09-16-11 PAPER

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Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY

Vol. 120, No. 223 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday

INSIDE NEWS

Postal Service launches study in Roswell JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — It took seven years of annual mammograms and a cancer diagnosis for Amy Colton to learn something her doctors had realized from the beginning: Her breast tissue is so dense that it could have masked tumors on earlier exams... - PAGE B4

TOP 5 WEB

For The Past 24 Hours

• Foundation work next week • Roswell Reads (and sings) poetry • Area dogs compete in Dog Show • Special Session: Week 2 • Faubus-McCarty to join Daily Record staff

FRIDAY

www.rdrnews.com

Could the Roswell Customer Service Mail Processing Center merge with Lubbock?

BREAST CANCER BILL WORRIES DOCS

September 16, 2011

On Thursday, the United States Postal Service announced its plans to conduct a study at the Roswell Customer Service Mail Processing Center to determine the feasibility of consolidating its operations into the Lubbock Processing and Distribution Facility. The study, which is being conducted throughout the country in an effort to optimize processing

operations, will examine transportation and processing operations and is expected to be completed in early 2012. Peter Hass, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service for New Mexico and Arizona, said the economy, the reduction in mail volume and a 25 percent decrease in First-Class Mail volume over the past five years, have all been detrimental to the Postal Service, causing the organization to examine ways in which it can be more efficient. According to

a press release about the studies, “Even when the economy fully recovers, the Postal Service does not expect mail volume to return to previous peak levels, and is projecting annual deficits for the foreseeable future. Because the decline has created substational excess mail processing capacity, Postal Service is initiating studies to look at reducing the size of its mail processing network nationwide.” In March, several of the Postal Service’s district offices were consolidated

More than 50 NM post offices could close

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — More than 50 post offices in New Mexico could close under a U.S. Postal Service national proposal aimed at saving the troubled federally-owned corporation. Postal spokeswoman Barbara Wood told KKOB Wednesday that 54 post offices in New Mexico are slated to close, including four in Albuquerque’s downtown. Wood said the Albuquerque offices are on the chopping block because they are so closed to each other. She said mail volume is down about 20 percent due to the popularity of online bill paying. The U.S. Postal Service has said that without congressional action, it could run out of money to pay salaries and contractors a year from now. The agency is pushing for changes that include reducing mail delivery to five days a week and closing 3,700 offices.

See POSTAL, Page A7

Have a HEART, buy a chair

‘Char-ity’

INSIDE SPORTS

Mark Wilson Photo

NMMI CRUSHES SUL ROSS

ALPINE, Texas — Many words and phrases can be used to describe Thursday’s contest between New Mexico Military Institute and the Sul Ross State junior varsity team. However, perhaps the most apropos — and least demeaning — is one-sided. The Broncos (3-0) ... - PAGE B1

TODAY’S OBITUARIES

• Jerry Soliz • Denny Raymond Wright • Amanda Ann Martinez • Janis Momyer Handback • Ruth Ventura - PAGE B4

HIGH ...90˚ LOW ....61˚

TODAY’S FORECAST

Boehner: Debt panel can start tax plan

House Speaker John Boehner

VANESSA KAHIN RECORD STAFF WRITER

Have a seat and relax — just not on the artwork. A series of artistically enhanced children’s chairs are now on display at Tinnie Mercantile Store & Deli. The public is invited to a reception at the eatery today from 5:30 to 7 p.m. to meet the artists who draped these chairs with bull horns, a mini-armoire, butterflies and a Pez dispenser — all in the name of “chair-ity.”

See CHAIR-ITY, Page A7

Kat Parker checks out three of the 12 artistically enhanced children's chairs on display at Tinnie Mercantile & Deli, courtesy of the Community Foundation of Chaves County, Thursday. The chairs will be auctioned off before and during the CFCC’s Angel Gala to be held Nov. 5 at Pioneer Bank. There will be an opening reception for the 12 artists tonight from 5:30 until 7 p.m. at Tinnie Mercantile & Deli, and the chairs will be on display through Oct. 15.

Defying orders, hero Marine saved others

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defying orders and tempting fate, Marine corporal Dakota Meyer charged five times in a Humvee into heavy gunfire in the darkness of an Afghanistan valley to rescue comrades under attack from Taliban insurgents. On Thursday, Meyer was presented with the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award, by President Barack Obama. Meyer’s courage during the sixhour ambush and firefight saved the lives of 36 people, both Ameri-

cans and Afghans. He killed at least eight Taliban insurgents. Firing from a gun turret on top of the Humvee driven by a fellow Marine, he provided cover for his team, allowing many to escape likely death. He was defying orders from his commanders, who told him to stay back. The kill zone, they said, was too dangerous. But the young corporal, just 21 years old at the time, knew his friends were trapped that early morning in September 2009. “In Sgt. Dakota Meyer, we see

the best of a generation that has served with distinction through a decade of war,” Obama said during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. Meyer, later promoted to sergeant and now out of the Marines, is the third living recipient and the first Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan. The modest, soft-spoken 23See MARINE, Page A7

The Arts

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker John Boehner urged Congress’ deficit “supercommittee” on Thursday to lay the groundwork for a broad overhaul of the U.S. tax code, rejecting Democrats’ talk of tax increases but leaving open the possibility the gover nment’s take could rise as a result. Tax increases “are not a viable option” for the committee, Boehner declared in a speech to the Washington Economic Club, ruling out many of the proposals that President Barack Obama is expected to forward to the 12-member panel next week, including some that are part of his major jobs proposal. See BOEHNER, Page A7

AP Photo

President Barack Obama awards the Medal of Honor to former Marine Corps Cpl. Dakota Meyer, 23, from Greensburg, Ky., Thursday,

Playwright Robert Patrick wins for Artistic Achievement

CLASSIFIEDS..........C1 COMICS.................B7 ENTERTAINMENT.....C1 FINANCIAL .............B6 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8 WORLD .................B5

INDEX

JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER

Robert Patrick with a copy of his play, “Kennedy's Children.”

Courtesy Photo

A drama major at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales from 1955 to 1958, renowned playwright Robert Patrick is the first graduate from the College of Fine Arts to receive the Artistic Achievement Award. The New York Innovative Theatre Awards will honor Patrick with the award on Sept. 19. Dr. Joseph Kline, Dean of the College of Fine Arts, said the theater See PATRICK, Page A7


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