Tue 9 16 2014

Page 1

Roswell Daily Record

Veteran’s Cemetery board discusses projects Vol. 123, No. 223 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday

BY RANDAL SEYLER RECORD CITY EDITOR

The Gen. Douglas L. McBride-Roswell Veteran’s Cemetery Board of Directors will be looking at capital improvement projects for the cemetery, including the construction of a pavilion and paving the roadways. The board met Friday to discuss projects that could be accomplished at the veteran’s cemetery using the $250,000 the state has

provided for the facility.

Friday night’s meeting ended with all members agreeing to quickly move forward on projects planning so that Mayor Dennis Kintigh can complete the Request For Proposal process to start using our $250,000 capital outlay Rep. Bob Wooley and our local representatives, Nora Espinoza, Candy Spense Ezzel, have set-up, said John Taylor, veteran’s cemetery board member in an email on Monday.

THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY

September 16, 2014

TUESDAY

www.rdrnews.com

The board also discussed burial costs for veterans, which has been a topic of discussion for both the veteran’s cemetery board and for the city’s South Park Cemetery Board.

The first order of business at Friday’s veteran’s cemetery board meeting was appointment of new officers. Jim Bloodheart was chosen president, Richard Moncrief was named vice president, and Nancy Britton was chosen to serve as secretary.

The state of New Mexico also allocated $250,000 toward the Roswell veteran’s cemetery, thanks in large part to the work of the southeastern New Mexico legislative delegation. Wooley was at Friday’s meeting to answer questions for the board members.

“The drainage in the cemetery is not good, we need to get some of that water diverted off,” said Moncrief. Bloodheart asked if the

Pumpkins found

AP Photo

In this photo taken on Sept 9, and provided by the Child Development Center, student Oluwafunto Akinnurele holds a picture of pumpkins stolen from the Child Development Center at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales. Officials say the pumpkin patch was raided sometime over the weekend after students had worked for months growing the pumpkins.

state money could also be used to improve drainage at the cemetery. “At one time we had talked about a detention pond,” he said. The board members also discussed the possibility of buying more columbarium stations for the cemetery with the state funds. Rep. Wooley suggested the board members set up a committee to look at possible capital projects and come back with a “to do” list. The cost for veterans for

burials at the new veteran’s cemetery has also been a source of confusion, and board members discussed the various burial options, including cremation and casket burial, and cremation interment either in the columbarium or in the ground.

BY JEFF TUCKER RECORD STAFF WRITER

must have the dog or cat vaccinated against rabies. In addition, Ensconatus, on Aug. 26, pleaded no contest to a charge of not having a license to operate a dog kennel. Magistrate Judge John Halvorson sentenced Ensconatus to 90 days of unsupervised probation and a $500 fine. The judge suspended the $500 fine, although Ensconatus was also ordered to pay $73 in court fees. According to the criminal complaint, Ensconatus had at least 12 dogs owned by herself and her family on her property at 21 W. Gallina Road on Aug. 12, as well as several rescued dogs that were also kenneled on the property. Chaves County animal control deputy Laura Hite said Ensconatus was housing the dogs on behalf of the Doggy Saviors canine rescue group. Hite said she inspected

Taylor said in an email on Monday that the only free item provided to veterans, according the agreement between the cemetery

Alleged negligent dog rescuers in court this morning

Two Roswell women charged in connection to the June dog mauling of a Roswell boy are scheduled to appear in Chaves County Magistrate Court today for their pre-trial hearings. Sammye S. LaFlar, 59, and Janice C. Ensconatus, 65, are both scheduled to appear before Chaves County Magistrate Court Judge K.C. Rogers at 8:30 a.m. on petty misdemeanor charges of allowing dogs to run wild. The petty misdemeanor charges are each punishable with a maximum jail sentence of 180 days and a $500 fine. The charges stem from the June 11 dog attack of 9-year-old Colby Prince of Roswell. LaFlar is also charged with failure to vaccinate dogs. Under state law, any person who owns or keeps a dog or cat over the age of 3 months in New Mexico

See PROJECTS, Page A3

Sheriff to oversee police in Vaughn Wooly worms will change into tiger moths BY M.E. SPRENGELMEYER THE COMMUNICATOR

SANTA ROSA — The town of Vaughn is hoping to end years of headaches involving its tiny police department by having the Guadalupe County Sheriff select and supervise the community’s one-officer force. It has been several weeks since the town’s lone officer, for mer Chief Philip Holmes, resigned, shortly after he was notified in writing that the town planned to consider new directions for law enforcement services. That proposed new direction is for the town to enter a memorandum of understanding with Sherif f Michael Lucero, whose office would supervise a certified officer to serve as the community’s one-person police force. Details of the arrangement still need to be finalized, and Guadalupe County Commissioners would have to review terms of an agreement at a meeting later this month. Still, the sheriff already has started advertising the position at a starting rate of $17.68 per hour, and Vaughn Mayor Roman Garcia said he sees it as the best solution for the town. “One of the problems

we’ve had here is we’ve not had the supervision and connection we need with an officer — and the guidance as well,” Garcia told Town Council members at a meeting Sept. 9. “The goal will be to come up with the best law enforcement we can for this small community.” In the past, even after the town had difficulties hiring or retaining qualified law enforcement personnel, some Vaughn of ficials resisted the idea of giving up their police force to a sheriff’s service alone. Former Mayor Paul Madrid expressed concerns that a sheriff’s deputy based in Vaughn might be pulled away to cover calls across the county. The proposed agreement would avoid those concerns, as the officer still would be a town employee, wear a Vaughn Police uniform and use town-owned equipment. While the sheriff would help select the employee, subject to Town Council approval, the new officer would be tasked to serve within the town limits and assist the sheriff in a limited area of the outskirts (an area yet to be determined), Garcia said. “We feel it’s a good direction,” Garcia said. He said that due to their other responsibilities, the TODAY’S FORECAST

HIGH 78 LOW 63

town’s elected officials are unable to provide the kind of guidance and supervision that a police force would provide. “That’s where we’ve struck out,” the mayor said. Although ter ms of a memorandum of understanding still need to be finalized and county commissioners will have to review it, Commissioner Vince Cordova told Town Council members that he supports the concept. “I think we’re moving in the right direction, because I believe we have too many individual law enforcement entities for such a small community,” Cordova said. He and others have sometimes raised neighboring De Baca County as a potential model, since that county’s sheriff also provides police services for the municipality of Fort Sumner. Vaughn Fire Chief Thomas Owens expressed skepticism to council members, saying that the difference in De Baca County is that Fort Sumner is the lone municipality and the county seat. The sherif f lives in town and the sheriff’s department headquarters already is in Fort Sumner. See VAUGHN, Page A3

• G.W. “MUTT” SHANKS • BARNEY ELBERT GREEN, JR.

SUBMITTED BY CHAVES COUNTY EXTENSION OFFICE Chaves County residents are wondering about the wooly caterpillars that have been spotted scurrying across the roads and highways. The caterpillars are the larval stage of the “tiger moth,” Lepidoptera, Erebidae. The wooly wor ms vary in color from nearly white to various yellowish-tans to dark charcoal/black with black fur or dark red fur. They have been around a while, but were too small to be noticed. We a r e w i t n e s s i n g a n annual occurrence but with populations higher in some areas of the state than others. The adult night-flying moths were present by mid-summer, but were not stimulated to reproduce without enough green feed to sustain their young. The later monsoon rains that we received signaled the females to reproduce, laying 400 to 1,200 eggs each, but in small batches scattered throughout the environment. Eggs hatched in about a week, producing small, bristly caterpillars, approximately an eighth of an inch long. The caterpillars have eaten, grown and molted. The

TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE A6

See DOG, Page A3

Submitted Photo

The aliens came and left in July and in a few more weeks the proliferation of wooly caterpillars seen on streets and sidewalks will be gone as they transform into tiger moths.

last instar, or period of growth, of the caterpillar which now is about 1.5 inches long, has begun to look for a place to pupate. This search is what we are currently seeing. The caterpillars will pupate in soil litter and debris under bushes and shrubs. Depending on temperature, the adult moths will emerge in about two weeks. The last generation of the caterpillars for the year will pupate and

o v e r w i n t e r, a n d w i l l emerge next spring as the adult moth. The caterpillars are not toxic, but the bristly hairs are a defense mechanism which is meant to deter birds and other prey from feeding on the caterpillars. Because of the size of the caterpillars, insecticides will not be effective. And at this stage of the life cycle, they are not going to be around very long anyway and should cause little damage from feeding.

CLASSIFIEDS ..........B6

INDEX GENERAL ...............A2

FINANCIAL ..............B4

LOTTERIES .............A2

COMICS .................B5

HOROSCOPES .........A8

OPINION .................A4

SPORTS .................B1

WEATHER ..............A8


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Tue 9 16 2014 by Roswell Daily Record - Issuu