Roswell Daily Record
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THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Dexter man dies in freak accident
Vol. 120, No. 170 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
LONDON (AP) — Rupert Murdoch accepted the resignations of The Wall Street Journal’s publisher and the chief of his British operations on Friday as the once-defiant media mogul struggled to control an escalating phone hacking scandal, offering apologies to the public and the family of a murdered schoolgirl. - PAGE A3
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WSJ CHIEF QUITS AMID SCANDAL
July 16, 2011
Mark Wilson Photo
The remants of a barn on Thompson Camp, Dexter, Friday.
A Dexter man was killed Thursday night after a severe gust of wind blew the roof off his barn and stuck him in the chest, authorities say. He died shortly afterward at Easter n New Mexico Medical Center. Chaves County Sheriff Rob Coon said William Thompson, 69, was walking outside on his property, Thompson Camp on Old Chisum T rail in Dexter,
between an old white barn and several horse corrals when a microburst, or a column of sinking air similar to a tornado, struck the area around 6:30 p.m., and blew the tin roof of f the barn. A large piece of metal struck Thompson, doing “major damage to his chest.” “It’s one of those unfortunate instances of being at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Coon said. “I don’t know what he was doing out there, but he happened to be there.”
Arias will stand trial
Sunset Villa Block Party
WEB For The Past 24 Hours
• Rookie firefighters walk into the blaze • Keeping cool in the pool • Currier orders hearing • Gov. Martinez visits and praises Roswell • Motorhome catches fire
INSIDE SPORTS Mark Wilson Photo
Snooterbell the Clown entertains residents and guests of Sunset Villa Care Center, including 8-year-old Jennifer White whose mother works at the facility, during its 3rd annual Block Party celebrating 44 years of community care, Friday.
Dominic Curran shot a 64 and Dan Koesters carded a 68 to put themselves atop the professional flight after the first round of the 21st annual Rotary Desert Sun Classic at Spring River Golf Course. Curran and Koesters delivered two of the 14 subpar rounds in the first round, nine of which came in the professional flight. Daniel Nunez and Larry Mackin are tied for third after opening round 69s and Eric Chavez, Jay Synkelma, Mike Zaremba, Trent Rommann and Roswell Country Club assistant professional ... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Colleen Nicole Doyle • W.R. “Bill” Thompson - PAGE A8
HIGH ...99˚ LOW ....73˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
See DEXTER, Page A7
JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
TOP 5
CURRAN ATOP CLASSIC BY 4
Coon says Thompson’s wife found him and called 911. Thompson was still alive when authorities responded, Coon said, but passed away “a short time after he arrived” at the hospital. Neighbors say the damage to the barn was extensive. “When I got home at 7, I thought, ‘Was there a tornado, or what?’” Jacob Aguilar, who lives directly across Thompson Camp,
The preliminary hearing in the shooting death of Victoria Velasquez-Arias was held in Magistrate Court, Friday, to decide whether Velasquez-Arias’ husband Jose Arias, 19, would stand trial in the death. The police received a 911 call from an anonymous male, around noon May 20 about a woman who had been shot in the neck at 2800 W. Fourth St. Roswell Police Of ficer Bart Devos, the first to arrive at the scene, discussed stopping Arias as he was trying to leave the scene. He said that Arias refused to leave the vehicle until Devos threatened to break the window. After Arias exited the vehicle, his first words were, “I didn’t shoot her.” Defense attorney Anna Marie Green asked if, with the windows up and the engine running, Arias could not hear the instructions.
Lawmakers return Duran: Review isn’t about fraud to Hill to work on competing plans
WASHINGTON (AP) — Struggling to avert an unprecedented national default, congressional leaders jettisoned negotiations on a sweeping deficitreduction package Friday despite a plea from President Barack Obama to “do something big” to stabilize America’s finances. Instead, lawmakers embarked on competing fallback plans as a critical Aug. 2 deadline neared, a House Republican version given little chance of success, even by some supporters, and a bipartisan Senate approach holding out more promise to avert what Obama called financial “Armageddon.” Late Friday, the Treasury Department announced it
was resorting to the final steps in an unusual series designed to avoid exceeding the current $14.3 trillion debt limit. Numerous officials have cautioned that a default will occur if the limit is not increased by Aug. 2, warning also of a calamitous ef fect on a national economy struggling to recover from the worst recession in decades. At the behest of conservatives, House Republicans announced plans to vote next week on legislation to per mit more borrowing automatically if Congress approves a balanced-budget constitutional amendment. Senate approval of that amendment seemed
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Secretary of State Dianna Duran repeatedly told a panel of lawmakers Friday her office is not pursuing any political agenda regarding voter registration in New Mexico and she flatly denied allegations that she’s targeting illegal immigrants in a review of the state’s voter rolls. Duran, a for mer Republican state senator and county clerk, said she’s simply making good on a campaign promise to verify that all of the 1.16 million people who are registered to vote in New Mexico are in fact legally eligible to cast a ballot. “I told the people of the state of New Mexico last year ... that I would do my best to serve in the best possible way that I could to assure integrity in the election process, integrity in the election system,” she said. “That’s
See ARIAS, Page A7
AP Photo
Secretary of State Dianna Duran talks about her office’s efforts to ensure the accuracy of the state’s voter registration rolls during an interim legislative committee hearing in Albuquerque, Friday. all that is going on here. It is not a witch hunt. It is not a fishing expedition.” Duran appeared before the interim Legislative
Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee to update the bipartisan panel on continuing See REVIEW, Page A7
Gerry and Anne Serifino: Partners in crime and in life See DEBT, Page A7
JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
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Gerry and Anne Serifino
Gerry and Anne Serifino have been partners in crime since 1978. They married in 1968. His interest in criminology began when he received his Ph.D. in psychology. “I was director of a drug and alcohol clinic in McKeesport, Penn. ... The department asked me to do a training program on domestic violence. I started doing ride-alongs with the police.” Then Gerry had put together a rape crisis center that remains in operation to this day.
Gerry is considered a pioneer in police psychology and has written a chapter in the book Personality Assessment in Police Psychology. His wife Anne has done more than ride along with her spouse and partner. She has worked beside him. “Last month, we did a 90-minute presentation on informed consent. It was a joint presentation,” said
Gerry. Gerry came to Roswell to work with Counselling Associates. This led to a job as a forensic psychologist as the director of the Forensic Evaluation Team for Southeast New Mexico. Forensic psychology is the intersection between psychology and criminal justice. His job consisted of See SPOTLIGHT, Page A7