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Obama recruits Texans President calls on state politicians to vouch for policy

By JULIÁN AGUILAR TEXAS TRIBUNE

TREVIÑO

Texas lawmakers may be leading the charge to derail President Obama’s executive action on immigration. But the White House wants it known: Not everyone in the Lone Star State wants to scrap the policy.

On that list is a conservative, Houston-based construction mogul who says giving the state’s undocumented workforce legal status would also elevate the standard of living for workers already here legally. Because undocumented workers are cheap labor for employers, legal workers must accept low wages if they want to be hired.

"The only way that (undocumented workers) make it is working 50 to 80 hours a week," Stan Marek, the president and CEO of the Marek Family of Companies, said during a White House con-

Accused of murder Police: woman hit man with rock

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

Photo by Todd Wiseman | Texas Tribune

A woman was arrested over the weekend accused of killing a man who had offered her $10 for a sex act back in October, according to court records obtained Monday.

Investigator Joe E. Baeza, LPD spokesman, said Felipe

President Obama held a press call as a decision on the legality of his executive action looms in a federal district court in Brownsville.

See OBAMA PAGE 9A

MEXICO

See MURDER PAGE 10A

OIL AND GAS

Photo by Rebecca Blackwell | AP

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, right, speaks with Virgilio Andrade Martinez during a press conference to announce Andrade’s appointment as the Secretary of Public Administration, in Mexico City, Tuesday.

Peña Nieto opens home investigation President asks government to look into his controversial purchases ASSOCIATED PRESS

MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto pledged a government investigation Tuesday into purchases of luxury homes by himself, his wife and his finance secretary from government contractors.

Peña Nieto said he has asked the Public Administration Department to investigate the purchases, which have cast suspicion over his administration.

“In recent months, there have been allegations about possible conflicts of interest in my administration,” Peña Nieto said. “I am aware that these allegations created the appearance of something improper, something that really did not occur.”

The department functions as an anti-corruption watchdog agency.

The president named a new secretary of public administration — the post had been filled by an acting head — to carry out the probe.

Peña Nieto said the results of the probe would be reviewed by a panel of experts.

When he was governor of the State of Mexico in 2005, Peña Nieto bought a house from a company that got government contracts.

Finance Secretary Luis Videgaray and First Lady Angelica Rivera later both bought houses from another government contractor, which also financed the purchases.

All three have denied they did anything improper.

BEARING THE BRUNT Texas has lost 23 percent of its rigs in slump

By BECCA AARONSON AND JIM MALEWITZ

Oil Drilling’s Drop in Texas

TEXAS TRIBUNE

Want a concrete sign of the oil industry’s troubles? Just look to the horizons of Texas’ drilling country, where rigs are laying down like willows after a windstorm.

Due to a mix of geopolitics and supply and demand, the per-barrel price of West Texas crude has plummeted to around $50, less than half what it was worth last June. After months of lag time, nightmares about idled rigs have become reality, and they are hitting Texas the hardest.

Texas rigs began to tumble in November, a month after the Railroad Commission began issuing fewer drilling permits.

As of last Friday, 1,937 rotary drilling rigs were at work across the United States and Canada, ac-

See OIL PAGE 9A

NUMBER OF OIL & GAS RIGS SINCE PEAK OIL PRICES 908

Texas Alberta (CA)

800

Oklahoma N. Dakota Louisiana 600

400

200 105 June 2014

July 2014

August 20114

October 2014

November 2014 December 2014

January 2015

DECLINE IN NUMBER OF OIL & GAS RIGS BYTEXAS BASIN (2014-2015)

SOURCE: Texas Tribune

Barnett

Eagle Ford

Granite Wash

-11-

1- 36

-17-

Haynesville

-4

Other

Permian

-445

-34

PAGE 2A

Zin brief CALENDAR

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015

AROUND TEXAS

TODAY IN HISTORY

Wednesday, Feb. 4

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Bible study 7 p.m. every Wednesday at Lighthouse Assembly of God Church, 8731 Belize Dr. Ricardo Rangel Jr. at 333-9294 or ricardo_grace@yahoo.com.

Texas A&M International University Spirit Week events today: election booth in the Student Center rotunda from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., Campus Activities Board pep rally in the SC rotunda at 2 p.m. and voting ends today at 11:59 p.m. For more information, contact the Office of Student Orientation, Leadership and Engagement at 326.2280.

Presentation and book signing of Awakening Kindness by Nawang Khechog with a foreword by The Dalai Lama and endorsed by 3 Nobel Peace Laureates to include the Rev. Desmond Tutu and also endorsed by Richard Gere. Location: TAMIU Student Center # 236 4 – 6 p.m. Event is FREE and open to the public.

Contact Esther Garcia at 956-2859637 or Tatiana Friar at 956-7719671.

Thursday, Feb. 5

Photo by Ralph Barrera | AP

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, surrounded by lawmakers, signs a proclamation making February 2, 2015, "Chris Kyle Day" in Austin, Texas. Two years after Kyle’s death, and days before the man accused of killing him goes to trial, the retired SEAL was honored by his home state.

Chris Kyle Day named

By EVA RUTH MORAVEC ASSOCIATED PRESS

Texas A&M International University Spirit Week ends today. The Greek Council Tailgate will start at 4 p.m. in the Kinesiology-Convocation Building (KCB) front lawn. The TAMIU Women’s Basketball game begins at 5:30 p.m. in the KCB and the Men’s game starts at 7:30 p.m., KCB. At halftime during the Men’s game, Mr. and Ms. TAMIU Introductions and bios and spirit door winner will be announced. The Mr. and Ms. TAMIU Coronation will be held after the game. For more information, contact the Office of Student Orientation, Leadership and Engagement at 326.2280.

Saturday, Feb. 7 2nd Annual Krizia Lauren Keiser Memorial 5K Run/Walk & Kids Run at Uni-Trade Stadium, 6320 Sinatra Pkwy.

Wellness & Women Con-nection Luncheon. 11:45 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., Johnny Carino’s. Contact Sylvia O. Praesel at 512-988-0503 or at info@wwconnection.org. Business Connection and Networking Luncheon, promoting women’s wellness.

RSVP@wwconnec-tion.org. tp:// www.wwconnec-tion.org.

First United Methodist Church, used book sale, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at 1220 McClelland Ave. Hardback books $1, paperback books 50 cents and magazines and children’s books 25 cents.

The Laredo Northside Market Association will hold its February Market day at North Central Park from 9 AM to 1 PM. For more information see our facebook page.

Monday, Feb. 9 The Laredo Stroke Support Group will be holding its monthly meeting at 7 p.m. at the San Martin de Porres Church Family Life Center.

Please visit www.laredostrokesupport.com for more information.

Consent Week at Texas A&M International University launches today with a press conference at noon in the Student Center rotunda. The press conference will premiere a video made by students for students, “Student Consent Video.” For more information, contact San Juanita Pérez, associate director, Student Success Services, and Title IX investigator at 326.2948.

(Submit calendar items at lmtonline.com/calendar/submit or by emailing editorial@lmtonline.com with the event’s name, date and time, location and purpose and contact information for a representative. Items will run as space is available.)

AUSTIN — Two years after Chris Kyle’s death, and days before the man accused of killing him goes to trial, the retired Navy SEAL depicted in the blockbuster movie “American Sniper” received a state day Monday in his honor.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed a proclamation declaring Feb. 2 “Chris Kyle Day” in Texas, where Kyle was raised and lived after serving in Iraq. Flags statewide were to fly Monday at half-staff.

“As governor, I am proclaiming this to be Chris Kyle Day, but in doing so, as Chris would have it, we are also recognizing every man and woman who has ever worn the uniform of the United States Military,” Abbott said, flanked by a dozen bipartisan lawmakers.

Abbott called Kyle — reputed to be the deadliest sniper in American history — “the face of a legion of warriors who have led the mightiest military in the history of the world.”

Four years after he retired from service, he and neighbor Chad Littlefield were shot and killed at a North Texas gun range. Accused in their deaths is former Marine Eddie Ray Routh, whom the two men were trying to help. Routh has been described by family as a troubled veteran who was hospitalized for mental illnesses, including posttraumatic stress disorder.

An Abbott spokeswoman said the success of the movie based on Kyle’s autobiography and the upcoming trial were not driving forces behind Monday’s announcement. An effort is underway to make Chris Kyle Day an annual event.

‘Texas 7’ fugitive had 55 cases on death row

2 dead, 1 hurt in Corpus apartment shootings

Fort Worth to celebrate birthday with slip-n-slide

HUNTSVILLE — Texas prison records show Donald Newbury, the “Texas 7” member set for execution Wednesday, accumulated 55 major and minor disciplinary cases after arriving on death row in January 2002 for the slaying of a suburban Dallas police officer while a fugitive.

At the time of the gang’s December 2000 prison break, Newbury was serving 99 years for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon in Travis County.

CORPUS CHRISTI — Corpus Christi police say two people have been fatally shot and another person was wounded in an apparent murder-suicide at an apartment.

Police say one other person in the unit escaped injury during the shootings early Tuesday.

Police responding to reports of gunfire discovered the bodies of a 46-year-old man and a 33-yearold woman. Another man was found with a gunshot wound.

FORT WORTH — Fort Worth is throwing a party this summer for its birthday that will include 2,000-foot-long slip-n-slide in the North Texas city.

The city has announced its new birthday festival, PantherFest, will take place in June.

Mayor Betsy Price says she can’t think of a better way to commemorate Fort Worth’s birthday than transforming Paddock Viaduct Bridge on North Main Street into a large water slide.

Texan gets life term for killing ex-wife, daughter

Mexican Mafia members get prison in drug cases

Snake handler suffers minor bite at Capitol

LONGVIEW — An East Texas man has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2012 shooting deaths of his ex-wife and her 11year-old daughter. Joshual Reese pleaded guilty Monday to capital murder in a plea deal during his trial in Longview. Prosecutors were not seeking the death penalty against Reese.

SAN ANTONIO — Six members of a Mexican Mafia gang in South Texas have been sentenced to prison for forcing other drug dealers to pay taxes on the illegal sales.

Prosecutors in San Antonio say the New Braunfels men extorted money from traffickers from May 2011 to July 2013.

AUSTIN — A rattlesnake has bitten a handler — but didn’t inject any venom — during a promotion for the 57th annual Rattlesnake Roundup at the Texas Capitol. A handler picked up a serpent whose fang penetrated his thumb, drawing blood and causing him to drop the snake.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION Second Harper Lee novel to be published in July NEW YORK — “To Kill a Mockingbird” will not be Harper Lee’s only published book after all.

Publisher Harper announced Tuesday that “Go Set a Watchman,” a novel the Pulitzer Prizewinning author completed in the 1950s and put aside, will be released July 14. Rediscovered last fall, “Go Set a Watchman” is essentially a sequel to “To Kill a Mockingbird,” although it was finished earlier. The 304-page book will be Lee’s second, and the first new work in more than 50 years.

The publisher plans a first printing of 2 million copies.

Indiana 17-year-old runs for mayor ELKHART, Ind. — A 17-yearold boy who has entered a mayoral race in a northern Indiana

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 4, the 35th day of 2015. There are 330 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: On Feb. 4, 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a wartime conference at Yalta.

On this date: In 1789, electors chose George Washington to be the first president of the United States.

In 1861, delegates from six southern states that had recently seceded from the Union met in Montgomery, Alabama, to form the Confederate States of America.

In 1932, New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt opened the Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid.

In 1962, a rare conjunction of the sun, the moon, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn occurred.

In 1974, newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst, 19, was kidnapped in Berkeley, California, by the radical Symbionese Liberation Army.

In 1983, pop singer-musician Karen Carpenter died in Downey, California, at age 32.

In 1987, pianist Liberace died at his Palm Springs, California, home at age 67.

In 1997, a civil jury in Santa Monica, California, found O.J. Simpson liable for the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.

In 2004, the social networking website Facebook had its beginnings as Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg launched “Thefacebook.”

Ten years ago: Gunmen kidnapped Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena in Baghdad.

(Sgrena was freed a month later; however, an Italian agent who’d secured her release was killed by U.S. gunfire at a checkpoint.)

Five years ago: Republican Scott Brown took over the seat of the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy as he was sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden at a Capitol Hill ceremony.

One year ago: The Congressional Budget Office said several million American workers would reduce their hours on the job or leave the workforce entirely because of incentives built into President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor William Phipps is 93. Former Argentinian President Isabel Peron is 84. Actor Gary Conway is 79. Movie director George A. Romero is 75. Former Vice President Dan Quayle is 68. Rock singer Alice Cooper is 67. Football Hall-ofFamer Lawrence Taylor is 56.

Country singer Clint Black is 53. Rock musician Noodles (The Offspring) is 52. Country musician Dave Buchanan (Yankee Grey) is 49. Actress Gabrielle Anwar is 45. Actor Rob Corddry is 44. Singer David Garza is 44. Actor Michael Goorjian is 44. Olympic gold medal boxer Oscar De La Hoya is 42. Singer Natalie Imbruglia is 40. Rapper Cam’ron is 39. Rock singer Gavin DeGraw is 38. Olympic gold medal gymnast-turned-singer Carly Patterson is 27.

Thought for Today: “Habit is necessary; it is the habit of having habits, of turning a trail into a rut, that must be incessantly fought against if one is to remain alive.” — Edith Wharton, American author (1862-1937).

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Harper Lee, author of the classic "To Kill A Mockingbird," on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Jan. 27, 2006. Lee will publish her second novel, "Go Set a Watchman," this summer. city says he may be young but he’s a strong leader who wants to “revitalize the fun-loving community.”

Caleb Owens formally filed last week to run for mayor as a Democrat in Elkhart. He will face two-term incumbent Dick

Moore in the May Democratic primary. Two Republicans are also running.

Owens saidthat if elected mayor he’d work with city council, community churches, city government and residents.

— Compiled from AP reports

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Politics

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015

Photo by J. Scott Applewhite | AP

King Abdullah of Jordan , center, is hurried into a meeting with leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday.

Obama decries hateful ideology after pilot death

By NEDRA PICKLER ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Tuesday expressed determination to see the Islamic State group’s “banished to the recesses of history” after the death of a Jordanian pilot held captive by the militant group. In a show of solidarity, he hosted Jordan’s King Abdullah II for a hastily arranged meeting in the Oval Office.

Abdullah, who was on a previously scheduled trip to Washington, arrived after nightfall at the White House to meet with Obama, hours after a video emerged online purportedly showing 26-year-old Lt. Muath Al-Kaseasbeh burned to death. Sitting side by side, the two leaders chatted but made no remarks to reporters briefly permitted to observe their meeting.

Before Abdullah’s arrival, Obama vowed the pilot’s death would “redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of

our global coalition to make sure they are degraded and ultimately defeated.”

“Lieutenant Al-Kaseasbeh’s dedication, courage and service to his country and family represent universal human values that stand in opposition to the cowardice and depravity of ISIL, which has been so broadly rejected around the globe,” Obama said.

ISIL is an alternate acronym for the extremist group.

Al-Kaseasbeh, who fell into the hands of the militants in December when his Jordanian F-16 crashed in Syria, is the only pilot from the U.S.-led coalition to have been captured to date.

His death sparked outrage in Jordan, where the country’s participation in the coalition against the Islamic State has not been popular.

The video emerged following a weeklong drama over a possible prisoner exchange with an al-Qaida operative imprisoned in Jordan.

Vice President Joe Biden, who held a previously scheduled lunch with Abdullah in Washington Tuesday, also condemned the killings and called for the release of all prisoners held by Islamic State militants. The king also held previously scheduled meetings with senators on Capitol Hill.

Abdullah, a close U.S. ally, has portrayed the campaign against the extremists as a battle over values. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., emerged from talks with Abdullah predicting that Jordan would have a “strong and forceful” response to the pilot’s death.

“The Jordanian response will be more engaged, not less engaged, when it comes to destroying ISIL,” Graham said.

“The king feels that the gloves are off and that it now is time if you can’t negotiate with these people, you’re going to have to take it to them, and I think it’s going to be more than Jordan.”

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

PAGE 4A

Zopinion

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015

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

COLUMN

OTHER VIEWS

Sensible goals for the budget

By JENNIFER RUBIN THE WASHINGTON POST

President Obama’s $4 trillion budget request is full of familiar plans to increase spending and taxes on the rich. Not that we have even begun to tackle long-term debt, but Obama insists, "I am not going to accept a budget that locks in sequestration going forward. I want to work with Congress to replace mindless austerity with smart investments that strengthen America. And we can do so in a way that is fiscally responsible."

What do the Republicans have in mind?

For starters, the GOP needs to address defense and homeland security.

Rep. Mike McCaul, Texas, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, blasted the president: "I am deeply disappointed the president has decided to play numbers games rather than propose a realistic budget for DHS." As for defense, while the president minimally increased the Pentagon top-line budget over "sequester" levels, he is still playing a numbers game, devising a defense budget from what is left after enormous domestic spending rather than basing defense on a threat assessment. Republicans should not replicate the error; they should follow the advice of many experts and past defense secretaries in repealing defense sequestration cuts. The cuts made under Defense Secretary Robert Gates were bad enough; now that our international challenges are greater, we must have a budget appropriate to the task.

Second, if the GOP wants fiscal discipline, it needs to make choices.

There is domestic discre-

tionary spending. While still excessive in areas (subsidies to green-energy boondoggles come to mind), there are legitimate domestic needs (e.g., NIH, infrastructure). To make up revenue for increased defense and to promote growth, the GOP should look to corporate tax reform and entitlement reform. Capping Social Security and Medicare benefits for the rich, slowly raising the retirement age and allowing states to experiment with more cost-effective Medicaid plans are all worth pursuing.

Here, however, the greeneyeshade set should not hinder two much more important goals: national security and economic growth. Growth and the attendant increase in government revenue are the best means of closing the deficit.

Conservative commentator Michael Barone points to the box liberals have gotten themselves into: "Obama’s Democrats have rejected all attempts at entitlement reform. … So entitlement spending will increasingly squeeze out spending on Democrats’ domestic wish lists. That puts pressure on Democrats to raise taxes that will inevitably fall on the middle class, and more so as Keynesian policies sputter. Bad policy is, sooner or later, bad politics."

By the same token, Republicans should resist the choice between defense spending and higher taxes. The goal here should be to attend to the primary responsibility of the federal government, national security; prioritize domestic spending; work on entitlement reform (with the rich taking most of the hit); and present a coherent tax reform plan. Can it be done? We will see.

COLUMN

Christie can’t take a side

By JONATHAN BERNSTEIN BLOOMBERG NEWS

This week’s tempest on the trail of possible Republican presidential nominees has been New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s seemingly weak defense of vaccinating American children. By calling for "balance" in government policy, and saying that "parents need to have some measure of choice," Christie was blasted by both liberals and conservatives. By late Monday morning he seemed to be backing off his comments.

But Christie’s apparent attempt to appeal to vaccination opponents, while a surprising strategy for a governor in a densely populated state, is consistent with a plausible Iowa caucus strategy: an attempt to lock up a small faction of voters.

It’s hard to know exactly why a presidential contender makes any particular comment. Yet one challenge for candidates, especially in a large field in a mostly unified party,

is how to differentiate themselves if they share positions with their rivals on every important issue — as most Republicans do in the 2016 cycle. This devolves into petty arguments about which candidate is most adamant on, say, opposition to Obamacare. That situation is even tougher in Iowa.

Mike Huckabee, for example, may have won the Republican primary in the state in 2008 by winning the support of Christian home schoolers — not a huge constituency, but big enough when 34 percent of the vote (and only 41,000 voters) was enough for a solid victory.

The problem with that strategy, however, is that finishing first in Iowa over a fractured field isn’t enough to propel a candidate to the nomination.

The parties, not the voters, are the major players.

Doing well in early contests can matter to party actors, but only if they are otherwise open to the candidate and if their main concern is electoral success.

COLUMN

Secularists focus on the individual, lack community Over the past few years, there has been a sharp rise in the number of people who are atheist, agnostic or without religious affiliation. A fifth of all adults and a third of the youngest adults fit into this category.

As secularism becomes more prominent and selfconfident, its spokesmen have more insistently argued that secularism should not be seen as an absence — as a lack of faith — but rather as a positive moral creed. Phil Zuckerman, a Pitzer College sociologist, makes this case as fluidly and pleasurably as anybody in his book, "Living the Secular Life."

Zuckerman argues that secular morality is built around individual reason, individual choice and individual responsibility. Instead of relying on some eye in the sky to tell them what to do, secular people reason their way to proper conduct.

Secular people, he argues, value autonomy over groupthink. They deepen their attachment to this world instead of focusing on a next one.

They may not be articulate about why they behave as they do, he argues, but they try their best to follow the Golden Rule, to be considerate and empathetic toward others. "Secular morality hinges upon little else than not harming others and helping those in need," Zuckerman writes.

As he describes them,

“

DAVID BROOKS

secularists seem like genial, low-key people who have discarded metaphysical prejudices and are now leading peaceful and rewarding lives. But I can’t avoid the conclusion that the secular writers are so eager to make the case for their creed, they are minimizing the struggle required to live by it.

Consider the tasks a person would have to perform to live secularism well: Secular individuals have to build their own moral philosophies. Religious people inherit creeds that have evolved over centuries. Autonomous secular people are called upon to settle on their own individual sacred convictions.

Secular individuals have to build their own communities.

Religions come equipped with covenantal rituals that bind people together, sacred practices that are beyond individual choice. Secular people have to choose their own communities and come up with their own practices to make them meaningful.

Secular individuals have to build their own Sabbaths. Religious people are commanded to drop worldly concerns. Secular people have to create their own set times for when to pull back and reflect on

spiritual matters.

Secular people have to fashion their own moral motivation. It’s not enough to want to be a decent person. You have to be powerfully motivated to behave well. Religious people are motivated by their love for God and their fervent desire to please Him. Secularists have to come up with their own powerful drive that will compel sacrifice and service.

The point is not that secular people should become religious. You either believe in God or you don’t. Neither is the point that religious people are better than secular people.

That defies social science evidence and common observation. The point is that an age of mass secularization is an age in which millions of people have put unprecedented moral burdens upon themselves. People who don’t know how to take up these burdens don’t turn bad, but they drift. They suffer from a loss of meaning and an unconscious boredom with their own lives.

One other burden: Past secular creeds were built on the 18th-century enlightenment view of man as an autonomous, rational creature who could reason his way to virtue. The past half-century of cognitive science has shown that creature doesn’t exist. We are not really rational animals; emotions play a central role in decision-making, the vast majority of

thought is unconscious, and our minds are riddled with biases. We are not really autonomous; our actions are powerfully shaped by others in ways we are not even aware of.

It seems to me that if secularism is going to be a positive creed, it can’t just speak to the rational aspects of our nature. Secularism has to do for nonbelievers what religion does for believers — arouse the higher emotions, exalt the passions in pursuit of moral action.

Christianity doesn’t rely just on a mild feeling like empathy; it puts agape at the center of life, a fervent and selfless sacrificial love. Judaism doesn’t just value community; it values a covenantal community infused with sacred bonds and chosenness that make the heart strings vibrate. Religions don’t just ask believers to respect others; rather each soul is worthy of the highest dignity because it radiates divine light.

The only secularism that can really arouse moral motivation and impel action is an enchanted secularism, one that puts emotional relations first and autonomy second. I suspect that over the next years secularism will change its face and become hotter and more consuming, less content with mere benevolence, and more responsive to the spiritual urge in each of us, the drive for purity, self-transcendence and sanctification.

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CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

Nation

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015

Ala. gay weddings could begin soon

By KIM CHANDLER ASSOCIATED PRESS

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A federal appeals court on Tuesday cleared the way for same-sex marriages to begin Monday in Alabama, but the state’s attorney general made a last-ditch attempt to keep the weddings on hold.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday refused to delay a district judge’s decision that overturned Alabama’s gay marriage bans.

That would appear to pave the way for Alabama to become the 37th state where gays can legally wed.

“Finally, we’ve got to the point that all Alabama citizens are going to be treated equally,” said Christine Hernandez, a lawyer for the Mobile couple that challenged the Alabama laws.

However, Attorney General Luther Strange asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the weddings until the justices settle the issue nationwide when they take up gay marriage later this year.

The attorney general predicted there will be “unnecessary confusion” next week among local officials who issue marriage licenses absent a stay.

“The confusion that has been created by the District Court’s ruling could linger for months until the U.S. Supreme Court resolves this issue once and for all,” Strange said.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in April and is expected to issue a ruling by June regarding whether gay couples nationwide have a fundamental right to marry and whether states can ban such unions.

Same-sex weddings in Alabama will begin when a judge’s order expires Monday unless the Supreme

Photo by Sharon Steinmann/AL.com | AP file

Cari Searcy, left, and her wife Kim McKeand are plaintiffs in the case that struck down Alabama’s same-sex marriage ban.

Court intervenes.

“The time has come for loving and committed couples from Florence and Huntsville to the Gulf Coast to be able to marry in the state they call home,” said Human Rights Campaign Alabama State Director Ashley Jackson.

U.S. District Judge Callie Granade on Jan. 23 ruled Alabama’s ban was unconstitutional but put a hold on her order until Monday to give the state time to appeal.

She refused to lift that order Tuesday — which would effectively allow gay marriages to begin immediately — so that probate courts had time to prepare.

Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, said he was doubtful Alabama could win a reprieve from the Supreme Court. He said the Supreme Court rebuffed a similar request from the Florida attorney general.

Cari Searcy and Kimberly McKeand filed the lawsuit challenging the ban that prevented Alabama from recognizing their California marriage and Searcy as a parent to their son, to whom McKeand gave birth in 2005 with the help of a sperm donor. A local court had rejected Searcy’s requests to adopt the boy be-

cause the two women were not spouses under Alabama law.

Granade’s ruling was the latest in a string of victories for marriage rights advocates in socially conservative states. Judges have struck down bans in the Carolinas, Florida, Mississippi and Arkansas. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to hear arguments this spring from three more states — South Dakota, Arkansas and Missouri — defending gay marriage bans.

Staunch defenders of the ban in Alabama include Chief Justice Roy Moore, who said last week that state courts are not bound

by Granade’s order. The Southern Poverty Law Center has filed a judicial ethics complaint against Moore over his remarks.

Strange noted Moore’s comments in his filing to the Supreme Court.

David Kennedy, a lawyer for Searcy and McKeand, said there should be no problems as long as probate judges follow the law. He said other states, including neighboring Florida, accomplished the transition to allowing same-sex marriages.

“If Florida can do it, I know that Alabama can,” Kennedy said.

THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

PÁGINA 6A

Zfrontera

Ribereña en Breve AVISO DE TRÁFICO Continúa el proyecto de ampliación sobre US 83 y las líneas divisorias del Condado de Webb y Zapata. Este proyecto utilizará un control de tráfico para construir las transiciones de carreteras en las líneas divisoras del Condado de Webb/Zapata para los carriles del norte y sur, por lo que se pide a los conductores a poner atención y obedecer las señales de tráfico para evitar accidentes. Los trabajos continuarán hasta el 6 de marzo.

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.

EVENTOS VIOLENTOS

Mueren cinco TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Cinco agresores resultaron muertos tras dos enfrentamientos con elementos policiales mexicanos durante dos inocentes no relacionados, anunciaron autoridades tamaulipecas el lunes.

Hasta el momento no se ha identificado a los occisos.

El primer incidente fue reportado a las 6:30 p.m. del domingo, en el kilómetro 92 de la carretera Mata-

JUNTA DE COMISIONADOS El lunes 09 de marzo, 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.

moros-Valle Hermoso, México, a la altura de la Aduana Vieja. Personal de Marina patrullaba al momento de ser atacados por civiles armados que se desplazaban en una camioneta Ford Lobo modelo 2013, con placas de Texas, señala un comunicado de prensa.

Al responder a la agresión, los marinos abatieron a tres sospechosos. Tras el encuentro se decomisaron cuatro armas largas, un lanzagranadas, un rifle Barret calibre .50,

una subametralladora y 40 cargadores de diferentes calibres, la mayoría abastecidos con cartuchos útiles, del interior del vehículo, indica el reporte.

El lunes, el municipio de Reynosa, México, fue el escenario del segundo incidente. Alrededor de las 4 a.m. elementos policiales atendieron un reporte sobre la alarma encendida de un cajero automático, en el Bulevar Las Fuentes y Calle Río San Juan de la Colonia Las Fuen-

tes, Sección Lomas. Frente al lugar se encontraban varios civiles armados a bordo de tres camionetas, quienes empezaron a agredir a tiros a los oficiales, indica el reporte.

Dos hombres armados resultaron muertos tras el enfrentamiento. Del interior de los vehículos, que fueron abandonados, se confiscaron aseguraron cuatro armas largas, 28 cargadores, 958 cartuchos útiles de diferentes calibres, dos fornituras y un teléfono celular.

MEXICAN MAFIA

TAMAULIPAS

Dictan condena a seis hombres

DÍA MUNDIAL EN CONTRA DEL CÁNCER

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Seis integrantes de un grupo del crimen organizado mexicano fueron condenados a prisión por su papel en un esquema de tráfico de drogas y extorsión, anunciaron autoridades de EU el lunes.

El Juez de Distrito de EU, Fred Biery, sentenció a Ignacio Flores Jr., de 32 años de edad, Nicholas “Nicky” Flores, de 31 años, Rene Zamarripa, de 38, Juan Vega, de 33 años, Javier Martin Meza, de 30 años de edad, y Gary Gonzáles, de 23, a condenas que van desde cinco años hasta casi 20 años en prisión federal.

Ignacio Flores y Nicholas Flores, recibieron una sentencia de 235 meses en prisión cada uno y un periodo de libertad supervisada de cinco años tras su encarcelamiento. Ambos se declararon culpables de conspiración para posesión con intento de distribuir metanfetaminas e interferir con el comercio a través de amenazas o violencia. Ignacio Flores también se declaró culpable de cargos por convicto en posesión de un arma de fuego y posesión de chalecos antibalas por un convicto.

Zamarripa, recibió 188 meses en prisión federal, y un periodo de cinco años en libertad supervisada. Meza, recibió 160 meses en prisión federal y cinco años en libertad supervisada. Y Gonzáles, recibió 60 meses en prisión federal y cinco años en libertad supervisada.

Los tres se declararon culpables de conspiración para posesión con intento de distribución de metanfetaminas y un cargo por interferir con el comercio a través de amenazas o violencia.

Vega fue sentenciado a 130 meses en prisión federal, y a tres años en libertad supervisada. El se declaró culpable a interferir con el comercio a través de amenazas o violencia.

En un caso vinculado con el anterior, otro hombre fue condenado a 10 años de prisión tras declararse culpable de cargos de drogas y armas al ser detenido por una infracción de tránsito en 2013.

(Con información de AP)

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

El día de hoy es el Día Mundial contra el Cáncer, por lo que autoridades tamaulipecas instan a la población a tomar las medidas necesarias para prevenir, tratar y erradicar el cáncer.

Estado revela cifras sobre morbilidad TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Con motivo al Día Mundial contra el Cáncer, autoridades de salud tamaulipecas dieron a conocer cifras sobre la morbilidad que esta enfermedad tomó durante el 2014, asimismo recuerdan a la comunidad tomar las medidas necesarias para prevenir y detectar a tiempo esta enfermedad.

De acuerdo con estadísticas presentadas por Norberto Treviño García Manzo, Secretario de Salud, la morbilidad por cáncer en Tamaulipas fue en promedio de 1.152 casos. De estos casos 161 fueron cáncer de mama, 852 por displasia cervical leve y moderada, 111 casos de displasia cervi-

cal severa y cáncer insitu (que no se ha extendido); y 28 por cáncer de estómago.

En el estado, los tumores malignos se encuentran dentro de las 20 principales causas de mortalidad general, en donde los 5 primeros tumores que causan fallecimientos son tumor maligno de tráquea bronquios y pulmón, del hígado, de mama, de la próstata y del colon y recto, sostiene un comunicado de prensa.

Las personas con enfermedades de este tipo pueden recibir atención especializada en los Centros Oncológicos, ubicados en Victoria y Nuevo Laredo, la UNEME DEDICAM en Victoria, el Hospital Infantil, y en las 7 unidades móviles de la depen-

dencia, señala un comunicado de prensa.

Este mes iniciarán los trabajos de construcción de la segunda UNEME DEDICAM, que estará ubicada en el municipio de Tampico y se ampliará el centro oncológico de Ciudad Victoria, señaló el secretario de salud a través de un comunicado de prensa.

“Es importante acudir a las unidades de salud, de forma inmediata en cuanto presenten algún síntoma de cáncer, ya que, un diagnóstico a tiempo es la mejor solución para los pacientes, porque al buscar ayuda en etapas tempranas se mejora su expectativa de vida”, finalizó Treviño García Manzo.

DROGAS

JUNTA DE COMISIONADOS El lunes 23 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.

MIÉRCOLES 04 DE FEBRERO DE 2015

Aumenta uso de heroína alrededor de EU POR GISELA SALOMON ASSOCIATED PRESS

MIAMI— El consumo de heroína en Estados Unidos se ha incrementado en los últimos cuatro años a niveles que no se habían visto y México se ha convertido en el mayor proveedor de esa droga ilícita, dijo el martes el subsecretario de Estado para asuntos de narcóticos, William Brownfield.

“La palabra crisis es la palabra correcta para hablar de producción, exportación y consumo de heroína” que ha aumentado significativamente y merece la atención de los gobiernos de Estados Unidos, Cana-

dá y México “en particular”, expresó en una conferencia de prensa telefónica desde Washington.

Las declaraciones del funcionario tuvieron lugar un día después que el presidente Barack Obama pidió al Congreso reducir el financiamiento actual a los esfuerzos antinarcóticos en México y en Colombia; y duplicar los fondos antinarcóticos dirigidos a la Iniciativa para la Seguridad de América Central.

Brownfield manifestó que en los últimos tres o cuatro años el consumo de heroína en Estados Unidos aumentó un 65%, convirtiéndose en un "problema nacional".

El consumo “no es el doble, pero se acerca al doble en un período muy limitado y reducido” de tiempo, expresó.

Aunque Afganistán es el mayor productor de heroína del mundo, sólo un 4 a 5% de la droga consumida en Estados Unidos proviene de ese país, indicó. El resto llega desde el hemisferio occidental, y “la mayoría viene de México”, aseguró el funcionario.

México produce casi la mitad de la heroína que se encuentra en Estados Unidos, con un incremento del 39% en comparación a lo que se registraba en 2008, de acuerdo con la Evaluación Nacional de las Ame-

nazas de las Drogas de 2014 realizada por la DEA. En fluido español, dijo que al mismo tiempo que se ha incrementado el consumo de heroína en el país, ha caído un 50% el consumo de cocaína y metanfetaminas, e indicó que las mismas organizaciones que antes traficaban cocaína y metanfetaminas son las que ahora trafican heroína.

Las muertes por heroína se duplicaron de 2011 a 2013, mientras que los decesos por cocaína y opiáceos recetados se mantuvieron estables, según estadísticas del Centro para el Control y Prevención de Enfermedades de Estados Unidos.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015

ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

Sports&Outdoors NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: ATLANTA FALCONS

Falcons hire Dan Quinn Atlanta tabs former Seattle DC as coach

By CHARLES ODUM ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by John Bazemore | AP

Former Seattle defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, right, poses with Atlanta owner Arthur Blank after a news conference introducing Quinn as the new head coach of the Falcons.

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Two days after a startling Super Bowl loss, Dan Quinn is off to a new start with the Atlanta Falcons.

It happened quickly. The former Seattle defensive coordinator was introduced as the team’s coach Tuesday, a day after he was hired and less than 48 hours after a Super Bowl loss to New England.

Quinn beamed as he discussed plans for the Falcons. But he’s still trying to process the Patriots’ 28-24 win, sealed when Malcolm Butler intercepted a pass at the goal line with 20 seconds left.

“For me it was such an emotional time in the game,” Quinn said. “So I didn’t really have time to put it into a place you would want it to get to.”

Surely, Quinn would like to put it in the past.

“I can’t wait to build a similar championship environment here in Atlanta,” Quinn said. “There are all sorts of challenges ahead,

lots of hard work to do. I can’t wait to get started.”

Quinn’s defenses helped lead Seattle to two straight Super Bowls. The Seahawks beat Denver to win last year’s championship.

The new coach is looking for defense that plays “fast and physical” and an offense with balance. Falcons owner Arthur Blank said he chose Quinn “to provide leadership in all three phases of the game and add additional leadership in the building of our franchise.”

Quinn, 44, replaces Mike Smith, who was fired following two straight losing seasons.

Quinn’s coaching staff will include offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan and defensive coordinator Richard Smith. Shanahan had the same job with the Cleveland Browns last year after four seasons directing the Washington Redskins’ offense.

“The way he can attack an offense, he’s one of the hardest guys to coach against when you’re coaching defense,” Quinn said.

Smith was Denver’s line-

backers coach the past four years. Quinn will have a prominent role in shaping the defense.

“My kind of guy is somebody who plays fast and physical,” Quinn said.

“That style starts with effort first. That’s where we’ll start. There are a number of guys already here who are going to be a part of it.”

Quinn, in his first head coaching job, takes over a team led by quarterback Matt Ryan and wide receivers Julio Jones and Roddy White. The running game has struggled with Steven Jackson and a rebuilt offensive line. The strength of the defense is a secondary led by cornerback Desmond Trufant and safety William Moore.

Quinn may have to seek new answers for a weak pass rush. The Falcons were a combined 10-22 past two years, and allowed the most total yards and yards passing in the league in 2014.

On offense, Quinn said “for me, the number one thing is balance. ... I’ve always admired teams that

had tough, physical styles.”

Quinn’s staff also will include Raheem Morris as assistant head coach/defensive passing game coordinator.

Keith Armstrong returns as the special teams coordinator. Armstrong interviewed for the head coach job.

Also retained from the 2014 Falcons staff: defensive line coach Bryan Cox, tight ends coach Wade Harman, wide receivers coach Terry Robiskie, and assistant special teams coach Eric Sutulovich.

Other additions include running backs coach Bobby Turner and offensive assistant Mike LaFleur.

“I think the idea of allowing this football team and this defense specifically to play fast, to eliminate some of the sort of over-analyzing and let these players be the athletes they can be is going to be very important for us,” Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff said.

Smith had a 66-46 regular-season record in seven seasons, including two NFC South titles.

International

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015

Jordanian pilot burned alive

By OMAR AKOUR AND KARIN LAUB ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by Rodrigo Abd | AP

Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez, sitting in a wheelchair, cheers at supporters at the Casa Rosada government palace.

Draft calls for president’s arrest

By PETER PRENGAMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Investigators examining the death of a prosecutor who accused Argentine President Cristina Fernandez of agreeing to shield the alleged masterminds of a 1994 terror bombing said Tuesday they have found a draft document he wrote requesting her arrest.

Chief investigator Viviana Fein said the draft detention request was found in a trash bin of the apartment where Alberto Nisman’s body was discovered on Jan. 18. It was not included in a complaint Nisman had filed in federal court days earlier.

Nisman was found dead of a gunshot wound in his bathroom hours before he was to appear in Congress to detail his allegations that Fernandez agreed to protect those responsible for the 1994 bombing of Buenos Aires’ largest Jewish community center. The attack, which killed 85 people, remains unsolved.

Fernandez has dismissed the allegations against her.

Fein at first denied the existence of the document requesting the president’s arrest after Argentina’s Clarin newspaper published

an article about it on Sunday. Cabinet chief Jorge Capitanich ripped up the article in front of reporters on Monday and said it was a lie produced by the “opposition media.”

But Clarin then published a copy of the draft, which was dated from June 2014. It said Nisman also had considered requesting arrest orders against Fernandez’s foreign minister, Hector Timerman, and other officials in the government.

The final complaint Nisman submitted to judicial authorities called for Fernandez and Timerman to face questions in court instead. On Tuesday, Fein clarified her earlier statement, acknowledging the existence of the draft document and saying she made an error of “terminology and interpretation,” and there had been a miscommunication with her office.

“The words I should have used are: ‘I know that there was a draft”’ of a document, she said. But she said its existence “is not important enough to change the course of the investigation.”

Fernandez’s government and the Grupo Clarin, which owns the newspaper, have often clashed and the Nisman case has reignited the dispute.

AMMAN, Jordan — Islamic State militants put to death a captured Jordanian fighter pilot by burning him alive in a cage, according to a video the group released Tuesday. The kingdom vowed a swift and lethal response to what it called a “barbaric” act.

The military confirmed the death of Lt. Muath Al-Kaseasbeh, who was captured by the extremists in December when his F-16 crashed while he was flying a mission as part of the U.S.-led air campaign against the Islamic State.

Jordanian TV said the pilot was killed as long ago as Jan. 3. In the past week, the militants had not responded to demands by Jordanian authorities to deliver proof the airman was alive so a prisoner swap could be made.

The killing of the 26year-old pilot appeared aimed at pressuring the government of Jordan — a close U.S. ally — to leave the coalition that has carried out months of airstrikes targeting Islamic State positions in Syria and Iraq. But the extremists’ brutality

Photo by SITE Intelligence Group | AP

This still image made from video released by Islamic State group militants on Tuesday shows Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh. against a fellow Muslim could backfire and galvanize other Sunni Muslims in the region against them.

King Abdullah II, who has portrayed the campaign against the extremists as a battle over values, was in Washington on a previously scheduled trip. He added a stop at the White House with President Barack Obama. The monarch broadcast a speech on Jordanian TV on Tuesday evening, con-

firming the pilot’s death “with sorrow and anger,” and urging his countrymen to unite.

“It’s the duty of all of us to stand united and show the real values of Jordanians in the face of these hardships,” Abdullah said.

The official Petra news agency said he would be cutting short his Washington trip.

Obama said the Islamic State group’s video, if au-

thentic, showed “the viciousness and barbarity of this organization.”

“And it, I think, will redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of a global coalition to make sure that they are degraded and ultimately defeated,” he told reporters during an event at the White House.

Obama later issued a statement offering condolences, saying the pilot’s “dedication, courage, and service to his country and family represent universal human values that stand in opposition to the cowardice and depravity of ISIL, which has been so broadly rejected around the globe.” The Islamic State group is known variously by the acronyms ISIL, ISIS and, in Arabic, Daesh. Dozens of people chanting slogans against the Islamic State marched toward the royal palace to express their anger.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

IRIS ASTRID FLORES

MARIA G. "LUPITA" MARTINEZ

Dec. 5, 1928 – Jan. 29, 2015

Feb. 27, 1919 – Jan. 31, 2015

Iris Astrid Flores, our beloved “Manina” was received into the embrace of our Heavenly Father on January 29, 2015, at Doctor’s Hospital surrounded by family and friends.

Astrid was a retired school teacher who served the Zapata community for many years and is fondly remembered by former students. She enjoyed traveling the world with her many friends in her early retirement years. Her passing will forever leave an absence in the hearts of all of us who loved her so dearly.

Astrid will be remembered for her warmth, wit, love for family and generosity.

Ms. Flores is preceded in death by her parents, Leonardo and Eugenia Flores; and a brother, Leonardo G. (Ofelia) Flores.

Ms. Flores is survived by sister, Menita (+ Judge Angel A.) Flores; brother, Juventino (Lucila) Flores; nephews and nieces, Sandra Flores, David (Irma) Flores, Daniel C. (Triana) Flores, Juventino Flores, Jr.; grandnephews and grandnieces, David M. Flores, Carlos (Misha) Flores, Linda Flores (Josh Allen), Daniel C. Flores, Jr., Lilyana Eugenia Flores; great-grandnephew, Levon David Allen Flores and by numerous other family members and friends.

Visitation hours were

held on Sunday, February 1, 2015, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home.

The funeral procession departed on Monday, February 2, 2015, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.

Committal services followed at Zapata County Cemetery.

The family would like to thank Ofilia Garcia who provided untiring and dedicated care to Astrid in the last years of her life.

Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy 83 Zapata, Texas.

GENARO VILLARREAL Sep. 29, 1931 – Jan. 31, 2015 Genaro Villarreal, 83, passed away on Saturday, January 31, 2015 at Laredo Medical Center in Laredo, Texas.

Mr. Villarreal is preceded in death by his wife, Ramona Villarreal; son, Oscar Villarreal and a great-granddaughter, Karina Osorio.

Mr. Villarreal is survived by a son, Genaro (Rosa) Villarreal, Roel (Elsa) Villarreal, Jesus O. (Renee Maya) Villarreal; daughters, Elpidia (Ruben) Peña and Anabella (Rene) De La Rosa; grandchildren, Ruben A. (Cynthia) Peña, Jr., Deyanira Y. (Francisco) Garcia, Gerardo Peña, Eduardo (Anahi) Peña, Arnoldo (Kristel) Peña, Grisel Villarreal, Aaron Villarreal, Daniel Villarreal, Samuel Villarreal, Priscilla Villarreal, Roel Villarreal, Jr., Angel Villarreal, Victor Manuel Delgado, Ana K. Gutierrez, Juan Manuel Villarreal, Elias Jeremy Villarreal, Esai Oscar Villarreal, Issa Bella Villarreal; thirty-two greatgrandchildren, one greatgreat-grandchild and by numerous nephews, nieces, other family members and friends.

Visitation hours were

Maria G. “Lupita” Martinez, 95, passed away on Saturday, January 31, 2015 at Laredo Medical Center in Laredo, Texas.

Ms. Martinez is preceded in death by her parents, Antonio (Maria Guadalupe) Martinez and Enrique (Serafina) Gutierrez; brothers and sisters, Leopoldo Martinez, Leobardo Martinez, Eugenia Flores, Juventino Martinez, Maria P. Ramirez, Josefa M. Gutierrez, Juan A. Martinez, Ernestina M. Cavazos and Francisco Martinez.

Ms. Martinez is survived by her son, Ricardo “Dicky” (Sara) Gutierrez and by numerous nephews, nieces, other family members and friends.

Visitation hours will be held on Wednesday, Febru-

WINTRY WEATHER IN NORTHEAST

ary 4, 2015, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home.

The funeral procession will depart on Thursday, February 5, 2015, at 9:15 a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at Our Lady of Refuge in San Ygnacio, Texas.

Committal services will follow at Panteon Del Pueblo in San Ygnacio, Texas.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy 83 Zapata, Texas.

Photo by Charles Krupa | AP

Hakeem Elaj clears snow along Boylston Street, ahead of Wednesday’s Patriot’s Super Bowl parade celebration, in Boston, Tuesday. The Boston area has received about 40 inches of snow in the past week.

OIL Continued from Page 1A cording to Baker Hughes, which publishes weekly industry data.

That’s down 426 rigs — about 18 percent — from the count on Nov. 21, 2014.

The totals include both oil and natural gas rigs, but oil rigs are far more plentiful. Gas rig counts, of course, are tied to natural gas prices, which have stayed low in recent years.

In the same time span, Texas lost a whopping 211 of its 906 rigs — more than 23 percent — pushing the state’s count to its lowest in four and a half years.

“It’s just because our plays are so big,” Allen Gilmer, CEO of Drillinginfo, an oil and gas research firm, said of the

decline’s outsized impact on Texas.

Texas is the nation’s oil king. Spurred by technological advances like hydraulic fracturing, Texas is pumping more oil than it has in 30 years, accounting for more than one-third of all U.S. production.

Rig losses vary across Texas’ long-stretching oil plays.

Lower prices have hit West Texas’ Permian Basin — the country’s most productive drilling region — and the Granite Wash, in East Texas, particularly hard. The reason is simple, Gilmer said: Drilling there tends to cost more, even if there’s plenty of oil to tap.

Rig counts offer a simple proxy for industry trends, but they no longer reveal exactly how much — or when — production will fall, experts say. Despite the tumble, oil production continues to rise in Texas and elsewhere.

That’s partly because the wells drilled today produce far more oil than the conventionally drilled wells of years past (though the output of those wells trails off more rapidly). Operators now drill multiple wells on one site, and the rigs themselves have become more efficient.

“I’m not sure that you can point to an industrial process anywhere that has seen the kind of effi-

ciency and improvements that you’ve seen on the drilling side,” Gilmer said.

The federal Energy Information Administration expects U.S. operators to pump an average 9.5 million barrels per day in 2016, up from 9.2 million in December 2014. That could keep oil prices, and drilling, low for some time.

Several major petroleum and oilfield service companies have already sliced their budgets and announced layoffs. For instance Schlumberger, the world’s biggest oilfield service company, said last month it would cut 9,000 employees — about 7 percent of its total workforce.

OBAMA Continued from Page 1A held on Tuesday, February 3, 2015, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home.

The funeral procession will depart on Wednesday, February 4, 2015, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.

Committal services will follow at Zapata County Cemetery.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy 83 Zapata, Texas.

ference call on Tuesday. "That depresses the wages for everybody."

Joining Marek on the call was U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary (and former San Antonio mayor) Julián Castro, Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia, Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez and Cecilia Muñoz, the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council.

The president’s executive action would offer a temporary reprieve from deportation proceedings and a renewable work permit to as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. Texas currently has about 1.5 million undocumented immigrants living within its borders. About 533,000 of them — roughly 40 percent — have children who are legal residents or citizens.

About 1.15 million have been in the country for at least five years.

The press call came as a decision on the legality of Obama’s executive action looms in a federal district court in Brownsville. Gov. Greg Abbott filed the lawsuit against the feds in December, while still the state’s attorney general. The suit alleges that the action is unconstitutional

and that Texas would suffer because the policy would act as a magnet to lure more unauthorized immigrants to the state.

More than two dozen states have since joined Texas’ efforts to block the policy.

Muñoz, the White House Domestic Policy Council chief, dismissed those allegations and said the president’s actions mirror what his predecessors have done for decades.

“The notion that the executive action would draw more folks across the border is simply false,” she said.

“We are very confident that the president’s actions are compliant with the law and we look forward to implementing them.”

Garcia, the Harris County sheriff, said the president’s change would actually promote law and order in his county because people would be more willing to cooperate with law enforcement efforts to fight crime.

“When there are questions and concerns that local law enforcement may become more concerned with a person’s immigration status rather than information that they have regarding cartels, human traffickers

or other individuals that are interested in causing harm in our communities, like domestic or international terrorism, it impedes public safety,” he said.

Marek has been a fixture at the Texas Capitol in prior legislative sessions and is well known for his efforts to close loopholes in state law that allow employers in the construction industry to hire undocumented workers. By misclassifying workers as contractors, the employers can avoid verifying their legal status. The designation also allows employers to avoid paying workers’ compensation and providing health care.

Marek said the president’s plan would force dishonest employers across the country to play by the rules.

“The more people that legitimate companies like me can hire away from those unscrupulous contractors and put them to work on payrolls," the fewer workers there will be for bad-actor employers, Marek said.

“Nothing is going to fix this faster than a labor shortage,” he added.

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015

B. LAURO DE LEON

MURDER Continued from Page 1A Leija, 59, died due to complications of the assault allegedly carried out by Jessica Lee Treviño, 27, on Oct. 17.

Authorities served Treviño with a murder warrant late Friday in the 2000 block of South Canada Avenue, according to a police report.

Treviño remained at the Webb County Jail on a $500,000 bond. Baeza said the homicides recorded in 2014 increased to 15 instead of the 14 reported at the end of last year.

The case unfolded Oct. 17.

At 5:02 p.m., police officers responded to an aggravated assault call reported in the 3200 block of Vicente Street in South Laredo. A man identified as Leija said he needed help from police and requested an ambulance because he was bleeding from his head, court records state.

Leija told the 911 operator that Treviño struck him several times on the head with a rock and kicked him on his ribs. A witness would later corroborate this to au-

thorities. An officer arrived and noticed Leija stumble as Leija walked toward the front of his driveway.

“Leija was bleeding profusely from the top of his head, with both eyes extremely swollen to the point where he could not open his eyes,” states a criminal complaint.

Court documents further state that Leija was disoriented and had difficulty breathing. He had deformation to his face due to several impacts received. Leija told the officer that Treviño struck him twice in the back of the head with a “big rock” and kicked him multiple times in the face and ribs, according to court records.

Paramedics arrived at the scene to transport Leija to Laredo Medical Center.

Meanwhile, police placed out a lookout for Treviño. She was located minutes later by the 1800 block of South New York Avenue walking away from the scene.

Court records allege that she appeared to have blood on her clothing and blood spatter in her black shoes.

Asked why she had blood, she replied, “I got into a fight.” Treviño was uncooperative and aggressive with the officer, according to court records. Police detained her for investigative purposes. Authorities recovered her blouse, skirt, and pair of shoes as evidence.

Crimes against persons detectives interviewed Treviño at police headquarters.

“Treviño stated that Felipe Leija offered her $10 for oral sex and Treviño agreed,” according to court records.

But Leija then allegedly pulled her shirt down and touched Treviño’s breast.

“Jessica Treviño became angry and began to physically assault Leija by punching him on his face. She then grabbed a cement rock and admitted to striking him on his face,” the complaint reads.

Treviño was then charged

June 25, 1939 – Jan. 31, 2015 with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and criminal trespass with deadly weapon. She was taken to LMC for medical clearance and later taken to jail.

Leija had to be airlifted to San Antonio Military Medical Center for treatment. On Nov. 6, an assistant district attorney contacted a detective to inquire on information received by the prosecutor that Leija had died. Detectives later learned that Leija had been pronounced dead Nov. 2.

On Dec. 30, police received a call from Dr. Randall E. Frost, Bexar County Chief Medical examiner. He explained that after reviewing medical and police records, “Dr. Frost ruled the cause of death as chronic ethanol use, complicated by injuries due to the assault. Manner of death was ruled a homicide,” according to court documents.

(César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)

B. Lauro De Leon, 75, passed away on Saturday, January 31, 2015 at Starr County Memorial Hospital in Rio Grande City, Texas.

Mr. De Leon is preceded in death by his parents, Bernardo and Enriqueta De Leon; brothers, Juan De Leon and Alejandro De Leon.

Mr. De Leon is survived by his brothers, Hugo (Juana) De Leon, Angel De Leon, Carlos De Leon; sisters, Olivia (+Cesar) Ramos, Francisca (+Emilio) Vela, Elena (Juan) Montoya, Eliamar (Willie) Wilson, Beatriz (Jesus) Moncivais, Yolanda (Jesse) Lopez; and by numerous nephews, nieces, other family members and friends.

Visitation hours were held on Tuesday, February 3, 2015, at 8 a.m. with a chapel service at 9 a.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home.

Committal services followed at Zapata County Cemetery.

Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy 83 Zapata, Texas.