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RICHARDSON, TEXAS
SUPREME COURT
Toddler missing after late-night punishment
One travel ban case dismissed
She is believed to be in grave danger By Marwa Eltagouri WA S H INGT ON P O ST
A 3-year-old from Texas has been missing for three days since her father sent her out alone to an alley at 3 a.m. — her punishment, police say he told officers, for not drinking her milk. Sherin Mathews, a specialneeds toddler last seen early Saturday morning in her family’s back yard in Richardson, a northern Dallas suburb, is thought to be in grave and immediate danger. Her father, Wesley Mathews, was arrested and charged Saturday evening with abandoning or endangering the girl. He was released Sunday night on a $250,000
bond. Mathews told police detectives that he told Sherin to go stand by a tree near the family’s house in the 900 block of Sunningdale at 3 a.m. Saturday because she wouldn’t drink her milk, according to his arrest affidavit. The tree was behind the fence, about 100 feet south of the house and across an alley. Mathews checked on Sherin about 3:15 a.m. and she was gone, according to the affidavit. Police said they weren’t alerted to her disappearance until several hours later, about 8 a.m. Mathews told police he thought she’d come back on her own so he did a load of laundry while he waited, hoping he could locate her once the sun rose.
Mathews and his wife, Sini, reportedly adopted Sherin about two years ago from an orphanage in India, said Sgt. Kevin Perlich, a spokesman for the Richardson Police Department. Mathews told police that Sherin was malnourished and had to be on a special diet to gain weight. She had to be fed whenever she was awake, Perlich said, and wasn’t cooperating when her father tried to feed her. “So that was the frustration [Mathews] was experiencing that night,” Perlich said. “But of course we’re working to verify all of that.” It’s a narrative that has the community buzzing with quesToddler continues on A12
Lawsuit in Hawaii remains unaddressed By Mark Sherman ASSOCIATED PRE SS
Richardson Texas Police / AP
This undated photo shows 3-year-old Sherin Mathews. Authorities are searching for the girl who went missing over the weekend when her father allegedly made her stand outside in the middle of the night as punishment for not drinking her milk.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed one of two cases over President Donald Trump’s ban on visitors from mostly Muslim countries, suggesting it will step away from the controversy for now. The court got rid of a case that originated in Maryland and involves a ban that has now expired and been replaced by a new version. But the justices took no action on a separate case from Hawaii. That dispute concerns Travel continues on A12
NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION
NRA OPPOSES ‘BUMP STOCKS’ BAN Debate over regulation stems from fatal Vegas shooting By Hope Yen and Stephen Braun A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
WASHINGTON — The National Rifle Association is opposing a ban on “bump stocks” like the device used by the Las Vegas gunman to turn semiautomatic weapons into rapidfire guns, stressing its support for more limited regulations. The powerful lobby last week surprised many gun control advocates by embracing possible restrictions on the bump stock devices in the wake of the shootings that killed more than 50 people and injured 500, prompting bipartisan support in Congress for regulating or banning bump stocks. But on Sunday, the NRA drew a line on an outright ban. Chris Cox, the NRA’s chief lobbyist, said too much public focus was being placed on limiting the devices rather than preventing bad human behav-
ior. He said it was the responsibility of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — not Congress — to regulate the sale of bump stocks. “We don’t believe that bans have ever worked on anything. What we have said has been very clear — that if something transfers a semiautomatic to function like a fully automatic, then it ought to be regulated differently,” Cox said. It was a sign of a possible rocky road ahead for action by Congress. Seeking momentum for gun restrictions, Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Sunday said only broader legislation would be effective in outlawing bump stock devices. “Regulations aren’t going to do it. We need a law. It can’t be changed by another president,” said Feinstein, D-Calif., a longtime advocate of stricter gun NRA continues on A12
George Frey / Getty Images
A bump stock device, right, that fits on a semi-automatic rifle to increase the firing speed, making it similar to a fully automatic rifle, is shown next to a AK-47 semi-automatic rifle, left, at a gun store on Oct. 5 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
WHITE HOUSE
$5B requested for Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis
Alex Flynn / Bloomberg
Soldiers assigned to the 1st Mission Support Command, U.S. Army Reserve, stand near a large fallen boulder on a road near Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, on Oct. 7.
WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday asked Congress for $5 billion to ease a fiscal crisis striking the government of Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Puerto Rico’s central government and various municipalities and other local governments are suffering unsustainable cash shortfalls as Maria has choked off revenues and strained resources. The administration’s request, so far delivered informally, would provide $4.9 billion for Puerto Rico and its local jurisdictions. The White House also requested $150 million to help Puerto Rico with the 10 percent match required for Federal Emergency Management Agen-
cy disaster relief. A senior administration official confirmed the request, requiring anonymity because it is not yet official. The official stressed that jurisdictions other than Puerto Rico are eligible, though draft language sent to Capitol Hill limited the request to U.S. territories. On Saturday, Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello sent a letter to lawmakers asking for $500 million for the community disaster loan program, which is designed to help local governments deal with tax revenue shortfalls caused by disasters. He requested almost $4 billion in other aid. “In addition to the immediate humanitarian crisis, Puerto
Rico is on the brink of a massive liquidity crisis that will intensify in the immediate future,” Rossello wrote. Puerto Rico was already suffering from a lengthy recession and its government was beset with fiscal struggles to begin with. A financial control board is overseeing its debt problems and austerity plans. The administration asked for $29 billion last week for FEMA disaster relief efforts and to pay federal flood insurance claims. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said a vote is likely this week. The White House also requested $577 million to replenish federal firefighting accounts depleted by this year’s Crisis continues on A12
Zin brief A2 | Wednesday, October 11, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
CALENDAR
AROUND THE NATION
TODAY IN HISTORY
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 11
ASSOCIATED PRE SS
First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 10 a.m. - noon. 1220 McClelland Ave. Hard cover $1, paperback $0.50, magazines and children’s books, $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.
Today is Wednesday, Oct. 11, the 284th day of 2017. There are 81 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History: On Oct. 11, 1942, the World War II Battle of Cape Esperance began in the Solomon Islands, resulting in an American victory over the Japanese.
There Goes the Neighborhood: How Communities Overcome Prejudice and Meet the Challenge of American Immigration. 7:30 p.m. TAMIU Student Center Ballroom, 5201 University Blvd. International Bank of Commerce Keynote Speaker Series presentation featuring Ali Noorani, author and Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum in Washington, D.C. The event is free and open to the public. Translation services (English to Spanish) will be available. The author will be available for book signing following the lecture.
SATURDAY, OCT. 14 Dia del Rio Laredo Paddling Trail Excursion. 8:30 a.m. registration at Outlet Shoppes parking lot 2 (corner of Santa Maria/Pedregal). Join the Rio Grande International Study Center for a 3-mile paddle from Laredo Water Museum to Bridge I. $20 with boats on first-come, first-serve basis. Private pachanga immediately after, at the Outlet Shoppes. Register at www.rgisc.org.
Chris Dorst / AP
First lady Melania Trump, left, participates in a roundtable discussion of Lily's Place in Huntington, West Virginia on Tuesday.
MELANIA TRUMP TOURS INFANT DRUG REHAB CENTER
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 10 a.m. - noon. 1220 McClelland Ave. Hard cover $1, paperback $0.50, magazines and children’s books, $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions. The 32nd Distinguished Business Awards banquet. 6 p.m. Laredo Country Club. The Laredo Chamber of Commerce announced the selection of Ermilo Richer Jr. and Ermilo Richer III as Laredo 2017 Businesspersons of the Year. For ticket and sponsorship information, call 956-722-9895 or email miriam@laredochamber.com.
SATURDAY, OCT. 21 Dia del Rio Paso del Indio Nature Trail Workday. 7:30 a.m. registration @ Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmental Science Center (LCC main campus by the windmills). Help the Rio Grande International Study Center mulch, clean and beautify Laredo’s oldest nature trail. Complimentary lunch and T-shirts. Free event.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 25 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 10 a.m. - noon. 1220 McClelland Ave. Hard cover $1, paperback $0.50, magazines and children’s books, $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.
SATURDAY, OCT. 28 Dia Del Rio Loving Laredo Hike at Dusk. 5:30 p.m. Benavides Sports Complex, 600 S. Bartlett. Join the Rio Grande International Study Center for a Halloween-inspired hike at the Chacon Hike & Bike Trail with bat watching at dusk at the Meadow Street Bridge. Free event.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — First lady Melania Trump offered her support to those dealing with the nation’s opioid epidemic while touring a drug addiction recover center for infants Tuesday in West Virginia, the state with the highest rate of babies born addicted to drugs. Lily’s Place, the first of its kind in the nation, works with addicted mothers’ newborns who are enduring the torment of drug withdrawal. It also offers treatment to parents. “I want to be here to support you and give a voice to Lily’s Place and also for the opioid epidemic,” the first lady said during
Vegans protest North Carolina whole-animal butchery class ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A North Carolina woman said she’s received death threats over her plan to slit the throat of a sheep while teaching a class on whole-animal butchery next month. Natalie Bogwalker is the director of Wild Abundance, a school that teaches a variety of
a roundtable discussion. “We need to open the conversation to children and young mothers how it’s dangerous to use drugs and get addicted to it.” The nonprofit facility was opened in 2014 by a group of volunteers and health care workers. Its website says the facility provides care for about 100 infants each year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, West Virginia has the nation’s highest rate of babies born addicted to drugs at 33.4 per 1,000 hospital births, compared with the national average of 5.8. — Compiled from AP reports
skills, including foraging and carpentry, The Asheville Citizen-Times reported . In early November, the school plans to host a weekend class, Cycles of Life, that teaches students how to slaughter a 100-pound sheep and then use the entirety of the animal. Bogwalker said she’s received emails and threatening phone calls, but has no plans to cancel the class. “(There are) a lot of people hoping we die a painful death, wishing people would slit our throats, and saying that we’re
sick and demented,” Bogwalker said. “I try to keep a good attitude about it, but it’s pretty challenging.” A release from the North American Animal Liberation Press Office earlier this month expressed outrage over the class. “Innocent sheep will be coldly and cruelly murdered November 4th by two women who apparently are unfamiliar with the term oxymoron,” the unsigned release said. — Compiled from AP reports
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 1 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 10 a.m. - noon. 1220 McClelland Ave. Hard cover $1, paperback $0.50, magazines and children’s books, $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.
SATURDAY, NOV. 4 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 8:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. 1220 McClelland Ave. Hard cover $1, paperback $0.50, magazines and children’s books, $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions. 8th annual Birdies on the Rio golf tourney. 7 a.m. registration at the Max Mandel Municipal Golf Course. Join the Rio Grande International Study Center for the biggest, baddest golf tournament in town. $150 per golfer (all-inclusive). Register at www.rgisc.org.
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 8 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 10 a.m. - noon. 1220 McClelland Ave. Hard cover $1, paperback $0.50, magazines and children’s books, $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 15 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 10 a.m. - noon. 1220 McClelland Ave. Hard cover $1, paperback $0.50, magazines and children’s books, $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.
AROUND THE WORLD
Eric Feferberg / AFP/Getty Images
People take part in a nationwide strike on Tuesday in Paris to show their disagreement with French president’s bid to transform the gargantuan public service and government's plans to freeze their pay and eliminate 120,000 public jobs.
CGT leader, told reporters in the Paris demonstration that the participation in this strike day was “very significant” and praised the union unity. Among the protesters marching in Paris, Beatrice
Vieval, a 49-year-old nurse, says her Paris public hospital has seen three recent suicides among staff, and she fears that Macron’s plans “will make the situation worse.” — Compiled from AP reports
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 29 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 10 a.m. - noon. 1220 McClelland Ave. Hard cover $1, paperback $0.50, magazines and children’s books, $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.
Five years ago: Vice President Joe Biden and Republican opponent Paul Ryan squared off in their only debate of the 2012 campaign; the two repeatedly interrupted each other as they sparred over topics including the economy, taxes and Medicare.
Today's Birthdays: Actor Earle Hyman is 91. Country singer Gene Watson is 74. Singer Daryl Hall (Hall and Oates) is 71. Rhythm-and-blues musician Andrew Woolfolk is 67. Actress-director Catlin Adams is 67. Country singer Paulette Carlson is 66. Actor David Morse is 64. Actor Stephen Spinella is 61. Actress Joan Cusack is 55. Rock musician Scott Johnson (Gin Blossoms) is 55. Actor Sean Patrick Flanery is 52. Actor Lennie James is 52. College Football Hall of Famer and former NFL player Chris Spielman is 52. Actor Luke Perry is 51. Country singer-songwriter Todd Snider is 51. Rapper U-God (Wu-Tang Clan) is 47. Actress Constance Zimmer is 47. Bluegrass musician Leigh Gibson (The Gibson Brothers) is 46. Rapper MC Lyte is 46. Figure skater Kyoko Ina is 45. Actor Darien Sills-Evans is 43. Actor/writer Nat Faxon is 42. Singer NeeNa Lee is 42. Actress Emily Deschanel is 41. Actor Matt Bomer is 40. Actor Trevor Donovan is 39. Actress Michelle Trachtenberg is 32. Thought for Today: "Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life." — Eleanor Roosevelt, American first lady (born this date in 1884, died 1962).
CONTACT US
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 22 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 10 a.m. - noon. 1220 McClelland Ave. Hard cover $1, paperback $0.50, magazines and children’s books, $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.
Ten years ago: The Bush administration reported that the federal budget deficit had fallen to $162.8 billion in the just-completed budget year, the lowest amount of red ink in five years. Cold medicines for babies and toddlers were pulled off shelves amid concerns about unintentional overdoses. Briton Doris Lessing won the 2007 Nobel Prize in literature.
One year ago: President Barack Obama, in an op-ed on CNN's website, sought to reinvigorate his sixyear-old call for the U.S. to send humans to Mars by the 2030s.
French public sector strike disrupt schools, hospitals PARIS — A nationwide strike Tuesday disrupted schools, hospitals and air traffic across France, and nearly a quarter million civil servants took to the streets around the country to protest President Emmanuel Macron’s economic policies. They’re expressing anger at wage freezes, the axing of 120,000 jobs in public services over the next five years and a succession of spending cuts and labor reforms that Macron argues will boost the economy. In Paris, the police said they counted 26,000 demonstrators, while the CGT, the main trade union, counted twice that number in the capital alone and hundreds of thousands across the country. The Interior ministry said 209,000 took part in protests nationwide. It was the first time in ten years that all public service unions had called for strike action. Philippe Martinez, the
On this date: In 1779, Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski, fighting for American independence, died two days after being wounded during the Revolutionary War Battle of Savannah, Georgia. In 1890, the Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in Washington, D.C. In 1910, Theodore Roosevelt became the first former U.S. president to fly in an airplane during a visit to St. Louis. In 1932, the first American political telecast took place as the Democratic National Committee sponsored a program from a CBS television studio in New York. In 1958, the lunar probe Pioneer 1 was launched; it failed to go as far out as planned, fell back to Earth, and burned up in the atmosphere. In 1968, Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, was launched with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Fulton Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham aboard. The government of Panama was overthrown in a military coup. In 1979, Allan McLeod Cormack and Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield were named co-recipients of the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their work in developing the CAT scan X-ray. In 1984, Challenger astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space as she and fellow Mission Specialist David C. Leestma spent 3 1/2 hours outside the shuttle. In 1987, the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt was unfurled for the first time on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.; the 7,000-pound quilt bore the names, personal effects and, in some cases, the ashes of victims of AIDS. In 1991, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Anita Hill accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexually harassing her; Thomas re-appeared before the panel to denounce the proceedings as a "high-tech lynching." In 1992, in the first of three presidential debates, three candidates faced off against each other in St. Louis: President George H.W. Bush, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and businessman Ross Perot. In 2002, former President Jimmy Carter was named the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
AROUND TEXAS Jury selection starts in trial over biker shootings WACO — Jury selection is underway in the first trial stemming from a deadly 2015 shootout between bikers and police at a Central Texas restaurant. The selection process began
Tuesday in the Waco trial of Christopher “Jake” Carrizal. The Dallas chapter president of the Bandidos motorcycle club is the first to stand trial of 154 bikers indicted after the shootings that killed nine people and wounded 20 others outside a Waco restaurant. The defendants face felony charges of engaging in organized criminal activity.
Investigators say motorcycle clubs in May 2015 were meeting at a Twin Peaks restaurant when a fight erupted between the Cossacks and the Bandidos, which the FBI categorizes as an outlaw motorcycle gang. The fight spilled into the parking lot as police tactical officers responded with rifle fire. — Compiled from AP reports
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THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, October 11, 2017 |
LOCAL
Officer once hit by drunken driver focuses on DWI arrests
Teen detained after crossing border fights for abortion By Nomaan Merchant
By Kylie Madry TH E DALLAS MORNI NG NEWS
IRVING, Texas — The headlights of the darktinted police car illuminate the SUV ahead as the two vehicles travel down State Highway 183. The wheels of the late-’90s Tahoe briefly touch the dotted white line once, then twice, barely edging out of the lane. “That one looks promising,” Irving police officer Stephen Burres III says. The Dallas Morning News reports Burres flicks on his lights. After the car pulls over about a minute later, a quick look through the back windows reveals crumpled Modelo cans shoved under the seats. The driver isn’t drunk, though, and it seems like the stop is going to result in just a citation for open containers —until a passenger tries to ditch a baggie of cocaine right in front of Burres. The resulting arrest — Burres’ only one of the night — isn’t totally out of the ordinary for the DWI officer. Burres doesn’t drink — he never really acquired a taste for alcohol, he says. But he estimates that he’s dealt with more than 10,000 drunks. He didn’t always plan to be a DWI officer, either,
Nathan Hunsinger / AP
In this July 21 photo, Stephen Burres III gives a field sobriety test during a DWI stop in Irving, Texas.
originally wanting to become a state trooper and retire as a Texas Ranger. While working with the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office in the ‘90s, he went on a ride-along with a trooper to learn more about the job. “That night ended my highway-patrol career,” he said. Burres was hit by a drunken driver, sending his head through his windshield. When he looked down, he saw the heel of his cowboy boot up next to his knee: His leg was broken in 25 places. “I had a plan, and God laughed,” Burres said. With his dreams shattered, Burres decided to become a DWI officer to prevent more accidents like his own. “Every time I stop a drunk driver, I just stopped him from killing that imaginary family
down the road,” Burres says. Burres joined the Irving Police Department in 2000 and helped form its DWI unit two years later. Now, the team is up to five officers and a sergeant. Irving has no bars within city limits, and most of the DWI stops the department makes are westbound, Burres says, along State Highway 183 — people headed back into town from Dallas. Collectively, the department made 1,000 DWI stops in 2015. Last year, that number fell to 771. Burres attributes the decline to several factors: the increase in ride-hailing apps such as Uber and Lyft, increased awareness that officers are patrolling the roads and extensive highway construction. “We have 80 miles of highway in Irving, and 79.9 of them are under construction,” Burres jokes. But “this makes our job hard,” he adds, “because there’s no safe place to pull drunk drivers over.” Increasingly strict legislation aims to cut down on drunken drivers, including new requirements for those convicted. To drive, second-time offenders must install an interlock device, which tests drivers’ sobriety before
allowing them to start the car. But Burres says some motorists will continue to drive while intoxicated no matter what. After the Byron Nelson golf tournament in May, Burres said, the department was dispatched to a restaurant where a man was attempting to drunkenly drive home. Instead of arresting him, they called a cab and sent him on his way. Shortly after, the restaurant called back, saying the man had returned to his car — he had paid the cabbie $50 to drop him off around the corner. He was arrested just down the road by an officer lying in wait. His charges? A fourth DWI and cocaine possession. Burres jokes, “You can’t fix stupid, but you can give it a court date.” Throughout his career, the officer has racked up more than 4,000 DWI arrests. In July, he was honored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving at its annual luncheon. While the organization believes drunken driving can be eradicated, Burres isn’t so sure. “As nice as that sounds, it’s not going to happen in my lifetime,” he said. But that doesn’t stop him from trying.
South Texas official rescinds resignation A S S O CIAT E D PRE SS
BROWNSVILLE, Texas — A South Texas city official who resigned after using a racial slur to describe two black assistant district attorneys has rescinded that resignation.
Brownsville City Commissioner Cesar De Leon withdrew his resignation in a letter delivered to the city secretary Monday. Mayor Tony Martinez says De Leon rescinded his Thursday resignation before an eight-day grace period
expired. The resignation would have become final after the expiration of the grace period or it’s formally accepted by the city commission. De Leon had said he was resigning because of a conflict of interest.
Last month, multiple social media users posted audio clips of De Leon using slurs and derogatory language in referring to two prosecutors in the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office. De Leon later apologized for the language.
A3
ASSOCIATED PRE SS
HOUSTON — Advocates for a pregnant 17-year-old being held in a Texas facility for unaccompanied immigrant children are asking a federal judge to allow her to get an abortion over the opposition of federal and state officials. A judge has scheduled a hearing Wednesday on a request filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. It accuses the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services of refusing to let the girl be taken for the procedure. Rochelle Garza, a lawyer appointed to represent the Central American girl’s interests, told The Associated Press that the girl may be 14 weeks pregnant. Texas state law prohibits most abortions after 20 weeks. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued Tuesday that immigrants entering the U.S. illegally do not have “a constitutional right to abortion on demand.”
San Antonio officials rename high school ASSOCIATED PRE SS
SAN ANTONIO — Officials at a San Antonio school district have voted to rename a high school because of its ties to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, though one trustee says it doesn’t change much. North East Independent School District trustees voted Monday that Lee High School will be renamed Legacy of Educational Excellence High School. The acronym is LEE High School. Board President Shan-
non Grona says the name is a compromise that retains the school’s history and lessens the expensive process of renaming and rebranding the school with a completely different name. Trustee Edd White says the acronym defeats the renaming purpose and amounts to “trying to put lipstick on a pig.” The recent debate over the school’s name was sparked by the violent white supremacist protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August.
Zopinion
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A4 | Wednesday, October 11, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
COMMENTARY
OTHER VIEWS
It’s time to end Coming Out Day By Matthew H. Birkhold WA S H INGT ON P O ST
As an openly gay professor at a large, public university in the Midwest, I have witnessed many students come out. Whether in my office, by email or even through class essays, students make these proclamations sometimes through anxious tears but always with a sort of existential relief and a new sense of freedom. “Coming out,” we’ve been trained, is one of the most important parts of a gay person’s life — something he or she gets to do on his or her own terms, when ready. I’ve seen firsthand the benefits of this act: the self-affirmation, the discovery of a new community and the broadening of worldviews for friends and families. But I’d like to propose a new practice for my gay students and gay people everywhere: stop coming out. Wednesday marks the 29th National Coming Out Day. In the 1980s, when many people did not know any openly gay people, ignorance and silence allowed homophobia to persist. Coming out was a form of activism — a way to challenge conventional ideas and fears by showing that gays and lesbians were a part of everyday life. Since 1988, this day has fostered a safer world for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people by raising awareness of the community. It continues to affirm our lives, worth and dignity. But America is a safer place in 2017. Polls suggest most Americans consider same-sex relations morally acceptable. Same-sex marriage is legal in all 50 states. And the latest Gallup survey indicates that most Americans believe new laws are needed to reduce discrimination against LGBTQ individuals. That doesn’t mean things are perfect, as the shooting in Orlando last year tragically testifies. Further, I recognize that as a white, 30-something, married professor, I am writing from a place of social, institutional and personal security. And I realize I probably would not be able to make this argument without the existence of National Coming Out Day for the past 28 years. For people in different circumstances, this day might provide much-needed support and strength. Nevertheless, we should question whether the benefits of National Coming Out Day still outweigh its harms. Continuing to use the rhetoric of “coming out” reinforces a view that heterosexuality is the norm. “Coming out” implicitly announces that gay people are aberrant.
Our homosexuality is so different that we must proclaim it; heterosexuality, however, is normal and expected. Imagine we proclaim a National Coming Out Day for everyone. Whether straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, questioning or curious, Oct. 11 could be a chance to broadcast our sexuality. You can imagine the pubescent middleschooler anxiously awaiting Oct. 11 to declare whether Jack and/or Jill should ask her to the dance. Or imagine we assume everyone is gay. Oct. 11 could be a day for straight people to announce their sexuality. Until he comes out, casually ask your neighbor’s son if he has a boyfriend. Nudge him and point out the cute boys in the neighborhood. I suspect your neighbor’s son will not be pleased, assuming he’s straight. The reaction is understandable. Having one’s sexuality mistaken is alienating and destructive to one’s sense of self. These alternatives would be absurd. But they make clear that sexuality is no way to organize our judgments about people and that no particular sexuality should be the expected default. Whether one adopts a homonormative or heteronormative view, clinging to a belief that a certain sexual orientation is normal and natural marks those who fall outside it deviant - a label that has long proved to be the basis of prejudice, discrimination and hate. Let’s dismantle the norm altogether and abandon the concept of “coming out.” Straight people don’t come out. Why should gay people? Of course, National Coming Out Day helpfully raises awareness of the gay community, its interests and its rights. But, paradoxically, the more Coming Out is celebrated, the more it reinforces a normative ideal that is harmful to gay people. In the process of trying to make ourselves safe and visible, we are marginalizing ourselves. This will end either when all people are expected to “come out” or when no one is expected to do so. So this week, to promote a safer America for the LGBTQ community, to normalize our existence and to show that we are a part of everyday life, I propose we cease reinforcing the idea that heterosexuality is the norm. Stop fortifying this implicit assumption, and maybe eventually we won’t have any concept of “normal” or “aberrant” sexuality. Celebrate being gay Wednesday — just don’t come out. Birkhold is an assistant professor at Ohio State University.
COLUMN
We may see Trump’s base drifting away By Jennifer Rubin WASHINGTON P O ST
We have learned that confirmation bias, extreme hostility to the mainstream media and refusal to admit one was conned serve to prevent President Donald Trump’s supporters from abandoning ship. He no longer is an ordinary president in their eyes, but rather a cultural spokesman for their anger, fear, resentment and, yes, xenophobia in some cases. Many of his supporters do not expect him to deliver on promises, either because the Great Leader has decided otherwise or because they blame other politicians. Some convince themselves that he has already improved their lives. But this doesn’t mean that all supporters will stick with him indefinitely. Some actually care about outcomes. Others will get bored with the constant whining about the media and other politicians. Some Republicans who thought they’d at least get something out of his presidency (e.g. tax cuts) will figure out that they aren’t getting much
of anything. Whatever the cause, there need not be one cataclysmic moment that convinces Trump supporters that they should jump ship. More likely, they’ll drift away in drips and drabs, either finding other political entertainment or losing interest in politics altogether, perhaps before 2018 but more likely after the midterms if the GOP gets shellacked. A new Reuters-Ipsos poll bears this out: “According to the Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll, the Republican president’s popularity is eroding in small towns and rural communities where 15 percent of the country’s population lives. The poll of more than 15,000 adults in “non-metro” areas shows that they are now as likely to disapprove of Trump as they are to approve of him. In September, 47 percent of people in non-metro areas approved of Trump while 47 percent disapproved. That is down from Trump’s first four weeks in office, when 55 percent said they approved of the president while 39 percent disapproved.” His core support —
“among men, whites and people who never went to college” — is dipping. His net approval (approval minus disapproval) on health care (-24 points), the economy (-10 points), national unity (-13 points) and immigration (-17 points) have dropped precipitously since he was elected. That suggests the notion Trump voters are impervious to reality is overbroad and unfair. Sure, some cannot come to grips with their heartthrob’s failures. But many others who might not follow every twist and turn in politics or know the ins and outs of every policy issue can sense things are not going as well as they hoped. The shift in numbers also tells us that despite the constant drumbeat in Trump’s culture wars, Trump voters have not been entirely bamboozled by the president. A particularly telling sign is that the net percentage of people who approve of “the way he treats people like me” has dropped 12 points. Maybe the bullying act — which now extends to San Juan’s mayor, virtually every member of Congress,
letter. Laredo Morning Times does not allow the use of pseudonyms. This space allows for public debate of the issues of the day. Letters are edited for style, grammar, length and civility. No name-calling or gratuitous abuse is allowed. Also, letters longer than 500 words will not be accepted. Via email, send letters to editorial@lmtonline.com or mail them to Letters to the Editor, 111 Esperanza Drive, Laredo, TX 78041.
Rubin is a Washington Post columnist.
EDITORIAL
NFL protest filters down to schools WASHINGTON P O ST
For 200 days, India Landry remained seated in protest during the Pledge of Allegiance at her Texas high school. Then, last week, the school’s principal informed her that she would have to stand for the pledge or be forced to leave school. She chose the latter. Landry, who says she was protesting police violence against black Americans, is now back in class after the school reversed its position following a storm of
media attention. But she has filed suit against her principal and the school district, arguing that being forced to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance infringes on her free expression under the First Amendment. “Freedom to disagree is not limited to things that do not matter much,” Justice Robert Jackson wrote then, affirming the American principle that real patriotism requires not enforced conformity but embrace of difference. Unfortunately, Landry’s
school is not the only one that would do well to read his opinion — if not as a legal document, then as a moral one. Several Louisiana public schools have announced in recent weeks that student athletes will be required to stand for the national anthem at games. Students have always fought for the right to express themselves in schools. What’s different now, of course, is that the president has embarked on a multi-week effort to shore up political support from his base by
LETTERS POLICY Laredo Morning 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
Muslims, Hispanics, nonwhites who oppose monuments glorifying the Confederacy, sports figures, immigrants of all types, his own attorney general and, of course, the media — has begun to turn people off. After all, if he treats everyone else poorly and respects no one (other than a general or two), what must he think of people who aren’t part of the billionaire club? Rural voters aren’t blind or dumb. They’ve seen how Trump spontaneously reacted to victims of natural disasters — complaining about the coverage or congratulating himself. It might strike voters as peculiar, even distasteful, that Trump’s all-consuming ego allows no room for others’ suffering. They might not have realized it a year ago, or perhaps they did and loathed Hillary Clinton more, but it seems that people in rural America — who should like him the most — like him a whole lot less. Familiarity certainly does breed contempt.
DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
attacking the political expression of NFL players protesting police violence. It’s unfortunate that the president has chosen to distort the moral authority of his office into a bully’s demand that others adhere to his preferred view of the world. In the absence of leadership from the White House, Jackson’s words are more important than ever as a reminder that disagreement and diversity are at the heart of the American experiment.
THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, October 11, 2017 |
CRIME
Man on death row loses appeal By Michael Graczyk A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
HOUSTON — The U.S. Supreme Court refused Tuesday to consider an appeal from a suburban Houston man on Texas death row who arranged the killings of his mother and brother in 2003 so he could collect a $1 million inheritance. Attorneys for 37-year-old Thomas “Bart” Whitaker went to the high court Whitaker after losing a federal court appeal earlier this year. He claims his trial lawyers were deficient and that Fort Bend County prosecutors engaged in misconduct by improperly referring to discussion of a plea deal that never was reached. According to court records, Whitaker offered to take responsibility for the killings and accept life sentences but his attorneys said prosecutors rejected it because it contained no expression of remorse for the shooting deaths of his mother, Patricia Whitaker, 51, and his brother, Kevin, 19, at the family’s Sugar Land home. Whitaker’s father was shot but survived. The justices provided no explanation for their refusal. Evidence showed Whitaker orchestrated the plot and that it was at least his third attempt to kill his family.
A5
Police: Student confessed to killing Texas Tech campus police officer By David Warren ASSOCIATED PRE SS
DALLAS — A Texas Tech University student confessed to killing a campus police officer who had been booking him on a drug possession charge, telling detectives he had done “something illogical” and that “he was the one that shot their friend,” an investigator said. In an affidavit released Tuesday, Det. Thomas Bonds of the Lubbock city police department said Hollis Daniels III confessed to killing Officer Floyd East Jr. after his recapture Monday night. University officials said East went to Daniels’ room to perform a welfare
check and found evidence of drugs and drug paraphernalia. Authorities Daniels have not said what prompted the welfare check. East arrested Daniels and took him to the campus police station to book him. According to Bonds, the 19-year-old wasn’t handcuffed while East was processing the paperwork. Another officer left the room and then heard a loud bang. When he returned, he found East mortally wounded and Daniels gone. East’s body camera was also missing,
but his service weapon was still holstered. The campus was locked down for about an hour Monday night and the school’s more than 36,000 students were ordered to shelter in place during the search. Daniels was recaptured following a foot chase near the police station. He had the body camera and a handgun, Bonds wrote. It’s not clear why Daniels wasn’t placed in handcuffs or whether he had been searched when arrested. Police also haven’t said whether they believe Daniels used his own gun or one belonging to the department. University officials did not respond Tuesday to messages
seeking additional details. They scheduled a news conference for later Tuesday. Daniels, who is from the San Antonio suburb of Seguin, is charged with capital murder of a peace officer and is being held in the Lubbock County jail on a $5 million bond. Online jail records don’t indicate whether he has an attorney who can speak on his behalf. He’s had prior run-ins with the law. Daniels was charged two years ago in Guadalupe County, which includes Seguin, with possession of drug paraphernalia, but the case was dismissed. Court records obtained by the Lubbock Avalanche-Jour-
nal show he was charged last year in Lubbock County with drug possession. Daniels is the son of H. A. “Dan” Daniels, a wellknown figure in Seguin. The elder Daniels was a city councilman from 1998 to 2002 and again from 2006 to 2010, when term limits prevented him from running for re-election. He didn’t immediately reply to phone messages seeking comment that were left at a family business and calls to the family’s home got a busy signal. The school’s president, Lawrence Schovanec, said East’s family is in the prayers of the Texas Tech community.
Zfrontera A6 | Wednesday, October 11, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
RIBEREÑA EN BREVE Expo Fiesta 1 La Ciudad de Miguel Alemán, invita a su Expo Fiesta 2017 que presenta artesanía, gastronomía, juegos mecánicos, presentaciones artísticas y muchas atracciones más. Del 6 al 15 de octubre en el Teatro del Pueblo.
Agradecimiento a Personal de Primeros Auxilios 1 Girls Scouts invita a todas las fuerzas del orden de Zapata, personal del Departamento de Bomberos y Gestión de Emergencias al segundo Día de Agradecimiento anual a Personal de Primeros Auxilios el sábado 14 de octubre de 2017 en IBC Annex de 9 a.m. a 11 a.m.
Festival Nuevo Santander 1 La Sociedad Genealógica Nueva Santander del Condado de Zapata invita al Festival Nuevo Santander el 13 y 14 de octubre de 10 a.m. a 4 p.m. en el Museo de Historia del Condado de Zapata.
Caminata contra cáncer 1 La caminata Walk All Over Cancer! se llevará a cabo el sábado 21 de octubre. Caminata iniciará en Citizens State Bank y terminará en el Centro Comunitario de Roma.
Pago de impuestos 1 Realice pagos por impuestos a la propiedad de la Ciudad de Roma en la oficina de impuestos del Distrito Escolar de Roma, 608 N. García St.
Llenado de aplicaciones 1 La Ciudad de Roma ofrece el servicio de llenado de aplicaciones para CHIP, Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, Chip, Prenatal y otros. Contacte a Gaby Rodríguez para una cita en el centro comunitario o en su domicilio al 956-2467177.
Laboratorio Computacional 1 La Ciudad de Roma pone a disposición de la comunidad el Laboratorio Computacional que abre de lunes a viernes en horario de 1 p.m. a 5 p.m. en Historical Plaza, a un lado del City Hall. Informes en el 956-849-1411.
Museo en Zapata 1 Realice una investigación sobre genealogía de la región en el Museo del Condado de Zapata ubicado en 805 N US-Hwy 83. Opera de 10 a.m. a 4 p.m. Existen visitas guiadas. Personal está capacitado y puede orientar acerca de la historia del Sur de Texas y sus fundadores. Pida informes en el 956-765-8983.
Sábado 14 de octubre en Planetario de TAMIU 1 Proyección de película Beetlejuice a las 2 p.m. Costo boleto 5 dólares adultos, 4 dólares niños de 3 a 12 años. Puertas abren a la 1 p.m. 1 Proyección de película Poltergeist a las 5 p.m. Costo boleto 5 dólares. Solo mayores de 18 años. Puertas se abrirán a las 4 p.m.
CARRIZO OIL & GAS
Investigan explosión en refinería E SPECIAL PARA TIEMP O DE ZAPATA
La Comisión de Ferrocarriles de Texas y la Comisión de Calidad Ambiental de Texas han iniciado una investigación para determinar las posibles causas y efectos de la explosión que se suscitó el sábado 7 de octubre en las instalaciones de una refinería ubicada al este del Condado La Salle. Personal de primeros auxilios acudió a la propiedad donde opera la compañía Carrizo Oil & Gas, ubicada en la carretera FM 469 cinco millas al norte de la calle Los Angeles, tras ser notificados poco después de las 2:30 pm que un camión cisterna estaba incendiado. Oficiales de Patrulla de Carreteras de Texas auxiliaron a bomberos y of-
iciales del alguacil a cerrar la circulación en la carretera cuando el incendio del camión cisterna amenazó con propagarse a un almacén de combustible adyacente, de acuerdo con un comunicado del Departamento de Bomberos y Primeros Auxilios del Condado La Salle. Bomberos reportaron haber escuchado un silbido agudo indicador de fuga de gases presurizados en la escena del incendio e inmediatamente recibieron la orden de replegarse, de acuerdo con un reporte del incidente. Posteriormente se estableció una zona de evacuación con un radio de aproximadamente una milla y se detuvo todo el tráfico de la carretera FM 469 en la intersección de Los Angeles y Millet,
según el Jefe de Bomberos interino Daniel Méndez. Poco después, mientras los vehículos de primeros auxilios se replegaban para ubicarse a una distancia segura del incendio, una explosión destrozó el tanque de combustible y ocasionó que una parte del contenedor de metal saliera expulsada cientos de metros por el aire. La tapa de metal cayó sobre la carretera FM 469, aproximadamente a tres cuartos de milla del lugar de la explosión, dijo Méndez. No se reportaron lesionados graves tras el incidente. Personal de primeros auxilios destacaron que el camión cisterna estaba conectado a una línea de abastecimiento de gas propano líquido y que
Foto de cortesía / Oficina del Alguacil del Condado La Salle
Una explosión destrozó un tanque de combustible en las instalaciones de la compañía Carrizo Oil & Gas.
pequeños incendios causados por la explosión inicial fueron descubiertos en o cerca del sitio de la explosión. Los bomberos trabajaron para extinguirlos y para eliminar el riesgo adicional de incendios forestales. Méndez dijo que los bomberos informaron que la explosión había
destruido completamente el camión cisterna y que había un incendio mínimo en los restos del vehículo. Representantes de Carrizo Oil & Gas y Select Energy llegaron al sitio el sábado para evaluar el daño y comenzar su propia investigación sobre las causas del incendio y la subsiguiente explosión.
COMISIÓN LABORAL DE TEXAS
FRONTERA
Anuncian feria de trabajo para veteranos
Crece sector industrial en Nuevo Laredo
Por Malena Charur TIEMP O DE ZAPATA
La Comisión Laboral de Texas realizará proximamente, la feria de trabajo Hiring Red, White and You!, enfocada en los veteranos pero abierta al público en general, sin embargo, la institución ha pensado en un recurso útil para que López las posibilidades de conseguir empleo se incrementen. Gabriel López, director asistente del programa Texas Veterans Leadership Program, dijo que este año se ha pensado en ofrecer los talleres “Let’s Work for the Government” (Trabajemos para el gobierno), los cuales han sido diseñados para que las personas buscando un trabajo aprendan cómo llenar una solicitud de empleo para el gobierno. “Nos estamos concentrado en empleos que pueden ser ofrecidos por el gobierno municipal, gobierno del condado, estatal y federal. Buscamos que las personas llenen sus solicitudes de la manera correcta al momento de buscar trabajo en estas entidades”, indicó López. La feria de trabajo Hiring Red, White, and You! fue diseñada por la Comisión Laboral de Texas en 2011 paraconectar a los
veteranos de guerra y sus esposas buscando trabajo con empleadores de Texas que valoran la experiencia, la disciplina y otras cualidades excepcionales que poseen aquello con un antecedente militar, se lee en el sitio de Internet de Texas Workforce Commision. “Hablamos con el gobierno y les dijimos vamos a hacer un taller para explicarles paso a paso cómo deben aplicar, qué es lo que deben hacer, cuáles son los errores más comunes, por qué las aplicaciones son rechazadas y qué tipos de problemas se encuentran”, expresó. “Debido a esto se estarán ofreciendo cuatro talleres, uno por semana y para cada nivel de gobierno, para culminar con la feria de empleo”. Los talleres incluirán llenado de solicitudes para el Condado de Webb el 11 de octubre; la Ciudad de Laredo, el 18 de octubre; el gobierno estatal, el 25 de octubre; y, finalmente, el gobierno federal el 1 de noviembre, en las oficinas de Texas Workforce Center, ubicado en 2389 E. Saunders en el horario de 3:30 p.m. a 4:15 p.m. López agregó que la feria de empleo que se llevará a cabo en noviembre 9, también tuvo un cambio con respecto al horario, pues en esta ocasión se realizará de 4 p.m. a 7 p.m. en Kazen Center de Laredo Community College.
Recomendó que las personas buscando empleo hablen a los empleadores acerca de su experiencia en empleos anteriores porque se puede traducir en habilidades. “Muchos omiten su experiencia pasada a la hora de estar hablando con los posibles empleadores pero cualquier experiencia laboral se puede traducir en habilidades que los empleadores pueden tomar en cuenta a la hora de contratar a alguien”, explicó. “También no deben temer por ser un veterano con discapacidad ya que en ocasiones, este hecho aumenta las posibilidades de contratación ya que se otorga más puntos al estar protegidos por la Ley de Americanos con Discapacidad promulgada en 1974”. Agregó que en muchas ocasiones los empleadores optan por candidatos que demuestren capacidad para adaptarse a nuevos ambientes laborales y recomendó presentarse en la feria con un atuendo formal pero sobre todo con una actitud positiva. López exhorta a la comunidad de veteranos y al público en general a que se inscriba en los talleres. Dijo que si alguna persona se ve incapacitada para asistir en ese horario puede llamar para hacer una cita personal Informes para registrarse al 956-794-6500 o al 956 229 0265 o bien, puede inscribirse el mismo día del taller.
TIEMP O DE ZAPATA
NUEVO LAREDO, México— Con más de 60 millones de dólares en inversión directa y la llegada de nuevas operaciones, la Industria Manufacturera, Maquiladora y de Servicio de Exportación (IMMEX) de Nuevo Laredo, registra este año un importante crecimiento, como hace mucho tiempo no se veía en la ciudad. Francisco Javier Solís Morales, Secretario de Desarrollo Económico de Nuevo Laredo, mencionó que la ciudad ofrece condiciones favorables para el crecimiento de la industria, y los resultados que se han logrado en los últimos meses lo demuestran. “Nuevo Laredo no es la excepción, por el contrario, muestra una vitalidad y dinámica muy importantes en la inversión como no habíamos tenido en mucho tiempo”, dijo Solís. Entre las principales empresas que han llegado o expandido sus operaciones en la ciudad desde 2016, se encuentran Modine, Medline, Remy y Delphi, con su nueva operación y planta en FINSA y un crecimiento de 2.557 nuevos empleos permanentes. “Nuevo Laredo registra un 7,9 por ciento de creci-
miento durante esta administración, para un total de 34.983 trabajadores. La industria representa el 38,7 por ciento del empleo ante el IMSS”, precisó el secretario. En agosto de este año, Nuevo Laredo logró rebasar la meta de 3.000 empleos fijada para 2017, al registrar 4.575 en lo que va de esta administración local. Resultado de una mayor confianza para abrir nuevas fuentes de trabajo, Nuevo Laredo registró una cifra récord de 90.491 empleos formales en agosto de 2017, un incremento de 1.371 cotizantes más que julio del mismo año, cuando se reportaron un total de 89.120, y un 10 por ciento de aumento en lo que va del año en comparación con el mismo período del año pasado. “Esperamos que la modernización del Tratado de Libre Comercio de Norteamérica nos permita capitalizar las oportunidades que tenemos en puerta”, comentó Solís. Él añadió que la Industria de la Transformación, Transporte y Comunicaciones e Industria de la Construcción, reportan incrementos superiores a los 380 empleos cada giro, y son las principales actividades económicas que muestran crecimiento.
GUERRERO AYER Y HOY
Guerrerenses recuerdan leyenda Nota del editor: Esta serie de artículos sobre la historia de Ciudad Guerrero, México, fueron escritos por la guerrerense Lilia Treviño Martínez (1927-2016), quien fuera profesora de la escuela Leoncio Leal. Por Lilia Treviño Martínez TIEMP O DE ZAPATA
Han pasado 50 años que abandonamos aquella Ciudad Guerrero, y el tiempo ha marcado pro-
fundas huellas. La fisonomía de la Vieja Ciudad se ha transformado. Ruinas por doquier. El agua y los saqueadores lo han cambiado todo. Y en las mentes de los viejos persisten aún las interrogantes del cómo y del porqué. ¿Es leyenda? ¿Conseja popular? Tal vez solo a medias, pues en los años cuarenta, cuando se firmaba el Tratado Binacional que condenaba al poblado a convertirse en despoblado
por la fuerza, existían todavía personas que comentaban con temor, el suceso que no quedó escrito en páginas de libros, pero sí seguramente, en las conciencias de quienes en él participaron. Supuestamente el hecho ocurrió en 1862. Ciudad Guerrero vivía su mejor época, floreciendo y destacando entre las fundaciones escandonianias del norte de Tamaulipas. Los ancianos relataban
con temor y en voz baja, el atentado que se cometió contra un alto Prelado de la Iglesia Católica al llegar a la ciudad y sujetarse a revisión en la garita de entrada: atentado que muchos calificaban de sacrilegio, porque supuestamente el obispo portaba el símbolo del Santísima Sacramento en la forma de la Eucaristía. El relato de varias personas de avanzada edad establecía que, el Obispo, transformado por la in-
dignación y el agravio, marchó hasta el Templo, y ante la congregación de fieles, lanzó las palabras de condenación: “de pueblos como éste no ha de quedar piedra sobre piedra”. Y antes de que transcurriera un siglo, el anatema inició su realización, que cada día se va haciendo más patente a medida que se va totalizando el desplome de los sólidos muros de piedra de cantera.
Sports&Outdoors THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, October 11, 2017 |
A7
NCAA FOOTBALL: TEXAS LONGHORNS
Texas rises to top of Big 12 with rival Sooners next Longhorns are 2-0 in league play for the first time since 2013 By Jim Vertuno A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
AUSTIN — Texas fans have seen this before: a modest two-game win streak and a hot young quarterback giving the offense some desperately needed juice. The question heading into the annual rivalry game with No. 12 Oklahoma is, are these Longhorns for real? “I’m really excited at the direction we’re headed,” Texas coach Tom Herman said. “The sense on the sideline and the demeanor and our attitude is headed in the right direction. We’re not a finished product yet.” The Longhorns’ 2-0 start in the Big 12 is their first since 2013, former coach Mack Brown’s last season when the Longhorns went into the final game of the regular season with a chance to win the championship. Texas booted Brown after that season and the Longhorns haven’t been close
since as three straight losing seasons under Charlie Strong followed. Each of those losing years were filled with games and players and that teased Longhorns fans into thinking the worst was behind them, only to be dashed by a critical turnover, a missed kick or a humiliating blowout. Longhorns fans can still hear opposing teams mock them with the “Texas is back!” call after a seasonopening win over Notre Dame last year. The program has been in such a rut that just about every new highlight is tempered by some recent disappointment. Beat Oklahoma on Saturday and Texas will have its first three-game winning streak since the back end of the 2014 season. At the time, Strong promised that Texas would never lose five games in a season again. In a way, he was right. Texas lost seven three straight years.
NFL: HOUSTON TEXANS
Tim Warner / Getty Images
Texas running back Chris Warren III and the Longhorns are 2-0 in the Big 12 for the first time since 2013.
Even this season’s emergence of freshman quarterback Sam Ehlinger has to be tempered with caution. Ehlinger’s 487 yards of total offense in the Longhorns’ 40-34 overtime win over Kansas State ranked third in school history. But who’s No. 1? It’s not Vince Young or Colt McCoy. It’s Jerrod Heard, who had 527 total yards against California in 2015 and beat Oklaho-
ma that season, only to flame out at quarterback and later switch positions. Heard is now a wide receiver catching passes from Ehlinger. Oklahoma (4-1, 1-1) has dealt Texas (3-2) several blowout losses over the last 15 years. More recent history has shown the Longhorns can surprise the Sooners when Oklahoma is a heavy favorite. Texas wins in 2013 and 2015 came when the
Sooners were ranked No. 12 or higher and Texas was unranked. In both of those years, Texas caught Oklahoma when the Sooners were perhaps overconfident amid Texas struggles. That likely won’t be the same Saturday. Oklahoma is desperate to regather itself after a stunning home loss to Iowa State. Another loss could dash its title hopes just three games into the
league schedule and would be a tough blow for rookie head coach Lincoln Riley. “Winning is hard and it is something you have to learn how to do. I guess you could say that we’re finally learning how to win,” Texas wide receiver Collin Johnson said. “Keep doing what we’re doing. Keep playing Texas Longhorn football and play the way that we redefined it to be.”
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION: HOUSTON ROCKETS
Houston introduces its new owner Tilman Fertitta is ‘thrilled’ for season opener at Warriors By Kristie Rieken ASSOCIATED PRE SS
Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle file
Houston claimed cornerback Marcus Williams off waivers from the New York Jets on Tuesday. Williams was signed by the Texans as an undrafted rookie in 2014.
Texans claim CB Williams, cut Banks By Aaron Wilson H OUSTON CHONI CLE
The Texans were awarded cornerback Marcus Williams off waivers from the New York Jets, according to a league source not authorized to speak publicly. The Texans cut veteran cornerback Johnthan Banks, who struggled in pass coverage after joining the team prior to a loss to the New England Patriots. Banks was a former Tampa Bay Buccaneers second-round draft pick. Williams was signed by the Texans in 2014 as an undrafted rookie out of North Dakota State. He didn't make the roster, though. Williams, 26, played for the Jets for the past four seasons. Williams is 5-11, 192 pounds and has nine career interceptions and 101 tackles. He was assigned a secondround restricted free agent tender by the Jets during the offseason before being cut this week. He intercepted a schoolrecord 21 passes in college and returned seven for touchdowns.
HOUSTON — Tilman Fertitta has been a fan of the Rockets since before they moved to Houston, and after a failed attempt to buy the team long ago he was prepared to do whatever it took not to miss another chance. To make his dream come true, the businessman had to shell out an NBA-record $2.2 billion. And on Tuesday when he was introduced as the team’s new owner, he admitted that it was worth every dime. The owner of the Landry’s restaurant chain and Golden Nugget casino and hotels, he also has built several landmarks in the area including the Downtown Aquarium, the Kemah Boardwalk and the Pleasure Pier in Galveston. The Rockets are tops to Fertitta. “I don’t want to take away anything from the great things that I’ve been able to build for the Houston area ... but honestly nothing compares,” he said. “Nothing compares whatsoever. This is the ultimate ... you’re in a club of 30. Anybody can go build a boardwalk, anybody can go build an aquarium, anybody can build tall buildings, but not everybody gets to own an NBA franchise.” Fertitta and a partner were in the running to buy the team when Leslie Alexander bought it in 1993. He’s remained friends with Alexander since then, even hosting him for Thanksgiving on one occasion. Their close relationship didn’t mean much when it was time to negotiate. “When it came time to sell the team I didn’t get any favors,” Fertitta said. “It went back to business again.” Alexander, who announced the team was for sale in July, took over as owner on July 30, 1993, and the Rockets went on to win back-to-back titles in 1994-95 behind the likes of Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. In 24 seasons under Alexander, the Rockets have won 56.9 percent of their games, fifth-best in the league. Rockets chief executive officer Tad Brown said that they had about a dozen legitimate contenders to buy the team and that half of those could have closed the deal, but in the end it really wasn’t a contest. “This is his team and this is his town and he wanted it more,” Brown said. Fertitta was born in Galveston, Texas, and has lived in Houston his entire adult life. The 60-year-old is the chairman of the board of regents of the University of
Brett Coomer / Associated Press
The Houston Rockets introduced their new owner, Tilman Fertitta, on Tuesday.
Houston System and star of the reality show “Billion Dollar Buyer” on CNBC. He is already looking ahead to doing more. He said he would be open to talks about the potential of bringing an NHL team to Houston share the Toyota Center with the Rockets. “We’ll do whatever we can do, but whatever we do has to make sense,” he said. “Will we be aggressive. That’s my nature.” He was asked what kind of owner he would be — extremely hands on and front-and-center like Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban or more of a behind-thescenes presence like Alexander was. “I didn’t think the player’s cafeteria was very nice and we’re going to fix it,” he said. “So that’s the style of owner I’m going to be.” Then he added: “I’m into details, I’m not into micromanaging.” Fertitta spoke in front of a backdrop
featuring the Rockets logo and that of his Landry’s restaurant chain, suggesting the Toyota Center’s concessions might get a change, too. “I don’t think they’ll let me put a casino in here,” he said before cracking up. “(But) will you start seeing some of our brands and some of our food here? Yes ... we want to cross promotion anything we can to offset that 2 billion.” Fertitta said he is thrilled to own a team with superstars James Harden and Chris Paul, and can’t wait until the Rockets open the season at Golden State on Tuesday in California. But he knows the real joy will be when they play their first home game on Oct. 21 against the Mavericks. “On opening night when I get to walk on that floor and look at it totally different, even though I’ve walked on that floor hundreds of times,” he said. “This is my building and my team and it’s kind of fun.”
A8 | Wednesday, October 11, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
ENTERTAINMENT
‘Legends’ star shatters stereotypes By Nicole Evatt A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Actress Tala Ashe is thrilled to debut her new character, a MuslimAmerican superhero joining season three of “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.” It’s a particularly poignant moAshe ment for the Iranianborn, Ohio native, who described the hardship of portraying stereotypical characters in the past. “I have been part of projects where it is not dealt with sensitively or accurately and it’s incredibly painful. It’s incredibly painful,” said Ashe in an interview while promoting The CW series during the Television Critics Association summer meeting. One of Ashe’s first breaks was on a soap opera. She took the role to pay the bills, but said she would never agree to the part now. “It’s still actually painful for me to talk about because I, it was such a stereotype,” she recalled. “I try not to berate myself for taking it because I understand the reasons that I did. But I would never, I would never say ‘yes’ to something like that now. ... Going through that experience taught me the power of saying ‘no’ and saying like, ‘Actually I’m not OK with that.’ And if that’s all there is out there for me then it’s OK. I’ll go work in a law firm pouring coffee. I’d rather do that then to be part of promoting that stereotype.” Her experience playing
Zari, a computer-hacking superhero in “Legends,” which returns Tuesday, could not be more different. “What is great is (her ethnicity) is an aspect of who she is, as much as she’s an activist and she’s a strong woman and someone who speaks truth to power,” Ashe said. “It’s really important that we have representation in the media and specifically we have Muslim-American representation that isn’t just positive in a sort of rosy, un-nuanced way, but is a real person. And there’s so much of the other right now and there’s so much making Muslims ‘the other’ that I’m excited to play this character in what I hope will be a very nuanced and sensitive, accurate way.” Ashe was particularly impressed when showrunners brought in a Muslim-American writer to help craft her role and hopes that kind of inclusivity will spread throughout Hollywood. “I do think there are more stories being told. I think more stories can be championed both in theater and in television and certainly in movies. I think we have a long way to go in terms of representation in movies. But I think TV is doing kind of the best job in terms of realizing that we need to reflect our world and that it matters,” she said. Ashe aims to be a positive role model for young fans and perhaps break down a few stereotypes along the way. “I’m excited to see what the reaction is and if it can make someone feel a little less alone or — here’s the big hope — if it can change a mind,” she said.
Disney, Fox, others to join forces for download service By Anousha Sakoui and Christopher Palmeri BL OOMBERG
Several major Hollywood movie studios have signed up to a new digital film service led by Walt Disney that lets consumers buy movies and store them in a digital locker to access on their devices, people familiar with the matter said. Disney has been courting studios to join its Movies Anywhere service since last year, Bloomberg News reported at the time. Customers can watch and keep their online film purchases at a single site through the product. 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures are among the major studios joining the service, the people said. The plan could be announced as soon as this week, they said.
The service could help studios compensate for the collapse in physical DVD sales and a disappointing year at the box office. By banding together, the makers of the world’s most popular films, including Disney’s “Star Wars” and Warner Bros.’ DC Comics, are betting they can succeed in attracting more users than their previous attempts did. Disney originally introduced its service under the name Disney Movies Anywhere in 2014, and other studios supported a rival format called UltraViolet. Shares of Disney, based in Burbank, California, were little changed at $99.59 at the close, erasing losses earlier in the day. 21st Century Fox Inc., the Fox studio’s parent company, rose 0.5 percent to $26.72. DVD sales fell more than 10 percent in the first half of this year from
a year earlier, while electronic sales have grown more than 8 percent, according to data from the Digital Entertainment Group. North American theater ticket sales year to date are down almost 5 percent, according to ComScore Inc. Theater stocks fell Monday after another movie, “Blade Runner 2049,” disappointed at the box office last weekend. Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures is the only one of the six major studios that isn’t joining Movies Anywhere, because of a disagreement over financial terms, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. Paramount, maker of the Transformers films, and smaller Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., home of “The Hunger Games,” are supportive of the concept and may join later, two
people said. Disney Movies Anywhere used a proprietary storage technology called KeyChest that allows consumers to access movies on one site, whether they’re purchased online from Apple’s iTunes, Amazon.com, Google or a brickand-mortar store like Wal-Mart Stores. The service offered films from all of the company’s brands, including Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm. With the rise of Netflix and other video services, studios may be too late to persuade consumers to buy movies to keep and re-watch, said Rich Greenfield, analyst at BTIG said, who has a buy rating on Netflix and a sell rating on Disney. “The consumer has moved on from ownership of media to access via subscription services,” he said.
Bob Schiller, ‘I Love Lucy’ writer, dies at 98 By Frazier Moore ASSOCIATED PRE SS
Bob Schiller, a comedy writer whose credits reach back to TV’s infancy, including “I Love Lucy,” and later, “Maude,” “All in the Family” and “The Carol Burnett Show,” Schiller has died. He was 98. Schiller died Tuesday in Pacific Palisades, California, according to his daughter, Sadie Novello. He began writing for television in 1950, and three years later formed a partnership with Bob Weiskopf, with whom he collaborated for nearly a
half-century. Among their hundreds of TV scripts was the classic “I Love Lucy” episode that found Lucy Ricardo stomping grapes. Besides “I Love Lucy,” the team wrote for such 1950s sitcoms as “The Bob Cummings Show,” “December Bride,” “The Jimmy Durante Show” and “The Ann Sothern Show.” Their partnership continued through the 1960s and ‘70s with such shows as Lucille Ball’s follow-up comedy “The Lucy Show.” which they cocreated, and “The Red Skelton Hour,” Flip Wilson’s variety show “Flip” and “Archie Bunker’s Place.” Schiller had also written scripts for such classic radio series as “Duf-
fy’s Tavern,” “Abbott and Costello” and “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.” He shared writing Emmys with Weiskopf for “All in the Family” and “Flip.” When asked about the success and longevity of his partnership with Weiskopf, Schiller was known to respond, “That’s easy — we’ve never agreed on anything,” to which Weiskopf would fire back, “Yes, we have!” Weiskopf died in 2001. Raised in Los Angeles, Schiller attended the University of CaliforniaLos Angeles, where he wrote a humor column for the school newspaper. He was drafted into the Army in 1940, and, deployed overseas, pro-
duced comedy variety shows for the troops. After the war, Schiller took a job with the Rogers & Cowan public relations agency, whose clientele included a dentist for whom he wrote the billboard, “Visit your neighborhood friendly dentist. Come in before they come out.” His writing career then evolved into radio. His first job after joining up with Weiskopf was a radio script for the “Our Miss Brooks” comedy show. Schiller retired in 1988. Survivors include his wife of 49 years, Sabrina, and four children, including director-filmmaker Tom Schiller. He was married to Joyce Harris from 1947 until her death in 1963.
THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, October 11, 2017 |
A9
BUSINESS
Hyundai eases dealership experience to help sales
Oil back above $50 as supply glut wears down By Jessica Summers
By Tom Krisher
BL OOMBERG
A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
DETROIT — Stung by falling U.S. sales, Hyundai is pushing its dealers to modernize the new-car shopping experience, conceding that customers are well-armed with information from the internet before they step on the showroom floor. The Korean automaker on Tuesday announced that dealers will post “fair market pricing” on their websites that includes company discounts offered to consumers. Dealers, which are independent businesses, will be encouraged to add incentives they’re offering to buyers. They’ll also deliver vehicles to customers for test drives and allow people to do paperwork online, including calculation of monthly payments, loan applications and estimating the value of their trade-ins. “They would rather spend less time negotiating, filling out forms and re-filling out forms for the second time,” Dean Evans, the company’s chief marketing officer in the U.S., said of car shoppers. “But they do want to spend more time getting to know the car and the features of the car.” Hyundai Motor Co. hopes the move will boost U.S. sales, which are down almost 13 percent so far this year, a far bigger drop than the overall market’s decline of just under 2 percent. The company’s U.S. sales have outpaced the market in only one of the previous five years, according to Autodata Corp. The de-
David Zalubowski / AP
In this Oct. 6 photo, a 2017 Santa Fe sports utility vehicle sits outside a Hyundai dealership in Littleton, Colorado. Battered by dramatically falling sales for the past five years, Hyundai is training its dealers to make the car-buying experience easier for consumers.
cline is weighing on the Korean automaker’s earnings. In the second quarter, profits were halved from a year ago to the lowest level since 2010 on falling sales in the U.S. and China. To a large degree, Hyundai relied too much on car sales and didn’t have enough SUV models as American buyers shifted dramatically away from cars. About 16 percent of Hyundai’s global sales come from the U.S. Before going to a dealership, buyers already know about incentives and what others are paying for vehicles from websites like Edmunds.com, TrueCar.com and Kbb.com, Evans said. Dealers will be encouraged to match average sale prices shown on those websites, Evans said. The program, named “Shopper Assurance,” will
start in Miami, Orlando, Dallas and Houston and is expected to go nationwide early next year. Most of the company’s dealers are expected to participate, Hyundai said. Even with the market pricing, buyers can still negotiate. “We’ve listened to our customers and they want convenience and simplicity,” said Andrew DiFeo, chairman of the company’s U.S. dealership council who runs a dealership near Jacksonville, Florida. Auto buyer surveys by Cox Automotive, which owns Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader.com, show that satisfaction with the new-car buying process is falling, with only 76 percent of customers satisfied with their experience. Only 51 percent were happy with how long the process took.
“There’s still so much uncertainty. There’s still so much that feeling of just not a great experience,” said Kelley Blue Book analyst Rebecca Lindland. Moves by Hyundai to eliminate price uncertainty and haggling and to cut the time inside dealerships should help the company, she said. No-haggle pricing has been tried before and failed to attract huge numbers of buyers, most notably by the nowdefunct General Motors Saturn brand several decades ago. But the popularity of third-party pricing services and millennials who don’t want to bargain are changing the process, Lindland said. “I think there’s opportunity to fundamentally change the car-buying experience, both in person and online,” she said.
Home buyouts part of the City of Houston’s flood mitigation efforts By Juan A. Lozano A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
HOUSTON — Officials decided Tuesday to proceed with two additional programs that would buy out more than 100 Houston-area homes that have repeatedly flooded in recent years, as the region continues its efforts to recover from Hurricane Harvey. The programs would identify and buy homes that were flooded during strong storms that have hit the area in the past two years. Harris County Judge Ed Emmett called the voluntary buyout programs a key part of a larger effort to reduce the risk of damage from storms like Harvey, which dumped record rainfall on
parts of coastal Texas and the Houston area. One county program, funded by a $13.3 million federal grant and $1.1 million in local funds, will look to buy at least 41 homes with active flood insurance policies that were flooded in 2016. The grant is designed to “reduce repetitive losses from the flood insurance program,” said Karen Hastings, a spokeswoman for the Harris County Flood Control District. The other program, funded by a $10.6 million federal grant, will look to buy more than 70 homes flooded in Houston in 2015. While this grant was awarded to Houston, the buyout program will be run by the flood control district, which will do the
property appraisals, make the buyout offers and demolish purchased homes, Hastings said. These programs join an ongoing effort to identify and buy homes that were flooded by Harvey and that could be at risk of flooding in future storms. So far, Harris County has set aside $20 million to purchase about 200 homes flooded during Harvey. Officials have estimated that more than 136,000 homes and structures were damaged during Harvey in Harris County, which includes Houston. Emmett said officials are still working to identify more homes that could qualify, and that more than 3,000 Harris County homeowners
have expressed interest in being bought out. “We are moving as quickly as we can, but when you are dealing with the state government and the federal government, you tell me when is Congress going to appropriate funds for anything in particular?” Emmett said. The county has bought out more than 3,000 homes since 1985. A policy paper issued last month by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy said homes that have repeatedly been damaged by flooding over the last 16 years need to be removed from harm’s way and “in order to do this, there will need to be a massive buyout program.”
Oil surged following signals that the world’s biggest crude exporters may extend or deepen supply cuts. Futures advanced 2.7 percent in New York for the biggest gain in two weeks. OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said more nations may join production limits the group hammered out with Russia and other exporters in late 2016, while the Saudis plan to restrict their own sales by a record amount within weeks. The falling value of the U.S. dollar also spurred some investors to buy because crude is priced in the currency. “There is a sense that we’re going to get a deal done,” Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group Inc. in Chicago, said by telephone. Saudi Arabia’s announcement that it’ll sell fewer barrels than ordered next month “is a sign that they are going to continue to be serious. If you are going to cut to your customers in November, it’s probably a clear sign that you expect these production cuts are going to continue.” Oil has struggled to hold above $50 a barrel as rising output from U.S. shale explorers diminished the impact of supply curbs implemented by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia. Macquarie Bank said OPEC probably will extend output cuts through at least the third quarter of next year and perhaps to the end of 2018. “We have OPEC and Russia signaling that they are at least contemplating the possibility of taking robust action to lift the market. That’s going to convince people to be comfortable going long here,” Bart Melek, head of global commodity strategy at TD Securities in Toronto, said by telephone. “The market is getting convinced that there are growing signs that this oversupply is eroding.” West Texas Intermediate for November delivery added $1.34 to settle at $50.92 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest level in more than a week. Total volume traded was about 14 percent below the 100-day average. Brent for December settlement advanced 82 cents to end the session at $56.61 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, and traded at a $5.38 premium to WTI for the same month. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, a gauge of the dollar against 10 major peers, fell as much as 0.5 percent. A measure of oil market volatility dipped to the lowest level since April. WTI has traded between $45 and $53 a barrel since the end of August. Investors aren’t “afraid that there is going to be a type of situation that will cause oil to break $10 or rally $10 in a short period of time anytime soon,” Flynn said. A Bloomberg survey showed that U.S. crude supplies probably shrank by 2.4 million barrels last week while distillate stockpiles declined by 1.9 million. At the Cushing, Oklahoma, pipeline hub, crude inventories likely increased by 1.8 million barrels, according to a separate forecast compiled by Bloomberg. The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute will release its inventory data on Wednesday, a day later than usual, due to the U.S. Columbus Day Holiday.
A10 | Wednesday, October 11, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
INTERNATIONAL
Mexico man gets 430 years for border murders A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
MEXICO CITY — Prosecutors in the northern border state of Chihuahua have won a 430year prison sentence against a man convicted of killing 11 young women between 2009 and 2012 near Ciudad Juarez, an area that over the years has been notorious for femicides. The prosecutors’ office said Monday that Pedro Payan Gloria drugged the women, forced them to prostitute themselves and sell drugs and then killed them when they were no longer of use. Their skeletal remains were found in early 2012 in fields in the Juarez Valley, a largely agricultural region east of the city. More than 100 women have been slain in the area across the border from El Paso, Texas, since 1993, although many serial or copycat killings appear to have tapered off by late 2004 or early 2005. Vic-
tims have often been young, slender factory workers who are abducted, sexually abused and strangled before their bodies are dumped in the desert. Few of the early cases have ever been properly investigated. Activists and mothers of the victims of the recent killings, however, say they pressured investigators and provided information that led to the suspects. Two other people have been convicted in the case. In 2013, the state prosecutors’ office said suspects in custody at the time ran a modeling agency, clothing store and small grocery and lured women with offers of employment. “These businesses were used by the gang as a ‘hook’ to offer young women jobs. Once they obtained the information they needed from the women’s job applications, they used different techniques and other people to
kidnap them or pressure them into forced prostitution, and the consumption and or sale of drugs,” the state attorney general’s office said. According to prosecutors, after recruiting the women “with lies or threats” or abducting them between 2009 and 2010, the suspects held them in forced servitude at the Hotel Verde in Ciudad Juarez. There, an older prostitute would bring the women customers and report any escape attempts to a gang member who was in charge of punishing captives. “Once the women were no longer useful for their illegal activities, they decided to kill them and abandon their bodies,” the prosecutors’ office said. Victims, some as young as 15, were also killed if they didn’t turn in enough money. The sentence is partly symbolic because Mexico generally limits prison time to 60 years.
Malala Yousafzai starts studying at Oxford By Liam Stack N EW YORK T I ME S NEWS S ERVIC E
Malala Yousafzai, the 20-year-old Pakistani activist who was shot by the Taliban for advocating girls’ education, began her studies at the University of Oxford this week. Yousafzai, the world’s youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate, announced on Twitter on Monday that she was attending her first classes at the elite British institution. A picture of a laptop with three school books on logic accompanied the post.
Susan Walsh / AP
In this 2013 photo, Malala Yousafzai speaks about her fight for girls' education on the International Day of the Girl at the World Bank in Washington.
“5 years ago, I was shot in an attempt to stop me from speaking out for girls’ education,” she wrote. “Today, I attend my
first lectures at Oxford.” Yousafzai was formally accepted to Lady Margaret Hall in August. It is the same Oxford college that Benazir Bhutto, who went on to become the first female prime minister of Pakistan, attended in the 1970s. Clare Woodcock, a spokeswoman for the university, confirmed on Tuesday that Yousafzai has enrolled at Oxford but said the school would make no further comment. Yousafzai had said in August that she would study philosophy, politics and economics.
THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, October 11, 2017 |
A11
NATIONAL
Hawaii seeks to block latest travel ban By Jennifer Sinco Kelleher A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
HONOLULU — Lawyers representing Hawaii asked a judge Tuesday to stop the Trump administration from enforcing the latest version of its travel ban. The updated ban — set to take effect next week — is a continuation of President Donald Trump’s “promise to exclude Muslims from the United States,” Hawaii said in court documents filed Tuesday in federal court. Hawaii is seeking a nationwide order against the ban that removes Sudan from the list of affected countries and adds Chad and North Korea, along with several officials from the government of Venezuela. The addition of nonMuslim countries is “almost entirely symbolic,” the court documents state, noting that North Korea is already subject to extensive restrictions. Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin has been battling President Donald Trump on travel bans since February, after the president sought to bar new visas for people from seven mostly Muslim
countries. In March, U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu agreed with Hawaii that the ban amounted to discrimination based on nationality and religion. A subsequent U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowed the administration to partially reinstate a 90-day ban on visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and a 120-day ban on refugees from anywhere in the world. On Tuesday, Hawaii also filed a proposed amended lawsuit targeting the newest policy and adding plaintiffs who lawyers say will be harmed if it goes into effect. That motion came after Watson decided last week that he would give Hawaii an opportunity to make its case to challenge the latest ban. The government will have until Saturday to respond before Watson issues a ruling. The proposed amended suit adds two new plaintiffs — an American citizen of Yemeni descent who has lived in Hawaii for nearly 30 years and a University of Hawaii professor whose mother is an Iranian national
who wants to visit her son. They were not named in the filing because they “reasonably fear severe retaliation in the event their names are publicly disclosed,” Hawaii said in a motion asking to include plaintiffs under pseudonyms. Another new plaintiff is the Muslim Association of Hawaii, which the state says will be harmed financially because the mosque relies on contributions from members and visitors. The policy will “hamper the mosque’s ability to welcome new members and visitors from the affected countries, and will cause current members to leave the country,” lawyers for Hawaii said. A challenge to the latest ban is also proceeding in Maryland, where the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups had previously sued over earlier versions of the ban. The ACLU announced last month it would challenge the latest ban and is seeking a preliminary injunction suspending the visa and entry restrictions. A judge has scheduled a hearing in that case and two similar challenges for Monday.
New York City to get huge art exhibit on immigration A S S OCI AT E D PRE SS
NEW YORK — An enormous exhibition by the activist artist Ai Weiwei, designed to draw attention to the world’s refugee crisis, is going on view at some 300 sites around New York City. “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors,” presented by the Public Art Fund, will be open to the public from Thursday until Feb. 11. A global trend of “trying to separate us by color, race, religion, nationality” is a blow “against freedom, against humanity,” Ai said at a Manhattan press conference Tuesday. “That’s why I made a work related to this issue.” Ai, now based in Berlin, is considered one of the world’s most successful artists. He spent his childhood in a remote Chinese community after his father, a poet, was exiled by Communist authorities. He came to New York City as an art student in the 1980s, then returned to his homeland in 1993, using his art and public platform to address political issues. He was alternately encouraged, tolerated and harassed, spending time in detention and being barred for years from leaving the country. Since his passport was reinstated in 2015, Ai and his team have traveled to 23 countries and territories and more than 40 refugee camps while making a documentary, “Human Flow.” The New York exhibition will include three large-scale works and ancillary works throughout the city. Ai expressed a special affinity for Manhattan’s Lower East Side, his former home. Art will be incorporated onto flagpoles, bus shelters, lampposts, newsstands and rooftops. Banners will bear portraits of immigrants from different periods, including historic pictures from Ellis Island.
Paul Kitagaki Jr. / AP
The sun rises through a cloud of smoke after a wildfire swept through the area in Sonoma County on Tuesday in Santa Rosa, California.
Smoke, ash from wildfires blanket California cities By Olga R. Rodriguez and Amy Taxin ASSOCIATED PRE SS
SAN FRANCISCO — Millions of Californians on Tuesday saw their lawns covered in ash and air filled with smoke as firefighters battled ferocious wildfires in the northern and southern parts of the state. The fast-moving blazes produced thick, gray clouds that hovered over densely-populated areas in Northern and Southern California, forcing many schools to keep students inside and air quality agencies to issue smoke advisories calling on residents to limit outdoor activity. At Disneyland, visitors snapped photos of hazy, orange skies late Monday that gave an ominous glow to a theme park already decked out for Halloween. Ash fell like snow over seaside Southern California communities more than a dozen miles from the hillside neighborhoods where the fire raged. “My eyes tear and it’s uncomfortable for me to breathe,” said Yolanda Ramos, 66, who had driv-
en to Santa Ana from her Los Angeles County home to visit her 91-yearold father. “I wanted to take my father out in the wheelchair, and they said no.” At least 15 people have been killed and as many as 2,000 homes and businesses destroyed in an onslaught of fires stretching across Northern California. The West this year has been hit hard by dozens of fires that have blanketed the air with choking smoke, prompting officials to issue air quality advisory alerts throughout the region. The fires in Napa and Sonoma counties, home to dozens of world-renowned wineries, sent smoke as far south as San Francisco, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) away. Air quality concerns prompted schools throughout the San Francisco Bay Area to cancel outdoor football, soccer and other sports practices. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued a warning saying the wildfires north of San Francisco are causing very unhealthy air quality throughout the
region, and advised residents to stay inside if possible and keep windows and doors closed. San Francisco officials put air filters in four public libraries for those seeking relief from the smoke. Some workers in San Francisco’s financial district wore masks as they went to the street from their offices. To the south, the winddriven brush fire that burned 12 square miles (31 square kilometers) in northeastern Orange County led officials to close more than a dozen schools. Schools as far away as Long Beach limited outdoor activity as a precaution or have kept children inside for physical education and recess. “We’re trying to keep them indoors,” said Annie Brown, a spokeswoman for Irvine Unified School District. “It’s kind of like a rainy day.” The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued an advisory in effect through Wednesday morning that warns the air quality may be unhealthy in large stretches of Orange and Riverside counties.
Trial begins for woman’s gruesome burning death By Adrian Sainz ASSOCIATED PRE SS
Richard Drew / AP
Chinese activist artist Ai Weiwei speaks as one of his "Good Fences Make Good Neighbors" installations, "Gilded Cage," is presented, in New York's Central Park on Tuesday.
There also will be images from Ai’s “Human Flow” projects. At Central Park’s Doris C. Freedman Plaza, viewers will be able to walk in and around a work titled “Gilded Cage.” The 24-foot-tall symbol of division stands in powerful contrast to one of the most visited urban public parks in the U.S., the Public Art Fund says. “Designed as a democratic oasis and vision of utopia, Central Park has vast open areas, lush forests, and monuments of heroes and explorers,” it says. Another cage-like structure, about 40 feet tall, is in Greenwich Village’s Washington Square Arch, built in 1892. “When I lived in New York in the ’80s, I spent much of my time in Washington Square Park,” an area that was “a home to immigrants of all backgrounds,” Ai said in a statement. “The triumphal arch has been a symbol of victory after war since antiquity,” he said. “The
basic form of a fence or cage suggests that it might inhibit movement through the arch, but instead a passageway cuts through this barrier — a door obstructed, through which another door opens.” The third large-scale work will be displayed at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, surrounded by some of the city’s most diverse neighborhoods. “Circle Fence” features a low, mesh netting around the Unisphere, a 120-foot-diameter globe commissioned for the 1964-65 World’s Fair. The big globe “celebrated both the dawn of the space age and the fair’s broader theme of Peace Through Understanding,” according to the city’s parks department. “Rather than impeding views of the historical site,” says the Public Art Fund, “the installation will emphasize the Unisphere’s form and symbolic meaning, engaging with the steel representation of the Earth.”
BATESVILLE, Miss. — The night a 19-year-old Mississippi woman was burned to death, she and her killer had sex in her car and he thought he had suffocated her before he torched her vehicle with her inside, a prosecutor said Tuesday in an opening statement, presenting his theory of what led to the gruesome slaying. But a defense attorney said 19-year-old Jessica Chambers told firefighters who found her near her burning car that a man named Eric set her on fire — not the person charged with her murder, Quinton Tellis. Tellis’ trial began in Batesville, Mississippi, about 50 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. Tellis, 29, could face life in prison without parole if convicted of capital murder. The horrific circumstances surrounding the former high school cheerleader’s death garnered national attention. Security is tight — the jury is being sequestered and trial attendees are being screened through metal detectors before entering the courtroom. Prosecutor John Champion told jurors that they will see graphic photos of a burned Chambers and they will hear from about 35 witnesses. Chambers had burns on about 93 percent of her body when she was found along a rural back road on Dec. 6, 2014, the prosecutor said. She died hours later at a Memphis hospital. He said Tellis repeatedly lied to investigators about spending time with
her in the hours before she was found. Champion said cellphone Tellis records show that Chambers and Tellis — who had met about two weeks before her death and had become friends — were together twice on the day she was burned. Chambers and Tellis rode around in her car for a while that morning before Chambers dropped off Tellis at his house and she went home to take a nap, the prosecutor said. Chambers then picked up Tellis at about 5:30 p.m. and they went to a fast food restaurant together, Champion said. Citing statements Tellis made to investigators, Champion said Tellis and Chambers had sex in her car later that evening. Champion said he believes Tellis suffocated Chambers and thought he had killed her. Tellis then drove Chambers’ car with her inside of it to the back road, ran to his sister’s house nearby, jumped in his sisters’ car, stopped to pick up gasoline from a shed at his house and torched Chambers’ car and her, Champion said. “Horrific burns,” Champion said. “Horrific pain.” Chambers was found walking on the road — wearing only underwear in 40 degree temperatures — when she was seen by a passing motorist shortly after 8 p.m., Champion said. Her car keys were later found not far away, and they had Tellis’ DNA on them,
Champion said. Authorities have said previously that Chambers was on fire when she was found. Tellis was interviewed repeatedly by several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI. Champion said Tellis first told investigators he only saw Chambers on the morning of her death. Tellis later acknowledged they were together in the evening, saying he met her to sell her marijuana and had sex with her in her car, Champion said. The prosecutor also said Tellis’ alibi was fabricated. Defense attorney Darla Palmer said Tellis is wrongly accused. She said Tellis was buying a pre-paid debit card miles away in Batesville at the time Chambers was burned. Palmer also said eight first responders who treated Chambers asked her if she knew who did it. “She said ‘Eric set me on fire,”’ Palmer said. “She didn’t say any other name.” In his opening statement, Champion acknowledged that the first responders did hear her say the name “Eric” or “Derek.” Champion said she could have been saying “Tellis,” but the damage done to her throat made it sound different. Palmer told the jury that Tellis never confessed to the killing. “He insisted this is not something he would do,” Palmer said. About 20,000 telephone numbers were analyzed in the investigation. Witnesses will include cellphone data experts, Champion said.
A12 | Wednesday, October 11, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
FROM THE COVER NRA From page A1 control measures. She lamented the stratified lines of debate in “a gunhappy country.” The debate over how to regulate bump stocks comes in the aftermath of the shooting at a Las Vegas music festival last week, America’s deadliest in modern history. While senior congressional Republicans and the Trump administration have expressed openness in restricting the gun accessories, lawmakers are divided over whether to rely on legislation or push for an executive branch order. Bump stocks are accessories that substitute for the regular stock and grip of a semi-automatic rifle and allow the weapon to fire continuously, some 400 to 800 rounds in a single minute. Bump stocks were found among the weapons used by sniper suspect Stephen Paddock and explain why victims in Las Vegas heard what sounded like automatic-weapons fire. The bump stock device, which retails for around $200, causes the gun to buck back and forth,
CRISIS From page A1 bad spate of western wildfires. Final decisions haven’t been made, but Capitol Hill aides say GOP leaders want to avoid other costly add-ons. The Texas and Florida delegations last
TRAVEL From page A1 both the travel ban and a separate ban on refugees, which does not expire until Oct. 24. Dismissing the cases would allow the court to avoid ruling on difficult legal issues, at least for a while.
TODDLER From page A1
repeatedly “bumping” the trigger against the shooter’s finger. Technically, that means the finger is pulling the trigger for each round fired, keeping the weapon a legal semiautomatic. Because it creates a significant rocking motion it also means that the gun is “spraying” bullets and it’s difficult to hit a target. Adding to the uncertainty over the devices, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said last week it was in no position to re-examine its 2010 judgment that bump stocks were legal and that Congress would have to act. “We think ATF ought to do its job, look at this, and draw a bright line,” said Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association. He said the group has been clear in supporting current law that bans fully automatic firearms and is concerned that action by Congress could “fuzz the line” such as by imposing new restrictions on semi-automatic weapons. Feinstein said her legislation banning bump stocks had attracted “Republican interest” al-
though the 38 co-sponsors so far were all Democrats. The No. 2 Senate Republican, John Cornyn of Texas, has said he’s open to legislation and that he’d spoken with Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley, who was interested in holding a hearing. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who heads the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, said Sunday he would be willing to support bump stock restrictions either by fiat or by a new law. “However that gets fixed, I’ll support it,” he said. Seeking broader consensus, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said that if Republicans were willing to pass a bill banning bump stock devices he would support the legislation, even if it was not accompanied by any other restrictions of weapons purchases. Murphy, an ardent supporter of gun control after the 2012 mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, said he would be willing to hold off for his broader goal, the institution of background checks for weapons buyers, if the Senate agrees on a narrower bump stock ban.
week asked for tens of billions of dollars in additional assistance. Texas requested $19 billion in Harvey relief, while Florida asked for $27 billion for Hurricane Irma damage. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., issued a statement Tuesday that said funding is also needed to help Cali-
fornia recover from ongoing wildfires. Congress last month approved a $15 billion first installment for disaster relief. Final estimates for the massive relief and rebuilding effort won’t be ready for a while, but a huge year-end relief and reconstruction measure is expected.
The justices had combined the two cases and set them for argument that was to have taken place Tuesday. But after the travel ban expired last month and a new policy was rolled out, the court canceled the argument and began to weigh whether it should decide the legality of the policy after all.
The third and latest version of the travel ban is supposed to take full effect Oct. 18 and already has been challenged in the courts. Five of the six countries included in the travel ban the Supreme Court was supposed to review remain in the latest version.
tions. In Dallas-area coffee shops, in nearby workplaces and on social media, people mull over the details of Sherin’s disappearance — such as why Mathews waited so long to call the police, or why there are so few clues as to where she might have gone. “It’s just a very sad thing, and there’s still so much question. A lot of the story doesn’t make sense,” said Bob Morse, 66, who lives a few houses away from Sherin’s parents. He happened to be awake and outside at 4 a.m. Saturday, less than an hour after she reportedly disappeared, lighting his grill so that he could cook a brisket later in the day. “At 4 a.m. in the morning, it was quiet. If a child four houses away cried out, I would hear it,” Morse said. “If a car drove by, I would know.” The quiet neighborhood is home to mostly South Asian families, neighbors say. Most hous-
es have garages behind their homes, so families often enter from the back. But rarely does anyone walk around or spend time behind the homes, near the area where Sherin was reportedly sent to stand, Morse said. But plenty of people are spending time in the neighborhood since Sherin’s disappearance, Morse said. While speaking to a contractor in his front yard recently, he saw 10 cars drive down the street in five minutes -- a rare occurrence. “People wanna know, somebody’s gotta get the story out,” he said. “But they’re not getting much story, that’s for sure.” Sherin is described as about 3 feet tall and 22 pounds. She has developmental issues and limited verbal communication skills, unlike a typical 3-year-old, Richardson police said. She was last seen wearing a pink top, black pajama bottoms and pink flip-flops. Because of the lack of information and tips, officials discontinued the Amber Alert they had issued for Sherin after her
disappearance. Police said they need a specific vehicle or a suspect to continue the alert. The alert could be reissued if authorities develop new leads, he said. Meanwhile, police are searching with canine experts and helicopters. Neighbors and volunteers are canvassing door-todoor, posting fliers and conducting their own search parties. Neighbors are particularly curious about a detail Mathews gave to police in his arrest affidavit -- that he knew coyotes had been seen in the alley. But investigators and volunteers agree that nothing indicates a coyote dragged the girl away. “There’s definitely some holes in [Mathews’] story,” said Shanna Poteet, who helped lead a search party over the weekend and has volunteered previously on local missing persons and runaway cases. She doesn’t know Mathews. “Coyotes don’t attack people. I’ve come in contact with a coyote, and they don’t really bother you.”
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