Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 122, No. 71 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
OBAMA TO DESIGNATE 5 NATIONAL MONUMENTS WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is designating five new national monuments, using executive authority to protect historic or ecologically significant sites — including one in Delaware sought ... - PAGE B3
TOP 5 WEB
For The Past 24 Hours
• Horse slaughter video sparks outrage • Will CID make priority call? • County shows off driving simulator • Gessing: NM relies ... • ACLU-NM claims same-sex wed ban ...
INSIDE SPORTS
March 23, 2013
Livestock officials investigate horse killing
SATURDAY
www.rdrnews.com Board takes allegations of animal cruelty very seriously,” said Katie Goetz, public information officer for the state Department of Agriculture. “After becoming aware of the video yesterday, NMLB immediately began to investigate and sought a warrant to search the premises where the shooting is alleged to have occurred.” The livestock board will not release further information until the investigation is complete, Goetz said. Sappington formerly worked in maintenance for Valley Meat Co. near Roswell, a company that is seeking federal approval to slaughter horses. Owner Rick De Los Santos expects to start processing horsemeat to sell abroad by the end of April, making it the first company since 2007 to do so. De Los Santos estimates the
JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
New Mexico livestock officers are investigating allegations of animal cruelty following the public release of a YouTube video by animal welfare advocates apparently showing a local man shooting a horse at his home near Roswell. The video reportedly shows Tim Sappington fatally shooting a horse he purchased for his own consumption, before swearing at animal activists. The video was created and posted months prior to its mysterious public unveiling Thursday. The graphic video, and a call to the New Mexico Livestock Board Thursday morning, sparked an investigation into Sappington’s actions. “The New Mexico Livestock
operation would employ up to 100 people and take in $10 million in yearly sales. According to Valley Meat Co.’s attorney A. Blair Dunn, the incident and state investigation into Sappington’s video should not affect the company’s chances of obtaining or delaying the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Grant of Inspection. Chaves County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Britt Snyder confirmed the sheriff’s office is assisting the livestock board with the investigation and helped execute a search warrant for Sappington’s home Thursday. “They often seek our assistance,” Snyder said. Sappington was at his home in Dexter when of ficers arrived. “Investigators recovered some items that were specified.” Snyder said the legality of some
FAA to ILEA-R celebrates its graduating class close 149 air traffic towers CHICAGO (AP) — Under orders to trim hundreds of millions of dollars from its budget, the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday released a final list of 149 air traffic control towers that it will close at small airports around the country starting early next month.
The closures will not force any of those airports to shut down, but pilots will be left to coordinate takeoffs and landings among themselves over a shared radio frequency with no
International Law Enforcement AcademyRoswell welcomed more members to its growing family Friday, as it hosted a graduation ceremony for law enforcement officials from Belize, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Paraguay who participated in criminal justice courses. ILEA-Roswell Project Manager Frank Taylor said it was big day for the delegates, after weeks of arduous work in their courses. In addition to taking the institution’s criminal justice course, delegates from Paraguay and the Dominican
Where’s Jared?
See ILEA-R Page A3
Mark Wilson Photo
Rudolph Rodriguez of Belize checks out his group picture and diploma during the ILEA Graduation Ceremony, Friday afternoon.
Obama warns of ‘enclave for extremism’ in Syria
FGCU SHOCKS HOYAS 78-68
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — President Barack Obama warned Friday that an “enclave for extremism” could fill a leadership void in wartorn Syria, a chilling scenario for an already tumultuous region, especially for Jordan, Syria’s neighbor and a nation at the crossroads of the struggle for stability in the Middle East.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Florida Gulf Coast sure made an entrance at the NCAA tournament. A school that hasn’t even celebrated its first 20-year reunion busted a load of brackets ... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
HIGH ...78˚ LOW ....31˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
See HORSE Page A3
ILISSA GILMORE RECORD STAFF WRITER
See FAA Page A3
• Sadie Matson • Edna Lee Moore - PAGE B3
of Sappington’s actions, such as killing an animal for his own consumption at home, is questionable. “There are certain animals that have to be inspected by (livestock officials) before they are eaten,” he said. The sheriff’s office received several calls throughout the day Friday about the video. “The county could not stop this if they wanted to,” he said. “This is a federal issue. We’re disgusted with (Sappington’s) actions. He’s embarrassed New Mexico with his actions, and why he would do that, I have no idea.” The City of Roswell also released a statement advising the public that the city is “appalled by the video” but that the facility is outside city limits and therefore does
Mark Wilson Photo
Randy Matheney of Purcella Construction works on the exterior of the old Cover Up Cafe and future site of a Subway restaurant at the corner of Second and Main in downtown Roswell, Friday.
In a significant step toward easing regional tensions, Obama also brokered a phone call between leaders from Israel and Turkey that resulted in an extraordinary apology from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish flotilla. The call marked a diplomatic victory for the president and a crucial realignment in the region, given Israel’s and Turkey’s shared See SYRIA Page A3
Gomez: I’m about peace, justice and uniting people through Christ JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B4 ENTERTAINMENT.....A8 FINANCIAL .............B5 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8 WORLD .................B3
INDEX
Letricia Gomez
Courtesy Photo
When asked to sum up her life’s work, Leticia Gomez said: “I’m all about peace and justice.” she paused, “and unity. My goal is to unite people through Christ.” She has a missionary spirit. Born in Artesia, Gomez had two brothers and seven sisters. She learned her values from her parents. She said her mother didn’t care about money. “She was unselfish, everything for the children,” Gomez said. Yet her mother instilled in her children the importance of hard work. “If you didn’t work for it, you didn’t deserve it.”
Her father emphasized the value of education, especially for his girls. “That was rare back then,” Gomez said. She does not claim to have been a great student. She preferred comic books to textbooks. “My sister would read Nancy Drew and she would tell me about it. I would get ahold of the jacket cover and repeat what my sister told me. That’s how I got through book reports.” In the 1930s, she and her family were deported to Mexico when her mother refused a
patron entry into the family home. “My mother told me that I was three years old when that happened, but I don’t remember much about it.” Gomez does recall that during the family’s time in Mexico, the children learned Spanish. “Mexican Americans learn not to speak Spanish in schools. We got spankings … or we had to write lines, lots of lines. When we were overSee SPOTLIGHT, Page A3