Roswell Daily Record
INSIDE NEWS
FATHER’S DAY GIVEAWAY
The Johnny Gonzales Community Volunteer Program is getting ready for its annual Father’s Day Food Basket Giveaway, an event that has been held in Roswell for almost 20 years. The giveaway will take place on Sunday, June 17, at 10 a.m., at the Roswell Boys & Girls Club, 201 S. Garden Ave. The program seeks donations of nonperishable food items ... - PAGE A2
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
354 square miles, 15% contained
Vol. 121, No. 133 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A wall of smoke advances across a vast swath of rugged country in southwestern New Mexico where the nation’s wilder ness movement was born nearly a century ago. From the air, the smoke stretches as far as the eye can see. On the ground, firefighters talk about the steep canyons that keep them from directly attacking what has become the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s recorded history and the largest currently burn-
June 3, 2012
SUNDAY
www.rdrnews.com
ing in the country. Sure, things might look bad. But to land managers and scientists, the recordsetting blaze represents a true test of decades of work aimed at returning fire to its natural role on the landscape — a test that comes as many Wester n states grapple with overgrown forests, worsening drought and a growing prospect for more megafires. The Whitewater -Baldy fire has destroyed a dozen cabins while marching across more than 354
square miles of the Gila National Forest. A pair of lightning-sparked fires grew together to form the massive blaze.
Unlike last year’s megafires in New Mexico and Arizona, this blaze is burning in territory that has been frequently blackened under the watchful eye of the Gila’s fire managers. Starting in the early 1970s, the Gila has been
Mubarak gets life AP Photo
See FIRE, Page A3
INSIDE SPORTS
If you catch it, you have to touch it
Mark Wilson Photo
Youngsters try their luck during the Kids Free Fishing Clinic at the Roswell Walmart, Saturday morning.
LEVIN TAKES LEAD
DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — Spencer Levin realizes that a one-shot lead going into the final round means next to nothing. If he didn’t learn this by blowing a six-shot lead at the Phoenix Open earlier this year, he was reminded of it on the back nine Saturday at the Memorial. For the longest time, Levin simply couldn’t miss. He chipped in for eagle from behind the fifth green. He holed a chip from 30 yards short ... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S • • • • • •
OBITUARIES
Cora Jean Armitage Jose M. Morales Daniel P. Tavarez Eva M. Aragon Joseph B. Rollwitz Earl T. Busby - PAGE B6
HIGH .103˚ LOW ....64˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
SA V
E
$433
NOAH VERNAU RECORD STAFF WRITER
The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish provided children a chance to catch a catfish Saturday at the Roswell Walmart, offering
hands-on activities in aquatic education on Free Fishing Day, a statewide annual event that allows residents without a fishing license to fish all day long throughout New Mexico.
Queen spends day at races as jubilee events begin LONDON (AP) — It was a royal day at the races, as Queen Elizabeth II watched a horse with the courtly name of Camelot win the Epsom Derby on Saturday — the kickoff to a four-day celebration of the British monarch’s 60 years on the throne. Later in the weekend the queen will make a trip down the River Thames, and then take in a concert — all accompanied by tens of thousands of her subjects, coming out to fete a monarch whose longevity has given her the status of the nation’s favorite grandmother. Diamond Jubilee festivities officially began with a 41-gun salute fired by the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery at Horse Guards Parade in central London. The 86-year -old monarch and
‘Blackbird, fly’
With help from Walmart, Sam’s
her husband, Prince Philip, visited Epsom racecourse south of the capital for the Derby, one of the year’s biggest horse-racing meetings. The queen waved to the 130,000-strong crowd as she was driven down the racecourse in a Bentley bearing the Royal Standard — the car’s sun roof kept shut under gray skies — before settling down to watch the races from the royal box.
The monarch is a racing fan and horse breeder who has attended the Derby for decades and reads the Racing Post each day over breakfast, although unlike many of her subjects she does not gamble.
The queen presented prizes to some of the race winners and spoke intently to jockeys and trainers.
See FISHING, Page A3
See MUBARAK, Page A3
The queen took the throne in 1952 on the death of her father, King George VI, and most Britons have known no other monarch.
Despite cool, damp weather in much of the country, hundreds of thousands of people are expected to participate in celebrations, including street parties, Sunday’s 1,000-boat flotilla down the River Thames and a Monday pop concert in front of Buckingham Palace featuring Elton John and Paul McCartney.
Jubilee events end Tuesday with a religious service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, a carriage procession through the streets of London and the queen’s appearance with her children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren on the palace balcony.
AP Photo
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip arrive for the Epsom Derby, Saturday.
17 candidates in Tuesday’s primary running unopposed JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER
IN MONEY SAVING OFFERS IN TODAY’S PAPER
CLASSIFIEDS..........D1 COMICS.................B9 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........D2 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
Club and Sunrise Optimist Club, Game and Fish set up four instructional stations at its clinic, free to kids under the age of 12. At the stations, children learned the
CAIRO (AP) — Former President Hosni Mubarak got a life sentence Saturday for failing to stop the killing of protesters during Egypt’s uprising. But he and his sons were cleared of corruption charges, setting off protests for greater accountability for 30 years of abuses under the old regime. By nightfall, a large crowd of up to 10,000 was back in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the birthplace of the uprising, to vent anger over the acquittals. Similar protests went on in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria and Suez on the Red Sea. The case against Mubarak, his sons, and top aides was very limited in scope, focusing only on the uprising’s first few days and two narrow corruption cases. It was never going to provide a full accountability of wrongdoing under Mubarak’s three decades of authoritarian rule enforced by a brutal police force and a coterie of businessmen linked to the regime who amassed wealth while nearly half of Egypt’s estimated 85 million people lived in poverty. Mubarak, 84, and his exsecurity chief Habib el-Adly were both convicted of complic-
INDEX
Mark Wilson Photo
A red-winged blackbird perches on an evergreen branch at Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Thursday.
On Tuesday, voters will decide which of two Republican incumbent state representatives will serve another term, whether an appointed district court judge will be elected to continue to serve in her current capacity, and who will fill the County Commission seat soon to be vacated by Commissioner Dick Taylor, who will complete his second consecutive term and is not eligible for re-election. This year’s primary election is less contentious than in the past, with 17
unopposed candidates on the ballot. Residents will vote in nine contested state and local races. Area Democrats are gearing up for their respective battles in November as none is facing an opponent on Tuesday. More than 20 incumbent legislators have decided against seeking re-election this year, including Sen. Rod Adair, R-Roswell, first elected to the state Senate in 1996.
In the race for U.S. Senate, current State Auditor Hector Balderas and New Mexico Congressman Martin Heinrich are competing in the Democratic primary. For mer Congresswoman
Heather Wilson and Las Cruces businessman Greg Sowards are seeking the Republican nomination for the position.
Democrats Monica Zamora and Victor Lopez are competing for a seat on the New Mexico Court of Appeals. In the Democratic Court of Appeals primary, both candidates won a spot on the ballot. Zamora won 63 percent to Lopez’s 37 percent. The winner will face Judge Miles Hanisee, a Republican, who was appointed to the position by Gov. Susana Martinez in July 2011. See PRIMARY, Page A3