Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vets still skeptical after VA field hearing Vol. 123, No. 189 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
BY JEFF TUCKER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Some veterans who attended a congressional field hearing in Roswell Wednesday said they heard a lot a talk about improvements to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, but were waiting for results. The congressional field hearing chaired by U.S. Rep. Jef f Miller, R-Fla., became heated when Miller, chair man of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, asked about the wait time for medical appointments for New Mexico’s veterans. Officials from the VA said the average wait time for New Mexico veterans seek-
August 7, 2014
THURSDAY
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ing a primary care consultation is 47 days. The average wait time for a New Mexico veteran to see a mental health professional is 41 days, and the average wait time to see a specialist is 64 days, the VA officials testified. Dr. Jaime Robbins of the VA said the wait times are for primary perspective new patients, prompting Miller to object to the terminology. “Wait, wait, wait,” Miller said. “What the hell is a primary perspective?” Miller said the VA officials were changing the metrics and speaking in esoteric terms only known to VA officials. “All we want to know is how long it takes a vet to
see a doc, period,” Miller said. U.S. Reps. Steve Pearce, R-Hobbs, and Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., a member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, also participated in Wednesday’s congressional field hearing at the Roswell Convention & Civic Center. About a hundred veterans attended, some of whom told the Daily Record afterward that improvements to the Veterans Administration would speak louder than words. “It was a lot of talking,” said Frank Carrillo, of Roswell, a U.S. Army veteran. “Hopefully, there will be some results.”
Jeff Tucker Photo
U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, left, speaks at a congressional hearing in Roswell Wednesday regarding the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Pictured on the right is U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
Pakistani minister works toward Officials discuss unity between Muslims, other faiths infrastructure list See VA, Page A3
BY RANDAL SEYLER RECORD STAFF WRITER
BY TIMOTHY P. HOWSARE RECORD EDITOR
Relationships between Muslims and the small Christian population in Pakistan are tenuous at best. A Christian or other minority religion accused of blasphemy against a Muslim, whose faith is practiced by 97 percent of the nation’s population of 200 million, can be sentenced to death. But sometimes all it takes is a gentle handshake, a warm smile and a blessing to turn an enemy into a friend. Majid Abel, pastor of a 2,000-member Presbyterian congregation in Lahore, a city in Pakistan, spoke of his participation on interfaith commissions in his home country at Wednesday’s Pecos Valley Rotary Club meeting. Abel was accompanied by Kent Keydens, pastor of
Timothy P. Howsare Photo
City officials and state legislators met in a workshop Tuesday to discuss future infrastructure projects, ranging from needed sewer and street repairs and the Yucca Center. “This is a preliminary list of projects we would like to accomplish in the next five years,” City Manager Larry Fry said of the Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan, an eight-page list that encompassed more than $130 million worth of projects. “We would like to prioritize the first five or 10 projects for funding.” The city needs the official list of projects, which is required to be filed with the state by Sept. 2, to be eligible for both state and federal funding, Fry said. Including projects on the list also makes them eligible for some grant funding. Councilors will finalize their top five list next Thursday during their August meeting so the ICIP
can be submitted to the state. Some of the projects on the list are already partially funded, or have funding underway, but they are still on the list to keep funding options available, Fry explained. “We attempt to get all the capital projects listed in one place, and then we review that list annually,” Fry said. The project at the top of the list was the Yucca Center, with $500,000 requested to replace the roof and HVAC for the community center. However, the 100year-old facility has infrastructure damage and is not ADA compliant, meaning disabled visitors cannot access the upper floors of the old high school building. “The gymnasium is still in pretty good shape, although it is old-fashioned,” Parks Director Tim Williams told the officials. However, due to access
Woman sues employer State’s child support crackdown in effect over medical marijuana See UNITY, Page A6
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A New Mexico physician’s assistant who also is a medical marijuana patient says one of the state’s largest health care providers violated her rights when it fired her following a positive drug test.
Donna Smith is the latest medical marijuana patient to go to court to seek protections for workers who have been fired due to their participation in the state’s medical marijuana program. She filed her lawsuit against
From left, Oben Abel, 13, Pastor Kent Keydens, Rev. Dr. Majid Abel and Sofia Abel, 10.
Presbyterian Healthcare Services in state district court in June, and her attorney is now seeking a hearing date.
Smith worked for Presbyterian for four days in February. She was fired after a urine test came back positive for the active ingredient in marijuana. According to the lawsuit, she submitted a doctor’s note and her stateissued medical marijuana card, but Presbyterian offi-
SANTA FE — For the third year in a row, Gov. Susana Martinez has announced a two-part crackdown on non-custodial parents who aren’t paying child support. The child support bench warrant operation started Monday, Aug. 4, and continues through the end of August. Until Aug. 29, non-custodial parents with an outstanding bench warrant due to unpaid child support obligations may visit one of the 14 child support offices across the state, pay the full amount of the
bond, and get the warrant quashed or cancelled without fear of arrest. During the final week of August, New Mexico State Police (NMSP) and local law enforcement partners, will begin the round up portion of the Bench Warrant Program, where non-custodial parents face arrest. If an individual is unable to pay the full amount of the bond set by the court, a reduced bond payment or payment plan toward the amount of past due child support may be negotiated, with the consent of the
Biden on minors at border: ‘These are our kids’
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the United States will be judged by how it treats the thousands of young immigrants showing up on its border, but warned that the U.S. will be forced to send some minors back to dangerous, unfortunate environments nonetheless. “These are not somebody else’s kids. These are our kids,” Biden said. Appealing to lawyers to help represent unaccompanied minors, Biden said it would be a difficult task for
See POT, Page A3
an overburdened legal system to assess whether children apprehended on the border meet the criteria for refugee status and whether returning them would risk their physical demise. At the same time, he said it’s not feasible for the U.S. to let children stay here just because they would be better off in the U.S. than in their home countries. “Judges are going to be sending some kids back to environments that aren’t’ as good even as the facilities they’re living in,” Biden said, referring to detention
facilities the U.S. has hastily set up to house the influx of immigrants. But their circumstances “will not meet the standards of asylum.” Biden’s remarks to people in the legal services community reflected the sense of urgency the Obama administration sees in securing legal representation for more than 57,000 unaccompanied children despite its inability to persuade Congress to agree on emergency funds to address the influx. The White House said fewer than half of those children currently have lawyers.
Biden said the key to stemming the surge is to address the root causes in violence-plagued Central American nations that are prompting parents to hand their children over to “unscrupulous” individuals to smuggle them over the border. Yet he lamented that domestic political concerns were preventing the leaders of those nations, who came to the White House last month to discuss the crisis, from taking the types of steps that Colombia has taken to curb narcotics and corruption.
HIGH 97 LOW 70
• ROBERT “BOB” JAMES RICH JR. • JOHN JAY CARNES • SAMUEL JOHN CORDOVA JR.
• STUART MARSHALL PRITCHARD • ALICE MODELL FULKERSON • JOSEPH ERNEST CILLIS
TODAY’S FORECAST
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE A6
parent to whom the support obligation is owed and the approval of the court that issued the warrant. Non-custodial parents with a written job offer may also request to negotiate a lower bond payment with wage withholding payments. “You have to contribute to the upbringing of your children,” said Martinez. “Consistent child support payments are critical to helping kids and their families achieve economic stability, and New Mexico is committed to providing as many tools as possible to
See ICIP, Page A2
help parents support their children emotionally and financially.”
The child support program works to ensure that non-custodial parents are fulfilling their obligations to their children and custodial parents. During fiscal year 2014, the New Mexico Human Services Department (HSD) Child Support Enforcement Division (CSED) set yet another record in child support collections with a total of $137.1 million collected. See CRACKDOWN, Page A2
AP Photo
This April 30, file photo shows Diana Jimenez, 2, as she sleeps in a stroller during a rally sponsored by local immigrant rights organizations, in Homestead, Fla. Jimenez's father was deported to Guatemala two years ago, leaving Jimenez and four siblings in the U.S. CLASSIFIEDS ..........B6
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2
FINANCIAL ..............B4
LOTTERIES .............A2
COMICS .................B5
HOROSCOPES .........A8
OPINION .................A4
SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ..............A8