Dear Abby - The Durango Herald

Relatives can’t stomach another visit

DEAR ABBY: We have grown children and a grandchild who live several states away. The problem is, we don’t enjoy visiting them. Our son’s wife has an eating disorder. She’s obsessed with what...

DATE: Feb 24, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Medical condition leads to marriage’s breakup

DEAR ABBY: I suffered an injury that caused internal bleeding, which then gave me iron deficiency anemia. I was battling its symptoms of depression and anxiety before I was diagnosed. Never ...

DATE: Feb 22, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Man weighs revealing health status

DEAR ABBY: I am a gay man who came out late in life. I have three grown, married children and five grandchildren. They are my world, and we are all very close. I’ve had one partner. My famil...

DATE: Feb 21, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Parents refuse to keep boy under control

DEAR ABBY: I host holiday meals for my out-of-town family. During the last one, my cousin’s 5-year-old son ran up and down the upstairs hallway pretty much nonstop the entire time. The floor...

DATE: Feb 17, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Efforts to connect are met by silence

DEAR ABBY: I am engaged to an amazing guy. We have been together a little more than two years. During our first year, his family was great to me. They acted as if they liked me. However, thi...

DATE: Feb 17, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Mother can’t understand why son walked away

DEAR ABBY: I’ve always been close to my children, but now that they are adults, it seems I’m losing my connection with one of them. He married a girl of a different race, and while that does...

DATE: Feb 13, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Straight women trying to ‘flip’ gay man

DEAR ABBY: I’m a 41-year-old gay man. Although I was raised in a conservative, religious family, I’m out of the closet and proud to be living as myself. For much of my adult life, I have att...

DATE: Feb 10, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Mom puts a crimp in relationship

DEAR ABBY: I love my fiance, but his mother says, “Over my dead body will he move away from me.” She has cancer and we have both been praying that she goes peacefully, but it seems all she w...

DATE: Feb 9, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Affair threatens woman’s mental health

DEAR ABBY: I have been involved with a married man for the last five years. He lied to me about his status. He told me that a woman he’d had a 15-year relationship with had left him. I recen...

DATE: Feb 9, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Wife’s caring nature has her overwhelmed

DEAR ABBY: My wife, “Connie,” is an angel. She takes care of her aging father as well as my sister, who suffers from Alzheimer’s. This, in addition to her religious practices, consumes most ...

DATE: Feb 9, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Ex-wife uses gifts as disruption

DEAR ABBY: My ex has primary custody of our young daughter, “Kayli,” and is with her 99% of the time. I have Kayli every other weekend. Her mom has been dropping her off with a bag filled wi...

DATE: Feb 9, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Wife finds it hard to accept past

DEAR ABBY: After 17 years of marriage, I learned, to my dismay, that when he was 22, my husband had a long-term relationship with a 16-year-old. He insisted that she had lied about her age a...

DATE: Jan 30, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Photos: People’s MarchAbout 300 people take to the street on Saturday in Durango

About 300 people take to the street on Saturday in Durango

Photos: Fort Lewis College basketballWomen’s and men’s basketball teams take on South Dakota Mines

Women’s and men’s basketball teams take on South Dakota Mines

Photos: Wrestling at Durango High SchoolDurango High School boys wrestling beat Bayfield High School Tuesday night

Durango High School boys wrestling beat Bayfield High School Tuesday night

Photos: Where there's smoke there's firefightersDurango firefighters take advantage of the old River City Hall building for training

Durango firefighters take advantage of the old River City Hall building for training

Photos: Durango plays Montezuma-Cortez in boys, girls high school basketballDurango girls and boys basketball teams defeat Montezuma-Cortez at DHS

Durango girls and boys basketball teams defeat Montezuma-Cortez at DHS

Year in photos: A look back at Southwest Colorado in 2024Each year brings some of the new and some of the old – breaking news and cherished traditions. It is the people, their emotions, different cultures and varied forms of entertainment that make for impactful images. Add to that Southwest Colorado’s gorgeous scenery, abundant wildlife and range of weather events, and you have the makings for stunning photos. We hope you enjoy Photo Editor Jerry McBride’s photos from 2024.

Each year brings some of the new and some of the old – breaking news and cherished traditions. It is...

Montezuma County DA Christian Hatfield charged with DWICharges come 16 weeks after crash near Farmington, New MexicoMontezuma County District Attorney Christian Hatfield was charged Friday with driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs 16 weeks after he crashed his SUV on U.S. Highway 64 outside Bloomfield.The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office charged Hatfield, 59, with petty misdemeanor charge of DWI and an open container in connection to the Aug. 30 single-car crash.The charges come after results from a blood test by the New Mexico Department of Health Scientific Laboratory showed alcohol and a drug in Hatfield’s body after the crash.

“The results show that at the time of the blood draw, which was approximately eleven hours after the time of the crash due to medical issues, were 0.05 g/100 ml of Ethanol and 0.04 mg/L of Zolpidem (Ambien). Both Ethanol and Ambien are Central Nervous System Depressants,” the law enforcement report states.Two vials of blood were taken from Hatfield at 1:33 p.m. Aug. 30, which was more than 12 hours after the crash occurred about 1 a.m. Those vials were received by the New Mexico Department of Health Scientific Laboratory at 10:26 a.m. Oct. 11, which was six weeks after the crash, according to records from the lab.An investigation into the blood warrant by The Journal newspaper in Cortez, Colorado, showed that the blood sample sat in a refrigerator at the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office until Oct. 3, because paperwork to send it to the state laboratory was not processed.“I think it’s a non-prosecutable case because of all the errors made by law enforcement,” said Arlon Stoker, a high-profile defense attorney secured by Hatfield to fight the charges.

The charges made by the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office are “based on the observations made by law enforcement officers on scene and the presence of intoxicating drugs and liquors in Christian's blood,” according to the report that was given to The Journal by the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government.Amanda Lavin, legal director for NMFOG, assisted The Journal in accessing public records from the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office in Aztec. The records had been redacted, leaving out Hatfield’s name and information about the blood warrant filed in San Juan County Magistrate Court.Public records requests by The Journal and the Tri-City Record went unresolved for 14 weeks.The Journal requested body camera footage and lapel camera video on Sept. 3.The Tri-City Record requested any and all warrants, investigative reports and laboratory reports as well as photos, lapel cam videos and dash cam videos on Oct. 23.On Dec. 9, Lavin made the same requests.

The Journal received access to photos and videos in an email on Dec. 19, and Lavin, after making a legal argument for unredacted information, received the full report Dec. 19 and was advised that charges would be forthcoming.The report detailing the crash states that Hatfield was found “unresponsive and barely able to stand” about 1 a.m. Aug. 30 near the intersection of U.S. Highway 64 and County Road 5099.Investigators and medics noted a “pungent” odor of alcohol coming from Hatfield, and investigators found “an open 12-ounce can of Mexican Lager with residual liquid inside,” an “empty wine glass,” and a “bottle of Ambien prescribed to Christian,” according to the report.The affidavit for search warrant for blood submitted by sheriff’s deputy Avery Killifer states he had an “opinion that the defendant was driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor or a controlled substance.” The deputy “placed the defendant under arrest” at the time, but Hatfield was taken to San Juan Regional Medical Center, because of “extensive injuries.”A summons was issued for Hatfield, and an arraignment is set for 8:30 a.m. Jan. 8 in Aztec Magistrate Court.

Charges come 16 weeks after crash near Farmington, New Mexico

Photos: Wreaths Across America honors fallen veteransDurango residents on Saturday honor those who served their country

Durango residents on Saturday honor those who served their country

Photos: Skyhawks men’s and women’s basketball Fort Lewis College men’s and women’s basketball lost to Regis on Saturday

Fort Lewis College men’s and women’s basketball lost to Regis on Saturday

Demons defeat Bobcats 62-47 on Friday at DHS

Relatives can’t stomach another visit

Medical condition leads to marriage’s breakup

Man weighs revealing health status

Parents refuse to keep boy under control

Efforts to connect are met by silence

Mother can’t understand why son walked away

Straight women trying to ‘flip’ gay man

Mom puts a crimp in relationship

Affair threatens woman’s mental health

Wife’s caring nature has her overwhelmed

Ex-wife uses gifts as disruption

Wife finds it hard to accept past

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