Roswell Daily Record
UN: $12.9 billion aid needed in 2014 Vol. 122, No. 301 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations said Monday it will need nearly $13 billion in aid in 2014 to reach at least 52 million people in 17 countries, including the millions of Syrians who have been displaced by their civil war. “This is the largest amount we’ve ever had to request at the start of the year,” said Valerie Amos, the U.N.’s humanitarian chief. “The complexity and scale of what we are doing is rising all the time.” The aid is to be provided by 500 organizations, including the main U.N. agencies for food, refugees and children. About half of the requested $12.9 billion in aid — some $6.5 billion — would go toward delivering food, shelter and health care in
Syria and neighboring countries affected by the war. “This is the largest ever appeal for a single crisis,” Amos said. In Syria, there are 2.5 million people in “hard to reach communities” because of fighting and security concerns, she said. The nearly 3-year-old conflict has claimed more than 100,000 lives and displaced millions, and even if it ends tomorrow the humanitarian aid would still need to continue, Amos said. “We’re facing a terrifying situation here where, by the end of 2014, substantially more of the population of Syria could be displaced or in need of humanitarian help than not,” said U.N.’s High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres. “This goes beyond any-
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
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thing we have seen in many, many years, and makes the need for a political solution all the much greater,” he said. A year ago, the U.N.’s humanitarian request looking ahead to 2013 was for $8.5 billion, but Syria’s civil war forced the world body to revise that assessment upward to $13.6 billion. U.N. and other aid officials said Monday that their 2013 request will be only 60 percent funded. Such funding gaps will leave many people hungry, lacking shelter and unprotected from violence, they said. “When looking ahead to the 2014 plans for humanitarian response and the See AID, Page A2
Italian Premier Enrico Letta, right, meets Syrian refugees who fled their country’s civil war to Lebanon and have stayed at the Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday. Letta is in Beirut to meet with Lebanese officials.
Horse slaughter plants ready to open
People sing and dance after an aircraft carrying the casket of former South African President Nelson Mandela took off from Waterkloof Air Base on the outskirts of Pretoria, South Africa, Saturday.
Fake funeral signer accused in mob attack ed two men found with a stolen television and burned them to death by setting fire to tires placed around their necks. Thamsanqa Jantjie never went to trial for the 2003 killings when other suspects did because
authorities determined he was not mentally fit to stand trial, the four told The Associated Press Monday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the fake signing fiasco, which has deeply embar-
Pearce to sign new book Wednesday JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
Rep. Steve Pearce, R-NM, will sign his new book in Roswell Wednesday that details his life’s journey from his childhood on a farm in Hobbs to his life as a Congressman in Southeast New Mexico. Pearce’s book, “Just Fly the Plane, Stupid!” describes how he grew up the son of a sharecropper on a hardscrabble farm, became an Air Force pilot and flew in the Vietnam War, later owned a company in the oil industry and then was elected to Congress. The book signing will be held from noon to 2 p.m. in the Archives Building of the Historical Society for Southeast New Mexico, 208 N. Lea Ave. In the book, Pearce describes his life from the time he was born in 1947 to a large, working-class family and raised in Hobbs, where he now lives with his wife, Cynthia. His father worked as a roustabout in the oilfields. He was one of six children
who grew up on a farm. Written from a first-person perspective, Pearce begins his story inside the cockpit of his 1984 Mooney 231 single-engine aircraft, describing in detail the moments he spent alone one harrowing night during a flight in stor my weather across west Texas. Pearce served as a combat pilot in the U.S. Air Force, flying a C-130 in the Vietnam War. He flew more than 518 hours of combat flight and 77 hours of combat support. He was Steve Pearce. awarded the Distinguished Flying The book is Pearce’s perCross and two Air Medals, sonal story of overcoming seven military medals and poverty and other insecurifour exceptional service ties to achieve success, awards. according to the promotionAfter leaving the service, al materials. he and his wife owned and “This book is a compilaoperated Lea Fishing Tools, tion of the events that an oilfield services compa- shaped my life,” Pearce ny in Hobbs. writes.
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TODAY’S FORECAST
TODAY’S • SARAH LYNN CARTER • JENNIFER M. DOLLAR • JUANA O. CORTEZ SALCIDO • JOHN “GENE” SPRADLING • LARRY G. JUMP SR.
TUESDAY
AP Photo
AP Photo
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Just when it seemed the scandal over the bogus sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s memorial had run its course, a cousin and three friends say he was part of a mob that accost-
December 17, 2013
rassed South Africa’s government and prompted a high-level investigation into how it happened.
Their account of the killings matched a description of the crime
See ATTACK, Page A3
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — After months of legal wrangling and false starts in a more than two-year battle to resume domestic horse slaughter, plants in New Mexico and Missouri were working Monday to begin processing equine for human consumption. The efforts come on the heels of an order late Friday by a federal appeals court that lifted an emergency stay on the companies’ plans. “They are pushing full steam ahead to be ready to go as soon as possible,” said Blair Dunn, an Albuquerque attorney who represents Valley Meat Co. of Roswell and Rains Natural Meats of Gallatin, Mo. Rains Natural Meats, he said, even had horses on site. But it was unclear if the plants would open before Christmas or wait until after the holidays. A third company, Responsible Transportation of Sigourney, Iowa, was reviewing its options, having already converted to beef. Founder and CEO Keaton Walker said the company’s beef operation was struggling against better-established competitors, and he planned to sell the plant unless he knew for sure that he could process horses. He said he expected to make a decision by early January. “We’re continuing to process cattle, and will for the foreseeable future,” Walker said. “We’re still trying to understand what this all means right now. Honestly, I’m not really sure what we’re going to do.” It was the third time in five months that the horse plants were scrambling to open. Valley, which led the effort to resume domestic horse slaughter two years ago after Congress lifted its ban on the practice, along with Rains and Responsible, were preparing to open in August when The Humane Society of the United States and other animal protection groups sued to contest the Department of Agriculture’s permitting process. A federal judge in Albuquerque issued a temporary restraining order, prompting the Iowa company to convert See HORSE MEAT, Page A3
Many Salvation Army Angel Tree wishes remain unanswered JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
The Salvation Army hopes Roswell residents will stop by its office today to pick up one of the 164 holiday gift wishes left by children that remain unfilled. Workers went around to businesses Monday and were surprised at how many were left uncollected. Capt. Beau Perez said he couldn’t understand why so few people had donated gifts this year. “By this time, nor mally they’re all coming back and people have bought the gifts,” Perez said. Perez said he was stumped by the retur n of the Angel Tree wishes. Typically, his wife and the other workers are busy putting the gifts together and getting them prepared to deliver. “I don’t understand why it’s dif ferent this year,” Perez said. “Maybe it’s the healthcare thing. I don’t really know
Jill McLaughlin Photo
The Salvation Army is looking to fill the wishes of more than 162 children whose tags were not collected See WISHES, Page A2 from the Angel Trees at local businesses.
OBITUARIES PAGE A6 • BO BEST • PATRICIA CARLSON • BARBARA CHEVETT • GEORGE J. ZARRIS • GARRISON FRENCH
CLASSIFIEDS ..........B6 COMICS .................B5 ENTERTAINMENT .....B6 FINANCIAL ..............B4
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2 HOROSCOPES .........A8 LOTTERIES .............A2 NATION ..................A6
OPINION .................A4 SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ..............A8