Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 123, No. 119 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
May 17, 2014
SATURDAY
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Alleged Berrendo Middle School shooter changes plea Campbell enters ‘no contest’ plea; disposition set for July 2 BY RANDAL SEYLER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Mason Campbell, the 12year -old boy accused of shooting two classmates at Berrendo Middle School, changed his plea from “not guilty” to “no contest” on Friday mor ning at the Chaves County Courthouse in Roswell. Through his attorneys, Campbell offered an apology to the victims of the
shooting during the plea hearing. “Mason accepts full responsibility for his actions and does apologize to his victims and their families,” said defense attorney Jason Bowles, of the Bowles Law Fir m in Albuquerque. While changing his plea to “no contest,” Campbell calmly answered “yes” as Judge Freddie Romero questioned him about whether he understood
Walking for hope
what the plea change meant, and if Campbell understood that he was giving up his constitutional rights by changing his plea. A date of July 2 was set for disposition of the case, which is the juvenile version of sentencing. Romero will decide Campbell’s fate after a hearing at which the shooting victims and their families are expected to testify. Romero told Campbell that disposition options
range from supervised release to incarceration until the age of 21. Police say Campbell, ar med with a shotgun, opened fire at the middle school on Jan. 14, seriously wounding two students before a staff member persuaded him to put down the firearm. Wounded were 13-yearold Kendal Sanders and 12-year -old Nathaniel Tavarez. Both children survived,
but still suffer from their wounds. Nickie Portio, mother of Kendal, and her attorney, Tamara Brock Segal, from the law firm Brock & Goetzmann of Dallas, said no civil lawsuit has been filed by them yet. “Kendal had to have surgery to repair her heart, and she still has pellets in her body,” her attor ney said. Portio said she accepts Campbell’s apology, but
added that he needs to be incarcerated. “He did commit a crime, and he needs to feel the consequences of his actions.” Campbell’s attor neys, Bowles and Robert Gorence of Gorence & Oliveros in Albuquerque, released a statement on behalf of the Campbell and Bowles families. “The question of what
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A radiation leak at the government’s troubled nuclear waste dump has been linked to a waste container shipped from Los Alamos National Laboratory, officials said Friday, raising questions about the safety of other barrels being stored on the lab’s norther n New Mexico campus and at a temporary site in West Texas. Lab Director Charlie McMillan, in a memo Friday to lab employees, said Los Alamos “is fully cooperating” with state and federal officials and has taken extra precautions to ensure that similar waste drums at the lab and those sent to
Waste Control Specialists in Texas “are in a safe and controlled configuration.” “Based on this,” he wrote, “we do not believe there is any imminent threat to the safety of our employees, the public, or the environment at this time.” But watchdog Don Hancock of the Southwest Research and Information Center in Albuquerque said that until more is known about the breach, “we can’t have assurances.” In a statement, the U.S. Department of Energy said pictures from the latest entry into the half-mile
WASHINGTON (AP) — The top of ficial for the health care of veterans resigned Friday amid a firestor m over reported delays in care and falsified records at veterans hospitals.
Reports of long waits for appointments and processing benefit applications have plagued VA for years. The agency has shortened backlogs but allegations that veterans have died while awaiting VA care have created an election-year uproar. A for mer clinic director at the VA’s medical center in Phoenix told a House committee last month that up to 40 people may have died while awaiting appointments and that VA officials kept a secret appointment list to mask the delays.
Los Alamos waste container linked to WIPP radiation leak
See PLEA, Page A3
Top VA health official resigns amid firestorm
Timothy P. Howsare Photos
Hundreds of Chaves County residents showed their support in the battle against cancer Friday at the fourth annual Walk for Hope at Cielo Grande Recreation Area. The annual event raises money for county residents who are fighting cancer. It also honors cancer survivors and families, and loved ones who died from the disease. Top: A pair of walkers give a “high five.” Above left: A luminary in memory of a loved one who died from cancer. Above right: Participants listen during the luminary ceremony.
Most state teachers rated effective
SANTA FE (AP) — Threefourths of New Mexico’s teachers were rated as effective or better under a new evaluation system partly based on student achievement, according to the state Department of Education. But educational union officials on Friday dismissed the ratings. “We have no trust that the new system either accurately portrays teacher impact on student achievement or is legally imposed on school districts,” said Charles Bowyer, executive director of the National Education Association New Mexico. Bowyer said the union plans a legal challenge to the evaluation system, which was implemented across the state this year by Republican Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration after a proposed evaluation overhaul failed in the Democratic-controlled Legislature in 2012.
According to the department, about 54 percent of teachers were rated effective, 20.4 percent were highly effective and 1.5 percent received the highest grade, “exemplary.” A rating of “minimally effective” went to 20.7 percent of teachers and 3.4 percent were classified as “ineffective,” the lowest ranking. Public Education Secretary Hanna Skandera said the new system represented “a huge step in the right direction in regards to providing relevant, good data and information for our teachers and our school leaders.” But many educators oppose the evaluation system, saying it relies too much on student achievement on standardized tests. Stephanie Ly, president of the American Federation of Teachers New Mexico, said the evaluation system was
HIGH 91 LOW 57
TODAY’S FORECAST
flawed and “thus ratings will not be accurate.” “We believe many more teachers are effective and better than effective,” L y said in a statement. Besides looking at improvements in student performance, the evaluations are based on classroom observations of teachers by administrators and other factors, including teacher attendance and surveys of students and parents. The previous system took a pass-fail approach of whether a teacher was competent or not based on what administrators observed during classroom visits. Less than 1 percent of teachers failed to meet standards under the old system, Skandera said. She contended the new ratings validate the use of student performance to assess teachers.
• CHRISTOPHER BRANDON BYRD
College Day
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said he has accepted the resignation of Robert Petzel, the department’s undersecretary for health care, effective immediately. Shinseki had asked for the resignation, a department official later said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for attribution.
See WIPP, Page A3
See VA, Page A3
Jeff Tucker Photo
Mesa Middle School eighth-graders Breyanna Mendoza, left, and Briana Quintana look over literature Friday from Oklahoma State University. Mesa students decorated booths representing about 30 universities for the middle school's first College Day on Friday. Students chose colleges and provided booth visitors with information about the colleges, such as tuition costs and student enrollment. Much of the information came directly from the colleges, which provided the students with brochures, pennants, pencils and other college materials. Principal Jennifer Cole said the event was student-driven and a good way to spark college interest among the students.
• MARGARET OSBOURNE
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE B6
CLASSIFIEDS ..........B8 COMICS .................B7 ENTERTAINMENT ...A10 FINANCIAL ..............B5
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2 HOROSCOPES .......A10
LOTTERIES .............A2
OPINION .................A4
SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ............A10