Roswell Daily Record
Bill would limit EIB regs
Vol. 120, No. 54 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
MATTHEW ARCO RECORD STAFF WRITER
BEN & JERRY + JIMMY = ICE CREAM
A Clovis Senate lawmaker’s legislation that would prevent new restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions imposed by the state’s Environmental Improvement Board from taking effect, made progress Tuesday in the Senate Conservation Committee. Sen. Clinton Harden’s, RClovis, SB489 seeks to amend a section of the Air
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
March 3, 2011
THURSDAY
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Quality Control Act by limiting the EIB from adopting rules that are “more stringent than federal law or regulation for reporting, verifying, limiting, trading or capping the emission of greenhouse gasses,” according to the legislation. The proposal would effectively prevent the EIB’s new regulations aimed at curbing emissions from coalfired power plants, refineries and other large polluters from taking effect.
The lawmaker calls his proposal a “straight forward piece of legislation.” “I think this particular piece of legislation is a very common sense approach to dealing with the situation,” Harden said. “It simply says we will not adopt any rules that ... are more stringent than the federal government’s.” The bill is slated to appear before the Senate
HOUSE PASSES $5B STATE BUDGET
SANTA FE (AP) — The House narrowly approved a proposed budget on Wednesday that cuts state spending by nearly 3 percent next year and uses savings from public employee pensions and film subsidies to balance the financing blueprint for public education and government programs. The measure allocates $5.4 billion in the fiscal year starting July 1. That’s about $155 million or 2.8 percent less than this year, when New Mexico used nearly $380 million in federal economic stimulus money for health
Elder abuse victim on life support See BUDGET, Page A3
See EIB, Page A3
NEW YORK (AP) — As Jimmy Fallon celebrates his second anniversary hosting “Late Night,” what he eats for dessert should be a nobrainer: a brand-new ice cream flavor named for his show.The scoop about Ben & Jerry’s Late Night Snack was timed to the milestone - PAGE B6
JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
TOP 5 WEB
For The Past 24 Hours
• Senate rule change bars cameras • Xcel Energy seeks 6.9 percent overall rate increase • Pot at Pecos; no busts • Roswell drops pair to open season • Berrendo 8th-graders win city title
INSIDE SPORTS
Mark Wilson Photo
The El Capitan Elementary School 4th-Grade Line Dancers pose for photos before taking the stage during an assembly celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday, Wednesday morning.
Cats, hats, eggs, ham; Whos? Seuss! EMILY RUSSO MILLER RECORD STAFF WRITER
From there to here, and here to there, school children celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday are everywhere. Lunch ladies decid-
JAYHAWKS DOWN AGGIES
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Marcus and Markieff Morris both scored 13 points and No. 2 Kansas wrapped up at least a share of its seventh straight Big 12 regular-season championship Wednesday night with a 64-51 victory over No. 24 Texas A&M. The only season since Bill Self arrived as coach that Kansas did not take home trophy was his first, when the Jayhawks finished second - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Norma Klapmeyer • Edward ‘Ed’ Lee • Albert L. Mulliken • James ‘Jim’ Morgan • Fermin Trujillo - PAGE B3
HIGH ...86˚ LOW ....40˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B4 FINANCIAL .............B5 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 STATE ...................B3 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
ed that, just for a change, they’d scramble a new kind of egg on the range; meanwhile, next door at another school, a special speaker read “If I Ran the Zoo.” The Roswell Independent School District joined thousands
of other schools across the nation Wednesday by participating in the National Education Association’s Read Across AmerSee SEUSS, Page A3
The preliminary hearing for Darrell Lawrence, 29, who is facing charges of neglect of a resident was postponed in Magistrate Court, Wednesday. Meanwhile, the condition of his mother, 58-year-old Mary Ford, the subject of an elder abuse case, has deteriorated. “I talked to the hospital (Wednesday), and they told me she was placed on life support,” said Assistant District Attorney Debra Hutchins. After speaking with his client, Lawrence, public defender James S. Lowry told Judge Eugene De Los Santos that the defense would file a motion to have his client examined by a forensic psychologist. “I would like to have a forensic examination. He may not be competent to stand trial,” Lowry said. The examination could delay proceedings for two to three months. “I think he may have an undiagnosed mental illness that leaves him incapable of caring for his mother or understanding what is going on during a court case,” Lowry told the Daily
2 teens jailed; face SCOTUS: Funeral picketing battery, other charges protected under 1st Amendment JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Of ficers from Roswell Police Department were called to Valley Christian Academy, 2803 W. Fourth St. around 1:30 p.m., Tuesday. “Two subjects sprayed a teacher and 11 students with fire extinguishers,” said Officer Travis Holley, RPD spokesman. Two suspects were identified and tracked to an apartment on West Fourth Street.
One officer located the fire extinguishers near the intersection of Fourth Street and Canoncito Drive. The fire extinguishers had been stolen from Roadway Inn, 2803 W. Second St. The mounts had been damaged, and the Roadway Inn manager estimated their value at $175 each. According to an incident report, witnesses reported that the youths ran into an apartment at 2800 W. Fourth St.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a grieving father’s pain over mocking protests at his Marine son’s funeral must yield to First Amendment protections for free speech. All but one justice sided with a fundamentalist church that has stirred outrage with raucous demonstrations contending God is punishing the military for the nation’s tolerance of
Rebels corner fleeing Gadhafi forces after battle
BREGA, Libya (AP) — Rebel forces routed troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi in a fierce battle over an oil port Wednesday, scrambling over the dunes of a Mediterranean beach through shelling and an airstrike to corner their attackers. While they thwarted the regime’s first counteroffensive in eastern Libya, opposition leaders still pleaded for outside airstrikes against pro-government troops. The attack on strategic Brega, 460 miles east of Gadhafi’s stronghold in Tripoli, illustrated the deep difficulties the Libyan leader’s armed forces — an array of militiamen, mercenaries and military units — have had in rolling back the uprising that has swept over the entire eastern half of Libya since Feb. 15. In the capital of Tripoli, Gadhafi war ned against U.S. or other Western intervention, vowing to
See TEENS, Page A3
turn Libya into “another Vietnam,” and saying any foreign troops coming into his country “will be entering hell and they will drown in blood.” At least 10 anti-Gadhafi fighters were killed and 18 wounded in the battle for Brega, Libya’s secondlargest petroleum facility, which the opposition has held since last week. Citizen militias flowed in from a nearby city and from the opposition stronghold of Benghazi hours away to reinforce the defense, finally repelling the regime loyalists. The attack began just after dawn, when several hundred proGadhafi forces in 50 trucks and SUVs mounted with machine guns descended on the port, driving out a small opposition contingent and seizing control of the oil facilities, port and airstrip. But by afterSee LIBYA, Page A8
homosexuality. The 8-1 decision in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., was the latest in a line of court rulings that, as Chief Justice John Roberts said in his opinion for the court, protects “even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.” The decision ended a lawsuit by Albert Snyder, who sued church mem-
See ABUSE, Page A3
bers for the emotional pain they caused by showing up at his son Matthew’s funeral. As they have at hundreds of other funerals, the Westboro members held signs with provocative messages, including “Thank God for dead soldiers,” “You’re Going to Hell,” “God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11,” and one that com-
See SCOTUS, Page A8
Is winter over?
Mark Wilson Photo
Daffodils at the Historical Center for Southeast New Mexico emerge from their winter hibernation Tuesday morning and soak in the spring-like weather conditions.