Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 121, No. 206 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
APPLE TRIES TO LIMIT SAMSUNG SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple Inc. on Monday gave a federal judge a list of eight Samsung Electronics Co. products it wants pulled from shelves and banned from the U.S. market, including popular Galaxy model smar tphones. - PAGE A6
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
August 28, 2012
TUESDAY
www.rdrnews.com
Isaac brings painful Katrina memories
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — As she loaded supplies into her car to prepare for Isaac, Linda Grandison’s mind rewound to the nightmare of Katrina: Back in 2005, she had to flee her family’s flooded home and waited on a bridge for more than three days before being rescued by helicopter. Though Isaac is far less powerful than the historic hurricane that crippled New Orleans, the system was on an eerily similar path and forecast to make landfall on the seventh anniversary of Katrina, raising familiar fears and old anxieties in a city still recovering from a near mortal blow seven years ago. This time, Grandison is not taking any chances. She will stay with her mother in the New Orleans
suburb of Gretna, which did not flood in Katrina. The house has a generator to keep the refrigerator running if power goes out, and she has enough charcoal to grill out for days. “You can’t predict God’s work. This is nerve-wracking,” she said. “I hate leaving my house, worrying if it’s going to flood or get looted. But I’m not going to stay in the city again.” If Isaac comes ashore here, it will find a different city than the one blasted by Katrina. This New Orleans has a bigger, better levee system and other improvements designed to endure all but the most destructive stor ms. Many neighborhoods have rebuilt. Some remain desolate, filled with empty, dilapidated homes. The Army Corps of Engineers was given about $14
billion to improve flood defenses, and most of the work has been completed. Experts say the city can handle a storm comparable to a Category 3 hurricane. Isaac is expected to come ashore as early as Tuesday night as a Category 1 storm, striking anywhere from west of New Orleans to the Florida Panhandle. Mayor Mitch Landrieu said he understood residents’ worries, but tried to reassure them that the city was prepared. “I think everything will be OK,” he said. But people in this city aren’t easily soothed because they’ve never forgotten the images of families stranded at the decrepit Louisiana SuperSee ISAAC, Page A3
Lawrence Bros. Family Day success
AP Photo
This Aug, 31, 2005, file photo shows a man pushing his bicycle through flood waters near the Superdome in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina left much of the city under water. Katrina’s legacy looms large as Isaac heads toward New Orleans and politicians are calibrating their actions and their words, mindful of the sensitivities of how the public will perceive them.
Often uncredited, group helps the needy
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JULIA BERGMAN RECORD STAFF WRITER
INSIDE SPORTS
Mark Wilson Photo
JAPAN CLAIMS 8TH LLWS TITLE SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — Fast friends in the Little League dorms, the boys from Japan and Tennessee played one last game Sunday to decide which team would be crowned World Series champions. - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
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John Riley Ussery Kenneth W. Clark John D. Turner Pete W. Chaves Ricardo Ivan Campos Joe Dolores Lucero Sr. - PAGE A6
HIGH ...92˚ LOW ....61˚
Anthony Silvestri, 7, gets a fire hose lesson from Roswell firefighters during Special Needs Family Day at Lawrence Brothers IGA, Saturday.
GOP convention protests muted, small
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — There have been no speeches inside the convention hall and it’s nearly as quiet outside, too. So far, the protests have been muted and only two people have been arrested as of Monday night. That’s in stark contrast to four years ago, when hundreds of protesters were arrested at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. AP Photo Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor said police this Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor speaks to reporters as week are trying to give lee- Code Pink protesters hold signs, Monday, in Tampa. way to protesters in the street, but when a 20- ings are prohibited in the cross the line into criminal behavior,” she added. year-old man refused to event zones. Protesters can say and remove a bandanna covering his face on Monday, he do whatever they would See PROTESTS, Page A3 was arrested. Face cover- like “as long as they don’t
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
Strapped for resources, often without a building to house their operations, N ew M exico n on p r ofit organizations that directly serve children may find b ack in g f r om a g r ou p seem in gly un k n own t o those living in the southeast region: the New Mexico Children’s Foundation. Founded by former first lady Alice King, the foundation celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. A s K in g tr av eled th e state with her husband an d t h en - Gov. B r u ce King, she would often host p an el s, “ ask in g w hat ’ s happening in your community, what isn’t being m et , w hat a r e t h e b ig problems and from doing that she realized that the See CHILDREN, Page A3
A subdued start for GOP convention as Isaac surges
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Republicans staged a remarkably subdued opening to Mitt Romney’s national convention Monday in the midst of a turbulent election year, wary of uncorking a glittery political celebration as Tropical Storm Isaac surged menacingly toward New Orleans and the norther n Gulf Coast.
There was speculation that the Republican man of the hour would make an unannounced visit to the convention hall Tuesday night when his wife, Ann, was on the speaking program. The campaign would confirm only that he was
flying to town in time to do so. Virtually every party leader spoke somberly of the storm’s potential damage during the day, including the candidate. “Our thoughts are with the people that are in the storm’s path and hope that they’re spared any major destruction,” said Romney, the man seeking to defeat Democratic President Barack Obama. Though Republicans are intent on turning the campaign’s focus back to the nation’s sluggish economic growth and high unemploySee GOP, Page A3
Court rules in favor of oil companies in multi-million dollar royalties dispute
SANTA FE (AP) — New Mexico’s highest court has ruled in favor of the oil industry in a dispute over whether two companies owed the state nearly $25 million in royalties for natural gas and oil produced on state land.
The court’s unanimous ruling last week was a setback for the State Land Office, which contended that producers have shortchanged New Mexico in what they pay for producing gas and oil on land owned by the state.
The Land Of fice manages leases for oil and gas production as well as live-
stock grazing on state lands. The agency earned a record-setting $652 million last year, with 97 percent of that from oil and gas.
In the case before the court, audits by the Land Office in 2005 and 2006 claimed that ConocoPhillips Co. owed the state $18.9 million for the underpayment of royalties and Burlington Resources Oil and Gas Co. owed $5.6 million. The companies challenged the assessments and a district court in Lovington ruled in their favor in 2007. The Land Office
appealed but the Supreme Court agreed with the district court over how royalty payments should be calculated under lease arrangements that in some instances date to the 1930s and 1940s.
One of the central issues is whether companies should be allowed to continue to deduct certain expenses for making natural gas marketable after it’s produced at well sites. Those so-called post-production costs include removing water and other impurities from the gas, and then transporting the gas to plants for additional
pr ocessing befor e it’s shipped in pipelines for commercial distribution.
Royalties ar e paid on “net pr oceeds” and the Land Office sought to limit costs that can be deducted by producers. Some gas is produced from oil wells and the ruling also involves royalties paid on that. Land Commissioner Ray Powell said his agency, the attorney general’s office and contract attorneys for the state were assessing the ef fect of the court’s ruling and the next step the state will take in other lawsuits. The legal dispute
over r oyalty payments began under Powell’s predecessor, former Land Commissioner Pat L yons.
“I want to work in a reasonable manner with the oil and gas companies because they ar e so important to the beneficiaries. I just expect them to pay their fair share and take care of the health of the land in the process,” said Powell. Public schools, universities and state hospitals benefit from revenues collected on oil and gas production on state trust lands managed by the Land Office.