Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 123, No. 186 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
August 3, 2014
Mayoral forum: Kintigh discusses council, city Editor’s note: This is the third in a monthly series of interviews with Roswell Mayor Dennis Kintigh by Roswell Daily Record staff. Those with a question for the mayor may send queries to Daily Record editor T imothy Howsare at editor@rdrnews.com, or to staff writer Jeff Tucker at reporter01@rdrnews.com.
Is there a rule on the attendance of City Council members? “No, there is no requirement that they attend,” Kintigh said.
How do you feel about the absenteeism of some city councilors at City Council meetings? “It’s frustrating; summertime is understandable,” Kintigh said. “I am concer ned that we have too much absences at times.” Does the city have any facility to conference the City Council members who are
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physically absent? “Yeah, you can,” Kintigh said. “Sharon Coll, the city clerk, and I are both rather frustrated with our whole telecommunications arrangement there in City Hall. The video over Cable One is not very good. We don’t have a good system of getting phone calls in. I don’t really like the phone calls coming in because then the councilors don’t have materials in front of them. Under the municipal code, that’s allowed, so we do it. I wish it was better. We need to work on that. We need to get that fixed.” What are you going to do about absenteeism of City Council members? “Here’s the thing we’ve done about it,” Kintigh said. “If you go to the (city’s) website, attendance is there. I asked Ms. Coll to put our attendance there. That’s the objective, trans-
Randal Seyler Photo
Roswell Mayor Dennis Kintigh answers a question from Daily Record reporter Jeff Tucker during an editorial staff interview Thursday. Kintigh has been meeting monthly with the newspaper's editorial team to address any and all questions from the staff and the public.
parency.”
What are the conditions of the city’s animal shelter? “As far as I know, we
have no issues with the animal control shelter, as far as the physical conditions there,” Kintigh said. What are the Yucca and Way
Finding capital projects? ”Way Finding is signage in the downtown area,” Kintigh said. “It’s part of the idea to help create a
more visitor-friendly environment. Yucca, the fundamental issue that must be
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Federal land managers are under fire from animal welfare activists for seeking extra holding space for wild horses removed from western rangelands. With current facilities nearing capacity, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is accepting bids until Aug. 29 from contractors interested in either operating short-term corrals in 31 states in the Midwest and East or long-term pastures. After removing horses from the range, the bureau places them in short-term facilities until they are either adopted or shipped to pastures in the Midwest where they spend the rest of their lives. The agency routinely thins what it calls overpopulated herds on public land. BLM officials, in a statement Thursday, said they plan to open “multiple”
short-term corrals that can handle at least 150 horses each in various states along and east of the Mississippi River. They also seek one or more long-term pastures that can accommodate from 100 to 5,000 mustangs each. The bureau has not yet awarded contracts for bids it received earlier this year from contactors interested in running short-term corrals in 17 states in the West and Midwest. Bureau spokesman Tom Gorey said the total number of new holding facilities and their cost would depend on the number and quality of bids submitted. About two-thirds of the agency’s budget covers holding costs. “We want to get out of the holding business, but at the moment that’s not possible,” Gorey told The Associated Press.
Experts: Obama can do a lot to change Feds seek extra immigration policies without Congress holding space for western mustangs WASHINGTON (AP) — What can President Barack Obama actually do without Congress to change U.S. immigration policies? A lot, it turns out. There are some limits under federal law, and anything the White House ultimately decides to do may be challenged in court as unconstitutional. But leading legal experts say the White House almost certainly could delay indefinitely efforts to deport millions of immigrants already in the U.S. illegally, and it could give them official work permits that would allow them to legally find jobs, obtain driver’s licenses and pay income taxes. Here is what Obama could not do without approval from Congress: He couldn’t generally give large groups of immigrants per mission to remain per manently in
AP Photo
This June 30 file photo shows President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, pausing while making a statement about immigration reform, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington.
the United States, and he couldn’t grant them American citizenship. And he couldn’t generally make
them eligible for federal or state social benefit programs, such as welfare payments, food stamps or
the administration’s health care plans. See OBAMA, Page A3
See MAYOR, Page A3
Couple volunteers as Chester encourages people to do what they love fair superintendents BY TIMOTHY P. HOWSARE RECORD EDITOR
While so many teenagers and adolescents nowadays are preoccupied with their smartphones and Xboxes as they tune out their parents or any other adult authority figures, Melissa and David Randle will tell you the young people they know are different. “Nine out of 10 kids out here will come up to you, shake your hand and look you straight in the eye,” David said. That’s because as Chaves County Fair superintendents, most of the kids they know are involved in FFA and 4-H and are brought up in a culture of respect and responsibility. “I think it (FFA and 4-H) teaches you life skills,” David said. “You lear n by doing,” Melissa said. Melissa was superintendent of poultry and David was superintendent of swine at this year’s county fair, which ended Friday
night with the livestock. The job description for a superintendent isn’t quite a precise as a corporate job posted on monster.com, but it doesn’t need to be. Basically, a superintendent is an adult who ensures that all the rules are followed in the judging. “And if we see a kid that needs a little help, we help them out,” David said. The Randles live in Roswell and own enough property to raise animals. In their day jobs, David is a construction contractor and Melissa is works for Harvey E. Yates, an oil and gas company. David has been a superintendent since 1998 and Melissa followed in his footsteps a couple years later. Like all the other adults involved with the fair, the Randles are “100 percent volunteer.” They know of another couple, Benny and Cindy Wooten, who also are a See RANDLES, Page A7
HIGH 87 LOW 64
TODAY’S FORECAST
BY DYLANNE PETROS RECORD STAFF WRITER
Paula Chester has been working all her life and she doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. Chester, 74, is a waitress at Peppers Grill and Bar and has been working there since the restaurant opened in 1980. Chester has lived in Roswell her entire life and first got into waitressing after she finished school. “My first (waitressing) job was at Johnson’s Café,” she said. “I was a breakfast waitress.” Before becoming a waitress, however, she worked at a drugstore in town. “I was raised on a farm and I told my dad one time, I said, ‘you know, Daddy, if I can get me a job in town, I’ll give you my check if I just don’t have to pick cotton or bail hay,’” Chester said. After working at Johnson’s for a while, Chester worked in the Army and the Air Force as a cocktail waitress in Chicago.
• PHALA ANN WHITAKER • LEAFY SUE MCCLURE • JAMES MICHAEL BURDETTE
But Chester couldn’t stay away from Roswell and she came back to work at Peppers Grill and Bar. “I went to work for them before they even opened,” she said. Ever since she was young, Chester said she knew she wanted to be a waitress. While her siblings went through colleges, she wanted to be in the restaurant business. “I told my mother one time I said, ‘Mom, I just want to be a waitress. That’s all I want to be,’” Chester said. “She said ‘well, why, Paula?’ and I said ‘because I like it and I’m happy there.’” Chester helped the Roes, who are the owners of Peppers Grill and Bar, run parties and banquets before the restaurant opened. To this day, she still works the parties and banquet with Adam and Neil Roe, the current owners of Peppers. “They’re the nicest people in the world,” Chester said.
• CLEO GLENN DICKINSON
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE B7
• THOMAS RANDOLPH GRADY JR.
Dylanne Petros Photo
Paula Chester, 74, has been working for Peppers Grill and Bar since the restaurant opened in 1980.
Although Chester is 74, she still works because “that’s my life” and she “would never do anything else.”
“Neil asked me one time
CLASSIFIEDS ..........D1
COMICS .................D7
ENTERTAINMENT .....C8
if I was gonna retire and I said, ‘well, when I’m supposed to be to work and I don’t show up and you See CHESTER, Page A2
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2
HOROSCOPES .........C8 LOTTERIES .............A2
OPINION .................A4
SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ..............A8