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Roswell Daily Record

Vol. 122, No. 159 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday

INSIDE NEWS

PRICE OF OIL RISES NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil rose to its highest level in 14 months on concer ns about possible disruptions to Middle East supplies and signs of an increase in U.S. demand for fuel. U.S. benchmark oil gained $1.64 to $101.24, its highest... - PAGE B5

THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY

July 4, 2013

Budget cuts could have hidden costs WASHINGTON (AP) — Across-the-board budget cuts are leaving federal agencies with fewer firefighters and less equipment to battle the nation’s wildfires this summer. Yet the upfront savings could mask hidden costs because those agencies will ultimately spend whatever they must in what is already a deadly fire season, say government officials and others. The U.S. Forest Service’s $2 billion firefighting budget, the government’s main-

THURSDAY

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stay against wildfires, has been whittled by 5 percent. Agency officials said that has meant 500 fewer firefighters and 50 fewer fire engines than last year. The Interior Department’s $832 million firefighting program was pared by $37.5 million, savings it is achieving by filling 100 fewer seasonal firefighting positions and eliminating other jobs as well, officials said. Cuts in most government programs, called a sequester, were triggered by

Fun and Fireworks

a deficit-reduction standoff between President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans. They come at the start of a fire season fueled by a prolonged Western drought and that officials expect to resemble last year’s, when 68,000 fires burned a near-record 9.3 million acres. “The fire seasons, they’re hotter, they’re drier and they’re longer” than in the past, Thomas Tidwell, chief of the Forest Service, told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee

last month. Last weekend, a wildfire killed 19 members of an elite firefighting crew outside Yar nell, Ariz. As of Thursday, more than 22,000 wildfires have burned more than 1.7 million acres across the country, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center in Boise, Idaho, which helps oversee federal firefighting efforts. The Forest Service and Interior Department don’t stop fighting fires when they drain their firefighting

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INSIDE SPORTS

CELTICS GET STEVENS BOSTON (AP) — The Green are getting greener. With aging stars Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce on their way to the Brooklyn Nets and Doc Rivers coaching the Los Angeles Clippers, the Boston Celtics hired 36-year-old Brad Stevens from Butler as... - PAGE B1

TODAY’S OBITUARY

• Selma Villalobos

- PAGE B3

HIGH ...93˚ LOW ....67˚

TODAY’S FORECAST

Masthead photo by Mark Wilson

CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B4 ENTERTAINMENT.....A8 FINANCIAL .............B5 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 NATION .................B3 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8

INDEX

Mark Wilson Photos

ABOVE — Employees of Playtime Amusement out of Las Cruces prepare carnival rides at Pioneer Plaza, Wednesday, readying for the throngs of alien lovers that will descend upon Roswell for the UFO Festival this weekend. LEFT — Members of the Roswell Fire Department prepare fireworks at Cielo Grande for the July 4th Roswell Sertoma Mike Satterfield Fireworks Extravaganza, Wednesday.

funds. Instead, they draw money from other parts of their budgets, which could include programs for removing dried brush and dead trees from dry areas to make future fires less likely and less intense. “When we have emergencies burning, the U.S. government will continue to spend money on firefighting, even if they don’t have the money,” said Christopher Topik, director of the

Parks hope for visitors

See CUTS, Page A3

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — During the last big holiday weekend, state parks around New Mexico saw their revenues and the number of visitors drop by more than 40 percent. Park officials place the blame squarely on the relentless drought, the seemingly endless threat of wildfire and the repetitious stories about the state’s rivers and reservoirs going dry. Now, at the start of the Fourth of July holiday weekend, New Mexico is no closer to escaping the drought and wildfires continue to burn. State Parks Director Tommy Mutz says there’s not much he can do to control Mother Nature, but he and his staff are on a mission to reverse the downward trend in visitation at the state’s 35 parks. Their first challenge: Getting the word out that not all of New Mexico has dried up. “Everywhere we go, the story is doom and gloom as far as the environment and economics,” Mutz said. “But we’re still the best recreational value close to home. And you can still access the water. Every-

Conference to shed Art show kicks off UFO Fest light on aliens, UFOs AMY VOGELSANG RECORD STAFF WRITER

In order to spread knowledge about the phenomenon of aliens and UFO history, Stardust Conferences will be hosting its grand opening July 5-7 at Roswell Antique Mall, 208 N. Main St., complete with speakers and presentations. After having her own UFO experiences, Paula Schurle from Califor nia decided to buy a place in Roswell to host UFO-related conferences. “Before I began seeing them I really didn’t have an interest. … I really didn’t care,” Schurle admitted. “But now it’s really exciting

to me.” Her first sighting was May 20, 2008, a day she remembers without hesitation. But since then she has had multiple other sightings. “I have a really strong laser light,” Schurle said. “And sometimes when I shine the laser, the UFO would fly close to me so I could see the shape.” There will be three guest speakers helping Schurle kick off Stardust Conferences. U.S. Ar my UFO crash retrieval expert Clifford Stone will be present all three days from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. to discuss

Obama orders US to review aid to Egypt

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama urged Egypt’s military Wednesday to hand back control to a democratic, civilian government without delay, but stopped short of calling the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi a coup. In a carefully worded statement, Obama said he was “deeply concerned” by

See STARDUST, Page A3

the military’s move to topple Morsi’s government and suspend Egypt’s constitution. He said he was ordering the U.S. government to assess what the military’s actions meant for U.S. foreign aid to Egypt. Under U.S. law, the government must suspend foreign aid to any nation whose elected leader is ousted in a coup d’etat. The

See PARKS, Page A2

JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER

The alien-themed art show in the back of The Gallery on East Fifth Street downtown, Wednesday, was small in size but big on creativity. One green alien stood in a circular yard looking aggravated as his flying saucer hung precariously in a tree. A younger green guy was boarding a school bus. After all, it has been a while since the ships landed near Roswell. Maybe they have integratJill McLaughlin Photo ed. Local and state artists submitted more than a dozen UFO “It’s a fun folk art kind or alient-related entries for the UFO Art Show at The Gallery on East Fifth Street Wednesday. Ufologist and See UFO, Page A3 author Don Schmitt judged the entries.

U.S. provides $1.5 billion a year to Egypt in military and economic assistance that is considered a critical U.S. national security priority.

“I now call on the Egyptian military to move quickly and responsibly to return full authority back to a democratically elected civilian government as soon as possible through an inclusive and transparent process, and to avoid any arbitrary arrests of President Morsi and his supporters,” Obama said. The U.S. wasn’t taking

sides in the conflict, committing itself only to democracy and respect for the rule of law, Obama said.

Hours earlier, Egyptian armed forces ousted Morsi, an Islamist and Egypt’s first democratically elected president, after just a year in power. The military installed a temporary civilian government, suspended the constitution and called for new elections. Morsi denounced his ouster as a “full coup” as millions of his critics erupted in delirious scenes of joy

in Egyptian cities after the ar my chief made the announcement on television.

Obama huddled in the White House Situation Room on Wednesday afternoon with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Attorney General Eric Holder and his new national security adviser, for mer U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice. In his statement after the meeting, Obama said he expected the military to protect the rights of Egypt’s See EGYPT, Page A2


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