Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 123, No. 278 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
November 19, 2014
FLETC immigrant detention center to close BY JEFF TUCKER RECORD STAFF WRITER
A temporary detention center that opened in Artesia this summer amid a flood of illegal immigrants from Central America will close by the end of the year, the federal government announced Tuesday. Some of the appr oximately 450 illegal immigrants currently housed at the Federal Law Enforcement T raining Center in
WEDNESDAY
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Artesia will be transferred to other federal detention centers, while others will be released into the United States to await immigration court hearings.
The Associated Pr ess r eported in September about 70 percent of the illegal immigrants the Obama administration had r eleased into the country following the summer surge of Central American illegal immigration never showed up for appointments with federal
immigration agents.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico announced Tuesday it will host a candlelight vigil Thursday outside FLETC pr otesting the Obama administration’s continued detention of illegal immigrant families.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a news release Tuesday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is transitioning detainees out of the temporary FLETC
facility in Artesia in light of the upcoming expansion of ICE’s new family detention center in Dilley, Texas. The South Texas Family Residential Center is set to open in Dilley in December and will house adults with childr en, the DHS said. DHS said FLETC in Artesia would r etur n exclusively to law enforcement training operations in December. “With the opening of the
Dilley facility, ICE will have the initial capacity to house up to 480 residents, but the ultimate capacity to house up to 2,400 individuals,” acting ICE Director Thomas S. Winkowski said in DHS’s news release on Tuesday. “These facilities help ensur e timely and effective removals that comply with our legal and international obligations, while deterring others from taking the dangerous jour ney and illegally crossing into the United
States.” ICE opened the Artesia detention facility in June as part of a response to the massive influx of adults and children illegally crossing the U.S.Mexico border. More than 66,000 illegal immigrants traveling as families have been apprehended at the border since October 2013. Nearly 60,000 of those illegal immigrants ar e
STAFF REPORT
Count 2 alleged that Kidd and Tafoya possessed meth with intent to distribute on Nov. 6, 2013. Count 3 alleged that Driever and Perez possessed meth with intent to distribute on Nov. 6, 2013. During Monday’s hearing, Kidd pleaded guilty to Count 1 of the indictment and admitted conspiring with his co-defendants to distribute meth in Curry County. Kidd’s plea agreement states that he and Tafoya supplied quantities of meth to others, including Driever and Perez, who resold the meth in smaller quantities to users. According to Kidd’s plea agreement, Kidd and Tafoya on Nov. 9, 2013, supplied a pound of meth to Driever and Perez. On that same day, Kidd and Tafoya also possessed another half-pound of meth
RMAC considers children’s museum Clovis man pleads guilty to moving a pound of meth
See FLETC, Page A6
BY RANDAL SEYLER RECORD CITY EDITOR
Local children may soon have a museum of their own if Mayor Dennis Kintigh and the Roswell Museum and Art Center Board of T rustees have their way. Developer Trey Nesselrodt met with museum trustees and with the museum’s strategic planning committee on Monday to discuss the possibility of creating a 15,000 square-foot children’s museum between Second and Third streets, where Nesselrodt is looking to develop a market and restaurant. “The mayor came to me with this idea,” Nesselrodt said. “I had already bought this building and was planning on developing it, and the mayor asked if we could use part of it for a children’s museum.” Nesselrodt presented an architect’s rendering of the facility to the trustees, showing the museum, a food market and a restau-
Submitted Photo
An artist’s rendition of what the proposed children’s museum, market and restaurant could look like. The drawing was presented to the RMAC Board of Trustees on Monday. rant. The new facility carousel which is current- the park was donated to would have parking for ly housed at Spring River the city in the 1970s. This rare carousel is one of 100 cars facing East Sec- Park and Zoo. ond Street, and could posThe antique wooden See RMAC, Page A3 sibly house the historic horse carousel located in
Senators seek $113M for WIPP’s recovery
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — M e mb er s of t h e s ta t e’ s congressional delegation are seeking an additional $113 million to help fund ongoing recovery efforts at the federal government’s tr oubled nuclear waste r ep o s i to ry i n s ou t h e r n New Mexico. U . S S en s. T o m Ud a l l and Martin Heinrich outlined their request Tuesd ay in a l et t e r t o t h e ch ai r m a n an d r a n k i ng m e m b e r of a S e n at e Appropriations subcommittee. T he Was te I so la t i o n P il o t P l an t h a s b ee n closed since February, following a fire and then a radiological leak from a canister of waste shipped from Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Recently, a pair of air samplers detected low levels of radioactive contamin at i o n a ft e r w o r ke rs restarted one of the fans at the facility.
H ow ev e r, t h ey c o nfirmed the contamination was well below levels that would affect the environm en t or wo r ke r s a t t he plant.
Cleaning up WIPP and resuming full operations could take years. The cost h as b ee n es t i ma t ed at more than $500 million. The U.S. Department of E nerg y i s f i n al i z i n g a report on the cause of the radiation release. That’s expected before the end of the year.
GO AND DO
Photographic Arts
Society of Roswell 6:30 p.m. on the third Thursday
of
every
month at the Roswell Adult Center located 807 N. Missouri Ave.
The next meeting is
Thursday and the public is invited to attend.
Randal Seyler Photo
Clifford Powell, president of the Photographic Arts Society of Roswell, discusses his experiences as a wildlife photographer with the Roswell Kiwanis Club on Tuesday.
HIGH 54 LOW 25
TODAY’S FORECAST
See METH, Page A2
Residents turn out for memory screening event Submitted Photo
Comfort Keepers
hosted their 10th annual free memory
screening event in support
of
the
Alzheimer's Founda-
tion national memo-
ry screening day on
Tuesday
at
the
Roswell Elks Lodge. About 60 local resi-
dents were screened
and enjoyed visiting with health care agencies.
Photography teaches about more than cameras Club includes shutterbugs of various skill levels
BY RANDAL SEYLER RECORD CITY EDITOR
meetings are held at
A Clovis man has pleaded guilty in federal court to participating in a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy involving a pound of the drug. Under the terms of a plea agreement, Christopher Jason Kidd, 38, will be sentenced to 78 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release. Kidd pleaded guilty Monday mor ning in federal court in Las Cruces. Kidd and three co-defendants, Tina Tafoya, 33, and John Jesse Perez Jr., 45, both of Clovis, and Jeanette Driever, 37, of Grady, were indicted in February 2014 on federal methamphetamine trafficking charges. Count 1 of the threecount indictment alleged the defendants conspired to distribute meth in Curry County between September and November of 2013.
Ever wondered about the difference between a dragonfly and a damselfly? Neither had Clifford Powell, until he took up photography. Powell, president of the Photographic Arts Society of Roswell, told members of the Kiwanis Club that until taking up the hobby a few years back, he thought damselflies were just female dragonflies.
• MARCELLA LOPEZ
“They are a whole other critter,” Powell said, showing macro-photographs he has taken of both dragonflies and damselflies. “Damsel wings go straight back along their body — dragonfly wings stick out to the sides.” Before taking up photography, Powell said he had no interest in stalking insects. He enjoyed hunting deer and elk when he was younger. The camera club is open to photographers of all skill
levels and has about 40 members, Powell said. Photographic Arts Society of Roswell provides a place to enjoy photography as a group event and helps photographers of any skill level lear n, according to the group’s Facebook page. The club puts on group events which include photo safaris, workshops, social activities and challenges. “We take road trips, and usually they are just day trips, but we have gone as
• ALLEN KEITH (BILL) TRAMMELL
CLASSIFIEDS ..........B6 COMICS .................B5 ENTERTAINMENT .....A8 FINANCIAL ..............B3
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE A6
far as the other side of Arizona,” Powell said. “We usually carpool to save money.” The club charges minimal dues for members, and uses the funds for equipment that the members can share. As a hobby, photography can be expensive, Powell said, but he has accumulated his collection of photographic equipment over See PHOTOGS, Page A3
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2
HOROSCOPES .........B6 LOTTERIES .............A2
OPINION .................A4
SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ..............A8