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TEXAS SCHOOL FINANCE
Questions remain
Judge quiet on how much money, how to divide it By WILL WEISSERT ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — Pumping an extra $3.4 billion into Texas public schools didn’t convince a judge that the state is adequately funding classrooms. But how much more money it will take — and how those funds should be divvied up — isn’t likely to get sorted anytime soon.
FREE
State District Judge John Dietz ruled Thursday that Texas’ school finance system is unconstitutional, failing to provide adequate funding or to distribute it fairly between rich and poor areas. His latest, 400-page written opinion reaffirmed his verbal decision from last year, when Dietz found that the state’s “Robin Hood” funding formula fails to meet the Texas Consti-
tution’s requirements for an efficient system providing a “general diffusion of knowledge.” This time, Dietz blocked Texas from using portions of its current school finance system, but also put that order on hold until next July. That gives the Legislature, which reconvenes in January, an opportunity to “cure the constitutional deficiencies,” the ruling says.
The case, though, still has a long way to go — and likely won’t be concluded until well after lawmakers have completed the 2015 session. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office, which had argued that the system was flawed but nonetheless constitutional, says it will appeal — and that means the
See SCHOOL FINANCE PAGE 11A
DINOSAURS
TRACKING ANCIENT TIMES
ZAPATA CISD
Nuques to discuss health By JUDITH RAYO THE ZAPATA TIMES
A Zapata County Independent School District official will visit the White House in September to discuss youth’s health. Raul Nuques, ZCISD superintendent, will join the U.S. Fitness, Sports and Nutrition President’s Council on Sept. 15 to participate in the Lets Move! Active School Leadership Roundtable. “I’m excited. It’s an honor,” he said. Nuques will discuss students’ health with Alonzo Mourning, former professional basketball player; Dominique Dawes, retired United States gymnast; Jason Collins, professional basketball center; and Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling. He added ZISD is trying to establish a physical education curriculum though pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. The curriculum would motivate students to become healthier and help fight diseases such as diabetes. “It’s a way to keep kids actively involved and keep them physically fit,” Nuques said. Nuques will be discussing the curriculum with council members to receive feedback. According to fitness.gov, Let’s Move!
See SCHOOL PAGE 12A
FEDERAL COURT
Photo by Marvin Pfeiffer/San Antonio Express-News | AP
Russell Fishbeck, deputy director of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, (from left), Chris Holm, superintendent of Government Canyon State Natural Area, Jennifer Shaffer, Dr. Thomas Adams and Todd McClanahan, region director of Texas Parks and Wildlife, inspect dinosaur tracks.
By MARVIN PFEIFFER SAN ANTONIO — It walked slowly along the tidal flat, looking for something to eat that might have washed up on the shoreline. To its right were the sounds of the surf and the ancestral Gulf of Mexico. To its left was a dense forest. Acrocanthosaurus, a fearsome meat-eating dinosaur 40 feet long and 16 feet tall, was on the move. “It’s the size of Tyrannosaurus rex — not as bulky, but as big. And here it is, walking across the beach 110 million years ago in what is now San Antonio,” said Thomas L. Adams, Ph.D., curator of paleontology and geology at the Witte Museum. It’s a striking discovery: the only publicly known dinosaur tracks in Bexar County. Officials have known about the tracks at Government Canyon State Natural Area for about 10 years, but it wasn’t until this summer that scientists and students began
work to catalog and protect them. Dinosaur tracks might not seem to be as interesting as fossilized bones, but scientists beg to differ. “The hard parts of the animals that are preserved are remains of dead animals,” Adams told the San Antonio Express-News. “They tell you something about a dead animal. “This was made by a living animal. He was moving. He was interacting with his environment. It tells you many, many things. It tells you what the shape of its foot was like because in a skeleton we can’t see that. These are the remains of living animals. They tell you a story.” The Witte is working with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which manages Government Canyon, on a joint project to bring the tracks to the public. Adams and John Koepke, natural area interpreter/volunteer coordinator at Govern-
See DINOSAURS
PAGE 12A
By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Scientists study dinosaur tracks SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
One faces transport charges
Photo by Marvin Pfeiffer/San Antonio Express-News | AP
The best preserved Sauropod track on the lower trackway at Government Canyon State Natural Area measures 29 ½ inches-by-19 ½ inches.
A Zapata woman was arrested Monday accused of transporting nine illegal immigrants for money, according to court records released Friday. Federal agents identified the suspect as Racheal Jimenez, 20. A criminal complaint filed against her Thursday charges her with transporting illegal immigrants with a motor vehicle. She remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing. On Monday, a U.S. Border Patrol agent patrolling Grant Avenue in San Ygnacio observed a silver GMC Yukon get in front of him and accelerated toward the river. Court records state it appeared the Yukon’s driver wanted to get the agent’s attention. As the agent kept driving toward on Grant, he spotted a black GMC Denali heading east on Grant. The Denali appeared to be riding “very low,” according to court documents. While attempting to catch up to the Denali, the vehicle accelerated not before several people
See COURT
PAGE 12A
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Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
Saturday, Aug. 30
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Martin High School 50th Anniversary Reunion dinner and dance. La Posada, St. Austine ball room 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. $100.00 per couple for both events. For more information please Norma Meijia Garcia at 7231646. 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. Calton. Contact Greg Pape/Aurora Gonzales at greg2u4@sbcglobal.net or Eckankar-Texas.org. or call 210-831-7113. Free Bilingual Discussion with booklet included. Live Fest Art and Music Festival. 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. 2919 N. Arkansas. All ages. $3.
Tuesday, Sept. 2 Monthly Birthday Club. 11:30 a.m. Holiday Inn. The honorees will be Viola Garcia, Lydia Linares, Frances Madison, Mercedes Salinas and Olga Jovel. The Hosts are Leonore “Noni” Daves, Marina Luz Bustamante and Teresa Saenz. 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.
Wednesday, Sept.3 Bible study 7 pm every Wednesday at Lighthouse Assembly of God Church, 8731 Belize Dr. For more information contact Ricardo Rangel Jr 956.333.9294 or ricardo_grace@yahoo.com
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. Los Amigos Duplicate Bridge Club will meet at the Laredo Country Club from 1:15 - 5:00 PM. For more information, contact Beverly Cantu at 727-0589.
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.
Saturday, Sept. 6 FUMC Used Book Sale scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. 1220 McClelland Ave. For more information, contact Sue Webber, administrative assistant at 722-1674 or fumc_office@sbcglobal.net.
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. Los Amigos Duplicate Bridge Club will meet at the Laredo Country Club from 1:15 - 5:00 PM. For more information, contact Beverly Cantu at 727-0589.
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.
Photo by Juan Carlos Llorca/file | AP
The Hilltop Women’s Reproductive clinic is photographed in El Paso, on Aug. 11. A federal judge Friday threw out new Texas abortion restrictions that would have effectively closed more than a dozen clinics in the state. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel sided with clinics that sued over one of the most disputed measures of a sweeping anti-abortion bill.
Judge nixes part of law By PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — A federal judge Friday threw out new Texas abortion restrictions that would have effectively closed more than a dozen clinics in the state. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel sided with clinics that sued over one of the most disputed measures of a sweeping anti-abortion bill signed by Republican Gov. Rick Perry in 2013. The ruling stops new restrictions that would have left seven abortion facilities in Texas come Monday. There are currently 19 abortion providers in the state, according to groups challenging the law. “The overall effect of the provisions is to create an impermissible obstacle as applied to all women seeking a previability abortion,” Yeakel wrote in his 21-page ruling. The trial in Texas was the latest battle
over tough new abortion restrictions sweeping across the U.S. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican who is the favorite to become governor next year, vowed to appeal to try to uphold the law. The law would require abortion facilities to meet hospital-level operating standardssupporters say will protect women’s health. Clinics called it a backdoor effort to outlaw abortions, which has been a constitutional right since the Roe v. Wade ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973. “It’s an undue burden for women in Texas — and thankfully today the court agreed,” said Amy Hagstrom Miller, CEO of Whole Woman’s Health, which would have been among the operators affected. “The evidence has been stacking up against the state and against the politicians who so cynically passed these laws in the name of safety.”
2 Guard troops on border getting financial help
Abbott says plastic bag bans are illegal
Man charged with kidnapping in van theft
PHARR — The Texas National Guard says at least two of its troops have requested financial assistance after deployment to the Texas-Mexico border in response to a surge of children pouring illegally into the United States. The National Guard had initially identified 50 soldiers who might need financial help, but only two asked for help.
AUSTIN — Attorney General Greg Abbott says municipal bans on single-use plastic bags are illegal. In a five-page attorney general’s opinion Friday, the Republican gubernatorial nominee said a state law prohibits local governments from prohibiting, restricting or charging a fee, for solid waste management purposes, for “the use of a container or package in a manner not authorized by state law.”
HOUSTON — Houston police say a man accused of stealing a daycare center minivan containing five young children has been charged with kidnapping. Brenton Alex Simmons, 24, has been charged with five counts of kidnapping. He was being held in Harris County jail on $250,000 bond. Jail records did not list an attorney.
Firm’s ex-execs sentenced for fraud
AUSTIN — The former top two executives of an Austin medical device company have received prison sentences for a scheme that defrauded investors out of more than $750 million. Former ArthroCare Corp. chief executive Michael Baker was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison, while former finance chief Michael Gluk drew 10years.
‘Historical racing’ terminals get OK
AUSTIN — Regulators have approved gambling to include racing terminals that look similar to slot machines. The Texas Racing Commission on Friday voted to allow a new form of betting at tracks called historical racing. The machines allow people to bet on races that have happened.
Convicted rapist sentenced to life in prison
EL PASO — An El Paso man convicted of rape has been sentenced to life in prison. Jurors on Thursday sentenced 26-year-old Arturo ValtierraPayan to four life sentences after he was convicted Tuesday of three counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of aggravated robbery. He also was sentenced to 99 years for burglary of a habitation. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION HIV case proves false; porn halt called off LOS ANGELES — The advocacy group for the adult film industry has called off a production moratorium after just a day because a performer’s HIV test turned out to be a false positive. The Free Speech Coalition said in a statement Friday that further testing showed that the porn performer does not have HIV, and tests of the person’s private and on-screen partners also came back negative. The group had called for the industry-wide moratorium on Thursday after the unidentified performer had a test return positive. Such moratoriums aren’t binding but generally bring compliance within the industry.
Slice of Princess Diana’s wedding cake auctioned
LOS ANGELES — A 33-yearold slice of cake from Prince
Today is Saturday, August 30, the 242nd day of 2014. There are 123 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On August 30, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, which was intended to promote private development of nuclear energy. On this date: In 1861, Union Gen. John C. Fremont instituted martial law in Missouri and declared slaves there to be free. (However, Fremont’s emancipation order was countermanded by President Abraham Lincoln). In 1862, Confederate forces won victories against the Union at the Second Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, Virginia, and the Battle of Richmond in Kentucky. In 1905, Ty Cobb made his major-league debut as a player for the Detroit Tigers, hitting a double in his first at-bat in a game against the New York Highlanders. (The Tigers won, 5-3.) In 1945, Gen. Douglas MacArthur arrived in Japan to set up Allied occupation headquarters. In 1963, the “Hot Line” communications link between Washington and Moscow went into operation. In 1967, the Senate confirmed the appointment of Thurgood Marshall as the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1983, Guion S. Bluford Jr. became the first black American astronaut to travel in space as he blasted off aboard the Challenger. In 1984, the space shuttle Discovery was launched on its inaugural flight. In 1986, Soviet authorities arrested Nicholas Daniloff, a correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, as a spy a week after American officials arrested Gennadiy Zakharov, a Soviet employee of the United Nations, on espionage charges in New York. (Both men were later released.) In 1987, a redesigned space shuttle booster, created in the wake of the Challenger disaster, roared into life in its first full-scale test-firing near Brigham City, Utah. In 1989, a federal jury in New York found “hotel queen” Leona Helmsley guilty of income tax evasion, but acquitted her of extortion. (Helmsley ended up serving 18 months behind bars, a month at a halfway house and two months under house arrest.) In 1991, Azerbaijan declared its independence, joining the stampede of republics seeking to secede from the Soviet Union. Today’s Birthdays: Actor Bill Daily is 87. Actress Elizabeth Ashley is 75. Actor Ben Jones is 73. Cartoonist R. Crumb is 71. Olympic gold medal skier Jean-Claude Killy is 71. Actress Peggy Lipton is 67. Comedian Lewis Black is 66. Actor Timothy Bottoms is 63. Actor David Paymer is 60. Jazz musician Gerald Albright is 57. Actor Michael Chiklis is 51. Music producer Robert Clivilles is 50. Actress Michael Michele is 48. Country musician Geoff Firebaugh is 46. Country singer Sherrie Austin is 43. Rock singer-musician Lars Frederiksen (Rancid) is 43. Actress Cameron Diaz is 42. Rock musician Leon Caffrey (Space) is 41. TV personality Lisa Ling is 41. Thought for Today: “Walk on air against your better judgement.” — Seamus Heaney (1939-2013).
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 Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press | AP
Law enforcement and park rangers train to get their certification as a taser instructor during a two-day course in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Gatlinburg, Tenn., on Friday. Charles and Princess Diana’s 1981 wedding has sold at auction for $1,375. The cake, still in its original white and silver presentation box, was sold online Thursday by Nate D. Sanders Auctions of Los Angeles.
With the box was a card stating, “With best wishes from Their Royal Highnesses, the Prince & Princess of Wales.” Auction house spokesman Sam Heller says the buyer is a private collector. — Compiled from AP reports
SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted. The Zapata Times is free. The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500. The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail thezapatatimes.net
State
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
WINNERS HOOK THE BIGGEST FISH
Courtesy photos
The Zapata County Chamber of Commerce has announced the winners of its Annual Back to School Kid’s Fishing Tournament. From left to right, Johnny Lee Vaughn, first place; Tanner Moreno, second place; and Cynthia Vaughn, third place.
Questions arise over National Guard’s needs By BOBBY BLANCHARD AND JULIÁN AGUILAR THE TEXAS TRIBUNE
After media reports in the Rio Grande Valley suggested that some National Guard troops dispatched by Gov. Rick Perry to the border hadn’t received their checks and were unable to pay for basic necessities, Democrats saw an opening. Gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis sent out a press release saying she would visit the Rio Grande Valley on Saturday to deliver food to National Guard troops. “Whether you agree that we need the National Guard or the additional deputy sheriffs that I have previously called for to secure the border, it is shameful that our troops would be sent to keep us safe without basic supplies like food,” Davis said. Perry announced last month that he was sending up to 1,000 National Guard troops to the border to respond to a surge of undocumented immigrants illegally crossing the border, at a cost to the state of about $12 million a month. State Rep. Jose Menedez, DSan Antonio, the chairman of the House Committee on Defense
Photo by Bob Daemmrich | The Texas Tribune
Governor Rick Perry gives a pep talk to National Guard troops training for deployment to the Texas border at Camp Swift on Aug. 13. and Veterans’ Affairs, said that volunteers from the National Guard’s soldier and family support services contacted a food bank on behalf of the Guard units. The food bank was identified as a “resource for soldiers who needed food” or other goods
while they wait on their paychecks, he said, adding that while Guard members are allotted $36 per day for food, they must pay out of pocket until they are paid. “The problem here is that the state is deploying them and not
asking ‘Hey, are you going to be OK until your check comes?’,” he said. On Friday, Perry’s office said the National Guard was fully equipped to assist any soldier who needs help covering their costs.
“Gov. Perry is confident the Guard stands ready to assist any soldier who may need it, regardless of deployment or duty status, so they can meet the needs of their family, or the mission they are performing,” Perry spokeswoman Lucy Nashed said. In a statement, the National Guard said the well-being of its troops is a top priority. “All members supporting the operation are furnished with lodging, meals, transportation and the equipment required to perform their mission,” the National Guard said in a statement. “Service members supporting this operation receive pay, allowance for housing and per diem for meals on the normal state payroll schedule.” For Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Leticia Van de Putte, that was not convincing. She called the deployment “nothing but a political ploy: there is no request from local leaders for this mission, no exit strategy or even a plan to pay for it.” “Today, we learn that our men and women of the Guard have been forced to contact food banks to feed themselves because they haven’t been paid in weeks,” she added. “This is unacceptable.”
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
WORST WEEK IN WASHINGTON
OTHER VIEWS
Residence raises tough questions By CHRIS CILLIZZA THE WASHINGTON POST
When is a house a home? That’s the question Sen. Mary Landrieu (La.) confronted this week when The Washington Post reported that the Democratic incumbent’s listed address in New Orleans is in fact her parents’ home. Landrieu lives, primarily, in Washington — in a $2.5 million house she and her husband, Frank Snellings, built on Capitol Hill in 2002. In a statement on the story, Landrieu said that she has “lived at my home on Prieur Street most of my life and I live there now, when not fulfilling my duties in Washington or serving constituents across the state.” (The home is jointly owned by Landrieu’s mother, Verna, and a partnership that includes Landrieu and her eight siblings.) According to the state’s Election Code, a U.S. senator must be “an inhabitant of Louisiana when elected.” Republicans immediately pounced on the report as evidence that Landrieu, who has been in the Senate since 1996, has lost touch with the state. “Senator Landrieu’s physical address is in Washington, D.C. but more importantly, she votes like a D.C. resident,” said a spokesman for Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy’s Senate campaign. Residency issues have been a problem for sen-
ators seeking re-election over the past few years. Dick Lugar (R) lost a bid for renomination in Indiana, at least in part because of questions about whether he still really lived there. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., struggled in a primary this summer after The New York Times raised questions about how much time he actually spent in the Sunflower State.
Residency issues have been a problem for senators seeking re-election. It’s harder to imagine such a negative impact for Landrieu because of her family’s deep ties to Louisiana; her father, Moon, was a legendary mayor of New Orleans, and her brother Mitch currently holds that job. Still, in a contested campaign in a Republican-leaning state, Landrieu needs everything to go right. And this ain’t that. Mary Landrieu, for the plague on both your houses, you had the worst week in Washington. Congrats, or something. Cillizza covers the White House for The Washington Post and writes The Fix, its politics blog.
EDITORIAL
Citizens with enemy raise questions PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE
The following editorial appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Friday: The death last week of U.S. citizen Douglas McAuthur McCain while fighting for the Islamic State and the reported presence of more than 100 Americans in similar roles on the battlefield in Iraq and Syria raise prickly issues for the U.S. government and the public. The first concern is the normal one for parents and friends of these Americans. They face a loss, from the person’s absence or even death. They also may be perplexed why their loved one abandoned American society to fight alongside a foreign organization opposed to American values, if not to the United States itself. Although this is troubling, the phenomenon of Americans enlisting as soldiers in foreign causes, both good and bad, is not new. Americans went off to fight in World War I before the United States entered that conflict in 1917. The famous Abra-
ham Lincoln Brigade numbered 2,800 and fought against the fascists on the side of Republican Spain in the 1930s. Hundreds of American citizens are enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces at any given time. Two Americans died in the recent Gaza war. It is, in principle, within the powers of the U.S. government to prohibit such activities, but it is not easy to do so without infringing on the fighters’ personal liberties. Borders in these troubled areas are not sharply enforced in any case. The most serious worry of loyal Americans over fellow citizens who are engaged in combat in the Middle East is that they subscribe to ideas and gain military skills that may be used against the United States and in favor of the organizations they supported overseas. Spying on them more over there or back here may help to a degree, but it may just as likely intensify their alienation and stealth in planning, than neutralize them when they come home. It is not an easy problem to solve.
COLUMN
Leaving pedestrians out of Austin’s texting ban Or, why Austin’s texting while driving ban won’t affect those intreped souls who choose to walk from one place to another
“
KEN HERMAN
AUSTIN — Looks like we’re headed for an expanded Austin ordinance disconnecting us from our beloved cellphones while driving. Somehow life will go on. In fact, it might go on longer for some people if this law hits the books. Council action is possible Thursday on the law requiring hands-free devices in order to use cellphones for pretty much any purpose while driving. As proposed, and after some back and forth, the ordinance would cover drivers and bicyclists but not pedestrians. Odd, isn’t it, that we need laws to tell us not to do stuff we know we shouldn’t do. You know you shouldn’t text/yak/web surf/email etc. while driving. You do it, however, because of data you’ve collected, data that show you’ve done it zillions of times and nothing bad happened. Solid data, bad conclusion. So we’re probably headed for an expanded ban that will cover drivers and bicyclists. An effort to expand the ban, or parts of it, to pedestrians got run over en route to the City Coun-
cil. The city’s Pedestrian Advisory Council — everyone’s got a council — got involved because of the possibility of including pedestrians in the ban. That panel on July 8 issued Pedestrian Advisory Council Recommendation 20140707-6B (Wow, how many recommendations has the council had?) that referred to the city’s Distracted Driving Study Group draft recommendations and called for “excluding any language that would apply new regulations to pedestrians.” “The PAC believes the draft language which recommends applying existing ordinances to pedestrians undermines the goal of providing a safe space for pedestrians via the crosswalk,” the PAC said in a letter to the Distracted Driving Study Group. “Pedestrians obeying traffic lights at crosswalks have established the right-of-way and our standard as a city must be to protect these vulnerable road users.” In a July 18 memo, Stevie Greenhouse of the city’s Comprehensive Planning Division argued against including bicyclists and pedestrians in the new ordinance because that “could deter people from choosing those modes and undermining this vision.” The
“vision” is the Imagine Austin blueprint that aims to make the city more “walkable and bikeable.”
Not for all users The memo pushed back against those who say cellphone rules should apply to all users of public thoroughfares. Drivers, Greenhouse wrote, “have the greatest capacity to cause injury (and) are least at risk of being injured” and “should bear increased responsibility to ensure the roadway is safe for everyone.” Also, according to the memo, concerns about distracted pedestrians wandering into streets where they do not have the right of way are “overstated.” “An ordinance that includes distracted walking obscures the true public safety concern: distracted driving disproportionately affects pedestrians and bicyclists,” the memo concluded. “The national data on distracted driving clearly point to drivers as the danger, not people who are distracted while walking or biking.” But bicyclists wound up in the proposed ordinance. In a July 28 memo to the city, Deputy City Manager Michael McDonald said the study group “felt that the city council would be bet-
ter served by a hands-free ordinance for both motor vehicles and bicycles.” The latter was included despite opposition from the city Bicycle Advisory Council. Though I’ve seen it as I bike around town, it’s hard to believe anybody would bike while talking on a phone or texting. Dumb, right? And though it looks like we’re not going to have a ban on texting while walking, please be careful about that. Let’s not give anyone a reason to make another law to ban us from doing something we know we probably shouldn’t do. About the ban The proposed ban, which comes before the Austin City Council on Thursday, would prohibit drivers from using any hand-held electronics while driving. The ban would include cellphones, tablets, laptop computers and hand-held music players or electronic game devices. Drivers could still use their device in an emergency. Cellphones and music players could be used in hands-free mode, and GPS navigation devices would be allowed as long as they are affixed to the car or bicycle. Ken Herman is a columnist for the Austin AmericanStatesman. E-mail: kherman@statesman.com.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY The Zapata Times does not publish anonymous letters. To be published, letters must include the writer’s first and last names as well as a phone number to verify identity. The
phone number IS NOT published; it is used solely to verify identity and to clarify content, if necessary. Identity of the letter writer must be verified before publication. We want to assure our
readers that a letter is written by the person who signs the letter. The Zapata Times does not allow the use of pseudonyms. Letters are edited for style, grammar, length and civility. No name-call-
DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
ing or gratuitous abuse is allowed. Via e-mail, send letters to editorial@lmtonline.com or mail them to Letters to the Editor, 111 Esperanza Drive, Laredo, TX 78041.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
State
6A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014
Pair bash Obama for ‘no strategy’ on Syria By WILL WEISSERT AND NOMAAN MERCHANT ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky pounced Friday on President Barack Obama’s “we don’t have a strategy yet” comments about the violent militant faction attacking cities in Iraq — but other potential Republican 2016 presidential hopefuls laid off as they wowed the crowd at an influential conservative gathering. Both are among four GOP headliners addressing thousands of delegates this weekend in Dallas at the annual summit of Americans for Prosperity, backed by the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers. Also speaking are Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and firebrand Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. “Yesterday, the president admitted he had no strategy to deal with ISIS,” Perry said, drawing hoots and hisses from a packed convention hall. “The deepening chaos in Iraq, Syria, Gaza, and Ukraine is all the clear and compelling evidence the world needs of a president one step behind, lurching from crisis to crisis, always playing catch up.” Paul, meanwhile, fired up the audience by suggesting that Obama’s lack of leadership showed he’d been on the job too long — though he was more-measured in comments off-stage. And Pence and Cruz both ducked chances to ding the White House. Republicans criticizing Obama’s foreign policy is nothing new, but there are deepening divisions within the GOP over how to move forward. The broader debate pits those who favor the GOP’s traditional muscular foreign policy — a
Photo by L.M. Otero | AP
David Hassi, 14, left, plays the XBox game 2014 Just dance with sisters Adriana, center, and Andrea, no last names given, at the Americans for Prosperity gathering Friday, in Dallas. group that includes Perry and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio — and those, like Paul and Cruz, who prefer a smaller international footprint. The so-called isolationist approach plays well with grassroots activists and a warweary public, but worries many Republican officials and donors who prefer an aggressive American role in world affairs. The intra-party divisions largely weren’t much on display at the Americans for Prosperity event, but will become clearer as the crowded group of possible presidential candidates tries to distinguish themselves in the coming months. Obama spoke Thursday, shortly before convening a meeting of his national security advisers to dis-
cuss a range of Pentagon options for confronting the Islamic State group. The U.S. is already striking militant targets in Iraq, and administration officials have said the president was considering similar action in neighboring Syria. “We don’t have a strategy yet,” the president said. “I think that’s not just my assessment, but the assessment of our military, as well. We need to make sure that we’ve got clear plans, that we’re developing them.” Addressing the Dallas gathering Friday, Pence didn’t mention Obama’s comments — and told the Associated Press afterward only: “The president of the United States is the commander of chief of our armed forces. I wouldn’t
want to prejudge what his military advisers counsel.” Speaking to a ballroom later, some of the loudest applause for Paul came when he quipped: “If the president has no strategy, maybe it’s time for a new president.” In an emailed comment, however, Paul elaborated by saying: “If I were President, I would call a joint session of Congress. I would lay out the reasoning of why ISIS is a threat to our national security and seek congressional authorization to destroy ISIS militarily.” Perry, who has in the past clashed publicly with Paul over foreign policy, went far further Friday. “President Obama’s response has been to minimize the threat,
Losing patients to clinics Hospitals complain they’re losing insured patients to urgent care By ALEXA URA THE TEXAS TRIBUNE
Opting to skip the wait at hospital emergency rooms, an increasing number of Texans are choosing to use urgent care centers that are popping up in strip malls and shopping districts. Promoting themselves as cheaper and quicker alternatives to hospital emergency rooms, the clinics cater to patients who need stitches, X-rays of broken bones or treatment of allergic reactions. Some clinics have been around for years, and about 300 open each year across the country. The increasing number of urgent care centers is proving problematic for Texas hospitals. Hospitals say they are competing with the clinics for the same pool of insured Texans, at a time when they are also getting less money to cover the cost of treating uninsured patients. “Competition is generally a good thing, but it needs to be a level playing field,” said John Hawkins, senior vice president for government relations for the Texas Hospital Association. The clinics, he said, are at an advantage because, unlike hospitals, they can treat only patients with insurance or who can pay for the care. The clinics typically
do not accept Medicaid, while hospitals are required to treat every patient in their ERs. Urgent care providers contend that they are expanding access to emergency-like care while helping to alleviate long ER wait times, particularly for patients who are not in life-threatening situations. “Emergency rooms have been great for the country in providing emergency care, but obviously most of us aren’t dealing with true emergencies on a daily basis,” said Dr. Jon L. Belsher, chief medical officer for MedSpring Urgent Care clinics, based in Texas. In a state with six million uninsured residents, unpaid ER bills contribute to the $5 billion in uncompensated costs, the Texas Hospital Association estimates hospitals are left with each year. Hawkins said this legal responsibility was a financial liability for hospitals struggling with low reimbursement rates from the government on top of uncompensated care costs. There are more than 450 hospitals in Texas. The Urgent Care Association of America said 435 urgent care facilities are in Texas. The increased competition comes at a time when hospitals face additional cuts under the Affordable Care Act.
In an attempt to finance an expansion of Medicaid under the health reform law, the federal government is reducing payments to hospitals for uncompensated care. But Texas declined to expand Medicaid to provide health insurance for poor adults, leaving hospitals in the state with less money to serve virtually the same uninsured population. The state Legislature decided last year to help cover uncompensated care by fully financing a pool of Medicaid payments in the state’s 2014-15 budget to reimburse health care providers for care provided to uninsured and Medicaid patients. But Texas hospitals argue that they are seeing little long-term relief because urgent care clinics are attracting an increasing number of insured patients who would have gone to hospitals. While the increase in urgent care centers precedes the Affordable Care Act, clinics like MedSpring have grown rapidly in recent years. Since 2011, MedSpring has opened 12 urgent care centers in Texas. “There is more and more of a need for alternative venues where people can be evaluated and treated,” Belsher said. “And urgent care centers are one of those venues.”
as if his words have the power to make it so,” Perry said. “American leadership is needed now, more than ever. Presidential leadership is needed now, more than ever.” The longest-serving governor in Texas history was indicted this month in Austin on two felony counts related to abusing the power of his office. But Perry has gained favorable attention nationally by dismissing the case as a political ploy. He’s also been cheered in conservative circles for deploying 1,000 National Guard troops to the Texas-Mexico border — and Perry drew his loudest applause by declaring “if Washington won’t secure the border, Texas will.” Cruz doesn’t appear at the Dallas summit until Saturday, and though he’s been a frequent critic of Obama administration foreign policy, spokeswoman Catherine Frazier said he was declining comment until then. None of those addressing the conference mentioned running for president, but Pence joked that he was sympathetic to the idea that the GOP nominee be a governor, and took a subtle dig at ever Texas-proud Perry, adding, “I’m not going to be listening for somebody that says, ‘Send me to Washington and I’ll run the place just like I ran my state.”’ That’s basically Perry’s favorite rallying cry. Then there was Paul, who said the GOP needs to reach out to voting blocs that have long ignored by top conservatives. “We should not dilute what we stand for,” he said. “We need to be boldly for what we are for. But it means we have to reach out to new people.”
Losing $6.5M in fed agreement Former official was a state treasurer ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN ANTONIO — The former treasurer of a Mexican border state has agreed to forfeit $6.5 million to Bexar County, prosecutors in San Antonio said. They allege Hector Javier Villarreal Hernandez accrued the money during his time as treasurer of the Mexican state of Coahuila through kickbacks from companies that received state contracts. Bexar County prosecutor Cliff Herberg said kickbacks also came from a coal mining company that he said was a front for the Zetas drug-trafficking cartel. Authorities contend Villarreal used the money to purchase property in San Antonio and elsewhere. Money was laundered by using limited liability companies to buy various properties and by shifting money through bank accounts in Texas and Bermuda, investigators allege. Villarreal resigned in 2011 after it was discovered Coahuila was nearly $3 billion in debt, the San Antonio Express-News
reports. He’s incarcerated in San Antonio awaiting trial on federal charges claiming financial crimes in the U.S. Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed says the $6.5 million will be split among her office, the Texas attorney general’s office and federal agencies that include the Internal Revenue Service. “It has to do with our desire to keep cartels and to keep any kind of corruption of foreign government from invading our community,” Reed said. Villarreal served as treasurer under then-Gov. Humberto Moreira, a rising star in Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party. His political career was derailed by the debt scandal. Moreira was succeeded by his brother, Ruben, the current governor. The Express-News reported earlier this month that the U.S. government is investigating a network of people with connections to Humberto Moreira who authorities believe are involved in money laundering and drug trafficking in San Antonio.
Voter ID trial begins as elections ramp up By PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — A major election year in Texas has overshadowed an upcoming trial on the fate of the state’s tough new voter ID law, with a judge set to determine whether it safeguards ballot integrity or discriminates against minorities by imposing a mandate that suppresses turnout. U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos in Corpus Christi will begin hearing arguments Tuesday on one of the nation’s most stringent voter ID measures, which Republican Gov. Rick Perry signed into law in 2011. A ruling is unlikely before Election Day, meaning that 13.6 million registered voters in Texas would still produce a photo ID this November. That hasn’t stopped Democrats from wielding the law as a campaign cudgel, particularly Wendy Davis, who has attacked Republican Attorney General
Greg Abbott over his office defending the measure in court. The Texas law requires voters to show one of six kinds of photo ID. A Texas concealed handgun license is valid while a college student’s university ID is not, which opponents say shows Republicans trying to imposes obstacles on voters who typically vote Democrat. The Justice Department is taking an aggressive role in trying to dismantle the law after the U.S. Supreme Court last year threw out a key portion of the federal Voting Rights Act, which had thwarted a flurry of recently passed voter ID measures in conservative states from taking effect. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder made Texas a top target after vowing to go into states to wring out whatever remaining voter protections he could. Minority rights groups that sued Texas over the voter ID law say the Justice Department has added
Photo by Eric Gay/file | AP
An election official checks a voter’s photo identification at an early voting polling site, in Austin, on Feb. 26. muscle — and money — since joining the lawsuit last year. “It’s leveled the playing field,” said Joe Garza, a San Antonio-based attorney for the Mexican American Legislative Caucus. “I think the overall evidence is going to show significant impact on them minority community.”
The trial is expected to last two weeks. Although Gonzales Ramos could issue an immediate ruling from the bench that could affect the November elections, attorneys believe that is unlikely. Court battles over voter ID laws elsewhere have been mixed. In August, a
federal judge in North Carolina denied efforts to stop that state’s newly passed voter ID from being implemented this November. Measures in Alabama and Indiana also remain intact, while one in Wisconsin remains on hold. Attorneys for the state argue that despite months of preparation for trial, there is no evidence that the law was designed to suppress certain voters. “After deposing numerous state legislators and legislative staff members, and after reviewing the record of this case, DOJ is unable to identify any statement made by any Texas legislator or staffer that evinces a desire to harm racial minorities,” the state wrote in a filing this month. Free voter IDs are offered by the state, though one third of Texas’ 254 counties do not have Department of Public Safety stations that can provide the cards, and opponents say voters must still pay for
copies of birth certificates or other documents to obtain the ID. Since the law took effect last summer, the agency has issued 279 voting IDs but reports receiving 1,700 inquiries. Texas has held two elections so far since the law took effect, neither of which resulted in widespread reports of turned-away voters. Following the November 2013 elections, state elections attorneys logged fewer than half the number of complaints as they did in 2011, according to the Texas secretary of state’s office. Turnout in those off-year elections is historically low, and opponents say the real ramifications won’t be seen until November. “Some of the most farreaching implications wouldn’t be fully clear until a huge election,” said Natasha Korgaonkar, an attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. “That’s when we’re going to see a number of voters who are vulnerable.”
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A
PÁGINA 8A
Zfrontera Compensación
SÁBADO 30 DE AGOSTO DE 2014
ESTADO
Agenda en Breve LAREDO
08/30— Estudiantes de TAMIU que integran el Model United Nations Society of South Texas (MUNSST) invitan a la carrera de 5K para recaudar fondos para su viaje a la Conferencia Anual del Mundo Harvard del Modelo de Naciones Unidas (WorldMUN) en Corea del Sur en marzo. Inscripciones inician a las 7:30 a.m. en la Rotonda del Centro Estudiantil de TAMIU. Carrera inicia a las 8:30 a.m. Cuota: 30 dólares. 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. 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. 08/30— ‘Rule Your School’ es una actividad que se llevará a cabo en BooksA-Million, 5300 avenida San Dario, a partir de las 2 p.m. Habrá refrigerios, manualidades, y actividades gratuitas. 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 la proyección de una película acerca de sobrevivientes de Bosnia, de 3:30 p.m. a 5 p.m. en la Sala de Usos Múltiples de la Biblioteca Pública de Laredo, 1120 E. Calton Road. Informes con Hilary Frazier al (956) 795-2400 extensión 2252. 08/30— SOCCER — El equipo de Soccer Femenil de TAMIU recibe a Laredo Heat en un juego exhibición a las 5 p.m. en el Dustdevil Field de TAMIU. Entrada gratuita para estudiantes de la Universidad. 08/30— La generación de 1984 de Martin High School celebrará una reunión por el 30 aniversario de egreso, a las 7 p.m. en Trevi Festivity Center, ubicado en 208 de Shiloh Drive. Evento es semiformal. Costo por persona es de 20 dólares. Para más información puede llamar a Martha Laura Medina al (956) 740-7044 o escribirle a medinalau@yahoo.com.
NUEVO LAREDO, MÉXICO
08/30— Estación Palabra invita a los eventos ‘Bazar de Arte’ a las 10 a.m.; ‘Te Leo a la Una’ a la 1 p.m.; ‘Festival Infantil’ a las 2 p.m.; y, ‘Lectura en Atril’ Casa Tomada, a las 7 p.m. (en el Auditorio). Entrada gratis. 08/30— Compañía de Ballet Laredos, bajo la dirección de Becky Chapa, invita a las audiciones para El Cascanueces 2014, en la Academia de Ballet Becky, Ruiz Cortines 3003. Niñas de 11 a 13 años, de 11 a.m. a 1 p.m.; niñas de 14 años en adelante, de 2 p.m. a 4 p.m. Se requiere poseer amplio conocimiento de ballet clásico. Acudir con leotardo negro, mallas rosas y zapatillas de ballet y/o puntas. 08/31— ‘Rock Fest 2014’ a las 4 p.m. en el Parque Viveros. 08/31— Domingos de Teatro Universitario presenta “Los Charcos de la Ciudad” a las 5 p.m. en el Teatro Lucio Blanco de Casa de la Cultura.
Ex tesorero de Coahuila entregará 6.5 mdd a condado ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN ANTONIO— El ex tesorero del estado mexicano de Coahuila compensará al condado de Bexar, con 6,5 millones de dólares en medio de acusaciones de sobornos, dijeron las autoridades. Según las denuncias, Héctor Javier Villarreal Hernández acumuló esa fortuna cuando era tesorero mediante sobornos de empresas que recibían contratos del estado. El fiscal del condado Cliff Herberg aseguró que también hubo sobornos de una empresa minera de carbón que
en realidad era una fachada del Cártel de los Zetas. Las autoridades sostienen que Villarreal usó el dinero para comprar propiedades en San Antonio y otras ciudades. El dinero fue lavado mediante empresas que compraban las propiedades, y mediante transferencias entre cuentas bancarias en Texas y las Bermudas, según los investigadores. Villarreal renunció en 2011 al descubrirse que Coahuila cargaba con una deuda de casi 3.000 millones de dólares, reportó el diario San Antonio Express-News.
Está en la cárcel en San Antonio, bajo cargos federales de corrupción financiera. La fiscal del condado Susan Reed sostuvo que los 6,5 millones de dólares serán repartidos entre su cartera, la de la Fiscalía General de Texas y diversas agencias federales, inclusive el Servicio de Rentas Internas. El proceso refleja “nuestro deseo de impedir que los cárteles, impedir que cualquier tipo de corrupción de gobiernos extranjeros, invada nuestras comunidades”, expresó Reed. Villarreal fue tesorero del enton-
ces gobernador Humberto Moreira, una figura ascendente en el Partido Revolucionario Institucional. Su trayectoria política fue frustrada por el escándalo sobre la deuda de Coahuila. Moreira fue sucedido por su hermano Rubén, quien ejerce el cargo actualmente. El Express-News había reportado hace unos días que el gobierno estadounidense está investigando una red de individuos con vínculos a Humberto Moreira y de quienes se sospechan estuvieron involucrados en narcotráfico y lavado de dinero en San Antonio.
COMUNIDAD
TORNEO ANUAL DE PESCA
Fotos de cortesía | ZCCC
Superior: La Cámara de Comercio del Condado de Zapata reportó que el Torneo Anual de Pesca Infantil ‘Regreso a la Escuela’, llevado a cabo el 23 de agosto, fue todo un éxito. Representantes informaron que se rompieron récords anteriores. Inferior izquierda: Johnny Lee Vaughn muestra su trofeo de primer lugar, recibido al concluir el evento del Torneo Anual de Pesca Infantil realizado en el Lago Falcón por la Cámara de Comercio del Condado de Zapata. Inferior central: Tanner Moreno, al centro, recibió un trofeo al haber obtenido el segundo lugar durante el Torneo Anual de Pesca Infantil ‘Regreso a Clases’. Inferior derecha: Cynthia Vaughn sonríe tras haber obtenido el trofeo de tercer lugar durante el Torneo Anual de Pesca Infantil que organizó la Cámara de Comercio del Condado de Zapata.
TAMAULIPAS
COLUMNA
Arrestan a 8; aseguran Llegan primeros armas, dinero y drogas vuelos comerciales TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
En un periodo de tres días militares mexicanos lograron el arresto de ocho supuestos delincuentes, el decomiso de más de un millón de pesos, drogas, armas y municiones, tras la ejecución de 11 operativos alrededor del estado de Tamaulipas. Los once operativos, realizados del 26 al 28 de agosto por personal de la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional, sumaron la detención de ocho sospechosos, el decomiso de 1.222.000 pesos, 21 armas largas, dos armas cortas, 223 cargadores, 6.266 cartuchos útiles, nueve artículos, dos granadas, 300 kilos de marihuana y 47 dosis de cocaína. El 26 de agosto, elementos del Ejército Mexicano aseguraron en Madero, México, 35 tambos y bidones de diferentes litros de capacidad, y 9.260 litros de diesel; en Matamoros, México, un hombre fue sorprendido en un poliducto
de Pemex, donde se le aseguraron un vehículo y 220 litros de gasolina; asimismo en Victoria detuvieron a dos personas que se encontraban extorsionando a choferes de camiones públicos y taxistas, y se les aseguraron dos vehículos y 57.600 pesos. Fue el miércoles 27 de agosto que se realizaron siete operativos, el primero de ellos en Reynosa, México, donde se decomisaron 300 kilogramos de marihuana; después en Nuevo Laredo, México, un hombre fue sorprendido en actitud sospechosa a bordo de un vehículo, tras los cual fue detenido para ejecutar una inspección que llevó al descubrimiento de 1.165.390 pesos en efectivo; en el municipio de Díaz Ordaz, se encontró un vehículo con blindaje artesanal, ocho cargadores y 210 cartuchos. Este mismo día, en Reynosa una redada a un inmueble se aseguraron 13 armas largas, una escopeta lanza-granadas, 160
cargadores, 4.610 cartuchos y dos granadas; en la ciudad de Madero militares fueron agredidos por civiles armados. Cuatro fueron detenidos y se aseguró un arma larga, dos armas cortas, dos cargadores, 19 cartuchos y un vehículo. En el municipio de Güémez, también el 27 de agosto, el personal de la Defensa Nacional detuvo a Francisco Lina Sandoval, probable líder de un grupo delincuencial que opera en esa localidad. Fue enviado a la Ciudad de México a disposición de la PGR, junto con 47 dosis de cocaína, cinco cargadores y 97 cartuchos que le encontraron al momento de su detención. Finalmente el 28 de agosto, en el municipio de Río Bravo, personal militar fue agredido por personas armadas que se dieron a la fuga. Sin embargo aseguraron seis armas largas, 38 cargadores, 1.055 cartuchos y dos vehículos.
a Tamaulipas
Este es el primer artículo de una serie de dos partes donde el autor narra inversiones extranjeras del Siglo XX en Tamaulipas; así como los primeros vuelos comerciales que llegaron a la vecina entidad.
POR RAÚL SINENCIO CHÁVEZ ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Con el auge petrolero, a principios del Siglo XX Tamaulipas concentra inversiones extranjeras. Detrás aparecen magnates interesados en nuevo medio de transporte. Ello propicia que la entidad figure entre los destinos tempranos de la aviación comercial en México. A bordo de un biplano francés, logra despegar Alberto Branif de los capitalinos llanos de Balbuena el 8 de enero de 1910. Consigue así el primer vuelo propulsado en nuestro país. Ernesto Pugibet, al que pertenece la empresa cigarrera El Buen Tono, adquiere semejante vehículo. Tras ajustes impuestos por la gran altitud de la
Ciudad de México, el 15 de mayo siguiente Miguel Lebrija al fin lo eleva. Construido por él mismo, con la aeronave “Pachuca” Juan Guillermo Villasana hace lo propio en cielos hidalguenses el mes previo. Entonces presidente de la República, Francisco I. Madero concurre a la Semana de la Aviación, desarrollada en Balbuena el 30 de noviembre de 1911. A la larga, Madero autoriza la compra de dos aeroplanos y comisiona a varios para instruirse en la Escuela de Aviación Moissant en EU, según relata Alberto Sánchez Hernández. De los instruidos forma parte Alberto Salinas Carranza, quien con pequeños aviones impulsa el triunfo carrancista frente a tropas de Francisco Villa en la batalla de El Ébano, cerca de Tamaulipas, al correr 1915. por ahí pasarían los primigenios vuelos comerciales. (Publicado con permiso del autor, según apareciera en La Razón de Tampico)
State
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
Police chief Davis pushes for female votes seeking body camera funds By PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
Houston’s top cop wants $8 million to give 3,500 officers body cams ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — The chief of the largest police force in Texas has moved to equip all of his officers with body cameras. The Houston Chronicle reports that Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland said Thursday he wants $8 million to equip 3,500 officers over a three-year period. He said the recorded encounters between law enforcement officers and residents will improve accountability and transparency. Since the fatal police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, of an unarmed 18year-old, calls have increased for more police officers in general to wear such cameras. McClelland had announced a pilot program last December that fitted 100 officers with the recording devices. That program is still underway and no results have been released. The cameras are roughly the size of a pager and can be clipped to the front of a uniform shirt. The officers would have to manually turn on the devices, which can record for up to four hours. Capt. Mike Skillern, who leads the department’s gang unit and is involved in testing the cameras, said they deliver excellent daytime video and audio but don’t work as well in low light. He said the pilot system has already been used to disprove complaints that
officers were abusive during encounters. “We as a department, and the individual officers, have all been very happy with them,” Skillern said. “It does adjust attitudes on both sides of the camera. When folks realize they’re being videoed, they’re often on their best behavior.” Mayor Annise Parker said the cameras could be useful. “I support expanding the pilot project, and we are attempting to identify an appropriate funding source,” Parker said. The City Council approved a roughly $800 million police department budget this summer that didn’t include the cameras. Houston Police Officers’ Union officials have expressed concerns that an officer could accidently or intentionally fail to activate a camera. Amin Alehashem, director and staff attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project office in Houston, called the proposed camera expansion a “huge victory for transparency.” “Often times a lot of what happens with interactions on the street between an officer and an individual ends up being a ‘he said, she said’ altercation,” Alehashem said. “For the criminal process, it will allow juries in the future to see what happened and make up their mind as far as guilt or innocence of the individual or even the officer,” Alehashem added.
PFLUGERVILLE — With time running out in an underachieving campaign for Texas governor, Democrat Wendy Davis is brandishing a darker and tougher edge in an aggressive courtship of female voters who are essential to her chances of pulling an upset in November. The state senator, whose push to win the support of Texas women has long been symbolized by the bright coral sneakers she wore during a filibuster of abortion restrictions, struck a far different tone in her first statewide TV ad. The spot, funded out of a $27 million campaign trove fortified by national donors, is a shadowy dramatization of a door-todoor vacuum cleaner salesman who raped a Texas mother in the 1990s. Davis then toured rape crisis centers and blasted her Republican opponent, Attorney General Greg Abbott,
for siding against the victim when her lawsuit reached his courtroom when he was DAVIS a judge. “I just remember turning it off because my 11 year old was in the room. I didn’t want to have that conversation right then and there,” said Beth Parli, 44, about the ad after dropping off her kids on their first day of school this week in suburban Austin. Parli typifies the female voter Davis needs to convert. She sipped coffee in a Republican-leaning neighborhood where Davis this month led a block-walk through streets that are miles from Austin’s liberal core in both distance and vibe. Nearby at Red’s Indoor Gun Range, the marquee hawks Mondays as Ladies Day. Despite a national profile, powerhouse fundraising and celebrity backers, Davis must still cobble to-
gether a formula that has eluded Texas Democrats during a 20-year losing streak: Turning out their base, getting a boost from a booming Hispanic population and swaying suburban women to their side. In 2010, Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry won 53 percent of the female vote and was favored nearly 2to-1 among white women over Democratic opponent Bill White. Perry steamrolled to victory by double digits. Republicans don’t see a woman at the top of the Democratic ticket changing the outcome. “As long as Wendy Davis continues to paint women as victims, she will continue to struggle as a candidate,” said Cari Christman, executive director of the Red State Women, a political action committee in Texas. Democrats mocked Christman earlier this year for saying women were “extremely busy” when she was asked about closing gender wage gaps.
She said she started the PAC after watching Davis last summer stand in pink running shoes on the Texas Senate floor and talk for 13 hours to filibuster the proposed abortion limits. In fiercely conservative Texas, Davis hasn’t made reproductive rights a centerpiece of her campaign. She’s instead hammered Abbott for not supporting a Texas version of the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and criticized his office for paying men more than women in similar jobs. Her television spot chastises Abbott for casting a dissenting vote on the Texas Supreme Court in a case brought by a rape victim who won a $160,000 award against the vacuum cleaner company Kirby Co. Abbott’s campaign has said his decision didn’t dispute the liability of the salesman and the Kirby contractor who hired him. Not all females at the top of statewide tickets are magnifying gender so much this election year.
State
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014
McAllen gets 20 years for two drug deaths an El Salvador consulate By DAVE KOLPACK
ASSOCIATED PRESS
It’s expected to serve the 63,000 children who entered South Texas By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
McALLEN — A Texas border city further cemented its position at the center of a surge of Central American immigrants by opening its fourth foreign diplomatic office Friday. McAllen is a far cry from Houston and Dallas, where El Salvador has its other consulates in Texas. But the majority of the 63,000 unaccompanied children who entered the U.S. illegally between October and July crossed near McAllen in this southernmost tip of Texas. Nearly 15,000 of them were from El Salvador. Liduvina Magarin, El Salvador’s vice minister for citizens living abroad, said her government had been planning to open a McAllen office for some time, and she thanked the U.S. government for allowing her country to get the necessary approvals to do so in record time. “We sped it up due to the increase in the arrival of Salvadoran girls, boys and adolescents at this border,” Magarin said. Guatemala opened a consulate here in December 2011 and Honduras opened a consular office — it does not process passports — in May of this year. Mexico has long had a consulate in the city. The 63,000 unaccompanied children who entered the U.S. from October through July, about a quarter of whom were from El
Salvador, was double the number from the same period a year earlier. Another 63,000 families — mothers or fathers with young children — were arrested during that period. The majority came from Central America. Those arrests have slowed, however. Arrests of children traveling alone and children and parents traveling together dropped by about half in July from the previous month and the trend appears to have continued in August. Omar Zamora, a spokesman with the Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley, said Thursday that the agency has about 30 to 40 unaccompanied children in custody each day in recent weeks. That’s down from peak days earlier this summer when there would be as many as 300. The reasons for the drop are unclear, but they could include searing summer temperatures, a U.S.-led media messaging campaign in Central America and efforts to crackdown on illegal immigration in Mexico. No one seems to expect the drop to continue. Magarin said El Salvador understood the flow had slowed, but wanted to establish a permanent presence in McAllen nonetheless. “Hopefully the number doesn’t continue increasing because it doesn’t benefit anyone,” she said. “The best is that our people stay in the country.”
FARGO, N.D. — A Texas man accused of selling synthetic drugs to customers in every state and distributing the chemicals that resulted in the overdose deaths of two teens in the Grand Forks, North Dakota, area was sentenced Thursday to more than 20 years in prison. Charles Carlton, 29, of Katy, Texas, is the 15th and final defendant sentenced in the case that began after 18-year-old Christian Bjerk, of Grand Forks, and 17-year-old Elijah Stai, of Park Rapids, Minnesota, died within a week of each other in June 2012 after ingesting the hallucinogens. Investigators said that Carlton, a self-described connoisseur of hallucinogens, sold the chemicals to Andrew Spofford of Grand Forks, who cooked up the drugs that killed the two teens and sent three other young people to the hospital. Spofford was sentenced earlier to more than 17 years in prison. “It all rests on that initial decision to sell drugs for money,” U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson said before sentencing Carlton to 20 years and 6 months in prison. “It’s as bad as it gets.” Carlton pleaded guilty in March to three counts: conspiracy to distribute controlled substances re-
CARLTON
sulting in serious bodily injury and death, introduction and delivery of a misbranded drug and money laundering. He faced a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole. Carlton’s lawyer, Alexander Reichert, said during Thursday’s hearing that the government wrongly fixated on his client as the “worst actor they had ever seen” when there were others in the conspiracy who were just as culpable and received lesser sentences. Reichert said Carlton agreed to be interviewed for a documentary on synthetic drugs as a public service. “He is desperate to make amends for what he has done,” Reichert said. It wasn’t immediately clear what prison term Reichert had been seeking, and he left without taking questions after the hearing.
This is to serve as notice that Border to Border Communications Inc is in the process of fulfilling compliance requirements for extending an existing approximately 325 foot high guyed communications tower to 490 feet in height and contain the minimum amount of avoidance lighting required by the FAA. The existing tower site is located approximately 7.4 miles N of the intersection of US Hwy 83 & Texas FM 2687 in Zapata, Texas (26-50-47 N Latitude and 99-00-58 W Longitude, referred to as tower number 90147343). Specific information regarding the project is available by contacting Terracon Consultants, Inc. via fax (210) 641-2124 (please refer to tower number) Attn: Julio Aguilar during normal business hours. Any interested party may submit comments by September 30, 2014, regarding the impact of the proposed action on any districts, sites, buildings, structures or objects significant in American history, archaeology, engineering or culture that are listed or determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under National Historic Preservation Act Section 106. L-35
Carlton owned 51 percent of Motion Resources LLC, a former Houston company that allegedly imported controlled substances from Asia and Europe and made hundreds of thousands of dollars by reselling them over the Internet to domestic buyers. It is illegal to sell the chemicals for human consumption. Federal prosecutor Chris Myers said Carlton continued to sell the chemicals when he found out about the two North Dakota deaths and filled out paperwork to change the name of the company. Erickson ordered Carlton to pay back $385,000 in drug proceeds. Myers, who asked for a sentence of 25 years, said afterward he was pleased with the outcome in a case that was complex on “so many different levels,” including dealing with an unknown substance and the wide reach of online sales. He said there’s no way of telling how many customers were hurt by the business. “The response by state, local and federal law enforcement in the case was unbelievable,” Myers said. “From the time these kids were found deceased until search warrants were executed in Texas was approximately two months. They dismantled an international drug trafficking organization and undoubt-
edly saved lives.” Debbie Bjerk, as she has in previous sentencing hearings in the case, showed a video of her son in his football uniform during a parents’ day event eight months before he died. She also put a photo on a big screen showing Christian celebrating what would be his last birthday. He would have turned 21 on Tuesday. “He not only stole the lives of Christian and Elijah, he stole the lives of the other 14 defendants before him,” she said of Carlton. “There are no healing words I can say today that can convey the magnitude of our loss.” Unlike earlier hearings, Debbie Bjerk showed a photo of her son in his casket and Stai on life support at the hospital. The judge said he received 25 letters of support from Carlton’s relatives, friends and co-workers and believed that by most accounts that Carlton was “a devoted husband, good father, excellent employee and worked hard.” When given his chance to speak, Carlton turned to the Bjerk family and apologized. “If I could turn back the hands of time, I would,” he said, fighting back tears. “I have two children of my own, and what happened to your children is my greatest fear as a parent.”
This is to serve as notice that Border to Border Communications Inc is in the process of fulfilling compliance requirements for extending an existing approximately 325 foot high guyed communications tower to 490 feet in height and contain the minimum amount of avoidance lighting required by the FAA. The existing tower site is located approximately 15.7 miles NE of US Hwy 83 on FM 3169 in Zapata, Texas (27-09-52 N Latitude and 99-13-40 W Longitude, referred to as tower number 90147344). Specific information regarding the project is available by contacting Terracon Consultants, Inc. via fax (210) 6412124 (please refer to tower number) Attn: Julio Aguilar during normal business hours. Any interested party may submit comments by September 30, 2014, regarding the impact of the proposed action on any districts, sites, buildings, structures or objects significant in American history, archaeology, engineering or culture that are listed or determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places under National Historic Preservation Act Section 106. L-36
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
THE WEEK IN REVIEW WEEKLY STOCK EXCHANGE HIGHLIGHTS
u
NYSE 11,046.35 +99.01
GAINERS ($2 OR MORE) Name THorton g VeevaSys n Coupons n Express Aeropostl PortglTel Cosan Ltd BurgerKng RallySoft TransocP n
Last Chg 80.44 +17.60 29.97 +5.55 15.28 +2.61 17.34 +2.95 4.19 +.67 2.19 +.35 14.50 +2.31 32.04 +4.93 11.54 +1.73 28.51 +4.20
%Chg +28.0 +22.7 +20.6 +20.5 +19.0 +19.0 +18.9 +18.2 +17.6 +17.3
LOSERS ($2 OR MORE) Name Frontline DirBrzBear XuedaEd DoralFin Movado Qihoo360 CSVInvNG PrUShBraz DxRssaBull Quiksilvr
Last Chg 2.05 -.55 21.27 -4.63 3.66 -.80 6.71 -1.44 37.13 -6.88 87.83 -13.92 3.78 -.60 47.31 -6.69 14.33 -2.01 2.91 -.38
%Chg -21.2 -17.9 -17.9 -17.7 -15.6 -13.7 -13.6 -12.4 -12.3 -11.6
u
NASDAQ 4,580.27 +41.72
GAINERS ($2 OR MORE) Name DigitalAlly ImageSens Ivanhoe rs TubeMgl n CSR plc Trovagne RiceBr wt CatalystPh InterMune SGOCO
Last Chg %Chg 18.66 +10.72 +135.0 3.71 +1.48 +66.4 2.30 +.89 +62.5 13.89 +4.41 +46.5 51.93 +15.18 +41.3 5.84 +1.70 +41.1 2.18 +.62 +39.7 3.20 +.86 +36.8 73.45 +19.65 +36.5 2.42 +.64 +36.0
Vol (00)
Name Last Chg %Chg AdeptTech 8.07 -2.28 -22.0 VaporCp rs 2.10 -.58 -21.6 SungyMo n 8.31 -2.24 -21.2 GloriEngy 6.65 -1.74 -20.7 OneHorizn 2.02 -.43 -17.6 InterCld wt 2.65 -.50 -15.9 Koss 2.30 -.41 -15.1 SmithWes 11.07 -1.91 -14.7 Tuniu n 18.50 -2.79 -13.1 WashFd wt 5.22 -.79 -13.1
Last Chg Name
BkofAm 3332316 16.09 -.04 S&P500ETF2419277200.71+1.52 iShEMkts 1758088 45.06 +.31 Petrobras 1631606 19.57 +2.37 Twitter n 1365945 49.75 +3.77 RadioShk 1248805 1.60 +.92 iShR2K 1138125116.56 +1.35 Vale SA 1129600 13.06 -.68 iShJapan 1074079 11.80 -.12 GenElec 1033543 25.98 -.17
Vol (00)
Volume
2,268 957 425 38 3,279 54 11,209,179,047
Last Chg
Apple Inc s 2262540102.50 +1.18 SiriusXM 1913390 3.63 +.06 Facebook 1238647 74.82 +.25 Intel 1046584 34.92 -.02 PwShs QQQ 972722 99.78 +.73 Microsoft 904532 45.43 +.28 Cisco 844490 24.99 +.34 Yahoo 758369 38.51 +.50 GileadSci 756504107.56 +3.60 InterMune 743224 73.45+19.65
DIARY Advanced Declined New Highs New Lows Total issues Unchanged
STOCK MARKET INDEXES
Dow Jones industrials
75.65
29.83
15.31
-42.44
18.88
Close: 17,098.45 1-week change: 97.23 (0.6%)
MON
TUES
WED
THUR
FRI
17,200 17,000 16,800 16,600
DIARY Advanced Declined New Highs New Lows Total issues Unchanged
Volume
1,732 1,086 225 94 2,880 62 6,843,966,429
52-Week High Low 17,153.80 8,515.04 576.98 11,334.65 4,580.27 2,005.04 1,452.01 21,236.75 1,213.55 6,035.10
16,400
14,719.43 6,237.14 467.93 9,246.89 3,573.57 1,627.47 1,170.62 17,305.21 1,009.00 4,813.26
Name
Last
Dow Jones Industrials 17,098.45 Dow Jones Transportation 8,408.02 Dow Jones Utilities 564.37 NYSE Composite 11,046.35 Nasdaq Composite 4,580.27 S&P 500 2,003.37 S&P MidCap 1,438.18 Wilshire 5000 21,233.89 Russell 2000 1,174.35 Lipper Growth Index 6,035.10
MONEY RATES
16,200
Last
16,000
M
A
M
J
J
A
LOSERS ($2 OR MORE)
MOST ACTIVE ($1 OR MORE) MOST ACTIVE ($1 OR MORE) Name
WEEKLY DOW JONES
STOCKS OF LOCAL INTEREST Name
Ex
Div
Last
Wk Wk YTD Chg %Chg%Chg
Name
Ex
Div
Last
Wk Wk YTD Chg %Chg%Chg
AT&T Inc AEP Apple Inc s BkofAm Caterpillar CCFemsa CmtyHlt ConocoPhil Dillards EmpIca ExxonMbl Facebook FordM GenElec HewlettP HomeDp iShEMkts iShR2K Intel IntlBcsh IBM
NY NY Nasd NY NY NY NY NY NY NY NY Nasd NY NY NY NY NY NY Nasd Nasd NY
1.84 2.00 1.88 .20 2.80 2.17 ... 2.92 .24 ... 2.76 ... .50 .88 .64 1.88 .71 1.48 .90 .50 4.40
34.96 53.70 102.50 16.09 109.07 108.67 54.28 81.22 114.32 7.43 99.46 74.82 17.41 25.98 38.00 93.50 45.06 116.56 34.92 26.36 192.30
+.46 +1.16 +1.18 -.04 +1.76 +.58 +2.14 +.98 +1.23 -.21 +.96 +.25 +.24 -.17 +1.16 +2.47 +.31 +1.35 -.02 +.07 +1.89
Lowes Lubys MetLife MexicoFd Microsoft Modine Penney Petrobras RadioShk S&P500ETF SanchezEn Schlmbrg SearsHldgs SiriusXM SonyCp Twitter n UnionPac s USSteel UnivHlthS WalMart WellsFargo
NY NY NY NY Nasd NY NY NY NY NY NY NY Nasd Nasd NY NY NY NY NY NY NY
.92 ... 1.40 3.07 1.12 ... ... .46 ... 3.58 ... 1.60 ... ... .24 ... 2.00 .20 .40 1.92 1.40
52.51 5.49 54.74 27.99 45.43 14.22 10.80 19.57 1.60 200.71 33.19 109.64 34.80 3.63 19.11 49.75 105.27 38.65 114.44 75.50 51.44
-.02 ... +6.0 +.24 +4.6 -28.9 +1.15 +2.1 +1.5 +.03 +0.1 -4.5 +.28 +0.6 +21.4 +.48 +3.5 +10.9 +.61 +6.0 +18.0 +2.37 +13.8 +42.0 +.92 +135.3 -38.5 +1.52 +0.8 +8.7 +.15 +0.5 +35.4 +.61 +0.6 +21.7 +1.71 +5.2 -12.4 +.06 +1.5 +4.0 +.25 +1.3 +10.5 +3.77 +8.2 -21.8 ... ... +25.3 +.84 +2.2 +31.0 +1.54 +1.4 +40.8 -.23 -0.3 -4.1 +.26 +0.5 +13.3
+1.3 +2.2 +1.2 -0.2 +1.6 +0.5 +4.1 +1.2 +1.1 -2.7 +1.0 +0.3 +1.4 -0.7 +3.1 +2.7 +0.7 +1.2 -0.1 +0.3 +1.0
-.6 +14.9 +27.9 +3.3 +20.1 -10.8 +38.2 +15.0 +17.6 -12.1 -1.7 +36.9 +12.8 -7.3 +35.8 +13.6 +7.8 +1.0 +34.5 ... +2.5
Stock Footnotes: g=Dividends and earnings in Canadian dollars .h= Doe not meet continued- listings tandards lf = Late filing with SEC. n = New in past 52 weeks. pf = Preferred. rs = Stock has undergone a reverse stock split of at least 50 percent within the past year. rt = Right to buy security at a specified price. s = Stock has split by at least 20 percent within the last year. un = Units. vj = In bankruptcy or receivership. wd = When distributed. wi = When issued. wt = Warrants. Mutual Fund Footnotes: b = Fee covering market costs is paid from fund assets. d = Deferred sales charge, or redemption fee. f = front load (sales charges). m = Multiple fees are charged. NA = not available. p = previous day’s net asset value. s = fund split shares during the week. x = fund paid a distribution during the week. Gainers and Losers must be worth at least $2 to be listed in tables at left. Most Actives must be worth at least $1. Volume in hundreds of shares. Source: The Associated Press. Sales figures are unofficial.
Prime Rate Discount Rate Federal Funds Rate Treasuries 3-month 6-month 5-year 10-year 30-year
Wk Wk YTD Chg %Chg %Chg
12-mo %Chg
+97.23 +.57 +3.15 -21.89 -.26 +13.61 +9.12 +1.64 +15.04 +99.01 +.90 +6.21 +41.72 +.92 +9.67 +14.97 +.75 +8.39 +12.25 +.86 +7.12 +179.03 +.85 +7.75 +14.01 +1.21 +.92 +49.38 +.82 +7.96
+15.45 +34.53 +18.10 +19.15 +27.59 +22.68 +21.48 +22.37 +16.17 +24.79
CURRENCIES Pvs Week
3.25 0.75 .00-.25
Last
Pvs Day
3.25 Australia 1.0713 1.0689 0.75 Britain 1.6563 1.6587 .00-.25 Canada 1.0872 1.0852 Euro .7614 .7586 0.03 Japan 104.10 103.67 0.05 Mexico 13.0745 13.0871 1.66 Switzerlnd .9184 .9150 2.40 3.16 British pound expressed in U.S. dollars.
0.03 0.05 1.63 2.35 3.08
All others show dollar in foreign currency.
MUTUAL FUNDS Name
Total Assets Obj ($Mlns) NAV
Alliance Bernstein GlTmtcGA m Columbia ComInfoA m Eaton Vance WldwHealA m Fidelity Select Biotech d Fidelity Select BrokInv d Fidelity Select CommEq d Fidelity Select Computer d Fidelity Select ConsFin d Fidelity Select Electron d Fidelity Select FinSvc d Fidelity Select SoftwCom d Fidelity Select Tech d PIMCO TotRetIs T Rowe Price SciTech Vanguard 500Adml Vanguard HlthCare Vanguard InstIdxI Vanguard TotStIAdm Vanguard TotStIdx Waddell & Reed Adv SciTechA m
WS 580 ST 2,536 SH 919 SH 8,218 SF 609 ST 260 ST 672 SF 147 ST 1,732 SF 1,195 ST 3,010 ST 2,548 CI 143,967 ST 3,098 LB 107,249 SH 10,301 LB 94,348 LB 98,233 LB 112,558 ST 3,554
Total Return/Rank Pct Min Init 4-wk 12-mo 5-year Load Invt
86.96 +1.8 59.69 +4.3 13.39 +5.4 218.90 +11.1 75.49 +2.7 32.37 +0.6 82.03 +1.9 15.57 +0.9 80.47 +4.3 86.55 +2.5 118.00 +0.1 124.37 +2.3 10.99 +0.6 43.60 +4.3 185.46 +1.9 213.46 +2.8 184.26 +1.9 50.58 +2.2 50.56 +2.2 16.66 +1.1
+22.8/A +32.2/A +38.6/A +34.5/B +22.1/A +23.1/D +23.6/D +13.4/E +44.1/A +21.2/B +24.3/D +26.7/C +5.9/C +31.3/B +24.8/B +36.4/B +24.8/B +24.1/B +24.0/B +26.9/C
+8.4/E +14.8/D +18.9/D +29.4/A +10.8/C +12.3/E +17.9/B +14.4/A +17.1/B +9.0/D +21.7/A +18.4/A +5.7/B +17.2/B +16.7/A +20.3/C +16.7/A +17.1/A +16.9/A +19.3/A
4.25 2,500 5.75 2,000 5.75 1,000 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL1,000,000 NL 2,500 NL 10,000 NL 3,000 NL5,000,000 NL 10,000 NL 3,000 5.75 750
CA -Conservative Allocation, CI -Intermediate-Term Bond, ES -Europe Stock, FB -Foreign Large Blend, FG -Foreign LargeGrowth, FV -Foreign Large Value, IH -World Allocation, LB -Large Blend, LG -Large Growth, LV -Large Value, MA -Moderate Allocation, MB -Mid-Cap Blend, MV - MidCap Value, SH -Specialty-heath, WS -World Stock, Total Return: Chng in NAV with dividends reinvested. Rank: How fund performed vs. others with same objective: A is in top 20%, E in bottom 20%. Min Init Invt: Minimum $ needed to invest in fund. Source: Morningstar.
Jersey biz in recovery California to care for mentally ill prisoners By WAYNE PARRY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BELMAR, N.J. — Good weather and greater awareness that the Jersey shore has made huge strides in recovering from Superstorm Sandy helped make the second summer after the storm better than the first, many merchants and elected officials say. Some business owners report profits up 20 to 30 percent this summer compared with last year’s, when the shore was still in the early stages of recovering from the devastating October 2012 storm. “This summer was great,” said Matt Riccelli, who manages Gee Gee’s restaurants on the Manasquan beachfront. “We’re all sad to see it end.” Riccelli said his business was up 20 percent this summer from last, when it was still rebuilding and the beach was much narrower before an offseason replenishment project. Weekend weather was mostly sunny. But he and many others said the biggest factor was getting past the images of Sandy’s destruction. “Sandy is a memory at this point,” Riccelli said. “A lot of the construction is done, and more locals who were displaced last year are back in town this year.” Annie’s Ocean Grill has operated from a truck on the Belmar beachfront the past two summers. This year was definitely better, said cook David Gelman. “People see that the beach is back, the boardwalk is here, and that Sandy is gone,” he said. “There’s a sense that the shore is getting back to normal.” To be sure, there is still work to do. The whine of power saws and the thwack of hammers still resonate on summer afternoons in places like Manasquan, the Ortley Beach section of Toms River, and Mantoloking, where work continues
Inmates are to get special units, as per an agreement with a federal appeals court ruling in April By DON THOMPSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Mel Evans/file | AP
A woman seeks shade under an umbrella along the boardwalk on Memorial Day in Seaside Heights, N.J. on homes wrecked by the storm. But even those places have made sure the beach is ready for visitors. Summer rentals bounced back strongly. Jerry Bennett, a real estate agent with Seashore Agency in Ship Bottom, said his business increased by 30 percent on Long Beach Island. “If you’re driving around LBI, you wouldn’t even realize there was a superstorm here less than two years ago,” he said. “The island is back to normal now and better than ever, because a lot of places got newly renovated. People have gotten the word that there’s not total devastation here.” Dan MacElrevey said rentals at the six motels he manages in the Wildwoods, three beach communities at the southern tip of the state, were up by 8 percent in July and August. At Maui’s Dog House, a hot dog restaurant that serves its food in dog bowls, saw its sales increase this season, partly because it was still rebuilding in early summer 2013. Jenkinson’s Boardwalk in Point Pleasant Beach also said business was noticeably better this year, although it could not give a percentage increase. Spokeswoman Toby Wolf attributed the improvement to good weather, more available rentals and more out-ofstate visitors. “I’ve always seen some New England license plates
here, but this year there seemed to be an abundance of them in the parking lots and driving around the area,” she said. New Jersey charges people for the privilege of walking onto a beach, and beach badge sales were up in many shore towns. Sea Bright Mayor Dina Long said her town, which was pummeled by Sandy, had taken in 50 percent more beach revenue as of Aug. 22 compared with all of summer 2013. Belmar had sold 9,000 more beach badges as of Aug. 24 than it did in the same period last summer, and its beach parking revenue nearly tripled this summer. Ocean City was up by $125,000 at the beginning of August. Tom Rogers said business at his TR’s Food Court in Belmar was about the same this summer as last year — despite raising prices by 3 percent. He said an increase in New Jersey’s minimum wage held down profits and also customers bought fewer soft drinks, which are a big profit-maker for his business. And despite the imminent closing of the casinos, Atlantic City has been having a good summer, with restaurants and nightclubs doing brisk business, said Liza Cartmell, president of the Atlantic City Alliance, the casino-funded agency that promotes the city to other parts of the country.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — State corrections officials on Friday agreed to shift mentally ill inmates into separate specialized housing that will offer them more reatment instead of placing them in the same isolation units as other inmates, a decision that marks a major shift in how the system deals with such prisoners. The agreement filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento comes after a federal judge ruled in April that California’s treatment of mentally ill inmates violates constitutional safeguards against cruel and unusual punishment. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton acted after the release of videos made by correctional officers that showed guards pumping large amounts of pepper spray into the cells of mentally ill inmates, some screaming and delirious. Under the agreement, the state will create separate short- and longterm housing units for about 2,500 mentally ill inmates who prison officials say must be kept in solitary confinement for disciplinary reasons. The agreement calls for them to get more treatment and more time out of their prison cells. “These new policies emphasize treatment while in segregation, increased focus on the lengths of stay in segregation, and a thorough review of an inmate’s risk of decompensation from being housed in
SCHOOL FINANCE matter is headed to the Texas Supreme Court, a process that will likely take months. If the high court eventually upholds the Dietz decision, it will be up to state lawmakers to design an entirely new funding method. But until then, the system will remain unchanged. The case grew out of lawmakers cutting $5.4 billion from public education in 2011, prompting more than 600 school districts responsible for educating threequarters of Texas’ 5 million-plus public school students to sue. They claimed they no longer had sufficient resources to educate students. The lawsuit cited Texas’ school enrollment growth of nearly 80,000 students per year
due to a booming population and the Legislature’s increased demands for standardized testing and lofty curriculum requirements to graduate high school. The districts also said “Robin Hood” mandates that schools in wealthy areas share portions of their income tax revenue with schools in poorer areas was unfair to both. Dietz’s verbal ruling came after months of testimony, but he held off compiling a written ruling that would start the appeals process. Then in the summer of 2013, lawmakers restored more than $3.4 billion to classrooms and slashed the number of standardized tests required for high school graduation from 15 to five.
Dietz then reopened the case in January, but new evidence on the added funding and overhauled graduation standards wasn’t enough to change his mind. School advocates cheered, but acknowledged that little will change for now. “Filing appeals and waiting another year or longer may be convenient for some politicians, but making students wait in a state system that provides roughly $600 less per student than it did six years ago is shameful,” said Noel Candelaria, president of the Texas State Teachers’ Association. When they come back to Austin next year, lawmakers may again vote to increase public
segregation upon release from inpatient care,” the department said in its filing. Corrections spokeswoman Deborah Hoffman said the department would decline further comment. Michael Bien, whose firm sued the state over its treatment of mentally ill inmates, called the state’s decision “a gigantic change” and “a tremendous step forward” in removing mentally ill inmates from the state’s notorious security housing units and administration segregation units. Experts have said the harsh conditions and sensory deprivation of the isolation units can worsen psychiatric conditions. The isolation units at Pelican Bay and other state prisons drew widespread attention in recent years as thousands of inmates statewide temporarily refused prisonissued meals to protest conditions. “There appears to be a recognition after the trial and the judge’s ruling that segregation is a dangerous place and it should be used as little as possible and for as short a time as possible for the mentally ill,” Bien said. Among the changes: Mentally ill inmates will be housed in separate short- and long-term “restricted housing units” instead of existing isolation units. They will get more hours of individual and group therapy and more frequent visits with mental health professionals. They will be let out
of their cells more often for exercise, therapy and for communal time with other inmates. They will have more diversions while they are locked in their cells, including televisions and radios. Inmates deemed too ill for segregation will be diverted to other units with even more mental health treatment. The state will individually review the cases of inmates with long segregation terms to see if the inmates need to be in solitary confinement and to develop a plan to get them back into the general population. Karlton approved the state’s plan less than three hours after it was submitted. The separate long-term facilities are planned at three prisons, while the short-term facilities will be at nine of the state’s 34 prisons. The department could not immediately say how much the shift will cost, but most of the mentally ill inmates will be housed in existing prison segregation units that will be converted to their use. The changes affect more than 30,000 inmates who suffer from severe depression and mental illness that is generally controlled by medication and therapy. About 2,500 inmates in that group are in segregation units on any given day. The most severely mentally ill inmates, who generally need institutional care, already have their own specialized isolation units. The state also agreed to individually review their cases.
Continued from Page 1A school funding. But that wouldn’t answer underlying questions about the way funding is distributed — and any changes to the overall formula aren’t likely until the Texas Supreme Court has had its say. Abbott is running for governor and didn’t argue the case personally. Yet, despite his office appealing, the gubernatorial candidate struck a more conciliatory tone. “Our obligation is to improve education for our children rather than just doubling down on an outdated education system constructed decades ago,” Abbott said. His Democratic opponent, state Sen. Wendy Davis, noted that “Abbott has been in court for years, defending overcrowded
classrooms, teacher layoffs and public-school closings.” Meanwhile, added classroom funding is no sure thing when the Legislature reconvenes. State Sen. Dan Patrick, a Houston Republican who heads the Texas Senate Education Committee and is favored to win the lieutenant governorship in November, noted that “we have spent vast amounts of money toward education and we’re still struggling to see significant improvement.” Bill Hammond, head of the powerful lobbying group the Texas Association of Business, said, “Simply throwing more money at our education system doesn’t make it better.”
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014
SCHOOL Continued from Page 1A is an initiative established by First Lady Michelle Obama to help reduce child obesity. The program encourages educators to create an active environment for students to reach their full potential. The roundtable brings together a selected group of superintendents from across the country to discuss methods to improve health and the well-being of the nation’s youth, a press release states. For more information on the program, visit fitness.gov/participate-inprograms/lets-move/ (Judith Rayo may be reached at 728-2567 or jrayo@lmtonline.com)
COURT
Continued from Page 1A bailed out of the vehicle. But the vehicle eventually stopped. An agent approached the Denali and found one man, a Guatemalan citizen who had entered the country illegally. The driver, a U.S. citizen, was identified as Jimenez, of Zapata. Back up agents who canvassed the area found an additional eight illegal immigrants hiding under a wood frame house. Jimenez allegedly waived her rights to speak to Homeland Security Investigations special agents. She stated she was getting paid $500 for providing her vehicle to transport illegal immigrants. She was tasked with driving the immigrants to Laredo, according to court records. Federal agents said the immigrants used a small boat to cross the Rio Grande near San Ygnacio, the complaint reads. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
DINOSAURS ment Canyon, are heading the research. They and a team of volunteers primarily from UT-San Antonio and San Antonio College have been painstakingly cleaning, measuring and cataloging as many as 200 tracks exposed in Government Canyon Creek, now dry but occasionally filled with water after a heavy rain. There are two main trackways at the site, lying on either side of the Joe Johnston Trail about 2.5 miles from its start near the visitor center. They are accessible by foot, though the trail is rough in places and may prove difficult for some to navigate. The lower trackway, believed to have been created by Acrocanthosaurus, is at the base of a 50-foot cliff created by limestone sediments deposited in the millions of years since the tracks were made. A second trackway, about 18 inches higher, likely was created by Sauroposeidon, a plant-eating dinosaur some 60 feet long and 25 feet tall. It’s in another layer, made as many as several thousands years later.
“You can never tell 100 percent who the track maker was,” Adams said. “You can just make a scientific guess based off the fossils we have that occur at the same time in the same geographic area.” In addition to the Acrocanthosaurus and the Sauroposeidon, the tracks indicate there were many other prehistoric animals traveling in the same area. “To give you an idea where we are in time,” Adams said standing on the lower trackway, “we’re in the Glen Rose formation, 80 feet below the Edwards — Glen Rose contact.” Adams added, “We’re about 110 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous and we’re on a tidal flat. Sea levels have been rising but now they’ve fallen slightly, exposing these large, shallow water carbonate shelves where all this carbonate is being put down, all this limestone is being deposited. “There are periodic low tides coming in every so often and these dinosaurs are taking advantage of that low sea level to walk upon this pretty much unhindered highway.” The surface dried and hardened,
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preserving the Acrocanthosaurus tracks at the site, Adams continued, and then the sea level rose again bringing carbonate back in and depositing new layers of limestone. “Then we have the sea level fall again, same condition for the first tracks and how we have a sauropod walk through here,” Adams said. “It’s pretty much the exact same environment, the same situation, the same events occurring in the same order.” The Witte Museum plans to display the casts made of the Acrocanthosaurus trackway underneath a life-sized skeleton of the animal in its new 3,000-square-foot Dinosaur Gallery, a part of the $60 million second phase of renovations in the “New Witte” expected to be completed in late 2017. Work on that project is expected to start this fall. The casts, as well as other interpretive material, also will be on display at Government Canyon. As will the original tracks. The Witte and the state parks agency are committed to devising methods of “conservation and protection from potential vandalism or
other loss” for the tracks. “Every visitor that comes here is faced with a decision and it’s an important one,” Koepke said. “Do I leave these alone or not? You know the expression ‘pay it forward?’ We’re asking every visitor to pay it forward so that their grandkids, their grandkids’ grandkids can each come here and have the thrill that they’re going to have when they see these.” Adams agreed. “They’ve been there for 110 million years,” said Adams. “They’ve been exposed probably for the last several thousand years. But just within the last 10 years they’re starting to disappear.” “A lot of that has to do with human interaction,” he said. “People have a tendency to speed things up. We know this is going to happen, we can’t avoid it. We have to prepare for it. “These need to be here for generations, so we need to make sure the public understands that here’s this wonderful natural resource in San Antonio that we have,” Adams said. “They’ll be here as long as people respect that.”
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014
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Sports&Outdoors NCAA FOOTBALL: TEXAS LONGHORNS
Strong’s debut
NCAA FOOTBALL
Technology changing how teams prepare By KURT VOIGT ASSOCIATED PRESS
File photo by AP
First-year Texas head coach Charlie Strong will finally get his tenure in Austin underway tonight at 6 p.m. against North Texas. Strong replaced Mack Brown, who was pushed out after 16 seasons leading the Longhorns.
Longhorns start season against Mean Green By JIM VERTUNO ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — For 16 years, Mack Brown led the Texas Longhorns, reviving a dormant program into a powerhouse that won one national championship and played for another. Now it’s Charlie Strong’s turn. Hired away from Louisville when Brown was pushed out of after four sub-par seasons, Strong’s first Longhorns team takes the field Saturday night against North Texas, a bowl team last season that is expected to contend for the Conference USA title. Strong has had eight months to break down and rebuild a program that hasn’t won a Big 12 title since 2009, restore toughness and shed what he called a sense of entitlement that had crept in. He has
kicked players off the team, suspended others and turned to last season’s injured quarterback, David Ash, to lead his offense. “It’s about us putting a ’T’ back into Texas. It’s still about just toughness, it’s about trust, it’s about just being a total team,” Strong said. Brown dragged an injury-riddled team into the final game last season with a chance to the win the conference title, but a 30-10 loss to Baylor essentially shut the door on his Texas career. He was pushed out a week later, but was allowed to coach Texas in the Alamo Bowl, a punchless 30-7 loss to Oregon. Texas turned to Strong, who seemed destined to be a career assistant until finally given his first head-coaching job at Louisville. A 37-16 record over four seasons
there catapulted him to Texas, where he is the first black head coach of a men’s sports program in school history. “There’s going to be a lot of emotion on Saturday, I know that. Just running through the tunnel is going to be something special,” Strong said. Some things to watch when Texas faces North Texas: STRONG Texas fans will be watching everything he does, from how he runs out with the team to whether he knows the words of the song “The Eyes of Texas” when its’ over. Will he smile and clap a lot like Brown did, or does he scowl? At a place like Texas, Strong is under the microscope if he wins and most especially if he loses.
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NCAA FOOTBALL: TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS
Oklahoma cornerback Zack Sanchez had just found out the Sooners would be facing Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Shortly thereafter, his game prep began. On his cell phone. Hours of digital video of his opponent was instantly available to be seen with the swipe of a screen while he walked across campus, lounged at home or chatted with teammates. Film-room study has long had a crucial role in studying an opposing team, but it was tedious and often came with long hours in a dark room. Now, with a phone or tablet, players can search and scan video from almost anywhere. Something that was once a jumbled mess is as simple as a phone app. "Immediate access," Arkansas video director Matthew Engelbert said. "It’s as easy as that today." In Sanchez’s case last season, the Sooners’ cornerback had video of Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron and the Crimson Tide’s wide receivers at his disposal shortly after the bowl announcement — a turnaround time days ahead of what it was like when many coaches began
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Photo by Nati Harnik | AP
John Wirtz is the Chief Product Officer of Hudl, a company that started in 2006 and has about 15,000 clients. It is one of the most popular services for college and NFL teams to review film, which can now be accessed much more quickly and easily than ever before.
NCAA FOOTBALL: TCU HORNED FROGS
Texas Tech faces C. Arkansas at home By BETSY BLANEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
LUBBOCK — Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury named his starting quarterback early and has been impressed with the maturation and confidence of sophomore Davis Webb. So much so that Webb has started overruling the secondyear coach, whose team hosts Central Arkansas of the Football Championship Subdivision on Saturday night. “Davis will wave me off on play calls now if he sees stuff,” Kingsbury said. “He has a better grasp of the offense” than last year. Webb earned the starting role after his MVP performance in the Red Raiders’ Holiday Bowl win that followed five straight losses to close the regular season. Also, two quarterbacks who were battling with Webb last year have moved on — Baker Mayfield, the Big 12’s offensive freshman of the year, went to Oklahoma and Michael Brewer to Virginia Tech. “Just have fun and play my best, because I think my best is pretty good,” Webb said of his goals for the opener.
File photo by Charlie Neibergall | AP
TCU quarterbacks Trevone Boykin (above) and Texas A&M transfer Matt Joeckel will both see playing time tonight, according to head coach Gary Patterson. The Horned Frogs finished a disappointing 4-8 in 2013.
File photo by LM Otero | AP
Now in his second year, Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury has entrusted sophomore Davis Webb under center. Webb packed on a few extra pounds during the offseason. Bears coach Steve Campbell makes his debut against Texas Tech. He left Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College following a 10-year stint that included sharing a national junior
See RAIDERS PAGE 2B
TCU meets Samford in opener ASSOCIATED PRESS
FORT WORTH — TCU coach Gary Patterson looks forward to seeing how the Horned Frogs’ new sped-up offense does in a game. The defensive-minded coach is also a bit guarded, even with his Frogs playing their home season opener Saturday night against FCS playoff team Samford. “For the simple reason we’re
going to play a defense that has eight starters back, that has a secondary that’s been really pretty good,” Patterson said. “They’ve got guys coming back, and they’re big. ... I don’t think this is an easy one.” The Frogs, 4-8 last season with several close losses, have a lot of returning starters on defense as well. But there are drastic changes on offense with new co-coordinators Doug Meacham and Sonny Cumbie, and a
choice of two quarterbacks to be the starter (Trevone Boykin or Texas A&M graduate transfer Matt Joeckel). Patterson said both quarterbacks will play in the opener. Samford, coached by former TCU coach Pat Sullivan, last season made the FCS playoffs for the first time since 1992. “He has a lot of close friends here in Fort Worth,” Patterson
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Zscores
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014
NFL suspends 49ers’ Smith for nine games By JANIE MCCAULEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — San Francisco 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith has been suspended for nine games by the NFL after a series of off-field legal issues. A statement Friday from the league said Smith had violated the NFL’s substance abuse and personal conduct policies. Smith won’t be eligible to return until Nov. 10, the day after the 49ers’ game against the New Orleans Saints. “Our organization has known this decision would come and we have prepared for it as a team,” 49ers general manager Trent Baalke said in a statement. “Aldon has taken responsibility for his actions and has continued to show growth personally and professionally. We will continue to support him, but it is time to put this matter behind us and focus on the season ahead.” The 24-year-old Smith, one of the NFL’s top pass rushers, missed five games last season to undergo treatment at an inpatient facility following his DUI arrest Sept. 20. Just before training camp began last month, the 24-year-old Smith was
File photo by Marcio Jose Sanchez | AP
San Francisco linebacker Aldon Smith picked up a heavy nine-game suspension from the NFL on Friday for violating the league’s substance abuse and personal conduct policies. Smith missed five games last year for treatment after he was arrested for a DUI and made headlines for several off-the-field incidents this offseason. sentenced to serve three years of probation and to spend 11 days with a work crew after he pleaded no contest to drunken driving and weapons charges.
He has repeatedly said he has been sober since his DUI arrest last September. Smith played in a 27-7 home loss to the Colts on Sept. 22, two days after
he was arrested and jailed on suspicion of DUI and marijuana possession. After the game, he publicly apologized for his behavior and later announced
TECH Continued from Page 1B their careers. Maybe it helped: Oklahoma won 4531. "I guess the coaches and film guys were excited, too," Sanchez joked. The process of recording football practices and games — and then using that as a study tool for coaches and players — was once a time-consuming endeavor every bit as awful as splicing film together sounds. Engelbert began his career while a student at Iowa, and his first season — 1989 — was the last year actual film on a reel was used by the Hawkeyes. They switched to video tape a year later, primarily because of the ability to make multiple copies immediately after practice rather than waiting until the next morning for the film to return from the developer. Today, Engelbert leads a staff of 10 — including graduate assistants and students — charged with recording every aspect of the Razorbacks’ practices and games. They have four high-definition cameras at games and, thanks to advances in technology, are able to provide the coaches with video on their iPads as soon as on the way home from a game. "It takes an army of us to do this, almost," Engelbert said. The transition to digital files began in the early 2000s as teams started exchanging video online via transfer programs rather
than snail-mailing game tapes. Companies that specialized in developing efficient, web-based systems for displaying plays and video for schools also began appearing around that same time. Today, Hudl — which is what Sanchez had access to last year — is one of many companies that work with colleges and NFL teams. Others include XOS digital, which is what Arkansas switched to this season, as well as Krossover, DVSport and Webb Electronics, among others. Some even provide video highlights for high school players seeking the attention of college recruiters. Hudl was the brainchild of David Graff, John Wirtz and Brian Kaiser, three friends who met as honor students in the University of Nebraska’s Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management. Graff worked part-time in the school’s sports information department and was well aware of the bulky playbooks the Cornhuskers carried with them, as well as the cumbersome process of recording and distributing videos to coaches and players. The three eventually pitched their new system to then-Nebraska coach Bill Callahan, who quickly fell in love with its ease of use. The Cornhuskers, naturally, were Hudl’s first client — though the
company now has about 15,000 clients and has also developed systems for teams in basketball, soccer, volleyball and a number of other sports. What started as a threeman operation in 2006 has grown to about 200 employees, with net revenue growing from more than $500,000 in 2009 to $22.3 million last year. The practical benefits of the digital technology aren’t limited to eager coaches looking for video as quickly and easily as they can get their hands on it. Players like the ability to study themselves — and their opponents — whenever works best for them. Some use their tablets during a break between classes, while others access the video through e-mail on their computers. Team film sessions are still a part of the daily life, but the learning rarely stops when the lights are turned back on in meeting rooms. Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen has used the technology this preseason by watching as much video of himself and teammates as possible at home on his breaks between practices. "We’ll go to practice, and then by the time we’re done eating and showering after practice, the film’s already emailed," Allen said. "You can go home, lay there and watch film, so you’re not missing anything."
RAIDERS Continued from Page 1B Allen’s brother, Razorbacks backup quarterback Austin Allen, also takes advantage of the software through his iPhone. With a simple touch of the XOS’ ThunderCloud app, Allen has video — with plays broken down into easy-tofind files by whatever search parameter he cares to use. "Sometimes you want to go home and get away from football a little bit, but it’s so nice to have if you get bored and want to start watching film," Allen said. The easy access and information overload isn’t without its potential drawbacks. Having the video available at all times creates a type of work-school conflict similar to that of a business executive tied to his smartphone at home. NCAA rules limit players to 20 hours of athleticrelated activity per week, though no such limit applies to voluntary time such as that spent studying video at home. Razorbacks offensive coordinator Jim Chaney says that balancing the time spent on review with class is one more opportunity for a lesson. "They’re learning to educate themselves on how to balance that ... We understand totally why they’re here, and if it ever comes push to shove, they’re going to go to academics. "There’s no question about who wins that push and shove."
HORNS Continued from Page 1B ASH’S HEAD Ash missed most of last season with concussion symptoms and he faced serious questions at home whether he should continue playing. Ash insists he never seriously considered giving up football. Ash says he’s learning how to avoid hits, but 100,000 fans will be watch to see how he gets up if he gets popped by North Texas. ASH’S TARGETS Ash needs a breakout receiver. Jaxon Shipley who catches a lot of balls but rarely scores touchdowns, has been cleared to play after a training camp hamstring injury. Marcus Johnson displayed big-play ability in 2013 but tapered off the second half of the
season. NORTH TEXAS QB A title contender in Conference USA, the Mean Green has a new quarterback in junior college transfer Josh Greer. He’ll be protected by a veteran offensive line, but how he handles his first start in front of 100,000 fans will likely determine whether North Texas can make a game of it. TEXAS HELMETS Yes, Texas players will have the burnt-orange Longhorn decals on their helmet. Strong created a stir in training camp by saying they had to “earn the right” to wear the school’s multimillion-dollar brand, and said this week they’ve done that.
he would leave for treatment. While the Niners went on a five-game winning streak without him, Smith’s menacing pres-
ence was sorely missed. The team still picked up his 2015 contract option this spring. In his latest run-in with the law, Smith was arrested April 13 at Los Angeles International Airport. Police said Smith was randomly selected for a secondary screening and became uncooperative with the process, telling a TSA agent that he had a bomb. No charges were filed. In November, he pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of illegal possession of an assault weapon, stemming from a June 2012 party at his home. Investigators said several shots were fired, two partygoers were injured and Smith was stabbed. In the subsequent investigation, prosecutors say detectives found five unregistered, illegal weapons in Smith’s house. Last season, Smith finished with 8 1/2 sacks and 34 tackles in 11 games with eight starts. He was initially worked back in slowly, but demonstrated he had stayed in shape while away. Selected seventh overall in the 2011 draft out of Missouri, Smith had a franchise-record 19 1/2 sacks during the 2012 season for the 49ers, who lost to Baltimore in the Super Bowl after that season.
college title with Butler Community College in 2007. He’s never had a losing season. The Red Raiders finished 8-5 last season, while the Bears went 7-5. Central Arkansas’ experience is led by three AllSouthland Conference players: WR Dezmin Lewis, OL Cole Caruthers and DE Jonathan Woodard. “Each possession is key whenever you’re playing a high-powered offense like theirs,” Campbell said. “We have to limit our mistakes and make them make some.” Here are some things to watch Saturday night: TURNOVER TURNAROUND Kingsbury wondered out loud how good the Red Raiders could have been last season without all their turnovers. Webb and Mayfield combined for 18 interceptions and the team lost 15 fumbles. They also averaged 75.2 penalty yards per game. This year “we’ve stepped back a little bit and put the onus on the team,” Kingsbury said. Campbell’s well aware of the stats: “Turnovers will be huge,” he said. YOUTHFUL SECONDARY Campbell sees his receivers as one of the team’s strength and believes they will be able to find success Saturday. (Lewis is their biggest weapon, catching 50 passes for 721 yards last season). Texas Tech defensive backs are short on experience with three sophomores
and a freshman starting. “With our experienced corps of wide receivers, we hope to take advantage of some of their youth,” Campbell said. WEBB PROTECTION Webb weighs 209 pounds, up about 15 pounds from last season, which he says makes him more durable. But with a freshman backup — Patrick Mahomes was last year’s Texas Associated Press Sports Editors football player of the year— who is still getting used to the Red Raiders offense, it’ll be important to keep Webb healthy. Big threat this week? Kingsbury said it’s Central Arkansas DE Jonathan Woodard. RUSHING RED RAIDERS? The Red Raiders prolific pass offense wants to run the ball more this season and they’re counting on DeAndre Washington (485 yards, four TDs last season). Kingsbury wasn’t showing his hand on what the run-pass split might be Saturday. “I don’t have a number or percentage, but just be more confident in our run game leaving this game,” he said. “So hopefully we can get that rolling a little bit.” GOING FOR FIRST FBS WIN Central Arkansas, a Division I member since 2006, hasn’t beaten a Football Bowl Subdivision team in seven tries. The Bears hope to change that Saturday. Since 2009, they’ve lost by a combined 25 points to FBS teams Colorado, Louisiana Tech and Hawaii.
TCU Continued from Page 1B said. “He’s a great man.” Sullivan, TCU’s coach from 199297, won’t get to have a reunion. Doctors advised the coach to not travel to Fort Worth because of complications from neck surgery in April. He expects to be on the sideline for the Sept. 11 home opener. “We have an incredible coaching staff that has done a great job preparing our team for the season opener,” Sullivan said in a statement this week. “I have full confidence that our coaches and student-athletes will make the Samford family proud on Saturday.” Here are a few things to watch when TCU plays a season opener at home for only the fourth time in Patterson’s 14 seasons as head coach: ZERO FOR FIVE Samford has five quarterbacks on its roster — and none has
thrown a pass for the Bulldogs. The only one who has thrown a pass in college is expected starter Michael Eubank, a junior who played in 20 games the past two seasons for Arizona State (38 of 59 passing for 400 yards and four TDs, and seven rushing TDs). Samford’s top returning passer is RB Jeremiaha Gates, who had a 15-yard TD on his only pass last season. FORGETABLE FIRST TCU has won its last 12 home openers. The last opening loss was in 2001, in Patterson’s first home game as head coach, when the Frogs lost in overtime to lower-division team Northwestern State. Patterson has never forgotten that, and certainly won’t let his team overlook Samford. YOUNG PUPS Samford’s combined offensive and defensive depth chart lists 50 players, only 11 of them being se-
niors. Seven of those Bulldogs seniors are listed as starters, four on defense and three on offense. 20-YEAR REUNION The 1994 TCU team coached by Sullivan will be honored at halftime. Those Horned Frogs shared the Southwest Conference championship with four other teams with unbeaten Texas A&M ineligible for the title. They went to TCU’s first bowl in 10 seasons, losing to Virginia in the Independence Bowl. LONE STAR LEADERS Despite going 4-8 last season, TCU still has the best winning percentage since 2005 among Texas’ 10 FBS teams. The Horned Frogs are 88-27 (.765 winning percentage) over the past nine seasons. That is the same number of wins in that span as the Texas Longhorns, but percentage points better than the 88-29 mark (.752).
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014
Dear Heloise: Do you have any hints for DRYING FLOWERS? My daughter’s wedding is coming up, and I would love to save her bouquet for her.–– A Reader in Texas How wonderful to think about this now, rather than later! I do the same, and usually pick out a few flowers from the centerpieces, dry them, then give them to the bride. The easy Heloise way to dry those flowers, is to hang them upside down somewhere that has plenty of air circulation, but is not hot or in contact with direct sunlight. Carefully, I string dental floss around the stems and have a few cup hooks in the ceiling to hang them up on. Depending on the flowers, it may take a week or two, or even a bitlonger for them to dry. If it’s a big bouquet, you should either take it apart or stuff some paper towels in between the flowers to help with air circulation. I’ve also had luck with just putting the bouquet or a dozen roses in a big vase,
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B
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HELOISE
setting them on a table and letting them dry. They keep their vibrant colors, and as long as they stay upright, they come out just fine! –– Heloise P.S.: For only a few flowers (roses are perfect), press them between paper towels or newspaper, using a heavy book. LETTER OF THOUGHT Dear Heloise: I am a senior who recently has given up driving. I use a quad cane and would set it on the empty passenger seat when I drove. As a passenger, the cane remained in the front seat with me. After a sudden stop, the cane hit me. Danger realized. The cane now resides in the rear seat when I am a passenger. It is more trouble to retrieve, but is no longer a lethal flying weapon! –– Gladys in New Hampshire
4B THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 2014