Roswell Daily Record
INSIDE NEWS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A deadline looming, President Barack Obama will meet with congressional leaders at the White House today in search of a compromise to avoid a year-end “fiscal cliff” of across-the-board tax increases and deep spending cuts.
‘THE BEAR’ DEAD AT 78
WASHINGTON (AP) — Retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who topped an illustrious military career by commanding the U.S.-led international coalition that drove Saddam Hussein’s forces out of Kuwait in 1991 but kept a low public profile in controversies over the second Gulf War against Iraq, died Thursday. He was 78. - PAGE A7
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Obama invites leaders to cliff talk
Vol. 121, No. 311 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
The development capped a day of growing urgency in which Obama retur ned early from a Hawaiian vacation while lawmakers snarled across a partisan divide over responsibility for gridlock on key pocketbook issues. Speaker John Boehner called the House back into session for a
December 28, 2012
FRIDAY
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highly unusual Sunday evening session. Adding to the woes confronting the middle class was a pending spike of $2 per gallon or more in milk prices if lawmakers failed to pass farm legislation by year’s end. Four days before the deadline, the White House disputed reports that Obama was sending lawmakers a scaled-down plan to avoid the fiscal cliff of tax increases and spending cuts. Administration officials confirmed today’s meeting at the White House in a bare-bones announcement
that said the president would “host a meeting.” An aide to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said the Kentucky lawmaker “is eager to hear from the president.” A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner issued a statement that said the Ohio Republican would attend and “continue to stress that the House has already passed legislation to avert the entire fiscal cliff and now the Senate must act.” While there was no guarantee of a compromise,
Fatality at Second and Nevada
See CLIFF, Page A3
AP Photo
Police obtain warrants for trio
President Barack Obama waves to reporters as he steps off the Marine One helicopter at the White House, Thursday.
TOP 5 WEB
For The Past 24 Hours
JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
• Check your home for CO; get a detector, too • City of Angels holds annual Toy Run • Strong 2nd half leads to GHS win • Roswell girls cruise past Robertson • Gridiron King
INSIDE SPORTS Mark Wilson Photo
Police and rescue workers tend to a two-vehicle accident at the intersection of West Second Street and Nevada Avenue, Thursday morning. According to police, an 80-year-old woman involved in the accident died as a result of her injuries after being taken to a hospital. Police declined to identify the woman until her family was notified.
The Roswell Police Department obtained three arrest warrants on charges of conspiracy to commit arson, Wednesday. One of the three, retired Roswell Fire Department employee Robert Gene Chester, 64, is also charged with retaliation against a witness. The arson charges stem from an incident that took place on Nov. 20 where a woman awoke to find her car on fire, but the arson reflects a cycle of harassment and revenge that dates back to May 2011. Chester had been arrested
Survey: Many Duke City Ali Castro to vie for national cops wanted DOJ probe RHS GALS CLEAN RUIDOSO’S CLOCK
When layups and bunnies are the main way a basketball team puts points on the board, either the defense has enough holes to make Swiss cheese jealous, or the offense is clicking on all cylinders. For the Roswell girls on Thursday, it was the latter. The Coyotes made 11 baskets in the first quarter, 10 of which were a result of an assist as the Coyotes raced out to a ... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Barbara McCarty • Glendel Thurman • John (Jack) Blevins • Grace Romero • Alene Talbot - PAGE A6
HIGH ...51˚ LOW ....20˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B5 COMICS.................B3 FINANCIAL .............B4 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — More than 40 percent of officers supported a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the Albuquerque Police Department, according to results of a survey done just a month before the DOJ announced on Nov. 27 it would investigate the department’s use of force policies and training. The survey results obtained Wednesday by the Albuquerque Journal also show more than 60 percent of responding officers said they had not received significant training in use of force policies or new technologies like lapel cameras. And 72 percent said the average of ficer does not have “proper tools (equipment, training, manpower support, etc.) to effectively
serve and protect the people of Albuquerque.” The union released some survey results last month. Albuquerque Police Officers’ Association vice president Shaun Willoughby said Wednesday the questions about training and the DOJ investigation were withheld over worries they would distract from the union’s message about sagging morale. Police Chief Ray Schultz and Mayor Richard Berry, however, were provided the entire survey in November, he said. “The chief and the mayor don’t seem to be taking this seriously,” Willoughby said. “They have a really big problem on their hands in terms of the way they comSee SURVEY, Page A3
See WARANTS, Page A3
homecoming queen crown ILISSA GILMORE RECORD STAFF WRITER
In September, Ali Castro was selected as Roswell High School’s homecoming queen and now, she hopes to be chosen as America’s Homecoming Queen. Castro will represent New Mexico in the national pageant and also participate in events of the 54th annual Autozone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn., this weekend. The winner of the pageant will receive a scholarship toward college tuition. Castro, 18, plans to attend University of New Mexico and major in psychology. She applied for the pageant after hearing about the pageant and scholarship from teacher Debbie Dumlao, who also sponsored homecoming activities. Only a small number of homecoming queens who apply are invited to particiSee CASTRO, Page A3
Ali Castro
Courtesy Photo
Storm hits East; 200K in dark in Ark Mexico urges US court to block part of Arizona law ers in snow or mud and
INDEX
AP Photo
Luna, a black Lab mix, frolics in fresh snow in East Derry, N.H., Thursday, The southern New Hampshire area received about eight inches of snow from the winter storm.
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A muted version of a winter storm that has killed more than a dozen people
across the eastern half of the country plodded across the Northeast on Thursday, trapping airlin-
frustrating travelers still trying to retur n home after Christmas. The storm, which was blamed for at least 16 deaths farther south and west, brought plenty of wind, rain and snow to the Northeast when it blew in Wednesday night. Lights generally remained on and cars mostly stayed on the road, unlike many harder-hit places including Arkansas, where 200,000 homes and businesses lost power. By afternoon, the precipitation had stopped in parts of Pennsylvania,
See STORM, Page A3
PHOENIX (AP) — The Mexican government has urged a U.S. court to stop Arizona from enforcing a minor section of the state’s 2010 immigration law that prohibits the harboring of illegal immigrants.
Lawyers representing Mexico asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a filing Wednesday to uphold a lower -court ruling that blocked police from enforcing the ban. Mexico argued the ban harms diplomatic relations between the United States, undermines the U.S.’s ability to speak to a foreign country with one voice and encourages the marginalization of Mexi-
cans and people who appear to be from Latin America. “Mexico cannot conduct effective negotiations with the United States when the foreign policy decisions of the federal governments are under mined by the individual policies of individual states,” lawyers for the Mexican government said in a friend-of-the-court brief. The harboring ban was in effect from late July 2010 until U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton blocked its enforcement on Sept. 5. Two weeks before Bolton See MEXICO, Page A3