Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 121, No. 302 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Recovering from war wounds that left him with one arm, Danny Inouye wanted a cigarette and needed a light. The nurse at the Army hospital in Michigan threw a pack of matches on his chest. He wanted to ... - PAGE A2
TOP 5 WEB
Two funeral homes filled with mour ners for Noah Pozner and Jack Pinto, the first of the 20 children killed in last week’s massacre to receive funerals. The gunman also killed six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary, and his mother in her home, before committing suicide.
A rabbi presided at Noah’s service, and in keeping with Jewish tradition, the boy was laid to rest in a simple brown wooden casket with a Star
of David on it. “If Noah had not been taken from us, he would have become a great man. He would been a wonderful husband and a loving father,” Noah’s uncle, Alexis Haller, told mourners, according to remarks he provided to The Associated Press. Both services were closed to the news media. Noah’s twin, Arielle, who was assigned to a different classroom, survived the killing frenzy by 20-year old Adam Lanza, an attack so horrifying that authorities could not say three days later whether the school would ever reopen. As investigators worked to figure out what drove Lanza to lash out with such fury — and why he singled out the school — federal agents said he had fired guns at shooting ranges over the past several years but there was no evidence
Roswell aglow
AP Photo
People embrace at St. John's Episcopal Church, Saturday, in Newtown, Conn., during a service in honor of the victims who died at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
he did so recently as practice for the rampage. At Jack’s Christian service, hymns rang out from inside the funeral home, where the boy lay in an
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open casket in the Giants’ star wide receiver Victor Cruz’s No. 80 jersey. Jack was among the youngest members of a youth wrestling association in
Newtown, and dozens of little boys turned up at the service in gray Newtown
Shooting rumor at RHS scares parents
See FUNERALS, Page A2
ILISSA GILMORE RECORD STAFF WRITER
INSIDE
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TUESDAY
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• Two arrested Sunday following a home ... • Man fatally shot during burglary • Murder scene • Police name shooting victim • Roswell cruises to CoC title
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Brandon Carr figured Ben Roethlisberger was throwing his way. Thousands of Terrible Towel-waving Pittsburgh fans at Cowboys Stadium weren’t happy with the Dallas cornerback’s reaction.
December 18, 2012
Funerals begin sad procession in Conn.
NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — Opening a long and almost unbearable procession of grief, Newtown began laying its dead to rest Monday, holding funerals for two 6-year-old boys — one a football fan who was buried in a New York Giants jersey and one whose twin sister survived the school shooting rampage.
SEN. INOUYE OF HAWAII DEAD AT 88
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Christmas lights glisten along W. Chrysler, Thursday night.
Mark Wilson Photo
Parents and other concerned family members crowded Roswell High School’s main lobby Monday as they waited to take away students after a rumor of a planned shooting spread across social networks. The rumor came days after a gunman killed 26 people, mostly young children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. School officials estimated more than 200 parents had come to sign out students by midmorning. That number continued to grow into the afternoon. Despite this, the school operated as usual. Administrative staff said they were not aware of a threat. As parents and family formed lines in the school’s main office, 10th-grader Adrianna Shamas stood just outside the doorway, talking with friends and waiting to go home. “A lot of people didn’t come to school today,” she said. “I didn’t even hear about it until I got here and saw all the cops.” Though the supposed attack started as a rumor on Facebook, Shamas, 15, admitted she felt scared. “After everything that’s happened, I wouldn’t doubt it,” she said. Her mother, Emilia Shamas, said she decided to come get her children as a safety precaution. “This was something that started off of Facebook and got bigger,” she said. “Of course (we’re) freaked out over everything that happened last week.” Principal Ruben Bolaños said he understood parents’ concerns, but “student safety is our number one priority, districtwide.” The school has in place several security measures, he said, such as security personnel and cameras. “We work diligently to provide a safe environment that’s conducive to learning,” he said. “Our efforts to provide a safe
Gun control gets unlikely Iran cautiously ponders Syria after Assad DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — It wasn’t exactly backers on Capitol Hill a break-up moment between WASHINGTON (AP) — Prominent gun-rights advocates in Congress are now calling for a national discussion about restrictions to curb gun violence, signaling that the horrific shooting at a Connecticut elementary school could be a tipping point in a debate that has been dormant for years. “Everything should be on the table,” West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin declared Monday. He is a conservative Democrat, avid hunter and lifelong member of the National Rifle Association. Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa proposed a debate not just about guns but also about mental issues. White House officials said President Barack Obama would make preventing gun violence a second-term See CONTROL Page A2
See SCARE, Page A2
Iran and ally Bashar Assad. But Tehran’s whiplash diplomacy over the weekend suggested its embrace of the Syrian president could be cooling. Just a day after Iran’s foreign minister pledged unwavering support for the embattled Assad, officials in Tehran outlined on Sunday a step-by-step peace plan for Syria capped by elections that presumably could usher in a new leader in Damascus. It was another possible sign of Assad’s fraying
In this Nov. 18 photo, participants listen to a speaker during the 'Syria National Dialog' conference in Tehran, Iran.
alliances after similar mixed messages last week from Russia, which tried to backpedal after a top diplomat said Assad is losing control of his country.
Yet it also highlights the limited options available to Iran to try to preserve per-
Boehner, although it came with an asterisk. The president wants lower -income recipients to receive protection against loss from scaling back future cost of living increases, these officials said.
dends earned by wealthy Americans and also in the estate tax. Those who described the talks did so on condition of anonymity. The maneuvering is aimed at reaching an agreement that would cancel a scheduled year-end hike in taxes for nearly all wage-earners as well as spending cuts at the Pentagon and in domestic programs across the government. Economists inside and outside the government have warned that the combination of the two, set to begin at year’s end, could send the economy into recession.
See IRAN, Page A2
AP sources: New Obama offer moves toward House Speaker John Boehner negotiations with House Speaker John Boehner to avoid a “fiscal cliff,” people familiar with the talks said Monday.
INDEX
House Speaker John Boehner is pursued by reporters as he walks to the House floor Dec. 11 on Capitol Hill.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama agreed to curtail future costof-living increases for recipi-
ents of Social Security and softened his demand for higher taxes at upper income levels as part of accelerating
A few hours after Obama and Boehner met, these people said the president was now seeking a higher tax rate for incomes over $400,000, up from the levels of $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples that were cornerstones of his campaign for re-election.
Obama’s willingness to reduce future cost-of-living increases in Social Security, government retirement and other programs marked another concession to
Nor did Obama’s offer include raising the age of Medicare eligibility from 65 to 67, a Republican goal that has drawn particularly strong objections from Democratic liberals.
Several officials also said during the day that Boehner’s offer late last week to accept higher tax rates included provisions that would mean higher taxes on investment income and divi-