Roswell Daily Record
Santorum takes Ala., Miss.
Vol. 121, No. 63 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
STAFFORD LOAN RATES COULD RISE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of college students could be in for a shock this summer when the interest rate on a popular federally subsidized student loan doubles unless Congress acts. College students on Tuesday delivered more than 130,000 letters ... - PAGE A2
WASHINGTON (AP) — A resurgent Rick Santorum swept primaries in Alabama and Mississippi Tuesday night, upending the race for the Republican presidential nomination as he sought to push Newt Gingrich toward the sidelines. Mitt Romney was running third in both states. But it was Gingrich with the most to lose as he struggled for political survival in a part of the country he hoped would fuel one more comeback in the unpredictable race to pick an opponent to President Barack Obama. He congratulated Santo-
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
March 14, 2012
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rum on his victories, and poked at Romney. “If you’re the front-runner and you keep coming in third, you’re not much of a frontrunner,” he said in Birmingham, Ala. In Alabama, with 76 percent of the precincts counted, Santorum was pulling 35 percent of the vote, Gingrich had 30 percent and Romney 28 percent. Returns from 92 percent of Mississippi’s precincts showed Santorum with 33 percent, Gingrich 31 percent and Romney 30. Rep. Ron Paul, the fourth contender, made little effort in the states on the day’s ballot.
There were 107 Republican National Convention delegates at stake on Tuesday, 47 in Alabama, 37 in Mississippi, 17 in Hawaii caucuses and six more in caucuses in American Samoa.
Evangelicals played an outsized role in both primary states, underscoring the challenge to Romney. In Mississippi and Alabama, 80 percent or more of voters leaving their polling places said they were born again Christians or evangelical. Those voters have been reluctant to rally to See GOP, Page A3
AP Photo
Madison United Methodist Church precinct worker Bob Shirley hands off an “I Voted” sticker to a voter in Madison, Miss., Tuesday.
Army holds sgt after massacre
TOP 5 WEB
For The Past 24 Hours
• Roswell’s Most Wanted • City welcomes Fire Chief Hamill • Senate Minority Leader Ingle ... • Girl Scouts celebrate organization’s 100th • Believe and you shall succeed
INSIDE SPORTS Mark Wilson Photo
University of North Dakota students involved in the Students Today Leaders Forever program, bag dried pinto beans at Harvest Ministries, Tuesday, during a stopover in Roswell. The students are on a nine-day, Pay it Forward tour, visiting communities in New Mexico and surrounding states performing charitable acts.
UND students pay it forward at church NOAH VERNAU RECORD STAFF WRITER
COWBOYS RELEASE NEWMAN
IRVING, Texas (AP) — As expected, cornerback Terence Newman is done with the Dallas Cowboys after nine seasons as a starter. Newman was released Tuesday, a long-anticipated move announced by the team only minutes after free agency began. The two-time Pro Bowl cornerback was scheduled to count more ... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S • • • • • • • •
OBITUARIES
Louisa Mendoza James Lloyd Burch Bonnie Ramirez Charles John Issacs Ronald H. Wade Kevin Mario Smith Janice Verneil Youngs John S. Archer - PAGE A6, A8
HIGH ...83˚ LOW ....43˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B4 FINANCIAL .............B3 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
Thirty-nine students from the University of North Dakota traveled to Roswell this week on a Pay It Forward Tour, spending their Tuesday
morning helping Harvest Ministries package pinto beans and rice for local food drives. The school’s Students Today Leaders Forever chapter made Roswell its fourth destination on a six-city bus tour, and has provided
services in various communities throughout the United States.
Mandy Gefroh, bus leader, said students departed campus Friday in Grand Forks, N.D., and so far have stopped in Silver Creek, Neb.,
Holcomb, Kan., and Borger, Texas, before arriving in Roswell on Monday night. She said those who made the trip were looking to get much more from their spring breaks than is typically
SEC charges 3 execs with fraud
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators have charged three executives of what was once the nation’s second-largest mortgage company with civil accounting fraud.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said the executives conspired to conceal disastrous conditions at the now-defunct Thornburg Mortgage Inc. as the housing market collapsed and the financial crisis loomed.
The SEC said the three executives conspired to overstate Thor nburg’s income by more than $400 million in 2007. Thornburg faced “a severe liquidity cri-
sis” in early 2008 and its lenders were demanding payments the company wasn’t able to meet, the SEC said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M.
The three are for mer Thor nburg CEO Larry Goldstone, ex-Chief Financial Officer Clarence Simmons and ex-Chief Accounting Officer Jane Starrett. The SEC is seeking unspecified fines and restitution from them and wants them to be barred from serving as officers or directors of any public company. Goldstone and Simmons disputed the SEC’s charges
and said they will contest them in court. The agency’s suit “is based on unfounded claims, emails taken out of context and inaccurate interpretations of management’s actions,” they said in a statement. “The SEC’s case singles out and punishes us for not having the clairvoyance to anticipate an unprecedented financial-system crisis.” Company auditor KPMG reviewed the circumstances around Thornburg’s financial statements and stated that it found no problems with management’s integrity or the company’s interSee SEC, Page A3
See STUDENTS, Page A3
BALANDI, Afghanistan (AP) — As bullets flew, the Afghan woman scooped up her 3year -old niece and ran for their lives. Moments later, the woman was dead and the girl lay bleeding from a gunshot wound. It was the closing scene of a massacre that left 16 civilians, including nine children, dead in two villages in southern Kandahar province. The U.S. is holding an Army staff sergeant that military officials say slipped off a U.S. base before dawn Sunday, walked to the villages, barged into their homes and opened fire. Some of the corpses were burned. Eleven were from one family. Five other people were wounded. The military said Tuesday there was probable cause to continue holding the soldier, who has not been named, in custody. U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has said See ARMY, Page A3
Way better than snow
Mark Wilson Photo
Blooming trees located in front of Roswell City Hall are awash in color, Tuesday, as springtime quickly approaches.
Stratos aborts test flight Williams seeks 5th District Court bench NOAH VERNAU RECORD STAFF WRITER
Red Bull Stratos aborted what would have been its first manned test flight, Tuesday morning, just moments before adventurer Felix Baumgartner was set to take off from an undisclosed location in Roswell, according to a statement released by the program later that day. Stratos cited balloon failure as the cause for the test’s cancellation.
The statement indicated that another attempt will be made as soon as proper weather conditions develop. Tuesday’s scheduled flight had a target altitude of approximately 60,000 feet. The test would have allowed Stratos to “rehearse all aspects of the mission within a more controlled environment before Felix surpasses the Armstrong Line during his final 120,000-foot mission See TEST, Page A3
JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER
Les Williams
Les Williams, an assistant district attorney with the Eddy County District Attorney’s Office, says he is seeking election for the position of 5th Judicial District Court Judge, Division 9. The division encompasses Eddy, Lea, and Chaves counties. Williams, who has 27 years experience as a prosecutor, described the best qualities that make up a district judge as, “knowledge, patience and wisdom.”
Bor n in Carlsbad, Williams graduated from New Mexico State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics. He paid his way through college by working as a physical science laboratory satellite ground instrumentation scientific aide, tracking satellites for the Navy. The tracked satellites were used for navigation and eventually became the global positioning system now used worldwide. After graduating, Williams worked for a short time at First State See WILLIAMS, Page A3