Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 122, No. 195 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE VISION
• RFAL Juried Art Show • Roswell Symphony Orchestra Labor Day Pops Concert • Mouth of the South plays the Unity Center • Billy Joe Shaver plays The Liberty • Entertainment calendar
INSIDE
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
August 15, 2013
THURSDAY
www.rdrnews.com
Hundreds killed as Egypt smashes protests
CAIRO (AP) — In Egypt’s bloodiest day since the Arab Spring began, riot police Wednesday smashed two protest camps of supporters of the deposed Islamist president, touching off street violence that officials said killed nearly 300 people and forced the military-backed interim leaders to impose a state of emergency and curfew. The crackdown drew widespread condemnation from the Muslim world and the West, including the U.S., and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei resigned as the interim vice president in protest — a blow to the new leadership’s credibility with the pro-reform movement. “Today was a dif ficult
day,” interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi said in a televised address to the nation. While he regretted the bloodshed, he of fered no apologies for moving against the supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, saying they were given ample warnings to leave and he had tried foreign mediation efforts. The leaders of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood called it a “massacre.” Several of them were detained as police swept through the two sit-in sites, scores of other Islamists were taken into custody, and the future of the once-banned movement was uncertain. Backed by helicopters, police fired tear gas and
used armored bulldozers to plow into the barricades at the two protest camps in different sections of Cairo where the Morsi supporters had been camped since before he was ousted by the military July 3.
Army troops did not take part in the two operations, which began shortly after 7 a.m. (0500 GMT — 1 a.m. EDT), although they provided security at the locations.
The smaller camp — near Cairo University in Giza — was cleared of protesters relatively quickly, most taking refuge in the nearby Orman botanical gardens, on the campus of Cairo University and the zoo. See EGYPT, Page A3
AP Photo
Egyptian security forces detain protesters as they clear a sitin by supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in the eastern Nasr City district of Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday.
Learning the ropes
Investigation of in-custody death ongoing
NEWS
JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
TROUBLED LA. MAN HOLDS BANK HOSTAGE
- PAGE A6
INSIDE SPORTS
Mark Wilson Photo
New cadets at New Mexico Military Institute go through a training session at the rappelling tower on campus, Wednesday.
The City of Roswell responded to the Office of the Medical Investigation report that ruled the manner of the in-custody death for Cody Towler was homicide in a prepared statement. The autopsy resulted from an incident where Towler was pronounced dead on Feb. 4 after officers were dispatched on a disorderly person call. The statement says: “… a multijurisdictional investigative team comprised of the Roswell Police Department, Chaves County Sheriff’s Office and the New Mexico State Police are currently performing a thorough investigation in regards to facts recently obtained by the Office of the Medical Investigator. The Roswell Police Department has complied with requests from the multijurisdictional team, and will continue to act in accor-
State medical marijuana program rarely rejects
DODGERS GET 7TH STRAIGHT WIN
- PAGE B1
TODAY’S • • • •
OBITUARIES
Christine Hughes Manuel Ray Jojola Ray Luna Simon C. Medrano - PAGE A6
As of 10:10 p.m., Wednesday, there were 0.30 inches of rain in the gauge at the Daily Record.
RAINFALL
HIGH ...96˚ LOW ....68˚
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
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — People applying to become part of New Mexico’s 6year-old medical marijuana program are seldom rejected. The Albuquerque Journal reports that of the 12,977 applications submitted to the New Mexico Department of Health since the program began in 2007, only 25 resulted in flat-out denials. The newspaper also reports that some patients approved for the program may not have met the criteria to legally use medical marijuana to ease debilitating pain or illness. A family-practice physi-
cian in Albuquerque, Dr. Nicholas Nardacci, approved 98 percent of the patients whom he evaluated for the cannabis program.
As of Aug. 1, 9,607 people were approved to use the drug under the program overseen by the Department of Health, which relies on physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners around the state to screen and determine initial eligibility of patients. The Department of Health reviews the certifications submitted See MARIJUANA, Page A3
Terrorists using online chat rooms to evade US WASHINGTON (AP) — Al-Qaida fighters have been using secretive chat rooms and encrypted Internet message boards for planning and coordinating attacks — including the threatened if vague plot that U.S. officials say closed 19 diplomatic posts across Africa and the Middle East for more than a week. It’s highly unlikely that al-Qaida’s top leader, A yman al-Zawahri, or his chief lieutenant in Yemen, Nasser alWahishi, were personally part of the Internet chatter or, given the intense manhunt for both by
See INVESTIGATION, Page A3
U.S. spy agencies, that they ever go online or pick up the phone to discuss terror plots, experts say.
But the unspecified call to arms by the alQaida leaders, using a multi-layered subterfuge to pass messages from couriers to tech-savvy underlings to attackers, provoked a quick reaction by the U.S. to protect Americans in far flung cor ners of the world where the terror network is evolving into regional hubs.
See TERRORISTS, Page A3
Mark Wilson Photo
TownePlace Suites Roswell manager Peggy Tedford welcomes guests to the hotel's grand opening, Wednesday afternoon.
TownePlace Suites looks to offer visitors a home away from home AMY VOGELSANG RECORD STAFF WRITER
The patio was alive with classic Creedence Clearwater Revival, Eagles and Jim Morrison tunes played by the live Tesoro Band while the smell of BBQ drifted on the afternoon breeze. Although it opened officially on June 13, the TownePlace Suites by Marriott, 180 E. 19th St., held a grand opening and ribbon-cutting event Wednesday. The difference between this new hotel and others in the area, said General Manager Peggy Tedford, is that TownePlace is meant to cater to long-ter m stays. Whether the room is a one bedroom, a two-
queen room, a queen suite or a two bedroom, they all have a fully equipped kitchen, including a fridge, dishwasher and dishes. The two bedroom is a total of 625 square feet, making it spacious enough to stay for weeks at a time. “I’ve had people tell me it’s bigger than apartments they have lived in,” Tedford said. She helped design the place, furnished it and enjoyed the task of decorating. On top of a kitchen, every specific bedroom has a phone, alarm, television and air unit, and each room has wifi as well as a wireless connect. There are also multiple cleaning services offered,
including a full cleaning where the dishwasher will be set as well as the basics covered, such as refreshing linens. A sister of the Fairfield Inn & Suites, 1201 N. Main, TownePlace aims to make visitors feel welcome. “We make it seem like a home away from home,” said employee Aimee Mendoza. And this philosophy seems to be an accurate summary according to Diane Little, a guest in the hotel. On a business trip with the employee-owned government research corporation Westat, Little arrived Wednesday and See SUITES, Page A3