Roswell Daily Record
Adair calls it quits THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 121, No. 82 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
SANTA FE (AP) — Twice a day, Amtrak’s Southwest Chief pulls into the sleepy railroad depot in Lamy. The rest of the day, the station, part of the transportation network that links Northern New Mexico to the rest of the country, is deserted. Train advocate Ford Robbins has been following the saga of the Southwest Chief for years. - PAGE A6
THURSDAY
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parts of Chaves, Lincoln and Otero counties.
JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER
END OF THE LINE?
April 5, 2012
Sen. Rod Adair, RRoswell, filed a statement with Secretary of State Dianna Duran’s of fice, Tuesday, withdrawing himself from the June 5 primary. Adair’s desire to help create a Republican majority in the Legislature spurred his decision to not seek reelection to the newly redistricted state Senate District 33. The district includes
“Republicans have fielded more candidates in more competitive districts than ever before,” Adair stated in a press release about his decision, “Now is the time to try to effect change. I have determined that I can be of better service to my community and our state by concentrating my efforts on helping these campaigns be successful. That would bring about lasting change.”
Elected to the Senate in 1996, Adair has consulted on numerous Republican campaigns and provided mapping and demographic analysis during the redistricting process. He noted that his decision comes at a time when Senate Democrats have 14 incumbent legislators retiring or not seeking re-election, and 23 incumbents who are being challenged in primaries. By stepping aside, he indicated that no incumbent Republican senator
will be facing a primary. “This will conserve resources and create a focused and united Republican effort as we move to the general election,” he stated. Adair praised Gov. Susana Martinez for blocking the Democrats’ radically partisan gerrymander in redistricting, giving Republicans the greatest opportunity, “to free the state from more than 80 years of See ADAIR, Page A3
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INSIDE SPORTS
Mark Wilson Photo
Kids learn crime dog not at all gruff McGruff the Crime Dog pays youngsters at Working Mothers Day Nursery a visit, Wednesday morning.
NOAH VERNAU RECORD STAFF WRITER
WHAT A NIGHT!
MIAMI (AP) — The sellout crowd in the Miami Marlins’ new ballpark cheered the introduction of their starters, who were accompanied by women dressed as Latin showgirls. There was another roar for Muhammad Ali, who delivered the first pitch. Then Kyle Lohse and the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals went to work, and the place grew quiet. Lohse held Miami hitless until the seventh inning and pitched into the eighth to help the Cardinals win the first game in Marlins Park, 41 Wednesday night. - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Richard J. Kaminski • Krystle Stephenson - PAGE A6
HIGH ...87˚ LOW ....52˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
McGruff the Crime Dog loped into Working Mothers Day Nursery on Wednesday, shaking paws and giving hugs to kids
who spent the morning lear ning about the Roswell Police Department. Nursery director Kathleen MacDonald said children at the center are studying community
workers in their lesson plans this week, and that McGruff’s visit provided about 60 kids aged 2 to 5 with the opportunity to see how important police are in the city. “We want to give that
perspective that they’re our friends,” MacDonald said. “It’s really interesting how the kids imagine the police officers; I don’t
See MCGRUFF, Page A3
$5M for maps Sen. Rod Adair
SANTA FE (AP) — The legal cost of redrawing political maps in New Mexico could cost taxpayers more than $5 million this year. The Albuquerque Journal reports lawyers for Gov. Susana Martinez filed a petition with retired state District Judge James Hall Monday objecting to the awards sought by lawyers for Democratic plaintiffs and a group of Indian tribes. Hall has before him more than $3.9 million in requests for legal fees and costs from various parties in the lawsuits. And $1.2 million has already been spent. For the redistricting of 2001-02, some of which also went to court, the state paid more than $3.7 million in legal costs. Martinez and other GOP executive defendants say the “vast sums” sought by the Democratic and tribal plaintif fs this time are “shocking.” They say the requests are “grossly out of proportion” with what Republicans and the Navajo Nation have sought. John Wertheim, a lawyer for a group of Democrats
Candidate attacks President signs STOCK Act president’s veracity
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney unleashed a strong attack on President Barack Obama’s truthfulness Wednesday, accusing him of running a “hideand-seek” re-election campaign designed to distract voters from his first-term record while denying them infor mation about his plans for a second. Addressing an audience of newspaper editors and publishers, Romney said
Obama’s recent remarks to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on a second-term arms reduction treaty had called “his candor into question.” Romney, the likely GOP opponent for Obama in November, also accused the president of undergoing “a series of election-year conversions” on taxes, government regu-
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama signed legislation Wednesday barring members of Congress, the president and thousands of federal workers from profiting from nonpublic information learned on the job, calling it an embodiment of the fundamental American value of fair play. Obama said the move to bar insider trading among lawmakers would
See MAP, Page A3
AP Photo
President Barack Obama signs the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act in Washington, Wednesday.
US needs more young farmers, ranchers DFW carriers
CLASSIFIEDS..........B5 COMICS.................B3 FINANCIAL .............B4 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 STATE ...................A6 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
AP Photo
Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan
See ROMNEY, Page A2
See STOCK Page A3
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan sees an epidemic of sorts sweeping across America’s farmland. It has little to do with the usual challenges, like drought, rising fuel and feed prices or crop-eating pests. The country’s farmers and ranchers are getting older and there are fewer people standing in line to take their place. New Mexico has the highest average age of far mers and ranchers of any state at nearly 60 years old, and neighboring Arizona and Texas aren’t far behind. Nationally, the latest agricultural census figures show the fastest growing group of farmers and ranchers are those
over age 65. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is beginning work on its 2012 Census, and Merrigan is afraid the average age will be even higher when the data is compiled. “If we do not repopulate our working lands, I don’t know where to begin to talk about the woes,” she told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “There is a challenge here, a challenge that has a corresponding opportunity.” Merrigan, a for mer college professor, is making stops at universities around the country in hopes of encouraging more See FARMERS, Page A3
cancel flights
Only one flight was expected to arrive at the Roswell International Air Center on Wednesday. As of 4 p.m., no flights had departed nor arrived at RIAC, according to Air Center manager Jennifer Brady. She received word that one flight, which was running late, was on its way and was expected to arrive at some point Wednesday evening. Violent tornadoes that struck the Dallas area Tuesday were accompanied by baseball-sized hail, which caused damage to airplanes at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The damage has forced hundreds of flight cancellations. For updates, call RIAC at 347-5703.