Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 124, No. 87 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
April 11, 2015
Saturday
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Lt. gov. says NM leaning to the GOP By Jeff Tucker Record Staff Writer
Lt. Gov. John Sanchez, whom many see as the frontrunner for the GOP nomination for governor in 2018, says he’s open to another run for the chief executive’s office in New Mexico, which he said is becoming a breakthrough state for Republicans seeking to connect with Hispanic voters. Sanchez notes Hispanic Republicans occupy the top state offices of governor, lieutenant governor and secretary of state, that the GOP in November won control of the New Mexico House of Representatives for the first time in 60 years and now Repub-
John Sanchez positioned for 2018 governor’s race
licans are just three seats away from a working majority in the New Mexico Senate for the first time since 1932, when Senate membership was based on one Senate member per county. Republicans haven’t had it so good in New Mexico for generations, with legitimate prospects in just two years of controlling the state’s top offices and both houses of the Legislature for the first time since 1930 when Republican Richard Charles Dillion was the state’s governor. “For the first time in 60 years or so, Republicans controlled the House of Rep-
resentatives,” Sanchez said of the 2015 legislative session. “You saw the Democrats of New Mexico, who’ve really had a lock on the legislative process really almost since statehood, see that Republicans were relevant, and relevant in the sense that they were putting forward legislation that the people of this state are hungry for.” Although Republican Gov. Susana Martinez’s top legislative initiatives such as right-to-work legislation, ending social promotion in schools for those who cannot read and repealing a law allowing illegal immigrants
to obtain driver licenses in New Mexico were all blocked by Senate Democrats in the 60-day session that ended March 21, Sanchez said Republicans were at least able to bring conservative proposals to the forefront. “I wouldn’t say that they are Republican initiatives, but commonsense proven initiatives that other states have adopted that really transformed and translated into economic success,” Sanchez said. “We have to remain competitive if we’re going to make sure that we keep a stable workforce and that we don’t export our best and brightest, which are our
children, who are leaving New Mexico because they can’t find opportunity here.” Sanchez spoke at the Chaves County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day dinner Tuesday in Roswell. He said his message to New Mexico Republicans is simple: “Stay the course.” “I like to say elections have consequences,” Sanchez said. “One of the things in my message to Republicans in Chaves County and as I travel around the state is that I believe that Democrats have been sincere since 1912 in what their vision of New Mexico is. But after 103 years of failed pol-
Sanchez icies, they’ve been sincerely wrong. New Mexicans are hungry for solutions to the chronic problems facing our state. I think they ought to give Republicans the opportunity to lead and to govern. See SANCHEZ, Page A3
Students learn about DWI By Dylanne Petros Record Staff Writer
Shawn Naranjo Photos
The Every 15 Minutes program made its way to Goddard High School Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, a mock crash occurred and students watched as their peers got into an accident due to a drunk driver. One person died, one was life flighted away from the scene and firefighters had to cut the roof off a car so they could pull out the victims. On Friday, Nadine Milford, pictured above left, spoke to the school’s students about her daughter and three granddaughters who were killed by a drunk driver on Christmas Eve 1992. Milford also spoke about her strides in tightening DWI laws.
School might drop Zia name, symbol PORTALES (AP) — Students at Eastern New Mexico University are recommending that the school drop the use of the Zia sun symbol and name. A vote by the student body this month sends the recommendation to the university president, who will discuss the matter with the Board of Regents at an April 24 meeting. The Portales-based university has used the “Zias” name for women’s sports teams since 1981. The Zia symbol — a circle with four lines in each cardinal direction — is featured in women’s athletics and accompa-
nies a Greyhound in some university logos. The proposal to stick with the Greyhound only comes as the university considers a new licensing agreement, and the cultural and religious significance of the Zia sun symbol to northwestern New Mexico’s Zia Pueblo, officials said. If the university stops using the Zia symbol, both women’s and men’s teams will be called “Greyhounds.” Alumni Affairs director Robert Graham said the Alumni Association, and See ZIA, Page A3 Today’s Forecast
HIGH 86 LOW 47
The festive anticipation of Christmas Eve many of us take for granted every holiday season will never be the same for Nadine Milford after 1992. Milford, from Albuquerque, lost her daughter and three granddaughters to a drunk driver in 1992. Since then, she has been pushing to change the Driving While Intoxicated laws in the state. Her daughter, Melanie, was 31 when she passed away. Granddaughters Kacee, Erin and Kandyce were 5, 8 and 9, respectively. The day after the accident, Milford said she and her family tried to keep Christmas as normal as possible for her two other grandchildren, who were young and did not know what had happened the day before. “My little grandson … came to the house and he was going to play with Kaycee and he had gotten shark bowling and so he opened it up because we were really trying to have Christmas for (my other grandkids) and when he did, he looked at his mother and said, ‘Momma, momma, when’s Mel and the girls gonna be here?’” Milford said. “How do you explain to a 3-year-old they’re not coming?” It wasn’t until after the
funeral that Milford decided something needed to be done. “Conveniently the Legislature was fixing to start and some of the media had picked up on this story,” she said. “The more (the media) got into it, the more I got interested.” Milford said she realized she couldn’t stay in Albuquerque and grieve for her family. So, she packed her bags and headed to Santa Fe for the 1993 legislative session. “I was deaf, dumb, blind and stupid,” she said. “I had no clue what I jumped into.” Former state Sen. Tim Jennings was at the legislative session that year and helped Milford through the process. “When Nadine came, here was somebody who was new, didn’t know the process, and at that time I had been there 14 years,” Jennings said. “I knew all the processes. It came to be an educational thing for me.” When Milford went to the session, DWI was not on the agenda at all, so she said she made the issue get on the agenda. “We took 90,000 petitions to the governor,” Milford said. “It got put on the agenda.” Milford and Jennings then worked on what would become “one of the best See DWI, Page A2
VA chief says he’s working to reduce wait times By Vik Jolly Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE — The director of the Veterans Affairs’ health care system in New Mexico acknowledged Friday that efforts to see patients more quickly have fallen short. “We want to see our patients as close to the time as they preferred to be seen and have been working continuously to get better,” Andrew Welch told reporters at a Friday afternoon news conference. “Our efforts thus far have been good but not good enough.” Reacting to AP reports that found a Farmington’s VA clinic ranks among the
worst in the nation when it comes to the percentage of appointments that were delayed a month or longer, Welch outlined steps the VA has taken and will embark on to shorten wait times. Welch said the local VA is “redoubling” its efforts to find solutions as it serves 60,000 New Mexico veterans via its medical center in Albuquerque and 13 rural clinics, where over the past few years it has expanded services. The New Mexico VA has set up a dedicated telephone line for veterans whose appointments are more than 30 days out; it is
See VA, Page A2
AP Photo
This photo taken Wednesday shows the Department of Veterans Affairs clinic in Farmington. In an analysis of appointment data at 940 VA hospitals and clinics from September 2014 to February 2015, the Farmington clinic ranks among the worst when it comes to the percentage of appointments that were delayed a month or longer.
Index
Today’s Obituaries Page B3
• Jack Richard Dexter
Classifieds...........B6 Comics..................B5 Entertainment. ....A8 Financial..............B3
General...............A2 Horoscopes.........A8 Lotteries. ............A2 Nation..................A8
Opinion.................A4 Sports. ................B1 Weather...............A8