Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 120, No. 130 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
GOP WHITE HOUSE CONTENDERS DRIFT TO THE RIGHT WASHINGTON (AP) — In the first presidential election since the tea party’s emergence, Republican candidates are drifting rightward on a range of issues, even though more centrist stands might play well in the 2012 general election. - PAGE A5
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
May 31, 2011
TUESDAY
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City honors fallen soldiers on Memorial Day JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Jessica Palmer Photo
Michael Trujillo, who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, discusses the effects of war on children who attend bombed-out schools and the recognition deserved by United States’ troops past and present.
Memorial Day 2011
The message of the Memorial Day Ceremony held at 11 a.m., Sunday, in South Park Cemetery, was one of dedication and honor for our fallen soldiers. The Roswell Veterans Honor Guard presented and held the colors. City Councilor Jason Perry read a proclamation from Mayor Del Jur ney, declaring May 30, Memorial Day and asked the public to use it as a day of prayer. Representatives of four different organizations decorated a symbolic grave. Phyllis Lester, American Legion; Shirley Power, Disabled American Veterans; Dorothy Canon, Military Order of the Purple Heart; and Patsy Silva, Veterans of
Foreign Wars, each presented a wreath to commemorate fallen soldiers. Will Cabot read a letter from Representative Steve Pearce that read “Today people will celebrate a uniquely American holiday.” The letter urged people to remember that “the price was not only paid by the soldier, but also paid by their families.” George Luevano, commander of American Legion Post No. 28, introduced the speaker, Michael Trujillo, who was an Iraqi War vet. T rujillo served during Operation Iraqi Freedom and received top-gun honors. Luevano said Trujillo’s family had carried on the patriotic tradition with a daughter and a son inducted into the National Guard.
WEB For The Past 24 Hours
• Vets head north for Memorial Day • Elks honor vets with prayer breakfast • Zamora signs LOI with Mustangs • 3 killed, 8 injured in China chemical plant blast • Clinton, Joint Chiefs chairman press Pakistan
INSIDE SPORTS
AP Photo
Marine Lt. Col. Cal Worth Jr. prays over the grave of his friend Jacob H. Turbett on Memorial Day, in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, Monday. President Barack Obama visited Section 60, Monday.
Nation honors veterans, war dead, on Memorial Day
Teams in Hike It and Spike It’s Men’s Show Me the Money division sure wish Goose Crew would take a few more years off. - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES • George Elmo Stapp • Kimberly Ann Fleck • Nora True Johnson Henn • Aurora Matta - PAGE A6
HIGH ...92˚ LOW ....65˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B3 COMICS.................B7 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........B4 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans from the nation’s capital to Alaska marked Memorial Day with parades, barbecues and somber reflection in a holiday infused with fresh meaning by the approaching 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The National Memorial Day Parade in Washington honored veterans and America’s war dead but also featured special tributes to Sept. 11 first
responders, victims and their families. Also fresh in the minds of parade participants and watchers was the killing less than a month ago of Osama bin Laden, who masterminded the attacks. Elsewhere, military jets thundered through the sky above New York after a wreath-laying ceremony aboard an aircraft carrier that’s been turned into a museum, while hundreds of volunteers put small flags on the 25,000 graves
See MEMORIAL, Page A3
Women breaking barriers in Navy, not SEALs
TOP 5
GOOSE CREW TRIUMPHS AGAIN AT HISI
In his address, Trujillo spoke of American freedoms. “Those freedoms do not come cheap,” he said. He wanted citizens to “dedicate their loyalty to their country.” Trujillo said he hoped as people celebrated at barbecues, they would take a moment to remember fallen soldiers. “Let us bear witness. Without witnesses, they would just disappear. Let us remember with our actions and our words.” He read the oath of military service, calling to mind the solemn service soldiers perform for their country. Trujillo cautioned everyone present that the United States remains a country at war. “I have seen firsthand the results of war—children
at a sprawling military cemetery near Las Vegas. U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan also took time out to remember fallen comrades. Along the parade route in Washington, children sat on parents’ shoulders and throngs cheered the passing high school marching bands and floats of war veterans. Special guests included Medal of Honor recipients, astronaut and Korean War veteran Buzz Aldrin and
actor Gary Sinise, a veterans advocate who played Lt. Dan in the Oscar-winning film “Forrest Gump.” Hamilton Peterson, who lost his father and stepmother when the hijacked United Airlines 93 crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pa., said the looming anniversary of the terror attacks should serve as a reminder to Americans to be vigilant. See NATION, Page A3
WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s a dramatic tale. Elite Navy SEALs storm a walled compound in Pakistan and take out the world’s most wanted terrorist. Footnote: They were all men. While America’s last 10 years of war have propelled women into new and far more risky roles across the military, there are still some doors that are closed. Chief among those are the special operations forces. But perhaps that door is inching open. “As a philosophical thing, there shouldn’t be anything that’s closed of f as a career,” said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. And while he is quick to note there is a ban on moving women into combat and infantry jobs, Mabus said more and more women are working with special operations forces in support roles. And he did not rule out the idea that a qualified woman could eventually become an elite commando. Still, Mabus cautioned that it would take time. “We’re going to have to take some careful, well-thoughtout steps in that direction,” he said. Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed a similar view late last year, telling North Carolina ROTC students that he believes See NAVY, Page A3
Obama chooses experienced Gen. Dempsey to be next Joint Chiefs head WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama moved Monday to seal an overhaul of his national security team, selecting Army Gen. Martin Dempsey as the next Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman amid protracted battle in Afghanistan, U.S. involvement in the NATO-led effort against Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi and a winding down of the war in Iraq. Obama announced a new lineup of his top military leadership group in the Rose Garden of the White House just before venturing across the Potomac to pay tribute to the nation’s war dead at Arlington National Cemetery. The Memorial Day announcements had been expected, although there was no immediate indication what the military leadership moves might
imply for possible changes in military policy. Already, the president had turned, in late April, to CIA Director Leon Panetta to succeed Robert Gates and secretary of defense and chose to move Army Gen. David Petraeus from his command of the Afghanistan war effort to the United States to replace Panetta at the CIA. Marine Gen. James Cartwright had long been rumored to be Obama’s favorite, and the president singled him out for praise at the announcement. But he tur ned instead to Dempsey, an accomplished veteran of the Iraq war, to succeed Adm. Mike Mullen as his top military adviser, calling the Ar my of ficer “one of our nation’s most respected and combat-tested generals.”
The president also announced he has chosen Navy Adm. James Winnefeld to succeed Cartwright as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Army Gen. Ray Odierno as his candidate to replace Dempsey as Army chief of staff. The nominees have to be approved by the Senate, and Obama voiced hope that could happen in a timely fashion. At the White House, Obama called America’s servicemen and women “the best our nation has to of fer, and they deserve nothing but the best in return, and that includes leaders.” Later on, Obama placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at the venerable See DEMPSEY, Page A3
AP Photo
President Obama's nominee for the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin Dempsey.