Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 120, No. 209 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
NMML Crashes in Roswell this week
WASHINGTON (AP) — Economists have advice for anyone worried that consumers are too fearful to keep spending: Look at what they’re doing, not what they’re saying. A survey of consumer confidence shows that Americans were spooked early this month by the standoff over the debt ceiling, - PAGE A6
TOP 5 WEB
For The Past 24 Hours
• ENMU-R opens disc golf course • History sought • Wool Building demolition takes ... • Here’s what we learned in Week 1 • Preps: Warriors fall in 3
INSIDE SPORTS
WEDNESDAY
www.rdrnews.com
JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER
GLOOMY CONSUMERS STILL SPEND
August 31, 2011
Mark Wilson Photo
Rita Loy Simmons and other volunteers plant perennials at the entrance to the Roswell Museum and Art Center, Tuesday, sprucing up the facility for New Mexico Municipal League Conference.
Irene gone but not forgotten
NEWFANE, Vt. (AP) — National Guard helicopters rushed food and water Tuesday to a dozen cut-off Vermont towns after the rainy remnants of Hurricane Irene washed out roads and bridges in a deluge that took many people in the landlocked New England state by surprise. “As soon as we can get help, we need help,” Liam McKinley said by cellphone from a mountain above flood-stricken Rochester, Vt. Up to 11 inches of rain from the weekend stor m tur ned placid streams into churning, brown torrents that knocked homes off their foundations, flattened trees and took giant bites out of the asphalt across the countryside. At least three people died in Vermont. “I think that people are still a little shell-shocked right now. There’s just a lot of disbelief on people’s
Six hundred people are expected to “Crash in Roswell” this week. The city is hosting the 54th annual New Mexico Municipal League Conference, today through Saturday, bringing municipal officials and personnel from all over the state. City Councilor Judy Stubbs, chairwoman of this year’s planning committee, led the kick-off press conference on behalf of the committee and the NMML staff. The conference was last held in Roswell six
Superficial damage
years ago. Stubbs expressed the city’s excitement in being able to show conference participants the changes made to the community since its last hosting duty. “I look at it as free advertising for the next three or four days for the city. So everyone will have a chance to really see what we’re doing.” NMML is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that supports cities, towns and villages throughout the state of New Mexico. There are 104 incorporated municipalities in the state, and they are all members of the league. “The purpose
of the league is to support the work that we do such as trainings like this conference today. The thing that the league does that I am so impressed with and really appreciate the most is the lobbying efforts both in Washington and in Santa Fe in order to protect municipalities large and small in New Mexico. They’re also an incredible resource for any one of us, for staff or for councilors, for the mayor, when we need resources as how, what, when, or why we do things” Stubbs said. See NMML, Page A3
Mark Wilson Photo
A recreational vehicle became wedged in the east entrance to Roswell Regional Hospital, Tuesday, causing ambulance traffic to be diverted. “It was an elderly gentleman. His wife had fallen and broken her arm,” said Sgt. Jim Preston, spokesman for the Roswell Police Department. According to Preston, the man misread the height limitations and drove under the canopy where the recreational vehicle became stuck. “The damage was superficial,” he said. “The entrance will be blocked for a couple of days until they can complete repairs.”
RISD bond passes in low turnout DOJ replaces 3 at ATF See IRENE, Page A3
EMILY RUSSO MILLER RECORD STAFF WRITER
ROCKETS FALL IN 4
Most coaches will tell you that there is no such thing as a moral victory in sports. Goddard volleyball coach Sheri Gibson wouldn’t outright say her team got a moral victory on Tuesday, but she did say that, despite the loss, she was pleased. “I’m pleased with the way we played,” the third-year Rocket coach said about her team’s four-game loss to Clovis at Ground Zero. “We’ve gone through lots of lineup changes, we’re experimenting and we’ve .... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S • • • • •
OBITUARIES
Donald D. Miller Lee Roy Rhodes Steven Lee Peck Johnny Paul Scott Jr. Elva J. Simmons - PAGE A6
HIGH .100˚ LOW ....67˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B4 FINANCIAL .............B3 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 NATION .................A6 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
Fewer than 10 percent of registered voters turned out for Tuesday’s special school bond election, but the bond still passed, according to unofficial tallies. Including absentee and early voting, 1,659 ballots were cast in favor of the bond while 388 ballots were cast against it. A total of 2,047 votes were cast, which is roughly 7 percent of the 28,609 registered voters in the Roswell Independent Mark Wilson Photo Katherine Fairbanks votes in the special school district general obligation bond election Tuesday morning at Military See BOND, Page A3 Heights Elementary.
Rebels to Gadhafi: Surrender HEISHA, Libya (AP) — Libyan rebels say they’re closing in on Moammar Gadhafi and issued an ultimatum Tuesday to regime loyalists in the fugitive dictator’s hometown of Sirte, his main remaining bastion: surrender this weekend or face an attack. “We have a good idea where he is,” a top rebel leader said. The rebels, tightening their grip on Libya after a military blitz, also demanded that Algeria return Gadhafi’s wife and three of his children who fled there Monday. Granting asylum to his family, including daughter Aisha who gave birth in Algeria on Tuesday, was an “enemy act,” said Ahmed alDarrad, the rebels’ interior minister. Rebel leaders insisted they are slowly restoring order in the war -scarred capital of Tripoli after a week of fighting, including deploying police and collecting garbage. Reporters touring
Tripoli still saw chaotic scenes, including desperate motorists stealing fuel from a gas station. In the capital’s Souk al Jumma neighborhood, about 200 people pounded on the doors of a bank, demanding that it open. Civil servants said they were told they would receive a 250-dinar (about $200) advance on their salaries for the three-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which starts Wednesday in Libya. Rebel fighters were converging on the heavily militarized town of Sirte, some 250 miles east of Tripoli. The rebels gave pro-Gadhafi forces there a deadline of Saturday — the day after the end of the Muslim holiday — to complete negotiations and surrender. After that, the rebels will “act decisively and militarily,” said Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the head of the rebels’ National
See LIBYA, Page A3
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department replaced three of ficials Tuesday who played critical roles in a flawed law enforcement operation aimed at major gun-trafficking networks on the Southwest border. The department announced that the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. attorney in Arizona had resigned and an administration official said a prosecutor who worked on the operation was reassigned to civil cases. The operation, known as Fast and Furious, was designed to track smalltime gun buyers at several
Phoenix-area gun shops up the chain to make cases against major weapons traf fickers. It was a response to longstanding criticism of ATF for concentrating on small-time gun violations and failing to attack the kingpins of weapons trafficking. A congressional investigation of the program has turned up evidence that ATF lost track of many of the more than 2,000 guns linked to the operation. The Justice Department inspector general also is looking into the operation at the request of Attorney General Eric Holder. The operation has result-
CC United Way helps Boys & Girls Club help boys and girls
See DOJ, Page A3
JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER
This article is one in a series of stories focusing on local agencies which receive support from the United Way of Chaves County, which is currently conducting its annual fundraising campaign.
In a room full of boys and girls ages 5-15, all eyes are on Jaynan McKelvey. A young boy, dressed in a light blue polo and khakis, approaches McKelvey asking for help with his homework. Soon after he sits down, McKelvey raises her hand signaling “power hour,” is over at the Boys & Girls Club in Roswell. Power hour, says McKelvey, unit director of the Boys & Girls Club, is the time the children dedicate to improving their schoolwork. A teacher by trade, McKelvey receives a report card for each club member to evaluate how they are perform-
ing in school. Enabling her to evaluate the problem readers and those who are struggling with math or need help with their penmanship, makes it easier for the children to change their school-related patterns. As a personal goal, McKelvey wants to make the focus of the club school-concentrated, this year. After power hour, the children are required to complete one hour of physical activity. This week they are playing flag football. Those who are unable to participate in rigorous physical activities for medical reasons such as asthma, participate in the beautification of the surrounding environment instead. The children are free to play games See B&G, Page A3