Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 122, No. 05 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
SANDY FLOOD AID TOTALS $9.7B
WASHINGTON (AP) — The new Congress on Friday rushed out $9.7 billion to help pay flood insurance claims to 115,000 people and businesses afflicted by Superstorm Sandy, two days after New Jersey’s governor and other Northeast Republicans upbraided Speaker John Boehner for killing a broader package for state ... - PAGE A3
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INSIDE SPORTS
LUCKY 7 FOR ROSWELL GIRLS
If the game between the Roswell girls basketball team and St. Pius X were to be summed up in five words or less, it would be described as “A Tale of Two Halfs.” In the first half, Roswell struggled with the Sartan full court press, which helped force 17 first-half Coyote turnovers. In the second ... - PAGE B1
Job market shrugs off fears of ‘fiscal cliff’
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. job market proved resilient in December despite fears that a budget impasse in Washington would send the economy over the fiscal cliff and trigger growthkilling tax hikes and spending cuts. Employers added 155,000 jobs last month, roughly matching the solid but unspectacular monthly pace of the past two years. The gains announced Friday weren’t enough to reduce unemployment, which remained a still-high 7.8 percent. The November
Winter weather takes its toll
Winter storms slammed into Chaves County, Thursday night, resulting in a morning commute where one vehicle slammed into another. Although Roswell was not hit as hard as other areas of the state, Roswell Police Public Information Liaison Sabrina Morales reported 17 noinjury accidents in Roswell and Chaves County by 11 a.m. Friday morning and four injury accidents on county roads, for a total of 21. Captain Dina Orozco said the New Mexico State Police had been called to investigate 14 of them. In both city and county, secondary roads were hardest hit. “We have to clear up accidents on the major highways, 70 and 285, before we can attend to those that took place on the minor roads,” Orozco said.
CLASSIFIEDS..........B5 COMICS.................B3 FINANCIAL .............B4 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
rate was revised up a notch from the 7.7 percent the government had originally reported. The stable pace of December hiring suggested that many employers tuned out the fracas in the nation’s capital. The threat wasn’t averted until a deal won final passage on New Year’s Day. Rather than hold back until the fiscal cliff was
resolved, many employers kept hiring, most likely in anticipation of higher customer demand. “What would hiring have been if we had not been facing the fiscal cliff in December?” said Robert Kavcic, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets. “We might have seen quite a bit stronger job growth” — something closer to 200,000
a month. That’s an encouraging sign for the job market, because an even bigger budget showdown is looming: Congress must vote to raise the government’s $16.4 trillion borrowing limit by late February. If not, the government risks defaulting on its debt. Republicans will likely demand deep spending cuts as the price of raising the debt limit. Robust hiring in construction and manufacturing drove last month’s job increases. Construction firms added 30,000 jobs, the
A little snow and tell for the New Year
most in 15 months. In part, that increase likely reflected hiring needed to rebuild from Superstorm Sandy. And the housing market’s gradual recovery has energized homebuilding. Manufacturers added 25,000 jobs, the most in nine months. Economists found other hopeful news in the report. Americans were given more work hours in December — an average 34.5 hours a week in December, up from 34.4 in November. And their pay outgrew inflation. Hourly See FISCAL, Page A2
Mark Wilson Photos Above: Daniel Gomez, foreground, and Mark Simon clear
snow at the Roswell Museum & Art Center, Friday morn-
ing.
Right: Horses graze in a snow-covered field in north
Roswell, Friday morning.
See WINTER, Page A2
Wooley aims for a more suitable Spaceport officials veterans cemetery at Fort Stanton ILISSA GILMORE RECORD STAFF WRITER
• Mau Thiu Ly • David L. Torres • James Stockton - PAGE A3
INDEX
“Perhaps (the) underlying economic performance is accelerating, and even Washington can’t screw it up,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG.
JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
OBITUARIES
HIGH ...50˚ LOW ....20˚
SATURDAY
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TODAY’S
TODAY’S FORECAST
January 5, 2013
Courtesy Photo
This year’s legislative session starts Tuesday, Jan. 15, but Rep. Bob Wooley, R-Roswell, has already prefiled a bill to bring the cemetery at Fort Stanton “back to life.” The cemetery has existed since the 1800s, he said, but it has not been maintained. The bill would ask for funding that would provide for the upkeep and refurbishing of the grounds to make it suitable for mili-
tary veterans to be buried there. Wooley, a veteran of the Vietnam War, serves on the Military and Veterans Affairs Committee and said he was specifically asked to carry the bill. He said there is no partisan bias at all on this committee. “We’re there for the veterans,” he said. This year, he wants other members of the Legislature, on both sides of the aisle, to spend less time fighting
want protection
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Spaceport America officials are urging legislators to limit potential lawsuits from wealthy outer space tourists who take off from New Mexico, saying such a bill is crucial to the future of the project. Legal experts, however, say there is no way to know whether the so-called informed consent laws will offer any protection to spacecraft operators and suppliers in the event something goes wrong. “Since this has never happened yet, we have no precedent,” said Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz, director of the space law program at the University of Mississippi. Such measures are being pushed by states trying to compete in the fledgling commercial space travel arena, See SPACEPORT, Page A2
See WOOLEY, Page A2
From childhood, through travels and in retirement, local artist Bernie Harris’ passion for woodcarving spans a lifetime Bob Wooley
CHAUNTE’L POWELL RECORD STAFF WRITER
Bernie Harris is a softspoken man, one whose hand-crafted wooden sculptures speak for themselves. Originally from Oklahoma, he started working with wood as a child, inheriting a fascination for manipulating wood from his father. His father, a carpenter, made things that were needed around the house. Harris grew up interested in the projects his father undertook and wanted to be
a carpenter, but did so only as a hobby. He took more lessons after coming to the Roswell Adult Center. One of the few occupations he held over the course of his lifetime was as a bus driver. He drove a bus for several years and had the opportunity to travel all over the country, gaining a
better appreciation for America along the way. His journey during his time of employment brought him to Roswell. While many of his classmates from Oklahoma were flocking to Carlsbad to work in the potash mines, he opted to come to Roswell See SPOTLIGHT, Page A2
Bernie Harris
Chaunte’l Powell Photo