Roswell Daily Record
Part y t im e in Roswell THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 121, No. 109 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
May 6, 2012
SUNDAY
www.rdrnews.com
UNHAPPY BEEKEEPERS
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — Bees are buzzing. So are some folks who keep them and monitor the decline in their numbers. Rain helps, they say. “No rain, no flowers, no honey,” said Joe Klamos, 92, who has been a beekeeper for decades. “We haven’t harvested honey the past two years. Drought does ’em in.” - PAGE B8
TOP 5 WEB
For The Past 24 Hours
• Michael Murphy: God gave us dogs to ... • Ready to launch • Day of Prayer on the courthouse lawn • Kids, Kows & More at the fairgrounds • Goddard girls advance in tourney
Mark Wilson Photo
Hot air balloons begin to land in open areas near East Pine Lodge early Saturday morning during Old Timers Balloon Rally.
That’s a lot of hot air VANESSA KAHIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
Roswell was literally taken to a higher level at the soccer field just west of the Wool Bowl, Saturday morning. Despite their small numbers and humble beginnings, the
Old T imers Balloon Club, a group of about 10 local hot air balloon enthusiasts, rallied 54 balloonists from around the world to participate in a colorful feat of aeronautical prowess during the 25th See BALLOONS, Page A9
Mark Wilson Photo
An abundance of fun Team Cattleman’s compete in the women’s division of tug of war during the Party on the River, Saturday.
NOAH VERNAU RECORD STAFF WRITER
Roswell’s Party on the River kicked off Saturday at Cahoon Park, bringing hundreds of families under the sun to enjoy an assortment of tasty treats, sporting events, vintage
cars and motorcycles and a huge lineup of musical entertainment. The party began with loud cheers for the event’s largest sand volleyball tournament to date, with 21 teams competing
See RIVER, Page A9
INSIDE SPORTS
COLTS DO IT AGAIN!
ALBUQUERQUE — One of the pleasures of watching sports is that, on any given day, a player or team can beat any another player or team. Knowing that the outcome is up in the air is part of what makes sports such an attraction. On the other hand, watching a dominant team or player, like Tiger Woods (pre-fire hydrant, of course), dominate has its draws as well. The NMMI boys tennis team falls into both categories — in a sense. - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Joyce Laverne Ansley • Ceasar Ray Salas • Robert Lewis Murphy Jr. • Aurelia Espinoza Garcia - PAGE B8
Mark Wilson Photo
Aailyay Gustamantes and the Folklorico Dancers wait to perform during the 83rd New Mexico League of United Latin American Citizens State Convention at the Best Western Sally Port Inn, Saturday evening.
LULAC honors 4 at annual awards banquet NOAH VERNAU RECORD STAFF WRITER
New Mexico LULAC held its State Director’s Awards Banquet on Saturday night at Best Western Sally Port Inn, capping of f a busy day for the organization’s annual state
convention. New Mexico Attorney General Gary King, District Judge M. Monica Zamora and New Mexico State Worker’s Compensation Judge Victor S. Lopez were each awarded LULAC’s
See LULAC, Page A9
From left, Gary Smith, ESGR area chairman, Dorothy Canon and Ray Battaglini, N.M. ESGR chairman, pose with National Guardsman during the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve banquet at the Civic Center, Saturday.
Eldridge receives Purple Heart at ESGR banquet
JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER
Bert Eldridge “was just a kid trying to come back home.” But last night Eldridge, accompanied by his wife and family, was recognized with a Purple Heart from U.S. Congressman Steve Pearce, R-N.M. It was Eldridge’s second.
“Tonight we are going to correct one of the oversights of the nation ... (These men) are not interested in awards, not interested in recognition. They just want to come home,” Pearce said while indicating Eldridge’s recognition was long overdue.
See ESGR, Page A9
Obama plunges into campaign, tears into Romney and an agenda to cut taxes for the rich, reduce spending on education and Medicare and enhance power that big banks and insurers hold over consumers.
HIGH ...96˚ LOW ....60˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........D1 COMICS.................C3 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........B6 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WASHINGTON .........A8 WEATHER ............A10
Mark Wilson Photo
INDEX
AP Photo
President Barack Obama holds a Buckeye, a chestnut, presented to him before a campaign rally at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Saturday.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Plunging into his campaign for a new term, President Barack Obama tore into
Mitt Romney on Saturday as a willing and eager “rubber stamp” for conservative Republicans in Congress
Romney and his “friends in Congress think the same bad ideas will lead to a different result or they’re just hoping you won’t remember what happened the last time you tried it their way,” the president told an audience estimated at over 10,000 partisans at what aides insisted was his first full-fledged political rally of the election year.
Six months before Election Day, the polls point to a close race between Obama and Romney, with the economy the overriding issue as the nation strug-
gles to recover from the worst recession since the 1930s. Unemployment remains stubbornly high at 8.1 percent nationally, although it has receded slowly and unevenly since peaking several months into the president’s term. The most recent dip was due to discouraged jobless giving up their search for work.
Romney has staked his candidacy on an understanding of the economy, developed through a successful career as a businessman, and his promise to enact policies that stimulate job creation.
But Obama said his rival was merely doing the bidding of the conservative powerbrokers in Congress and has little understand-
ing of the struggles of average Americans. Romney “doesn’t seem to understand that maximizing profits by whatever means necessary, whether it’s through layoffs or outsourcing or tax avoidance, union busting, might not always be good for the average American or for the American economy,” the president said. “Why else would he want to cut his own taxes while raising them for 18 million Americans,” Obama said of his multimillionaire opponent. While Romney has yet to flesh out a detailed economic program, he and Republicans in Congress want to extend all the tax See OBAMA, Page A2