Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 120, No. 56 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
RURAL COLORADO POPULATION DROPS HUGO, Colo. (AP) — This agricultural outpost on eastern Colorado’s high plains is slowly vanishing — a fact of which Mayor Patsie Smith was painfully aware before the arrival of new Census data. The 2010 Census ... - PAGE A6
TOP 5 WEB For The Past 24 Hours
• Leisure Inn catches fire • Local actor: I haven’t been back to California • El Marcianito concert, Sunday • Cats, hats, eggs, ham; Whos? Seuss! • Bill would limit EIB regs
INSIDE SPORTS
Roswell girls basketball coach Joe Carpenter has a mantra by which he likes his teams to live — “Consistency. Not the highest of highs and not the lowest of lows.” He’s preached that all season to this year’s squad. And on Friday, in the first round of the NMAA State Basketball Championships, the Coyotes lived up to that mantra. The No. 2 Coyotes were the picture of consistency ... - PAGE B1 • Mary’O Trammel
TODAY’S OBITUARIES • Terry L. Petersen • Elizabeth Mooney - PAGE A6
HIGH ...62˚ LOW ....33˚
SATURDAY
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House OKs halting licenses SANTA FE (AP) — Bowing to political pressure from Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, the House approved a proposal on Friday to stop New Mexico from granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. The 42-28 vote by the House represented a victory for Martinez and a mostly Republican coalition in reviving legislation that had been bottled up by the Democratic-controlled House. The bill goes to the Sen-
ate, where it faces difficulty. Senators rejected proposals last month to end the licensing policy implemented when Democrat Bill Richardson was governor. The House-passed bill by Rep. Andy Nunez, a Hatch independent, will overturn a 2003 law that has allowed more than 80,000 driver’s licenses to be issued to foreign nationals, including those living illegally in the country. State officials, however, say they See HOUSE, Page A3
SENATE CONFIRMS DOMINGUEZ AS DOT HEAD EMILY RUSSO MILLER RECORD STAFF WRITER
The state senate voted 40-0 to confir m a local engineer as the secretary of the Department of T ransportation, Friday. Alvin C. Dominguez, a Carlsbad native with strong ties to Roswell, was appointed by Gov. Susana Martinez in mid-January. Martinez applauded the Senate for the vote and
praised Dominguez as a “qualified engineer and a dedicated public servant,” in a statement released Friday. “I’m certain he will be a great steward of our transportation needs while overseeing the responsible use of taxpayer money.” Dominguez and his family moved to Roswell in 1976, and he graduated See DOT, Page A3
Alvin C. Dominguez
Mulliken ‘great role model’ JONATHAN ENTZMINGER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Albert L. Mulliken, DDS, 77, passed away Monday after losing his battle with pancreatic cancer. “He was a good man,” Mayor Del Jurney said. “People come up and say to me on the street that dad was the kind of guy that — he didn’t have a bad thing to say. He didn’t have a harsh word and nobody had anything but praise and encouragement for him. That was just the kind of man he was.” Bor n on June 14, 1933, in Columbus Kan., Mulliken was a Roswell import. He was described by his son Del Jurney as a family man, avid sports fan, man of integrity, and an individual who had a heart to support low-income families. Mulliken practiced dentistry in Roswell for more than 50 years. According to Jurney, Mulliken was a pioneer and advocate for providing dental services to lowincome families and individuals in town. “He was one of the first and strongest supporters for the lowincome and their need for quality See MULLIKEN, Page A3
ROSWELL CRUISES INTO SECOND ROUND
March 5, 2011
Mark Wilson Photo
Potential recruits for the sheriff’s department perform push-ups Friday morning as part of a physical agility test which also includes sit-ups and a 1.5 mile run.
Deputy hopefuls begin the process EMILY RUSSO MILLER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Potential recruits for the New Mexico Law Enforcement Training Academy partook in a fitness and written test, Friday morning,
Gadhafi forces battle rebels TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Moammar Gadhafi’s regime struck back at its opponents with a powerful attack Friday on the closest opposition-held city to Tripoli and a barrage of tear gas and live ammunition to smother new protests in the capital. At least 37 people died in fighting and in an explosion at an ammunitions depot in Libya’s rebellious east.
The bloodshed signaled an escalation in efforts by both sides to break the deadlock that has gripped Libya’s 18day upheaval, which has lasted longer than the Egyptian revolt that led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak and inspired a wave of protests across the region. See LIBYA, Page A3
the first of many stages in the selection process to hire four new deputies for the Chaves County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Rob Coon said his office sent out 21 invitations to applicants who met the minimum
requirements to be in law enforcement, which includes no prior felony convictions or DUI arrests in the past three years. See RECRUITS, Page A3
RPD apprehends suspect during reporter’s Ride-Along JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
One of Roswell’s Most Wanted, Matthew Artiaga, was apprehended during Friday’s Ride-Along with the supervisor of the Violent Crimes Reduction Unit, Sgt. Jon Meredith. The patrol began quietly as Meredith explained that they were concentrating on the neighborhoods of two known felons. “The difference between our patrols and the stan-
dard patrol is we are more task oriented. We get to be more proactive. Patrols are bound to the radio, making service calls.” He stops intermittently to talk to members of the public. At one stop, he meets a woman. He calls dispatch and learns that she is wanted in federal court, several miles distant, where they have her partner’s possessions. A patrol officer comes to give her a lift. Much of what VCRU does
is gang related. The biggest thing, he says, is zero tolerance to violence. “We do community policing. People need to have freedom to live in their own homes, their own yards and their own ’hood.” RPD divides the city into six districts. VCRU further divides each district into two separate districts. “We take a geographical location and we saturate it. We want to make the bad guys See RPD, Page A2
Bill Wells: New fire marshal loves the detective work EMILY RUSSO MILLER RECORD STAFF WRITER
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................A7 FINANCIAL .............B3 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 NATION .................A6 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
Emily Russo Miller Photo
Bill Wells, a second-generation firefighter, was recently hired as the new fire marshal for the city of Roswell.
Bill Wells, a second-generation firefighter, didn’t stay retired for long. In 2002, the 51-year-old Missouri native hung up his helmet and boots after 13 years with the Roswell Fire Department. A year later, he was back on the force. “I was bored,” he said simply. The retired battalion chief says he passed the days by doing odd jobs and hanging around the house. “Finally, my wife said, ‘You need to go do something,’ and I said, ‘I better go back to what I know.’” Wells was rehired by Roswell Fire Chief James Salas in December 2003
and was appointed as fire marshal in early February. “He’s dedicated to his job, dedicated to the department, and he’s excelled at every position he’s had,” Salas said. Wells first applied to be a firefighter in 1990 when he was 30 years old after working for the Roswell school district as a plumber for nine years. He wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. Hershel Wells was a firefighter for about 17 years in both Missouri and Roswell.
Bill says he would have applied earlier, but there were nepotism laws in place at the time. After his father passed away in 1989, he says the Fire Department, “gave me a shot, they gave me a chance. I’ve tried to do my very best for them ever since.” He served as a firefighter for one year, a driver for five years, a lieutenant for four years and a battalion chief for three years. But See SPOTLIGHT, Page A2