Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 122, No. 172 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
July 19, 2013
Valley Meat Co. plans to open Aug. 5 JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
Valley Meat Co. is set to begin operating Aug. 5, the plant’s attorney said Thursday. But the opening depends on an Aug. 2 federal hearing, when an Albuquerque judge overseeing a lawsuit by animal protection groups will decide whether to halt operations for another six
MORGAN STANLEY TO BUY BACK STOCK
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Phew!
FRIDAY
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months to a year. Attorney A. Blair Dunn, representing the horse meat processing plant located near Roswell and another plant awaiting a permit in Gallatin, Mo., said Valley Meat is hiring workers and will be ready to go if the judge finds in favor of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “Everything is on track,” Dunn said. Animal rights groups filed
a lawsuit earlier this month to halt the slaughter of horses nationally. The Humane Society of the United States, Front Range Equine Rescue, Marin Humane Society, the Horses for Life Foundation and Return to Freedom, and other individual plaintiffs argued that the USDA did not per form proper environmental reviews before issuing Valley Meat its grant of inspection.
The USDA issued Valley Meat its grant of inspection June 28, more than 14 months after the plant first applied. The plant’s owner overcame several legal hurdles — including filing lawsuits against the USDA — to become the nation’s first company to be permitted since the practice was stopped in 2007. Valley Meat has ended its latest lawsuit filed against the USDA, arguing that the
government’s permitting time was excessive, Dunn said. With the new court action, Valley Meat and the USDA are in the same corner.
“In this case, we’re now on the same side as the government,” Dunn said. “We agree they went through the necessary steps.”
Council approves hotel fee
NEW YORK (AP) — Morgan Stanley is feeling good about its future. The New York bank said Thursday that it will buy back up to $500 million of its own shares, news that surprised.... - PAGE B6
See MEAT, Page A3
JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
TOP 5 WEB
For The Past 24 Hours
• Skandera addresses quality of education • Peaceful immigration demonstration... • City Council to consider Convention... • Arias sentenced to 4 years • Crash claims woman
INSIDE SPORTS
Mark Wilson Photo
A false fire alarm forced the complete but temporary evacuation of the Bank Of America building around 10:30 a.m., Thursday morning, as firefighters investigated.
Hotel and motel guests will pay slightly more to spend the night in Roswell starting Nov. 1, City Councilors voted Thursday. The passage of a new Convention Center Fee, which will cost lodgers an extra $2.50 a night, is expected to raise an estimated $500,000 to help pay for a remodeled or new convention center in the future. However, the city has yet to draw plans for the new building. The fee generated opposition from the Roswell Hospitality Association, but several councilors stood by their decision to impose the fee. Monica Gomez, director of sales at Holiday Inn Express, spoke for the Roswell Hospitality Association.
Hellens share family’s history with Rotary Club AMY VOGELSANG RECORD STAFF WRITER
PRESSURE ON ROMO TO DELIVER ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Tony Romo is rested and ready. He has a big new contract and big new responsibilities. Now the Dallas Cowboys head... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Courtney Pecos (C.P.) Holstun Jr. • William “Ray” Hardcastle • Robert Lee Pittman • Jimmy Tivis • Martin Edwin Gollob • Minnie F. Lind • Lou Olive “Ollie” Humble Salman • Josefita Gutierrez - PAGES A8, A9
HIGH ..88˚ LOW ...66˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B7 COMICS.................B5 ENTERTAINMENT.....B7 FINANCIAL .............B6 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ......A10 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ............A10
INDEX
His tie hangs down against a white collared shirt, tucked into black pants. He sits on the stoop of his new house in Texas, one arm resting against a crutch, the other wrapped around a woman standing next to him. The woman’s white dress covers all but her face, which is shaded by a white bonnet, and her work-hardened hand grips a broom. The couple looks serious, as is true in most old black and white photos, but there is a glisten of a smile in each of their eyes, giving away their undoubted happiness. Married shortly before the photo was taken in 1914, Charles (Charlie) Waugh Hellen and his wife Alice Finckel Hellen were
not particularly young — she was 39 and he was 37 — but they had children just the same. And Thursday at the Sally Port Inn their grandchildren, Charles William “Bill” Hellen and Charlotte Hellen, gave testament to the pride they have in their grandparents by presenting to Roswell Rotary Club a brief Hellen history. Nicknamed “El Cojo” meaning “The Lame One” after he lost a leg at age 5 in a horse-drawn street car accident, Charlie went on to be a “Texas Pioneer,” and in 1894, at age 17, he learned the cattle ranching business. He eventually started a family business in the industry, and now, 120 years later, the legacy continues with Bill and his
Mark Wilson Photo
C.W. “Bill” Hellen, a third-generation cattleman, was the keynote speaker during the Roswell Rotary Club meeting, Thursday.
Detroit biggest US city Obama extols health to file for bankruptcy care law amid doubts DETROIT (AP) — Once the very symbol of American industrial might, Detroit became the biggest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy Thursday, its finances ravaged and its neighborhoods hollowed out by a long, slow decline in population and auto manufacturing.
The filing, which had been feared for months, put the city on an uncertain course that could mean laying of f municipal employees, selling of f assets, raising fees and scaling back basic services such as trash collection and snow plowing, which have already been slashed.
“Only one feasible path offers a way out,” Gov. Rick Snyder said in a letter
See HELLENS, Page A3
approving the move. The filing marked a turning point for city and state leaders, who must now confront the challenge of rebuilding Detroit’s broken budget in as little as a year. Kevyn Orr, a bankruptcy expert hired by the state in March to stop the city’s fiscal free-fall, said Detroit would continue paying its bills and employees. But, said Michael Sweet, a bankruptcy attorney in Fox-Rothschild’s San Francisco of fice, “They don’t have to pay anyone they don’t want to. And no one can sue them.” The city’s woes have piled up for generations. In the 1950s, its population grew See DETROIT, Page A3
See COUNCIL, Page A3
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing public doubts and embarrassing setbacks to his signature health care law, President Barack Obama stepped forward Thursday to extol the program’s benefits, emphasizing that some Americans already are receiving insurance rebates and lower premiums.
Obama said the program is working the way it was supposed to with “better benefits, stronger protections, more bang for your buck.” The assertion was ridiculed by Republicans, with House Speaker John Boehner calling the Af fordable Care Act “a train wreck” that he will keep working
to repeal. Obama dismissed the GOP’s so-far-futile votes — the House logged its 38th attempt to repeal or scale back the law on Wednesday — with an exasperated sigh and shake of his head during a White House speech. “What I’ve heard is just the same old song and dance,” Obama said of his critics. “We’re just going to blow through that stuff and just keep on doing the right thing for the American people.” While the fate of the health care law will play a major role in defining his legacy, Obama has not devoted much time or energy to selling it to the
country, speaking on the subject only occasionally as Republicans have pressed a deter mined campaign to undermine the program. Obama is returning to the subject now because enrollment begins Oct. 1 for subsidized private coverage through new online markets.
Goals of the overhaul are to provide coverage to nearly 50 million uninsured people and restrain skyrocketing costs, but Americans remain skeptical about how their coverage may be affected. Even Obama’s allies in the labor unions have turned around their former support of the law out of fears that it will jeopardize benefits for millions of their members by See OBAMA, Page A3