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FALCON LAKE
6,283 pounds of pot seized Border Patrol, Mexican authorities work together THE ZAPATA TIME S
Courtesy / U.S. Border Patrol
The bundles seized near Zapata tested positive for marijuana and had an estimated street value of $5,026,000.
More than 3 tons of marijuana worth an estimated $5 million was seized recently on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake, Border Patrol said Monday. U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Zapata Station, working with the government of Mexico, intercepted the load of pot Thursday. At about 9:30
a.m., Zapata Border Patrol agents working Aerostat operations saw illegal activity on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake. Agents noticed several people loading bundles of contraband onto a boat. Moments later, agents contacted the Mexican authorities to update them about the location. Pot continues on A11
ZAPATA COUNTY INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT
BLANKET DRIVE SUCCESS
Courtesy / ZCISD
Villarreal Elementary School would like to thank everyone who donated blankets for the ZCISD Community Blanket Drive Project. Teachers, students and parents donated over 50 blankets to help out families in the community.
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS RIO GRANDE VALLEY
Accrediting agency places UTRGV on probation By Matthew Watkins THE TEXAS TRIBUNE
A federally-mandated commission that handles accreditation for universities in the southern United States placed the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on probation Tuesday, possibly putting at risk the reputation of the school and the ability of its students to receive certain financial aid. The move is a blow for school officials working to build the UT System school into a research and education powerhouse for the South Texas region. The probation period will last for a year and won’t have an immediate effect on how the university is run. But, according to the accreditation agency’s sanction policy, probation “is usually, but not necessarily, invoked as the last step before an institution is removed from membership.” Losing accreditation would be devastating for the school. Students who attend unaccredited schools might not qualify for federal financial aid, and many employers and professional licensing organizations require that their applicants be graduates of accredited schools. UTRGV President Guy Bailey notified the campus community of the development in an e-mail Tuesday morning. He said the school received preliminary notification that day, and will receive more information in mid-January. “Please note that during this time, UTRGV remains fully accredited and the academic and administrative operations of the institution will continue as they have in the past,” he wrote. All public universities in Texas must go through the accreditation process, which includes a review of the finances and operations of the UTRGV continues on A11
BORDER SECURITY
The United States demands cheap labor and drugs By Jay Root, Jolie McCullough and Julián Aguilar TH E TEXAS T RI BUNE
Businessman Thomas McNutt’s run for political office began as a classic tale of an upstart young conservative taking on the Texas political establishment. It was among the most closely watched primaries for Texas House seats this year, and for good reason: McNutt was mining the same bubbling outrage over the porous border and illegal immigration that fueled the rise of Donald Trump. And his opponent, powerful GOP incumbent Rep. Byron Cook, was a top target of the immigration hardliners. Cook has been a supporter of the long-standing state policy allowing young undocumented
immigrants to pay in-state college tuition rates. He chairs the important House committee where, in 2011, a ban on socalled sanctuary cities fizzled out amid opposition from major business figures. Then last year, he authored a bill that would have let thousands of people living here illegally drive their vehicles legally. (They still can’t.) Cook “supports illegal immigrants,” McNutt claimed in a February interview in the Palestine Herald newspaper, right before the two Corsicana businessmen squared off in the March Republican primary. “I am offering the voters in our district a conservative choice who will fight to stop illegal immigrants from entering our state,’’ he said. It was a solid political strategy, save for one problem.
The famous company McNutt’s family owns and operates — Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana — had itself hired undocumented immigrants, according to news reports and Texas Tribune interviews. And when some of them began speaking out, the dynamics of the race shifted. Illegal immigration and border security remained the top issues, but the focus moved from Cook’s voting record to McNutt’s alleged hypocrisy. “He says he’s for border security,” an announcer mockingly intoned in a negative ad aired against McNutt. “But his bakery hires cheap illegal workers.” When the smoke cleared on the March 2016 primary, Cook had eked out a victory, winning by a little more than 200 votes. Not surprisingly, McNutt and Border continues on A11
Martin do Nascimento / The Texas Tribune
Border Patrol Agents load a large package of marijuana seized near Roma, Texas, into their service vehicle on March 8.
Zin brief A2 | Wednesday, December 7, 2016 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
CALENDAR
AROUND THE NATION
TODAY IN HISTORY
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8
ASSOCIATED PRE SS
Laredo Area Retired School Employees Association Christmas Party and Bingo. 11 a.m. Blessed Sacrament Parish Hall, 2219 Galveston St.
Today is Wednesday, Dec. 7, the 342nd day of 2016. There are 24 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History: On Dec. 7, 1941, Imperial Japan’s navy launched a pre-emptive attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, one of a series of raids in the Pacific. The United States declared war against Japan the next day.
Christmas Pizza Party. 4-5 p.m. McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco. Pizza and cupcakes will be served.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9 Christmas Pizza Party. 4-5 p.m. Santa Rita Express Branch Library, 301 Castro Urdiales Loop. Pizza and cupcakes will be served.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 12 Movie and Popcorn. Every Monday, 4—5 p.m. Santa Rita Express Library, 83 Prada Machin Drive, on the corner of Malaga Drive and Castro Urdiales Avenue. Enjoy a family movie and refreshments.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13 Rock wall climbing. 4—5:30 p.m. LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Take the challenge and climb the rock wall! Fun exercise for all ages. Free. Bring ID. Must sign release form. Every Tuesday. For more information, call 795-2400 x2520. LEGO Workshop. Every Tuesday, 4—5 p.m. Santa Rita Express Library, 83 Prada Machin Drive, on the corner of Malaga Drive and Castro Urdiales Avenue. Create with LEGOs, DUPLOs and robotics.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15 Spanish Book Club. 6-8 p.m. Jose A Guerra Public Library on Calton. For more information call Sylvia Reash at 763-1810.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18 Memorial Bells 9th Annual Christmas Concert. 4 p.m. Sanctuary at First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland. The program will include both sacred and secular selections and will conclude with a “Ring-SingA-Long.” Free and open to the public. Donations accepted.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 19 Jedi Christmas. 3-5 p.m. McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco. Stormtrooper Santa, gaming, crafts, music and food. Star Wars costumes are encouraged. Movie and Popcorn. Every Monday, 4—5 p.m. Santa Rita Express Library, 83 Prada Machin Drive, on the corner of Malaga Drive and Castro Urdiales Avenue. Enjoy a family movie and refreshments.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20 Rock wall climbing. 4—5:30 p.m. LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Take the challenge and climb the rock wall! Fun exercise for all ages. Free. Bring ID. Must sign release form. Every Tuesday. For more information, call 795-2400 x2520. LEGO Workshop. Every Tuesday, 4—5 p.m. Santa Rita Express Library, 83 Prada Machin Drive, on the corner of Malaga Drive and Castro Urdiales Avenue. Create with LEGOs, DUPLOs and robotics.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27 Rock wall climbing. 4—5:30 p.m. LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Take the challenge and climb the rock wall! Fun exercise for all ages. Free. Bring ID. Must sign release form. Every Tuesday. For more information, call 795-2400 x2520.
MONDAY, JANUARY 2 Ray of Light anxiety and depression support group meeting. 6:30—7:30 p.m. Area Health Education Center, 1505 Calle del Norte, Suite 430. Every first Monday of the month. People suffering from anxiety and depression are invited to attend this free, confidential and anonymous support group meeting. While a support group does not replace an individual’s medical care, it can be a valuable resource to gain insight, strength and hope.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 3 Rock wall climbing. 4—5:30 p.m. LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Take the challenge and climb the rock wall! Fun exercise for all ages. Free. Bring ID. Must sign release form. Every Tuesday. For more information, call 795-2400 x2520.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 10 Rock wall climbing. 4—5:30 p.m. LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Take the challenge and climb the rock wall! Fun exercise for all ages. Free. Bring ID. Must sign release form. Every Tuesday. For more information, call 795-2400 x2520.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 17 Rock wall climbing. 4—5:30 p.m. LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Take the challenge and climb the rock wall! Fun exercise for all ages. Free. Bring ID. Must sign release form. Every Tuesday. For more information, call 795-2400 x2520.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24 Rock wall climbing. 4—5:30 p.m. LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Take the challenge and climb the rock wall! Fun exercise for all ages. Free. Bring ID. Must sign release form. Every Tuesday. For more information, call 795-2400 x2520.
Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP
Three people hug as they watch cleanup efforts at the site of a warehouse fire Tuesday, in Oakland, Calif.
DEATH TOLL STANDS AT 36 OAKLAND, Calif. — As crews searched the Oakland warehouse for more bodies, the founder of the arts collective stood near the gutted building Tuesday morning and said he was “incredibly sorry” and that everything he did was to bring people together. The death toll remains at 36, with officials saying early Tuesday that no additional bodies have been recovered. Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy Tya Modeste said of the 36 victims found, 26 of their families have been notified. Another nine bodies have been “tentatively
Police: 3 kids killed, mother critically injured in shooting ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Critically wounded, an Albuquerque mother struggled in vain to pull her three children to safety after a gunman shot them during a confrontation inside the family’s home in what police described Tuesday as a violent and senseless act. Police Chief Gordon Eden confirmed during a news conference Tuesday that the chil-
identified,” she said. Officials are still lacking any type of identity for one individual. The fire erupted Friday night during a dance party at the warehouse that had been converted to artists’ studios and illegal living spaces. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Tuesday afternoon that it is looking at the possibility that a refrigerator or other appliance was the source of a warehouse fire that killed 36 people. — Compiled from AP reports
dren, who ranged in age from 5 to 9, were killed and that the mother remained in critical but stable condition following Monday night’s encounter. Eden said preliminary evidence suggests the family was attacked by George Daniel Wechsler, 45, who was believed to have had a brief relationship with the 36-year-old mother. Investigators believe Wechsler forced his way into the home and waited for the family to arrive before shooting them. Police said Wechsler had asked to visit to give the children
Christmas gifts but the mother told him no after he repeatedly called and sought to visit. The mother had asked Wechsler several times to stay away, police said. Wechsler was found unconscious with a self-inflicted gunshot wound Monday, police said. He died at the hospital. Authorities said had Wechsler a criminal history, including an aggravated battery charge which included harassment and stalking. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE WORLD Riots rage in Athens after march over teen’s death ATHENS, Greece — Riots raged for hours in central Athens Tuesday as dozens of anarchists threw petrol bombs, fireworks and stones at police after a peaceful march to commemorate the police killing of an unarmed teenager eight years ago. Riot police used tear gas to contain young people who set up barricades around a university complex in the Exarcheia residential district, a traditional venue for protests that often turn violent. Other rioters pelted police with the stones and petrol bombs from the roofs of surrounding apartment buildings. Police said one officer was hospitalized with light injuries, and at least 23 people were detained. Young demonstrators also used petrol bombs and rocks to attack police during a separate
LUBBOCK — Luis Carlos Montalvan, a decorated Iraq war veteran who became a strong critic of the war and wrote a best-selling book about it, has died in El Paso. He was 43. Montalvan was found in a hotel room in downtown El Paso late Friday, El Paso police Sgt. Enrique Carrillo said Mon-
Ten years ago: President George W. Bush gave a chilly response to the Iraq Study Group’s proposals for reshaping his policy, objecting to talks with Iran and Syria, refusing to endorse a major troop withdrawal and vowing no retreat from embattled U.S. goals in the Mideast. The U.S. military transferred the first group of Guantanamo Bay detainees to a new maximumsecurity prison on the naval base. Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, the first woman U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, died in Bethesda, Maryland, at age 80. Five years ago: Rod Blagojevich, the ousted Illinois governor whose threeyear battle against criminal charges became a national spectacle, was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Veterans from Pearl Harbor observed the 70th anniversary of Japan’s attack with a solemn ceremony at the site of the bombing. Veteran character actor Harry Morgan, 96, died in Brentwood, California. One year ago: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” an idea swiftly condemned by his rival GOP candidates for president and other Republicans.
Louisa Gouliamaki / Getty
Police officers stand amid tear gas and smoke from Molotov cocktails in Athens, Tuesday.
clash in northern Greek city of Thessaloniki. About 1,000 people had protested in the city center earlier Tuesday to mark the 2008 fatal shooting of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos. In Athens, about 1,500 anarchists and other demonstrators marched peacefully through the city to protest
Grigoropoulos’ killing by a police officer in the Exarcheia district, which sparked days of rioting in Greece’s main cities. Anarchists initiated violent clashes with police in Exarcheia last month, both during a visit by President Barack Obama and on the anniversary of a 1973 student uprising. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND TEXAS Vet, author who advocated for vets, criticized war, dies
On this date: In 43 B.C., Roman statesman and scholar Marcus Tullius Cicero was slain at the order of the Second Triumvirate. In 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. In 1842, the New York Philharmonic performed its first concert. In 1909, chemist Leo H. Baekeland received a U.S. patent for Bakelite, the first synthetic plastic. In 1946, fire broke out at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta; the blaze killed 119 people, including hotel founder W. Frank Winecoff. In 1965, Pope Paul VI and Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras I simultaneously lifted the mutual excommunications that had led to the split of their churches in 1054. In 1972, America’s last moon mission to date was launched as Apollo 17 blasted off from Cape Canaveral. Imelda Marcos, wife of Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos, was stabbed and seriously wounded by an assailant who was shot dead by her bodyguards. In 1985, retired Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart died in Hanover, New Hampshire, at age 70. In 1987, 43 people were killed after a gunman aboard a Pacific Southwest Airlines jetliner in California apparently opened fire on a fellow passenger, the pilots and himself, causing the plane to crash. Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev set foot on American soil for the first time, arriving for a Washington summit with President Ronald Reagan. In 1993, gunman Colin Ferguson opened fire on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train, killing six people and wounding 19. (Ferguson was later sentenced to a minimum of 200 years in prison.) In 1995, a 746-pound probe from the Galileo spacecraft hurtled into Jupiter’s atmosphere, sending back data to the mothership before it was presumably destroyed. In 2004, Hamid Karzai was sworn in as Afghanistan’s first popularly elected president.
Today’s Birthdays: Linguist and political philosopher Noam Chomsky is 88. Bluegrass singer Bobby Osborne is 85. Actress Ellen Burstyn is 84. Broadcast journalist Carole Simpson is 76. Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench is 69. Country singer Gary Morris is 68. Singer-songwriter Tom Waits is 67. Sen. Susan M. Collins, R-Maine, is 64. Basketball Hall of Famer Larry Bird is 60. Actress Priscilla Barnes is 59. Former “Tonight Show” announcer Edd (cq) Hall is 58. Rock musician Tim Butler (The Psychedelic Furs) is 58. NFL player Terrell Owens is 43. Rapper-producer Kon Artis is 42. Pop singer Nicole Appleton (All Saints) is 41. Latin singer Frankie J is 40. Country singer Sunny Sweeney is 40. Pop-rock singer/celebrity judge Sara Bareilles is 37. Singer Aaron Carter is 29. Thought for Today: “No nation ever had an army large enough to guarantee it against attack in time of peace or insure it victory in time of war.” — President Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933).
CONTACT US day. The medical examiner’s office has not completed a preliminary autopsy report. Montalvan served 17 years in the Army, doing two tours in Iraq. He received two Bronze Stars and the Purple Heart. His service dog, Tuesday, was the subject of Montalvan’s book, which became a New York Times best seller. Some Army colleagues said Montalvan, who retired from the Army as a captain in 2007, embellished his account of the
incident that led to his Purple Heart. Tuesday is now being cared for by a loving family in the Northeast, according to a statement from Montalvan’s family. Montalvan’s book, “ UNTIL TUESDAY: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him,” was praised by Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, made him a leading advocate for wounded veterans and even led to an interview on David Letterman’s show. — Compiled from AP reports
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THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, December 7, 2016 |
A3
STATE Mexican cousins get life in prison
Texas scrap metal market faces ups, downs of varying prices
A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
HOUSTON — If some supernatural being were to drag an enormous magnet over Houston, yanking out all the bits made of metal and sorting them into neat little piles, the result might look a bit like Brandi Harleaux’s scrapyard a few miles south of the Galleria. Gutters. Window frames. Insulated wires. Boat motors, crushed guard rails and toll booths. All of Harris County’s discarded highway signs. Truck wheels, air conditioning coils, copper plumbing and lots of tin cans, ready to be crushed and loaded in containers. All of this stuff is worth money — but so little, in recent years, that small recyclers like Harleaux have barely made a profit. “It’s been a tough market,” said Harleaux, who strides through it all in a t-shirt and high heels. “We’re a pennies business. You have to move volume.” The Houston Chronicle reports even though the South Post Oak Recycling Center (yes, SPORC) is a mom-and-pop operation — founded by Harleaux’s father in the 1990s to buy scrap from local contrac-
FORT WORTH — Prosecutors say two 60year-old cousins from Mexico must serve life terms in U.S. prisons for helping set up the 2013 Texas slaying of an attorney who once led a drug cartel. Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Cepeda was sentenced Tuesday in Fort Worth. Ledezma-Cepeda in May was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder for hire in what prosecutors say involved electronic stalking of the victim. Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa was in his parked vehicle in downtown Southlake when he was fatally shot. His attacker remains at large. Prosecutors say Ledezma-Cepeda and his cousin, Jose Luis CepedaCortes, helped arrange the killing. Cepeda-Cortes was convicted of interstate stalking and conspiracy to commit murder for hire.
Pro-Islam billboards receive hate calls A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
DALLAS — An Islamic grassroots organization that funded 12 billboards across Dallas and Fort Worth to combat misinformation about Islam has been receiving more hate calls in Dallas than in other cities participating in the nationwide campaign. The Dallas Morning News reports that the Islamic Circle of North America used mosque donations to fund the billboards spread across the city’s highways. The billboards read “ISLAM (equals) Racial Equality” and provides a hotline phone number and website for “Why Islam?”
Abortion booklet catches flack A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
AUSTIN — A Texas state agency has released a new edition of a booklet for women considering an abortion that suggests there may be a link between terminating pregnancies and increased risks of breast cancer and depression. The Texas Department of State Health Services issued the new edition of “A Woman’s Right to Know” on Monday. Since 2003, state law has mandated that pregnant women be provided information when mulling an abortion. The new edition of the booklet contains a section titled “Breast Cancer Risk,” despite numerous, peerreviewed studies that have refuted links between abortion and breast cancer. The booklet also says women who terminate pregnancies can become suicidal and infertile. The Supreme Court has struck down key provisions of Texas’ 2013 law placing some of the nation’s tightest restrictions on abortion.
By Lydia DePillis HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Mark Mulligan / Houston Chronicle
In this Nov. 21 photo, Wayne Daniels, left, and Errol Bickett process a load of streets signs in Houston.
tors — it’s at the mercy of global commodity prices. A sustained drop in the values of steel, nickel, copper and tin has made it difficult to pay people enough to take the trouble to bring their discards for recycling, rather than toss them in the trash, and that’s helped cut the number of licensed scrapyards in Houston from 122 licensed in 2014 to 101 this year. The election of Donald Trump, however, has fueled hopes of a revival in commodities, including oil. Prices spiked after his election amid hopes that after many years of a Democratic president failing to get a massive infrastructure plan through a Republican Congress, a Republican president might finally
succeed. Trump has promised to spend $1 trillion on roads, bridges, highways and other projects — which need steel, aluminum and, of course, fuel to get built. Tom Baker, president of the Recycling Council of Texas, says his members are encouraged by the prospect of a sizeable public works program that would boost demand for commodities and provide a respite from relentlessly low prices. “Everybody thinks it might happen this time,” Baker said. “I would say right now is that there’s more optimism than pessimism, and that’s changed in a short period of time.” Recycling is a cyclical business, but this last cycle has been more of a
roller coaster than most. Industrial metals climbed to unprecedented prices in the past 10 years, with some seeing their highest spikes before the financial crisis, fueled by a building boom in emerging markets like Brazil and India. Steel scrap reached $477 per ton in early 2011, according to S&P Global Platts’ Steel Index, and since scrap is the main component in U.S. steel production, recycling became much more profitable. Scrapyards opened left and right, many financing expensive equipment — like aluminum crushers, balers, and industrialsized scales that can weigh trucks full of metal — on borrowed cash. But that bubble popped and just kept deflating after about 2014, as emerging markets stumbled and China put its steel industry in overdrive to hit artificial growth targets. That oversupply depressed prices, which reached a low of $166 per ton in late 2015. The strong dollar had slowed down U.S. manufacturers, which are some of the biggest consumers of scrap metals, and they could no longer buy as much as they used to. U.S. exports of metals and other scrap material
plunged by more than a third in mid-2015 from their peak in 2011. “2015 was the worst year our industry saw in a generation,” says Joe Pickard, a staff economist at the Institute for Scrap Recycling Industries, a trade association with about 1,300 members. “Some companies had to close their doors, other companies are not operating anywhere near maximum capacity.” The scrap industry, which according to ISRI accounted for $45 billion in direct spending in 2015 and 149,000 direct employees, went through a wave of consolidation. The largest player, an Australian industrial materials company called Sims Metal Management, divested dozens of scrapyards in the United States, while its stock fell to historical lows. The pain was especially acute in Texas, which was facing a double whammy from the oil bust, since the state’s manufacturing base is heavily tied into production of drilling equipment. Recyclers that had over-extended themselves during the boom years collapsed or were bought by competitors. Nearly one in five of licensed recycling businesses in Texas vanished.
Seven Texas special-needs teens were regularly locked in closet By David Warren ASSOCIATED PRE SS
DALLAS — Seven special-needs teenagers living near Houston were repeatedly locked away in a closet by their adoptive mother and restricted to a lone room strewn with human waste, state and county officials said Tuesday. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services also said that a 7-year-old boy died in the same home in January 2011. The agency declined to reveal the circumstances of the death. The revelations were part of a startling series of events southwest of Houston that Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls described as “heart-breaking.” “I cannot think of a more deplorable situation than what we have learned in this case,” he said in a statement. The 7-year-old also had special needs and Family and Protective Services spokeswoman Tiffani Butler said Tuesday that
the other seven were not removed from the Richmond home when the child Richardson died but that they all lived there at the time. No charges were filed in the child’s death. The teens, ages 13 to 16, were removed Nov. 23 but the Fort Bend County sheriff’s office didn’t publicize the case until Monday. Caitilin Espinosa, a sheriff’s spokeswoman, said the investigation was delayed by confusing circumstances and also because the two people arrested in the matter have not cooperated with authorities. Paula Sinclair, 54, and Allen Richardson, 78, each are charged with injury to a child and aggravated kidnapping. They were being held Tuesday at the Fort Bend County jail. Sinclair, who has used aliases in the past, is the adoptive mother of the teens and also of the 7-
year-old boy who died. Her husband lives elsewhere, Espinosa said, and Sinclair it’s not clear if Sinclair lived there or came by periodically. Sinclair’s relationship to Richardson also isn’t clear. The two were arrested Saturday and each is being held on a $100,000 bond. Online jail records did not indicate whether they have attorneys to speak on their behalf. State Child Protective Services was acting on a tip when a case worker went to the home Nov. 22, Butler said. The worker was alarmed enough to receive court approval to remove the teens the next day. Sinclair and Richardson bickered with authorities that they had done nothing wrong, Espinosa said, but detectives found the teens had been locked in a single room. When Sinclair was
at the home and needed to leave, all seven children regularly were placed in a 5-by-8-foot closet. They were struck with a wooden paddle if they attempted to leave the closet or room. At times they were in the closet so long that they urinated on themselves. The room was fouled with human waste, with some deposited in bags scattered about. A teen with Down syndrome was found wearing a dirty diaper. It wasn’t clear what disabilities the other children have. None attended school. They were taken to a hospital for treatment and remained there Tuesday. Once they’re released they’ll be in state custody. Sinclair and her husband first served as foster parents to the children and later adopted them, Espinosa said. They’ve been with the couple as foster children since they were babies and were adopted in 2003 and 2004. “These people are taking advantage of a lousy situation at the expense of
children who cannot fend for themselves,” Nehls said. “It is absolutely heart-breaking.” Parents who adopt a special-needs child can receive up to $540 a month for each child, Butler said. Sinclair and Richardson were charged with kidnapping because the teens were locked in the room and “kept against their will,” Espinosa said. They were so isolated that three adults who lived in another part of the home were unaware they lived there, according to Espinosa. “They really were hidden, even from people in the same home,” she said. It wasn’t clear why the three other adults were living in the home but Butler, the Family and Protective Services spokeswoman, said Texas Adult Protective Services had previously checked on the three and that the home may be licensed by the state. She also said the home was licensed by Family and Protective Services.
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A4 | Wednesday, December 7, 2016 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
OP-ED
OTHER VIEWS
Lessons of Pearl Harbor and an ‘end to illusions’ By William Inboden TH E DA L LAS MORNING NEWS
As we remember and mourn those servicemen and women who died when Imperial Japan launched a surprise attack on the American military installations at Pearl Harbor 75 years ago, we should also remember that was not just one of the bloodiest strikes on American soil. Pearl Harbor also marked “an end to illusions,” as the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr described the United States’ sudden mindfulness of the threats posed by Japan and Nazi Germany. Until that day of infamy, many Americans had held optimistically to certain beliefs about war and international politics that proved illusory. Such as, that dictatorship and aggression in faraway lands did not concern the U.S.; that alliances were a source of vulnerability rather than strength; and that a strong military made war more, rather than less, likely. The classic 1970 movie about Pearl Harbor, “Tora! Tora! Tora!,” quotes the operation’s mastermind, Japanese Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, warning ominously that Japan had “awakened a sleeping giant.” Whether Yamamoto actually penned those words remains disputed, but the phrase reflected his sentiments. In the words of historian David Kennedy, America’s “industrial base and large population would make it a formidable foe if it ever mustered the political will to fight, and probably an invincible foe if the conflict were protracted.” And so it came to pass. After the attack, we built a globally dominant arsenal and mobilized a military that, with our allies, conquered Japan and Germany less than four years later. Once awakened, the giant did not return to its slumber. Rather, the U.S. emerged at the end of the war as the world’s dominant superpower, with unprecedented military might and an atomic monopoly. We also assumed the mantle of global leadership and spurred the creation of the international system that still shapes the world today. In the process, America underwent a series of diplomatic and economic revolutions: from isolationism to international leadership; from protectionism to promoting an open trading system and the institutions to manage it; and from disdaining alliances to forming an extensive network of allies, even with former enemies such as Japan and Germany. The Pearl Harbor shock also prompted the cre-
ation of the modern American national security system. Immediately after the war, the Truman administration, mindful of the intelligence and policy failures that left us vulnerable to surprise attacks, partnered with Congress to establish many of the institutions that still run our foreign and defense policy today, such as the National Security Council, the Department of Defense and the CIA. In short, as catastrophic as it was at the time, Pearl Harbor also led directly to what some called “the American Century,” our nation’s long run of global leadership that not only redefined our place in the world, it redefined the shape of the world itself. It is something that bears repeating as we prepare to remember the events of Dec. 7, 1941. Many Americans look at the world now with the same sense of disquiet that we did 75 years ago. In the Far East, we see China’s rising power and North Korea’s nuclear weapons destabilizing the region. In Eurasia, we see Russian aggression reminiscent of the Soviet Union. In the Middle East, we see a region torn asunder by war. On virtually every continent, we see the threat of jihadi terrorism. Meanwhile, as a nation, we feel exhausted and weary, uncertain whether we can or should continue showing international diplomatic and economic leadership. Our political leaders in both parties seem to share this sentiment. President Barack Obama has voiced frustration toward our allies and skepticism about our own ability to influence the international stage. During the campaign, Donald Trump differed in tone but not in substance from Obama, as he also spoke disparagingly of America’s alliances and our global role. How he will govern remains to be seen, though fortunately, some of his Cabinet appointments and conversations with foreign leaders indicate a renewed commitment to international leadership. Such is one lesson of Pearl Harbor and its aftermath. Retreating behind our borders does not render us safe from threats abroad. The world is a better place, and our nation is more prosperous and secure, when the United States leads from the front. That is as true today as it was in 1941. William Inboden is executive director of the Clements Center for National Security and an associate professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT-Austin.
COLUMN
Texas Electoral College member won’t vote for Trump By Ken Herman AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATE SMAN
AUSTIN, Texas — I told you last week that East Texas welding supply salesman Art Sisneros, who can’t bring himself to back Donald Trump, decided to quit the Electoral College rather than become our state’s firstever “faithless elector” — the tag given to the rare Electoral College member who opts not to cast a ballot for the presidential nominee who carried his or her state. So Sisneros will not be the first Texan to get that label. It looks as if Dallas paramedic Christopher Suprun will be. Suprun announced and defended his decision in a New York Times op-ed published Monday. And his reasoning is solid, though challenging to the very notion of what an Electoral College member is supposed to do. Suprun wrote that he, like most of the 538 Electoral College members, has been fielding pressure about his upcoming Dec.
19 vote ever since the Election Day that produced a solid Electoral College victory for Donald Trump and a solid popular vote win for Hillary Clinton. “I do not think president-elects should be disqualified for policy disagreements,” Suprun wrote. “I do not think they should be disqualified because they won the Electoral College instead of the popular vote. However, now I am asked to cast a vote on Dec. 19 for someone who shows daily he is not qualified for the office.” He prefaced his reasoning by noting that 15 years ago, as a firefighter, “I was part of the response to the Sept. 11 attacks against our nation. That attack and this year’s election may seem unrelated, but for me, the relationship becomes clearer every day.” Suprun called President George W. Bush “an imperfect man” but one who unified the nation when it needed it most. “I watch Mr. Trump fail to unite America and drive a wedge between
us,” Suprun wrote. “Mr. Trump goes out of his way to attack the cast of ‘Saturday Night Live’ for bias. He tweets day and night, but waited two days to offer sympathy to the Ohio State community after an attack there. He does not encourage civil discourse but chooses to stoke fear and create outrage.” All of that, Suprun concluded, “is unacceptable.” Trump, he wrote, “lacks the foreign policy experience and demeanor needed to be commander in chief” and had “urged violence against protesters at his rallies.” Suprun also had harsh words for some of the people Trump has chosen to surround him at the White House, including Steve Bannon and Gen. Michael T. Flynn. And Suprun is beyond uncomfortable about the Trump business entanglements that should make us all beyond uncomfortable. “Mr. Trump could be impeached in his first year given his dismissive responses to financial conflicts of interest,” Suprun
EDITORIAL
Housing pick could set back climate policy BL OOMBERG VIEW
Donald Trump wants a person who has expressly refused to believe in climate change to run a federal agency that plays a big part in U.S. climate policy. It’s not the Environmental Protection Agency or the Department of Energy; it’s the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Trump’s choice to lead HUD is former presidential hopeful Ben Carson, who says there’s no good evidence that global temperatures are rising — a view that just 14
percent of Americans share. While much of the climate debate has been about how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a separate effort, led by HUD, is under way to protect Americans from the consequences of those emissions: more frequent and extreme hurricanes, floods and other severe weather events. After Superstorm Sandy, Congress gave the agency $1 billion for grants to cities and states to carry out innovative ideas for reducing storm
damage. HUD has also proposed two essential requirements — that any new construction backed by the Federal Housing Administration meet tougher flood-proofing standards, and that cities and states applying for HUD grants plan for the effects of climate change on low-income households. What’s more, HUD is directly responsible for the country’s 1.1 million public housing units, which are disproportionately exposed to the effects of climate change. An increasing number of
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wrote. “He has played fast and loose with the law for years. He may have violated the Cuban embargo, and there are reports of improprieties involving his foundation and actions he took against minority tenants in New York. Mr. Trump still seems to think that pattern of behavior can continue.” One thing Suprun is wrong on is his conclusion that “the election of the next president is not yet a done deal.” It is, despite his solid reasoning. “Electors of conscience can still do the right thing for the good of the country,” he wrote. “Presidential electors have the legal right and a constitutional duty to vote their conscience. I believe electors should unify behind a Republican alternative, an honorable and qualified man or woman such as Governor John Kasich of Ohio. I pray my fellow electors will do their job and join with me in discovering who that person should be.” Too little, too late.
DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
those units are being lost to extreme weather, exacerbating the already severe lack of affordable housing nationwide. This is something the next HUD secretary will urgently need to address. That was already going to be challenging; the appointment of a climate-change denier would make it harder. Democrats in Congress should use Carson’s confirmation hearings to air his views on climate science and make sure he appreciates the importance of HUD’s climate policies.
THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, December 7, 2016 |
A5
ENTERTAINMENT
Review: A poet on the run in startlingly great ‘Neruda’ By Lindsey Bahr A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
Chilean director Pablo Larrain is on a hero’s quest to destroy the conventional biopic it seems. He turned the post-assassination days of Jacqueline Kennedy into an atmospheric examination of mythmaking and the public and private self in “Jackie,” and in “Neruda,” the story of a poet on the run, into a thrilling meditation on authorship. The stories of both Jackie Kennedy and Pablo Neruda are already compelling on their own, but Larrain manages to go beyond the specifics and get to their essence through powerfully and uniquely cinematic sto-
rytelling. Larrain is not interested in dramatizing a Wikipedia page, but getting to the truth in spite of the facts. In this way, even though he explains relatively little, he reveals quite a lot. New York Times Book Review critic Selden Rodman said of Pablo Neruda that “no writer of world renown is perhaps so little known to North Americans.” I certainly didn’t know anything about the Chilean poet, and that fact is likely inextricably linked with my assessment and enjoyment of the film, but not to its artistic merits, of which there are many. Neruda was and is that rarest of creatures — a popular poet of the people. “This man would pull
The Orchard / AP
This image released by The Orchard shows Gael Garcia Bernal in a scene from, “Neruda.”
a piece of paper out of his pocket and 10,000 workers would go silent to hear him recite poetry,” says one character in the film. His communist affiliation made him an enemy of the state in postWWII Chile, however, forcing him into exile in 1948.
Grammy noms: 9 for Beyonce, 8 each for Drake, Rihanna, Kanye By Mesfin Fekadu A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
NEW YORK — The Grammy Awards are sipping all of Beyonce’s lemonade. The pop star leads the 2017 Grammys with nine nominations, including bids for album of the year with “Lemonade,” and song and record of the year with “Formation.” The singer, who already has 20 Grammys and is the most nominated woman in Grammy history with 62 nods over the course of her career, is also the first artist to earn nominations in the pop, rock, R&B and rap categories in the same year. Behind Beyonce are Drake, Rihanna and Kanye West, who scored eight nominations each. Like Beyonce, Adele is also nominated for album, record and song of the year. For album of the year, “Lemonade” and “25” — which has sold 10 million copies in a year — will compete against Drake’s multi-hit “Views,” Justin Bieber’s redemption album “Purpose” and surprise nominee “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth,” the third album from respected and rebellious country singer Sturgill Simpson. Beyonce’s “Formation” and Adele’s “Hello” are up against Rihanna and Drake’s “Work,” twenty one pilots’ “Stressed Out” and Lukas Graham’s “7 Years” for record of the year. “7 Years” is also up for song of the year — a songwriter’s award — battling Bieber’s “Love Yourself,” co-written with Ed Sheeran, Mike Posner’s “I Took a Pill In Ibiza,” as well as Beyonce and Adele’s songs. Beyonce’s nine nominations include best rock
Evan Agostini / AP file
Beyonce set a record for earning Grammy nominations, announced Tuesday.
performance (“Don’t Hurt Yourself” with Jack White), pop solo performance (“Hold Up”), rap/ sung performance (“Freedom” with Kendrick Lamar) and urban contemporary album (“Lemonade”). “Artists are feeling emboldened and courageous and just wanting to step out of the predictable boundaries of what they have done. Of course, (Beyonce) is the poster child for that,” Recording Academy CEO and President Neil Portnow said in an interview with The Associated Press. Adele, who has five nominations, is up for best pop vocal album (“25”) and pop solo performance (“Hello.”) The Grammys will be presented in Los Angeles on Feb. 12, 2017. David Bowie, who died from cancer in January, earned four nominations for his final album “Blackstar,” including best rock performance, rock song, alternative music album and engineered album, non-classical. “I think this is beyond sort of the sympathy vote, because sometimes you’ll see those kinds of things happen just ‘cause people feel sorry about it. But
listen to (his) album — it’s quite extraordinary,” Portnow said of Bowie. This year the Recording Academy allowed streaming-only recordings — released on paid-subscription platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal but not for sale on iTunes — to be eligible for nominations, giving Chance the Rapper a fair chance. The breakout performer scored seven nominations including best new artist, pitting him against country singers Maren Morris and Kelsea Ballerini; singerrapper Anderson Paak; and pop-EDM duo the Chainsmokers, whose recent hits include “Closer” and “Don’t Let Me Down.” Chance the Rapper earned three nominations for best rap song: His hit, “No Problem,” is nominated, and he has writing credit on the Kanye West songs “Famous” and “Ultralight Beam.” West will compete with himself in three categories: best rap song, rap performance and rap/sung performance. Chance’s “Coloring Book” and West’s “The Life of Pablo” are nominated for best rap album.
We’re introduced to Neruda (played by Chilean actor Luis Gnecco, who gives a tremendous dramatic performance) living life as a communist senator, a poet and an all-around bon vivant with his aristocratic wife, Delia (Mercedes Moran). He’s pompous and charming and hedonistic
and empathetic all at once — but glaringly disconnected from the people he writes about and for. When a warrant is issued for his arrest, Pablo and Delia go on the run away from their fancy digs and parties and friends and attempt survival in more modest settings, always fearful of who might be around the corner ready to report them to the authorities. Pablo sneaks out on occasion to mingle with the local prostitutes when he’s not writing. On their tail is a police officer, Inspector Oscar Peluchonneau (Gael Garcia Bernal), a character who was invented for the story to make it more of a fable. While “Neruda” starts out a little
slow, it kicks into gear with Oscar’s arrival. He’s a noir-style detective on the hunt for the exile with mechanical resolve, but within these genre confines the story manages also to be immensely playful and insightful, too — about politics, authorship and art — as it toys with form, tone and story. But again, “Neruda” is more interested in the ineffable experience than reality, or making you forget you’re watching a movie. Not many directors get a one-two punch like “Jackie” and “Neruda” in the same season, but it just makes it all the more clear that Larrain is one of the world’s most exciting and imaginative filmmakers, whatever the subject may be.
Zfrontera A6 | Wednesday, December 7, 2016 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
RIBEREÑA EN BREVE EXÁMENES STAAR 1 El distrito escolar Zapata County Independent School District anuncia que la aplicación de exámenes STAAR será como sigue: miércoles 7 de diciembre, Inglés II para alumnos de 10o. grado; jueves 8 de diciembre, Biología para alumnos de 9o. grado; y, viernes 9 de diciembre, Historia de EU para alumnos que repiten prueba.
PATRULLA FRONTERIZA
POLÍTICA
Confiscan marihuana en Presa Falcón
Se aproximarían posibles reformas Por David A. Lieb ASSOCIATED PRE SS
PAGO DE IMPUESTOS 1 A partir del 7 de diciembre, los pagos por impuestos a la propiedad de la Ciudad de Roma deberán realizarse en la oficina de impuestos del Distrito Escolar de Roma, localizado en el 608 N. García St. DECORACIÓN DE ÁRBOLES NAVIDEÑOS 1 El Museo de Historia del Condado de Zapata está invitando a la comunidad a participar en el concurso de decoración de árboles navideños que se llevará a cabo el 11 de diciembre de 1 p.m. a 5 p.m., en las instalaciones del museo, ubicado en 805 N. Main St. Mayores informes al (956) 765-8983. CURSOS DE LENGUAJE DE SIGNOS (ASL) 1 El Departamento de Educación Especial local está ofreciendo clases de Lenguaje Americano de Signos para el personal profesional y paraprofesional así como para padres, estudiantes o administradores del distrito Zapata County Independent School District, todos los jueves desde el 20 de octubre al 15 de diciembre (ocho semanas de duración). En el horario de 4:15 p.m. a 5:15 p.m. en el laboratorio de computadoras de la escuela primaria Zapata North Elementary School. Mayores informes al 956-285-6877 o a la Oficina de Educación Especial al 956-756-6130 antes del 13 de octubre.
Foto de cortesía | Patrulla Fronteriza
Cargamento valuado en 5 millones de dólares E SPECIAL PARA TIEMP O DE ZAPATA
Más de 3 toneladas de marihuana con un valor estimado de cinco millones de dólares fueron confiscadas recientemente en el lado mexicano de la Presa Falcón, dijo la Patrulla Fronteriza el lunes. Agentes de la Patrulla Fronteriza asignados a la Estación Zapata, en conjunto con el gobierno mexicano, interceptaron un cargamento de marihuana el jueves. Aproximadamente a
las 9:30 a.m., los agentes de la Patrulla Fronteriza de Zapata que trabajan en operaciones aerostáticas notaron actividad ilegal en el lado mexicano de la Presa Falcón. Los agentes observaron a varias personas cargando un bote con paquetes de contrabando. Momentos después, los agentes contactaron a las autoridades mexicanas para actualizarlos acerca de la locación. Las autoridades mexicanas localizaron y con-
fiscaron los narcóticos. Los paquetes dieron positivo por marihuana y tenían un peso total de 6.238 libras con un valor estimado de reventa de 5.026.000 dólares. “Esta es nuestro segundo decomiso binacional de esta magnitud. Tenemos la plena intención de continuar este nivel de cooperación entre ambos gobiernos para localizar y prevenir el contrabando ilícito”, dijo Mario Martinez, jefe de la Patrulla Fronteriza del Sector Laredo.
ZCISD
PARTICIPA DISTRITO ESCOLAR EN DESFILE NAVIDEÑO
GLOBOS AEROSTÁTICOS EN L.I.F.E. GROUNDS 1 Del 16 al 18 de diciembre habrá vuelos en globos aerostáticos, comida, artesanías, música, show de globos y más. En L.I.F.E. Grounds, ubicada E. HWY 59 de 4 p.m. a 12 a.m. DIVERSIÓN EN PATINES SOBRE HIELO EN LAREDO ENERGY ARENA 1 Todos los días hasta el viernes 23 de diciembre en Laredo Energy Arena de 4 p.m. a 9 p.m. Renta de patines 8 dólares y 5 dólares llevando los propios patines. Sesiones de patinaje son de 45 minutos. Menores de 18 años deben estar acompañados por un adulto y una forma de responsabilidad debe ser firmada por el padre o el guardián legal. Boletos en venta en taquilla en 6700 Arena Boulevard. Mayores informes al 956-791-9192.
Foto de cortesía | ZCISD
El equipo "Max" del departamento de transporte de ZCISD participó en el desfile navideño anual del Condado de Zapata.
Las elecciones de noviembre dieron a los republicanos el control total de una cantidad récord de legislaturas estatales, despejando el camino para cumplir un viejo sueño: cambiar la constitución. Los republicanos ya dominaban el Congreso, ganaron la Casa Blanca y tienen hoy más gobernaciones que nunca en casi un siglo. Pero lo que más apuntala la posibilidad de cambios radicales son las legislaturas estatales. Gozan de mayorías en 33 legislaturas, una menos de los dos tercios necesarios para convocar una convención para analizar enmiendas constitucionales. Uno es el requisito de un presupuesto federal equilibrado y ya tiene casi el apoyo necesario para convocar una convención. También se podría convocar convenciones para imponer límites al tiempo que pueden servir los legisladores y reducir algunas atribuciones del gobierno nacional. “La posibilidad de cambiar la constitución es algo que está en el aire”, afirmó el profesor de derecho Jeffrey Rosen, presidente y director general de National Constitution Center de Filadelfia, un museo sin fines de lucro que organiza debates y simposios académicos sobre los esfuerzos por modifica la constitución. La constitución estadounidense ha sido enmendada 27 veces desde que fue ratificada en 1788. Su artículo V ofrece dos formas de proponer enmiendas. De contar con dos tercios de los votos en ambas cámaras, el Senado y la Cámara de Representantes pueden enviar una enmienda a los estados. O si no, si la iniciativa tiene el apoyo de dos tercios de las legislaturas estatales, se puede pedir al Congreso que convoque una convención. Ambas opciones requieren que tres cuartas partes de los estados –38– ratifiquen las enmiendas para que puedan entrar en vigor. Si los partidarios de una enmienda relacionadas con el presupuesto equilibrado salen adelante, sería la primera vez en la historia de Estados Unidos que los estados inician ese proceso. Hacen falta 34 estados para convocar una convención para modificar la constitución. En otras palabras, la iniciativa requeriría del apoyo de un puñado de demócratas en un solo estado para alcanzar esa cifra. “El éxito abrumador de un partido político a nivel estatal es algo que tiene gran significado constitucional”, expresó Akhil Reed Amar, profesor de derecho constitucional de la Yale University. Todos los estados con excepción de Vermont tienen algún tipo de requisito de un presupuesto equilibrado, según la Conferencia Nacional de Legislaturas Estatales. El gobierno nacional no lo tiene, pero no todos están de acuerdo en que eso sea un problema. Durante una recesión, por ejemplo, el gobierno federal puede ayudar a reactivar la economía, a veces a costa de un déficit. Veintiocho legislaturas estatales han aprobado medidas que contemplan una convención para analizar el requisito de un presupuesto equilibrado, aunque usan una cantidad de expresiones, lo que podría generar problemas si se determina que no siempre aluden a lo mismo. Activistas de una Fuerza de Tareas sobre la Enmienda del Presupuesto Equilibrado tienen patrocinadores en otras nueve legislaturas republicanas – Arizona, Idaho, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, South Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin y Wyoming – con miras a alcanzar la cantidad de estados necesaria para llegar a los dos tercios en el 2017. El control republicano, no obstante, no garantiza el éxito de una iniciativa.
GUERRERO AYER Y HOY
De cara al futuro Nota del editor: Esta serie de artículos sobre la historia de Ciudad Guerrero, México, fueron escritos por la guerrerense Lilia Treviño Martínez (1927-2016), quien fuera profesora de la escuela Leoncio Leal. Por Lilia Treviño Martínez TIEMP O DE ZAPATA
Es difícil describir la mezcla de sentimientos que rebullían
en los guerrerenses durante aquellos días de septiembre y octubre de 1953, días dedicados al traslado y acomodo en esta nueva ciudad. Atrás quedaba lo que para algunos de sus habitantes era toda una vida: los ancianos sentían el total desamparo del desarraigo: como las plantas en cuyos tallos queda poca savia ya, sentían que era muy difícil prender en tierra extraña.
La economía del municipio quedaba lastimada por su territorio mutilado, y había que buscarle nuevos cauces para que fluyera y satisfaciera las necesidades y reclamos de la moderna ciudad. Los jóvenes, en una gran mayoría, sentíamos la vaga inseguridad que causa lo desconocido, y todos estos sentimientos, transmitiéndose de unos a otros, creaban un ambiente de
inquietud y malestar. No faltó quien nos acusara de negligencia o descuido en el acomodo y preservación de reliquias y documentos históricos traídos de la Antigua Ciudad, pero habría que tomar en cuenta que la principal preocupación era nuestro acomodo en un ambiente en el cual nuestro trabajo era inseguro y la forma de vida diferente a la anterior.
Sports&Outdoors THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, December 7, 2016 |
NCAA FOOTBALL: BAYLOR BEARS
A7
MLB: NEW YORK METS
Rhule facing big task as Baylor’s coach after Temple success Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press file
By Stephen Hawkins A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
Matt Rhule is taking on a Texas-sized challenge at Baylor after leading Temple to unprecedented success. After consecutive 10win seasons with the Owls and a roster filled by kids from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and a football life spent mostly near those areas, Rhule will be introduced on the Waco campus Wednesday as the new coach of a Big 12 Conference program hit hard by scandal and suddenly struggling on the field. Rhule heads to the Lone Star State, one of the most highly competitive recruiting areas, with only days to talk to potential recruits before a month-long quiet period begins Monday. “I am truly honored and humbled to join the Baylor family,” Rhule said in a statement Tuesday. “I am excited to get started.” Rhule becomes the full-time replacement for two-time Big 12 champion coach Art Briles, who was dismissed after a scathing report over the university’s handling of sexual assault complaints, including some against
Rob Carr / Getty Images file
Temple head coach Matt Rhule has been hired to take over the Baylor football program.
football players. After that report and Briles’ departure, Baylor lost half of its highly touted 22-player class from last spring. With recruiting on hold since then, the Bears have only one firm verbal commitment for signing day in February. They have only about 70 scholarship players this season on a roster with a dozen seniors. Rhule will also have to put together a coaching staff since it is unlikely that any of the current assistants will remain. Briles’ staff remained when former Wake Forest
coach Jim Grobe put his retirement on hold in May to serve as Baylor’s acting head coach this season. The assistants include Briles’ son, Kendal, the offensive coordinator, and son-in-law Jeff Lebby, the running backs coach. While Rhule lacks deep Texas ties, athletic director Mack Rhoades said the 41-year-old former Penn State linebacker has many of the qualities that he sought in a new coach. “We wanted a coach who shared our values, who had demonstrated success, who showed a true commitment to the
overall student-athlete and who we believed could lead Baylor to a national championship,” Rhoades said. “We found all of that and more in Matt and I know that he will be a perfect fit with the Baylor family.” Baylor is 6-6, and headed to the Cactus Bowl despite a six-game skid that included the loss of senior starting quarterback Seth Russell after season-ending ankle surgery. Grobe told Rhoades back in September, before the Bears had lost a game, that he didn’t want to be a candidate for the full-time job. Rhule was 28-23 in four seasons at Temple, his only previous head coaching job. The Owls are 10-3 this season and won the American Athletic Conference title with a 34-10 win over Navy last weekend after a 10-4 record in 2015. The Bears haven’t won since becoming the only FBS school to start 6-0 each of the last four seasons. They play Boise State (10-2) on Dec. 27 in Phoenix. Their six-game skid is the longest since losing nine in a row — the final eight games of the 2007 season and the 2008 opener in Briles’ debut.
Former NFL and Florida quarterback Tim Tebow may play for the Mets in spring training this year.
Tebow could play for Mets in next spring training By Stephen Whyno ASSOCIATED PRE SS
OXON HILL, Md. — Don’t be surprised if the New York Mets sneak Tim Tebow into some spring training action. Manager Terry Collins said he’d like Tebow to play in spring training games even though the former NFL quarterback has a long ways to go in his transition to baseball. Tebow may be a mainstay in Mets minor league camp, but Collins knows people — especially close to where Tebow won the Heisman Trophy at the University of Florida — want to see him play. Collins is well aware of the carnival-like attention that Tebow brings, but that’s nothing new to the Mets. He joked that maybe Tebow has “some fancy cars he can drive to camp,” a reference to the
daily driving show outfielder Yoenis Cespedes put on last year in Port St. Lucie. Cespedes is back with New York after signing a $110 million, four-year deal and much more of a sure thing than Tebow, who is still very much an unknown at age 29. Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said it would be inappropriate to refer to Tebow as a “circus animal” but conceded “we knew he’d be overmatched in the Arizona Fall League.” He said Tebow likely will start the year in a full-season Class A league. The Mets signed Tebow to a minor league contract late this year. An outfielder who didn’t play the sport in college, he hit .194 in the Arizona Fall League, striking out 20 times in 70 plate appearances.
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: 2016 WINTER MEETINGS
CHRIS SALE IS SWAPPING SOX: CHICAGO MOVES ITS ACE TO BOSTON White Sox SP traded for 4 prospects By Colleen Kane CH ICAGO T RIBUNE
The White Sox rebuilding project began with a blast to its rotation as the Sox sent ace left-hander Chris Sale to the Red Sox for a package of four top prospects on Tuesday afternoon at the winter meetings. Infielder Yoan Moncada, right-hander Michael Kopech, outfielder Luis Basabe and right-hander Victor Diaz join the White Sox in return. Moncada was ranked the No. 1 prospect in all of baseball in 2016 by Baseball America and MLB.com. "When you trade a pitcher of Chris Sale’s ability, it can only be because we were motivated by an impactful return of young talent, and we have more than accomplished that," Sox general manager Rick Hahn said in a statement. "We believe each of these players can be part of a quality core of future championship caliber White Sox teams." A top-five finisher in American League Cy Young voting for each of the last four years, Sale has been the face of the Sox franchise. But a rotation that also includes fellow All-Star Jose Quintana has not been able to
Paul Beaty / Associated Press file
The Red Sox pulled off what may go down as the biggest acquisition of the offseason trading four prospects for White Sox ace Chris Sale on Tuesday.
lift the Sox out of a streak of eight straight years without the postseason, and that has the Sox embarking on a change of course. With Sale gone, the Sox almost certainly will move on to a list of veteran players, some with several years of team control, that could also be dealt for more prospects. Hahn said Monday the organization was excited about a potential new course but also acknowledged such a project would take patience from the team and the fans. "I know from the fans I
hear from, the middle of the night voicemails I get and letters I receive, that people are ready for there to be a change in approach in how we’re doing things," Hahn said. "We’re trying to do this for the long term, and if in the short term there’s potentially some hardship along the way, we know that’s the natural price you pay." Late Monday night, national reports indicated the Sox were progressing in talks to trade the ace left-hander to the Nationals for a package of prospects that would jumpstart the club’s efforts
to restock their farm system with an eye on contending down the road. But the Nationals weren’t the only team with interest in the five-time All-Star, and the Red Sox made a late push. In his second season in professional baseball, Moncada, 21, hit .294 with 31 doubles, six triples, 15 home runs, 94 runs scored 45 stolen bases and a .918 OPS at the Class A and Double A levels. He received a major-league call-up and played in eight games, hitting .211 with a double, an RBI and 12 strikeouts.
Kopech, 20, is a hardthrowing right-hander who was ranked No. 67 among MLB.com’s top prospects and No. 93 midseason by Baseball America. He was limited to 12 minor-league games this year due to injury, posting a 2.08 ERA, 33 walks and 86 strikeouts over 56 1/3 innings with two Class A teams. But Kopech was named to the Arizona Fall League’s All-Prospect team after posting a 3-0 record with 26 strikeouts in 22 innings for Surprise. Six of Kopech’s eight
walks occurred in one game. He was limited this year after fracturing his hand in a fight with his roommate. He has also served a 50-game suspension last year for violating the minor-league drug policy. Outfielder Luis Alexander Basabe, not to be confused with his twin brother, infielder Luis Alejandro Basabe, is a center-field prospect who reached High-A in 2016. Basabe, 20, hit .264 with 24 doubles, eight triples, 12 home runs, 61 runs scored, 119 strikeouts and a .780 OPS. Diaz, 22, is a reliever in his second season in the minors. He owns a 3.00 ERA, 17 saves, 41 walks and 98 strikeouts over 93 professional innings pitched. Basabe was ranked the No. 8 prospect in the Red Sox system, while Diaz was ranked No. 28 among Red Sox prospects. But to be certain, the Sox will miss Sale. The No. 13 overall draft pick in 2010, Sale, 27 finishes his career with the Sox 74-50 with a 3.00 ERA, 14 complete games, two shutouts and 1,244 strikeouts in seven seasons with the club. He is the team single-season record-holder with 274 strikeouts, set in 2015. "We cannot thank Chris enough for all he has done and what he has meant for the White Sox organization since we drafted him in 2010," Hahn said.
A8 | Wednesday, December 7, 2016 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
NATIONAL
Mistrial in police shooting Trump interjects himself in Air Force One, business deals mystifies observers By Jonathan Lemire By Errin Haines Whack and Jeffrey Collins
ASSOCIATED PRE SS
A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump, a political newcomer who touts his corporate skills, turned businessman-inchief Tuesday, first demanding the government cancel a multibilliondollar order for new presidential planes and then hailing a Japanese company’s commitment to invest billions in the U.S. Six weeks before taking office, Trump is telegraphing that he’ll take an interventionist role in the nation’s economy — as well as play showman when he sees a chance. The celebrity businessman’s declaration about Air Force One caused manufacturer Boeing’s stock to drop temporarily and raised fresh questions about how his administration — not to mention his Twitter volleys — could affect the economy. “The plane is totally out of control,” Trump told reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower. “I think Boeing is doing a little bit of a number. We want Boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money.” Earlier he had tweeted that the deal’s costs were “out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!” Not long after his first appearance, Trump returned to the lobby with Masayoshi Son, the CEO of SoftBank, a massive telecommunications company that counts Sprint among its holdings. Trump pointed proudly to Son’s commitment to invest $50 billion in the United States, which Trump said could create 50,000 jobs. Trump — who also
Mic Smith / AP
In this Monday file photo, Michael Slager, at right, walks from the Charleston County Courthouse after a mistrial was declared for his trial in Charleston, South Carolina.
The panel of 11 white jurors and one black juror deliberated for 22 hours. At one point, a juror sent a letter directly to the judge saying he could not “with good conscience approve a guilty verdict” and that he was unlikely to change his mind. As they weighed their decision, jurors also asked the judge to explain the legal difference between fear and passion and inquired whether the self-defense standard was the same for officers as ordinary citizens. NAACP President Cornell Brooks called the jury’s decision “a disappointing delay in the delivery of justice.” Hours after the mistrial, a tweet from three Black Lives Matter co-founders said, “Some days the hashtag is too painful to participate in.” Elzie, one of the first protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, after the fatal 2014 shooting of Michael Brown by a white officer, said word of the hung jury left her numb. “When it comes to justice and black people in America, I don’t expect it,” she sighed.
Randall Kennedy, a black Harvard University law professor and author of several books on race relations, had difficulty reconciling the law with the mistrial, which he called “frightening.” “It appeared as though it was open and shut,” said Kennedy, a native of Columbia, South Carolina. “Obviously, this is a case of some criminal action on the part of this police officer. Is it at all plausible that you have a man running and a police officer says, ‘I’m firing in self-defense?”’ He added: “It’s at this point that people are truly exasperated and say, ‘Do we really have anything that can seriously be called the administration of criminal justice?’ Can we reach people? Are people even persuadable?” On the day after the mistrial, Charles Witherspoon sat in the main library in Columbia, reading the newspaper. He followed the trial closely and is well-versed in the facts of the case, like the 17 feet that separated Scott and the officer when he began firing at Scott.
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COLUMBIA, S.C. — The video was unambiguous: A white police officer fatally shot an unarmed black man in the back as the man ran away. But a South Carolina jury was unable to agree on a verdict in one of the nation’s ghastliest police shootings, with a lone holdout forcing a mistrial. The outcome stung many African-Americans and others. If that kind of evidence can’t produce a conviction, they asked, what can? “There’s a jury full of people and they cannot decide if it’s illegal to shoot someone who is running away from you?” said activist Johnetta Elzie, who is black. “What do you say about a country that feels this way about black people? If you can’t see the humanity in that, I don’t know what we’re talking about anymore.” Prosecutors plan to retry officer Michael Slager, who still faces a federal civil trial next year. North Charleston city officials approved a $6.5 million civil settlement for Walter Scott’s family earlier this year. Slager remains free on bail. South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley voiced her support for Scott’s family, saying in a statement that justice “is not always immediate, but we must all have faith that it will be served.” Scott, 50, was killed in April 2015 after he was shot five times. A barber on his way to work recorded the slaying on his cellphone.
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Andrew Harnik / AP
President-elect Donald Trump and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, right, walk into the lobby to speak to members of the media at Trump Tower in New York, Tuesday.
tweeted the deal — shook Son’s hand and posed for photos, reveling as he had last week when he toured a Carrier plant in Indiana where he said he had instigated an agreement that will preserve about 1,000 jobs the appliance maker had planned to move to Mexico. As for Air Force One, the government has contracted with Boeing to build two new planes, which would go into service around 2024. That means Trump might never fly on the aircraft, which carry U.S. presidents around the globe. The Air Force has pressed for a faster schedule, saying the aging current Boeing 747s are becoming too expensive to repair and keep in good flying shape. The contract for developing and building new planes was to be about $3 billion, but costs have been reported to be rising. The General Accountability Office estimated in March that about $2 billion of the total — for work between 2010 and 2020 — was for research and development, not the actual planes. The inflated
$4 billion figure Trump cited appears to include operation and maintenance as well. Trump began his onslaught against Boeing at 8:52 a.m., tweeting “Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!” That tweet came 22 minutes after The Chicago Tribune posted a story in which the Boeing CEO voiced concerns about Trump’s views on trade. The president-elect then descended to the lobby of the Manhattan skyscraper that bears his name to reiterate his case. Trump had tweeted in 2013 that he owned Boeing stock, but a spokesman said Tuesday he sold all of his stock holdings in June. That sale was not publicized by the campaign at the time, and aides did not reveal how much cash it might have generated. If Trump had held onto his stock portfolio, he would have been required to repeatedly file reports with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.
THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, December 7, 2016 |
A9
BUSINESS
Google hits renewable energy goal in quest to pare pollution By Michael Liedtke ASSOCIATED PRE SS
Alan Diaz / AP file
In this Aug. 25 file photo, construction workers work on a high-rise condominium project on Biscayne Boulevard, in downtown Miami.
US productivity up 3.1 percent in third quarter By Martin Crutsinger A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
WASHINGTON — The productivity of American workers rose in the JulySeptember quarter at the fastest pace in two years while labor costs slowed after a big jump in the spring. Productivity increased in the third quarter at a 3.1 percent rate, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. That followed three quarterly declines and was the best showing since a 4.2 percent increase in the third quarter of 2014. Labor costs edged up at a 0.7 percent rate in the third quarter following a much faster 6.2 percent jump in the second quarter. The productivity figure was unchanged from an initial estimate a month ago while the 0.7 percent rise in unit labor costs was slightly higher than an initial estimate of a 0.3 percent gain. The rebound in productivity was expected to be temporary. “Productivity growth had a good quarter but the trend still looks weak,” said Jim O’Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics. O’Sullivan said the recent gains in unit labor costs add to the case that the Federal Reserve should boost interest rates at next week’s Fed meeting. Economists are forecasting that productivity will return to the anemic gains seen over the past nine years. Since 2007, annual productivity increases have averaged just 1.3 percent. That is just have the 2.6 percent aver-
age gains turned in from 2000 through 2007 when the country was benefiting from the increased efficiency from greater integration of computers and the internet into the workplace. Productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, is the key factor that supports rising living standards. Rising productivity means increased output which allows employers to boost wages without triggering higher inflation. The revised estimates for productivity and output follow the government’s revisions to the gross domestic product, the economy’s total output of goods and services, last week. The revision boosted GDP growth in the third quarter to 3.2 percent, up from an initial estimate of 2.9 percent. Productivity growth has been weak since the Great Recession. The 1.3 percent average gain from 2007 through 2015 compares to 2.6 percent from 2000 to 2007 and a 2.2 percent average from 1947 through 2015. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has pointed to the slowdown in productivity growth as a key challenge facing the country. Economists say that businesses need to start focusing more on raising the efficiency of their existing workforce rather than just hiring more workers to meet demand. Analysts expect companies to put more emphasis on increasing productivity as the labor market hits full employment and the pool of available qualified workers diminishes.
SAN FRANCISCO — Google is crossing a milestone in its quest to reduce pollution caused by its digital services that devour massive amounts of electricity. The internet company believes that beginning next year, it will have amassed enough renewable energy to meet all of its electricity needs throughout the world. That’s significant, given Google’s ravenous appetite for electricity to power its offices and the huge data centers that process requests on its dominant search engine, store Gmail, YouTube video clips and photos for more than a billion people. Google says its 13 data centers and offices consume about 5.7 terawatt hours of electricity annually — nearly the same amount as San Francisco, where more than
800,000 people live and tens of thousands of others come to work and visit. The accomplishment announced Tuesday doesn’t mean Google will be able to power its operations solely on wind and solar power. That’s not possible because of the complicated way that power grids and regulations are set up around the U.S. and the rest of the world. Google instead believes it is now in a position to offset every megawatt hour of electricity supplied by a power plant running on fossil fuels with renewable energy that the Mountain View, California, company has purchased through a variety of contracts. About 95 percent of Google’s renewable energy deals come from wind power farms, with the remainder from solar power. Nearly 20 other technology companies also have pledged to secure
enough renewable energy to power their worldwide operations, said Gary Cook, senior energy campaigner for the environmental group Greenpeace. Google made its commitment four years ago and appears to be the first big company to have fulfilled the promise. Apple is getting close to matching its rival. The iPhone maker says it has secured enough renewable energy to power about 93 percent of its worldwide operations. Apple is also trying to convert more of the overseas suppliers that manufacture the iPhone and other devices to renewable energy sources, but that goal is expected take years to reach. Cook said the symbolic message sent by Google’s achievement is important to environmental experts who believe electricity generated with coal and natural gas is causing damage that is contributing to extreme swings in
the climate. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump dismissed the need for climate control during his campaign for office, and he has pledged to undo a number of regulations to protect the environment. “More than ever, companies must show this sort of leadership on renewable energy,” Cook said Tuesday. “Now is not the time to be silent.” Google still hopes to work with power utilities and regulators around the world to make it possible for all of its renewable energy to be directly piped into its offices and data centers around the clock. For now, Google sells its supply of renewable energy to other electricity grids whenever it isn’t possible for its own operations to use the power. Google Inc. declined to disclose how much it has spent on its stockpile of renewable energy or the size of its annual electricity bill.
Aide says Trump sold stocks in June, provides no evidence By Julie Pace and Chad Day ASSOCIATED PRE SS
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump sold all of his stocks in June as he plunged into the costly general election campaign, his transition team abruptly announced Tuesday. His advisers provided no proof of the transactions and would not explain the apparent sell-off. The announcement comes amid swirling questions about potential conflicts of interest between Trump’s expansive financial holdings and the decisions that will reach his desk as president. Some details of Trump’s finances are unknown given that he never released his tax returns during the presidential campaign, breaking decades of precedent. On Tuesday, Trump said the government should cancel its multibillion-dollar order with Boeing for new Air Force One presidential planes. Asked on a conference call with reporters whether Trump had invest-
Trump
ments in Boeing, spokesman Jason Miller said the presidentelect had sold all of his stocks
in June. Trump’s campaign did not announce the sell-off at the time, despite the fact that it could have been politically advantageous for the businessman to be seen taking steps to avoid potential conflicts of interest. Miller, as well as other transition officials and lawyers from the Trump Organization, did not respond to requests from The Associated Press to provide evidence of the transactions. As of May, Trump reported owning millions of dollars’ worth of individual stocks, though he had more money in company specific investments through bonds, mutual funds and private equity investments, according to his 104-page public financial disclosure, which all presidential candidates are required to file. It’s not clear whether the
comments Tuesday referenced Trump’s nonstock holdings. Trump reported in May an investment in Boeing worth between $50,000 and $100,000. Other investments were in companies — such as Ford Motor Co., V F Corp. and Thermo Fisher Scientific — that in recent years have moved jobs outside the U.S., a practice that Trump heavily criticized during the campaign. The disclosure also showed Trump held a small amount of stock in Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners and at least $100,000 in the energy company Phillips 66, both of which are involved in the disputed Dakota Access oil pipeline. Earlier this week, the Army declined to issue a permit for the pipeline to cross the Missouri River reservoir in North Dakota. Trump supports construction of the pipeline, and aides say he will review the project after taking office. All presidents since Ronald Reagan have filed public financial disclosures in their first year in office, though they
weren’t required to do so until their second year. For Trump, that means he won’t have to file another disclosure until mid-2018 unless he chooses to file earlier. At the time of Trump’s apparent June stocks sell-off, the businessman was immersed in the expensive general election campaign. He’d poured more than $47 million of his own money into the primary campaign through a series of loans. But in June, he adjusted his self-investment strategy, according to federal campaign finance filings. That month, Trump slowed his giving, making monthly campaign donations of about $2 million as his campaign came to rely more heavily on outside donations. He made a late $10 million investment in the final days leading up to the election. During the first general election debate in September, Trump took a decidedly bleak view of the stock market and the possibility of the Federal Reserve raising shortterm interest rates. “We’re in a bubble right now,” he said.
A10 | Wednesday, December 7, 2016 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
INTERNATIONAL
Syria says it seized nearly 75 percent of eastern Aleppo
Youssef Karwashan / Getty
Smoke rises from a rebel controlled area in eastern Aleppo following government shelling on Dec. 5. Leon Neal / Getty
A woman burns an EU flag outside the Supreme Court on the second day of a hearing into whether Parliament's consent is required before the Brexit process can begin, on Dec. 6 in London.
Brexit case sees starkly different views of UK constitution By Jill Lawless A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
LONDON — U.K. Supreme Court judges were presented with starkly contrasting views of Britain’s largely unwritten constitution Tuesday, as they considered whether government or Parliament has the power to lead the country out of the European Union. A top constitutional lawyer opposing the government said the power lay only with the U.K.’s sovereign Parliament, and not the Conservative government. David Pannick said it would be “quite extraordinary” if rights and duties created by Parliament when it took Britain into the European bloc “could be nullified by ministers.” Government lawyer James Eadie disagreed, warning judges they would fall into a “serious constitutional trap” if they ruled that lawmakers must have a vote before government ministers start EU divorce talks. Prime Minister Theresa May plans to launch EU exit talks by the end of March using ancient powers known as royal prerogative, which enable decisions about joining or leaving international treaties to be made without a parliamentary vote. Several claimants went to court to argue that leaving the EU would remove some of their rights, including free movement within the bloc, and that shouldn’t be done without legislation in Parliament. Last month the High Court agreed that the government cannot trigger Article 50 of the EU’s key treaty, launching two years of exit negotiations, without lawmakers’ support. The government is challenging that decision at the country’s top court — leaving the 11 justices to rule on the balance of power between the leg-
islature and the executive. On the second day of a four-day hearing, Pannick, representing financial entrepreneur Gina Miller, said an act of Parliament — the European Communities Act of 1972 — took Britain into the EU’s predecessor, the European Economic Community. And so, he said, an act of Parliament was needed to take Britain out of the bloc. Pannick said the 1972 act created “a new source of rights and duties” — the European bloc. “The idea that ministers could revoke this fundamental change to our constitutional order, in my submission, is inherently unlikely,” he said. But Eadie said the government has constitutional authority to use the royal prerogative to enact voters’ June 23 decision to leave the EU. He argued that Parliament has already had its say, by passing the EU Referendum Act of 2015, which made June’s referendum on EU membership possible. He said if judges ruled against the government, “the courts would be imposing in effect a new control of a most serious kind” on the government’s ability to make international treaties. Eadie said the case against the government was “a serious constitutional trap.” May’s plan to trigger Article 50 could be delayed if the Supreme Court rules against the government. The justices are expected to rule in January.
By Philip Issa and Howard Amos ASSOCIATED PRE SS
BEIRUT — Syrian government forces and allied militias captured Aleppo’s centrally located al-Shaar neighborhood from rebels on Tuesday, securing nearly three quarters of the besieged enclave less than two weeks after launching a ground offensive, according to the Syrian military. The Syrian government and its ally Russia meanwhile rejected a cease-fire for the war-torn city, keeping up the military offensive amid rebel retreats and massive displacement. Rebels withdrew from al-Shaar under heavy bombardment by progovernment forces to the Marjeh and Maadi neighborhoods, local media activist Mahmoud Raslan told The Associated Press. Several gunmen were killed. “Morale has hit rock bottom,” he said from inside the city’s remaining rebel-held enclave. The SANA state news agency said the government captured the entire neighborhood as well as the neighborhoods of al-Qatarji and Karm alDada. A map provided by the Syria army showed a quickly shrinking opposition enclave— a pointed leaf-shaped territory in the center, abutting already government-controlled Aleppo districts. The army media said the new gains bring the area controlled by the government in eastern Aleppo to about 73 percent of its original size, which is estimated to be about 17 square miles. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group also reported the gains. Al-Shaar was home to at least four hospitals available to residents trapped by the government’s siege of the eastern part of the city. But those hospitals, along the rest of the neighborhood, were bombed by the government’s attacks and evacuated. Broad swaths of the city’s eastern quar-
ters are in ruins. Ibrahim al-Haj, a civil defense member, said he was in the neighborhood shortly before it fell to the government. “It is totally destroyed,” he said, adding that if he had stayed a minute longer he would have been captured. He said the previously densely populated district had largely been deserted since the government forces first moved in on the eastern districts last weekend. A government intense aerial offensive had preceded the ground troops’ advances. Rebel defenses are collapsing under the weight of twin offensives by pro-government forces. Rebels and pro-government forces fought streetto-street in the city’s southern Saif al-Dawleh and al-Zabadiyeh neighborhoods, according to footage provided by Syrian military media and audio provided by local teacher and media activist Abdelkafi Alhamdo. The Syrian government and its ally Russia on Tuesday issued stark warnings to rebels in besieged eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo, with Moscow’s top diplomat saying the rebels will be wiped out unless they stop fighting and leave the city. Damascus also said it rejects any cease-fire for Aleppo that does not include the departure of all rebels from the eastern part of the city and
that it won’t allow the rebels to use a truce as a chance to “regroup.” The tough rhetoric comes a day after Russia and China blocked a draft resolution at the U.N. Security Council demanding a seven-day truce in Aleppo to evacuate the sick and wounded and to provide humanitarian aid workers time to get food and medicine into the city. Russia, a main backer of the Syrian government, is supporting the government’s offensive in Aleppo and has repeatedly blocked action in the Security Council over Syria. “Those who refuse to leave nicely will be destroyed,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Moscow, speaking of the Syrian rebels. “There is no other way.” In Damascus, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried on the state SANA news agency, that the government will not allow rebels a chance to “regroup and repeat their crimes” in the divided city — a reference to rebel shelling of Aleppo’s western, governmentheld districts that has killed 81 civilians in the past three weeks, according to the Observatory. The government’s offensive to take eastern Aleppo killed 341 civilians over the same period and displaced tens of thousands over the past week, the Observatory and other activist groups have
said. Residents in the city’s east reported heavy shelling and bombardment overnight. “A rocket struck the fifth floor of the building we are staying in, but thankfully no one was hurt,” said Judy al-Halaby, an activist sheltering in the Mashhad neighborhood. Meanwhile, rebel shelling of of Foua and Kfarya, two besieged progovernment towns in northwestern Idlib province killed at least 10 people, many from the same family, according to a Facebook page operated by activists in the predominantly Shiite towns. The Observatory put the death toll in the two towns at 12, including three children. At the press conference in Moscow, Lavrov lamented what he described as attempts by the United States to obtain a pause in the fighting in Aleppo to allow rebels to re-arm and re-supply. He said that “serious conversations with our American partners are not working.” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that he hopes to convince Syria’s warring factions and their backers to return to the negotiating table before Aleppo is destroyed. Kerry said he is due to meet Lavrov in Hamburg, Germany on Thursday and would try to find a way forward.
THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, December 7, 2016 |
A11
FROM THE COVER POT From page A1
UTRGV From page A1
Mexican officials located and confiscated the narcotics. The bundles tested positive for marijuana and had a total weight of 6,283 pounds with an estimated street value of $5,026,000. “This is our second binational seizure of this magnitude. We fully intend to continue this level of cooperation between both governments to locate and prevent the smuggling of illicit contraband,” said Mario Martinez, Laredo Sector chief patrol agent.
school. Accreditors are looking to make sure that universities have an appropriate mission, have the resources to meet that mission and have a track record of success. Being placed on probation is a sign that a school hasn’t met that standard. UTRGV is basically a brand new school, created
BORDER From page A1 the workers see things differently today — each pointing fingers at the other. Beyond the particulars of the case, though, the controversy reveals a fundamental truth about illegal immigration and the nation’s collective failure to stop it. No matter how many hurdles are erected at the border, once immigrants get past them they find plentiful jobs — and often exploitation — in the nation’s workplaces. The Texas Legislature’s almost $800 million border security apparatus — not unlike the one developed in Washington, D.C., the town Texas politicians love to bash — relies on stopping the supply of uninspected people and drugs. It’s all about boots on the ground, assets in the air, boats in the water. But addressing the country’s demand for cheap labor and drugs? Or its role in supplying the weapons drug cartels and smugglers use to protect their loads? Not so much. It’s not a minor flaw in the strategy. The steady demand for people and illegal products nourishes a giant international smuggling ecosystem. And until policymakers reduce American demand for Latin American supply, experts say the 2,000mile U.S-Mexico border will remain porous. “You can only do so much at that border,” said Jerry Robinette, former special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in San Antonio. “You could never have enough enforcement personnel to deal with this as long as that magnet or that attraction is still there.” Demand side failures The systematic failure to confront demand for foreign workers and illegal drugs is neither new nor confined to Texas. Despite the untold billions spent worldwide trying to reduce the supply of illegal narcotics, the United Nations’ 2016 World Drug Report found that more people than ever are addicted to them, yet only one in six problem drug users has access to treatment. In the United States, 5 percent of the world’s population is consuming 80 percent of the opioids, and in cities like Dallas, first responders get more emergency calls for overdoses than for fires. “We have an insatiable demand for drugs in this country. We are the largest market in the world,” said William Kelly, founding director of the Center for Criminology and Criminal Justice Research at the University of Texas at Austin. “And the reason the cartels and other organized criminal enterprises dealing with drug crimes or drug transportation are so successful is because there is so much money to be made.” On the employment front, look no further than the U.S. House of Representatives, where Republicans have yet to use their sizable majority to pass U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith’s proposal to make electronic employment verification (E-Verify) mandatory for most U.S. employers. The San Antonio Republican has proposed it year after year, but his
own GOP House leaders have never put the bill on the floor. Asked why several months ago, he said, “that you would have to talk to Republican leadership about.” AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, did not directly answer why the bill has never been taken up in the chamber but said, “House Republicans will be working closely with the Trump transition team on policies to better enforce our laws.” She referred questions about scheduling future E-Verify bills to the office of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California. McCarthy’s office did not respond to email inquiries from the Tribune. Democrats have generally opposed expanding E-Verify if it’s not paired with comprehensive immigration reform that would legalize millions of unauthorized immigrants. Trump advocated expanding E-Verify, and his top immigration adviser told Bloomberg BNA after the election that making it mandatory was on the “to-do list.” If that happens and is backed up with real enforcement, the reforms would represent a sea change in the traditionally soft approach to immigrant hiring practices in Congress and the federal bureaucracy. It’s been just as lax in the traditionally probusiness Texas Legislature, where adding new regulations for employers is about as welcome as the bubonic plague. What is new, politically speaking, is that tough and even strident talk on border and immigration issues is moving American voters like never before, and hard-liners like Trump and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have risen to power in part by promising to at last “secure the border.” Texas has set itself apart from all other states by putting taxpayer money where the politicians’ mouths are, allocating $800 million over the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years to stop migrants and drugs from crossing into the United States. But more than a year after the program was launched, statistics and news reports have questioned the effectiveness of a strategy that has produced little visible impact in the vast market for illegal drugs and labor. A KXAN investigation called “Border Splurge” found that only 6 percent of the border-area arrests involved felony drug cases and less than 1 percent involved human smuggling. Lawlessness in the workplace The outrage over lawlessness at the border generally stops at the doors of the American workplace. Knowingly employing people without work authorization became a federal crime in 1986, but Congress inserted a major loophole into the law. It doesn’t require employers to vouch for the authenticity of the documents job applicants show them when filling out the I-9 form, which is supposed to help screen for undocumented workers. Though some employers no doubt innocently hire people without knowing they’re undocument-
through the merger of two existing University of Texas System schools, UT-Brownsville and UT-Pan American, with the goal of building up a major research university in south Texas. Its first freshman class enrolled last year. The group in charge of UTRGV’s accreditation — the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges — is meeting this week and has not released the details of its
accreditation decisions. But Bailey said in his letter to the campus community that it was placed on probation due to the complex process of merging the schools. Bailey called them “timing issues,” especially related to the dissolution of a prior partnership between UTBrownsville and Texas Southmost College, which is also based in Brownsville. Many parts of the merger have been touted by UTRGV and its governing system as
Tamir Kalifa / The Texas Tribune
Recovering addict Samuel Birdsong is photographed at Charlie's Place Recovery Center.
ed, in many industries skirting the law has become a way of life. “Overwhelmingly, the employer knows,” said Bill Beardall, whose Equal Justice Center in Austin represents undocumented immigrants when they inevitably get exploited and ripped off. “It has given rise to a don’t-askdon’t-tell policy.” The Pew Research Center estimates undocumented immigrants represent 5 percent of the civilian workforce. But they are heavily concentrated in industries such as agriculture, food preparation/ service, construction, hospitality and janitorial services. Half of all crop workers are undocumented, the government estimates. Closer to home, researchers at the Workers Defense Project and the University of Texas at Austin reported in 2013 that half of the workers they surveyed at Texas construction sites were here illegally. Sensational workplace raids or investigative news reports occasionally pull back the curtain on the vast underground of illegal employment, whether it’s at meatpacking plants of the American Midwest or the checkout lines at Chipotle restaurants and Subway franchises. During the 2016 presidential contest, news reports surfaced about the undocumented Polish immigrants who helped build Trump Tower in Manhattan and the Latin American immigrants — some of whom told the Washington Post they were in the country without authorization — who worked on the presidentelect’s newest hotel in Washington, D.C. Even the billionaire politician’s foreign-born wife, Melania Trump, was said to have worked illegally in the United States. Over the years, legislative efforts to crack down on the workplace have met fierce resistance from business interests, often in conjunction with liberal civil rights groups and worker advocates. As a result, the chances of actually getting caught hiring — or working as — an undocumented immigrant remain remote. According to a 2015 study by the Congressional Research Service, only .02 percent of U.S. employers are subjected to a “final order” requiring them to pay a civil penalty. Meanwhile actual arrests of both undocumented workers and their employers (representing both administrative and criminal violations) “plummeted between 2008 and 2009,” and since 2011 there’s been a “steady decline” in them, the study found. “[Immigration and Customs Enforcement] administrative and criminal arrests in worksite enforcement operations
represent a very small percentage of the potential population of violators,” the Congressional Research Service report concluded. There’s even less workplace oversight emanating from the border security-obsessed Texas Legislature, where bills to expand E-Verify to the private sector didn’t even get a public hearing in 2015 and the minimal hiring controls adopted for state government have no enforcement mechanism. “The chances of being caught are very small, very slim,” said Robinette, the former Homeland Security Investigations chief in San Antonio. “If you can make it into the [U.S.] interior and you stay out of trouble, you’re not going to really pop up on anybody’s radar.” Even in the town of Corsicana, population 24,000, which sits in a Texas county Trump won with 73 percent of the vote, illegal employment is widespread and tolerated, according to Jose Manuel Santoyo, one of the young Mexican immigrants who worked at Collin Street Bakery. Santoyo, who came to the United States when he was eight, said he’d worked at local franchises for Sonic, McDonalds, Home Depot and other places before working at the bakery. “Corsicana has a big undocumented population at the moment,” he said. “This is a place that hires a lot of undocumented immigrants.” He said they find out about job opportunities mostly through word of mouth. That’s how he got the job at Collin Street Bakery. “I found that job through a friend from college,” Santoyo said. “He told me, ‘You know what? They will hire anybody.’ He literally said it like that.” Santoyo said he felt compelled to speak out about his bakery job after McNutt began putting immigrants in the political crosshairs in his House race — a move Santoyo called hurtful and “hypocritical.” In an email sent to the Tribune, McNutt blamed the media for spreading “baseless attacks” and notes he wasn’t working at the bakery at the time the undocumented workers were hired. He also pointed out the company now uses the voluntary federal program that lets employers electronically check the legal status of job applicants. “These individuals either were legal at the time and have since overstayed their welcome, or they forged government documents, breaking the law,” McNutt said. “In order to protect our company from other fraudulent individuals getting into our business, the Collin Street Bakery has
a success. The university awarded over 5,400 degrees in its first year. This year, it enrolled its first class of students in its new medical school. “We want to assure you that our primary effort throughout has been to ensure the success of our students; to facilitate the transition of legacy students to UTRGV; and to expand educational opportunities throughout the RGV,” Bailey said.
implemented E-Verify, going above and beyond what the law requires to ensure only legal residents are hired.” Whether unwittingly or knowingly, though, employers across Texas and the nation provide jobs to immigrants. And the gap between the paltry pay immigrants get at home and what they receive here — even if they’re exploited along the way — amounts to what renowned Harvard economist George Borjas calls “the mother lode of incentives.” Their low-cost labor has in turn enriched the people and companies who hire them. “Many sectors of the economy ... have an insatiable appetite for cheap, low-skill workers,” he writes in his latest book, “We Wanted Workers.” “And this appetite is a very strong magnet to the poor and huddled masses abroad. As long as there are gains to be had, by both the employers and the potential migrants, and few penalties to pay, by both the employers and the potential migrants, the incentives remain and illegal immigration continues.” Reducing drug demand Americans aren’t just snapping up employees from south of the border. They’re also buying tons of illegal drugs produced there. The CIA estimates 95 percent of U.S.-bound cocaine passes through Mexico, which is also the largest supplier of methamphetamines, heroin and other opiates making their way to U.S. streets. Federal data shows heroin overdoses have increased sixfold since 2001. Many heroin users start out on painkillers provided by U.S. doctors, 99 percent of whom say they prescribe highly addictive opioids for more than the recommended three days. Samuel Birdsong of Corpus Christi started shooting heroin after first getting hooked on hydrocodone that doctors prescribed after he had his wisdom teeth taken out. “It became harder to get the pills than the heroin. I switched over to that,” the 27-year-old told the Tribune hours after checking into a detox clinic. “It was way easier and cheaper.” But while Birdsong ultimately got treatment with the state’s help, many Texans can’t get help kicking addictions. An estimated 1.6 million Texans suffer from addiction, according to the state’s Department of State Health Services. But only about 6 percent of those who can’t afford drug treatment on their own are getting help from the state. The state’s current budget set about $400 million aside for substance abuse programs from the general revenue funds, but nearly $300 million of it went to jails and prisons, leaving little for addicts not behind bars. The state put about $90 million into voluntary treatment services funded by the Department of State Health Services — little more than is required to qualify for federal substance abuse dollars, which pads the coffers for voluntary treatment with $236 million. Still, voluntary treatment programs outside of the criminal justice system are left scrambling for
money, ultimately resulting in a lack of beds and long wait times. The chief government response to the nation’s drug problem has been incarceration. The United States locks up more people than any other country by far, and from 1975 to 2002 the number of people incarcerated for drug offenses went up by more than 1,000 percent (compared to 400 percent for all offenses), wrote Kelly, the UT-Austin professor, in his book “Criminal Justice at the Crossroads.” While policy makers in Texas mandated drug diversion courts to get addicts out of the standard criminal justice context and into treatment and alternative punishment programs, they’ve provided only 10 percent of the capacity needed to handle the caseload, Kelly said. As a result, the criminal justice system “becomes the repository for drug addicts, people who have substance abuse disorders, people who have mental health disorders,” he said. “Addiction, dependence and abuse — those are the kinds of things that feed the demand in this country,” Kelly said. “Putting our head in the sand and thinking that’s going to stop by controlling the supply is ludicrous from a clinical perspective, from a policy perspective, even from a political perspective because how can anybody with a straight face look at our drug policy and say this has been a good thing?” Selling guns down south It’s not only the northbound traffic of people and drugs that fuels chaos and violence along the southern border. The United States is a major supplier of the guns smugglers are using to protect their illicit loads. Texas has been a major supplier of weapons used in crimes in Mexico, according to the Government Accountability Office, the congressional watchdog over the federal government. From 2009 to 2014, more than 73,600 guns seized in Mexico were from the United States, according to a 2016 report from the GAO. More than 13,600 were confirmed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to have originated in Texas. But that figure could be higher — the report also states that because of factors like altered serial numbers on weapons and incomplete information on records, the states of origin could only be traced for about 45 percent of the U.S. total. Some of the weapons are stolen and smuggled south, but most are purchased by “straw buyers” at retail gun stores, pawn shops or gun shows that — at least in Texas — occur weekly in major cities like Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. Gun control proponents blame what they call the “gun-show loophole” — a gray area in federal law they say allows gun sellers to skirt federal regulations and sell without a license. The loophole also lets buyers purchase myriad weapons without being subject to a background check. Travis Putnam Hill and Eleanor Dearman contributed to this report.
A12 | Wednesday, December 7, 2016 | THE ZAPATA TIMES