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FEDERAL GRAND JURY
TEXAS GOV. RICK PERRY
Indictment filed
Perry: State won’t pay lawyers
Woman charged for moving illegal immigrants By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
A federal grand jury in Laredo formally charged a woman last week for moving illegal immigrants for money, according to court records obtained Monday. U.S. Border Patrol detained Claudia Castillo, 25, on July 23 as she attempted to go through a federal checkpoint in Zapata with eight illegal immigrants, according to court records. An indictment filed
Aug. 19 against Castillo charged her with one count of conspiracy to transport undocumented people within the United Status and two counts of transport and attempt to transport undocumented people for financial gain. Castillo is pending arraignment. She is facing up to 10 years in federal prison per count, according to the indictment. On July 23, a 2009 Chevrolet Traverse operated by Castillo approached the Border Patrol checkpoint
on U.S. 83 near Zapata. Asked for citizenship, Castillo and her front passenger both ascertained they were U.S. citizens. Agents then observed an additional eight passengers inside the vehicle who also tried to ascertain their citizenship. All eight individuals kept silent and had a “confuse stare” when asked where their citizenship was from, records show. In secondary inspection, all eight individuals stated they were Mexicans
with no legal right to be in the United States, the criminal complaint states. Homeland Security Investigations special agents read Castillo her Miranda warnings, which she allegedly waived. Castillo said a friend had called her and asked if she would transport illegal immigrants. Castillo expected a payment of $200 per immigrant, according to court records. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE
HEATING TREND
Photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP
Texas State Park police officer Thomas Bigham walks across the cracked lake bed of O.C. Fisher Lake in San Angelo, Texas, on Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011. Global warming is here, human-caused and probably already dangerous, a draft of a new international science report says.
Panel: Global warming human-caused By SETH BORENSTEIN ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Global warming is here, human-caused and probably already dangerous — and it’s increasingly likely that the heating trend could be irreversible, a draft of a new internation-
al science report says. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on Monday sent governments a final draft of its synthesis report, which combines three earlier, gigantic documents by the Nobel Prize-winning group. There is little in the re-
port that wasn’t in the other more-detailed versions, but the language is more stark and the report attempts to connect the different scientific disciplines studying problems caused by the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas. The 127-page draft, ob-
tained by The Associated Press, paints a harsh warning of what’s causing global warming and what it will do to humans and the environment. It also describes what can be done about it. “Continued emission of
See GLOBAL WARMING PAGE 12A
Facing felony charges, gov will use campaign funds to cover legal tab By BETSY BLANEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIDLAND, Texas — Indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday that he believes taxpayers should have picked up his legal tab but opted to use campaign funds “to keep from having folks grouse about it.” The possible 2016 Republican presidential candidate told reporters in Midland that he had considered it appropriate for state funds to pay his legal fees because a criminal investigation dealt with his official duties as governor. Perry has pleaded not guilty to two felony charges of abuse of power. At least $80,000 in taxpayer dollars have been spent on his defense so far. Perry said Tuesday that he hadn’t yet decided if that money would also come from his campaign funds. Following questions over who would pay for a new team of high-powered attorneys, Perry announced last week that campaign funds would start footing the bill. In a 60-page motion filed Monday, Perry’s highpowered defense team argued that the law being used to prosecute the longest-serving governor in Texas history is unconstitutionally vague. He is charged with abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant, both felonies. If convicted, Perry could face up to 109 years in prison. “It’s in the hands of the lawyers now and the process of the state of Texas, which I have great faith will find that we acted properly and correctly,” Perry told reporters after a groundbreaking event for a new office for Occidental Petroleum. Standing next to Perry at one point and scoffing at the idea that the governor got carried away with power was former Repub-
PERRY
lican Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick — who was ousted from the powerful job in 2009 following a dramatic, bipartisan mutiny in which Craddick refused to relinquish control of the gavel in an hourslong standoff on the House floor. At one point during the rebellion, Craddick’s parliamentarians abruptly resigned. “I don’t know all the facts of the thing, but I just think when you indict a governor over something like this, it’s going to interfere with future government,” Craddick said about Perry’s legal case. “I think the indictment is ridiculous.” Despite being indicted, Perry is seriously considering a 2016 White House run. A call and text message to spokeswoman Lucy Nashed about what complaints, if any, may have been made regarding taxpayers funding his defense were not immediately returned. During Tuesday’s event, Perry wore the same glasses he’s worn for about a year as part of his effort to rehabilitate his image following a disastrous 2012 presidential bid. Afterward, he showed them to The Associated Press. The glasses, meant to soften his cowboy image for one that’s more humble, are Inspiration by designer Jean Lafont. His wife picked them out. Internet searches indicate that the frames alone retail for $516.
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
Mexican President Peña Nieto faces protest By FENIT NIRAPPIL ASSOCIATED PRESS
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto met Tuesday with lawmakers and swapped praise with Gov. Jerry Brown, but not all legislators rolled out the welcome mat at a luncheon held on the final day of his visit to California. About 150 people, many waving American flags or holding signs, rallied across the street from the historic Stanford Mansion to call for the release of a Marine who is being detained in Mexico. At least three Republican lawmakers rejected the lunch invitation from Brown as a way to protest Mexico’s incarceration of
About 150 people rallied to call for the release of a Marine who is being detained in Mexico. Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, who has been held since April after crossing the border with weapons. A total of 19 Assembly Republicans who planned to attend the lunch signed a letter to Peña Nieto demanding the release of the Marine. “It’s so nice to have teamwork for a change,” said state Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, a former gubernatorial candidate. Donnelly was the only lawmaker to join the protesters on the street.
“The president is here and the governor could just say, ‘Could you do me a favor?’ But he refuses to,” said protester Edward Doolin of Vacaville. While the demonstrators were kept across the street from the mansion, their chants of “Free our Marine” could be heard at the outdoor wine-and-appetizers reception that was being held for Peña Nieto. The governor, president and lawmakers then dined under an outdoor tent on smoked chicken, locally grown tomatoes and squash, and wine
from Napa Valley vineyards. Brown and Peña Nieto gave celebratory remarks to reporters and attendees before the lunch but did not take questions. They generally repeated comments they made the day before in Los Angeles. Brown said California and Mexico hold the promise of a “brighter future” while Peña Nieto praised the Democratic governor for his policies toward immigrants “whether or not they have legal status.” Neither spoke about the pro-
testers or addressed the Tahmooressi case. Some Republican lawmakers, however, were critical of their colleagues protesting the visit of the Mexican president. State Assemblyman Rocky Chavez, a Republican from Oceanside and a former Marine, said it did not help the process of trying to get Tahmooressi, an Afghanistan war veteran, back to the U.S. “This is simply not the time to play politics when the well-being of this veteran’s life hangs in the balance,” Chavez said in a statement. He said members of Congress were working behind the scenes to resolve the matter.
See PROTEST PAGE 12A
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2014
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
Wednesday, Aug. 27
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Meeting for Behind the Camo, all female veterans group. 6 p.m. Laredo Community College, Memorial Hall.
Today is Wednesday, August 27, the 239th day of 2014. There are 126 days left in the year. Today’s Highlights in History: On August 27, 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson accepted his party’s nomination for a term in his own right, telling the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, “Let us join together in giving every American the fullest life which he can hope for.” The Walt Disney movie musical fantasy “Mary Poppins,” starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, premiered at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Comedian Gracie Allen, the wife of George Burns, died in Los Angeles. On this date: In 1776, the Battle of Long Island began during the Revolutionary War as British troops attacked American forces, who ended up being forced to retreat two days later. In 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa erupted with a series of cataclysmic explosions; the resulting tidal waves in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait claimed some 36,000 lives in Java and Sumatra. In 1928, the Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed in Paris, outlawing war and providing for the peaceful settlement of disputes. In 1939, the first turbojetpowered aircraft, the Heinkel He 178, went on its first fullfledged test flight over Germany. In 1957, the USS Swordfish, the second Skate Class nuclear submarine, was launched from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine. In 1962, the United States launched the Mariner 2 space probe, which flew past Venus in December 1962. In 1967, Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles, was found dead in his London flat from an overdose of sleeping pills; he was 32. In 2008, Barack Obama was nominated for president by the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Ten years ago: President George W. Bush signed executive orders designed to strengthen the CIA director’s power over the nation’s intelligence agencies and create a national counterterrorism center. Five years ago: Mourners filed past the closed casket of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. One year ago: Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who’d fatally shot 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, rested his case without presenting any evidence during his trial’s penalty phase. (Hasan ended up being sentenced to death.) Today’s Birthdays: Author Dame Antonia Fraser is 82. Actor Tommy Sands is 77. Bluegrass singer-musician J.D. Crowe is 77. Musician Daryl Dragon is 72. Actress Tuesday Weld is 71. Actor G.W. Bailey is 70. Rock singer-musician Tim Bogert is 70. Actress Marianne Sagebrecht is 69. Country musician Jeff Cook is 65. Actor Paul Reubens is 62. Rock musician Alex Lifeson (Rush) is 61. Actor Peter Stormare is 61. Actress Diana Scarwid is 59. Rock musician Glen Matlock (The Sex Pistols) is 58. Thought for Today: “Reality can destroy the dream; why shouldn’t the dream destroy reality?” — G.E. Moore, British philosopher (1873-1958).
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. Spanish Book Club meeting. 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Laredo Public Library, 1120 E. Calton Road. For information call Sylvia Reash at 763-1810.
Friday Aug. 29 Martin High School 50th Anniversary Reunion meet and greet. 7 p.m. to 12 p.m. L & F Distributors, LLC (Budweiser) 410 Crossroad St. For more information, please call Norma Meijia Garcia at 723-1646.
Saturday, Aug. 30 Martin High School 50th Anniversary Reunion dinner and dance. La Posada, St. Austine ball room 7-12pm. $100.00 per couple for both events. For more information please Norma Meijia Garcia at 723-1646. Discover how Past Lives, Dreams, and Soul Travel can help you find God. From 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Laredo Public Library, 1120 E. Carlton. Contact Greg Pape / Aurora Gonzales at greg2u4@sbcglobal.net or www.Eckankar-Texas.org or call (210) 831-7113. Free Bilingual Discussion with booklet included.
Tuesday, Sept. 2 Alzheimer’s support group meeting. 7 p.m. Meeting room 2, building B of the Laredo Medical Center. The support group is for family members and caregivers taking care of someone who has Alzheimer’s. For more information call 956-693-9991.
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 Women in Leadership. Positive role models event. 12 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Palenque Grill. Contact Abby Willett or Sylvia Praesel for more information at wwconnection.org.
Wednesday, Sept. 10 21st annual Logistics & Manufacturing Symposium. Texas A&M International University. For more information contact the Laredo Development Foundation at 800-820-0564, 7220563 or ldfinfo@ldfonline.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.
Photo by Betsy Blaney/file | AP
Bison, that are the original descendants of a herd started by Charles Goodnight, the celebrated Panhandle rancher in the late 1800s, are shown at the Caprock Canyons State Park, Texas, on Jan. 27, 2005. The park opened up 10,000 acres to the approximately 100 members of the Official Texas State Bison Herd on Tuesday, Aug. 19.
Herd has more room ASSOCIATED PRESS
AMARILLO — The state’s historic bison herd just got more room to roam in a West Texas park. About 100 bison descended from the Southern Plains herd now have access to 10,000 acres in Caprock Canyons State Park. Park staff last week opened the acres up to the animals that are members of the Official Texas State Bison Herd. The expansion is a big step in a program that started widening the animals’ access starting in 2010. The herd is now wandering on prairie its ancestors used before hunting nearly wiped them out. In 2003, media tycoon Ted Turner donated three bulls to help the herd, which had gone through more than a century of inbreeding
Bridges on $1.4B North 1 dead in highway gunfire Texas toll road need repair with sheriff’s deputies FORT WORTH — Officials in North Texas will have to repair faulty bridge beams on the new $1.4 billion Chisholm Trail Parkway after an inspection found design flaws. The beams were determined to be too weak for the bridges, which had not yet been opened.
Fort Worth crew to fly Ebola supplies to Liberia FORT WORTH — A crew of six people is headed from Fort Worth to Liberia to deliver medical supplies for workers fighting the Ebola outbreak there. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that the crew plans to leave the city’s Alliance Airport Tuesday and stop in New York to pick up more supplies on its way to Monrovia. The plane will be carrying rubber gloves, goggles and other supplies in critical demand.
Saturday, Sept. 13 21st annual Logistics & Manufacturing Symposium. Texas A&M International University. For more information contact the Laredo Development Foundation at 800-820-0564, 7220563 or ldfinfo@ldfonline.org. 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.
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.
(Submit calendar items at lmtonline.com/calendar/submit or by emailing editorial@lmtonline.com with the event’s name, date and time, location and purpose and contact information for a representative. Items will run as space is available.)
that threatened its survival. At the time, the herd had dwindled to 53. The bison had to be coaxed onto their expanded range by feed trucks, park superintendent Donald Beard told the Amarillo Globe-News (http://bit.ly/1nncTgR ). “And when they saw the bison metal cutouts, they took off running to them,” he said of an art installation in the park. “When they figured out they weren’t really bison, they moved on.” The animals eventually settled into an area of about 200 acres. “They’ve been there for three days,” Beard said. “I was told that’s what they’d do.” The Texas herd was started in the 1870s with five bison calves captured by Charles Goodnight, one of the most prosperous cattlemen in the American West.
WACO — Authorities say one person has died during an exchange of gunfire with sheriff ’s deputies north of Waco on U.S. Business 77. McLennan County Chief Deputy Sheriff Matt Cawthon tells the Waco Herald-Tribune that deputies on Saturday were trying to pull over a vehicle for a suspected traffic violation. When the driver did eventually pull over, there was an exchange of gunfire.
LBJ library to celebrate his birthday this week AUSTIN — The Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin will mark the late leader’s birthday today with cake and cupcakes. Today marks what would have been Johnson’s 106th birthday. Johnson, the 36th president of the United States, was born on Aug. 27, 1908, in Central Texas.
Trooper: Weather causes Texas semitrailer wrecks GOODNIGHT — Texas authorities say strong winds in the Texas Panhandle have caused the rollovers of two highway semitrailers. A Department of Public Safety spokesman tells the Amarillo Globe-News that two people were injured in a wreck Sunday afternoon near Goodnight. Another semitrailer crashed near Claude.
Sheriff: Man left ‘selfie’ at site of pot farm SUGAR LAND — Authorities are searching for a man who left a selfie on a cell phone abandoned at a marijuana farm. The Houston Chronicle reports that Fort Bend County sheriff ’s deputies are searching for Benigno Ramirez of Michoacan, Mexico. Authorities say they believe Ramirez had a key role in the farm. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION Police: Baby left in trash fighting for her life KEARNS, Utah — A newborn baby was in extremely critical condition Tuesday after her 24year-old mother left her in a neighbor’s trash can in Utah, a state that allows mothers to drop off newborns at hospitals without consequences, police and health officials said. A woman heard what she thought was a kitten meowing in the trash bin in the Salt Lake City suburb of Kearns on Tuesday morning and found the baby, Unified Police Detective Jared Richardson said. Richardson says the girl was airlifted to a hospital in Salt Lake City, where she’s now on a ventilator and fighting for her life. Her mother, who was being questioned by police, later returned and told officers she had left the baby about an hour before the child was found.
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 Rick Bowmer | AP
A unidentified woman is escorted from a home by a police officer after a baby was found in a garbage can in Kearns, Utah on Tuesday. Police say the newborn is in extremely critical condition he was left in a trash can near his mother’s home. Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder, who oversees the Unified Police Department, said authorities believe the baby girl was born Sunday. Winder said at a news conference that investigators did not have any information about
where the mother gave birth or why she may have left the baby in the trash can. Police would decide whether to arrest the mother after interviewing her, Winder said. — Compiled from AP reports
SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted. The Zapata Times is free. The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500. The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail thezapatatimes.net
State
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
24 year old charged in police chief’s slaying By BETSY BLANEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
LUBBOCK — A 24-year-old Texas man has been charged in the shooting death of a smalltown police chief, a sheriff ’s spokeswoman said Sunday. Joshua Manuel Lopez faces a charge of capital murder of a police officer in the killing of Elmendorf Police Chief Michael Pimentel, said Bexar County Sheriff ’s Office spokeswoman Rosanne Hughes. Pimentel was shot in the shoulder and abdomen while making a stop Saturday to serve an active misdemeanor warrant
for graffiti. He was flown to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Investigators are looking into Lopez’s background, LOPEZ Hughes said. Bexar County Sheriff Susan Pamerleau said Saturday that Lopez had “some kind of history” with the Elmendorf Police Department but she didn’t know its nature. “We’re still investigating the circumstances to determine what was the individual’s state of mind, what else was going on,” she said. “Those kinds of
things certainly will come out in our investigation.” Lopez, who was charged Saturday night, remained in the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on a $1 million bond Sunday. Information about whether he has an attorney was unavailable, and attempts to reach relatives were unsuccessful. Pamerleau said Pimentel had called another officer to “come provide cover” before he approached Lopez. But, she said, the shooting had occurred by the time the officer arrived. Lopez was taken into custody without incident, Pamerleau said.
Cost of attack ads Democratic gubernatorial nominee Wendy Davis spends $4 million to attack Republican opponent on television ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — Democratic gubernatorial nominee Wendy Davis, lagging behind in both polling and campaign finances, spent about $4 million in August to attack Republican opponent Greg Abbott on television. The San Antonio Express News reported Monday that it reviewed the documents and interviewed industry experts to compile the figure. Davis is at a roughly threeto-one cash disadvantage and is trailing anywhere from eight to 16 points in the polls, with a little more than two months to go before Texans select a new governor. The expenditure amounts to more than 30 percent of the campaign’s total cash on hand as of last month. It has aired a particular attack ad at least 5,000 times statewide. The Davis campaign has been spending
at a pace of about $1 million a week on TV ads between Aug. 8 and Labor Day. DAVIS The advertisements range from attacking Abbot for not siding with a rape victim while serving as a judge in the 1990s to slamming him for his role as a watchdog on a state cancer research fund. Abbott’s campaign spent more than $2.1 million during a two-week stretch in August for more than 2,200 spots. The advertisements feature Abbott’s mother-inlaw talking fondly about him. Davis spokesman Zac Petkanas said the campaign is going negative early because Texans want a governor who “will fight for them.” “This is something that is critical for voters
to understand as they make their choice about who should represent them in the Governor’s Mansion next year,” Petkanas said. The Abbott campaign has denounced the television ads as a desperate tactic from a political opponent behind in the polls. “Indicative of a candidate with no plan or vision for Texas, Sen. Davis’ attacks have repeatedly failed to reach the end zone, and her latest ads continue to fumble the facts,” said Abbott spokesman Matt Hirsch. Brandon Rottinghaus, an associate professor of political science at the University of Houston who specializes in media and public opinion, said Davis is running out of time. “This shows energy,” he said. “They’re not going to just allow the Republican machine in Texas to run them over.”
The 60-year-old Pimentel had been chief of Elmendorf for about 18 months, she said. The town has around 1,500 residents and is about 25 miles southeast of San Antonio. A neighbor told the San Antonio Express-News that Lopez is a quiet loner who often dressed in black trench coats, even in the summer. “He’s so quiet that I was surprised to know it was him,” said Maria Rios, who added that she baby-sat Lopez when he was a child. Elmendorf Mayor Evelyn Lykins said she thinks residents are “going to have a hard week”
coping with the shooting. “Today it’s really sinking in,” she said Sunday. Pimentel is the fifth law enforcement officer to die in Texas this year, said Steve McCraw, head of the Texas Department of Public Safety. Three of the five were killed by gunfire. Last year, 13 officers died in the line of duty in the state. Pamerleau said Pimentel’s death “reinforces that the dangers that our law enforcement officers face every day, here in a quiet, peaceful neighborhood of a small town in South Texas, in an instant could turn into tragedy, as it did.”
State shuts down Austin charter school Judge upholds state’s decision to revoke charter of American YouthWorks because it failed to meet standards ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — The state has closed an Austin charter school that worked with students who dropped out of high school or were risk for doing so. A judge with the State Office of Administrative Hearings on Friday upheld the state’s decision to revoke the charter of American YouthWorks because it failed to meet standards, the Austin AmericanStatesman reported. The school will no longer be accredited nor receive state funding. The Texas Education Agency took action against American YouthWorks late last year under the state’s new “three strikes and you’re out” rule. Senate Bill 2, which went into effect in September, requires the state to pull a school’s charter if it fails to meet fi-
nancial or academic standards three years in a row. American YouthWorks is the third school to lose its appeal with the state hearing office, the others being Honors Academy in Dallas and Azleway Charter School in Tyler. American YouthWorks failed to meet academic and financial standards in 2010-11 and financial standards in the two following school years. The school has been faulted for not having its money in the right type of bank account, having poor academic performance for a year and submitting a paper copy of a state-required audit two days late, among other issues. American YouthWorks officials have pointed out that all their strikes happened before the law passed, and that this year the school met academic
and financial standards. Parc Smith, chief executive officer for American YouthWorks, called the ruling “a travesty.” Attorneys for American YouthWorks have said that they will try to have the case reheard in Travis County district court. State officials have said the law is clear and they had no choice but to close the school. Paul Keeper, a judge with the state hearing office, said in his ruling Friday that the education agency was not unreasonable nor did it make a mistake in revoking the school’s charter. The education agency said it was just following the law. “We always hope each new charter school will be successful,” education agency spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliffe said.
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2014
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COMMENTARY
OTHER VIEWS
I was on the front lines By ROBERT BRUCE WARE SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON POST
Night had just fallen in Ferguson, Missouri, as I watched a standoff from on the town’s main thoroughfare. Approximately 150 protestors stood on West Florissant Avenue, their hands held up to symbolize nonviolent compliance. A hundred yards south, the six-lane avenue was blocked by a line of police vehicles, including armored SWAT carriers. The officers held assault rifles, wielded riot gear, and — absurdly in a suburban setting — wore full camouflage. The scene was surreal and terrifying. I had gone up to Ferguson from my home nearby in St. Louis County to witness the clashes that had erupted after a white police officer killed an unarmed black teenager a week earlier. As a university researcher, I’ve traveled to study the brutality and violence in Russia’s North Caucasus, and I was stuck by the irony of driving along a familiar road to observe the chaos only a few miles away. In Ferguson on Aug. 17, I didn’t see authorities make efforts to restore calm. Instead, they made aggressive attempts to intimidate and draw battle lines. The two sides were unevenly matched — one was dressed for peace; the other was clearly prepared for war. Ferguson has shown us how militarization of local law enforcement does more to stir chaos than to bring order. Before the standoff, the protesters had been marching peacefully. A local church group walked behind them, singing hymns and handing out flyers that quoted the Bible on justice and mercy. Near the burnt-out QuikTrip, now an icon of the Ferguson protests, adults and children stood along the sidewalk watching the demonstration. An old woman in a wheelchair rolled slowly by. The march passed several county police who paid little attention to the nonviolent protest. But soon, I saw dozens of people streaming back northward. Some were crying. Several said police were firing tear gas and rubber bullets further down the street. Two protesters passed around white fabric facial-filtration masks. I moved to the frontline of the protest, which now faced the array of military-styled police vehicles. Over a loudspeaker, an officer ordered the crowd to “leave the area.” The people near me began backing away, but almost immediately, police launched tear gas canisters towards us. A flashbang grenade flew past my head and detonated just in front of me, interrupting my retreat. The line of police vehicles began rolling towards us and more gas was fired into the retreating crowd. Chaos ensued. I started running to escape the sounds of shooting behind me. A protester with a loudspeaker told us to move to a nearby park, and several young people wearing shirts that said “PEACEKEEPERS” ran across the street shouting unintelligible instructions. Lost in the terrified crowd, they seemed to go unnoticed. As I retreated northward, back up Florissant Avenue, I saw chaos and
looting in those blocks that had been quiet and calm only half an hour earlier. Struggling to stay ahead of the police advance, I was rescued by a family with three children fleeing in their SUV. We were in the last car rolling through the tear gas ahead of the police. When we reached the municipal line where Florissant Avenue crosses into the city of Dellwood, the scene suddenly changed. I saw four St. Louis County Police cruisers, several county officers (in ordinary uniforms, instead of military fatigues), and dozens of protesters calmly standing side by side, watching the chaos down the street in Ferguson. No one there understood why the police attacked. Before then, police hadn’t discouraged protesters from walking down Florissant Avenue. The midnight curfew was hours away. Prior to the police attack, neither I, nor anyone with whom I spoke, had seen any violation of the law. The only violence I witnessed resulted from a disproportionate and relentless assault by an unnecessarily militarized police force. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the federal government has spent billions of dollars on military equipment for state and local police. In addition to Defense Department giveaways, the State Homeland Security Program — which provides funding to states for planning and training to respond to terrorism and other threats — has budgeted about $4 million for Missouri and a separate $3 million specifically for the St. Louis area. The federal Urban Areas Security Initiative, which provides funding to metro areas for the same purpose, distributed $81 million to the St. Louis area from 2003 to 2012. And it’s not just Missouri. Since 1997, the Defense Department has given more than $4.3 billion in military equipment to local law enforcement agencies — nearly a half-billion worth last year alone. Counties across America — from Maricopa, Ariz. to Richland, S.C. — now possess tanks with 360-degree rotating machine gun turrets. Their .50-caliber bullets can penetrate buildings several city blocks away. Richland County’s sheriff dubbed his tank “The Peacemaker.” On Saturday, President Barack Obama rightly ordered a review of the federal programs that give local police departments easy access to this kind of military equipment. This is a good first step. Law enforcement officials may mistake their battlefield pose for community protection, but to Ferguson residents, military hardware on neighborhood streets signaled a sharp escalation of violence. Peaceful residents resented being treated indiscriminately as threats in their own neighborhoods. Wielding weapons typically used for occupation and oppression — not protection — served only to inflame the crowds. As we rushed away from the police line that Sunday night, a black man succinctly explained to me the problem that America faces: “It’s not a racial thing,” he said, “It’s a police thing. It’s America against the police.”
COLUMN
Could Disney drones make us spend more at parks? Disney’s Florida theme-park guests were introduced to ‘Magic Bands,’ wristbands that have multiple uses. Now guests might be introduced to drones. By FRANK CERABINO COX NEWSPAPERS
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — I’m trying to imagine the future of drones flying over Disney World. I didn’t say anything months ago when Disney’s Florida theme-park guests were introduced to “MagicBands,” those wristbands that serve as a hotel room key, park admission ticket, FastPass, credit card, and homing device. The idea of Disney guests providing fingerprints and wearing radiofrequency-emitting wristbands that allow their movements and purchasing history at the parks to be collected and tracked didn’t seem so sinister at the time. It sounded mostly like clever marketing, another way for Disney to gather information on customers who could then be contacted at the park for purchase suggestions or for a visit from one of the Disney characters who magically knows through your information trail that today is your child’s birthday. A little more cool than
creepy. But now with the drones, well, I’m leaning to creepy. Disney has applied for three patents involving the use of drones at its Florida parks, according to The Wall Street Journal.
er drones. The Disney application has also suggested that drone-based aerial entertainment might eventually replace fireworks in the park. Once again, this sounds more cool than creepy.
which has plenty to gain from keeping close tabs on our purchasing history and movements. Wearing wristbands with radio transmitters makes people not much different from the Florida panthers we track in the Everglades.
Disney has applied for three patents involving the use of drones at its Florida parks, according to The Wall Street Journal. Disney’s plans envision using drones strictly for aerial entertainment. Disney’s plans envision using drones strictly for aerial entertainment. In one plan, small unmanned aerial vehicles would be used to make gigantic puppets, flying characters of fabric mounted with rods, to soar over the park. Who knows? Maybe one day there will be a character parade above, not on, Main Street. In another plan, the drones would carry lighting assemblies that would create a kind of floating pixel screen in the sky when combined with oth-
But when you have drones at your command, wouldn’t the next step be to link them with the MagicBands for pinpoint surveillance and targeted payload delivery? I’ve got a hunch that Disney is pioneering what may end up becoming the way business is routinely conducted everywhere in the near future. When we think of Big Brother, it’s fears of an all-seeing, all-knowing big government intruding on our lives. But the real threat may actually be from Big Commerce,
And if drones can fly lighted displays across the sky, they can also hover a few feet overhead and remind me, “You haven’t eaten in four hours, Frank. It’s time for a giant turkey leg!” In a cashless world, where just a movement of a wrist band toward a sensor is all it takes for a completed purchase, it will never be easier to fall prey to the siren call of consumerism. Frank Cerabino writes for The Palm Beach Post. E-mail: frank(underscore) cerabino(at)pbpost.com.
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
National
6A THE ZAPATA TIMES
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2014
Can Ferguson change ‘ritual’ of black deaths? By JESSE WASHINGTON ASSOCIATED PRESS
FERGUSON, Mo. — The choir sang, the preachers shouted and the casket stayed closed. The body was taken to the cemetery, and Michael Brown was laid to rest. Thus went the most recent enactment of “the ritual” — the script of death, outrage, spin and mourning that America follows when an unarmed black male is killed by police. With a few variations, the ritual has followed its familiar course in the two weeks since the 18-year-old Brown was shot by white police officer Darren Wilson in this St. Louis suburb. It continues as we await the judgment of a grand jury considering whether or not Wilson should be charged with a crime. Will the ritual ever change, and is it even possible that Ferguson could be part of that? This time, can recognition of the wellknown patterns help heal the poisonous mistrust between police and many black people? Is the ritual already helping, in small gains buried beneath the predictable explosions of anger and media attention? “This tragedy, because the world’s attention has been galvanized, this is one of those things that’s ripe for change,” said Martin Luther King III after the funeral Monday. “There are no guarantees, but what we can say is we have to be committed to doing the work to bring about change and justice.” The ritual began to take shape in the 1960s, when instances of police mistreatment of black peo-
Photo by Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post Dispatch/pool/file | AP
A casket containing the body of Michael Brown is wheeled out of Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis on Monday. People gathered to say goodbye to Brown, who was shot and killed by a Ferguson, Mo., police officer on Aug. 9. ple led to organized resistance in many places across America — and sometimes to violence. As the decades passed, a blueprint developed for how black advocates confronted cases of alleged police brutality: protest marches, news conferences, demands for federal intervention, public pressure by sympathetic elected officials. Sometimes this led to charges or even convictions of police officers. Sometimes there were riots: Miami in 1980 after police were acquitted in the death of a black motorist; Los Angeles’ Rodney King rebellion in 1992; Cincinnati in 2001 when a 19-year-old was fatally shot by an officer; Oakland’s
uprising in 2009 after Oscar Grant was shot in the back while face-down on a train platform. The 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watchman in Florida added the transformative element of social media. The public was now participating much more intimately in the ritual. And still, the unarmed black males kept dying. The chants of “No Justice, No Peace” kept rising. So what happened after Brown was shot on Aug. 9 was predictable: First, protests and outrage. A narrative forms in favor of the deceased: According to accounts
of several witnesses from Brown’s neighborhood, he was shot with his hands up. He was a “gentle giant” headed to college. Pictures of Brown circulate that show him smiling, baby-faced — reminiscent of the childlike photos that first introduced us to Trayvon Martin. The day after Brown’s shooting, protesters are met with a militarized police response. Violence and looting erupt, and persist for days. Police respond with tear gas and rubber bullets, “scenes that have brought back visions of the 1960s when civil rights activists were met with force in the streets,” says the president of the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation, La June Montgomery Tabron. Michael Brown’s death goes viral. Ferguson trends on Twitter. A horde of media descends. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson arrive. “Events surrounding the killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown look all too familiar. As Yogi Berra would put it, it’s ‘deja vu, all over again,”’ reads a column by Bill Press in the Daily Journal of Marietta, Georgia. A backlash builds against the protesters. There are complaints that the liberal media skew the facts to create a false narrative about racist white police. As with Trayvon Martin and Oscar Grant, a narrative forms against the deceased: Based on a video released by police, Brown is characterized as a weed-smoking thug who robbed a store minutes before his death. Social media spreads facts, rumors and lies at Internet speed. There is a chain email with a fabricated arrest record saying, falsely, that Brown was charged with several felonies. A photo circulates of someone who is not Brown pointing a gun — like the menacing photo of a gangsta rapper that some said was Martin. “Every time a black person does something, they automatically become a thug worthy of their own death,” the actor Jesse Williams says in a TV appearance. The media reports new versions of the old stories: White flight has created poor black neighborhoods policed by white cops. Black people don’t trust the police. Black males are stereotyped as violent.
Preparing for a storm By GILLIAN FLACCUS ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Southern California coastal areas filled sandbags and built sand berms Tuesday to ward against possible flooding from big and potentially damaging surf spawned by Hurricane Marie spinning off Mexico’s Pacific coast. A large southerly swell was expected to produce large waves, rip currents and strong longshore currents in Los Angeles and Ventura counties through Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. “These areas will potentially see the largest surf seen in recent years, with breakers of 10 to 15 feet possible,” a Weather Service advisory said. Swimmers and surfers were urged to be aware of dangerous conditions, and minor coastal flooding and beach erosion is possible, forecasters said. In the city of Long Beach’s Peninsula neighborhood, residents watched as bulldozers built huge sand berms between the ocean and their homes. Several took the warning to heart and shoveled sand into bags to place around their garage doors and entryways. Deborah Popek, who’s lived in the area 20 years,
Photo by Nick Ut | AP
Photo by Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian | AP
Edwin Schakeroh, left, helps Gavin Greely fill sand bags in preparing for an expected storm surge in Long Beach, Calif., on Tuesday.
Rescue personnel search Henry Hagg Lake, a reservoir in Gaston, Ore., west of Portland, on Tuesday for family members of a child who apparently drowned Monday at the lake.
took a walk along the boardwalk with her cat, Sophie, to check the surf and see how neighbors were preparing. She’s had flooding in the past, she said, especially in her garage. “It’s always at the last minute that everybody panics because, you know, we don’t expect things to happen,” she said. “But they’re really taking things seriously because the sandbar is as high as they’ve ever built it right now. I’ve never seen it this high.” A few yards down the boardwalk, resident Corey Nelson shoveled sand into 10 sandbags with a friend’s help. A firefighter had been to his home Monday with a warning and although the surf was quiet so far Tuesday,
he chose to take it seriously. “He said supposedly the waves come over the breakwater wall and there will be flooding,” he said, adding that the firefighter had talked about 10 to 15 foot waves at a breakwater that protects the Long Beach shoreline. “We’ve had the water go over the breakwater right here and into our planter, and I mentioned that to him and he said, ‘Well expect that times three.”’ The high surf advisory will be in place for several counties north and south of Los Angeles, including Orange County. But Los Angeles and Ventura counties will likely see the biggest storm surge, according to the NWS advisory.
3 bodies found in lake By GOSIA WOZNIACKA ASSOCIATED PRESS
GASTON, Ore. — Divers recovered the bodies of a 40-year-old mother and her two children who apparently drowned in a popular lake west of Portland on Tuesday, a day after finding another family member — a 3-year-old grandson — drowned in the lake. The family — who lived together in nearby Hillsboro — had gone to Henry Hagg Lake on Monday for a picnic. It is not clear what happened there, but law officials said they found no signs of foul play. “There is no suspicion of
any criminal activity. We’re just considering this a tragic accident,” said Sgt. Bob Ray of the Washington County sheriff ’s office. Sheriff ’s deputies identified the three bodies found Tuesday as those of 40-yearold Jova Ixtacua-Castano and her two children, 25year-old Gabriela Garcia-Ixtacua and 13-year-old Michael Garcia-Ixtacua. The sheriff ’s office said Gabriela was the mother of the 3-year-old found Monday night, Jeremy Scholl. The three bodies were discovered about 40 feet offshore in 8 feet of water, and some 50 yards from where the 3-year-old was found. Authorities worried
there might be other victims after the 3-year-old was found because the family’s car was still at the scene and there was no sign of them. Also found at the site Monday evening were a beach towel, a cooler, shoes and other personal items, as well as a small dog on a leash. The lake is a busy recreation site, drawing 800,000 visitors a year, 6,000 a day on a busy summer weekend, officials said. It also provides drinking water for Portland suburbs. There are no lifeguards because of the lake’s size, but the sheriff ’s office uses a vessel on weekends.
Gay marriage bans blasted By MICHAEL TARM ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO — Federal appeals judges bristled on Tuesday at arguments defending gay marriage bans in Indiana and Wisconsin, with one Republican appointee comparing them to now-defunct laws that once outlawed weddings between blacks and whites. As the legal skirmish in the United States over same-sex marriage shifted to the three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, more than 200 people lined up hours before to ensure they got a seat at the muchanticipated hearing. While judges often play devil’s advocate during oral arguments, the panel’s often-blistering questions for the defenders of the same-
sex marriage bans could be a signal the laws may be in trouble — at least at this step in the legal process. Richard Posner, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, hit the backers of the ban the hardest. He balked when Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General Timothy Samuelson repeatedly pointed to “tradition” as the underlying justification for barring gay marriage. “It was tradition to not allow blacks and whites to marry — a tradition that got swept away,” the 75year-old judge said. Prohibition of same sex marriage, Posner said, derives from “a tradition of hate ... and savage discrimination” of homosexuals. Attorneys general in both states asked the appellate court to permanently
restore the bans, which were ruled unconstitutional in June. Its ruling could affect hundreds of couples who married after lower courts tossed the bans and before those rulings were stayed pending the Chicago appeal. Gay marriage is legal in 19 states as well as the District of Columbia, and advocates have won more than 20 court victories around the country since the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the federal government to recognize statesanctioned gay marriages last year. The Supreme Court has yet to take up a case, but Utah and Oklahoma’s cases were appealed to the high court and Virginia’s attorney general also has asked the justices to weigh in. Appeals court rulings are
pending for Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, while appellate court hearings are scheduled next month for Hawaii, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada and is expected soon in Texas. Posner cut off Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher, just moments into his presentation and frequently chided him to answer his questions. At one point, Posner ran through a list of psychological strains the children of unmarried same-sex couples suffered, including having to struggle to grasp why their schoolmates’ parents were married and theirs weren’t. “What horrible stuff,” Posner said. What benefit to society in barring gay marriage, he asked, outweighs that kind of harm to children?”
Photo by Charles Rex Arbogast | AP
George Sloan holds his son Sloan D’Souza as they attend a rally in support of gay marriage at the federal plaza Monday in Chicago.
Veterans
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A
Vet receives honor By EMERY P. DALESIO ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Chuck Burton | AP
President Barack Obama speaks during the American Legion national convention in Charlotte, N.C., Tuesday. President Barack Obama on Tuesday defended his administration’s response to VA lapses.
Obama defends response By JIM KUHNHENN ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — His standing with veterans damaged by scandal, President Barack Obama on Tuesday defended his administration’s response to Veterans Affairs lapses that delayed health care for thousands of former service members, but conceded more needed to be done to regain their trust. His appearance also had deep political overtones in a state where the Democratic senator, Kay Hagan, is facing a difficult re-election and has sought to distance herself from Obama’s policies, declaring as recently as Friday that his administration had not “done enough to earn the lasting trust of our veterans.” But Hagan and the state’s Republican Senator, Richard Burr, were at the North Carolina Air National Guard Base to greet Obama. She welcomed him warmly and he gave her a peck on the cheek. Obama and Hagan were both addressing the American Legion’s National convention, with the president’s address to the legionnaires the latest administration response to the health care uproar that led to the resignation of
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki in May. Obama declared that the nation owes veterans for their service and that the lengthy wait times and attempts to hide scheduling flaws were “outrageous and inexcusable.” “We are very clear-eyed about the problems that are still there,” Obama said. “And those problems require us to regain the trust of our veterans and live up to our vision of a VA that is more effective and more efficient and that truly puts veterans first. And I will not be satisfied until that happens.” Obama promised “a new culture of accountability” under new Secretary Bob McDonald. “Bob doesn’t play,” Obama said. He announced steps to strengthen access to mental health care by members of the military, to improve the transition for those leaving the military from care administered by the Defense Department to that run by Veterans Affairs, and to foster suicide prevention and better treatments for post-traumatic stress syndrome. Earlier this month, Obama signed a $16.3 billion law aimed at easing the long waits that tens of thousands of military vet-
erans had endured to get medical care. The law, a product of rare bipartisanship in the House and Senate, followed reports of veterans dying while awaiting appointments to see VA doctors and of a widespread practice of employees covering up months-long wait times for appointments. In some cases, employees received bonuses based on falsified records. The VA says investigators have found no proof that delays in care caused any deaths at a VA hospital in Phoenix. Moving beyond the steps included in the law, Obama planned to take executive actions that: Automatically enroll military personnel who are receiving care for mental health conditions and are leaving the service in a program that transfers them to a new care team in the VA. Undertake a study designed to detect whether people show signs of being vulnerable to suicide or post-traumatic stress syndrome. Spends $34.4 million in a VA suicide prevention study and about $80 million on a program to treat diseases, including post-traumatic stress syndrome.
DURHAM, N.C. — After a decade of being fired or quitting jobs in his struggle to adjust to civilian life, former Marine Corps sniper Matt Victoriano started his own coffee shop, vowing to employ struggling vets like himself. But even as he headed to Washington on Tuesday to be honored at the White House for his entrepreneurial drive, Victoriano was preparing to close his 7month-old business, a testament to the difficulty of being a small business owner. “I’ll tell them the way it is. I’ll plan on telling the truth,” he said. “It isn’t going to go over too well in Washington.” Victoriano is one of 10
veterans or their supporters being honored as “Champions of Change” for “continuing to serve our country through their successful small businesses and nonprofits that create jobs, spur economic growth, and help their communities,” the White House said in a news release. But the survival of Intrepid Life Coffee & Spirits will put to the test the motto of “improvise, adapt, overcome” that Victoriano learned in the Marines. Victoriano said he opened the veteran-friendly coffee shop, which also hosts bands and sells alcohol, by borrowing a little money from family and loading up debt on his credit cards. The venue sits in a newly renovated, street-level space with
high ceilings. It gained immediate media attention both for its style and its mission. But business struggles set in. Victoriano said he didn’t do enough marketing and revenue crashed this summer. His mission of employing as many veterans as possible, who “all have their own issues,” made things worse. Victoriano announced two weeks ago that the business was closing and had to empty the space by Sept. 7. Then he issued an online appeal for $27,000 by Sept. 6 so the business could catch up on overdue rent and make improvements, the appeal said. By Tuesday, donations had hit 25 percent of the goal. Victoriano said he’d take none of it if the target wasn’t reached.
PÁGINA 8A
Zfrontera
Agenda en Breve LAREDO 08/27— La Semana de Bienvenida de Texas A&M International University, continúa con una exhibición y trabajos de un artista urbano de 10:30 a.m. a 2 p.m. en Dr. F.M. Canseco Hall y Anthony J. and Georgia A. Pellegrino Hall. Para más información llame al (956) 326-2280. 08/27— “Foreigner” en Concierto, a las 8 p.m. en Laredo Energy Arena. Costo del boleto varía de 75, 57, 43, y 33 dólares. 08/28— Club del Libro en Español en la Biblioteca Pública de Laredo, de 6 p.m. a 8 p.m. Para más información puede llamar a Sylvia Reash al (956) 763-1810. 08/28— Evento de ‘Una Ciudad, Un Libro’ con la lectura de ‘The River Runs Salt, Runs Sweet: A Memoir of Visegrad, Bosnia’ de Jasmina Dervisevic-Cesic, presenta una discusión de 6:15 p.m. a 7:45 p.m. en la Sala de Usos Múltiples de la Biblioteca Pública de Laredo, 1120 E. Calton Road. Informes con Hilary Frazier al (956) 7952400 extensión 2252. 08/28— La Semana de Bienvenida de Texas A&M International University continúa con Una Noche de Hipnotismo: Eric Kano, a las 7 p.m. en el Salón del Centro de Bellas Artes y Artes Escénicas. 08/29— Se celebrará una sesión informativa con la Juez Rosie Cuellar de 10 a.m. a 1 p.m. en la Corte Municipal, en 4610 de avenida Maher. 08/29— ‘Juicy J’ se presenta en Laredo Energy Arena, a las 8:30 p.m. Es un evento de entrada general. Costo de boleto en piso: 38 dólares; costo del boleto en arena, 28 dólares. 08/29— La generación de 1984 de Martin High School celebrará una reunión por el 30 aniversario de egreso, a las 8 p.m. en el rancho frente a LIFE Downs, sobre Carretera 59. Costo por persona es de 20 dólares. Para más información puede llamar a Martha Laura Medina al (956) 740-7044. 08/30— Texas Satsang Society, Inc., presenta plática Bilingüe Gratuita con Folleto incluido: ‘Vidas pasadas, los sueños, y el Viaje del Alma Descubre como vidas pasadas, los sueños, y el viaje del alma son claves para ayudarte a encontrar a Dios’ de 1 p.m. a 2:30 p.m. en el Salón ‘A” de la Biblioteca Pública de Laredo, 1120 E. Calton Road. Informes al (210) 831-7113. 08/30— Evento de ‘Una Ciudad, Un Libro’ con la lectura de ‘The River Runs Salt, Runs Sweet: A Memoir of Visegrad, Bosnia’ de Jasmina Dervisevic-Cesic, presenta una discusión de 2 p.m. a 3:15 p.m. en la Sala de Usos Múltiples de la Biblioteca Pública de Laredo, 1120 E. Calton Road. Informes con Hilary Frazier al (956) 7952400 extensión 2252.
NUEVO LAREDO, MÉXICO 08/27— Cine Club presenta “Muerte a la Media Noche” a las 6 p.m. en el Auditorio de Estación Palabra. 08/28— Jueves de Museos presenta ‘Aves de Tamaulipas’ Conferencia con el Dr. Alfredo Ramírez Rubio, en el Salón de Servicios Educativos del Museo Reyes Meza a las 6:30 p.m. 08/28— Jueves de Teatro presenta “Ponshow, un espectáculo clown” a las 7 p.m. en el Teatro Lucio Blanco de Casa de la cultura. Costo: 20 pesos. 08/29— El espectáculo “Leyendas” con el Ballet de Cámara de Matamoros se presenta a las 7 p.m. en la Plaza Hidalgo.
MIÉRCOLES 27 DE AGOSTO DE 2014
TAMAULIPAS
Trece operativos TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Cuatro civiles armados que perdieron la vida, el arresto de seis sospechosos, y el decomiso de armamento, cargadores, cartuchos, granadas, vehículos, y drogas, fue el resultado de 13 operativos realizados la semana pasada en varias ciudades de Tamaulipas, México. Personal de la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional (SeDeNa) estuvo al frente de las diferentes acciones llevadas a cabo en Altamira, Reynosa, Tampico, Camargo, Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo, Güemez, Cruillas, del 21 al 24 de agosto. A continuación el recuento de los hechos, por ciudad, según se dio a conocer en comunicado de prensa del Gobierno de Tamaulipas. Altamira. El 21 de agosto, tres civiles armados agredieron a militares desde un vehículo en movimiento. Al repeler la agresión, soldados dieron muerte a dos de los sospechosos, en tanto que el tercero fue arrestado. Tras el enfrentamiento se decomisaron dos armas,
un cargador, cartuchos y un automóvil. El 22 de agosto, se logró el decomiso de 200 kilogramos y 300 dosis de marihuana, siete armas largas, 44 cargadores, 850 cartuchos de diferentes calibres, un cohete antitanque y una granada de fragmentación en el poblado Santa Amalia. Camargo. El 22 de agosto, personal de SeDeNa aseguró un arma larga, 1.520 cartuchos, 54 cargadores, un chaleco táctico, dos placas antibalas y una fornitura. El 24 de agosto, personal militar logró asegurar dos armas largas, 10 cargadores, 290 cartuchos, cuatro vehículos – uno de los cuales estaba blindado –, dos fornituras y 300 gramos de marihuana. Cruillas. El 24 de agosto, fueron decomisadas dos armas largas, seis cargadores, 728 cartuchos, una fornitura, un estuche para rifle, una camioneta y 29 bolsitas de plástico conteniendo marihuana. Güemez. El 23 de agosto, fue cumplida una orden de reaprehensión contra un sospechoso. Al
hombre detenido le fueron decomisados un equipo de radio-comunicación, un teléfono celular, tres cheques de 10.000 pesos (cada uno) y tarjetas bancarias. Matamoros. El 22 de agosto, militares aseguraron 23 cargadores, 560 cartuchos y un vehículo. El 23 de agosto, militares lograron detener a dos hombres y un menor de edad que huían de ellos. Al ser registrado el vehículo en el que viajaban fueron encontradas 22 bolsitas con marihuana, una dosis de cocaína, dos equipos de radio-comunicación y 27 ponchallantas metálicas. Todos los artículos fueron asegurados. El mismo 23 de agosto, personal militar inició la persecución y posterior arresto de varios sujetos que viajaban en dos camionetas, y quienes se habían dado a la fuga al ver a las autoridades. Soldados lograron asegurar un arma larga, ocho cargadores, 180 cartuchos, los dos vehículos y un contenedor (con capacidad de 1.000 litros) conteniendo residuos de combustible. Nuevo Laredo. El 22 de agosto, en
la colonia El Progreso fue arresado un hombre en posesión de dos armas largas, nueve cargadores, 82 cartuchos, un vehículo y un tracto-camión. Reynosa. El 21 de agosto, soldados encontraron 70 cargadores, 28.098 cartuchos de diferentes calibres y dos aditamentos para granadas dentro de un vehículo aparentemente abandonado. SeDeNa confiscó el material. El 24 de agosto, soldados y personal de la Policía Estatal Acreditable fueron confrontados en la colonia Pedregal por varios civiles armados. Al repeler la agresión, fallecieron dos civiles armados. Igualmente autoridades lograron el aseguramiento de tres armas largas, 43 cargadores, 1.231 cartuchos, una camioneta y 1.140 dólares. Tampico. El 22 de agosto, militares aseguraron doce vehículos de diferentes marcas y modelos, así como 46 cristales blindados, los cuales se encontraban en el interior de una bodega fuera de operación.
CULTURA
INVESTIGACIÓN
PRIJEDOR, BOSNIA
Caso droga asegura acusación POR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Foto de cortesía | Rob Hodges/THGC
El viernes será inaugurada la exhibición “Prijedor: Vidas desde el Genocidio de Bosnia”, en Historic Market Square de la Asociación Histórica de Brownsville (BHA, por sus siglas en inglés). Concluirá el 10 de octubre.
Exhibición tendrá historia de genocidio ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Educar a los ciudadanos acerca de las circunstancias que llevaron al Genocidio de Bosnia es el objetivo de la exhibición que estrenará el fin de semana la Comisión del Holocausto y Genocidio de Texas (THGC, por sus siglas en Inglés), en Brownsville. El viernes, la exposición “Prijedor: Vidas desde el Genocidio de Bosnia” abrirá sus puertas en el Historic Market Square de la Asociación Histórica de Brownsville (BHA, por sus siglas en inglés). La misma permanecerá hasta el 10 de octubre. El THGC espera lograr su objetivo a través de la exhibición compuesta por 34 paneles. “A nuestros niños se les debe enseñar a reconocer y combatir la intolerancia, para detener el odio y los prejuicios, y aprender sobre la convivencia, aceptación de la diversidad”, declaró Chaja Verveer, comisionario de THGC y un sobreviviente del Holocausto. “Prijedor: Vidas desde el Genocidio de Bosnia” es una ex-
posición que relata la historia de un genocidio en la ciudad de Prijedor en Bosnia, entre 1992 y 1995. La exposición honra la memoria de las vidas perdidas en el genocidio y las experiencias de los sobrevivientes. Sus historias, indica un comunicado de prensa, se cuentan dentro de la serie de 34 paneles. “Los genocidios comienzan cuando personas intolerantes y llenas de odio deshumanizan a otros en una sociedad al ponerlos en clases separadas y desiguales, y se les daña de manera deliberada”, sostiene el comunicado de prensa del THGC. “Según la Organización de Genocidios Watch, los genocidios y homicidios en masa han provocado la muerte de más de 170 millones de personas, más que la suma de las muertes en todas las guerras del siglo XX y XXI, combinadas”. “Prijedor: Vidas desde el Genocidio de Bosnia” se ha presentado a través de Texas desde la primavera de 2015. Antes de llegar a Brownsville, la exposición estuvo en Georgetown, Lubbock, Midland, y
Tyler. Después de Brownsville, la exposición será presentada en la Biblioteca Pública de Abilene durante el mes de octubre. La misión de BHA es preservar, educar, y promover la historia, el patrimonio y las artes culturales de Brownsville y sus alrededores a través de exposiciones, programas educativos, publicaciones, eventos culturales, y colecciones de archivo. La visión de BHA es mejorar la calidad de vida de todos los residentes de Brownsville y sus alrededores, proporcionando experiencias de aprendizaje sobre la historia, arte y cultura, y el patrimonio de la región, y para seguir atrayendo el turismo en el corazón del centro histórico de Brownsville, agrega el comunicado. THGC incrementa la conciencia del genocidio y el Holocausto a través de programas educativos, recursos, asistencia y coordinación de grupos, eventos y voluntarios. La exposición “Prijedor: Vidas desde el Genocidio de Bosnia” está abierta al público en general, especialmente estudiantes y maestros.
Una investigación federal logró emitir una acusación formal y nombró a un segundo sospechoso en un intento de contrabando de metanfetaminas frustrado por un oficial del Departamento de Policía de Freer, durante un alto vial a finales de julio, de acuerdo con registros de la corte obtenidos el lunes. Un gran jurado acusó formalmente a Gilberto Jorge Rodríguez, de 48 años, con cargos por conspiración para posesión con intento de distribución de metanfetaminas y posesión con intento de distribución de metanfetaminas. La acusación fue presentada el 19 de agosto. Rodríguez se encuentra a la espera de su lectura de cargos. Una investigación más extensa por parte de agentes especiales de Investigaciones de Seguridad Nacional (HSI) llevó al arresto de Andrés Villarreal Paredes, de 27 años, por un cargo de conspiración para poseer con intención de distribuir metanfetaminas, de acuerdo con una querella criminal presentada en su contra el 22 de agosto. Ambos hombres se encuentran en custodia federal. Un oficial de policía de Freer ordenó detenerse al vehículo de Rodríguez tras una supuesta violación vial. Supuestamente Rodríguez consintió que se realizara una inspección del vehículo. El oficial de Freer descubrió “una llanta extra de trailer demasiado pesada” en la cajuela, de acuerdo con registros. Registros de la corte señalan que la llanta contenía 18 paquetes de metanfetaminas con un peso aproximado de 46 libras. Eso es aproximadamente metanfetaminas con valor de 1 millón de dólares. En un interrogatorio posterior al arresto, Rodríguez dijo a los agentes especiales del HSI que había recogido el neumático de repuesto de una casa en Bruni. Agentes federales dijeron que posteriormente Rodríguez admitió que debía llevar la llanta llena de narcóticos a una persona anónima en Dallas, ése día más tarde, señala la querella. Rodríguez esperaba un pago de 5.000 dólares por “actuar como transportista de los narcóticos”, de acuerdo con la querella en su contra. Agentes especiales continuaron con el caso e identificaron a Villarreal Paredes como la persona que había reclutado a Rodríguez, de acuerdo con registros de la corte.
COLUMNA
Recuento de fuertes lluvias en Tamaulipas Esta es la segunda parte de dos, donde el autor nos habla de un periodo donde Tamaulipas registra intensa actividad pluvial. Después de esta, les preceden siete años de sequía.
By RAÚL SINENCIO CHÁVEZ ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
En la parte media del siglo XIX Tamaulipas registró intensa actividad pluvial. Con este motivo, distintas localidades de la
entidad sufren verdaderos desastres. Entre ellas la ciudad de Matamoros, México. Una nota explica que al amanecer del lunes 4 de agosto de 1844 “el pararrayos de la casa de Logero voló hasta la […] de Girón”. “En las puertas de la vivienda” contigua pude ver fragmentos de techos “clavados tan profunda y firmemente que parece no caber en lo posible que” recibieran “la velocidad indispensable para adqui-
rir la fuerza con que penetraron”, describe el testigo. “Muchas casas vinieron al suelo”, incluso “las de mejor construcción han sufrido averías”, lamenta. Del lado sureste, “El Comercio de Santa Anna de Tamaulipas” destaca el miércoles 25 de julio de 1855 que súbita avenida desborda el río Pánuco. A la orilla meridional de la bocana, “el establecimiento de prácticos […] se ha desplomado” ante “la fuerza
de la corriente, que minó sus cimientos”. En Tampico, numerosas familias entretanto “se han visto precisadas a” buscar “la parte alta” del puerto. “Aquellos que no lo hacían por falta de recursos”, dizque la prefectura “les ha proporcionado habitaciones y medios de traslado, con lo que se ha remediado en mucha parte sus desgracias”, afirma el tabloide. Según recuerdos del editor, “las fuertes y abundan-
tes lluvias que hubo el mes de junio próximo pasado y parte del presente [julio], han hecho crecer tanto el río Pánuco que” nunca como hoy “se había visto que sus aguas inundasen toda la parte baja de esta ciudad, hasta el grado de tener que navegarse por las calles en canoas”, a semejanza de Venecia, Italia. (Con permiso del autor, según fuera publicado en La Razón de Tampico, México, el 22 de agosto)
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2014
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors NCAA FOOTBALL: TEXAS A&M AGGIES
Aggies to be tested early A&M opens at South Carolina By PETE IACOBELLI ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina and Texas A&M find out this week what life’s like minus two of college football’s most transcendent, attentiongrabbing stars of recent years. There will no Jadeveon Clowney-Johnny Manziel matchup in this one. Had this game been played last year fans would’ve clear their schedules to watch the helmetpopping defensive end chase the reigning Heisman Trophy winner around Williams-Brice Stadium. With Clowney and Manziel in the NFL, those viewing the SEC Network’s first football broadcast might need rosters and slo-mo replays Thursday night to catch all the new faces. “They are probably a little bit like us that they haven’t had a bunch of superstars to talk about this preseason,” said Steve Spurrier, the Gamecocks’ 10th-year coach. “Their players are anxious to earn their way, just like our guys.” Sophomore Darius English takes over Clowney’s starting spot for No. 9 South Carolina after backup duty last season. Kenny Hill, also a sophomore, replaces Johnny Football in the No. 21 Aggies’ huddle. Hill passed for 183 yards and a TD in four games last fall. The 6-foot-6 English got a chance to start against Kentucky when Clowney, also 6-6, pulled himself from the game shortly before kickoff. English finished the season with 19 tackles and a forced fumble against North Carolina. “Darius has had a really great camp and a great spring,” defensive line coach Deke Adams said. “Hopefully, he’ll get a chance to show it on Thursday night.” English was named a Georgia state defensive player of the year after notching 21 sacks his senior season at McEachern High in Powder Springs, Georgiaa But he was a lanky, easily pushed around 205 pounds when
he arrived on campus. English has added about 40 pounds since and feels like he’s able to hold his ground and push back when challenged. English has a quick first-step and a wing span of 7 feet that helps sweep past offensive lineman, according to Adams. “I can get in there and bang with those guys,” English said. The good news for Gamecocks’ fans is he won’t be chasing Manziel. The guy with the target on his back will be Hill, who won the Texas A&M quarterback competition over five-star freshman Kyle Allen. The two competed after longtime backup Matt Joeckel transferred to TCU in April. Hill, the son of long time major leaguer Ken Hill Sr., showed more polish and experience and will start against the Gamecocks, offensive coordinator Jake Spavital said. “The experience of being here and watching how we do (things) offensively and seeing Johnny play has helped him,” Texas A&M offensive coordinator Jake Spavital said. “He’s seen more than Kyle
(Allen) has right now and that was important. He’s our guy and we’re putting all our eggs in that basket.” Hill passed for 183 yards and a touchdown in four games last season. Don’t expect the same, “Johnny Dollar” flash from the Aggies latest quarterback. Hill told team officials he wanted to wait until after playing South Carolina before discussing his starting status. That focus on the field has offensive coordinator Jake Spavital smiling.
File photo by Butch Dill | AP
Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin and the No. 21-ranked Aggies open the season on Thursday against No. 9 South Carolina.
International
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
Truce open-ended
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2014
Ebola has ‘upper hand’ By JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH
Deal made after weeks of fighting
ASSOCIATED PRESS
By KARIN LAUB AND MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH ASSOCIATED PRESS
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel and Gaza’s ruling Hamas agreed Tuesday to an open-ended cease-fire after seven weeks of fighting — an uneasy deal that halts the deadliest war the sides have fought in years, with more than 2,200 killed, but puts off the most difficult issues. In the end, both sides settled for an ambiguous interim agreement in exchange for a period of calm. Hamas, though badly battered, remains in control of Gaza with part of its military arsenal intact. Israel and Egypt will continue to control access to blockaded Gaza, despite Hamas’ long-running demand that the border closures imposed in 2007 be lifted. Hamas declared victory, even though it had little to show for a war that killed 2,143 Palestinians, wounded more than 11,000 and left some 100,000 homeless. On the Israeli side, 64 soldiers and six civilians were killed, including two killed by Palestinian mortar fire shortly before the cease-fire was announced. Large crowds gathered in Gaza City after the truce took effect at dusk, some waving the green flags of Hamas, while celebratory gunfire and fireworks erupted across the territory. Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, promised to rebuild homes destroyed in the war and said Hamas would rearm. “We will build and upgrade our arsenal to be ready for the coming battle, the battle of full liberation,” he declared, surrounded by Hamas gunmen. The Israeli response was more subdued. “This time we hope the cease-fire will stick,” said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev. He portrayed the deal as one Hamas had rejected in previous rounds of negotiations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced some criticism from hard-
Photo by Khalil Hamra | AP
A Palestinian boy sits next to the destroyed 15-story Basha Tower following early morning Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on Tuesday. line critics and residents of Israeli communities near Gaza who said the deal failed to defuse the threat from Gaza militants. Since July 8, Hamas and its allies have fired some 4,000 rockets and mortars at Israel, and tens of thousands of Israelis evacuated areas near Gaza in recent weeks. Under the Egyptian-brokered deal, Israel is to ease imports to Gaza, including aid and material for reconstruction. It also agreed to a largely symbolic gesture, expanding a fishing zone for Gaza fishermen from three to six nautical miles into the Mediterranean. In a month, talks are to begin on more complex issues, including Hamas’ demand to start building a seaport and airport in Gaza. Israel has said it would only agree if Hamas disarms, a demand the militant group has rejected. In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Tuesday that the agreement offers “an opportunity, not a certainty.” “Today’s agreement comes after many hours and days of negotiations and discussions. But certainly there’s a long road ahead. ... We’re going into this eyes wide open,” she said. Early on in the war, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had tried in vain to broker a truce. The cease-fire went into effect at 7 p.m. (1600 GMT) Tuesday, and violence persisted until the last minute. About an hour before the cease-fire, 12 mortar shells hit an Israeli communal farm near Gaza,
killing two Israelis and wounding seven other people, two of them critically, the Israeli military said. Between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., Gaza militants fired 83 rockets, of which 13 were intercepted. In Gaza, an Israeli airstrike minutes before the start of the cease-fire toppled a five-story building in the town of Beit Lahiya, witnesses said. Twelve Palestinians, including two children, were killed in several Israeli airstrikes before the truce took hold, Gaza police said. In Gaza City, a 20-yearold woman was killed and several dozen people were wounded by celebratory gunfire after the truce was announced. Throughout the war, Israel launched some 5,000 airstrikes against Gaza, saying it targeted sites linked to militants, including rocket launchers and weapons depots. About threefourths of those killed in the strikes have been civilians, according to the U.N. and Palestinian officials. In recent days, Israel had stepped up its pressure on Hamas, toppling five towers containing offices, apartments and shops since Saturday. Two of those buildings were brought down in airstrikes early Tuesday that destroyed dozens of apartments and shops. Hamas has emerged from the war badly battered. Just one-third of its initial rocket arsenal of 10,000 remains, according to Israel and the Islamic group’s network of attack tunnels under the border with Israel has been mostly destroyed.
Surveillance on Syria The US has begun surveillance flights over Syria By LOLITA C. BALDOR AND JULIE PACE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KABUL, Afghanistan — The U.S. has begun surveillance flights over Syria after President Barack Obama gave the OK, U.S. officials said, a move that could pave the way for airstrikes against Islamic State militant targets there. While the White House says Obama has not approved military action inside Syria, additional intelligence on the militants would likely be necessary before he could take that step. Pentagon officials have been drafting potential options for the president, including airstrikes. One official said the administration has a need for reliable intelligence from Syria and called the surveillance flights an important avenue for obtaining data. Two U.S. officials said Monday that Obama had approved the flights, while another U.S. official said early Tuesday that they had begun. The officials were not authorized to discuss the matter by name, and spoke only on condition of anonymity. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday that the U.S. wants more clarity on the militants in Syria, but declined to comment on the surveillance flights. “Clearly the picture we have of ISIS on the Iraqi
side is a more refined picture,” said Dempsey, using one of the acronyms for the Islamic State group. “The existence and activities of ISIS on the Syrian side, we have ... some insights into that but we certainly want to have more insights into that as we craft a way forward.” The U.S. began launching strikes against the Islamic State inside Iraq earlier this month, with Obama citing the threat to American personnel in the country and a humanitarian crisis in the north as his rationale. Top Pentagon officials have said the only way the threat from the militants can be fully eliminated is to go after the group inside neighboring Syria as well. Obama has long resisted taking military action in Syria, a step that would plunge the U.S. into a country ravaged by an intractable civil war. However, the president’s calculus appears to have shifted since the Islamic State announced last week that it had murdered American journalist James Foley, who was held hostage in Syria. The group is also threatening to kill other U.S. citizens being held by the extremists in Syria. “Our message to anyone who harms our people is simple: America does not forget our reach is long,” Obama said Tuesday. “We are patient. Justice will be done. We have proved time and time again we will do what’s necessary to capture
those who harm Americans.” Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said the administration “has not yet shared with us what their plans are.” He said he hoped the White House would go to the Congress with a request for an authorization to act. “I think it’s our responsibility as elected officials to let the American people know where we stand with respect to national security matters,” Corker told MSNBC. “For the American people’s sake, Congress should weigh in. Congress should be a part of it.” Dempsey, who was in Kabul for the U.S. military’s change of command ceremony, has said he would recommend the military move against the Islamic State militants if there is a threat to the homeland. He didn’t rule out strikes for any other critical reasons, but listed the homeland threat as one key trigger. Dempsey also said the U.S. has been meeting with allies in the region to help develop a better understanding of the Islamic State group’s threat. He said he believes those talks are now beginning to “set the conditions for some kind of coalition to form.” He said they are “trying to better understand the threat that ISIS poses, not just in Iraq and Syria but regionally.”
MONROVIA, Liberia — Ebola still has the “upper hand” in the outbreak that has killed more than 1,400 people in West Africa, but experts have the means to stop it, a top American health official said during a visit to the hardest-hit countries. Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was in Liberia on Tuesday and later planned to stop in Sierra Leone and Guinea. Nigeria also has cases, but officials there have expressed optimism the virus can be controlled. “Lots of hard work is happening. Lots of good things are happening,” Frieden said at a meeting attended by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Monday. “But the virus still has the upper hand.” Even as Liberia has resorted to stringent measures to try to halt Ebola’s spread, frustration mounted over the slow collection of bodies from neighborhoods of Monrovia. A group of residents attached plastic ties to the wrists and ankles of one suspected Ebola victim and dragged his corpse to a busy street. Authorities have decreed that all the dead must be collected by government health workers and cremated because contact with bodies can transmit the virus. There is no proven treatment for Ebola, so health workers primarily focus on isolating the sick. But a small number of patients in this outbreak have received an experimental drug called ZMapp. The London hospital treating a British nurse infected in Sierra Leone, William Pooley, said he is
Photo by Olivier Matthys | AP
Participants prepare for a training course on how to deal with the Ebola virus in Brussels on Tuesday. now receiving the drug. It was unclear where the doses for Pooley came from. The Californiabased maker of ZMapp has said its supplies are exhausted. Two Americans, a Spaniard and three health workers in Liberia have received ZMapp. It is unclear if the drug is effective. The Americans have been released from the hospital, but the Spaniard died, as did a Liberian doctor. In Nigeria, two more Ebola patients were declared to have recovered and were released from hospital, Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said Tuesday. Five people have died of the disease in Nigeria, while a total of seven have recovered. One person remains in the hospital in an isolation ward, Chukwu said. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization announced that it is pulling out its team from the eastern Sierra Leonean city of Kailahun, where an epidemiologist working with the organization was recently infected. Daniel Kertesz, the organization’s representative in the country, said that the team was exhausted and that the added stress of a colleague getting sick could
increase the risk of mistakes. The outbreak is the largest on record. Doctors took a long time to identify it, it is happening in a region where people are highly mobile, it has spread to densely populated areas, and many people have resisted or hid from treatment. The disease has overwhelmed the already shaky health systems in some of the world’s poorest countries. “Ebola doesn’t spread by mysterious means. We know how it spreads,” Frieden said in remarks carried on Liberian TV. “So we have the means to stop it from spreading, but it requires tremendous attention to every detail.” Liberian officials have sealed off an entire slum neighborhood in the capital. Sirleaf also has declared a state of emergency and ordered all top government officials to remain in the country or return from any trips. Late Monday, her office said in a statement that any officials who defied the order had been fired. The statement did not say how many or who had been dismissed. According to WHO, the Ebola outbreak has killed over half of the more than 2,600 people sickened.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
VICTORIA N. RODRIGUEZ SEPT. 14, 1928 — AUG. 24, 2014 ZAPATA — Victoria N. Rodriguez, 85, passed away Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014, at Laredo Medical Center in Laredo, Texas. Mrs. Rodriguez is preceded in death by her husband, Zaragoza Rodriguez Jr.; parents, Anacleto and Isidra Nieto; step-mother, Maria De Jesus Nieto; inlaws, Zaragoza and Rosa Rodriguez; brothers, Guadalupe (Pascuala) Nieto, Benigno (Antonia) Nieto, Benjamin Nieto and a sister, Arcadia (Francisco) Briseño. Mrs. Rodriguez is survived by her children, Zaragoza (Alicia F.) Rodriguez, Rosa Alicia Garcia, Gloria Irma Rodriguez, David (Martha) Rodriguez, Rebecca (Raymundo) Muñoz, Gerardo L. (Connie) Rodriguez, Diana L. (Norberto) Garza, Fernando (Janie) Rodriguez; 26 grandchildren; 27 great-grandchildren; sister, Juanita N. (†Paul R.) George from Little Rock, Arkansas; brother-in-law, Francisco (Raquel) Rodriguez; sister-inlaw, Ernestina V. (†Roberto) Rodriguez and by numerous cousins, nephews, nieces, friends and other family members. Visitation hours were Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014, from
Burger King plans expansion ASSOCIATED PRESS
6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home. The funeral procession will depart Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. Committal services will follow at Zapata County Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.rosegardenfuneralhome.com. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home, Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy. 83, Zapata, Texas.
MIAMI — The fight for the coffee and breakfast crowd is heating up, both at home and abroad. Burger King said Tuesday it will buy Tim Hortons in an $11 billion deal that would create the world’s third largest fast-food chain. The company is hoping to turn the coffee-and-doughnut chain into a household name outside Canada, and give itself a stronger foothold in the booming morning business. Alex Behring, Burger King’s executive chairman, said the new company would be one of the fastest-growing fast-food chains in the world. The international ambitions for Tim Hortons echo the strategy Burger King’s owner, 3G Capital, has applied to Burger King since buying the hamburger chain in 2010. Given Burger King’s struggles in the U.S., the investment firm has focused on opening more locations in countries including China and Russia by striking deals with local franchisees. Last year, for example, 3G accelerated expansion and opened 670 Burger King locations. Burger King now has nearly 14,000 locations globally, but the company has noted that’s still far less than the more than 35,000 McDonald’s restaurants around the world. In the U.S., Tim Hortons could also give Burger King another way to tap into the attractive coffee and
breakfast markets, which have been dominated by players including McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks. Marc Caira, the CEO of Tim Hortons, noted the Canadian chain’s recent efforts to make a bigger push into the U.S., including updated store designs that feature couches and fireplaces. Caira said he felt Tim Hortons could “win much quicker” in the U.S. with the help of Burger King. Most of Tim Hortons more than 4,500 locations are in Canada; 866 of them are in the U.S. Last year, Tim Hortons’ U.S. sales rose 1.8 percent at established locations. Winning over customers will nevertheless be a challenge for Tim Hortons, considering the chain’s lack of name recognition in the U.S. Competition in the mornings has also been intensifying. Taco Bell, for instance, recently launched a national breakfast menu and Starbucks revamped and expanded its breakfast offerings. McDonald’s has said it plans to put more marketing muscle behind breakfast to defend its leadership position. After the deal, which is expected to close by early next year, Burger King and Tim Horton said their newly combined company would have about $23 billion in sales and more than 18,000 locations. The corporate headquarters will be in Canada, but Burger King will still be operated out of Miami. Executives said the two chains will continue to be run independ-
ently. That means people shouldn’t expect to see Timbits — Tim Hortons’ miniature doughnuts — alongside Whoppers on Burger King menus. “There’s no plans to mix the products or do co-branding,” said Daniel Schwartz, CEO of Burger King and a principal of 3G Capital. Burger King executives also stressed the deal wasn’t being driven by a desire for lower tax rates: Schwartz said the company doesn’t expect to achieve any “meaningful tax savings.” 3G Capital will own about 51 percent of the new company. Last year, the firm also teamed up with Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway to buy ketchup maker H.J. Heinz Co. Berkshire Hathaway is also helping finance the Tim Hortons deal with $3 billion of preferred equity financing, but will not have a role in managing operations. Under the deal, Burger King will pay $65.50 Canadian ($59.74) in cash and 0.8025 common shares of the new company for each Tim Hortons share. This represents total value per Tim Hortons share of $94.05 Canadian (US$85.79), based on Burger King’s Monday closing stock price. Alternatively, Tim Hortons shareholders may choose either all-cash or all stock in the new company. Tim Hortons stock was up nearly 9 percent at $81.25. Burger King’s shares were down 2 percent to $31.63.
Even if attacked, airline could be liable By DAVID KOENIG ASSOCIATED PRESS
Families of passengers who were on the Malaysia Airlines plane shot down over Ukraine are starting to sort through the long process of gaining compensation for their loss. Officials in the Netherlands, where the majority of Flight 17 victims lived, say that Malaysia Airlines has been making $50,000 payments to the families without admitting any wrongdoing in the crash. Such payments may create goodwill, lawyers say, but they are not likely to discourage some families from seeking more than the amount promised under an international treaty — about $174,000. Since the early days of commercial aviation, international agreements have governed compensation for crash victims. It is a no-fault system — the airline pays a standard compensation even if is blameless. Under a treaty called the Montreal Convention, families can sue for more if the airline or another party was negligent. Aviation-accident lawyers say it would be almost impossible to collect damages from Russia or the pro-Russian rebels accused of shooting down the plane with a far-reaching surface-to-air missile. Malaysia Airlines will be left as the prime — maybe the only — defendant, and lawsuits are likely to hinge on the plane’s planned route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17.
Photo by Lai Seng Sin | AP
Malaysian Army soldiers carry a coffin containing the body of Mohd Ghafar Abu Bakar, who was among the victims on board Flight MH17, upon arrival at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, on Sunday. Malaysian officials have said that the route over eastern Ukraine was deemed safe by international aviation authorities as long as the plane flew higher than 32,000 feet — below that, Ukraine had closed the airspace, presumably because of the threat posed by pro-Russia rebels armed with shoulder-held anti-aircraft guns, which have a limited range. While the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration had prohibited flights over the Crimean Peninsula, the U.S. ban did not extend to eastern Ukraine until after the
shoot-down. And, Malaysian officials have noted, other airlines continued to fly the same route, even on the day that Flight 17 was shot down. But some aviation lawyers say that the families could have a strong case by arguing that Malaysia Airlines should have stopped flying over eastern Ukraine after the rebels shot down military jets earlier in July. “The idea that somebody else was equally as stupid as they were is not that good of an argument,” said Jonathan Reiter, a
New York personal-injury lawyer who has handled many aviation cases. Families of those on this year’s major air crashes — Flight 17; Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing; the crash of TransAsia Airways Flight 222 in stormy weather in Taiwan; and the crash of Air Algerie Flight 5017 in Mali — could be waiting years for compensation from the airlines and their insurers. Under the Montreal treaty, law-
suits can be filed in the home country of the victim, the country where the airline is based, where the ticket was bought or where the plane was headed. Americans and Europeans have often received higher awards than families in countries such as Malaysia, where the courts usually stick to the treaty limit, lawyers say. “You could have two people sitting next to each other who may have the same income. (The family of) one gets multi millions, and the other one gets $75,000,” said Justin Green, an aviation attorney whose firm represented families of victims of Pan Am 103, bombed over Scotland in 1988. For some relatives of those on Flight 17, the pain is still too raw to decide whether to go to court. In the Netherlands, Kevin Fan is grappling with the job of running two Rotterdam restaurants that were owned by his parents, who, along with his grandmother, died in the crash. Fan’s father, who went by Popo, was the chef at Asian Glories; his mother, Jenny, was the hostess. On a recent day, several bunches of fresh-cut flowers had been left as a memorial outside the small restaurant. The 30-year-old Fan, an acclaimed young chef, was finishing a meeting with two accountants to go over the restaurant’s books. He was about to start his next shift in the kitchen. “It is overwhelming. There is just a lot to arrange,” he said. “My family is really stepping in to help.”
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2014
Report: 1,400 children exploited in UK town By DANICA KIRKA ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — About 1,400 children were sexually exploited in a northern England town, a report concluded Tuesday in a damning account of “collective failures” by authorities to prevent victims as young as 11 from being beaten, raped and trafficked over a 16-year period. Report author Alexis Jay cited appalling acts of violence between 1997 and 2013 in Rotherham, a town of some 250,000. The independent report came after a series of convictions of sexual predators in the region and groundbreaking reports in the Times of London. Reading descriptions of the abuse make it hard to imagine that nothing was done for so long. The report described rapes by multiple perpetrators, mainly from Britain’s Pakistani community, and how children were trafficked to other towns and cities in the north of Eng-
land, abducted, beaten, and intimidated. “There were examples of children who had been doused in petrol and threatened with being set alight, threatened with guns, made to witness brutally violent rapes and threatened they would be next if they told anyone,” Jay said. “Girls as young as 11 were raped by large numbers of male perpetrators.” The report’s author took great pains to make sure the identities of the children were not revealed, but offered a general description of the cases showing the victims were between 11 and 16 years old. Most, but not all, were girls, who are preyed upon by unrelated older men. A sampling of case studies showed the victims first came into contact with authorities for a variety of reasons, including being reported missing from their homes, leaving school with unknown men or as victims of stalking. While most of the victims in the older cases
were described as “white British children,” but the report said that more recently a greater number of cases were coming from the growing Pakistani, Kashmiri and Roma communities. Attention first fell on Rotherham in 2010 when five men received lengthy jail terms after convictions of grooming teens for sex. A series of other high-profile cases featuring Pakistani rings also emerged in Rochdale, Derby and Oxford— and communities began to look more closely at their child sex exploitation cases. Rotherham decided to conduct a formal inquiry and Jay, a former chief social work adviser to the Scottish government, was appointed to investigate. But she told the BBC that she was “very shocked” by what she found. Police “regarded many child victims with contempt,” Jay said, adding that many of the children were known to child protection agencies.
Even though earlier reports described the situation in Rotherham, the first of these reports was “effectively suppressed” because senior officers did not believe the data. “The collective failures of political and officer leadership were blatant,” Jay said. “From the beginning, there was growing evidence that child sexual exploitation was a serious problem in Rotherham.” Complicating the reporting was the fact that victims described the perpetrators as “Asian” and yet the council failed to engage with the town’s Pakistani community. “Some councilors seemed to think it was a one-off problem, which they hoped would go away” Jay said. “Several staff described their nervousness about identifying the ethnic origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought racist; others remembered clear direction from their managers not to do so.” Rotherham has had its problems even before Tues-
day’s report. It has seen the loss of traditional industries from the 19th and 20th centuries and, though the local economy has grown recently, it is also marked by deprivation and high unemployment. The report said the take-up of “welfare benefits is higher than the English average, as are the levels of free school meals and limiting long-term illness.” But news of the sheer scale of the abuse and the lack of official concern about the problem until it was exposed shocked the country. Charities that deal with abused children were taken aback by the number of victims and by the apparent reluctance of authorities to accuse members of one ethnic group for the violence. This after all, is a country which prides itself as being a tolerant and integrated society. But the idea that a drive for political correctness might lead to children being raped sat uncomfortably with those who champion the rights of
children and seek to protect them from harm. “Cultural sensitivities should never stand in the way of protecting children,” said John Cameron, head of the helpline for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. “It is hard to imagine the damage caused to victims who were preyed upon with almost impunity over many years, because of a reluctance to comprehend or address what was widely happening.” The local council leader, Roger Stone, resigned immediately. Prime Minister David Cameron’s Downing Street office said that the lessons of past failures must be learned and those who exploited the children brought to justice. “This damning report shows the full extent of how the children of Rotherham were let down,” said Keith Vaz, the chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee. “They will never get their childhoods back.”
GLOBAL WARMING Continued from Page 1A greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes in all components of the climate system, increasing the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems,” the report says. The final report will be issued after governments and scientists go
over the draft line by line in an October conference in Copenhagen. Depending on circumstances and values, “currently observed impacts might already be considered dangerous,” the report says. It mentions extreme weather and rising sea levels, such as heat waves, flooding and
droughts. It even raises, as an earlier report did, the idea that climate change will worsen violent conflicts and refugee problems and could hinder efforts to grow more food. And ocean acidification, which comes from the added carbon absorbed by oceans, will harm marine life, it says.
Without changes in greenhouse gas emissions, “climate change risks are likely to be high or very high by the end of the 21st century,” the report says. In 2009, countries across the globe set a goal of limiting global warming to about another 2 degrees Fahrenheit above current levels. But the report says
that it is looking more likely that the world will shoot past that point. Limiting warming to that much is possible but would require dramatic and immediate cuts in carbon dioxide pollution. The report says if the world continues to spew greenhouse gases at its accelerating rate, it’s likely
that by mid-century temperatures will increase by about another 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) compared to temperatures from 1986 to 2005. And by the end of the century, that scenario will bring temperatures that are about 6.7 degrees warmer (3.7 degrees Celsius).
PROTEST Continued from Page 1A Assemblyman Don Wagner of Irvine criticized Donnelly directly, saying a sidewalk protest by a member of the Legislature is not an effective strategy. “We do not need to stand on the street shouting the question
when we can attend the lunch and ask the question directly,” Wagner said in a statement. Brown’s lunch invitation was sent to every state lawmaker, and it appeared that a majority from the Assembly and the Senate at-
tended. Reporters were barred from the lunch after the opening remarks, raising questions about whether it violated California’s open meetings law. “This isn’t a policy meeting; it’s a lunch,” said Brown spokes-
man Evan Westrup, when asked why reporters could not attend. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger held a similar event in 2010 that also banned reporters. Later Tuesday, Peña Nieto was scheduled to address a joint-ses-
sion of the Legislature. His visit follows a trip to Mexico by Brown earlier in the summer, during which the governor discussed climate change and trade. Mexico is California’s largest export market.