The Zapata Times 10/28/2015

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Immigration indictments Woman pleads not guilty Zapata man expected $400 per person

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

A woman arrested for picking up immigrants who had entered the country illegally via the San Ygnacio area has been indicted.

A grand jury charged Julissa Jimenez, 42, on Oct. 14 with one count of conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants within the United States and two counts of transport undocumented

people for money. grant smugJimenez pleaded gled. not guilty to the Her arrest charges Oct. 16. dates back to Each count could Sept. 27. be punishable with That up to 10 years in morning, prison.

Texas DeJimenez has a fipartment of nal pretrial conferPublic Safety ence Dec. 14. troopers reJIMENEZ In court statequested asments, Jimenez said a sistance from U.S. Borman contacted her to der Patrol on a traffic pick up immigrants at stop. the riverbanks. Jimenez Troopers had pulled expected $100 per immi- over a 2008 Ford F-150

for speeding and a defective tail light, according to a criminal complaint filed Sept. 29.

Authorities then discovered that the driver, Jimenez, had picked up five immigrants in the San Ygnacio area, records state.

Court documents further state the immigrants admitted to being Mexican citizens with no legal documents to

See WOMAN PAGE 10A

ZAPATA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

A man from Zapata who was arrested for transporting Central Americans was indicted recently in a Laredo feder-

al court.

On Oct. 14, a grand jury charged Hugo Jaquez-Ramos with conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants

See ZAPATA MAN PAGE 10A

UNITED STATES

PARENTS IN PRISON Challenges abound for 5 million children

By DAVID CRARY ASSOCIATED PRESS

Courtesy photo

Zapata County Sheriff Alonso M. Lopez holds stuffed animals during the announcement Monday of their new Teddy Bear Program.

Program aims to comfort children

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

The Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office announced Monday they had implemented a Teddy Bear Program, officials said.

“With a purpose in mind to protecting the well-being of our children, The Iron Horse Disciples, a local motorcycle ministry, and Sheriff Alonso M. Lopez, have joined efforts to launch the Teddy Bear Program,” the Sheriff ’s Of-

fice said.

Sheriff ’s officials said they intend to reduce psychological trauma experienced by children during a traumatic situation.

“All patrol units will now carry teddy bears, so deputies arriving at emergency incidents can use them to comfort children,” authorities said.

“Teddy bears are proven to have a calming effect by providing comfort and giv-

See CHILDREN PAGE 10A

Three years ago, the little girl would hide under a table when confronted with reminders that both her parents were in prison.

Now almost 10, she’s a confident, popular student, and ace recruiter for the program that helped her, says Daniel Howell, a case manager for New Hope Oklahoma. It offers afterschool programs, weekend retreats and

See PRISON PAGE 10A

Photo by Sue Ogrocki | AP

Trinity Sorrels, 8, hides behind her backpack after answering a question for the class during a New Hope after-school program at Mark Twain Elementary School in Tulsa, Okla., Thursday.

‘SANCTUARY CITIES’

Gov. Abbott speaks out against policy

By PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday embraced cracking down on local governments that ban police from asking about a person’s immigration status, after previously saying little about contentious

“sanctuary city” policies since taking office.

His support follows conservative activists criticizing the Republican governor for not priABBOTT oritizing

get-tough immigration measures early in his term. It also follows the Dallas County jail recently deciding it would no longer honor all detainer requests from federal immigration agents in the nation’s seventh-largest lockup.

“Sanctuary cities” has no legal meaning, but the

term has become shorthand describing cities that provide refuge to people living in the country without legal permission.

“Texas must pass laws that prohibit any policy or action like yours that promotes sanctuary to

See ABBOTT PAGE 10A

PAGE 2A

Zin brief CALENDAR

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2015

AROUND TEXAS

TODAY IN HISTORY

Wednesday, October 28

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pumpkin Patch, First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Public invited; admission free.

The American Cancer Society 2016 Relay for Life of Webb County Kick-off Rally. Firefighters Union Hall, 5209 Tesoro Plaza from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Cancer survivors, caregivers, and team captains are invited to attend.

For more info, call Laura Nanez, event lead, at 286-6955 or Diana Juarez, staff partner, at 319-3100.

Thursday, October 29 Pumpkin Patch, First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Public invited; admission free.

TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium shows. 6 p.m.: Cosmic Adventures; 7 p.m.: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. For more information call 956326DOME (3663).

Friday, October 30 Pumpkin Patch, First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Public invited; admission free.

10th Annual Make a Wish Foundation Radio-thon hosted by Big Buck country 98.1. From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in front of Macy’s home store in the mall.

Call 712-9474 to pledge or renew your support. For more information please call 235-0673.

Saturday, October 31 Operation Feed the Homeless, hosted by the Laredo Free Thinkers, at Jarvis Plaza at 3 p.m. Please volunteer time and/or food, drinks, clothing,books, etc. For more information please visit/message the Laredo Free Thinkers page on Facebook.

Pumpkin Patch, First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Public invited; admission is free.

Books-A-Million 2nd Annual Zombie Walk inside Mall del Norte. From 2 p.m.–4 p.m. We invite you to join us for story time, crafts, games, and finally, the Zombie Walk. At 3:30 p.m., we will gather all participants at the front of the store, where we will begin the walk, acting like zombies, with intervals of music and dance. We will walk from the Sears store to Macy’s Center Court, returning back to Books-A-Million. For more information, please contact Jessie Hernandez at 324-8205.

Monday, November 2 Chess Club meets at the LBV–Inner City Branch Library from 4–6 p.m.

Free for all ages and skill levels. Basic instruction is offered. Call John at 7952400x2521 for more information.

Tuesday, November 3 Take the challenge and climb the Rock Wall. Free. All participants must bring ID and sign release form. 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at LBV–Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Call 7952400, x2520.

The Alzheimer’s support group will meet at 7 p.m. in meeting room 2, building B of the Laredo Medical Center. The support group is for family members and caregivers taking care of someone who has Alzheimer’s. For information, please call 956-693-9991.

The Les Amis Birthday Club will have its monthly meeting at the Ramada Plaza at 11:30 a.m. Hostesses are Lily Garza, Aurora Miranda and Ma. Eugenia Garcia. Honorees are Martha Rangel Bennett, Amparo Garcia and Imelda Gonzalez.

Thursday, November 5 Rummage Sale, First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, 1120 McClelland from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Public invited, and admission is free.

Friday, November 6 Rummage Sale, First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, 1120 McClelland from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Public invited, and admission is free.

Saturday, November 7 Rummage Sale, First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, 1120 McClelland from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Public invited, and admission is free.

Monday, November 9 Chess Club meets at the LBV–Inner City Branch Library from 4–6 p.m.

Free for all ages and skill levels.

Photo by Pat Sullivan | AP

In this Monday photo, Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at a news conference in Houston.

Cruz and the other Republican presidential candidates are getting ready for the third GOP debate today, in Boulder, Colo.

Cruz’s fundraising strength

By KATIE ZEZIMA AND MATEA GOLD THE WASHINGTON POST

Wealthy investors shot skeet with Sen. Ted Cruz in Park City, Utah, earlier this month.

Conservative lawyers gathered in a clubby Washington restaurant last week to raise money for his presidential bid. And on Monday, billionaire technology entrepreneur Darwin Deason and five other wealthy Texans announced that they were coming aboard his campaign.

For all his bashing of “billionaire Republican donors” who “actively despise our base,” the anti-establishment senator from Texas is being bolstered by his own robust base of wealthy contributors. Cruz raised $5.2 million through the end of September from supporters who gave him the $2,700 maximum — making him No. 2 in the GOP race for large donors, after former Florida

Man gets 12 years in smuggling conspiracy

governor Jeb Bush, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute.

Cruz’s unorthodox campaign has hit on a fundraising formula that no other candidate has been able to match: raising millions from a robust base of grass-roots supporters while building a substantial network of rich backers.

The senator’s quiet fundraising prowess — he has collected $26.5 million to date — could help give him staying power in what is sure to be a hard-fought battle for the GOP nomination. The structure of his donor base closely resembles that of President Obama, whose vaunted fundraising operation intensely focused on low-dollar givers as well as major bundlers, bringing in a record $783 million for his 2012 reelection.

Woman found slain near Man who inspired film minivan had been stabbed ‘Bernie’ to return to court

MCALLEN — A McAllen judge has sentenced a 19-year-old man to 12 years in prison after being convicted in a conspiracy to illegally smuggle people into the U.S. that resulted in the deaths of two in a rollover crash.

Juan Manuel Garcia of Sullivan City pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport people who are in the U.S. illegally and to the transporting of people illegally in the U.S. that resulted in death.

DALLAS — A man acquitted of sexual assault this year has been charged with the fatal stabbing of an 18-year-old Dallas woman left to die near a creek.

Zoe Hastings was on her way to church Oct. 11 when she stopped at a Walgreens to return Redbox movies. A witness saw a man argue with her, then force her into her minivan. Her body was found near her crashed vehicle the next day.

CARTHAGE — The man whose murder conviction inspired the dark comedy “Bernie” is scheduled to return to court for a pretrial hearing as he tries to stay out of prison.

The hearing for Bernie Tiede is set for Tuesday in the East Texas town of Carthage. His trial scheduled for January will have a twofold purpose: a sentencing phase for his murder conviction and a trial on theft charges.

Batman painting expected to bring more than $100K

Central Texas state park reopens after wildfire

Texas trooper seizes more than $2.7M in heroin

DALLAS — A painting depicting Batman that pop artist Mel Ramos traded to a man for a stack of comic books more than a half-century ago is expected to bring more than $100,000 at auction. The 1962 painting titled “A Sinister Figure Lurks in the Dark” will be offered by Heritage Auctions Wednesday in New York City.

SMITHVILLE — A Central Texas state park has reopened following a wildfire that burned 7 square miles before being fully contained over the rainy weekend.

The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department Says Buescher State Park in Bastrop County was open Tuesday but trails were closed due to wildfire damage.

AMARILLO — The Texas Department of Public Safety says a trooper conducting a traffic stop in the Panhandle discovered nine bundles of heroin worth more than $2.7 million in a backpack. DPS says a trooper pulled the driver over Sunday afternoon on Interstate 40 about 30 miles east of Amarillo.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION Walgreens to buy Rite Aid for $9.41 billion NEW YORK — Walgreens confirmed Tuesday that it will buy rival Rite Aid for about $9.41 billion in cash, creating a drugstore giant with nearly 18,000 stores around the world.

The deal comes less than year after Walgreens bought European health and beauty retailer Alliance Boots. Besides its namesake stores, Deerfield, Illinoisbased Walgreens also owns Duane Reade stores in the U.S. Walgreens said it will pay $9 for each share of Rite Aid Corp.

That’s a 48 percent premium to Rite Aid’s closing price of $6.08 Monday.

Vegas cryotherapy spa had no license LAS VEGAS — A Las Vegas spa where an employee was found frozen and dead inside a liquid nitrogen chamber used for

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 28, the 301st day of 2015. There are 64 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: On Oct. 28, 1965, Pope Paul VI issued a Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions which, among other things, absolved Jews of collective guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

On this date: In 1636, the General Court of Massachusetts passed a legislative act establishing Harvard College.

In 1886, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France, was dedicated in New York Harbor by President Grover Cleveland.

In 1914, Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip, whose assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, sparked World War I, was sentenced in Sarajevo to 20 years’ imprisonment. (He died in 1918.)

In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt rededicated the Statue of Liberty on its 50th anniversary.

In 1940, Italy invaded Greece during World War II. In 1958, the Roman Catholic patriarch of Venice, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, was elected Pope; he took the name John XXIII. The Samuel Beckett play “Krapp’s Last Tape” premiered in London.

In 1962, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev informed the United States that he had ordered the dismantling of missile bases in Cuba; in return, the U.S. secretly agreed to remove nuclear missiles from U.S. installations in Turkey.

In 1976, former Nixon aide John D. Ehrlichman entered a federal prison camp in Safford, Arizona, to begin serving his sentence for Watergate-related convictions (he was released in April 1978).

Ten years ago: Vice President Dick Cheney’s top adviser, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, resigned after he was indicted on charges of obstructing a grand jury investigation and lying about his actions that blew the CIA cover of an Iraq war critic’s wife. (Libby was convicted of most of the counts brought against him, but had his 30-month prison sentence commuted by President George W. Bush.)

One year ago: A video was posted online by a group called Hollaback! showing actress Shoshana Roberts being verbally accosted by men as she silently walked through Manhattan over a 10-hour period; the video “went viral,” spurring outrage and sparking discussions about the pervasiveness of street harassment that women face.

Today’s Birthdays: Jazz singer Cleo Laine is 88. Musician-songwriter Charlie Daniels is 79. Olympic track and field gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner is 66. Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates is 60. The former president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is 59. Actress Daphne Zuniga is 53. Actor-comedian Andy Richter is 49. Actress Julia Roberts is 48.

Country singer Brad Paisley is 43. Actor Joaquin Phoenix is 41.

Singer/rapper Frank Ocean is 28. Actor Nolan Gould is 17.

Thought for Today: “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” — George Orwell (Eric Blair), English author (19031950).

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In this June 20, 2011, file photo, a woman exits a Rite Aid store, in Philadelphia.

The Wall Street Journal said Walgreens Boots Alliance is in advanced talks to buy Rite Aid. Walgreens declined to comment Tuesday, when contacted by The AP. cryotherapy treatments wasn’t licensed by the state to perform cosmetic or other procedures, authorities said Tuesday. The disclosure followed the death of 24year-old Chelsea Patricia AkeSalvacion, who was found Oct. 20 in a chamber used to provide the

increasingly popular but largely unregulated treatments for pain and other conditions.

“When they found her, she was rock solid frozen,” Albert Ake, the dead woman’s uncle said.

— Compiled from AP reports

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Local

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

Courtesy photo

As a part of Red Ribbon Week festivities, District Attorney Isidro R. “Chilo” Alaniz visited Zapata North Elementary School on Tuesday.

District attorney visits Zapata schools

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

District Attorney Isidro R. “Chilo” Alaniz made a quick stop Tuesday at Zapata North Elementary and Zapata South Elementary schools for a drug awareness event.

He shared with students the

meaning of Red Ribbon Week.

During Red Ribbon festivities, law enforcement agencies honor the memory of slain Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena.

Camarena worked in Guadalajara, Mexico, and kept track of the country’s biggest marijuana

and cocaine traffickers, according to the DEA. Camarena was kidnapped on February 7, 1985. His body was discovered March 5, 1985, states the DEA. His death fueled a movement that would later turn into Red Ribbon Week.

“Each year, during the last

week in October, more than 80 million young people and adults show their commitment to a healthy, drug-free life by wearing or displaying the Red Ribbon,” states the DEA. Further, Alaniz spoke to students about making good choices to keep their mind and body healthy.

Huggy the Bear came out to entertain students with energetic dancing moves. Huggy’s motto is “Give hugs not drugs.” Before the event ended, Alaniz led the children on an oath to be drug free.

(César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)

Man arrested for transporting illegal immigrants

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

A man was recently arrested for attempting to transport eight people suspected of entering the country illegally, according to court documents.

Jorge Hector Salinas, of Zapata, was charged with transporting illegal immi-

grants.

On Oct. 19, agents received information of human smuggling activity reported in the Dolores Creek area. A criminal complaint filed Oct. 20 alleges that a U.S. Border Patrol agent observed several people running out of the brush area and jumping inside a red 2012 GMC

Sierra.

An agent followed the Sierra to conduct a vehicle registration check, but the driver accelerated. Records state the Sierra had three people in the bed area of the Sierra and several other people in the rear passenger area.

The agent activated its unit’s emergency lights to

conduct an immigration inspection on the occupants. When agents approached the vehicle, Salinas stated he was a U.S. citizen and apologized for smuggling people in his girlfriend’s vehicle, according to court documents.

A total of eight illegal immigrants — seven adult

males from Mexico and one male juvenile from Peru — were found inside the Sierra.

Salinas allegedly agreed to make statements in post-arrest interview. He allegedly admitted to picking up the group on U.S. 83 in Zapata. Records state he expected a payment of $175 per immigrant.

“Salinas admitted that the eight (undocumented immigrants) were going to be transported to the HE-B grocery store on U.S. 83 in Laredo, Texas, or to an area in the vicinity of the H-E-B,” states the complaint.

(César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)

PAGE 4A

Zopinion

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2015

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM

COLUMN

OTHER VIEWS

A sensible version of Donald Trump The voters, especially on the Republican side, seem to be despising experience this year and are looking for outsiders. Hence we have the rise of Donald Trump and Ben Carson. People like me keep predicting that these implausibles will collapse, but so far, as someone tweeted, they keep collapsing upward.

But imagine if we had a sensible Trump in the race. Suppose there was some former general or business leader with impeccable outsider status but also a steady temperament, deep knowledge and good sense.

What would that person sound like? Maybe something like this: Ladies and gentlemen, I’m no politician. I’m just a boring guy who knows how to run things. But I’ve been paying close attention and it seems to me that of all the problems that face the nation, two stand out. The first is that we have a polarized, dysfunctional, semi-corrupt political culture that prevents us from getting anything done.

To reverse that gridlock we’ve got to find some policy area where there’s a basis for bipartisan action.

The second big problem is that things are going badly for those in the lower half of the income distribution. People with less education are seeing their wages fall, their men drop out of the labor force, their marriage rates plummet and their social networks dissolve.

The first piece of good news is that conservative and progressive writers see this reality similarly, which is a rare thing these days. The second piece of good news is that we have new research that suggests fresh ways to address this problem, ways that may appeal to both Democrats and Republicans.

The studies I’m talking about were done at Harvard by Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren and Lawrence Katz. They looked at the results of a Clinton-era program called Moving to Opportunity, which took poor families and moved them to middle-class neighborhoods. At first the results were disappointing. The families who moved didn’t see their earnings rise.

Their kids didn’t do much better in school.

But as years went by and newer data accumulated, different and more promising results came in. Children who were raised in better environments had remarkable earnings gains. The girls raised in the better neighborhoods were more likely to marry and raise their own children in two-parent homes.

The first implication of this research is that neighborhood matters a lot. When we think about ways to improve the lot of the working class, it’s insufficient to just help individuals and families. We have to improve entire neighborhoods.

“

DAVID BROOKS

Second, the research reminds us that to improve conditions for the working class it’s necessary to both create jobs and improve culture. Every time conservatives say culture plays a large role in limiting mobility, progressives accuse them of blaming the victim.

But this research shows the importance of environment.

The younger the children were when they moved to these middle-class environments, the more their outcomes improved. It’s likely they benefited from being in environments with different norms, with more information about how to thrive, with few traumatic events down the block.

I know the professional politicians are going to want to continue their wars, but I see an opportunity: We launch a series of initiatives to create environments of opportunity in middle-, working- and lower-class neighborhoods.

This will mean doing some things Republicans like. We’ve got to devolve a lot of power from Washington back to local communities.

These neighborhoods can’t thrive if they are not responsible for themselves.

Then we’ve got to expand charter schools.

The best charter schools radiate diverse but strong cultures of achievement. Locally administered social entrepreneurship funds could help churches and other groups expand their influence.

This will mean doing some things Democrats like. We’ve got to reform and expand early childhood education programs, complete with wraparound programs for parents. They would turn into community hubs. Infrastructure programs could increase employment.

Basically we’ve got to get socialist. No, I don’t mean the way Bernie Sanders is a socialist.

He’s a statist, not a socialist. I mean we have to put the quality of the social fabric at the center of our politics. And we’ve got to get personalist: to treat people as full human beings, not just economic units you fix by writing checks.

Then we’ve got to get integrationist, to integrate different races and classes through national service and school and relocation vouchers. And finally, we have to get a little moralistic. There are certain patterns of behavior, like marrying before you have kids and sticking around to parent the kids you conceive, that contribute to better communities.

Look, I don’t know if I’m red or blue. If you want a true outsider, don’t just pick someone outside the political system. Pick someone outside the rigid partisan mentalities that are the real problem here.

COLUMN

Cornbread and ‘sweet milk’: Another country delicacy Everyone knows about cornbread, Paula Deen notwithstanding, but “sweet milk?”

Yup, sweet milk. Country folks used to distinguish between the states of milk with those designations.

Understand, of course, that “sweet” doesn’t imply adding some kind of sweetener, artificial or otherwise, to the milk.

Sweet milk is the milk essentially as it comes from the cow, minus the cream, as opposed to buttermilk or clabbered milk (known by Miss Muppet and the Spider as “curds and whey” or to today’s customer as sour cream).

Today’s version of sweet milk, I suppose, is whole milk. You know, as in “regular” and “traditional” or, well, whatever.

Oh, one more clarification on clabbered milk. Actually, if you let milk set in something like the old churns that were made of glazed pottery, then you’d get curdled milk or clabbered milk. It was considered a treat if not a delicacy.

Ol’ Uncle Edward Ezell, of whom I have written before, referred to sweet milk in an interview in 1958 as one of his secrets to old age (he was 88 at the time).

Meaning he didn’t touch coffee, tea or any of those vile, evil, sinful alcoholic beverages that “ruin young folks’ lives.” Uncle Edward rated tea and coffee right up there with beer and whiskey. I’ve always suspected, however, that he kept a jug of muscadine grape wine hidden in his well house (to you city folks, that’s a structure covering a water well).

He wrote a “news” column in my hometown paper, the Teague Chronicle, about the news of the crossroads community of Luna (about which I’ve also written).

But, back to cornbread and sweet milk.

I learned at a young age that there were many things in the household from which to construct a meal without benefit of a stove much less a microwave oven. Uncle Edward would be puzzled by that term although, in the 1950s, his house became “electrified” along with all others in Luna and surrounding area as the Rural

Electricification Association was created to provide electric power to rural areas.

Anyway, one of the meals a 5- or 6-year-old could “create” in those days was a glass of crumbled cornbread and “sweet milk.” It’s very good, especially if your cook/mom/ wife has a cornbread recipe that has a little sweetener in it. A chunk (with this type of bread, there’s no such thing as a “slice”) of cornbread, crumbled up in a tea glass with “sweet milk” poured in it over the cornbread, creates a meal that could be a dessert.

Take a spoon and dig in.

It’s “plumb good.” Maybe even larruping good.

Such meals grew out of country/rural necessity and ingenuity. For growing boys just home from school and stomach-growling hungry, cornbread and sweet milk hits the spot and provides enough energy to play ‘til you drop or ‘til supper, whichever comes first. (If you grew up eating cornbread and sweet milk, chances are the midday meal was “dinner” and the evening meal “supper.”

And, what would you call a meal at which you were served ham, bacon,

sausage (ground and seasoned, country style), eggs and biscuits (whaddaya mean toast! Yeesh) and gravy. Home-baked breads like cornbread and biscuits were regular country fare. A loaf of store-bought, sliced “light bread,” as we called it, was the “ruination of our women,” according to some old country heads. Whaddaya mean you don’t bake (in addition to working in the field, milking the cows, slopping the hogs and oating the horses)?

Two bread “dishes/ meals” that were my favorites though were biscuits and cream gravy (with a breakfast meat) or bacon and eggs with biscuits and some of Mother’s homemade grape or blackberry jelly. With the biscuits and gravy, you can follow Tennessee Ernie Ford’s soppy directions: “Take a biscuit and put it on the north side of the gravy and drag it south.” Mmmm.

But, for dinner or supper, cornbread and milk will stick to your ribs … permanently.

Willis Webb is a retired community (country) newspaper editor-publisher of more than 50 years experience. He can be reached at wwebb1937@att.net.

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To be published, letters must include the writer’s first and last names as well as a phone number to verify identity. The

phone number IS NOT published; it is used solely to verify identity and to clarify content, if necessary. Identity of the letter writer must be verified before publication.

We want to assure our

readers that a letter is written by the person who signs the letter. The Zapata Times does not allow the use of pseudonyms.

Letters are edited for style, grammar, length and civility. No name-call-

DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

ing or gratuitous abuse is allowed.

Via e-mail, send letters to editorial@lmtonline.com or mail them to Letters to the Editor, 111 Esperanza Drive, Laredo, TX 78041.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2015

Zentertainment

BuzzFeed, Vox could pull out of SXSW

By MAE ANDERSON ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Popular online media sites BuzzFeed and Vox say they may pull out of the SXSW Interactive festival held in Austin, Texas, after the festival canceled two panels related to gaming and online harassment, citing threats of violence.

The tech festival, held annually in March, attracts 33,000-plus attendees from 82 countries and is part of the larger SXSW festival that also includes music, film and educational conferences. The gathering has a looser reputation than bigger tech conferences like the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, but it has become bigger and more corporate in recent years.

In a blog posting Monday, SXSW Interactive Director Hugh Forrest said the festival was canceling two sessions for the 2016 event: “SavePoint: A Discussion on the Gaming Community” and “Level Up: Overcoming Harassment in Games” because the panels garnered threats of “on-site violence related to this programing.”

“Maintaining civil and respectful dialogue within the big tent is more important than any particular session,” Forrest wrote.

Both panels are related to the online campaign dubbed “GamerGate” that began last fall, during which women were harassed for criticizing the lack of diversity in the vid-

eo game industry and women’s portrayal in it. Neither of the panels mentions GamerGate specifically.

The “SavePoint” talk was set to discuss the “current social/political landscape in the gaming community” and the “Level Up” panel included several women who have been subjected to the harassment.

On Tuesday, three executives at BuzzFeed, which has had a major presence at the festival over the past several years, sent a letter to director Forrest saying they would “feel compelled” to withdraw BuzzFeed staffers from the panels they are on or moderating if the panels aren’t reinstated.

“Digital harassment — of activists of all political stripes, journalists, and women in those fields or participating in virtually any other form of digital speech — has emerged as an urgent challenge for the tech companies for whom your conference is an important forum,” the letter states.

Vox Media, the company behind popular sites including food-focused Eater, video game blog Polygon, and other news and tech sites, released a statement saying it would not participate in the festival “unless its organizers take this issue seriously and take appropriate steps to correct it. We will work to find an alternative forum for this conversation and invite others who feel the same to join us.”

SXSW did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

PAGE 5A

Hollywood stars align for tech series ‘Breakthrough’

By LYNN ELBER ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES — As a resident of parched California, Angela Bassett is used to playing water warden at home.

“I’m a mom with (twin) kids, 9-year-olds, trying to teach them how to wash dishes, how to wash clothes” in a time of drought, the actress said.

“And to turn out the lights.

I feel like the father figure in ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night,’ saying, ‘Turn that light off!”’

As the director of “Water Apocalypse,” she’s talking to a bigger audience about water crises here and around the world and the technological advances that may help resolve them.

The hour-long program is part of “Breakthrough,” a six-part series on scientific innovation from filmmaking partners Ron Howard and Brian Grazer.

“Breakthrough” debuts Sunday (8 p.m. Central) on National Geographic Channel with “Fighting Pandemics” and concludes Dec. 13 with “Water Apocalypse.”

Bassett, who also turned director on this year’s TV movie “Whitney,” was among the Hollywood names invited to take charge of one topic from an array that included energy alternatives and brain research.

It’s the scientists and others doing innovative work in those fields that are the stars here, not the famous directors — but Howard and Grazer say their creative talents were key.

The goal was to look at each subject “in a really personal way. That’s why we partnered with these

Photo by Brendan Bannon/National Geographic Channels | AP

Arturo Vittori and his team of Ethiopian architecture students assemble stages of the water tower Vittori designed. storytellers who are very humanistic and passionate and know how to connect with an audience,” Howard said.

Bassett said she’s not presenting herself as an authority.

“I see myself as going in wide-eyed and trying to learn something. Going in with wonder, going in with questions, and hopefully we can come away with a bit more understanding,” she said.

The big-picture approach of “Water Apocalypse” takes in a remote Ethiopian village where an Italian architect, Arturo Vittori, is trying to help residents conquer a lack of accessible, safe drinking water by building a unique water-collecting tower.

“Decoding the Brain,” the Nov. 15 episode from director Brett Ratner (“XMen: The Last Stand,” the “Rush Hour” franchise), includes Dr. Steve Ramirez’s study of how to implant or erase memories to potentially benefit those with

post-traumatic stress disorder.

“The Age of Aging,” which Howard directed, includes researchers who believe that the field’s great achievement would be extending the human “health span” — the period of life spent without disease — as opposed to our life span. It airs Nov. 29.

Why did he assign himself that subject?

“It’s not quite as cinematic in some ways,” Howard said, “but I felt it was something that we’re all thinking about. What does it mean to people in their 80s now? What does it mean to younger people?”

Grazer, who detailed his own questioning approach in the book “A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life,” said the series parallels his films with Howard, such as “Apollo 13,” that offer “the experience of entering a world that has a problem and has a solution in it. We like those thematics.”

The pair also had tower-

ing figures including Thomas Edison top of mind with “Breakthrough.”

(GE, created by an 1892 merger of Edison’s firm with a competitor, joined with National Geographic on the series and its scientists’ work is included in it, although not exclusively.)

“Looking back, we know who the giants were,” Howard said, adding that “Breakthrough” could end up “catching one of those giants in action today.”

Although such progress is more likely to become apparent in retrospect, Howard said his “Age of Aging” was lucky to record “scientists in motion achieve a goal that is a significant part of the challenge.”

No spoilers here; Howard didn’t elaborate.

The other episodes and their directors: “Fighting Pandemics,” Sunday, from Peter Berg (“Ballers,” “The Leftovers”). Follows those who jump into action when Ebola or other outbreaks occur and who are searching for tools to counter HIV, influenza, malaria and other killer diseases.

“More Than Human,” Nov. 8, from Paul Giamatti (“Sideways,” “American Splendor”), about the merger of biology and technology, including research that could help people with traumatic spine injuries walk again.

“Energy From the Edge,” Dec. 6, from producer Akiva Goldsman (“I Am Legend,” “Fringe”).

The scientists and engineers behind alternative energy projects, including the National Ignition Facility that’s attempting to corral the energy of controlled fusion, are the focus.

National

6A THE ZAPATA TIMES

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2015

No shutdown: Congress, Obama back deal

By ERICA WERNER ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Striving to end a cycle of crisis, congressional leaders and the White House united Tuesday behind an ambitious budget and debt deal aimed at restoring a semblance of order to Capitol Hill and ending the threat of government shutdowns and defaults until well after a new president takes office.

The outgoing House speaker, Republican John Boehner of Ohio, prepared to push the deal through his unruly chamber on Wednesday as his last act before departing Congress at the end of the week.

All but forced to resign under conservative pressure, Boehner was nonetheless going out on his own terms. The budget deal stands as an in-your-face rebuttal to his hardline antagonists, on Capitol Hill and off, who angrily oppose

spending increases and compromises with Democratic President Barack Obama.

They seethed but acknowledged they were powerless to stop an agreement all but certain to pass with votes from Democrats and a sizable number of Republicans. Boehner brushed off their complaints, declaring that he intended to make good on his promise to leave a “clean barn” for his successor, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who is set to get the GOP nomination for speaker on Wednesday and win election on the House floor the day after that.

“I didn’t want him to walk into a dirty barn full of you-know-what. So I’ve done my best to try to clean it up,” a good-humored Boehner told reporters after a closed-door gathering of House Republicans, his last such weekly meeting after nearly five years as speaker and a quarter-century on Capitol Hill.

Photo by Carolyn Kaster | AP

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, walks to a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday.

During the meeting, Republican lawmakers had a parting gift for Boehner: a golf cart with Ohio license plates reading “MR SPKR”.

Boehner told them he had a gift in return: the budget deal.

The deal would boost military spending as sought by defense hawks, even as it would take away the threat of “fiscal cliffs” by a GOPled Congress in the middle of a campaign season where Republicans are aiming for

the White House and trying to hang onto their slim Senate majority.

Struck over recent days in closely held talks with White House officials and top House and Senate leader of both parties, the agreement would raise the government debt ceiling until March 2017, removing the threat of an unprecedented and market-rupturing national default just days from now. At the same time it would set the budget of the

government through the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years and ease punishing spending caps by providing $80 billion more for military and domestic programs, paid for with a hodge-podge of spending cuts and revenue increases touching areas from tax compliance to spectrum auctions.

The deal would also avert a looming shortfall in the Social Security disability trust fund that threatened to slash benefits, and head off an unprecedented increase in Medicare premiums for outpatient care for about 15 million beneficiaries.

Obama said the budget deal “reflects our values” and responsibly pays for investments in the middle class and national security.

“It’s an actual bipartisan compromise, which hasn’t been happening in Washington a lot lately,” the president said.

Said Vice President Joe Biden: “It will prevent us

from lurching from crisis to crisis.”

Congressional Democrats have pushed for months for such a deal, bottling up routine spending bills in an effort to produce negotiations that would result in increased domestic spending.

With resignation, one of the conservative rebels, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, complained of the deal and Boehner: “We can’t stop it. He’s in league with the Democrats.”

But Massie also said that “it’s a long game” and that conservatives are winning the war after forcing Boehner to resign and cowing his heir apparent, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, into dropping his candidacy. That caused a power vacuum that threw the House into pandemonium for much of this month, until GOP leaders prevailed upon a reluctant Ryan, the party’s 2012 vice presidential nominee, to seek the speakership.

Spacecraft nears Saturn’s moon

By MARCIA DUNN ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais | AP

President Barack Obama waves as he boards Air Force One, Tuesday, at Andrews Air Force Base.

Obama says police often scapegoated

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is defending police officers who have come under intense scrutiny amid a breakdown in relations between law enforcement and minority communities, and says police can’t be expected to contain problems the rest of society refuses to face.

Obama was traveling Tuesday to Chicago to address the International Association of Chiefs of Police, which is meeting in the president’s hometown.

In excerpts of his prepared remarks released by the White House, Obama said society expects police to control societal ills stemming from unemployment, substandard education, inadequate drug treatment programs and lenient gun laws.

“Too often, law enforcement gets scapegoated for the broader failures of our society and criminal justice system,” Obama said. “I know that you do your jobs with distinction no matter the challenges you face. That’s part of wearing the badge.”

Obama’s tribute to police comes amid a national debate that took shape following the deaths of unarmed black men in Florida, Missouri and elsewhere, giving rise to the Black Lives Matter movement. Last week, Obama defended Black Lives Matter and said its activists are illuminating a legitimate issue that black communities face, but on Tuesday, Obama sought to avoid making it about police versus their communities.

“I reject any narrative that seeks to divide police and communities they serve — that frames any discussion of public safety around ‘us’ and ‘them,”’ Obama said. “A narrative that too often gets served up to us by cable news seeking ratings, tweets seeking retweets, or political candidates seeking some attention.”

Yet the president’s show of support for police came as the White House sought to distance Obama from comments made by his FBI director, James Comey, who said last week that police anxiety over cellphone cameras and viral videos partly explains why violent crime has climbed recently in several large U.S. cities. White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters traveling with Obama that while crime has spiked in some places, it’s decreased in others.

“The available body of evidence does not support the notion that law enforcement officers around the country are shying away from doing their job,” Schultz said.

Obama’s speech to police chiefs aims to bolster his case for fairer sentencing laws, part of a broader push by the president for a more effective criminal justice system. In his prepared remarks, Obama said he has no sympathy for violent offenders and has seen the havoc wreaked by drugs. But he said American prisons are packed with non-violent offenders and that it’s possible to fight the drug trade “without relying solely on incarceration.”

Following this month’s deadly shooting at an Oregon community college, the president also planned to discuss steps to reduce gun violence, such as requiring background checks for every firearms purchase.

The police chiefs’ association supports such checks.

“Fewer gun safety laws don’t mean more freedom, they mean more fallen officers,” Obama said. “They mean more grieving families, and more Americans terrified that they or their loved ones could be next.”

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The Cassini spacecraft is about to get an icy shower as it orbits Saturn.

On Wednesday, Cassini will storm through a jet of water vapor and frozen particles erupting from the south pole of Enceladus, one of Saturn’s many moons.

The spacecraft will zoom within 30 miles of the pole, providing the best sampling yet of its underground ocean.

Cassini will be traveling 19,000 mph, so it should take just an instant to penetrate the plume.

A global liquid ocean is believed to exist beneath the frozen crust of 300-mile-wide Enceladus. Wednesday’s dive will be the deepest one yet through the continuous plumes, making the enterprise a bit riskier than usual.

Launched in 1997, Cassini is not equipped to detect life, but scientists hope Wednesday’s flyby will provide clues as to the possibility of it.

NASA program scientist Curt Niebur considers Wednesday’s feat “a very big step in a new era of exploring ocean worlds in our solar system.”

Other probable extraterrestrial ocean worlds: Sat-

Photo courtesy of NASA | AP

This July 27 photo made by the Cassini spacecraft shows the moon Enceladus orbiting the planet Saturn. urn’s largest moon, Titan; Jupiter’s moons, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto; and possibly dwarf planets Pluto and Ceres, among others.

“These are worlds with huge bodies of liquid water underneath their surfaces, bodies with great potential to provide oases for life throughout our solar system,” Niebur said Monday.

“It’s a journey in understanding about what makes a world habitable and where we might find life, and where we might one day live ourselves.”

Researchers are eager to nail down the chemical makeup of Enceladus’ plumes. They also hope to confirm whether the eruptions are tight columns or

curtains of jets running along fractures in the south pole.

In particular, the spacecraft will be looking to identify hydrogen molecules in the plume, which would help quantify hydrothermal activity occurring on the ocean floor. That, in turn, would help characterize the potential for life in this slightly salty ocean.

If life exists — and more missions would be needed for confirmation — it might range from microscopic algae to little fish, the scientists said.

The action unfolds late Wednesday morning Eastern Time; it will take several hours to confirm success and start returning the in-

formation.

Spilker expects it will take a week to get a quick look at the scientific data and many more weeks for a proper analysis.

Close-up pictures of Enceladus should be ready much sooner. Cassini will snap pictures of Enceladus before, during and after the close encounter. The images will be smeared because of Cassini’s speed, but the team hopes to remove the blurs and have some dramatic shots by Thursday night or Friday. Saturnshine — akin to our moonshine — will provide the only lighting for the cameras.

This will be the 21st flyby of Enceladus by Cassini.

“It’s not our last, but arguably this one is going to be our most dramatic,” said project manager Earl Maize.

Cassini has come closer to Enceladus — skimming 151/2 miles above the surface in 2008 — but never dipped so low through a plume.

Scientists were tempted to fly even lower Wednesday, but did not want to waste fuel. Cassini’s orbit around Saturn will not be disturbed by the plume penetration, they asserted. The U.S.-European spacecraft has two years of life remaining before it plunges into Saturn’s atmosphere and vaporizes.

Feds probing student’s arrest

By MEG KINNARD ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation Tuesday after a deputy flipped a student backward in her desk and tossed her across the floor for refusing to leave her math class.

Federal help was sought

by Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, who called what happened at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, South Carolina, “very disturbing” and placed Senior Deputy Ben Fields on leave.

The sheriff ’s department said no one was hurt, but the confrontation prompted outrage after it was recorded and shared online. One student said it started when the girl refused her math teacher’s request to hand over her cellphone during class.

During the moments posted online, Fields warns the girl to stand up or be forcibly removed. The officer then wraps a forearm around her neck, flips her and the desk backward onto the floor, and tosses her toward the front of the classroom, where he handcuffs her.

A second student was arrested for verbally objecting to the girl’s treatment.

Both girls were charged with disturbing schools and released to their parents. Their names were not officially released.

The second student, Niya Kenny, told WLTX-TV that

she felt she begging, apolhad to say ogetic on what something. happened and Doris Kenny everything.” said she’s “Next, the proud her administrator daughter was called Deputy “brave enough Fields in ... he to speak out asked, ‘will against what you move,’ was going on.” and she said Lt. Curtis ‘no, I haven’t FIELDS Wilson condone anything firmed that Fields is white wrong,’ Robinson said. and the students involved “When I saw what was are black, but told The As- going to happen, my immesociated Press in an email diate first thing to think to “keep in mind this is not was, let me get this on cama race issue.” era. This was going to be South Carolina’s NAACP something ... that everyone president, Lonnie Randolph else needs to see, someJr., denied that, saying thing that we can’t just let “race is indeed a factor.” this pass by.”

“To be thrown out of her Districts across the counseat as she was thrown, ty put officers in schools afand dumped on the floor ... ter two teenagers masI don’t ever recall a female sacred fellow students at student who is not of color Columbine High School in (being treated this way). It Colorado in 1999. Schools doesn’t affect white stu- now routinely summon podents,” Randolph said. lice to discipline students.

Tony Robinson Jr., who “Kids are not criminals, recorded the final mo- by the way. When they ments, said it all began won’t get up, when they when the teacher tried to won’t put up the phone, confiscate a phone the girl they’re silly, disobedient took out during class. She kids — not criminals,” said refused, so he called an ad- John Whitehead, founder of ministrator, who sum- the Rutherford Institute, a moned the officer. nonprofit civil liberties and “The administrator tried human rights organization. to get her to move and Police officers should be pleaded with her to get out posted at entrances to “stop of her seat,” Robinson told the crazies from getting in WLTX. “She said she really these schools,” Whitehead hadn’t done anything added. “When you have powrong. She said she took lice in the schools, you’re her phone out, but it was going to run into this — only for a quick second, having police do what you know, please, she was teachers and parents

should do.”

The Rev. Jesse Jackson called the video a “national disgrace.”

“This man should be arrested, charged, fired and sued,” Jackson said on his way to Columbia. “The department should be sued.”

Mayor Steve Benjamin also called for an independent investigation. School Superintendent Debbie Hamm said “the district will not tolerate any actions that jeopardize the safety of our students.”

School Board Chairman Jim Manning said “there is no doubt that the video is extremely disturbing. The amount of force used on a female student by a male officer appears to me to be excessive and unnecessary.”

It was an “egregious use of force,” ACLU of South Carolina Executive Director Victoria Middleton said.

Fields has prevailed against accusations of excessive force and racial bias before.

Trial is set for January in the case of an expelled student who claims Fields targeted blacks and falsely accused him of being a gang member in 2013. In another case, a federal jury sided with Fields after a black couple accused him of excessive force and battery during a noise complaint arrest in 2005. A third lawsuit, dismissed in 2009, involved a woman who accused him of battery and violating her rights during a 2006 arrest.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2015

ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

Sports&Outdoors NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: HOUSTON TEXANS

Texans cut ties with QB Mallett released after missing flight

By KRISTIE RIEKEN ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON — Ryan Mallett finally ran out of chances in Houston and was released by the Texans on Tuesday.

The Texans released the quarterback after he missed the team’s charter flight to Florida this past weekend.

They announced the decision on Tuesday and also placed Arian Foster on injured reserve, a day after coach Bill O’Brien said he would miss the rest of the season with an Achilles tendon injury.

The 27-year-old Mallett said he missed the flight because of traffic and he took a commercial flight to meet the team in Miami, where the team was blown out 4426 and fell to 2-5.

“You’ve got to be on time,” Mallett said after the game. “That’s not the leadership role I need to exhibit. I need to be better.”

It wasn’t the first time he’d missed a team activity: He overslept and missed a practice in training camp.

The aftermath of that incident was documented on the HBO Series “Hard Knocks” this summer.

“I wouldn’t even try to call him,” O’Brien is filmed saying to a staff member.

“Just let it go. He’s 27 years old.”

In another scene a conversation between Mallett and general manager Rick Smith in Smith’s office is shown.

“My phone turned off man,” Mallett said. “I’m not about to (lie to) ... you like that. I made a mistake. The timing ... looks so great. I went and got a battery alarm clock so it won’t happen again ... when I woke up I was like: ’You’ve got to be kidding me.”’

Mallett was in his second season in Houston after being traded from New England in August 2014 after spending three seasons as Tom Brady’s backup.

Appearing on Boston radio station WEEI on Monday, Brady was asked if Mallett was: “that big of a knucklehead when he was here or is that just something that happened in Houston?”

“I’m not sure,” Brady said after a long pause. “I’ve always — Ryan and I have always had a great relationship. It’s — you hate to see that stuff because it’s not

how it should be.”

Brady was then asked if anybody on his team had ever missed the charter flight.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I think so at one point. I don’t remember who it was. But it’s rare.”

Mallett lost the starting job in training camp, but took over in the season opener after Brian Hoyer struggled. Mallett started the team’s next four games but led the Texans to just one win as he threw two touchdown passes with four interceptions.

He was benched in favor of Hoyer in the middle of his fourth start against Indianapolis on Oct. 8.

After he was removed from the game, TV shots showed him pouting on the sideline and frowning after at least one score by the Texans, behavior he was widely criticized for.

The Texans will now have to find a backup to replace him because Hoyer is the only quarterback remaining on the active roster with Tom Savage on injured reserve. Zac Dysert is the only quarterback on Houston’s practice squad.

The Texans (2-5) host Tennessee (1-5) on Sunday.

Photo by Wilfredo Lee | AP

Once the team’s starter, Houston’s Ryan Mallett has been released by the Texans after the quarterback missed a flight.

International

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2015

Processed meat linked to cancer

By ANGELA CHARLTON ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press | AP

The bow of the Leviathan II, a whale-watching boat that capsized on Sunday, is seen Tuesday, near Vargas Island before it was towed.

Father and son among 5 killed in boat sinking

By MANUEL VALDES AND JEREMY HAINSWORTH ASSOCIATED PRESS

TOFINO, British Columbia — Investigators are trying to unravel the mystery of what caused a whale watching boat to capsize off Vancouver Island in seemingly calm weather, killing five British nationals including a father and his teenage son. A fisherman who was among the first rescuers on the scene offered a clue, saying a survivor told him that a sudden wave capsized the boat.

A search continued for a missing Australian man.

Twenty-one people were rescued.

The British Columbia Coroners Service on Tuesday afternoon identified the five victims, two of whom were British nationals living in Canada. They are David Thomas, 50, and his 18-year-old son Stephen, from Swindon in southern England; Katie Taylor, 29, of Whistler, British Columbia; Nigel Francis Hooker, 63, of Southampton, England, and Jack Slater, 76, of Toronto.

The Down Syndrome Association UK said in a statement that David Thomas was a “huge supporter” of the organization and “one of the driving forces behind the Swindon Down’s Syndrome Group, where he was a trustee.”

Stephen Thomas, who had Down Syndrome, “was a very talented young man and a gifted photographer,” the association said in a statement.

“His love of photography started when he was eight years old. We were all delighted when Stephen’s beautiful image Moraine Lake won the national My Perspective photographic competition last year,” the association said.

“All of our thoughts and condolences are with the Thomas family at this terrible time,” the group added.

Microsoft UK said David Thomas was an employee.

“Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with their family, friends and David’s colleagues and we will be doing everything we can to support them,” the company said.

Investigators will review the weather, wreckage and the maintenance history of the 20-meter (65-feet) Leviathan II to determine why it capsized Sunday afternoon,

said Marc Andre Poisson, Director of Marine Investigations for Canada’s Transportation Safety Board. He said the investigation could take months.

A senior employee of Jamie’s Whaling Station, the company operating the boat, said the vessel sank so quickly the crew didn’t have time to issue a mayday call. The crew shot flares from the water which attracted the attention of local aboriginal fishermen who rushed to help rescue people, said Corene Inouye, the company’s director of operations.

The boat capsized about eight nautical miles (14.7 kilometers) off Tofino, a popular destination for whale watchers.

Fisherman Clarence Smith said he was reeling his lines for halibut when his friend saw a flare shoot in the sky. They raced to the scene in their small boat, and saw people in life rafts, in the water, and on rocks. They first helped a man who was clinging to the side of the boat, taking eight minutes to get him on board. He was unresponsive, and tangled in a line.

Then they rescued two women who were clinging to each other, and finally got 10 people on the life raft onto their boat.

PARIS — Bacon, hot dogs and cold cuts are under fire: The World Health Organization threw its global weight behind years of experts’ warnings and declared Monday that processed meats raise the risk of colon and stomach cancer and that red meat is probably harmful, too.

Meat producers are angry, vegetarians are feeling vindicated, and cancer experts are welcoming the most comprehensive pronouncement yet on the relation between our modern meat-eating lifestyles and cancer.

The WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, analyzed decades of research and for the first

Photo by Andy McMillan | New York Times file

Eating processed meat can raise the risk in humans of getting colon cancer, a report by the World Health Organization said. time put processed meats in the same danger category as smoking or asbestos.

That doesn’t mean salami is as bad as cigarettes, only that there’s a confirmed link to cancer. And even then, the risk is small.

The results aren’t that shocking in the U.S., where many parents fret over

chemicals in cured meats and the American Cancer Society has long cautioned against eating too much steak and deli.

But the U.N. agency’s findings could shake up public health attitudes elsewhere, such as European countries where sausages are savored and smoked

ham is a national delicacy.

And they could hurt the American meat industry, which is arguing vigorously against linking their products with cancer, contending that the disease involves a number of lifestyle and environmental factors.

While U.S. rates of colon cancer have been declining, it is the No. 2 cancer for women worldwide and No. 3 for men, according to the WHO. A group of 22 scientists from the IARC evaluated more than 800 studies from several continents about meat and cancer. The studies looked at more than a dozen types of cancer in populations with diverse diets over the past 20 years.

Based on that analysis, the IARC classified processed meat as “carcinogenic to humans.”

Rescuers scramble after quake

By MOHAMMAD YOUSAF AND LYNNE O’DONNELL ASSOCIATED PRESS

MINGORA, Pakistan — As the death toll in the massive earthquake that struck the remote Hindu Kush mountains soared above 300, officials on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border warned on Tuesday that casualty figures will likely leap once relief workers return from villages so remote they can only be accessed on foot or by donkey.

Rescuers in both countries were struggling to reach quake-stricken regions as officials said the combined death toll from Monday’s earthquake rose to 376.

Authorities said 258 people died in Pakistan and 115 in Afghanistan in the magnitude-7.5 quake, which was centered in Afghanistan’s sparsely populated Badakhshan province that borders Pakistan, Tajikistan and China.

Three people died on the Indian side of the disputed

Photo by Naveed Ali | AP

A Pakistani boy examines a house damaged by a massive earthquake in Mingora, the main town of Swat valley, Tuesday. region of Kashmir.

The earthquake, with its epicenter close to the Badakhshan district of Jarm, damaged many of the few existing roads, officials said. Dropping aid by air will be the only way to reach many of the needy, but those operations were not likely to start for many days until survey teams on foot return and report on the damage.

The Pakistani town closest to the epicenter is Chitral.

Monday’s quake shook buildings in the capital, Islamabad, and cities else-

where in Pakistan and Afghanistan for up to 45 seconds in the early afternoon, creating cracks in walls and causing blackouts.

The earthquake destroyed more than 7,600 homes across Afghanistan and injured 558 people, according to a statement from President Ashraf Ghani’s office after he had met with disaster management officials. He ordered the military to make assets available for the relief effort.

Badakhshan Gov. Shah Waliullah Adeeb said

more than 1,500 houses there were either destroyed or partially destroyed. The province’s casualty figures of 11 dead and 25 injured “will rise by the end of the day, once the survey teams get to the remote areas and villages,” Adeeb said.

Food and other essentials were ready to go, he said, but “getting there is not easy.” Many people in stricken areas were sleeping outdoors, braving freezing temperatures for fear of aftershocks.

Afghan authorities said they were scrambling to access the hardest-hit areas near the epicenter, located 73 kilometers (45 miles) south of Fayzabad, the capital of Badakhshan province.

Badakhshan is one of the poorest areas of Afghanistan and frequently hit by floods, snowstorms and mudslides. Its valleys and mountains make access to many areas by road almost impossible at the best of times.

MIÉRCOLES 28 DE OCTUBRE DE 2015

Zfrontera ‘CIUDADES SANTUARIO’

Agenda en Breve

Solicita ley

MEMBRESÍAS GRATUITAS Driscoll Children’s Health Plan ofrece membresías gratuitas para Boys & Girls Club a niños y niñas que estén registrados en Health Plan de Driscoll. Espacio es limitado. Para solicitar más infromación llame al (956) 765-3892.

DESFILE POR NAVIDAD La Cámara de Comercio del Condado del Condado de Zapata invita al Desfile de Navidad y Encendido de la Plaza del Condado. Se invita a que se registren para participar en el evento llamando para detalles al (956) 765-5434. El día del desfile la alineación iniciará a las 5 p.m. en Glenn St. y 17th Ave. (detrás de Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. El desfile dará inicio a las 6 p.m. y proseguirá por 17th Ave. hacia el Sur sobre US Hwy 83 tomando a la izquierda sobre 6th Ave. para concluirlo. Posteriormente será el encendido anual del árbol de Navidad en la Plaza del Condado, seguido de entrega de regalos por Santa.

PÁGINA 9A

POR PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN— El gobernador de Texas, Greg Abbott, acogió el lunes una medida para acabar con los gobiernos locales que prohíben a la policía preguntar sobre el estatus migratorio de una persona, luego de no comentar mucho con respecto a las políticas de ciudades santuario desde que asumió el cargo.

Su apoyo se da luego de que activistas conservadores criticaran al gobernador republicano por no dar prioridad a la lucha contra la inmigración ilegal desde el comienzo de su mandato. También se da luego de que la prisión del condado de Dallas decidió recientemente que no cumplirá con todas las solicitudes de detención de los agentes federales de migración en la séptima cárcel de mayor tamaño en el país.

"Ciudades santuario" no tiene un significado legal. Se utiliza típicamente para describir a los gobier-

nos locales que brindan rede este año, cuando líderes fugio a las personas que redel movimiento Tea Party tosiden en el país sin maron el control del Senado permiso legal. estatal.

"Texas debe aprobar lePero el tema ganó atenyes que prohíban cualquier ción nacional hace unos mepolítica o acción que brinde ses después que una mujer refugio a personas que esmurió baleada en San Frantán ilegalmente en el estacisco por un ciudadano medo", escribió Abbott en una xicano que había sido excarcarta dirigida al jefe de pocelado pese a que las autoriABBOTT licía del condado de Dallas, dades migratorias solicitaron Lupe Valdez. mantenerlo detenido. La semana paEl portavoz de Abbott, John Wit- sada en el Congreso, senadores detman, confirmó que el gobernador mócratas bloquearon una propuesta quiere el tema en su escritorio republicana que sancionaría a las cuando la Legislatura retome sesio- jurisdicciones que no compartan innes en 2017. formación migratoria o no coopePese a las abrumadoras mayorías ren con las solicitudes federales. La republicanas, la Legislatura de Te- Casa Blanca amenazó con un veto. xas no ha podido aprobar propuesEn septiembre, Valdez dijo que la tas de ciudades santuario en tres cárcel de Dallas ya no alargaría la periodos de sesiones consecutivos, detención de sospechosos que están incluyendo el de 2011, cuando el en- ilegalmente en el país y son sospetonces gobernador, Ricky Perry, lo chosos de crímenes menores. La acdeclaró como prioridad durante su ción del demócrata emula las de precampaña a la Casa Blanca, y el cientos de condados y ciudades de

todo el país que han restringido la participación del programa de federal del Servicio de Control de Inmigración y Aduanas.

Abbott, quien buscó agresivamente el voto hispano el año pasado, había intentado evitar una postura pública en un tema que los demócratas acusan de antiinmigrante.

Había eludido preguntas sobre la propuesta al decir que daría un vistazo a cualquier proposición y dijo que las ciudades santuario son un síntoma de que el gobierno federal no ha asegurado la frontera.

Sin embargo, su postura no genera sorpresa luego de que aprobó 800 millones de dólares en seguridad fronteriza durante su primer presupuesto. Los demócratas acusaron a Abbott de aprovecharse del sentimiento actual de los votantes conservadores.

"Intenta ser el Donald Trump de Texas", dijo el representante estatal demócrata, Rafael Anchia, cuyo distrito incluye la prisión de Dallas.

MIGUEL ALEMÁN, MÉXICO,

OFICINA DEL ALGUACIL

NUEVAS OFICINAS

Programa busca dar apoyo a menores

ACTIVIDADES EN PUERTO ISABEL Celebración del Día de los Muertos se realizará del 10 al 31 de octubre, en horario de 4 p.m. a 11 p.m. en 317 E. Railroad Ave. Habrá música, baile, vendedores, exhibiciones, actividades, música y concursos de disfraces.

Recepción para Artistas de la Galería se realizará el viernes 30 de octubre, de 5 p.m. a 8 p.m. en los Museos de Puerto Isabel y en la Biblioteca Pública de Puerto Isabel. El evento es abierto a la comunidad y se les invita asistir disfrazados. Se ofrecerán refrigerios por el Día de los Muertos y Halloween.

POR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

El lunes, la Oficina del Fiscal del Condado de Zapata anunció que ha implementado el “Teddy Bear Program” (Programa Osos de Peluche), dijeron oficiales.

“Con el propósito de proteger el bienestar de nuestros niños, Iron Horse Disciples, un ministro local de motocicletas, y el Alguacil Alonso M. López, han unido esfuerzos para lanzar el programa ‘Teddy Bear’”, dijo la Oficina del Alguacil.

SEMANA DE LISTÓN ROJO En el marco del Mes de Prevención de Uso de Narcóticos a nivel Nacional, se celebrará el evento “Red Ribbon Week” del 23 al 31 de octubre.

El evento representa un compromiso nacional para crear conciencia y evitar el uso de narcóticos, entre estudiantes.

Durante la semana se realizarán diferentes actividades para concientizar a los estudiantes.

Para realizar donaciones puede ponerse en contacto con Norma González llamando al (956) 765-8389.

Lo recaudado será destinado a comprar obsequios para los estudiantes.

TEMPORADA DE CAZA Tamaulipas tiene en vigencia la temporada de casa de la Paloma Huilota, anunciaron autoridades del Estado. La temporada concluirá el 8 de noviembre.

Igualmente se aclara que la temporada de caza de la Paloma de Collar y la Ala Blanca ya concluyó.

Se intenta reducir el trauma psicológico experimentado por los menores durante una situación traumática.

Foto de cortesía

La mañana del lunes, se inauguraron las nuevas instalaciones del Sistema DIF de Miguel Alemán, México, ubicadas en Puerto de Chetumal No. 130 en la Colonia San Germán.

Aguirre: Comunidad tendrá lugar digno TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

A

hora, el municipio de Miguel Alemán, México, cuenta con nuevas instalaciones para el Sistema para el Desarrollo Integral de la Familia (DIF).

Las nuevas oficinas, ubicadas en Puerto de Chetumal No. 130 en la Colonia San Germán, fueron inauguradas el lunes durante la ceremonia de inauguración, presidida por Andrea Aguirre de Cortez, actual presidenta del DIF. El Alcalde,

Ramiro Cortez Barrera, realizó el corte de listón.

“Para mi es un honor presentar este nuevo edificio que servirá para fortalecer la infraestructura de esta institución que se identifica por atender las necesidades de la población”, dijo Aguirre de Cortez. “Todas las personas que acudan ante nosotros como servidores municipales, tendrán un lugar digno y amplio, ya que la construcción de este edificio no fue un gasto, sino una inversión a favor de

la comunidad.

El desarrollo del proyecto tuvo una inversión de 4 millones de dólares.

“La sociedad requiere de más líderes que antepongan sus intereses y vean realmente por los mas necesitados”, sostuvo Aguirre de Cortez.

Durante la ceremonia, Aguirre sostuvo que realizará todo el esfuerzo necesario para hacer llegar mas programas que fortalezcan a la familia y principalmente a los más necesitados, indica un comunicado.

Oficiales del Alguacil indican que intentan reducir el traume psicológico experimentado por los menores durante una situación traumática.

“Ahora, todas las unidades de patrulla contarán con osos de peluche, para que de esta manera los oficiales que lleguen a incidentes de emergencia puedan usarlos para confortar a los menores”, dijeron autoridades.

“Se ha comprobado que los osos de peluche tienen un efecto tranquilizante al proporcionar consuelo y dar a los niños algo tangible que sostener durante tiempos de crisis”.

Los oficiales del alguacil creen que los osos podrían ayudar a los oficiales y menores a establecer un lazo. Igualmente, las autoridades dijeron que creen que los osos pueden diversificar la atención del menor del incidente traumático.

“A pesar de que (la Oficina del Alguacil) no solicita donaciones para este programa, aceptamos con gusto los donativos de osos de peluche nuevos o en buenas condiciones de la comunidad, grupos cívicos y negocios”, dijeron oficiales.

(Localice a César G. Rodriguez en 728-2568 o en cesar@lmtonline.com)

NOCHE DE CASINO El Club de Leones de Zapata invita al evento Casino Night Fundraiser que se realizará el sábado 14 de noviembre de 7 p.m. a 10 p.m. en el Holiday Inn Express de Zapata. Habrá refrigerios, bebidas, fichas para apuestas. Los estilos serán Blackjack, Texas Hold ‘Em, Roulette y Craps. Todos los juegos serán al estilo de casino (no dinero).

El boleto es de 30 dólares por persona, y puede adquirirlos en Zapata Chamber of Commerce. Las ganancias beneficiarán la 4ª Entrega Anual de Pavos en Navidad por parte del Club de Leones de Zapata.

HURACÁN PATRICIA

Declaran emergencia en ciudades fronterizas TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Dos municipios fronterizos fueron declarados en emergencia por parte de la Coordinación Nacional de Protección Civil de la Secretaría de Gobernación (SEGOB) de Tamaulipas.

Los municipios fronterizos de Reynosa y Río Bravo, México, fueron afectados por las remanentes pluviales del huracán Patricia.

La declaración se formalizó el domingo 25 de octubre en San Fernando, Tamaulipas, México, durante la reunión itinerante del Grupo de Coordinación. La declaración fue emitida por SEGOB alrededor de las 8 p.m. del lunes 26 de octubr, señala un comunicado emitido por el Estado.

Debido a las lluvias que se presentaron el viernes y sábado en los municipios, se presenta-

ron inundaciones y encharcamientos en 52 colonias de Reynosa y en 9 de Río Bravo, indica el comunicado.

Tras la declaración, los municipios recibirán recursos del Fondo para la Atención de Emergencias (FONDEN) y contarán con los apoyos necesarios para atender las necesidades alimenticias, de abrigo y de salud de la población afectada, señalaron autoridades.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

El lunes, SEGOB emitió una Declaratoria de Emergencia para los municipios fronterizos de Reynosa y Río Bravo, México. La decisión fue tomada durante la Reunión Ordinaria del Grupo de Coordinación Tamaulipas, el domingo en San Fernando, México.

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2015

PRISON Continued from Page 1A summer camps for about 500 Oklahoma children annually who have parents behind bars.

Nationwide, there are few comparable programs, despite a vast pool of children who might benefit.

Child Trends, a research organization, released a report Tuesday estimating that 5 million U.S. children have had at least one parent imprisoned — about one in every 14 children under 18. For black children, the rate was one in nine, the report said.

The report was based on data from the 2011-12 National Survey of Children’s Health — a phone survey sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that collected input from parents and other caregivers.

Experts who study these children, or work with them, say parental incarceration is distinguished from other childhood woes by a mix of shame, stigma and trauma. Research indicates that many of the children face increased risk of problems with behavior, academics, self-esteem and substance abuse — in some cases resulting in criminality passed from one generation to the next.

Echoing recommendations by other groups, Child Trends said prison systems, schools and communities could do more to support these children.

Suggestions include improving communications between parent and child, making prison visits less stressful, and educating school teachers on how they can help affected chil-

dren overcome stigma.

“Progress has been slow,” said Child Trends researcher David Murphey, the report’s lead author.

“This is a vulnerable group of kids that is often hidden from public view.

We need to pay more attention.”

In some places, that’s happening.

Washington state has won plaudits for establishing child-friendly visiting areas in all its prisons; so has a program in southeast Michigan that facilitates playful, 2-hour visits between imprisoned parents and their kids.

As for New Hope Oklahoma, it has grown steadily over two decades while relying entirely on private donations, and there’s now a waiting list for its programs. Oklahoma has one of the nation’s highest incarceration rates; a task force calculated that on any given day, 26,000 Oklahoma children have a parent in prison.

“These children face ostracism among their peers because of it — despite the fact that the child is totally not at fault,” said New Hope’s executive director, Clayton Smith.

“They don’t speak about it. They don’t want anyone to know.”

The program seeks to foster a camaraderie among the children that encourages them to share experiences and emotions.

Daniel Howell, the case manager who works with after-school programs in Tulsa, recalled his encounters with some of the children, whom he could not identify due to privacy pol-

Photo by Sue Ogrocki | AP

Promise Foster, left, and Kyle Warren look at an object in a bag during an exercise at a New Hope after-school program in Tulsa, Okla. icies.

“I really want to live with my mom,” one boy told him sadly, “and I can’t right now.”

Then there was the girl who entered the program as a 7-year-old and would hide when discomfited.

“We’d have to go sit under the table with her to talk to her,” Howell said.

“Now, she’s able to identify her feelings, talk about it really openly with other students,” he added. “She’s been a top recruiter, telling friends about New Hope and what we do.”

While New Hope works with children at a distance from prison facilities, Oakland Livingston Human Service Agency’s program in Michigan unites children with their incarcerated fathers in jails in Oakland and Wayne counties, plus three state prisons.

Visiting areas are decorated and stocked with playthings, and music is provided for twice-monthly play-oriented visits for perhaps a half-dozen families at a time.

Linda VanderWaal, the agency’s associate director for family re-entry, noted that some jails in Michigan don’t allow contact visits, while other facilities insist that child visitors remain seated.

“We move the chairs back so there’s room to throw a ball,” VanderWaal said. “It’s fine if a dad wants to toss his kid in the air or wrestle on the floor.

It’s a true play date.”

When the program started 12 years ago, some corrections officials were hesitant, she said, but the wariness dissipated as they saw how participating parents adjusted more positively after they were released.

According to federal statistics, only about 42 percent of incarcerated parents with children under 18 get visits from those children. Long distances are a deterrent: A new report by the Prison Policy Initiative calculates that 63 percent of state prison inmates are confined more than 100 miles from their

ABBOTT Continued from Page 1A people in this state illegally,” Abbott wrote in a letter to Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez.

Abbott spokesman John Wittman confirmed that the governor wants the issue on the table when the Legislature returns in 2017.

Despite overwhelming Republican majorities, the Texas Legislature has failed to pass sanctuary cities proposals in three consecutive sessions. That includes 2011 when then-Gov. Rick Perry declared it a priority during the run-up to his White House candidacy, and this year, when tea party leaders wrested control of the state Senate.

But outrage reignited nationally this summer after a woman was fatally shot in San Francisco by a Mexican national who had been released from jail despite a federal detainer request. Last week in Congress, Senate Democrats blocked a Republican bill that would have punished jurisdictions that don’t share immigration information or

cooperate with federal requests. The White House had threatened a veto.

In September, Valdez said the Dallas jail would no longer extend the stay of suspects who are in the country illegally and suspected of minor crimes. The move by the elected Democrat follows hundreds of counties and cities nationwide that have also restricted their participation in the contentious detainer program run by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

Big-city sheriffs have often told Texas lawmakers that sanctuary city laws would impose a chilling effect in immigrant communities and dissuade them from seeking help or helping police solve crimes.

Abbott, who aggressively courted Hispanic voters last year with an emphasis unmatched by a Texas Republican since George W. Bush was governor, had largely ducked taking a vocal position on an issue that Democrats say is anti-immigrant.

He had deflected questions about

proposals by saying he would look at any bill and described sanctuary cities as a symptom of the federal government not securing the border.

His stance, however, is unsurprising as a Republican who approved a record $800 million for border security in his first budget. Democrats accused Abbott of seizing on the current mood of conservative voters.

“He’s trying to be the Donald Trump of Texas,” said Democratic state Rep. Rafael Anchia, whose district covers the Dallas jail.

JoAnn Fleming, an influential Texas conservative activist who advised the lieutenant governor this spring on legislation, said there was disappointment that Abbott had not used his “political capital” before but was optimistic now.

“Governor Abbott and his staff are very aware of where the Texas grassroots think about this item.

We’ve been very vocal,” she said.

ZAPATA MAN Continued from Page 1A within the United States and transport undocumented immigrants for financial gain.

Records allege Jaquez-Ramos intended to drop off three immigrants from Honduras and El Salvador near Guadalupe Street, next to a Church’s Chicken in Laredo.

He expected a payment of $400 per person, states the criminal complaint filed Sept. 18.

U.S. Border Patrol agents

said they encountered Jaquez-Ramos on Sept. 15 while performing their duties on Zapata Highway near Laredo. Agents conducted an immigration inspection on the occupants of a 2014 Dodge Durango.

Authorities identified the driver as Jaquez-Ramos and the passengers as his children and three adults. He was referred to secondary inspection, where agents determined the three adults were illegally in the coun-

try, records state.

Jaquez-Ramos allegedly stated he was transporting the immigrants from Rio Grande City to Laredo for money.

If convicted, Jaquez-Ramos could face up to 10 years behind bars. He pleaded not guilty to the allegations Thursday.

Jaquez-Ramos has a final pretrial conference Dec. 14.

(César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)

families, often requiring a full day just to make a brief visit.

The issue of children’s visits is complicated. Some children are frightened by the prison setting and rigorous security procedures, yet there’s also a wealth of evidence that many are reassured when they can see and hug an incarcerated parent.

Groups advocating for these children urge corrections officials to ensure that visiting protocols, including processing and searches, are child-friendly.

In Maryland, a veteran advocate says it’s a challenge bracing children for the visitation policy at the Frederick County Adult Detention Center. They talk to their jailed parent by phone from behind a glass partition.

“For a number of children, there’s anxiety waiting to go into the jail — some are scared,” said Shari Ostrow Scher, president of the Children of Incarcerated Parents Partnership. “The lack of physical contact with your parents is hard.”

After 14 years of advocacy work, Ostrow Scher remains struck by the plight of the children she serves.

“If your parent is a soldier overseas, everyone says, ‘Oh, you’re brave,”’ she said. “When your parent is in prison, it’s the same issue of loss and separation, and in neither case did the kid sign up for this. But you’re not viewed in the same heroic way.”

Among the states, Wash-

ington has been at the forefront of efforts to enhance bonds between incarcerated parents and their children.

Jody Becker-Green, a deputy secretary of Washington’s corrections department, says one goal is to break the intergenerational cycle by minimizing the emotional damage to children whose parents are imprisoned.

“These kids are overlooked and invisible in our society,” Becker-Green said. “They feel shame, they feel guilt in having a parent incarcerated.”

Unlike most states, Washington has a childfriendly visiting area in each of its 12 state prisons — supplied with books and games, cartoon characters painted on the walls.

In another innovation, the corrections department inaugurated a threeday summer camp in June for children of inmates, with department personnel serving as counselors.

Applications for spots at the camp were submitted by the imprisoned parents themselves, and BeckerGreen said there were plenty of tears at the camp’s closing ceremony when children read portions of those applications in which the mothers and fathers expressed devotion to their kids.

One of the camp staffers, Bea Giron, recounted how a camper said she wouldn’t want people to know she had a parent in prison. The girl was asked why.

“Because they’d think I’m a killer,” she replied.

WOMAN Continued from Page 1A be in the United States. Troopers cited Jimenez before agents took her into custody.

Records allege Jimenez has prior arrests.

She was arrested March 19, 2001, for human smuggling. Laredo police arrested her Sept. 3 on two counts of child abandonment.

(César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)

CHILDREN Continued from Page 1A ing the child something tangible to hold during times of crisis.”

Sheriff ’s officials believe the bears could help deputies and children bond. Also, authorities said the bears will divert a child’s attention from the traumatic incident to the comfort of a teddy bear.

“Although, the (Sher-

iff ’s Office) does not solicit for donations for this program, we gladly accept donations from the community, civic groups and businesses of new or fairly new plush teddy bears,” officials said.

(César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 7282568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A

MARINA S. HERNANDEZ

GILDA P. JASSO

Sept. 29, 1933 – Oct. 25, 2015

Aug. 4, 1941 – Oct. 26, 2015

Marina S. Hernandez, 82, passed away on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015 at Falcon Lake Nursing Home in Zapata, Texas.

Ms. Hernandez is preceded in death by her husband, Abelardo Hernandez; parents, Santos and Teresa Salinas; brothers, Alonzo (Maria) Salinas, Jose Enrique Salinas and sisters, Adelaida (Higinio) Castillo.

Ms. Hernandez is survived by her sons, Abelardo Hernandez, Juan Jose Guadalupe Hernandez; daughters, Martina Hernandez, San Juanita Martinez, Blanca Garcia, Maria Ramona (Daniel) Solis; 25 grandchildren; 38 great-grandchildren; sisters, Elma Guerra, Maria Teresa (Julio) Garza and by numerous nephews, nieces, other family members and friends.

Pallbearers will be George Benavides Jr., Armando Chapa Jr., Alfonso Chapa, Ricardo Martinez, David Martinez, Avelardo J. Hernandez, Jose Guadalupe Hernandez Jr. and Hugo Pichardo.

Visitation hours will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 28,

2015, at 8 a.m. with a rosary at 9:30 a.m. and a chapel service at 10:30 a.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home.

Committal services will follow at Zapata County Cemetery.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy 83 Zapata, Texas.

Gilda P. Jasso, 74, passed away on Monday, Oct. 26, 2015 in Zapata, Texas.

Ms. Jasso is preceded in death by her husband, Manuel D. Jasso Sr.; son, Joaquin Jasso and a daughter, Mirta A. Solis.

Ms. Jasso is survived by her children, Cecilio (Tomasa) Jasso, Rosa M. (Homar A.) Solis, Manuel D. Jr. (Belen) Jasso, Rosario E. Jasso (Fabian Solis), Martin (Enedina) Jasso, Monica (Cesar) Solis, Ninfa E. Jasso, Gilda E. Jasso (Jose A. Prieto); grandchildren, Erica Saenz, Arminda Grant, Michelle Solis, Joni Solis, Enrique Solis Jr., Cecilio Jasso Jr., Joaquin Jasso, Erik Jasso, Alba Jasso, Cindy Nuñez, Homar Solis Jr., Jose A. Solis, Jessica M. Solis, Hector Solis, Virginia E. Solis, Manuel Jasso III, Amy Jasso, Osvaldo Jasso, Paola M. Jasso, Jorge J. Jasso, Selina M. Solis, Crystal A. Solis, Martin C. Jasso Jr., Nancy Y. Martinez, Eva J. Garcia, Marimar Jasso, Mirna E.

Solis, Cesar Solis Jr., Jose F. Cruz, Araceli A. Benavides, Javier A. Jasso, Larissa L. Jasso and by numerous great-grandchildren, other family members and friends.

Visitation hours will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home.

The funeral procession will depart on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.

Committal services will follow at Zapata County Cemetery.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy 83 Zapata, Texas.

US home values insulated

By JOSH BOAK AND CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — U.S. housing appears to be insulated so far from the cooling global economy.

Home values and rental prices are steadily rising, fueled by strong demand and a tight supply of available properties, a pair of reports Tuesday showed. The solid demand drove sales growth early this year and spurred additional construction.

The Standard & Poor’s/ Case-Shiller 20-city home price index climbed 5.1 percent in the 12 months that ended in August — a level many economists view as more sustainable than the sharp double-digit gains at the start of 2014.

And in September, median rents nationwide rose a seasonally adjusted 3.7 percent from a year ago, according to real estate data firm Zillow. As with home prices, the pace of rent increases appears more stable than the sharper increases earlier this year.

Still, while three years of solid hiring and low mortgage rates have bolstered real estate, further gains will likely require better pay for workers. Increases in home values continue to exceed average annual earnings, which have risen just 2.2 percent from a year ago.

For now, homes in tech hubs with a high concentration of good-paying jobs ap-

Photo by Wilfredo Lee | AP file

In this July 22 file photo, a "sold" sign is posted outside a Harbor Beach neighborhood home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. pear to be the main beneficiaries of rising prices. S&P reported that San Francisco and Denver both enjoyed a 10.7 percent year-over-year jump in home values, the largest of any city. Portland, Oregon’s annual gain of 9.4 percent was the third-largest.

“Prices are rising the fastest in markets where job growth and net migration are the strongest and inventories are the tightest,” said Mark Vitner, an economist

at Wells Fargo Securities.

“Portland is an excellent example.”

Those same metro areas were among the leaders in the rental increases tracked

by Zillow. At the same time, those high rental prices sparked some new construction, which has created more apartments and tempered the rental-price appreciation in recent months.

The median rent in San Francisco was $3,348 last month, a yearly increase of

13.3 percent. The year-overyear increase in August was even higher — 14.2 percent.

The housing market’s overall gains are defying the impact of a sluggish global economy. Falling commodity prices, weakened growth in China, a struggling Europe and tumult in emerging economies such as Brazil have hampered a world that is still battling its way out of the 2008 financial crisis.

Not every area of the United States is benefiting.

Rental price growth has slowed in areas at the epicenter of the oil and natural gas industry, according to Zillow. Average oil prices have nearly halved in the past year to $44 a barrel.

Houston’s rental costs are up 5.8 percent over the past 12 months, down from annual growth above 6 percent. Price appreciation has also slipped in Dallas and Tulsa. But the S&P index shows that home values have advanced a solid 8.9 percent in Dallas over the past year, a sign of resilience in the heart of Texas.

How Comcast wants to meter the Internet

By TALI ARBEL ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Three years after Comcast began offering unlimited homeInternet usage, the cable giant is moving in the opposite direction. In more parts of the U.S., it’s starting to charge heavy data users extra.

The reason? Too many of its customers are dropping cable and doing their TV-watching over the Internet instead, a trend that threatens to cost Comcast money. To recoup some of those dollars, Comcast is experimenting with caps on how much data you can use. Go over the limit and you’ll see a bigger bill.

Comcast used to cap monthly data use at 250 gigabytes, but ended it in May 2012 in order to experiment with alternatives to a simple cap. That August, it capped monthly data use for Nashville, Tennessee, customers at 300 GB; going over the limit costs $10 for every 50 GB. The company launched a similar plan in Tucson, Arizona, that October — 300 GB for a base plan, 600 GB if you signed up for a faster and more expensive connection.

By December 2013, Comcast had rolled out the Nashville system to Atlanta and a handful of smaller markets, many in

the South. It also offered a slow Internet plan of 3 megabits per second that gave you a $5 credit if you used 5GB or less each month, and charged you $1 for each gigabyte of data over 5 GB. This month, Comcast added a twist as it expanded the cap into Miami, Fort Lauderdale and the Florida Keys: Customers can now pay an additional $30 a month for unlimited data. (In Atlanta, it’s $35 a month.) At this point, roughly 12 percent of Comcast territory is subject to “usage-based pricing,” MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett estimates.

Comcast’s Internet business is going gangbusters, although it continues to shed cable customers. In the third quarter, Comcast said Tuesday, it lost 48,000 TV customers while adding 320,000 Internet customers. Revenue rose 8.3 percent to $18.7 billion in the July-September period, while net income dropped 23 percent to $2 billion because of a tax gain from last year.

The average household watches 240 hours of TV a month, Moffett says; using current streaming technology, it would likely exceed the Comcast cap by watching the same amount of online video. (Comcast says the 300 GB cap would let you stream 230 to 575 hours of video a month.)

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2015