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THE NEW MEXICAN Saturday, September 7, 2013
Plan: Attack could benefit some groups Continued from Page A-1 “advance the interests of the perpetrators.” Another gathering of smaller Islamist groups issued a video condemning outright the threatened strikes, which the Obama administration has said are needed to deter further use of chemical weapons after hundreds of people were killed in the suburbs of Damascus in a poison gas attack widely blamed on government forces. “We reject Western military intervention in Syria and consider it a new aggression against Muslims,” said a group of fighters who identified themselves as representatives of eight “jihadi brigades,” according to a video posted on YouTube. The statements underscored the complexity of the rebel landscape across Syria, where hundreds of small rebel units have sprung up, banded together, split and formed new alliances over the past two years. The Supreme Military Council, which claims to represent the majority of moderate Free Syrian Army units and has long appealed for Western support, has embraced the Obama administration’s proposal for strikes. At the opposite end of the spectrum, extremist jihadi groups have expressed fears that they are the real targets of the American threats. The al-Qaida-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Jabhat al-Nusra have been vacating their headquarters and relocating their assets ahead of any possible strikes in case they are also hit, according to Syrians living in rebel-held territory. The Syrian Islamic Front, led by Ahrar al-Sham and including a number of smaller Salafist groups, describes itself as Islamist but is considered less extreme than the radical groups designated as terrorist organizations by the United States that have served as magnets for foreign fighters across the region. Ahrar al-Sham has established a presence across wide swaths of Syrian territory, notably in the north, and probably has broader support among ordinary Syrians than the extremists. For such groups, the prospect of American intervention after more than two years of repudiation represents something of a dilemma, analysts say. Islamist groups have thrived on the rejection by the West of appeals by more moderate Syrian opposition figures for help. But at the same time, groups such as Ahrar al-Sham could benefit militarily should the attacks take place, said Charles Lister of the London-based defense consultancy IHS Janes. “The reality is that for most of the non-al-Qaida hard-line Islamist groups, it could turn out to be in their interests for these strikes to take place,” he said. “But they can’t be seen publicly to defend them because of Western involvement. That’s why we’re seeing such pragmatic and ambivalent statements.” It is also not in the Islamists’ interests to alienate the many ordinary Syrians living in rebel-held areas who say they are eager for any intervention that might accelerate the war’s end. Activists in the northern province of Idlib issued a video Friday directly addressing members of Congress, interspersing footage of dead children with appeals from children, in English, for intervention. A spokesman for Ahrar al-Sham, contacted in Idlib, stressed that the Syrian Islamic Front statement was intended neither to support nor oppose American intervention, only to advise Syrians of the implications. The warnings came as the U.S. Embassy in Beirut announced that all nonessential personnel and the families of diplomats had been withdrawn from Lebanon, amid growing tensions across the region in anticipation of American military action. A statement issued by the embassy said those affected had departed Friday, and it urged Americans not to travel to Lebanon. It also called on those already in the country to “carefully consider” the dangers of remaining in Lebanon, which is considered at risk for retaliatory attacks against U.S. interests if the Obama administration goes ahead with the threatened strikes.
Sen. Udall to speak about Syria on Sunday morning’s ‘Meet the Press’ U.S. Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico will appear on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday morning to discuss Syria, his office confirmed Friday. Udall, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, voted against the resolution for military action in Syria earlier this week, one of only two Democrats to vote no. Other scheduled guests on the Sunday talk show include White House Chief of Staff Dennis McDonough and U.S. Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, Peter King, R-N.Y., and Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif. Meet the Press airs locally at 9 a.m. Sunday on NBC, Channel 4. On Friday, the New Mexico Conference on Catholic Bishops sent letters to Udall and other members of the state’s congressional delegation asking them to vote against authorizing military action against Syria. “We believe that more lives and livelihoods will be destroyed by military intervention,” the letter says. The New Mexican
Still missing in the wild Two families hope for answers after loved ones disappeared years ago By Staci Matlock The New Mexican
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s members of the family of firefighter Token Adams deal with their grief over his death, two other families continue to live with unanswered questions about their missing loved ones. Adams disappeared Aug. 30 while investigating a wildfire in the Jemez Mountains. His body and his crashed ATV were found Friday morning after a massive search. The families of Mel Nadel and Emma Tresp — two people who went missing in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains a decade apart — still don’t have answers. Mel Nadel disappeared four years ago on Sept. 6 near Elk Mountain in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Nadel, an Eldorado resident and Pilates instructor in Santa Fe, had been waiting at a campsite for his friends. When they returned that evening, Nadel’s locked Jeep was there with most of his gear, including his GPS, inside. Nadel, 61, and his bow were nowhere to be found. Despite a massive search then, and periodic searches ever since by local outdoorsmen, Nadel has never been found. Kristen Nadel was 18 when her dad, her buddy, disappeared. Now 22, she is extra aware when people like Adams go missing. “I make mental notes of people, especially ones where the cars are found with all their stuff left intact but only them missing,” she said. Her dad isn’t the only person to have disappeared without a trace in the rugged mountains of the Santa Fe National Forest. In August 1998, experienced world trav-
Nancy Tresp lays flowers at a memorial her family created in the Pecos Wilderness in 2008 for her mother, Emma Tresp, 71, who disappeared in the area in 1998. Emma Tresp’s car was found on a forest road, and officials believe she had taken a wrong turn on her way to a religious retreat at the Pecos Monastery. Her body has never been found. NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO
eler Emma Tresp, 71, vanished on her way to a spiritual retreat at the Pecos Monastery. Her locked Honda Civic, with her suitcase and some food inside, was discovered on the rough Forest Service Road 375 to Glorieta Mel Nadel Baldy peak. It had gotten stuck on the road after she made a wrong turn. Despite the efforts of more than 200 searchers, no other sign of her was found. Her family searched for years and put up posters seeking information. Their $20,000 reward for information about her disappear-
ance yielded no calls. They waited seven years before they held a public memorial service and put up a small memorial at the site where her car was found. In 2008, David Martinez, a state police investigator who had taken over the Tresp case, said, “It’s like she vanished off the face of the Earth. There are no answers.” On Friday morning, the fourth anniversary of her husband’s disappearance, Edna Nadel looked out her kitchen window to the mountain where Mel disappeared. The question remains: What happened? Contact Staci Matlock at 986-3055 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com. Follow her on Twitter @stacimatlock.
Found: Jemez Eagles crew discovered body Continued from Page A-1 Jemez Springs. A search began when Adams failed to return or to answer calls. By Friday, some 280 people from 18 government agencies were using horses, dogs, aircraft, heat-seeking devices and line crews, who walked side by side through the rugged terrain of mesas separated by steep canyons. The Jemez Eagles line crew found Adams’ body and the ATV. Search officials said an acci-
dent-reconstruction team was at the scene Friday afternoon and that the body had not yet been removed from the crash site. They said an autopsy will be performed. Adams was wearing a helmet and was dressed in the required fire-resistant yellow shirt, green pants and heavy leather boots when he rode off into the forest a week ago on a red Polaris 400 ATV. When he failed to answer two-way radio calls or his cellphone, a search was immedi-
ately launched. Officials declined to speculate about how he died, saying they were struggling with their emotions concerning the tragedy. Adams’ mother, stepfather and brother had come to the search staging area Thursday. Adams lived with his pregnant wife, Heidi, and their 3-year-old son in Jemez Springs since early 2012. Friends described him as a smart, kindhearted family man who was trained in wilderness survival
in the U.S. Navy. Adams grew up in Coarsegold, Calif., graduated from Yosemite High School in Oakhurst, Calif., in 1990 and served in the U.S. Navy’s Special Operations, according to the Forest Service. He trained in wilderness survival with the Navy SEALs. Staff writer Staci Matlock contributed to this report. Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@ sfnewmexican.com.
Cheaper: Five companies submitted rates Continued from Page A-1 A study released this week by the Kaiser Family Foundation reviewed insurance premiums proposed to state regulators for exchange plans in the District of Columbia and 17 states, including New Mexico. Franchini said the New Mexico rates submitted by five insurance companies will be very close to what regulators will soon approve. “This is the first time in many, many years that we’ve had five insurance companies actively writing business in the individual markets. It’s really been only two. We’ve been very, very lucky to have more competition,” Franchini said. Consumers will be able to pick from insurance plans with a range of coverage called bronze, silver, gold and platinum. The least costly or bronze plans will require people to pay more out-of-pocket expenses. The cost sharing of medical expenses is
less with other plans, but premiums will be higher. According to the study, the lowest cost bronze plan in New Mexico for a 40-yearold in Albuquerque is $155 a month. That’s lower than in other states except Maryland, where it would cost $146 a month for a similar individual in Baltimore. Premiums will vary among states because of differences in health care costs, insurance regulation and market competition, the study said. Costs also will vary depending on a person’s age and within different regions of a state. Franchini said premiums will be lower in Albuquerque because it has more health care providers and greater competition. Premiums will be higher in rural areas and in smaller communities such as Silver City or Farmington, he said. Bronze plans are to cover about 60 percent of health care costs on average, with 70 percent coverage for silver plans.
Franchini estimated most plans purchased in the private marketplace cover an average of 50 percent of costs. The federal subsidies are based on the second-lowest-cost silver plan in a local area. The silver plan would cost a 40-year-old in Albuquerque $212 a month before any tax credits are used. The study said that’s lower than in all but Oregon, where a 40-year-old in Portland would pay $201 monthly. On average nationally, the premium for a similar consumer is estimated at $320 a month. Federal tax credits will be available to people with incomes from about $24,000 to $94,000 annually for a family of four. In New Mexico, the study estimated subsidies would drop the monthly premium of the second-lowest-cost silver plan to $193 from $212 for a 40-year-old in Albuquerque. The lowest unsubsidized silver plan premium for that consumer is $189 a month.
Workforce: President Obama touts gains in manufacturing jobs Continued from Page A-1 moved to California to be near her family and hoped she would find a better job market. She sends out as many as 10 resumes a week and knows she is unlikely to find another position that pays her old salary of $55,100 a year. She said others in her position have given up seeking work. The question for Petty — and the broader economy — is how long people like her will be able to hold on. “I’m just so stubborn,” she said. “I will do anything.” There are demographic trends underlying the decline in the labor force. For much of the past generation, growing numbers of working women boosted its size, but that effect has leveled off. Meanwhile, the first wave of baby boomers is reaching retirement age, while younger workers are staying in school longer before looking for their first job. Many economists believe those
shifts cannot fully explain the size of the decline. Research released this spring by two Federal Reserve economists showed that states with the largest drops in unemployment also had bigger declines in the labor force, suggesting the slow pace of recovery is the culprit. Before the recession, the government studied population changes and forecast that the participation rate would dip by 0.3 percentage points from 2007 to 2012, according to the paper. Instead, it fell by 2.5 percentage points. Amanda Dean has almost reached the end of the line. The 30-year-old North Carolina resident has a master’s degree in social work, but has never found a job in her field. She was laid off from her last job, as an office manager, in January. Her state unemployment benefits ran out in July, and she isn’t eligible for an extension. She doesn’t qualify for food stamps, either. Dean’s parents
have been helping pay her mortgage and other bills. Dean said she has thought about dropping out of the workforce altogether, perhaps going back to school for a business degree. But she realized she couldn’t afford it. “I have not given up,” she said. “That’s not an option.” Economists had hoped that the recovery would pick up steam during the second half of this year. But it’s been the decline in the labor force rather than robust hiring that has pushed the unemployment rate to a deceptively low 7.3 percent. Bob Funk, chief executive of Express Employment Professionals, a staffing firm, said that many businesses remain reluctant to bring on permanent workers. Typically, about two-thirds of his firm’s temporary employees are hired by the companies at which they are placed. Now only about half are kept, he estimates. “That’s primarily due to the uncer-
tainty out there,” Funk said, citing new health insurance requirements as well as looming fiscal fights in Washington. “They don’t know how to manage their business as well when they don’t know what their costs are going to be.” Washington remains a wild card for the economy. Congress must agree on at least a short-term spending plan by October or risk shutting down the federal government. In addition, the nation may not be able to pay all its bills unless lawmakers agree to raise the debt ceiling before a mid-October deadline. In a remarks Friday while at the Group of 20 summit in Russia, President Barack Obama said he is “determined that the world has confidence in the full faith and credit of the United States.” He also touted gains in manufacturing jobs and new regulations aimed at fortifying the nation’s banks. “We’ve put more people back to work, but we’ve also cleared away the
rubble of crisis and laid the foundation for stronger and more durable economic growth,” he said. Still, the recovery may not be strong enough to stand on its own. The Federal Reserve has been pumping $85 billion a month into the economy, but will consider reducing that amount when officials convene for their regular meeting this month. On Friday, Kansas City Fed President Esther George called for scaling back the program by $15 billion. In a separate speech, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans was more circumspect, but acknowledged the data has been murky. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has said that the central bank will begin paring its stimulus this year, and many investors expect it will start this month. But Jared Bernstein, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said he believes the August jobs report is evidence that the economy still needs the Fed’s help.