Christopher Willett has opened a new hair salon, called When the Sun Reaches my Sister, at 301 E. Palace Ave., in a small retail center at Palace and Paseo de Peralta.

Today is his first day of business, and to mark the opening, Willett is donating proceeds from the salon to the Santa Fe Shelter and Humane Society.

Willett has been a hairdresser for 21 years, 10 of those in Santa Fe. The name of his business, he said, is "a personal catch phrase for me."

He can be reached at 988-1013.

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There are three new businesses at Plaza Contenta, the commercial part of
Tierra Contenta, off Airport Road.

One is AP Wireless, which specializes in cell-phone "flashing" as well as selling pre-paid calling cards and serving as a bill pay station. The business is owned by Adrian Ponce. For more information, e-mail sfaponce@hotmail.com.

Also new is Modella Greenhouse, owned by Felicia Fredd, a locally oriented place to buy indoor and outdoor plants for the garden. Her telephone number is 920-4515.

The third new store, Contenta Consignment/Contenta Kids, features consigned home items, artwork, jewelry and clothing — birth through teen sizes.

The owners are Laurie Ellers, 670-8328, and Tracie Jansen, 603-1003.

The first business at Plaza Contenta, Miklo's Coffee House, is owned by Edwina Garcia and is going strong after three years.


After rising steadily for more than seven weeks, the price of gasoline has leveled off in New Mexico and around the U.S.

That's the observation of the AAA New Mexico, which also points out that gas — $2.62 a gallon statewide Monday — remains well below where it was a year ago, when people were paying $3.97 per gallon.

"So far, the lower prices for gasoline are not expected to have a major impact on the number of people traveling over the July Fourth holiday," AAA New Mexico predicts.

As for being the busiest part of the year for travel, this year's Fourth of July travel is forecast to drop 1.9 percent from 2008, with approximately 37.1 million people taking a trip of 50 miles or more away from home.

This year's number is off almost 11 percent from what it was in 2007.

In the Rocky Mountain region, however, including New Mexico, tourism is expected to increase 1.2 percent.