Roswell Daily Record
INSIDE NEWS
JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER
BIRDS CRASH IN UTAH
ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) — Thousands of migratory birds were killed or injured after apparently mistaking a Wal-Mart parking lot, football fields and other snow-covered areas of southern Utah for bodies of water and plummeting to the ground in what one state wildlife expert called the worst mass bird crash she’d ever seen.. - PAGE A2
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
USPS holds town hall on closure
Vol. 120, No. 301 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
Anger surrounded Wednesday evening’s town hall meeting as representatives from the United States Postal Service explained the organization’s delicate and rapid downtur n in its financial situation. The USPS held the meeting in Roswell to solicit public comment regarding its proposal to move mail processing operations from the city to Lubbock, Texas. On Sept. 15, the USPS began conducting a study
December 15, 2011
THURSDAY
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at the Roswell Customer Service Mail Processing Center to deter mine the feasibility of consolidating its operations into the Lubbock Processing and Distribution Facility. Peter Hass, spokesman for the USPS for New Mexico and Arizona, told the Daily Record in September that the economy, the reduction in mail volume and a 25 percent decrease in first-class mail volume over the past five years, have all been detrimental, causing the organization to examine ways in which it
can be more efficient. USPS, once a tax-driven organization, is no longer. Postage generates the funds to pay for the organization. The decrease in firstclass mail is arguably the greatest financial detriment to the organization. “Firstclass mail as a medium is disappearing. The bottom line is 60 percent of our revenue usually comes from first-class mail, that’s what it’s been for years. And now with the loss in first-class mail, that is having the biggest impact on
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us because we are not generating any money,” Mike Flores, one of the USPS representatives, said. He added that the Internet and the movement toward a paperless environment have contributed to this decrease in first-class mail. Initial study results support the consolidation of mail processing operations in Roswell with the available processing capacity in Lubbock. The USPS representatives presented study results such as proposed annual savings of
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INSIDE SPORTS
Mark Wilson Photo
Under a clear December sky, and against the backdrop of the snow-covered Sierra Blanca range, a crop duster sprays a field in west Roswell, Wednesday morning.
$2,151,566. They also indicated that 22 jobs, 13 clerks and 9 maintenance workers from the Roswell mail processing center could be lost. Those in attendance questioned proposed savings, asked about higherlevel management bonuses and voiced strong concerns towards potential job losses. “We are in an industry that is not a growing industry. How do we adjust to the lack of growth in the
Dems back off taxes
See USPS, Page A3
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats backed away from their demand for higher taxes on millionaires as part of legislation to extend Social Security tax cuts for most Americans on Wednesday as Congress struggled to clear critical year-end bills without triggering a partial government shutdown. Republicans, too, signaled an eagerness to avoid gridlock and adjourn for the holidays. With a bipartisan $1 trillion funding bill blocked at the last minute by Democrats, GOP lawmakers and aides floated the possibility of a backup measure to run the government for as long as two months after the money runs out Friday at mid-
Judge postpones prelim NM, SPS reach air quality deal JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
FROM NMMI TO ENMU
PORTALES — No phrase describes the past 24 months of Josh Lynn’s life better than “the roller coaster of life.” The 33-year-old Eunice native became a father for the first time to a son named Bryson, landed his first collegiate head-coaching position, recorded his first winning season as a head coach and coached in his first collegiate bowl game. - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Nelda Odell • Yvette Parker • Travis Martin • Susan Roberta Fugate • Ara Lee Stephens • Melvin Eugene Voigt - PAGE A6
HIGH ...53˚ LOW ....27˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B5 COMICS.................B3 FINANCIAL .............B4 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
The preliminary hearing scheduled for Dec. 14 in Magistrate Court was postponed until next week after one of the defense witnesses left the courthouse. Jose A. Maciel, 20, is charged with vehicular homicide after an accident that occurred on Oct. 23. Passenger Sergio Chacon, 21, died after the driver lost control of the 2005 Dodge Ram and ran over the curb in front of Home Depot, 2350 N. Main St. The pickup rolled twoand-a-half times into the culvert, ejecting all three occupants. It landed upside down in the parking lot. The vehicle hit the curb with such force that the rear wheels fell off the
truck. The cab was crushed. According to the criminal complaint, Maciel was traveling south on Main when he started racing another vehicle. Eye witnesses confirmed that the two vehicles were racing. The second vehicle left the scene of the accident. Maciel and the two passengers were transported to Eastern New Mexico Medical Center. Chacon was pronounced dead a few minutes after his arrival at ENMMC. Maciel admitted to officers that he had been drinking all day. Assistant District Attorney Debra Hutchins said at the beginning of the hear-
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A subsidiary of Xcel Energy Inc. has reached an $800,000 settlement with the New Mexico Environment Department over air quality violations at a natural gas-fired power plant in southeaster n New Mexico. The settlement, the largest reached by the department this year, will result in Southwestern Public Service Co. investing $500,000 in a solar photovoltaic array at Eastern New Mexico University’s Roswell campus. The money will also fund an adjunct professor position in the university’s renewable energy degree and certification program.
Department of ficials said they plan to continue promoting supplemental environmental projects like the one at ENMU as a means of getting permit holders to pay for violations. “This settlement demonstrates our philosophy that monetary penalties ought to go back into projects that protect the environment,” Environment Secretary David Martin said in a statement issued Wednesday. The settlement with SPS stems from an administrative order issued last year against the utility’s Cunningham Power Plant in Hobbs. The order alleged thou-
See TAXES, Page A3
sands of instances of nitrogen oxide emissions in excess of the plant’s permit between 2005 and 2009. The utility disputed the allegations and settlement talks ensued. In addition to the $500,000 environmental project, Southwester n Public Service will pay a $300,000 civil penalty for the alleged violations. The penalty is due within 30 days and the project at the university must be completed within 180 days. The utility could face more fines if it misses the deadlines spelled out in the settlement. See AIR, Page A3
Friends remember trainer Willie Hall Could US drivers ever JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER
This morning, a memorial 10-count will toll in honor of Willie Hall Sr., a man whose impact on the youth in Roswell will resound indefinitely. The count — the tolling of a bell 10 times — honors a recently deceased boxer. Hall, 83, passed away on Dec. 6, in Albuquerque. A renowned boxer and longtime Roswell resident, Hall traded in his gloves to coach hundreds of young boys in the community free of charge. Hall trained aspiring boxers in gyms throughout Roswell including the Ava Maria Center, the Roswell Police Department, New Mexico Military Institute
See JUDGE, Page A3
and the Roswell Boys & Girls Club. In one session, he would train up to 20 young men at a time. Born in Bryan, Texas, Hall, an only child, began boxing at the age of nine. He moved to Roswell with his parents at the age of 15. After attending George Washington Carver, a for -blacks-only school on Roswell’s southeast side, he became involved in amateur boxing. Hall trained and fought with some of the best boxers in history and even befriended Muhammad Ali, when he was known as Cassius Clay. Hall boxed as a welterweight in the Air Force championships in 1948, and with the Walker Air
abide by cellphone ban?
Courtesy Photo
Willie Hall Sr.
Force Base team in 1949. He became a quarter finalist in the National See HALL, Page A3
DALLAS (AP) — Junior Woods has a well-practiced routine for conducting business on the road: While driving throughout rural Arkansas, the electronics salesman steals a glance at his cellphone every so often, checking for text messages and emails. “I can keep both hands on the steering wheel and just look down my nose and read in 10-second intervals,” Woods said in a phone interview from Rogers, Ark. “I’m actually doing that right now.” Like millions of other Americans, Woods uses his car as a mobile office, relying on his phone almost every hour of every workday to stay productive and ear n a living. So would
drivers ever abide by a proposed ban on almost all cellphone use behind the wheel, even if it is handsfree? Could they afford to? Those are just a few of the questions looming over a federal recommendation that seeks to rein in what has become an essential tool of American business. Woods said the ban, if adopted, would devastate his sales. Because he lives in a rural state, his minimum drive is an hour and a half. “If I have a 3 1 ⁄ 2 -hour drive to Little Rock, and I’ve got 100 messages to return, it’s going to turn that into a six-hour drive,” he said. “I’ve got no secreSee CELLPHONE, Page A3