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TEXAS ECONOMY
ZETAS DRUG CARTEL
Going to work
Feds arrest suspected enforcer
More at work in state compared to nation ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — The strength of the Texas economy combined with a growing labor force contributed to a 5.5 percent March unemployment rate, the Texas Work-
force Commission reported Friday. The latest seasonally adjusted jobless rate for Texas compares to a 6.7 percent nationwide jobless rate during March. Statewide unemployment
stood at 5.7 percent in January and February, according to the TWC. The Texas jobless rate was 6.4 percent in March 2013. The Midland area had the lowest jobless rate last month, at 2.7 percent. Neigh-
boring Odessa had a 3.3 percent jobless rate for March. In contrast, the McAllenEdinburg-Mission area had the state’s highest unemployment rate during March
See JOBLESS RATE PAGE 11A
FERTILIZER PLANT EXPLOSION
FIRST ANNIVERSARY
Photo by Shely Tauber/The Daily Texas | AP
Karissa Kaluza, left, embraces her boyfriend Clint McHargue during a memorial to honor the 15 killed in a fertilizer plant explosion one year ago in West, on Thursday. Kaluza’s cousin, first responder Jimmy Matus, died when he went to assist after the explosion.
West honors 15 killed in year-ago explosion By EMILY SCHMALL ASSOCIATED PRESS
WEST — Rev. Terry McElrath heard the deafening boom. The pastor spun around and saw a column of smoke billow-
ing into the sky above his small Texas town. He immediately thought, “Somebody has died tonight.” A spiraling fire inside the fertilizer plant in West had ignited 34 tons
of ammonium nitrate, creating an explosion so powerful that it killed 15 people, leveled nearby homes and schools, and left a crater where West Fertilizer Co. once stood. Debris was strewn miles
away. “It’s hard to believe that in one moment, so much damage could be done,” McElrath told hundreds of people
See EXPLOSION PAGE 11A
By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
LAREDO — A suspected Zetas drug cartel enforcer operating in Laredo and tasked with recovering drug debts has been arrested on a kidnapping charge, federal authorities announced Wednesday. The criminal complaint alleges that Raul Ochoa Perez, 41, “is a known drug trafficker affiliated with the Zetas.” “Ochoa Perez is known to facilitate U.S.based operations for the distribution of narcotics through Texas and other parts of the United States. Perez is known to utilize violence to recover drug bets on behalf of the Zetas,” the complaint filed Jan. 14 states. Ochoa had been wanted since January. Special Agent Michelle Lee, an FBI spokeswoman, said he surrendered to the FBI voluntarily and without incident Tuesday. He made an initial appearance in a Laredo federal court Wednesday morning. On Jan. 13, Ochoa and a man were going to meet for breakfast at a local Taco Palenque to talk about “work,” the complaint states. Ochoa, who was driving a 2011 Chevrolet Silverado, drove him south on Interstate 35 toward international bridge II. Ochoa then allegedly brandished a handgun and pointed it at the man. He told him in Spanish, “If you move, I’ll kill you,” the complaint states. Fearing for his life, the man did not move, authorities allege, and the two drove into Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
RAUL OCHOA PEREZ Ochoa drove to a Southeast Nuevo Laredo neighborhood known as “Infonavit” to pick up a man identified in court records as Plato. Ochoa then drove Plato and the man to a machine shop in Colonia Morelos in Central Nuevo Laredo. An unidentified man brought the keys for the shop and opened the door for the men. The hostage was taken to a restroom, where Plato and the unidentified man began kicking and punching him while he had his hands tied behind his back with a string, the complaint states. Ochoa watched the beating and made a call on his cell phone, telling a person: “Don’t worry boss. We’ll kill him,” the complaint alleges. Plato told the hostage they would kill his family “even if they got the money,” the complaint adds. The assailants also allegedly placed a handgun inside his mouth and held a knife to his throat. “The victim was told repeatedly that he would be killed and cut into pieces,” the complaint states. The alleged incident
See ZETAS
PAGE 11A
WAR ON DRUGS
Former pot growers fueling US heroin invasion By NICK MIROFF THE WASHINGTON POST
TEPACA DE BADIRAGUATO, MEXICO — The surge of cheap heroin spreading in $4 hits across rural America can be traced back to the remote valleys of the northern Sierra Madre.
With the wholesale price of marijuana falling — driven in part by decriminalization in sections of the United States — Mexican drug farmers are filling their fields with opium poppies. Mexican heroin is flooding north as U.S. authorities trying to contain an epidem-
ic of prescription painkiller abuse have tightened controls on synthetic opiates such as hydrocodone and Oxycontin. As the pills become more costly and difficult to obtain, Mexican trafficking organizations have found new markets for heroin in places such as Winchester, Va., and Brattleboro,
Vt., where, until recently, needle use for narcotics was rare or unknown. Farmers in the storied “Golden Triangle” region of Mexico’s Sinaloa state, which has produced the country’s most notorious gangsters and biggest marijuana harvests, say they are no longer planting the crop.
Its wholesale price has collapsed in the past five years, from $100 per kilogram to less than $25. “It’s not worth it anymore,” said Rodrigo Silla, 50, a lifelong cannabis farmer who said he couldn’t remember the last time his family and others in their tiny hamlet gave up growing
mota. “I wish the Americans would stop with this legalization.” Growers from this area and as far afield as Central America are sowing their plots with opium poppies, and large-scale operations are turning up in places
See HEROIN
PAGE 11A
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2014
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
SATURDAY, APRIL 19
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TAMIU Planetarium shows. “Zula Patrol: Down to Earth” 3 p.m.; “The Future Is Wild” 4 p.m.; “Star Signs” 5 p.m.; “Stars of the Pharaohs” 6 p.m. General admission $4 children and $5 adults. Premium shows $1 more. Call 326-3663.
TUESDAY, APRIL 22 STAAR testing at Zapata County ISD schools.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23 STAAR testing at Zapata County ISD schools. Volunteer Services Council for the Border Region Behavioral Health Center presents 22nd annual Administrative Professional Day Luncheon and Fashion Show. 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Laredo Country Club. For tickets call Laura Kim at 794-3130. Meeting of board of trustees for Zapata County ISD. 6 p.m. Professional Development Center, 702 E. 17th Ave.
Photo by Medical City Children’s Hospital | AP
Jenni and Dave Ezell visit their twin 9-month-old boys Owen, left, and Emmett, who were born joined at the abdomen, on Tuesday. The conjoined twins, separated last summer, were released from the hospital Wednesday and are expected to spend the next three to four weeks in a local inpatient rehabilitation center before being able to go home.
THURSDAY, APRIL 24 STAAR testing at Zapata County ISD schools. Villa San Agustin de Laredo Genealogical Society meeting. 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. St. John Newmann Catholic Church. Guest speaker is Dr. Gabriela Mendoza Garcia with “Jarabe Tapatio: Race and Nation in 20th Century Mexico and 21st Century United States” as topic. New members welcome. Call Sanjuanita Martinez-Hunter at 7223497.\ IBC Keynote Speaker Series presentation, “Mexico Under the ‘New’ PRI: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” by Dr. Denise Dresser, professor of political science at Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México. 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. TAMIU Student Center Ballroom, SC 203. Free and open to public. Translation services will be available. Contact 326-2820 or cswht@tamiu.edu.
FRIDAY, APRIL 25 Bass Champs Fishing Tournament. 8 a.m. Zapata County Public Boat Ramp. STAAR testing at Zapata County ISD schools. TAMIU Planetarium shows. “Secrets of the Sun” 6 p.m. and “Destination Saturn” 7 p.m. General admission $4 children and $5 adults. Premium shows $1 more. Call 326-3663.
SATURDAY, APRIL 26 Bass Champs Fishing Tournament. 8 a.m. Zapata County Public Boat Ramp.
MONDAY, APRIL 28 Zapata County Commissioners Court meeting. 9 a.m. Zapata County Courthouse. Call Roxy Elizondo at 7659920.
SATURDAY, MAY 3 Villa San Agustin de Laredo Genealogical Society fundraiser. 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Picnic tour to San Ygnacio, Texas. Call Sanjuanita MartinezHunter at 722-3497. Viva Laredo Festival. LIFE Grounds. 11 a.m. trail ride registration, at La Sita Rose VIP Trailriders rest area on Hwy 59. Ride out at noon, ends at LIFE Grounds. $20 per rider, with all proceeds benefiting local and area students’ scholarship fund. Free meal for trail riders. Door prizes. Special prize to best Mexican dressed trail riding team. Other activities include charreada; mutton bustin (ages 3 to 8, $20 entry fee); tamales tasting cook-off; salsa cook-off; grito contest; Li’l Miss Viva Laredo contest (ages 10 and under); and dance music. Call Rosy at 744-7505, Alicia at 286-5398, Lilly at 237-2208, or Letty at 763-1299.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 7 New parent orientation for those interested in fostering. 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. 102 E. Calton Road, Suite No. 4, in Laredo. English. Provides details about the process of becoming a foster parent. Contact Linda Mendiola at 7914909 or linda.mendiola@lsss.org.
MONDAY, MAY 12 Zapata County Commissioners Court meeting. 9 a.m. Zapata County Courthouse. Call 765-9920.
Submit calendar items at lmtonline.com/calendar/submit or by emailing editorial@lmtonline.com with the event’s name, date and time, location and purpose and contact information for a representative.
Twin boys leave hospital By JAMIE STENGLE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — Conjoined twins separated last summer were released Wednesday from the Dallas hospital that’s been their home since birth. The 9-month-old boys born joined at the abdomen were separated at Medical City Children’s Hospital last August, about a month after their birth. Owen and Emmett Ezell, who shared a liver and intestines when born, are expected to spend the next three to four weeks in a local inpatient rehabilitation center before being able to go home. Their mother, Jenni Ezell, said the boys were doing “really well.” She said they’re sitting up on their own, trying to coo over the trachea tubes that help them breathe and are “very interactive, very social little boys.”
“They flirt with all of the girls that come in, flash smiles and wave,” she said at a news conference held at the hospital before they left. The boys are no longer being fed intravenously but continue to be fed through tubes in their abdomens. At the rehabilitation facility, the boys’ parents will learn how to manage those tubes until the twins can eat on their own. Dr. Clair Schwendeman, a neonatologist, said that after their separation there wasn’t enough skin to cover a portion of their stomachs, so the skin has had to grow in. He said they might need operations to get the muscle to come across the stomach since it’s just skin right now. He said that while the boys are still “a little bit fragile,” he’s optimistic about their future.
Guardsman to receive Purple Heart at event
Retail gasoline prices up 6 cents across the state
UT won’t plug maroon bluebonnets after all
SAN ANTONIO — U.S. Army Chief of Staff Raymond Odierno will present the Purple Heart at Fort Sam Houston to a staff sergeant injured while on patrol in Afghanistan. Robert T. Drebenstedt is scheduled to receive the decoration Wednesday. Drebenstedt is a member of the Michigan Army National Guard injured by an improvised explosive device Aug. 1, 2012.
IRVING — Retail gasoline prices continue to creep upward as they’ve risen 6 cents this week across Texas. AAA Texas on Thursday reported the average price at the pump has reached $3.49 per gallon. Drivers in Dallas-Fort Worth are paying the most statewide for gasoline, at $3.57 per gallon. AAA Texas says motorists in El Paso are paying the least at $3.32.
AUSTIN — Maroon bluebonnets will be allowed to remain on the University of Texas campus in Austin after mysteriously appearing. It’s believed that Texas A&M pranksters at some point planted the seeds for a variant of bluebonnet known as Alamo Fire, which is a shade of maroon.
Paul McCartney plans performance in Lubbock LUBBOCK — Lubbock and Texas Tech University officials have announced that Paul McCartney will perform in the West Texas city June 14. It will be McCartney’s first appearance in Lubbock. The Grammy-winning singersongwriter’s concert will be held at United Spirit Arena on the university’s campus.
Galveston church damaged by Ike to reopen GALVESTON — A historic Roman Catholic church in Galveston closed since Hurricane Ike damaged it in 2008 reopens this weekend. A restored St. Mary CathedralBasilica will officially re-open on Easter Sunday with a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.
City council approves voucher resolution AUSTIN — Leaders of a Central Texas city have adopted a resolution barring landlords from summarily rejecting applicants who want to use federal vouchers to pay the rent. The Austin City Council voted Thursday in favor of the “source of income” measure involving housing complexes. Race, religion and gender are already banned as reasons for landlords to nix rental applications. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION Atlanta residents object to planned priests’ home ATLANTA — Residents are objecting to the Archdiocese of Atlanta’s plans to renovate a house in the city’s upscale Buckhead neighborhood so it can be a home for a group of priests. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the dispute involves Atlanta Catholic Archbishop Wilton Gregory’s former residence. It’s the latest controversy involving church properties in Atlanta. Earlier this month, Gregory said he would sell a $2.2 million mansion after parishioners complained it wasn’t in line with the tone of austerity Pope Francis set. Gregory still lives in the mansion but plans to move.
Senator: Railroad fined $552,000 past decade NEW HAVEN, Conn. — U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal says Metro-North Railroad has been
Today is Saturday, April 19, the 109th day of 2014. There are 256 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On April 19, 1989, 47 sailors were killed when a gun turret exploded aboard the USS Iowa in the Caribbean. (The Navy initially suspected that a dead crew member, Clayton Hartwig, had deliberately sparked the blast, but later said there was no proof of that.) On this date: In 1775, the American Revolutionary War began with the battles of Lexington and Concord. In 1912, a special subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee opened hearings in New York into the Titanic disaster. In 1939, Connecticut became the last of the original 13 colonies to ratify the Bill of Rights, 147 years after it took effect. In 1943, during World War II, tens of thousands of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto began a valiant but ultimately futile battle against Nazi forces. In 1960, South Korean students began an uprising that toppled the government of President Syngman Rhee a week later. In 1975, India launched its first satellite atop a Soviet rocket. In 1993, the 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, ended as fire destroyed the structure after federal agents began smashing their way in; dozens of people, including sect leader David Koresh, were killed. In 1995, a truck bomb destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. (Bomber Timothy McVeigh was later convicted of federal murder charges and executed.) Ten years ago: A Russian rocket roared into space carrying an American, a Russian and a Dutchman to the international space station on the third manned mission since the halt of the U.S. shuttle program. Five years ago: Felix “Doc” Blanchard, football superhero for Army and winner of the 1945 Heisman Trophy, died at his central Texas home at age 84. One year ago: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a 19-year-old college student wanted in the Boston Marathon bombings, was taken into custody after a manhunt that had left the city virtually paralyzed; his older brother and alleged accomplice, 26-year-old Tamerlan, was killed earlier in a furious attempt to escape police Today’s Birthdays: Actor Hugh O’Brian is 89. Actress Elinor Donahue is 77. Rock musician Alan Price (The Animals) is 72. Actor Tim Curry is 68. Pop singer Mark “Flo” Volman (The Turtles; Flo and Eddie) is 67. Actor Tony Plana is 62. Former tennis player Sue Barker is 58. Former race car driver Al Unser Jr. is 52. Recording executive Suge Knight is 49. Singer-songwriter Dar Williams is 47. Actress Ashley Judd is 46. Singer Bekka Bramlett is 46. Latin pop singer Luis Miguel is 44. Actress Jennifer Taylor is 42. Jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux (PAY’-roo) is 40. Thought for Today: “The charm, one might say the genius of memory, is that it is choosy, chancy and temperamental: it rejects the edifying cathedral and indelibly photographs the small boy outside, chewing a hunk of melon in the dust.” — Elizabeth Bowen, Irish-born author (1899-1973).
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Photo by Steve Earley/The Virginian-Pilot | AP
Christy Brugger greets her husband Lt. Mike Brugger as the "Ragin’ Bulls" of VFA-37 return to Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, Va., on Thursday. fined $552,000 over the past decade for safety violations and defects. The Connecticut Democrat called it a shameful record that shows an urgent need for immediate attention to safety and reliability.
Blumenthal says there were 139 violations since 2004. He says per 100 miles of track, MetroNorth had five times the number of safety defects than any other commuter railroad in the country. — Compiled from AP reports
SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted. The Zapata Times is free. The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500. The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail thezapatatimes.net
State
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2014
GALVESTON CHURCH TO REOPEN
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
Man gets 10 years in pot trafficking case SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
Photo by Jennifer Reynolds/The Daily News | AP
Workers put the finishing touches on restorations and improvements at St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica in Galveston on Friday as they prepare for a special Mass and rededication led by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo. The church has been closed since Hurricane Ike flooded the historic structure in 2008.
More drawn to gangs By MIKE GLENN HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Street gang membership in Texas is passing the 100,000 mark, state and local law enforcement officials said Thursday, adding that agencies are detecting signs that rival criminal organizations are joining forces to make money. Houston has about 21,000 gang members, police said, with about one-quarter to one-third affiliated with a group called “Tango Blast Houstone.” That loose affiliation of Hispanic ex-prison inmates is part of a larger statewide gang with a similar name which the Texas Department of Public Safety identified as a “top threat” in its annual overview of the gang problem in Texas. Members of the Houston gang can sometimes be identified by a prominent tattoo resembling the Houston Astros star. What distinguishes “Houstone,” a subgroup within Tango Blast, from more established gangs such as the Texas Syndicate or the Mexican Mafia is
how the organization was set up, said Sgt. J.C. Wood with the Houston Police Department’s gang division. “There’s no true leadership structure,” Wood said. “You don’t have the ‘shot caller’ — the person giving orders.” Houstone has its roots within the Texas prison system with younger inmates banding together instead of joining gangs with more rigid hierarchies. “If you join one of the older, traditional prison gangs, you’re in it for life. These younger Hispanic gang members didn’t want to do that,” Wood said. Tango Blast gangs can be found in most other large Texas cities. They often revert to their original gang affiliation after their release from prison. But, police are beginning to track more post-prison criminal activity from Houstone. Authorities have identified more than 200 street gangs in the Houston area with memberships ranging from a handful to dozens. Some have continued their violent rivalries for
power and territory, but the DPS report said more and more are beginning to adopt a business-like model, allowing for lucrative collaborations with former enemies. “You’re starting to see these ‘Crips’ and ‘Bloods’ come together and work as one group. They’re working together as a ‘clique’ to try and achieve the same goal: maximum revenue,” Wood said. Like other groups throughout Texas, the Houston-based gangs are continuing to work with Mexican cartels, often smuggling drugs, weapons and people across the border. By far, their primary means of income is drug money, Wood said. With law enforcement crackdowns on the U.S. side of the border, the Mexican cartels have taken over the methamphetamine trade and are establishing connections with local gangs. But, the gangs also take part in cartel-run human smuggling and trafficking rings, which often includes forcing adults and minors into prostitution.
McALLEN — Silvestre Barrera-Villegas, a member of drug trafficking conspiracy originating out Starr County, has been ordered to federal prison for nearly 10 years, authorities announced Thursday. Barrera-Villegas, 52, of Camargo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, pleaded guilty Jan. 29 to his role in smuggling more than 8,000 kilograms of marijuana in 2013. U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez sentenced Barrera-Villegas to 130 months in federal prison. Not a U.S. citizen, he is expected to face deportation following his release from prison. Barrera-Villegas admit-
ted to assisting Sostenes Ferreira-Garcia, 50, of Rio Grande City; and Jorge Luis Martinez-Moreno, 28, and Homero Daniel Gutierrez-Aguilar, 24, both of Camargo, in smuggling marijuana from Mexico near La Casita for further distribution within the U.S. Ferreira-Garcia, who coordinated the smuggling and further distribution was previously sentenced to 240 months in federal prison, while MartinezMoreno and GutierrezAguilar, who assisted with the loading and unloading of the marijuana were sentenced, respectively, to 140 and 112 months in prison. At the sentencing of Barrera-Villegas, the court took into consideration in-
formation that BarrreraVillegas, along with Ruben Patino-Garcia, took over Ferreira-Garcia’s duties after the organization in Mexico became dissatisfied with the work of Ferreira-Garcia. Patino-Garcia, aka Orejon, 19, and Rosbel MorinBarrera, aka Zacate, 54, both of Mexico, are fugitives in the case. This prosecution was a part of Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation dubbed “Operation Casanova,” conducted by HSI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation and the Starr County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force.
Woman’s bones found By JUAN CARLOS LLORCA ASSOCIATED PRESS
EL PASO — Skeletal remains found inside a truck recovered from a North Texas lake may be those of a woman who went missing 35 years ago after an argument with her husband, authorities said Friday. A passer-by discovered the partially exposed 1970smodel Chevy truck in Lake Granbury after the lake’s water level dropped, thanks to the state’s ongoing drought, and revealed a portion of the vehicle. The truck was found far away from any road or parking lot near the lake, and investigators “don’t believe it was an accident,” Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds said. While inspecting the truck’s cab, investigators found human skeletal remains, pieces of clothing
and a purse containing objects with Helen Holladay’s name on them. Holladay was 45 years old when she disappeared in September 1979. Her husband, Herman, was a suspect in her disappearance but was never charged. He has since died. Authorities have notified Holladay’s two surviving daughters, but the results of DNA tests will likely take about two months. Relatives who answered calls made to the daughters’ phone numbers by The Associated Press said they women weren’t yet ready to talk. Deputies had responded to a call about a domestic disturbance at the Holladays’ house the night she went missing in September 1979. Witnesses reported seeing Helen Holladay leaving the house, though there was not enough evidence to charge her hus-
band, Deeds said. The truck was discovered Thursday by a Granbury city worker. Deeds noted that investigators searched the lake numerous times following Holladay’s disappearance, but the murky waters and the fact that the truck was covered in silt made it nearly impossible for divers to see. But Texas’ record-breaking drought has brought the lake to its lowest levels in years. Initial inspection of the skeletal remains revealed no signs of trauma, but detectives can’t yet say whether foul play was involved in her death, Deeds said. “It’s still too early in the investigation to rule in one direction or the other,” he said, adding that a forensic investigator with the University of North Texas at Denton is expected to inspect the remains.
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2014
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OTHER VIEWS
All urged to rejoice on Sunday In the Catholic Church, Easter Sunday reigns as the holiest day of the year. Easter Sunday commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ after being crucified three days earlier, on Good Friday. Easter Sunday is a day in which the faithful rejoice in His resurrection with the understanding that there is hope for all to enter one day in God’s presence for all eternity. Our salvation is a promise that God renews to us every spring on Easter Sunday. Just as the season brings new life to flower and vegetation, so too does Jesus Christ bring new life to all who believe in the truth, the way and the life. (John 14:6) I know many of you have made plans to celebrate this day among family and friends with all the revelry that accompanies an Easter Sunday in South Texas. From the cascarones and piñatas to the carne asadas and sweet treats, our community comes to a standstill as we all pause to give witness to the greatest sacrifice ever made — the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Just as many of you have begun preparing for this celebration days in advance, so too do we prepare in the Catholic Church. Beginning with Palm Sunday, the church through its liturgy commemorates the triumphant entrance into Jerusalem by Jesus as people wave and shout, “Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Mark 11:9) Another Holy Week tradition is the annual Chrism Mass in which the clergy of our sevencounty area renew their priestly vows before me
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JAMES TAMAYO
and the faithful of the Church. It is during the Chrism Mass that I also bless the oils used in the dispensation of sacraments throughout the liturgical year. On Holy Thursday, we celebrate the institution of the priesthood and we give thanks for our priests who in persona Christi present to us Jesus’ most precious body and most precious blood in the holy sacrifice of the Mass. It is on Holy Thursday that another paschal tradition where bishops and priests worldwide replicate the humility of Jesus by washing the feet of the faithful just as Jesus did nearly 2,000 years ago. The Paschal Triduum continues with Good Friday liturgy and the Passion or Via Crucis. The final hours of the life of Jesus are recounted in great detail and with great emotion. On Holy Saturday night, churches throughout the world go from darkness into light with the blessing and lighting of the Paschal candle as Catholics enter into the Easter season. Just as you have prepared your celebration in your home or at the park, we have prepared for the celebration in the house of God. As one body in Christ, may we live in the hope of the resurrection, giving witness in all of our words and actions to His infinite love and mercy. May the peace of Christ be with you this Easter season and may all your celebrations and gatherings be done — Todo Con Amor!
WORST WEEK IN WASHINGTON
Trouble finds former talk show host By CHRIS CILLIZZA THE WASHINGTON POST
It was all going so well for Chris McDaniel. The Mississippi state senator trying to unseat longtime U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran in a June Republican primary had united a panoply of conservative groups behind him. He’d been disciplined in his critique that Cochran had gone Washington. Even Cochran allies acknowledged that the incumbent was in for a tough fight. But, to paraphrase singer Alanis Morissette, life has a funny way of sneaking up on you. McDaniel spent much of this past week trying to explain away things he said while hosting a conservative talk-radio show in the mid-2000s — things that don’t sound so good coming out of the mouth of someone who wants to be in the U.S. Senate. Here was radio-host McDaniel on paying reparations for slavery: “If they pass reparations, and my taxes are going up, I ain’t paying taxes.” And here he
was on the Mexican economy: “You know, a dollar bill can buy a mansion in Mexico. And I think we all get together, go down there, build us a studio for like 26 pesos, uh, and you know, put on a radio show right there in Mexico.” He also offered up his thoughts on race and homosexuality, among other hot-button topics. Candidate McDaniel’s defense? “Thousands of hours of radio clips and this is what we’re bringing up?” he asked the Associated Press in a telephone interview. “Are you serious?” Um, yes. Welcome to the big leagues. And with numbers out this past week showing that Cochran outraised him three to one in the first quarter, it appears McDaniel may not be ready to play. Chris McDaniel, for not realizing that sometimes radio silence is golden, you had the worst week in Washington. Congrats, or something. Cillizza covers the White House for The Washington Post and writes The Fix, its politics blog.
COLUMN
Former President Bush struts his brush as painter AUSTIN — Concepts some folks have trouble getting their brain around: Mack Brown as an ex-coach, Rick Perry as a presidential candidate, George W. Bush as a painter. “Hey Van Gogh, how’s the ear?” I was prepared to tell Bush if I got in wisecrack range during last week’s Civil Rights Summit. I didn’t, perhaps saving myself a Secret Service throw-down. But a few days earlier I did get to see Bush’s portraits of world leaders at his presidential library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. I’m no art expert (and I’m not even sure I know what I like when I see it), but I was impressed with Bush’s skills. I can imagine some folks, especially folks who didn’t think the Bush presidency was any good, won’t think the portraits are any good. But I can’t imagine anyone thinking they’re not interesting. We were puzzled when we first heard of Bush’s new hobby. The feedback may run along political lines, but I’m impressed by his willingness to try something new and hold it up for public scrutiny. “I fully understand the signature is worth more
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KEN HERMAN
than the painting,” Bush says on a video that plays at the exhibit. People magazine asked Bill Arning, director of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, to critique Bush’s portraits. He said they “definitely have something that makes them kind of memorable.” Read that as you will. Arning called them Chaim “Soutine-like portraits.” Soutine, as you know if you read Wikipedia, “developed an individual style more concerned with shape, color and texture over representation.” Darn if that isn’t exactly what I thought of Bush’s work, though I can’t imagine him telling his instructor, “I see myself doing something in the Soutine oeuvre.” Arning said the portraits are “thickly painted in what I would call ‘highamateur’ mode.” The “high” in “high amateur” probably refers to ranking, not inhaling. And Arning said he can imagine a young college graduate viewing Bush’s artwork as “an interesting take on portraiture in
2014.” That’s faint praise right up there with “something that makes them kind of memorable.” The expert said Bush’s portrait of Vladimir Putin is “Freddy Krueger-like,” but called the one of Bush’s dad “psychologically the deepest one.” “You could literally build cities in the flesh folds of (the elder Bush’s) face,” Arning told People. Arning’s bottom line is that “It’s interesting to see who cannot look at these because of who the author is. If you are so bent out of shape because of your history (with Bush), it’s an interesting moment of self-analysis to ask, ‘Can I look at these as paintings?”’ Can you? Three other Bush-related items of note: At the Civil Rights Summit at the LBJ Library last week Bush said, “Former presidents compare their libraries the way other men compare their — well, I wonder how LBJ would have handled that.” Kind of daring for a mixed audience, but welldelivered and well-received (though I have no intel on whether Laura Bush had any ex post facto criticism for her husband). The second Bush Li-
brary-related note is last week’s announcement that it had delivered the bullhorn Bush used for his Ground Zero remarks to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York, which opens May 21, for display through mid-July. Odd, isn’t it, that a president’s most famous speech was an impromptu one delivered through a bullhorn? And in the destructively politically polarized times in which we live, I smiled last week when exPresident George H.W. Bush showed up at the airport to welcome President Barack Obama to Houston, where he spoke at a Democratic fund-raiser. Why in the world would a Republican show up to welcome a Democrat in town to raise political money to defeat Republicans? “I just wanted to say hello to the president and the first lady,” the elder Bush explained. “When the president comes to your hometown, you show up and welcome him.” Older, wiser, kinder, gentler. Ken Herman is a columnist for the Austin American-Statesman. Email: kherman@statesman.com.
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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
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ing 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.
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
State
6A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2014
GOOD FRIDAY AT THE SHRINE
State takes group’s secluded ranch ASSOCIATED PRESS
ELDORADO — The secluded Texas ranch where followers of imprisoned polygamist Warren Jeffs lived in near isolation was seized by state agents on Thursday, nearly six years after FBI agents raided the property and removed hundreds of children amid child sex abuse allegations. The Texas Department of Public Safety said its agents took possession of the Yearning For Zion Ranch near Eldorado. In a statement, DPS said only eight adults were still living on the West Texas property and agreed to leave after meeting with agents. DPS said authorities helped them vacate the ranch and take an inventory. Jeffs is serving life in prison after being convicted in 2011 of sexually assaulting two girls he took as child brides. The ranch was owned by his Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,
a radical offshoot of mainstream Mormonism whose roughly 10,000 followers believe polygamy brings exaltation in heaven. They see Jeffs as God’s spokesman on earth. The state asked a judge to allow the forfeiture, alleging that FLDS leaders financed a $1.1 million purchase of the land in 2003 through money laundering. It also cited sexual assaults committed on the property. Under Texas law, authorities can seize property that was used to commit or facilitate certain criminal conduct. A judge granted the state’s request in January. The FBI and police stormed the compound in April 2008, amid allegations that underage girls were being forced into bigamist marriages. In addition to temporarily taking the 439 children into protective custody, authorities seized mountains of documents, including Jeffs’ personal journals. Images of church women in prairie
dress and men in largely identical, long sleeve shirts flooded national TV airwaves. All of the children were eventually returned. But about a dozen men, including Jeffs and other highranking FLDS lieutenants, were arrested on charges of sexual assault or bigamy and later convicted. During Jeffs’ trial, prosecutors used DNA evidence to show he fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl and played an audio recording of what they said was him sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl. They also played tapes in which Jeffs was heard instructing young women on how to sexually please him and, thus, please God. Jeffs also once faced criminal charges in Arizona and was convicted of accessory to rape in Utah in 2007. The church’s traditional headquarters is along the Utah-Arizona border, but it established the Texas compound in 2004.
Errors reach $23M ASSOCIATED PRESS
DENTON — Financial documents released by the University of North Texas show accounting irregularities that have overstated the university’s financial position by as much as $23 million. Audits conducted by the university and a private firm show misleading budget entries made since 2012 to account for unresolved collections. But they were registered as accounts receivable, which are often recorded as assets. The documents were obtained by the Denton Record-Chronicle through an open records request. The impetus for the audits was a complaint to the State Auditor’s Office in 2012 that suggested the budget entries had been made to “hide thousands of unreconciled transactions” since 2004, according to the documents re-
leased by UNT to the newspaper. The audit by the private firm, Deloitte & Touche, also found UNT inflated the amount of cash it had by $5.9 million. The university’s budget in 2012 was $520 million. The developments are another financial setback for UNT. In an unrelated matter, the university may have to repay millions for inappropriately using state money to pay some employee benefits. Chancellor Lee Jackson said Thursday that UNT has had inaccurate revenue estimates since 2011, if not earlier. “I saw UNT miss its budget estimates for several years,” Jackson said. “They were attributed to enrollment miscalculations. It may also be that they relate to the failure to receive some state benefits appropriations that were predicted or projected.”
Jackson said the university was using inadequate financial management procedures. While reform measures have been underway the past few years, the upgraded software and required training won’t be complete until next year, he said. This is the first time Jackson has fully outlined financial issues and a plan of action since the university first acknowledged the problems in February. Three top finance officials all resigned Feb. 13. Andrew Harris, vice president for finance and administration, and Jean Bush, senior vice president for finance, resigned from the Denton campus. Carlos Hernandez, who was serving as vice president of finance at UNT Dallas but was previously controller and associate vice president for UNT Denton, also resigned that day.
Photo by Gabe Hernandez/The Monitor | AP
People gather around the eighth station during the Stations of the Cross on Friday, at the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle - National Shrine in San Juan. People from around the Rio Grande Valley and Mexico gather to pray and remember the depictions of the final hours in Jesus’ life.
80 found at border camp ASSOCIATED PRESS
McALLEN — At least 80 immigrants suspected of entering the United States illegally were arrested in a makeshift encampment in suburban South Texas. They were found in an undeveloped patch of scrub near an abandoned tennis club in McAllen. They were camped under tents and huts camouflaged with mesquite branches and cacti. Some told authorities they had been there sleeping on pieces of cardboard with little food or water for at least a week. It was unclear whether any of those arrested Thursday afternoon were guides suspected of guarding the immigrants, Border Patrol spokesman Danny Tirado told The McAllen Monitor. A short time later, Border Patrol arrested 132 immigrants found in two buildings on a property in Alton, about 8 miles west of McAl-
len, according to KRGV-TV. The Border Patrol made more than 154,000 arrests on the section of the U.S.-Mexico border in southernmost Texas last year, more than anywhere else on the Southwest border. The majority of the immigrants come from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Guides typically lead the immigrants across the Rio Grande in smaller groups and then mass them in socalled stash houses on the Texas side of the border un-
til their transportation can be arranged for the next leg of their journey. “We ate one burrito per day,” said Alfredo Espinoza Rivera, who was arrested at the camp. He said he had left El Salvador about six weeks earlier, paying $7,000 to a smuggler. The 37-yearold said he was trying to reach his father, a U.S. citizen, in Los Angeles. “I’m scared to go back to my country,” he said. “There’s a lot of crime and it’s hard to live there.”
Lawman accepted bribe ASSOCIATED PRESS
McALLEN — A fired South Texas sheriff’s commander whose indictment carried federal prosecutors a step closer to his boss pleaded guilty Thursday to accepting a bribe. Former Hidalgo County sheriff’s commander Jose Padilla entered the plea in federal court in McAllen after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors. In return, drug trafficking and money laundering counts are being droppedn.
Padilla admitted taking cash from Tomas “El Gallo” Gonzalez, who has been accused of trafficking in drugs in 2011 and 2012. In return, he ran a variety of errands for Gonzalez and kept him informed of law enforcement activities. Padilla can be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and fined up to $250,000 or twice the amount he received. He remains free on bond pending sentencing July 17. Padilla was second-incommand to longtime Hi-
dalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño, who resigned March 28 and pleaded guilty to money laundering this week. Padilla’s plea is the latest in a series of arrests and convictions of law enforcement officers in Hidalgo County in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
Public Notice Region 11 of the Department of State Health Services, in partnership with the Texas Military Forces may conduct a health care program called “Operation Lone Star” in Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, Jim Hogg, Zapata and Webb Counties. Free medical and dental services may be provided for up to one week in late July and/or early August 2016. Questions should be addressed to: Innovative Readiness Coordinator ATTN: MSG Marta Cruz JFTX-J7 P.O. Box 5218 Austin, TX 78763-5218 (512) 782-5738 L-29
Nation
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A
Mormons targeted Farmers getting water By ANNIE KNOX
By SCOTT SMITH
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SALT LAKE CITY — Leaders of a national atheist group say the best spot to find a nonbeliever is in a place of faith. To that end, the American Atheists, in an effort to raise awareness and attract new members, are holding their annual conference over Easter weekend in the home of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They say the church’s large influence in Utah has made atheists in the state reluctant to speak about religious doubts for fear of being shunned. Atheist group leasers also criticize the LDS influence as having overstepped its boundaries in areas of public policy. “Religious morality is dictating the Legislature. That’s unconstitutional, and that’s why we’re fighting this fight,” atheist spokesman Dave Muscato said, speaking against the state’s ban on gay marriage. Mormon culture dominates Utah, and the effect can be seen in the state’s strict liquor laws and overwhelmingly conservative politics. About 60 percent of residents and about 4 in 5 Utah lawmakers identify as Latter-day Saints. Many residents view the church’s influence as responsible for what they consider a “pro-family” atmosphere that makes the state attractive, a University of Utah professor says. The state prioritizes children, education and good health, said Don Herrin, who teaches family studies. He said this helps people feel “safer, more upbeat, more positive.” The expansiveness of Mormon principles can be seen as “an achievement of something that is valued in the culture,” Herrin said. The head of an LDS anti-defamation group also dismisses the atheists’ criticism, saying the church doesn’t publicly
FRESNO, Calif. — Drought-stricken California farmers and cities are set to get more water as state and federal officials ease cutbacks due to recent rain and snow, officials announced on Friday. The Department of Water Resources said it is increasing water allotments from the State Water Project from zero to 5 percent of what water districts have requested. The State Water Project supplies water to 29 public agencies serving more than 25 million Californians and irrigates nearly a million acres of farmland. Also, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said it will supply 75 percent of the water requested by water agencies in the Sacramento Valley, up from the current
Photo by Rick Bowmer | AP
David Silverman, president of the American Atheists, addresses the American Atheists National Convention in Salt Lake City on Friday. In an effort to raise awareness and attract new members, the organization is holding their national conference over Easter weekend in the home of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. endorse legislative candidates. Scott Gordon, president of FairMormon, also says in an email that detractors are to be expected. “Any time you have an organization that has a large economic footprint in a community, there will be some who will resent it and want to push back against it,” he said. LDS officials say the church isn’t responding to the atheist group. Twice a year, tens of thousands of Mormons arrive in Salt Lake City for the church’s general conference. Early this month, attendees heard LDS church officials denounce gay marriage. A small group of a few dozen, led by Atheists of Utah along with the American Atheists, protested the conference. Atheist organizers expect hundreds of participants to arrive between Good Friday and Easter Sunday to a conference that last came to Salt Lake City in 1981. The group plans its
gatherings for Easter weekend in part to draw attention, but also because their members are generally available and hotel and convention centers offer good deals. As a warm-up, conference officials hosted a panel discussion Wednesday featuring Mormon and atheist experts speaking about public perceptions and stereotypes affecting their respective groups. Atheist speakers aimed to dispel the notion that members of their group are immoral or unfriendly. LDS panel members, meanwhile, said an incorrect notion about their faith is that it’s unwelcoming or exclusive. Still, Muscato says his group wants to make sure people of all faiths who have doubts, especially disillusioned Mormons in Utah, know they have allies. “If you don’t believe this stuff anymore,” he said, “if you don’t identify as Mormon and don’t believe in God, join our community.”
40 percent. “This is all a bit of good news in an otherwise bleak water year,” Mark Cowin, director of the California Department of Water Resources, said on a conference call with reporters. The state’s increase to a 5 percent allocation will make a little more than 200,000 acre-feet available. An acre-foot is enough water to supply a family of four for about a year. Federal and state officials said rain and snow from storms in February and March allowed them to increase water allotments. The news comes as the state is experiencing its third consecutive dry year. Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency in January. State officials said the recent storms also removed the need to immediately install rock barriers, blocking
certain channels of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, to prevent saltwater intrusion. The expensive barriers would have adverse impacts on fish and wildlife and worsen water quality for some agricultural users, according to state officials. Cowan said that the state has increased its water allotment but asked suppliers not to draw from it until after Sept. 1. Officials worry about yet another dry year for California in 2015. “The bottom line is we will continue to see more calls for water use restrictions throughout urban areas,” he said. “I expect those to be more and more severe over the course of the summer.” All California farmers and water users get the advantage of the state’s 5 percent increase, if they’re tapped into California’s State Water Project.
PÁGINA 8A
Zfrontera
Agenda en Breve LAREDO 04/19— Mercado Agrícola de El Centro de Laredo – Laredo Main Street, celebrando el Día de la Tierra, de 9 a.m. a 1 p.m. en Plaza Jarvis. Entrada gratuita. Estacionamiento gratuito en El Metro Transit Center, 1301 Farragut (comprando en el Mercado). 04/19— Easter Egg Hunt (Búsqueda de Cascarones de Pascua) de 12 p.m. a 2 p.m. en Chick-fil-A North Laredo, 2460 Monarch Drive. El evento es abierto a todas las edades. Habrá música, paseos en pony, zoológico, pintacaritas, juegos, y otros atractivos. 04/19— Planetario Lamar Bruni Vergara de TAMIU presenta “Zula Patrol: Down to Earth” a las 3 p.m.; “The Future is Wild” a las 4 p.m.; “Star Signs” a las 5 p.m.; y, “Stars of the Pharaohs” a las 6 p.m. Costo: 4 dólares para niños; y, 5 dólares, para adultos. 04/19— Sábado de Gloria, se celebrará la Santa Misa de Vigilia por la Pascua a las 8:30 p.m. en St. Patrick Church, 555 East Del Mar Blvd. 04/20— Domingo de Pascua, se celebrará Misa de Aurora por la Pascua, en Español, a las 6 a.m. El resto de las Misas serán, en español, a las 2 p.m. y 4 p.m.; y en inglés, a las 10 a.m. a las 12 p.m. y 6 p.m. 04/21— La escuela Centeno Elementary conmemorará el Día de la Tierra, a partir de las 9:30 a.m. y hasta las 11:05 a.m., dentro de la escuela, ubicada en 2710 de La Pita Magana Road. En evento contará con actividades de concientización sobre el cuidado del medio ambiente. 04/22— Se iniciará con la Primer Academia Ciudadana de la Patrulla Fronteriza del Sector de Laredo en español, todos los martes hasta el 10 de junio de 5:30 a 8:30 p.m. en el Laredo North Station, en la cuadra 11119 de McPherson Road. Más información llamando al 7643107. Aún es tentativo. 04/22— Festival de Jazz a las 5:30 p.m. en el Salón de Recitales del Center for the Fine and Performing Arts de TAMIU. Evento gratuito. 04/22— “The Calling” (El Llamado) es una serie de charlas sobre La Biblia que se realiza de 6:30 p.m. a 7:45 p.m. en Laredo Church of Christ Chapel, 1505 Calle del Norte, Suite 340. Lleve su Biblia. 04/22— El autor del libro “The Morenci Marines: A Tale of Small Town America and the Vietnam War”, Kyle Longley se presentará a las 7 p.m. en el Teatro del Centro Estudiantil de TAMIU. Evento gratuito.
NUEVO LAREDO, MÉXICO 04/19— El grupo de teatro Laberintus presentará “Sueño de una Noche de Verano”, de William Shakespeare, a las 4 p.m. y “La Nave”, de José Luis Pineda, a las 7 p.m. Ambas funciones serán en el Teatro del IMSS, entre calles Reynosa y Belden. Costo 20 pesos. 04/20— Participación Cultural y Artística a las 12 p.m. y 4 p.m. en el Parque Viveros, Parque Narciso Mendoza y El Laguito. Habrá música, danza, actividades interactivas, entre otras cosas. Entrada gratuita. 04/22— La compañía de teatro Laberintus presenta la obra “Memorabilia”, a las 7 p.m. dentro del teatro del IMSS, ubicado entre las calles Reynosa y Beldén (sector centro). Costo: 20 pesos. 04/24— Grupo de teatro Primer Sol presentará la obra teatral “La Madre Pasota” de Dario Fo, en el teatro Lucio Blanco, a las 7 p.m. Entrada libre.
SÁBADO 19 DE ABRIL DE 2014
TAMAULIPAS
Liberar a 179 TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Un total de 179 inmigrantes sin documentos legales fueron rescatados en cuatro municipalidades del estado de Tamaulipas, anunciaron autoridades el miércoles. Durante cuatro operativos que realizaron fuerzas del orden estatales y federales, en los municipios de Madero, Reynosa, Tampico y Matamoros, México, se lograron los rescates de 179 personas procedentes de Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador y Nicaragua. Las víctimas se encontraban
privados de su libertad. Cinco personas fueron arrestadas como resultado de los operativos. Fue el miércoles 9 de abril que personal de la Secretaría de Marina, en atención a una denuncia ciudadana, aseguró un domicilio en la ciudad de Madero donde se encontraban privados de su libertad 35 inmigrantes de Guatemala, El Salvador y Honduras. Entre los rescatados había un niño de 4 años de edad. Se logró la detención de tres presuntos implicados, quienes fueron identifica-
dos como Hugo César Rodríguez Niges, Servio Tulio Avalos González y Ernesto Alvarado Machado. Así mismo se decomisaron cuatro vehículos, tres armas largas, 312 cartuchos útiles de diferentes calibres y siete cargadores. El segundo operativo tuvo lugar en el municipio de Reynosa el 10 de abril, lugar donde la Policía Federal aseguró un domicilio en la colonia Pedro J. Méndez, donde se rescató a 76 inmigrantes de Guatemala, Honduras y El Salvador. No hubo detenidos.
Durante el tercer operativo en la ciudad de Tampico, la Policía Estatal Acreditable, logró el arresto de Eladio López Cardona, quien supuestamente intentaba meter a un autobús de pasajeros a 20 inmigrantes centroamericanos, entre ellos 16 menores de edad. Fue el 13 de abril que se llevó a cabo el cuarto operativo en la ciudad de Matamoros, donde personal de la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional y Policía Estatal Acreditable, en seguimiento a una denuncia ciudadana, rescataron de una casa
ubicada en el Fraccionamiento Estancia Residencial a 48 inmigrantes provenientes de Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador y Nicaragua, quienes tenían ya días privados de su libertad, según un comunicado de prensa. Se realizó la detención de una mujer identificada como Daniela Gómez García, probable integrante de una banda dedicada al tráfico de indocumentados. Entre los inmigrantes rescatados había 38 hombres, seis mujeres y cuatro niños.
CIUDAD MIER
CORTE
PUEBLO MÁGICO
Irá a prisión por 130 meses ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Foto de cortesía | Roxelio González Rangel
Vista general del la Catedral de Ciudad Mier, México, uno de los pueblos mágicos más visitados en el Estado de Tamaulipas.
DECLARACIÓN DE CULPABILIDAD
Acepta cargos por soborno ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
McALLEN— Un ex comandante del Condado de Hidalgo se declaró culpable de cargos por soborno, anunciaron autoridades federales. El jueves José A. Padilla, de 54 años de edad, procedente de Weslaco, entregó una declaración de culpabilidad por un cargo que lo acusa de recibir un soborno. Padilla es un ex comandante de la Oficina del Alguacil del
Condado de Hidalgo. Sirvió bajo la dirección del ex alguacil Guadalupe “Lupe” Treviño. La declaración indica que Padilla recibió dinero en efectivo por parte del presunto traficante de drogas, Tomás “El Gallo” González, durante 2011 y 2012. Padilla realizó varios trabajos para González, y le proporcionó información a González sobre las actividades de las organizaciones del orden, de acuerdo con
un comunicado de prensa. El Juez de Distrito de EU, Randy Crane aceptó el acuerdo de padilla. La audiencia de sentencia está programada para el 17 de julio. En este momento Padilla enfrenta una sentencia máxima de hasta 10 años en una prisión federal y una multa potencial de 250.000 dólares, o dos veces la cantidad que recibió. Se le permitió salir bajo fianza hasta la au-
diencia. La investigación que condujo a lo cargos estuvo a cargo de Investigaciones de Investigaciones de Seguridad Nacional, Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation y el Departamento de Seguridad Pública, División Rangers. Los fiscales asistentes que procesaron el caso fueron James Sturgis y Anibal Alaniz.
McALLEN— Un ciudadano mexicano fue sentenciado a casi 10 años en prisión por un cargo de conspiración para tráfico de marihuana, anunciaron autoridades federales el jueves. El jueves la Juez de Distrito de EU, Micaela Álvarez, sentenció a Silvestre Barrera-Villegas, de 52 años de edad, originario de Camargo, Tamaulipas, México, a cumplir con 130 meses en una prisión federal. Al no ser un ciudadano de Estados Unidos, esperará a ser deportado después de que cumpla con su condena. Barrera-Villegas, se declaró culpable el 29 de enero de 2014, de participar en una conspiración para traficar más de 8.000 kilogramos de marihuana en 2013. Barrera-Villegas admitió haber ayudado a Sostenes Ferreira-García, de 50 años de edad, de Rio Grande City, y a Jorge Luís Martínez-Moreno, de 28 años de edad, y a Homero David GutierrezAguilar, de 24 años, ambos de Camargo, en el contrabando de marihuana procedente de México, cerca de La Casita, para después ser distribuida en Estados Unidos. Ferreira-García, quien coordinó el contrabando y la futura distribución, previamente fue sentenciado a 240 meses en prisión federal. Martínez-Morales y Gutiérrez-Aguilar, quienes ayudaron en la carga y descarga de los narcóticos fueron sentenciados a 140 y 112 meses en prisión, respectivamente. Durante la sentencia de Barrera-Villegas la corte tomó en consideración información que Barrera-Villegas, dio sobre Ferreira García y Rubén Patiño-García. Patiño-García, alias Orejon, de 19 años de edad, y Rosbel MorinBarrera, alias Zacate, de 54 años de edad, ambos de México, continúan fugitivos. Las personas que tengan información sobre el paradero de Patiño-García y Rosbel Morin-Barrera, se les pide llamar al 866-3472423.
COLUMNA
Describe vivencias de Santa Anna tras huida POR RAÚL SINECIO ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
El 9 de agosto de 1855 Antonio López de Santa Anna abandonó la presidencia de México, por primera vez. Huyó ante la Revolución de Ayutla, que protagonizaron los liberales. A cuenta del saqueo hacendario, lleva repleta las escarcelas. Ocupó la otra finca de Simón Bolívar. Incursionó en la ganadería. Cultivó tabaco y caña de azúcar. Empleó a lugareños
pobres. De este modo multiplicó caudales ensombrecidos por corruptelas y robos cometidos durante su dictadura postrera. En apariencia, solo se encarga de faenas rurales. La verdad pronto reluce. Dos años después –indica Agustín Yáñez—en tierras mexicanas aparece “una proclama virulenta contra Juan Álvarez”, líder de la Revolución de Ayutla. Según esto, financia y ordena circular los impresos el que asegura ocuparse exclusiva-
mente de “actividades campestres” en Suramérica. Bajo la manga aún esconde sorpresas. Esto comenzó a descubrirse en 1857, cuando México estrenó Carta Magna. El presidente Ignacio Comonfort tuvo noticia de preparativos intervencionistas, que desean la corona hispana. En febrero sele informa que buscan conseguir “unos 2 000 oficiales y otros auxilios”. Santa Anna sabía, de ante mano, sobre estos planes secretos.
Molesto porque Santa Anna lo hizo menos, Domingo Cortés fue hasta París en septiembre de 1857, y dio mayores detalles al representante diplomático José María Lafragua. Revela Cortés que él mismo entregó al gobierno ibérico el 8 de noviembre de 1856 una misiva del caudillo exiliado, pidiéndole apoyo militar y económico para imponernos un régimen monárquico. Reiteraría la solicitud en posterior comunicación, que entregó a Miguel Lozada,
emisario sustituto. Conforme a Cortés, España dio el visto bueno. La conjura estaba orientada a que “se pronunciaran por Santa Anna Veracruz y Tampico, México, presentándose entonces la escuadra española y todo quedaría consumado, fijándose para ello el mes de enero de 1858”, explicaron Antonia Pi-Suñer y Agustín Sánchez. (Cortesía de Raúl Sinencio, según apareció publicado en “La Razón” de Tampico, Tamaulipas.)
Nation
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2014
Shifting earth raises alarm By MEAD GRUVER ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A slow-moving landslide in the Wyoming resort town of Jackson sped up significantly Friday, splitting a house in two, causing a huge uplift in a road and a Walgreens parking lot, and threatening to destroy several other unoccupied homes and businesses. The 100-foot-high hillside is unlikely to liquefy and collapse suddenly like the March 22 landslide in Oso, Wash., that killed 39 people, a geologist said at a town meeting Friday. But large blocks of earth could tumble down one piece at a time, presenting a drawn-out threat to four homes on the hill and to two apartment buildings and four businesses below, said George Machan, a landslide specialist consulting for the town. “Is it weeks, is it longer? I really don’t know,” Machan said. “I think it’s really unpredictable how long it might take. I don’t expect it to end in a day.” He said geologists were still trying to fully understand the mechanics of the slide. Friday, a crack that ran beneath one house vacant for the past year shifted downward and split the structure in two, the Jackson Hole News & Guide reported. Inside the home, floor planks have been coming apart and cabinets have been falling off the walls for the past two weeks. Three nearby homes also are in the high-risk zone. Town officials first noticed significant hill movement April 4. They evacuated 42 homes and apartment units April 9, when the slide was moving at about an inch a day. By Friday, the rate had surged to a foot a day. Overnight, the shifting earth had bulged a road and a parking lot at the foot of the hill by as much as 10 feet. The groundswell pushed a small town water pump building 15 feet toward West Broadway, the town’s main drag. A large crack continued to widen near the four homes at highest risk partway up a small mountain on the west side of town. Meanwhile, a steady stream of rock and dirt tumbled off the hill gouged with fresh gullies. Efforts to slow the slide — such as pouring rock and dirt fill behind large, Lshaped concrete barriers arranged in a line at the base of the slide — were on hold to keep workers out of the danger zone. “It’s really not safe to put people out there. You try to do what you can, but at some point you’re really restricted from entering the area,” Machan said.
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
Man charged in road shootings By MARIA SUDEKUM ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After nearly a month of reports of gunshots being fired at vehicles and more than 100 tips, authorities announced charges Friday against a Kansas Cityarea man suspected in connection with about a dozen highWHITAKER way shootings that wounded three people. Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said at a news conference that 27-year-old Mohammed Whitaker, of Grandview, has been charged with 18 felony counts and was being held on $1 million cash bail. Baker said Whitaker, who had been under surveillance by police for about a week before his arrest, was charged with two counts of shooting into a motor vehicle and injuring a person, seven counts of shooting into a motor vehicle and nine counts of armed criminal action. “This has impacted all of us, each side of State Line, each side of the riv-
er,” Baker said. “It’s been something that’s been at the hearts and thoughts of all us since the day this case first broke.” Police Chief Darryl Forte declined to discuss a possible motive for the shootings, and the probable cause affidavit released Friday also does not address the issue. Baker’s office said it was unclear whether Whitaker had a lawyer. Baker said the public played a key role leading to Whitaker’s arrest by providing more than 100 tips, including some vital information. Among the tips included descriptions of the suspect and his car, his Illinois license plate number, and the discovery of spent shell casings reported by someone looking for a lost cellphone, according to the probable cause statement. “We would not be here but for the tips that came in, but for the individuals that were willing to tell us about car descriptions and other information that they had. ... Without those types of citizens in our community, I wouldn’t be able to stand here today with 18 felony charges,” Baker said. A reward of up to $10,000 was offered for in-
Photo by Allison Long/The Kansas City Star | AP
A car is removed by Kansas City police from the house, far right, of a Grandview man suspected in a series of shootings that occurred on area roadways since early March, according to Police Chief Darryl Fort. He was arrested Thursday. formation leading to an arrest. Police haven’t said if anyone will be claiming the reward. At least six of the shootings occurred near Grandview, the Kansas City suburb that’s home to an area known as the Grandview Triangle, where three interstates and U.S. 50 intersect. Other shootings were reported in the Missouri suburbs of Blue Springs and Lee’s Summit and Leawood, Kan. Two of the wounded drivers were shot in the leg, and the third was shot in the arm. None of their wounds was considered life-threatening. The last confirmed
shooting believed to be connected to the case was reported April 6, about a month after the shootings began. Late last week, police said they had connected a dozen shootings to the same person, but they have said little else about how the shootings were linked or what kind of vehicle the suspect drove. Whitaker was taken into custody Thursday at a home near Interstate 49, one of the highways that intersects at the Grandview Triangle. Police also confiscated a dark green Dodge Neon there. Police began following Whitaker on April 11 and
also obtained a GPS warrant for his car. Police surveillance crews watched Whitaker meet with a man in a business parking lot to buy a firearm. The man, however, didn’t sell Whitaker the weapon because Whitaker wouldn’t provide identification. The probable cause statement also described other encounters Whitaker had with police and the public. On April 13, Whitaker “braked rapidly” while he was being followed by police, the statement said. The officer saw Whitaker “turn his head and upper torso to the right directly facing the officer,” according to the statement. On April 16, police followed Whitaker onto a frontage road off U.S. 71 where Whitaker followed a white Honda, staying behind and to the left of the Honda. “As the Honda slowed to make a right hand turn ... Whitaker intentionally crossed all lanes of traffic and veered directly at the Honda,” the statement said. “The Honda completed the turn and Whitaker narrowly missed it. Surveillance officers could see Whitaker looking directly at the Honda.”
Crying child smothered over video game ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOMOSASSA, Fla. — A Florida man suffocated his young, crying son so he could play video games on his Xbox and watch TV, sheriff ’s deputies said Friday. Cody Wygant, 24, is charged with third-degree murder and child neglect. He was being held Friday without bail at the Citrus County Jail. Sixteen-month-old Daymeon Wygant wasn’t breathing when emergency crews arrived at the home Thursday morning.
The child pronounced dead at a hospital, investigators said. “It is inconceivable that a father could kill his infant son — it just baffles the mind,” Sheriff Jeff Dawsy said. “Our only sense of relief now comes from knowing that we did exactly what we needed to do to bring justice to him swiftly. Our prayers go out to those who knew and loved Daymeon.” Wygant said he was frustrated because the boy was crying uncontrollably, preventing him from playing his Xbox games, ac-
cording to investigators. He covered the boy’s nose and mouth for three to four minutes until he became lethargic, then placed him in a playpen and covered him with bedding, which was tucked around the boy’s body and head, officials said. Wygant didn’t check on Daymeon for five hours, investigators said, while he played Xbox and watched three episodes of the television show “Fringe.” By the time he checked on the child, Daymeon had turned blue and was unresponsive, they said.
Wygant is the primary care giver for the child, and the mother — Wygant’s girlfriend — was not home, officials said. During preliminary interviews with the parents, they indicated the child had been placed in the playpen around 7 a.m. Thursday, officials said. But upon further questioning, Wygant said he suffocated the child around 1 a.m., they indicated. The medical examiner performed an autopsy, but results haven’t been made public. Sheriff ’s officials said
Wygant moved to Florida in 2013 and has no family in the area except for his girlfriend. Her name was not released. They have a 3-month-old daughter, who is in the custody of the Department of Children and Families. Before moving to Florida, records show that Wygant lived in Redding, Calif., which is about 200 miles north of San Francisco. County court records show several arrests, including two felonies, dating to 2008. Details about the charges weren’t immediately available.
International
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2014
Pope at Good Friday service By FRANCES D’EMILIO ASSOCIATED PRESS
ROME — Desperate migrants, suicidal failed business owners, torture victims and all people suffering in the world were remembered at a torch-lit Good Friday Way of the Cross procession presided over by Pope Francis at the Colosseum. With his head bowed and eyes often closed, Francis joined tens of thousands of faithful in listening to meditations read aloud in the ancient arena in downtown Rome. One meditation, read by Italian actress Virna Lisi, singled out the plight of child soldiers. Other readings recalled migrants who risk death in trying to reach the shores of affluent nations, women and children enslaved by human traffickers and inmates in overcrowded prisons. The selection of subjects reflected the pope’s resolve to focus the Catholic church’s attention on those who suffer, often on the margins of society. The motif of the marginalized also mirrored much of Francis’ outreach in his first year of his papacy. His first pilgrimage outside of Rome as pope took him to a tiny island near Sicily where thousands of migrants arrive on smugglers’ rickety boats. Francis wore a white overcoat over a plain white cassock against the chill of the night. Considering Good Fri-
Photo by Ricardo Mazalan | AP
Friends surround Melquin Merchan, an 18-year-old painter from Aracataca, as he paints a portrait of Gabriel Garcia Marquez in front of the house where the Nobel laureate was born in Aracataca, Colombia, on Friday. Garcia Marquez died at the age of 87 in Mexico City on Thursday.
Photo by Alessandra Tarantino | AP
Faithful and nuns attend the Way of the Cross torchlight procession in Rome, on Friday. Pope Francis presided over the procession at the Colosseum marking Good Friday in Rome. The pope’s resolve to focus the Catholic church’s attention on those who suffer was reflected in meditations read aloud to commemorate Jesus’ crucifixion. day, which commemorates Jesus’ death by crucifixion, as a day for silence, Francis chose not to prepare any homily for the service, Vatican officials said. Another of the meditations spoke of children whose health might be endangered by Italian mobsters’ dumping of toxic wastes in their neighborhoods and farmland near Naples. Mothers of the children had written to the pope in hopes of drawing attention to the problem. Outside the Colosseum and along the broad boulevard approaching it, tens of thousands of pilgrims,
tourists and Romans stood elbow-to-elbow. They clutched prayer books and candles, in holders fashioned from brightly colored paper. Many of them and tens of thousands more are expected to crowd into St. Peter’s Square on Sunday for Easter Mass celebrated by Francis at the Vatican. Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, Christians in the Holy Land commemorated the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Good Friday prayers and processions through Jerusalem’s Old City. Thousands of Christian pilgrims filled the cobblestone alleyways of the Old
City on Friday along the Via Dolorosa, Latin for the “Way of Suffering.” They carried wooden crosses and followed the 14 stations ending at the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Tradition says the church was built on the site where Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. The Easter holiday and Jewish Passover coincide this year. According to the Gospels, Jesus ate his last supper — a Passover meal — hours before he was betrayed. Christians believe Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and resurrected on Easter Sunday.
Captain, crew facing arrest By YOUKYUNG LEE AND FOSTER KLUG ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOKPO, South Korea — The investigation into South Korea’s ferry disaster focused on the sharp turn it took just before it began listing and on the possibility that a quicker evacuation order by the captain could have saved lives, officials said Friday, as rescuers struggled to find some 270 people still missing and feared dead. Police said a high school vice principal who had been rescued from the ferry was found hanging Friday from a pine tree on Jindo, an island near the sunken ship where survivors have been housed. He was the leader of a group of 323 students traveling on the ship on a school excursion, and said in a suicide note that he felt guilty for being alive while more than 200 of his students were missing. Prosecutors and police also said Friday they have asked a court to issue arrest warrants for the captain and two other crewmembers. Besides the teacher, at least 28 people are now confirmed dead from the ferry, the Sewol, which sank Wednesday. Officials said there were 174 survivors and about 270 people remain missing, many of them high school students. With the chances of survival becoming slimmer by the hour, it was shaping up to be one of South Korea’s worst disasters, made all the more heartbreaking by the likely loss of so many young people, aged 16 or 17. The ship had left the northwestern port of Incheon on Tuesday on an overnight journey to the holiday island of Jeju in the south with 476 people aboard. It capsized within hours of the crew making a distress call to the shore at 9 a.m. Soon, only its dark blue keel jutted out over the surface. By late Friday, even that had disappeared, and rescuers floated two giant beige buoys to mark the area. Navy divers attached underwater air bags to the 6,852-ton ferry to prevent it from sinking further, the Defense Ministry said. Coast guard officials said divers began pumping air into the ship in an attempt to sustain any survivors. On Jindo’s shore, angry and bewildered relatives watched the rescue at-
Photo by Damian Dovarganes | AP
Mon Han Bae, president of the Korean American Federation of Los Angeles, lights incense during a vigil for victims aboard the sunken South Korean ferry boat at the Korean Federation of Los Angeles on Wednesday. tempts. Some held a Buddhist prayer ritual, crying and praying for their relatives’ safe return. “I want to jump into the water with them,” said Park Geum-san, 59, the great-aunt of a missing student, Park Ye-ji. “My loved one is under the water and it’s raining. Anger is not enough.” The school vice principal found hanging was identified as Kang Min-kyu. In his suicide note, Kang said he wanted to take responsibility for what happened because he had led the trip, according to police. He asked that his body be cremated and the ashes scattered at the accident site. South Korean officials offered some information about what may have led to the sinking. They said the accident happened at a point where the ferry had to make a turn. Prosecutor Park Jae-eok said investigators were looking at whether the third mate ordered a turn that was so sharp that it caused the ship to list. The ship made the sharp turn between 8:48 a.m. and 8:49 a.m., but it’s not known whether that was done voluntarily or because of some external factor, said Nam Jae-heon, a spokesman for the Maritime Ministry. Another angle being probed is the role of the captain, 68-year-old Lee Joon-seok. Yang Jung-jin, a senior prosecutor, said the captain was not present on the bridge when the ship was passing through an area with many islands clustered closely together, something he said is required by law so the captain can help a mate make a turn. The captain also abandoned people in need of help and rescue, he said. “The captain escaped before the passengers,” Yang
said. Two crewmembers on the bridge of the ferry — a 25-year-old female mate and a 55-year-old helmsman — also failed to reduce speed in the waters near the islands and conducted a sharp turn, Yang said. They also did not carry out necessary measures to save lives, he said. A transcript of a ship-toshore radio exchange and interviews by The Associated Press showed the captain delayed the evacuation for half an hour after a South Korean transportation official told the ship it might have to evacuate. The recommendation by the unidentified official at the Jeju Vessel Traffic Services Center came at 9 a.m., just five minutes after a distress call by the Sewol. In the exchange, the Sewol crewmember says: “Currently the body of the ship has listed to the left. The containers have listed as well.” The Jeju VTS officer responds: “OK. Any loss of human life or injuries?” The ship’s answer is: “It’s impossible to check right now. The body of the ship has tilted, and it’s impossible to move.” The VTS officer then says: “Yes, OK. Please wear life jackets and prepare as the people might have to abandon ship.” “It’s hard for people to move,” replies the crew member on the radio. Oh Yong-seok, a helmsman on the ferry, told the AP that the first instructions from the captain were for passengers to put on life jackets and stay where they were as the crew tried to control the ship. About 30 minutes later, the captain finally gave the order to evacuate, Oh said, adding that he wasn’t sure if, in the confusion and
chaos on the bridge, the order was relayed to the passengers. Several survivors told the AP that they never heard any evacuation order. Lee, the captain, made a brief, videotaped appearance with his face hidden by a gray hoodie. “I am really sorry and deeply ashamed,” Lee said. “I don’t know what to say.” On Friday, strong currents and rain made rescue attempts difficult. Divers worked in shifts to try to get into the sunken vessel, where most of the missing passengers are thought to be trapped, coast guard spokesman Kim Jae-in said. Three vessels with cranes arrived at the site to prepare to salvage the ferry. But they will not hoist the ship before getting approval from family members of those believed trapped inside because the lifting could endanger any survivors, said a coast guard officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing department rules. Chonghaejin Marine Co. Ltd, in Incheon, the operator of the ferry, added more cabin rooms to three floors after its 2012 purchase of the ship, which was built in Japan in 1994, an official at the private Korean Register of Shipping told the AP. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter was still under investigation, said the extension work between October 2012 and February 2013 increased the Sewol’s weight by 187 tons and added enough room for 117 more people. The Sewol had a capacity of 921 when it sank. As is common in South Korea, the ship’s owner paid for a safety check by the Korean Register of Shipping, which found that the Sewol passed all safety tests, including whether it could stabilize in the event of tilting, the official said. Prosecutors raided and seized materials and documents from the ship’s operator, as well as six companies that had conducted safety checks, revamped the ship, or loaded container boxes, a sign that investigators will likely examine the ship’s addition of rooms and how containers were loaded. The last major ferry disaster in South Korea was in 1993, when 292 people were killed.
Author loved, disliked in his hometown By CESAR GARCIA AND JOSHUA GOODMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARACATACA, Colombia — Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his homeland had a relationship as conflicted as any in the Nobel laureate’s twisting and impassioned novels. Colombia inspired and dismayed Garcia Marquez in equal measure, and the feeling was often mutual. Nowhere is that ambiguity more evident than in this sweltering hamlet that was the inspiration for the fictitious Macondo in “One Hundred Years of Solitude.” Since the author died Thursday at the age of 87, residents and holidaymakers have been flocking to the zinc-roofed home where he was born and raised by his maternal grandparents until the age of 8, paying their final, tear-filled respects to a man who was a symbol of pride for a country long torn by violence. President Juan Manuel Santos declared three days of national mourning for the “most loved and most admired compatriot of all times.” Still some in this impoverished Caribbean town regret, with not a little bit of rancor, that he didn’t use his considerable wealth and fame to help residents overcome their perennial neglect.
An aqueduct officials have promised for decades to relieve frequent water outages has never been completed despite numerous ribbon-cutting ceremonies. And when authorities converted his childhood home into a museum in 2006, Garcia Marquez reviewed the blueprints but didn’t donate a penny to its $350,000 restoration. “He should’ve thought more about his people and not left us on our own,” said Mariby Zapata, a 31year-old dentist. A few steps away, Robinson Leyva countered that putting the town of 45,000 on the map was generous enough. “Of course he helped us,” said the 49-year-old teacher. “But officials here didn’t know how to take advantage of his influence.” Some of Garcia Marquez’s mixed feelings stemmed from the way he was treated for his leftist political views. He fled the country in 1981 after friends and government officials warned him that the army wanted to interrogate him about alleged ties to a guerrilla group. When he was awarded the Nobel Prize a year later, conservative President Belisario Betancur attempted to quash the international backlash against the writer’s treatment by offering him ambassadorships in Europe.
Photo by Marco Ugarte | AP
People who were participating in a Holy Week procession stop after a strong earthquake jolted Mexico City on Friday. A powerful magnitude-7.2 earthquake shook central and southern Mexico but there were no early reports of major damage or casualties.
Quake strikes parts of Mexico By JOSE ANTONIO RIVERA ASSOCIATED PRESS
ACAPULCO, Mexico — A powerful magnitude-7.2 earthquake shook central and southern Mexico on Friday, sending panicked people into the streets. Some walls cracked and fell, but there were no reports of major damage or casualties. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake at about 9:30 a.m. Zapata time was centered on a long-dormant faultline northwest of the Pacific resort of Acapulco, where many Mexicans are vacationing for the Easter holiday. It was felt across at least a half-dozen states and Mexico’s capital, where it collapsed several walls and left larges cracks in some facades. Debris covered sidewalks around the city. Around the region,
there were reports of isolated and minor damage, such as fallen fences, trees and broken windows. Chilpancingo, capital of the southern state of Guerrero, where the quake was centered, reported a power outage, but service was restored after 15 minutes. In Acapulco, 59-year-old Enedina Ramirez Perez was having breakfast, enjoying the holiday with about 20 family members, when her hotel started to shake. “People were turning over chairs in their desperation to get out, grabbing children, trampling people,” the Mexico City woman said. “The hotel security was excellent and starting calming people down. They got everyone to leave quietly.” The quake struck 170 miles southwest of Mexico City, where people fled high-rises and took to the streets.
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
JOBLESS RATE Continued from Page 1A at 9.4 percent, according to commission figures. “The Texas economy continues to move in the right direction with Texas employers adding 310,000 jobs over the year,” said Andres Alcantar, commission chairman. “All 11 of the major industries experienced annual job growth, with five industries exceeding growth rates of 3 percent.” Professional and business services added 5,600 jobs in
March, more than any other major industry, officials said. The Texas jobless rate has not been at a seasonally adjusted 5.5 percent since October 2008, said Lisa Givens, a commission spokeswoman. “What’s also impressive is our labor force is continuing to swell,” Givens said. “We’re seeing a labor force at nearly 13 million, civilian labor force.”
Texas had a 2013 estimated population of nearly 26.5 million, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures. “In Texas, we acknowledge that it is our employers, both small and large, that are the economic engine of this great state,” said Commissioner Hope Andrade. “Private employers added 278,400 total jobs over the last year for an annual growth rate of 3 percent.”
EXPLOSION Continued from Page 1A
Photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP
Thousands of people gather under the roof of a pavilion for a memorial service Thursday, in West. The service honored those killed by a fertilizer plant explosion one year ago. Fifteen people were killed, including 12 volunteer firefighters and others responding to the fire, and more than 200 were injured. crowded in a pavilion at the local fairgrounds Thursday night, the oneyear anniversary of the explosion. A moment of silence at 7:51 p.m. marked the exact time of the leveling blast in a town that is recovering but still has a long way to go. Photos of the 15 victims were shown on a large screen, including Joey Pustejovsky, a 29year-old married father who was among several volunteer firefighters killed. “I called one of the firefighters at 2 a.m. that night. I said, ‘Tell me, I want to know.’ And he did,” his brother, Brad Pustejovsky, recalled Thursday night. He told his father, and they decided not to tell his brother’s wife and their mother for about three days, “but I knew,” he said. Yet soon after, Joey Pustejovsky’s son, who was only 4 1/2 years old at the time, raised $83,000 by selling hotdogs to build a park honoring his father. Organizers were hoping to focus on those kinds of efforts Thursday, honoring the past but looking to the future. The ceremony featured a choir singing “Amazing Grace” on a stage decorated with ferns
and flickering candles on which middle school students scrawled messages such as “Rise Up, West” and “Pray for West.” West was settled by Czech immigrants more than a century ago, and some of their grandchildren and great-grandchildren still call the town home. Its Czech bakeries are well-known among drivers on Interstate 35 between Dallas and Austin. The signs of the town’s physical progress are obvious: Gone are the dozens of wrecked homes with tongue-in-cheek “For Sale!” messages spraypainted on their walls, and about 70 homes are finished or in the process of construction. Two new replacement schools and a nursing home will soon be built. But residents are cleareyed about the challenges ahead. Payments from the city’s long-term recovery fund, which received about $3.6 million in donations, have been delayed as organizers deal with unforeseen paperwork and federal regulations. The city’s go-to person for that sort of work was the city secretary, Joey Pustejovsky. West Mayor Tommy
Muska said he’s closely watching the emotional toll the blast has taken on the city’s 2,800 residents, especially for some of the more than 200 people hurt in the blast who are still recovering. Muska said Thursday afternoon that the town was considering rebuilding the plant, noting it was central to West’s economy — but he acknowledged it was a highly controversial idea. He also said he was negotiating with a flag manufacturer and a recycling company to set up operations in West. Holly Harris, whose husband, Dallas Fire-Rescue Capt. Kenneth Luckey Harris, died in the explosion, is among local residents who say they have chosen to push forward. They don’t want to dwell on unanswered questions, such as what sparked the fire or what firefighters knew going in — or what could have been done to prevent it. “It’s just a choice that we’ve made that we’re not going to be sad,” she said before Thursday’s ceremony. “I mean, we are sad at times, but we’re going to try to make everything a happy situation and try to get on with our lives.”
HEROIN where authorities have never seen them. In late January, police in Honduras made their first discovery of a poppy farm in the country, raiding a sophisticated mountain greenhouse as big as a soccer field. That same week, soldiers and police in western Guatemala came under attack by farmers armed with clubs and gas bombs when the security personnel moved in to destroy 160 acres of poppy. Along the border with Mexico, U.S. authorities seized 2,162 kilos of heroin last year, a record amount, up from 367 kilos in 2007. The needle habit in the United States has made a strong comeback as heroin rushes into the country. Use of the drug in the United States increased 79 percent between 2007 and 2012, according to federal data, triggering a wave of overdose deaths and an “urgent and growing public health crisis,” Attorney General Eric Holder warned last month. While prescription painkillers remain more widely abused and account for far more fatal overdoses, heroin has been “moving all over the country and popping up in areas you didn’t see before,” said Carl Pike, a senior official in the Special Operations Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration. With its low price and easy portability, heroin has reached beyond New York, Chicago and other places where it has long been available. Rural areas of New England, Appalachia and the Midwest are being hit especially hard, with cities such as Portland, Maine, St. Louis and Oklahoma City struggling to cope with a new generation of addicts. Pike and other DEA officials say the spread is the result of a marketing strategy developed by Mexican traffickers. They have targeted areas where prescription pill abuse is worst, sending pushers to “set up right outside the
methadone clinics,” said one DEA agent. Some new heroin users begin by snorting the drug. But like addicts of synthetic painkillers who go from swallowing the pills to crushing and snorting them, they eventually turn to intravenous injection of heroin for a more powerful high. By then, experts say, they have crossed a psychological threshold — overcoming the stigma of needle use. At the same time, they face diminishing satisfaction from prescription pills that can cost $80 each on the street. Those addicts are susceptible to high-grade heroin offered for as little as $4 a dose, but with a narcotic payload that can top anything from a pharmacy. While Colombia has historically been the biggest source of heroin sold in the United States, Mexican output has since surpassed it, DEA officials say. Together, the two countries account for more than 90 percent of the U.S. heroin supply, and nearly all of it is smuggled into this country by Mexican traffickers. As seizures of cocaine and marijuana along the border have fallen over the past several years, flows of methamphetamine and heroin have soared, federal statistics show. Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel continues to be the biggest provider of heroin to the United States, controlling as much as half of the North American market. Sinaloa boss Joaquin “El Chapo” (Shorty) Guzman grew up here in the mountains. Guzman was captured by Mexican authorities in February, but the drug trade in the western Sierra Madre carries on without a hitch. Young men with AK-47s, 9mm pistols and hand-held radios patrol the dirt roads on four-wheelers, crisscrossing the mountains among dusty little villages and ridgeline airstrips. The entire region is a gi-
ZETAS lasted about two hours, during which the man was struck about 50 times. Later, he allegedly managed to free himself from the restraints, struck Plato and ran past Ochoa. He jumped over a concrete fence that was lined with glass on top, injuring his hands, the complaint states. He ran several blocks and hid underneath a vehicle. Three shots were heard in the area. He then went knocking door-to-door seeking
Continued from Page 1A ant drug farm and has been for decades. “There’s no other way to make a living here,” said Silla, who has brought up his sons in the business, as his father did before him. Feeling confident after several years of good harvests, Silla and other families here planted more poppies than ever this year, but their radiant purple, red and white flowers were spotted by aerial surveillance last month. Mexican soldiers in pickups came roaring up the creek bed soon after and tore out the crop, chopping up irrigation hoses and searching homes for guns and cash. The Mexican military says that last year it destroyed 36,000 acres of opium poppies, down from more than 40,000 in 2011. Mexican officials have not explained the decline, but analysts say soldiers are too busy battling cartels and patrolling cities, with less manpower available for crop eradication. A kilo of the raw, sticky opium sap that is used to make heroin sells wholesale for $1,500 in the northern Sierra Madre, nearly double its 2012 price, according to growers. With fertilizer and favorable weather, a well-tended poppy field can yield eight kilos of sap per acre, nearly enough to make a kilo of raw heroin. Opium poppies are also planted farther south in Mexican states such as Michoacan, Guerrero and Oaxaca, where yields are significantly lower. Unlike marijuana, which cartel peons usually carry across the border in backpacks, heroin (like cocaine) is typically smuggled inside fake vehicle panels or concealed in shipments of legitimate commercial goods and is more difficult to detect. By the time it reaches northern U.S. cities, a kilo may be worth $60,000 to $80,000, prior to being diluted or “cut” with fillers such as lactose and powdered milk.
Continued from Page 1A
help, but people refused, turned him away, fearing retaliation, the complaint states. He allegedly made it to a pharmacy, where he hid behind a walk-in refrigerator for about three hours. Two assailants walked inside looking for him, but pharmacy representatives did not give him up, according to the complaint. He later sought help from a Mexican military convoy driving by the area. Soldiers went to the location where the al-
leged assault occurred. No one was there. Mexican troops then turned him over to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at bridge II. Federal authorities allege Ochoa had demanded $55,000 from the man’s girlfriend. Ochoa threatened to kill her, her children and her parent if she would not comply, the complaint states. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 7282568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2014
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2014
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Sports&Outdoors NCAA FOOTBALL: TEXAS LONGHORNS
A Strong debut Photo by Kathy Willens | AP
Boston designated hitter David Ortiz plans to visit the Boston Marathon finish line after the Red Sox face the Baltimore Orioles on Monday.
Ortiz to visit finish line By KEN POWTAK ASSOCIATED PRESS
File photo by Eric Gay | AP
Charlie Strong will make his coaching debut with the Longhorns on Saturday in the spring game.
New Texas coach hits the sideline for spring game By JIM VERTUNO ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN, Texas — For the first time since 1997, the Texas Longhorns will suit up for a game without Mack Brown on the sideline. That Saturday is just the annual spring scrimmage hardly matters. This is Charlie Strong’s burnt orange coaching debut, the first time he will put a Texas team on the field
that has trained under his leadership, practiced his playbook and begun taking on the identity of the coach hired to dig the program out of four years of mediocrity. “We are going to allow our players to just go out and play and have a good time,” Strong said. “I always look at that game like you did all that hard work, you had 14 good practices, and now is a chance to see the fans in the stadium—I
know we are going to have a good turnout.” Fans will be watching for any sign their team is ready or not to return to the top of the Big 12. Strong had some time to enjoy the excitement over his hiring, but Saturday will be the first time Longhorns fan will start demanding results, even if it is just an intrasquad scrimmage. Strong at least set it up for some real evaluation: the first
team defense will play against the first team offense. But Strong already has a problem at quarterback. David Ash, the starter at the beginning of 2013 until a concussion in the second game, now has a fractured bone in his left foot and will not play Saturday. That leaves sophomore Tyrone Swoopes as the only scholarship quarterback avail-
NBA: DALLAS MAVERICKS
BOSTON — David Ortiz wants to visit the Boston Marathon finish line Monday after the Red Sox are done with their Patriots’ Day game against Baltimore. Just over a year ago, two bombs went off near the finish line, less than a mile from Fenway Park, about an hour after the Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured. “After the game, we used to stick around and go down Boylston (Street),” Ortiz said Friday. “I’m going to pick out a spot where I can see things, or whatever, because I love to go down there.” Boston plays the Orioles on
See TEXAS PAGE 2B See ORTIZ PAGE 2B
NBA: SAN ANTONIO SPURS
Kawhi Leonard waiting in the wings for the Spurs spotlight By JON KRAWCZYNSKI ASSOCIATED PRESS
was typical of the confident guard: simple, understated, defiant. “The standings is 0-0,” Ellis said after Wednesday night’s 106-105 overtime loss at Memphis with the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference on the line. Ellis’ first season in Dallas
The tone in Kawhi Leonard’s voice never changes. It never changed as a junior in high school when his father was killed at the car wash he owned in Compton, Calif. He just kept right on playing. “He just internalized it to me,” said Tony Masi, the athletic director at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, where Leonard was a prep star. “We didn’t hang out every day. I’d see him for a couple minutes a day. Just watch him and observe him. He didn’t show much. He was just shy and reserved.” It never changed earlier this month when the third-year swingman for the San Antonio Spurs was saddled with the responsibility of defending Kevin Durant, the most talented scorer in the league. He just kept right on playing. “He is just growing by leaps and bounds so I wanted him to be out there every minute with Kevin tonight just so he can learn what it’s like to guard a great player and that is what he is going to be doing his whole career in this league,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said after the game when Durant needed 26 shots to score his 28 points. “It was a great night for him.” And it never changed after a game in Minnesota last week when he was asked about
See MAVS PAGE 2B
See SPURS PAGE 2B
Photo by LM Otero | AP
Dallas guard Monta Ellis played in all 82 regular season games for the Mavericks this season averaging 19 points, 5.7 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game.
Ellis plays key role in playoff berth By SCHUYLER DIXON ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — Monta Ellis had just missed a jumper that could have lifted Dallas out of a matchup with top-seeded San Antonio in the first round of the playoffs. His reaction to playing a team the Mavericks haven’t beaten in more than two years
File photo by Michael Conroy | AP
San Antonio forward Kawhi Leonard averaged career highs of 12.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game during the regular season.
PAGE 2B
Zscores
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2014
Scheppers palced on DL ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARLINGTON, Texas — Tanner Scheppers felt discomfort in his pitching elbow long before the Texas Rangers went to spring training with a plan to turn the right-hander into a starter. Scheppers finally said something after the fourth start of his big league career, and now he’s headed to the disabled list with elbow inflammation. Texas made the move Friday, a day after Scheppers gave up six runs in the shortest of his starts — 2 1-3 innings in an 8-6 win over Seattle. General manager Jon Daniels said an MRI showed inflammation in the muscle and no structural damage to the ligament. Scheppers will take 10 days off, then start a throwing program. Scheppers said the elbow didn’t feel right as far back as the end of last season, when he led the team with 76 appearances in his second season in the bullpen. “It’s something that hasn’t gotten better the way that we would like,” said Scheppers, who is 0-1 with a 9.82 ERA. “Right now we just want to step back, get healthy, because there’s no point in pushing through something like this.” Texas replaced Scheppers by selecting the contract of left-hander Aaron Poreda from Triple-A Round Rock. The Rangers made room for Poreda on the 40-man roster by designating infielder Andy
Photo by Brandon Wade | AP
Texas Rangers pitcher Tanner Scheppers was placed on the disabled list Friday with elbow inflammation. Parrino for assignment. Scheppers was Texas’ opening-day starter because Yu Darvish had a neck strain. Scheppers gave up six runs in the second inning of that game against Philadelphia and surrendered six in the third inning against the Mariners on Thursday. Daniels said Scheppers
was examined after reporting soreness during spring training. He was cleared at the time, but now Daniels wonders how healthy he was. “I think it might be connected, that he wasn’t feeling 100 percent, probably wasn’t performing at 100 percent because of it,” Daniels said. Scheppers’ fastball has
averaged 93.7 mph this year, according to fangraphs.com, down from 96.3 mph last year. While his velocity was better against the Mariners, six of the first seven hitters reached in the third. Robinson Cano and Corey Hart had back-to-back homers. “My pitches aren’t doing what they normally are or what they should be doing,” Scheppers said. “It’s something that could build up and you don’t get the results that you want.” Daniels said the Rangers had yet to discuss what Scheppers’ elbow issue will do to his role as a starter. Left-handers Matt Harrison and Joe Saunders could be close to returning when Scheppers is eligible to come off the disabled list May 3. Scheppers was an effective setup man for closer Joe Nathan last year, going 6-2 with a save and a 1.88 ERA. “We will talk about it,” Daniels said. “But we haven’t made any decisions at this point.” Given a chance to start, Scheppers was one of the best Texas pitchers in spring training. Filling in for Darvish, he became the first major league to make his first career start on opening day since Fernando Valenzuela in 1981. “I really don’t think it has anything to do with me starting pitching,” Scheppers said. “It’s just I’m doing something that I haven’t done in a long time.”
TEXAS Continued from Page 1B able to run the first-team offense in the spring game. Walk-on Trey Holtz and converted tight end Miles Onyegbule, who prior to this spring hadn’t played QB since 2010, will also get snaps. Jerrod Heard, the only quarterback Texas signed in its 2014 recruiting class, won’t be on campus until June. The Longhorns also are courting USC transfer Matt Wittek, but he hasn’t yet made a decision on his next school. “I told Tyrone, ‘The key thing for you is it is all about confidence, it is all about you doing everything we ask you to do and play within yourself,”’ Strong said. “Know this is your team (Saturday) and it is up to you to go lead it.”’ Here are five things to watch at the Texas spring
scrimmage: SWOOPES A chance to make a statement. As a freshman last season, Swoopes didn’t impress on the few occasions he took the field. His ability to run could open up the field, but Strong will want to see how well he reads the secondary and throws. Texas must have some comfort level at the position beyond Ash, who has yet to show he can return to the field without more injury problems. OFFENSIVE LINE The line protecting Swoopes replaces four starters. Senior center Dominic Espinosa has 39 career starts and leads a unit with big bodies but little experience. And the line has a new position coach in Joe Wickline, who could force some position changes.
This is a unit that may not come together until fall. LINEBACKER A weak spot for the defense last season and the Longhorns have some top players who have been sidelined by injury. Senior Jordan Hicks was one of the top recruits in the country when Texas signed him out of Ohio in 2010 but hip and Achilles tendon injuries have sidelined him for most of the last two seasons and he will not play Saturday. Steve Edmond, who sustained a lacerated liver late last season, has performed well in the spring, according to Strong. RUNNING BACK The Longhorns were loaded at tailback until injuries (Jonathan Gray) and personal issues (Joe Bergeron) left Malcolm Brown carrying the load. Brown is
a strong runner who could establish himself as a clear No. 1 at many programs. Gray missed the spring while still recovering from an Achilles tendon injury late last season. Texas said Bergeron is taking time off to address “personal” issues, but Strong suggested this week it was ordered by the coach. “He’ll return in the fall If he does what I ask him, then he has an opportunity to be back in the summer,” Strong said. KICKING GAME The Longhorns have to replace Anthony Fera, who handled field goals and punting last season was a finalist for the national award given to college football’s top kicker. Sophomore Nick Jordan was 9 of 15 on field goal as a freshman in 2012 when Fera struggled with injuries.
SPURS Continued from Page 1B Popovich’s proclamation that Leonard would one day take over for Tim Duncan as the face of the most consistently successful franchise in the league. He just keeps on playing. “I’ve been working hard to be one of the focal points in the NBA, one of the top guys. For him to say that and see that I could be the face, it just brings joy to me,” Leonard said with an undertaker’s enthusiasm. “I’m just happy that someone else sees it other than myself.” Right there in that moment, without an ounce of arrogance or pretense, it becomes crystal clear that Leonard doesn’t see himself as the next Spurs role player to flourish around Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. He doesn’t see himself as the next Bruce Bowen or the next Stephen Jackson or even the next Sean Elliott. Leonard fully expects to one day join George Gervin, David Robinson and the celebrated trio of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili on the list of Spurs headliners. “Once the Big Three is gone, you’ll probably see a lot more of me taking
over,” Leonard said. “But right now it’s just hard with the top three guys still here.” Leonard averaged career highs in points (12.8), rebounds (6.2) and 3-point shooting (.379) this season, but the numbers that really stand out are in the most important category: When Leonard is on the floor this season, the Spurs were 5414. “He has a great capacity to absorb things and he works hard,” Popovich said. “He comes early to practice. He stays after. Our development guys work with him constantly and he wears them out. So he really wants to be good and he’s got some talents to work with, so that’s a good combination.” His ascendance is one of the biggest reasons the ageless Spurs just keep on rolling. After a devastating loss to Miami in seven games in the NBA Finals last season, the big question was whether the heartbroken Spurs would recover and mount another run. Duncan is coming up on 38, Ginobili will be 37 in July and Parker will turn 32 in May. But the 22-year-old Leo-
nard, acquired from Indiana in a draft-night trade for valued veteran George Hill in 2011, has infused this team with young legs, given them a defensive dynamo on the perimeter and another maniacal competitor who gets bored with the cupcakes at the bottom of the standings while salivating over a night matched up against Durant, LeBron James and the rest of the best. “I feel like those are the best games rather than playing one of the under 50(win) teams and not really learning a lot because they make a lot of mistakes,” Leonard said. Duncan, Parker and Ginobili have won three championships together, seen it all and done it all, and have had a huge influence on Leonard’s development. “When San Antonio grabbed him, I was like thank God,” Masi said. “Because he’s got Duncan and Popovich and all these guys who won’t let him just fade away. He’s not in the middle of nowhere. He’s got a group that’s smart and they’re going to show him the way and I think they have.”
Now Leonard is returning the favor, practically without saying a word. The Spurs are starting to adopt his unflappable demeanor. “Kawhi is steady and as a group we are, but he helps turn us like that,” Ginobili said. “We were not like this four years ago. And he provided that type of play.” Leonard isn’t The Man in San Antonio yet. But he will be. Popovich knows it. The Big Three know it. And Kawhi Leonard knows it. He’s watched and he’s learned and through it all, he’s just kept playing. “They’ve got a lot of knowledge in the game, just from being around and winning championships,” Leonard said of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili. “I think it does help. It shows you how to win if you’re on a winning team. “Once those guys are gone, I’m going to have to start it all over again because I’m not going to have them on the floor. I’ve got to learn how to create shots for others. And then just having the energy for myself to come out there with a mindset to create shots for myself the whole game.”
ORTIZ Continued from Page 1B Monday in its traditional 11 a.m. Patriots’ Day start. Red Sox teammate Jonny Gomes figures attention will be on the finish line, especially this year. “That’s probably going to be the hottest place in the country to be,” he said. Gomes and then-teammate Jarod Saltalamaccia were credited for coming up with the “Boston Strong” phrase last year as the city recovered from the bombing. The club put it on the back of a gray road jersey with the number 617, the city’s area code. Six months later, the pair stepped off a duck boat during the parade that followed Boston’s third World Series title in 10 seasons. They draped a jersey over the championship trophy at the finish line. “I think it was extremely remarkable what we were able to do, bring the World Series trophy down to that finish line,” Gomes said. “It is what it is with history in the history books. History in general is built among tragedy. There’s not to many
success stories in the history books. That event is now part of Boston history and U.S. history.” Five days after the bombings, Ortiz spoke emotionally to the Fenway Park crowd at the Boston’s first home game after the bombings. The Red Sox honored first responders, and Ortiz told fans: “Nobody is going to dictate our freedom,” bringing a loud cheer from the crowd. “Patriots’ Day is one of the most beautiful days around here,” he said Friday. “I think Monday is going to be a day that everybody’s going to focus as a citizen, focusing on the history of what happened before. I think it’s going to be very emotional and there’s going to be happiness around, too, more than sadness, because of the way this city bounced back. “The frustration that we had a year ago: People learned from that and people learned that this is the place to be because how everybody got behind each other, supported each other and recovered from it.”
MAVS Continued from Page 1B has been all about shrugging off the skeptics. His offensive efficiency was in steady decline, so he had his best shooting season since he was a 25-point scorer for Golden State. He couldn’t play nice with others, so he settled for being Dirk Nowitzki’s sidekick except for games that he simply took over in the fourth quarter. He was coming off a joyless playoff season in Milwaukee, so he picked a franchise and coach he thought would make him happy again. Even if Ellis goes down in a first-round sweep by the Spurs the same way he did with the Bucks against Miami a year ago, he likes what he sees in his makeover as he wraps up his ninth season and gets ready for the playoff opener Sunday in San Antonio. “I had to grow up and accept some of the things that was going on around me that I can control, which is my attitude,” Ellis said. “Be more positive and put myself around positive people. Being around this organization and really this group of guys got me back into love with basketball.” Ellis had his best moment late in the first year of the three-year deal he signed last summer worth between $25 and $30 million. The Mavericks were about to squander a chance to wrap up their playoff spot at home against Phoenix when he sparked a rally from a double-digit deficit with 3-point shooting that got Nowitzki going, too. He finished with a seasonhigh 37 points. Ellis almost did it again in the finale against the Grizzlies, scoring 14 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, including a 3 that forced the extra period. Ellis was coach Rick Carlisle’s selection with Dallas trailing by a point on the final inbounds
play, coming off a pick and missing a buzzerbeating jumper that would have sent the Mavericks to Oklahoma City instead. “He’s a big part of why we’re back in the playoffs,” said Nowitzki, who was Dallas’ leading scorer for the 14th consecutive season when it looked early in the year like Ellis might take over that role, and still might next season. “He hasn’t missed a game. He hasn’t missed a practice. We need him to play well if we want to advance in the playoffs.” Ellis talked before the season about how he and Carlisle hit it off from the start. And Ellis didn’t do anything to change that dynamic under a demanding boss. Even though Ellis bristles at the notion that this season was any different in terms of how hard he was coached on shot selection, defense or conditioning, his coach says he was — and praises the way he reacted to it. “His presence on the roster this year was I think the biggest lift that we got with all the acquisitions that we had, and we had a lot of good ones,” said Carlisle, who had a completely new backcourt with Jose Calderon and Devin Harris signing as free agents as well. “Monta’s been a guy that’s put us a cut above where we were last year.” Ellis played all 82 games for the second straight season, fighting through several injuries. He had the excuse of the looming All-Star break after straining his right hamstring in February, but instead made a three-game trip that ended with his 41-minute night in a win at Indiana, the East’s top seed. “With me,” said Ellis, “if I can walk, I can play.” Now he’s looking for his first playoff win as a starter since 2007 — against the Mavericks.
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2014
SPOTLESS SHOWER CURTAIN Dear Heloise: How do I get mildew spots off a shower curtain? I don’t want to throw it away. –– A Reader, via email There is a really simple way to try to clean those spots off your shower curtain: wash it! Put the shower curtain and a couple of soiled towels (for scrubbing action) in your washing machine. Use the highest warm-water level possible, your normal detergent and 1/2 cup of baking soda. Add a cup of vinegar during the first rinse cycle. Do not put the shower curtain in the dryer. Take it out and hang to dry. Vinegar is a great product to have around the house at all times. It can be used for so many things. Want to know what else I use it for? Order my pamphlet Heloise’s Fantabulous Vinegar Hints and More! To order, send $5 and a long, self-addressed, stamped (70 cents) enve-
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B
“
HELOISE
lope to: Heloise/Vinegar, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. Have plastic upholstery to clean? Wipe down with a 50/50 vinegar-and-water solution to clean. –– Heloise BIRD BEGONE Dear Heloise: A few weeks ago, a female cardinal began pecking at her reflection on our kitchen window. This would go on for hours every day, and for many days. After several attempts to run her off, we cut some strips of shiny Christmas paper and taped one end of each strip to the window. The wind would blow and keep them flapping. The flapping strips of paper scared off the female cardinal, and now we have peace and quiet. –– K.M., via email
Sports
4B THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2014
Marquez setting pace on march to title By JIM VERTUNO ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN, Texas — Marc Marquez safely navigated the first turn of the Grand Prix of the Americas and quickly settled into 21 comfortable laps and his second consecutive victory of 2014. The rest of the grid in MotoGP will have to hope the Spaniard doesn’t make such easy work of the world championship. The reigning world champion has shown no lingering effects from a fractured right leg in preseason training, and judging by the first two races of the year, the 21-year-old may just be too fast and too good to beat over the long haul of the schedule. “It’s so important to start the season like that, two victories and two pole positions,” Marquez said. “We have to stay focused and we just started.” Marquez’ eighth career victory gave him 50 points heading into next week’s Grand Prix of Argentina and a 14-point lead over Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa. While that
lead wouldn’t seem insurmountable — yet — the question is a matter of who is going to catch Marquez, or least keep it close enough to keep things interesting. Pedrosa finished third in the world championship in 2013. Movistar Yamaha’s former world champion Jorge Lorenzo, who chased Marquez all the way to the end in 2013 and was just four points behind in second, has had a terrible start to 2014 with just six points after two races. Lorenzo crashed out of the lead in Qatar and jumped the start in Austin, forcing him to take a pit lane drive-through penalty that pushed him into last place before he rallied to finish in 10th place. “I wasn’t thinking and was distracted and I made a big mistake in the start,” Lorenzo said. “I just tried to push at the maximum afterward to get the best result but the race was almost over for me ... I want to say sorry to the team as I destroyed my race.” Anyone but Marquez winning the Austin race would have been a sur-
prise. The Circuit of the America’s track seemed tailor-made for the powerful Hondas to accelerate out of the hairpin turns into the long straightaways that Marquez and Pedrosa gobbled up at a blistering pace. “Maybe this track was a little easier than the other ones. We know the other races will be different,” Marquez said. His challengers will be happy to get Marquez out of the U.S. for a while. Marquez is undefeated in six races on American soil in Moto2. He won all three MotoGP races in the U.S. last season, but the series dropped its race in California in 2014. That leaves Indianapolis in August as the only other race in the U.S. this season. “I don’t know why it’s a great country for me. I like it, so I will ask for a couple more races here next year,” Marquez said. MotoGP will be in Argentina for the first time since 1999, racing on a track built in 2008. The new track could bring some other riders into the mix.
Photo by Eric Gay | AP
Marc Marquez celebrates his win in the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas race at the Circuit of the Americas on April 13 in Austin. Former world champion Valentino Rossi finished second in Qatar and stands
Nadal ousted in quarterfinals By JEROME PUGMIRE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PARIS — Rafael Nadal’s mastery of the Monte Carlo clay courts seems to be over. The top-ranked Spaniard hopes his confidence isn’t gone, too. Nadal lost to fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 7-6 (1), 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters on Friday, his earliest exit since 2003 at a tournament that helped build his reputation as perhaps the greatest clay-court player of all time. Nadal won eight consecutive titles here from 2005-12, before losing to Novak Djokovic in last year’s final. This was Nadal’s first loss on clay to Ferrer since 2004, and the 13-time Grand Slam champion said he is still trying to find his best form after a disappointing loss to Stanislas Wawrinka in the Australian Open final. “After what happened in Australia, (it) was little bit harder for me to find again the intensity, the confidence, the inside power that always I have,” Nadal said. “Even if I won Rio, I played the final in Miami, you know, (this) remains something in my mind and in my game.” Djokovic looked like he might follow him out, but the Serb finally got the better of the unseeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 to set up a 34th career meeting against 17time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer. “I started very poorly. Garcia-Lopez played well
Photo by Michel Euler | AP
Rafael Nadal returns the ball to David Ferrer during their quarterfinals match of the Monte Carlo Tennis Masters tournament Friday in Monaco. Ferrer won 7-6 6-4. and I had to work for this win,” Djokovic said. “I finally started to play as I wanted in the second set.” Federer leads Djokovic 17-16 in head-to-heads and they are 1-1 this year, with Federer beating him in the Dubai Championship semifinals and Djokovic winning their final at Indian Wells. The Serb was close to losing against Garcia-Lopez, saving a break point in the fifth game of the second set and two more when trailing 15-40 in his next service game. Djokovic then made a crucial break to take a 5-3 lead, served out the set, and then broke Garcia-Lopez twice at the start of the
third. Ferrer hardly needed to dig deep as Nadal committed 44 unforced errors and gave away 10 break-point chances on his serve. “I didn’t play the right way. I didn’t play with the right intensity with my forehand. I played too short,” Nadal said. “I give him the chance to have the control of the point almost all the time.” A day after becoming the 11th man in the Open era to reach 300 wins on clay, Nadal was broken four times in the face of Ferrer’s relentless attack. “All losses feel bad but especially on clay,” Nadal said. “I’m not happy with
how I’m playing.” The first set-statistics make for ugly reading, with Nadal making only 54 percent of his first serves, and hitting a meager five winners on his normally trusty forehand. The sixth-seeded Ferrer next faces the third-seeded Wawrinka, who reached his first semifinal since the Australian Open by beating eighth-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada 7-6 (5), 6-2. Fourth-seeded Roger Federer also reached the last four in an error-strewn 2-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1 win against No. 9 JoWilfried Tsonga of France, where he was two points from defeat at 0-30 serving at 6-5 down in the second set. Federer, who improved to 11-4 against Tsonga, wasted 15 straight break points and three set points in the second set But at 6-6 in the tiebreaker, Tsonga hit a wild forehand into the net and Federer leveled the match with a volley winner. “It was just many things went wrong at the wrong time for me: Jo playing well, me playing wrong at certain times, wrong shot selections,” Federer said. “I’m happy I found the way to tough it out.” Tsonga said the changing conditions in the late afternoon as the match went into a third set suited Federer’s style of play more. “I don’t think it was that much of a change. I don’t think there was any wind change or any crazy, like, quickness change,” Federer said. “We played in those conditions a million of times.”
Larrazabal escapes hornets By BERNIE MCGUIRE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Pablo Larrazabal couldn’t believe what was coming his way. He was playing in the second round of the Malaysian Open on Friday when a swarm of hornets “three times the size of bees” began an assault. “They were huge and like 30 or 40 of them started to attack me big-time,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do. My caddie told me to run, so I start running like a crazy guy. But the hornets were still there, so the other players told me to jump in the lake.” Lee Westwood shot a 6under 66 for a four-stroke lead, but this day was all about Larrazabal. The 30-year-old Spaniard has been playing pro golf for 10 years. In January, he defeated Phil Mickelson
and Rory McIlroy to capture the Abu Dhabi Championship. He knows of hazards on the course. This, however, had nothing to do with bunkers or sand traps. “I ran to the lake, threw my scorecard down, took off my shoes and jumped in the water,” he said. “It was the scariest moment of my career, for sure. I’ve never been so scared.” The aerial attack came on the 14th hole, the fifth of his round. Larrazabal ran for safety, tossing his hat and shirt before being pulled from the lake. He was left with multiple stings and needed medical treatment, including injections. Remarkably, Larrazabal birdied the 14th hole en route to a 2-under 68 at Kuala Lumpur Country Club in the European and Asian Tour event. Larrazabal, who opened with a 74, knows he’ll have
Photo by Joshua Paul | AP
Pablo Larrazabal jumps into a lake after being attacked by a swarm of hornets during the second round of the Malaysian Open golf tournament at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club on Friday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. to confront the 14th hole again. “Tomorrow it will be very, very scary to play that hole,” Larrazabal said. Westwood, once ranked No. 1, was an afterthought in the hornets’ buzz as he pursues his first title in two years. He was at 131 with two rounds to go. The Englishman had eight birdies, his only error a double bogey when he hit into water guarding the green at the par-3 11th hole. “I got a little unlucky at 11,” said Westwood, who was seventh at the Masters.
“It was one of the best shots I hit all day, and the wind just gusted on me and it came up short in the water. But I rallied after that.” Antonio Lascuna of the Philippines carded a 65 to hold the lead at 9 under before being overtaken by Westwood. Lascuna has won twice on the Asian Tour, and he shares second with Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium. Defending champion Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand was tied with Larrazabal after a pair of 71s.
third in the championship points chase with 28. Italian Andrea Dovizioso of
Italy finished third in Texas, to earn his first podium finish since 2012.
Adam Silver wants age limit change By BRIAN MAHONEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Even as the NBA prepares for a draft that could be headlined by freshmen, Commissioner Adam Silver remains committed to keeping them in college. So much so that NCAA President Mark Emmert was invited to discuss his involvement with owners. Silver is moving cautiously on potential changes to areas such as the lottery format and playoff structure, but makes it clear that raising the draft age limit to abolish the so-called “one and done” is one of his priorities. Freshmen Andrew Wiggins of Kansas and Jabari Parker of Duke are expected to be topfive picks in June, but Silver believes teams are taking those players young because of the system in place, not because it’s their preference. “The fact that our teams would draft these players if they were coming out of high school as they used to, or one year out of college, I think doesn’t mean change isn’t necessary,” Silver said Friday. The age limit requiring American players to be 19 and a year out of high school was implemented in 2005, creating a system where players would simply go to college for a year and then declare for the draft. Silver and predecessor David Stern have long spoken about the desire to increase the limit to 20. But no change, which would have to be discussed with the union, was made during the last round of collective bargaining in 2011. The sides haven’t been able to have much serious discussion since then. The union has been without an executive director since ousting Billy Hunter 14 months ago, but Silver’s desire for change remains. “We’re ready to go,” Silver said. “We’ve been thinking about this issue for a long time.” Silver said a change was unlikely for next season, and a transition period would be necessary whenever one was made. In the meantime, he wants the NCAA part of the discussion, so Emmert addressed owners
during the two-day meetings. “One thing that we also agree on is that historically what you’ve heard is that the age issue is one that needs to be negotiated almost in isolation between the NBA and its union. What Dr. Emmert and I agree on is that the NCAA needs to have a seat at the table, as well, for those discussions,” Silver said, “that if we are going to be successful in raising the age from 19 to 20, part and parcel of those negotiations go to the treatment of those players on college campuses, that closing the gap between what their scholarships cover and their other incidental expenses, having a longer discussion about eligibility periods so they can make the best decisions for them and their families if they do decide to come out early.” Overseeing his first board meeting since replacing Stern in February, Silver seems open to considering anything to improve the league. Owners heard a discussion on ways to change the lottery system, which could be a way to erase the desire to “tank” — seeking a poor record to have the best chances at the No. 1 pick. Silver said there was also discussion about redesigning the playoff structure to qualify the top 16 teams, rather than the top eight in each conference. Phoenix, which finished ninth in the West with 48 wins, would’ve tied for third in the East. But Silver said those items should be discussed first at length by the competition committee. “For me, the league is doing so well right now, I just want to be very deliberate and cautious about any major changes like that,” Silver said. “It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t make changes.” Silver also said owners weren’t ready to vote on the potential sale of the Milwaukee Bucks yet, though that could happen soon once owners could review all the financial documents. Owner Herb Kohl reached agreement to sell the franchise to New York investment firm executives Marc Lasry and Wesley Edens for about $550 million.