Roswell Daily Record
‘The truth is out there’
Vol. 121, No. 156 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
June 30, 2012
SATURDAY
www.rdrnews.com
NOAH VERNAU RECORD STAFF WRITER
CONGRESS PASSES STUDENT LOANS, HIGHWAY JOBS BILL
WASHINGTON (AP) — Finding rare political accommodation on the cusp of a holiday recess, Congress passed legislation Friday designed to salvage 2.8 million jobs and shield students from a sharp ... - PAGE A5
TOP 5 WEB
For The Past 24 Hours
• Tripped breaker causes outage • Journey of Hope makes return visit • Ready for take-off? ... • Lectures, lasers highlight Day 1 • Upset special
The 2012 Galaxy Fest kicked off Friday at the International UFO Museum, welcoming fans from all over the world to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Roswell Incident. With celebrity guests, authors, researchers, live music and a host of vendors, the festival delivered rare treats in education and entertainment for all ages. Daniel Kitchen, a financial adviser from Los Angeles, said he arrived in town Thursday night, his first trip to the area. He said his motivation for traveling all the way to Roswell was for the unique opportunity to explore the unknown. “If (UFOs) were a subject that could be answered definitively, we probably wouldn’t be here,” Kitchen said. “I think the wide range of debate is what makes it really interesting.”
Big Al and Little Al welcome visitors to the 2012 Roswell UFO Festival, Friday. said “Star Trek: The Next Generation” remains popular because it offers viewers a rare vision in science fiction. “It was a pretty extraordinary series. ... I had no idea it would live this long and be this prominent in people’s
INSIDE SPORTS Mark Wilson Photo
Visitors to the International UFO Museum & Research Center check out the displays during the UFO Festival, Friday morning.
FEDERER RALLIES FOR WIN
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — A day after Rafael Nadal’s stunning exit at Wimbledon, the only other men who have won the tournament since 2003 — six-time champion Roger Federer and defending champion Novak Djokovic — found themselves trailing far-less-accomplished opponents. Here we go again? Not quite ... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Everett Lankford • Jessie Harper Rose • William Earl Beeson • Teresa S Vigil - PAGE A7
HIGH ...96˚ LOW ....70˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
Early activities allowed fans a chance to visit with actress Denise Crosby, best known for her role as Lt. Tasha Yar on “Star T rek: The Next Generation.” Crosby, whose appearance at Galaxy Fest also represents her first trip to Roswell, said she has been interested in UFOs and other unexplained phenomena since she was a little girl. “How could you not be intrigued and fascinated? I
personally look forward to listening to the speakers,” Crosby said. “... I think we’ve all taken a glance up at the night sky and hoped to see what we could, to have some sort of encounter. ... It’s hard for me to imagine that this is the only life in the universe. I’m just not that narcissistic! That would be kind of tragic, actually.” Crosby, producer and narrator of the acclaimed documentary T rekkies,
ence fiction) was pretty bleak and dismal: end of the world scenarios, and these very dystopian societies, but Star Trek was the opposite of that. Star Trek sort of dictated that we would not only survive the future and continue to flourish, but we would actually learn and improve ourselves.” Of her first visit to Roswell, Crosby said she has always been intrigued by the culture and history of the city. “It’s a legendary place. Historically, so much about (the Roswell Incident) has been
Mark Wilson Photo
written and described, so I think everybody has this curiosity about Roswell. ... This of course is also my first visit to the museum, and I’m looking forward to learning a lot.” UFO discussions at the museum featured researchers like investigative author Don Schmitt, who has participated in festivals in Roswell since the very first UFO Festival. He said the popularity of UFO events in Roswell benefit believers and nonSee TRUTH, Page A3
Mark Wilson Photo
Benny Trujillo and his grandson Kane prepare to take the stage with the band The Pacers during the 2012 Roswell UFO Festival, Friday.
lives. “... (Star Trek creator) Gene Roddenberry had a very unique vision of what the future would be. He tapped into a kind of a feeling that we would be better in the future, and not a lot of science fiction portrayed that. (Other sci-
Mark Wilson Photo
Actress Denise Crosby poses next to her poster at the International UFO Museum & Research Center during the 2012 Roswell UFO Festival, Friday.
Butterfinger BARmageddon invades Roswell arrived in Roswell Friday afternoon, will attend UFO Festival events today to spread the word about the end times and share free candy samples, coupons and Butter finger underwear.
NOAH VERNAU RECORD STAFF WRITER
The Butterfinger BARmageddon News Network has invaded Roswell, counting down the days to the Mayan prophecy predicted for Dec. 21, 2012. BBNN’s expert conspiracy theorists Jason Zone Fisher and Adam Ward are on a coast-to-coast tour, ready to keep Butterfinger fans apprised of the pending dangers that face their favorite candy bar. Fisher and Ward, who
Mark Wilson Photo
Jason Zone Fisher, left, and Adam Ward and their Butterfinger BARmageddon News Network vehicle make a stopover in Roswell, Friday, while en route from New York to San Diego.
“We’ve been like this since we were young,” Fisher said, “always wondering what else is out there, and about possible conspiracies and things like that. So this is like the Mecca of it all, here in Roswell. I’m really excited to be here, and I know that this is the
heart of where all the alien activity already took place. It’s a logical place for the BARmageddon News Network.” The nationwide BARmageddon tour started in New York City at the end of May, and will conclude in San Diego at the San Diego Comic-Con International in mid-July, Fisher said. Ward said so far BBNN has visited dozens of cities, sharing vital information and candy bars. “What See INVADES, Page A3
Larry Connolly: Entrepeneur, news junkie, Starbucks aficionado JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B3 FINANCIAL .............A8 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ......A10 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ............A10
INDEX
Julia Bergman Photo
Larry Connolly at his usual post at Starbucks.
Between the hours of 8:30 and 10:30 a.m., Larry Connolly can be found sitting at his habitual Starbucks table, honorably procured for him, where he has a plain view of those walking through the front door. The table, made to seat four, often expands throughout the morning to accommodate eight or even 10, as Connolly invites others to join him. He calls it his “morning job,” greeting locals as they fetch their
morning brew, chewing the fat with friends, and getting his news junkie fix by reading an array of daily publi-
Minnesota to Roswell to care for her mother. Two years after they arrived, Starbucks opened on Main
cations. While he has lived in Roswell for only seven years, Connolly has become somewhat of a fixture in the community, and particularly at Starbucks. He and his wife Ellen moved from
Street. Connolly would take care of his mother -in-law when she got up in the morning, from 6 to 9 a.m., and would go to Starbucks once she took her daily See SPOTLIGHT, Page A3