Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 121, No. 193 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
August 12, 2012
SUNDAY
www.rdrnews.com
Roswell Pride moves, protesters follow CHAUNTE’L POWELL RECORD STAFF WRITER
OPEN CALL FOR ‘SESAME STREET’
NEW YORK (AP) — So you grew up watching Elmo, Cookie Monster and Big Bird, and now you want to be friends with Rosita, Luis and Maria. If you are a bilingual actor or actress between the ages of 18 and 25, this may be the chance of a lifetime ... - PAGE C5
Members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender community were able to let their rainbow flags fly, Saturday, at Roswell Pride 2012. The event took place at Cielo Grande Park, despite the obstacles faced during the week. The Hope Amphitheater was the original venue, but when volunteers went to decorate Wednesday, they were told there were multiple code violations and their permit to have the event had been pulled. The function wasn’t cancelled for long. Volunteer Desiree Vaitkunas aka “Bunny” said that within 24 hours both the mayor and the city manager found them a new venue
Mark Wilson Photos
Above: Signs show support for the lesbian and gay community during Roswell Pride 2012, at Cielo Grande, Saturday afternoon. Left: Protesters are kept at a distance from those attending Roswell Pride 2012, at Cielo Grande, Saturday afternoon. Even armed with a megaphone their voices went unheard as techno music blared from the stage all day long.
TOP 5 WEB
For The Past 24 Hours
• 2 dead in US 70 collision • After Hope lock-out, Roswell Pride ... • NMMI’s new RATs arrive on campus • Pearce visits Roswell constituents • Heinrich vows to protect Medicare
INSIDE SPORTS
USA GALS ROUNDBALL TAKES GOLD
LONDON (AP) — The names change, not the results. Just call the U.S. women’s basketball team Olympic champion. The Americans won their fifth straight gold medal Saturday, routing France 86-50 and putting more distance between themselves and the rest of the world heading to Rio for the 2016 Games. - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Judith Marie Kasuboski • Heather Perini-Lightfoot • Nona Stroshine • Mary “Floris” Cotton • Kent Terry • W. Ray Noling • Fern P. Moody • Antonia M. Armijo - PAGE B6
HIGH .100˚ LOW ....71˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........D1 COMICS.................C4 FEATURE ...............C5 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........D2 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WASHINGTON .........A7 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
and issued a permit, all the while sending what she feels is a strong message. “Twenty-four hours for a permit to happen from the city is generally unheard of,” she said. “In other words, we have the sup-
port of the city.” Vaitkunas is a male-tofemale transgender and said her outlook on the city has always been positive. “I moved here in ’05 and was told by a lot of people that nobody here would
accept me,” she said. “Nobody would welcome me. This is a very conservative and highly religious area. I haven’t met any of these people that they warned me about.” See PRIDE, Page A3
Romney anoints Ryan for VP Dems quickly pounce NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Republican Mitt Romney anointed Wisconsin Rep. Paul R yan, an ardent conservative and devoted budget cutter, as his vice presidential running mate on Saturday, and the two men immediately embarked on a tour of campaign battleground states vowing to defeat President Barack Obama and repair the long-ailing U.S. economy. America is “a nation facing debt, doubt and despair,” and a transformative change in leadership is vital, R yan AP Photo declared to a flag-waving crowd in the first Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., at a rally at RanSee RYAN, Page A3 dolph-Macon College in Ashland, Va., Saturday.
on Romney’s choice
CHICAGO (AP) — Democrats pounced on Mitt Romney’s selection of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate Saturday, saying the pick showed a commitment to “budget-busting tax cuts” for the wealthy and greater burdens on the middle class and seniors. President Barack Obama’s campaign team said Romney’s choice made clear that the former Massachusetts governor would be forced to adhere to the principles laid out in the House Republican budget — authored by R yan — which they said would undermine entitlement programs crucial to middleclass families and seniors.
Democrats said privately that the choice of R yan could help Obama in states with large numbers of elderly voters, such as Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Obama met with top advisers Saturday at his campaign headquarters shortly after arriving in Chicago for a series of birthday-themed fundraisers scheduled for Sunday. The president did not publicly comment on R yan’s selection and aides described the headquarters stop as a typical weekly meeting. Obama’s campaign manager, Jim Messina, said in
NM Medical Board issues rules to confront opioid abuse
SANTA FE (AP) — The New Mexico Medical Board passed new rules calling for doctors and patients to get more education about the perils of prescription painkillers.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that doctors who are licensed by the board and have a federal prescriber’s license for opioids have to take five hours of continuing education about pain management before June 30, 2014, and five hours of training before each
license renewal after that.
The steps are part of the state’s fight against opioid abuse. From 2001 to 2010, opioid sales in New Mexico rose 131 percent. Overdose deaths, too, have increased in the past decade. The rate of overdoses from all drugs, including illegal substances, in 2011 was 25.9 deaths per 100,000 residents — among the highest in the United States, according to the Department of Health.
West bakes; relief in sight
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Temperatures soared into triple digits across the western United States on Saturday as a continuing heat wave strained energy supplies and sent thousands to beaches, lakes and shopping malls in search of cooler climes. A large and forceful high pressure system pushed the mercury to roughly 10 degrees above nor mal across the West, but relief is in sight — the system is drifting east. By Tuesday, temperatures should be back to normal, said David Sweet, meteorologist for the National Weather Service. California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Montana all reported high-
er than normal temperatures. Authorities in numerous states issued war nings for everything from fire danger to energy use to dehydration — and even to be on lookout for hungry bears. With some areas of Colorado seeing almost double the number of days with 90-plus temperatures this year, bears have seen their natural food supply dry up, forcing them to forage in human habitats. In Phoenix, a desert city well accustomed to blistering summer temperatures, record highs were set three days last week. Temperatures on Wednesday hit 116. This weekend, the See HEAT, Page A2
The classes for doctors will include lessons on the pharmacology and risks of controlled substances, and information about the problems of abuse, addiction and diversion of medicine. This is the first time the board has required doctors to take continuing education courses in a specific area. The rules also call for doctors with new patients to look at the past year of a patient’s medical records through the state’s Pre-
See DEMS, Page A3
scription Drug Monitoring Program before prescribing certain painkillers. Every six months, doctors will review the prescription histories of patients who are on long-term opioids.
The new rules also require that chronic-pain patients being treated with painkillers sign an agreement with doctors confir ming the patient’s responsibility with the See ABUSE, Page A3
Hike no more, Gracie; enjoy the wheels CHAUNTE’L POWELL RECORD STAFF WRITER
Mark Wilson Photo
Gracie Montes tries on her new adult tricycle, Friday, as Clay Wilson, of Farley’s management. looks on.
Many people would have a hard time walking a mile in Gracie Montes’ shoes, let alone the four she walks to and from work every day. In addition to the trek to work, Montes must now walk 14 blocks to drop her 8-year-old daughter off at her elementary school. The prep cook at Farley’s has no license, no car, and must walk everywhere she needs to go. Friday she was given slight relief in the form of an electric-blue Kent 7-speed adult tricycle. Renee Hof fman and her daughter Olivia Stanford found out about Montes’ situation and contacted Farley’s management. Melanie Steele and Clay Wilson, the restaurant’s co-owners, purchased the tricycle from a good Samaritan and decided to present it to Montes See MONTES, Page A2