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Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY

Vol. 124, No. 42 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday

February 18, 2015

WEDNESDAY

www.rdrnews.com

Martinez convicted of gas station shooting

By Jeff Tucker Record Staff Writer

A Roswell man faces a possible 14-year prison sentence after a jury found him guilty last week of shooting a man at Roswell’s Chisum Travel Center in November 2013. The jury deliberated for about 4 hours Feb. 11, after hearing testimony for two days, before finding Ruben Anthony Martinez guilty of felony charges of shooting from a motor vehicle causing great bodily harm and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on a third charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, in connection to a sec-

ond victim at the scene. Martinez, 25, is scheduled to be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 26 by Fifth District Judge Freddie J. Romero. Fifth Judicial District Attorney Janetta Hicks said Martinez faces a possible nine-year sentence on the conviction of shooting from a motor vehicle, a threeyear sentence for the aggravated battery conviction, an additional year incarceration on the aggravated battery charge due to a firearm enhancement, and an additional year in prison for being a habitual offender, for a total possible sentence of 14 years in prison. “This conviction was the culmination of exten-

sive hard work and dedication by law enforcement and the district attorney’s office,” said Fifth Judicial Assistant District Attorney Jody Mullis, who prosecuted the case along with Assistant District Attorney Christopher Solis. “We are pleased that Mr. Martinez was convicted of this violent offense.” Martinez was represented by public defender Anna Marie Bell. “I would like to thank the members of the jury for the sacrifice of their time and their thoughtful consideration of the evidence,” Bell said. “Although the defendant had hoped for a different verdict, we respect the decision of the jury in this matter.”

According to authorities, Martinez shot a man at a gas pump at Chisum Travel Center late on Nov. 24, 2013, after Martinez and two other men became involved in an argument. Chaves County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Shannon said he arrived at the travel center and found a man lying on the store’s floor from an apparent gunshot wound to the victim’s upper legs. Shannon said the victim was transported to Eastern New Mexico Medical Center for treatment. The driver of a pickup truck, which the shooting victim was filling with fuel, said Martinez had shot his friend.

“The defendant had pulled up next to (his vehicle) at Chisum Travel Center’s gas pumps where a verbal altercation took place and did brandish a weapon from the front passenger window from a Jeep Wrangler and then threatened the victims,” Shannon wrote in a criminal complaint against Martinez. “(The driver) further stated that the vehicle left the scene and as they were leaving, the defendant fired two rounds towards the victims.” Police said one bullet fired by Martinez entered the victim’s leg and lodged inside the victim’s other leg.

Walker Museum

Gearing up for the future

seeks new location By Jeff Jackson Record City Editor

Bill Moffitt Photo

Ninth- and 10th-grade students at Goddard High School learned the “down and dirty” details of the college admission process Tuesday from Peter Van Buskirk, a former dean of admissions who is an author and motivational speaker. Van Buskirk’s presentation was sponsored by the Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell GEAR UP program. GEAR UP is a grant program from the U.S. Department of Education designed to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education. Van Buskirk also spoke at Roswell High School on Tuesday morning and will make presentations today at Dexter, Hagerman and Lake Arthur.

Daily Record welcomes

Walp as new sports editor Staff Report The Roswell Daily Record is very proud to announce the addition of a new sports editor to its staff, Doug Walp. Doug recently graduated from the Perley Issac Reed School of Journalism at West Virginia University in Morgantown, W.Va. — where he was also a correspondent for the Associated Press — covering both Division I collegiate athletics and prep sports on occasion. Doug also

Walp served as a staff writer for WVU’s official newspaper, The Daily Athenaeum, for the past several years.

Martinez

See MARTINEZ, Page A3

Walp is very knowledable and fiercely passionate about all things sports, and has a great appreciation for the competitive sports environment here in Roswell. Doug will take over for former Sports Editor Jeff Jackson, who has taken the position of city editor at the Daily Record following the departure of Randal Seyler. Walp may be contacted at 575-622-7710, ext. 304, or at sports@ rdrnews.com.

The Walker Aviation Museum is taking off on plans to relocate but still will be grounded at the Roswell airport when the doors open at its new facility. The privately operated museum inside the terminal at the Roswell International Air Center is expected to ask the city of Roswell for a lease on 2.6 acres of unoccupied land near the terminal and then will begin a $1 million fundraising campaign to construct a building for the museum. That effort could take up to three years, one museum official said. Board members of the museum have had designs on the property for about six months, said Don Armstrong, one of four museum representatives who attended the airport committee’s monthly meeting

Tuesday morning. “For the past several years, since the museum was opened in 2010, it’s been our intent to move out of the digs that we have right now at the terminal and build our own museum, a stand-alone museum somewhere in Roswell, preferably at the RIAC,” Armstrong said. “We have enjoyed our time where we are at the present time. We’ve outgrown those two suites, however, and we need to move into some other location, and we have a location. We’re hoping that somehow the airport committee and the City Council will see their way to help us or provide to us this piece of land so that we can build a stand-alone museum in that area.” Museum directors have surveyed the location with the air center’s property manager, Scott Stark, and See MUSEUM, Page A3

Ezzell presides over House

Courtesy Photo

State Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell presided over the New Mexico House of Representatives Tuesday, in honor of Ag Day. Ezzell, R-Roswell, is chair of the House Agriculture, Water & Wildlife Committee.

CYFD looking for more foster families By Dylanne Petros Record Staff Writer

Dylanne Petros Photo

Yvette Lucero, foster and adoptive parent recruitment specialist for New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department shares statistics on youth in foster care to members of the Kiwanis Club Tuesday afternoon. Kiwanis Board President Abel Esquibel, at right, listens to her presentation. There are 69 children in custody and only 13 foster families in Roswell, Lucero said. Today’s Forecast

HIGH 67 LOW 31

A critical shortage of local foster homes was the topic of discussion at Tuesday’s Kiwanis meeting. There are 69 children in custody and only 13 foster families in Roswell, said Yvette Lucero, foster and adoptive parent recruitment specialist for New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department. When there are not enough families to foster kids, the kids must be

moved out of the county, Lucero said. “We take them to wherever there’s an open placement,” she said. Although foster kids get taken out of the county when there are not enough foster homes, Lucero said she does not like moving the kids. Lucero’s job is recruiting families to become foster families in Roswell and she said families are desperately needed. “They’re just our little kids that live right next

door sometimes,” she said. “They might be somebody that goes to the same school your kids go to. They’re all over.” The reason there are so few foster homes, Lucero said, is because people adopt and then do not wish to be foster families anymore. She said the parents fall in love with the children and then wish to adopt them and then do not want to foster again because of the love for their children. Lucero is on a mission

• Robbie Gay Benzinger • Joe Head • Roselie K. Atkins

See FAMILIES, Page A3

Index

Today’s Obituaries Pages A2 & A6

• Dorothy Dell Denton Glover • Mary Joyce Dickinson

though to find foster families in Roswell. “On my caseload alone, one time I had 30 kids,” she said. “To me, they were my children … and I try to find places for my kids.” Out of the 69 kids in the system right now, 52 percent are male and 48 percent are female. The crux of foster kids are children between the ages of 6 and 12, Lucero said. Lucero’s goal is to have so many foster families,

Classifieds...........B6 Comics..................B5 Entertainment. ....B6 Financial..............B3

General...............A2

Opinion.................A4

Horoscopes.........B6

Sports. ................B1

Lotteries. ............A2

Weather...............A8


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