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US BORDER PATROL
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM
Marijuana bust
Chancellor advocated for students
Anonymous tip leads to arrest in Zapata County By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
An anonymous tip led federal agents to arrest a suspected drug mule and seize 31 marijuana bundles, according to court records obtained Tuesday. Jose Luis Villalba-Cardenas was charged with possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance. U.S. Border Patrol agents seized 359 pounds of marijuana with an estimat-
ed street value of $287,200. The incident took place Sept. 14. That day, Border Patrol agents assigned to Zapata County responded to a tip of a white Ford pickup loaded with marijuana bundles at the intersection of U.S. 83 and Chele Road. Agents said they responded immediately to the area and observed the pickup driving south along U.S. 83. The pickup was speeding but slowed down once agents began following it, according to court documents.
Agents then activated their emergency lights and pulled over the suspected vehicle. Agents said they noticed a marijuana odor when the driver rolled down his window. Authorities then noticed marijuana bundles in the rear seat of the pickup. Identified as the driver, VillalbaCardenas opted not to talk to law enforcement. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
US-MEXICO BORDER
‘AMERICAN PATRIOTS’
Photo by Bob Own/San Antonio Express-News
KC Massey, left, and John Forester patrol the border wall along the Rio Grande River on Wednesday, Sept. 10, in Brownsville, Texas, on property owned by Rusty Monsees.
Armed civilians patrol along Rio Grande By AARON NELSEN SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
CAMERON COUNTY — One recent evening, the sound of a rapid succession of gunshots echoed across a freshly shorn field of cotton near the Rio Grande and carried into the home of Pamela Taylor, who sat on her couch, smiling. The gunfire came from
some heavily armed civilians who call themselves “American Patriots” and set up camp about a month ago on an adjacent ranch to patrol for unauthorized immigrants crossing from Mexico. Taylor, a sprightly octogenarian and English war bride who immigrated decades ago, seethed when the government installed a section of rust-colored border
fence north of her 2-acre plot. Far from slowing illicit traffic, she argued, the fence concentrated the flow of people through her property. Since the Patriots arrived, however, the nightly disturbances have all but disappeared, she said. As the sounds from various caliber guns rang out from the encampment, called Camp Lonestar, Taylor announced plans to host
a barbecue for the men as a token of her appreciation. “We haven’t had a single person come across since they’ve been here,” Taylor said of the men. “It’s nice to get a good night sleep.” If Taylor is resting easy these days, some of her neighbors and law enforcement agencies who patrol the area are troubled by the
See BORDER PAGE 11A
System’s outgoing head forwarded letters to UT president ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — Records show the outgoing chancellor of the University of Texas System has forwarded letters of recommendation from influential people to UT-Austin’s president advocating admission of about 40 students since 2009. The letters obtained by the Austin AmericanStatesman CIGARROA show Francisco Cigarroa forwarded letters to UT-Austin President Bill Powers and would sometimes add handwritten notes as a hint about the prominence of the person making the request. For instance, when a person close to George Sealy, the executive vice president of Sealy & Smith Foundation, a charitable organization that has donated about $800 million to the UT Medical Branch at Galveston over the years was rejected, he appealed to Cigarroa. The Chancellor then forwarded the letter to Powers, with a handwritten note that read “on Sealy Foundation” and added a copy of the response letter to Sealy, with an assurance that the “outstanding young man” would receive “careful consideration.” Cigarroa disavowed the practice in recent months amid questions of possible favoritism, and last month he sent a letter instructing his staff to forward letters the admissions committee,
not to university presidents or deans. The system hired an outside firm to investigate the handling of recommendation letters. A UT System report about letters sent by legislators to Powers found no wrongdoing but also showed that applicants with recommendations were accepted at much higher rates. After that report was released, additional information came to the system’s attention, Cigarroa said. It prompted the decision to conduct an external review. In another case, Cigarroa forwarded a letter of recommendation to Powers noting that the person making the request, John D. Alexander Jr., is on the board of Robert J. Kleberg Jr. & Helen C. Kleberg Foundation, a foundation that gave $4.4 million to the UT System in 2013, according to tax records. Jenny LaCoste-Caputo, a UT System spokeswoman said that “it had been common practice in the past when recommendation letters came to the chancellor’s office to forward those to the institutions, with no expectation that those candidates receive any special consideration.” UT-Austin spokesman Gary Susswein said Powers handled the correspondence the same way he handled letters sent directly to him. “The president has a general policy of forwarding references and recommendations he gets to the Office of Admissions or the appropriate college,” Susswein said.
WEATHER
El Niño to help state out of drought By BETSY BLANEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
LUBBOCK, Texas — El Niño appears to be on its way. The long-awaited weather pattern that brings rain to Texas is forecast to arrive next month, National Weather Service meteorologist Victor Murphy in Fort Worth said. El Niño raises the chances in many parts of the state for abundant rain through February, which would raise lake levels statewide and improve soil moisture, he said. But the region around Wichita Falls along the Oklahoma border is likely to miss out on the wet weather pattern. Parts of that region are in exceptional drought, the worst stage on the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor map, and many nearby are in
extreme drought. The city itself hasn’t fallen out of the two driest categories in about four years. “The farther north you go, the smaller the impact of El Niño,” said state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon, a professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University. The current Texas drought began in October 2010, and 2011 was the state’s driest ever. Subsequent years have not brought enough rain to quench the dryness. There had been no real relief statewide until the past week, when heavy rains from a storm system and Hurricane Odile’s remnants swept across much of the state. “Its’ been a drought-ender in a couple of places, but there’s a
lot of places it’s not been,” Nielsen-Gammon said. When droughts begin, the first symptom is dry soil. The last is lakes drying up. But when drought begins to improve, the first sign is improved soil moisture, which allows more water to run into lakes. That has happened in some parts of the state but not others, with lake levels across the state at 64.1 full on Tuesday. The usual capacity for this time of year is 79 percent. Agriculture officials see the soil moisture levels rising from the recent rains in the Central Gulf Coast, Central Texas, the Rio Grande Valley, South Plains and far West Texas, said Travis Miller, associate director of state
See EL NIÑO PAGE 12A
Photo by Lower Colorado River Authority | AP
This June 4 aerial photograph shows Lake Travis, Texas. El Niño, the weather pattern that brings rain to Texas, is forecast to arrive next month.