Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 123, No. 55 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
March 4, 2014
www.rdrnews.com
TUESDAY
Gov. signs aircraft sales tax elimination into law JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
AerSale Inc. at Roswell International Air Center hosted Gov. Susana Martinez Monday as she signed into law legislation that will eliminate sales tax on commercial and military aircraft. The law will remove the 7 percent gross receipts tax on the sale of commercial and military aircraft and do away with the tax on any maintenance, refurbishing, remodeling or other work done on the planes. The elimination of sales tax, to take effect July 1, is expected to bring 125 jobs to Roswell and have a direct impact of more than $5 million in the next five years. “The aviation industry is an integral part of New
Mexico’s economy,” Martinez said. “Signing today’s bill is a great start and will ensure that we remain competitive with our neighboring states.” Martinez spoke well of local legislators, who attended the event, for knowing “exactly what to do.” “I don’t have to fight the Legislature from Roswell. They’re with me all the way,” Martinez said. The bill “levels the playing field” for the aviation industry, Martinez said. AerSale and Stewart Industries are two major companies that operate from RIAC. “The word is out already,” said John Mulcahy, executive director of the Roswell-Chaves County Economic Development Corporation. “People can bring an aircraft here,
have it fixed here and now sell it here, and they don’t have to fly it away. That’s an important factor to be able to do it all here.” County Commissioner James Duffey said the new law should be a good thing for the county. “I think it’s great,” Duffey said. “It’s going to create … more jobs here in our community, so hopefully it’s a good thing.” State Rep. Bob Wooley, R-Dist. 66, ushered the bill through the 30-day session. “This is a very historic day I think for Roswell,” Wooley said. “The Lord blessed us and everything fell into place. We got it through.” The state Taxation and Revenue Department reported that there would
Randal Seyler Photos
Above: Gov. Susana Martinez, seated, signs House Bill 24 while state officials and company officers look on, Monday, at the AerSale facility in Roswell. The bill provides for a gross receipts tax reduction on the sales of aircraft within New Mexico. Left: Martinez visits with members of the Roswell Chamber of Commerce Redcoats at the facility.
Farmers prep for irrigation season
See AIRCRAFT, Page A3
Picking up pesky phragmites
Mark Wilson Photo
Roswell Job Corps Home Builders Institute students assist Friends of Bitter Lake volunteers and refuge employees in removing phragmites from the vicinity of Bitter Creek, Thursday. Phragmites are a non-native, invasive perennial plant that choke waterways and are a threat to several endangered species at the refuge.
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — With the growing season appr oaching and the dr ought continuing to bear down on New Mexico, one of the state’s major irrigation districts said Monday it is getting ready to prime its canals. Officials with the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District gather ed along one of their major channels as water rushed past to discuss what might be in store for some 11,000 farmers in the valley who depend on the irrigation system. Derrick Lente, chairman of the district’s board of directors, said the district is expecting to have more water than it did last year at this time, and it should be enough to get farmers through spring and early summer. “We’re going to do our best to stretch the season the entir e way,” Lente said. “If we manage it the
right way, we can do it. But the wild card is Mother Natur e, and ther e’s nothing we can do about that.”
The state’s irrigation districts depend heavily on snowpack in the northern mountains and runof f captured during monsoon season. But the state has been struggling through consecutive years of severe drought, and this winter has been one of the driest on record. Still, irrigation officials in the Middle Rio Grande Valley and elsewhere in New Mexico say the watering season is looking more pr omising thanks to record rainfall that helped to replenish reservoirs last fall.
And if the spring runoff pans out, Lente said the Middle Rio Grande district could have about 60,000 acre-feet of water to distribute this year.
Supreme Court passes CYFD seeks foster families in Chaves County on immigration debate
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A f o r me r P en ns y lv a n ia c o al t o w n a nd a D al l a s suburb lost a lengthy batt le t o e n act an ti -i m m igrant laws Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court d e cl in ed t o h e a r t h ei r appeals. The high court has held since 2012 that immigration issues are largely a matter for federal agenc ie s, n ot l o cal g ov e r nments, to regulate. T h e r u l in g M o n da y involved efforts by the city of Hazleton, in northeaste r n P en n s yl va n ia , a n d Farmers Branch, Texas, to enfor ce housing and employment rules aimed at people in the country illegally, a strategy copied by dozens of other cities that faulted federal efforts to control immigration. “ I t h i n k t h in g s l o ok really different now than it did when we initiated this case. Cities are not lo o k in g t o g o dow n t h e
road that Hazleton went down,” said lawyer Omar J ad wa t o f t h e A C L U ’s Immigration Rights Proje c t , w h o s u cc es s f ul l y a rg u ed t h e ca s e i n t h e U.S. appeals court. “What w e ’ r e s ee i n g o n t h e ground is much more that cities and states are looking at ways to integrate i m m i g ra n t s i n t o t he i r communities ... and not ways to exclude people, or criminalize them.”
Hazleton had passed the first local laws in 2006 to address concerns over an influx of immigrants. The laws sought to fine landlords who rented to people living in the country illegally, deny business permits to companies that g a v e t h e m j o bs , a n d required prospective tenants to register with City Hall and pay for a rental permit. However, the laws were never enacted amid the court challenges.
HIGH 70 LOW 46
TODAY’S FORECAST
RANDAL SEYLER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Chaves County needs foster families for local children, and potential foster parents can come to an informational meeting today, said Renee Fitts, statewide recruitment manager for the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department. There will be an informational meeting at 6 p.m. today at the CYFD office, located at No. 4 Grand Avenue Plaza in Roswell, Fitts said. The meeting will provide families with information about foster and adoptive parenting, and is for anyone interested in becoming a licensed foster and/or adoptive parent with the CYFD. “There are about 80 children in Chaves County in need of foster homes,” said Fitts, who works out of the Roswell CYFD office. “The age group 6 to 14 is the biggest group we have in need of homes, with 29
• Allie Inez Crandall Durham • Tessamarie Karma Anderson • Marilynn Florence Openshaw
children in that age group.” There are 25 children aged 0-2 needing foster homes, and 18 children aged 3-5 in need of foster homes. The smallest age group is 15-17, with eight children waiting for homes. As of January 2014, there were close to 2,000 New Mexico children in foster care. “When we don’t have enough homes in Chaves County, then we have to move these children to where there is an available home,” Fitts said. “We try to stay within the Chaves, Eddy counties area, but sometimes we don’t have a choice.” When children are placed outside of the county, it not only affects the ability of the children to visit with their birth families, it also means the case workers are traveling far and wide keeping in touch with the children. “Our goal is re-unification with the birth families
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE A6
Randal Seyler Photo
Renee Fitts, statewide recruitment manager for the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department, discusses foster parent training Monday at the CYFD office in Roswell.
when that is possible, and we try to keep siblings together whenever possible,” Fitts said.
However, having a shortage of foster homes in Chaves County means families and siblings are sometimes separated. “Not only does it mean we are taking these children from their families, we are also taking them
CLASSIFIEDS ..........B6 COMICS .................B5 ENTERTAINMENT .....B4 FINANCIAL ..............B4
from their friends, their school they love — even the cafeteria lady who gives them extra cookies,” Fitts said.
Often, the children are already dealing with traumatic events in their lives, and the extra stress of separation from their family and friends just aggra-
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2
HOROSCOPES .........A8 LOTTERIES .............A2
See CYFD, Page A3 OPINION .................A4
SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ..............A8