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Presidential advisors visit Valley
Commissioner says consumers are being ‘screwed’ By JAY ROOT AND NEENA SATIJA TEXAS TRIBUNE
Texas consumers are “getting screwed” by unscrupulous businesses — everything from gas stations to pawn shops — because the cashstrapped Department of Agriculture has not been able to perform many of its basic regulatory functions, according to new Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller. The department is supposed to check gas pumps for accuracy, verify that grocery store scanners work properly, attest that precious metal scales are producing accurate measures and even inspect taxicab meters to verify that people aren’t being overcharged. But after the department saw its budget cut by about one-third in 2011, Miller said,
Photo by Gabriel Cristóver Pérez | Texas Tribune file
This file photo shows Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller at The Texas Tribune Festival on Sept. 20, 2014. it has struggled to keep up with its duties. He noted that the department will collect an estimated $7.8 million less in fees and income from self-supporting programs than hoped in the 2014 and 2015 fiscal
years, and faces a huge backlog of work left over from his predecessor. For example, there are nearly 2,000 cases involving suspected violations that haven’t been reviewed going
back two years, according to department figures. Some $1.5 million in penalties that have been assessed has gone uncollected. And the agency has never once in its history inspected a taxicab meter, Miller said. “If you get a notice in the mail that you’re in violation, well, if you’re a pesticide applicator, or its eggs or fuel pumps or gold and silver scales or whatever it is, you’ve been out of compliance all that time and the consumer is getting screwed,” Miller told The Texas Tribune. “So we’re trying to figure out how to work through that backlog.” Miller is asking the Legislature for nearly $50 million to restore the agency to pre-2011 levels, and says he
See AGRICULTURE PAGE 11A
KNIGHTS TEMPLAR
KINGPIN CAPTURED
Karl Rove, James Carville discuss 2016 front-runners ASSOCIATED PRESS
EDNIBURG — The short-term political squabble between President Barack Obama and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over whether to negotiate with Iran will become the dominant foreign policy conversation this year, agreed former presidential advisors Karl Rove and James Carville, who spoke in Edinburg Friday morning. The duo — one Republican and the other Democrat — had an hour-long conversation in front of a gathering of more than 100 Rio Grande Valley residents at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance. Moderated by Texas Tribune Editor Evan Smith, the event was hosted by the Rio Grande Valley Partnership and IBC Bank. Rove was the chief political stategist to former President George W. Bush and Carville was the chief political strategist to former President Bill Clinton. Both weighed in on the ongoing dispute between Obama and Netanyahu in response to an audience question. Both warned of the gravity of this debate and the ultimate implications for a volatile region if the Obama administration is able to negotiate some sort of nuclear treaty with Iran. In exchanges that often drew laughter from the audience, the duo spent most of the hour assessing the current Democratic and Republican front-runners for president in 2016. Democrat Hillary Clinton must avoid the temptation of running a campaign for a third term of Obama, Carville said, while taking care not to offend strident Obama supporters. And Jeb Bush, the current front-runner in the Republican field, has had a lot of unforced errors as he transitions from state to national politics, Rove said. "He’s very smart, but this is a different kind of stage," he said.
TEXAS DPS
Drug values re-examined Department will now use price points not specific to Texas ASSOCIATED PRESS
United States for methamphetamine and cocaine trafficking, rose through the ranks of a gang known as La Familia, which terrorized Michoacán state with kidnapping and extortion. As its leaders were killed, the gang renamed itself the Knights Templar, and its violence prompted frustrated citizens to form vigilante groups. The national government sent contingents of police officers and soldiers to Michoacán in January 2014 an effort to restore calm in the state. The effort succeeded in flushing out many of Gómez’s top lieutenants, but he remained at large and continued to release videos. Although the government has managed to weaken the Knights Templar in Michoacán, the state remains unsettled, and several new violent criminal groups have appeared there, including
AUSTIN — The Texas Department of Public Safety has changed its valuation method for drug seizures just a week before submitting a border operations report to lawmakers in which it will seek more funding. The department is using 2012 data compiled by the White House based on national retail sales, rather than 2014 Drug Enforcement wholesale prices that are specific to Texas, the Austin American-Statesman reported. Officials say that they adopted the new method in order to rectify inconsistencies in prices used in local, state and federal illegal drug seizures in Texas. “There is value in using pricing data from an independent national-level agency,” department spokesman Tom Vinger said. Under the new system, the drugs seized during a law enforcement effort in the Rio Grande Valley are valued at more than $1.8 billion. It would have been worth about $161 million with 2012 data. “Actually these numbers look worse if you really look at it (because of) the price points,” department director Steven McCraw said. “In Texas we actually deflated the numbers a little bit so we wouldn’t be questioned as to why we were trying to make the numbers higher.” Several criminologists say describing bulk seizures with retail-level prices skews the value of the drugs when they were seized. Wholesale prices measure the impact of seizures on criminal organizations better, according to Peter Reuter, a senior economist with the RAND Corporation and a criminology professor at the University of Maryland.
See KINGPIN PAGE 11A
See VALUES PAGE 11A
Photo by Marco Ugarte | AP
Federal police patrol as part of increased security outside the SEIDO, the organized-crime division of Mexico’s Attorney General Office where high profile detainees are sometimes shown to the press in Mexico City, Friday.
‘La Tuta’ was one of the most wanted drug lords in Mexico By ELISABETH MALKIN NEW YORK TIMES
Photo by Marco Ugarte | AP
An armed and masked federal police officer stands guard as part of increased security outside the SEIDO in Mexico City, Friday. The leader of the Knights Templar cartel, Servando "La Tuta" Gomez," was captured early Friday.
MEXICO CITY — The Mexican police said Friday that they had captured the leader of the Knights Templar drug gang, a former teacher who taunted the authorities by conducting interviews from hiding and releasing videos in which he talked about his close relationships with his state’s political bosses. Servando Gómez, known as La Tuta (the Teacher), was one of the mostwanted drug kingpins still at large in the country. He had been thought to be hiding out in the remote western part of Michoacán, his home state. But he was captured in the state capital, Morelia, on Friday without a shot being fired, the police said. He was eating a hot dog at a street stand when he was apprehended, local news reports said. Gómez, 49, who is also wanted in the
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
SATURDAY, FEB. 28
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 956-326-DOME (3663). The Rio Grande International Study Center invites the public to a free Loving Laredo Hike of the Lost Lakes on Saturday, Feb. 28. Meet time, 7:30 am. Start time, 8 am. Park in the empty lot at the westernmost end of Ventura Street downtown. Hike intensity is moderate and about two hours long. Wear appropriate clothes and shoes, and bring water. Questions, call 956-718-1063.
Today is Saturday, Feb. 28, the 59th day of 2015. There are 306 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Feb. 28, 1940, the first televised college basketball games were broadcast by New York City station W2XBS as Pittsburgh defeated Fordham, 57-37, and New York University beat Georgetown, 50-27, at Madison Square Garden. On this date: In 1844, a 12-inch gun aboard the USS Princeton exploded as the ship was sailing on the Potomac River, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Navy Secretary Thomas W. Gilmer and several others. In 1861, the Territory of Colorado was organized. In 1953, scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announced they had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA. In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai issued the Shanghai Communique, which called for normalizing relations between their countries, at the conclusion of Nixon’s historic visit to China. In 1975, 42 people were killed in London’s Underground when a train smashed into the end of a tunnel. In 1986, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme (PAHL’-meh) was shot to death in central Stockholm. (The killing remains unsolved.) In 1993, a gun battle erupted at a religious compound near Waco, Texas, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to arrest Branch Davidian leader David Koresh on weapons charges; four agents and six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began. In 2013, Benedict XVI became the first pope in 600 years to resign, ending an eight-year pontificate. (Benedict was succeeded the following month by Pope Francis.) Ten years ago: In Santa Maria, California, the prosecution and defense gave opening statements in the sexual molestation trial of Michael Jackson, who was later acquitted. Five years ago: Sidney Crosby scored the winning goal in overtime to give Canada a 3-2 victory over the United States in the final event of the Vancouver Olympics. One year ago: Delivering a blunt warning to Moscow, President Barack Obama expressed deep concern over reported military activity inside Ukraine by Russia and warned “there will be costs” for any intervention. Today’s Birthdays: Architect Frank Gehry is 86. Actor Gavin MacLeod is 84. Actor-director-dancer Tommy Tune is 76. Hall of Fame auto racer Mario Andretti is 75. Actress Kelly Bishop is 71. Actress Mercedes Ruehl is 67. Actress Bernadette Peters is 67. Former Energy Secretary Steven Chu is 67. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman is 62. Comedian Gilbert Gottfried is 60. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Adrian Dantley is 60. Actor Robert Sean Leonard is 46. Author Daniel Handler (AKA “Lemony Snicket”) is 45. Actress Ali Larter is 39. Country singer Jason Aldean is 38. Actress Michelle Horn is 28. Actress Quinn Shephard is 20. Thought for Today: “Who will give me back those days when life had wings and flew just like a skylark in the sky.” — Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, French actress and poet (1786-1859).
MONDAY, MARCH 2 Laredo Soup’s monthly microfinance dinner, every first Monday of the month. 6:30 - 9 p.m. Holding Institute, 1102 Sta Maria Ave. $5 gets you soup, salad, bread & a vote to micro-fund a community project. Four local organizations will present projects. Money collected on the spot given to winning project. To learn more or to apply for funding contact Tatiana Friar tfriar@gmail.com or 7719671.
Photo by Bob Daemmrich | Texas Tribune file
In this file photo, former David Dewhurst consultant Buddy Barfield walks to Austin federal court in October 2014, to plead guilty to embezzling almost $2 million in campaign funds.
Dewhurst aid sentenced By EVA RUTH MORAVEC ASSOCIATED PRESS
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. Call 693-9991. TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. The Secret of the Cardboard Rocket, 5 p.m. Extreme Planets, 6 p.m. Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-326-DOME (3663). Les Amies Birthday Club will be at Ramada Plaza at 11:30 a.m. The honorees are: Luz Bustamante, Veronica Salinas and Alicia Zuniga. The hostesses are: Viola Gonzalez, Alicia D. Laurel and Irma Velasquez.
THURSDAY, MARCH 5 Laredo Area Retired School Employees Association. 11 am. Blessed Sacrament Parish Hall. Speaker will be Dr. Jane Unzeitig.
FRIDAY, MARCH 6 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. The Secret of the Cardboard Rocket, 6 p.m. Extreme Planets, 7 p.m. Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-326-DOME (3663).
SATURDAY, MARCH 7 Texican CattleWomen’s Steak-aRama. In Memory of Mary Kay & Gene Walker. Steak dinner with all the trimmings. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Laredo International Fair & Exposition on Hwy. 59. Donation: $7. Tickets from any CattleWoman member, LIFE Office (U.S. Highway 59), Guerra Communications (6402 N Bartlett Ave. at Jacaman Road) or Primped Style Bar, 7718 McPherson). The Laredo Northside Market Association will hold its March market day by the playground at North Central Park 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. TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. The Little Star that Could, 2 p.m. Earth, Moon and Sun, 3 p.m. Black Holes, 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 956-326-DOME (3663).
MONDAY, MARCH 9 The Laredo Stroke Support Group will be holding its monthly meeting at 7 p.m. at the San Martin de Porres Church Family LifeCenter. Please visit www.laredostrokesupport.com for more information. TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Spring Break Shows: The Little Star that Could, 2 p.m. Earth, Moon and Sun, 3 p.m. Black Holes, 4 p.m. Admission is $3. Call 956-326-DOME (3663). The Green’s of Guadelupe will be accepting donations for their rummage sale from March 9 til March 12, from 7 am to 1 pm, in the hall of the Virgin of Guadalupe Church on 1700 San Francisco.
AUSTIN — An ex-top adviser to former Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst was sentenced Friday to more than seven years in federal prison for stealing more than $2.8 million in campaign funds from the then-powerful Republican. Kenneth “Buddy” Barfield, 58, remains free on bail until he is assigned to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility. A report date has not yet been set. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks also ordered Barfield to pay $2.5 million in restitution. Barfield, who now lives in Alabama, said in court that he was “ready to take the full punishment,” the San Antonio ExpressNews reported. “This sentence should serve as a deterrent to anyone contemplating similar theft from
the hard working public for their own greedy benefit,” William Cotter, special agent in charge of the IRS investigation, said in a statement. Barfield had been Dewhurst’s campaign manager since 2008 and ran his unsuccessful 2012 U.S. Senate campaign against Ted Cruz. He could have faced up to 28 years in prison but was given a lighter sentence after pleading guilty in October to wire fraud, making a false tax return and embezzling federal campaign funds. An accountant discovered discrepancies in the campaign account and found that Barfield used the stolen money for personal expenses, including a home mortgage and his children’s tuition. Barfield also admitted to lying about his taxable income on his 2008 tax return, and owes the IRS nearly $430,000.
Man charged with killing ex-wife, DNA links case
More Texas troopers sought to serve border
1 fired over dogs euthanized in Dallas
FRISCO — A North Texas man has been charged with killing his ex-wife after police say his DNA matched evidence in the slaying. Robert Moses, 63, was being held Friday on a murder charge with bond set at $1 million. Police say 43-year-old Anna Moses was discovered dead in her Frisco home on Jan. 14, after she did not show up for work. Her car was discovered a few blocks away. Investigators found blood in the vehicle.
AUSTIN — Law enforcement officers in Texas are being recruited to join the Department of Public Safety for duty mainly along the border with Mexico. DPS on Thursday announced the hiring effort for an advanced Texas trooper recruit school. The application deadline is March 25 for the eight-week training period. DPS officials say the graduates will mainly be assigned to regions along the Texas-Mexico border.
DALLAS — One Dallas Animal Services worker has been fired and another was suspended for two days without pay after four dogs wrongly were euthanized. The dogs were euthanized Dec. 30, about two days after arriving at the shelter following their removal from a person hoarding animals in Dallas. The dogs were among more than two dozen found being housed in pens made out of pizza boxes.
Man gets 8 years for millions of porn images
Dallas area has another quake, 3.1 magnitude
Armed robber with exA&M player gets prison
CORPUS CHRISTI — A South Texas man who downloaded more than 5 million pornographic images has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison. Last October Terry Lee Clark, 48, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in a plea deal. He acknowledged downloading millions of pornographic images.
IRVING — The Dallas area has had another minor earthquake. The U.S. Geological Survey reports a 3.1 magnitude quake happened at 6:18 a.m. CST Friday. The quake was centered 3 miles east-northeast of Irving. Police in Irving had no immediate reports of damage.
DALLAS — A fellow armed robber who helped Texas A&M all-time leading rusher Darren Lewis hold up Dallas-area businesses is also going to federal prison. Christopher Washington was sentenced Thursday to 25 years behind bars. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION Gunman kills 7, commits suicide, in rampage TYRONE, Mo. — A man who authorities say may have been unhinged by the death of his ailing mother killed seven people and then took his own life in a house-to-house shooting rampage that wiped out a swath of this tiny town in the Missouri Ozarks. Joseph Jesse Aldridge, 36, carried out the killings with a .45caliber handgun Thursday night or early Friday at four homes in Tyrone, the no-stoplight community of about 50 people where he lived with his mother. Joseph Aldridge was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound before dawn in a running pickup truck on the middle of a highway 15 or 20 miles away.
FCC classifies broadband Internet as a public utility WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission
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Police tape surrounds one of the crime scenes in Tyrone, Mo., Friday. Authorities say multiple people were shot to death and one was wounded in attacks in the small southeastern Missouri town, and the suspected gunman was found dead. voted Thursday to regulate broadband Internet service as a public utility, a milestone in regulating high-speed Internet service into U.S. homes. The new rules, approved 3-2 along party lines, are intended to ensure that no content is blocked
and that the Internet is not divided into pay-to-play fast lanes for Internet and media companies that can afford it and slow lanes for everyone else. Those prohibitions are hallmarks of the net neutrality concept. — 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 28, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
Ruling protects insurers By JAY ROOT TEXAS TRIBUNE
The Texas Supreme Court has dramatically expanded the rights of insurance companies to duck lawsuits from injured workers, even when they are accused of intentionally misrepresenting policies or using the criminal justice system to maliciously punish the worker. In a unanimous, unsigned decision handed down Friday, the high court ruled that the Texas Department of Insurance has exclusive jurisdiction over such complaints within the workers’ compensation system. Translation: State regulators can use their administrative powers to sanction insurers who inflict such harm, but the workers can’t sue for damages. The decision arose from a lawsuit filed by Glenn Johnson and his wife, Natalie. Both were arrested and accused of committing insurance fraud based on a complaint by the insurance company, according to court records. The charges were later dropped after the evidence fell apart. Johnson, horribly burned in a smelter explosion in Amarillo in 1998, said in a statement to The Texas Tribune that he was appalled by the Supreme Court’s ruling, which overturned lower court rulings. “It is bad enough to survive and suffer such significant injuries that one must fight for life every day, yet to have to endure the constant fighting with adjusters, insurance companies and their agents to survive and get what is necessary to live, makes one think he would be better off dead,” Johnson said. “I am totally appalled that the Texas Supreme Court will allow me to be held hostage and persecuted in jail and in everyday life as I know it by an insurance company.” A call placed to the lawyer for the insurer named
Photo by Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson | Texas Tribune
Glenn Johnson, 55, was injured in a smelting accident near Amarillo in 1997 when a furnace filled with molten metal exploded. in the lawsuit, Old Republic Insurance Company, was not immediately returned. Johnson sustained second- and third-degree burns on his face, neck, upper body, legs and arms. One of his arms had to be amputated. The other was badly mangled. As part of his rehabilitation, Johnson, who lived in a small town, worked out at a gym a couple hours from his home. Insurance adjusters suspected he was not using the gym and filed a criminal complaint against him, records show. Soon thereafter, a grand jury indicted Johnson for insurance fraud, saying the evidence showed he had falsified travel reports. The complaint relied on electronic records indicating Johnson had not used a swipe card to enter the gym. After he and his wife were arrested, Johnson explained that the injuries to his remaining hand prevented him from removing the swipe card from his wallet, and that gym employees had opened the door for him. The charges were dropped after gym employees signed affidavits attesting to his attendance. But in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed against Old Republic and its claims handlers for bad faith, malicious prosecution and other alleged misdeeds, Johnson’s
lawyers argued the insurer continued to deny him the benefits and medical treatments he was due under state law. The justices unanimously threw out his lawsuit Friday. By doing so, they expanded the protection for insurance companies established in a previous landmark ruling, Texas Mutual Insurance Co. v. Ruttiger. That decision held that legislative reforms initiated in 1989 give the Division of Workers’ Compensation, part of the insurance department, exclusive power to police insurers for so-called "bad faith" actions in the claims handling process. The new ruling has the effect of expanding that jurisdiction beyond mere “bad faith” actions and applies it to acts of misrepresentation and even malicious prosecution. The Johnsons had argued that the pattern of deception and use of the criminal justice system against them went beyond the confines of claims handling as described in the Ruttiger decision and represented intentionally harmful acts. The Supreme Court disagreed, ruling that the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act requires that even these alleged abuses be dealt with inside the administrative process at the Division of Workers’ Compensation. “We conclude that the Di-
vision of Workers’ Compensation has exclusive jurisdiction over the Johnsons’ claims and the Workers’ Compensation Act provides their exclusive remedies,” the court said. It pointed out that the division has broad powers to issue cease and desist orders and levy fines of up to $25,000 per day per occurrence for violations by insurers, and that was sufficient remedy for complaints from workers such as Johnson. Terry Frakes, senior vice president for Texas Mutual Insurance, which covers about 39 percent of the state’s workers’ compensation market, said the decision adhered to the wishes of the Texas Legislature. "The Supreme Court reaffirmed its decision in Ruttiger that the Division of Workers’ Compensation has exclusive jurisdiction over claim disputes and the Workers’ Compensation Act provides exclusive remedies for those disputes," he said. "The Court reiterated its deference to the Division of Workers’ Compensation in enforcing the statutory rights, remedies and duties within the workers’ compensation system, as specified by the Legislature." The Johnsons’ lawyer, Brad McClellan, was asked if the Division of Workers’ Compensation had ever used its authority to punish his clients’ insurer for malicious prosecution or misrepresentation of its policies. “None that we know about,” he said. Even if the division does sanction Johnson’s insurance company or agents, McClellan noted that administrative fines against insurers don’t provide any direct benefit to the worker or family members, or give them any meaningful role in the process. By removing another avenue for court redress, Friday’s decision also takes away another incentive for insurers to deal in good faith with injured workers, McClellan said.
Photo by Ron T. Ennis/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram | AP
A motorist stands outside a stalled vehicle, Friday in Fort Worth. A snowstorm has closed schools, snarled traffic and forced a main highway to Oklahoma to shut down after dozens of vehicles slipped off the road.
Snow hits Dallas again By DIANA HEIDGERD ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — A winter storm that dumped several inches of snow on Texas on Friday closed schools, snarled travel and forced a main highway into Oklahoma to shut down after nearly 20 vehicles slid off the road. The system that closed schools Friday in Lubbock, Abilene, Midland, Odessa and San Angelo reached the Dallas-Fort Worth area by midmorning. Up to 7 inches of snow was reported Friday from the South Plains and Panhandle of West Texas to northeastern Texas. Reports of 3- to 4-inch accumulations were widespread in counties between Dallas-Fort Worth and the Red River, prompting forecasters to issue a winter storm warning for Cooke, Grayson, Wise and Denton counties late Friday afternoon through today. Freezing drizzle prompted a winter-weather advisory for the rest of North Central Texas through 6 p.m. today and through noon today for Central Texas. Streets and highways in
the Dallas-Fort Worth area were jammed early Friday afternoon as North Texans left work and school early to try to beat the worst of the snow and freezing drizzle. U.S. 75 near Melissa, about 25 miles north of Dallas, was closed in both directions for a time Friday but reopened by early afternoon, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. About 15 cars and trucks, plus four tractortrailers, slipped off the road, resulting in minor injuries to at least seven travelers, the Collin County Sheriff’s Office said. “We had one or two vehicles involved in a crash, then we had several vehicles trying to avoid that accident, those went off the road,” DPS Sgt. Lonny Haschel said. “The majority of them are not going to be car crashes, vehicles that just simply slid off the road and need a wrecker.” Roads were expected to remain treacherous well into today, National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Harris said. “The roads are going to be bad through the night hours,” he said.
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
EDITORIAL
OTHER VIEWS
Congressmen have no business in DC pot vote THE WASHINGTON POST
Amid all the uncertainties surrounding the legalization of marijuana in the District of Columbia, a few things are clear. Among them is that Congress has better things to do than meddle in the purely local affairs of the District. When it does interfere, it ends up making a mess of matters. Apparently, however, there are no bounds to the grandstanding of opportunistic politicians on Capitol Hill. That District officials and employees have been threatened with jail, by no less than the chairman of a powerful congressional committee, for their good-faith efforts to follow a voter mandate is utterly inexcusable. Such a spectacle — and the fact that the District is under congressional attack for undertaking virtually the same steps as its counterparts in Colorado, Washington and, most recently, Alaska — should bring home to the rest of the country the need to redress the historic injustice of the city’s limited political powers. At issue is a disagreement between D.C. officials and key House Republicans over the legality of Initiative 71, a measure overwhelmingly approved by voters in November to legalize possession by adults of small amounts of marijuana and allow home cultivation. City officials announced the measure would go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Thursday following the mandatory 30day congressional review period in which it went unchallenged; House Republicans have argued that a rider attached to
last year’s omnibus appropriations bill blocks implementation. "If you decide to move forward tomorrow with the legalization of marijuana in the District, you will be doing so in knowing and willful violation of the law," read a letter to Mayor Muriel Bowser, D, signed by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the subcommittee that handles D.C. affairs. Just in case that wasn’t clear, Chaffetz said in a subsequent interview, "You can go to prison for this. We’re not playing a little game here." Unquestionably legal opinion differs about whether the language in the congressional rider actually prevents the implementation of the initiative. But Chaffetz’s charge that city officials are thumbing their nose at the law is completely without merit. Officials were acting on the advice of counsel, including Attorney General Karl Racine, who concluded that the rider did not prevent the initiative from taking effect. So cautious have city officials been that they canceled hearings called to examine regulation and sale of marijuana for fear of running afoul of federal law. Therein lies more damage to the District. Issues that were not addressed by the voter initiative remain unresolved because congressional Republicans, in using the District to score political points, couldn’t care less about the consequences. Yet they dare to say it is the District that is playing games.
WORST WEEK IN WASHINGTON
NBA coach had a really bad week By CHRIS CILLIZZA THE WASHINGTON POST
The Washington Wizards, a team that began the season on an epic tear that had many talking about an NBA Finals appearance, are in the midst of a slow-motion collapse. Among the recent indignities, the most painful came Wednesday night when the Wizards traveled to Minnesota to take on the lowly Timberwolves. Coming into the game, the T-Wolves had the worst record in the Western Conference and the third-worst in the league, behind only the not-trying Philadelphia 76ers and the dumpster fire that is the New York Knicks. The Wizards lost by 20. As of Friday, the Wizards were in fifth place in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, with little hope of catching the teams in front of them in the two dozen games left
on the schedule. Everyone has been looking for a scapegoat. And most people have found one in the team’s coach, Randy Wittman. Washington Post columnist Jason Reid wrote that Wittman is “asleep at the wheel.” Others have cast him as a relic of a long-gone NBA, unwilling to adapt to the new three-point-centric, data-driven approach employed by teams such as the Houston Rockets and the Golden State Warriors. For his part, Wittman said: “It’s tough times right now. Tough times.” Yup, that about captures it. Randy Wittman, for overseeing this brick of a season, you had the worst week in Washington. Congrats, or something. Cillizza covers the White House for The Washington Post and writes The Fix, its politics blog.
COLUMN
Lonesome writer gets more company than he expected In one of my brief departures from country newspaper editing, I spent two years as associate editor of a business association’s monthly magazine. It was merely seasoning for the much tastier livelihood of editing small town newspapers. Texas Industry magazine was the official publication of the then-Texas Manufacturers Association, now the Texas Association of Business. Texas Industry was a slick publication and ceased to exist years ago. Half of the issues were devoted to specific business-industry categories such as oil and gas, and the other six issues were about cities that editor Opal Hill Munz chose. Those cities were plump enough with supportive businesses and industries to fill out an issue with ads and a cover story on top of regular features such as labor, legislation and other such enthralling topics that would titillate the titans of business and industry. I was all of 23 years old, a recent college graduate and single — trying to make my mark in the writing world. I’d been told in college journalism classes that the ultimate for a writer was MAGA-
ZINES. They didn’t tell me that Time, Life, Sports Illustrated and the like were not probable first jobs for a country hick, even if I did have a “collidge duhgree.” And, that’s no reflection on college, TMA or Texas Industry. Some of the lessons of that first “road trip” assignment should’ve taught me that in business, “road trip” didn’t deserve quote marks, especially for an immature, unsophisticated small-town boy. It didn’t resemble anything I’d experienced as a withit college boy on a “road trip.” And, I probably had that stamped indelibly across my forehead as I checked into an at-best second-rate hotel (did I ever tell you Opal Hill Munz was a bit tight-fisted?) An additional tip-off to anyone looking askance at me was the bug-eyed fright I displayed at going to a strange “big city” to sell advertising and gather material for a cover story. Plus, I suspect my wardrobe telegraphed “ain’t
got no sophistication” to one and all. My suit was cheap, like the hotel, and I wore a hat and carried an umbrella as required by Opal Hill Munz. Of course, one of the first to notice it was the bellman-elevator operator (I did say “cheap hotel,” didn’t I?). If memory serves, it was a four- or five-story structure right in “downtown Wichita Falls.” As he was steering the elevator to my floor, he questioned naïve me on the way up: “You a single fella?”, “This your first business trip on the road?”, “Are you lonesome? You sure look like you might be?” My country upbringing said to me: “This is a nice guy. He sure cares about his customers. He reminds me of Fred Pruitt (a man whose family sharecropped on my dad’s ranchfarm).” So, I figured I needed to be polite and answer his questions and, you know, make conversation. We arrived at my floor and he stopped the elevator, opened the doors and left it locked in that state as he helped me with my meager luggage to my room. I don’t remember if I tipped him or not, but I probably did because I’d
seen it in a picture show. I was trying my best to be suave and deboner. I’d barely unpacked my bag when there was a knock at the door. I thought: “I don’t know anyone here, now just who could that be.” I opened the door and this is exactly what I saw: Leaning against the doorjamb was this reasonably attractive woman with a very good figure emphasized by a tight sweater and a justas-tight skirt with spikedheels-clad feet. And, yes, she was chewing gum as she said as seductively as she could: “I understand you’re lonesome and could use some company.” Emphasis on the word was hers. My answer was quick though I probably stuttered somewhat as I said, “Oh, no, no, no,” and closed the door. After that, when I traveled alone, I never admitted to anyone I was lonesome. Oh, and the ad sales and story roundup proved to be a lot easier than checking into that hotel. Willis Webb is a retired community newspaper editor and publisher of more than 50 years experience. He can be reached by email at wwebb1937@att.net.
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CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015
National
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
Actor who played Spock on Star Trek dies By LYNN ELBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — In 1975, Leonard Nimoy published an autobiography with the defiant title, “I Am Not Spock” — an attempt to show the world he had many more facets than the pointy-eared character that had come to define him. Yet two decades later, after proving that with a career that became a rich blend of roles beyond “Star Trek” along with directing, writing and photography, he bowed to fate with “I Am Spock,” a revisionist sequel. Nimoy had come to appreciate Mr. Spock’s enduring legacy and the inspiration the man of logic provided the actor and his fans alike. “He’s a part of me,” he wrote in his second memoir. “Not a day passes that I don’t hear that cool, rational voice commenting on some irrational aspect of the human condition.” “And if I’m not listening to Spock’s voice, then I’m listening to the voices of those who know the Vulcan and consider him an old friend. ... It always amazes me and touches me to discover how deeply the series affected so many people’s lives — people who chose careers in science, astronomy, space exploration, all because of one television show called Star Trek.” Nimoy had skillfully turned what could have been a caricature into a dignified, inspiringly intellectual and even touching figure, a half-human, half-Vulcan who was a multicultural and multiethnic touchstone, well before it was hip. Nimoy died Friday of end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at his Los Angeles home, with family at his side, said his son, Adam Nimoy. He was 83. His final public statement, last Sunday on Twitter, was thoughtful and bittersweet. “A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory,” he wrote, followed by his customary “LLAP” signoff — shorthand for “Live long and prosper,” Spock’s catch phrase. The reaction to his death was swift, on Earth and in space. “I loved him like a brother. We will all miss his humor, his talent, and his capacity to love,” said William Shatner, whose oftenemotional Captain Kirk was balanced by the composed Nimoy. President Barack Obama said, “I loved Spock.” “Long before being nerdy was cool, there was Leonard Nimoy,” Obama said in a statement. “Cool, logical, big-eared and level-headed, the center of Star Trek’s optimistic, inclusive vision of humanity’s future.” “Live Long and Prosper, Mr. #Spock!” tweeted Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, aboard the International Space Station. George Takei, Mr. Sulu of “Star Trek,” called Nimoy a great man and friend.
Photo by NBC/file
William Shatner, left, DeForest Kelley, center, and Leonard Nimoy pose on the set of the television series “Star Trek.” The world reacted quickly to word of Nimoy’s death Friday at 83. “We return you now to the stars, Leonard. You taught us to ‘Live Long and Prosper,’ and you indeed did, friend,” Takei said. In a 2009 interview with The Associated Press, Nimoy recalled how an early stage role left him “obsessed” with pursuing work that had a social impact. “I’ve fulfilled that dream, including ‘Star Trek,’ for that matter,” he said. “If that’s part of the legacy, then I’m very pleased with that. I would hope the work I chose to do had some reason for being done other than just simply being a job.” After “Star Trek” ended, the actor immediately joined the hit adventure series “Mission Impossible” as Paris, the mission team’s master of disguises. He also hosted the syndicated TV series “In Search of ... ,” which attempted to probe such mysteries as the legend of the Loch Ness Monster. Other notable roles included Israeli leader Golda Meir’s husband opposite Ingrid Bergman in the TV drama “A Woman Called Golda”; he continued to work well into his twilight years, playing wealthy genius William Bell in the Fox series “Fringe.” He also directed several films, including the hit comedy “Three Men and a Baby,” and appeared in plays and published books of poems, children’s stories and his own
photographs. But that work was always eclipsed by the role of the green-blooded space traveler that took him overnight from bit-part actor to TV star. “Star Trek,” created by Gene Roddenberry and set in the 23rd century, had an unimpressive debut on NBC on Sept. 8, 1966, and it struggled during its three seasons to find an audience beyond youngsters and teenagers, according to “The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable Shows” by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh. A recently published history of the show, the three-volume “These Are the Voyages” by Marc Kushman, paints a different, far more positive picture of the show’s ratings and its audience. The space adventure seemed headed for oblivion after it was canceled in 1969, but its dedicated legion of fans, who called themselves Trekkies, kept its memory alive with conventions and clubs and constant demands that the cast be reassembled for a movie or another TV show. Trekkies were particularly fond of Spock, often greeting one another with the Vulcan salute and “Live long” motto that Nimoy was credited with bringing to the character. He pointed out, however, that the hand ges-
ture was actually derived from one used by rabbis during Hebraic benedictions. People identified with Spock because they “recognize in themselves this wish that they could be logical and avoid the pain of anger and confrontation,” Nimoy concluded in a 1995 interview. Embracing the role he’d once shunned, he even lampooned himself on such TV shows as “Futurama,” “Duckman” and “The Simpsons,” and in commercials. When the cast was reassembled for “Star Trek — The Motion Picture,” in 1979, the film was a huge hit, and five sequels followed. Nimoy appeared in all of them and directed two. He also guest-starred as an older version of himself in some episodes of the spinoff TV series, “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” In 2009, he was back in a new big-screen version of “Star Trek,” this time playing an older Spock who meets his younger self, played by Zachary Quinto. Upon the movie’s debut, Nimoy told the AP that in his late 70s he was probably closer than ever to being as comfortable with himself as the logical Spock. “I know where I’m going, and I know where I’ve been,” he said. He reprised the role in the 2013 sequel “Star Trek Into Darkness.” Born in Boston to Jewish immigrants from Izyaslav, in what is now Ukraine, Nimoy was raised in an Italian section of the city where he said he felt the sting of antiSemitism growing up. At age 17, he was cast in a local production of Clifford Odets’ “Awake and Sing” as the son in a Jewish family. “This role, the young man surrounded by a hostile and repressive environment, so touched a responsive chord that I decided to make a career of acting,” he said later. He won a drama scholarship to Boston College but eventually dropped out, moved to California and took acting lessons at the Pasadena Playhouse. Soon he lost his “Boston dead-end” accent, hired an agent and began getting small TV and film roles. After service in the Army, Nimoy returned to Hollywood, working as taxi driver, vacuum cleaner salesman, movie theater usher and other jobs while looking for acting work. In 1954, he married Sandra Zober, whom he met at a Los Angeles theater in the Hollywood area, and they had two children, Julie and Adam. They divorced, and in 1988 he married Susan Bay, a film production executive. Last year, Nimoy used Twitter to announce he had pulmonary disease. He linked it to smoking, a habit he said he quit 30 years before. In January, he tweeted: “Don’t smoke. I did. Wish I never had.” Besides his wife, son and daughter, Nimoy is survived by his stepson, Aaron Bay Schuck. Services will be private, Adam Nimoy said.
Nation
6A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015
Farmers go without fed water By FENIT NIRAPPIL ASSOCIATED PRESS
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For a second straight year, the federal government said Friday it won’t send any of its reservoir water to the Central Valley, forcing farmers in California’s agricultural heartland to again scramble for other sources or leave fields unplanted. Many farmers had been bracing for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s announcement as California’s drought enters its fourth year. Some farms are exempt from complete cuts under California’s antiquated water rights system dating to Gold Rush-era days. But many farmers are running out of short-term options such as uprooting orchards and tapping groundwater wells to deal with water shortages. “They were able to Band-Aid things together last year just to keep their trees alive,” said Ryan Jacobsen, executive director of the Fresno County Farm Bureau. “The first aid kit we had last year is really not available this year.” The Central Valley Project conveys water through a system of dams and reservoirs and 500 miles of canals. The agency says it can
Photo by Jae C. Hong/file | AP
Irrigation water runs along the dried-up ditch between the rice farms to provide water for the rice fields in Richvale, Calif., on May 1, 2014. irrigate up to a third of California’s agricultural land when water is flowing. When planning deliveries, the federal government has mandatory obligations to farms and communities holding senior water rights, including the city of Sacramento, and wildlife refuges protected by federal law to restore fish habitats, said Ron Milligan, a Central Valley Project operations manager. Agriculture ends up bearing much of federal water cuts during dry periods. Farmers in the San
Joaquin Valley only received 10 percent of their requested amounts in 2009 and 20 percent in 2013. Two consecutive years of no allocations is unprecedented. Farmers are instead turning to storage supplies and pumping from largely unregulated groundwater wells that are quickly being depleted. Paul Betancourt spent $40,000 to renovate wells on his 765-acre west Fresno County farm, where his family grows cotton, almonds, wheat and onions. He can keep watering his crops this year but
says groundwater isn’t a longterm solution. “We are draining a finite supply of water,” he said. “It was ugly last year, and it’s going to get uglier this year California has a separate stateoperated system of reservoirs and canals with fewer mandatory obligations that increased distribution this year. The State Water Project announced last month that it could provide local agencies and farmers 15 percent of the water they requested, up from 5 percent last year. Some communities and endangered wildlife that rely on federal water will receive some water but still suffer cuts. Urban areas, including the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento area, will receive a quarter of typical water allotments but could receive more if public health is threatened. The water in the snowpack, California’s primary water source, is at a fifth of its normal level, according to state officials. Paul Wegner, president of the California Farm Bureau Federation, said the federal government’s announcement is another sign California needs to speed up construction of water projects.
US tribes meet to discuss legal pot By GENE JOHNSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
TULALIP, Wash. — The Justice Department’s December announcement that it would allow the nation’s Indian tribes to legalize and regulate marijuana on their reservations brought notes of caution — if not silence or opposition — from many tribes. They were reluctant given the substance abuse problems that already plague many reservations. But the attendance at a conference on the topic Friday gave an early indication of just how many might be weighing it. Representatives of about 75 tribes from around the
country converged on the Tulalip Indian Tribes’ resort and casino for a $605-ahead seminar on the regulatory, legal and social issues related to pot legalization. That’s a small fraction of the nation’s 566 recognized tribes. Many attendees were from smaller tribes looking for a potential economic edge. “A great deal more are considering this than I thought would be considering it,” said Ken Meshigaud, chairman of the Hannahville Indian Community, a band of the Potawatomi Tribe on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. “From an economic standpoint, it may be a good ven-
ture the tribes can get into.” Tulalip Vice Chairman Les Parks called it “a dream of another point of self-sufficiency on our reservations.” “That’s what marijuana can do for us,” he said. Tribes have been wrestling with the idea since the U.S. Justice Department announced that it wouldn’t stand in their way if they want to approve pot for medical or recreational use. The agency said tribes must follow the same law enforcement priorities laid out for states that legalize the drug, including keeping marijuana out of the hands of children and criminal elements.
The discussions are heating up: On Monday, about 200 tribal leaders attended a meeting of the National Congress of American Indians, which included a closed-to-the-press panel discussion with Justice Department officials on marijuana legalization, said Demitri Downing, a former prosecutor for the Tohono O’odham tribe in southern Arizona who now advises tribes on regulatory issues related to pot. The topic also is on the agenda of a major tribal economic summit in Las Vegas next month. “We have to take a look at it,” said Seth Pearman, an attorney for the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe
in South Dakota. “The economic opportunity is just astronomical — it would be almost negligent to miss out on this.” He said tribal leaders already are drafting regulations for a marijuana industry, and they toured some Washington state dispensaries on their trip. The conference was organized by Robert Odawi Porter, a former president of the Seneca Nation in New York, and Seattle marijuana business attorneys Hilary Bricken and Robert McVay. Topics included the business potential for pot, concerns about substance abuse and the potential creation of a tribal cannabis association.
Reaction stops porn policy ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Apparently Google bloggers like to post porn. A lot. Just three days after saying sexually explicit material would be banned from public Blogger forum sites, Google is backing down. Faced with “a ton of feedback,” Google said Friday that it instead will “step up enforcement” against commercial and illegal porn. Google spokeswoman Katie Watson said the company does not disclose how many Blogger users it has nor how many of them would have been affected by the policy change. On Tuesday, Google warned Bloggers that effective last Monday any site hosting nude pictures would be switched to private. That ban came the same day that social forum and news site Reddit said it would remove explicit photos, videos and links if the person pictured hadn’t consented to the image being posted. In an online post Friday, Google’s Blogger said longtime users thought it was unfair to suddenly change the policy. The company also was swayed by users who say posting sexually explicit content is part of expressing their identities. Sexually explicit content on Blogger will still be marked by an “adult content” warning. And Google’s Blogger policy does not allow users to post nudes or sexually explicit images of someone else without that person’s consent. Mountain View, California-based Google Inc. bought Blogger in 2003.
International
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015
‘Jihadi John’ is Briton By GREGORY KATZ AND JILL LAWLESS ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — The unmasking of Islamic State militant “Jihadi John” as a Londoner who had repeatedly been questioned by security services sent shock waves through Britain Friday, with Prime Minister David Cameron stepping in to defend British spy craft. Cameron tried to defuse criticism of Britain’s intelligence community, which had “Jihadi John” on its list of potential terror suspects for years but was unable to prevent him from traveling to Syria, where he has played a prominent role in grisly beheading videos. Cameron did not mention “Jihadi John” or refer to his real identity: Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwaitborn computer science graduate raised and educated in Britain. But he said the country’s spies make “incredibly difficult judgments” daily about how to pursue threats to national security and have broken up plots that would have caused immense damage. Emwazi had been known to the British intelligence services since at least 2009, initially in connection with terrorism in Somalia. David Anderson, who is in charge of reviewing Britain’s terrorism legislation, said intelligence agencies may have dropped the ball, but faced a big challenge to identify real threats from “hundreds, probably thousands” of suspects. “Perhaps they did slip up in this case but one won’t know until there’s been an inquiry or a report of some kind,” he told the BBC. The case has some parallels to that of two al-Qaidainspired extremists who murdered a British soldier in London in May 2013. A report by lawmakers concluded that delays and other failings by the agencies had contributed to that tragedy. However, it is not clear what laws could have been
Associated Press
Mohammed Emwazi has been identified by news organizations as the masked militant more commonly known as “Jihadi John.” used to prevent Emwazi from leaving Britain at the time, since he had not been charged with any terroristrelated offenses. It is not known if police or security services had any evidence he was planning to join extremists in Syria. His identification as the front man in IS murder videos has raised questions about how a soccer-playing London youngster who liked smart clothes became one of the world’s most wanted men. Authorities were working to piece together the path to radicalization of Emwazi, who came to Britain from Kuwait as a small child and attended state schools in London before studying computer science at the University of Westminster. Court documents from 2011 obtained by the BBC list Emwazi as part of a network of west London men suspected by MI5 of sending funds, equipment and recruits to al-Shabab militants in Somalia. The group included Bilail al-Berjawi, a Lebanese-British militant who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Somalia in January 2012. Emails that Emwazi sent to a Muslim advocacy group reveal a young man increasingly frustrated by the attentions of British spies and angry at the plight of Muslims around the world. Emwazi approached the
group, CAGE, after he and two friends were arrested and deported on a trip to Tanzania in August 2009. They said they were going on a post-university safari. But Emwazi said he was grilled by a British intelligence officer who accused him of trying to travel to Somalia to link up with terrorists there. He said the agent, who identified himself as Nick, suggested Emwazi “work for us” before saying “life will be harder for you” if he did not cooperate. It is clear that Emwazi was unnerved after his unwanted interrogation. “He knew everything about me; where I lived, what I did, the people I hanged around with,” he wrote in one of the emails that CAGE made public Thursday. “He even said that he would try to visit me. But I refused and told him that I did not want him to pay me a visit.”
THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A
International
8A THE ZAPATA TIMES
Ice melt impacts Earth By LUIS ANDRES HENAO AND SETH BORENSTEIN ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAPE LEGOUPIL, Antarctica — From the ground in this extreme northern part of Antarctica, spectacularly white and blinding ice seems to extend forever. What can’t be seen is the battle raging thousands of feet below to re-shape Earth. Water is eating away at the Antarctic ice, melting it where it hits the oceans. As the ice sheets slowly thaw, water pours into the sea — 130 billion tons of ice per year for the past decade, according to NASA satellite calculations. That’s the weight of more than 356,000 Empire State Buildings, enough ice melt to fill more than 1.3 million Olympic swimming pools. And the melting is accelerating. In the worst case scenario, Antarctica’s melt could push sea levels up 10 feet worldwide in a century or two, recurving heavily populated coastlines. Parts of Antarctica are melting so rapidly it has become “ground zero of global climate change without a doubt,” said Harvard geophysicist Jerry Mitrovica. Here on the Antarctic peninsula, where the continent is warming the fastest because the land sticks out in the warmer ocean, 49 billion tons of ice are lost each year, according to NASA. The water warms from below, causing the ice to retreat on to land, and then the warmer air takes over. Temperatures rose 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit in the last half century, much faster than Earth’s average, said Ricardo Jana, a glaciologist for the Chilean Antarctic Institute. As chinstrap penguins waddled behind him, Peter Convey of the British Antarctic Survey reflected on changes he could see on Robert Island, a small-scale example and perhaps early warning signal of what’s
Photo by Natacha Pisarenko | AP
Gentoo penguins stand on rocks near the Chilean station Bernardo O’Higgins, Antarctica, on Sunday. happening to the peninsula and rest of the continent as a whole. “I was last here 10 years ago,” Convey said during a rare sunny day on the island, with temperatures just above freezing. “And if you compare what I saw back then to now, the basic difference due to warming is that the permanent patches of snow and ice are smaller. They’re still there behind me, but they’re smaller than they were.” Robert Island hits all the senses: the stomach-turning smell of penguin poop; soft moss that invites the rare visitor to lie down, as if on a water bed; brown mud, akin to stepping in gooey chocolate. Patches of the moss, which alternates from fluorescent green to rust red, have grown large enough to be football fields. Though 97 percent of the Antarctic Peninsula is still covered with ice, entire valleys are now free of it, ice is thinner elsewhere and glaciers have retreated, Convey said. Dressed in a big red parka and sky blue hat, plant biologist Angelica Casanova has to take her gloves off to collect samples, leaving her hands bluish purple from the cold. Casanova says she can’t help but notice the changes since she began coming to the island in 1995. Increasingly, plants are taking root in the earth and stone deposited by retreating glaciers, she says.
“It’s interesting because the vegetation in some way responds positively. It grows more,” she said, a few steps from a sleeping Weddell seal. “What is regrettable is all the scientific information that we’re seeing says there’s been a lot of glacier retreat and that worries us.” Just last month, scientists noticed in satellite images that a giant crack in an ice shelf on the peninsula called Larsen C had grown by about 12 miles in 2014. Ominously, the split broke through a type of ice band that usually stops such cracks. If it keeps going, it could cause the breaking off of a giant iceberg somewhere between the size of Rhode Island and Delaware, about 1,700 to 2,500 square miles, said British Antarctic Survey scientist Paul Holland. And there’s a small chance it could cause the entire Scotland-sized Larsen C ice shelf to collapse like its sister shelf, Larsen B, did in a dramatic way in 2002. A few years back, scientists figured Antarctica as a whole was in balance, neither gaining nor losing ice. Experts worried more about Greenland; it was easier to get to and more noticeable, but once they got a better look at the bottom of the world, the focus of their fears shifted. Now scientists in two studies use the words “irreversible” and “unstoppable” to talk about the melting in West Antarctica.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015
SÁBADO 28 DE FEBRERO DE 2015
Ribereña en Breve VÍCTIMAS Autoridades mexicanas dieron a conocer que fueron localizados los cuerpos de cuatro hombres y una mujer en el lado mexicano del Río Bravo, cerca de Ciudad Camargo, México. Según investigaciones preliminares, dos de los cuerpos eran de nacionales mexicanos, y uno de un originario de El Salvador. Todo indica que las cinco personas murieron ahogadas, indicaron autoridades. Sus cuerpos fueron encontrados dentro del río o cerca de la orilla del río, del lado mexicano. Camargo es una ciudad fronteriza con Rio Grande City.
ARRESTO Alejandro Aguilar Gudiño, de 34 años de edad, de Padilla, México, fue acusado como probable responsable de alrededor de 11 asaltos, anunció la Policía Ministerial de Tamaulipas en Ciudad Victoria, México. El sospechoso fue detenido en una gasolinera ubicada en 16 de Septiembre y Carlos Adrián Avilés, a bordo de un automóvil cuyas características coinciden con las de un vehículo mencionado en varios de los asaltos. En el interior de la unidad fueron localizadas ocho poncha-llantas metálicas. Aguilar Gudiño confesó haber participado en asaltos a un banco, una empresa de autobuses de pasajeros, una gasera, una llantera y una empresa gasera.
Zfrontera
PÁGINA 9A
ACUERDO TAMAULIPAS/TAMIU
Educación industrial POR KENDRA ABLAZA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
El gobierno de Tamaulipas está dando los pasos necesarios para crear una relación con Texas A&M International University (TAMIU por sus siglas en inglés) que busca abastecer a los programas escolares con el fin de desarrollar industrias en la región fronteriza cercana. El Gobernador Egidio Torre Cantú firmó un acuerdo conjunto con TAMIU el jueves en la Biblioteca Sue & Radcliffe Killam. Dijo que el acuerdo es parte de su plan estatal de energía para desarrollar industrias en Tamaulipas basadas en recursos renovables y no renovables. Funcionarios de TAMIU dijeron que bajo este acuerdo, la universidad tendrá como objetivo crear programas que llevarían a sus estudiantes a ingresar a estas industrias eventualmente. María Eugenia Calderón-Porter, vice presidenta asistente de la Oficina de Iniciativas Globales en TAMIU, dijo que el acuerdo se alinea con el nuevo programa de ingenie-
Foto por Cuate Santos | The Zapata Times
El Decano de TAMIU, Pablo Arenaz, a la izquierda, y el Gobernador de Tamaulipas Egidio Torre, al centro, posan para representantes de los medios de comunicación después de la firma del acuerdo en TAMIU, el jueves por la mañana. A la derecha, el Secretario de Educación en Tamaulipas, Diódoro Guerra. ría petrolera de la universidad que será ofrecido este otoño. “Podemos crear y facilitar un programa académico que apoye el desarrollo de nuevas empresas para el estado”, dijo Calderón-Porte. Torre Cantú también abordó las preocupaciones recientes acerca de la seguridad de la industria del pe-
tróleo en México durante el evento. “Estamos trabajando en la coordinación… para buscar mejores condiciones para la seguridad de todos”, dijo Torre Cantú. El alcalde Pete Sáenz dijo que esperaban tener un plan de acción en los siguientes dos o tres meses. “Nos estará diciendo qué áreas
SAN ANTONIO STOCK SHOW AND RODEO
MÉXICO
PASA A SUBASTA
Proponen agentes armados POR E. EDUARDO CASTILLO ASSOCIATED PRESS
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.
Fotografía de cortesía | Mesquite 4H Club
Mito Landa, a la izquierda, alumno de Zapata High School, obtuvo el quinto lugar durante el evento San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, el miércoles. Landa es Vicepresidente del Mesquite 4-H sucursal Zapata, tendrá la oportunidad de participar en la subasta a realizarse hoy en San Antonio. Él también representa al Capítulo FFA de ZHS.
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.
en esta región pueden ser útiles para su estado para desarrollar (la cuenca de) Burgos y otras industrias. Es un buen inicio”, dijo Sáenz. Calderón-Porter dijo que la colaboración es importante para el estado y para TAMIU, ya que ambos se ubican junto a un recurso energético. Ella describió la oportunidad como “histórica, única y sin igual en el mundo”. Mientras se predice que los valores minerales disminuyan este año en el Condado de Webb si los precios del petróleo y del gas se mantienen bajos el resto del año, Calderón-Porter dijo que para la industria del petróleo en el estado esto no importa. “Estamos por crear a los profesionales que sabrán qué hacer con esto y en los momentos en que sea requerido”, dijo Calderón-Porter. “Somos un estado de petróleo. Estamos acostumbrados al auge y a la caída y no nos detenemos porque nos encontramos en un punto bajo”. “La demanda siempre existirá”, dijo Calderón-Porter.
OBITUARIO
Fallece Leonard Nimoy POR LYNN ELBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — El actor Leonard Nimoy, conocido y venerado por generaciones de admiradores de “Star Trek” como el científico de orejas puntiagudas Señor Spock, falleció. Su hijo, Adam Nimoy, informó que el actor murió el viernes en su casa de Los Ángeles a consecuencia de una enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva. Tenía 83 años. Aunque Leonard Nimoy siguió su trabajo de 1966-69 en “Star Trek” (“Viaje a las estrellas”) con una notable trayectoria como actor y director, en la mente del público siempre fue Spock. Su per-
sonaje mitad humano mitad vulcano fue el calmado contrapunto del más impulsivo Capitán Kirk, interpretado por WilNIMOY liam Shatner, en una de las series de TV y películas de culto más queridas internacionalmente. Luego que terminó “Star Trek”, el actor se unió de inmediato a la serie de aventura “Misión Imposible” como Paris, el maestro de los disfraces del equipo. De 1976 a 1982 fue el anfitrión de la serie de TV “In Search of... “, en la que se investigaban misterios como el Monstruo del Lago Ness y la desapar-
ición de la aviadora Amelia Earhart. Hizo el papel del esposo de la líder israelí Golda Meir, junto a Ingrid Bergman, en el drama de la TV “A Woman Called Golda” e interpretó a Vincent van Gogh en “Vincent”, una obra teatral sobre la vida del atribulado pintor. También dirigió varias películas, incluyendo la comedia “Tres hombres y un bebé”. Pero en realidad nunca pudo escapar del papel que lo llevó al estrellato de la noche a la mañana. La gente se identificó con Spock porque “reconoció el deseo de poder ser lógica y evitar el dolor de la ira y la confrontación”, concluyó Nimoy.
MÉXICO — El presidente Enrique Peña Nieto propuso esta semana una reforma legal para permitir que algunos agentes extranjeros porten armas en México.. La iniciativa de reforma a la ley federal de armas, enviada al Senado, plantea que agentes aduanales y migratorios extranjeros puedan portar armas en ciertas zonas previamente establecidas, lo que en principio beneficiaría sobre todo a oficiales de Estados Unidos.. Se propone también que en la ley quede estipulado que los mandatarios o líderes de otras naciones puedan ingresar al país con su equipo completo de seguridad. Hasta ahora la ley mexicana prohíbe que cualquier agente o autoridad extranjeros porten armas en territorio nacional o participen en operaciones para detener a presuntos delincuentes. Para algunos analistas la propuesta podría abrir la puerta para que a la larga otras agencias de seguridad estadounidenses, como la agencia antinarcóticos DEA, puedan tener funcionarios armados en el territorio. Los permisos estarán a cargo de la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional y tendrán una vigencia de seis meses, con posibilidad de renovarse por otros semestres. La iniciativa señala que los permisos se otorgarían bajo un principio de reciprocidad, es decir, que el gobierno de los agentes extranjeros también autorice a oficiales mexicanos de aduanas y migración a portar armas en su territorio. Dice también que la presencia de agentes extranjeros permitiría realizar procesos de inspección conjunta que se traducirían en agilizar los flujos de mercancías y de personas. Sin embargo, añade, debido a los problemas de tráfico ilegal de drogas, mercancías y personas se necesita garantizar la seguridad de los agentes aduanales y migratorios, por lo cual es necesario permitirles portar armas.
COLUMNA
JUNTA DE COMISIONADOS El lunes 9 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.
Alberti denuncia injusticias en Asturias Nota del Editor: Raúl Sinencio nos comparte escritos de Rafael Alberti, poeta quien recorriera Tamaulipas en 1935.
POR RAÚL SINENCIO ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
El poeta andaluz Rafael Alberti vivió de 1902 a 1999. Es conocido por su poema “Nadie, nadie, nadie, que en frente no hay nadie/ que es nadie la muerte si va en tu montura. / Galopa, caballo cuatralbo, / jinete del pueblo, / que la tierra es tuya”. Alberti y su esposa, la escritora
María Teresa León, desembarcaron en Veracruz el 11 de mayo de 1935. Ambos viajan a la capital del país y en el Anfiteatro Bolívar y el Teatro Hidalgo hablan ante “multitud de organizaciones obreras… con tanto éxito […] que” el público “no cabía en la enorme sala”. Alberti y María Teresa denuncian las injusticias, al tiempo que defienden “la insurrección de Asturias”. Posteriormente salen rumbo a Morelia, invitados por la universidad y consiguen nutrida audiencia. Una segunda gira les permite conocer Tamaulipas, a fines de julio
1935, cuando por vía aérea llegan a Tampico. En ésta ocasión, los boletos de avión son por cortesía de “un español simpatizante”. En las instalaciones del aeropuerto se dan cita “delegaciones obreras, con música, banderas, estandartes y franjas de salutación”. Acude “desde el alcalde, que era un obrero, hasta el jefe de la policía. Hospedados en céntrico hotel, tomanconocimiento “de la campaña que estaba haciendo contra” los visitantes “el cónsul de España”. “Las tres primeras conferencias dadas en un teatro contratado anticipadamente fueron un verdadero fracaso. “Buscando la
manera de penetrar en los sindicatos tampiqueños”, ejecuta la pareja “un plan de trabajo dentro de las zonas mismas del petróleo”. Reuniéndose con “obreros de las compañías Huasteca, Pierce y El Águila”, obtienen alentadora respuesta. “En vista del buen ambiente”, el alcalde “organizó un gran acto en un circo para que” los escuchara “el mayor número posible de trabajadores. Al despedirlos , el jefe edilicio les “entregó 100 pesos”. Lo anterior lo escribió de puño y letra Alberti. Daniela Spencer descubrió el relato en los archivos de la Internacional Comunista.
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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
VALUES Continued from Page 1A “It’s more important to get a sense of the cost you have imposed on the traffickers,” he said. “But (higher retail prices) sound better. I don’t think it’s more complicated than that.” The House is proposing a budget of $392.7 million for
border operations, while the Senate is proposing $815 million. It is not clear how much money the Texas Department of Public Safety is seeking from lawmakers. Democratic state Sen. Kirk Watson said that the valuation change raised
questions. “It adds to the problem when it seems like whatever metrics you might have to actually change, and it continues to subvert the credibility of requests when you can’t seem to get straight answers,” Watson said.
KINGPIN Continued from Page 1A
Photo by Marco Ugarte | AP
A masked federal police officer patrols during increased security outside the SEIDO, the organizedcrime division of Mexico’s Attorney General Office, in Mexico City, Friday. one called Los Viagra. An attempt to bring the vigilante groups together into an officially sanctioned rural defense force has been resisted by several vigilante leaders. Still, the arrest of Gómez is an important success for President Enrique Peña Nieto.
Under his presidency, security forces have caught or killed a number of top drug bosses, including Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel who is known as El Chapo or Shorty, who was arrested in February 2014. A month later, federal troops killed
the founder of La Familia, Nazario Moreno González. But the arrests and killings of cartel leaders have not quelled the violence in much of the country, as the gangs splinter, fight over territory and branch out from drug trafficking into kidnapping and extortion.
Nasdaq caps best month since 2012 By JOSEPH CIOLLI BLOOMBERG NEWS
Global equities from Europe to Asia rallied in February to multiyear highs, while the best month since 2012 for the Nasdaq Composite Index left the technology barometer within striking distance of its dot-com era record. The Nasdaq Composite surged 7.1 percent, climbing within 60 points of its March 2000 high, as Apple Inc. rose 9.6 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index increased 5.5 percent, rebounding from its worst month in a year with the biggest gain since October 2011. The MSCI All-Country World Index added 5.4 percent after rising to an intraday high on Feb. 26. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index fell 36 percent for its biggest monthly drop on record. “What we’re seeing is better signs of economic growth, strong earnings outside the energy and materials sectors,” Michael Strauss, chief investment strategist and chief economist at Commonfund Group in Wilton, Connecticut, said in a phone interview. The firm oversees about $25 billion. “That’s a support point for Nasdaq, given its lower exposure to energy.” The Nasdaq is flirting with 5,000 after advancing
for 10 straight days through Feb. 24, and is now 1.7 percent from its bubble peak. At its current pace, the index is poised to rise for nine straight quarters, a feat it’s never accomplished. It has taken two bull markets and more than 4,500 days for the technology index to get close to making up all the ground lost in the dot-com collapse. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average reached all-time highs in October 2007 and again in March 2013.
Fresh Records Apple, which has the biggest weighting in the Nasdaq, paced gains in February. Avago Technologies Ltd. climbed 24 percent in the month as the semiconductor company agreed to purchase Emulex Corp. Salesforce.com surged 23 percent as it raised its revenue forecast. The S&P 500 reached fresh records four times in February, while the Dow average climbed 5.6 percent for its best month since January 2013. The index also topped its record from December for the first time in 2015. U.S. stocks climbed to records on Feb. 25 as Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said inflation and wage growth remain too low for the central bank to
raise rates at its next meeting. Data showed gross domestic product in the fourth quarter rose at a 2.2 percent annualized rate. American households picked up spending in the fourth quarter and remained confident in early 2015, indicating the economy is poised to overcome any bumps caused by slower global demand. Consumer discretionary companies — the stores, restaurant chains and others that depend on disposable income — led gains in the S&P 500 in February with an 8.5 percent rally.
Spending Boost TripAdvisor Inc. soared 33 percent, while Priceline Group Inc. rallied 23 percent as online travel sites advanced amid deal news and speculation the stronger dollar will prod more Americans into overseas trips. Retailers from Kohl’s Corp. to Coach Inc. and Ross Stores Inc. jumped more than 15 percent after reporting results that got a boost from the pickup in spending. An improving job market and generally cheaper fuel probably will help sustain consumer spending, which accounts for almost 70 percent of the economy.
AGRICULTURE Continued from Page 1A will have to raise fees and licensing charges for a variety of programs the department oversees. In addition, Miller said he was concerned enough about the $7.8 million “lapse” in revenue in the budget adopted in 2013 — and other problems he has encountered since taking office — that he asked the Texas State Auditor’s Office to conduct a formal review of the agency. He said he is not interested in “pointing fingers,” but Miller wants to know in detail what occurred before he took office in January. “All that happened before I got here. I’m trying to establish a baseline and move forward,” Miller said. “I’m not pointing the blame at anybody. We’re going to run it like I think it needs to be run.” Former Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, who left office late last year to become president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association after an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor, said he was proud of his service over the previous eight years. Miller and Staples are both Republicans. "TDA is a very big agency with the broadest mission of any agency in the state. And there will always be some area that needs to
be addressed. I hope Commissioner Miller can get his arms around how big and broad and complex the agency is," Staples said. “The TDA team consistently came in under budget, and resulted in returning about $50 million back to the taxpayer” during his eight years as head of the agency. That’s about the same amount of money Miller now says he needs to perform core functions. As such, his comments clash with the narrative that Republican leaders have been crafting for years — that state government can and should operate on less money without compromising its duties to taxpayers. Former Gov. Rick Perry presided over deep budget cuts in 2003 and 2011, and newly elected Gov. Greg Abbott is asking most state agencies to cut their budgets by 3 percent over the next two years. Miller, who considers himself a fiscal hawk and campaigned as one when he was in the state House of Representatives, says he needs more resources to protect consumers from “unscrupulous actors” and fulfill the mission the Legislature has given him. “I’m not about big government. I’m not asking for more people than I need,” he said. “But I feel
an obligation to protect the consumer and to market agriculture and we’re all about that over here.” Miller has briefed legislators about his concerns, and some lawmakers expressed shock about the state of the agency as he described it. State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, RHouston, said he discovered the problems with the oversight of gasoline sales firsthand. “I learned about this when I drove my car in and filled up 27 gallons on a 19-gallon tank," Bettencourt said, referring to a gas station that he said had been deceiving drivers in Houston. "I commend the idea of getting out there, because the public is simply getting ripped off and they have no way of knowing it." Bettencourt said he doubted pawnshops were being honest with consumers, either. "I can only imagine the stir you will cause when you show up at a pawnshop" to look at weights and measures, he said. Miller is asking for an additional $48 million in funding from the Legislature. He said he wants the agency’s huge budget cuts from 2011 restored. In 2011, facing an estimated $27 billion shortfall, the Legislature
deeply slashed state agency spending. Lawmakers also asked the agriculture department to shift its marketing programs — designed to promote Texas agricultural products — to a "cost recovery" mode. Under that approach, programs have to pay for themselves with the revenue they generate through fees, permits and the like. In one such program, producers paid a fee so they could brand their products as "Go Texan" and the state would market the brand. When that became a "cost recovery" program, though, the department never raised enough money through fees to pay for it. That contributed to a reduction of almost $8 million in spending authority in the department’s current budget. As a result, Miller says he now faces the unpleasant task of raising various fees the agency collects in order to generate enough revenue to pay for the cost recovery programs at the agency. “I have the job of going in and tell everybody I’ve got to raise their fees and their licenses," Miller said. "People are going to scream at me, but we’re going to do it because that’s what the law says we do." Staples said much of the prob-
lem can be associated with the agency’s failure to collect enough revenue from its marketing efforts. He said he never agreed with the Legislature’s decision to make marketing programs recover their costs. "We recognize the dollars we were authorized to recover could never be achieved," he said. "[Marketing by the state] is not something that businesses want to pay for." According to the state comptroller’s office, which prepares revenue estimates and monitors agency spending, the agriculture department had a role in determining the amount of revenue it would collect from its cost recovery programs but never had access to $7.8 million of it for fiscal years 2014 and 2015. If an agency isn’t collecting projected revenue, the comptroller "lapses," or withholds, the spending authority for the corresponding amount. “They never really had the ability to spend that money until we unlapsed it, but that scenario never played out, so it just remained lapsed,” said Lauren Willis, a spokeswoman at the comptroller’s office. “There is input from the agency to determine what the projections are for the estimate."
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Zentertainment
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015
Debates rage over dress color By SHAWN POGATCHNIK ASSOCIATED PRESS
It’s the dress that’s beating the Internet black and blue. Or should that be gold and white? Friends and co-workers worldwide are debating the true hues of a royal blue dress with black lace that, to many an eye, transforms in one photograph into gold and white. Optometry experts are calling the photo a one-in-a-million shot that perfectly captures how people’s brains perceive color and process contrast in dramatically different ways. “This photo provides the best test I’ve ever seen for how the process of color correction works in the brain,”’ said Daniel Hardiman-McCartney, the clinical adviser to Britain’s College of Optometrists. “I’ve never seen a photo like before where so many people look at the same photo and see two sets of such dramatically different colors.” The photo, taken earlier this month before a wedding on the remote Scottish island of Colonsay, also illustrates the dynamics of a perfect social-media storm. Guests at the wedding could not understand why, in one photo of the dress being worn by the mother of the bride, the clearly blue and black-striped garment transformed into gold and white. But only in that single photo, and only for around half of the viewers. The debate spread from the wedding to the Internet, initially from friend to perplexed friend on Facebook. One such wedding guest, musician and singer Caitlin McNeill, posted the photo Thursday night to her Tumblr account with the question: “Guys please help me. Is this dress white and gold, or blue and black? Me
and my friends can’t agree and we are freaking the (expletive) out.” She’s consistently seen gold. One of her friends, Alana MacInnes, saw gold and white for the first hour, then black and blue. Buzzfeed sensed clickbait heaven and, amid its own newsroom argument, was among the first to call McNeill. It posted more than a half-dozen stories on the image and the tsunami of reaction. On Twitter, #TheDress and variants surged to the top of trending lists globally within hours. The entertainment elite then chimed in. Taylor Swift saw the dress was “obviously” blue
and black. “What’s the matter with u guys, it’s white and gold,” countered Julianne Moore. Kim Kardashian, never one to miss a trending topic, reported she was seeing gold but to husband Kanye West, it was solidly black and blue. “Who is color blind?” Kardashian asked the twitterati. The answer, says Hardiman-McCartney, is that every viewer seeing either set of colors is right. He says the exceptional bar-code style of the dress, combined with the strongly yellow-toned backlighting in the one photo, provides the brain a rare chance to “choose” which of the dress’ two primary colors should be seen in detail.
Those who subconsciously seek detail in the many horizontal black lines convert them to a golden hue, so the blue disappears into a blown-out white, he said. Others whose brains focus on the blue part of the dress see the photo as the black-and-blue reality. “There’s no correct way to perceive this photograph. It sits right on the cusp, or balance, of how we perceive the color of a subject versus the surrounding area,” he said. “And this color consistency illusion that we’re experiencing doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with your eyes. It just shows how your brain chooses to see the image, to process this luminescence confusion.”
Photo by Rui Vieira | AP
A passer-by looks at the blue two tone dress in a shop window display in Lichfield, England, Friday.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Rondo moves on File photo by Charles Rex Arbogast | AP
Bulls point guard Derrick Rose is expected to miss 4-6 weeks after surgery on his meniscus.
Rose has surgery
File photo by LM Otero | AP
Point guard Rajon Rondo was traded to Dallas this year but has already been suspended by head coach Rick Carlisle.
Bulls star point guard to be sidelined 4-6 weeks
Point guard puts suspension behind him ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — Rajon Rondo says he and Dallas coach Rick Carlisle talked all the time in the days after the point guard arrived from Boston in a trade the Mavericks hope will boost their chances of winning a championship. At some point, the communica-
tion waned — and the next thing the pair knew, they were screaming at each other on the court in an outburst that led to a one-game suspension for Rondo. With time served in a loss at Atlanta one night after the episode marred a win at home against Toronto, Rondo returned to practice Friday and said he was ready to
move on. And Carlisle said he’d already done so. “In terms of NBA time, it’s light years ago,” said Carlisle, who plans to start Rondo on Saturday night against Brooklyn at home. While the episode raised doubts about Rondo playing more than a
See RONDO PAGE 2B
NASCAR
By ANDREW SELIGMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO — The Chicago Bulls can breathe a little easier. They expect Derrick Rose to return this season from his latest knee surgery.
General manager Gar Forman said the star point guard will miss 4-6 weeks after the operation Friday to fix a medial meniscus tear in his right
See ROSE PAGE 2B
PGA TOUR
PGA coming to Austin By DOUG FERGUSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — The PGA Tour is completing plans o bring the Match Play Championship to Austin, Texas, starting in 2016. Three people aware of the negotiations told The Associated Press that Texas-based Dell will be the title sponsor of the World Golf Championship event that features the top 64 players from the world ranking. They spoke on condition of anonymity because an announcement has not been made. The Match Play would be held next year on March 23-27, the week af-
ter the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill and the week before the Shell Houston Open. The Masters is April 7-10 in 2016, which could be ideal for international-based players to stay in America in the weeks leading to Augusta National. The Match Play initially would be held at Austin Country Club, though that still requires a vote of the membership, one person said. Austin Country Club dates to 1899, though the current course was designed by Pete Dye in 1984. PGA Tour spokesman Ty Votaw said the tour would have no comment. It would be the sixth
course for the Match Play Championship since the WGC series began in 1999. The tournament was held at La Costa through 2006, with one year at Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne. It moved to two courses at Dove Mountain north of Tucson, Arizona, until last year after Accenture declined to renew its title sponsorship. The Match Play is being held this year from April 29 to May 3 at Harding Park in San Francisco, with Cadillac filling in as a title sponsor. This year also features a new format. Instead of single elimination, the 64 players will be divided into 16 four-player groups
for the first three days. The player with the best record from each group will advance to the round of 16 on Saturday morning, followed by quarterfinals Saturday afternoon, semifinals Sunday morning and the championship match on Sunday afternoon. That would at least ensure that the top players make it until Friday. Two years ago, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods were eliminated on Wednesday. When it was in California and Arizona, the Match Play was positioned at the end of the West Coast Swing in late
See MATCH PLAY PAGE 2B
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE File photo by Ralph Lauer | AP
Police say Travis Kvapil’s NASCAR Sprint Cup car has been stolen ahead of the race this weekend near Atlanta.
Travis Kvapil’s car stolen By PAUL NEWBERRY ASSOCIATED PRESS
HAMPTON, Ga. — When Travis Kvapil got the call Friday, he figured someone on his race team was playing a joke. “They said there was trouble with the car,” Kvapil said. “I thought we could figure it out when we got in the garage area. They’re like, ’No, the car is gone.”’ The No. 44 NASCAR
Hernandez texts deleted By MICHELLE R. SMITH ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sprint Cup car owned by small-budget Team XTREME was stolen from a hotel parking lot near Atlanta Motor Speedway, police said, forcing Kvapil to withdraw from this weekend’s race before he even got a chance to qualify. The $250,000 race car was still missing late in the afternoon, and police were hoping the public could assist in the search.
FALL RIVER, Mass. — Texts and phone records shown to jurors Friday in the murder trial of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez showed that several messages he exchanged with a co-defendant before the killing were deleted from his phone. Evidence presented to the jury Friday also showed multiple calls placed from the phone of co-defendant Ernest Wallace to the victim, Odin Lloyd, in the hours before
See NASCAR PAGE 2B
See HERNANDEZ PAGE 2B
File photo by Dominick Reuter | AP
Texts from the phone of former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez to his co-defendant were deleted. Hernandez is accused of killing Odin Lloyd.
PAGE 2B
Zscores
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015
MATCH PLAY Continued from Page 1B February. Moving to late April for this year meant several international players, such as McIlroy, Henrik Stenson and Martin Kaymer, waited to start
their PGA Tour year in Florida. A move to the end of the March might not help the West Coast. However, the position
on the calendar could add an additional element to the Match Play. Augusta National invites the top 50 in the world a full week before the Masters, mean-
ROSE Continued from Page 1B ing the Match Play would be the final event for some players to improve or secure their ranking in the top 50 for a Masters invitation.
RONDO Continued from Page 1B partial season in Dallas since he’s set to become a free agent, the four-time All-Star who won a title with the Celtics in 2008 tried to be clear about where his priorities are. “I’m going to do what’s best for the team and play my heart out for these next 22 games we have left and make a run in the playoffs,” Rondo said. The first sign of trouble came about a month after the December trade, when Carlisle sat Rondo in the final minutes of a four-point loss to Chicago after the Mavericks had said they made the trade in part for
his intangibles and penchant of clutch performances. The transition to Dallas was interrupted when Rondo missed six games after breaking a bone near his left eye. Four games later, the shouting match erupted when Carlisle angrily called a timeout when he couldn’t get Rondo’s attention while his guard was bringing the ball up the court. “I think I’ve just got built-up frustration,” Rondo said. “Our communication was great at first, and not that it wasn’t so great, it’s just that we weren’t com-
municating enough, I don’t think, and vice versa on his side. That shouldn’t be the case the rest of the season.” Rondo said part of the communication breakdown came from Carlisle spending more time incorporating yet another addition in veteran forward Amare Stoudemire, who signed after the New York Knicks bought out his contract. Since the spat, Rondo and Carlisle have spoken several times. “I’ve been in this situation before,” Rondo said. “Everyone’s personality is different. I don’t think this is a problem at all. I spoke
with pretty much everyone in the organization and everyone is on the same page.” If they aren’t, they’re not going very far. So says star and franchise tone-setter Dirk Nowitzki. “I think whatever needed to be worked out is between them and we’re looking forward to finishing the season strong,” the 7-foot German said. “That’s only possible if we’re all on the same page and just pulling together.” Rondo and Carlisle have hit the reset button, trying to get back to where things started two months ago.
NASCAR Continued from Page 1B The owner of one NASCAR sponsor offered a pit pass to every race the rest of the year to anyone who helped located the high-powered Chevrolet. “It’s insane,” said team owner John Cohen, who didn’t have a backup car to run in Atlanta. For a few hours, the team held out hope of the car being found in time for qualifying Friday, but it was forced to withdraw when it missed NASCAR’s mandatory inspection. The Sprint Cup race is Sunday. “It’s really bizarre,” Kvapil said. “You can handle maybe getting a flat tire, or getting caught up in a wreck, or a blown engine, something that actually happens on the race track. Or you don’t qualify, because you don’t have enough speed. But to not even get a chance ... that’s pretty disheartening.” It was an especially tough blow for Team XTREME, which doesn’t have the funding of major multi-car operations such as Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing. Despite a wreck in qualifying, the team managed to make the field for the seasonopening Daytona 500 with Reed Sorenson behind the wheel. He finished 32nd in the race. Sorenson switched to a different team for the Atlanta race, prompting Team XTREME to hire Kvapil, a one-time Sprint
Travis Kvapil’s No. 44 Chevrolet was stolen ahead of his NACAR race in Atlanta this weekend. The vehicle is valued at $250,000 and was inside a trailer attached to a Ford F-350. Cup regular who had only five starts in the top NASCAR series last season and was looking to make his first appearance of 2015. “I was excited to be part of a small team and trying to build up with them,” Kvapil said. “Personally, it’s a big setback.” A trailer with the red race car inside was hitched to a black 2004 Ford F-350 pickup truck parked outside a hotel in Morrow, Georgia, about 15 miles south of Atlanta and a short drive from the speedway, police said. Surveillance video showed the truck and trailer being driven out of the parking lot around 5:30 a.m., Morrow police Detective Sgt. Larry Oglesby said. The team, which had been working 18-hour days to get the car ready for Atlanta, was scheduled to leave for the track at 5:45 a.m., and a crewman had been outside a few minutes before the theft, smoking a cigarette. “I’ve been doing this
since 1979,” crew chief Peter Sospenzo said. “I’ve probably been to 1,200 hotels and 1,200 race tracks. Never once has this happened. It’s crazy. But there’s a first for everything, I guess.” The trailer is plain white with no markings. The person who stole it likely didn’t realize the race car was inside, and may have thought it was lawn equipment or something else he could easily sell, Oglesby said. “Hopefully they’ll open this one up and say, ’Oh no, this isn’t what we thought,’ and will drop it off at the nearest vacant lot or apartment complex or somewhere,” he said. Normally, the car would have been transported using the team’s hauler, an 18-wheel tractor trailer. But, with a winter storm moving through the Southeast this week, Cohen sent the hauler to Atlanta earlier in the week. Back at the shop, the team was still working on the car, a different version than the one
that ran under restrictorplate rules in Daytona. It was sent separately to Atlanta late Thursday after the storm cleared out, accompanied by Sospenzo and six other crew members. “My whole plan backfired,” said Cohen, who has been running a Sprint Cup car since 2012 and is one of the few African-Americans involved in NASCAR’s top series. In addition to the race car, the trailer also contained a spare engine valued at $100,000 and racing equipment valued at $17,500, according to a police report. Even so, Cohen vowed the team would return for next weekend’s race in Las Vegas. Kvapil said the thieves probably won’t be able to cash in on their surprising haul. “There’s really no use for it out in the general public,” he said. “I hope they realize that and will leave it somewhere where the police can find it.” The theft gave NASCAR star Jeff Gordon a new perspective. When his crew chief was complaining about the way the No. 24 car was running before practice, Gordon told him, “It would be a lot worse. Our car could’ve been stolen.” Then Gordon turned serous, saying: “I hate it for Travis and those guys. I hope they get to the bottom of it.”
knee. Forman described it as a quick outpatient procedure and said Rose was able to walk out of the hospital. “I talked to Derrick a couple times this week and obviously, he was really disappointed about being injured,” Forman said. “But I think he’s in a really good place and I think he’s ready to attack this rehab the next several weeks and I know he’s really anxious to get back out onto the floor with his teammates.” Rose played in only 10 games last season before having surgery for a similar injury in November 2013, cutting short his long-awaited comeback from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He had the meniscus reattached in that operation. Team physician Dr. Brian Cole, who operated on him last year and repaired the ACL in 2012, removed the damaged part this time. The procedure could lead to arthritis later in life, but Forman said it “should eliminate” the possibility of another tear, something the Bulls were told could happen after the operation last season. The Bulls are not sure when the latest tear occurred. Rose had an MRI on Tuesday after complaining of pain in his knee. “The way it’s been explained to me is there may be a number of players in the league that have meniscus tears right now and don’t even know it,” Forman said. “Until you start to have pain — that’s when the MRI is taken and that’s where the tear was found.” It sounds as if Rose will be on some sort of minutes restriction when he gets back on the court. A return in about four weeks would give him eight to 10 games to tune up for the playoffs. The six-week mark would put him back on the court around the start of the postseason. That’s assuming no setbacks and that Rose and his advisers are on board with the timeframe. Rose sat out the 2012-13 season even though he was cleared to return later in the season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the playoff opener the previous year. “He never got to a
With early fears Bulls PG Derrick Rose would miss the season, he is expected to be out 4-6 weeks after surgery on his meniscus. point where he was comfortable enough to be out there,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “You don’t know how a player’s body is going to respond. He did the best he could. He couldn’t quite get there.” The Bulls made it clear: They expect Rose to get there this year. “I think Derrick’s ready to attack it,” Forman said. “I do. Like I said, I think he’s anxious to attack this rehab and to get back on the floor with his teammates.” Rose, averaging 18.4 points and 5.0 assists, has been inconsistent this season. Yet the Bulls know they need him if they’re going to make a serious run in the playoffs. For now, they’re simply trying to keep pace with Cleveland in the Central Division. “For where we want to get to, we need Derrick back,” Joakim Noah said. “There’s no question about that.” Rose, the 2011 MVP, averaged 22.6 points over his final 14 games before the All-Star break. But he struggled in his three appearances after that, shooting 23.5 percent. He had eight points on 1for-13 shooting in Monday’s win over Milwaukee. “Right before the break, I thought he was finally getting into a really good rhythm, and so, I think he’s confident he’ll get back to that,” Thibodeau said before Chicago hosted Minnesota on Friday night. “It may take a little bit of time, and obviously, you know he won’t be playing the same amount of minutes when he does come back. “But I think he knows he can get there, and that’s the important thing.”
HERNANDEZ Continued from Page 1B he was killed, including the same minute that Lloyd was seen getting into a car outside his home about an hour before he died early on June 17, 2013. The records showed that Hernandez, at times using his lawyer’s phone, called Wallace repeatedly the night of June 17 after police had gone to his home and asked him to come to the station while they investigated Lloyd’s death. Ricardo Leal, who works for the phone company Sprint, testified for 3.5 hours Friday. Prosecutor Patrick Bomberg went through dozens of nondeleted text messages Hernandez exchanged with Wallace in the days surrounding the killing. Prosecutors have previously said Lloyd sent his last text to his sister at 3:23 a.m. and was killed within minutes, shot to death at an industrial park near Hernandez’s home in North Atteborough. Lloyd was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee. Wallace and a third man, Carlos Ortiz, are also charged and have pleaded not guilty. They will be tried separately. Prosecutors have said Hernandez orchestrated the killing. Bomberg on Friday showed the jury several texts from Hernandez to Wallace hours before the killing in which Hernandez pushed Wallace to come see him. One, at 9:02 p.m., said “Please make it back Cuz Im Def trying to step for a little.” Another, at 10:23 p.m., told him to “hurry up” with a couple of expletives.
File photo by Steven Senne | AP
Former Patriots player Aaron Hernandez is accused of the June 2013 killing of Odin Lloyd.
On June 11, Hernandez asked Wallace if he removed everything from a car, “clip and cds and everything?” The following day, he tells Wallace he needs “those keys” and things are “crazy.” “U gotta listen yo,” he writes. “I need them by 6 man please
head back now.” A few hours later, early on June 13, he writes: “I wanted to kill u but u kno I love u hit me tomorrow get some rest and tell the rest I love them.” Leal testified that several other text messages that appeared in records did not appear on the
phone. It’s not clear yet whether investigators were able to retrieve them. He also testified that records showed Wallace’s phone was used to call Lloyd five times between 1:22 a.m. and 2:32 a.m. on June 17. Video surveillance previously shown to the jury
showed Lloyd getting into the back seat of a sedan at 2:32 a.m. outside his home. Lloyd’s body was found the evening of June 17, and police soon tied him to Hernandez because Lloyd had a key in his pocket to a Chevrolet Suburban that Hernandez had rented. That night, police went to Hernandez’s home and asked him to go to the police station, which he did. Video from the police station parking lot previously shown to the jury showed Hernandez using his lawyer’s phone to make several calls. Phone records introduced Friday showed Hernandez repeatedly calling Wallace the night of June 17 and early the next morning, often using the lawyer’s phone. More than a dozen calls were made to Wallace that night between 9:47 p.m. and about 2:20 a.m. from Hernandez’s phone, his lawyer’s phone or the phone of his fiancee, Shayanna Jenkins. Phone records introduced Friday also showed several calls placed from Wallace’s phone to Oscar Hernandez, who has been tied to a gun found in Aaron Hernandez’s home and who pleaded guilty last month to lying to a grand jury, witness tampering, obstruction of justice and a gun conspiracy charge. The two Hernandezes are not related. After the killing, records showed Oscar Hernandez calling Wallace’s phone several times, Leal testified.
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Dear Readers: I make my own Heloise Trail Mix and save a lot of money, as well as use up the last of certain foods. Nuts and dried fruit are the base, then I add whatever may be in the kitchen. Some commercial mixes can be healthy, some not so healthy (lots of candy, other sweets or salt) and very expensive! So save money with my HELOISE STARTER TRAIL MIX recipe. The "basic" mix is lowsugar cereal, broken pretzels, popcorn and crackers. Then add the last of the bag of various chips and one or two crumbled-up cookies. NUTS, you ask? Buying nuts in bulk – almonds, peanuts, pecans and hazelnuts – will save a lot of money. DRIED FRUIT, such as cranberries, raisins, apricots, etc., adds a touch of sweetness. I cut these into smaller bite-size pieces to spread the flavor. Broken pieces of chocolate, candy or mints get added. Sometimes I crush
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up peppermint or butterscotch candies with a hammer and sprinkle the "dust" into the container. I scoop a cup or two into small plastic zip bags and am ready to hit the road. Cheaper, easy to carry and won’t spoil! – Heloise ROLLER SKATING Dear Heloise: Recently, I took my grandchildren to a roller-skating rink! It was so fun to show the kiddos something my husband and I used to go to almost every weekend. Your readers might consider this as a fairly inexpensive outing. – Joan in Waco, Texas Joan, talk about a "flashback" memory for me – a fun family outing! If someone doesn’t skate, they still can watch the hilarity. Check rinks for prices and specials – most are pretty reasonable. – Heloise
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