Roswell Daily Record
11-16-10 PAGES:NEW LAYOUT
11/16/10
8:45 AM
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INSIDE NEWS
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
City announces settlement of suit
Vol. 119, No. 274 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly a week before the Thanksgiving travel crush, federal air security officials were struggling to reassure rising numbers of fliers and airline workers outraged by new antiterrorism screening procedures they consider invasive and harmful.
TUESDAY
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MATTHEW ARCO RECORD STAFF WRITER
FLIERS NOT FANS OF PATDOWNS
November 16, 2010
Roswell officials announced a $1.25 million settlement agreement Monday involving a August 2008 lawsuit against the city and its police department. Mayor Del Jurney held a news conference in City Hall after a federal court judge’s gag order was lifted on the case brought by family members of Javier Aguilar, who died in police custody following a physical altercation in March 2008. The announcement came after city councilors spent more than one hour behind closed doors before unanimously approving a $350,000 budget adjustment for the settlement on Nov. 11. The remaining $900,000 is being paid by the city’s insurance carrier.
Working hard
“This decision to settle is not an indictment of our officers or our police department,” said Mayor Del Jurney, who told reporters that the decision came after weighing the potential for much larger damages if the city fought the lawsuit in a trial. “Through the course of the initial preparation for trial, strategies were presented that could have created a devastating financial judgement against the city of Roswell,” he said. “Additionally, civil actions could have been pursued against the employees, which potentially would have devastated their future professional careers.” The suit was brought by Miguel Aguilar, Javier Aguilar’s brother and a New Mexico State Police officer, city officials said. Interim Chief Dennis Kintigh was absent from the news conference and declined comment.
“At this point, I’m just not prepared to comment on this lawsuit,” he said. According to the mayor’s description of the events of the incident, a physical altercation between police and Javier Aguilar ensued after officers attempted to handcuff Aguilar in an attempt to detain him on a mental health order. The official cause of death is a matter of dispute between city officials and Aguilar’s family. The lawsuit claimed Aguilar suffocated due to the position he was placed in by police after being restrained. City officials attributed the death to cardiac arrest. An investigation by the New Mexico State Police following the death, cleared the Roswell Police Department of any criminal wrongdoing. “The case has closed and we move forward,” Jurney said.
House GOP ready to go
mattarco@roswell-record.com
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TOP 5 WEB
For The Last 24 Hours
• 1 dead, 1 critical in head-on • State cop arrested for assault • Abused New Mexico infant dies in Texas hospital • Ramirez arrested on multiple counts • Goddard gets top seed, Roswell is No. 10
MATTHEW ARCO RECORD STAFF WRITER
INSIDE SPORTS
Mark Wilson Photo
Anthony Tesillo, right, a Boy Scout from Troop 228 of Artesia, who is working toward his Eagle Scout rank, finished up work Saturday along with fellow scouts on one of six new, handcrafted benches which now grace the grounds at the Lake Arthur Community Center. The scouts, along with several volunteers, built the benches in a community improvement project.
DALLAS KNOCKS OFF GIANTS EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Standing in front of the Dallas Cowboys the night before his coaching debut, Jason Garrett talked about pride and playing in the moment. - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES • Julian Ibarra • Senaida G. Del Llano • Randall Dale Price - PAGE B4
HIGH ...66˚ LOW ....33˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B7 COMICS.................B5 FINANCIAL .............B6 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ......A10 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ............A10
INDEX
Local state House Republican lawmakers say their party is unified and excited to return to Santa Fe in the upcoming January 60-day session, following a general election that yielded big gains in the number of GOP House seats. The message comes after the House Republican Caucus voted to retain its leadership during a weekend caucus meeting Nov. 13. Rep. Thomas Taylor, RFarmington, was re-
Girl Scouts serve Reception held in Fry’s honor the community JONATHAN ENTZMINGER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Girl Scouts of the Desert Southwest, a United Way agency, located at 1307-B E. College Blvd., has had a presence in Chaves County since 1925. “In March of 2009, we realigned with two other councils to create Girl Scouts of the Desert Southwest,” Rebecca Sherwood, senior membership manager of Girl Scouts of the Desert Southwest, said. “We’re a council that serves about 92,000 square miles. We serve about 15,000 members, (including) staff members, girls and adult members. (Many are from) southern New Mexico, West Texas and all the way down to El Paso.” The Girl Scouts offers a variety of programs for girls that are geared toward
character development, leadership and encouraging service. Its core group of programs focus on the community, environment, healthy living, literacy and math, science and technology. “People [usually] think of cookies and crafts when they think of girl-scouting, but there’s so many things that are available to the girls,” Sherwood said. Several service opportunities are available for Girl Scout members. Past Roswell projects include Birthday Boxes, which benefits children from underprivileged backgrounds, and Christmas Cards for See SCOUTS, Page A8
RDR wins NMPA awards
The Roswell Daily Record received several awards in the 2010 Better Newspaper Contest. The New Mexico Press Association and New Mexico Associated Press Managing Editors announced the winners at their annual meeting on Saturday. Reporter Matt Arco took second place in the breakingnews category for his coverage of the May 10 shooting deaths of Christopher Lee Vega and Alisa Montgomery. Mark Wilson received second place awards for General News Photo and for Feature Photo. Aric Loomis won a first-place award for color advertising and second place for black-and-white advertising. The Record also received second place for its website. “Our staff once again has shown their efforts to put out an excellent product,” said Charles Fischer, publisher. “I congratulate the winners for their outstanding work in the last year.”
City officials, residents and well-wishers attended a reception welcoming Roswell’s newest city manager to the position Monday. The Roswell Chamber of Commerce hosted the event aimed at showing City Manager Larry Fry the group’s support and appreciation. About 100 residents attended the event held at Pasta Cafe Italian Bistro. “The Chamber of Commerce just wanted to take a little bit of time to welcome Larry,” said Dorrie Faubus-McCarty, executive director of the Roswell Chamber of Commerce. “We’re so happy that (he’s) our new city manager.” The City Council voted in October to approve the mayor’s recommendation that Fry take the reins of city manager following
See GOP, Page A8
Matthew Arco Photo
Mary Capps, wife of outgoing City Manager John Capps, is one of about 100 attendees of a Roswell Chamber of Commerce reception welcoming Larry Fry to his new position as city manager. John Capp’s retirement, which is slated for the end of the year. “Larry’s got the talent,”
Mayor Del Jur ney said during the reception. “He’s going to do a great job.”
Cholera protesters barricade Haiti city PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Protesters who hold U.N. soldiers from Nepal responsible for a deadly outbreak of cholera that has killed nearly 1,000 people barricaded Haiti’s second-largest city on Monday, burning cars and stoning a peacekeeping base. The protesters also blame the Nepalese unit there for the death of a Haitian youth at the base in August. Demonstrations began in Cap-Haitien about 6 a.m. local time and within hours paralyzed much of the northern port city, national television reporter Johnny Joseph told The Associated Press by phone. An AP television cameraman trying to reach the area was
repelled late Monday by protesters throwing rocks and bottles from a barricade. Protesters have also targeted other U.N. bases and Haitian national police stations in the city. Haitian radio reported a police substation was burned. U.N. soldiers and Haitian police fired tear gas and projectiles to disperse at least 1,000 protesters at the Nepalese base, Haitian radio reported. Joseph said a Haitian was killed in the melee, but had no details and the report could not be immediately confirmed. At least 12 Haitians have been See HAITI, Page A8