Roswell Daily Record Missed it by 1,634!
Vol. 120, No. 65 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
March 16, 2011
WEDNESDAY
www.rdrnews.com
INSIDE
NEWS
MATTHEW ARCO RECORD STAFF WRITER
DION BRINGS NEW SHOW TO VEGAS
LAS VEGAS (AP) — On the stage that French-Canadian power ballads built, Celine Dion rolls her body, drops her hips and shimmies in a gold sparkly mini-dress that looks like it was swiped from Beyonce’s closet. This is Dion as Tina Turner, her robust voice stretching into a soulful cover of “River Deep, Mountain High” as a row of back-up singers - PAGE B6
TOP 5 WEB
For The Past 24 Hours
• Woman shot; in critical condition • Fatal accident • Man’s condition improves • NMMI cadet’s condition improves • Torres gets 36 years
INSIDE SPORTS
A wave of disappointment flooded City Hall Tuesday after U.S. Census Bureau officials announced that Roswell failed to meet its 50,000 population goal, set out by residents hoping the city would become an entitlement community. Multiple city officials said they were in a state of disbelief after learning that Roswell’s official population is 48,366 residents, saying they planned to utilize any sort of appeal process that the Census Bureau may
have and insisting that Roswell’s population is well over 50,000. The benchmark would make Roswell a metropolitan statistical area and would, among other benefits, make more federal funds available to the city. The news came shortly after noon and hit hard, especially with officials who worked hard to make sure the city hit the mark. “I’d like to sit down and cry. I can’t hardly believe it,” said Councilor Steve Henderson, after hearing See ROSWELL, Page A6
House districts stay at 3 MATTHEW ARCO RECORD STAFF WRITER
New Mexico’s population may have grown a little more than 13 percent from 2000, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, but the additional numbers did not give New Mexicans a larger voice in the U.S. House of Representatives. The state’s increase in residents from 1,819,046 in 2000, to 2,059,179 in 2010, wasn’t enough
when it came time for apportionment. In 2010, a total of 12 seats were reassigned following the recent census data. There are 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives among the 50 states. Each state’s numbers are subject to being changed based on the population figures collected every 10 years by the Census Bureau. New Mexico will con-
Census shows 2010 snapshot of New Mexico ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — New Mexico has retained its place as the most Hispanic state in the union — and Hispanics are responsible for most of its growth over the past decade. U.S. Census Bureau fig-
See HOUSE, Page A6
ures released Tuesday show New Mexico grew by more than 240,000 people over the decade to 2 million, with 78 percent of that increase from New Mexico’s Hispanics. “New Mexico didn’t have
Boeing runs brake tests
a huge population increase ... but the majority of the population increase was Hispanic,” said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
The Hispanic population has grown from 42.1 percent of New Mexico’s total in 2000 to 46.3 percent in 2010. California has the second highest rate of Hispanics, with 38 percent, Vargas said.
Gov appoints new regents to NMMI
RAMS SWEEP ROCKETS
Winning softball teams do two things on regular basis — move runners over and get timely hits. Those two things were lacking for the Goddard Rockets on Tuesday. Goddard dropped both ends of a doubleheader with Portales, falling 4-2 in Game 1 and 7-2 in Game 2 in its first two games of the season. - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Dorothea Donnelly • Richard Earl Brown • Jason Ray Fields • John David Muelker • Many Ann Goodin • Maria Loera • Helen Jacobs • Tex Ernest Smart - PAGE A8
HIGH ...87˚ LOW ....44˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B4 ENTERTAINMENT.....B6 FINANCIAL .............B3 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........B6 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 STATE ...................A3 WEATHER ............A10
INDEX
Boeing is running brake tests on its new 747-8 freighter in Roswell this week.
New Mexico is one of a handful of states in which the majority of the population belongs to minority groups. African Americans made
Matthew Arco
See CENSUS, Page A6
Gov. Susana Martinez announced Tuesday two regent appointments at the New Mexico Military Institute. The governor nominated Jesse Eckel, of Roswell, and Fermin Rubio, of Las Cruces, to the Board of Regents at the Institute. “New Mexico Military Institute is a unique institution that emphasizes leadership, discipline, and academic excellence,” Martinez said in a press release. “I am confident that an accomplished alumnus like Mr. Eckel and a distinguished military leader like Mr. Rubio will be great additions to the Board of Regents at NMMI.” Eckel is currently the vice president
Japan abandons stricken nuclear plant over radiation
FUKUSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Japan suspended operations to prevent a stricken nuclear plant from melting down Wednesday after a surge in radiation made it too dangerous for workers to remain at the facility. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said work on dousing reactors with water was disrupted by the need to withdraw. Earlier officials said 70 percent of fuel rods at one of the six reactors at the plant were significantly damaged in the aftermath of Friday’s calamitous earthquake and tsunami. News reports said 33 percent of fuel rods were also damaged at another reactor. Of ficials said they would use helicopters and fire trucks to spray water in a desperate effort to prevent further radiation leaks
and to cool down the reactors. The nuclear crisis has triggered inter national alarm and partly overshadowed the human tragedy caused by Friday’s double disaster, which pulverized Japan’s northeaster n coastline, killing an estimated 10,000 people. Authorities have tried frantically since last Friday’s earthquake and tsunami to avert an environmental catastrophe at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex in northeastern Japan, 170 miles north of Tokyo. The gover nment has ordered some 140,000 people in the vicinity to stay indoors. A little radiation was also detected in Tokyo, 150 miles to the south and triggered panic buying of food and water.
There are six reactors at the plant, and three that were operating at the time have been rocked by explosions. The one still on fire was offline at the time of the magnitude 9.0 quake, Japan’s most powerful on record. The Nuclear Industrial and Safety Agency estimated that 70 percent of the rods have been damaged at the No. 1 reactor. Japan’s national news agency, Kyodo, said that 33 percent of the fuel rods at the No. 2 reactor were damaged and that the cores of both reactors were believed to have partially melted. “We don’t know the nature of the damage,” said Minoru Ohgoda, See JAPAN, Page A6
See NMMI, Page A6
OBAMA DEFENDS NUCLEAR ENERGY WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Tuesday defended the use of nuclear energy despite the calamity in Japan where a nuclear power plant leaked radiation in the wake of a devastating earthquake and tsunami.
The president told Pittsburgh television station KDKA that all energy sources have their downsides but that the U.S. — which gets 20 percent of its electricity from nuclear power — needs to look at the full array of them.
The president said facilities in the U.S. are closely monitored and built to withstand earthquakes, even though nothing’s fail-
safe. Proponents of nuclear power fear their ef forts to win over the public to the safety of their industry have been dealt a tremendous blow by the disaster in Japan. “I think it is very important to make sure that we are doing everything we can to insure the safety and effectiveness of the nuclear facilities that we have,” the president said in a second TV interview Tuesday, with KOAT in Albuquerque, N.M. “We’ve got to budget for it. I’ve already instructed our nuclear regulatory agency to make sure that we take lessons learned from what’s happening in
See OBAMA, Page A6