04-07-2011

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Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY

Vol. 120, No. 84 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday

INSIDE NEWS

Gov signs Katie’s Law expansion

SHUTDOWN THREAT WORRISOME

TOP 5 WEB For The Past 24 Hours

• Teacher gives grownup recipes • RPD seeks person of interest • Neighbors react to shoot-out • RIAC crash investigation could ... • NMMI boys ace Goddard, 9-0

INSIDE SPORTS

CC! HONORS WINTER COACHES Character Counts! of Chaves County announced the recipients of its 2010-11 Winter Coaches of Character awards on Wednesday. This year’s winners are Dexter High School girls basketball coach Kim Hamill, Goddard High School boys basketball coach Kevin Jones and Goddard High School dance team coordinator Judaun Prichard. Each award winner will receive an honorary plaque, a gift certificate to an area restaurant and a certificate good for a one-night stay ... - PAGE B1

Matthew Arco Photo

Gov. Susana Martinez signs the expansion of Katie’s Law in Carlsbad, Wednesday. Looking on are Jayann and Dave Sepich, Katie’s parents, and Aubrey Takacs, granddaughter of Sen. Vernon Asbill, R-Carlsbad, one of the bill’s sponsors.

‘It’s his fault’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Time growing short, Congress’ leaders reported making headway Wednesday in talks to cut spending and avert a partial government shutdown that the White House warned would hit U.S. combat troops abroad and taxpayer refunds from the IRS at home. President Barack Obama checked in separately by phone with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., then held a late-night meeting with the two men and Vice President Joe Biden at the White House. White House spokesman Jay Car ney said Obama decided to call the session after concluding not enough progress had been made during the day, and the president blamed business as usual in the nation’s capital politics for See BUDGET, Page A3

mattarco@roswell-record.com

New Mexico Military Institute cadets in the ROTC Early Commissioning Program, dressed in full battle gear, double-time their way to waiting buses that will take them into the Capitan Mountains for spring field training exercises involving NMMI, New Mexico State University, University of New Mexico and University of Texas at El Paso. The troops participating in the leadership course will be roughing it in the mountains through the weekend.

Gadhafi, in letter, asks Obama to end air strikes

• Manuel Carrasco Jr. • Diane Duran - PAGE B3

TODAY’S FORECAST

CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B4 ENTERTAINMENT...A10 FINANCIAL .............B5 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ......A10 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ............A10 THE WEST ............B3

will be prevented,” Jayann Sepich said. “This truly is a joyful day.” Martinez prosecuted Katie’s killer, Gabriel Avila, and said that expanding the law was a major objective after taking office. “She continues to live in this law and will make a difference nationally,” Martinez said. “Katie told you, ‘I’m going to change the world.’ And that is why ... Katie’s law was going to the top of the list.” Also in Carlsbad, the governor signed legislation that prohibits corporal punishment in New Mexico’s schools and legislation creating a certification process for gas pilot relighting. The latter was introduced by the Legislature in the event that New Mexico experiences another crisis such as the one brought by extreme cold temperatures in February.

Mark Wilson Photo

OBITUARIES

INDEX

Gov. Susana Martinez visited the southeastern New Mexico hometown of a 22-year-old college graduate student who was brutally raped and murdered in August 2003, to sign the expansion of the law that bears the victim’s name and that provides for DNA collection in every felony arrest in the state. The parents of Katie Sepich, who was killed while attending New Mexico State University, stood over the shoulders of the governor as the executive signed into law an expansion to Kaite’s Law, in Carlsbad, Wednesday. The couple have spent years advocating in New Mexico and across the country for DNA databases for individuals arrested on felonies and violent crimes. Jayann Sepich, Katie’s mother, shared with the audience of those who

attended the event, a phone conversation she had with her daughter about two weeks before her murder. “I think I’m going to be famous,” Jayann Sepich said her daughter told her. “And then she said, ... ‘I’m going to change the world.’” And while holding back tears Wednesday, Jayann Sepich responded to her daughter, saying, “Katie, you have.” Katie’s Law was enacted in New Mexico in 2006 and allowed for DNA collection only for certain felony arrests. When the college student was murdered, traces of DNA were discovered under her fingernails. Her parents have since pushed for collecting DNA as an effective method for catching criminals. It’s something they said would have led police to arrest their daughter’s attacker three months after Katie’s murder, not more than three years. “We know more crimes

ROTC training

TODAY’S

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THURSDAY

www.rdrnews.com

MATTHEW ARCO RECORD STAFF WRITER

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Business owners dependent on the tourists headed to Yellowstone National Park are concerned about a possible government shutdown closing the park. But if there has to be one, they say, better it happen now when the visitors are few — and they pray it doesn’t stretch - PAGE B3

April 7, 2011

AP Photo

A Libyan rebel fighter monitors the skyline near Brega, Libya, Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi appealed directly to President Barack Obama on Wednesday to end what Gadhafi called “an unjust war.” He also wished Obama good luck in his bid for re-election next year. “You are a man who has enough courage to annul a wrong and mistaken action,” Gadhafi wrote in a rambling, three-page letter to Obama obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I am sure that you are able to shoulder the responsibility for that.” The White House confirmed the letter, but top

officials shrugged it off. “I don’t think there is any mystery about what is expected from Mr. Gadhafi at this time,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, repeating U.S. and NATO demands that Gadhafi’s forces pull back and cease attacks. She also renewed a demand that Gadhafi step down from power and leave the country. “There needs to be a ceasefire, his forces need to withdraw from the cities that they have forcibly taken at great violence and human cost,” she said. “There needs to be a deci-

sion made about his departure from power and ... his departure from Libya.” Rebels and pro-government forces waged nearly stalemate battles in Libya, while a former U.S. lawmaker made an unendorsed private trip to Tripoli to try to convince Gadhafi to step down. An Obama administration envoy continued meeting with Libyan opposition figures in the rebel-held city of Benghazi, with no decision on whether to increase U.S. help for the rebels seeking Gadhafi’s ouster. See LIBYA, Page A3

States, Amtrak vie for $2.4B in high-speed train money

WASHINGTON (AP) — Twenty-four states including New Mexico, the District of Columbia and Amtrak are vying for $2.4 billion in federal aid that became available when Florida’s governor canceled a high-speed rail project in his state, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday. The deadline for applications for the funds was Monday. The Transportation Department is review-

ing 90 applications seeking a total of $10 billion, LaHood said. “They know that highspeed rail will deliver tens of thousands of jobs, spur economic development across their communities and create additional options for their citizens as the country’s population grows,” LaHood said in a statement. Among the requests was one from Amtrak for $1.3 billion to enhance train

service in the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington. The proposal includes a $720 million project to replace the more than 100-year -old movable Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River in New Jersey with a new, high-level fixed bridge. Amtrak’s application also includes $188 million for preliminary engineering and environmental analysis for two new tunnels under the Hudson River into Man-

hattan and $50 million for similar work for the development of a new Penn Station South facility to accommodate more tracks and platforms in downtown New York. President Barack Obama has sought to create a national network of highspeed trains a signature project of his administration. He has said he wants to make fast trains accessible to 80 percent of Americans within 25 years.

However, Obama is receiving strong resistance from Republicans, who say the trains should be rejected unless it can be shown that they will be self-supporting. Three Republican governors elected in November have canceled high-speed train projects in their states. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker turned down See TRAINS, Page A3


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