Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 121, No. 238 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
Obama, Romney clash on economy
EAST HAMPTON, Conn. (AP) — The 180-year-old New England company that made the little bell that rings every time an angel gets its wings in the Christmas classic Itʼs a Wonderful Life has resumed production in time for the holidays, four months after its 19th-century factory burned down. - PAGE A7
THURSDAY
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DENVER (AP) — In a showdown at close quarters, President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney sparred aggressively in their first campaign debate Wednesday night over taxes, deficits and strong steps needed to create jobs in a sputtering national economy. “The status quo is not going to cut it,” declared the challenger.
FACTORY RESUMES PRODUCTION
October 4, 2012
Obama in turn accused his rival of seeking to “double down” on economic policies that actually led to the devastating national
downturn four years ago — and of evasiveness when it came to prescriptions for tax changes, health care, Wall Street regulation and more.
The economy dominated the evening, as it has the race for the White House all year. Pre-debate opinion polls showed Obama with a slight advantage in key battleground states and nationally.
Romney said he had plans to fix the economy, overhaul the tax code, repeal Obama’s health care plan and replace with a
better alternative, remake Medicare, pass a substitute for the legislation designed to prevent another financial crash and reduce deficits — but he provided no new specifics despite Obama’s prodding.
Said Obama, “At some point the American people have to ask themselves: Is the reason Gov. Romney is keeping all these plans secret, is it because they’re going to be too good? Because middle class families benefit too much? No.” See DEBATE, Page A3
AP Photo
Iranian currency in crisis
Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama before their first presidential debate, Wednesday.
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INSIDE SPORTS
Mark Wilson Photo
Fabulous fun at the fair; check it out J.C. Wagner receives a ride atop Caeser, a Bactrian camel, at the Eastern New Mexico State Fair, Wednsday.
NOAH VERNAU RECORD STAFF WRITER
A’S TAKE AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Oakland Athletics captured the AL West with another improbable rally in a season full of them, coming back from four runs down and a 13-game division deficit to stun the two-time defending league champion Texas Rangers 12-5 on Wednesday. Josh Hamilton dropped a fly ball in center field for a two-run error that put the A’s (94-68) ahead 7-5 in a six-run fourth inning. While Hamilton’s Rangers (93-69) are headed to the new one-game, wild-card playoff, the A’s get some time off before ... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Elma Jean Gay - PAGE A7
HIGH ...80˚ LOW ....52˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B5 COMICS.................B3 FINANCIAL .............B4 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
The Eastern New Mexico State Fair may have reached its halfway point, but with a wide selection of
music acts, carnival rides, shows and performances still to come, it’s fair to say the fun is just getting started. Trish Lair, fair manager, said the music acts this week should attract folks from far and wide.
Vinnie Baggatone & The Baggavaughns, an Elvis impersonator group, will entertain the fair crowd tonight at 7 p.m., leading up to two huge nights of music Friday and See FAIR, Page A3
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian authorities used aggressive measures Wednesday in an attempt to halt the nosedive of the country’s currency, making arrests, vowing to stamp out sidewalk money changers and warning merchants against fueling the mounting public anger over the economy. There were unconfir med reports of sporadic violence. Associated Press photos showed riot police blocking a street with the charred hulks of a garbage can and a motorcycle that had been set on fire. Smoke was rising from the area in central Tehran near the main bazaar. The sweeping responses to the freefall of the rial — which has lost more than a third of its value in a week — underscored the worries for Iranian leaders after months of dismissing the West’s economic squeeze seeking to rein in Tehran’s nuclear program. A declining currency causes shifts in an economy such as making imported goods more expensive. Although the currency crisis is blamed on a combination of See IRAN, Page A3
Riece tells geologists ‘nature heals’ NOAH VERNAU RECORD STAFF WRITER
AP Photo
Drought leads to grass theft Cattle graze on a ranch outside of Encino, Sept. 26.
VAUGHN (AP) — Petty crime and burglaries aren’t unusual in New Mexico’s isolated Guadalupe County, but lately Sherif f Michael Lucero has seen thieves steal something a bit unexpected: grass. With drought drying out
grazing land and driving up hay prices, some ranchers in New Mexico have started cutting neighbors’ fences or leaving gates open so their cattle can graze on greener pastures. See GRASS, Page A3
American Association of Petroleum Geologists ethics lecturer W.C. “Rusty” Riese delivered a speech titled “Oil Spills, Ethics and Society: How They Intersect and Where Responsibilities Reside,” Wednesday, at the Civic Center during the Pecos Valley Energy Dinner. Marita Noon, dinner committee member, said the event was put together by a 12-member comMark Wilson Photo mittee that consists of professionals throughout Keynote speaker W.C. “Rusty” Riese speaks with attendees to the Pecos Valley Energy Dinner reception, Wednesday evening. See OIL, Page A2
Fair Queen Katie Creager plans career as vet NOAH VERNAU RECORD STAFF WRITER
INDEX
Courtesy Photo
Fair Queen Katie Creager poses for a photo with an admirer at the Eastern New Mexico Fairgrounds.
Hobbs resident Katie Creager, 16, emerged from a pool of five contestants Sunday as the 2012-2013 Fair Queen, following a close competition that included horsemanship speeches, onstage questions and modeling. The daughter of Mary and Greg Creager, Katie is no stranger to the stage, having previously won
Lea County Rodeo Princess and Miss Rodeo New Mexico Princess crowns in 2010. Katie, a junior at Hobbs High School, earned a $1,000 scholarship for college. “I really like representing rodeo and agriculture wherever I go,” she said. “Throughout all the contests, you always learn something new about yourself and better ways to handle yourself in pressure situations, and
See QUEEN, Page A2
Feds face tough territory in border agent shooting probe
NACO, Ariz. (AP) — Investigators searching a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border for clues into the fatal shooting of a Border Patrol agent face a treacherous territory that is heavily used by drug smugglers, offers many hiding places and is close enough to Mexico for traffickers to make a quick getaway.
Whoever killed Agent Nicholas Ivie and wounded another agent in the sparsely populated desert in southeaster n Arizona
early Tuesday may have done just that. Those who carried out the shooting near Bisbee, Ariz., probably had time to cross the border in the early-mor ning darkness before authorities could seal off an escape route, said George McCubbin, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing about 17,000 border patrol agents. See FEDS, Page A2