Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 121, No. 242 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
NOBEL FOR STEM CELL WORK NEW YORK (AP) — Two scientists from different generations won the Nobel Prize in medicine Monday for the groundbreaking discovery that cells in the body can be reprogrammed into completely different kinds, work that reflects the mechanism ...
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
October 9, 2012
TUESDAY
www.rdrnews.com
Obama regroups; Romney appears confident WASHINGTON (AP) — As the White House race shows signs of tightening nationally, President Barack Obama’s campaign is banking on a massive getout-the-vote operation and state-by-state shades of economic improvement to maintain its apparent polling edge in battlegrounds from Ohio to Virginia.
Republican Mitt Romney, re-energized by last week’s debate, is flashing new confidence on the campaign trail and pressing toward the political center on both foreign and domestic issues. But aides have outlined no clear path to win-
ning the 270 Electoral College votes required to gain the White House. Among Democrats, the swagger of the previous few weeks has all but vanished since the debate. “Ultimately this is a tight race, and it’s going to remain a tight race until the end,” said Bill Burton, who runs Priorities USA Action, a pro-Obama “super” political action committee. Indeed, one month from Election Day, polls show a close race. And with millions of Americans already voting and the potential for game-changing moments diminishing, the candidates
have little room for error as they seek to sway a narrow swath of undecided voters. Obama aides acknowledge Romney’s strong turn on the debate stage helped him shift gears from a rocky September. But they also argue that Romney’s momentum was arrested somewhat by a Friday jobs report showing the unemployment rate declined to 7.8 percent, the lowest level of Obama’s presidency. They say the president was thrown during the debate by what they call Romney’s willingness to abandon his previous posiSee CAMPAIGN, Page A3
That feeling like you’re being watched
AP Photo
President Barack Obama speaks at the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, Monday, in Keene, Calif.
Skydiver eyes recordbreaking jump
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TOP 5 WEB
For The Past 24 Hours
• Man flees from, shoots at members of the RPD • NM residents vow to fight forest travel plan • DA: NM fugitive became cartel assassin ... • Child killed in ATV ... • Rockets ride momentum for win
INSIDE SPORTS
Carnival-goers ride the Mardi Gras Fun House slide at the Eastern New Mexico State Fair, last week.
Mark Wilson Photo
Erratic behavior, running from police lands man in jail JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
WEEK 6: HOME STRETCH Six weeks down, five to go. We are officially in the home stretch of the 2012 high school football season. Last week was highlighted by a battle of the final two unbeatens in ... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Aurora Contreras • Virginia Dansbee • Dora J. Garcia • James Kirkendall • Anita Parham • Mary Sedillo • James Edward Taylor • Carron Trujillo - PAGES A2, A3
HIGH ...91˚ LOW ....51˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B5 COMICS.................B3 ENTERTAINMENT.....B5 FINANCIAL .............B4 GENERAL ..............A3 HOROSCOPES ........B5 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
Roswell police officers responded to a report of a man fighting with a stop sign on Thursday and when officers arrived at Deming and Main streets they found a male subject sitting on the curb. The man, identified later by police as Raymond Garcia, 45, refused to respond after an officer asked him his name and birth date. According to police, the subject became belligerent and attempted to escape on foot. Officers attempted to
Lockdown at schools after patient escape
Five Roswell schools were shut down around 10 a.m. Monday after a patient escaped from Sunrise Mental Health Center, 405 W. Country Club Rd. According to police reports, the patient jumped from the roof of the Eastern New Mexico Medical Center. Police confirmed that he was armed with a shower curtain rod and piece of Plexiglas. Military Heights Elementary, Goddard High, Del Norte Elementary, All Saints Catholic School and Little Lambs Learning Center were all placed on lockdown. Roswell Police Department Public Information Liaison Sabrina Morales said the lockdown was short-lived. The patient was located in his home about 15 minutes after his escape. Staff at Eastern New Mexico Medical Center were unwilling to comment.
subdue him with tasers, which had little effect. Garcia fell onto his back and propelled himself in a circle. According to RPD spokeswoman Sabrina Morales, Garcia kicked at the officers each time they approached. One officer deployed his taser for a second time. Garcia briefly fell back to the ground, jumped back up and broke the taser leads. Garcia was able to obtain a baton from an officer and held it ready to strike. Then an officer used pepper spray. Garcia wiped the spray from his face and walked westbound on Deming.
Officers caught up with him on the corner of Deming Street and Richardson Avenue. Police reported Garcia again fell to the ground, rolled over on his stomach and tucked his hands under him as officers attempted to cuff him. Garcia was arrested and charged with aggravated assault on a peace officer, disarming a peace officer, assault on a peace officer and resisting, evading, or obstructing an officer. Garcia remains at the Chaves County Detention Center on a $10,000 cash or surety bond.
Raymond Garcia
Voting begins Tuesday at county clerks’ offices SANTA FE (AP) — Election Day is still four weeks away, but New Mexicans can start voting Tuesday in the general election. Voters can go to their county clerk’s office to cast a ballot in person, and clerks will begin mailing out absentee ballots. Tuesday also is the deadline for people to register to vote. In the presidential election four years ago, 62 percent of New Mexico voters cast their ballots before polls opened on Election Day. Early and absentee voting accounted for nearly half of the ballots cast in the gubernatorial election two years ago. Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver said her office had received 15,199 requests for absentee ballots as of last Friday. Democrats accounted for 48 percent of those; Republicans 37 percent; 12 percent were from voters unaffiliated with a
political party; and the remainder came from voters registered with other parties, including Greens and Libertarians. In the 2008 general election, about 76,700 absentee ballots were cast in Bernalillo County, and early voting totaled nearly 127,000. The county is the largest in the state and is home to a third of New Mexico’s voters. Denise Lamb, the chief deputy clerk in Santa Fe County and a former state elections director, said only a quarter of Santa Fe County’s ballots were cast on Election Day four years ago. “People in Santa Fe County are early voters predominantly,” Lamb said. Early voting opportunities expand Oct. 20 with the opening of satellite polling locations, which will remain open through Nov. 3. Election Day is
Nov. 6. “When the alternate sites open, I think we will see a larger pool of people coming to vote,” said Jennifer Garcia Kozlowski, supervisor of the Dona Ana County bureau of elections. Dona Ana County, the second largest in the state, had about 900 absentee ballot requests as of last week. In the presidential election four years ago, about 833,000 New Mexicans cast ballots — not quite 70 percent of the state’s registered voters. Tanya Shelby, San Juan County chief deputy clerk, said the clerk’s office had received almost 1,800 absentee ballot requests as of Friday and some people had been calling to ask when they would receive their ballot in the mail. “They’re ready to vote,” Shelby said.
ROSWELL (AP) — Skydiver Felix Baumgartner’s attempt at the highest, fastest free fall in history Tuesday is more than just a stunt. His planned 23-mile dive from the stratosphere should provide scientists with valuable information for next-generation spacesuits and techniques that could help astronauts survive accidents. Baumgartner hopes to become the first person to break the sound barrier outside of an airplane. His team has calculated that to be 690 mph based on the altitude of his dive. His medical director Dr. Jonathan Clark, a NASA space shuttle crew surgeon who lost his wife, Laurel Clark, in the 2003 Columbia accident, says no one knows what happens to a body when it breaks the sound barrier. “That is really the scientific essence of this mission,” said Clark, who is dedicated to improving astronauts’ chances of survival in a high-altitude disaster. Clark told reporters Monday he expects Baumgartner’s pressurized spacesuit to protect him. If all goes well, NASA could certify a new generation of spacesuits for protecting astronauts, and provide an escape option from spacecraft at 120,000 feet. Baumgartner is to be lifted into the stratosphere beginning around 7 a.m. by a helium balloon that will stretch 55 stories high. Baumgartner, who has made more than 2,500 jumps from planes, helicopters, landmarks and skyscrapers, has been preparing for this leap for five years. The venture is being sponsored by energy drink maker, Red Bull, which has funded other extreme athletic events. The company won’t say how much the project, called Stratos for stratosphere, is costing. The organizers say there are some 30 video and still cameras to record the jump, including five attached to Baumgartner’s pressure suit, along with cameras from the capsule, on the ground and a helicopter. Red Bull has been promoting a live Internet stream of the event at redbullstratos.com/live, from all cameras except those on Baumgartner’s body. But organizers said there will be a 20-second delay in their broadcast of footage in case of a tragic accident. After 25 years of skydiving, Baumgartner promises this jump will be his last. He says he plans to settle down with his girlfriend and fly helicopters on mountain rescue and firefighting missions in the U.S. and Austria.