Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 124, No. 104 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
May 1, 2015
Friday
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NMMI Board of Regents approves $47M budget By Jeff Tucker Record Staff Writer The board of regents of New Mexico Military Institute has approved a $47.7 million budget for the military school for the 201516 fiscal year that includes small increases in staff salaries and fees for cadets, but no increase in in-state tuition. The $47,667,410 budget entails $34,097,339 for operational expenses and $13,570,071 for infrastructure expenditures. The 2015-16 budget is a reduction of almost $2 million from the military school’s 2014-15 budget, said Col. Judy Scharmer,
NMMI’s chief financial officer. The budget unanimously approved by the board of regents Thursday afternoon includes a 5 percent tuition increase for non-residents of New Mexico, equating to a tuition increase of $326 per year. The budget does not raise tuition for in-state cadets. Resident tuition in the 2014-15 school year was $11,716. Non-resident tuition was $16,235. Major Gen. Jerry Grizzle, superintendent of NMMI, said roughly 10 percent of NMMI’s 730 current cadets are from New Mexico.
About 14 percent of NMMI’s cadets are international, from 20 foreign countries, Grizzle said. Mexico is the largest foreign contributor of cadets, Grizzle said. He said a little more than 100 cadets in the current corps of cadets are from Mexico. Cadets from Mexico pay tuition at the resident rate, said Brig. Gen. Doug Murray, chief academic officer/ academic dean at NMMI. Fees for all cadets were increased $280 in the 2015-16 budget, which takes effect July 1. The board of regents on Thursday also approved summer school fees of
$195 per online course, and $3,250 for the summer program, which runs July 6 through Aug. 5. The summer program costs include room, board and instruction. The 2015-16 budget includes a 1 percent increase in all staff salaries and 3 percent increases in medical insurance premiums for staff. Scharmer said the 201516 budget includes several capital outlay expenditures, including $600,000 for upgrades at NMMI Ballpark. The upgrades entail artificial turf for the baseball field’s infield and a new backstop. The upgrades
Paint on a happy face
Bill Moffitt Photo
Kortney Davidson, left, checks her work on Jacqueline Loranzo, 5, at the face painting booth during the annual Spring Carnival at Sunset Elementary School Thursday. More than 400 visitors attended, according to Principal Mireya Trujillo.
are expected to be completed by the fall, said Athletic Director Jose Barron. The 2015-16 budget also includes new helmets for NMMI’s football teams, Scharmer said. Another capital outlay in the new budget is $3 million for the second phase of renovations at Bates Dining Hall. The new budget also includes the addition of an English teacher that Scharmer said is necessary for freshmen and sophomore cadets for whom English is a second language. Other new budget expenditures include $800,000
for roofing at Pearson Auditorium and $352,000 for facility requests, including a a new tractor for groundskeeping and a man-lift to be used by various departments. Board member Phillip Ingram said the Finance Committee of the board of regents had gone over the budget. Ingram motioned for approval and the board voted 4-0 in approval. In other business, the board of regents approved hiring Axiom of Albuquerque for its external audit of NMMI and the NMMI Foundation.
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — The Energy Department will funnel more than $73 million toward road and water projects around New Mexico as part of a settlement over a radiation leak that forced the indefinite closure of a troubled nuclear waste dump. The agreement, announced by Republican Gov. Susana Martinez and state Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn, follows months of tense and slow negotiations. The settlement is the largest ever reached between a state and the department, Flynn said, noting that the agency needed to be held accountable for putting people at risk.
“We have a shared responsibility to protect the citizens that work at these facilities as well as the communities that host these facilities,” Flynn told The Associated Press. The state initially levied more than $54 million in penalties against the agency and its contractors for numerous permit violations at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant that were identified following the repository’s shutdown. The newly announced settlement comes after a drum of waste was inappropriately packed with incompatible ingredients
See NMMI, Page A3
Feds, NM reach settlement over radiation leak
See LEAK, Page A2
Suspicious-death case ‘It’s a hoax,’ says homeless man in video to be closed based on autopsy findings By Jared Tucker Multimedia Journalist
Staff Report The investigation into what had been considered a suspicious death that occurred in a Roswell home last November will be officially closed with no criminal charges filed against anyone following a determination by the state medical investigator that David Duer died as a result of alcohol and health issues. The medical investigator’s report released this week found, “Mr. Duer died from the effects of alcohol, high blood pressure and obesity on his heart. There was no evidence at autopsy that injury was involved with his death.” Roswell Police Department investigators initially looked into the possibility Duer, 43, had died as the result of another man’s actions while the two men were wrestling inside Duer’s home in the 2600 block of Sherrill Lane following a gathering at the house Nov. 20. Emergency medical personnel and police were called to the house shortly before 5 a.m., Friday, Nov. 21, where Duer was found to be unresponsive and not breathing. He was transported to Eastern New Mexico Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Duer The Roswell man Duer had allegedly been wrestling with left the house prior to the arrival of emergency responders. Other people at the house identified the man as Justin Tyler Mendenhall, who was 27 at the time, and considered Mendenhall a person of interest in the case. Mendenhall was arrested two days later on an unrelated warrant, but was never charged in connection with Duer’s death. The lead detective in the case explained that the five-month wait for the medical investigator’s findings was longer than expected, but awaiting the results of the autopsy was necessary before determinSee DUER, Page A2 Today’s Forecast
HIGH 88 LOW 52
You’ve probably seen it over your Facebook feed: The viral video of a homeless man pulling out his cellphone and swiping a credit card on a mobile card reader near the Roswell Mall. The man in that video, Elwood Parkins, spoke exclusively to the Roswell Daily Record Thursday and said the video was completely staged. Now he wants to know why the video’s creator, Michael Trujillo, is insisting the video is real. “It’s a hoax, yeah. It’s all staged,” Parkins said. Parkins said he was approached by Trujillo while eating a sandwich, after his camp neigh-
Jared Tucker Photo
Jeneva Martinez (left), a Roswell advocate for the homeless community, listens as Elwood Parkins explains Thursday how he was told to put a credit card reader close to the camera during a staged viral internet video. bor near the Roswell Mall refused Trujillo’s offer of $5 to do the video. “I’m like keep your five bucks, I’ll do it because
this is fun,” Parkins said. “I thought it was going to be a comedy.” Parkins said Trujillo has mislead him, the public,
and the media. “His agenda was completely different than what See HOAX, Page A3
Lovington sends representatives to nevada in attempt to boost local business LOVINGTON — The city and its Economic Development Corporation will be sending representatives to Las Vegas, Nevada, in May to try to bring new businesses into town. In preparation for the International Council of Shopping Centers Convention, taking place May 17-20, EDC and city officials held a retail meeting at the Troy Harris Center to discuss what retail establishments the public would like to see in the city. The convention will feature about 1,602 exhibitors from
different businesses and organizations. — Lovington Leader
Public participates in superintendent search
LOVINGTON — It started as a quiet forum but once the ball got rolling the Lovington Municipal Schools board heard about 32 qualities the public would want in a new superintendent. The board held a meeting April 23 to get input from the public as to what qualities they
would want for a new superintendent after former superintendent Darin Manes resigned in February. Manes currently serves in a consultant position until his contract ends at the end of the school year while assistant superintendent Leanne Gandy was named interim superintendent. — Lovington Leader
County seeks input on enlarging commission
SILVER CITY — The Grant
• David Newsom
• Maria Elena Resley
• Barbara Kathleen Small
See BRIEFS, Page A2
Index
Today’s Obituaries Page A6
• Peggy M. Holloway Collins • Herbert Pruit “Pat” Joyce Jr.
County Commission further entertained the idea of growing from three to five commissioners with a public hearing on the subject at their regular meeting on April 23. Before they make any decision, commissioners hope for as much public input as possible through several of these hearings, though they heard little this round. Despite the change’s enormous potential impact on the lives of Grant County
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