Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 124, No. 54 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
March 4, 2015
www.rdrnews.com
WEDNESDAY
Upgrade at vets’ cemetery goes to council
By Jeff Jackson Record City Editor Deceased veterans are one step away from having a military-style funeral service with all the bells and whistles at their own cemetery in Roswell. The City Council will be deciding whether to allocate funds for the construction of a gazebo and other attributes at the Gen. Douglas L. McBride Roswell Veterans Cemetery on Southeast Main Street adjacent to South Park Cemetery on the north end. Although a separate facility, the veterans cemetery is on city property and both cemeteries come under the
supervision of the Parks and Recreation Department. By a 2-0 vote, with one abstention, the Parks and Recreation advisory committee Monday night advanced the veterans cemetery master plan to the City Council for its meeting March 12. Local veterans and the Veterans Cemetery Board have been trying for almost four years to enhance the property and last year received state funds of $250,000 for that purpose. The 20-acre cemetery was dedicated July 4 and named after Douglas McBride, a former cadet at
New Mexico Military Institute, a commanding officer in the Army and a Roswell resident who died in 2007. McBride is buried at the flagpole base in the cemetery that bears his name. There are 21 remains installed in the two columbariums that currently can display 96. That total could grow to 256 with expansion. For burials, there are 768 double plots available. “All we want is a pleasant place to hold a service, to honor them for their service, to help the families feel at ease,” said Jim Bloodhart, president of the Veterans Cemetery Board who also sits on the city’s
Cemetery Board. “We’re hoping to have this up before the Fourth of July. We would like it yesterday. We’ve been fighting this for three years. You drive down Southeast Main, you drive down Main Street and you look over and you see the lights and you see the flags but you don’t see anything else. This structure will add solidity to the whole thing.” Last year the veterans board received a $250,000 appropriation from the state Legislature to improve the facility. Plans call for adding the gazebo, landscaping, parking areas, paved roads, a cemetery for military-service ani-
mals and expansion of columbariums and burial plots. A columbarium is a cement structure that has an opening to place an urn. Those funds must be spent by 2018 before they expire and are limited to capital use. The veterans board had previously received donations to install the current columbariums, sidewalks and a sign, while the city put in the burial plots. Services for veterans would be held not at a gravesite but under a six-sided gazebo measuring 36 feet from point to point, Bloodhart said. People have been known to fall in open
graves, he added. “At national cemeteries you don’t hold services at the graveside. This is what this is for, those services. You don’t have to worry about people falling in the hole, and it has happened,” Bloodhart said. Estimates for the gazebo run about $50,000, Bloodhart said, and its design could be copied for a second structure at South Park. “There’s pros and cons, but you got to remember when you’re holding a service out there in the cemetery and you got 40
Staff Report
the subject pulled a pistol from his waistband and fired once, with the bullet striking a window, but not either man inside the vehicle, the men told police. The only injury reported was some cuts on one of the men’s hands from shattered glass. The men’s description of the shooter was limited to a male wearing white shoes, black pants and a T-shirt of unknown color. They did report the suspect, after shooting, ran to a blue Chevy Tahoe, possibly model year 2003 to 2006, and fled in that vehicle. The second incident, an armed robbery, occurred
See CEMETERY, Page A3
Police investigate two gun incidents
Protesting the PARCC
Police are investigating two incidents in which firearms were used against others and that occurred about 24 hours apart this past weekend. The first, labeled as an aggravated assault with a firearm, was on Friday, Feb. 27, at about 10:45 p.m. outside Billy Ray’s bar in the 100 block of East Third Street. A 40-yearold Roswell man reported he had just left the bar and was in a nearby vehicle (in the front passenger seat) with his brother (in the driver’s seat). A male walked up to the vehicle and asked for a cigarette. When both men in the vehicle refused the request,
See GUNS, Page A3
Senate bill would expand IRBs to include housing Bill Moffitt Photos
Above: Roswell High School students protest this week’s PARCC testing while RHS security and a unit from the Roswell Police Department stand by in the school parking lot. The numbers ranged from 20 to 30 throughout the day as they joined high school students throughout the state to protest the PARCC standardized test, which is being conducted this week at public schools throughout New Mexico.
Sophomore Savannah Paul was among the protesters. Paul said it is not mandatory for any student below the junior level to take the test and that schools are doing it to make a profit because they get money for each student who takes the test. She said schools are focusing too much on teaching students to pass a test rather than on skills they will need for college or the job market. Paul said she intends to protest today.
Staff Report
Phone messages left requesting comment were not returned by press time by RISD Superintendent Tom Burris and RHS Principal Ruben Bolaños. Left: Roswell High School security and an officer from the Roswell Police Department watch from the RHS
parking lot Tuesday as a group of about two dozen students protest across the street. Right: One of about 20 protesters reacts after getting a fist bump of support from a passing motorist in front of Roswell High School Tuesday.
A bill that would expand industrial revenue bonds to housing and energy development industries like the Florida company building a $290 million solar farm in Chaves County was unanimously approved by a state Senate committee Tuesday. A committee substitute for Senate Bill 319 was adopted by the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday, 9-0. It now heads to the Senate floor for consideration.
The substitute bill adds the energy development industry, including refining and extractive mining, to industries eligible for industrial revenue bonds. It also clarifies that a mine or energy project cannot be in operation prior to issuance of the IRBs. State Sen. Carroll Leavell, R-Jal, sponsor of Senate Bill 319, said the measure would encourage business projects by expanding IRBs. He said See BILL, Page A3
NM State Lands office Dexter Middle students looking for history announces grazing fees By Dylanne Petros Record Staff Writer
Staff Report Commissioner of Public Lands Aubrey Dunn on Tuesday announced 2015 grazing fees on state trust lands would be set at $4.80 per animal unit month, to take effect Oct. 1. The 2014 fee was $3.99. Grazing fees on state trust lands are set by the Commissioner of Public Lands, using a formula determined by New Mexico State University, after considering market conditions. This year, NMSU determined the fee per animal unit month would be increased by 20.25 percent. Federal grazing fees also increased this year by 25.18 percent per animal unit month on public lands.
The increase will raise the total income to state land trust beneficiaries to $8.08 million. Total lands included in the agricultural leasing program are 8,746,502 acres. “We are seeing recordhigh cattle prices and that, with the forage availability of our state lands, has resulted in an increase in grazing fees,” Dunn said. “The increase in income will go directly to fund our public schools and higher education in New Mexico.” The New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands is an elected state official responsible for administering the state’s land grant trust. See FEES, Page A2
Dexter Middle School students are looking to put together a book over the history of Dexter for the annual Destination Imagination competition. Sixth- and seventh-grade students participating in the competition are gifted students under the supervision of Tami Garcia. Garcia said the students have participated in the competition for many years. She became the gifted teacher last year and is in her second year doing the competition. To put together a historical book of Dexter, the students are reaching out
Today’s Forecast
HIGH 49 LOW 20
File Photo
Sixth- and seventh-grade gifted students from Dexter Middle School were given a tour of the Daily Record in October by publisher Charles Fischer, right. The students are now preparing for the Destination Imagination competition, set to take place April 11. The students are compiling a history book on Dexter and are asking for the community’s help. to the community for sto- stuff in the community to find out if people will subries. “I sent an email to all mit (stories) to the stuthe teachers and we were dents,” Garcia said. going to put up fliers and The idea for the project
• Lott W. Porter • Jerrold Keith Johnson
• Gary Dean James • Linda Sue Weir Chapin • Orville Grady Freeman • H. James Voll
See DEXTER, Page A3
Index
Today’s Obituaries Page B4 • Michael David Drew
came about because of the new historical museum in Dexter. “Dexter started a historical museum and it’s across the street from the school,” she said. The students, she said, have to do a service learning project for the competition in which they create a commercial advertising the historical museum. The students will present their book and the skit at the competition, which will take place in Albuquerque on April 11. “We’re hoping people will submit (stories) to us by the 20th,” Garcia said. She said if people submit by March 20, that will give the students enough time to put the book together.
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