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US-MEXICO BORDER
SAN YGNACIO
Unclear role
Two arrested in Zapata County Cousins charged with bringing in, harboring illegal immigrants
Locals question Texas National Guard presence
By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
By SETH ROBBINS AND PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
McALLEN — On U.S. 83, the highway that hugs the southern stretch of the Texas-Mexico border, law enforcement is everywhere. Even on a national holiday this week, the green-
and-white trucks of U.S. Customs and Border Protection circled tirelessly around the empty streets of Rio Grande City, a hotspot for illegal border crossings. Texas state troopers pulled over vehicles, and a Border Patrol helicopter hovered above,
See GUARD PAGE 12A
Photo by Eric Gay | AP file
In this June 25, 2014, file photo, a group of immigrants, who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, are stopped in Granjeno.
TEXAS POLITICS
Two suspected human smugglers accused of guiding seven people into the United States were arrested in Zapata County, according a criminal complaint filed Tuesday. Court records identified the suspects as Jose Raul Cabrera-Aguilar and Javier Gonzalez-Aguilar,
who are cousins. They are being charged with bringing in and harboring illegal immigrants. Both men are in federal custody, pending a detention hearing. At 8:46 a.m. Feb. 11, U.S. Border Patrol agents working near Tejon Ranch discovered footprints of about nine people leading
See ARRESTED PAGE 11A
EAGLE FORD SHALE
TURNING TO GOD Photo by Eric Gay | AP
Suzanne Bryant, left, and Sarah Goodfriend exchange a kiss as they pose with their marriage license Thursday, in Austin.
Lesbian couple defies gay marriage ban Attorney general blocks other potential unions, calls marriage void By EVA RUTH MORAVEC AND PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — As a newlywed lesbian couple in Texas celebrate defying a statewide ban on gay marriage, the state’s Republican attorney general is preparing to tell a court Friday why it should rule their nuptials invalid. The marriage license given to two Austin women — who succeeded by seizing on a ruling this week in an unrelated estate squabble — thrust Texas back into the national spotlight over gay marriage but didn’t send same-sex couples rushing to courthouses. The Texas Supreme Court acted quickly after an appeal from Attorney
General Ken Paxton to block other potential gay marriages, making the nuptials somewhat bittersweet for Suzanne Bryant and Sarah Goodfriend. “We just feel like we were in the right place at the right time, to maybe put a nice crack in that door that’s going to open up for all Texans,” Bryant said. Texas is one of 13 states where gay marriage remains outlawed. Friends and Democratic lawmakers toasted Bryant and Goodfriend, who have been together 30 years and have two teenage daughters, at a downtown Austin bar Thursday night after county officials obeyed a judicial order to wed the couple.
See MARRIAGE PAGE 12A
Photo by Gary Coronado/Houston Chronicle | AP
Vallilea “Valli” Blair, shown at the Valero refinery alongside U.S. Highway 281 located across the street from the United Methodist Church, has ministered at the church for two years, providing support to the oil industry and the community in Three Rivers.
Preacher helps oil workers idled in bust By MICHAEL BRICK HOUSTON CHRONICLE
G
ONZALES — Maybe God knew the price of crude oil would fall so far so fast. Across Texas, drilling rigs would come down. The bust would leave behind disposal wells and empty hotels, ruined roads and men with no
place to go. God was the one, Hollas Hoffman says, who called him out of retirement at the height of the boom, not even two years ago, to take up a new ministry in the oil fields. God sent him to address early morning safety meetings, to hand out his phone number and most
See GOD PAGE 11A
Photo by Gary Coronado/Houston Chronicle | AP
Hollas Hoffman, third from left, a chaplain, says a prayer with John Salmon, a truck driver with Wrangler Trucking.
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2015
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
SATURDAY, FEB. 21
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).
Today is Saturday, Feb. 21, the 52nd day of 2015. There are 313 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Feb. 21, 1965, black Muslim leader and civil rights activist Malcolm X, 39, was shot to death inside Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom in New York by assassins identified as members of the Nation of Islam. (Three men — Talmadge X. Hayer, Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson — were convicted of murder and imprisoned; all three were eventually paroled.) On this date: In 1437, James I, King of Scots, was assassinated; his 6year-old son succeeded him as James II. In 1613, Mikhail Romanov, 16, was unanimously chosen by Russia’s national assembly to be czar, beginning a dynasty that would last three centuries. In 1885, the Washington Monument was dedicated. In 1912, the Great Fifth Ward Fire broke out in Houston, Texas; although property losses topped $3 million, no one was killed in the blaze. In 1945, during the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima, the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea was sunk by kamikazes with the loss of 318 men. In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon began his historic visit to China as he and his wife, Pat, arrived in Beijing. In 1975, former Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 2 1/2 to 8 years prison for their roles in the Watergate cover-up (each ended up serving a year and a-half). In 1995, Chicago adventurer Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean by balloon, landing in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada. Ten years ago: President George W. Bush, in Belgium for a NATO summit, scolded Russia for backsliding on democracy and urged Mideast allies to take difficult steps for peace. Five years ago: A mistaken U.S. missile attack killed 23 civilians in Afghanistan. (Four American officers were later reprimanded.) One year ago: President Barack Obama granted an audience to Tibet’s Dalai Lama over the strong objections from China that the U.S. was meddling it its affairs. Today’s Birthdays: Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is 91. Fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy is 88. Movie director Bob Rafelson is 82. Actor Peter McEnery is 75. Actor Alan Rickman is 69. Tricia Nixon Cox is 69. Former Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, RMaine, is 68. Actor William Petersen is 62. Actor Kelsey Grammer is 60. Country singer Mary Chapin Carpenter is 57. Actor William Baldwin is 52. Rock musician Michael Ward is 48. Actress Aunjanue Ellis is 46. Blues musician Corey Harris is 46. Country singer Eric Heatherly is 45. Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt is 36. Singer Charlotte Church is 29. Actress Ashley Greene is 28. Actress Ellen Page is 28. Actor Corbin Bleu is 26. Actress Sophie Turner (TV: “Game of Thrones”) is 19. Thought for Today: “You owe it to us all to get on with what you’re good at.” — W.H. Auden, Anglo-American poet (born this date in 1907, died 1973).
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). Texas Master Naturalist program. 6:30 pm. Laredo Community CollegeMain Campus Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmental Science Center. For more information please call 764-5701.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 25 Free heart health education class. 12:30 p.m. to 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. Contact Patricia at 722-1674.
THURSDAY, FEB. 26 Spanish Book Club from 6 to 8 p.m. at Laredo Public Library on Calton Road. 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 downtown. A $2 donation for nonmembers 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). Texas Master Naturalist program. 12 p.m. - Lake Casa Blanca State Park. Call 725-3826 for more information.
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).
TUESDAY, MARCH 3 The Alzheimer’s support group will meet Tuesday March 3 at 7 p.m. in meeting room 2, building B of the Laredo Medical Center. The support group is for family members and caregivers taking care of someone who has Alzheimer’s. For information, please call 693-9991.
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 tickets from any CattleWoman member, the LIFE Office (Hwy 59), Guerra Communications (6402 N Bartlett Ave at Jacaman Rd.) or Primped Style Bar (7718 McPherson). The Laredo Northside Market Association will hold its March market day by the playground at North Central Park on Saturday March 7, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. There will be an arts and crafts tent for boys and girls as well as a special drawing for boys and girls prizes. For more information see Laredo Northside Market at facebook.com.
FRIDAY, MARCH 13 Cesar Chavez Memorial Alliance Art Competition Exhibit. Doors open at 6pm. Laredo Civic Center meeting rooms. $5 for students and $10 for adults. $500 in cash prizes for art competition winners. The art competition itself has a February 27 deadline at 5 p.m. for submissions. Up to 3 digital images allowed for non-professional artists 16 and older. Email: ccma0924@att.net. Call 775-7027 for more information, rules and/or guidelines.
Photo by LM Otero | AP
In this Feb. 12 photo, JPS Health Network patient navigator Delaila Hernandez, center, helps Fred Cardenas with documents during a Affordable Care Act enrollment event at the Fort Worth Public Library in Fort Worth. More than 1 million Texans enrolled for health insurance through the federal marketplace.
1.2M Obamacare sign-ups By EMILY SCHMALL ASSOCIATED PRESS
FORT WORTH — Nearly 1.2 million Texas residents purchased health insurance under the U.S. Affordable Care Act in time for the 2015 enrollment deadline, marking the second highest enrollment among states relying on a federal online marketplace, according to data released Wednesday. Sunday was the nationwide deadline for the second enrollment period, which began last November, under President Barack Obama’s health care law. The law requires that all Americans have insurance or face a tax penalty, with plans offered through either a federal or state-run websites, also known as marketplaces. More than 80 percent of Texas consumers who signed up qualify for a federal subsidy that on average covers about $240 of their
monthly premiums, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The numbers could increase because the deadline has been extended to Sunday for people who faced computer glitches and long waits while trying to enroll over the phone last week. The agency said it wasn’t immediately clear how many people were on that list. “We’ve been making lots and lots of phone calls to people who tried to enroll but weren’t able to,” said Elizabeth Colvin, director of Austin-based Insure Central Texas, a nonprofit that focused during the second enrollment period on enrolling Latinos and refugees. Colvin said her organization will remain open after Sunday to help people use their new insurance.
Former justice of peace charged with bribery
Businessman pleads guilty to Ponzi fraud
Dallas lawyer accused of immigration fraud
EAGLE PASS — An ex-judge in a South Texas county has been charged with offering bribes to secure construction contracts. The FBI on Friday arrested 56-year-old former Maverick County Justice of the Peace Cesar Iracheta of Eagle Pass. Investigators say Iracheta, doing business as C&A Construction, bribed two county commissioners to win construction contracts.
WACO — A ex-financial planner in Central Texas faces up to 20 years in prison for running a Ponzi scheme and stealing nearly $8.4 million from clients. Charles D. Jones of Waco on Thursday pleaded guilty to wire fraud. Investigators say Jones used investment funds for his own personal benefit. He created false account statements and provided the bogus documents to clients to cover the scheme.
DALLAS — A prominent Dallas immigration lawyer has been arrested after a federal indictment accused her of submitting fraudulent applications for crime-victim visas for clients. The indictment alleges she used names and badge numbers of police officers without their knowledge to apply for U-Visas, which are given to crime victims.
Man gets life in prison for Door topples onto role in 2 slayings 2-year-old girl, killing her SAN ANGELO — A West Texas man has been sentenced to life in prison for his role in the 2013 fatal shooting of two people at a San Angelo apartment. The victims were 22-year-olds Tabitha Freeman and Alvaro Carrillo Jr. Prosecutors say Uvalle was 17 at the time of the gunfire during an argument. He was tried as an adult.
LEWISVILLE — A 2-year-old girl is dead after an unhinged door toppled onto her at her family’s suburban Dallas home. The incident happened early Thursday afternoon at her family’s Lewisville home. Police Capt. Dan Rochelle says the door was removed from its hinges so a heavy appliance could be moved into the house.
Man gets 80 more years for plotting to kill judge WACO — A Central Texas man in prison for not registering as a sex offender must serve 80 more years for trying to hire a hit man to kill the judge in his case. Judge Matt Johnson wasn’t injured in the plot that involved Phillips offering $30,000 to have the jurist killed. Johnson in 2013 sentenced Phillips to 10 years for failing to register after being convicted as a sex offender. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION Most of Great Lakes surface frozen again TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — For the second consecutive winter, bitter weather threatens to turn the surface of the Great Lakes into a vast, frozen plain. Nearly 81 percent of the lakes’ surface area was covered with ice, the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory reported Friday. Records show the lakes’ most widespread freeze was 94.7 percent in 1979. The ice cover topped out at 92.2 percent last March.
Suspect targeted accountant in blast DENVER — The man accused of setting off a small explosion last month that rattled nerves because of its proximity to a Colorado NAACP office says he was in a rage over his financial problems and was actually targeting his accountant’s office, according
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In this Feb. 17 photo, snow coats Navy Pier surrounded by ice-covered Lake Michigan in Chicago. For the second consecutive winter, bitter weather threatens to turn the surface of the Great Lakes into a vast frozen plain. to court documents filed Friday. Thaddeus Murphy, 44, told federal agents he made the pipe bomb out of a shotgun shell and fireworks fuses, the records said. He said he was angry because the accountant wouldn’t return his phone calls or give him back
his tax records. But while a sign for the accountant’s business was still on the wall of the building, it has been closed for 20 years, according to the president of the Colorado Springs chapter of the NAACP. — Compiled from AP reports
SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted. The Zapata Times is free. The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500. The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail thezapatatimes.net
State
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2015
Officials make beach a priority ASSOCIATED PRESS
CORPUS CHRISTI — Nueces County officials are discussing how to protect the wetlands and dunes of a newly acquired section of Padre Island beach. The Corpus Christi CallerTimes reports that county commissioner Brent Chesney, along with representatives from the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program and Nueces County Coastal Parks, toured the area Thursday. While surveying the land, the group discussed several concerns including littering, makeshift gun ranges and offroading. The area is the residence for several threatened and endangered turtle and bird species. Chesney suggested that one way to protect the beach would be to provide a constable to patrol the area. For a constable to be placed in the area, Nueces County must come to an agreement with Kleburg County. The city of Corpus Christi is divided between both counties. Nueces County purchased the section of beach from the Texas General Land Office’s Permanent School Fund for about $630,000 after receiving a $1 million grant from the Ed Rachal Foundation. The rest of the grant money will be used for the area’s maintenance and a law enforcement vehicle. The decision to buy the beach was divisive. Supporters of the sale believed that it would be better for the county to have ownership of the land. Opponents believed that the Padre Island National Seashore would be better environmental caretakers. When he took office in January, Chesney said it is important to preserve the habitat while making the land accessible for ecotourism, nature lovers and beachgoers. “Truly, our intent is to keep it in its natural state,” he said.
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
White House seeks stay in ruling By JULIÁN AGUILAR TEXAS TRIBUNE
The Obama administration will ask a court on Monday to allow the president’s controversial immigration order to move forward after a Texas judge halted the program this week. “The Department of Justice has made a decision to file a stay in this case,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Friday, according to a transcript of a news conference. “I would anticipate that they will file documents at the district court level on Monday at the latest.” On Monday, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen blocked the executive action, which was announced in November. The policy would have allowed an estimated 5 million undocumented immigrants — including some
Photo by Stephen Crowley | New York Times
President Barack Obama comments on the recent ruling by a federal judge in Texas to halt his executive actions on immigration. 1.46 million in Texas — to apply for a work permit and a reprieve from deportation. Earnest said the stay request is separate from an appeal of the ruling, which the administra-
tion still plans to file. If the stay is granted, the administration could begin accepting applications for the program, which it was slated to begin doing on Wednesday. But Earnest added
that there is no certain timeline if the stay is issued. “[The appeal] was something that we announced in the immediate aftermath of the decision,” he said. “And we will seek that appeal because we believe that when you evaluate the legal merits of the arguments, that there is a solid legal foundation for the President to take the steps that he announced late last year to reform our broken immigration system.” Hanen, of Brownsville, ruled in a 123-page opinion that the Obama administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs the way regulations are made and how much input the public has. But he did not reject the case based on whether the president had the authority to change immigration laws by circumventing Congress.
Mental state of ‘Sniper’ killer debated By EMILY SCHMALL ASSOCIATED PRESS
STEPHENVILLE — An ex-Marine charged with shooting “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle and another man was not legally insane, a prosecution expert said, suggesting the man may have gotten some of his ideas from the television show “Seinfeld.” Prosecutors called rebuttal witnesses Friday in the trial of Eddie Ray Routh, who is charged with killing Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield. Routh’s attorneys, who are pursuing an insanity defense, rested their case Thursday. Dr. Randall Price, a forensic psychologist, testified Friday that Routh had a paranoid disorder made worse by his use of alcohol and marijuana, calling his condition “cannabis-induced psychosis.” “In my opinion, he did know what he was doing was wrong, and he did it anyway,” Price said. A defense witness, Dr. Mitchell H. Dunn, testified Thursday that Routh had schizophrenia and
Photo by LM Otero | AP
State District Judge Jason Cashon, left, gives an oath to psychiatrist Dr. Michael Arambula before he testifies for the prosecution in Stephenville. showed signs of the illness for as long as two years before the February 2013 shootings. Dunn said Routh described seeing neighbors and friends as turning into pig-human hybrids. Price repeatedly accused Routh of “setting the stage” for an insanity defense. He suggested Routh may have gotten the idea from “Seinfeld” or the TV show “Boss Hog.” In a “Seinfeld” episode, one character, Kramer, believes he has discovered a “pig-
man.” “I don’t know for a fact that he saw that episode of ‘Seinfeld,’ but I do know that he’s watched “Boss Hog,”’ Price said. “For a long time, he’s talked a lot about pigs to a lot of people. So it’s suspicious.” He and another prosecution expert, Dr. Michael Arambula, said Routh’s actions do not meet the legal definition of insanity under state criminal law. “Any time intoxication is pre-
sent, the game is over,” Arambula testified. The 27-year-old Routh faces mandatory life in prison without parole if convicted of capital murder, since prosecutors have said they are not seeking the death penalty. The jury can also find Routh not guilty by reason of insanity, in which case the trial judge can begin proceedings to have Routh committed. Interest in the trial has been driven by the Oscar-nominated film based on Kyle’s life. The movie ends with a depiction of Kyle meeting Routh, who he was taking to a gun range after Routh’s mother asked Kyle to help her troubled son. Routh’s friends and family have testified that his behavior in the weeks before the shootings was increasingly erratic. They said he acted as if he believed that someone was going to hurt him and that the government was listening to him. The prosecution is scheduled to continue its rebuttal case Monday, though State District Judge Jason Cashon a winter storm forecast for next week could force a delay.
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2015
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
Bamboo is new miracle commodity By LLEWELLYN KING HEARST NEWSPAPERS
In a time of new materials, a very old one is sneaking into our lives. You may have noticed that bamboo is making an appearance everywhere. There are bamboo floors — I hear there is one in the Holman Lounge of the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. — cutting boards and walking sticks. But Chicago entrepreneur Troy Wiseman sees future growth for bamboo in clothing, paper and activated charcoal, which has hundreds of industrial and medical uses. And he sees it as the next big green forest products industry. Bamboo is a grass whose fiber is similar to timber. After a six-year, initial growing period, it can be harvested every 18 months. It can be cultivated on land abused by clear-cutting, poor crop rotation and overgrazing. For the soil, bamboo is a healing grass. The Chinese have known of the wonders of bamboo for centuries. They construct houses from it, eat it (Giant Pandas will eat nothing else), make baskets, chopsticks and hats and weapons from it. In Hong Kong, bamboo scaffolding is used to erect skyscrapers; in Mainland China, this practice has been limited to five stories. Yet in the West, bamboo has traditionally been thought of as a curiosity, not a valuable agricultural commodity. Wiseman, who is chief executive officer EcoPlanet Bamboo Group, aims to change that with large-scale bamboo production, that also has a positive environmental and social impact. There are 400 varieties of bamboo, and some have given it a bad name. Gardeners have reason to be wary of bamboo which, if they plant the wrong variety, can grow like kudzu and is a virulent invasive species. Wiseman’s company plants better-behaved ”clump” bamboo that is native to and approved by the country he is operating in. EcoPlanet Bamboo has established two plantations in Ghana, and one each in South Africa and Nicaragua. He is negotiating to make a big land purchase in Asia that will produce bamboo for clothing, paper and activated charcoal, and will convert the remains of the plant into fuel for electric generation. Wiseman describes himself as a ”capitalist with a conscience,” and
has the enthusiasm of a tent preacher when it comes to the business opportunities, the social and environmental benefits of bamboo farming. For bamboo plantations, you ideally need hot wet weather — the very areas where old-growth forests are most under threat. He describes the financial rewards, the jobs for third-world laborers, and the saving of forests as “my three bottom lines.” But he is quick to emphasize, “Don’t get me wrong, we’re a capitalist company. We’re about profit, but there’s a right way to do it.” As a businessman, Wiseman can claim a record. He told me in an interview that he had cofounded the global B.U.M. clothing line which went public, a private equity-based financial services firm, which financed, among other things, a company that made ”turducken,” which is a dish consisting of a deboned chicken, stuffed into a deboned duck, which is stuffed into a deboned turkey. A college wrestler, Wiseman says he is more excited about grappling with the challenges of bamboo than anything else. He says he has an interest from a large number of Fortune 500 companies, including retailer Costco and paper giant Kimberly Clark. Bamboo has natural anti-bacterial properties, which is why bamboo cutting boards are desirable in the kitchen — my wife has one. But these properties, it is believed, will make bamboo fiber popular for bandages, diapers, tissues, sanitary napkins and underwear. I have not knowingly worn bamboo-fiber clothes, but bamboo and I have a history. As a boy, before the days of hobby shops, I made kites using bamboo slats for the frames because it was light, strong and available. Little did I know that I was serving a fine Chinese tradition of kite making and flying. Mine were rather primitive, but they flew — bamboo frame, brown paper sail, and glue made with egg white or flour paste. Now I am captivated not by kites, but whether the world has overlooked a valuable and beneficial source of wood and fiber substitute. Troy Wiseman thinks so, and I am inclined to believe it. Incidentally, my bamboo walking stick, which cost $24 at Walgreens, is light, good-looking and maybe a trendsetter. (Llewellyn King’s email is lking@kingpublishing.com.)
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 namecalling 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.
COLUMN
Talk turns him off to radio Anyone just starting out in reality’s work-a-day world is going to make mistakes ... some of them real lulus. As a kid, a teenager and, briefly, as a young man, I was a bit on the bashful, shy side. Those who have known me from middle age to now, will laugh at the idea of my shyness. Naturally, parents and their personalities — both their familial and public — greatly influence most youngsters. My folks were so shy that when they married on Christmas Day, 1935, they sat in the car while the preacher stood in ankle-deep snow, leaned in the door and performed the ceremony. Like most children, I’ve never wanted to venture a guess as to how those two managed to have four sons. For someone as shy as I, those who knew me then and as a young adult, were probably shocked that I decided to be a sportswriter/ journalist. It never really occurred to me in those teen years, that I’d have to ask questions of people and, like, really TALK to someone in order to be a sportswriter. I just thought I’d have to
WATCH games and write about what happened. But, obviously, I wasn’t deterred. Over a period of time, anyone who succeeds in the news writing business learns to talk to people, to conduct an interview. On top of that, you’d better be really good at crafting questions beforehand. You need to understand answers can lead to new questions you won’t write down or think of beforehand. You learn to go with the flow. As a sophomore at Sam Houston State Teachers College, where I spent my first two years of college, I took a course labeled “Radio Speech.” It counted as journalism, speech or additional an English credit. A man named Schmidt taught the class. He was head of the Speech Department, and he looked every bit the blonde Aryan. After a few weeks of introductory lectures and reading, we were considered ready for radio speech
drills such as conducting a mock “on-air” interview. Well, this bashful country boy didn’t know from a Burma Shave sign about conducting on-air interviews nor, apparently, any number of other things. So, I took a sheet out of my composition book and wrote a list of questions for the person I’d decided to interview. My choice was the Ladies’ (the term would be Women’s today) World Wrestling Champion. I chose an “older woman” that I admired very much, junior Leatha Hill, a fellow journalism major, to take that role. I explained that since I was a sportswriter, we’d pretend she was a world champion wrestler. I told her I didn’t know much about radio or interviewing, but I would ask simple questions she could answer easily. Leatha agreed. Frankly, I was scared out of my gourd, a good description for my head especially considering the outcome of the interview. But, onward and upward. First, we established her identity, and I asked her if she was indeed Leapin’ Leatha, World Champion
Lady Wrestler. Then I asked how long she’d held the title and she replied 10 years. Are you married? Yes, to a wonderful and handsome man, she cooed. Do you have any children? Yes, we have six. The next question brought the house down: What do you do in your spare time? Regular folks would probably expect: Take care of kids and clean house. Not a bunch of college kids or Herr Schmidt. Everyone erupted into uproarious laughter at the thought of the spare time option. Despite my obvious naiveté, I caught on quickly enough that my face was instantly scarlet and there was nowhere to hide. I don’t remember what kind of grade I received, but I passed the course with a B. I decided I could never go into radio where there was an audience for any interview and someone else would have to cover women’s wrestling. But, I did get over being bashful. (Willis Webb is a retired community newspaper editor-publisher. He can be reached by email at wwebb1937@att.net.)
WORST WEEK IN WASHINGTON
Biden crosses line to creepy By CHRIS CILLIZZA THE WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON — There’s a fine line between endearing and creepy, and Vice President Joe Biden always seems to be teetering on that edge. This past week, he tumbled over — face first. The setting: the swearingin ceremony of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. The players: Biden and Stephanie Carter, the new secretary’s wife. The scene: Cameras caught Biden with his
hands on Stephanie Carter’s shoulders while whispering in her ear. She looked less than pleased to have the vice presidential nose in her hair. The tableau made Biden look more lascivious than lovable, more creepy than convivial. Writing this episode off as “Biden being Biden” — the explanation in political circles for the often-outlandish things the vice president says and does — was clearly out of the question. Conservatives quickly
condemned Biden’s behavior and insisted that the media has a double standard for how it covers the second-most-powerful politician in the country. “The only reason Joe Biden gets away with getting handsy with women is because he has a (D) after his name,” Karol Markowiczwrote in an op-ed on Time.com. That was far from the only thing that went wrong for Biden this past week. There was also his comment at a White House summit on vi-
olent extremism that Wilmington, Delaware, has a large Somali population and “an awful lot of them are driving cabs.” Perhaps all this explains why a CBS News poll released Wednesday showed that 35 percent of Democrats would not consider voting for Biden for president in 2016. Vice President Biden, for forgetting that “Mad Men” is a TV show, not a guide for modern workplace conduct, you had the worst week in Washington. Congrats, or something.
CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
Nation
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
Kid’s death certificate sought ASSOCIATED PRESS
SANTA FE, N.M. — An academic is asking a New Mexico court to order a death certificate for Billy the Kid to settle questions about whether the infamous outlaw was actually killed in 1881. Robert J. Stahl, a professor emeritus at Arizona State University, filed a petition Wednesday in state District Court and says a death certificate would end tales that the Kid wasn’t fatally shot by Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports. According to the official story, the brother of the outlaw’s love interest tipped off Garrett, who eventually gunned down the 21-year-old Kid at the woman’s Fort Sumner home. “Quien es?” the outlaw asked before he was shot.
“Who is it?” Garrett later collected a $500 reward, indicating that territorial officials accepted the lawman’s account. For decades, Billy the Kid has been an important figure in New Mexico’s Old West past and any story mentioning him often generates a lot of attention, as well as a lot of disagreements over historic detail Some claim Garrett shot someone else, and Billy took up ranching and farming or escaped to Texas, living under an assumed name. Stahl had gone to the state office that registers births and deaths and was told he’d need a court order for a death certificate to be issued. In July 2013, his article on the fate of Billy the Kid’s trigger finger, floating in alcohol in a mason jar, was featured in True West Magazine.
Stahl has written a 29page petition containing a detailed account of the documentary record and extracts from the testimony of eyewitnesses that he believes show beyond any doubt that the Kid died by a bullet from Garrett’s pistol. District Judge Albert Mitchell, in court in Las Vegas, New Mexico, on Thursday, has not yet had time to act on the matter, according to clerk Kerri Webb. In an interview, Stahl said an official death certificate would “relieve a lot of doubt as to whether Billy the Kid died that night and was buried the next day.” Stahl said there are many continuing fallacies about the Kid. While at the Billy the Kid Museum in Fort Sumner, for example, he heard one story claiming that the Kid was shot and killed in Mexico. A museum employee told him they get
School named for activist By RUSSELL CONTRERAS ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Years after leaving New Mexico in disgrace, a noted Mexican-American scholar and civil rights advocate whose name graces educational institutions in Texas and California but until recently was virtually unknown in his hometown of Albuquerque will finally be honored in his birth city. The Albuquerque School Board voted unanimously Wednesday to name a new school in honor of George I. Sanchez — a trail-brazing professor who played a key role in some of the nation’s most important school desegregation cases. The new kindergartenthrough-eighth-grade George I. Sanchez Collaborative Community School will be located in the largely immigrant and Mexican-
American southwest side of the city. It is believed to the first named after Sanchez in New Mexico. “He’s big hero that we almost forgot to honor,” Luisa Duran, 73, a retired educator told board members. “You’ll probably want to name a couple of more schools after him when you learn more about his work.” The civil rights advocate was born in Albuquerque in 1906 and worked as a rural teacher and education administrator before becoming one of the nation’s most influential Latino scholars. His classic 1940 book “Forgotten People” was one of the first studies to document how Hispanics around Taos, New Mexico, were losing land and influence to poverty. A political fight later forced him out of New Mexico. He later took a job in Venezuela to train that na-
tion’s teachers and then was hired at the University of Texas in Austin. There, he wrote other books, became a national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens and corresponded with NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall on desegregation strategy. In 1960, Sanchez played in key role in forming Viva Kennedy! clubs across the Southwest to help John F. Kennedy win a close presidential election by garnering 90 percent of the Latino vote. Sanchez died in 1972. A dozen or so schools in Texas and California are named after Sanchez. After a 2012 Associated Press story on Sanchez and how he was an unknown figure in New Mexico, a group of educators began pushing for more recognition of Sanchez.
questions about the outlaw’s death “all the time.” The official document would “end a lot of people’s doubts,” Stahl said, and “undermine supporters of Brushy Bill and other impostors.” Born Henry McCarty, likely in New York City, Billy the Kid came to New Mexico with his mother while searching for a better economic future. He became a central figure in a violent, Irish-English land war in New Mexico. He was beloved by Mexican-American ranchers who felt discriminated against by racist white bankers and land thieves. Although he apparently died 134 years ago, Billy the Kid still makes news. In 2003, there was a proposal to exhume his body to compare the DNA to his mother, but the exact location of his remains is in doubt.
Photo by Lincoln County Heritage Trust Archive/file | AP
This undated ferrotype picture is believed to depict William Bonney, also known as Billy the Kid, circa 1880.
Entertainment
6A THE ZAPATA TIMES
Photo by Russell Contreras | AP
Freddy Rodriguez stars in the NBC drama, “The Night Shift.” Last summer’s surprise hit returns for a second season starting Monday, and producers hope its diverse cast will keep viewers coming back.
Show has diverse cast By RUSSELL CONTRERAS ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When Chicago-born Freddy Rodriguez was offered a role in a 2012 pilot for hospital drama, he took the gig and just hoped for the best. But after NBC’s “The Night Shift” finally began airing last summer, surprising critics with its strong ratings, the network ordered another season. Rodriguez then was bombarded on social media by adoring fans who had been following his career since his days as Rico Diaz in HBO’s “Six Feet Under.” The sleeper hit “The Night Shift” returns for a second season Monday, and producers hope the unexpected social media push and its diverse cast will keep viewers coming back. Set in San Antonio and filmed in Albuquerque, the drama stars Dublin-born Eoin Macken, who plays Dr. T.C. Callahan, and Rodriguez, who plays hospital leader Michael Ragosa, as they try to run a red-eye emergency room in a largely Mexican-American city. It also stars Jill Flint, who plays Dr. Jordan Alexander, and Ken Leung, known for his roles in
“Lost” and the “The Sopranos.” Co-creator Gabe Sachs said producers picked strong actors who they thought would best represent the real diversity of a hospital. “We didn’t go out and cast Freddy Rodriguez because of his ethnicity,” Sachs said. “We went out to get Freddy Rodriguez because he’s Freddy Rodriguez. Everything else fell into place.” The Sony Pictures TV production stunned critics when it averaged around 6.9 million viewers per episode thanks to a lead-in from “America’s Got Talent.” Sachs said he believed part of the reason it caught on was because the actors were engaged on social media. Macken said he didn’t know what to expect when the series finally aired and was glad to see people talking about the show on Twitter. “I don’t know the numbers or anything, but I’m always happy to talk directly with fans,” said Macken, who just finished filming a role in “Killing Jesus,” a movie adaptation of the book by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard.
Like many hospital dramas, the series follows staff as they try to navigate a busy emergency room amid personal challenges and love triangles. However, some characters, like Callahan, are battling PTSD following military service in Afghanistan. In addition, former Army medic Drew, played by Brendan Fehr, must face his past as he tries to care for a boyfriend who is recovering from an amputation. This season, producers are promising more developed characters from patients, allowing creators to paint an accurate portrayal of San Antonio. Though most of the series is shot at Albuquerque Studios in Albuquerque, Sachs said the show will likely capture some scenes from San Antonio. He said it’s important to him that viewers believe they are watching a story out of the Alamo City. That’s why there will be mentions of popular San Antonio restaurants and tourist spots, he said. And what about references to civil rights lawyer Gus Garcia or the late-Tejano star Selena? “Selena ...” Sachs said with a pause. “That’s a great idea.”
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2015
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A
Nation
8A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2015
Man: I fired 22 times Killed daughter recalled By TERRY TANG By KEN RITTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS — The teenager arrested in what has been described as the road-rage slaying of a Las Vegas mother boasted about the shooting and told friends that he emptied several clips from his semi-automatic handgun during the gunbattle, according to a police report released Friday. The documents shed new light on what police portrayed as a fierce shootout last week involving 19-year-old Erich Milton Nowsch Jr., victim Tammy Meyers and her 22-year-old son. Police said Nowsch boasted of firing more than 22 shots at them that night — once a few blocks from their home and again in the cul-de-sac outside the house. “Got those kids. They were after me, and I got them,” he was quoted as telling friends. Nowsch remained jailed Friday on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and discharging a firearm from a vehicle. It wasn’t clear if he had a lawyer. Authorities continued to search for a second suspect, apparently the driver of the car in which Nowsch was said to be riding. According to authorities, Meyers, 44, was out with her 15-year-old daughter on the night of Feb. 12, giving her driving lessons, when a car sped past them. The daughter honked, and the vehicle stopped, police said. A person got out and warned Meyers: “I’m gonna come back for you and your daughter,” according to the police report. Police said the mother then sped home, dropped off her daughter and roused her son, Brandon, from bed. His mother told him to get in the car or she was going to go looking for the suspects alone, so he grabbed his 9 mm handgun and went along,
Photo by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department | AP
A police officer leads a shirtless suspect in the road-rage killing of a Las Vegas mother to police headquarters for questioning Thursday. police said. The two found the vehicle and began following it when a passenger in the car began shooting at them, and Brandon Meyer returned fire, police said. According to the police report, Nowsch told friends the gunbattle began after he saw someone in a green car in a school parking lot waving a gun out the window at him. He said he opened fire from the passenger seat with a .45-caliber handgun, then followed the vehicle into a cul-de-sac, reloaded and fired 22 more shots outside the Meyers home, according to the report. Brandon Meyers told police he fired three shots. It wasn’t immediately clear how authorities came to suspect Nowsch in the shooting, but the police report said he was questioned five days later while being held in juvenile custody on unrelated charges. It turns out he and the Meyerses were neighbors who lived a block apart. Robert Meyers, the victim’s husband, said his wife had taken a motherly interest in Nowsch following the suicide of his father five years ago, giving him food and money and telling him to “pull his pants up and be a man.”
Neighbor Melissa Mour said she talked with Nowsch the day after the shooting and asked him about the screeching tires and gunfire she had heard the night before. “He was like, ‘Whoever did this is going to pay for it. I’ve know that family a long time,”’ Mour said. “The way he spoke that day, it was like he liked them. It was like he was upset at whoever did it.” The case has been marked by conflicting and incomplete accounts from police and the Meyers family, giving rise to suspicions the case is not necessarily the random road-rage shooting it appeared to at first. “This has all the earmarks of something that is not road rage,” said Los Angeles defense attorney Geragos, who is not involved in the case. “There is a whole lot more to this that we just don’t know.”
PHOENIX — The father of a woman found killed in her suburban Phoenix home said Friday he hasn’t been able to sleep, instead imagining what happened to his caring, friendly daughter who was excited about her sales job and hoping to soon get engaged. “It’s really hard because we have all kinds of visualizations going on. We can’t sleep at night,” Harley Feldman said in phone interview from his home in Excelsior, Minnesota. Feldman said police told him they don’t know if 31year-old Allison Feldman of Scottsdale was the victim of a random attack. Authorities were called Wednesday afternoon after the woman’s boyfriend discovered her body. On Friday, Scottsdale police Sgt. Ben Hoster declined to say whether in-
vestigators have identified a suspect. He said authorities were continuing to withFELDMAN hold many details, including the manner of death and whether there were signs of a break-in, a struggle or items missing from the home. “We don’t want to tip off possible suspects,” Hoster said. Investigators remained at the scene Friday. “This is a case that’s obviously a homicide, and we are taking all of our investigative steps seriously,” Hoster said. Harley Feldman said his daughter lived in a safe neighborhood on the edge of Old Town Scottsdale, a bustling district known for its nightlife and restaurants and popular with out-of-town visitors. Police had no previous
interactions with Allison Feldman, authorities said. But at the request of her boyfriend, she installed an alarm system at her home about six weeks ago, her father said. “Her boyfriend said, ‘I don’t like it when you’re home by yourself,”’ Harley Feldman said. Allison Feldman worked in sales for a medical-device company and graduated from the University of Arizona, where she studied Spanish and communications. She remained in Arizona after college partly because of the weather, Harley Feldman said. He last spoke with his daughter Tuesday night. She was excited for a business trip to a resort and had just bought a new dress. “Her life was on the upswing. She was talking about getting engaged in a few months,” Harley Feldman said. “No negatives in her life.”
SÁBADO 21 DE FEBRERO DE 2015
Ribereña en Breve WBCA La Ceremonia del Abrazo en el Puente Internacional Juárez Lincoln, está programada para el sábado a las 7:30 a.m. Asimismo, el Defile Anheuser-Busch Washington’s Birthday, comenzará a las 9 a.m. en avenida San Bernardo de Laredo. Asientos en bancas tienen costo de 5 dólares en la puerta. Último fin de semana del Carnaval del 12 al 23 de febrero. sábado-domingo, puertas abren a mediodía. Estacionamiento de Laredo Energy Arena. Costo: 2 dólares entrada. Hoy McMonday, de 12 p.m. a 6 p.m.
AVISO DE TRÁFICO Continúa el proyecto de ampliación sobre US 83 y las líneas divisorias del Condado de Webb y Zapata. Este proyecto utilizará un control de tráfico para construir las transiciones de carreteras en las líneas divisoras del Condado de Webb/Zapata para los carriles del norte y sur, por lo que se pide a los conductores a poner atención y obedecer las señales de tráfico para evitar accidentes. Los trabajos continuarán hasta el 6 de marzo.
Zfrontera
PÁGINA 9A
TEXAS
Custodia fronteriza POR SETH ROBBINS Y PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
McALLEN— En la autopista 83 de Estados Unidos, que abraza el tramo sur de la frontera entre Texas y México, las autoridades están por todas partes. Incluso durante el feriado nacional de esta semana, las camionetas verdes y blancas del servicio de Protección de Fronteras y Aduanas circulaban incansables por las calles vacías de Rio Grande City, un punto caliente en el paso ilegal de inmigrantes. Los patrulleros del estado de Texas manejaban otros vehículos, y un helicóptero de la Patrulla Fronteriza sobrevolaba la zona, con la vista puesta en el Río Grande. Menos visibles son los cientos de efectivos de la Guardia Nacional que llegaron el verano pasado y están bajo nuevas órdenes del gobernador de Texas, Greg Abbott, de quedarse hasta nuevo avi-
so, probablemente hasta el año que viene. Pero ante el descenso de migrantes que llegan y con la guardia en puestos remotos, las autoridades locales y los vecinos están cuestionando la presencia de las tropas en la zona. Los miembros de la guardia, que tenían previsto marcharse en marzo, suelen responder a desastres a corto plazo como huracanes. En cambio, ahora están en uno de los despliegues internos más largos en Estados Unidos, a pesar del descenso en las detenciones y al declive aún mayor en la cantidad de niños que llegan sin acompañante desde Centroamérica. Fue la llegada de esos niños, en cantidades abrumadoras, lo que llevó al ex gobernador Rick Perry a activar a la guardia en un principio. Abbott dice que la misión extendida es necesaria hasta que Texas contrate a más patrulleros estatales.
"Nos mantendremos en el puesto hasta que nuestra presencia ya no sea necesaria", dijo el mayor general de la Guardia Nacional John Nichols. Los guardias están destinados sobre todo a lo largo del Río Grande. Pero en las últimas semanas, su presencia se volvió menos visible conforme el cuerpo comenzó una retirada gradual con vistas al final de su misión en marzo. Todavía no está claro cuántos efectivos se quedarán en la región, cumpliendo con su papel estrictamente limitado a la vigilancia. Están armados, pero no tienen autoridad para hacer detenciones y deben llamar a otra agencia al menor signo de complicaciones. El director del Departamento de Seguridad Pública de Texas, Steve McCrew, declinó detallar esta semana el número total de patrulleros armados que tiene el estado en el valle del Río Grande, haciendo difícil ofrecer una ima-
gen del nivel de seguridad. El gobernador y las autoridades del estado ya no hacen público el número de guardas apostados en la frontera, debido a lo que describen como seguridad operacional. Cuando unos 1.000 guardias llegaron en un principio en agosto, más de 6.600 personas fueron detenidas en la primera semana tras cruzar la frontera de manera ilegal, según las autoridades texanas. Esa cifra ha caído después a unos 200 guardias y unas 2.000 detenciones semanales. El Centro Nacional de Mariposas, situado en una finca de 100 acres (40 hectáreas) adyacente al Río Grande en Misión, acogía a un grupo de guardias a finales de 2014. La directora del centro recordó haberlos visto apostados en un dique cercano con la protección corporal completa bajo el sol abrasador, con equipo de vigilancia de alta tecnología. Su presencia pareció tener un efecto disuasorio.
MIGUEL ALEMÁN, MÉXICO
RONDAS INFANTILES
JUNTA DE COMISIONADOS El lunes 23 de febrero, los Comisionados de la Corte del Condado de Zapata realizarán su junta quincenal en la Sala de la Corte del Condado de Zapata, a partir de las 9 a.m. a 12 p.m. Para mayores informes llame a Roxy Elizondo al (956) 765 9920.
TORNEO DE PESCA El torneo de pesca de bagre Falcon Lake Babe —International Catfish Series— para damas solamente, en su ronda de campeonato se llevará a cabo el sábado 7 de marzo. La serie de cinco torneos que se realizan mensualmente desde noviembre finalizará con una ronda de campeonato este sábado. 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. Para mayores informes comuníquese con Betty Ortiz al (956) 236-4590 o con Elcina Buck al (319) 239 5859.
JUNTA DE COMISIONADOS El lunes 09 de marzo, los Comisionados de la Corte del Condado de Zapata realizarán su junta quincenal en la Sala de la Corte del Condado de Zapata, a partir de las 9 a.m. a 12 p.m. Para mayores informes llame a Roxy Elizondo al (956) 765 9920.
FERIA DEL CONDADO A partir del jueves 12 de marzo y hasta el sábado 14 de marzo, tendrá lugar la Feria del Condado de Zapata, en Zapata County Fairgrounds.
DESFILE Se invita a todos los negocios, iglesias, clubes, escuelas, organizaciones y oficiales electos a participar en el Zapata County Fair Parade 2015, que se celebrará el 14 de marzo. Se entregarán trofeos a las mejores flotas de las diferentes categorías. El desfile está programado para comenzar a las 9 a.m., sin embargo los participantes deben presentarse antes de las 8:30.
Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Miguel Alemán
Recientemente se llevó a cabo el Séptimo Concurso Estatal de Rondas Infantiles y Salto de Cuerda, en una primera etapa municipal en el Parque México de la Ciudad de Miguel Alemén, México. Estudiantes de educación básica de diferentes zonas escolares participaron durante el evento.
CORTE
TMN
Dictan un año en prisión tras fraude
Informan sobre próximas clases
ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
El presidente de una empresa fue sentenciado a un año y un día en una prisión federal tras defraudar al Departamento de la Administración de Veteranos (VA), anunciaron autoridades de EU. Jonathan Patrick Saunders, de 71 años de edad, presidente de Saunders, MEP fue sentenciado a un año y un día en una prisión federal seguido de tres años de libertad condicional y una orden para pagar 1.4 millones de dólares como indemnización por defraudar al Departamento de la Administración de Veteranos (VA) en cone-
xión con contratos de arquitectura e ingeniería, anunció el Fiscal de EU Richard L. Durbin Jr. El 6 de enero, Saunders se declaró culpable a un cargo de fraude. Al declarases culpable, Saunders admitió que durante un periodo de cinco años empezando en marzo del 2008, el concientemente entrego información fraudulenta a la Administración de Veteranos para poder obtener dos millones en ordenes de la Administración para proyectos realizados en el área de San Antonio. El 19 de febrero el Juez de Distrito de los EU Orlando García dictó que Saunders hizo falsas re-
presentaciones a la Administración de Veteranos. En su paquete SF-330 “Requisitos de Arquitectura-Ingeniería”, Saunders falsamente representó que su negocio calificado como Negocio Pequeño Operado por Veteranos Discapacitados, que ciertas personas con cualidades particulares trabajaron para su firma, y que ciertos proyectos eran completados por su firma. El caso fue investigado por agentes de la Oficina del Inspector General para la Administración de Veteranos y la Administración de Pequeños Negocios.
TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
El Brush Country Chapter del programa Texas Master Naturalist, que se enfoca en los condados de Webb y Zapata, llevará a cabo sus primeras clases de entrenamiento de julio a noviembre. El objetivo del prorgama es “desarrollar un bien informado cuerpo de voluntarios que provean educación, alcance y servicio dedicado al beneficio de la administración de los recursos naturales y áreas naturales en sus comunidades para el estado de Texas”, indica un comunicado de prensa. Durante el tiempo de clase, los voluntarios obtendrán 40 horas de entre-
namiento, incluyendo viajes de campo.Una vez concluidas las clases y ocho horas adicionales de entrenamiento avanzado, los voluntarios dan 40 horas de servicio a la comunidad. Por tal motivo habrá dos reuniones informativas gratuitas durante febrero. El martes 24 de febrero a las 6:30 p.m. en el Centro de Ciencias Ambientales Lamar Bruni Vergara de LCC, y el viernes 27 de febrero a las 12 p.m. en el Parque Estatal Lake Casa Blanca. Si requiere más información, escriba a Holly Reinhard, a holly.reinhard@tpwd.texas.gov; o a Alberto Sandoval en alberto@rgisc.org.
COLUMNA
Narra impacto de fenómeno natural POR RAUL SINENCIO ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Un luminoso fenómeno surca los cielos tamaulipecos al final del siglo XIX. Es un cometa.
Antecedentes Hacia principios de 1811, mientras Miguel Hidalgo avanza hacia el norte, sobre el altiplano potosino un cometa aparece. Esta clase de avistamientos van sucediéndose durante aquella centuria en México. Hay ejemplos de ello en los
años 1835, 1843, 1858 y 1861. Al considerarse terrible preludio, uno de los registros de mayor antigüedad nos remite a las vísperas de la conquista hispana. Según Francisco López de Gómara, “en tiempos de algún cometa (los mesoamericanos) hacen grandísimo ruido y gritan, creyendo que así huye o se consume”.
Cometa Detengámonos en 1882. Va de salida el verano. Llega a la parte media el gobierno de Manuel Gonzá-
lez. En la antesala del otoño, un cometa acapara la atención. Lleno de asombro, el Bajío consigue distinguirlo muy entrada la noche. “El 24 de septiembre lo copié”, señala el pintor guanajuatense Hermenegildo Bustos. Los destellos se extienden hasta Tamaulipas, frente a la costa atlántica. Con el título “Nuevo cometa”, el semanario publica en Tampico el 29 de septiembre de 1882: “Desde hace cuatro o cinco días, en la madrugada, se ha dejado ver un hermoso cometa, cuya posición es al este.
Identificación Características específicas hoy permiten identificarlo. Pertenece a los Kreutz Sungrazers, grupo de cometas que pasan en los perihelios bastante próximos al globo solar. En concreto, éste resulta tan brillante que supera a la luna llena. Tras el acercamiento al sol, en forma paulatina va fragmentándose y pierde luminosidad. No obstante, varios meses continúa detectable a simple vista. (Publicado conforme aparece en La Razón, Tampico, México)
International
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
Greece gets loan deal By LORNE COOK AND PAN PYLAS ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRUSSELS — Greece and its creditors in the 19-nation eurozone reached an agreement Friday on extending the country’s rescue loans, a move that should ease concerns it was heading for the euro exit. Athens will get an extension of four months, not six, as it had requested, said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the eurozone’s top official. In return, Greece has committed to make a series of unspecified reforms to be enacted. Friday’s agreement was clinched just a week before Greece’s 240 billion euro bailout program expires. It is aimed at buying time for both sides to agree on a longer-term deal to ease the burden of Greece’s bailout loans. “We have established common ground again,” Dijsselbloem said after the meeting in Brussels. Following two weeks of tense negotiations, the final deal showed compromise by both camps. Even German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who in recent weeks had taken a tough line, said “this is an important step forward. “ Investors appeared to breathe a sigh of relief and the Dow Jones index closed at a record high Friday. “This deal temporarily eases tensions and gives Greece breathing room to negotiate long termdebt relief,” said Jay Jacobs, research analyst.
Yemen rivals OK new lege By AHMED AL-HAJ ASSOCIATED PRESS
SANAA, Yemen — The United Nations envoy to Yemen said Friday that rival factions, including the country’s Shiite rebels, have agreed on a new legislative body to serve during the country’s upcoming transition period. Jamal Benomar said that the various parties have taken an “important step” toward a political resolution to the current crisis by creating a new legislative body consisting of former and new lawmakers. But a coalition of Yemeni parties voiced objections to the plan, describing it as an insufficient half-solution. Benomar says other issues, including the status of the presidency, remain on the table. Yemen has been locked in a political crisis since Shiite rebels, known as
Houthis, took over the capital in September. The rebels eventually forced the resignation of the elected Western-backed president and dissolved the parliament. U.S. State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Friday said her government was monitoring the situation. “We have seen these reports. We continue to support the special envoy’s efforts to work with the parties to find a solution to the political crisis. And we’re in regular contact with him and his team regarding the situation on the ground,” Psaki said. “We don’t have an analysis yet on what it means, because we haven’t seen implementation quite yet on it. And we are certainly clear-eyed, given the events of the last couple of weeks, of how that will be implemented or how it could be implemented, I should say.”
Liberia to end Ebola curfew By JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONROVIA, Liberia — Liberia’s president on Friday ordered officials to lift an overnight curfew put in place six months ago to fight the Ebola epidemic and to reopen the country’s land border crossings. The new orders from President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, which take effect Sunday, offer another sign that normal life is resuming in the West African nation as officials work toward eradicating the disease entirely. Once the center of the
worst Ebola outbreak in history, Liberia has recorded more than 9,000 confirmed, suspected and probable cases and 3,900 deaths. However, the most recent update from the World Health Organization reported only two cases in the previous week, and schools began reopening earlier this week. Friday’s statement said Sirleaf made her decision about the curfew and borders “on the advice of the National Security Council of Liberia.” The curfew was imposed last August when the epidemic was raging.
Dozens killed in Libya By ESAM MOHAMED AND MAGGIE MICHAEL ASSOCIATED PRESS
TRIPOLI, Libya — Islamic State militants unleashed suicide bombings Friday in eastern Libya, killing at least 40 people in what the group said was retaliation for Egyptian airstrikes against the extremists’ aggressive new branch in North Africa. The bombings in the town of Qubba, which is controlled by Libya’s internationally recognized government, solidified concerns the extremist group has spread beyond the battlefields of Iraq and Syria and established a foothold less than 500 miles from the southern tip of Italy. The militants have taken over at least two Libyan coastal cities on the Mediterranean — Sirte and Darna, which is about 19 miles from Qubba. They released a video Sunday that showed the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians who were abducted in Sirte, and Egypt responded Monday with airstrikes on Darna. The Islamic State group has established its presence in Libya by exploiting the country’s breakdown since dictator Moammar Gadhafi was ousted and killed in 2011. Hundreds of militias have taken power since then, and some of them have militant ideologies. A militia coalition known as Libya Dawn has taken over Tripoli, where Islamists set up their own parliament and government. Islamic extremist militias controlled the second-largest city of Benghazi until late last year, when army troops began battling them for control. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for Friday’s suicide bombings in Qubba, but said there were only two attacks, while the government said there were three. Army spokesman Mohammed Hegazi said one attacker rammed an explosives-packed ambulance into a gas station where motori-
Photo by Mohamed Ben Khalifa | AP
An African Christian mother and her child attend mass at Anglican church in Tripoli, Libya, on Friday. sts were lined up. “Imagine a car packed with a large amount of explosives striking a gas station; the explosion was huge and many of the injured are in very bad shape while the victims’ bodies were torn into pieces,” Hegazi said. Two other bombers detonated vehicles next to the house of the parliament speaker and the nearby security headquarters, he said. Government spokesman Mohammed Bazaza put the death toll at 40, with at least 70 injured, some seriously. The number of dead was expected to rise. Two security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media said at least 45 were killed. Among the dead were six Egyptians working at a cafe next to the gas station. Video broadcast from the scene showed dozens of cars wrecked and ablaze, with pools of blood on the asphalt, along with body parts, shoes and shattered glass. Bodies covered in sheets were lined up nearby.
The government and parliament announced a week of mourning. “This terrorist, cowardly and desperate attack only increases our determination to uproot terrorism in Libya and in the region,” Bazaza said, adding that Libyan air force jets conducted several airstrikes, without specifying where. Witnesses in the city of Sirte said it was hit by multiple Libyan airstrikes Friday, targeting a convention center that is used as a headquarters by the Islamic State group. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Washington condemned the attacks in Qubba. In addition to launching airstrikes on Darna earlier this week, Egypt joined Libya’s elected government in pressing for a U.N. Security Council resolution to lift a U.N. arms embargo on Libya and pave the way for international intervention — similar to the U.S.-led campaign in Syria and Iraq against the Islamic State group.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2015
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
JOSE M. VALADEZ
GOD Continued from Page 1A
Sept. 24, 1925 – Feb. 17, 2015 Jose M. Valadez, 89, passed away on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 at Laredo Medical Center in Laredo, Texas. Mr. Valadez was an only child to Jose Inez & Manuela M. Valadez. He is preceded in death by his wife Elvia B. Valadez; son, Mario Cesar Valadez; and grandson, Carlitos Valadez, Jr. Mr. Valadez is survived by his sons, Jose Renato Valadez, Juan Manuel (Norma) Valadez, Carlos H. (Edith) Valadez; daughters, Enedelia B. (Manuel) Garcia, Alma Rosa (Florencio) Ibarra, Martha (+Elias) Bolaños, Enelda (Eloy) Cuellar; 21 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; and by numerous nephews, nieces, other family members and friends. Visitation hours were held on Friday, February 20, 2015, from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home. The funeral procession
departed on Friday, February 20, 2015, at 10 a.m. for a 10:30 a.m. funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy 83 Zapata, Texas.
NIAGARA FALLS FREEZING OVER
Photo by Aaron Lynett | AP
Visitors look over masses of ice formed around the Canadian ‘Horseshoe’ Falls in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, Thursday.
ARRESTED Continued from Page 1A toward U.S. 83. The trail led agents to La Perla B Lease Ranch. With the help from air support, nine people were detained. All detainees were determined to be in the country illegally, according to a criminal complaint. Cabrera-Aguilar stated the group crossed the Rio Grande using a raft by the San Ygnacio area. CabreraAguilar admitted to guiding and smuggling the undocumented people into the country. A man he identified as “Pelon” offered to pay him $150 per immigrant, the complaint states. “Pelon” gave CabreraAguilar a cell phone and instructions to the cross the river and walked toward
U.S. 83, where they would be picked up, according to court documents. CabreraAguilar stated he met with his cousin Gonzalez-Aguilar at the Mexican riverbanks. Cabrera-Aguilar allegedly instructed the group to be as quiet as possible to avoid detection. He also told the group to not say anything of his involvement in the case if they were to be apprehended, the complaint reads. Gonzalez-Aguilar allegedly corroborated the testimony Cabrera-Aguilar gave and added he was there to help his cousin, according to court documents. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
of all to lend an ear in times of grief, addiction and loneliness. God told him, hale at the age of 70, to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to the transient workers of the Eagle Ford Shale. And God, as layoffs accelerate, has not given any clear order to stop. “The telephone calls have increased,” Hoffman told the Houston Chronicle. “As they lose their jobs, we get calls. I get calls from people who just want to talk. You can tell they’re crying. I get calls from wives, I get calls from men. Marriage breakups are fairly common. We’ve had suicidal calls. We just try to respond to whatever they call about.” From the border to this small town 75 miles east of San Antonio, across the Permian Basin and up through the Panhandle, fading rural churches once hoped to replenish their pews with the arrival of thousands of roughnecks, tool pushers and middle managers, especially those with families in tow. But while some counted an increase in tithing as members leased their land for petroleum extraction, most of the aged congregations gained little in the way of new membership. “There’s kind of a cultural disconnect between the quote-unquote ‘oil trash’ and the community, the itinerant versus stationary groups,” said Andrew Fiser, an earnest young reverend dispatched to coordinate efforts across South Texas for the United Methodist Church. “We really struggled to find the faith communities and specifically lay people that were able to do that work.” The failure of those efforts came as little surprise to Hoffman, who spent four decades as the pastor of half a dozen churches in small towns across the state. He knew firsthand not just the limitations of the pulpit, but also the power of ministry and the audacity required. Though his parents were, by his description, “not Christian,” Hoffman started attending church at the age of 5, when a Sunday school teacher came to fetch him. At first he was confused by talk of the Lord, which he mistook as a reference to the crock jar of pig fat in his grandmother’s kitchen, but before long he was singing in the choir. He accepted his savior at age 13. Years of restlessness as a young man led to the righteous path, which eventually led to his retirement career. Among his qualifications for the ministry, Hoffman counts a gift for easy conversation and the love of his wife, Nelda, who has a better memory for names and other meaningful details. They married as widow and widower. They live in a neighborhood where the streets are named for saints. They wear matching black shirts depicting a derrick and the name of their ministry, Oil Patch Chapel. “We felt a real need to go out there and we didn’t know exactly why,” Hoffman said. “The churches weren’t reaching them, so we decided to take the churches to them.” Formally endorsed by the Baptist General Convention of Texas, their work has drawn enough financial support to provide an annual budget of $115,000. Across the state, they have recruited about 60 volunteer chaplains, whom they supply with Bibles, business cards, ministry logo shirts and magnetic car signs. Before the industry layoffs began, they commissioned 4-foot by 48-foot ban-
ners that say “Welcome Oil Field Workers,” in the hopes that civic leaders might hang them across the highways to foster boomtown goodwill. Though Hoffman seeks permission from drilling bosses to speak at morning safety meetings, the cards he leaves behind are not primarily intended for managers. Many of those men and women live with their families in comfortable corporate housing. Some of them find churches on their own. His cards are for the laborers. He encourages them to call in moments of desperation, after accidents and explosions, after bar fights and bouts of boredom, after bad news from home and now, more and more, after layoffs. “People are distressed, and they don’t feel like they have any hope,” Hoffman said. “We introduce them to Jesus, and that makes a difference in their lives.” Hoffman likes to call his ministry “a series of interruptions.” Nothing happens on a set schedule. The men he serves live in trailers far from their families, overworked and overpaid, spending their wages on beer and gouged rent. It can be hard to save for a rainy day when the monthly cost of a trailer with four other men exceeds $6,000. Fourteen hour shifts leave little time for making contingency plans. And for those who lose their jobs, oil field work comes with no guarantee of severance pay. Through charitable donations, Hoffman tries to provide a sort of token safety net. Other than referrals to financial counseling, he can offer little more than a casserole and perhaps a small grocery store gift card. But the most important contribution he and his wife make to troubled workers is “their love,” said Rebecca Salmon, whose husband broke his neck driving an oil field truck. “They share their love with you.” Reaching those workers, especially in times of distress, presents an enduring challenge. One of his volunteer chaplains, Stan Hays, a pipeline construction supervisor, struggled for years to spread a gospel message in the oil fields before signing on with Hoffman. “The guys I call ‘hard-core criminals,’ out of prison, struggling in their lives, they don’t want to hear it from me,” Hays said. “They think I’m fake.” Hoffman takes a gentle approach. His advanced age, he says, helps put men at ease. His choice of the title “chaplain” suggests he does not intend to cajole anyone into church attendance. At a construction site for a disposal facility outside town the other day, Hoffman struck up a conversation with Alan Gao, 31, an operations coordinator for the oil field waste management firm Trisun Energy. They talked about the price of crude. Hoffman said he was planning to attend a speech by the chairman of the Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil industry. Maybe, he suggested, he could return with some insights about business conditions. After the small talk ran out, Hoffman made a pitch for his ministry. “When we try to help your workers, or you, we never interfere with their work schedule,” he said. “If you have somebody that’s in distress, they’re probably not going to be as good a worker. So please feel free to call on us. We have people
that can be there in 20 minutes if you have a wreck or an explosion.” Hoffman was not the first to hear a calling to the oil fields. After the discovery of hydrocarbons around Crane County in 1926, a real estate developer named O.C. Kinnison invited a preacher to bring some perspective to the descending mobs. In the 1940s, an oil speculator named Rupert Ricker held tent revival meetings in Big Spring. Nearly a quarter century ago, the Oilfield Christian Fellowship of Houston started printing scriptures customized with petroleum industry testimonials. But the latest boom descended on a vastly altered state, where oil field operations take their orders from corporate towers in the populous urban triangle of Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. Many established churches in the far-flung oil fields were already struggling. “The first thought was, ‘Let’s offer them coffee and muffins,”’ said Valli Blair, pastor of Three Rivers United Methodist Church. “But that isn’t what they need. They need AA. They need to know about their health. They need to know how to support their family in their absence.” In Carrizo Springs, where Pastor Vanessa LeVine took office last summer at the United Methodist Church, there has been talk of using the windfall from industry royalty checks to hire a paid outreach director. As oil production companies order more layoffs and transfers, though, she can hardly see the point. “We have one family with two beautiful children,” she said. “The wife was going to help with the Christmas pageant. No sooner did she sign up than did her husband get put on alert that he might have to move to West Texas at any time.” For the ministry of Hollas and Nelda Hoffman, though, rebuilding congregations ranks as a secondary concern at best. One day a couple of weeks ago, Hoffman returned to the home of the trucker who had broken his neck, John Salmon, known around the fleet yard as Stretch. He was still in a neck brace, but he was up walking around, shooing the chickens in his yard and the dogs in his living room. After an exchange of pleasantries, Hoffman asked about surgery schedules. Salmon said little; his wife and his mother and the other women in the house did most of the talking. A date in the spring was mentioned, though all present agreed that his recovery was in the hands of God. “We’re going to have a prayer with you, if that’s OK, and then we’re going to get down the road,” Hoffman said. The women bowed their heads. Salmon could not, but he closed his eyes. “Father,” Hoffman prayed, “thank you for your healing hand. We ask that you be with us as we go out and minister to others. We thank you for healing John. In Jesus’ name, Amen.” “Amen,” said everybody. Then Hoffman got on down the road. Over chicken fried steaks in the dining room of the local auction barn, he chatted up the communal table and offered a prayer. Then he drove out through fields of pumpjacks and grazing cattle, down rutted dirt roads past empty well pad sites and rows of abandoned mobile home hookups. He kept his phone close, and when it rang he felt compelled to answer the call.
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2015
MARRIAGE Continued from Page 1A Goodfriend, 58, has ovarian cancer. A state district judge raised the “severity and uncertainty” of her condition in granting the women permission to marry, sending the couple scrambling through a Travis County clerk building in case state Republican leaders got wind and intervened. Within hours, the Texas Supreme Court had blocked other gay couples from getting married under similar special exceptions — but didn’t address the women’s marriage, which Paxton said he considered void. But that remains in dispute, and Paxton’s spokeswoman, Cynthia Meyer, said their office will file additional paperwork with the state Supreme Court on Friday to argue their case. “Activist judges don’t
change Texas law and we will continue to aggressively defend the laws of our state,” Paxton said in a statement. New Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also reaffirmed his support for Texas’ constitutional ban on same-sex marriage that voters overwhelmingly approved in 2005. The women were granted a one-time license after an Austin probate judge this week ruled the state’s gay marriage ban unconstitutional in an estate case that was unrelated to the couple. Sensing an opportunity, Goodfriend and Bryant had their lawyer petition the judge Thursday morning. State District Judge David Wahlberg, an elected Democrat, sided with the couple and directed Travis County officials to stop rely-
“
Activist judges don’t change Texas law and we will continue to aggressively defend the laws of our state.” ATTORNEY GENERAL KEN PAXTON
ing on “the unconstitutional Texas prohibitions against same-sex marriage as a basis for not issuing a marriage license.” Bryant said that being legally married to Goodfriend would ensure inheritance and allow the couple to make medical decisions for each other should one of them become critically ill. Courts in Indiana made a similar exception for a les-
bian couple in April because one of the women was dying of cancer and wanted her partner’s name on her death certificate. A federal appeals court overturned Indiana’s ban in September. A federal judge in San Antonio last year overturned Texas’ same-sex marriage ban but put his ruling on hold while the state appeals to the 5th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals. “We are all waiting for a final decision on marriage equality,” said Travis County Clerk Dana Debeauvoir, whose office issued the marriage license. “However, this couple may not get the chance to hear the outcome of this issue because of one person’s health.” Goodfriend, policy director for state Rep. Celia Israel, said during a news conference that her last chemotherapy treatment was 4 1/2 months ago. But, she added: “All of us wonder if the cancer grows back along with the hair growing back.” Bryant, an Austin lawyer who works on adoptions for same-sex couples, said she and her wife believe their marriage license is valid. Mark Phariss, who along with his partner are leading
the Texas gay marriage lawsuit in federal court, said he was “thrilled” by news of the nuptials even though it’s unlikely to impact their bigger case. He said Bryant and Goodfriend’s circumstance “is evidence of the harm the ban is having on the state.” Shortly after their marriage, Travis County officials said two other samesex couples inquired about marriage licenses. By then, Paxton’s office was already preparing its emergency filing with the state Supreme Court. “The AG can do what he wants. This is a very good day in Texas for progressively minded people, much less lesbian and gay people,” said Steven Tomlinson, who celebrated with Goodfriend and Bryant at their party Thursday night.
media attention focused on the border also deterred visitors — the birders and butterfly enthusiasts who come from as far away as Japan. Participation in the center’s annual festival last fall fell by 20 percent, she said. “You come out here and see how lovely and tranquil and peaceful it is, and the news made it sound like we were being invaded,” she said. The center held two dinners for guard troops, but she said she has not seen one guard member anywhere in the area since January. “They sort of vanished,” she said. The National Guard’s lowered profile has caused some local law enforcement officials to balk at the cost of keeping them in the area. Next year, Texas will surpass $1 billion in border-security spending since 2008. The money has paid for everything from raw manpower to futuristic spy planes and $600,000 armored boats
with machine guns that fire 900 rounds per minute. Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio said that he’s never spotted the guard working in his county and his officers don’t report seeing them either. That money would be better used beefing up local law enforcement, he said. “We have to know when you can stop somebody, when you can interrogate someone, when you have probable cause to stop. The National Guard does not have that authority,” Lucio said. Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities in McAllen, which opened a shelter for migrants last summer, also questioned what the guardsmen added. “Folks in general appreciate the sense of safety that our local law enforcement provide for us,” Pimentel said. “I don’t know that the National Guard is doing anything to increase that safety.”
GUARD Continued from Page 1A keeping watch over the Rio Grande. Less visible are hundreds of Texas National Guard troops who arrived last summer and are under new orders from Gov. Greg Abbott to remain indefinitely — probably at least through next year. But with migration numbers falling and the guard moving to remote outposts, local authorities and residents are questioning the troops’ continued presence here. Previously scheduled to leave in March, guard members who typically respond to short-term disasters like hurricanes are instead digging in for one of the longest domestic deployments in the U.S. That is despite dwindling apprehensions and an even steeper drop in unaccompanied children arriving from Central America. It was the arrival of those children in overwhelming numbers that prompted former Gov. Rick Perry to activate the
guard in the first place. Abbott says the extended mission remains necessary until Texas hires more state troopers. “We will stay on station until our presence there is not needed any further,” National Guard Maj. Gen. John Nichols said. The troops had been stationed mostly along the Rio Grande. But in recent weeks, their presence became less visible as the guard began a gradual drawdown in anticipation of the mission ending in March. Still unclear is how many guard troops will remain, serving in their strictly surveillance role. They are armed, but they do not have arrest authority and must call another agency at the first sign of trouble. Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw this week refused to disclose the total number of gun-carrying patrolmen the state has saturating the Rio
“
We will stay on station until our presence there is not needed any further.” NATIONAL GUARD MAJ. GEN. JOHN NICHOLS
Grande Valley, making a complete picture of security elusive. The governor and state officials no longer disclose the number of guard troops being kept on the border, citing what they call operational security. When about 1,000 guard troops first arrived in August, more than 6,600 illegal crossers were apprehended in the first week, according to state officials. Those numbers have since fallen to around 200 guard members and about 2,000 weekly apprehensions. The National Butterfly Center, on a 100-acre property adjacent to the Rio
Grande in Mission, was home to a group of guardsmen through the end of 2014. The center’s executive director recalled seeing them set up on a nearby levee in full body armor in the hot sun with high-tech surveillance equipment. Their presence appeared to act as a deterrent. “The folks on the other side are aware of everything going on, so they move it elsewhere. It is a business, and they want business to go smoothly,” Marianna Treviño Wright said. But the crush of law-enforcement activity and the
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2015
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors BOXING: FLOYD MAYWEATHER VS. MANNY PACQUIAO
NBA: MIAMI HEAT
The stage is set Photo by Wilfredo Lee | AP
Miami’s Chris Bosh, right, may miss the rest of the season just a day after the team acquired point guard Goran Dragic at the trade deadline for a playoff push.
Chris Bosh hospitalized Miami forward’s season could be in jeopardy with blood clots By BRIAN MAHONEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
File photo by Julie Jacobson | AP
File photo by Isaac Brekken | AP
In a fight that fans have wanted for around five years, Floyd Mayweather, left, will put his undefeated record on the line against Manny Pacquiao on May 2 in Las Vegas.
Floyd Mayweather to fight Manny Pacquiao By JOE DEPAOLO MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, widely considered two of the greatest boxers of their generation, have agreed to terms for a bout on May 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The deal announced Friday was completed after months of speculation, which began in earnest after Pacquiao’s victory against Chris Algieri on
Nov. 22. The fighters met at halftime of a Miami Heat basketball game on Jan. 27, fueling interest in the bout. The fight will be broadcast as part of a joint venture between Showtime Sports and HBO Sports, the exclusive rights holders of Mayweather and Pacquiao. It will be distributed on pay-per-view at a price that is yet to be determined. Showtime and HBO partnered on a broadcast of this scope once before, for the 2002 heavyweight
championship match between Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson. The framework of that deal was used as a starting point, and many of the final details are expected to be similar. Jim Lampley of HBO and Bobby Czyz, then of Showtime, served as the lead commentators for LewisTyson. Specific details of the production for Mayweather-Pacquiao, including who the announcers will be, are not yet available.
The fight is expected to be, by far, the highest-grossing fight in boxing history. Multiple reports estimate that there would be a 60/40 split in Mayweather’s favor. Fans have long clamored for a meeting between the welterweight superstars while both are still near their prime. Mayweather, who will turn 38 next Tuesday, is 47-0, with 26 knockouts, and Pacquiao, 36, is 57-5-2, with 38 knockouts.
See BOXING PAGE 2B
NEW YORK — All-Star forward Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat underwent more tests in a South Florida hospital on Friday, amid concerns that blood clots have worked their way from his legs to his lungs to create a condition that could be season-ending or worse. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said the team is still waiting for a full diagnosis and expected prognosis, insisting that it is too soon to draw any conclusions. But if the clot fears are confirmed, Bosh would almost certainly be facing a recovery period of at least several months. Asked if that was what doctors were testing for, Spoelstra said he would be
“talking out of line” if he discussed that with the information he had. “This is too premature,” he said before the Heat faced the New York Knicks. “If I were to comment right now ... I’m not a doctor and as soon as we collect all the data, we’ll come up with a statement for you. We don’t have that right now, so we will soon enough.” The concern from the Heat and Bosh’s NBA peers, however, is real and understandable. “Pray for CB,” Indiana Pacers forward Paul George wrote on Twitter. Bosh, 30, has been dealing with side and back pain for several days. He went to a hospital on Thursday for evaluation.
See BOSH PAGE 2B
NASCAR: KURT BUSCH
NASCAR benches Busch By JENNA FRYER ASSOCIATED PRESS
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR suspended Kurt Busch indefinitely on Friday after a judge said the former champion almost surely choked and beat an ex-girlfriend last fall and there was a “substantial likelihood” of more domestic violence from him in the future. In a stunning move just two days before the season-opening Daytona 500, NASCAR said Busch would not be allowed to
participate in any series activities until further notice given the “serious nature of the findings and conclusions” made by a Delaware judge involving the driver known as “The Outlaw.” “Kurt Busch and his StewartHaas Racing team are fully aware of our position and why this decision was made,” NASCAR said in a statement. “We will continue to respect the process and timetable of the authorities involved.” Busch becomes the first driver suspended by NASCAR for domestic violence. Chairman Brian
France had maintained the series would let the process play out before ruling on Busch’s eligibility — and the series came down hard in finding that he committed actions detrimental to stock car racing and broke the series’ behavioral rules. Chevrolet immediately suspended its relationship with Busch. A short time later, on the glass outside of Busch’s garage stall at Daytona, someone had scrawled in black marker “#41
See NASCAR PAGE 2B
File photo by Terry Renna | AP
NASCAR suspended driver Kurt Busch after a judge ruled him guilty of domestic violence against ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll.
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
NCAA FOOTBALL
MLB to speed up game
Winston addresses shoulder, character
By RONALD BLUM ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Major League Baseball is slowly addressing the lagging pace of games. MLB and the players’ association announced an agreement Friday to enforce the rule requiring a hitter to keep at least one foot in the batter’s box in many cases. MLB also will post stadium clocks timing pitching changes and between-inning breaks starting in spring training, and it no longer will require managers to always come onto the field when they request video reviews by umpires. But the sides limited pe-
By MICHAEL MAROT ASSOCIATED PRESS
File photo by Pat Sullivan | AP
INDIANAPOLIS — Jameis Winston responded to all the lingering questions with some bold answers. According to Winston, the character concerns that dogged him at Florida State are history. The comparisons to Johnny Manziel are irrelevant. The supposed throwing shoulder injury is a non-issue. And anyone who thinks the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner can’t be successful in the NFL is sorely mistaken.
The MLB announced rules to speed up games in 2015. See MLB PAGE 2B
See WINSTON PAGE 2B
Photo by Doug McSchooler | AP
Former Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston addressed the media Friday discussing reports of a shoulder problem as well as concerns about his character.
PAGE 2B
Zscores
BOXING Continued from Page 1B Early in the negotiations, representatives for other venues lobbied to stage the match. One such venue was Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, which could have accommodated a crowd of more than 100,000. But the MGM Grand has served as something of a home to Mayweather and Pacquiao in recent years, and it quickly became clear that the 16,800-seat arena was the
only serious contender to land the fight. Mayweather’s World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council championships are expected to be at stake in the unification bout, along with Pacquiao’s World Boxing Organization belt. Of more importance, though, is the unofficial title of this era’s greatest pound-for-pound fighter, which many will award to the bout’s winner.
MLB Continued from Page 1B
File photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP
Among next season’s rule changes in the MLB will be clocks to time between-inning breaks and pitching changes. nalties to warnings and fines, and not automatic balls and strikes. The fines don’t start until May 1 and are capped at $500 per offense. Many of the more radical ideas experimented with during the Arizona Fall League were not adopted, such as a 20-second clock between pitches, a limitation of pitcher’s mound conferences involving catchers and managers, and no-pitch intentional walks. Still, even the modest changes are too much for players, used to their routines and reluctant to alter them. “If you rush a hamburger, it’s not going to be completely done. There are going to be too many mistakes. You’re going to rush the game. It would just be terrible. I don’t think there needs to be a time limit,” Miami Marlins pitcher Mat Latos said. Said Chicago White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton: “I’m not a big fan. There’s a lot of thinking involved. When a pitcher steps on the rubber, there’s a lot going on. There’s thinking in the dugout, the coaches, everyone. Why speed that up?” Baseball has been contemplating the issue for nearly a decade. In February 2005, the batter’s box rule was announced as an experiment in the minor leagues. Still, the average time of nine-inning games as increased to a record 3 hours, 2 minutes last year, up from 2:33 in 1981. Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander says the change will be tougher on batters than pitchers. “I hope it screws up their whole rhythm and everything,” he said, jokingly. MLB cannot make unilateral changes to playing rules without the consent of the players’ union unless it gives one year prior notice, so an agreement was necessary for any 2015 alterations. The World Umpires Association also approved. “The players believe that enforcing the rules that currently exist regarding between-inning breaks and plate appearances is the best way to address the issue of pace of play,” union head Tony Clark said in a statement. “We’re confident that today’s announcements will have a positive impact on the pace of the game without jeopardizing the integrity of the competition.” The pitch clock will be used in the minor leagues at Double-A and Triple-A, where union approval isn’t needed. MLB said it is likely to announce only fines involving repeat flagrant violators. In the AFL, strikes and balls were called as penalties, and the average game time was reduced by
10 minutes. The rule requiring hitter’s keep a foot in the box contains many exceptions, including swinging at a pitch, getting forced out by a pitch, calling time, faking a bunt and wild pitches and passed balls. “I think it’s something that’s going to take some time,” San Diego Padres catcher Derek Norris said. “You’ve got guys playing for seven, eight years that have always stepped out of the box and taken a practice swing.” Clocks will be installed on or near outfield scoreboards and on facades behind home plate, near most press boxes. Inning breaks will be counted down from 2:25 for locally televised games and 2:45 for nationally televised games. Pitchers must throw their last warmup pitches before 30 seconds remaining, with exceptions if the pitcher or catcher is on base when the previous half-inning ends. “These changes represent a step forward in our efforts to streamline the pace of play,” said Rob Manfred, who took over from Bud Selig as commissioner last month. “The most fundamental starting point for improving the pace of the average game involves getting into and out of breaks seamlessly.” MLB will make a donation to the union’s charitable foundation based on compliance with the new rules. The sides also announced changes for the second season of expanded video review by umpires. Managers no longer will have to leave their dugouts to call for replays, unless the play in question ends an inning and the defensive team must be kept on the field. “I didn’t like to run out there and as soon as I turn around, people are yelling from the dugout to go back,” Cincinnati Reds manager Bryan Price said. “It’s a waste of time. It’s embarrassing. Nobody really wants to do it. If we can just hold the game and tell the umpires we want to just take a look at it. We only have 30 seconds to look at it, who cares if you’re on the field or not?” In addition, plays involving whether a runner left a base early or touched a base on a tag-up play will be subject to video review for the first time. Managers also will retain the challenge for every overturned call, not just the first, and managers will have two challenges during tiebreaker and postseason games and the All-Star Game. A manager will be required to use a challenge to review violations of the home-plate collision rule, but the crew chief may call for a review from the seventh inning on if a manager is out of challenges.
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WINSTON Continued from Page 1B Now the league’s decision-makers must determine whether they believe the charismatic Florida State quarterback can pull it off. “What I do tell them is, ’I have to earn your trust,”’ Winston said. “I can’t talk about situations or anything like that in the past but what I can do is prove to them and let you watch me grow into being the face of your franchise.” His arrival had been one of the most anticipated events all week in Indianapolis, especially after the scheduled Thursday appearance was pushed to Friday because of a longer-than-expected medical exam. Winston made sure it was worth the wait. After strutting to the podium, he flashed his big smile and started by acknowledging he’d made mistakes and intended to clean things up. Winston talked about visiting children in Tallahassee, Florida, and the influence of his 7-year-old brother, calling them his inspiration to escape the tinge of trouble. He explained how he planned to win Super Bowls like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, downplaying the battle with 2014 Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota to go No. 1 in April’s draft. The biggest surprise came less than two hours after ESPN reported that doctors at the combine were conducting additional tests on Winston’s throwing shoulder. He said he would throw during Saturday’s workout, shrugging off any concerns. “I had the MRI, just like everybody else. I’ve been playing football since I was 4 years old and the shoulder’s been fine,” Winston said. “I’ve got
the same shoulder I done had the last two years at Florida State.” Winston even joked his baseball career — he played for the Seminoles — could have caused the injury. His quarterback tutor, George Whitfield, called the report a surprise and said Winston had completed a 90-minute throwing session Tuesday at the University of Michigan without a problem. Tampa Bay, which has the No. 1 pick in April, was one of the teams seeking answers, Whitfield said. Two years ago, Utah defensive lineman Stat Lotulelei came to Indy projected as the No. 1 overall pick. That’s when doctors found a potentially dangerous heart condition. In 2009, doctors diagnosed Texas Tech receiver Michael Crabtree with a stress fracture in his left foot. Both were still first-round picks. “Every year there are, two or three players who are found to have a condition they never knew existed and some have been life-threatening,” said Hall of Fame general manager Bill Polian, now an analyst with ESPN. “My suspicion is it (Winston’s test) is fairly normal, they usually are. The test is usually done as a precaution.” Even if Winston does get a clean bill of health, the other questions aren’t likely to subside. Despite going 27-1 and winning a national championship at Florida State, his image was tainted by allegations of sexual assault, stealing food from a grocery store and a soda from a fast-food restaurant, carrying a pellet gun near campus, later firing it near his apartment, and jumping onto a table and shouting a vulgar
phrase. Some have even questioned whether Winston is out of shape. “A lot of people thought I was fat,” a trimmer-looking Winston said. “But I’m here, I’m proving everybody wrong. I look good and I know it.” What the Buccaneers must determine is how the brash-talking Winston will react to the infusion of millions of dollars and the bright spotlight that comes with being an NFL quarterback. Those who know Winston, such as Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty and Seminoles center Cameron Erving, believe Winston is misunderstood. “He’s a really good guy,” Erving said. “Anybody who is around the guy at any point in time, you just know he loves to have fun. He loves doing what he does. A lot of people think he’s a bad guy, he’s a troubled character, but that’s not an issue for him. He’s a great guy.” Winston is engaging and entertaining, too, as he proved at the podium. But he wants to show teams that he can be more than just a reliable franchise quarterback. He’s trying to show everyone he can be a star, on and off the field. “Of course I want to make a first impression because impressions last a long time,” Winston said. “I’m a young man and I’m going to the next level to take a grown man’s position. That’s important to me. Football is my passion. I’ve been doing this since I was young, and I know the responsibilities that I have to take upon me when I’m going to be the face of someone’s franchise.”
NASCAR Continued from Page 1B Ray Rice,” a reference to the former Baltimore Ravens running back whose own case of domestic violence dominated much of last year. Busch drives the No. 41 Chevrolet. In a 25-page opinion explaining why he issued the no-contact order this week, Family Court Commissioner David Jones concluded that it was more likely than not that Busch abused Patricia Driscoll by “manually strangling” her and smashing her head into a wall inside his motorhome at Dover International Speedway last September. The 36-year-old Busch has denied the alleged assault, which is the subject of a separate criminal investigation, but the judge said Driscoll’s version of the incident was more credible than Busch’s. Driscoll said she was never motivated to have Busch punished by NASCAR. “I reported a crime, just like anybody else who has been abused should do, because no one is above the law,” Driscoll said. “I’m very encouraged that NASCAR is taking steps to recognize that domestic violence is a serious issue, and I hope that we see them develop a very clear policy on it.” She urged NASCAR to develop a confidential reporting mechanism that
partners of drivers could use to report domestic abuse without fear of threats or reprisals for coming forward It is Busch’s third career suspension. He was suspended in 2012 by NASCAR for threatening a reporter, and parked for the final two races of the 2005 season by Roush-Fenway Racing after he was pulled over by police in Arizona. He now races for SHR, which has not said who will replace Busch in Sunday’s race. Busch, the 2004 NASCAR champion, has 25 career wins but only one since 2011. It came last year, his first season with Stewart-Haas Racing, the team that helped resurrect his career. Team co-owner Gene Haas hand-picked Busch to drive a car paid for out of pocket by Haas because the machine tool manufacturer wanted to see a driver take his company to victory lane. Busch was fired at the end of 2011 by Roger Penske for a series of onand off-track incidents, and he spent two seasons driving for low-budget teams before Haas extended the olive branch. Busch had been on a resurgence of sorts at SHR, which allowed him to compete in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day last
year. He finished sixth at Indianapolis last May and was named rookie of the race. But his season began to unravel late last summer as his performance tailed off. Although he made the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, he was eliminated after the first round. It was the weekend of the first elimination race, at Dover, where Driscoll alleged Busch assaulted her in his motorhome. She said she drove to the track out of concern for Busch, who sent her alarming text messages following a poor qualifying effort. She said the two argued in the bedroom section of the motorhome before he slammed her head against a wall three times. Driscoll did not file charges until November, and the Delaware attorney general has not decided if Busch will be charged. But Driscoll sought a nocontact order, and the couple spent four days over December and January in a Delaware court presenting their sides. At one point, he accused of her of being a trained assassin. Jones noted that Driscoll presented false testimony that conflicted with that of a chaplain who saw her immediately after the alleged assault and said he didn’t see any marks or bruises on her. Jones nev-
ertheless said he didn’t believe Driscoll’s false testimony amounted to perjury or intentional falsehood. The judge concluded that Busch did not appear to be a prototypical batterer who uses violence to subjugate or control, but that the incident instead was most likely a “situational” event in which Busch was unable to cope and to control his tendency to act out violently in response to stress and frustration, causing him to “snap.” At the same time, however, Jones said he believes there’s real possibility that Busch will lash out again. Jones added that because Busch has a propensity to lose control in response to disappointing or frustrating situations involving racing and that those who love him are likely to be around him at those times “there is a substantial likelihood of acts of domestic violence by respondent against future intimate partners.” Busch’s attorneys filed a motion Thursday asking Jones to re-open the hearing so that they can present testimony from three acquaintances of Driscoll who they say were previously reluctant to get involved but have now come forward to contradict statements Driscoll has made about her relationship with Busch.
BOSH Continued from Page 1B Spoelstra said he spoke with Bosh earlier Friday. “He’s in great spirits. CB is always CB,” Spoelstra said. “Always has a great, positive outlook on everything, so we kept it to other things.” The issue of blood clots is particularly serious in NBA circles right now, with Bosh’s situation coming just days following the death of former NBA player Jerome Kersey. Doctors said Kersey’s cause of death was related to a clot traveling from one of his legs to one of his lungs. And last month, Brooklyn forward Mirza Teletovic was ruled out for the season once clots were found on his lungs. “I’m no doctor, so I have no way of knowing what he’s going through or what he’s feeling,” Heat guard Dwyane Wade said of Bosh, who he vacationed with in Haiti earlier this week after the All-Star Game in New York. “I just knew that he wasn’t feeling his
best.” The 6-foot-11 Bosh is averaging 21.1 points and 7 rebounds for Miami this season, his first in a fiveyear, $118 million deal. “We are just staying focused on positivity and keeping him healthy,” Bosh’s wife Adrienne wrote on her Twitter account, adding that Bosh “is doing ok.” Thursday started off as a day that figured to bring great excitement to Miami, which traded four players and two draft picks in order to land point guard Goran Dragic from Phoenix in a move that Heat President Pat Riley said would help in “getting the Miami Heat back to real championship prominence.” Hours later, the concern about Bosh overshadowed it all. “I know you’re strong and will come back better than ever on and off the court,” tweeted Cleveland’s LeBron James, Bosh’s former Miami teammate.
Athletes have come back, sometimes better than ever, after blood clots have found their lungs. Serena Williams was diagnosed with the problem known as a pulmonary embolism in 2011, and has been the dominant player in the world again since her return. Tomas Fleischmann of the Florida Panthers missed several months while playing with Colorado in 2011 with clots and has had a robust career since. NASCAR driver Brian Vickers has also faced similar issues. “Scariest thing I ever experienced,” Williams said months after returning. There’s also the tales with unhappy endings. Former Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Jason Pinkston’s career may be over after he was diagnosed with clots on his lungs last year for a second time. And in 2005, Arizona women’s basketball player Shawntinice Polk collapsed and died from a clot just
weeks before she was to begin her senior season. “We just want the best for Chris and his family,” Wade said. Losing Bosh would obviously be a huge blow for the Heat, who have appeared in the NBA Finals in each of the last four seasons but are struggling just to hang on to a spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race this year. It has been a season filled with tumult, starting with James’ decision in July to leave Miami for Cleveland in a move that forced the Heat to rebuild most of its roster. Bosh chose to stay in Miami, turning down interest from Houston and elsewhere to remain a Heat cornerstone. Bosh was the 13th-leading scorer in the NBA this season entering Friday. He leads the Heat in several categories, including field goals made and attempted, free throws made and attempted and even 3-pointers made and attempted.
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Dear Heloise: If I have a "to do" or shopping list, I simply TEXT it to myself. Whenever the information needs updating, I copy the prior text, paste it into a new text box, edit what needs updating and send it to myself again. Since we all have our cellphones with us, this is a lot easier than little slips of paper, which are easily misplaced. Just be careful not to put overly sensitive information (passwords or PIN numbers) on those texts. – Mario F., Mission Viejo, Calif. CAT SNACK Dear Heloise: I read your article about dog treats in the Amarillo (Texas) GlobeNews. What about cats? Do you have any suggestions about treats for them? The only people food we’ve found that our tom likes seems to be ham. Thanks. – Terry in Amarillo, Texas Terry, you’re right! I did not mean to slight our feline friends. Some "human food," within reason, is a nice treat. When you have chicken, cut off small piec-
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HELOISE
es and then treat your cat – just a few little nibbles at a time. Can we say "tuna"? What cat wouldn’t love a treat or two of tuna? Do also check a pet-supply store. Most carry CAT GRASS SEED. The directions on the packaging explain how to sprout cat grass. Seeing sprouts? Move the container to a sunny spot and mist. When it’s 2-3 inches tall, present it to your cat and see what happens. Even though your cat likes ham, it probably is very rich and high in sodium for a cat to ingest. Remember, these furry friends don’t drink much water. Check what your veterinarian suggests. These creatures do have a mind of their own, so it might take a little time to find just the right treat. – Meow, meow, Heloise
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