Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 123, No. 213 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
September 4, 2014
Councilors discuss candidates in closed session BY RANDAL SEYLER RECORD CITY EDITOR
City Councilors met for nearly two hours in a closed session Tuesday evening during a special council meeting, called to discuss the five candidates who have applied for the city manager position. The councilors were discussing the applicants in an attempt to help Mayor Dennis Kintigh decide on a replacement for departing City Manager Larry Fry.
THURSDAY
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Mayor Dennis Kintigh said on Wednesday that he would hold a news conference at 1:15 p.m. today to announce which candidate he will be recommending to the council on Tuesday. Fry announced his intention to leave the position during the City Council meeting in May, and the city began the process of searching for a replacement. The City Council is allowed by law to meet in executive session to discuss matters of personnel,
such as hiring and firing. The City of Roswell posted an employment advertisement on the city website for a city manager in June. The salary range for the full-time job is $110,000 to $130,000. Mayor Dennis Kintigh said in May that Fry would remain in his position until he either finds another position or until Jan. 1. City Councilors began the process of interviewing candidates for the city manager’s position on Aug.14, and met with the
fifth and final candidate on Thursday, Aug. 28. “We will go into executive session, and we’ll have the 10 councilors give their thoughts, concer ns and questions about candidates,” Kintigh said recently. “I want it to be a freewheeling conversation, I want to hear what they have to say, and I think they will be a little more candid when they’re not being recorded.” Kintigh said every candidate has been in town for
two full days. “Every visit has begun with an 8 a.m. meeting between me and the candidate on the first day, and every one has ended with a 5 p.m. meeting between me and the candidate on the second day,” the mayor said. Kintigh said all of the candidates also met with various city staff members, and he wants to also get the city employees’ input before making a decision. The City Council also held a public hearing and
approved an ordinance allowing the city to borrow $2 million for a water line replacement project, which will replace corroded 36” and 48” water lines from Union Avenue to Montana Avenue along Country Club Road, said Art Torrez, manager of the city’s water and wastewater department. The $2 million will be borrowed from the New Mexico Finance Authority’s Drinking Water State
Judge stays dog’s euthanization Burris: Student Pet of the Week accused of attacking vet tech BY JEFF TUCKER RECORD STAFF WRITER
A Bernalillo County district judge has issued a temporary restraining order preventing the city of Roswell from euthanizing a dog that bit a local veterinary technician two weeks ago. District Judge Beatrice Brickhouse issued the order Aug. 28 and ordered the defendant, Roswell Animal Control Services Department, to appear in an Albuquerque court at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The order stops the planned euthanization of a 3-year-old German shepard mix dog known as Max, who was the featured Pet of the Week in the Aug. 20 edition of the Daily Record. On Aug. 21, Max reportedly bit a local veterinary technician during a neutering procedure and was
An Albuquerque judge has issued a temporary restraining order to stop the euthanization
Youth accused of threat faces disciplinary action
King criticizes Martinez after Tesla plant decision
companies.” Martinez spokesman Enrique Knell said the state hasn’t heard officially from Tesla. An announcement was scheduled Thursday in Nevada. The Associated Press reported that Tesla still plans a second site in case Nevada can’t deliver promised incentives or possibly to build a second factory. King said in a statement “it’s not our location or lack of resources” that caused the state to lose out to Nevada. He criticized Martinez administration education policies and said New Mexico needs to better fund schools to produce highly skilled workers necessary for attracting manufacturers like Tesla Motors Inc.
AP Photo
This July 18 file photo shows demonstrators who oppose the recent immigrants entering the U.S. through its southern border, rallying near the Consulate of Mexico in Philadelphia.
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TODAY’S FORECAST
The Berrendo Middle School student accused of writing a threat against one of the school’s shooting victims will not be returning to the school, said Roswell Independent School District Superintendent Tom Burris on Wednesday. “He will not be coming back to Berrendo Middle School,” Burris said. The decision to remove the child from Berrendo Middle School is an administrative decision, Burris said. During school on Aug. 28, it was reported that there was a specific threat written on a restroom wall at Berrendo Middle School. According to a sheriff’s
office report, the threat targeted Nathaniel Tavarez, 13, one of two students shot in January by former classmate Mason Campbell. Campbell was sentenced in July to rehabilitative confinement until the age of 21. Burris said he was unable to verify the identity of the victim or identify the student who wrote the threat due to state and federal laws protecting children’s privacy. The threat was taken seriously and police were called to aid in the investigation. “The parents of the student who was threatened were called and apprised of
High court to hear death-row appeals
See MAX, Page A3 of Max, the Daily Record's Pet of the Week of Aug. 20.
SANTA FE (AP) — Political finger -pointing has started over New Mexico losing out to Nevada as a site for Tesla Motors, a battery factory. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gary King said Wednesday that the electric car maker didn’t select New Mexico because of “a failure of leadership” by Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, his general election opponent. Republican Rep. Monica Youngblood, of Albuquerque, said in a statement that King was trying to “score cheap political points” and his criticisms “completely ignore the state’s bipartisan efforts that have allowed us to compete for jobs like those offered by Tesla and other
will not return to Berrendo Middle BY RANDAL SEYLER RECORD CITY EDITOR
Courtesy Photo
See CANDIDATES, Page A3
SANTA FE (AP) — New Mexico’s remaining death row inmates are asking the state’s highest court to spare them from potential execution because lawmakers repealed capital punishment after they were sentenced to die by lethal injection.
T imothy Allen and Robert Fry contend their death sentences violate state and federal constitutional protections because New Mexico abolished capital punishment in 2009 for future murders but left it in place for them. Both men were convicted and sentenced to death for murders committed years before the repeal.
The state Supreme Court will hear arguments from lawyers on Oct. 1, but a decision by the five
Allen
justices likely wouldn’t be made until months later.
No execution has been scheduled for either Fry or Allen, and both have pending habeas corpus post-
Fry
conviction appeals in state district court. The Supreme Court has previously upheld their convictions and sentences.
See BERRENDO, Page A3
King, representing the state, contends the death sentences for Fry and Allen are constitutional and should remain in place. The Legislature’s decision to apply the repeal to future murders “furthers the long-standing policy of ensuring that criminals are punished according to the law that existed at the time of their crimes,” Assistant Attorney General M. Victoria Wilson said in written arguments to the court. A group of University of New Mexico law professors and the New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association is supporting the latest legal challenge brought by attorneys for
Number of child immigrants at border declining Attorney General Gary
See APPEALS, Page A2
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of immigrant children caught alone illegally crossing the Mexican border into the United States continued to decline in August, according to figures disclosed Wednesday by the Homeland Security Department. Last month Border Patrol agents apprehended 3,129 children, mostly from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. In July agents found more than 5,400 children, while in June the number was more than 10,600.
The Obama administration has been cautious about speculating over what led to the recent decline, saying several factors are likely at play. Historically, the number of immigrants caught crossing the border illegally declines during the hottest summer months. Since the start of the budget year in October, more than 66,000 unaccompanied children have been apprehended crossing the border illegally, nearly double the number from the 2013 budget year.
The dramatic increase in the number of child immigrants this year prompted the administration to step up enforcement ef forts against human smuggling rings and launch a public relations campaign urging parents in Central America not to send their children on the dangerous trek through Mexico. The Justice Department has also ordered that newly arrived child immigrants facing deportation hearings should have their cases moved to the top of the federal immigration court’s
• DAWN LANICE MORETTO • ALFRED (PAT) CROW • DARLENE TURPEN
• MARIA D. HERRERA • LELA PEARL WAGGONER • WYLIE D. BRIGGS
CLASSIFIEDS ..........B6
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2
FINANCIAL ..............B4
LOTTERIES .............A2
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE A6
COMICS .................B5
docket. The court has a backlog of more than 375,000 pending cases. Officials in Mexico last month starting pulling Central Americans off the top of a lumbering freight train known as “La Bestia,” or The Beast, which has routinely carried thousands of migrants north toward the U.S. border. The crush of Central American children found crossing the border caught the administration of f guard earlier this year and strained Homeland Security’s resources.
HOROSCOPES .........A8
OPINION .................A4
SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ..............A8