grandstand. "The fair is already self-sufficient and doesn't need any help from the state," Anaya said.

"Why not put on a few concerts and see how we do?" The Colorado State Fair had the same idea last year and lost $60,000. The Colorado fair first tried the promotion business by staging the Oak Ridge Boys at its Pueblo fairgrounds and lost $30,000. Then, the Coloradans booked Linda Ronstadt at McNichols Arena in Denver. Miss Ronstadt canceled two days before her appearance, saddling the fair commission with another $30,000 in he would like to have the job for the rest of his uncle's term in office. "Four years is a long time to do anything, so at this point, I really don't know," Steve Anaya said.

"I'm gearing all my energy toward this year's fair (Sept. 13 through 25) and then to the months of November and December, when most of the planning is done for the next year's fair. "After that, it's hard to say But this job is so exciting, and there are so many things to do." One of the things he did Tuesday was to meet Tony Anaya. Not the governor, but the father of local karate sensation Dar-lene Anaya. He wanted to talk to the fair manager about renting the Leon Harms Youth Hall to house the Mexican Olympic karate team in its training for the Pan American Games in August.

Already, the fairgrounds May calendar is cluttered with horse shows and dog shows, a Men at Work concert, antique shows, wedding receptions, watercolor society exhibits, bicycle swap meets, the weekly flea market, a dance convention. It all reminds Steve Anaya of something that runs in his family's blood a political campaign. Anaya also is Democratic chairman for Torrance County. To recover its money, the Colorado State Fair had to turn to a private promoter, Barry Fey of Feyline, which staged a Willie Nelson benefit concert to recover the $60,000 and then some. Anaya says he has learned from Colorado's mistakes.

He is consulting Barry Finkenberg, president of Giant Tickets in Albuquerque, for a quick course in concert promotion. Among the groups Anaya is interested in booking into Tingley or the racetrack are the Roiling Stones, the Beach Boys, Air Supply and Sammy Haggar a far cry from the country acts booked for the rodeo in September. Anaya cautioned that he wants to maintain a good relationship with the neighborhood associations Fair West, La Mesa and Mark Twain whose members reside near the fairgrounds. "We aren't going to put on a concert for 25,000 people without checking with our neighbors," Anaya said. They may have Anaya as their neighbor for a good while at least for the rest of the year.

Anaya was asked by Gov. Anaya to manage the fair until a suitable applicant can be found. He isn't saying whether BART RIPP Journal StaTf Writer It's spring spruce-up time at the State Fair. There is a new concrete wall and a long row of green ash saplings lining the fair boundary on Louisiana NE. Some $200,000 worth of copper-colored material called Tropigard will soon be the new roof at Tingley Coliseum, giving the old dome a glittering appearance just in time for the rock 'n' roll shows that the governor's nephew, Steve Anaya, hopes to stage there.

Anaya, 27, was asked by Gov. Toney Anaya to run the State Fair on an interim basis, and took the fair manager's job April 8. "We need to utilize these facilities more than just for two weeks in September," Steve Anaya said, echoing a stance taken by his predecessor, Bill Humphries. A Bruce King appointee, Humphries enjoyed three record-setting years as fair manager before resigning Dec. 31, the day before Toney Anaya was inaugurated.

But Humphries couldn't get the fair commission to support many of his promotional ideas. Steve Anaya is working with a new commission chaired by J.T. Turner, who lives across the street from him in Journal Photo by Ricbard Pipes State Fair Manager Steve Anaya.