Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 123, No. 273 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
November 13, 2014
Franklin sexual battery trial set for Friday BY JEFF TUCKER RECORD STAFF WRITER
The former athletic director and longtime men’s basketball coach of New Mexico Military Institute is scheduled to stand trial in Virginia Friday on a charge of allegedly groping the wife of a NMMI alumnus at an alumni event in February. Reginald “Reggie” W. Franklin, 58, was charged in July with misdemeanor sexual battery after Sonia Jarvis, of Laurel, Maryland,
filed a criminal complaint in Fairfax County, Virginia, alleging Franklin made repeated unwanted sexual advances during the Feb. 22 alumni event in McLean, Virginia. Jarvis, 32, who is scheduled to testify Friday, alleged in her criminal complaint that Franklin kept stroking her leg and grabbed her butt while at the alumni function. “He then put his hand on my thigh and began rubbing it up and down my
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right leg,” Jarvis alleged in a criminal complaint. “I pushed his hand away, but he persisted. I pushed his hand away again and said ‘No,’ but his hand kept reaching for my inner thigh. He wasn’t able to get his hand in between my thighs because of the cut of my dress.” Jarvis also alleged Franklin made lewd comments to her. “Announcements started and Reggie asked, ‘Do you have any naked pictures of
Broncos help Girl Scouts retire flag
yourself, maybe online?’” she alleged in the complaint. “Surprised, I said ‘No,’ and he said, ‘Me either.’” Sonia Jarvis alleged Franklin continued his pursuits, with comments such as, “I think you are a rock star,” “You look so beautiful tonight,” “I like you,” “I really like to flirt with you,” and “Make sure you text me or email me later.” “I felt very uncomfortable, but it was as if I were
Submitted Photo
New Mexico Military Institute Bronco baseball squad assisted the Girl Scouts of the Desert Southwest on Tuesday with their annual flag retirement ceremony.
frozen in place and my body would not move to get away,” Jarvis alleged in her complaint. “I tried ignoring him by pretending to write emails on my smartphone but he continued to try to talk and to put his hand on my leg, even though this meant that he had to turn around in his chair so that his back was to the speaker.” Jarvis said Franklin stopped stroking her leg when her husband returned to their table. She
said she and her husband went to a different table, but Franklin followed and sat next to her.
“He put his hand on my thigh again and started sliding it further up my thigh, close to my hip,” she alleged. “I brushed his hand away and turned my body so my legs were on the opposite side of the chair, but Reggie persisted in reaching under the table to caress my thighs despite
Report: Sandia Labs misused contract funds
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Managers at one of the nation’s premier federal laboratories improperly used taxpayer funds to influence members of Congress and other officials as part of an effort to extend the lab’s $2.4 billion management contract, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General said in a report Wednesday. A review of documents deter mined that Sandia National Laboratories formed a team and worked with consultants beginning in 2009 to develop a plan for securing a contract extension without having to go through a competitive process. That plan called for lobbying Congress, trying to influence key advisers to then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu and reaching
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out to a former director of the National Nuclear Security Administration and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat who led the Energy Department under the Clinton administration. One consultant suggested the lab’s message to decision-makers should be that competition was not in the best interest of the government. “We believe that the use of federal funds for the development of a plan to influence members of Congress and federal officials to, in essence, prevent competition was inexplicable and unjustified,” the inspector general said in its report. The use of contract funds for lobbying efforts was a
San Miguel County RISD board hears discrimination complaints approves stringent drilling ordinance BY DYLANNE PETROS RECORD STAFF WRITER
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — As a federal judge considers the constitutionality of one New Mexico county’s efforts to ban oil and natural gas development, commissioners in neighboring San Miguel County voted Wednesday in favor of imposing some of the strictest requirements on hydrocarbon exploration in the country. The unanimous decision was made as several dozen people crowded into the commission chambers.
The new ordinance supersedes a moratorium
on oil and gas development that had been in place since 2010. Now, exploration and drilling will be restricted to a sparsely populated stretch on the eastern side of San Miguel County, some 60 miles away from the county seat of Las Vegas. Drilling companies will have to pay steep application fees, foot the bill for pre-drilling assessments and post bonds, among numerous other things. Commission Chairman
Complaints from the public about discrimination and coaches were the focus at Tuesday night’s school board meeting. Resident Thomas Davis discussed discrimination in the schools. “My concerns tonight are discrimination, discriminatory words and bullying and the proper procedures,” he said. School board President Pauline J. Ponce said the school district spent weeks putting together a mission statement that would reflect the school district’s views on diversity. “We embrace diversity and value partnerships with family, students, staff and communities. We as a board really take that to heart,” she said. Another issue that was brought up at the meeting concerned the Sierra
Middle School girls’ basketball team. Resident Sabrina Gonzales’ daughter was on the basketball team but was removed from the team recently due to too many missed practices, Gonzales said. Gonzales said at the beginning of the season players were told they could have two unexcused absences during the season. This policy was printed on the team rules that each player and parent signed. From the beginning of the season until Monday, when she was released from the team, Gonzales’ daughter only missed three practices, one of which was unexcused. The coach of the team, according to Gonzales, said that the girl had four unexcused absences, which Gonzales said is not true. “I just feel she is very hurt,” Gonzales said. She handed the board members and press a written statement with her daughter’s story. Steve Gonzales, the girl’s grandfa-
Conservatives threaten immigration showdown
WASHINGTON (AP) — Some conservative Republicans want to drag mustpass spending bills into their fight with President Barack Obama over his planned executive action on immigration, inviting comparisons to last year’s shutdown showdown over the health care law. In the Senate, Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Mike Lee of Utah are among those arguing to use an upcoming must-pass spending bill — either in December or next year — to try to block Obama from taking unilateral action to protect millions of immigrants here illegally from deportation. “Congress appropriates
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the money,” Sessions told reporters Wednesday. “That’s a clear constitutional power. If Congress disapproves of the president providing ID cards for people who’ve been in the country illegally, then it should not appropriate money to fund it.”
GOP leaders appear cool to the effort since it could lead to a confrontation with Obama that, if taken too far, could spark another government shutdown. They have given the Appropriations Committee the green light to negotiate a catch-all omnibus spending bill for the budget year that began last month. Any deal with Democrats still in control of
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TODAY’S FORECAST
the Senate would not include language to block Obama on immigration. A temporary spending measure expires Dec. 11 and a partial government shutdown would occur if Congress doesn’t act by then. Sessions said he’d rather have Congress pass another short-term spending bill so that the new Republican Senate could be in place to tackle the issue. Rep. Matt Salmon said he had more than 50 GOP lawmakers’ signatures on a letter to Appropriations Committee Chair man Harold Rogers, R-Ky., urging that any spending bill include language saying nothing in it could be used to implement an executive
immigration policy. “This is an opportunity for everybody to come together and speak clearly and forcefully that doing this unconstitutional act would be a mistake, and if you do it, there won’t be funding for it,” said Salmon, R-Ariz. But he stopped short of threatening to withhold his vote for any spending bill that omits such language. “Members are going to decide for themselves whether or not it’s something they want to fall on their sword over,” Salmon said. “I’ve had several members contact me and say ‘How See IMMIGRATION, Page A3
THERE ARE NO OBITUARIES FOR TODAY. TODAY’S OBITUARIES
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ther, was also at the meeting and stood up for his granddaughter. “We have gone through some of the administration … steps that you tell us to go through and then we have talked to other people,” he said. “There is a problem in the school system. Hopefully you (will) get involved and look into this stuff.” The problem, he said, was that administration focuses on education so much that the athletic problems get pushed to the side. “I think we need to take some action,” he said. The board did not comment after Sabrina and Steve Gonzales spoke. At the end of the meeting the board went into executive session, at which time it approved Superintendent Tom Burris’ contract for two more years. The next school board meeting will be Dec. 9 at 6 p.m. Staff Writer Dylanne Petros can be contacted at 575-622-7710, ext. 307, or at vistas@rdrnews.com.
AP Photo
In this Nov. 7 photo, people rally for comprehensive immigration reform outside the White House. Conservative Republicans want to drag must-pass spending bills into their fight with President Barack Obama over his planned executive action on immigration, inviting comparisons to last year’s shutdown showdown over the health care law. CLASSIFIEDS ..........B6 COMICS .................B5 ENTERTAINMENT .....A8 FINANCIAL ..............B4
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2
HOROSCOPES .........A8 LOTTERIES .............A2
OPINION .................A4
SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ..............A8