11 29 14 Roswell Daily Record

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Roswell Daily Record

Vol. 123, No. 287 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday

THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY

November 29, 2014

SATURDAY

www.rdrnews.com

Downtown Roswell open for Small Business Saturday BY RANDAL SEYLER RECORD CITY EDITOR

Today is Small Business Saturday and local merchants are ready for Christmas shoppers to come see the unique selection of gifts available in Roswell. Merchants like Molly Boyles, owner of Once Again Consignment, are planning on making Small Business Saturday a fun shopping opportunity for Roswell residents. “Spoke with a few of the downtown merchants, and we traded out gift certificates,” Boyles said. “We plan on giving

away a lot of give a lot of gifts throughout the day — like giving prizes to the fifth customer, or the eighth customer.” Instead of just giving away items from her own store, Boyles said she wanted to trade with other merchants and give away prizes from other shops on Main Street. “I knew there would be several businesses not interested in doing that, but I still bought gift certificates from them to give away.” Sandwiched in between Black Friday and Cyber

Monday, Small Business Saturday began in 2010 as a way to encourage shoppers to take advantage of small, local businesses as well as the big chain stores which dominate Black Friday shopping with nationally promoted sales. The holiday was conceived and promoted by American Express, but it became popular through social media promotions. Black Friday was also busy for Once Again Consignment, and Boyles said she was celebrating the See BIZ, Page A3

Roswell Mall gets a Black Friday boost

Randal Seyler Photo

The staff of Once Again Consignment is ready for Small Business Saturday, which is today. Staff includes, from left, Owner Molly Boyles, Diane Chavarria, Anna Swain, Mawaika Duran, Ashley Hunter and Abigail Turner.

Man faces child pornography charges

Timothy P. Howsare Photos

As the editor was entering and exiting the Roswell Mall parking lot on Black Friday, he nearly had flashbacks of living in Indiana and waiting through three or four lights until he could get into the parking lot of the Greenwood Park Mall, the second busiest mall in metro Indianapolis.

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A Columbus man is facing charges that he exploited three young children to produce pornographic images. Federal prosecutors say 30-year-old Samuel Elliott pleaded not guilty Tuesday during his arraignment in court in Albuquerque to eight counts related to child pornography. A judge ordered Elliott detained pending trial. A trial date has not been set.

Top right: JC Contreras of JC’s Extreme Balloon Animals assembles a Sponge Bob balloon for 6-year-old Forrest Duke while Kaydence Lopez, 7, watches intently. Contreras, who works full time as assistant manager at the Dairy Queen in Roswell, said he enjoys working with kid and was offering a twofor-one special on his balloons.

According to the indictment, Elliott lured the children into engaging in sexually explicit conduct between December 2012 and July of this year in Luna County. He allegedly used a child between ages 1 and 5 as well as a child above 5 years old.

If convicted, Elliott could serve up to 30 years on each child pornography charge and be required to register as a sex offender.

Carlsbad man faces charges in revenge robbery case CARLSBAD (AP) — A southeastern New Mexico man is facing larceny charges after police say he enlisted two of his friends to rob a Carlsbad convenience store after he and his mother were fired from the business. A criminal complaint alleges T ravis Bruns planned the robbery of the Shell convenience store as payback. The Carlsbad CurrentArgus reports the 21-yearold Bruns, 36-year -old

Bottom right: Allan Kostedt gives a demonstration of his heating pads to potential customers. Kostedt is a Carlsbad schoolteacher who owns a part-time business called Anywhere Heat Pads.

Donald Fain and 22-yearold Frank Meek are scheduled to appear in court next month on suspicion of larceny, criminal damage to property and tampering with evidence charges. Police accused the men of disabling security cameras at the store last month and removing cash from the store’s deposit bags and stealing the store’s safe. Police say the men took about $7,000 out of the safe before dumping it at Avalon Lake.

Two suspects sought in bank robbery Marine’s World War II letters tell story of war

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Federal authorities are seeking two masked men who allegedly robbed an Albuquerque bank at gunpoint. The FBI says two suspects entered a BBVA Compass bank in northeast Albuquerque on Tuesday around 9:10 a.m. wearing black masks and gloves. Authorities say no cus-

tomers were in the bank at the time. They say one suspect displayed a handgun while demanding money from a teller while the other ordered employees in an of fice get down on the ground. The two men left with an undisclosed amount of money. They are described as

between 5-foot-7 and 5foot-10 with a medium build. One was seen wearing green-blue sweat pants and a dark gray or black overcoat. The second suspect was seen in jeans and a gray overcoat.

Both Albuquerque police and the FBI are investigating.

Plunging crude prices hammer energy companies NEW YORK (AP) — A decision by OPEC this week to maintain current levels of oil production hammered major energy companies in the U.S. and abroad. Many energy experts had expected the group of oil producing countries, which met in Vienna this week, to act to halt a slide in the price of crude since this summer. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude, which cost well above $100 as recently as June, had fallen to about $73 as of this week. OPEC announced Thursday that it would not cut production.

AP Photo

In this June 12, aerial photo, an oil well is drilled near Williston, N.D. A decision by OPEC not to cut oil production is hammering major energy companies in the U.S. and abroad. The effect was immediate. The price of benchmark U.S. crude tumbled

HIGH 73 LOW 35

TODAY’S FORECAST

10 percent Friday to settle at $66.15 a barrel. See OIL, Page A3

• LINDA WINKLER • DONALD AND ISABEL VAN SICKLE

BY JEFF TUCKER RECORD STAFF WRITER

As a teenage Marine serving in the southwest Pacific during World War II, Woody L. Spencer wrote hundreds of letters home to his mother. Spencer’s mother was opposed to his enlistment in the U.S. Marine Corps in early 1942 as hostilities erupted across the Pacific Rim following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Spencer, the oldest of five siblings from Clarendon, Texas, said as much as going to war worried his mother, he felt an obligation to serve. But at 17 years old, he needed his mom’s permission to join. “The proposition was put to me so I called my mother up and asked her if I could join the Marines,” Spencer recalled. “She said, ‘You get your tail home and forget about that.’ I said, ‘No, I’m going to join the Marines. I’m on my way.’ Finally, she conceded and she signed to let me join the Marines.” Spencer, now 90 years old, resides at BeeHive Homes of Roswell. While his memories from 70 years ago are fading, his

letters home and war diary chronicle his military service and the travails of war fighting the Japanese. Spencer said the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, changed the lives of many youngsters in his generation. “In the fall of 1941, I was

• JASON BYRD

CLASSIFIEDS ..........B6

INDEX GENERAL ...............A2

FINANCIAL ..............B4

LOTTERIES .............A2

TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE A7

Jeff Tucker Photo

World War II veteran Woody L. Spencer spends the day after Thanksgiving with two of his daughters, Penne King, left, and Judy Pittman. Spencer served 2 1/2 years in the South Pacific fighting the Japanese after enlisting in the Marine Corps at the age of 17.

COMICS .................B5

a senior in high school at Clarendon, Texas,” Spencer said in his war diary. “One Sunday morning, the date being December 7, Japan had bombed a place called Pearl Harbor, which was located in the Hawaiian See SPENCER, Page A3

HOROSCOPES .......A10

OPINION .................A4

SPORTS .................B1

WEATHER ............A10


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