12-09-11 RDR NEWS

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Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY

Vol. 120, No. 296 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday

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Iran shows video of purported US drone

WALTERS: TRIP TO SYRIA FRIGHTENED HER

NEW YORK (AP) — President Bashar Assad’s first interview with a Western television journalist since a March uprising, was a coup for Barbara Walters and ABC News, but not entirely for Assad. In excerpts aired by ABC Wednesday, Assad denied ordering a violent crackdown on residents and denounced the United Nations when Walters asked about the U.N.’s claim that there had been widespread killings and torture of protesters in Syria. - PAGE A8

December 9, 2011

AP Photo

This photo, released Thursday by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, claims to show the chief of the aerospace division of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, left, listening to an unidentified colonel as he points to US RQ-170 Sentinel drone.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian state TV broadcast video Thursday of what it said was the high-tech U.S. drone that Tehran says its forces downed earlier this week, and lodged a diplomatic complaint over the violation of its airspace. The more than two minutes of footage showed Iranian military officials inspecting what state TV identified as the RQ-170 Sentinel drone, and offered the first evidence that Tehran had captured the aircraft. The beige-colored drone appeared intact and undamaged. The chief of the aerospace division of Iran’s power ful Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Ami Ali Hajizadeh, claimed Iranian forces brought down the

surveillance aircraft with an electronic ambush, causing minimum damage to the drone. “It was downed through a joint operation by the Guards and Iran’s regular army,” he told state television. Tehran appeared to be using the video footage to score propaganda points, and a banner at the foot of the drone in the video read “The U.S. cannot do a damn thing” — a quotation from Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini. Another banner was printed to look like the American flag, but had skulls instead of stars. In Washington, Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said U.S. military officials and others

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ENMU-R graduates 300+ students

Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell graduates prepare for fall commencement Thursday, at the Roswell Convention and Civic Center.

JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER

ARTESIA — Much like salad at a dinner with the Klumps, style points in sports are useless. While it would be nice to “look pretty” while winning, a win is a win regardless of how it is earned. Against Deming on Thursday ... - PAGE B1

TODAY’S OBITUARIES

• Clovis Archuleta • Ercilia “Tillie” Ramos

Eastern New Mexico University - Roswell faculty, students and families celebrated the largest graduating class during the fall semester in the 56-year history of the college, Thursday evening at the Roswell Convention and Civic Center. This year, ENMU-R had a total of 367 eligible candidates. Of those who were receiving their certificates or degrees, only 180 candidates chose to attend the ceremonies. President of ENMU-R John Madden congratulated the graduating class and their families. He referred

to the night as one of celebration. “All of us, each of the faculty members share in your success,” he said. Dr. Steven G. Gamble, president of ENMU, asked the parents to stand for a round of applause to show the appreciation for all that they had done for the students. Student Dylan Sant, a 2011 graduate of Hagerman High School, gave the main address. Sant has a grade point average of 3.5 and has been named to the Dean’s List. He is a member of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society. Sant was receiving an Associate of Arts degree in University Studies. He came to

From snow to Hawaiian rhythms

- PAGE A6

ENMU-R as a Presidential Scholar and availed himself of the opportunity to receive dual credit classes taken in high school. Sant spoke of his appreciation to the college as a Presidential Scholar. He described some of the special challenges he faced in coming to school after losing vision in his left eye when a coat hanger penetrated the eye’s optic nerve. He war ned his fellow graduates against complacency. “I believe it is the things that you don’t do that you will regret in life,” he said. Sant urged them to nurture they dreams. “Don’t try to live someone else’s life ... follow your own path,

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Mark Wilson Photo

The Sweet Lelani’s dance to Hawaiian rhythms during their annual Christmas show Thursday morning at the JOY Center.

your own passion.” Of the 367 eligible candidates, 194 received their certificate of employability. 173 candidates received their associate degrees in applied science, science and arts. A total of 20 received their bachelor’s degree and six completed their master’s. Music before the event and during the processional was provided by the ENMU-R Community Band while the New Mexico Youth ChalleNGe presented the colors. A reception was held after the ceremony for the new graduates, faculty, staff, family and friends.

j.palmer@roswell-record.com

City council voted to approve a new downtown master plan for Roswell at its regular business meeting, Thursday. The council also approved the designation of the city’s railroad district as a Metropolitan Redevelopment Area. The plan will replace the city’s current comprehensive master plan, according to City Manager Larry Fry, which is dated. The initiative for the project began when New Mexico MainStreet had an available grant. In 2010, city councilors Judy Stubbs and Dusty Huckabee moved aggressively to obtain the grant and the city received $75,000 for the master plan process. A requirement within the grant agreement is the designation of a MRA. This designation encourages sound and orderly development in an area designated as aging and in need of repair. Created by Consensus Planning Inc., a consulting firm based in Albuquerque, the purpose of the plan is to provide guidance to the city to ensure the economic strength of Roswell over time. “It [the plan] requires a lot of public and private participation. It’s not something that the city expects to do on its own. It’s going to be a collaborative effort in order to see this happen. It will be administered collectively between the counSee PLAN, Page A3

Regulations hinder, help N.M. oil JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER Part 2 of 3

TODAY’S FORECAST

CLASSIFIEDS..........B5 COMICS.................B3 ENTERTAINMENT.....B8 FINANCIAL .............B4 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A3 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8

New downtown master plan

See DRONE, Page A3

JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER

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GHS IMPROVES TO 5-0

were studying the imagery but would have no further comment. “We’re just not going to talk about these kinds of missions and these kinds of capabilities,” Kirby said. Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said the Defense Department would not be saying whether the Iranian images are that of the U.S. drone. Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Swiss ambassador on Thursday to protest the drone’s “invasion” of Iranian airspace, according to state TV. It said the ministry demanded an explanation and compensation from Washington.

While New Mexico ranks high nationally in oil production, the oil and gas producers in the state deal with more federal and state lands and leases, and therefore more regulations. In New Mexico, there are 29,985 oil and gas wells on federal land, 14,319 wells on state land, 10,815 wells on private land and 2,856 wells on Indian land, according to Randy Dade, District 2 supervisor for the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division. The Oil and Gas Conservation Rule Book contains 184 sections of nearly 2,000 rules, regulations and procedures, according to the Independent Petroleum Asso-

ciation of New Mexico. A regulation that has put the industry in New Mexico at a competitive disadvantage with other states, is the Pit Rule, or NMOCD Rule 17. The rule has been in effect since 2008, with minor modifications approved in June 2009. The rule requires significant changes to operations for producers, such as obtaining a pit permit. Most pit applications require more than 26 pages of documentation. In many areas, drilling costs have increased by more than $200,000 per individual well in order to comply with this rule, according to the IPANM. Members of the industry have shown strong opposition towards this regulation, questioning the motivation and underlying reasons for the rule.

“There’s not anybody in the oil and gas industry that does not want to protect the environment. We have a tremendous amount of regulations that are already in place saying what we can and can’t do. Most people in the industry felt like the Pit Rule went a little bit too far, in terms of what has to take place in the field,”Bill Owen, vice president and exploration manager at David Petroleum Corp., said. According to the IPANM, the rule applies to four different types of pits utilized by the industry: permanent evaporative pits and production pits, used for longer periods of time, usually years, and emergency pits and drilling/workover pits, used for shorter periods of time, usually days or weeks. See OIL, Page A3


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