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ZAPATA COUNTY
Five busted Lawmen arrest 5 suspects, seize drugs By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
The narcotics taskforce unit arrested five suspected street level dealers and seized contraband during a four-week period, authorities announced Tuesday. “The Zapata County Sheriff ’s narcotics taskforce unit’s hard work and dedication paid off,” stated Sheriff ’s Office Chief Deputy Raymundo Del
GARCIA
QUIROZ
SALVIDAR
Bosque Jr. Authorities said the first incident occurred Aug. 29. At 11:30 a.m., the narcotics unit said they received consent to
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search a home in the intersection of 16th Street and Roma Avenue.
See NARCOTICS
Courtesy photo
Authorities arrested two suspects and seized 372 in cash and 30.8 grams of crack cocaine from a house in the 800 block of Villa Avenue on Sept. 18.
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HISTORICAL BUILDINGS
ABORTION SERVICES
RESTORATION OBSTACLES
Tough law heads to Supreme Court Legislation has forced most abortion clinics to close By DAVID CRARY AND JUAN CARLOS LLORCA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Bob Owen | San Antonio Express-News
Randi Teaff, office manager for Hoover Construction Co., tries to make out letters on the wall on the second floor of the old Santa Monica Hotel on Aug. 20, in San Antonio. Randall K. Hoover had been hesitant to put money into the battered Santa Monica Hotel, which he’s owned since the late 1990s, because it’s located in a sketchy neighborhood.
Bid to restore blighted properties raises concerns By BENJAMIN OLIVO SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
SAN ANTONIO — Randall K. Hoover had been hesitant to put money into the battered Santa Monica Hotel, which he’s owned since the late 1990s, because it’s located in a sketchy neighborhood.
Though it’s a historic district, Cattleman Square on the near West Side is home to many blighted buildings, including the hollowed-out Santa Monica. Buildings that sit idle until they start to decay are common throughout the downtown area. Many of the structures attract indigents who hang out in front
of them — and sometimes make their way inside the buildings. Soon these properties will be the target of stricter city rules aimed at pressuring their owners to either develop the buildings or clean them up.
See BUILDINGS
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EL PASO — Abortion-rights lawyers are predicting “a showdown” at the U.S. Supreme Court after federal appellate judges allowed full implementation of a law that has closed more than 80 percent of Texas’ abortion clinics. As of Friday, abortion services for many Texas women required a round trip of more than 200 miles — or a border-crossing into Mexico or New Mexico. Operators of some of the affected clinics and their lawyers from the Center for Reproductive Rights vowed to appeal Thursday’s decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans that allows Texas to fully en-
See CLINICS
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EBOLA IN TEXAS
Crew cleans quarantined apartment By DAVID WARREN AND JAMIE STENGLE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — A hazardous-materials crew arrived Friday at a Texas apartment where the U.S. Ebola patient stayed to collect bed sheets and towels used by the infected man before he was hospitalized. The family living in the apartment has been confined to their home under
armed guard while public-health officials monitor them — part of an intense effort to contain the deadly disease before it can get a foothold in the United States. Louise Troh, who shares the apartment with her 13-year-old son and two nephews, said she is tired of being quarantined and wants authorities to decontaminate her home. “Who wants to be locked up?” she said
Thursday. Private security guards and sheriff ’s deputies blocked the entrance to the 300-unit apartment complex. Elsewhere, NBC News reported that an American freelance cameraman working for the network in Liberia has tested positive for the virus and will be flown back to the United States, along with the rest of the news crew. A cleanup crew hired by the county and state paid an initial visit to the
apartment Thursday evening to assess the job. They returned around midday Friday to complete the work, which was expected to take about three hours. The family living there will be allowed to remain in the apartment during the cleaning. Earlier, officials had said they would have to be moved. Items from both the apartment and
See EBOLA
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Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2014
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
SATURDAY, OCT. 4 American Institute of Architects – Laredo Section’s second annual Shoot N’ Cook Sporting Clays Competition and Taco Cook-Off and Michelada Contest. 8 a.m. South Texas Shooting Complex. Registration fees: $150 single shooter, $625 squad of five. Register at aialaredo.org. First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale is from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1220 McClelland Ave. Prices vary from $.25 to $1. 12th annual Pink To Do Breast Cancer Awareness Walk. 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. LCC South, South Zapata Highway. $20 donation, though not required. Contact Elizabeth Benavides at 319-0384. Monthly Autism Ties support group. 10 am to 12 pm. My Sunny Garden Day Rehab. For more information call 255-0713. Dancer vs. Cancer, featuring Zumba jammer Ingrid Kessler. 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Contact Diana Juarez at 319-3100. Trail clean up. 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. LCC Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmental Science Center at the Paso del Indio Nature Trail, located on the north side of the Fort McIntosh Campus American Legion Post 850 meeting. 6:30 p.m. Knights of Columbus home, 1720 Houston St. Veterans interested in joining the new group should attend the meeting and bring a copy of their DD214 and $30 for a full-year membership.
SUNDAY, OCT. 5 5th Annual Blessing of All Animals. From 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. St. Peter’s Plaza (Matamoros Street and Main Avenue). For more information contact Berta “Birdie” Torres at birdtorres@hotmail.com or call Birdie at 286-7866. Pro-life chain. From 2 to 3 p.m. Sidewalks of McPherson Road starting at Hillside Road. Contact Martha E. Miller at mmiller@dioceseoflaredo.org. The Laredo North-side Market. 9 am to 1 pm. at North Central Park. See the association website facebook/laredonorthsidemarket for more information.
MONDAY, OCT. 6 “Conversations with the Sisters” from 6 to 7 p.m. at Lamar Bruni Vergara Education Center at 1000 Mier. Contact Rosanne Palacios at rosanne.palacios@mercy.net.
TUESDAY, OCT. 7 The Alzheimer’s support group will meet at 7 p.m. at Laredo Medical Center. For questions leave a message at 956-693-9991. Planetarium movies. From 5 p.m to 7 p.m. TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium. Contact Claudia Herrera at claudia.herrera@tamiu.edu or visit the website tamiu.edu/planetarium. At 6 p.m. Wonders of the Universe. At 7 p.m. Lamps of Atlantis. Les Ames Monthly meeting. 11:30 a.m. Ramada Inn (Formerly the Holiday Inn). Honoree Magda Sanchez. Hostesses Carmen Santos, Imelda Gonzalez, and Mercedes Salinas .
THURSDAY, OCT. 9 Los Amigos Duplicate Bridge Club will meet at the Laredo Country Club from 1:15 to 5 p.m. For more information, contact Beverly Cantu at 727-0589. “Look Good … Feel Better” program. 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Program teaches beauty techniques to women in active cancer treatment to help them combat appearance-related side effects. Contact Diana Juarez at 3193100. Planetarium movies. From 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium. Contact Claudia Herrera at claudia.herrera@tamiu.edu. Or visit the website www.tamiu.edu/ planetarium. At 6 p.m. Wonders of the Universe. At 7 p.m. Lamps of Atlantis. Retired School Employees Association Health Fair. 11 a.m. Sacrament Parish Hall.
FRIDAY, OCT. 10 25th Reunion for JW Nixon class of 1989. Starts at 8:30 p.m. $25/person at Falcon Lakehouse. Contact Teresa Ramos at teresa_ramos10@yahoo.com. (Submit calendar items at lmtonline.com/calendar/submit or by emailing editorial@lmtonline.com with the event’s name, date and time, location and purpose and contact information for a representative. Items will run as space is available.)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Jonathan Drew/file | AP
In this Aug. 20 photo, protesters gather and hold signs before a hearing on proposed rules for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, oil and gas drilling, in Raleigh, N.C. Two Texas companies that drill for natural gas have signed agreements with New York’s attorney general to release information about the financial risks to investors from hydraulic fracturing.
Drillers to report risks By MICHAEL VIRTANEN ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALBANY, N.Y. — Two Texas companies that drill for natural gas have signed agreements with New York’s attorney general to release information about the financial risks to investors from hydraulic fracturing, a drilling method banned in the state while health officials study its effects. Agreements with EOG Resources Inc. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. require they publicly disclose risks arising from chemical handling, wastewater disposal, effects on drinking water aquifers, regulation and litigation. Both companies said Friday they have no current operations in New York and already disclose much of the information. So-called fracking frees natural gas from dense shale rock a mile underground by injecting high
Relative of ex-Mexican governor indicted CORPUS CHRISTI — A federal grand jury has indicted the brother-in-law of the former governor of Tamaulipas on charges he helped launder money on behalf of the ex-politician. The indictment naming 43year-old Oscar Gomez Guerra was unsealed Friday in Corpus Christi and accuses him of conspiring to launder monetary instruments and aiding and abetting the operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business since 2008. The Justice Department also is seeking to seize Guerra’s $2.7 million Austin home and a second $500,000 home in McAllen.
Woman gets life in 4 Maryland killings UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — A Texas woman convicted in the suburban Maryland shooting deaths of two children, their mother and their aunt has been
volumes of water mixed with chemicals and sand. Opponents fear drilling will contaminate water supplies with either leaked methane or chemicals. "By joining with my office to commit to greater public disclosure of the environmental and financial risks associated with their actions, these companies are setting a strong example for the rest of their industry," Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said. The agreements followed 2011 subpoenas from the attorney general’s office to various drilling companies about their disclosure practices. The subpoenas were issued under New York’s Martin Act, which is used to enforce against securities fraud and gives the office authority to access businesses’ financial records.
sentenced to life in prison. T’keisha Nicole Gilmer was sentenced Friday in Prince George’s County Circuit Court. The 23-year-old pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in 2011 and testified against her boyfriend in the case. He is serving seven life sentences in the August 2010 killings.
Texas A&M researchers assess impact COLLEGE STATION — The Texas A&M Forest Service says forestry-driven and wood-based industries contribute $30.3 billion to the state economy. The service announced on Wednesday the findings of its economic assessment that drew from 2012 data. It says the forest sector supports more than 130,600 jobs and is one of the top 10 manufacturing sectors.
3 injured in South Texas helicopter crash
Department of Public Safety says three men have been injured in a commercial helicopter crash in South Texas. The Victoria Advocate reports the pilot told troopers they were checking pipelines in Refugio County on Thursday when the helicopter lost power and crashed into a field. The male pilot, 48, of West Plains, Missouri, was flown to a Corpus Christi hospital in critical condition. A passenger, 44, was critically injured and also flown to the hospital. A Texas man, 28, was taken to a county hospital and his condition is unclear.
Photographer pleads guilty in porn case TYLER — A photographer whose work included senior portraits for some high school students in East Texas has pleaded guilty to producing child pornography. Todd B. Fleming of McKinney faces up to 30 years in prison. -Compiled from AP reports
WOODSBORO — The Texas
AROUND THE NATION Obama: Immigration change not if, but when WASHINGTON — With frustration mounting, President Barack Obama sought Thursday to quell doubts he’ll use his presidential powers to act on immigration, telling Hispanics and immigration activists it’s "not a question of if but when." At the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s annual gala, Obama warned activists that his eventual actions will spark intense political opposition that could threaten the durability of what he does. He urged Hispanics across the U.S. to use their votes to improve prospects in the future for a legislative fix.
Gulf oil spill recovery projects approved JACKSON, Miss. — Officials approved plans Friday to spend $627 million on 44 projects meant to aid recovery from the 2010 oil
Today is Saturday, Oct. 4, the 277th day of 2014. There are 88 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit. On this date: In 1777, Gen. George Washington’s troops launched an assault on the British at Germantown, Pennsylvania, resulting in heavy American casualties. In 1814, French painter Jean-Francois Millet was born in Normandy. In 1822, the 19th president of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, was born in Delaware, Ohio. In 1931, the comic strip “Dick Tracy,” created by Chester Gould, made its debut. In 1940, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini conferred at Brenner Pass in the Alps. In 1959, the Soviet Union launched Luna 3, a space probe which transmitted images of the far side of the moon. In 1970, rock singer Janis Joplin, 27, was found dead in her Hollywood hotel room. In 1976, agriculture secretary Earl Butz resigned in the wake of a controversy over a joke he’d made about blacks. Triple Crown-winning racehorse Secretariat, suffering a hoof ailment, was humanely destroyed at age 19. Graham Chapman, a founding member of the British comedy group Monty Python, died at age 48. In 1991, 26 nations, including the United States, signed the Madrid Protocol, which imposed a 50-year ban on oil exploration and mining in Antarctica. In 2002, John Walker Lindh, the so-called “American Taliban,” received a 20-year sentence after a sobbing plea for forgiveness before a federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia. In a federal court in Boston, a laughing Richard Reid pleaded guilty to trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes (the British citizen was later sentenced to life in prison). Today’s Birthdays: Country singer Leroy Van Dyke is 85. Actress Felicia Farr is 82. Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Sam Huff is 80. Actor Eddie Applegate is 79. Author Jackie Collins is 77. Author Roy Blount Jr. is 73. Author Anne Rice is 73. Actress Lori Saunders (TV: “Petticoat Junction”) is 73. Baseball Hall of Famer Tony La Russa is 70. Actor Clifton Davis is 69. The former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, is 68. Actress Susan Sarandon is 68. Blues musician Duke Robillard is 66. Playwright Lee Blessing is 65. Actor Armand Assante is 65. Actor Alan Rosenberg is 64. Actor Christoph Waltz is 58. Actor Bill Fagerbakke is 57. Music producer Russell Simmons is 57. Former actress Kyra Schon (Film: “Night of the Living Dead”) is 57. Actresssinger Wendy Makkena is 56. Musician Chris Lowe (The Pet Shop Boys) is 55. Country musician Gregg “Hobie” Hubbard (Sawyer Brown) is 54. Actor David W. Harper is 53. Singer Jon Secada is 53. Actor Liev Schreiber is 47. Actor Abraham Benrubi is 45. Country singer-musician Heidi Newfield is 44. Thought for Today: “Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.” — Seneca the Younger, Roman statesman and philosopher (3 B.C.-A.D 65).
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In this undated photo released by the Detroit Zoo, a handler holds tortoise at the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak, Mich. The zoo is caring for more than 1,000 turtles authorities say are tied to an international smuggling ring. spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but environmentalists say that $58 million will go to an Alabama beachfront hotel they say will hurt rather than help the Gulf. BP PLC provided $1 billion in 2011 as a coastal restoration down payment following the
Deepwater Horizon spill. The money is meant to restore the environment or improve public access to the Gulf. The money is meant to improve the environment or public access. -Compiled from AP reports
SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted. The Zapata Times is free. The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500. The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail thezapatatimes.net
Local
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2014
Laredo Philharmonic opens season Sunday SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
Sunday’s opening of the Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra’s 35th Annual Concert Season begins with the Beethoven Triple at 3 p.m. in the Recital Hall at Texas A&M International University’s Center for the Fine and Performing Arts. The concert will host the world premiere of Trilogy for Organ and Orchestra, composed by Laredo Phil composer-in-residence and TAMIU faculty member Colin Campbell. As a very proficient organist, Campbell was commissioned to write a threepart work in a “modern” take on Baroque style. Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony follows. This, his first symphony, was written to emulate the style of the classical composer Joseph Haydn. It was chosen to give the audience an opportunity to see how “modern” twists on old styles were accomplished approximately a century apart. The final work of Sunday’s program is Beetho-
ven’s Concerto for Piano Trio and Orchestra in C Major. Joining the Laredo Phil are soloists Stephanie Sant’ Ambrogio (violin), James Winn (piano), and Dmitri Atapine (cello). Sant’Ambrogio has been described as a violinist “who most often takes your breath away” by Gramophone Magazine and been praised as an “expressive and passionate chamber musician” by the San Antonio ExpressNews. Winn made his professional debut with the Denver Symphony at the young age of 13 and has performed widely in North America, Europe, and Asia since. He is a well-known specialist in new music and involved in numerous world premieres. Atapine has been described as a cellist with “brilliant technical chops” (Gramophone). He has performed at the Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Chicago Cultural Center, and Spain’s National Auditorium.
‘Dead Man Walking’ author to speak Sister Helen Prejean, author, death penalty abolitionist and human rights advocate is the featured speaker at the upcoming A. R. Sanchez, Sr. Distinguished Lecture Series Tuesday, at 7 p.m. in the TAMIU Center for the Fine and Performing Arts Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public. Sister Prejean has been instrumental in sparking national dialogue on the death penalty and helping to shape the Catholic Church’s newly vigorous opposition to state executions. She travels around the world giving talks about her ministry. She considers herself a Southern storyteller. Since 1984, Prejean has divided her time between educating people about the death penalty and counseling individual death row prisoners.
Feds indict woman in alleged smuggling try By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
A federal grand jury in Laredo indicted a woman Tuesday for allegedly smuggling illegal immigrants for money, state court documents. Brenda Eliza Flores was formally charged with one count of conspiracy to transport undocumented people within the United States, and two counts of transport and attempt to transport undocumented people for financial gain.
Each count has a penalty of up to 10 years in federal prison, the indictment reads. She has arraignment scheduled for 11 a.m. Oct. 9 before U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker. On Sept. 11, U.S. Border Patrol agents said they observed what appeared to be people walking through the Dolores Creek in Zapata County. Zapata agents contacted agents at the Laredo South Station to relay the information. Surveillance was set up along U.S. 83. Agents
then learned that a concerned citizen reported people running out of the brush and getting into a red Ford F-150. Agents said they discovered the suspected vehicle with six immigrants. Identified as the driver, Flores stated that a man identified as Luis “Borrado” allegedly offered her $150 per immigrant to transport the group to the H-E-B in South Laredo. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
Man accused of smuggling pot By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Federal agents detained a man accused of transporting marijuana in Zapata County, according to federal court documents obtained Friday. U.S. Border Patrol agents also seized 652 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $521,600. A criminal complaint filed Wednesday charges Daniel Cardona Perez with possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. The seizure and arrest happened Monday north of San Ygnacio. Agents said they spotted a gray 1999
Chevrolet Silverado exiting La Perla Ranch. An agent noticed “something flapping” in the bed of the pickup and followed the vehicle to get a closer look. The driver would allegedly tap on the brakes repeatedly and swerve in and out of traffic while traveling north on U.S. 83. Records show the agent then activated his unit’s emergency lights to pull over the Silverado. Identified as the driver, Cardona Perez stopped abruptly on the road but did not place the vehicle in park, according court documents. “The (agent) had previous incidents in which
drivers wait for the right time to speed off again and try to evade law enforcement,” the complaint reads. Cardona Perez allegedly accelerated and drove into a construction zone when the agent exited the unit with his narcotics detection dog. Cardona Perez abandoned his vehicle but was apprehended shortly after a foot pursuit. Agents discovered 60 bundles of marijuana. Cardona-Perez requested an attorney before speaking to DEA agents in a post-arrest interview, records show. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
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Zopinion
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2014
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
Abbott and his ad: Did he wheel near cars? AUSTIN — I saw something distressing the other day. Perhaps you’ve seen it, too: a man in a wheelchair next to heavy traffic on a highway overpass. He was talking to nobody in particular but everybody in general. He seemed displeased about something about government. He wasn’t asking for money, but he was asking for a job. The man was well-dressed in a button-down shirt and nice slacks. I found out he is 56 years old and has a $150,000-a-year job. Turns out the guy was Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who’s now running for governor. The scene I saw was in a TV ad in which Abbott rolls into the shot and tells us, “A guy in a wheelchair can move faster than traffic on some roads in Texas.” Folks in our PolitiFactory here at the Austin American-Statesman, depending on the particular guy and particular road, might rate that “mostly true.” In the ad, Abbott says “my plan” will get us new roads without new taxes, fees or tolls. “Elect me and I’ll get Texas moving,” he says as he rolls by the stopped traffic. You, being a discerning consumer of political ads, have some questions. What’s his plan? More roads for free? But paramount is this: Is this guy so dumb that he wheels himself near heavy traffic? There are three possibilities on how the ad was made: Video magic, phony traffic or a pol who intentionally wheeled himself near traffic with a video crew capturing the moment. However it was done, it appears the ad was shot in Austin because the Capitol is seen in the opening wide shot in which Abbott does not appear. Appearances, like political ads, can be deceiving. We’ll get back to that. The truth is Abbott was wheeling by artificial traffic created especially for the ad, which is of the based-on-a-true-story genre. So you can stop thinking about the possibility that Abbott caused a real traffic jam by wheeling near it. Matt Hirsch, the campaign’s communications director, says the ad was shot on a July weekday morning “alongside a highway overpass near
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KEN HERMAN
the Dallas Convention Center that is rarely used due to local construction.” “The filming did not extend into any traffic lanes, which were left completely open and undisrupted throughout filming,” he assures us. A state permit was secured for the shoot (contingent on a guarantee it wouldn’t disrupt traffic) and an off-duty Dallas cop was hired for security. “The stopped cars you see in the shot were local volunteers,” Hirsch says, noting that the highway below is Interstate 30 near downtown Dallas. It’s interesting to note that the traffic on the highway below is moving along nicely, unlike the phony traffic jam above. “To give you even further background on this, there’s a different version of the ad running in the four major markets,” Hirsch says. “The opening shot of each ad features the city skyline and actual traffic from each city before it cuts to the AG speaking about his plan.” So this is not video magic, and it is not a man wheeling himself precariously near real traffic potentially caused by the fact that a man is wheeling himself precariously near it. What this is is a man who paid somebody to film him wheeling near pretend traffic so he can make a point to help him become governor. I guess that’s OK, and it’s certainly better than finding out he really was in or creating real traffic. We’re heading into heavy-rotation political ad season. Let me know if you see any that need some explaining. I’m not talking about whether a political ad stretches the truth, which is the whole point of political ads. I’m more interested in weirdness, like a guy in a wheelchair near traffic, or the entertainingly/annoyingly low-productionvalue TV ad for Austin City Council candidate Don Zimmerman. Ken Herman is a columnist for the Austin American-Statesman. Email: 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-calling 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.
EDITORIAL
Ebola: Be careful, not scared CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Federal officials announced Tuesday that a passenger who flew from Liberia to Dallas last month had become the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. On Wednesday came word that health officials are monitoring several more people for signs of illness, including five school children who had contact with the first Ebola patient. Yes, that is frightening. Ebola is deadly. There is no cure or vaccine. The Dallas case — or cases — probably won’t be the last. This lethal virus has swept through West Africa and an ocean’s expanse is no shield in the age of jetliners. Scary as it is, however, this unfolding story also should reassure Americans how swiftly and effectively U.S. public health workers can move to contain a deadly virus: Workers are tracking those who came in contact with the patient, who was diagnosed with Ebola several days after he arrived in Texas to visit family members. The patient
showed no signs of the disease — fever, nausea and vomiting — before he boarded the plane or while he was en route. There’s “zero chance” that he infected other passengers, says Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, because he showed no signs of infection on the flight. Unlike other viruses, Ebola spreads mainly via bodily fluids, not through the air. America’s public health system has had plenty of time to prepare for this threat. Medical and hospital workers have drilled for wide-scale medical disasters since 9/11. They’re adept at identifying and isolating victims, tracking others who may have been exposed and educating everyone about commonsense measures they can take to stay healthy. That’s why it is difficult for an epidemic to take hold in this country. Every few years brings another scare: In 2009, it was the H1N1 flu. Before that, the viral respiratory disease known as SARS. Each threat provokes an overwhelming medical immune
response — legions of doctors, nurses, researchers and outreach workers target the intruder. Treatments are refined. Drugs are marshaled. Vaccines, if available, are rushed to clinics. So how can Americans reduce their risk of exposure? You’ve heard this advice before. From your mom. A thousand times. Wash your hands. Don’t touch your face. (The average adult touches his nose, mouth or eyes about 16 times an hour, researchers say.) University of Arizona researchers showed how quickly a virus can race through the office: A door contaminated with a virus spreads the germ to about half of the employees in an office in four hours, The Wall Street Journal reports. “The hand is quicker than the sneeze,” a microbiology professor told the paper. Ebola doesn’t infect people through the air, but it remains a swift foe. The virus has burned through West Africa, killing thousands. Left unchecked it could infect more than 1 million people in that region by January, CDC offi-
cials recently predicted. But that is the worst-case scenario. It needn’t be prophetic. Four American doctors and aid workers airlifted out of Africa to receive treatment in the U.S. have survived. That’s an excellent batting average against a virus that is lethal in Africa about half the time. The Dallas patient’s condition has been upgraded to serious but stable from critical. The CDC also reports that quick, effective action by doctors and other health workers in Nigeria has apparently brought an outbreak under control, with no new cases reported in more than 21 days. At the same time, global efforts to battle the virus have picked up steam. President Barack Obama has wisely pledged more American aid to help build hospitals in West Africa. Other donors around the world need to step up, too. Ebola in Dallas can quickly be followed by Ebola in Moscow, Riyadh, Paris, Beijing, Rome or Sao Paulo. The Ebola epidemic will end. All of us can help determine when.
WORST WEEK IN WASHINGTON
Secret Service head had bad week By CHRIS CILLIZZA THE WASHINGTON POST
Julia Pierson is going to Disney World! OK, that might not be true. But Pierson, who resigned as the head of the Secret Service on Wednesday after a series of anyone-of-these-could-be-a-fireable-offense offenses, did work for the Mouse as a teenager and said this year that she wanted to make the Secret Service’s security measures “more like Disney World. We need to be more friendly, inviting.” She probably didn’t
mean “inviting” in the sense of letting a guy jump over the fence that surrounds the White House, get into the mansion and run all the way to the East Room — with a knife! — before being subdued by an off-duty officer.
Not a backfire She definitely didn’t mean initially discounting shots fired at the second floor of the White House as the backfires of a nearby truck, as agents did in 2011. Seven bullets struck the
Obamas’ living quarters. Pierson was chief of staff to the Secret Service director at the time. And “inviting” sure doesn’t mean letting an armed security contractor with three prior convictions for assault and battery get on an elevator with President Obama during a visit to Atlanta last month. And then not telling Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson or the president about it. My favorite part of Pierson’s saga? After stepping down, she blamed the media.
“The media has made it clear that this is what they expected,” she told Bloomberg News of her resignation. Of course! The media was responsible for all those lapses. Julia Pierson, for inviting all reasonable people to conclude that you needed to go, 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.
CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
Business
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
Dow jumps 208 on job gains; gold, bonds fall By BERNARD CONDON ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Investors think the U.S. economy is at a perfect temperature for stocks: not too hot, not too cold. The latest evidence came Friday in a jobs report that showed a pickup in hiring last month that could mean more people with paychecks, more spending and higher corporate profits. But the report also showed that wages were stagnant, which cheered investors worried anything pushing up inflation could prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates soon and kill the rally. All major stock indexes rose sharply. The Dow Jones industrial average closed 208 points higher. The rally started from the open and swept up nearly every kind of stock, small and large, and in almost every industry. All 10 sectors in the Standard and Poor’s 500 index rose. “The solid payroll report is great for economic growth and stock prices,” said Anastasia Amoroso, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Funds. The good news pushed up the value of the dollar against other major currencies to the highest level in more than four years. U.S. bonds and gold fell as investors fled traditional “safe haven” assets. U.S. employers added 248,000 jobs in September, beating market expectations of a 215,000, the Labor Department reported. The hiring helped drive down the unemployment rate to 5.9 percent, the lowest since July 2008. Hiring in July and August was also stronger than initially estimated. Still, average hourly wages fell a penny last month, the Labor Department reported. Wages are now up just 2 percent in the past year. “Wage inflation essentially came in zero, and that
tells you that the Fed won’t be in any rush to raise interest rates,” said James Abate, managing director of Centre Asset Management. The Dow rose 208.64, or 1.2 percent, to 17,009.69. It was the third 200-point move in a little over a week as markets turn volatile. The S&P 500 index climbed 21.73 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,967.90. The Nasdaq composite rose 45.43 points, or 1 percent, to 4,475.62. Earlier in the week, investors were rattled by a sharp drop in small-company stocks, pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, and falling oil prices that hurt energy companies, big components in stock indexes. Even with the gains on Friday, all three indexes ended more than half a percent lower for the week, adding to losses last week. Many economists predict
Photo by Richard Drew | AP
Fairmount Santrol founder William Conway, CEO and President Jenniffer Deckard, and company director Charles Fowler, second left to right, celebrate as their IPO begins trading, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Friday. Specialist John Alatzas is at left. the Fed will wait until mid-2015 to start raising rates, then proceed with further hikes slowly. The central bank’s low-rate polices have helped keep borrowing rates low for consumers and businesses. The good news in the U.S. contrasts with troubling signs in other countries.
The Chinese economy is slowing, and the 18-country eurozone is teetering on another recession. On Thursday, the European Central Bank disappointed investors by not announcing details of stimulus measures. All major European indexes ended the week sharply lower. The prospect of a two-
speed global economy drove up the value of the U.S. dollar on Friday. The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the dollar against six other major currencies, surged 1.3 percent. The euro fell 1.2 percent to $1.2515 while the dollar gained 1.2 percent to 109.76 yen. Investors will get a better sense of how much the improving economy is helping company profits next week when aluminum maker Alcoa kicks off the unofficial start to corporate earnings season. Financial analysts expect earnings per share for the S&P 500 to rise 6.8 percent from a year earlier, then surge 12 percent the next quarter and for all of next year. The S&P 500 seems reasonably valued, if you believe the earnings forecasts. The index is trading at 15.6 times its expected earnings per share over the next 12
months. Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.27 to close at $89.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its lowest level since April of 2013. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, fell $1.11 to close at $92.31 on the ICE Futures exchange in London. In other energy futures trading on the NYMEX, wholesale gasoline fell 3 cents to close at $2.379 a gallon, heating oil fell 2.2 cents to close at $2.616 a gallon and natural gas rose 10.7 cents to close at $4.039 per 1,000 cubic feet. Gold fell $22.20, or 1.8 percent, to $1,192.90 an ounce. Silver fell 22 cents to $16.83 an ounce and copper was flat at $3 a pound. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.44 percent from 2.43 percent on Thursday.
Nation
6A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2014
Pension idea nixed By RANDALL CHASE ASSOCIATEDE PRESS
Photo by Damian Dovarganes | AP
Former Beverly Hills Ambassador Gregg Donovan, now in Hollywood, greets tourists outside the TCL Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, on Thursday.
Triple-digit fall temps roasting California By JOHN ROGERS ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — While people in some other parts of the country are watching the leaves turn a kaleidoscope of fall colors as they contemplate unpacking winter clothes, California is roasting under an autumn heat wave. As high temperatures were ranging from the low 100s in Southern California to the 90s in the normally more temperate San Francisco Bay Area on Friday, National Weather Service forecasters warned it was just a warm-up for what lies ahead this weekend. “We’re looking for it to peak tomorrow,” said Stuart Seto of the National Weather Service, adding that some high-temperature records could fall Saturday. In the coastal city of Santa Maria, three hours north of Los Angeles, Friday’s 100-degree reading tied a record for the date set in 1985. So why is it so hot, anyway? Blame the Santa Ana Winds, those chameleonlike gusts that start out icy cold in the Great Basin region of Utah and Nevada, but by the time they race across deserts and down mountain canyons and arrive in Southern California they are hot as ... well, you know. How does this compare to
other areas? Usually during a heat wave Southern Californians can tell themselves, “Well, it’s hotter in Arizona and Death Valley.” Not this time. By mid-afternoon Friday, it was 99 in Long Beach, the same as the temperature in Death Valley, California, which calls itself the hottest place on the planet. It was 95 in Phoenix. So just how unusual is this? Unusual but not unprecedented. Although temperatures for this time of year are normally in the high 70s, it reached 108 in Los Angeles on Oct. 3, 1987, and again the next day. “It’s hot but not record-breaking hot,” says Seto. Not yet, anyway. LA’s Woodland Hills neighborhood could surpass 108 degrees Saturday. How are authorities responding? Los Angeles County is opening dozens of cooling centers at places like libraries and community centers. The Long Beach Unified School District sent its 76,000 students home an hour early on Thursday and Friday to get them out of class before the hottest part of the day. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is urging people to set thermostats at 78 degrees. With wildfire danger high across much of the state, the Los Angeles County Fire Department has beefed up many of its
firefighting crews from three to four people and stationed extra equipment in strategic locations. “We talk about staying hydrated starting early in the day and staying ready to go,” Inspector Rick Flores said. How are some people handling the heat? Perry Mann, who dresses as a pirate and poses for pictures with tourists on Hollywood Boulevard may have come up with the most innovative solution. On Thursday he packed his body with frozen water bottles and greeted people by telling them, “I’m frozen in ice from the Antarctic.” When the ice melted, he drank it. When it ran out, he went home. While California bakes, what is going on elsewhere? As Los Angeles County lifeguards prepared for hundreds of thousands of people to storm the beaches — “It should be like a summer weekend,” said Chief Lifeguard Steve Moseley — New York’s Fall Foliage report predicted that autumn leaves in the Adirondack and Catskill mountains could be at their most spectacular this weekend. Meanwhile, in Madison, Wisconsin, temperatures were in freefall. They dropped from highs in the 80s last week to the 50s on Friday, with a forecast for sleet or snow by Saturday.
DOVER, Del. — A Delaware bankruptcy judge denied on Friday a request by Trump Entertainment Resorts to be relieved of its pension obligations under a collective bargaining agreement with union workers at the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. After hearing arguments and testimony from company witnesses a day earlier, Judge Kevin Gross said Friday in a teleconference with attorneys that the company had not shown that it would suffer irreparable harm if the judge did not grant the request. Gross noted that he will hold a hearing on Oct. 14 on Trump Entertainment’s request for permission to terminate the labor agreement entirely, indicating that the pension issue can be decided then. “The hearing on October 14th will not be time wasted,” said Gross, adding that there is no provision in the bankruptcy code authorizing him to allow a debtor to permanently terminate a collective bargaining agreement except in its entirety. While the bankruptcy code does allow a court to modify provisions of a labor agreement, such changes can be done only on an interim basis. Gross did not rule on arguments by attorneys for the union and its national retirement fund that he has no jurisdiction to rule on Trump Entertainment’s request to terminate the bargaining agreement because it technically doesn’t exist. The union attorneys note that the agreement expired Sept. 14 and its terms remain in effect pursuant to the National Labor Relations Act pending negotiations on a new contract. That gives the National Labor Relations Board authority over the issue, they argue.
Photo by Mel Evans/file | AP
People walk on The Boardwalk past Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J., on July 23. Struggling with cashflow problems amid competition from new casinos in neighboring states, Trump Entertainment sought bankruptcy protection last month, threatening to close the Taj Mahal in mid-November and lay off almost 3,000 workers, including more than 1,100 covered by the union, if it didn’t win labor concessions. Billionaire Carl Icahn, the company’s senior secured lender, has tentatively agreed to Trump Entertainment’s request to convert his $288 million secured debt into a 100 percent ownership stake in a reorganized company, and to inject $100 million in equity to keep the company going, But that offer is contingent on obtaining significant concessions from the union and steep tax breaks from local and state officials in New Jersey. Trump Entertainment attorneys have said the company must decide in the next couple of weeks whether it will have to abandon reorganization efforts and close the Taj Mahal, which could become
the fifth Atlantic City casino to shut its doors this year. Company representatives have said they are burning through the little operating cash they have and can’t afford to continue union pension contributions of $300,000 a month. They also are concerned that the union’s retirement fund may file a priority administrative claim in the bankruptcy case based on an asserted unfunded pension liability of almost $200 million. Trump Entertainment representatives have indicated that the union, which also represents workers at several other casinos, may be unwilling to offer concessions to Taj Mahal because it would be obligated to extend those same concessions to the other casinos. “They are willing to sacrifice this facility for the benefit of everybody else in Atlantic City,” Trump attorney Kris Hansen told Gross at Thursday’s hearing after the judge himself expressed similar concerns.
Politics
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2014
Dems use abortion in ads By NICHOLAS RICCARDI ASSOCIATED PRESS
DENVER — When U.S. Sen. Mark Udall aired the first television ad of his re-election campaign in April, the spot did not list his accomplishments, or otherwise argue why voters should send him back to Washington for a second term. Instead, it went after his challenger, Republican Rep. Cory Gardner, on his opposition to abortion rights. Six months later, Udall and his allies are still filling the airwaves with ads hammering Gardner on abortion, hoping to use the issue — once thought by Democrats to be a wash politically — to win this swing state for the third consecutive election cycle. It’s the most prominent example of how, from Alaska to Florida, reproductive rights have taken center stage in Democratic campaigns, a stark shift from the days when abortion issues were often used to rally the party’s base but rarely discussed in front of those who might end up voting for either candidate. The shift comes after the Republican wave of 2010 put the GOP in the majority in the U.S. House and inspired 39 states last year to pass laws restricting access to abortion. It also comes amid the rise of “personhood” proposals in some states that would grant legal rights to a fertilized egg, which could outlaw almost all abortions and, even more explosively, some forms of birth control. Many abortion opponents say they do not intend to target birth control. But the very mention of contraception in the abortion debate has become volatile, said Laura Chapin, a Democratic strategist in Colorado. “If Republicans had stuck to abortion, the argument would not have changed,” Chapin said, “but when they got taken over by the religious right and went after something we use on a daily basis, the dynamics changed.” Democrats in Iowa, Michigan and North Carolina also are attacking their Republican opponents for supporting personhood proposals. In Alaska, supporters of Democratic Sen. Mark Begich are running an ad knocking his Republican challenger for oppos-
THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A
Judge sides with same-sex couples By BILL DRAPER ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Brennan Linsley | AP
Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., who is running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democratic Senator Mark Udall, speaks at a political Monday, in Littleton, Colo. ing abortion rights. Even Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist in Florida, who once opposed abortion rights, has aired an ad hitting Gov. Rick Scott on his opposition to abortion. Polls are mixed on political support for abortion rights and have shown that men and women have similar views. But Jennifer Lawless, director of the Women & Policy Institute at American University, said unmarried women, who overwhelmingly vote Democratic, are more likely to be concerned about reproductive rights. Plus, she noted that Democrats are linking abortion to broader gender issues such as pay equity that helped President Barack Obama win the women’s vote nationally by 18 percentage points in 2012. “It’s a safer strategy this time around because we’ve seen the language and tenor work in previous election cycles,” Lawless said. In no state has the issue of reproductive rights dominated the debate as in Colorado. Democrats pioneered the strategy in 2010, when Sen. Michael Bennet eked out a narrow victory after attacking his Republican challenger as anti-women and anti-abortion rights. Obama’s re-election campaign emphasized reproductive rights in Colorado in 2012. He won the state handily. In some deeply religious states like Louisiana and Arkansas, Democratic Senate candidates rarely discuss reproductive rights. But Colorado was the first state to decriminalize abortion in the pre-
Roe v. Wade days, and about 100,000 pro-abortion rights women who live in the Denver suburbs decide elections in the state. In Colorado, Gardner is trying to confront the Democrats’ push. “Mark Udall has failed on energy, on the economy. He’s failed on health care, so of course he wants to talk about something else,” Gardner said in a brief interview last week. Gardner kicked off his campaign by disavowing a state personhood measure that he previously backed, saying he did not want to ban birth control — though Democrats note he remains a co-sponsor of a similar federal measure in Congress. He proposed allowing birth control pills to be sold over the counter — and Democrats hit back, noting that would raise the cost to most consumers. GOP operative Karl Rove’s group Crossroads GPS recently ran an ad featuring four frustrated-sounding middle-aged women saying, “We aren’t singleissue voters” before slamming Udall for supporting Obama. In a new ad his campaign released this week, Gardner said Udall “won’t talk about anything else.” Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL, suggested in an interview that Republicans are foolish to dismiss reproductive rights as a “single issue.” “This isn’t about abortion at all,” Hogue said. “It’s about a worldview on women’s rights that people think is superseded by a fertilized egg.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A judge struck down part of Missouri’s gay marriage ban for the first time on Friday by ordering the state to recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other states, saying state laws banning the unions single-out gay couples “for no logical reason.” The order means that such couples will be eligible to sign up for a wide range of tax, health insurance, veterans and other benefits now afforded to opposite-sex married couples. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, who has defended the state’s ban on gay marriage, said his office was reviewing the ruling. The ruling was made in a lawsuit filed by 10 same-sex couples who were married in states where gay marriage is legal, including Arlene Zarembka and Zuleyma Tang-Martinez. The St. Louis couple, who got married in Canada, said Friday’s ruling could boost their household income, and they plan to apply Monday for Zarembka to receive Social Security benefits as TangMartinez’s spouse. “To me, it’s a real validation by the judge of our relationship and our commitment to each other,” Tang-Martinez said. The couples argue that their rights to equal protection and due process are being violated by Missouri’s ban on gay marriage. Jackson County Circuit Judge J. Dale Youngs agreed, ruling that the couples deserve the same recognition as opposite-sex couples who were married in other states. He said Missouri’s bans serve no legitimate government interest. “The undisputed facts before the Court show that, to the extent these laws prohibit plaintiffs’ legally contracted marriages from other states being recognized here, they are wholly irrational, do not rest upon any reasonable basis, and are purely arbitrary,” Youngs wrote. “All they do is treat one segment of the population — gay men and lesbians — differently than their
same-sex counterparts, for no logical reason.” The lawsuit before Youngs only challenges Missouri’s refusal to recognize marriages legally performed in other states, not laws that bar same-sex couples from getting marriage in Missouri. But it is the first ruling to strike down part of the state’s ban on gay marriage. “We’re gratified that the court recognized that married same-sex couples and their families are no different than other couples, and that the Constitution requires them to be treated equally,” said Tony Rothert, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which is helping the couples. “This is not the first court to reach this conclusion, but it is the first court to do so in Missouri, so it’s a tremendous day for our state.” Rothert said the ruling means that thousands of Missouri couples who got married in other states can now qualify for spousal government benefits and, on a smaller level, make changes such as changing their last name to match their spouse’s on their Missouri driver’s license. The case is among at least three challenging Missouri’s ban on same-sex marriage. The others include a federal challenge in Kansas City and a St. Louis case in which city officials granted marriage licenses to four same-sex couples to trigger a legal test of the ban. The lawsuits are based on the same arguments that led the U.S. Supreme Court last year to overturn part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act that denied a tax, health and other benefits to legally married gay couples. Youngs said he expects the Missouri Supreme Court to weigh in on the overall issue and “provide the last word on all of the important legal issues presented by this case.” Same-sex marriage is now legal in 19 states and the District of Columbia. The American Civil Liberties Union says it has marriage cases pending against 13 other states, of which five are before federal appeals courts.
Nation
8A THE ZAPATA TIMES
Photo by Dylan Johnson/Daily American | AP
Smoke rises in the background as firefighters respond to a fire at the Flight 93 National Memorial headquarters Friday, in Shanksville, Pa.
Buildings at crash memorial site burn ASSOCIATED PRESS
SHANKSVILLE, Pa. — A fire at the Flight 93 National Memorial on Friday badly burned three administrative buildings, a National Park Service spokesman said. All employees evacuated safely, and no injuries were reported, spokesman Mike Litterst said. He did not immediately know the cause of the fire but said in a statement that initial reports indicated “extensive damage” to the complex. The affected buildings serve as the park’s headquarters and include the superintendent’s office, Litterst said. The flames didn’t affect the memorial or construction of the visitors center, which are
FAA chief visits damaged facility By JASON KEYSER ASSOCIATED PRESS
AURORA, Ill. — The head of the Federal Aviation Administration and lawmakers toured a sabotaged Chicago-area air traffic facility on Friday, saying they were shocked by the extent of damage and calling for a more sophisticated backup system in the event of future trouble. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta and members of Illinois’ congressional delegation spoke to reporters after observing the damage and the recovery efforts at the facility in Aurora. Authorities say a contract employee used gasoline to set fire to a basement telecommunications room on Sept. 26, taking out equipment that forced the shutdown of Chicago’s two airports and led to the cancellation of thousands of flights. “It was an incredible act of sabotage,” said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, who said the telecommunications room was “a charred mess of black cables.” The FAA has said it hopes to have the center’s communications system replaced and operational by Oct. 13, but Huerta said Friday that “we’re looking at ways to more quickly restore service.” More than 140 controllers from the facility are working out of other FAA sites that have assumed control of Chicago flights and air traffic passing over the Midwest. Durbin, along with U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk and U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, said the FAA needs a better backup system to ensure that planes can keep flying safely in the event of future trouble and more money from Congress, if needed, to make sure it gets done.
about 2 miles away on the large property. The memorial, still under construction in Shanksville, marks the spot where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The plane, which was traveling from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, went down in a reclaimed strip mine after passengers fought back against its hijackers. All 33 passengers and seven crew members were killed along with the hijackers. A memorial plaza was completed in time for the 10th anniversary of the attacks in 2011. It features a white stone wall, which traces the path of the doomed flight, with separate panels for each victim.
There are plans for a 93foot-tall tower with 40 wind chimes. Officials have said they hope construction of the visitors center, which is estimated to cost $17 million to $23 million, will be finished by June. That would give park officials three months to install exhibits in time to open for the 14th anniversary of the crash. The president of the Families of Flight 93, Gordon Felt, issued a statement expressing sadness about the fire and saying the group awaited further information on the cause. All told, the park is expected to cost about $60 million. The government spent another $10 million for the land, which is about 75 miles east of Pittsburgh.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2014
Nation
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2014
Searchers grab suspect’s food supplies By MICHAEL RUBINKAM ASSOCIATED PRESS
Law enforcement officials tracking a survivalist charged with ambushing a rural Pennsylvania State Police barracks said Friday they have found caches of food and other supplies and believe he’ll likely start breaking into cabins or searching through trash bins to sustain himself. Police found a campsite recently used by 31-year-old Eric Frein and found tuna fish, ramen noodles and other food and clothing as well as 90 rounds from a rifle of the type used in the deadly Sept. 12 ambush, Lt. Col. George Bivens said. Police previously said they found two pipe bombs belonging to Frein at the campsite. “Because we continue to push Frein, and to seize the items he needs to survive, we believe he will be forced to search for food and shelters in other locations,” said Bivens, who gave an update on the manhunt three weeks after the shooting that killed Cpl. Bryon Dickson and seriously wounded Trooper Alex Douglass. Hundreds of law enforcement officials have been searching for Frein in the woods around his parent’s home in Canadensis. Police have spoken with Frein’s family about making a public appeal for his surrender, but no decision has been made, Bivens said. Meanwhile, DNA testing on soiled diapers thought to have been left by Frein was inconclusive, the FBI said Friday. The diapers had been exposed to the elements, so “you can’t say one way or the other” whether Frein wore them, Edward Hanko, special agent in charge of the Philadelphia FBI office, said in a phone interview. State police announced last week that they had discovered diapers in the northeastern Pennsylvania woods where Frein is believed to be hiding and that he might have worn them so he could remain stationary for long periods of time. The diapers might have belonged to Frein, but the testing didn’t confirm it or rule it out, Hanko said. Bivens said the diapers are still considered evidence in the case. He declined fur-
ther comment. The manhunt is concentrated on a heavily forested area in the Pocono Mountains. Authorities believe they have spotted Frein from a distance, but the rough terrain made it impossible to get to him. The last sighting deemed highly credible came earlier in the week, Bivens said. Frein has been described as an anti-law enforcement survivalist and expert marksman at home in the woods. He’s considered armed and dangerous. Even as the manhunt wrapped up its third full week, police said they remain confident Frein will be caught. “It’s just a matter of time for him,” said Trooper Ryan Lawrence, who spent five days in the search zone. “The commissioner down to every road trooper has the same resolve.” Lawrence, who worked a 12-hour overnight shift on road and perimeter patrol, said the possibility that Frein was lurking somewhere nearby was never far from his mind. “You definitely have to stay within a tactical mindset, so you’re not opening yourself up for an attack, at least limiting the possibility of making yourself a target,” Lawrence said. The trooper would keep himself out of the glare cast by his car’s headlights, for instance, giving him the ability to observe but not easily be observed. Lawrence lives in Lancaster, about 100 miles from the search area. Troopers throughout Pennsylvania are signing up to search for Frein, he said. “The driving force is obviously for the family of Cpl. Bryon Dickson. It’s a commonly spoken thing while there, you are doing it for him and his family,” Lawrence said. “There’s a wife and two sons who aren’t able to have their state trooper come home, and that’s a driving force for a lot of our guys up there.” Pennsylvania police have been joined by law enforcement officials from New York and New Jersey state police, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and other federal agencies. The FBI alone has 140 to nearly 200 of its staff in the field each day.
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
Administration urges calm over Ebola case By LOLITA C. BALDOR AND LAURAN NEERGAARD ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Friday urged calm over the single case of Ebola in the United States, seeking to reassure the American public that there was little chance of an outbreak of the disease in this country. The Pentagon said it had begun the long-awaited aid to disease-ravaged Liberia, with medical testing at two new labs and construction of treatment centers. The administration has long contended that the best way to contain Ebola is to attack it at its source. The Pentagon’s spokesman said Friday that up to 4,000 troops could be deployed to West Africa, a number that has been slowly climbing as military leaders arrive and assess the need. But in the U.S., “we need to get the information out because there is a lot of fear,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious diseases chief at the National Institutes of Health. “Our health care infrastructure in the United States is well-equipped to stop Ebola in its tracks.” The unusual high-level briefing at the White House Friday reflected the administration’s urgency in seeking to reassure the public that a wide-spread outbreak of Ebola in the U.S. was un-
Photo by Carolyn Kaster | AP
U.S. Agency for International Development’s Raj Shah speaks in the White House in Washington, on Friday. likely. Fauci was one of five senior administration officials who briefed reporters Friday, including Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell and Lisa Monaco, President Barack Obama’s top homeland security advisers. Monaco said the U.S. was not considering a travel ban to prevent people from the hardest-hit West African countries from coming to the U.S. and said efforts were instead focused on identify high-risk individuals before they leave the outbreak zone. Dozens and dozens of people have been stopped from getting on flights in the region, she said. “The most effective way to go about controlling this is to prevent those individuals from getting on a plane in the first place,” she said. The first person diag-
nosed with Ebola in the nation went to a Dallas hospital last week but was mistakenly sent home, despite revealing he was visiting from Liberia, before returning by ambulance days later. Texas officials now are monitoring 50 people, 10 of whom they consider at high risk, who came into the contact with the man. They’ve had to quarantine four of them, and even had problems getting rid of the infectious waste left in the apartment where the patient stayed. “There were things that did not go the way they should have in Dallas,” acknowledged Fauci, director of NIH’s National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “But there were a lot of things that went right and are going right.” The White House said Obama planned to meet with his national security advisers Monday to dis-
cuss the Ebola outbreak and the administration’s response. Back at the Pentagon, Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said the military has begun medical testing for Ebola at two new labs in Liberia. Also, service members are starting to build two treatment centers there for victims of the deadly disease, he said, and a hospital for infected medical personnel should be finished by the end of the month. Kirby said that the service members are not going to treat patients and are not expected to come in contact with anyone who is infected. But he said the military is training the troops about how to avoid getting Ebola, and also setting plans in place to deal with any service member who might get infected. “We’re going to train them up on what Ebola looks like, feels like, does. While they’re there, they’re going to be constantly monitored on a regular, frequent basis,” Kirby said. “There will be a screening process to make sure that once they’re no longer there, that we’re able to stay in touch with them, make sure that they haven’t ... felt or experienced any symptoms.” He added that troops will also have personal protection equipment if needed and will be trained in how to use it.
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Zfrontera
PÁGINA 10A
Agenda en Breve ROMA 10/07— National Night Out se celebrará de 6 p.m. a 9 p.m. en el Parque Municipal. Se tomarán huellas digitales gratuitas a los niños; participará SWAT, K9 y la División de Investigación Criminal. Habrá Hot Dogs y bebidas gratis.
CD. MIER, MX 10/04— FIT 2014 presenta: Música “Undivided” a las 7:30 p.m. en el centro frente a la Presidencia Municipal. Entrada gratuita. 10/05— FIT 2014 presenta: Teatro “Carro de comedias, La Amenaza Roja” a las 7 p.m. en la Plaza Principal frente a la Presidencia Municipal. Entrada gratuita.
ZAPATA
Drogas y dinero POR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
El grupo de trabajo de la unidad de narcóticos arrestó a cinco sospechosos de ser vendedores de drogas en las calles, y decomisaron contrabando durante un periodo de cuatro semanas, anunciaron las autoridades el martes. “El arduo trabajo y dedicación del grupo especial de narcóticos de la Oficina del Alguacil de Zapata dio resultados”, dijo el Oficial en Jefe de la Oficina del Alguacil, Raymundo Del Bosque Jr. Autoridades dijeron que el primer incidente ocurrió el 29 de agosto. A las 11:30 a.m., la unidad
CD. GUERRERO, MX 10/05— FIT 2014 presenta: Música con “Viola Trigo” en la Plaza Principal a las 6 p.m. Entrada gratuita.
LAREDO 10/04— La Asociación Laredo Northside invita al Mercado de 9 a.m. a 1 p.m. en el área de juegos del North Central Park. Habrá venta de productos naturales, de jardinería, comida, manualidades y organizaciones comerciales y sin fines de lucro. 10/04— First United Methodist Church realizará una venta de libros usados de 8:30 a.m. a 1 p.m. en 1220 avenida McClelland. El costo de los libros de pasta dura es de 1 dólar, los libros de pasta de papel .50 centavos y las revistas y libros para niños en .25 centavos. 10/04— Se realizará el Festival del Libro en Laredo: Lo Mejor de Texas y más Allá, de 10 a.m. a 3 p.m. en la Biblioteca Pública de Laredo. 10/04— Se realizará el Autmus Fest 2014 en los jardines de TAMIU, a partir de las 5 p.m. Entre los grupos invitados están A.B. Quintanilla II, Kumbia Kings Allstarz, 3 Ball MTY, Hysteria, entre otros. 10/05— Se realizará Caminata “Cadena por la Vida”, de 2 p.m. a 3 p.m., con inicio en Hillside Road. Durante la caminata se orará por los seres humanos a punto de nacer. 10/05— La Filarmónica de Laredo presentará su primer concierto de las Series de Trabajos Maestros “Beethoven Triple”, a las 3 p.m. en el Salón de Recitales del Centro de Bellas Artes y Artes Escénicas de TAMIU. Costo de entrada es de 20 dólares y 15 dólares a adultos mayores, gratuito a estudiantes de TAMIU. 10/05— Quinta Celebración Anual “Bendiciendo a Todos los Animales” de 4 p.m. a 5 p.m. en St. Peter’s Plaza. 10/10— Teatro Chicano de Laredo Community College presenta la obra “The Thirteenth Sacrament” de Oscar Peña, a las 8 p.m. en Laredo Little Theater, 4802 Thomas Avenue. Comedia dirigida a audiencia madura solamente. Costo: 10 dólares.
NUEVO LAREDO, MX 10/04— FIT 2014 presenta: Cecilia Toussaint para niños a las 12 p.m. en el Teatro Experimental del Centro Cultural; Grupo de 6 a 8 de la Facultad de Música ‘Mujeres para recortar de Arturo Castilla Alva’ a las 6 p.m. en el Teatro Lucio Blanco; y, Saley Setra con Luna Diurna, a las 7 p.m. en la Plaza Hidalgo. Entrada gratuita. 10/04— Tercer Festival de Teatro ‘Vértices’ presenta “La Estación” a las 7 p.m. en el Teatro del IMSS, entre Reynosa y Belden (Sector Centro)
de narcóticos dijo haber recibido consentimiento para registrar una casa en la intersección de calle 16 y avenida Roma. Los oficiales decomisaron 25.7 gramos de marihuana sintética y 472 dólares, ganancia de drogas. Paula Quiroz, de 40 años, y Kalejandra María Olga Saldivar, de 18 años, fueron arrestadas y acusadas de posesión de sustancias controladas. Los oficiales habrían encontrado a Saldivar una segunda vez, alrededor de un mes después, en una detención de tráfico. A las 7:16 p.m. del 24 de septiembre, un investigador de narcóticos detuvo un Lincoln Mark VIII, color verde, mode-
lo 1993, en la intersección de avenida 20 y calle Elm. Saldivar supuestamente dio consentimiento al investigador de inspeccionar el vehículo. Las autoridades supuestamente encontraron 56 gramos de marihuana sintética escondida en el panel lateral posterior del pasajero, de acuerdo con los reportes. Saldivar fue acusada de posesión de sustancias controladas. Oficiales del alguacil asignados a la unidad de narcóticos realizaron una redada en otra casa a las 7:30 p.m. del 18 de septiembre, en la cuadra 800 de avenida Villa. Las autoridades decomisaron 30.8 gramos de cocaína en crack, y 372 dó-
RIBEREÑA
MIGUEL ALEMÁN, MX 10/04— FIT 2014 presenta: Música “Viola Trigo” a las 5 p.m. en la Plaza Principal. Entrada gratuita.
SÁBADO 4 DE OCTUBRE DE 2014
lares. Los investigadores identificaron a los sospechosos como Melissa Sánchez y José Julián Sánchez III, y los acusaron de posesión de sustancias controladas. El 22 de septiembre, un oficial ejecutó una orden de registro a una tercera casa, a alrededor de las 8:30 p.m. en la cuadra 1900 de avenida Juárez. La redada dio lugar al decomiso de 132 gramos de marihuana y 1.263 dólares. Un oficial identificado como Mario Orlando García, de 25 años, fue acusado con posesión de marihuana, en un área libre de drogas. (Localice a César G. Rodriguez en 728-2568 o en cesar@lmtonline.com)
NUEVO LAREDO, MX
IMPULSO FRONTERIZO
Rescatan a grupo de 22; arrestan a 3 POR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Foto de cortesía | Gobierno del Estado
Representantes de la Frontera Ribereña se reunieron en Miguel Alemán, México, y entre los temas tratados destacaron el deseo por desarrollar un clúster de Turismo Médico y continuar la promoción del Turismo Fronterizo.
Ciudades destacan turismo médico TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
La ciudad fronteriza de Miguel Alemán, México, fue la sede de dos reuniones donde el tema central fue escuchar los intereses de los empresarios de la región ribereña de Tamaulipas. La Secretaria de Desarrollo Económico y Turismo (Sedet), Mónica González García, dijo que actualmente existen diversos programas de impulso en la denominada frontera chica, como lo son el Fondo Compensatorio y las oportunidades gracias a la Reforma Energética. Personal del Fondo Tamaulipas estuvo presente a fin de establecer “un puente de comunicación para atender y hacer gestiones de los planteamientos emanados de esta reunión”, de acuerdo a un comunicado de prensa. Entre los puntos tratados destacan el desarrollar un clúster de Turismo Médico y
continuar la promoción del Turismo Fronterizo, con el objetivo de aumentar la afluencia turística de la zona y reactivar la economía de la región, agrega el comunicado. Durante la reunión, el Presidente Municipal de Camargo, México, Blas López García, destacó el trabajo mancomunado que realizan los cinco municipios que integran la región Ribereña y agradeció el deseo del Gobierno de Tamaulipas por atender las inquietudes del sector a través de un diálogo franco y abierto. Finalmente, ante los integrantes del Consejo Empresarial de la Región Ribereña y de la Cámara Nacional de Comercio, González García propuso la creación de un clúster Médico “que vendría a beneficiar al sector comercio y servicios de la región”. La Frontera Ribereña está conformada por las ciudades de Camargo, Díaz Ordaz, Guerrero, Mier y Miguel Alemán.
Autoridades mexicanas rescataron a 22 inmigrantes de Centro y Suramérica después de un patrullaje de rutina en Nuevo Laredo, México, que tuvo lugar el lunes, anunciaron autoridades tamaulipecas esta semana. Las autoridades dijeron que 15 inmigrantes eran de Guatemala, mientras que siete procedían de Ecuador. Cinco mujeres estaban en el grupo. Tres personas fueron arrestadas en relación con el caso. Oficiales de la Policía Estatal Acreditable los identificaron como Zuli Maribel Fuentes Vázquez, Fernando Lagos Mejía y José Antonio Zamarripa García. Los 22 inmigrantes estaban retenidos en contra de su voluntad en un taller de reparación de autos. Los oficiales, que patrullaban sobre la Carretera Nacional que conduce a Monterrey, México, notaron que Fuentes Vázquez, Lagos Mejía y Zamarripa García actuaban en forma sospechosa y decidieron revisarlos. Las autoridades dijeron que encontraron abrojos y dos celulares dentro del vehículo. Zamarripa García supuestamente admitió a los oficiales que trabajaba para un grupo criminal que opera en Nuevo Laredo, de acuerdo con autoridades de Tamaulipas. Supuestamente dirigió a los oficiales a los inmigrantes que estaban encerrados dentro del taller de enderezado y pintura. Los cárteles mexicanos son conocidos por traficar con personas de
México u otras regiones, a Estados Unidos. A mediados de septiembre, la Legislatura de Texas solicitó que el Departamento de Seguridad Pública de Texas (DPS, por sus siglas en inglés) emitiera reportes resumiendo los incidentes fronterizos y la actividad reciente. Este informe discute el Drawbridge, “un proyecto financiado por congreso del estado que utiliza cámaras de juego activadas por el movimiento para detectar e informar sobre el contrabando de drogas y personas en tiempo real”, se lee en el informe de DPS. DPS dijo que Drawbridge les ha llevado a detectar 98.072 incidentes de contrabando desde enero de 2012. Eso resultó en 47.666 detenciones y la incautación de 78,01 toneladas de narcóticos, de acuerdo al DPS. En la detención de personas con nacionalidades distintas a la mexicana, Laredo ocupa el segundo lugar, solo superado por el Valle del Río Grande. Desde el 2011 a inicios de septiembre del presente año, 52.718 personas inmigrantes con nacionalidad distinta a la mexicana fueron detenidas en Laredo, mientras que el Valle del Río Grande registró la detención de 334.415, según el informe de DPS. “El contrabando de personas en Texas es muy rentable para los cárteles mexicanos, con un costo de 2.000 dólares a 20.000 dólares por persona”, dijeron oficiales de DPS. (Localice a César G. Rodriguez en 728-2568 o en cesar@lmtonline.com)
TEXAS
Corte autoriza restricciones contra aborto POR PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — Una corte federal de apelaciones autorizó el jueves que Texas comience de inmediato a aplicar nuevas restricciones enérgicas contra el aborto, lo cual ocasionará el cierre de todas las clínicas para aborto, con excepción de siete. Un panel de magistrados de la Corte Federal de Apelaciones del Quinto Circuito en Nueva Orleáns aplazó la determinación de un juez de primera instancia mientras analiza la constitucionalidad de porciones fundamentales de la ley de aborto de Texas de 2013, la cual se-
gún el gobernador Rick Perry y otros conservadores está diseñada para proteger la salud de las mujeres. El juez federal de distrito Lee Yeakel determinó en agosto que parte de la ley que exige a las clínicas de Texas gastar millones de dólares en adecuaciones a nivel hospitalario estaba dirigida más a dificultar el acceso al aborto que a asuntos de seguridad. El fallo de Yeakel en Austin suspendió el requerimiento de mejoras. Pero Texas está apelando, y solicitó a la corte de apelaciones que permita aplicar la ley durante ese proceso.
Permitir la aplicación de la regulación sobre mejoramiento de instalaciones a nivel hospitalario —incluyendo quirófanos obligatorios y sistemas de filtración de aire— forzaría el cierre de más de una decena de clínicas en todo Texas. Significa que sólo permanecerán abiertas clínicas en las áreas de Houston, Austin, San Antonio y Dallas-Fort Worth. No habrá ninguna a lo largo de la frontera Texas-México o en las afueras de las áreas urbanas más grandes del estado. Mientras tanto, algunas clínicas ya han cerrado después de que otra parte de la ley de 2013 exigió que los
médicos tuvieran privilegios de admisión en hospitales cercanos. Esa porción de la ley ya fue ratificada por la Corte del Quinto Circuito, donde Texas está buscando ahora una segunda reversión categórica. El juicio en Texas es la batalla jurídica más reciente sobre nuevas regulaciones severas contra el aborto en toda la nación. Las clínicas afectadas han calificado la medida como un esfuerzo subrepticio para prohibir los abortos, los cuales se convirtieron en un derecho constitucional desde el fallo de la Corte Suprema de Estados Unidos en el caso Roe vs. Wade en 1973.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
Islamic State group beheads 4th hostage By JON GAMBRELL AND JILL LAWLESS ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO — An Internet video released Friday purports to show an Islamic State group fighter beheading British hostage Alan Henning, the fourth such killing carried out by the extremist group now targeted in U.S.-led airstrikes. The video mirrored other beheading videos shot by the Islamic State group, which now holds territory along the border of Syria and Iraq, and ended with a militant threatening a man they identified as an American named Peter Kassig. “Obama, you have started your aerial bombardment of Shams (Syria), which keeps on striking our people, so it is only right that we continue to strike the neck of your people,” the masked militant in the video said. National Security Council Spokesperson Caitlin Hayden confirmed that Kassig was being held by Islamic State militants, in a statement issued Friday evening. “At this point we have no reason to doubt the authenticity of the video released earlier today. We will continue to use every tool at our disposal — military, diplomatic, law enforcement and intelligence - to try to bring Peter home to his family,” Hayden said. The Associated Press could not immediately verify the video’s authenticity, though it was released in the same manner as other Islamic State group videos and the masked militant sounded similar to the one who carried out the other slayings. In a statement, the British Foreign Office said it was working to verify the video. “If true, this is a further disgusting murder,” the statement read. “We are offering the family every support possible; they ask to be left alone at this time.” Britain has been supporting U.S. military efforts against the Islamic State group by using British forces to help with logistics and intelligence gathering, as well as recently taking part in airstrikes in Iraq. The Internet video released Friday begins with a news clip announcing British strikes against the Islamic State group. British Prime Minister David Cameron said Henning’s apparent slaying showed “how barbaric and repulsive these terrorists are.” “Alan had gone to Syria to help get aid to people of all faiths in their hour of need,” Cameron said in a statement. “The fact
Photo PA Wire | AP
This undated family handout photo shows Alan Henning, who was held hostage by the Islamic State group. An Internet video released Friday purports to show an Islamic State group fighter beheading British hostage Henning and threatening yet another American captive, the fourth such killing carried out by the extremist group now targeted in U.S.-led airstrikes. that he was taken hostage when trying to help others and now murdered demonstrates that there are no limits to the depravity of these ... terrorists. “We will do all we can to hunt down these murderers and bring them to justice.” President Barack Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, Lisa Monaco, said the U.S. had seen the video and was evaluating it. Later, Obama said the United States strongly condemned Henning’s “brutal murder.” He said the U.S., along with Britain and other allies, will “work to bring the perpetrators of Alan’s murder” to justice and will continue to “taking decisive action to degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State group. French President Francois Hollande said he is “outraged by the heinous crime.” “This crime like previous ones will not be unpunished. France will continue to lend support to the people and authorities of Iraq in their fight against terrorism,” Hollande said in a statement. This is the fourth such video released by the Islamic State group. The full beheadings are not shown in the videos, but the
CLINICS force a sweeping abortion law approved by the Republican-controlled legislature last year. They depicted the law — and similar measures proposed in other states — as an unacceptable infringement of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling establishing a nationwide right to abortion. “This case is ultimately going to end up with the Supreme Court,” said the reproductive rights center’s president, Nancy Northup. “It is going to be a showdown ... on whether the promise of Roe will have meaning in the United States.” Two years ago, Texas had more than 40 abortion facilities. For now, no more than eight will be open, due to portions of the law that require abortion providers to obtain hospital admitting privileges and impose hospitallevel operating standards on the clinics. Among the clinics affected by Thursday’s ruling were a facility in the south Texas city of McAl-
len that served women in the Rio Grande Valley and the last remaining abortion clinic in the western city of El Paso, whose future was in limbo. The only other remaining clinics in the nation’s second most-populous state are in San Antonio, Austin, Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth. Officials of Whole Women’s Health, which operates the McAllen clinic, said the facility would remain open as a “safe house” while dozens of women who had scheduled abortions there were counseled on alternatives, including making the nearly 300-mile trip north to San Antonio. Gloria Martinez, administrative nurse in Hilltop Women’s Reproductive Clinic in El Paso, said clients seeking abortions there Friday were being referred to a clinic in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. However, Hilltop’s owners were holding out hope that they might be able to reopen Saturday because they are exempt for now
NARCOTICS Continued from Page 1A Lawmen seized 25.7 grams of synthetic marijuana and $472 from drug proceeds. Paula Quiroz, 40, and Kalejandra Maria Olga Saldivar, 18, were arrested and charged with possession of controlled substance. Deputies would encounter Saldivar a second time about a month later during a traffic stop. At 7:16 p.m. Sept. 24., a narcotics investigator pulled over a green 1993 Lincoln Mark VIII in the intersection of 20th Avenue near Elm Street. Saldivar allegedly gave consent to the investigator to search her vehicle. Authorities allegedly found 56 grams of synthetic marijuana concealed in the rear passenger side panel, according to reports. Saldivar was then charged with possession of a controlled substance. Sheriff ’s officials assigned to the narcotics unit raided another home at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 18 in the 800 block of Villa Avenue. Authorities seized 30.8 grams of crack cocaine and $372. Investigators identified the suspects as Melissa Sanchez and Jose Julian Sanchez III and charged them with possession of a controlled substance. On Sept. 22, lawmen executed a search warrant at a third home at about 8:30 p.m. in the 1900 block of Juarez Avenue. The raid yielded 132 grams of marijuana and $1,263. A man identified as Mario Orlando Garcia, 25, was charged with possession of marijuana in a drug-free zone. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 7282568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
from the new requirement to undergo costly construction upgrades. Backers of the Texas law said its main motive was to better protect women’s health, but Martinez was not persuaded. “Let’s be honest, if they care so much about women’s’ health, it’s safer to do it here in El Paso, with hospitals as near as two minutes away,” she said. It’s a drive of about 20 or 30 minutes from clinic in Santa Teresa to the nearest hospital in El Paso. At the Hilltop facility, 23-year-old Mindy Vasquez arrived with her boyfriend, having used a recent pay raise to help save up $700 for an abortion. “We saved on food, going out, movies, we have to watch how much water and electricity we use,” she said. But the couple hadn’t planned on getting re-routed to New Mexico. “We have a couple of dollars left for gas, so we can drive there,” she said. In addition to the Santa Teresa clinic, a new abor-
British-accented, English-speaking militant holds a long knife and appears to begin cutting his victims, who include American reporter James Foley, American-Israeli journalist Steven Sotloff, British aid worker David Haines and now Henning. FBI Director James Comey has said American officials believe they know the identity of the masked militant, though he’s declined to name the man or reveal his nationality. Kassig, a 26 year-old American now threatened by the Islamic State group, enlisted in the Army in 2004, and became a Ranger, ultimately serving in the 75th Ranger Regiment, an Army special operations unit. According to his military record, Kassig trained at Fort Benning, Georgia in 2006, and deployed to Iraq from April to July 2007. He was medically discharged at the rank of private first class in September 2007. His home of record at the time of his enlistment was Indianapolis, Indiana. His parents, Ed and Paula Kassig, issued a statement through a media relations firm, asking for the world to pray for their son.
“The Kassig family extends our concern for the family of Alan Henning. We have read about his work and his generous character with great respect and admiration,” the statement said. “We ask everyone around the world to pray for the Henning family, for our son, and for the release of all innocent people being held hostage in the Middle East and around the globe.” The family said Kassig had been working for the relief organization SERA when he was captured on Oct. 1, 2013 on his way to Deir Ezzour in eastern Syria. He converted to Islam while in captivity and the family has heard from former hostages that his faith has provided him comfort. Henning, 47, nicknamed “Gadget,” had joined an aid convoy and was taken captive on Dec. 26, shortly after crossing the border between Turkey and Syria. Earlier this week, Henning’s wife Barbara Henning asked the militants in a televised plea: “Please release him. We need him back home.” Dozens of Muslim leaders in Britain have urged the Islamic State group to release Henning. His wife had said she had been given hope by “the outcry across the world” over her husband’s imprisonment. Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim charity, called Henning “a British hero.” His “barbaric killing is an attack against all decent people around the world,” Shafiq said. The Islamic State group has its roots in al-Qaida’s Iraqi affiliate but was expelled from the global terror network over its brutal tactics and refusal to obey orders to confine its activities to Iraq. It became even more extreme amid the bloody 3-year civil war in neighboring Syria, growing stronger to the point of being able to launch a lightning offensive across much of northern Iraq, routing security forces there and shooting down an Iraqi helicopter on Friday. The group has become known for filming and releasing footage of mass shootings it conducts, as well as beheading opponents and targeting religious and ethnic minorities in the areas it attacks. The extremist group has been widely denounced by mainstream Muslim authorities. Other foreigners are believed held by the Islamic State group. On Friday, the father of John Cantlie, a British photojournalist held by the group, appealed for his release in a video, saying he was a friend of Syria.
Continued from Page 1A tion clinic is being opened in Las Cruces, New Mexico, by Whole Women’s Health, the Texas company that operates the clinic in McAllen. On the legal front, the Center for Reproductive Rights said it would move ahead as soon as feasible with an appeal of Thursday’s ruling, though its precise litigation strategy is still being developed. Northup depicted the Texas law as a cornerstone of a “concerted effort across the nation” to undermine the protections of Roe v. Wade. She cited a range of other abortion restrictions approved by GOP-controlled legislatures in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, North Dakota and elsewhere that have been challenged by lawsuits in federal court. Many of the restrictions were enacted with the support of Americans United for Life, a national anti-abortion advocacy group. Its vice president of government affairs, Dan
EBOLA from the hospital where Thomas Duncan is being treated, will be placed in secure containers and removed for disposal. The first Ebola diagnosis in the nation has raised concerns about whether the disease that has killed 3,400 people in West Africa could spread in the U.S. Federal health officials say they are confident they can keep it in check. The confinement order, which also bans visitors, was imposed after the family failed to comply with a request to stay home. Judge Clay Jenkins, Dallas County’s top administrative official, said he went to the apartment with two epidemiologists to apologize for the delay in removing soiled items. He said officials are working to make sure the family is comfortable and to improve their accommodations. “I am concerned for this family,” he said. “I want to see this family treated the way I would want to see my own family treated.” Also Friday, Texas health officials said they had narrowed the group of people they were monitoring from as many as 100 to about 50 people who had some type of exposure to the Ebola patient in Dallas. Texas Health Commissioner David Lakey said all 50 are meeting with health workers and having their tem-
McConchie, said there was a good chance that several types of restrictions might end up before the Supreme Court, including Texas-style laws dealing with hospital admitting privileges and abortion clinic standards. He said the high court might also be interested in resolving the status of laws that seek to restrict the use of abortion-inducing drugs and that ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. McConchie said he was hopeful that the Supreme Court would uphold these laws based on his expectation that Justice Anthony Kennedy — a possible swing vote — would view them as “standards designed to protect women.” From the other flank, Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation America, expressed hope that the three women on the Supreme Court would help produce rulings striking down the tough restrictions. “Texas is an incredible
cautionary tale of what these kind of restrictions lead to when you start putting politics ahead of women’s health,” she said. “I hope the Supreme Court is watching carefully what the impact is on real women’s lives.” Richards spoke by phone from New Hampshire, where she was campaigning for Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in her re-election campaign against Republican Scott Brown. While Brown has described himself as “prochoice,” Shaheen has nonetheless has questioned his commitment to a range of reproductivehealth issues. Planned Parenthood, the largest U.S. abortion provider, is among numerous advocacy groups on both sides of the abortion debate that have been spending heavily in support of their preferred candidates in key races in the upcoming midterm elections. Among them are potentially pivotal Senate races in Colorado, Iowa, North Carolina and Alaska.
Continued from Page 1A
peratures taken daily. So far, none show symptoms of the virus. Ten are considered to be at higher risk and are being monitored more closely. The virus that causes Ebola is not airborne and can only be spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids — blood, sweat, vomit, feces, urine, saliva or semen — of an infected person who is showing symptoms. Those fluids must also have an entry point. For example, people might get infected by handling soiled clothing or bed sheets and then touching their mouth, or if they are not wearing gloves while doing those tasks and have a cut on their hand. Duncan’s neighbors in the Liberian capital believe he become infected when he helped a sick pregnant neighbor a few weeks ago. It was not clear if he had learned of the woman’s diagnosis before traveling. Nonetheless, Liberian authorities announced plans to prosecute Duncan when he returns, accusing him of lying on an airport questionnaire about not having any contact with an infected person. CDC Director Tom Frieden dismissed suggestions that people traveling from West Africa should not be allowed into the U.S. “The fact is that if we tried to seal the border, it would not work because
people are allowed to travel,” he said Friday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Blocking travel, he said, “would backfire because it would make it harder to stop the outbreak.” Duncan arrived in Dallas on Sept. 20 and fell ill a few days later. An emergency room sent Duncan home last week, even though he told a nurse he had been in West Africa. In a statement issued late Thursday, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital said it followed communicable disease protocols by asking Duncan if he had come into contact with anyone who was ill. He replied that he had not. A flaw in the electronic health records systems led to separate physician and nursing workflows, meaning the travel history documented by nurses was not passed onto physicians, hospital spokesman Wendell Watson said. He said the system has been corrected. Duncan’s symptoms included a 100.1 F temperature, abdominal pain, a headache and decreased urination, the hospital said. He said he had no nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. Based on that, the hospital decided to release him. He returned two days later and has been kept in isolation since Sunday. Duncan was listed Thursday in serious but stable condition.
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2014
BUILDINGS But Hoover says making such structures marketable is fraught with difficulties. “It’s not an easy place to say, ‘Hey, I want to open up a business over there’ — for us to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and wait 20 years” for the area to improve, he told the San Antonio Express-News. In recent months, however, he has begun to rethink his building and the area. He sees VIA Metropolitan Transit’s West Side Multimodal Transit Center — currently under construction — as a harbinger of the revival of Cattleman Square. The station will include the refurbished Missouri Pacific train depot, which VIA plans to use mainly as administrative offices. But apart from the area’s still-rough character, Hoover says red tape has been another obstacle. Even a small fix to the three-story Santa Monica Hotel proved cumbersome. It took three months for repairs to the upper windows to be approved by the city’s Historic Design and Review Commission. Now, some owners such as Hoover are concerned about how an impending pilot program, meant to save and revive historic buildings, might impact plans for their properties. But they’re unlikely to find much sympathy. “My response is: if you can’t maintain it, then sell it,” said Bill Dupont, director of the Center for Cultural Sustainability at the UTSA School of Architecture, Construction and Planning. In June, the City Council passed an ordinance that created the 18-month-long program, one that raises the city’s standards for the maintenance of vacant buildings. After the 18 months are over, the city could tweak the program, continue it as is or scrap it if it proves ineffective. “What we’re proposing is for the building to look like someone could reasonably move into it,” Shanon Shea
Miller, the city’s historic preservation officer, told council members in May. “The windows are repaired. The doors are repaired. There’s no architectural features missing or hanging off the building. So it doesn’t look abandoned.” Failure to comply with the higher standards, scheduled to kick in Jan. 1, would cost owners up to $500 per violation. However, structures that already comply with the new requirements could be exempt from the program. “Nothing that an owner would have to do would be wasted work,” Miller said recently. “It is something that would make the building more attractive to a future buyer or renter.” Under the new policy, owners will have to register their buildings with the city and present a plan within 90 days that shows how they are to improve them. People who own single-family homes pay $250 to register, while owners of all other types of buildings pay $750. Failure to register would cost them up to $500 a day in fines. Owners would be required to display “vacant building” placards, carry insurance and sign a “no trespass affidavit” to allow law enforcement to remove trespassers. The pilot program would cover empty structures in the downtown and surrounding areas, historic districts, landmarks and buildings near military bases. To date, the city’s office of historic preservation has identified roughly 450 properties the policy would apply to. The areas with the highest levels of vacancy, Miller said, are downtown and the Government Hill and Monticello Park historic districts. “There’s nothing wrong with having a vacant building,” she said. “What the ordinance is intending to address is vacant buildings that are presenting a challenge with the property
Continued from Page 1A
Photo by Bob Owen | San Antonio Express-News
The side of the old Santa Monica Hotel is seen Aug. 20 in San Antonio. Randall K. Hoover had been hesitant to put money into the battered Santa Monica Hotel because it’s located in a sketchy neighborhood. Properties that sit idle until they start to decay will be the target of stricter city rules aimed at pressuring their owners to either develop the buildings or clean them up. around them.” Some owners of empty buildings are looking to refurbish their properties. Others are just absentee owners. “This process may help us distinguish from those who really want to make the city better and those who are using either our downtown or our neighborhood as a safe-deposit box,” said City Council member Diego Bernal, one of the plan’s architects. Miller said owners who show evidence of work being done on their structures — permits being pulled, for example — could be exempt from certain requirements of the policy or granted extensions. But those exemptions are still being crafted. The ordinance defines a vacant building as one where activity has ceased for 30 days and is no longer being used for the purpose for which “the structure was built for or intended to be used for.” But in some cases, determining whether a building is vacant isn’t clear-cut. Pfluger Architects is using a one-story commercial building in Government Hill, at 1829 N. New Braunfels Ave., for storage — not what the property was built for. “It’s not vacant,” said Kent Niemann, a partner at
Pfluger Architects, whose offices are across the street. “It is being used. We’re in that building every day. So, yeah, I’m concerned about what they’re going to call vacant.” Miller said each building, each situation, will be judged on its own merits. “I just don’t know the answers to that without looking at the specifics,” she said, referring to the Pfluger Architects’ storage facility. Such distinctions could ultimately pit city policy against property owners. “The tension here is whether they’re keeping a nuisance from happening or preventing a business owner from using their property in a lawful way,” said Eddie Bravenec, a lawyer who has represented property owners against the city in “demolition by neglect” cases before, and who is now running for district judge. “If there’s a way the city can allow the property owners to use it in a lawful way while abating that nuisance,” he said, “then this can be a win-win.” In the late 1990s, the Centeno family was refurbishing the Santa Monica Hotel, located at 108 N. Medina St., when its financing dried up. Hoover’s construction company, the contractor that had built a new
lattice for the property, eventually acquired the structure. A few months ago, Hoover moved his company’s officers next to the Santa Monica, renting space at the Avance building. He plans to eventually to turn the former hotel into his company’s headquarters. “We felt the best way to get that building squared away was to get right next to it,” Hoover said. But his efforts haven’t gone without headaches. He and the Historic Design and Review Commission agreed on upper windows that would be made of vinyl. But Hoover and the HDRC have yet to settle on the storefront. One of the sticking points is how to preserve an old Barq’s root beer sign painted on the side of the brick building. “They’re going to try to tell us that the downstairs should be all wood,” said Hoover, who’s put $600,000 into the Santa Monica to date. “They want it to be more historical, and nobody knows what that’s going to be yet. So we don’t know what we’ll be able to afford.” Building owners and architects who present applications to the HDRC often share Hoover’s concerns. But his situation raises the question: Will an owner be fined if a building is stuck in a bureaucratic or financing tangle? If progress is being made, but at a slow pace because of the city’s own requirements, what will the city’s threshold be for extensions? “It sounds like to me we’re going to pay a fine until we’re able to lease it,” Hoover said. Property owners can apply for extensions — when rehabilitation or marketing of the building drag out — before they have to register or pay the fee, Miller said. “The biggest reason why there wasn’t a date specified (for the length of an extension) was because there was a lot concern about market dynamics,” Miller
said. “If average days on the market is X, then we have to be mindful of that and kind of try to be reasonable if people really are trying to market their property.” Getting the extension will depend on whether permits are being pulled or if the property owner is actively marketing the property. In some cases, buildings are left vacant because there is a planned use for them. The Southwest School of Art, for example, plans to demolish two one-story commercial buildings that it owns a block north of its downtown campus. Paula Owen, president and CEO of the school, says putting money into the buildings to meet the requirements of a vacant-building ordinance doesn’t make sense. “My only concern is that there will be owners like the Southwest School of Art who would already have plans in place for the demolition of those empty buildings and for development of the property,” Owen said. The same holds true for the former Solo Serve building on Soledad, between Houston and Commerce streets. Service Lloyds Insurance Company of Austin acquired the massive property through foreclosure in 2009 and currently has a Texas-based buyer under contract. “Really, we have been waiting for the market to get in position to market it and sell it to a buyer and not get hurt,” said Cosmo Palmieri, the company’s vice president of real estate. “The market is actually getting pretty strong in the downtown area.” In some cases, a building’s owner might simply run out of money before refashioning their properties. “What happens is people lack the capital to invest in their property for whatever reason,” UTSA’s Dupont said. “Instead of selling it, they let it go.”
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 13A
Vexed by quakes, state calls a scientist By MICHAEL BRICK HOUSTON CHRONICLE
AUSTIN — Surely the seismologist — this man of science, highly educated and blessed with good ol’ boy roots in West Texas — must know what he’s getting himself into. The Texas oil boom is the envy of the nation, a source of strength in uncertain geopolitical times. Smart people are moving in from the coasts. Investors are getting rich. Even a high school dropout can make decent money behind the wheel of a truck. Life is good. Among the less pleasant side effects has been a peculiar increase in the frequency of earthquakes, phenomena of the sort traditionally classified with great confidence as “natural disasters.” In the northern part of the state, where energy firms make lucrative extractions from a rock formation called the Barnett Shale, a remarkable cluster of tremors first commanded the attention of local officials last November. “Everybody was scared, everybody was freaking out, saying, ‘What are you going to do about it?”’ said Alan Brundrett, the mayor of Azle, a small town northwest of Fort Worth. “It was almost funny, like, ‘What are we going to do about earthquakes?”’ By the second or third or 12th time within a few weeks, though, it stopped being funny, especially when the tremors started flirting with the fourth digit on the magnitude scale. So local officials got some data from federal geologists, read up on the relevant scientific research and started demanding answers from the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the petroleum business. Positions hardened on all sides, with industry officials arguing that the available evidence fails to prove any direct link between their subterranean exertions and the dishes rattling around in people’s cabinets. Other states were already starting to make that connection, including Arkansas, Colorado and Ohio, but none of those places is the one where everything is bigger. Before long, the “CBS Evening News” even sent a camera crew to see what was what in Texas. There followed a set of increasingly clamorous public hearings, after which the state commission agreed to gather data on wells used to dispose of oil industry wastewater in the vicinity of the earthquakes. Perhaps not coincidentally, in the view of Brundrett, the tremors became less noticeable. “It’s my personal belief,” he told the Houston Chronicle, “that the well water operator dialed it down to make them stop.” In March, the commissioners promised to determine once and for all “the exact cause of seismic events in Texas.” The man they hired for the job, given the title of state seismologist, soon presented himself at Azle City Hall. Squat and country-mannered, wearing khakis, a plaid shirt and a how-ya-doin’ grin, the seismologist did not quite match the expected profile of a laboratory recluse. But the stakes of his assignment are clear. Oil and gas compa-
Photo by Marie D. De Jesus/Houston Chronicle | AP
Texas Railroad Commission Seismologist David Craig Pearson stands among maps in the William B. Travis Building in Austin, on Sept. 26. Among the less pleasant side effects of the Texas oil boom has been an increase in earthquakes. nies employ hundreds of thousands of people across the state, generating billions of dollars in taxes and royalties. Officially connecting that bonanza to earthquakes — earthquakes! — could cause problems for some fairly influential people. And his background offers clues to how he may handle one of the biggest questions looming over the state’s most powerful industry. “He’s got the pressure on him,” Brundrett said. “He ultimately can be the scapegoat for them. So I’m not sure I’d want to be in his shoes.” Graduating as salutatorian of McCamey High School in 1976, David Craig Pearson made the front page of the McCamey News in Upton County in West Texas. The town, named for a wildcatter, counted a population of about 3,000. Its newspaper used an image of a derrick in place of the “A” in its flag. Pearson played football, baseball and track, made the National Honor Society, served on the student council and presided over the speech club. But a single outlier in his biography gave a better hint of the path his career would take: “Attended Boys State Nuclear Science Symposium.” After high school, he found work with the oil field services firm Halliburton, according to his résumé. He earned a geology degree at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, then enrolled in a master’s program at SMU, where he became a favored student of a scientist named Brian Stump. “He’s curious; he was handson,” Stump recalled. “He was not somebody that closes his mind to things.” At SMU, Pearson studied seismic imagery. After earning a doctorate, he followed Stump to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Their research focused on coal mining explosions that could be mistaken by foreign governments for nuclear weapons testing. The work took Pearson around the world, contributing to documents with names like “Shallow Velocity Structure at the Shagan Test Site in Kazakhstan.” “He led us on so many adventures in so many places, it’s really hard to imagine,” said Diane Bak-
er, a technologist at the laboratory. Respected for his diligence, Pearson became a prized team member for qualities that did not necessarily shine through the dry language of research papers. From the corporate offices to the mine gates, his demeanor put at ease the men causing the underground explosions. “He grew up in Texas,” Baker said. “And it gave him a natural gift for not coming in as a suit and fitting in with guys in the industry.” Over the course of 13 years, Pearson rose through the ranks. Then he left, in 2006. Even Stump, who describes him as a “good friend,” was not sure of the reason. Pearson, who declined interview requests, described the move on his résumé as a return “to family ranching business.” He took a $12,000 pay cut. “We were all very shocked and saddened,” Baker said, “when we found out he was going to leave seismology and go be a rancher.” Nearly eight years would pass before a question drew him back to the field. The question before the seismologist is not really a new one. On Aug. 16, 1931, a 5.8-magnitude earthquake destroyed the little concrete schoolhouse in the West Texas town of Valentine. The bell tower collapsed, adobe walls cracked across town and gravestones spun around in the local cemetery. Wondering whether oil extraction might have played some role in this turn of events, reporters sought the opinion of experts at the University of Texas. Not to worry, a professor told the Associated Press: The oil removed from the ground was being replaced by water. Which was true, sort of. Buried in ancient reservoirs, crude oil shares the catacombs with saltwater. The latter was typically allowed to sink back underground, often with human assistance. In later years, scientists determined that injecting liquids directly into the ground could sometimes cause seismic activity. Given access to a Chevron well in the early 1970s, federal researchers found they could turn earthquakes on and off by altering fluid pressure. No clear pattern
emerged, though, from one formation to the next. Tens of thousands of wells seemed to cause no tremors at all. For industry officials, the paradox amounted to unsettled science. To their critics in the environmental movement, it sounded more like plausible deniability. Hardly anyone considered the question a major priority. But in 2008, the companies leading the new domestic energy boom changed the equation. The technique known as hydraulic fracturing, in sporadic use for decades to extract the last drops of oil from aging wells, expanded to tap in to tight shale formations. Fracking, which involves spraying water mixed with sand and chemicals into porous rock formations to flush out a mix of oil and saltwater, uses more than 26 billion gallons of water a year, according to a report by the University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology. When the process is done, all that water has to go somewhere. So across the state, oil companies maintain about 35,000 watery holes in the ground, known as injection and disposal wells. While these wells have long supported the profitability of traditional production companies, experts say, they are crucial to the fracking business model. Among researchers, attention has focused on the water disposal. In 2010, a Southern Methodist University study identified a saltwater injection well as a “plausible cause” of tremors around DallasFort Worth International Airport. Since then, scientists have strengthened the connection in peer-reviewed journals. “It’s well-documented that fluid injection causes earthquakes,” says William Leith, a scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey. “The problem is to do forensics. Can one make a confident association between the injection of a well and an earthquake? Can you say this well triggered this earthquake?” For researchers, two problems stand in the way. The first is relatively easy to solve: The federal government’s seismic monitors are spread too far apart. So in January, SMU researchers deployed a dozen extraordinarily sensitive devices in
the scrub around Azle. The second is the tough one: Data on the frequency and intensity of injections is considered a trade secret of the oil companies. The Railroad Commission requires only a pressure check once a month, conducted by the operator and reported to the state once a year. “Lacking access to that data, the owner of the well or the oil and gas commission can say, ‘Oh, that is highly speculative,”’ Leith says. “And we can’t fight that. We’re scientists. We need data.” To gather more specific data on the oil industry’s injection wells, the Railroad Commission came up with a plan: Ask nicely for it. But first, the commission needed someone to interpret the data, officially, for the state of Texas. In his job application, Pearson promised to call a good clean game. At 56, he was competing for the seismologist position against more than a dozen qualified candidates, including several who offered to work for less, according to documents obtained under the state public information law. “My objective in seeking this job is to develop a broad understanding of the impact of oil and gas extraction activities on the day-to-day lives of the citizens of the State of Texas,” he wrote. He vowed to determine the cause of the earthquakes, “be they natural or man-made.” His eight-year absence from seismology may present a challenge, some experts say, but not an impossible one. “While the field moves forward, and is doing so rapidly in the area of injection-induced seismicity, it is largely through more and better observational studies rather than theoretical advances,” said William Ellsworth, a scientist at the U.S.G.S. Earthquake Science Center in Menlo Park, Calif. While Pearson was working as a ranch manager in the oil-rich Permian Basin, county clerk records show, he received mineral rights in the area. The rights, which can be leased to oil companies in exchange for royalties, are hardly unusual for anyone with deep family roots in Texas. They were passed down as a gift through the lineage of V.T. Amacker, whose name is attached to some of the top producing leases in the county, according to a database maintained by texasdrilling.com. For a commission employee, the ownership could create a conflict of interest, experts said, though not necessarily in favor of the oil industry. “He’s a mineral owner, a land owner, and would potentially be in favor of making sure things get done right and maybe less favorable to the producers,” said Ed Hirs, an energy economics expert at the University of Houston. “The only one for whom he might have an affinity would be the producer who’s on his property.” By the time Pearson joined the staff in March, at an annual salary of $110,000, the question of manmade earthquakes was rising toward the top of the political agenda surrounding the state’s energy boom. His bosses run statewide for election to six-year terms on the Railroad Commission.
14A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2014
Maryland sees little risk to water from fracking By DAVID DISHNEAU ASSOCIATED PRESS
HAGERSTOWN, Md. — Maryland’s environmental regulators released a report Friday suggesting there is little risk of drinking water contamination from hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in the far western part of the state. The finding surprised critics, who have cited much-publicized cases of tainted groundwater linked to gas wells in Pennsylvania and Texas. The report cites recent studies that blame that contamination on problems with pipes and seals rather than on the drilling technique, also known as fracking. The draft report by the state departments of the environment and natural resources is open for public comment through Nov. 3. It says existing regulations and proposed best practices for gas drilling would protect public drink-
ing water sources, and the risk of contamination to private water wells is low under most scenarios. The most serious risk is a moderate probability that groundwater could become contaminated with methane gas from a casing or cement failure in a gas well 2,000 feet from a private water well, the report says. The probability of contamination is low if the gas well is set back at least one kilometer, or 3,280 feet, from a drinking water well, the report says. The report is part of the state’s process for deciding whether to allow hydraulic fracturing in Maryland’s portion of the Marcellus shale rock formation underlying Garrett and Allegany counties. The process uses large amounts of water and sand along with chemicals to break rock apart and free the gas. Rebecca Ruggles, director of the Maryland Environmental Health Network,
said the report was “overly reliant on an optimistic view of the effectiveness of the proposed best practices,” which she said haven’t been tested. And she said the report underestimated the risk of well casing failures. Since the fracking boom started in Pennsylvania in 2008, that state has identified 243 cases of private water supplies contaminated by oil and gas activities out of more than 20,000 wells drilled there. Katie Brown of Energy in Depth, a program of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, called the study “yet another report that shows that the practice is safe.” She said the safeguards proposed by Maryland regulators are important “because you’re not going to have risk-free energy development but the important question is, ‘Can the risks be managed?’ And this report says they can.”
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2014
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors NFL: COWBOYS, TEXANS
HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS: ZAPATA HAWKS
Keeping pace Photo by LM Otero | AP
Dallas and Houston match up Sunday as a pair of 3-1 teams meet trying to remain on top of their respective divisions.
Cowboys, Texans meet in Arlington Courtesy photo
The Zapata cross country team competed in the Rio Grande Cross Country Coaches Association Meet of Champions last week, finishing in third.
Pair of one-loss teams square off for win No. 4 By SCHUYLER DIXON
Volleyball in 2nd place, cross country takes 3rd By CLARA SANDOVAL THE ZAPATA TIMES
The Zapata volleyball team had a huge win Tuesday night to keep pace with District 16-4A leader Port Isabel after taking down one of their biggest opponents as the first round winds down. Coming into the game, La Feria was a perfect 5-0 in district play, but that did not deter Zapata’s motivation to knock off one of the district’s co-leaders with a 3-1 (25-20, 27-25, 23-25, 25-20) victory. "I knew it would be a tough match, but the girls came together as a team to be victorious,” Zapata head coach Rosie Villarreal said. “They were very close sets."
With the victory, ZHS moves to 5-1in District 16-4A action and is in a twoway tie with La Feria for second place. Port Isabel stays at 6-0 to lead the district. Zapata’s offensive weapons of Cassy Garcia, Tere Villarreal and Alexis Alvarez pounded the ball as the trio combined for 45 kills on the night. Garcia led the way with a game-high 18 kills and was followed by Villarreal with 16 and Alvarez with 11. While the offense had their way at the net, Zapata’s defense held their ground against La Feria’s offensive weapons who consistently sent screamers across the net. Isela Gonzalez had 34 digs while Alexa Garcia grabbed 16.
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The duo of Kaity Ramirez and Villarreal also chipped in with 11. The second round starts on Tuesday as the Lady Hawks have a date with Port Isabel, who handed them their only blemish to open the district season.
Cross Country The Hawks cross country team is flying high with their latest showing, finishing third at the Rio Grande Cross Country Coaches Association Meet of Champions. "We have been improving weekly but
ARLINGTON — J.J. Watt will leave it to others to decide if the Texans’ visit to the Dallas Cowboys qualifies as a matchup of surprise teams. Houston’s dynamic defensive end is probably just glad he doesn’t have to answer “here we go again” questions since his team turned its second straight 2-0 start into a 3-1 record after finishing last season with 14 consecutive losses. So now a Texas rivalry that didn’t look as if it would amount to much when the season started features a pair of 3-1 teams, along with the league’s leading rusher in Dallas’ DeMarco Murray.
See ZAPATA PAGE 2B See COWBOYS-TEXANS PAGE 2B
NCAA FOOTBALL: NO. 6 TEXAS A&M AT NO. 12 MISSISSIPPI ST., NO. 7 BAYLOR AT TEXAS, TEXAS TECH AT NO. 23 KANSAS ST.
Photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP
File photo by AP
Photo by Sue Ogrocki | AP
Texas A&M’s Brandon Williams and the No. 6-ranked Aggies travel to No. 12 Mississippi State in a battle of unbeatens.
No. 7 Baylor squares off with the Longhorns as the teams meet in a rematch of last season’s game which decided the Big 12.
Texas Tech quarterback Davis Webb and the Red Raiders play at No. 23 Kansas State Saturday.
A&M to be tested in Starkville
Baylor, Texas meet for in-state clash
Tech faces K-State in Manhattan
By RALPH D. RUSSO ASSOCIATED PRESS
Viva Starkvegas! Rarely have there been football games played in Starkville, Mississippi — affectionately dubbed Starkvegas by residents and
visitors alike — as big as No. 6 Texas A&M vs. No. 12 Mississippi State. It’s the opening game of a huge doubleheader in the Magnolia State on sort’em out Satur-
See A&M PAGE 2B
By JIM VERTUNO ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — The BaylorTexas rivalry has turned. So far, in fact, it’s more like it’s been flipped on its head. Once dismissed among the dregs of the Big 12,
Baylor has emerged as one of the top programs in the league. The Bears are the defending Big 12 champs, are ranked No. 7 and have won three of the last four against Texas (2-2) in games Baylor (4-0)
See BAYLOR-TEXAS PAGE 2B
By DAVE SKRETTA ASSOCIATED PRESS
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Two weeks ago, Kansas State stacked up across the line of scrimmage, daring Auburn to run. When the Tigers did, the Wildcats
promptly bottled them up. Last week against UTEP, they did the same thing against Aaron Jones, one of the nation’s top rushers. By the time the game
See TECH PAGE 2B
PAGE 2B
Zscores
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2014
COWBOYS-TEXANS Continued from Page 1B “Throughout the whole season I’m going to be saying we can still play better because no matter how you play, you can still play better,” said Watt, whose 80-yard interception return for a touchdown put the Texans ahead to stay in last week’s 23-17 victory over Buffalo. “But to be at 3-1 right now is definitely a good place to be.” Same with the Cowboys, who bounced back from a season-opening loss to San Francisco that included three interceptions by Tony Romo. They’re trying to win four straight for the first time since coach Jason Garrett’s first full season in 2011. The difference is, back then Dallas was trying to dig out of a 3-5 hole. Now the Cowboys go into Sunday’s game tied with the Eagles atop the NFC East, while the Texans are alone in first in the AFC South. Dallas is coming off a surprisingly dominant 38-17 win over New Orleans and has missed the playoffs just twice in franchise history when starting 4-1 or better. “What you try and do is just get rid of the emotional attachment to each week,” said Romo, who has one interception since the opener. “If you don’t come back and work
as hard on this Wednesday-Thursday-Friday as you did last week, you’ll get embarrassed in this league real fast.” The Texans don’t shine statistically, while former NFL rushing champion Arian Foster has missed a game and is almost 300 yards behind Murray a quarter of the way through the season. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick has as many touchdown passes as interceptions (five). But Houston is finding ways to win, as Watt showed when he put up his hands to block a pass from EJ Manuel, tipped it to himself and ran untouched to the end zone. “It’s not always pretty, but they really have a never-say-die attitude and I think that’s what’s fun about coaching them,” coach Bill O’Brien said. “They’re trying to play smart. They’re trying to play physical. In some games we’ve done better than others.” Things to consider in the fourth meeting of a series that started with Houston’s stunning 19-10 win at home in the franchise’s first game in 2002. WATT VS. SMITH Watt and Dallas left tackle Tyron Smith were drafted two spots apart in 2011, starting with Smith at No.
9 overall. Watt would have been a great fit for the Cowboys because they were playing the 3-4 then, but they’re obviously not complaining about a 23year-old cornerstone who just got the second $100 million contract in franchise history after Romo. The pair won’t line up against each other every play because the Texans move Watt around, but they figure to see plenty of each other. “You can tell that he studies a lot, prepares a lot so all you can do is just prepare for it, study about the same way he’s studying,” Smith said. WITTEN FOR 10,000 Dallas’ Jason Witten needs 45 yards to join Tony Gonzalez and Shannon Sharpe as the only tight ends in league history with 10,000 yards receiving. There’s just one problem in his mind. When the season started, he needed 201. “I really didn’t think it would be Week 5 when I was reaching that,” Witten said. GETTING FOSTER GOING The Texans are coming off one of the 10 worst rushing games in franchise history after getting 37 yards against the Bills. Foster was admittedly not at full strength with a hamstring problem after missing
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the previous game and had just 6 yards on eight carries. Fitzpatrick was the leading rusher (14 yards) against Buffalo. “It’s going to be a big part of who we are going forward here throughout the year,” Fitzpatrick said. “We’ve got to get back on track there.” ELITE COMPANY Murray can tie O.J. Simpson (Buffalo, 1975) for second on the alltime list with his fifth straight game of at least 100 yards rushing and one touchdown to start the season. Cleveland’s Jim Brown set the record of six in 1958. Murray has already matched Emmitt Smith’s franchise record of four straight in 1995. “I’ve been hearing that from you guys a little bit, but that’s so far out of my head and out of my mind,” said Murray, whose 534 yards are 156 better than Pittsburgh’s Le’Veon Bell at No. 2. MORE MILESTONES Texans receiver Andre Johnson needs one catch and 77 yards receiving to reach 950 receptions and 13,000 yards in the second-fewest games. It’s his 159th game. Marvin Harrison got to 950 catches in 158 games, while Jerry Rice needed 154 games to reach 13,000 yards.
Continued from Page 1B we also got hit with a couple of injuries," Zapata cross country coach Roel Ibanez said. “Hopefully I can get all of the kids healthy for district.” Senior team captain Danny Hinojosa has been running very well and teammates Isauro Sanchez, Mike Trevino and Luis Rodriguez have been improving weekly. "If we can get Alvaro Rodriguez and Jesus Rubio healthy and back running, we will be contending for a regional spot," Ibanez said. "This district is a lot more competitive. La Feria and Progresso are the teams to beat and Hidalgo has some very good runners as well, so we will see." Clara Sandoval can be reached at Sandoval.Clara@Gmail.com
A&M Continued from Page 1B day in the SEC West. But don’t dare call Aggies-Bulldogs the undercard. While ESPN “College GameDay” will be about 90 miles up the road in Oxford for No. 3 Alabama against No. 11 Ole Miss, the SEC Network will set up shop with its pregame show in Starkville. If Tim Tebow’s in town, it must be huge. “Everyone around the country gets to see what Starkville, Mississippi, is all about,” Bulldogs coach Dan Mullen said. And maybe hear a cowbell or two. Noisemakers are banned in stadiums by the Southeastern Conference, but don’t be surprised if a few Bulldogs fans sneak their beloved clangers through security. The first of six games matching ranked teams around the country, three in the Southeastern Conference’s daunting western division, features two offenses that have been humming. The Aggies (5-0, 2-0) rank in
the top of five nationally in scoring, passing and total offense. First-year starting quarterback Kenny Hill is putting up passing numbers reminiscent of Johnny Manziel with 1,881 yards and 17 TD passes. “You’re going to have to manage the game and manage the tempo of the game,” Mullen said. “You know you’re going to have to score. They’re averaging 51 points per game. If they hit their average, it means we have to score 52. If you hold them just below the average, we’ll have to score 50.” It’ll be interesting to see if Mississippi State (4-0, 1-0) tries to slow it down against Texas A&M, which prefers fast ball. The Bulldogs can get up and go, too, and offense hasn’t been a problem. Mississippi State has topped 500 total yards in each of its games and has a quarterback who draws comparisons to Tebow, the Heisman Trophy winner-turned-TV analyst who Mul-
len coached at Florida as offensive coordinator. Dak Prescott has three straight games of at least 200 yards passing and 100 rushing for the Bulldogs. “Dak Prescott is a great player,” Aggies defensive end Julien Obioha. “You watch Mississippi State film and there’s a lot of things they’re good at and things they’re great at, but one thing you see consistently is a quarterback run. We’re going to have to study film, pick up tendencies, find something that takes the quarterback run away.” The last time two top-15 teams played at Davis Wade Stadium was 1986. That didn’t work out for Mississippi State. The Bulldogs lost 35-6 to Auburn and didn’t win another game that season. Here are some things to watch for when Texas A&M and Mississippi State kickoff what promises to be the best
Saturday of the college football season so far: SECONDARY IS PRIMARY CONCERN Mississippi State’s defense is big and athletic in the front seven and good at getting into the backfield. The Bulldogs lead the SEC in tackles for loss with 34. The secondary, though, has been leaky. The Bulldogs rank 124th in the nation in pass defense. The Bulldogs’ pass rushers, defensive end Preston Smith, defensive tackle Chris Jones and linebacker Benardrick McKinney will need to put plenty of heat on Hill. YOUNG AGGIES Texas A&M has already played 14 true freshman, including defensive end Myles Garrett and defensive back Armani Watts. Garrett leads the team in sacks with 5 1-2 and made his first start last week in a victory against Arkansas. The inexperienced players have helped the Aggies field a better and deeper defense than they did last year, though coach Kevin Sumlin said it was the old-
er player who made the difference in last week’s overtime victory against Arkansas. “Based on how we played, the older guys pulled us out of it, the more you look at that video,” he said. “The young guys you didn’t see have an impact as much as they did at South Carolina; they were a bit overwhelmed. The intensity of that game was pretty high. “ HEISMAN WATCH Hill can move around but isn’t the improviser Manziel was for the Aggies. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Sumlin’s offense creates plenty of mismatches and open receivers for a quarterback content with being a distributor. Prescott has a little of that Manziel magic in his game, which showed on his weaving 56-yard touchdown run in Mississippi State’s victory at LSU. Both quarterbacks might come away from this game looking Heisman worthy.
BAYLOR-TEXAS Continued from Page 1B easily controlled. Those easy Texas victories in a rivalry that dates to 1901? You have to go all the way back to Colt McCoy and Vince Young for those. This is a new rivalry now and one first-year Texas coach Charlie Strong is about to see up close Saturday. In his first matchup with Baylor coach Art Briles, Strong’s team is a two-touchdown underdog — at home. “No. 1 in offense, scoring offense and total offense. They just generate points,” Strong said. “You watch a play and it’s a touchdown there, and then the next time they come back up, hand the ball off, then they go score another touchdown. ... So it’s going to be a major test for us, and we’re going to have to play well. We’re going to have to play above our heads.” Briles dismisses any talk that his program has surpassed mighty Texas. “We certainly don’t feel that way and really don’t look at things that way,” Briles
said. “All that stuff really has no bearing on what’s going to happen Saturday.” Texas wide receiver John Harris stirred things up on Monday when asked about Baylor’s success against Texas when he said, “They’re still Baylor. .... We’re still Texas.” Harris’ comments immediately lit up social media and fan message boards, but Baylor players weren’t interested in taking the bait. “Just so we’re clear: I’m not going to answer any questions about any of their tweets or anything like that,” Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty said. Here are some things to watch when Baylor and Texas play Saturday: THE QUARTERBACKS Petty is among a handful of Heisman Trophy hopefuls, an experienced player who leads a dominant offense. Texas quarterback Tyrone Swoopes is very much a work in progress. Swoopes has three ca-
reer starts and is showing improvement, but the Longhorns’ offense ranks among the worst in the country. BAYLOR DEFENSIVE END SHAWN OAKMAN The 6-foot-9, 280-pound Oakman could be Swoopes’ worst nightmare on Saturday. Oakman has five sacks already and this week matches up against a patchwork offensive line that has been decimated by injury and suspensions. Strong has already kicked starting tackle Kennedy Estelle off the team and Desmond Harrison, who was expected to be the other starter, still hasn’t played yet because of violations of team rules. BAYLOR RUNNING BACK SHOCK LINWOOD Petty and the long touchdown passes get all the publicity, but Linwood does the dirty work, pounding out the tough yards rushing that draw in defenses for the big play. He’s productive, too. Linwood averages 4.9 yards and has scored seven touchdowns.
BAYLOR WIDE RECEIVERS This is a track team and freshman K.D. Cannon is just the latest speedster. Cannon averages 130 yards and has scored five touchdowns of 46, 81, 50, 42 and 89 yards. The Bears return Levi Norwood, who missed three games because of a wrist injury, and Antwan Goodley had six catches for 114 yards last week against Iowa State. TEXAS DEFENSIVE BACKS If Texas has a strength, it’s creating turnovers. Cornerback Duke Thomas bit on a fake and surrendered the game-winning touchdown pass in the final minutes against UCLA, but rebounded with two interceptions last week against Kansas. Cornerback Quandre Diggs also has snuffed two scoring drives this season with end zone interceptions. Texas has nine total interceptions this season and if the Longhorns can force turnovers that give Swoopes a short field, Texas can keep the game close.
TECH Continued from Page 1B ended, Jones had 47 yards on 19 carries. This week? Well, a little different challenge. Texas Tech and its perpetually high-scoring offense is rolling into town to face No. 23 Kansas State, and you can bet that the Red Raiders won’t be trying to run it up and down the field. Even with quarterback Davis Webb questionable with a shoulder injury, Wildcats coach Bill Snyder still expects them to fling it all over the place. “It’s a matter of discipline, staying focused, putting your eyes in the right place and responding rapidly to what you see,” Snyder said. “UTEP threw the ball 28 times in the ballgame, so there were 28 times in the game that you had a chance to react to the pass as opposed to the run. It just goes with the territory, and it is going to happen every week.” No kidding. Oklahoma,
which looms on the horizon, does many of the same things. Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said this week that Webb will be a gametime decision, and it ultimately could boil down to how well his quarterback can protect himself. Webb has practiced this week, a good sign for the Red Raiders. “We’ll see how Davis is feeling” on game day,” Kingsbury said, adding that his ability to “operate at a level we need him to operate” will also be a deciding factor. If Webb is unable to go, Patrick Mahomes will get the start. Rather than the upright pocket-passer that Webb and many other Texas Tech quarterbacks have been over the years, Mahomes is a dual-threat signal caller. He can still throw the ball downfield and operate the Red Raiders’ offense, but he also can use his legs.
Photo by Sue Ogrocki | AP
Texas Tech quarterback Davis Webb is a game-time decision in this Saturday’s matchup. “It’s not something that we’re really worried about,” Texas Tech wide receiver Bradley Marquez said. “Whoever is in there on Saturday, we’ll rally behind.” And if it’s Mahomes, maybe the Wildcats will have to stop the run after all. “We just have to prepare the way we always do,” Kansas State line-
backer Jonathan Truman said. “Our coaches do a great job with game planning. We just have to prepare and play.” Here are a few keys to Saturday’s game between Kansas State (3-1) and Texas Tech (2-2): SPRINGBOARD GAME Texas Tech will need to beat a Top 25-caliber team to improve its bowl hopes. Kansas State would love
nothing more than to be 2-0 in the Big 12 heading into its game against the Sooners in two weeks. DEFENSIVE WOES Texas Tech was gouged by Oklahoma State, allowing 370 yards through the air and nearly 200 on the ground. The Wildcats, meanwhile, are coming off a blowout of UTEP in which they put up more than 450 yards and 58 points. “They obviously can do a little bit of everything,” Kansas State quarterback Jake Waters said, “so our defense is going to have to come ready to play again. Offensively, we are going to have to do the same thing because of the potential of their offense.” CHARLES IN CHARGE Charles Jones has run for only 228 yards, splitting time with a couple of other Kansas State running backs. But when the Wildcats get to the goal line, he gets the ball — often out of the wildcat. He
has eight TD runs, tied for fourth among FBS players. SPEEDING UP Texas Tech would prefer to run at a quick tempo, and at times Kansas State has struggled with no-huddle attacks. “Texas Tech is in the process of becoming maybe the quickest-tempo team in the conference,” Snyder said. “You know, it is pretty close between them, Baylor and Oklahoma now. So many teams do it, and we have had experience with it.” FLAGS FLYING Texas Tech committed 16 penalties for 158 yards against Oklahoma State, and it leads the Big 12 in both categories. Kansas State is among the nation’s most disciplined teams, not getting flagged once against Auburn. “It just comes down to the individual and being able to go out there and not commit these mistakes,” Marquez said.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2014
Cleaning With Alcohol Dear Heloise: My CURLING IRON is really gunked up with hair spray. What is the best way to remove all of the residue? – V.G. in Alabama Easy fix! If you have a metal curling iron, you can simply clean it with plain old rubbing alcohol and an old washcloth. Dampen the cloth with alcohol and wipe the barrel several times to remove the buildup. Make sure the curling iron is unplugged and cooled. Try to do this once a week or so to prevent a buildup. – Heloise SMOKE SMELL Dear Heloise: I received some pictures in the mail from a friend, and I would like to keep them, but unfortunately they have a heavy smell of cigarette smoke on them. Is there any way to remove the odor from the pictures without ruining them? – Rose R. in Concord, N.H. There are a couple of things you can try to remove the smoke smell. Use a clean cosmetics or small brush and "brush" the pho-
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B
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tographs to remove dust, etc. Then let them "air out" by hanging them up. You can clothespin them to a coat hanger and hang it someplace where they can get airflow on both sides. Obviously, don’t hang them in direct sunlight, or they may fade, depending on the age of the photos. Leave them for a while to see if that helps remove the smell. If they still have the odor, place them in a closed container with baking soda. Don’t let the photos sit in the soda; just put a paper towel down, then place the photos on top of it. Close the container and leave for a few days. Still smell? You can take them to be copied or contact a professional who specializes in photo restoration. Baking soda can work wonders around the house and should be in everyone’s home. – Heloise
4B THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2014