Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 122, No. 48 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell, received Wednesday the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau’s Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award. Coming from a rural district and having spent her life working in agriculture, Ezzell said in a statement “there is no greater honor for me than being recognized as a strong supporter of the needs ... - PAGE A2
February 24, 2013
Coyote kill contest draws hundreds JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
EZZELL GETS AG AWARD
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
A local gun shop’s firsttime sponsorship of a twoday coyote hunting contest this weekend drew some 200 entrants and plenty of attention. Larry’s Discount Gun Shop on North Main Street was filled with enthusiasts, though the coyote hunters had already hit the land Saturday morning. Paying $300 per two-man team, the hunters were
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If any locals were against the contest, none appeared Saturday to voice opinions.
expected to call in their numbers Saturday night at 7 p.m. and again tonight at 3 p.m. Coby Griffin, a salesman at Larry’s Gun Shop on North Main Street, said he expects the kill rate to be high. “The more the better,” he said. Under the rules, teams can shoot as many coyotes
as possible from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset Saturday and today. Wiley Maloney, owner of the shop, told the Associated Press on Saturday that the contest drew hunters from around the state. “The ranchers are telling us that they really appreciate this and see it as a public service,” Maloney told the
AP. “My family had a ranch for more than 50 years, and the coyote problem got so bad down here we had to quit raising sheep.” “They’re a huge problem right now,” Griffin told the Record. “We’ve had a drought this year and the smaller animals haven’t had a chance to thrive.” By thinning the coyote population, Griffin said smaller animals such as sheep and deer may have a chance this year. If the contest is success-
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INSIDE SPORTS
Mark Wilson Photo
Kyle Durre makes prints on her mobile letterpress while visiting the Anderson Museum in Roswell, Saturday. Durre is
Mobile printing press parks in Roswell starting an eight-state tour in her ‘Moveable Type,’ a 1982 Chevy stepvan, giving workshops and demonstrations.
JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
Natasha Bowdoin, an artist in Roswell, watched with a friend as Kyle Durrie gently applied silver paint to a rubber roller.
NEW EYES ON DANICA
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The big boys brought their little girls to see NASCAR’s shining star. Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson all took their daughters to meet Danica Patrick this week at Daytona International Speedway. It was the ultimate backstage pass. ... - PAGE B1
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Lilianna Feliciano Felix Vallejos William Mel Mayes Elizabeth Owen Florence Joyce Lane Maurine Dodson Patricia Byrne - PAGE B6
HIGH ...61˚ LOW ....28˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........D1 COMICS.................C4 ENTERTAINMENT.....A7 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A7 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
“Here, you try,” Durrie told Bowdoin. Bowdoin pressed the ink onto the letters set neatly on a table inside a 1980s step van outfitted as a mini-print shop museum.
“Like this?” Bowdoin asked. The two artists applied the ink and printed a “Greetings From Roswell” card onto green paper stock. Durrie’s van was parked
outside the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art on East College Boulevard Saturday afternoon as a few interested people See PRESS, Page A3
ful, the shop may consider holding one again next year. “It’s just something a lot of clientele are asking for,” Griffin said. “We hear from our local ranchers about their day-to-day struggles all the time.” Larry’s Discount Gun Shop, one of the most popular firearm sporting goods stores in Roswell, was packed Saturday, with a local radio station broadcasting live outside and
High Risk program deadline March 1
See COYOTE, Page A3
Friday, March 1 is the last day uninsured New Mexicans with pre-existing medical conditions will be able to submit an application for the Federal High Risk Pool. Since 2010, the program has provided access to health insurance to those with pre-existing conditions who have been without insurance for at least six months. On Saturday, March 2, the program will close enrollment due to lack of funding. The enrollment closure is not anticipated to affect the 1,500 state residents already enrolled in the Federal High Risk Pool, said Reena Szczepanski, executive director of the New Mexico Medical Insurance Pool. The non-profit organization administers the program in the state. The New Mexico Legislature established the NMMIP more than 20 years ago to proSee RISK, Page A3
Pecos murals allow students to make lasting impression ILISSA GILMORE RECORD STAFF WRITER
Fifth-grade students of Pecos Elementary continued Tuesday to work on a mural that will remain at the school long after they’ve left it. Since December, students have worked on two separate murals as part of the Creative Learning Center’s Legacy Project, which allows students of the Roswell Independent School District to learn one-onone from local, acclaimed artists. The murals will depict whimsical landscapes and imagery based on student drawings. The fifth-grade boys’ mural will involve dinosaurs and the girls’ mural will feature plants and flowers. Once complete, both will be installed into two of the school’s bathrooms.
“It’s quite a process, but it’s such a beautiful result,” Principal Barbara Ryan said. Working with artist Sue Wink, fifth-graders Sebastian Carrillo, James Leiva, Tony Payan and Fabian Hernandez painted tiles that will become part of the mosaic for a boys’ bathroom. Every year, Ryan said the Center has artists help students and Wink “does such an excellent job with the kids.” “It’s really nice that we can get that quality of artist to work with the students,” she said. Works by past classes are featured prominently around the building. Ryan estimated the students who worked on one piece in the main corridor are old enough to be in high school. She said the See MURALS, Page A3
Ilissa Gilmore Photo
Pecos Elementary fifth-graders Sebastian Carrillo, James Leiva, Tony Payan and Fabian Hernandez painted tiles Tuesday that will become part of the mosaic for a boys’ bathroom at the school.
NRA uses Justice Department memo to accuse Obama on guns
Blast off!
INDEX
Mark Wilson Photo
Area Chaves County 4-H kids and their supervisors fire off model rockets at Christ's Church on Saturday afternoon.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Rifle Association is using a Justice Department memo it obtained to argue in ads that the Obama administration believes its gun control plans won’t work unless the government seizes firearms and requires national gun registration — ideas the White House has not proposed and does not support. The NRA’s assertion and its obtaining of the memo in the first place underscore the no-holds-barred battle under way as Washington’s fight over gun restrictions heats up. The memo, under the name of one of the Justice Department’s leading crime researchers, critiques the effectiveness of gun control proposals, including some of President Barack Obama’s. A Justice
Department official called the memo an unfinished review of gun violence research and said it does not represent administration policy. The memo says requiring background checks for more gun purchases could help, but also could lead to more illicit weapons sales. It says banning assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines produced in the future but exempting those already owned by the public, as Obama has proposed, would have limited impact because people now own so many of those items. It also says that even total elimination of assault weapons would have little overall effect on gun killings because assault See GUNS, Page A3