Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 123, No. 110 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
May 7, 2014
WEDNESDAY
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Perry wants ruling on medical marijuana dispensaries RANDAL SEYLER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Planning and Zoning Council Committee Chairman and City Councilor Jason Perry asked City Manager Larry Fry to look into seeking a district court ruling on what control, if any, local government may have over medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits. “I spent quite a bit of time visiting with the Municipal League when I traveled up there three weeks ago,”
Perry said. “There are very few things that the state keeps the cities from having the ability to make sure a thing is good for a city, but this is one of them.” Perry said the cities in New Mexico are not allowed to change the standards already set by the state for medical marijuana dispensaries. “We are not allowed to raise the bar from what the state has already set.” The city cannot require that a dispensary be located in a certain zoning, such as industrial or commercial,
Music and ministry
Perry said. “Ultimately, we are being asked to choose between breaking state law or federal law, and some day, we might be called to account for that by the federal government,” Perry said. “I think we should consider trying to get a district court ruling just so if the day ever comes we can say we took it to district court.” “I think it would be a good idea to seek a ruling,” said Savino Sanchez, committee member and city councilor. “We need to get as much
information as possible about what we can do and what we can’t do.” “I agree, as long as we don’t do anything to impact the dispensary we already have here,” said Tabitha Denny, committee member and city councilor. Perry said the committee did not need to take any action, but Perry asked Fry if he could look into what it would take to get a district court decision. “I don’t have any experience in that area, but I can check with the Municipal
Randal Seyler Photo
The Ohana family of Hauula, Hawaii, perform traditional Hawaiian music while also ministering to the residents of Sunset Villa in Roswell, Tuesday. The Ohana family of the Living God Ministry has been in Chaves County this week, and they wrapped up their visit to New Mexico with a Luau, organized by Johnny Gonzales of Prison Door Ministry. The Ohana family’s mission is to end hunger and homelessness in Hawaii by establishing a system or systems under Jesus Christ to aid and assist the poor and the needy to acquire food, shelter and other essential items necessary for everyday living.
League,” Fry said. The committee also heard of plans to bring Buffalo Wild Wings, Carl’s Jr. and a Panda Express to Roswell. The Walmart McDonald’s restaurant is also looking to build a store outside of the Supercenter. The plans for the various projects have come before the Planning and Zoning Committee and the Buffalo Wild Wings and the Carl’s Jr. are in the negotiation phase, the committee was told. In other business, the
committee approved a resolution authorizing the city manager to clean weeds, rubbish, wreckage and debris from city lots at the expense of the property owners, which will be recovered by the city placing a lien on the property’s title. The resolution had a list of 79 properties that are declared to be covered with rubbish and weeds and the resolution deems the properties “a menace to the public comfort, health, safety
SANTA FE (AP) — Attorney General Gary King announced Tuesday his office found no Medicaid fraud but overbillings by Santa Fe-based Easter Seals El Mirador, which is among more than a dozen mental health providers under investigation by the state since last year. King said in a statement that improper billings of $34,126 were identified among claims his investigators reviewed but there was “no actionable evidence of fraud.” A report released by King’s office said “investigative staff could discern no patter n of a deliberate attempt to bill Medicaid for services that were not provided.” Mark Johnson, the organization’s CEO and president, said, “We’re absolutely delighted that we’ve been exonerated, not surprised, but delighted.” He said the nonprofit
hadn’t seen infor mation from the attorney general’s office to explain the alleged overbillings.
No fraud charges against provider by New Mexico
See COMMITTEE, Page A3
“We are anxious to have full disclosure so that we can intelligently defend ourselves,” Johnson said.
The organization was among 15 nonprofit providers of mental health and substance abuse services that had Medicaid payments suspended last June by the Human Services Department because of allegations of fraud, mismanagement and billing problems from July 2009 to January 2013.
Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration contracted with Arizona companies to take over the behavioral health services that had been offered by most of the New Mexico-based providers to about 30,000 Medicaid-eligible adults and children.
Otero County panel Water release aims to help silvery minnow objects to forest fences
ALAMOGORDO (AP) — Officials in a drought-stricken southern New Mexico county object to the U.S. Forest Service putting up fences and locking gates that keep ranchers’ cattle away from water in a mountain riparian area of the Lincoln National Forest. The Otero County Commission voted Monday to seek a court order for the county sheriff to unlock four gates on Forest Service fences near the Agua Chiquita riparian area, the Alamogordo Daily News reported. The county commission in April sent the Forest Service a letter ordering to halt fencing work in the area. Commissioner Tommie Harrell asked Forest Service Supervisor Travis Moseley
during the meeting to unlock a few gates to allow cattle easier access to water, but Moseley declined. Mosely also told the commission that the fencing work is legal and necessary to allow multiple uses of forest land and to protect endangered species. Blair Dunn, an attorney for the county, said the Forest Service doesn’t have the right to appropriate water for wildlife. “They have no lawful right to the stream,” Dunn said. “So to pen something off for wildlife to go drink and to appropriate that water for wildlife when they don’t have the necessary legal permits or rights to do so amounts to an illegal diversion of water.”
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — When nature fails to provide, faking it might be the next best option. Water managers and biologists have come up with a plan they think will trick the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow into spawning this spring. They started releasing extra water into the Rio Grande on Monday in an ef fort to mimic spring runof f. Under nondrought-stricken conditions, runoff would trigger the tiny fish’s reproductive instincts, but that hasn’t happened in the last few years thanks to severe drought. “It was a tremendous effort by all involved to use what limited water that is available to help create an artificial pulse flow that we
Lt. Mike Herrington with the Chaves County Sheriff’s Office discusses surviving an active shooter situation at the Roswell Kiwanis Club meeting on Tuesday.
HIGH 88 LOW 51
TODAY’S FORECAST
AP Photo
Low flows in the Rio Grande expose sand bars in Albuquerque, Tuesday.
hope will trigger a substantial spawn,” said Mike Hamman, the Bureau of Reclamation’s Albuquerque area manager. Officials are desperate since the minnow population is now at its lowest level since monitoring
began more than 20 years ago. More than 2 million silvery minnows have been released in the Middle Rio Grande since 2002 as part of an effort to recover the species. Surveys in October indicated a poor sur-
Last year, the drought reached unprecedented levels in New Mexico and biologists were forced to rescue what minnows they could from isolated pools in the Rio Grande.
With little water flowing down the river, minnow management has turned into a vicious cycle that starts each fall with the release of hatchery-raised fish. That’s followed by hopes for snow and runoff in the spring and then scrambling in the summer to rescue stranded minnows with nets and buckets.
Active shooting expert: ‘Fight for your life’
RANDAL SEYLER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Randal Seyler Photo
vival rate among the hatchery-raised fish that were released, and only a fraction of those captured during the surveys were wild-born fish.
Active killers can strike anywhere, at anytime, and the best defense is the concealed carry weapon, said Lt. Mike Herrington of the Chaves County Sheriff’s Office. Herrington, a 19-year veteran with the sheriff’s office, teaches an active shooter awareness program across the state and across the nation.
• LONZIE SINGLETON • JESSICA LANAE TORREZ • WILLIAM J. (BILL) ULLERY
“One of the best tools we have against active killers is the concealed carry permit,” Herrington told the Roswell Kiwanis Club on Tuesday. “If you have a permit, I hope you are carrying your weapon, because it can truly save your life or the lives of your loved ones.” Herrington said he calls perpetrators “active killers” instead of “active shooters” because of the intent historically seen in school and mall killers.
• DORA LORRAINE “SISSY” CAMPBELL
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE A10
“They don’t go into that school or business to wound people, they are there to kill people,” he said. Herrington said the active killer is there to kill as many people as possible. “Why do they do it? I think it has to do with CNN,” Herrington said. “They get their name and their score up on TV for a week nonstop.” Herrington takes his program not only to
CLASSIFIEDS ..........B9 COMICS .................B8 ENTERTAINMENT ...A11 FINANCIAL ..............B4
schools, but to business and government offices as well as banks and big box stores. “I teach people to survive the active killer, and that includes fighting back. If you can hurt the killer, you can change his game plan.” Often, the active killer goes on his rampage fully expecting to die, either by his own hand or by that of
See SHOOTING, Page A3
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2 HOROSCOPES .......A12 LOTTERIES .............A2 OPINION .................A4
SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ............A12
WORLD ..................A8