Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 120, No. 46 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A major snowstorm dealt another winter wallop to Wisconsin, Michigan and northern Ohio on Monday as it moved east out of Minnesota leaving more than a foot of fresh snow in its wake.
TUESDAY
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Committee to discuss convention bill MATTHEW ARCO RECORD STAFF WRITER
MIDWEST GETS MORE SNOW, ICE
February 22, 2011
Legislation being sponsored by a local lawmaker that would allow for the expansion of the Roswell Convention and Civic Center by way of lodger’s tax dollars, is slated to be discussed during a House committee today. Rep. Dennis Kintigh’s, R-Roswell, HB433 is on the House Health and Government Affairs Committee’s agenda. The bill would permit Roswell and other areas of the state to use lodger’s tax funds to make improvements to its convention center, by expanding the scope of the Convention Center Financing Act to all municipalities. Currently, there are restrictions placed on the
Spectacular sunset
size of a municipality. The act describes a qualified municipality as an area with a population of more than 70,000 and less than 100,000 people. The proposal has the support of local officials, who say the current system gives larger cities a monopoly on attracting people and events to select convention centers. “It’s more of an equality value than anything else,” said city Councilor Jason Perry, chairman of the city’s Building and Lands Committee. “If we’re ever going to compete with those other cities that hold those functions, we need to be held equally.” Perry says certain events are prevented from coming to Roswell because the current facility is not able to house 1,500 for an event.
“We have a plan in the making,” he said, referring to ways to expand the facility. “We have preliminary drawings of what we would like to see at the convention center.” Kintigh’s proposal would simply give municipalities the option to expand, it wouldn’t mandate any tax increases. “It gives the community the option to make the decision on whether or not they want to do this,” Kintigh said. “I’m hopeful (it will pass), but there’s no way of knowing until we get to it.” The committee meeting is slated to begin at 8:30 a.m. Voters can listen to the proceeddings live on the Legislature’s website, www.nmlegis.gov /lcs/.
mattarco@roswell-record.com
Kintigh says no to bill MATTHEW ARCO RECORD STAFF WRITER
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INSIDE SPORTS
Mark Wilson Photo
The sun sets Friday evening over Lazy Lagoon at Bottomless Lakes.
A Roswell lawmaker cast the single dissenting vote on a bill that seeks to provide northern counties with a third District Court judge, on the floor of the state House of Representatives on Monday. Rep. Dennis Kintigh, RRoswell, says he felt compelled to vote against HB188 that will appropriate more than $420,000 in FY 2012 to add another judge in the state’s Eighth Judicial District, covering Taos, Union and Colfax counties. The appropriation will be used for salaries and benefits, as well as furniture, supplies and equipment for an additional judge and support staff, according to the bill’s fiscal impact See NO, Page A3
Ezzell labor bill Presidents Day has long history stalls in committee
WARRIORS FALL TO CHIEFS The phrase “ A back and forth game” is usually used when the lead changes numerous times. Despite not having any lead changes in the second half, the above phrase is a perfect summation of the Gateway Christian boys basketball game on Monday. - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES • Henry Allen • Betty Jo McCullough • Antonio Sedillo • Aubrey “Cotton” Stephens • John Beckham • C. “Jackie” Hess - PAGE A6
HIGH ...76˚ LOW ....35˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B4 ENTERTAINMENT.....B6 FINANCIAL .............B5 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
A local lawmaker’s legislation that would make joining a labor union in the state of New Mexico optional, was recently stalled in a House committee. Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell’s, R-Roswell, HB331 was tabled in the House Labor and Human Resources Committee last week. The bill would enact a Right to Work Act and provide that membership in a labor organization not be required as a condition of employment. The proposal was defeated by a 5-4 vote on party lines. “It wasn’t the unions themselves, it was people who worked for certain unions,” said Ezzell, referring to the individuals who spoke out against the proposal during the committee meeting. “It was not to do away with labor unions at all,” she said. “It was to give a person the ability to join or not join.” The lawmaker says the state’s decision to table the item puts New Mexico at a disadvantage. “All the states that surround us are a right to work state and it is keeping businesses from locating in the state of New Mexico,” she said. “We have to get jobs here and that’s the only way that we’re going to get companies to move into the state.”
JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Presidents Day dates back to founding father and first president, George Washington. The date his birth was supposed to be celebrated has never been uniform. According to the Julian or old-style calendar in effect in England and the colonies until 1752, Washington’s birth date was Feb. 11. When the new-style, or Gregorian, calendar came into use the date changed, and George Washington’s birth date fell on Feb. 22, 1732, because the new calendar added 11 days to the old calendar to align it with the astronomical year. Therefore, in the 1790s, when Washington was still alive, some Americans celebrated his birthday on Feb. 11 and some on Feb. 22. The state of Virginia has long celebrated Washington’s Birthday. The George Washington Birthday Celebration Com-
mittee is one of the very oldest community organizations in Alexandria. From the time of the Revolutionary War, the citizens of Virgina have held an annual Birthnight Ball. Americans in other areas of the country didn't observe this holiday until 1832 — 100 years after his birth. In 1880 when an Act of Congress declared Washington’s Birthday observances for government offices in the District of Columbia. This was expanded in 1885 to include all federal offices. Washington’s Birthday was the first federal holiday to honor an American citizen. Abraham Lincoln was the next president to gain reverence similar to Washington. Born on Feb. 12, 1809, Lincoln's Birthday was first celebrated in 1865, the year he was assassinated. Although his birthday was not a federal holiday like Washington's, many states adopted it as a legal holiday. See HISTORY, Page A3
Gadhafi goes on Libyan television amid wave of protests
CAIRO (AP) — Deep rifts opened in Moammar Gadhafi’s regime, with Libyan government officials at home and abroad resigning, air force pilots defecting and a bloody crackdown on protest in the capital of Tripoli, where cars and buildings were burned. Gadhafi went on state TV early Tuesday to attempt to show he was still in charge. World leaders expressed outrage Monday at the “vicious forms of repression” used against the demonstrators. The longest serving Arab leader appeared briefly on TV to dispel rumors that he had fled. Sitting in a car in front of what appeared to be his residence and holding an umbrella out of the passenger side door, he told an interviewer that he had wanted to go to the capital’s Green Square to talk to his supporters, but the rain stopped him. “I am here to show that I am in Tripoli and not in Venezuela. Don’t believe those misleading dog stations,” Gadhafi said, referring to the media reports that he had left the
country. The video clip and comments lasted less than a minute — unusual for the mercurial leader, who is known for rambling speeches that often last hours. Pro-Gadhafi militia drove through Tripoli with loudspeakers and told people not to leave their homes, witnesses said, as security forces sought to keep the unrest that swept eastern parts of the country — leaving the second-largest city of Benghazi in protesters’ control — from overwhelming the capital of 2 million people. State TV said the military had “stormed the hideouts of saboteurs” and urged the public to back security forces. Protesters called for a demonstration in Tripoli’s central Green Square and in front of Gadhafi’s residence, but witnesses in various neighborhoods described a scene of intimidation: helicopters hovering above the main seaside boulevard and pro-Gadhafi gunmen firing from moving cars and even See PROTESTS, Page A3
AP Photo
Residents stand on a tank holding a pre-Gadhafi era national flag inside a security forces compound in Benghazi, Libya on Monday, Feb. 21.