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REGULATIONS
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES
New 2016 laws
Hopefuls weigh in on wall
States diverge on guns, voting and health care By GEOFF MULVIHILL ASSOCIATED PRESS
TRENTON, N.J. — Laws taking effect at the start of the new year show states diverging on some hot-button issues. Restrictions on carrying guns eased in Texas, for example, but got tighter in California. It is easier to register to vote in Oregon, but there is another step to take at the polls in North Carolina. The opposing directions in the states reflect a nation with increasingly polarized politics. In the debate over gun control, both sides say their arguments are strengthened by a string of mass shootings this year. That includes the December attack at a county health department gathering in San Bernardino, California, when a couple who investigators say
Photos by Eric Gay | AP file
In this 2015 file photo, a demonstrator helps hold a large "Come and Take It" banner at a rally in support of open carry gun laws at the Capitol. pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State group killed 14 people. Everytown for Gun Safety, a
group backed by billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is seeking to be a counterweight to the
National Rifle Association’s lobbying of state lawmakers. Both groups are expected to be active in legislatures in the coming year. Whether to raise the minimum wage has become another hot topic in states and cities, with the issue getting no traction in the Republican-led Congress. New voting laws, meanwhile, could help shape the outcomes in state and federal elections in the coming year. Democrats and others who want to boost voter participation have been pushing to expand access to the polls, while conservatives have pushed for measures aimed at preventing election fraud. Each side says the other is using legislation to help their favored party in elections.
See LAWS PAGE 11A
Candidates differ on controversial border wall ASSOCIATED PRESS
Several candidates for the presidency in 2016 have proposed building more border wall along the nearly 2,000 mile frontier with Mexico to keep people from crossing into the U.S. illegally. Here is what they have to say about a border wall.
DONALD TRUMP Trump has been the most outspoken about building a wall, and insists he’ll make Mexico pay for it. “We’re going to do a wall. We’re going
See CANDIDATES
PAGE 11A
U.S.—MEXICAN BORDER
BORDER WALL: A DAUNTING TASK Completing construction proving costly By SETH ROBBINS ASSOCIATED PRESS
BROWNSVILLE, Texas — Close to the southern tip of Texas a border wall suddenly ends. Its final post sits in a dry cornfield half a mile from the nearest bend in the Rio Grande river, the actual border with Mexico. It would be easy to walk around it. Tires left by the border patrol rest nearby. Agents drag them behind trucks to smooth the cracked earth and check for footprints. Unlike other famous barriers in history such as the Berlin Wall or the Great Wall of China, the U.S. version is not much of a wall. What stands in Texas is fragmented series of fencing, composed of enormous steel bars embedded in concrete close together. The rust-colored thick bars that must reach a height of 18 feet loom over the landscape, forming teeth-like slats that split farmland, slice through backyards, and sever parks and nature preserves. There are miles of gaps between Photo by Eric Gay | AP segments and openings in the fence In this Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015, photo, Pamela Taylor, whose home is on the south side of the border fence, stands near a sign she erected, in Brownsville, Texas. itself. As a result of the Secure Fence The staggered fence or wall, costing $6.5 million per mile, runs along 54 miles of Texas 1,254-mile border with Mexico. She still leaves coolers of water for thirsty migrants, though she wishes more of them would come to the United States legally, the way she emigrated from England. See WALL PAGE 11A
IMMIGRATION
Child migrants on rise Influx of teen migrants leads US government to open shelters across Colorado, Florida and New Mexico By COLLEEN SLEVIN ASSOCIATED PRESS
DENVER — The U.S. government plans to open three new shelters in three states to house unaccompanied migrant children as officials brace for another influx of young Central American immigrants crossing the border. The temporary shelters in Colorado, Florida and
New Mexico, all located on federal property, are in addition to shelters that opened outside Dallas earlier this month to deal with the growing number of immigrants expected in the spring and summer of 2016. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services plans to house up to 1,000 children in a renovated warehouse in the
sprawling Federal Center complex in the Denver suburb of Lakewood. Another 800 will be housed at a Job Corps site in Homestead, Florida, and 400 more at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, Mark Weber, a spokesman for HHS, which is responsible for overseeing the children’s care, said Thursday. The new planned shel-
ters, combined with the camps opened in Rockwall and Ellis counties in Texas this month, represent a 42 percent increase over the 8,400 permanent shelter beds the agency previously relied on in 12 states mainly along the Mexican border. Children in the shelters, most of them between ag-
See MIGRANTS PAGE 11A
Photo by Eric Gay | AP file
In this June 20, 2014 file photo, a sign stands outside Southwest Key-Nueva Esperanza, in Brownsville, Texas, a facility that shelters unaccompanied immigrant children.
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2016
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
Sunday, January 3
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Jose Juan Sanchez ’93 Memorial Mass, hosted by Laredo A&M mother’s club, will be held at Christ the King Church on at 10 a.m.
Today is Saturday, Jan. 2, the second day of 2016. There are 364 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Jan. 2, 1900, U.S. Secretary of State John Hay announced the “Open Door Policy” to facilitate trade with China. On this date: In 1788, Georgia became the fourth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. In 1921, religious services were broadcast on radio for the first time as KDKA in Pittsburgh aired the regular Sunday service of the city’s Calvary Episcopal Church. In 1935, Bruno Hauptmann went on trial in Flemington, New Jersey, on charges of kidnapping and murdering the 20month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. (Hauptmann was found guilty, and executed.) In 1942, the Philippine capital of Manila was captured by Japanese forces during World War II. In 1955, the president of Panama, Jose Antonio Remon Cantera, was assassinated. In 1960, Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts launched his successful bid for the presidency. In 1981, police in Sheffield, England, arrested Peter Sutcliffe, who confessed to being the “Yorkshire Ripper,” the serial killer of 13 women. In 1986, former baseball owner Bill Veeck (vehk), remembered for his well-publicized stunts and promotional gimmicks, including an exploding scoreboard and a dwarf pinch-hitter, died in Chicago at age 71. Ten years ago: A methane gas explosion at the Sago Mine in West Virginia claimed the lives of 12 miners, but one miner, Randal McCloy, Jr., was eventually rescued. Five years ago: The U.S. Navy said it would investigate raunchy videos broadcast to the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. (Capt. Owen P. Honors, who’d produced the videos as the ship’s executive officer, was removed as the Enterprise’s commander but was later allowed to remain in the Navy.) One year ago: The United States imposed fresh sanctions on North Korea, targeting the North’s defense industry and spy service in an attempt to punish Pyongyang for a crippling cyberattack against Sony. Today’s Birthdays: Singer Julius La Rosa is 86. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert is 74. TV host Jack Hanna is 69. Actress Wendy Phillips is 64. Actress Cynthia Sikes is 62. Actress Gabrielle Carteris is 55. Movie director Todd Haynes is 55. Retired MLB AllStar pitcher David Cone is 53. Actress Tia Carrere is 49. Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. is 48. Model Christy Turlington is 47. Actor Taye Diggs is 45. Rock musician Scott Underwood is 45. Rock singer Doug Robb (Hoobastank) is 41. Actor Dax Shepard is 41. Actress Paz Vega is 40. Country musician Chris Hartman is 38. Ballroom dancer Karina Smirnoff (TV: “Dancing with the Stars”) is 38. Rock musician Jerry DePizzo Jr. (O.A.R.) is 37. Rhythm-and-blues singer Kelton Kessee (IMX) is 35. Thought for Today: “Love doesn’t grow on trees like apples in Eden — it’s something you have to make. And you must use your imagination too.” — Joyce Cary, AngloIrish author (1888-1957).
Monday, January 4 Chess Club at the LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Free for all ages and all skill levels. Basic instruction is offered. Call John at 795-2400 x2521 for more information. Knitting Club at the LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum, from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Learn how to knit scarves, crochet hats and much more. Knit at your own pace. Instruction is available and supplies are limited. Call John at 795-2400 x2521 for more information.
Tuesday, January 5 Community conversation on teen and young adult mental health at Border Region Behavioral Health Center, 1500 Papas St., from 6–8 p.m. The purpose of this event is to encourage the community to voice concerns, ask questions and share information on available resources to help those afflicted with a mental illness and substance abuse problem. Join others in the community for an informal conversation on mental health presented by Area Health Education Center, Border Region Behavioral Health Center, and Texas Department of State Services Office of Border Health. For additional information, call 956-712-0037 or email hmedellin@mrgbahec.org The Alzheimer’s support group will meet at 7 p.m. in meeting room 2, building B of the Laredo Medical Center. The support group is for family members and caregivers taking care of someone who has Alzheimer’s. For information, please call 956-6939991. Computer Basics class at the Laredo Public Library, 1120 E. Calton Rd., from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Classroom B on the second floor. Classes are free. Seating is limited and first come first served. No registration required. Call 795-2400 x2242 for more information. Rock wall climbing at LBV Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St., from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. For more information, call 956-795-2400 x2520.
Saturday, January 9 The Northside Farmer’s Market will be in the parking lot of North Central Park on International at 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The market will feature free reusable bags and 2016 calendars (as long as they last.) There will also be children’s tent with activities.
Monday, January 11 Chess Club at the LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Free for all ages and all skill levels. Basic instruction is offered. Call John at 795-2400 x2521 for more information. Knitting Club at the LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum, from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Learn how to knit scarves, crochet hats and much more. Knit at your own pace. Instruction is available and supplies are limited. Call John at 795-2400 x2521 for more information.
Todd McInturf/The Detroit News | AP file
Due to extreme winter weather, dairy producers in West Texas and eastern New Mexico are continuing to assess how many animals died in the storm last weekend. However, the number will probably climb to more than 30,000, an official with a dairy group said Thursday.
30K dairy cows dead By BETSY BLANEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
LUBBOCK — Dairy producers in West Texas and eastern New Mexico are continuing to assess how many animals died in the winter storm last weekend, but the number will probably climb to more than 30,000, an official with a dairy group said Thursday. Texas Association of Dairymen executive director Darren Turley said an estimated 15,000 mature dairy cows died in the storm’s primary impact area — from Lubbock west to Muleshoe and north to Friona which is home to half of the state’s top-10 milk producing counties and produces 40 percent of the state’s milk. An agent with New Mexico State University’s extension service told Turley the area around Clovis, New Mexico, lost an estimated 20,000 dairy cows.
Mother, teens sue in border agent’s assault McALLEN — A mother, her teenage daughter and a teenage family friend have sued the United States government over the alleged sexual assault committed by a Border Patrol agent who later killed himself. The three allege federal agencies should have stopped Esteban Manzanares before a March 12, 2014, attack in which he allegedly kidnapped and attacked the two girls. The Brownsville Herald reports that the three women were Honduran immigrants who now live in Virginia, according to their lawsuit filed in December.
The number of younger animals killed by Winter Storm Goliath in each state could be just as high as the mature cows, he said. There will be less milk coming from the region for a while, Turley said, The snow was just one part of Goliath. It was the wind that led to drifts as high as 14 feet, where many animals died. Wind will push animals into a fenced corner where they can suffocate in snow drifts. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime (storm),” Turley said. “It’s a bad deal for producers.” The losses will affect production for about year, he said. During the storm dairy employees and tanker trucks from reaching farms. Hundreds of loads of milk ready for processing were wasted. Some cows normally milked twice a day went almost two days without being milked, which dries up milk supply.
Manzanares allegedly tied one teenager to a bed and raped her. The woman was able to escape and eventually contact authorities, who stormed into the agent’s apartment. They found the teenager tied down and Manzanares dead. The Border Patrol declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Officials admit helping in state border effort AUSTIN — Border Patrol officials have acknowledged participating in a Texas Department of Public Safety border security strategy six months after distancing themselves from a previous effort. The Austin American-States-
man reported Wednesday that U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Michael Friel said this week that his agency is participating in Operation Secure Texas, the roughly $800 million strategy legislators funded last spring. Rick Perry ordered DPS troopers and Texas National Guard soldiers to the Rio Grande Valley in 2014 as part of Operation Strong Safety. Perry claimed the federal government wasn’t doing enough to secure Texas’ border. The DPS told lawmakers that the Border Patrol was a partner in the operation, but Gil Kerlikowske wrote that his agency had in fact “declined participation.” — Compiled by AP reports
Tuesday, January 12 Computer Basics class at the Laredo Public Library, 1120 E. Calton Rd., from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Classroom B on the second floor. Classes are free. Seating is limited and first come first served. No registration required. Call 795-2400 x2242 for more information. Rock wall climbing at LBV Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St., from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. For more information, call 956-795-2400 x2520.
Wednesday, January 13 The Laredo Vet Center (part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) will be hosting an Open House from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. at North Town Professional Plaza, Laredo Vet Center, 6999 McPherson Road, Suite 102. This event is meant to inform the community of mental health services available to eligible veterans and their families.
Saturday, January 16 El Centro de Laredo Farmers Market at Jarvis Plaza from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Every third Saturday of the month, you can find fresh, locally grown produce as well as all-natural Texas products like olive oil and soap. For more information go to www.laredomainstreet.org
AROUND THE NATION Rice protesters want prosecutor to step down CLEVELAND — Protesters upset by a decision not to indict two white police officers in the shooting death of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy who had a pellet gun, marched to the home of the Cleveland prosecutor on Friday and repeated calls for him to resign. More than 100 people stood outside the home of Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty during the peaceful protest, which also included demands for a federal investigation into the shooting. A march leader told protesters not to vandalize the home of McGinty, which is in a neighborhood on the west side of Cleveland. Police officers accompanied the marchers and stood in McGinty’s driveway but did not intervene. The protesters chanted, “New Year, No More!” and “McGinty has got to go!” Through a spokesman, McGinty declined to comment. Protesters have called for
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SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY Photo by Tony Dejak | AP
People protest a grand jury’s decision not to indict two white Cleveland police officers in the fatal shooting of Tamir Rice, a black 12-year-old boy who was playing with a pellet gun, Tuesday, in Cleveland. McGinty’s resignation since he announced Monday that the officers would not face criminal charges in Tamir’s death. But criticism of him dates back months, as frustration grew over
the length of time it took to reach a decision concerning the November 2014 shooting. Marchers laid on the sidewalk running past McGinty’s house. — Compiled from AP reports
(956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted. The Zapata Times is free. The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500. The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail thezapatatimes.net
State
SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2016
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
A look at the ‘affluenza’ teen case By EMILY SCHMALL ASSOCIATED PRESS
FORT WORTH, Texas — A teen fugitive who’s known for using an “affluenza” defense in a trial for a deadly drunkendriving wreck is being detained in a Mexico City immigration facility while his mother is jailed in Los Angeles after being deported from Mexico. Here’s a look at what has happened so far and what could happen in coming days or weeks:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARREST IN MEXICO Tonya Couch and her 18-yearold son, Ethan, were taken into custody this week in Mexico, where authorities believe the pair fled to in November as Texas prosecutors investigated whether he had violated his probation. Ethan Couch was driving drunk and speeding near Fort Worth in June 2013 when he crashed into a disabled SUV, killing four people and injuring several others, including passengers in his pickup truck. He pleaded guilty to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury and was sentenced to 10 years’ probation. During the sentencing phase of his trial, a defense expert argued that Couch’s wealthy parents had coddled him into a sense of irresponsibility — a condition the expert termed “affluenza.” The condition is not recognized as a medical diagnosis by the American Psychiatric Association, and its invocation drew ridicule. Texas prosecutors believe the mother and son fled the state after a video surfaced that appears to show Ethan Couch at a party where people were drinking. He then missed a mandatory Dec. 10 appointment with his probation officer. The mother and son were arrested Monday after using a phone to order pizza that was traced to a condominium complex in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta.
Death row stays higher
Photo by Mark J. Terrill | AP
Tonya Couch, center, is taken by authorities to a waiting car after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport, Thursday in Los Angeles. Authorities said she and her son, Texas teenager Ethan Couch, who was sentenced to probation after using an "affluenza" defense for a 2013 wreck in Texas, fled to Mexico together in November as prosecutors investigated whether he had violated his probation.
DELAY IN DEPORTATION Ethan Couch won a delay in deportation on Wednesday, a ruling that could lead to a drawnout court process if a Mexican judge decides Couch has grounds to challenge his deportation based on arguments that kicking him out of Mexico would violate his rights. Such cases can take anywhere from two weeks to several months, depending on the priorities of the local courts and the actions of defense attorneys, said Richard Hunter, chief deputy for the U.S. Marshals Service in South Texas. Couch was transferred Thursday to an immigration detention center in one of Mexico City’s poorest areas where he will likely spend weeks, if not months, as he appeals deportation. U.S. Marshals brought
Couch’s mother through Los Angeles International Airport early Thursday after a flight from Mexico. She will remain jailed in Los Angeles until officers can take her to Texas, which likely won’t happen until at least next week, Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Jane Robison said. Couch, however, is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday, the Los Angeles Police Department told The Associated Press. Texas prosecutors have charged Tonya Couch with hindering apprehension of a felon. Her bond there was set at $1 million, Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Samantha Jordan said Thursday. Her attorneys released a statement saying that though “the public may not like what
she did, may not agree with what she did, or may have strong feelings against what she did,” she had done nothing illegal and wanted to get back to Texas as soon as possible.
TEXAS PROBATION HEARING If Ethan Couch’s appeal is unsuccessful, he will be deported back to Texas and be held in a county facility until a probation violation hearing Jan. 19. Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson has said she plans to ask a judge to transfer the case to adult court, where Couch could get up to 120 days in an adult jail, followed by 10 years of probation. If he violates probation again, he could face up to 10 years in prison per death, Wilson said.
AUSTIN — Texas’ highest criminal court halted more executions in 2015 than in any of the last nine years, which some legal experts say is a sign of a legal shift in the nation’s most active death penalty state. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals gave stays to eight condemned inmates last year, its highest number since at least 2007, the Dallas Morning News reported. That belies its reputation as a tough, conservative court generally unsympathetic to death-row appeals. Executions nationwide fell to 28, the lowest number in 24 years, according to the newspaper. Thirteen of those executions occurred in Texas. Some experts point to the state’s Court of Criminal Appeals gaining three new members as the reason for the shift, but others say changing national attitudes toward the death penalty are making an impact in Texas. “I strongly suspect that the (Court of Criminal Appeals) would still rank very close to the pole representing the least hospitable areas, although the spectrum itself may have shifted a little,” said Lee Kovarsky, a University of Maryland law professor. “I think the drift of the court is certainly toward a little bit more caution in allowing executions to go forward.” Shannon Edmonds, staff attorney for the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, which lobbies for prosecutors, says he thinks exonerations in Texas and nationwide have softened the ground for death-row appeals. “For lack of a better term, (the judges) might not be as jaded as they might be in the future after they see these kinds of claims brought up time after time after time,” Edmonds said.
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2016
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
Dangers of extreme wealth By PAUL KRUGMAN NEW YORK TIMES
Wealth can be bad for your soul. That’s not just a hoary piece of folk wisdom; it’s a conclusion from serious social science, confirmed by statistical analysis and experiment. The affluent are, on average, less likely to exhibit empathy, less likely to respect norms and even laws, more likely to cheat, than those occupying lower rungs on the economic ladder. And it’s obvious, even if we don’t have statistical confirmation, that extreme wealth can do extreme spiritual damage. Take someone whose personality might have been merely disagreeable under normal circumstances, and give him the kind of wealth that lets him surround himself with sycophants and usually get whatever he wants. It’s not hard to see how he could become almost pathologically selfregarding and unconcerned with others. So what happens to a nation that gives evergrowing political power to the superrich? Modern America is a society in which a growing share of income and wealth is concentrated in the hands of a small number of people, and these people have huge political influence — in the early stages of the 2016 presidential campaign, around half the contributions came from fewer than 200 wealthy families. The usual concern about this march toward oligarchy is that the interests and policy preferences of the very rich are quite different from those of the population at large, and that is surely the biggest problem. But it’s also true that those empowered by money-driven politics include a disproportionate number of spoiled egomaniacs. Which brings me to the current election cycle. The most obvious illustration of the point I’ve been making is the man now leading the Republican field. Donald Trump would probably have been a blowhard and a bully whatever his social station. But his billions have insulated him from the external checks that limit most people’s ability to act out their narcissistic tendencies; nobody has ever been in a position to tell him, “You’re fired!” And the result is the face you keep seeing on your TV. But Trump isn’t the only awesomely self-centered billionaire playing an outsized role in the 2016 campaign. There have been some interesting news reports lately about Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas gambling magnate. Adelson has been involved in some fairly complex court proceedings, which revolve
around claims of misconduct in his operations in Macau, including links to organized crime and prostitution. Given his business, this may not be all that surprising. What was surprising was his behavior in court, where he refused to answer routine questions and argued with the judge, Elizabeth Gonzales. That, as she rightly pointed out, isn’t something witnesses get to do. Then Adelson bought Nevada’s largest newspaper. As the sale was being finalized, reporters at the paper were told to drop everything and start monitoring all activity of three judges, including Gonzales. And while the paper never published any results from that investigation, an attack on Gonzales, with what looks like a fictitious byline, did appear in a small Connecticut newspaper owned by one of Adelson’s associates. OK, but why do we care? Because Adelson’s political spending has made him a huge player in Republican politics — so much so that reporters routinely talk about the “Adelson primary,” in which candidates trek to Las Vegas to pay obeisance. Are there other cases? Yes indeed, even if the egomania doesn’t rise to Adelson levels. I find myself thinking, for example, of hedge-fund billionaire Paul Singer, another big power in the GOP, who published an investor’s letter declaring that inflation was running rampant — he could tell from the prices of Hamptons real estate and high-end art. Economists got some laughs out of the incident, but think of the self-absorption required to write something like that without realizing how it would sound to non-billionaires. Or think of the various billionaires who, a few years ago, were declaring with straight faces, and no sign of self-awareness, that President Barack Obama was holding back the economy by suggesting that some businesspeople had misbehaved. You see, he was hurting their feelings. Just to be clear, the biggest reason to oppose the power of money in politics is the way it lets the wealthy rig the system and distort policy priorities. And the biggest reason billionaires hate Obama is what he did to their taxes, not their feelings. The fact that some of those buying influence are also horrible people is secondary. But it’s not trivial. Oligarchy, rule by the few, also tends to become rule by the monstrously self-centered. Narcisstocracy? Jerkigarchy? Anyway, it’s an ugly spectacle, and it’s probably going to get even uglier over the course of the year ahead.
COMMENTARY
The lessons of Tamir Rice’s death By JAMES DOWNIE THE WASHINGTON POST
"On November 22, 2014, at 3:30 p.m., Tamir Rice, age 12, was shot and killed at Cudell Recreation Center in Cleveland, Ohio by on-duty Cleveland Division of Police (CDP) Officer Timothy Loehmann." Thus begins Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty’s report on Rice’s death. This week, a grand jury decided not to charge the rookie Cleveland police officer. It was a perversely fitting end to a year of law-enforcement controversies. The Tamir Rice case was rife with errors from the start, all compounded by race. The 911 caller told the dispatcher that Rice was "probably a juvenile" and that the gun he was seen brandishing was likely fake, yet the dispatcher didn’t pass on that seemingly crucial information. Loehmann and his partner estimated Rice’s age as at least 18 - not surprising, given that studies have shown that police officers often perceive black youths as older (and less innocent) than they are. Though Loehmann has said that he told Rice to "show me your hands" multiple times before shooting, surveillance footage shows that fewer than two seconds passed from when the police car reached Rice until
Loehmann opened fire. Then there’s the fact that Loehmann shouldn’t have had a gun and badge in the first place. Before joining the CDP, he had resigned from a smaller department after being found unfit for duty and recommended for dismissal. "I do not believe time, nor training, will be able to change or correct these deficiencies," wrote Deputy Chief Jim Polak of the Independence, Ohio, police. Loehmann then was rejected by four other departments before the CDP hired him. But the fact is that under current legal standards, it was easy for Loehmann and the Cleveland police to avoid accountability. The U.S. Supreme Court has not been clear about whether the run-up to an officer-involved shooting should factor into whether the use of force is reasonable. The grand jury took the view that all that mattered was whether Loehmann felt he was in danger at the moment he shot Rice. It did so at least in part at the recommendation of McGinty, whose questionable conduct in this case included long delays in the grand jury process and his suggestion that Rice’s parents had "their own economic motives" for seeking justice for their dead son. It did not matter to
McGinty or the grand jury that the officers had decided to drive almost right up to Rice, effectively forcing a confrontation, rather than try to de-escalate the situation. It did not matter that Loehmann’s claim was tough to square with the video evidence. It did not matter that Loehmann was more likely to feel threatened because of the color of Rice’s skin. It did not matter that, with better training and information, the encounter might not have turned fatal. And it seems likely that neither the 911 operator who failed to note questions about the gun’s authenticity and Rice’s age, nor the people at the CDP who hired a clearly unqualified officer, will face any consequences, either. A 12year-old boy is dead, and no one is to blame. Nearly 1,000 people were shot and killed by police officers in 2015. Most of these cases were justified, but that cannot be good enough. There are too many cases like Rice’s, or that of David Kassick, who was shot twice in the back while lying on the ground after being Tasered, or of Eric Harris, shot by a 73-year-old reserve deputy who effectively paid Tulsa police to let him play cop. And then there are the mentally ill, many of whom might have survived encounters
COLUMN
My resolution: give vice a chance By ALEX BEAM THE BOSTON GLOBE
My 2016 resolution: Give Vice a Chance. I recall reading that Al Gore had the kind of buttoned-up personality that might benefit from a raucous affair with a suicide blonde. I’m a little stiff my-
self. It wouldn’t hurt me to wake up one morning, bedraggled and hungover on a park bench, asking, “Where am I?” If the answer was “one of those little countries east of Venezuela that keeps changing names,” then I would know I was on the right track. That ill-advised binge is
on my to-do list for 2016. Have you been watching the Netflix series “Narcos”? Isn’t it cool how everyone smokes? I’d certainly like to be as cool as Pablo Escobar, or the walking-chimney DEA agents, Steve Murphy and Javier, who have been tasked to bring Pablo down. The filmmaker
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with police if better training procedures had been in place. More and more, thanks to video evidence, Americans are seeing the stark reality of police officers who are supposed to protect and serve abusing the deadly power we entrust them with. Rather than holding these agents of the state to a higher standard, we let them set their own standards, which often provide for broader exceptions and protections than are allowed the public at large. We give them wider latitude to mete out death and greater protection from accountability. In doing so, we undermine police- community trust, which makes the already tough job of policing only more difficult in the long run. In the new year and beyond, we should take a hard look at how best to protect both officers’ and civilians’ lives. Cities such as Las Vegas that have revamped their training regimens have reduced civilian fatalities. And we need to go beyond determining whether a police shooting is legal under current standards and ask whether those standards need changing. If nothing else, that a 12-yearold has been shot dead and no one is at fault suggests that we have a lot of work to do.
DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
Luis once observed, “If alcohol is queen, then tobacco is her consort. It’s a fond companion for all occasions, a loyal friend through fair weather and foul.” It took me a decade to get my lungs back when I quit smoking, so this is one vice I won’t be revisiting.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2016
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
PÁGINA 6A
Zfrontera Portación limitada
SÁBADO 2 DE ENERO DE 2016
LEY DE ARMAS
Ribereña en Breve ARRESTO
CD. VICTORIA, Tamaulipas.- El Grupo de Coordinación Tamaulipas informa que elementos de la Coordinación Estatal Antisecuestros (CEA) detuvieron en el municipio de Reynosa a Erick Adrián Hernández Quiroz, de 19 años de edad, por pretender extorsionar a un comerciante con dinero a cambio de dejar en libertad a uno de sus trabajadores. El afectado solicitó apoyo del personal de la CEA, a quienes informó que una persona desconocida le estaba exigiendo dinero bajo el argumento de que tenía privado de la libertad a uno de sus empleados, a quien privaría de la vida si no pagaba el rescate exigido. Los policías estatales antisecuestros iniciaron las investigaciones correspondientes y dieron con Erick Adrián Hernández, quien declaró que no existía tal secuestro, que un empleado del comerciante le pidió hiciera las llamadas a efecto de obtener dinero fácilmente. El empleado que planificó la extorsión logró darse a la fuga, pero ya está identificado y monitoreado en todo el Estado para su detención.
POR JUDITH RAYO TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
La portación visible de armas entró en efecto ayer, pero oficiales escolares y agencias policíacas están reforzando ante la comunidad el mensaje de que la posesión de armas se encuentra restringida en ciertas áreas. La ley 910 del Congreso permite a poseedores de armas el llevarlas de manera visible dentro de una funda para cadera u hombro. Sin embargo, la ley prohíbe a personas portar armas en áreas tales como las escuelas o edificios de gobierno. El Superintendente de United Independent School District, Roberto Santos, dijo que solamente los agentes policíacos tienen permitido portar armas. “Nadie más podrá hacerlo”, dijo él. Enfatizó que las pistolas no serán permitidas dentro de las escuelas. El Superintendente del Distrito Escolar Independiente de Laredo,
A. Marcus Nelson, dijo que oficiales del distrito han estado trabajando de cerca con la policía de LISD y el equipo de consejería legal de LISD para asegurarse que preparen lineamientos para las escuelas, en relación con la nueva ley. “No estamos permitiendo que la gente acuda a nuestro campus con cualquier tipo de arma”, dijo él. Pero las administraciones escolares no son las únicas preocupadas acerca de esta nueva ley. El investigador Joe E. Baeza, vocero para LPD, dijo que la comunidad empezará a notar a personas llevando una pistola, pero enfatizó que aquellos que decidan portar una deben seguir las reglas. “La ley es muy específica”, dijo él. “Necesitas tener una funda, en tu cinto”. Agregó que hay ciertos lugares donde llevar el arma está prohibido, incluyendo: parques de diversión, hospitales, asilos, iglesias, escuelas, y edificios gubernamentales. Recientemente, H-E-B anunció que no permitirán a los clientes
portar de manera visible sus armas. El Jefe Asistente de la Oficina del Alguacil del Condado de Webb, JJ Rendón, dijo que la nueva ley será una experiencia de aprendizaje para la comunidad. Dijo que la Oficina del Alguacil del Condado de Webb se encuentra solicitando la opinión de la oficina del procurador general para obtener mayor claridad acerca de la ley. Algunos integrantes de la comunidad tienen temor de que la nueva ley traiga un impacto negativo. Sandy Lugo, una egresada de Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) dijo que a ella le atemoriza la nueva ley. “Muchas personas no tienen la suficiente madurez para portar algún tipo de arma – de cualquier tipo”, dijo ella. “Ahora, creo que ante cualquier situación querrán resolverlo con pistolas”. Mauro Ramón, un egresado de TAMIU, comentó que prefiere la ley para portación oculta de armas. “No hieres los sentimientos de nadie al hacer que se sientan ‘inse-
TAMAULIPAS
INMIGRACIÓN
MEJORAN VIALIDAD
Insisten en muro fronterizo
CONVOCATORIA Está abierta la convocatoria a hombres y mujeres de entre 18 a 40 años de edad, para acreditarse como Policía Estatal de Tamaulipas. Los interesados deben ser ciudadanos mexicanos por nacimiento y en pleno ejercicio de sus derechos políticos así como civiles; poseer buena conducta y no estar sujeto a procesos legales; medir 1.55 metros como mínimo en hombres y 1.50 en mujeres; y, haber aprobado el nivel medio superior o equivalente. Igualmente deben presentar acta de nacimiento; cartilla de servicio militar nacional; credencial expedida por el Instituto Nacional Electoral; certificado de estudios; CURP; curriculum vitae con fotografía; comprobante de domicilio reciente y nueve referencias por escrito. Tras ser aceptados, los interesados participarán en el curso de formación inicial para Fuerza Tamaulipas – Policía Estatal, tiempo en el cual se les les brindará servicios de alimentación, alojamiento, atención médica en general y una beca mensual. Para mayores informes llame al 01-800122-23-36.
SOCIEDAD GENEALÓGICA La Sociedad Genealógica Nuevo Santander informa que la próxima reunión será el sábado 9 de enero del 2016 a las 2 p.m. en 805 N Main St/ US Hwy 83. El tema será “Texas Land Heritage Award”. La sociedad indica que se invita especialmente a quienes tienen una granja o rancho que ha funcionado más de 50 años.
JUNTA DE COMISIONADOS Los Comisionados de la Corte del Condado de Zapata se reunirán para su junta regular el lunes 11 de 9 a.m. a 12 p.m. en la Sala de la Corte del Condado de Zapata.
DÍA DE MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. La Cámara de Comercio del Condado de Zapata anuncia que cerrará sus oficinas el lunes 18 por la celebración del Día de Martin Luther King, Jr.
guros’”, dijo él. “Siento que el llevarlas visiblemente solamente te convierte en un blanco”. Pero ambos expresaron que la ley no marcará alguna diferencia. “Muchas personas han estado portando armas cerca de ti y ni siquiera te enteraste”, dijo Brandon Stern, de 24 años. Con algunas personas sintiendo temor, Rendón dijo que se debe estar vigilante y permitir que las agencias policíacas atiendan cualquier preocupación. “Llame al 911 si siente preocupación”, dijo él. “Todo saldrá bien”. Agencias policíacas desean que la comunidad recuerde que portar un arma estando intoxicado, va contra la ley. También reiteraron el mensaje a la comunidad de que deben presentar su permiso (para portar armas) a un oficial, si se le solicita que lo haga. Para más información acerca de la ley para portación visible de armas, visite www.dps.texas.gov. (Localice a Judith Rayo en el 7282567 o en jrayo@lmtonline.com)
POR SETH ROBBINS ASSOCIATED PRESS
Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas
En esta foto de archivo el distribuidor vial “La Laguna” ubicado en el municipio de Reynosa, Tamaulipas, muestra avances de su construcción. La obra fue concluida recientemente.
Infraestructura acorde a necesidades TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Con el fin de estar acorde con las necesidades de la población en el estado de Tamaulipas, México, el gobierno estatal ha implementado mejoras en la infraestructura vial urbana en los últimos años. Estas adecuaciones se han realizado en función del crecimiento poblacional, entre ellas se encuentran: la ampliación del segundo cuerpo de la avenida Monterrey, en el municipio de Nuevo Laredo; modernización de la prolongación del bulevar Emilio Portes Gil, en Matamoros; y, en Reynosa, se conclu-
yó la construcción del Distribuidor Vial “La Laguna”, y la prolongación de la avenida José López Portillo, mejor conocida como avenida “Las Torres”, y en este año se iniciaron los trabajos de construcción del corredor urbano norte que conecta con el municipio de Río Bravo. En Ciudad Victoria, se construyó uno de los puentes que ayudó a resolver problemas de comunicación, sobre todo en tiempo de lluvias, para los habitantes de la Colonia Moderna y sus zonas aledañas. También se realizó la construcción vial de la prolongación de la aveni-
da Carlos Adrián Avilés hasta la carretera Victoria – Soto la Marina. Al mismo tiempo, se realizaron trabajos de modernización en una de las vialidades principales de la ciudad capital como lo es la prolongación del Bulevar Fidel Velázquez, hasta el entronque con la carretera Soto la Marina, incluyendo la modernización del puente sobre el río San Marcos en este mismo tramo. En este contexto, se llevó a cabo la reconstrucción del puente sobre el río San Marcos, ubicado sobre el Libramiento Naciones Unidas.
BROWNSVILLE — Cerca del extremo sur de Texas un muro fronterizo termina repentinamente. Sus últimos postes se asientan en un maizal seco a menos de un kilómetro del Río Grande, la verdadera frontera con México. Sería fácil rodearlo caminando. Cerca de ahí hay neumáticos dejados por la Patrulla Fronteriza. Los agentes las arrastran con sus camionetas para alisar la tierra agrietada y buscar rastros de pisadas. A diferencia de otras barreras famosas en la historia como el Muro de Berlín o la Gran Muralla China, la versión estadounidense no es estrictamente un muro. Lo que está erigido en Texas son series fragmentadas de enrejado, conformadas por enormes barras de acero colocadas juntas e incrustadas en cemento. Las gruesas barras de color óxido pueden alcanzar una altura de 5,5 metros (18 pies) sobre el paisaje, formando un listón dentado que divide campos de cultivo, rebana patios traseros, parques y reservas silvestres. Los precandidatos republicanos a la presidencia prometen terminar el muro. Pero completar la parte de Texas será una tarea de enormes dimensiones debido a la fina longitud de la frontera, el hecho de que yace en el centro del serpenteante Río Grande y porque tratados entre ambos países impiden a cualquiera de las dos naciones construir dentro de las llanuras aluviales. Además, a diferencia de otros estados del sur, la mayor parte de los terrenos en Texas son privados. Terminar los más de 2.000 km de frontera también será costoso.
COLUMNA
Fenómenos naturales alcanzan fronteras Nota del Editor: La sirena del cuartel de bomberos se escucha pero ningún incendio la motiva. Algo más grave está a punto de ocurrir.
POR RAÚL SINENCIO CHÁVEZ ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
México y EUA comparten extensa frontera. Buena parte de ella la define el río Bravo, que antes de salir al océano Atlántico separa a Tamaulipas de Texas. En consecuencia, los fenómenos meteorológicos ahí registrados por lo general tienen repercusiones internacionales. Lo ocurrido en 1954 vendría a confirmarlo
de estremecedora manera. Al parecer, las grandes tragedias gustan presentarse sin previo anuncio. Sólo en retrospectiva suele descubrirse que a veces mandan por delante advertencias. Porque la franja de que hablamos, durante el año precedente, sufre prolongada sequía. Lo anterior trae entonces consigo inusual hecho, al menos en los extremos del noroeste tamaulipeco. A dicha altura, por esos meses, “el río” Bravo “se secó totalmente por primera vez en la historia”, asegura viejo cable informativo de la United Press. Lo que sigue marca fuer-
te contraste. En efecto, como si los tiempos de seca le sirvieran de imán, el ciclón Alicia golpea al mediar 1954 el oriente texanoEspantosa inundación acontece enseguida. Sorprende a Nuevo Laredo el martes 29 de junio de 1954. “Para las 13:30 horas –rememora Genaro González Gaucín-, por las avenidas Galeana y Reynosa una cortina de agua cenagosa, de una extensión de 2 mil 700 metros, cae como cascada, destruyéndolo todo a su paso” y “la sirena de la estación de bomberos dio la primera alarma”. Extenso sector queda anegado. Complementa: “Dos heli-
cópteros de la Fuerza Aérea” estadounidense recorren la banda fluvial y realizan “labores de rescate de las familias” en las riberas; incluso llevan a cabo el “salvamento de una familia que venía” encima del “techo de una casa arrastrada desde [el municipio de] Colombia, Nuevo León”. El panorama de Nuevo Laredo, importantísimo cruce fronterizo, repercute en las actividades económicas de nuestro país y aun en las de la vecina potencia. Ante la creciente, autoridades gringas instrumentan medidas que impiden el tránsito peatonal, vehicular y ferro-
viario entre ambas márgenes. Inaugurada apenas en 1953, la presa Falcón capta los flujos extraordinarios. Al hacerlo, evita análogas catástrofes de Nueva Ciudad Guerrero a Matamoros, por la margen tamaulipeca. Acuña, Jiménez y Piedras Negras, Coahuila, junto con Del Río, Laredo y otras poblaciones de Texas, reportan en cambio penosos saldos. Consideran aquella inundación la segunda más grande desde 1746 y la mayor a partir de 1865. (Con permiso del autor, según fuera publicado en La Razón, Tampico, Tamaulipas, en diciembre 2015)
National
SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2016
THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A
Picking up the pieces after Midwest flood By JIM SALTER ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. LOUIS — The worst of the dangerous, deadly winter flood is over in the St. Louis area, leaving residents of several waterlogged communities to spend the first day of 2016 assessing damage, cleaning up and figuring out how to bounce back — or in some cases, where to live. Further south, things were getting worse: Record and near-record crest predictions of the Mississippi River and levee breaks threatening homes in rural southern Missouri and Illinois. Two more levees succumbed Friday, bringing to at least 11 the number of levee failures. The flood, fueled by more than 10 inches of rain over a three-day period that began last weekend, is blamed for 22 deaths. Searchers were still looking for five missing people — two teenagers in Illinois, two men in Missouri and a country music singer in Oklahoma. On Friday, water from the Mississippi, Meremec and Missouri rivers was largely receding in the St. Louis area. Two major highways — Interstate 44 and Interstate 55 — reopened south of St. Louis, meaning that commuters who return to work next week won’t have hourslong detours. Some evacuees were allowed to return home. But in the far southwestern tip of Illinois, the 500 or so people living behind the Len Small levee, which protects the hamlets of Olive Branch, Hodges Park, Unity and rural homes, were urged to move to higher ground after the Mississippi began pouring over the levee. Alexander County Board Chairman Chalen Tatum said sandbagging efforts were cut off be-
Photo by Jeff Roberson | AP
In this aerial photo, water from the Meramec River covers Highway 21, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, in Arnold, Mo. Surging Midwestern rivers forced hundreds of evacuations, threatened dozens of levees and brought transportation by car, boat or train to a virtual standstill Thursday in the St. Louis area. cause it was simply too dangerous for the volunteers. Far more water is to come before the Sunday crest. “It’s going to get ugly,” he said. In St. Mary, a town of about 360 residents 50 miles south of St. Louis, neighbors and volunteers placed sandbags around homes after a small agricultural levee broke. The Mississippi River was expected to crest there Saturday at about 31/2 feet below the 1993 record. The main culprit in the St. Louis region was the
relatively small Mississippi tributary, the Meramec River. It had bombarded communities in the far southwestern reaches of the St. Louis suburbs during the week. By Friday, it was relenting, but not before some points topped the 1993 record by 4 feet. Two wastewater treatment plants were so damaged by the floodwaters that raw sewage spewed into the river. A water plant closed at High Ridge. Hundreds of people were evacuated in Pacific, Eureka, Valley Park and
Arnold, and many of their homes took in water. Among the victims were Damon Thorne, 44, and his 60-year-old mother, Linda, who live together in an Arnold mobile home park that had washed away after a small private levee proved no match for the surging Meramec. For now, the Thornes are staying in a Red Cross shelter at a Baptist church. “We’re just basically homeless,” Damon Thorne said, “We have nowhere to go.” In West Alton, Missouri, a Mississippi River
town that sits near the convergence with the alsoelevated Missouri River just north of St. Louis, it was too early for evacuees to return because floodwaters continued to pour over the overwhelmed levee, Mayor Willie Richter said. He estimated that about three-quarter of the homes were damaged. Nearly 1,000 residents left West Alton after the 1993 flood, never to return. Richter said some of the remaining 500 or so may leave this time, too. Richter, 46, said he’s staying put in the same house
where he grew up. He plans to raise the home off the ground a bit. “It’s our family home so it’s hard to think about leaving,” Richter said. Many hard-hit St. Louis-area towns kept residents up to date via social media. Valley Park used its Facebook page to advise residents Friday that the evacuation order was lifted, and the city of Arnold’s Facebook page urged residents to watch out for snakes in flooded homes. In southeast Missouri, the fast-rising Mississippi damaged about two-dozen homes in Cape Girardeau and threatened a power substation, though the community of nearly 40,000 residents is mostly protected by a flood wall. The crest prediction at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, expected Sunday, was upgraded to a foot and a half above the 1993 record. In nearby Allenville, access into the often-flooded town was cut off by high water. Most of the four dozen residents stayed anyway, using boats to get around. “They are used to being isolated and cut off, but with this record height, we’re confident some homes will get wet,” Cape Girardeau County emergency management director Richard Knaup said. “We’re just not sure how many.” Parts of the South are also in the flood’s path. Moderate Mississippi River flooding is expected in Memphis, where officials were moving to protect roads and an airport. The National Weather Service issued a flood advisory for the Cumberland River at Dover, Tennessee, through Monday evening. Minor flooding along the Ohio River was affecting the Kentucky cities of Owensboro and Paducah, and the crest wasn’t expected until Thursday.
PAGE 8A
Zentertainment
SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2016
Soul singer Natalie Cole passes By SANDY COHEN AND HILLEL ITALIE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Jordan Strauss/Lipton | AP file
Wayne Rogers died at age 82.
‘MASH’ actor dies By ANDREW DALTON ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — Wayne Rogers, whose Trapper John McIntyre alongside Alan Alda’s Hawkeye Pierce brought mischief, martinis and meatball surgery to the masses in the 1970s every week on “M.A.S.H.,” has died. The actor was surrounded by family when he died Thursday in Los Angeles of complications from pneumonia at age 82, his publicist and longtime friend Rona Menashe told The Associated Press. Rogers’ army surgeon Trapper John was one of the most beloved characters — and half of one of the most beloved duos — in TV history, despite the actor’s appearing in only the first three of the show’s 11 seasons on CBS. “I loved Wayne. He was smart and funny and curious and dedicated,” Alda said Friday. “On the day we met we promised each other to give MASH everything we had, and that promise bonded us. We were close friends and I’ll miss him very much.” The two skilled doctors, Hawkeye and Trapper, blew off steam between surgeries pulling pranks, romancing nurses and tormenting their tent-mate Frank Burns, with a seemingly endless supply of booze and one-liners at the ready. In one classic moment, Trapper reaches out as though he’s checking for rain and says, “Hmm, feels like it’s going to martini,” as Hawkeye promptly passes him a drink. And in another line that typified the show’s ethos, Trapper answers a question with “How should I know? I dropped out of school to become a doctor.” McIntyre was on “M.A.S.H.” from 1972 to 1975, becoming one of many original cast members to leave the wildly popular show that went on until 1983. He was initially considered for Alda’s character, but he preferred Trapper’s sunnier disposition to Hawkeye’s darkly acerbic personality. The characters were essentially equals when the show began, but it increasingly focused on Alda, which was a factor in Rogers’ departure. Two other actors played Trapper in other incarnations. Elliot Gould was same character in the “M.A.S.H.” feature film that preceded the TV show, and Pernell Roberts played the title character in the 1980s spinoff drama “Trapper John, M.D.” An Alabama native and Princeton University graduate, Rogers had parts on many short-lived shows early in his career, specializing in westerns like “Law of the Plainsman” and “Stagecoach West.” He had a bit part in the 1967 film “Cool Hand Luke” with Paul Newman. In the years after “M.A.S.H.” he returned to TV regularly, including a recurring role in the early 1990s on “Murder, She Wrote.” He moved beyond acting to see serious success later in life as a money manager and investor.
LOS ANGELES — She began as a 1970s soul singer hyped as the next Aretha Franklin and peaked in the 1990s as an oldfashioned stylist and time-defying duet partner to her late father, Nat “King” Cole. Natalie Cole, who died Thursday in Los Angeles at age 65, was a Grammy winning superstar honored and haunted by comparisons to others. “Natalie fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived ... with dignity, strength and honor. Our beloved Mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain UNFORGETTABLE in our hearts forever,” read a statement from her son, Robert Yancy, and sisters Timolin and Casey Cole. According to her family, Cole died of compilations from ongoing health issues. She had battled drug problems and hepatitis that forced her to undergo a kidney transplant in May 2009. Cole’s older sister, Carol “Cookie” Cole, died the day she received the transplant. Their brother, Nat Kelly Cole, died in 1995. Natalie Cole was inspired by her dad at an early age and auditioned to sing with him when she was just 11 years old. She was 15 when he died of lung cancer, in 1965, and would reunite with him decades later in a way only possible through modern technology. All along, she was moved by and sometimes torn between past and present sounds. As a young woman, she had listened to Franklin and Janis Joplin and for years was reluctant to perform her father’s material. She sang on stage with Frank Sinatra, but also covered Bruce Springsteen’s “Pink Cadillac.” The public loved her either way. She made her recording debut in 1975 with “Inseparable,” and the music industry welcomed her with two Grammy Awards — one for best new artist and one for best female R&B vocal performance for her buoyant hit “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love).” She followed with such hits as “Our Love” and “I’ve Got Love on My Mind,” many written and produced by the team of Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancy. “They were writing music that had sophistication, and yet had the undercurrent of good old R&B,” she later told Blues & Soul magazine. “They were looking for an Aretha Franklin — and they got a Natalie Cole!” By 1979, she had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but her career faded in the early 1980s and she struggled with drug addiction. Her recovery began later in the decade with the album “Everlasting” and reached multiplatinum heights with her 1991 album, “Unforgettable ... With Love.” No longer trying to keep up with current sounds, Cole paid tribute to her father with reworked versions of some of his best-known songs, including “That Sunday That Summer,” ‘’Too Young” and “Mona Lisa.” Her voice was overlaid with her dad’s in the title cut, offering a delicate duet a quarter-century after his death.
Photo by Victoria Will/Invision | AP file
Natalie Cole, the daughter of jazz legend Nat "King" Cole who carried on his musical legacy, died Thursday night, according to publicist Maureen O’Connor. She was 65. The album sold some 14 million copies and won six Grammys, including album of the year as well record and song of the year for the title track duet. While making the album, Cole told The Associated Press in 1991, she had to “throw out every R&B lick that I had ever learned and every pop trick I had ever learned. With him, the music was in the background and the voice was in the front.” “I didn’t shed really any real tears until the album was over,” Cole said. “Then I cried a whole lot. When we started the project it was a way of reconnecting with my dad. Then when we did the last song, I had to say goodbye again.” She was nominated for an Emmy award in 1992 for a televised performance of her father’s songs. “That was really my thank you,” she told People magazine in 2006. “I owed that to him.” Another father-daughter duet, “When I Fall in Love,” won a 1996 Grammy for best pop collaboration with vocals, and a follow-up album, “Still Unforgettable,” won for best traditional pop vocal album of 2008. She also worked as an actress, with appearances on TV’s “Touched by an Angel” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” But she was happiest touring and performing live.
“I still love recording and still love the stage,” she said on her website in 2008, “but like my dad, I have the most fun when I am in front of that glorious orchestra or that kick-butt big band.” Cole was born in 1950 to Nat “King” Cole and his wife, Maria Ellington Cole, a onetime vocalist with Duke Ellington who was no relation to the great bandleader. Her father was already a recording star, and he rose to greater heights in the 1950s and early ‘60s. He toured worldwide, and in 1956, he became the first black entertainer to host a national TV variety show. Natalie Cole grew up in Los Angeles’ posh Hancock Park neighborhood, where her parents had settled in 1948, despite animosity from some white residents about having the black singer as a neighbor. When told by residents they didn’t want “undesirable people” in the area, the singer said, “Neither do I, and if I see (any), I’ll be the first to complain.” The family eventually included five children. In her 2000 autobiography, “Angel on My Shoulder,” Cole discussed how she had battled heroin, crack cocaine and alcohol addiction for many years. She spent six months in rehab in 1983.
When she announced in 2008 that she had been diagnosed with hepatitis C, a liver disease spread through contact with infected blood, she blamed her past intravenous drug use. She criticized the Recording Academy for giving five Grammys to drug user Amy Winehouse in 2008. “I’m an ex-drug addict and I don’t take that kind of stuff lightly,” Cole explained at the 2009 Grammy Awards. Hepatitis C “stayed in my body for 25 years and it could still happen to this young woman or other addicts who are fooling around with drugs, especially needles.” Cole received chemotherapy to treat the hepatitis and “within four months, I had kidney failure,” she told CNN’s Larry King in 2009. She needed dialysis three times a week until she received a donor kidney on May 18, 2009. The organ procurement agency One Legacy facilitated the donation from a family that had requested that their donor’s organ go to Cole if it was a match. Cole toured through much of her illness, often receiving dialysis at hospitals around the globe. “I think that I am a walking testimony to you can have scars,” she told People magazine. “You can go through turbulent times and still have victory in your life.”
SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2016
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
Expect less: 2016 investment forecasts By STAN CHOE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Investing is becoming more of a grind. Expect it to stay that way. Analysts, mutual-fund managers and other forecasters are telling investors to expect lower returns from stocks and bonds in 2016 than in past years. They’re also predicting more severe swings in prices. Remember that 10 percent drop for stocks that freaked investors out in August? It likely won’t take another four years for the next one. The good news is that few economists are predicting a recession in 2016. That means stocks and other investments can avoid a sustained slide and keep grinding higher, analysts say. Next year is expected to look more like this year, with gyrating stock prices on track to end close to where they started, than the bull market’s euphoric earlier years like 2013 and its 32 percent surge in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. “You have to be realistic and think the outsized runs we’ve had — in 2013, for instance — are pretty unlikely,” said Mike Barclay, portfolio manager at the Columbia Dividend Income
mutual fund. “Trees don’t grow to the sky.” The list of reasons for muted expectations is long. Economic growth around the world remains frustratingly weak, and earnings growth for big U.S. companies has stalled. Stock prices aren’t cheap when measured against corporate earnings, unlike the early years of this bull market. The Federal Reserve also just lifted short-term interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade. Besides making all kinds of markets more volatile, higher rates could also hurt prices of bonds in investors’ and mutual funds’ portfolios. The investment-bank Barclays gave this succinct title on its 100-page outlook report for 2016: “Curb your expectations.” While it’s worth knowing the general sentiment on Wall Street, it’s also worth remembering financial forecasters have a spotty record for accuracy. Analysts cite a long list of risks that could upend their forecasts. Investments could tank if an unexpected spike in inflation rips through the global economy, for example, or if the slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy, China, ends up even more severe than feared. But there is some comfort
Photo by Mark Lennihan | AP file
Analysts, mutual-fund managers and other forecasters are telling investors to expect lower returns from stocks and bonds in 2016. in the subdued forecasts — they are a sign that the greed and mania characteristic of past market peaks, such as the dot-com bubble, may not be a problem. “We think investors will be rewarded over the next five to 10 years with decent inflation-adjusted returns,” said Joe Davis, global head of the investment strategy group at mutual-fund giant Vanguard. “That said, they will likely pale in comparison to the strong returns we’ve had over the last five.” Here’s a look at how analysts see investments shaping up in 2016: US STOCKS Corporate profit growth hit a wall this year, as plunging prices of oil and
metals slammed energy and raw-material producers, the stronger dollar hurt exporters, and economic growth remained tepid. Analysts expect profits to stabilize next year, but companies across many industries are groping for revenue growth amid the still-slow global economy. Stocks in the S&P 500 are no longer cheap relative to their earnings, the most common gauge of stock prices. The index is trading at 17.2 times its earnings over the last 12 months, higher than its average of 14.5 over the last decade. A measure that looks at price and longer-term earnings trends popularized by economist Robert Shiller, a No-
bel prize winner, is also more expensive than its historical average. These already high stock prices leave little room for them to rise further without some impetus from the economy or better profits. Investors should also brace for dips. The market’s big drop in August was so rattling because it hadn’t happened since October 2011, an abnormally long time. Since World War II, investors have been hit with drops of at least 10 percent every 19 months, on average. Goldman Sachs strategists are forecasting the S&P 500 will end 2016 at 2,100, which would be a 4 percent rise from Monday’s close of 2,021. Barclays expects the index to rise 9 percent, and Deutsche Bank expects it to rise 11 percent. All would be a step down from past results. The S&P 500 gained 15 percent annually on average from 2009 through 2014, not including dividends. FOREIGN STOCKS Investors have a strong yen for foreign stocks. They poured a net $208 billion into international stock funds in the last year, while pulling $56 billion from U.S. stock funds. One reason for the migration is that investors want
to make their portfolios look more like the broad market. Foreign stocks make up about half the world’s market value but are often just a sliver of 401(k) portfolios. Also, central banks in Europe, Japan and elsewhere are pumping stimulus into their economies to drive growth, when the Federal Reserve is moving in the opposite direction. And earnings growth in Europe and other regions looks to be accelerating more strongly. Dale Winner, portfolio manager at the Wells Fargo Advantage International Equity fund, expects profits for European companies to grow in the neighborhood of 15 percent. For U.S. companies, meanwhile, he’s expecting close to zero growth. BONDS One of bond investors’ biggest fears has arrived, now that the Fed’s raising rates again. Prices of bonds in mutual-fund portfolios drop when rates rise, because their yields are less attractive than those of newly issued bonds. But analysts say Armageddon isn’t arriving, even though critics have long warned about a “bond bubble.” Most importantly, the Fed plans to increase short-term rates slowly.
AT&T discontinuing 2-year contracts By ANICK JESDANUN ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — AT&T will no longer offer discounted phones with twoyear contracts starting Jan. 8. Before you rush out to beat the deadline, consider that you might be better off paying full price for the phone. That’s because phone companies also reduce the monthly bill for voice, text and data services when you buy your own phone or bring a used one. Some may pay a bit more, some a bit less, but the overall bill is roughly the same. What you get in return is more flexibility in which phone you buy and how long you stay with the carrier. AT&T’s decision comes as no surprise. In the third quarter, only 1 in 5 customers chose a contract plan when they signed up with AT&T or upgraded their phones. T-Mobile broke away from contracts completely nearly three years ago, and Verizon stopped offering contracts to new customers in August. Sprint also has been weighing dropping contracts completely. Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure told The Associated
Press in September that discounted, contract phones — including his company’s — amount to “a gimmick, a trick. You tell people I’m going to give you a free phone, but really the customer pays in a more expensive service plan.” Indeed, phone discounts mask the true costs of phones and phone services. Here’s an explanation of the changes:
What are my options now? Most people now buy and pay for phones in monthly installments, though you can also pay the full price upfront. You can also bring a used device, such as one from a friend or family member who has upgraded to a newer model. Sprint and T-Mobile also have leasing options — you pay less each month, but you don’t get to keep or resell the device in the end.
Will I pay more? Not necessarily so, even though you now have to pay the full price for a
Photo by Steven Senne | AP file
AT&T will no longer offer discounted phones with two-year contracts starting Jan. 8, 2016. phone. When you got a discounted phone under contract, you were already paying the balance in the form of fees. For instance, the full cost of an iPhone 6s is $650. Although you pay just $200 at the contract rate, the phone company passes along the remaining $450 in higher monthly fees for voice, text and data. Over two years, the $450 comes to $18.75 a month. Put another way, your phone company is subsidizing your phone by $18.75 a month and tacking that on to the phone bill for voice, text and data. If you forgo the contract, your monthly bill for voice, text and data is typically reduced by $15 or $25 a month. The $25 discount applies for higher data
plans — usually ones you share with family members. In such cases, you’re actually better off buying the phone yourself, as you’re getting a $25 bill reduction but giving up only $18.75 in subsidies. If your discount is only $15, and you’re giving up $18.75 in subsidies, then technically your bill is going up slightly. What you get instead is flexibility.
What do you mean by flexibility? Because phone companies were subsidizing phones, there was an incentive to get the most expensive model, even if you didn’t need that. These days, there are many mid-
range Android phones that do what high-end phones did just a few years ago. If you choose one of those models, you keep the savings. That’s also the case if you get a friend or relative’s old phone. You no longer feel that you’re losing out by not claiming the most expensive phone in a contract renewal. And if your phone lasts longer than two years, there’s no longer the pressure to upgrade just to claim the phone subsidies. You simply pocket the savings. More important, you’re no longer tied to two-year contracts.
Does this mean I can switch whenever I like? Yes and no. If you buy a phone under an installment plan, you’re still stuck with the phone company until you pay off the phone. That said, rival companies often have promotions to pay off the balance for you. And if you pay the full cost of the phone upfront, you own the phone and can switch whenever you like. Just be aware that certain phones
work on limited number of networks, so it’s still not total freedom.
What if rates increase once I pay full price for a phone? Phone rates can go up at any time, but that historically hasn’t happened because of stiff competition. In fact, phone companies have been offering more data for the same prices, an effective price cut. And if your phone company does increase the rates, just go to another. Again, rivals typically offer promotions to switch. You can always take your phone number with you as long as you sign up with the new company before cancelling.
Can I still get a subsidized phone? Sprint still offers contract plans, though they aren’t emphasized and they may disappear any day. Verizon offers contracts only to existing customers who renew. At AT&T, contracts will be offered only under certain business plans.
International
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2016
Photo by Sebastian Kahnert/dpa | AP
German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere speaks during a news conference Friday.
Munich alert due to terror threat By LISSA EDDY NEW YORK TIMES
BERLIN — Hundreds of police officers remained on alert in Munich on Friday after a threat of a suicide bombing attack by the Islamic State led the authorities to evacuate two train stations on New Year’s Eve. German authorities said Friday that five to seven people might have been involved in the terrorist threat. The two stations, in the city center and in the Pasing district in the western part of Munich, have reopened as the authorities continued to investigate. Yet with little to go on and no arrests nearly 24 hours later, officials in Bavaria were defending their decision to close the two transit hubs hours before midnight and to flood the city with heavily armed, specially equipped officers — 550 as of Friday morning, including reinforcements from other parts of the southern state. They said they had received a “very concrete tip” around 7:40 p.m. from intelligence sources in France and the United States indicating that militants from Iraq and Syria were planning to carry out attacks. By midday Friday, the immediate threat of an imminent attack had been lifted, although the police remained on general alert, said Joachim Herrmann, interior minister of Bavaria. Extra precautions had already been put in place across the Continent for New Year’s Eve celebrations, less than two months after Islamist militants carried out a series of bloody attacks in and near Paris. New Year’s festivities were canceled in Brussels, the seat of many European Union institutions, with extra precautions in place in Austria, France and the Netherlands after the warnings. Senior security officials in Washington and in European capitals said that American intelligence agencies had played a major role in detecting possible plots in the days leading up to the year-end holidays and in sharing information. “Last night’s threat was so specific that we couldn’t wait to determine whether it was serious or not, but had to act,” Herrmann said. Hubertus Andrae, chief of the Munich police, said Friday that no one had been arrested and that the authorities were unsure if the people whose names they had been given were even in the country. “The names that were given to us are being checked, the extent to which these people are in Germany and what German intelligence officials know about these people is part of the ongoing, intense investigation,” Hermann told the Bavarian public television station BR on Friday. The Munich police refused to give further information, citing the continuing investigation. “The situation in Europe and in Germany remains serious in the new year,” Thomas de MaiziM-CM-(re, the interior minister, said in a statement Friday. “Since the attacks in Paris, we have received several hints. Federal and state security services are following up on these indications, including of possible planned attacks.” Germany has not experienced the sort of attacks that were carried out in Madrid in 2004, London in 2005 and Paris last year, but the authorities in Berlin warn that the country remained a possible target, most notably because of its military presence in Afghanistan. In 2015, German authorities called off the popular Eschborn-to-Frankfurt bike race scheduled for May in response to information about a potential attack, and they arrested a German-Turkish couple who had been storing weapons in their home. Days after the Paris attacks on Nov. 13, which included suicide bombings at a soccer match between the German and French national teams, a game in Hanover between Germany and the Netherlands hours was called off hours before kickoff because of a suspicious package. No arrests were made. Authorities in Munich said that police would conduct identity checks and asked that residents be patient with the increased security measures. One resident, Oliver Habel, said that he had spent New Year’s Eve in a restaurant in the southern part of the city, and that he learned about the terrorism scare only Friday morning. “I am very confident in the security measurements in Bavaria, so I am not concerned,” he said. Other European countries also continued to take possible security threats seriously. Terminal 3 at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol was evacuated on Friday after a British man shouted that he had a bomb, although none was found. The man was later arrested. In Russia, the state-run news agency RIA Novosti said that about 500 people had been evacuated from two train stations in Moscow after the police were told that bombs had been planted. No explosive devices were found. Belgian authorities announced the release Friday of three more people in connection with a suspected plot to carry out attacks in Brussels on New Year’s Eve, according to The Associated Press. Three people have already been released, but two others were still being held, the news agency reported.
Photo by Oded Bality | AP
Israeli medics tend to a wounded person at the scene of a shooting attack in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday. A gunman opened fire at a popular bar in the central Israeli city, killing two and wounding at least three others before fleeing the scene, police said.
Gunmen kill 2 in Tel Aviv By IAN DEITCH ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM — A gunman opened fire outside a popular bar in the coastal Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Friday afternoon, killing two people and wounding at least three others before fleeing the scene, police said. The motive for the shooting spree, which took place on a busy main street, was not immediately clear, police said. Media reported the assailant was a member of Israel’s Arab minority and called it a nationalistically motivated attack but police refused to comment, saying it was still investigating. Israeli Channel 10 TV showed CCTV footage of the incident, obtained from a health food shop next to the bar. It shows a man with short hair, glasses and a black bag over his shoulder scooping up some nuts, putting them in a plastic bag,
then emptying them back. The footage then shows the man walking toward the entrance of the store, placing his backpack on a shopping cart and taking a gun out of it. He then steps outside and starts shooting, after which he runs away. The TV station’s defense analyst Alon Ben-David said the gunman was an Israeli Arab and that the attacker’s father had seen his son on television and notified authorities. He said the shooter’s calm demeanor and the way he was holding and shooting the gun show he was well trained. A Quran, the Muslim holy book, was found later in the attacker’s bag, he said. The Associated Press could not independently confirm those details. Channel 10 also later spoke to a man it identified only as Ahmed who it said was a relative of the shooter. The man described the shooter as “traumatized” after a cousin
was killed by police in 2006, and who had served time in Israeli prison after allegedly grabbing an officer’s gun. Residents of the village of Arara in northern Israel told media they recognized the shooter and said he was from their village. They condemned the attack and called on him to turn himself in. Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said five people were wounded in the attack, two of whom died in hospital. She said a massive manhunt was underway for the shooter. Large police forces were deployed at the scene. The attack comes amid more than three months of almost daily Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers. On the Israeli side, 21 people have died, mostly in stabbings, shootings and carramming attacks. That’s without counting the victims in Friday’s attack. At least 131 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli
fire, 90 of them identified by Israel as assailants. The rest died in clashes with security forces. Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai visited the wounded in hospital and later said he spoke with those who were able to talk. He said that inside the bar, “friends were celebrating a birthday and a man opened fire at them from the outside.” Later, police said an Arab Israeli man was found near the shooting scene with a gunshot wound and later died of his wounds in hospital. The police said an investigation is underway and that it is not clear whether that man is in any way connected to the bar shooting. Israel’s Arabs, who make up a fifth of the country’s 8.4 million population, enjoy full rights but have long complained of discrimination and unfair treatment in areas such as housing and employment opportunities.
Photo by Rahmat Gul | AP
Afghan security forces inspect the site of an explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday. An Afghan official said that a moderately heavy explosion wounded three people in a central residential area of the city, where guesthouses are located. The neighborhood is also home to Afghan officials.
Kabul attack leaves 15 injured By MICHAEL E. MILLER THE WASHINGTON POST
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan — A car bombing outside a popular Kabul restaurant Friday evening left at least two people dead and 15 injured, officials said. The powerful explosion tore through a quiet residential neighborhood and rained smoldering car parts down on houses a block away. The attack appeared to target Le Jardin, one of the few restaurants in Kabul still frequented by foreigners. The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility, boasting on Twitter that its suicide bombers had "inflicted heavy casualties" on "the occupiers’ restaurant." The Taliban also said there had been a gun battle with government forces. Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, said in a tweet
that police had arrested one suspect. It is unclear if there were other attackers who escaped or died in the blast. The attack was the second bombing claimed by the Taliban in the Afghan capital this week. On Monday, another car bomb killed one person near the Kabul airport. The Taliban said it was targeting foreign troops. The bombings come amid renewed efforts at peace talks. On Jan. 11, officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States are scheduled to meet in Islamabad to begin discussing solutions to the conflict. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has said the Taliban must reject terrorism to join the talks, while the Taliban has refused to participate until foreign troops leave Afghanistan. Friday’s attack was not the first to target a West-
ern-style establishment. In January 2014, a Lebanese restaurant popular with foreigners came under ferocious attack. A Taliban suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside the front gate before two gunmen shot their way inside, killing 21 people. In the wake of that and other attacks, many restaurants closed. Le Jardin did not. The restaurant, a chic French bistro where diners could order a steak, listen to American pop music and find themselves seated near an Afghan government official, did beef up its security in recent years. When a reporter from The Washington Post visited on Wednesday, two days before the attack, he was frisked and ushered through three heavy steel doors before entering the restaurant. Those security gates may have saved lives on Friday, when the car exploded out-
side Le Jardin just as the restaurant began serving dinner. The powerful explosion shook the Qala-e Fatullah neighborhood and sprayed debris for the length of a football field. "I was talking on the phone when I heard a loud explosion that lit up the whole neighborhood," said Masoom Ali Hazara, who lives down the street from the restaurant. When he ran outside to see what happened, Hazara said, he saw an old man with shrapnel in his hand. "The glasses of my house’s windows have been shattered," he said, "and the car parts of the suicide attacker have fallen inside my house." One of the two people killed in the blast was a 12year-old boy, Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi told local television. Both victims were Afghans.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2016
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
CANDIDATES Continued from Page 1A to create a border,” he said during the third Republican debate in October. Trump also made reference to the Great Wall of China, and claimed that “Mexico is going to pay for the wall.” On his website, Trump reiterates his assertion that “there must be a wall across our southern border.” In November, after eight Syrian Christians sought asylum and turned themselves in to officials in Laredo, Texas, Trump tweeted, “WE NEED A BIG & BEAUTIFUL WALL”.
TED CRUZ The Texas senator pledges on his website to “build a wall that works,” and to “complete the wall,” though he offers no specifics as to how he would do so.
MARCO RUBIO The Florida senator says the most vulnerable sectors of the southwest bor-
der must be secured, according to his website. During the Republican debate in September, in response to a question, he said that “we must secure our border, the physical border, with a wall, absolutely.”
JEB BUSH In contrast to his rivals, Bush has said he considers a massive border fence to be unnecessary. “We don’t need to build a wall,” he told a group of Latino business owners in September. A month before in McAllen, Texas, across the river from Reynosa, Mexico, the former governor of Florida told supporters that Trump’s wall strategy “not based in reality.”
HILARY CLINTON At a November town hall campaign event in New Hampshire, where she was asked about securing the U.S.-Mexico border, the former New York
senator and secretary of state stressed that she’d voted for the 2006 legislation that authorized the building of some 650 miles of wall. “I voted numerous times when I was a senator to spend money to build a barrier to try to prevent illegal immigrants from coming in,” Clinton said, “and I do think that you have to control your borders.” She later apologized for using the term “illegal immigrants.” She has not said whether she would extend the wall.
BERNIE SANDERS The independent senator from Vermont sees the importance of securing the border, but is opposed to building a fence to do so, according to his website. “I also opposed tying immigration reform to the building of a border fence,” he said during a speech in June to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
MIGRANTS Continued from Page 1A es 14 and 17, stay an average of 32 days. They receive schooling and medical care on site until they can be placed with sponsors as they wait to hear whether they will be allowed to stay in the U.S. or will be deported. Officials in Colorado and Florida were quietly informed Wednesday about the decision to open the shelter there. Last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter directed Holloman Air Force Base officials to get ready to house immigrant children in a vacant building once used by the 4th Space Surveillance Squadron starting in January. Children could arrive at the Florida facility as soon as February. The Colorado warehouse still needs to be renovated and isn’t expected to open until April. The federal government is trying to avoid a repeat of the summer of 2014, when so many children crossed the border into the U.S. from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador that they were forced to stay in Border Patrol facilities, which aren’t designed to house children. That also diverted officers from securing the border, even though the law requires children under 17 who enter the country
alone to be turned over to HHS. “This is out of an abundance of caution,” Weber said of the new temporary shelters. It’s not yet known how much renovating and operating the new shelters will cost, Weber said. The permanent shelters cost $223 per bed per day to operate, and the temporary locations cost more, he said. Border crossings haven’t returned to 2014 levels, but the numbers began to pick up again in June and have remained high even though migration usually slows down in the fall and winter. According to the U.S. Border Patrol, 10,588 unaccompanied children crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in October and November, more than double the 5,129 who crossed during the same two months last year. The number of family members crossing together has nearly tripled, to 12,505. In an interview on “Bill Bennett’s Morning in America” before Christmas, House Speaker Paul Ryan said officials want to be prepared for another influx and place children in the “least restrictive environment possible.” “We’re worried that there may be another epi-
sode on the border this coming summer and we want to be prepared for that,” Ryan said. Such an episode would come in the midst of a presidential election that has already been dominated by concerns over immigration and border security. U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a Democrat who represents the swing district where the Colorado shelter will be located, downplayed the potential impact on the surrounding community since the children won’t be allowed to leave the site. While candidates may debate immigration policy, he said officials still have to deal with the fact that these children have managed to end up in the U.S. and have been apprehended. “It’s a sad situation, but you have to step up and acknowledge the reality of the situation and provide these services,” he said. Lakewood Mayor Adam Paul said he wished the government had waited until after the holidays to announce the shelter, giving him and other leaders more time to learn about it and be ready to answer questions from the community. “We’re just going to demand that they communicate with us,” he said.
Photo by Eric Gay | AP
In this Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015, photo, farmer Fausto Salinas stands along the border fence, in McAllen, Texas. The staggered fence or wall costS $6.5 million per mile.
WALL Continued from Page 1A Act passed in 2006, the government built some 650 miles of wall along the 1,954-mile U.S.-Mexico boundary. While 1,254 miles of that border is in Texas, the state has only some 100 miles of wall. Republican presidential candidates insist they’ll finish it. But completing the Texas part of the wall would be a daunting task thanks to the border’s sheer length, the fact that it sits in the center of the snaking Rio Grande, and because treaties with Mexico prevent either country from constructing within the river’s flood plains. And unlike in other southwestern states, most border land in Texas is privately owned. Finishing the some 1,300 miles of border fencing would also be costly. According to a 2009 Government accountability report, pedestrian fencing, meant to keep out smugglers and migrants crossing on foot, has run anywhere from $400,000 to $15.1 million per mile, averaging $3.9 million. More recent construction has been even more expensive, with segments constructed in 2008 costing $6.5 million per mile. If kept at this rate, the wall would cost nearly $10 billion to complete just for materials, and challenging geography could bring it much higher. “With every twist and turn of the Rio Grande and every steep terrain in Arizona, it would cost easily that much,” said Adam Isacson, a border expert for the Washington Office on Latin America. Officials overseeing the wall’s construction faced a legal and logistical nightmare from the start, according to emails obtained
under the Freedom of Information Act and litigation by Denise Gilman, a law professor at the University of Texas. The hundreds of emails, which Gilman shared with The Associated Press, show that from the planning phase some 65 miles of the proposed route sat a half mile to a mile from the border, making it not a true border wall. Officials struggled to find places where construction could start fast to meet Congress’ deadline of building 255 miles by December 2008. They sought contingency fencing that did not require “significant real estate acquisitions” or cut through sensitive wilderness, the emails show. Wealthy landowners demanded more compensation or refused to allow construction. Hundreds of property owners were sued just to build the existing chunks of wall. Some 400 relinquished properties ranging in size from a driveway to commercial lots and farms, costing the government at least $15 million, according to an AP review of land cases in 2012. Among them was Eloisa Tamez, who refused to cede her three acres in San Benito, land that had been in her family for generations. A federal judge ruled in the government’s favor, and Tamez was compensated $56,000, with which she funded a scholarship at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley where she works as a professor. “It might be just a little piece of land,” she said. “But to me it meant my life.” The Rio Grande Valley is home to 54 miles of wall, and the official name of
the border barrier there is Pedestrian Fence 255. The area is the major crossing point for tens of thousands of families and unaccompanied children, many fleeing gang violence in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. The surge that began last year resumed in recent months, and Gov. Greg Abbott extended the Texas National Guard border patrol deployment in response to more than 10,000 unaccompanied children crossing into the U.S. in October and November. Some residents have found themselves cut off by the wall. Pamela Taylor, who lives near Brownsville, originally fought the wall’s construction. Now her Texas home sits behind the wall on the side facing Mexico. She still leaves coolers of water for thirsty migrants, though she wishes more of them would come to the United States legally, the way she emigrated from England. The wall “doesn’t do any good. It’s a waste of money,” she said. But she’s gotten used to it. Some locals say it’s better than nothing. Othal E. Brand Jr., the president of the Hidalgo County Water District 3, which supplies water to the McAllen area, pointed out where the fence separated a 20-acre reservoir from two pumping stations, which sit behind it along a bend in the Rio Grande. Brand said this land, adjacent to a wilderness reserve, was for years overrun by nighttime crossers and that smugglers threatened and even shot at his employees. “The wall is only part of the solution,” he said, “but it’s an important part.”
LAWS Continued from Page 1A A look at some of the more notable laws taking effect in January:
GUNS Texas, the second-most populous state, joins 44 other states in allowing at least some firearm owners to carry handguns openly in public places. Under the Texas law, guns can be carried by those with licenses and only in holsters. Meanwhile, California, the most populous state, has multiple new laws on gun control. One tightens a ban on firearms in and around schools. Under the new law, the prohibition applies even to most people who are allowed to carry concealed weapons generally. Another allows people to request that a judge order weapons be taken away from relatives who are believed to pose a threat.
VOTING California and Oregon become the first states that automatically register eligible voters when they obtain or renew their driver’s licenses. Critics of the measures — mostly Republicans — say that could lead to voter fraud and is part of a plan to register more voters who are likely to be Democrats. They say voters should register voluntarily. In both states, people are able to opt
out of being registered. Similar measures have been proposed in other states but never adopted. This year, Republican Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the concept in New Jersey. In North Carolina, a voter identification law passed in 2013 that requires people to show a photo ID takes effect. An amendment adopted this year allows voters who have trouble obtaining the required ID to vote anyway. That provision keeps North Carolina from joining eight states in which a photo ID is strictly required. There are still legal challenges over the law, and opponents want a judge to delay implementation. In most states, voters are asked to show some kind of identification.
PUBLIC HEALTH Hawaii becomes the first state to raise its minimum age, from 18 to 21, to buy or use cigarettes or e-cigarettes. It’s a move some local governments have made before, but never a state. California joins West Virginia and Mississippi as the only states without a personal-belief exemption for parents who do not want to vaccinate their children. Children whose parents refuse to have them immunized against several diseases are not allowed to enroll in public or private school and instead have to be
homeschooled. There is an exemption for children with serious health problems.
EMPLOYMENT ISSUES In California, a new law lets female employees allege pay discrimination based on the wages a company pays other employees who do substantially similar work. Under the law, it is up to employers to prove a man’s higher pay is based on factors other than gender. Oregon becomes the fifth state with a paid sick leave mandate for many employers. Some cities in traffic-congested urban areas are trying to ease the burdens of commuting. Employers with at least 20 workers in Washington, D.C., and New York City are required to offer commuter benefits such as tax-free mass transit subsidies to their workers. San Francisco already has a similar ordinance. In Missouri, a new law links the duration of jobless benefits to the state’s unemployment rate. When fewer people are out of work, those claiming the benefits will be cut off sooner. The maximum length of the benefits will be reduced from the current 20 weeks — already among the shorter periods in the nation — to 13. Only North Carolina, which has a similar sliding scale, has a shorter period: 12 weeks.
MINIMUM WAGE The minimum wage rises in many cities and states with the new year. Some of the wage increases are coming under laws passed years ago that phased in the increases over a period of years. Some are automatic increases tied to the cost of living. Fast-food workers in New York state receive their first pay bump under a new law that eventually will push their minimum wage to $15. The full amount will kick in at the end of 2018 in New York City and 2021 in the rest of the state. The federal government has not touched the minimum wage since it was increased to $7.25 effective in 2009. Labor groups and workers keep pushing for higher raises while many business groups say raises could come at the expense of jobs. But with the federal rate unchanging, more state and local governments — particularly in the West and Northeast — are taking action. The wages rise in California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia on Friday. States with automatic annual increases effective Jan. 1 are Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio and South Dakota. Some cities, including New Orleans, also have new rates starting Jan. 1. Minimum-wage fast-food work-
ers in Seattle get a bump as part of that city’s phased-in increase to $15 an hour.
TAXES Taxes have gone up in some places and dropping in others. Income tax rates dropped slightly in Oklahoma, where state revenues have fallen sharply, and Massachusetts. In North Carolina, the tax on gasoline dropped by a penny a gallon to 35 cents. The sales tax on boats will drop in New Jersey as of Feb. 1. Taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products rose in Minnesota, as will hotel taxes in Hawaii.
ABORTION Physicians in North Carolina are required to provide the state with ultrasound images of fetuses and other data related to abortions performed after the 16th week of pregnancy. For pregnancies terminated after the 20th week, doctors must explain to the state Department of Health and Human Services how continuing the pregnancy would have threatened the life and health of the mother. Some lawmakers who favor abortion rights say the state should not have this medical data.
IMMIGRANT DRIVER’S LICENSES Two more states allow people who are in the United States illegally to be licensed to drive. Delaware’s law took effect Sunday and Hawaii’s is in effect in the new year. Ten states and the District of Columbia already have similar provisions.
PETS Illinois made it a misdemeanor to leave pets outside during extreme weather. Missouri, in a crackdown on the state’s commercial “puppy mills,” required dog breeders to provide more space for their animals and barred them from using wire-strand flooring in dog kennels. Tennessee gave approval this year to the first statewide animal abuse registry. The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, requires the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to post to its website a list of persons convicted on or after that date of aggravated animal cruelty, felony animal fighting, or bestiality and related offenses. The list is to include the animal abuser’s full legal name and photograph. Upon first offense, the person’s name will remain on the list for two years. Upon subsequent offenses, it will remain on the list for five years.
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2016
SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2016
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Sports&Outdoors NCAA FBALL: CITRUS BOWL
NCAA FOOTBALL: ALAMO BOWL
TCU faces Oregon Horned Frogs moving on without Boykin
Photo by John Raoux | AP
Jake Rudock threw for 278 yards and three scores in a 41-7 victory over Florida in the Citrus Bowl.
Michigan blows out Gators
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN ANTONIO — Gary Patterson is like the fans. TCU’s coach wanted to see the matchup of big-play quarterbacks in the Alamo Bowl, with Trevone Boykin for his No. 11 Horned Frogs and Vernon Adams, Jr. for No. 15 Oregon. But Boykin won’t play Saturday night. His college career abruptly ended when Patterson suspended the one-time top Heisman Trophy contender, who left his room after curfew in San Antonio and then got charged with assault on a public servant. “Sometimes you have to make decisions you don’t want to,” Patterson said Friday. “My feelings went out to him. My feelings went out to the team. He’s our starting quarterback. I’m a fan. I wanted to see him against Vernon Adams. That’s the disappointing thing, just for the kids, and for him, all of them.” Boykin, who broke NFL quarterback Andy Dalton’s passing records at TCU, has apologized in an online post. He said he has no excuses for his “very poor decision” and that he was embarrassed. Oregon (9-3), with top-rated FBS passer Adams and standout running back Royce Freeman, went from a slight underdog to a touchdown favorite after Boykin was suspended within hours after his arrest outside a bar near San Antonio’s famed River Walk around 2 a.m. Thursday. Adams, the graduate transfer who succeeded 2014 Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota after the Ducks were national runner-ups last season, has thrown for 2,446 yards with 25 touchdowns and six interceptions. He has played only nine games because of a broken finger. “This is my first and last bowl game, but I’m excited to get out here and show what I got too,” Adams said. TCU (10-2) and Oregon are two of the nation’s top offense. The Frogs are third at 564 yards a game, and Oregon fourth at 548 yards per game. But TCU will also be without star receiver Josh Doctson, who set school records with 79 catches for 1,327 yards and 14 touchdowns even while missing two games and parts of two others with a broken left
See ALAMO PAGE 2B
By KYLE HIGHTOWER ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP
TCU will be without quarterback Trevone Boykin, right, Saturday as the Horned Frogs face Oregon in the Alamo Bowl. Aaron Green, left, leads the offense with 1,171 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Someone forgot to tell Michigan that this was supposed to be a struggle between defenses. Jake Rudock shrugged off an injury and threw for 278 yards and three touchdowns as No. 17 Michigan’s offense overwhelmed No. 19 Florida during a 41-7 victory Friday in the Citrus Bowl. “I would say this was the best game we’ve played all year,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen our offense play better. Our defense was magnificent. ... The three and outs, the stops, the play on third down, everybody playing great team defense. It was really good.” There were some questions surrounding how effective Rudock would be after he was knocked out of Michigan’s regularseason finale against Ohio State with a left shoulder injury. He dismissed any doubt about his health almost immediately in the Wolverines’ first bowl victory since 2012. Michigan (10-3) had three touchdown drives of at least 70 yards and finished with 503 yards of offense against a Florida defense that entered the game ranked sixth nationally. Rudock credited the coaching staff ’s game plan and scouting efforts with putting him and his teammates in optimum situations. “We understood how they played — they play fast and they play physical,” Rudock said. “I had an easy job. I just had to get it out there to them.”
See CITRUS PAGE 2B
NCAA FOOTBALL: FIESTA BOWL
NCAA FOOTBALL: OUTBACK BOWL
Tennessee routs Northwestern By FRED GOODALL ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Rick Scuteri | AP
Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 149 yards and four touchdowns Friday in a 44-28 victory over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.
Elliott, Buckeyes win big over Irish in Fiesta Bowl By JOHN MARSHALL ASSOCIATED PRESS
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Ezekiel Elliott bulldozed his way into the end zone in the first half, showing off his strength as Ohio State’s drive capper. He flashed his speed in the second, becoming the show stopper as he raced up the middle for a long run.
Those skills should translate well in the NFL. They certainly worked out for the Buckeyes over the past three seasons. Elliott ran for 149 yards and matched a Fiesta Bowl record with four touchdowns to close the curtain on his college career, sparking No. 7 Ohio State’s prolific offense in a 44-28 win
See FIESTA PAGE 2B
TAMPA, Fla. — The architect of Tennessee’s resurgence won’t be happy until the Volunteers are perennial championship contenders again. Butch Jones, nevertheless, is proud of the progress the Vols have made in his three seasons as coach and confident the program is on solid footing as it moves into 2016. Friday’s 45-6 victory over No. 12 Northwestern in the Outback Bowl not only capped Tennessee’s best season in eight years, but showcased some of the young talent that gives the Vols a chance to keep climbing. “The road to success is always under construction, and we need to continue to recruit and develop, and continue to grow and elevate our football program,” Jones said. “But where we’ve come in three short years is amazing.” Joshua Dobbs threw for 166 yards and ran for two touchdowns, while Outback MVP Jalen Hurd rushed for 130 yards and one TD for the Vols (9-4), who finished with at least nine wins for the first time since 2007. Evan Berry put a punctuation mark on the team’s sixth consecutive win by returning one of Tennessee’s four interceptions
Photo by Chris O’Meara | AP
Tennessee running back Jalen Hurd rushed for a 130 yards and a touchdown in a 45-6 blowout victory over Northwestern Friday in the Outback Bowl. 100 yards for a TD in the closing seconds. “”It’s huge, we talked about finishing the season strong. It shows we’re on the rise,” Dobbs said. “We realize our potential. We have to grind to reach it, but this was a good step.” Northwestern (10-3) sputtered offensively and was unable to keep up the stronger, faster Vols defensively in falling short on a bid to finish with a school-record
11 victories. “This is one game at the end of a spectacular season. You just move on. You learn, you grow,” Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “You take all the great lessons we learned today, all the great lessons we learned throughout the season, and you learn and you grow and get better next year. That’s what we ex-
See OUTBACK PAGE 2B
PAGE 2B
Zscores
SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2016
Cowboys close season against Washington By SCHUYLER DIXON ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARLINGTON — The Washington Redskins haven’t lost since Dallas beat them for the Cowboys’ only win without Tony Romo this season. The three-game winning streak that followed helped the Redskins clinch what had been a tight NFC East race with a game to spare, rendering Sunday’s rematch between the longtime rivals meaningless for the playoffs. “I think it was a frustrating loss for us,” said receiver DeSean Jackson, who had a critical fumble on an ill-advised punt return late in the fourth quarter of that 19-16 defeat. “We challenged each other in the locker room and just to go out and really take advantage of the opportunity that we have, which is if we win out, we make the playoffs.” Kirk Cousins got the message. He is the first Washington quarterback to have consecutive games with at least 300 yards passing and at least four touchdowns without an interception. But his hot streak goes back farther — 20 touchdowns passing with three interceptions and another four rushing
scores in the past nine games. “I think we just came away from the game saying, ’Hey, maybe we should’ve been a little bit more aggressive and a little less conservative,”’ said Cousins, who is on the verge of the first 4,000yard season for the Redskins (8-7) since Brad Johnson in 1999. “I think you’ve seen the fruits of that from the games following that game.” It’s interesting Cousins says that because Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones suggested a few weeks ago that his team had the league’s worst defense for takeaways in part because opposing offenses weren’t taking as many risks with the Dallas offense missing Romo. There are plenty of reasons the Cowboys (4-11), last year’s NFC East champs at 12-4, haven’t been able to win without Romo and could have their most losses since going 1-15 in 1989, the year Jones bought the team. One of them is receiver Dez Bryant, who broke his right foot in the opener, missed five games and played in eight before Dallas shut him down once the playoffs were out of the question. He will end up missing the final two games as well.
Photo by Bill Wippert | AP
Dallas running back Darren McFadden is three yards shy of the second 1,000-yard rushing season of his career heading into Sunday’s finale against Washington. Things to consider as the Redskins tune up for just their fifth playoff appearance in the past 23 seasons: TO PLAY OR NOT TO PLAY
The most obvious question is how much coach Jay Gruden plans to use his starters with the Redskins locked in as the fourth seed. Four starters
FIESTA Continued from Page 1B over Notre Dame on Friday. “With all due respect to all the other running backs in Ohio State history, my first-round draft pick, I’d pick Zeke Elliott,” Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said. “He’s as good as any running back I’ve been around.” The Buckeyes (12-1) were left out of the College Football Playoff thanks to an inopportune loss. They may leave the desert wondering what could have been after blowing past another lateseason playoff contender. Ohio State rolled past the Fighting Irish (10-3), quick-hitting its way to one scoring drive after another and 496 total yards. Elliott, who’s leaving school early for the NFL, scored on three short runs first half and left Notre Dame defenders flailing as he raced past them for a 47-yard score to open the second. J.T. Barrett gave the Buckeyes some balance, throwing for 211 yards and a score with 96 yards rushing in the highest-scoring game against Notre Dame’s defense this season. Ohio State’s seniors finished 50-4, tying the FBS record set by Boise State’s 2011 class for most wins in a four-year span. “It’s been a wild journey with this team, something I couldn’t even imagine,” Ohio State cornerback Eli Apple said. The Fighting Irish had some good offensive moments behind DeShone Kizer after Buckeyes star defensive end Joey Bosa was ejected for targeting in the first quarter. They just couldn’t keep up with the blistering Buckeyes after a string of injuries, including
do-everything linebacker Jaylon Smith to a knee injury in the first quarter. “The guy is so impactful on our defense,” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. “You lose a guy like that early on, it significantly affects what you’re doing defensively.” Notre Dame missed its CFB chance by four points; two-point losses to Clemson and Stanford. Ohio State lost to Michigan State in its penultimate game and had to watch the Spartans join fellow one-loss teams Alabama and Oklahoma in the playoff. Those just-misses turned the Fiesta Bowl into a talent show, with NFL-caliber players dotting rosters from both teams. Two of the best players were gone before the first quarter ended. Smith, the Butkus Award winner as the nation’s best linebacker, had to be helped off four minutes in after suffering what Kelly said was a significant leg injury. Bosa, projected as a top-10 NFL draft pick, was gone a few minutes later after driving the top of his helmet into the chest of Kizer, long after the Notre Dame quarterback had released the ball. “That was a kidney shot right there, but I guess it was the right call,” Meyer said. Ohio State had its way with Notre Dame’s defense without Smith in the lineup, racing down the field for scores like a 7-on-7 drill. Elliott, another potential firstround pick, was the Buckeyes’ punctuation mark, scoring on a pair of 1-yard runs and another from 2 yards. Barrett accounted
wrist. Boykin has accounted for 56 percent of TCU’s offense since 2012. He threw for 3,575 yards with 31 touchdowns and ran for 612 yards and 10 more scores this season. After sharing the Big 12 title and getting snubbed for a playoff season last season, TCU started this season ranked No. 2 in the AP poll. The Frogs started 8-0 before losing at Oklahoma State, then lost at Oklahoma with Boykin out because of a sprained right ankle. “Our motto this year was prove them right. I mean, everybody counted us out,” TCU receiver Kolby Listenbee said. “For this game, it’s prove them wrong.” Some other things to know when the Alamo Bowl has two top 15 teams for the second year in a row after no such matchups the first 21 games: DUCK CALLS Matt Lubick has been promoted from Oregon’s receivers coach to offensive coordinator to replace Scott Frost, who left to become Central Florida’s coach. Third-year coach Mark Helfrich made
the expected move official Friday, and said Lubick will call plays in the Alamo Bowl. GO GREEN Senior running back Aaron Green leads TCU with 1,171 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns. He is the Frogs’ first 1,000-yard rusher in five seasons, and has the most yards since LaDainian Tomlison’s 2,158 in 2000. BIG GAINS Oregon sophomore running back Royce Freeman is the only FBS player with at least 100 yards from scrimmage in every game this season, and has a national-best 71 plays that have gained at least 10 yards. His is the Pac-12 leader with 142 yards rushing per game, and needs 100 yards to break LaMichael James’ single-season record 1,805 set in 2011. IN HONOR Oregon sophomore receiver Darren Cunningham is switching from No. 7 to No. 22 in honor of late New Mexico safety Markel Byrd. Cunningham’s longtime friend and former prep teammate in San Diego was killed a single-car crash Dec. 22. Byrd wore No. 22 for the Lobos.
said. GARCON’S GRABS While tight end Jordan Reed, a Pro Bowl alternate, and Jackson get much of the attention, wideout Pierre Garcon is quietly putting together a solid season for the Redskins. He ranks second on the team in catches (69), yards receiving (728) and TD receptions (five), trailing only Reed in each category. “In practice, he’s one of those guys that practices exactly like he plays, and that’s full speed. So the quarterbacks know exactly where he’s going to be,” Gruden said. “I love where Pierre is and what he brings to the football team.” ANOTHER SHOT Kellen Moore will make his second career start for Dallas. The fourth-year quarterback appeared in a regular season game for the first time in Week 15 when Matt Cassel was benched. Three starters are 1-10 trying to fill in for Romo. SMITH’S SACKS Rookie outside linebacker Preston Smith has four sacks in the past two games, showing the sort of promise the Redskins were hoping for when they drafted him in the second round. He ranks second on the team with seven sacks.
OUTBACK Continued from Page 1B
for the other score, finding Michael Thomas on a 15-yard TD to put Ohio State up 28-14 at halftime. Elliott showed off his speed to open the second half, blurring through a hole for his 47-yard touchdown to match the Fiesta Bowl record set by Arizona State’s Woody Green against Missouri in 1972. “He’s a physical back. He makes his presence known,” Notre Dame defensive lineman Sheldon Day said. "He did some special things with his feet today.” Notre Dame took advantage of Ohio State’s Bosa-less defense a few times, though not enough to keep pace with the Buckeyes. Kizer was the key, moving the Irish down the field to set up a 3yard touchdown run by Josh Adams and on another drive that he capped himself with a 1-yard score. It was his 10th rushing TD, most by a Notre Dame quarterback in one season. Kizer connected with Chris Brown on a 4-yard touchdown pass to open the second half, pulling the Irish within a touchdown. After a quiet first three quarters, Will Fuller finally got a chance to show off his speed, using a quick move to create space before racing off on an 81-yard touchdown. The second-longest TD reception in Fiesta Bowl history pulled the Fighting Irish within 38-28, but they got no closer. Kizer threw for 284 yards and two touchdowns on 22-of-37 passing, but had an interception and lost a fumble.
ALAMO Continued from Page 1B
didn’t practice Wednesday: left tackle Trent Williams (shoulder/rib), safety Dashon Goldson (knee/ foot), defensive end Jason Hatcher (knee/neck) and cornerback DeAngelo Hall (calf). Two others were limited: linebacker Perry Riley Jr. and Jackson. “It’s important for us to be healthy come playoff time, but it is also to have some kind of momentum also going in,” Gruden said. “I’d like to end on a four-game winning streak, win three games in a row on the road. I think it’s a hell of a step in the right direction.” MCFADDEN 1K Dallas running back Darren McFadden is 3 yards shy of his second career 1,000-yard season, and about to play 16 games for the second straight year after failing to do so in his first six seasons. Durability and productivity were the big questions when the Cowboys signed him a day after letting 2014 NFL rushing champion DeMarco Murray go to Philadelphia in free agency. “That’s always been a knock on me as far as being durable and injuries and things, so I just feel like I showed a lot of people that I can go out there and stay healthy and still run the ball at a high pace in this league,” McFadden
pect.” Dobbs completed 14 of 25 passes. The dual-threat quarterback ran 12 times for 48 yards, including a highlight-reel burst around right end in which he dove for his second TD after picking up a bobbled snap and tight-roping his way up the sideline to make it 31-6 early in the fourth quarter. Hurd scored on 3-yard run in the third quarter and, despite playing with a sore hamstring, became the first Tennessee player to top 100 yards rushing in two bowl games. The 6-foot-4, 240-pound sophomore ran for 122 yards in the Vols’ victory over Iowa in last year’s Taxslayer Bowl. The 100-yard performance was the ninth of Hurd’s career, sixth this season. “I battled a little hamstring pull at the beginning of the week, but I did treatment all week and I put it in my mind that I was going to play either way,” Hurd said. “There was nothing really that was going to stop me from playing.” Both teams ended the regular season on five-game winning streaks, Tennessee finishing strong after a 3-4 start that included losses to Alabama, Oklahoma, Florida and Arkansas by a combined 17 points and Northwestern rebounding from lopsided Big Ten losses to Michigan and Iowa in consecutive weeks in October. “This football team defines resolve,” Jones said. “There were a lot of individuals that wanted to bury us, wanted to look for everything out there in this team.
... Actually, the adversity brought us closer and closer, united us. ’’ The Vols won the only previous meeting between the schools, 48-28 in the 1997 Florida Citrus Bowl. They improved to 3-1 in the Outback, where Tennessee beat Boston College on Jan. 1. 1993 and Wisconsin to finish with a 10-4 record eight years ago — the last time the Vols appeared in the SEC championship game and won at least nine games. Northwestern’s Clayton Thorson, one of just eight freshmen in the Football Bow Subdivision since 2008 to lead his team to 10 wins, was 8 of 20 passing for 57 yards and two interceptions. The Wildcats, whose three losses came by a combined score of 123-16, were outgained 420 yards to 261. Justin Jackson averaged over 5 yards per carry in rushing for 74 yards and one TD, a 5-yard run that finished a 12play, 75-yard drive in the second quarter to trim Tennessee’s lead to 10-6. The Wildcats missed the extra point, and it was pretty much downhill from there. “I look at our body of work. Ten wins with a rookie quarterback, I’ll take it,” Fitzgerald said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. Today is a very strong indication of that,” the Northwestern coach added. “But I’m keeping it in perspective because it should be kept in perspective. You win 10 football games, it’s a darn good football season. It doesn’t matter what league you’re in, what level you’re at.”
CITRUS Continued from Page 1B He also had lots of support on the ground from tailback De’Veon Smith, who finished with 109 yards rushing. “We just came out there and competed today. It just shows that hard work pays off,” Smith said. Leading by 10 at halftime, Michigan scored on each of its first two possessions in the third quarter to take a 31-7 lead. Michigan’s defense played without safety Jabrill Peppers, who sat out with an undisclosed injury. But the Wolverines didn’t miss him, holding the Gators (10-4) to 28 total yards in the second half. “It was a case of getting your rump kicked in. That’s what it was,” Florida coach Jim McElwain said. “They really took it to us on both sides of the ball.” Florida quarterback Tre-
on Harris had his moments early. But he also threw a costly interception in the end zone late in the first half that stifled the Gators’ attempt to stay in the game. Michigan took a 17-7 lead into halftime thanks largely to the efficiency of the Wolverines’ passing attack. Michigan’s receivers did a great job creating lanes for Rudock to throw to, and ran crisp routes to open up deepplay opportunities. The best example was on Rudock’s 31-yard touchdown pass to Jehu Chesson early in the second quarter that put Michigan up 14-7. Chesson used a double move, initially faking an inside slant, to strand and separate from star cornerback Vernon Hargreaves. Despite some unsteady outings to end the regular season, Harris managed the Gators’ offense well for most
of the first half. Florida appeared poised to keep pace early on, tying the game at 7 in the first quarter with an efficient eightplay, 75-yard drive. The series was capped with a fake reverse pass from receiver Antonio Callaway to Harris. But on the series following Chesson’s touchdown, Harris made a poor decision while getting chased toward the sideline, tossing a thirddown pass into a crowded end zone. The pass was intercepted by Jarrod Wilson. The Wolverines drove down on the next series and added a field goal to extend their lead to 10. “I’m just really excited about what we were able to do,” Rudock said. “Ten wins is no small feat in college football. It’s very difficult to get there. I’m just so thankful and grateful we were able to get there as a team.”
SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2016
DISHWASHER Dear Heloise: Regarding the film on glasses after using the dishwasher: We had some upgrading done in our kitchen. The dishwasher repairman asked if our glasses were filmy. We told him no, they were not. He told us to use 1 tablespoon of orange instant breakfast drink and 1 tablespoon of dishwasher soap in the dishwasher, and they would never be filmy. -Zella D., via email Zella, hmmm? This old hint has been around; the theory is that the citric acid in instant orange (or lemon) drink will help prevent the film. I don’t really buy it, because 1 tablespoon of powdered drink is gone with the first rinse. The film can be from nothot-enough water, hard water, poor rinsing or all three. I would love to hear from my readers. -- Heloise GROOMING HINTS Dear Heloise: I work in a senior community and have noticed two things about women and their grooming: They use too much perfume, and they frequently have loose hair on their clothes. Perfume never should be
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B
sprayed on clothes after dressing. It should be applied to bare skin only. (It builds up on clothes.) Also, it should be applied by spraying in front of the body and stepping into the spray, never sprayed directly on the skin. HELOISE: Sorry, but I disagree. Spraying and walking though the spray can damage clothes and jewelry. Dab or spray on your wrist and pat the back of your neck.) Most women style their hair after they dress. Unfortunately, that puts a lot of loose hair on the clothes. I suggest that they run a brush through their hair before dressing, then style after dressing. -Pat L., Grass Valley, Calif. BEAR PAWS Dear Heloise: I read the question from Dorothy P., about cat paw prints on the car, in the (Harrisonburg, Va.) Daily News-Record. I had to chuckle. I have pictures of my daughter’s car with bear paw prints all over the hood, windshield and roof. Fortunately for the car, it wasn’t a large bear. -Larry H., via email
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SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2016