03-01-2011

Page 1

Roswell Daily Record

Vol. 120, No. 52 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday

INSIDE NEWS

THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — He didn’t seek the spotlight, but when Frank Buckles outlived every other American who’d served in World War I, he became what his biographer called “the humble patriot” and final torchbearer for the memory of that fading conflict. - PAGE B8

TUESDAY

www.rdrnews.com

Kintigh’s curfew bill tabled in committee MATTHEW ARCO RECORD STAFF WRITER

LAST U.S. WWI VET DIES

March 1, 2011

A local lawmaker’s attempt to allow municipalities to enact curfew laws for minors was tabled during a House committee meeting Friday evening. Rep. Dennis Kintigh’s, R-Roswell, bill that would give local governments the authority to restrict minors from being unattended in public at night failed to clear the House Judiciary Committee following a 11-4 vote. The bill received support from Roswell’s mayor, which made it likely that if it were to pass the Legislature and be signed into law, that Roswell may have been one of the first municipalities in the state seeking to enact the curfew.

A K-9 demonstration

“We only had four Republicans vote with me, and three Republicans voted to table the bill. It went down to defeat.” Rep. Dennis Kintigh, R. -N.M.

Kintigh’s legislation originally contained a daytime curfew provision that would give police the power to escort truant children back to school. However, that provision was amended and removed from the bill prior to it being tabled. “We only had four Republicans vote with me,

and three Republicans voted to table the bill,” Kintigh said. “It went down to defeat.” The lawmaker said that some on the Judiciary Committee voted against the measure citing constitutional issues, which Kintigh referred to as “bogus.” The vote came after Mayor Del Jurney wrote an e-mail to the Judiciary Committee’s members asking them to give municipalities the “tools necessary to address the growing concern of youth activities during normal school hours, as well as during late night hours.” Kintigh’s bill sought to give local municipalities the option on whether to enact the rules. Similar curfew bills died in the Roundhouse when they were introduced by Democrats in 2002 and 2004. mattarco@roswell-record.com

Man’s condition improves JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER

TOP 5 WEB For The Last 24 Hours

• It’s all about you, Sage • Car wreck leaves on injured • Walkers exercise and learn, too • ‘Detour, there’s a muddy road ahead’ • State may pay for testing materials

INSIDE SPORTS

GORDON WINS, FINALLY AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Just before peeling off what he called a lame burnout near the finish line, Jeff Gordon screamed into his radio, the emotion pouring out with his voice. “We just beat Kyle Busch!” he yelled. - PAGE B1

TODAY’S OBITUARIES There are no obituaries for today, March 1.

HIGH ...82˚ LOW ....32˚

TODAY’S FORECAST

CLASSIFIEDS..........D3 COMICS.................B3 ENTERTAINMENT.....A8 FINANCIAL .............B4 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8

INDEX

Mark Wilson Photo

Police dog teams from around the state demonstrate a subject apprehension Saturday during The Sage Foundation benefit fundraiser held Saturday at Harley Davidson Champion Motorsports.

RFD, other personnel respond to Lea Co. fire

Roswell Fire Department personnel and several county departments responded Sunday to a grass fire in Lea County that officials announced Monday scorched some 64,900 acres of land. The blaze that burned through Lea County kept fire crews busy Sunday night and into Monday, mopping up the scene. It was contained Sunday at about 11:30 p.m., said Dan Ware, spokesman for the New Mexico State Forestry. “The fire stretched ... about 40 miles,” he said. “No houses were destroyed or damaged that we know of.” Ware said that six homes were in danger of succumbing to the flames just prior to containing the See WILDFIRE, Page A6

A Roswell man’s condition was upgraded from critical to serious Monday after he had been shot and stabbed Friday evening. The Roswell Police Department was dispatched to the 1100 block of North Missouri Avenue for a report of shots fired at about 9:30 p.m., Friday. Upon arrival, they found 67-year -old Kenneth Brooks wounded inside a second-story apartment. According to the police report, Brooks had been both shot and stabbed; the report also indicated there was a lot of blood at the scene. According to RPD’s Public Infor mation Of ficer Travis Holley, detectives haven’t been able to talk to Br ooks yet, but they will do so soon now that his condition has improved. Holley said no arrests have been made, but he indicated the police do have persons of interest. He declined to indicate how many, but the police report listed two potential suspects. He was unwilling to disSee STABBED, Page A6

RCLT’s new home vandalized JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER

The future home of Roswell Community Little Theatre on 1717 S. Union Avenue was hit by vandals for the second time in less than a week. The first incident occurred sometime between Sunday and Wednesday when it was reported to the Roswell Police Department. The second happened some time between Wednesday and Saturday. “A few weeks ago a water pipe burst,” said Patti Stacy, president of the Roswell Community Little Theatre. “That caused several thousand dollars worth of damage. ... We came to clean up on Sunday and discovered the damage. Then I came here with the insurance adjustor to look at the

water damage to find the building had been broken into a second time.” In the first incident, the vandals moved furniture, broke all the windows in the projection room, destroyed an exit lamp between the auditorium and the lobby, and threw two spotlights from the projection room into the auditorium. Her reaction to the first incident was shock and anger. “Why would someone do it?” she said. The subjects gained access through one pane of two plate glass windows on the northwest side of the building during the first incident. “This window was boarded up, so they broke the other pane to get in the second See RCLT, Page A6

Las Cruces businessman Greg Sowards running for U.S. Senate MATTHEW ARCO RECORD STAFF WRITER

A U.S. Senate hopeful running on a platform of states’ rights and cutting some of the federal government’s broad-reaching authority, was recently in Roswell as part of his latest campaign for the U.S. Capitol. Gr eg Sowar ds, a Las Cruces businessman, is making a third attempt for Congress following unsuccessful runs in 1996 and 2008. The Republican candidate says lawmakers have “basically thr own out” our book of rules and that it’s time to return to conservative principles to

save the nation. “I believe (the 2010 election cycle) was just priming the pump for what’s going to happen in 2012,” he said. “We’re going to be asking some very har d questions, and we’re going to be scrutinizing those people who have been in Washington for a career and who haven’t addressed the problems.” He is running for Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s, D-N.M., seat, which the lawmaker r ecently announced he would not seek re-election to a sixth term in office. Sowards describes himself as a conservative with libertarian-leaning views. He supports the need to

Greg Sowards “push power out of Washington” and restrict the federal government only

those duties laid out in the Constitution, such as providing the nation with security. “I believe that conservative principles are principles of liberty,” he said. “If we are going to save this country, we are going to have to return to the principles it was found on. We cannot govern 300 million people from Washington — those citizens need to be gover ned by their state first.” Sowards says he expects to gain the support of tea parties in the state and boasts that his non-professional lawmaker career is a positive attribute. “I’m not a professional

politician and I don’t know that the r epublic was designed around professional politicians. I don’t believe it was,” he said. “Whatever the criteria that we’ve used to send candidates to Washington has been, it’s been a failed system.” Sowards is an Army veteran and a graduate of the junior college at the New Mexico Military Institute. He went on to the University of New Mexico and Brigham Young University. He worked as a teacher for several years before running five day care centers in Las Cruces with his wife. mattarco@roswell-record.com


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