Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 122, No. 307 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
December 24, 2013
Last-minute insurance shoppers get 1-day extension
CHICAGO (AP) — Anticipating heavy traffic on the government’s health care website, the Obama administration extended Monday’s deadline for signing up for insurance by a day, giving Americans in 36 states more time to select a plan. It was the latest in a series of pushed-back deadlines and delays that have marked the rollout of the health care law. But federal officials urged buyers not to procrastinate. “You should not wait until tomorrow. If you are aiming to get coverage Jan. 1, you should try to sign up today,” said Julie Bataille, a spokeswoman for the federal agency in charge of the overhaul. Bataille said the grace period — which runs through Tuesday — was being offered to accommodate people from different time zones and to allow for any technical problems that might result
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from a last-minute rush of applicants. The HealthCare.gov site had a disastrous, glitch-prone debut in October but has gone through extensive improvements to make it more reliable and increase its capacity, and the administration said the system was running well Monday. By the afternoon, the site had received a record 850,000 visits, five times the number logged by the same time last Monday, the administration said. Bataille said the system was handling the volume with error rates of less than 1 in 200 and response times of less than one second. The Obama administration is hoping for a surge of year -end enrollments to show that the technical problems were merely a temporary setback. That would
See EXTENSION, Page A3
TUESDAY
AP Photo
In this Wednesday, Dec. 11, file photo, Rosemary Cabelo uses a computer at a public library to access the Affordable Health Care Act website, in San Antonio. Health care workers and officials in Texas on Monday rushed to sign people up for insurance plans, even after receiving a one-day extension on a deadline for customers buying coverage under the new federal health care law to have their plans kick in Jan. 1.
Hit-and-run causes apartment v car crash
Former RPD chief Al Solis dies JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Kevin J. Keller Photo
A two-vehicle hit-and-run accident at the corner of Grand Avenue and 23rd Street on Monday caused massive property damage when a silver Buick Century veered into the side of a duplex after being struck by another vehicle. No injuries were reported from the accident.
Former Roswell Police Chief Al Solis died in Las Cruces around 9 a.m. Monday. Solis was diagnosed with cancer in 2012. He announced his retirement on July 26. He said then: “I know I have cancer; it’s contained, but it’s not going away. I could have months; I could have 10 years; I could have 20.” After he retired, Solis returned to Las Cruces to spend time with his family. He could boast a long and productive career in law enforcement. He started as a deputy with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department. In the military, he served with the military police, later moving on to the Army’s Investigation Division. He spent 21 years with the U.S. Marshals Service. He was an inspector of the Witness Protection Program. Solis worked his way up the ranks until he became assistant director of the Investigative Services. He oversaw all investigative matters. Solis then was assigned to be the assistant director of Prisoner Services. In 1987, he was nominated by Sen. Pete Domenici as the Presidential Marshal
Name of man found in shallow Xcel customers report scams grave released; POI in case sought JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
The Roswell Police Department released the name of the victim whose body was found in a shallow grave in the 200 block of East 12th St., Wednesday, as Javier Miguel Castillo, 19. The body was so badly decomposed that the only means of positive identification was dental records. The Office of the Medical Investigator confir med identification on Friday. Castillo disappeared on Oct. 8 after he supposedly went to a job interview. According to family mem-
bers, he never made it to his interview at a local drilling company. His family reported him missing. His sister said that the family was brought into the police department on Wednesday night and permission was obtained to get his dental records. The grieving family arrived at the grave site on Thursday and located some of his clothes in a nearby vacant house, along with some identifying paperwork in the yard where police found the grave, which they turned over to the police. Castillo had a 4-month-
JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
Antonio Romero Jr., person of interest in the Miguel Castillo case.
See SOLIS, Page A3
Roswell-area Xcel Energy customers appear to be a target of scammers who have recently tricked several businesses and residents into providing credit card information over the phone. The customers are told that if they don’t give up personal financial information, their power will be shut off, said Xcel Energy’s spokesman Wes Reeves. “Scammers tend to focus on this particular season because everyone’s distracted and they’re worried,” Reeves said. Xcel Energy received several reports last week. Some 10 potential scams are under investigation, Reeves said. Carlsbad, Artesia, Clovis and areas in Texas have also had activity. “We have internal security tracking this and we’re working with law enforce-
ment, when possible, to track these people down,” Reeves said. “We want to get the word out.” Xcel customers are reminded to be aware that they can always stop a conversation and call 1-800-895-4999 if they receive a suspicious phone call, Reeves said. “Only give out financial information over the phone when you’ve initiated the call directly to us,” he said. “No matter what shape these scams take, they are generally similar. Someone is asking you to provide personal or financial information.” Customers who have received the calls are reporting that the scammer is asking them to provide the financial information over the phone to help clear up a past-due amount or face disruption in service. See SCAM, Page A3
Monterrey Elementary students rally to help those who have less this season JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
The students of Monterr ey Elementary School demonstrated the spirit of the season. “These kids are truly awesome. We could not have done this without them. In the last 20 days, they collected (more than) 2,500 food items,” said Frank Carrillo, sergeant of arms of the Vietnam Veterans of America chapter 968. This is not the first year the students at Monterrey have collected food for the needy. Carrillo said the students have donated food for the past four years. In previous years, the students gathered food for Thanksgiving. This year, the school got a late start, but still
See NAME, Page A3
managed to collect enough food to fill a trailer and a truck with items such as canned goods and cereal. All grades contributed and they tur ned it into a contest with the class that brought in the most food getting treated to a pizza party. This year, Ms. O’Meara’s class won the pizza. “Me and my wife, Nancy, started giving a lot of things to the needy eight years ago. At first we gave away clothes, and we saw a lot of homeless people in need of food,” Carrillo said. Carrillo estimates that the children gathered 90 to 95 percent of the food for this year’s donation to the Community Kitchen. “I’ve got nothing but
See DONATE, Page A3
HIGH 58 LOW 26
TODAY’S FORECAST
Courtesy photo
Vietnam Veterans chapter 968 donated more than 2,500 food items collected by the students at Monterrey Elementary to the Community Kitchen, Monday morning. Pictured from left: Tomas Hernandez, Jimmy Copeland, Frank Carrillo, Leonard Corona, T.J. and grandfather Harry McGraw. TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE A6
• ALBERT MONDRAGON • EDWIN ADAMS • MARY L. JONES • LORI KAY RODGERS HIPP • PRISCILLA GRISE
• RICKY BINGHA • JAVIER CASTILLO • AMBROCIO RAMIREZ • GERTRUDE CRONEY
CLASSIFIEDS ..........B6 COMICS .................B5 ENTERTAINMENT .....B6 FINANCIAL ..............B4
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2 HOROSCOPES .........A8 LOTTERIES .............A2 NATION ..................A6
OPINION .................A4 SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ..............A8