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RIO BRAVO
CRUDE OIL
Texas takes aim House members propose end to export ban By JIM MALEWITZ TEXAS TRIBUNE Photo by Jennifer Whitney | Texas Tribune
Francisco Peña asks the residents of an adult day care center if they feel comfortable drinking the tap water.
Plan for clean water crashes Ineptitude and alleged fraud destroy hopes for residents
With a glut of crude oil filling up pipelines and storage tanks and pushing down U.S. oil prices, Texas lawmakers are calling on Washington to lift its 40year-old ban on crude exports. “Congress should update our national trade policy to benefit Texas producers and consumers,” state Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, said Monday at a joint hearing of the House Energy Resources Committee, which he chairs, and the chamber’s International Trade and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee. More than 100 Texas
American companies may export refined petroleum products such as gasoline or diesel, but most crude here is stuck at home.
House members have signed on to a proposed resolution that calls the ban a “relic from an era of scarcity and flawed price control policies” that should be lifted. All three Texas railroad commissioners voiced support for the legislation, saying that finding more buyers for U.S. crude would prompt drilling, pouring
more cash into the state treasury. “If we want to sustain the ‘Texas miracle’ and lead the way to energy security, we have to compete in the international market,” Commissioner David Porter told lawmakers. American companies may export refined petroleum products such as gaso-
line or diesel, but most crude here is stuck at home. That’s because of a policy dating back to the mid-1970s. The U.S. produced far less oil then, and the 1973 Arab oil embargo caused global oil prices to skyrocket. In 1975, President Gerald Ford signed the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which banned crude oil exports with few exceptions – an effort to keep oil here and protect against price shocks. Since then, the U.S. — led by Texas — has become the world’s top oil producer, largely due to technological advances like hydraulic fracturing allowing oper-
See EXPORT PAGE 11A
By NEENA SATIJA AND ALEXA URA
ZAPATA COUNTY FAIR
TEXAS TRIBUNE
RIO BRAVO — It cost $12 million, and was expected to change the lives of hundreds of poor, mostly Hispanic families living in two hard-luck border towns. The Rio Bravo Water Treatment Plant opened in 2006 as a state-of-the-art technological wonder, designed to distill 2.4 million gallons of water per day — clean, safe, drinkable water. But nearly a decade later, the 8,000 residents of Rio Bravo and neighboring El Cenizo mostly still buy their drinking and cooking water from brightly colored kiosks around town. Elderly patrons at the senior care center run by Rio Bravo’s mayor drink bottled water and use the caps as lotería markers. “Who here would be willing to drink some tap water?” Dr. Francisco Peña asked the folks at the care center last fall, before he was elected mayor. “Who is willing to drink water that comes from your public water treatment plant?” From a crowd of 30 people, there was silence. The Rio Bravo plant has been fraught with problems since it opened. The sophisticated system often doesn’t work, or operators don’t know how to work it. State inspectors have repeatedly cited the plant for pumping foul water out to its customers. Eight current and former employees have been indicted for falsifying water quality records sent to the state. And the locals still cannot trust what comes out of their faucets. “We had to start using filtered water because we didn’t want to lose clients,” says Fausta Montoya, an employee at the Los Pasteles Bakery in Rio Bravo, which spends more than $150 a month on bottled water at Family Dollar. Notorious developer Cecil McDonald charged as little as $50 down for property in Rio Bravo and El Cenizo in the 1980s. When his real estate investment firm went bankrupt, the two colonias were
TRAIL RIDE LUNCHEON
Photo by Victor Strife | The Zapata Times
Laura Moncivais, Vanessa Cantu, Christina Gonzalez, Carissa Gonzalez, Eric Gonzalez, and Andrew Sanchez at the Zapata County Fairgrounds Pavilion during the ZCF Trail Ride Luncheon.
See WATER PAGE 11A
LAREDO POLICE
Man shoots girls, 6 and 16, dies in shootout By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Two girls were shot and killed by a man Monday afternoon in a hostage situation in West Central Laredo, police said. The man, in his 60s, later died in a shootout with LPD. Police said the two girls, ages 6 and 16, were shot inside a residence in the 1800 block of Convent Avenue, located about a block south of Martin High. The male suspect then went outside the home brandishing a revolver and leading to a deadly encounter with police, LPD said. Police did not release the names of the man and two girls, pending the notification of next of kin. The relationship between the suspect and the girls was not immediately clear as of late Monday.At 3:30 p.m., officers responded to a report of shots fired at a
Photo by Danny Zaragoza | The Zapata Times
Laredo Police and SWAT team members group outside of a house in the 1800 block of Convent Avenue in Laredo on Monday afternoon after an armed hostage situation ended with three people dead.
home on Convent. Initial reports indicated that a man had taken people hostage, according to LPD
Chief Ray Garner. Investigator Joe E. Baeza, LPD spokesman, said the suspect went
outside the home and opened fire on the officers who had first arrived at the scene. On a second oc-
casion, he shot at a SWAT armored vehicle. No injuries were reported. At about 5 p.m., the suspect had his third and final encounter with police. “He came out on the porch brandishing a revolver and (it) looks like he did point it toward our officers and our officers returned fire. He’s deceased,” Garner said in a news conference moments after the shootout. “At this time, we don’t know why this went down like it did. One hostage rescued Garner added that one hostage was rescued from the home. Though the hostage, a man believed to be in his 80s, was not injured, he was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure. LPD detectives took over the case.
See LAREDO PAGE 11A
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Laredo Association of Human Resource Management Meeting. 12 p.m. Embassy Suites Hotel. Presenters will be the Rogelio Trevino, executive director for the Workforce Solutions of South Texas, and Andrea De La Garza, manager of the Career Center Operations division. Topics include skills development, workforce makeup and current labor market information. Register online at LAHRM.org and feel free to register and invite a co-worker, vendor, friend. Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) for high school students. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. UTHSC Regional Campus Laredo. Receive training, materials and certification. Call AHEC at 712-0037. Greens of Guadalupe are accepting donations today from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. for a rummage sale in the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church hall, 1700 San Francisco Avenue. Clothing, furniture, jewelry, and more accepted. Contact Birdie at 286-7866.
Today is Wednesday, March 11, the 70th day of 2015. There are 295 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On March 11, 1865, during the Civil War, Union forces under General William T. Sherman occupied Fayetteville, North Carolina. On this date: In 1861, the Constitution of the Confederate States of America was adopted by the Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1942, as Japanese forces continued to advance in the Pacific during World War II, Gen. Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines for Australia. (MacArthur, who subsequently vowed, “I shall return,” kept that promise more than 21/2 years later.) In 1977, more than 130 hostages held in Washington D.C. by Hanafi Muslims were freed after ambassadors from three Islamic nations joined the negotiations. In 1993, Janet Reno was unanimously confirmed by the Senate to be attorney general. In 2004, ten bombs exploded in quick succession across the commuter rail network in Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people in an attack linked to al-Qaidainspired militants. In 2011, a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami struck Japan’s northeastern coast, killing nearly 20,000 people and severely damaging the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. In 2012, sixteen Afghan villagers — mostly women and children — were shot dead as they slept by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Ten years ago: A judge, court reporter and sheriff ’s deputy were shot to death at an Atlanta courthouse; Brian Nichols, who killed them as well as a federal agent, surrendered a day later at the apartment of Ashley Smith, a woman he’d taken hostage. (Nichols was later convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.) Five years ago: A federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld the use of the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance and “In God We Trust” on U.S. currency. One year ago: In an extraordinary public accusation, the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., declared the CIA had interfered with and then tried to intimidate a congressional investigation into the agency’s possible use of torture in terror probes during the Bush administration. Today’s Birthdays: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is 84. ABC News correspondent Sam Donaldson is 81. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is 79. Actress Tricia O’Neil is 70. Singer Bobby McFerrin is 65. Movie director Jerry Zucker is 65. Actress Susan Richardson is 63. Singer Cheryl Lynn is 58. Actor-director Peter Berg is 53. Actress Alex Kingston is 52. Actor John Barrowman is 48. Singer Lisa Loeb is 47. Actor Terrence Howard is 46. Actor Johnny Knoxville is 44. Actor Anton Yelchin is 26. Thought for Today: “Perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one’s life.” — Kate Chopin, American writer (1851-1904).
FRIDAY, MARCH 13 Cesar Chavez Memorial Alliance Art Competition Exhibit, 6 p.m. Laredo Civic Center meeting rooms. $5 for students and $10 for adults. $500 in cash prizes for art competition winners. Manuel Bocanegra at 775-7027 or Anna Marie at 508-9255. Greens of Guadalupe Rummage Sale from 8 a.m. till 1 p.m. at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church Hall, 1700 San Francisco. Call Birdie at 286-7866.
SATURDAY, MARCH 14 8th Anniversary of the Guadalupe Greens Rummage Sale from 7 a.m. till 1 p.m. at the Virgin of Guadalupe Church Hall, 1700 San Francisco Ave. Call Birdie at 286-7866. Plate Sale to fund 2 year old’s eye surgery. Advance Auto Parts, 3019 San Bernardo. Chicken and rice plate for $5. Greens of Guadalupe Rummage Sale from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church hall, 1700 San Francisco Avenue. Call Birdie at 286-7866.
Photo by Dave McDermand/College Station Eagle | AP file
In this Feb. 9 file photo, newly-named president of Texas A&M University Michael Young answers questions during a news conference held in Rudder Tower on the A&M campus in College Station, Texas. Young, is in line to receive $1 million annually and a signing bonus up to $800,000, the Eagle newspaper reported Tuesday on the proposed contract.
New A&M president ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLLEGE STATION — Michael Young will earn more than twice as much as his predecessor when he takes over as the president of Texas A&M University in College Station. The Bryan-College Station Eagle reports that the System Board of Regents voted Monday, March 9 to hire Young and pay him $1 million annually as part of his fiveyear contract. The new president will receive a yearly $200,000 housing allowance and an $800,000 signing bonus. Young will also be eligible to receive up to four $100,000 performance bonuses at the discretion of the school’s chancellor, John Sharp. Young completed his three-year tenure
as president of the University of Washington last week, where he was paid $853,000 annually. Chancellor Sharp gave hints about Young’s salary when he said at a February 3, 2015 regents meeting that “his salary will not compare to the last president’s salary because this president does not compare to the last president.” After Monday’s meeting, Regent Chairman Phil Adams said the contract for the president-to-be was appropriate because as he described Young as “one of the great sitting presidents in all of the country.” “I know it’s a lot more than we’ve paid a president, but he will be outstanding on the job and well worth it. ... We’ve got somebody that’s at the very top of the game,” Adams said.
SUNDAY, MARCH 15 Greens of Guadalupe Rummage Sale from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church hall, 1700 San Francisco Avenue. Call Birdie at 286-7866.
TUESDAY, MARCH 17 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).
FRIDAY, MARCH 20 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Extreme Planets, 6 p.m. Live Star Presentation, 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). The Pink Cups , a non profit group for breast cancer patients, invite you to our Boot Scootin’ II Country Western Gala at the Laredo Center for the Arts. 7 PM til midnight. There will be a live and silent auction with great items, fun games and live music to be performed by the Soda Creek Bank from San Antonio. For tickets and sponsorships call Linda Bruni at 3374556
SATURDAY, MARCH 21 The 12th Annual Cesar Chavez March for Justice. 8:30 a.m assembly time. March begins at 10 a.m. at St. Peters Plaza. Ends at San Agustin Plaza. Call Manuel Bocanegra at 775-7027 or Anna Marie at 508-9255.
TUESDAY, MARCH 24 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).
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25 “Unsettled/Desasosiego: Children in a World of Gangs” at TAMIU Student Center Ballroom, 5201 University Blvd. from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Presentation on the history behind Central America’s insecurity, resulting in undocumented Central American children and youth seeking entry into the U.S.
Drug cartel managers get long prison sentences BROWNSVILLE — A federal judge in Brownsville has sentenced two former managers in Mexico’s Gulf cartel to long prison sentences for their roles in drug and weapons smuggling. Jose Luis Zuniga Hernandez drew a 50-year prison sentence Tuesday for conspiring to import cocaine and marijuana between 2002 and 2013. His brother, Armando Arizmendi Hermandez, was sentenced to 35 years in prison for his guilty plea to the same charge.
Businessman loses millions in fraud scam SAN ANTONIO — Federal agents have arrested a San Antonio-area man who authorities say defrauded a Mexican businessman out of millions of dollars. A federal complaint unsealed Tuesday charged 53-yearold Armando Jesus Hernandez Leal with one wire fraud count.
State lawmakers discuss Man charged in wreck that series of pre-K proposals killed woman, 2 sons AUSTIN — State lawmakers are discussing six bills to bolster pre-kindergarten programs, including a funding plan for school districts that meet early education benchmarks. The House Public Education Committee is also mulling Tuesday other proposals incentivizing school districts to offer innovative approaches, including fullday programs.
Big Spring under boil water notice BIG SPRING — Nearly 30,000 West Texas residents have been told to boil their drinking water due to problems with a pump. Officials in Big Spring on Tuesday announced the mandatory boil water order. Authorities blame mechanical and operational failure at the Big Spring water treatment plant. A pump problem was discovered Monday and fixed.
FORT WORTH — Police say a North Texas man’s blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit for driving in a wrong-way crash that killed a woman and her two sons. The wreck killed Maranda Abshire, 2-year-old Crus Dominguez and 5-year-old Christopher Dominguez. Another child in her vehicle was injured, but survived.
26 immigrants rescued from refrigerated trailer FALFURRIAS — Officers have rescued three dozen smuggled immigrants who were crowded into a refrigerated truck trailer in South Texas. The Border Patrol on Tuesday announced the rescue of the immigrants during a search. Border Patrol agents opened the trailer and found the immigrants, who were shivering due to the low temperature. All declined medical attention. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION Jury finds Pharrell, Thicke copied for ‘Blurred Lines’ LOS ANGELES — A jury awarded Marvin Gaye’s children nearly $7.4 million Tuesday after determining singers Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams copied their father’s music to create “Blurred Lines,” the biggest hit song of 2013. Gaye’s daughter Nona Gaye wept as the verdict was read and was hugged by her attorney. “Right now, I feel free,” she said outside court. “Free from ... Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke’s chains and what they tried to keep on us and the lies that were told.”
ACLU: Snowden proved NSA spying causes harm BALTIMORE — The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups sued the National Security Agency and the Justice Department on Tuesday, chal-
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Marvin Gaye’s daughter, Nona Gaye talks to the media after a jury awarded the singer’s children nearly $7.4 million after determining singers Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams copied their father’s music to create "Blurred Lines," Tuesday. lenging the government’s practice of collecting personal information from vast amounts of data harvested directly from the Internet’s infrastructure. The suit filed in federal court in Maryland accuses the NSA of scooping up virtually everything
sent via the Internet between Americans and people outside the United States, and then scouring it to identify and monitor foreign intelligence targets. A similar challenge was turned away by the U.S. Supreme Court. — 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
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015
Gang enforcer to be killed By MICHAEL GRACZYK ASSOCIATED PRESS
HUNTSVILLE — A gang enforcer convicted of beating and strangling a San Antonio woman who refused to pay a Mexican Mafia-imposed tax on her illegal drug sales is set to be executed this week. The lethal injection of Manuel Vasquez on Wednesday evening would leave prison officials in the nation’s most active death penalty state with enough pentobarbital to carry out only one more execution until they are able to obtain a new supply. At least six executions are scheduled in the coming weeks in Texas, where prison officials — like in other death penalty states — have struggled to find providers for drugs for executions. Vasquez, 46, had no appeals in the courts Tuesday and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected a clemency petition filed on his behalf in a 7-0 vote. Evidence at Vasquez’s 1999 capital murder trial showed he and two other men were carrying out orders to kill 51-year-old Juanita Ybarra for ignoring the Mexican Mafia’s 10 percent street tax on drugs — known as a “dime.” After a night of drinking and drugs at a run-down San Antonio motel, Vasquez and two companions barged into the nearby room of Ybarra and her boyfriend, Moses Bazan, early on March 19, 1998, according to evidence presented at his trial. Bazan was knocked out in an ensuing struggle but said he saw Ybarra being beaten.
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
Brownsville judge has fair reputation By JULIA PRESTON NEW YORK TIMES
BROWNSVILLE — From his bench in a federal courthouse barely a mile from the Rio Grande, Judge Andrew S. Hanen looked over a procession of smalltime drug dealers and thieves, each representing a lapse of border enforcement. In a familiar routine for the judge, he handed out sentences at a hearing last week to convicted criminals who had been deported to Mexico and then sneaked back into the United States. For returning illegally, he sent them to prison for a year or so, and most likely to another deportation. Hanen warned them that their time behind bars would be even longer if they ever came back again. "I want to be sure you
understand that," he said, looking each man in the eye. Hanen is now in the middle of a much bigger legal fight, after his Feb. 16 ruling that temporarily halted President Barack Obama’s executive actions to shield millions of unauthorized immigrants from deportation. Among officials from the 26 states bringing the lawsuit, the decision was hailed as a triumph of law over a reckless president. Obama said he was confident that the administration would eventually prevail. Hanen came to the U.S. District Court here almost 13 years ago from a straitlaced law practice in Houston. His 123-page injunction against the executive actions was informed by a starkly negative view of the Obama administration’s border security efforts. He
began to express that perspective after seeing the traffic through his courtroom in this borderland city, where migrants illegally cross every day despite a buildup of fences and agents, while bloody feuds rage among Mexican drug cartels just across the river. "The court finds that the government’s failure to secure the border has exacerbated illegal immigration into this country," Hanen said in the February ruling. The states’ coffers were "being drained by the constant influx of illegal immigrants," he wrote. Advocates for immigrants who want to see the president’s initiatives go forward have portrayed Hanen, 61, as a right-wing crank. But in Texas he is known as a conservative but fair-minded jurist with keen analytical intelligence - and a jovial sense of hu-
mor, even when he is in black robes. "He is the complete package," said David Kent, a lawyer in Dallas who was with Hanen in Baylor University’s law school class of 1978; Hanen graduated first in the class. "Absolutely as sharp as could be," said Kent, who also clerked at the Texas Supreme Court with him, "and on the personal side so funny, so goodhearted." The Obama administration is seeking an emergency stay of Hanen’s injunction. The judge Monday declined to rule yet on that request, and administration officials said they would probably move their motion to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans this week. Hanen still has to rule on the larger constitutional questions in the states’ challenge. He declined to be interviewed for
this article. Hanen’s decisions gained new importance to Republicans in Congress who are determined to stop the president’s actions, after they failed last week to eliminate funding for the initiatives in the Homeland Security spending bill. Republicans are now looking to the courts to keep Obama’s programs from taking effect. Hanen is one of the few judges ever to be nominated twice to the same court by two presidents: by the President George H.W. Bush in 1992, a nomination never voted on by the Senate, and by President George W. Bush in 2002. During his years in Brownsville, Hanen has sent a corrupt judge to prison and slogged through dozens of lawsuits over the federal government’s seizure of land to build border fences.
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015
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COMMENTARY
OTHER VIEWS
Freeing elephants is not enough By NATALIE PROSIN THE WASHINGTON POST
The costumes are coming off, the shackles are being unlocked, and the boxcars are opening. After more than 130 years, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus will retire its elephants, sending them to a conservation center in Florida. As a child, my favorite movie was Disney’s "Dumbo." There is a heartwrenching scene where Dumbo is being cradled by his mother, who is chained inside a boxcar. That indelible scene stuck with me, and now as an animal rights advocate, I am overjoyed by this recent news. There is a deep history of use and exploitation of elephants in circuses. In 1882, P.T. Barnum, a showman and businessman, purchased Jumbo, a 12foot-tall African elephant, from a London zoo and shipped him across the Atlantic to New York to be featured in the Barnum and Bailey Circus, which later merged with Ringling Bros. Circus. Over the years, Ringling amassed a menagerie of elephants — they now own 53 — and forced them to perform tricks such as balancing on their hind legs with their front legs perched on top of one another, forming a sort of elephant conga line, all for paying customers. When they are not performing, they are chained and shipped around the country in boxcars. Elephants are some of the most cognitively complex and social nonhuman animals that we know of: they are adept tool users, self-aware, and cooperative problem-solvers. In the wild, elephants walk as many as 40 miles each day. They form deep social bonds and live in cohesive family groups of sometimes upward of 100 members. Elephants frequently display empathy; for instance, they have been observed feeding others who are unable to use their own trunks to eat. They can communicate over long distances by producing vibrations that are inaudible to humans. Elephants possess an understanding of death and have been observed engaging in mourning behavior. A circus environment cannot replicate the rich array of experiences and social life that the wild affords them. After years of mounting pressure, Ringling has succumbed to public protest. Feld Entertainment, Ringling’s parent company, said they are "adapting" to the changing climate and "mood shift" among their customers. While this is a major victory for activists as well as consumers who are rightly opposed to the use of elephants in circuses,
the fact that Ringling was able to exploit elephants for this long is a perfect example of how our legal system has failed nonhuman animals. The reason Ringling and other circuses have been able to exploit elephants is that the law views elephants, and every nonhuman animal on earth, as property. The law, at its foundation, classifies all nonhuman animals as commodities who can be bought and sold and treated in almost any way imaginable. Our animal protection laws are notoriously weak and have many exemptions. Unless the law starts recognizing these extraordinary animals as something other than objects, they will forever be at the mercy of their "owners" to decide to do the right thing. It’s a risk, and a risk that isn’t paying off for most animals. That’s why something else is needed — a solution that addresses the core problem, that nonhuman animals are classified as property. A solution that won’t leave animals at the mercy of companies to realize (or not) that keeping such extraordinary animals in captivity is inexcusable. A solution that takes into account the kind of beings that elephants and other animals are. The Nonhuman Rights Project has been strategizing for years to come up with a solution, and we have. In 2013, we filed our first lawsuits in which we argue that certain nonhuman animals should no longer be classified as "legal things" but instead "legal persons" who have the capacity for basic fundamental rights. Our ongoing lawsuits were filed on behalf of four chimpanzees in New York. We are operating under the common law, rather than statutory law. The common law is inherently flexible, and common law judges are supposed to take into account and align the law to changing public morality and scientific understanding. Just as Feld is "adapting," my colleagues and I at the Nonhuman Rights Project believe the common law must adapt to the new scientific evidence and changing attitudes about certain nonhuman animals. As our chimpanzee cases make their way through the New York courts, we are focusing our next lawsuit on captive elephants. We will ask a court to recognize their legal right to bodily liberty so that they can be transferred to a sanctuary where they can — as a matter of justice — live the kind of life that is as close as possible to what they would experience in the wild.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY The Zapata Times does not publish anonymous letters. To be published, letters must include the writer’s first and last names as well as a phone number to verify identity. The phone number IS NOT published; it is used solely to verify identity and to clarify content, if necessary. Identity of the letter writer must be verified before publication. We want to assure our
readers that a letter is written by the person who signs the letter. The Zapata Times does not allow the use of pseudonyms. Letters are edited for style, grammar, length and civility. No name-calling or gratuitous abuse is allowed. Via e-mail, send letters to editorial@lmtonline.com or mail them to Letters to the Editor, 111 Esperanza Drive, Laredo, TX 78041.
COLUMN
Monk loved to hunt quail My personal experience stories about hunting can be counted on one hand with a digit or two left over. Part of that is due to the fact that, as a boy growing up, I was never exposed to game hunting of any kind since my dad was not a hunter. However, he did have several friends who hunted and fished. While Dad never hunted that I knew of and only fished by trotline with a group of friends whose “catches” consisted equally of giant catfish and some clear liquid in a Mason fruit jar, some of his pals did hunt and, on occasion, the Webb brothers and Mom got to share in the largesse of Dad’s outdoor cohorts. Mom might argue the “sharing credit” part since her contribution in any gathering to enjoy the hunting production involved cooking the meal. Dad’s hunter friends were usually guys who in some way or another did jobs for him and had his permission to hunt and fish on land that he owned or leased for raising cattle, his principal livelihood all of his too-short 57 years. Monk Edwards was one
such friend. He was a bachelor and all-around handy man, mostly carpentry. He was a huge and raw-boned with hands that could palm a watermelon. I was never at the shanty that Monk called home, and I suspect Mother would’ve condemned it on sight and suggested it and all its contents be burned. He’d never married and, as far as anyone knew, never had a relationship with a woman except for the “raisin’” he got from his mother. His social graces were almost non-existent, although he tried his best to be courtly and a gentleman around women, which was a rare occurrence. And, Monk (like the rest of us) thought Mom hung the moon. Mother accepted Dad’s friends and made some special consideration for the rough-hewn Monk, who just seemed like a big ol’ overgrown boy who appeared to have been raised
by a hermit deep in the post oak woods of East Central Texas. However, Mother said Monk had a “good heart.” Among the creatures that Monk hunted were quail. He hunted every day of the season and he was very good at it. Monk wisely had one modern convenience in his house that was quite useful in storing and preserving some of his quarry — a large freezer. He had a season’s worth of quail frozen, at least a gross. Since Monk and Dad hung out together (think “Mason fruit jar”), Dad asked Mom if she’d consider “cooking up” all of those quail and have Monk join us for that meal. Of course, Mom agreed. She provided a batter for frying the birds, baked homemade biscuits plus some of her famous (all her cooking was tabbed that way by any who ate it) cream gravy. Of course, she knew her diners (even Monk) and their capacities and, if memory serves, there were about three pans of biscuits (three dozen). I feel sure Monk polished off a dozen himself
as he managed to munch enough quail for an infantry squad, despite having something less than a mouthful of teeth. Mother set him up with one end of the dining table all to himself (his reputation preceded him), so he’d have plenty of elbow room. Monk proceeded to plunk his elbows down, bend so his face was about 6-8 inches from his plate and dived right into the quail, biscuits, gravy and iced tea. “Lawd-a-mercy, Miss Ruth,” Monk muttered between mouthfuls, “you ARE the best cook in Freestone County just like everbody sez.” I managed to gobble up seven or eight of the quail myself, several biscuits and a pint or two of that gravy. It wasn’t a time to be bashful nor to have polite dinner table talk. It was every man for himself because you knew from the get-go that Monk would outdistance the pack. Willis Webb is a retired community newspaper editor-publisher of more than 50 years experience. He can be reached by email at wwebb1937@att.net.
EDITORIAL
Hillary hasn’t learned her lesson THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
During a 2007 appearance at the "Take Back America" conference hosted each year by the progressive advocacy group Campaign for America’s Future, Hillary Clinton told her audience that, under President George W. Bush, the "Constitution is being shredded." As prima facie evidence, she cited "the secret White House email accounts." Eight years later, the once and presumptive fu-
ture Democratic presidential candidate no longer thinks it an affront to the Constitution for a public official to have a secret email account, which she had during the four years she served as Barack Obama’s secretary of state. Mrs. Clinton managed to keep her stealth email account hush-hush until the New York Times broke the story Tuesday. And after going silent for the ensuring 24-hour news cycle, she finally responded on Twitter
near midnight Wednesday at her home in New York. "I want the public to see my email," Mrs. Clinton tweeted. "I asked State to release them. They said they will review them for release as soon as possible." Well, if she is as transparent as her tweet suggested, if she really wanted the public to see her emails, she could have asked the State Department to release them when she left in 2013. Or even last August, when the White House and
State Department learned of her secret email account — after it was first uncovered by the House select committee on Benghazi. What the public learned last week is that the White House and "State" were complicit in Mrs. Clinton’s concealment of her secret email account, which according to ABC News, was a violation of State Department rules. All she accomplished with her lack of transparency was to invite investigation.
CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
Politics
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
Clinton tries to quell email controversy By AMY CHOZICK AND ALAN RAPPEPORT NEW YORK TIMES
Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday defended her exclusive use of a private email address during her time as secretary of state, saying that she did so as a matter of "convenience," to make life simpler by using one device and one email account. "I thought using one device would be simpler; obviously, it hasn’t worked out that way," she said in her first public comments since the issue emerged last week. She said that most of her emails were work-related, went to government employees and were captured on government servers. Clinton said that the State Department would make public all of her work-related emails, which amount to about 30,000 messages. However, she said that her personal email - about issues such as her daughter’s wedding and the death of her mother - would remain private. "I feel that I have taken unprecedented steps to provide these public emails; they will be in the public domain," she said. Clinton spoke for about 20 minutes during a news conference, delivering a statement on women’s issues and denouncing moves by Republican lawmakers to undermine efforts for a nuclear agreement with Iran, before turning to the controversy over her emails. Expressing a mix of regret and defensiveness over the matter, Clinton emphasized that she broke no laws. "I fully complied with every rule," she said, adding that no classified material had been sent on her email. However, she remained steadfast that she would not turn over personal emails and said that those messages in fact had been deleted. "They were about personal and private matters
Photo by Todd Heisler | New York Times
Hillary Rodham Clinton discusses her use of a private email address during her time as secretary of state, at the United Nations in New York, Tuesday. Clinton said the system was adopted as a matter of convenience so that she could use one device instead of two, and also fielded political questions from reporters — something she had not done since 2008. that I believed were in the scope of my personal privacy and particularly that of other people," she said. "They had nothing to do with work. I didn’t see a need to keep them." The State Department said Tuesday that it would publish online the full set of emails provided by Clinton from her time as secretary of state. "We will review the entire 55,000-page set and release in one batch at the end of that review to ensure that standards are consistently applied throughout the entire 55,000 pages," said Jen Psaki, the State Department
spokeswoman. "We said we expect the review to take several months; obviously that hasn’t changed." A smaller set, about 300 emails that had been provided to the select House committee on Benghazi, will be released earlier to the public. The State Department also said it would give any reasons for redactions, in accordance with Freedom of Information Act guidelines. After a week of criticism and questions about the email account, she fielded political questions from reporters, something she had not done since her 2008
presidential campaign. Clinton’s time as secretary of state provided her a respite from the campaign press corps, which she felt had turned on her during the 2008 Democratic presidential primary. But as she shapes her 2016 campaign, Clinton must wade back into politics, prompted not by her own careful timing but forced by a controversy over whether she intentionally used a private email account to skirt federal records requests for State Department correspondence. In a Twitter message last week, Clinton said she wanted the State Depart-
ment to release about 50,000 pages of emails. "I want the public to see my email," she wrote. "I asked State to release them. They said they will review them for release as soon as possible." But the brief response was not enough to squelch lingering questions about whether her lack of an official email address was intended to shield her correspondence from federal records requests by political opponents, journalists and academics. The news conference, which took place after she delivered a keynote address on women’s issues at the United Nations, comes dur-
ing a busy week for Clinton. She is participating in back-to-back events in New York that are intended to focus on her activism on women’s issues, which is expected to be a central theme of her 2016 campaign. Early Tuesday, Clinton’s potential opponents had already tried to capitalize on the opportunity to push her off message. Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida sent an email to reporters reminding them of his disclosure of personal emails and provided links to news articles criticizing Clinton for a lack of transparency.
PÁGINA 6A
Zfrontera
Ribereña en Breve VENTA DE BOLETOS El Boys and Girls Club of Zapata estará vendiendo boletos para entrar a la Feria del Condado de Zapata el día de hoy y mañana, jueves 12 de marzo, a un costo de 18 dólares. Los boletos son para el jueves 12 de marzo, de 5 p.m. a 10 p.m., tiempo durante el cual se entregarán brazaletes para subir a todos los juegos a un solo precio. Podrá comprar sus boletos puede acudir a las oficinas del club de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m. Para más información puede llamar al (956) 765-3892.
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. El viernes 13 se presentarán Dustin Lynch Band, La Leyenda, Grupo Siggno, entre otros. El sábado se presentarán Grupo Palomo, Los Palominos, Los Traileros Del Norte, entre otros grupos.
DESFILE Se invita a todos los negocios, iglesias, clubes, escuelas, organizaciones y oficiales electos a participar en el Zapata County Fair Parade 2015, que se celebrará el 14 de marzo. Se entregarán trofeos a las mejores flotas de las diferentes categorías. El desfile está programado para comenzar a las 9 a.m., sin embargo los participantes deben presentarse antes de las 8:30 a.m. El desfile comenzará en 3rd Ave., y continuará hacia el norte sobre U.S. Hwy 83, para después tomar hacia la izquierda en 23rd St. y terminar en los jardines de la feria. Para inscribirse debe presentar su solicitud en las oficinas de la Cámara de Comercio del Condado de Zapata ubicadas en 601 N. U.S. Hwy 83 o enviarlas por correo electrónico a cbalderas@zapatachamber.com. Puede descargar la solicitud en www.zapatacountyfair.com.
MIÉRCOLES 11 DE MARZO DE 2015
LAREDO
Evento trágico POR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Un hombre y dos niñas murieron después de una situación de rehenes reportada el lunes por la tarde, aproximadamente a una cuadra al sur de Martin High School, de acuerdo con el Departamento de Policía de Laredo (LPD, por sus siglas en inglés). Reportes iniciales señalaron que el sospechoso de ser el tirador disparó a dos niñas, de 6 y 16 años de edad, dentro de una residencia en la cuadra 1800 de avenida Convent. El sospechoso, un hombre de alrededor de 60 años, entonces salió de la residencia blandiendo un revolver, lo que lo llevó a un encuentro con la policía, dijeron las autoridades. La policía no reveló los nombres de las tres personas que murieron, a la espera de notificar a sus familiares. Hasta el momento la relación entre el sospechoso y las niñas es incierta, pero la policía dijo que era inexistente, de acuerdo con reportes preliminares. Habría más información disponible el día de hoy o mañana, de acuerdo con la policía. A las 3:30 p.m. del lunes, oficiales respondieron a una llamada
Foto por Danny Zaragoza | Laredo Morning Times
Oficiales del alguacil, la Policía de Laredo e integrantes del equipo SWAT, agrupados afuera de una casa en la cuadra 1800 de avenida Convent el lunes por la tarde, después de manejar una situación de rehenes con un hombre armado, en la cuadra 1800 de avenida Convent. por detonación de arma de fuego en una casa sobre Convent. Reportes iniciales indicaron que un hombre tomó a personas como rehenes, de acuerdo con Ray Garner, Jefe del Departamento de Policía. El investigador Joe E. Baeza, portavoz del LPD, dijo que el sospechoso salió de la casa y abrió fuego a los primeros oficiales que llegaron a la escena. En una segunda ocasión, el sospechoso disparó a un vehículo blindado de SWAT que llegó al lugar. No se reportaron agentes heridos. Alrededor de las 5 p.m., tuvo lu-
gar el tercer y último encuentro en una balacera entre él y elementos del orden, causando que las personas en el área y los elementos de los medios de comunicación esquivaran el incidente y se pusieran encubierto. “Salió hacia el porche blandiendo un revolver y pareció que apuntó a nuestros oficiales y nuestros oficiales regresaron el fuego. Falleció”, dijo Garner en una conferencia de prensa momentos después del tiroteo. “En este momento, no sabemos porque sucedió de la manera en qué ocurrió”.
ZAPATA
MATAMOROS, MÉXICO
FIESTAS DEL CONDADO
Atacan alcaldesa, hay cuatro arrestos ASSOCIATED PRESS
Foto de cortesía | Feria del Condado de Zapata
FERIA DE EMPLEO El jueves tendrá lugar la tercera edición de la Feria Nacional del Empleo Nuevo Laredo 2015. “Las Ferias y Jornadas del Empleo se han consolidado como una herramienta eficaz para para brindar a los tamaulipecos oportunidades de desarrollo económico, laboral y personal”, dijo Mónica González García, titular de la Secretaria de Desarrollo Económico y Turismo (SEDET). La feria contará con aproximadamente 80 empresas, que ofertarán espacios de trabajo en los niveles de operativo, técnico y profesionales. “En el mes de marzo es la segunda Feria del Empleo de carácter nacional en Tamaulipas y las próximas se realizarán en los municipios de Matamoros y Victoria”, dijo González García. Para más información puede escribir al gobiernodenuevolaredo@gmail.com.
JUNTA DE COMISIONADOS El lunes 23 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.
JUNTA DE COMISIONADOS El lunes 13 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.
Garner, sin embargo, compartió algunas buenas noticias. “Logramos rescatar a un rehén de la casa”, dijo, añadiendo que se creía que el hombre que fue rescatado tenía alrededor de 80 años. A pesar de que resultó ileso, fue trasladado a un hospital como medida de precaución. Detectives tomaron la escena. “Estamos asignando investigadores a cargo en el caso, esta tragedia confirma ciertas variaciones en la investigación”, dijo Baeza. Videos publicados en Facebook muestran a paramédicos corriendo para ayudar a dos personas, una de ellas una menor. “Todo ocurrió muy rápido. Al principio nuestros paramédicos administraron soporte vital intentando dar resucitación cardiopulmonar para tratar de que su corazón volviera a latir… Pero no tuvieron respuesta”, dijo el Jefe del Departamento de Bomberos, Steve Landin. “No hubo cambio en sus condiciones. En el hospital hicieron lo que pudieron. Tenían múltiples heridas de bala en diferentes partes del cuerpo”. Las dos niñas fueron declaradas muertas en el Laredo Medical Center
Superior: 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. Entre los artistas invitados estarán Dustin Lynch Band, La Leyenda, Grupo Siggno, Grupo Palomo, Los Palominos, Los Traileros Del Norte, entre otros grupos. Asimismo el día de mañana la entrada al carnaval tendrá un costo de 23 dólares y se asignarán brazaletes para subir a todos los juegos. Derecha: Desde izquierda, la corte de honor de la Feria del Condado de Zapata 2015: Ashley Ibarra, Rebecca Villarreal, Priscilla Elizondo, Reina de la Feria 2015 y Raquel Almaguer, posan para la cámara en las oficinas de LMT.
Foto por Victor Strife | Laredo Morning Times
LPD
Buscan a persona de interés TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Las autoridades identificaron a una persona de interés en un accidente por atropellamiento que tomó la vida de un estudiante de Washington Middle School, durante el fin de semana, dijo el Departamento de Policía de Laredo (LPD, por sus siglas en inglés), el martes por la tarde. El Investigador Joe E. Baeza, portavoz de la policía, dijo que Raúl F. Vázquez López, de 28 años, es buscado para ser interrogado. Vázquez mide 5 pies, 7 pulgadas, y tiene cabello castaño y ojos café. Su última dirección conocida es en la cuadra 13000 de Fawn Drive. “Recibimos información que nos lleva a esta persona. Por ahora, él es buscado para ser interrogado”, dijo Baeza. “No ha sido acusado de nada. Necesitamos hablar con él como una persona de interés oficial”.
Se pide a las personas que tengan conocimiento de su paradero llamar a la policía al (956) 7952800, a Alto al Crimen al 727-TIPS VÁZQUEZ (8477) o enviar un mensaje de texto a las autoridades al 847411, con la palabra clave: Laredo. Las llamadas podrán permanecer anónimas. La policía dijo que los oficiales respondieron a un reporte por atropello, a las 6 p.m. del sábado, en la cuadra 9500 de Canvasback Drive, cerca de Father Charles M. McNaboe Park al noroeste de Laredo. Las autoridades dijeron que Alberto Alejandro Rabago, de 12 años de edad, estaba patinando en el estacionamiento cuando bajó a la calle. La policía dijo que en ese momento, una Ford F-150 que se dirigía al oeste sobre Canvasback atropelló a Rabago, dejándolo con
heridas graves. El niño fue trasladado a Doctors Hospital con heridas internas graves, de acuerdo con la policía. Rabago fue transportado vía aérea a University Hospital en San Antonio, donde fue pronunciado muerto poco después de media noche, el domingo, dijeron las autoridades. Las autoridades obtuvieron una fotografía del vehículo sospechoso capturada por la cámara de vigilancia de una casa cercana. La policía dijo que el vehículo sospechoso era una Ford F-150 color verde con dorado en la parte inferior del vehículo. La unidad también presentaba ventanas polarizadas y llantas de fábrica, de acuerdo con la policía. Una recaudación de fondos fue establecida para ayudar a la familia con los gastos. Las personas que deseen ayudar pueden visitar gofundme.com/o8l2tc. Hasta el martes por la tarde, más de 6.000 dólares se recaudaron.
CIUDAD VICTORIA, México— Las autoridades detuvieron a cuatro presuntos miembros de un cartel de drogas ligados a un ataque a tiros a la alcaldesa de la ciudad de Matamoros, México, que en las últimas semanas se ha visto afectada por un repunte de la violencia atribuido a batallas del narcotráfico. El secretario de Gobierno de Tamaulipas, Herminio Garza, dijo a la cadena Televisa que la madrugada del lunes la policía federal capturó a cuatro hombres armados que habrían aceptado su participación en el ataque horas antes al convoy en el que viajaba la alcaldesa Leticia Salazar, quien salió ilesa. El funcionario señaló que los hombres declararon que pensaban que en las dos camionetas del convoy de la alcaldesa viajaban miembros de algún grupo criminal rival y por eso lo atacaron. Los desconocidos dispararon desde dos vehículos la noche del domingo cuando la alcaldesa ingresaba acompañada por escoltas en camionetas blindadas a Matamoros. Garza dijo que los cuatro detenidos podrían ser integrantes del cartel del Golfo, porque es el grupo “que está más presente en esa región”. En las últimas semanas se han registrado diversos hechos de violencia, incluidos un ataque con una granada a las oficinas locales de la cadena Televisa y el secuestro por algunas horas del director del diario El Mañana, pese a que se mantiene activo un operativo de las autoridades federales. A principios de febrero, luego de cerca de una semana de enfrentamientos diarios que dejaron más de una docena de muertos, el consulado de Estados Unidos en México señaló que la violencia era reflejo de un presunto enfrentamiento entre facciones rivales del cartel del Golfo tanto en esa localidad como en Reynosa, también en la frontera norte. El fin de semana, las autoridades también reportaron la detención de 14 policías federales acusados del secuestro de un empresario de la construcción en Matamoros. Trece de ellos fueron enviados a una prisión para ser procesados y uno fue dejado en libertad.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors MLB
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
MLB may play in Cuba
Surprising swaps
ASSOCIATED PRESS
JUPITER, Fla. — Rob Manfred says Major League Baseball is talking with the U.S. government about playing exhibition games in Cuba. President Barack Obama said in December the U.S. was re-establishing relations with the communist island nation. “I can envision a situation, assuming that it is consistent with the government’s policy on Cuba, where we could have ongoing exhibition game activity in Cuba,” Manfred, the new baseball commissioner, said Tuesday. He did not specify a timeframe. There were 25 Cubanborn players in the major leagues last season, including stars Yasiel Puig, Yeonis Cespedes and Jose Abreu, up from eight in 2007 and the most since 1970, according to STATS. “Cuba is a great market for us two ways,” Manfred said. “It’s obviously a great talent market. We’ve seen enough of that during the offseason. It’s a country where baseball is embedded in the culture. and we like countries where baseball is embedded in the culture.” Major league teams visited Cuba before Fidel Castro’s revolution in 1959. Cuba’s proximity, just 90 miles from Florida, makes quick trips possible. “It is some place that would be feasible for us to do in an ongoing basis,” Manfred said. “I think that people view Miami as sort of a jumping-off point to Latin America. I do see Latin America as a place where baseball already has great popularity but also has a great potential for growth from an international perspective.” The Marlins played exhibition games in Panama (last year) and Mexico City (2004) and played a regularseason series against the New York Mets in San Juan, Puerto Rico (2010). They traveled to Puerto Rico in 2003 and 2004 for regular-season games against the Montreal Expos, who played a portion of their home schedule on the island. MLB has opened its season at Tokyo (2000, ’04, ’08 and ’12), Monterrey, Mexico (1999), San Juan (2001) and Sydney (2014). Manfred envisions expanding MLB’s presence in Latin America. “It’s great to go someplace and play a couple of games,” Manfred said. “It generates interest here domestically. But when I think about international activity I want to do more than play two games someplace and go back five years later.” Manfred said Miami’s record $325 million, 13-year contract with slugger Giancarlo Stanton reflects the health of the sport. He said MLB plans to take an active role in promoting young stars like the 25-year-old Stanton, who led the NL with 37 home runs last season. “I think we a have a group of young payers, and Giancarlo is one of them, that are tremendously appealing because of their amazing ability on the field and the type of human beings they are off the field,” Manfred said.
Trades steal spotlight from NFL’s first day of free agency By BARRY WILNER ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — As free agency began Tuesday, the NFL looked more like fantasy football. Trades, anyone? Monster deals sending Jimmy Graham to Seattle and Sam Bradford to Philadelphia stole the spotlight from free agent signings. New Orleans agreed to send its star tight end to the Seahawks for center Max Unger, with draft picks changing hands. The Saints are to get a firstround pick, while Seattle receives a fourth-rounder. That stunner was followed by Bradford, the injury-prone quarterback who barely has played the past two years (knee), going to Philadelphia for Nick Foles, who also comes off an injury-shortened season (collarbone). Bradford was the top overall draft pick in 2010.
File photo by Rogelio Solis | AP
Star tight end Jimmy Graham was traded out of New Orleans to Seattle, giving the Seahawks another weapon as they try to make a third straight Super Bowl. Foles is the latest starter to depart Philadelphia. He joins two-time All-Pro running back LeSean McCoy, now in Buffalo, and Pro Bowl wide receiver Jeremy Maclin, headed for Kansas City, in going elsewhere. Baltimore dealt nose tackle Haloti Ngata to Detroit, which is about to
lose All-Pro defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh in free agency. Ngata, 31 and a five-time Pro Bowler, is due $8.5 million next season and has a $16 million
salary cap figure. The Bills confirmed acquiring McCoy for linebacker Kiko Alonso; McCoy also signed a contract extension for $40 million over five years. Carolina released DeAngelo Williams, its career rushing leader. Among official free agency moves early in the process were WR Brian Hartline to Cleveland; S Tyvon Branch to Kansas City; TE Owen Daniels to Denver; G Orlando Franklin to San Diego; CB Buster Skrine to the Jets; and QB Shaun Hill to Minnesota.
8A THE ZAPATA TIMES
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015
Nation
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
Train crash was avoidable By EMERY P. DALESIO AND MARTHA WAGGONER ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH, N.C. — A truck with an oversized load and a state trooper escort was stuck in a railroad crossing with time enough to alert approaching trains, but there’s no indication Amtrak was warned before a crash that injured 55 people, officials said. An eyewitness told The Associated Press that the tractor-trailer — which stretched for 164 feet, longer than half a football field — spent about 8 minutes stuck on the railroad tracks. The State Highway Patrol said the trooper spent about 5 minutes trying to help clear the tracks. In any case, the truck driver and trooper apparently failed to follow the clearly established protocol, which requires staying in contact with train dispatchers during these trips, a former Federal Railroad Administration official said Tuesday. Amber Keeter, 19, was stuck in traffic in her car with her baby directly behind the tractor-trailer. She told the AP that the truck driver, his assistant in a flag car and a trooper spent about 15 to 20 minutes trying to negotiate the left turn across the tracks at the intersection of highways U.S. 301 and N.C. 903 in Halifax County, North Carolina. “It was so long they couldn’t make the turn,” she said. She rolled down her window and asked the flag man if he could call someone to stop the trains, “and he said
Photo by Erin Carson/The Daily Herald | AP
Train passenger Alyssa Coleman, right, and her little sister, Viara Hinton, are helped off of a derailed Amtrak train on Monday. he didn’t think so,” she said. Then, “the railroad lights started blinking, and so the tractor-trailer driver tried to gun it forward,” she said. “By that time, the train had hit the tractor-trailer.” The driver jumped out “just a couple of seconds before,” she said. Proper protocol calls for troopers escorting trucks to “clear their routes and inform the railroad dispatchers what they’re doing,” said Steve Ditmeyer, a former Federal Railroad Administration official who teaches railway management at Michigan State University. Even if they lose contact with the dispatcher during the trip, the 1-800 number on the pole that holds the flashing lights reaches a CSX dispatcher, he said. “That dispatcher would have immediately put up a red signal for Amtrak and radioed Amtrak to stop,” he said. Truckers and troopers should know the protocol, and these 1-800 numbers
have been posted for decades. But in this case, the train engineer “didn’t know about the truck until he was coming around a curve. He had no long vision,” Ditmeyer said. CSX spokeswoman Kristin Seay wouldn’t say if anyone called before the crash. “That’s all going to be part of the investigation,” she said. Most people treated at hospitals were released by Tuesday, and about a dozen of the train’s 212 passengers had already continued their journey by bus to Richmond, Virginia, where they could take another train. “We’re just thankful that we’re still alive. It could have been really worse. God was really with us,” said Lisa Carson, 50, of Philadelphia. The Federal Railroad Administration’s database shows at least five previous collisions at the same Halifax crossing, all involving vehicles on the tracks. The most recent was in 2005, when a freight train hit a
truck’s “utility trailer.” In 1977, an Amtrak train hit a car at 70 mph. The driver got out in time, but a railroad employee was injured, that accident report said. Monday’s collision was the third serious train crash in less than two months. Crashes in New York and California in February killed a total of seven people and injured 30. The Federal Railroad Administration is continuing to interview witnesses and will review onboard recorders from the train in Monday’s crash. The agency’s associate administrator, Kevin Thompson, said the tracks reopened about 15 hours later, and that CSX was repairing the crossing’s safety equipment. The modular building was “an electrical distribution center” being hauled from Clayton, North Carolina, to New Jersey, said Lt. Jeff Gordon, a spokesman for the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. Gordon said the truck driver tried to back up to make a second attempt with a wider swing to cross the tracks, but there was too much traffic behind it. The approach of the New York-bound train from Charlotte, North Carolina, set off warning lights and the crossing arms came down, prompting the driver to flee. “I saw him jump out of the truck when he knew he couldn’t beat it. ... I heard the train noise and thought, ‘Oh, my God, it’s going to happen,”’ said eyewitness Leslie Cipriani, who recorded the crash on her cellphone.
Photo by Charles Rex Arbogast | AP
Protestors block traffic outside the Ferguson, Mo., police department, March 4, 2015, in Ferguson. The Justice Department cleared a white former Ferguson police officer in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old, but also issued a scathing report.
Ferguson City Council meets By JIM SALTER ASSOCIATED PRESS
FERGUSON, Mo. — Ferguson city leaders are staying mum on whether more personnel changes may come Tuesday following a scathing U.S. Justice Department report that has already led to a Missouri appeals court judge being tapped to overhaul the local court system. The City Council in the St. Louis suburb, beleaguered by unrest since a white police officer fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown last summer, is scheduled to hold its first public meeting Tuesday since the report’s release last week. The report found racial profiling and bias in the police department and a profit-driven municipal court system that investigators said made money large-
ly at the expense of minority residents. The report included racist emails that led to the firing of the city clerk and resignation of two police officers last week. And on Monday, Municipal Judge Ronald J. Brockmeyer resigned and was immediately replaced by the Missouri Supreme Court with a state appeals court judge. That judge will temporarily oversee local court cases starting next week and is authorized to overhaul court policies to “restore the integrity of the system.” Mayor James Knowles III said the city would begin seeking Brockmeyer’s permanent successor on Tuesday, but he declined further comment. However, Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Russell warned that other changes may be coming.
“Extraordinary action is warranted in Ferguson, but the court also is examining reforms that are needed on a statewide basis,” she said in a statement. Whether other changes will be imposed in Ferguson remains unclear. The City Council held a closed-door meeting Monday, gathering in public only long enough to adjourn. City Manager John Shaw was escorted to his vehicle by a police officer afterward, though it wasn’t unclear why. The state Supreme Court also assigned staff from the state court administrator’s office to aid Missouri Appeals Court Judge Roy L. Richter in reviewing Ferguson’s municipal court practices. Richter is scheduled to assume his new role on March 16. Ferguson has been under state and federal scrutiny
since police officer Darren Wilson fatally shot Brown, a black 18-year-old resident who was unarmed during the confrontation on Aug. 9. The shooting prompted protests in the St. Louis area and across the nation. A St. Louis County grand jury concluded in November that no charges would be filed against Wilson. The U.S. Justice Department concurred last week, saying Wilson acted in self-defense. But the Justice Department said in a separate report that Ferguson’s police and court systems functioned as a money-making enterprise that heightened tensions among residents. The report noted that Ferguson was counting on revenues from fines and fees to generate $3.1 million, or nearly a quarter of its $13.3 million budget for the 2015 fiscal year.
Photo by Sue Ogrocki | AP
Two men carry speakers out of the now closed University of Oklahoma’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house in Norman, Okla., Tuesday. University President David Boren expelled two students after he said they were identified as leaders of a racist chant.
Two students expelled over racist video By SEAN MURPHY ASSOCIATED PRESS
NORMAN, Okla. — The University of Oklahoma’s president expelled two students Tuesday after he said they were identified as leaders of a racist chant captured on video during a fraternity event. University President David Boren said in a statement the two students were dismissed for creating a “hostile learning environment for others.” Their names were not released. The video posted online shows several people on a bus participating in a chant that included a racial slur, referenced lynching and indicated black students would never be admitted to OU’s chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Boren acted swiftly after the video surfaced late Sunday, severing ties with the fraternity and ordering its house shuttered Monday and announcing the expulsions Tuesday. “I hope that students involved in this incident will learn from this experience and realize that it is wrong to use words to hurt, threaten, and exclude other people,” he said. Boren said the university is working to identify other students involved in the chant, who may also face discipline. Windows at the fraternity were boarded up and moving vans were parked outside Tuesday. Members have until midnight to remove their belongings. The Greek letters have already been removed from the side of the sprawling, sand-colored brick house on a street lined with fraternity and sorority houses just west of the center of campus. Markeshia Lyon, a junior from Oklahoma City and one of about 1,400 black students who attend the university’s Norman campus, said the mostly segregated Greek culture at OU is partly to blame for creating an environment where racism can thrive. “That’s something that’s passed down, and that’s something that needs to change,” Lyon said. She also said the video has sparked intense inter-
est in addressing racial tensions on campus. The university, located in the southern Oklahoma City suburb of Norman, has about 27,000 students, about 5 percent of whom are black. On Monday, a top high school football recruit withdrew his commitment to attend the university after seeing the video. North Mesquite High School football star Jean Delance, a top offensive lineman prospect, told KTVT television and KRLD-AM in Dallas-Fort Worth that he spoke Sunday night with coach Bob Stoops, but wasn’t told about the incident. “I’m very disappointed in the coaches not letting me know,” Delance told KRLD. “But that was just heart-breaking right there.” The Oklahoma football team decided to protest rather than practice Monday. At the team’s indoor practice facility, coach Bob Stoops led the way as players, joined by athletic director Joe Castiglione, walked arm-in-arm, wearing black. Boren attended a predawn rally organized by students Monday morning and lambasted the fraternity members involved as “disgraceful” and called their behavior “reprehensible.” “This is not who we are,” Boren said at a midday news conference. “I’d be glad if they left. I might even pay the bus fare for them.” National leaders of Sigma Alpha Epsilon said an investigation confirmed members took part in the chant and announced they would close the local chapter. The national group said it was “embarrassed” by the “unacceptable and racist” behavior. The fraternity also said in a statement late Monday that the chant was not a part of fraternity tradition. Boren said members of the fraternity were “not totally forthcoming.” It’s unclear who recorded the video, when it was recorded and who initially posted it online. Boren suggested it was likely taken by another student who didn’t agree with what was being chanted.
Prosecutors argue bloody note is confession By DENISE LAVOIE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON — Jurors in the trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on Tuesday saw photographs of a bloodstained, hand-scrawled note speckled with bullet holes inside the boat he was captured in days after the deadly 2013 attack. Prosecutors consider the note a confession and say it refers to the motive for the attack carried out by Tsarnaev and his late brother, Tamerlan. In the note, written in pencil on the inside walls of the boat, Tsarnaev appears to decry U.S. actions in Muslim countries and says he is jealous of his brother because he is dead and now
in paradise. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died following a violent confrontation with police during a getaway attempt four days after the bombings. Dzhokzar, then 19, was found hiding in a boat parked in a yard in Watertown. “I do not mourn because his soul is very much alive. God has a plan for each person. Mine was to hide in this boat and shed some light on our actions,” he wrote, according to the photos shown to the jury by prosecutors. The note also said: “The U.S. Government is killing our innocent civilians but most of you already know that. As a M (bullet hole) I can’t stand to see such evil go unpunished, we Mus-
Photo by U.S. Attorney’s Office | AP
This undated forensics photograph shows handwriting on the bullet-riddled, blood-stained wall of a boat. lims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all. ...” “Now I don’t like killing innocent people it is forbidden in Islam but due to said
(bullet hole) it is allowed.” Judge George O’Toole Jr. is still trying to decide whether to allow prosecutors to cut out and bring to
court the panels of the boat to show jurors or whether to bring the intact boat to the courthouse to be viewed outside by the jury, as requested by lawyers for Tsarnaev, who is now 21. The judge ended court early Tuesday so he could go see the boat, accompanied by representatives of the prosecution and defense teams. The judge rejected a request from the media to allow a pool reporter and photographer to also see the boat. Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured April 15, 2013, when two bombs exploded near the marathon finish line. During opening statements at his trial, Tsarnaev’s lawyer admitted he participated in the bomb-
ings but said Tamerlan Tsarnaev was the mastermind and recruited his younger brother to help him. Todd Brown, a Boston police bomb technician, testified that he saw the writing inside the boat when he was sent to check it to make sure there were no explosives or booby traps on board. During cross-examination of Brown, Tsarnaev’s lawyers established that all the bullet holes were from shots coming into the boat when police fired. The officer said no bombs, guns or weapons of any kind were found inside the boat. Several FBI agents also testified Tuesday about the collection of bomb components and other evidence.
International
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015
Argentina air crash kills 10 By NATACHA PISERENKO AND PAUL BYRNE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Justin Tallis | AP
British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond addresses the media in London, Tuesday, commenting on Britain’s Intelligence services.
Schoolgirls are not terrorists By JILL LAWLESS ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — Three British schoolgirls who traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State group won’t be prosecuted for terrorism if they return, a senior British police officer said Tuesday. Police chiefs also defended their handling of the case, denying a lawmaker’s allegation that the failure to stop the teens was “a huge blow” to the credibility of the force. Mark Rowley, head of counterterrorism for the Metropolitan Police, told lawmakers that “we have no evidence to support (the teens’) involvement in terrorism.” The journey of the three 15- and 16-year-olds last month shocked many in Britain, left their families bewildered and highlighted the difficulty of halting the radicalization of young Muslims. Relatives say police failed to inform them that a school friend of the teens had gone to Syria in December. They say if they had they known, they would have looked for any warning signals of radicalization. They also accused the police of not acting quickly enough once they reported the girls missing. “I feel so let down by the police, because we gave them everything,” said Sahima Begum, sister of one of the girls. “We gave them every piece of information.” The girls’ relatives and senior police officers appeared before Parliament’s Home Affairs Committee Tuesday as it tried to understand how three appar-
ently smart teenagers from east London developed the desire, and the means, to travel to a region controlled by the bloodthirsty militant group. Sahima Begum said her sister Shamima “was into normal teenage things. She used to watch ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’ and things like that.” But police say the girls were being radicalized, unbeknownst to their parents. One followed many extremists on social media. Shamima Begum stole her older sister’s passport and used it to travel to Turkey, and Rowley said the trio bought their plane tickets with more than 1,000 pounds ($1,500) in cash, obtained by stealing jewelry from one of the families. Committee chairman Keith Vaz suggested the failure to stop the girls from reaching Syria was “a huge blow to the credibility” of the Metropolitan Police. But Rowley said it was unrealistic to expect police to spot and stop radicalization “if the parents can’t see changes in behavior ... if people in the community don’t spot it.” The families of Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-old Amira Abase are angry that they were not informed that police had spoken to their daughters shortly after their friend disappeared in December. Police interviewed the girls a second time in February and gave them letters to hand to their parents saying that police had spoken to the girls about their missing friend. The letters were not passed on.
VILLA CASTELLI, Argentina — Investigators on Tuesday recovered all 10 bodies from a remote site in Argentina where helicopters serving a reality TV show collided, killing prominent French athletes and leaving the European nation in mourning. The helicopters crashed Monday afternoon near Villa Castelli, about 730 miles northwest of Buenos Aires, said La Rioja regional Secretary of Security Cesar Angulo. All aboard — eight French nationals and two Argentine pilots — were killed. The helicopters came down about 50 feet apart and were completely destroyed. One of the aircraft was so charred that only the blades were recognizable. Among the dead were Olympic champion swimmer Camille Muffat, Olympic boxer and bronze-medalist Alexis Vastine, and pioneering sailor Florence Arthaud. They had been among the contestants in the reality TV show “Dropped.” The bodies were being transported to the regional capital of La Rioja province, where autopsies would be conducted, Judge Virginia Illanes Bordon told The Associated Press. Illanes Bordon said the rough terrain made recovering the bodies late Monday impossible. At the site, which had been cordoned off, investigators pulled cellphones, papers and other charred, unrecognizable items from the wreckage in dry scrubland of a sparsely populated area along the Andes mountain range that separates Argentina and Chile. The crash was believed to be one the deadliest incidents yet related to reality TV shows, a sub-genre of which involves taking celebrities and others to far-flung places to face challenges both physical and mental. French President Francois Hollande expressed “immense sadness” over the deaths, and the Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into possible involuntary manslaughter, which is to be conducted by a research unit of the French air
Next UN chief debated
Photo by Jose Alamo | AP
A man stands next to the wreckage of one of two helicopters that apparently collided in midair, near Villa Castelli, in Argentina’s La Rioja province, Monday. transport police, a French police official said. The remaining victims were identified as Laurent Sbasnik, Lucie Mei-Dalby, Volodia Guinard, Brice Guilbert and Edouard Gilles, as well as pilots Juan Carlos Castillo and Roberto Abate. The wife of Castillo, Cristina Alvarez, told television station Todo Noticias that her husband was a veteran of the Falklands War and had vast experience flying helicopters, including in places like Antarctica and the Falkland Islands. Her voice cracking, she said her husband was “extremely happy” because he had recently found out he was going to be a grandfather. Angulo, the security secretary, said one of the helicopters belonged to La Rioja province and the other to neighboring Santiago del Estero province. “The helicopter from La Rioja was a Eurocopter with a capacity to hold six people. It appears to have brushed against the other helicopter from Santiago del Estero shortly after takeoff,” the statement from the provincial government said. A widely circulated video purportedly shot at the scene shows the blades of one helicopter hitting the rails of the second, causing both aircraft to lose control and crash. Luis Solorza, press secretary for La Rioja province, told the AP he didn’t know who shot the video but that authorities believed it was authentic and investigators were using it as part of their probe. Solorza said renting out
By CARA ANNA
By NATALIYA VASILYEVA ASSOCIATED PRESS
UNITED NATIONS — At a private working lunch for the five most powerful members of the United Nations Security Council, the conversation turned to the question of the next U.N. secretary-general. A European ambassador reminded colleagues of a General Assembly resolution nearly as old as the 70year organization itself, a guiding document for a selection process for U.N. chief that has remained secretive and almost completely male. The January 1946 resolution says a “man of eminence and high attainment” should hold the post. Perhaps, the ambassador suggested, some might want to add the words “or a woman.” No doubt. Just three female candidates have been included in past closeddoor votes and straw polls that the Security Council has used to make its choice for decades, but now two campaigns are launching to make sure the next “Your excellency” is a she. “There have been eight men and no women. To me, it’s time,” said Jean Krasno, a lecturer at Yale who leads the new Campaign to Elect a Woman Secretary-General. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will remain in office through Dec. 31, 2016, but the talk about his successor has already started, especially among U.N. watchers who’ve gone as far as scrutinizing the
DEBALTSEVE, Ukraine — When the wind picks up, the rattle of the corrugated iron roof of a destroyed gas station can sound like artillery. Four charred tanks sit stranded nearby, machine oil splattered on the ground, while a pick-up truck lies on its side surrounded by shrapnel. Debaltseve, the center of one of the fiercest battles of Ukraine’s war, lies in ruins three weeks after it was captured by Russia-backed separatists. The struggle for the strategic rail hub — a sleepy town with a pre-war population of 25,000 people — became one of the darkest pages in the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has already killed more than 6,000 people. The town is crucial because it provides a direct link between the two main rebel cities of Donetsk and Luhansk. So vital was the prize that the ceasefire deal brokered by Russia, Ukraine and Western powers did nothing to slow the rebel onslaught. At least 179 Ukrainian troops were killed in the battle, along with uncounted hundreds of civilians. Heavy artillery rained down on Debaltseve for one month beginning in midJanuary. Those four weeks wreaked such devastation that the whole town has been turned into one heap of rubble. Today it is as unrecognizable as the streets next to the Donetsk airport where fighting raged for nine months. Entire blocks
AP photos
handwriting on paper ballots after Security Council straw polls. Ban’s successor is expected to be chosen late next year, though there is no official date. On Sunday, the campaign will launch WomanSG.org to feature around a dozen women it says are outstanding possible candidates with political experience. Every few weeks, another group of possible candidates will be posted online. Next month, the international women’s rights group Equality Now will launch a similar Time for a Woman campaign while urging the public to pressure the U.N. and member states to make “gender a serious consideration for the first time,” said the group’s legal adviser, Antonia Kirkland. Women that they’re pointing out include Helen
Clark, former New Zealand prime minister and the head of the U.N. Development Program; Bulgarian European commissioner Kristalina Georgieva; Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite; Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. “And obviously, you could have some sort of dream thoughts around (German Chancellor) Angela Merkel,” said Laura Liswood, the secretary-general of the Council of Women World Leaders, a collection of 53 current and former female heads of state that’s not part of either campaign. Another name floating around is International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde, though as a Frenchwoman, she is likely a long shot.
tord, ice skating champion Philippe Candeloro, former Olympic swimming champion Alain Bernard and veteran cyclist Jeannie Longo. None of them was involved in the accident. “I am sad for my friends, I’m trembling, I’m horrified, I don’t have words. I can’t say anything,” Wiltord tweeted. Candeloro, speaking on RTL radio, said the other contestants were at their hotel Tuesday awaiting arrival of French consular officials. The deaths were likely to place new attention on risks involved with such shows. Two years ago, TF1 — France’s leading private-sector network, which aired the program — canceled the season of the “Survivor”-like show “Koh Lanta” after a 25-year-old participant died of a heart attack on the first day of filming in Cambodia. Show producer Adventure Line Productions was behind both programs. In a statement, the company said its staffers were “devastated” and “share the deep pain of the families and loved ones.” Reality TV shows can appeal to former adrenaline-powered star athletes who remain famous and beloved long after their careers are over, and are looking for new challenges or fun. William Forgues, Muffat’s companion, told i-Tele cable news channel that she was instructed not to reveal details about the show filming, but “told everybody that it was great. She was not forced (to do things). She was where she wanted to be.” “C’est la vie,” he added.
Ukrainian town struggles
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this combination of file photos, seven high-profile women who have been mentioned as possible contenders for the post of United Nations Secretary General are shown. On Sunday a campaign that seeks the first female Secretary General launched.
La Rioja’s lone helicopter, for the reality show or during the Dakar rally, brought much-needed income into the province. “To promote tourism, we lend out the helicopter,” said Solorza, adding that the province had declared two days of mourning. The crew had arrived Sunday in Villa Castelli, where it had previously filmed a version of “Dropped” for Switzerland and Denmark, said Mayor Andres Navarrete. French Secretary of State for Sport Thierry Braillard said on the BFM TV channel that “French sport has lost three stars this morning.” Vastine, 28, won a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and lost in the quarterfinals four years later in London amid a sporting controversy that led him to break down in tears. He had reportedly vowed to win gold at the 2016 games in Rio. Muffat, 25, won gold in the 400-meter freestyle in London, plus a silver medal in the 200-meter freestyle and a bronze in the 4 by 200-meter freestyle relay. She had since retired from swimming to focus on her personal life. But perhaps the best known was Arthaud, 57, a pioneer in sailing. In 1990, she became the first woman to win the famed Route du Rhum race, a trans-Atlantic single-handed yacht race between Brittany and the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. Other “Dropped” contestants on hand included former France and Arsenal striker Sylvain Wil-
Photo by Vadim Ghirda | AP file
In this Feb. 26 file photo, an elderly woman holds a blanket she received from an aid distribution center in Debaltseve. of flats in Debaltseve are deserted, the sun shining through the upper floors as if the roof had been blown away by a tornado. The only crowded place at Debaltseve on a recent morning was a grocery store where rebels distributed free bread: one loaf per person. Of about 100 people in line, most were old and frail and appeared not to have washed for days. At the railroad station, a few yards away, a Grad rocket was stuck in a refrigerator car. Some power lines were snapped, hanging from the poles like branches of a willow tree. Across the road, a burly man in a black Cossack hat gave orders to his subordinates as he sat outside an orange tent pitched on the main town square. Rebel emergency workers have been working in these tents since their forces captured the city on Feb. 18, helping local residents with blankets and water and charging mobile phones. Alexander Afendikov, the city’s
self-appointed mayor, said they are trying to return Debaltseve to normal life as quickly as possible. “Every house has been if not destroyed, then damaged,” Afendikov said. “Ninety-nine percent of the glazing has been shattered.” Afendikov was among the rebels who besieged Debaltseve in February, pounding the town with artillery. Now the rebels are collecting construction materials to rebuild the town from Russian humanitarian convoys and “various private organizations” from Russia and other countries, Afendikov said. The priority is given to hospitals, schools and big apartment blocks. Private houses — where the majority of Debaltseve residents once lived — are not likely to get much aid any time soon. “I can’t send a group of glass workers to a small private house when there’s a big apartment block nearby,” Afendikov said. “And you can turn on the heating there and move 100-300 people there.”
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
WATER Continued from Page 1A left to figure out how to get basic services. A series of bankruptcy settlements, state criminal action and citizen lawsuits helped get the job done. But water was particularly tricky because the shoddy treatment plant McDonald built couldn’t even provide enough water for fire hydrants. Things were supposed to change in 2006.
Trouble From The Start “Was it ever built correctly? We don’t know,” says Luis Perez-Garcia, the Webb county engineer who took charge of the troubled plant in the spring of 2013. With help from the state, Webb County set out to build a top-flight plant, the first in Texas to disinfect water — pulled from one of the Rio Grande’s most polluted stretches — by pouring it over fluorescent, ultraviolet lamps. An automated computer system was supposed to sample water and ensure quality. Perez-Garcia believes the problems came not from the plant’s design but from an inexperienced construction company trying to cut costs. Many of those who worked on the project — engineers for Webb County, who oversaw it, and staff at the Texas Water Development Board, who helped fund it — left soon after it was finished, taking knowledge of its systems with them. It is unusual for Texas counties to operate water treatment plants, and Webb County has not mustered the political will and financial resources to run its facilities properly, critics say. From the beginning, residents grumbled about smelly, strangely colored water. They increasingly complained about gastrointestinal issues and skin rashes, advocates say. Complaints eventually
reached the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). But the state’s pollution enforcement agency had long been aware of the problems. Just months after the plant’s 2006 ribbon-cutting, agency investigator Elsa Hull visited and reported that the automated computer system wasn’t working. The water’s turbidity — a key indicator of whether it is drinkable — wasn’t being measured properly. A year later, Hull noticed something strange about the way workers at the plant were filling out monthly water quality reports they were required to submit to the TCEQ. At times, the data Webb County sent to the state was different from what Hull saw the operators write in their daily logs. Officials now believe what Hull saw was no accident. In October, the Webb County district attorney’s office indicted eight current and former plant employees for allegedly falsifying the records, including Johnny Amaya, the former water utilities director and a longtime Laredo politician. Amaya has pleaded not guilty, and a trial is expected no earlier than March, says his attorney, Fausto Sosa. “Instead of trying to fix what was wrong with the plant, they were just reporting rosy numbers,” says Perez-Garcia, who took over as engineer in mid-2013. In the first seven years of the plant’s operation, Webb County was cited more than 20 times by the TCEQ for failing to operate the facility properly and submitting bogus water quality reports to the state. Webb County paid several thousand dollars in fines, and most violations were eventually “resolved,” state records show. But after receiving more than a dozen complaints about the water in just two days in the summer of 2013,
Hull returned and found conditions worse than she had thought. Many key pieces of equipment were not working. Her tests of the water’s turbidity showed it was three times higher than the level at which the TCEQ requires customers to boil water before using it. Turbidity levels were shown to be high the month before, too, meaning Webb County should have issued a “boil water notice” even earlier, Hull wrote to her bosses. Water produced by the plant also tested positive for E. coli bacteria. Even a mouthful of water contaminated with it can cause severe or bloody diarrhea. Infections from E. coli can also cause kidney damage. Webb County was ordered to post notices urging residents of El Cenizo and Rio Bravo to boil their water. Hull sent a scathing email to Perez-Garcia. “Why did the county not issue a Boil Water Notice earlier?” she said. “Who decided to forego a BWN and not protect the customers? This cannot be excused by inexperience or the incompetence of untrained staff.” The Laredo Health Department, which at the time provided some public health services to the area, was forced to haul in truckloads of water and go door to door teaching residents how to properly boil the tap water to avoid exposure to harmful bacteria and gastrointestinal diseases. (The department recently ended its contract with the county.) The state health department was not involved. While it is responsible for providing services to Rio Bravo and El Cenizo, which don’t have their own health departments, a spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services says its office of border health has “no authority or expertise in drinking water.” “Drinking water issues are the domain of the local
health department and TCEQ,” says agency spokesman Chris Van Deusen. After the boil-water notice went out, Webb County officials nonetheless repeatedly told residents of Rio Bravo and El Cenizo that their water was safe to drink, according to state records. Perez-Garcia asked that the boil notice be lifted just a few days after it was issued. State officials refused. “The TCEQ was protecting themselves,” says PerezGarcia, adding that he believes some of the agency’s sampling was incorrect, and that the water was safe to drink long before the boilwater notice was lifted three weeks later. After the notice was lifted, Hull continued to find problems at the plant, including turbidity levels that were far too high, records show. In September 2013, the TCEQ slapped Webb County with a $60,000 fine for dozens of violations, and demanded that the county fix its automatic computer system and make several other major improvements within 60 days. But the county hasn’t made much progress, causing mounting frustration at the agency and within the community.
Taking Matters Into Their Own Hands In the 1990s, local citizens formed alliances to demand basic services. But by the time the water plant opened, those groups had dissolved, and few knew where to go for help in a community where most speak Spanish. “There’s a lot of oppression here, everywhere you turn,” says Karla Tamez, who grew up in El Cenizo and still lives there with her mother and disabled brother. “Especially for people that don’t have documents.” In the spring of 2013, Ta-
mez was finishing up a nursing degree and fighting for better trash collection and sewer service in El Cenizo. A course in microbiology made her wonder what was in the water she was drinking. Tamez gathered more than 200 signatures to form an activist committee of El Cenizo residents asking for better trash collection, water and sewer services. It was called the Comité de Ciudadanos Unidos de El Cenizo, or the Committee of United Citizens of El Cenizo. Through internet searches, she learned how to complain to state regulators. Tamez says TCEQ investigators came to her home to test water and look at broken sewer pipes and overflows nearby. But nothing seemed to change. Soon after the infamous 2013 boil water notice, Tamez’s committee joined with a similar group in Rio Bravo to take matters into their own hands. A few months later, with the help of RioGrande Legal Aid, a law firm that represents low-income border residents, they sued Webb County, alleging it had violated the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. “The TCEQ hasn’t been as aggressive as you would want them to be,” says attorney Amy Johnson. The agency’s authority and resources might be limited, she says, “but it’s drinking water. At some point, this is essential. This is a basic right.” The lawsuit ended in a settlement requiring the county to post drinking water quality reports online — which it finally started to do in January, several months late. And in community meetings also required by the settlement, RioGrande Legal Aid’s lawyers say they are not encouraged by progress reports on repairs at the plant.
EXPORT Continued from Page 1A ators to tap resources once considered unreachable. But that surge of production is filling up the country’s pipelines and storage tanks, driving down U.S. prices and slowing drilling across the country, with big implications for the Texas economy. U.S. refiners can only handle so much domestic oil, because many still run on imports of heavier crudes — imported from Venezuela, Canada or elsewhere — rather than the light “sweet” stuff pumped from Texas and North Dakota shale. While global supply and demand have depressed crude prices worldwide, the American glut has made U.S. oil about $10 per barrel cheaper than what’s sold on the international market. Supporters of lifting the ban
say the move would bring U.S. prices more in line with international prices, softening the blow of the latest downturn. The status quo, they say, leaves on the table billions of dollars that would flow to Texas oil producers, royalty owners and into state and federal coffers. “We’re sort of driving down the road with the windows open and hundred-dollar bills flying out the window for no reason,” said economist James LeBas, a former Texas chief revenue estimator who testified on behalf of two oil groups. Critics argue that shipping U.S. crude overseas would threaten the country’s energy security and raise gasoline prices. “It is inconceivable that you can export oil and take away the surplus and not have it re-
sult in an increase in cost to American consumers,” said Tom “Smitty,” Smith, director of the Texas office of Public Citizen — one of few people who registered as opposing the House resolution (though he chose not to testify Monday). “It is a fundamental violation of the law of supply and demand.” Smith and other environmentalists also oppose lifting the ban on grounds that it would bolster drilling, unleashing more damage to the environment. But it’s unclear how the change would affect prices at the pump. In an October 2014 report, the federal Energy Information Administration concluded that gasoline prices at the pump are more closely linked to global crude prices than the value of U.S. oil. The
Try, Try Again Nearly a year and a half after the August 2013 boilwater notice, the plant’s computer system has just begun working. The facility continues to produce drinking water with turbidity levels exceeding state health standards, though not high enough to trigger another boil-water notice. Three of the workers indicted for allegedly falsifying water quality records still work at the plant. Perez-Garcia calls them “basically low-level employees who were acting according to the orders of their administrators.” The administrators no longer work for the county. In an interview, TCEQ officials said their options are limited. By statute, all they can do is cite public water systems — of which there are nearly 7,000 in Texas — for violations, issue fines and attempt to resolve them. “You’ve got to look at what authority the Legislature’s given to everybody. They’re ultimately the ones responsible if they want to step in and do something,” says Steve Niemeyer, head of border affairs for the agency. “We just do what we’re told, given the authority we have.” Even with a faulty water plant, the people of Rio Bravo are better off than other border communities, officials point out. Some public water systems are so small and remote that there’s no address to mail a notice of violation to, and nobody to answer the phone. “We were in communication, and we still continue to be in communication with the county. They’re still talking to us, they’re working with us, to try to achieve compliance,” says David Ramirez, director of the border and Permian Basin regional offices for the TCEQ. “We can’t ask for more than that.”
LAREDO market research firm IHS agrees, estimating that exports could actually lower gas prices over time. Some refiners have opposed lifting the ban, fearing they would lose their discount on domestic crude. “The unlimited export of crude is not in the national interest,” Bill Day, spokesman for San Antonio-based Valero Energy Corp., the country’s largest oil refiner, told Fuel Fix in January. “We’re not so sure who would support such a thing, unless you were a producer and wanted to get a higher price for what you are producing.” But neither Valero nor anyone else testified Monday on behalf of refiners. “We don’t have a specific comment at this time,” Day told The Texas Tribune.
Continued from Page 1A “We’re letting investigators in charge of … this tragedy confirm certain variations of the investigation,” Baeza said. Videos posted on Facebook show first responders rushing to help two people. “Everything went very fast. Our paramedics initiated advanced life support trying CPR to try to get their hearts beating again … but they were unresponsive,” said Laredo Fire Chief Steve Landin. “There was no change in their condition. At the hospital they did what they could. They had multiple gunshot wounds in different parts of their body.” Both girls were pronounced dead at the Laredo Medical Center. “It’s a sad thing for stuff like this to happen. All we can do is pray for the families,” Landin said. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015