04-21-12 rdr news

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Roswell Daily Record

Vol. 121, No. 96 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday

INSIDE NEWS

WASHINGTON (AP) — For computer users, a few mouse clicks could mean the difference between staying online and losing Internet connections this summer. Unknown to most of them, their problem began when international hackers ran an online advertising scam to take control of infected computers around the world. - PAGE B6

April 21, 2012

Industry, conservationists compromise JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER

INTERNET WOES

THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY

Praised by politicians and agreed upon by many members of New Mexico’s oil and gas and agricultural industries, Candidate Conservation Agreements and Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurance, accords between industry and species, are being viewed as the sole for m of protection if the dunes sagebrush lizard or lesser prairie chicken are

SATURDAY

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listed as endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Twenty-nine state oil and gas companies have enrolled around 815,000 acres in New Mexico’s CCA. Additionally, 39 ranchers statewide have enrolled 1.5 million acres.

CCAs apply to federal sur face and land, and CCAAs apply to state and private surfaces and lands. These agreements, both voluntary, are tools created by the Service, and joined

If an oil and gas company decides to drill a well in a critical habitat that is occupied, the fee incurred could be as high as $20,000.

upon by the Bureau of Land Management, to establish cooperative conservation. “Its not reactive, it’s paying it forward so to speak. Everybody is trying to be proactive by agreeing to restrict their operations, do certain conservation measures. In the case of oil and gas, they are not only

agreeing to certain restrictions before they start their operations they’re also contributing money,” Doug Burger, BLM’s Pecos District manager, said. The state’s oil and gas industry has contributed $3 million over the past year to the ef fort. This money goes toward habitat improvement and research

TOP 5 WEB

For The Past 24 Hours

• RPD arrests 3 after shots fired • Paramedic shortage puts crews on ... • ENMU-R offers annual HS tour • A student will attend his own funeral today • GHS leads area finishers at Classic

SPORTS

TOO BAD, BOSOX

BOSTON (AP) — Alex Rodriguez took over fifth place with his 631st career home run, Eric Chavez added two homers and the New York Yankees spoiled the Boston Red Sox 100th anniversary celebration of Fenway Park with a 6-2 win Friday. Rodriguez’s solo shot on the first pitch of the fifth inning put him past Ken Griffey Jr. and 29 homers behind Willie Mays’ fourth-place total of 660. Nick Swisher and Russell Martin also connected for New York, and Derek Jeter moved into 18th place with his 3,111th career hit, passing Dave Winfield. - PAGE B1

TODAY’S OBITUARIES

• Richard E. Lucero • Cruz Gonzalez - PAGE B6

HIGH ...88˚ LOW ....54˚

Yates Petroleum Corp. has enrolled approximately 70,000 acres within the lizard’s habitat since its entrance into a CCA in November 2011. Its agreement is effective for three years. Yates enrolled to obtain business certainty for operations within the habitat of the lizard. It also hoped to influence the Ser-

Gasoline prices falling

Let’s watch that fire, fellas

INSIDE

to determine how best to manage the species habitat.

Mark Wilson Photo

Church on the Move members serve up BBQ steaks to area first responders at the Roswell Central Fire Station to show appreciation for their service to the community, Friday afternoon.

See COMPROMISE, Page A7

NEW YORK (AP) — The worst appears to be over. Gasoline prices are going down. After a four -month surge pushed gasoline to nearly $4 per gallon in early April, drivers, politicians and economists worried that prices might soar past all-time highs, denting wallets, angering voters and dragging down an economy that is struggling to grow. Instead, pump prices have dropped 6 cents over two weeks to a national average on Friday of $3.88. Experts say gasoline could fall another nickel or more next week.

Subsidies, stamps Students leave classrooms, on farm bill’s table mark Earth Day in park WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has begun laying the groundwork for a half-trillion-dollar farm and food bill that would end unconditional subsidies to farmers, but House Republicans resolve to cut its biggest component — food stamps — by $13 billion a year dims its prospects of passing Congress.

The current five-year farm bill expires at the end of September, and the Senate’s agriculture committee on Friday released a draft of its plan to redesign safety nets that help farmers weather bad times while achieving some $23 billion in deficit reduction. The full committee is to vote next week on the plan, which consolidates conservation programs and takes several steps, such as stopping lottery winners from getting assistance, to make the food stamp program more accountable.

to the president, lawmakers must satisfy multiple constituents with dif ferent agendas — northern corn growers, southern cotton farmers, insurance companies, banks, nutrition groups and environmentalists. Most difficult will be narrowing the gap between the Democratic Senate and House Republicans taking aim at the food stamp program that comprises some 80 percent of the bill’s spending. Farmers are also cursed by their own successes. With farm incomes as high as they’ve been in decades, it’s harder to convince lawmakers that they still need strong protections for future disasters and market downturns. Most give chances of success at no better than 5050, which frustrates farm groups seeking some certainty in government poli-

See GASOLINE, Page A7

VANESSA KAHIN RECORD STAFF WRITER

The Loveless Park that local children visited, lear ned, and played in Friday in honor of Earth Day is vastly dif ferent from what it was before humans affected its environment. However, thanks to Keep Roswell Beautiful, Spring River Park and Zoo, Xcel Energy and the City Parks Department, nearly 300 fourth- and fifth-grade students learned about protecting the environment during an Earth Day Outdoor Classroom event. “It takes (children) out of (their) desks,” said Dixie Van, fifth-grade teacher at Berrendo Elementary School, of the event. “This is great for the kids. It’s educational but fun at the same

Courtesy Photo by Sara Hall

Young students learn with a hands-on approach during an Earth Day classroom held at Loveless Park, Friday morning.

time.” Participating schools were Berrendo, Monterrey and El Capitan elementary and All Saint’s Catholic School. The event included four hands-on educational

stations: T ree Talk, taught by City Parks Superintendent Ken Smith; New Mexico Wildlife, taught by Marge Woods, head zookeeper at See EARTH, Page A7

Beeton carries on family air traffic controller tradition But before getting a bill

See FARM, Page A7

NOAH VERNAU RECORD STAFF WRITER

TODAY’S FORECAST

CLASSIFIEDS..........B7 COMICS.................B4 FINANCIAL .............B5 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ......A10 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ............A10

INDEX

Noah Vernau Photo

Air Traffic Controller Frank Beeton IV stands in front of a southwest airspace map in his garage, Wednesday.

Frank Beeton IV, thirdgeneration air traffic controller, knows how to maintain our air space. At the Roswell Air Control Tower, Beeton makes sure pilots are provided with the information they need to keep out of harm’s way, as he advises them of weather conditions, landing sites, and assists in emergency situations. The job requires highly specialized skills and affords little margin for error, a responsibility he accepts, like his father and grandfather before him. “Controllers have to speak in a certain way,” Beeton said. “We basically

have to learn a new language: phraseology. Everything has to be the same way every time, so pilots know exactly what to hear.” Beeton grew up in Fairfax, Va., where he says his passion for aviation began early, while his father worked as an air traf fic controller specialist at Washington Center. Beeton’s father per for med many of the same duties that Beeton does now, before retiring from the center in 2010. Beeton’s grandfather, a

fighter pilot during World War II, became one of the first air traffic controllers in 1955, before the FAA even existed, and worked at the Albuquerque Tower and at Washington National, spending 35 years as a controller.

Family exposure to the careers of air traffic controllers would also greatly influence Beeton’s sister, now a controller in Leesburg, Va., at the center See SPOTLIGHT, Page A7


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