01-28-12 PAPER

Page 1

Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY

Vol. 121, No. 24 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday

INSIDE NEWS

‘BAREFOOT BANDIT’ IS SENTENCED SEATTLE (AP) — After a two-year international crime spree in which he survived a handful of crash landings, Colton Harris-Moore — the infamous “Barefoot Bandit” — says he’s lucky to be alive.

January 28, 2012

UN Security Council discusses Syrian crisis

SATURDAY

www.rdrnews.com

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Security Council began closed-door negotiations Friday on a new ArabEuropean draft resolution aimed at resolving the crisis in Syria, but Russia’s envoy said he could not back the current language as it stands. Vitaly Ambassador Churkin told reporters afterward that the text introduced by new Arab Security Council member Morocco has “red lines” for Moscow, but he’s willing to “engage” with the resolution’s sponsors. Churkin said those lines include any indication of sanctions, including an

arms embargo. “We need to concentrate on establishing political dialogue,” he said. British Ambassador Mark L yall Grant later insisted that the text based on the Arab League’s recent recommendations for Syria contains no mention of an arms embargo or any other sanctions, and that it received broad support from other council members. “A lot of straw men are being put up,” he said. “We want, as do the Arabs, an unanimous resolution,” L yall Grant said. “Frankly, the time has come where we should be supporting the Arab League efforts.”

The U.N. says at least 5,400 people have been killed in a months long Syrian government crackdown on civilian protests. European diplomats have been meeting this week with diplomats from Arab countries, including Morocco and Qatar, on a resolution that would strongly back an Arab League bid to end the crisis. French Ambassador Gerard Araud told reporters he expected that a “very determined negotiation process” on the text would start at the ambassador level on Wednesday, one day after the Arab League secretarygeneral and Qatar’s prime

minister brief the council on the situation in Syria. “There is now a chance that the Security Council will finally take a clear stand on Syria. That is long overdue,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Friday at the General Affairs Council in Brussels. The comments were provided by the German mission to journalists at the U.N. “We hope now that council members will seize this new window of opportunity and find common ground,” German Ambassador Peter Wittig said before the council met behind closed doors. But, as Churkin indicat-

- PAGE A3

TOP 5 WEB

For The Past 24 Hours

•Fatal accident •RPD arrests robbery suspect •Man found shot •Coon gets probation •Sunken pond construction under way

INSIDE SPORTS

Del Norte students get new playground Del Norte Elementary students play on their brand new playground equipment Friday afternoon.

JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER

Amid screams and squeals, exuberance and enthusiasm, the students

of Del Norte Elementary School greeted the opening of their new playground. “The new playground was supposed to take only a year to make. The project has been three years in the

making and we were still $3,000 short,” said principal Curtis Tarter. The safety surfacing material cost double the playground equipment, so families and businesses

Mark Wilson Photo

joined together to make up for the short fall. Spike the school mascot, Mayor Del Jurney and sev-

ed, eventual approval is far from guaranteed. Permanent council members Russia and China used their veto powers last fall to block an earlier European resolution on Syria. On Friday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov was quoted by the ITAR-Tass news agency as saying Moscow will oppose the new draft U.N. resolution on Syria because it fails to take Kremlin’s concer ns into account. South African Ambassador Baso Sangqu said it was important that sup-

Quake strikes Japan

See SYRIA, Page A7

TOKYO (AP) — A magnitude-5.5 earthquake rattled Yamanashi prefecture in central Japan on Saturday morning, the Japan Meteorological Agency reported. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, and no tsunami warning was issued. The temblor was some 20 kilometers (12 1/2 miles) deep and hit at 7:43 a.m. local time (2243 GMT Friday), the Japanese earthquake-reporting agency said. Last year, a magnitude-9 quake on March 11 and subsequent tsunami about 140 miles (230 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo left nearly 20,000 people dead or missing. Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.

Judge Lopez runs for Library unveils flashy new sign NM Court of Appeals ’CATS ARE TOO MUCH FOR NMMI A vast majority of the time, coaches will not admit that there is such a thing as a pretty loss. At NMMI, however, there can be a silver lining in a loss as the ...

- PAGE B1

TODAY’S OBITUARIES •Peggy F. Coleman

- PAGE A6

HIGH ...54˚ LOW ....23˚

TODAY’S FORECAST

JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER

Judge Victor Lopez, who currently serves as a Workers’ Compensation judge in Albuquerque, says he is running for the New Mexico Court of Appeals during the primary elections in June. Lopez announced his decision to run in the 2012 election outside of the court’s Albuquerque office Aug. 11. A graduate of the University of Califor nia Berkeley and UC-Los Angeles, Lopez is hoping to win the Democratic nomination during the primary election. In 1996, Lopez ran for the NMCOA in a close race, but was eventually defeated. Lopez has practiced law for around 28 years, the last four of which he has spent working for the

Workers’ Compensation Administration. Lopez described workmens’ compensation as “an area that I’ve really zeroed in on and focused (on) as an attorney and as a judge.” In the past, a quarter of NMCOA’s work has dealt with workers’ compensation, according to Lopez. “We currently have no for mer attor ney on the court that really focused on workers’ compensation,” he said. Before his appointment as a judge, Lopez represented many injured workers before the WCA and appellate courts. He also participated in the legislative process to improve workers’ compensation laws. Lopez has served as a past hearing officer for the See LOPEZ, Page A7

See PLAY, Page A7

nection. Friends of the Roswell Public Library, the Roswell Library Foundation and Xcel Energy all contributed to funding the project, which took around a year to complete. During the ceremony, sponsors, along with Mayor Del Jurney, city officials and citizens gathered in the library’s parking lot for the unveiling of the new sign. Judy Armstrong, a member of the RPL board of directors, noted the timeliness of the dedication with the state centennial and Mark Wilson Photo RPL’s 106th anniversary Dr. Judy Armstrong speaks during the dedication of the in April. Xcel Energy Regional Roswell Public Library’s new electronic sign, Friday afterManager Mike McLeod noon. said the company became new digital billboard was involved late in the In a unique ribbon-cut- brought to life when the process, once RPL realting ceremony, the sign’s sponsors joined in Roswell Public Library’s plugging in its power conSee LIBRARY, Page A7

New St. Mark’s pastor delayed retirement to continue preaching from the heart VANESSA KAHIN RECORD STAFF WRITER

CLASSIFIEDS..........B7 COMICS.................B6 FINANCIAL .............A8 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ......A12 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................C3 WASHINGTON.........A9 WEATHER ............A10 WORLD .................D4

INDEX

Vanessa Kahin Photo

Larry Sydow, new pastor at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church

After being in ministry for 40 years, Larry Sydow thought he was retired — until a congregation in Roswell changed that, bringing a new leader to the community. Sydow is the new pastor at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church — leading about 60 congregants not only through his preaching, but also with his music and community involvement. Originally from Nebraska, Sydow grew up on a farm near the town of Norfolk. He began his formal studies at Norfolk Junior College before transferring to Midland Lutheran Col-

lege in Fremont, Neb. After completing a bachelor’s in sociology with a minor in history, Sydow went to a seminary in St. Paul, Minn.; ear ning a Master of Divinity. Sydow then spent many years as a religious leader, finally coming to New Mexico in 2010. That’s when he moved to Alamogordo and, in January 2011, was asked to be a part-time chaplain of a retirement community there. In June 2011, Sydow was asked to fill in for Bill

Bruggerman, the pastor of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, while Bruggerman was on medical leave. In September, Brugger man decided he could not continue his work, and Sydow stepped in as the congregation’s full-time pastor. Sydow noted he had retired from ministry before coming to Roswell, and had only formally retired for six months, before receiving the call — figuratively and literally — to lead a congregation again. “I enjoy what I’m doing,”

Sydow said. “If I didn’t like it, I probably would have said ‘no.’ “I enjoy preaching, I enjoy teaching, and I enjoy visiting.” One way in which Sydow teaches, and touches the lives of those who cannot be present to hear his sermons, is through his Daily Devotions — life reflections based on scripture. These devotions, he said, began as a Lenten discipline. “I was only going to do (Daily Devotions) 40 days,” Sydow said. “I had so many people ask me to keep it up, I decided to do it for the entire Easter season.” Sydow has been writing See SYDOW, Page A7


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.