Roswell Daily Record
Senate rejects House bill THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 120, No. 182 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
MONUMENT RISES FROM ASHES
Tourist season is peaking in northern New Mexico but there are no visitors at the heart of much-loved Bandelier National Monument, tucked into the ancient canyons northwest of Santa Fe. No one is climbing the wooden ladders that reach up to the centuries-old dwellings that were carved... - PAGE A2
July 30, 2011
SATURDAY
www.rdrnews.com
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an unforgiving display of partisanship, the RepubliHouse can-controlled approved emergency legislation Friday night to avoid an unprecedented government default and Senate Democrats scuttled it less than two hours later in hopes of a better deal. “We are almost out of time” for a compromise, warned President Barack Obama as U.S. financial
AP Photo
A portend of things to come
See SENATE, Page A3
DETAILS OF RIVAL PLANS ON SPENDING, DEBT THE ASSOCIATED PRESS House Republicans and Senate Democrats are pressing competing plans to pair an increase in the nation’s $14.3 trillion borrowing limit with spending cuts and to create a special committee to recommend bigger savings for a vote later this year. In a change announced on Friday, House Republicans would make the bulk
of the debt limit increase contingent on Congress adopting an amendment to the Constitution requiring a balanced budget and sending it to the states for ratification. The chief difference is the size of the immediate increase in the debt limit. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid’s $2.7 trillion
Fish kill closes Lea Lake See PLANS, Page A3
EMILY RUSSO MILLER RECORD STAFF WRITER
TOP 5 WEB For The Past 24 Hours
• Tailgate party • Shoot-out leaves man wounded • 19 youth train to become Earth Rangers • Animal Services gets another alligator • Sunset redo nearly complete
INSIDE SPORTS
Mark Wilson Photo
City of Roswell employees Javier Alonso, left, and John M. Schmid apply fresh paint to a school crossing near Washington Avenue Elementary, Thursday morning, preparing for the upcoming school year.
Lea Lake at Bottomless Lakes State Park will be closed until further notice after thousands of sunfish died in the water and were washed ashore Friday morning, officials say. The cause of the fish kill is unknown at this point, says Park Superintendent Joe Kasuboski, though he says the Department of Game and Fish ruled out golden algae, which is toxic to fish, as the potential killer after water samples were examined for a preliminary analysis. “They’ve dealt with it a lot,” Kasuboski said, referring to the fact that in recent years the algae
Who sent Dwyer State gives Medal of Honor to Quici’s house? winner warm welcome home JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
PHILLY WINS ASOMUGHA SWEEPSTAKES
BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) — Philadelphia has become quite the attractive freeagent destination of late. On Friday, Nnamdi Asomugha and the Eagles joined in on the party. One day after acquiring Pro Bowl cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie from the Cardinals, the Eagles stunned the NFL world, and signed another Pro Bowl cornerback, Asomugha, to a five-year contract. Asomugha, considered the top free agent on the market, - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Owen Mann • Vida Woods • Walter Chambers • Vera B. Kenney - PAGE A7
Rachel Quici, daughter of murder victim Tony Quici, is seeking infor mation about the man who may have directed Allen Dwyer to her father’s home. Tony B. Quici, 82, was found dead in his residence on Jan. 22, 2008, by a Roswell J.O.Y. Center worker. At the time, it was ruled that Quici had died from a fall in his home at 108 W. 13th St. on Jan. 21, 2008. However, he did not die immediately. It was later learned that Tony had been a victim of a home invasion. His killer turned himself in to the police voluntarily, in March 2010, and according to the criminal
complaint, he said that he had gone to the home to get money to buy drugs. Rachel has long believed that her father was targeted by a local drug dealer, who told Dwyer where to get the money and said “the old man kept money in his home.” “We are looking for cooperation and help from the public — anyone who may know something about what happened,” she said. “If this guy’s still running around loose on the streets, people are in danger,” said Rachel. She expressed concern for members of the public. “We need to protect the citizens of Roswell, especially the elderly and the dis-
AP Photo
Santa Fe native and Medal of Honor recipient U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry greets fellow Medal of Honor recipient Hiroshi Miyamura in front of the State Capitol, Friday.
Robert Riley, Navy medic, recalls brush with death
HIGH ...96˚ LOW ....73˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B3 FINANCIAL .............A6 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
SANTA FE (AP) — New Mexico gave a hero’s welcome and birthday greetings Friday to a native son awarded the Medal of Honor, Ar my Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry. Petry, who grew up in Santa Fe, celebrated his 32nd birthday as he returned to his hometown for the first time since receiving the nation’s highest military honor at a White House ceremony earlier this month. “It’s not my medal. It represents everyone in the uniformed services,” Petry told a crowd of more than 200 who gathered in the Capitol rotunda. Dressed in the Army’s
See FISH, Page A3
INDEX
Emily Russo Miller Photo
Robert Riley displays the Purple Heart he earned in Afghanistan.
EMILY RUSSO MILLER RECORD STAFF WRITER
U.S. Navy Corpsman Robert Riley had saved countless lives during his three tours of duty in
See QUICI, Page A3
See MEDAL, Page A2
Iraq and Afghanistan. But one day, Nov. 23, 2009, to be exact, it was his life that needed saving when insurgents attacked his unit with mortar fire. At the time, Riley was stationed in Forward Operating Base Wilson, thought to be a secure military base, west of Pashmul in southern Afghanistan. He and 24 other soldiers were assigned to temporarily help make quality of life improvements for U.S. Army troops, like installing air conditioning and electricity in their camps, a change of pace for the doctor who was treating mass casualties with a Shock Trauma Platoon medical unit in Kandahar Providence just two months before. The attack, Riley remembers, happened on a Monday at noon. He and a couple of his buddies were just about to sit down to their ready-to-eat meals on the base, when all of a sudden they heard a loud booming sound. “It sounded like the Conex boxes
that you pull on the back of a trailer or train,” he said. “Well, there’s a machine that picks those up and moves those and stacks those, and we thought that one had dropped one.” One of his friends gave him a hard time, and said, “Hey, Doc. Why don’t you put down your damn spaghetti MRE, and go see what the hell is going on over there?” “OK, fine,” Riley replied. “Looks like nothing, but I’ll go look.” SWCN Aaron Thompson, a constructions man and steelworker striker in the Navy, offered to go with him. Since they were on a secure base, neither of the men wore protective gear. Thompson
wore just a uniform and carried an M-16, while Riley had on fatigue pants, a T -shirt, belt, a pair of Oakleys and a 9 mm pistol in his drop holster. They walked around a corner, then stopped in their tracks. “Thompson, do you smell that?” “Yeah, but I don’t know what it is.” “It’s cordite,” Riley said, the explosive in military weapons, like mortars and rockets. “It has a very distinct flavor, it’s almost like chewing on a penny,” Riley said in a recent interview. Riley and Thompson picked up the pace, and then saw some people standing in a circle about 50 yards away, surrounding a man on the ground. They began sprinting to the scene to help, as did two other Navy guys, CM1 David Brown and an E-3 nicknamed “Mijo.” They raced toward the man See SPOTLIGHT, Page A3