The Zapata Times 10/31/2015

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TAMAULIPAS, MEXICO

ZAPATA COUNTY

Toddler shot by army personnel

Conspiracy charge Suspect has been previously deported 6 times

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

US child injured by Mexican forces across the border from Rio Grande City ASSOCIATED PRESS

CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico — Officials in Tamaulipas say a U.S. toddler was shot in the back by Mexican army personnel when her family’s car apparently got in between a military patrol and a vehicle carry-

ing suspects.

Guadalupe Salinas, the head of the federal prosecutors’ office in the state, said Wednesday that another girl in the car was grazed by a bullet and a woman suffered slight wounds from bul-

See TODDLER PAGE 12A

A man with multiple deportations on his record has been indicted in a Laredo federal court for picking up illegal immigrants in Zapata County, an affidavit states.

On Tuesday, a grand jury charged Miguel Israel Martinez-Moreno with conspiracy to transport undocumented people within the United States and two counts of attempt

to transport undocumented people for financial gain.

Martinez-Moreno, who is a Mexican citizen, has been previously deported six times, according to a criminal complaint filed Oct. 1.

U.S. Border Patrol agents said they encountered the suspect Sept. 29 after receiving a tip of a small maroon sport utility vehicle picking up undocumented people in the Salado Creek area, off U.S.

83.

Agents then pulled over the vehicle, a Dodge Nitro, and discovered five immigrants who had entered the country illegally, states the complaint. Records identified them as citizens from Guatemala and Mexico.

The driver, MartinezMoreno, allegedly agreed to speak to agents regarding the smuggling attempt.

Records state a man identified as “El Perico”

asked Martinez-Moreno if he wanted to make some money by picking up immigrants near the rest area in San Ygnacio.

Martinez-Moreno expected a payment of $100 per person smuggled.

Martinez-Moreno, who is in federal detention, could serve up to 10 years in prison if he’s convicted.

He has arraignment Nov. 5.

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

LAREDO

TEXAS

CONVICTIONS BASED ON BITE MARKS EYED

By BRANDI GRISSOM AND JENNIFER EMILY THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS

DALLAS — No one knows just how many more Steven Chaneys are sitting in Texas prisons — men and women convicted of crimes based on outdated dental analysis that scientists now say is nonsense.

In some ways, Chaney was one of the lucky ones. He was released from prison two weeks ago after a Dallas County district judge agreed his murder conviction and life sentence in a 1987 double homicide were based on unreliable scientific conclusions about his teeth. He got a shot at freedom because defense lawyers and the Dallas County Conviction Integrity Unit identified his case and set about investigating the bite-mark evidence that had secured his conviction.

“

“People had made statements about the validity of bite marks that were greatly exaggerated.”

DR. ADAM FREEMAN, A FORENSIC ODONTOLOGIST

The Dallas Morning News reports tracking down dozens — maybe hundreds — of other potentially innocent victims of junk science won’t be nearly as easy.

There is no central repository of cases in which bite-mark testimony was key. There’s no database of dentists who testified about bite marks. And the cases are mostly decades old, and experts, defense lawyers and prosecutors have moved on or died. As Chaney settles into life on the outside after just a couple weeks of freedom — learning to use a Photo by Rose Baca | AP

In this photo taken Oct. 23, Steven Chaney poses for a photograph at Red Lobster in Mesquite, Texas. After nearly 30 years in prison, Chaney was released recently after a Dallas County district judge agreed his murder conviction and life sentence in a 1987 double homicide were based on unreliable scientific conclusions about his teeth.

cellphone and the TV remote — lawyers and criminal justice officials statewide are trying to figure out how to find others like Chaney.

The

Texas Forensic Science Commission, a tiny agency charged with overseeing the use of science in courtrooms, is working to ferret out those cases while ensuring that wrongful convictions based on faulty bite-mark interpretations don’t continue.

But it’s a lofty task, and the commission, with four employees and a $500,000 annual budget,

See BITE MARKS PAGE 12A

A. GARCIA

J. GARCIA

Zapata man behind bars Two suspects fail to return backhoes, charged with theft of service

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

A Zapata man landed behind bars Wednesday in Laredo after he and another person did not return two backhoes they had rented, authorities said.

Antonio Garcia, 62, of Laredo, and Juan Antonio Garcia, 36, of Zapata, were each served with warrants charging them with theft of service after they turned themselves in at police headquarters.

See THEFT PAGE 12A

FALCON LAKE AREA

Man indicted for guiding immigrants

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

A grand jury charged a man who claimed he was threatened into guiding a group of illegal immigrants through the Falcon Lake area in Zapata County, records state.

An indictment filed

Tuesday charged Jesus Francisco VillanuevaSaldaña with one count of conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants within the United States and two counts of attempt to transport undocumented people for money.

See FALCON PAGE 12A

PAGE 2A

Zin brief CALENDAR

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2015

AROUND TEXAS

TODAY IN HISTORY

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Operation Feed the Homeless, hosted by the Laredo Free Thinkers, at Jarvis Plaza from 1 to 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. Or email Yascee1@yahoo.com.

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.

Today is Saturday, Oct. 31, the 304th day of 2015. There are 61 days left in the year.

This is Halloween. A reminder: Daylight saving time ends Sunday at 2 a.m. local time.

Clocks go back one hour.

Today’s Highlight in History: On Oct. 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Palace church, marking the start of the Protestant Reformation in Germany.

On this date: In 1795, English poet John Keats was born in London.

In 1864, Nevada became the 36th state as President Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation.

In 1887, Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek was born in Zhejiang Province.

In 1926, magician Harry Houdini died in Detroit of gangrene and peritonitis resulting from a ruptured appendix.

In 1941, the Navy destroyer USS Reuben James was torpedoed by a German U-boat off Iceland with the loss of some 100 lives, even though the United States had not yet entered World War II. Work was completed on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, begun in 1927.

In 1955, Britain’s Princess Margaret ended weeks of speculation by announcing she would not marry Royal Air Force Group Captain Peter Townsend.

In 1961, the body of Josef Stalin was removed from Lenin’s Tomb as part of the Soviet Union’s “de-Stalinization” drive.

In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a halt to all U.S. bombing of North Vietnam, saying he hoped for fruitful peace negotiations.

In 1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two Sikh (seek) security guards.

In 1999, EgyptAir Flight 990, bound from New York to Cairo, crashed off the Massachusetts coast, killing all 217 people aboard.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush nominated Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. Civil rights icon Rosa Parks was honored during a memorial service in Washington, D.C. Five years ago: A former teenage al-Qaida fighter, Omar Khadr, was sentenced by a military judge at Guantanamo to eight more years in custody under the terms of a plea agreement.

One year ago: Commercial space tourism suffered a huge setback when a prototype passenger rocket, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, exploded during a test flight, scattering debris over the Mojave Desert and killing one pilot while seriously injuring the other.

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Lee Grant is 90. Former astronaut Michael Collins is 85. Former CBS anchorman Dan Rather is 84. Folk singer Tom Paxton is 78. Olympic gold medal long-distance runner Frank Shorter is 68. Movie director Peter Jackson is 54.

Actor Dermot Mulroney is 52.

Actor Rob Schneider is 51.

Country singer Darryl Worley is 51. Rap performer Vanilla Ice (aka Rob Van Winkle) is 47.

Actress Piper Perabo is 39. Actress Vanessa Marano is 23.

Actress-singer Willow Smith is 15.

Thought for Today: “Success is a public affair. Failure is a private funeral.” — Rosalind Russell, American actress (1911-1976).

Photo by Deborah Cannon/Austin American-Statesman | AP

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2

Rescue workers bring out Lana Hauger, 4, right, and Selena Esensee and her son, Loki, 4, not seen, after waters rose around Esensee’s home leaving them unable to get out in the Bluff Springs neighborhood, Friday, in Austin, Texas. A fast-moving storm packing heavy rain and destructive winds overwhelmed rivers and prompted evacuations Friday.

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.

1 dead after heavy storms

By PAUL J. WEBER AND SETH ROBBINS

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 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium shows, 5201 University Blvd. 6 p.m.: Earth, Moon and Sun; 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 956-326-DOME (3663).

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 “Symphony in the Park: A Tribute to our Veterans” from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Blas Castaneda Park on McPherson Road. This concert is presented by Laredo Philharmonic and the City of Laredo Parks and Recreation Division. It is free and open to the public, but donations are graciously accepted. There will be performances by the TAMIU Mariachi Internacional, the TAMIU Guitar ensemble, a dance exhibition from Bel’s Dance Studio and others. The orchestra will take the stage at 7:30 p.m. Veterans are encouraged to wear their forces pin, Tshirt, jacket etc.

TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium shows, 5201 University Blvd. 2 p.m.: The Little Star that Could; 3 p.m.: Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens; 4 p.m.: Back to the Moon; 5 p.m.: Pink Floyd’s The Wall. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. 2 p.m. show is $1 less.

For more information call 956-326DOME (3663).

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. Basic instruction is offered. Call John at 7952400, x2521.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10 Take the challenge and climb the Rock Wall. Free.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BUDA — Punishing storms and suspected tornadoes Friday socked an already sodden swath of Texas that was still drying out from the remnants of Hurricane Patricia, forcing evacuations and shutting down a gridlocked 10-mile stretch of interstate. At least one person died and another was missing, authorities said.

More than 16 inches of rain soaked one neighborhood and Austin Bergstrom International Airport suspended all flights after a half-foot of water flooded the air traffic control tower. A lazy creek cutting through Texas wine country swelled into a rushing torrent, sending eight members of a vacationing church group scrambling to a second floor and awaiting rescue from the National Guard.

Powerful winds tossed a trailer from an RV park onto the roof of a three-story Holiday Inn. Abandoned cars, many submerged in water, littered backroads that weary drivers risked after heavy downpours flooded Interstate 35 between San Antonio and Austin, closing one of the busiest stretch of roadways in the U.S. The body of a driver who went missing in floodwaters was later found in a hard-hit area near the airport, the Travis County Emergency Management Office said. It was the first apparent casualty of torrential rains that have pummeled Central Texas in the span of a week.

Another woman remained missing elsewhere.

Last weekend, storms from Patricia’s Category 5 aftermath dumped nearly a foot of rain in parts of the same region.

Mexican guilty over $2M in meth in veggie load

Suspect in custody after FBI agent shot

Kayakers rescued during heavy waves

McALLEN — A Mexican trucker faces up to life in a U.S. prison for smuggling nearly $2 million worth of methamphetamine into Texas in a rig hauling squash and other vegetables.

Daniel Salvador Gomez-Reyes of Reynosa, Mexico, pleaded guilty Thursday to a charge related to transporting a controlled substance.

LUBBOCK — An FBI agent is hospitalized after he was shot while attempting an arrest on a West Texas dirt back road.

The Texas Department of Public Safety says Mike Orndorff, a Lubbock-based FBI agent, was part of a multijurisdictional group working to arrest a man about 10 p.m. Thursday on a dirt road.

FREEPORT — The Coast Guard says three kayakers has been treated and released after being caught in storms and high waves in the Gulf of Mexico off Freeport.

Two kayakers were rescued Friday morning about one-half mile off the mouth of the Brazos River. The third man reached shore on his own.

Last person jailed in Waco shooting to be released

Remains found at home; investigation opened

Boy found with detailed plan to attack school

FORT WORTH — The last person jailed in connection with a deadly shootout among bikers and police outside a Waco, Texas, restaurant is poised to be released from jail. The move comes more than five months after authorities rounded up 177 people from the crime scene. Nine people died and 20 were injured during the shooting. A Waco jail was processing 38-year-old Marcus Pilkington’s release Friday.

DALLAS — Dallas authorities say they have opened a homicide investigation after human remains were found in the yard of an Oak Cliff home last month.

Dallas police said that they could not confirm whether the remains found at the home on Sept. 24 are those of the former owner, who has not been seen or heard from since April.

The remains are now in the custody of the medical examiner.

DALLAS — A 12-year-old boy is accused of plotting to shoot students and others at his Dallas charter school after he was found clutching a detailed diagram outlining the planned attack, a police commander said.

The plan was uncovered when the boy showed the handwritten diagram to another student who then alerted administrators at Trinity Basin Preparatory.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION Star Wars costume for son with cerebral palsy SALT LAKE CITY — A Star Wars-loving Utah family devised an elaborate and awe-inspiring solution to the challenge of finding a Halloween costume for their 5-year-old son with cerebral palsy.

Chantelle and Patrick Bailey built a detailed replica of the Millennium Falcon that fits around Sebastian Bailey’s walker. It is made of corrugated plastic with a wood foundation. It features blue lights in the back and headlights in the front to match the famous spaceship.

Hit the snooze: Extra hour of sleep tonight WASHINGTON — Most people in the United States are set to fall back into standard time and gain an extra hour of sleep this weekend.

The annual change comes at 2

CONTACT US Publisher, William B. Green........................728-2501 Account Executive, Dora Martinez ...... (956) 765-5113 General Manager, Adriana Devally ...............728-2510 Adv. Billing Inquiries ................................. 728-2531 Circulation Director ................................. 728-2559 MIS Director, Michael Castillo.................... 728-2505 Copy Editor, Nick Georgiou ....................... 728-2565 Sports Editor, Zach Davis ..........................728-2578 Spanish Editor, Melva Lavin-Castillo............ 728-2569 Photo courtesy of Chantelle Bailey | AP

In this Oct. 27 photo, provided by Chantelle Bailey, Sebastian Bailey, 5, who has cerebral palsy, stands in his Halloween costume dressed as Han Solo aboard the Millennium Falcon from the original "Star Wars" movies in Sandy, Utah. a.m. local time Sunday, but most people usually set their clocks back before heading to bed Saturday night. The shift moves one hour of daylight to the morning from the evening.

Residents of Hawaii, most of Arizona and some U.S. territo-

ries don’t have to change because those places don’t observe daylight saving time.

Daylight saving time returns at 2 a.m. local time the second Sunday in March — for 2016, that comes March 13.

— Compiled from AP reports

SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted.

The Zapata Times is free.

The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500.

The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail thezapatatimes.net

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

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Zopinion

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2015

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

YOUR OPINION

OTHER VIEWS

A Halloween message and safety tips from Zapata County Sheriff Alonso M. Lopez To the editor: Halloween is today, and as usual, I’m preparing my office and sending my deputies to be patrolling neighborhoods and subdivisions to ensure that everyone has a happy and safe evening.

This is traditionally an exciting time for children and can be enjoyable for all. Our kids dress up in creative costumes, go out into the community at night and get free candy.

What could be better than that? Some will carry wonderful Halloween memories for the rest of their lives. Let’s keep it that way!

The following are some safety tips that may make your trick-ortreating more safe and enjoyable: Always accompany children when trick-ortreating.

Chose brightly col-

ored costumes or add reflective tape to costumes allowing better nighttime visibility.

Glow sticks or flashlights are a good way to better illuminate the area as kids trick or treat.

Only approach homes with lit porch lights or ones clearly inviting trick-or-treating.

Walk, don’t run, as kids move from house to house. Walk in pairs, use the buddy system.

Inspect all candy after children return home to assure it is safe.

Stay alert — have fun and wave at the deputies as you see them out patrolling.

Sheriff ’s Office: 956765-9960, or Zapata Crime Stoppers: 956-7658477 In case of emergency, dial 911.

Sincerely, Alonso M. Lopez Zapata County Sheriff

COMMENTARY

COLUMN

What I learned about pit bulls

The Ryan and Rubio moment

By ALEXANDRA PHILLIPS TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

As a social media assistant for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, I spend most of my days responding to people who post comments or questions on PETA’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

But I recently visited PETA’s headquarters in Norfolk, Va., the Sam Simon Center, and volunteered with our fieldworkers for two days. This experience made it clear to me why PETA supports breed-specific protection measures for pit bulls — namely laws mandating that these dogs be spayed or neutered and that owners meet minimum standards of care, including no chaining.

Both days were spent in rural North Carolina, mostly checking up on dogs PETA’s fieldworkers have been working to help. On the first day, I met so many sweet dogs, mostly pit bulls. It was heartbreaking to see a little pit-mix puppy so desperate for love that he ignored dog treats in order to keep having his tummy rubbed. The puppy’s mother had no shelter.

PETA had previously provided her with a doghouse, and it was still on the property, but she is kept chained and couldn’t reach it. It took us less than 10 minutes to move the doghouse over to where the dog was now chained — a task that seemed to perplex her owners. We left both dogs with full stomachs, fresh water, straw and shelter.

At houses on either side of this one, there were more dogs in the exact same situation.

My second day started off much differently. Our first stop was a home with four dogs, two inside and two kept chained outside. The owner brought out a pit bull he said had been "rescued" from a dogfighting ring. She kept lunging toward us, and the owner kept saying, "She’s so mean. This is why we keep her locked in a bedroom."

Next thing I knew, I heard shouting and looked over at what I thought was the pit bull attacking another animal.

I saw what looked like the dark fur of a lifeless animal lying in a ditch. The man pulled the pit bull off and took her inside.

When I ran over to the

ditch, I saw that the "dark fur" was actually a woman’s black pants. A neighbor had walked by and had been chatting with the man when the dog broke free and attacked her. Her shoes and hat had been knocked off, and she was lying there in complete shock. The muscles, tendons and fat had been ripped out of her arm, and some pieces had landed on her shirt and in the ditch next to her. It looked like a scene out of "The Walking Dead."

Firefighters, police officers and an ambulance were soon on the scene.

They treated the woman for a while and then prepared her to be transported to a trauma center. It was around that time that the shock wore off and she began to feel the pain. I will never get the image of her arm or the sound of her cries of pain out of my head.

I don’t have any friends or family nearby who own pit bulls. Before this, I had never even interacted with them. So I didn’t have any perspective whenever I read about PETA’s stance on pit bulls. My experiences with PETA’s fieldworkers changed that.

The measures that PETA supports — mandatory spay/neuter laws for pit bulls and required minimum standards of humane care for them — would greatly help those sweet, sad dogs I met on my first day, who were living among garbage and their own waste. They would also help the puppy I saw with a chain around his neck that weighed more than he did and the pit bull kept locked inside a bedroom who will now most likely be euthanized because she attacked someone. It’s easy to feel that you’re right in saying, "Don’t discriminate against pits," when you don’t see this sort of thing every day as PETA’s fieldworkers do.

Breed-specific protection for pit bulls would also help people like the human victim here, who will probably never have full use of her arm again — if her arm can be saved at all.

Alexandra Phillips is a social media assistant for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; www.PETA.org.

So after all the meshugas on the right over the past few years, the Republicans could wind up with two new leaders going into this election, Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan. That’s a pretty excellent outcome for a party that has shown an amazing tendency to inflict selfharm.

Ryan is the new House speaker and right now Rubio is the most likely presidential nominee. The shape of the presidential campaign is coming into focus.

It’s still wise to expect (pray) that the celebrity candidates will fade as the shopping phase ends and the buying phase begins.

Voters don’t have to know the details of their nominee’s agenda, but they have to know that the candidate is capable of having an agenda. Donald Trump and Ben Carson go invisible when the subject of actual governance comes up.

Jeb Bush’s problems are temperamental and thus most likely permanent. He would probably be a very effective president. And he would have been a very effective candidate — but in 1956. These are harsher times.

Ted Cruz looks likely to emerge as the candidate of the disaffected white working class — the noncollegeeducated voters who are now registering their alienation and distrust with Trump. But there aren’t enough of those voters in the primary electorate to beat Rubio, and Cruz just

“

DAVID BROOKS

isn’t likable enough to build a national campaign around. Rubio, meanwhile, has no natural enemies anywhere in the party, he has truly impressive natural skills and his greatest weakness is his greatest strength: his youth.

While other candidates are repeating the formulas of the 1980s and 1990s, Rubio is a child of this century. He understands that it’s no longer enough to cut taxes and say bad things about government to produce widespread prosperity.

In a series of major policy speeches over the past two years (he’s one of the few candidates who actually gives them), Rubio has emphasized that new structural problems threaten the American dream: technology displacing workers, globalization suppressing wages and the decline of marriage widening inequality.

His proposals reflect this awareness. At this stage it’s probably not sensible to get too worked up about the details of any candidate’s plans. They are all wildly unaffordable. What matters is how a candidate signals priorities. Rubio talks specifically about targeting policies to boost middleand lower-middle-class living standards.

For example, Rubio’s tax

policy starts where all Republican plans start. He would simplify the tax code, reduce rates and move us toward a consumption-based system by reducing taxes on investment.

But he understands that overall growth no longer translates directly to better wages. He adds a big $2,500 child tax credit that is controversial among conservative economists, but that would make life easier for working families.

His anti-poverty programs are the biggest departure from traditional Republicanism. America already spends a fair bit of money aiding the poor — enough to lift most families out of poverty if we simply wrote them checks. But the money flows through a hodgepodge of programs and creates perverse incentives. People are often better off over all if they rely on government rather than getting an entry-level job.

As Oren Cass of the Manhattan Institute has pointed out, there are two million fewer Americans working today than before the recession and two million more receiving disabilities benefits.

Influenced by Cass’ work, Rubio has tried to offer people who aren’t working some basic security, while also championing wage subsidies that would encourage people to get entry-level jobs. The idea is to reward people who get on the ladder of opportunity, and to compensate for the

decline in low-skill wages.

Rubio would reform the earned-income tax credit and extend it to cover childless workers. He would also convert most federal welfare spending into a “flex fund” that would go straight to the states. Rules for these programs would no longer be written in Washington.

The state agencies that implement welfare policies would have more freedom to design them. He’d maintain overall welfare spending, adjusting it for inflation and poverty levels, but he’d allow more room for experimentation.

Republican debates rarely touch on education for some reason, but Rubio also has a slew of ideas to reform it. He says the higher education system is controlled by a cartel of wellestablished institutions that block low-cost competitors from entering the market.

He wants student loan costs to be based on an affordable percentage of a person’s income.

Of all the candidates, Rubio has done the most to harvest the work of Reform Conservatism, which has been sweeping through the think tank world. In a year in which many candidates are all marketing, Rubio is a balance of marketing and product.

If Ryan and Rubio do emerge as the party’s two leaders, it will be the wonkiest leadership team in our lifetime. That’s a good thing.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY The Zapata Times does not publish anonymous letters.

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

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

We want to assure our

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

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

DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

ing or gratuitous abuse is allowed.

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

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

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Zfrontera

Ribereña en Breve SUSPENDEN CLASES El lunes 2 de noviembre no habrá clases en escuelas de Tamaulipas, pero autoridades dijeron que con el fin de dar cumplimiento a los 200 días escolares que marca la Normalidad Mínima Escolar y evitar el ausentismo, habrá clases el día 17 de diciembre.

“Decidimos intercambiar este día laboral para el 17 de diciembre”, indicó Diódoro Guerra Rodríguez, secretario de educación.

PREVENCIÓN DEL DELITO Agentes de la Policía Federal en Tamaulipas aseguraron 3.163 kilos de marihuana durante una vigilancia en el tramo Matamoros-entronque El Capote, a la altura del kilómetro 024+000.

Oficiales marcaron el alto a un camión tipo caja ya que carecía de placa de circulación en la parte delantera. Cuando el chofer se detiene permite que se inspeccione la unidad, de acuerdo con el reporte.

Al levantar la puerta tipo cortina se descubrieron pacas de pastura de donde “se percibía un olor característico a la marihuana”, agrega el reporte. La droga fue localizada en 311 paquetes confeccionados en cinta canela.

El conductor, una persona más, el camión y paquetes fueron puestos a disposición del Agente del Ministerio Público Federal.

PRIVACIÓN DE LA LIBERTAD Juan Paulo Reyes Sotelo, de 22 años, Roberto López García, de 35, y Roberto Lauro Guerra Marín, de 18, fueron detenidos como probables responsables de los delitos de privación ilegal de la libertad, violación, robo a lugar cerrado, entre otros, el martes en Río Bravo, México.

Agentes de la Policía Ministerial de Tamaulipas dijeron que una familia afectada por los sospechosos presentó la denuncia lo que motivó abrir la averiguación previa 827/2015.

De acuerdo al reporte, los tres aceptaron que “el día de los hechos, los tres llegaron al domicilio de los afectados y pistola en mano (de juguete) los privaron de la libertad, abusaron sexualmente de dos mujeres y luego de dos horas se retiraron llevándose varios objetos del domicilio”.

Autoridades les aseguraron una pistola de juguete color negra, dos máscaras, ocho teléfonos celulares de diferentes marcas, una tablet, una laptop, varias botellas de licor y varios perfumes.

Yohan Alejandro Mora López, de 25 años de edad, apodado “El Yohan” o “El Chucho”, fue arrestado como presunto integrante de un grupo delincuencial que opera en los municipios de Victoria, Hidalgo, Padilla, Güemez, San Carlos y El Barretal, México.

Oficiales de la Coordinación Estatal Antisecuestros lograron la detención el martes en Ciudad Victoria, México, por el delito de narcomenudeo.

De acuerdo con el reporte, Mora López mencionó que recibe órdenes de Cristóbal García Estrada, apodado “El Moco”. García Estrada fue detenido por el Grupo de Coordinación Tamaulipas en septiembre, junto con tres personas más.

La detención de “El Moco” motivó que autoridades abrieran nuevas líneas de investigación. Al momento de su arresto, Mora López tenía en su poder 20 dosis de marihuana. El reporte agrega que se encuentra vinculado por lo menos a un secuestro ocurrido este año en Ciudad Victoria.

SÁBADO 31 DE OCTUBRE DE 2015

CORTE FEDERAL

Conspiración POR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Esta semana tres personas fueron acusadas en relación con actividades relacionadas a inmigrantes ilegales en Estados Unidos.

Amenazas Un gran jurado acusó formalmente a Jesús Francisco Villanueva-Saldaña con un cargo de conspiración para transportar inmigrantes indocumentados dentro de los EU y dos cargos por intento para transportar personas indocumentadas a cambio de dinero.

Agentes de la Patrulla Fronteriza lo arrestaron en las primeras horas del 11 de octubre después de recibir reportes de varias personas caminando hacia Siesta Shores, una subdivisión en Zapata. Oficiales encontraron a 15 personas caminando por la maleza. De acuerdo con una querella criminal presentada el 13 de octubre, todo el grupo se encontraba ilegalmente en el país.

Agentes especiales con Investigaciones de Seguridad Nacional res-

pondieron para investigar el contrabando, y Villanueva-Saldaña supuestamente optó por hablar con los agentes acerca del incidente. “(Él) declaró que no le estaban pagando, pero que ellos habían amenazado a su familia si no cruzaba al grupo”, indica la querella.

Villanueva-Saldaña, es originario de Mina, Nuevo León, México, y tiene programada la lectura de cargos para el 5 de noviembre. Actualmente permanece en custodia federal.

Acusación Miguel Israel Martínez-Moreno, quien tiene en sus antecedentes seis deportaciones, fue acusado formalmente el martes con conspiración para transportar personas indocumentadas dentro de los EU y dos cargos por intento de transportar personas indocumentadas para obtener ganancia económica.

La querella criminal presentada el 1 de octubre indica que agentes de la Patrulla Fronteriza de EU encontraron al sospechoso el 29 de septiembre tras recibir una llamada que indicaba una camioneta pe-

queña, color marrón, estaba recogiendo personas indocumentadas en el área de Salado Creek, por U.S. 83, cerca del área de descanso en San Ygnacio, en el Condado de Zapata.

Martínez-Moreno, circulaba en una Dodge Nitro, y tras ordenársele que se detuviera, oficiales descubrieron a cinco inmigrantes – de Guatemala y México – quienes habían entrado al país de manera ilegal, indica la querella.

Archivos indican que el acusado, un ciudadano mexicano identificado como “El Perico”, supuestamente dijo que iba a recibir un pago de 100 dólares por persona.

Martínez-Moreno tiene programada la lectura de cargos para el 5 de noviembre. Actualmente permanece en custodia federal.

Conspiración Alejandro Leal-Hernández, fue arrestado el 10 de octubre, y esta semana fue acusado con un cargo de conspiración para transportar personas indocumentadas dentro de los EU y dos cargos de intento para

transportar personas indocumentadsa para obtener ganancia económica.

Los hechos se desarrollaron cuando agentes de la Patrulla Fronteriza de EU observaron una Dodge Ram, color negra, por Texas 16, cerca de Zapata. Ahí observaron lo que parecía ser la manga de una chamarra en la cajuela de la camioneta, entre otras inconsistencias, de acuerdo con una querella criminal presentada el 13 de octubre.

Cuando agentes intentaron detener el vehículo, varias personas salieron corriendo de la Dodge hacia la maleza.

Leal-Hernández y nueve inmigrantes fueron detenidos, de acuerdo a documentos de la corte. En un interrogatorio posterior, supuestamente él dijo que iba a dejar al grupo antes del Punto de Revisión de la Patrulla Fronteriza en Hebbronville.

Leal-Hernández tiene programada la lectura de cargos para el 5 de noviembre. Actualmente permanece en custodia federal.

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

TAMAULIPAS

FRONTERA

Soldados hieren a tres; dos bebés

RECORRIDO

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CIUDAD VICTORIA, México— Una bebé estadounidense de un año recibió un disparo en la espalda por parte de soldados mexicanos cuando el vehículo en el que viajaba con su familia, cerca de la frontera norte de México, al parecer quedó en medio de una patrulla militar y un vehículo de presuntos delincuentes durante una persecución.

El delegado de la Procuraduría General de la República en el estado de Tamaulipas, Guadalupe Salinas, dijo que otra bebé de ocho meses que iba en el carro resultó con rasguños por una bala, mientras que una mujer sufrió algunas heridas menores por esquirlas o fragmentos de vidrio.

El miércoles, Salinas dijo que las heridas de las bebés no ponen en riesgo su vida. La menor que recibió el disparo es atendida en San Antonio.

La mujer herida es la mamá de una de las bebés. Las tres, ciudadanas estadounidenses, al parecer visitaban a familiares la semana pasada cuando resultaron heridas.

La persecución que derivó en el tiroteo que las hirió ocurrió hace una semana cerca de la localidad de Camargo, en la frontera con Rio Grande City, pero los reportes no habían sido confirmados.

El área es dominada por el cartel del Golfo y ha sido escenario de batallas entre facciones rivales de esa organización y del grupo rival de Los Zetas.

“Iban siguiendo una camioneta los militares (y) se atravesó en ese momento (la familia)”, dijo Salinas.

Los soldados “creían que eran unos malhechores y llegaron a su carro y se dieron cuenta que no, que eran mujeres, o sea, las niñas y las señoras”, añadió.

El funcionario dijo que autoridades mexicanas han estado en contacto con la familia.

La embajada de Estados Unidos en México señaló que sabía de reportes de que un ciudadano estadounidense había resultado herido, pero que no podía dar más información debido a políticas de privacidad.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Miguel Alemán, México

El presidente municipal de Miguel Alemán, México, segundo de izquierda a derecha, Ramiro Cortez Barrera, encabezó el recorrido de la Antorcha Guadalupana por la ciudad. Con él, integrantes del club de corredores de Miguel Alemán.

Celebran paso de antorcha guadalupana POR KARIME NEVÁREZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

P

ara los creyentes de la Virgen de Guadalupe y San Juan Diego, este fin de semana es significati-

vo.

La Carrera de la Antorcha Guadalupana, acompañada por imágenes de ambos, recorrió la frontera de Tamaulipas en su camino hacia New York, donde esperan arribe el 12 de diciembre.

La unión de dos naciones y la solidaridad con los hermanos migrantes es el motivo principal para que miles de personas se den al encuentro de la Virgen de Guadalupe y la pongan en el centro del acontecimiento de La Antorcha Guadalupana.

Reafirmando el lema de “Mensajeros por la dignidad de un pueblo dividido por la frontera”, este año el fuego de la antorcha se encendió el 20 de septiembre ante la presencia de re-

presentantes de todos los Estados que estarán acogiendo la llama en sus tierras.

Previo a su arribo a Nuevo Laredo, México, el jueves, la Antorcha Guadalupana recorrió las calles de Miguel Alemán y Nueva Ciudad Guerrero, México, por segundo año consecutivo.

En Miguel Alemán, el presidente municipal Ramiro Cortez Barrera transportó la antorcha en un trayecto de cinco kilómetros. Junto a él corrieron integrantes del club de corredores de Miguel Alemán. Creyentes de la Virgen de Guadalupe también participaron en una Misa celebrada en la Iglesia San Pedro Apóstol.

“El mensaje de la caravana va más allá del sentimiento religioso y confirma que la hermandad de dos pueblos que se unen por el amor a la madre de los mexicanos”, expresó Cortez Barrera.

El Arzobispo Edward Egan (1932-2015) inició la tradición el año 2002 al invitar a un grupo

de jóvenes mexicanos a realizar la primera carrera internacional con salida desde la Ciudad de México y meta en la Catedral de San Patricio en NY. Por su defensa a los inmigrantes, Egan logró incrementar el número de feligreses en su Diócesis, e incluso fue quien presidió la primera misa celebrada con la llegada de La Antorcha Guadalupana.

De ser una carrera local a cargo de Organización Tepeyac, es ahora una carrera internacional.

En tanto, hoy sábado 31 de octubre realizará un recorrido desde la Iglesia Saint John Neumann en Laredo a partir de las 5 a.m. para entregarla a Corredores con Causa de los Dos Laredos a las 6 a.m. en Loop 20 y Carretera 359. De ahí, la Antorcha Guadalupana seguirá su ruta hacia New York. De no haber imprevistos, la Antorcha Guadalupana habrá realizado un recorrido de 67 días.

COLUMNA

Mercado de sufragios es vicio de antaño Nota del Editor: Ésta es la primera de dos partes acerca de antecedentes el acarreo para compra del voto.

POR RAÚL SINENCIO CHÁVEZ ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

A mediados del Siglo XVIII José de Escandón y Helguera, conde de Sierra Gorda, funda Nuevo Santander, antecedente de Tamaulipas. Vuelto gobernador por designios superiores, mantiene buen

margen para desempeñarse a su antojo. Tanto así, que como autoridades municipales en forma invariable pone a militares subalternos, de probada confianza.

Separado Escandón del cargo y sometido a juicio de residencia, en aquellos rumbos los vecinos escogen funcionarios edilicios por vez primera. El proceso respectivo se desahoga hacia 1768, concediéndoseles “medios cabildos”, que

suman un síndico y dos regidores cada uno. Poco les dura el gusto de la representatividad democrática, al restablecerse pronto el viejo sistema de corte autoritario.

Promulgada en 1812, la carta magna de Cádiz introduce que diputados y concejales de la monarquía hispana sean definidos “por elección en los pueblos […] a pluralidad absoluta de votos”. Con dicho propósito, la Nueva España

en distintas fechas verifica las actividades inherentes, extendidas a los territorios del noreste extremo. De corta vigencia aquí – que además interrumpe el paréntesis autoritario de Fernando VII –, ya previene el código gaditano contra el “cohecho o soborno para que la elección recaiga en determinada persona”.

Continúa la saga plebiscitaria bajo el imperio que encabeza Agustín de Iturbide. El “cura o su vicario

[…] certificarán la moralidad y aptitud de los” candidatos participantes, indica un decreto imperial. De esta suerte, cuando en 1824 surge la república federada, convirtiéndose los novosantanderinos en tamaulipecos, bastante incipientes resultan las vivencias comiciales, suponiéndolas exentas de graves defectos.

(Con permiso del autor, según fuera publicado en La Razón, Tampico, Tamps., el 16 octubre 2015)

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A

Local & State

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES

FEDERAL COURT

Man indicted for transporting 9 immigrants

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

A man was indicted Tuesday in a Laredo federal court for transporting nine illegal immigrants, according to court documents.

The suspect, Alejandro Leal-Hernandez, was charged with one count of conspiracy to transport undocumented people within the United States and two counts of attempt to transport undocumented people for financial gain.

Federal authorities arrested him Oct. 10.

The case unfolded when U.S. Border Patrol agents spotted a black Dodge Ram along Texas 16 near Zapata.

Agents said they observed what appeared to be a sleeve of a jacket or some other clothing item flapping in the bed of the Dodge, according to a criminal complaint filed Oct. 13.

Records alleged agents also noticed some incon-

sistencies with the Dodge Ram — an aftermarket lift kit, lack of company logos, among other factors.

When agents attempted to pull over the vehicle, the Dodge swerved in and out of the road. Then, several people ran away from the vehicle toward the brush.

Agents said they detained the driver, LealHernandez, and nine immigrants who had entered the country illegally, according to court documents.

In a post-arrest interview, Leal-Hernandez allegedly said he intended to drop off the group before the Hebbronville Border Patrol Checkpoint.

Leal-Hernandez remains in federal detention. He has arraignment Nov. 5. If convicted, he could serve up to 10 years in prison.

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

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2015

Siblings busted for immigrants

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

Two siblings from Laredo were arrested while transporting illegal immigrants in Zapata County, according to court documents.

Homeland Security Investigations special agents said Nancy J. Mendoza, 26, and her brother, Jonathan J. Mendoza, 19, attempted to transport six immigrants suspected of entering the country illegally.

Records state the siblings were arrested following a call from a con-

cerned citizen to U.S. Border Patrol agents.

The case unfolded Oct. 21.

J. MENDOZA Agents manning the area of South U.S. 83 near the Webb and Zapata County line were told to be on the lookout for a blue Ford Expedition suspected of being involved in a human smuggling attempt, states the criminal complaint filed Oct. 23.

The tip indicated that the Expedition had loaded people on the side of U.S.

83 near the Dolores Creek area, a well-known entry point for human smugglers to bring immigrants into the United States, records alleged.

Agents said they located the Expedition and pulled it over after they observed several occupants moving in the rear area, where the third row seating was missing.

Authorities identified the driver as Nancy J. Mendoza and Jonathan J. Mendoza as the passenger.

Agents said they also discovered six people without legal documentation to be in the country.

Nancy J. Mendoza agreed talk to Homeland Security Investigation special agents in a post-arrest interview. She said she expected a $300 payment per immigrant to transport the group to Laredo.

Nancy J. Mendoza stated she brought her brother, Jonathan J. Mendoza, along for security.

She was to split the earnings with him, records state.

Jonathan J. Mendoza invoked his right to an attorney.

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

Texas leads in carbon emissions ASSOCIATED PRESS

Everything is bigger in Texas. Its honky tonks. Its highway system. Its wind power industry. Its oil industry. And even, a new report says, its carbon dioxide emissions.

Texas emitted more carbon dioxide from burning energy in 2013 than it did at any point since 2004. And, for at least the 24th year in a row, the Lone Star State tops the list of the nation’s biggest carbon polluters, according to U.S. Energy Information Ad-

ministration.

Data released this week by the administration shows each state’s energyrelated carbon dioxide emissions between 1990 and 2013. Texas doesn’t just top the list, its emissions — 641 million metric tons of carbon dioxide — are almost double those of California, the nation’s second largest carbon emitter, which spewed 353 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide emissions from burning energy — mainly coal, petro-

leum and natural gas — are the driving force behind climate change. Recent climate policies, such as the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, aim to force states to cut their emissions from electric power plants running on fossil fuels, the nation’s largest source of carbon emissions.

"The general trend is emissions are down and are stable," EIA analyst Perry Lindstrom said.

Emissions fluctuate from year to year because recent warmer winters have prevented many resi-

dents from heating their homes as intensely in some parts of the country, lowering the energy demand, he said.

Renewables, including wind and solar, are also playing a bigger role in stabilizing carbon emissions, he said. And, natural gas use for electric power generation continues to gain ground on coal, displacing it three times so far in 2015 as the leading fuel used in electric power plants. Overall U.S. carbon emissions are down about 11 percent from their 2005 peak.

Immigrants believe they can stay in US

By ALICIA A. CALDWELL ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by Pat Sullivan | AP file

In this Oct. 22 file photo, Houston Mayor Annise Parker, left, greets a supporter at a fundraiser for the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance in Houston. The ordinance, which would establish nondiscrimination protections for gay and transgender people in Houston, got support this week from some heavy hitters, including the White House and high tech giant Apple.

White House offers support for Houston equal rights

By JUAN A. LOZANO ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON — An ordinance that would establish nondiscrimination protections for gay and transgender people in Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city, got support this week from heavy hitters including the White House and high tech giant Apple.

Houston residents will vote Tuesday on the contested Houston Equal Rights Ordinance.

“While the Administration generally does not take a formal position on specific proposals or initiatives, the President and Vice President have been strong supporters of state and local efforts to protect Americans from being discriminated against based on who they are and who they love,” White House spokesman Jeff Tiller said in a statement Thursday.

“We’re confident that the citizens of Houston will vote in favor of fairness and equality.”

Supporters of the ordinance say the measure would not only offer increased protections for

gay and transgender people, but it would provide a wealth of protections against discrimination based on sex, race, age, religion and other categories.

Opponents, who contend the ordinance would infringe on their religious beliefs against homosexuality, have focused their campaign on labeling it the “bathroom ordinance,” alleging that it would open the door for sexual predators to go into women’s restrooms.

The “bathroom ordinance” strategy has been called highly misleading

by Houston Mayor Annise Parker, who is gay, and other supporters of the ordinance.

Cupertino, Californiabased Apple said its “stores and our company are open to everyone, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, how they worship or who they love.”

“Apple supports Proposition 1 as it sends a clear message that Houston is focused on a future of inclusion, diversity and continued prosperity,” the company added in its

statement.

Apple CEO Tim Cook came out last year as the first openly gay chief executive of a Fortune 500 company.

Houston’s ordinance also has received support from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, who on Thursday tweeted: “No one should face discrimination for who they are or who they love—I support efforts for equality in Houston & beyond.”

The high-profile support comes as the outcome of Tuesday’s vote is considered uncertain, with one political expert believing the measure is leaning toward being defeated.

Robert Stein, a political scientist at Rice University in Houston, said the ordinance “could go to defeat by a big margin” because of possibly heavy Republican voter turnout.

“That’s probably why you have the efforts in the last days of the election (to show support from) the president, Hillary Clinton,” he said.

Kevin Nix, a spokesman for Houston Unites, the campaign backing the or-

dinance, said the high-profile support will “boost the momentum as we head into Tuesday.”

“I think it’s going to be a tight race but we’re feeling pretty good,” he said.

Houston Unites announced Friday that other companies also have offered their support of the ordinance, including General Electric, HewlettPackard and BASF. But Jared Woodfill, a spokesman for Campaign for Houston, which is fighting the ordinance, called the big-name support a sign of desperation.

“It’s a Hail Mary pass at the last minute that is not going to work,” he said.

Woodfill said opponents of the ordinance have included a diverse group of individuals, including pastors from all denominations and local and state elected officials.

One of those officials, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, on Thursday tweeted: “HOUSTON: Liberals from Hollywood and Washington, D.C. are trying to impose their radical agenda in Texas. Vote NO on Houston’s Prop 1!”

WASHINGTON — Nearly a year after the Obama administration launched a massive public relations campaign to dispel rumors of a free pass for immigrant families crossing the border illegally, internal intelligence files from the Homeland Security Department suggest that effort is failing.

Hundreds of immigrant families caught illegally crossing the Mexican border between July and September told U.S. immigration agents they made the dangerous trip in part because they believed they would be permitted to stay in the United States and collect public benefits. The interviews with immigrants by federal agents were intended to help the Obama administration understand what might be driving a puzzling surge in the numbers of border crossings that started over the summer.

Administration efforts to stop the flow of immigrant families, primarily from Central America, have included public service campaigns in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to highlight the dangers and consequences of making the trek.

The Associated Press obtained copies of the interview summaries, which were compiled in reports by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Intelligence. They said hundreds of people traveling as part of families consis-

tently cited opportunities to obtain permission to stay in the U.S., claim asylum and receive unspecified benefits. Immigrants spoke of “permisos,” or a pass to come into the United States.

The report “is not intended to be a comprehensive analysis of the situation,” said department spokeswoman Marsha Catron, adding that troubles in the immigrants’ home countries likely contributed to their flight as well.

Although the Obama administration has explained that immigrants who cross the U.S. border illegally can be deported, lengthy backlogs of more than 456,000 cases mean that immigrants can effectively remain in the U.S. for years before a judge decides whether they should leave the country.

Also, recent court rulings have complicated the government’s plans to hold families in immigration jails pending deportation proceedings. Immigrants living in the U.S. illegally generally are not eligible for public benefits, except that children may receive free or reduced meals in public schools.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the rising number of border crossings by families and children was due to “push factors” in Central America, such as crime and violence. He said the Obama administration wants to invest $1 billion in Central America to address the underlying problems that push families and children out of Central America.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

SERAPIO BAUTISTA March 11, 1935 - Oct. 29, 2015 Serapio Bautista, 80, passed away on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015 at Laredo Medical Center in Laredo, Texas.

Mr. Bautista is preceded in death by his son, Baby, Eliazar Bautista; parents, Serapio and Valentina Bautista; brothers, Victor Bautista, Antonio Bautista, Amador Bautista; and sisters, Francisca B. Gonzalez, Santos B. Cerbera and Margarita B. Zamora.

Mr. Bautista is survived by his wife, Amelia Bautista; sons, Roel (Veronica Torres) Bautista, Ovidio (Luz) Bautista, Javier (San Juanita) Bautista, Ricky Garcia; daughters, Sonia Bautista, Sylvia (Humberto) Bautista; 18 grandchildren; 12 greatgrandchildren; sister, Maria De Los Angeles Bautista and by numerous other family members and friends.

Visitation hours will be held on Sunday, Nov. 1, 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 Monday, Nov. 2, 2015, at 9:30 a.m.

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO ASSOCIATED PRESS

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.

GRACIELA ‘GRACE’ HINOJOSA Died Oct. 28, 2015 Graciela "Grace" Hinojosa, age 77, of Sylvania, passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015 at her home.

Grace was born July 23, 1938 in Zapata, Texas to Fabian and Sara (Gonzales) Morales and was a member of Sylvania St. Joseph Church.

Grace met her husband, Roy, in Blissfield, Michigan in 1956 at a dance and were married a year later.

She loved to cook, play cards and bingo. She also loved her Mexican soap operas and was famous for making tamales and Spanish rice for family and friends at Christmas.

Grace enjoyed hearing about her grandchildren’s daily activities and enjoyed receiving cards, gifts, and hand paintings from them. She was a very generous person and took great pride in spending time with her family.

Grace was preceded in death by her parents. She is survived by her loving husband, Raul "Roy" Hinojosa; daughters, Cyndi (Mark) Wright and Anna

Retailers plan for holidays

(Tim) Koelsch; grandchildren, William, Kelly (Tom), Sara, and Angel; brothers, Larry, Xavier and David Morales; and many nieces and nephews.

The family will receive guests Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015 from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. at Newcomer Funeral Home – NW Chapel, 4150 W. Laskey Rd., 419-473-0300, with a Rosary to be recited at 5 p.m. Funeral Services will begin Monday at 12 p.m. at the funeral home followed by a Committal Service at Ravine Cemetery.

NEW YORK — WalMart and Target, two of the biggest U.S. retailers, on Thursday rolled out plans to lure shoppers into stores during the holiday season that includes discounts, stepped-up marketing and spiffed up stores.

The moves illustrate how important the holiday shopping season is to retailers. It’s a roughly twomonth period that accounts on average for 20 percent of the retail industry’s annual sales.

Wal-Mart and Target, in particular, have a lot to prove this holiday season.

Both are heading into the holiday shopping season with turnaround plans they launched after being battered by the economy and their own mistakes.

Target’s turnaround is gaining more traction than Wal-Mart’s. In August, Target raised its annual profit for the year and reported its fourth straight gain in revenue at stores open at least a year, a key industry figure. The results are evidence that CEO Brian Cornell’s efforts to spruce up Target’s fashions and home decor are paying off.

Meanwhile, Wal-Mart announced earlier this month that revenue for the current fiscal year would be flat, down from its previous forecast for sales growth of 1 percent to 2 percent. And it now expects profit to fall as much as 12 percent for next fiscal year as spending on ecommerce operations and higher wages squeeze the bottom line.

Photo by Robert F. Bukaty | AP

In this Nov. 28, 2014 file photo, Target customers shop shortly after midnight on Black Friday, in South Portland, Maine.

This comes as WalMart’s U.S. CEO Greg Foran is spearheading a major overhaul of the stores that includes basics like making sure stores are cleaner and well stocked.

Here’s what shoppers can expect from both retailers during this holiday season:

Discounts Both Wal-Mart and Target said discounting will be key. Wal-Mart says it will be offering price cuts, or what it refers to as “rollbacks,” starting Nov. 1, on thousands of holiday products that will last at least 90 days. That’s the same time as a year ago. It also says it will offer fewer “weekend” only deals.

Target didn’t provide specifics on its discounting, but in late September it said it would match its online prices with more than two dozen online competitors.

Free shipping Wal-Mart is sticking with free shipping with a $50 minimum — the same as last year. The retailer is encouraging online shoppers whose orders fall below the minimum to pick them up at the store.

Target is bringing back free shipping for the holidays — without any restrictions. It will waive the $25 minimum threshold starting Nov. 1 and it will end Dec. 25. Last week, Best Buy, the nation’s largest consumer electronics chain, said that it would drop its $35 minimum to qualify for free shipping.

Changes in stores Wal-Mart will have workers demonstrate toys, and there’ll be more food tastings. And they’ll be carols playing too. It’s part of its plan to add more theater to the stores.

Meanwhile, Target is featuring its mascot, a

white bulldog with the trademark red bullseye painted on him, throughout the store more prominently. And the retailer is overhauling the front area of the store that is stocked with $1 to $5 items and branding it under “Bullseye’s Playground.” For the holiday season, shoppers will find gift wrap and stocking stuffers there.

In time for the winter holidays, Target will have experts working the store to make sure the products are displayed correctly and that mannequins have current fashions.

Other things they’re doing Wal-Mart unveiled a new tool on its mobile app in time for the holiday season. The app allows online shoppers to check in when they arrive at the store to pick up their orders. It said that it expects nearly 75 percent of traffic to its website to come from a mobile device this holiday season.

That’s up from 70 percent a year ago. Target said starting next week, 121 of its 1,800 stores will offer curbside pickup, up from the current 21.

Target is unveiling a new holiday campaign called “The Holiday Odyssey,” a season-long tale that involves three kids, Target’s mascot Bullseye and their quest to light a huge holiday tree. The campaign will be rolled out on TV and on its website and will include Lego and Ninja Turtle characters.

Exxon profit falls by nearly half

By DAVID KOENIG ASSOCIATED PRESS

DALLAS — Exxon Mobil Corp. posted its worst third quarter in 12 years due to low oil prices but still earned $4.24 billion, beating Wall Street expectations.

Exxon’s earnings from exploration and production continued to slide, especially in the United States. However, profit doubled in the refining end of its business on stronger margins, and the chemicals segment was steady.

Exxon Mobil is dealing with oil prices that have dropped by half since June 2014 and have remained lower for longer than most industry experts expected. With production outstripped modest demand growth, it’s unclear when prices will start rising.

Photo by Gene J. Puskar | AP file

This April 29, 2014, file photo shows an Exxon sign at a mini-mart in Dormont, Pa. Exxon Mobil reported quarterly financial results on Friday.

CEO Rex Tillerson pledged a “relentless focus” on controlling costs.

The company slashed capital and exploration spending by about onefifth from a year ago, but it spent more on shareholder dividends.

The oil giant reported Friday that third-quarter

profit slid 47 percent from the same period last year and was the smallest third-quarter gain since 2003, when oil prices were around $30 a barrel.

The earnings worked out to $1.10 per share.

That beat the average estimates of analysts surveyed by Zacks Invest-

ment Research and FactSet, who predicted 89 cents per share.

Revenue dropped 37 percent to $67.34 billion.

The FactSet analysts had expected $61.71 billion.

Exxon’s profit from exploration and production dropped from $6.5 billion to $1.4 billion, including a loss of $442 million in the U.S. Production rose due to new projects in the U.S., Canada and elsewhere.

So-called downstream earnings from refining and selling petroleum products jumped from $1 billion to $2 billion on higher refining margins.

In morning trading, shares of the Irving, Texas-based company rose 28 cents to $82.51. They ended Thursday down 11 percent this year while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index had climbed 1.5 percent.

National

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2015

Medicare to cover end-of-life counseling

By LAURAN NEERGAARD ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Medicare said Friday it will pay doctors to help patients plan what kind of care they want at the end of life — an idea more broadly accepted than six years ago, when it touched off a political uproar about “death panels.”

The policy change was urged by numerous physician and health groups.

Some doctors provide this “advance care planning” to their patients without getting paid for the counseling time, and some private insurers already reimburse

for it.

But the Obama administration’s policy change could make the talks more common among about 55 million Medicare beneficiaries.

The rule, proposed last summer and finalized Friday as part of broader doctor-payment regulations, takes effect Jan. 1. The counseling is entirely voluntary, and could take place during seniors’ annual wellness visit, or during regular office visits.

“As a physician and a son, I personally know how important these discussions are for patients and families,” Dr. Patrick

Conway, Medicare’s chief medical officer, said in an interview. “We believe patients and families deserve the opportunity to discuss these issues with their physician and care team.”

Most Americans say they’d prefer to die at home, with treatment to free them from pain. But the landmark “Dying in America” report from the prestigious Institute of Medicine found the reality too often is unwanted invasive care and not enough comfort, in part because too few people make their wishes known to their doctors and loved ones.

The movement toward

what’s called advance care planning also reflects that this isn’t just an issue for people who already are seriously ill, but a process that may prompt different decisions at different stages of life. Involving a doctor in those decisions can help people fully understand their options. Relatively healthy people might want all-out efforts to resuscitate them after an accident, for example, but might make different decisions as advanced cancer worsens.

Medicare decided not to limit how often such counseling could take place, Conway said, in part be-

cause of feedback from doctors and the public that people may need repeat counseling as their health needs change.

“If you made a choice and you become more ill, you might want to have the discussion again,” Conway explained. “For some patients, it may need to occur multiple times in a year if they’re quite ill and their circumstances may change. For other patients, they may not need this service at all in a year.”

Medicare’s new policy “is a turning point in endof-life care,” said Oregon Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a longtime con-

gressional proponent of coverage for such counseling. He said next steps include helping ensure that advance directives for all patients are easily accessible and updated frequently, and that doctors are trained to have these difficult conversations.

“Ultimately, the care provided must align with the patient’s stated goals, values and informed preferences,” Blumenauer said.

About three-quarters of the people who die each year in the U.S. are 65 and older, making Medicare the largest insurer at the end of life, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Congress OKs budget Ryan becomes speaker

By ALAN FRAM

By ERICA WERNER

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Congress sent President Barack Obama a bipartisan budget accord Friday that staves off a destabilizing U.S. default, eases the threat of a federal shutdown and spotlights the pitfalls — and opportunities — posed by the current brand of divided government.

The Senate used a postmidnight, 64-35 vote to ship the package to the White House. The House approved the measure two days earlier by a similarly comfortable 266-167 margin, and Obama plans to sign it Monday.

Yet those no-sweat votes masked turmoil beneath the surface. The Republicans who run Congress opposed the legislation by a 2-1 edge in each chamber, telegraphing challenges ahead for Obama, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and their new governing partner, House Speaker Paul Ryan.

Here’s the roadmap:

WASHINGTON — Paul Ryan became the 54th speaker of the U.S. House on Thursday in a day of high political theater, a young new leader for a fractured Congress, charged with healing Republican divides and quieting the chaos of Capitol Hill.

“Let’s prove ourselves worthy,” Ryan urged from the House dais where he was sworn into the job, second in line to the presidency, after an extraordinary month of unrest for Congress.

“We are not settling scores,” he declared. “We are wiping the slate clean.”

As Ryan spoke, senators across the Capitol were preparing to cast votes on a broad two-year budget and debt deal that passed the House on Wednesday, engineered largely by outgoing Speaker John Boehner to allow Ryan a fresh start with the toughest issues resolved.

Ryan, 45, the Republicans’ 2012 vice presidential nominee, was elected speaker in a rare, live rollcall vote on the House floor, with each lawmaker standing in turn to declare his choice. The mood mixed solemnity with levity, as Boehner, driven into resignation by GOP strife, brandished a box of tissues and repeatedly neared tears, while some lawmakers shouted their votes almost joyously.

“California cheese-heads for Paul D. Ryan!” declared one Western lawmaker, Doug LaMalfa, getting behind the Wisconsin congressman.

The final tally showed 236 votes for Ryan, 184 for Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democrats’ candidate, and nine for Republican Daniel Webster of Florida.

Webster had been the choice of a group of hardcore conservatives who have repeatedly made trou-

What’s in the budget agreement?

There’s an extra $50 billion this year and $30 billion next year for spending, split between defense and domestic programs. That’s moderately more than the $1.1 trillion annually the government already planned to spend.

There’ll be no huge increase in Medicare premiums for doctor’s care that would have hit 15 million people, or cuts in 11 million disabled workers’ Social Security disability benefits.

Savings include trimming future Medicare reimbursements to some healthcare providers, selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and boosting some employers’ costs for insuring workers’ pensions.

Most importantly, the extra dollars make it likely Congress will fund the government after Dec. 11, when agencies otherwise would run out of money and would have to close. And the Treasury Department was given authority to borrow money until March 2017 — avoiding a first-ever federal default next week,

Photo by Susan Walsh | AP

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., right, speaks as Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nev., left, listens as she talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday. which economists warn could badly wound the economy.

Yet the deal underscores the boundaries on how far the two parties can get these days.

Its major achievement was to avoid two awful scenarios that most in Washington were desperate to avoid. Its contents are modest, falling shy of the bigger spending boosts Democrats would love to win and lacking far larger savings Republicans would love to wring from giant entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.

But smooth sailing ahead, right?

Please.

Lawmakers still must approve additional legislation

by Dec. 11 detailing how much money each agency will get, and for which programs.

Initial versions of those bills contain GOP-written provisions that Obama and Democrats consider nonstarters. That includes language to block federal funds for Planned Parenthood, curb enforcement of clean air and water rules, hinder Obama’s efforts to improve trade with Cuba, undo controls over financial institutions enacted after the Great Recession and undermine the president’s health care overhaul.

In a statement Friday praising the budget pact, Obama signaled confrontations ahead, warning Republicans against “getting sidetracked by ideological provisions.”

Those rambunctious Republicans This week’s votes showed the juggling facing McConnell, R-Ky., and Ryan, R-Wis., when it comes to winning GOP votes for bills Obama would sign.

Not that getting his signature is always a priority. Approaching the 2016 election year, Republicans would be happy to push bills through Congress highlighting GOP priorities if they can, even though Obama wouldn’t let them become law.

But when it comes to cutting deals with the president that GOP leaders think will benefit their party — like avoiding a shutdown or default — plenty of Republicans have little motivation to cooperate, especially when they know others will provide the votes to get the bills through.

Hardcore conservatives, like the few dozen members of the House Freedom Caucus, have deep ideological differences with Obama.

Many, plus other GOP lawmakers, represent areas whose conservative voters could oust them in a party primary if they’re too accommodating to the president. Republican Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Rob Portman of Ohio and Charles Grassley of Iowa, mainstream conservatives with pragmatic streaks, would all like to avoid serious primary challenges next year and all opposed the budget deal.

Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas all opposed the budget agreement.

Photo by Andrew Harnik | AP

Newly elected House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., gavels in the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday. ble for GOP leaders. But in the end most Republicans swung behind Ryan, underscoring the strong desire of nearly all members for a fresh start after years of conflict and GOP infighting.

With his wife and three kids from Janesville, Wisconsin, watching on from the gallery, along with presidential running mate Mitt Romney, Ryan accepted the gavel from Pelosi and pledged a new day for the Congress. And without directly mentioning them or the troubles they’ve caused, he promised to bring the GOP’s rebels back into the fold.

“We need to let every member contribute — not once they have earned their stripes but right now,” Ryan said. “Open up the process. Let people participate. And they might change their tune. A neglected minority will gum up the works. A respected minority will work in good faith.”

Boehner, who started life as an Ohio bartender’s son with 11 siblings, delivered an emotional farewell address marveling, “This, too, can really happen to you.”

Boehner’s parting gift to Ryan was the budget deal revealed Monday night after secretive negotiations among congressional leaders and the White House.

After years of brinkmanship over the budget and

the debt ceiling, the deal will raise the government’s borrowing limit, averting a market-shattering default just days from now, as well as set budget levels for two years, though it will be up to congressional spending committees and Speaker Ryan to fill in the details with a package of detailed bills by early December.

Ryan’s swearing-in came almost exactly a month after Boehner shocked the House by revealing his plans to resign from Congress at the end of October.

He said he had no appetite for a floor vote on his speakership threatened by conservatives, who contended he was yielding to President Barack Obama in a government shutdown fight over Planned Parenthood.

Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy was Boehner’s likeliest successor, but was quickly undone by a gaffe suggesting the House’s special Benghazi committee was set up to drive down Hillary Rodham Clinton’s poll numbers.

Party leaders turned to Ryan, who had sworn off a run, preferring to continue as chairman of the powerful tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. They argued that no other House Republican commanded his national profile, ability to unite and telegenic knack for communicating conservative ideas.

International

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A

27 dead in club explosion

By ALISON MUTLER ASSOCIATED PRESS

BUCHAREST, Romania — An explosion and ensuing flames on a stage at a Bucharest nightclub on Friday left 27 people dead and 180 hospitalized with injuries, Romania’s interior minister said.

Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea said the explosion occurred at Colectiv club in downtown Buchar-

est, a city of 3 million people.

Witnesses told Antena 3 TV that there were between 300 to 400 people at the club when the metal band Goodbye to Gravity was performing and a “pyrotechnical show” went awry. The station reported that people panicked and rushed for the exit.

Digi 24 television station cited witnesses who said the explosion came after a

spark on stage ignited some polystyrene decor.

Victor Ionescu, who was at the club with his girlfriend, told Antena 3 TV by telephone that there were huge flames after the explosion.

“People were fainting, they were fainting from the smoke. It was total chaos, people were trampling on each other,” he said. “It was a tragedy that could have been avoided if

there had been more organization from the emergency services.”

A young man filmed by Antena 3 said that flames engulfed clubgoers, burning their skin and hair.

According to the Bucharest-based metal band’s Facebook page, lead singer Andrei Gault was the 2008 winner of “Megastar,” a Romanian show similar to “American Idol.” The band has five members and has

released two albums since it formed in 2011.

The ministry says there were 60 ambulances and fire engines sent to the scene and a mobile hospital had been set up outside.

Some 50 people were taken to the Floreasca emergency hospital, the ministry said.

Health Minister Nicolae Banicoiu called for people to donate blood to help the injured.

Migrant tragedy in the Aegean Sea

By DEREK GATOPOULOS AND NICHOLAS PAPHITIS ASSOCIATED PRESS

LESBOS, Greece — Drowned babies and toddlers washed onto Greece’s famed Aegean Sea beaches, and a grim-faced diver pulled a drowned mother and child from a half-sunk boat that was decrepit long before it sailed. On shore, bereaved women wailed and stunned-looking fathers cradled their children.

At least 27 people, more than half of them children, died in waters off Greece Friday trying to fulfill their dream of a better life in Europe. The tragedy came two days after a boat crammed with 300 people sank off Lesbos in one of the worst accidents of its kind, leaving 29 dead.

It won’t be the last.

As autumn storms threaten to make the crossing from Turkey even riskier and conditions in Middle Eastern refugee camps deteriorate, ever more refugees — mostly Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis — are joining the rush to reach Europe.

More than 60 people, half of them children, have died in the past three days alone, compared with just over a hundred a few weeks earlier.

Highlighting political friction in the 28-nation European Union, Greece’s leftwing prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, cited the horror of the new drownings to accuse the block of ineptitude and hypocrisy in handling the crisis.

Hungary’s right-wing foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, used the same word — hypocrisy — about critics of his country’s fencing off its southern border to keep migrants out.

Szijjarto described the influx as the biggest challenge the EU has ever faced. While that may be an over-statement, the crisis has pitted countries like Greece, with well over 500,000 arrivals so far, against eastern Europeans who are unwilling to take in refugees — or, like Hungary, insist that anyone leaving a relatively safe country, such as Turkey or Greece, for a wealthy one like Germany is by definition an economic migrant.

Speaking in Athens, Tsipras accused Europe of an “inability to defend its (humanitarian) values” by providing a safe alternative to the sea journeys.

“The waves of the Aegean are not just washing up dead refugees, dead children, but (also) the very civilization of Europe,” he

said, dismissing Western shock at the children’s deaths as “crocodile tears.”

“What about the tens of thousands of living children, who are cramming the roads of migration?” he said. “I feel ashamed of Europe’s inability to effectively address this human drama, and of the level of debate ... where everyone tries to shift responsibility to someone else.”

Tsipras’ government has appealed for more assistance from its EU partners.

It argues that those trying to reach Europe should be registered in camps in Turkey, then flown directly to host countries under the EU’s relocation program, to spare them the sea voyage.

But it has resisted calls to demolish its own border fence with Turkey, which would also obviate the need to pay smugglers for a trip in a leaky boat.

“My opinion is that at this stage — for purely practical reasons — ... the opening of the border fence is not possible,” Greek Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas said.

“When talking about receiving refugees, it’s not under our control — they are coming,” he told state ERT TV. “So it’s a question of how we address this problem. ... We will not put

US pledges to send troops

By BRADLEY KLAPPER AND LOLITA C. BALDOR ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — The United States escalated its fight against the Islamic State in Syria on Friday, pledging the first open deployment of military boots on the ground, even as U.S., Russian and other diplomats pressed a new peace effort that America hopes will hasten the departure of Bashar Assad.

Up to 50 special operations troops will be sent to assist Kurdish and Arab forces in northern Syria, American officials said.

The move marks a significant departure for President Barack Obama, who for years has resisted putting ground forces in Syria even as he has gradually intensified the U.S. military response to what counterterrorism officials worry is a growing Islamic State threat in Syria and Iraq.

The troop announcement came as diplomats in Vienna representing 17 countries and the European Union agreed to launch a broad new peace attempt to gradually end Syria’s long civil war — a declaration that avoided any determination on when President Assad might leave. It is not clear how many rebel groups would agree to a plan that doesn’t result in Assad’s immediate departure.

Any cease-fire agreement that may come as a result of the peace effort would not include the Islamic State, which controls large parts of northern Syria and has its capital there.

But the participation by Russia and Iran in the attempt could mark a new and promising phase in the diplomacy since those countries have staunchly backed Assad.

The White House has long said that Assad’s ouster is essential to its ultimate goal of defeating the Islamic State because the

Photo by Brendan Smialowski | AP

From left, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura and Secretary of State John Kerry participate in a news conference in Vienna, Austria, Friday.

Syrian president’s brutal tactics against Sunni rebels have drawn Sunni radicals from all over the world into the militant group’s ranks.

The Syrian civil war has killed more than 250,000 people and uprooted more than 11 million, sparking a refugee crisis throughout Europe.

Despite killing as many as 12,000 militants, the U.S. bombing campaign has not significantly weakened the Islamic State’s capacity to hold territory, and the group’s ranks have been replenished by foreign fighters and others.

Military experts say ground troops are essential for the fight. A U.S. program to train Syrians was abandoned as a failure, and the new deployment essentially would replace that program.

Speaking to reporters flying with him on an overseas trip, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said this would probably not be the last significant adjustment to the anti-IS military campaign in Syria and Iraq.

“We are going to continue to innovate, to build up what works,” he said.

Friday’s developments came as missiles slammed into a crowded suburb of the Syrian capital. The attack killed at least 40 people, activists said. The Syr-

ian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees group said government forces fired more than 11 missiles at a market in the suburb of Douma.

In Washington, officials said the new U.S. forces will work from headquarters locations and won’t move to the front lines or be used to call in airstrikes. However, the U.S. has conducted special operations raids into Syria before now and will continue to do more unilateral raids. It helped Iraqi forces rescue hostages last week, and Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler was killed, the first U.S. combat death in that country since 2011.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the new troops will not be on a “combat mission.”

“There’s no denying the serious risk they will be facing,” Earnest said, but their mission will “not be to lead the charge to take the hill.”

Russia and Syria are conducting airstrikes in the country, but Earnest said it was unlikely the U.S. troops would be at risk because Russia has not bombed in the area where they will be.

On Capitol Hill, some lawmakers greeted the troop announcement with dismay.

them in jail or try to drown them. They will have all the rights that they are allowed under (international) agreements and Greek law.”

Greece’s Merchant Marine Ministry said 19 people died and 138 were rescued near the eastern island of Kalymnos early Friday, when a battered wooden pleasure boat capsized.

Eleven of the victims were children, including three babies.

At least three more people — a woman, a child and a baby — died when another boat sank off the nearby island of Rhodes, while an adult drowned off Lesbos.

On the Turkish side, four children drowned and two were missing after two new accidents Friday involving boats en route to the Greek islands of Lesbos and Samos, Turkey’s state-run news agency said.

Nearly 600 people were rescued by the Greek coast guard in the past 24 hours, while thousands more made it safely from Turkey to Greece’s eastern islands.

Far to the west in Spain, rescuers found the bodies of four people and were searching for 35 missing from a boat that ran into trouble trying to reach Spain from Morocco.

Jean-Christophe Dumont, head of the migration

division at the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, said more than a million people are expected to reach Europe this year.

“For next year I think it’s clear the migration pressure will remain,” he said.

“It’s not a tap that you can turn on and off. Even if the flow would stop, it would actually not stop, because you will see family reunification — the aftermath of the flow of refugees.”

The influx has overwhelmed authorities in financially struggling Greece.

The country is the main point of entry for people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa, after an alternative sea route from Libya to Italy became too dangerous.

Most go to Lesbos, a normally quiet island known as the olive-producing birthplace of the ancient poet Sappho. As residents grappled with Wednesday’s latest tragedy, thousands of new arrivals crowded into the main town of Mytilene and makeshift camps nearby, crowding around stalls selling canned food, backpacks, blankets and other basics for their long trek across Europe.

Many slept rough on the waterfront lined with yachts and rescue vessels.

Poland cannot extradite Polanski

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA ASSOCIATED PRESS

WARSAW, Poland — Poland cannot extradite filmmaker Roman Polanski to the U.S. on a charge that he had sex with a minor nearly four decades ago, a judge ruled Friday, a decision that could finally close the case in the country where the Oscarwinning director grew up and still makes movies.

“I can breathe now with relief,” Polanski told reporters in Krakow, where the case was heard. “I pleaded guilty. I went to prison. I have done my penalty. The case is closed.”

The Polish prosecutor who argued for extradition on behalf of the United States did not immediately say whether there would be an appeal. The victim in the case has repeatedly called for the prosecution to be dropped.

Judge Dariusz Mazur, who ruled in Krakow, where Polanski has his apartment, said the case was very complicated but an extradition would violate Polanski’s human rights because he could be held in confinement while it was happening.

“I find no rational answer to the question: What is the real point of the U.S. extradition request?” said Mazur, who spent more than two hours explaining his reasoning in the court.

Polanski’s attorneys had argued that the U.S. request was legally flawed and contended he had already served prison time under a plea-bargain deal with a Los Angeles judge.

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2015

TODDLER Continued from Page 1A let or glass fragments.

Salinas said the injuries of the 1-year, 8-month-old girl aren’t life-threatening.

She is being treated in San Antonio.

The woman is the mother of one of the girls. The U.S. citizens were apparently visiting relatives in Tamaulipas last week.

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City said it was aware of reports that a U.S. citizen had been wounded, but could not give any other information, including the girl’s name or hometown, because of privacy considerations.

The shooting occurred one week ago near the town of Camargo, across the border from Rio

FALCON Continued from Page 1A

Grande City, but the reports had not been confirmed until now.

The area is dominated by the Gulf cartel, and has been the scene of turf battles both between factions of the Gulf gang and the rival Zetas cartel.

"The soldiers were following an SUV, and at that moment they (the family) got in the middle ... they got scared" and came under fire, Salinas said.

"They (soldiers) thought they were the bad guys," Salinas said. "They got to the car and realized that, no, it was women and children."

He said Mexican government agencies had been in contact with the family.

Villanueva-Saldaña, of Mina, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, has arraignment Nov. 5. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.

Federal authorities arrested him during the wee hours of Oct. 11.

U.S. Border Patrol agents said they responded to reports of several people seen walking toward the Siesta Shores neighborhood in Zapata.

Responding agents said they encountered 15 people in the brush area. All were in the country illegally, according to a criminal complaint filed Oct. 13.

Special agents with Homeland Security In-

vestigations responded to investigate the smuggling attempt. Villanueva-Saldaña allegedly opted to speak to special agents regarding the incident.

“Villanueva-Saldaña stated that he was recruited on the Mexican side to be the foot guide for the group,” an affidavit states. “Villanueva-Saldaña stated that he was not getting paid, but that they threatened his family if he didn’t cross the group.”

Villanueva-Saldaña remains in federal custody.

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

THEFT Continued from Page 1A Laredo police reports alleged that on Sept. 9, police responded to a theft call in the 1000 block of Emerald Valley Drive.

An operations manager of a business stated that on July 12, Antonio Garcia rented a 2012 John Deere backhoe with a one-month contract.

On July 18, another backhoe was rented under a one-month contract.

After the contract ex-

pired, several attempts were made to recover the backhoes, reports state.

“Both units were entered as stolen with Laredo police,” states the report.

An investigation identified Antonio Garcia and Juan Antonio Garcia as the suspects, according to police.

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

BITE MARKS Continued from Page 1A can’t do it without help.

“We rely on the community’s willingness to step forward and take an introspective look at their work,” said Lynn Robitaille Garcia, the Forensic Science Commission’s executive director.

Since the 1950s, prosecutors have invoked the testimony of dentists who compared molds of suspects’ teeth to bite marks left at a crime scene.

In Chaney’s case, Dr. Jim Hales told the jury that there was a “one-to-amillion chance” that anybody but the Dallas construction worker had made a bite mark found on the body of one of the victims, John Sweek.

(Chaney hasn’t been fully exonerated, and his case isn’t finally settled.)

In recent years, though, the nation’s foremost forensic science bodies have concluded that no scientific data exists to support the notion that such an exact match can be made.

In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences published a report that concluded there was insufficient scientific basis to conclusively match bite marks.

The Associated Press reported in 2013 that at least 24 people had been exonerated in cases in which bite-mark evidence played a central role in the conviction.

And even the American Board of Forensic Odontologists, the body that certifies dentists who analyze bite marks, has decided the evidence can’t be used to draw strong conclusions, such as in Chaney’s trial.

“People had made statements about the validity of bite marks that were greatly exaggerated,” said Dr. Adam Freeman, a forensic odontologist and the incoming American Board of Forensic Odontologists president.

Hales, in an affidavit filed with the court, acknowledged that the testimony he gave in Chaney’s case is inaccurate.

Chaney’s case is likely to be just the first of many reviewed.

Exoneration, execution In a set of bizarre Waco cases, at least three men were convicted of murder

in trials that hinged on testimony from the same dentists involved in Chaney’s case. Two of the men were exonerated by DNA after spending a total of nearly two decades in prison.

The third man, David Spence, was sentenced to death and executed in 1997. His son, Jason Spence, wants prosecutors and the commission to reopen the case.

“I want his name cleared,” said Spence, who lives in Alabama. “They took away my father over something he did not do.”

To find more bite-mark cases, the Texas Forensic Science Commission will comb through legal documents available online.

They’ll also ask prosecutors and defense lawyers to review old cases.

Dallas County District Attorney Susan Hawk is the first prosecutor in the nation to agree to an inmate’s release from prison because of faulty dental testimony. Other counties have taken note of the Chaney case, and some are reviewing old cases and mulling whether to continue using bite-mark evidence in prosecutions.

In Tarrant County, prosecutors are working with the medical examiner to determine how many involved bite marks. “We aren’t expecting it to be a large number,” said Samantha K. Jordan, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Sharen Wilson.

In Harris County, prosecutors will no longer go forward with cases in which a bite mark is the lone evidence.

Using bite evidence The Forensic Science Commission has experience with searches for cases involving outdated science. But in many of those instances the forensic work in question was done in labs that track cases in a database.

Bite-mark cases are harder to identify, Robitaille Garcia said, partly because the work was usually conducted by individual dentists in their offices. No central bank of records in those cases exists. She hopes that the forensic odontologists board, which certifies some, but not all, such doctors, can also help.

Freeman, however, said his organization wants to help, but it did not track

cases in which dentists testified.

“It’s terrifying to me that somebody could be convicted wrongfully,” Freeman said. “I would love to have a great solution, and I don’t.”

As if the task of identifying potentially innocent inmates wasn’t daunting enough, the commission must also weigh in on whether dental analysis should be used in a more limited scope or rejected altogether.

Freeman and the forensic odontologists board argue that bite-mark evidence should be used for limited purposes.

It should only be used, he said, in cases where the suspects are known and the bite mark is identifiable.

“I wouldn’t say we should throw it away,” he said. “It should be put in the proper context.”

Lisa Tanner, an assistant attorney general who prosecutes violent cases statewide, said bite marks shouldn’t be relied on as the sole evidence in any case. But she and some other local prosecutors said that in certain

instances the analysis can be useful.

In 2010, she prosecuted Blaine Milam in the death of his girlfriend’s 13month-old daughter. The child had been beaten so catastrophically that the medical examiner could not determine which of the injuries killed her. In what was described as an effort to exorcise demons from the baby, Milam and the child’s mother left more than 20 bite marks on her tiny body.

“It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen,” Tanner said.

Evidence in the case, including DNA analysis, pointed to Milam and the baby’s mother, Jesseca Bain Carson. The bitemark evidence, Tanner said, helped the jury understand what role each played in the murder.

A bite-mark analyst took molds of Milam’s teeth and of Carson’s teeth. His were jagged.

Hers were straight. The dentist showed the jury photos of bruises on the baby’s elbows, knees, shoulder and neck. More of the bite marks, the dentist said, aligned with Milam’s jagged teeth.

“What the hell kind of human does that?” Tanner said. The jury decided Milam was the kind of human who deserved the death penalty. The baby’s mother was sentenced to life without parole.

Milam’s lawyer, Thomas Smith, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Chaney said he hopes his case will serve as a warning to other prosecutors. He said the evidence shouldn’t be used under any circumstances.

“It’s not like fingerprints or DNA,” Chaney said. “What you are getting is somebody’s opinion, and it’s not fact.”

Chris Fabricant, director of strategic litigation at the New York-based Innocence Project, pointed to a study the forensic odontologists board conducted last year that concluded many of the dentists in the group couldn’t even identify which injuries were bite marks.

“There is no basic or applied research that supports any claims that bitemark experts routinely make,” Fabricant said. “It has no business in criminal court, period.”

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2015

ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

Sports&Outdoors NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Looking to return Photo by Julio Cortez | AP

New York defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul is back with the Giants for the first time since injuring his hand while blowing up fireworks during July 4th celebrations.

JPP back after fireworks injury Giants end back in New York, missing his index finger

By ERNIE PALLADINO ASSOCIATED PRESS

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Even as his hand was being shredded by fireworks, Jason PierrePaul says he wasn’t frightened. And he never doubted his return to football.

“I wasn’t worried at all,” the Giants star defen-

sive end said. “I wasn’t in shock or nothing. I looked at my hand, and my fiance was going crazy.

But I kept calm.”

The July 4 fireworks accident cost him his right index finger. In his first comments since the mishap, Pierre-Paul on Friday

See GIANTS PAGE 2B

Photo by Brandon Wade | AP

Dallas wide receiver Dez Bryant, left, said he would return Sunday if the decision was his call. The Cowboys’ All-Star has been out since Week 1 after breaking his foot.

Bryant ‘would be playing’ if return was his call

By SCHUYLER DIXON ASSOCIATED PRESS

IRVING — Dez Bryant says he wants to be smart about his return from a broken right foot, and knows that means

including Dallas team doctors, trainers and coaches in the process.

“If the decision was left all up to me,” says the All-Pro receiver, “I would be playing.”

Bryant was listed as

questionable for the Seattle game Sunday, which will be seven weeks since he was injured in the opener against the New York Giants.

Cowboys owner Jerry

Jones has said the bone needed six weeks to heal, and there hasn’t been a direct answer to the question of whether it is fully healed. Other re-

See COWBOYS PAGE 2B

Ratliff threatens Bears ASSOCIATED PRESS

File photo by Charles Rex Arbogast | AP

Former Chicago and Dallas defensive tackle Jeremiah Ratliff threatened the Bears staff before he was cut from the team saying he "felt like killing everybody in the building."

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Former Chicago Bears defensive lineman Jeremiah Ratliff threatened team staff and said he “felt like killing everybody in the building” the day before he was cut, according to a suburban Chicago police report released Friday.

Ratliff also said, “’I am the devil” and he wished staff member’s children would die, the Lake Forest police report

dated Oct. 21 said. It says an officer responded when someone at Halas Hall called police that day to report that Ratliff was “very angry and irrational.” He was seen that day having an animated discussion with general manager Ryan Pace in the parking lot outside of Halas Hall.

The Bears cut Ratliff on Oct. 22, the day after the incident.

Coach John Fox was asked Friday how much of a threat he felt.

“As I commented early in the week, we were concerned for the building and that’s why the police were called,” Fox said.

Fox said there had been no previous incidents with Ratliff and that he didn’t know why the player was so upset.

“You would have to ask him,” he said. “We don’t cut people because they get injured. I think at some point we

See RATLIFF PAGE 2B

NCAA FOOTBALL

Streaking Texas travels to Iowa State

A&M may make QB move vs. Gamecocks

By LUKE MEREDITH

By KRISTIE RIEKEN

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

AMES, Iowa — Charlie Strong has Texas trending upward.

Paul Rhoads is looking to get Iowa State moving in a similar direction — and keep his job in the process.

The Longhorns (3-4, 2-2 Big 12) have won two straight, including a victory over No. 14 Oklahoma, to vault back into contention for a bowl bid ahead of Saturday’s visit to Iowa State.

The Cyclones (2-5, 1-3) have dropped three in a row against teams currently ranked first, second and fifth in scoring offense.

The losing streak has led to big changes, as offensive coordinator Mark Mangino parted ways with Rhoads just hours before sophomore Joel Lanning was named the new starting quarterback.

Texas has turned things around behind a defense that has allowed just 26

COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M could have a new quarterback on Saturday against South Carolina after coach Kevin Sumlin opened up the competition following consecutive losses where Kyle Allen struggled and the offense stalled.

Allen is competing with freshman Kyler Murray and junior college transfer Jake Hubenak to keep his job.

“All three ... guys have played in games now,” Sumlin said. “Some have had great moments, some bad moments, and a little bit of both. Looking for consistency across the board at quarterback.

Cutting down on turnovers.”

The Aggies were 5-0 before back-to-back blowout losses to Alabama and Mississippi. Allen threw 13 touchdown passes with two interceptions in the first five games but

See TEXAS PAGE 4B

Photo by Michael Thomas | AP

Photo by Rogelio V. Solis | AP

Texas quarterback Jerrod Heard and the Longhorns will try for their third consecutive win when they face Iowa State Saturday.

Texas A&M quarterback Kyle Allen is in danger of losing his starting job after two consecutive losses to Alabama and Mississippi.

See A&M PAGE 4B

PAGE 2B

Zscores

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2015

Texas Tech hosts unbeaten Cowboys

By BETSY BLANEY

front.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS

DUEL QBs Oklahoma State uses two quarterbacks, Mason Rudolph and J.W. Walsh. Gundy says both are unselfish and put team first. “They’ve been tremendous,” he said, adding that coaches have done a good job of choosing.

“We need both of them, and we’re fortunate that they’ve both played pretty well up to this point.”

MAHOMES FACTOR Though he had his lowest passing yardage of the season (233) last week against Oklahoma, Mahomes can light it up on the ground and through the air. He’s thrown 21 TD passes (sixth nationally) and run for seven more (tied for 36th nationally). The Cowboys know he’s going to be difficult to defend. “He creates things,” Cowboys defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer said. “He doesn’t get shaken up. They’ve got talent spaced out all around the field, so he’s got a lot of choices. I think he’s smart and a dangerous kind of guy.”

RED ZONE OFFENSE Despite the offensive firepower of the Red Raiders, it’s the Cowboys who shine in the red zone. OSU has scored 94 percent of the time when inside the 20, 64 percent of those as touchdowns. Texas Tech has gotten points 86 percent of the time, 59 percent of those as TDs.

LUBBOCK — Oklahoma State will try to add to the program’s history when the 12th-ranked Cowboys take on Texas Tech on Saturday.

Only twice before has Oklahoma State started a season with eight straight wins — 1945 and 2011.

They’ll try to add 2015 to that list against the Red Raiders, who are coming off two less-than-stellar away outings — a closer-than-expected 30-20 win to cellardweller Kansas and a 63-27 blowout loss to No. 14 Oklahoma.

Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said there is a prescription to cure his team’s recent ills. The Red Raiders can become bowl eligible with a win.

“Just need to start faster,” he said. “You know, there’s no recipe for that, just got to do it as a team and work on it at practice and try to get better at it.”

The Cowboys are riding a three-game win streak by a combined victory margin of 95 points into Lubbock.

OSU coach Mike Gundy said being ahead early — his team led 21-0 in 2010 and 2011, and 21-3 in 2013, all after the first quarter — is critical in Texas Tech’s inhospitable stadium.

“It’s a difficult place to play,” he said. “If you can play well in the first quarter, you can give yourself a

Photo by Sue Ogrocki | AP

Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Red Raiders will try to hand No. 12 Oklahoma State its first loss as they square off Saturday in Lubbock. chance to be on some kind of a level playing field.”

The Cowboys are still reeling from four people being killed when a car crashed into the homecoming parade last week. Texas Tech plans a moment of silence before the game and has asked fans to avoid using “Wreck ’Em,” as a regular hashtag for the football team.

Here are some things to

watch for when Texas Tech hosts Oklahoma State: RUN FIRST? Texas Tech’s defense has struggled against the run all season, giving up 281 yards per game to rank No. 125 nationally. Last week the Red Raiders gave up 405 yards on the ground, seven rushing touchdowns and 24 first downs rushing at Oklahoma. Red Raiders

GIANTS Continued from Page 1B left unanswered many questions, but he recalled his time in a Florida hospital with a mangled hand and burns covering his arm. He said he remained confident even as doctors decided to amputate, leaving him with a large gap between his middle finger and a thumb that remains swollen and bent inward from multiple fractures and a partial amputation.

“When I was in the hospital, I saw a kid die,” PierrePaul said. “I feel very fortunate I’m alive. There were probably 12 people in the hospital, and my hand was the best one. What happened to my hand was bad, but I’ve seen worse.”

Pierre-Paul was no novice at fireworks. Still, he learned a lesson.

“They’re very dangerous,” he said.

“You shouldn’t do it. This is seven years I did it, and it went off. There’s a lot of things I can’t say right now.

I’ve got pictures and everything. But when I want to let it out, I will. This is not the right time.”

Pierre-Paul signed an incentive-driven, $8.7 million contract Tuesday and took part in contact work the

next day. He says he will not attend Sunday’s game in New Orleans because he does not want to distract his teammates.

The elite pass rusher did not set a timetable for his return to games. But coach Tom Coughlin left open the possibility he could return before the Week 11 bye, given his unexpected progress of the past week. Initial estimates had him returning after the bye.

“We’ll advance him next week and we’ll see where we are, and that’s all we can say,” Coughlin said. “Whatever we’ve asked him to do, he’s done with flying colors.

I do want to get him out there soon. That’s the whole idea. But I want him ready when he goes out there. I want him for the rest of the year.”

Once Pierre-Paul does get out there, he will play with a special glove, but with little other protection.

The 6-foot-5, 268-pounder says he expects to have no trouble learning new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s system, having studied the playbook during his nearly five months of inactivity. He expects to pick up right up from where he was

at the end of last year, when he made 9 1/2 of his teamhigh 12 1/2 sacks over the last six games.

The Giants defense has only nine sacks through seven games, and is a major reason behind its No. 30 league ranking against the pass.

NOTES: CB Prince Amukamara (pectoral), WR Victor Cruz (calf), DE Owa Odighizuwa (hamstring) and LB J.T. Thomas (ankle) were declared out of Sunday’s game in New Orleans.

LB Jon Beason (ankle) did not practice the entire week but was listed as questionable. WR Odell Beckham (hamstring), G Geoff Schwartz (ankle), and LB Uani ’Unga (neck) are probable. ... Coughlin said Beckham’s full week of practice went well, and his communication with quarterback Eli Manning should be much improved. “When Odell practices, he practices,” Coughlin said. “His speed and maneuverability makes the quarterback sharper. Whenever people practice at the right speed, they are preparing themselves for the game, and I think that’s what happened this week.”

defensive coordinator David Gibbs expects teams to run.

“Why would you pass it?” he said. “I would just hand it off every snap, but I’ve said that all year, until we show we can stop it.”

SACK ATTACK Texas Tech will be up against the Big 12’s sackleading Cowboys (27), and if recent contests are any indication, Patrick Mahomes will be under plenty of pres-

sure Saturday. In their first six games, the Red Raiders’ offensive line allowed just two sacks. The past two games, Mahomes has been sacked nine times. OSU DE Emmanuel Ogbah leads the Big 12 and is fifth nationally with eight sacks. “They know what’s coming, so they’ll have to play their A game to try and slow those guys down,” Kingsbury said. “They have a great

RATLIFF Continued from Page 1B have to do what’s best for the organization. As I said before, we cut him because we thought it was better for our football team.”

Ratliff twice parked outside Bears property and walked past security on Oct. 21, the report said. The person who called police to report Ratliff said there was “concern for the safety of staff on the property” due to Ratliff ’s statements and said it was believed that Ratliff “owns multiple firearms.”

Ratliff was suspended for the first three games of this season for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy. He started at nose tackle in each of Chicago’s last two games and had seven tackles.

According to the police report, the person who reported Ratliff asked for a police presence at the Bears headquarters until staff left for the day Oct. 21 and when staff began to arrive Oct. 22. The Lake Forest Police Department provided a uniformed officers to stand by on the property during the requested times.

Ratliff ’s agent, Mark Slough, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Ratliff, a four-time Pro Bowl selection in Dallas, had 6 1/2 sacks last season for Chicago. He signed with the Bears after he was cut by the Cowboys in October 2013.

The Bears replaced Ratliff by reaching a deal with free-agent defensive lineman Ziggy Hood, a first-round pick by Pittsburgh in the 2009 draft out of Missouri.

Fox said there had been no previous indication of a problem, although Ratliff did have one prolonged incident in training camp in which he was upset after a shoving match with center Will Montgomery.

“It’s a combative game played by combative people,” Fox said. “I don’t know that those are red flags in the game of football.”

Teammates expressed support for Ratliff.

“He was just a man like everybody else,” linebacker Lamar Houston said. “There was nothing to fear. He was a great teammate. He was a great

friend. He was quiet. I never really noticed him being upset with anyone.”

Told about the police report saying Ratliff issued threats, Houston expressed surprise.

“It’s interesting,” he said. “I hope they have their information correct because it doesn’t sound like him.”

Tight end Martellus Bennett talked with Ratliff after he had been cut.

The two were friends and had been on the Dallas Cowboys together, as well.

“It’s a personal thing between me and him, so like I said, we’re close friends and I just hope the best for him and his family,” Bennett said.

Bennett said the entire incident can be a teaching point.

“There’s nothing truly guaranteed in the NFL,” he said. “So for me it’s just the revelation of what this business is and you’ve got to handle your business the right way with what’s going on around here and make sure you’re ton top of your (stuff).”

COWBOYS Continued from Page 1B ceivers who went through the same injury, including Atlanta’s Julio Jones, have cautioned Bryant about coming back too soon.

But the Cowboys (2-4) have lost four straight games without Bryant and quarterback Tony Romo, who broke his left collarbone a week after Bryant went down. Romo will miss at least three more games, and Dallas needs to win at least two of them to have realistic hopes of defending the NFC East title.

If Bryant does play after being listed as a limited participant in practice all week, he says he won’t be a limited participant against the Seahawks (3-4).

“If I play, I’m not thinking about nothing,” Bryant said. “I’m playing.

Dez is Dez. If I’m thinking, I have myself a little situation.”

Brandon Weeden lost all three of his starts in place of Romo, and the downfield passing game was almost nonexistent. Matt Cassel replaced Weeden

last week and threw downfield plenty of times — with three interceptions.

So the question is whether the presence of Bryant will restore the threat of the outside receivers in the Dallas offense, and cut the risk of turnovers.

“He brings that leadership. He brings a presence,” offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said.

“He brings a guy that defenses are obviously going to be keying in on, which in my mind helps other positions, helps other guys, helps the run game.

The Dez effect I think is going to be what it was for us when he was out there.”

Bryant returned to the practice field during the bye two weeks ago, doing conditioning work on the side. That continued last week, and the question of a return against the Giants wasn’t settled until late in the week.

The sixth-year receiver still made the trip to New York even though he

Photo by Brandon Wade | AP

Dallas wide receiver Dez Bryant returned to practice this week and is listed as questionable for the Cowboys matchup against Seattle this week. didn’t travel with the team. During the game, Bryant appeared to be trying to calm Greg Hardy after the defensive end had

a shoving match with special teams coach Rich Bisaccia following a kickoff return for a touchdown that proved to be the deci-

sive play in a fourth straight loss.

“That bothers me seeing my teammates. Because I’m part of that,” Bryant said, referring to the losing streak. “We lose together, and I’m going to try my best to get out on the field and see what happens.”

Walking off the field in New York, Bryant declared to nobody in particular that the Cowboys were “still going to run the East.”

“I meant what I said,” Bryant said Friday. “We have enough time. We’ve just got to continue to keep on believing. We’re a strong team.”

That’s the type of thing that linebacker Sean Lee said the Cowboys miss without Bryant. Not to mention the pass-catching skills.

“You love playing with him because of the passion he brings to practice, the passion he brings to the game,” Lee said. “He’s unbelievable, the way he plays, the way he runs routes, the way he can go

up and catch a football.

It’s fun seeing him back healthy.”

Bryant’s five-game absence is the longest of his career, surpassing the four games he missed at the end of his rookie season in 2010 with a broken ankle.

“Oh, man,” Bryant said.

“It seems like a year.”

The year could be up Sunday.

NOTES: RB Joseph Randle remained away from the team dealing with unspecified personal issues, and Jones said on his radio show that the NFL was reviewing a domestic incident involving Randle in his hometown of Wichita, Kansas, in February for possible violations of the personal conduct policy. He had already been ruled out against the Seahawks because of a back injury. ... S Barry Church (ankle) practiced for the first time this week on limited basis and is questionable. CB Morris Claiborne (illness) was a full participant and is probable.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2015

Dear Readers: APARTMENT OR CONDO HUNTING should take some time to find the right spot to live. You may be there awhile! Hints to help you: Where do you want to live? Near schooling, work or family? Need access to bus routes, stores or medical centers?

Check crime statistics in that ZIP code. Some apartments have police officers who live on–site who work security on their off–hours.

There should be good lighting, and the buildings should be clean and well–maintained. Parking should be lighted and safe!

You must check the apartment you want! Do appliances work? Check the bathroom drains and shower. Hot water slow?

Do they drain well? Flush the toilet a few times to see if it drains quickly.

Good locks on doors and windows are a must! –– Heloise P.S.: Chat up residents in common areas and ask

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

how they like living there.

Dear Readers: Have a happy and safe Halloween.

Keep pets and children in sight. –– Heloise PLUCK VERSUS TWEEZE Dear Heloise: I enjoy you in The Gazette in Colorado Springs, Colo., and had the pleasure of hearing you in person at the Offutt Air Force Base Officers’ Wives Club in Nebraska back in the 1970s.

I have an interesting reaction to the term "plucking" one’s eyebrows.

Chickens are "plucked"; people "tweeze" their brows. –– Sandy R., via email Sandy, ouch either way!

One can "pluck" a chicken and one’s eyebrows, but it’s difficult to "tweeze" a chicken!

Yes, I remember my visit, and what a treat to go "down" underground to the command center for the Strategic Air Command (SAC) at the time.

They had "Welcome Heloise" on the big screens!

Thanks, Air Force, from an AF "brat." –– Heloise

Sports

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2015

Boykin entering Heisman race

By STEPHEN HAWKINS ASSOCIATED PRESS

FORT WORTH — If Trevone Boykin keeps playing like this, the TCU quarterback won’t need any hype to win the Heisman Trophy.

“Everybody said you have to have a campaign,” coach Gary Patterson said.

“I think the campaign is what happens in those 60 minutes for three and a half hours. They chose us to be on TV on Thursday night.”

And Boykin put on quite a show in the fifth-ranked Horned Frogs’ 40-10 victory over West Virginia.

There was the somersault into the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown run, several nifty scrambles that left defenders in his wake and 388 yards passing with three more touchdowns while become TCU’s career leader in total offense.

“I just try to use my ability that God blessed me with. That’s all I can really do,” Boykin said. “I’m just one of the 11 guys out there. It takes the guys without the ball to make plays like that happen.”

Well, Boykin kept darting, dipping and spinning to make the Mountaineers miss him as TCU (8-0, 5-0) stretched its school-record winning streak to 16 games in a row.

When he was about to

get hit, Boykin threw a side-armed strike to Josh Doctson for a 9-yard touchdown before taking a shot from a charging defender.

The quarterback popped right back up to celebrate the score.

“The average guy doesn’t make those plays,” Patterson said. “I’m glad he’s on my side.”

Later in the third quarter, after scrambling to his right and eluding several defenders behind the line, Boykin gained 11 yards before running out of bounds near West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen, who had a smile on his face when slapping hands with the quarterback.

“He was right there and I just saw him make every one of our players miss.

He’s a phenomenal player,” Holgorsen said. “He made one of the best plays I’ve seen in a while. ... I could’ve started yelling at our guys but what good is that going to do.”

Holgorsen has already changed his mind about who the best player in college football is.

In their previous game Oct. 17, the Mountaineers (3-4, 0-4 Big 12) lost 62-38 at No. 2 Baylor when Corey Coleman caught 10 passes for 199 yards and three touchdowns.

After the game, Holgorsen called the Bears receiver “the best player in college football. ...

You can put me on the re-

cord for that.”

After watching Boykin, Holgorsen started his postgame comments saying, “With all due respect to Corey Coleman, Trevone Boykin is the best player in college football.”

Boykin finished fourth in the Heisman voting last season, his first full season as the quarterback starter after previously playing games at receiver and quarterback.

“The good ones just keep maturing, keep blossoming,” Patterson said.

“The one thing they all have, they have an unbelievable competitive nature, an internal drive that takes them past what anybody else expects them to be.”

Boykin completed 32 of 47 passes and ran 11 times for 84 yards with that acrobatic score to push his career total to 12,041 total yards. That broke the previous TCU record of 11,925 held by Andy Dalton, the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback who led TCU to an undefeated season and Rose Bowl victory during the 2010 season.

Said Doctson, whose 11 catches for 183 yards and two touchdowns made him only the second FBS player in 20 seasons with six consecutive games of 100 yards receiving and at least two TD catches, “He’s just playing like a Heisman quarterback.”

Photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP

TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin (2), right, celebrates a touchdown with Josh Doctson (9) as the Horned Frogs won 40-10 against West Virginia Thursday night.

TEXAS Continued from Page 1B

Photo by Richard Hartog | AP

Southern California athletic director Pat Haden stepped down from the College Football Playoff selection committee for health reasons Friday.

Haden leaves CFP committee ASSOCIATED PRESS

IRVING — Southern California athletic director Pat Haden is stepping down from the College Football Playoff selection committee after his doctors advised him to cut back on travel.

College Football Playoff Executive Director Bill Hancock announced Friday that Haden was leaving the committee and would not be replaced.

The committee will have 12 members for the rest of the season.

The committee is sched-

uled to meet in North Texas this weekend to produce its first rankings of the season. The playoff rankings will be released Tuesday.

Haden said in a statement he was reluctant to step down.

“With the weekly CFP meetings about to start and the travel commitment involved, I had to make this difficult decision. I feel it is in the best interest of the CFP and also of USC, with our current football coaching change and our upcoming Coliseum renovation.”

Two weeks ago, Haden had to leave USC’s game at Notre Dame because he was feeling lightheaded.

This will be the second year in a row the committee has lost took a member during the season. Archie Manning withdrew from the committee late in last season for health reasons before ultimately stepping down for good during the offseason.

Manning was replaced by former Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson. Also, former West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck was replaced by Tex-

as Tech AD Kirby Hocutt when he left to take a job with the NCAA. Haden was in the second year of a two-year term on the committee and scheduled to be replaced after this season.

“I fully support Pat’s decision given his doctor’s recommendation and his campus priorities,” Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said. “I am confident in the 12 remaining committee members to represent the best in all of college football and to select the best teams for the playoff.”

points in its last two games.

Iowa State has let up 156 points during its current losing streak — though it held No. 2 Baylor to just 10 points in the second half last week.

The Cyclones are just 724 since the start of 2013, and athletic director Jamie Pollard indicated this week that Rhoads will need to show significant progress over the last five games to earn an eighth season.

“Between Saturday and five weeks from now, we’ve got to make some hay,” Pollard told Des Moines, Iowa radio station KXNO on Monday.

Here are some of the crucial things to consider as Texas looks for its sixth straight win in Ames: HAVE YOU HEARD? Texas freshman Jerrod Heard has thrown for just 200 yards over his last three games. But he’s rushed for 187 yards during that span, spearheading an offense that has evolved into a run-first attack. The Longhorns also use backup Tyrone Swoopes in a package it has dubbed the “18 Wheeler,” and he scored three rushing touchdowns in last week’s 23-9 win over Kansas State “You have to have an identity. It’s running the football. Have not lost confidence in Jerrod throwing the ball at all,” Strong said.

LANNING SPOT Iowa State turned to Lanning last week after se-

nior Sam Richardson struggled yet again. Lanning responded with three TD passes in a 45-27 loss to No. 2 Baylor. Lanning has thrown for four touchdowns in just 27 passes against Big 12 competition.

“It’s awesome. It’s what I’ve wanted since I’ve been here, to get a chance. Now I’ve got to go out there and prove I can play,” Lanning said.

ROAD WOES Texas has played two true road games and was outscored 88-10 by Notre Dame and TCU. “We have to play better. We have to start off right,” Strong said. Texas beat Iowa State 31-30 in Ames two years ago on a late TD that appeared to be a fumble but was instead ruled a score.

MAGIC MIKE Iowa State’s Mike Warren has rushed for at least 120 yards in four of his last five games and leads all freshmen nationally with 797 yards — despite carrying the ball just nine times in the Cyclones first two games. Lanning is also a good runner, so expect interim offensive coordinator Todd Sturdy to go to the ground early and often.

AUSTIN THRILLER Iowa State and Texas will struggle to live up to the excitement of last year’s game, when the Cyclones and Longhorns combined for 17 points in the final two minutes.

Nick Rose kicked a 21-yard field goal with three seconds left to give Texas a 4845 win.

Fry said he rooted for the Longhorns in the A&MTexas rivalry. He’s got family backing the Aggies, including a stepbrother who’s a sophomore there.

“I always joke with my dad if it came down to a game-winner what he’d actually want to happen,” Fry said. “Hopefully, he’ll want me to do good.”

SLOWING DOWN GARRETT Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett leads the SEC with 8 1/2 sacks and four forced fumbles.

The sophomore also has 13 1/2 tackles for losses, a blocked punt and an interception this season.

“I don’t know if you stop a guy like that,” Elliott said. “But you certainly can’t take seven-step

drops and get us in thirddown situations and let him rush the passer. It just doesn’t match up. I don’t care what kind of offensive tackles you’ve got.”

QUARTERBACK SHUFFLE Pay no attention to the depth chart on the coach’s desk. Elliott said the Gamecocks will start former walk-on Perry Orth on Saturday, then use whoever they feel can help win the game at any time, whether that’s Connor Mitch or Lorenzo Nunez.

It’s about what we need to do to get the job done,” Elliott said. “Nunez could be in there second series, who knows. Don’t pay a whole of attention to that depth chart.”

A&M Continued from Page 1B has thrown only one touchdown pass with four interceptions in the last two. In the 41-23 loss to Alabama, all three of his interceptions were returned for scores.

“We’ve got to establish a rhythm offensively in run and pass and really take our shots when we have them instead of just trying to get the ball down field a lot in the opening part of the game,” Sumlin said.

“To establish that rhythm we have to run the ball better.”

They’ll try to do it in just their second-ever meeting with South Carolina. It is the Gamecocks’ first trip to College Station and first trip to Texas since 1976. South Carolina

is coming off an open week after interim coach Shawn Elliott helped the team snap a two-game skid with a win over Vanderbilt in the first game after coach Steve Spurrier’s abrupt resignation.

Elliott loves that his team remains upbeat despite its 3-4 record.

“We’ve got ... a fun football team right now,” Elliott said. “I don’t know if that’s the right way to say it, but there’s not a lot of long faces, not a lot of heads dragging. Everybody’s working in the right direction, moving forward.”

Sumlin had to remind his team to embrace a positive mindset this week and realize that despite

the last two weeks the Aggies are not a bad team.

“We’re not 2-5. We’re 5-2,” Sumlin said. “We have opportunity to close this season out with some opponents to get some big wins and still have a great season and still be in the thick of this thing at the end.”

Some things to know about the South Carolina-Texas A&M game: RESPECT Like many coaches around the country, Sumlin looked up to Spurrier as he was moving up the coaching ranks.

“He’s kind of the guy who I always wanted to be,” Sumlin said. “Came into SEC, won in this league, threw the football,

played defense, won national championships and did it his way. Had a huge impact on me from the outside.”

When asked for his thoughts on Spurrier’s resignation, Sumlin raved about his unique accomplishments.

“It will be a long time, maybe never, that one guy will win a Heisman, coach a Heisman winner and win a national championship,” Sumlin said.

“That’s why there are already statues of him.”

SMALL FRY Kicker Elliott Fry, from Frisco, Texas, is the lone player from Texas on the Gamecocks roster and is prepping to play against a team he grew up loathing.