02-11-2011

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Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY

Vol. 120, No. 35 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday

INSIDE NEWS

Law would expand county’s investments

PHOENIX (AP) — Gov. Jan Brewer sued the federal government Thursday for failing to control Arizona’s border with Mexico and enforce immigration laws, and for sticking the state with huge costs associated with jailing illegal immigrants who commit crimes. - PAGE A6

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• All Saints observes Celebrate National ... • Madsen has pre-trial hearing • State engineer blocks pipeline • CC! honors wrestlers, dancers • Monterrey Elementary kids dig running

INSIDE SPORTS

A pair of Roswell lawmakers are pushing legislation in the Roundhouse that’s described by local of ficials as a “Chaves County bill” and would allow broader investments opportunities for local money. Under the proposed legislation, dollars from the Chaves County permanent fund would be eligible for investment in areas such as mortgage and asset backed securities. The bill was introduced by Senate

President Pro Tem T im Jennings, D-Roswell, and Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell. Local of ficials say it would only pertain to Chaves County, since other New Mexico counties don’t come close to the proposal’s $40 million permanent fund threshold limit needed to invest in other areas. Currently, Chaves County’s more than $50 million permanent fund dollars are only eligible for investment in gover nment backed securities — which yield extremely low interest rates, said Stan Riggs,

Kerr Ranch deal isn’t a done one

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Hall of Famer Jerry Sloan stepped down Thursday after 23 seasons and 1,127 wins as head coach of the Utah Jazz. Longtime assistant Phil Johnson, who also was in his 23rd season with the Jazz, also resigned. Sloan said during a news conference that stepping down was his decision and that the team had tried to talk him out of it. But he said it’s time to move on. Jazz assistant Tyrone Corbin will be the next coach. - PAGE B1

TODAY’S OBITUARIES

• John Henry Gibson • Rev. Emanuel M. Norfor • Ramona Garcia Leyva - PAGE A6

HIGH ...55˚ LOW ....15˚

TODAY’S FORECAST

CLASSIFIEDS..........B5 COMICS.................B3 ENTERTAINMENT.....B5 FINANCIAL .............B4 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........B5 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8

INDEX

The bill would limit the county’s investment choices to securities with high ratings.

county manager. The county’s current permanent fund was created in 1998, following the sale of the county’s hospital. “When (the fund) was created, people thought we would always get 6 percent or 5 percent (return and that) we’ll always get $3 million off of the $50 million fund,” Riggs said. “We don’t get anywhere near that.” Riggs says officials hope to cash in on higher inter-

est rates than what the county currently receives. Any interest that generates from the fund is then transferred to the general fund, which keeps the county running. “Right now, we’re getting about $1 million off (of the per manent fund investments) and, in this economy, we would like to be able to get, instead of 1 percent, maybe 2 percent,” he said. “We realize that we’re not going to make a

fortune of f of it, but we would like to position ourselves in a few other things that allow us a little more than 1 percent.” The bill would limit the county’s investment choices to securities with high ratings. The proposal is unlike a similar one in recent years that sought to allow the county to invest in the stock market and mortgage backed securities with lower ratings — including toxic assets that contributed to the economic recession. See COUNTY, Page A3

MATTHEW ARCO RECORD STAFF WRITER

Roswell’s mayor indicated Thursday night that the council’s decision to reject a bid proposal for leasing city land to outside sources, following an eleventh hour plea from a Chaves County commissioner, may be reversed in the coming weeks. Mayor Del Jurney said following the council’s regular monthly meeting that at least one of the city councilors who voted in favor of rejecting bids for the Kerr Ranch lease, may have reversed their decision. Jurney made the comments after the meeting had adjourned and following comments from Steve Oldfield, who city staff recommended the bid be awarded to. “I know this Kerr Ranch deal is probably small potatoes to you guys,” said Oldfield, addressing the council. “But, for me, it’s a big deal.” The city retains the roughly 3,500 acres of land for its water rights, but leases it to outside sources who typicalSee RANCH, Page A3

SLOAN STEPS DOWN

FRIDAY

www.rdrnews.com

MATTHEW ARCO RECORD STAFF WRITER

ARIZONA GOV COUNTERSUES FEDS

February 11, 2011

Mark Wilson Photo

Pecos Elementary students rehearse a dance number from ZING! Goes My Heart, a production presented by The National Dance Institute of New Mexico, Thursday, at Pueblo Auditorium.

Pecos kids learn life skills in musical

JONATHAN ENTZMINGER RECORD STAFF WRITER

Pecos Elementary School and the National Dance Institute of

New Mexico moved methodically in motion Thursday. “The National Dance Institute of New Mexico is fathered with the knowledge of the arts, and has a unique power to engage

Roswell school-based health centers worry about funding EMILY RUSSO MILLER RECORD STAFF WRITER

The administration for Roswell school district’s school-based health centers say they are worried its funding will be cut further since the state faces a budget shortfall of up to $400 million. “We're holding our breath along that line because there’s going to be a little give everywhere,” Linda Monk, the New Mexico Department of Health’s Director of Public Health for Southeastern New Mexico, said during an open house at the Mesa Middle School health center Thursday. “What that budget will be, we don’t know until the Legislature finalizes the budget.” Health Coordinator Jeneva Dearing said the budget to operate the three schoolbased health centers in Roswell, located at Mesa Middle School and Roswell and Goddard high schools, was slashed during last year’s budget cuts from

Emily Russo Miller Photo

MaryRuth Gedde, a Youth Alliance member, pours herself a hot drink at the school-based health center open house, Thursday.

$165,000 to $160,000. Dearing said the three centers provide a range of health services for students, parents and staf f members of the See HEALTH, Page A2

and motivate children,” Vladamir Stadnik, the institute’s associate residency See PECOS, Page A3

Mubarak refuses to go

CAIRO (AP) — President Hosni Mubarak refused to step down or leave Egypt and instead handed most of his powers to his vice president Thursday, enraging protesters who warned the country could explode in violence and pleaded for the military to take action to push him out. The rapidly moving events raised the question of whether a rift had opened between Mubarak and the military command over the uprising demanding the president’s resignation. Hours earlier, a council of the military’s top generals announced it had stepped in to secure the country, and a senior commander announced to protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square that all their demands would soon be met, raising cries of victory that Mubarak was on his way out.

Several hundred thousand had packed into Tahrir Square, ecstatic with expectation that Mubarak would announce his resignation in his nighttime address. Instead, they watched in shocked silence as he spoke, holding their foreheads in anger and disbelief. Some broke into tears. Others waved their shoes in the air in contempt. After the speech, they broke into chants of “Leave, leave, leave.” Organizers called for even larger protests today. After Mubarak’s speech, around 2,000 marched on the state television headquarters several blocks away from Tahrir, guarded by the military with barbed wire and tanks. Hundreds more massed outside Mubarak’s main administrative palace miles

teen local governments had already submitted disaster declarations to the state, and the governor’s office expected at least five more to be filed soon. A total damage estimate has yet to be tallied for the nearly weeklong state of emergency, but the governor’s office expects it to exceed the $2.4 million required for a presidential disaster declaration. Such a declaration would enable FEMA to reimburse local governments for costs associated with uninsured damages and response efforts. Any help would be appreciated, said Taos Mayor

Darren Cordova, who spent Thursday mor ning at a forum in Espanola that was meant to provide residents and business owners with information about government programs that could assist them. Cordova said people were less interested in hearing about loan programs and weatherization efforts than finding out who was going to pay for their busted water pipes, lost wages and unrealized revenues from businesses that were shuttered for days. People at the forum told

RPD arrests, charges Gov frees up funds for gas outage child abuse suspect Roswell Police Department arrested Matthew Orona, 23, on charges of child abuse with great bodily harm, Wednesday evening. Doctors from Roswell Regional Hospital emergency department alerted RPD after the examination of a 1-year -old infant revealed that the severity of the injuries were not consistent with See RPD, Page A3

Matthew Orona

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Gov. Susana Martinez has signed an executive order that frees up as much as $750,000 in state emergency funding to help with costs incurred by state and local agencies after last week’s record cold temperatures and natural gas outages that affected tens of thousands of New Mexicans. The governor’s order was announced Thursday as teams with the Federal Emergency Management Agency began assessing damages from souther n New Mexico north to Espanola and Taos. Four-

See EGYPT, Page A3

See GAS, Page A3


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