Roswell Daily Record
Easy fix eludes power outages
Vol. 121, No. 159 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — It was all too easy to confuse Andy Griffith the actor with Sheriff Andy Taylor, his most famous character from “The Andy Griffith Show.” After all, Griffith set his namesake show in a makebelieve town based on his hometown of Mount Airy, N.C., and played his “aw, shucks” persona to such perfection that ... - PAGE A9
The answer, it turns out, is complicated: Aboveground lines are vulnerable to lashing winds and falling trees, but relocating them underground incurs huge
Goat perch on a downed tree near Buffalo Gap, Va., Tuesday.
For The Past 24 Hours
• Man flees from, shoots at members of the ... • • Woman leads deputies in wild ride in stolen ... • Chaves County Detention Ctr ... • UFO Fest brought thousands • Invaders get victory
SPORTS Roswell celebrates Independence Day, in style, 2009.
Mark Wilson Photo
Firefighters finish the job of setting up fireworks, Tuesday, for the Roswell Sertoma Mike Satterfield Memorial Fireworks Extravaganza at Cielo Grande. This is going to be a great day in the All-America City. Elks Lodge No. 969, 1720 N. Montana, will host a free barbecue for veterans and their families from 4 to 8 p.m. At Cielo Grande, on East College Boulevard, free entertainment begins at 5:30 p.m. Nicole Miner, recording artist and Miss New Mexico 2009 will entertain beginning at 8 p.m. The pyrotechnics are scheduled to start at 9:15 p.m., and will be simulcast on Q97.1 FM. See you there!
‘You are so busted!’
SERENA ADVANCES
• Ector Omero Castillo • Deborah White - PAGE A9
HIGH ...98˚ LOW ....69˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B7 COMICS.................B4 ENTERTAINMENT...A10 FINANCIAL .............B6 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........B7 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ............A10
INDEX
See STORMS, Page A8
Mark Wilson Photo
INSIDE
OBITUARIES
With memories of other extended outages fresh in the minds of many of the 1.26 million customers who still lack electricity, some question whether the delivery of power is more precarious than it used to be. The storms that began Friday killed 24 people in seven states and the District of Columbia.
The powerful winds that swept from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic late Friday, toppling trees onto power lines and knocking out transmission towers and electrical substations, have renewed debate about whether to bury lines. District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray was among of ficials calling for the change this week and was seeking to meet with the
“I see fireworks! I see the pageant and Pomp and parade I hear the bells ringing out I hear the cannons roar I see Americans — all Americans Free forever more.” Sherman Edwards, 1776
WEB
TODAY’S
costs — as much as $15 million per mile of buried line — and that gets passed onto consumers.
1776 Hap py Birthday to us ! 2012 AP Photo
TOP 5
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Thanks to a bit of advice from her big sister and a bunch of aces from her big serve, Serena Williams is back in the Wimbledon semifinals. With two more victories, Williams will be holding a Grand Slam trophy for the first time in two years. The thud of racketagainst-ball reverberating under the closed Centre Court roof, Williams smacked 13 aces at up to 120 mph and overpowered defending champion Petra Kvitova ... - PAGE B1
WEDNESDAY
www.rdrnews.com
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the after math of stor ms that knocked out power to millions, sweltering residents and elected officials are demanding to know why it’s taking so long to restring power lines and why they’re not more resilient in the first place.
GRIFFITH DEAD AT 86
July 4, 2012
Mark Wilson Photo
Police arrest two suspects, male and female, following a traffic stop at 2 a.m., Tuesday, on the corner of Missouri and Alameda. A total of four police cruisers eventually arrived at the scene and spent half an hour searching the suspects and their vehicle before arresting the two in an ongoing investigation.
Santa Fe furniture flap
SANTA FE (AP) — Taxpayers picked up the tab for new fur niture in the governor’s suite of offices in the Capitol as Republican Gov. Susana Martinez continues to feud with the judiciary over whether state government should pay for furnishings in a new district courthouse in Santa Fe. The gover nor’s of fice recently spent $48,000 to buy 185 new chairs to replace ones that were old or worn out, according to a spokesman for the governor. The new fur niture includes 58 high-back, black desk chairs with casters, some of which are for staff work spaces and others circle a large round marble table in a room used for meetings of top officials who form the governor’s Cabinet. The furnishings for the governor’s office has one Santa Fe lawmaker fuming. “It certainly seems unfortunate that if she is spending money on herself then it’s worth it, but if she’s
going to spend money on the court and the judges, she thinks it’s not worth it,” said Democratic Rep. Brian Egolf. The gover nor vetoed nearly $1.4 million in state bond proceeds the Legislature approved earlier this year for furnishing the 1st Judicial District courthouse. Martinez has suggested it should be the responsibility of the county — not the state — to provide fur niture for a new courthouse. The county and the judiciary disagree, saying it’s the county’s obligation to build a courthouse but the state’s responsibility to pay for court operations, including furniture. The district court is part of the state’s judicial branch of government. Judges and court personnel had expected to move into the $60 million courthouse next January, but court officials say the building may sit vacant for several months if the state
Pioneer Bank employees pay to dunk execs for charity CHAUNTE’L POWELL RECORD STAFF WRITER
Out behind Pioneer Bank on North Main Street, a different type of deposit was being made; bank executives into a pool of water. Employees gathered to celebrate the upcoming Fourth of July holiday by paying to participate in the dunk tank. It was $5 for three balls and in addition to seeing their bosses all wet, employees had the opportunity to raise money for renovations at the Roswell Refuge. The refuge works to provide a safe environment for victims of domestic violence as well as shed light on the effects of domestic violence.
The Roswell Refuge’s building is currently undergoing repairs and is without air conditioning. “We always do an event in the summer for our employees,” said Bridget Steel, vice president of marketing. “We decided to do this and when we heard about the Refuge, we just added it to the event.” Nici Austin, vice president of Pioneer Banks, has had previous experience volunteering at the Roswell Refuge through her church. She was approached by the refuge’s executive director and informed of the maintenance issues and asked if Pioneer Bank would be willing to help. The event went from a jovial office party, to somewhat of a
relief benefit. The event began at 11 a.m. and also featured an ice-cream sundae bar, hamburgers and hotdogs and the chance to socialize with co-workers. When asked who the crowd’s favorite person to dunk was, Austin smiled and without hesitation declared it was bank president Jon E. Hitchcock, who was sent plunging into the cold water several times that afternoon. Steel said the bank makes ef forts to stay involved in the community volunteering and donating to events such as Walk for Hope, Habitat for Humanity, Big Brothers Big Sisters and the United Way.
See SANTA FE, Page A8
Mark Wilson Photo
Davis Bennett of Pioneer Bank makes a splash in the dunk tank set up to raise proceeds to replace broken air conditioning at the Roswell Refuge for Battered Adults, Tuesday.