Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 123, No. 250 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
October 17, 2014
FRIDAY
www.rdrnews.com
Commissioners to petition Congress on PILT funding Economic development ordinance to get public hearing BY RANDAL SEYLER RECORD CITY EDITOR
The Chaves County Board of Commissioners sent a message to Congress on Thursday asking the government to provide full funding for federally owned land within the county. The federal government owns approximately 32 percent of the land in Chaves County, and the government provides Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT) funding, which amounts to about 12 percent of the county’s annual revenues, County Manager Stanton Riggs told the commissioners.
The commissioners approved a resolution asking Congress to make good on the federal government’s PILT obligations. “In this resolution, we’re asking Congress to provide full PILT funding for fiscal year 2015, and we also ask Congress to develop a sustainable, long-term solution for providing that funding,” Riggs said. PIL T is administered through the Department of the Interior and provides funding for mostly rural counties that have a limited ability to levy taxes due to the amount of federal property in their jurisdiction, including Bureau of Land
Management land, national parks and forests and military bases, according to a June news release from Sen. Tom Udall’s website, tomudall.senate.gov. New Mexico received about $37 million from PILT funding in 2014. Riggs said the resolution will be forwarded to the National Association of Counties, who will take the association members’ concerns to Washington. “Nearly every county in the U.S. has some federal or state land, so nearly every county is affected by PIL T funding,” he said. “This funding is very important to everybody’s
general fund budgets.” “Imagine what the revenue for that property would be if we were paid property taxes on all that property,” said Commissioner Robert Corn. “I think the federal government is getting quite a deal if they are only paying 12 percent of our revenues for 32 percent of the land.” Chairman James Duffey said he estimated that if the government would pay taxes on county land at the same rate as the public, then the county’s revenues would double. “That’s an important See FUNDING, Page A3
Commissioners discuss inaccessibility of courthouse BY RANDAL SEYLER RECORD CITY EDITOR
The outside elevator, which provides access to the Chaves County Courthouse for disabled residents, is out of service, and county officials are left wondering how to remedy the situation. “I got chewed on over the outside elevator, and we’ve been getting complaints at the courthouse
Roswell Police say they do not think the three shootings that happened Tuesday night and Wednesday morning were related incidents. “Investigators do not believe the three incidents are connected. They are being investigated separately,” said Todd Wildermuth, public information of ficer for the Roswell Police Department, in an email statement on Thursday. No arrests have yet been made as investigations are
Above: Bill Moffitt Photo we’ve got almost a 20-
“If you’re going to win statewide, then you have to do well in Chaves County,” Sanchez said. “Right now (the polls say)
See COURTHOUSE, Page A3
in the early stages, Widermuth said. A 19-year -old woman came to the police station on Tuesday at 9:42 p.m. to report that while she was driving north on North Main Street near the intersection with Fifth Street, a white pickup truck rammed her Ford Expedition, and then someone in the pickup shot at her Expedition. A single shot was reported and it appears to have not struck the victim’s vehicle, Wildermuth said. “In the first incident, the suspect vehicle was
Officials move to keep Dallas health workers at home
Sanchez visits Roswell
point lead over Gary King. Every time that Gary talks our points, our lead just gets bigger.” Sanchez added: “The gover nor and I want to make sure that every Republican on the ballot wins come Nov. 4. This party has to be built not only from the top down but from the bottom up as Susan Riedel, Land Commissioner candidate well.” Aubrey Dunn, Chaves County Republican Right: Jeff Tucker Photo Women Club President From left to right, Lt. Joan Boue and New MexiGov. John Sanchez, Attor- co Court of Appeals Judge ney General candidate Miles Hanisee gather for a
The elevator was closed to public use, and the access ramp is an iffy proposition, Snyder said. “It’s no problem for a healthy person to push someone in a wheelchair
Police say there’s no connection in recent shootings BY RANDAL SEYLER RECORD CITY EDITOR
Lt. Gov. John Sanchez shakes hands with Chaves County Republican Women T reasurer Judie Yeager during a reception at Republican Headquarters in Roswell Wednesday after noon. Sanchez told the crowd that he and Gov. Susana Martinez are looking for a Republican sweep in three weeks.
about the lack of the elevator,” Chief Deputy and Sheriff-elect Britt Snyder told the Chaves County Board of Commissioners on Thursday.
photo after Wednesday’s GOP luncheon in Roswell. Hundreds of local Republicans attended the Republican Women Club’s last monthly meeting before the Nov. 4 general election.
DALLAS (AP) — Texas officials moved for the first time Thursday to force health care workers who had contact with a dying Ebola patient in Dallas to stay home, reversing course after a nurse later diagnosed with the disease flew across the Midwest and deepened anxiety about whether the virus would spread in the U.S. Dozens of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dal-
See SHOOTINGS, Page A3
las employees who had contact with Thomas Eric Duncan were asked to sign legal documents in which they agreed not go to public places or use mass transit, according to Judge Clay Jenkins, top administrator for Dallas County. The agreements given to 75 health care workers are binding legal documents
State gets an OK for Armored dinosaur discovered in NM Gallup vet cemetery
SANTA FE (AP) — New Mexico hopes to open its first state-owned veterans cemetery in the spring of 2016, according to a top of ficial in Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration. State Veterans’ Services Secretary T imothy Hale said Wednesday the U.S. Department of Veterans Af fairs has notified the state it plans to provide a grant to establish a cemetery in Gallup in northwestern New Mexico. The final award of the grant hinges on Congress and the president reaching an agreement on a federal budget. Hale said groundbreaking could start next spring and the goal is to open the
cemetery the following year. “It is an exciting location because it is such an underserved portion of our veteran population,” Hale said in an interview. The cemetery is expected to serve western portions of the state and the Navajo Nation, providing more burial options for veterans and their spouses than the national cemeteries in Santa Fe and at Fort Bayard in New Mexico. There’s also the Fort Bliss National Cemetery in Texas outside of El Paso. More than half of New Mexico’s 170,000 veterans live too far from the national cemeteries in the state, See CEMETERY, Page A3
HIGH 81 LOW 51
TODAY’S FORECAST
BY DANIEL MONTANO NEW MEXICO DAILY LOBO
ALBUQUERQUE — Researchers at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science have discovered a new dinosaur species that is unique to New Mexico. Known as the Ziapelta sanjuanensis, researchers said the novel species offers fresh insights into the evolution and diversity of some of the oldest inhabitants of the state. Spencer G. Lucas, curator of paleontology and geology at the museum, said the Ziapelta fossils were found in the Kirtland formation at Hunter Wash, an area in the San Juan Basin located in northeastern New Mexico. The name Ziapelta or
• MANUEL R. MATTA
Photo Courtesy of the New Mexico Daily Lobo
Spencer G. Lucas shows the remains of Ziapeltasanjuanensis, a new dinosaur species that is unique to New Mexico, at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. The Ziapelta fossils were found in the Kirtland formation at Hunter Wash, an area in the San Juan Basin located in northeastern New Mexico.
“sunshield” refers to the animal’s New Mexican roots and its armor plating, Lucas said.
• ARTURO ORNELAS
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE A6
The 73-million-year-old fossils represent a new form of armored dinosaur previously unknown in the
CLASSIFIEDS ..........B6 COMICS .................B5 ENTERTAINMENT ...B10 FINANCIAL ..............B4
See EBOLA, Page A3
late Cretaceous, he said. Although only the skull and collarbone were recovered, Lucas said researchers were able to speculate what it might have looked like by comparing it to similar fossils of known dinosaurs. Its closest relative is the Ankylosaurus, another armored herbivore known to occupy areas of northern Montana and southern Alberta in Canada. “This is the only known individual right now so this is a unique fossil,” Lucas said. “But the fact that its closest relatives are in Canada suggests there was some sort of genetic flow across the continent.” Robert M. Sullivan, a felSee DINOSAUR, Page A7
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2 HOROSCOPES .......B10
LOTTERIES .............A2
OPINION .................A4
SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ............A10