Roswell Daily Record
Anger, drama at Mladic trial
Vol. 121, No. 118 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
OIL PRICES DROP
NEW YORK (AP) — A threat that’s been hanging over the economy is starting to look a lot less menacing. Oil and gasoline prices are sinking, giving relief to businesses and consumers who a few weeks ago seemed about to face the highest fuel prices ever. President Barack Obama’s re-election ... - PAGE B4
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — He’s no longer the swaggering general who held Sarajevo “in the palm of his hand” during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war. Yet as his long-awaited genocide trial began Wednesday, Ratko Mladic still managed to reopen old wounds with the flick of his hand. Hobbled by strokes and wearing a business suit instead of combat fatigues, the frail, 70-year-old defendant had an angry exchange of hand gestures with the families of massacre victims in the public gallery, separated by the
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
May 17, 2012
THURSDAY
www.rdrnews.com
bulletproof glass in the courtroom. Mladic is accused of commanding Bosnian Serb troops who waged a campaign of murder and persecution to drive Muslims and Croats out of territory they considered part of Serbia. His troops rained shells and snipers’ bullets down on civilians in the 44month-long siege of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, and killed 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in July 1995, Europe’s worst massacre since World War II. “The world watched in
disbelief that in neighborhoods and villages within Europe a genocide appeared to be in progress,” prosecutor Dermot Groome said at the U.N. court in The Hague. Twenty years after the war that left 100,000 dead, Bosnia remains divided into two ministates — one for Serbs, the other shared by Bosnian Muslims and Croats — linked by a central government. Mladic fled into hiding after the war and spent 15 See TRIAL, Page A3
AP Photo
Former Bosnian Serb military commander Gen. Ratko Mladic at the start of his trial at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday.
Whoop cough cases up
Overturned rig yields Red Bull
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Workers from Custom Construction unload cases of Red Bull from an overturned Empire Truck Lines semi tractor trailer Wednesday morning, following an early morning accident in which the driver lost control of his rig on the off ramp when turning east onto NM 2 from northbound US 285 near Midway. New Mexico State Police received the dispatch call at 2:20 a.m., and cited the driver for careless driving. The driver received minor injuries.
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — The number of children in New Mexico who were exempt from required vaccinations has tripled, as the number of cases of whooping cough reported in the state spiked in recent years, state health officials said. A recent state report shows the number of increased exemptions three-fold since 1999 to nearly 3,400. Meanwhile, the state’s pertussis cases jumped from 85 in 2009 to 274 in 2011, according to state Department of Health data. Pertussis, or whooping cough, is a highly contagious bacterial illness that attacks the respiratory sys-
Coronado bonds out Mayor honors RPD officers JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
GARNETT SCORES 27
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kevin Garnett scored 27 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and used a dominant second quarter to help the Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers 107-91 on Wednesday night and take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Whistled for a costly illegal pick late in a Game 2 loss, Garnett crushed the Sixers early and never let them think about a fourth-quarter rally. - PAGE B1
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Howell Whiting Coreene O’Dell Clora Belle Bartlett G. Albert Bell Emma Anaya Lopez - PAGE A6
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Oscar Coronado, 64, bonded out of Chaves County Detention Center, Tuesday, after a bond reduction from $250,000 to $50,000 cash or surety bond on charges of three counts of criminal sexual penetration of a minor and two counts of criminal sexual contact. The victim was a 16year-old who, according to her mother, had learning disabilities and the mental age of 9. She is unable to attend school because of her disabilities. The alleged incident occurred on April 12. Roswell Police Officer Tucker responded to a call and picked her up from the First Baptist Church. The case was turned over to Chaves County Sheriff’s
Oscar Coronado
Office. Lt. Daniel Ornelas said, “She was a runaway from Artesia. She was walking along the road early in the
Mayor Del Jurney came to the Roswell Police Department, Wednesday, to honor the officers for their work. “You guys are our heroes and we want to thank you. We don’t thank you enough,” said Jurney. He cited the number of police and the 60,000 assaults nationwide that result in 16,000 injuries each year. Jurney noted the 40,000 calls the RPD receive annually and proclaimed May 16 Roswell Police Day. City Administrator Larry Fry was unable to attend, but sent the message that the city “was proud of what you do.” Assistant City Administrator Stacye Hunter added her voice, saying, “I
See WHOOP, Page A3
Jessica Palmer Photo
Mayor Del Jurney and Roswell Police Chief Alfonso Solis during a ceremony, Wednesday, in which Jurney proclaimed the day as Roswell Police Day.
appreciate each and every one of you.” Chief Al Solis said to the gathered men and women, “It is the toughest
job in the world. I’ve been here a year -and-a-half now, and I think you are doing a great job.”
House passes GOP’s anti-violence against women bill See CORONADO, Page A3
women from domestic violence, a fight that’s become as much about female voters this election year as cracking down on abuse.
INDEX
AP Photo
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., accompanied by fellow House Democrats, during a press conference on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, to discuss their fight with Republicans over the Violence Against Women Act.
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans set up a showdown Wednesday
with the Senate and President Barack Obama over legislation to protect
The House voted 222-205 to reauthorize the 1994 Violence Against Women Act for five years, as the Senate already had done. But big differences remain: Obama, other Democrats and a long list of advocacy groups say the House bill doesn’t go far enough to protect abused immigrants, Native Americans or gays. Republicans say their bill does more to protect taxpayers from fraud and maintains the constitutionality of law enforcement procedures on Indian land. It’s unclear whether the
differences will be reconciled before the November elections, or whether the bills will be used as campaign weapons.
In Washington this presidential and congressional election year, every issue is pressed for political advantage, even the government’s main domestic violencefighting law twice reauthorized with broad bipartisan support. Women account for the vast majority of domestic violence victims. They also account for the majority of voters in presidential election years and a critical bloc Democrats have tried to maintain in 2012 by accusing Republicans of waging a “war against women.”
In a veto message issued late Tuesday before the House voted, the White House said the GOP-written bill takes “direct aim at immigrant victims of domestic violence and sexual assault” and jeopardizes victims by placing them “directly in harm’s way.”
Following the vote, Vice President Joe Biden said, “I urge Congress to come together to pass a bipartisan measure that protects all victims.”
The 1994 anti-violence law provides millions of dollars to programs such as legal assistance for victims, enforcement of protection orders, transitional See HOUSE, Page A3