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SCHOOL SHOOTING
FEDERAL COURT
Shooter wounds 2
Man says not guilty By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
A man indicted for smuggling four illegal immigrants in the San Ygnacio area pleaded not guilty Thursday to the charges filed against him.
A complaint filed Nov. 12 alleges that four suspected illegal immigrants followed Gonzalez until agents detained them.
Photo by Ed Andrieski | AP
ABOVE: Sheriffs deputies stand guard over students at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colo., on Friday, where a student wounded two others before he apparently killed himself, authorities said. BELOW: Girls comfort each other on the football field after a shooting incident at Arapahoe High School.
Man enters school hunting for a teacher By DAN ELLIOTT ASSOCIATED PRESS
CENTENNIAL, Colo. — A teenager who may have had a grudge against a teacher opened fire Friday with a shotgun at a suburban Denver high school, wounding two fellow students before killing himself. Quick-thinking students alerted the targeted teacher, who quickly left the building, and police immediately locked down the scene on the eve of the Newtown massacre anniversary, a somber reminder of how commonplace school violence has become. One of the wounded students, a girl, was hospitalized and in serious condition. The other student suffered minor injuries and
was expected to be released from the hospital later Friday evening, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said. Robinson initially reported that the girl was wounded after confronting the gunman, but he later said that did not appear to be the case. Another nearby hospital reported that it treated a third student who was not shot. The gunman made no attempt to hide the weapon when he entered the school from a parking lot and started asking for the teacher by name, Robinson said. When the teacher learned that he was being targeted, he left “in an effort to try to en-
See SHOOTING
US GOVERNMENT
PAGE 11A
Guadalupe Gonzalez Jr., 34, waived his presence at arraignment set for Thursday in Courtroom 3C before U.S. Magistrate Judge Guillermo R. Garcia. Furthermore, he submitted a plea of not guilty. Gonzalez remains in federal custody on a $75,000 bond. Gonzalez, a U.S. citizen, was charged with one count of conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants within the United States and two counts of transport of and attempt to transport undocumented immigrants for financial gain, according to the indictment filed Dec. 3. Gonzalez could face up to 10 years behind bars per count if he’s found guilty, the indictment states. U.S. Border Patrol agents detained him Nov. 7 in the San Ygnacio area. That afternoon, a boat coming from the Mexican riverbanks made landfall on U.S. soil, about 25 yards away from where agents were located. A complaint filed Nov. 12 alleges that four suspected illegal immigrants followed Gonzalez until agents detained them. Agents detained Gonzalez about 100 yards away, according to court records. Two immigrants held as material witnesses in the case testified that Gonzalez instructed them to follow him. Gonzalez denied the allegation. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Cap on visas reached Special document for crime victims exhausted in months By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
McALLEN — The federal government has already reached its cap on special visas for crime victims, just a few months into the fiscal year, the fastest the limit has been reached since the U.S. government started issuing them in 2008, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The visas are meant to help authorities investigate crimes committed against people who are not legally in the U.S. and to provide a level of security to crime victims who otherwise might fear they could be deported if they come forward. Some advocates say it’s a positive sign that the program is being used. It may also suggest that Congress should revisit the statutory cap of 10,000 on the so-called U visas. The agency announced the cap was reached Wednesday, less than 2 1/2 months into the fiscal year. The second-fastest year to the cap was 2010 —
the first year it was reached — but that took 9 1/2 months. Although the cap has been reached, the agency continues accepting and reviewing petitions. Those initially deemed eligible are placed on a waiting list and will be in line to receive a U visa when next year’s allotment is offered beginning Oct. 1. The visas were created in legislation passed in 2000, and the agency has issued them to more than 89,600 victims and family members since 2008. About 75 percent of U visas are granted on the basis of domestic violence or sexual assault crimes. In exchange for helping authorities investigate or prosecute crimes, victims are permitted to remain in the country for four years and apply for a work permit. After three years, they can apply to be legal permanent residents. Victims must first get a “certification of helpfulness” from a local, state or federal investigating agency or a prosecutor or judge, and some agencies
may balk, at least initially. Capt. Norberto Leal of the Hidalgo County Sheriff ’s office in South Texas said his agency receives a request to certify for a U visa application every week. “Them (victims) having access to this or the potential qualification for a visa status, they’re sometimes more willing to cooperate with our agency,” Leal said. Typically, the victims are referred to him by nonprofit organizations that provide legal aid or work with victims of domestic violence. One of those groups is Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, which provides legal services to low-income Texans and immigrants who have entered the country illegally. The organization represents hundreds of victims applying for U visas every year, said attorney Lauren Joyner. “Victims already face incredibly long wait times for a decision on their application for a visa and
See VISAS
PAGE 11A
Courtesy photo
A Sheriff’s Office dog sits near 76 baggies of cocaine and other items seized Tuesday.
Man jailed after bust By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Zapata County Sheriff ’s officials busted a suspected street-level drug dealer Tuesday with several individual doses of cocaine and marijuana, plus drug paraphernalia, authorities said Friday. Sheriff ’s Office Narcot-
ics Task Force investigators charged Angel Humberto Saldañadel Bosque SALDAÑA-DEL with possesBOSQUE sion of a controlled substance, a second-degree felony, and posses-
sion of marijuana, a Class A misdemeanor. He was behind bars at the Zapata Regional Jail as of Friday afternoon. Sheriff Alonso M. Lopez and Chief Raymundo del Bosque mentioned hard work and dedication paid off in this bust.
See SEARCH WARRANT PAGE 11A
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
Saturday, Dec. 14
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Philippines Disaster Relief Drops of Love Charity Concert. 7:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. Vaqueros, 1406 Jacaman Road. Concert will feature Jolly Ranchers, Little Sister, Arnold Villamero & The White Satin. For $15 tickets, call Charlie San Miguel at 324-5678; Sergio Mora at 857-4582; or at Arnold Villamero 324-7669. Donations also accepted.
Today is Saturday, Dec. 14, the 348th day of 2013. There are 17 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Dec. 14, 1799, the first president of the United States, George Washington, died at his Mount Vernon, Va., home at age 67. On this date: In 1819, Alabama joined the Union as the 22nd state. In 1861, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, died at Windsor Castle at age 42. In 1911, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen (ROH’-ahl AH’-mun-suhn) and his team became the first men to reach the South Pole, beating out a British expedition led by Robert F. Scott. In 1918, “Il Trittico,” a trio of one-act operas by Giacomo Puccini, premiered at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House. (The third opera, “Gianni Schicchi (SKEE’kee),” featured the aria “O Mio Babbino Caro,” which was an immediate hit.) In 1936, the comedy “You Can’t Take It With You” by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart opened on Broadway. In 1946, the United Nations General Assembly voted to establish U.N. headquarters in New York. In 1961, a school bus was hit by a passenger train at a crossing near Greeley, Colo., killing 20 students. In 1962, the U.S. space probe Mariner 2 passed Venus at a distance of just over 21,000 miles, transmitting information about the planet, such as its hot surface temperatures and predominantly carbon dioxide atmosphere. In 1972, Apollo 17 astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan concluded their third and final moonwalk and blasted off for their rendezvous with the command module. In 1975, six South Moluccan extremists surrendered after holding 23 hostages for 12 days on a train near the Dutch town of Beilen (BY’-luhn). In 1981, Israel annexed the Golan Heights, which it had seized from Syria in 1967. Ten years ago: A weary, disheveled Saddam Hussein was displayed on television screens worldwide, a day after his capture by American troops. Five years ago: An Iraqi journalist hurled each of his shoes at President George W. Bush during a news conference in Baghdad; Bush ducked the flying footwear as they whizzed past his head and landed against the wall behind him. (The shoe-thrower, Muntadhar al-Zeidi (MOON’-tuhdahr ahl-zay-EE’-dee), ended up spending nine months in prison.) One year ago: A gunman with a semi-automatic rifle killed 20 first-graders and six women at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., then committed suicide as police arrived. Authorities say 20-year-old Adam Lanza had fatally shot his mother at their home before carrying out the attack on the school. Today’s Birthdays: Jazz musician Clark Terry is 93. Singer-actress Abbe Lane is 82. Actor Hal Williams is 79. Actress-singer Jane Birkin is 67. Actress Patty Duke is 67. Pop singer Joyce Vincent-Wilson (Tony Orlando and Dawn) is 67. Entertainment executive Michael Ovitz is 67. Thought for Today: “You can close your eyes to reality but not to memories.” — Stanislaw J. Lec, Polish author (1909-1966).
Sunday, Dec. 15 Fifth annual Handbell Christmas Concert, “Tapestry in Bronze,” presented by Memorial Bells of First United Methodist Church. 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland Ave. Sacred and secular selections and conclude with a Ring-SingAlong of favorite Christmas carols featuring Alejandra Rodriguez on organ. Free and open to public. Donations accepted. Contact church office at 7221674 or fumc_office@sbcglobal.net. Photo by LM Otero | AP
Tuesday, Dec. 17 Kiwanis Club of Laredo’s weekly meeting. Noon to 1 p.m. Holiday Inn Civic Center, The Covey Lounge. New members are welcome. Contact Memo Cavazos at 337-2266 or memocav@bizlaredo.rr.com.
A tree felled by ice rests near a house Dec. 6, in Richardson. Damage from this month’s North Texas ice storm has reached at least $30 million in residential insured losses, according to an industry group. Officials with the Insurance Council of Texas said the losses include homes damaged by downed trees, broken pipes and other residential damage.
Storm damage reaches $30M
Wednesday, Dec. 18
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Laredo Toastmaster’s evening meeting. Public speaking and leadership are focus. Meetings held on third Wednesday of each month. http://laredotoastmasters.toastmastersclubs.org. Contact Humberto Vela at humbertovela@sbcglobal.net or 740-3633.
DALLAS — Damage from this month’s North Texas ice storm has reached at least $30 million in residential insured losses, according to an industry group. Officials with the Insurance Council of Texas said the losses include homes damaged by downed trees, broken pipes and other residential damage in the greater Dallas metro area. The preliminary estimate released Thursday does not include damage to vehicles, roads or government property. Council spokesman Mark Hanna said the losses are expected to mount. “It’s going to go higher, but we don’t expect it to go an awful lot higher than that,” he told The Dallas Morning News. The wintry weather that hit North Texas beginning Dec. 5 stranded motorists and
Thursday, Dec. 19 Los Amigos Duplicate Bridge Club. 1:15 p.m. to 5 p.m. Laredo Country Club. Call Beverly Cantu at 7270589. “The Nutcracker” ballet, presented by Dance Expressions. 7:30 p.m. Laredo Civic Center Auditorium. For ticket information, call 724-5330. An Evening with SoundTown Ballroom Gala-Dance. 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Laredo Center for the Arts, 500 San Agustin Ave. Ensemble to feature vocalists and instrumentalists playing holiday classics in winter wonderland setting. Tickets $10. Available at VMT office, 820 Main St.; 273-7800; or 7251715. Also sold at door. Contact Robert M. Lopez at 273-7811 or rmlopez004@laredoisd.org.
Friday, Dec. 20 TAMIU Planetarium shows: “Season of Light” at 6 p.m. and “Holiday Music Magic” at 7 p.m. General admission $4 children and $5 adults. Call 326-3663.
Monday, Dec. 23 Zapata County Commissioners Court meeting. 9 a.m. Zapata County Courthouse. Call Roxy Elizondo at 7659920.
Tuesday, Dec. 24 Kiwanis Club of Laredo’s weekly meeting. Noon to 1 p.m. Holiday Inn Civic Center, The Covey Lounge. New members are welcome. Contact Memo Cavazos at 337-2266 or memocav@bizlaredo.rr.com.
Thursday, Dec. 26 Laredo Border Slam Poetry spoken word competition. 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Second and fourth Thursdays of each month. Gallery 201, 513 San Bernardo Ave. Three minutes to perform, two rounds, five random judges from the audience. Cash and quirky prizes. $2 suggested donation at the door. Email juliaorduna@gmail.com or visit facebook.com/laredoborderslam.
Monday, Dec. 30 Laredo Parkinson’s disease support group’s monthly meeting. 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Last Monday of each month. Laredo Medical Center, Tower B, First Floor Community Center. Provides information and support for people suffering from Parkinson’s disease and for their primary caregivers. Contact Richard Renner at 645-8649, 7245619 or renner.richard@gmail.com.
Submit calendar items at lmtonline.com/calendar/submit or by emailing editorial@lmtonline.com with the event’s name, date and time, location and purpose and contact information for a representative. Items will run as space is available.
closed schools, government offices and businesses. Some closures and power outages lingered into this week as thick ice that glazed roads slowly melted. Dallas County spent $300,000 to $400,000 to battle slick roads, according to conservative estimates from County Judge Clay Jenkins. He said that while sanding and salting roads constituted some of the county’s greatest efforts, the biggest cost came from closing offices, including the court system. That resulted in lost productivity of about $1.5 million, he said. In Tarrant County, meanwhile, weatherrelated costs came to $500,000, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Officials in Collin and Denton counties said they’re still calculating their storm-related expenses and don’t yet have firm figures.
West High School being razed after plant blast
Inmate guilty of trying to have judge killed
‘UT Rio Grande Valley’ name approved by regents
WEST — Crews have begun tearing down a Central Texas high school that was severely damaged in an April fertilizer plant explosion that claimed 15 lives. School board president Larry Hykel says a new high school and a new combined middle and intermediate school will be built at the same site and should open in 2015.
FORT WORTH — A federal inmate has been found guilty of trying to hire someone to kill a North Texas federal judge. Prosecutors say Phillip Monroe Ballard was convicted Wednesday of attempted murder for hire of a federal judge, after less than one hour of deliberations. Ballard faces up to 20 years in prison.
AUSTIN — Two recently merged University of Texas campuses along the southern border will be named the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. The UT System Board of Regents on Thursday unanimously approved the name for the campus. The university is expected to begin classes in the fall of 2015.
Texas A&M to begin 9 students hurt when bus offering journalism degree struck by pickup COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M University in the fall will offer a major in journalism, resurrecting the program a decade after it was eliminated. The program will admit 25 freshmen in each of the first few years. The degree will emphasize critical thinking, writing and an interdisciplinary approach to journalism.
MINERAL WELLS — Police in North Texas say nine children were hurt when their school bus was rear-ended by a hit-and-run driver. Mineral Wells police Sgt. Caleb Randall says 18 students were on the bus and nine were taken to a hospital for treatment. Randall says police stopped the Ford pickup involved in the accident and arrested the driver.
North Texan gets 75 years for raping girl, 12 FORT WORTH — A North Texas man has been sentenced to 75 years in prison for raping a 12-year-old girl in a field after she ran away from home. Prosecutors in Fort Worth on Thursday announced the penalty for 36-year-old Miguel Angel Muñoz of Arlington. Jurors convicted Muñoz of aggravated sexual assault of a child in the March 2011 attack. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION Nevada family nearly found on 1st day of search RENO, Nev. — Authorities say a deputy got within a quarter mile of a missing Nevada family on the first night of the search for them in subfreezing temperatures, but turned back because of treacherous conditions. The couple and children who vanished Sunday were found in good condition Tuesday. All were out of the hospital by Thursday. Pershing County Emergency Management Director Charles Sparke tells the Reno GazetteJournal the deputy didn’t follow tracks because the dirt road was steep and he didn’t have backup in case he got stuck.
Catholic school fires gay teacher, drawing protest PHILADELPHIA — The backlash has been sharp and swift for administrators at a Roman Catholic high school near Philadel-
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Brenda Soto dresses in a traditional Aztec costume while dancing outside of Our Lady of Perpetual Help church in Wichita, Kan., on Thursday, as part of the Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration. phia who fired a gay teacher. School officials say they had no choice but to fire Michael Griffin after he sought to marry his partner. They say he publicly violated his employment contract with Holy Ghost Preparatory School in Bensalem.
But thousands have protested the move through Facebook groups and petitions. Some people say Griffin should have known he was jeopardizing his job by publicizing his plan to wed. — Compiled from AP reports
SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted. The Zapata Times is free. The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500. The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail thezapatatimes.net
Local
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
THE BLOTTER Assault An assault/terroristic threats incident was reported at 12:45 p.m. Wednesday in the 2300 block of Del Mar Street. An assault was reported at 10:28 p.m. Wednesday
in the 800 block of Juarez Avenue.
Burglary A burglary of a vehicle was reported at 5:42 p.m. Tuesday in the 400 block of
Ramireño Lane.
Theft A theft was reported at 12:50 p.m. Thursday at O’Reilly Auto Parts, 2007 N. U.S. 83.
Firm donates vehicle SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
Photo by Cuate Santos | The Zapata Tmes
This 24-foot Kenworth refrigerated truck was donated to the South Texas Food Bank by the South Texas Outreach Foundation. The vehicle will allow the staff at the food bank to deliver and pickup frozen product. The presentation was made Wednesday in Laredo.
Food bank gets truck By SALO OTERO SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
Zapata County residents are seeing a new South Texas Food Bank refrigerated truck distributing product to the agencies and pantries. The South Texas Food Bank received the $115,000 vehicle at its December board meeting courtesy of the Laredo-based South Texas Outreach Foundation. STOF representatives Billy and Gloria Dickinson were on hand to see the 25foot truck. The South Texas Food Bank will use the $115,000 refrigerated truck to deliv-
er and pickup refrigerated and frozen product. It is the fourth grant from the South Texas Outreach Foundation in as many years. The foundation has previously donated a box truck and twice a grant for food product for STFB feeding programs — Kids Café, the elderly and veterans. “The South Texas Outreach Foundation has been a blessing to the thousands of food bank clients,” executive director Alfonso Casso said. “We are extremely grateful.” The food bank serves almost 1,500 families per month in Zapata County
via four agencies. The largest agency is Helping Hands, located at 8th and Del Mar. The phone number is 956-765-9327 and the coordinator is Norma Mendoza. The South Texas Food Bank also operates a Kids Café at the Zapata Boys and Girls Club and San Ygnacio serving an after-school meal and snack Monday through Friday to more than 500 children. The South Texas Food Bank board meets monthly the second Wednesday at noon at the IBC Commerce Bank community suite on Mann Road and San Dario Avenue, in Laredo.
Allstate Insurance Company and Sterling Autobody Centers donated a newly refurbished vehicle this week to Volunteers Serving the Need in Laredo. Volunteers Serving the Need is a nonprofit that services the needs of veterans in Webb county. It provides monthly dispensary of groceries and toi-
letries to approximately 500 veterans. The nonprofit also facilitates a special campaign called Adopt a Veteran. Over the last six years, Allstate Insurance Company and Sterling Autobody Centers have donated more than 160 vehicles across the country through the National Auto Body Council’s Recycled Rides Program. This year, vehicles have been
restored and made roadready by technicians at Sterling Autobody shops in nine states, including Texas. “Through the years, we have helped many families dealing with tough situations,” said Marcus Moreno, a Laredo Allstate agent. “We are proud to be able to get these families back on the road by providing a means of transportation.”
Man pleads not guilty By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
A Mexican national detained in Zapata County accused of being in the country illegally pleaded not guilty Tuesday in federal court in Laredo, court documents state. Jose Luis Razo-Rostro had arraignment set for Thursday but he waived it Tuesday. In addition, Ra-
zo-Rostro submitted his not guilty plea. An indictment filed against him Dec. 3 charges him with illegal entry after deportation, a crime punishable with up to 20 years in prison. Razo-Rostro was detained Nov. 4 by U.S. Border Patrol agents near Zapata. Agents determined Razo-Rostro was an illegal immigrant following a
brief interview. He had been previously deported from the United States in Laredo on Jan. 5, 2004, according to court documents. Razo-Rostro remains in federal custody on a $75,000 bond. A final pretrial conference is set for Jan. 15. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
Pope has early gift
“
JAMES TAMAYO
Wednesday morning I joined the millions of Catholics and people of goodwill in the United States in celebrating the good news that our Holy Father, Pope Francis, had been selected as the TIME Magazine Person of the Year. The award was first issued in 1927 by the editors of TIME Magazine and recognizes the person who has had the greatest impact on the world and news for the past year. In this four-week season of Advent, where Catholics prepare for the coming of the Christ child, it was as if Christians had received an early and somewhat unexpected Christmas gift. It was cause for joy and for pride that a secular medium such as TIME Magazine would bestow this prestigious honor upon Pope Francis. Although he is not the first pope to receive this recognition — Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II are previous recipients — his did come quicker after being elected Supreme Pontiff in March of this year. And this serves as a testament to the good, and godly, work that Pope Francis is performing as the Vicar of Christ on earth. In explaining his selection, TIME Managing Editor Nancy Gibbs posed the question, “How do you practice humility from the most exalted throne on earth?” For those of us in the faith, the answer is simple — be Christ-like. While the answer may seem obvious, its actions are not. Society continually bombards the faithful with temptation, secularization and corruption of mind and soul. Gibbs adds it is in this arena that Pope Francis has engaged believers and non-believers alike in the pressing issues of our day such as wealth and poverty, fairness and justice, transparency, modernity, globalization, the role of women, the nature of marriage and the temptations of power. All the while, the “people’s Pope” as TIME has described him, manages to make time for everyday persons and engage them in unscripted and personal conversations. Just two weeks ago and prior to celebrating Mass at a parish on the outskirts of Rome, Pope Francis during friendly exchanges with the parishioners shared how prior to becoming a priest he had worked as a janitor, a nightclub bouncer, a chemical technician and a literature teacher. Perhaps it is these humble beginnings that cultivated his passion and love of serving all, but especially the impoverished and marginalized. In accepting the role to serve as Holy Father, he became the first to choose the name of the 13th century saint of the poor, St. Francis of Assisi, as his own. And just like his namesake, Pope Francis through his actions has shown that he desires to lead a Church that personifies God’s love, that unifies and that heals. Whether it was his loving embrace of a severely disfigured man in Rome that moved many to tears or his own tears streaming down his face at World Youth Day as a young Brazilian boy proclaimed that he wanted to be a priest, Pope Francis has touched the lives of many with powerful words and through compassionate deeds. And as people of faith, this is exactly what we are all called to do. Actions and efforts like those of Pope Francis draw one closer to God and lead to a growth in faith. I’m not asking you to save the world. Instead, recall the wise words of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta who best captured the essence of growing closer to God through good deeds by understanding that we are not all called to do great things but we are all called to do small things with great love. You can begin by performing acts of kindness and charity at home and eventually expanding out into the neighborhood and parish. The needs in our community are great and there is always someone who could use a kind word, an attentive ear or a shoulder to lean on. This Advent season and every day of the year, let us do as our Holy Father does — serve one another with the love of Christ, Todo con Amor.
COLUMN
Second chances are a good thing
“
KEN HERMAN
AUSTIN — This case was nothing. I’m an evangelical teetotaler, prone to sharing my thoughts (most always unsolicited) about the evils of alcohol. If not for its spotty, at best, success last time we tried it, I’d be for reinstituting Prohibition. Despite that, after hearing the state’s case to toss Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg from office, I’m telling you it was nothing. As a Travis Countian, I heard nothing to justify tossing her. And, by way of his quick ruling Wednesday, Judge David Peeples said he heard nothing that would require him, under the law, to toss her. I still think Lehmberg should have quit after her April DWI and egregious performance during the arrest. But she didn’t, and after sitting through this week’s three-day trial of the removal action filed by Travis County Attorney David Escamilla, I believe the DA has earned the second chance she sought. Please keep in mind that she pleaded guilty and accepted what is believed to be the stiffest sentence ever meted out in Travis County for a first-offense DWI. I’m for even stiffer sentences for first-offense DWI, but that’s another discussion. There was no evidence she drank on the job or that her prodigious off-the-job drinking
I still think Lehmberg should have quit after her April DWI and egregious performance during the arrest. But she didn’t, and after sitting through this week’s three-day trial of the removal action filed by Travis County Attorney David Escamilla, I believe the DA has earned the second chance she sought. impacted her job performance. The law says an elected official can be removed for being drunk in public or in private, but Peeples said this to Assistant Travis County Attorney Jim Collins: “Why should I be very impressed with what she did in the privacy of her home?” Collins said it showed “a pattern of conduct,” one that included the very public DWI. But there was no evidence the pattern affected her job performance. In a post-trial statement, Escamilla said, “It has never been our contention that Ms. Lehmberg was incapable of showing up for work and carrying out her duties.” I would not have voted for Lehmberg in 2012 if I’d known she was a practicing alcoholic. I prefer elected officials who aren’t untreated alcoholics. But despite my bad attitude about alcohol, I was impressed by the medical pros who’ve worked with Lehmberg postDWI and who said her recovery chances, if she stays in care, are decidedly positive. She completed 30 days of in-patient treat-
ment and is in psychotherapy and group therapy, medical care and physical therapy for ailments that contributed to her drinking. “When I retire, I don’t want to be drunk,” Lehmberg, who won’t seek re-election in 2016, testified. That’s great. But, selfishly, I’m more interested in her not being a pre-retirement drunk. I hope Lehmberg thrives in treatment. Alcohol abuse is insidious. Relapse is common. And if Lehmberg starts drinking again, I hope those involved in her care and those who work with her will raise a red flag. By job definition, a district attorney’s life is stressful. Lehmberg will be tempted and tested. She was during four and a half hours on the witness stand this week, the kind of trying ordeal — one she brought on herself — that I’m sure has caused more than one similarly situated witness to go home and have a stiff drink. Let’s assume Lehmberg did not do that. And let’s assume she sticks with therapy. If that
happens, we can all assume we’ve got a district attorney who’s doing the job to which she was elected. If this trial was anything, it was vindication for Lehmberg’s decision not to quit. “I’m a believer in redemption,” her lawyer Dan Richards told the judge. “I’m a believer in Ms. Lehmberg, and I’m a believer in recovery. There are thousands of people in the United States who are recovering alcoholics. To somehow say when someone slips up and said, ‘I plead guilty. I did wrong. I’m going to take every step I can to make it better.’ Then that person is the one you kick out of office as opposed to all the others is not what the Legislature intended.” Richards’ late mother Ann, Texas’ 45th governor, provided evidence that belief in recovery is well-placed. We now have a district attorney who can do likewise. (Ken Herman is a columnist for the Austin American-Statesman. E-mail: kherman@statesman.com.)
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY The Zapata Times does not publish anonymous letters. To be published, letters must include the writer’s first and last names as well as a phone number to verify identity. The phone number
IS NOT published; it is used solely to verify identity and to clarify content, if necessary. Identity of the letter writer must be verified before publication. We want to assure our
readers that a letter is written by the person who signs the letter. The Zapata Times does not allow the use of pseudonyms. Letters are edited for style, grammar, length and civility.
DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
No name-calling or gratuitous abuse is allowed. Via e-mail, send letters to editorial@lmtonline.com or mail them to Letters to the Editor, 111 Esperanza Drive, Laredo, TX 78041.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
Education is an issue Cost-of-living increase Greg Abbott, Wendy Davis fight for governor’s office By PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN ANTONIO — Classrooms in Texas are dramatically changing in 2014. So might education politics in the governor’s race. Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott and Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis continued trading barbs Wednesday over public schools, despite neither yet unveiling an education platform — signaling a potentially more intense education debate ahead than in past gubernatorial elections. Whoever replaces Gov. Rick Perry next year inherits a public school system undergoing a major makeover: Fewer highstakes standardized tests, more charter schools and districts restoring most of a historic $5.4 billion spending cut to classroom budgets. That makes it unlikely Abbott or Davis will confront education emergencies if they succeed Perry, who won’t leave office with the same legacy on public schools as predecessor George W. Bush. So instead, Abbott and Davis will duel over a future vision for Texas classrooms. What Abbott isn’t talking about is the past. He again declined Wednesday to weigh in on the Legislature slashing school funding in 2011, which led to more than half of the 1,000-plus public school districts in Texas suing the state in an ongoing case. “I can’t go back and reconstruct what was done in that legislative session, which was of course two legislative sessions ago,” Abbott said during a visit to a San Antonio charter school. “What I could tell you is as a leader what I
will be doing policy-wise, and that is setting our priorities on a different course.” Texas ranks among the worst in the country in per-pupil spending. Abbott said he couldn’t express his view on current funding levels because of the lawsuit and his duties as attorney general. “I can’t give you an answer about adequacy of funding when I’m going to be in a courtroom next month defending the adequacy of funding,” Abbott said. Davis spokeswoman Rebecca Acuna called on Abbott to take a side on the 2011 schools cuts. “I think Texas deserve a straightforward answer,” Acuna said. “He refuses to say what his position is.” Abbott is visiting with educators statewide before unveiling his platform for public schools early next year. His discussion with administrators at a KIPP academy about whether the school year should be extended and how to raise graduation rates. Abbott isn’t surrendering education-first voters to Davis, who built her early political profile as a defender of education before finding the national spotlight this summer with an 11-hour filibuster of abortion restrictions. Her first filibuster — in 2011 — delayed the Republican-controlled Legislature’s gutting of school funding to help close a massive state budget shortfall. When she returned to the Capitol this spring, Davis was often the first Democrat on the floor questioning GOP budget writers about putting that money back. Graduation rates and standardized test scores are on the rise in recent years in Texas, and the
state has long prided itself on preparing students for college and careers with high accountability standards. Davis wants all school funding restored after lawmakers put back more than $4 billion this spring. Acuna said Davis will roll out her education policy “very soon.” Until then, Davis is using the topic to launch her biggest attacks yet. She sought this week to align Abbott with those who support vouchers, in which families receive taxpayer dollars to remove their children from underperforming public classrooms and enroll them in private schools. Perry has called for vouchers but will end his 14 years in office without convincing lawmakers to act. It’s not a strictly partisan issue. This summer, the Republican-controlled House overwhelmingly approved a measure declaring that public money should stay in public schools. Rural Republicans especially tend to oppose voucher plans because their districts don’t offer many alternatives to traditional public schools. Abbott said vouchers weren’t his focus. “That said, we see competition works in every sector across the United States,” Abbott said. “We know competition works in the education setting as well.” Perry’s challengers in previous elections have tried elevating education as a major issue, while Perry stuck mostly to touting a roaring state economy and fighting against federal overreach. Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, said he expects schools to get higher billing now.
Veterans, others will receive 1.5 percent hike on Jan. 1 SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
The Department of Veterans Affairs recently announced a cost-of-living increase for veterans, families and survivors receiving disability compensation and pension benefits. The 1.5 percent change will increase monthly benefits payments beginning Jan. 1. Congressman Henry Cuellar responded to the announcement: “We have an obligation to care for America’s veterans and their families for their bravery and service to our country. I supported the passage of the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2013 because it bolsters the
“
We have an obligation to care for America’s veterans and their families.” U.S. REP. HENRY CUELLAR
amount of funds provided to nearly 4 million veterans for disability compensation and to over 360,000 surviving family members for dependency and indemnity compensation. Ensuring that our veterans receive the benefits they deserve is of utmost importance to me, and I am proud to see this increase taking effect in 2014.”
Among the veterans estimated to receive such compensation are 136,897 World War II veterans; 140,169 Korean Conflict veterans; 1,327,348 Vietnamera veterans; 1,546,030 veterans of the Gulf War era; and 695,574 veterans who served during peacetime. For more information about VA benefits, visit www.benefits.va.gov or call 1-800-827-1000.
State
6A THE ZAPATA TIMES
A&M faces discord By PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN, Texas — Tension over a new president at Texas A&M University escalated Friday, shifting an ongoing clash over higher education from the state’s other flagship campus back to Gov. Rick Perry’s alma mater. Since 2011 two of the nation’s largest universities — Texas A&M and the University of Texas at Austin — have been a battleground between changeminded politicians and academics who fear accountability and cost-cutting measures are being prioritized over scholarship. Faculty leaders at Texas A&M say they’re now bracing for what they consider a major affront: the possible appointment of a nonacademic as interim president of the 53,000-student campus, and at a time when A&M is enjoying record enrollment and a resurgent football program. Perry, an A&M graduate, has thrown his support behind Guy Diedrich, the A&M system’s vice chancellor for strategic initiatives. Diedrich comes not from the classroom but the private sector, and is the former president of the consulting firm Austin Technology Ventures. That has rankled top A&M faculty, who say the university’s credibility is at stake. “We’re going to be a joke run by political hacks,” said B. Don Russell, chairman of distinguished professors at A&M who is leading the opposition. A&M regents could name an interim president as early as Saturday. Perry spokeswoman Lucy Nashed said the decision is up to A&M Chancellor John Sharp and regents. “The governor believes Guy Diedrich is a qualified candidate with a vision for the future of Texas A&M,” Nashed said. A&M regents might settle on a new leader just days after their counterparts at the University of Texas decided to keep theirs. UT-Austin president Bill Powers has clashed in recent years with some regents and Perry’s higher education agenda. But with his job on the line Thursday, Powers received a cautious endorsement from his frustrated chancellor and regents decided not to move against him. It lets Powers keep the job he’s held since 2006, though UT Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa acknowledged their relationship remains “strained.” Powers is popular on his 50,000-student campus and was named chairman of the prestigious Association of American Universities in October. But he’s taken critical views of higher education changes backed by Perry, who has extolled $10,000 degrees at other campuses while pushing for larger ones like UT-Austin to help students to graduate in less time.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013
Veterans, both 107, meet for 1st time By WILL WEISSERT ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — At age 107, World War II veteran Elmer Hill doesn’t have many elders left. That’s why meeting a fellow veteran and Texan who’s three months his senior was a bit of a shock Friday. Upon seeing Richard Overton for the first time, Hill suggested he might have to change his birthday. “He’s 107? Well, I better move mine up a little bit!” Hill exclaimed. The pair, who both fought in the war’s Pacific theater, met at an Austin senior center where they shook hands warmly, had lunch and were honored by Mayor Lee Leffingwell. “As far as we know,” Leffingwell said, the men are the oldest and second-oldest living veterans in the U.S. Overton worked at a furniture store and is a former courier at the state Capitol who grew up in Austin, where he still lives. Hill, a retired high school principal, lives in the East Texas community of Henderson and was driven about 240 miles for the event, which was organized by Emeritus Senior Living. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs does not have a complete list of all Americans who have served in the armed forces, making it difficult to verify that Overton and Hill are the nation’s oldest veterans. Still, Overton went to Washington for Veterans Day this year and was personally recognized by President Barack Obama. Hill, meanwhile, is set to visit Washington on Saturday. His mind sharp and his wit quick, Overton quips about smoking cigars and having an occasional drink. As he stood outside the
Photo by Ricardo Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman | AP
Richard Overton, 107, left, and Elmer Hill, 107, center, shake hands before Austin Texas Mayor Lee Leffingwell, right, presents a proclamation acknowledging and thanking Overton, and Hill for their service on Friday, in Austin. center amid chilly rain waiting for Hill’s car, he joked that he hoped his new friend was brining whiskey. Both are black, and during lunch, Hill talked about being drafted in 1942 into the then-segregated armed forces, and serving in the Navy. He was a cook and gunner on an aircraft carrier. “I didn’t volunteer. They put me in there,” he said. Asked later what advice he had for younger generations, Hill said: “Be good to yourself and your master and be a good citizen, wherever you are, whether it’s Navy, Army or just as a person at the house.” He also joked, “I’m not that old.
I’ve just been here a very long time.” Back then, blacks were assigned to all-black units and, at the start of World War II, they were often relegated to noncombat duties. As fighting continued, the heavy number of casualties forced the military to assign black troops to combat, and their numbers there spiked by 1945. Overton was already in his 30s when he volunteered and served in the Army’s 188th Aviation Engineer Battalion. He was at Pearl Harbor just after the Japanese attack. “I want to ask him a few questions about the war,” Overton said of Hill. “You’re still fighting a war,
you know. Now you’re just fighting one with yourself.” With both hard of hearing, however, conversation on specific topics proved difficult. Born May, 11, 1906, Overton recalled as a youngster seeing soldiers preparing for World War I. He said he was on a bridge and watched thousands of enlisted men arriving at Austin after walking 90-plus miles from San Antonio because there was no room for them on overcrowded trains. Later, he found himself a soldier. “Some things you went through in that Army you will never forget,” he said. “But it’s too much to tell. You can’t tell it all.”
Sentence in fatal DWI wreck stirs ire By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — “Affluenza,” the affliction cited by a psychologist to argue that a North Texas teenager from a wealthy family should not be sent to prison for killing four pedestrians while driving drunk, is not a recognized diagnosis and should not be used to justify bad behavior, experts said Thursday. A judge’s decision to give 16year-old Ethan Couch 10 years of probation for the fatal accident sparked outrage from relatives of those killed and has led to questions about the defense strategy. A psychologist testified in Couch’s trial in a Fort Worth juvenile court that as a result of “affluenza,” the boy should not receive the maximum 20-year prison sentence prosecutors were seeking. The term “affluenza” was popularized in the late 1990s by Jessie O’Neill, the granddaughter of a past president of General Motors, when she wrote the book “The Golden Ghetto: The Psychology of Affluence.” It’s since been used to describe a condition in which children — generally from richer families — have a sense of entitlement, are irresponsible, make excuses for poor behavior, and sometimes dabble in drugs and alcohol, explained Dr. Gary Buffone,
a Jacksonville, Fla., psychologist who does family wealth advising. But Buffone said in a telephone interview Thursday that the term wasn’t meant to be used as a defense in a criminal trial or to justify such behavior. “The simple term would be spoiled brat,” he said. “Essentially what he (the judge) has done is slapped this child on the wrist for what is obviously a very serious offense which he would be responsible for in any other situation,” Buffone said. “The defense is laughable, the disposition is horrifying ... not only haven’t the parents set any consequences, but it’s being reinforced by the judge’s actions.” District Judge Jean Boyd issued his sentence Tuesday after Couch “admitted his guilt” last week in four cases of intoxication manslaughter in the June accident, according to a news release from the Tarrant County prosecutor’s office. The ruling came after the judge heard three days of testimony from witnesses, victims’ loved ones, investigators and treatment experts. The psychologist who testified as a defense witness at Couch’s trial said the boy grew up in a house where the parents were preoccupied with arguments that led to a divorce, the Fort Worth Star-
Telegram reported. But prosecutor Richard Alpert argued in court that if the boy continues to be cushioned by his family’s wealth, another tragedy is inevitable. A message left for Boyd by The Associated Press was not returned Thursday. The Star-Telegram reported that the judge said the programs available in the Texas juvenile justice system may not provide the intensive therapy Couch needs. His parents had said they would pay for him to go to a $450,000-a-year rehabilitation center near Newport Beach, Calif. Although Couch’s case was handled in juvenile court, he has been identified publicly by the Tarrant County Sheriff ’s Office. One legal expert said he had never even heard of “affluenza.” “The concept that I did something because I’m rich and spoiled doesn’t look like a good causation,” Richard Segura, an attorney at the University of Texas at Austin’s Criminal Defense Clinic, told the AP. “It doesn’t sound like something that would ameliorate the punishment.” On the other hand, he said, the defense attorney would have likely looked at all the facts in the case and tailored them in a way that he thought would best influence the judge’s decision. In addition, the
judge likely factored in rehabilitation, restitution and other factors when sentencing Couch, Segura said. Dr. Suniya Luthar, a psychologist who specializes in the costs of affluence in suburban communities, said her research at Columbia University in New York has shown that 20 percent of upper middle-class adolescents believe their parents would help them get out of a sticky situation at school, such as being caught for the third time on campus with a bottle of vodka. Boyd’s sentence reinforces that belief. “What is the likelihood if this was an African-American, innercity kid that grew up in a violent neighborhood to a single mother who is addicted to crack and he was caught two or three times ... what is the likelihood that the judge would excuse his behavior and let him off because of how he was raised?” Luthar asked. “We are setting a double standard for the rich and poor,” she added, noting the message is “families that have money, you can drink and drive. This is a very, very dangerous thing we’re telling our children.” Authorities said the teen and friends were seen on surveillance video stealing two cases of beer from a store.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A
International
8A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013
Rare storm leaves Middle East under snow ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM — A powerful winter storm left Jerusalem covered in snow on Friday, forcing police to block access to and from the city as a cold snap drove some Israelis to seek treatment from emergency medics. Rare snow also fell in Cairo’s suburbs and the port city of Alexandria while a blanket of white covered St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai. In Syria’s contested northern city of Aleppo, soldiers and rebels took a break from fighting as a thick layer of snow blanketed deserted streets, cars and buildings and temperatures hovered around zero. An anti-government activist said it has been quieter than it has been in more than a year, since the storm began late Tuesday. “All the fighters are cold and hiding,” the activist who uses the pseudonym Abu Raed said. He said residents in the city were relying on diesel or wood heaters although some had only blankets. Snow also fell in Damascus, but was quickly washed away by the rain. The weather also delayed for the second day an airlift of urgently needed food aid from Erbil, Iraq, to Qamishli in northeast Syria for displaced families, according to United Nations food agency. As soon as the Qamishli airport opens, WFP will start airlifting over 400 tons of food on two aircraft with 12 return flights between Iraq and Syria, it said.
Photo by Associated Press
People play in the snow in Damascus, Syria, on Friday, as a blustery storm brought gusty winds, torrential rains and heavy snowfall to most of Israel, Syria and the rest of the Middle East. Humanitarian agencies opted for air route because roads leading to Syria’s northern Hassakeh province have not been safe for convoy due to fighting in the area, the agency added. The cold weather was part of a storm, dubbed Alexa, which has been pounding much of Lebanon and parts of northern Syria since Wednesday, pushing temperatures below zero in mountainous areas and dumping snow and heavy rains. The snow has heaped another layer of misery on the already grim existence of many of the more than 2 million
Syrians who have fled the civil war raging in their homeland. In Lebanon, snow fell on northern and eastern regions where tens of thousands of Syrian refugees are staying, many of them in flimsy plastic tents. A Lebanese security official said a three-month-old Syrian baby died Friday in the northern town of Akroum. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the newborn had respiratory problems and the cold spell may have aggravated his condition.
Syrian refugees struggled to keep tents in place and were seen gathering sticks of wood from nearby fields to use them for heating. Families crammed into damp, muddy tents struggled to keep warm. In some cases, Syrian children came out of their tents to play with the snow. Israelis were told over media and public broadcasts on Friday not to enter or leave Jerusalem and some 1,500 people were evacuated from stranded vehicles overnight, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. Three emergency centers were
set up and medics treated 350 people for cold-related symptoms, Rosenfeld said. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said he asked the military for assistance. The airport also stopped flights briefly and several highways and main roads around Jerusalem were closed. The weather even featured in talks between visiting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said he was briefed on the emergency measures. Kerry, a former Massachusetts senator, said the snow made him feel “at home.” “I have heard of making guests welcome and feeling at home. This is about as far as I’ve ever seen anything go ... giving me a New England snowstorm,” Kerry said as he viewed a snow-covered Old City of Jerusalem with Netanyahu. In the West Bank and Gaza, U.N. relief teams offered emergency services to the worst-hit communities. In Gaza, which was experiencing its first snow in a decade, more than 500 people were evacuated from their homes, according to Hamas spokesman Ihab Ghussein. Egypt’s state MENA news agency said the country’s two Mediterranean ports near the city of Alexandria and two ports on the Red Sea remained closed for the third consecutive day Friday. The report quoted the head of the Alexandria port authority, Adel Yassin Hammad, as saying the decision was taken to avoid possible accidents.
Oil changes nearing By KATHERINE CORCORAN AND E. EDUARDO CASTILLO ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Brian Snyder/pool | AP
Secretary of State John Kerry prepares for a press conference at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, on Friday. Kerry said the U.S. will continue to seek the release of an American citizen missing in Iran.
Kerry meets with Israel to push peace talks By MATTHEW LEE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday in his latest push for an elusive Mideast peace deal. On his ninth trip of the year to the region, Kerry continued his furious pace of shuttle diplomacy amid a rare snowstorm that blanketed Jerusalem. “I have heard of making guests welcome and feeling at home. This is about as far as I’ve ever seen anything go ... giving me a New England snowstorm,” said the former Massachusetts senator as he viewed a snow-covered Old City of Jerusalem with Netanyahu. Kerry met Thursday in Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and it took him more than two hours to get back to Jerusalem because of the wintry conditions, a trip that usually takes about 20 minutes. He departs later Friday for Vietnam. Concerned that a final status agreement may not be possible by the May target date the two sides accepted when they resumed talks in August, U.S. officials say Kerry is hoping for a framework accord that would contain the principles of a comprehensive pact, but not specific details. If an outline were achieved, the negotiations could be extended beyond the nine-month timeline originally set by Kerry. The officials, who spoke to reporters aboard Kerry’s plane on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the negotiations pub-
licly, stressed that an agreement on all issues — including security, borders of a future Palestinian state, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees — by May remains the goal. But, should that prove unworkable, they said a framework agreement would buy time for additional negotiations. Netanyahu and Abbas agreed after numerous rounds of meetings with Kerry to negotiate for a minimum of nine months. A framework accord, the officials said, would be a “logical step” on the path to a final status agreement. In Ramallah and Jerusalem, he will also follow up on elements of a West Bank security plan, ideas for which he unveiled on his most recent visit to the region just last week, and other points of potential progress. But his latest visit comes amid Palestinian unhappiness with the security plan and few, if any, tangible signs of progress. Kerry, along with special U.S. Mideast peace envoy Martin Indyk, met separately and then together for about three hours Monday with chief Israeli negotiator Tzipi Livni and her Palestinian counterpart, Saeb Erekat, Psaki said. Livni and Erekat were in Washington for a Mideast conference in which President Barack Obama, Netanyahu and Kerry participated. Kerry also spoke Wednesday by phone with Netanyahu. On Monday, though, top Abbas aide Yasser Abed Rabbo said if Kerry finalized a framework accord, he would be breaking a promise to try to negotiate a final agreement in the
current round of talks. The Palestinians are concerned that a framework deal will accommodate very specific Israeli security demands while offering only vague promises to the Palestinians, Abed Rabbo said. Security arrangements between Israel and a future Palestine would be central to such a framework. Kerry has argued that progress in negotiations is only possible if Israeli security concerns are addressed first. The security proposals presented last week to Abbas and Netanyahu include arrangements for the border between Jordan and a state of Palestine. U.S. officials have refused to discuss details, but Palestinian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details of the negotiations, say they would give Israel final say at that border for at least 10 years and would also have a military presence in the strip of land next to it, the West Bank’s Jordan Valley. Israeli officials have said they fear militants and weapons could be smuggled into a future Palestine if Israel gives up control over the West Bank-Jordan border. Abbas has said he is willing to accept an international presence there, but not Israeli forces. The Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in 1967, but are willing to accept minor land swaps in drawing the final border to accommodate some of the settlements Israel has built on war-won land.
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s sweeping away of seven decades of nationalist protections and letting foreign companies back into its oil fields is crucial to bringing the expertise and money needed to rejuvenate its sclerotic energy industry, supporters say. But even after the strong approval given by both houses of Congress this week, skeptics ask whether Mexico has the ability or will to regulate the private contracts for the benefit of all Mexicans rather than just a few. The final step for the energy package that passed Congress on Thursday is approval by the legislatures of 17 of Mexico’s 31 states, because of its changes to the Mexican constitution. Passage is widely seen as assured, even though the articles were once seen as sacred, a protection from foreigners plundering Mexico’s patrimony. Industry analysts and oil companies in the United States say both countries will benefit from the measure, which ends the monopoly of state-run Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, and allows Mexico’s government to contract with companies like Exxon Mobil and BP to explore and drill for oil and gas that Mexico hasn’t been able to tap. “It’s a win-win if there ever was one,” William Colton, Exxon Mobil’s vice president of corporate strategic planning, said in a webcast. Mexican oil exports to the United States are projected to drop as U.S. production increases from new fields, but analysts say increased investment in the Mexican economy is good for everyone, and not just for energy. “It will boost productivity, economic growth and job creation,” President Enrique Pena Nieto, who pushed the plan, said via his Twitter account after Thursday’s vote. Mexico faces a daunting task in making Pemex more competitive and efficient. While it’s a symbol of national pride and success, the company is widely seen as bloated, backward and corrupt. Pemex’s production is down 25 percent since 2004, and it’s suffering record thefts of its oil, some by its own employees. The company is dominated by a la-
Photo by Marco Ugarte | AP
An opposition lawmaker shouts while holding a protest banner, trying to block discussion of the energy reform bill in Mexico City. bor union headed by the powerful and wealthy Carlos Romero Deschamps, whose family is famous for its ostentatious lifestyle. It produces double the oil of Norway’s state-run Statoil, yet has 6.5 times as many employees, says Mexico’s Center of Research for Development, or CIDAC for its initials in Spanish. Many Mexicans are less than enthralled with previous hand-overs of state-run business to private enterprise. The turnover of banking and telecommunications to the private sector in the early 1990s resulted in some of the highest lending fees and cellphone bills in the developed world. “We don’t know how to regulate or supervise absolutely anything,” newspaper columnist Carlos Puig wrote this week. “We don’t know how to put a public transit concession in order. If we can’t do it with a few taxis, how are we going to do it with Exxon, Shell or BP?” Opponents of the change fear multinationals, especially from the U.S., will regain the sort of domination they had over Mexico’s oil before it was nationalized in 1938. Backers insist Mexico isn’t going to hand its oil and gas over to private enterprise, but rather the government will be contracting for the private expertise it needs to exploit vast reserves. Pemex has no deep water production among the
2.5 million barrels it produces each day. But such sources have the potential to boost output by a third, more than 1 million barrels a day, said Carlos Morales, Pemex general director for exploration and production. Mexico now imports about 20 percent of its natural gas. Shale reserves have a potential of producing 250 trillion cubic feet, which could triple the current domestic daily production, Morales said. It will take time and money to find and tap into fields — $60 billion a year, says Pemex, which has had to work with $28 billion a year. “In deep water, you can’t think less than six or seven years. Shale can be quicker, but no less than three,” Morales said. CIDAC senior researcher Luis Serra said the first contracts probably won’t go out until this time next year, and the first drop of new oil is not likely until after Pena Nieto’s term ends in 2018. The next step is for Congress to draft the laws that will determine how the reform is carried out, including how contracts are awarded and profits managed. The bill passed Thursday calls for mechanisms to prevent, detect and punish corruption in all new contracts. It also appears to reduce the influence of Romero Deschamps and his union, which will no longer sit on the Pemex’s board of directors.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
Pope must decide what to do with Legion By NICOLE WINFIELD ASSOCIATED PRESS
VATICAN CITY — First, one of the Legion of Christ’s top officials abruptly quit the troubled religious order in frustration over the slow pace of change. Then priests in the cult-like movement empowered proteges and associates of the order’s disgraced founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, to vote for their next leader. The past month has seen some setbacks in the Legion’s efforts to rehabilitate itself as it moves toward electing a new leadership next month, the culmination of a three-year Vatican experiment aimed at overhauling a damaged order. Yet even as the Legion prepares to present a new face, high-ranking members continue to speak nostalgically and even reverently of Maciel — a sexual predator who molested his seminarians, fathered three children and was, in the words of Vatican-appointed investigators, “devoid of scruples and authentic religious meaning.” It all means that hopes are dwindling that the Vatican’s effort to radically reform the Legion has succeeded, raising the question of what Pope Francis will do with the once-powerful and wealthy order after the mandate of the papal envoy running it expires. Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI, took over the Legion in 2010 and appointed a Vatican cardinal to govern it after investigators determined that the congregation itself needed to be “purified” of Maciel’s influence. In reality, the Vatican knew well of Maciel’s crimes for decades but turned a blind eye, impressed instead by his ability to bring millions of dollars and thousands of seminarians into the church. Rome’s failure to stop him marks the most egregious case of its indifference to victims of priestly
sexual abuse, and has tarnished the legacy of Pope John Paul II, soon to be canonized, because he had held up the Legion as a model for the faithful. To be sure, some progress has been made during the past three years of Vatican receivership: The order rewrote its constitutions, released statistics about sex abuse cases, and a well-respected priest recently begged forgiveness from Maciel’s victims for how he and the Legion ignored and defamed them. But if recent elections in the Legion’s consecrated lay branches are any indication, the membership itself has voted for the status quo. That mindset has driven dozens of disillusioned priests and hundreds of seminarians and consecrated members out of the order: On Saturday, the Legion will ordain 31 new priests, half as many as were ordained at its annual ceremony just three years ago. Last month, the Legion’s reform-minded governing counselor, the Rev. Deomar De Guedes, announced that he was not only resigning his position but was leaving the congregation altogether, a major blow just weeks before the Jan. 8 assembly to approve the new constitutions and elect a new superior. In his farewell letter, De Guedes said he didn’t have the strength to carry on. But the Legion’s spokesman, the Rev. Benjamin Clariond, acknowledged that De Guedes was often the “minority” in pressing for deeper and faster reform and that this was a source of “tension” for him. “We grant that the reform has gone slowly up to now,” Clariond said in an email. “That is because we intend to effect changes that are not just cosmetic, but that address the underlying causes of the problems ... As is understandable, this takes time.”
But with the mandate of the papal delegate, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, ending after the assembly, key questions are being asked now that will pose a major test for Francis: Has the Legion truly shed the cultlike practices that French bishops recently denounced in a letter to victims of spiritual abuse? Will Francis approve the constitutions and essentially give the Legion a clean bill of health? Or will he make some provision for continued Vatican oversight after De Paolis leaves? Francis has already said the Legion’s assembly, or General Chapter, isn’t the end of the reform process but merely a “step.” Yet the process itself seems questionable when even the Legion’s current leader continues to speak fondly of Maciel. In a recent interview with a Spanish-language online journal, Vida Nueva, the Rev. Sylvester Heereman said that regardless of the bad things Maciel did, “he continues to be someone to whom I owe a lot, whom I remember with a mixture of gratitude and compassion, even though I understand and respect those who personally suffered and cannot share those feelings.” Recently, a senior member of the Legion’s consecrated lay branch, Alejandro Pinelo Leon, visited Maciel’s tomb in Cotija, Mexico, on a pilgrimage of sorts: “Our founder teaches us many things and before his tomb I got emotional and thanked him for all that I learned about God from him,” he wrote on Facebook. The Rev. Thomas Berg, an American priest who left the Legion in 2009, said such nostalgia shows that a considerable portion of the Legion membership is still unable to shake itself from Maciel’s toxic influence. Other indications include the roster of men who will elect the next superior.
Photo by Plinio Lepri, file | AP
Pope John Paul II gives his blessing to father Marcial Maciel, founder of Christ’s Legionaries, during a special audience Nov. 30, 2004.
PÁGINA 10A
Zfrontera
Agenda en Breve LAREDO 12/14— Se realizará Mercado Agrícola de el Centro de Laredo a partir de las 9 a.m. en la Plaza Jarvis, en el centro de Laredo. Estacionamiento gratuito en El Metro, ubicado en 1301 de Farragut. 12/14— Se estará presentando el libro “Edyn: The Infected”, de Victoria Snow, en la biblioteca pública de Laredo a las 2 p.m., dentro del Salón Multiusos. 12/15— First United Methodist Church estará presentando el Quinto Concierto Anual Handbell ‘Tapestry in bronze’, bajo la dirección de Linda Mott, a las 4 p.m.en 1220 de avenida McClelland. 12/17— Se estarán distribuyendo juguetes a estudiantes de LISD, a las 8:30 a.m. en Ryan Elementary School en 2401 de Clark Blvd; a las 9 a.m. en Milton Elementary School en 2502 de East Elm; a las 9:30 a.m. en Gallegos Elementary School en 508 de Clark Blvd.; a las 10 a.m. en Tarver Elementary School, en 3200 de avenida Tilden; a las 10:30 a.m. en Sanchez/ Ochoa Elementary School, en 211 de East Ash; y a las 11 a.m. en Alma Pierce Elementary School, en 800 de Eistetter. 12/17— El Departamento de Bomberos estará entregando juguetes a estudiantes en situaciones vulnerables a través del proyecto Ángel Secreto, de 9 a 11:30 a.m. en Laredo Firefighters Association Union Hall en 5213 de Tesoro Plaza. 12/17— Estudiantes de Roosevelt y algunas familias recibirán una donación de regalos y una bolsa de comida por parte de filántropos locales, a las 2:30 p.m. dentro de la escuela primaria, ubicada en 3301 Sierra Vista Blvd. Se estará presentando el Programa de Jóvenes Pianistas de TAMIU en un recital a las 7 p.m. en el Salón de Recitales del Centro de Bellas Artes y Artes Escénicas. Evento gratuito. Más información llamando al 326.ARTS (2787).
NUEVO LAREDO, MÉXICO 12/14— Estación Palabra presenta ‘Bazar de Arte’ en la sala Gabriel García Márquez a partir de las 12 p.m.; ‘Festival Infantil’, con el cuento teatralizado “Hay que soñar” en la Sala de Lectura Infantil, a las 3 p.m.; ‘Círculo de Lectura; con el libro “El héroe Discreto”, a las 3 p.m. en el auditorio; ‘Lecturas Viejas’ en conmemoración al día del inmigrante a las 4 p.m. 12/14— “Sábados de museo” realizará un homenaje a Diego Rivera en la Sala de Servicios Educativos del Museo Reyes Meza a las 4 p.m. 12/15— Se realizará la clausura del Taller de Ballet y Danzas de la Casa de la Cultura en el Teatro Principal del Centro Cultural a las 11 a.m. Evento gratuito. 12/15— El grupo de Teatro Laberintus estará presentando la obra de teatro “La Nave de José Luis Pineda Servín, a las 12 p.m. en el Teatro del IMSS, entre las calles Reynosa y Belden (sector centro). Costo 20 pesos. 12/15— El Taller de Ballet y Danzas del Polivalente, Maquila y El Progreso tendrán clausura a las 4 p.m. en el Teatro Principal del Centro Cultural. Evento gratuito. 12/17— El grupo de Teatro Laberintus estará presentando la obra “Sueño de una noche de verano” de William Shakespeare, a las 7 p.m. en el Teatro del IMSS, entre las calles Reynosa y Belden. Costo 20 pesos.
SABADO 14 DE DICIEMBRE DE 2013
CLIMA
En alerta ante frente frío TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Alerta en Tamaulipas y el sur de Texas por el pronóstico de ingreso de un nuevo frente frío. Por esta razón las Direcciones de Protección Civil en la entidad se mantienen en alerta permanente “para auxiliar y asistir a la población vulnerable”, informó en un comunicado de prensa la Secretaría General de Gobierno. En 14 municipios de Tamaulipas se mantienen activos refugios temporales. Actualmente 149 personas, quienes fueran afectadas por las bajas temperaturas, reciben atención en los refugios temporales y se les proporcionan alimentos, bebidas calientes, cobijo y atención médica.
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“(Habrá) lluvias ligeras, temperaturas frías y evento de ‘norte’ moderado en la mayor parte de Tamaulipas”. PEDRO BENAVIDES BENAVIDES, RESPONSABLE DE LA CGPC
“El sistema frontal número 17, actualmente estacionado en el Golfo de México, continuará ocasionando lluvias ligeras, temperaturas
frías y eventos de ‘norte’ moderado en la mayor parte de (Tamaulipas)”, dijo Pedro Benavides Benavides, res-
ponsable de la Coordinación General de Protección Civil. “La recomendación es para los automovilistas que tengan planeado viajar por la red carretera estatal, a fin de que extremen precauciones por el asfalto mojado y hacer uso correcto y oportuno de indicadores preventivos de la unidad motriz”, agregó Benavides. La Comisión Nacional del Agua (CONAGUA) anunció que este fin de semana se podrían sentir los efectos de otro frente frío que originaría una nueva baja en las temperaturas, principalmente en el norte del Estado. Las acciones de apoyo son en coordinación con el Sistema DIF Tamaulipas y Secretaría de Salud.
TEXAS
TURISMO
TEMPORADA DE CAZA
Reclaman sentencia en caso POR RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI ASSOCIATED PRESS
Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Nuevo Laredo
Personal de la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional y de Aduanas y Migración revisan las armas y municiones de un cazador de EU, quien cruzó por la frontera de Nuevo Laredo, México, para aprovechar la temporada de caza del venado cola blanca.
Aumenta visita de cazadores a Tamaulipas TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Durante diciembre ha habido un incremento del 20 por ciento de turistas cinegéticos en comparación con el mismo período del año pasado, de acuerdo a la Dirección de Turismo en Nuevo Laredo, México. Autoridades municipales dieron a conocer que en esta temporada esperan superar los 2.000 visitantes. “Hasta el momento se han entregado alrededor de 500
tarjetones, donde se identifica a los cazadores participantes como ‘huésped distinguido’ para la temporada de cacería del venado cola blanca”, dijo Samuel Lozano Molina, Director de Turismo Municipal. En el operativo de registro participa personal de la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional (SEDENA) y de las oficinas de Aduanas y Migración. “Al momento no se han reportado incidentes y se han dado todas las facilidades pa-
ra el acceso de los cazadores de origen extranjero, así como a los cazadores nacionales, para que lleven a cabo sus actividades de manera tranquila”, dijo Lozano. La cacería se realiza en un ambiente responsable, con el propósito de evitar el peligro de extinción del venado cola blanca, aclaró el funcionario. En datos adicionales, en la década de los 60 existían alrededor de 50.000 venados cola blanca en la región; y, actualmente hay más de 300.000.
HOUSTON — “Afluencia”, la enfermedad citada por un psicólogo para argumentar que un adolescente de una familia acaudalada de Texas no debía ser enviado a prisión por haber matado a cuatro peatones mientras conducía en estado de ebriedad, no es un diagnóstico reconocido y no debería ser utilizado para justificar mal comportamiento, dijeron expertos el jueves. La decisión de un juez de sentenciar a Ethan Couch, de 16 años, a 10 años de libertad condicional por el accidente fatal detonó la ira de familiares de las víctimas y ha llevado a cuestionar la estrategia de la defensa. Un psicólogo testificó en el juicio de Couch en una corte juvenil de Fort Worth que como resultado de la “afluencia”, el joven no debía recibir la sentencia máxima de 20 años de prisión que solicitaban los fiscales. El término “afluencia” se hizo popular fines de la década de 1990 por Jessie O’Neill, la nieta de un ex presidente de General Motors, cuando escribió el libro “The Golden Ghetto: The Psychology of Affluence” (El gueto dorado: la psicología de afluencia), explicó el doctor Gary Buffone, un psicólogo de Jacksonville, Florida. Pero Buffone dijo el jueves en una entrevista telefónica que el término no debe ser utilizado como defensa en un juicio penal o para justificar tal comportamiento. “El término simple sería niño mimado”, agregó. “Esencialmente, lo que hizo (el juez) fue dar un manazo al chico en la muñeca por lo que es obviamente un delito muy grave por el cual sería castigado en cualquier otra situación”, dijo Buffone. “La defensa es ridícula, la actitud es horrenda... no solo los padres no han establecido ninguna consecuencia, sino que está siendo reforzado por las acciones de un juez”, enfatizó. El psicólogo que testificó como testigo de la defensa en el juicio de Couch dijo que el muchacho creció en una casa donde los padres estaban ocupados en discusiones que llevaron a un divorcio, reportó el Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Pero el fiscal Richard Alpert argumentó en la corte que si el adolescente continúa siendo protegido por la riqueza de su familia, es inevitable otra tragedia. Aunque el caso de Couch fue manejado por un tribunal juvenil, fue identificado públicamente por la Oficina del Alguacil del Condado de Tarrant.
MÉXICO
Avalan reforma energética; finalizan monopolio POR ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Y KATHERINE CORCORAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
MÉXICO — La Cámara de Diputados de México aprobó el jueves la más grande reforma energética en 75 años que abre la industria petrolera a la inversión privada y pone fin al monopolio estatal. Tras una sesión de 20 horas, la cámara baja avaló con 353 votos a favor y 134 en contra la reforma que modifica la constitución y permite al gobierno dar contratos y licencias a empresas nacionales y extranjeras para que participen
en la exploración y producción de petróleo y gas. Hasta ahora la empresa estatal Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) tenía el monopolio en materia petrolera. Previamente aprobada por el Senado, el presidente Enrique Peña Nieto prácticamente logró el avance de su principal reforma de una serie de propuestas de modificaciones legales con las que busca transformar a México, la segunda economía de Latinoamérica. Por tratarse de una modificación a la constitución, la reforma aún debe ser aprobada por al menos
17 de los 31 congresos estatales, aunque es casi un hecho que será aprobada debido a que el oficialista Partido Revolucionario Institucional domina en la mayoría de los estados. Líderes de la izquierda, cuyos legisladores votaron en contra por considerar que significará la privatización de la industria, han dicho que buscarán impulsar una consulta popular para tratar de revertir la reforma. Algunos izquierdistas también dijeron que se corre el riesgo de que multinacionales, sobre todo las del país vecino Estados
Unidos, tomen el control de la industria petrolera como ocurrió antes de la nacionalización de 1938. México es uno de los cinco principales exportadores de crudo a Estados Unidos con más de un millón de barriles al día. La producción de crudo en México tuvo en 2004 su mayor nivel, con un promedio de aproximadamente 3,4 millones de barriles diarios. A partir de 2005 comenzó a descender y actualmente se ubica en unos 2,5 millones de barriles diarios. El proyecto modifica la constitución y permite al
gobierno otorgar contratos y licencias para la exploración y producción a empresas multinacionales, algo expresamente prohibido hasta ahora y que muchos mexicanos consideran tabú. La energética es la principal pieza de una serie de reformas promovidas por el presidente Peña Nieto en sectores como la educación, el sistema fiscal y las telecomunicaciones. Pemex tiene un estimado de 155.000 empleados, de los cuales unos 101.000 son sindicalizados, según el Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
ALBEZA DE LOS SANTOS-PACHECO Aug. 29, 1941 – Dec. 10, 2013
Texas sanctuary respects animals By KELLY GOOCH TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH
Albeza De Los Santos-Pacheco, 72, passed away Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013, at Laredo Medical Center in Laredo, Texas. Mrs. De Los Santos-Pacheco is preceded in death by her parents, Victor and Maria Del Refugio De Los Santos; brother-in-law, Armando Pacheco and a sister-in-law, Maria Luisa P. (Ruben) Barrera. Mrs. De Los Santos-Pacheco is survived by her husband, Inocente F. “Kinino” Pacheco; sons, Francisco Javier Pacheco, Horacio Jaime Pacheco, Joel Romeo Pacheco (Yolanda Thatcher); former daughter-in-law, Leyda G. Pacheco; grandchildren, Joel Romeo Pacheco Jr., Rochelle N. Pacheco; sister, Edna (Ricardo D.) Resendez; nephew, Ricardo D. Resendez Jr.; nieces, Cynthia E. Resendez, Elva N. Sanchez, Lorena M. (Anibal Jr.) Salinas; sister-in-law, Irma (†Ramiro) Gutierrez; and by numerous other relatives and friends. Visitation hours were held Thursday, Dec. 12, 2013, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home. The funeral procession departed Friday, Dec. 13, 2013, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. Committal services followed at Zapata County Cemetery. Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home, Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy. 83, Zapata, Texas.
MURCHISON — Catherine the rhesus macaque monkey was not in the best shape when she came to the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch. The 18-year-old was more than 40 pounds. Her previous owner allowed her to eat a poor diet and a lot of human food, which led to obesity, said Ben Callison, director of the sanctuary. But through some love and attention, he said she was able to lose weight. Now, Catherine is among the many animals that enjoy the sanctuary’s tranquil surroundings. Animals there include horses, bison, chimpanzees, ostriches, pigs, sheep, monkeys and iguanas. Noelle Almrud, director of animal care at Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch, said most of the animals there have had terrible lives, but the sanctuary is able to offer respect and quiet. Callison said the sanctuary’s mission is not to be an entertainment venue but rather a fa-
Photo by Sarah A. Miller/The Tyler Morning Telegraph | AP
Patrick, left, a sorrel horse, is sniffed by another horse after being released into the big herd at Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Murchison. cility for education. “We want to make sure these animals can tell their story,” he said. The Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch was founded in 1979 and started with burros from the Grand Canyon that were going to be exterminated, Callison said. Horses, primates, exotic animals and farm animals followed. Nim Chimpsky, a
VISAS work permit — currently well over a year,” Joyner said. Now that the cap is in effect, victims who appear to be eligible will receive a deferred status, but then will have to wait several months to receive a work permit, she said. “These are individuals who are focused on trying to move on from really awful situations and who are working to create financial and emotional security for themselves and their
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families.” This is the fifth straight year that the cap has been reached. “I think it’s probably still underutilized, but the fact that they’ve reached the cap is great in the sense that it’s being utilized to the maximum extent possible,” Robert Cisneros, a senior immigration attorney at the Empire Justice Center in White Plains, New York, said. “It would be better if there were more of them, but Con-
gress would have to step in and do that and they probably should.” Dora Cobache, 43, was a victim of domestic violence for 18 of the 20 years she’s lived in Texas but was afraid to report her husband to police because she wasn’t legally in the U.S. “He threatened me that they could deport me if I reported it,” said Cobache, a native of Guatemala now living in Mission, Texas.
After she decided to press charges, her husband was convicted of assault causing family violence, and with the help of Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, Cobache successfully applied for a U visa. It took just over a year for approval, but she received her visa in October. “Now I’m extremely happy,” Cobache said. “Now I can pay taxes. Now I can look for work. Now I can walk free, visit my daughter in Austin.”
SEARCH WARRANT Continued from Page 1A “Our future is our kids and the heart of the community. The Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office strives in keeping our kids and the streets of the community of Zapata safe and drug free,” del Bosque said. On Tuesday, a narcotics task
force officer conducted a consent to search a location in the 1400 block of Roma Street in the Medina Addition neighborhood. The search yielded 76 baggies of cocaine weighing about 75.52 grams and 15 baggies of
SHOOTING courage the shooter to also leave the school,” the sheriff said. “That was a very wise tactical decision.” Jessica Girard was in math class when she heard three shots. “Then there was a bunch of yelling, and then I think one of the people who had been shot was yelling in the hallway ‘Make it stop,”’ she said. A suspected Molotov cocktail was also found inside the high school, the sheriff said. The bomb squad was investigating the device. Within 20 minutes of the first report of a gunman, officers found the suspect’s body inside the school, Robinson said. Several other Denver-area school districts went into lock-
famous chimpanzee who knew sign language, even lived there for years, according to the sanctuary website. Today, the sanctuary, which is an affiliate of the Humane Society of the United States, has 1,310 acres with more than 1,000 animals. Callison said hundreds of equine are on the property, and once the animals are at the
sanctuary, they are there for life. “He wanted to create a place where animals could come and live out their life and never have to worry about anything again,” Callison said of Amory. In fact, on display by the entrance gate is an excerpt from Anna Sewell’s “Black Beauty,” which reads, “I have nothing to fear; and here my story ends. My troubles are all over, and I am at home.” The sanctuary’s three chimpanzees — Kitty, Lulu and Midge — came from research labs. Callison said Willy, a pig-tailed macaque, bit his owner, who was not able to keep him. Then there are two siamang gibbons — Val and June Bug — who were rescued from the exotic pet trade as babies, he said. Callison also pointed out whitehanded gibbons Princess and her mother, Sarah. He said sheep and goats there came out of a hoarding case in Mississippi, and it took more than a dozen blades per sheep to get them shaved to where they could regrow their coats the way they should.
down as reports of the shooting spread. Police as far away as Fort Collins, about a two-hour drive north, stepped up school security. Arapahoe High students were seen walking toward the school’s running track with their hands in the air, and television footage showed students being patted down. Robinson said deputies wanted to make sure there were no other conspirators. Authorities later concluded that the gunman had acted alone. Nearby neighborhoods were jammed with cars as parents sought out their children. Some parents stood in long lines at a church. One young girl who was barefoot embraced her parents, and the family began to cry.
marijuana weighing about 94.2 grams, the sheriff ’s office announced Friday. In addition, authorities seized $180 and found drug paraphernalia, such as a digital scale, plastic baggies and measuring spoons. “All these items are used to
convert large amounts of narcotics such as cocaine/marijuana into smaller quantities to be sold as street level drugs,” sheriff ’s officials said. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
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The shooting came a day before the anniversary of the Newtown, Conn., attack in which a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Arapahoe High stands just 8 miles east of Columbine High School in Littleton, where two teenage shooters killed 12 classmates and a teacher before killing themselves in 1999. The practice of sending law enforcement directly into an active shooting, as was done Friday, was a tactic that developed in response to the Columbine shooting. Tracy Monroe, who had stepsiblings who attended Columbine, was standing outside Arapahoe High on Friday looking at her phone, reading text messages
from her 15-year-old daughter inside. Monroe said she got the first text from her daughter, sophomore Jade Stanton, at 12:41 p.m. The text read, “There’s sirens. It’s real. I love you.” A few minutes later, Jade texted “shots were fired in our school.” Monroe rushed to the school and was relieved when Jade texted that a police officer entered her classroom and she was safe. Monroe was family friends with a teacher killed in the Columbine shooting, Dave Sanders. “We didn’t think it could happen in Colorado then, either,” Monroe said. After hearing three shots, freshman Colton Powers said everyone
“ran to the corner of the room and turned off the lights and locked the door and just waited, hoped for the best,” he said. “A lot of people, I couldn’t see, but they were crying. “I was scared,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do.” His mother, Shelly Powers, said she first got word of the shooting in the middle of a conference call at work. “I dropped all my devices, got my keys and got in my car,” she said. “I was crying all the way here.” More than 2,100 students attend Arapahoe High, where nine out of 10 graduates go on to college, according to the Littleton Public Schools website.
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors NCAA: TEXAS A&M
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL: ZAPATA HAWKS
Preparing for district ZHS competes in tournaments By CLARTA SANDOVAL THE ZAPATA TIMES
Photo by Clara Sandoval | The Zapata Times
The Zapata basketball teams are navigating through the preseason schedule to work out any wrinkles that they might have before the start their district quests. The boys’ basketball team is in a tough 32-team tournament in La Feria where four gyms are utilized to get through the three-day tournament On Tuesday, the Hawks hit the court with out two starters, Alfonzo Gutierrez and EG Garcia when Zapata played St. Augustine. The Knights proved to be too much for Zapata as they dropped a 68-41 decision at home. St. Augustine is ranked No. 25 by the Texas Association of Basketball coaches in the large private schools poll and has been a buzz around Laredo, taking some of the public schools to the edge. The Knights handed Laredo Nixon, regarded as one of the best teams in the Gateway City, their first loss of the season. Zapata sorely missed Gutierrez and Garcia, but the Hawks were able to hang on in the opening. The Hawks kept the Knights within striking distance, only trailing by four points at 19-15 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, Zapata reverted as St. Augustine started to connect from inside the paint and was solid from the perimeter to start pulling away from the Hawks. Zapata’s offense stalled and the defense gave up too many baskets as St. Augustine built a 20-point lead by halftime. The Knights outscored ZHS 28-12 in the second quarter to take a 47-27 edge at the half. Leading the Hawks on offense was Javier Lopez who had 15 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals while Jake Gutierrez added 10 points, two rebounds and three assists.
Isela Gonzalez and the Zapata girls’ basketball team competed this weekend in the La Feria Tournament.
Photo by Julio Cortez | AP
Reigning Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel is a finalist again for the award in 2013.
Manziel again a finalist By KRISTIE RIEKEN ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — Johnny Manziel isn’t sure if he’ll declare for the NFL draft next month. But if he does he’s thought a lot about his legacy and how he wants to be remembered as one of the best to have ever played and someone who made a major impact for Texas A&M. He’s made a pretty compelling argument for both. He’s a finalist for the Heisman Trophy again, with a chance to join Archie Griffin as the second player to win the award twice. “To be a college football player in a skill position, that’s what you shoot for every year,” Manziel said. “So to get to New York and to be one of the best players in the country and then to be that person to win it, it’s a dream come true for anybody that’s grown up playing Pop
See ZAPATA PAGE 2B See A&M PAGE 2B
NFL: HOUSTON TEXANS
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DALLAS COWBOYS
Facing a familiar sight Cowboys TE Witten sees similar path By SCHUYLER DIXON ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by John Raoux | AP
Houston quarterback Matt Schaub (8) and the Texans have suffered the worst stretch in team history losing 11 straight games.
11 and counting Texans hope to break losing streak By KRISTIE RIEKEN ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — The Houston Texans will attempt to end the worst skid in franchise history in a place where they’ve never won. Houston plays the Colts on Sunday, looking to stop an 11game losing streak and win for the first time in Indianapolis. The Texans also have lost 11 in a row there. Running back Ben Tate said they aren’t worried about where they’re playing this week, all they’re focused on is winning. “If we can get it anywhere, if we play in a parking lot — just
getting a win,” Tate said. “I don’t think it really matters. I don’t know how much coaches are really thinking or going to emphasize that. It’s just getting a win period. I don’t care if we play them at the Galleria mall. We just want to win.” Though some Texans noted that playing in Indianapolis is louder than many places, they couldn’t pinpoint exactly why they’ve had so much trouble there. “I have no answer for that other than we just haven’t,” said Andre Johnson, who has been on the team for all but the first trip to Indianapolis in
See TEXANS PAGE 2B
IRVING — Jason Witten’s memorable “same old story” sound bite will resonate until the Dallas Cowboys change the ending and make the playoffs. The star tight end made the comment before training camp last season, which ended with a loss in a playoffs-or-bust finale for the second straight year. With the Cowboys coming off a blowout loss to Chicago and similar postseason scenarios brewing again, Witten is facing the same old questions with familiar candor and resolve. “Look, until we do it, we’re going to take criticism,” Witten said. “I’m assuming your question is coming from the angle of, ’They haven’t shown us that they can.’ And you’re right. That’s what makes this game great. That’s what is great about being in this locker room and going and doing it. We’ll see where it ends up.” Green Bay (6-6-1) visits Dallas on Sunday with both teams clinging to playoff hopes. The Cowboys (7-6) trail Philadelphia by a game in the NFC East with three remaining. As long as that deficit doesn’t reach two games, Dallas can take the division and the playoff berth by beating the Eagles in the finale at home.
Photo by Tim Sharp | AP
Dallas tight end Jason Witten and the Cowboys are once again fighting for a playoff spot late in the season. It could be the third straight year that Dallas finishes the regular season in game for a playoff spot with an NFC East rival — and a different one each time. The Cowboys lost at the New York Giants two seasons ago and at Washington last year. Dallas did the same thing at Philadelphia in 2008, which means it could be the fourth time in six seasons that the Cowboys are set up for such an ending. Thus, Witten’s remark last year. “There’s nothing I want more or we want more than to win a division and play in a home playoff game,” Witten said. “But you’ve got to go do it. You can’t
make it emotional. It’s all about execution come game day.” Witten still has faith in a defense that let Chicago score on its first eight possessions — just the fifth time that’s happened since 1991. He’s seen things out of the offense that make him believe the Cowboys can end a three-year playoff drought. The 31-year-old and two-time All-Pro accepts the burden that comes with leading a proud franchise that has just two playoff wins since the last of five Super Bowl titles in 1995. “Until you do it, you’re going
See COWBOYS PAGE 2B
PAGE 2B
Zscores
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013
Awaiting a decision at Texas Pressure mounting as Brown mulls decision By JIM VERTUNO ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — From Texas to Tuscaloosa, the pressure is mounting on Mack Brown to say something — anything — about his future with the Longhorns. Brown was scheduled to meet with school President Bill Powers and new Athletic Director Steve Patterson on Friday to discuss the future of the football program and whether he plans to return for a 17th season, a meeting before the annual team banquet Friday night. Despite widespread speculation that Brown was considering retirement, Brown has said publicly only that “my situation has not changed” and that he was looked forward to meeting with his bosses. It was unclear if he would address his job situation at the banquet, a campus event that typically showcases player awards and highlights of the past season to a room packed with players, their families, recruits and media. Brown has tried to present a business-as-usual aura, spending much of the week recruiting on trips to Florida and around Texas. Powers and Patterson also have said little to suggest whether Brown will stay or leave or leave. Patterson has been on
Photo by Jacques Boissinot | AP
UFC fighter Georges St. Pierre announced he was taking a break from the sport and vacating his title on Friday.
St. Pierre vacates title
Photo by Eric Gay | AP
Texas coach Mack Brown spoke about his future and his team as he was interviewed as part of the Alamo Bowl media session with Oregon. the job for barely a month. Powers, who has been one of Brown’s biggest supporters, has his own struggles this week and had to survive a behind-closed-doors university regents meeting on Thursday where officials debated whether he should keep his job. On Thursday, Powers called Brown one of the sport’s greatest coaches but declined to address the coach’s status. All of it has led to a messy public drama surrounding one of the pre-eminent football programs in the country with tentacles stretching to Alabama. Tide coach Nick Saban has been identified as a target to po-
tentially replace Brown. Saban has previously attempted to downplay and links to a potential opening at Texas. But several university regents and a former regent were involved in a meeting with Saban’s agent last January to gauge the coach’s interest in coming to Texas. According to an email detailing that phone meeting and obtained last month by The Associated Press, Saban’s agent Jimmy Sexton told Texas representatives that Texas was the only job Saban would leave Alabama for, and that Saban was under “special pressure” at his current job.
Brown was one of the most successful coaches in the country from 2001-2009 when he 101-16, won two Big 12 titles and the 2005 national championship, the Longhorns’ first undisputed national title in 36 years. The Longhorns returned to the national championship game in the 2009 season, but lost to Saban’s Alabama. Since that loss, Texas is 30-20 overall, with Brown’s only losing season in 2010. Texas expected to return to national prominence this year but started 1-2. Texas fought back to for a chance to play for the Big 12 championship, but lost 30-10 last week at Baylor.
By GREG BEACHAM ASSOCIATED PRESS
SACRAMENTO — UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre has vacated his title, citing a desire for a lengthy break from mixed martial arts. St. Pierre made the announcement Friday. He cited the relentless pressure of training and unspecified personal problems for his move away from the sport. St. Pierre is considered one of the sport’s greatest athletes with 12 straight victories and nine consec-
utive 170-pound title defenses, including a split decision over Johny Hendricks last month. He has been the UFC’s biggest pay-per-view draw since the departure of heavyweight Brock Lesnar. St. Pierre believes he’ll eventually return to the sport, but doesn’t want to “jam up” the welterweight division during his absence. Hendricks will fight Robbie Lawler on March 15 in Dallas for the vacant 170-pound belt, UFC President Dana White says.
ZAPATA Continued from Page 1B Girls’ Basketball The Lady Hawks are fresh off from playing in the La Feria Tournament where they went 1-2 in tournament play. Tere Villarreal had a great tournament on the offensive side.
She ended up with a 14-point scoring average in the tournament. Zapata opened up with PharrSan Juan-Alamo Southwest where they took a convincing 6440 victory. Roxy Galvan led they way with 16 points while Villar-
real added nine. Isela Gonzalez and Clarissa Villarreal also chipped in with eight points. In the second game of the day, Zapata ran into Edcouch-Elsa who has historically has had a solid girls’ basketball program. The Lady Yellow Jackets
proved to be took much for Zapata as the Lady Hawks lost 54-48. Villarreal scored in double figures with 14 points while Galvan and Tere Villarreal had nine points each to account for Zapata’s scoring. The following day, Zapata
A&M Continued from Page 1B Warner Football, that’s grown up playing middle school, high school football.” Johnny Football is one of six players who will attend the presentation ceremony Saturday night in New York. Manziel isn’t expected to take home another Heisman after Florida State’s Jameis Winston burst onto the scene with a spectacular redshirt freshman season much the way Manziel did last year. Manziel became the first freshman to win the Heisman in 2012 after setting numerous school and Southeastern Conference records while leading Texas A&M to an 11-2 record and a victory over No. 1 Alabama in its first season in the SEC. The Aggies were supposed to contend for a national title in Manziel’s encore. But another standout season by the electric quarterback wasn’t enough to overcome a porous defense that was among the worst in the nation. The Aggies finished 8-4. “This year we definitely had our ups and downs,” Manziel said. “We didn’t have a final record like we wanted to at the beginning of the year. But just the whole season and how it’s been, it’s been a ride.” That ride for Manziel started when he was suspended for the first half of the Aggies’ season opener against Rice for what the school said was an
“inadvertent” violation of NCAA rules involving signing autographs. The quarterback was investigated for allegedly accepting money for autographs from memorabilia brokers, a violation of NCAA rules that could have led to a much longer suspension. He shook off his early season drama to throw for 3,723 yards and 33 touchdowns and led the team in rushing with 686 yards and eight more scores. He threw more touchdown passes, had more yards passing, a better completion percentage and averaged more yards an attempt than he did in 2012. He’s third in the nation in total offense with 368.2 yards a game and fourth in pass efficiency. Manziel dealt with various nagging injuries this season and said this week that he’s getting better as the Aggies have some time off before facing Duke in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl on Dec. 31. His thumb injury is still bothering him the most, but he said it isn’t anything that would keep him out of the bowl game. Manziel continued to spend time with quarterback guru George Whitfield to work on becoming a more polished quarterback. “I wanted to come back and be a better quarterback, not just a guy who some people
played host school La Feria but could not come away with a victory as the Lady Hawks lost 53-49. Tere Villarreal led the offensive surge with 24 points. (Clara Sandoval can be reached at Sandoval.Clara@Gmail.com)
TEXANS Continued from Page 1B
say is a good athlete,” he said. “I never wanted to be labeled as that. So to work hard with coach Whitfield multiple times this summer to put in the work I thought... to get where I needed to be.” Left tackle Jake Matthews has enjoyed blocking for Manziel and said his ability to evade tackles makes his job much easier. “It’s fun to watch him run around the field and see the things he does to the other guys,” Matthews said. “I just try to give him as much time as I can and let him make the plays.” Manziel said he thinks he’s ready to play in the NFL, but the sophomore insists he hasn’t made a decision about his future. Most assume that he will leave College Station, but despite Tweeting that he was growing tired of the town this summer, he indicated that he wasn’t itching to get out. “I need to take everything in to account,” he said. “I think you take that, how the season went. But more than anything, are you ready for the next level? You don’t want to go be unprepared for the National Football League or leave two years on the table. You don’t want to do that.” “In the grand scheme of things it all comes down to making the best decision for you.”
2002. Johnson said that the old RCA Dome was louder and more difficult to play in than Lucas Oil Stadium. Houston has certainly had some good chances to pick up wins there, but has fell short time after time. In the early days of the franchise, they were rarely even competitive in Indianapolis. Their first six losses there were by an average of more than 19 points. They’ve fared better since the new stadium opened in 2008 and have lost by more than a touchdown only twice. They came closest to ending the skid in 2011, but Reggie Wayne caught a 1-yard touchdown pass with 19 seconds left to give the Colts a 19-16 win. “I can’t tell you that there’s one specific reason why this team has never won there,” defensive end J.J. Watt said. “Obviously, we’re looking to change that. That’s never something that you want to have on your resume.” They’ll try to turn things around in the first game since coach
Gary Kubiak was fired on Friday. Wade Phillips is the interim coach, and he mixed up some things in practice Wednesday in an attempt to get Houston back on track. He also invited a Big 12 officiating crew to Wednesday’s practice. They called penalties in practice to try and limit Houston’s miscues in that area after the team piled up a franchise-record 177 yards of penalties in Thursday’s loss to Jacksonville. “We want to overemphasize certainly that area so that we can cut down on the number of penalties we have,” Phillips said. “The only way I know how to do it is attack the problem, so that’s what we did there.” Tate thought the tactic was a good idea. “If you don’t work on it all of the time, then how can you do it when it comes to the game,” Tate said. “If you don’t have to think about it during practice, you’re not worried about getting a flag during practice, then how are you going to do it in games?”
Also on Wednesday, Phillips, who is the team’s defensive coordinator as well as head coach, revealed how the play-calling will go on Sunday. He said that offensive coordinator Rick Dennison will call the offensive plays with the help of several other coaches, and that defensive backs coach Vance Joseph will make the defensive calls with the help of Phillips. Though, he won’t call any of the plays himself, Phillips noted that he will be heavily involved in the decision-making offensively. Phillips is 82-61 in 12 seasons as a head coach. “The head coach (has) to be aware of situations,” he said. “I think there’s a lot to game situations as far as making calls as far as whether you run or pass, whether you punt, whether you go for it on fourth down, whether you kick a field goal. All of those things come into, I think, helping to win or lose ball games, especially close games. I try to be on top of that.”
COWBOYS Continued from Page 1B to feel that way,” said Witten, who has matched his second-highest touchdown total with seven and is two shy of his career high. “I think right now you don’t have time to go back and reflect. We’re right in the middle of what can we do, what can I do for us to play our best football and win.” The Cowboys had a chance to start writing a different ending after answering a blowout loss to New Orleans with consecutive
wins over the Giants and Oakland to get two games over .500 for the first time this season. Dallas was facing a backup quarterback against the Bears in Josh McCown, but he accounted for five touchdowns and burned the Cowboys repeatedly in the passing game despite single-digit temperatures and sub-zero wind chill. Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones questioned whether
his players responded well to the elements, and Bears receiver Brandon Marshall said the weather had Dallas beat before the game even started. “All I can say is, it was cold here, we prepared for that, we handled it in New York,” Witten said, referring to beating the Giants in freezing temperatures three weeks ago. “We didn’t play very good. I guess they can say whatever they want at that point.
But I don’t look at it as a concern.” Dallas again will face a backup quarterback against the Packers in Matt Flynn, who will make third straight start in Aaron Rodgers’ place after the 2011 Super Bowl MVP was ruled out Friday. The Cowboys will be without linebacker Sean Lee with a neck injury sustained against Chicago. They won two straight with Lee
sidelined by a strained hamstring, and have to win again or risk losing control of their playoff fate. Witten says that message is clear. “I think he’s definitely a vocal leader,” tackle Doug Free said. “He says some things here and there but overall, we all know where we’re at.” The Cowboys have certainly been here before.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013
Dear Readers: If you or someone you know suffers from allergies, here are a few hints on how to cut down on allergy triggers in YOUR HOME and keep symptoms to a minimum: When coming home, remove shoes at the door to avoid tracking outside allergens in. Remove carpets and rugs, if possible, particularly in bedrooms. If not, vacuum several times a week, and clean two to three times a year. Use mattresses and pillows that have a fitted allergy barrier to act as a protective cover. Wash sheets and bedding weekly, or more often, in hot water if there is a dust-mite allergy. Pet dander can be a source of allergies, so give pets baths at least once a week. Vacuum the entire home regularly using a vacuum that has a HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter. Houseplants such as
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B
spider plants, English ivy and Boston ferns help with indoor pollution. — Heloise PET PAL Dear Readers: Nickie C. in Lancaster, Calif., sent in a picture of Bundy, a 2-year-old Lab-chow mix, curled up in his favorite patio chair. Nickie says that Bundy was rescued from the shelter and has become a good walking buddy. To see Bundy’s picture, go to www.Heloise.com and click on "Pets." — Heloise STORING SPRAY PAINT Dear Heloise: The best way to store partially full cans of spray paint is upside-down. Turn the can upside down; depress the nozzle until you get only gas. Don’t turn the can upright. Cap it and put it on the shelf. When the can is upside-down, the end of the pickup tube will be in the gas propellant. — Frank P., Rosamond, Calif. I love spray paint and rarely have any leftover to store. — Heloise
Sports
4B THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2013
Sumlin’s contract approved By ALLEN REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents have unanimously approved a new contract for A&M head football coach Kevin Sumlin. The board met briefly on Thursday afternoon to take up the coaching contract and a landlease for a private developer to construct an engineering nanolab. The meeting lasted for less than an hour, only a few minutes of which were open to the public. The meeting was primarily telephonic, with only regent Jim Schwertner at A&M. He was also the only regent to publicly comment on either agenda item. "I think Kevin Sumlin is one of the finest coaches in America," Schwertner said. An athletic department spokesman confirmed Thursday night that all parties have signed the contract. The pay increase would make Sumlin one of the highest-paid coaches in the nation and seem-
ingly puts an end to rumors linking his future to the University of Southern California or the Houston Texans. He is in the second year of a six-year contract that paid him $3.1 million in 2013. The new contract, details of which were released by A&M Thursday night, pays Sumlin $5 million annually for six years. Sumlin’s buyout obligation to the university runs through the 2016 postseason and requires restitution of $5 million to A&M. The university’s buyout clause runs the length of the six-year contract. The university announced the contract before a Nov. 30 loss against the University of Missouri to finish the regular season. The Aggies finished the season 0-4 against teams currently ranked in the top 25. Sumlin is 19-6 in his two years at A&M and 54-23 in six seasons as a head coach. Athletic Director Eric Hyman did not return a request for comment. The other item on the agenda
was described by officials as somewhat procedural. Texas A&M had planned to construct an engineering nanolab at the Discovery Center, which will be located next to the Texas A&M Institute for Preclinical Studies building along University Drive and was set to open around December 2015. However, remodeling of the A&M engineering building necessitated the lab being ready earlier than officials originally expected. The land lease approved by the regents is for 3.7 acres across University Drive in the Research Park. Phillip Ray, chief business development officer for the A&M system, said officials hope the lab will be open by December 2014. The system has partnered with the DDM group for both developments. The company will construct the facilities and lease the space to A&M. "This is the most economical way, the most timely way that we can construct this facility," Ray said.
Photo by Gerald Herbert | AP
Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin will be one of the highest-paid coaches in the country after an approved extension.
Photo by Daniel Petty | AP
Denver police investigate the scene of a multiple stabbing after a fight broke out in the parking lot of Sports Authority Field following the game between the Broncos and Chargers. Photo by Julio Cortez | AP
Stabbing after Broncos game By THOMAS PEIPERT ASSOCIATED PRESS
DENVER — Investigators say the stabbing of at least three people in a parking lot at the Denver Broncos’ stadium after Thursday night’s game stemmed from a fight over a near fenderbender. Police spokesman Steve Warneke said officers were called to a “very chaotic” scene just before 10 p.m. and found three people suffering from non-lifethreatening stab wounds. A fourth may have been stabbed, but that person left the area by the time officers arrived. Justin Lee Manzanares, 29, is being held for investigation of assault charges, Warneke said. Two others were taken into custody but were released pending further investigation.
“It doesn’t appear that this was related to the outcome of the game. It doesn’t appear that this was Broncos versus Chargers,” Warneke said. Denver lost to San Diego 2720. Police say Manzanares pulled a knife from a sheath he was wearing on his belt and cut or stabbed all three people. They say the fight started after he pulled out of a parking spot and nearly hit the victims’ vehicle. Stadium Management Company, which operates Sports Authority Field at Mile High, issued an email stating that it is working with authorities, and investigators were searching the parking lot Friday for additional evidence. Thursday’s stabbing is just one of several recent attacks at stadiums or involving football
fans. Earlier this month in Kansas City, Mo., a man died after an altercation in the Arrowhead Stadium parking lot during Kansas City’s game against Denver. In September in San Francisco, a teenage fan suffered a concussion and a broken arm and nose at Candlestick Park after police say he was attacked during the 49ers’ game against Indianapolis. Meanwhile in college football, a 28-year-old woman has been charged with murder in a shooting that followed Alabama’s loss to Auburn on a dramatic, lastsecond play during the Iron Bowl in November. The victim’s sister says the suspect shot the woman because she was mad at her for joking after the loss and didn’t seem to be enough of a Crimson Tide fan.
Winston case questioned By TAMARA LUSH AND GARY FINEOUT ASSOCIATED PRESS
ZEPHYRHILLS, Fla. — A lawyer for the woman who accused Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston of sexual assault asked Friday for Florida’s attorney general to independently examine the rape investigation, claiming it was riddled with problems. Attorney Patricia Carroll called on the attorney general to investigate the Tallahassee Police Department’s handling of the case, saying that detectives failed to interview key witnesses, used unreliable and incomplete forensic tests and never tested the alleged victim’s blood for the presence of date-rape drugs. However, spokeswoman Jenn Meale said the Attorney General’s Office hadn’t yet received a formal request from Carroll. “It appears to me to be a complete failure of an investigation of a rape case,” Carroll said during the 90-minute news conference. The media event came one day before the scheduled announcement of the Heisman Trophy winner. Winston, a 19-yearold who led FSU to a No. 1 ranking and a shot at a national championship, is a favorite to win. Carroll said the Heisman had nothing to do with her client’s accusations. Winston redshirted during the 2012 season and was not playing when the woman accused him of rape. “I’m not focusing on football,”
Photo by Julio Cortez | AP
Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston tries to celebrate being a finalist for the Heisman Trophy but answers questions about off-the-field issues. she said. “Sometimes it’s not about football. Sometimes it’s about rape.” The lead detective got a search warrant for her client’s cellphone and social media accounts but failed to do the same for Winston and his two companions immediately after the accusations were made, Carroll said. “It was very obvious as this progressed that we didn’t feel like we were going to get a proper investigation,” Carroll said. Investigators also focused an unusual amount of attention on the fact the alleged victim had the DNA of her boyfriend on her underpants in addition to that of Winston, Carroll said. The consensual sexual encounter with the boyfriend happened before the encounter involving Winston and wouldn’t have been allowed to be introduced in a courtroom, she said. State law does not allow defendants to call an alleged
victim’s past sexual behavior into question. Winston’s attorney has said any sex between his client and the accuser was consensual. Carroll also criticized Tallahassee Police for not submitting the woman’s sexual assault kit to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab until Jan. 17, 2013 — 39 days after it was taken. The attorney questioned whether evidence was properly preserved during those 39 days. She said that medical records released to the media contain less information than those same medical records obtained by the family. “The bulk of the investigation was into the rape victim,” Carroll said. “I’m looking at an investigation of a rape victim, not a rape suspect.” Tallahassee police have defended their handling of the case.
The finalists for the Heisman Trophy are Auburn’s Tre Mason, NIU’s Jordan Lynch, FSU’s Jameis Winston, BC’s Andre Williams and Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel.
Heisman in reach FSU QB Winston favorite for Heisman Trophy By KAREEM COPELAND ASSOCIATED PRESS
TALLAHASSEE — Jameis Winston envisioned winning the Heisman Trophy well before he signed with Florida State. He’ll find out whether his dream becomes a reality on Saturday night. The redshirt freshman quarterback is one of six finalists up for the most prestigious individual award in college football. Winston and his high school coach Matt Scott were in Tuscaloosa on a recruiting trip at Alabama when he took a picture with Mark Ingram’s 2009 trophy. He wanted to be the first at Alabama to win the award, at the time. “When Ingram won it I was just like, ’Well, he won it. So, I’ve got to be the next person from Alabama to win it,” said Winston, who pointed out that Ingram is actually from Michigan. “Football is so important to Alabama, so any time you have a national achievement it means a lot to your state and your family,” Winston said. “You always dream. You’ve got to dream big because if you don’t dream big, there’s no use to dream at all.” He’ll be joined in New York by Texas A&M’s reigning Heisman winner Johnny Manziel, Alabama’s A.J. McCarron, Boston College’s Andre Williams, Northern Illinois’ Jordan Lynch and Auburn’s Tre Mason. Winston set Atlantic Coast Conference freshman records for the most yards passing (3,820) and touchdown passes (38) while leading the No. 1-ranked Seminoles to a 13-0 record and berth in the BCS championship game. Florida State and Winston continued to excel despite a sexual assault investigation that became public last month. The State Attorney’s Office announced that it would not press charges against Winston last week. However, Winston’s legal problems may not be over. The accuser, her lawyer and family have scheduled a press conference Friday. There is no doubt about Winston’s talent. He is already being talked about as a potential franchise quarterback in the NFL, even though he can’t be drafted until 2015. “The one thing that you don’t know about a lot of players is how well, how quickly they’re able to read defenses,” said Gil Brandt, NFL draft analyst. “Once you get into the NFL, reading defenses is paramount. Are you going to be able to do it as quickly as you have at the college level?” Brandt helped build the Super
Bowl-winning Dallas Cowboys as vice president of player personnel from 1960-89. He said Winston has steadily improved and his accuracy is one of his most valuable traits. His 67.9 completion percentage is tied for 10th best in the country. Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher has lauded Winston’s ability to take what the defense gives and throw to the open receiver. Brandt said the way Winston dealt with the accusation and the subsequent media coverage is a positive. “That speaks well from the standpoint of concentration,” Brandt said. “And I think the most important thing for success to a football player is concentration.” As well as Winston has played, there’s room to improve. Brandt pointed out mechanics of his throwing motion and the movement of his hips. Brandt wants to see incremental improvements across the board during Winston’s sophomore season — completion percentage, the way he adjust plays at the line of scrimmage, game management. Scott said he and Winston’s family purposely tried to prepare him for celebrity in high school by exposing him to media and events across the country. None of that compared to this season and the coverage of the investigation. That attention will only increase if Winston wins the Heisman. He’s likely to be in the running again in 2014. “It was different to go from such a slow, small type of small town College Station status where everybody knows you and people run into you, then to take that to a national level where you walk around Times Square and people are running into you and noticing you,” said Manziel, who endured his share of controversy after winning the award in 2012. “Just how big things boomed and spread out across the entire country, world, everything after that was nothing like I expected.” Seven years ago Winston was first introduced to the Heisman through the NCAA Football ’06 video game. He was 13 years old, created himself on the game and won the award. Winston could match his digital persona Saturday. “He’s definitely the truth,” said 1993 Heisman winner Charlie Ward, who regularly texts Winston. “He’s the real deal. His attitude toward getting better and not settling for his last accomplishments is great. “It was impressive to see him come out and do the things that he’s been able to do as a younger guy.”