The Zapata Times 2/14/2015

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BORDER PATROL

ZAPATA COUNTY

Woman charged for smuggling

FBI arrests men Two accused of transporting $400k in pot

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

Suspect led agents on a chase along Texas 16 in Zapata County

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

A woman accused of smuggling immigrants into the country led authorities on a chase along Texas 16 in Zapata County, according to court documents obtained this week.

Alicia Alaniz Vela, of San Diego, Texas, was charged with transporting illegal immigrants with a vehicle within the Southern District of Texas, according to a criminal complaint filed Feb. 6. Records show Alaniz

See SMUGGLING PAGE 11A

Federal authorities arrested two men in Zapata County accused of transporting more than $400,000 worth of marijuana, according to court documents released this week show.

Heraldo Chapa and Rene Romeo Guerra were charged Feb. 5 with posses with intent to manufacture, distribute or dispense a controlled substance, according to a criminal complaint filed against them Tuesday.

At 5:02 p.m. Feb. 5, a U.S. Border Patrol camera installed along a known smuggling route spotted a Chevrolet pickup traveling toward Falcon Lake in Zapata. Border Patrol kept a watchful eye on the vehicle, which then headed toward U.S. 83.

Agents said the pickup then pulled into a warehouse located at the entrance of the Remigio Guerra Ranch, off U.S. 83. Four people came out of the warehouse to board a gray Dodge Ram 1500 parked out-

side. A marked Border Patrol unit trailed the Dodge while another agent continued observing the warehouse.

When agents intercepted the Dodge, two men dressed in hunters’ camouflage clothing jumped out of the passenger cabin to run into the brush. Authorities said the driver and passenger stayed in the vehicle. Guerra was identified as the driver while Chapa was the passenger.

Asked why the other two people ran away, Guerra

stated he believed because they were in the country illegally. Chapa and Guerra were initially detained under the suspicion of transporting illegal immigrants, documents state.

Border Patrol, FBI task force members and a K-9 unit inspected the warehouse where the Ram had departed from. Records show the narcotics detection dog immediately alerted agents to possible contraband within the Chevrolet.

See FBI PAGE 11A

TEXAS CAPITOL

LAGUNA MADRE

CLASS OUT AT SEA Photo by Eric Gay | AP

Jackson County Sheriff A.J. "Andy" Louderback, left, confers with Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawtohorne, center.

Open carry bills pass senate panel Photo by David Pike/Valley Morning Star | AP

In this photo taken February 9, Captain Whitney let the Lyford Middle School students know they could touch, hold, and even kiss the fish they found. Some students took it literally.

Students learn the ways of the water

By FERNANDO DEL VALLE VALLEY MORNING NEWS

P

Photo by David Pike/Valley Morning Star | AP

In this photo taken February 9, Captain Whitney explains to the Lyford Middle School students how a water bladder helps the shrimp survive out of water longer than the other sea life they caught Monday.

ORT MANSFIELD — For Sara Cardoza, the school field trip on the research boat Archimedes marked the first time she climbed on a boat — and the first time she saw dolphins in the wild.

“It’s beautiful,” the sixth-grader told the Valley Morning Star of Harlingen as she scanned the Laguna Madre. “I’m excited. I got to learn something new about the ecosystem.”

Sixth-graders from

Lyford Middle School boarded the 38-foot boat as part of a program that will teach Willacy County students about life under the Laguna Madre through Feb. 27.

“The main things we try to stress are the differences between the food chains on land and the food chains in the water,” said Whitney Curry, the boat’s captain.

For five years, Curry and her husband Bryan piloted a research boat as part of a Texas A&M University program that helped thousands of students learn about coast-

See WATER PAGE 11A

Bills lift ban on concealed guns on campus; vote will move to full Senate

By MORGAN SMITH TEXAS TRIBUNE

A crowd of Second Amendment rights activists, survivors of gun violence, students, concerned parents, and law enforcement officers showed up at the Texas Capitol on Thursday to give lawmakers their views on two high-profile gun bills.

After a hearing that lasted almost eight hours, the Senate State Affairs Committee passed bills that would lift a ban on concealed handguns at university campuses (Senate Bill 11) and allow license holders to carry holstered handguns openly (Senate Bill 17). Both measures passed 7-2, with the committee’s two Democrats voting against, and now proceed to the full Senate.

Colin Goddard, who was shot four times dur-

ing the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting in which 32 students and faculty members died, was among those who spoke. He asked lawmakers not to use the Virginia Tech tragedy to justify campus carry bills.

“We survivors do not think that it is a good idea to have guns on campus,” he said. “There is no evidence that a bill like SB 11 would do anything to stop a mass shooting, but SB 11 would make the average day on campus more dangerous in an environment where students are dealing with failing grades, alcohol abuse, relationship problems.”

Several police chiefs also testified against the measures, saying they would strain law enforcement and make it difficult to identify perpetrators at the scene of a crime.

See BILLS PAGE 11A

PAGE 2A

Zin brief CALENDAR

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2015

AROUND TEXAS

TODAY IN HISTORY

Saturday, Feb. 14

ASSOCIATED PRESS

TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Earth, Moon and Sun, 2 p.m. New Horizons, 3 p.m.

Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 4 p.m.

Led Zeppelin, 5 p.m. Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-236-DOME (3663). #Operation Feed the HomelessSpread the Love. Jarvis plaza from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm. Pizza for the homeless. Donations and volunteers appreciated.

Today is Saturday, Feb. 14, the 45th day of 2015. There are 320 days left in the year. This is Valentine’s Day. Today’s Highlight in History: On Feb. 14, 1929, the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” took place in a Chicago garage as seven rivals of Al Capone’s gang were gunned down.

On this date: In 1859, Oregon was admitted to the Union as the 33rd state.

In 1895, Oscar Wilde’s final play, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” opened at the St. James’s Theatre in London.

In 1903, the Department of Commerce and Labor was established. (It was divided into separate departments of Commerce and Labor in 1913.)

In 1912, Arizona became the 48th state of the Union as President William Howard Taft signed a proclamation.

In 1924, the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. of New York was formally renamed International Business Machines Corp., or IBM. In 1962, first lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducted a televised tour of the White House in a videotaped special that was broadcast on CBS and NBC (and several nights later on ABC).

In 1985, Cable News Network reporter Jeremy Levin, held hostage by extremists in Lebanon, escaped from his captors. Whitney Houston’s debut album, eponymously titled “Whitney Houston,” was released by Arista Records.

In 2013, Paralympic superstar Oscar Pistorius was charged with murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, at his home in South Africa; he was later convicted of culpable homicide and sentenced to five years in jail.

Ten years ago: Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated with explosives.

Five years ago: The Americans broke through the Nordic combined barrier at Vancouver as Johnny Spillane won the silver, the first U.S. Olympic medal in the sport dominated since its inception by the Europeans (Jason Lamy Chappuis of France won the gold).

One year ago: Drawing a link between climate change and California’s drought, President Barack Obama said the U.S. had to stop thinking of water as a “zero-sum” game and needed to do a better job of figuring out how to make sure everyone’s water needs were satisfied.

Today’s Birthdays: TV personality Hugh Downs is 94.

Actress-singer Florence Henderson is 81. Movie director Alan Parker is 71. Journalist Carl Bernstein is 71. TV personality Pat O’Brien is 67. Actor Ken Wahl is 58. Opera singer Renee Fleming is 56.

Actress Meg Tilly is 55. Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Kelly is 55. Singer-producer Dwayne Wiggins is 54. Actor Zach Galligan is 51. Actor Valente Rodriguez is 51. Rock musician Ricky Wolking (The Nixons) is 49. Tennis player Manuela Maleeva is 48. Actor Simon Pegg is 45. Rock musician Kevin Baldes (Lit) is 43.

Rock singer Rob Thomas (Matchbox Twenty) is 43. Actor Matt Barr is 31. Actor Jake Lacy is 29. Actress Tiffany Thornton is 29. Actor Freddie Highmore is 23.

Thought for Today: “To find a man’s true character, play golf with him.” — P.G. Wodehouse (1881-1975).

Tuesday, Feb. 17 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 5 p.m. Black Holes, 6 p.m. Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-236-DOME (3663).

United Methodist Men’s Pancake Supper. Serving from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Public is invited, no charge, but free-will offering is accepted.

Wednesday, Feb. 18 Free heart health education class. 12:30 p.m. – 2 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland. All materials are in English. Topics to be discussed: Blood Pressure 101, Cholesterol 101, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, Weight Management and Physical Activity, HeartHealthy Cooking and Fast Food Survival for Heart Health. For more information, contact Patricia at 722-1674.

Saturday, Feb. 21 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Earth, Moon and Sun, 2 p.m. New Horizons, 3 p.m.

Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 4 p.m.

Led Zeppelin, 5 p.m. Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-236-DOME (3663).

Tuesday, Feb. 24 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 5 p.m. Black Holes, 6 p.m. Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-236-DOME (3663).

Wednesday, Feb. 25 Free heart health education class. 12:30 p.m. – 2 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland. All materials are in English. Topics to be discussed: Blood Pressure 101, Cholesterol 101, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, Weight Management and Physical Activity, HeartHealthy Cooking and Fast Food Survival for Heart Health. For more information, contact Patricia at 722-1674.

Thursday, Feb. 26 Spanish Book Club from 6 to 8 p.m. at Laredo Public Library on Calton. Call Sylvia Reash at 763-1810.

Villa San Agustin de Laredo Genealogical Society will meet, from 3-5 p.m., at the Center for the Arts in historical downtown. A $2 donation for non-members is requested. Call Sanjuanita Martinez-Hunter at 722-3497.

Friday, Feb. 27 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Led Zeppelin, 6 p.m. Live Star Presentation (observing will occur after show if weather permits), 7 p.m. Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-236-DOME (3663).

Saturday, Feb. 28 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Earth, Moon and Sun, 2 p.m. New Horizons, 3 p.m.

Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 4 p.m.

Led Zeppelin, 5 p.m. Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-236-DOME (3663).

Saturday, March 7 Texican CattleWomen’s STEAK-ARAMA. In Memory of Mary Kay & Gene Walker. Steak dinner with all the trimmings. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Laredo International Fair & Exposition on Hwy 59. Donation: $7. Get your Steak-A-Rama tickets from any CattleWoman member, the LIFE Office (Hwy 59), Guerra Communications (6402 N Bartlett Ave@ Jacaman Rd.) or Primped Style Bar (7718 McPherson).

Photo by Paul Moseley/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram | AP

Chris Kyle’s widow, Taya Kyle, right, hugs a supporter before court is in session during the capital murder trial of former Marine Cpl. Eddie Ray Routh at the Erath County, Donald R. Jones Justice Center in Stephenville, on Friday. Routh, 27, of Lancaster, is charged with the 2013 deaths of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield.

‘Sniper’ trial continues

By JAMIE STENGLE ASSOCIATED PRESS

STEPHENVILLE — Authorities found marijuana, a nearly empty bottle of whiskey and anti-psychotic medication while searching the home of the former Marine charged with killing “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle and his friend, a Texas Ranger testified Friday.

The testimony was the latest of the evidence presented to jurors this week that has shed light on Eddie Ray Routh’s mental state at the time of the killings two years ago at a rural Texas shooting range.

Texas Ranger David Armstrong said the search of the small wood-framed house in Lancaster turned up drug paraphernalia, alcohol and medication prescribed to Routh that defense says was used to treat schizophrenia. On the refrigerator was a note with

Kyle’s name and phone number.

James Watson, 45, Routh’s uncle, testified later that he smoked marijuana with his nephew at Routh’s suburban Dallas home. Watson said he went there after Routh’s girlfriend told him she was concerned about him after a fight they had.

“We talked at length about what was going on with him,” Watson said. Watson said he does not remember drinking whiskey with his nephew that morning, “but that doesn’t mean I didn’t.” He explained that it would not have been unusual for them.

Finally, Routh left to go shooting with Kyle, and Watson said he went home to nap.

Routh came back later, awakened Watson and showed him a 9-mm handgun and a black pickup truck he was driving.

“I’m driving a dead man’s truck,” Watson recalled Routh telling him.

Spurs owner big giver to Abbott’s inauguration

Driver in alleged DWI wreck leaves behind arm

School errors jeopardize graduation eligibility

AUSTIN — Walmart and the owner of the San Antonio Spurs are among more than 200 private contributors who donated a combined $4.7 million to the lavish inauguration of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. The list of contributors disclosed Friday includes many of the same wealthy donors who built Abbott’s recordsetting campaign bankroll during his run for governor. AT&T and grocery chain H-E-B were among the other big givers.

CORPUS CHRISTI — Corpus Christi police have reunited a suspected drunken driver with his arm after the prosthetic limb was left behind following a car accident.

Sr. Officer Marc Harrod says 23-year-old Juan Gutierrez of Corpus Christi allegedly left the scene of a one-car wreck early Thursday. Gutierrez and a passenger were treated for minor injuries.

SPRING — A school district north of Houston says the graduation eligibility of nearly 600 students has been jeopardized by a series of errors committed by administrators, some dating back years. Spring officials are rushing to verify whether the high school students have met state requirements to graduate. Officials say the problems include students being directed to repeatedly take the same course despite passing each time.

Jump in number of monarch butterflies COLLEGE STATION — An expert says more monarch butterflies could be showing up in Texas following years of declines for the iconic orange-and-black insects. Texas A&M researcher Craig Wilson on Friday reported preliminary breeding ground figures from Mexico show more than 56 million monarchs.

Texan gets life term for molestation of 11-year-old MIDLAND — A North Texas man has been sentenced to life in federal prison for taking an 11-year-old girl to Mexico and molesting her.

Jurors last October convicted the 35-year-old Joel Aguirre-Lara of transportation of a minor to engage in sexual activity and aggravated sexual abuse of a child under age 12.

Fire at Quba Islamic Institute in Houston HOUSTON — Fire has damaged an Islamic community and education center in Houston at a time when the religious complex was unoccupied.

The Houston Fire Department says nobody was hurt in the fire around 5:30 a.m. Friday at the Quba Islamic Institute.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION Oregon governor resigns in light of wife’s bribes PORTLAND, Ore. — The resignation of Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber instantly promoted the liberal Democrat who is next in line to succeed him: the 54-yearold secretary of state who has long been thought to have her eye on Oregon’s top elected position. Kate Brown, who is widely considered to be to the left of the departing Democratic governor, will also become the first openly bisexual governor in the nation.

She will not assume office until Wednesday. He is stepping down amid suspicions that his fiancee used their relationship to land contracts for her energy consulting business.

Pennsylvania governor ends state death penalty HARRISBURG, Pa. — Newly elected Gov. Tom Wolf imposed a moratorium on the death penalty

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 by Don Ryan | AP file

In this Jan. 12 file photo, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, middle, is joined by his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, as he is sworn in for an unprecedented fourth term by Senior Judge Paul J. De Muñiz in Salem, Ore. in the state on Friday, calling the current system of capital punishment “error prone, expensive and anything but infallible.”

The Democrat said the moratorium will remain in effect at least until he receives a report from a legislative commission

that has been studying the topic for about four years. Wolf announced the policy less than a month after taking office, fulfilling a campaign promise. Pennsylvania has executed only three people since 1976.

— 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.

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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, FEBRUARY 14, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

Winter Texan & Senior Appreciation Day SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

The Zapata County Chamber of Commerce will host Winter Texan & Senior Appreciation Day Thursday at the Zapata Community Center at 605 N. U.S. Hwy 83. The event will last from noon to 5 p.m.

There will be live music

by Terry Porter Rowe and Jeanette Silva and a contest for Best Decorated Hat, with

prizes awarded to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place winners.

The event will also have a health and medical screening, lunch, refreshments, information booths and fun activities.

Sponsors for the event include: AEP Texas, Champion Care, Inc., Amistad Home Health Inc., Brush Country Home Health, Ahh…Smile Family Dentistry,

State Farm, Gateway Community Health, The Steak House Restaurant, Los Pasteles Bakery & Coffee, Ramirez Farmers Insurance, Angelical Home Health, Zapata County News, DNA Home Health, Shapy Haven, LLC., Holiday Restaurant, Celebration Shoppe, Diana’s Restaurant, Aaron’s Furniture, Stinson RV Park, Lowe’s Market, Family Dollar, Morning Glory Provider

Prosecutors clarify

Services, Martinez Electrical Services, St. Benedict Home Health, Riverview Family Center, Lack’s Furniture Store, Dr. Ike’s Home Center, Martinez Appliances, Unique Beauty Shop, Ace Home Center, Medicine Shoppe, Zapata Fun Tours, Eloy Insurance, Dairy Queen and McDonald’s.

For more information, call the Zapata County

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Prosecutors on Friday followed a judge’s direction and sharpened their twocount indictment against Rick Perry. Hoping to keep their case from being dismissed, they provided their clearest explanation yet of their case against the former governor.

On Aug. 15, then-Gov. Perry governor was indicted on two charges — abuse of power and coercion of a public official — after he threatened to veto funding for the state’s public integrity unit unless Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, who had pleaded guilty to drunken driving, resigned.

Perry later made good on that threat, vetoing the approximately $3.7 million per year budgeted to fund the unit.

In papers filed Friday in Austin, special prosecutors Mike McCrum and David Gonzalez, amended last year’s indictment to fill out their argument that Perry’s action was illegal.

The prosecutors argue that a governor’s veto power is not absolute, and can be misused for criminal purposes. In this case, they contend, Perry’s veto threat was meant to accomplish one of two goals: either forcing an independent, local elected official out of office or hindering corrup-

AUSTIN — New reviews of forensic evidence support a Texas death row inmate’s long-held claims that he didn’t kill a 19year-old woman nearly two decades ago, said attorneys for the man who faces execution next month.

Rodney Reed, 47, is set to die March 5 for the 1996 Photo by Bob Daemmrich | Texas Tribune

Prosecutor Michael McCrum gathers his thoughts as testimony continues in Travis County District Court on the Perry case.. tion investigations. Either goal was illegal, they say.

"The state will prove that Defendant Perry did not approve of historical and current management decisions regarding the operation of the Public Integrity Unit and therefore wanted to coerce Ms. Lehmberg into resigning her elected position and/or stymie or obstruct the continued operation under Ms. Lehmberg’s management," the prosecutors explained.

Last month, Judge Bert Richardson ruled that the criminal case against Perry can proceed, rejecting the former governor’s defense team’s attempt to have the indictment dismissed. Richardson ruled that it was too early in the case to dismiss the indictment. But the judge, who now sits on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, outlined defects in the

charges against Perry that had to be corrected.

The prosecutors complied, outlining how they believe they will prove that gubernatorial veto is not absolute and can be criminally misused.

"The State will present evidence that Defendant Perry had control or possession of government funds by virtue of his power of gubernatorial veto to stop the flow of legislatively-authorized appropriated funds," the prosecutors’ filing stated.

As for the second count, coercion of a public official, the prosecutors said the state will prove that "Defendant Perry is criminally responsible for the communication to Rosemary Lehmberg that unless she resigned from her official position" Perry would veto funding to her office.

Zapata County Fair meeting As part of the Zapata County Fair, the Arts, Crafts, Photography, and Baking Committee will be holding participant and parent meetings Tuesday and Feb. 24, both at 6:30 p.m., at

the Zapata County Pavilion.

The contest is open to students from 3rd through 12th grade and adults. Both participant and parents and any adults participating must attend one of the meetings.

Failure to attend one of the meetings will prohibit the participant from competing.

For questions, call Erica Uribe at 279-6804.

Death row inmate appeals

By TERRI LANGFORD TEXAS TRIBUNE

Chamber of Commerce at 765-4871.

rape and strangulation of Stacey Stites, a grocery store worker from Central Texas. Her body was found in brush off the side of a road in Bastrop County after she didn’t show up at her job.

An 83-page appeal filed Thursday with the trial court in Bastrop County and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals says the

original medical examiner has changed his opinion on when Stites died and three other coroners who have reviewed the evidence also dispute the original finding on her time of death. They believe she was killed elsewhere and her body moved to the spot where it was found, according to Reed’s attorneys.

PAGE 4A

Zopinion

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2015

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

COMMENTARY

OTHER VIEWS

Being under fire in battle is nothing to brag about

By CHARLES LANE THE WASHINGTON POST

In hindsight, the tip-off that Brian Williams was making up that story about getting shot at over Iraq in 2003 was that he seemed to think it was something to brag about in the first place.

War reporting, like war itself, involves a high sitting-around-to-action ratio. Once they’ve accepted the extra risk of going to a conflict zone, journalists generally wind up under fire for one of two reasons: sheer bad luck or their own miscalculations — all too often, embarrassingly stupid miscalculations.

The first alternative is no reflection on you as a reporter, one way or the other. The second one reflects poorly on you.

I learned this from a few close scrapes when I was a notoriously, but insufficiently, risk-averse correspondent in places like El Salvador and the former Yugoslavia.

Example: that time in Sarajevo when I strutted into an interview with two well-armed Bosnian militiamen, showing off my state-of-the-art bulletproof vest as a conversation starter.

Impressed with the merchandise, they pointed their weapons at me and demanded that I hand it over to them; after all, they were the ones intentionally going into combat later on. Begging them not to kill me, I complied.

In short, never trust an “I got shot at” tale that doesn’t dwell on how really, really scared the taleteller felt at the time.

Even if the incident in question is due to bad luck (as seems to have been the case for Williams), as opposed to bad decision-making, getting shot at, or the equivalent, can be so scary it’s humiliating.

Your guts turn to water, your heart pounds and you start shaking, or screaming, and, if possible, running like hell.

Then comes the sound of laughter: battle-savvy locals, pointing and cackling at jittery you.

And if you did wind up in danger as a result of a bad decision, the stress is compounded many times over by the knowledge that it was your own stupid fault.

It’s all legitimate subject matter for gallows humor over beers back at the hotel, but definitely nothing to write home about, much less banter about with Letterman.

Alas, the notion that nearly getting killed con-

fers some sort of extra reportorial credibility is a deeply ingrained cultural norm, among both producers and consumers of news. I don’t know who’s to blame for this; maybe it all goes back to Ernest Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn and the civil war in Spain.

Certainly, Williams was encouraged to put himself at the center of a March 26, 2003, “Dateline NBC” report about his trip aboard a U.S. Army Chinook helicopter ferrying construction material to troops in southern Iraq.

“My colleague Brian Williams is back in Kuwait City tonight after a close call in the skies over Iraq,” then-NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw intoned, introducing Williams’s report. “Brian, tell us about what you got yourself into.” Not: Tell us what happened to the U.S. troops you are covering.

Blame Williams for whatever combination of insecurity, dishonesty and narcissism led him to embellish — misbehavior for which he is appropriately being held accountable now.

The mitigating factor is that he was, to some extent, just meeting the demand, both in NBC’s executive suite and in its audience, for infotainment, starring our intrepid man on the ground.

Williams stands accused of stealing military valor; it would be more accurate to say that the misappropriated valor, if any, belonged to other reporters.

There is indeed much important news that cannot be gathered without real physical risk-taking, as the horrible deaths of Western reporters at the hands of the Islamic State remind us.

TV journalists and still photographers, especially, must get close to the action, and we should admire them for their willingness to do so.

The best ones, though, pride themselves on getting in, getting the story — and getting out safely, without exposing themselves to preventable risks in the process, which is also what the best news organizations (NBC News included, I’m sure) encourage, equip and train them to do.

So let the downfall of Brian Williams be a lesson to everyone: The truth matters, including mundane truths about the practice of journalism, in peace or war.

And to those of us still in the news biz, for the millionth time: We are not the story.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY The Zapata Times does not publish anonymous letters.

To be published, letters must include the writer’s first and last names as well as a phone number to verify identity. The phone number IS NOT published; it is used solely to verify identity and to clarify content, if necessary. Identity of the letter writer must be verified before publication.

We want to assure our

readers that a letter is written by the person who signs the letter. The Zapata Times does not allow the use of pseudonyms.

Letters are edited for style, grammar, length and civility. No name-calling or gratuitous abuse is allowed.

Via e-mail, send letters to editorial@lmtonline.com or mail them to Letters to the Editor, 111 Esperanza Drive, Laredo, TX 78041.

COMMENTARY

People as microbusinesses

By LLEWELLYN KING HEARST NEWSPAPERS

The genius of Uber is dumbfounding. I’m not talking about what it pays its drivers (not enough), whether it’s putting taxis out of business (it is). I’m talking about the sheer brilliance of unleashing the value stored in the family car. Likewise Airbnb, which isn’t denting the hotels but is causing tax collectors to go apoplectic.

These Internet companies are unleashing the value that families have had hidden in their driveways and spare bedrooms. What’s next? Your guess is as good as mine. If your guess is right, there are folks over at Google who’d like to talk to you.

Airbnb (which connects people looking for accommodation with those offering it in their homes) may be a tad more exciting than Uber (which puts private car owners in the transportation business) because it is catering to a specific traveler market. Hotels have become so unpredictable in their opportunistic pricing that private travelers are happy to leave them to business travelers who are less price-sensitive.

Then there’s GrubHub,

which offers free online ordering from thousands of delivery and takeout restaurants. It may well be the next big thing in the market.

These are three examples of how the Internet, which giveth and taketh away, is reordering the economy.

They’re beacons for how the economy might replace the jobs that are being lost to computers. They also offer extra income or full employment for people who don’t have marketable educations: driving a car and keeping a pretty home don’t require college degrees in science.

The nature of work is changing, and one of the consequences is that more of us are becoming self-employed: private contractors.

The Internet enables a large number of artisan skills to be marketed. I’ve just found an online advertisement for a dressmaker.

Long before Walmart and “Project Runway,” dressmakers abounded. Women would ask their neighborhood dressmaker to “run up something” for a special occasion or whatever.

Mass retailing, plus the difficulty of marketing beyond word-of-mouth, pretty well ended that, but it may

come back. Now you may live in Atlanta, but you can order a bridal gown from an Etsy dressmaker in Seattle.

The Red Truck Bakery & Market, housed in an old gas station in Warrenton, Va., sends its Meyer Lemon and other goodies across the country. Artisanal baking meets the Internet.

Years ago, a friend of mine developed a knit teddy bear. It was a beautiful thing; tactile, safe for small children. I don’t recall whether my friend had gotten around to naming her stuffed bruin, but he was a darling — although I don’t know why stuffed bears have to be male.

Anyway the said unnamed, unsexed, stuffed bear didn’t make it into many young arms because of marketing. The big retailers didn’t want it. Things are very competitive in Bear Land, and Paddington Bear and company don’t want other teddy bears crashing their picnic on the store shelves.

That was more than 30 years ago. Today, Bear X could be sold on the Internet. Now I’d wager the big chain retailers would come begging — offering the little thing a whole shelf for it-

self.

The miracle of today is that it could happen differently. The concomitant fact is that we’re going to need more cottage industry and more self-employed contractors because the jobs of yesterday are disappearing, and the companies are less and less inclined to hire permanent staff.

Years ago, the jewelry business moved offshore; now it’s moved to American homes. It’s possible for a creative person to make jewelry at home and sell it online.

A new age of self-employment is at hand. Recently, I’ve worked with two inspiring millennials. One is a gifted filmmaker, and the other a computer wizard.

Both are making a living, and neither has given any serious thought to getting a job in the conventional way.

It’s not the age of small business, but microbusiness: the individual with something to sell whether it is artisanal furniture or a skill. The millennials seem to know this instinctively, the rest of us are learning it. Want to hire a veteran journalist who works from home? Call me.

(Llewellyn King’s e-mail is lking@kingpublishing.com.)

WORST WEEK IN WASHINGTON

Social media trumps Williams

By CHRIS CILLIZZA THE WASHINGTON POST

If you’re looking to understand the power social media can now wield over traditional media, I’ve got two words for you: Brian Williams.

Or 10 words: “Sorry dude, I don’t remember you being on my aircraft.”

Lance Reynolds, a former Army flight engineer, left that comment late last

month on a Facebook post featuring Williams, the popular anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” retelling a story about how a military helicopter he was on came under fire in Iraq in 2003.

Then came the full story in Stars and Stripes, which made clear that Williams, who had conceded the exaggeration, did so under pressure. And suddenly Lance Reynolds was a household name.

A week later, Williams was suspended for six months without pay by the NBC/Comcast brass.

“On Friday, Jan. 30, Brian misrepresented events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003,” an NBC statement said. “It then became clear that on other occasions Brian had done the same. . . . This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in

Brian’s position.”

And just like that Williams, one of the most recognizable journalists in the country, was gone.

No one really knows if Williams can make it back to the anchor chair that would have been impossible to imagine him not occupying in semi-perpetuity.

And it’s all because of a Facebook posting by someone no one had heard of before Wednesday.

CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

Nation

6A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2015

New Englanders bracing for more snow

By BOB SALSBERG ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOSTON — New Englanders still digging out from three major storms that left 6 feet or more of snow in many areas are bracing for what’s expected to be another punishing winter blast.

The National Weather Service has posted a blizzard warning for eastern Massachusetts and coastal New Hampshire and Maine ahead of a storm expected to intensify tonight and last into Sunday.

Wind gusts could howl at 70 mph and north-facing coastal areas could suffer moderate flooding and beach erosion from the “monster storm,” said Bill Simpson, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Taunton, Massachusetts.

“Snow amounts will not be as much as the previous big storms, but still, when you have 8 to 14 inches of snow, wind driven-snow, the cold air and the snow that is already there it’s probably going to be very difficult for a lot of people,” he said.

If there was a silver lining, Simpson said, the track of the storm was likely to stay far enough off shore to avoid crippling impacts and reduce the amount of snowfall inland. It will also hit over a holiday weekend, which could minimize travel effects, though it could disrupt some Valentine’s Day plans.

The Boston-area public transit system has struggled to maintain operations during the recent storms. It says it will shut down all service on Sunday.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker is urging residents to stay off the road during the height of the storm.

The northern New England coast could see greater snowfall totals — with up 2 two feet in Down East Maine.

Officials warned that hurricaneforce wind gusts could

lead to power outages.

The Coast Guard had an airplane flying in the Gulf of Maine broadcasting a warning to mariners about the impending storm, said Lt. Scott McCann.

The forecast added to the urgency Friday of crews working to remove massive snow piles that have clogged streets and triggered numerous roof collapses.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker called up hundreds of National Guard troops to assist with snow removal, and the Hanscom Air Force base outside Boston became a staging area for heavy equipment pouring in from other states to help in the effort.

Patricia Vinchesi, town administrator in Scituate, said a state of emergency would go into effect at midnight in the coastal community were portions of the seawall were breached during a late January storm.

“We’ve sort of been in reaction and recovery mode and before we can get any appreciable degree of recovery we are in reaction mode again,” Vinchesi said of the coming storm.

The National Guard helped dig out 700 fire hydrants in recent days and workers from the New York Department of Transportation were lending a hand to the snow removal effort on Friday, she said. The state gave Scituate permission to dump snow into the ocean because there was nowhere else to put it.

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said two machines capable of melting 135 tons of snow per hour arrived from New York City on Thursday, along with backhoes, dump trucks and front-end loaders from neighboring states.

The spate of storms have caused major disruptions for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, as snow and freezing temperatures overwhelmed aging equip-

ment on the nation’s oldest public transit system.

Walsh on Thursday suggested the MBTA shut down for the weekend but reversed course on Friday and said closing the system would “pose an incredible hardship to workers and people living throughout Boston.”

A spokesman for the MBTA said the system would operate Saturday but he could make no assurances for the rest of the weekend.

If the snow wasn’t enough, New Englanders also had bitter cold to look forward to in the coming days, with lows of minus 10 degrees forecast in some parts of the region Sunday night.

Snow-weary customers at a Home Depot store in Watertown, Massachusetts, spent Friday loading up on shovels and rock salt in anticipation of the latest storm.

“I can’t take it anymore. I’m beat, I’m tired, I’m ready to go back to Brazil,” said Armando Pinhero, who has lived in New England for 28 years but had never experienced a winter this severe.

School superintendents in Massachusetts and Maine were spared the decision of whether to order more snow days, as school vacation was already scheduled for next week.

Some families planning getaways to warmer destinations moved up their flights from Boston’s Logan International Airport Friday to avoid being grounded by the approaching storm.

Photo by Bill Sikes | AP

A parking meter sits mostly buried in snow Friday in downtown Boston. Another winter storm that could bring an additional foot or more of snow to some areas is forecast beginning tonight.

Nation

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A

Ice fishing contest adds allure to winter sport

By MICHAEL HILL ASSOCIATED PRESS

MAYFIELD, N.Y. — Standing on an icy lake.

Watching a 10-inch hole all day. Waiting for a fish to bite.

It’s a popular pastime in colder climates like the Adirondacks — especially when there’s cash on the line.

More than 1,700 competitors spread out across the icy expanse of Great Sacandaga Lake recently for the seventh annual Walleye Challenge. Contests like this that offer cash for big catches are common around the country — a frosty bit of Americana that combines fish, fun and money.

Participants on the southern Adirondack lake bored holes at dawn and stayed

Life for teacher’s killing

By LISA RATHKE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. — A woman convicted along with her husband of killing a prep school teacher in 2012 after they decided “to get a girl” was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Patricia Prue gave up a possible insanity defense a day earlier and pleaded guilty to a murder charge in the disappearance and killing of Melissa Jenkins, who prosecutors say was lured to her death with a ruse about a broken down car.

Prue apologized to Jenkins’ family and said she wished she had gotten the mental health help she needed.

until dark. They kept an eye on their fishing holes from inside windblown tents and cozy trailers or simply stood out on the snowy moonscape amid single-digit temperatures colder than their cans of beer.

“This is where it’s at,” said Tim Delaney, out with his wife, Tina, and their sons. “You’ve got to live the winter and be outside and enjoy it to the fullest or it’s going to be a looong winter.”

Ice fishing is often associated with the Great Lakes region but is popular across the higher latitudes. The American Sportfishing Association says there were 1.9 million ice anglers in 2011, a 12 percent increase from five years earlier. Contests are a way to bring ice fishing lovers together. One of

Photo by Mike Groll | AP

Bruce Gollmer of Niskayuna, N.Y., holds a northern pike he caught while ice fishing on Great Sacandaga Lake in Mayfield, N.Y. the most famous contests, the Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza on Gull Lake in Minnesota, attracted more than 11,000 people last month, according to organizers.

The all-day Sacandaga competition offered cash

prizes totaling $1,649 an hour for the biggest catches plus big-ticket prizes like a snowmobile and off-road vehicles. Though ice fishing is popular on the lake all winter, the competition is an added incentive to go out in the elements.

Organizer Lou Stutzke, who operates a local convenience store, started the contest with Hank “Beaver” Ross, who was inspired by a competition in the northern Adirondacks that had hourly prizes. Seven years ago, they capped the number of contestants at 1,000 but have bumped that up since. Now, their 1,750 slots sell out in a few weeks.

“It grew into a monster, basically,” Stutzke said.

Fishing holes are topped by spring-loaded “tip-ups” with little orange flags that whip up when a line is pulled. But pulling a fish in takes skill. Bruce Gollmer kneeled on the ice with the line in his hand, pulling it in with his bare hands then letting the fish run out some. He finally landed a 32-

inch northern pike.

“They’ve got a mouthful of teeth and they’ll snap a line with one shake of the head so you want to tire them out and just slowly bring them in,” Gollmer said.

Gollmer’s big catch was not eligible for the walleye contest, but it qualified for a contest run at the same time by the Sacandaga Lake Fisheries Federation.

The main basin of lake is about five miles wide, meaning shanties are spaced out and fish need to be motored to weigh-in stations by snowmobile. Walleyes are weighed and plopped back into the water through a hole in the ice.

The cash prizes are nice, but the competition has the vibe of a big party on ice.

PÁGINA 8A

Zfrontera

Ribereña en Breve WBCA Carnaval del 12 al 23 de febrero. Lunes-viernes, puertas abren a las 5 p.m.; sábado-domingo, puertas abren a mediodía. Estacionamiento de Laredo Energy Arena. Costo: 2 dólares entrada.

El sábado 14 de febrero tendrá lugar la Carrera y Feria de la Salud Founding Father’s, comienza a las 8:30 a.m. La inscripción en el lugar comenzará a las 7:30 a.m. Costo día del evento es de 20 dólares, niños menores de 16 años pagarían 10 dólares.

También en el sábado 14 de febrero se realizará el Family Fun Fest y musical de LCC se realizará de 12 p.m. a 5 p.m. en el campus de Laredo Community College. Entrada gratuita.

Evento Pipes & Stripes Car, de 1 p.m. a 5 p.m. el sábado 14 de febrero en El Metro Park & Ride (en Thomas y Hillside).

SÁBADO 14 DE FEBRERO DE 2015

CONDADO DE ZAPATA

Persecución POR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Una mujer acusada de tráfico de inmigrantes indocumentados al interior del país, llevó a las autoridades a una persecución a lo largo de Texas 16 en el Condado de Zapata, de acuerdo con documentos de la corte obtenidos esta semana.

Alicia Alaniz Vela, de San Diego, Texas, fue acusada de transportar inmigrantes indocumentados con un vehículo a un distrito del sureste de Texas, de acuerdo con una querella criminal presentada el 6 de febrero. Registros muestran que Ala-

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.

niz Vela se encuentra en custodia federal con una fianza de 75.000 dólares.

El 3 de febrero un agente de Patrulla Fronteriza vio una Ford Expedition, color negro, conducida por Alaniz Vela, conduciendo al este desde Zapata sobre Texas 16.

“La Ford Expedition presentaba la parte de atrás baja, y parecía llevar una cantidad excesiva de peso”, señala la querella criminal.

Sospechando que el conductor estaba involucrado en alguna actividad ilegal, el agente se acercó al vehículo para ver más de cerca la unidad y a sus ocupantes.

BROWNSVILLE

IMPULSO ENERGÉTICO

Enviaron narcóticos por UPS TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

El Gobernador Egidio Torre Cantú, junto a David Porter, comisionado tejano del sector energético y otros líderes tamaulipecos realizaron una gira de trabajo para estrechar la colaboración entre ambas Entidades.

Exponen área de inversión a Texas TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

AVISO DE TRÁFICO Continúa el proyecto de ampliación sobre US 83 y las líneas de división 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.

D

espués de la creación y presencia de nuevas oportunidades energéticas de Tamaulipas, autoridades tejanas han dejado claro su interés por invertir en éste Estado, señala un comunicado de prensa.

“Tamaulipas como Texas se ponen a la delantera en nuestros países en la producción de petróleo además por su abundancia en gas convencional y no convencional, así como sus recursos en energías sustentable”, dijo David Porter, comisionado tejano del sector energético, durante una gi-

ra de trabajo para estrechar la colaboración entre ambas Entidades.

Tras una gira de trabajo por Altamira y Tampico, el Gobernador de Tamaulipas, Egidio Torre Cantú mostró algunas de las ventajas del Estado.

Durante el recorrido se visitaron las instalaciones de INDELPRO del grupo petroquímico Alfa, único productor de resinas de polipropileno en todo el país. Asimismo las instalaciones de DIAVAZ, que es una organización de empresas con alianzas estratégicas con el objetivo de proporcionar servicios y soluciones integrales para la industria petrole-

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.

ra.

Las instalaciones de COMMSA (Construcciones Mecánicas Monclova, S.A.), empresa dedicada a la fabricación de plataformas marinas que algunas empresas como Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) también fueron visitadas.

Más tarde, en el edificio de la Antigua Aduana del Puerto de Tampico, Cantú y Porter, acompañados del titular de la Agencia Estatal de Energía, José María leal Gutiérrez, empresarios del sector y otros líderes de la Entidad, en un encuentro donde se expusieron los avances de la Agenda Energética de Tamaulipas .

Tres residentes de Brownsville, se declararon culpables de intentar el contrabando de narcóticos por medio de UPS, anunció el Fiscal de los EU, Kenneth Magidson, el jueves.

La conspiración por la que Mario Enrique Patlan de 45 años de edad, Cristina Patlan de 23, y Reymundo Abel Brown Jr., de 27, fueron arrestados y acusados ocurrió de 2007 a 2012.

Mario Patlan y Brown se declararon culpables de conspiración de posesión con intento de distribuir más de 100 kilogramos de marihuana y 500 gramos de cocaína.

La hija de Patlan, Cristina Patlan, se declaró culpable a poseer más de 37 kilogramos de marihuana con intento de distribuirla en noviembre del 2011.

La evidencia presentada demostró que Mario Patlan y Brown usaron sus posiciones en la empresa de paquetería para recibir y mandar droga por medio de UPS aéreo y terrestre. Los paquetes fueron recibidos en el área del Condado de Cameron y fueron enviados así todo Estados Unidos. Durante el tiempo de la conspiración, mas de 1.000 kilogramos de marihuana fueron enviados vía UPS a estados como Minnesota, Indiana, Pensilvania, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Michigan y Nueva York.

Como parte de su declaración, Cristina Patlan admitió que ella trabajaba como reclutadora o vínculo entre su padre y varias organizaciones del tráfico de drogas.

El trío permanecerá bajo custodia pendiente de una sentencia, establecida para el 18 de mayo, ante el Juez de Distrito de los EU Andrew Hanen.

Por el momento, Mario Patlan y Brown se enfrentan a mínimo cinco años hasta 40 años en una prisión federal y una posible multa de 5 millones de dólares. Cristina Patlan se enfrenta a hasta cinco años en prisión y una posible multa de 250.000 dólares.

Los cargos son el resultado de una investigación de la Administración para el Control de las Drogas y el Servicio de Impuestos Internos. Los Fiscales Asistentes de los Estados Unidos David Lindenmuth, Lori Roth y Charles Lewis están llevando el caso.

MATAMOROS, MÉXICO

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.

tregada a autoridades federales.

Agentes asistentes arrestaron a ocho inmigrantes mexicanos que habían entrado al condado de manera ilegal utilizando una balsa, de acuerdo con documentos de la corte. En un interrogatorio posterior al arresto, Alaniz-Vela supuestamente admitió haber recogido por 11 inmigrantes en Roma, Texas. Dijo a las autoridades que un amigo, a quien identificó como Efraín Gutiérrez estaba involucrado en el incidente de tráfico de personas, se lee en la querella.

(Localice a César G. Rodriguez en 728-2568 o en cesar@lmtonline.com)

TAMAULIPAS

DÍA DE APRECIACIÓN El jueves 19 de febrero se realizará el Winter Texan & Senior Citizen Appreciation Day, de 12 p.m. a 5 p.m. en el Centro Comunitario del Condado de Zapata.

Registros de la corte señalan que la conductora estaba buscando un lugar para dejar el vehículo. El agente intentó detener la unidad para realizar una inspección de inmigración a los ocupantes, pero la conductora se detuvo abruptamente para permitir a los ocupantes salir de la Expedition.

Mientras el agente pedía refuerzo, la mujer aceleró hacia el este sobre Texas 16. Un oficial del Alguacil del Condado de Zapata se colocó detrás de la Expedition y la detuvo un poco más al este. Identificada como la conductora, Alaniz Vela fue acusada de evasión de arrestos. Fue en-

Semana violenta afectarían economía POR AARON NELSON SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Después de días de combates de carteles de drogas, que virtualmente paralizaron Matamoros, México, y dejaron a más de dos docenas de hombres armados muertos, las víctimas no sólo se cuentan por el número de muertos, sino también por el costo financiero que hace tambalear a las empresas.

“Hay semana como la semana pasada cuando Matamoros, Río Bravo y Valle Hermoso son prácticamente intransitables”, dijo un hombre de negocios de Matamoros que habló en condición de anonimato, al temer por su seguridad. “La gente tenía miedo de salir, no fueron a trabajar y esto tuvo un impacto económico negativo significativo”.

En Matamoros, una ciudad fron-

teriza industrial donde la información emerge lentamente, la medición del impacto es inexacta. Sin embargo, los dueños de los negocios locales dicen que solo es necesario ver que más de un restaurante prospero o tienda local han cerrado sus puertas en cara de los pagos de extorsión y la violencia.

Mientras que los residentes en mejor posición económica trasladan a sus familias al lado norte de la frontera y operan las empresas en México desde la seguridad del Valle del Río Grande, otros empleados tienen que depender en gran medida de los medios sociales para navegar alrededor de las frecuentes balaceras y los brotes repentinos de enfrentamientos callejeros.

Pero cuando una lucha del cartel a gran escala estalla, tal como la semana pasada, y los funcionarios lo-

cales advierten a los residentes permanecer en casa tanto como sea posible, se interrumpe cualquier actividad cotidiana.

Mientras que un residente de Matamoros, quien es propietario de una empresa relacionada con la maquila dijo que advirtió a muchos de sus empleados a permanecer en casa y evitar el riesgo de desplazamiento, las maquiladoras más grande de la ciudad, con alrededor de 55.000 trabajadores y 7 billones en exportaciones a EU, vieron relativamente pocos trabajadores ausentes a pesar de la violencia, de acuerdo con un profesor.

“Los empleados toman precauciones adicionales, pero aún así van a trabajar”, dijo Tom Coyle, profesor asistente en la Escuela de Negocios de la Universidad de Texas en Brownsville.

Coyle encuestó a varias plantas maquiladoras en Matamoros el martes y descubrió que los trabajadores están haciendo frente a la violencia al “persistir alrededor de la cafetera más de lo normal, y eso es algo bueno”, dijo.

El crecimiento de la industria maquiladora se ha ralentizado en Matamoros en los últimos años, señaló Coyle, co-autor de un estudio publicado en Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, con plantas nuevas localizar a los estados del interior de México, en parte debido a preocupaciones de seguridad.

Debido a que las empresas más pequeñas carecen de la protección de guardias de seguridad y cercado industrial, están aún más expuestas a la delincuencia organizada, con pocos recursos para denunciar los ataques.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

Boko Haram tells kidnapping stories

By CHIKA ODUAH ASSOCIATED PRESS

YOLA, Nigeria — When Islamic extremists snatched more than 270 girls from the Chibok boarding school in Nigeria in the dead of night, protests broke out worldwide. The U.S. pledged to help find them, and the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag was born.

Some 10 months later, most are still missing. The Boko Haram extremist group sees the mass kidnapping as a shining symbol of success, and has abducted hundreds of other girls, boys and women. The militants brag to their new captives with claims that the Chibok girls surrendered, converted to Islam and married fighters.

“They told me the Chibok girls have a new life where they learn to fight,” says Abigail John, 15, who was held by Boko Haram for more than four weeks before escaping. “They said we should be like them and accept Islam.”

The kidnappings reflect the growing ambition and brazenness of Boko Haram, which seeks to impose an Islamic state across Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. Some 10,000 people have died in the Islamic uprising over the past year, compared to 2,000 in the previous four years, according to the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations.

“It’s devastating,” said Bukky Shonibare, an activist in Abuja, of the kidnappings. “It makes you wonder, what is being done?”

John was among three girls interviewed by The Associated Press who recently escaped from Boko Haram.

While their stories could not be independently verified, they were strikingly similar, and all spoke of their captors’ obsession with the Chibok girls.

The girls had no idea whether the militants were telling the truth or making up stories to taunt their victims. John says the fighters enjoyed relating how they had whipped and slapped the Chibok girls until they submitted.

When the Nigerian air force dropped a bomb on the house where John was confined, she tried to es-

Photo by Lekan Oyekanmi | AP

Dorcas Aiden, 20, speaks in Yola, Nigeria. Aiden was one of the girls caught in Boko Haram’s siege, and eventually escaped. cape, she says. She wrestled with the fighters, but they broke her am and hauled her off to another house.

At the end of last year, the Nigerian army liberated the town where she was held. She is now in Yola with her father, sister and six brothers, in a house overcrowded with refugees.

She finally was able to get medical attention for her fractured right arm, which remains in a cast.

The kidnappings of the Chibok girls in April brought Boko Haram to the world’s attention in a way the group could not have imagined. The hashtag #BringBackOurGirls was tweeted more than 480,000 times globally in early May, and U.S. first lady Michelle Obama held it up in a sign to television cameras. She said at the time, “In these girls, Barack and I see our own daughters ...we can only imagine the anguish their parents are feeling right now.”

On Wednesday, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan again promised the girls will be brought home alive, saying he is “more hopeful” about their fate now that a multinational force is being formed to fight Boko Haram.

“Give us time over the Chibok girls. The story will be better in a few weeks,” Jonathan promised, as he has many times in the past, on a televised program.

In the 10 months since the mass kidnapping, Boko Haram has increased the tempo and ferocity of its insurgency. In August, it began seizing and holding towns, and — copying the Islamic State group — de-

clared it would recreate an ancient Islamic caliphate in the region. The fighting has since spilled across Nigeria’s borders, and the African Union this month authorized a multinational force of 8,750 troops to try to stamp it out.

Dorcas Aiden, 20, was another of those caught in Boko Haram’s siege. She had finished high school and was living at home when the war came to her village.

Fighters took her to a house in the town of Gulak and held her captive for two weeks last September.

The more than 50 teenage girls crammed into the house were beaten if they refused to study Quranic verses or conduct daily Muslim prayers, she says.

When the fighters got angry, they shot their guns in the air. Aiden finally gave in and denied her Christian faith to become Muslim, at least in name, she says.

One day, the fighters stormed into the room where she was kept locked up with a dozen other girls.

They showed a video of the Chibok girls, dressed in hijabs, with only their faces visible through their veils.

Aiden says she was so overwhelmed that she cried.

The fighters said the Chibok girls were all Muslims now, and some were training as fighters to fight women, which Boko Haram men are not supposed to do.

Aiden’s captors boasted about how they had married off the girls, she says.

One fighter said he would marry her. She balked.

“I said, ‘No, I will not marry you,”’ Aiden recounts. “So he pulled out a gun and beat my hand.”

US allows imports of some Cuba products

By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN AND ANDREA RODRIGUEZ ASSOCIATED PRESS

HAVANA — The Obama administration is announcing that it will allow Cuba’s small private business sector to sell goods to the United States in a potentially important loosening of the half-century trade embargo on the communist island.

A list published by the U.S. State Department Friday said Americans will be allowed to import anything produced by Cuban entrepreneurs with the exception of food and agricultural products, alcohol, minerals, chemicals, textiles, machinery, vehicles, arms and ammunition.

The imports would have to be produced by a Cuban operating in one of the dozens of categories of private business allowed by the Cuban government. Most of the categories are for services like car maintenance or watch repair, not potentially exportable goods. What’s more, virtually all Cuban exports are produced and shipped by state-controlled enterprises and there is no indication that the government is willing to loosen control and allow private businesses on the island to start trading directly with firms overseas.

In short, no one should expect Cuban goods to start flowing to the U.S. in large quantities anytime soon, said Pedro Freyre,

head of international practice at Florida-based law firm Akerman LLP. However, the possibility of exporting Cuban goods to a massive market 90 miles away could inspire private businesses to begin developing products designed for export to the U.S., he said.

“It sets up the mechanism. It allows things to happen,” he said. “Now folks have got to make things happen, which is an entirely different matter.”

Cuba began allowing widespread private enterprise in 2010 as economic stagnation forced the state to weigh large-scale job cuts. The number of people employed in private businesses grew to 483,396 this year and appears to have stalled at roughly that number due to a lack of domestic demand. More than

a quarter of private jobs are in food sales, transportation and housing rental.

A potential source of exports to the U.S. is the new category of worker-owned cooperatives, which function in many ways like entrepreneur-owned businesses but are more closely integrated with the state bureaucracy and may find it easier to export than entirely private enterprises.

PAGE 10A

Zentertainment

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2015

Familiar pattern in Oscar nominations

By LINDSEY BAHR ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by Chad Batka | New York Times file

Drake performs at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, N.J., Aug. 26, 2014. Drake unexpectedly dropped a new mixtape on Thursday, a moody and icy release.

Drake drops mixtape

By SORAYA NADIA MCDONALD THE WASHINGTON POST

The clock has started running on how long artists will be able to pull a Beyoncé before the practice becomes passé.

On Thursday night, it was Drake who posted a message to his 20.7 million Twitter followers announcing the release of "If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late," the mixtape precursor to his planned fourth studio album "Views From the 6."

The mixtape is available on iTunes and SoundCloud.

Drake posted a short film, "Jungle," on his Web site Thursday morning, previewing new music. It’s neither music video nor documentary.

August Brown of the Los Angeles Times described it as "something more impressionist and interior."

Drake opened with a sample of Ginuwine’s "So Anxious" on "Legend," which also makes an appearance on "Madonna."

The mixtape features guest appearances by Lil Wayne, Travi$ Scott, and PARTYNEXTDOOR. The breakout hit, which is undoubtedly "You & The

6," is an open letter to Drake’s mother. Drake, like most millennials, is bad at calling his mother, Sandi Graham. Unlike most millennials, however, Graham gets news about her son through Google Alerts.

And even though she’s the mother of a world-famous rap star, she still tries to play the yenta to his eligible bachelor.

"I hate it when you hate on all my girlfriends and assistants/always convinced that there’s someone better," Drake raps on "You & The 6." "Like that girl from your gym who trains you/ I know you want to arrange it/ You told me she’s free Thursday and I’m sure that she’s an angel but she don’t want this life."

On "No Tellin,’" a boastful Drake intones: "Okay, I had to switch the flow up on you n—s/s— was gettin’ too predictable/the new s— is on steroids/I would never pass a physical."

Though fans following Drake had been anticipating a free mixtape, there’s speculation he released "If You’re Reading" as an album via iTunes to fulfill a contractual commitment to his label, Cash Money Re-

cords. Lil Wayne, Drake’s friend, mentor and labelmate, has been having a very public spat with Cash Money, filing a $51 million lawsuit against the label last month.

Lil Wayne wants out of his contract - he went on quite the Twitter tirade about it - and Cash Money co-founder Birdman has vowed to hold him to the terms of the deal. The whole thing will likely have to be settled in court, but if Drake has fulfilled his four-album commitment, that would free him to jump ship when Tunechi leaves.

Despite the legal entanglements between Cash Money and Wayne’s Young Money imprint, to which Nicki Minaj and Drake are signed, Wayne has vowed to take Drake and Minaj with him once he’s free.

Young Money Enterprises is a co-plaintiff in Wayne’s lawsuit.

The surprise release of "If You’re Reading" could turn out to be more than just great publicity for "Views From the 6." It could also be part of a significant strategy in extricating Young Money from Birdman’s clutches.

LOS ANGELES — Oscar envelopes have been full of surprises over the years, yet one pattern persists: academy voters are moved by affliction.

From 1988 to 1997, eight of the best actor winners had played a character with a mental or physical disability or disease. It’s been less of a trend for women but this year, an afflicted role is the clear favorite in the best actress category.

In Oscar’s 87th year, the acting front-runners for the Academy Awards are Eddie Redmayne, for his portrayal of ALS victim Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything,” and five-time nominee Julianne Moore, for her depiction of a woman suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s disease in “Still Alice.” Both have scored wins from the Screen Actors Guild and the British film academy and in some ways, their Oscar success has been a foregone conclusion for months.

Academy Award-winning depictions of disabilities and diseases have been around since the beginning, but starting in the late 1970s and reaching a saturation point in the mid-1990s, it began to look like a formula.

Consider Dustin Hoffman in “Rain Man,” Daniel DayLewis in “My Left Foot,” Tom Hanks in “Forrest Gump,” Al Pacino in “Scent of a Woman,” Geoffrey Rush in “Shine,” or Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech,” to name just a few.

How have they done it again? Even the possible upsets in the best actor category fit the pattern, with Bradley Cooper’s portrayal of the suffering Chris Kyle in “American Sniper,” or Michael Keaton as a possible schizophrenic in “Bird-

Photo byLinda Kallerus/Sony Pictures Classics | AP

This photo shows Julianne Moore as Alice in the film, "Still Alice."

Moore is nominated for an Oscar for her performance. man.” Alan Turing, as portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch also has what seems like undiagnosed Asperger tendencies in “The Imitation Game.”

The short answer: Oscar simply wants to see the work.

“There are three things that academy members seem to gravitate toward: Actors who play real people, actors who go through a big physical transformation for their roles and actors playing a specific disease or condition, whether mental or physical,” said Dave Karger, chief correspondent for Fandango. Redmayne’s Hawking checks off two of those irresistible boxes.

One reason, Karger notes, is that the acting is out there.

“It’s a very outward, easy to appreciate challenge that the actor has, to take a disease or a condition that we’ve all either heard about or that has touched our lives and really bring to life what it’s like to tackle it,” said Karger.

An actor’s work and process is built in to those performances in an understandable way to non-actors.

“It’s kind of like a big speech, or a big meltdown.

It’s something that, when

the voters have the ballots in front of them, they can think back and have an easy reminder of what was so great about a particular performance,” said Karger.

Also, actors themselves can’t seem to resist the challenge.

“It felt like solving a puzzle,” said Redmayne at last year’s Toronto Film Festival. He spent nearly five months doing research, meeting with Hawking, his family, his old students and specialists to figure out how ALS progresses and how it affects the body. His goal was to be “really intricate in the physical degeneration.”

Moore’s character Alice might be fictional, but it was important for her and the directors to show a realistic portrait of the effects of early onset Alzheimer’s. To prepare, she immersed herself in the world of both doctors and patients.

“I was really starting at zero,” said Moore late last year. “I didn’t want to represent anything on screen that I hadn’t actually seen. I felt like that was the only fair way to do it.”

But process and transformation mean nothing if what ends up on screen doesn’t move academy voters.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A

Growth has not stalled in oil output

By ASJYLYN LODER BLOOMBERG NEWS

The U.S. drilling frenzy is over.

What’s not is the boom in oil production.

While companies have idled 151 rigs in five shale formations since reaching a peak of 1,157 in October, they’ll need to park another 200 for growth to stall, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Output there will reach a record 5.47 million barrels a day in March even though the number of rigs exploring for oil is the lowest since 2013.

The spending cuts led to speculation that U.S. gains would slow, eroding a global supply glut that sent prices tumbling last year. Oil has jumped 19 percent since closing at a six-year low of $44.45 a barrel on Jan. 28. Improving technology and a focus on the most promising acreage has made the rig count, a closely watched barometer of drilling activity, a less reliable indicator of future output.

“The trend in U.S. oil production is the key variable in the oil market this year, so any sign that the great growth engine is slowing is eagerly anticipated,” said Jim Burkhard, a Washington-

based vice president with IHS Inc., the global analytics firm headquartered in Englewood, Colorado. “There may be some false starts and we may have just seen one.”

The industry has become better at blasting crude out of deep underground layers of rock, according to productivity data tracked by the EIA in the major shale prospects including the Bakken, Eagle Ford, Niobrara, Permian and Utica.

Red Queen The improvements have helped overcome the natural depletion of existing wells. Shale wells decline sharply at first and then trail off at a slower rate until they run dry.

It’s a phenomenon known as The Red Queen, after the character in Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking-Glass,” who tells Alice, “It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.”

As drillers cut costs, the less efficient equipment is idled first while the best machinery is dispatched to the most promising acreage, which boosts the amount of crude produced for every rig in

FBI

the field. At the same time, the existing pool of wells grows older, meaning the decline rate — the Red Queen — slows down.

In North Dakota’s Bakken formation, 551 barrels a day were produced in January for each drilling rig in the field, EIA data show. That’s more than double the amount pumped per rig three years earlier. The same is true for the Eagle Ford in South Texas. In the Permian, productivity increased 84 percent. In the Niobrara in northeastern Colorado, it has more than tripled.

Bakken Improvements West Texas Intermediate oil for March delivery added $1.57, or 3.1 percent, to $52.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Bakken illustrates how producers are doing more with less. As of January, the number of rigs in the region declined to 161, 33 lower than a 2014 peak of 194 in September, according to the EIA’s Feb. 9 report. Yet the amount of oil pumped per rig increased 8.9 percent, and the EIA forecasts that output from the region will reach a record 1.32 million barrels a day

in March.

“The headline U.S. oil rig count offers little insight into the outlook for U.S. oil production growth,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst Damien Courvalin wrote in a Feb. 10 report.

Rising Production The U.S. has added a million barrels a day to production in each of the past three years, contributing to a worldwide glut. Oil prices slid 49 percent in the second half of 2014 as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, led by Saudi Arabia, decided to defend its market share against increasing U.S. supplies. Lower prices forced some of the largest U.S. shale producers, such as Continental Resources Inc., Pioneer Natural Resources Co. and Devon Energy Corp., to cut back drilling.

Despite the slowdown, the combined oil production from the five shale formations will expand by 289,890 barrels a day in the first three months of 2015, 3.4 percent more than was added in the first quarter of 2014, according to a Feb. 9 report from the EIA. In the Permian basin in west

Texas, which accounted for 37 percent of U.S. production growth in the past year, output will expand another 3.7 percent by the end of March, the EIA said. That’s after losing the 75 rigs that have been pulled from the region since a 2014 peak in November.

“The shales are where the growth is coming from in the U.S., so that’s where the slowdown has to come from,” said Jason Wangler, an analyst with Wunderlich Securities Inc. in Houston.

Additional Cuts Given current rig productivity and the EIA’s forecasted declines in legacy wells, about 144 additional rigs would have to be cut from the Permian before production stops growing. Producers would have to eliminate 21 more rigs in the Bakken, 27 in the Eagle Ford, 7 in the Niobrara and 16 in the Utica to hold oil production flat, according to EIA data through January.

And that’s without new gains in efficiency. If the natural gas boom is any guide, such improvements may have an enormous impact.

SMUGGLING Continued from Page 1A

Continued from Page 1A Agents said they found large packaged bundles wrapped in cellophane. The packages contained 509.3 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $407,440, according to the complaint.

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

Vela is in federal custody on a $75,000 bond.

On Feb. 3, a U.S. Border Patrol agent saw a black Ford Expedition driven

by Alaniz Vela traveling east from Zapata on Texas 16.

“The Ford Expedition was riding low in the rear, and it appeared to be carrying an excess amount of weight,” the

criminal complaint states.

Suspecting that the driver was involved in some type of illegal activity, the agent approached the vehicle to take a closer look at the vehicle and its occupants.

Court documents state it appeared the driver was looking for a place to bail out from the vehicle.

WATER Continued from Page 1A al marine life.

When the university cut the program’s funding, the husband and wife team bought the Archimedes to keep the project alive.

This year, Willacy County and the Willacy County Navigation District paid $14,000 to put 1,500 students on the Archimedes for a 14-day run, Curry said.

“I want the students to know how delicate life in the water is so when they get older and become voters they’ll know how to protect and monitor what goes into the water,” Whitney Curry said.

Curry handed out necklaces that dangled shark-tooth pendants to students who knew the answers to her questions.

Layla Frasier showed off her necklace after she told Curry why the Laguna Madre’s waters turn green.

“It’s the plants,” Fra-

sier said. “They make the water green.”

Teacher Richard Vannest led a group of students on what’s become one of their favorite field trips.

“It’s science.

It’s hands-on experience that gets them out of the school environment and gives them a better understanding of animal life and marine life,” Vannest said. “They get a better understanding of life and the cycle of life. They get to touch fish — that’s awesome.

A lot of these kids don’t get that opportunity.”

For Rommel Adriano, it was the first time he boarded a boat.

“I felt nervous — I thought we might see a shark,” Adriano said.

“We were fishing for fish and plankton and we saw islands — a long one. I turned and saw a lot of fish and the pelicans looked like they were going to catch them.”

On the Archimedes, Curry’s crew cast nets that trawled for marine life as the boat cruised from Port Mansfield’s harbor toward the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.

The crew dropped the day’s catch that included fish, shrimp, crab and jellyfish into an 8-foot “touch tank” that gave students a close-up view of the bay’s marine life.

Julio Cantu said he learned about crabs whose exoskeletons protect them from predators.

“I never looked at fish and plankton in a microscope,” he said. “It was cool touching the fish. It was real smooth.”

A 32-inch monitor gave students a glimpse of plankton and the microscopic life that swarms in the bay’s waters.

“I didn’t know there was a jellyfish that didn’t have tentacles,” Vianca Flores said.

“There’s more than people think under water.”

The agent attempted to stop the vehicle to conduct an immigration inspection of the occupants, but the driver stopped abruptly to allow the several occupants to exit the Expedition.

As the agent requested backup, the driver sped off east on Texas 16. A Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office got behind the Expe-

dition and pulled it over further east. Identified as the driver, Alaniz Vela was charged with evading arrest. She was then turned over to federal authorities.

Assisting agents apprehended eight Mexican nationals who had entered the country illegally using a raft, according to court documents. In a

post-arrest interview, Alaniz Vela allegedly admitted to picking up 11 immigrants in Roma. She told authorities that a friend she identified as Efrain Gutierrez was involved in the smuggling incident, the complaint reads.

(César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 7282568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)

BILLS Continued from Page 1A Open carry would create a “huge fiscal burden” on police departments, said Chief Art Acevedo of Austin, both in the additional training needed to educate officers and resources needed to respond to increased calls involving firearms.

Will Johnson of Arlington gave senators DVDs with a video clip of opencarry activists interfering with police duties. His city is the home of Open Carry Tarrant County, one of the most vocal gun rights groups.

Though gun rights supporters from a variety of groups across the state voiced their support for the bills, some made clear they would like even fewer restrictions than the legislation proposed.

“I believe that the right to bear arms is a right. I don’t think we should have to ask for permission,” said TJ Fabby, a former Texas House candidate from Waxahachie. “Your job is not to keep us safe,

it’s to keep us free. Please, stop making us come to you for permission to exercise our rights.”

Also among them was Kory Watkins, an activist with Open Carry Tarrant County who has earned notoriety around the Capitol for being kicked out of a lawmaker’s office on the first day of the legislative session.

“I will walk around until my feet bleed to make sure you are never an elected official again," Watkins said to lawmakers who opposed allowing open carry without a license.

His two minutes of testimony concluded without a single question from senators.

On the issue of campus carry, senators got dueling views from the chancellors of the state’s two flagship university systems on whether allowing concealed handguns would affect student safety.

Neither Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp, nor University

of Texas System Chancellor William McRaven appeared in person before the Senate State Affairs Committee, but senators read aloud letters from both on “campus carry” legislation.

Sharp said campus carry did not raise safety concerns for him, a view that contrasts that of McRaven, who sent his own letter to legislators in late January, cautioning that such a law would create "less-safe” environments.

But Sharp made clear he was only speaking for his own university system — and that his primary interest was in properly funding higher education.

"The real question is this: ‘Do I trust my students, faculty and staff to work and live responsibly under the same laws at the university as they do at home?’” Sharp wrote. “Of course I do! However, properly funding the higher education of these students is the only issue that counts!”

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2015

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2015

ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

Sports&Outdoors NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION: ALL-STAR GAME

All-Star break File photo by Bill Haber | AP

Marco Belinelli of the Spurs won the 3-point shootout in 2014 and will look to defend his title against a star-heavy lineup.

Spotlight on shootout 3-point shootout may have more appeal than dunk contest

File photo by Matt Strasen | AP

Golden State’s Stephen Curry received the most votes for the 2015 NBA All-Star Game taking place Sunday in New York.

By ANTONIO GONZALEZ AND TOM WITHERS

NBA All-Star Game held in chilly New York

By BRIAN MAHONEY ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — The NBA’s All-Star show has arrived on Brrr-oadway.

After years of performing only in warm-weather

cities in the South and West, the midseason spectacle has come back to the bitterly cold Big Apple, where the most popular person at the player hotel Friday may not have been LeBron James or

Stephen Curry, but the one handing out complimentary hot chocolates in the lobby.

Players love being in New York and can’t wait for the curtain to rise at Madison Square Garden

ASSOCIATED PRESS

on Sunday night, but the bright lights in the big city aren’t doing anything to help the teeth-chattering chilly temperatures down below.

NEW YORK — Dominique Wilkins remembers a time not so long ago when the most-anticipated event during NBA All-Star weekend was the dunk

See ALL-STAR PAGE 2B

contest, how fans looked forward to his duels with Michael Jordan and what creative slam they would come up with next.

Now? “It’s different,” he said Friday, drawing

See SHOOTOUT PAGE 2B

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: 2017 ALL-STAR GAME

Miami gets All-Star Game

By STEVEN WINE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by Wilfredo Lee | AP

Miami has been awarded the 2017 MLB All-Star Game at Marlins Park.

MIAMI — The Miami Marlins held a festive news conference Friday in anticipation of hosting the 2017 All-Star Game, with a color guard, video highlights, a speech

by Gov. Rick Scott and the introduction of more than half a dozen former All-Stars with ties to the team.

“Miami is a city that knows how to celebrate,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred observed.

Manfred’s announcement at Marlins Park confirmed the site

of the 2017 game, and the occasion had a celebratory tone because it was a long time coming.

The Marlins started play in 1993 and two years later were awarded the 2000 All-Star Game at Pro Player Stadium. But after founding owner Wayne Huizenga dismantled the roster of at team’s 1997 World Series champions, Major League Baseball took away the game in 1998 and awarded it to Atlanta.

Marlins Park opened in 2012, and the team appears to be on an upswing following a busy offseason.

“The ’97 decision was somebody else’s decision,” said Manfred, who replaced Bud Selig as commissioner three weeks ago.

“All I’m going to say is we’re thrilled to have awarded the 2017 All-Star Game to the Marlins. ... It was time for baseball to recognize and pay back South Florida for what they did in building this stadium.”

Team owner Jeffrey Loria has attracted plenty of criticism for his team’s stadium deal, small payrolls and frequent roster purg-

See MIAMI PAGE 2B

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Photo by Aram Boghosian | AP

File photo by Jason DeCrow | AP

The judge overseeing the murder trial of former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez denied his defense team’s request to bar police surveillance video.

Ray Rice apologized to his fans for the domestic violence issues he committed against his now-wife Janay Palmer.

Judge allows police video

Rice apologizes to fans

By MICHELLE R. SMITH ASSOCIATED PRESS

FALL RIVER, Mass. — The judge overseeing the murder trial of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez on Friday denied a request by his defense team to bar police surveillance video that shows Hernandez using a lawyer’s phone to call one of his co-defendants the day after the killing.

The video was taken in

the parking lot of the North Attleborough police station June 18, 2013, the day after Odin Lloyd was killed.

Prosecutors say it shows Hernandez sitting in the car and dismantling his phone, then being given a new phone by his lawyer, Robert Jones. Prosecutors say Hernandez is seen using the phone and calling co-defendant Ernest Wallace. Wallace and David Ortiz have pleaded not guilty to the killing, which prose-

cutors say Hernandez orchestrated.

Hernandez’s lawyer James Sultan argued that Hernandez and his lawyer had the reasonable expectation of privacy. Prosecutor William McCauley said that they didn’t and that the video showed “a deliberate attempt to engage in conduct to assist Mr. Wallace.”

Superior Court Judge Susan Garsh said Friday that

See HERNANDEZ PAGE 2B

By ERIK MATUSZEWSKI MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

Ray Rice faces a difficult and perhaps unprecedented road to redemption as he tries to get back on the field for a National Football League team next season.

Almost a year to the day that the former Baltimore Ravens running back knocked his then-fiancée unconscious in a New Jersey hotel elevator, Rice is-

sued a statement thanking the Baltimore Ravens and their fans, apologizing for his action and saying he wants to make a positive difference by raising awareness for domestic violence.

“Rice’s path back to an NFL roster is far more challenging than that of Michael Vick, who returned in 2009 after a two-year absence tied to his involvement in an illegal dogfighting ring, or Richie In-

cognito, who was signed this week by the Buffalo Bills after he lost his job with the Miami Dolphins for bullying a teammate,” said Dan Lebowitz, executive director of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University in Boston.

“Rice’s road to redemption is going to be much more difficult than say Vicks or Incognitos,” Lebo-

See RICE PAGE 2B

PAGE 2B

Zscores

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2015

ALL-STAR Continued from Page 1B “New York is cold as hell, man. But it’s nice, it’s cool,” Miami’s Dwyane Wade said. “I feel like the All-Star had to be in New York one of these years.

Since I’ve been in the league, 12 years now, it hasn’t been in New York and it’s mind-boggling that it hasn’t, but I think it’s cool that it’s finally here.

There’s just a different vibe in New York than anywhere else.”

Wade is injured and can’t play Sunday, but the guys who will say it will be a special night because it will be on one of their favorite stages.

“It’s going to be the best All-Star Game for me, to be able to be in the Garden,” James said. “I love my fans back in Cleveland. I loved my fans when I was in Miami. But if I could have 82 regular-season games in the Garden, you know I would, because it’s the mec-

ca of basketball. You get a great feeling when you walk in there because there is so much history. It’s going to be fun.”

The game hasn’t been in New York since 1998, Michael Jordan’s last with the Chicago Bulls and the first of many for Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan. The NBA’s preference has been places where it’s warm in February, and cities such as Houston and New Orleans have hosted it multiple times in recent years.

But when the Garden underwent a three-year renovation and Barclays Center in Brooklyn was built, both with $1 billion price tags, the league decided the venues would share the weekend. The Rising Stars challenge and All-Star Saturday night went to the home of the Nets, with the game set for the Knicks’ home court.

Players arrived to find painfully cold temperatures

File photo by Frank Franklin II | AP

Stephen Curry will be an All-Star starter for the West as Golden State has the best record in the conference. in the teens, feeling much lower with the wind, and snow possible on Sunday, when the forecast was for a low near zero degrees. Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins, who usually spends All-Star weekend back home in Alabama, was still wearing his winter hat when he conducted his media day interviews in a hotel ballroom.

The Knicks’ Carmelo An-

thony wasn’t worried about showing players around the city because “nobody wants to be in this cold anyway.”

“You talk about people that’s in other cold climates that’s complaining that they’re cold,” he added.

That would include Wade, who grew up in Chicago and played in Milwaukee at Marquette, making him somewhat of an expert

on frozen tundras.

“It’s cold, but Milwaukee is COLD,” he said. “I think Milwaukee is colder than Chicago. Seriously, when I was in Milwaukee, there was a couple of days I thought about not playing basketball ever again. I didn’t want to walk to class it was so cold. I was like, I don’t know if this life is for me. But this is cold, but it ain’t got nothing on Milwaukee cold.”

Still, Wade said, he would play outdoors as a kid because he loved the game, just as kids were doing outside a community center where James, Curry and Commissioner Adam Silver appeared at an NBA Cares clinic, one of the 100 the league conducted Friday around the city’s five brrr-oughs.

Silver had said earlier this week the weather was always the biggest All-Star concern for the league.

“I’m very happy so far that while it’s a little colder than I would have liked, most importantly we don’t have a lot of snow, and the latest I’ve heard is that the airports are clear and people are able to get around easy in the city,” he said after the event.

The game will be a vintage New York show, featuring performances by the Rockettes and some Broadway musical actors. Anthony is battling a knee injury that could end his season after the All-Star break, but he’s continued playing to take part in a weekend he says New Yorkers will never forget.

“This is one of the cities that I think most guys look forward to coming to,” added Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge. “It’s a fun city.

There’s always a lot going on. It’s the fashion capital. I think guys love coming here.”

SHOOTOUT Continued from Page 1B laughs from a crowd of reporters that surrounded him in a large hotel ballroom in midtown Manhattan. “We never used props. I jumped over a car when I was a kid.”

Indeed, the days when the Human Highlight Film joined Air Jordan in a battle with a ball and a 10-foot hoop are long gone.

Many of the game’s most notable names never participate in the dunk contest anymore, and this year’s field — Giannis Antetokounmpo, Victor Oladipo, Mason Plumlee and Zach LaVine — has little hype heading into Saturday night’s event at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

Instead, this may be a rare year when the 3-point contest has more appeal.

Golden State Warriors guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson are headlining the event with Atlanta’s Kyle Korver, Houston’s James Harden and Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving, Portland’s Wesley Matthews, the Los Angeles Clippers’ J.J. Redick and defending champion Marco Belinelli of San Antonio.

“It definitely should be one of the most fun parts of the weekend,” Curry said.

Part of the extra intrigue is because the 3-point shot has never been more celebrated than it is now. The NBA has become an outside-inside league, where

spreading the floor with shooters and moving the ball is all the rage.

And unlike the dunk contest, the best are participating in the 3point shootout again.

“It seemed like there was a three- or four-year stretch where they were just getting random dudes, like, ’Oh, you’re coming to All-Star weekend? You can be in the 3-point contest!”’ Redick said.

“I was hoping this year they wouldn’t invite (Nets center) Mason Plumlee, and they didn’t. The field is great on paper. I do feel like it’s the best competition ever.

It has that feel.”

SCHEDULE CHANGES NBA Commissioner Adam Silver wants to give his players a big assist and lighten their workload.

One of the chief complaints Silver heard during his rookie season on the job was about a condensed schedule that requires teams to play games on consecutive nights and sometimes as many as four games in five nights. Combined with travel, the busy schedule is taking a toll on players’ health, which in turn weakens the product.

“My goal for next season is to reduce the number of back-tobacks,” Silver said. “And then I don’t know if I can completely eliminate four games in five nights, but bring that as close to zero as I can.”

Silver made the comments while attending an NBA Cares All-Star Day of Service at Graphics Campus along with All-Stars LeBron James and Curry, who spent time shooting and doing drills with school kids.

Silver said the feedback he has received from players and teams prompted him to take a closer look at alleviating the 82-game regular-season schedule.

“We want players to be in optimal condition when they’re playing those games,” Silver said.

“Part of it is a mathematical formula: There’s so many games in so many days in which to get those games in. Having said that, there are steps we are taking even moving into next season where we hope to reduce the number of back-to-backs and hopefully come close to eliminating the four games in five nights.”

Silver said the league intends to work closely with arenas to create more flexibility with the schedule.

RUNNER-UP STATUS James doesn’t like to finish second in anything. Ever.

But the Cavaliers superstar conceded Friday that he’s currently behind Curry — and maybe Harden — in this season’s MVP race.

“He and James have been doing some great things,” James, a fourtime league MVP, said of Curry.

“You look at he’s playing and you can’t dispute that.”

Curry was the leading vote-getter among fans for this year’s AllStar game, beating out James, who remains the game’s most popular player. Curry is averaging 23.6 points, 7.9 assists and 4.7 rebounds for the Warriors, who are a league-best 42-9 and atop the ultra-competitive Western Conference.

“Those guys are rolling and it’s because of him,” James said.

As for James, who returned to Cleveland after four seasons in Miami, he’s pleased where the Cavaliers find themselves at the break following a sluggish start.

“Right now, I think we’re where we should be,” he said of the Cavs, who are 33-22 at the break after winning 14 of 16. “I knew it was going to take us a couple months to get where I wanted it to be. At times it was frustrating, but I knew the process because I’ve been a part of it before and I understand how important the process is to creating a team.”

VOTING FOR MVP Reigning NBA MVP Kevin Durant didn’t want to divulge his favorite for this season’s award. He did, however, have plenty of opinions about the process.

For starters, Durant believes players should vote on the award instead of media.

“We know these guys. We battle

MIAMI Continued from Page 1B ing. But he won praise for signing NL home run champion Giancarlo Stanton to a record $325 million, 13-year contract in November, and there’s increased interest in the team, which has finished last in the NL in attendance in nine of the past 10 years.

“I’m optimistic about baseball in Miami,” Manfred said. “You have a great facility. They have a great young team. And I think this market will support a winner.”

Loria said he was gratified the All-Star Game will come to Miami in the franchise’s 25th season.

“It’s baseball’s recognition that you’re doing good things,” Loria said. “You don’t get to the top unless you have ups and downs. You have to take the criticism and take the good with the bad. I’m still here,

and I’m still here, and I’m still here, because I believed in what we were doing along the way.”

About 200 people gathered on the leftfield plaza overlooking downtown and a sunplashed field for Manfred’s announcement. The audience included Stanton and ace Jose Fernandez, both former AllStars; Jack McKeon, who managed the NL All-Star team in 2004; and Marlins executive Jeff Conine, the All-Star MVP in 1995.

Also attending were ex-Marlins Gary Sheffield, Mike Lowell, Luis Castillo, Charles Johnson, Alex Gonzalez and Cliff Floyd, all former All-Stars. Scott visited privately before the news conference with Stanton and Fernandez.

“It’s great to have an All-Star Game

HERNANDEZ here,” Scott said. With a smile he added, “I hope we have them every year now.”

To his right sat the mayors of Miami, Miami-Dade County and Miami Beach.

The 2017 MLB All-Star FanFest will be held at Miami Beach’s new convention center now under construction.

The All-Star Game will be played in Cincinnati this year and in San Diego in 2016, meaning a National League team will host the game in three consecutive seasons. To help compensate, the American League will bat last in the 2016 game, Manfred said.

Four current ballparks have yet to be assigned an All-Star Game — the homes of the Yankees, Phillies, Nationals and Rays. The Braves plan to move into a new ballpark in 2017.

RICE Continued from Page 1B witz said. “When you look at the vicious nature of the punch and some of the aftermath, it’s very hard to erase that from the collective consciousness of the nation.”

Rice’s $35 million contract was terminated by the Ravens in September, and he was suspended from the NFL after video was made public of him punching Janay Rice, who is now his wife, following a Valentines Day dispute last year.

Rice had an indefinite ban lifted by the NFL in November, but went unsigned over the final month of the regular season.

Mark Dominik, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager from 2009 to 2013, said Rice has paid a price — from the financial impact to the permanent stain on his reputation — and will get the chance to suit up for another NFL team.

Potential Distraction Any teams interested in signing Rice have to consider how much of a distraction he might be, Dominik said, with

the accompanying extensive media attention and potential negative reaction from fans, women’s rights groups and sponsors.

“If you’re going to sign Ray Rice, you have to have a press plan in place in terms of what he’s going to actively do to help you in the community, what is the owners response going to be, and why you feel he could be a good addition to your football team,” said Dominik, who’s now an ESPN analyst.

“You have to plan that all out in advance.”

Rice didn’t mention a return to football in his statement, which was first published by the Baltimore Sun. Rice, who previously accepted full responsibility for his actions, again said there’s no excuse for domestic violence and apologized to Ravens fans for the horrible mistake he made.

“To all the kids who looked up to me, I’m truly sorry for letting you down, but I hope it’s helped you learn that one bad decision can turn your

against these guys every night.

We know what they say on the court. We know how they handle their teammates. We know how they approach the game. Our vote should count. Our opinions should count,” he said.

Durant also disagreed with how certain players are popular picks some years but not others.

He noted how Curry and Harden are receiving more attention for MVP this season, saying both have been playing at an elite level for years and should’ve been in the conversation with him and James previously.

“I think the MVP is a lot about narratives and what may happen during that time,” he said. “There are a lot of guys who have been playing extremely well for years and years and are just starting to get MVP consideration. I think that consistent play sometimes gets a little boring to people.”

REPLACING DAVIS Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who is leading the Western Conference, said he hasn’t decided who he’ll start in place of injured big man Anthony Davis. One possibility is Kerr’s former teammate with the San Antonio Spurs, Tim Duncan, who is making his 15th and possibly last All-Star appearance.

“I joked with him that I may play him 40 minutes just to wear him out,” Kerr said.

dream into a nightmare,” Rice said.

Positive Difference The three-time Pro Bowl selection asked fans for forgiveness and said he hopes to make a positive difference in peoples lives by raising awareness of this issue.

“Teams have to consider what Ray is going to do to help women’s rights as an activist,” Dominik said. “He’s had a long time to think about what he’d like to do to turn something that’s such a negative into helping people in that situation.”

Rice’s case was the most publicized of several domestic abuse incidents involving NFL players and led to protests and criticism of the league, particularly Commissioner Roger Goodell.

The NFL has strengthened its personal-conduct policy since.

“It’s not something that’s going to go away easily any time soon,” said Lebowitz, whose Center for the Study of Sport in Society has helped provide

domestic violence training to professional sports leagues and at the college level. “Therefore, his road back and his road to redemption is going to be a difficult one, even if his intent is pure of heart.”

New Rochelle Rice said his comments weren’t meant as a farewell.

The Baltimore Sun reported that Rice plans to move back to his home state of New York, where he attended New Rochelle High School before playing college football at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

“Which NFL team Rice plays with next wont matter that much,” Dominik said, “regardless of the size of the media market.

“The story is going to follow Ray Rice regardless; it just depends on how he ties himself into that community and nationally into a program. The team that’s going to sign him is really going to evaluate him off the field, but also on his ability and if he can help the team.”

Continued from Page 1B the jury will not be told where the phone came from, just that it didn’t belong to Hernandez.

Also Friday, North Attleboro police Detective Daniel Arrighi testified about going to Hernandez’s house the night of June 17, a few hours after Lloyd’s body was found in an industrial park near Hernandez’s home. Arrighi said he and a state trooper knocked and rang the bell repeatedly and no one answered even though he saw lights on inside.

He walked around the home, then went to Hernandez’s next-door neighbor, Joe Judge, who was then an assistant coach for the Patriots.

Judge called the team’s director of security, Arrighi said. A little while later, Hernandez came out of the home.

They questioned him about a Chevy Suburban he had rented, and Hernandez told them Lloyd had it, Arrighi said. They also asked when he last saw Lloyd, and Hernandez told them it was June 16.

Hernandez then got agitated, according to Arrighi, and said, “What’s with all the questions?” before heading back to the house.

Just before going inside, Arrighi testified, Hernandez said to them, “You guys aren’t coming in here.”

A little while later, the detective testified, Hernandez came back out and told them he would go to the police station to talk.

Patriots knew day of killing that cop wanted to talk to Hernandez The Patriots were alerted within hours that police wanted to talk to tight end Aaron Hernandez after a body was found not far from his house.

A North Attleborough police detective testified Friday that he and a state trooper went to Hernandez’s home after they found Odin Lloyd’s body in June 2013. Lloyd had in his pocket the key to a Chevy Suburban Hernandez had rented.

Hernandez didn’t answer after repeated knocks, and they went to a neighbor’s home.

That neighbor was Patriots assistant coach Joe Judge, who called Patriots security.

The detective said Hernandez eventually came out and agreed to go to the police station.

Hernandez’s lawyer noted that police were peering into his home and there was no requirement that he open the door so late.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2015

Dear Heloise: We have a large extended family, and everyone comes to visit about two times a year.

That means lots of GROCERIES to buy. Of course, there is always something that I forget or that we run out of.

I keep the receipts in one drawer in the kitchen.

This way, I don’t really need to write out a list. I use one of the receipts (they have the items listed) and either cross out what is NOT needed or circle what we need.

This has saved us a lot of frustration, and whoever has the "grocery run" takes the list.

Love your column, and it has helped me deal with spills and other problems that arise. – Riva, Arlington, Va. Riva, very smart, and a sure way to know what falls into the categories of what I call "DON’T NEED, OR MUST BUY" items.

However, it may not be needed, but chocolate is always on the must-buy list!

– Heloise

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

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HELOISE

NO-DRIP MESS Dear Heloise: I have a lot of houseplants, and it takes me some time to get to them all. Many are in our sunroom, and others are in the den. I use your two-minute plan; I can get a lot of plants watered in that time. Then I might take a break or go for another 120 seconds and water the plants in the kitchen. – Joy L. in Baltimore Joy, oh it’s a joy to read your joyful hint. I do something similar, but I think of my houseplants as being in "zones" to water. I carry a plastic grocery bag on my arm to put all of the dead leaves in. A small pair of scissors comes along, and I can do 120 seconds of pruning at the same time.

Bring something green into your home, and it will lift your spirits.

– Hugs, Heloise

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2015