Roswell Daily Record
City’s $110M budget fails by one vote THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 123, No. 182
www.rdrnews.com
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BY JEFF TUCKER RECORD STAFF WRITER
The city of Roswell’s proposed $110 million budget came up a vote shy of passage Tuesday night as city leaders literally scrambled after the meeting to find a solution. Not submitting a final budget to the state Department of Finance and Administration by Thursday’s deadline will at least result in an audit finding
against the city, said City Manager Larry Fry. Other political and administrative consequences of not having a spending plan in place, while the city is a month into its 2014-15 fiscal year, were uncertain. Seven city councilors attended Tuesday night’s special City Council meeting when a resolution approving the city’s final budget for the 2014-15 fiscal year was on the agenda, along with a few other
resolution. City Councilors Steve Henderson and Juan Oropesa voted against it. City Councilors Savino Sanchez Jr., Art Sandoval and Elena Velasquez did not attend Tuesday night’s special meeting. Mayor Dennis Kintigh may only vote when there is a tie. Henderson alerted city councilors he might vote against the budget resolution prior to the roll call, while Oropesa did not tip
“housekeeping” items that were expected to pass, and unanimously. When the final budget came up for a vote, the City Council voted 5-2 to approve the resolution, but Fry noted a majority of the entire 10-member City Council must vote in favor of a city budget for a budget to be adopted. City Councilors Jeanine Corn Best, Tabitha Denny, Caleb Grant, Natasha Mackey and Jason Perry voted in favor of the budget
Jerry Heck Photo
Bystanders react Monday evening as Roswell Police respond to a report of a stabbing on College Avenue. The victim refused to identify his attacker to the police and was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Police respond to stabbing report STAFF REPORT
Roswell Police responded to a report of a stabbing on College Avenue Monday evening. According to police, a
July 30, 2014
couple driving down Lea Street saw a bleeding man walking along the road. They picked him up and offered to take the wounded man to the hospital. The man, 38, refused treatment and asked that
he be driven home instead. The couple called the police and took the man back to his home on College Avenue. Police arrived at the scene and the wounded man told police he was attacked with a
machete and an axe. He said the attacker was a friend who got mad and attacked him. The stabbing victim was taken to a local hospital for treatment, according to police.
WEDNESDAY
his hand. Henderson told his colleagues he was apprehensive about projected gross receipt tax collections. He said the budget is predicated on the expectation the city’s GRT collections will increase 2.5 percent in the city’s 2014-15 fiscal year, which began July 1. The city of Roswell, Chaves County, and state of New Mexico collectively impose a 7.125 percent gross receipts tax on property and services sold in
the city, including leasing or licensing property. Businesses pay the total gross receipt taxes to the state, which then distributes portions to the state’s counties and municipalities.
BY TIMOTHY P. HOWSARE RECORD EDITOR
widely depending where you live. At East Country Club and Garden Street, 1.3 inches was reported. This number is very close to what the range gauge at the Roswell Daily Record picked up before midnight Monday, 1.18 inches. One mile northwest of the city the rainfall was only .79 inches, Marshall said. Though there was no hail or strong winds reported, lightning did cause some scattered power outages around the city. An estimated 500 to 600 homes were without electricity Monday night, said Wes Reeves, an Xcel Energy spokesman based in Amarillo, Texas. He said several transfor mers in Roswell were zapped by lightning. Reeves said local crews worked all night to get power back on and were relieved by Xcel workers from Clovis later in the day on Tuesday. Reeves said there was a lot of mud that crews had
Henderson told the council he was dubious about the projected 2.5 percent GRT increase in the city’s budget. “It’s a fairly substantial increase,” Henderson said.
Showers bring city 2.77 inches
When the 2.77 inches of rain that fell from Monday night to Tuesday morning is added to the running total since the beginning of the year, Roswell is doing well above average with nearly 10 inches. The Roswell International Air Center reported 2.77 inches of rain from Monday night through Tuesday morning, according to the National Weather Service in Albuquerque. On Monday, 2.22 inches fell at the airport, while .55 inches was reported Tuesday morning. “Roswell had a bunch of rain,” said Troy Marshall, a meteorologist technician for the NWS. That was the most rainfall in a 24-hour period since May 24, when 4.4 inches of rain fell at the airport. Total precipitation so far this year is 9.71 inches. Marshall said this is good news, because the normal value for this time of year is 6.8 inches. The precipitation varied
See BUDGET, Page A3
New poll says state Commissioner: 89 at FLETC tested positive for TB Senate race tightening DHS tight-lipped on immigrant BY JEFF TUCKER RECORD STAFF WRITER
A new poll taken 100 days before November’s general election says Republican challenger Allen Weh is closing the gap with U.S. Sen. Tom Udall in New Mexico’s Senate race, although another recent poll says Udall has a comfortable lead. The poll conducted by CBS News and the New York Times Sunday showed Udall had a 7 percentage point lead over Weh. The poll has a margin of error of 3.6 percent. However, a poll conducted
July 21 and 22 by Rasmussen Reports indicates Udall had a 22-point lead over Weh. That poll has a margin of error of 4 percentage points. Weh said Tuesday the CBS News/New York Times is encouraging. “We’re not saying this is the final poll because it’s not, but it’s one of several that we’ve seen that all put this race within single digits,” Weh said. “We do believe this is going to be a tight race.” The online poll of 930 persons conducted by YouGov
Pat Lujan, director of instruction for the Roswell Independent School District, discusses graduation rates on Tuesday during the Roswell Kiwanis Club meeting.
BY JERRY HECK RECORD STAFF WRITER
Eighty-nine out of 603 Central Americans housed at the Federal Law Enforcement T raining Center in Artesia have tested positive for tuberculosis (TB), according to Eddy County Commissioner Royce Pearson, who attended a briefing held July 22 at the center by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials. The July 22 meeting at
FLETC was the first of a weekly Tuesday briefly that ICE officials are holding to update local public safety and elected of ficials. No information was available yet from the July 29 meeting.
Also attending the July 22 meeting were Artesia of ficials Phillip Burch, mayor; Don Raley, police chief; J.D. Hummingbird, fire chief; and Kenneth Randall, CEO of Artesia General Hospital (AGH). A
Arrivals, departures halted at FLETC over chicken pox STAFF REPORT
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed Tuesday that arrivals and departures of Central Americans at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center have been halted as they treat and vaccinate the population for Varicella (chicken pox). U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-Hobbs, said in a released statement he received confirmed information about public health and safety issues at FLETC facility in Artesia, which is housing women and children who illegally crossed the southern border as they seek amnesty hearings or are
See CHICKEN POX, Page A3
See TB, Page A3
Lujan: High school dropouts challenge district, community See POLL, Page A2
BY RANDAL SEYLER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Randal Seyler Photo
deportation flights from Roswell
See SHOWERS, Page A3
High school graduation rates in New Mexico are low, and improving the graduation rates in Roswell is a concern for Pat Lujan, director of instruction for the Roswell Independent School District. In 2012, New Mexico had an average freshman graduation rate of less than 70 percent, according to a study by the National Center for Education Statistics. “We had 64 students apply to drop out last year,”
HIGH 94 LOW 64
TODAY’S FORECAST
Lujan told the Roswell Kiwanis Club members on Tuesday. “I met with everyone of those students and their parents, and discussed the requirements and regulations, and guess how many of those students stayed in the program to complete their GED? Just one.” Students leave high school for a number of reasons, but one of the excuses Lujan hears most often is that the student wants to go to work. “They say school is boring, and the teachers aren’t
teaching them anything,” Lujan said. “But a majority of the time, they also say they are ready to go to work.” Oftentimes, Lujan is seeing students who are working to help keep their families fed, and sometimes those high school students are also the primary breadwinner for their families, and are responsible for feeding their brothers and sisters. “When you have children facing those types of responsibilities, you see the magnitude of the problem.”
High school dropouts in New Mexico face a 13 percent unemployment rate and ear n an average income of $11,426, according to the state Public Education Department website. Nearly every good job requires some certification, license, apprenticeship, associate’s degree, or other advanced credential. “You can’t even join the military today without a high school diploma,” Lujan said. Unfortunately, more often than not, high school dropouts become a burden
• DOYLE GLEN MILES • MANUEL M. BAUTISTA • EDWARD ALLAN SWINDELL
• LEONILDA GONZALES MARTINEZ • WANDA “JUNE” WILLIAMS STANLEY
CLASSIFIEDS ..........B8 COMICS .................B6 ENTERTAINMENT .....A8 FINANCIAL ..............B7
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE A7
on the taxpaying citizens, Lujan said, either because they cannot get employed and wind up on welfare or because they become involved in criminal activities. Keeping students in school and engaged not only makes life better for that student, but it lifts up the entire community.
Lujan, with an education career spanning 40 years, came back to the Roswell district after retiring following a 36-year stint as
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2
HOROSCOPES .........A8 LOTTERIES .............A2
See LUJAN, Page A3 OPINION .................A4
SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ..............A8