Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 123, No. 111 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
May 8, 2014
Raids target synthetic drugs, sellers across US
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Drug Enforcement Administration on Wednesday broadened its national crackdown on synthetic manufacturers, drug wholesalers and retailers as federal agents served hundreds of search and arrest warrants in at least 25 states.
Agents served warrants at homes, warehouses and smoke shops beginning early mor ning, DEA spokesman Rusty Payne said. The largest single
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operation was a statewide effort in Alabama. Agents also were active in Florida, New Mexico and 26 other states.
The DEA said agents made more than 150 arrests and served about 200 warrants. Federal, state and local authorities seized hundreds of thousands of individual packets of synthetic drugs and hundreds of kilograms of synthetic products used to make the drugs. Authorities also seized
Memorial arrival
more than $20 million in cash and assets, the DEA said.
The DEA has been cracking down on synthetic drugs, including so-called bath salts, spice and Molly, since the drugs first gained widespread popularity years ago.
In late 2010, the agency responsible for enforcing federal drug laws moved to ban five chemicals used to make synthetic marijuana blends, including K2, Spice and Blaze. Since then, drug
manufacturers have continued to modify their formulas and develop new chemical mixtures.
Ferdinand Large, staff coordinator for DEA’s Special Operations Division, said the agency is now broadly focused on Chinese chemical manufacturers and the distributors, wholesalers and retailers in the United States. There is also growing concern about where the money is going.
Investigators have tracked hundreds of mil-
Randal Seyler Photo
Veterans and supporters were on hand Wednesday at the site of the proposed Douglas L. McBride-Roswell Veterans Cemetery as sections of the cemetery’s memorial were delivered by a trucking firm from the A&E television show, “Shipping Wars.” The grand opening for the veterans cemetery is planned for July 4.
lions of dollars in drug proceeds being sent to Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, Large said.
“The money is going there, where it stops we don’t know,” Large said. Large said it’s also unclear which criminal organizations may be profiting from the drug proceeds.
U.S. authorities long have worried about criminal and terrorist groups in the Middle East using drug trafficking to fund illicit activities.
In a November 2013 report on transnational organized crime, DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart said “drug trafficking organizations and terror networks are joined at the hip in many parts of the world.
“DEA must relentlessly purse these dangerous individuals and criminal groups that attempt to use drug trafficking profits to fuel and fund terror networks, such as Hezbollah,” Leonhart said.
Protesters plan to criticize APD at city meeting again
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Critics of the Police Department are promising to crowd another Albuquerque City Council meeting to protest recent police shootings just days after rowdy demonstrators forced city leaders to call off their discussions. Protesters plan to attend a rescheduled council meeting today and will continue to criticize officers’ use of force, according to Nora Tachias-Anaya, one of the leaders of the protest. “We will be there. We have to be,” Tachias-Anaya said. On Monday, TachiasAnaya and other angry demonstrators took over the regularly scheduled City Council meeting, chanting for the ouster of the police chief, shouting at council members and causing so much disruption that the panel’s president adjour ned the meeting. Protesters tried to serve a
“people’s arrest warrant” on Chief Gorden Eden and then held a mock council meeting in the chambers.
Albuquerque police are under tough scrutiny following a harsh report from the U.S. Justice Department over its use of force. In the latest shooting on Saturday, police shot and killed a 50-year -old man barricaded in his home who reportedly threatened his wife and two children with a gun.
The council on Monday planned to discuss whether the police chief’s position should be one selected by the council or by voters. But the meeting devolved before leaders could debate the issue or vote on some pending bonds — something councilors say cost the city more than $200,000.
State’s largest water Postal carriers to collect food Saturday utility issues drought advisory for customers TIMOTHY P. HOWSARE ROSWELL EDITOR
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — If the dead lawns, blowing dust and dwindling flows in the Rio Grande don’t offer enough evidence of the dry conditions, the largest water utility in New Mexico has issued an of ficial drought advisory for its customers. The Albuquerque Ber nalillo County Water Utility Authority announced the advisory Wednesday. It notes that conditions across most of the county are classified as severe. The utility is now authorized to take steps to increase public awareness
and continue alerting customers to conservation programs.
Utility conservation officer Katherine Yuhas says water -waste and time-ofday watering rules are already in place and more billboard space around Albuquerque will be dedicated to encouraging conservation. She says water use is down compared to the last two years. The city of Santa Fe also reports its daily water use has decreased 5 percent this year.
AP Photo
This April 9, 2014, photo shows employment signs in the city of Hobbs, which are competing for workers to keep up with development in the midst of an oil boom. Virtually every business in town has a help wanted sign out.
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TODAY’S FORECAST
This Saturday, Postal Service carriers in Roswell and throughout the country will participate in the Stamp Out Hunger National Food Drive — the largest one-day food drive in the nation. The drive has delivered more than one billion pounds of food in the past 20 years, according to the Postal Service’s website. Carriers will collect nonperishable food donations left by residents at mailboxes and in post offices and deliver them to local community food See CARRIERS, Page A3
Timothy P. Howsare Photo
Postal carriers from the Roswell main carrier annex are pictured with Pastor Mark Green and driver Bobby Rollins of Harvest Ministries, who are in the back row, second from right and far right respectively.
State’s oil country struggles as cities boom CARLSBAD (AP) — The oil field trucks and big rigs rumble through morning and night, creating a firstever rush hour in this otherwise sleepy 1960s-era tourist and mining town. Hotel rooms along the clogged two-lane highway are mostly booked, some of them fetching nightly rates that rival those in Manhattan.
Businesses desperate for workers will hire anyone who can pass a drug test, locals say. Finding a house, however, is another issue.
So is getting a hamburger at the local McDonald’s, where crowds make a meal a drawn-out ordeal. Carlsbad is centered in one of the most productive regions of the oil-rich Permian Basin, which is concentrated in Texas and stretches into New Mexico. The basin has long been a robust oil corridor, but the discovery of rich fields in southeastern New Mexico and advances in drilling technology have transformed once-quiet cities like Carlsbad into boom
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE A6 • LONZIE SINGLETON • ANDREA MORALES DE ARAGONEZ • ANTONIA “TONI” ESCOBAR VALDEZ • JESSICA LANAE TORREZ • RAYMOND ISLAND • PAULINE ANN DAWE
towns. As a result, the city of 26,000 people is struggling to keep up with its fastgrowing population and the accompanying challenges, from housing shortages, higher crime rates and a spike in deadly accidents between big rigs and cars on narrow country roads. It’s one of the few areas of New Mexico experiencing an economic boom. “We just can’t keep up,” Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway said. The upswing mirrors
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those in North Dakota and Montana where the discovery of oil turned towns into thriving cities virtually overnight, creating similar issues of crime, road safety and lack of housing.
Despite the growing pains of New Mexico’s boom, the oil industry points to the economic benefits it can bring in the for m of jobs, business development and taxes. An industry trade group says it’s worked with govern-
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