Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 123, No. 225 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
September 18, 2014
THURSDAY
www.rdrnews.com
Submitted Photos
Local dairy’s treatment of cows draws nat’l scrutiny
These undercover images of the Winchester Dairy farm were taken this summer by the Mercy For Animals animal protection group, based in Los Angeles. The dairy farm has closed in response to and photos videos released this week depicting animal abuse at the dairy farm near Dexter. Left: A worker beats cows with a rubber hose.
Undercover worker tells of his investigation in an exclusive interview; dairy farm fires all employees, closes indefinitely BY JEFF TUCKER RECORD STAFF WRITER The undercover worker for an animal protection group who surreptitiously recorded video and photographic evidence of milk cows being abused by workers at a Dexter dairy farm said Wednesday he believes 10 to 20 workers at the dairy farm should be criminally prosecuted. The undercover worker, who asked to be identified only as Robert, told the Daily Record in an exclusive interview Wednesday he saw criminal animal abuse beginning his first day of work at Winchester Dairy LLC of 182 E. Darby Road near Dexter. The abuse, he said, included beating cows with metal chains, stabbing them with screwdrivers, dragging them with tractors, shocking their genitals and workers repeatedly kicking and punching the
animals. “The very first day, when the other employee was training me, I saw abuse,” Robert said. “And then it was almost a daily occurrence that there was abuse that I was able to document. In my opinion, since it was occurring the first day I arrived, I assumed it was occurring before I got there. Nothing had happened while I was there to lead me to believe that it would stop anytime in the future.” Robert, an independent contractor for the Los Angeles-based Mercy For Animals, said he wore a small hidden camera on his clothing to capture live video of animal abuse. He said abuse of the dairy cows was widespread among the 30 employees he worked with, including his supervisors. “There were maybe one See DAIRY, Page A7
Center: This photo taken covertly by an undercover worker with the Mercy For Animals animal protection group shows a dairy cow bellowing in pain during a birth gone wrong at the farm located near Dexter. Right: In this photo, one of the farm’s workers is shown kicking a dairy cow. An independent contractor for the Los Angeles-based Mercy For Animals who spoke with the Daily Record said he wore a small hidden camera on his clothing to capture live video of animal abuse. He said abuse of the dairy cows was widespread among the 30 employees he worked with, including his supervisors.
Cemetery board reviews vet burial policies Rain from Odile to hit surrounding counties BY RANDAL SEYLER RECORD CITY EDITOR
The proposed rules for future burials in the Gen. Douglas L. McBride Veteran’s Cemetery received a thorough reading by the members of the Cemetery Board of Roswell on Tuesday, clearing the way for final approval by the board during its next meeting on Oct. 21. The board members first considered the rules during the Aug. 19 meeting, and members were asked by Board President Jake Trujillo to take the proposal home and come back in September ready to discuss the rules. The rules, if adopted by the board and ultimately approved by the City Council, will require all casket and cremation ground burials to be in a
Poly Guard burial vault or its equivalent, or an urn vault of sufficient size to accommodate double urns. The funeral home will charge customers for the vault and the urn — those items will not be provided for free by the cemetery. The burial cost for veterans and their spouses or eligible dependents at the cemetery were also set in the rules. The cost is just the expense of the cemetery, and includes the labor and set up for the burial and interment by the cemetery staff — costs do not include any other expenses, Trujillo said, such as caskets, flowers, embalming or cremation. A casketed burial with set-up is $600 and without set-up is $550; columbarium interment with set-up is $345 and without set-up is $160; and cremation ground burial with
set-up is $300 and without set-up is $160. Set-up is the preparation for a graveside service, while without setup would be a direct burial with no graveside services. “We don’t need any confusion on the costs,” Trujillo said. The Veteran’s Cemetery Board of Directors met Friday and discussed costs as well, but their list included all possible expenses, including caskets, embalming, and other miscellaneous costs, as well as a breakdown of benefits available from the Veterans Administration to help pay for expenses. The dif ferent lists may have caused some confusion between the two bodies, and Cemetery Sexton See CEMETERY, Page A3
STAFF REPORT
T ropical storm Odile caused waves in Mexico and but it won’t be causing any in Roswell. Roswell residents may see up to an inch of rain today. “A lot of the activity could separate over the eastern plains by Friday,” said Chris Luckett, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service in Albuquerque. One inch of rain in Roswell is nothing compared to the six inches that
Tucson, Ariz., could receive. Although Roswell is not expected to see a significant rainfall, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has declared a state emergency for New Mexico. Because a state emergency has been declared, the State Emergency Operations Center is now open in Santa Fe, according to a press release. SEOC is working with local officials from Catron, Socorro, Sierra and Lincoln counties to prepare for widespread flooding, the press release states.
Weh ready to attack Udall on voting record Retired Marine colonel guest speaker at CCRW meeting
BY TIMOTHY P. HOWSARE RECORD EDITOR
Timothy P. Howsare Photo
From left, state Rep. Nora Espinoza, who is running for reelection in District 59, Allen Weh, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, and Joan Boue, president of the Chaves County Republican Women, which now has about 140 members. Espinoza and Weh were both guest speakers at the group’s monthly lunch meeting on Wednesday.
HIGH 76 LOW 65
TODAY’S FORECAST
During a campaign speech Wednesday at the Chaves County Republican Women’s monthly luncheon, U.S. Senate candidate Allen Weh said he and his Democratic opponent, incumbent Sen. Tom Udall, have three things in common. First, Weh said they are both af fable, but was quick to make a distinction. “He’s af fable and I’m working on it,” Weh said. “In my 38 years in the U.S. Marines they never told me to smile.” Second, Weh said that
• J. REFUGIO HERNANDEZ
neither he nor Udall are corrupt. And last, Weh joked that he and Udall are “two old white guys” with Udall being almost as old as he is. Weh is 71 and Udall is 66. To further amuse the audience, Weh added that Udall keeps hiding behind a “30-year -old picture of himself” on his website. Weh said both he and Udall have run positive campaigns, with neither candidate hurtling personal attacks against the other. But the time has come, Weh said, for him to attack Udall on his voting record in the Senate, which Weh said is in contrast to the
• REV. ERIC R. KING
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE B5
values of New Mexicans. Udall brought up gun control to make his point, stating that he was just endorsed by the National Rifle Association. The association gave Udall a “D” rating, Weh said. Weh said gun ownership is an issue where most New Mexicans are in agreement, regardless of party lines. “In New Mexico, Democrats like their guns,” said Weh, who is an Albuquerque business owner. Weh said he just received an endorsement from Right to Life, an organization that opposes abortion and protects “all innocent human life from
CLASSIFIEDS ..........B8 COMICS .................B7 ENTERTAINMENT ...A10 FINANCIAL ..............B4
fertilization until natural death.” Earlier in his speech, Weh said the “trigger point” that inspired him to run for the Senate happened when four Americans were killed during the 2012 attack on a U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya. “You don’t leave four Americans to die,” Weh said, drawing a round of applause from the audience. Weh responded to two questions from the Daily Record at the end of the luncheon, where state Rep. Nora Espinoza, who
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2 HOROSCOPES .......A10
LOTTERIES .............A2
See WEH, Page A3
OPINION .................A4
SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ............A10