Roswell Daily Record
Possible arson at Valley Meat THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 122, No. 181 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Only a few species of mammals are monogamous, and now dueling scientific teams think they’ve figured out why they got that way. But their answers ... - PAGE A6
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JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
REASON FOR MONOGAMY NOT SO SWEET
July 30, 2013
Fire officials responded to a suspicious fire Saturday that burned part of the exterior of Valley Meat Co.’s building and damaged a refrigeration unit. But the possible arson still won’t stop the country’s first federally permitted horse meat processing plant since 2007 from opening Monday if a court hearing finds in its favor this week. “That does not appear to alter the company’s plans to open,” said A. Blair Dunn, attorney for Valley Meat Co. Chaves County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Britt Snyder said fire officials were investigating the incident. “The fire was very suspicious,” Snyder said. “It certainly appears that it was deliberately set.” East Grand Plains Volun-
teer Fire Department was dispatched to the scene. The plant remains idle, as owner Rick De Los Santos waits on the outcome of a hearing at 10 a.m. Friday in Albuquerque. Chief Judge Christina Armijo, of the U.S. District Court of New Mexico, is expected to rule whether to place a six- to 12-month temporary restraining order on horse meat slaughter inspections in the U.S. National and state animal protection groups and individuals filed a suit against the USDA to halt operations at the Roswell plant and a facility in Iowa, claiming the federal government failed to follow proper environmental reviews before issuing grants of inspections to the facilities. Meanwhile, New Mexico Environment Department’s denial of Valley Meat’s temporary discharge per mit earlier this month will not
Give us some sugar, Sugar
Jill McLaughlin Photo
Fire crews responded to a suspicious fire Saturday that apparently was started near a generator at Valley Meat Co.'s plant on Cedarvale Road near Roswell.
hinder the plant from opening Monday. De Los Santos has made arrangements to truck wastewater off the property until the permitting process is resolved, Dunn said. The department’s denial
has sparked some question as to why the company was treated differently. Kevin Powers of NMED’s Office of General Counsel said the company’s permit last expired in 2009. The company was notified fol-
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SPORTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball may try to suspend Alex Rodriguez under its collective bargaining agreement instead of its drug rules, which would eliminate any chance of delaying ... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES THERE ARE NO OBITUARIES FOR TODAY, JULY 30, 2013.
HIGH ..101˚ LOW ....72˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B4 ENTERTAINMENT.....A8 FINANCIAL .............B5 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 NATION .................A6 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
Council passes budget
See FIRE, Page A3
JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
INSIDE
MLB MAY SUSPEND RODRIGUEZ
lowing a lapsed review period to submit a renewal application, which Valley Meat did. “That’s where exchanges
Amy Vogelsang Photo
While waiting for the dairy goat competition to finish at Chaves County 4-H and FFA Fair Monday night, 2-year-old Miley Williams plays with her aunts’ goats.
Facing relatively flat revenues and rising expenses, City Councilors passed a preliminary budget for the fiscal year 2014 Monday. “A higher percentage of the city’s budgeted expenditures are actually being spent, which leaves less carryover into the following fiscal year,” according to City Manager Larry Fry. “Health insurance costs continue to rise significantly, as well as changing the parameters of part-time and temporary employees for benefit purposes.” All funds showed a reduced level of reserve funds, as allocating the resources was deemed best used as available resources, according to Fry.
US launches new Mideast peace bid ‘Who am I to judge?’
WASHINGTON (AP) — With a cast of characters that has presided over numerous failed Middle East peace ef forts, the Obama administration launched a fresh bid Monday to pull Israel and the Palestinians into substantive negotiations. Despite words of encouragement, deep skepticism about the prospects for success surrounded the initial discussions, which were opening with a dinner hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry. He named a for mer U.S. ambassador to Israel to shepherd what all sides believe will be a protracted and difficult process.
See BUDGET, Page A3
pope says of gay priests
AP Photo
Israel's Justice Minister and chief negotiator Tzipi Livni, second from left, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, second right, Yitzhak Molcho, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Mohammed Shtayyeh, aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, right, at an Iftar dinner, which celebrates Ramadan, at the State Department in Washington, Monday.
ABOARD THE PAPAL AIRCRAFT (AP) — A remarkably candid Pope Francis struck a conciliatory stance toward gays Monday, saying “who am I to judge” when it comes to the sexual orientation of priests. “We shouldn’t marginalize people for this. They must be integrated into society,” Francis said during an extraordinary 82-minute exchange with reporters aboard his plane returning from his first papal trip, to celebrate World Youth Day in Brazil. “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” the pope asked. Francis’ first news conference as pope was wide-ranging and open, touching on everything from the greater role he believes women should have in the Catholic Church to the troubled Vatican Bank. While his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, responded to only a few pre-selected questions during his papal trips, Francis did not dodge a single query, even thankSee POPE, Page A3
Official: Cannes diamond heist, perhaps biggest ever, actually nets $136M See PEACE, Page A3
PARIS (AP) — Wearing a scarf to mask his face, the gunman sneaked into the posh Cannes hotel and held up a diamond show as three security guards looked on, then fled on foot about a minute later. In the end, he made off with a breathtaking $136 million worth of valuables — the biggest jewelry heist in years, maybe ever. It was a French Riviera robbery that might make Hollywood scriptwriters smile. And it even happened
at a hotel that was featured in Alfred Hitchcock’s jewelencrusted thriller “To Catch a Thief.” On Monday, a state prosecutor provided new details about the brazen heist a day earlier at the Carlton Intercontinental hotel — not least that the loot was actually worth more than twice the (euro) 40 million ($53 million) estimate that police had first announced. The noontime caper Sunday along the town’s seaside promenade, La Croisette —
a playground for the rich and famous, sunbathing tourists, and most notably, world cinema stars every year — looked set to dwarf the value of two other jewelry thefts in the Riviera during the Cannes Film Festival in May. It also could eclipse two other massive heists over the past decade. In 2008, thieves — some dressed as women — stole $118 million in rings, necklaces and luxury watches from the Harry Winston store in Paris. A
robbery five years earlier at Belgium’s Antwerp Diamond Center netted an estimated $100 million. Philippe Vique, assistant prosecutor in the nearby town of Grasse, said the show’s Dubai-based organizer — whom he would not identify — had carried out a more complete inventory of the jewelry by Monday, and came up with the $136 million figure. In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Vique described a canny,
quick and logistically simple break-in. So far, the suspect is believed to have acted alone. He wore a scarf, cap and gloves, and somehow got into the ground-floor showroom through the hotel’s French doors, which open out onto a terrace on the Croisette — not the main entrance. The suspect then held up the show participants with a handgun, took the valuables, and fled through a side door onto a perpendicular street.