SHOWDOWN IN ARIZONA
SATURDAY JANUARY 31, 2015
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IBC BANK
LAREDO POLICE
Tournament, cook-off for kids
Officer assaulted
Many to participate in fundraiser, benefits Boys & Girls Club of Zapata
Zapatan charged for punching cop By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
IBC Bank is hosting its eighth annual Clay for Kids Tournament and Cook-Off today to benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Zapata County. This is the club’s largest fundraiser of the year, with an expected three
hundred local residents and community volunteers to come together for the event. The cook-off will include fajitas, chicken and pork ribs, pan de campo and beans. There are 16 teams competing. All pro-
THE ZAPATA TIMES
A local man landed behind bars Tuesday afternoon following a scuffle with Laredo police officers. Miguel Angel Rivera, 22, was arrested and charged with assault on a public servant, possession
RIVERA
See KIDS PAGE 9A
of a controlled substance and resisting arrest. Rivera, of Zapata, was taken to the Webb County Jail, where he remained in custody Friday on a $23,000 bond. At 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, LPD officers responded to reports of a man who appeared to be under a controlled substance in the
OAXACA, MEXICO
parking lot of a Valero located at 2214 S. U.S 83. The man was also screaming, said Investigator Joe E. Baeza, LPD spokesman. A second unit was requested to the scene because the man, later identified as Rivera, became combative, Baeza said.
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DEATH PENALTY
RARE WIN FOR RESIDENTS LADD
Texas executes killer Photos by Felix Marquez | AP
Top: The sun begins to set over the "Cerro de Oro" dam in Tuxtepec, Oaxaca state, Mexico. When the U.S. government backed construction of a new hydroelectric plant in southwestern Mexico, residents rose up and defeated a three-year, $30 million project supported by the little-known Overseas Private Investment Corp. in Washington. Middle: Two women walk next to a stream "Arroyo Sal" in the Los Reyes community. Bottom: Luz Maria Montor shows a turtle that was rescued in Santa Ursula.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SANTA URSULA, Mexico — When the U.S. government backed construction of a new hydroelectric plant in southwestern Mexico, residents rose up and
defeated a three-year, $30 million project supported by the littleknown Overseas Private Investment Corp. in Washington. It marked a rare instance of a community fighting off development in a country where projects are often
By MICHAEL GRACZYK ASSOCIATED PRESS
pushed through over local objections. Planners envisioned a project that would power the community and stir the economy in Oaxaca state. Yet to residents, the project near the Cerro de Oro dam
HUNTSVILLE — A Texas man convicted of killing a 38-year-old woman nearly two decades ago while he was on parole for a triple slaying years earlier was executed Thursday evening. Robert Ladd, 57, received a lethal injection after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected arguments he was mentally impaired and ineligible for the death penalty. The court also rejected an appeal in which Ladd’s attorney challenged whether the pentobarbital Texas uses in executions is potent enough to not cause unconstitutional pain and suffer-
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US-backed dam project triggered protests by locals By PETER ORSI AND RONNIE GREENE
Man strangled, beat woman, set her on fire
SAN ANTONIO
Drought Summit offers help to farmers By EVA HERSHAW TEXAS TRIBUNE
For the state’s small and organic farmers, relief from the ongoing drought has not come either from the skies or, until recently, from the state. But one goal of the Drought Summit, held Thursday in San Antonio, is to change that. The Farm Aid-sponsored event drew hundreds of organic farmers from across the state to
take stock of the drought’s enduring impacts, and bring a traditionally independent group of growers closer to federal programs that may be able to help them. “Our farmers don’t turn to the government easily; that’s not their instinct,” said Judith McGeary, an attorney and the executive director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, an organization that supports independent family
farmers. “Most of the programs benefit large-scale agribusiness — monoculture, conventional agriculture. So most of the programs are not accessible to our farmers, even if they wanted to take advantage of them.” In addition to a general distrust of government programs, the organic community was also barred from accessing many drought re-
See FARMERS PAGE 9A
Courtesy photo | Texas Tribune
The Drought Summit in San Antonio drew hundreds of organic farmers from across the state to take stock of the drought’s enduring impacts.