Roswell Daily Record
School officials prepare for bond election THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 123, No. 270 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
BY RANDAL SEYLER RECORD CITY EDITOR
Tuesday’s General Election is barely in the rearview mirror, but Independent Roswell School District officials are gearing up for Feb. 3. That is the day Roswell voters return to the polls to approve the RISD School Construction Bond, and school officials want the public to know how important it is for people to vote. The General Obligation
November 9, 2014
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Bonds, which fund public school construction projects, are not per manent and require voter authorization every four years. Since the bond replaces an existing bond, approving the GO Bond does not result in any tax increase.
“This bond replaces the current bond which lapses under the Sunset Clause,” said Superintendent Tom Burris on Thursday. “The school district gets more than 70 percent of the cost of the construction paid by
Parade honors veterans
the state through oil and gas royalty proceeds.” The money raised through the local bonds pays 28 percent of the construction cost, while the state pays for 72 percent of the cost. “That gives us a big bang for our buck.” Burris was presenting a slide show to a committee of volunteers who are working to spread the word about the bond election. Unlike the recent bond issues that were on the November ballot, the RISD
bonds are strictly a local election, so it is important that people turn out to vote in November, Burris said. “General Obligation Bond and state matching school construction funds can only be used for school construction, renovation, building additions, school equipment or furniture,” Burris said. The RISD Board of Education will discuss the upcoming bond election as well as get an update on the proposed construction by Assistant
SUNDAY
Superintendent Chad Cole at 6 p.m. on Tuesday when the board gathers for its regular November meeting at the school administration building. Cole said on Thursday that the new bond money, if approved by voters, will go toward construction projects at Del Norte Elementary, Nancy Lopez Elementary, Mesa Middle School and Parkview Early Childhood Center. The most recent round of bond funds paid for reno-
vations at several schools as well as construction of a new El Capitan Elementary, Cole said. The cost of the proposed work is expected to be about $50 million. “School renovations improve the learning environment for everyone, which impacts student academic progress,” Cole said. “School renovations are not just about classrooms, but also the school’s security,
WASHINGTON (AP) — The foundation of America’s nuclear arsenal is fractured, and the government has no clear plan to repair it. The cracks appear not just in the military forces equipped with nuclear weapons but also in the civilian bureaucracy that controls them, justifies their cost, plans their future and is responsible for explaining a defense policy that says nuclear weapons are at once essen-
tial and excessive.
Foundation of nuclear system showing cracks
See ELECTION, Page A3
It’s not clear that the government recognizes the full scope of the problem, which has wormed its way to the core of the nuclear weapons business without disturbing bureaucracies fixated on defending their own tur f. Nor has it aroused the public, which may think nuclear weapons
Ruling strikes another Arizona immigration law
Randal Seyler Photos
Above: Students from Dexter Elementary School were out early Saturday to ride in the Roswell Veterans Parade and to pay tribute to America’s veterans. The parade started with a proclamation, read by City Councilor Jason Perry, declaring the week of Nov. 9 as “Veterans Week.” Right: Students from the New Mexico Youth ChalleNGe Academy marched with a big American flag during Saturday’s annual Veterans Parade. The salute to veterans continues at 3 p.m. today at First United Methodist Church of Roswell, which is holding a program entitled “Above and Beyond: A Salute To All Veterans.”
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s frustrations over federal enforcement of the state’s border with Mexico spawned a movement nearly a decade ago to have local police confront illegal immigration. Now, the state’s experiment in immigration enforcement is falling apart in the courts. A ruling Friday that
See NUCLEAR, Page A3
struck down the state’s 2005 immigrant smuggling law marks the latest in a string of restrictions placed by the courts on Arizona’s effort to get local police to take action on illegal immigration. The smuggling law, like similar state statutes,
Meth from Mexico Alvarado reflects on time in WWII, Korean War supplanting home labs
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The nation’s Heartland is ridding itself of the scourge of homemade methamphetamine, with lab seizures down by nearly half in many high-meth states. Any celebration is muted: Meth use remains high, but people are increasingly turning to cheaper, imported Mexican meth rather than making their own. Meth lab busts and seizures are down 40 percent or more in states that traditionally lead the country in the undesirable category, narcotics experts told The Associated Press. Enforcement actions and stricter laws are partly responsible, but the meth now coming through Mexican cartel pipelines is so cheap and pure that it is supplanting meth made in homes or soda bottles inside cars. The cartels have even expanded their meth reach to rural areas and small towns. “The great news is that meth from Mexico doesn’t explode, doesn’t burn down your house and your neighbor’s home, doesn’t contaminate your property,
doesn’t kill children the way meth labs have done here in the U.S. for decades,” said Jason Grellner, the chief narcotics officer in Franklin County, Missouri. Meth lab seizures peaked nationally in 2004, when nearly 24,000 labs were seized. The Drug Enforcement Administration reported 11,573 seizures last year (the most recent available), up 363 from 2012. Grellner’s county has often topped 100 meth lab seizures in a year, but have only had about a dozen this year. Statistics provided by the Missouri State Highway Patrol show 558 meth lab seizures occurred statewide for the first six months of 2014, putting Missouri on pace for 1,116. That would be a 34 percent drop from the 1,496 meth lab seizures in 2013, and only a little over half in 2012. The decline is more pronounced in other highmeth states. In Tennessee, lab seizures are down 40 perSee METH, Page A7 TODAY’S FORECAST
HIGH 74 LOW 40
See IMMIGRATION, Page A3
BY DYLANNE PETROS RECORD STAFF WRITER
One for mer Roswell man worked on the atomic bomb before he even knew what it was. Braulio Alvarado, 87, of San Patricio, has been in the Army, Air Force and the Marines throughout his life. Alvarado was first drafted into the Army during World War II. He was on his mission in Japan when he switched to the Air Force, he said. “Two officers from the Air Force boarded the troop train and were asking the soldiers if anyone wanted to join the Air Force because the Air Force needed men,” Alvarado said. “I told my friend, ‘you know what? Air Force is easier.’” Three hours after he told the officers he would join the Air Force, it was official. After he joined the Air Force, Alvarado was sent to Roswell. “I never knew where Roswell was until then,” Alvarado said. Alvarado was sent to what is now called the
• MARION LOUISE (PAYNE) RILEY • VERNA RAE GLASS
Courtesy Photo
In 1947, when this photo was taken, Braulio Alvarado was a Sergeant in the Air Force. Alvarado served in both WWII and the Korean War.
Walker Air Force Base. When Alvarado reported for duty, however, it was the Roswell Ar my Air Field.
“I was an ammunition handler and I would fuse bombs. They called it a
• JERRY DON CANNON • JOYCE HALLSTEN
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE B6
bomb disposal,” he said. It was while he was at the Roswell Army Air Field that he got the call to work on an atomic bomb. “They called me in and one day and they said, ‘Alvarado, we’re going to
put you to practice. We’re gonna get you top clearance and you’re gonna work loading the bomb,’” he said. To prepare for dropping the atomic bomb, the Air Force practiced by dropping bomb carcasses. Alvarado helped load the atomic bomb carcass onto a B-29 airplane and didn’t say a word to any of the other people he was working with. “They wouldn’t talk to me and I wouldn’t talk to them,” he said. “It was secret stuff.” Once he helped load the bomb carcass onto the B29, Alvarado was sent to the Bikini Atoll for the next part of the project, which was preparing to drop the third atomic See ALVARADO, Page A3
CLASSIFIEDS ..........D1
INDEX HOROSCOPES .........B7
SPORTS .................B1
GENERAL ...............A2
OPINION .................A4
VISTAS...................C1
COMICS .................C4
LOTTERIES .............A2
WEATHER ..............A8