Roswell Daily Record
INSIDE NEWS
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
USPS processing center to close
Vol. 121, No. 47 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A new claim has surfaced that the Mormon church has posthumously baptized a Holocaust victim, this time Anne Frank. The allegations come just a week after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apologized when it was brought to light that the parents of Holocaust ... - PAGE A6
FRIDAY
www.rdrnews.com
JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER
BAPTIZING THE DEAD
February 24, 2012
Due to the results of studies begun five months ago, the United States Postal Service has decided to move all processing operations from the Roswell Customer Service Mail Processing Center to the Lubbock, Texas, Processing and Distribution Facility. On Sept. 15, the USPS began conducting a study at the Roswell Customer Service Mail Processing Center to determine the feasibility of consolidating its operations into the Lubbock facility. In December, representatives from the USPS explained the organization’s delicate and rapid downturn in its financial situation at a town hall meeting in Roswell. The USPS held the meeting in Roswell to solicit public comment regarding its proposal for the consolidation.
That same month, the Postal Service agreed to impose a moratorium on closing or consolidating post offices and mail processing facilities prior to May 15 to give Congress and the administration the opportunity to enact an alternative plan. The USPS receives no tax revenue for its operations so in turn relies primarily on the sale of postage, postal products and services. A 25 percent decrease in firstclass mail over the past five years is arguably the greatest financial detriment to the organization. The economy and the overall reduction in mail volume also played a factor. “We have to operate as a business. With the reduction in the use of mail we have to find ways to reduce our size as well, in terms of our processing capacity. That’s the responsible decision to make,” Peter Hass, spokesman for the
USPS for New Mexico and Arizona, said. Dynamics such as whether the facility in Lubbock had the capacity to handle the mail currently processed in Roswell, expected savings, transportation logistics and equipment considerations were weighed before a decision was made at the headquarters level. The first group of employees at the Roswell center to receive word of the decision were notified by their supervisor Wednesday evening. Nineteen of the workers will have the opportunity to transfer to Lubbock. Fer nando Rodriguez, president of the Roswell chapter of the American Postal Workers Union, was one of the 19 workers offered a job in Lubbock. Union officials and stewards have super seniority, meaning they canSee USPS, Page A3
WEB
For The Past 24 Hours
• Needed: 50,000-acre feet of water • Sowards, Wilson stump at Lincoln ... • Porte seeks Dexter council seat • Chaves County Crime Stoppers – Making ... • Bobcats stifle Chiefs, win 72-47
INSIDE SPORTS
Mark Wilson Photo
Bingaman meets with ENMU-R students Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., meets with students at ENMU-R during the Student Leadership Institute, Thursday.
DARVISH GETS GOING WITH RANGERS
SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — The Texas Rangers would love to hear Yu Darvish’s best go at “y’all.” “Some Texas twang, any type of slang,” said fellow starter Colby Lewis, who spent time pitching in Japan in the opposite division as Darvish. “He’ll have fun. It’s going to be good.” Give him a little time, gang. Darvish most certainly would prefer to show off his powerful arm and remarkable athletic abilities ... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Beulah Mobbley • Bobby L. Wallace • Sinforosa Carabajal - PAGE A6
HIGH ...55˚ LOW ....33˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B4 COMICS.................B3 ENTERTAINMENT.....B4 FINANCIAL .............A7 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........B4 LOTTERIES ............A2 NATION .................A6 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
Putting a face to the issue of financial aid and schooling, Sen. Jef f Bingaman, D-N.M., met
with students at Eastern New Mexico UniversityRoswell during his Student Leadership Institute, Thursday.
In a roundtable setting, seven students, each
receiving some for m of financial aid, directed questions and shared their insights to the senator about their schooling, and specifically its cost. Jessie Sjue, director of
Gasoline price politics
The Roswell USPS processing center, 497 W. Brasher Road.
TOP 5
JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER
Mark Wilson Photo
financial aid at ENMU-R, said more than 50 percent of the student body receive either state or federal money to attend the
See BINGAMAN, Page A3
WASHINGTON (AP) — Soaring gasoline prices are threatening to undercut President Barack Obama’s re-election prospects and offering Republicans an easy target. With prices pushing $4 a gallon and threatening to go even higher, Obama sought Thursday to confront rising public anxiety and strike back at his GOP critics. “Only in politics do people root for bad news, do they greet bad news so enthusiastically,” Obama said of Republicans. “You pay more; they’re licking their chops.” For all the political claims, economists say there’s not much a president of either party can do about gasoline prices. Certainly not in the short ter m. But it’s clear that people are concerned — a new Associated Press-GfK poll says seven in 10 find the issue deeply important — so it’s sure to be a political issue through the summer.
Sex tape was blackmail Romney: Rick’s just another pol
SUNLAND PARK (AP) — A Sunland Park mayoral candidate said an unidentified man threatened to blackmail him by releasing a video of a topless woman dancing for him if he didn’t drop out of the race. Mayoral candidate Gerardo Hernandez said Wednesday that an unidentified topless woman danced for him in his of fice and believes it was a set up by another mayoral candidate. The allegations were yet another saga in a string of recent scandals that has rocked this New Mexico border town just west of El
Paso, Texas. Hernandez told KVIA-TV he was in his office with his campaign manager, his potential public relations officer and an unidentified woman when she began to dance for all three of them, topless. And all the while, unknown to Hernandez, he was being taped. “She started dancing and she was suggestive,” said Hernandez, who claimed the woman was a guest of the man he was considering hiring as his public
See GASOLINE, Page A3
MILFORD, Mich. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney tried to upend Rick Santorum’s image as a principled defender of conservative ideals Thursday, telling voters in Arizona and Michigan that the for mer senator is just another give-and-take politician. Romney’s team believes Santorum opened himself AP Photo to the attacks with a Mitt Romney speaks at the Associated Builders and Contractors National Meeting at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in See GOP, Page A2 Phoenix, Thursday.
Roswell lawmakers address C of C Hairdresser bans gov. See TAPE, Page A3
JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER
Roswell lawmakers gathered together under one roof, Thursday afternoon, this time outside of the Roundhouse. State Reps. Nora Espinoza, R-Roswell, Candy Spence Ezzell, RRoswell, Dennis Kintigh, R-Roswell, and Bob Wooley, R-Roswell, and state Mark Wilson Photo Sens. Rod Adair, RMike Gottlieb, Roswell Independent School District super- Roswell, and Senate Presintendent, and Rep. Nora Espinoza, R-Roswell, have a dis- ident Pro Tem Tim Jencussion during the Roswell Chamber of Commerce Lunch & Learn 2012 Legislative Lunch, Thursday. See LAWMAKERS, Page A2
over gay marriage SANTA FE (AP) — Politics and hair cutting have collided in New Mexico as a Santa Fe hairdresser is refusing to cut Republican Gov. Susana Martinez’s hair again because of her opposition to gay marriage. But the gover nor isn’t worried about looking shaggy. “This individual is not the governor’s regular hairdresser and never has been. He only cut her hair two or three times about 10 months ago,” said Scott
Darnell, a spokesman for Martinez. “So, this idea about the ‘governor losing her hairdresser’ is a complete fabrication.” Antonio Darden, who owns a salon in a neighborhood several miles from the Capitol, said Thursday that he never discussed the issue of gay marriage when he cut Martinez’s hair in the past. Darden is gay and has lived with the same partner for 15 years. See HAIRDRESSER, Page A3