MANZIEL A ‘BACKUP’
WEDNESDAY MAY 14, 2014
FREE
BROWNS TELLING MANZIEL TO EARN STARTING JOB, 6A
DELIVERED EVERY SATURDAY
TO 4,000 HOMES
A HEARST PUBLICATION
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
PUBLIC EDUCATION
BORDER VIOLENCE
$8M settlement
Mexico sets security plan
Details of negligence in school construction released By PHILIP BALLI THE ZAPATA TIMES
A lawsuit filed by Zapata County Independent School District in spring 2012 against a construction firm ended in an $8 million settlement. ZCISD filed the suit against Satterfield & Pontikes Construction, Inc., claiming the company did subpar work on four of the district’s elementary schools. The district initially sought $16 million in damages. The construction firm included 15 parties, including Satterfield & Pontikes and the general contractor, architect, design consultants and various subcontractors and
trade contractors involved in the design of the elementary schools. Additional defendants included Bill Reiffert and Associates Inc., Robert E. Martinez and Jorge D. Perez, of Perez Consulting Engineers. The trial began Jan. 13 in Zapata County and ended two weeks later when the settlement was reached. The Zapata Times, under the umbrella of parent publication The Laredo Morning Times, requested the settlement records from ZCISD shortly thereafter; however, the district asked the Texas attorney general’s office for a ruling on whether the information could be disclosed to the public. In a recent ruling, the office said the information was
public record. The settlement was in the amount of $8.12 million and each member of the construction firm has agreed to pay a specific amount of the settlement. “The district is pleased with the outcome and looks forward to the remediation of the schools in question,” said Juan Cruz, of Laredobased J. Cruz and Associates, which represents ZCISD. Defendants were accused of doing shoddy work on constructing two elementary schools with pavilions — Zapata South and Fidel & Andrea Villarreal — and the gyms at Zapata North and Arturo L. Benavides. Claims of negligence listed in
the lawsuit included: Failure to construct in accordance with plans and specifications Failure to implement and install specified components and materials Failure to properly seal openings of the projects, resulting in vermin roosting in the classroom heating, ventilation and air conditioning returns Failure to meet bare minimum construction standards Substituting without authority materials with cheaper and lower quality materials and failing to properly credit ZCISD for the lower-cost items (Philip Balli may be reached at 728-2528 or pballi@lmtonline.com)
STATE
SAVING THE ASTRODOME Agency may designate as landmark ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — Efforts to protect the Houston Astrodome from demolition have taken a new turn, with a Texas agency looking at designating it as a “state antiquities landmark.” After voters last year failed to approve a referendum that would have authorized up to $217 million in bonds to turn it into a giant convention and event center, the Astrodome seemed likely headed for the scrap heap. The stadium has been closed since 2009 and various ideas over the years to refurbish it — from water park to sports memorabilia museum — have gained little traction. But efforts to save the so-called Eighth Wonder of the World gained momentum after an advisory committee of the Texas His-
File photo by David J. Phillip | AP
In this file photo the Houston Astrodome is illuminated during the evening. Harris County Judge Ed Emmett is holding a “stakeholders meeting” today with various groups and individuals to discuss recent developments about the Astrodome. torical Commission voted late last month to recommend that the Astrodome get the antiquities designation. The commission is expected to make a final decision during its meeting on July
30-31. If the Astrodome is designated a state antiquities landmark, any proposals to alter or demolish it would have to be approved by the commission, making it more dif-
ficult to tear it down. “There are an awful lot of people who love that building who would do anything for it,” said
See ASTRO PAGE 8A
ASSOCIATED PRESS
REYNOSA, Mexico — Mexico’s top security official says military commanders will lead a new security plan for the border state of Tamaulipas, where dozens of people have been killed in drugrelated violence this year. Interior Secretary Osorio Chong said Tuesday that the state will be divided OSORIO CHONG into four regions, each with an army or navy officer in charge of implementing the federal government’s security plan. Chong says federal forces will also man five new checkpoints on highways connecting the capital city of Ciudad Victoria to the cities of Reynosa and Tampico and will patrol 24 hours in urban areas. Fighting between the Gulf and Zetas cartels has made Tamaulipas one of Mexico’s most violent states. Bloodshed has risen in recent weeks after calming somewhat since 2012. On May 6, the chief of investigations for the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas died a latenight gunbattle that also killed four gunmen, the state government said. Top state police investigator Salvador de Haro Munoz was killed in the state capital, Ciudad Victoria, after authorities went to investigate a local home that was apparently being used as a safe house by a criminal gang. At least 16 people died May 1 in another series of gun battles in that state.
FBI
Pedophile teacher abused scores of children By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN & TAMI ABDOLLAH ASSOCIATED PRESS
He was one of the most beloved teachers in the small world of international schools that serve the children of diplomats, well-off American expatriates and local elites. He was often the first to arrive in the morning, and the last to leave each day. He led students on class trips to exotic places, treating them to cookies and milk at bedtime. That was the public persona of William Vahey, carefully crafted over four decades — until a maid cleaning his home in Nicaragua stole a 16-gigabyte memory drive. There, in photograph after photograph, was evidence that the model teacher had molested scores of adolescent boys, possibly far more, in a career spanning 10 schools on four continents. The FBI said last month at least 90 boys were in the images
VAHEY
on the memory drive. The bureau said Tuesday that it has now “been contacted by several hundred individuals from around the globe wishing either to reach out as potential victims or provide information in the ongoing investigation.” The discovery of a man the FBI regards as one of the most
prolific pedophiles in memory has set off a crisis in the closeknit community of international schools, where horrified parents are being told their children may have been victims of a favorite teacher, and administrators are scurrying to close teacher-vetting loopholes revealed by Vahey’s abuses. “With the sheer volume, the sheer number of incidents in which this man molested, it surprises me that somehow this was not picked up by someone,” said John Magagna, the founding director of Search Associates, the world’s largest international school recruiting firm. “I don’t know what went wrong.” Apparently not even Vahey’s victims knew they had been molested. The double-cream Oreos that he handed out at bedtime on the overnight trips were laced with sleeping pills — enough to leave the boys unconscious as he touched them, and posed them for lewd photographs.
Vahey, a 64-year-old native of West Point, New York, attempted suicide in Nicaragua after his maid stole the drive. He survived, but killed himself on a second try, stabbing himself to death in Minnesota on March 21 and leaving hundreds of former students wondering if they were abused. The agonized father of a student in Caracas, Venezuela, said his son, like many others, would rather not find out, but the boy cannot forget one fact. “He ate the cookies, too,” said the father, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect his son’s identity. “Everyone on those trips did.” There were decades of missed opportunities to expose Vahey. An early California sex-abuse conviction didn’t prevent him taking a series of jobs working with children. Colleagues and supervisors failed to question why he was so often with boys overnight. And at least twice, boys fell mysteriously ill while under his care and there was no investi-
gation into Vahey’s role. In 1969, Vahey, the son of a decorated World War II pilot, was arrested on child sexual abuse charges after police said he pinched the penises of eight boys, ages 7 to 9, at an Orange County high school where he gave swimming lessons. Vahey, then 20, told authorities he had started touching boys without their consent at age 14, when he fondled a sleeping teen on a Boy Scout camping trip. He said he touched the genitals or anuses of sleeping boys four more times before the arrest. The psychiatrist diagnosed Vahey with an “inadequate personality,” but added that the disorder did not predispose him to sexual offenses dangerous to others. The court even allowed Vahey to start work as a public school teacher’s aide after his arrest. Vahey pleaded guilty to a single charge of lewd and lascivious
See PEDOPHILE PAGE 8A