Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 120, No. 257 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
OBAMA OFFERS MORTGAGE RELIEF
LAS VEGAS (AP) — President Barack Obama offered mortgage relief on Monday to hundreds of thousands of Americans, his latest attempt to ease the economic and political fallout of a housing crisis that has bedeviled him as he seeks a second term.
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
October 25, 2011
TUESDAY
www.rdrnews.com
Job losses a growing drag on recovery
WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative Republicans have long clamored for gover nment downsizing. They’re starting to get it — by default. Crippled by plunging tax revenues, state and local gover nments have shed over a half million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. And, after adding jobs early in the downturn, the federal government is now cutting them as well. States cut 49,000 jobs over the past year and
localities 210,000, according to an analysis of Labor Department statistics. There are 30,000 fewer federal workers now than a year ago — including 5,300 Postal Service jobs canceled last month. By contrast, private-sector jobs have increased by 1.6 million over the past 12 months. But the state, local and federal job losses have become a drag on efforts to nudge the nation’s unemployment rate down from its painfully high 9.1 percent.
The economy has been expanding, at least modestly, since the middle of 2009. And state and local governments are usually engines of job growth during recoveries. But not now, said economist Heidi Shierholz of the labor aligned Economic Policy Institute. “The public sector didn’t start to lose jobs right away. But then it did as the budget crunch really hit. State governments are not allowed to run deficits. So the private sector is
Grassfire rips through open land
expanding while the public sector is shedding jobs — to the tune of 35,000 jobs a month,” she said. President Barack Obama sought to ease the crunch by including $35 billion to prevent layoffs of police, firefighters and teachers in his $447 billion jobs package. But that big bill hit a GOP wall in Congress. Ef forts to pass what Obama called “bite-sized pieces” of the big bill have stalled, too. Republicans don’t want to swallow them, regardless the serv-
TOP 5 For The Past 24 Hours
• NMMI cadets, alumni mark Homecoming • Alumni tour new Pearson Auditorium • Students honored for character • State honors officers • Quick start carries NMMI to win
INSIDE SPORTS
Mark Wilson Photo
A grassfire races through open land near Woodbine and Baker roads southeast of Roswell Monday evening as firefighters work to surround and contain it.
TODAY’S • • • • • • • • •
OBITUARIES
Priscilla Worcester Sergio Chacon Merel Moehring Lenna Young James Hanson Julian Galvan Carol Hines Lloyd Rowin Raymond Lopez - PAGE B9
HIGH ...93˚ LOW ....55˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B4 COMICS.................B8 ENTERTAINMENT.....B4 FINANCIAL .............B7 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ......A10 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ............A10 WORLD .................A6
See LOSSES, Page A8
JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER
WEB
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Mike Napoli hit a tiebreaking two-run double in the eighth inning against Marc Rzepczynski, and the Texas Rangers rallied from a two-run deficit to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 on Monday night and take a 3-2 World Series lead. Solo home runs by Mitch Moreland in the third... - PAGE B1
The dynamic is already reverberating through the gathering presidential campaign cycle, with Republicans making an issue out of what they depict as Obama’s inability to turn the economy around. This has been driven home in
City approves amended ordinance of Economic Plan
- PAGE A3
RANGERS WIN GAME 5
ing size. Senate Republicans blocked the $35 billion installment late last week when Democratic leaders called it up as stand-alone legislation.
Following three hours of discussion and debate amongst city councilors, city officials and members of the Municipal Gross Receipts Tax committee, the Roswell City Council approved an amended ordinance regarding the city’s Economic Development Plan to be advertised for public hearing during a special city council meeting Monday evening. Earlier debate focused largely on the perception of the citizens of Roswell and Chaves County towards the plan and specifically the GRT, which is mentioned under the plan. Mayor Jurney is re-introducing the proposal to add a Municipal Infrastructure Gross Receipts Tax to the city’s current growth receipt tax. The pro-
Oil and gas lease One dies in car accident sale sells 27 tracts JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER
A bid of $6,166.40 by Yates Petroleum Corporation on an oil tract in Chaves County will benefit public schools throughout the state. The bid was part of the New Mexico State Land Office’s monthly Oil and Gas Lease Sale which was held Oct. 18 in Santa Fe. Twenty-eight tracts were offered for lease and 27 were sold for a total cost of $3,964,604. All tracts were located in Chaves, Eddy and Lea counties. “Our New Mexico State Trust Lands provide significant financial support of our public schools, universities, and hospitals,”according to a press
release about the sale which quote State Land Commissioner Ray Powell. The bids from October’s sale go directly to the state’s land trust beneficiaries including public schools, hospitals and universities. The beneficiaries for the tract in Chaves County are common schools, otherwise known as public schools, according to Marti Niman, public relations specialist for the state land office. Thus the money earned from the sale of the Chaves County oil tract will be distributed amongst public schools throughout all counties in the state, Niman said. Yates, which has a main
See CITY, Page A8
JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Passenger Sergio Chacon, 21, died in an accident when the driver lost control of the 2005 Dodge Ram, around 11 p.m. on Saturday, and ran over the curb in front of Home Depot, 2350 N. Main St. The pickup rolled two-and-a-half times into the culvert, ejecting all three occupants, and landed upside down in the parking lot. Jessica Palmer Photo The driver and the Officer Travis Holley stands before what is left of the vehicle, a two passengers were transported to Eastern 1500 Dodge Ram pickup, after Saturday’s roll-over accident New Mexico Medical that occurred on Main Street in front of the Home Depot. Center. “Chacon was ment Public Information vehicular homicide, DWI pronounced dead a few Officer Travis Holley. and racing. “He admitted minutes later,” said Jose Alfred Maciel, 20, Roswell Police Depart- has been charged with
Turks weep as survivors, bodies pulled from rubble See LEASE, Page A8
See ACCIDENT, Page A8
ERCIS, Turkey (AP) — Distraught Turkish families mourned outside a mosque or sought to identify loved ones among rows of bodies Monday as rescue workers scoured debris for survivors after a 7.2-magnitude quake that killed at least 279 people.
INDEX
AP Photo
Emergency crews work to rescue people from the debris and rubble of collapsed buildings in Ercis, eastern Turkey, Monday.
Rescue teams with generator -powered floodlights worked into the night in the worst-hit city of Ercis, where running water and electricity were cut by the quake that rocked eastern Turkey on Sunday. Unnerved by over 200 aftershocks, many residents slept outside their
homes, making campfires to ward off the cold, as aid organizations rushed to erect tents for the homeless.
Victims were trapped in mounds of concrete, twisted steel and construction debris after over a hundred buildings in two cities and mud-brick homes in nearby villages pancaked or partially collapsed in Sunday’s earthquake. About 80 multistory buildings collapsed in Ercis, a city of 75,000 close to the Iranian border that lies in one of Turkey’s most earthquake-prone zones. Cranes and other heavy
equipment lifted slabs of concrete, allowing residents to dig for the missing with shovels. Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said the quake killed 279 people and injured 1,300, though search-and-rescue efforts could end as early as Tuesday. Authorities said 10 of the dead were students learning about the Quran at a religious school that collapsed. Grieving families cried outside an Ercis mosque. “My nephew, his wife and their child, all three dead. See TURKS, Page A8