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Original SUNDAY SHOWCASE Featuring JOE DOWNING 9/2
9/1/2007 7:00:27 PM
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On such short notice this week i will be featuring a good friend and brother in the faith, a team player, a servant, and family man, Adlandpro's very own Mr. JOE DOWNING! Las Cruces is a city in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 74,267. The population was 82,671 as of the 2005 census estimate, making it the second largest city in the state. Las Cruces is the center of an agricultural region irrigated by the Rio Grande, which flows just west of the city. The city of Las Cruces bisects the fertile Mesilla Valley, the flood plain of the Rio Grande which extends from Hatch, New Mexico to the west side of El Paso, Texas. Las Cruces is also the home of New Mexico State University. NMSU is New Mexico's only land grant university, citing more than 23,000 graduate and undergraduate students on the main campus and four branch campuses. The Organ Mountains are to the east of the city. Las Cruces has a mayor-council form of government with a city manager.
Las Cruces is home to the annual Whole Enchilada Fiesta. The fiesta's main attraction is the creation of a very large (on average 10 feet in diameter) flat red enchilada by local restaurant owner Roberto Estrada. The fiesta offers live music, rides, food vendors, and other attractions typical of fairs. The Southern New Mexico State Fair is usually held only a few days after the end of the Whole Enchilada Fiesta. The fiesta's mascot, "Twefie" (taken from the abbreviation of the fiesta's name) is a large red chile pepper wearing a sombrero. At the 2004 event, Guinness World Records confirmed that Estrada had made the world's largest flat enchilada. (There was a pre-existing record for world's longest rolled enchilada, but not for world's largest flat enchilada.)In honor of the chile crop of New Mexico, the state has adopted "Red or Green" as its official state question to specify which type of chile is more spicy that season.
History
Las Cruces' name as translated by the City of Las Cruces (Spanish for "the crosses") has been a disputed topic among historians. 'Las Cruces' in Mexico and South America is translated as "the crossing(s), crossroad(s)." The words are capitalized in sentences to honor the Trinity. One of the many humorous, unverified folklore (folk-etymology) tales is that in 1830, there was an Apache massacre somewhere of a party of nine travelers, including a Mexican Army General, a priest, and five (or four) choir boys. Only one choir boy survived the massacre, and buried the others, marking the graves with crosses, according to the story that "Tio" Tuseño told tourists for a handout. According to another unverified folktale, the area became known as "El Pueblo del Jardín de Las Cruces" ("The Village of the Garden of the Crosses"). The city government did not start displaying three Latin crosses as a symbol for the city until preparation for the 1949 centennial began. The original city seal displayed a bunch of grapes. A lawsuit filed seeking the removal of three crosses from the city's 1948 seal [1] has been dismissed [2]. The federal Court's historical expert testified there was no reason for the city to use three Latin crosses as a symbol. The case has been appealed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals as has the lawsuit against the Las Cruces Public Schools for actively promoting a majority religion.
The city's recent nickname, 'City of the Crosses', is the result of the City Council's approved campaign to display three Latin crosses symbols on all public property and personnel in the city. Only Christians refer to the city by the nickname.
Las Cruces, the step-child of Mesilla and Dona Ana, outgrew the other villages after the railroad setup a station in the village in 1881. The nearby village of Mesilla was founded in 1848 by settlers from Doña Ana, a village just north of the newly established U.S.-Mexico border, who wished to stay in Mexican territory after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that year. In 1853, the region was incorporated into the United States with the Gadsden Purchase. Las Cruces was incorporated as a town in 1907, nearly 45 years after the original village plats were recorded in 1853.
The completion of the Elephant Butte Dam to the north of the city in 1916 provided water for agriculture and electricity for urban development. Since World War II the growth of the nearby White Sands Missile Range and its National Aeronautics and Space Administration facilities added greatly to the local economy.
In 1982, Las Cruces became the scene of the a new Roman Catholic Diocese, "Diocese of Las Cruces", which encompasses the southern half of the state and is a suffragan of Santa Fe.
Downtown
Downtown Las Cruces.
Unlike many cities its size, Las Cruces lacks a true central business district. This is due to the fact that in the 1970s a large urban renewal project tore down a large part of the original downtown. Most Las Crucens would agree that the modern "heart" of the city, where most stores and restaurants are located, is the rapidly developing eastside area running north and south along Telshor Boulevard and east and west along Lohman Avenue. Las Cruces' only shopping mall and a variety of retail stores and restaurants are located in this area. However, the historic downtown of the city is the area around Main Street, a six-block stretch of which was closed off in 1973 to form the "Downtown Mall", a pedestrianized shopping area. The downtown mall has a farmers market each Wednesday and Saturday morning, where a variety of foods and cultural items can be purchased from a few small stands that are set up by local farmers, artists, and craftspeople. It also contains some businesses, churches, art galleries and theaters, which add a great deal to the changing character of Las Cruces by continuing to exist in the historic downtown.
Plans to re-open the whole mall to vehicular traffic besides the completed one-block example have drawn criticism from people who feel the multi-million dollar project is too costly and from others who enjoy the aesthetics, usually quiet, and the ever inportant shade of the fully-covered area of the pedestrian mall. Nevertheless, the mall's north and south entrances have been torn down. Furthermore, in August 2005, a master plan was adopted, the centerpiece of which is the restoration of narrow lanes of two-way traffic on this model portion of Main Street.
Trivia
* In "The Killing Box", an episode of the television series Prison Break, Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows find themselves recaptured at a Las Cruces Border Patrol holding facility.
* In "Las Cruces Jail", a song by "Two Gallants", the protagonist is awaiting his execution in this city's correctional facility. The duo performed at a coffeehouse several months before its release, possibly inspiring the title.
* The 2 hour Pilot episode ;lite bulb for the TV Series "Cannon" was shot in and around Las Cruces.
* In the first season of "Mc Cloud" Dennis Weaver claimed he grew up in Las Cruces and in an episode claimed he lived in Las Cruces and worked in Taos, New Mexico (an over 300 mile commute each way)
* In 1970 the movie "Up in the Cellar" was shot in and around Las Cruces and New Mexico State University. The film features scenes where buildings were destroyed and a radio station transmitter tower is destroyed. (This was actually part of an urban renewal project that removed a large part of "Old" Downtown Las Cruces.) The film stars Larry Hagman (Dallas).
* In the early 60's a failed Pilot was shot for CBS in and around Las Cruces. The pilot starred Glenn Ford and Barbara Stanwick in a show about a county agent. The show was never aired.
* During World War II, both German and Italian POWs were kept at a Prisoner of War facility in Las Cruces.
* During the late 60's, a Church built in the 1800s around which Las Cruces was formed was torn down by the archdiocese.
* Tony-winner Mark Medoff resides here and premiered many of his works.
* Playwright and director Tom Smith (playwright) resides in Las Cruces, teaching at New Mexico State University.
* A scene for the movie Twins (film) was filmed at Las Cruces International Airport, where Arnold Schwarzenegger's character catches a flight to try and catch up to his twin brother, played by Danny DeVito.
* Several scenes from the movie Traffic (film) were filmed outside the Las Cruces International Airport.
* WE LOVE YOU JOE!  Hello!
My name is Joe Downing. I am an Entrepreneur who enjoys working with people. I enjoy it so much I became a Network Marketer.
I have been married for 24 years to the same wonderful lady and I have two children: 17yo-son and 10yo-daughter. We are all entrepreneurs and spend a lot of time discussing our methods in team building. We are Team One and are putting together other teams around the world. If you enjoy building businesses that involve people helping people, then you will fit right in with our team. We offer a hug to anyone who dares to receive it.
There are many cries for help in this world and we intend to make a dent in helping the world become happier, healthier, wealthier and wiser. As stated in many unusual places around us, "In God We Trust".
Please visit the The Water Health Forum for important health and wealth facts. Might even find the humor section if you look real close.
Thank you for stopping by to visit. I wish you a great day and hope to visit with you sometime.
Your friend,
Joe Downing
PS: Are you drinking the world's most perfect water
PSS: Find out what Human Potential is.
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