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CRIME
TEXAS SCHOOLS
Smuggling charges
Meeting education standards
2 alleged human smugglers face years of prison By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Two alleged human smugglers accused of smuggling a group of people where one immigrant died near the Webb-Zapata County line in mid-July have been indicted in federal court, records obtained Thursday state. A grand jury charged Antonio Vasquez III, 18, and Juan Luis Lopez, 19, with conspiracy
to transport undocumented people, and transport and attempt to transport undocumented people for financial gain. Each man faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted on the allegations, according to the indictment filed against them Tuesday. Court records allege that the men attempted to smuggle 10 Mexican citizens, one Costa Rican and one Honduran. At 1:05 a.m. July 17, the Webb
County Sheriff ’s Office notified U.S. Border Patrol about a distress call originating at a ranch near the Webb-Zapata County line. Sheriff ’s deputies discovered two immigrants. One was dead, according to court documents. At 2 a.m., Border Patrol received another distress call from two immigrants whom agents assisted. While canvassing the area in search of a bigger group, agents followed foot-
prints to Las Presas neighborhood on Mangana Hein Road. Agents said they encountered a blue 2005 Dodge Durango occupied by Lopez and Vasquez, the suspected human smugglers. Both men were arrested after a foot pursuit. The vehicle had nine people who had crossed the border illegally, according to court records. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
FORT MCCLELLAN
TOXIC CHEMICAL EXPOSURE
90 percent of districts meet the minimum By JAMIE STENGLE AND WILL WEISSERT ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — About 90 percent of districts and 85 percent of schools in Texas met the state’s minimum education standards, education officials announced Friday as they continue overhauling an accountability system that will eventually hand out letter grades. Because the Texas Education Agency has been tinkering with the system to reduce an emphasis on standardized test scores and calculate other factors, these latest ratings aren’t directly comparable to the ones released last year. Meanwhile, that so many districts and schools statewide met the minimum standard was no accident since many facets of the new ratings were designed to ensure failure rates of no more than 5 percent. The ratings still rely heavily on student performance on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR exam, but also take into account how well districts are closing achievement gaps between minority and economically disadvantaged youngsters and their white or wealthier coun-
See EDUCATION PAGE 11A
IMMIGRATION OVERLOAD
Photos by Victor Strife | The Zapata Times
Pictured from left are Sonia Roberts, Cynthia Riley, Maria Castle and Barbara Kie.
4 local veterans stationed at most toxic site in US By GABRIELA TREVIÑO THE ZAPATA TIMES
Over nearly 65 years, tens of thousands of veterans, including an unknown number of Laredoans, either trained or were stationed at Fort McClellan, a U.S. Army post adjacent to the city of Anniston, Alabama, which has since become known as the most toxic site in America. A Facebook page called Ft. McClellan Toxic Exposure for Veterans was launched in 2010. “If you were stationed at Ft. McClellan, (Alabama) from Jan. 1, 1935 - May 20, 1999, you were exposed to toxic chemicals, substances or agents,” reads the webpage’s banner. A 2002 Washington Post article called “Monsanto Hid Decades of Pollution” outlined the legal dispute between Monsanto and the citizens of Anniston. It was exposed that Monsanto, a leading producer of agrochemicals, genetically engineered seed and herbicides,
used the city of Anniston as a dumping site for its hazardous waste up until the 1970s. The toxic soup of chemicals included polychlorinated biphenyls, also known as PCB’s, trichloroethylene, also known as TCE’s, dioxin, a potent carcinogen, and sarin nerve gas. A 2002 episode of “60 Minutes” declared Anniston “the most toxic site in America.” According to an article on veteranstoday.com, PCBs are principal component of Agent Orange, and Monsanto was the company manufacturing PCBs to help the military make Agent Orange. Fort McClellan operated from 1917 until 1999, after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency conducted a detailed survey of the contaminants on the site. It was also one of the principal chemical and biological training centers for the U.S. Department of Defense. In interviews with the Laredo Morning Times, four local women described their strug-
gles with serious medical conditions they attribute to their time at Fort McClellan. Although those interviewed are women, it is not a gender-specific issue. Here are their stories.
Sonia Roberts In July 2013, Sonia Roberts was sent to the emergency room. She had been coughing persistently, had a painful nodule on her lung and shortness of breath. A later visit with a specialist indicated mild emphysema. As months passed, her symptoms evolved, and she was recently diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. The rapid progression of this illness is something she has found “startling.” Every day as Roberts, 64, leaves her house and grabs her car keys, she makes sure to take her inhalers as well. Roberts said this diagnosis
Flow of children slows
was added to her laundry list of medical conditions, which includes carpal tunnel, tinnitus, post traumatic stress disorder and dental issues, among others. Roberts, a New York City native, enlisted in the U.S. Army at the age of 26 in 1977, and left for Fort McClellan soon thereafter for basic training. She was sent on a three-year commission. Roberts said that two weeks into her basic training at Fort McClellan, she began to feel ill. Frequent bouts with nausea led her to believe her body was adapting to the Alabama heat or training. Apart from the extreme physical training she went through, Roberts endured heavy menstrual bleeding, intense migraines and nausea while at basic training camp. Nine months into her threeyear commission, Roberts left Fort McClellan due to health
McALLEN, Texas — Far fewer unaccompanied immigrant children are crossing the Texas-Mexico border, allowing the federal government to close the temporary shelters that it hurriedly opened to handle the surge, authorities say. The Department of Homeland Security released data Thursday showing that about 5,500 unaccompanied children were arrested in July, barely half the number in May and June and the fewest children arrested in a month since February. Similarly, arrests of parents with children dropped by more than half last month, to just over 7,400. DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson wel-
See TOXIC PAGE 12A
See IMMIGRATION PAGE 11A
Arrests at 100 per day, down from 300 in June By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2014
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
Thursday, Aug. 14
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Grief support group. Noon to 1:30 p.m. First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland Ave. Free and open to public. Contact Patricia Cisneros at 722-1674 or pcisneros@mhm.org. Los Amigos Duplicates Bridge Club meeting. 1:15 p.m. to 5 p.m. Laredo Country Club. Contact Beverly Cantu at 727-0589.
Thursday, Aug. 21 Grief support group. Noon to 1:30 p.m. First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland Ave. Free and open to public. Contact Patricia Cisneros at 722-1674 or pcisneros@mhm.org. Los Amigos Duplicates Bridge Club meeting. 1:15 p.m. to 5 p.m. Laredo Country Club. Contact Beverly Cantu at 727-0589.
Friday, Aug. 22 South Texas Food Bank’s Empty Bowls VIII, mission of feeding the hungry fundraiser. 8:30 p.m. Laredo Energy Arena. Music by Motown Legends and Commodores. Beaumont Foundation to be honored. Tickets on sale at LEA box office and Ticketmaster for $10, $15, and $25. Contact Salo Otero at 324-2432.
Monday, Aug. 25 Monthly meeting of Laredo Parkinson’s Disease Support Group. 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Laredo Medical Center, Tower B, First Floor Community Center. Patients, caregivers and family members invited. Free info pamphlets available in Spanish and English. Call Richard Renner (English) at 645-8649 or Juan Gonzalez (Spanish) at 2370666.
Thursday, Aug. 28 Grief support group. Noon to 1:30 p.m. First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland Ave. Free and open to public. Contact Patricia Cisneros at 722-1674 or pcisneros@mhm.org. Los Amigos Duplicates Bridge Club meeting. 1:15 p.m. to 5 p.m. Laredo Country Club. Contact Beverly Cantu at 727-0589.
Thursday, Sept. 4 Grief support group. Noon to 1:30 p.m. First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland Ave. Free and open to public. Contact Patricia Cisneros at 722-1674 or pcisneros@mhm.org. Sisters of Mercy “Conversations with the Sisters,” a series of discussions focusing on earth, nonviolence, women, racism and immigration. 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. 1000 Mier St. Friday, Sept. 5 September 5th, 2014 from 12:00pm to 1:30am at Palenque Grill will be the Women in Leadership as positive role models event. Contact Abby Willett or Sylvia Praesel info@wwconnection.org.
Thursday, Sept. 11 Grief support group. Noon to 1:30 p.m. First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland Ave. Free and open to public. Contact Patricia Cisneros at 722-1674 or pcisneros@mhm.org.
Saturday, Sept. 13 South Texas Collectors Expo. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Laredo Energy Arena. Celebrities, comic book artists, cosplayers, vendors and more. Tickets on sale at LEA box office and Ticketmaster.com. Visit southtexascollectorsexpo.com or email info@stcelaredo.com.
Photo by Tony Gutierrez/file | AP
Texas State Fire Marshal Chris Connealy addresses a group of over 100 first responders, business owners and operators, in Clifton, on Dec. 12, 2013. In an almost unheard-of move, the Texas state fire marshal has volunteered to turn over more than a decade of his office’s casework to advocates so they can examine them for wrongful convictions.
Old cases for new review By NOMAAN MERCHANT ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — The state fire marshal in Texas says he will allow advocates to review more than a decade’s worth of cases investigated by his office to identify possible wrongful convictions. The office has already sent 24 case files from 2002 to 2004 to the Innocence Project of Texas. Fire Marshal Chris Connealy said he intends to let the advocacy group review all his cases up to this year. “Why not?” Connealy told The Associated Press in an interview last week. “We serve the public. And I want the public to have confidence in the criminal justice system.” That confidence has been tested by problems with several high-profile arson cases in Texas, most notably the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, a man executed in 2004 for
Woman dies after San Antonio-area ATV wreck
Mother sets Guinness breast milk record
Light rail goes on ballot in Austin
ELMENDORF — A woman who was a passenger on an allterrain vehicle has died following a South Texas wreck. The Bexar (bayr) County Sheriff ’s Office says the accident happened early Tuesday at the Alamo Junction Rail Park near San Antonio.
DENTON — A North Texas mother has shattered a world record by donating roughly 414 gallons of breast milk. Guinness World Records announced Monday that 26-year-old Alyse Ogletree of Denton set the record. All of her milk went to the Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas.
AUSTIN — The Austin City Council has unanimously decided to ask voters in November to authorize the city to borrow $600 million toward the cost of a $1.4 billion, 9.5-mile light rail line in central and southeast Austin. The Austin American-Statesman reports the ballot language was approved Thursday.
End of abortion trial pushed to next week AUSTIN — A federal judge that will decide whether to block a Texas law that would end abortions at 18 clinics in Texas has pushed closing arguments to next week. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel on Thursday heard the final witnesses in a four-day trial in Austin. The lawsuit was brought by abortion providers challenging a new law that would require their clinics to meet hospital-style operating standards by Sept. 1.
Thursday, Sept. 24 Grief support group. Noon to 1:30 p.m. First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland Ave. Free and open to public. Contact Patricia Cisneros at 722-1674 or pcisneros@mhm.org.
Monday, Sept. 29 Monthly meeting of Laredo Parkinson’s Disease Support Group. 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Laredo Medical Center, Tower B, First Floor Community Center. Patients, caregivers and family members invited. Free info pamphlets available in Spanish and English. Call Richard Renner (English) at 645-8649 or Juan Gonzalez (Spanish) at 2370666. Submit calendar items at lmtonline.com/calendar/submit or by emailing editorial@lmtonline.com.
Barbecue restaurant destroyed in fire WHARTON — A landmark Texas barbecue restaurant has burned down after a pit fire got out of control. Hinze’s Bar-B-Q in Wharton went up in flames on Monday evening just before the dinner rush. The restaurant has been a roadside staple on U.S. Highway 59 for more than 40 years. The Wharton fire chief says a grease fire started in a barbecue pit behind the restaurant.
3 former Beaumont school workers indicted BEAUMONT — A former supervisor for school district has been accused of hiring his wife and a friend in a payroll scam. A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted three ex-employees of the Beaumont Independent School District. Daryl Glenn Johnson, Erin Gipson Johnson and Kailyn DeShondra Pete are charged with conspiracy and fraud upon programs receiving federal funds. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION
Thursday, Sept. 18 Grief support group. Noon to 1:30 p.m. First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland Ave. Free and open to public. Contact Patricia Cisneros at 722-1674 or pcisneros@mhm.org.
killing his three daughters in a 1991 house fire in Corsicana, south of Dallas. Advocates have long pursued Willingham’s case for evidence suggesting that he was wrongfully executed. Several fire science experts have criticized the findings of fire investigators who concluded the blaze was set intentionally, and a jailhouse informant who testified that Willingham confessed to killing his daughters has recanted. While efforts to press Willingham’s case continue after his death, Connealy’s office and criminal justice advocates have agreed to work together to weed out problems with fire investigations overall. Connealy has been working with the Innocence Project of Texas for more than a year to review old cases.
Smokey Bear turns 70, but don’t bring candles LOS ANGELES — Smokey Bear is turning 70 today — but don’t bring any candles to the party, please. As the friendly, huggable bear with the brimmed hat and shovel enters his golden years, he’s burning up Twitter. But his message of fire prevention through personal responsibility hasn’t changed much. Smokey Bear was created in 1944 because of fears that America’s enemies would set forest fires while most U.S. firefighters were in battle overseas. When the war ended, Smokey stuck around — and he’s now at the center of the longest-running public service announcement campaign in U.S. history. Research shows he is known by 96 percent of American adults and ranks near Mickey Mouse and Santa Claus for name recognition. His creation was a collabo-
Today is Saturday, August 9, the 221st day of 2013. There are 144 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On August 9, 1974, Vice President Gerald R. Ford became the nation’s 38th chief executive as President Richard Nixon’s resignation took effect. On this date: In 1814, the Treaty of Fort Jackson, which ended the Creek War, was signed in Alabama. In 1842, the United States and Canada resolved a border dispute by signing the Webster-Ashburton Treaty. In 1854, Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden,” which described Thoreau’s experiences while living near Walden Pond in Massachusetts, was first published. In 1902, Edward VII was crowned king of Britain following the death of his mother, Queen Victoria. In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order nationalizing silver. In 1936, Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the Berlin Olympics as the United States took first place in the 400-meter relay. In 1944, 258 African-American sailors based at Port Chicago, California, refused to load a munitions ship following a cargo vessel explosion that killed 320 men, many of them black. (Fifty of the sailors were convicted of mutiny, fined and imprisoned.) In 1945, three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, the United States exploded a nuclear device over Nagasaki, killing an estimated 74,000 people. In 1969, actress Sharon Tate and four other people were found brutally slain at Tate’s Los Angeles home; cult leader Charles Manson and a group of his followers were later convicted of the crime. In 1982, a federal judge in Washington ordered John W. Hinckley Jr., who’d been acquitted of shooting President Ronald Reagan and three others by reason of insanity, committed to a mental hospital. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan nominated Lauro Cavazos (kah-VAH’-zohs) to be secretary of education; Cavazos became the first Hispanic to serve in the Cabinet. Ten years ago: Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, addressing a court for the first time, asked victims of the blast for forgiveness as a judge sentenced him to 161 consecutive life sentences. Five years ago: President Barack Obama flew to Guadalajara, Mexico, for a two-day speed summit with Mexican President Felipe Calderon (fayLEE’-pay kahl-duh-ROHN’) and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. One year ago: President Barack Obama promised to work with Congress on “appropriate reforms” for the domestic surveillance programs that stirred criticism at home and abroad. Today’s Birthdays: Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Cousy is 86. Actress Cynthia Harris is 80. Tennis Hall of Famer Rod Laver is 76. Jazz musician Jack DeJohnette is 72. Comedian-director David Steinberg is 72. Actor Sam Elliott is 70. Singer Barbara Mason is 67. Actress Melanie Griffith is 57. Thought for Today: “Hope is a waking dream.” — Aristotle, Greek philosopher (384 B.C.-322 B.C.).
CONTACT US Publisher, William B. Green........................728-2501 Account Executive, Dora Martinez ...... (956) 765-5113 General Manager, Adriana Devally ...............728-2510 Adv. Billing Inquiries ................................. 728-2531 Circulation Director ................................. 728-2559 MIS Director, Michael Castillo.................... 728-2505 Managing Editor, Nick Georgiou ................. 728-2565 Sports Editor, Zach Davis ..........................728-2578 Spanish Editor, Melva Lavin-Castillo............ 728-2569 Photo by Cliff Owen/file | AP
Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger poses with Smokey Bear during a ceremony at the Department of Agriculture.in Washington, on Oct. 20, 2013. Smokey Bear is turning 70 on today. ration of the U.S. Forest Service, the National Association of State Foresters and the Ad Council. Smokey’s image has evolved over the decades. When he first debuted, TV was in its infancy and posters were hand-drawn. Now, Smokey is a social media
connoisseur and prolific blogger, with accounts on Facebook, Twitter ((at)Smokey—Bear), Instagram, YouTube and Flickr. He has more than 300,000 friends on Facebook and 24,000 people follow him on Twitter. — Compiled from AP reports
SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted. The Zapata Times is free. The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500. The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail thezapatatimes.net
Local
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2014
New LMT city editor THE ZAPATA TIMES
Laredo Morning Times has named a new city editor. Selma Gonzalez, a Laredo native and current employee at LMT, was promoted to city editor Wednesday. “Gonzalez has been an asset to this newspaper ever since she joined us as an editorial assistant,” LMT Managing Editor Nick Georgiou said. “I’m glad she has accepted this new challenge and I feel confident she will exceed expectations.” As city editor, Gonzalez oversees the news reporters, coordinates the local day-today coverage and assists with special projects. Gonzalez has been with LMT since 2012, beginning as an editorial assistant. A year later, she was promoted to copy editor, the position she held up until being named city editor. Gonzalez is thankful for the opportunity to be city editor and is looking forward to this new chapter in her life. “All I can say is that this
GONZALEZ
is truly a blessing, and I am so, so grateful. I am so excited to take on the role as city editor and face new challenges. This new chapter, or new book I should say, is going to be great,” Gonzalez said. “Also, I am very grateful for the people who are in my life, for they have believed in me from the very beginning. The love and support they have showed me has been like no other,” she added. Gonzalez graduated from Texas A&M International University in May 2012 with a bachelor’s in English and
a minor in dance. She represented TAMIU at the American College Dance Association Conference in February 2012 with a choreography about domestic violence. Her dance piece was chosen amongst a pool of choreographies from fellow dance students. Gonzalez joined LMT in October 2012 as an editorial assistant, proofreading letters to the editor and writing about upcoming local events. In June 2013, Gonzalez was promoted to copy editor, where she proofread the content of the newspaper. Gonzalez has also held the position of colorguard consultant for the marching bands at Alexander High School, where she graduated from in 2008, and United High School. She choreographed flag, rifle and dance routines for students. She taught at Alexander from 2008 to 2011, and United from 2012 to 2013. Gonzalez had previously lived in Illinois for nine years before returning to Laredo.
LULAC COUNCIL NO. 12 SCHOLARSHIP PRESENTATION
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
TAMIU launching 3 new programs Programs Haven, Green Dot and the Safe Zone Project to expand and enhance the student experience SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
When students return to Texas A&M International University this fall, they’ll set foot on a campus that’s expanded its dedication to the student experience with three new programs. Jerry Alva, associate vice president for student affairs, said the programs are part of the Division of Student Success’ ongoing commitment to making TAMIU a safe and rewarding place to learn, live and succeed. “We’re launching three programs that will continue to make TAMIU a safe and rewarding place for our students to call home throughout their educational experience here. Those three programs are Haven, Green Dot and the Safe Zone Project,” Alva said.
Haven — Understanding Sexual Assault requires incoming students to complete online training that provides preventative education regarding critical issues of sexual assault, relationship violence, stalking, Title IX and available resources. Green Dot is a bystander intervention program to reduce powerbased violence in the community. The third program, the Safe Zone Project, is a creative workshop aimed at enhancing the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer or Questioning (LGBTQ) community awareness and ally network on campus. Safe Zone workshops are opportunities for educators, staff, community members and students to become more aware of issues facing the LGBTQ community.
Alva said his office considers the addition of the programs a strong reflection of the TAMIU student experience. “We’re constantly striving to go the extra mile for our students and these programs are clearly a strong part of that commitment. TAMIU is a special place and we aim to keep it that way,” Alva said. For information on Haven, contact San Juanita Perez, director of Office of Student Conduct and Community Engagement, at 326-2948; for Green Dot, contact Mayra Hernandez, director of Office of Student Conduct and Community Engagement, at 326-2288; and for the Safe Zone Project, contact Teresa Renn, outreach and retention specialist for the Office of Student Conduct and Community Engagement, at 326-2281.
Marijuana seizure Zapata County Sheriff’s Office deputies seized 245 pounds of marijuana following a traffic stop By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Photo by Victor Strife | The Zapata Times
Martin High School student Selena Gutierrez poses for a photo with LULAC Council no. 12 President Jose M. Gamez, left, and Isidro Garcia, after receiving her LULAC scholarship Thursday evening at Falcon International Bank.
Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office deputies seized marijuana valued at about $196,000 by Ramireño following a traffic stop, authorities said Friday. The seizure occurred Aug. 2 along U.S. 83 when a deputy attempted to
pull over a beige 2006 Chrysler 300. But the driver accelerated, leading the deputy on a 3mile chase, according to Sheriff ’s Office Chief Raymundo del Bosque. A man exited the car and escaped through the brush, officials said. The deputy discovered 11 bundles of marijuana weighing 245 pounds in
the trunk of the car. Sheriff ’s office investigators have an open case on the incident. People with information on the case are asked to call the sheriff ’s office at 765-9961. Callers may remain anonymous. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 7282568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2014
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
COMMENTARY
OTHER VIEWS
Three myths about the border crisis By DOUGLAS FARAH THE WASHINGTON POST
The surge of tens of thousands of unaccompanied children to the United States from Central America’s Northern Triangle — Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala — has sparked an emotional debate over the crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border. The three regional presidents and many Democrats in the United States demand more aid, arguing that the situation is a refugee crisis rooted in U.S. neglect of the region, which has led to growing gang violence. Meanwhile, many Republicans say that the crisis is due to lenient U.S. immigration policies and that most migrants are primarily seeking economic opportunity. Here are some myths from all sides of the debate. 1. U.S. immigration policy is to blame for the surge of unaccompanied minors. The crisis at the border is a result of a convergence of multiple factors largely unrelated to U.S. immigration law. A crucial element was the ability of coyotes, who smuggle migrants across the border, to orchestrate a campaign of rumors that intersected with increasing violence and hopelessness in Central America. The coyotes had seen their trade wither since the 2008 recession, with more people returning to the region than coming to the United States. They needed to drum up new business. So, sensing an opportunity as gangfueled violence rose and the region’s governments foundered, they spread word that children and mothers with children who came to the United States would be allowed to stay. Some Republicans blame President Barack Obama for encouraging this message with his 2012 executive order allowing some illegal immigrants who came to the country as children before 2007 to stay and work legally without the threat of deportation. This policy is not well understood in Central America and has been grossly mischaracterized in the local media. The coyotes’ promises resonated because corruption and the implosion of the rule of law in the Northern Triangle have pushed many people past a psychological tipping point; slim hope for a better future has given way to a profound belief that there is no future possible if their children stay. Gangs and transnational criminal organizations control ever-larger swaths of territory in the region. They blow up buildings with C-4 explosives and battle one another with assault rifles while the state retreats. Measured by homicide rates, the Northern Triangle countries are more dangerous than war zones such as Afghanistan or Iraq, Gaza or Ukraine. Less than 5 percent of the homicides are prosecuted. Gang violence has grown especially brutal toward girls, who are routinely gangraped and forced into membership by the age of 11. If you want to blame U.S. policies, look back to the mid-1990s, when the United States began deporting thousands of hardened criminals to
Central America. That severely aggravated regional problems. Though, ultimately, the region’s leaders are responsible for the failure of their states. 2. More aid to the Northern Triangle would address the crisis’s causes. Calls for more aid and increased foreign investment are unrealistic in light of the dysfunction of the Northern Triangle governments. The rule of law there has been replaced by transactional politics: Whoever pays the most gets the results they want, and the police, judiciary, executive branch and legislature are at the service of the highest bidder. In this environment, more money would inevitably mean more corruption. Government leaders in the region squandered the international aid and goodwill that existed after their countries’ civil wars ended in the early 1990s. Leaders pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars that could have been used to tackle violence, create jobs, strengthen institutions and otherwise avert the current crisis. For example, former Salvadoran president Antonio Saca (2004-2009) was expelled from his own party after an internal investigation found that he had stolen more than $219 million while in office. Since 2008, the United States, through the Central America Regional Security Initiative, has provided the region with $649 million. Yet by every measure — homicides, kidnappings, prison overcrowding, functionality of the judiciary — the situation has gotten worse. As demonstrated by Plan Colombia — the $1.6 billion program that helped the Colombian government weaken drug cartels and Marxist guerrillas — until there is genuine political will to change what is so badly broken, more money is not wise policy. Instead, the United States should press for real reform while working with the small pockets of each government that do function. Each step is fragile. U.S. support to Guatemala’s courageous attorney general, Claudia Paz y Paz, brought significant results, until she was abruptly forced from her post this year. 3. Increased border security would significantly stem the flow of migrants. While the current surge in minors is recordbreaking, thousands of unaccompanied children have been crossing the border for years in ebbs and flows. Enforcement has never been the primary determinant. Economic and social factors in their home countries carry far more weight. Sophisticated networks of human smugglers, drug traffickers, weapons merchants and bulk-cash smugglers have endured for generations. A portion of the millions of dollars the coyotes have earned from the surge is surely being invested to devise new and different ways across. Border security can never patch all the holes. Even if expensive new security measures would be more effective than past ones, budget constraints and the inability of Congress to pass legislation indicate that such measures are unlikely to be available, anyway.
COMMENTARY
US bombs falling on Iraq By ADAM TAYLOR THE WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON — If you had said, one year ago, that the United States would have been militarily involved in a Middle East crisis, few people would have batted an eyelid. President Barack Obama had spent months trying to convince the United States public and Congress that the United States needed to intervene militarily in Syria. However, the way that this intervention has panned out would surely surprise many. The United States is not intervening against Bashar Assad and the Syrian regime, as Obama had proposed. Instead, it is striking one of Assad’s biggest enemies, the extremist militia that calls itself the Islamic State. And this intervention is not in Syria, but in neighboring Iraq. Obama’s calls for intervention in Syria ultimately failed, and now bombs are falling in Iraq. Why? There are four big factors. 1. There was strong opposition to intervention in Syria: When Obama pushed for military action against the Syrian regime last year, other countries pushed back. Russian President Vladimir Putin, a key ally of Assad’s, even went so far as to write a chiding op-ed in The New York Times (which looks a little ridiculous after Crimea, but still). Iran, another key Syrian ally, also pushed back.
Even among European nations that supported the rebels, the support wasn’t powerful. In Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron suffered a humiliating political defeat when he asked parliament to support intervention. France, perhaps the most hawkish of the European nations, refused to take the lead. One key factor was that in both the United States and Europe, multiple polls showed that, even if it was horrified by the Assad regime’s excesses, the public just didn’t support military intervention. 2. The Islamic State is both isolated and a threat to the United States: The Islamic State has few allies. Big, international powers such as Russia do not support it, and important regional powers such as Iran are opposed to it. Even al-Qaida, the group that birthed the Islamic State, is now against it. While the group is believed to receive funding from groups in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, no one will complain if U.S. forces decimate the Islamic State. Britain and France have also, tentatively, indicated that they may join military action. Even so, the Islamic State, as isolated as it is, could pose a threat to the United States. If nothing else, it’s displaced al-Qaida as the international face of Islamist extremism: There are now Islamic State “gift shops” in Istanbul, and its flag flies in London. Its practical threat may be
limited at present, but in the future it could grow: Norway recently announced it had received a warning that Islamist fighters returning from the Syrian civil war were planning a terror attack. The Islamic State apparently relishes the idea of taking the fight to the United States. “Don’t be cowards and attack us with drones. Instead send your soldiers, the ones we humiliated in Iraq,” Abu Mosa, a spokesman for the group, says in a new documentary from Vice News. “We will humiliate them everywhere, God willing, and we will raise the flag of Allah in the White House.” 3. As the Syrian War dragged on, it became less clear who the enemy really was: The plan to intervene in Syria was based around the idea of routing regime troops. The problem was that as the war dragged on, it became less and less clear who would benefit from such intervention. Would extremist groups such as the Islamic State fill the void? The concern became a sticking point for both right-wing opponents of intervention in the United States and foreign leaders such as Putin, who noted that there were “more than enough Qaida fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government.” “Some of the more extremist opposition is very scary from an American perspective, and that pre-
sents us with all sorts of problems,” Ari Ratner, a fellow at the Truman National Security Project and former Middle East adviser in the Obama State Department, told The New York Times last April. “We have no illusions about the prospect of engaging with the Assad regime — it must still go — but we are also very reticent to support the more hard-line rebels.” The current situation in Libya, where the post-Moammar Gadhafi political landscape has been dominated by violent extremist groups, seems another warning. The argument cut the other way, too. If the United States struck the Islamic State in Syria, such action would not only present the Syrian regime with an opening, but it could also set back the Syrian rebels that Washington actually wants to support. 4. The situation in Iraq right now means that limited airstrikes can make a difference: So far at least, this is a limited intervention, with limited targets. Laserguided 500-pound bombs have been dropped, specifically targeting artillery being used by Islamic State fighters to attack Kurdish troops defending Irbil. The current situation in Iraq means that limited involvement like this can have a big impact, and while the Islamic State forces have shown themselves to be smart tactical fighters, they have limited means when fighting.
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National
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2014
Another death in crash case ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA — The mother of three children killed when a carjacked sport utility vehicle crashed into a group selling fruit on a street corner for a church fundraiser has died, officials said Friday. A Temple University Hospital spokeswoman said Keisha Williams, 34, died Thursday night at the hospital, where she had been listed in critical condition since the July 25 crash, which killed Keiearra Williams, 15, Thomas Joseph Reed, 10, and Terrance Moore, 7. The children’s funeral was held Monday. A family friend who was nearby and the woman who had been carjacked were injured in the crash. Prosecutors said two men, Cornelius Crawford and Johnathan Rosa, would face an additional murder charge each, totaling four counts of seconddegree murder and conspiracy, as well as kidnapping, robbery, aggravated assault and sexual assault. “My heart continues to break for the family and friends” of the victims, District Attorney Seth Williams said in a statement Friday. “I hope the knowledge that I am prosecuting these defendants to the fullest extent of the law will give the family some sense of justice during this time of unimaginable grief.” Authorities allege that Crawford, 23, and Rosa, 19, forced a real estate agent into her SUV as she left a house showing in north Philadelphia, then took off at high speed.
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
Federal judge rules monument must go ASSOCIATED PRESS
BLOOMFIELD, N.M. — A federal judge on Thursday ruled that a New Mexico city must remove a monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments from the lawn in front of Bloomfield City Hall. Senior U.S. District Judge
James A. Parker said in his ruling in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union that the monument amounts to government speech and has the “principal effect of endorsing religion.” Because of the context and history surrounding the granite monument, Parker said Bloomfield
clearly violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. He gave a Sept. 10 deadline for its removal. The suit was filed in 2012 on behalf of two Bloomfield residents who practice the Wiccan religion. Peter Simonson, ACLU of New Mexico executive director, called
the decision a victory for protection against government-supported religion. According to previous court testimony, plaintiff Jane Felix said the display “says that anybody who doesn’t agree with this monument on city grounds is an outsider.”
National
6A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2014
Surfers take to the waves as flooding hits Hawaii By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER AND AUDREY MCAVOY ASSOCIATED PRESS
HONOLULU — As the first tropical storm to hit Hawaii in 22 years passed by the islands, some coffee farmers on the Big Island began navigating flooded roads to assess damage to their crops Friday while tourists wandered the beaches of Oahu and surfers took to the waves despite driving rain and wind. The first storm in a one-two punch heading for Hawaii clamored ashore overnight Friday as a weakened tropical storm. A second system close behind it also weakened and was on track to pass north of the islands by several hundred miles. Tropical Storm Iselle knocked out power, caused flooding and downed trees when it crossed onto the Big Island. There have been no reports of deaths or major injuries, Gov. Neil Abercrombie said Friday. About 21,000 homes remained without power on the Big Island where the main part of Iselle came ashore in a rural and sparsely populated region, Hawaii County Civil Defense spokesman John Drummond said. Those staying in shelters were told to return home, while crews cleared trees from roads, county spokesman Kevin Dayton said. The state Department of Health warned the public to stay out of floodwaters and storm water runoff across Hawaii because they are known to attract sharks as they wash possible dead animals into the ocean. Heavy rains and wind from the
Photo by Marco Garcia | AP
Two surfers head for the waves in Honolulu on Friday. As the first tropical storm to hit Hawaii in 22 years passed by the islands, some coffee farmers on the Big Island began navigating flooded roads to assess damage to their crops Friday while tourists wandered the beaches of Oahu and surfers took to the waves despite driving rain and wind. storm’s outer bands also hit Maui and Oahu on Friday as Iselle moved west, but south of the other islands, out to sea. Abercrombie stressed that even though the brunt of storm hit the Big Island and Maui, Kauai and Oahu need to remain vigilant. “We won’t be able to give allclear until late this afternoon or early evening,” Abercrombie said Friday. Honolulu’s lifeguard division said about a dozen surfers were riding waves Friday at a spot nicknamed “Suicides,” near the popular Diamond Head crater. Lifeguards on Oahu were planning to only respond to emergency calls, avoiding regular patrols.
Back on the Big Island, coffee farmers on the southeastern side tried to get around fallen trees on flooded roads to determine any crop damage, said Randy Stevens, general manager of Kau Coffee Mill. “It’s raining so hard we’re just trying to get the roads opened up so we can get to the fields,” Stevens said. The heavy rain and flooding seen in the southeastern Kau district is vastly different from the relatively drier Kona region on the Big Island’s western side, where much more coffee is grown, and the storm had little impact. “We’re all buttoned up, but
nothing happened,” said Bruce Corker, a Kona coffee farmer. Meanwhile, Hurricane Julio, some 900 miles behind in the Pacific, was downgraded to a Category 2 storm and packed maximum sustained winds of about 105 mph. National Weather Service officials predict it will continue to weaken on a path that should take it about 200 miles north of the island chain starting sometime Sunday morning. If Julio stays on track, “the impacts to the islands would be minimal,” Weather Service meteorologist Derek Wroe said. “We would see some large surf. ... We could see some heavy showers. That’s all assuming this track holds. Oth-
erwise, we could still see some tropical storm conditions.” There remains uncertainty given its distance from land. “We’re not out of the woods yet with Julio,” Wroe said. Iselle also had weakened, having been downgraded to a tropical storm about 50 miles from shore late Thursday, and within hours, its winds slowed to 60 mph, well below the 74 mph threshold for a hurricane. Experts said wind shear chopping at the system and the Big Island’s mountainous terrain helped weaken the storm. Hawaii has been directly hit by hurricanes or tropical storms only three times since 1950. The last time was in 1992, when Hurricane Iniki killed six people and destroyed more than 1,400 homes in Kauai. The state prepared for the backto-back storms by closing government offices, schools and transit services across Hawaii. But Saturday’s primary elections, including congressional and gubernatorial races, will go forward as planned. Travelers faced disrupted plans several airlines canceled dozens of flights, the Hawaii Tourism Authority said. Some airlines waived reservation change fees and fare differences for passengers who needed to alter their plans. The storms are rare in Hawaii but not unexpected in El Nino years, a change in ocean temperature that affects weather around the world. Ahead of this year’s hurricane season, weather officials warned the wide swath of the Pacific Ocean that includes Hawaii could see four to seven tropical storms this year.
Wife’s remains found Developer seeks help By RANDALL CHASE
Official asks for help with a home
ASSOCIATED PRESS
DOVER, Del. — A California man said Friday he was shocked to learn that his wife’s cremated remains had been found inside a decrepit former funeral home, 35 years after she and more than 900 others died in a suicide-murder in Jonestown, Guyana. Maud Ester Perkins was 28 when she and her then-7-year-old son died in 1978 at the Peoples Temple settlement led by Jim Jones. Her husband, Irvin Ray Perkins of Antioch, California, told The Associated Press on Friday that at the time he had tried to determine what happened to his wife’s remains without success. All 911 bodies had been taken to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, home to the U.S. military’s largest mortuary. About a half dozen local funeral homes helped prepare the bodies and return them to relatives over the course of several months, though many remains were never claimed. More than 400 were buried in a mass grave at a California cemetery, while the rest were either cremated or buried in family cemeteries. “There was so much chaos. ... I never got a chance to get hold of anybody who knew anything exactly, so I just sort of backed off,” said Perkins, who recalled being told that somebody would get back with him. “Somebody just got back to me 37 years later,” said Perkins, now 64, who described his late wife as a “wonderful wife and a beautiful person.” Perkins said he had planned to join his wife and son at Jonestown but never got chance. “Twenty days later, I would have been there,” he said. Perkins still doesn’t know what happened to the remains of his son but suspects they may have been among the unidentified remains buried at the California cemetery in 1979. Perkins is planning to make arrangements with Delaware authorities to have his wife’s remains shipped to him. He plans to place her remains on his mantle. “I don’t have the money to come out there,” said Perkins, who spoke Thurs-
By BRADY MCCOMBS ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Evan Vucci | AP
A lockbox hangs on the door of the former Minus Funeral Home in Dover, Del., on Thursday, where police say the cremated remains of victims of a mass cult suicide-murder were discovered. day with James Patton, an investigator with Delaware’s Division of Forensic Science. Patton did not respond to an email message Friday. State officials have refused to publicly identify those whose remains were found because relatives were still being notified. However, an email from state officials indicated that the remains of Maud Perkins and two others had been claimed by relatives. Officials said Thursday that 38 containers of cremated remains were discovered inside the funeral home building, and that 33, including those of the Jonestown victims, were clearly marked. Jim Jones led the Peoples Temple in San Francisco in the early 1970s. As allegations of wrongdoing mounted, he moved the settlement to Guyana, with hundreds of followers. On Nov. 18, 1978, on a remote jungle airstrip, gunmen from the group ambushed and killed U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan of California, three newsmen and a defector from the group. All were visiting Jonestown on a fact-finding mission to investigate reports of abuses of members. Jones then ordered his followers to drink cyanide-laced grape punch. Most complied, although survivors described some people being shot, injected with poison, or forced to drink the poison.
NORTH SALT LAKE, Utah — An official with the development firm that built an upscale home destroyed in Utah’s recent landslide made a tearful plea for donations Friday as part of a plan to help the displaced family. The request from Scott Kjar, vice president of Eaglepointe Development, comes as city officials try to determine the cause of the landslide and whether unpermitted construction work contributed to the disaster that destroyed the 3,000-square-foot house, valued at about $415,000. An Utrilla family spokesman said their insurance doesn’t cover landslides and an adjuster has told them they won’t be remunerated for damage to their property or possessions. Kjar said all work done in the area by Eaglepointe has been properly permitted. His company has donated a $130,000 lot to the fundraising effort and urged the community to raise $500,000 so the family of 12 would not have to leave their suburban Salt Lake City neighborhood and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints congregation. “In our community, we have a value of bearing one another’s burdens,” Kjar said, alluding to teachings of the Mormon church, the dominant faith in Utah.
Photo by Rick Bowmer | AP
Elena Utrilla, right, receives a hug from her neighbor and friend, Kristi Burgess, following a news conference in North Salt Lake, Utah on Friday. “Today, we are here to ask you to help us bear their burdens, an innocent party in this situation.” Kjar specifically called for contributions from builders, suppliers and contractors that Eaglepointe has worked with in constructing more than 1,300 homes in the area. North Salt Lake officials, meanwhile, are investigating the landslide that came during a Tuesday rainstorm and sent eight members of the Utrilla family who were home at the time fleeing as the 400-foot mountain slope tumbled into their home. There were no injuries or deaths, but 27 other homes were evacuated as a precaution. The families in all but three of those homes have returned. One unoccupied house remains in danger, North Salt Lake Mayor Len Arave said. The investigation has extended to construction work on a hill that was originally a gravel pit used during
freeway expansion ahead of the 2002 Winter Olympics. City manager Barry Edwards said officials have come across unpermitted excavation work and retaining wall installations. Utrilla, the honorary Peruvian consulate in Salt Lake City speaking for his extended family members who include his parents, siblings, in-laws, nieces and nephews, does not live in the home, which he said was paid off. The family currently is staying in a home provided by Eaglepointe. Kjar said even if the company can’t raise the full amount it’s seeking, officials are committed to getting the Utrillas a new home. Utrilla said his family has been grateful for the company’s help. “There is a focus on doing what is right, not just the legal obligation but the moral obligation,” Utrilla said. “They are doing what they have been taught in our religion.”
Vet’s Purple Hearts mission By P. SOLOMON BANDA ASSOCIATED PRESS
DENVER — His labor of love began with an effort to find the owner of a Purple Heart that was given to him as a gift. Since then, Zachariah Fike (FYKE), a captain in the Vermont National Guard, has returned more than 100 Purple Heart medals, sometimes lost, sometimes stolen, to relatives of the original recipients. Most of those recipients were awarded the medal after being killed in combat. “It’s my mission. It’s my ministry if you will,” Fike said this week at a Denver
national convention of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, an organization of veterans wounded in combat. “I can’t keep up.” Fike, who created Purple Hearts Reunited in 2012, has accumulated another 300 Purple Heart medals to deliver to families. The service members’ medals and other property often are lost in estate sales, found in basements and attics, or sometimes in pawn shops, antique stores or thrift stores if they are stolen. The medals keep coming at a rate of three to five per week. Fike, 33, of Georgia, Ver-
mont, is a 16-year veteran and an antiques collector. He was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, to parents who both served as U.S. Army drill sergeants. His mother gave him a Purple Heart medal as a Christmas present in 2009. The medal had been awarded to Corrado Piccoli, a private killed on Oct. 7, 1944, in Fremifontaine, France, near the border with Germany. “I knew that medal didn’t belong to me. And it sent me on a journey to find the family,” Fike said. Before he could do so, Fike was deployed to Afghanistan as a logistics of-
ficer. He was wounded in a rocket attack at Bagram Airfield in September 2010 and was awarded his own Purple Heart. Back home, he found Piccoli’s family — and learned how the medal ended up in an antique shop where his mother bought it for $100. Piccoli’s nephew had been given the medal as a family heirloom and placed it in a storage locker when he joined the Navy. He shipped out in the mid-1970s and, while on tour, his property in the locker was auctioned off when he couldn’t pay the rental fee.
Photo by Brennan Linsley | AP
Purple Hearts Reunited founder Capt. Zachariah Fike displays a Purple Heart from Pearl Harbor.
National
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A
Sheriff: Suspect in death likely got muddy By PHUONG LE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE — The person who might be responsible for a 6-year-old Washington girl’s death would have been “covered in mud” afterward, and authorities on Friday asked the public to report anyone who fit that description over the weekend. The wooded area where an FBI team found a body believed to be that of Jenise Wright contained thick brush and likely was muddy, and a possible suspect would have had muddy clothing, said Scott Wilson, a spokesman with the Kitsap County sheriff ’s office. Meanwhile, Wilson said authorities are collecting DNA cheek swabs from residents who volunteer them in the Bremerton-area mo-
bile home park where Jenise lived. The samples could be used to eliminate suspects if investigators later come across DNA evidence, he said, adding the DNA collection might be expanded outside the mobile-home park. Jenise disappeared over the weekend, and a body found Thursday in woods near the trailer park was believed to be hers. Formal identification was expected Friday. Autopsy results revealing the manner and cause of death could be available later Friday. Authorities were focusing on a criminal investigation of the death, though so far no arrests have been made. “We suspect that she just did not go off by herself and fall into some bushes and die,” Wilson said. The FBI’s Specialty
Photo by Larry Steagall/Kitsap Sun | AP
Karole Johnson places balloons and flowers at the sign to the Steele Creek Mobile Home Park, on Thursday, in Bremerton, Wash. A four-day search for a missing Washington girl who vanished from her home over the weekend came to a tragic end Thursday. Search Dogs Unit discovered the body after volunteer canine search teams reported their dogs showed interest in a particular area. Jenise was last seen when she went to bed Sat-
urday night. Her parents waited a day before calling for help because they say the girl had wandered around the Steele Creek Mobile Home Park on her own in the past. She was outgoing and unafraid to
talk to anyone, family said. Wilson said Thursday there were no signs of forced entry at Jenise’s home and no indication she was taken from her room. The girl’s parents are cooperating with authorities, he said. Hundreds of people, including officers from 15 law enforcement agencies, searched for Jenise, going door to door at Steele Creek Mobile Home Park on the west side of Puget Sound, across from Seattle. They also pulled surveillance video from nearby businesses and checked in with sex offenders in the county. After the search began, state child welfare workers removed two other children, an 8-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl, from the home.
Jenise Wright’s father, James Wright, was charged more than a decade ago with molesting two girls, ages 8 and 15, court records show. He eventually pleaded guilty in Whatcom County Superior Court in December 2001 to a misdemeanor assault charge related to the older girl. It was not immediately clear why the molestation charges were dropped. Prosecutors there did not return calls. A judge in Whatcom County Superior Court sentenced Wright to a year in jail but suspended the entire jail term on the condition that he follow certain conditions, including paying fees. Wilson has said that authorities were aware of the past charge against the father, but that officers were focused on finding the girl.
PÁGINA 8A
Zfrontera
Agenda en Breve LAREDO 08/10— Los Premios a la Música Tejana ‘La Raza Jam 2014’ se llevará a cabo en el Salón de Baile del Laredo Civic Center, 2400 San Bernardo, de 1 p.m. a 9 p.m. Habrá música en vivo con Jesse Turner del Grupo Siggno, Erick y Su Grupo Massore, Costumbre, Ricky Valenz, Cacy Savala y Fuerzzo, Roel Nava, Joe Vic Reyna y Los Kumbacheros, Mission Colombiana e Inalcansable. 08/13— La estrella de la música latina Prince Royce presenta su gira “Soy El Mismo Tour”, en Laredo Energy Arena, a las 8 p.m. El costo del boleto varía de 51 dólares, 71, 91 y 129, con la cuota de instalaciones incluida. Compre su boleto en Ticketmaster o la taquilla del LEA. Habrá paquetes VIP disponibles. 08/14— Operación Recepción para “The Dream Continues”, una exhibición que celebra el 120 aniversrio de las Hermanas de la Misericordia, dentro del Museo Villa Antigua Border Heritage, ubicado en 810 de calle Zaragoza, de 6 p.m. a 8 p.m. 08/14— Espectáculo de Estrellas en Vivo, de 7 p.m. a 8 p.m. en el Planetario Lamar Bruni Vergara de TAMIU. Costo de admisión 3 dólares. 08/16— Las audiciones para los papeles infantiles para “El Cascanueces” (The Nutcracker) serán en el Teatro del Center for the Fine and Performing Arts de TAMIU. Las audiciones para niñas de 5 a 8 años de edad serán de 3 p.m. a 4 p.m.; para niñas de 9 a 12 años de edad, serán de 4 p.m. a 5 p.m.; para niñas de 13 a 17 años, serán de 5 p.m. a 6 p.m. Para niños de 8 a 12 años, las audiciones serán de 6 p.m. a 7 p.m. Los bailarines deben arribar 30 minutos antes de que inicie su audición. Un padre o tutor debe estar presente para firmar las hojas de consentimiento.
SÁBADO 9 DE AGOSTO DE 2014
CORTE
Intento de tráfico POR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Dos acusados de tráfico de personas, acusados del contrabando de un grupo de personas, entre las que murió un inmigrante cerca de la línea divisora del Condado de Webb y Zapata, a mediados de julio, han sido acusados formalmente en una corte federal, señalan registros obtenidos el jueves. Un gran jurado acusó a Antonio Vásquez III, de 18 años, y a Juan Luis López, de 19 años, de conspi-
ración para transportar personas indocumentadas, y transportar e intentar transportar personas indocumentadas a cambio de un pago. Cada hombre enfrentaría hasta 10 años en prisión, en caso de ser encontrados culpables de las alegaciones, de acuerdo con la acusación formal presentada el martes en su contra. Registros de la corte indican que los hombres intentaron el tráfico de 10 ciudadanos mexicanos, uno de Costa Rica y uno de Honduras.
A la 1:05 a.m. del 17 de julio, la Oficina del Alguacil del Condado de Webb, reportó a Patrulla Fronteriza sobre una llamada de auxilio procedente de un rancho cerca de las líneas divisoras del Condado de Webb y Zapata, con respecto a dos inmigrantes. Uno de ellos estaba muerto, de acuerdo con documentos de la corte. A las 2 a.m. Patrulla Fronteriza recibió otra llamada de auxilio por parte de dos inmigrantes a quienes los agentes asistieron. Mientras realizaban la búsqueda de un gru-
SERVICIO
MIGUEL ALEMÁN
DONACIÓN
Harán II fase Vuelta Ciclista Evento se realizará del 31 de agosto a 7 de septiembre TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Del 31 de agosto al 7 de septiembre se llevará a cabo la II Etapa de la Vuelta Ciclista a Tamaulipas 2014. El arranque será en Nuevo Laredo, México, pero en la ruta se tiene considerado visitar el municipio de Miguel Alemán. Coordina el evento general, el director del Instituto Tamaulipeco del Deporte, Enrique de la Garza Ferrer.
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NUEVO LAREDO, MX 08/09— Estación Palabra presenta: “Bazar de Arte”, a partir de las 10 a.m.; “Te leo a la una”, a la 1 p.m.; “Festival Infantil” a las 2 p.m.; Eventos gratuitos. 08/09— Jazz Tam Fest presenta a Dannah Garay – My miracle, en el Centro Cultural a las 7 p.m. Entrada gratuita. 08/09— El programa Domingos de Teatro Universitario lleva a escena “Los charcos de la Ciudad”, en el Teatro Lucio Blanco, dentro de la Casa de la Cultura, a las 5 p.m. 08/12— El Grupo de Teatro Laberintus presentará el musical “Te Amo, Eres Perfecto... ¡Pero Cambia!” a las 7 p.m. en el Teatro del IMSS, entre las calles Reynosa y Belden (Sector Centro). Costo de entrada: 20 pesos. 08/16— En celebración del Día Internacional de la Juventud, se llevará a cabo el #JUVEFEST 2014, en el Polyforum La Fe, a partir de las 3 p.m. Habrá varios espectáculos, incluyendo la presentación de grupos musicales en vivo, exposiciones de cultura y tecnología, conferencia para emprendedores y rifa de regalos, entre otras actividades. 08/30— Compañía de Ballet Laredos, bajo la dirección de Becky Chapa, invita a las audiciones para El Cascanueces 2014, en la Academia de Ballet Becky, Ruiz Cortines 3003. Niñas de 11 a 13 años, de 11 a.m. a 1 p.m.; niñas de 14 años en adelante, de 2 p.m. a 4 p.m. Se require poseer amplio conocimiento de ballet clásico. Acudir con leotardo negro, mallas rosas y zapatillas de ballet y/o puntas.
po de inmigrantes más grande, los agentes siguieron las huellas hasta el vecindario Las Presas sobre Mangana Hein Road. Los agentes señalaron que una vez ahí encontraron una Dodge Durango, color azul, modelo 2005, ocupada por López y Vásquez, sospechosos de tráfico de drogas. Ambos hombres fueron arrestados después de una persecución a pie. El vehículo tenía nueve personas que habían cruzado la frontera ilegalmente, de acuerdo con registros de la corte.
Estamos listos para recibir a los ciclistas de todo México”.
Foto de cortesía
El Fiscal de Distrito del Condado de Webb, Isidro "Chilo" Alaniz, entrega las llaves de una patrulla al Alguacil del Condado de Zapata, Alonzo M. López.
GERARDO HERNÁNDEZ, JEFE DE DEPORTES DE MIGUEL ALEMÁN.
Alguacil de Zapata recibe nueva patrulla POR CESAR G. RODRIGUEZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
L
a oficina del fiscal de distrito del Condado de Webb donó una patrulla a la Oficina del Alguacil del Condado de Zapata. El Fiscal de Distrito, Isidro R. “Chilo” Alaniz entregó las llaves de un Dodge Charger al Alguacil Alonso M. López. El vehículo será utilizado como parte de una sociedad en interdicción de drogas. “La colaboración es importante para mantener baja la tasa de crimen en el Condado de Zapata”, dijo Alaniz. “La meta es mostrar mayor presencia de agentes en las carreteras”. El vehículo fue adquirido con
fondos de confiscaciones y era parte de la flotilla de la oficina del fiscal de distrito. “La acción es una demostración de los esfuerzos de ambas agencias para trabajar unidas a fin de incrementar la eficiencia de los servicios proveídos. En un momento de reflexión sobre el presupuesto, el compartir recursos es una acción ejemplar”, dijo Raymundo del Bosque, jefe de la Oficina del Alguacil del Condado de Zapata. “Aunque la oficina del alguacil tiene recursos adecuados, cualquier apoyo ayuda en las operaciones diarias”. Del Bosque dijo que la oficina es afortunada en proveer y recibir apoyo para incrementar la eficiencia de los servicios proveídos para
los residentes del condado. Alaniz, quien asumió el cargo en 2009, y López, quien se convirtió en alguacil en 2013, dijeron que ellos comparten las mismas metas de proveer seguridad y prevención a todos los residentes del condado. “Su enfoque está en la prevención del crimen y la interdicción de drogas. Ellos luchan por educar al público acerca de la prevención y la seguridad”, dijo del Bosque. “El compartir recursos demuestra la cooperación de las oficinas para fortalecer la unidad entre ambas agencias y continuar brindando servicios necesarios en la comunidad de Zapata y Webb”. (Localice a César G. Rodriguez en el 728-2568 o en cesar@lmtonline.com)
El titular de Desarrollo del Deporte, Rubén David Rivera Rodríguez, se reunió con Gerardo Hernández, Jefe de Deportes del municipio de Miguel Alemán para detallar los pormenores del evento ciclista. “Estamos listos para recibir a los ciclistas de todo México y nuestro municipio como es Miguel Alemán será sin duda un excelente anfitrión”, expresó Hernández. Igualmente la ciudad recibió material deportivo consistente en balones de fútbol, de voleibol y de baloncesto dentro del Programa Pónte al 100 y Ligas Deportivas Municipales. El Presidente Municipal de Miguel Alemán es Ramiro Cortez Barrera.
COLUMNA
Reacción de Estado ante Independencia POR RAÚL SINENCIO ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Tras el “grito libertador” del cura Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla en Dolores, Guanajuato, México, el 16 de septiembre de 1810, dio inicio el proceso independentista. Bajo el grito “¡Muera el mal gobierno!” la multitud sale desafiante rumbo a San Miguel el Grande, México. En Atotonilco, México, Hidalgo toma un estandarte de la Virgen de Guadalupe, declarándola patrona de la causa. La arenga cimbra al México profundo. Rebasados
los meros afanes emancipadores, cuestionándose la injusticia social.Los insurrectos avanzan en busca de la capital guanajuatense, que cae a fines de mes. A mediados de octubre dominan Valladolid, hoy Morelia, México. Días atrás, el obispo Manuel Abad y Queipo excomulga al sacerdote revolucionario al decir: “Que sea maldito en la vida o en la muerte. Que sea maldito en su pelo, que sea maldito en su cerebro”. Esta declaración circula en las tierras michoacanas, sin justificación religiosa. Contra la fe católica, Hidalgo no había dirigido ataques.
Región En Nuevo Santander, asombra el hecho de que efectivos realistas de la provincia deciden sumarse al bando de los conservadores. Todo comienza en octubre de 1810 cuando el capitán Joaquín Vidal de Lorca moviliza parte de las tropas novosantanderinas hacia San Luis Potosí, México, con el propósito de reforzar la defensa virreinal.. Otras fuerzas militares del virreinato permanecen en Padilla y San Carlos, México, este último enclave capitalino de Nuevo Santander. Componen las guar-
niciones elementos profesionales o regulares. Como el resto, están nutridas por milicianos o vecinos civiles. En San Carlos reside el gobernador Manuel de Iturbe e Iraeta. Sin embargo, antes de que volviera Vidal las simpatías independentistas se extienden a los lugares destacados de la capital. Los pobladores adaptan el “grito” de Dolores y ante el entusiasmo que ello provoca, en febrero de 1811 de Iturbe debe replegarse al sureste de la entidad para huir, acompañando de Vidal. De Iturbe proporciona información al respecto. En San Carlos, el jueves 11
de octubre de 1810 lanza una proclama que ataca las ideas de Hidalgo, distribuyéndola a escasas semanas de rebelarse el cura. En marzo arriba Joaquín de Arredondo, coronel del régimen. Los desertores rectifican y comandados por Arredondo sofocan rebeldías en las inmediaciones. Acaso puestos al tanto por el manifiesto de Iturbe, Bernardo y Antonio Gutiérrez de Lara se entrevistan la víspera en Saltillo con el padre de la patria, incorporándose a la lucha. (Publicado con permiso del autor conforme aparece en La Razón, Tampico, Tamaulipas)
Israel
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
3-day truce collapses New round of violence breaks Israel-Hamas truce By JOSEF FEDERMAN AND MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM — A threeday truce collapsed Friday in a new round of violence after Gaza militants resumed rocket attacks on Israel, drawing a wave of retaliatory airstrikes that killed at least five Palestinians, including three children. The eruption of fighting shattered a brief calm in the monthlong war and dealt a blow to Egyptianled efforts to secure a longterm cease-fire between the bitter enemies. A delegation of Palestinian negotiators remained in Cairo in hopes of salvaging the talks. But participants said the negotiations were not going well, and Israel said it would not negotiate under fire. The Palestinian delegation met again late Friday with Egyptian mediators. Azzam al-Ahmad, head of the Palestinian delegation, said the delegation would stay in Egypt until it reaches an agreement that “ensures” the rights of the Palestinian people. “We told Egyptians we are staying,” he told reporters. The indirect talks are meant to bring an end to the deadliest round of fighting between Israel and Hamas since the Islamic militant group seized control of Gaza in 2007. In four weeks of violence, more than 1,900 Gazans have been killed, roughly threequarters of them civilians, according to Palestinian and U.N. officials. Sixty-seven people were killed on the Israeli side, including three civilians. The Palestinians are seeking an end to an IsraelEgyptian blockade imposed on Gaza after the Hamas takeover. Militants had warned they would resume fighting after the cease-fire expired unless there was a deal to ease the restrictions. The blockade, which Israel says is needed to pre-
vent arms smuggling, has constrained movement in and out of the territory of 1.8 million people and brought Gaza’s economy to a standstill. Israel says any long-term agreement must include guarantees that Hamas, an armed group sworn to Israel’s destruction, will give up its weapons. In Cairo, Palestinian participants in the talks were pessimistic about the chances of a deal. They said Israel was opposing every Palestinian proposal for lifting the blockade. For instance, the Palestinians are seeking greater movement of goods through Israeli-controlled cargo crossings, while Israel wants restrictions on “dual-use” items that could potentially be used for military purposes, they said. Israel also was resisting demands to allow movement between Gaza and the West Bank — Palestinian territories that are located on opposite sides of Israel, they said. “Israel in these talks wants to repackage the same old blockade. Our demands are ending the blockade and having free access for people and goods. This is what ending the blockade means. But Israel is not accepting that,” said Bassam Salhi, a Palestinian negotiator.
Negotiators said they expected to remain in Cairo for several days. But with violence resuming, it was unclear how much progress could be made. The Israeli delegation to the Cairo talks left Egypt on Friday morning, and it was not clear if it would return. “There will not be negotiations under fire,” Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said. In Cairo, Khaled alBatch, a leader of Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant group in Gaza, said that without a deal on easing the blockade, an informal truce might be the best that could be achieved. “When there is no ceasefire, that does not mean there is escalation,” he said. “Our priority now is to focus on stopping the Israeli aggression against our people and achieving our demands.” Egypt’s Foreign Ministry urged restraint by both sides and called for a new cease-fire to resume negotiations. The ministry said progress had been made in the talks but did not explain. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed "deep disappointment" at the failure to extend the cease-fire and urged the parties to swiftly find a way back to the negotiating
Photo by Khalil Hamra | AP
Palestinians attend Friday noon prayers in the shadow of a toppled minaret at a mosque that was hit by Israeli strikes, in Gaza City, on Friday. table, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said. The original, three-day truce expired at 8 a.m. Friday. But Gaza militants began firing rockets even before then. By late Friday, nearly 60 rockets had been fired. Two Israelis were
hurt, and one of the rockets damaged a home. Israel responded with a series of airstrikes. Palestinian officials said at least five people were killed in three separate strikes, two of them near mosques. Among the dead were three
boys, a 10-year-old and two cousins, aged 12. At least five boys were wounded. The deaths brought the overall Palestinian toll since July 8 to 1,902, said Palestinian health official Ashraf al-Kidra.
Iraq
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2014
US bombs militants in Iraq as crisis worsens By DIAA HAID AND BRAM JANSSEN ASSOCIATED PRESS
IRBIL, Iraq — The U.S. unleashed its first airstrikes in northern Iraq against militants of the Islamic State group Friday amid a worsening humanitarian crisis. The extremists took captive hundreds of women from a religious minority, according to an Iraqi official, while thousands of other civilians fled in fear. Many of America’s allies backed the U.S. intervention, pledging urgent steps to assist the legions of refugees and displaced people. Those in jeopardy included thousands of members of the Yazidi religious minority whose plight — trapped on a mountaintop by the militants — prompted the U.S. to airdrop crates of food and water to them. The extremists’ “campaign of terror against the innocent, including the Yazidi and Christian minorities, and its grotesque and targeted acts of violence bear all the warning signs and hallmarks of genocide,” said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. "For anyone who needed a wake-up call, this is it.” Underscoring the sense of alarm, a spokesman for Iraq’s human rights ministry said hundreds of Yazidi women had been seized by the militants. Kamil Amin, citing reports from the victims’ families, said some of the women were being held in schools in Iraq’s secondlargest city, Mosul. “We think that the terrorists by now consider them slaves and they have vicious plans for them,” Amin told The Associated Press. “We think that these women are going to be used in demeaning ways by those terrorists to satisfy their animalistic urges in a way that contradicts all the human and Islamic values.” For the U.S. military,
Photo by Khalid Mohammed | AP
Kurdish Peshmerga fighters stand guard at the front line with militants from the extremist Islamic State group, at the Khazer checkpoint outside of the city of Irbil in northern Iraq, on Friday.
For the U.S. military, the re-engagement began when two F/A-18 jets dropped 500-pound bombs on a piece of artillery and the truck towing it. which withdrew its forces from Iraq in late 2011 after more than eight years of war, the re-engagement began when two F/A-18 jets dropped 500-pound bombs on a piece of artillery and the truck towing it. The Pentagon said the militants were using the artillery to shell Kurdish forces defending Irbil, the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, and home to a U.S. consulate and about three dozen U.S. military trainers. Later Friday, the U.S. launched a second round of airstrikes near Irbil, U.S. officials said. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the strikes publicly, said unmanned aircraft hit a mortar and four Navy F/ A-18 fighter jets destroyed a seven-vehicle convoy Expanding from their stronghold of Mosul, the militants have captured a string of towns and Iraq’s
largest hydroelectric dam and reservoir in recent weeks. Ethnic and religious minorities, fearing persecution and slaughter, have fled as their towns fell. Many had taken refuge in the Khazer Camp, set up near Irbil, but it was empty Friday as nearby fighting prompted families to flee once again. Some made their way by car or on foot to Irbil; others were unaccounted for amid the sea of fleeing people. According to the U.N., more than 500,000 people have been displaced by the violence in Iraq since June, bringing the total this year to well over 1 million. In Irbil, hundreds of uprooted men crowded the streets of a Christian-dominated neighborhood, expressing relief at the news of U.S. airstrikes. Nazar, one man lingering outside a bare-bones building-turned-shelter, fled his mainly Christian town of Hamdaniya on Wednes-
day, when their home began to shudder from the blast of nearby mortar fire. “We want a solution,” said Nazar, who spoke on condition he be identified only by his first name, fearing his family’s safety. “We don’t to flee our homes and jobs like this. What is our future?” In contrast to Washington’s decision to invade Iraq more than a decade ago, both the airdrop and the authorization of military action against the Islamic State group were widely welcomed by Iraqi and Kurdish officials fearful of the militants’ advance. “We thank Barack Obama,” said Khalid Jamal Alber, from the Religious Affairs Ministry in the Kurdish government. In his announcement Thursday night, Obama had identified protecting the Yazidis and defending Americans as the two objectives for the airstrikes.
But on Friday, his spokesman, Josh Earnest, said the U.S. was also prepared to use military force to assist Iraqi forces and the Kurds’ peshmerga militia. While Iraq’s military has proven unable in many cases to thwart the Islamic State force’s capture of key cities, Earnest called the peshmerga a “capable fighting force” that had shown an ability to regroup effectively. At a checkpoint about 23 miles (38 kilometers) from Irbil, Kurdish militiamen vowed fierce resistance to any further Islamic State advances, but they also remarked on the ferocity of their foe. Capt. Ziyran Mahmoud, 28, said Islamic State fighters wore suicide belts as they advanced in armored vehicles and would detonate them — killing soldiers from both sides — if Kurdish fighters came too close.
“They are ready to blow themselves up and die,” Mahmoud said. “But the peshmerga aren’t afraid. We are also ready to die for our homeland.” The Islamic State group captured Mosul in June, and then launched a blitz toward the south, sweeping over Sunni-majority towns almost to the capital, Baghdad. It already holds large parts of western Iraq, as well as swaths of neighboring Syria. Iraqi government forces crumbled in the face of the assault but have since been able to prevent the militants from advancing into Shiite-majority areas. In the north, the Kurds have been the main line of defense against the radicals, but their fighters are stretched over a long front trying to fend them off. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, traveling in India, said if Islamic militants threaten U.S. interests in Iraq or the thousands of refugees in the mountains, the U.S. military has enough intelligence to clearly single out the attackers and launch effective airstrikes. He also said more than 60 of the 72 bundles of food and water airdropped onto the mountain reached the people stranded there. The International Rescue Committee said it was providing emergency medical care for up to 4,000 dehydrated Yazidis, mostly women and children, who survived without food or water for up to six days hiding in the Sinjar mountains before fleeing to a refugee camp in Syria, where a civil war is raging. Officials in Britain, Germany and elsewhere pledged financial aid to support humanitarian efforts in Iraq, and several top European officials supported Obama’s decision to intervene with airstrikes.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
THE WEEK IN REVIEW WEEKLY STOCK EXCHANGE HIGHLIGHTS
d
u
NYSE 10,691.11 -1.06
GAINERS ($2 OR MORE) Name Pike Corp LehighGas Springlf n Trex s ARC Docu Zendesk n VaalcoE PlyGem MidstsPet Textura
Last 11.84 35.30 32.88 35.88 6.75 21.29 8.33 9.85 6.90 29.20
Chg +3.88 +9.54 +6.87 +7.21 +1.27 +3.74 +1.43 +1.65 +1.12 +4.72
%Chg +48.7 +37.0 +26.4 +25.1 +23.2 +21.3 +20.7 +20.1 +19.4 +19.3
Last 8.59 22.48 16.24 5.60 14.98 5.67 7.99 6.70 3.86 14.81
Chg -5.72 -8.98 -5.82 -1.87 -4.87 -1.78 -2.26 -1.83 -.98 -3.56
%Chg -40.0 -28.5 -26.4 -25.0 -24.5 -23.9 -22.0 -21.5 -20.2 -19.4
NASDAQ
Name LimeEn rs Tekmira g RadiusH n NB&T Fn RadNet Viggle n RaptorPhm ChinaHGS FrghtCar lf 2U n
Last 4.97 20.70 11.81 28.90 6.92 3.13 10.56 3.17 27.18 17.08
Chg %Chg +2.77 +125.9 +6.44 +45.2 +3.43 +40.9 +8.34 +40.6 +1.75 +33.8 +.78 +33.2 +2.44 +30.0 +.70 +28.3 +5.41 +24.9 +3.37 +24.6
Vol (00)
Name MarroneB Enzymot n RocketF n IgniteRest RetailMNot Insmed LincEdSv Thoratec ApplRecyc RadioOneD
Last Chg Name
S&P500ETF5264119193.24 +.74 BkofAm 3370170 15.20 +.22 B iPVix rs 3067805 33.21 +.20 iShEMkts 2909710 43.71 -.35 Sprint 2455601 5.67 -1.78 SPDR Fncl 1914648 22.38 +.16 iShR2K 1776347112.27 +1.59 Walgrn 1662551 60.70 -9.83 RiteAid 1658348 6.08 -.68 GenElec 1618791 25.66 +.31
Last 5.51 9.31 16.60 8.05 17.09 11.82 2.59 23.27 2.90 3.13
Chg -3.58 -5.69 -9.09 -4.16 -7.94 -5.43 -1.12 -8.98 -1.11 -1.14
%Chg -39.4 -37.9 -35.4 -34.1 -31.7 -31.5 -30.2 -27.8 -27.7 -26.7
Vol (00)
Volume
Last Chg
Apple Inc s 2208959 94.74 -.92 SiriusXM 2136148 3.44 +.13 Groupon 1983375 5.96 -.50 Zynga 1889909 2.88 +.01 PwShs QQQ1848175 94.90 +.23 Intel 1677953 32.60 -.92 Facebook 1599882 73.06 +.70 21stCFoxA 1517304 34.37 +2.43 MicronT 1465750 30.04 -1.05 Microsoft 1438506 43.20 +.34
DIARY Advanced Declined New Highs New Lows Total issues Unchanged
DIARY
2,027 1,191 107 191 3,275 57 15,761,693,529
Close: 16,553.93 1-week change: 60.56 (0.4%) 17,500
STOCK MARKET INDEXES
75.91 -139.81 13.87
MON
TUES
WED
-75.07 185.66
THUR
Advanced Declined New Highs New Lows Total issues Unchanged
Volume
1,668 1,155 85 232 2,866 43 8,951,070,612
FRI
17,000 16,500
15,500
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STOCKS OF LOCAL INTEREST
NEW YORK — A burst of buying Friday in U.S. stocks defied slumps in other markets and offered hope for investors shaken by geopolitical turmoil. Major U.S. stock indexes closed up around 1 percent, buoyed by signs that tensions in Ukraine might be easing. The rally on Wall Street contrasted with price declines in European and Asian stock markets. Fear has been creeping into stock and bond markets around the world in recent weeks against a backdrop of escalating global conflicts. News Friday of U.S. fighter jets dropping bombs in Iraq and the end of a three-day cease-fire in Gaza weighed further on European and Asian markets. The declines there capped broad losses for the week, including a 5 percent drop in Japan’s major stock index. As anxieties have risen in recent days, money has been flowing from around the world into U.S. Treasurys, the perennial safe haven for spooked investors. U.S. stock markets bucked the trend Friday as investors snapped up shares that had been beaten down in recent days. The buying surged late in the day on reports that Russia had ended military exercises near Ukraine. The Dow Jones industrial average surged 1.1 percent, its biggest gain since March. The index remains 3.4 percent below its record high set July 16. Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management, said he wasn’t surprised by the Wall Street rally. “The U.S. economy will grow
Wk Wk YTD Chg %Chg%Chg
Name
Ex
Div
Last
Wk Wk YTD Chg %Chg%Chg
Name
Ex
Div
AT&T Inc AEP Apple Inc s BkofAm B iPVix rs Caterpillar CCFemsa CmtyHlt ConocoPhil Dillards EmpIca ExxonMbl FordM GenElec Groupon HewlettP HomeDp iShEMkts Intel IntlBcsh IBM
NY NY Nasd NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY Nasd NY NY NY Nasd Nasd NY
1.84 2.00 1.88 .20 ... 2.80 2.17 ... 2.92 .24 ... 2.76 .50 .88 ... .64 1.88 .71 .90 .50 4.40
34.47 50.52 94.74 15.20 33.21 103.28 108.65 48.24 81.33 123.62 7.13 99.74 17.09 25.66 5.96 35.17 82.43 43.71 32.60 25.13 186.63
-.86 -1.29 -.92 +.22 +.20 +2.76 -.18 +1.00 +.63 +3.13 +.13 +.94 +.28 +.31 -.50 -.02 +2.68 -.35 -.92 +.21 -1.42
Lowes Lubys MetLife MexicoFd Microsoft Modine Penney RadioShk S&P500ETF SanchezEn Schlmbrg SearsHldgs SiriusXM SonyCp Sprint SPDR Fncl UnionPac s USSteel UnivHlthS WalMart WellsFargo
NY NY NY NY Nasd NY NY NY NY NY NY Nasd Nasd NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY
.92 49.72 +2.13 +4.5 +.3 ... 5.21 +.21 +4.2 -32.5 1.40 51.70 -.08 -0.2 -4.1 3.07 27.86 +.01 ... -4.9 1.12 43.20 +.34 +0.8 +15.5 ... 14.00 +.74 +5.6 +9.2 ... 9.37 -.26 -2.7 +2.4 ... .63 +.05 +8.6 -75.7 3.58 193.24 +.74 +0.4 +4.6 ... 31.20 +1.11 +3.7 +27.3 1.60 108.38 +.43 +0.4 +20.3 ... 37.83 +.56 +1.5 -4.8 ... 3.44 +.13 +3.9 -1.4 .24 17.42 -.60 -3.3 +.8 ... 5.67 -1.78 -23.9 -47.3 .35 22.38 +.16 +0.7 +2.4 2.00 98.64 +.73 +0.7 +17.4 .20 35.40 +1.96 +5.9 +20.0 .40 107.12 +1.75 +1.7 +31.8 1.92 74.67 +1.61 +2.2 -5.1 1.40 50.00 ... ... +10.1
-2.4 -2.5 -1.0 +1.5 +0.6 +2.7 -0.2 +2.1 +0.8 +2.6 +1.9 +1.0 +1.7 +1.2 -7.7 -0.1 +3.4 -0.8 -2.7 +0.8 -0.8
-2.0 +8.1 +18.2 -2.4 -22.0 +13.7 -10.8 +22.8 +15.1 +27.2 -15.6 -1.4 +10.8 -8.5 -49.3 +25.7 +.1 +4.6 +25.6 -4.7 -.5
Last
Stock Footnotes: g=Dividends and earnings in Canadian dollars .h= Doe not meet continued- listings tandards lf = Late filing with SEC. n = New in past 52 weeks. pf = Preferred. rs = Stock has undergone a reverse stock split of at least 50 percent within the past year. rt = Right to buy security at a specified price. s = Stock has split by at least 20 percent within the last year. un = Units. vj = In bankruptcy or receivership. wd = When distributed. wi = When issued. wt = Warrants. Mutual Fund Footnotes: b = Fee covering market costs is paid from fund assets. d = Deferred sales charge, or redemption fee. f = front load (sales charges). m = Multiple fees are charged. NA = not available. p = previous day’s net asset value. s = fund split shares during the week. x = fund paid a distribution during the week. Gainers and Losers must be worth at least $2 to be listed in tables at left. Most Actives must be worth at least $1. Volume in hundreds of shares. Source: The Associated Press. Sales figures are unofficial.
San Pedro Mission in Lopeño. Committal services followed at Lopeño Cemetery. Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home, Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy 83 Zapata.
Dow Jones Industrials 16,553.93 Dow Jones Transportation 8,092.47 Dow Jones Utilities 542.69 NYSE Composite 10,691.11 Nasdaq Composite 4,370.90 S&P 500 1,931.59 S&P MidCap 1,379.30 Wilshire 5000 20,436.16 Russell 2000 1,131.35 Lipper Growth Index 5,768.03
Prime Rate Discount Rate Federal Funds Rate Treasuries 3-month 6-month 5-year 10-year 30-year
Wk Wk YTD Chg %Chg %Chg
12-mo %Chg
+60.56 +.37 -.14 -28.39 -.35 +9.35 +2.00 +.37 +10.62 -1.06 -.01 +2.80 +18.26 +.42 +4.65 +6.44 +.33 +4.50 +12.10 +.89 +2.74 +90.15 +.44 +3.71 +16.49 +1.48 -2.77 +20.35 +.35 +3.18
+7.32 +24.89 +7.88 +11.11 +19.42 +14.20 +11.44 +13.73 +7.91 +16.29
CURRENCIES Pvs Week
3.25 0.75 .00-.25 0.03 0.05 1.63 2.42 3.23
Last
Pvs Day
3.25 Australia 1.0779 1.0787 0.75 Britain 1.6776 1.6833 .00-.25 Canada 1.0971 1.0926 Euro .7457 .7486 0.03 Japan 102.04 102.07 0.05 Mexico 13.2396 13.2958 1.66 Switzerlnd .9053 .9090 2.49 3.28 British pound expressed in U.S. dollars. All others show dollar in foreign currency.
MUTUAL FUNDS Name
Total Assets Obj ($Mlns) NAV
Total Return/Rank Pct Min Init 4-wk 12-mo 5-year Load Invt
Alliance Bernstein GlTmtcGA m Columbia ComInfoA m Eaton Vance WldwHealA m Fidelity Select Biotech d Fidelity Select BrokInv d Fidelity Select CommEq d Fidelity Select Computer d Fidelity Select ConsFin d Fidelity Select Electron d Fidelity Select FinSvc d Fidelity Select SoftwCom d Fidelity Select Tech d PIMCO TotRetIs T Rowe Price SciTech Vanguard 500Adml Vanguard HlthCare Vanguard InstIdxI Vanguard TotStIAdm Vanguard TotStIdx Waddell & Reed Adv SciTechA m
WS 580 ST 2,536 SH 919 SH 8,218 SF 609 ST 260 ST 672 SF 147 ST 1,732 SF 1,195 ST 3,010 ST 2,548 CI 143,967 ST 3,098 LB 107,249 SH 10,301 LB 94,348 LB 98,233 LB 112,558 ST 3,736
-3.1 -2.1 -0.6 +1.5 -0.8 -2.5 -0.2 -3.0 -3.2 -1.1 -1.2 -0.1 +0.4 +1.7 -1.5 -1.2 -1.5 -1.7 -1.7 -4.0
83.60 56.55 12.47 196.77 71.95 31.38 78.29 15.13 75.50 83.24 114.47 119.56 10.95 41.92 178.53 202.70 177.38 48.65 48.62 16.01
+15.3/A +22.8/B +27.4/A +21.3/D +12.1/B +14.7/E +14.5/E +5.8/D +34.2/A +12.1/B +19.0/C +20.1/C +4.1/D +24.8/B +16.1/B +26.1/B +16.1/B +15.7/B +15.5/B +18.6/C
+7.6/E +14.0/D +17.9/D +27.2/A +10.4/C +11.9/E +18.0/A +13.3/A +17.0/B +8.8/D +21.4/A +18.2/A +6.0/B +16.9/B +16.2/A +20.0/C +16.2/A +16.6/A +16.5/A +19.0/A
4.25 2,500 5.75 2,000 5.75 1,000 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL1,000,000 NL 2,500 NL 10,000 NL 3,000 NL5,000,000 NL 10,000 NL 3,000 5.75 750
CA -Conservative Allocation, CI -Intermediate-Term Bond, ES -Europe Stock, FB -Foreign Large Blend, FG -Foreign LargeGrowth, FV -Foreign Large Value, IH -World Allocation, LB -Large Blend, LG -Large Growth, LV -Large Value, MA -Moderate Allocation, MB -Mid-Cap Blend, MV - MidCap Value, SH -Specialty-heath, WS -World Stock, Total Return: Chng in NAV with dividends reinvested. Rank: How fund performed vs. others with same objective: A is in top 20%, E in bottom 20%. Min Init Invt: Minimum $ needed to invest in fund. Source: Morningstar.
EDUCATION Continued from Page 1A terparts. The state rated more than 1,200 districts and more than 8,500 schools, including charter schools and alternative education programs. About 950 public school districts met the standard and about 160 charter operators met the standard. About 440 elementary schools needed improvement compared to 143 middle schools and 103 high schools. There were 61 schools that include kindergarten through 12th grade all in one campus that need improvement. “While the 2014 numbers are positive, the work continues in districts across our state to meet and exceed increasing state standards and the expectations of their local communities,” Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams said in a news release. Besides achievement gaps, the new ratings are designed to better take into account graduation rates, performance on college-entrance exams and how well stu-
dents are prepared to go to college or directly into a career or vocation upon leaving high school. Schools and districts making the fastest progress in closing achievement gaps with minorities and students from low-income families will get a bump in their ratings. Williams says this emphasis is important since 65 percent of Texas children are either black or Hispanic and 60 percent come from impoverished households, the most at-risk groups for dropping out of school. Not everyone is thrilled with the still-evolving system. The Texas Association of Business, a powerful lobbying group, has long complained that Texas’ graduation standards are too lenient and that the rating system has now been tweaked to make mediocre performances by schools and districts look like improvements. “Only 9 percent of schools are being ranked as low performing under this system,” said Bill Hammond, the association’s CEO.
“These ratings allow our education system to appear successful while the true story is that more students are ill-prepared to enter college or establish a career upon graduation. “ This year’s reports included only ratings of “met standard” or “improvement required.” Those districts and schools meeting standards could then get “distinctions” in several areas such as closing achievement gaps, postsecondary readiness and academic achievement in core subjects. More than 4,400 campuses earned some type of distinction designation. Four hundred schools earned a distinction designation in all categories evaluated for the campus. Beginning in the 2016-2017 academic year, school districts will earn an A through F letter grade. Texas lawmakers say the system, which has been used in other states, will make it easier for parents and students to understand how their schools and districts measure up.
IMMIGRATION Continued from Page 1A
US stocks offer hope for investors ASSOCIATED PRESS
Last
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OCT. 22, 1930 — AUG. 1, 2014
By BERNARD CONDON
14,719.43 6,237.14 467.93 9,246.89 3,573.57 1,627.47 1,170.62 17,305.21 1,009.00 4,813.26
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MARIA REFUGIO MARTINEZ Maria R. Martinez passed away Aug. 1, 2014, at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in Edinburg. Mrs. Martinez is preceded in death by her son, Alfredo Martinez Jr.; and daughter, Rosa M. Hurtado. Mrs. Martinez is survived by her husband, Alfredo Martinez; sons, Juan (Maria Elena) Valdez, Manuel Martinez, Rafa (Liza) Martinez; daughter, Diana M. (Jorge D.) Ramirez; grandchildren, Raul Jr. (Amanda) Hurtado, Gabriela Hurtado, Daniella Hurtado, Josie Valdez, Juan Valdez Jr., Lauro A. Martinez (Lisa Zepeda), Adriana L. Martinez (Jaime Guzman), Lucero R. Botello, Selyna Y. Martinez (Roberto Paredes Jr.), Daniel R. Martinez, Rhoel E. Martinez, D’Leeza A. Martinez, Leroy (Sylvia) Ramirez and Melissa Ramirez; and by numerous great-grandchildren, relatives and friends. Visitation hours were Sunday, Aug. 3, 2014, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home. The funeral procession departed Monday, Aug. 4, 2014, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at
52-Week High Low 17,151.56 8,515.04 576.98 11,334.65 4,485.93 1,991.39 1,452.01 21,108.12 1,213.55 5,970.50
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at 3 percent or 4 percent for the rest of the year,” Paulsen said. “Are geopolitical risks really going to have an economic impact?” It’s a question that’s been unsettling investors. In June and most of July, prices in major stock indexes in the United States rose even in the face of the widening conflicts around the world. Some experts warned that markets had grown dangerously complacent. But then the West imposed increasingly crushing sanctions on Russia for supporting rebels in Ukraine. Israel’s bloody war in Gaza dragged on. And Sunni extremists made advances in northern Iraq. Prices then began a sustained decline, even in resilient U.S. markets. U.S. stocks in July posted their first monthly loss since January. The fear has driven up various government bond prices, too, and sent yields down. The yield on German government notes maturing in 10 years, for instance, hit an all-time low Friday. The yield on U.S. notes of the same maturity has reached its lowest level in about a year. Another sign of worry, the VIX, a gauge of expectation of future U.S. stock volatility, has climbed nearly 50 percent since early July. One fear is that Europe could fall back into another recession after having emerged from one last year. The economies of the 18 countries that share the euro currency are barely growing, and many of them depend on Russia for natural gas imports. Germany imports nearly all its natural gas from Russia.
comed the decline but said the current numbers are still much higher than in previous years. “We continue to have much work to do to address this issue, and our message continues to be clear — ‘Our border is not open to illegal migration,”’ Johnson said in a statement. Arrests in South Texas have fallen in recent weeks to about 100 per day, down from 300 or more in June, according to the Border Patrol. The decline could be the result of searing summer temperatures or a messaging campaign in both the U.S. and the migrants’ home countries that stresses the dangers of the journey and warns them they will not be allowed to stay. The government has reduced the removal time for many adults traveling alone from 33 days to about four days, Johnson said. Officials on the border are careful not to suggest that the crisis has passed. When temperatures subside, they say, children from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador could be back in greater numbers. The White House has shied away from taking credit for the decrease, which gives the administration more time to deal with the crush of immigrants who have already arrived, many drawn here by persistent rumors that once across the border, they will be allowed to stay. The slowdown also seems likely to reduce the urgency for Congress to act after adjourning last week without a deal to give President Barack Obama any of the money he’s asked for to handle the influx. If the slower pace holds, Congress may have little impetus to return to the issue when lawmakers reconvene after Labor Day. The falling numbers could cause the border crisis to recede somewhat from public view, offering Obama extra space to curb deportations for other segments of the immigrant population, a step he’s in-
dicated he plans to take around the end of summer. This week, the federal agency charged with housing the children announced it would soon suspend operations at three temporary shelters with a total of about 3,000 beds. Government officials said the existing network of federally contracted shelters would suffice, at least for now. The shelters could reopen later, if needed. From October to July, 63,000 unaccompanied children entered the U.S. illegally, double the number from the same period a year earlier. Another 63,000 families — mothers or fathers with young children — were arrested during that period, and they remain a presence in shelters across the Rio Grande in Mexico. Total apprehensions — adults and juveniles — in the Rio Grande Valley were 24,500 in July. That was down from about 38,000 in June but still well above the 15,000 in July 2013, according to the Border Patrol. The state-run children’s shelter in Reynosa, Mexico, just across the border from McAllen, has not received a Central American child yet in August, said coordinator Jose Guadalupe Villegas Garcia. The shelter had been receiving 10 to 12 kids from those countries per week in early July, but that rate began slowing around the middle of the month, he said. At the nearby religiously affiliated Senda de Vida shelter, Eneyda Alvarez, a 28-year-old mother of three watched her 8year-old son, Antony, kick a soccer ball around the courtyard. Scars from where her husband viciously beat her with a cable showed like tan stripes on Alvarez’s dark skin. When she heard her husband had told his brother to douse the family’s house in gasoline and set it ablaze, she sold all their possessions, left two kids with an aunt and headed north with Antony and her mom. The family made it to the
northern Mexican border state of Tamaulipas, but armed men took Alvarez and Antony off a bus in Tampico about six hours south of the border. They held the pair for three days, first in a warehouse with about 200 immigrants, where Alvarez said she saw people with appendages cut off, and later in a twostory house with 18 others. The men extorted $1,000 from her aunt in Virginia, then threatened to cut off one of Alvarez’s fingers if she didn’t come up with another $5,000. Mexican Marines raided the house, finally ending their nightmare. A couple days later, she reunited with her mother at the shelter in Reynosa. She says she cannot return to Honduras because her husband could kill her. When she left Honduras in late July, she was under the impression the Border Patrol was still releasing mothers traveling with young children because a neighbor had just made it. “Then, I said, I’m going to go.” Hector Joaquin Silva de Luna, a pastor who runs the shelter, said it’s been two weeks since any unaccompanied children arrived, but the number of families at the shelter has held steady at 16 to 23 per week. He said many have heard the message from U.S. authorities that they will be deported. A delegation of U.S. officials visited the shelter Sunday. Ingrid Bran had not heard about the U.S. beginning to detain mothers and children until she arrived at the border. She left the Paraiso department on Honduras’ border with Nicaragua a month ago because she couldn’t find work cultivating chiles or coffee to support her two children. “A friend told me to turn myself over to immigration” authorities, Bran said, as her 7year-old son played with Alvarez’s boy. But after arriving at the border, she was told that the previous practices had ended.
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2014
TOXIC Continued from Page 1A related issues. “I’ve had migraines for 36 years,” Roberts said. Looking back at her records, Roberts indicated that over the period of three months at Fort McClellan, she went to see the base doctor 47 times. She relocated to Fort Harrison in Indiana for training as a finance officer. While at Fort Harrison, her health declined, and she was sent to see a doctor at Fort Knox in Kentucky. She completed her finance officer training and was preparing to be sent overseas when she decided to leave the service due to issues with her health. She was honorably discharged and went home to New York. She moved to Laredo in 2010 after a separation and decided she would like Laredo’s hot weather. She also received encouragement on her move from her cousin, George, also a veteran, who had been living in Laredo for a few years already. In 2011, Roberts accepted a position at the VA, where she worked until 2012. Upon leaving the VA, her health took a turn for the worse, and she decided to turn her attention to her health. She now focuses more on volunteer work and her work with local veteran’s groups such as Behind the Camo, an all female veteran’s group she organized with Samantha Ramirez, another local veteran. Behind the Camo recently held the first-ever Female Veteran’s Conference in conjunction with Border Region Behavioral Health Center. The conference brought female veterans from all over the region to discuss gender-specific issues dealt with in the military. “I don’t regret having served or my experience because it was a wonderful experience to serve our military and serving our country,” Roberts said.
Barbara Kie Unable to walk, Barbara Kie, 53, was forced to give up going to classes at Texas A&M International University and pursue an online degree instead. Originally from Spanaway, Washington, Kie has lived in Zapata for the past three years next door to her parent’s second home. Kie went for basic training at Fort McClellan in June 1980. About a month into her training in Alabama, Kie experienced excessive pain, vaginal bleeding and her body began to swell. She said at the time, the physicians at the facility classified it as heat exhaustion. Throughout her seven months at Fort McClellan, Kie visited the doctor multiple times. “It got to the point where they thought I was making it up,” Kie said. She left Fort McClellan in January 1981. Since then, Kie’s health issues have persisted. She said her health issues were a major factor in her divorce. Frustrated with all the physicians she had seen, she said no one had an explanation for her health issues, and no one attributed them to her time at Fort McClellan. “The first question was always about my sex life, due to the vaginal bleeding,” Kie said. She eventually underwent a hysterectomy ordered by a doctor not affiliated with the VA. When she tried to seek assistance from the VA for this surgery, she said the entity claimed it was “not service connected.” She appealed her case by writing a long, detailed letter, chronicling her health issues from Fort McClellan and beyond. What she received as a response was a pamphlet outlining veteran’s benefits. “I was thrown. I was (upset) when they gave me a
pamphlet that they give everybody ... I said a lot (in my letter). I wrote a lot. I wrote from my heart,” Kie said. Hugo Martinez, VA Texas Valley Coastal Bend public affairs officer, said if surgeries are undertaken due to a medical condition and not deemed “elective,” or an emergency, then the VA would cover the costs. “(As) for the exposure to the toxic chemicals in Ft. McClellan, at this time (there is) still no program to register for, as the bill has not passed Congress. Management/treatment costs are covered for care of the veteran if not eligible for VA care,” Martinez said in a statement to Laredo Morning Times. Kie enrolled at TAMIU with the hopes of becoming a registered nurse. However, the severity of the pain in her legs and ankles progressed to the point where she could not walk from class to class. “I was going for my registered nurse (degree) so I can figure out what the hell is wrong with me,” Kie said. While awaiting her benefits, she was given a scooter to help her get around campus. However, she has since opted, due to her mobility issues, to study an online program for health care management. This month, Kie will participate in a three-month study at the Veteran’s Home and Hospital in Rocky Hill, Connecticut. The study will be for female veterans who had been exposed to toxic substances. It will include a series of blood tests and mental screenings, Kie said. “I don’t want to die. If I’m going to die, I want to know why,” Kie said.
Maria Castle Four months ago when Maria Castle, 62, left her first meeting with Behind the Camo, a local organiza-
tion for female veterans, she left with more information than she had hoped for. It was at this meeting that she learned about Fort McClellan’s toxic status from Sonia Roberts, a veteran who has been spreading awareness and advocating the issue. “I went (to the meeting), and while listening to the conversations, I overheard them speaking of Fort McClellan. I immediately became interested because I had been there for training. I was very shocked,” Castle said. “I was upset I hadn’t heard any of this before. I also never knew the fort had been shut down.” However, Castle, a Laredo native who resides in Hebbronville, said this is when her health issues began to make sense. “Listening to them was like listening to a story about my life ... I’m always sick. I always have a cough and body aches,” Castle said. She went to Fort McClellan after graduating high school in 1971. She was 19 at the time. Castle was there only six weeks, but she said she became ill quickly during her time there. She went to the base doctor after experiencing intense cramping, vomiting and diarrhea. At the time, the doctor diagnosed her with colitis. Castle said she had not spoken to her colleagues at Fort McClellan about her health issues because she was so shy. She still struggles with colitis and has also been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, a syndrome that causes long-term pain and tenderness that affects the entire body. She said she has taken daily doses of medication since 1994. Castle also suffered two miscarriages after leaving Fort McClellan. She now has three children ages 24, 34 and 36. Her oldest son was born with a
neurological disorder and was later diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome.
Cynthia Riley Cynthia Riley, 46, has not only noticed the effects of Fort McClellan on her own health but the health of her loved ones as well. Riley was already a veteran at the time of her stay at Fort McClellan. “The first year we lived in Anniston. The second year we lived on the post,” Riley said. The Laredo native, who grew up on Market Street, said she lived in Alabama from 1990 to 1992. Her ex-husband was stationed at the fort for a job with the Military Occupational Specialty unit. Riley said she went to Fort McClellan with a preexisting condition called Graves’ disease, a disorder that leads to an overactive thyroid. Upon leaving Fort McClellan, however, she said her hyperthyroid turned into hypothyroid. When her family moved to Germany in 1992 after leaving Fort McClellan, Riley gave birth to her first son, who was later diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. Her second son, born in 1999 in Texas, was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, Tourette’s syndrome and scoliosis. Her third son also has ADHD, and both younger sons have had heart murmurs. Multiple studies have been conducted on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and how its toxins have led to miscarriages and birth defects. Camp Lejeune’s toxins include TCE’s, which were also present at Fort McClellan. Riley’s ex-husband has seen his health decline since leaving Fort McClellan as well. “He’s doing terribly. He’s had quite a few surgeries,” Riley said.
He developed a brain tumor, which has been removed. However, he remains disabled, Riley said. He has additionally undergone nasal surgery due to respiratory issues. Riley is currently a member of Laredo Veterans Serving the Needy and the Cesar Chavez Memorial Alliance.
Annie Ruth Williams Annie Ruth Williams died last year after being diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease. She was 75. Laredo Morning Times spoke to Williams’ husband Harold Williams, 80, and daughter, Susan O’Marra, 56, who provided insight to her health issues. The Williams had been living in Zapata since 1993 after relocating from Washington. “She got tired of the rain, so we headed south,” Harold Williams said. Williams, also a veteran, served in the Army for 20 years, having served two tours in Korea and two tours in Germany. O’Marra said in her mother’s latter year, she had to have spinal surgery, gallbladder surgery and she had knee troubles. “She was getting to where she couldn’t use her muscles. She would just fall without warning,” O’Marra said. Williams was diagnosed in December 2013 with Lou Gehrig’s disease. “Within 30 days she was gone,” Harold Williams said. The couple had been married for 56 years. “It wasn’t good watching her. We didn’t know what she had,” O’Marra said. “No one in our family has had ALS. That’s why it was such a big shock.” According to the ALS Association website, research has been conducted that supports the idea that toxic exposure plays a role in the development of ALS.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2014
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors NFL: COWBOYS
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DALLAS COWBOYS
Witten’s leadership TE helping to mentor young team
Photo by Jae C. Hong | AP
Brandon Weeden played the entire first half for Dallas on Thursday and completed 13-of-17 passes for 107 yards and a touchdown in a 27-7 loss to the San Diego Chargers.
By SCHUYLER DIXON ASSOCIATED PRESS
OXNARD, Calif. — Jason Witten gets the same old questions at the start of training camp ever since offering his hauntingly prophetic line two years ago that it couldn’t be the “same old story” for the playoffstarved Dallas Cowboys. The nine-time Pro Bowl tight end’s phrase caught on because of his role as a leader and because it’s been the same ending three years running, with the Cowboys losing to an NFC East foe with a trip to the postseason on the line. Witten’s answers are just a little bit different this time, though. An increasingly younger roster has the franchise leader in catches more aware than ever of the weight of his words and actions. “The team’s gotten young in a hurry,” Witten said recently at training camp in California. “I don’t know that it changes other than leadership’s more vital now that it’s ever been. To be able to show those guys the way. It’s important. It’s a big part of this game.” Witten’s reasoning? The Cowboys aren’t adding young players in backup roles. Three offensive linemen — all firstround picks — will be 23 when the season starts. Others who haven’t reached their 25th birthday figure to be counted on throughout the much-maligned defense. Coach Jason Garrett figures those younger players are in good hands. “I’m not so sure I have ever been around a guy who is a better leader for this team than Witten is,” said Garrett, a backup quarterback on Dallas’ Super Bowl-winning teams in the 1990s. “You think about some of
Weeden hangs tough Cowboys backup QB has strong first half By BERNIE WILSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
File photo by LM Otero | AP
Dallas tight end Jason Witten is taking on an increased leadership role with the Cowboys as the team features a younger roster this season. the teams we had in the ’90s, there was leadership that was out there, outspoken, loud. And there was leadership that didn’t say a word. Leadership is about influencing a group of people that you’re close to. Witten has done that.” Witten was a bit miffed after a team run organized by him and quarterback Tony Romo the day before the Cowboys left for camp turned into an issue when Garrett said he had canceled a pre-camp conditioning test that most teams require.
NCAA FOOTBALL: TEXAS LONGHORNS
The question became whether the players were trying to defy their coach, and it didn’t help when offensive lineman Ron Leary came out of the run with a hamstring problem — just the kind of injury Garrett wanted to avoid by skipping the test. “We would never go against him,” Witten said. “It was always a group of guys with a shared commitment, goes a lot further than anything else, and that’s all it was. I thought it was really good on our end,
and I think it says a lot about our football team.” Witten also dictates the pace for the tight ends, as secondyear player Gavin Escobar noted by saying the offseason conditioning work “definitely kicked up a notch” when Witten was around. “Whatever he says goes,” Escobar said. “We weren’t going to talk back. We were just going to do it.” Witten has outlasted coach
SAN DIEGO — One of the best parts of the night for Brandon Weeden was suiting up in a Dallas Cowboys uniform for the exhibition opener against the San Diego Chargers. “When you put on that jersey and helmet it is a cool feeling,” said Weeden, who signed with Dallas as a free agent after two seasons in Cleveland. “I enjoyed it and definitely thought about it when I put it on.” Weeden had a nice debut, even though the Cowboys lost 27-7. With Tony Romo sitting out to rest his surgically repaired back, Weeden started and played the first half. He completed 13 of 17 passes for 107 yards and one touchdown. “It was fun to kind of get back into that groove. It’s nice to go up against another team,” he said. “Feels good to knock the rust off and get hit a little bit.” Weeden finished Dallas’ second drive by weathering a big
See COWBOYS PAGE 2B See WEEDEN PAGE 2B
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: HOUSTON TEXANS
McNair survives cancer ordeal By CHRIS DUNCAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Ricardo Brazziell | AP
Texas head coach Charlie Strong coaches at a morning practice on Aug. 4. Strong is challenging the seniors to take on a larger leadership role.
Strong seeking senior leadership By JIM VERTUNO ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN, Texas — New Texas coach Charlie Strong has already dismissed and suspended players, and moved his team and coaches into a dorm to live together during training camp. Now he says it’s time for the Longhorns seniors to take over the team if the program is going to experience the culture change everyone expects after four years without a Big 12 title.
“Our whole attitude has to change. We know that. This program will never change, the culture will never change, until the attitude of the players change,” Strong said Friday at Texas’ training camp media day. “Right now it’s coming from the coaches,” Strong said. “I told them yesterday the seniors have got to take over the leadership of this football team.”
See TEXAS PAGE 2B
HOUSTON — Houston Texans owner Bob McNair has received a clean bill of health after a 10month battle with two forms of cancer. The 77-year-old McNair opened up about his ordeal on Thursday at a news conference attended by family members and his treating physicians at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. “In the past, if you mentioned cancer, people thought it’s a death sentence,” McNair said. “That’s just not nearly the case.” McNair says he’s dealt with skin cancer for about 20 years. He traces the condition to his youth, when he incurred severe sunburns working as a life guard on a beach in the time before protective sunscreen. He’s been seeing a dermatologist regularly for two decades and says he’s had a handful of minor procedures to remove non-cancerous growths on his skin. About six years ago, McNair was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a form of the disease that originates in white blood cells in the bone marrow. Last fall, McNair noticed another tiny growth behind his left ear and visited his dermatolo-
File photo by Patric Schneider | AP
Houston Texans owner Bob McNair battled through a 10-month ordeal with cancer but recently received a clean bill of health. gist again. This time, the growth was cancerous — a squamous cell carcinoma. McNair underwent surgery on the left side of his head, but the cancer soon returned and in an aggressive form. Dr. Michael Keating, one of McNair’s doctors at M.D. Anderson and a CLL specialist, said the CLL helped the cancer’s progression by weakening McNair’s immune system. The Texans went 2-14 in 2013, prompting the firing of coach Gary Kubiak. McNair discovered the severity of his diagnos-
is about the time he hired Bill O’Brien in January. The doctors recommended radiation and chemotherapy and McNair endured 33 rounds of radiation over six weeks and chemotherapy for four. McNair underwent proton therapy, a cutting-edge form of radiation in which cancerous cells are directly targeted, reducing the impact on surrounding cells. Dr. David Rosenthal, a professor of radiation oncology at M.D. Anderson, said the FDA-approved therapy reduces the toxicity and other risks of radiation and is becoming a standard of care for children. “The good news is these things can be dealt with,” McNair said. With his immune system compromised more during treatments, McNair was told to avoid public contact. While undergoing treatments, McNair kept in frequent touch with the team by phone with general manager Rick Smith and his son, Cal, the team’s chief operating officer. McNair told his players about his situation before organized team activities in May. “He’s always about the team,” star receiver Andre Johnson said. “When he sat down and talked to us as a team, all he
See HOUSTON PAGE 2B
PAGE 2B
Zscores
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2014
Johnny Manziel making Browns debut in opener Cleveland’s rookie quarterback to see first action against the Lions By NOAH TRISTER
Photo by Tony Dejak | AP
ASSOCIATED PRESS
From left to right, Bryce Traylor and Corey Oswald wait in line to enter InfoCision Stadium for the LeBron James homecoming Friday in Akron, Ohio. James was being welcomed back Friday night.
DETROIT — This is no ordinary exhibition game. Johnny Manziel will have his first real chance to show how he measures up against live NFL competition when the Cleveland Browns play at Detroit on Saturday night. Although Manziel won’t be the starter for this game, what happens against the Lions could be an early indicator of how soon Cleveland will be able to rely on its rookie quarterback. Coach Mike Pettine hopes to have a starter selected before the third preseason game, meaning what Manziel and Brian Hoyer do in the first two will be crucial. “I think more weight will be put on those as I said before, because it’s live reps,” Pettine said. “The practice part will still be important, but I think it’s safe to say that.” Hoyer will start Saturday, and Manziel isn’t expected to play at all with the starters, but his every move will be scrutinized regardless. The Browns took the former Heisman Trophy winner in the first round of this year’s draft, hoping Manziel could help revive a franchise that has not appeared in a postseason game since 2003. “I have a long way to go,” Manziel said. “I have a lot to learn, a lot more to get comfortable with and I feel that I’m getting better. I definitely feel my comfort level out here on the field growing day by day and I think these coaches and the players that are around us are all helping me get better.” Pettine is also making his debut this weekend, and the first-year coach is faced with the task of managing Cleveland’s quarterback situation as best he can — with fans understandably eager to see Manziel
LeBron staying beyond contract By TOM WITHERS ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Mark Duncan | AP
Johnny Manziel is set to make his debut for the Cleveland Browns on Saturday when they open the preseason against the Detroit Lions. play. “I think we all see what Manziel can do,” Pettine said. “He can make plays with his feet, but I think he’s maybe better than we thought in the pocket as well.” Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon will likely be mixed in with the starters and backups against the Lions as he awaits word from the NFL on his appeal of a possible suspension for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. Receiver Nate Burleson — who played for Detroit the past four seasons before signing with Cleveland — has been dealing with a hamstring injury. The Lions have no real quarterback competition to speak of, but like Cleveland, they are welcoming a new coach. Jim Caldwell took over during the offseason after Jim Schwartz was fired. Caldwell’s task is to help Matthew Stafford become a more consistently reliable passer, and Stafford said Fri-
day he’s enjoyed a chance to sort of start over with the new staff. “I’m being coached differently. Our drops are different, our reads are different, the plays are totally different,” Stafford said. “It was kind of nice to just scrap everything and start new, the way they wanted me to do it.” Caldwell hasn’t said much about how he’ll divide playing time, so it’s not clear how much Stafford and Calvin Johnson will be on the field Saturday, but this should be at least a vague preview of what the new staff ’s offense will look like. “It’s preseason — we’re not going to go out there and unload the playbook,” Stafford said. “It’s going to be probably more multiple formations than I guess fans of the Lions are used to seeing. Maybe some more motions and shifts and things of that nature, but we’re still going to be an exciting offense.” NOTES: The Lions signed free agent S Nate Ness and released LB Cory Greenwood.
COWBOYS Continued from Page 1B Bill Parcells and flamboyant receiver Terrell Owens, and his leadership hit a new level this year in part because the Cowboys dumped franchise sacks leader DeMarcus Ware and former Pro Bowl receiver Miles Austin. The 32-year-old goes into his 12th season as the league’s active leader among tight ends in catches (879) and yards (9,799) with the retirement of Tony Gonzalez. Witten has missed one game in 11 years, most notably returning 23 days after rupturing his spleen in a preseason game so he could play in the opener against the New York Giants in 2012 — the “same old story” year. His signature moment came at Philadelphia in 2007, when Witten’s helmet was knocked off on a hit by a Philadelphia defensive back and he ran almost 30 yards without it before getting tackled.
“He’s a marvel,” owner Jerry Jones said. “And really, he’s special guy. He’s certainly in the top five player/person that on any level of the NFL that I’ve been associated with in my 25 years in the NFL. Period. Across the board.” Witten will always remember 2007 more as the best year the Cowboys have had in his career. They were 13-3 and seeded No. 1 in the NFC playoffs. But Dallas lost the first playoff game to the New York Giants, and has just one postseason win since Witten arrived — a stretch that actually goes back to 1997. “No one cares more about that more than Witten does,” Garrett said. “But there have been a lot of great players in this league and in other leagues who haven’t had Super Bowl championships or NBA championships or World Series champion-
ships.” Witten doesn’t figure to give up that pursuit anytime soon. For one thing, he’s signed through 2017. And for another, Gonzalez played 17 seasons before retiring at 37. Shannon Sharpe was 35 when he quit after 14 years. It shouldn’t take Witten long in 2014 to join those two as the only tight ends with at least 10,000 yards receiving. But he’s probably more focused on ending a four-year playoff drought that’s now just one season shy of the franchise record. “There’s no question there’s a lot of sleepless nights there, but really, nobody cares,” Witten said. “This is a tough league. Nobody cares about last year. You move on, so we’ve got to be better. I think we’ve got the right guys who will go do it, but it’s a long ways away.” Witten plans on showing them the way.
HOUSTON Continued from Page 1B could talk about is how much he loves football and it’s something that he loves being a part of and he wants to win.” McNair started feeling the effects of radiation and chemotherapy after four weeks. But McNair said he never really suffered severe symptoms, managing them with medication and the herb turmeric on the advice of former Texans trainer Roberta Anding. “I was fortunate because everybody said you’re really going to feel so bad from that,” McNair said. “That was not the case.” In April, a CT scan showed that the skin cancer was virtually gone. Another test on Monday showed similar results. He first publicly talked about his situation with the Houston Chronicle. “At this point in time, it’s history,” McNair said of the skin cancer. McNair said maintain-
WEEDEN Continued from Page 1B hit and completing a 4-yard scoring pass to James Hanna, who pulled it in while falling to the ground in the back of the end zone. Chargers defensive end Lawrence Guy injured a shoulder hitting Weeden. “I must be a lot bigger than I think,” Weeden said. “I had to keep it alive. They covered the flat with the first read and Hanna did a great job of stopping. I had to get out of the pocket because that protection is not going to hold up forever. There was a huge hole and I knew it was going to close up quick so I threw it as hard as I could and got off the ground. When you get off the ground that is when they have a chance to pile drive you and he got me pretty good. “It never hurts as bad when you complete them and it dang sure don’t hurt as bad when you get a touchdown,” he said. Kellen Clemens and Don-
AKRON, Ohio — LeBron James is home and he’s not leaving again. The NBA superstar said he intends to play the rest of his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team he returned to last month after four seasons in Miami. When he re-signed with the Cavs to a two-year, $41 million contract that included an option after one year, there was speculation he would one day test free agency again. The contract made Cleveland fans nervous, but they can now relax. “I don’t plan on going nowhere,” James said. “I don’t have the energy to do it again.” James, who returned to Northeast Ohio after winning two NBA titles, was welcomed back with a homecoming event fit for a King. Nearly 25,000 people, some of whom waited in line for six hours and many of them wearing James jerseys, were on
trelle Inman had impressive debuts with the Chargers. Clemens, the new backup quarterback, threw a 70-yard touchdown pass to Inman in the third quarter. Inman, who played in the CFL the last two seasons, beat single coverage down the right sideline and was gone to give San Diego a 17-7 lead. Clemens signed as a free agent in March to serve as backup to Philip Rivers after Charlie Whitehurst left for Tennessee. Clemens spent the last two seasons with the St. Louis Rams as a backup to starter Sam Bradford. He started the last nine games after Bradford went down with a knee injury. After Inman scored, the Chargers got the ball right back on a strip sack by Thomas Keiser and recovery by Damik Scafre. Kerwynn Williams scored on a 1-yard run two plays later to make it 24-7. “At times we did OK, but in
hand in InfoCision Stadium on the University of Akron campus, not far from where the 29-year-old bounced his first basketball. James was back and the city that helped raise him welcomed him with open arms. The welcome-home party coincided with James’ annual “I Promise” campaign for area children sponsored by his family foundation. “It’s pretty amazing,” said James, who was joined at his news conference by several kids. “I’m not gonna sit up here and say it’s not. To know you can inspire so many people from the youth to I heard I got a grandma’s club with 200-plus members. To know you can do things for people, give them hope, give them inspiration. It means a lot to me. I understand I’m a role model. I understand to these kids I’m more than a role model. I’m a superhero to them. I’m a father to them. I’m a brother to them, whatever the case they want me to be on that particular day.”
general, I thought San Diego was able to move the ball too easily on us,” coach Jason Garrett said. “We did a good job a couple of times down in the red zone, creating that turnover with the ones that forced the touchback that was positive. “They ran the ball on us and threw on us effectively. For the most part we didn’t.” Rivers played just the opening series, completing all four passes for 61 yards. That drive ended when Ryan Mathews, who has a history of fumbling, lost the ball as he tried to go over the pile and into the end zone. Dallas’ Terrance Mitchell recovered in the end zone for a touchback. Caleb Hanie took over for Weeden on the Cowboys’ first drive of the second half. Undrafted rookie Branden Oliver scored on a 16-yard run for San Diego in the second quarter.
ing a positive outlook was a factor in his recovery. A billionaire who made his fortune in the energy business, McNair pointed out that his treatment has been covered by regular health insurance and available to most cancer patients. “I think, with some people, it (cancer) frightens them and they don’t seek treatment,” McNair said. “The message is, there is treatment. We’ve got great facilities here (in Houston), we have people who will take care of you and deal with these illnesses with great success.” McNair has relayed that message to David Quessenberry, an offensive lineman diagnosed with lymphoma in June. The team has launched a T-shirt campaign in an effort to raise $100,000 for the Lymphoma Research Foundation. While his skin cancer is
in remission, McNair is not cancer-free. The CLL remains, although he said his white-blood cell count is near normal range. But McNair is easily optimistic, pointing out that his father lived to be 102. But now, he’s forced to take a lesser role in the football operation, turning over more responsibility to Cal. “We’re in terrific shape,” McNair said. “I’ll continue being the CEO and continue doing everything I can to put together a winning football team, that’s what we’re all about. We’ve won this other battle and now we’ve got to win the battle of football. “I go to all the games and I’ll plan on continuing doing that,” McNair said. “I think I will enjoy it more and leave it to other people in the organization to worry more. I’ll skip the worrying and take the enjoyment.”
TEXAS Continued from Page 1B Strong noted that Texas’ senior class has never won more than nine games in a season. Since playing for the 2009 season national championship, the Longhorns are just 18-17 in the Big 12. “The culture we stepped into is you look at a team, a group of seniors that hasn’t had a double-digit winning season since they’ve been here,” Strong said. “You can’t feel entitled because you’re at the University of Texas, that ‘I have arrived.’ At no point have we arrived. No one is ever going to give you anything.. The absence of championship trophies has been deep disappointment for players like senior linebacker Jordan Hicks, a touted recruit from Cincinnati who has hardly played the last two seasons because of injuries. “We just saw a great senior class leave and not one of the get drafted,” Hicks said. “That should never happen ... We haven’t lived up to the potential that we should. This is our last go around and we’re trying to change that.”
Strong created a buzz around Texas with the dismissal of four players last month and the suspension of three potential starters for at least one game. To foster team building, he moved everyone, coaches included, into a campus dorm to live together in training camp. “There is no suite over there. Our room is just the same as the players. There are two beds and the bathroom is down the hall. It’s good. Our coaches, we need that,” Strong said. The environment has created close quarters but few laughs among the staff and players who say they are too tired after a long day of practices, team meetings and film study for much interaction. “It’s not like it’s a pingpong party on the ninth floor,” quarterback David Ash said. “We’re serious about where we’re trying to take this program,” sophomore offensive lineman Kent Perkins said. “It’s really strict.” Texas opens the season at home Aug. 30 against North Texas.
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CAT’S CLAWS Dear Heloise: My kitty uses her cat tower and assorted claw mats, but she also likes to claw my rugs. I’m ready to replace a large area rug, and wonder what type of fabric and type of loop would best stand up. I try to keep her claws trimmed, but I refuse to have her declawed. Any words of advice? — A Reader, via email Meow! I don’t know if there is fabric or loop that can survive a cat’s claws. Loop type most probably is worse — the cat has something to pull on! You can try the nail caps they have for cats. They are glued on, like a fake nail. Your cat can keep her nails, and it would save your rugs. Call your veterinarian to see if he or she provides this service. Hope this helps! — Heloise PET PAL Dear Readers: Donna Donckers of Auburn, N.H.,
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sent in a photo of her cat, Zoey, lying in a salad bowl. Donna said one day she was getting ready for work and found Zoey on the counter in the bowl, with the cover on top of her. She doesn’t know how she managed to do it! To see Zoey’s photo, go to my website, www.Heloise.com, and click on "Pets." — Heloise HIGH-RISE BIRDBATH Dear Heloise: Here’s an idea for your readers with chimineas. (Heloise here: A chiminea is a free-standing, front-loading ceramic fireplace.) Place a flowerpot saucer on top of your chiminea (when not in use) and fill it with water. Voila! A high-rise birdbath for your backyard birds, who will appreciate relief from the heat. — Denise R. in San Antonio PANCAKE SHAPES Dear Heloise: I love making pancakes for my kids, and to jazz things up, I make different shapes of pancakes. Sometimes I use a cookie cutter to cut out a shape after the pancake is done. I make flowers and even the state of Texas! — Janice in Texas
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SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2014