Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 122, No. 293 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
December 7, 2013
www.rdrnews.com
SATURDAY
Washington Federal to close its new branch JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
Washington Federal will close its new location at Fifth and Main streets in early March and move its customers to a branch a few blocks away, a manager said Friday. The for mer Bank of America office that transitioned to a Washington Federal branch Nov. 1, will be shuttered, according to branch manager Denise Weaver.
“Because the branches are in close vicinity of each other we’re no longer going to be occupying the office at the Sunwest Centre,” Weaver said. Washington Federal will transfer an estimated 10,000 accounts over to its existing branch, located at 300 Pennsylvania Ave. Customers will be able to start banking at the new location beginning March 10. “All customers at the (Sunwest Centre) location
will be transferred,” Weaver said. “All branch personnel are also going to be transferred.” Employees will be relocated March 7 to three other locations in Roswell. Washington Federal has the location on Pennsylvania, a branch at 3201 N. Main St., with an open lobby and a drive-up window; and a south location at 1810 S. Main St., with a drive-up window. Washington Federal will begin distributing letters to
affected customers in the next few weeks, Weaver said. Federal Washington acquired the former Bank of America branch as part of its acquisition of 51 Bank of America branches in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and New Mexico. The purchase included acquiring $1.5 billion in deposits and nearly $11 million in loans from Bank of America customers. Washington Federal assumed a five-year lease
Posada performance
Mark Wilson Photo
Danza de los Matachines perform during the Goddard High School's Spanish Club presentation of Posada 2013 at the GHS Little Theater, Thursday evening.
Pearl Harbor survivor thrives meeting visitors
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — Herb Weatherwax cruises the open-air grounds of the visitors center at Pearl Harbor on a motorized scooter dubbed “Herb’s Hot Rod.” When a woman notices his blue and white cap embroidered with the words “Pearl Harbor Survivor,” he coaxes her over. “Come get a picture,” Weatherwax says. Her family surrounds his scooter to pose for a snapshot and shake his hand. The 96-year-old charms visitors in a similar fashion
each of the three days a week he volunteers at a memorial for the USS Arizona, a battleship that sank in the 1941 Japanese attack. The retired electrician is one of four former servicemen who lived through the aerial bombing and now greet people at the historic site. People like hearing stories directly from the survivors, Weatherwax says. And he enjoys meeting people from around the globe See SURVIVOR, Page A3
Peanut butter plant can resume limited operations
POR TALES (AP) — A bankruptcy judge is allowing an eastern New Mexico peanut butter plant involved in a nationwide salmonella outbreak last year to resume limited operations. Sunland Inc. in Portales closed its doors and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in October. Judge David Thuma’s order Wednesday authoriz-
es the bankruptcy trustee to hire workers to deliver customer inventory but not to process peanuts or peanut products, the Portales News-Tribune reported. Under the order, Sunland could be open for at least the next 12 months, pending the sale of its assets. It isn’t clear how many See PLANT, Page A3
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TODAY’S FORECAST
when it acquired the office space from Bank of America. Whether the bank remains at the site or closes, Washington Federal is obligated to pay for the remainder of the lease, Sunwest Center Of fice Complex broker -manager Ed McClelland said last month.
Some for mer longtime Bank of America customers in Roswell reported difficulties in getting temporary checks, using debit cards and accessing their
accounts during the transition last month. A senior marketing representative said last week that Washington Federal was working to correct any ongoing issues. A certain number of Sunwest Centre customers’ safe deposit boxes will automatically be transferred to the Pennsylvania branch. Other customers with safe deposit boxes will need to move their own
Wintry weather grips New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Crews in New Mexico worked to clear snowy, icy roads, while some schools and government agencies shuttered their doors Friday, a day after a stor m system left behind 6 inches of snow. Workers plowed Interstate 40 between Clines Corner and Santa Rosa in the east, and Interstate 25 between Rowe and Raton in the north. Easter n New Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley saw freezing fog Friday morning, and the fog was expected to retur n later in the evening through Saturday morning. Meanwhile, police from Santa Fe and Roswell continued to monitor traffic and icy roads after seeing dozens of minor accidents. The bitter cold temperatures and treacherous roads forced some Santa Fe and Carlsbad schools to open late, while schools in Albuquerque’s easter n mountains, an area hit hard by the system, remained closed. The National Weather Service said bitter cold temperatures will continue to grip much of northern and central New Mexico,
See BRANCH, Page A3
with freezing fog and flurries or light snow in some areas but limited impact overall. Light freezing drizzle is forecast to expand across the eastern plains Friday night. Forecasters say a storm system will move into the Four Corners region late Saturday and drop snow over the northern mountains. Some areas of the state saw the snow and winter weather as a blessing after months of extreme drought. For example, thanks to the heavy snowfall in northern New Mexico, Taos Ski Valley moved up its date for switching to sevenday-a-week operations. Ski area lifts are running Thursday through Sunday, but will begin operating daily on Dec. 12 — a week earlier than planned. Taos opened on Thanksgiving, and marketing manager Adriana Blake said the ski area is enjoying its best opening since 1997. The snow also was good news for the Elephant Butte Reservoir.
Chain of Change Students at Sunset Elementary raise nearly $400 for Red Cross AMY VOGELSANG RECORD STAFF WRITER STORY AND PHOTOS
In the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, students at Sunset Elementary decided to construct their own fundraiser to help raise money for the relief effort. Quarter by quarter, they raised $396.25, and for every 25 cents given, the child who donated got to write his or her name on a paper link that was added to a chain (pictured, right). In the end, the chain consisted of nearly 1,200 links. Since the children decided
• PAT MEDINA OTERO • JOHN HART • PABLA RODRIGUEZ
to donate all the money to the American Red Cross, Development Coordinator Gale Landrum (pictured above, with microphone), along with Jim Lilley — who has been a Red Cross volunteer for more than 50 years — gave a short presentation about the Red Cross and what they do, so the kids would really know where their money was going and how it would help, Landrum said. “What I like about this the most is that (the kids) came to me,” she said. “They had the idea. I did not initiate at all, and I thought, this is wonderful. I will be there.”
• VIOLET M. MADSEN • ANTHONY BOISE
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE B4
CLASSIFIEDS ..........B6 COMICS .................B5 ENTERTAINMENT .....A8 FINANCIAL ..............B3
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2 HOROSCOPES .........A8 LOTTERIES .............A2 OPINION .................A4
SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ..............A8 WORLD ..................B4