Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 122, No. 302 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
December 18, 2013
www.rdrnews.com
WEDNESDAY
County clerk pushes to change polling places JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
Clerk Dave Kunko still hopes to change the way Chaves County votes in 2014, despite being denied by commissioners two months ago. Kunko plans to ask the board again in January to consider overhauling the voting system — ushering in what he calls “the wave of the future” with Voting Convenience Centers.
“We think voters are going to like it,” Kunko said. “We really believe this is the way to go.”
Commissioners voted down his plan in October, asking Kunko to further study the idea and meet with them over the next few months. A committee, including Commissioners Greg Nibert and Robert Corn, was formed.
Kunko has moved forward with some public meetings and has devel-
oped his idea, but hasn’t discussed any of his plans with commissioners. “There has not been a meeting set at this point,” Kunko said Friday. Corn said he was looking forward to discussing the plan. “It’s interesting to me that the plan we saw at the first meeting seems quite different. Dave Kunko is aware the commission appointed a committee to discuss this further,” Corn
said.
Nibert said Kunko’s first attempt to present a plan to the commission, which was only given to the board a few days prior to the meeting, did not provide the sufficient legal findings necessary for commissioners to favor approving the plan, in accordance to state elections law. “Dave did not present the county commission with sufficient analysis to meet our statutory duty,” Nibert
Toy giveaway set for Christmas Eve
said. “All five commissioners recognize these voting centers, in certain applications, are desired and make some sense. But we have to do it in accordance with analysis to make the findings.”
Kunko has met with City Clerk Sharon Coll and Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell President John Madden. Both have promoted the system to their council and board, and have won approval to
Gavin Wakefield, Ema Arnold, Jimmy Loudermilk, Maggi Loudermilk and Riley Arnold sort through toys for the upcoming Free Children's Christmas Party Toy Giveaway that will be held at the Yucca Center on Christmas Eve at 7 p.m.
Tribe sues over gaming negotiations
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — One of New Mexico’s American Indian tribes is suing the state over failed negotiations concerning its gambling compact, alleging that Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration is proposing to collect an illegal tax without providing the tribe with any benefits. The lawsuit filed by Pojoaque Pueblo is the latest salvo in a decades-long dispute over how much revenue — if any at all — tribal casinos should share with the state.
Pojoaque Pueblo first sought a renewal of its current compact in June 2010. The state appointed a negotiator in April and the two sides met numerous times but failed to make any progress on what the tribe
sees as the crux of the agreement.
The compact being sought by the Martinez administration would further restrict tribal gambling operations and would increase taxes, fees and other charges, pueblo Gov. George Rivera said Tuesday.
Rivera said such a compact would not help New Mexico’s gambling industry compete with other states, especially since casino revenues have been flat since 2008 and gover nment funding for tribes has diminished. Rivera and other tribal officials added that the economic landscape has changed since tribes last negotiated the compacts and tribes can no longer accept “the status
AP Photo
A customer holds his Mega Millions lottery tickets at Tobacco Plus Tuesday.
HIGH 70 LOW 36
TODAY’S FORECAST
quo from years gone by.”
Can do!
Coll recently proposed to City Councilors the same elections overhaul in a special meeting without holding a public hearing. Roswell will use the voting centers at its municipal elections March 4. ENMU-R will use the system to ask county voters to decide on a proposed mill
Revenge attracts youth to gangs JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Mark Wilson Photo
hold elections using the new system of voting centers.
Revenge can seem inevitable among the combatants. In two recent homicides, the victims’ children witnessed the incident. These are memories they will carry with them throughout their lives and so the seeds of vengeance are planted in the young mind and grow as the child grows. The lesson learned from the experience is that justice for the family can only be found at the end of a gun. Leo Lopez, a former member of the Gang Taskforce for Southeast New Mexico, explained: “In some streets, you had to join a gang for your own protection. A lot of kids in Roswell died in the 1970s. People got killed because they walked through the wrong section of town or had no gang affiliation.” Often, it was Lopez’s duty to inform parents, who claimed no relationship to
See POLLING, Page A3
the local gang, that their child was a gang member. “They would say their teenager was not bad. He had been caught painting graffiti, but graffiti always is an indicator of the presence of gangs operating in the area. It is part of initiation and a way they mark their territory.” Lopez relayed one Thanksgiving tale where: “The Northside and Southside gangs got into a slapping contest. There were armed people on the roof near a party. Four girls got out of the truck to join the party when gunfire erupts. One girl got shot in the back of the head. “The mentality is primitive. It has nothing to do with survival. These people have no morals, no scruples.” Young people are often sacrificed for the gang. “They’ll let a kid take credit for a killing because the older members know See GANGS, Page A3
“The pueblo cannot agree to greater taxation and regulatory fees, the continuation of outdated business practices or new restrictions that are damaging to the industry,” Rivera said in a statement. Enrique Knell, a spokesman for Martinez, called the lawsuit unfortunate and unnecessary. He said the state has engaged in nearly 20 months of negotiations with several tribes and has sought a fair agreement with reasonable terms. “Pojoaque’s decision to take negotiations to the courts under mines the process and the good faith ef forts of the state and other tribes,” Knell said.
Mark Wilson Photo
Nancy Lopez Elementary fifth-graders transport donated canned goods to an awaiting Salvation Army truck, Tuesday morning. The fifth-grade class challenged the entire student body to participate in the food drive and received more than 1,000 canned donations that will help feed the needy over the holidays.
At least 1 winner in $636M Mega Millions drawing DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — At least one winning ticket was sold in California for Tuesday night’s $636 million Mega Millions jackpot, which was the second largest in U.S. lottery history. There may be other winners. Mega Millions lead director Paula Otto said Tuesday night that game of ficials’ count was not complete yet. Califor nia Lottery spokesman Alex Traverso told the Associated Press on Tuesday night that the
ticket was sold at Jennifer’s Gift Shop in San Jose, Calif. “For us, the main thing we’d like to get across is the level of excitement we saw all across California,” T raverso said. “At one point, we were selling about 25,000 tickets per minute. “It’s been an amazing experience. It’s unbelievable.” The winning numbers were: 8, 14, 17, 20, 39; Mega Ball: 7. The cash option is estimated at $341 million before taxes.
The jackpot now resets to $15 million for the next drawing, which is on Friday night. Mega Millions changed its rules in October to help increase the jackpots by lowering the odds of winning the top prize. That means the chances of winning the jackpot are now about 1 in 259 million. It used to be about 1 in 176 million, nearly the same odds of winning a Powerball jackpot. But that hasn’t stopped aspiring multimillionaires
• B.O. BEST JR. • BARBARA J. CHEVETT • KENNETH WALTER BRIDGE
• MURIEL DAVIS
CLASSIFIEDS ..........B8 COMICS .................B7 ENTERTAINMENT ...A10 FINANCIAL ..............B5
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE A7
• VERNON G. BAILEY
from playing the game.
“Oh, I think there’s absolutely no way I am going to win this lottery,” said Tanya Joosten, 39, an educator at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who bought several tickets Tuesday. “But it’s hard for such a small amount of money to not take the chance.”
T ickets sold for Tuesday’s drawing at a pace that surpassed even the lottery’s expectations, said Otto.
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2 HOROSCOPES .......A10 LOTTERIES .............A2 NATION ..................A8
OPINION .................A4 SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ............A10