Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 123, No. 7 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
January 8, 2014
Candidates file for City Council seats JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
Several new candidates filed to run for City Council Tuesday against incumbents in Wards 1 through 5. The only candidate who will run unopposed will be Councilor Jason Perry. Councilor Dusty Huckabee will face candidate Natasha Mackey in Ward 1. Candidates Caleb Grant, Jerry Heck and James Andrew MacCornack will run for the open seat, now held by Councilor Jimmy Craig, in Ward 2. Councilor Art Sandoval will face businessman Joe Green in Ward 3. Councilor Barry Foster will run against Tabitha Denny, owner of Crossfit Vision, in Ward 5, and Mayor Del Jurney will seek a second ter m as mayor against opponent and former State Legislator
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Dennis Kintigh. Jurney filed for re-election before noon, after attending a session with the region’s state representatives to discuss funding for projects in the upcoming legislative session. “I decided a long time ago,” Jurney said. “Over the past four years, we’ve done a great many things. We’ve accomplished the things we’ve set out to do. We’ve covered the gamut, I think, in those issues that were important to us four years ago. As we continue to work as a team, this community together, we’ll continue to grow. I want to continue to be a part of that.” Jurney said during his administration, the city’s businesses have created hundreds of jobs and growth and prosperity is where the city needs to be.
“Over the next four years, now we start to take on the wealth and quality of life issues,” Jurney said. “The emphasis for the next four years will be: Let’s keep the businesses coming. Let’s continue to work closely with them. Let’s see how we can take that newfound wealth and take care of the needs of the community.” Jur ney pointed to the strides the city has made with boosting the police force and economic growth. He brings experience in business, real estate and banking, he said. He hopes to continue the momentum he and the city have built over the past four years, he said. “Our sights have now been elevated and we can accomplish what we need to do in the next four years.
WEDNESDAY
Jill McLaughlin Photos
Above: Mayor Del Jurney shakes hands with City Clerk Sharon Coll after signing his official election paperwork to become a candidate for reelection, Tuesday afternoon, at City Hall. Left: Dennis Kintigh, right, signs his official paperwork to become a candidate for mayor. His wife stands by his side as City Clerk Sharon Coll, seated, looks on.
Officials: DWIs trending down
See CANDIDATES, Page A3
TESS TOWNSEND RECORD STAFF WRITER
Steve Stone Graphic
Data from law enforcement agencies show a general downward trend in driving while intoxicated (DWI) arrests in Chaves County over the past five years. Total combined DWI arrests in Chaves County for law enforcement agencies Roswell Police Department, Chaves County Sheriff’s Office and New Mexico State Police amounted to 227 in 2013. The total was 352 in 2009. Law enforcement leaders and the Chaves County DWI Program attributed the trend to greater education about the risks of driving while drunk or under the influence of other drugs. “People are more aware now,” said Diane Taylor,
prevention specialist for the DWI program. The DWI program exists in varying capacities in every county. Chaves County Program Coordinator Charlotte Andrade noted that the county’s DWI program is one of few in the state that funds all eight component areas in the program. The areas include but are not limited to prevention, treatment for drug problems and screening of those charged with DWIs to see what social services they may be eligible to receive. Chaves County Sheriff Rob Coon said social pressure also plays a role in lowering DWI arrests. “It’s just taboo now to basically be a smoker; same thing with drunk See DWIs, Page A3
Scam alert: Walmart Pecan harvest short but good quality does not solicit ‘secret shoppers’ for program JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
A new scam has hit Roswell, using the name of Walmart. It has already claimed its first victims. The person will receive a letter or an e-mail which gives the name of Walmart in the subject line that says: “We Pay Five Hundred Every Week, If You Join Our Secret Shopper Team in your City.” It supplies an e-mail link where a person is invited to apply. Don’t be fooled. The Corporate Fraud Offices at Walmart said the company does not use secret shoppers. Manager of Roswell’s Walmart Sue Christensen said: “This is a scam. We had one couple come in here two weeks ago, bringing a letter.” These scam artists send
fraudulent solicitations via mail, print, text and e-mail to entice consumers to evaluate the retail experience at Walmart. The communications are often associated with addresses that appear to be “Wal-Mart” or an address such as “admin@walmart.com.” The most recent communique to a Roswell resident listed an email address of “job admit@aol.com.” There may be another email address embedded in the “From” line. To see the real email address, place the cursor over the from line or click on the reply button. However, officials at Walmart say if people use the latter option, they must delete the reply before it is sent. “This year, the scammers
See SCAM, Page A3
HIGH 65 LOW 25
TODAY’S FORECAST
This year’s pecan harvest in the Roswell area will produce a smaller crop than last year, but the quality is excellent, local growers said this week. Harvesting is running a few weeks behind, but for an off year, the overall situation for Southeast New Mexico pecan far ms is looking good. “All in all, everything is going along as good as could, and the quality is looking real good,” said Bill Kuykendall, far m manager at Chase Farms in Artesia and Roswell. Haley Farms in Roswell, with its 1,600 acres of some 40,000 trees, will wrap up harvesting in the next two to three weeks, said Bruce Haley. Early freezes in the late spring of 2013 affected some of the product, just as it had
• GENIE LYONS • KIM BELYEU VILLENEUVE • THEDA MAE SHIER
across the region. “We’re about half done,” Haley said. “Our production is short due to some early freezes in the spring, about three of them that caught us early that took off a lot of our crop. But the quality is excellent. We’ll do all right.” The trees in the city of Roswell should have a good crop, Haley said. The size and quality of the pecans this year will help the growers when it comes time for market. Prices have picked up from last year, Haley said. New Mexico is expected to produce 55-60 million pounds of pecans this year, said Phillip Arnold, president of the New Mexico Pecan Growers Association. Eastern New Mexico, in Roswell, Artesia and the Carlsbad area, is on an off-cycle this year, having produced a heavy crop last year. Several freezes last spring also hurt the
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE A6
Mark Wilson Photo
Visibility in a pecan orchard is obscured as workers harvest their crop, Tuesday afternoon.
eastern side of the state, Arnold said. With pecans, growers have on and of f years. During off years, growers can only expect half or a quarter of the production they had the year before. “They had a large crop on the eastern side of the state last year, on the order of about 20 million pounds,” Ar nold said.
CLASSIFIEDS ..........B6 COMICS .................B4 ENTERTAINMENT .....A8 FINANCIAL ..............B5
“This year, they’ll probably make maybe half of that or less.”
The majority of pecans grown in the state, up to 75 percent, are harvested in the Mesilla and Hatch valleys.
Growers have started staggering production See HARVEST, Page A3
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2 HOROSCOPES .........A8 LOTTERIES .............A2 OPINION .................A4
SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ..............A8 WORLD ..................A6