Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 121, No. 14 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A motorized, seat-less unicycle, a video game you control with your eyes, and a mind-reading headset that serves as a game controller were among the more bizarre gadgets being shown off at this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show. Some 3,100 exhibitors attended the show, and although there were... - PAGE A7
January 17, 2012
TUESDAY
www.rdrnews.com
Judge adopts Senate redistricting compromise
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A New Mexico district judge on Monday adopted a bipartisan plan for revamping the boundaries of state Senate districts. Under the plan, two Republican incumbents in southeastern New Mexico will be paired in the same district. The plan also lumps together two Democratic incumbents in Albuquerque. Half a dozen plans were initially submitted to Judge
WEIRD GADGETS AT CES
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
James Hall at the beginning of the Senate redistricting hearing. Before the end, several parties had negotiated a compromise that had the support of Gov. Susana Martinez, other Republicans, a group of Democrats and Native Americans. Lawyers for the Democratic-controlled Legislature opposed that plan. Hall said in his 22-page ruling that the compromise plan satisfied the legal
requirements of population equality and it preserved political and geographic boundaries to a reasonable degree. He said the plan also protects Native American voting rights by creating three districts in northwester n New Mexico in which Native Americans of voting age make up more than two-thirds of the population. That’s the same under current conditions. Howev-
er, Native Americans will gain one district in the western portion of the state in which their numbers are large enough to influence the outcome of a primary or general election. Democratic Party Chairman Javier Gonzales said the map was based on “fairness and equality for every voter.” Bryan Watkins, executive director of the Republican Party of New Mexico, also described the new districts
Library gets new sign
as fair. He said the map is “drawn in such a way where we feel pretty motivated about Republicans’ chances this year.”
The plan includes 17 districts that are solidly or lean in favor of Republicans based on past statewide election results in those areas, according to an analysis prepared by the Legislature’s redistrictSee SENATE, Page A3
Huntsman departs race
For The Past 24 Hours
TOP 5 WEB • Afternoon stroll • Presidential hopeful Davis visits city • Dan Ortega passed up USPS promotion... • RPD arrests Rue • Demons win Highway 2 rivalry, again
INSIDE SPORTS Mark Wilson Photo
The Roswell Public Library shows off its new sign, Friday.
MYR TLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — Days before the South Carolina primary, Jon Huntsman dropped out of the presidential race Monday and endorsed Mitt Romney for the party’s nomination, becoming the latest Republican to call the GOP front-runner the strongest candidate to beat the Democratic incumbent. “I believe it is now time for our party to unite around the candidate best equipped to defeat Barack Obama,” Huntsman said at a news conference, his family by his side. “Despite our differences and the space between us on some of the issues, I believe that candidate is Gov. Mitt Romney.” The development added to the aura of inevitability Romney has worked to create in South Carolina and the race at large. But Huntsman’s departure and endorsement of Romney seemed unlikely to clarify the overriding See RACE, Page A3
SC rally marks MLK Day Trey gets his wish with voting rights message MANNING THROWS 3 TD’S, NY STUNS PACK GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — With their own star quarterback and a dominating defense, the New York Giants exposed the Green Bay Packers for what they now are — former Super Bowl champions. The Packers... - PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES • Abram Chavez Jr. • Pascual Rojo • James Cooper • Neal Trammell • Evelyn Trammell • Mary Charlene Francis • Teena Kathleen Myers • Dick Mandonado - PAGE A7
HIGH ...62˚ LOW ....29˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B4 COMICS.................B7 ENTERTAINMENT.....B4 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Thousands commemorating the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday Monday outside South Carolina’s capitol heard a message that wouldn’t have been out of place during the halcyon days of the civil rights movement a half-century ago: the need to protect all citizens’ right to vote. A similar tone was struck at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where King preached from 1960 until his death. There and in South Carolina, speakers condemned the voter identification laws they said are meant to suppress black voter turnout. For most of 13 years in South Carolina, the attention at the NAACP’s annual rally has been on the Confederate flag that still waves outside the Statehouse. But
on Monday, the civil rights group shifted the focus to laws requiring voters to show photo identification before they can cast ballots, which the group and many other critics say is especially discriminatory toward African-Americans and the poor. South Carolina’s new law was rejected last month by the U.S. Justice Department, but Gov. Nikki Haley vowed to fight the federal government in court. At least a half-dozen other states passed similar voter ID laws in 2011. “This has been quite a faith-testing year. We have seen the greatest attack on voting rights since segregation,” said Benjamin Todd Jealous, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
The shift in tactics was also noted by the keynote speaker, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Last month, Holder said the Justice Department was committed to fighting any laws that keep people from the ballot box. He told the crowd he was keenly aware he couldn’t have become the nation’s first AfricanAmerican attorney general without the blood shed by King and other civil rights pioneers. “The right to vote is not only the cornerstone of our governance, it is the lifeblood of our democracy. And no force has proved more power ful, or more integral to the success of the great American experiment, than efforts to expand the franchise,” See MLK, Page A3
JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
T rey Vaughn, 5, will see his dream come true when he leaves for Orlando, Fla., next week thanks to the Make-AWish Foundation. Wednesday night was T rey’s send-of f which was held at Los Cerritos Mexican Kitchen, 2103 N. Main St., which not only sponsored the dinner, but is Trey’s favorite restaurant where he could eat his favorite food, tacos. The family arrived in style in a limousine provided by Ask Limousine Service. T rey suf fers from leukemia, yet Trey was full of smiles for the camera and full of energy when presented with the balloons that decorated the room. The balloons were his favorite
Jessica Palmer Photo
Trey Vaughn, 5, gets his wish granted to go to Walt Disney World in Orlando.
color, red. He and little brother Angelo played with them for nearly half an hour before they got down to the serious See TREY, Page A3
Pakistani court clashes with weakened government ISLAMABAD (AP) — The political crisis engulfing Pakistan deepened Monday when the nation’s top court clashed with a beleaguered government already under attack from the power ful army — a combined assault that could bring down the U.S.backed administration.
The Supreme Court launched contempt proceedings against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for failing to carry out its order to reopen a corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari and demanded Gilani make a rare appearance before the judges Thursday. If the court convicts
Gilani of contempt, he could serve up to six months in prison and be disqualified from holding office. The nuclear -armed country is already grappling with an ailing economy and a violent Islamist insurgency. The latest clash could also complicate U.S. efforts to get Pakistan to cooperate on the war in neighboring Afghanistan, especially peace talks with the Taliban — although Washington had made little headway on that even before this crisis. “The Supreme Court and the government are in an open clash now, and it
seems fairly obvious the court is unwilling to back off,” said Cyril Almeida, a lawyer and columnist for Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper. Even before the latest clash with the court, the government was locked in a bitter conflict with the army over a secret memo sent to Washington last year aimed at stopping a supposed military coup. The Supreme Court ruling boosted the sense that the administration could fall, squeezed between the court and Pakistan’s power ful generals. Some observers have speculated
See PAKISTANI, Page A3
AP photo
In this Monday, Dec. 5, 2011, photo, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani pauses during an interview with the Associated Press at his residence in Lahore, Pakistan.