The Zapata Times 11/30/2016

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PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Trump alleges illegal voting Claim stems from Texas group

By Kevin Diaz SA N A NT ONI O E XPRE SS-NEWS

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s unfounded allegation that millions of noncitizens cast illegal

ballots Nov. 8 appears to stem in part from the work of a Houston-area tea party group with ties to a former Texas health official with a history of troubled government contracts.

The group, True the Vote, an offshoot of the King Street Patriots, issued a statement Monday saying it “absolutely supports President-elect Trump’s recent comment

ZAPATA COUNTY INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT

SOUTH TEXAS

Mission man seeks to keep Bryan House memories alive

Voting continues on A8

Evan Vucci / AP file

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during an election night rally on Nov. 9 in New York.

VILLARREAL ELEMENTARY STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

Historical Valley home preserved

By Berenice Garcia TH E M ONIT OR

MISSION, Texas — Tucked away in the north part of the city, a quaint two-story house holds tales of the history of Mission and of the man who built it.

The Monitor reports the Bryan House, named after former Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, was built in 1909.

Much of the history of the house has been forgotten by locals but owner Ariel King is determined to keep that history alive.

King and her husband purchased the property in 2014 and converted it into a bed and breakfast and an event center.

“When people come here, the first thing they say is, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t feel like I’m in the Valley’ because they’re not used to seeing old houses anymore,” King said. “There’s a handful left but no one’s done anything with them, I think.”

Bryan, who unsuccessfully ran for president three times and later became secretary of state under Woodrow Wilson, had the house built as a winter home for his family.

He sold the property in 1915 to the Council family. The house stayed within the family over many generations until 1989 when it was sold to Jane and Gerald Wilson in 1989.

King lives just down the road from the house, located on the corner of Bryan and Mile 2 Road, so she knew right away when the house was up for sale.

She and her husband purchased the house in December 2014 and began the restorations around March 2015. King said they worked around the clock for about seven months just on the house itself. Then she worked on acquiring furniture and after that, started work on the outside.

House continues on A5

Courtesy / ZCISD

Congratulations to the Students of the Week from Villarreal Elementary School. Top row, from left: Giselle Gutierrez, Angel Jonguitud, Leonardo Zavala, Pablo Pitero, Nadina Rodriguez, Isis Rodriguez and Angel Sarmiento. Middle row, from left: Carlos Hinojosa, Jonathan Hernandez, Jesus Sanchez, Jocelyn De Los Santos, Alyssa Guerrero, Gregoria Trejo, Beida Davila, Fernando Gonzalez, Sophia Perez and Yazmin Angeles. Bottom row, from left: Jose Daniel Cavazos, Connie Sanchez, Marco Landa, Arianna Minor, Yael Quiroz, Karelly Alaniz, Reynaldo Diaz, Jorge Rodriguez, Cristian Garcia and Jayleen Hernandez

TEXAS-MEXICO BORDER

Is Ciudad Juárez on the brink of a new gang war?

By Julián Aguilar THE TEXAS TRIBUNE

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — It’s hard to predict which direction the violence here is headed.

The more than 100 people murdered just south of the Rio Grande last month are a tiny fraction of the killings the city witnessed from 2008 to 2011, when a years-long war between law enforcement and rival drug cartels claimed more than 10,000 lives.

But the October death toll, which includes 96 homicides in the city and seven more on its outskirts, marks the most violent month for Juarez in three years, according

Katie Orlinksy / New York Times

A municipal police officer is at a crime scene in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

to government and media reports. As of August, the number of murders in 2016 had already

exceeded 2015's total.

This year's violence — up to 455 murders as of last month — has some

in this sprawling, industrial city on edge yet again.

“Obviously now that

the [homicides] have increased again, we’re very worried about the situation,” said Jose Ubaldo Solis, a local city council member.

Theories on the uptick in violence aren’t hard to come by.

The local police and the state attorney general blame small-ball heroin and meth peddlers looking to rid themselves of their competition.

“We don’t think we are, by any means, at risk of returning to the way Juarez was before,” said Adrian Sanchez Contreras, the spokesman for the municipal police. “... There have been [more] homicides this month, but it's because of these [retail Juarez continues on A8

Zin brief A2 | Wednesday, November 30, 2016 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

CALENDAR

AROUND THE NATION

TODAY IN HISTORY

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30

ASSOCIATED PRE SS

Noon Optimist Club Youth Appreciation Day. 12 p.m. IBC Annex on Jacaman Road. Laredo high school seniors ceremoniously take over city, county and federal offices for the day.

For more information, contact Salo Otero at 324-2432.

Today is Wednesday, Nov. 30, the 335th day of 2016. There are 31 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: On Nov. 30, 1782, the United States and Britain signed preliminary peace articles in Paris for ending the Revolutionary War; the Treaty of Paris was signed in Sept. 1783.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3 Book sale. 8:30 a.m.—1 p.m. Widener Book Room, First United Methodist Church. No admission charge. Everyone is invited.

Laredo Northside Farmers Market.

9 a.m.—1 p.m. North Central Park playground behind the trailhead facility. Christmas goody bags will be given to the first 70 children starting at 11 a.m. Santa will be available for pictures from 10 a.m. to noon.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 5 Hilary Swift / New York Times

Movie and Popcorn. Every Monday, 4—5 p.m. Santa Rita Express Library, 83 Prada Machin Drive, on the corner of Malaga Drive and Castro Urdiales Avenue. Enjoy a family movie and refreshments.

Ray of Light anxiety and depression support group meeting.

6:30—7:30 p.m. Area Health Education Center, 1505 Calle del Norte, Suite 430. Every first Monday of the month.

People suffering from anxiety and depression are invited to attend this free, confidential and anonymous support group meeting. While a support group does not replace an individual’s medical care, it can be a valuable resource to gain insight, strength and hope.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6 Rock wall climbing. 4—5:30 p.m.

LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Take the challenge and climb the rock wall! Fun exercise for all ages. Free. Bring ID. Must sign release form. Every Tuesday. For more information, call 795-2400 x2520.

LEGO Workshop. Every Tuesday, 4—5 p.m. Santa Rita Express Library, 83 Prada Machin Drive, on the corner of Malaga Drive and Castro Urdiales Avenue. Create with LEGOs, DUPLOs and robotics.

Alzheimer’s Support Group. 7 p.m.

Laredo Medical Center, Building B, meeting room 2. The support group is for family members and caregivers taking care of someone who has Alzheimer's. For information, please call 956-693-9991.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8 Laredo Area Retired School Employees Association Christmas Party and Bingo. 11 a.m. Blessed Sacrament Parish Hall, 2219 Galveston St. Christmas Pizza Party. 4-5 p.m.

McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco. Pizza and cupcakes will be served.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9 Christmas Pizza Party. 4-5 p.m.

Santa Rita Express Branch Library, 301 Castro Urdiales Loop. Pizza and cupcakes will be served.

Rep. Tom Price, who has led opposition to the Affordable Care Act, exits an elevator in the lobby at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, Nov. 16.

TRUMP TAPS ‘OBAMACARE’ FOE WASHINGTON — Reaching deep into conservative territory, President-elect Donald Trump chose Georgia Rep. Tom Price to oversee the nation’s health care system on Tuesday, picking a fierce “Obamacare” critic who also has championed efforts to privatize Medicare. Trump selected another veteran Republican, Elaine Chao, to lead the Department of Transportation. Both have long ties to Washington. Price, picked to lead the Department of Health and Human Services after more than a decade in Congress, helped craft House Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan to privat-

Park, trail dedicated to 19 fallen Arizona firefighters YARNELL, Ariz. — A memorial park and a hiking trail were dedicated Tuesday to 19 elite Arizona wildland firefighters who died in 2013 in a brush-choked box canyon while battling one of the state’s most devastating wildfires.

Relatives of the Granite Mountain Hotshot firefighting team gathered at a trailhead for the somber ceremony dedicat-

ize Medicare — a position Trump opposed in the campaign. Chao, who was the first Asian-American woman to serve in a president’s Cabinet, is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The selections came as Trump spent Tuesday with advisers in his Manhattan skyscraper, racing through meetings with prospective administration hires as highprofile vacancies loom — none bigger than secretary of State. Mitt Romney, on the shortlist, was to have a private dinner with the incoming president.

— Compiled from AP reports

ing the site as an Arizona state park, where Gov. Doug Ducey said the 3-mile trail and memorial would serve as a lasting tribute to the fallen firefighters’ heroism.

“May this always be a sacred place for this community and for this state to honor the lives of those who died protecting us,” Ducey said. “And may it always serve as testament to the danger firefighters everywhere face every day. We will never forget.”

Only one member of the team, a lookout, survived the

June 30, 2013, fire after shifting winds trapped the firefighters near the small town of Yarnell, in central Arizona. It was the deadliest day for U.S. fire crews since 9/11 and the worst for wildland firefighters since the 1933 Griffith Park fire of Los Angeles, which killed 29. Dan Parker, whose son Wade died in the fire, said his return to the site was moving and that he wants to bring others there so they can remember and honor his son. The 320-acre park opens to the public Wednesday.

— Compiled from AP reports

MONDAY, DECEMBER 12 Movie and Popcorn. Every Monday, 4—5 p.m. Santa Rita Express Library, 83 Prada Machin Drive, on the corner of Malaga Drive and Castro Urdiales Avenue. Enjoy a family movie and refreshments.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13 Rock wall climbing. 4—5:30 p.m.

LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Take the challenge and climb the rock wall! Fun exercise for all ages. Free. Bring ID. Must sign release form. Every Tuesday. For more information, call 795-2400 x2520.

LEGO Workshop. Every Tuesday, 4—5 p.m. Santa Rita Express Library, 83 Prada Machin Drive, on the corner of Malaga Drive and Castro Urdiales Avenue. Create with LEGOs, DUPLOs and robotics.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15 Spanish Book Club. 6-8 p.m. Jose A Guerra Public Library on Calton. For more information call Sylvia Reash at 763-1810.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19 Jedi Christmas. 3-5 p.m. McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco. Stormtrooper Santa, gaming, crafts, music and food. Star Wars costumes are encouraged.

Movie and Popcorn. Every Monday, 4—5 p.m. Santa Rita Express Library, 83 Prada Machin Drive, on the corner of Malaga Drive and Castro Urdiales Avenue. Enjoy a family movie and refreshments.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20 Rock wall climbing. 4—5:30 p.m.

LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Take the challenge and climb the rock wall! Fun exercise for all ages. Free. Bring ID. Must sign release form. Every Tuesday. For more information, call 795-2400 x2520.

LEGO Workshop. Every Tuesday, 4—5 p.m. Santa Rita Express Library, 83 Prada Machin Drive, on the corner of Malaga Drive and Castro Urdiales Avenue. Create with LEGOs, DUPLOs and robotics.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27 Rock wall climbing. 4—5:30 p.m.

LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Take the challenge and climb the rock wall!

AROUND TEXAS Slain San Antonio officer remembered at funeral service SAN ANTONIO — The top leadership of Texas and law enforcement officials from across the nation joined family and friends of San Antonio police Detective Benjamin Marconi to pay tribute to the officer who was shot to death while sitting in his patrol car.

Marconi’s funeral Monday was at the Community Bible Church in San Antonio and drew an estimated 3,000 mourners, in and out of uniform, to praise the detective.

Betsy Buhler, the church’s media minister and a police chaplain, said: “We are forever grateful for his watch over us.”

The 50-year-old Marconi was fatally shot Nov. 20 as he sat in his patrol car writing a traffic ticket outside police headquarters. Thirty-one-year-old Otis Tyrone McKane has been charged with capital murder in

Bob Owen / San Antonio Express-News

A San Antonio Police officer pauses during Detective Benjamin Marconi's funeral service in San Antonio, Monday.

the attack. McKane said he was angry over a child-custody battle and “lashed out at somebody who didn’t deserve it.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, a San Antonio Republican, were among the dignitaries who attended the service.

Those who spoke at the service included fellow officers

and grown children of the slain 20-year department veteran.

“He made everyone around you feel lighter and safer. He relaxed people. He was the kind of person we should all strive to be like,” said Jacy Marconi, one of the detective’s grown children.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE WORLD Brazilian soccer team’s plane crashes in Colombia LA UNION, Colombia — A chartered plane carrying a Brazilian soccer team to the biggest match in its history crashed into a Colombian hillside and broke into pieces, killing 75 people and leaving six survivors, officials said Tuesday.

The British Aerospace 146 short-haul plane, operated by a

charter airline with roots in Venezuela, declared an emergency and lost radar contact just before 10 p.m. Monday because of an electrical failure, according to Colombia’s aviation agency.

The aircraft, which had departed from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, was carrying the Chapecoense soccer team from southern Brazil for Wednesday’s first leg of a two-game Copa Sudamericana final against Atletico Nacional of Medellin.

“What was supposed to be a

On this date: In 1016, Edmund II, King of the English, died after a reign of seven months.

In 1803, Spain completed the process of ceding Louisiana to France, which had sold it to the United States.

In 1835, Samuel Langhorne Clemens — better known as Mark Twain — was born in Florida, Missouri.

In 1874, British statesman Sir Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace.

In 1900, Irish writer Oscar Wilde died in Paris at age 46.

In 1936, London’s famed Crystal Palace, constructed for the Great Exhibition of 1851, was destroyed in a fire.

In 1939, the Winter War began as Soviet troops invaded Finland. (The conflict ended the following March with a Soviet victory.)

In 1940, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were married at the Byram River Beagle Club in Greenwich, Connecticut. (The marriage ended in divorce in 1960.)

In 1954, Ann Elizabeth Hodges of Oak Grove, Alabama, was slightly injured when an 8-1/2-pound chunk of meteor crashed through the roof of her house, hit a radio cabinet, then struck her as she lay napping on a couch.

In 1966, the former British colony of Barbados became independent.

In 1982, the Michael Jackson album “Thriller” was released by Epic Records. The motion picture “Gandhi,” starring Ben Kingsley as the Indian nationalist leader, had its world premiere in New Delhi.

In 1996, 1960’s novelty singer Tiny Tim, best remembered for his rendition of “Tip-toe Thru’ the Tulips with Me,” died in Minneapolis.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush met in Jordan with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki; Bush said the United States would speed a turnover of security responsibility to Iraqi forces but assured al-Maliki that Washington was not looking for “some kind of graceful exit” from Iraq. Pope Benedict XVI visited Istanbul’s famous Blue Mosque in a dramatic gesture of outreach to Muslims.

Five years ago: The central banks of the wealthiest countries, trying to prevent a debt crisis in Europe from exploding into a global panic, swept in to shore up the world financial system by making it easier for banks to borrow American dollars. Police in Los Angeles and Philadelphia dismantled Occupy Wall Street encampments in both cities. An Arizona jury sentenced convicted “Baseline Killer” Mark Goudeau to death for killing nine people in the Phoenix area.

One year ago: Jury selection began in Baltimore in the trial of Officer William Porter, the first of six policemen to face charges in the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died of a severe spinal injury while in police custody. (All charges against Porter were dropped after a mistrial; three other officers were acquitted; all remaining charges were later dropped.) The newly elected mayor of Juneau, Alaska, Stephen “Greg” Fisk, was found dead in his home, apparently of natural causes.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Robert Guillaume is 89. G. Gordon Liddy is 86.

Country singer-recording executive Jimmy Bowen is 79. Movie director Ridley Scott is 79. Movie writer-director Terrence Malick is 73. Rock musician Roger Glover (Deep Purple) is 71. Playwright David Mamet is 69.

Actress Margaret Whitton is 66. Actor Mandy Patinkin is 64. Singer Billy Idol is 61. Historian Michael Beschloss is 61.

Rock musician John Ashton (The Psychedelic Furs) is 59. Comedian Colin Mochrie is 59. Former football and baseball player Bo Jackson is 54.

Rapper Jalil (Whodini) is 53. Actordirector Ben Stiller is 51. Rock musician Mike Stone is 47. Actress Sandra Oh is 46. Singer Clay Aiken is 38. Actor Billy Lush is 35. Actress Elisha Cuthbert is 34. Actress Kaley Cuoco is 31.

Model Chrissy Teigen is 31. Actress Christel Khalil is 29. Actress Rebecca Rittenhouse is 28. Actress Adelaide Clemens is 27.

Thought for Today: “I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.” — James Baldwin, American author (born 1924, died this date in 1987).

CONTACT US celebration has turned into a tragedy,” Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez said from the search and rescue command center.

As the depth of what is Colombia’s deadliest air tragedy in two decades sank in, sportsmanship prevailed and Atletico Nacional asked that the title of the continent’s second-most important club championship be given to its up-and-coming rival, whose fairy tale run had electrified soccer-crazed Brazil.

— Compiled from AP reports

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The Zapata Times

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, November 30, 2016 |

A3

LOCAL & STATE

Annual Christmas parade takes place Dec. 1

Supreme Court seems to favor death row inmate

SPECIAL TO THE TIME S

The Zapata Times file

By Mark Sherman A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court seemed likely Tuesday to side with a longtime death row inmate in Texas who claims he is intellectually disabled and thus ineligible to be executed.

A majority of justices during arguments at the high court expressed misgivings with the way the top Texas criminal appeals court evaluates borMoore derline cases of intellectual disability.

That court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, reversed a lower court and ruled that inmate Bobby James Moore was not intellectually disabled. Moore was convicted in the shotgun killing of a Houston grocery store clerk in 1980.

The Supreme Court held in 2002 that people convicted of murder who are intellectually disabled cannot be executed.

The court gave states some discretion to decide how to determine intellectual disability. The justices have wrestled in several more recent cases about how much discretion to allow.

The Texas court’s approach, said Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, opens “the door to inconsistent results, depending on who is sitting on the trial court bench, something we try to prevent from happening in capital cases.” The court’s three other liberal justices and Justice Anthony Kennedy, voiced similar concerns.

Two years ago, Kennedy and the four liberal justices formed a majority when the court ruled unconstitutional a Florida law that barred any other evidence of intellectual disability if an inmate’s IQ was over 70.

Texas looks at three main points to define intellectual disability: IQ scores, with 70 generally considered a threshold; an inmate’s ability to interact with others and care for him- or herself and whether evidence of deficiencies in either of those areas occurred before age 18.

The state, defending the Texas court ruling, said Moore had a troubled childhood with little supervision and scored 57, 77 and 78 on IQ tests before dropping out of school in the ninth grade.

He’d been convicted four times of felonies by age 17 but never was diagnosed with an intellectual disability as a youth, the state argued.

Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller urged the justices to leave the state court ruling in place, arguing that the Texas court does not always rule for the state in cases in which defendants claim they are intellectually disabled.

Representing Moore, Washington lawyer Clifford Sloan said Texas does not rely on clinical standards for diagnosing intellectual disability, which he said stands “in sharp contrast” to the earlier Supreme Court rulings.

A decision in Moore v.

Texas, 15-797, is expected

by June.

This 2015 file photo shows a float in the Zapata County Chamber of Commerce Christmas Parade.

The Zapata County Chamber of Commerce Christmas Parade and Lighting of the County Plaza will take place this Thursday.

The parade will be at 6 p.m. It will proceed on 17th Avenue and head south on U.S. Hwy 83, taking a left on 6th Avenue to end the parade.

Parade lineup begins at

5 p.m. on Glenn Street and 17th Avenue behind Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. All entries must be in line no later than 5:30 p.m.

Trophies will be awarded for the top three best decorated floats.

Immediately following the parade will be the annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony and gifts with Santa for children between the ages of

1-8 year old.

Registration is still underway.

“We would like to invite all businesses, churches, clubs, schools, organizations and elected officials to participate in this year’s Christmas Parade,” a news release states.

Sponsorship forms and parade entry forms are available online at zapatachamber.com

A look at Texas’ first homegrown case of Zika

By Jamie Stengle ASSOCIATED PRE SS

DALLAS — Health officials are going doorto-door in the Texas neighborhood of a woman who is believed to be the first person to contract the Zika virus by getting bitten by a mosquito in that state.

Officials are offering to test the woman’s neighbors in Brownsville, which is on the border with Mexico, and are educating them about how to fight the spread of the disease, including how to reduce the breeding habitats of the mosquito that transmits it.

But experts don’t expect big outbreaks in the U.S. like those that have happened in parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Thus far, Florida is the only other state with homegrown cases of the disease. It typically causes only mild symptoms, at worst, but the disease is especially dangerous to pregnant women, as it can cause severe birth defects, including babies born with unusually small heads.

Here are some questions and answers about Zika: How does Zika spread?

Zika is transmitted to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti species mosquito, but it can also be spread during sex.

Most infected people don’t even have symptoms, but for those who do, it’s usually a mild illness, with fever, rash and joint pain.

Pat Sullivan / AP file

In this Feb. 10 photo, Darryl Nevins sprays a backyard to control mosquitoes, in Houston.

Even though it’s late in the season, mosquitoes can still spread Zika in some areas of the country, said Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said that because of the warm conditions in South Texas, mosquitoes can be a concern year-round. But he noted that much of Texas is at the end of its mosquito season.

What are the details of the Texas case?

State health officials announced the Brownsville case on Monday, noting that testing showed that at this point, the virus can no longer be spread from her by mosquitoes.

Though Brownsville is on the Mexico border, the woman said she hadn’t recently traveled to Mexico or anywhere that was experiencing a Zika outbreak, and she didn’t have any other risk factors, health officials said. She isn’t pregnant.

Officials said further

investigation is necessary to figure out how she was infected. But Van Deusen said the most likely scenario is that someone who got infected in an area where Zika is widespread traveled to South Texas and was bitten by a mosquito, which later bit the woman.

Why don’t authorities think Zika will become widespread in Texas?

One reason health officials don’t think Zika will become widespread in Texas is because of the

state’s experience with dengue fever, Van Deusen said. He said the same mosquito species spreads both diseases, and that when there are dengue epidemics in Mexico, cases have spilled over to South Texas but haven’t been widespread.

Window screens and air conditioners are more commonly used in Texas, which has helped tamp down transmission, as the screens act as a barrier to mosquitoes and the air conditioning means windows are more often closed. Van Deusen noted that the mosquito species that transmits Zika doesn’t travel more than a couple-hundred yards, and people don’t live as close together in Texas.

What can you do?

Experts say people need to protect themselves from mosquito bites, especially in areas that stay relatively warm in the fall and winter.

That includes using insect repellent, wearing clothes that cover most skin, keeping mosquitoes

out of homes and removing standing water where mosquitoes can breed.

Van Deusen said that at this point, there’s no particular advisory for pregnant women in the Brownsville area, other than that they should be protecting themselves from mosquito bites.

What’s the history of Zika in Texas?

Through last week, Texas has had 257 confirmed Zika cases that were all associated with travel, including two infants born to women who traveled while pregnant and two people who had sex with infected travelers.

What is the possibility of it appearing in other states?

Van Deusen said a Zika case is possible anytime an area has the mosquito species that spreads the disease and residents who have been traveling to places where there’s widespread transmission.

Zopinion A4 | Wednesday, November 30, 2016 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

OTHER VIEWS

COLUMN

New life in the center

By David Brooks TH E N EW YORK T IME S

Over the past few decades, party loyalty has been the defining feature of national politics. Especially in the House but even in the Senate, members deferred to their party leaders. Congress as a whole deferred to the presidency. Members of the president’s own party acted as his foot soldiers.

Members of the other party acted as his opposition.

But Donald Trump’s victory smashes all that.

He is hostile to the Republican establishment. His proposals cut across orthodox partisan lines.

As Bill Kristol told me, the coming Congress may not look like the recent Congresses, when partyline voting was the rule. A vote on an infrastructure bill may look very different from a vote on health care or education or foreign policy. This may be a Congress with many caucuses — floating coalitions rather than just followthe-leader obedience.

Meanwhile, as Christopher DeMuth wrote recently in The Wall Street Journal, committee chairmen may reassert authority against the executive branch. Trump’s authoritarian style represents an assault on the traditional separation of powers. He may end up energizing all those constitutional forms and practices he stands against.

What’s about to happen in Washington may be a little like the end of the Cold War — bipolarity gives way to multipolarity.

A system dominated by two party-line powers gives way to a system with a lot of different power centers. Instead of just R’s and D’s, there will be a Trump-dominated populist nationalism, a more libertarian Freedom Caucus, a Bernie Sanders/ Elizabeth Warren progressive caucus, a Chuck Schumer/Nancy Pelosi Democratic old guard.

The most important caucus formation will be in the ideological center.

There’s a lot of room between the alt-right and the alt-left, between Trumpian authoritarianism and Sanders socialism.

Until now, people in that space have been slow to create donor networks, slow to form think tanks, slow to build coalitions of moderate legislators. But suddenly there’s a flurry of activity between the extremes.

For example, Bill Kristol and Bill Galston have worked in the White Houses of different parties and had voted for the opposite presidential candidates in every election for four decades. But Donald Trump has reminded them how much

they agree on the fundamentals.

The two Bills have now issued a joint statement calling for “a New Center.”

It’s a defense of the basic institutions and practices of our constitutional order, which now seem under assault. It’s an attempt to learn from the election results and craft a governing philosophy that people of different parties can rally around.

That’s in the realm of ideas. In the realm of organization there’s also a flurry of activity. David Burstein’s group, Run for America, is recruiting a new generation of political candidates.

The most active centrist organization, No Labels, began six years ago in opposition to polarized, cutthroat politics. The problem with the group back then was that there was no future to a political movement whose first name is “No.” You have to be for something.

But under the leadership of its undeterrable co-founder, Nancy Jacobson, No Labels has evolved. It created a package of reform ideas to make Congress and the executive branch work together. It created an active congressional caucus, called the Problem Solvers Caucus, which now has 80 members, divided roughly evenly between both parties.

It has been building grass-roots activities, which have so far engaged one million people. It created a “super PAC” so that members of Congress who vote as centrists can get some political protection. It recently published a policy playbook with 60 proposals to create jobs, reform the tax code, balance the budget and secure entitlement programs.

Going forward, moderates face four big challenges. First, deepen a positive national vision that is not merely a positioning between left and right. Second, elevate a new generation of political leaders so the movement is not just a retread of retired establishment types.

Third, build a mass movement of actual voters, not just financiers and think-tank johnnies.

Fourth, have the courage to stand together as a swing legislative caucus, when the pressure from the party leaderships becomes intense.

It’s an uphill climb, but this is a fertile moment.

The Trump/Sanders era is going to create new opposition blocs, filled with people who never thought they would be working together.

The new center will probably start as a legislative caucus with members of both parties.

Where it goes from there is anybody’s guess.

OP-ED

The paradoxes of Castro cannot be reduced to black and white

By Jesse Jackson TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

Fidel Castro, Cuba’s leader for almost six decades, has died at 90 in Havana. USA Today’s headline on Monday read, “No Mourning in Miami,” noting the continued bitterness of those who left Cuba. The Washington Post featured testimonies condemning Castro’s authoritarian government. A revolutionary, a brutal dictator who sided with the USSR in the Cold War, a sponsor of guerilla wars, leader of a failed economy — Castro’s death has unleashed the full indictment against him.

We need a broader view, a more clear-eyed analysis of the man and his times. Why was this leader of a small island nation 90 miles off our coast celebrated across Africa and Latin America? How could he survive the determined efforts of the U.S. government to oust him, outlasting 11 American presidents? Why did Nelson Mandela praise and thank him?

Castro led the Cuban Revolution against a brutal dictator to victory in 1959. Always more a devotee of Marti — the Cuban poet and patriot who led the revolt against Spain — than of Marx, Castro set out to nationalize foreign companies that owned and dominated most of the island, implement land reform, expand schools and clinics, and set Cuba on an independent course.

There were victims of the revolution, for whom we continue to seek family unification. Some elites and some common people fled the turmoil of revolution. Relations

with the U.S. quickly soured. John Kennedy signed off on the “covert” Bay of Pigs invasion by a CIA-organized and -trained army of Cuban exiles. They were defeated easily, and the CIA never forgave Castro for the embarrassment. The U.S. launched multiple assassination attempts, enforced an economic embargo and tried various ways to sabotage the Cuban economy. Cut off from the hemisphere, Castro turned to the Soviet Union, which supplied oil and aid. The U.S. strangled and starved him into strength.

Castro’s defiance and pride consolidated the hatred of U.S. governing circles. He exported doctors and teachers while the U.S. exported weapons and war. Across the world — and in parts of the U.S. — Castro was and is celebrated. He stood with Africans against European imperialism and South African apartheid. He stood with Latin Americans against Yankee domination and corrupt local regimes. He dispatched doctors across the world to nonaligned nations, earning friends and saving lives.

In 1975, he launched an audacious airlift of Cuban troops to repel the South African invasion of Angola, marking the beginning of the end for apartheid. He celebrated Mandela while the U.S. government was supporting the apartheid government and labeling Mandela a terrorist.

In 1959, Castro came to the United Nations in New York City. He chose to stay in the Hotel Teresa in Harlem and met with Malcolm X, acts scorned as a publicity stunt. But in 1959, African-Americans couldn’t

stay in white hotels across the South. We lived under the American version of apartheid.

Neighborhoods across the country were redlined by race.

Castro was the first Cuban leader to recognize his country’s large black population, descended from slaves, and to help integrate them into national life. Castro’s embrace of civil rights was an electric message across the black community in the U.S. When I first met Castro in 1984, I found him to be a magnetic personality, a brilliant mind and a proud leader. I was told I couldn’t talk to him about religion. We talked for hours. He told me he had once loved the church and thought of it as a center of activism and social justice, not just piety. But when he came down out of the mountains after defeating the brutal dictator, he was shocked and heartbroken to find the priests armed and ready to kill to defend the graveyards of the rich. I reminded him of Dr. Martin Luther King and the other theologians of liberation, and Castro came to church with me in Havana. It was the first time Castro had gone to church in 27 years. I had to remind him to take off his hat and put out his cigar. We laughed and settled in for the service.

I was told he wouldn’t talk about political prisoners. We talked, and he released 48 prisoners to me. In later years, Castro’s government cooperated with the U.S. in countering terrorism.

His health and education systems became the envy of much of the hemisphere. He was hero and mentor to a new generation of populist national-

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DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

ists across the hemisphere — from Hugo Chavez in Venezuela to Evo Morales in Bolivia.

Castro’s legacy is surely mixed. Under constant threat from abroad, he jailed political enemies, suppressed free speech and trampled on rights.

Cuba’s economy stagnated, particularly after the Soviet Union fell apart, but it survived despite being cut off from a major logical trading partner.

U.S. enmity helped make Castro a global hero, a symbol of the possibility of independence for developing nations, but it inflicted great costs upon the Cuban people. The U.S. recognized and traded with the Soviet Union, with communist China, with brutal regimes from Saudi Arabia to Pinochet’s Chile, but the embargo against Cuba went on and on. When Barack Obama came to the White House, he discovered that instead of isolating Castro, the embargo was isolating the U.S. in our own hemisphere. After nearly sixty years of a frozen failed policy, the U.S. finally has started small steps toward normal relations.

We shouldn’t be naive.

Castro was no saint; the Cuban regime was repressive and wrongheaded about many things. But we shouldn’t view Castro solely from the perspective of those who fled the revolution or of the Cold Warriors and covert operators who spent decades trying to bring him down. We won’t understand the perversity of our own policies if we don’t understand why Castro’s leadership is celebrated across much of the world.

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, November 30, 2016 |

A5

INTERNATIONAL

Massive rally begins honoring Fidel Castro

By Fabiola Sanchez And Juan Zamorano A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

HAVANA — Regional leaders and tens of thousands of Cubans filled Havana’s Plaza of the Revolution Tuesday night for a service honoring Fidel Castro on the wide plaza where the Cuban leader delivered fiery speeches to mammoth crowds in the years after he seized power.

The presidents of Mexico, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Panama, South Africa and Zimbabwe, along with leaders of a host of smaller Caribbean nations, flew in to Havana to pay tribute to Castro, who died Friday night at 90.

“Cuba is going through a moment of profound shock,” Bolivian President Evo Morales said when he arrived. “I came to be present during a moment of pain from the loss of my brother, my friend.”

HOUSE From page A1 “It’s a journey. It’s not like I came in and I was like ‘Oh I’m going to do this, this, this and this,”’ she said. “It’s just taking the time to absorb it and recognize the potential and not trying to just come in and do it so fast that I miss out on opportunities to not recognize the needs, not only of the customers but also of the habitat.”

King received $10,000 through Ruby Red Ventures, a program run by the Mission Economic Development Corporation.

With the funds she created an additional exit,

Cuban state media reported that an urn containing Castro’s ashes was being kept in a room at the Defense Ministry where his younger brother and successor, Raul Castro, and top Communist Party officials paid tribute the previous evening.

During the day, lines stretched for hours outside the Plaza of the Revolution, the heart of government power. In Havana and across the island, people signed condolence books and an oath of loyalty to Castro’s sweeping May 2000 proclamation of the Cuban revolution as an unending battle for socialism, nationalism and an outsize role for the island on the world stage.

“I feel a deep sadness, but immense pride in having had him near,” said Ana Beatriz Perez, a 50-year-old medical researcher who was advancing in the slow-moving line with the help of

crutches. “His physical departure gives us strength to continue advancing in his ideology.

This isn’t going away, because we are millions.”

“His death is another revolution,” said her husband, Fidel Diaz, who predicted that it will prompt many to “rediscover the ideas of the commander for the new generations.”

built a small garden, created an outdoor kitchen out of an old shed, and repaired the driveway.

“I have to think about the whole lot and work with what’s on here so that it helps tell the story of not only Bryan, but the house and early Mission,” she said. “And that’s my goal with this.”

In renovating the house, King said she tried to identify interesting architectural features of the home and work with that to create the personality of the room.

A lot of work also went into the basement, which she said was used by the previous owner as a mancave.

She had to tear off the old, gray carpet, scrap off

the popcorn finish and waterproof the walls.

King said she hopes the room will serve as an extension for events that she hopes to hold at the house.

In January, she will hold event to help promote the city’s citrus parade and said she wants to have reels of the history of the parade displayed on the walls of the basement.

“Once a month, I want to do something that allows the public to come in and see the space,” she said. “It’s my way to contribute back to the community.”

For private events like weddings, couples can rent out the entire house and stay overnight.

The house has two

Tribute sites were set up in hundreds of places across the island as the government urged Cubans to reaffirm their belief in a socialist, single-party system that in recent years has struggled to maintain the fervor that was widespread at the triumph of the 1959 revolution.

Many mourners came on their own accord, but thousands were sent in

groups by the communist government, which still employs about 80 percent of the working people in Cuba despite the growth of the private sector under Raul.

Inside the memorial, thousands walked through three rooms with near-identical displays featuring the 1962 Alberto Korda photograph of the young Castro in the Sierra Maestra mountains, bouquets of white flowers and an array of Castro’s medals against a black backdrop, framed by honor guards of soldiers and children in school uniforms. The ashes of the 90-year-old former president did not appear to be on display.

Signs read: “The Cuban Communist Party is the only legitimate heir of the legacy and authority of the commander in chief of the Cuban Revolution, comrade Fidel Castro.”

“Goodbye commander.

Your ideas remain here

with us,” 64-year-old retiree Etelbina Perez said between sobs, dabbing at her eyes with a brown handkerchief. “I feel great pain over his death. I owe my entire life to him. He brought me out of the mountains. I was able to study thanks to him.”

The scene was played out on a smaller scale at countless places across the country.

After 10 years of leadership by Raul Castro, a relatively camera-shy and low-key successor, Cuba has found itself riveted once again by the words and images of the man who dominated the lives of generations. Since his death on Friday night, state-run newspapers, television and radio have run wall-to-wall tributes to Fidel Castro, broadcasting non-stop footage of his speeches, interviews and foreign trips, interspersed with adulatory remembrances by prominent Cubans.

bedrooms, one upstairs and one downstairs, and three bathrooms, which she said required the most work because their layouts were so off.

But the most important thing the house required was knowledge of the history, according to King.

Before she began work, she said she did research on its history to make sure she maintained its historical significance.

“The trouble with old houses is that you don’t know what you’re going to find,” she said.

“It’s kind of like being on a scavenger hunt, really, this whole process for me has been a scavenger hunt.”

King said she hopes that people in the commu-

nity who have old photos of the house or Bryan would be willing to share copies with her so she can hang them in the house.

Though, she said she has been able to find photographs on online and estate sales.

“I’m just having to pound the pavement to find items that are relevant,” said.

“When we started this restoration, people were really curious and have been very supportive because everyone likes to see an old house get rescued,” she said. “I mean that’s just something that tugs on our heartstrings because we have so few places down here that we can really take people to.”

King lamented the

recent demolition of the McAllen Civic Center.

“But to get them to think outside the box is a little tricky,” she said.

“Rather than seeing these things as burdens, we need to see this as opportunity.”

“It would’ve been a lot easier for my husband and I to have sold this house or to rent it out to a family or an attorney or a doctor,” King said. “We’re trying to do something that opens up the house to the public and uses it as a tool of education and that saves the house but also gives back to the community.

“It hasn’t been an easy thing but it’s been fun,” she said. “It’s been a lot of fun.”

Ronaldo Schemidt / Getty

People gather at Revolution Square to pay homage to late Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, in Havana, on Tuesday.

Zfrontera A6 | Wednesday, November 30, 2016 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

RIBEREÑA EN BREVE DESFILE DE NAVIDAD 1 La Cámara de Comercio del Condado de Zapata invita al Desfile de Navidad y Ceremonia del Encendido del Árbol, el jueves 1 de diciembre.

El desfile inicia a las 6 p.m., seguido del encendido del árbol y regalos que dará Santa Claus. Para mayores informes contacte a la Cámara de Comercio del Condado de Zapata al 956-765-4871.

DECORACIÓN DE ÁRBOLES NAVIDEÑOS 1 El Museo de Historia del Condado de Zapata está invitando a la comunidad a participar en el concurso de decoración de árboles navideños que se llevará a cabo el 11 de diciembre de 1 p.m. a 5 p.m., en las instalaciones del museo, ubicado en 805 N. Main St. Mayores informes al (956) 765-8983.

CURSOS DE LENGUAJE DE SIGNOS (ASL) 1 El Departamento de Educación Especial local está ofreciendo clases de Lenguaje Americano de Signos para el personal profesional y paraprofesional así como para padres, estudiantes o administradores del distrito Zapata County Independent School District, todos los jueves desde el 20 de octubre al 15 de diciembre (ocho semanas de duración). En el horario de 4:15 p.m. a 5:15 p.m. en el laboratorio de computadoras de la escuela primaria Zapata North Elementary School. Mayores informes al 956-2856877 o a la Oficina de Educación Especial al 956-756-6130.

NACIONAL

TAMAULIPAS

Disputas golpean transición Por Julie Pace y Catherine Lucey ASSOCIATED PRE SS

NUEVA YORK —Las disputas y las falsedades que permearon la campaña presidencial de Donald Trump están ahora presentes en su transición a la Casa Blanca y han forzado a sus asistentes a defender sus aseveraciones infundadas sobre voto ilegal, además de que se han filtrado al público sus luchas internas.

El lunes, la campaña para un recuento de votos encabezada por la candidata del Partido Verde Jill Stein y a la que se unió la oficina de campaña de Hillary Clinton siguió marchando en tres estados, con base en parte a la aseveración no corroborada de Stein de que ataques cibernéticos pudieron haber interferido en las máquinas electrónicas de votación. Funcionarios de Wisconsin aprobaron los planes de iniciar un recuento de votos esta misma semana. Stein solicitó además un recuento en Pennsylvania y se espera que haga lo

mismo en Michigan, donde las autoridades certificaron el lunes el triunfo de Trump.

Trump ha criticado los recuentos y ahora acusa sin evidencia qué él, y no Clinton, hubiera ganado el voto popular si no hubiera sido por los "millones de personas que votaron ilegalmente".

A través de Twitter, señaló a Virginia, California y New Hampshire.

No ha habido indicios de saboteo extenso en la elección o de fraude electoral en esos estados ni en ningún otro, y los asesores de Trump pasaron apuros el lunes para respaldar la afirmación de su jefe.

El vocero Jason Miller dijo que la votación ilegal era "un asunto preocupante", pero la única evidencia que mencionó fue un reporte noticioso de 2014 y un estudio sobre irregularidades electorales realizadas antes de la elección de 2016.

Trump se reunió el lunes con candidatos para su gabinete, incluido el general retirado David Petraeus, un nuevo contendiente para el puesto de secretario de

Estado. Trump se reunirá el martes con Mitt Romney, quien se ha convertido en un símbolo de las divisiones internas en el equipo de transición.

Petraeus dijo a reporteros que estuvo aproximadamente una hora con Trump, y elogió al presidente electo por mostrar "una enorme comprensión sobre una amplia variedad de retos que hay allá afuera".

Petraeus, exdirector de la CIA, se declaró culpable el año pasado a un cargo menor por mal uso de información clasificada relacionada a documentos que proporcionó a su biógrafa.

Se ha dicho que el vicepresidente electo Mike Pence, quien encabeza el proceso de transición, está entre quienes apoyan a Romney para que encabece el Departamento de Estado.

Romney fue un duro crítico de Trump durante toda la campaña presidencial pero le interesa el puesto en el gabinete, y ellos conversaron al respecto durante una reunión al inicio de este mes.

ZCISD

APRENDEN DIVIRTIÉNDOSE

MUSEO EN ZAPATA 1 A los interesados en realizar una investigación sobre genealogía de la región, se sugiere visitar el Museo del Condado de Zapata ubicado en 805 N US-Hwy 83. Opera de 10 a.m. a 4 p.m.

Existen visitas guiadas. Personal está capacitado y puede orientar acerca de la historia del Sur de Texas y sus fundadores. Pida informes en el 956-765-8983.

LABORATORIO COMPUTACIONAL 1 La Ciudad de Roma pone a disposición de la comunidad el Laboratorio Computacional que abre de lunes a viernes. Informes en el 956849-1411.

GLOBOS AEROSTÁTICOS EN L.I.F.E. GROUNDS 1 Del 2-4 de diciembre habrá vuelos en globos aerostáticos, comida, artesanías, música, show de globos y más. En L.I.F.E. Grounds, ubicada E. HWY 59 de 4 p.m. a 12 a.m.

PATINAJE SOBRE HIELO EN LAREDO ENERY ARENA 1 Todos los días hasta el viernes 23 de diciembre en LEA de 4 p.m. a 9 p.m. Renta de patines 8 dólares y 5 dólares llevando los propios patines.

Sesiones de patinaje son de 45 minutos.

Boletos en venta en las taquillas de LEA, 6700 Arena Boulevard. Mayores informes al 956.791.9192.

Foto de cortesía | ZCISD

Sammy Luera de la Agencia Healthy South Texas llevó una lección divertida a los estudiantes de la primaria Fidel & Andrea Villarreal. Los pequeños aprendieron acerca del programa Choose MyPlate y los cinco grupos alimenticios que son la base de una dieta saludable. Junto con la lección los estudiantes prepararon un smoothie de frutas pedaleando en la “Bicicleta Smoothie”. El departamento de nutrición infantil de ZCISD se unió a la agencia para brindar fruta e ingredientes frescos para esta divertida lección.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Nuevo Laredo

Rivas destacó que la presencia del Gobernador del Estado y la cercanía de ambos gobiernos, fortalece a la ciudad y a sus habitantes, al saber que Nuevo Laredo cuenta con el apoyo de la máxima autoridad de Tamaulipas.

Gobernador visita Nuevo Laredo E SPECIAL PARA TIEMP O DE ZAPATA

NUEVO LAREDO, México— A casi 60 días de su administración, el Gobernador del Estado, Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca, estuvo en Nuevo Laredo, México por segunda ocasión para refrendar el compromiso con las familias neolaredenses y los sectores productivos, de garantizar seguridad, generación de empleo y desarrollo económico para esta frontera.

En reunión con concesionarios y propietarios de medios de comunicación, representantes de los diversos sectores productivos de la ciudad y autoridades invitadas de Laredo, el Gobernador García Cabeza de Vaca y el Presidente Municipal, Enrique Rivas, sostuvieron una plática para escuchar y atender inquietudes y sugerencias de los presentes, donde el gobernador estrechó lazos con la sociedad.

Ante los líderes de las cámaras empresariales, colegios de profesionistas; asociaciones civiles y empresarios, dijo que estará muy cercano a la gente, muy cercano a los neolaredenses.

"En 60 días es la segunda ocasión que estoy aquí en Nuevo Laredo y hay un porque, para mí es muy importante mandar un mensaje, se los dije en su momento y vengo a reiterarlo, necesito que me sientan como un gobernador cercano a sus familias, a los organismos productivos y a la sociedad civil”, manifestó García Cabeza de Vaca.

Refirió habrá de impulsar toda la participación ciudadana que sea posible y tan sólo la participación de gobierno que sea necesario.

“Quien va a impulsar el desarrollo en nuestro Estado son ustedes los sectores productivos, quienes generan la riqueza, quienes pagan los impuestos y generan los empleos y nosotros, el alcalde Enrique Rivas y un servidor, debemos de concentrarnos en llevar a cabo todas las acciones que sean necesarias para impulsar el desarrollo en Nuevo Laredo", señaló el mandatario.

Por su parte, el alcalde, destacó que la presencia del Gobernador del Estado y la cercanía de ambos gobiernos, fortalece a la ciudad y a sus habitantes, al saber que Nuevo Laredo cuenta con el apoyo de la máxima autoridad de Tamaulipas.

"Agradecemos la disposición que ha tenido para venir a nuestra ciudad, en esta ya su segunda visita en menos de 60 días de haber iniciado su administración, para convivir con nosotros; para estrechar los vínculos que nos unen al Gobierno Estatal. Su presencia aquí nos da la certeza de que Nuevo Laredo podrá estar alejada geográficamente de la capital del Estado, pero jamás alejada de sus afectos", manifestó Rivas.

Además el Presidente Municipal, le externó un proyecto al Gobernador que consiste en promover a Nuevo Laredo como sede para el Primer Congreso Binacional en Materia de Competitividad, para poner a Nuevo Laredo en el mapa de las economías globales.

Otro de los temas relevantes que trataron fue el de los paisanos, las medidas de seguridad y las atenciones que tendrán las autoridades a la llegada de los miles de visitantes a nuestro Estado por las próximas fechas decembrinas.

Entre los asistentes destacan el Secretario de Seguridad Pública del Estado, vicealmirante, Luis Felipe López Castro, el Procurador General de Justicia del Estado, Irving Barrios Mojica, el Mayor de Laredo Texas, Pete Sáenz, el Cónsul General Phillip Linderman y la Cónsul de México en Estado Unidos, Carolina Zaragoza.

GUERRERO AYER Y HOY

La última despedida Nota del editor: Esta serie de artículos sobre la historia de Ciudad Guerrero, México, fueron escritos por la guerrerense Lilia Treviño Martínez (1927-2016), quien fuera profesora de la escuela Leoncio Leal.

Por Lilia Treviño Martínez TIEMP O DE ZAPATA

Sin volver la vista atrás, me alejé con el paso ligero de la juventud, y me trasladé con mi familia a la Nueva Ciudad. Cuatro días después, el 11 de octubre,

regresamos para asistir a la ceremonia en la cual por última vez en aquella ciudad, se rindieron honores al lábaro patrio y a las reliquias históricas: la estatua de Juárez erigida en su pétreo pedestal en 1906, el reloj público en el frontispicio del Palacio Municipal, los Libros de Actas y Archivo de la Ciudad, y la Cruz de Hierro que remataba la torre del Templo, orgullo de los guerrerenses.

La imponente ceremonia estuvo presidida por el C. Ing. Eduardo Chávez, que como Secretario de Recursos Hidráulicos representa-

ba al Sr. Adolfo Ruiz Cortines, Presidente de la República. Estaban presents autoridades civiles y militares de las principals ciudades de la frontera tamaulipeca, así como del vecino estado de Nuevo León. Los contigentes militares montaban guardia ante la estatua de Juárez.

El Sr. Ing. Chávez, en su elocuente discurso, expresó: “Antigua Ciudad Guerrero, cuna de heroes: de Antonio Zapata, de Benavides, de Martínez; eres ahogada por aguas que vivificarán un ancho territorio para

gloria de México…”

Y encaminando sus pasos hacia el pie de la estatua del Benemérito, exclamó, visiblemente emocionado: “¡Padre Juárez, tú que marcaste las líneas del liberalismo y de la organización social de México, tú que llevas la sangre morena de nuestra raza autóctona, recibe el homenaje que te brindamos con emoción. Ve a la Nueva Ciudad Guerrero, y desde tu viejo pedestal sigue despertando los sentimientos de todos los guerrerenses en pro de la grandeza de la Patria!”.

Sports&Outdoors THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, November 30, 2016 |

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DALLAS COWBOYS

A7

NCAA FOOTBALL: HOUSTON

Cowboys’ defense slipping while team keeps on winning Cowboys meet Vikings Thursday Associated Press

By Schuyler Dixon

Interim coach Todd Orlando will take over the three-loss Cougars football team heading into their bowl game after head coach Tom Herman left for Texas.

A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

FRISCO, Texas — Cornerback Brandon Carr bristled at the suggestion that the Dallas defense had lost its mojo through four straight games without forcing a turnover, or 53 pass attempts by Washington’s Kirk Cousins without a sack.

The nine-season veteran has a pretty strong argument behind him, as does second-year safety Byron Jones when he summarily dismisses any negative numbers. The Cowboys have won 10 straight games , the most in franchise history in the same regular season.

Dallas is a win away from topping the 10-game streak in 1971 that included the playoffs and the Cowboys’ first Super Bowl title. With a win over Minnesota on Thursday night, Dallas (10-1) will match the longest streak of any kind for the club — an 11-game run that bridged the 1968-69 regular seasons.

So, forget the late, easy touchdown drive for Ben Roethlisberger that put Pittsburgh back in front and forced Cowboys rookie Dak Prescott to answer for the second time in the

Cougars moving on after Herman’s departure

By Kristie Rieken ASSOCIATED PRE SS Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle file

The Cowboys defense has slipped in recent weeks but hopes to get a boost Thursday night against the Vikings with the return of safety Barry Church.

final two minutes to keep the winning streak alive.

And never mind on three straight second-half drives that ended in touchdown passes by Cousins, who threw for 449 yards on Thanksgiving.

The Cowboys were improving weekly on defense and had reached the top 10 statistically going into the Pittsburgh game — a week after dominating Cleveland and its quarterback-challenged offense 35-10. But they’ve been sliding since then.

The takeaway drought comes a year after Dallas

was the worst in the league in that category, then started this season by forcing at least one turnover in six of the first seven games. And now the Cowboys are coming off their first game without a sack.

There’s a common denominator in the fourgame stretch without a takeaway: the absences of safety Barry Church (broken right arm) and cornerback Morris Claiborne (groin injury). Church is expected to return against the Vikings, and owner and general manager Jerry Jones said he believes Claiborne will be

back before the end of the regular season.

Jones shamelessly acknowledges that the Cowboys have invested more in their offense, and he likes to point out that drafting rookie NFL rushing leader Ezekiel Elliott with the fourth overall pick was in part a move for the defense by giving Dallas more power to control the clock.

And the stats show the discrepancy. Tyrone Crawford is the sacks leader with just 3 1/2, and Church is the only player with more than one interception despite missing four games. He has two.

NCAA FOOTBALL: TEXAS LONGHORNS

TEXAS PAYING $19 MILLION TO LAND TOM HERMAN ‘Horns pay up for their next coach

By Brian Davis COX N EWSPAPE RS

AUSTIN — Texas athletic director Mike Perrin believes coach Tom Herman is “the real deal, the right choice and a great choice for Texas.”

To get Herman, though, Texas will spend a great deal of money.

Coaching changes are expensive propositions, and this one will be no different for the Longhorns. To fire Charlie Strong, pay off his assistants’ contracts and close out Herman’s deal with Houston could cost Texas an estimated $19 million.

And that’s all before Herman blows his whistle at the first practice.

The Texas athletic department is entirely selfsufficient. No public money is used. All funds in the athletic department’s operating budget come from private donations, ticket sales, advertising and television contracts.

The UT football program generated almost $95 million in profits during the 2014-15 academic year, according to the most recent numbers available.

That money is used to help fund 19 other varsity sports.

Don’t expect UT officials to reach deeper into

Eric Gay / Associated Press

Texas is willing to pay $19 million to secure Tom Herman, money used to fire Charlie Strong, pay off his assistants and close Herman’s Houston deal.

fans’ wallets, either. Former athletic director Steve Patterson raised ticket prices prior to the 2015 season. His decision sparked such outrage that Perrin announced football ticket sales would remain flat for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

All that said, it’s still a lot of dough.

To hire Strong in January 2014, UT officials had to pay $4.375 million to their Louisville counterparts to buy out the rest of Strong’s contract. It was believed to be the first time UT had ever paid to buy out any coach so they could come to Austin.

“We haven’t had to hire (a coach) in 16 years,” Patterson said at the time.

Strong signed a fiveyear guaranteed contract with a $5 million base that

had an annual $100,000 escalator clause, something that kicked in regardless of on-field performance. If Strong was fired without cause, as in this case, he was owed the balance of the contract, according to the terms.

Strong was scheduled to earn $5.3 million in 2017 and $5.4 million in 2018.

However, the fine print states that UT is required to pay “the base salary that coach is receiving at the date of such termination” through Jan. 23, 2019.

Strong earned $5.2 million during the 2016 season. If that’s the case, then UT would owe Strong just $10.4 million for the next two years.

The contract also states that should Strong land another job, the money paid by UT would be

offset as much as 50 percent by the new school.

For example, if Strong landed a job that paid $1 million annually, UT would get $500,000 off what it owes him.

Patterson signed each of Strong’s assistants to multi-year contracts, also a first in UT history.

Strong’s nine assistant coaches were scheduled to make about $4.5 million in 2017. Three coaches had deals that stretched into 2018 totaling an additional $1.8 million.

Most of the assistants are expected to look for new jobs, and the school is usually off the hook for whatever the assistant makes with his new employer. But there’s nothing to stop all nine from sitting at home and drawing a UT paycheck.

According to the terms of his Houston contract, Herman owes his previous employer $2.5 million if he leaves UH before Feb. 28, 2017.

Texas officials usually pay that, although the school didn’t pay former offensive line coach Joe Wickline’s buyout to Oklahoma State. That became an embarrassing two-year legal drama that was eventually settled for $250,000.

Herman agreed to a five-year deal worth more than $5 million and escalates to more than $6 million before completion.

The UT System Board of Regents could approve the final parameters this week.

HOUSTON — The Houston Cougars are picking up the pieces after coach Tom Herman bolted for Texas this weekend. Interim coach Todd Orlando has taken over to prepare them for their bowl game while the administration looks for a new coach to try and build on the progress Herman made in two seasons.

Orlando, who was Houston’s defensive coordinator under Herman, thinks the Cougars will be just fine.

“These kids have battled through a whole bunch of things this year and they’ve always responded,” he said.

“They’ve never let us down. They’ve always gone at it with a great attitude and I don’t expect that to change.”

Orlando acknowledged that there was some disappointment among players in the wake of Herman’s departure to take over for Charlie Strong, who was fired the same day Herman was hired .

He said he spoke to the team all together before they broke into position groups to further discuss the change. The upperclassmen dealt with the move better than many of his freshman and sophomores, who had counted on Herman to be there throughout their time in Houston.

He said those players really bought into Herman’s culture and embraced the catchy slogan termed “H-Town Takeover” he used to boost the team’s profile on social media.

“My concern is for the young guys, the young guys that were part of the H-Town Takeover and them analyzing things and I see it in their face,” Orlando said. “But I do feel comfortable that it is better after a couple of days.”

Herman led the Cougars to a 13-1 record last season and a trip to the Peach Bowl before helping them to a 9-3 record this season which included wins over Oklahoma and Louisville, who were both ranked third at the time. He isn’t the first coach to propel Houston back into to national spotlight before leaving for a more high-profile job.

Kevin Sumlin coached the Cougars for four seasons before leaving for Texas A&M. He helped them to a 12-1 record in 2011. He made them a national contender for the first time since the 1980s before many lean years after the Southwest Conference disbanded in 1995

and they weren’t invited to join the Big 12 or Southeastern Conference.

Tony Levine took over for Sumlin, but was unable to replicate his success. He was fired in 2014 after going 7-5 to clear the way for Herman to take over after serving as offensive coordinator for Ohio State when the team won the national title that year.

Now they have to search for a new coach yet again. Orlando said he and offensive coordinator Major Applewhite will both interview for the job, and athletics director Hunter Yurachek promised a national search to find a coach to “maintain our program’s national prominence.”

For Orlando and his staff preparing for the bowl game comes second to ensuring they don’t lose their top recruits following Herman’s departure.

“I told the staff: ‘You’re going to see every one of our commitments and I don’t care if you have to stay at school for five hours and stay in their house for four hours,”’ he said. “It doesn’t matter.

There’s nobody more important than those committed kids and it’s the stability part of it. I want to make sure they understand we’re business as usual.”

Orlando has been impressed with some public support many of his players have shown for the team in the last few days, and none meant more than one from defensive tackle Ed Oliver . The freshman, who is Houston’s best player and one of the top defensive tackles in the country, first joked on Twitter that he was declaring for the draft even though that isn’t possible, before sending a second tweet that ended with “I ain’t going nowhere.”

“He’s been great,” Orlando said. “There’s one thing about that guy and it’s that he loves this place.

I think he’s got a little bit of a chip on his shoulder to say you know what: ‘I’ll carry us a little bit. We’re OK. Time to adjust and see what happens.”’

Herman did a variety of things to bond with his players, namely getting a diamond encrusted grill made by Houston rapper Paul Wall after they won the American Athletic Conference title last season. While Orlando is committing to keeping a good relationship with his players, he was quick to point out that his style would be far different than his predecessor.

“I’m not going to wear a grill,” he said. “I’m not going to dance around.

I’m going to be me.”

A8 | Wednesday, November 30, 2016 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

FROM THE COVER JUAREZ From page A1 drug markets] and the disputes between these groups and distribution of these drugs.”

Others attribute it to a shift in political power: In June, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, lost the Juarez mayor’s office to Hector Cabada, a former television personality who ran as an independent. In the state capital of Chihuahua, the rival National Action Party won the governorship that same month; the PRI had held power since 1998.

“The government-criminal relationships that

VOTING From page A1 about the impact of illegal voting, as reflected in the national popular vote.”

The leader of the group, which claims to be the nation’s leading voting integrity organization, added that it specifically was endorsing Trump’s claim that “millions” of illegal votes were cast in the 2016 elections.

Catherine Engelbrecht, the group’s president, cited no direct reports of actual voting irregularities. Instead, she pointed to what she sees as inadequate voter ID protocols, the absence of an interstate process for confirming voters’ identities and citizenship, and other voter-perceived registration deficiencies.

“All this and more contributes to the very serious problems we’re now facing,” Engelbrecht said in an email.

Engelbrecht questioned whether Trump was influenced solely by True the Vote’s work and that of board member Gregg Phillips, who tweeted Nov. 13 that “we have verified more than three

have been in existence over the past six years — whether illicit collusion between the two sides or more benign patterns of interaction and mutual understanding — have been upset,” Patrick Corcoran, an analyst for InSight Crime, a think tank that analyzes crime and policy in Latin America, wrote last week. “... The recent spasms of violence are evidence of different groups jockeying for position under a new political order.”

Solis, the council member who ran as an independent and was sworn in Oct. 10, said the city’s new leaders are working to “correct” the previous administration’s errors,

though he didn’t offer specifics on what those were. He also said the mayor and the new police chief are developing a security plan to ensure homicide levels don’t approach what the city has witnessed in the past.

As of late last month, those details hadn’t been made public.

But Solis downplayed the idea that a change in power had played a significant role in the recent bloodshed.

“It’s possible, but I doubt it,” he said. “When we took office ... the homicides had already increased,” he said.

Yet another theory is that the violence is linked to a new resident in the

city's federal prison: Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the leader of the Sinaloa cartel. Guzman was at the helm of that crime group when it fought the hometown Juárez cartel several years ago for control of the lucrative drug routes that extend from the city's borders. After a brazen 2014 escape from a Mexico City prison, Guzman was recaptured in January and transferred to the Juarez federal prison. The United States hopes he will be extradited.

“The famous capo's arrest and expectations of his extradition has created a vacuum his rivals and heirs are eager to fill,” Corcoran wrote. But the analyst also noted that

sustained battles between cartels are rare and that the violence isn’t likely to reach previous levels.

If Guzman’s incarceration is a factor in the recent violence, it would be a new development; it didn't play a significant role in Ciudad Juarez after the kingpin was captured in 2014, though the Valley of Juarez, a remote stretch of small towns and farmland about 30 miles east of the city limits, remained extremely dangerous.

A January report by the U.S. Congressional Research Service estimated that Guzman still controlled about half of Mexico’s drug trade. Some crime experts have suggested that if Guzman’s

capture was going to shake up the Mexican crime landscape, it would have happened twice already — once following his 2014 arrest and again with his recapture in January.

Whatever the reason for the latest violence, people who live and work in the city say they know how to stay safe. Juan Mejia, who lives in Ciudad Juárez but travels to Texas to care for his mother in El Paso, said it's as easy as staying out of trouble.

“People just need to be calm. Things are getting ugly, but just stay away from using or selling drugs,” he said. “You get hooked or can’t pay — that’s when they get you.”

million votes cast by noncitizens.”

Engelbrecht noted that other groups have raised questions, too. “I think it’s important to note that we’re not the only ones making the observations,” she said.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest dismissed Trump’s complaint. “What I can say, as an objective fact, is that there has been no evidence produced to substantiate a claim like that,” he said Monday.

Phillips’ tweet, which went viral on the Internet, also said he was joining with True the Vote “to initiate legal action.”

He did not specify what sort of legal action was planned, and he so far has refused journalists’ requests on Twitter to provide proof for his claim. He did not respond to several requests for comment Monday through True the Vote, Twitter and the consulting company he founded in Austin, Autogov.com.

Said Engelbrecht: “We believe millions of illegal votes were cast in this election. We are talking with attorneys, but have not yet initiated any ac-

tion.” Asked about the kind of legal action that may be contemplated, she said it would be “on behalf of voters, against the bureaucracies that are aiding and abetting in the degradation of our rolls.”

Trump, who has been fending off recount efforts from supporters of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and others, has fired off a series of tweets in recent days explaining his 2 million-plus popular vote deficit to Clinton.

“In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide,” Trump tweeted Sunday, “I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”

Trump advisers were not able to provide evidence for that claim in a conference call with reporters Monday. Instead, they cited studies of alleged voter or registration fraud in previous elections. Some of the studies cited by the Trump team have been questioned by election experts.

Trump spokesman Jason Miller also declined to say what action Trump would take as president to investigate his allegations of illegal voting, saying it

would be “inappropriate” to speculate before the inauguration.

True the Vote, which long has advocated for stricter voter registration and identification laws, said it would continue to collect voter data and that it plans to publish a “comprehensive study” on how states and the incoming Trump administration can “address this growing problem.”

The group claims to have more than 180 million voter registration records, which it currently is updating.

The group said it also is using a software app called VoteStand for people across the country to report on problems they experienced at the polls.

According to Engelbrecht, more than 1,000 people have responded so far.

While the group said its study still is underway, Phillips repeated his claim Sunday about millions of illegal votes. “@realDonaldTrump is accurate. Millions of illegal votes were cast,” he tweeted. In a reference to the Obama Justice Department, he continued, “We began work on this project in 2009. Obamas

(sic) DOJ covered it up.”

Houston businesswoman Deborah Kelting, one of the founders of True the Vote, said her group’s database has documented “thousands and thousands” of instances of inaccurate or outdated voter registration rolls in past elections. It is less clear how many instances of actual voter fraud the group has uncovered.

Asked about the basis for Phillips’ claim of millions of noncitizens voting in the 2016 election, she said “I don’t know.” Given what she sees as lax voting laws in some states, she suggested that the evidence could turn up.

“When you’ve got California alone,” she said, “it’s crazy.”

Phillips’ claim of millions of illegal votes, along with True the Vote’s support for Trump’s statement, has gained widespread traction on rightwing websites, including Infowars, the Drudge Report and Breitbart, the conservative website led by top Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who recently called it “the platform for the alt-right.”

Phillips, a former top deputy with the state

Health and Human Services Commission, has a history of controversy. In past decades, he has been investigated in Texas and Mississippi for alleged cronyism in contract awards, though he never was charged or sanctioned.

He once told the Dallas Morning News that the accusations were unfounded, and he attributed the criticism to his outspoken nature.

He also played a key role in Texas’ efforts to privatize eligibility screening for Medicaid and Food Stamp programs as part of a Legislaturemandated consolidation of several state agencies under a revamped Health and Human Services Commission. Touted as a way to save the state $1 billion, Texas officials canceled a contract after the state auditor questioned whether any money was saved.

Phillips’ claims of widespread voter fraud have been debunked by a number of fact-checkers noting that he made the initial claim only five days after the election, long before any states had certified their results.

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, November 30, 2016 |

A9

BUSINESS

US economy grew at 3.2 percent in third quarter

By Martin Crutsinger A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy in the third quarter grew at the fastest pace in two years, with a revised report showing stronger consumer spending than first estimated.

The gross domestic product, the country’s total output of goods and services, expanded at an annual rate of 3.2 percent in the July-September period, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. That is up from a previous estimate of 2.9 percent.

The revision was significantly better than the meager gains of 0.8 percent in the first quarter and 1.4 percent in the second quarter when the economy was being held back by a strong dollar and weak business investment.

The 3.2 percent increase was expected to be the best showing for the year. Economists believe growth has slowed to

around 2 percent in the current quarter. At the moment, they forecast growth of around 2 percent to 2.5 percent for 2017.

But analysts caution that the outlook for next year could shift significantly based on policy changes — such as tax cuts and higher trade tariffs — that Presidentelect Donald Trump has promised to implement.

“Uncertainty regarding our forecasts is higher than usual given expected fiscal and trade policy changes under the new administration,” said Barclays economist Blerina Uruci.

The latest look at GDP, the second of three estimates from the government, showed that consumer spending grew at a 2.8 percent rate in the third quarter, better than the 2.1 percent advance first estimated. The newfound strength reflected more spending than initially thought in such areas as auto purchases and utility bills. Still, consumer spending,

Elise Amendola / AP file

In this Nov. 25 photo, Hunter Harvey, 2, helps his dad, C.J., wheel a big screen TV at Target, in Wilmington, Mass.

which accounts for 70 percent of economic activity, slowed from a gain of 4.3 percent in the second quarter.

Other areas of strength were in export sales, which grew at a 10.1 percent rate. Although the figure partially reflected a temporary surge in exports of soybeans, economists are hopeful that exports will show further gains in the months ahead. Earlier in the year, American manufacturers were battered by a strong dollar which made their goods more

expensive on overseas markets.

The 3.2 percent GDP gain, the best showing since a 5 percent advance in the third quarter of 2014, is not expected to last. Analysts believe growth will slow to a still-solid 2 percent rate in the current quarter as a temporary boost from business restocking of store shelves fades. The swing in inventories added 0.5 percentage point to growth in the third quarter, while the improvement in trade added 0.9 percentage

point to growth.

For the year, the economy is expected to grow a modest 1.5 percent, down from 2.6 percent growth in 2015 — the best performance in the seven years since the Great Recession ended in mid-2009.

While GDP growth is expected to slow, analysts still expect the Federal Reserve to boost a key interest rate at their meeting later this month.

It would mark the first rate hike since the Fed boosted its benchmark rate by a quarter-point a year ago.

During the recent campaign, Trump decried what he saw as a sluggish economic recovery under Obama, with GDP gains averaging around 2 percent since the end of the recession. Trump said he wanted to set a national goal of reaching 4 percent growth during his administration.

Most economists think that may be overly optimistic given the mass retirement of baby boomers, which would weaken growth in the labor mar-

ket, and very tepid productivity growth.

Some economists have said they will boost their GDP forecasts if Trump is successful in getting Congress to pass his package of tax cuts and increased spending in such areas as defense and infrastructure projects.

But their current estimates put growth at around 2.5 percent over the next two years, an improvement from their current forecast of growth next year of around 2 percent, but well below Trump’s 4 percent target.

By major categories, business investment in new plants and equipment edged up at an annual rate of just 0.1 percent in the third quarter. This sector has been held back by steep cutbacks in spending by energy companies responding to the plunge in oil prices. Government spending increased a slight 0.2 percent as a gain at the federal level offset cutbacks at the state and local level.

Giving the gift of financial well-being at the holidays

By Sarah Skidmore Sell A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

Instead of the latest toy or gadget, some people are trying to give their loved ones more financial security this holiday season.

While it’s long been possible to hand out cash, buy stock or contribute to college savings plans, financial institutions and retailers are making it easier to bestow a gift with lasting value.

Among them is Stockpile, a company that sells gift cards that can be redeemed for stock, which is rolling its products out to more than 14,000 stores this holiday season after seeing success at other retailers. College savings plan administrators, which see contributions peak at the holidays, have been adding new ways to donate. And Gift of College, which helps people to contribute to college savings plans or pay down student loans, began selling gift cards at Toys R Us and Babies R Us nationally this month.

“It’s easy to do and you don’t have to worry about a toy breaking, you don’t have to worry about batteries and you don’t have to worry about the latest trend,” said Young Boozer,

chairman of the College Savings Plans Network.

Financial gifts can be tricky, though — givers need to be aware of the tax and social implications.

Ann Coulsen, an assistant professor at Kansas State’s Institute of Personal Financial Planning, called such gifts a “wonderful and practical idea.”

But a recipient who wants something “now” might not appreciate it, she said.

It may take some explanation of how stocks or savings plans work. And if money causes resentment within a family, it may not be worth it.

Here’s a look at the ins and outs of some popular financial gifts: Cash Cash is easy to get and easy to give, but it doesn’t build value the way other options do. And for a large gift, be aware of the tax rules.

Giving a small amount of money each year is a common estate planning tool, but gifts from one person to another are capped by the IRS at $14,000 a year. Anything above that needs to be reported by the giver on their taxes and is subject to gift and estate taxes.

You may want to con-

Ben Margot / AP

In this Nov. 22 photo, Toys R Us employee Davy Pen holds a Gift of College gift card in the store in Emeryville, Calif.

sider taking that cash and putting it in IRA, mutual fund or other longer-term investment.

College savings A popular suggestion by financial planners for gifts to young children is contributing to a college savings plan.

“Grandparents, for the love of Santa, ask your kids if they have a 529 account set up for your grandchildren,” said Kristin Sullivan, a financial planner in Denver. “If yes, offer to put some money into that and put something small under the tree for the kiddos. If no, offer to set one up with some small seed money.”

529 college savings plans grow tax-free, and

withdrawals for educational expenses are also untaxed. The giver may get a tax break as well.

Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia offer either a state income tax deduction or tax credits for those contributions.

And nearly all plans allow contributions online or by check, said Boozer.

Craig Larson, of Apple Valley, Minnesota, welcomed his first grandchild a few months ago and is planning to open a college savings account for her this Christmas.

“I’ve already spoiled this poor little girl to death,” he said. “This is something tangible that is not going to end up under the bed or lost at the beach, and she’ll be able to

see it growing.”

To give you either need to establish a savings plan or contribute to an existing one, which requires knowing a few personal details. There are also third-party options that require less legwork.

Gift of College, for one, lets people contribute to a college savings account online or by buying a gift card in stores that can be used for a contribution to 91 different 529 plans.

These outside services do come with fees and other limitations, so Boozer suggests closely reading the fine print.

Student loan payments The average debt at graduation for a bachelor’s degree was $35,000 last year, so a worthwhile gift for many young people may be helping pay that down.

A check will suffice or you can pay the lender directly. Gift of College added student loans to its product lineup, which lets people help pay the loans at a more than a dozen lenders. Founder Wayne Weber said many employers are offering this as a perk for workers.

Stock Giving stock is a way to encourage an interest in

investing over the long term.

The giver may avoid the capital gain consequences of cashing in the shares themselves. But the tax implications for the recipient are tricky depending on their age, the value of the stock and more — so it may be worth consulting a professional.

People without brokerage accounts or those who want to start small can even buy stock at the checkout line.

Stockpile, which is sold in about 40 retail chains like Target, Safeway and Kroger, allows someone to buy a gift card for a dollar amount worth of stock, rather than the price for a share. Purchases can be as small as $1. Putting it in gift-card form makes it easier to give stock as a gift, says Dan Schatt, chief commercial officer of Stockpile.

The bulk of Stockpile’s customers are people giving gifts to a younger generation — about half of its account holders are under 30. But many companies also buy stock as gifts for employees.

“It’s such a society where you are consuming and buying, here is something that is going to last, potentially multiple generations,” Schatt said.

A10 | Wednesday, November 30, 2016 | THE ZAPATA TIMES