Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 121, No. 295 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
CHANCEL CHOIR TO PRESENT MESSIAH
For many, it’s not Christmas without the spiritual message and the intricate, Baroque-era style and harmonies of Handel’s “Messiah.” And the members of the First United Methodist Church Chancel Choir are happy—and capable—to oblige. - PAGE C1
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
December 9, 2012
Dems want jobless benefits in ‘cliff’ deal WASHINGTON (AP) — Hovering in the background of the “fiscal cliff” debate is the prospect of 2 million people losing their unemployment benefits four days after Christmas. “This is the real cliff,” said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I. He’s been leading the effort to include another extension of benefits for the long-term unemployed in any deal to avert looming tax increases and massive spending cuts in January. “Many of these people are struggling to pay mortgages, to provide education for their children,” Reed said this past week as President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, rejected each other’s opening offers for a deficit deal. Emergency jobless benefits for about 2.1 million
SUNDAY
www.rdrnews.com
people out of work more than six months will cease Dec. 29, and 1 million more will lose them over the next three months if Congress doesn’t extend the assistance again. Since the collapse of the economy in 2008, the government has poured $520 billion — an amount equal to about half its annual deficit in recent years — into unemployment benefit extensions. White House of ficials have assured Democrats that Obama is committed to extending them another year, at a cost of about $30 billion, as part of an agreement for sidestepping the fiscal cliff and reducing the size of annual increases in the federal debt. Republicans have been relatively quiet on the issue lately. They demanded and
Salvation Army Toy Run
won savings elsewhere to offset the cost of this year’s extension, requiring the government to sell some of its broadcasting airwaves and making newly hired federal workers contribute more toward their pensions. Boehner did not include jobless benefits in his counteroffer response this past week to Obama’s call for $1.6 trillion in new taxes over the next decade, including raising the top marginal rates for the highest-paid 2 percent. Long-ter m unemployment remains a persistent problem. About 5 million people have been out of work for six months or more, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about 40 percent of all unemployed workers. The Labor Department
AP Photo
From left, Sens. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, Chris Coons, D-Del., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., during a press conference on jobless benefits, on Capitol Hill, Thursday.
said Friday that the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent, the lowest in nearly four years. But much of the
TOP 5 WEB
For The Past 24 Hours
• Artist John Cerney wants to make ... • BLM gets land for chicken • Edward Seitz rebuilds his life after losing ... • Farewell, and thanks for everything • State Champions!
Forecasters with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque are warning residents and travelers that the above-normal temperatures and dry weather that New Mexico has been experiencing in recent weeks will come to an abrupt end today.
SPORTS
Mark Wilson Photo
Santa and Mrs. Claus, escorted by Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph, prepare to depart from the Roswell Mall parking lot during the Christian Motorcyclists Association’s Toy Run for The Salvation Army, Saturday morning.
IRVING, Texas (AP) — Police charged Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Josh Brent with intoxication manslaughter Saturday after he flipped his car in a predawn accident that killed teammate Jerry Brown. Irving police spokesman John Argumaniz said the accident happened about 2:20 a.m. Saturday in the Dallas suburb, hours before Brent was to be on a team flight to Cincinnati .... - PAGE B1
Redcoats honor Madlyn Wafful ILISSA GILMORE RECORD STAFF WRITER
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Carlos Enrique Torres • Esther Fabry • Soledad Nava • Elaine Velda Houston • Ernest Jackson Leach • Paul Ashby • Jimmy Derrell Dean • Rosemary Soto - PAGE A3, B7
HIGH ...53˚ LOW ....22˚
Ilissa Gilmore Photo
Lifetime Roswell Redcoats member Madlyn Wafful (seated) and president Ruth Wise share a laugh Friday during a surprise party in Wafful’s honor thrown by the organization.
The Roswell Chamber of Commerce Redcoats recognized one of its lifetime members for her achievement of earning more than 10,000 points through event participation, Friday, at the Sally Port Inn. The Redcoats act as ambassadors on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, attending events such as ribbon cuttings, said president Ruth Wise. For each event members attend, they earn five to 10 points. To be a lifetime member means that one has earned 1,000 points. Madlyn Wafful was one of 10 women to join the Red-
Grinch-proof
That’s when a “potent” Arctic front will move across the state, bringing with it cooler temperatures and gusty winds. Snow is expected across the norther n mountains and the See WINTER, Page A3
Jessica Palmer Photo
A sign of the times when Christimas decorations have to be anchored to a tree. Rudolph looks a bit bemused at having his feet chained. Friday marked the unofficial start of the Christmas season with the first police reports of theft of holiday ornaments. One took place on South Lea Avenue where an inflatable “snow family,” mom, dad and child, and two trees were stolen. The second occurred on Highland Road after Roswell Grinches removed two reindeer, Santa, sleigh and elves from a yard.
Hanukkah festivities begin with lighting menorah
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........D1 COMICS.................C4 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A3 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ............A10 WORLD .................A8
Bundle up, y’all; winter’s coming
See CLIFF, Page A3
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — New Mexico is getting ready for what could be a significant blast of winter.
INSIDE
TRAGEDY IN DALLAS
decline was due to people so discouraged about finding a job that they quit
INDEX
AP Photo
Rabbi Areyah Kaltmann of the Lori Schottenstein Chabad Center in New Albany, Ohio, prepares to light the menorah, in Columbus, Ohio, with the help of Holocaust survivor Abe Weinrib, Saturday.
See WAFFUL, Page A3
JERUSALEM (AP) — Jews around the world ushered in the eight-day Hanukkah festival Saturday evening, lighting the first candles of ceremonial lamps that symbolize triumph over oppression. In Israel, families gathered after sundown for the lighting, eating traditional snacks of potato pancakes and doughnuts and exchanging gifts. Local officials lit candles set up in public places, while families displayed the nine-candle lamps, called menorahs, in their windows or in special windproof glass boxes outside. Hanukkah, also known as the festival of lights,
commemorates the Jewish uprising in the second century B.C. against the Greek-Syrian kingdom, which had tried to impose its culture on Jews and adorn the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem with statues of Greek gods. The holiday lasts eight days because according to tradition, when the Jews rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem, a single vial of oil, enough for one day, burned miraculously for eight. For many Jewish people, the holiday symbolizes the triumph of good over evil. Observant Jews light a See HANUKKAH, Page A2
United Way of Chaves County
622-4150 Collected
$389,019 Goal
$500,000
77.8% Of Goal Collected