Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 122, No. 160 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
STATUE OF LIBERTY REOPENS NEW YORK (AP) — The of Liberty Statue reopened on the Fourth of July, eight months after Superstorm Sandy shuttered the national symbol of freedom, as Americans around the country celebrated... - PAGE A5
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
July 5, 2013
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INSIDE SPORTS
Mark Wilson Photo
Fireworks illuminate the night sky during the Roswell Sertoma Mike Satterfield Memorial Fireworks Extravaganza, celebrating July 4th, at Cielo Grande Recreation Area.
JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Roswell Sertoma Club Michael Satterfield Memorial Fireworks Extravaganza at Cielo Grande began, Thursday, with a boom and a bang to accompaniment of patriotic music. The Roswell Sertoma Club
teamed up with the City of Roswell Fire Department, Roswell Recreation and Parks Department, Roswell Police Department and Roswell Streets Departments to coordinate the project. Amy LaVere, from Memphis, played before the extravan-
ganza began. Neighborhood fireworks lit up the sky as a prelude to the event. Most people came prepared with lawn chairs and blankets. Many roughed it sitting on the ground, while bouncy castles kept the children happy. Sertoma Club President Alex
Elks honor vets JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
BARTOLI, LISICKI ADVANCE LONDON (AP) — Whether in a match, a set, a game — or even within a single point — Sabine Lisicki simply cannot be counted out. Especially at Wimbledon, where... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARY • Terry Cullender
- PAGE A7
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INDEX
Roswell’s evening of fun to celebrate the July 4 holiday began at the Elks Grand Lodge with their annual Veteran’s Barbeque. “It’s Veterans Appreciation Day, but the dinner is open to everyone,” said John Wilson, event coordinator. “It’s our way of saying thank you, Roswell.” The purpose of the event is to acknowledge local veterans and their families for the sacrifices they made to the country. It’s designed not only to pay homage to living veterans, but also those who have passed.
“That’s what we’re all about supporting and honoring vets,” he explained. Wilson said that event began after Mike Satterfield died on July 4, 2009. Satterfield spearheaded Roswell’s annual fireworks display for several years before his death. Last year’s dinner served nearly 700 people. This year, the Elks and the servers from the Club expected around 800. The dinner is a production and the lodge was appropriately decorated red, white and blue. The menu consisted of barbecue pork, tortillas and rolls, pasta salad, cucumber salad and beans. The Elks purchased 350 pounds of
Pankey said the fireworks cost $21,000. However, this is only one of Sertoma’s many projects. “We donated $3,600 to the Southeastern New Mexico Veterans’ T ransportation Network to fuel their vans. We give 25 $500 scholarships to kids that can be used
around the country not just here.... Mostly we’re about hearing and speech,” he said. The Fireworks Extravaganza is supposed to provide Chaves County residents with a safe alternative to backyard displays, along with giving respite to area pets and
local wildlife from the inevitable noise. The Fire Department came prepared for any eventuality. They flew the flag at half mast a sign of respect and sobering reminder of the 19 firefighters who lost their lifes in the fire See FIREWORKS, Page A3
Mark Wilson Photo
Goodies are served during the Veteran’s & Families 4th of July BBQ at the Elks Lodge #969, Thursday. pork, 75 pounds of dried beans and 700 ice cream bars. “They started cooking ar ound 4 o’clock last
night,” said Wilson. He also noted that the Elks for Vets Charity Golf T our nament, held on June 1, collected some
PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) — They remembered the Fourth, but also the 19. At Bistro St. Michael on Whiskey Row in this old West town, 19 candles burned beneath red, white and blue bunting, one for each firefighter killed last weekend battling a wildfire not far from the place they called home. In a quiet neighborhood near the high school, which at least five of them attended, 19 miniature U.S. flags were planted in front yards, each pole tied with the purple ribbon that commemorates fallen firefighters. At the makeshift memorial on the fence that wrapped around the elite Hotshots firefighting team’s headquarters, people left 19 potted plants, 19 pinwheels, 19 handwritten cards, 19 religious candles.
On a day meant to ponder the nation’s birth, and those who built and defended it over 237 years, Prescott’s residents had 19 of their neighbors, their friends, their relatives to remember. “I just wanted to thank them and let them know that they’re heroes and that they’re missed,” said Susan Reynolds, who hung a piece of fabric with an expression of thanks on a string of panels that hung like a prayer flag on the fence. Away from the celebrations, public memorials and the fireworks planned for later Thursday, some of the fallen firefighters’ families were quietly trying to come to terms with their own personal loss. Occasionally, relatives would emerge to speak about the
$28,000 while the Benevolent Patriotic Order of the Doves raised another $650 with their garage sale.
State withholds Ariz. town remembers the capital funding 4th, 19 fallen firefighters over audit issues
SANTA FE (AP) — Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration is following through on its promise to tighten controls over capital improvement financing. Martinez issued an executive order in May requiring local gover nments, school districts and others in New Mexico to have a current audit before state money is released for a project. Now, the state Department of Finance and Administration has suspended more than $13 million in funding for 122 capital projects around the state. That includes nearly $1 million for Eddy County and another $738,000 for the city of Albuquerque.
Agency spokesman Tim Korte told the Carlsbad Current-Argus that communities can still get the money that was appropriated by the Legislature for the local projects as long as they solve any problems with their audits by June 2015. Those gover nments af fected range from the state’s largest city to small villages. Carlsbad City Manager Steve McCutcheon said the city was late on submitting its audit. He said recent changes to the state’s rules on audits and low staffing levels made it difficult to comply in a timely manner. See AUDIT, Page A2
fallen. “There’s no celebration today,” said Laurie McKee, whose 21-year-old nephew, Grant McKee, died in the fire. “We’re doing OK, but it’s still up and down.” McKee’s father and aunt picked up items recovered from his truck on Wednesday night, and were comforted when the fire chief told them that Grant McKee had been part of “the Navy Seals of firefighting,” his aunt said. His family was planning to spend the day at home, visiting with relatives flying in for his funeral. Initial autopsy results released Thursday showed the firefighters died from burns, carbon monoxide poisoning or oxygen depriSee FALLEN, Page A3