The Zapata Times 12/26/2015

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SHOOTING DEATH INVESTIGATION

Longing for the truth Victim’s father believes investigation is one-sided

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

CUELLAR JR.

The father of a sheriff ’s deputy shot and killed by a Laredo police officer in November said he believes the investigation is one-sided.

“We the family are convinced that the investigation regarding the murder of Cesar Cuellar Jr. is ... intended to make Cuellar Jr. a villain instead of conducting the investigation in a non-bias manner,” he read from a statement on behalf

of the family. “The investigation should be focused on whether Laredo Police Officer Priscilla Hernandez intentionally, knowingly or recklessly caused the death of Cesar Cuellar Jr. “I’m thinking to justify what they did, the murder of my son. That’s exactly what it was. It was a murder.”

Cuellar said investigators have focused their interviews and interrogations

See TRUTH PAGE 12A

Photo by César G. Rodriguez | The Zapata Times

Cesar Cuellar Sr. shows the phone call he received from dispatch after his son’s ex-girlfriend called police, saying she feared he may attempt to die by suicide.

IGUALA, MEXICO

MEXICAN BORDER

LIFE AFTER DISAPPEARANCE

Raids to deport families US targets those who surged border

By JERRY MARKON AND DAVID NAKAMURA THE WASHINGTON POST

Photo by Dario Lopez-Mills | AP

In this Oct. 20, 2015 photo, people with missing family members meet in the basement of San Gerardo Church where the Spanish word "Welcome" hangs from the window in Iguala, Mexico. Iguala’s new mayor wants to "turn the page" on the ugliest chapter in the history of this southern Mexican city.

New mayor wants city to “turn the page”

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

IGUALA, Mexico — The previous elected mayor is in jail, and the new one wants to “turn the page” on the ugliest chapter in the history of this southern Mexican city.

Fifteen months ago, when 43 rural college students disappeared at the hands of local police and cartel thugs, Iguala became the symbol of Mexico’s narco-brutality. Now, federal police are in charge of security, the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party controls city hall — and Mayor Esteban Albarran Mendoza wants to move forward.

“Ask the businesspeople, ask the cab drivers, the housewives, those who live daily here in the city, what they are enduring right now ...,” Albarran said. “There is anxiety. There is not peace.

There is not security. We want to turn the page on all these kinds of things.”

But how can this city move on when, according

to a local newspaper’s count, there were five murders during Albarran’s first week in office, and 25 in his first two months?

Disappearances continue, and most of the missing have not been found.

For hundreds of families around Iguala there is no possibility of turning the page as long as they have no proof of death or a body to mourn.

On Tuesdays, they gather in the San Gerardo church basement to listen to the new numbers from the attorney general’s office: bodies found, bodies identified, bodies returned to their families. Most leave without answers and return home to await a call to view photos of clothing or evidence of a genetic match.

While seeking resolution of old horrors, there are new ones.

Zenaida Candia Espinobarro already spent her Sundays with other families searching the

See DISAPPEARED PAGE 9A

Photo by Dario Lopez-Mills | AP

In this Dec. 2, 2015 photo, Guerrero State Police patrol in Iguala, Mexico. Authorities disbanded the local police force that allegedly turned 43 students over to the Guerreros Unidos drug cartel.

Photo by Dario Lopez-Mills | AP

In this Dec. 2, 2015 photo, the new Mayor of Iguala, Esteban Albarran Mendoza, speaks to reporters at City Hall. Albarran has plans: a transparent government, a growing and more prosperous city.

The Department of Homeland Security has begun preparing for a series of raids that would target for deportation hundreds of families who have flocked to the United States since the start of last year, according to people familiar with the operation.

The nationwide campaign, to be carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as soon as early January, would be the first large-scale effort to deport families who have fled violence in Central America, those familiar with the plan said. More than 100,000 families with both adults and children have made the journey across the southwest border since last year, with the majority of those families crossing into Texas. This migration has largely been overshadowed by a related surge of unaccompanied minors.

The ICE operation would target only adults and children who have already been ordered removed from the United States by an immigration judge, according to officials familiar with the undertaking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because planning is ongoing and the operation has not been given final approval by DHS. The adults and children would be detained wherever they can be found and immediately deported. The number targeted is expected to be in the hundreds and possibly greater.

The proposed deportations have been controversial inside the Obama administration, which has been discussing them for several months. DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson has been pushing for the moves, according to those with

See RAIDS PAGE 12A

PAGE 2A

Zin brief CALENDAR

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2015

AROUND TEXAS

TODAY IN HISTORY

MONDAY, DECEMBER 28

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Knitting Club at the LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum, from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Learn how to knit scarves, crochet hats and much more.

Knit at your own pace. Instruction is available and supplies are limited. Call John at 795-2400 x2521 for more information.

Today is Saturday, Dec. 26, the 360th day of 2015. There are five days left in the year.

The seven-day African-American holiday Kwanzaa begins today. This is Boxing Day. Today’s Highlight in History: On Dec. 26, 1799, former President George Washington was eulogized by Col. Henry Lee as “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”

On this date: In 1944, during the World War II Battle of the Bulge, the embattled U.S. 101st Airborne Division in Bastogne, Belgium, was relieved by units of the 4th Armored Division.

Tennessee Williams’ play “The Glass Menagerie” was first performed at the Civic Theatre in Chicago.

In 1966, Kwanzaa was first celebrated.

In 1972, the 33rd president of the United States, Harry S. Truman, died in Kansas City, Missouri, at age 88.

In 1975, the Soviet Union inaugurated the world’s first supersonic transport service with a flight of its Tupolev-144 airliner from Moscow to Alma-Ata. In 1980, Iranian television footage was broadcast in the United States, showing a dozen of the American hostages sending messages to their families.

In 1985, Ford Motor Company began selling its Taurus and Sable sedans and station wagons.

In 1990, Nancy Cruzan, the young woman in an irreversible vegetative state whose case led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision on the right to die, died at a Missouri hospital.

Ten years ago: “Monday Night Football” ended an unprecedented 36-year run on ABC-TV with a lackluster game, a 31-21 New England Patriots victory over the New York Jets. (The series switched to ESPN the following season.)

Five years ago: A powerful East Coast blizzard stranded thousands of travelers and dumped more than a foot of snow in some areas.

One year ago: Mourners gathered to mark the 10th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Donald Moffat is 85. Actor Caroll Spinney (Big Bird on TV’s “Sesame Street”) is 82.

Funk musician George Porter Jr. (The Meters) is 68. Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk is 68. Retired MLB AllStar Chris Chambliss is 67.

Baseball Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith is 61. Former Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., is 60. Humorist David Sedaris is 59. Rock musician James Kottak (The Scorpions) is 53. Country musician Brian Westrum (Sons of the Desert) is 53. Rock musician Lars Ulrich (Metallica) is 52. Actress Nadia Dajani is 50.

Rock musician J is 48. Country singer Audrey Wiggins is 48. Rock musician Peter Klett (Candlebox) is 46. Rock singer James Mercer (The Shins; Flake) is 45. Actor-singer Jared Leto is 44. Actress Kendra C. Johnson (TV: “Love Thy Neighbor”) is 39. Rock singer Chris Daughtry is 36.

Actress Beth Behrs is 30. Actor Kit Harington (TV: “Game of Thrones”) is 29.

Thought for Today: “Little progress can be made by merely attempting to repress what is evil. Our great hope lies in developing what is good.” — President Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933).

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29 Computer Basics class at the Laredo Public Library, 1120 E. Calton Rd., from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Classroom B on the second floor. Classes are free.

Seating is limited and first come first served. No registration required. Call 795-2400 x2242 for more information.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31 Epoca de Oro Social Club New Years Eve Scholarship Dance from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., at Salon Chapa on 6904 West Drive.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 2 Laredo Northside Market from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. at North Central Park.

MONDAY, JANUARY 4 Chess Club at the LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Free for all ages and all skill levels. Basic instruction is offered.

Call John at 795-2400 x2521 for more information.

Knitting Club at the LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum, from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Learn how to knit scarves, crochet hats and much more.

Knit at your own pace. Instruction is available and supplies are limited. Call John at 795-2400 x2521 for more information.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 5 Computer Basics class at the Laredo Public Library, 1120 E. Calton Rd., from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Classroom B on the second floor. Classes are free.

Seating is limited and first come first served. No registration required. Call 795-2400 x2242 for more information.

Rock wall climbing at LBV Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St., from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. For more information, call 956-795-2400 x2520.

Courtesy photo

Ruben Ramirez is pictured. South Texas voters will no longer be able to choose a Ruben Hinojosa to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Ruben Hinojosa.

Candidate name change

By JIM MALEWITZ TEXAS TRIBUNE

South Texas voters will no longer be able to choose a Ruben Hinojosa to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Ruben Hinojosa.

A 33-year-old law student who wanted to go by Ruben Ramirez Hinojosa on the Democratic primary ballot in March will instead go by a different name: Ruben Ramirez.

That’s because state Democratic party officials are forcing him to change it.

Party officials say their decision this week to lop off “Hinojosa” — the surname of the candidate’s mother — from the ballot listing could prevent confusion for voters in Congressional District 15. And they say Ramirez failed to prove he goes by the name Hinojosa.

But Ramirez, a McAllen native, accuses the party of launching a “culturally insensi-

tive” effort to hinder his campaign, noting that Democrats have commonly allowed candidates to go by nicknames such as “Chuy.”

“I think it’s a lapse in judgment,” the U.S. Army combat veteran and University of Houston law student said late Wednesday.

“They’re letting their political friendships pressure them, and they’re caving in to their friends.”

After Texas Democrats initially accepted the candidate’s filing to compete under the name Ruben Ramirez Hinojosa, several party members said they were concerned that some voters would support him thinking they were casting ballots for U.S. Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, D-Edinburg, who is retiring after representing the district for two decades.

That apparently included the congressman himself, suggesting that he be listed instead as Ruben Ramon Ramirez.

HEB posts signs banning open carry gun policy

Woman accused of shooting husband

Dead whale’s body reburied off beach

SAN ANTONIO — Texas supermarket chain H-E-B will not allow customers to openly carry guns in its stores even when the new state law legalizing open carry goes into effect in January.

H-E-B has started to post signs at its entrances prohibiting open carry. A company spokeswoman says H-E-B is maintaining a longheld policy to only permit concealed carry in its stores.

BEAUMONT, Texas — A 77year-old woman is in custody after authorities allege she shot her 77-year-old husband and his friend in a family dispute.

KFDM-TV reports that Iris Fontenot has been accused of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. She’s alleged to have shot her husband, Joseph Fontenot, and 60-year-old Pablo Riojas at about 12:30 p.m. Thursday.

GALVESTON, Texas — The carcass of a 44-foot whale that resurfaced after its burial along the shore of Texas beach has been buried again.

Heidi Whitehead, of the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network, had been called out to the beach Friday after reports that the whale’s remains resurfaced.

Whitehead performed a necropsy on the 44-foot whale Wednesday.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12

Bomb threats made to Denton churches

8 injured in South Texas house explosion

Man fatally shot outside Dallas tire shop

Computer Basics class at the Laredo Public Library, 1120 E. Calton Rd., from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Classroom B on the second floor. Classes are free.

Seating is limited and first come first served. No registration required. Call 795-2400 x2242 for more information.

Rock wall climbing at LBV Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St., from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. For more information, call 956-795-2400 x2520.

DENTON, Texas — Police are investigating bomb threats mailed to two churches in the North Texas city of Denton before Christmas Eve services.

The threats did not deter churchgoers at Denton Bible Church or St. Andrew Presbyterian Church. Officers provided extra security at entrances and parking lots, and churchgoers attended services as planned.

LA PALOMA, Texas — Two children and an adult are being treated for severe burns after a house explosion in the Rio Grande Valley.

KRGV-TV reported that eight people in total were injured Friday in the explosion, which occurred in La Paloma, northwest of Brownsville.

Local fire officials were investigating the blast.

DALLAS — Police have arrested a man suspected of fatally shooting a 25-year-old outside a Dallas tire shop.

Anthony Torres was being held Friday on a first-degree murder charge with a $500,000 bond. Police say Torres shot at customers as they stood in front of the shop. Enrique Garcia-Mendoza was killed. — Compiled from AP reports

MONDAY, JANUARY 11 Chess Club at the LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Free for all ages and all skill levels. Basic instruction is offered.

Call John at 795-2400 x2521 for more information.

Knitting Club at the LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum, from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Learn how to knit scarves, crochet hats and much more.

Knit at your own pace. Instruction is available and supplies are limited. Call John at 795-2400 x2521 for more information.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13 The Laredo Vet Center (part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) will be hosting an Open House from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. at North Town Professional Plaza, Laredo Vet Center, 6999 McPherson Road, Suite 102. This event is meant to inform the community of mental health services available to eligible veterans and their families.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 El Centro de Laredo Farmers Market at Jarvis Plaza from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Every third Saturday of the month, you can find fresh, locally grown produce as well as all-natural Texas products like olive oil and soap.

For more information go to www.laredomainstreet.org

SATURDAY, JANUARY 23 “Leaders: Influencing STEM Futures” educational administration leadership conference at the TAMIU Student Center Ballroom. School administrators, teacher leaders and educational administration students are invited to attend the second annual event.

AROUND THE NATION Man dressed as Santa rescued after car fire SALT LAKE CITY — Firefighters called to a car fire in northern Utah got a big surprise Christmas morning when they discovered the stranded driver was Santa Claus on his way to deliver presents.

Lone Peak Fire District Battalion Chief Joseph McRae says Steve Macey, a Santa-for-hire dressed in a red suit and beard, wasn’t injured but needed a ride.

McRae says Macey was on his way to hand out gifts at a home in Alpine, a city about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City, when his car’s transmission caught fire.

Crews extinguished the fire but the car was destroyed.

Store boss works his 40th straight Christmas MT. ARLINGTON, N.J. — A New Jersey convenience store executive has fulfilled his Christ-

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

Lone Peak Fire District Battalion Chief Joseph McRae, right, gives a ride to Orem, Utah resident Steven Macey, a Santa-for-hire, a ride to a home to deliver presents after fire crews put out a fire in Macey’s car on Friday near Alpine, Utah. mas tradition of working in one of the company’s stores for the 40th consecutive year.

QuickChek Senior Vice President Mike Murphy worked Friday at a store in Mount Arlington.

Murphy says he’s always felt

he should work the holiday since many of the employees have to.

According to the company’s website, it has 140 stores in New York and New Jersey.

He served coffee and cleaned the store during his shift. — 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.

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

Local

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

Dinosaur George deemed a success SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Zapata residents were treated last week to an appearance by Dinosaur George.

The event, which took place the evening of Dec. 16 at the Zapata County Community Center, was free and open to the public.

“What a great event we had, and it was all thanks to you,” the Zapata County Chamber of Commerce said in a news release. “We hope you had a good time and enjoyed the Dinosaur George Traveling Museum.

So thank you again for all your support, we hope to see you all at our next event.”

Dinosaur George is a traveling museum designed to bring dinosaurs to communities where the children and adults may not have an opportunity to see things as amazing as these, states a news release.

This exhibit is highly educational. It is the largest traveling exhibit of its kind in North America, with more than 150 individual exhibit items from around the world, such as huge

skulls and bones from prehistoric creatures than once roamed the planet.

Dinosaur George staff led viewers through an initial tour of the exhibit.

The event was sponsored

by Dr. B’s Pediatric Care Center, Zapata Crime Stoppers, the Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office, Saíd Alfonso Figueroa Zapata County Attorney Youth Awareness Program and the Zapata County Chamber of Commerce.

Courtesy photos

The Dinosaur George Traveling Museum stopped in Zapata on Wednesday, Dec. 16.

Border Region honors members for service SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

The Border Region Behavioral Health Center, which serves Zapata County, recently held its annual Appreciation Dinner for its board of trustees, Volunteer Services Council and the Planning, Networking and Advisory Committee. The dinner also included members of the center’s management team.

Honored for their overall years of service were: Ardith Epstein, treasurer, Volunteer Services Council – 45 years Rose Benavidez, vice chair, board of trustees – 14 years

Rosario Marenco, PNAC member – 16 years Diana Espinoza, PNAC member – 16 years Roberto Vela, board chairman – 15 years Marilyn De Llano, vice president, Volunteer Services Council - 26 years Gene Falcon, board member – 11 years Cassia Jantz, past president, Volunteer Services Council – 25 years Benavidez and Falcon represent Starr County and the remaining volunteers represent Webb County.

Border Region Behavioral Health Center has offices in Jim Hogg, Zapata, Starr and Webb counties.

Courtesy photo

Pictured from left: Daniel G. Castillon, Border Regional Behavior Health Center executive director, Ardith Epstein, Rose Benavidez, Rosario Marenco, Diana Espinoza, Roberto Vela, Marilyn De Llano and Gene Falcon.

PAGE 4A

Zopinion

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2015

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

COLUMN

OTHER VIEWS

We must not reject Muslims

By TRUDY RUBIN THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

In this Christmas season, Christian Arabs are under threat as never before in the region where Jesus and Christianity were born.

In reality, Christian communities in the Mideast have been endangered for years, but their sufferings only grabbed U.S. attention in the era of ISIS — and in an election year.

This has sparked a political debate over how to help them. Sen. Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush are proposing to admit only Christian refugees from Syria and Iraq — and exclude Muslims. Conservatives claim the administration is actively discriminating against Syrian Christians, since there are only 53 Christians among the 2,184 Syrian refugees admitted since 2011.

President Obama has called the idea of screening Syrian refugees based on religion "shameful," saying "we don’t have religious tests for our compassion."

Both sides are missing the point: how best to help the endangered Christians of the Middle East.

On the conservative side, it takes chutzpah to posture about admitting Christians when House Republicans want to make it impossible for almost any Syrian refugee to enter the country. In their scare-mongering about refugees, GOP candidates have repeatedly lied about the numbers of Syrians the administration wants to take next year — only 10,000, not 100,000 (Fiorina) or 200,000 (Trump) — and ignored the rigorous twoyear process of security checks already in place.

As for overt U.S. discrimination against admitting Syrian Christians, not so. Christian refugees often didn’t register with the United Nations refugee agency.

And many urban Christians waited until recently to apply because they saw Bashar al-Assad as their protector. Or they lingered in neighboring Lebanon, where they received some aid from Christian charities or lived off savings.

Moreover, the bulk of Syrian Christians don’t live in areas taken over

by ISIS. As the war drags on, however, more Christians are fleeing, many to Europe.

Which brings us to the other side of the ledger.

Just because conservatives are wrong about overt religious discrimination, doesn’t mean Obama is correct.

The ethnic cleansing of Mideast Christians — especially by ISIS in Iraq, but also by other Islamist jihadis elsewhere — is so intense that it demands special attention.

When it comes to admitting refugees, that level of persecution cannot be ignored.

The situation is most urgent in northern Iraq, where ISIS expelled Christians and other minorities from their historical communities in Mosul and Nineveh province in 2014. Their churches have been bombed, and their priests and bishops murdered (first by Al-Qaeda in Iraq, then by ISIS).

Shiite militias have con-

tinued this process in Baghdad.

"Iraqi Christians are a targeted community at risk," says Daniel Williams, a former senior researcher at Human Rights Watch and author of the forthcoming book, Forsaken: The Persecution of Christians in Today’s Middle East. "They have endured 12 years of persecution because they are Christians."

Around 120,000 Iraqi Christians have taken refuge in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, along with tens of thousands of other persecuted religious minorities such as Yazidis. As oil prices fall, the Kurdish regional government is overburdened.

"Christians are being persecuted in the Middle East under the reign of a particular ISIS ideology," says Williams, an ideology also adhered to by other adherents to the hard-line salafist trend in Islam. "According to this thinking, Christians do not belong in the Middle East and they are seen to weaken Islam," he adds, although this repudiates core tenets of mainstream Muslims.

Even if ISIS is eventually defeated, most of these Iraqi Christians cannot return home. As I heard when speaking with Christian refugees in Kurdistan, they fear their former Sunni neighbors, many of whom betrayed them to ISIS. While some Iraqi clerics call for a "protected zone" for Christians in northern Iraq, I doubt that this is feasible.

So how should America help?

Williams believes that offering asylum to certain Christian communities in the most danger — around 30,000 who are now refugees in Kurdistan — makes sense. The same offer could be made, he says, to tens of thousands from the equally threatened Yazidis, now living in camps in Kurdistan, thousands of whose men were killed and women made into sex slaves by ISIS. Rather than argue whether Yazidis or Christians are more deserving of a formal designation as victims of genocide — a debate now going on between the State Department and some Christian advocates — it makes more sense to push for a bipartisan consensus on granting many of them asylum. (For Christians who prefer to remain in Kurdistan, Obama should press Gulf Arabs to provide more financial help.)

Admitting these refugees, however, should not be a substitute for letting in 10,000 or more vetted Syrian Muslim refugees next year, as pledged by Obama. Refusing to do so plays into the ISIS narrative that America hates all Muslims. Moreover, most of those refugees would be women and children who are also victims of ISIS. This country is big enough, and should be generous enough, to welcome many of those that ISIS would destroy — whether Christians, Yazidis, or Muslims. Recognizing the special peril in which Iraqi Christians live shouldn’t mean that America rejects Muslims who want to build new lives.

COLUMN

Musk’s space advancements no longer science fiction

By PAUL KRUGMAN NEW YORK TIMES

In Star Wars, Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon did the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs; in real life, all the Falcon 9 has done so far is land at Cape Canaveral without falling over or exploding. Yet I, like many nerds, was thrilled by that achievement, in part because it reinforced my growing optimism about the direction technology seems to be taking — a direction that may end up saving the world.

OK, if you have no idea what I’m talking about, the Falcon 9 is Elon Musk’s reusable rocket, which is supposed to boost a payload into space, then return to where it can be launched again. If the concept works, it could drastically reduce the cost of putting stuff into orbit. And that successful landing was a milestone.

We’re still a very long way from space colonies and zero-gravity hotels, let alone galactic empires. But space technology is moving forward after decades of stagnation.

And to my amateur eye, this seems to be part of a broader trend, which is making me more hopeful for the future than I’ve been in a while.

You see, I got my Ph.D. in 1977, the year of the first Star Wars movie, which

means that I have basically spent my whole professional life in an era of technological disappointment.

Until the 1970s, almost everyone believed that advancing technology would do in the future what it had done in the past: produce rapid, unmistakable improvement in just about every aspect of life. But it didn’t. And while social factors — above all, soaring inequality — have played an important role in that disappointment, it’s also true that in most respects technology has fallen short of expectations.

The most obvious example is travel, where cars and planes are no faster than they were when I was a student, and actual travel times have gone up thanks to congestion and security lines. More generally, there has just been less progress in our command over the physical world — our ability to produce and deliver things — than almost anyone expected.

Now, there has been striking progress in our ability to process and transmit information. But while I like cat and concert videos as much as anyone, we’re still talking about a limited slice of life: We are still living in a material world, and pushing information around can do only so much. The famous gibe by investor Peter Thiel (“We

wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.”) is unfair but contains a large kernel of truth.

Over the past five or six years, however — or at least this is how it seems to me — technology has been getting physical again; once again, we’re making progress in the world of things, not just information. And that’s important.

Progress in rocketry is fun to watch, but the really big news is on energy, a field of truly immense disappointment until recently.

For decades, unconventional energy technologies kept falling short of expectations, and it seemed as if nothing could end our dependence on oil and coal — bad news in the short run because of the prominence it gave to the Middle East; worse news in the long run because of global warming.

But now we’re witnessing a revolution on multiple fronts. The biggest effects so far have come from fracking, which has ended fears about peak oil and could, if properly regulated, be some help on climate change: Fracked gas is still fossil fuel, but burning it generates a lot less greenhouse emissions than burning coal. The bigger revolution looking forward, however, is in renewable energy, where costs of wind and especially solar have dropped incredibly fast.

Why does this matter?

Everyone who isn’t ignorant or a Republican realizes that climate change is by far the biggest threat humanity faces. But how much will we have to sacrifice to meet that threat?

Well, you still hear claims, mostly from the right but also from a few people on the left, that we can’t take effective action on climate without bringing an end to economic growth.

Marco Rubio, for example, insists that trying to control emissions would “destroy our economy.” This was never reasonable, but those of us asserting that protecting the environment was consistent with growth used to be somewhat vague about the details, simply asserting that given the right incentives the private sector would find a way.

But now we can see the shape of a sustainable, lowemission future quite clearly — basically an electrified economy with, yes, nuclear power playing some role, but sun and wind front and center. Of course, it doesn’t have to happen. But if it doesn’t, the problem will be politics, not technology.

True, I’m still waiting for flying cars, not to mention hyperdrive. But we have made enough progress in the technology of things that saving the world has suddenly become much more plausible.

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

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

ing or gratuitous abuse is allowed.

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

CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

PÁGINA 6A

Zfrontera

Ribereña en Breve NUEVA CIUDAD GUERRERO, MÉXICO La mañana del viernes, la Presidenta Municipal de Nueva Ciudad Guerrero, México, Nathyelli Elena Contreras Villarreal, hizo entrega de juguetes a niños y niñas en situación vulnerable, para desearles una Feliz Navidad en compañía de sus familias.

De acuerdo con el comunicado, durante el evento, donde estuvo presente Santa Claus a bordo de su trineo, se repartieron más de 900 regalos.

SÁBADO 26 DE DICIEMBRE DE 2015

INMIGRACIÓN

Iniciarán redadas ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Las autoridades estadounidenses realizarán redadas a comienzos del año de inmigrantes adultos y niños cuya deportación ha sido dictaminada por un juez de inmigración, informó el jueves un diario.

El Washington Post sostiene que el operativo del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas co-

menzará el mes próximo y afectará a cientos de inmigrantes que huyen de la violencia de Centroamérica.

Una vocera de la agencia dijo el jueves en un comunicado que esa entidad centra sus esfuerzos en individuos "que representan una amenaza a la seguridad nacional, el orden público o la seguridad fronteriza".

Ese grupo incluye a personas que han sido capturadas tratando

CONVOCATORIA La Secretaría de Seguridad Pública convoca a hombres y mujeres de entre 18 y 40 años que presenten interés en pertenecer a esta Institución mediante el Curso de Formación Inicial para Fuerza Tamaulipas, Policía Estatal.

Los interesados deberá contar con los siguientes requisitos: ser ciudadanos mexicanos por nacimiento y en pleno ejercicio de sus derechos políticos así como civiles; ser de notoria buena conducta y no estar sujeto a procesos legales; medir 1.55 metros como mínimo en hombres y 1.50 en mujeres; así como tener aprobado el nivel medio superior o equivalente.

También, se deberá presentar la siguiente documentación: Acta de nacimiento; Cartilla de Servicio Militar Nacional; credencial expedida por el Instituto Nacional Electoral; certificado de estudios; CURP; curriculum vitae con fotografía; comprobante de domicilio reciente y nueve referencias por escrito.

Durante el curso para acreditarse como Policías Estatales, se les brindará servicios de alimentación, alojamiento, atención médica en general y una beca mensual.

Para mayores informes llame al 01-800-122-23-36.

SOCIEDAD GENEALÓGICA La Sociedad Genealógica Nuevo Santander informa que la próxima reunión será el sábado 9 de enero del 2016 a las 2 p.m. en 805 N Main St/ US Hwy 83. El tema será “Texas Land Heritage Award”.

acuerdo con nuestras leyes y valores", dijo la vocera Gillian Christensen.

El gobierno publicó esta semana que en el año fiscal 2015, Estados Unidos deportó a la menor cantidad de inmigrantes desde el 2006.

La agencia dijo que de las 235.413 personas expulsadas del país durante ese período, 98% se ajustaban a una o más de las prioridades de deportación.

ZCISD

NUEVO LAREDO, MÉXICO La administración del Centro Cultural de Nuevo Laredo (CCNL) invita a la comunidad a recorrer y disfrutar de las colecciones y exposiciones que se exhiben dentro del recinto.

Dentro del CCNL se encuentra el Museo Reyes Meza, donde puede disfrutar de la exposición “Piedra, papel o tijera” que exhibe más de 60 piezas sobre cómo los artistas juegan con diferentes ideas, materiales y elementos del arte Igualmente, se puede visitar el Museo de Historia Natural, que cuenta con piezas auténticas y réplicas de fósiles, esqueletos humanos y huesos de dinosaurios que presentan los aspectos de la historia de esta región.

En la Galería Regional de Artes Visuales, se alberga la colección fotográfica Etnik, del artista neolaredense Pepe García, misma que retrata un juego visual entre las etnias y la moda.

Otra exhibición visual es Dancing Flowers. Misma que puede ser apreciada en la Galería de Arte Actual. Aquí se muestra la constante del creador, Alexandre Dang quien se ha caracterizado por incorporar energía solar como fuente en cada uno de sus trabajos; de esta manera combina la ciencia, con conciencia ambiental, arte y humanismo.

El Centro Cultural está abierto al público de martes a domingo de 10 a.m. a 7 p.m., sin costo.

de ingresar ilegalmente a Estados Unidos y aquellas cuya deportación ha sido ordenada desde enero del 2014.

"Como el secretario Johnson ha dicho constantemente, nuestra frontera no está abierta a la inmigración ilegal y si individuos vienen ilegalmente, no cubren requisitos para asilo ni otra ayuda, y tienen órdenes finales de deportación, serán enviados de regreso, de

VISITA A MUSEO MÓVIL

Foto de cortesía

Estudiantes del Zapata County Independent School District, visitaron el Museo Móvil Dinosaur George, donde descubrieron y aprendieron más sobre la era prehistórica y los animales que habitaban en ella.

TURISMO

FRONTERA

Invitan a conocer ‘Pueblos Mágicos’ Acusan a tres de asalto ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

En el marco de las fiestas decembrinas, el Estado de Tamaulipas invita a los turistas a conocer los Pueblos Mágicos de Tula y Mier, México, que ofrecen una ventana a la cultura, arquitectura, tradiciones y gastronomía del área.

Ciudad Mier, en la franja norte del estado, fue declarado Pueblo Mágico el 5 de diciembre de 2007 por la SECTUR, ya que entre sus calles se puede apreciar el ambiente de los antiguos pueblos coloniales que surgieron en el Nuevo Santander durante el siglo XVIII. Uno de los monumentos más representativos es la Casa de los Frijoles Pintos, construcción de gruesas paredes de cal y roca y en donde en diciembre de 1842 se llevó a cabo una acción de armas ante el ejército

norteamericano, tomando como prisioneros a más de 200 soldados del ejército tejano.

Otra de sus obras arquitectónicas es la Parroquia de la Purísima Concepción. Inaugurada en 1795, al sur se encuentra la Plaza Hidalgo, conocida también como Plaza de San Juan. A sus alrededores se encuentran la Capilla de San Juan, construida en 1835 de piedra de tono café claro. A un costado se encuentra la Casa de la Cultura, edificio de estilo Por otra parte, el Pueblo Mágico de Tula, que se considera la ciudad más antigua de Tamaulipas, fue fundadp por el fraile franciscano Juan Bautista Mollinedo el 22 de julio de 1617, fue nombrado Pueblo Mágico en 2011 por la Secretaria de Turismo Federal (SECTUR) ya que la mayoría de sus edificaciones son

consideradas monumentos históricos.

Entre sus lugares atractivos están la Plaza de Armas, que tiene en el centro un quiosco porfiriano de hierro colado, también tiene amplios jardines, andadores y bancas, frente a la plaza está el templo de San Antonio de Padua. El Centro Histórico es reconocido por sus hermosas casas con balcones de antigua herrería y construcciones.

También destaca el Edificio de la Minerva, ahora conocido como la Casa de la Cultura.

A los alrededores de este Pueblo Mágico, a nueve kilómetros por la carretera 66 a Ocampo se encuentra la pirámide El Cuitzillo, perteneciente a la cultura huasteca que data del año 640. Es una de tres pirámides, pero hasta el momento, no se han descubierto las otras dos.

COLUMNA

Tamaulipas fue blanco de agresiones Nota del Editor: El autor narra cómo Tamaulipas recibió agresiones extranjeras tras la Independencia mexicana.

POR RAÚN SINENCIO ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Recién nacido a la vida independiente, México sufrió constantes agresiones extranjeras que repercutieron en Tamaulipas. Vale la pena desempolvarlos.

El conflicto presenta antecedentes tamaulipecos. Se remontan a 1835, cuando José Ignacio Mejía, pronunciado contra el imperante régimen centralista, intenta apoderarse de Tampico. Pero falla, reembarcándose de prisa. En la retirada caen prisioneros algunos mercenarios. El comandante de la plaza ordena fusilarlos.

Tiempo atrás mandos castrenses llegan a famoso restaurante que funciona en Tacubaya. Sin pagar nada, se dan gran banquete. Exigiéndoles cubrir la cuenta, el dueño protesta y lo recluyen en un cuarto oscuro.

Después Francia sitúa naves de guerra en Veracruz, citando reclama daños y perjuicios a sus ciudadanos.

Aun tratándose de aventureros en flagrancia, ni siquiera excluye a Saucien y Demoussent, por lo que exige para los deudos fuertes compensaciones. Monsieur Remontel, el restaurantero de Tacubaya, aprovecha y tasa alto lo consumido. El pueblo lo llamó “Guerra de los Pasteles”.

El 6 de febrero de 1838 se posiciona la flota que envía París. Hay pláticas de alto nivel entre representantes diplomáticos. Ninguna salida amistosa prospera. Los franceses endurecen posturas y demandan resarcimientos onerosos y castigo a quienes intervinieron en hechos relacionados con sus connacionales. Asimismo, piden exclusivos privilegios mercantiles.

Comienzan a reforzarse las defensas costeras. Las medidas abarcan puertos tamaulipecos. Desde Ciudad Victoria, La Concordia informa el 17 de febrero “haberse presentado” en Tampico “un bergantín de” bandera mexicana que “conducía armamento y parque para […] los fuertes de la ciudad, y […] haber zarpado otro […] para el puerto de Matamoros con toda clase de” pertrechos.

El 16 de abril de 1838, Francia ini-

cia largo cerco marítimo, que se manifiesta en las bocanas del río Pánuco y Bravo. “A las dos de la tarde” del sábado 21 empieza la asechanza enemiga, precisa Juan de Villatoro, prefecto tampiqueño. “Por partes oficiales se sabe” que permanecen “bloqueados […] Tampico y Matamoros, cada uno por un bergantín de la escuadra francesa”, reporta el 5 de mayo La Concordia, órgano informativo.

Ambos municipios acumulan crecidas pérdidas; las estima sólo Tampico en “ciento cincuenta mil pesos […] por el bergantín […] francés que […] lo” tiene sitiado. Los invasores a fines de noviembre bombardean la urbe de Veracruz, haciéndola capitular.

De paso, arrancan con metralla la pierna izquierda de Antonio López de Santa Anna, inmiscuido en la contraofensiva. Tamaulipas los rechaza en diciembre. Validos de la fuerza alcanzan lo que ambicionan. La asamblea legislativa ratifica en marzo de 1839 el tratado que finaliza las hostilidades.

(Publicado con permiso del autor conforme aparece en La Razón, Tampico, Tamps.)

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Tres personas, una de ellas ciudadana de EU, fueron arrestadas y acusadas de asalto con agravios contra paisanos, en Nuevo Laredo, México, anunció el miércoles el Grupo de Coordinación Tamaulipas.

Los sospechosos fueron identificados como Brandy Hutler, de 31 años, ciudadana de EU; Francisco Javier Reséndez Cubos, de 33 años y Julio César Treviño Rodeo, de 40 años, ambos de ciudadanía mexicana.

Hutler fue identificada como la líder del grupo.

El caso se desarrolló el 22 de diciembre, cuando oficiales recibieron una denuncia ciudadana sobre una camioneta Nissan Murano color blanco, tripulada por tres personas que “asaltaban a paisanos provenientes de Estados Unidos y residentes en general”, señala el reporte.

La policía ubicó el vehículo en la intersección de las calles Aquiles Serdán y 15 de Septiembre, donde detuvieron a los sospechosos, añade el reporte.

De acuerdo con documentos el personal de Fuerza Tamaulipas encontró un pasamontañas, una navaja, tres teléfonos celulares y un radio Nextel, en el interior del vehículo.

La Agencia del Ministerio Público Investigador del Estado continuará con la investigación.

State

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A

Photo by Seth Robbins | AP

In this Dec. 15, 2015, photo, Marleny Gonzalez, left, looks at her 4-year-old daughter, Jennifer at a shelter in Reynosa, Mexico, where they are living after trying to cross in to the United States. Gonzalez said her daughter suffered two broken legs when a truck they were traveling in overturned on the journey from Guatemala. “Almost all my family is in the United States,” Gonzalez said, including her daughter’s father.

Migrant children tell their travels, struggles

By SETH ROBBINS ASSOCIATED PRESS

MISSION, Texas — The seven children had just crossed the river, shoes still caked with mud, when U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped them.

The youngest was 6, Jon Smith Figueroa Acosta, he said, and he’d made the 2,000-mile journey from Honduras. He did not know to what city or state he was headed, but he had a phone number for his father in the United States.

“Estoy solo,” he said, meaning, “I’m alone.”

It was unclear how long the group had been traveling together, or who had brought them across the Rio Grande. There were two teenage siblings whose mother had sent for them after their elderly grandmother in Honduras could no longer care for them, and two teenage Nicaraguans.

Luis Arias Dubon, 15, said the trip required that he walk through much of Mexico for nearly a month.

He left San Pedro Sula, Honduras, when he was threatened by members of the deadly 18th Street gang.

“They tried to force me into the gang,” he said, adding that he was afraid they’d kill him.

The recent spike in the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the border brought U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske to the Rio Grande Valley sector this month.

“Historically the numbers would not be at the levels we see right now,” Kerlikowske said, while standing in a warehouse where about 20 migrant children rested on large green mattresses, wrapped in reflective plastic blankets. “The concerning part is, are we seeing the new normal?”

A total of 10,588 unac-

companied children crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in October and November, more than double the 5,129 who crossed during the same two months in 2014, federal statistics show. The number of family members crossing together, meanwhile, has nearly tripled, to 12,505. And though the influx began in July, the numbers were slightly higher this fall, a time when colder weather usually drives down the number of migrants crossing.

Kerlikowske said his agency was better prepared to handle the influx than in summer 2014, when tens of thousands of unaccompanied children and families poured over the border, taxing agents and holding areas.

Recently, two camps in North Texas have opened as shelters, housing 900 unaccompanied child migrants from countries that don’t border the U.S., who

under federal law must be handed over to the Department of Health and Human Services within three days of being detained. A third facility is on the way, which will hold another 200. The children are being sent north to prevent a backlog at the border, health officials said.

The child migrants must be cared for until they can be united with a relative or sponsor, where they remain until immigration courts can decide on their cases.

In McAllen, a respite center run by Catholic Charities looks after families who have been released by Border Patrol and given notices to appear at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices and immigration courts.

Recently, mothers with children described various reasons for leaving: fleeing gang or domestic violence, providing opportunities to study for their children,

reuniting with family who had long lived in the United States.

Ester Franco, 38, of El Salvador, said she left with her two teenage daughters, Yesica and Isela, out of fear for them because they are of the age when local gang members start to accost young girls. She had already pulled them out of school and still didn’t feel safe, so she decided to bring them to Maryland, where her husband lives.

“What I want is security for my girls,” she said. “I want them to be able to study.”

On the other side of the border in Reynosa, Mexico, migrant shelters — where people await their opportunity to cross — were mostly empty. Maria Nidelvia Avila, the director of the Casa del Migrante, said children who travel without a parent don’t stay in shelters. Instead, they go to bus terminals, then to stash houses

around the outskirts of the city.

The journey through Mexico can be dangerous, as Marleny Gonzalez, who was staying at a nearby shelter in Mexico with her daughter, could attest.

The 24-year-old Guatemalan was in the bed of a pickup truck with other Central American migrants when it overturned near San Fernando, two hours south of Reynosa. Gonzalez wasn’t hurt, but her 4-year-old’s legs were broken. The child was in a cast covering her entire bottom half of her body, unable to sit up.

“Almost all my family is in the United States,” Gonzalez, said, including her daughter’s father. “I felt alone. My girl didn’t have a father, so I wanted to travel.”

Given her daughter’s precarious state, she wasn’t sure now whether she would make the rest of the trip.

State

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2015

Ranger buildings getting new life

By RONALD W. ERDRICH ABILENE REPORTER-NEWS

RANGER, Texas — This looks serious.

“The vision is, there are two halves to this building — the Cole Apartments and the Lone Star Theatre,” said Chad Cunningham, gesturing at the facade of the movie theater as workers began framing a wall inside.

“This half of the building will be a bar and restaurant with pool tables, dart board, and the back where it has collapsed we’ll make into an outdoor patio with a little stage,” he told the Abilene Reporter-News (http:// bit.ly/1IexEvn ).

Pointing to the two-story building next door, now literally four walls and open to the sky, he described that as having his future residence on the top floor and the lower level as a venue for concerts or showing movies. Both adjoining buildings are located at 112 and 114 S. Austin Street.

“The two will be connected so if we want to have children’s movies, we can still have kids here without having access to the bar during the day,” he explained.

Cunningham, who formerly lived in Central America, initially returned to Ranger to help his parents.

“They sold their ranch, they were moving and so I remodeled their house,” he said. “In that process, I was trying to figure out what to do next. I always thought Ranger would be a good place to have a music venue.

“I started looking at buildings in Ranger. I came across this one, and here we are.”

Like some of the other buildings in the old downtown, time’s passage hasn’t been kind to the theater and apartments.

“It was a Paramount theater and then at some point some other man had purchased it and tried to convert it to a Columbia theater,” Cunningham said.

Photo by Ronald W. Erdrich/The Abilene Reporter | AP

In this Dec. 1, 2015 photo, a painted sign for Ranger’s Lone Star Theatre was revealed when the trumpet vine covering the wall was removed, along with the plaster in Ranger, Texas. Chad Cunningham is renovating it and the former apartment building next door into an entertainment venue.

Movie studios used to distribute their features to their own theaters back in the early days of cinema, hence the name of Abilene’s historic Paramount Theatre and its connection to Paramount theaters in Austin, Denver, Seattle and so forth.

“So he changed the name of the building to the Columbia, but it caught on fire,” Cunningham said.

He gestured toward the apartment building that shares a wall with the theater.

“Then that side turned into a dry cleaners and it caught on fire,” he said.

“And then a boiler exploded.”

It’s been a tough life for these two buildings.

On the south side of the theater, Cunningham had part of a massive trumpet vine removed. With it came some of the material covering the wall.

“When the plaster fell off, the original sign showed back up,” he said.

“It reads, ‘The Lone Star Theatre, first-class music and high-class Paramount films.”’

The letters are written directly on the brick, though still obscured somewhat by the rest of the vine.

It’s a pernicious creeper, reaching all the way to the back of the building where the walls have collapsed.

Nearby, the remains of the Cole Apartments interior were smoldering in the open lot next to the theater.

Cunningham said the city and the lot’s owner were allowing them to burn it right there instead of having to haul it off site.

“It saved us a lot of money not having to go dump this all somewhere. It was all wood,” he said.

For these buildings, it’s more of a renovation than a restoration, at least in terms of the interior. Cunningham does want to keep the exteriors of the buildings original and is even having a sign fabricated as a replica of the old theater’s.

“It’s going to be a cool project,” he said. “We’re getting a lot of support from the community that I didn’t think we would, because people are just ready

for a change here.”

He is hopeful about the election in May which if passed, would change the alcohol ordinance in Ranger to be more conducive to having a bar and restaurant in town.

“Live music will be a huge part of all of this,” Cunningham said. “Ideally, what I would like to do is have a festival here once a year out on the street or in the parking lot next door where we bring in an artist.”

The music would be Country & Western, more “in the vein of Pat Green, or Cory Morrow, or one of those guys.”

But first-things first.

Cunningham still has quite a ways to go bringing life

back to these two buildings.

He’s footing the bill himself and hopes to have it all completed in the spring.

“Depending on licensing and such, I’m hoping to open in April with a big festival,” he said. “We want to block off the street and have a stage set up here and try to bring people from Stephenville and Fort Worth.”

As much as possible, he said he wants to keep at least the exterior of the buildings looking as it did during Ranger’s heydays of the 1920s.

“I never had any plans other than to keep it original,” he said. “These buildings are too cool to tear them down and not redo them to the original.”

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

Inside the war to end Silk Road Ruling could impact oil, gas leases

By NATHANIEL POPPER NEW YORK TIMES

Gary L. Alford was running on adrenaline when he arrived for work on a Monday in June 2013, at the Drug Enforcement Administration office in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. A tax investigator, he had spent much of the weekend in the living room of his New Jersey town house, scrolling through arcane chat rooms and old blog posts, reading on well after his fiancée had gone to sleep.

The work had given Alford what he believed was the answer to a mystery that had confounded investigators for nearly two years: the identity of the mastermind behind the online drug bazaar known as Silk Road — a criminal known only by his screen name, Dread Pirate Roberts.

When Alford showed up for work that Monday, he had a real name and a location.

He assumed the news would be greeted with excitement.

Instead, he says, he got the brushoff.

He recalls asking the prosecutor on the case, out of frustration, “What about what I said is not compelling?”

Alford, a young special agent with the Internal Revenue Service assigned to work with the DEA, isn’t the first person to feel unappreciated at the office. In his case, though, the information he had was crucial to solving one of the most vexing criminal cases of the past few years. While Silk Road by mid-2013 had grown into a juggernaut, selling $300,000 in heroin and other illegal goods each day, federal agents hadn’t been able to figure out the identity of the person running the site.

Photo by Cole Wilson | The New York Times

Gary Alford, a special agent with the Internal Revenue Service assigned to work with the DEA, in New York, Sept. 30, 2015.

It ultimately took Alford, 38, more than three months to gather enough evidence to prevail upon his colleagues to take his suspect seriously.

After he convinced them, though, the man he identified, Ross W. Ulbricht, was arrested and Silk Road shuttered. The night of the arrest, Alford got an email from one of the other special agents at the center of the case: “Congrats Gary, you were right,” it said.

Alford’s experience, and the lag between his discovery and Ulbricht’s arrest, were largely left out of the documents and proceedings that led to Ulbricht’s conviction and life sentence this year.

Previous examinations of the Silk Road investigation have generally focused on the role played by special agents with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, who infiltrated the website, arrested important deputies and gathered reams of crucial information, but not enough to find Ulbricht — until Alford came along.

The other agencies involved in the investigation declined to comment on Alford’s work, but several people briefed on the investigation, who were not authorized to speak about it publicly, confirmed the basic outlines of Alford’s story.

Back in the summer of 2013, it was not hard, even for Alford, to understand why it took him time win over the others on the case.

He had joined the investigation relatively late and was on a team that hadn’t previously found much of value.

He also lacked the sophisticated technological experience of colleagues at the FBI. On a more personal level, Alford could come across as overeager.

But Alford also detected the sort of organizational frictions that have hindered communication between law enforcement agencies in the past. Within the IRS, Alford had heard tales of his agency being ignored and overshadowed by more prominent organizations like the FBI. The story that resonated with Alford most strongly was that of tax agent Frank J. Wilson, who brought down gangster Al Capone but who was forgotten in the movie versions of the investigation, which tended to focus on Eliot Ness, the flashier Bureau of Prohibition agent.

It was Alford’s supervisors at the IRS who assigned him in February 2013 to a DEA task force working the Silk Road case. The Strike Force, as it was known, had so far had little luck finding meaningful leads. Alford’s superiors hoped he could bring his

youthful energy and doggedness to the project.

Alford started by chasing down leads on low-level Silk Road vendors selling bitcoins, but he was too ambitious to keep his attention focused on small-time criminals. Whenever he had a free moment, he would read up on the origins of Silk Road and its nearly mythical leader, Dread Pirate Roberts, who ran the business and espoused his radical free-market ideology on the site’s message boards.

“I’m not high-tech, but I’m like, ‘This isn’t that complicated. This is just some guy behind a computer,’” he recalled saying to himself. “In these technical investigations, people think they are too good to do the stupid oldschool stuff. But I’m like, ‘Well, that stuff still works.’”

Alford’s preferred tool was Google. He used the advanced search option to look for material posted within specific date ranges. That brought him, during the last weekend of May 2013, to a chat room posting made just before Silk Road had gone online, in early 2011, by someone with the screen name “altoid.”

In that post, altoid asked for some programming help and gave his email address.

Doing a Google search for Ross Ulbricht, Alford found a young man from Texas who, just like Dread Pirate Roberts, admired free-market economist Ludwig von Mises and libertarian politician Ron Paul — the first of many striking parallels Alford discovered that weekend.

When Alford took his findings to his supervisors and failed to generate any interest, he initially assumed that other agents had already found Ulbricht and ruled him out.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

TULSA, Okla. — A federal judge has invalidated an oil and gas lease in Osage County for not including a sitespecific environmental assessment, a ruling an attorney says could impact other leases in the county.

The decision involves a lawsuit about the National Environmental Policy Act and whether it requires the Bureau of Indian Affairs to consider the potential environmental impact of each specific well site, the Tulsa World reported Friday.

The BIA has generally granted drilling permits based on an environmental assessment of the county conducted in 1979. But U.S. District Chief Judge Gregory Frizzell ruled that the countywide assessment is outdates and too generic to satisfy the law.

“Unlike 1979,” the judge wrote, “today, virtually every drilling operation in Osage County involves hydraulic fracturing.”

The logic of this ruling, if applied to a pending 2014 class-action lawsuit, could impact nearly every lease signed since NEPA was enacted in 1970, said attorney Donald Lepp,

who is representing the plaintiffs in both cases.

“The BIA ignored its duties under NEPA when it approved the lease and drilling permits,” Lepp said. “As virtually every lease and permit approved by the BIA in Osage County were handled similarly, the ruling will have impact beyond just this case.”

The ruling poses yet another problem for an Osage oil industry that has been in turmoil for more than a year. The BIA, partly in response to the class-action lawsuit, has made it more difficult and time-consuming to get drilling permits, and producers took the BIA to federal court to block stricter environmental standards that they say would have made oil production virtually impossible in the county.

Oil producers shouldn’t be blamed if BIA regulations aren’t in compliance with NEPA, said Jamie Sicking, an attorney for the Osage Producers Association.

“The real bad actor here again is the BIA,” he said. “The producers have to trust that the BIA is doing their job correctly.”

BIA officials could not be reached for comment.

DISAPPEARED Continued from Page 1A mountains around Iguala for hidden graves, looking for the remains of a son who disappeared two years ago.

But while she was looking for the bones of one son, she lost another: Armando Velazquez Candia was shot by two men on a motorcycle in front of his girlfriend’s house the afternoon of Oct. 26 and died 10 days later.

Along with the bloodshed, the drug trade goes on. Despite the presence of federal and state police, and the military, there is no sign that trafficking has abated around Iguala or elsewhere in Guerrero state — a producer of marijuana and opium paste for the U.S. heroin market.

Again this month, state and federal officials promised to secure Guerrero and eradicate more poppy fields, recognizing that ef-

forts of the past year had little impact.

Not that Iguala is unchanged. Former Iguala Mayor Jose Luis Abarca Velazquez was arrested and charged with murder in connection with the disappearance of the 43 students, and 66 police from Iguala and neighboring Cocula have been jailed.

Authorities have disbanded the local police force that allegedly turned the students over to the Guerreros Unidos drug cartel, which officials say was closely allied with Abarca.

Albarran, 47, was sworn in as mayor on Sept. 30.

He has fine plans: a transparent government, a growing and more prosperous city. But he acknowledged at a news conference this month that Iguala remains insecure.

“Exactly one week ago I was saying ... that we had nine, 10 days when nothing happened,” he said.

“And disgracefully, unfortunately that same day at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. two terrible situations occurred.”

The first victim that evening was a taxi driver shot multiple times in his car by men on a motorcycle, according to the local newspaper El Sur. The second, a 14-year-old boy, was shot repeatedly an hour later, just a block from the San Gerardo church where many families of the disappeared have met weekly since November 2014.

Albarran said recent killings have been “very targeted” — a euphemism government officials use to suggest the victims were involved in illegal activities and likely murdered by rivals. He also

noted that Iguala’s violence is less than in larger cities in the state, such as Acapulco and the state capital of Chilpancingo, “where crime is out of control.”

From January to October, murders in Iguala were up 25 percent from the same period the previous year, with 81 deaths among a population of 150,000. In the once glamorous beach resort of Acapulco, 751 people were killed — a 59 percent increase.

Mexican Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio and the national security cabinet traveled to Iguala this month to open a new intelligence center and pledged continued government support for the state.

That day, across town, a woman and her two young children were taken from their home near an army

checkpoint by heavily armed men. The mother, shot twice in the head, was found dead the following day. The children were added to the ranks of the 26,000 people who have disappeared in Mexico since 2007.

Ten other disappearances in Iguala have been reported to authorities since the 43 students vanished, according to the government’s registry. But since few people report such incidents when they happen, the actual number is likely much higher.

Meanwhile, residents adapt in ways large and small. Leticia Salgado Pedro, an elementary school teacher, no longer wears a helmet when riding her motorcycle — better to risk being hurt in a traffic accident than to be mistaken for a hit man’s target.

Her neighbors stay at home now, especially at night.

“The people who used to go out to drink, mostly young people, don’t do it anymore, they don’t hang out on the corners like before,” said Yazmin, who has lost a husband and a brother-in-law. She declined to be identified with her last name.

And if Igualans talk about the violence at all, most do so privately. If asked their names they politely decline, “for safety.”

But the parents of the 43 students are not silent and they continue to protest, demanding to know what happened to their sons. The families of the other disappeared are still coming forward, seeking answers.

Until then, they refuse to turn the page.

National

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2015

Pedestrian safety efforts on Vegas Strip

By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAS VEGAS — The Las Vegas Strip, flanked by towering casinos-hotels, is a 4-mile stretch of near-constant movement, jammed with cars, buses, taxis and mobile billboards rolling alongside scores of pedestrians.

Keeping those strolling visitors safe, as well as making it easier to get from casino to casino, has been an ongoing quest for local officials. They have built bridges to get pedestrians over the busy corridor, widened sidewalks, shooed away some street performers and added fences intended more as a way to keep tourists in than cars out.

Some business, academic and elected leaders are defending the work done so far to keep pedestrians safe

while others are suggesting fixes after a woman drove her car into a crowd of tourists outside the Planet Hollywood and Paris casino-hotels.

The car jumped the curb Sunday night, then the driver gunned the engine and plowed through pedestrians on the sidewalk, killing one person and injuring dozens more, authorities and witnesses say.

Takeisha Holloway, 24, has been accused of intentionally driving into the crowd.

What the Strip has now “isn’t good enough,” said Jan Jones Blackhurst, an executive and spokeswoman with Caesars Entertainment Corp., which owns the Paris resort among others on the Strip.

The Paris hotel is among several without a fence, barrier or raised sidewalk separating pedestrians and cars. Asked why not, Black-

hurst said, “Probably because it was never required, and no one was thinking of this as an imminent danger.”

Caesars has revived conversations with Clark County and law enforcement to make the Strip’s sidewalks safer, including installing decorative posts allowing for the flow of people but not cars, Blackhurst said this week.

“You hate to learn the hard way,” she said. “This has everyone’s attention.”

The county has worked over three years to install about a mile of additional fencing, mainly by requiring casino-resorts to add the barriers or raised sidewalks in front of their properties as a condition for approval on exterior improvements.

Steve Sisolak defended the efforts and said nothing is 100 percent foolproof.

Photo by Kenneth Cummings/The Jackson Sun | AP

Christmas gifts are stacked outside of a demolished home that was affected by a tornado that came through Selmer, Wednesday. Residents spent Thursday helping to clean up the damage done on.

Southerners survive severe storms

By BILL BARROW ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dozens of people lost their homes, yet they say they are thankful to see another Christmas.

Tony Goodwin ducked into a storm shelter with seven others as a storm pounded Tennessee and other states in the southeastern U.S. He emerged to find his house in Linden had been knocked off its foundation and hurled down a hill by high winds.

Goodwin’s neighbors weren’t so fortunate. Two people in one home were killed.

“It makes you thankful to be alive with your family,” he said.

Unseasonably warm weather on Wednesday helped spawn torrential rain and deadly tornadoes that left at least 14 people and left dozens of families homeless by Christmas Eve. Parts of Mississippi remained under a flood warning Friday. Weather forecasters from the National Weather Service warned that a strong storm crossing the central part of the state could produce hail and winds of more than 40 mph. The storm was bringing with it the risk of falling trees, downed power lines and flash flooding, officials said.

But that didn’t stop some from spending their Christmas giving rather than receiving.

Nicholas Garbacz, disaster program manager for the American Red Cross of North Mississippi, said members of the Marine Corps brought donated toys to a center in Holly Springs for children whose families were hit hard by the storms. Two of the seven people killed in Mississippi were from the Holly Springs area.

Dozens of children and their families showed up Friday morning to pick up a toy or other items they

might need to recover from the storm, Garbacz said.

More severe weather was also in store for parts of Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee that were again being pounded with rain.

Residents were warned to brace for flash flooding and possible tornadoes.

Among the dead were seven people from Mississippi, including a 7-year-old boy who perished while riding in a car that was swept up and tossed by storm winds.

Six people were killed in Tennessee, including three who were found in a car submerged in a creek, according to the Columbia Police Department. The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said the victims were a 19-yearold female and two 22-yearold males.

One person died in Arkansas, and dozens of homes were damaged or destroyed.

As the rain continued to fall, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley on Friday issued an emergency declaration that covers any part of the state experiencing flash flooding. Officials in southeast Alabama are particularly concerned, as Pea River is approaching recordlevels near the town of Elba, which has a history of severe flooding.

Dozens of people were injured in earlier storms, some seriously, said Greg Flynn, spokesman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

Search teams combed damaged homes and businesses for people still missing, a hunt made complicated because so many had left for the holidays.

“Until they know for sure where those folks are, they’re going to keep looking, because we’ve had in some cases houses leveled, and they’re just not there anymore,” Flynn said.

In Benton County, Mississippi, relatives helped Daisy and Charles Johnson

clean up after the storm flattened their house. They carried some of the couple’s belongings past a Santa Clause figure on a table.

Daisy Johnson, 68, said she and her husband rushed along with other relatives to their storm shelter across the street after they heard a tornado was headed their way.

“We looked straight west of us, and there it was. It was yellow and it was roaring, lightning just continually, and it was making a terrible noise,” she said. “I never want to hear that again for as long as I live.”

Mona Ables, 43, was driving home when the storm hit. She abandoned her car, ran to a house and banged on a window, seeking shelter.

The startled man inside couldn’t open the door, Ables said. She huddled next to the house as another stranger pulled up, also looking for shelter.

“He and I just huddled together and saw trees fly past us, and a shipping container flip over,” Ables said. “And as the debris started hitting us, he just covered me, and within a minute it was all over and there was destruction all around us and we were fine.”

Peak tornado season in the South is in the spring, but such storms can happen at any time. Exactly a year ago, tornadoes hit Mississippi, killing five people and injuring dozens.

Barbara Perkins was told Thursday by an insurance agent that her stormdamaged home in Falkner, Mississippi, was a complete loss. But Perkins — who survived the storm hunkered down inside a closet with her husband — said she was happy just to be alive. Two neighbors had died in the storm that swept across the southeastern U.S. earlier this week.

“You kind of stop and realize what Christmas is all about,” Perkins said.

Photo by Erik Campos/The State | AP file

In this Nov. 2, 2005 file photo, South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal listens to arguments in the South Carolina Supreme Court in Columbia, S.C.

Jean Toal set to retire

By JEFFREY COLLINS ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBIA, S.C. — When South Carolina Chief Justice Jean Toal became a lawyer in 1968, she could argue cases before a jury, but she couldn’t be a juror.

At the end of this month, Toal finishes a fulltime legal career that started months before her native state passed a law allowing women to serve on juries. Toal has gone from being the 11th woman with an active law license In South Carolina in 1968 to swearing in a hundred or more woman lawyers after the bar exam every year.

Toal has no choice but to retire. She turned 72 this year, the mandatory retirement age for state judges. Associate Justice Costa Pleicones will take over, but he only gets to be chief justice for a year before he runs into mandatory retirement. The Legislature will pick a new chief justice for 2017 in the spring.

During a recent interview, Toal didn’t want to talk much about the cases she had heard in 27 years on the high court, 15 of them as the top judge.

“We try to meet the cases we are given,” Toal said. “And as they say in baseball, my favorite sport, call them as we see them.”

But she was willing to talk about her trailblazing career, what she has done to get court records online, the time she held court in her kitchen and her plans for retirement.

TRAILBLAZER It’s not too much of a stretch to say women across South Carolina owe their careers to Toal.

Toal was one of only five women at the South Carolina House when she was elected in 1975. She also was the lawyer who argued the case in the early 1970s that ended the state’s ban for women pages at the Statehouse, helped out by a young law professor named Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Now she lives in a state

with a woman as governor.

Women run six of the state’s Cabinet agencies and are the elected top prosecutors in two judicial circuits.

“It was wonderful to be able to open that door,” Toal said. “I guess a lot of my career has been about leaving the ladder down and pulling others along.”

Victoria Eslinger won her case thanks to Toal and Ginsburg and became a page. She went on to a distinguished legal career and remains a lawyer at one of South Carolina’s most prestigious law firms.

Eslinger thanked Toal for “not pulling the ladder into the treehouse so others could climb up too” and said Toal belongs with other South Carolinians who were giants in the feminist movement like abolitionist sisters Angelina and Sarah Grimke.

“She never accepted the stereotype of what women should be,” Eslinger said of Toal.

COURTROOM TECHNOLOGY One of Toal’s first goals when she took over as Chief Justice in 2000 was to organize records. And she made a fateful decision to rely on the new technology of the Internet instead of mainframe computers and licensed software.

Because of her decision, the electronic court records system could easily adapt as the state and computer technology grew. In some rural counties, Toal’s teams were literally wiring the courthouse for Internet to bring the new system online.

As Toal leaves, she has one more project to complete her dream. In the next couple of years, all court documents will be filed online and be available for view.

“Electronic filing will be the crown jewel,” Toal said. “We just debuted in Clarendon County, and it is working like a charm.”

KITCHEN TABLE

COURT Toal set the tenor of her court just months after she became chief justice when she convinced three justices at the kitchen table of her Columbia home around 9 p.m. on a Friday to deal the final blow to a video gambling industry that had been given a tiny spark of life.

A lower court judge getting ready to retire signed an order allowing a Lowcountry video poker parlor to keep his machines running after the midnight deadline on June 30, 2000, to turn off the machine for good.

The industry spent years finding loopholes.

Toal feared the decision threatened the ban the state Supreme Court had affirmed years earlier. “I worried the whole thing would start all over again,” she said.

So Pleicones joined her in her kitchen, and they got Associate Justice James Moore on the phone. The three agreed to an order that Toal wrote by hand. She drove to the Supreme Court’s downtown headquarters herself, time stamped the order and gave it directly to State Law Enforcement Division Chief Robert Stewart, who personally delivered it to the video poker parlor owner in the Lowcountry before the midnight deadline.

Toal kept a framed copy of the order in her office.

FUTURE PLANS Toal has agreed to be a senior judge, where she will hear cases either in trial or appellate court if the chief justice asks.

She has a third grandchild on the way in January and will play golf with her recently retired husband.

She will also continue to cheer got the University of South Carolina women’s basketball and baseball and the Atlanta Braves, even if it in all likelihood, she said, looks like they will be terrible next season.

International

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A

India’s Modi visits Pakistan

By MUNIR AHMED ASSOCIATED PRESS

ISLAMABAD — India’s Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to Pakistan on Friday, his first such trip as prime minister to this Islamic nation that has been India’s long-standing archrival in the region.

The previously unannounced visit is a potential sign of thawing relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. The two heads of government also had an unscheduled meeting at the Paris climate change talks earlier this month.

Since gaining independence from Britain in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir, the Himalayan region that both countries claim.

Modi landed on Friday afternoon in the eastern city of Lahore and met with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, staterun media reported. The visit coincides with Sharif ’s birthday and the wedding of his granddaughter.

Security was beefed up at the Lahore International Airport shortly before Modi’s arrival.

After spending about two hours with Modi at his residence, Sharif went to the Lahore airport along with Modi to see him off.

Sharif and Modi held a meeting in a “cordial and positive atmosphere” and they agreed to continue working for the welfare of people of their countries, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry told reporters.

He said Modi called Sharif at about 11:30 a.m. on Friday and expressed his wish to visit Pakistan “This is how this visit was suddenly planned,” he said.

Chaudhry termed Modi’s visit a “gesture of good will” and hoped that it will help resolve all of their outstanding issues when the two sides resume talks in the

Photo by Altaf Qadri | AP

Members of the Indian Youth Congress burn an effigy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to protest against his visit to Pakistan in New Delhi, India, Friday. Modi arrived in Pakistan on Friday, his first visit as prime minister to the Islamic nation. near future.

John Kirby, spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said the visit was a welcome one.

“As we have long said, better relations between neighbors India and Pakistan will benefit the people of the entire region,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said India had informed Pakistan about the visit on Friday. He refused to share any further details.

One of the first public signs of the visit came Friday morning when Modi, during a stop in the Afghan capital of Kabul, tweeted that he is “looking forward to meeting” Sharif in Lahore, “where I will drop by on my way back to Delhi.” He said he also called Sharif and wished him happy birthday.

Sharif ’s sprawling residence had been colorfully decorated for

his granddaughter’s wedding reception when Modi arrived along with the Pakistani prime minister. The two leaders were later shown sitting together in a room looking happy and relaxed.

Analysts viewed the visit as a potential turning point in Pakistani-Indian relations.

“I think it is going to play a significant role in improving ties between the two South Asian archrivals,” said Amanullah Memon, a professor of international relations at Preston University in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

Amitabh Matto, an Indian foreign policy expert, described Modi’s birthday diplomacy visit as a “very positive step.”

“Any step toward trying to stabilize and provide a new beginning to India-Pakistan ties is welcome and needs to be supported by all those who believe that India and Pakistan have a common

destiny and it is in their interest to fight together their common problems, including terrorism and economic under-development,” he said.

Tarun Vijay, a spokesman for Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party, praised Modi’s visit as a sign of statesmanship. “This is the best Christmas gift to the mankind which believes in peace and amity. He has risen to the commanding heights of being a statesman who can take a bold step surprising his friends and foes but melting ice in the relations,” Vijay said However Modi faced criticism from the main Indian opposition Congress Party as well.

“Heads of state don’t drop in to give Christmas or birthday greetings, particularly when you have such a history of complex issues between the two countries. It should have been a proper structured state visit. We

would have welcomed it,” Anand Sharma, a Congress Party spokesman said.

Members of the Indian Youth Congress in New Delhi also staged a protest against the visit, during which they burned an effigy of Modi.

After a year of rising tensions, top security officials from India and Pakistan held talks in Thailand’s capital earlier in December, discussing a range of issues, including Kashmir and ways to maintain peace along the countries’ shared border. Also, two weeks ago, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Pakistan to attend a meeting on Afghanistan.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and training insurgents fighting for Kashmir’s independence from India or its merger with Pakistan, a charge Islamabad denies. More than 68,000 people have been killed in ongoing Kashmir violence, which began in 1989.

A cease-fire along the so-called “line of control” that serves as the border between Indian and Pakistani-held Kashmir has largely held since 2003, but crossborder firing and minor skirmishes are fairly common, with each side routinely blaming the other.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a key separatist leader in the Indian portion of Kashmir, said: “It’s a welcome step. We hope that it is followed by a consistent policy of engagement to resolve the Kashmir dispute. India and Pakistan have to evolve a mechanism to involve the core party to the issue — that is the Kashmiri people.”

India also wants Pakistan to bring to justice Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 168 people.

Saeed lives openly in Pakistan and often appears on TV interviews; the government claims it lacks the evidence to charge him.

IRMA S. MONTOYA AUG. 21, 1941 – DEC. 23, 2015 Irma S. Montoya , 74, passed away Dec. 23, 2015 at Laredo Specialty Hospital in Laredo, Texas.

Mrs. Montoya is preceded in death by her parents, Daniel and Maria Mejia; brother, Adalberto Mejia; and sister, Aminta (Rafael) Riojas.

Mrs. Montoya is survived by her husband, Rufino Montoya, Jr; daughter, Irma Yvonne (Dagoberto) Soliz; grandchild, Dagoberto Solis, Jr.; sister, Maria Rita (Victor) Guerra; and sister-inlaw, Lucia Mejia; and by numerous, nephews, nieces, family members and friends.

Visitation hours were Dec. 25, 2015, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home.

The funeral procession will depart Dec. 26, 2015, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at St. Peter Mission in Lopeno, Texas.

Committal services will follow at Lopeno Cemetery.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home Daniel A. Gonzalez, Funeral Director, 2102 N. US HWY 83 Zapata, Texas.

Photo by L’Osservatore Romano | AP

Pope Francis delivers his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and to the world) blessing from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Friday. Francis is praying that recent U.N.-backed peace agreements for Syria and Libya will end the suffering of their people.

Astronaut calls wrong number from space

By GREGORY KATZ ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONDON — Anyone can dial a wrong number, but it’s not often done from outer space.

British astronaut Tim Peake tweeted an apology on Christmas Day from the International Space Station after calling a wrong number.

He wrote “I’d like to apologize to the lady I just called by mistake saying ’Hello, is this planet Earth?’

— not a prank call — just a wrong number!”

The 43-year-old former army helicopter pilot did not say who he was calling.

Millions of Britons have been following his mission closely since he became Britain’s first publicly funded astronaut and the first Briton to visit the space station.

The nation seemed to come to a halt during liftoff Dec. 15 as many stopped what they were doing and nervously watched live coverage of him leaving the

earth for outer space.

An astronomer told Britons they might have a chance to view the space station as it transits above the earth on Christmas Day. Robin Scagell of the Society for Popular Astronomy said the station would be flying relatively low when it passes over London and would be “the brightest star in the sky, moving rapidly from west to east.”

Peake plans to conduct experiments on how the human body reacts in space and — in a British twist on space exploration — try out a new tea-making process geared toward zero gravity.

He is sharing the space station with five other astronauts from Russia and the United States. Peake’s crewmates are NASA’s Scott Kelly and Tim Kopra and Russians Mikhail Kornienko, Yuri Malenchenko and Sergey Volkov.

Kelly and Kornienko are on the first joint U.S.-Russian one-year mission at the space station.

Pope urges prayers for peace

By NICOLE WINFIELD ASSOCIATED PRESS

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis issued a Christmas Day prayer that recent U.N.-backed peace processes for Syria and Libya will quickly end the suffering of their people, denouncing the “monstrous evil” and atrocities they have endured and praising countries that have taken in refugees.

Speaking from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, Francis issued a plenary indulgence for all Catholics in hopes of spreading the church’s message of mercy in a world torn by war, poverty and extremist attacks.

The sun-soaked St. Peter’s Square was under heavy security, as it has been since the Nov. 13 Paris attacks by Islamic extremists that left 130 dead.

An indulgence is an ancient church tradition related to the forgiveness of sins. Francis announced it after delivering his annual “Urbi et Orbi” (To the city and the world) speech listing global hotspots and his prayers for an end to human suffering.

Francis referred to the “brutal acts of terrorism”

that struck the French capital this year, as well as attacks in Egypt’s airspace and in Beirut, Mali and Tunisia. He denounced the ongoing conflicts in Africa, the Middle East and Ukraine and issued words of consolation to Christians being persecuted for their faith in many parts of the world.

“They are our martyrs of today,” he said.

In an indirect reference to the Islamic State group, he urged the international community to direct its attention to Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and sub-Saharan Africa, where atrocities “even now reap numerous victims, cause immense suffering and do not even spare the historical and cultural patrimony of entire peoples.”

Francis said he hoped the plenary indulgence he issued for this, his Holy Year of Mercy, would encourage the faithful “to welcome God’s mercy in our lives, and be merciful with our brothers to make peace grow.”

“Only God’s mercy can free humanity from the many forms of evil, at times monstrous evil, which selfishness spawns

in our midst,” he said.

Francis has made the church’s message of mercy the focus of his pontificate, and dedicated an entire jubilee year to stressing it. Holy Years are generally celebrated every 25-50 years, and over the centuries they have been used to encourage the faithful to make pilgrimages to Rome to obtain an indulgence.

Indulgences got a bad rap during Martin Luther’s time, but they continue to be offered free by the church when the faithful meet certain conditions. Francis has made them plentifully available.

Libya has been in a state of lawlessness since dictator Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown in 2011. Syria has seen a five-year war that has killed over 250,000 people and forced millions to flee. The surge of refugees flowing out of Syria to Europe has created a migration crisis for the entire continent.

The U.N. Security Council last week threw its support behind a peace process for Syria, including a cease-fire and talks between the Damascus government and the opposition. The council

has also recently endorsed the U.N.-brokered deal to form a unity government that Libya’s rival factions have signed.

“We pray to the Lord that the agreement reached in the United Nations may succeed in halting as quickly as possible the clash of arms in Syria and in remedying the extremely grave humanitarian situation of its suffering people,” Francis said.

“It is likewise urgent that the agreement on Libya be supported by all, so as to overcome the grave divisions and violence afflicting the country.”

Francis praised both individuals and countries that have taken in refugees fleeing “inhuman conditions,” saying their generosity had helped the newcomers “build a dignified future for themselves and for their dear ones, and to be integrated in the societies which receive them.”

Francis’ Christmas celebrations, which began Thursday night with a late-night Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, continue with a noon blessing on Saturday and a Mass on Sunday dedicated to families as part of Francis’ Holy Year celebrations.

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2015

Coins commemorate Mark Twain’s legacy

By JIM SALTER ASSOCIATED PRESS

HANNIBAL, Mo. — Mark Twain once quipped, “The lack of money is the root of all evil.”

But starting early next year, some of Twain’s favorite places — his Missouri hometown, the New England community where he spent a big part of his adult life and two universities — all stand to benefit from the U.S. Mint’s gold and silver coins honoring the author and humorist.

Up to 100,000 gold coins and 350,000 silver coins bearing Twain’s mug will be available throughout 2016 or until they are sold

out, U.S. Mint spokesman Mike White said.

Each year, the mint strikes two commemorative coins to benefit nonprofit organizations. As collectables, the coins are worth far more than their $1 face value for silver and $5 for gold. For example, 2015 commemorative silver coins recently were priced at about $52, gold for about $360.

Each carries a surcharge — $35 for gold, $10 for silver — to be divided evenly among the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, Connecticut; University of California, Berkeley, for a program to study and promote the legacy of

Photo by Laken McDonald/Hannibal Courier-Post | AP

In this Nov. 30, 2015 photo, Henry Sweets unveils the design for commemorative gold and silver Mark Twain coins.

Twain; Elmira College in Elmira, New York; and the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum in Hannibal, Missouri.

It’s a potentially big windfall.

“If the entire issue is

sold, it could be well in excess of $1 million for each of the sites,” said Henry Sweets, executive director of the Hannibal museum, which has an annual budget (including its properties) of about $850,000.

Collectors generally account for about three-quarters of commemorative coin sales, but Sweets said, “With the topic of Mark Twain, I think we’ll have a lot of people who are interested.”

Twain was born Samuel Clemens in Florida, Missouri, on Nov. 30, 1835. His family moved to Hannibal a few years later.

It was in Hannibal where he grew up, fell in love with the Mississippi River and made the friends and acquaintances that provided fodder for some his most famous works — “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” “The Adventures of Huck Finn” and “Life on

the Mississippi” among them.

Twain left Hannibal when he was 17. He lived in Hartford from 1874 to 1891.

The commemorative coin was approved by Congress in 2012, and the design was unveiled in November.

The obverse side (heads) of the gold coin features a portrait of Twain. The reverse side (tails) depicts a steamboat.

The obverse side of the silver coin features Twain holding a pipe with smoke forming a silhouette of Huck Finn and Jim on a raft. The reverse side shows an assortment of characters from his books.

City and Dilley) and one in Pennsylvania. Those centers now house more than 1,700 people, DHS officials said Wednesday. But even as DHS officials have long vowed that the migrants will be treated humanely, their advocates have said conditions are crowded and inhumane in the centers, which often house women with children.

As the administration wrestled with how to handle the families, Johnson in November 2014 issued a set of new immigration enforcement priorities. Much of the attention focused on his public statements that undocumented immigrants who had been in the country for years should be integrated into society rather than deported. And Obama, on the same day, announced an executive action intended to shield up to 5 million illegal immigrants from deportation.

But Obama’s action has been blocked in the courts.

And Johnson has also made clear that families, children and others who had illegally crossed the border recently and did not obtain asylum status — and anyone ordered deported starting on Jan. 1, 2014 — would be subject to removal.

DHS “will also continue to expedite, to the greatest extent possible, the removal of those who are not eligible for relief under our laws,’’ Johnson said in a September statement about the family detention cen-

ters. “We take seriously our obligation to secure our borders.’’

In August, a federal judge in California ordered the administration to begin releasing in October children and family members from the detention centers. The judge said DHS had violated a 1990s consent decree that said minors taken into custody, whether accompanied by an adult or not, had to be treated humanely and allowed to quickly contest their incarcerations.

The administration has said it is complying with the ruling, but it has also filed an appeal with a federal appeals court, and officials said the decision left them feeling hamstrung. “It doesn’t allow us to hold onto people, to detain them until we can deport them,’’ said one person familiar with the internal debate.

Then, in recent months, the flow of families crossing the border suddenly shot up again. The numbers of family units apprehended rose 173 percent in October and November, compared to the same period last year, according to DHS data analyzed by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.

The court decision and the sudden spike led to the decision to begin planning the upcoming raid, said officials familiar with the deliberations, who said DHS knows the deportations will be inflammatory but believes it must enforce the law.

“I’m appealing to (Officer) Estefania Gonzalez to be honest and to say the truth … because my son did not raise the weapon,” he said. “He did not raise that weapon and there’s a witness to it. The fact that (Gonzalez) didn’t shoot is a fact that he did not raise that weapon.

“For (Officer) Priscilla Hernandez, I don’t know how she can sleep well at night, but I hope she can sleep well at night.”

As the investigation into the shooting continues, Gonzalez and Hernandez remain on administrative duties.

LPD declined to comment

on this story. Investigator Joe E. Baeza, LPD spokesman, said: “All findings at every level are going to be turned over to the District Attorney’s Office and they will make a determination where to move forward with that.”

He added that the findings of forensic examinations are still pending.

“I’m not too optimistic at the end that justice will be served,” Cuellar said. “To find the truth, we’re going to file a lawsuit (in federal court).”

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

RAIDS Continued from Page 1A knowledge of the debate, in part because of a new spike in the number of illegal immigrants in recent months.

Experts say that the violence that was a key factor in driving people to flee Central America last year has surged again, with the homicide rate in El Salvador reaching its highest level in a generation. A drought in the region has also prompted departures.

The pressure for deportations has also mounted because of a recent court decision that ordered DHS to begin releasing families housed in detention centers.

Although Johnson has signaled publicly for months that Central American families not granted asylum would face deportation, the plan is likely to trigger renewed backlash from Latino groups and immigrant advocates, who have long accused the administration of overly harsh detention policies even as Republicans deride President Obama as soft on border security.

Advocates have not been briefed on the plans and on Wednesday expressed concern. They cited what they called flaws and abuses in the government’s treatment and legal processing of the families, many of whom are fleeing danger or persecution in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

“It would be an outrage if the administration subjected Central American families to even more aggres-

sive enforcement tactics,” said Gregory Chen, director of advocacy for the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “This administration has never acknowledged the truth: that these families are refugees seeking asylum who should be given humanitarian protection rather than being detained or rounded up. When other countries are welcoming far more refugees, the U.S. should be ashamed for using jails and even contemplating largescale deportation tactics.”

Groups that have called for stricter immigration limits said the raids are long overdue and remained skeptical about whether the scale would be large enough to deter future illegal immigration from Central America.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies. “What share is this going to be?.?.?. It’s a drop in the bucket compared to the number they’ve admitted into the country. If you have photogenic raids on a few dozen illegal families and that’s the end of it, it’s just for show. It’s just a [public relations] thing, enforcement theater.”

Marsha Catron, a DHS spokeswoman, would not comment on any possible ICE operations but pointed out that Johnson “has consistently said our border is not open to illegal immigration, and if individuals come here illegally, do not

qualify for asylum or other relief, and have final orders of removal, they will be sent back consistent with our laws and our values.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office declined to comment Thursday morning on the pending deportations. But the governor has said Obama’s lax enforcement policies are luring the migrants to Texas. In his former role as state attorney general, Abbott sued the Obama administration last December after the president announced a controversial policy that would have allowed millions living in the country to apply for a work permit and a reprieve from deportation proceedings. Abbott argued that the policy would lure millions more to the country illegally.

The raids could become a flash point on the 2016 campaign trail, where GOP presidential contenders, including front-runner Donald Trump, have made calls for stricter border control a central issue.

Trump’s rise has come as he has promised to deport all undocumented immigrants and bar entry to the United States for Muslim refugees in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., policy prescriptions denounced by Democratic candidates, including Hillary Clinton.

The immigration issue has often bedeviled Obama, who came into office under pressure from supporters to

end the George W. Bush administration’s post-Sept. 11, 2001, crackdown on illegal migrants. Instead, the administration increased deportations in its early years, drawing repeated fire from Latino groups and immigration advocates.

Then, in summer 2014, came the surge of children flocking across the southwest border.

While most public attention focused on minors who were crossing the border alone, the number of children who came with a family member — known as “family units’’ in DHS parlance — also spiked dramatically.

With the government overwhelmed at first, many of the families were simply released and told to appear at later immigration court dates to determine if they would be granted asylum.

Some never showed up or had their asylum claims rejected and were ordered deported by immigration judges, officials familiar with the process said. That population is among those expected to be targeted in the upcoming raids, they said.

Immigrant rights advocates and legal experts say the families and minors were in many cases not granted adequate representation and were confused by the asylum procedures in court.

DHS, meanwhile, reacted to the surge by opening family detention centers, two in Texas (in Karnes

TRUTH Continued from Page 1A on the type of person his 25year-old son was. Questions include whether he drank alcohol a lot, what medication he took or if he ever talked about dying by suicide, Cuellar said.

“Have the investigators investigated the background of the officer, her attitude, prior history?” he asked.

The call The shooting occurred Nov. 9. That morning, Cesar Cuellar Jr.’s ex-girlfriend called police, saying he was attempting to die by suicide, according to an affidavit for a warrant that police later obtained to search his apartment.

The ex-girlfriend told police he had stated to her that “he had a short time to live” and that she had text messages showing Cuellar had expressed suicidal tendencies, according to the affidavit. One message he allegedly sent to her said “he would not be taken alive,” the affidavit states.

Hernandez, a six-year field training officer, and Officer Estefania Gonzalez, an 11-month rookie, responded to Cuellar’s apartment at 11119 Kirby Drive.

They walked inside the apartment since the door was left open.

Cuellar came out of the bedroom armed with his service-issued Sig Sauer P226 .357-caliber. Police said he pointed the firearm at the officers, prompting Hernandez to open fire.

Cuellar was struck twice and rushed to Doctors Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Cesar Cuellar Sr. said the interview or interrogation

of his son’s mother, Dora Arambula-Cuellar, was conducted in a room at Doctors Hospital, minutes after he was declared dead.

Arambula-Cuellar happened to arrive at her son’s apartment at roughly the same time as the officers.

She claims she witnessed the shooting.

“She was made to say that her son was holding a gun and had lifted it up toward the officers, literally ending the investigation of manslaughter by Officer Hernandez,” Cuellar said.

“Everything that these officers are doing and have done has been nothing but to tarnish the reputation of

my son … only to justify the killing by Ms. Hernandez.”

Police said in the search warrant affidavit that Cesar Cuellar Sr. told dispatch his son would retaliate if he knew officers were going to his apartment. However, he said he never told police his son would retaliate.

“I did state to them he had taken some medication lately and that he could possibly be intoxicated because he was going through some rough times with his ex-girlfriend,” he said.

“You have a person who is attempting to commit suicide and you go in and kill him. Is that the solution of

the Laredo Police Department?” he added. “On my behalf, I thought I was talking to the good guys … In my heart, I’m sending the police over to help my son.

There’s a situation and it’s going to be resolved because the police are the good guys.

“Now, I do regret doing that. I feel completely responsible for the death of my son because of what I did; I sent them to kill my son.”

The truth Cuellar said he wants the truth to come out.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2015

ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

Sports&Outdoors ASSOCIATED PRESS FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

NCAA COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Athlete of the Year Photo by Frank Franklin II | AP

Rule changes implemented earlier this season were designed to speed up the game and encourage scoring.

Old-school basketball returning Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth | AP

This year, Serena Williams went 53-3 with a WTA tour-leading five titles and was ranked No. 1 every week and raised her Grand Slam singles trophy count to 21.

Williams earns top honor for fourth time

By HOWARD FENDRICH ASSOCIATED PRESS

Serena Williams spent a good portion of 2015 deflecting questions about whether she could complete the Grand Slam. After coming oh-so-close, she can acknowledge how much she cared about the rare feat.

“I wanted it. But ... winning one (major title) is

not easy. And then, (when) you have a ’bounty’ on your head, it’s even harder,” she said with a laugh.

“If you know anything about me, I hate to lose.

I’ve always said I hate losing more than I like winning, so that drives me to be the best that I can be.”

Williams’ will was on display time and again, along with her best-in-thegame serve and other

skills, fashioning comeback after comeback to nearly become the first tennis player in more than a quarter-century to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in a season. In a vote by U.S. editors and news directors, Williams was chosen as The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for the fourth time.

Results were announced

Friday.

Williams collected 50 first-place votes and 352 points. Carli Lloyd, whose hat trick in the final lifted the U.S. women’s soccer team to the World Cup title, was the runner-up, with 14 first-place votes and 243 points. UFC star Ronda Rousey finished third, one spot ahead of

See WILLIAMS PAGE 2B

Changes designed to speed up college game and encourage scoring

By DAVE SKRETTA ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Shorter shot clocks and fewer timeouts. Less handchecking and physical play. All designed to speed up the game of college basketball, encourage scoring and make it more aesthetically pleasing.

The rule changes implemented earlier this season were the most dramatic to hit the sport since the in-

troduction of the 3-point arc, and they were accompanied by a seismic shift in how the game was to be officiated.

But the great irony has been this: College basketball now looks very much like it did 20 years ago, an elegant, free-flowing game rather than a rough-andtumble sport.

“The rules changes are supposed to improve the

See BASKETBALL PAGE 2B

NCAA COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Photo by Young Kwak | AP

Photo by Michael Noble Jr. | AP

Luke Falk leads the country in passing yardage per game (387.8), and will be directing Washington State’s version of the Air Raid against Miami in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 26.

Southern Mississippi is one of just two teams nationally with two 1,000-yard rushers, one of which is running back Jalen Richard.

Teams look to end Southern Miss rallies bowl skids in El Paso after winless season

By JOHN ERFORT ASSOCIATED PRESS

EL PASO, Texas — Teams playing in the Sun Bowl in recent seasons often have brought long bowl droughts with them and left them at the border, and this year’s game between Miami and Washington State will add to that trend.

Miami (8-4), despite its storied history, hasn’t

won a bowl game since 2006, going 0-5 since then.

The streak includes a loss to Notre Dame in the 2010 Sun Bowl.

Washington State (8-4), which is in a bowl game for the second time in three years under coach Mike Leach, hasn’t won in the postseason since 2003.

The skid will end for one of these teams Saturday.

“It comes as a surprise,” Hurricanes defensive lineman Calvin Heurtelou said. “The seniors are really trying to go out with something you can remember. I want to win bad, because there’s no other feeling better than winning your last game.”

For Miami, the game also represents an oppor-

See SUN BOWL PAGE 2B

ASSOCIATED PRESS

DALLAS — Southern Mississippi was coming off a 12-win season and Conference USA championship when cornerback Kalan Reed decided to join the Golden Eagles.

Unlike most everyone else in that 2012 signing class, Reed stayed through the ensuing 0-12 season and a coaching change. He gets to play

his final game in a bowl at a historic site.

Conference USA runner-up Southern Miss (9-4) closes out its season Saturday against the Pac-12’s Washington (6-6) in the Heart of Dallas Bowl at Cotton Bowl Stadium.

“Kalan has stuck with it when a lot of our guys didn’t. As we tried to change over the culture and tried to change

things and keep building, a lot of guys left,” thirdyear Southern Miss coach Todd Monken said.

“Shame on them. They missed out on this unbelievable opportunity and team we had this year.”

Reed, who has 19 pass breakups and four interceptions as a senior, said he never considered leaving. But it was admitted-

See DALLAS BOWL PAGE 2B

PAGE 2B

Zscores

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2015

SUN BOWL Continued from Page 1B tunity for an upbeat finish to a season of turmoil.

Coach Al Golden was fired after a 58-0 loss to Clemson. Larry Scott is the interim head coach, but Miami already has hired former Georgia coach Mark Richt. And Richt has begun to hire assistant coaches, leaving questions about what will happen to members of the current staff after the game.

Still, Miami went 4-1 down the stretch to finish third in the ACC Coastal Division and qualify for a bowl.

“It says a lot about someone’s character,” defensive back Deon Bush said of Scott. “He’s done a great job. We’re a close team, one of the closest bunches I’ve been around. I’m happy that, my senior year, we still fought to try to make this the best season possible.”

Washington State’s road has been different. The Cougars weren’t picked to do much after a 3-9 record last year but rallied behind seven returning starters on each side of the ball.

And former walk-on Luke Falk excelled at quarterback. He leads the nation’s top-ranked passing offense (397 yards per game) with a nation-leading 4,266 yards and 36 TDs with eight interceptions.

“There’s only a few teams in the country that play that way,” Scott said of the Cougars. “They’re a unique challenge for us.”

Here are some things to know about the 82nd Sun Bowl: IMPROVED D: Just as important for WSU was the improvement of its defense.

Leach said it was one of the biggest reasons the Cougars finished third in the Pac-12 North behind Stanford and

Oregon and are playing in a bowl game.

“I thought they got better as the year went on, especially considering how many young guys we broke in,” he said.

PASSING FANCIES: Washington State isn’t the only team that throws. Brad Kaaya leads Miami’s No. 27-ranked pass offense and has thrown for 3,019 yards and 15 TDs with just four interceptions. He has passed such notables as Bernie Kosar and Vinny Testaverde on Miami’s all-time list.

“They’ve got good speed and they’re big up front,” Washington State defensive coordinator Alex Grinch said. “(Kaaya) has done a real nice job directing their offense this year. He’s as talented as anybody in our conference.”

WHAT’S THE TAKEAWAY: One area in which Miami has excelled is turnovers. The

WILLIAMS Continued from Page 1B the woman she stunningly lost to last month, Holly Holm. UConn basketball player Breanna Stewart was fifth.

The AP Male Athlete of the Year will be announced Saturday.

Williams, who also won AP awards in 2002, 2009 and 2013, joined Chris Evert as a four-time honoree. The only woman with more AP selections is Babe Didrikson, with six — one for athletics in 1932, and five for golf from 1945-54.

“It’s not even winning the Grand Slam titles as much as the way she got herself out of the deep holes that she dug, just repeatedly. It’s not like she had two or three narrow escapes,” Evert said about Williams. “It really was the year of the comeback. It was just unbelievable.”

Williams won the Australian Open on hard courts in January, the French Open on red clay in June, and Wimbledon on grass in July, before losing in the U.S. Open semifinals in September in one of the biggest upsets in the sport’s history.

In all, Williams went 53-3 with a WTA tourleading five titles and was ranked No. 1 every week.

She raised her Grand Slam singles trophy count to 21; only two women have won more.

It did not come easily this year for Williams, who grew up in Compton, California, and turned 34 in September.

At the French Open, already dealing with a painful right elbow, Williams caught the flu. Four times in Paris, she lost the first set before rallying to win.

Photo by Pavel Golovkin | AP

For the fourth time, Serena Williams has been named The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year.

“My elbow was killing me. It’s about fighting and just never giving up.

You hear that and it sounds cliche,” Williams said, “but it’s really just about, ’OK, I’m going to at least try and see what happens.”’

At Wimbledon, she was two points from defeat in the third round but wound up completing a self-styled “Serena Slam” of four major championships in a row, a run that began in 2014. She also became the oldest woman to win a major title in the Open era, which began in 1968.

“I retired at 34, and I know that at 32, 33 and 34, I was struggling mentally to get psyched up for matches and to feel moti-

vated,” Evert said. “What impresses me even more than the physical prowess of Serena is the fact that she can still conjure up that hunger and that passion for these matches. ...

Sometimes, (the motivation is) just not there.

And the times when it wasn’t there for her, she still created magic.”

Only at the U.S. Open, with the historic achievement of a calendar-year Grand Slam in the offing, did Williams stumble, losing a three-setter to 43rdranked Roberta Vinci of Italy.

Williams already is thinking about 2016.

“If I could have this year next year,” Williams said, “I would be really excited.”

Hurricanes are tied for No. 5 in the nation in turnover margin at plus-13. But they will be missing safety Jamal Carter, who was sent home for a violation of team rules.

CH-CH-CH-CH-CHANGES: Challenges are nothing new for Miami. Sophomore offensive lineman Nick Linder said the team has been hardened by them. “Everyone’s playing hard and playing for each other,” he said.

“When your back’s up against the wall, you can be submissive or you can come out fighting.”

NICK OF TIME: The Sun Bowl has been played in a snowstorm a few times through its long history. It looks as though this game will miss that, but barely.

Showers are expected during the day, with the moisture turning to snow Saturday night. More snow is expected Sunday.

Photo by Young Kwak | AP

The Cougars weren’t picked to do much after a 3-9 record last year but rallied behind 14 returning starters including Luke Falk.

BASKETBALL Continued from Page 1B game,” Texas Tech coach Tubby Smith said, “but also give players more freedom to express themselves and play the game the way we wanted it played.

“We’re in an entertainment field as well as an educational field,” he added.

“We know that.”

There’s not much entertainment in a low-scoring, foul-filled game.

Field-goal percentages have been on the decline for years. Possessions, too.

Scoring had dropped to 67 points on average last season, the lowest level since the ’50s. Attendance plummeted right along with it, hurting the pocketbooks of many athletic departments.

That’s why the NCAA men’s basketball rules committee — made up of coaches, athletic directors, conference administrators and NCAA officials — brought about a slew of reforms this season. Most notable was changing the shot clock for the first time since before the 1993-94 season, when it went from 45 seconds to 35 seconds. It is now 30 seconds. The committee also expanded the restricted area in the paint, and eliminated one timeout by each team in the second half to help plodding games to a conclusion.

Going hand-in-hand with the rules changes was a directive to officials to more closely enforce them, particularly when it came to physical play on the perimeter and in the post.

“In my 30 years of college basketball, this is by far the most important year I’ve ever seen,” said Curtis Shaw, the Big 12’s director of officiating. “Our focus has to be on athletic skills, allowing the freedom of movement, to allow great athletes to score and play the

game.

“We’re not necessarily looking for more shots,” Shaw explained. “What we are looking for is the opportunity for our players to get better shots, cleaner looks at the basket.”

Six weeks into the season, the changes seem to have worked.

Scoring has increased by more than six points per team for each game, while teams have gotten about four more possessions and taken nearly five more fieldgoal attempts. According to the NCAA, about 75 percent of those additional points have been due to improved pace of play, with the remaining 25 percent of scoring from increased efficiency.

In other words, teams have responded to quicker play by playing at a higher level.

That should allay the fears of coaches including West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, who worried a shorter shot clock and fewer timeouts would result in more haphazard attempts.

“I think teams are playing a little faster,” acknowledged Creighton coach Greg McDermott, “and I think as long as scoring is up, I don’t think anybody is going to say anything.”

Especially if the game remains clean.

A couple years ago, the rules committee asked officials to clamp down on hand-checking and curtail physical play in the post, hoping it would lead to a similarly free-flowing game.

Instead, games became a macabre foul-fest, and officials slowly backed off as conference play began.

But with the latest rule changes, and the shift in how games are called, the increased offense has not

come from free throws — only one additional foul is being called on each team per game.

“I think they’ve helped,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said of the changes, “but the proof is going to be, ’Are the officials ... going to keep it going for the entire season?”’

Williams is also skeptical of a few changes, such as eliminating the 5-second closely guarded rule. If the premise of the changes is to speed things up, why remove a rule that forces ball movement? He also doesn’t like barring coaches from calling live-ball timeouts.

“They said, ’Well, you know, the officials had a tough time knowing if it was the coach calling or one of the players or a fan,”’ Williams said. “We’re paying them enough money.

They ought to be able to figure out things like that.”

Those points aside, Williams said he believes the game is in a better place.

Nobody has been held to 25 points for an entire game, like Washington State and Northern Illinois were in recent years, and teams are playing an up-and-down style reminiscent of college basketball’s halcyon days.

Iowa State beat rival Iowa 83-82 in a wildly entertaining game. Butler scored 144 points in a win over The Citadel.

Defensive-minded Kansas is averaging nearly 90 points per contest.

In fact, Jayhawks coach Bill Self believes this may be his best shooting team.

It’s loaded with guys who can pop open 3-pointers, but also cut to the basket and create shots off the dribble.

Precisely the kind of team that can flourish in college basketball’s new era.

“I guess,” Self said, “that’s our good fortune.”

DALLAS BOWL Continued from Page 1B ly difficult going without a win as a freshman and being 4-32 overall his first three seasons at the school where Super Bowl quarterback Brett Favre played from 1987-90.

“We talked about turning the program around because it hasn’t been where we know it should be lately,” Reed said. “It means everything to get nine wins.”

Washington won its last two games to get bowl eligible. The Huskies are playing in their sixth different bowl over a six-season span after seven years without a postseason game, including their own 0-12 season in 2008.

“We didn’t know if we’d be going to a bowl. Really proud of our team to keep fighting and battling and get a chance to come to this historic place,” said coach Chris Petersen, wrapping up his second season with the Huskies after eight bowls in a row with Boise State. “And to get matched up with a really, really good opponent, I mean, that’s what

Photo by Michael Noble Jr. | AP

Conference USA runner-up Southern Miss and running back Ito Smith closes out its season Saturday against the Pac-12’s Washington in the Heart of Dallas Bowl at Cotton Bowl Stadium. bowl games are supposed to be about.”

Some things to watch in the sixth Heart of Dallas Bowl: OFFENSIVE ERUPTION: After scuffling through the early part of the season, Washington’s offense scored 52 points against Oregon State and 45 against Washington State (though

helped by three defensive touchdowns) in the final two games the Huskies had to win to become bowl eligible. The offensive improvement actually started in a loss at Arizona State on Nov. 14 when Washington had a seasonhigh 547 total yards but committed four turnovers in the 27-17 loss.

RUNNING WILD: Southern Miss quarterback Nick Mullens and his 4,000-plus passing yards get a lot of the hype, but the Golden Eagles’ offense is just as reliant on a very effective running game. Jalen Richard (1,098 yards) and Ito Smith (1,088) make Southern Miss one of just two teams nationally with two

1,000-yard rushers — the other is Nevada.

MYLES AND MILES: Washington running back Myles Gaskin put in the finest season by a freshman in school history, rushing for 1,121 yards and 10 touchdowns even though he didn’t fully take over as the featured ball carrier until the fifth

game. Gaskin closed the regular season rushing for at least 100 yards in his final three games and six of the last eight. He had 138 yards and two touchdowns against Washington State and now faces a Southern Miss defense that gave up just 141 yards per game on the ground.

SOME HISTORY: This is the first meeting ever between Washington and Southern Miss, though Petersen has faced the Golden Eagles four times — and beat them each time from 200713, the last a 60-7 win by Boise State in 2013.

SHUT-DOWN SECONDARY: Led by all-Pac-12 selections Budda Baker and Sidney Jones, Washington’s secondary became the backbone of a surprisingly strong defense. The Huskies led the Pac-12 in total defense (349.9 yards per game) and scoring defense (17.8) and was second in the conference at stopping the pass. Jones was tied for the conference lead with 13 passes defended and third with four interceptions.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2015

Dear Readers: Now is the time to decide what to do with a GIFT you received but are not that crazy about.

You can regift the gift.

There’s nothing wrong with this, and you may know someone who would appreciate it more than you.

There is always the return! You may receive store credit or an exchange. If a gift receipt was included, you are in luck. The store will be happy to help you.

Many retailers have extended return policies this time of year. The average time during the holiday season is around 30 days, or the end of January. When in doubt, call the store rather than waiting to find out if it’s past time. – Heloise P.S.: If you received gift cards, like millions of folks, be sure to keep track. Millions of dollars in unused gift cards are sitting in drawers!

SHELTER ME Dear Heloise: I had a

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beautiful golden retriever who loved to be outside in her bed in the winter. I live in Texas, so it doesn’t get too cold.

I made a shelter for her in the winter by covering my patio table like a tent.

I used an old bed comforter. Her bed fit under the table. As you suggested, it sat on several layers (I used cardboard and an old rug) to keep the bed warmer. – Sylvia in San Angelo, Texas How smart. I used a pup tent for our dogs J.D. and Black Jack, who are now in doggie heaven. – Heloise DOG BED Dear Heloise: I have several dog beds. They go flat over time. I buy the cover for a do-it-yourself beanbag chair. I roll the dog beds into a "log" and push them into the zippered opening of the cover. Voila – instant new dog bed. I can fit several old dog beds into one beanbag cover. And the dogs love the coziness. – C.R.B., via email

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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2015