1 14 14 Roswell Daily Record

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Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY

Vol. 123, No. 12 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday

January 14, 2014

www.rdrnews.com

TUESDAY

Judge to decide later on horse slaughter plant SANTA FE (AP) — A New Mexico judge will decide on Friday whether a Roswell company can move ahead with plans for slaughtering horses. State District Judge Matthew Wilson made the announcement after a daylong hearing Monday on a request from Attorney General Gary King’s office for a preliminary injunction against Valley Meat Co. The judge plans to issue a written decision at the end of the week. King has filed a lawsuit alleging the company’s operations would violate state environmental and

food safety laws. The plant wouldn’t be able to immediately start slaughtering horses, even if the judge lifts a temporary order that blocks it from operating. A permit from state regulators is needed to discharge blood and other slaughtering wastes into tanks and lagoons on the company’s property. A permit decision is pending before the secretary of the state Environment Department. Another option is for the agency to decide that no permit is necessary if the company develops another

way to handle the wastes. Valley’s attor ney, Blair Dunn, said the company intends to submit a proposal for pumping and hauling waste to a licensed disposal site elsewhere. The plant was blocked from opening last year after animal protection groups brought a federal lawsuit against the Department of Agriculture for issuing permits to Valley and two other companies, which would become the first domestic horse slaughtering plants in seven years. A federal judge threw out that lawsuit. King filed the state case after a federal appeals

Schools to open after water line break

court declined to keep the plants shuttered. King’s office urged Wilson to block the company from starting the slaughter of horses until the latest lawsuit is resolved. Assistant Attorney General Ari Biernoff said the plant’s operation could contaminate groundwater and there’s no guarantee the meat would be safe for human consumption. He said there would be no medical records about the horses sent to the slaughter plant and what drugs may have been adminisSee JUDGE, Page A3

AP Photo

In this April 15, 2013, file photo, Valley Meat Co. owner, Rick De Los Santos stands in a corral area outside the former cattle slaughterhouse he has converted to a horse slaughter facility in Roswell.

Voting centers not on county’s agenda JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER

Amy Vogelsang Photo

After a pipeline broke around 4 p.m. Sunday, Berrendo Middle School, Mountain View Elementary and East Grand Plains Elementary were all closed Monday. When a man was putting in a fence, his last fence post punctured through the water line, Berrendo Water Co-Op’s office said. According to the office, there was so much water around 2 a.m. that two of its backhoes got stuck while trying to fix the line. However, the pipe was fixed around 11:30 a.m. Monday, and schools will reopen as normal today.

EPA details threat of NM jet fuel spill

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — It could be 30 years before a huge plume of contamination at Kirtland Air Force Base reaches the nearest drinking-water wells in New Mexico’s largest city, according to a report released Monday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Federal regulators made the draft report public in response to a Freedom of Infor mation Act request that was filed by the Albuquerque-based watchdog

group Citizen Action.

The report covers a number of scenarios that were modeled in hopes of getting a better understanding of how the underground plume of spilled jet fuel is moving. While it will likely be some time before the contamination reaches the closest city wells, there’s uncertainty around the speed at which it will reach a smaller well operated by Albuquerque’s Veterans Affairs hospital.

report’s author, said in an interview Monday that it would be best for city, state and base officials to control the plume now rather than wait. “The further it gets, the more it spreads, the more it’s going to cost,” he said.

up before it hits city water wells.

Church under construction

While there have been other fuel spills around the country, EPA of ficials acknowledged Monday that the Kirtland spill is unique given the depth of the plume, which puts the cleanup of the mess in uncharted territory.

the

arrests a day. Meanwhile, the city has 2.1 burglaries and 6.3 larcenies a day. Smith said crime is up in every area, but noted that this statistic may be reflective of greater accuracy in recordkeeping due to the new computerized reporting system. Smith announced the start of a new initiative with the retur n of the Street Crimes Unit, who will be working in cooperation with the Criminal Intelligence Department. The department consists of one captain, a sergeant and

four officers. He said that Roswell is receiving more assistance from New Mexico State Police and Chaves County Sheriff’s Office. “There’s a great team effort going on.” Deputy Chief Brad McFadin told councilors that the police attorney had been very productive and had held training programs for officers. Committee Chair Councilor Savino Sanchez asked if it might be possible to increase the lawyer’s hours, and City Administrator Larry Fry reported

that the City Council was considering the RPD’s request of upgrading the post from part-time to fulltime. Personnel matters were a topic of conversation. “We have 94 people on the books, but we won’t have all of them with their feet on ground until June,” said Smith. One officer started at the RPD, Monday, meaning they are only four officers down. An additional two will be starting this week. Two will have com-

• PATRICK J. HANNIFIN • CAROLYN APPLE • ACELL YOUNG

• BENNY ARAGON

Ellinger,

See VCC, Page A3

The spill has been estimated as large as 24 million gallons, or about twice the size of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

The fuel came from what officials believe was a 40year leak from underground pipes at a Kirtland aircraft fuel-loading facility. It was discovered in 1999, and officials are still trying to figure out how to clean it

Scott

Voting Convenience Centers will not be used for county elections this year, the County Commission and county clerk have determined. The issue will not be considered at the commission meeting on Thursday. “It’s not going to happen for the general election this year,” said Commissioner Robert Corn. “It may happen in 2016, but it won’t in 2014.” County Clerk Dave Kunko had planned to ask the board to reconsider implementing Voting Convenience Centers this year by bringing back his plan Thursday. The plan was denied by commissioners in October. Commissioners had asked Kunko for more analysis and further discussion at the time. Since then, Kunko has held public meetings and has recently met with a committee that included commissioners Corn and Greg Nibert. In December, Kunko said he would ask the commis-

sion to reconsider implementing the new system in time for the state deadline. However, Kunko said Monday that the Secretary of State had already counted Chaves County out for the year. “Part of it was, the Secretary of State made a comment that they had already budgeted for us to have traditional polling places, and that could be a problem with them if we changed it at this late a date,” Kunko said. “So then, we decided — the commissioners and I both decided — because of that, it would be better to just go with traditional. So we did.” The City of Roswell and Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell will use the new system at elections this year. On Feb. 4, ENMU-R will use the Voting Convenience Centers to ask county voters to decide on a proposed mill levy to pay for continued operations, maintenance and capital improvements on the campus. The election will ask voters of the district to establish a

Chief: Police responding to more than 100 activities a day JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER

Roswell Police Chief Phil Smith revealed to the City’s Police Committee, Monday evening, that current records indicate the police respond to or participate in 153.1 activities per day, or 6.3 activities per hour — in other words, one every 10 minutes. He defined activities as everything from traffic stops, responding to crimes, accidents and investigations, to taking victim reports. He also said police are averaging 15.8

HIGH 57 LOW 21

TODAY’S FORECAST

See POLICE, Page A3

TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE A6

Jill McLaughlin Photo

Members of St. John’s Catholic Church on South Lincoln Avenue helped begin a renovation project inside the church Monday. Mass will be held at the Ava Maria Center across the street until the project is finished. Call 6223531 for information or email stjohnthebaptist@roswell.com.

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

INDEX GENERAL ...............A2 HOROSCOPES .........A8 LOTTERIES .............A2 PUBLIC RECORDS ...A3

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

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

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


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