01-27-12 PAPER

Page 1

Roswell Daily Record

Vol. 121, No. 23 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday

INSIDE NEWS

EXPANSION OF SPECIAL SERVICES WASHINGTON (AP) — As traditional military operations are cut back, the Pentagon is moving to expand the worldwide reach of the U.S. Special Operations Command to strike back wherever threats arise ...

THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY

January 27, 2012

FRIDAY

www.rdrnews.com

Driver’s license bill tabled 5-4, legislators weigh in JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER

Rep. Andy Nuñez’s, IHatch, bill, which enables only those with a social security number to qualify for a New Mexico driver’s license, was tabled 5-4 on a party-line vote during a House Labor and Human Resources Committee meeting Thursday afternoon. The meeting, which lasted almost four hours, “came out exactly how we thought it would,” Rep. Bob Wooley, R-Roswell, said. After the bill was tabled 54, Rep. Ken Martinez, DGrants, brought up a discussion of a substitute for the bill, which includes various amendments that

rendered the bill so that it echoed the current driver’s license law. The law was enacted in 2003 under then-Gov. Bill Richardson. “Representative Martinez’s committee substitute changed everything back the way that it is, current status quo. It’s unacceptable to the true citizens of the state of New Mexico. We are still allowing illegals to come into our state and get driver’s licenses. It’s a national security risk. It’s putting our lives on the line,” Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell, said. “When the Federal Identification Act goes into effect next year the citizens of the state of New Mexico will not be in compliance. Our driver’s licenses may not be

used for identification purposes.” One amendment to Nuñez’s bill allowed those who could prove they lived in New Mexico, through various measures required by the state, to obtain a two-year license. “Representative Nuñez said he couldn’t accept it (the substitute) because it still gives licenses to illegal aliens. It defeats the purpose of the bill, is what it does,” Wooley said. “You could still have 40 people living at one address, or claiming they live there, and get a copy of a utility bill (one of the proofs of residence) and bring it in.” Language, featured in the original law, was also put back into the bill. The lan-

guage detailed the stif f penalties for those that commit fraud under the bill and obtain a license illegally. According to Wooley, the penalty was rendered from a fourth-degree felony to a third-degree felony. The substitute bill was assigned to the House Judiciary Committee, and will be heard on Monday. “At that time we can either go back in and make amendments to it or we can substitute it for Rep. Nuñez’s bill again,” Wooley said. “His bill was a Do-Not Pass, it was not totally killed. It was killed from the standpoint that we can’t blast it out of committee and bring it straight to the floor for discussion and a vote. We’re not dead. We

Sunken pond construction under way

- PAGE A6

WEB

For The Past 24 Hours

•Man found shot •Local doctor remembered •Accident with injuries •Police looking for missing 73-year-old NM man

INSIDE SPORTS

Mark Wilson Photo

Crews from the City of Roswell and Box Crane navigate a large rock into place as they create the foundation for a waterfall in the sunken pond at Cahoon Park, Thursday. The new and improved pond will feature the waterfall, fish, water plants and new vegetation. The project should be completed by the end of February, weather permitting.

DEXTER — If there’s one thing that has plagued the Dexter girls basketball team throughout the 2011-12 season, it’s injuries. For essentially the first time all season, the Demons had a full complement of players available for Thursday’s clash with Capitan. - PAGE B1

TODAY’S OBITUARY •Juanita Grace Fry - PAGE A6

HIGH ...74˚ LOW ....30˚

TODAY’S FORECAST

CLASSIFIEDS..........B5 COMICS.................B3 FINANCIAL .............B4 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 NATION..................A6 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WASHINGTON.........A7 WEATHER ..............A8

INDEX

Coon gets probation

See BILL, Page A3

JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER

TOP 5

DEMONS SNAP SLIDE

can still get it to the floor for a vote, we think. I’m sure they’ve got a plan B on their side, too.” Drama outside of the struck Roundhouse Wednesday evening at the Eldorado Hotel in Santa Fe. Occupy protestors invaded a recruitment dinner of the American Legislative Exchange Council at the hotel’s restaurant. Reps. Dennis Kintigh, R-Roswell, Nora Espinoza, R-Roswell and Wooley were all present at the dinner. Kintigh described ALEC members as, “individuals who believe in free markets and freemarket capitalism as the best way to create good economic conditions for all

A former Roswell police officer was sentenced to probation Tuesday after pleading guilty to nine charges stemming from his use of another person’s driver’s license to obtain drugs from a pharmacy. Justin Coon was charged with two counts of obtaining a controlled substance (ephedrine) by misrepresentation, five counts of obtaining drug precursor with misrepresentation by representation, one count of possession of Oxycodone and one count of theft of identity. Special prosecutor Kirby Wills of Otero County said that as the result of a plea agreement the state agreed not to seek maximum charges because this was

Pentagon: Army, Marines to shrink as budget slows Romney’s approach

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon outlined a plan Thursday for slowing the growth of military spending, including cutting the size of the Army and Marine Corps, retiring older planes and trimming war costs. It drew quick criticism from Republicans, signaling the difficulty of scaling back defense budgets in an election year. The changes Defense Secretary Leon Panetta described at a news conference are numerous but hardly dramatic. They aim to save money by delaying some big-ticket weapons like a next-generation nuclear-armed submarine, but the basic shape and structure of the military remains the same. The Army would shrink from a peak of 570,000 to 490,000 within five years,

and the Marines would drop by 20,000, to 182,000. Those are considerable declines, but both services will still be slightly larger than on 9/11, before they began a decade of war. Both will keep their footholds abroad, although the Army will decrease its presence in Europe and the Marines plan to increase theirs in Asia. Panetta said the administration will ask Congress for $525 billion to run the Pentagon in 2013 — $6 billion less than the current budget. War costs, which are not considered part of the base budget, would decline from $115 billion to $88 billion, reflecting the completion of the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. The base budget would then increase in each year of the Pentagon’s five-year

plan, reaching $567 billion in 2017. A year ago the Pentagon had projected 2017 spending to reach $622 billion. The Pentagon counts those reductions in projected future spending as “defense savings.” When Obama took office in January 2009 the Pentagon’s base budget was $513 billion. In 2001 it was $297 billion. Under a budget deficitcutting deal Congress made last summer, the Pentagon is committed to reducing projected spending by $487 billion over the next 10 years. The plan Panetta presented Thursday covers the first five years of that span and would cut a cumulative total of $259 billion in planned spending. “We believe this is a balanced and complete pack-

age,” Panetta said. In a bid to pre-empt election-year Republican criticism, Panetta said the plan begins to shift the Pentagon’s focus from the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to future challenges in Asia, the Mideast and in cyberspace. More special operations forces like the Navy SEALs who killed Osama bin Laden will be available around the world, he said, and the Pentagon will stress improvements in cyber defenses. Republicans were quick to pounce on the proposed Ar my and Marine Corps reductions. “These cuts reflect President Obama’s vision of an America that is weakened, not strengthened, by our

would strive to be transparent on the council. “I think there’s a lot of things that we did with the school department as far as letting people know how our money was spent that I think would be good for the city of Roswell and the people that we represent,” Dolen said. Dolen listed drawing businesses to Roswell, addressing crime issues in the city, and making Roswell more attractive so more people move here as issues he’d like to focus on if elected. Dolen said in order to draw businesses to Roswell there needs to be a job market and employees. “What can we do to work with Eastern (New Mexico University-Roswell), with schools, with the Workforce

Investment Act to make sure we have a strong workforce. We cannot bring businesses in without a strong workforce that’s well-trained and willing to work,” he said. Dolen said he would like to see an increase in aircraft maintenance, agriculture, and oil field support jobs in the community. In terms of those recently relocating to Roswell, Dolen said it’s important to have “a strong community that will welcome them. Making sure the visitor center is there to help out, that the Economic Development Corporation has the tools they need, and be willing as elected officials to meet with them and see what they need to bring their business in. It may be something new and innovative that

See COON, Page A3

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney spent years building a presidential candidacy based on corporate success, a squeaky clean image and an aura of electability that let him focus on President Barack Obama rather than his GOP rivals. South Carolina Republicans destroyed that strategy in an instant, saying they see Newt Gingrich, not Romney, as the man best positioned to beat Obama. Romney, who cast aside several

See DEBATE, Page A3

Milburn Dolen, business owner, to run for City Council Ward IV JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER

Milburn Dolen, who has served as vice president and president of the Roswell Independent School District school board, says he is running for the Ward IV City Council seat during the municipal election in March. Councilor Amarante Fresquez currently represents the ward. Currently the General Manager of Applebees, Dolen said, “We all have a duty and obligation to be involved in our community and to help better where we live. Sometimes I’d like to see more of an openness when it comes to some of the discussions, or how they got there. I look for

Milburn Dolen

more of a fiscal responsibility. ... Everyone needs to know how every dime is spent, that should be open and available to everybody.” If elected, Dolen said he

See DEFENSE, Page A3

they need that we can provide them,” he said. Addressing the crime problem in the city, Dolen said, “Crime doesn’t start at 35, usually. We need to work with the youth and with first-time offenders to try to get them off that path — whether it’s a diversionary program, where if they can stay out of trouble they get a clean record. We got to work with the District Attorney on that, because that falls under them.” As business manager of Applebees, a $3 million a year business, Dolen said, “I understand what we have to do in sales and I know what we have to do to not go under or go bankrupt. The city of Roswell, it is a business. It cannot run in the red.” j.bergman@rdrnews.com


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