Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Gila blaze consumes 152K acres
Vol. 121, No. 129 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
TOP 5 WEB
For The Past 24 Hours
• Local Memorial Day festivities honor ... • Elks host Veterans Prayer Breakfast • GHS graduates 180 in school’s 47th • UHS holds 28th commencement • Hike It & Spike It kicks off 17th year
INSIDE SPORTS
Dexter man dies in wreck
AP Photo
Ivan Saenz, of Dexter, was killed in a single-vehicle accident at 6:35 a.m. on Saturday. The accident occurred on New Mexico State Road 2, milepost 28, about five miles north of Dexter. The initial investigation by the New Mexico State Police determined the 2004 Ford pickup, driven by Saenz, 20, was traveling southbound. The investigation revealed the vehicle drifted off the east side of the roadway. The driver overcorrected to the right, causing the vehicle to cross both lanes of traffic and exit of f the road to the west. As the vehicle was skidding, it struck a dirt embankment becoming air-
PARIS (AP) — For more than a decade, whatever the state of her health or her game, no matter the opponent or arena, Serena Williams always won firstround matches at Grand Slam tournaments. Always. Until Tuesday at the French Open. Until Williams came within two points of victory nine times, yet remarkably failed to close the deal against unheralded and 111th-ranked Virginie Razzano of France. - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES • Arline Mensing • Ivan G. Saenz • David “Alan” Cole • Manuel Avelar Jr. • Bobby Ruth Postlewaite • Charles H. Jones - PAGE A7
HIGH .100˚ LOW ....63˚
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B4 ENTERTAINMENT.....B6 FINANCIAL .............B3 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
breaking dry air mass” and persistent drought in the region contributed to the fire’s growth. Those winds forced crews to the sidelines last week as the fire rapidly spread in an isolated area and charred several homes in the community of Willow Creek, which remains under evacuation. Smoke has spread across New Mexico and parts of Arizona, putting cities as far away as Albuquerque under health alerts. Officials said areas around some of New Mexico’s largest cities, including Albuquerque and as far southeast as Roswell, would see smoke by late Tuesday. Sen. Jeff Bingaman announced Tuesday that FEMA has approved New Mexico’s request for fire management assistance declaration for the Whitewater -Baldy Fire Complex burning in Catron and Grant Counties. Bingaman visited Reserve, Tuesday and was briefed by the U.S. Forest Service on the fire.
Peachtree celebrates veterans
See FIRE, Page A3
Mark Wilson Photo
The Tom Blake Trio performs for residents and guests at Peachtree Village during a post-Memorial Day celebration of veterans, Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Shocking as it was, the massacre of more than 100 Syrian villagers is unlikely to galvanize a military assault like last year’s campaign in Libya to oust Moammar Gadhafi. The killings, however, did provoke the strongest international condemnation the United States and other nations could muster.
AP Photo
This frame grab made from an amateur video provided by Syrian activists on Monday, purports to show the massacre in Houla on May 25 that killed more than 100 people, many of them children. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS CITIZEN JOURNALISM IMAGE.
The U.S. joined more than a dozen nations in expelling Syrian diplomats on Tuesday, and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney pushed for further, direct action to dislodge Syrian President Bashar Assad. But President Barack Obama’s spokesman emphasized
Mitt clinches GOP nomination
TODAY’S FORECAST
INDEX
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Two lightningsparked blazes that merged in a mountainous southwestern New Mexico forest are close to becoming the largest wildfire in state history, fire officials said Tuesday. The U.S. Forest Service said the erratic blaze in Gila National Forest had grown to about 152,000 acres by Tuesday — just 5,000 acres from breaking the state record. It is about 15 miles east of Glenwood, a small town with a few hundred residents. More than 1,100 firefighters and nine helicopters from around the state were fighting the blaze. But officials said extremely low humidity will keep making efforts against the fire difficult. The two lightning-sparked fires merged last week to for m the giant blaze, which has destroyed 12 cabins and seven small outbuildings. One fire was first spotted May 9 and the second blaze was sparked May 16, but nearly all of the growth has come in recent days due to relentless winds. Officials also said a “record
US remains opposed to military action in Syria See WRECK, Page A3
FRENCH OPEN UPSET
WEDNESDAY
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$1,500 FOR LOCAL RED CROSS
Lawrence Brothers IGA supermarkets in Roswell and Ruidoso combined to raise $1,500 for the American Red Cross through sales of $1 Champions Squares from April 25 to May 12. The funds, presented to local Red Cross representatives in a check Tuesday, will be used for disaster relief ... - PAGE A2
May 30, 2012
AP Photo
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets a group of veterans after speaking at a campaign event, in Craig, Colo., Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney clinched the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday with a win in the Texas primary, a triumph of endurance for a candidate who came up short four years ago and had to fight hard this year as voters flirted with a carousel of GOP rivals.
According to the Associated Press count, Romney surpassed
the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination by winning at least 88 delegates in the Texas primary. The former Massachusetts governor has reached the nomination milestone with a steady message of concern about the U.S. economy, a campaign organization that dwarfed those of his GOP foes and a fundraising operation second only to that of his Democratic opponent in the general election, President Barack Obama. Romney must now fire up conservatives who still doubt him while persuading swing voters that he can do a better job fixing the nation’s struggling economy than Obama. In Obama, he faces a wellfunded candidate with a proven campaign team in an election that will be heavily influenced by the economy. Romney spent Tuesday evening at a Las Vegas fundraiser with Donald T rump, who has been
See ROMNEY, Page A3
more limited options. “We do not believe that militarization, further militarization of the situation in Syria at this point is the right course of action,” said White House press secretary Jay Car ney. “We believe that it would lead to greater chaos, greater carnage.” The nation’s top military officer, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair man Gen. Martin Dempsey, had appeared to hint at a possible shift in that longstanding U.S. position, saying Monday that despite reservations about military intervention “it may come to a point with Syria,” because of the mounting atrocities. Pentagon spokesman
Summer’s comin’
George Little said Tuesday that those remarks did not mean the United States had backed off its position that military intervention risks doing more har m than good. The Pentagon has not been asked to provide plans for military options in Syria, Little said. “The focus remains on the diplomatic and economic track,” Little said. “But at the end of the day, we in the Department of Defense have a responsibility to look at the full spectrum of options and to make them available if they’re requested.” Romney, who is opposing Obama in this year’s presiSee SYRIA, Page A3
Mark Wilson Photo
The Roswell Fire Department helps out the Roswell Boys & Girls Club by power washing the swimming pool at the club, Tuesday. The pool is expected to be open on Monday, June 11, for summer fun.