Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 124, No. 33 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
February 7, 2015
SATURDAY
www.rdrnews.com
Pirtle says it’s time to stop changing clocks
By Jeff Tucker Record Staff Writer
L
egislation introduced by state Sen. Cliff Pirtle to keep New Mexico on the same time year-round has stirred emotions, including one angry caller to the Daily Record who said the first-term senator should be jailed for the proposal. Pirtle says his bill would end the confusion of setting clocks back an hour in the fall and forward an hour in the spring. His proposal would place the state on Mountain Daylight Time year-round. “It’s been long enough that nobody knows why
we do it,” he said. “There seems to be no reason why we do it. I haven’t heard a good reason yet. Nobody knows. Then, why do we continue to do it?” The measure, Senate Bill 377, has been assigned to the Senate Public Affairs Committee, where Pirtle said the bill would probably receive a hearing soon. State Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, chairs the Public Affairs Committee. As of Friday, no hearing date had been set. An aide to Ortiz y Pino told the Daily Record Friday the senator had no strong feelings on the proposal and it would not come up for a while.
Pirtle, R-Roswell, said state Senate leaders have yet to weigh in. “I think everybody is kind of wanting to see what kind of traction it gets as to where it goes,” Pirtle said. “A lot of people kind of laugh it off because it’s just become kind of this joke. But it’s a lot more serious. It’s garnering more and more support every year as people are just tired of doing something that they don’t understand why we do it. We want to stop the madness.” Pirtle says changing clocks twice a year no longer makes sense. He also says the time changes have
Pirtle
adverse health effects, cause heart attacks and increase mishaps and accidents. Steve Stone Graphic
See PIRTLE, Page A3
‘Karst,’ caves, bats and cow dung — Oh my! By Timothy P. Howsare Record Editor Ask a roomful of Rotarians in Roswell if they know what the word “karst” means and only half of them will raise their hands. But if you were to pose the same question at a similar meeting in the Tampa Bay area, there’s a pretty good chance every hand in the room would go up. Many Floridians have learned the answer to this question the hard way. Either their house or a neighbor’s was swallowed up or significantly damaged by a sinkhole — the sudden collapse of the surface land after the limestone rock underneath was eroded away by water. Karst is the word used to describe an area of limestone terrain characterized by sinks, ravines and underground streams. We do have sinkholes that formed naturally near Roswell at the Bitter Lake
Submitted Photos
Above: Dianne Joop is education director of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute in Carlsbad. Right: George Veni is executive director of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute in Carlsbad.
Election results unchanged after county canvass By Jeff Jackson Record Staff Writer
Voting results in the Chaves County school elections were canvassed Friday morning with no changes from Tuesday night’s preliminary reports. Magistrate Judge K.C. Rogers certified the results and County Clerk Dave Kunko recorded them in the clerk’s office while school district representatives from Dexter, Lake Arthur, Hagerman, ENMU-R and the Roswell Independent School District were present. Two slots on the five-member RISD board were decided and filled by James W. Waldrip in Position 2 and Ruben J. Sanchez in Position 4. Waldrip retained his position against Carey D. Smith by 65 votes of the 709 cast, while challenger Sanchez unseated board president Pauline J. Ponce with a 16-vote edge out of 342. Ponce was serving her first term. In addition, a $16 mil-
lion bond issue presented by RISD passed by a 77 percent margin out of 2,242 votes. Two contested races for seats on the Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell Community College board were canvassed Friday, with the incumbents winning. Mireya P. Trujillo topped Leandro Gutierrez 172-133 in District 1, and Ralph E. Fresquez beat Michael A. Buldra 253-131 in District 4. In District 5, incumbent Dawn M, Tschabrun received 417 votes and was uncontested. Four candidates were running for three seats on the Dexter school board, and the odd man out was write-in candidate Jared Sanders who received 11 votes. Board president Amanda Bogle led the field with 89 votes, followed by newcomer Bobby Dale Vaughn with 83. The third chair on the board went to Michael E. See ELECTION, Page A2
Today’s Forecast
HIGH 79 LOW 43
and Bottomless Lakes, but those have existed long before the first humans arrived here. And there is little or no threat that a house or a building in downtown Roswell will disappear into a sinkhole as several prized Corvette Stingrays did a year ago at a car museum in Kentucky. Roswell Rotary Club members got an introduction to all things karst — along with a bit more info on a subject most already have some familiarity with, caves — during their lunch meeting Thursday. The guest speakers were George Venti and Dianne Joop from the National Cave and Karst Research Institute in Carlsbad, a nonprofit organization dedicated to cave and karst research across the globe. NCKRI was created in 1998 in partnership with the National Park Service, the State of New Mexico and the city of Carlsbad.
It receives state and federal funding administered by New Mexico Tech. Venti holds a doctorate in geology from Pennsylvania State University. He served as executive secretary of the National Speleological Society’s Section of Cave Geology and Geography for 11 years and president of the Texas Speleological Survey for 13 years. Joop is an experienced educator with a focus on caves, karst, science and math. Before transitioning into education, she spent nearly a decade in theatrical and television production with Kentucky Educational Television. Venti said karst landscape covers about 25 percent of the America landscape. He said there are tourist caves, like Carlsbad Caverns. But a cave, by definition, is any underSee KARST, Page A2
ILEA delegates say farewell to Roswell
Shawn Naranjo Photos
Above: The Roswell Youth ChalleNGe Color Guard with some of the delegates. Right: Delegates capture memories with the ILEA staff after the graduation ceremony Friday. graduated from InternaStaff Report tional Law Enforcement A f t e r f o u r w e e k s o f Academy-Roswell on Friclasses on internation- day. After the ceremony, al law enforcement, dele- a lunch was held were gates from Barbados, Gre- delegates and staff could nada, Jamaica, St. Vin- socialize one last time cent and the Grenadines before the delegates return and Trinidad and Tobago to their home countries.
Today’s Obituaries Page A2 • Faye Harrington • Glenn “Booboo” Marler • Paul David Drum
Index Classifieds...........B6 Comics..................B5 Entertainment. ....A8 Financial..............B3
General...............A2
Opinion.................A4
Horoscopes.........A8
Sports. ................B1
Lotteries. ............A2
Weather...............A8