Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 121, No. 254 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
ACTIVIST RUSSELL MEANS DIES SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Russell Means spent a lifetime as a modern American Indian warrior. He railed against broken treaties, fought for the return of stolen land and even took up arms against the federal government. A onetime leader of the American Indian Movement, he called ... - PAGE A7
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
October 23, 2012
TUESDAY
www.rdrnews.com
Final debate: Challenging each other face to face
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — President Barack Obama sharply challenged Mitt Romney on foreign policy in their final campaign debate Monday night, saying, “every time you’ve offered an opinion you’ve been wrong.” The Republican coolly responded, “Attacking me is not an agenda” for dealing with a dangerous world. With the two men seated at a semi-circular table, the early moments of the debate produced none of the finger-pointing and little of the interrupting that marked their debate last week. But there was little or no agreement, either, on Libya,
Syria, Russia and other national security issues in a 90-minute encounter at Lynn University. Romney said that despite early hopes, the ouster of despotic regimes in Egypt, Libya and elsewhere over the past year have resulted in a “rising tide of chaos.” He said the president has failed to come up with a coherent policy to grapple with change sweeping the Middle East, and he added ominously that an alQaida-like group has taken over northern Mali. Anticipating one of Obama’s most frequent campaign assertions, Romney said of the man seated nearby, “I congratulate him
on taking out Osama bin Laden and taking on the leadership of al-Qaida. But we can’t kill our way out of this. ... We must have a comprehensive strategy.”
Obama said he had ended the war in Iraq, was on a path to end the U.S. combat role in Afghanistan and has vowed to bring justice to the attackers of the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi last month — an assault that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans. He also jabbed at Romney’s having said during the campaign that Russia See DEBATE, Page A3
AP Photo
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama shake hands during the second presidential debate at Hofstra University on Oct. 16 in Hempstead, N.Y.
James Gomez again faces charges
NMMI marks homecoming with Honor Guard
TOP 5
James Gomez, 22, was arrested late in September on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of battery. Gomez had been previously charged with the Feb. 23, 2010, slaying of 16-year-old Zachary Perez whose body was found in a vacant lot near East Fifth Street in Roswell. The autopsy reported Perez had been stabbed 22 times. Gomez admitted to stabbing Perez during the trial. He was acquitted by the jury in April of 2011.
WEB
For The Past 24 Hours
• Martinez to Roswell: Let’s fix this • Police: NM man secretly lived in family’s shed • Deputies: NM man on meth stole ... • Push America pays yearly Tobosa visit • Roswell girls down ...
INSIDE SPORTS
Mark Wilson Photo
The NMMI ceremonial guard for the Centennial Flame marches as the Honor Guard Ceremony is conducted in Bronco Plaza during homecoming weekend, Saturday morning.
DEFENSE LIGHTS THE WAY TO WIN
TODAY’S OBITUARIES Johnny Bartlett James Hardcastle Lorraine Juliana Renee Little Holly Young
- PAGE A7
HIGH ...89˚ LOW ....53˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B5 COMICS.................B3 ENTERTAINMENT.....A8 FINANCIAL .............B4 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 NATION .................A7 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
See GOMEZ, Page A3
Anti-drug campaign kicks off at Sunset Elementary NM voter
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — It’s been awhile since the Dallas Cowboys relied this heavily on their defense. But that’s exactly what coach Jason Garrett did in Dallas’ 19-14 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. - PAGE B1
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According to the affidavit for criminal complaint on the battery and assault charges, the incident occurred at his Indiana Street residence in Hagerman on March 31. The Hagerman Police Department was dispatched after
Ilissa Gilmore Photo
Two-year-old EleaSiana Sanchez holds balloons during Sunset Elementary’s Red Ribbon Week parade.
ILISSA GILMORE RECORD STAFF WRITER
The south side of Roswell’s main street got a splash of red to offset its desert landscape Monday
as Sunset Elementary kicked of f Red Ribbon Week with its annual parade. Dressed in red shirts and clutching red and black balloons, students,
along with faculty and volunteering family members marched from the school, located at 606 O’Connor Road, to a park near the Roswell Industrial Air Center. Red Ribbon Week is a nationwide effort to educate children of drug use and abuse. Diane Taylor of the Chaves County DWI Program said the week and its events are important because drug abuse “starts at a younger age than it did 10 or 15 years ago. “Every family is affected by drug use; it is of epidemic proportions,” she said. “It’s only by changing attitudes, behavior and education that we can make a difference. Every tragedy can be prevented by making the right decisions.” Every school in Chaves County participates in the anti-drug campaign, but
“no other school in the county does it this way,” said principal Mireya Trujillo. Classes from K-5 carried banners decorated by students featuring slogans such as “Lions, T igers, Bears, Oh My—Drinking, Smoking, Drugs, Goodbye!” while chanting antidrug statements: “Be smart, don’t start!” Mariana Federico, 11, held one of the signs from the fifthgrade class, reading “Don’t do drugs. We’d Rather Eat Bugs” on one side. Accompanied by the Roswell High band and cheerleaders from Mountain View Middle School, the parade had a pep rally atmosphere, drawing roadside onlookers and honks from passing cars. Members of the police and fire departments also were on hand to lead the See SUNSET, Page A3
registration up 5% since 2008 election
SANTA FE (AP) — Voter registration in New Mexico has increased about 5 percent since the last presidential election, and independent voters have grown the fastest, state election officials reported Monday. Nearly 1.3 million people are registered and eligible to vote in the Nov. 6 general election, according to the latest figures from the secretary of state’s office since registration closed earlier this month. The number of New Mexicans who declined to affiliate with a political party when they registered to vote — so-called independents or “declined to state” as New Mexico election officials label them— has increased by 22 percent
Conflicts in Syria expose neighbor Lebanon’s own thin veneer of stability
BEIRUT (AP) — Potentially the most unstable country in the Middle East, Lebanon for the most part has stayed on the sidelines of the Arab Spring, keeping up appearances as an oasis of relative modernity, commerce and good times.
tians, Sunni and Shiites, and secular and fundamentalist groups. Outside forces are still arrayed, militias are still armed and the country seems forever on the verge of tearing itself apart.
But the spillover effects of the Syrian war are ripping off that thin veneer.
Beneath the surface lurk the same forces that devastated the country during its years of civil war, with simmering hatreds still dividing Muslims and Chris-
AP Photo
Lebanese Army soldiers patrol during clashes that erupted between supporters and opponents of the Syrian regime in Tripoli, Lebanon, Monday.
“Of all Syria’s neighbors, Lebanon is the weakest, the most political and ideologically polarized and split among sectarian lines,” said Fawaz A. Gerges, head of the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics. “The fear is not if the Syrian conflict will
See VOTER, Page A3
spill over — but whether it has already reached the streets of Beirut.”
The assassination of Lebanon’s intelligence chief in a car bomb Friday is threatening to upend a fragile political balance in Lebanon, a country plagued by decades of strife — much of it linked to political and military domination by Damascus.
The funeral for Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan descended into chaos over See LEBANON, Page A3