Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 119, No. 296 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
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December 11, 2010
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Chinese dissident honored at Nobel ceremony
OSLO, Norway (AP) — With a large portrait of a smiling Liu Xiaobo hanging front and center, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee crossed the dais and gently placed the peace prize diploma and medal on an empty chair. Ambassadors, royalty and other dignitaries rose in a standing ovation. The man they honored wasn’t there Friday — he is serving an 11year sentence at Jinzhou Prison in northeastern China for urging sweeping changes to Beijing’s oneparty communist political system. And there was no news coverage
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of it in China, where foreign TV news channels went black as the ceremony began and authorities denounced the award as a “political farce.” It was the first time in 74 years the prestigious $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize was not handed over. Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland drew the first of several standing ovations from the international gathering of 1,000 guests at Oslo City Hall when he noted that neither Liu nor his closest relatives were able to attend. “This fact alone shows that the award was necessary and appropri-
Streaky sunset
ate,” he said. He brought the crowd to its feet again when he declared: “He has not done anything wrong. He must be released.” China was infuriated when the Nobel committee awarded the prize to the 54-year-old literary critic, describing it as an attack on its political and legal system. Authorities have placed Liu’s supporters, including his wife, Liu Xia, under house arrest to prevent anyone from picking up his prize. After Jagland drew another standing ovation by placing the medal and diploma on Liu’s empty
SENECA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — For years, civic boosters have pointed out intriguing parallels that suggest Seneca Falls was the inspiration for Bedford Falls, the makebelieve New York mill town in “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
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Soldier’s family RPD chief applicants Jeffrey Walter Wilson Helen Blake Lake Van fish Mark Wilson Photo
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Streaking headlights and taillights from vehicles traveling along North Montana Avenue create a surreal scene as the sun sets behind the mountains to the west Thursday evening.
Electric Light Parade turns 20 today JONATHAN ENTZMINGER RECORD STAFF WRITER
MainStreet Roswell will put on the city’s 20th Electric Light Parade today. The parade will kick off at 6 p.m. on the corner of College Boulevard and Main Street. The theme for this year’s parade is “Light Up The Future.” “It’s going to be bigger this year, I think we’re going to have more participants,” said Dusty Huckabee,
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INDEX
Even in jail, Christmas a special time
See NOBEL, Page A6
JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
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chair, Norwegian actress Liv Ullman read the dissident’s statement, “I Have No Enemies,” which he delivered in a Chinese court in 2009 before he was sentenced. In the speech, Liu portrays the surprisingly positive and gentle nature of his correctional officer while awaiting trial, which gave him hope for the future. That “personal experience” caused him to “firmly believe that China’s political progress will not stop,” Ullman read. “I, filled with
director of MainStreet Roswell. Huckabee said he expects the parade to include 30 floats. Parade participants underwent special float building and safety training in November. “I do workshops to show people how to do it, to save time and money, and make it inexpensive to light up a car or a small trailer,” Huckabee said. New safety rules for this year’s parade include “no throwing candy from or at floats.” The rules focus
Add-ons transform tax-cut bill into a ‘Christmas tree’
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the spirit of the holiday season, President Barack Obama’s tax-cut deal with Republicans is becoming a Christmas tree tinseled with gifts for lobbyists and lawmakers. But that hardly stopped the squabbling on Friday, with Bill Clinton even back at the White House pleading the president’s case. While Republicans sat back quietly, mostly pleased, Democrats and other liberals were going at each other ever so publicly. As Clinton lectured on Obama’s behalf, Vermont independent Bernie Sanders castigated the agreement for the TV cameras in the mostly empty Senate chamber. The tax deal, reached behind the scenes and still informal, now includes ethanol subsidies for rural folks, commuter tax breaks for their cousins in the cities and suburbs and wind and solar grants for the environmentalists — all aimed at winning votes, particularly from reluctant Democrats. The holiday additions are being hung on the big bill that was Congress’ main reason for spending December in Washington, long after the elections that will give Republicans new power in January. The measure will extend Bushera tax cuts, averting big tax increases for nearly all Ameri-
on automotive safety and fire prevention. “We’ve never had a wreck, fatality … we’re very cautious,” Huckabee said. Participants in today’s parade will represent commercial businesses, churches, local non-profits and youth organizations. “This is our Christmas present to the community … it’s a time where everybody puts all of their grievances aside and celebrate the holiday.”
For family members of the people incarcerated at Chaves County Detention Center, Christmas can appear bleak. Both the adult and juvenile facilities stay open all day so families can visit. Families are allowed to bring children, but there are no contact visits. “The only contact visits we allow are court ordered or inmates enrolled in the parenting classes through CASA. Since we don’t have facilities for contact family visits, they are nor mally done in the courtroom with officer supervision,” CCDC administrator Alfonso Solis explained. He admitted, “It is sad, to see these little grandmothers, so crippled that they can hardly walk, bringing the children in,” said Solis. The adult facility has regular scheduled religious services. On Christmas Day, the Catholic Ministries will provide a Mass and communion. Grace Community Church is also planning communion and baptism celebration. They will provide a snack for the inmates. The Catholic Ministries will be giving Christmas cards to the inmates to mail to their families.
Living Christmas Tree
See JAIL, Page A6
Mark Wilson Photo
Members of First Baptist Church rehearse Thursday for the upcoming Living Christmas Tree performances. The 2010 presentation of The Christmas Shoes will be performed today at 2 p.m., Sunday at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Monday.
Smith puts his medical skills to use serving in Afghanistan See TAXES, Page A6
MATTHEW ARCO RECORD STAFF WRITER
Dr. Ben Smith
The ar med forces is dependent on volunteers. But it’s not often a person with a well-established professional career and family will opt out of his comfort zone to work under extreme pressure. Dr. Ben Smith is one of the exceptions. “I left my practice because I really wanted to be involved in the war on terror and if you visited
Afghanistan, you would understand firsthand that it is still going strong,” stated Smith in an e-mail from Kandahar Air Base, Afghanistan. Smith is in the midst of a tour of duty working at the air base’s NATO hospital. “Becoming restless and wanting the last hurrah, I
contacted the U.S. Navy to see if they would take me as an oral surgeon,” he said. “I received orders to Afghanistan six months after I signed up.” Smith was bor n and raised in Roswell. He graduated from the New Mexico Military Institute in 1967, before receiving congressional appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He graduated in 1971 and served five years on active duty in Germany and California before returning
to school at the University of New Mexico, where he got a master’s degree in microbiology. He went on to attend Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston and later the Washington University in St. Louis. Smith completed a residency in oral and maxillofacial surgery at Barnes Hospital, where he was trained in facial trauma. “When I was in dental See SMITH, Page A6