LAS CRUCES — Las Cruces Crime Stoppers is offering a reward leading to the arrests of individuals involved in a pair of armed robberies.

Police said the incidents may be related to each other.

About 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 10, Las Cruces police said officers responded to an armed robbery that occurred at Hotel Encanto, 705 S. Telshor Blvd.

The victim reported being confronted by two men while walking in the parking lot toward the front doors of the hotel. Officers were told one of the suspects was black and the other Hispanic. One of the suspects pointed a handgun at the victim and the other demanded money.

The suspects were described as being of medium height and weight and were wearing dark-colored clothing. They fled in an unknown direction.

About 8 p.m. Feb. 11, police responded to another armed robbery call, this time at 2521 North Main Street near H & R Block.

What’s Your Consumption Factor?

A real problem for the world is that each of us 300 million Americans consumes as much as 32 Kenyans. With 10 times the population, the United States consumes 320 times more resources than Kenya does.

People in the third world are aware of this difference in per capita consumption, although most of them couldn't specify that it's by a factor of 32. When they believe their chances of catching up to be hopeless, they sometimes get frustrated and angry, and some become terrorists, or tolerate or support terrorists. Since Sept. 11, 2001, it has become clear that the oceans that once protected the United States no longer do so. There will be more terrorist attacks against us and Europe, and perhaps against Japan and Australia, as long as that factorial difference of 32 in consumption rates persists.

A Different Kind of River Bend

Welcome to the River Bend Sportsman's Resort.



"Pheasant," screamed Hank Rogers.

All three hunters had just barely stepped into the field, guns casually shouldered when the raucous cackle of a ringneck erupted from the sage. Only one hunter managed a fleeting, and wayward shot as the big bird sailed out of sight.

"We're here to hunt boys, not sightsee," chided Rogers with a grin. He whistled, directing one of his many dogs back to the hunt. With head held high, the bird dog crisscrossed the field, in search of new scent, and new birds.

For someone who rarely gets the chance to see, and hear, the fury of a flushing pheasant, the drive to River Bend suddenly seemed very short. It was my first trip across I-40 through the mountains, exactly 4-and-a-half hours from Chattanooga to Fingerville, and the hospitality of this upscale shooting and hunting resort.

McLaren sets very high bar as hubby

PEORIA, Ariz. -- Before this week, here's all I knew about John McLaren -- he was Lou Piniella's longtime bench coach who became Mike Hargrove's bench coach and the Mariners manager when Hargrove quit last July.