Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 124, No. 95 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
April 21, 2015
Tuesday
www.rdrnews.com
Junkyard property owner says he’s on it By Jeff Tucker Record Staff Writer
The Roswell man who owns a debris-strewn property the Chaves County Commission last week ordered cleaned up says he will clean up his land, just not within 15 days the commissioners ordered. Ernest “Rod” Tricarico said by August he will clean up his property at 6105 N. Main St., just north of Roswell’s city limits. Tricarico acknowledges the debris on his property is his responsibility, although he questioned the legal authority of the county to enforce a clean-
up. Tricarico said he has been steadily cleaning up the property for six to eight months. “It’s not just a day here, six months later, a day here, six months later, a day here,” Tricarico said Monday. “On a weekly basis, something is being done out there. I’m going to clean the property. I guarantee you, I promise. I’ve been cleaning it steadily.” Tricarico, owner of a Roswell-based mobile home moving business, said most of the dilapidated mobile homes on his property are a result of
referrals from the city of Roswell and Chaves County to remove abandoned mobile homes, such as those damaged in fires. “The city of Roswell has people contact me to come get this debris off their property,” he said. Tricarico said the mobile homes on his property have, over the years, been stripped of aluminum and other salvageable materials by vandals, leaving the mobile homes to further deteriorate and disintegrate into more pieces that sometimes get caught up in windstorms and blow about the area. Tricarico said vandals
have cut holes in fencing around his property, and even rammed fencing with vehicles. “It’s an eyesore, but we were doing a favor for them and it became where people like drug heads and meth heads were coming out there and stealing everything off of it,” Tricarico said. “Those trailers weren’t like that when we pulled them out there. They were full trailers.” Tricarico conceded he has taken the mobile homes to his property to be salvaged for mobile homes parts, rather than See PROPERTY, Page A3
Hangin’ at the rodeo
Bill Moffitt Photos
Cowboys literally “head out into the sunset” in the parking lot at the Eastern New Mexico Fairgrounds Saturday during the Bob Crosby Open Ranch Rodeo.
Cohdy Seely, 5, of Roswell, watches the action at the ranch rodeo at the fairgrounds Saturday.
Jearad Fraze of Dora skips the bleachers and opts to watch the fifth annual Bob Crosby Open Ranch Rodeo from atop his horse Saturday.
Jeff Tucker Photo
Ernest “Rod” Tricarico, owner of this property at 6105 N. Main St., says he will clean up the land by Aug. 1. The Chaves County commission last week ordered Tricarico to clean up the property within 15 days or face a lien on the property. Tricarico said the county commission’s order is illegal.
Clinton defends foundation from charges of favoritism KEENE, N.H. (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton dismissed swirling questions about her family foundation Monday as little more than political attacks from Republicans eager to gain an early advantage in the 2016 presidential contest. Clinton, campaigning for the Democratic nomination in the liberal bastion of Keene, pushed back against accusations that foreign governments that made donations to the Clintons’ charity received preferential treatment from the State Department while she served in the Obama administration. “We will be subjected to all kinds of distractions and attacks,” she told reporters after a roundtable event at a wood furniture factory. “I’m ready for that. I know that that comes, unfortunately, with the territory.” She is making her first campaign visit this year to New Hampshire, a state beloved by the Clinton family for giving both her faltering 2008 effort and her husband’s struggling 1992 campaign a second wind. She also took issue with economic views expressed by members of her own party, offering a dark assessment of a “stalled out” U.S. recovery, a judgment at odds with President Barack Obama’s brighter view of what the nation has achieved on his watch.
“It’s not enough just to tread water,” she said. In a traditional Democratic stand, she voiced her strong support for Social Security, a program some Republicans are eager to trim back, describing it as “not a luxury” but “a necessity.” Standing in front of wooden pallets and boxes of furniture parts, Clinton was asked by reporters about Peter Schweizer’s coming book, “Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich.” The book argues that the Clinton family got speaking fees and donations in return for favors to various foreign interests doled out while she was secretary of state. Sen. Rand Paul, a 2016 GOP candidate, said that would make people “question whether she ought to run for president.” Republicans have spent months talking about financial dealings of the Clinton Foundation to raise questions about Hillary Clinton’s character. She stepped down from the organization’s board within hours of announcing her campaign. The foundation has come under scrutiny for accepting foreign contributions, including from Middle Eastern nations that deny equal See CLINTON, Page A2
Morning sun
A member of the “3.5 Gringos” team gets down-and-dirty as a judge watches during the Team Branding competition at the open ranch rodeo at the Bob Crosby arena Saturday. Fourteen teams competed in five events providing a good evening of entertainment for audience members of all ages.
Enchanted Circle Firefighters prepare for wildfire season
By Michelle Duregger Sangre De Christo Chronicle
ANGEL FIRE – Local and National Fire departments are mobilizing to prepare for the wildfire season, and the annual Enchanted Circle Regional Fire Protection Association Meeting in Taos on April 6 kicked off the local wildfire season. Fire chiefs, volunteers and other personnel from around the area amassed for the meeting including Taos County and Moreno
Valley area department officials and volunteers, and fire personnel from Taos Pueblo, Bureau of Land Management, and Carson National Forest, among others. Wildfire trainings also began in Red River April 6, continuing throughout the week and ended with live-fire training on April 12 on a ranch in Elizabethtown. The meeting on April 13 allowed area departments to discuss their capabilities, the season outlook
and firefighting resources. The Enchanted Circle Fire Protection Association predicts a season of smaller, more manageable fires. Snow pack was “decent,” according to Ray Corral Northern New Mexico Type 3 Team Incident Manager, and the prediction is for more moisture and cooler temperatures to keep things in check. “But Mother Nature holds the crystal ball,” said Corral. “We are prepared for anything.”
Today’s Forecast
HIGH 83 LOW 46
Chris Romo, Cimarron District New Mexico Fire Management Officer agrees. “Right now we are not banking on the mild fire season. We have a lot of carryover fuels (dead grasses, dead trees, etc.) We are still in a drought and are treating the fire season with the highest regards.” Angel Fire and Red River in particular have been the focus of much attention in the past years for thinning
Bill Moffitt Photo
Morning sunlight filters through the branches of a tree and gives a cloud-like effect to the sprinklers as they water a yard in the 500 block of West Hervey Drive Monday. Temperatures are expected to remain in the high 80s this week.
See FIRE, Page A2 Index
Today’s Obituaries Page A6
• Mary Baeza
• Guimel Salomon Vazquez
Classifieds...........B6
General...............A2
Opinion.................A4
• James Rubin Smith, Jr.
• Wilburn Marshall Riley
Comics..................B5
Horoscopes.........A8
Sports. ................A1
Financial..............B4
Lotteries. ............A2
Weather...............A8