Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 123, No. 271 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
November 11, 2014
TUESDAY
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Ezzell defeated for whip but hoping for chairmanship BY JEFF TUCKER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Roswell State Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell did not win election to a House leadership post Saturday, although Ezzell said Monday she’s hopeful of being appointed chair of the House Energy & Natural Resources Committee, on which she has served for 10 years. Republicans and Republicans-elect of the New Mexico House of Representatives met Saturday in
Albuquerque to choose leadership positions for the 2015 legislative session that begins in January in Santa Fe. State Rep. Don Tripp of Socorro was unanimously nominated Saturday by his fellow Republicans to become House Speaker, the most powerful position in the House. The speaker is largely responsible for controlling the legislative agenda, appointing chairmen and members of committees, and leading negotiations with Senate leaders.
Democrats will retain a 25-17 majority in the Senate since none of its members were up for election in 2014. All 42 state senators will be up for election in 2016. State Rep. Nate Gentry of Albuquerque was nominated Saturday to serve as majority floor leader and state Rep. Alonzo Baldonado of Los Lunas was nominated for majority whip. Gentry, curr ently the House minority whip, the No. 2 minority leader in the House, won the majority leader’s race Saturday
over state Rep. Dennis Roch of Logan. The majority leader manages House sessions and debates on legislation. State Rep. Kelly Fajardo will be the chairwoman of the GOP caucus. The GOP leadership positions will not become official until the Legislature convenes Jan. 20 for its 60day session and all 70 House members vote on their leaders in typically party-line votes. Republicans, who won a 37-33 majority in the House in Tuesday’s elec-
Honoring those who served
tion, will take control of the House in January for the first time since 1954.
Majority whip race
Baldonado won the No. 3 leadership post nomination Saturday in a three-way contest that included Ezzell. Whips typically track the likely voting positions of members on bills and advise their leadership, while letting House members know the leadership’s positions on issues. Ezzell said she was not at
Roswell High School held a Veterans Day Assembly on Monday to honor local veterans. Guest of Honor Larry Montano is presented a plaque by RHS principal Ruben Bolanos. Montano served in the Army in the European Theater during World War II, and landed at Normandy and Utah beaches in France. He was captured in Germany and was held prisoner in a POW camp until he was rescued by the Russian army. Standing in the background is Orlando Padilla, commander of the Roswell American Legion.
Chairmanships
The change in party control not only means new
Lovington man arrested by feds on child porn charges BY CHRISTIAN BETANCOURT LOVINGTON LEADER
Max Scally Photo
liberty to disclose the third person that ran for House majority whip. “What happens in caucus stays in caucus,” Ezzell said of the private political strategy sessions known as caucus meetings. “We had lots of discussions and got to meet all the newcomers. It’s going to be interesting going into this session.”
LOVINGTON — A Lovington man was arrested on child pornography charges after a yearlong U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigation pinpointed downloads to Lovington. Daniel Demory, 27, was arrested and charged with sexual exploitation of children by possession of child por nography, a thirddegree felony, and four counts of sexual exploitation of children by distribution of child pornography, a third-degree felony. If convicted, Demory could face up to 13.5 years incarceration. According to police reports, agents of Homeland Security Investigation had been in Lovington serving a federal search warrant on a residence on the 1200 block of West Polk. Agents were able to pinpoint the Internet protocol (IP) address to the residence. Agents noted on
See EZZELL, Page A3
their report they had successfully downloaded 65 files from a computer at that address from late 2013 to October this year using a peer to peer file sharing program. After making contact with someone at the residence on Polk Street, officers were directed to Demory’s residence on the 400 block of North Love. Agents lear ned that Demory would spend time at the Polk Street address on a daily basis and would spend long periods of time on the driveway with his computer. Agents went to the Demory’s residence and were invited in and handed the laptop. It was noted by agents that, upon opening the laptop, they saw an icon for the program used for the alleged downloads. At that point, Lovington Police detectives obtained a search warrant and seized a laptop, a tablet and two
Committee approves Throwdown brings food, fitness to Cielo Grande resolution to replace Yucca Center Monday
See ARREST, Page A3
BY RANDAL SEYLER RECORD CITY EDITOR
BY RANDAL SEYLER RECORD CITY EDITOR
The Building and Lands Committee voted on Monday to approve a resolution in support of building a new recreation center to replace the aging Yucca Center. The resolution will move forward to the City Council, which meets at 6 p.m. Thursday at City Hall. However, even if the council approves the resolution, the city is a long way from breaking ground on a new facility. “This really will just get the conversation started,” said Parks and Recreation Director Tim Williams. “We have to decide if we want to build a new facility and if we do, where are we going to put it? These are questions the City Council has to answer.” Williams held a number of public hearings to get input from Roswell residents on whether or not the city should build a new recreation center, or try and repair the existing Yucca Center building, which was built in the early 1900s and which has several structural and code issues. The Yucca Center has sev-
eral problems, Williams said, including a leaky roof and a substandard air conditioning system. The facility is noncompliant with federal Americans with Disabilities Act, due to the center’s elevator not being tied into the fire system. Williams has estimated it would cost at least $60,000 to get the elevator into compliance. Without the elevator, the center’s activities have been confined to the lower floor since the beginning of summer. The parks and recreation department started holding the meetings on Aug. 23 to get the public’s input into the future of the Yucca Recreation Center. Restoration costs for an existing building now can often be more than the cost of a new facility — as much as 20 percent more, Williams has said. Williams estimates that 60,000 visitors use the Yucca Recreation Center each year, which speaks to the importance of the facility and the place the Yucca holds in the community. Williams estimated See YUCCA, Page A3
HIGH 53 LOW 31
TODAY’S FORECAST
Local favorite Chef Toddzilla’s Mobile Cuisine took first place and people’s choice honors at Saturday’s Food T ruck Throwdown, held at Cielo Grande Park. “It was a great event, we stayed busy the whole time,” said Kerry Moore, owner of Chef Toddzilla’s. She reported on the event to the Chaves County Tourism Council on Monday. “We were supposed to have 10 trucks, but at the last minute the four trucks from El Paso pulled out,” Moore said. “One of the trucks was stolen, so they kind of had an excuse.” The prizes of fered included cash awards of $2,500, $1,500, $1,000 and $500, said Chef Todd Alexander. “It was enough of a prize that we didn’t have any expenses, and it should have attracted more trucks,” he said. Second place went to Rattlers food truck of Hobbs and third place was Mike’s out of Albuquerque, Moore said. “The event was well attended, but once the sun went down, it was freezing,” Alexander said.
Randal Seyler Photo
The line in front of Chef Toddzilla’s Moblie Cuisine was constant during Saturday’s Food Truck Throwdown, which was the organized by Toddzilla’s owner Kerry Moore of Roswell. The trucks competed by cooking unique dishes with red chile. Toddzilla’s took first place and people’s choice honors at the competition.
Next year the throwdown may be held in September instead of November. The event was also held in conjunction with the Hangar 84 Warrior Throwdown, a CrossFit competition sponsored by CrossFit Vision of Roswell, which is owned by Tabitha Denny, a City Council member and small business owner. Moore said Denny’s event had 45 athletes signed up to compete in the two-day event, which
• MARY O. MCCURDY
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE B4
began on Saturday at Cielo Grande Park and concluded on Sunday at the CrossFit Vision gym located on South Sycamore Avenue. The CrossFit competition saw athletes performing timed workouts, such as jumping rope, lifting weights or jumping up onto boxes. There were different levels of competition as well as men’s and women’s events. In the Food T ruck Throwdown, the chefs
competed by cooking with red chile peppers, and it could be any type of a dish, not just hamburgers, Moore said. “That’s not chili with an ‘I’,” she said. The two throwdowns were fundraising events. The Food Truck Throwdown was a competition to raise funds for Roswell’s volleyball team, the Notorious Diggers. A portion of the proceeds
CLASSIFIEDS ..........B6
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2
FINANCIAL ..............B3
LOTTERIES .............A2
COMICS .................B5
HOROSCOPES .........A8
See FOOD, Page A3
SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ..............A8 OPINION .................A4