Roswell Daily Record
Black Friday shoppers out early THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 119, No. 284 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A recently discovered e-mail, which forced postponement of Rep. Maxine Waters’ ethics trial, appears to bring the House ethics committee no closer to proving she tried to obtain a U.S. bailout — during the financial crisis — for a bank where her husband owns stock. - PAGE A6
SATURDAY
www.roswell-record.com
EMILY RUSSO MILLER RECORD STAFF WRITER
WATERS ETHICS CASE
November 27, 2010
Before the sun had risen and probably before the turkey dinner had time to settle, throngs of Black Friday shoppers braved the cold and lined up outside Target at three in the mor ning. The RDR estimates there were at least 300 shoppers in the parking lot and the lines reached all the way back to Main Street. With sale prices in their eyes, and visions of bargains dancing in their heads like Christmas sugarplums, they waited an hour for the store to open its doors at 4 a.m., before wiping out the shelves. The Westinghouse 40-inch
flatscreen TV sold out in the first hour, then the XBox Connect, according to Target employees. “People were just running towards here,” James Portio, 23, who works at Target, said. “It’s kind of fun just to see what everybody likes to get.” Portio noted that Target had practically every employee on staff working so they could open more lines of cashiers, have more salespeople on the floor and extra help in the back rooms. He also said the only moment of pandemonium during the craziest shopping day of the year was when a shopper thought someone was See SHOP, Page A2
Mark Wilson Photo
Hundreds of bargain hunters wait in Target’s parking lot early Friday morning, braving the cold temperatures to get a jump on their holiday shopping.
EIB mulls new rules
Santa arrives at Roswell Mall
TOP 5 WEB
For The Past 24 Hours
• Pecos River Settlement wallops ... • RPD’s VCRU now fully-staffed • Children introduced to sex at young ages • Feast warms bodies, spirits • 4A powerhouses meet in semis
INSIDE SPORTS
Mark Wilson Photo
DUCKS WIN PAC-10
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Darron Thomas passed for three touchdowns and ran for another and top-ranked Oregon earned at least a share of a second consecutive Pac-10 title with a 48-29 victory over No. 20 Arizona on Friday night. LaMichael James shrugged off talk of an injury to run for 126 yards and two scores for the Ducks (11-0, 80), who trailed 19-14 at halftime but surged in the second half to stay on course for a trip to the BCS ... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Glyn Starling Gray • Magdelena Flores • Pete Aguilar • Armando Saenz • Ignacia Monsebais - PAGE A6
HIGH ...64˚ LOW ....28˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
Santa arrives at the Roswell Mall Friday morning accompanied by The Sweet Leilani's and the McDaniel's Dancers.
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Closing arguments have been made, and now it’s up to New Mexico regulators to decide whether to adopt more rules aimed at capping greenhouse gas emissions across the state. The New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board on Dec. 6 will consider a petition from nonprofit group New Energy Economy that would force large polluters such as power plants and refineries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 3 percent per year from 2010 levels. The petition was the focus earlier this year of days of public hearings and expert testimony. Critics contend New Mexico businesses and electric ratepayers would end up footing the bill for the new regulations, but supporters argue the economic impact would actually be positive and a limit on the amount companies would be required to spend to reduce See EIB, Page A2
High Plains Aquifer does not hold never-ending water supply JOE D. MOORE RECORD STAFF WRITER
Editor’s note: This is the fourth of a five-part series on the region’s water.
Snowmelt and a small amount of rain, the Sacramento Mountains and beneficial underground strata combine to give the Pecos Valley a naturally replenishing water source and, thus, some aquatic autonomy. Still, as introduced in this series’ previous articles, the region has faced its share of water nightmares. Clovis and eastern New Mexico also have access to an underground water
In its entirety, the project promises to pump, treat and deliver 24,000 acre-feet from the Ute Reservoir to the communities of Clovis, Elida, Grady, Melrose, Portales and Texico and to Curry and Roosevelt counties.
source. Theirs, however, is much more expansive than the Pecos Valley’s Roswell Artesian Basin. Easter n New Mexico far mers and developers who, in the 1940s, watered crops with the aquifer’s bounty must have considered the source’s vastness a blessing. Now, that perspective has likely changed. The High Plains Aquifer (elsewhere called the Ogal-
lala Aquifer) extends under eight dif ferent states — from South Dakota and Wyoming south to Texas and New Mexico — and waters one-fifth of America’s annual agricultural output. Over the past century, eastern New Mexico communities have used the aquifer to support ranching and fields of corn, milo and wheat. However, due to the
region’s precarious location snug on the aquifer’s western limit, as early as 2020, the waters in the saucer shaped underground formation will have fallen out of reach of Clovis, Portales and their neighbors. Because of rampant overuse, the aquifer’s water levels are dropping precipitously. Eastern New Mexico, along with parts of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, is one of the earlier areas to be affected. Prior to its development in the 1940s, scientists believe the 300 feet of the aquifer tucked under Clovis were replete with water. Now, after decades of development, essentially adding more and more wells that
serve as more ef ficient, harder-sucking straws on the massive basin, the water level in the region has plummeted to between 20 and 100 feet. Kevin Dennehy, the ground water resources coordinator for the United States Geological Survey, said in a telephone interview, “Current usage is not sustainable. The communities on the aquifer’s edges are the first impacted by the decline.” Of the eight states under which the aquifer stretches, Nebraska, he says, has the thickest deposits left. With demands throughout the aquifer only
Joan Accardi: Bold, passionate advocate for teachers and children JONATHAN ENTZMINGER RECORD STAFF WRITER
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................A7 ENTERTAINMENT.....B6 FINANCIAL .............B3 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........B6 LOTTERIES ............A2 NATION .................A6 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
Joan Accardi
Courtesy Photo
Sitting in her living room, Joan Accardi gazes into the distance. Across from her are numerous books on shelves, standing firm on their spines — one thick enough to tell her story. Accardi, 65, a Dallas native, is principal of Monterey Elementary School, 910 W. Gayle St. For 25 years, she has studied education, loved kids and lived her passion. “I have two passions,” Accardi said. “And that’s teachers and children. The most rewarding thing is to
see their growth and success. I love working with teachers ... the teachers are there for the children.” Growing up in a raciallydivided Dallas, Accardi started of f her life like many of the children she has encountered during her career — troubled. With two working parents in the home, she ran into many bumps in the road. However, during her youth
she made contact with a “saint,” whom she credits for her path to salvation. “I truly believe that the reason that I became a Christian was because my mother and dad both worked and they hired a maid to take care of me,” Accardi said. “She was black. She wasn’t quite five-foot. She was a saint. She prayed. I really believe with all of my heart that
See WATER, Page A3
she prayed me into the kingdom and because I had that influence at an early age, she became my mom and I saw no color.” Accardi went on to talk about her experiences with Jim Crow laws as a young girl riding the bus with her maid, and her oblivion of racial tension in her town. Her Dallas experiences prepared her for what she faced on her first assignment in Roswell at Edgewood Elementary School. The school was in one of the city’s most economically challenged areas, the See SPOTLIGHT, Page A3