Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 120, No. 236 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
October 1, 2011
SATURDAY
www.rdrnews.com
American al-Qaida dies in drone attack
SANAA, Yemen (AP) — The killings of U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and another American al-Qaida propagandist in a U.S. airstrike Friday wipe out the decisive factor that made the terrorist group’s Yemen branch the most dangerous threat to the United States: its reach into the West. Issuing English-language sermons on jihad on the
Internet from his hideouts in Yemen’s mountains, alAwlaki drew Muslim recruits like the young Nigerian who tried to bring down a U.S. jet on Christmas and the PakistaniAmerican behind the botched car bombing in New York City’s T imes Square.
Friday’s drone attack was believed to be the first instance in which a U.S.
citizen was tracked and killed based on secret intelligence and the president’s say-so. Al-Awlaki was placed on the CIA “kill or capture” list by the Obama administration in April 2010 — the first American to be so targeted.
The other American killed in the strike, Samir Khan, published a slick English-language Web magazine, “Inspire,” that spout-
ed al-Qaida’s anti-Western ideology and even offered how-to articles on terrorism — including one titled, “Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom.”
Their voices elevated the several hundred al-Qaida fighters hiding out in Yemen into a greater threat than similar affiliates of the terror network in North Africa, Somalia or east Asia.
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — It just wouldn’t be October in Albuquerque if thousands of people weren’t getting up before dawn every morning to watch wave after wave of hot air balloons take to the skies. To mark the 40th anniversary of the Albuquerque International Balloon... - PAGE A7
WEB
For The Past 24 Hours
• ‘Let’s do the Wave!’ • Cattlemen’s coming back • VCA participates in Community Day • The state rests its case on Herrera • Prep football: Time to talk playoffs
INSIDE
Generations learns helmet safety
Mark Wilson Photo
Ashton Marquez, 4, shows off his new, shiny bicycle helmet Friday at Generations of Learning.
JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER
Sixty-five youngsters at Generations of Learning Center went home with their own helmet Friday afternoon. Each pre-kindergartener, kindergartener and
Football coaches can teach players many things. They can teach how to tackle properly and how to defend an option. What they can’t teach however is game-breaking speed and agility and Roswell’s Richard Medrano has plenty of both. Medrano scored three touchdowns as... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES There are no obituaries for today, Oct. 1, 2011.
HIGH ...85˚ LOW ....55˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B3 ENTERTAINMENT...A10 FINANCIAL .............A8 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ......A10 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ............A10
INDEX
See AL-QAIDA, Page A9
JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
TOP 5
RHS CRUISE PAST SANTA TERESA
“In that role, he took the lead in planning and directing efforts to murder innocent Americans,” Obama
Herrera, guilty of seconddegree murder
ABQ GEARS UP FOR BALLOON FIESTA
SPORTS
President Barack Obama heralded the strike as a “major blow to al-Qaida’s most active operational affiliate,” saying the 40year-old al-Awlaki was the group’s “leader of external operations.”
after-school student at the center received a helmet which was fitted to his or her head, as part of the “Let’s Talk Helmet Safety,” campaign sponsored by the New Mexico Brain Injury Advisory Council, with funding from the New Mexico Developmental Dis-
abilities Planning Council. The campaign is also taking place at schools in Dexter, Midway, Ruidoso and Carrizozo. Students at the center also See HELMET, Page A9
The jury delivered a guilty of seconddegree murder verdict against Israel Herrera, 22, Friday, after three hours of deliberation. Herrera was charged with felony murder after the Nov. 22, homicide of Stephen Foster, 25. The shooting took place after Foster arrived at Herrera’s home on West Walnut Street, around 10 p.m. According to State’s witness, Foster returned to the vehicle, backed out of the driveway and started to drive away when a single shot rang out. In New Mexico, felony murder is a capital offense and refers to any killing that results during the commission of a felony, in this case shooting at or from a motor vehicle. The sentence for felony murder is 30 years to life imprisonment. Generally speaking, second-degree murder is killing another without sufficient provocation, but without premeditation or deliberation, in other words, killing someone without planning to do so in advance. The sentence for second-degree murder is 15 years. Before the jury went into deliberation, the defense provided a taped deposition from Ray Burrola of an incident that took place the evening of Nov. 22, when Foster threatened various family members of Sophia Burrola. During his closing arguments, Herrera’s lawyer Jesse Cosby said, “We’re
Colorado farm epi- Heather Wilson visits Dean center of listeria Baldwin Painting facility
HOLLY, Colo. (AP) — Eric Jensen surveys his dusty cantaloupe field and seems equally stunned and puzzled at the fate that has befallen his crop: row upon row of melons rotting on the vine. Jensen is the co-owner of the Colorado farm where health of ficials say a national listeria outbreak originated, making his withering fields the epicenter of a food scare that has sickened dozens of people from Wyoming to Maryland and caused as many as 17 deaths. The far m has recalled more than 300,000 cases of cantaloupes and on Thursday three states — Indiana, Louisiana and Wisconsin —
were added to the recall list. Spokeswoman Amy Philpott said that trucking records show that cantaloupes originally intended for other locations ended up in those states but that the buyers were notified as part of the original Sept. 14 recall.
Jensen has no idea how his cantaloupes became infected, and neither do the Food and Drug Administration investigators who have intermittently been in this town of 800 people near the Kansas border since the outbreak started earlier this month. Regardless of how it hap-
See HERRERA, Page A9
JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER
Nearly seven months after announcing her candidacy for Senate, former U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson toured the Dean Baldwin Painting facility in Roswell, asking General Manager Jim Burress questions about employee training and tur nover rate, while sharing details of her father’s time at Walker Air Force Base. Wilson for mally announced she was running for Senate on March 6 to fill Democrat Jef f
Mark Wilson Photo
Jim Burress, general manager at Dean Baldwin Painting, gives a tour of the facility to former Rep. Heather Wilson Friday morning.
Garcia beats the odds and is thankful for the support See LISTERIA, Page A9
See WILSON, Page A2
JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER
A living testament of hope, persistence and strength, Roswell resident Janie Garcia defied insurmountable odds to beat Follicular Lymphoma, all the while working as a caregiver at Tobosa Developmental Services as she battled this life-threatening disease. Originally from Fresno, Calif., Garcia seems to have God on her side. A resident of Roswell for 25 years, Garcia and her husband, Raul, came to town, shortly after getting married, in pursuit of establishing a gospel church in
the community. They built the Roswell Gospel Assembly Church, of which Raul is pastor. Attending services every Sunday, Garcia enjoys singing Christian songs at the church, and is also trying her hand at the keyboard.
“That is her life. She lives for going to church, Her main desire is to live for God. Nothing is more important to her than serving him,” daughter Tina said.
Garcia first became aware of her symptoms while in Phoenix, Ariz., for a church meeting. She was brushing her hair, and after noticing it was thinner, she asked her daughters to inspect her scalp. They noticed several small red bumps on the top of her head and immediately scheduled a doctor’s appointSee GARCIA, Page A2 Janie Garcia
Julia Bergman photo