Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 123, No. 139 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
June 10, 2014
TUESDAY
www.rdrnews.com
Audit: More than 57,000 await first VA appointment
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 57,000 U.S. military veterans have been waiting 90 days or more for their first VA medical appointments, and an additional 64,000 appear to have fallen through the cracks, never getting after appointments enrolling, the government said Monday in a report newly demonstrating how deep and widespread the problem is.
It’s not just a backlog issue, the wide-ranging Veterans Affairs review indi-
cated. Thirteen percent of schedulers in the facilityby-facility report on 731 hospitals and outpatient clinics reported being told by supervisors to falsify appointment schedules to make patient waits appear shorter.
The audit is the first nationwide look at the VA network in the uproar that began with reports two months ago of patients dying while awaiting appointments and of coverups at the Phoenix VA center. A preliminary review
Rodeo play day
last month found that long patient waits and falsified records were “systemic” throughout the VA medical network, the nation’s largest single health care provider serving nearly 9 million veterans. “This behavior runs counter to our core values,” the report said. “The overarching environment and culture which allowed this state of practice to take root must be confronted head-on.” Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson said Monday
that VA officials have contacted 50,000 veterans across the country to get them off waiting lists and into clinics and are in the process of contacting 40,000 more. The controversy forced VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign May 30. Shinseki took the blame for what he decried as a “lack of integrity” through the network. Legislation is being written in both the House and Senate to allow more See AUDIT, Page A3
VA audit shows long waits for NM patients ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — More than 1,000 veterans have been waiting three months or more for initial medical appointments within the Veterans Affairs Department’s health care system in New Mexico, according to the findings of an audit
Danny E. Sons, pastor of Midway Assembly of God Church, leads the way as the riders at rodeo play day enter the arena at Midway Youth & Family Development Center on Saturday. The center, located near Midway, is holding its annual Summer Camp, and offers horsemanship classes to children as well as various other activities during the summer.
The wide-ranging audit covered hundreds of VA hospitals and clinics across the country, including the medical center in Albuquerque where officials previously
Intense weekend weather brings area hail, tornado BY TIMOTHY P. HOWSARE RECORD EDITOR
Randal Seyler Photo
released Monday.
Roswell and surrounding areas saw some intense weather over the weekend, including a tornado that a local stor m chaser said touched down for five minutes about 15 miles north of Roswell and two-inch hailstones that were reported at Lake Arthur, Dexter and the Roswell Correctional Center. The tornado was spotted Saturday and an amateur video of the stor m was broadcast by Albuquerque TV stations. Skies were cloudy and temperatures were cool throughout the day Sunday. Then the storm activity fired up around 5 p.m., said Tim Shy, a senior forecaster with the National
See PATIENTS, Page A3
Weather Service in Albuquerque. Shy said the size of the hail increased rapidly as the storm progressed, until egg-size hailstones were pelted from the sky around 6 p.m. “There was quite a bit of hail for Chaves County,” he said. Fortunately, there were no reports of serious injury or death in any of the storms that raged over the weekend throughout the state, Shy said. The Roswell Fire Department also had no reports of injuries or serious property damage. “It’s always a relief to us (at the NWS) when there’s no deaths or significant injuries,” Shy said.
Obama wildfire plan Vet charity golf tournament raises $37, 500 gets positive reception
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — President Barack Obama on Monday encouraged a group of governors to support a plan to pay for wildfire suppression, and the proposal got a positive reception from the 10 leaders gathered for an annual summit. Obama made the pitch by telephone to governors meeting in Colorado Springs at the Wester n Governors Association conference. Under the plan, the federal gover nment would budget money for fighting wildfires instead of raiding funding allocated for mitigation efforts. The change is pending in Congress, and Obama encouraged the governors to urge enactment. Fighting wildfires this year will cost about $1.8 billion, Agriculture Department Secretary Tom Vil-
sack told the governors on the call. That’s $470 million more than Congress has budgeted.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Vilsack repeated the administration’s argument that it’s better to directly budget money for firefighting than to shift money from prevention efforts.
“That’s precisely the money that we would use to do the kind of wildland, wildfire preparedness, forest restoration and other activities that over time would reduce the risk of these fires, or at least reduce the intensity of them,” Vilsack said.
The gover nors got a report from the Agriculture Department showing what prevention projects in their states have been delayed because of funding shifts.
STAFF REPORT
The sixth annual Elks for Vets Charity Golf Tournament raised $37,500 when the popular event returned to the New Mexico Military Institute golf course on Saturday. Sponsored by the Roswell Elks Lodge No. 969, the charity event raises money each year for the Southeastern New Mexico Veterans Transportation Network, a nonprofit organization that provides free rides for area veterans to and from veterans hospitals. The SENM Veterans Transportation Network drives local veterans to VA medical facilities from Roswell, Artesia, Carlsbad and the surrounding communities. More than 50 percent of its operating budget comes from donations to this event.
Russell Burress from Capitan performs at the Fiddle and Griddle Festival on Saturday in Roswell.
HIGH 93 LOW 66
TODAY’S FORECAST
Courtesy Photo
The Roswell Elks Lodge’s sixth annual Elks for Vets Charity Golf Tournament raised $37,500 on Saturday. The annual tournament was held at the New Mexico Military Institute golf course. Money raised goes toward providing transportation for area veterans to and from VA Hospitals.
More than 1,500 vets were carried 186,000-plus miles in 2013. Tour nament participants started the morning
with a light breakfast, then registered and were checked in by Rita Doerhoefer and Charlotte Angade.
“NMMI’s Crae Fields and his staff did an outstanding job of providing
The festival has steadily grown over the past few years, said Peggy Seskey, one of the festival organizers.
while they compete for $20,000 in available prize money. Huckabee said fiddlers from Oregon, Arkansas, Texas and many other states were in town for the competition. “They have to come a long way to get here, and they spend three or four days with us,” Huckabee said. “That is good, because they spend money here and then they move
See GOLF, Page A3
Hundreds fiddle around in Roswell during fest
BY RANDAL SEYLER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Courtesy Photo
See WEATHER, Page A3
The third annual Fiddle and Griddle brought musicians from across the country to Roswell over the weekend to compete for their share of $20,000 in prize money. “Many of them are amazed at our prize money,” said Dusty Huckabee, director of MainStreet Roswell, the organization that staged the event. “They say they’ll go
• QUINTEN “DAKOTA” COATS
to contests and typically the top prize is $100.”
The Roswell festival also attracts national champion fiddle players, Huckabee said. In fact, the judges for this year’s event included grand master fiddle champion Jacie Sites, current national fiddling champion.
“Sunday, I was sitting at a table in Denny’s with five national champions,” Huckabee said with a laugh. “This event has really taken off.”
• BILLY CHARLES FRENCH
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE A6
“We have some from Idaho and Colorado that we didn’t have last year,” she said. “We have a lot of Texas fiddlers. Registrations are up on both the fiddle and griddle sides.”
The fiddle competition invites the best fiddle players in the country to entertain the audience with their musical skills
CLASSIFIEDS ..........B6 COMICS .................B5 ENTERTAINMENT .....A8 FINANCIAL ..............B4
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2
HOROSCOPES .........A8 LOTTERIES .............A2
See FEST, Page A3
OPINION .................A4
SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ..............A8