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NAFTA
US wants to restrict Mexican truckers Negotiators ask to remove long-haul service from chapter in trade pact By Greg Quinn, Josh Wingrove and Eric Martin BL O O MBE RG
The U.S. has proposed another difficult change to the North American Free Trade Agreement that could eventually restrict long-haul Mexican truckers from operating in the country, according to people familiar with the discussions. American negotiators asked
to remove Mexico’s long-haul industry from a NAFTA chapter on cross-border services, according to an industry official familiar with the proposal who isn’t authorized to speak publicly. That could open the door to restrictions on truckers, as losing NAFTA trade protections and advantages would make it harder for Mexico to challenge any future U.S. requirements on trucks such as
new safety checks. One government official familiar with the text said the U.S. proposal would allow restrictions and limitations on Mexican trucking if certain conditions were reached, while another official described it as a broad industry exclusion that came during the last round of talks in October. Neither was authorized to speak publicly. NAFTA continues on A8
VETERANS DAY 2017
Ricardo Santos / Laredo Morning Times
The first commercial truck from Mexico that will travel to Garland, Texas from Apocada, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, crossed the World Trade Bridge from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico into Laredo on Oct. 21, 2011. U.S. negotiators have asked to remove Mexico’s long-haul industry from NAFTA during recent talks.
ZAPATA COUNTY
PRESERVING A LEGACY
Highway 83 expansion to open for business SPECIAL TO THE TIME S
Zapata County will be celebrating the long-awaited expansion to U.S. Highway 83 with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, Nov. 16. The ceremony will be held in front of the Justice of the Peace Juana M.B. Gutierrez’s office, located at 1103 N. Highway 83 in San Ygnacio. The event’s hosts include
Zapata County Pct. 2 Comissioner Olga Elizondo, former Pct. 2 comissioner Angel Garza, and the community of San Ygnacio. “In any small community, we all have our differences, but the people of San Ygnacio have always come together to protect its resources, from the Falcon Dam to the shaping of the highHighway continues on A8
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, TEXAS
Residents struggle to recover from mass shooting Law enforcement reopens intersection in front of First Baptist Church Sarah A. Miller / Associated Press
In this photo, members of the Marine Corps League's Rose City Detachment 1354 surround Marty Bruce at her home in Tyler, Texas. Bruce requested help to organize Navy and Marine Corps items passed down to her from her mother and father. Pictured from left back row, J.B. Robinson, Hue Adams, Jesse McCall, Donald Monn and front row, Chuck Tompkins and Bruce.
Woman receives help in honoring her father’s military service By Augusta Robinson TYLE R MORNI NG T E LEGRAPH
T
YLER — Marty Bruce, of Tyler, has always regarded her late father as a hero, and a box she found about three years ago proved her theory. Now she’s getting help preserving his legacy defending his country with a different kind of box — a shadowbox showcasing his service and honors. The Tyler Morning Telegraph reports the cardboard box Bruce found belonged to her mother, Betty Currier, and contained her father’s military awards and paperwork. Inside Bruce found details of Burton Currier’s military career, which spanned more than 30 years and included service in the Canadian Air Force, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. “When you’re a teenager you don’t care what your folks do,” Bruce said. “It wasn’t until recently that I wanted to tell a story.” A recent desire to display the items properly in a shadowbox led her to Hue Adams, of the
Marine Corps League’s Rose City Detachment. “We’re going to take care of our own,” said Adams, who is also a Marine Corps veteran. “In the Marine Corps we call it ‘esprit de corps.”’ The organization recently began helping Bruce research and arrange her father’s awards for the shadowbox. Adams said there is a proper protocol for how each item in the shadowbox should be laid out. Among Currier’s many honors is the Distinguished Flying Cross. Although Bruce said Currier never discussed anything about his experiences overseas, she has learned of a time he shot down three Japanese A6M “Zero” fighter planes. Another story about her father remained a secret for many years. “He was flying over Japan and he got shot,” Bruce said. “He got shrapnel on his back. He told my mom for years he’d had warts removed. “She found out years later he’d got shot,” she Legacy continues on A8
By Paul J. Weber and Emily Schmall ASSOCIAT ED PRE SS
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas — Volunteers donated blood at a community hall and others stocked the refrigerator and laid out loaves of bread at a food pantry as the stunned community of Sutherland Springs struggled to recover from the shooting at a Baptist church that left more than two dozen dead. Law enforcement officials reopened the intersection Thursday where the First Baptist Church sits, but black mesh material was tied to the chainlink fence surrounding it. With the church door open, a tall wooden cross could be seen at the altar. Judy and Rod Green, who married at the church 15 years ago, prepared Thursday to open the By His Grace food pantry next door for a weekly Friday morning meal service. A few blocks away, Alice Garcia, a Sutherland Springs native and the president of the unincorporated town’s community association, prepared with her husband, Oscar, the annual Veterans Day memorial on the grounds of the community hall,
when the church victims with military backgrounds will receive a full military salute. “Everyone in the community is doing what they can, but honestly everyone feels so helpless,” 20-year-old Karyssa Calbert of neighboring Floresville, Texas, said at the hall. Six months pregnant, Calbert couldn’t donate blood but came to the community hall to offer moral support. “People are donating time, donating money, donating prayers, but it still feels like it’s not enough,” she said. The church will be demolished, the pastor said. Pastor Frank Pomeroy told leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention earlier this week that it would be too painful to continue using First Baptist Church as a place of worship. Pomeroy discussed the state of the building with the denomination’s top executives, who traveled to the rural community in a show of support, a national Southern Baptist spokesman said. The pastor described the church as “too stark of a reminder” of the massacre, spokesman Sing Oldham said. No final decisions can be Shooting continues on A8