Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 120, No. 142 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
40 YEARS LATER: THE PENTAGON PAPERS WASHINGTON (AP) — Call it the granddaddy of WikiLeaks. Four decades ago, a young defense analyst leaked a top-secret study packed with damaging revelations about America’s conduct of the Vietnam War. - PAGE A2
TOP 5 WEB For The Past 24 Hours
• 2 girls arrested for murder • Man found dead after cop chase • RPD charges woman with attempted murder • ‘This is WONDERFUL!’ • Home and Garden on now
INSIDE SPORTS
MIAMI (AP) — For Dirk Nowitzki, the resume is complete. He’s an NBA champion. For LeBron James, the agonizing wait continues for at least one more year. - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Evelyn Miranda • Hubert Oscar Brooks - PAGE A8
HIGH .105˚ LOW ....68˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B4 ENTERTAINMENT.....B6 FINANCIAL .............B5 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ......A10 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ............A10
INDEX
TUESDAY
www.rdrnews.com
Wildfire near NM border doubles in size
RATON (AP) — A wildfire bur ning along the New Mexico-Colorado border more than doubled in size in a matter of hours Monday as crews worked to protect evacuated homes and businesses, while the closure of about 20 miles of the main north-south highway through both states sent travelers hours out of their way. Raton residents watched as trees on the hillsides just outside the northeastern New Mexico community burst into flames while smoke billowed into the air. “It’s very close. We’re watching trees explode before our eyes. It’s horrendous,” said Barbara Riley, a schoolteacher and owner
Arizona fire close to NM border
LUNA (AP) — Crews battling a massive wildfire in easter n Arizona for two weeks shifted their focus Monday to New Mexico, where they lit fires to stifle flare-ups that skipped along treetops threatening a small mountain town. In the opposite corner of New Mexico, near the Colorado border, a wildfire that has forced hundreds of people from their homes more than doubled in size to an estimated 6,000 acres, after being fanned by high winds. “We’re watching trees explode before our eyes. It’s horrendous,” said Barbara Riley, a schoolteacher and bed-and-breakfast owner in the northeastern New Mexico community of Raton. See ARIZONA, Page A6
THE WAIT IS FINALLY OVER
June 14, 2011
of the Heart’s Desire Bed and Breakfast in Raton. The Track fire had grown to 6,000 acres by Monday afternoon, less than a day after it was first reported. It crossed into Colorado by evening, and officials were reporting zero containment. The blaze started Sunday on the west side of Interstate 25 and jumped to the east side that afternoon. It moved north toward the New Mexico-Colorado state line, and also to the east and southeast toward Raton, Sugarite State Park and Bartlett Mesa. Between 800 and 1,000 were asked people over night to leave their homes northeast of Raton. Fire officials confirmed that
Fire sunset
two structures burned, but they couldn’t say whether they were homes, businesses or outbuildings. I-25 between Raton and Trinidad, Colo., remained closed Monday because of the fire. Of the plume of smoke rising from the hills, Raton Mayor Neil Segotta said: “It looks like your worst nightmare.” In addition to homes and businesses threatened by the flames, Segotta said other concerns included the city’s water treatment plant and its watershed. Raton depends on the watershed to feed a series of lakes that it uses for drinking water supplies. State forestry spokesman
Dan Ware said the fire picked up considerably Monday since settling down overnight. He described it as “pretty crazy,” saying the wind was expected to gust through the afternoon. Crews worked feverishly to build dozer lines to keep the flames out of the watershed. They also worked on structure protection in the small subdivisions on the outskirts of town that had been evacuated. Firefighters on the ground got help from the air as tankers dropped fire retardant west of Raton. Segotta said there was chance the evacuation order could be expanded depending on the wind direction.
“This fire to the west, we’re keeping an eye on it. If the wind should change and shift the fire into a southerly direction, it could very easily encircle Raton from the west side,” he said. The fire was bur ning mostly pinon and juniper in rugged terrain. The flames were most active west and north of Raton, Ware said. Some firefighters had to be pulled back earlier Monday because of the uptick in fire activity, he said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved a grant to help New Mexico pay for up to See WILDFIRE, Page A6
Mark Wilson Photo
Light from the sun reflects on clouds created by smoke from New Mexico wildfires. Numerous fires have blazed through the state since the beginning of the fire season. Two fires, near Luna and Raton, currently threaten the Land of Enchantment on the northeast and west sides of the state.
Garden makeover slated for Spring River Zoo’s xeriscape this summer JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
The Spring River Zoo’s xeriscape garden is getting a facelift this summer from volunteers who are working to obtain their master gardener’s certification. Graduates from the Chaves County Cooperative Extension Service’s annual gardeners’ class, can earn their certificate by completing an additional 20 hours of volunteer work. This year’s ef fort is the Spring River Zoo. The xeriscape (pronounced zir-escape) garden was started in years past, but like many gardens around Chaves County, many of its plants suffered following the winter’s freeze and the continued drought. “It’s amazing we have any Jessica Palmer Photo plants left. I receive hundreds Volunteers in the Chaves County Cooperative Extension Service Program assess weather damages.
See GARDEN, Page A6
AP Photo
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum speaks during the first New Hampshire Republican presidential debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., Monday.
Republicans debate Obamaeconomy in CNN N.H. debate MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Republican White House hopefuls criticized President Barack Obama’s handling of the economy from the opening moments of their first major debate of the cam-
paign season Monday night and pledged emphatically to repeal the administration’s year-old health care law. “When 14 million AmerSee DEBATE, Page A6
AP survey: Economists warn against more Fed action, ‘damage’ could ensue
WASHINGTON (AP) — The best cure for the economy now is time. That’s the overwhelming opinion of leading economists in a new Associated Press survey. They say the Federal Reserve shouldn’t bother trying to stimulate the economy — and could actually do damage if it did. The economists are lowering their forecasts for job creation and economic
growth for the rest of this year, mainly because of high oil prices. A batch of bleak data over the past month has suggested that the 2-year -old economic recovery is slowing. The economists now expect the nation to create 1.9 million jobs this year, about 200,000 fewer than when they were last surveyed eight weeks ago. They expect the unemploy-
ment rate, now 9.1 percent, to be 8.7 percent at year’s end. Before, they expected 8.4 percent. Despite their gloomier outlook, 36 of the 38 economists surveyed oppose any further efforts by the Fed to invigorate growth. The Fed has already cut short-term interest rates to near zero. And it’s ending a program to buy $600 billion in Treasury bonds to
keep longer-term rates low to help spur spending and hiring. The economists say another round of bondbuying wouldn’t provide much benefit, if any. And some fear it could make things worse by unleashing high inflation and disrupting financial markets. When it buys bonds, the Fed in effect prints massive amounts of money. All that
extra money in the system raises the nominal value of the things we buy, weakening the dollar, and it can create bubbles in the prices of stocks and commodities. What the economy needs most, says John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo, is time. Consumers must further shrink huge debts amassed in the midSee ECONOMY, Page A6