Roswell Daily Record
House sinks debt limit bill THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 120, No. 131 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic was placed in a U.N. detention unit Tuesday to await trial on genocide charges, 16 years after he was indicted in the killing of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the worst massacre of civilians in Europe since World War II. - PAGE A2
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WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans dealt defeat to their own proposal for a $2.4 trillion increase in the nation’s debt limit Tuesday, a political gambit designed to reinforce a demand for spending cuts to accompany any increase in gover nment borrowing.
The vote was lopsided, with just 97 in favor of the measure and 318 against. House Democrats accused the GOP of political demagoguery, while the Obama administration maneuvered to avoid taking sides — or giving offense to majority Republicans. The debate was brief,
Judge postpones Arias prelim
The preliminary hearing for Jose Arias, 19, charged with firstdegree murder and tampering with evidence in the May 20 shooting of 22-year-old Victoria Velasquez-Arias, was postponed on Tuesday. Defense attorney Anna Marie Green requested to have a special setting arranged for Arias’ preliminary hearing since she had not received all the evidence associated with the case. Deputy District Attorney Debra Hutchins agreed with Green, saying, “The state does not have all the disclosure yet.” Arias was arrested on May 21. He was apprehended the day of the shooting after the Roswell Police Department responded to a 911 call. The caller said that the victim, Velasquez-Arias, had been
MIAMI (AP) — Dwyane Wade’s night began with a hug for his mom. It ended with an embrace from LeBron James. And the Miami Heat have struck first in the NBA finals. James scored 24 points for his first win in five finalsgame appearances, Wade added 22 points and 10 rebounds and the Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks 92-84 in Game 1 of the title series on Tuesday night. - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Kimberly A. Fleck • E. Frank Blair Jr. • Travis Brewster • Austin Mairot • John Michael Hale • Betty Henry - PAGE A6
HIGH ...98˚ LOW ....66˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B4 ENTERTAINMENT.....B6 FINANCIAL .............B3 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
The government has already reached the limit of its borrowing authority, $14.3 trillion, and the Treasury is using a series of extraordinary maneuvers to meet financial obligations.
occasionally impassioned and set a standard of sorts for public theater, particu-
larly at a time when private negotiations continue among the administration
and key lawmakers on the deficit cuts Republicans have demanded. The bill “will and must fail,” said Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., the House Ways and Means Committee chair man who noted he had helped write the very See HOUSE, Page A3
Use The Force
Mark Wilson Photo
Sian Cordero swings and misses on an attempted return shot during the Paraclete Tennis Summer Clinic Tuesday morning at the tennis courts in Cahoon Park. Paraclete offers classes at four skill levels: peewee, mid-level, advanced and adult. The lessons continue through Aug. 15. For more information on signing up, call Mitchell Joyce at 575-202-6616.
Bands to be named today Nightclub group drops appeal See ARIAS, Page A3
HEAT TAKE 1–0 LEAD
WEDNESDAY
www.rdrnews.com
No increase without cuts
MLADIC IN DETENTION
June 1, 2011
MATTHEW ARCO RECORD STAFF WRITER
Roswell Radio is slated to announce today the eight bands chosen to perform during this year’s UFO Festival’s first ever Alien Battle of the Bands, organizers of the festival said Tuesday. The local radio station began judging bands in April and will announce today which of the about 50 contenders will be selected to play during the festival, said Greg Neal, co-chairman of the UFO Festival Committee. The finalists are five bands from Roswell and one each from Artesia, Carlsbad and Ruidoso. “It will be all kinds of music,” Neal said. The news comes as Neal says this year’s festival will, among a host of other events, focus heavily on a wide range of
nonstop tunes. “This year, music is going to be the main stretch,” he said. “From noon to 11 at night, there will always be something on at one of the stages.” Stages will be set up on the Chaves County Courthouse lawn, on side streets and with the event’s Alien Wine Festival. The eight bands will battle for cash prizes and the first-place winners will also receive a free eight-hour recording session. Neal said two representatives from a top talent agency, the Amarillobased Anderson Model and Talent Agency, will also be attending the festival to check out the shows. “The music is the big thing this year,” Neal said. He explained the music, coupled with See BANDS, Page A3
EMILY RUSSO MILLER RECORD STAFF WRITER
In a surprise move that shocked both city and county officials as well as a room packed with residents poised for a fight, a local company dropped its appeal to build a nightclub between the old and new relief routes Tuesday evening. Glen Garnand, the CEO of Pecos Valley Bar and Grill LLC, told the Extraterritorial Zoning Authority and the 50-some protesters that attended the public
hearing that it withdrew its appeal for a special use permit to allow for a nightclub. “We’re trying to work with everybody,” Garnand told the two city councilors and three county commissioners that make up the ETZ Authority. “So we are at this time. We want to be good neighbors, we want to work with the community, we want to do the right thing.” The group had ruled in May to deny the special use See APPEAL, Page A3
NM to stop food stamp Wind slams tent into RFD windshield supplement for elderly
SANTA FE (AP) — About 4,000 low-income elderly and disabled New Mexicans will see their food stamp benefits drop in July due to state budget cuts. Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration plans to end a state program that supplements federal food stamp benefits for the elderly and disabled to ensure they get at least $25 a month in assistance. “That’s 4,000 seniors who will have less money for food. That’s the impact,” Ruth Hoffman, director of Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in New Mexico, said Tuesday. New Mexicans who qualify for $16 a month in federal food stamps — currently the minimum amount from the federal government — also get an extra $9 a
month from the state to make certain their combined assistance is $25. But the Democratic-controlled Legislature provided no money to continue the supplemental benefits in the upcoming budget year, which starts July 1. The Martinez administration had requested $600,000 from the Legislature to continue the program. The program cost about $623,000 in 2008; $493,000 in 2009; and $310,000 during the first half of the current fiscal year, when the state supplement averaged about $12 a month, according to the department. “As you can imagine, $12 a month for these households can mean a lot of See FOOD, Page A3
High winds set the Roswell Fire Department back thousands of dollars about 5 p.m., Sunday, after a pop-up canopy went airbor ne and smashed into an engine’s windshield, officials said. Fire Chief James Salas confir med that a city engine is temporarily out of commission after the weights used to hold the canopy in place flew about 50 feet and hit the front of the truck, smashMark Wilson Photo ing its window and front Fire Engine No. 6, damaged because of high winds over grille. The incident the weekend at Hike It & Spike It, sits idle at Fire Station occurred as events were No 2. wrapping up during the weekend Hike It & Spike He estimated the repair he said, noting the inciIt tournament. costs to range between dent didn’t cause any “We had a microburst $5,000 and $15,000 and injuries. “(It is) some pretcome through ... that said the truck would like- ty significant damage.” threw a portable pop-up ly sit idle for about a The engine is a 2002 model and is worth an shelter into Engine 6,” month. “Luckily the tour na- estimated $150,000 to Salas said. “Currently the ment was wrapping up,” $175,000, he said. truck is out of service.”