Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 122, No. 110 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
LONDON (AP) — When Ray Harryhausen was 13, he was so overwhelmed by “King Kong” that he vowed he would create otherworldly creatures on film. He fulfilled his desire as an adult, thrilling audiences with skeletons in a sword fight, a gigantic octopus destroying the Golden Gate Bridge, and a six-armed ... - PAGE A9
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May 8, 2013
Senators seek to restore minerals money
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — U.S. senators from Wyoming and New Mexico said Tuesday they plan to roll out legislation this week to restore about $110 million in cuts to a federal minerals payment program that hit their states the hardest. Wyoming, the nation’s biggest coal-producing state, stands to lose more than $50 million this year,
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while New Mexico faces a loss of about $25 million. They top a list of 35 states that face mineral payment cuts this year. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., told Interior Secretary Sally Jewell at a hearing in Washington on Tuesday that the federal Mineral Leasing Act requires the federal government to split revenues from the sale of minerals on federal lands
“These are state revenues. What we’re going to do in legislation is look to make sure you don’t get your hands on them at all, so we don’t get in this kind of situation. So that’s where we are on that.” Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell
with the states. He said he regards the payments as state revenues that ought to be off limits from federal
meddling. “This revenue is vital to New Mexico, where it funds our public education sys-
Vets’ transport back on the road
Stuart Shanor of Hinkle, Hensley, Shanor & Martin and Charlotte Andrade, who volunteered her time to assist the group with financial matters. “I was glad to have an opportunity to help. What I did for you was a very modest thing compared to the devotion and the work you and your colleagues do,” Shanor told Neal, Monday. The organization ceased for six weeks while reorganizing. “So many veterans were just screaming. They had no way to get anywhere,” Neal said. The state VA health care system has an outpatient clinic in Artesia, staffed by two VA doctors, but patients must travel to Albuquerque for specialty care. The Albuquerque medJill McLaughlin Photo ical center served 59,000 patients throughout the South East New Mexico Veteran’s Transportation Network vice president Greg Neal pres- state last year, according ents attorney Stuart Shanor with a plaque Monday in recognition of his volunteer legal to public affairs officer assistance. Sonja Brown. The center tion Network is back on querque thanked a local also serves parts of JILL MCLAUGHLIN the road. lawyer and a financial southern Colorado and RECORD STAFF WRITER The all-volunteer trans- assistant this week for West Texas. “New Mexico is such a Hundreds of veterans in portation service group assisting the organization rural state, travel time southeast New Mexico are which drives vets from reincorporate. Greg Neal, vice presi- can sometimes be a burgetting the medical atten- Roswell and surrounding den,” she said. tion they need now that rural areas to the Ray- dent of the organization, the South East New Mexi- mond G. Murphy VA Med- hand delivered plaques co Veterans Transporta- ical Center in Albu- Monday to honor attorney
See VETS’, Page A3
KNICKS EVEN SERIES
NEW YORK (AP) — Carmelo Anthony scored 32 points, 16 during a 30-2 New York onslaught in the second half, the Knicks beat the Indiana Pacers 105-79 on Tuesday night to even the Eastern Conference semifinals at one game. Iman Shumpert added 15 points, including a sensational follow dunk in the first half, and Raymond Felton scored 14 as the Knicks turned a close game into a blowout over the final 15 minutes. Paul George scored 20 points for the Pacers, who had a two-point lead and momentum when coach Frank Vogel ... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES • Don French • Barbara Reinhardt • Bob R. Lamontine - PAGE A9
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tem,” Udall told Jewell. “New Mexico state leaders are very upset by the Department of Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue deter mination that these state revenues are subject to sequestration.” The federal government last year paid $2.1 billion to the states as their share See MINERALS, Page A3
Police seek Smith
Patrick Smith
JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
The Roswell Police Department is still looking for Patrick Smith, 49, as a person of interest in the homicide of Lisa Smith. The 44-year -old woman ran from her residence, Friday evening, engulfed in flames. Two people came to her aid, extinguishing the fire. Emergency Services took her to a local hospital, from which she was flown to Lubbock. Medical personnel estimated that she had burns over 95 percent of her
FTC puts background SpaceX signs spaceport lease check sites on notice
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators on Tuesday warned several companies that the quick, easy background checks they are providing online might violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The Federal Trade Commission sent warning letters to 10 businesses, including sites like 4Nannies.com and USA People Search, after FTC staf f posed as employers and creditors looking for information that could be used to deny a person a job, an apartment or even insurance. The law requires that companies providing information to potential employers, landlords, insurers and creditors double check the accuracy of their records and notify a person if a
background check has been done. And in some cases, the businesses need to make sure the person asking for the information has a legitimate purpose for receiving it.
If the business doesn’t take these additional steps, it must make clear that its background checks or consumer lists may include errors and should be used for marketing or entertainment purposes only.
Laura Berger, a staf f attor ney with the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection, said the FTC’s primary concern is that these companies are aggregating information without a person’s knowledge and selling personal records that could
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Another space industry heavyweight has signed on to use New Mexico’s Spaceport America — Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, Gov. Susana Martinez announced Tuesday. It agreed to a three-year lease to do testing of its “Grasshopper” reusable rocket in southern New Mexico. SpaceX is one of the leading developers of rockets and spacecraft and is one of the companies the $209 million taxpayer -built spaceport project has been trying to recruit. “We’ve done a lot of work to level the playing field so we can compete in the space industry,” Mar-
See SMITH, Page A2
AP Photo
Spaceport America hangar in Upham. Gov. Susana Martinez announced Tuesday that Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, has signed a three-year lease to do testing of its “Grasshopper” reusable rocket in southern New Mexico, adding a second company at Spaceport. tinez said in a statement. “This is just the first step in broadening the base out at the Spaceport and securing even more ten-
ants. I’m proud to welcome SpaceX to New Mexico.” Spaceport America
GOP calls for stronger borders or immigration bill will die See FTC, Page A3
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INDEX
AP Photo
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., arrives at the Senate chamber for a vote, Monday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Landmark immigration legislation is doomed to fail in Congress unless border security provisions are greatly strengthened, Republican senators bluntly warned on Tuesday. “If in fact the American people can’t trust that the border is controlled, you’re never going to be able to pass this bill,” declared Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Gover nmental Affairs Committee. His admonishment, joined by those of other GOP lawmakers, came as
both Democratic and Republican senators filed a flurry of amendments ahead of the first votes Thursday in a separate committee on the far reaching bill to deal with an estimated 11 million immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally and the millions more who might be expected to try to enter in the future. Some of the amendments could destroy the legislation’s prospects by upending the carefully crafted deal negotiated over months by four Republican and four Democratic senators, supporters say. Border security was the
See SPACE, Page A3
major sticking point on Tuesday. Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., voiced similar concerns at a hearing to examine border security provisions of the bill. One of the legislation’s authors, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has already acknowledged that the bill will face a tough road to passage if those elements are not made stronger, and in a statement Tuesday he welcomed possible changes. “In order for this bill to become law, it will have to See GOP, Page A2