09 25 13 Roswell Daily Record

Page 1

Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY

Vol. 122, No. 230 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday

September 25, 2013

NMMI, Alumni Association get court date JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER

The New Mexico Military Institute and its former Alumni Association are set to face off Oct. 15 in Eddy County District Court on the Institute’s request to immediately freeze more than $5.2 million in funds. An Eddy County district court judge set the preliminary injunction hearing Thursday to address NMMI’s lawsuit against the Association filed June 10. The lawsuit, in the hands of Eddy County Judge Jane Shuler-

www.rdrnews.com

Gray in Carlsbad, asks the court to freeze all accounts held by the Alumni Association, including $5.2 million protected funds and additional operation accounts.

NMMI also wants the court to ban the Association from representing the Institute and order the transfer of the non-profit’s assets to an entity to manage and distribute the funds to another entity to benefit the Institute or its cadets. Since the initial filing at the Chaves County Courthouse, five local judges asked to be removed from the case. The case was then

reassigned to Eddy County June 28.

The Alumni Association filed its answer to the lawsuit July 31, spelling out its plans to fight allegations of past financial trouble, management turnover and assertions that the group’s function is to serve the school and its cadets.

The Institute ended its nearly 50-year relationship with the Association in April. In its lawsuit, NMMI set out a series of financial and management concerns that started in 2009. The Institute “was compelled to take further and more far reaching

WEDNESDAY

steps to protect its interests and to ensure the protection of the assets maintained by the Association,” NMMI argues in its filing. The Association has taken its fight further since filing its defense in July.

On Aug. 9, the group’s attorneys filed a motion to disqualify NMMI’s counsel, Hinkle, Hensley, Shanor & Martin. The motion claims an attorney at the firm, Maryl McNally, played “a substantial role” in the former representation of the Association while she practiced law at the law firm of Mark W. Taylor and Associates.

Washed out road

Mark Wilson Photo

Damage from the recent flooding washed out portions of a bridge on Morgan Road that spans the Felix River west of Hagerman, forcing its closure.

McNally’s employment at the firm representing NMMI now represents a conflict of interest, according to Association attorney Jeffrey Dahl of Keleher & McLeod.

NMMI’s attorneys responded to the Association’s motion, arguing that the claim was a delay tactic. NMMI’s attorneys provided a letter to the Association in April, “in an abundance of caution,” notifying them that effective measures were taken to screen McNally from any Institute-related matters.

Medicaid agency seeks less money

SANTA FE (AP) — The agency managing New Mexico’s largest health care program is asking for less — not more — state money to operate in the upcoming budget year. It’s the first time in more than a decade the Human Services Department isn’t seeking an increase in state aid for Medicaid, which provides health care for a fourth of New Mexico’s population. Agency officials said a reduction is possible in part because of low price inflation, more available federal money and lower usage of services by Medicaid recipients. “I hope people see it as a good thing. It’s not as though we’re cutting services or changing anything. It’s really just something that we’ve been able to manage a little bit differently,” said Deputy Secretary Brent Earnest. The department has requested about $1 billion in state money for Medicaid in the fiscal year that starts

See NMMI, Page A3

next July. That’s nearly $19 million, or 1.8 percent, less than this year. submitted Agencies budget requests to Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration at the start of the month and those will be used to develop the governor’s spending recommendations to the Legislature, which meets in January to approve a state budget for next year. Lawmakers also review the agency requests in making budget decisions. The Medicaid agency’s proposed budget reduction is notable because the state plans to expand the health care program starting in January. Nearly 90,000 uninsured New Mexicans are expected to enroll next year under terms of a federal health care overhaul championed by President Barack Obama. The federal government will pick up the full costs of the expansion initially and that will gradually drop to

NWS: Storms pushed state out of ‘extreme drought’ ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Much of New Mexico remains beset by drought, but the recent heavy rains brought some relief — especially in the driest areas. The National Weather Service said Tuesday that 75 percent of the state remains under moderate to severe drought conditions, and New Mexico is still behind a 36-month average for rain. “It’ a lot better than where we were,” said Shawn Bennett of the Weather Service in Albuquerque. Despite the persistent

dry conditions, the record rains dramatically transformed the drought picture in New Mexico, particularly in areas that were experiencing “exceptional” drought — one the worst drought categories — before the monsoon season, Bennett said. According to maps from the U.S. Drought Monitor, all areas of exceptional drought and much of the extreme drought in the state disappeared from August to September. Thunderstorms earlier this month caused massive flooding across the state, with officials esti-

mating the cost of damage in the tens of millions of dollars. Those rains and changing drought conditions helped restore once-dry rivers and fill some reservoirs to capacity, said Raymond Abeyta of U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. That should help farmers for next season, he said. Elephant Butte, the Rio Grande’s largest water storage reservoir, for example, gained more than 50,000 acre feet of water in the storms. The reservoir holds 2 million acre feet of water and rose from 4.4 percent to 5.9

percent full.

In fact, the Pecos River especially benefited from the stor ms, and the Carlsbad Irrigation District announced it was releasing water to Texas. Pecos reservoir storage for area farmers went from 11 percent full to 92 percent in less than two weeks. Some Carlsbad-area farmers also will get an additional four-tenths of an acre-foot per acre.

“It’s amazing,” Abeyta said. “Now we’re trying to make room.”

HIGH 91 LOW 61

TODAY’S FORECAST

Hundreds of parents and children spent an evening learning about health the fun way with Fun, Fit, Family Night at the Roswell Convention and Civic Center on Tuesday. Attendees of the event dined on smoothies and bowls of fresh fruit, played games in a gymnasium, and visited tables featuring organizations including Eastern New Mexico Medical Center, New Mexico State University Coopera-

PAGE A6

Children test their balance on a rocker board during Fun, Fit, Family Night at the Roswell Convention Center, Tuesday evening.

AP Photo

Johnny C. Montoya helps rescue a cat from an area flooded by the Gallinas River, near the end of Valencia Street, in Las Vegas, N.M., Friday Sept. 13.

Event encourages families Obama, Rouhani want to have fun while getting fit nuclear talks to resume

TESS TOWNSEND RECORD STAFF WRITER

Mark Wilson Photo

See MEDICAID, Page A3

• LINDEN J. “LINDY” ROMERO

tive Extension, and the Eastern New Mexico State University-Roswell nursing program. “We just think it’s a valuable experience for our students and our staff to promote a healthy lifestyle and to promote exercise, “ said Susan Sanchez, assistant superintendent for instruction for Roswell Independent School District. Interim Assistant Vice President for Exter nal Affairs of Eastern New Mexico State University-Roswell

TODAY’S OBITUARY

See FIT, Page A3

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Hopeful yet unyielding, President Barack Obama and new Iranian President Hasan Rouhani both spoke up fervently for improved relations and a r esumption of stalled nuclear talks Tuesday at the U.N. — but gave no ground on the long-held positions that have scuttled previous attempts to break the impasse. The leaders’ separate appearances at the United Nations General Assembly came amid heightened speculation

CLASSIFIEDS ..........B6 COMICS .................B4 ENTERTAINMENT .....A8 FINANCIAL ..............B5

about a thaw in U.S.Iranian relations following the election of Rouhani, a more-moderate sounding cleric. In fact, officials from both countries had quietly negotiated the possibility of a brief meeting between Obama and Rouhani. But U.S. officials said the Iranians told them Tuesday that an encounter would be “too complicated” given uncertainty about how it would be r eceived in Tehran.

INDEX GENERAL ...............A2 HOROSCOPES .........A8 LOTTERIES .............A2 MINI PAGE .............B3

OPINION .................A4

SPORTS .................B1

WEATHER ..............A8


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.