The Zapata Times 4/25/2015

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IBC BANK-ZAPATA

SOUTH TEXAS FOOD BANK

Learning to save

Two join board SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

group, but include topics such as maintaining a check register, reconciling a bank statement, and calculating compounded interest earned.

Materials for students are available at no cost on ibc.com.

Two new members have joined the South Texas Food Bank Board of Directors.

They are Roberto Cuellar, director of childhood nutrition for Laredo ISD, and Valerie Rubalcaba, Dimmit County commissioner.

The two attended their first meeting in April.

During the meeting, South Texas Food Bank interim Executive Director Erasmo Villarreal reported 736,496 pounds of product were distributed in March bringing the fiscal year total to 5,048,455 (5.04 million) pounds, which is over last year’s 4.5 million pounds in the same time span.

The South Texas Food Bank, 1907 Freight at Riverside in West Laredo, serves monthly supplemental food to 27,000 families, 7,000-plus elderly, 7,000-

See IBC PAGE 11A

See TWO PAGE 11A

Courtesy photos

IBC’s “Money Buzz” program lessons cover a range of topics such as maintaining a check register and reconciling a bank statement.

350 students taught financial management lessons SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

This spring, employees from IBC Bank-Zapata are using their professional expertise to teach financial literacy in their communities through the company’s “Money Buzz” program. This corporatewide initiative began in

2007 to provide personal finance education to youth. IBC Bank-Zapata partners with schools and community organizations throughout its footprint to host free Money Buzz classes as part of their effort to promote Financial Literacy Month and the American Bank-

ers Association’s “Teach Children to Save Day.” Market-wide, the bank will have the opportunity to inspire 377 students during 18 presentations at San Isidro Elementary, Veterans Memorial Elementary, Zapata South Elementary, and Villarreal Elementary. Corpo-

rate-wide, the banks will give 491 presentations at 57 schools and organizations from March through May in Texas and Oklahoma, in which they will reach more than 8,300 students.

The lessons cover a range of financial concepts, and vary by age

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY’S ANNUAL AGGIE MUSTER

GUANAJUATO, MEXICO

HISTORIC GATHERING

Photo by Mario Armas | AP

Alondra Luna Nuñez smiles after attending a press conference upon her arrival to the Guanajuato International Airport in Silao, Mexico, Wednesday.

Courtesy photo

The late Victor Manuel Rodriguez, highlighted in the third row on the right, was among the 128 men who gathered in 1946 at the mouth of the Malinta Tunnel on Corregidor Island in celebration of the time-honored Annual Aggie Muster.

Aggies mustered on Corregidor after war

Girl sent to US by mistake

By PETER ORSI

By GABRIELA A. TREVIÑO LAREDO MORNING TIMES

In what is one of Texas A&M University’s most iconic historical photos, 128 men stood at the mouth of the Malinta Tunnel on Corregidor Island after World War II, in 1946, and one of those men was a Laredoan named Victor Manuel Rodriguez.

The photo has been revered by all Aggies who know about the Muster tradition.

The Annual Aggie Muster is a ceremonial school tradition honored by students and alumni alike to honor Aggies who have died. At every Muster, there is a roll call for those who have

passed. Those present at the event say, “Here,” for them as a way to honor and remember them.

The historical photo has been commemorated on a collectible coin, and this year a monument will be dedicated to all Aggies who defended Corregidor and Bataan during the war. The monument will list almost 200 names, including Rodriguez’s.

Although they were oceans away from their beloved campus, the men gathered together from their respective posts on April 21, 1946, in celebration of the timehonored Annual Aggie Muster.

The significance of the 1946 Muster where Rodriguez and the

127 other men gathered was that they gathered to honor the Aggies who had lost their lives in the war.

According to an article on aggienetwork.com, a bed sheet was used in the photo as an improvised Aggie flag.

The article also notes that during WWII, there were more officers from Texas A&M than from any other school and more than the combined total of the U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Military Academy. At the time, Texas A&M did not admit women, and all students were required to sign up for the armed forces.

See AGGIE PAGE 11A

ASSOCIATED PRESS

GUANAJUATO, Mexico — Alondra Luna Nuñez was a young girl when she had a mishap with a remote-control car, leaving a scar between her eyebrows. Last week, that scar resulted in the teenager being misidentified as a missing girl from Texas, and then spirited north to live with a woman who claimed to be her mother.

After a weeklong saga in which Alondra was videotaped as she was dragged screaming from a Mexican courtroom, the 14-year-old is back at home with the family that a DNA test

proved is hers.

Her parents place blame on the Mexican judge who refused to accept the pile of documents they presented as proof of Alondra’s identity, from baptismal records and a copy of her birth certificate to family photographs.

“The other girl had a scar, but on the eyebrow, and I have one on my nose. I mean all this was stirred up over that,” Alondra told The Associated Press at an emotional reunion with her family Wednesday. “The judge said, ’No, it’s her,’ and that was that.”

How Alondra came to be iden-

See GIRL PAGE 11A

PAGE 2A

Zin brief CALENDAR

SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2015

AROUND TEXAS

TODAY IN HISTORY

Saturday, April 25

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Mosque open house from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Islamic Center of Laredo, 604 Amistad. Please contact Zubair Ali Raja at zubairraja@dusty.tamiu.edu for more information .

Eckankar: Spiritual Wisdom on Dreams. Free Bilingual Spiritual Discussion. 1 – 2:30 p.m. Laredo Public Library, 1120 E. Calton. For more information please call 210-831-7113.

TAMIU Planetarium Celebrates 10th Anniversary. The community is invited to a day of family friendly activities. 12 – 6 p.m. For more information, please contact Davis at 326-3128, e-mail peter.davis@tamiu.edu or visit offices located in the Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center, room 324E. For Planetarium show times, visit www.tamiu.edu/planetarium. University office hours are 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday – Friday.

Today is Saturday, April 25, the 115th day of 2015. There are 250 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlights in History: On April 25, 1945, during World War II, U.S. and Soviet forces linked up on the Elbe River, a meeting that dramatized the collapse of Nazi Germany’s defenses. Delegates from some 50 countries gathered in San Francisco to organize the United Nations.

On this date: In 1507, a world map produced by German cartographer Martin Waldseemueller contained the first recorded use of the term “America,” in honor of Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci.

In 1792, highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier became the first person under French law to be executed by the guillotine.

In 1901, New York Gov. Benjamin Barker Odell Jr. signed an automobile registration bill which imposed a 15 mph speed limit on highways.

In 1964, vandals sawed off the head of the “Little Mermaid” statue in Copenhagen, Denmark.

In 1983, 10-year-old Samantha Smith of Manchester, Maine, received a reply from Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov to a letter she’d written expressing concern about possible nuclear war; Andropov reassured Samantha that the Soviet Union did not want war, and he invited her to visit his country, a trip Samantha made in July.

In 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was deployed in orbit from the space shuttle Discovery. (It was discovered that the telescope’s primary mirror was flawed, requiring the installation of corrective components to achieve optimal focus.)

Ten years ago: At his Texas ranch, President George W. Bush prodded Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Abdullah to help curb skyrocketing oil prices.

Five years ago: President Barack Obama made a pilgrimage to Billy Graham’s mountainside home, concluding his North Carolina vacation with his first meeting with the ailing evangelist who had counseled commanders in chief since Dwight Eisenhower.

One year ago: President Barack Obama, in a joint news conference in Seoul alongside South Korean President Park Geun-hye (goonhay), said the U.S. stood “shoulder to shoulder” with its ally in refusing to accept a nuclearized North Korea.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Al Pacino is 75. Ballroom dance judge Len Goodman (TV: “Dancing with the Stars”) is 71. Rock musician Stu Cook (Creedence Clearwater Revival) is 70. Actress Talia Shire is 70. Actor Jeffrey DeMunn is 68. Rock musician Steve Ferrone (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) is 65. Country singer-songwriter Rob Crosby is 61. Actor Hank Azaria is 51.

TV personality Jane Clayson is 48. Actress Renee Zellweger is 46. Actress Gina Torres is 46. Actor Jason Lee is 45. Actor Jason Wiles is 45. Actress Emily Bergl is 40. Singer Jacob Underwood is 35. Actress Melonie Diaz is 31. Actress Sara Paxton is 27. Actress Allisyn Ashley Arm is 19.

Thought for Today: “It’s the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.” — Marlene Dietrich, German-American actress (1901-1992).

Tuesday, April 28 Friends of ICE Special Agent Jaime Zapata 5th Annual Bowl-a-thon, 5:30 p.m. Jett Bowl North. Pre-registration for a five-player team is $125.

Pre-registration ends April 20; $135 after April 20. Funds go toward the Jaime J. Zapata Scholarships. Email entry forms at gregorysmartstart@live.com Contact Rosy Gregory at 744-7505 or 791-8759.

Rock wall climbing from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at LBV Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. People of all ages are encouraged to take the challenge and climb the rock wall. Climbers must bring an ID and sign the release form. Weather permitting. For more information, contact John Hong at john@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2520.

Wednesday, April 29 Used book sale, First United Methodist Church, 10 a.m. to noon.

Thursday, April 30 Spanish Book Club from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Laredo Public Library on Calton. Call Sylvia Reash at 763-1810.

Villa San Agustin de Laredo Genealogical Society dance from 3 to 5 p.m. at the St. John Newmann Catholic Church Hall. Call Sanjuanita Martinez-Hunter at 722-3497.

Dia de los Niños from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at LBV Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Enjoy a free raffle, refreshments, face painting and crafts. Everyone is welcome. For more information, contact John Hong at john@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2520.

Friday, May 1 12th Annual Mental Health & Substance Abuse Awareness Symposium at the UTHSC- Laredo Regional Campus. For more information contact Jaime Arizpe, Laredo – Zapata Border Specialist, at 794-6320.

Sunday, May 3 Holy Redeemer Church annual Jamaica. Food, games and silent auction. Contact Amparo Ugarte for more information at 286-0862.

Tuesday, May 5 “Cinco de Mayo” holiday fundraiser for the South Texas Food Bank at Hal’s Landing , 6510 Arena Blvd. 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Ross and Friends on the main stage and five other bands on the patio and arcade: JoAnna and The Reminiscence, Jolly Ranchers, Expansivo, La Mission Vallenata and La Autentica Sonora. Admission is $10.

Tickets at the door or from Salo Otero, 324-2432.

Rock wall climbing from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at LBV Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. People of all ages are encouraged to take the challenge and climb the rock wall. Climbers must bring an ID and sign the release form. Weather permitting. For more information, contact John Hong at john@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2520.

The Alzheimer’s support group will meet at 7 p.m. in meeting room 2, building B of the Laredo Medical Center. The support group is for family members and caregivers taking care of someone who has Alzheimer’s. For information, please call 693-9991.

Wednesday, May 6 Used book sale, First United Methodist Church, 10 a.m. to noon.

Thursday, May 7 Elysian Social Club will be hosting their regular meeting at 6:30 p.m.

Photo by Marjorie Kamys Cotera | Texas Tribune

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller on Jan. 13. Miller is looking to buck a decade-old statewide ban on deep fat fryers in public schools. His critics are calling foul, saying that Miller’s actions are counterproductive in a state struggling to contain child obesity rates.

Deep fryers in schools?

By EVA HERSHAW TEXAS TRIBUNE

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, the cowboy-hat-wearing champion of local control, is looking to buck a decade-old statewide ban on deep fat fryers in public schools. Putting decision-making back into the hands of Texas school districts, he says, “isn’t about french fries, it’s about freedom.”

Within the next couple of months, the Texas Department of Agriculture could be poised to repeal a state policy that bans deep fat fryers and soda machines on school campuses and places limits on the time and place that junk food can be sold there. In addition, Miller is proposing an increase in the number of allowed fundraiser days – when cupcakes and other sugary, fatty foods can be sold during the school day – from one to six per school year. His critics are calling foul,

saying that Miller’s actions are counterproductive in a state struggling to contain child obesity rates. But the commissioner believes that repealing these parts of the Texas Public School Nutrition Policy will simplify things, pulling the state into line with lessstrict national standards. Currently, there are no federal restrictions on deep fat frying as a preparation method.

“It’s simple. If a school district doesn’t agree with any of these changes, then they don’t have to implement them," Miller wrote in a statement, referring to the policy changes. "That’s the beauty here.”

Miller hinted in January that deep fryers would be one of his priorities, and he officially proposed the change in March. He is expected to announce this summer whether the commission will move forward with the changes.

Family of teen shot across 2 Police officers won’t be border can’t sue US agent indicted in fatal shooting

Boyfriend gets life for slaying of pregnant teen

NEW ORLEANS — A U.S. Border Patrol agent who killed a teenager when he fired across the border from Texas into Mexico cannot be sued in U.S. courts by the Mexican teen’s family, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The unanimous ruling was issued by the full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and reverses most of an earlier 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel of the court.

DALLAS — A grand jury has declined to indict two Dallas police officers who fatally shot a mentally ill man armed with a screwdriver in an incident last year that was recorded by a police body camera. The Dallas County grand jury decided Thursday that no charges were warranted against John Rogers, 40, and Andrew Hutchins, 29, in the death of Jason Harrison.

ANGLETON — An 18-year-old man faces life in prison after Southeast Texas jurors convicted him of killing his teenage girlfriend who was pregnant with twins. Ryan Matthews was convicted of capital murder in the death of Arrijana Hill. Both Matthews and Hill were 16 when she was found dead last year in a pool of blood inside her family home in Pearland.

6 jailers fired after inmate left alone for weeks

‘Sweetheart Swindler’ took $16K from man

3 kidnap Austin man they confuse for drug dealer

HOUSTON — Six Texas jailers were fired and 29 others suspended after a mentally ill inmate was left unattended and alone in his cell for weeks with insect-infested food containers, a fecesclogged toilet and ropes from his shredded jail uniform hanging from the ceiling. Among those fired were two jail sergeants indicted earlier this month on record-tampering charges.

DALLAS — Dallas police say they’re looking for a woman who tricked a man with dementia into applying for credit cards and gift cards — someone they’re calling the “Sweetheart Swindler.” Police said Friday that the woman identified herself as “Lisa” and convinced the man she was his friend. He lost $16,000 until the woman stopped answering his phone calls.

AUSTIN — Authorities say three men mistakenly kidnapped an Austin man they apparently confused for a suspected drug dealer. The victim opened his apartment door, believing it was his friend. Instead, three strangers rushed inside, demanded money they said he owed and asked where he stored his marijuana.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION Thorough sweep of Statue of Liberty; no explosives NEW YORK — A bomb threat made by an anonymous 911 caller forced the evacuation of hundreds of tourists Friday from the Statue of Liberty, but a thorough sweep of the landmark by investigators turned up no explosives.

The caller made the threat late Friday morning, “stating they were going to blow up the Statue of Liberty,” the National Park Service said in a statement.

Federal police, including two canine units, investigated and the dogs found “an area of interest” in a locker area at the statue’s base. Law enforcement then decided to evacuate the island as a precaution. Nothing harmful was found in the lockers.

Questions after school stage collapse injures 16 16

INDIANAPOLIS — The last of Indiana students injured

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Visitors to the Statue of Liberty exit a ferry in Manhattan after being evacuated from the island, Friday, in New York. The Statue of Liberty was evacuated as a precaution on Friday after a bomb threat. when a stage collapsed during a high school musical performance is out of the hospital. Westfield Police Capt. Charles Hollowell says most of the students injured in Thursday’s stage collapse at Westfield High School suffered minor injuries. The last student

was discharged Friday. Westfield Washington Schools Superintendent Mark Keen says the orchestra pit cover that collapsed was only a few years old. Questions remain about whether it was ever subject to inspection.

— Compiled from AP reports

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State

SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2015

Photo by Rebecca Ross | AP

In this Oct. 25, 2014, photo, Darwin the Labrador retriever sniffs at a snail in while being trained in Texas. Darwin traveled in December from Texas to the the Galapagos island Santa Cruz.

Texas dogs sniff for snails

By GONZALO SOLANO ASSOCIATED PRESS

QUITO, Ecuador — When Darwin the Labrador retriever crashed out of a service dog program for people, conservationists found him a very different sort of job: sniffing out giant African land snails that are threatening crops on the most visited of Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands.

The pooch even has the perfect name. English naturalist Charles Darwin studied the archipelago’s endemic species during a visit in 1835 that helped develop his theory of evolution.

The gold-colored Darwin and his pal Neville, a black Labrador rescued from an animal shelter, traveled in December from Texas to Santa Cruz, the island in the chain visited by tourists. The dogs were selected to hunt the mollusk, which is the largest species of snail found on land and can grow to 20 centimeters (7.8 inches) long.

The dogs were donated by a U.S. organization called Dogs for Conserva-

tion, which trains canines to help people working to preserve wildlife. Darwin and Neville are still being trained, but have already begun their work sniffing out snails and their eggs, which are then removed by environmental workers.

The Dogs for Conversation website, which told of the unsuccessful attempt to make Darwin a service dog for humans, said he has found new purpose working in conservation.

“He’s more than qualified to be a service dog to nature,” the site says. It says Darwin didn’t work out as a therapy dog because he was too hyperactive, but his work as a sniffer dog has helped him became calmer and more focused.

It’s the first time dogs have been called on to help protect the environment in the Galapagos archipelago. The 19 islands and the surrounding marine reserve are considered by UNESCO, the U.N. educational organization, to be a World Heritage Site in danger because of risks caused by human development.

Martin Espinosa, inter-

im director of the Galapagos Biosecurity Agency, said the snails are among the most invasive species in the world, can harm other species and the ecosystem, and transmit diseases to humans.

In the past, workers for his agency ventured out in the rain at night to hunt for the snails with limited success.

The plague currently affects some 20 hectares (about 50 acres) on Santa Cruz, including banana, pineapple, carrot, tomato, pepper, cassava and coffee crops, damaging the food supply for island residents. The giant snails are not found on the archipelago’s other islands.

Galapagos environmental authorities hope to have eight dogs working in seaports and airports by 2017 to help block the arrival of additional invasive animal and plant species.

Initiatives using sniffer dogs to prevent the introduction of invasive species into niche ecosystems also exist in countries including Mexico, Chile, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

PAGE 4A

Zopinion

SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2015

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

COMMENTARY

OTHER VIEWS

Make federal studet loans income-based

By MARTIN O’MALLEY THE WASHINGTON POST

My dad grew up in a country that was generous and farsighted enough to see that the more its people learned, the more its people earned. So after deploying to fly a B-24 Liberator over Japan, he went to college on the GI Bill and learned enough to open his own law practice. And he earned enough to start a family, raising my siblings and me to understand that if we worked hard and gave back, there was a strong and bright future ahead.

Today, our kids aren’t getting the same bargain.

The vast majority of students — 70 percent — are graduating with debt. On average, they’re carrying loan amounts big enough to buy a nice car or cover the down payment on a house. But instead of making those investments, or starting a family or a business, they’re struggling to keep up with student loan payments.

The result: Total student loan debt in our country is $1.3 trillion and growing. First-time buyers are purchasing a smaller share of houses, and people younger than 30 are starting a smaller share of businesses than at any time since the late 1980s. And the problem will only get worse. Although average tuition at a public four-year college has more than tripled over the past 30 years, a typical family’s income has barely budged.

One might ask how this nation fell from first in the world to 12th in producing college graduates.

We did it one onerous student loan at a time.

In Maryland, we saw these trends and refused to give up. We froze tuition at public four-year institutions while making investments in universities, community colleges and financial aid. We took steps to make sure our high school students were graduating with a degree that’s worth something and with some college credit or technical training already under their belts.

But like any state, we couldn’t solve the problem on our own. To really make a dent in student debt, the federal government will have to act.

Fortunately, the solutions are simple and straightforward.

First, Congress must allow students to refinance the debt they have. Unlike homeowners or businesses, student borrowers can’t refinance their loans to take advantage of lower interest rates.

This is outrageous. If we were able to bail out

big banks, we can figure out a way to refinance college loans.

It’s also a big problem.

Although Congress lowered student loan interest rates in 2013, it extended the fix only to new borrowers. That left millions of existing borrowers piling up debt at interest rates at or above 7 percent. Because Congress set the high rates, Congress has the power to fix them.

Second, we should cap the monthly payments on students’ loans, so students whose passion is teaching or policing or national service can pursue their dreams without worrying about debt or default.

The good news is that we have programs in place to do this. Numerous income-based repayment programs are available, and last year the Obama administration expanded students’ access to them.

But enrollment in the programs is low. A better policy would be to make income-based repayment automatic, then let students opt out if they want to.

All low- and middle-income students enrolled in the programs should have their minimum monthly loan payments capped at 10 percent of their takehome pay. In many cases, this would save students hundreds of dollars every month. And all borrowers who take advantage of these programs would eventually have the balance on their loans forgiven.

Alone, these two proposals — letting students refinance their loans and capping their payments — would go a long way toward relieving the burden of student debt. They are common-sense policies that would make millions of students better off.

To be sure, to end the student debt crisis for good we have to make college affordable for everyone. We can’t afford to make loans easier to pay off only to have colleges keep raising tuition. And we must hold colleges that receive federal aid dollars accountable for directing this money toward students who need it most — by tying the receipt of aid to schools’ performance in that area or rewarding schools that excel at making college affordable.

Our ultimate goal must be for every student — most especially low-income and middle-class students — to be able to go to college debt-free. But making sure our students get a far better deal on their loans is a crucial first step.

O’Malley was governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015.

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

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

We want to assure

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

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

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

COLUMN

Love and merit in raising kids There are two great defining features of child-rearing today. First, children are now praised to an unprecedented degree. As Dorothy Parker once joked, American children aren’t raised; they are incited.

They are given food, shelter and applause. That’s a thousand times more true today.

Children are incessantly told how special they are.

The second defining feature is that children are honed to an unprecedented degree. The meritocracy is more competitive than ever before. Parents are more anxious about their kids getting into good colleges and onto good career paths.

Parents spend much more time than in past generations investing in their children’s skills and résumés and driving them to practices and rehearsals.

These two great trends — greater praise and greater honing — combine in intense ways. Children are bathed in love, but it is often directional love. Parents shower their kids with affection, but it is meritocratic affection. It is intermingled with the desire to help their children achieve worldly success.

Very frequently it is manipulative. Parents unconsciously shape their smiles and frowns to steer their children toward behavior they think will lead to achievement. Parents glow with extra fervor when their child studies hard, practices hard, wins first

“

DAVID BROOKS

place, gets into a prestigious college.

This sort of love is merit based. It is not simply: I love you. It is, I love you when you stay on my balance beam. I shower you with praise and care when you’re on my beam.

The wolf of conditional love is lurking in these homes. The parents don’t perceive this; they feel they love their children in all circumstances. But the children often perceive things differently.

Children in such families come to feel that childhood is a performance — on the athletic field, in school and beyond. They come to feel that love is not something that they deserve because of who they intrinsically are but is something they have to earn.

These children begin to assume that this merit-tangled love is the natural order of the universe. The tiny glances of approval and disapproval are built into the fabric of communication so deep that they flow under the level of awareness. But they generate enormous internal pressure, the assumption that it is necessary to behave in a certain way to be worthy of love — to be self-worthy.

The shadowy presence of conditional love produces a fear, the fear that there is no utterly safe love; there is no completely secure place where young people can be utterly honest and themselves.

On the one hand, many of the parents in these families are extremely close to their children. They communicate constantly. But the whole situation is fraught. These parents unconsciously regard their children as an arts project and insist their children go to colleges and have jobs that will give the parents status and pleasure — that will validate their effectiveness as dads and moms.

Meanwhile, children who are uncertain of their parents’ love develop a voracious hunger for it. This conditional love is like an acid that dissolves children’s internal criteria to make their own decisions about their own colleges, majors and careers. At key decision-points, they unconsciously imagine how their parents will react. They guide their lives by these imagined reactions and respond with hair-trigger sensitivity to any possibility of coldness or distancing.

These children tell their parents those things that will elicit praise and hide the parts of their lives that won’t. Studies by Avi Assor, Guy Roth and Edward L. Deci suggest that children who receive conditional love often do better in the

short run. They can be model students. But they suffer in the long run. They come to resent their parents. They are so influenced by fear that they become risk averse. They lose a sense of agency. They feel driven by internalized pressures more than by real freedom of choice. They feel less worthy as adults.

Parents two generations ago were much more likely to say that they expected their children to be more obedient than parents today. But this desire for obedience hasn’t gone away; it’s just gone underground.

Parents are less likely to demand obedience with explicit rules and lectures.

But they are more likely to use love as a tool to exercise control.

The culture of the meritocracy is incredibly powerful. Parents desperately want happiness for their children and naturally want to steer them toward success in every way they can. But the pressures of the meritocracy can sometimes put this love on a false basis.

The meritocracy is based on earned success. It is based on talent and achievement. But parental love is supposed to be oblivious to achievement. It’s meant to be an unconditional support — a gift that cannot be bought and cannot be earned. It sits outside the logic of the meritocracy, the closest humans come to grace.

Hillary Clinton had the worst week

By CHRIS CILLIZZA THE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — “The past is never dead,” William Faulkner wrote. “It’s not even past.” Faulkner wasn’t writing about Hillary Clinton, but he might as well have been.

The former first lady, senator and secretary of state — who has spent a political

career trying to use her immense talent between constant bouts of controversy — woke up to these headlines this past week: "Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation as Russians Pressed for Control of Uranium Company" (New York Times); "For Clintons, speech income shows how their wealth is intertwined with charity" (Washington Post); and

"Hillary Clinton struggles to contain media barrage on foreign cash" (Politico).

At issue are the complicated donation practices of the massive foundation run

by Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton. All of the stories touched on questions of quid pro quos — or the appearance of such — tied to whom the Clinton Foundation took money from and

DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

why. Like the semi-scandals of the 1990s and 2000s, none of the pieces was the sort of death blow that could end or even badly hamstring Clinton’s presidential candidacy. But taken together, they remind people — even people who are favorably inclined toward the Clinton family — of all the baggage that goes along with electing them to any office.

SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2015

Zentertainment

Monty Python reunites

Women strike a chord

By FRAZIER MOORE

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Today they reign as elder statesman of cerebral silliness, these alumni of the Monty Python comedy troupe and, some would argue, the funniest men who ever lived.

This weekend, the surviving Pythons — John Cleese and fellow Brits Eric Idle, Michael Palin and Terry Jones, plus Yankee interloper Terry Gilliam (the sixth member, Graham Chapman, died in 1989) — reunited in New York for the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, with a 40th anniversary screening of their masterpiece, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” and other Pythonalia.

During a session with reporters Friday afternoon, the Pythons recalled that, back in 1975, “Holy Grail” opened in New York with free coconuts (which comically figure into the film) presented to the first 2,000 ticketholders.

Idle: “We’d give them a coconut. Then we’d have to sign them. And it’s virtually impossible to sign a coconut.”

Gilliam: “John Belushi was in that crowd. Gilda Radner.

Wasn’t Bill Murray there?

They were just starting out.

They swwwwept past us in their careers and left us in the dust.”

“Holy Grail” was a hit. But four years earlier, the Pythons’ first film, “And Now for Something Completely Different,” was a financial disaster in the U.S., perhaps partly due to producers’ meddling.

Idle: “We had a note that said we had to lose the fart in the Hungarian phrasebook sketch. The producer said, ‘If you keep the fart, we’ll lose Disneyland.”’ They did. And consequently did.

Once barely understood by the Establishment, the Pythons are today celebrated.

They even appear on a Royal Mail stamp, “a big deal in

NEW YORK — Using her own family and Robin Williams as an example, a tearful Glenn Close urged some of the most powerful women in entertainment to help society shed its fear of those fighting mental illness in an emotional speech Friday at Variety’s Power of Women luncheon.

Close was among the honorees, who also included Kim Kardashian and Whoopi Goldberg.

Close’s speech was a tear-jerker for many in the crowd. She started off with a joke: “As an actress, I’ve terrified men, and I’ve certainly terrified children, but I have yet to terrify women. Contrary to the cliche, there’s little that frightens us.”

But she went on to talk about how the specter of mental illness scares her most, and the need for greater awareness. Her sister has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, her nephew has schizoaffective disorder, and she recalled that her mother, who died two months ago, struggled with depression.

As she fought through tears, Close said, “Whoopi, I feel Robin here today. He would be whispering in my ear, ‘A couple of jokes would help right now.”’

Williams, Close’s costar in “The World According to Garp,” committed suicide last year.

Referencing Williams and others who have killed themselves, Close said: “We have lost so

Photo by John Phillips/Invision | AP file

In this June 30, 2014, file photo, from left, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and Terry Jones pose for photographers in London.

England,” said Idle. “It’s nice to be on a stamp when no one sends mail anymore.”

Asked if they could have foreseen their success and longevity when starting out, Jones erupted with, “No, no, no!”

“You don’t ever, ever know if something is going to be successful or not,” Cleese chimed in.

But Gilliam added that, with their BBC television series, they were indulged: “We got to do what we wanted to do. And there were six of us, so we were a big enough gang that we could beat up the execs” if one ever got in their way.

The series, “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” had a very strange beginning, said Cleese, recounting how a BBC exec commissioned it: “He asked us in to the meeting and he said, ‘What are you going to do?’ And we didn’t know and we couldn’t tell him. And he said, ‘Go away and make 13 programs.’

Thank you, God!” Although Python fans have long pondered how much this sometimes-fractious team might actually hate one another ("We LOVE each other,” declared Jones), they insisted their fights centered on the material, not personalities.

Cleese: “Remember the candelabra in the sketch in the

girls’ dormitory? There were light bulbs in the feet of a farm animal, and there was a big argument about whether it should be a sheep or a goat.

And it got quite nasty!”

Idle: “Comedy is a theorem.

You write it, and think, ‘In theory if I say this like that, and I wear that, and I stand in that place, the result will be laughter.’ So it’s a theorem.

And then you actually prove it. And that’s the nice thing about comedy: They laugh or they don’t. So I think of it as algebra.”

Palin: “But sometimes they giggle. That half-laugh: Then you’re never quite sure.”

Cleese: “If you’re asking about comedy now, the answer is, I don’t begin to understand contemporary society. Nobody yet has been able to explain Facebook to me. I just don’t know why anybody would do it. And that’s quite scary, because you’ve got to be in some sort of touch with your audience.”

Not that they don’t appreciate the current generation of comedians.

“There are a lot of funny comedians, a hundred of them,” said Idle. “They came out of ‘SNL,’ the University of Comedy, for 40 years. It’s the best training there can be, to be out there live every Saturday” — he chuckled — “doing rotten material.”

PAGE 5A

Photo by Diane Bondareff/Invision | AP

Lena Dunham is in awe of Sydney Keiser’s one-of-a-kind Barbie at the Variety Power of Women event, Friday. many.” She urged support of the mentally ill through her charity, Bring Change2Mind.

Lena Dunham, who also was honored, talked about her experience as a rape survivor and how it led her to support GEMS, an organization that helps girls caught in the sex trafficking trade.

She praised GEMS for championing those girls, and recalled when she too was in a vulnerable situation.

“When I was raped, I felt powerless. I felt my value had been determined by someone else, someone who sent me the message that body was not my own my choices were meaningless,” she said. “It took years to recognize my personal worth was not tied to my assault, that the voices telling me I deserved this were phantoms, they were liars.”

Kardashian choked up as she talked about her late father, famed attorney Robert Kardashian, who died of cancer. His death, she said, led her to become a supporter of the Chil-

dren’s Hospital in Los Angeles.

Actress Rachel Weisz shared success stories from the Opportunity Network, which provides support for underprivileged backgrounds so they can get a college degree. Colbie Smulders received a special Samsung Galaxy Edge Award for her work with the Oceana group (Trisha Yearwood, Ava DuVernay and Emmy Rossum got separate Barbie honors).

Goldberg, who was cited for her support of Figure Skating in Harlem, brought laughter to the event, noting it ran a bit long (three hours) and admitting it wasn’t exactly her thing.

“We don’t need to talk about it — do it,” she said. “Women are not good at helping each other, we talk (stuff) about women like that.

“If you are in power, look around and see what’s missing . pretty soon, it won’t be about empowering women, it will be about empowering men.”

National

6A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2015

Police: Gray should have received medical care

By AMANDA LEE MYERS AND TOM FOREMAN JR. ASSOCIATED PRESS

BALTIMORE — Freddie Gray should have received medical attention at the spot where he was arrested — before he was put inside a police van, authorities said Friday.

Baltimore police have come under intense scrutiny after Gray was taken into custody and suffered an unexplained spinal injury that led to his death. Six officers have been suspended with pay as local police and federal authorities investigate.

Commissioner Anthony Batts said the investigation is being refined and the picture is getting “sharper and sharper.” He did not elaborate.

As for calls for his resignation, he said: “That’s not going to happen.”

Gray, who is black, was arrested April 12 after he made eye contact with offi-

cers and ran away, police said. Officers held him down, handcuffed him and loaded him into a police van. While inside, he became irate and leg cuffs were put on him, police have said.

Gray was not buckled in by a seat belt, a violation of the police department’s policy.

He asked for medical help several times, and after a 30-minute ride that included three stops, paramedics were called. At some point — either during his arrest or inside the van — he suffered a mysterious spinal injury. Authorities have not explained how or when it occurred.

Deputy police commissioner Kevin Davis said Friday that Gray should have received medical attention at the spot of his arrest. Bystander video shows Gray screaming as officers carried him to the van, his legs appearing limp.

After a week of protests,

people angry over the death promised their biggest march Saturday, when they would try to “shut down” the city. The demonstrators say Gray’s death shows police mistreatment of blacks in Baltimore and throughout the country.

The mayor thanked protesters for being peaceful so far. She expects the results of the investigation to be turned over to prosecutors in a week, and they will decide whether any criminal charges will be filed.

“I will not deny we have had a very long and complicated history on issues such as these,” Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said. “But it’s important to remember that we have an equally long history of peaceful and legal protest.”

Asked if Gray’s possible “rough ride” is a one-off, the mayor said: “It’s clearly not a one-off. The reason we have the policy around seat belts in the police vans is because of an incident

that happened previously,” referring to Dondi Johnson.

He died of a fractured spine in 2005 after he was arrested for urinating in public and transported without a seat belt, with his hands cuffed behind his back.

The leader of a group of local ministers called on Batts to resign immediately.

“It seems that no one in the police department can explain what happened,” said the Rev. Alvin Gwynn Sr., president of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Baltimore.

He said the police department is “in disarray” and Batts has shown a “lack of viable leadership capabilities.”

The mayor appeared to back the police commissioner at her own news conference.

The president of a black lawyers’ group predicted thousands of people would turn out Saturday, when good weather is forecast and the Orioles are hosting

Photo by Patrick Semansky | AP

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake speaks at a news conference regarding the death of Freddie Gray, Friday, in Baltimore. the Boston Red Sox in a Major League Baseball game.

“Things will change on Saturday, and the struggle will be amplified,” said Malik Shabazz of Black Lawyers for Justice.

Shabazz rejected the notion that he was an outside agitator who would stir up trouble.

Bernard Young, Baltimore City Council president said prior to a rally on Thursday that he hoped citizens wouldn’t let “outside forces come in here and dictate how we act by destroying our infrastructure.”

“We can lead ourselves.

We’re capable of doing that,” he said.

National

SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2015

Obama talks intelligence

By NEDRA PICKLER AND DARLENE SUPERVILLE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MCLEAN, Va. — A day after revealing an intelligence failure that cost the lives of two al-Qaida hostages, President Barack Obama on Friday praised the nation’s spying operations as the most capable in the world while promising a review aimed at preventing future mistakes.

“We all bleed when we lose an American life,” Obama said in a speech at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to mark its 10th anniversary.

“We all grieve when any innocent life is taken. We don’t take this work lightly.

And I know that each and every one of you understand the magnitude of what we do and the stakes involved and these aren’t abstractions and we’re not cavalier about what we do.”

Obama said he knows the U.S. intelligence community has faced criticism but they can take great pride that their work has made America work secure. “You do an outstanding job,” he said.

“The world doesn’t always see your successes, the threats that you prevent or the terrorist attacks you thwart, or the lives that you save,” Obama told a couple hundred intelligence officials gathered in an auditorium at the sprawling gray building outside Washington. He said their intelligence helped take out Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders, showed that Syria had chemical weapons, revealed Russian aggression in Ukraine and supported nuclear negotiations with Iran.

“It’s been 10 long and challenging years, but when we look back on those 10 years, the American people have been a whole lot safer,” Obama said.

Obama’s praise came one day after the announcement that a counterterrorism operation in January against an al-Qai-

Photo by Stephen Crowley/New York Times | AP

President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in McLean, Va., Friday. da compound accidentally killed two aid workers being held hostage — American Warren Weinstein and Italian Giovanni Lo Porto.

Obama said the U.S. was unaware the hostages were in the targeted position, despite hundreds of hours of surveillance of the compound.

The White House said the attack also killed two American al-Qaida leaders, Ahmed Farouq and Adam Gadahn, without the U.S. knowing in advance they were there. Targeting an American with a drone strike would have triggered a more intense review in consideration of constitutional due process protections.

“We’re going to review what happened,” Obama said Friday. “We’re going to identify the lessons that can be learned and any improvements and changes that can be made. And I know those of you who are here share our determination to continue doing everything we can to prevent the loss of innocent lives.

“This self-reflection, this willingness to examine ourselves, to make corrections, to do better, that’s part of what makes us Americans. It’s part of what sets us apart from other nations,” Obama said.

“The United States is the most professional, most capable, most cutting-edge intelligence community in

the world,” he said, adding that they are sharing more intelligence than ever with partners around the world while tapping new technologies and satellites.

The White House said Obama’s speech was planned long before the drone revelation to mark the office’s anniversary.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created by President George W. Bush after the 9/ 11 terrorist attacks to coordinate the vast amounts of intelligence produced by 17 different government organizations, including the CIA, Pentagon, Cabinet departments and law enforcement agencies.

Obama said Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is one of the people he wakes up to every morning, as Clapper delivers the intelligence report known as the President’s Daily Brief. “He gives me his honest assessment, free of politics, free of spin. I trust his integrity and I can’t tell you how invaluable that is in the job that he has,” Obama said.

Obama said his only complaint is Clapper’s habit of leaving paper clips all over the Oval Office when he shuffles through papers.

The president then held up a see-through jar of paper clips and said he was returning them. “This will be available to you. DNI’s budget’s always a little tight,” Obama said.

THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A

Politics

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2015

Lynch will be sworn in Mon.

By ERIC TUCKER ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by Beawiharta/pool/file | AP

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Washington next week comes amid heightened attention in Congress to an Asia-Pacific trade deal that has created a deep rift between President Barack Obama and members of his Democratic Party.

No pact expected with Japan during visit

By JIM KUHNHENN ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Washington next week comes amid heightened attention in Congress to an Asia-Pacific trade deal that has created a deep rift between President Barack Obama and members of his Democratic Party and whose central feature is liberalized commerce between the U.S. and Japan.

White House officials said Friday that Obama and Abe are not expected to announce a final agreement on trade talks between the two nations. Officials said negotiators have made progress, but differences remain over how to reduce U.S. auto tariffs and Japanese barriers on U.S. agriculture products.

Abe’s official visit to Washington on Tuesday will include a state dinner with about 300 guests and an address to a joint meet-

ing of Congress, the first by a Japanese leader. New security arrangements between the U.S. and Japan are a top agenda item for the two leaders.

Given that it’s the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, Abe is also facing some pressure to address Japanese army behavior against Korea and China during the war. The White House is especially eager for Abe to mend fences with South Korea. And this week, 25 U.S. lawmakers urged Abe “to formally reaffirm and validate” apologies made by his predecessors for Japanese wartime aggression.

Yet even without prospects for a breakthrough on trade, the negotiations between the U.S. and Japan are likely to take precedence as Congress moves to give Obama so-called fasttrack authority to negotiate international trade deals.

House and Senate committees both approved legislation that would set stan-

dards for any trade deal but would permit Congress only to approve or reject, but not amend, any final agreement.

Obama wants such authority to complete a 12-nation Pacific rim agreement.

The U.S. and Japan are the two largest economies in those negotiations, which means that resolving their differences would go far in approaching a broader deal.

Caroline Atkinson, White House deputy national security adviser for international economics, said on Friday negotiators had made substantial progress, but “we do not expect any announcement of a final deal. We still have some work to do.”

Abe arrives in the U.S. just as Obama is engaged in a fierce fight with liberals and organized labor, who oppose giving him trade promotion authority and who are suspicious about trade deals because they fear job losses. A coa-

lition of Democrats and Republicans have also tried, so far unsuccessfully, to require that any trade deal address currency manipulation, amid concern that Japan has adjusted the yen to give an advantage to its exports. The Obama administration has opposed inserting such restrictions in trade deals.

Democrats such as Sens.

Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sherrod Brown of Ohio have been among the most vocal critics. And Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said that when it came to granting Obama fast-track authority to cut the deal, “I’m not only no, I’m hell no” Obama on Thursday and Friday went on offense against the critics. On Thursday, conceding many of his own allies have lined up against him, he said critics who say a trade deal with Pacific Rim countries is bad for working families “don’t know what they’re talking about.”

WASHINGTON — As attorney general Loretta Lynch assumes a portfolio that includes fighting terrorism, preventing cyberattacks and dealing with police and race — issues strikingly similar to what she’s dealt with as top federal prosecutor for much of New York City and its eastern suburbs.

She inherits a Justice Department consumed by efforts to stop the flow of Islamic State recruits to Syria and prevent destructive computer crimes against American corporations.

And she arrives with the department at the center of an ongoing national dialogue on relations between police and minority communities, something she pledged at her confirmation hearing to address.

The Senate’s long-delayed confirmation on Thursday of Lynch, 55, makes her the first African-American woman to hold the position.

Vice President Joe Biden will administer the oath of office to her on Monday at a Justice Department ceremony. She replaces Eric Holder and a six-year tenure in which he made civil rights protections a priority.

Lynch will have limited time in the twilight of the Obama administration to craft ambitious new policy proposals and is seen as unlikely to depart in radical ways from Holder’s priorities. But supporters expect her to bring her own understated and low-key management style, and she sought to assure anxious Republicans in recent months that she would arrive in Washington with her own lawand-order perspective.

“She’s a professional prosecutor, a career law-enforcement person, and she’s also someone who is apolit-

ical,” said Robert Giuffra, a New York lawyer who has known Lynch for years.

The workLYNCH load itself won’t be unfamiliar for Lynch, who since 2010 has been the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, one of the busiest Justice Department offices in the country.

The job has given her the opportunity to oversee cases against terrorists, cybercriminals and elected officials — all common Justice Department targets. Her office also is involved in the civil rights investigation arising from the death of a black Staten Island man who was placed in a chokehold by a white police officer.

In addition, she’ll need to build relationships on Capitol Hill, where Republicans who criticized Holder as overly political repeatedly clashed with him and once held him in contempt.

“I think DoJ badly needs a new attorney general to start to reset relationships, first and foremost with members of Congress, the overseers,” said Ron Hosko, former head of the FBI’s criminal division and president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund.

“I think that the negativity, the friction, between Holder and the oversight committees ultimately hurt” the department.

Never known as a publicity seeker, the Harvard-educated Lynch has kept an even lower profile in recent months while her nomination was in limbo, caught up in a partisan dispute over a human trafficking bill. Her office has recently brought several noteworthy cases against suspected Islamic State group recruits, but without the typical fanfare of a news conference.

Zfrontera

SABADO 25 DE ABRIL DE 2015

CASO TOMÁS YARRINGTON RUVALCABA

Agenda en Breve

Valioso terreno “

TORNEO Se realizará un Torneo de Kickball, el día de hoy, a partir de las 9 a.m.

El costo de entrada por equipo es de 125 dólares.

Los fondos recaudados en el evento serán destinados a los gastos médicos de la estudiante de ZMS, Jackie González.

PRIMER JUGUETÓN EN RÍO BRAVO Reynaldo Santana Ayala, presidente de la asociación de autos modificados “Unidos por Tamaulipas” dio a conocer que el domingo 26 de abril se llevará a cabo el Primer Juguetón en Río Bravo, México.

La sede será el “Paseo Río Bravo”, y los asistentes deberán acudir con un juguete.

Los juguetes que se recauden serán entregados a niños en situación económica vulnerable durante un festejo programado para el jueves 30 de abril.

CORTE DE COMISIONADOS La Corte de Comisionados del Condado de Zapata se reunirá el lunes 27 de abril en el Palacio de Justicia del Condado de Zapata.

La junta comenzará a las 9 a.m. y continuará hasta las 12 p.m.

Para mayor información puede contactar a Roxy Elizondo llamando al (956) 7659920.

JAMAICA DE ESTUDIANTES El ZCISD, organiza una Jamaica de Estudiantes, el 29 de abril, a partir de las 6 p.m. en el estacionamiento de ZHS.

PÁGINA 9A

POR GUILLERMO CONTRERAS Y JASON BUCH SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Un valioso terreno de bienes raíces de calidad, que oficiales federales sostienen fue adquirida para un ex gobernador mexicano con dinero lavado, sí puede ser vendido, dictaminó un juez el miércoles.

El área de 46 acres, detrás de Six Flags Fiesta Texas y el exclusivo Éilan Hotel and Spa, pudiera valer 22 millones de dólares.

En una amplia inYARRINGTON vestigación que involucraba lavado de dinero, investigadores federales dijeron que el terreno fue adquirido para Tomás Yarrington Ruvalcaba, ex gobernador de Tamaulipas, quien fue acusado en 2013 en los EU con asociación delictuosa y crímenes financieros. Él es un fugitivo.

Durante los procedimientos en San Antonio, fiscales federales revelaron que han solicitado la extradición de Yarrington y un supuesto cómplice de México, a fin de que enfrenten cargos federales en Brownsville.

Alberto Berlanga Bolado, quien fungiera como Secretario de Transportación bajo el sucesor de Yarrington, obtuvo la propiedad en San Antonio de un ex socio-empresario llamado Fernando Cano.

En 2012, autoridades de EU acusaron a Cano con cargos de que él lavó dinero de sobornos para Yarrington en propiedades ubicadas en el Sur de Texas, incluidos los 46 acres en La Cantera que Cano comprara inicialmente.

Oficiales federales dijeron carecer de evidencia de que Berlanga estuviera involucrado en algún cri-

No es propósito del gobierno hacerse rico con estos procedimientos de (incautación).

Es básicamente para remover la propiedad de las manos sucias de quien esté”.

FISCAL ASISTENTE DE EU, MARY NELDA VALADEZ

men y que no lo habían acusado. En lugar de ello, decidieron ir contra la propiedad bajo los procedimientos civiles de incautación, lo cual dificultó los intentos de Berlanga de desarrollar el terreno o realizar cualquier cosa con él, argumentaron sus abogados Gilberto Hinojosa y Rolando Ríos.

Solicitudes Berlanga obtuvo un préstamo para adquirir la propiedad pero se retrasó en sus pagos en diciembre, como resultado del litigio, afirmaron sus abogados. Desde entonces él se ha puesto al día, pero PlainsCapital Bank buscó aplicar una recaudación acelerada del mismo y pidió al Juez de Distrito de EU Xavier Rodríguez permitirle realizar una ejecución hipotecaria de la propiedad y venderla. Rodríguez negó la solicitud al banco.

En lugar de ello, concedió la petición a Berlanga de darle tiempo para vender la propiedad, la cual un agente de bienes raíces ha estimado que pudiera ascender a los 22 millones de dólares. El juez le dio hasta diciembre para intentar que ocurra la venta. Si no ocurre, entonces el juez permitirá a PlainsCapital reali-

zar una ejecución hipotecaria sobre el terreno.

De ser vendido por Berlanga, el gobierno pudiera obtener cerca de 3 millones de dólares — lo cual supuestamente Cano invirtió en la propiedad, y el banco pudiera obtener entre 4 millones de dólares y 5 millones de dólares para satisfacer los términos del préstamo de Berlanga.

Fiscales admiten que carecen de evidencia criminal contra Berlanga, pero que no querían que Cano, o finalmente Yarrington, hacer dinero del terreno.

“No es propósito del gobierno hacerse rico con estos procedimientos de (incautación)”, dijo la Fiscal Asistente de EU, Mary Nelda Valadez, al juez. “Es básicamente para remover la propiedad de las manos sucias de quien esté”.

Negocios Berlanga, de 50 años, quien ahora radica en San Antonio, es el representante de Cantera-Parkway Development Partners LP, dijo que él no es culpable de algo. Dijo al ExpressNews después de la audiencia que espera recuperar la limpia reputación que tenía antes de Cano, con

quien hizo negocios brevemente hace muchos años.

“Para mí y mi familia, este proceso ha sido muy difícil”, dijo Berlanga, quien había planeado un desarrollo de uso mixto con el terreno.

“En los EU, como en México, tus tratos empresariales están ligados con tu reputación, y el simple hecho de que un gobierno acuse a alguien o a una de sus propiedades arroja algunos problemas sobre tu reputación, aunque sea falso. Al final del día, lo que deseamos es recuperar mis intereses”.

La acusación contra Yarrington dice que utilizó a la policía y a políticos para ayudar a los cárteles de las drogas de México en el estado de Tamaulipas y en el 2007 se convirtió en un totalmente capacitado narcotraficante. Él también está acusado con conspiración para contrabandear drogas. Yarrington, un político fronterizo por décadas, quien se codeaba con gobernadores de Texas, también está acusado de lavar dinero de sobornos a través de propiedades en San Antonio y Rio Grande Valley.

En 1998, conforme Yarrington corría para Gobernador de Tamaulipas, el ex Alcalde de Matamoros y congresista mexicano, empezó a aceptar sobornos del Cartel del Golfo y sus entonces aliados, Los Zetas, de acuerdo a la acusación. Líderes, incluyendo a Cano, quien también es considerado un fugitivo, invirtió ese dinero en el terreno de 46 acres en San Antonio, un condominio en la Isla del Padre del Sur, un aeroplano, un rancho exclusivo para caza de paloma en México, y propiedades residenciales a lo largo del estado, de acuerdo a archivos de la corte. El abogado de Yarrington, Joel Androphy de Houston, ha dicho que su cliente niega los alegatos.

COMUNIDAD

MIGUEL ALEMÁN, MX

EVENTO CLÁSICO

Aplican medida; genera molestia

CORTE DE COMISIONADOS La Corte de Comisionados del Condado de Zapata se reunirá el lunes 11 de mayo en el Palacio de Justicia del Condado de Zapata.

La junta comenzará a las 9 a.m. y continuará hasta las 12 p.m.

Para mayor información puede contactar a Roxy Elizondo llamando al (956) 7659920.

ESPECTÁCULO DE LUCHA LIBRE A fin de recaudar fondos y adquirir equipo adecuado para realizar deporte en las escuelas de Miguel Alemán, México, se llevará a cabo un espectáculo de lucha libre el viernes 15 de mayo en el Centro Cívico (dentro de los terrenos de la Expo Feria) a las 5 p.m.

El Supervisor de Tránsito, Antonio Santos Ramírez, informó que será un evento familiar.

Entre los luchadores que participarán se encuentran Granda XXX y Mascara Sagrada Junior, Ator y los minis del cuadrilátero, los luchadores enanitos Voladorcito, La Parquita y Brazalete de Plata y de Platino.

Santos Ramírez agregó que previo al evento se realizará un desfile con los luchadores participantes.

CAMPAMENTO DE VERANO Del 9 de junio al 2 de julio, tendrá lugar un Campamento de Verano, para los estudiantes de ZCISD desde preescolar a quinto año. Las sesiones serán de 8 a.m. a 12 p.m. y de 12 p.m. a 4 p.m.

El desayuno y el almuerzo serán proporcionados. No habrá transporte.

El campamento es gratuito, sin embargo, los estudiantes deberán cumplir con las normativas de fin de año para ser elegibles.

Las solicitudes de ingreso deberán ser entregadas antes del 14 de mayo. Para más información puede llamar a Gerardo García al (956) 7656917; a Dalia García, al (956) 765-4332; a Ana Martínez, al (956) 765-5611; o a Marlen Guerra al (956) 765-4321.

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Foto por Cuate Santos | Laredo Morning Times

Modelos caminan la pasarela durante la presentación principal el miércoles en el Laredo Country Club donde el Volunteer Services Council para BRBHC llevó a cabo su 26ª Comida Anual de Profesionales Administrativas y Desfile de Modas.

Recaudan fondos con moda y talento POR KARIME NEVÁREZ ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

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Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, “Casablanca”, “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, “Goldfinger”, y “The Great Gatsby”, caracterizados con talento local, amenizaron un desfile de modas que recauda fondos para destinarlos al Border Region Behavioral Health Center.

El Consejo de Servicios Voluntarios del BRBHC se dio a la tarea de organizar el 23º Annual Administrative Professional’s Day Luncheon and Fashion Show, creando una edición llena de glamour en las pasarelas, bajo el título “Movie Classics at The Oscars”.

“Cada año este desfile se pone mejor, este año tuvimos muchísimo talento, queremos juntar más personas”, explicó Marcia Jovel, voluntaria encargada de la promoción. “Este es el único evento para recaudar fondos que tenemos, y lo que hacemos con dichos fondos es ayudar a más personas que llegan a Border Region para que puedan tener una vida lo más normal posible”.

Al lugar sede, el Laredo Country Club, asistieron más de 300 personas.

“Esta es la primera vez que

asisto, está genial, me encantó la presentación de Cabaret”, dijo Gigi Caballero. “Gracias a Dios que se tienen este tipo de eventos”.

El BRBHC fue fundado en 1979, con el propósito de brindar atención a personas que sufren de enfermedades mentales en el área del Condado de Webb.

“Este desfile se ha estado haciendo por 23 años, y este programa cuenta con 12 voluntarios”, declaró Laura Kim, Directora de Programas Especiales del Border Region.

Gracias a los fondos recaudados durante el Desfile de Modas del 2014, se pudo ayudara a 33 familias.

Texas carece de los fondos suficientes para destinar a centros de ayuda para personas que sufren de enfermedades mentales, de tal manera que los Consejos de Servicios Voluntarios realizan actividades que les permita brindar a las personas aquello a lo que no tienen acceso fácilmente.

“Pienso que esta es una obra muy buena, porque hay muchos pacientes de enfermedades mentales que necesitan apoyo no solo para estar en una institución sino para estar con su familia, y estos cuidados implican tener gastos adicionales, y lo que hacen estos

eventos es ayudar con fondos”, resaltó el Dr. Manuel Jovel.

En una entrevista previa para Tiempo de Laredo, la Presidenta del Consejo de Servicios Voluntarios, Cassia Jantz, sostuvo que a todas las voluntarias les preocupa el bienestar de los clientes del BRBHC. “Dos de nuestras metas son mejorar la vida de nuestros clientes, así como mejorar e incrementar la atención en la comunidad acerca de las enfermedades mentales y de las personas con desventaja intelectual y desarrollo mental”, sostuvo Jantz.

Actualmente el BRBHC emplea a 270 personas, y atiende a 3.600 clientes, aproximadamente. Atiende principalmente casos de esquizofrenia, bipolaridad y depresión.

Igualmente ofrece servicio para niños y adolescentes de 3 años a 17 años de edad, que tengan un diagnostico de enfermedad mental (y) que experimenten trastornos emocionales, problemas de conducta, y/o en riesgo de expulsión de la escuela.

Además ofrece una línea de ayuda 24/7 marcando el 1-800-6431102. Si requiere mayor información puede comunicarse al (956) 794-300, o acudir a 1500 calle Pappas.

Recientemente el Gobierno de Tamaulipas empezó a aplicar una medida para que propietarios retiren el polarizado de las ventanas de sus vehículos, pero en ciudades como Miguel Alemán, México, la ciudadanía ha expresado su desacuerdo.

En parte, una de las quejas expuestas por parte de Zeferino Cruz Olivo, representante del portal “El Imparcial”, está la forma en CORTEZ que se obliga a desprender el papel ahumado, así cómo la manera de actuar de los policías militares y de la policía estatal acreditable.

El Presidente Municipal de Miguel Alemán, Ramiro Cortez Barrera, aclaró que la medida es orden directa del Gobierno del Estado.

Aclaró además que el departamento de tránsito local está únicamente auxiliando en esa encomienda a las corporaciones citadas.

Cortez Barrera pidió a la ciudadanía que se sienta agredida por la acción de los operativos para que interpongan su denuncia ante la agencia del ministerio público investigador y que así se le de curso legal en caso de que se violenten las garantías individuales de la gente, de acuerdo a un comunicado de prensa.

“En Miguel Alemán no se estará tolerando ninguna actitud fuera de orden por parte de las autoridades policíacas de procedencia y autoridad del estado”, dijo Cortez Barrera. “La primera obligación de (mi) gobierno, es crear un ambiente seguro y de tranquilidad en el que las instituciones se involucren respetuosamente para servir a la comunidad”.

International

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES

Italy says Vatican attack planned

By COLLEEN BARRY ASSOCIATED PRESS

MILAN — Islamic extremists suspected in a bomb attack in a Pakistani market that killed more than 100 people had also planned an attack against the Vatican in 2010 that was never carried out, an Italian prosecutor said Friday.

The alleged foiled plot, known to authorities for years, was revealed as prosecutors announced the results of a decadelong investigation into an Italy-based terror network that aimed to stop Pakistan’s actions against the Taliban. Police arrested nine suspects related to the probe Friday throughout Italy. Another nine were being sought, three of whom were believed to still be in the country.

Wiretaps collected as part of the investigation gave “signals of some preparation for a possible attack” at the Vatican, prosecutor Mauro Mura told a news conference in Cagliari, Sardinia. That included the arrival in Rome of a Pakistani suicide bomber, Mura said.

The Pakistani eventually left Italy, Mura said, without explaining why.

The Italian news agency ANSA reported that there were two suicide bombers and that they were warned off by their associates in Italy when police began executing search warrants in the wider investigation of the Italybased Islamic terror network.

The Vatican downplayed the significance of the alleged plot.

“From what it appears, this concerns a hypothe-

Photo by Antonio Satta | AP

Italian police officers arrest a suspect in Olbia, Italy, on Friday. Islamic extremists had planned an attack against the Vatican in 2010 that was never carried out. sis that dates from 2010 which didn’t occur. It has therefore no relevance today and no reason for particular concern,” said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman.

At the time of the suspected plot to bomb the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI was still reeling from the effects in the Muslim world of a 2006 speech in Regensburg, Germany, in which he quoted a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as “evil and inhuman,” particularly “his command to spread by the sword the faith.”

While relations with the Muslim world were eventually repaired, tensions flared again in 2011 when Cairo’s al-Azhar institute, the pre-eminent theological school of Sunni Islam, suspended interfaith talks with the Vatican after Benedict called for greater protections for Egypt’s minority Christians.

More recently, Italian officials have made clear they take seriously the threat of the Islamic State

group to conquer Rome and the seat of Christianity. Security has been beefed up at the Vatican and the head of the Swiss Guards has said they are ready but that they have no information about an imminent threat.

Pope Francis himself has said he realizes he may be a target but that he fears mostly for the innocent crowds who come to see him every time he’s in public.

“We are all exposed and we are all afraid,” said the Vatican secretary of state, Pietro Parolin. “But the pope is very calm for this, it’s enough to watch him meeting people with great clarity and serenity.”

The investigation was launched in 2005, but Mura said it was slowed when news of the investigation leaked to the media, alerting the suspects that they were being watched. He also said the process of translating the wiretaps was painstaking.

Authorities said some of five of the suspects were responsible for plotting “numerous bloody

acts of terrorism in Pakistan,” including the October 2009 explosion in a market in Peshawar in which more than 100 people died. That attack happened on the same day that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, Mura noted.

Some of the suspects were also suspected of organizing attacks against Pakistani police and security forces that were carried out between March 2011 and November 2011, leaving five people dead, Mura said.

The terror ring also was a source of funding for terror operations in Pakistan, gathering donations from the Pakistani and Afghan community in Italy. It also illegally smuggled into Italy Pakistani and Afghani citizens who arrived by plane with false papers.

One of the suspects arrested Friday had a construction business in Sardinia that participated in work for a Group of Eight summit planned for Sardinia but that was later moved to quake-stricken Aquilia, in Abruzzo to boost reconstruction. Another was an imam in the northern province of Bergamo.

Mura also said some of the suspects had very close ties to al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, and that wiretaps included phone calls inquiring about his health. Two were part of bin Laden’s security detail, a press release said.

Police said the aim of the terror network was to create an insurrection against the Pakistani government.

Train kills 14 sleeping on tracks

By BORIS GRDANOSKI AND KONSTANTIN TESTORIDES

tral Macedonian town of Veles when the train’s engineer spotted a group of about 100 migrants on the tracks in the dark.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

VELES, Macedonia — A group of migrants trying to reach European opportunity via what’s billed by smugglers as a “safe” route — trekking along tracks through the Balkans — was hit by an overnight train in a river gorge in Macedonia, killing 14.

The deaths of the undocumented migrants from Africa and Asia underscore how, even as tens of thousands risk drowning in the Mediterranean to reach European shores, many others gamble with their lives by taking perilous overland journeys to reach Hungary.

Railway officials said many of those killed Thursday night had stopped to rest after an hourslong hike and were sleeping on the tracks when the train plowed into them.

The overland route from Greece through Macedonia and Serbia has soared in popularity over the past two years as migrants seek a less dangerous path than the sea crossing from North Africa to Italy.

Trains killed 40 migrants last year, usually in groups of one or two, compared to the more than 1,300 lives lost in the Mediterranean over the past three weeks alone — a horrifying statistic that has put 2015 on track to be the

LEGAL NOTICE Application has been made with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission for a Mixed Beverage Permit (MB), Mixed Beverage Late Hours Permit (LB), Beverage Cartage Permit (PE) by Oso Blanco, LLC dba Oso Blanco Bar & Grill, to be located at 2132 Hwy 83 South, Zapata, Zapata County, Texas. Owners of said corporation are Craig D. Bigler and Rosa A. Bigler.

L-63

Photo by Alessandra Tarantino | AP

An Italian police officer holds a numbered tag as another one takes a photo at Catania harbor, Sicily, southern Italy, on Friday. deadliest year ever for the sea crossing.

The Balkans smuggling route follows railway lines through most of the 125mile hike through Macedonia, and authorities say it was only a question of time before so many trekkers would die in a single train accident.

The rail line includes narrow wooden bridges and two long tunnels through mountains that can leave migrants trapped with no way of escape, as well as frequent riverside bends that conceal the sight and sounds of oncoming trains.

Thursday’s accident occurred around 10:30 p.m. on

a narrow stretch of tracks sandwiched between the Vardar River and a steep slope. The express train from Thessaloniki, Greece, to the Serbian capital of Belgrade was about six miles northwest of the cen-

SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2015

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 2017. Questions should be addressed to: Innovative Readiness Coordinator ATTN: MSG Sanchez Enrique J7 DOMOPS J7 NCOIC 2200 W. 35th St.,Bldg 8 A125 Austin, TX 78703 512-431-8343 L-53

SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2015

IBC Continued from Page 1A “The Money Buzz initiative demonstrates IBC’s ‘We Do More’ philosophy, as our employees invest time and resources to teach children of our community basic financial concepts,” said IBC Bank-Zapata President and CEO Renato Ramirez. “The financial literacy children gain today builds a foundation for them to become prosperous adults who can make a meaningful impact on society. The success of the program is made possible with the collaboration of area schools and organizations that believe in Money Buzz.”

Money Buzz was developed by IBC under the direction of certified teachers and provides students fundamental lessons in financial literacy. IBC teaches the courses to elementary, middle and high school students, as well as local community groups.

THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A

Oil, gas big themes at energy meeting

By JONATHAN FAHEY ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON — In the year since the energy industry last gathered for its big annual confab in Houston, prices for oil and natural gas took a dive that few, if anyone, saw coming.

A chastened parade of energy executives, analysts, academics and government officials from several countries delivered speeches and participated in panels as part of IHS’s CERAWeek energy conference, worrying over prices and making a profit, and speculating on what it could all mean for

TWO Continued from Page 1A plus children and 500 veterans in a sevencounty area from Del Rio to Rio Grande City.

“Our clients are hard-working residents who just don’t make enough money to adequately feed their families,” Villarreal said. “That’s where the food bank steps in.

“Yes, our unemployment rate is under 5 percent, but poverty rate is 30-plus percent.”

For information, visit southtexasfoodbank.org. The food bank’s programs include adopt a family, commodity supplemental food program (60 and over), SNAP outreach, 19 Kids Cafés (15 in LaredoWebb County) and emergency bags.

The food bank is a member of the state and national networks Feeding Texas and Feeding America. Texas households suffered extraordinarily high rates of food hardship during and after the recession, according to a new national report released recently. In 2014, 18.4 percent of surveyed households said they could not consistently afford enough food.

Federal lawmakers in the Senate and House have passed budgets that put nutrition programs such as SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) at significant risk, the food bank said. Rates of food hardship will increase significantly if funding for these programs is reduced, the nonprofit added.

“It is unacceptable that Congress is debating cuts to nutrition programs like SNAP when so many Americans are struggling to afford food,” said Celia Cole, CEO of Feeding Texas, a state organization of 21 food banks, including the South Texas Food Bank in Laredo. “SNAP is a proven tool to solve hunger. Our elected leaders should act to help, not hurt struggling families.”

The report, How Hungry is America?, is published by the national group the Food Research and Action Center in coordination with Gallup-Healthways Polling, and provides data on food hardship for the nation, every state, and 100 of the country’s largest cities. The report includes food hardship rates for San Antonio, Austin, Houston, and the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Food hardship is defined as the inability to afford enough food. The report found a national food hardship rate of 17.2 percent in 2014. The figures are higher for Laredo.

“All these data tell the same story – hunger and poverty rates spiked at the beginning of the recession and have stayed high ever since,” said Cole. “Cutting nutrition programs now will lead to even greater hardship for millions of struggling Americans.”

Feeding Texas is urging concerned Texans to raise their voices and tell Members of Congress to strengthen – not weaken – the nation’s nutrition safety net, the food bank said.

economies and consumers around the world.

Speaker after speaker here said that prices for oil, gasoline and diesel will remain far below where they had been for much of this decade.

“Lower for longer,” is how BP CEO Bob Dudley described it. Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson said: “This is going to be with us for a while.”

IHS’s Kurt Barrow expects oil prices to maybe climb back to $65 a barrel by the end of the year. Adam Sieminski, administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, expects oil to average $60 this year. The average price for U.S.

oil topped $90 from 2011 through 2014.

Natural gas has fallen even further than oil as U.S. drillers have been producing enormous amounts of gas and mild winter weather kept demand relatively low.

The oil and gas executives delivered this news grimly, but people who use their products are likely to be delighted. Low natural gas prices mean lower heating costs for the half of U.S. households that use natural gas for heat, and they also translate directly to lower electricity prices in many areas.

And U.S. households will save about $700 this year on lower

gasoline expenses, according to government estimates. As of Friday, a gallon of regular in the U.S. averaged $2.51, compared with $3.69 a year ago.

“There is some really good news for consumers,” Sieminski said.

The U.S. oil industry is hurting but its financial backers haven’t panicked.

Often, oil and gas prices decline because of a weak economy. This time the economy is growing. Bankers and investors are flush with cash, and appear willing to wait out the low prices to benefit from a turnaround.

AGGIE Continued from Page 1A Rodriguez died in 2003. His daughter, Pam Juarez, was part of one of the first co-ed classes at Texas A&M. Juarez said she remembers how proud her father felt about being a part of the photo and having graduated from the school in 1948 with a bachelor’s of science in agriculture.

Rodriguez was the first of his family to attend college, and is one of two men in the photo with a Hispanic last name.

“In the stories my dad would tell us, he said whenever he and the men from his school would travel, he’d have to stay on the bus because a lot of places would not serve Hispanics,”

Juarez said.

Rodriguez, who graduated from Martin High School in 1940, joined the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets as a student at the university.

“My dad said he would hitchhike from Laredo to College Station. People would give him a lift after recognizing his Corps Cadet bag,” Juarez said.

The United States entered the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

“At the time the war broke out, every student from A&M had to sign up,” Juarez said.

Rodriguez served in combat from 1942 to 1946 and rose to the rank of first lieutenant.

After the war, he returned to Aggieland and finished his degree in 1948.

“He believed that education was non-negotiable,” Juarez said. “He said that many men were lost in the war, and he would get his degree for all those that were not able to.”

After returning to Laredo, Rodriguez worked as an import specialist with U.S. Customs and as a rancher.

Juarez said that he never missed a Muster throughout the rest of his years.

The collectible coin was released in the 1980s and became an object of pride for Rodriguez.

“When I am finally alone in

the shadow of my days, I’ll hear a mustering of Aggies and the echo of my name,” is the phrase inscribed on the collectible coin that features the famous photo.

“To think that from the whole world one of them is from Laredo – that gives me such pride,” Juarez said.

A Muster took place with the local Aggie club Tuesday at the Falcon International Bank Lake House, 537 El Ranchito Road in Laredo. The event featured Pedro Arguindegui III as guest speaker.

(Gabriela A. Treviño may be reached at 956-728-2579 or gtrevino@lmtonline.com)

GIRL Continued from Page 1A tified as the long-missing daughter of Houston resident Dorotea Garcia and then sent to live with her in the United States is unclear.

Judge Cinthia Elodia Mercado told the AP she was obligated to ensure that Mexico followed international conventions on child abductions.

“Our only job is to resolve whether the child needs to be returned or not,” she said.

Alondra’s parents said they believed the documents they presented should have been accepted as valid. However, a court official, who was not authorized to speak to the press and spoke on condition of anonymity, said their documents were not proper.

Elodia Mercado said it wasn’t within her authority to order a DNA test as Alondra had requested.

“We, as judges, are only responsible to resolve the case with respect to recovering the minor,” the judge said. “We don’t do investigations or make inquiries.”

Alondra apparently was identified as the missing girl

by Garcia in Guanajuato.

Speaking briefly to the AP, the Houston woman did not elaborate on how she did so.

Garcia told a Houston television station that the first time she saw Alondra Luna, “I saw my daughter.”

The Mexican Foreign Ministry said Garcia’s identification

of Alondra prompted U.S. authorities to file a petition for her return and the case then was forwarded to the judge.

Officials in the State Department and the FBI, however, could not find any indication their agencies were involved in recent events. The only action recorded came in 2007 when the State Department filed an international child-abduction report about Garcia’s daughter.

Based on Elodia Mercado’s order, Mexican federal police went to Alondra’s middle school in Guanajuato on April 16 and transported her to the magistrate’s courtroom in the neighboring state of Michoacan.

After examining documents presented by Alondra’s parents and Garcia, and hearing their testimony, the judge ruled in Garcia’s favor.

Garcia traveled with Alondra by bus to the border, crossing at Laredo, Texas. Alondra was granted entry based on the birth certificate of Garcia’s daughter and the court order, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Alondra said she was terrified at first, having never been so far from her parents, but was confident that ultimately the truth would come out and she would return.

The video of her being forced into a police vehicle after the court ruling was circulated widely, causing an uproar

and public demands for an investigation. Upon reaching the United States, Alondra again asked for a DNA test, which was conducted at the Mexican consulate in Houston.

Alondra’s family celebrated her return to Guanajuato on Wednesday with a barbecue of steak and chorizo sausage at her aunt’s house, decorated with balloons, streamers.

“Welcome to your real home, Alondra,” read a homemade sign.

The girl, wearing jeans, a gray T-shirt and a silver necklace with an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, laughed and hugged brothers, cousins, aunts and uncles. As the sun went down in their hilly working-class neighborhood, family and friends lit candles and recited the rosary on a sidewalk.

Alondra wept as an elderly neighbor swept her into an embrace that lasted for minutes.

Family members spent the day together in private Thursday, and Alondra planned to return to school Monday.

Her uncle, Ruben Nuñez, said the family was considering whether to pursue legal action.

Susana Nuñez, Alondra’s mother, said she had not had a chance to ask her daughter for more details of the trip to Houston, such as whether she tried to convince border agents that Garcia was not her moth-

er.

“Anger. Rage. Powerlessness that they could tear my daughter from my arms. Sadness,” Nuñez said, recalling her emotions of the last week. “I didn’t sleep. I didn’t eat. I said, ’How is my daughter? What is she doing?”’

Her father, Gustavo Luna, said there were moments when he feared he might never see her again.

“A lot of things went through my mind ... at those moments you fear the worst,” Luna said.

As for Garcia, her daughter, Alondra Diaz Garcia, remains missing.

The girl allegedly was taken from Houston by her father, Reynaldo Diaz, in 2007 and was believed to have been in Mexico. Diaz is wanted on a felony warrant.

Alondra said Garcia and the woman’s relatives apologized to her before she left Texas.

Garcia said she knows many won’t look kindly on her actions.

“The people who know me don’t need me to give an explanation for what happened,” she told the AP. “Whatever explanation I give won’t change the minds of people in Mexico or here.”

Associated Press writers Mario Armas in Leon, Mexico, E. Eduardo Castillo and Katherine Corcoran in Mexico City and Juan Lozano in Houston contributed to this report.

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2015

SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2015

ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

Sports&Outdoors NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DALLAS COWBOYS

Super Bowl aspirations File photo by Chris Keane | AP

Romo says Cowboys will win title

By JON MACHOTA MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

Photo by Brandon Wade | AP

Dallas quarterback Tony Romo said that the Cowboys would win the Super Bowl next year while accepting an award on Friday.

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Tony Romo was recently awarded the Nancy Lieberman Lifetime Achievement Award at the Dream Ball Gala at the Omni Hotel.

The Cowboys quarterback gave an engaging 10-minute acceptance speech about needing help from others so he could achieve his goals.

While giving examples of the people who helped him along the way, Romo described how he transformed from a player focused on individual goals to someone who now only cares about team accomplishments.

"In the last five years, it’s become all the people that I’m with, the Jason Wittens, the Jason Garretts, the Joneses, these people I’ve been with for a long time," Romo said. "I want to win a championship so bad, but it’s just not about me. I literally want to win it so bad for them. For the people around me who have helped me.

"They’ve allowed me to achieve my dreams and my goals. Without them, I’m not there, I promise you. I’m not where I’m at right now and I’m not going where I’m going."

Romo was very candid, demonstrating why many envision the 35-yearold as a coach when his playing days are over. As he was closing his speech, Romo made sure to deliver a prediction for the upcoming season before quickly flashing a smile.

"This award is very meaningful to me, mostly because I get to be associated with this and to be associated with Nancy," Romo said. "It’s incredible and I really appreciate you, and we’re going to win a Super Bowl next year. Thank you."

Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy reportedly had an exchange with a teammate after he called Hardy a “woman beater,” according to Yahoo! Sports.

Hardy, Coleman argue

By DREW DAVISON MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

Dallas Cowboys backup defensive lineman Davon Coleman and defensive end Greg Hardy got into a heated argument following conditioning drills on Friday, but Coleman’s agent said that the story has been blown "significantly out of proportion."

"My understanding is that Davon and Greg had a ’verbal discussion,’ as it’s been termed to me," Michael Loeffler said.

"There was no physical altercation, no hitting, no punching, nobody stepped in. They just had a discussion following a work out. This is much ado about nothing."

However, other reports are surfacing that paint a different picture. Yahoo Sports’ Rand Getlin said on his Twitter page, citing an unnamed source, that Coleman called Hardy "a woman beater."

Loeffler said he had not heard anything along those lines in his discussions about the incident, and continued to downplay it.

Incidents like this happen often between players, but this has

See HARDY PAGE 2B

NCAA FOOTBALL: OKLAHOMA STATE

OSU put on probation

By CLIFF BRUNT ASSOCIATED PRESS

File photo by Ross D. Franklin | AP

Commissioner Roger Goodell talked about the possibility of bringing an NFL team to Los Angeles on Friday.

Goodell: LA projects viable for bringing in team

By BARRY WILNER ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Roger Goodell says the two stadium projects in the Los Angeles area look promising enough to lead to the return of the NFL to the nation’s second-largest city.

The NFL commissioner told the Associated Press Sports Editors group Friday that he thinks the projects in Inglewood and Carson are "viable," and have a "great deal of potential to be successful."

"We had presentations earlier this week that are very exciting," Goodell said. "Not just for a return but to continue being successful going forward."

St. Louis Rams owner Stan

Kroenke is involved in the Inglewood project, while the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders have combined to work on the Carson proposal.

Goodell also acknowledged there is some urgency in the matter. The league has not had a franchise in Los Angeles since the 1994 season.

Indeed, the window for applying to move to LA, currently early January, could be moved up, he said. The owners would need to vote on any franchise transfer at next March’s annual meeting.

He also noted that a move to Los Angeles "is not a new issue in any of these communities."

See LA PAGE 2B

OKLAHOMA CITY — The NCAA put Oklahoma State’s football program on a year of probation Friday for failing to follow its own drug-testing policies over a four-year span, largely sparing the Cowboys of serious penalties for violations uncovered following an expose by Sports Illustrated.

“I feel this vindicates us,” Oklahoma State president V. Burns Hargis said.

The Committee on Infractions also ordered Oklahoma State to suspend its Orange Pride student organization after determining the all-female group “impermissibly” helped in recruiting efforts after being organized by the football program.

The penalties come two years after a series of Sports Illustrated articles alleged widespread misconduct in the program. The magazine said it interviewed more than 60 former players and found evidence of potential NCAA violations under coaches Les Miles and current coach Gundy dating to 2001. The stories included numerous former Oklahoma State players making allegations of cash payments to players, academic misconduct, inconsistent enforcement of drug policies and some of the school’s recruiting hostesses having sex with prospects from 2001-10.

After a joint investigation, the NCAA and Oklahoma State said last October that the most egregious allegations were “fundamentally unfounded,” though three potential violations were found. The magazine stood by its

Photo by Sue Ogrocki | AP

Oklahoma State’s football program was put on probation after failing to follow its own drug-testing policies over a four-year span. reporting.

“At the end of the day, there’s no doubt that this case was written about; it was highly publicized. Some salacious stuff was out there, a lot of unsubstantiated stuff that was not found,” said Greg Christopher, chief hearing officer for the infractions committee. “It was not for a lack of looking.”

The NCAA said five football players competed in a total of seven games from 2008-2012 when they should have been benched for violating drug policies. But the NCAA said the school was not guilty of failing to monitor its football program, a violation that could have brought more severe penalties. And it agreed with the school’s self-imposed recruiting limits.

The Sports Illustrated report alleged that Oklahoma State had

widespread marijuana use and the university’s drug testing policy favored those players who received more playing time. In last year’s report, it was determined that athletic ability was not the reason for the failure to properly apply the policy.

According to the NCAA, Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder believed he had latitude in following the drug policy and deferred to coach Mike Gundy’s recommendation on whether to suspend players who failed a drug test.

“I think the evidence showed coach Gundy was actually trying to do what was best for the student-athletes,” Hargis said. “If any competitive advantage was gained, it was very slight. But, nonetheless, we did not have dis-

See OSU PAGE 2B

PAGE 2B

Zscores

SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2015

File photo by AP

Top NFL prospects including quarterbacks Marcus Mariota, left, and Jameis Winston will not attend the 2015 NFL Draft.

Prospects are ducking the draft

By RALPH D. RUSSO ASSOCIATED PRESS

The hat-and-hug routine with the NFL commissioner that has become a rite of passage for many college football stars on draft night is not for everybody.

The waiting is the hardest part, even for players good enough to be invited to the draft, and some prefer to do it away from the ever-present eyes of a national television audience.

"I know that the draft is really a great event and a great thing to go to," said University of Pittsburgh offensive tackle T.J. Clemmings, a potential first-round pick who declined an invitation to attend the draft in Chicago next week. "It also can be pretty stressful. Nobody knows where they’re going to go. But the wait, I’d rather have that wait with my friends and family here at home in New Jersey."

There will be several noticeable absences when the three-day draft starts Thursday night, including potential top picks. Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston, Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota and Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper all plan to skip the spotlight.

Either Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback could be the first overall selection, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers holding the top pick and in need of a passer. The last time the No. 1 pick did not attend the draft was 1994, when Cincinnati selected Ohio State defensive tackle Dan Wilkinson.

But this year, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell might have to wait until pick No. 3 or even 4 - Cooper could go in the top three, too - to pose for a picture with a just-drafted player, his new team’s jersey in hand.

Not to worry. Goodell won’t be lonely. Twenty-eight players are scheduled to attend, including Southern California defensive lineman Leonard Williams and West Virginia receiver Kevin White.

From 2000-09, an average of six

prospects attended the draft, and even then some declined the invitation.

Former Wisconsin offensive tackle Joe Thomas went fishing with his father the day he was drafted No. 3 overall by the Cleveland Browns in 2007.

When the NFL moved the draft to prime time in 2010, it expanded the invitations and 17 prospects attended.

"More and more asked how they could take part," NFL vice president of football communications Michael Signora said.

The NFL pays for two first-class or four coach airline tickets for each player, whichever the player chooses, and two hotel rooms, plus some intown transportation.

Since 2010, the NFL has had at least 23 prospects attend each draft.

Players often slip out of the first round and into Day 2 - which can be a little uncomfortable.

Quarterbacks tend to draw the most attention, especially when they aren’t selected as early as projected.

Cal’s Aaron Rodgers was the first to endure the long, televised wait when he dropped to No. 24 in 2005 before being scooped up by the Green Bay Packers. Southern California Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart (No. 10 to Arizona in 2006) and Brady Quinn (No. 22 to Cleveland in 2007) also endured the slide.

Leinart said he’s glad he had the experience of going to the draft, but he would plan things differently if he could do it over again.

"I would have stayed home, had a big party in my parents’ house with all my closest family and friends over.

Been just super relaxed. Played golf.

Whatever it may be," he said. "Enjoyed it with my family in a stressfree environment."

Last year it was Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel who had to wait backstage, with TV cameras cutting to him on just about every pick as he checked his phone and took swigs out of a water bottle. The Browns ended up taking Manziel at 22, and the cameras switched focus to

Teddy Bridgewater, Louisville’s star quarterback.

The Vikings kept Bridgewater from having to return for Day 2 by taking him with the 32nd and last pick of the first round.

Geno Smith was not so lucky back in 2013. The West Virginia quarterback tumbled all the way out of the first round after there was talk he could be an early first-rounder. Smith considered not showing up for Day 2, but did and the New York Jets took him with the seventh pick of the second round.

Mariota and Winston probably don’t need to worry about sliding that far, but still have decided there’s no place like home.

"I applaud their decision, being home in a comfortable environment," Leinart said. "For Mariota, he’s a shy person. That’s not his deal. Jameis Winston is probably avoiding it for other reasons. To stay out of the media."

Winston had a series of off-field issues at Florida State, including a rape accusation against him. He has said he plans to spend draft night with loved ones, including his paternal grandmother whom, he said, has type-2 diabetes and cannot make long trips.

"I want the people who have been there since Day 1 to enjoy this moment," Winston told NFL Network after his pro day at Florida State last month. "It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I would look forward to spending with my family."

Mariota will be in his beloved home state of Hawaii, with more than 200 people at his high school alumni clubhouse, he said.

"For me it was a way to culturally pay respect to where I come from and to be with my family and friends, and at the same time to be with everybody who has helped me get here, and making sure they are all a part of this moment," Mariota said. "These are the people who got me here."

The commissioner can wait.

LA Continued from Page 1B New designs for the proposed $1.7 billion Carson stadium that could be shared by the Chargers and Raiders were released this week, days after the city council approved the project Members of a St. Louis stadium task force hoping to keep the Rams there met with league officials on Wednesday. The St. Louis group showed the NFL officials revised renderings and video of plans for a stadium along the Mississippi River that would cost around $1 billion.

Goodell said he thought progress had been made in St. Louis.

But Kroenke has made it clear he is intent on building a $1.8 billion venue in Inglewood.

Two days after handing

down a 10-game suspension to Dallas defensive end Greg Hardy, Goodell and recently hired special counsel Lisa Friel explained why the league does not have a zero tolerance policy concerning domestic violence and sexual assault.

"I would not recommend it, with the experience I have," said Friel, who was the head of the Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit in the New York County District Attorney’s Office for more than a decade. "My experience is that it would further drive reporting (incidents) down. I think the policy of somebody we find committed such a violation, we dispense discipline appropriately and give him a second chance. If there is a second violation, he is

barred from the league."

NFL general counsel Jeff Pash said a league probe of the Dolphins’ hiring of Mike Tannenbaum for their front office did not violate the Rooney Rule requiring minority candidates be interviewed for jobs.

Goodell addressed several other topics: -The league is not investing in fantasy football when it allows teams to partner with outlets such as FanDuel, which 16 teams have done. Team owners have discussed fantasy football "internally."

"We’re making sure we understand that fans are doing this, but we don’t want to move across the line to something we think is gambling," he said. "Other leagues potentially are

investing in these. We are not."

-Indicated there will be more regular-season games played at international venues.

-Expressed confidence that Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston, the presumptive top pick in the draft next Thursday, "understands what it means to be a player in our league. I had the opportunity to meet with Jameis and had a good session with him.

We talked about what it means to be an NFL player, what we expect, the services and resources available."

-Praised Chicago for "overdelivering" on next week’s draft, saying "we reinvented the event." He also suggested the league "might reinvent it again," possibly in other cities.

Photo by Trevor Hagan | AP

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman spoke about possible expansion fees for any new incoming teams on Friday.

Bettman’s expansion fee is $500M

By JOHN WAWROW ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman might not yet have anything definitive to say about expansion, though he does have a fee in mind.

How’s $500 million sound?

Without committing to what the price might be, Bettman told a meeting of Associated Press Sports Editors on Friday that he considers a halfbillion dollars to be a reasonable figure.

“From your question, you seem to be inferring that would be a lot of money for an NHL team,” Bettman said, when the $500 million figure was posed to him.

“I happen to believe that number — not that I’m confirming or denying it — would be not a lot of money. I think NHL franchises should be worth at least that.”

That would be a significant increase from the $80 million price tag Nashville, Atlanta, Columbus and Minnesota each paid the last time the NHL expanded in the 1990s.

Bettman cautioned the fee will be determined by the league’s Board of Governors, and the time for that discussion has not yet arrived.

“There might be expansion at some point in the future,” Bettman said. “It’s possible, but I wouldn’t guarantee it.”

Expansion continues to be a hot topic for the 30-team league, which has groups in Las Vegas and Seattle expressing interest in potential franchises.

In Nevada, Bill Foley has established a company, Hockey Vision Las Vegas LLC, and was granted league approval to launch a season-ticket drive in February to gauge how much inter-

est there might be for hockey in the desert. Foley set an objective of getting at least 10,000 full-season deposits.

Foley is expected to provide Bettman a ticket-drive update before league governors meet in June.

A new arena is already being built in Las Vegas without the guarantee of a franchise.

That’s a big step ahead of Seattle, where there’s interest but no plans yet for a facility.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray has met with Bettman to express interest in a franchise.

Without revealing who, Bettman said he’s been approached by groups expressing interest in establishing a team in the Seattle suburbs of Tukwila or Bellevue.

“We believe there are substantial people interested in owning a franchise there, and I’m not surprised,” Bettman said. “I think it would be a great market for NHL hockey, but there’s a threshold issue which relates to the arena.”

The values of professional sports franchises are rising. The NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers sold for a record $2 billion last year. NHL Buffalo Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula set an NFL record in October, when they bought the Buffalo Bills for $1.4 billion.

The price of NHL teams is following the rising trend.

Two years ago, Vincent Viola paid $250 million to buy the smallmarket and struggling Florida Panthers. That’s more than the $189 million the Pegulas paid to buy the Sabres — a far more stable small-market franchise — in 2011.

Forbes currently lists 11 NHL teams valued at $500 million or more.

HARDY Continued from Page 1B OSU Continued from Page 1B cretion written into the drug policy. We do now.”

Orange Pride was not sufficiently aligned with the admissions office, so all hosting duties the group performed were impermissible. The committee also was concerned that the school continued to use the group, despite information

distributed by the NCAA specifying that the use of such groups for athletics recruiting was impermissible. According to last October’s report, current or former players who were interviewed reported they had no sexual activity with any Orange Pride members.

For the next two years, Oklahoma State is limited to 30 official visits per year during the 2015-16 and 201617 seasons. It will also reduce the number of coaches participating in off-campus evaluations from 10 to nine in the fall and nine to eight in the spring, and it will reduce the number of evalua-

tion days by 10 in the fall and spring during both years.

“This was really one of the most cooperative investigations in recent history,” Christopher said. “We have full confidence in what came out of this.”

become newsworthy because it involved Hardy.

The NFL slapped Hardy with a 10-game suspension on Wednesday, as he attempts to resurrect his career after missing most of last season after domestic violence charges were brought against him for a May 2014 incident.

Hardy is appealing the suspension and is hope-

ful to have the number of games reduced.

Coleman, meanwhile, appeared in two games for the Cowboys last season after joining the team as an undrafted free agent out of Arizona State. He was waived in November and then re-signed to the practice squad, where he finished the season.

SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2015

Dear Readers: With our busy lives, and many of us spending a lot of time going to and from, it’s sure easy to “drive through” a FAST-FOOD RESTAURANT to pick up dinner!

Hey, I’m one of you.

After a full, busy day working on this column, doing phone work, checking and sending important emails, dealing with service folks, etc., I sure don’t want to fix dinner. Plus, it’s just David (my husband) and me now. Oh, yes, he usually is the one who “brings home the dinner,” since I work from my home office. Here are my personal Heloise hints for eating as healthy as possible: No FRIED food, or if it’s battered, I try to pick off the batter and skin. I do love french fries and onion rings, so I limit the amount I eat by putting a few on my plate, not eating from the bag. Side salads, soups and fruit slices are available, too. Skip mayo on a sandwich or burger (veggie for me), and “86” (cancel) the cheese.

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

“

HELOISE

Soft drinks are jampacked with useless calories and cost a lot! Water for me, or iced tea.

Gravies, high-calorie sauces and most salad dressings add more calories and fat than you might think. A taste or two usually is enough for me.

Kids’ meals are perfect when I’m not famished. NO, you don’t have to be a kid to order one!

–– Heloise REUSE AND RECYCLE Dear Heloise: I buy large bags of dry dog food and wild birdseed. To make a small tarp, I cut the tops and bottoms off, then split them down one side. If larger is needed, I lay several down and tape them together. Tarps are expensive, and I have to buy dog food anyway. –– Martha C. in Virginia

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2015