Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 120, No. 161 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Los Alamos residents return to their homes
AP Photo
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Casey Anthony’s eyes welled with tears and her lips trembled as the verdict was read once, twice and then a third time: “Not guilty” of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.
WEDNESDAY
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LA CUEVA (AP) — The owners of homes and summer cabins that were destroyed by a massive wildfire that once threatened the desert birthplace of the atomic bomb surveyed the damage to their properties Tuesday. Firefighters, meanwhile, toiled to stop the flames from damaging more tinder-dry forest.
JURY CLEARS ANTHONY OF MURDER
July 6, 2011
A sign in front of a Los Alamos, church welcomes home thousands of residents who evacuated due to the Las Conchas fire, Sunday.
Hay catches fire
Caravans of sherif f's deputies and fire officials led residents down the dirt roads off the main highway to where their homes were
once nestled among tall ponderosa pines. Some areas were wiped clean by the Las Conchas Fire, leaving behind only the blackened skeletons of thousands of trees and melted pickup trucks, snowmobiles and sheds. Other areas held hope for the residents, as not all of the needles had been singed from the trees. “We were actually surprised that we had anything still standing,” said Madeline Armijo, who drove down from Santa Fe to see
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TOP 5 WEB
For The Past 24 Hours
• The Rockets’ Red Glare • Until next year: 2011 UFO Festival comes to an end • Pets like to dress up and be admired • Soren transforms; takes top prize • WS blasts Invaders
INSIDE SPORTS
Firefighters respond to a blaze in the 700 block of West Pine Lodge Road, Tuesday, after hay caught fire.
TIGER WILL SKIP BRITISH OPEN
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Those “minor” injuries to his left leg now have kept Tiger Woods from playing in two majors. In an announcement on his website Tuesday that came as no surprise, Woods said he would skip the British Open next week because his injuries have not fully healed. . - PAGE B1
TODAY’S • • • • •
OBITUARIES
Estie Marie Stamper Lawrence J. Ferns R.L.W. Simmons Daniel Aguirre Linda Darlene Grant - PAGE A6
HIGH ...98˚ LOW ....69˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
Matthew Arco Photo
what was left of the nine cabins her family had built decades ago in Peralta Canyon. “My dad died almost 10 years ago, so we’re really grateful, because he built that cabin and it was like everything to him,” she said. Had her cabin bur ned, “it would have been like a piece of my father would have died again.” Some of her relatives weren’t so lucky. Nearby, a
Valley Fire 75% contained
See LOS ALAMOS, Page A3
The Donaldson Fire that scorched more than 101,500 acres in Lincoln County and is the state’s second largest fire on record, was 75 percent contained Tuesday, officials said. Rehab began Tuesday with firefighters removing downed timber and rocks from roadways and work started on dozer lines to prevent erosion, fire officials said. Crews will continue mop-up operations and searching for smoldering areas. The lightning-sparked wildfire is the second largest in the state behind the Las Conchas Fire, currently burning in northern New Mexico and estimated at more than 127,800 acres, according to State Forestry. The 2003 Dry Lakes Fire in the Gila National Forest burned about 84,580 acres and the McDonald Fire in southeast New Mexico burned about 92,000 acres in 2006, said State Forestry spokesman Dan Ware.
Vargas, parents prepare to file suit against RISD, email leaked
Shuster reports 7,500 visitors to museum
Part 1 of 3 Nicole Vargas is coordinating with Santa Fe lawyers and local children and their parents to discuss filing a Class Action 5 lawsuit against the Roswell Independent School District. The suit will include case histories of dozens of children, parents and teachers who are suspected to have been exposed to mold. According to Vargas, and several parents, they want the district to build new school buildings. Buildings believed to
UFO Museum and Research Center officials say this year’s UFO Festival was a success and reported at least 7,500 visitors coming through the doors of the museum over the course of the four-day event. Julie Shuster, director of the museum, said the number is a conservative estimate and that she expected the total to be higher once final counts are completed. Shuster, who was one of the main organizers behind the event, said she thinks
JONATHAN ENTZMINGER RECORD STAFF WRITER
house mold include, but are not limited to, Goddard High, Sierra Middle and Valley View Elementary schools.
Since 2008, in the after math of the Paige Taylor mold case, RISD took active steps to curb mold growth in its schools. Maintenance reports and email communications, provided to the Roswell Daily Record by a credible source who was on site during remediation efforts, provide detailed information on how the district worked to fight mold. Documents also reveal RISD’s elusiveness. For
example, one source writes how difficult it was to get to areas at Goddard High School that were previously remediated and repaired or in the process of being repaired. “Received return call from Joe Baca,” source writes. “Tried to make an appointment to see water damage in room 126. I was informed by Mr. Baca that the leak and damage had occurred back in November 2009 and that the damaged tiles inside had been replaced and stored in Edgewood storage. I called Mr. Baca to schedule inspection of
MATTHEW ARCO RECORD STAFF WRITER
the high turnout of residents attending the festival — but who didn’t go to the museum — will bring the total number of festival-goers near 9,500 people. “We were really excited with the number of locals who attended this year,” she said. “Having a lot of locals and (nearby) people was a big deal for us.” Shuster said this year’s UFO Festival Committee added extra emphasis on involving residents in the festivities. “It was really the sup-
10,000 troops being offered to stay in Iraq till next year
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B4 FINANCIAL .............B3 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
AP Photo
Adriano Caceres embraces his wife, Yahima Caceres, after being sworn-in as a U.S. citizen, Monday. Caceres, originally from Havana, joined the Army in 2006 and has served two tours to Iraq with the 3rd Infantry Division, Ft. Stewart, Ga.
See VARGAS, Page A3
BAGHDAD (AP) — The White House is offering to keep up to 10,000 troops in Iraq next year, U.S. officials say, despite opposition from many Iraqis and key Democratic Party allies who demand that President Barack Obama bring home the American military as promised. Any extension of the military’s presence, however, depends on a for mal request from Baghdad — which must weigh questions about the readiness of Iraqi security forces against fears of renewed militant attacks and unrest if U.S. soldiers stay beyond the December pullout deadline. Iraq is not expected to decide until September at
the earliest, by which time the 46,000 U.S. forces left in the country had hoped to start heading home. Already, though, the White House has worked out options to keep between 8,500 and 10,000 active-duty troops to continue training Iraqi security forces during 2012, according to senior Obama administration and U.S. military officials in interviews with The Associated Press. The figures also were noted by foreign diplomats in Baghdad briefed on the issue. All spoke on condition of anonymity to frankly discuss the sensitive matter during interviews over the past two weeks.
See SHUSTER, Page A3
White House spokesman Jay Car ney on Tuesday said the Pentagon is still planning for all U.S. troops to withdraw by year’s end, noting that time is running out for Iraq’s government to ask them to stay.
“We have said for a long time now if the Iraqi government asks us to maintain some level of troops beyond that end of the year deadline, we would consider it,” Carney told reporters in Washington. He appeared to back off that possibility, however, adding: “That doesn’t necessarily mean we would do it. We would just consider See TROOPS, Page A3