03 01 13 Roswell Daily Record

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Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY

Vol. 123, No. 53 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday

March 1, 2014

www.rdrnews.com

SATURDAY

Officials: No plans for radiation testing in county RANDAL SEYLER RECORD STAFF WRITER

Officials with the contractor that runs the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant say no plans are in place to test Chaves County for radiation following a Feb. 14 incident in which radioactive material was released within the facility. “There have been no tests conducted at this time,” said Donavan Mager, a spokesman for Nuclear Waste Partnership LLC, in an email on Friday. “The possibility of future tests or

Healing art

sampling will be determined by further analytical results and findings.” If residents of southern Chaves County have concerns about the possibility of being exposed to radiation, they can seek testing in Carlsbad, Mager said. “We are informing residents if they believe it is necessary to be tested to contact the Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring & Research Center for a free whole body count. For an appointment, call 575-2345530.” Mager said WIPP officials

encourage county officials in areas farther from Carlsbad to contact Don Scott, bureau chief for Response and Recovery, New Mexico Homeland Security and Emergency Management, if they have concerns about radiation.

Karen Sanders, director of the Roswell/Chaves County Office of Emergency Management, said she has had a few inquiries this week from the public about the radiation leak. She also said there are no plans to per for m testing in the county.

“I am not aware of any plans to do soil testing near WIPP,” she said. “We want to ensure the safety of the citizens of Chaves County,” Sanders said. “We continue to work with WIPP officials as well as Eddy County Emergency Management.” Thirteen workers at the underground nuclear waste dump have tested positive for radiation exposure after a recent leak, of ficials reported on Thursday. The U.S. Department of Energy and the contractor that runs the Waste Isola-

tion Pilot Plant declined to comment further on the preliminary test results announced Wednesday.

Elevated radiation levels have been detected in the air around the plant, but officials have said the readings are too low to constitute a public health threat.

And they have said that all indications are that a HEPA filtration system designed to immediately kick in when radiation is detected and keep 99.7 percent of contamination from being released above ground worked flawlessly.

Young artists and their families check out the winning entries of the Healing Art Contest at the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, Thursday. The contest, sponsored by the museum and Salvation Army, was open to all Roswell students aged 7 and older. Twenty winning entries were chosen and those students received a scholarship to The Salvation Army Summer Camp in Arizona.

“The Recovery Plan submitted by Nuclear Waste Partnership to the Carlsbad (U.S. Department of Energy) Field Office provides strategies that will lead to answer these questions,” Mager said. “We will learn a great deal once we enter the mine, but will not rush to do so until all re-entry

Early voting ends with good turnout JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER

Mark Wilson Photo

On Friday, officials still were not saying what caused the leak, or how much radioactive material was thought to have leaked in the WIPP facility.

More than 1,500 voters cast ballots at the close of early voting Friday in this year’s municipal elections. City Clerk Sharon Coll said her goal was to get at least 1,500 voters through the new Voting Convenience Center system at City Hall during early voting. By 3:30 p.m. Friday, more than 1,540 had cast ballots. A steady stream of voters had used the system during early voting. Eight polling centers will be available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. To find a list of locations, and detailed information about the elections, see Sunday’s edition of The Record. To view articles about each candidate, subscribers to The Record’s website can find a link at the top of the main page.

See TESTING, Page A3

As Tuesday neared, candidates for mayor and City Council continued to try to sway voters. Mayoral candidates Del Jurney and Dennis Kintigh outspent council candidates as the municipal elections drew to an end. Jurney raised an additional $2,090 from outside sources and pitched in $1,320 of his own money to fund $2,465 in advertisements, postage for mailings and website costs. That brought Jurney’s total campaign contributions as of Thursday to $9,795. He has spent a total of $10,159. Mayoral candidate Dennis Kintigh has outraised and outspent the incumbent. He raised another $2,600 and spent $2,714 on postage and stamps since his last financial report.

Health department Drone program operators discuss proposes new rules public surveillance, safety concerns for medicinal pot

Medical cannabis users in New Mexico are inhaling more of the stuff than suppliers can grow, according to a survey performed by the state health department. As a result, the department proposes to increase the supply limit and add more nonprofit producers to the program. “We take the needs of medical cannabis patients very seriously. The department commissioned a survey so that a decision about supply could be made based on data,” said Secretary Retta Ward. “We now have a plan to meet current and future patient

needs.” The department proposes to increase the plant limit from 150 total plants and seedlings up to 150 mature plants and up to 300 seedlings. The change will require a rule change and public comment period. The department will also open an application period to add up to 12 licensed nonprofit producers. There are 23 licensed nonprofit producers in the state. The application period for the number of producers will begin after the rule See RULES, Page A3

AP Photo

In this Oct. 2, 2012, file photo, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and other law enforcement jurisdictions drive the roads near Bisbee, Ariz.

HIGH 84 LOW 51

TODAY’S FORECAST

JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER

Operators for a new program that will train pilots to operate drones from the Roswell International Air Center discussed concerns about public surveillance and safety Friday. Officials announced the creation of an Unmanned Aircraft Systems, or drone, pilot training center at MISTIC, a special 2,500acre compound at the airport. The new center is expected to begin training pilots on smaller drones possibly by May, said Capt. Russell Peck, chief executive officer of Strategic Aerospace International.

The program will begin training pilots on the smaller crafts, flying them during the daytime, inside the airport boundaries, Peck said. “If you come out here, you might be able to hear them,” Peck said. “A safety pilot is looking at it the whole time, if it should get out of sight.” The center’s primary goal is to provide pilots to fly three types of drones: the Sky Ranger, a small drone for industrial inspections and law enforcement surveillance; the SandShark, used for military and government agencies; and the Diamond DA42, which can fly

See VOTING, Page A2

Mark Wilson Photo

Captain Russell Peck, CEO of Strategic Aerospace International Ltd., holds a press conference to announce the opening of unmanned aerial vehicle training at MISTIC, Friday.

Homeland Security reviewing border use of force

WASHINGTON (AP) — New Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is reviewing the department’s use-of-force policies, a Homeland Security official said Friday. The official said Johnson has been reviewing the rules about when border agents can use their guns since he took office in December. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss internal deliberations and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Customs and Border Pro-

See DRONE, Page A3

tection, which oversees the Border Patrol, has been criticized by civil rights groups and others for allowing border agents to use deadly force against people blamed for throwing rocks at them. Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher said last year that a report by the Police Executive Research Forum, a group that led a government-commissioned review, recommended a ban on deadly force against rock throwers and assailants in vehicles. CBP rejected the recommendations, which

THERE ARE NO OBITUARIES FOR TODAY.

TODAY’S OBITUARIES

Fisher described to The Associated Press as “very restrictive.” Now, agents can use deadly force if they have a reasonable belief that their lives or the lives of others are in danger. The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that it obtained a copy of the report, which it described as critical of the Border Patrol’s “lack of diligence” in investigating agents who fired their guns. The newspaper said the report also concluded “that some border agents stood in front of moving vehicles as a pretext

CLASSIFIEDS ..........B6 COMICS .................A7 ENTERTAINMENT .....A6 FINANCIAL ..............B3

to open fire and that agents could have moved away from rock throwers instead of shooting at them.”

The report found agents sometimes put themselves in harm’s way by remaining close to rock throwers when they could have moved away, according to a person who read it and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because it has not been publicly released. It said agents may have been partly motivated by frustration in some rockthrowing cases.

INDEX GENERAL ...............A2

HOROSCOPES .........A6 LOTTERIES .............A2

OPINION .................A4

SPORTS .................B1

WEATHER ..............A6


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