Roswell Daily Record
Roswell Tower on hit list
Vol. 122, No. 51 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks surged for a second day, putting the Dow on track for its highest close of the year. The market rose on more evidence that the U.S. housing market is recovering and signs that shoppers are still spending, at least at discount retailers such as Dollar Tree, which reported a jump in quarterly earnings Wednesday. - PAGE A6
GOING UP
Roswell International Airport may lose its federally operated control tower if President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders fail to avoid the budget sequestration by the end of Friday. Some 30 workers, from cleaners to Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers, would be affected by the FAA’s plan to
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
February 28, 2013
THURSDAY
www.rdrnews.com
If Roswell’s control tower did close in April, the airport would remain open, Griego said. But the air traffic would be “uncontrolled.” Pilots would take off and land through radio chatter, for instance.
shutter the tower. The airport would remain open. “Our airport tower is on the list,” said Air Center Manager Jennifer Brady Griego. “We have not heard what the airline would do.” The White House has
The Librarian in the Hat
outlined several funding streams that would be reduced in New Mexico if sequestration takes effect. The same cuts would force the FAA to cut more than $600 million from its national budget by reduc-
ing operating costs and services, the administration. Roswell’s airport remains on a list of 100 airports Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and FAA Administrator Michael Huerta released that had “fewer than 150,000 flight operations or 10,000 commercial operations per year.” Double Eagle in Albuquerque, Lea County Regional in Hobbs and
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INSIDE SPORTS Mark Wilson Photo
Kate Keith of the Roswell Public Library reads from Dr. Suess, celebrating the upcoming birthday of the children’s author, Wednesday morning.
Senate committee to hear fracking bill ALABAMA DISMISSES 4 PLAYERS
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Four players for two-time defending national champion Alabama have been dismissed from school following their arrests after two robberies on campus. University spokeswoman Deborah Lane said Wednesday that linebackers D.J. Pettway and Tyler Hayes, safety Eddie Williams and Hback Brent Calloway are no longer enrolled after a judicial review. Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban had earlier said the players “are no longer associated with the football program.” - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Fannie Joe Dansby • Garland Crenshaw • Patricia Ann Deets - PAGE A8
HIGH ...58˚ LOW ....32˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B4 COMICS.................B3 FINANCIAL .............A6 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........B4 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
ILISSA GILMORE RECORD STAFF WRITER
The state Senate Conservation Committee is scheduled to hear a bill at 2 p.m. today that would ban horizontal hydraulic fracturing in New Mexico. SB 547, sponsored by Sen. William Soules, D-Las Cruces, would amend the Oil and Gas Act to prohibit the practice better known as “fracking.”
Fracking injects fluid at a high pressure underground into rock formations to extract oil and gas. Soules said in a statement that the act needs to take effect immediately “to protect New Mexico’s natural heritage and the health of New Mexicans.” “We just don’t know enough about the impact fracking has on the long
Santa Fe Municipal airports are also on the list to be eliminated. Roswell, though, remains the only airport tower on New Mexico’s elimination list that is staffed by fulltime FAA employees. Employees working at the other airport towers are contractors. This designation does not make a difference to the FAA and the closure is not
Senate OKs fee, wording change
See TOWER, Page A3
The state Senate voted 41-0 Tuesday to pass a bill, sponsored by Sen. Gay Kernan, R-Hobbs, that would reduce the cost for an exam to receive a high school equivalency diploma. SB 183 would replace the ter m “GED” with “High School Equivalency Diploma” in state law, allowing the state to adopt a better, more cost-effective alternative test, if one should be developed in the future. Kernan said in a statement the language in the law needs to be changed because “GED” is a registered trademarked exam. There is a commonplace assumption, she said, that the GED test describes any and all high school equivaSee CHANGE, Page A3
No guns for school employees SANTA FE (AP) — Lawmakers have turned down a proposal to allow teachers, principals and other school workers to carry concealed handguns to help guard against shootings in New Mexico’s schools. State law prohibits guns on school premises except in limited instances, such as by police and security guards. Sen. Sue Wilson Bef-
fort, a Sandia Park Republican, proposed allowing up to three employees in a school to carry concealed weapons if they had a state license for the firearm. It would have been left to local schools to decide whether to permit their workers to carry a gun on campus. “This measure would allow an immediate level of protection in our schools,” said Beffort. The Education Commit-
tee voted 6-3 on Wednesday to table the legislation, which effectively will kill it. The measure will remain bottled up in the panel as time runs out in the session. The Legislature adjourns in slightly more than two weeks. Beffort said more mental health counselors and ar med guards may be needed in schools but there’s no money in the state budget to provide See GUNS, Page A3
NM House approves solvency fix for teacher pension plan
SANTA FE (AP) — Teachers and other educators will pay more into their pension program to help shore up its long-ter m finances under a proposal approved Wednesday by the House. Besides higher payroll contributions by workers ear ning more than $20,000, the proposal will change pension benefits for
See FRACKING, Page A3
educators hired in the future, including imposing a minimum retirement age of 55 and delaying when they could receive cost-ofliving adjustments in their retirement checks. For a teacher earning an average salary of $45,000, the proposed contribution increases over two years will mean a $1,260 reduction in take-home pay,
according to the Legislative Education Study Committee. Once those increases are fully implemented, about 10.7 percent of an educator’s salary will go to support the pension system. Through publicly financed school employers, taxpayers also are supporting the pension system — contributing just under $3
RAC honors Larry Hansen’s service NOAH VERNAU RECORD STAFF WRITER
INDEX
Mark Wilson Photo
John Hansen, seated, Jason Perry and Tom Jennings attend a dedication for a bench honoring John’s father, Larry Hansen at the Roswell Adult Center, Wednesday morning.
Family, friends and admirers of Larry Hansen gathered Wednesday at Roswell Adult Center to honor the longtime volunteer for a life of service. A clay-colored concrete bench has been placed in Hansen’s honor outside the center, where Hansen taught lapidary for 26 years. Former Mayor Tom Jennings led the ceremony and spoke about the impact See HANSEN, Page A3
of every $5 going into the retirement system starting in July. The bill passed the House on a 50-17 vote and goes to the Senate. The pension program covers 98,000 educators and retirees, from public school teachers and principals to janitors and college faculty. The Educational Retire-
ment Board has a $6 billion gap between its assets and the benefits expected to be paid out in the future. Public employee pension funds across the country face similar financial problems, in part because of investment losses during the recent national recession as well as demographSee PENSION, Page A3
SWAT serves warrant
Mark Wilson Photo
Police detain two adults as a SWAT team serves a search warrant at a residence on East Albuquerque Street, Wednesday afternoon.