Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 123, No. 240 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
October 5, 2014
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SUNDAY
Hospital: Dallas Ebola patient in critical condition DALLAS (AP) — After hospital officials on Saturday said the condition of the lone Ebola patient diagnosed in the U.S. has worsened, the woman he came to Texas to visit said she is praying for his recovery. Louise Troh said that she was not aware until a reporter told her that Thomas Eric Duncan’s condition had been deemed critical and that she had not spoken with him Saturday. “I pray in Jesus’ name that it will be all right,”
Troh said in a telephone interview from the home where she and three others are being isolated. Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas didn’t provide any further details or respond to questions about Duncan’s health on Saturday. The hospital has previously said Duncan, who was being kept in isolation, was in serious but stable condition. Duncan traveled from disease-ravaged Liberia to Dallas last month before he began showing symptoms
of the disease that has killed some 3,400 people in West Africa. Health officials said Saturday that they are still monitoring about 50 people who may have had contact with Duncan for signs of the deadly disease. Among those are nine people who are believed to be at a higher risk. Thus far none have shown symptoms. Included in the group being monitored are people who later rode in the ambulance that took Duncan to the hospital last
Sunday, said Dr. Tom Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Duncan was staying with Troh at a Dallas apartment when he became ill. On Friday a hazardous-materials crew hauled out items from the apartment in industrial barrels for permanent disposal. That same day, T roh, originally from Liberia, and three others — her 13-year-old son, Duncan’s distant relative and a family friend — were moved to a private residence
where they are being carefully monitored. The city had trouble finding a place to take them until a volunteer offered the private residence. The first Ebola diagnosis in the U.S. has raised concerns about whether the disease could spread in the U.S. Federal health officials say they are confident they can control it. Frieden said that they’ve already gotten “well over” 100 inquiries on suspicious cases in recent months, with an uptick coming after
Chalk art brightens RMAC’s landscape BY JEFF TUCKER RECORD STAFF WRITER Unique chalk drawings of Pocahontas, Ray Charles, Frida Kahlo and others still ador n the Spring River Hike and Bike Trail after the eighth
annual Chalk Art Festival at the Roswell Museum and Art Center. Ninety-nine artists created 92 chalk art sidewalk drawings Saturday. The event is inspired by
See CHALK, Page A3
Most of the cases don’t involve travel to West Africa, “but we’d rather have a wider net cast,” said Frieden. That way “we’re more likely to find someone promptly if they did actually have exposure and they do actually have symptoms,” he said.
6 receive sentences for robbery spree STAFF REPORT
Jeff Tucker Photos Left: Fifteen-year-old Karsyn Jordan of Dexter won the People’s Choice Award for her depiction of Ray Charles in the eighth annual Chalk Art Festival Saturday at the Roswell Museum and Art Center. Above: Sixteen-year-old Alejandra Ruiz of Roswell won first place in the student category for her drawing of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo at the festival on Saturday.
the Dallas patient was diagnosed. Federal officials have said tests have been done on about 15 and all but one — Duncan — were false alarms.
Six Eddy County residents, including two from Artesia, were sentenced this week for robbing several businesses in Artesia, Carlsbad and Hobbs in a wintertime robbery spree. Prosecutors said a total of seven men wore masks or covered their faces with bandanas while brandishing firear ms when they committed the robberies. Six men: Bennie Juarez, Gucci Lopez, Logan Magby, Mario Muro, Rance Williams and Tyler Williams were sentenced to prison ter ms Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning by a federal judge in
Las Cruces. They were charged in May 2013 with violating the Hobbs Act by robbing businesses engaged in interstate commerce. A co-defendant, Maurice Williams, was previously sentenced. According to court records, the seven men, acting in groups, robbed five commercial businesses in southeastern New Mexico between November 2012 and January 2013. The businesses robbed were a Domino’s Pizza and a Family Dollar store in Artesia, a Shop-N-Go and a Family Dollar store in
Joining police force takes time, training BY RANDAL SEYLER RECORD CITY EDITOR
Have you ever wondered how someone becomes a member of the Roswell Police Department? The short answer is this — It ain’t easy. After passing a physical and written test, probationary officers also go through three phases of training, Mayor Dennis Kintigh said on Friday.
See SPREE, Page A2
Kintigh served as Roswell’s interim police chief in 2012, and he is familiar with the requirements one must meet to be a certified law enforcement officer in New Mexico. “I am a retired FBI special agent with 24 years of experience,” Kintigh said, but in spite of that training and experience, Kintigh had to apply for his certifi-
Free attorney for a day Ramage ending medical career after 37 years
With up to
There weren’t any amusements rides or livestock shows at this fair in Chaves County. Instead, there were plenty of lawyers and a few judges hanging around — but in this case that was a good thing. On Friday, Chaves County residents were afforded the opportunity to have a free legal consultation with an attorney at the Chaves County Legal Fair, held at the Roswell Adult and Senior Center. Consultations were offered in both English and Spanish. Free legal advice was given on matters ranging from divorce to bankruptcy, to personal injury and
worker’s compensation to unemployment and immigration. “We’ve made it an annual thing. The attorneys really enjoy it,” said Jared Kallunki, a Roswell attorney with his own practice. Kallunki was co-chair of the event, along with Dustin Hunter of Kraft & Hunter, LLP, a small Roswell-based firm. Kallunki said the legal fairs started about four or five years ago with around 10 or 12 attorneys participating. Now, the fairs are held twice a year and on Friday about 25 percent of all the attor neys in the county volunteered their time, Kallunki said. Hunter said the Adult and Senior Center has been
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THE FUTURE
BY TIMOTHY P. HOWSARE RECORD EDITOR
BY RANDAL SEYLER RECORD CITY EDITOR
After 37 years of practicing medicine in Roswell, Dr. Thomas Ramage is hanging up his stethoscope. On Sept. 30, Dr. Ramage ended his practice in Roswell, but he will still hold some office hours in Lovington, he said, as well as help his son with his business, the Iron Horse Rail Terminal, which specializes in moving fracking sand, crude oil, cement quality freshwater and pipe. Ramage, a rheumatologist, has been not only a physician but a developmental force behind the medical community of
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• HENRY LEE ANGLIN • GLENN W. ASKWIG JR. • JOE ROSARIO CHAVEZ
Dr. Thomas Ramage
Roswell since he and wife Judy arrived here in 1977. “All my boys and my 11 grandchildren are all here,” Ramage said. “We are New Mexicans, this is
our home.” Originally from Burna, Ky., Ramage and his wife wound up lost in Roswell in the 1970s after visiting Taos, he said. They were impressed with the community, and when Ramage got back home to Kentucky, where he was completing a fellowship as a young doctor at the University of Kentucky, he contacted Roswell about relocating to southeastern New Mexico. Ramage received his medical degree from University of Kentucky College of Medicine and completed his internship there before joining the Air Force as a flight surgeon. His Air Force career took Ramage to the
See POLICE, Page A3
Southwest. He was stationed in Big Spring, Texas, during his two-year hitch in the Air Force. “Being a flight surgeon was boring,” he said. “You have a vested interest in NOT getting sick when you are a pilot,” he added. When he wasn’t moonlighting in the ER in Kermit, Texas, Ramage was playing basketball with the airbase basketball team — which consisted of nine African-American teenagers, and him, a 30year old Caucasian doctor. “We traveled all over the state, playing dif ferent bases and teams,” Ramage said. “One of the officers tried to tell me, ‘OK See RAMAGE, Page A3
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