Roswell Daily Record
INSIDE NEWS
SLOW GROWTH IN JOBS WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy is steadily adding jobs, but still just barely enough to keep up with the growth of the work force ... - PAGE A7
TOP 5
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Obama’s mission: Accelerate growth
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WASHINGTON (AP) — His presidency tied to the fate of the economy, Barack Obama is revamping his economic policy team and signaling cooperation to ascendant Republicans and the business community at a pivotal moment in the nation’s recovery and Washington politics. The president is surrounding himself with veterans of the Clinton administration. Chief of staff William Daley, economic overseer Gene Sperling and recently confirmed budget director Jacob Lew, form an inner circle with a history of bipartisanship and experience in the art of the deal. “Our mission has to be to accelerate hiring and accelerate growth,” the president declared Friday at a window manufacturing plant in suburban Maryland. It’s a mission facing political and economic crosscur-
January 8, 2011
SATURDAY
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rents, underscored Friday by a mixed bag of an unemployment report and a relatively upbeat but cautionary assessment of the economy from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The Labor Department said unemployment dropped to 9.4 percent from 9.8 percent and private employers added a net total of 103,000 jobs last month. But the drop in unemployment was due partly to people who See MISSION Page A3 AP Photo
RIGHT: President Barack Obama congratulates Gene Sperling, his new chief of the National Economic Council, and other members of his economic team, during comments on the nation's latest unemployment reports, at Thompson Creek Manufacturing in Landover, Md., Friday.
Martinez ousting three
Feel the power
WEB For The Last 24 Hours
• Lyons named chairman • New info on December fire • Former lawmaker running for school board • King of the roof • Attack of the tumbleweeds
INSIDE SPORTS
COYOTES DOMINATE DEMING It took the Lady Coyotes awhile to get into a flow during Friday’s 61-35 win over Deming at the Coyote Den, but once they did, that was all she wrote ... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES Glenda Crawford Mitchel
- PAGE A3
HIGH ...62˚ LOW ....27˚
Mark Wilson Photo
The U.S. Air Force perform aerial exercises high above the Roswell International Air Center Friday afternoon.
City Councilor Barry Foster seeks seat on school board EMILY RUSSO MILLER RECORD STAFF WRITER
City Councilor Barry Foster is throwing his hat into the ring to respresent District 4 on the Roswell Independent School District School Board. Foster, 45, is running against incumbant school board vice president George Peterson and former state House representative Pauline Ponce. Foster, a Job Corps GED instructor since August of last year, says he can bring a teacher’s point of view to
the table. “A lot of time, administrators have been administrators long enough that they forget about the classroom, especially when it comes to the budget,” Foster said. Foster has taught in the Roswell School District for three years and the Dexter School District for two years. He says one of his main concerns is crowded classrooms. “We have some schools right now, like Monterrey especially, and other
schools, that have really crowded classes,” Foster said. “It’s because of budget restrictions, and we’re not hiring extra teachers.” Foster also noted he put his name on the ballot to ensure voters had a choice in the election. He pointed out that voters will only decide between multiple candidates in the Roswell School Distict in the upcoming election— 11 candidates are running unopposed for 12 positions in Dexter, Hagerman, Lake Arthur and Eastern New
Mexico University- Roswell school board elections. ENMU-R’s District 5 seat will be vacant. “I just wanted people to have a choice,” Foster said. Foster won the city council 2010 election in Ward V by a slim margin— he defeated Juan Oropesa, the executive director of the Hispano Chamber of Commerce, by less than 20 votes. He serves as chairman to the Utilities and Transportation Committee
See GROWTH Page A3
Emily Russo Miller Photo
City Councilor Barry Foster is running for seat on the school board representing District 4.
Browning, Burger spread musical cheer to nursing homes See FOSTER Page A7
MATTHEW ARCO RECORD STAFF WRITER
TODAY’S FORECAST
INDEX
CLASSIFIEDS..........B7 COMICS.................B3 FINANCIAL .............A6 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8 WORLD .................A8
SANTA FE (AP) — Republican Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration has gover nment ousted appointees from for mer Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration who shifted to classified jobs with civil service protections. Martinez spokesman Scott Dar nell confir med that three classified Public Safety Department employees were fired Thursday. Among them was departmental former spokesman Peter Olson, an appointee who had moved to a classified position last September as search and rescue resource officer. Olson said he was told the administration could fire him with a 24-hour notice during a one-year probation for new classified workers.
Courtesy Photo
From left, Richard "Brownie" Browning and Jack Burger have been playing tunes at Roswell nursing homes for more than a decade.
Richard “Brownie” Browning and Jack Burger spend their days rocking the roofs off of nursing homes. For the past decade, the two musicians have taken their piano and guitar playing to local nursing homes, bringing cheer and company to the facilities’ residents. The duo play guitar and piano at least once every day of the week, with rare exceptions, and sometimes weekends. “They don’t have much with us, but at least they have something,” joked Burger, who started playing with Brownie when he moved to Roswell from
Weatherford, Texas, 11 years ago. “He had asked me to start helping,” he said. “We try to go where they need some diversion.” Brownie, originally from Wyoming, began playing the piano after he retired from the Air Force. While in the service, he came to Roswell to serve two tours of duty stationed at Walker Air Force Base. During one tour, he was a heavy equipment operator for the 509th Bombardment Wing. Later, he rose in rank and
got assigned to “close out the base,” and was here for its final days. He spent 30 years in the service before retiring in 1977. “I started going to the J.O.Y. Center for lunch and started pecking at the piano,” he said. “I never had a lesson in my life, I just picked it up.” Burger also taught himself to play his intrustment of choice, albeit at an earlier age. Growing up in Texas, See CHEER Page A2