Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 120, No. 100 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
GOP FIELD TAKES SHAPE JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Republican Gov. Haley Barbour bowed out of presidential contention Monday with a surprise announcement just as the 2012 campaign was getting under way in earnest, 18 months before Election Day. - PAGE B5
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
April 26, 2011
TUESDAY
www.rdrnews.com
Thousands of Syrian troops raid city
BEIRUT (AP) — Thousands of soldiers backed by tanks and snipers moved in before dawn to the city where Syria’s anti-government uprising began, causing panic in the streets when they opened fire indiscriminately on civilians and went house-to-house rounding up suspected protesters. At least 11 people were killed and 14 others lay in the streets — either dead or gravely wounded, witnesses said. The military raids on the southern city of Daraa and at least two other areas suggested Syria is trying to impose military control on the centers of protests against President Bashar Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for four decades. Residents and human rights activists said the regime wants to terrify
opponents and intimidate them from staging any more demonstrations. The offensive was meticulously planned: Electricity, water and mobile phone services were cut. Security agents armed with guns and knives conducted house-tohouse sweeps, neighborhoods were sectioned off and checkpoints were erected before the sun rose. “They have snipers firing on everybody who is moving,” a witness told The Associated Press by telephone. “They aren’t discriminating. There are snipers on the mosque. They are firing at everybody,” he added, asking that his name not be used for fear of retribution. The massive assault on Daraa appeared to be part of new strategy
Expectant eagle
of crippling, pre-emptive strikes against any opposition to Assad, rather than reacting to demonstrations. Other crackdowns and arrest sweeps were reported on the outskirts of Damascus and the coastal town of Jableh — bringing more international condemnation and threats of targeted sanctions by Washington. Razan Zeitounia, a human rights activist in Damascus, said the widespread arrests — including of men along with their families — appear to be an attempt to scare protesters and set an example for the rest of the country. The attack on Daraa, an impoverished city on the Jordanian border, was by far the biggest in scope and firepower. Video purportedly shot by
MATTHEW ARCO RECORD STAFF WRITER
WEB For The Last 24 Hours
• Another cop on paid leave • VFW Auxiliary Post to close • Anti-lizard rally • Dolen resigns • Charlie Sheen
INSIDE SPORTS Jessica Palmer Photo
A female eagle sits on her clutch at Spring River Park and Zoo.
Officials form fence committee MATTHEW ARCO RECORD STAFF WRITER
DALLAS (AP) — Holding another double-digit lead going into the fourth quarter, the Dallas Mavericks found a great way to protect it. They just stood and watched the Portland Trail Blazers miss 10 straight shots. - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES • Lynn Stephens • Johnny Q. Dominguez • Cecilia Gonzales • Vena Elva Hogsett • Robert Dudley Thompson - PAGE A7
HIGH ...84˚ LOW ....45˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
INDEX
CLASSIFIEDS .........B5 COMICS ................B3 FINANCIAL ............B4 GENERAL .............A2 HOROSCOPES .......B5 LOTTERIES ...........A2 OPINION ...............A4 SPORTS ...............B1 WEATHER .............A8 LOCAL .................A5
See SYRIA, Page A3
Museum move now on hold
TOP 5
MAVERICKS TAKE 3-2 LEAD
activists showed tanks rolling through streets and grassy fields with soldiers on foot jogging behind them. Witnesses said busloads of troops poured in before dawn and snipers took up positions on the roofs of houses and high buildings while other security agents searched houses for suspected protesters. “They are entering houses. They are searching the houses,” said one witness. “They are carrying knives and guns.” He said people were crying out over mosque loudspeakers for doctors to help the wounded and there was panic in the streets.
City Parks and Recreation officials voted Monday to establish an eight-member committee to hash out the details of a fence project along the Spring River Golf Course. The decision was made by members of the Parks and Recreation Commission and Committee after a group of residents voiced opposition to plans to build a fence along Riverside Drive. The proposal sparked controversy after residents said the proposal would have detrimental effects to their home values and would be an eyesore. Park officials argued that the fence was necessary to protect the city’s interests and avoid potential
liabilities from pedestrians wandering on the course. A middle ground was found during the commission and committee regular monthly meeting, after officials approved forming a committee comprised of two golfers, two residents, two city staff, one commission member and one committee member. “I think there’s problems on both sides,” said Councilor Dusty Huckabee, chairman of the Parks and Recreation Committee, following a debate among officials and residents against the fence, as well as those in favor of the fence. “We need to sit down and talk,” he said, adding that there needs to be a compromise. The fence committee will be
tasked with finding a solution for fencing the entire golf course. Currently, the only section without a fence is that along Riverside Drive. Officials planned to install a sixfoot-tall green poly coated chain link fence along the road. Then, as funds became available, officials would extend the fence to other areas of the course. They cited using the six-foot-tall fence after shorter fences currently in use were damaged from people jumping over them. They thought people would be less likely to scale the taller fences, park officials said. The makeup of the new fence committee was slated to be made following the regular meeting or in the coming week.
Plans for a new 30,000-squarefoot building intended to be the new home of the International UFO Museum and Research Center have been put on hold, officials said Monday. Construction on the building slated for a Main Street vacant lot between 7th and 8th streets, has been put aside indefinitely, said Julie Shuster, director of the museum. The building has been about a five-year project so far and officials broke ground on it during last year’s UFO Festival. Shuster would not say what caused the project to be delayed or possibly tossed altogther. “We are on an indefinite hold due to circumstances totally beyond our control,” she said. “That’s really all I can say.” Shuster said the plan was to begin with a 21,000-square-foot building and eventually add on in future years. Initial plans for the new museum would have made it as large as 30,000 to 32,000 square feet. “We had everything pretty well done, as far as all the designing and all the necessary paperwork,” she said, adding that they were prepared to start “putting up the structure” when something happened to set the project back. “This last little hurdle is just a little bit bigger than we expected,” Shuster said. “We’re just going to wait a little bit and see what happens and kind of regroup, make some decisions, and see what we can do to move forward.”
mattarco@roswell-record.com
See MUSEUM, Page A3
Taliban tunnel more than 480 out of Afghan prison K A N D A H A R , Afghanistan (AP) — During the long Afghan winter, Taliban insurgents were apparently busy underground. The militants say they spent more than five months building a 1,050foot tunnel to the main prison in southern Afghanistan, bypassing government checkpoints, watch towers and concrete barriers topped with razor wire. The diggers finally poked through Sunday and spent 4 1/2 hours ferrying away more than 480 inmates without a shot being fired, according to the Taliban and Afghan officials. Most of the prisoners were Taliban militants. Accounts of the extraordinary prison break, carried out in the dead of night, suggest collusion with prison guards, officials or both. Following a recent wave of assassinations here, the breakout underscores the weakness of the Afghan government in the south
AP Photo
An Afghan police officer inspects the entrance to an escape tunnel at the main prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Monday.
despite an influx of international troops, funding and advisers. It also highlights the spirit and resourcefulness of the Taliban despite months of battlefield setbacks. Officials at Sarposa
prison in Kandahar city, the one-time Taliban capital, say they discovered the breach at about 4 a.m. Monday, a half-hour after the Taliban say they had gotten all the prisoners safely to a house at the
other end of the tunnel. Government officials corroborated parts of the Taliban account. They confirmed the tunnel was dug from a house within shooting distance of the prison and that the
inmates had somehow gotten out of their locked cells and disappeared into the night. Kandahar remains relatively warm even during winter and the ground would not have frozen while insurgents were digging the tunnel. Police showed reporters the roughly hewn hole that was punched through the cement floor of the prison cell. The opening was about 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter, and the tunnel dropped straight down for about 5 feet (1.5 meters) and then turned in the direction of the house where it originated. But access was denied to the tunnel itself, and it was unclear how the Taliban were able to move so many men out of the prison so quickly. Also unclear was why guards would not have heard the diggers punch through the cement floor, and whether they supervise the inside of the perimeters at night. See TALIBAN, Page A3