Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 121, No. 173 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
RISD chooses T or C’s Burris for top spot
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A Colorado National Guard unit training with explosives started a wildfire that has scarred about 22 square miles in southeast Wyoming, according to a preliminary investigation released Thursday by the Wyoming Military Department. The Sawmill Canyon Fire erupted on the Wyoming National Guard’s ... - PAGE A2
TOP 5 WEB
For The Past 24 Hours
• Icon Cinemas to unveil 10-screen July 19 • Child killed in ATV crash • Motorcycle accident • After the storm • Flower children, 2012
INSIDE SPORTS
Mark Wilson Photo
The RISD school board meets with the public after naming the district’s new superintendent, Thursday evening.
Groups release profiling report
The Roswell Independent School District has a new leader. Harry J. “Tom” Burris was chosen as superintendent during an RISD board meeting Thursday, to replace Michael Gottlieb, superintendent from 20042012, who retired June 30. Burris, unable to attend, currently serves as superintendent for Truth or ConMunicipal sequences Schools.
COLTS SIGN QB LUCK
Rest easy, Colts fans. The Andrew Luck era can now officially begin. The Colts signed the Stanford quarterback and No. 1 overall pick in the draft to a four-year, $22.1 million deal on Thursday, “12 is officially signed!!!!!!” Colts owner Jim Irsay tweeted, adding a photo of Luck signing his contract for good measure. Luck’s agent and uncle, Will Wilson, confirmed the deal had been completed. The deal is similar ... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Joel Leyva • Ann Padgett • Charles Martin • John Kimbrell - PAGE A7
HIGH ...95˚ LOW ....70˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B4 ENTERTAINMENT.....A8 FINANCIAL .............B5 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 STATE ...................A7 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
One Roswell woman may be considered one of the luckiest women in the world, or the unluckiest. In a space of a few short hours on Wednesday, she was told she had won $2.5 million from MegaMillion lottery company, $8,000 from Walmart and a free trip. In fact, Merlene Simmons received a total of six phone calls, each claiming she had won something. In each instance, there was a catch. With the $2.5 million winnings, she was asked to pay 1 percent of the tax, which the caller said was $500. Simmons kept records of each call right down to the minute the call was
dren’s priority number one, and that he is willing to work to improve our district in the direction we’ve been working towards,” Hunt said. Hunt added that what stood out the most to the school board was Burris’ “humility, honesty and ability to communicate.” RISD School Board Secretary Pauline Ponce said Burris’ experience with New Mexico’s laws and regulations factored into the See RISD, Page A3
Mark Wilson Photo
Workers move panes of glass at the construction site of the new Educational Center on the Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell campus, Thursday. The building is slated for completion by the beginning of September.
‘Severely understaffed’ RPD won’t take ID theft report JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
RISD School Board President Mackenzie Hunt said Burris was ultimately chosen from a field of 25 candidates narrowed down to six finalists during a thorough interview session, a search aided by the consultant Dr. Dan Patterson. Hunt said that when it was time for the board to make a final decision, Burris was unanimously thought to be the best possible fit for Roswell. “The vetting process indicated that he is an honest man, that he has the chil-
Should be done by September
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A large majority of law enforcement agencies in New Mexico aren’t in compliance with a state law intended to combat racial profiling, according to a report released Thursday by civil rights groups and an immigrant advocacy organization. The report said less than a quarter of all agencies surveyed were in compliance with the 2009 law banning biased policing. The report unveiled at the Albuquerque of fices of the American Civil Liberties Union See PROFILING, Page A3
FRIDAY
www.rdrnews.com
NOAH VERNAU RECORD STAFF WRITER
COLO. GUARD STARTS WYO. FIRE
July 20, 2012
According to Simmons, the police declined to take her report seriously. “He treated me like a ‘sweet little old lady’ and told me that they were severely understaffed,” she said. made. The first call came in at 11:57 a.m. The caller introduced himself as James Carter and asked if she remembered signing a ticket at a convenience store. She did. “The frightening thing. They had my Social Security number, my mother’s maiden name, my husband’s mother’s maiden name. They knew I had cancer,” said Simmons.
Simmons contacted the Attorney General’s Offices and also spoke with a representative of the Consumer Protection Agency. Both urged her to file a report with the police and close down her bank account. “They must have had my credit card number, because all they needed was the three security numbers on the back.” Simmons went into the Roswell Police Department around 12:40 p.m. The second call came while she was there. She informed the caller that she was trying get the money together to collect her prize. Simmons then attempted to call the number back, but See RPD, Page A3
Orona draws 161⁄2 years
A Roswell man was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Las Cruces to 16½ years in prison for unlawfully possessing a firearm. Raul Roger Orona Jr., 29, was convicted on Nov. 17, 2011, by a federal jury. According to the evidence at trial, on Jan. 6, 2011, a Roswell police of ficer stopped a vehicle in which Orona was a passenger. At the time of the traffic stop, there was an outstanding state arrest warrant for Orona for battery of a household member. The officer asked the occupants if there were any firearms in the vehicle. One of the passengers told the officer that there was a handgun in her purse. Of ficers searched the purse and found a .45 caliber pistol. The passenger initially claimed the gun belonged to her. She later admitted that the firearm belonged to Orona, and that she had purchased the
firearm at his request. Officers obtained surveillance video from the pawn shop where the gun was purchased which showed that Orona was present when the handgun was purchased.
Orona was prohibited from possessing a firearm because he had two prior felony convictions: shooting at or from a motor vehicle and extortion and aggravated assault. Both crimes took place in Chaves County. He was arrested on Feb. 22, 2011, and has been in custody since then. Orona will be on supervised release for five years after he completes his prison sentence.
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives and the Roswell Police Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron O. Jordan.
Syria’s Assad appears on TV after bomb kills 3 top lieutenants
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad made his first appearance Thursday since a bomb killed some of his top lieutenants, looking calm and composed on state TV even as his forces turned parts of Damascus into combat zones and rebels seized two of the country’s border crossings.
The unprecedented attack on Assad’s inner circle Wednesday, along with the government’s inability to crush the rebels after five days of intense clashes in the Syrian capital, point to an unraveling of his grip on power after 16 months of violence. Even though Assad’s powerful military remains mostly loyal — suggesting a
total collapse may not be imminent — the rebels appeared to be making startling gains as the civil war intensified. Besides the fighting in Damascus, about a halfdozen rebels took over a Syrian border crossing near the Iraqi town of Qaim, said Iraqi army Brig. General Qassim al-Dulaimi. There are four major border posts with Iraq. Rebels overtook a Syrian army outpost near the Syrian-Iraq border after clashes that killed 21 Syrian soldiers, he added. In addition, amateur video posted online showed rebels taking over the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, where they stomped on portraits of
Assad. The Associated Press could not independently verify the video because the government bars most media from working independently in the country. A diplomatic solution to ending the bloodshed seemed even more remote after Russia and China again vetoed a Wester nbacked U.N. resolution aimed at pressuring Assad’s government to end the escalating conflict. Analysts said the regime was clearly shaken by the violence in the heart of its power base of Damascus, but the next step was not clear yet. Citing a network of sources on the ground, the Britain-based Syrian
AP Photo
Syrian President Bashar Assad, left, meets with Fahd Jassem al-Freij, Syria’s new defense minister, in Damascus, Syria, Thursday.
Observatory for Human Rights reported intense clashes in a string of neighborhoods along the south-
ern edge of Damascus, the northeastern neighborhood See SYRIA, Page A3