Roswell Daily Record
Battered woman joke sullies public hearing Vol. 123, No. 191 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
BY JEFF TUCKER RECORD STAFF WRITER
A highly contentious zoning dispute that has already cost Chaves County $30,000 in legal costs tur ned even uglier last month when a county resident publicly made a crude and highly offensive joke about battered women. The county commissioners at their July 24 meeting approved a rezoning request by Marshall Decker of Hager man, who had sued the county in both state and federal court regarding his request for zoning changes of his properties west of Southeast Main Street and south of Sagebrush Valley Road. Decker had unkind words about county leaders
during a July 24 public hearing, including accusing a county official of perjury. The commissioners and County Manager Stan Riggs in turn made highly unflattering remarks about Decker. But the crude and degrading joke about women offered by county resident Vincent Gonzalez encapsulated the discord. Gonzalez, a neighbor of Decker’s 960-acre property, said Decker flaunts court orders and orders from the county. “Typically, Mr. Decker does what he wants,” Gonzalez said. “He doesn’t care what other people think. He’s doing what the hell he wants.” Gonzalez said county leaders are not doing their
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
August 9, 2014
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job restricting Decker’s unlawful activities on Decker’s land. Gonzalez ended his comments with what he warned was a bad joke. “What do you tell a woman with two black eyes?” Gonzalez asked. “Nothing, you’ve done told her twice.” No one laughed at Gonzalez’s “joke,” and heads turned away from the distasteful and inappropriate public comment. “I understand it offended some of our county employees,” said Chaves County Planning and Zoning Director Anders Sheridan. In the end, the commissioners unanimously approved Decker’s request to rezone about 960 acres of land Decker owns west
Smokey turns 70 File Photo by Bill Moffitt
A Smokey Bear character waves to visitors at the Smokey Bear Historical Park in his home town of Capitan, 70 miles west of Roswell. Smokey Bear is turning 70 today, but don’t bring any candles to the party, please. As the friendly, huggable bear with the brimmed hat and shovel enters his golden years, he's burning up Twitter, but his message of fire prevention through personal responsibility hasn’t changed much.
of Southeast Main Street and south of Sagebrush Valley Road from agricultural to commercial and from agricultural to mixeduse residential. Decker’s zoning dispute with the county dates back to November 2011 when the commissioners did not heed the county’s Planning and Zoning Commission recommendation to deny Decker’s zoning requests. The commission at the time unanimously approved the changes. Decker, of Hager man, submitted both zoning requests because he wished to develop a recreational vehicle and manufactured home park in the area. Some residents of the area where the park would
have been developed objected to the zoning changes based on their concerns for water availability, increased traffic, trash and litter and septic systems. Some neighbors were also upset with the magnitude of the 960-acre development. In its 2011 approval of both requested zoning changes, the commission included stipulations that no shallow or domestic wells will be drilled for the property and that water would be obtained by Decker transferring in a minimum of 17-acre feet of senior Artesian water rights and providing a water distribution system to service the lots. Sheridan, who began working for the county in
October 2012, said Decker started building a flea market without a permit on a 30-acre northern portion of the property. Sheridan said Decker was issued a citation by a county building official. Decker claimed the structure was for personal storage, so the county issued a permit for a storage building, according to Sheridan. Sheridan said Decker was subsequently cited again by a building inspector for substandard construction of the outbuilding, and ordered to stop work. “He threw the building official off the property and filed charges against the
Councilor Perry wants to challenge marijuana law BY RANDAL SEYLER AND JEFF TUCKER RECORD STAFF WRITERS
Roswell City Councilor Jason Perry has a question that King Solomon would have trouble answering — If you are going to break a law, which one should you break? “In a nutshell, I’m not here to argue whether or not medical marijuana is a benefit to people or not, I am here to argue, ‘What law am I supposed to break as city councilor?’” Perry said Friday. “I took an oath to uphold both the federal and state constitutions, to uphold the laws of the state and the laws of the federal government, so I need to know what laws am I being asked to break,” Perry continued. “Am I breaking the laws of the federal government or am I being asked to break state law? Because to follow state law I have to break federal law. That’s just the question that has to be answered.” Perry said if selling medical marijuana is what the state deems is good, he wants someone in charge to tell the city that it is OK to break the
federal law. He would like to see the city council eventually seek a judge’s opinion on what potential liability the city faces in light of an established medical marijuana dispensary in Roswell, but the council has not gone forth with seeking an opinion yet. “I will ask the council to go ahead with that in the next few months, but I do not know how the council will proceed,” Perry said. Perry gave a presentation to the Chaves County commissioners on July 24 discussing the dangers of marijuana and marijuana sales. He asked the commissioners to consider either an ordinance or a resolution outlawing medical and recreational marijuana sales in Chaves County, if recreational marijuana sales are ever approved by the Legislature. Perry told the commissioners marijuana is a much more powerful substance than it was in the 1960s. “Because this marijuana is not the marijuana of the ’60s,” Perry said, asserting there have been two deaths in Colorado
See ZONING, Page A3
due to marijuana consumption. Colorado and Washington are the only two states that allow recreational marijuana possession and sales. New Mexico is among 23 states and the District of Columbia with stateapproved medical marijuana programs. Perry said he wants to see New Mexico cities and counties have the ability to regulate marijuana in their jurisdictions. New Mexico cities and counties currently have no regulatory control on medical marijuana since the state solely administers the cannabis program. Sheriff Rob Coon said medical marijuana is being grown in Chaves County, although Coon said he did not know where the medical marijuana is being grown. Medical marijuana growers are not required under state law to disclose their growing locations to local law enforcement authorities. They are required to do so in some states, such as Montana. Coon said he would like to see an ordinance out-
Ten commandments must go, judge says Gary King files BLOOMFIELD (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday ruled that a New Mexico city must remove a monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments from the lawn in front of Bloomfield City Hall. Senior U.S. District Judge James A. Parker said in his ruling in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union that the monument amounts to government speech and has the “principal effect of endorsing religion.” Because of the context and history surrounding the granite monument, Parker said Bloomfield clearly violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. He gave a Sept. 10 deadline for its removal. The suit was filed in 2012 on behalf of two
Bloomfield residents who practice the Wiccan religion. Peter Simonson, ACLU of New Mexico executive director, called the decision a victory for protection against governmentsupported religion. “We firmly support the right of individuals, religious groups, and community associations to publicly display religious monuments, but the government should not be in the business of picking which sets of religious beliefs belong at City Hall,” Simonson said Friday. According to previous court testimony, plaintiff Jane Felix said the display “says that anybody who doesn't agree with this monument on city grounds is an outsider.” TODAY’S FORECAST
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See PERRY, Page A2
lawsuit over money
AP Photo
A Ten Commandments monument sits on the Bloomfield City Hall front lawn on March 13. A lawsuit over the monument was filed in 2012, and a judge is expected to rule on its constitutionality later this year.
“It has no place on City Hall property,” Felix said in March. City attorneys say private individuals erected and paid for the monument under a 2007 city resolution. That resolu-
• ALICE MODELL FULKERSON • EDRA L. CHILDERS • IGNACIA “MAXINE” SOSA
tion allows people to erect historical monuments of their choosing. Bloomfield Mayor Scott Eckstein said he was surprised the judge would rule against “a historical document.”
TODAY’S OBITUARIES PAGE B4
SANTA FE (AP) — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gary King asked New Mexico’s highest court Monday to resolve a dispute over whether his campaign accepted excessive contributions after the June primary election. King filed a lawsuit Monday asking the state Supreme Court to stop Secretary of State Dianna Duran from forcing him to give up $10,900 in contributions. Duran says King improperly collected $10,400 from a Taos couple and $500 too much from a Santa Fe retiree after last month’s primary. The secretary of state, whose office administers election laws, had directed King’s campaign to deposit
the contributions in a state elections fund by Monday. Individuals and political action committees can donate up to $5,200 per election to a statewide candidate, but Duran says a candidate can’t accept contributions for the primary after the election occurred. King maintains the contributions were permissible since they’re to help retire his primary election debt. At a news conference in the Capitol, King said Duran — a Republican — had singled him out over the contribution issue to potentially damage his campaign and benefit Republican Gov. Susana Martinez. “One of my real com-
CLASSIFIEDS ..........B6
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2
FINANCIAL ..............B3
LOTTERIES .............A2
COMICS .................B5
HOROSCOPES .........A8
See KING Page A3 OPINION .................A4 SPORTS .................B1 WORLD ..................A7 WEATHER ..............A8