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PAKISTAN
MURDER TRIAL
141 die at school Taliban gunmen massacre children, teachers By RIAZ KHAN AND REBECCA SANTANA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Vernon Bryant/pool The Dallas Morning News | AP
Kim Williams, the estranged wife of Eric Williams, testifies during the punishment phase of Eric Williams’ capital murder trial on Tuesday.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — In the deadliest slaughter of innocents in Pakistan in years, Taliban gunmen attacked a military-run school Tuesday and killed 141 people — almost all of them students — before government troops
Jurors consider ex-judge’s sentence
ended the siege. The massacre of innocent children horrified a country already weary of unending terrorist attacks. Pakistan’s teenage Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai — herself a survivor of a Taliban shooting — said she was “heartbroken” by the bloodshed. Even Taliban militants in
neighboring Afghanistan decried the killing spree, calling it “un-Islamic.” If the Pakistani Taliban extremists had hoped the attack would cause the government to ease off its military offensive that began in June in the country’s tribal region, it appeared to have the opposite effect. Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif pledged to step up the campaign that — along with U.S. drone strikes — has targeted the militants. “The fight will continue. No one should have any doubt about it,” Sharif said. “We will take account of each and every drop of our chil-
See PAKISTAN PAGE 12A
KEMP’S RIDLEY SEA TURTLE
SEA TURTLE DECLINE
Convicted of killing official’s wife in revenge plot ASSOCIATED PRESS
ROCKWALL — Jurors began deliberating Tuesday whether to send a former North Texas justice of the peace to death row for killing a North Texas district attorney’s wife in a revenge plot. The Rockwall County jury deliberated for about 2 1/2 hours on punishment for Eric Williams before being sequestered for the night. Jurors are to resume deliberations Wednesday. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, but jurors could opt for life imprisonment without parole. Williams was found guilty Dec. 4 in the shooting death of Cynthia McLelland. He is also charged, but has not been tried, in the deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and assistant prosecutor Mark Hasse. Prosecutors say the deaths were retribution after Hasse and McLelland prosecuted Williams for the theft of county equipment. He lost his job and law license as a result. The jury began deliberations after hearing Tuesday from Williams’ estranged wife, Kim Williams, who also is charged in the slayings. She testified for more than two hours about her role in the plot, saying she was a “willing participant” in her husband’s revenge killings. “His anger was my anger,” she said. Her testimony indicated she drove the getaway car in Hasse’s slaying and helped to dispose of the weapons used in the killing of the McLellands at their home east of Dallas. After killing the McLellands, the couple’s mood, she said, was “happy, joyous.” She said Eric Williams had a hit list that
See TRIAL
PAGE 12A
Photo by Brad Doherty/The Brownsville Herald | AP
Andrea Hance, Texas Shrimp Association executive director, poses with a TED, or turtle excluder device, on board a shrimp boat at the Brownsville Shrimp Basin in Brownsville. A review has found the shrimping industry’s impact on Kemp’s ridley sea turtles is at an all-time low.
Shrimping industry impact low on the creatures ASSOCIATED PRESS
B
ROWNSVILLE — A review has found the shrimping industry’s impact on Kemp’s ridley sea turtles is at an all-time low, but an expert said nesting numbers for the rare reptiles have declined.
Researchers are still puzzled as to why there’s been a decline in turtle nesting numbers, which began to decrease after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But fisheries management expert Benny Gallaway, who studied possible reasons behind the drop, said the good
news for the shrimping industry is that the decline isn’t its fault. Gallaway, president of LGL Ecological Research Associates Inc., recently spoke at the International Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle Symposium held in Brownsville.
See TURTLES
PAGE 12A
NATURAL RESOURCES
Denton: City that banned hydraulic fracturing By JIM MALEWITZ THE TEXAS TRIBUNE
Photo by Tony Gutierrez/file | AP
Topher Jones, of Denton, Edward Hartmann, of Dallas and Angie Holliday of Denton, hold a campaign sign outside city hall, in Denton, on July 1.
DENTON — Cathy McMullen taps the brakes of her Toyota Prius after driving through a neighborhood of mostly one-story homes in Denton, about an hour northwest of Dallas. “There,” she says, nodding toward a limestone wall shielding from view a pad of gas wells. McMullen, a 56-year-old home health nurse, cruised past a stretch of yellowed grass and weeds. “They could have put that pad site on that far corner right there,” she says, pointing ahead. “The land’s all vacant.” Instead, the wells sit on the corner of Bonnie Brae and Scripture Street. Across the way: Texas
Health Presbyterian Hospital. Across another street: the basketball court, picnic tables and purple playground of McKenna Park. That was where Range Resources, a company based in Fort Worth, wanted to start drilling and fracking in 2009. McMullen, who at that time had just moved into a house about 1,500 feet away from the proposed site, joined others in raising concerns about bringing the gas industry and hydraulic fracturing — widely known as fracking — so close to where kids play. Fracking, which involves blasting apart underground rock with millions of gallons of chemical-laced water to free up oil and gas, “is a brutal, brutal process for people living around it,” McMullen says.
Their efforts in city hall failed. If McMullen felt invisible five years ago, she doesn’t anymore. Today, state lawmakers, the oil and gas industry and national environmental groups have become acutely aware of Denton, home to two universities, 277 gas wells and now, thanks to a rag-tag group of local activists, Texas’ first ban on fracking. Thrust into the saga is George P. Bush, who in January will take the helm of the Texas General Land Office, an otherwise obscure office that manages mineral rights on millions of acres of state-owned property. In his first political office, Jeb’s eldest son and George W.’s nephew will inherit one of
See FRACKING
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Zin brief CALENDAR
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2014
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 17
ASSOCIATED PRESS
How To Build An Effective Resume and Cover Letter from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Senator Judith Zaffirini Library Room B215. 5500 S Zapata Hwy.
THURSDAY, DEC. 18 Planetarium movies from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium and Science Center .Contact Claudia Herrera at claudia.herrera@tamiu.edu or visit tamiu.edu/planetarium for more information. For more information call 956-326-DOME (3663). On Dec. 31: Epoca de Oro New Year’s Scholoarship Dance. Table reservations and tickes on sale at Rolis. Call Rosa at 337- 7178, Sid at 740-3572 or Daniel at 290-7341 for more information. On Jan. 1: First Day Hikes at Lake Casa Blanca International State Park. From 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., the Mesquite Bend Nature Hike, about 1.75 miles. From 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., White-tail Loop Fossils Hike, about 1.25 miles. From 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., Junior Ranger Hike, about 1 mile. From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., Roadrunner Trail, about 2.25 miles.Meet at the Boat Ramp Restrooms for all hikes. Contact Holly Reinhard at holly.reinhard@tpwd.texas.gov or 725-3826.
Cushing Memorial Library and Archives, Texas A&M University | The Texas Tribune
Photos show Gov. Rick Perry as a student and a cadet at Texas A&M University. The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents will meet Thursday to consider renaming a historic building on the flagship College Station campus after Perry. The regents will vote on whether to rename the generic-sounding Academic Building the “Governor Rick Perry ’72 Building.”
Perry may get building By REEVE HAMILTON
sociology and modern languages.
THE TEXAS TRIBUNE
SATURDAY, DEC. 20 Planetarium movie showings. From 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. TAMIU LBV Planetarium and Science Center. Contact Claudia Herrera at claudia.herrera@tamiu.edu or tamiu.edu/planetarium. For more information call 326DOME (3663). Disney Junior Live: Pirate and Princess Adventure. Starts at 5 p.m. at the Laredo Energy Arena, 6700 Arena Blvd. Tickets available at ticketmaster.com. 2nd annual Holiday Celebration for families of individuals with Down syndrome from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Laredo Public Library, Media Room, 1120 E. Calton Rd., Laredo. Contact Raquel Canizales at raquelucha56@yahoo.com. Immediate family members only due to limited space. Please RSVP.
SUNDAY, DEC. 21 “Ring we now of Christmas” from 4 to 5 p.m. First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland. Linda Mott at lmott@stx.rr.com or the church office at 722-1674.
MONDAY, DEC. 22 Webb County December Adoption Meeting. Starting at 6 p.m. DFPS Offices, 1500 N. Arkansas. For more information, contact Cornelia Garza 361-516-0943. Planetarium Open House. From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. TAMIU LBV Planetarium and Science Center. Contact Claudia Herrera at claudia.herrera@tamiu.edu or tamiu.edu/planetarium. For more information call 956-326-DOME (3663).
MONDAY, DEC. 29 Monthly meeting of Laredo Parkinson’s Disease Support Group. 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Laredo Medical Center, Tower B, First Floor Community Center. Patients, caregivers and family members invited. Free info pamphlets available in Spanish and English. Richard Renner (English) at 645-8649 or Juan Gonzalez (Spanish) at 237-0666.
The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents will meet on Thursday to consider renaming a historic building on the flagship College Station campus after a famous alumnus: Gov. Rick Perry. According to filing with the secretary of state’s office, the regents will vote on whether to rename Texas A&M’s generic-sounding Academic Building the “Governor Rick Perry ’72 Building.” They will also consider a resolution honoring Perry for his "outstanding dedication and service" as the longestserving governor in Texas history. The Academic Building, which recently turned 100, is one of its most iconic structures on campus. Formerly the home of the university’s library, it now is mostly office space for several academic departments, including
Perry likens Hanukkah to Boston Tea Party rebels Perry is marking the first night of Hanukkah by likening the Jewish Festival of Lights to the Boston Tea Party. Perry compared Jewish Maccabee rebels to American colonists who protested against British rule in 1773, on Tuesday. The Republican said it was “fitting” that this year’s first night of Hanukkah falls on the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple by the Maccabees after their victory over the Syrians. Perry said the Maccabees “knew, as the Jewish people know, that the few can overcome the many” and that “faith can transcend persecution.”
Houston-area police getting body cameras
Man guilty in Red River Army Depot billing fraud
Houston teen mom gets probation in alcohol case
HOUSTON — Harris County commissioners have approved nearly $2 million from the county district attorney’s office to provide sheriff ’s deputies and some Houston police officers with body cameras. The county board Tuesday approved the money to bel be shared by the two law enforcement agencies.
TEXARKANA — A Northeast Texas man faces up to five years of probation for his role in what prosecutors call a Red River Army Depot billing scam. William Randall Scott of DeKalb pleaded guilty Monday to theft of government property in a plea deal. Scott, who cooperated with authorities, was among seven men charged in the fraud and theft investigation.
HOUSTON — A 17-year-old Houston mother has been sentenced to probation after her year-old daughter was hospitalized for alcohol poisoning. A complaint says the child in February drank the equivalent of six shots of vodka. The mother pleaded guilty Monday to felony child endangerment and received three years of deferred adjudication probation.
Man allegedly stabbed person in eye with fork
Brownsville border officer charged with bribery
BRENHAM — A man was charged with using a fork to stab a person in the eye and blind her at a Thanksgiving celebration. Steve Gantt was held Tuesday on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and assault causing bodily injury. Prosecutors allege Gantt stabbed the victim with a fork, resulting in loss of vision.
BROWNSVILLE — A South Texas border officer has been accused of letting drug-hauling vehicles pass in deals allegedly done via cellphone. Customs and Border Protection Officer Jose Luis Zavala of Brownsville remains in federal custody pending a court appearance Thursday. — Compiled from AP reports
AAA says 8.1M likely to travel for holidays IRVING — More Texans are expected to hit the road during the end-of-the-year holidays as gasoline prices remain lower than a year ago. AAA on Tuesday predicted 8.1 million Texans will travel 50 miles or more from home from Dec. 23 through Jan. 4. That’s up about 4 percent from 2013. AAA nationally expects about 98.6 Americans to take a trip for the holidays.
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 31 Epoca de Oro New Year’s Scholoarship Dance. Table reservations and tickes on sale at Rolis. Call Rosa at 337- 7178, Sid at 740-3572 or Daniel at 290-7341 for more information.
THURSDAY, JAN. 1 First Day Hikes at Lake Casa Blanca International State Park. From 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., the Mesquite Bend Nature Hike, about 1.75 miles. From 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., White-tail Loop Fossils Hike, about 1.25 miles. From 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., Junior Ranger Hike, about 1 mile. From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., Roadrunner Trail, about 2.25 miles.Meet at the Boat Ramp Restrooms for all hikes. Contact Holly Reinhard at holly.reinhard@tpwd.texas.gov or 725-3826. (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.)
AROUND THE NATION Jury in exchange student killing adjourns for day MISSOULA, Mont. — Jurors in the case of a Montana man who shot and killed a German exchange student caught trespassing in his garage have adjourned for the day without reaching a verdict. The jury began deliberations Tuesday in the case against Markus Kaarma of Missoula. He is charged with deliberate homicide in the death of 17-year old Diren Dede. Deliberations resume today.
Avian flu confirmed in wild birds in Washington SEATTLE — U.S. officials say they’ve found avian influenza in wild birds in Washington state but there’s no immediate public health concern. The Department of Agriculture said Tuesday that separate strains of the H5 virus have been
Today is Wednesday, Dec. 17, the 351st day of 2014. There are 14 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Dec. 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright of Dayton, Ohio, conducted the first successful manned powered-airplane flights near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, using their experimental craft, the Wright Flyer. On this date: In 1777, France recognized American independence. In 1865, Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 8, known as the “Unfinished” (because only two movements had been completed) was first performed publicly in Vienna, 37 years after the composer’s death. In 1914, during World War I, Britain declared Egypt an official protectorate. In 1925, Col. William “Billy” Mitchell was convicted at his court-martial in Washington of insubordination for accusing senior military officials of incompetence and criminal negligence; he was suspended from active duty. In 1939, the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled by its crew, ending the World War II Battle of the River Plate off Uruguay. In 1944, the U.S. War Department announced it was ending its policy of excluding people of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast. In 1957, the United States successfully test-fired the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time. In 1964, the film “Zorba the Greek,” starring Anthony Quinn, opened in New York and Los Angeles. In 1989, the animated TV series “The Simpsons” premiered on Fox with a Christmas-themed episode. In 2011, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il died after more than a decade of iron rule; he was 69, according to official records, but some reports indicated he was 70. Today’s Birthdays: Actor Armin Mueller-Stahl is 84. Pope Francis is 78. Singer-actor Tommy Steele is 78. Rock singer-musician Art Neville is 77. Actor Bernard Hill is 70. Actor Ernie Hudson is 69. Political commentator Chris Matthews is 69. Comedian-actor Eugene Levy is 68. Actress Marilyn Hassett is 67. Actor Wes Studi is 67. Pop musician Jim Bonfanti (The Raspberries) is 66. Actor Joel Brooks is 65. Rock singer Paul Rodgers is 65. Rhythm-and-blues singer Wanda Hutchinson (The Emotions) is 63. Actor Bill Pullman is 61. Actor Barry Livingston is 61. Country singer Sharon White is 61. Producer-director-writer Peter Farrelly is 58. Rock musician Mike Mills (R.E.M.) is 56. Pop singer Sarah Dallin (Bananarama) is 53. Country musician Tim Chewning is 52. Country singer Tracy Byrd is 48. Country musician Duane Propes is 48. Actress Laurie Holden is 45. DJ Homicide (Sugar Ray) is 44. Actor Sean Patrick Thomas is 44. Actress Claire Forlani is 43. Pop-rock musician Eddie Fisher (OneRepublic) is 41. Actress Sarah Paulson is 40. Actress Marissa Ribisi is 40. Actor Giovanni Ribisi is 40. Actress Milla Jovovich is 39. Singer Bree Sharp is 39. Thought for Today: “The man who has done his level best, and who is conscious that he has done his best, is a success, even though the world may write him down a failure.” — B.C. Forbes, Scottish journalist (1880-1954).
CONTACT US Publisher, William B. Green........................728-2501 Account Executive, Dora Martinez ...... (956) 765-5113 General Manager, Adriana Devally ...............728-2510 Adv. Billing Inquiries ................................. 728-2531 Circulation Director ................................. 728-2559 MIS Director, Michael Castillo.................... 728-2505 Managing Editor, Nick Georgiou ................. 728-2565 Sports Editor, Zach Davis ..........................728-2578 Spanish Editor, Melva Lavin-Castillo............ 728-2569 Photo by Ben Solomon/The New York Times | AP
A Albert H. Hopper Monuments employee works on a headstone in Jersey City, N.J., on Monday. The firm is embroiled in a battle with the Archdiocese of Newark over the diocese offering headstones and mausoleums to customers. confirmed in northern pintail ducks and gyrfalcons that were fed wild birds killed by hunters. The agency says both viruses have been found in other parts of the world and have not caused any human infection to date. Neither virus has been found
in commercial poultry in the U.S. An avian influenza outbreak this month in southwest British Columbia has spread to seven poultry farms, and 155,000 birds have died of the virus or will be euthanized. — 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
Nation
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
Norman Bridwell, Clifford creator, dead at 86 By LEANNE ITALIE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Norman Bridwell, a soft-spoken illustrator whose impromptu story about a girl and her puppy marked the unlikely birth of the supersized franchise Clifford the Big Red Dog, has died at 86. Bridwell, who lived for decades in a house with a bright red door on Martha’s Vineyard off Cape Cod in Massachusetts, died Friday at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, where he had been for about three weeks after a fall at home in Edgartown, his wife, Norma, said. He suffered from several ailments, including a recurrence of prostate cancer, she said. He passed peacefully with family members at his bedside, she said. Starting in 1963 with “Clifford, the Big Red Dog,” Bridwell wrote and illustrated more than 40 Clifford books, from “Clifford and the Grouchy Neighbors” to “Clifford Goes to Hollywood.” More than 120 million copies have sold worldwide, along with cartoons, a feature film, a musical, stuffed animals, key chains, posters and stickers. Images of Clifford have appeared everywhere from museums to the White House. “A lot of people were Clifford fans and that makes them Norman fans, too,” said his wife of 56 years. Clifford became standard nighttime reading for countless families and a money machine for publisher Scholastic Inc. Spinoffs include cartoons with John Ritter as the voice of Clifford and future “Hunger Games” novelist Suzanne Collins among the script writers. Scholastic, which became a top children’s publisher thanks in part to Clifford, installed bright
Photo by Charles Sykes/file |AP
Author and cartoonist Norman Bridwell poses at Scholastic headquarters in New York, in 2011. Bridwell, creator of the popular “Clifford the Big Red Dog” series of children’s books turned into a PBS TV show, died Friday on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. He was 86. red cushions on the chairs in the corporate headquarters’ auditorium in New York. Scholastic had been in business for decades before Clifford, but the series’ success inspired the publisher to look for other stories with brand appeal, including “Goosebumps,” “The Magic School Bus” and “I Spy.” Bridwell had completed two more Clifford books to be released next year, Scholastic said in a statement. In his pre-Clifford life, Bridwell was a filmstrip and slide illustrator, trying to break into children’s publishing to support his family. His work had been rejected all over New York when an editor
at Harper & Row (now HarperCollins) suggested he try writing a story to go with a picture he had submitted of a child and her horse-sized dog. Bridwell’s idea: Thanks to the girl’s affection, a puppy —the runt of the litter — grows into a klutzy but good-hearted behemoth, as big as the lighthouses on the author’s imaginary “Birdwell Island.” A nearby paint container inspired Bridwell to color Clifford fire engine red. Bridwell had sketched a bloodhound because he wanted one while growing up and he named the girl Emily Elizabeth, after his daughter. He planned to call the dog “Tiny,” but his wife, Norma, suggested “Clifford,” the name of
an imaginary friend she had as a child. Bridwell spent a weekend working up a story. Several publishers turned the book down before editor Beatrice de Regniers of Scholastic’s “Lucky Book Club” saw Clifford’s potential. “I said to my wife, ‘Now don’t count on there being any more. This one is just a fluke. I don’t know if there will ever be another one,”’ Bridwell told The Associated Press in 2012. Bridwell achieved mainstream success without mainstream distribution. Scholastic offered the first Clifford story through book clubs and school fairs (Clifford wasn’t available in stores until the 1980s) and it sold
well enough that Scholastic published a second, non-Clifford book by Bridwell, “The Witch Next Door.” Over the years, Bridwell added such “Clifford” sidekicks as the purple poodle Cleo, the threelegged training dog KC and Emily Elizabeth’s cranky schoolmate, Jetta. Bridwell’s name was a ringer for Norman Rockwell’s and Birdwell’s books were also a comforting portrait of stability and innocence. But he did work in social commentary, such as including children of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. “I visited a school in Washington state and some kid said, ‘Why do you have these black people in the book?”’ Brid-
well told The Associated Press in a 2011 interview. “I said that we wanted to have a little mix of races and nationalities and not just a purely lily white town.” Bridwell said he came up with ideas for Clifford by watching other dogs. Clifford would often get himself in trouble, scattering garbage on the lawn or crushing a fence, then redeem himself as only a big dog could, whether saving a drowning child or gently gripping a stranded car between his teeth and carrying it to the nearest garage. Bridwell believed Clifford’s imperfections were part of his appeal, making kids more forgiving of their own mistakes. While he denied that Clifford was based on himself, Norma Bridwell disagreed. “He’s never been able to recognize that,” she told the AP. “Clifford tries to do the right thing, Norman tries to do right the thing, and he makes a mess of it. But he’s the most lovable grown-up man. He’s just a nice guy.” “I’m not really all that nice,” the author responded, “but I try to be.” Bridwell was born in Kokomo, Indiana, in 1928. He was not a star in art or writing classes, but his mechanical skills were so much worse that a high school shop teacher suggested he stick to drawing. After graduation, he attended the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis, then moved to New York and studied at Cooper Union. Bridwell spent much of the 1950s as a commercial artist. In addition to his wife and daughter, Bridwell is survived by a son, Timothy, and three grandchildren. The family planned a private service with a public celebration of his life and work to come later, likely over the summer, his wife said.
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Zopinion
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2014
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COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
Be kind to retail store workers at Christmas By MARY MCCARTY COX NEWSPAPERS
DAYTON, Ohio — The grocery store clerk glanced around the bustling store and confided, “I don’t like this season.” At the bookstore, a cashier encouraged me to fill out a customer satisfaction survey, adding in a half-whisper, “If I don’t get a perfect score, it counts against me.” I have been told the same thing by other retail workers on several occasions. Small wonder they aren’t crazy about Christmas. Perfection? During the holidays? True, we are bombarded, this time of year, with images of perfection. There are those overachievers who put up their lights well before Thanksgiving or Facebook friends who post photos of the neatly wrapped boxes under the tree weeks before most of us have started shopping. My own house is cluttered with wrapping paper and untouched Christmas cards as I rush around running errands that never seem to get done. I would hate to be scored on my level of “perfection” — and my livelihood, thank God, doesn’t even depend on my efficiency in running a household. As customer service surveys pop up like candy canes, I wonder about the additional pressure they could be imposing on service workers. Some people won’t be happy, after all, no matter how heroic your efforts. What if a perpetual malcontent deprived a hard-working employee of a bonus or a raise? Or earned them a reprimand instead of a much-needed word of praise? There are, of course, many positive aspects to customer feedback — not the least of which is the potential for a better shopping experience. Dr. Serdar S. Durmusoglu, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Dayton, thinks the trend is a very positive one: “I think that more companies should be doing those things. It’s a way to gauge how well they are doing. The approach shouldn’t be to point fingers at employees, but to get feedback and do something to improve.” Durmusoglu believes the customer satisfaction surveys send an important signal to employees: “It sends a message that customer service matters. Your ability to stay in business depends on your level of customer service.” Instead of using the surveys to punish workers, employers should take the long view, Durmusoglu said. If an employee consistently earns low scores, they should be given additional training. And managers
should remember that unhappy customers often are the ones completing surveys, “so don’t leap to conclusions,” he said. “Maybe managers are putting pressure on workers to get these perfect scores. They need to be trained and to understand that the main goal is how the customer perceives the company and how they can improve that.” There are pros and cons with customer satisfaction surveys, according to Brigid Kelly, spokesperson for the Vandalia, Ohio-based United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 75. While they can help to improve service, she said, the trend “puts pressure on people who already are being asked to move quickly and do more with less. That’s not just in our industry; most American workers are being squeezed the same way.” Kelly experienced this during her own days in retail: “It was the day after Thanksgiving, and I had to be into work at 6 a.m. I will never forget this as long as I live — this woman came in with this huge order and she was so mean to me. And I kept thinking, ‘I am here because I am working, I have a job to do. You are choosing to be here. You don’t have to be so nasty.”’ The bottom line, Kelly added, is mutual respect: “If we have that, it will go a long way toward getting through the holidays.” I always warn my children, “Never date someone who is rude to the waiter or the retail worker.” Yet, based on a few whispered confidences from workers, I can’t help wondering if I unwittingly contribute to workers’ misery through customer satisfaction surveys. What if I am “satisfied” rather than “highly satisfied” with the speed of the checkout or the friendliness of the staff ? That sounds like a good review; to their manager it may translate to substandard. Most actual grownups, meanwhile, have figured out long ago that perfection is an unattainable human standard. It’s a theme that runs through many of my favorite films this year: “Boyhood,” “The Skeleton Twins,” “St. Vincent” and “The Theory of Everything.” These are movies populated with very flawed people, yet in each case we find ourselves rooting for them, empathizing with them. If we can do that with celluloid characters, how about trying it with the real-life folks who sell us our groceries and holiday gifts? If we could all show each other a little more compassion this Christmas, I’d say that would be just about perfect.
COLUMN
Elizabeth Warren can win Elizabeth Warren’s memoir begins with the story of a family in collapse. She was 12 years old when her father had a heart attack. His recovery was slow. Unable to work, the family’s finances tanked. The Studebaker was repossessed. When he was able to return to work, Montgomery Ward took away his job selling carpeting and gave him a job selling lawn mowers on commission. Warren asked her mother why the old job was gone. “In her view, his company had robbed him of something he’d worked for. And now, she said, ’They think he’s going to die.’” The financial spiral had the predictable effect on the family’s emotional life. “Sometimes that spring I would overhear my parents arguing,” Warren remembers, “I guess I shouldn’t describe it as arguing; my father never said much of anything, while my mother yelled louder. They drank more, a lot more. ... I knew that my mother blamed my daddy for not doing ’what a man is supposed to do’ and taking care of us.” Her mother ended up getting a job at Sears, her father got a job as a maintenance man, and the family finances stabilized — at a low level. Warren concluded the episode this way: “My mother never had it easy. She fought for everything she and my daddy ever had.” The memoir is called “A
“
DAVID BROOKS
Fighting Chance.” The words “fight” or “fighting” appear in the book 224 times. In high school, Warren writes, she couldn’t play a musical instrument or a sport, “but I did have one talent. I could fight — not with my fists, but with my words. I was the anchor on the debate team.” Of her tennis game she writes, “Once I had a weapon in my hand, I gave it everything I had.” With relish, she describes a fight she later had with a judge on a panel discussion over bankruptcy law. “The judge probably had a hundred pounds on me, and he started shifting himself closer to the microphone and edging me out of his way. I grabbed the table for leverage and pushed my way to the microphone, going shoulder to shoulder with the judge as I hit back with arguments. ... I glanced over and noticed with satisfaction that the veins in his neck were throbbing and his face was red and sweating. I wondered briefly whether he might have a stroke right there on the small stage.” Her biggest adult fight has been against the banks, against what she saw as their rapacious exploitation of the poor and vulnerable. The crucial
distinction Warren makes is this one: It’s not just social conditions like globalization and technological change that threaten the middle class. It’s an active conspiracy by the rich and powerful. The game is rigged. The proper response is not just policymaking; it’s indignation and combat. The political class has been wondering if Warren, a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, will take on Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. This speculation is usually based on the premise that Warren couldn’t actually win, but that she could move the party in her direction. But, today, even for those of us who disagree with Warren fundamentally, it seems clear that she does have a significant and growing chance of being nominated. Her chances are rising because of that word “fight.” The emotional register of the Democratic Party is growing more combative. There’s an underlying and sometimes vituperative sense of frustration toward President Barack Obama and especially his supposed inability to go to the mat. Events like the Brown case in Ferguson and the Garner case in New York have raised indignation levels across the progressive spectrum. Judging by recent polls, the midterm defeat has not scared Democrats into supporting the safe option; it’s made them
angrier about the whole system. As the party slips more into opposition status, with the next Congress, this aggressive outsider spirit will only grow. In this era of bad feelings, parties are organized more around what they oppose rather than what they are for. Republicans are against government. Democrats are coalescing around opposition to Wall Street and corporate power. In 2001, 51 percent of Democrats were dissatisfied with the rise of corporate power, according to Gallup surveys. By 2011, 79 percent of Democrats were. According to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll last month, 58 percent of Democrats said they believed that the economic and political systems were stacked against them. Clinton is obviously tough, but she just can’t speak with a clear voice against Wall Street and Washington insiders. Warren’s wing shows increasing passion and strength, both in opposing certain Obama nominees and in last week’s budget fight. The history of populist candidates is that they never actually get the nomination. The establishment wins. That’s still likely. But there is something in the air. The fundamental truth is that every structural and historical advantage favors Clinton, but every day more Democrats embrace the emotion and view defined by Warren.
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CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
PÁGINA 6A
Zfrontera
Ribereña en Breve PROGRAMA PECDA 2015 El Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (CONACULTA), a través del Instituto Tamaulipeco para la Cultura y las Artes (ITCA), de México, han anunciado el cierre para las convocatorias del Programa de Estímulo a la Creación y al Desarrollo Artístico (PECDA) 2015. Los solicitantes deben ser originarios del Estado de Tamaulipas o comprobar una residencia continua mínima durante los últimos tres años. Los proyectos seleccionados se harán acreedores a un estímulo económico que les facilite las condiciones para continuar con su labor en las disciplinas de artes plásticas, arte urbano, artes visuales, danza, letras, música, patrimonio cultural y teatro. Los postulantes deberán ser mayores de 18 años y harán llegar todos sus documentos y material de apoyo en forma electrónica mediante el portal http://www.pecdaenlinea.conaculta.com.mx, a través de la opción “Registrar nuevo usuario”. El cierre de la convocatoria es día de hoy.
MIÉRCOLES 17 DE DICIEMBRE DE 2014
TEXAS
Abrirán centro POR WILL WEISSERT ASSOCIATED PRESS
DILLEY— El gobierno del presidente Barack Obama anunció el lunes que un antiguo campamento de trabajadores petroleros ubicado en el sur de Texas será transformado en el centro de detención para familias inmigrantes más grande de Estados Unidos, mientras las autoridades se preparan para otra posible oleada de madres y niños que cruzan ilegalmente la frontera desde México. El secretario de Seguridad Nacional, Jeh Johnson, visitó el complejo de 20 hectáreas que incluye 80 cabañas color canela de dos habitaciones y un baño conectadas mediante caminos de tierra y césped de reciente colocación en la localidad de Dilley, a unos 112 kiló-
metros al suroeste de San Antonio. Los primeros 30 inmigrantes comenzarán a llegar en las próximas semanas y las cabañas alojarán eventualmente a 480 personas. El cupo se ampliará en mayo más o menos a 2.400 inmigrantes con la construcción de más casas en los alrededores. Los defensores de las familias inmigrantes afirman que éstas a menudo huyen de la violencia del narcotráfico o de las pandillas en América Central y deberían ser dejadas en libertad y entregadas a los parientes que tengan en Estados Unidos en lugar de encerrarlas en un centro de detención. La detención de una familia tiene un costo diario de 296 dólares por persona, según el Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE por sus siglas en inglés), casi
el doble de un adulto retenido, según cálculos del grupo defensor National Inmmigration Forum (Foro Nacional de Inmigración). Las mujeres y los niños serán mantenidos en el centro de Dilley hasta su deportación, libertad bajo fianza o inicio de un procedimiento judicial mediante el cual se les permita permanecer en Estados Unidos. El ICE dijo que 70% de las familias de inmigrantes dejadas en libertad en Estados Unidos jamás se presentaron a las citas de seguimiento, razón en parte del por qué se decidió aumentar la capacidad de detención. Las cabañas en Dilley incluyen literas y cunas tipo jaula, estas últimas hasta con cupo para ocho niños, una pantalla plana de televisión y una cocina, aunque está
prohibida la preparación de alimentos para impedir incendios. La cafetería está abierta 12 horas al día y hay bocadillos disponibles las 24 horas. El lugar cuenta con atención médica, asesores, salones de clases rodantes, bibliotecas, acceso a correo electrónico, una cancha de baloncesto y parques infantiles, todo esto para mostrar la parte amable de la detención migratoria. Sin embargo, Johnson subrayó que a pesar del reciente anuncio que hizo el presidente Barack Obama sobre las medidas ejecutivas a favor de los inmigrantes, la deportación es prioritaria para quien haya cruzado este año sin permiso hacia Estados Unidos. “Debe quedar claro que nuestras fronteras no están abiertas a la inmigración ilegal”, apuntó.
COMUNIDAD
DESFILE NAVIDEÑO
TURISMO MÉDICO De acuerdo a un comunicado de prensa emitido por el Gobierno de Tamaulipas, señala que el Turismo Médico ha crecido en 32 por ciento, en los últimos cuatro años. El registro de 2014 presenta un monto de 1.231.360 citas médicas. A través de las mejoras al servicio de salud, la alta calidad en materia de salud y buenos precios, se busca facilitar la conectividad fronteriza, ya que los principales visitantes son residentes del Valle de Texas. Además de los servicios, el Estado de Tamaulipas cuenta con 4 Clúster Médicos, en sus principales ciudades; Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, Nuevo Progreso y Matamoros, México, con casi 600 asociados, lo cual refuerza las relaciones laborales en Tamaulipas promovidas por el Gobernador, Egidio Torre Cantú, para incentivar el crecimiento y consolidación de los negocios ya establecidos. En Tamaulipas existen aproximadamente 2.118 establecimientos privados de consulta externa, 989 comercios relacionados con la salud, y hospitales reconocidos nacionalmente , también se está capacitando en el exámen de Ingles para la Comunicación Internacional (TOEIC por sus siglas en ingles), indica el reporte.
Fotos de cortesía
La semana pasada se realizó el Desfile de Navidad y Encendido de Luces en la Ciudad de Zapata, evento que contó con la participación de carros alegóricos, fotografías con Santa Claus, ceremonia de Encendido del Árbol de Navidad, entre otras actividades. Durante las festividades participaron diferentes agencias de servicios a la comunidad, gubernamentales, escuelas y organizaciones sin fines de lucro, entre otras.
NACIONAL
SALUD
Piden rechazo de demanda
Aseguradoras amplían plazo
INDUSTRIA AGRÍCOLA El gobierno de Tamaulipas busca fortalecer la industria agrícola, ganadera, pesquera, acuícola y forestal a través de beneficios otorgados a los propietarios rurales. La secretaría de Desarrollo Público, ha generado políticas para el desarrollo del sector rural, al implementar programas y proyectos integrales de acuerdo a las necesidades y vocaciones de las regiones, sostuvo Carlos Solís Gómez, secretario del departamento. Contar con herramientas adecuadas para la administración de riesgos es de vital importancia ante las fluctuaciones en los índices de precios, por lo que fuentes de financiamiento e incentivos a la comercialización de los productores son acciones consideradas en la propuesta de egresos de la federación del año 2015, donde por gestiones del Gobernador se ha participado en los presupuestos y mesas de negociación para que se considere a Tamaulipas con una mayor participación en el futuro próximo, indica un comunicado de prensa.
POR PETE YOST ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — El gobierno de EU pidió el martes que se desestime con rapidez una demanda que desmantelaría el programa de inmigración del presidente, una iniciativa diseñada para eximir de la deportación a casi 5 millones de personas que se en-
cuentran en el país de forma ilegal. La demanda la presentó un jefe de policía de Arizona, Joe Arpaio, que alega que el plan del presidente, Barack Obama, sirve como un imán para que más personas intenten entrar en el país de forma ilegal. Arpaio dijo que los recién llegados cometerán delitos y por lo tanto lastrarán sus recursos para hacer
cumplir la ley. En un documento judicial presentado el lunes, el Departamento de Justicia dijo al juez del distrito, Beryl Howell, que la teoría del jefe de policía es especulativa e insustancial, y que Arpaio no ha demostrado que vaya a sufrir ningún perjuicio en absoluto por la ley federal. El Departamento asegura que el desafío "carece de mérito".
TAMAULIPAS
Logran incautar drogas TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Durante el mes de noviembre se logró el decomiso de más de 1.000 kilogramos de marihuana en los municipios de Miguel Alemán y Camargo, México, anunciaron autoridades del Estado. Elementos de seguridad del Estado de Tamaulipas, , lograron decomisar 1.682 kilogramos de marihuana,
además de la detención de tres sospechosos, y la incautación de cuatro vehículos, en municipios fronterizos. Los narcóticos fueron asegurados en tres operativos separados: el tramo carretero Rancherías-Comales y en el Rancho Puerto Oriente del municipio de Camargo; en la Colonia Linda Vista de Miguel Alemán y en una fosa subterránea en Camargo.
Nuevo Laredo, MX Elementos de la Policía Estatal en Nuevo Laredo, México detuvieron a Ezequiel Magaña Avilés, probable narcomenudista. Fue arrestado con 30 dosis de cocaína, 10 poncha llantas y un radio de comunicación para reportar la ubicación de autoridades. El arresto ocurrió el jueves 4 de diciembre.
POR RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON— La industria de aseguradoras médicas ampliará el plazo para que sus clientes paguen las primas de enero, en un intento de suavizar una nueva ronda de complicaciones para los usuarios con la ley de seguro médico del presidente de Estados Unidos, Barack Obama. Planes de Seguro Médico de América, la principal asociación del sector, dijo que las medidas voluntarias incluirían un compromiso de pronta devolución sobre cualquier pago mayor de lo debido de los consumidores que se cambiaron de plan y habrían recibido dos facturas por error. Aunque el sitio web de HealthCare.gov está funcionando mejor, el anuncio de la iniciativa subraya que los problemas
técnicos del sistema que transmite información entre el gobierno y las aseguradoras han resultado difíciles de corregir. La ley de seguro médico ofrece una cobertura privada subvencionada para personas que no tienen seguro médico en su trabajo. Renovar la cobertura cada año es un procedimiento estándar para la industria, pero 2015 es el primer año de renovación dentro del sistema formado por el gobierno. Normalmente, las primas de enero se pagan el 31 de dic. El periodo de gracia del sector para 2015 podría varias en función de la compañía, de modo que los consumidores deberían comprobar con su proveedor. Las solicitudes nuevas están abiertas durante dos meses más, hasta el 15 de febrero.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2014
Zentertainment
No charges against Cosby over claim By ANTHONY MCCARTNEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles prosecutors on Tuesday declined to file any charges against Bill Cosby after a woman recently claimed the comedian molested her around 1974. The rejection of a child sexual abuse charge by prosecutors came roughly 10 days after the woman, Judy Huth, met with Los Angeles police detectives for 90 minutes. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office rejected filing a misdemeanor charge of annoying or molesting a child under the age of 18 because the statute of limitations had passed. Days before Huth spoke to police, she accused Cosby in a civil lawsuit of forcing her to perform a sex act on him in a bedroom of the Playboy Mansion when she was 15 years old. Cosby’s attorney said that Huth attempted to extort $250,000 from the comedian before she sued and that she’d attempted to sell her story to a tabloid a decade ago. Cosby is seeking a dismissal of Huth’s lawsuit, arguing it is blocked by the statute of limitations. Huth told police that Cosby molested her and that she had no further contact with him after the incident, according to a summary of her allegations included with the prosecutor’s decision. In rejecting the case, prosecutors evaluated the charge Cosby would have faced in 1974. Prosecutors
Photo by Anthony McCartney/file | AP
Judy Huth is suing Bill Cosby alleging the comedian sexually abused her when she was 15 years old. took into account legislative changes that extend the statute of limitations for certain crimes, but found no way that Cosby could be legally prosecuted. The statute of limitations for filing a misdemeanor case is one year; the statute of limitations for a felony sex crime committed in 1974 was three years, according to the prosecutors’ analysis. An email message sent to Huth’s attorney, Gloria Allred, was not immediately returned. Cosby’s attorney, Marty Singer, did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Huth is one of at least 15 women who have come forward since early November with claims that Cosby sexually assaulted them decades ago. Most of the women say they
were drugged before they were assaulted. She is one of two women suing Cosby; a second woman is suing for defamation. Cosby has never been charged in connection with any of the allegations. A 2005 lawsuit by a Pennsylvania woman was settled before it went to trial. Since the allegations emerged, Cosby’s career has unraveled, with nearly a dozen performances canceled in his ongoing standup comedy tour. NBC has said it will not move forward with a Cosby sitcom that was under development, and Netflix indefinitely postponed a special that was set to premiere last month. Cosby’s attorneys have denied some of the allegations and dismissed others as decades old and “discredited.”
PAGE 7A
Prosecutors targeted By LINDA DEUTSCH ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — The seemingly endless quest by Los Angeles authorities to extradite film director Roman Polanski has taken a new twist with the 81-yearold director renewing his fight to be free of his prosecutors. Polanski, who has been fighting this battle for nearly four decades, took action this week through a new legal team headed by highprofile lawyer Alan Dershowitz. He accuses U.S. and Los Angeles authorities of lying to Polish officials in an effort to extradite him from that country and says a judge secretly planned to put him behind bars if he voluntarily returned to California. A representative of Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said she would have no comment on her office’s latest efforts to bring Polanski to California to face judgment in a 38-year-old rape case. Dershowitz’s voicemail was full and a message could not be left for him. In a 1977 deal, the Oscarwinning director pleaded guilty to one count of statutory rape for having sex with a 13-year-old girl during a photo shoot in Los Angeles. Judge Laurence J. Rittenband then ordered Polanski to undergo a psychiatric study at the state prison in Chino, where he served 42 days. The prosecutor and Polanski’s attorney have said they understood from a private conversation with Rittenband that the time in prison would serve as Polanski’s punishment. But they said the judge later reneged on the agreement and suggested Polanski would go back to prison, and the Polish-born director fled to France. Since then, he has been an international fugitive
Photo by Michael Probst/file | AP
Roman Polanski accuses U.S. and Los Angeles authorities of lying to Polish officials in an effort to extradite him from that country. with Los Angeles prosecutors always on his heels. They have prodded the U.S. Justice Department to continue the so-far futile quest for his return. In 2009, when Polanski was accepting an award in Switzerland, where he maintains a home, he was arrested and wound up serving 290 days, first in jail and then under house arrest, before Swiss authorities rejected the U.S. request to extradite him and declared he could come there anytime he wanted. But the Los Angeles authorities have not given up, and they continue to dog Polanski whenever he travels. In October, another confrontation occurred in Poland when Polanski, 81, attended the opening of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw before traveling to Krakow, his childhood city. Polish authorities questioned him there because of the U.S. request but refused to arrest him. An adviser to the Polish president accused U.S. authorities of “absolute ignorance” in seeking the arrest of the filmmaker who is a Holocaust survivor, made his early films in Poland and is admired as a representative of Polish culture. The failed effort in Poland opened the door for a new legal strategy. Polan-
ski’s legal team filed court papers Monday that allege district attorneys and judges carried out “serious misconduct” in the decadeslong effort to prosecute the filmmaker and force him to return to the United States. The new 133-page motion seeks an evidentiary hearing to determine whether “pervasive” misconduct and a “false” extradition request sent this year by the Justice Department to the Polish government requires the case against Polanski to be dismissed. Polanski’s attorneys say the latest extradition request omitted that the director had served 42 days of court-ordered prison time in 1977. “The DA’s deliberate omission in its letter was plainly calculated to deceive the Polish government into believing that Polanski is “extraditable” under the treaty between the United States and Poland, when, in fact, he is not,” the filing said. Polanski’s life as a fugitive from America began eight years after his pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate, was murdered in Los Angeles along with six others by the notorious Charles Manson cult. Polanski won an Academy Award for best director for his 2002 film “The Pianist” and was nominated for 1974’s “Chinatown” and 1979’s “Tess.”
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2014
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DALLAS COWBOYS
Murray could face Colts Jones: RB may play Sunday By JON MACHOTA MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
As of Tuesday morning, Jerry Jones said he had not yet received an update on DeMarco Murray’s Monday evening left hand surgery. The Cowboys owner and general manager read that as a good sign the procedure went well. Jones did not rule out Murray for Sunday’s game against Indianapolis, adding that the NFL’s leading rusher could be a gametime decision. Jones said Murray would not need to practice this week in order to play. "I think we just want to take a look at it," Jones said on 105.3 The Fan KRLD-FM. "We don’t know. When they say the definition of healing, I’m not so sure how much it can heal between now and Sunday. I haven’t been shown examples of where someone has had an inju-
Photo by Michael Perez | AP
Dallas running back DeMarco Murray has not been ruled out to face off with Indianapolis this weekend despite a broken hand. ry like this. "It’s not uncommon, I’m not saying it’s an every day occurrence, but it’s not uncommon for a back to have a hand injury.
They do take some hits on that hand. But I know it’s in a place where it can really be protected. We do that and we see that often with different kind of
hand injuries. Certainly he’s got a lot of parts to his game that work - protection, what he does, frankly, with that hand when he’s running with
the ball, he usually carries it in his right hand. All of those things, it’s conceivable to me, it’s not unrealistic that it could work with him being
ready." If Murray is unable to play, Joseph Randle and Lance Dunbar will see larger workloads. One of Murray’s strengths is being able to protect Tony Romo in passing situations. When discussing the backup options for Murray, Jones said the team feels comfortable with Randle and Dunbar as pass protectors. "We all know the type of player and the type of year that Murray is having," Jones said, "but on the other hand, I have felt that this is where we have arguably the best depth on the team. Whether it be during a game or whether it be preparation for a complete game, we’ve got some very good backup players here, good insurance. "I’ll tell you, Randle, without question, will make a good accounting of himself. He’s got some special skills. I think he’ll be good on his protection. These guys can catch the ball now, so we’re not dismissing Murray’s absence as much as I am talking about how these guys give me a good feeling going into the game."
Nation
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
Pot fight riskier for Congress in states By KEVIN FREKING ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — It’s easy for Congress to meddle with the District of Columbia’s decision to legalize recreational use of marijuana, but taking on the states is a different matter. A catch-all spending bill Congress passed last week would prevent the District from using federal and local money to implement any law or regulation that repeals or reduces marijuana-related penalties. The action is in direct response to a voter initiative passed last month that allows possession of up to 2 ounces of pot or up to three mature plants for personal use. The Constitution gives Congress the power to review and possibly reject all legislation approved by the District’s elected officials or its citizens. Congress has less leverage with the states, and thwarting efforts supported by a plurality of voters back home could prove risky at election time. “That’s sort of asking for a head-on collision with states’ rights,” said Philip Wallach of the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank. Wallach said the most ready tool at Congress’ disposal in persuading states to keep marijuana illegal would be to withhold money for certain programs if state marijuana initiatives conflict with federal law. That’s something Rep. Trent Franks, RAriz., chairman of a House panel on the Constitution and civil justice, says he’s prepared to support. Franks said the marijuana legalization movement endangers youth. Many other Republican lawmakers don’t seem ready to take such concrete steps, includ-
Photo by Jacquelyn Martin/file | AP
Adam Eidinger, chairman of the DC Cannabis Campaign, worked on posters Oct. 9 encouraging people to vote yes on DC Ballot Initiative 71 to legalize small amounts of marijuana for personal use, in Washington. ing Sens. Charles Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, the likely chairmen of committees that could deal with marijuana laws in the next Congress. Grassley wasn’t prepared to say what issues the Judiciary Committee will focus on; Johnson said he’d like a hearing by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on how marijuana legalization is working but that’s as far as he would commit. The Justice Department has said it will not stand in the way of states that want to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana as long
as there are effective controls to keep it away from kids, the black market and federal property. Proponents of marijuana legalization know exactly where they want to go next. Their itinerary includes pushes into California, Arizona, Nevada, Maine and Massachusetts. There’s money to be raised for campaign ads, ballot initiatives to write and petition campaigns to organize. Four states have voted to legalize marijuana: Washington and Colorado first, followed by Oregon and Alaska. “Republican Senate or not, we’re going to keep moving forward,” said Bill Piper of the
Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates an overhaul of drug policy. The group points to another section of the just-passed spending bill as evidence that most lawmakers don’t want Congress to interfere with state decisions regarding marijuana. That provision would prevent the Justice Department from using money to prosecute medical marijuana patients or distributors who are in compliance with their state’s laws. Twenty-three states have legalized medical marijuana, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The GOP’s most consistent backer of the legalization movement, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California, said he’s simply unsure where a Republican-controlled Congress will take the marijuana issue. “I can’t read my fellow Republicans on this,” he said. “Behind the scenes, they will tell you, ‘Oh, yeah, (prohibition) is stupid, but I’m not going to risk my political career.”’ Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, an anesthesiologist who has led the congressional effort to halt the District of Columbia’s marijuana initiative through September 2015, said prohibiting recreational marijuana use is the right thing to do, whatever the politics. “If we can educate the public about the hazards, especially given the high unemployment rate among D.C. youth, the problems they have in the educational systems, I think we can convince people the last thing they need in the District of Columbia is legalization,” he said. The effort to legalize marijuana in the District was spurred by concerns about racial disparities in marijuana arrests, with black people making up about 90 percent of marijuana arrests, yet only about half of the city’s residents. Asked whether Republican leaders were ready to take on the legalization trend elsewhere, Harris said he would agree the issue is not a priority for them. “The plate of leadership is so full with foreign affairs and economic matters in this country, this is just not on their radar screen,” he said. Said Wallach from Brookings: “It probably makes political sense for a lot of people to just lay low on this issue.”
More Russia sanctions Lava on course to hit gas station, stores By JULIE PACE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will sign legislation imposing new economic sanctions on Russia, the White House said Tuesday, as the U.S. claimed some credit for sparking Moscow’s roiling currency crisis and moved to deepen the pain. Still, White House officials acknowledged there were no guarantees Russia’s economic woes and another round of sanctions would compel President Vladimir Putin to curtail aggressive actions in Ukraine. The Russian economy has been in a downward spiral for months, but Putin has managed to maintain political support at home. “The aim is to sharpen the choice he faces,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said of the sanctions. He said Obama was likely to sign the bill this week. The measure cleared Congress late Saturday. Obama’s support came as the Russian ruble continued its precipitous fall. The impact of the Western sanctions has been compounded by plummeting oil prices, leading Russia’s Central Bank to announce a massive middle-of-thenight interest rate increase Tuesday in an unsuccessful bid to stabilize the currency. Obama economic adviser Jason Furman said Russia was grappling with a crisis of its own making. “The combination of our sanctions, the uncertainty they’ve created for themselves with their international actions and the falling price of oil has put their economy on the brink of crisis,” Furman said. “That gives you only bad choices.” Earnest said the president has concerns about the measure but feels it gives him “flexibility” in carrying out lawmakers’ stipulations. The legislation includes a waiver allowing Obama to forgo the penalties if doing so was in U.S. national security interests. Administration officials wouldn’t say whether Obama planned to exercise the waiver. The legislation has widespread bipartisan support on Capitol Hill but has worried Europe, where leaders fear unilat-
By AUDREY MCAVOY ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Saurabh Das/file | AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin faces U.S. legislation imposing new economic sanctions on Russia, as the U.S. claimed some credit for sparking Moscow’s roiling currency crisis. eral U.S. action will undermine the West’s united front against Moscow. For months, the U.S. and European Union have sought to enact sanctions against Russia in tandem. But Europe, which has a far more extensive economic relationship with Russia than does the U.S., has largely reached its limit for enacting broad sanctions against the Russian energy industry and other key economic sectors unless the Kremlin ramps up its actions in Ukraine. However, in an apparent attempt to maintain some Western unity as Obama signs the legislation, a Western diplomat said the U.S. and EU were preparing similar packages of trade and investment bans in Crimea, the strategically important peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine earlier this year. Those penalties could be announced in the coming days, according to the diplomat, who was not authorized to discuss the pending action publicly and insisted on anonymity. Following the takeover of Crimea, Kremlinbacked rebels began occupying cities in eastern Ukraine, near Russia’s border. The West has accused Russia of supplying and supporting the rebels. Ukrainian officials have been pressing the U.S. to supply its military with weapons and ammunition to fight the Russianbacked forces. Obama has resisted those requests because he fears lethal assistance would antagonize Russia and perhaps spur Moscow to launch a fullscale invasion.
The legislation gives the president the authority to send Ukraine anti-tank weapons, counter-artillery radar and tactical surveillance drones. Administration officials said Obama was not expected to act on that authority. The bill does require the president to impose penalties on state-owned arms dealer Rosoboronexport and other Russian defense companies tied to unrest in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Syria, unless the president invokes his waiver authority. The sanctions would be extended to people and entities helping the companies. White House’s sometimes chafe at congressionally-mandated sanctions because revoking the penalties requires legislative action. Obama has told Putin he would roll back U.S. sanctions if Russia stopped meddling in Ukraine, but keeping that promise would potentially be more cumbersome for penalties passed by Capitol Hill. Russia analysts say it’s unlikely Putin will shift his calculus on Ukraine solely because of sour economic indicators or another round of sanctions. But Matthew Rojansky, a scholar at the Wilson Center, said that if the currency crisis starts hurting the Russian public’s ability to buy food or heat homes, Putin could be forced to act in order to stem a political crisis. “The logic is not that Putin is going to be persuaded suddenly that he’s wrong,” Rojansky said. “What is going to happen is the ground is going to shift under Putin.”
HONOLULU — Lava from a volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island is on course to reach a shopping center with a gas station and a supermarket in seven to 10 days, officials said. Lava is about 1 mile from the shopping center in the small town of Pahoa, Hawaii County Civil Defense Director Darryl Oliveira said Monday. The shopping center also contains a hardware store, pharmacy and auto repair shop. There’s still a great deal of uncertainty about when the lava might reach the center and what it could hit. The lava could smother one structure in the complex or cover them all, he said. “It just depends on what the flow does as it comes through,” he told reporters during a conference call. Oliveira says the county has been in touch with the merchants about evacuation plans. The county hasn’t yet advised them to leave. The supermarket, one of the biggest stores in the center, plans to start removing equipment on Tuesday and shut down on Thursday. Malama Market said in a statement it was encouraging customers to keep shopping until its doors close. The gas station would sell its remaining fuel and pump out what’s leftover if it does have to evacuate, Oliveira said. It would then fill its tanks with water and firefighting
Photo by U.S. Geological Suvery, Tim Orr | AP
A geologist uses a handheld GPS unit to mark the lava flow margin coordinates in Pahoa, Hawaii, on Monday. foam. This plan has been approved the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and by the state Department of Health, he said. An earlier idea called for the gas station to put sand into the tanks, but this wouldn’t have removed all flammable vapors. It also would have destroyed the pumping system. By using firefighting foam, the gas station may use the tanks again if lava bypasses the area and it wants to reopen. Lava has never hit a gas station on the Big Island
in the past, Oliveira said. Lava has been threatening Pahoa town, which has a population of about 900, for months. In October, it burned a house and covered part of a cemetery but stalled just before hitting Pahoa’s main road. It later started flowing from a different spot. The lava could still cross the town’s main road and a highway, which would make it more difficult for residents of Pahoa and the broader community of Puna to get to other parts of the island.
Nation
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2014
Hackers mention 9/11 in theater threats By BERNARD CONDON ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Hackers calling themselves Guardians of Peace made ominous threats Tuesday against movie theaters showing Sony Pictures’ film “The Interview” that referred to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The group also released a trove of data files including about 8,000 emails from the inbox of Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton. The data dump was what the hackers called the beginning of a “Christmas gift.” But GOP, as the group is known, included a message warning that people should stay away from places where “The Interview” will be shown, including an upcoming premiere. Invoking 9/11, it urged people to leave their homes if located near theaters showing the film. The Department of Homeland Security said there was “no credible intelligence to indicate an active plot against movie theaters,” but noted it was still analyzing the GOP messages. The warning did prompt law enforcement in New York and Los Angeles to address measures to ramp up security. “The Interview” is a comedy in which Seth Rogen and James Franco star as television journalists involved in a CIA plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Its New York premiere is scheduled for Thursday at Manhattan’s Landmark Sunshine, and is expected to hit theaters nationwide on Christmas Day. It premiered in Los Angeles last week. Rogen and Franco pulled out of all media appearances Tuesday, canceling a Buzzfeed Q&A and Rogen’s planned guest spot Thursday on “Late Night With Seth Meyers.” The two stars had just appeared Monday on “Good Morning America” and Rogen guested on “The Colbert Report.” A representative for Rogen said he had no comment. A spokeswoman for Franco didn’t respond to queries Tuesday. The FBI said it is aware of the threats and “continues to work collaboratively with our partners to investigate this matter.” It declined to comment on whether North Korea or another country was behind the at-
Photo by Nick Ut/file | AP
Cars enter Sony Pictures Entertainment headquarters in Culver City, California, on Dec. 2. Hackers calling themselves Guardians of Peace released another round of data leaks, including ominous threats against the premiere of Sony Pictures’ film “The Interview,” in which the group references the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
tack. Speculation about a North Korean link to the Sony hacking has centered on that country’s angry denunciation of the film. Over the summer, North Korea warned that the film’s release would be an “act of war that we will never tolerate.” It said the U.S. will face “merciless” retaliation. The New York Police Department, after coordinating with the FBI and Sony, plans to beef up security at the Manhattan premiere, said John Miller, the NYPD’s top counterterrorism official. “Having read through the threat material myself, it’s actually not crystal clear whether it’s a cyber response that they are threatening or whether it’s a physical attack,” Miller said. “That’s why we’re continuing to evaluate the language of it, and
also the source of it. I think our primary posture is going to be is going to have a police presence and a response capability that will reassure people who may have heard about this and have concerns.” Following a commission meeting earlier Tuesday, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said his department takes the hackers’ threats “very seriously” and will be taking extra precautions during the holidays at theaters. Patrick Corcoran, spokesman for the National Association of Theater Owners, wouldn’t comment on the threats. In their warning Tuesday, the hackers suggested Sony employees make contact via several disposable email addresses ending in yopmail.com. Frenchman Frederic Leroy, who started up
the yopmail site in 2004, was surprised to learn the Sony hackers were using yopmail addresses. He said there was no way he could identify the users. “I cannot see the identities of people using the address ... there is no name, no first name,” he said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. He said yopmail is used around the world but there are “hundreds and hundreds” of other disposable email sites. Leroy, who lives in Barr, outside Strasbourg in eastern France, said he heard about the Sony hackers yesterday on the radio but knows nothing more. He said he has not been contacted by any authorities. Since Sony Pictures was hacked by GOP late last month in one of the largest data breaches ever against an Amer-
ican company, everything from financial figures to salacious emails between top Sony executives has been dumped online. Separately Tuesday, two former employees of Sony Pictures Entertainment sued the Culver City, California company for not preventing hackers from stealing nearly 50,000 social security numbers, salary details and other personal information from current and former workers. The federal suit alleges that emails and other information leaked by the hackers show that Sony’s information-technology department and its top lawyer believed its security system was vulnerable to attack, but that company did not act on those warnings. Sony has not responded to phone calls for comments about the hacker threat and the suit.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
FRACKING two major lawsuits filed against Denton, home to a sliver of that mineral portfolio. “We don’t need a patchwork approach to drilling regulations across the state,” Bush, a former energy investment consultant, told The Texas Tribune in July as the anti-fracking campaign gained steam. It appears to be his only public statement on the issue. Bush’s role in the dispute — however peripheral — only brightens the spotlight on Denton, and it forces him and others to choose between two interests Texans hold dear: petroleum and local control. McMullen’s group — Frack Free Denton — persuaded nearly 59 percent of Denton voters to approve a fracking ban on Nov. 4, after knocking on doors, staging puppet shows and performing song-and-dance numbers. The movement had help from Earthworks, a national environmental group, but its opponents — backed by the oil and gas lobby — raised more than $700,000 to spend on mailers and television ads and a high-profile public relations and polling firm. That was more than 10 times what Frack Free Denton collected. The town had company on Election Day. Voters in Athens, Ohio, and two California counties — three of the seven other communities that weighed in nationally — rejected the practice. To supporters, the North Texas city has taken a stand for clean air, clean water, public safety and quality of life. To opponents, the ban is the result of activists sowing fear and misinformation, threatening the economy and confiscating property — mineral rights — thousands of feet below ground. If the ban in Denton (population: 123,000) isn’t the biggest play in the national debate, it’s certainly the most interesting. This is Texas, after all. The state was built on oil and gas and is at the forefront of the most recent fossil fuels bonanza. Though threatened by plummeting oil prices in recent months, Texas is pumping more than twice the oil it did three years ago — more than 700 million barrels of crude in 2013 — accounting for more than a third of all U.S. production. It also produces about a quarter of the nation’s natural gas, more than 7 trillion cubic feet last year. “If Denton wasn’t followed by two little letters — TX — no one would give a hill of beans about it,” says Chris Faulkner, chief executive of Breitling Energy in Dallas. Breitling has no direct financial interests in Denton, but Faulkner is among those in the industry who fears Texas could see more urban drilling communities “run amok.” “You can already hear the
environmentalists saying, ‘If we can win in Denton, we can win anywhere,’” he says. A “tsunami of exclusion?” Denton sits on the northern edge of the Barnett Shale, which stretches some 5,000 square miles beneath 25 Texas counties and pumps millions of dollars into state and local economies. That includes Wise County, which shares Denton County’s western border. It’s where George P. Mitchell pioneered the combination of horizontal drilling and fracking in use today. Unlike other cities that rejected fracking, Denton residents have spent years alongside gas wells, rather than simply reading about them. Well pads sit near homes, schools and even across the street from Apogee Stadium, where the University of North Texas’ Mean Green plays football. (Three hulking wind turbines also loom over the stadium.) A gas well last fracked in March sits less than 400 feet from a home in Denton, which just became Texas’ first city to ban fracking. The ban hasn’t completely turned off the spigot on Denton’s natural gas, but production will dwindle as long as it’s in place. Without fracking, companies cannot stimulate gas locked in the Barnett Shale. Operators can keep pumping from wells they had already drilled and fracked, but they can’t frack them again. Without that option, the flow weakens over time. Meanwhile, companies are unlikely to drill new wells that can’t be fracked. Not every oilman fears Denton’s vote could, in Faulkner’s words, unleash a “tsunami of exclusion” elsewhere. A few days before the vote, T. Boone Pickens told the Tribune that closing off Denton to fracking “would mean a lot to those landowners there, but not to anybody else.” Still, representatives of major oil and gas companies joined Texas lawmakers to try to ward off the ban at a marathon city council meeting last July. Industry representatives told voters that a ban would ruin Denton’s economy and expose the city to millions in legal claims. Two state oil and gas regulators and the industry-funded group that opposed the ban insinuated (without evidence) that grassroots activists were in cahoots with the Kremlin — looking to protect Russia’s share of the global natural gas market. It didn’t work, and the claim about Russia became the butt of jokes, even earning a mention in a song parody performed by the local anti-fracking trio. Sung to the tune of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” The Frackette’s “Fracking Is a Town’s Best Friend” advises, “When hippies try to
crush ya, just say they’re funded by Russia.” So, how did a North Texas town come to reject a tool that has been instrumental in the state’s economic wellbeing? It seems it was equal parts concerns about health and the environment and a good dose of NIMBY.
Complicated history Trying to make sense of the Nov. 4 landslide vote, some industry officials suggest that the voting power of Denton’s roughly 51,000 university students effectively drowned out the town’s permanent residents. The gowns, the argument goes, drove the town. “If we’re looking at Denton and trying to glean some sort of national significance out of this,” says Steve Everley, the national spokesman for Energy In-Depth, which promotes the petroleum industry, “then the significance is that activists are having success in college towns and in populations with few if any wells.” But Denton’s voting records cast doubt on that argument. It’s not clear that college students turned out in high enough numbers to single-handedly tilt the vote. Voters closer to campuses overwhelmingly supported the ban, as well as Democrat Wendy Davis in the race for governor. But plenty of conservatives also rejected fracking. Both Republican Greg Abbott, who ultimately defeated Davis, and the ban prevailed in 11 of Denton’s biggest 33 precincts. Roughly 25,000 votes were cast in the fracking question and those opposed to fracking outpaced supporters by some 4,400 votes. Denton would have still passed the measure by 412 votes even if voters younger than 30 were disregarded. Voting data also shows that the average age of a voter was 52. McMullen is a prime example of such a voter. When McMullen and her husband arrived in Denton in 2009, they were trying to escape heavy drilling and fracking that spilled onto their 11 acres of ranch land in Wise County. The noise, lights, fumes and traffic were horrible, McMullen said — different from anything she experienced growing up near conventionally drilled wells in East Texas, where bobbing pump jacks dotted the landscape. McMullen says she suffered constant headaches and suspects that benzene — whether wafting from a compressor station, tank battery or fracking itself— was the cause. (When a jury later awarded her Wise County neighbors, Bob and Lisa Parr, nearly $3 million in damages from the company that fracked those wells, McMullen felt her worries were validated. The verdict is under appeal.) McMullen and her husband sold their
Continued from Page 1A
ranch home in Wise County shortly after an industry tanker fatally struck one of their friends, she said. “We naively felt if we lived in a town where there are city limits, it’s going to be regulated,” McMullen says. “There are going to be rules (operators) have to follow.” Just two weeks after the couple moved to Denton, McMullen said she noticed Range Resources pounding in stakes across the street from the park, sizing up the corner as a gas site. She and some of her new neighbors called for the development to be moved elsewhere on the large lot, but the council, fearing litigation, ultimately permitted the development. Everley insists Range was not trying to bully Denton. Geology made only two spots viable for drilling, he says, and a park-adjacent site would yield higher returns for the family that owns the minerals. “If a company can develop their property efficiently and effectively, then do they not have a right to move forward with that?” he says. “Or do their rights not matter at all?” From that point on, McMullen, who rarely voted until she reached her 40s, became an activist, organizing a group to push for tighter drilling rules as the industry expanded its footprint in Denton. Over time, they succeeded — at least on paper. The city updated its drilling ordinance in 2013, for instance, adding 200 feet to its previous 1,000-foot buffer between drilling sites and homes, schools, parks and hospitals. But that changed little on the ground. The rules didn’t prevent developers from building houses near existing wells, and people kept buying them. In fact, homes are still cropping up in those neighborhoods. What’s more, Denton’s fire department in the city’s early drilling days issued permits for some well pads in perpetuity, meaning operators could drill as many wells as they wanted without further approval from the city. Depending on how one sees it, Dallas-based EagleRidge Energy either exploited a loophole or strictly adhered to the law by drilling wells as close as 200 feet from homes. In October of 2013, the city sued the company for drilling too close, but it quickly withdrew the lawsuit after a judge denied its request for a temporary injunction. An EagleRidge well blowout that year worsened the tension, spewing benzene and other chemicals into a neighborhood and prompting evacuations and flight diversions at the city’s airport. EagleRidge declined interview requests. So with input from a lawyer who has remained anonymous, McMullen and the other activists decided on a
last-ditch remedy: Use the ballot box to try to ban fracking. By the spring of 2014, they had gathered close to 2,000 signatures — enough to put it to a vote. But would any of this have happened — would McMullen have even become involved — if that well pad had been installed down the road, farther away from her home? “Probably not,” she says.
Few mineral owners A real David and Goliath story? Sure, says Bobby Jones, sipping a Diet Coke at a Cracker Barrel off U.S. Highway 380. If the pro-fracking side were David. Jones, a round-faced, round-bellied general contractor and rancher, is a local face of Denton Taxpayers for a Strong Economy. The group — funded almost entirely by energy companies — was formed to oppose the ban. For seven generations, his family has owned 82 acres on the west side of town. They own the minerals, too. Drilling on his land means hefty royalty checks that pay for his mother’s retirement. As the 57-year-old sees it, Denton’s anti-fracking activists are tampering with his property for no good reason. “They were taking a small problem — you can call it a problem, if you want to — and multiplying it out,” he says. “What they did was scare the hell out of a bunch of people.” Jones says the development on his land hasn’t caused any problems for him, his two kids, five grandchildren — or even his cattle, which sometimes graze near wellheads. “In my age and older, you were brought up to know and respect the minerals,” he says. But the election’s outcome didn’t surprise him one bit. The industry was slow to react to fracking opponents’ three and a half years of organizing, he says. The local newspaper’s scrutiny of the industry didn’t help. And another thing, he adds: “They don’t have their minerals. So there’s the problem.” It’s true. Few Denton residents own the mineral wealth beneath their property. That happens frequently in Texas, where mineral interests are “severed” from surface property. Energy companies and large corporations own around 80 percent of the roughly $88 million below Denton, according to 2013 city appraisal data. That leaves some minerals for the city, local schools and other public entities, and even less for everyday residents, giving voters less motivation to support fracking. The ban shouldn’t immediately impact Jones because his wells won’t be ready to be fracked again for several years. But Randy
Sorrells, his buddy and fellow mineral owner, had expected new frack jobs for his five wells early next year. If the ban survives, Sorrells won’t be able to go forward with his plans. “It’s just a propaganda fear-factor thing,” he says of the ban. “It’s just rampant.”
Legal battles But Denton’s undoubtedly the underdog now. With the votes tallied, Texas and the energy lobby shifted to offense, racing each other to sue first. At 10:20 a.m. the morning after the election, the Texas Oil and Gas Association — the state’s biggest petroleum group — announced its lawsuit. Just four hours later, the Texas General Land Office, which manages millions of acres of state-owned property, blasted a release about its challenge, noting the filing time: 7:51 a.m. “This ban on hydraulic fracturing is not constitutional and it won’t stand,” said Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, calling it “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable” and a threat to the state’s royalty interests under Denton, which flow into a $37.7 billion fund that benefits public schools. “If it were allowed to be enforced it would hurt the school children of Texas,” he said. The minerals Texas owns in Denton were worth just $45,000 in 2013, according to city tax data. George P. Bush, who is set to succeed Patterson in January, will continue the litigation, says Trey Newton, his chief of staff. “However, we can’t comment on pending litigation,” he added. Because of current shale economics, both the state and petroleum group argue, the measure amounts to a ban on all drilling, essentially confiscating mineral rights. They also say state law trumps Denton’s. But the case is more complicated. Texas law says the state intends its mineral resources to be “fully and effectively exploited,” but courts have said the power isn’t absolute. The Railroad Commission oversees the state’s oil and gas industry, with authority to adopt “all necessary rules for governing and regulating persons and their operations.” Local governments have the right to impose reasonable health and safety restrictions, and the Legislature has granted most Texas cities, including Denton, the power to “regulate exploration and development of mineral interests.” Where fracking falls on that spectrum is unclear. Texas courts have occasionally considered cities’ drilling regulations, but they have yet to see a case of such size and scope. The case will almost certainly reach the Texas Supreme Court.
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
Suspect stabs officer ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — An off-duty Dallas police officer has shot an armed shoplifting suspect after a struggle that left the officer stabbed in the hand. Dallas police say the officer and the suspect were transported to hospitals following the altercation early Tuesday at a WalMart. The officer, who was working security, was listed in stable condition. The suspect was also stable and being treated for a gunshot wound to his leg. Investigators say a worker notified the officer that a shopper was trying to leave without paying for some items. The officer confronted the suspect at the front entrance, the suspect pulled a knife and the pair struggled. The officer was stabbed, then shot the suspect. Names of the officer and the suspect are being held.
TURTLES Continued from Page 1A He noted the current population of turtles is higher than it was before, partly due to conservation efforts including a federal mandate that turtle excluder devices, or TEDs, be installed on shrimp boats. Executive Director Andrea Hance of the Texas Shrimp Association said the perception that shrimping was killing populations of sea turtles before was justified once, but not anymore. “Were shrimpers killing turtles before TEDs? Yes. The problem is people haven’t heard the new information,” Hance told the Brownsville Herald. “Everything is 15 years ago. There’s a big misconception, which is one of the hurdles that I’m trying to overcome. We’ve had these numbers for a while. We just don’t really have the avenues or the voice to let people know.”
TRIAL Continued from Page 1A included former state District Judge Glen Ashworth and Kaufman County District Attorney Erleigh Norville Wiley. “He told me if he ever decided to take everybody out, he was going to kill me too and then kill himself,” she said. With Kim Williams’ assistance, prosecutors have a gun linked to Hasse’s death and a mask believed to have been worn by the gunman. Williams said she has no deal with prosecutors but is hoping for some lenience when she’s tried for the killings. “I’m hoping for some consideration,” she said.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2014
PAKISTAN Continued from Page 1A dren’s blood.” Taliban fighters have struggled to maintain their potency in the face of the military operation. They vowed a wave of violence in response to the operation, but until Tuesday, there has only been one major attack by a splinter group near the Pakistan-India border in November. Analysts said the school siege showed that even diminished, the militant group still could inflict horrific carnage. The rampage at the Army Public School and College began in the morning when seven militants scaled a back wall using a ladder, said Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa, a military spokesman. When they reached an auditorium where students had gathered for an event, they opened fire. A 14-year-old, Mehran Khan, said about 400 students were in the hall when the gunmen broke through the doors and started shooting. They shot one of the teachers in the head and then set her on fire and shouted “God is great!” as she screamed, added Khan, who survived by playing dead. From there, they went to classrooms and other parts of the school. “Their sole purpose, it seems, was to kill those innocent kids. That’s what they did,” Bajwa said. Of the 141 people slain before government troops ended the assault eight hours later, 132 were children and nine were staff members. Another 121 students and three staff members were wounded. The seven attackers, wearing vests of explosives, all died in the eighthour assault. It was not immediately clear if they were all killed by the soldiers or whether they blew themselves up, he said. The wounded — some still wearing their green school blazers — flooded into hospitals as terrified
Photo by Mohammad Sajjad | AP
Pakistani volunteers carry a student injured in the shootout at a school under attack by Taliban gunmen, at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Tuesday. parents searched for their children. By evening, funeral services were already being held for many of the victims as clerics announced the deaths over mosque loudspeakers. The government declared three days of mourning for what appeared to be Pakistan’s deadliest since a 2007 suicide bombing in the port city of Karachi killed 150 people. “My son was in uniform in the morning. He is in a casket now,” wailed one parent, Tahir Ali, as he came to the hospital to collect the body of his 14year-old son, Abdullah. “My son was my dream. My dream has been killed.” One of the wounded students, Abdullah Jamal, said he was with a group of eighth, ninth and 10th graders who were getting first-aid instructions and training with a team of army medics when the violence became real. Panic broke out when the shooting began. “I saw children falling down who were crying and screaming. I also fell
down. I learned later that I have got a bullet,” he said, speaking from his hospital bed. Another student, Amir Mateen, said they locked the door from the inside when they heard the shooting, but gunmen blasted through anyway and opened fire. Responding to the attack, armored personnel carriers were deployed around the school, and a military helicopter circled overhead. A little more than 1,000 students and staff were registered at the school, which is part of a network run by the military, although the surrounding area is not heavily fortified. The student body is made up of both children of military personnel as well as civilians. Most of the students appeared to be civilians rather than children of army staff, said Javed Khan, a government official. Analysts said the militants likely targeted the school because of its military connections. “It’s a kind of a message that ‘we can also kill your children,”’ said Pakistani
analyst Zahid Hussain. In a statement to reporters, Taliban spokesman Mohammed Khurasani claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was retribution for the military’s operation in nearby North Waziristan, the northwestern tribal region where the group’s fighters largely have been based. “We targeted their kids so that they could know how it feels when they hit our kids,” Khurasani said. He said the attackers were advised not to target “underage” children but did not elaborate on what that meant. In its offensive, the military said it would go after all militant groups operating in the region. Security officials and civilians feared retribution by militants, but Pakistan has been relatively calm. The attack raised the issue of whether this was the last gasp of a militant group crippled by a government offensive or whether the militants could regroup. Hussain, the Pakistani analyst, called the attack
an “act of desperation.” The violence will throw public support behind the campaign in North Waziristan, he said. It also shows that the Pakistani Taliban still maintains a strong intelligence network and remains a threat. The attack drew swift condemnation from around the world. U.S. President Barack Obama said the “terrorists have once again showed their depravity.” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry added: “The images are absolutely gutwrenching: young children carried away in ambulances, a teacher burned alive in front of the students, a house of learning turned into a house of unspeakable horror.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, Pakistan’s longtime regional rival, called it “a senseless act of unspeakable brutality.” “My heart goes out to everyone who lost their loved ones today. We share their pain & offer our deepest condolences,” Modi said in a series of tweeted statements. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it was a “an act of horror and rank cowardice to attack defenseless children while they learn.” The violence recalled the attack on Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman outside her school in the Swat Valley for daring to speak up about girls’ rights. She survived to become a global advocate for girls’ education and received her Nobel Peace Prize last week, but has not returned to Pakistan in the two years since the shooting out of security concerns. “Innocent children in their school have no place in horror such as this,” the 17-year-old said. “I condemn these atrocious and cowardly acts.”