A6 Tuesday, October 14, 2014 OBITUARIES
James Leonard Pilley
Funeral services are scheduled for 10 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2014 at Hagerman Community Center for James Leonard Pilley, 74, who passed away Saturday, Oct. 11, 2014 at Eastern New Mexico Medical Center. Jimmy Derrick will officiate with burial to follow at Hagerman Cemetery. The family request casual dress for services in colors of Bobcat green (optional) and jeans. Jim was bor n Feb. 1, 1940 in Hager man to Leonard R. Pilley and Ella Dalphne Brown who have preceded him in death. He is also preceded in death by his sister Wanda Fischer. Those left to cherish his memory are his wife Judy Pilley of Hager man; son Jett and wife Zana of Cottonwood; daughter Jana Flores and husband David of Hager man; brothers Wayne Pilley and wife Winone of Hagerman and Terry Pilley and wife Jerrie of Bingham; sisters Louise Elston of Denver, Lavonne De Vaney and husband Tom of Roswell and Thelma Pilley of Lubbock; grand-
NATION/OBITUARIES
children Stefanie Stephens and husband Jarred of Tatum, Christopher Pilley of Cottonwood, Kade Lucero and wife Cassandra of Hager man and Kayci Lucero of Hagerman; greatgrandchildren Ethan Stephens, Trevin Stephens, Landen Lucero and Liam James Lucero. Also surviving him are numerous nieces and nephews. Jim was a lifelong resident of Hager man. He graduated in Hagerman in 1958. Jim had his own business in plumbing for many years. He served on the Hager man School Board and Town Council for a number of years and was also on the Board of Directors at the Chaves County Joy Center in Hagerman. He was a past member of Hager man Cemetery Board. Jim coached little league and was a strong supporter of all Hager man school sports. He was an avid hunter and loved the outdoors but most of all he loved his family who was very important to him. Serving as pallbearers are Nor man Caf fall, Richard Johnson, Floyd Grantham, Frank Rhodes, Donald Bannister, Kade Lucero, Christopher Pilley, Allen Pilley, Wesley Pilley, John Pilley, Andrew Rodriquez, Tim Pollard and Allen Coats. Honorary pallbearers are all Hagerman athletes past and present. Memorial contributions may be made in Jim’s name to the Chaves County Joy Center in Hagerman, 503 Argyle, Hagerman, NM 88232.
Democrats say GOP budget cuts hurt Ebola response
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are trying to gain a political edge on the Ebola front, saying Republican-driven spending cuts have hurt the nation’s ability to fight the deadly disease. It was pushback against Republicans who have accused President Barack Obama of doing too little to combat Ebola. Democrats say it’s the GOP’s steady push for less government spending that’s hampering key agencies at a crucial time. “Republicans voted to cut CDC’s budget to fight Ebola,” says a new Web ad aimed at GOP House candidates, and sponsored by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The CDC is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The ad is not running on TV or radio thus far, and it’s unclear whether it, and similar efforts, will have much impact on the midter m elections three weeks away. Republicans are reaching for six new seats to grab control of the Senate and to strengthen their majority in the House. Polls show Americans paying far more attention to Ebola than to the elections. Alarm rose Sunday on news that a Dallas nurse contracted the disease after treating a man who died after being exposed in Africa. Health officials say a U.S. breakout is highly unlikely. But political campaigns often feed on hyperbole, fear and other emotions that might energize voters. Both parties are testing Ebola’s political power. The stakes are highest in Senate races. Republicans hope to gain six new Senate seats to control the chamber. Some Republicans are tying new fears about Ebola to long-standing concerns about the Mexican border. “ We h a v e a n E b o l a outbreak, we have bad actors who can come across the border,” said Thom T illis, the North Carolina Republican
seeking to oust Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan. “ We n e e d t o s e a l t h e border and secure it,” he said.
A pro-Democratic group, Agenda Project, has produced a 60-second TV ad saying Republican-driven budget cuts are hurting the nation’s public health mobilization.
The ad, supported by modest spending so far, shows T illis and many other Republicans in splitsecond footage saying “cut,” presumably in reference to federal spending. The ad will begin in Kentucky, the group said, and expand to North Carolina and other states with tight Senate races.
In 2011, after huge GOP election gains, Obama recommended spending cuts in numerous areas, including disease control.
But federal programs of nearly every type took significantly bigger hits in 2013, as the Republicancontrolled House demanded less spending.
Francis Collins, head of the National Institutes of Health, said spending cuts have hurt efforts to develop Ebola vaccines.
“If we had not gone through our 10-year slide in research support, we probably would have had a vaccine in time for this,” Collins recently told the Huffington Post.
In several congressional campaigns, Ebola has become an important but not dominant issue. In Colorado, Democratic Sen. Mark Udall criticized his GOP opponent, Rep. Cory Gardner, for voting to cut $300 million from the CDC budget. “That’s not how we protect our country,” Udall said.
Gardner said the CDC had funded jazzercise classes and massage. He and Tillis are among the Republicans calling for a ban on flights from West African nations afflicted by Ebola. On Monday, Gardner’s campaign noted that Udall had also voted to cut the CDC’s budget.
Roswell Daily Record
Health officials urge hospitals to ‘think Ebola’ DALLAS (AP) — Federal health officials on Monday urged the nation’s hospitals to “think Ebola” and launched a review of procedures for treating infected patients, while the World Health Organization called the outbreak “the most severe, acute health emergency seen in modern times.” In Texas, medical records showed that a 26year-old nurse who contracted Ebola while caring for a dying Liberian man repeatedly visited his room from the day he was placed in intensive care until the day before he died. Nurse Nina Pham was among about 70 hospital staffers who were involved in Thomas Eric Duncan’s care after he was hospitalized, according to the records. They drew his blood, put tubes down his throat and wiped up his diarrhea. They analyzed his urine and wiped saliva from his lips, even after he had lost consciousness. Pham and other health care workers at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital wore protective gear, including gowns, gloves, masks and face shields — and sometimes full-body suits — when caring for Duncan, but Pham became the first person to contract the disease within the United States. Her family told Dallas television station WFAA on Monday that she was the health care worker with Ebola. A rector at her family’s church, Hung Le, told The Associated Press that Pham’s mother told him Pham has the virus. The Texas Christian University nursing school graduate was monitoring her own temperature and went to the hospital Friday night when she discovered she had a low fever. She was in isolation and in stable condition, health officials said. Public-health authorities have since intensified their monitoring of other Dallas hospital workers who cared for Duncan. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Director Tom Frieden said he would not be surprised if another hospital worker who cared for Duncan becomes ill because Ebola patients become more contagious as the disease progresses. Pham’s name appears frequently throughout the hundreds of pages of records provided to The Associated Press by Duncan’s family. They show she was in his room Oct. 7, the day before he died. Her notes describe nurses going in and out of Duncan’s room wearing protective gear to treat him and to mop the floor with bleach. She also notes how she and other nurses were ensuring Duncan’s “privacy and comfort,” and providing “emotional support.” Frieden has said a breach of protocol led to the nurse’s infection, but officials are not sure what went wrong. Pham has not been able to point to any specific breach. The CDC is now monitoring all hospital workers who treated Duncan and planned to “double down” on training and outreach on how to safely treat Ebola patients, Frieden said. When asked how many health care workers are being checked, Frieden said officials “don’t have a number.” Health of ficials have relied on a “self-monitoring” system when it comes to U.S. health care workers who care for isolated Ebola patients. They expect workers to report any potential exposures to the virus and watch themselves for symptoms. Besides the workers, health officials continue to track 48 people who were in contact with Duncan before he was admitted to the hospital and placed in isolation. They are monitoring one person the nurse was in contact with while she was in an infectious state. None has exhibited symptoms, Frieden said. The case involving Pham raised questions about assurances by
AP Photo
Protect Environmental workers move disposal barrels to a staging area outside the apartment of a health care worker who treated Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan and tested positive for the disease, Monday, in Dallas.
American health officials that the disease will be contained and that any U.S. hospital should be able to treat it. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told ABC’s “Good Mor ning America” that federal health authorities should consider requiring that Ebola patients be sent only to highly specialized “containment” hospitals. Duncan, who arrived in the U.S. from Liberia Sept. 20, first sought medical care for fever and abdominal pain Sept. 25. He told a nurse he had traveled from Africa, but he was sent home. He retur ned Sept. 28 and was placed in isolation because of suspected Ebola. Among the things the CDC will investigate is how the workers took o f f p r o t e c t i v e g e a r, because removing it incorrectly can lead to contamination. Investigators will also look at dialysis and intubation — the insertion of a breathing tube in a patient’s airway. Both procedures have the potential to spread the virus. Fauci told CNN that the CDC is examining procedures like dialysis to see if
they “heighten greatly” the risk of health care workers contracting Ebola. He suggested that in cases where the patient has deteriorated to the point where he or she cannot be saved, such high-risk procedures should not be done. Every emergency room needs to be prepared to take action because no one can control where an Ebola patient might show up, said Dr. Dennis Maki, an infectious-disease specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and former head of hospital infection control. However, only large hospitals such as those affiliated with major universities truly have the equipment and manpower to deal with Ebola correctly, Maki said. Officials said there is a dog in the nurse’s apartment, and they are trying to find a location to monitor and care for the animal. They do not believe the pet has any signs of Ebola. A dog belonging to an infected Spanish nurse was euthanized, drawing thousands of complaints. Ebola has killed more than 4,000 people, mostly in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, according to WHO figures published last week.
DC adds race to nation’s debate on legalizing pot
WASHINGTON (AP) — A debate over legalizing marijuana in the nation’s capital is focusing on the outsized number of arrests of African Americans on minor drug charges. Pot legalization supporters in Colorado and Washington state also spoke about racial justice, but their voters are mostly white and their campaigns focused more on other issues. The race factor hits closer to many more homes in the District, where nearly half the population is black. And that means this referendum could change how the nation talks about marijuana, some drug-policy experts say. “I think D.C. is going to probably set off a chain of events in which communities of color generally and cities in particular take on the issue of legalization as a racial justice, social justice issue in a much stronger way than they have so far,” said Bill Piper, director of national affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance. There are many other dif-
ferences between the District and states that have legalized pot. The city is a patchwork of local and federal land, and there will be no lighting up in front of the White House or at the Jefferson Memorial. Also, Washington remains under the thumb of Congress, which could thwart the will of the voters as it has on other matters where liberal District tendencies clash with conservative priorities on Capitol Hill.
Nonetheless, the District is on track to join Colorado and Washington state in legalizing marijuana. A poll last month showed nearly 2 of every 3 voters favor the initiative, which will be on November’s ballot. Voters in Alaska and Oregon also decide this fall whether to legalize pot.
Roughly half of the District’s 646,000 residents are black. The American Civil Liberties Union found that in 2010, blacks were eight times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession in the District, and 91 percent of those arrested that year
were black. “It would alleviate a lot of problems,” said Kenneth Agee, 46, a heating and air conditioning mechanic who plans to vote for legalization. “There may be less violence on the streets associated with marijuana trafficking and sales.” The D.C. Council tried earlier this year to address racial disparities by decriminalizing marijuana, as 17 states have done. Possession of up to one ounce of pot in the District is now subject to a $25 fine, among the lowest in the nation. The law took effect in July, despite an attempt by Rep. Andy Harris, a Maryland Republican, to block the measure. Legalization advocates say decriminalization has not done enough, citing police statistics that show most of the $25 tickets are being handed out in predominantly black neighborhoods. “We can tell the police, ‘Guess what? It’s not even a crime. You don’t have to write a ticket,”’ said Adam Eidinger, chairman of the
D.C. Cannabis Campaign, the group that crafted the initiative and got it on the ballot.
The initiative also is notable for what it lacks. Because ballot initiatives in the District can’t affect the budget, it does not provide for the legal sale of marijuana or set up a system to tax and regulate it. That would be up to the mayor and the council. Voters will also be choosing a new mayor in November to replace Vincent Gray, and both leading candidates have said they support legalization.
In Colorado and Washington state, the federal government said legal pot must be kept of f federal property such as parks and other huge swaths of U.S. land. That could be more complicated in the District, where the situation can change from block to block. The parkland the federal gover nment owns in the District, for instance, includes 59 inner -city squares and triangles.