Roswell Daily Record
‘Oh, the places you’ll go’ THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 121, No. 54 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
March 3, 2012
SATURDAY
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EGP celebrates Seuss NOAH VERNAU RECORD STAFF WRITER
DOMESTIC, OR IMPORTED?
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — The official state question “Red or Green?” should be accompanied by a second question: “Locally grown or foreign?” Fifteen or 20 years ago, you might have been able to walk into a restaurant or grocery store in New Mexico and safely ... - PAGE A3
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INSIDE SPORTS
ROSWELL GIRLS SPLIT AT CLASSIC
One of the beautiful things about high school athletics is that it can help teach life lessons to young adults. For the Roswell girls tennis team, Friday provided one of those lessons. After an 8-1 over the AllStars in the first round of the Coyote Classic on Friday, the Coyotes had a match against 5A Mayfield. While Roswell fell 9-0, it didn’t lay down and let the Trojans walk over them. The Coyotes stepped up and played strong against Mayfield, something that pleased Roswell coach Kelly McDonald. - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARY
• Valentina Trujillo - PAGE A3
HIGH ...59˚ LOW ....30˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B3 FINANCIAL .............A7 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A3 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
Mark Wilson Photo
Christina Arches, 5, and Mohammed Kaddoura receive goodies during Read Across Roswell’s “Dr. Seuss Reading Festival” at Pioneer Plaza, Friday afternoon.
Seuss at Pioneer Plaza VANESSA KAHIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
Educators, businesses, public representatives and children of all ages reunited at Pioneer Plaza to celebrate literacy on what would have been Dr. Seuss’ 108th birthday, Friday afternoon. The event was Roswell’s version of the National Education Association’s Read Across America, which ties in the works of Dr. Seuss with fun activities aimed to encourage children to read. Coordinated by three local teachers concerned about declining literacy in schools, Read Across Roswell intertwined Dr. Seuss’ whacky characters — especially the cat from “The Cat in the Hat”
— with Roswell’s own trademark personality, an alien. “(The event) is about 10 times better than I thought it would be,” said Teresa Naggs, one of the event’s organizers and a teacher at Roswell High. Naggs is also an artist who designed the logo for the event — a little green alien wearing a red-and-white striped hat and reading the Dr. Seuss book, “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” T -shirts featuring the logo were up for sale. Naggs noted the small children who participated in the reading festival and who visited each booth — whether they were walking, pushed in a stroller or car-
East Grand Plains Elementary joined children and schools nationwide, Friday, in presenting National Education Association’s Read Across America, a motivation and awareness program that celebrates reading. Held every year on Dr. Seuss’ birthday, Read Across America aims to bring the excitement of reading to children of all ages. The day started with a guest appearance from The Cat in the Hat, who entertained the children with Dr. Suess stories, followed by a breakfast of green eggs and ham in the EGP cafeteria.
Throughout the day, several members of the community read Dr. Seuss stories to students, including Magistrate Judge Eugene M. De Los Santos, Mayor Del Jurney, lawyer Mack Hunt, Roswell Independent School District superintendent Michael Gottlieb, RISD board members and disc jockeys from Radio Amigo, 96.1 FM. Belia Perez, first-grade teacher, said community participation in the program helps demonstrate to children that they need to read to be successful in life. “I think it’s very important for members of the community to be
See EGP, Page A2
Mark Wilson Photo
East Grand Plains kindergartners, first- and second-graders, wearing paper Dr. Suess hats, take their seats on the gymnasium floor for the NEA’s Read Across America, Friday morning.
NM agrees to protect habitat in Permian Basin ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — New Mexico on Friday signed a conservation agreement with the federal government to protect more than 387 square miles of habitat for two species that have been the focus of a bitter battle among environmentalists, politicians and oil and gas developers in New Mexico and West Texas. New Mexico Land Commissioner Ray Powell said the agreement rep-
See SEUSS, Page A2
resents a “monumental step” toward finding a way to protect the lesser prairie-chicken and dunes sagebrush lizard while allowing for oil and gas development to continue in the Permian Basin.
“We’ve had enough of the circular firing squads,” Powell said during a signing ceremony attended by biologists, project managers and others from state and federal agencies who have worked for nearly a
decade to line up conservation agreements with oil companies, ranchers and private land owners. With New Mexico signing on, nearly 248,000 acres are being added to the conservation effort. Officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said that is the largest area to be set aside by a single state as part of a conservation agreement. In all, 29 oil and gas companies
and 39 ranchers have enrolled in the effort in New Mexico to cover more than 2.5 million acres.
Fish and Wildlife Service Southwest Deputy Director Joy Nicholopoulos said the agency recently approved a similar program in West Texas and landowners are starting to sign up. See HABITAT, Page A2
Prez to Iran, Israel: I don’t bluff Investigation continues
AP Photo
President Barack Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations, Sept. 21.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama
delivered his most explicit threat yet that the United
States will attack Iran if that’s what it takes to prevent it from developing a nuclear bomb. At the same time, he war ned Israelis they would only make a bad situation worse if they moved preemptively against Iranian nuclear facilities. The double-barreled warning, in an interview published Friday, came before Obama’s highstakes meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday and a speech
See BLUFF, Page A2
The investigation into the Leprino Foods warehouse theft continues. “This is a very active investigation,” said agent Michael Williams of the New Mexico State Police. He said the company discovered several thousands of pounds of a dry-dairy product missing in the last week of December when they were conducting an audit of inventory and stock. Williams said the losses are estimated in the thousands of dollars, but he did not want to specify the amount. He noted that the case is particularly puzzling since there were no signs of
break-in. He suspects that the theft had been going on for a long period of time. Williams has specific questions about the case that he hopes members of the public will be able to answer. These include, but are not limited to: How was the dairy product packaged? How was it transported out of the facility, and where has it gone? He wanted to assure people that anyone who calls in to Crime Stoppers would be able to remain absolutely anonymous. Williams urges people to call Chaves County Crime Stoppers, 1See THEFT, Page A2
Oscar Fairfield: At 90, remains self-reliant; finishes what he starts NOAH VERNAU RECORD STAFF WRITER
INDEX
Noah Vernau Photo
Oscar Fairfield stands with a portrait of his late wife Theresa Margaret Fairfield, on Wednesday, at La Villa.
Whether he was serving in the Navy, teaching math, helping veterans or playing golf, Oscar Fairfield says he has relied on nothing but individual perseverance. Fairfield, born east of Hebrew Springs, Ark., in 1922, said he was raised to never expect a “thank you” for a good deed, and that his desire to finish everything he starts is what defines him. “I haven’t been one to ask for things,” Fairfield said. “Never ask anybody to do something for you that you can do yourself. That’s the way I’ve lived, and that’s the way I feel.” Fairfield, who turned 90 in Jan-
uary, served in the Navy from 1941-1945. He went through boot camp in San Diego before the Navy called him to active duty after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In Pearl Harbor, Fairfield worked as a machinist mate’s second class from 1941-1943. He became a member of the “Black Gang,” servicing motors in the machine wing and turning saltwater into drinking water. Fairfield received a medical discharge from the Navy in 1945.
Navy doctors told him that he had a severe case of arthritis, which they credited to his living on a steel deck. They believed Fairfield had ruined his spine.
“When they discharged me, I was supposed to be a hopeless cripple,” Fairfield said. “But I taught for 30 years. I’m still up and going.”
Fairfield, who still drives his car, said he has never allowed health troubles to get in the way of what See SPOTLIGHT, Page A2