Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 122, No. 220 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter finally has decided to go public, but it’s taking a route that will keep most of the details about its business private for a while longer. The company aptly used its own... - PAGE B4
INSIDE SPORTS
PATS BEAT NY 13-10 FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — One picture-perfect pass started the New England Patriots toward an ugly win. Tom Brady threw a 39-yard touchdown to a wideopen Aaron Dobson on the game’s... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES
• Alice Joy Baker Rankin • Howard Irwin • Bentheen "Benny" "Gini" Reynolds • Audrey W. Snow • Gonzalo Samario - PAGE A7
As of 10:15 p.m., Thursday, there were 0.38 inches of rain in the gauge at the Daily Record. In the past 24 hours, the gauge recorded a total of 2.70 inches.
RAINFALL
HIGH ...87˚ LOW ....65˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B5 COMICS.................B3 FINANCIAL .............B4 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A7 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
September 13, 2013
FRIDAY
www.rdrnews.com
Officials, residents assess flood damage JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
TWITTER TO GO PUBLIC
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Residents, businesses, farmers and local officials assessed damage across Roswell Thursday following the flash flooding of Berrendo Creek. But as water continued to wash through drainage ditches, the Pecos River nearby breached its banks and began slowly flooding pastures. “We’ve got almost three times as much water as the banks will contain,” said Chaves County Flood Control Superintendent Dick Smith. “They’re going to have problems on down the river.” Eight homes were evacuated early on River Road, displacing more families. A shelter, set up by the county Wednesday night for homeowners of a subdivision off West Country Club that was cut off by flooding, was kept open to accommodate additional residents in need of assistance. Total rainfall was estimated at 5.2 inches in the area southwest of Roswell as of Wednesday night. In town, areas received 4-6 inches, Smith said. Flood management officials plan to open the Two Rivers Dam today to start relieving the excess flood water through the region, Smith said. The water will pass through Roswell in the Hondo River channel. Residents should notice the Hondo River begin to flow escessively as a result. “We were waiting until the local water drained off,” Smith said.
The dam is 15 miles southwest of Roswell. Of ficials were still attempting to assess total property damage caused by the rainfall and flooding Thursday. A bridge on Urton Road that crossed the Berrendo Creek was destroyed by the rushing current and debris. “It got knocked down, and water got into a house right there,” Smith said. The flooding also ran across far ms and damaged irrigation systems. “We had a quite a bit of damage,” Smith said. “We really don’t have a complete picture of everything that happened.“ Of ficials are waiting until the water recedes to better assess the damage, he said. Larry Wagner, a 35-year farmer, lost a number of calves and heifers, and 70 acres of hay fields in the flooding. The rushing water ripped away fencing and flooded his pastures. “It flooded quite a bit of my country and my hay fields,” Wagner said. Wagner’s ranch hands searched his land, some of which saddles Red Bridge Road, for his cattle. They found most of them, but many were missing. He estimated he had some 100. “We found most of them, but we’re short some,” Wagner said. “I imagine they floated away.” Many dead deer were found in the area. Wagner said he thinks his livestock likely met the same end. See DAMAGE, Page A3
Mark Wilson Photos
Above: An automobile rests off of N. Sycamore on Thursday after being swept away by the raging flood waters of Berrendo Creek during Wednesday's monsoon rains. Left: The swollen and muddy Pecos River flows steadily southward, Thursday morning.
Record rainfall soaks state, prompts rescues ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — The New Mexico National Guard and other rescue crews evacuated dozens of campers and residents who were stranded by floodwaters along the Pecos River as New Mexico was drenched Thursday by another round of record rainfall.
While the welcomed moisture is helping the state out of an unprecedented drought, the runoff was threatening an RV park near Brantley Lake and had pooled up around the community of Lakewood. Crews were using boats and helicopters to bring about 70 people to dry
land, where they were checked by medical personnel and bussed to a shelter in Carlsbad. National Guard officials said they were concerned floodwaters could breach a channel above the lake and spread out into an old lake bed, See RAINFALL, Page A3
Council approves Kerry rejects Syria’s pledge attorney contract to turn over information JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
City Council approved four businesses for renewals or new liquor licenses, and City Attorney Barbara Patterson’s contract for legal services was renewed for the next three months Thursday. Councilors voted to grant a liquor license transfer to Allsup’s Convenience Store at 1500 N. Garden Ave., allowing the Best Western Sally Port Inn & Suites to transfer its license that allows packaged liquor sales to the store. The Sally Port Inn & Suites’ liquor license application was then approved by the council, allowing it to sell liquor in a new bar and restaurant expected to open on the premises. The new license will now only allow the hotel to sell alcohol for the new restaurant, and not to those guests staying in the rooms or
who want to sit out on the patios. Councilors also approved a wine and beer license for Carmines Italian Eatery, a new restaurant, expected to open Sept. 17 at 1500 N. Garden Ave. The restaurant will employ 35 people, and will serve “quick, casual Italian food” in a family setting. El Tapatio, at 3012 N. Main St., was also approved to sell beer and wine. In other action, the board unanimously decided to approve renewing Patterson’s contract for legal services for another three months. Patterson’s contract calls for paying her fir m $12,784.92 per month. The city also will reimburse her firm for any witness fees, services for process fees, investigative fees, expert witness fees,
GENEVA (AP) — Striking a tough tone, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry opened swiftly convened talks with Russia on Syria’s chemical weapons Thursday by bluntly rejecting a Syrian pledge to begin a “standard process” by turning over information rather than weapons — and nothing immediately. That won’t do, Kerry declared at an opening news conference, a stonefaced Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at his side. “The words of the Syrian regime in our judgment are simply not enough.” “This is not a game,” Kerry said of the latest developments in a series that has rapidly gone from deadly chemical attacks to threats of retaliatory U.S. air strikes to Syrian agreement with a Russian plan to turn over the weapons and, finally, to the crucial
matter of working out the difficult details. “We believe there is nothing standard about this process at this moment because of the way the regime has behaved,” Kerry declared. And he kept alive the threat of U.S. military action, saying the turnover of weapons must be complete, verifiable and timely — “and finally, there ought to consequences if it doesn’t take place.” Adding to the drama, Russian President Vladimir Putin weighed in from afar, raising eyebrows with an opinion piece in The New York T imes that chided Americans for seeing themselves as “exceptional.” That was an apparent reference to a comment President Barack Obama made in his Syria speech Tuesday night, explaining why he felt the U.S. needed to take action. Congress has shown little inclination to
authorize military action, and a vote on that has been put off. Putin also warned that a U.S. strike against Syria because of chemical weapons use could unleash new terrorist attacks. And he still maintained there is “every reason to believe” the weapons were used by rebels and not by Assad’s military. In Washington, Obama’s spokesman said Russia was “isolated and alone” in that view. Obama, for his part, said simply that he was hoping for “a concrete result” from the talks. The back-and-forth was a stark indication of the challenging work ahead as Kerry, Lavrov and their teams of chemical weapons experts plunge into talks aimed at finding agreement on how to dismantle the chemical weapons amid the confusion and danger of Syria’s civil war.
CASA ‘walks’ with children through court system
INDEX
This article is one in a series of stories focusing on local agencies that receive support from the United Way of Chaves County, which is currently conducting its annual fundraising campaign. AMY VOGELSANG RECORD STAFF WRITER
Although a difficult position, volunteering for
See COUNCIL, Page A3
Chaves County CASA is one of the most gratifying experiences one could have, said Executive Director Carrie-Leigh Cloutier. “I’m very blessed to go to work and help people,” she said. “I’m inspired by the people I work with, and I’m proud to be around people who are willing to change their lives.” CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) allows children, especially in cases of abuse or neglect, to have a voice in court. Since its beginning in the late 1970s, CASA has cre-
ated a network of 59,000 volunteers standing with more than two million children within 954 programs nationwide, according to the website.
The local branch of CASA doesn’t just help children have a voice in court, though. Their advocacy program does allow volunteers to “walk hand in hand” with children through the court system, Cloutier said, but they also offer parenting classes and have two very supportive dogs: Emma, a golden retriever, and the newly
recruited labradoodle, Moose. But of course most of the program is based on walking children through court cases. This is both incredibly rewarding, but also very difficult, Cloutier said. “You see horrifying situations every day,” she said. From drug-addicted infants to 3-year-olds with broken bones, volunteering for CASA is not easy. But it really works. “It’s the hardest volunteer work I’ve ever been involved in,” Cloutier
admitted. “It makes me cry. It makes me angry. But you’re actually changing the world; you’re actually saving children’s lives, and in the end, it’s the most gratifying.” Of course, this kind of volunteer work is not for everyone, but Cloutier said they need prayers just as much as actual volunteers.
T o lear n more about CASA or to inquire about volunteering, visit casakids.org or call 6250112.