Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 122, No. 238 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
October 4, 2013
www.rdrnews.com
FRIDAY
Budget, debt unresolved on shutdown’s 3rd day
WASHINGTON (AP) — Three days into a government shutdown, President Barack Obama pointedly blamed House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday for keeping federal agencies closed, while the bitter budget dispute moved closer to a more critical showdown over the nation’s line of credit. The T reasury warned of calamitous results if Congress fails to raise the debt limit. Answering Obama, Boehner complained that the president was “steamrolling ahead” with the implementation of the nation’s new health care law. As the government operated sporadically, the
stock market sank to its lowest level in nearly a month. The shutdown was clearly leaving its mark. The National T ransportation Safety Board wasn’t sending investigators to Tennessee to probe a deadly church bus crash that killed eight people and sent 14 others to the hospital. The Labor Department said it wouldn’t release the highly anticipated September jobs report on Friday because the government remains shuttered. Outside the Capitol, shots rang out at midafternoon bringing an already tense Congress under lockdown, a nerve-wracking moment in a city still recovering from a
Sept. 16 mass shooting at the Navy Yard. Authorities and witnesses said a woman tried to ram her car through a White House barricade then led police on a chase that ended in gunfire and her death outside the Capitol more than 1 mile away. Despite the heated political rhetoric, some signs of a possible way out of the shutdown emerged. But the state of play remained in flux. Two House Republicans said Boehner told them he would allow a House vote on restarting the entire government — but only if conservative GOP lawmakers assured him they would not
attack it for failing to contain curbs on the health care law. So far they have been unwilling to give that commitment. The two spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal details of private discussions. The shutdown and the approaching debt ceiling were merging into one confrontation, raising the stakes for the president and Congress as well as for the economy. Obama and his Treasury Department said that failure to raise the nation’s borrowing limit, expected to hit its $16.7 trillion cap in midOctober, could precipitate an economic nosedive worse than the Great Recession.
Fair fun
Children get a thrill while riding the Jumpin' Star at the Eastern New Mexico State Fair, Thursday evening.
Mark Wilson Photo
Closure of BLM looms over county JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
A drawn out battle in Congress, that has now turned its focus to the Oct. 17 debt limit deadline, could impact the region’s oil and gas industry and some local workers. The federal closure of the Bureau of Land Management’s local of fice
has already halted the processing of drilling per mits. A prolonged backlog could interrupt the industry in southeast New Mexico, said New Mexico Oil and Gas Association’s spokesman Wally Drangmeister. “As time goes on, it just increases the likelihood of disruption,” See CLOSURE, Page A3
Police shoot driver in Capitol Hill chase WASHINGTON (AP) — A woman with a year -old child led Secret Service and police on a harrowing car chase from the White House past the Capitol Thursday, attempting to penetrate the security barriers at both national landmarks before she was shot to death, police said. The child survived. “I’m pretty confident this was not an accident,” said Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier. Still, Capitol Police said there appeared to be no terrorist link. Authorities would not say whether the woman had been armed. Tourists, congressional staff and even some senators watched as a caravan of law enforcement vehicles chase a black Infiniti with Connecticut license plates down Constitution Avenue
outside the Capitol. House and Senate lawmakers, inside debating how to end a government shutdown, briefly shuttered their chambers as Capitol Police shut down the building. The woman’s car at one point had been surrounded by police cars and she managed to escape, careening around a traffic circle and past the north side of the Capitol. Video shot by a TV camer man showed police pointing firearms at her car before she rammed a Secret Service vehicle and continued driving. Lanier said police shot and killed her a block northeast of the historic building. One Secret Service member and a 23-year veteran of the Capitol Police were injured. Officials said they are in good condition and expected to recover.
Make-A-Wish grants Water main break causes school closures teen photo shoot with Seventeen Magazine JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
TESS TOWNSEND RECORD STAFF WRITER
“They treated her and they treated us like royalty.” That’s what Steve Nunez, 54, of Roswell, had to say about the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The foundation recently granted his 18-year-old daughter Taylor’s wish to model for Seventeen Magazine. Goddard High School senior Taylor went to dinner at her favorite restaurant, Red Lobster, with 14 family members and friends Thursday to celebrate her return from the trip to New York City. The dinner was donated by Red
Lobster General Manager Hanan Galassini. Taylor suf fers from a ganglioneuroma, a rare variety of tumor that stems from nerve cells. Make-AWish fulfills wishes submitted by youth such as Taylor, who are diagnosed with life-threatening medical conditions. Taylor said her photo shoot experience as “amazing.” The Friday shoot included three other female Make-A-Wish recipients. Taylor said it was nice to know she was with other people in similar situations, See MAKE-A-WISH, Page A3
Four schools were closed Thursday after a water main burst in the Berrendo Co-Op Water system, leaving more than 1,200 children home for the day. Administrators made the call to close Berrendo Elementary and Middle schools, East Grand Plains Elementary and Mountain View Middle School early Thursday mor ning after maintenance workers determined they would need time to repair the broken pipe, said Assistant Superintendent for Financial Operations Chad Cole. The break happened after 4 p.m. Wednesday,
when construction crews working in the area hit the pipe, according to the co-op. Water was shut off to the schools shortly after. The co-op serves some 1,550 customers and has two maintenance workers. The workers spent all night repairing the pipe. A split was found and repaired by 11 a.m. Thursday, according to the co-op. School staff went out to the site to assess the situation at 4 a.m., Cole said. It was determined shortly after that the pipe would need extensive repairs. The bus contractor was informed to make route adjustments and school principals were called. “We sent out an auto message to parents, staff
Jill McLaughlin Photo
Berrendo Elementary School was one of four schools closed Thursday, following a water main break, Wednesday night, in the Berrendo Water Co-Op system.
and children in those schools,” Cole said. Many of the houses in the area also were affected. The district talked to the co-op and was assured the water pressure was restored by
Thursday afternoon. “They said they got the pressure up,” Cole said. “They’re comfortable that they found all the leaks. I’ve sent the maintenance guys out to the all the sites. “School is back on.”
114 African migrants die after ship capsizes off the coast of Italian island ROME (AP) — The rickety fishing boat was the third of the night to head t owa r d t he t in y It a li an i sla nd of La mpe du sa, overloaded with African migrants seeking a better life in Europe. Most never reached shore.
AP Photo
Bodies of drowned migrants are lined up in the port of Lampedusa Thursday.
HIGH 90 LOW 46
TODAY’S FORECAST
After the boat started taking on water, someone on board set a fire to get the attention of passing ships. The flames spread and panicked passengers su rg ed t o on e side t o avoid the fire. The vessel
• CAROLYN JEAN FITTS • VANCIL “VANCE” RAY FOWLER
capsized, and hundreds of men, women and children who didn’t know how to swim were flung into the Mediterranean Sea. At least 114 people died and some 200 were still u n ac cou nt ed fo r la te Thursday, Italian officials said. “We need only caskets, ce rt ain ly n ot am bu lances,” said Pietro Bartol o, c hi ef of Lam p ed u sa health services. It was one of the deadliest accidents in the per-
TODAY’S OBITUARIES - PAGE A7
ilous crossing thousands make each year, seeking a new life in the prosperous European Union. Smugglers charge thousands of d ollar s a h ead for t h e jou r n ey ab oar d over crowded, barely seaworthy boats that lack life vests. Lam p e du sa, 7 0 m iles (1 1 3 k ilom et er s) of f T u n is ia an d close r t o A fr ica t h an t h e It alian mainland, has been at the center of wave after wave of illegal immigration. “ It ’ s
an
CLASSIFIEDS ..........B6 COMICS .................B4 ENTERTAINMENT .....A8 FINANCIAL ..............B5
im m en se
t r age dy,” M ayor Giu si Nicolini said.
Between 450 and 500 people were believed to be on board the boat, which set sail from the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and capsized about a half-mile from Lampedusa; health com m i ssion er A nt on io C an d ela said on ly 1 5 9 were rescued. Bartolo initially put the death toll at 94 but said it wou ld cer t ain ly r ise as search operations continued.
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2 HOROSCOPES .........A8 LOTTERIES .............A2 NATION ..................A7
OPINION .................A4 SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ..............A8