Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 124, No. 139 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
June 11, 2015
Thursday
www.rdrnews.com
Councilor: Mayor playing politics with pot By Jeff Tucker Record Staff Writer A Roswell city councilor who says Mayor Dennis Kintigh is trying to stack the deck against a proposed medical marijuana facility is appealing to her fellow city councilors tonight to remain on a zoning board that is set to decide a zoning appeal about the proposed pot facility. City Councilor Tabitha Denny is one of two city appointees to the Roswell-Chaves County Extraterritorial Zoning Authority, which will hear an appeal of the May 12 decision of the Roswell-Chaves County Extraterritorial Zoning Commission in favor of a zoning change for the proposed medical mari-
juana farm just outside of Roswell. Denny told the Daily Record Wednesday she believes Kintigh is attempting to remove her from the ETZ Authority because of her undecided stance to the proposed pot farm. “He’s not for it. He’s made that very abundantly clear,” Denny said of the mayor. “Not knowing which way I’ll go, I think it kind of scares him.” The ETZ Authority, currently comprised of Denny, Roswell City Councilor Savino Sanchez Jr. and Chaves County Commissioners Will Cavin, Robert Corn and James Duffey, along with its lower body, the ETZ Commission, govern territory within about 2 miles of Roswell
city limits to “promote public health, safety, morals and the general welfare.” The mayor on Monday submitted an addendum to tonight’s city council agenda to replace Denny and Sanchez on the ETZ Authority with City Councilors Natasha Mackey and Juan Oropesa. Kintigh on Wednesday declined to state his reasons for wanting to replace Denny and Sanchez with Mackey and Oropesa. “Let me address that tomorrow evening,” the mayor said Wednesday. Denny said the mayor’s attempt to remove her from the ETZ Authority is “absolutely” directly related to the ETZ
Authority’s upcoming pot farm hearing. “He told us (Monday) it has to do with our appeal that’s coming up,” she said. “That was exactly why he told us that he was taking us off. He said he wanted two councilors that had not spoken about marijuana one way or another in general.” Denny, who has served on the ETZ Authority since her election to the city council in March 2014, said she is delaying her family vacation to be physically present at tonight’s city council meeting to make her appeal to remain on the ETZ Authority. “He’s trying to use the little power he has to get his way,” Denny said. “It’s the principle
Denny of the matter. What he did was wrong. The way he went about it was wrong and I won’t just let it slide. (Tonight) should be interesting.”
Denny on Tuesday wrote a letter to city leaders asking to remain on the ETZ Authority. “In reference to the new nominations to the Extraterritorial Zoning Authority that Mayor Kintigh is presenting to the governing body at the regular city council meeting on June 11, 2015, I would like to make public that I do not wish to be removed from the ETZ Authority,” Denny wrote. Clinton Greathouse, CEO of Pecos Valley Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Roswell, which is applying with the state for a license to convert the former Nature’s Dairy milk processing plant at 5104 S. Main St. into a medical See POLITICS, Page A3
Peach the Cow shares about the dairy biz Bill Moffitt Record Correspondent Story and Photos
In the photo to the right, Southwest Dairy Farmer’s Mobile Dairy Classroom instructor Cody Lightfoot shows a milking unit to a group of school children before hooking it up to Peach the cow during Story Time on the lawn of the Roswell Public Library, 201 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Wednesday morning. Above, left: Peach the
Holstein Cow watches as Lightfoot teaches a group of elementary-aged children about how a cow makes and gives milk. Above right: Lightfoot jokes with his audience — mostly from RISD’s After School program — about how a cow uses her 12-inch-long tongue, and four stomachs, to make milk. “Do you know why she put her tongue up her nose just then?” he asked with a grin. “Because she doesn’t
have any fingers to pick her nose with.” Now we know. Lightfoot operates the mobile classroom sponsored by Southwest Dairy Farmers. Besides Story Time each Wednesday at 10 a.m. for young children the library also has summer programs for older children (“tweens”) at 2:30 p.m. every Thursday and for teenagers at 2 p.m. each Saturday. More information is available at roswellpubliclibrary. org or by calling 622-7101.
Three schools to start renovations By Dylanne Petros Record Staff Writer
A Roswell Independent School District official said Tuesday three schools recently listed among the top 16 worst-condition schools in the state will soon be renovated. Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Chad Cole said the three schools, Del Norte Elementary School, Mesa Middle School and Nancy Lopez Elementary School will be renovated thanks to the $16 million bond that was passed Feb. 3. Del Norte Elementa-
ry School, Mesa Middle School and Nancy Lopez Elementary School were listed at No. 6, 14 and 15 respectively. The way the bond was advertised, he said, was that the Roswell Independent School District was following the Public School Facility Authority and the Public School Capital Outlay Council’s ranking system to prioritize the projects. “Del Norte, Mesa and Nancy Lopez were the three schools in that order that were listed and approved by the voters,” Cole said. With the $16 million Today’s Forecast
HIGH 99 LOW 63
bond passing, the district will receive a total of about $50 million for the renovations from a 72 percent match from the state. The 28 percent that is not covered by the state, is from bonds the school district passes. An application for the three renovations was submitted on time, Cole said. In the application, RISD asked for funding for Del Norte Elementary School and Mesa Middle School for the 2015-16 school year. RISD listed Nancy Lopez Elementary School in the application but did not ask for funds for the 2015-16
school year. “The idea was let’s get in there with the funding on these two and get those two going, let’s get the third one on the back end in the 2016-17 school year,” Cole said. The total estimated cost for the three schools is $35,028,743. Out of that, RISD will pay $9,808,048 and the state will pay $25,220,695. The numbers are an estimate based on the total square footage of the schools among other factors, Cole said. See SCHOOLS, Page A2
More troops sent to Iraq WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama ordered the deployment of up to 450 more American troops to Iraq on Wednesday in an effort to reverse major battlefield losses to the Islamic State, an escalation but not a significant shift in the struggling U.S. strategy to defeat the extremist group. The U.S. forces will open a fifth training site in the country, this one dedicated specifically to helping the Iraqi Army integrate Sunni tribes into the fight, an element seen as a crucial to driving the Islamic State out of the Sunni-majority areas of western Iraq. The immediate objective is to win back the key city of Ramadi, which was seized by
Index
Today’s Obituaries Page A6
• James L. Bruin • Joe Castelo • Perry Dean Garcia • Robert Juul
• Jon Alan “Doc” Meeks • Lawrence Montoya Sr. • Nancy E. Nalda
extremists last month. The U.S. is insistent that Americans will not have a combat role. But in the deployment of American forces and the equipping of Iraqi troops, the U.S. must make sure “that we can be nimble because clearly this is a very nimble enemy,” Deputy National Security Adviser Benjamin Rhodes told reporters. The plan is not a change in the U.S. strategy, the administration says, but addresses a need to get Sunnis more involved in the fight. There now are nearly 3,100 U.S. troops in Iraq involved in training, advising, security and other support.
Classifieds...........B6 Comics..................B5 Entertainment. ....A8 Financial..............B4
General...............A2 Horoscopes.........A8 Lotteries. ............A2 Nation..................A6
Opinion.................A4 Sports. ................B1 Weather...............A8