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TEXAS POLITICS

FOUR-VEHICLE COLLISION

5 killed in crash DPS reports all victims were from Laredo

By GABRIELA A. TREVIÑO THE ZAPATA TIMES

Photo by Eric Gay | AP

Texas Gov. Rick Perry delivers a farewell speech to a joint session of the Texas Legislature, Thursday.

Perry bids farewell to Legislature

Five men from Laredo died in a four-vehicle collision early Thursday in Dimmit County, authorities reported.

The collision involved a tanker tractor-trailer, two pickups and a van.

The deceased were all passengers in the van. They were identified as Justin Lara, 21, Juan Francisco Medellin, 65,

Edward Peña, 22, Carlos Rubio, 30, and Sergio Javier Veyro, 50, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The Texas Department of Transportation first reported the collision at 9 a.m.

It occurred on U.S. 83, two miles north of Asherton in Dimmit, said Trooper Maria Loredo, DPS spokeswoman.

All vehicles were heading

See CRASH PAGE 11A

Courtesy photo | News 4 San Antonio, WOAI-TV

Wreckage is shown from a four-vehicle collision that killed five men from Laredo on Thursday on U.S. 83 in Dimmit County.

EAGLE FORD SHALE

ECONOMIES ON EDGE

Gov. preaches bipartisanship, touts record at final session

By JONATHAN TILOVE AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry, completing the longest stint of any governor in Texas history and preparing to make his second run for president, bid farewell Thursday to the Legislature where he first arrived 30 years ago as a young Democratic state representative from Paint Creek.

Perry told the joint session assembled in the House chamber that he was bequeathing to Gov.-elect Greg Abbott — who takes the oath of office Tuesday — an economically vibrant and fiscally sound state built on job creation and low taxes. He said, "I couldn’t pick a better successor than Greg Abbott, and he couldn’t have two better partners to lead this state than (Lt. Gov.-elect) Dan Patrick and (House Speaker) Joe Straus."

Perry, who has presided over an unprecedented period of Republican dominance in Texas politics, also preached the gospel of bipartisanship, consensus and compromise, a message that seemed mostly tailored to his fellow Republicans. That was just as well because most of the House Democrats, whose caucus to choose their leader for the coming session ran up against the start of Perry’s speech, were noshows for Perry’s last hurrah as governor.

Perry touted his record on everything from border security and wind energy to lawsuit reform and the creation of drug courts and diversion programs that, he said, have made Texas safer even as the state closed three prisons.

But pride of place in Perry’s pantheon of achievements was, as always, job creation.

"While the rest of the nation has lost middleclass jobs, Texas has created them. In fact, Texas has created new jobs in every income category," Perry said.

His message of cooperation seemed aimed at presenting him to a national audience as a man who could bring not just Texas’ economic success to the nation, but also a can-do spirit to Washington.

"There is not a single accomplishment I have

See FAREWELL PAGE 11A

Photo by William Luther/The San Antonio Express-News | AP

This May 14, 2014 photo shows an oil production flare, also called a flare stack, near Karnes City, Texas. The recent crash in oil prices feels as different in San Antonio and rural South Texas as the divide between city life and ranching.

Plunge in crude prices affects small businesses

By JENNIFER HILLER SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

PEARSALL, Texas — The recent crash in oil prices feels as different in San Antonio and rural South Texas as the divide between city life and ranching.

In San Antonio, economists expect that a plunge in oil prices from above $100 to below $50 per barrel means a slight negative impact, likely to be shrugged away by the

strength of industries such as military, medical and tourism.

But drive an hour south to a region where drilling rigs punctuate the sky, and there’s an anticipated swing from boom to belt tightening.

“It’s a recipe for disaster for small businesses,” said Huy Doan, who in the past two years has opened two Donut Palace locations in Pearsall. “The reason I came

here was for the oil field. I’m worried.”

It’s not yet obvious while trucks rumble through town and signs still shout “Now Hiring! Drivers Wanted!!”

But a slowdown is creeping in.

Companies have started pulling back drilling plans.

One of Doan’s regular customers said his oil field crew was trimmed from 100 to seven. Plenty of oil field workers and locals still swing by

the Donut Palace daily, but not as many as before.

“We’ll see some pretty big changes over the next few quarters,” said George Wommack of Petro Waste Environmental, which operates oil field disposal sites across the Eagle Ford region. Wommack grew up in Midland in an oil and gas family, and doesn’t think people have realized what low oil prices

See SHALE PAGE 11A

U.S.-MEXICO

New law requires ID for all currency exchange

By MALENA CHARUR THE ZAPATA TIMES

A new regulation instituted by the Mexican government requiring buyers and sellers of pesos and-or dollars at currency exchange houses in Mexico to present identification continues to create uncertainty and discomfort.

The Official Journal of the Federation on Dec. 31 published a resolution that amends, adds and re-

peals general provisions of Article 95 of the Ley General de Organizaciones y Actividades Auxiliares del Crédito (General Law of Organizations and Auxiliary Credit Activities), applicable to exchange houses, according to the journal’s web site.

It became law on Jan. 1.

Fernando Torres Villarreal, president of the National Chamber of Commerce in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, also known as

CANACO, said there were doubts about the legislation and how the government has implemented these measures.

“In this sense there is urgency. It is published one day to take affect the next. Why the rush?”

Torres Villarreal said.

The publication states that when individual users perform transactions in foreign currency or travelers’ checks for less than $3,000 in U.S. dollars

or its equivalent in foreign currency, the exchange will collect and maintain a data system that will store information obtained from users’ identification cards.

Torres Villarreal said, according to the law, that the objective is to strengthen the perception and confidence of the Mexican financial system, and therefore promotes the development of currency houses. However,

reality reflects another picture.

“We feel it’s the opposite. The preamble to the resolution is unclear.

They ask for data when a person buys or sells, up to $3,000. This leaves the exchange houses in limbo as they are forced to ask for identification from the person who would buy $1 for fear of a fine,” Torres Villarreal said.

According to the Official Journal of the Feder-

ation those who exchange up to $3,000 in at currency exchange houses must state their full name, gender, birth date, state and country of birth, occupation, phone number and email address through a number of Mexican or other identification cards, from the buyer’s country.

Torres said that such requested information creates buyer mistrust

See CURRENCY PAGE 7A

PAGE 2A

Zin brief CALENDAR

SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2015

AROUND TEXAS

TODAY IN HISTORY

SATURDAY, JAN. 17

ASSOCIATED PRESS

TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. The Little Star that Could, 2 p.m. Stars of the Pharoahs, 3 p.m. Back to the Moon, 4 p.m. Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 5 p.m. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff.

South Texas Food Bank volunteer day in honor of Martin Luther King Day. South Texas Food Bank grounds, 1907 Freight Street in west Laredo, from 8 a.m. to noon. For information call (956) 324-2432.

Webb, Zapata and Jim Hogg County Medical Society’s “We are our brain book club” presentation on health and happiness. 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Laredo Public Library, McPherson and Calton Road.

Today is Saturday, Jan. 17, the 17th day of 2015. There are 348 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlights in History: On Jan. 17, 1945, Soviet and Polish forces liberated Warsaw during World War II; Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews, disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody.

On this date: In 1893, the 19th president of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, died in Fremont, Ohio, at age 70. Hawaii’s monarchy was overthrown as a group of businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Lili’uokalani to abdicate.

In 1929, the cartoon character Popeye the Sailor made his debut in the “Thimble Theatre” comic strip.

In 1950, the Great Brink’s Robbery took place as seven masked men held up a Brink’s garage in Boston, stealing $1.2 million in cash and $1.5 million in checks and money orders. (Although the entire gang was caught, only part of the loot was recovered.)

In 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his farewell address in which he warned against “the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.”

In 1977, convicted murderer Gary Gilmore, 36, was shot by a firing squad at Utah State Prison in the first U.S. execution in a decade.

In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., ruled 5-4 that the use of home video cassette recorders to tape television programs for private viewing did not violate federal copyright laws.

In 1994, the 6.7 magnitude Northridge earthquake struck Southern California, killing at least 60 people, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

In 1995, more than 6,000 people were killed when an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 devastated the city of Kobe, Japan.

Ten years ago: Zhao Ziyang, who was ousted as China’s Communist Party leader after sympathizing with the 1989 pro-democracy protests, died in Beijing at age 85 after 15 years under house arrest.

Five years ago: President Barack Obama appeared at a rally in Boston for Democratic senatorial candidate Martha Coakley, who was running in a special election. (Coakley ended up losing to Republican Scott Brown.)

One year ago: President Barack Obama ordered new limits on the way intelligence officials accessed phone records from hundreds of millions of Americans; the president also signed a $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the federal government through the end of September 2014.

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Betty White is 93. Actor James Earl Jones is 84. Talk show host Maury Povich is 76.

International Boxing Hall of Famer Muhammad Ali is 73.

Singer Steve Earle is 60. Actorcomedian Steve Harvey is 58.

Actor-comedian Jim Carrey is 53. First lady Michelle Obama is 51. Rapper Kid Rock is 44.

Actress-singer Zooey Deschanel is 35. Singer Ray J is 34.

Thought for Today: “If there is one basic element in our Constitution, it is civilian control of the military.” — President Harry S. Truman (1884-1972).

TUESDAY, JAN. 20 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Back to the Moon, 5 p.m. Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 6 p.m. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. 326-DOME (3663) or Claudia Herrera at claudia.herrera@tamiu.edu, or www.tamiu.edu/planetarium.

Photo by Gary Coronado/Houston Chronicle | AP

From left, Darby Deming, 19, Joseph Delgado, Stevie Dumaine, Will Nelson, and Colleen Daugherty, 24, ride in a parking garage Jan. 3, 2015. The skaters, part of Team No Bull, is hosting what they believe are the first legal garage races in Texas this weekend in downtown Houston. The races are part of a three-day event sponsored by Team NoBull.

Skaters speed in garages

By SYD KEARNEY HOUSTON CHRONICLE

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 21 “America’s Four Republics” an exhibit of colonial-era historical documents will be on display at the Villa Antigua® Border Heritage Museum, 810 Zaragoza St. until February 24.

Public is invited to an opening reception, gallery talk and book-signing with curator Stanley Klos on Wednesday, January 21 from 6 to 8 p.m. For more information, contact the Webb County Heritage Foundation at 727-0977, heritage@webbheritage.org or on Facebook.

THURSDAY, JAN. 22 The American Cancer Society is rolling out the Red Carpet for the 2015 Relay for Life of Webb County at its kickoff party at Laredo Firefighters’ Union Hall from 6 to 8 p.m. Call Diana Juarez at 319-3100 or Laura Nañez at 286-6955.

HOUSTON — Some crouched, hands scraping the ground as they cut closely around corners at breakneck speed. Others took the corners wide with just a shift of hips and their arms outstretched, standing tall like surfers riding waves.

This is skating’s fast lane. For local longboarders, there is nothing more thrilling than furtively careening down a dimly lit parking garage in the wee hours, when office workers and their cars have long gone home. Their only brakes are their feet and security guards.

“Every night between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m., there are skaters in downtown garages,” said Greg Noble, a 51-year-old stockbroker recruiter who has been longboarding for six years.

“This is getting too big to treat it like a bank robbery — ‘Get in and get out,’?" Noble told the Houston Chronicle. “We are working on getting the sport respected.”

To that end, he and his fellow riders are hosting what they believe are the first legal garage races in Texas this weekend in downtown Houston. The races are part of a threeday event sponsored by Team NoBull, a Houston-based international group of longboard racers.

Dozens of longboarders gathered downtown recently for a dress rehearsal for Saturday’s sanctioned races. They raced together down the nine-story Hobby Center garage, cruising at speeds up to 20 mph. When they reached the second level, men, women and teens clutching colorful, sticker-laden boards crammed into elevators for another run — with the permission of garage management.

FRIDAY, JAN. 23 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Back to the Moon, 6 p.m. Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 7 p.m. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff.

SATURDAY, JAN. 24 STCE’s Comic Con at TAMIU Student Center from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

20th Annual Crime Stoppers Menudo Bowl at the LIFE Fairgrounds on Highway 59. Gates open 11 a.m.

Menudo cooking contest. Call 724-1876.

TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. The Little Star that Could, 2 p.m. Stars of the Pharoahs, 3 p.m. Back to the Moon, 4 p.m. Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 5 p.m. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff.

Holy Redeemer Church 7th Annual Dance. 8 pm to 1 am. Caesars Reception Hall. For more information contact Amparo Ugarte at 286-0862.

Gov. Perry spends $1M in defense against charges

10 percent of seniors not on track to graduate

Condemned killer of 2 in loses federal appeal

AUSTIN — State records show Gov. Rick Perry so far has spent more than $1 million on lawyers defending him against a felony indictment alleging he abused his power.

Perry had initially used taxpayer money to cover expenses of at least $80,000. He later announced he would use his campaign account to pay the tab.

AUSTIN — Test results show nearly 10 percent of all Texas high school seniors are not on track to graduate this year.

The Texas Education Agency on Thursday reported December results of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STARR, exams.

Figures show 90.3 percent of the Class of 2015 successfully completed all exams for graduation.

HOUSTON — A 51-year-old man on death row since 1994 for fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend and her daughter 22 years ago in Houston has lost an appeal before a federal appeals court.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday refused arguments that Gerald Eldridge is mentally incompetent for execution.

3 hurt as car ends up wedged under school bus HOUSTON — A traffic accident in Houston has left part of a car wedged under a school bus and sent both drivers and a student to the hospital.

The Houston Fire Department says two adults and one child were transported Friday morning for evaluation. Authorities are trying to determine what led to the wreck involving a bus carrying 22 children and the driver.

Examiner IDs woman, toddler girl found in field FORT WORTH — Authorities are trying to determine what caused the deaths of a woman and a toddler girl whose bodies were found in a Fort Worth field.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office on Wednesday identified the pair as 27-year-old Lindsay Groce and 13-month-old Hailey Gardner.

Man faces up to life term for role in abduction SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio-area man faces up to life in prison for making ransom calls from Texas during the kidnapping of a businessman in Mexico. A federal jury on Thursday convicted the 36-year-old Agustin Sergio Deleon Garza of conspiracy to kidnap, interstate communication of ransom and conspiracy to commit money laundering. — Compiled from AP reports

SUNDAY, JAN. 25 STCE’s Comic Con at TAMIU Student Center from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

MONDAY, JAN. 26 Chess Club. From 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. LBV-Inner City Branch Library at 202 W. Plum St. next to the Inner City Pool. Contact John Hong at john@laredolibrary.org, or laredolibrary.org/innercityevents.html or 795-2400 x2521.

TUESDAY, JAN. 27 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Back to the Moon, 5 p.m. Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 6 p.m. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff.

THURSDAY, JAN. 29 Spanish Book Club from 6-8 p.m. at the Laredo Public Library, Calton Road. Contact Sylvia Reash at 7631810.

Villa San Agustin de Laredo Genealogical Society meeting. 3p.m. to 5p.m. St. John Neuman Catholic Parish Hall. For more information call Sanjuanita Hunter at 722-3497.

AROUND THE NATION Ohio man accused in Capitol terror plot held CINCINNATI — A federal magistrate has ordered that a 20year-old Ohio man charged with plotting an attack at the U.S. Capitol remain held without bond.

Christopher Lee Cornell appeared before Magistrate Stephanie Bowman in a brief detention hearing Friday afternoon. He was brought to the federal courthouse in downtown Cincinnati under tight security from the jail some 30 miles away where he’s been held since after his arrest Wednesday outside a gun shop.

He is charged with plotting to attack the Capitol with pipe bombs and shoot government officials.

Boy Scouts membership falls 7 percent in decline The Boy Scouts of America’s youth membership fell 7.4 percent last year, continuing a dec-

CONTACT US Publisher, William B. Green........................728-2501 Account Executive, Dora Martinez ...... (956) 765-5113 General Manager, Adriana Devally ...............728-2510 Adv. Billing Inquiries ................................. 728-2531 Circulation Director ................................. 728-2559 MIS Director, Michael Castillo.................... 728-2505 Managing Editor, Nick Georgiou ................. 728-2565 Sports Editor, Zach Davis ..........................728-2578 Spanish Editor, Melva Lavin-Castillo............ 728-2569 Photo courtesy of Butler County Jail | AP

This Wednesday photo made available by the Butler County Jail shows Christopher Lee Cornell. Cornell plotted to attack the U.S. Capitol in Washington and kill government officials inside it and spoke of his desire to support the Islamic State. ade-long decline for one of the nation’s oldest youth organizations.

The Texas-based organization says more than 2.4 million youth participated in its programs in 2014, along with just fewer than 1 million adults.

The Boy Scouts has tried to boost membership through technology-based programs and new camping opportunities to attract youth. It also enlisted former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as its president. — Compiled from AP reports

SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (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 17, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

Wealthy Texas donors will advise lawmakers

By PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — Billionaire political donors and other special interest heavyweights who already spend lavishly on lobbying will begin formally advising Texas lawmakers on crafting bills under a partnership announced Thursday by incoming Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

The new “citizen advisory” panels are virtually unprecedented in the Texas Legislature and drew immediate condemnation from public watchdogs. One group said Patrick alone has personally received a total of nearly $2 million in donations from his dozens of hand-picked panelists, who include energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens.

Texas is among a handful of states with no ceiling on campaign contributions, and Republican megadonors who’ve taken advantage of unlimited spending in election years now have an invitation from inside the Capitol help set policy on everything from education to economic development.

Patrick said ongoing feedback from successful people makes sense when trying to write good public policy.

“Very often the private sector is asked for help by a candidate, and after they get elected, there’s not much follow up,” Patrick told reporters. He added

Mother, 3 kids found dead ASSOCIATED PRESS

PORT LAVACA — Investigators say deputies were twice called to a South Texas home on child custody issues the night before a woman and her three young children were found dead inside, but a motive behind the killings remains unclear.

Jonathan Camacho remained jailed Friday on a murder charge in the death of his 23-year-old wife, Dulce Cumpean-Camacho, and capital murder charges in the deaths of the three children: 4year-old son Zavier Camacho, 1-year-old Sierra Camacho and 3-monthold Faith Camacho.

Calhoun County Sheriff George Aleman said deputies were twice summoned Sunday night to a home in Port Lavaca on child custody issues, The Victoria Advocate reported. But early Monday, firefighters were called to a fire at a one-room shed where the family lived. The four bodies were found in the debris.

“Initial reports from family members were that people were inside the residence,” the sheriff ’s office said in a statement.

Deputies, assisted by Texas Rangers, later determined the deaths were homicides. Preliminary results from autopsies determined that the victims were stabbed, according to a statement released Thursday.

The home was on a compound where other relatives also lived.

“We knew (Jonathan) loved them. If we would have thought they weren’t safe, we would have made him leave,” said Yesica Cumpean, 25, the slain woman’s sister.

An arrest warrant was sealed by a judge for 30 days at the request of law enforcement, the newspaper reported.

Photo by Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman | AP

Incoming Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick talks about his vision for the Texas Senate during a news conference at the Texas State Capitol on Jan. 8, 2015 in Austin. Patrick has personally received a total of nearly $2 million in donations. that the panels — which he described as “citizen workgroups” — may only come up with four great ideas, “but they’ll be four great ideas that otherwise wouldn’t have had to continue growing the economy.”

The meetings and conversations between members would not be public.

Patrick won’t be officially sworn in until Tuesday as lieu-

tenant governor, which unlike in most states, is a position of considerable power in Texas.

But the timing served as a reminder of the bolder tone that Patrick, a firebrand tea party leader and conservative talk radio host, intends to set in the Senate after the chamber spent the previous 11 years run by the more measured David Dewhurst.

Among the 55 panelists named by Patrick are oil magnate S. Javaid Anwar ($767,000 in political contributions in 2014) and Fort Worth businessman Robert Albritton ($500,000).

Oilman Tim Dunn, who last year donated $50,000 to Patrick and more than $2 million to the ultraconservative activist group Empower Texans, is on a panel advising energy policy.

Patrick said the panels weren’t “Dan’s team” and added that some didn’t support him during his most recent campaign. According to Texas for Public Justice, more than threequarters of appointees have donated to Patrick at least once since 2005.

Texans for Public Justice, a left-leaning watchdog in Austin, unfavorably compared Patrick’s initiative to the American Legislative Exchange Council. That conservative group often proposes model legislation for state lawmakers to push back home.

“It gives this group more access than they already have,” founder Craig McDonald said.

“It sounds like a shadow government. We’ve never seen anything like it.”

Choosing big campaign donors for influential roles in state business isn’t new. Gov. Rick Perry appointed a number of top financial supporters to positions from university system boards to agency overseers in his 14 years of government. The federal government also often partners with businesses on initiatives.

Patrick questioned why anyone would criticize lawmakers for turning to the private sector for ideas.

“They’re all really excited about someone in Austin listening to what they have to say,” Patrick said.

Schlumberger cuts 9,000 jobs

By DAVID WETHE BLOOMBERG NEWS

Schlumberger Ltd., the world’s biggest oilfield-services company, tackled the “uncertain environment” of plummeting crude prices head-on by cutting about 9,000 jobs and reducing costs.

Anticipating lower spending by customers this year, Schlumberger is decreasing its workforce by 7.1 percent and seeking to lower operating costs at a unit that helps producers find oil and natural gas, the Houston- and Parisbased company said in an earnings report Thursday.

Coping with oil prices near 5 1/2-year lows, energy producers are expected to cut spending in the U.S. by as much as 35 percent in 2015, according to Cowen & Co. The number of rigs drilling on U.S. land could fall by as much as 750 this year, Wells Fargo & Co. said in a Jan. 14 note, reducing the total by more than 40 percent.

The coming year “is looking like it’s gonna be pretty rough,” Rob Desai, an analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis who rates the shares a buy and owns none, said in a phone interview. “With the potential for this to last some time, it’s in the best interest of the company to attack it aggressively.”

Schlumberger sees an opportunity to increase its market share after two rivals, Baker Hughes Inc. and Halliburton Co., agreed to merge last year in a $34.6 billion deal. Chief Executive Officer Paal Kibsgaard told investors on a Friday conference call the company would pursue “other opportunities we have on our list” if the drop in commodity prices makes bigger acquisitions more attractive.

Resize’ Organization The stock, which has 35 buy and nine hold recommendations from analysts,

gained 3.5 percent to $79.33 at 9:51 a.m. in New York, the biggest increase in four weeks. The company boosted its quarterly dividend 25 percent.

“In this uncertain environment, we continue to focus on what we can control,” Kibsgaard said in the statement. “We have already taken a number of actions to restructure and resize our organization.”

The company, which had doubled its workforce in the past 10 years, took a $1.77 billion one-time charge associated with the job cuts and restructuring of its seismic unit as well as the devaluation of Venezuela’s currency and a lower value for production assets it owns in Texas. Net income for the fourth quarter dropped to $302 million, or 23 cents a share, from $1.66 billion, or $1.26, a year earlier.

Tough Environment “Our market share has

been limited by glass ceilings,” Kibsgaard said.

“This glass ceiling has been put in place by customers to make sure that there is enough work to make a third player viable.

If the other two players were to combine into one, then I think this glass ceiling can easily be broken.”

Shares in oilfield-services companies, which help customers find and produce oil and natural gas, were the first to fall as crude prices declined. Service companies in the Standard & Poor’s Index dropped 20 percent in the fourth quarter, more than the 18 percent decline for producers.

Exploration and production spending globally is expected to drop 17 percent to $571 billion, Jim Crandell, an analyst at Cowen, wrote in a Jan. 7 research note. Schlumberger has the smallest exposure to North America compared with peers, generating a dollar of sales in the region for every $3 globally.

Earnings Estimates With oil prices failing to stabilize, some producers are waiting to announce plans for 2015, making firstquarter earnings estimates for Schlumberger “still a bit of a guess,” said Stephen Gengaro, an analyst at Sterne Agee & Leach Inc. in New York who rates the company a buy and doesn’t own the shares.

Less than half of the 150 oil and gas companies it monitors have reported spending plans for the year, Norman MacDonald, a portfolio manager for Invesco Ltd., said in an interview. MacDonald, who manages the $990 million Invesco Energy Fund, said he’s never seen this many companies wait so long to announce their budgets.

Excluding one-time items, Schlumberger earned $1.50 a share in the fourth quarter, beating the average of 34 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales fell short of estimates.

PAGE 4A

Zopinion

SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2015

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM

COMMENTARY

OTHER VIEWS

Why Guantanamo must be closed

By JACKIE SPEIER THE WASHINGTON POST

Before the "war on terror," many Americans knew about Guantanamo Bay only from its depiction in "A Few Good Men." In the film’s most famous scene, the Marine colonel who commands the U.S. naval base, played by Jack Nicholson, declares during a court-martial: "I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it."

We have been told that holding prisoners at Guantanamo for more than a decade is a necessary price for freedom.

No matter what Nicholson’s character says, we can handle the truth, and the truth is that the prison in Cuba is a huge waste of taxpayer dollars, makes us less safe and runs contrary to our values as Americans.

In September, I visited Guantanamo to see how detainees were being treated and to better understand the costs of the operation.

Walking around the dilapidated facility, I saw that Guantanamo is truly a relic, symbolizing a flawed strategy to house an ever-dwindling number of detainees.

Of the 779 detainees who have been held there, 657 have been transferred to the few countries willing to take them. The current population is down to 122 — 54 of whom are slated for release — but instead of closing the center, the Pentagon has asked for $290 million for building upgrades.

Holding a single prisoner at Guantanamo costs $3.3 million per year, more than 40 times the cost of holding a prisoner in a "supermax" prison in the United States. The logistical chain required to support the facility contributes to this price tag. A desalination plant provides water, but food and supplies must be shipped in. There are 2,268 staffers at Guantanamo, and medical personnel alone outnumber detainees.

Medical costs are a growing portion of facility costs. According to a New York Times report, when a detainee needed a stent, $1 million was spent on a mobile cardiac catheterization lab.

The detainee refused the procedure, and the equipment was left to decay outdoors. When another detainee needed a kidney stone removed, the military imported a laser lithotripsy machine along with a urologist, all at massive expense to taxpayers. Such procedures will become only more complicated and expensive as these detainees age.

Why are detainees still being held at Guantanamo? Republicans continue to argue that it is the only facility capable of securely housing these dangerous men. At the detention center, I spoke to a military reservist who serves as a corrections officer at a state prison when not de-

ployed. He said that the detainees at Guantanamo are much more docile than the population he normally deals with.

We’ve entrusted custody of prisoners to 21 nations since 2001. Our supermax prisons are the most secure in the world. They’re more than equipped to securely house anyone.

Keeping terrorists in the federal prison system is not unprecedented. Omar Abdel-Rahman, "the blind sheik," is serving a life sentence in North Carolina for his connection to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Only blocks from the Capitol, Ahmed Abu Khattala is being tried as a central suspect in the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission at Benghazi, Libya. If convicted, he would serve his sentence in federal prison.

Those who seek to keep Guantanamo open also rely on false assertions and fears about detainees going "back to the fight." But recidivism rates are low. Only 7 percent of the detainees released during the Obama administration were confirmed to have reengaged, compared with 19 percent during the Bush administration.

Meanwhile, Guantanamo has become a rallying cry for others to take up arms against the United States. The brutal interrogation techniques once used at the facility were well documented by the Senate intelligence committee’s report on CIA torture, and detainees on hunger strikes have been forcefed.

These brutal actions have fueled hatred abroad and provided potent imagery for terrorist propaganda spread by such groups as the Taliban and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

Adm. Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called Guantanamo a "recruiting symbol" for terrorists and jihadists, which he saw as "the heart of the concern for Guantanamo’s continued existence." Before beheading journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, the Islamic State evoked Guantanamo imagery by dressing the men in orange jumpsuits similar to those worn by detainees. The jumpsuit resonates in propaganda because it is so contrary to our values as Americans and has endured for more than a decade.

We need decisive action, and I applaud the steps President Obama has taken to reduce the prison population. But this wasn’t just his priority. In his autobiography, former President George W. Bush wrote that he had set "closing the prison at Guantanamo in a responsible way" as a goal for his second term. Unfortunately, this year’s National Defense Authorization Act continues to tie our president’s hands by preventing the transfer of prisoners to the mainland United States. Congress must end the status quo.

We can’t wait another decade. We need to shut down Guantanamo.

EDITORIAL

Obama must act against terror THE WASHINGTON POST

President Obama’s neglect of the anti-terrorism march in Paris seemed reflective of a broader loss of momentum by his administration in combating Islamic jihadism. Five months after the president launched military operations against the Islamic State, fighting in Iraq and Syria appears stalemated. The training of Iraqi army units for a hoped-for counteroffensive is proceeding slowly and, according to a report by The Post’s Loveday Morris, looks under-resourced.

Weapons and ammunition are in such short supply that trainees are yelling "bang, bang" in place of shooting.

Iraq, moreover, is the theater where U.S. engagement is most aggressive; elsewhere, the Obama adminis-

tration appears to be passively standing by as jihadists expand their territory, recruitment and training. In Libya, the job of stemming an incipient civil war has been left to a feckless U.N. mediator, even though the Islamic State is known to be operating at least one training camp with hundreds of recruits. In Nigeria, where a new offensive by the Boko Haram movement has overrun much of one northeastern state, a U.S. military training program was recently canceled by the government following a dispute over arms sales.

The bankruptcy of U.S. policy toward the Syrian civil war was underlined again on Wednesday, when Secretary of State John F. Kerry expressed hope for a patently cynical and one-sided diplomatic initiative by Russia.

The attacks in Paris were conducted by homegrown militants, but training and direction may have come from an al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen, which claimed credit Wednesday. There, too, a U.S. counterterrorism program once cited by Mr. Obama as a model is foundering: Iranian-backed rebels have overrun the capital and pushed aside the U.S.backed government, making it difficult to continue direct and indirect U.S. operations against al-Qaida.

In a speech last May, Mr. Obama identified terrorism as the greatest threat to the country and noted the decentralization of al-Qaida to multiple theaters. Ruling out U.S. military involvement, he said his strategy would be to forge "a network of partnerships" with local forces and governments "from South Asia to the Sa-

hel." While the idea was mostly sound, the execution has been weak. There is, as a practical matter, no U.S. partnership in Libya, Nigeria or Syria. In other places, such as Iraq and Yemen, it is underpowered.

The president’s resistance to using U.S. military assets has also proved counterproductive. His refusal to provide even limited protection or heavy weapons to Syrian rebel forces has diverted many fighters to the betterfunded Islamic State and other groups linked to alQaida. Mr. Obama’s rejection of proposals to deploy U.S. Special Operations forces with Iraqi army units is one reason Mosul and other cities remain under the jihadists’ rule.

The attacks in Paris should motivate Mr. Obama to reinvigorate a war against al-Qaida.

COMMENTARY

Emissions inflation examined

By STEPHEN STROMBERG THE WASHINGTON POST

When you’re setting goals for combating climate change, a lot depends on when you start. The White House this week announced new rules on methane, the primary component in the massive amounts of natural gas the country produces.

The administration’s goal is to cut methane emissions by 45 percent by 2025, based on the emissions level in 2012. By contrast, the goal for total greenhouse emissions — mainly carbon dioxide — is a cut of 28 per-

cent by 2025, based on the emissions level in 2005. Why use different years as the nation’s starting point? Because it makes President Obama’s programs look better.

The year 2005 was a high one for total greenhouse emissions. A few years later, the "Great Recession" forced energy-intensive industries to slow or shut down, reducing emissions, particularly carbon dioxide, dramatically — by 728 million metric tons between 2005 and 2012.

So a 28 percent cut from 2005’s high total would bring the country to a high-

er level of emissions than a 28 percent cut based on another year. Put another way, Obama gets to tout a 28 percent emissions cut from the 2005 level, but he would be able to publicize only a 20 percent cut if the administration used the 2012 level or a mere 16 percent cut if it used the 1990 level, which is Europe’s base year for calculating emissions goals.

Methane is a different story. Fracking operations have brought massive quantities of the fuel from deep underground over the last several years. Most of that gas has been sold, but some

of it has escaped into the atmosphere. So, despite the recession, U.S. methane emissions barely budged between 2005 and 2012. With little optical advantage to shifting the base year, the Obama administration simply used 2012, the last year for which there are data in the Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions inventory, to quantify its methane goal.

None of this is to say that the president’s anti-emissions program is bad. It’s crucial to get methane leakage under control. to address.

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CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

Nation

6A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2015

Supreme Court eyes gay marriage

By MARK SHERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Setting the stage for a potentially historic ruling, the Supreme Court announced Friday it will decide whether same-sex couples have a right to marry everywhere in America under the Constitution.

The justices will take up gayrights cases that ask them to overturn bans in four states and declare for the entire nation that people can marry the partners of their choice, regardless of gender. The cases will be argued in April, and a decision is expected by late June.

Proponents of same-sex marriage said they expect the court to settle the matter once and for all with a decision that invalidates state provisions that define marriage as between a man and a woman.

“We are now that much closer to being fully recognized as a family, and we are thrilled,” said April DeBoer, a hospital nurse from Hazel Park, Michigan, after the justices said they would hear an appeal from DeBoer and partner Jayne Rowse.

“This opportunity for our case to be heard by the Supreme Court gives us and families like ours so much reason to be hopeful.”

Attorney General Eric Holder said the Obama administration would urge the court “to make marriage equality a reality for all Americans.”

On the other side, advocates for traditional marriage want the court to let the political process play out, rather than have judges order states to allow same-sex couples to marry.

“The people of every state should remain free to affirm marriage as the union of a man and a woman in their laws,” said Austin R. Nimocks, senior

Photo by Paul Sancya | AP

April DeBoer, right, speaks as her partner Jayne Rowse, left, looks on during a news conference in Ferndale, Mich., Friday.

The Supreme Court said Friday that it will decide whether same-sex couples nationwide have a right to marry. counsel for the anti-gay marriage group Alliance Defending Freedom.

Same-sex couples can marry in 36 states and the District of Columbia.

That number is nearly double what it was just three months ago, when the justices initially declined to hear gay marriage appeals from five states seeking to preserve their bans on samesex marriage. The effect of the court’s action in October was to make final several pro-gay rights rulings in the lower courts.

Now there are just 14 states in which same-sex couples cannot wed. The court’s decision to get involved is another marker of the rapid change that has redefined societal norms in the space of a generation.

The court will be weighing in on major gay rights issues for the fourth time in in 27 years. In the first of those, in 1986, the court upheld Georgia’s anti-sodomy law in a devastating defeat for gay rights advocates.

But the three subsequent rulings, all written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, were major victories for gay men and lesbians.

In its most recent case in 2013, the court struck down part of a federal anti-gay marriage law in a decision that has paved the way for a wave of lower court rulings across the country in favor of same-sex marriage rights.

James Esseks, leader of the American Civil Liberties Union’s same-sex marriage efforts, recalled the first same-sex marriage that came to the court more than 40 years ago from

Minnesota. There, the justices dismissed a gay couple’s appeal in a single sentence.

“It did not go well because the country wasn’t ready yet.

But the country is ready for the freedom to marry today,” Esseks said.

The court is extending the time it usually allots for argument from an hour to two-and-ahalf hours. The justices will consider two related questions.

The first is whether the Constitution requires states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The other is whether states must recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.

The appeals before the court come from gay and lesbian plaintiffs in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. The federal appeals court that over-

sees those four states upheld their same-sex marriage bans in November, reversing pro-gay rights rulings of federal judges in all four states. It was the first, and so far only, appellate court to rule against same-sex marriage since the high court’s 2013 decision.

One of the plaintiffs from Ohio, James Obergefell, said he was crying “tears of joy and sadness” after the court accepted his appeal. In 2013, Obergefell flew to Maryland with his dying partner, John Arthur, so they could marry before Arthur’s death. The couple sued to force Ohio to list Arthur as married on his death certificate, which would allow the men to be buried next to each other.

Obergefell died 15 months ago.

“I can’t wait to walk up those steps and have the Supreme Court understand that we’re just like everyone else,” Obergefell said.

Gregory Bourke and Michael Deleon have been together for 32 years, were married in Canada in 2004 and live in Louisville, Kentucky. “Our family is like any other family. We have children, we have jobs, we have lives, we are very much engaged in our community and yet we don’t feel like we are being treated yet as equal citizens,” Bourke said.

Ten other states also prohibit such unions. In Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, South Dakota and Texas, judges have struck down anti-gay marriage laws, but they remain in effect pending appeals. In Missouri, samesex couples can marry in St. Louis and Kansas City only.

Louisiana is the only other state that has seen its gay marriage ban upheld by a federal judge. There have been no rulings on lawsuits in Alabama, Georgia, Nebraska and North Dakota.

The heat is on; 2014 warmest year on record

By SETH BORENSTEIN ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — For the third time in a decade, the globe sizzled to the hottest year on record, federal scientists announced Friday.

Both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA calculated that in 2014 the world had its hottest year in 135 years of record-keeping. Earlier, the Japanese weather agency and an independent group out of University of California Berkeley also measured 2014 as the hottest on record.

NOAA said 2014 averaged 58.24 degrees Fahrenheit (14.58 degrees Celsius), 1.24 degrees (0.69 degrees Celsius) above the 20th-century average.

But NASA, which calculates temperatures slightly differently, put 2014’s average temperature at 58.42 degrees Fahrenheit (14.68 degrees Celsius) which is 1.22 degrees (0.68 degrees Celsius) above the average of the years 1951-1980.

Earth broke NOAA records set in 2010 and 2005.

The last time the Earth set an annual NOAA record for cold was in 1911.

NOAA also said last month was the hottest December on record. Six months in 2014 set marks for heat. The last time Earth set a monthly cold record was in December 1916.

“The globe is warmer now than it has been in the last 100 years and more likely in at least 5,000 years,” said climate scientist Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University, who wasn’t part of either research team. “Any wisps of doubt that human activities are at fault are now gone with the wind.”

Texas A&M University climate scientist Andrew Dessler and other experts said the latest statistics should end claims by nonscientists that warming has stopped. It didn’t, as climate denial sites still touted claims that the world has not warmed in 18 years.

2014’s heat was driven by record warmth in the

world’s oceans that didn’t just break old marks: It shattered them. Record warmth spread across far eastern Russia, the western part of the United States, interior South America, much of Europe, northern Africa and parts of Australia. One of the few cooler spots was in the central and eastern United States.

“Every continent had some aspect of record high temperatures” in 2014, said Tom Karl, director of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center.

Nine of the 10 hottest years in NOAA global records have occurred since 2000. The odds of this happening at random are about 650 million to 1, according to University of South Carolina statistician John Grego. Two other statisticians confirmed his calculations.

Climate scientists say one of the most significant parts of 2014’s record is that it happened during a year where there was no El Niño weather oscillation. During an El Nino, when a specific area of the central Pacific warms unusually and influences weather worldwide, global temperatures tend to spike. Previous records, especially in 1998, happened during El Niño years.

Every year in the 21st century has been in the top 20 warmest years on record, according to NOAA. Temperatures have risen by about 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius) since the mid-19th century and pre-industrial times, said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, where the space agency tracks warming temperatures.

“We are witnessing, before our eyes, the effect of human-caused climate change,” said Pennsylvania State University professor Michael Mann.

Some non-scientists who deny man-made global warming have pointed to satellite temperature records — which only go back to 1979 — which show a warming world, but no record this year

and less of a recent increase than the longerterm ground thermometers. But Mann, Dessler, Francis and others say there have been quality and trustworthy issues with some satellite measurements and they only show what’s happening far above the ground. They said ground measurements are also more important because it is where we live.

University of Alabama Huntsville scientist John Christy, who measures temperature via satellite, puts 2014 in a cluster of warm years behind 2010 and 1998. He said he is “puzzled that this difference between surface and deep atmosphere continues to occur as it has now for 36 years. Our theories can’t explain it. I don’t know what is going on.”

Georgia Tech professor Judith Curry, who is not in the mainstream of climate scientists, wrote that talk about the record implies that temperatures will get warmer, something she says won’t happen for at least another decade. But she added in a blog post in response to the NOAA announcement: “I’m not willing to place much $$ on that bet, since I suspect Mother Nature will manage to surprise us.”

NASA’s Schmidt says temperatures will continue to rise with year-to-year variations and he wouldn’t be surprised if 2015 breaks 2014’s record: “The increase in greenhouse gases is unrelenting and that in the end is going to dominate most things going on.”

This was the 38th year in a row that the world was warmer than the 20th century average, according to NOAA data. Most people in the world and the United States were born after 1976 and have never lived in a cooler than normal year.

“You want to understand what that (cooler) world is like and you wonder are you ever to going to experience that,” said Victor Gensini, a 28-yearold meteorology professor at the College of DuPage in Illinois.

Photo courtesy of Wal-Mart Inc. via The Grayson County (Ky.) Sheriff’s Office | AP

In this January 2015 photo made from surveillance video, 18-year-old Dalton Hayes and 13-year-old Cheyenne Phillips leave a South Carolina Wal-Mart. Authorities are looking for the teenage couple.

Teen sweethearts blaze trail of crime

By BRUCE SCHREINER AND DYLAN LOVAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

LEITCHFIELD, Ky. — Police say two teenage sweethearts have blazed a trail of crime across the South, leaving in their path a string of stolen vehicles and pilfered checks and stirring concern about their increasingly bold behavior.

The 18-year-old and his 13-year-old girlfriend — who had apparently convinced the boy and his family that she was 19 — have so far eluded capture and are now believed to be cruising around in a stolen truck with two guns.

“There’s going to come a time when we’re not going to see him as an 18-year-old kid,” said Norman Chaffins, sheriff in Grayson County, Kentucky, where the pair disappeared nearly two weeks ago.

“We’re going to see him as someone who’s stolen three vehicles with two handguns in them, and the outcome is not going to be good for either one of them if they don’t turn themselves in.”

Dalton Hayes and Cheyenne Phillips vanished Jan. 3 from their small hometown in western Kentucky, the sheriff said. Since then, authorities believe the two have traveled to South Carolina and Georgia.

Hayes’ mother urged the young couple to surrender and “face the consequences.”

“I pretty much cry myself to sleep every night worrying about where they are and if a police officer or any

random individual tries to pull them over and isn’t so nice and hurts them,” Tammy Martin said.

The couple had been dating for about three months.

The girl portrayed herself as being 19, and the family, including Martin’s son, believed her, she said.

Cheyenne “would go in and write checks, and she would come out with cigarettes and stuff, so I didn’t have any reason not to believe she wasn’t 19. Because normally you can’t buy cigarettes when you’re 13 years old,” Martin said.

By the time her son realized she was a mere 13, “he was already done in love with her,” Martin said.

When he hit the road, Hayes was running away from trouble back home. He faces burglary and theft charges in his home county, stemming from an arrest late last year, according to Grayson County court records.

He was planning to be at the local judicial center on Jan. 5 to find out if a grand jury had indicted him on the charges, his mother said. His case did not come up, but by that time the teens were gone.

The sheriff said the couple’s behavior is “becoming increasingly brazen and dangerous.”

“They’re going on people’s property,” he said.

“They’re forging checks to get money. ... They could have stopped in Kentucky, but they didn’t.”

Since they have no source of money, he added, “they’re going to get desperate.”

Twice, the teens were able to evade law officers in Kentucky, the sheriff said.

They crashed the first truck they stole and hid in the woods. Then they later stole another truck nearby, Chaffins said.

Chaffins said he believes Hayes — who had run-ins with the law as a juvenile — is calling the shots as the teens try to stay ahead of police.

The two were spotted Monday at a Wal-Mart in South Carolina, where the teens are thought to have passed two stolen checks, said Manning, South Carolina, Police Chief Blair Shaffer. They were seen in a vehicle that apparently was stolen from Kentucky, he said.

Authorities believe they then headed to Georgia and stole a pickup truck from the driveway of a man’s home in Henry County, about 30 miles southeast of Atlanta. The homeowner awoke Wednesday to find his vehicle was gone, along with two handguns he kept inside, Henry County police Lt. Joey Smith said Friday.

Hours later, another truck the couple is suspected of having stolen in another state was found nearby. It had been crashed through a fence and abandoned behind a vacant building on neighboring property, Smith said.

Martin said her son texted her a few days after their disappearance to say the couple was in Mississippi.

They were spotted soon after that in Kentucky, she said.

“He was just trying to throw me off,” she said.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A

Mexico eyes energy reform ASSOCIATED PRESS

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s finance secretary says plunging oil prices may delay bidding on some oil and gas exploration and production contracts.

Luis Videgaray said in a radio interview Thursday it is likely bidding will be delayed for so-

called unconventional exploration projects, such as shale deposits that are more challenging in terms of access or technology.

As part of historic energy reforms allowing foreign investment in exploration and production, Mexico began a bidding process in December called Round One that plans contracts for 169

zones, including some that would be unconventional.

Global oil prices have plummeted, including Mexican crude, which stood at $38.52 a barrel Thursday. Such low prices make more costly exploration and production projects less attractive.

The first piece of Round One bidding was for 14 shallow water areas.

Photo by Felix Marquez | AP file

In this Dec. 18, 2014 file photo, relatives of missing students protest in front of the entrance to the 27th Infantry Battalion base in Iguala, Mexico.

New suspect detained ASSOCIATED PRESS

MEXICO CITY — A purported drug cartel hit man has been arrested in connection with the disappearance and alleged killing of 43 college students in southern Mexico in September, authorities said Friday.

Felipe Rodriguez, alias “The Brush” or “The Stubborn One,” is a member of the Guerreros Unidos gang and believed to be the “material author” of the killings, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. It did not give

further details.

Officials say the 43 students were rounded up by police Sept. 26 in the Guerrero state city of Iguala and handed over to Guerreros Unidos gang members, who allegedly killed them, burned the bodies at a trash dump and threw the remains into a river.

So far only one of the students has been positively identified by DNA testing on human remains, and family members and others have expressed doubts about the official account of the disappearances. They continue to press

for information on what happened to the other 42 and have asked investigators not to close the case.

Authorities suspect the former mayor of Iguala, Jose Luis Abarca, of ordering the kidnappings. Abarca has been in custody since November along with his wife, Maria de los Angeles Pineda, who has been charged with organized crime and money laundering.

More than 90 suspects have been arrested in the disappearances, most of them municipal police officers.

CURRENCY Continued from Page 1A and does not attract tourism, not only at the border but throughout the country.

“If an American or Mexican was asked to show a passport to buy a small amount, he would prefer to go to Laredo to change money because there they are not asked for anything,” he said.

However, Valeria Garza, an employee of the High Value Exchange House in Laredo, said that depending on the amount of dollars that are bought or sold may require identification, according to the Texas Department of Banking and the Financial Crimes Enforcement

Network.

“Identification is required when users purchase for than $1,000.

American citizens are asked for their Social Security number and driver’s license. If you are a Mexican citizen, you’re asked to show a passport or visa and identification such as a voter registration card or driver’s license,” Garza said.

She added that customers are sometimes reluctant to provide their social security number, which they consider confidential information.

Torres, of CANACO, did not rule out taking legal means to analyze the sit-

uation in order to generate improved criteria to apply the law.

“In the past, chambers of commerce across the country have united to present proposals that have been successful in similar situations. We’ve challenged ideas, and hope that though the appropriate channels we can get a reasonable decision,” he said.

During the past month the exchange rate has varied between 14 and 15 pesos per $1 to buy and sell.

(Contact Malena Charur at 728-2583 or at mcharur@lmtonline.com. Translated by Mark Webber of the Times staff.)

Killer cartel capo wanted ASSOCIATED PRESS

MEXICO CITY — A Mexican court has ordered the recapture of a convicted drug lord sentenced to 40 years for the killing of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

Rafael Caro Quintero had been imprisoned for

the 1985 kidnapping, torture and murder of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. He walked free thanks to a court ruling in August 2013 after serving 28 years and has not been seen in public since.

Caro Quintero’s release infuriated U.S. authorities who offered $5 mil-

lion for information leading to his capture and trial in the United States.

Acting under a Mexican Supreme Court order to reconsider the release, a court ruled Friday to reverse the earlier decision and ordered Caro Quintero’s arrest. But his whereabouts are unknown.

International

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2015

Anti-terror raids net dozens

By RAF CASERT AND ANGELA CHARLTON ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRUSSELS — Belgium ordered its army into the streets and anti-terror raids across Western Europe netted dozens of suspects Friday as authorities rushed to thwart more attacks by people with links to Mideast Islamic extremists.

As anxiety soared in the wake of last week’s bloody spree in and around Paris, the broad scope of the police actions illustrated the challenges facing a continent threatened by Islamic militancy far from the battlefields of Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Rob Wainwright, head of the police agency Europol, told The Associated Press that foiling such attacks by returning jihadists had become “extremely difficult” because Europe’s estimated 2,500 to 5,000 radicalized Muslim extremists have little command structure and are increasingly sophisticated.

French, German, Belgian and Irish police had at least 30 suspects behind bars on Friday and in Brussels, authorities said a dozen searches led to the seizure of four Kalashnikov assault rifles, hand guns and explosives. Several police uniforms were also found, which Belgian authorities said suggested the plotters had intended to masquerade as police officers.

The seizures followed a vast anti-terrorism sweep on Thursday in and around Brussels and the eastern industrial city of Verviers in which two suspects were killed in a firefight and a third wounded as police closed in on their hideout.

Authorities said the overnight operation netted several returnees from Islamic holy war in Syria.

Federal magistrate Eric Van der Sypt said Friday the suspects were within hours of implementing a plan to kill police. He said authorities were reasonably confident they had dismantled the core of a dangerous terrorist cell but more suspects could be at

Photo by Thoko Chikondi | AP

In this photo taken Thursday, a family that survived flood waters wait outside their home for relief teams near Malawi.

Malawi floods kill at least 176

By RAPHAEL TENTHANI AND LYNSEY CHUTEL ASSOCIATED PRESS Photo by Nanda Gonzague | New York Times

A “Je Suis Charlie” banner hangs over the cheese counter of a traditional market in Lunel, France, Jan. 13. Six Muslims from Lunel have been killed fighting in Syria. large.

“I cannot confirm that we arrested everyone in this group,” he told reporters.

Authorities have said there was no apparent link between the foiled plots in Belgium and last week’s terror attacks in Paris on a satirical newspaper and a kosher supermarket.

However, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Friday that while there was no apparent operational connection between the two terror groups, “the link that exists is the will to attack our values.”

Visiting the tense French capital, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met President Francois Hollande and toured the sites of last week’s attacks on the Charlie Hebdo weekly and a kosher supermarket. Twenty people, including the three gunmen, were killed.

One of the Paris attackers had proclaimed allegiance to the Islamic State group, and French and German authorities arrested at least 14 other people Friday suspected of links to the Islamic extremist group.

Another 13 people were detained in Belgium and two were arrested in France in a separate antiterror sweep following the firefight Thursday in Ver-

viers. And in Ireland, police arrested a suspected French-Algerian militant at Dublin Airport as he tried to enter the country using a false passport. The man, who was being interrogated, landed on a European watch list after expressing support in social media for last week’s attacks.

Authorities said most of those detained or killed in Belgium were citizens and some had returned from Syria, where 450 Belgians are believed to have joined the fight with Islamic radicals, according to Peter Neumann of the Londonbased International Center for the Study of Radicalization. He said about 150 have since returned home.

President Francois Hollande said France was “waging war” on terrorism and it showed on the streets of Paris and elsewhere, where 122,000 police and well-armed troops have been deployed to protect the country, which is on high alert.

Illustrating the sense of high anxiety, a bomb scare forced Paris to evacuate its busy Gare de l’Est train station during Friday’s morning rush hour, though no explosives were found. A man also briefly took two hostages at a post office northwest of Paris, but po-

lice said the hostage-taker had mental issues and no links to terror.

Remarking on the heavy weapons carried by policemen close to the Louvre, 20year-old Mimi George, a student visiting from Australia, said: “Just seeing huge machine gun rifles is quite scary.”

The Belgian government, meanwhile, announced it was sending army troops into the streets beginning Saturday, part of a 12-point, anti-terror plan lawmakers agreed to in the wake of Thursday’s deadly firefight.

The government will also expand legislation to make traveling abroad with a terror goal a crime and allowing authorities to seize the ID cards of people suspected of traveling to such areas.

The Belgian government’s move was welcomed in the port of Antwerp, which has a sizable Jewish community.

“You don’t have the firepower to stop people with weapons of warfare,” unless troops are involved, Antwerp Mayor Bart De Wever said. “We have an important Jewish community in this city which is very visible and an important target for Islamic terror,” he told VRT network.

BLANTYRE, Malawi — Flooding in Malawi has killed more than 176 people, displaced at least 200,000 others, left homes and schools submerged in water and roads washed away by the deluge in the southern African country, the vice president said Friday.

Downriver in neighboring Mozambique, floodwaters have left at least 38 dead, according to Mozambican news agency AIM, displaced tens of thousands and damaged the main road linking the north and south of the country.

While the Mozambican government’s flood plan, announced last year, may have lessened the damage, Malawi was caught off guard.

Dozens of people are missing in Malawi, with at least 153 unaccounted for in the worst affected southern parts of the country, Vice President Saulos Chilima said.

“It’s a very bad situation,” he said, speaking at a press conference in Malawi’s commercial capital Blantyre.

A joint operation between the police and the army was underway to rescue hundreds who were trapped in their villages by flood waters caused by weeks of heavy rain, Chili-

ma said. A bright spot of their work so far: Rescue workers had found a woman who had given birth while trapped by floodwaters. The mother and newborn were healthy, Chilima said.

“I flew over some parts of the Lower Shire but we could not find anywhere to land,” he said of the south.

“It’s a big challenge we have before us.” Thousands of homes had been destroyed, hundreds of hectares of crops submerged and livestock had been washed away, Chilima said.

“We have lost everything,” said Kalenga, a man who took shelter in a tent camp set up by the Malawi Red Cross and Red Crescent Society, and Doctors Without Borders. He gave only his first name.

Tents have been set up for those left homeless, and many have found refuge with friends and neighbors whose homes remained habitable, Doctors Without Borders said in a statement. The international medical organization said it was concerned that displaced people were also vulnerable to waterborne disease due unsanitary conditions.

“Most of Nsanje and East Bank are submerged under two to three meters of water, which has transformed these vast plains into a giant lake engulfing houses and bridges,” said Amaury Gregoire.

SÁBADO 17 DE ENERO DE 2015

Ribereña en Breve TALLES DE DIRECCIÓN El Instituto Tamaulipeco para la Cultura y las Artes (ITCA), a través del Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Tamaulipas (MACT) invita al Taller de Dirección de Arte, que será impartido por Esmeralda García, del 19 al 23 de enero, de 5:30 p.m. a 7:30 p.m. en el taller artístico del MACT, en Calle Quinta y Constitución s/n, Col. Jardín, Matamoros, México.

El Taller de Dirección de Arte tendrá una duración de 10 horas donde se introducirá a los asistentes al tema de dirección de arte, el diseño de personajes, la psicología del color, entre otros temas. Los alumnos deberán ser mayores de 16 años. El curso es gratuito.

Para mayor información llame al teléfonos (868) 8131499 y (868) 8137730.

JUNTA DE COMISIONADOS El lunes 26 de enero, los Comisionados de la Corte del Condado de Zapata realizarán su junta quincenal en la Sala de la Corte del Condado de Zapata, a partir de las 9 a.m. a 12 p.m.

Para mayores informes llame a Roxy Elizondo al (956) 765 9920.

TORNEO DE PESCA El torneo de pesca de bagre Falcon Lake Babe —International Catfish Series— para damas solamente, se llevará a cabo el sábado 14 de febrero.

La serie de cinco torneos que se realizan mensualmente desde noviembre finalizará con una ronda de campeonato en el mes de marzo.

El torneo es un evento individual que permite hasta tres concursantes por embarcación. Las participantes deberán pagar la cuota de participación en los cinco torneos para tener derecho a la ronda de campeonato.

Las inscripciones se realizan el viernes anterior al sábado del torneo en Beacon Lodge Rec. Hall. La cuota de inscripción es de 20 dólares por persona.

El siguiente torneo será el 7 de marzo para finalizar con la ronda de campeonato el 7 de marzo.

Para mayores informes comuníquese con Betty Ortiz al (956) 236-4590 o con Elcina Buck al (319) 239 5859.

JUNTA DE COMISIONADOS El lunes 09 de febrero, los Comisionados de la Corte del Condado de Zapata realizarán su junta quincenal en la Sala de la Corte del Condado de Zapata, a partir de las 9 a.m. a 12 p.m.

Para mayores informes llame a Roxy Elizondo al (956) 765 9920.

PATROCINIO La Cámara de Comercio de Zapata invita a la comunidad a participar en el Winter Texan & Senior Citizen Appreciation Day, que se celebrará el 19 de febrero en el Centro Comunitario del Condado de Zapata.

Durante el evento se reconocerá y mostrará la gratitud de la comunidad para los adultos mayores que contribuyeron con la comunidad.

Si desea puede participar como patrocinados: Platino, 2.000 dólares; Oro, 1.000 dólares; Plata, 500 dólares; Bronce, 300 dólares. El dinero recaudado será destinado a la compra de comida, refrescos, entretenimiento, premios y regalos para el evento.

En 2013, el evento ayudó a más de 400 adultos mayores participantes.

Para más información puede llamar al (956) 7654871.

Zfrontera

PÁGINA 9A

VIALIDAD

Cinco víctimas

POR GABRIELA A. TREVIÑO TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Cinco hombres de Laredo murieron durante un accidente que involucró a cuatro vehículos la mañana del jueves en el Condado de Dimmit, reportaron las autoridades.

El accidente implicó un trailer con cisterna, dos camionetas tipo pick up y una camioneta estilo van.

Todas las víctimas estaban a bordo de la van. Fueron identificados como Justin Lara, de 21 años; Juan Francisco Medellín, de 65 años; Edward Peña, de 22 años; Carlos Rubio, de 30 años; y, Sergio Javier Veyro, de 50 años, de acuerdo con el Departamento de Seguridad Pública de Texas (DPS, por sus siglas en inglés).

El Departamento de Tranportación de Texas (TxDOT, por sus si-

Foto de costesía

El jueves por la mañana se reportó un accidente entre cuatro vehículos que ocasionó la muerte de cinco hombres. Una investigación continúa en proceso. glas en inglés) reportó el accidente a las 9 a.m. Éste ocurrió sobre U.S. 83, a dos millas al norte de Asherton en Dimmit, dijo la Oficial María Loredo, portavoz de DPS. Todos los vehículos se dirigían

al sur.

A pesar de que la causa del choque aún está bajo investigación, Loredo dijo que aparentemente el trailer con cisterna podría haber perdido el control, inicialmente.

El trailer transportaba una car-

ga de petróleo crudo y estalló en llamas después de que cayera de lado.

Los conductores de las dos camionetas pick up y el conductor del trailer, sobrevivieron el incidente y fueron trasladados a un hospital en San Antonio.

De acuerdo con Loredo, el conductor de una de las pick up fue identificado como David Rodríguez, de 35 años. Rodríguez tenía heridas graves. Se reportó que el 80 por ciento de su cuerpo estaba quemado, y fue transportado vía aérea a un hospital en San Antonio.

Los otros dos sobrevivientes fueron identificados como Roberto Manuel Rivera, de 20 años de edad, quien conducía la otra pick up; y, Jesús Riojas, de 50 años, quien conducía el trailer.

(Localice a Gabriela A. Treviño en 956-728-2579 o en gtrevino@lmtonline.com)

ECONOMÍA

TAMAULIPAS

Amplían plazo para solicitud

EXPONEN VENTAJAS TURÍSTICAS

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Organismos encargados del desarrollo económico en Tamaulipas han acordado extender el plazo para que las mipymes se inscriban en el Programa de Impulso Económico para Financiamiento en Zonas Fronterizas, anunciaron autoridades tamaulipecas.

Con la finalidad de impulsar la economía fronteriza el Instituto Nacional del Emprendedor (INADEM) y la Secretaría de Desarrollo Económico y Turismo (SEDET) apoyarán a las micro, pequeñas, y medianas empresas de la región del norte de Tamaulipas, al extender la fecha límite para entregar documentación y validación para ser parte del programa y recibir un financiamiento.

La nueva fecha límite es el 13 de febrero. El 13 de marzo se hará la integración de expedientes y el 17 de abril será el cierre del programa, dijo Mónica González García, secretaria de Desarrollo Económico y Turismo, en un comunicado de prensa.

El programa de Fondo para la Frontera consiste en otorgar apoyos económicos para contribuir al desarrollo financiero de las entidades fronterizas del país, al ser parte de la creación de empresas y generación de empleos.

Para mayor información sobre el programa y la extensión puede consultar Fondo Tamaulipas donde se les proporcionará la información acerca de los lineamientos de esta nueva disposición, asimismo podrá ingresar a www.fondotamaulipas.gob.mx para conocer otros.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

Dependencias turísticas, de salud y de desarrollo del Estado de Tamaulipas participaron en el McAllen Travel Show, para dar a conocer las ventajas que otorga el estado en éstas áreas.

Resaltan pueblos mágicos y área médica TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

C

omo una estrategia para incrementar el turismo y la ventaja competitiva del Estado de Tamaulipas, dependencias del gobierno asistieron al McAllen Travel Show, para prestar las mejores caras del Estado, señala un comunicado de prensa.

Entre las áreas expuestas estuvieron las playas, pueblos mági-

cos, el ecoturismo, y el área médica; asimismo se hizo hincapié en resaltar la calidad de los servicios ofrecidos. El evento contó con más de 10.000 personas, indica el comunicado.

“Hubo un stand donde se ofrecieron servicios de chequeo preventivo. Hay los asistentes podían tomarse la presión, medir su peso, altura, sin costo. Y donde se promocionaron los destinos turísticos del estado” dijo Mónica González

García, secretaria de Desarrollo Económico y Turismo, (SEDET).

Tamaulipas cuenta con espacios médicos de alta calidad, que reciben personas de la tercera edad, ciudadanos de Estados Unidos, entre otros público, señala un comunicado de prensa.

En el 2014 se registró 1.231. 360 citas médicas, lo que representa un aumento del 32 por ciento en lo que va de la administración, añade el comunicado.

COLUMNA

Explora situación Tamaulipas tras guerra POR RAÚL SINENCIO ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Transcurre el año de 1848. Fuerzas de EU recorren las fronteras del Río Grande, apoderándose de amplia franja fronteriza.

El 2 de febrero, tras la firma del tratado “Guadalupe-Hidalgo” finaliza la guerra entre Estados Unidos y México, desatada desde 1846. Los acuerdos se firman para que “la república sobreviviera a su desgracia”, señalan oficiales.

El tratado fue ratificado a medio año. En virtud a varias cláusulas, Washington adquiere compromisos formales, las fuerzas de ocupación

deben abandonar lo que resta del suelo mexicano.

El general William Gates, jefe militar del estado, se retira el 27 de junio de 1848 sin rendir cuentas de la aduana marítima de Tampico, México. Rumores señalan cometió fraude.

Tras el retiro de fuerzas de EU de las zonas tamaulipecas las huestes continúan inamovibles. Tras enterarse, la prensa capitalina ofrece pormenores del suceso.

“Habiendo notado el […] señor presidente José Joaquín de Herrera que “en algunos periódicos se vierte la noticia de que en ese estado hay un cuartel maestre que aún ejerce

las funciones que (se desarrollaban) en tiempos de la ocupación de fuerzas americanas, me manda […] le informe a vuestra excelencia, a fin de que informe si tal cosa es cierta”, expone desde la Ciudad de México el secretario de Relaciones Interiores y Exteriores Luis Gonzaga Cuevas al mandatario de la entidad, mediante una carta fechada el 20 de diciembre de 1848.

De acuerdo a la Real Academia Española, el cuartel maestre o maestre general “se encargaba de los mapas, planos y noticias instructivas del país en que se desarrollaría una guerra y se formaba el plan de batalla, de marcha y los campamen-

tos del ejército”.

Jesús Cárdenas, gobernador de Tamaulipas, confirma sospechas el 11 de enero de 1849: “Supuse que el Supremo Gobierno […] tuviese conocimiento de la permanencia (del general Gates)” en Tampico “y de las funciones que ejercía aquel empleado”, quien “no llamó […] mi atención”. Por lo demás, “el comandante general residía en el mismo puerto y entendí que era de sus atribuciones informar al respecto.

No obstante, he dictado la orden para que se haga salir al referido”.

(Publicado con permiso del autor según aparece en “La Razón”, de Tampico, México)

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2015

SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A

FELICITAS M. BRANNAN

POPE FRANCIS VISITS PHILIPPINES

Sep. 20, 1941 – Jan. 13, 2015 Felicitas M. Brannan, 73, passed away on Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at her residence in Zapata, Texas.

Mrs. Brannan is preceded in death by her father, Juan Morales; mother, Virginia A. Ambriz; stepfather, Jose Ambriz; one brother and one sister.

Mrs. Brannan is survived by her husband, T.J. Brannan; sons, Juan (Maria) Brannan, Thomas (Ana) Brannan; daughter, Jessica (Michael) Sciallo, Patricia Brannan; five grandchildren and one brother and by numerous other family members and friends.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home Daniel A. Gonzalez,

Continued from Page 1A

Funeral Director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy 83 Zapata, Texas.

Photo by Alessandra Tarantino | AP

Pope Francis is greeted by a pack of the faithful with mobile cameras upon his arrival for a meeting with families at the Mall of Asia arena, in Manila, Philippines.

SHALE Continued from Page 1A mean.

“It doesn’t matter how many booms and busts people have seen. They never think this one will be like the last one,” Wommack told the San Antonio Express-News.

“We’re prepared for $50 to $80 oil to be the new norm for the next 12 to 18 months. It could be two years. I hope it’s not.

We’ve tried to position ourselves in a way that we can survive. You can weather volatility as long as you don’t have too much debt. That’s what always gets people. We don’t have any debt.”

Economist Karr Ingham, who works with the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, said oil prices crashing below the $50 mark means Texas will lose significant numbers of upstream energy jobs, the part of the oil and gas business that’s focused on exploration, drilling and production.

“People say they’ll hang onto their best employees.

I’m telling you, six months into 2015, we’ll see it,” Ingham said.

“There are going to be tens of thousands of jobs lost.”

Ingham expects at least 40,000 direct jobs could be lost in the oil fields, and beyond that, tens of thousands of more so-called “indirect” jobs that depend on those energy workers and firms spending money.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas models show Texas could lose 128,000 direct and indirect energy jobs by midyear if oil stays around $55 per barrel.

“This is getting into territory now to where we may be looking at some actual damage to the Texas economy as a whole.

It’s getting worse by the day,” Ingham said. “Some

things depend on how low we end up going and how long it lasts, but the die is cast at this point for a major oil and gas industry contraction.”

Over the next several months, drilling permits will fall. A slice of the drilling rigs working in Texas will get stacked and sidelined. Energy jobs will peak and drop.

“The last thing to happen is production itself will finally peak and fall.

That takes months to happen,” Ingham said.

“That’s the thing we need to happen the fastest. The market is telling the world, ‘I don’t want what you’re giving me, shut it down.”’

The price of the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil plunged below $50 per barrel last week for the first time in more than five years. It was above $100 in June. The average was $75.96 in 2010, when the Eagle Ford drilling permits jumped to 1,018 from 94 in 2009.

Oil production in Texas has been surging since 2008 with the use of horizontal drilling techniques and hydraulic fracturing.

Fracturing pumps millions of gallons of water and chemicals at high pressure to break shale and prop open the cracks with sand, letting oil and gas flow up a well.

Eagle Ford production has surged from essentially nothing — a few hundred barrels of daily production in 2008 — to more than 1.6 million daily barrels of oil and other liquid hydrocarbons anticipated this month, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

“As much as the Texas economy has benefited, these are not normal times,” Ingham said.

CRASH

“They’re times of dramatic expansion followed by a serious correction.”

Because natural gas prices are still at historically low levels — closing at $2.95 per million British thermal units Friday — operators can’t simply switch from drilling oil to drilling gas.

“You’re not going to drill a well right now for natural gas,” Ingham said. “There’s not a place to go.”

It’s hard to see the change in South Texas, where drilling normally slows around the holidays anyway.

Winter hunting, too, traditionally puts a crimp in oil and gas activity.

The owners of large properties often specify in their mineral leases that companies must accommodate deer season by limiting work hours, or by stopping drilling and fracking altogether.

In Karnes City, the seat of Karnes County and the spot in Texas that produces more crude oil than any other, city administrator Don Tymrak said it appears that oil and gas wells that were started in December still are going forward.

But Karnes City officials are rethinking their budget, written when oil was above $100. Karnes City leased city land to Marathon Oil and so far has gotten hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalty payments. The city had expected millions, though.

“It can’t just keep going sky high forever,” Tymrak said. “Maybe a crash is possible. Some people don’t want to call it that, but a rose is a rose is a rose.”

While most firms have stayed mum, others have announced plans to retrench. Among them,

south.

The cause of the collision is under investigation, but Loredo said it appears the tanker tractor-trailer may have spun out of control first.

The tanker tractor-trailer was carrying a load of crude oil and burst into flames after it landed on its side.

The drivers of both pickups and the tanker tractor-trailer survived the incident and were taken to a hospital in San Antonio.

According to Loredo, one of the drivers of the pickups was identified as David Rodriguez, 35. Rodriguez sustained serious injuries. It was reported that 80 percent of his body was burned, and he was airlifted to a hospital in San Antonio.

The other two survivors were identified as Roberto Manuel Rivera, 20, who drove the other pickup, and Jesus Riojas, 50.

(Gabriela A. Treviño may be reached at 956-728-2579 or gtrevino@lmtonline.com)

FAREWELL Continued from Page 1A Comstock Resources in December said it would suspend its Eagle Ford oil drilling program altogether.

Dallas-based Matador Resources Co. last week also said it would pull its two drilling rigs out of the region due to plunging crude oil and natural gas prices.

Falling oil prices caused Sanchez Energy of Houston, an Eagle Fordfocused company, to cut planned spending from more than $1 billion to between $600 million to $650 million. It will trim the number of drilling rigs in South Texas in half, from eight to four.

As of Jan. 2, there were 200 rigs operating in the Eagle Ford.

For now, Paul Ruckman, whose family ranch straddles Karnes and DeWitt counties, two of the busiest areas of the Eagle Ford, said nothing seems different.

“I’m at H-E-B in Kenedy and it’s just packed with oil field workers,” Ruckman said Thursday afternoon. “You go to the gym and it’s full of young guys.” Two active drilling rigs sit about 500 feet from his back porch, operated by 20 to 30 workers.

His royalty checks, though, already have dropped by about 25 percent.

“It’s been there for millions of years,” Ruckman said. “If it gets low, I’d just as soon leave it in the ground until prices rise.”

Doan said he’s watching crude oil prices closely, talking with other businesses and asking his regular customers what they’re hearing in the field.

“I hope oil goes back up,” Doan said. “I don’t mind paying a little more in gas. I’ll make it up in doughnuts.”

spoken of today that occurred without bipartisan support. I believe we are at our best when we get beyond our differences and attempt to seek common ground," Perry said. "I speak to members of my own party in asking that you do not place purity ahead of unity. Ronald Reagan knew that someone who agreed with him 80 percent of the time was not his enemy, but his friend.

"Compromise is not a dirty word if it moves Texas forward," Perry said. "If members of this body work across party lines and put Texas first, I believe the best is yet to come."

Ray Sullivan, a former Perry chief of staff and spokesman for his failed 2012 presidential campaign, said Perry’s words on cooperation were in part an accurate reflection of the way legislating is done in the Texas Capitol and a critique "of the gridlock and polarization in Washington, D.C." "That’s a pretty good message for whatever his future might hold," said Sullivan, who snagged a seat on the House floor for the speech.

Perry noted he was first elected to the House three decades ago as a Democrat.

He switched parties in 1989 ahead of his first successful campaign for statewide office, winning election as agriculture commissioner in 1990. He said the day he went from Democrat to Republican, "I made both political parties very happy."

While the chamber was abuzz with old Perry hands, the floor appeared somewhat depleted, with most of the Democratic seats vacant.

It was not an intentional or organized snub, but a House Democratic caucus meeting — at which Rep. Yvonne Davis of Dallas was re-elected caucus chairwoman by a 25-24 vote over

Rep. Poncho Nevarez of Eagle Pass — started late and ran long.

"It was more of a campaign speech," said Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, one of the few Democratic representatives in the chamber to hear Perry. She said his warm talk of bipartisanship rang hollow to her.

"Compromise hasn’t been something I’ve heard him talk about in recent sessions," Howard said.

Nonetheless, she said, "I feel a certain respect for the office and respect for the man, whether or not I agree with him all the time. He’s served this state for a very long time . and I wanted to make sure I was here to honor that. And I think this is historic."

Perry’s is a classic political story. He spoke of his "humble beginnings," growing up in Paint Creek, where his mom bathed him in a No. 2 washtub and where he attended a small, rural school, finishing 10th in his class of 13.

"I can assure you none of my teachers knew they were instructing a future governor," Perry said. Now he is studying the possibility of a second run for president in 2016, promising this time he will be better schooled on the issues. It is a task he has devoted considerable time to in recent months, undaunted by a felony indictment for abuse of power that he has characterized as a flimsy political prosecution that will not stand.

Following the speech, Perry headed to San Diego where he will be delivering a keynote address Friday at the winter meeting of the Republican National Committee. Later this month he is scheduled to travel to Iowa and South Carolina and in early February to New Hampshire, critical states on the Republican primary and caucus calendar.

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2015

SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2015

ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

Sports&Outdoors NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Heroes and busts File photo by Sharon Ellman | AP

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says it will be a "challenge" to sign both Bryant and Murray with free agency looming.

Decision time in Dallas Keeping both Murray and Bryant will be a challenge for Cowboys

By SCHUYLER DIXON ASSOCIATED PRESS

File photo by AJ Mast | AP

New England Patriots running back Jonas Gray had a huge game in the regular season against the Colts, but has been non existent in the playoffs.

The playoffs find unsung players and busts

By ROB MAADDI ASSOCIATED PRESS

Davante Adams and Jermaine Kearse had their best games to help their teams reach the NFC championship game. Trent Richardson and Jonas Gray watched in street clothes while their teams advanced to the AFC title game.

The NFL playoffs are a time for unsung heroes and busts.

Often, the standout stars in big games aren’t the biggest names or players making the most money.

Two prime examples in past conference championship games are cornerback Ricky Manning Jr. and linebacker A.J. Duhe.

Manning intercepted Donovan McNabb three times in Carolina’s 14-3 win over the Eagles in January 2004. Duhe picked three of Richard Todd’s passes and return-

ed one for a touchdown in Miami’s 14-0 over the New York Jets in January 1983.

Last weekend, Adams, a rookie second-round pick, had a careerbest seven catches for 117 yards and one touchdown in Green Bay’s 26-21 win over Dallas. Kearse, a third-year pro, had three catches for a career-best 129 yards and one

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

See PLAYOFFS PAGE 2B

IRVING, Texas — The question of DeMarco Murray and Dez Bryant staying in Dallas could end up a tough choice between the NFL rushing leader or the league’s highestscoring receiver.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones seems to be leaning the fiscally responsible way.

“Let me put it like this: It’s going to be a challenge,” Jones said of re-signing both of Dallas’ biggest potential free agents. “But is it — you use the word ’finan-

cially reasonable’ — no.

Is it possible? Yes.” There was a time in Jones’ quarter century of owning the Cowboys that anything was possible with his biggest stars, even in the salary-cap era. This isn’t the same Jones, who showed it last year by releasing franchise sacks leader DeMarcus Ware to clear cap space even though the Cowboys didn’t have anyone close to such a dynamic pass rusher.

“If you just look at it from the standpoint of dollars and cents, it

See COWBOYS PAGE 2B

NCAA DIVISION I FOOTBALL

Paterno’s wins reinstated

By MARK SCOLFORO AND MARC LEVY ASSOCIATED PRESS

File photo by Jeff Robertson | AP

Lance Lynn, among baseball’s winningest pitchers over the last three seasons, agreed to a $22 million, three-year contract.

Lynn inks deal with Cardinals A total of 21 players avoided arbitration Thursday

By RONALD BLUM ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — St. Louis pitcher Lance Lynn was among 21 players who avoided salary arbitration by agreeing to contracts Thursday, reaching a $22 million, three-year deal with the Cardinals.

Milwaukee catcher Martin Maldonado agreed to a $1.95 million, two-year con-

tract, and 19 players struck one-year agreements.

Among the 175 players who filed for arbitration Tuesday, 149 were on track to swap proposed arbitration figures with their teams Friday. A majority of those were expected to settle before the exchange.

High-profile players still

See BASEBALL PAGE 2B

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The NCAA agreed Friday to restore 112 football wins it had stripped from Penn State and Joe Paterno in the Jerry Sandusky child-molestation scandal and reinstate the venerated late coach as the winningest in major college football history.

The agreement, swiftly approved by the boards of the NCAA and the university, lifts the last of the sanctions imposed in 2012 and wipes away the black marks that had hung over one of the nation’s most celebrated college athletics programs.

After more than two years of criticism that the NCAA had overstepped its authority, officials with college sports’ governing body on Friday did not back down.

Instead, they said they were focused on ending litigation that had held up distribution of the university’s $60 million fine to fund child abuseprevention programs.

Before the agreement, the NCAA had agreed last year to eliminate some of the sanctions, including reinstating Penn State’s full complement of scholarships and letting the team participate in post-season play.

Friday’s agreement threw out the rest of the sanctions, including elim-

Photo by Gene J. Puskar | AP

This is a 409 placed on the grave of the late head football coach of Penn State, Joe Paterno, who is once again the winningest coach in major college football history. inating a five-year probation period and scholarship and transfer rules, and restoring the wins that had been wiped out.

It also bowed to Pennsylvania officials’ desire to see the $60 million fine spent in Pennsylvania, not spread to child abuseprevention programs around the nation.

The deal emerged just days after a federal judge declined to rule on the constitutionality of the sanctions and weeks before a Pennsylvania court was to hold a trial on the legality of the penalties.

See LIONS PAGE 2B

Photo by Gene J. Puskar | AP

The NCAA announced a settlement Friday with Penn State that will give the school back 112 wins wiped out during the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal.

PAGE 2B

Zscores

SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2015

PLAYOFFS Continued from Page 1B

File photo by Alex Brandon | AP

Ross Detwiler who was traded to the Rangers from the Nationals, was signed to a one-year contract to avoid arbitration Friday.

Rangers reach deal with Detwiler ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Rangers avoided arbitration with Ross Detwiler, agreeing to one-year contract for $3,450,000 with the left-hander, a candidate for their rotation.

Detwiler was acquired last month from the Washington Nationals, who used him exclusively as a reliever last season for the first time in his career. He wants to be a starter again.

The deal Friday, which gives Detwiler a $450,000 raise and is guaranteed, leaves designated hitter Mitch Moreland as the only remaining Texas player

in arbitration.

Moreland is asking for $3/35 million, and the Rangers have countered with $2.75. He made $2.65 million last season, when he hit .246 with two home runs and 23 RBIs in 52 games before season-ending surgery on his left ankle.

Detwiler worked mostly in long relief last year, going 2-3 with a 4.00 ERA in 63 innings over a careerhigh 47 appearances. He was left off Washington’s postseason roster for an NL division series loss to San Francisco.

In six seasons with the Nationals, Detwiler was 20-32 with a 3.82 ERA. He made 69 starts.

TD in Seattle’s 31-17 win over Carolina.

In the AFC, Gray was inactive for New England in a 35-31 over Baltimore.

The little-known running back burst on the scene when he ran for 201 yards and a franchise-best four TDs in the Patriots’ 42-20 win at Indianapolis in Week 10. But Gray has rushed for just 80 yards since that effort.

Richardson, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2012 draft by Cleveland, was a healthy scratch for Indianapolis in a 24-13 upset at Denver. Richardson had already been demoted to third-string and couldn’t make the active roster on special teams.

Here are potential unsung heroes for each team on Championship Sunday: PACKERS: Tight end Andrew Quarless had four catches for 31 yards and a touchdown last week against Dallas.

With Adams, Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb facing Richard Sherman and Byron Maxwell, Quarless might end up being Aaron Rodgers’ go-to guy.

SEAHAWKS: Rookie firstround pick Justin Britt has started every game at right tackle and faces another tough task this week. Britt can’t focus on just one player because the Packers move their linemen around, but he should see plenty of veteran end Julius Peppers.

Britt hasn’t allowed a sack in the past three games.

COLTS: Free safety Sergio Brown had a rough time against Rob Gronkowski when the teams last met.

Brown, who broke Gronkowski’s arm in 2012, was tossed into a camera cart by the All-Pro tight end af-

Photo by Charles Krupa | AP

Michael Hoomanawanui lined up for the Patriots in a confusing formation, and caught two passes for 30 yards against the Ravens.

Photo by Nam Y. Huh | AP

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Davante Adams had one of his best games of the season in the win against the Dallas Cowboys.

COWBOYS Continued from Page 1B probably doesn’t look reasonable,” Jones said Thursday when he announced new contracts for coach Jason Garrett, defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli and newly promoted offensive coordinator Scott Linehan. “At the end of the day, you do realize it’s going to be costly to have both those players.”

Bryant led the NFL with 16 touchdowns receiving, and has the most in the league going back to 2011. His touchdown total has increased every season.

Murray was the league’s runaway leader with 1,845 yards rushing and broke all-time NFL rushing leader Emmitt Smith’s franchise record from 1995. He played with a broken hand to complete a full season for the first time in his fouryear career.

“We want to do everything we can to keep this group together, help this group get better and take that next step,” Garrett said.

He recounted the story of former coach and TV analyst John Madden reacting to Derek Jeter’s memorable backhand flip that played a key role in the New York Yankees winning a playoff series against Oakland more than a decade ago.

“They were talking about Derek Jeter, and Madden said ’Jeter is one of those guys who you pick first and decide what game you’re playing next,”’ Garrett said. “I think about that really every day. That’s a really important concept for our organization — the idea that you want these guys here, whether they’re coaches, players.”

Since Jones said it would be “going too far” to suggest that both players are gone, the issue could be which player to keep.

The Cowboys can use the franchise tag on one of them, and it would be more expensive on Bryant, perhaps by as much as $5 million.

But Dallas could use the tag to buy more time to negotiate a long-term deal with Bryant, who turned down an offer before the 2014 season started. He has since joined Jay Z’s Roc Nation, with agent Tom Condon leading his team.

With Murray’s looming free agency, the debate all season was whether another serviceable back could do the same thing behind a young offensive line considered one of the league’s best.

The three first-round picks

from the past four years — left tackle Tyron Smith, center Travis Frederick and right guard Zack Martin — all made the Pro Bowl, and Martin was the first Dallas rookie to make AllPro since Calvin Hill in 1969.

The Cowboys aren’t expected to pick up the $9 million option on defensive tackle Henry Melton’s contract, and cornerback Brandon Carr’s $12 million cap hit makes him a likely candidate for a pay cut or a release after he didn’t have an interception for the first time in his career.

No matter how much wiggle room Jones and the front office can create, he simply doesn’t sound like the same owner who was hamstrung by cap problems when he tried to keep his Super Bowl teams intact in the late 1990s.

“You remember when that cap makes you poor and you wake up and have those days when you don’t have the money and don’t have the flexibility,” Jones said. “That dream was out the window, and there you were paying the bills on it.”

A couple of big bills are coming due, if Jones decides he wants to pay them.

ter a 26-yard, tackle-breaking touchdown catch. So Brown certainly has extra motivation going into this matchup.

PATRIOTS: Backup tight end Michael Hoomanawanui caught two passes for 30 yards when the Patriots lined up in a unique formation that confused the Ravens. Since Gronkowski will get extra attention, Hoomanawanui has a chance to sneak in a few more big catches.

Here are players who were busts this season for each team: PACKERS: Rookie defensive tackle Khyri Thornton, a third-round pick, spent the year on injured reserve after hurting his hamstring in a preseason game. While the Packers have received significant contributions from other draft picks, they got nothing from Thornton because of his injury.

SEAHAWKS: Wide receiver Percy Harvin was traded to the New York Jets in October for a mid-round draft pick less than two years after the Seahawks gave up a first and thirdround picks to get him and signed him to a lucrative contract.

COLTS: The Colts traded a first-round pick for Richardson last year, but he lost his starting job to Dan Herron and was inactive last week in favor of a player the team had just signed.

PATRIOTS: Gray led the Patriots in rushing this season, though 201 of his 412 yards came in one game. Gray was sent home from practice for reporting late the Friday after his breakout game and hasn’t played much since that performance.

BASEBALL Continued from Page 1B set to swap included pitchers David Price, Stephen Strasburg, Jeff Samardzija, Rick Porcello, Ian Kennedy, Doug Fister and Kenley Jansen.

Chris Davis, Matt Wieters, Austin Jackson and Mark Trumbo were among the position players.

Pittsburgh had the most players in arbitration with 12, while Baltimore had 10, and Kansas City and Oakland nine each.

Lynn, a 27-year-old right-hander, gets $7 million this year and $7.5 million in each of the following two seasons. He earned $535,000 last year, when he was 1510 with a 2.74 ERA in 33 starts.

Cardinals outfielder Peter Bourjos, coming off hip surgery in November, agreed at $1.65 million and St. Louis backup catcher Tony Cruz at $775,000.

Maldonado, who hit .234 with four homers and 16 RBIs, gets a $50,000 signing bonus and salaries of $800,000 this year and $1.1 million in 2016.

The Chicago White Sox agreed with right-handed pitchers Hector Noesi ($1.95 million), Javy Guerra ($937,500) and Nate Jones ($660,000), and Washington reached deals with catchers Wilson Ramos ($3.55 million) and Jose Lobaton ($1.2 million), righthander Craig Stammen ($2.25 mil-

lion) and second baseman Danny Espinosa ($1.8 million).

Cleveland settled with righthander Carlos Carrasco ($2,337,500), left-hander Marc Rzepczynski ($2.4 million) and third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall ($2.25 million).

Also agreeing were Texas reliever Neftali Feliz ($4,125,000), Atlanta left-hander James Russell ($2,425,000), Los Angeles Angels catcher Hector Santiago ($2.29 million), Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Chris Heisey ($2.16 million), Toronto pitcher Brett Cecil ($2,475,000), Chicago Cubs lefthander Felix Doubront ($1,925,000) and Houston catcher Carlos Corporan ($975,000).

Hearings will be scheduled for the first three weeks in February before three-person panels in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Just three of the 146 players who filed last year went to hearings, with Cleveland defeating pitchers Vinnie Pestano and Josh Tomlin in the Indians’ first cases since 1991 that went to hearings.

Pitcher Andrew Cashner beat San Diego.

Teams have a 293-215 advantage since the process started in 1974 and have had a winning record in 15 of the past 17 years with decisions.

LIONS Continued from Page 1B “Hopefully, today we’ll begin to make right the damage that has been done,” said Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, who had sued the NCAA with state Treasurer Rob McCord. “Today is a victory for due process, which was unafforded in this case. Today is a victory for the people of Pennsylvania. Today is a victory for Penn State nation. The NCAA has surrendered.”

The unprecedented scope of the sanctions had drawn intense criticism from Penn State alumni and fans who defended Paterno as innocent in the scandal and called the school’s athletics program a national model. They accused the NCAA of rushing to judgment to assert its dominance, ultimately punishing people who had nothing to do with Sandusky.

The family of Paterno, who died as the scandal was unfolding, hailed the agreement as victory, while lawyers for Sandusky’s victims worried that the NCAA’s retreat sent the wrong

message.

In the agreement, Penn State acknowledged that the NCAA had acted in good faith in the Sandusky matter, and university President Eric Barron said he believed the NCAA had a legitimate concern about institutional control.

NCAA officials said Friday that their motivation in the deal was to start funding child abuse programs with the fine.

“The victors are those of us who were advocating for the children,” said Harris Pastides, an NCAA board member and president of the University of South Carolina.

They also did not back off their right to take such action.

“The board felt they had to quickly and decisively put forward a set of sanctions. I hope we never have to do this again,” said Kirk Schulz, an NCAA board member and Kansas State’s president.

The penalties sprung from the scandal that erupted when Sandusky, a retired assistant

coach, was accused of sexually abusing boys, some of them on campus.

Penn State’s then-President, Rodney Erickson, agreed to the sanctions in 2012, in the weeks after Sandusky was convicted.

Just days earlier, former FBI Director Louis Freeh released a scathing report commissioned

by Penn State’s trustees and the school removed an iconic bronze statue of Paterno from the school’s Beaver Stadium.

Freeh’s report accused Paterno and other top Penn State officials of burying child sexualabuse allegations against Sandusky to avoid bad publicity. The report portrayed the Hall of Fame coach as more deeply involved in the scandal than previously thought.

The alleged cover-up by Paterno, then-university President Graham Spanier and two other Penn State administrators allowed Sandusky to prey on other boys for years, it said.

Paterno was never charged with a crime, although Spanier

and the two other Penn State administrators continue to fight charges in court.

Paterno’s family called Friday’s announcement “a great victory for everyone who has fought for the truth in the Sandusky tragedy.”

“This case should always have been about the pursuit of the truth, not the unjust vilification of the culture of a great institution and the scapegoating of coaches, players and administrators who were never given a chance to defend themselves,” they said.

Michael Boni, a lawyer for one of the victims who testified at Sandusky’s trial, said he supported the restoration of Penn State’s scholarships and bowl eligibility last fall, but does not believe Paterno’s victories should be reinstated because they were “tarnished” by Sandusky.

He also said he sensed a shift in Penn State’s attitude after the criminal case against Sandusky wrapped up and it concluded

civil settlements with victims.

“There was a movement away from what I thought was a genuine mea culpa on the part of Penn State, having accepted the NCAA sanctions, and one toward, ’Why did we cave so easily?’ That was disappointing,” Boni said.

The sanctions eliminated all wins from 1998, when police investigated a mother’s complaint that Sandusky had showered with her son, through 2011, Paterno’s final season as head coach after six decades with the team and the year Sandusky was charged.

The restored wins include 111 under Paterno and the final victory of 2011, after trustees fired Paterno in the wake of the charges against Sandusky and the team was coached by Tom Bradley. That returns Paterno’s record to 409-136-3. He died of lung cancer at 85 shortly after the season ended.

Sandusky was convicted of 45 counts and is now serving a 30to 60-year prison sentence.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2015

SHOT TALK Dear Heloise: My cat never goes outside or is exposed to any other animals. Sabeth is a sweet rescue cat that just wants to sit in a lap or curl up at our feet! She has been to the vet for a checkup, and I hesitated to have them give her a rabies shot.

What do you think? – Paul from Virginia A big Heloise hug to you (and Sabeth) for adopting a rescue cat.

Many times you don’t really know the background, so it’s rather like betting on the lottery. You may win big with a sweet, lovable cat, or you could be in for an interesting relationship with your new feline friend.

Yes, your cat is an indoor cat, but she could sneak out an open door, being curious, as cats are.

Also, rabies vaccines are required by law in some states. Know, too, that your veterinarian is the best source for information about this. My way

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HELOISE

of thinking? Why take a chance with a beloved household member’s life?

– Heloise PROTECTING PETS Dear Heloise: Indoor holiday plants can be poisonous. Be aware that a bulb plant (or kit) can be harmful to some animals.

Many plant bulbs, especially those in the lily family, are toxic to cats.

My dear friends lost their cat recently. He was found really sick after eating some plant bulbs. They left "CatCat" alone for a few days, as they had done before. It was traumatic, so please tell your readers.

– Rhonda in Pittsburgh You did! The pain of losing a pet is palpable – I know. I’m sending a gentle hug to your friends. – Heloise

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SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2015