Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 123, No. 294 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
December 7, 2014
Mishaps at nuke repository lead to $54M in fines
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — New Mexico on Saturday levied more than $54 million in penalties against the U.S. Department of Energy for numerous violations that resulted in the indefinite closure of the nation’s only underground nuclear waste repository. The state Environment Department delivered a pair of compliance orders to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, marking the state’s largest penalty ever imposed on the agency. Together, the orders outline more than 30
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state-permit violations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southeastern New Mexico and at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The orders and the civil penalties that come with them are just the beginning of possible financial sanctions the Energy Department could face in New Mexico. The state says it’s continuing to investigate and more fines are possible. The focus has been on a canister of waste from Los Alamos that ruptured in one of the Waste Isolation Pilot
Plant’s storage rooms in February. More than 20 workers were contaminated, and the facility was forced to close, putting in jeopardy efforts around the country to clean up tons of Cold War-era waste. The state accuses Los Alamos of mixing incompatible waste, treating hazardous waste without a permit and failing to notify regulators about changes in the way waste was being handled. The penalties for the lab total $36.6 million. “New Mexico does not
need to choose between fulfilling the laboratory’s mission and protecting the environment,” Ryan Flynn, state environment secretary, said in a letter to Los Alamos officials. “DOE now has an opportunity to learn from these mistakes and implement meaningful corrective actions that will ensure the long-term viability of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.” He wrote a similar letter See WIPP, Page A3
It’s beginning to look a lot like Chri stmas Randal Seyler Photos
Right: Hot air balloon gondolas light up the night during the Electric Light Parade on Saturday in Roswell. Hundreds turned out to watch the annual event, presented by MainStreet Roswell, which kicks off the holiday season. Below: A motorcyclist speeds past an obviously envious Santa during Saturday’s Electric Light Parade in Roswell. For more photos from the parade, visit the Roswell Daily Record’s Facebook page.
SUNDAY
AP Photo
In this April 8, 1998, file photo, a worker drives a cart through a tunnel inside the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant 2, 150 feet below the surface near Carlsbad.
Keeping your Christmas season safe and secure SUBMITTED BY RPD
As many people are out and about getting their holiday shopping done, the Roswell Police Department reminds everyone there are also thieves out there doing their own shopping — that is, shopping for the easiest targets from whom to steal items, information or identities. But with the right precautions and awareness, people can protect themselves against criminals who would threaten to rob local residents of their Christmas cheer, among other things. When you head to and leave from the stores: • Park in an area with good lighting that is not too far from the store’s entrance and exit you plan to use. Do not leave your purchased items or valuables in plain sight in your vehicle. Do not have personal, confidential documents or information in the car unnecessarily. Be sure to lock your doors. • Go with another person or a group, especially if you
are shopping at night. If you can, try to schedule your shopping trips during daylight hours. Regardless of whether you are alone or with others, always watch what is going on around you and remain constantly aware of your surroundings.
• Take with you only the credit or debit cards you plan to use and carry them on you directly instead of in a purse. Leave other cards at home, not in your vehicle. Also, avoid carrying large amounts of cash, and keep any cash in your front pockets, which are more difficult than back pockets for pickpockets to reach. It’s also a good idea to avoid wearing expensive jewelry, which will attract
Indicting a police Childress fondly recalls military career officer is uncommon
NEW YORK (AP) — At least 400 people are killed by police of ficers in the United States every year, and while the circumstances of each case are different, one thing remains constant: In only a handful of instances do grand juries issue an indictment, concluding that the of ficer should face criminal charges. Successful prosecutions generally involve officers who have lied about what they’ve done, tried to cover up their actions, or used excessive force to inflict punishment. Even as protesters took to the streets Wednesday to decry the failure of a grand jury to indict an officer who used a fatal chokehold on an unarmed man in New York City, a grand jury in South Carolina voted to bring murder charges against Richard Combs, a small town police chief who fatally shot an unarmed man who had come to Town Hall to contest a traffic ticket. Earlier this year, a grand jury in North Carolina indicted a Charlotte-Mecklenburg officer for fatally shooting a former college football player who was knocking on doors looking
for help after he drove his car off the road. And a police of ficer in North Augusta, South Carolina, was indicted in August on a charge of misconduct in office after he shot a 68-year -old man who had failed to pull over for a traf fic stop, and instead drove home. It is difficult to generalize about why some cases lead to criminal charges, while others do not, but history shows that jurors may have less sympathy for officers who are guilty of more than just poor judgment during a crisis. Police who get caught lying tend to get charged. So do those who use force to inflict punishment rather than to protect themselves, or who instigate physical confrontations for reasons that seem personal, rather than professional. “If an officer goes rogue, really, and is acting personally, and not as an officer of the law, that’s when you’ll see a criminal charge,” said Candace McCoy, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. Philip Matthew Stinson, a professor at Bowling See POLICE, Page A7
HIGH 59 LOW 32
TODAY’S FORECAST
See SAFETY, Page A7
Editor’s note: This is the last of a two-part series about Gen. Jerry Childress, former superintendent of NMMI. BY JEFF JACKSON RECORD STAFF WRITER
A paper clip is not found in a desk and a duster is not used to sweep floors in the experience of Jerry Childress. Those items for the Roswell resident and former brigadier general conjure up memories of a military life and career that spanned nearly 40 years, two wars and 12 years as superintendent of New Mexico Military Institute. “Paper Clip” is his connection to an atomic bomb, and “Duster” is an Army tank — one of which is on display at the National Guard armory in Roswell — that was part of Childress’ commands in Korea and Vietnam. During the late stages of the Korean War, Childress, as a second lieutenant, actually was stationed in Germany as the Cold War ensued in Europe. In Frankfurt he was given a two-week assignment to escort a 16-member team of scientists who were fleeing communist East Germany. “They were scientists that had helped develop the atomic bomb (for
• RICHARD “FRENCHIE” TERRELL • ALICE TERRELL
Jeff Jackson Photo
Former Brig. Gen. Jerry Childress points to a 90-mm twin-barrel “duster” M41 tank on display at the National Guard armory. Childress commanded 64 of these tanks, which shot 240 rounds per minute, while he served in Korea and Vietnam. “They would dust off anything they saw,” he said.
Germany) and helped develop the V2 rocket,” Childress said. “This operation of getting them back to the States was called Operation Paper Clip. I could speak a little German in those days and I got assigned to escort them to New York. They ended up either here in New Mexico or down in Fort Bliss. “We had a lot of intelligence on trying to get these scientists out. They didn’t like the Russians.” As commanding officer of the 5th Battalion, 2nd Artillery in Vietnam and Cambodia (1969-70) the M41 tank, a classic “old wartime tank” was the weapon of choice for Chil-
• LARRY TOM HARRIS • VIRGINIA HUDSON JOHNSON BOND
• PHYLLIS JANE BROWN FENNELL SNIPES • DR. DAVID LAZARUS
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE B6
dress and his seven batteries, and he had 64 of the “Dusters” at his disposal, each with twin 90-mm firing guns.
“You could put out 240 rounds per minute out of each of those tubes, so it was a very devastating weapon. That’s a lot of firepower,” Childress said.
“They would dust off anything they saw. When you have that firepower going out there, there’s a lot of dust coming up from the rounds they’re hitting. It would just mow See CHILDRESS, Page A3
INDEX CLASSIFIEDS ..........D1 OPINION .................A4 COMICS .................C3 SPORTS .................B1 HOROSCOPES .........B8 WEATHER ..............A8 LOTTERIES .............A2 VISTAS...................C1