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ZAPATA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
INDICTMENT
2 arrests in raid
11 illegal immigrants smuggled
Men had narcotics and guns
Three transporters could face 10 years behind bars
By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ
By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ
THE ZAPATA TIMES
THE ZAPATA TIMES
A recent raid at a home in Zapata yielded two arrests, narcotics and firearms, authorities said. Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office investigators assigned to the Laredo PRESAS Police High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas task force executed a search warrant Jan. 28 in the 1300 block of Sixth Street. The Sheriff ’s Office said they found Abraham Ber-
Courtesy photo
Investigators said they confiscated baggies of cocaine, a 9mm Beretta, .45 caliber bullets and more. nabe Presas, 27, in possession of 32 plastic baggies containing cocaine. Another man identified as Ricardo Alberto Gaxiola was de-
tained for allegedly being a possession of a .22 caliber pistol, according to reports. From the home, investigators said they confiscated
two more baggies containing cocaine, a 9mm Beretta, a two-way radio pro-
See RAID PAGE 12A
Three men were indicted Tuesday for transporting 11 illegal immigrants through Zapata County, court documents state. A grand jury charged Daniel Estrada-Cardenas, Oscar Hernandez-Charo and Juan Carlos MoralesNajera with one count of conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants and two counts of attempt to transport undocumented immigrants for financial gain.
If convicted, the trio could face 10 years behind bars. U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested the men Jan. 8. Agents intercepted a minivan near Rio Bravo under the suspicion of loading illegal immigrants along North U.S. 83 in Zapata County, states the criminal complaint filed Jan. 11. The driver, MoralesNajera, was arrested after a brief foot pursuit. Agents said they discovered 11 immigrants inside the van.
See ILLEGAL PAGE 12A
2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
CRUZ TO FOCUS ON WHITE VOTERS Aims for those who didn’t vote By STEVE PEOPLES ASSOCIATED PRESS
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Ted Cruz has mapped out a path to the White House that all but ignores the explosion of minority voters in America. The Texas senator’s general election strategy depends almost wholly upon maximizing turnout among millions of conservative white voters — mostly evangelical Christians and the white working class — who didn’t participate in the last presidential contest. At the same time, Cruz’s team is banking on a sharp decline in black and Hispanic support for the 2016 Democratic nominee, whoever it is, returning to voter trends before Barack Obama shook up the electorate as the nation’s first black president and won an overwhelming share of support from non-white voters. It is a strategy that defies the conventional wisdom in the GOP that says the party can win the White House again
See CRUZ PAGE 12A
Photo by Elise Amendola | AP
In this Feb. 3 photo, Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas speaks to media in Weare, N.H. Cruz has mapped out a path to the White House that all but ignores the explosion of minority voters in America. The Texas senator’s general election strategy depends almost wholly upon maximizing turnout among millions of conservative white voters, mostly evangelical Christians and the white working class, who didn’t participate in the last presidential contest.
ZAPATA COUNTY
Two charged for transporting illegals By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Two men were recently arrested for picking up 12 illegal immigrants in Zapata County, according to court records. A criminal complaint filed Monday charged Carlos Antonio Puente and Alberto Armando Lucio with transporting illegal immigrants with a motor vehi-
cle. Federal authorities said the smuggling attempt occurred Jan. 29. That day, agents patrolling the area of Dolores Creek on U.S. 83 received reports of an older model gray Dodge Ram and a gold Chevrolet Equinox loading several people south of the Webb and Zapata County line, records state.
An Office of Air and Marine air interdiction agent responded and spotted the two vehicles exit U.S. 83 onto Espejo Molina Road toward the City of Rio Bravo. Then, the driver of the Equinox pulled over to the side of the road and five people ran out of the vehicle toward the brush, according to court documents. All were apprehended shortly after.
U.S. Border Patrol agents identified the driver as Puente following a vehicle stop. Meanwhile, air support said they observed seven people exiting the Dodge Ram on Rio Nilo Road in Rio Bravo but lost sight of the vehicle to stay with the group. Minutes later, a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper pulled over the Dodge Ram for a
traffic violation. Agents took custody of the driver, who was identified as Lucio. Homeland Security Investigations special agents took over the investigation. Lucio and Puente allegedly opted to make post-arrest statements to special agents. In court statements, Puente and Lucio said they were hired
See COUNTY PAGE 12A
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2016
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Laredo Northside Farmers Market will be held at the parking lot of North Central Park on International Boulevard from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. We will feature many of our usual vendors and Valentine’s Day activities for the children. We will hold a raffle for several children’s Valentine’s Day baskets with small toys and candy. Come see us there. For more information call Erna Pelto at 763-0138. Carson and Barnes Circus from 2-4 p.m., 5-7 p.m. and again from 8-10 p.m. at the Uni-Trade Stadium parking lot, 6320 Sinatra Parkway. Tickets are $16 for adults and $10 for children. Book sale, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Widener Book Room, First United Methodist Church. Admission is free.
Today is Saturday, Feb. 6, the 37th day of 2016. There are 329 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Feb. 6, 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, was born in Tampico, Ill. On this date: In 1778, the United States won official recognition from France with the signing of a Treaty of Alliance in Paris. In 1788, Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. In 1899, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain was ratified by the U.S. Senate. In 1933, the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, the so-called “lame duck” amendment, was proclaimed in effect by Secretary of State Henry Stimson. In 1952, Britain’s King George VI died; he was succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth II. In 1959, the United States successfully test-fired for the first time a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile from Cape Canaveral. In 1978, Muriel Humphrey took the oath of office as a United States senator from Minnesota, filling the seat of her late husband, former Vice President Hubert Humphrey. In 1991, comedian and television performer Danny Thomas died in Los Angeles at age 79. In 1992, 16 people were killed when a C-130 military transport plane crashed in Evansville, Ind. In 1996, a Turkish-owned Boeing 757 jetliner crashed into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after takeoff from the Dominican Republic, killing 189 people, mostly German tourists. Ten years ago: President George W. Bush submitted a $2.77 trillion budget blueprint for fiscal 2007. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defended the Bush administration’s eavesdropping program before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Five years ago: Egypt’s vice president met with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition groups and offered sweeping concessions, including granting press freedom and rolling back police powers in the government’s latest attempt to end two weeks of upheaval. One year ago: A message purportedly from the Islamic State group said an American hostage, 26-year-old aid worker Kayla Mueller, had been killed in a Jordanian airstrike in Syria. Jordan dismissed the claim as “criminal propaganda.” (Her death was later confirmed by U.S. officials.) Today’s Birthdays: Actor Rip Torn is 85. Actress Mamie Van Doren is 85. Actor Mike Farrell is 77. Former NBC News anchorman Tom Brokaw is 76. Singer Fabian is 73. Actress Gayle Hunnicutt is 73. Actor Michael Tucker is 72. Producer-director-writer Jim Sheridan is 67. Actor Jon Walmsley is 60. Actress Kathy Najimy is 59. Rock musician Simon Phillips (Toto) is 59. Actor-director Robert Townsend is 59. Actor Barry Miller is 58. Actress Megan Gallagher is 56. Rock singer Axl Rose (Guns N’ Roses) is 54. Country singer Richie McDonald is 54. Singer Rick Astley is 50. Thought for Today: “Life is just one grand sweet song, so start the music.” — President Ronald Reagan (19112004).
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7 Laredo A&M Mothers’ Club Scholarship Fundraiser Super Bowl Plate Sale from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at BBVA Compass Bank on McPherson Road and Hillside Road. Carson and Barnes Circus from 2-4 p.m., 5-7 p.m. and again from 8-10 p.m. at the Uni-Trade Stadium parking lot, 6320 Sinatra Parkway. Tickets are $16 for adults and $10 for children.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8 Carson and Barnes Circus from 5-7 p.m. and again from 8-10 p.m. at the Uni-Trade Stadium parking lot, 6320 Sinatra Parkway. Tickets are $16 for adults and $10 for children.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9 The Ruthe B. Cowl Rehabilitation Center, in collaboration with the UT Health Science Center, will have monthly orthopedic clinics. These clinics benefit children with cerebral palsy, club foot, spina bifda and more. Patients must register at the center before the day of the orthopedic clinic. The Webb County Heritage Foundation will host a Valentines’ Membership Cocktail Party from 6 – 8 p.m. at the Villa Antigua Border Heritage Museum, 810 Zaragoza St. The public is invited to renew or initiate memberships at this time. Membership forms will be available that evening. For more information, contact the Webb County Heritage Foundation at 956-727-0977 or visit us at www.webbheritage.org and on Facebook. Join the MOS Library Knitting Circle at McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St., from 1-3 p.m. Please bring yarn and knitting needles. For more information, contact Analiza Perez-Gomez at analiza@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2403. Crochet for Kids at McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St., from 4-5 p.m. Please bring yarn and a crochet needle. For more information, contact Analiza Perez-Gomez at analiza@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2403. Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper, 6 to 7:30 p.m., Fellowship Hall, First United Methodist Church. No admission charge; free-will donations accepted. Everyone is invited.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11 The Laredo Area Retired School Employees Association will be holding its monthly meeting at Blessed Sacrament Parish Hall at 2219 Galveston at 11 a.m. A volunteers fair will be held. Preschool Read & Play at McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St., from 11 a.m.–12 p.m. Story time and crafts for preschoolers. For more information, contact Priscilla Garcia at priscilla@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2403. Family Story Time & Crafts at McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St., from 4-5 p.m. For more information, contact Priscilla Garcia at priscilla@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2403.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12 A Fresh Start to a Healthier You. Learn practical cooking and shopping tips and recipes for success in the kitchen at McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St., from 4:30-5:30 p.m. For more information, contact Angie Sifuentes, Webb County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, 956-523-5290, angelica.sifuentes@ag.tamu.edu.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13 Operation Feed the Homeless hosted by the Laredo Free Thinkers will be from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Jarvis Plaza. Please volunteer your time to serve food or pass out clothing. Or donate much needed food, toiletry or clothing.
Photo by Jalisco state prosecutor’s office | AP file
This Dec. 28, 2015 file photo, released by Mexico’s Jalisco state prosecutor’s office shows who authorities identify as Ethan Couch, after he was taken into custody in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Ethan Couch, 18, was moved to the Tarrant County jail from a juvenile detention center in Fort Worth on Friday.
Teen goes to adult jail By EMILY SCHMALL ASSOCIATED PRESS
FORT WORTH — The Texas teenager who used an “affluenza” defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck was transferred to an adult jail on Friday, a week after a judge initially refused to do so. Ethan Couch, 18, was moved to the Tarrant County jail from a juvenile detention center in Fort Worth, according to jail records. Couch had been at the facility since being deported last month from Mexico, where authorities believe he and his mother fled while prosecutors investigated whether he’d violated his probation in the 2013 drunken-driving case. A hearing had been scheduled for Feb. 19 to determine whether Couch’s case would be moved from juvenile court to the adult system. It wasn’t immediately clear if Friday’s
jail transfer affected his status in the juvenile system. The then 16-year-old Couch had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit for adult drivers when he swerved off a road near Fort Worth and hit a disabled car, killing its driver and three people helping her. Several other people were injured. The case was handled in juvenile court, where Couch was sentenced only to probation. During the sentencing phase of that trial, a defense expert invoked the term “affluenza” when arguing that Couch’s wealthy parents had coddled him into a sense of irresponsibility. Couch’s attorneys, Scott Brown and Reagan Wynn, didn’t immediately return phone calls seeking comment on the status of the case Friday. A judge sided with the defense attorneys.
Baby sitter gets life term for molesting 2 boys
Airport tests $10M government drone
Arrests made in San Antonio corruption case
GILMER — Prosecutors say a 22-year-old East Texas baby sitter sentenced to life in prison for molesting two boys gave the victims prizes to stay quiet about the sex abuse. Tylor Lynn Charette of Bettie pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a minor. Prosecutors in Upshur County say Charette was then sentenced, by a judge, to life in prison plus 30 years. Investigators say Charette knew the family and would often watch the elementary-age boys. Authorities say the children, on several occasions, were assaulted in a shed behind the home. The victims finally told a relative. Authorities did not say what prizes the boys received from Charette, who was arrested last August. District Attorney Billy Byrd says Charette’s sentence is final and he’s agreed not to appeal.
SAN ANGELO — A West Texas commercial airport is being used to test a $10 million government drone meant for border security. Officials say weather was a factor when San Angelo Regional Airport-Mathis Field was chosen for February flight testing of the 36-foot unmanned aircraft. John Wassong, with the National Air Security Operations Center in Corpus Christi, says San Angelo was picked due to lack of wind. Wassong says current conditions in San Angelo are more favorable for launch, compared to higher-speed winds in Corpus Christi. The San Angelo StandardTimes reports U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations began testing the Predator B last week. Members of the media witnessed flights Thursday. Airport officials say the drone hasn’t interfered with flights.
CRYSTAL CITY — Officials say several people have been arrested in a public corruption investigation that’s closed a city hall in a South Texas town. FBI spokeswoman Michelle Lee says Crystal City’s City Hall was closed for all business Thursday amid the investigation. She says unspecified law enforcement operations were being carried out in Crystal City and in San Antonio. Law officers were seen Thursday morning removing boxes of documents from the City Hall in Crystal City, a town of about 7,100 located 100 miles southwest of San Antonio. Lee declined to say who was arrested in the investigation also involving San Antonio police, Texas Rangers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Authorities planned to release more details later Thursday. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION Supporters mourn Oregon occupier ‘LaVoy’ Finicum KANAB, Utah — Sympathizers of the Oregon armed standoff rolled into this desert town Friday, some in pickup trucks flying American flags, to mourn an Arizona rancher and occupation spokesman who was killed last week in a confrontation with authorities. Hundreds of people from across the country packed a Mormon church for the funeral of Robert “LaVoy” Finicum. Of the trucks filling the parking lot, one had a flier with a picture of Finicum and the words, “Murdered by the FBI,” while another was scrawled with one of the rancher’s favorite sayings: “By dang, I’m mad.” Finicum’s death has become a symbol for those decrying federal oversight, on public lands in the West and elsewhere, and has led to protests of what they call an unnecessary use of force by
CONTACT US Publisher, William B. Green........................728-2501 Account Executive, Dora Martinez ...... (956) 765-5113 General Manager, Adriana Devally ...............728-2510 Adv. Billing Inquiries ................................. 728-2531 Circulation Director ................................. 728-2559 MIS Director, Michael Castillo.................... 728-2505 Copy Editor, Nick Georgiou ....................... 728-2565 Sports Editor, Zach Davis ..........................728-2578 Spanish Editor, Melva Lavin-Castillo............ 728-2569 Photo by Felicia Fonseca | AP
Ben Tenney, a Kanab, Utah, resident, gives his condolences to the daughter of Arizona rancher Robert "LaVoy" Finicum outside the church where services were being held in Kanab Friday. the FBI and Oregon State Police. But authorities say the 54-yearold was reaching for a gun during a confrontation on a remote road. The FBI released video of the Jan. 26 shooting during a traffic stop that showed Finicum’s hand
reaching into his jacket, but supporters dispute he was going for a weapon. “He’s a hero to me, honest. His heart is for everybody,” said former occupier Ben Matthews of Port Huron, Michigan. — Compiled from AP reports
SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted. The Zapata Times is free. The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500. The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail thezapatatimes.net
Local
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2016
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
Local groups win 2nd place
Courtesy photo
An outboard boat motor was stolen from a parked boat.
Man stole motor from a boat By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Courtesy photo
Pictured from left to right are Pilar de la Fuente, of Laredo Crime Stoppers; Ramon Montes, of Zapata Crime Stoppers; Sammy Perez, of Miller Outlaws-Southern Distributing; Zapata County Sheriff’s Office Chief Raymundo Del Bosque Jr. and Estela Quintanilla, of Laredo Crime Stoppers. Miller Outlaws and Zapata Crime Stoppers got second place in the Sponsor/Media Division at the Menudo Bowl.
By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Miller Outlaws-Southern Distributing and the Zapata Crime Stoppers garnered second place in the Sponsor/Media Division of the 21st Annual Menudo Bowl recently held in Laredo. "Congratulations to the Miller Outlaws and the Zapata Crime Stoppers for placing (second) place two years in a row,” said Zapata County Sheriff Alonso M. Lopez in a prepared statement. First place honors were
bestowed upon Family Chevrolet. The Webb County Sheriff ’s Office came in third place. Fourth place honors went to Border Bail Bonds and Webb County Constable Pct. 2 Mike Villarreal. The 2016 Menudo Bowl had 65 teams competing in the cook-off, according to Laredo Crime Stoppers. Below are the winners in the other three categories:
Showmanship First: Los Caporales.
Second: Webb County Constable Pct. 4 Harold Devally, Crime Fighters for Crime Stoppers. Third: Generales Texas Trail Riders.
People’s Choice First: Generales Texas Trail Riders. Second: Elect Ramiro Veliz III for Constable Pct. 2. Third: Esteban Rangel City Council District 2.
Open Division
First: Tumbleweeds. Second: County Attorney Marco Montemayor. Third: D.A. Saloon, District Attorney’s Office. Fourth: Webb County Constable Pct. 2 Mike Villarreal. “Special thanks to the Laredo Crime Stoppers for their outstanding work in our communities and for their 21 years of efforts to make this event possible," Lopez stated. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
A man was arrested Friday for allegedly stealing a motor from a boat, according to the Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office. Sheriff ’s officials identified the suspect as Maximiano Isaias GonGONZALEZ zalez, 65, and charged him with theft of property. He is out on bond. Deputies responded to a theft Jan. 12 at an empty lot at the corner of 16th Avenue and Jackson Street behind the D&F Food Store. An outboard boat motor was stolen from a parked boat, reports state. An investigation began. On Jan. 25, the Sheriff ’s Office criminal investigation division was able to recover the motor and returned it to the owner, authorities
The Sheriff’s Office said the case remains under investigation as other arrests may be pending. said. During the investigation, an investigation led deputies to Gonzalez. The Sheriff ’s Office said the case remains under investigation as other arrests may be pending. “Sheriff Alonso M. Lopez and Zapata Crime Stoppers want to thank the Zapata County residents for helping recover the stolen item,” reads a statement from the Sheriff ’s Office. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 7282568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2016
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
People eat worse when team wins By PIERRE CHANDON AND YANN CORNIL THE WASHINGTON POST
By the time the Super Bowl is over Sunday night, you may have munched on a few too many nachos and chicken wings, and you might be almost as sick of cheap beer as you are of expensive TV ads. But if you’re a fan of the Denver Broncos or the Carolina Panthers, the game’s effect on what you eat could linger into Monday, too. Our research has found that people eat worse than they normally do on the day after their football team loses, and better than usual on the day after their team wins. They eat even more junk food if their team loses a close game. Sports fans, after all, identify with their team in deeply emotional ways. Being a fan fosters a sense of belonging, a connection to a community. If the team wins, fans exult, "We won!" and bask in reflected glory and prestige. But that emotional impact can also work in reverse. Studies have found that cardiac incidents increase after losses. Fans also tend to lose their ability to control themselves, with increases in alcohol-related criminality,traffic fatalities and even domestic violence following major defeats. Our own study, published in the journal Psychological Science, focused on the effect of football wins and losses on what people eat. We analyzed the daily food consumption of a representative panel of about 700 U.S. households during two seasons of the National Football League. Data on food consumption was collected by NPD Food World, a market research company, from a rolling panel of Americans (mean age 38, 52 percent female) living in major U.S. metropolitan areas. Panel members were asked to keep diaries of their daily food consumption for two periods of 14 days separated by one year. Because we did not have information about what team participants rooted for, we simply assumed that they supported the major team in their metropolitan area. We then looked at what, and how much, people ate on the Monday following a Sunday game and compared it with what they normally ate. We also noted what they ate on Sundays and Tuesdays to establish a baseline. As control groups, we looked at people living in cities without NFL teams and people living in cities whose teams didn’t play that Sunday. We found that, on the Monday after a Sunday loss, people consumed 10 percent more calories and 16 percent more saturated fat than normal. Saturated
fat is typically found in junk food and heavily processed foods. The unhealthy impact of defeats was particularly strong in cities with die-hard NFL fan bases such as Green Bay, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. In eight cities with the most devoted fans, saturated fat consumption increased by 28 percent following defeats (vs. 9 percent in other cities). People also ate worse when the defeat was by a close score. In other words, unhealthy food was particularly popular in the disheartening instances when "we" almost won but lost. Victories had the opposite effect. After a win, people ate 5 percent fewer calories and 9 percent less saturated fat than normal. In the most football-crazed cities, saturated fat consumption decreased by 16 percent after victories (vs. 4 percent elsewhere). That’s no surprise: When our team wins, we feel better about ourselves. And it is easier to make healthier decisions when we feel good about ourselves. (To be clear, our research didn’t show that rooting for a bad team will make you fat - we studied only a few eating decisions and did not track weight gain over time.) The psychology of why sports fans see their teams as extensions of themselves So what can supporters of whichever team loses Sunday night - or of the 30 other teams that didn’t make it to the Super Bowl - do to prevent the disappointment from spoiling their diets? No real fan will start rooting for another team for health reasons, obviously. Instead, the solution is to redefine ourselves. If you are a truly devoted fan, the team is part of your personal and social identity, and a defeat feels like a threat to your sense of self. "We lost" can become, over time, "I am a loser," which makes resisting food temptation more difficult. One of the most effective ways to protect the self against identity threats is to affirm your core values. Simply put, this "self-affirmation" consists of reminding yourself that being a fan is not 100 percent of your identity and that there are other important things that you care about and that define you, such as family, friends or work. We demonstrated the effect of self-affirmation in a second study. This time, we looked at what 157 French soccer fans felt like eating after watching video excerpts from the national team’s victory over Italy in the 2000 European championship final and from its loss, also against Italy, in the 2006 World Cup final.
COLUMN
Can Sanders win black vote? By MARY SANCHEZ THE KANSAS CITY STAR
Bill Clinton, so the saying goes, was America’s first black president. Novelist Toni Morrison dubbed him so, noting that he displayed "almost every trope of blackness: singleparent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald’sand-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas." The analogy stuck because people saw Clinton’s rapport of kinship and familiarity that crossed racial lines. His wife is not blessed with the same attributes. This became starkly apparent in 2008 when she faced a formable political challenger for the Democratic presidential nomination and lost as African-American voters flocked to him. This go-around, it’s not an upstart biracial senator from Illinois who is challenging Hillary Clinton for the coveted prize in this election cycle. It’s a 74-yearold white guy with a Mister Rogers appeal. Bernie Sanders is the exclamation point on bad news for Clinton. In the Iowa caucuses, Sanders’ virtual tie in votes showed that Clinton can’t rest on her substantial resume. Clinton cannot take black voters for granted. Sanders may not win
enough African-American support to snag the Democratic nomination away, but he’ll give her a considerable run for it, even in Southern states like South Carolina, whose Democratic primary will take place at the end of the month. Sanders’ appeal is that he acknowledges something that African-Americans know viscerally: There is no post-racial America. He has also offered a forthright critique of wealth and income equality in America, along with measures to rectify it. All he has to do is package his message right. The election of Barack Obama did not substantially alter the lives of most black Americans. True, it was a collective emotional achievement for much of America, and especially for black America. Yet it’s ludicrous to believe that one man in the highest office of the land, even serving two terms, was going to undo the entrenched realities of race in America. African-Americans, segregated and humiliated first by slavery and then by segregation, and further still by subtler forms of bias and discrimination that are still with us, are lagging behind other people of other races and ethnicities in employment and economic and educational attainment. By the time the recovery began from the most recent
recession, African-Americans had lost the most ground and now have to make harder strides to catch up. Those without wealth invested in stocks and those whose work skills are less in demand - especially people whose families are less firmly entrenched in middle class - are struggling. And Sanders speaks well to these voters, especially to a new generation that is worried that they won’t be able to achieve, not due to personal failings but because systems of government such as taxation and justice are rigged against them. In Iowa, Sanders swept Clinton with voters under 30, winning by a 70-point margin. He also won resoundingly with voters aged 30 to 44. Iowa, some shrug, is overwhelmingly white. True. But what if younger African-American voters aren’t as beholden to the idea that they must stick with the Clinton team, even if Hillary is a surrogate of Obama? Some evidence of this is appearing. In recent weeks former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner has become a vocal advocate, along with the attorney who represented the Walter Scott family. Some rappers have begun advocating for him, plying their networks on social media.
And the revered scholar Cornel West has been actively campaigning and took to Facebook with a post that begins, "Why I endorse Brother Bernie.." It reads, in part: "I do so because he is a long-distance runner with integrity in the struggle for justice for over 50 years. Now is the time for his prophetic voice to be heard across our crisis-ridden country, even as we push him with integrity toward a more comprehensive vision of freedom for all." All Sanders has to do is speak ferociously for the underdogs of society, for the masses of people who have been left behind. And he is very adept at connecting these dots. A good example is Sanders’ platform on racial justice. It seeks to address what he defines as "the five central types of violence waged against black, brown and indigenous Americans: physical, political, legal, economic and environmental." And he fully defines each, with grim examples of the harm they have caused. Then he offers his solutions. Black Americans know these realities in ways that are starkly personal. The question is: What must Sanders do to convince black voters that he can and will address them?
COMMENTARY
I can’t hate IS teen soldiers By SEBASTIAN MEYER THE WASHINGTON POST
As a journalist based in northern Iraq for the past six years, I’ve seen the war with the Islamic State closer than I’d like. In the summer of 2014, my best friend, a man I’d come to love and respect during my time reporting here, was taken prisoner by the militants. We were more like brothers than friends, and I haven’t heard from him since. I was filming about 180 miles away on the evening
he disappeared. I dropped everything and drove through the night to join a small group of his friends and family. We formed an ad-hoc rescue team, and while the militants stormed west across Iraq, we worked exhaustively to find him. (I can’t say more about him, because doing so could put him in further danger.) We were driven by rage and desperation. Months later, Diji Terror, a Kurdish counterterrorism unit based in Sulaymaniyah, granted my request to
interview one of its prisoners. Ali was seized during a nighttime raid caught on film: In the footage officials showed me, Diji troops handcuffed, blindfolded and bundled him off on a helicopter. Ali had beheaded Islamic State prisoners, they told me; I couldn’t help but think of my friend. Finally, a small chance to press the Islamic State for answers about its tactics. A chance for some shred of catharsis. Ali wore an orange jumpsuit and plastic sandals. He sat hunched in his chair as
a guard lit a thin, white cigarette and passed it to him. He took it with both hands, his wrists cuffed together, and inhaled deeply. (In Islamic State territory, smoking is forbidden.) This sight was a far cry from an Islamic State propaganda photo of him dressed in black, standing commandingly behind a Kurdish peshmerga soldier he subsequently executed. Ali said he was born in 1995 and joined the Islamic State in 2008, at the age of 13.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY The Zapata Times does not publish anonymous letters. To be published, letters must include the writer’s first and last names as well as a phone number to verify identity. The phone number IS NOT published; it is used solely to verify identity and to clarify content, if necessary. Identity of the letter writer must be verified before publication. We want to assure our
readers that a letter is written by the person who signs the letter. The Zapata Times does not allow the use of pseudonyms. Letters are edited for style, grammar, length and civility. No namecalling or gratuitous abuse is allowed. Via e-mail, send letters to editorial@lmtonline.com or mail them to Letters to the Editor, 111 Esperanza Drive, Laredo, TX 78041.
CLASSIC DOONESBURY (1986) | GARRY TRUDEAU
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2016
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
State
6A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2016
Man rebuilds life after surviving stroke By MARY ANN ROSER AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN
AUSTIN, Texas — Robert Reyes was living like many single 30somethings in Austin: working long hours and playing just as hard. Dying at age 37 was not on his agenda. Yet there he was, eating and watching TV at his apartment last April when he felt a sudden pain in his head and a tingling in his left side. His 4 p.m. shift as a manager at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz would start in an hour, and he needed to get ready. His coworkers knew he was a hypochondriac, he says with a sly smile, so he wasn’t going to call in sick when he might feel fine after a shower. “I was walking funny when I got out of the shower,” Robert, now 38, told the Austin AmericanStatesman. “I called my brother and said, ‘Hey, I need your help. I think there’s something wrong with my brain.”’ Indeed, there was. Robert was having a hemorrhagic stroke — when a weakened vessel ruptures, causing blood to leak in the brain. He wouldn’t learn until later how close he came to dying. Nor would he imagine how drastically his life would change or that others would rally to help him, calling him inspirational and citing him as the catalyst for underscoring the Drafthouse’s commitment to help workers felled by serious illness. Strokes are the fifth-leading cause of death in America, killing 130,000 people a year. Although they are far more common in elderly people, stroke rates are rising among adolescents and young adults, according to a 2011 study in the journal Neurology. The study found that hospitalizations for ischemic stroke, which occurs in 87 percent of stroke patients and happens when blood flow to the brain is blocked, rose more than 30 percent in children and adults up to 44 years old between 1995 and 2008. Although strokes in younger people often are caused by a tear on the inside wall of an artery or some other rare condition, experts think the rising rates are related to poor diet, high cholesterol and unchecked high blood pressure — all of which can be prevented. Hispanics have strokes at younger ages than whites and
Photo by Ralph Barrera/Austin American-Statesman | AP
In this Jan. 13, 2016 photo, Robert Reyes appears outside his apartment in north Austin. In the spring of 2015, Reyes, then 37, had a stroke and has been fighting to regain all that he lost. He is among an increasing number of younger adults and adolescents having strokes, a public health problem that experts attribute to unhealthy living, including high blood pressure, obesity and poor diets. have more risk factors, including obesity, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But few public health messages warn young people about stroke, even though they engage in risky behaviors that can contribute to strokes, including smoking and using drugs. That lack of awareness is a reason some young people delay getting help. They don’t realize a stroke could happen to them or that waiting could be fatal, experts said. “The thought of a stroke has never occurred to any patient I have ever seen under age 45, until after it’s happened,” said Dr. Ford Vox, a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician who helps young adults at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, a leading rehabilitation hospital for patients with brain and spine injuries. A high blood pressure reading should prompt a person to monitor his or her pressure regularly, he said. Women on birth control pills need to be wary of clots, which can cause a stroke, said Dr. Jefferson Miley, vascular and interventional neurologist at the Seton Brain and Spine Institute. Illicit
drugs, such as cocaine and Ecstasy, raise heart rates and blood pressure. Up to 80 percent of strokes are preventable, according to the National Stroke Association. “Unfortunately, some young people have high blood pressure but won’t discover they have it until they have a stroke,” Miley said. “It’s one of those things no one talks about.” Stroke was one of the last things on Robert’s mind. “I had this feeling of being invincible,” Robert said. “Nothing could take me down. Prior to this, I was able to get away with a lot. . I thought it would be 40 years before I paid for any of the stuff that I had done.” The bill came due much sooner. “I was leading kind of a reckless life,” he said. “I think there are lots of reasons to go out and have drinks with your friends, and I found every single one of those reasons, every single day.” In addition to partying too much, he smoked and wasn’t sleeping well, he said. His blood pressure was high — a key warning sign. His former primary care doctor had put him on medica-
tion, but as Robert felt better and resolved to drink less and eat better, the doctor took him off early last year, Robert said. Three months later, on April 10, he had the stroke. He made the frightening call to his brother, Ric Reyes, and then dialed 911. Although the symptoms had started just 20 minutes earlier, Robert’s speech already was slurred, Ric said. He dashed from his desk at Austin Community College, where he works as an administrative assistant, and fought traffic between downtown and Robert’s North Central Austin apartment. Two ambulances already were there, and Robert was in one of them. He was nauseated and had vomited. “When they said stroke, it was more than just surprising,” Ric, 33, said. “It was devastating. I never thought someone that was young could have a stroke. In my head, people who had strokes were much older and very unhealthy.” Ric added that he was grateful for his brother’s hypochondria. Had Robert waited on him for a ride to the hospital, he might not have survived.
Young people are less likely to dial 911, thinking that if they just wait, the symptoms will go away, said Dr. Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, clinical co-director of TIRR Memorial Hermann Outpatient Medical Clinic in Houston. “This is a big public health issue, and we need to make more awareness to young adults,” she said. The mantra with stroke is “time is brain.” For every minute a stroke is untreated, neurons are destroyed. And Robert’s stroke was the more serious kind. His speech and vision deteriorated in the ER, along with his ability to move his left side. “These types of patients don’t survive,” said Dr. Robert Lee, medical director of stroke and rehabilitation recovery at St. David’s Rehabilitation Hospital. “His chance was 40 percent.” Doctors immediately started medications to bring down Robert’s soaring blood pressure. Eight days later, Robert was transferred to the rehabilitation hospital, where he spent a month, continuing the grueling process of relearning to talk and walk. He also was struggling with mental confusion and double vision. After he was discharged, he would spend three more months as an outpatient at the rehab hospital, going three times a week, as much as his health insurance plan through the Drafthouse would allow. Ric moved across the street and became Robert’s primary caregiver, using a sick leave policy in which generous ACC employees shift accumulated sick days to co-workers in need. Their parents, who live in Kyle, filled in, Ric said. “I knew as soon as he had a stroke, I knew I wasn’t going to leave his side,” Ric said. He became certified in first aid. Robert did his part, too. He changed his life and took steps to prevent another stroke, a higher risk for people who have already had one. “I don’t drink anymore,” Robert said. “I don’t even drink coffee. And I don’t eat red meat any more. All of these are big changes for me.” He’s lost 20 pounds and is at the gym early, sometimes by 4 a.m. Ric stopped drinking in solidarity and to improve his own health.
International
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2016
THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A
Caution is urged as Zika spreads By JENNY BARCHFIELD AND JAMEY KEATEN ASSOCIATED PRESS Photo by IHH | AP
Syrians fleeing the conflicts in Azaz region, arrive in a lorry at the Bab al-Salam border gate, Syria, Friday.
Many Syrians flee to Turkey By KARIN LAUB AND SUZAN FRASER ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIRUT — Thousands of Syrians rushed toward the Turkish border Friday, fleeing a fierce government offensive and intense Russian airstrikes near Syria’s largest city of Aleppo. Turkey, an ally of the Syrian opposition, promised humanitarian help for the displaced civilians, including food and shelter, but it did not say whether it would let them cross into the country, already burdened with hundreds of thousands of refugees. “The attacks and bombings by the Russian planes and the Syrian regime have left our brothers with nowhere else to go,” Turkish Prime Minister Ahmed Davutoglu said in a televised speech. The U.N. estimated that nearly 40,000 newly displaced people have massed in recent days in several border areas of northern Syria, including about 20,000 near the Bab al-Salam border crossing. Turkish authorities increased security at the crossing.
RIO DE JANEIRO — In a sign of mounting global concern over the Zika virus, health officials on Friday warned pregnant women to think twice about the lips they kiss and called on men to use condoms with pregnant partners if they have visited countries where the virus is present. U.N. officials also called on many Catholic-majority countries in Latin America to loosen their abortion laws to allow women to terminate pregnancies if they fear the fetus may be at risk for a rare birth defect that causes brain damage and an abnormally small head, which may be linked to the virus. The flurry of recommendations began in Brazil, where a top health official
warned pregnant women to be cautious with their kisses. Paulo Gadelha, president of the Fiocruz research institute, told a news conference that scientists have found live virus in saliva and urine samples, and the possibility it could be spread by the two body fluids requires further study. He said that calls for pregnant women to take special precautions, and suggested they avoid kissing people other than a regular partner or sharing cutlery, glasses and plates with people who have symptoms of the virus. “This is not a generalized public health measure, for the love of God,” he added, stressing both the seriousness of the discovery and reality that it was too soon to say how it could impact the epidemic.
Photo by Leo Correa | AP
A couple kisses during the "Carmelitas" block party, during Carnival celebrations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday. Officials said that the Zika virus has been found in urine and saliva samples. Friday’s announcement coincided with the start of Carnival, a five-day bacchanalia that sees millions of people take part in alcoholfueled parties where kissing as many people as possible is a top pastime. Gadelha underscored that the discovery needn’t alter Car-
nival plans for anyone but pregnant women. He also stressed that the Aedes aegpyti mosquito, which spreads dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever as well as Zika, remains the virus’ main vector and said the fight against the mosquito should be a top
priority. The Fiocruz team studied samples from two patients who showed symptoms of Zika and tested positive for the illness. Tests on cell cultures showed the virus in the samples was capable of damaging the cells, meaning it was active. Myrna Bonaldo, who headed the Fiocruz team behind the discovery, said she was particularly surprised the virus was found in urine because Zika is generally thought not to thrive in acidic mediums. “Each discovery is a surprise and a new find for us,” she said. “For us scientists, it’s extremely challenging to understand Zika virus.” Experts greeted Friday’s announcement with caution, saying the sample size was small and noting little is known about how the virus spreads.
PAGE 8A
Zentertainment
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2016
Rapper gets house arrest By ERRIN HAINES WHACK ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia judge is giving Robert Williams at least three months to earn back his status as rapper Meek Mill. Common Pleas Judge Genece Brinkley on Friday ordered Mill to serve 90 days on house arrest, effective March 1, for violating the terms of his parole in a 2009 drug and gun case. Mill was found in violation of his parole in December. He blamed his erratic concert schedule, but Philadelphia prosecutors linked the problem to his romance with Nicki Minaj, who sat in the front row for Friday’s hearing. Before the judge issued his sentence, Mill — who has alternately complained about probation and credited the judge with helping him succeed — thanked her for giving him a chance, regardless of her decision. “I just want to ask you for a chance to turn that corner and be a changed man,” he said. “You said you saw something in me ... I want to prove you right. I believe I can be the bright star you intended me to be.” Mill cannot work during the three-month period and must do daily community service with groups serving adults, not the young people who idolize him. In the seven weeks since his last court hearing, Mill has visited several high schools, including a local boys’ charter school, where he urged students to work hard before letting them take photographs with him. Brinkley also sentenced Mill to six more years of probation. The judge has kept tight reins on the 28-year-old Mill after giving him a break in his initial case. She once sent him back to jail and this
Photo by Dan Steinberg | AP file
In this Dec. 7, 2009 file photo, singer Wes Scantlin of the band Puddle of Mudd performs at the Gibson Guitar Dusk Tiger launch party in Beverly Hills, Calif. Scantlin pleaded not guilty to a felony vandalism charge on Friday, filed after the singer’s arrest last month at a home he once owned that he recently lost in foreclosure.
Photo by Chris Szagola | AP file
Nicki Minaj, right, and Meek Mill, left, watch action from the sidelines during the first half of an NBA basketball game between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Philadelphia 76ers, in Philadelphia. Mill must serve three months of house arrest for parole violations that he blames on his erratic concert schedule but Philadelphia prosecutors link to his romance with Minaj. Common Pleas Judge Genece Brinkley also ordered him to spend six more years on probation.
In the seven weeks since his last court hearing, Mill has visited several high schools, including a local boys’ charter school, where he urged students to work hard before letting them take photographs with him. time threatened to send him to state prison for two years. Prosecutors described violations that include unapproved travel to New York for a benefit concert and efforts to join Minaj in various cities.
They also said he turned in cold water instead of urine for a drug test, making the judge question if a prior problem with painkillers was at issue. Minaj told the judge in December that she was trying to
help her boyfriend become more organized and responsible. They have been frequently been seated courtside at the Philadelphia 76ers games for the past two months, since Brinkley ordered Mill not to leave the Philadelphia area. Minaj did not testify Friday. At one point during the judge’s remarks, she appeared to have been crying. The sentencing followed a four-hour hearing that included testimony on Mill’s behalf from a life coach and the principal of Boys Latin High School, which Mill had visited Thursday, along with music executive Kenny Gamble and others.
Singer pleads not guilty ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — Puddle of Mudd singer Wes Scantlin has pleaded not guilty to a felony vandalism charge filed after his arrest at a home he recently lost in foreclosure. Los Angeles District Attorney spokesman Greg Risling says Scantlin entered the plea Friday. The 43-year-old singer was arrested Jan. 9 by Los Angeles police and is accused of causing about $7,000 in damage to the home. He was also charged with misdemeanor trespassing. He was charged on Wednesday, but missed his arraignment. Scantlin is suspected of damaging the home’s plumbing, a garage door and ripping an alarm system out of the wall. If convicted, he faces up to three years in jail.
SÁBADO 6 DE FEBRERO DE 2016
Ribereña en Breve TORNEO DE PESCA La Secretaría de Desarrollo Económico y Turismo invita al Torneo de Pesca Internacional que se realizará del 12 al 14 de febrero en la playa La Pesca de Soto la Marina, México. Tras el evento habrá premios de hasta 100.000 pesos. El costo de inscripción es de 500 pesos por embarcación, 300 pesos en categoría de playa y cada caña adicional tiene un costo de 150 pesos.
MIGUEL ALEMÁN, MÉXICO La Comunidad Cristiana de Miguel Alemán, México, invita al público a un concierto público, el 6 de febrero. El evento contará con la presencia de Abel Zavala y su banda y Abisai Ahumada y su banda. El concierto comenzará a las 7 p.m. en el centro cívico ubicado en los terrenos de las ferias. Evento es gratuito.
Zfrontera CRYSTAL CITY
Arrestan oficiales POR JOHN MACCORMACK
SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS NEWS
CRYSTAL CITY — El jueves, cuando el FBI arrestó al alcalde de Crystal City, al administrador de la ciudad y a dos regidores tras allanamientos contundentes a oficinas y casas, se resolvería un gran problema mientras se creaba en otro. En una agresiva persecución de los presuntos líderes corruptos de la pequeña ciudad al sur de Texas, los federales también pueden dejar el gobierno local sin un funcionario por algún tiempo. Acusados de sobornos están el Alcalde Ricardo López, los regidores Rogelio y Roel Mata y el Administrador de la Ciudad/abogado James Jonas III. Oficiales federales también acusaron a un empresario que opera un casino y a un ex regidor. Realmente no se qué hacer. He estado llamando a personas que tienen más experiencia que yo, pero nadie sabe. Nunca había pasado”, dijo Joel Barajas, el único regidor
REYNOSA, MÉXICO Autoridades tamaulipecas anunciaron que el 4 de febrero se realizó el arresto de dos presuntos integrantes de un grupo delincuencial, se aseguró un vehículo y 15 paquetes con marihuana. Durante un recorrido de seguridad y vigilancia por la Carretera Ribereña, a la altura de la colonia Rancho Grande, la policía estatal fue agredida por cuatro sujetos que se desplazaban a bordo de una camioneta Chevrolet Tahoe color arena. Autoridades respondieron al ataque. Los delincuentes armados emprendieron la fuga. En determinado punto, la camioneta se impactó contra un árbol y los delincuentes huyeron a pie. Dos sujetos resultaron lesionados y permanecieron en el lugar. En el interior del vehículo, elementos de Fuerza Tamaulipas encontraron dos armas cortas, cartuchos útiles, chalecos antibalas, 15 paquetes que contenían marihuana, radios de comunicación, poncha llantas metálicos y una tabla de madera para golpear. Los nombres de los arrestados no han sido revelados.
DESFILE La Feria del Condado de Zapata invita a los residentes, organismos y grupos de la comunidad a inscribirse en el Desfile de la Feria de Zapata. La fecha límite para entregar su solicitud de entrada es el miércoles 9 de marzo. El desfile tendrá lugar a las 9 a.m. del sábado 12 de marzo. La alineación del desfile será de 7 a.m. a 8:30 a.m., en U.S. Hwy 83 y 3rd Ave. Habrá trofeos para diferentes categorías. Los ganadores serán anunciados a la 1:30 p.m. en Zapata County Fairgrounds.
FERIA DEL CONDADO DE ZAPATA La Feria del Condado de Zapata elegirá a sus representantes de belleza a inicios del 2016. El Certámen de Belleza para Jr. Royalty se celebrará el 7 de febrero; en tanto que el Concurso para Reinas de la Feria del Condado de Zapata se celebrará el 28 de febrero. Ambos eventos se realizarán a las 2 p.m. en el Auditorio de Zapata High School.
PÁGINA 9A
que no se encuentra bajo acusación federal. “Hablé con el abogado del distrito y básicamente dijo que los regidores aún son regidores, hasta ahora, hasta que se pruebe que son culpables. Estoy seguro de que al único que podemos despedir es Jonas, pero aún así necesito tres votos”, añadió. Un cuarto regidor, Marco Rodríguez, no se ha presentado en el cabildo desde que fue acusado con cargos por tráfico humano el mes pasado. Y no se sabe si cualquiera de los acusados bajo la querella criminal renunciarán o tratarán de aferrarse a sus posiciones hasta que sus casos sean resueltos. Tampoco se sabe si asistirán a alguna junta de cabildo, comenzando con una programada para el próximo viernes. Jonas y López no regresaron las llamadas para realizar comentarios el viernes. Aunque ocasionalmente una ciudad de Texas se encuentra sin quórum, rara vez se queda carente de
liderazgo, dijo Bennett Sandlin, director ejecutivo de la Liga Municipal de Texas. “Nunca había visto una ciudad menguada. Pero no hay solución mágica para estas situaciones. La ley estatal es clara: Si no se tiene un quórum, no se pueden hacer negocios”, dijo. “No hay un sistema estatal que intervenga y tome el caso. El personal hace lo mejor que puede para mantener esto funcionando y hacen cualquier cosa que estén autorizados para hacer, pero el personal no puede hacer lo que hacen los regidores, como aprobar contratos”, añadió. Después de la redada, los rangos más altos del personal de Crystal City son el director financiero, el secretario de la ciudad y el director de obras públicas. Un portavoz del secretario de estado no regresó la llamada sobre la situación en Crystal City. Para aquellos que buscaron se realizara la investigación criminal en el gobierno de la ciudad, las re-
dadas por parte del FBI el jueves, fueron una respuesta a sus oraciones. Pero ahora, con sus secuelas, los líderes del movimiento de reforma enfrentan incertidumbre. “Creo que los ciudadanos elegirán a un alcalde y personal temporal y cosas como éstas hasta las elecciones de mayo. Estamos contactando un abogado. Realmente no sé cual será la situación”, dijo Richard Díaz, ex regidor que acudió al FBI con denuncias por corrupción. Estas cosas podrían estar más claras el martes, cuando el Juez de Distrito Amado Abascal aborde un intento de remoción presentado el año pasado, dirigido a López, Rodríguez y Rogelio Mata. A pesar de que obtuvieron 1.244 firmas— aparentemente más que suficientes para desencadenar una elección— Jonas bloqueó el efecto. “Creo que todos estamos a la espera del martes. Después será en base a la decisión que el Juez Abascal tome”, dijo Frank Moreno, un ex alcalde que se encuentra compitiendo de nuevo por el puesto.
ZCISD
FRONTERA
100 DÍAS
Congresista anuncia Ley Ómnibus ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Foto de cortesía | ZCISD
Estudiantes de Zapata South Elementary celebraron 100 días de asistencia a la escuela con un desfile por los pasillos de la escuela, acompañados por padres de familia.
PATRULLA FRONTERIZA
Arrestan a dos con cargos por tráfico humano POR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Recientemente, dos hombres fueron arrestados y acusados de recoger a 12 inmigrantes indocumentados en el Condado de Zapata, de acuerdo con registros de la corte. Una querella criminal presentada el lunes acusa a Carlos Antonio Puente y Alberto Armando Lucio de transportar inmigrantes indocumentados con un vehículo de motor. Autoridades federales dijeron que el intento de contrabando ocurrió el 29 de enero. Ese día, agentes patrullaban el área de Dolores Creek, sobre U.S. 83, cuando recibieron reportes sobre dos vehículos, una Dodge Ram, modelo antiguo, color gris y un Chevrolet Equinox, color dorado, cargando a varias personas al sur de la línea divisora del Condado de Za-
pata y el Condado de Webb, indican registros. Un agente de la Oficina de Aire y Marina respondió y detuvo los dos vehículos saliendo de U.S. 83 rumbo a Espejo Molina Road hacia la Ciudad de Río Bravo. Entonces, el conductor de la Equinox se detuvo en un costado del camino y cinco personas salieron del carro hacia la maleza, de acuerdo con documentos de la corte. Todos fueron arrestados poco después. Agentes de Patrulla Fronteriza identificaron al conductor como Puente, tras un alto vial. Mientras tanto, apoyo aéreo sostuvo que observaron a siete personas salir de la Dodge Ram, sobre Rio Nilo Road en Río Bravo, pero perdió de vista el vehículo para mantener contacto con el grupo. Minutos más tarde, oficiales del Departamento de Seguridad Pública de Texas
detuvieron la Dodge Ram por una violación de tráfico. Agentes tomaron custodia del conductor, quien fue identificado como Lucio. Agentes especiales de Investigaciones de Seguridad Nacional tomaron la investigación. Lucio y Puente supuestamente optaron por realizar declaraciones posteriores al arresto a agentes especiales. En declaraciones de la corte, Puente y Lucio dijeron que fueron contratados para transportar los inmigrantes indocumentados por un pago de 150 dólares por persona, indican registros. Lucio sostuvo que recogió a cinco inmigrantes en la Chevrolet Equinos, color dorada, y Puente utilizó la Dodge Ram para recoger a siete inmigrantes, de acuerdo con documentos. (Localice a César G. Rodriguez en 728-2568 o en cesar@lmtonline.com)
El viernes, el Congresista Henry Cuellar destacó la recién aprobada Ley Ómnibus de asignaciones del año fiscal 2016. Dicha ley tiene como finalidad fomentar la cooperación entre Estado Unidos y México. “La relación entre Estados Unidos y México es extensa e importante, y merece una atención especial. México es el segundo mayor mercado de exportación de Estados Unidos y el tercer mayor socio comercial con 1.4 mil millones en el comercio bilateral diario”, dijo Cuellar, D-TX. “Estados Unidos y México funcionan como socios económicos. Considerando que las importaciones de la mayor parte del mundo son los productos extranjeros, un 40 por ciento del total de las importaciones de Estados Unidos provenientes de México son producidos en los Estados Unidos, según el Centro Wilson”. La ley fue aprobada el mes pasado e incluye numerosas disposiciones que fomenten cooperación entre ambos países con la ayuda del Presidente del Comité de Asignaciones Hal Rogers de Kentucky, Nita Lowey de Nueva York y varios presidentes de las subcomisiones implicadas, en particular Kay Granger, presidenta del Subcomité de Asignaciones del Estado y Operaciones Extranjeras, indica un comunicado de prensa. “Compartimos la creencia de Cuellar que aún hay margen de mejora en nuestros entornos comerciales y de transporte transfronterizo, y apoyamos los elementos importantes relacionados con la frontera que trabajó tan duro para incluir en el proyecto de ley ómnibus de asignaciones”, dijo el presidente de la Alianza del Comercio Fronterizo Russ Jones. Estas son algunas de las provisiones incluidas por Cuellar en la ley: Cooperación Agrícola entre Estados Unidos y México; la ley contiene una provisión que establece un grupo de trabajo entre EU y México para ayudar a facilitar el comercio y la facilidad transfronteriza.
Destacar interés común de seguridad de México y América Central; esta parte es destacada a través de un texto que busca dejar claro que el tráfico de drogas es fuente importante de violencia y crea inestabilidad. La cooperación con México es destacada al indicar que Departamento de Seguridad Nacional trabaja de manera formal con las autoridades mexicanas con el fin de facilitar el desarrollo de enfoques comunes. La violencia transfronteriza. La ley incluye una sección dirigida al Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas para trabajar con la oficina del Procurador General para evaluar la violencia transfronteriza y proporcionar recomendaciones para los recursos adicionales necesarios. El congresista incluyó 10 millones para programas ambientales a lo largo de la frontera EU y México. El congresista incluyó un texto que subraya la importancia de las normas de protección de los trabajadores agrícolas, especialmente los trabajadores agrícolas migrantes, los niños que trabajan en las granjas, y los que manejan pesticidas. La ley incluye un presupuesto mayor al del presidente designado para asistir a México en sus esfuerzos para mejorar la seguridad. Mediante la ley se destaca la importancia de los intercambios académicos en la escuela preparatoria, universidad y posgrado. Y destaca programas de intercambio cultural con México y América Central. La ley asegura 7 millones para asistencia militar extranjera en forma de subvenciones a México. Tras el proyecto de ley, México y América Central serán incluidos en el programa de microempresa y las microfinanzas con el valor de 265 millones. Le ley asegura 39 millones para ayudar los programas de promoción del buen gobierno, la sociedad civil, la educación, la competitividad del sector privado y el crecimiento económico en México.
National
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2016
Famous bridge to be demolished By JUSTIN PRITCHARD ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Charles Krupa | AP
An SUV makes tracks through fresh falling snow during a winter storm in East Derry, N.H., Friday. What started off as rain Friday morning quickly turned to sticky, heavy snow. Many school districts in the region closed for the day, including some in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
New England gets heavy snow By MARK PRATT ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON — A winter storm packing heavy, wet snow gave New England its first real taste of winter Friday, knocking out power to more than 150,000 customers and threatening to cover some spots a foot deep. Stoic New Englanders going about their business didn’t have to like it, but after some parts of the region got more than nine feet of snow last winter, they could deal with it. “It’s beautiful,” said Raul Rodriguez, who works in the Connecticut attorney general’s office. “It’s been mild this winter. We deserve it. We’ve had several brutal years of snowstorms.” The storm was New England’s biggest snowstorm so far this season, coming two weeks after a massive blizzard engulfed much of the Eastern Seaboard but largely spared Boston and points north. Not everyone was chipper about winter’s belated
blast. “I hate snow,” said Bruce Schulman, a Boston University history professor who was waiting at Boston’s South Station to take a train to New York. “Obviously, we’ve had a pretty mild winter so far, but we needed it after last year,” Schulman said. “If I never see snow again, I won’t miss it.” The weather didn’t stop presidential candidates from campaigning in New Hampshire, just four days away from its first-in-thenation primary. Republican candidate John Kasich approached a 6-year-old girl at an event in Atkinson and asked her, “Don’t you want to be out in the snow?” and then told her father, “Dad, why don’t you take her out in the snow?” The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory from Delaware to New Jersey and a winter storm warning for most of New England. The heavy snow brought down tree limbs, causing power problems for many.
Utility Eversource reported nearly 65,000 outages in Connecticut, while the two major utilities in Massachusetts reported more than 56,000 combined. National Grid reported more than 25,000 customers without electricity in Rhode Island. Police in Canton, Massachusetts, about 15 miles south of Boston, urged residents on Twitter to stay indoors because falling trees and branches were causing a dangerous situation in the town. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said it closed a portion of a trolley line between Boston and suburban Newton when a tree fell across the tracks and was busing passengers Friday afternoon. Otherwise, the Boston-area transit system that was crippled by last winter’s storms was holding up well, Gov. Charlie Baker said earlier in the day. Many school districts across the region closed for the day. Every public school in Rhode Island was closed except for the lone
school on Block Island, which was expected to get much less snow than the mainland. Travel was treacherous; police across the region reported dozens of spinouts. In New York City, a crane being taken down because of windy conditions collapsed during a snow squall, killing one person. The storm was expected to leave 6 to 8 inches of snow in the Boston area, 6 to 10 in the Worcester area and 4 to 8 inches in Providence, Rhode Island, according to the National Weather Service. Maine could get more. Meteorologist Mal Walker in Caribou said Maine’s eastern tip could see up to 11 inches. Farther south, the National Weather Service said New York’s Long Island could see 5 inches or more. Parts of New Jersey got about 4 inches before the snow tapered off, while rain that turned to snow snarled the morning commute in eastern Pennsylvania and caused some schools to delay opening.
Colorado water systems tested By DAN ELLIOTT ASSOCIATED PRESS
DENVER — Traces of potentially harmful chemicals have shown up in three Colorado water systems, prompting officials to shut down three wells and start looking for the
source. Tests required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency detected compounds called PFOS and PFOA in utilities that serve about 69,000 people in Fountain and the unincorporated community of Security-Widefield.
The chemicals were once widely used in nonstick cookware coatings, firefighting foam, stain-resistant fabrics and other materials. The EPA says they’ve been linked to health problems in animals and could be bad for people, too. No health problems have
been linked to the compounds in Colorado. The water utilities say they use multiple sources of water, and any chemicals would be highly diluted when they arrived at anyone’s faucet. More water tests are underway.
LOS ANGELES — Like a bad love song, the weekend demolition of a bridge made famous by the movies is killing the traffic mood in Los Angeles. Destruction of the 6th Street Bridge, a supporting player in so many chase scenes down the concrete-lined Los Angeles River, starts Friday night where it crosses U.S. Highway 101, a vital route in and out of downtown that must close to do the work. These days, no foreseeable traffic nightmare escapes its own odd branding in Los Angeles. This one had been dubbed the (hash)101slowjam on Twitter and is expected to drag on for 40 hours. If all goes well, the 2.5 miles of affected freeway will reopen Sunday, just before the Super Bowl kicks off. Eventually, the entire 3,500-foot bridge will be replaced by a new roadway that has the potential to become another Hollywood backdrop. A 2019 opening has been set after $449 million in work. Public officials are spreading the word of the closure with plays on the slow jam brand. “Sometimes, just sometimes, you have to get your haaaands dirty to build somethin’ beautiful,” Mayor Eric Garcetti crooned in a public service spot that ended with the suited mayor thanking the Theodore Roosevelt High School jazz band arrayed behind him for “making that slightly less awkward.” The bridge connects the Arts District on downtown’s eastern fringe with Boyle Heights, a working-class, heavily Mexican neighborhood. The impending demise of the span has prompted an outpouring of nostalgia, including
The bridge connects the Arts District on downtown’s eastern fringe with Boyle Heights, a working-class, heavily Mexican neighborhood. organized cruising by fleets of low riders. Considered state-ofthe-art when it was built in 1932, the bridge has been suffering from a chemical reaction that for decades has weakened its concrete. Arches above the roadway of the new span are designed to resemble the intermittent arcs of a stone skipping across water. It’s hard to skip a stone over the Los Angeles River, which is just a trickle when it’s not channeling torrents of storm water to the Pacific Ocean. Its concrete bottom and sides are a Hollywood favorite; the bridge has been in countless films. Think rival gang members Danny and Leo racing in “Grease” or big chases in “Terminator 2” and “Gone in 60 Seconds.” The (hash)101slowjam is the latest in a series of projects to rebuild the city’s transportation infrastructure that have drawn nicknames. The tradition began in 2011 with “Carmageddon,” the closure of another freeway to demolish and replace a bridge on the west side. This being Hollywood, there will be a sequel to #101slowjam when a new 6th Street Bridge is built: The 101 freeway will be closed again.
Man gets 67 years for Snyder defends his office killing transients By DAVID EGGERT
ASSOCIATED PRESS
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN AND MARY HUDETZ ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A judge sentenced a young man convicted of beating two homeless men to death with cinder blocks and other objects to the maximum term of 67 1/2 years in prison Friday after hearing tearful pleas for tough punishment from the victims’ relatives. Alex Rios, 20, apologized to the families and asked for mercy, but Judge Briana Zamora accused him of trying to minimize his role in the 2014 attack. “I can’t even call this a killing,” Zamora told him. “This was torture.” A jury found Rios guilty last year of killing Alison Gorman and Kee Thompson, who had traveled to Albuquerque from the Navajo Nation to find work. The attack led city officials to establish a task force on Native American homelessness, though prosecutors did not say the victims were targeted because of their race. Police say Rios and two of his friends attacked the men in the middle of the night as they slept on a mattress in a vacant lot. The others, both juveniles at the time, also were charged in the deaths. Some family members wept and others tried to choke back tears Friday as
Photo by Marla Brose/The Albuquerque Journal | AP file
In a Friday, Dec. 4, 2015 file photo, defendant Alex Rios listens as a teenager testifies against him, during Rios’ trial in the Bernalillo County Courthouse in Albuquerque, N.M., for the 2014 beating deaths of two Native American men in a West Central vacant lot. they asked the judge to consider the severity of the crime in the sentencing. They told Zamora that Gorman and Thompson were loved dearly and the voids left by their deaths will always remain. Rios, dressed in an orange jumpsuit and shackled, told the families he was sorry and said he knew the pain they were going through. He said he should have called police or yelled at the other defendants to stop. The youngest of the three pleaded guilty in September to second-degree murder and testified at Rios’ trial, saying the teens decided to go to a lot where they beat the men after a night of drinking at a house party. The assault lasted
roughly an hour, with the three assailants leaving the scene after the first 30 minutes to get knives, according to testimony from the youngest, who was 15 at the time. The Associated Press is not naming him because of his age. He also agreed to testify at the trial of the third defendant, set for September, under a plea deal that offers him the possibility of release when he turns 21. Rios’ lawyer, Daniel Salazar, said during trial that his client was present during the attack but didn’t participate. He said the jury’s verdict in December showed they didn’t find Rios as “culpable as the others” but held him accountable for failing to stop the attack.
FLINT, Mich. — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on Friday defended how his office responded to an email flagging a potential link between a surge in Legionnaires’ disease and Flint’s water, saying an aide asked for further investigation but a state agency did not bring forward the issue again. The governor, who has come under criticism for not publicly disclosing the spike in Legionnaires’ cases until 10 months later, told The Associated Press that his director of urban initiatives, Harvey Hollins, asked the Department of Environmental Quality to look into it after getting the March email. The DEQ “didn’t think there was a lot of base for it if you look at the email. Harvey, not being a technical expert, pushed back to say, ‘You need to look into this and if you find an issue, bring it to the governor.’ I think he was trying to respond appropriately, and the DEQ didn’t bring it forward,” Snyder said after visiting Our Lady Guadalupe Catholic Church, where volunteers have been distributing water and filters to the church’s predominantly Latino parishioners. There were at least 87 cases across Genesee County during a 17-month period, including nine deaths, but the public was never told about the increase when it was happening. Snyder publicly announced the outbreak last month,
Photo by Carlos Osorio | AP
Our Lady of Guadalupe Church Deacon Omar Odette, left, meets with Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, Friday, in Flint, Mich. Snyder visited the church that’s distributing water and filters to its predominantly Latino parishioners. saying he had learned about it just a couple of days earlier. The back and forth behind the scenes occurred while residents were complaining about poor water quality, even before lead contamination became an extraordinary health emergency roughly six months later. The director and communications director at the DEQ resigned in December. Snyder announced the firing Friday of Liane Shekter Smith, the former chief of the DEQ’s Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance who had previously been reassigned and later suspended; the department continues to review the actions of a second employee who was suspended last month. Snyder said one reason he made the staff changes was because “I wasn’t getting the information that I should have.” At the church and its ad-
jacent activity center — which was full of bottled water and other supplies — Snyder thanked volunteers and met with Deacon Omar Odette to discuss ways the state can help with logistics like a forklift and to address any issues ensuring nonEnglish speakers or immigrants living in the U.S. illegally get water. “They didn’t teach me this stuff in seminary,” Odette said. Some immigrants initially were turned away or scared off from water stations because they did not have identification. The state last month said ID is not required to pick up free bottled water, filters, replacement cartridges and water testing kits. The church of 450 families began giving out water because of concerns that Spanish-only speaking people were not being reached. “Our people have got that little bit of fear still,” said Odette.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2016
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
Store may sell its property By MARIA HALKIAS THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
DALLAS — J.C. Penney is pursuing a possible sale and partial leaseback of its headquarters building in suburban Dallas as it tries to reduce debt and cut expenses. CBRE Capital Markets is representing Penney. New owners will also own part of a huge project under construction next door that will include the North American headquarters for Toyota. In 2014, Penney teamed up with three real estate companies to develop the 240 acres around its headquarters. Karahan Cos., which developed a mixeduse center nearby, is leading the development team, which also includes Dallasbased KDC and Columbus Realty. The cost of leasing space in the building would be offset by not having to pay maintenance costs and property taxes, Penney said. The sale of the building would also cut its interest expense. The retailer said proceeds of a sale will be used to pay down debt that it racked up in 2012 and 2013 during a failed transformation of the department store. As of Oct. 31, Penney had long-term debt of $5.1 billion. Analysts at PiperJaffray estimated Friday in a report that Penney could lower debt by $200 million and $300 million from the sale. Penney built the 1.8 million-square-foot headquarters and paid for it with money it received after selling its former headquarters building in Manhattan and moving the company to Texas. The office sits on 64 acres and was completed in 1992. The building has a grand rotunda with a large statue of founder James Cash Penney, a cafeteria, private din-
Photo by Mark Lennihan | AP file
American flags fly at the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, July 6, 2015. World stock markets were uneven Friday, as investors awaited U.S. job numbers that could influence how much the Fed raises interest rates this year.
Stocks lose ground as job report fails Photo by LM Otero | AP file
Shoppers walk in a parking lot outside of a JC Penney story in Plano, Texas, in this 2012 file photo. J.C. Penney Co. is reporting a bigger-than-expected loss and plummeting sales, as its customers continue to be turned off by a new pricing plan that gets rid of hundreds of sales. ing rooms, a Walgreens, daycare center, coffee shops and lots of common spaces. Large hallways and separate buildings wings with north and south parking garages and entrances make the building shareable. CEO Marvin Ellison said last year he would be looking at all possible ways to cut costs. Timing of the sale also has to do with local real estate conditions, Penney said. There’s a building boom underway throughout the area. Plus Penney doesn’t need all the space. The headquarters staff is down significantly from when the building was designed. "With the tremendous growth and development currently taking place . there’s no better time to take advantage of this lucrative market by pursuing a sale of our home office real estate," Ellison said. "Even as we continue to deliver positive financial results
across all aspects of our business, including delivering year over year gross margin increase in the fourth quarter, this presents an ideal opportunity to reduce outstanding debt and create long-term savings for the company." So far, Penney’s threeyear turnaround has been going as management outlined. Penney had a better holiday season than some of its competitors, but the company has a long way to go before it’s profitable again. Penney and other major retailers will report the holiday quarter later this month. The company also tapped its real estate in 2012 when sales plummeted under former CEO Ron Johnson. Penney sold $526 million worth of non-core real estate assets that year. A $1.75 billion loan was put together by Goldman Sachs in 2013 a month after former Penney CEO Mike
Ullman returned to stabilize the company. It was a lifeline that Penney badly needed at the time. Ullman, who is now executive chairman, went on to lead the company to safer footing and Ellison took over as CEO in August. That loan had $4 billion of collateral and included Penney’s headquarters and several other buildings. When Penney got the loan, Cushman and Wakefield valued the headquarters, the 240 acres and 10 distribution centers at $762 million. But the 240 acres that includes the development where Toyota will set up shop wasn’t part of the collateral for the $1.75 billion loan. About $3.3 billion in collateral was from 306 Penney stores the company owns and 123 stores with ground leases. Department store companies became real estate rich over the decades from building giant downtown stores.
By KEN SWEET ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Stocks posted steep losses Friday, ending the week with broad declines, as investors fretted over a report showing that U.S. job creation slowed last month. Technology stocks fell especially hard, and shares of LinkedIn had their worst day in history. Energy and consumer discretionary stocks fell as oil prices declined and investors continued to worry that the risk of the U.S. economy slipping into recession, while low, is growing. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 211.75 points, or 1.3 percent, to 16,204.83. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 35.40 points, or 1.9 percent, to 1,880.05 and the Nasdaq composite dropped 146.41 points, or 3.3 percent, to 4,363.14. Stocks were mostly lower throughout day, but losses accelerated as the end of trading ap-
proached. With Friday’s losses, the Dow was down 1.6 percent for the week, the S&P 500 fell 3.1 percent and Nasdaq lost 5.4 percent. Investors were discouraged by a report that showed U.S. employers added 151,000 jobs last month, a sharp deceleration from recent months as companies shed education, transportation and temporary workers. That was below economists’ forecasts of 185,000 new jobs, according to data from FactSet. The report included some positive signs, however. The unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent from 5 percent, the lowest level since February 2008. Average wages jumped 2.5 percent over the past year to $25.39 an hour, evidence that the past years of job growth are helping to generate larger pay raises. “It confirms there has been some deceleration in the U.S. economy,” said Russ Koesterich
Lions Gate eyeing deal with Starz By ANOUSHA SAKOUI BLOOMBERG NEWS
Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. wants to merge with a cable network, and now it’s clearer why. The volatile nature of the film business came into focus for investors Friday after Hollywood’s biggest independent movie studio said the last installment of “The Hunger Games” series missed profit estimates by $100 million. The shares fell as much as 36 percent intraday, the biggest drop since at least 1998, as investors fretted over the company’s dependence on motion pictures and the quality of its new-picture pipeline. While the Santa Monica, California-based maker of hit films
such as “Twilight” has been expanding television production, with shows such as “Orange Is the New Black,” it is still heavily exposed to the roller-coaster movie business, which furnished 75 percent of last year’s revenue. That could change if Lions Gate can agree to a combination with Starz, the premium cable network controlled by billionaire John Malone. The sell off reflects a “lack of confidence in their film slate,” said Amy Yong, an analyst with Macquarie Capital USA Inc., who had an “outperform” rating on the stock. Investors may also be asking “how the M&A deals are going to get structured and specifically who is going to get the premium now that you have John Malone involved in both of the stocks.”
After markets closed Thursday, Lions Gate reported fiscal thirdquarter sales and profit that missed analysts’ estimates because of the shortfall in “The Hunger Games” finale. The company also said results were trailing its threeyear projection for $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Lions Gate doesn’t plan to update its guidance until May. Market Reaction The stock slumped 27 percent to $18.53 Friday in New York, a twoyear low. It traded as high as $41.41 in November of 2015. Starz fell 22 percent to $24.30, its biggest drop in more than seven years. Lions Gate declined to comment. Malone controls about 10 percent of Lions Gate through direct
ownership and through two cable TV companies where he also holds sway: international pay-TV distributor Liberty Global Plc and Discovery Communications Inc., owner of the namesake Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. This week, Lions Gate Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer had his first board meeting with Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Liberty Global’s Mike Fries. The company said later in a regulatory filing that it plans to restart talks to acquire Starz.
Canadian Taxes Though it’s run from California, Lions Gate is domiciled in
Canada. That offers the potential for tax benefits to a merger partner like Starz. David Joyce, analyst at Evercore, said earlier this week that Lions Gate shares are inexpensive. The studio’s market value is about $2.8 billion and it had $2.2 billion in trailing 12-month sales. “You could make the case that Lions Gate has the tax assets and so therefore they should get the premium,” Yong said, “On the other hand, Starz has the steady free cash flow business and so they should get the premium.” Starz, with a market value of $2.5 billion, posted sales of $1.7 billion in the past year. While a deal with Starz would diversify Lions Gate, it would also expose the company to the forces dragging down the industry.
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2016
ADAN IBARRA Adan Ibarra 76, passed away Monday, Feb. 4, 2016 at Laredo Medical Center in Laredo, Texas. Mr. Ibarra is preceded in death by his parents, Simon and Carmen Ibarra and sisters, Concepcion (Arturo) Bernal and Aurora Morehead. Mr. Ibarra is survived by his wife Belen Ibarra; daughter, Blanca R. Ibarra and son, Eduardo Ibarra and by numerous nephews, nieces, other family members and friends. Visitation hours will be Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home. The funeral procession will depart Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. Committal services will follow at Zapata County
Cemetery. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home Daniel A. Gonzalez, Funeral Director, 2102 N. US HWY 83 Zapata, Texas.
COUNTY Continued from Page 1A to transport undocumented immigrants for a payment of $150 per person, records state. Lucio stated he picked up five immigrants in the gold Chevrolet Equinox while
Puente said used the Dodge Ram to pick up seven immigrants, according to court documents. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
ILLEGAL Continued from Page 1A During the interception of the van, a Chrysler Sebring slowed down significantly to obstruct agents from getting closer to the minivan, records state. Agents said they later identified the Chrysler as the scout vehicle. Authorities pulled it over and
identified the driver as Estrada-Cardenas and Hernandez-Charo as the passenger. Homeland Security Investigations special agents took over the investigation. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
RAID Continued from Page 1A grammed with the Sheriff ’s Office frequency, two digital scales, a 28 Winchester, .45 caliber bullets, four .357 bullets and $1,508.46. Presas was charged with possession of a controlled substance, a second-degree
felony. He is out on bond. Authorities said Gaxiola, a felon, was released pending federal charges for the gun he had. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
CRUZ Continued from Page 1A only if it appeals to political moderates and nonwhite voters who are becoming a greater share of the voting-age population as each day passes. “I’m an outlier,” said longtime Cruz aide Jason Johnson, the chief architect of the Cruz playbook, which he concedes is not in line with modern-day Republican thinking. Yet with overwhelming confidence born from a year of studying voter trends, Johnson insists the first-term Texas senator can win the general election by motivating a coalition of his party’s most reliable supporters. “It is absolutely the case that in 2012, there were a little over 2 million fewer white non-Hispanics that voted compared to 2008,” Johnson said this week in an interview with The Associated Press. “They sat it out.” The strategy will not be tested unless Cruz survives the long road ahead in his party’s hotly contested nomination process to represent the GOP in November’s general election. Still, general election viability has emerged as a major theme in the days leading up to New Hampshire’s Feb. 9 primary among the leading Republican candidates. Many Washington Republicans warn that Cruz is simply too conservative to appeal to the wide swath of voters that typically decide general elections. “They are just wrong about this,” said Republican operative Matthew Dowd, who served as the chief political strategist for George W. Bush. “It is about both motivation and persuasion. You can’t motivate your base and at same time turn off moderates and independents.” But Cruz this week repeatedly declared that his team assembled a coalition in Iowa that would
While his team notes he won 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in his 2012 Senate election in Texas, Cruz has the potential to become the nation’s first Hispanic president. translate into general election success. “We saw conservatives and evangelicals and libertarians and Reagan Democrats all coming together,” he said during a town hall-style meeting at a Portsmouth Toyota dealership. “If we’re going to win, if we’re going to win the nomination and we’re going to win the general election, we’ve got to bring that coalition together.” “That’s what it’s going to take to win the general election,” he said. The Cruz strategy is born by necessity. While his team notes he won 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in his 2012 Senate election in Texas, and Cruz has the potential to become the nation’s first Hispanic president, hardline conservative rhetoric on illegal immigration has defined his short political career. He has promoted endorsements from farright conservatives such as Iowa Rep. Steve King, Cruz’s national campaign co-chairman who has compared immigrants in the country illegally to drug mules and livestock. GOP leaders commissioned an exhaustive report after the 2012 elections calling for candidates to adopt more welcoming tones on immigration. But a hardline stance on immigration remains popular among white voters across America who make up the majority — albeit a shrinking majority — of the voting-age population and tend to vote Republican.
Trump’s sustained popularity is based in part on such anti-immigrant rhetoric. And more than 60 percent of Republicans polled by CNN last summer said the U.S. government should focus on stopping the flow of immigrants in the country illegally and deporting those already here. About 30 percent of Democrats said the same. Johnson, Cruz’s top strategist, believes that Cruz can win in November even if he earns only 30 percent of the Hispanic vote nationally — a modest increase from Mitt Romney’s 27 percent four years ago. And among black voters, Johnson envisions Cruz winning over roughly 10 percent, which is in line with the GOP’s performance in 2000 and 2004. Cruz has no plans to back off his hardline stance on immigration. His team has determined there is no evidence that immigration policy alone is a major factor win winning over Hispanic voters. “It’s not a panacea,” Johnson said of immigration reform, citing internal and public polling. “Even if we had to do better than 30 percent, that wouldn’t do it.” Yet the country’s demographic shifts have prompted some Republicans to reach the opposite conclusion and work harder to appeal to nonwhite voters, who by 2052 will make up a majority of the eligible voting-age population, according to a study by conducted last year by Washington
think tanks representing both parties. GOP leaders such as House Speaker Paul Ryan and recently departed presidential candidate Rand Paul have spoken extensively about poverty alleviation and criminal justice reform — issues that particularly resonate among black and Hispanic voters. The share of all voters nationwide who are white has dropped consistently since 1996, according to census data. Even 2004, a year in which the total number of white voters increased by more than 10 million, failed to reverse that trend. Yet Cruz’s team is correct to note that millions of white voters sat out the 2012 elections. Census voting data shows about 2 million fewer white voters cast ballots in 2012 than 2008 — the only time since 1996 that the total number of votes cast by a racial group has decreased from one presidential election to the next. Some Republican strategists, including Dowd, suggest the missing voters are concentrated in states that aren’t likely to be contested in the general election. They argue that even if Cruz gets them to vote, they won’t improve his November prospects. Cruz’s team won’t ignore minority voters altogether. The campaign has an African-American outreach director, and Cruz this week promised to campaign in Hispanic and African-American neighborhoods at some point. His major challenge is to drive white turnout while not completely alienating minorities. “You can’t just go out and throw red meat on the table just because you know it will help turnout on one side of the equation,” he said. “We’re either right or wrong.”
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2016
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors NFL
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: SUPER BOWL 50
Evolution of the game Photo by David Richard | AP
Johnny Manziel’s father Paul Manziel said the family has tried twice in the past week to get the quarterback admitted into a rehabilition facility.
Issues continue for Manziel Quarterback’s father worried for his safety By KATE HAIROPOULOS THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
Photo by Charlie Riedel | AP
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell poses with Norma Hunt, the widow of longtime Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt, at a news conference Friday in San Francisco.
Looking back on 50 years of Super Bowl history By TIM DAHLBERG ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN FRANCISCO — Norma Hunt was buying some gifts for her young children in a Dallas toy store when she came across some balls that bounced so high they could go over a small house. Her husband, the late Lamar Hunt, noticed what fun the kids were having with the Super Balls, shortly before the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs went to a league meeting.
The rest, as they say, is history. “It just popped into his head,” Norma Hunt said. “He thought Super Bowl is what the name of the game should be.” Others thought it was a bit corny, even though it was used unofficially from the first game in Los Angeles in 1967. Commissioner Pete Rozelle even held a contest with media members to come up with a different name, and it wasn’t until two AFL-NFL Championship games had been played before Rozelle decided to officially call it the Super Bowl.
“I loved it from the very beginning,” said Hunt, whose husband was one of the founders of the AFL. “Several years later he (Rozelle) wrote Lamar and told him what a great idea it really was.” Hunt recalled the origin of the name Super Bowl on Friday during a gathering of 16 people who will have been to all 50 Super Bowls after Sunday. They included Hunt, the only woman in the group, eight fans, a groundskeeper and six reporters
EXTREME SPORTS: X GAMES
Johnny Manziel’s family is concerned for his well-being as his NFL career and personal life falter, but the quarterback has twice declined to be admitted to area rehabilitation facilities in the last week, according to his father, Paul Manziel. "I truly believe if they can’t get him help, he won’t live to see his 24th birthday," Paul Manziel told The Dallas Morning News. On Friday, Manziel’s agent Erik Burkhardt also voiced concern for Manziel, 23, and announced that he is terminating their professional relationship. Paul Manziel first tried Saturday afternoon to get Manziel, whose birthday is in December, to agree to go to the Enterhealth Ranch addiction facility in Van Alstyne, but he would not stay. That attempt came the day after Manziel’s former girlfriend alleged in a police report that he hit her repeatedly at a Dallas hotel and while driving her home to
See SUPER PAGE 2B See MANZIEL PAGE 2B
NCAA BASKETBALL: LOUISVILLE
Louisville levies postseason ban By GARY B. GRAVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
File photo by Gerry Broome | AP
Police say veteran X Games biker Dave Mirra has died in North Carolina. Greenville police said Thursday that Mirra’s body was found earlier in the day with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 41.
BMX rider Dave Mirra dies at 41 ASSOCIATED PRESS
GREENVILLE, N.C. — Veteran X Games biker Dave Mirra has died in North Carolina, police say. He was 41. Greenville police said Thursday night that Mirra’s body was found earlier in the day with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Authorities say they responded to an apparent suicide and discovered his body in a truck. They say he had been visiting friends in the area. Greenville Mayor Allen Thomas called Mirra “more than a sports figure. He’s a
See MIRRA PAGE 2B
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The president of Louisville announced a one-year postseason ban Friday for the Cardinals men’s basketball team amid ongoing investigations into a sex scandal, a decision that stunned coach Rick Pitino. President James Ramsey said at a news conference that an investigation revealed violations did occur when the school reviewed allegations by an escort that a former Louisville staffer paid her and other dancers to strip and have sex with recruits and players. Ramsey said the ban is for all postseason tournaments, including the NCAA and the Atlantic Coast Conference tournaments. The president said he received the latest results of the investigation on Thursday, but noted the review of the allegations is continuing. “We found out yesterday that we had a problem,” said athletic director Tom Jurich, adding that university wanted to deal with the findings as quickly as possible. While it is unclear if Louisville will implement additional self-imposed penalties if its investigation uncovers more violations, the NCAA could hit the men’s program with more sanctions. Pitino was not consulted about
Photo by Timothy D. Easley | AP
Louisville’s Rick Pitino responds to a question as President of the Compliance Group Chuck Smrt listens during a press conference Friday in Louisville Ky. The University announced a one-year postseason ban for its men’s basketball team. the decision but the coach said he was “a soldier in this army, and I do what the generals say.” That does not mean he agreed with the move. “This is a punishment I never thought would have happened this season,” said Pitino, who also attended the news conference with Ramsey, Jurich and former NCAA investigator Chuck Smrt. “This is as harsh as anything I’ve ever seen in college basketball.” The Cardinals (18-4, 7-2 ACC) are currently are ranked No. 19 and scheduled to play Boston College on Saturday. They would have been a lock for a tourna-
ment berth if they had not won the league title. The 63-year-old Pitino has denied knowledge of allegations in a book by Katina Powell that former director of men’s basketball operations Andre McGee paid $10,000 for 22 shows performed by her and other strippers, including three of her daughters. Powell’s allegations in her tellall book rocked the Louisville community and led to four separate investigations into Pitino’s program. Louisville notified the NCAA
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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2016
Texans-Raiders in Mexico By BARRY WILNER ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN FRANCISCO — Hola. The NFL is heading back to Mexico. Commissioner Roger Goodell announced Friday that the Oakland Raiders will host the Houston Texans in a Monday night game on Nov. 21 at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. It’s the first game there since 2005, when Arizona beat San Francisco 31-14 before 103,467 fans. The league has had concerns about the quality of the stadium, and also has concentrated on staging matches in London, where there will be three in 2016 for the third straight year. But with modernization of Azteca and the NFL’s interest in the Hispanic market, a return was inevitable. “Expanding our international series of regularseason games to Mexico marks an important step in our continued international growth,” Goodell said. “We have a tremendous, passionate fan base in Mexico and we know the atmosphere on game day will be outstanding.” It is the first Monday night game to be played abroad. It will be televised live on ESPN in the United States, and on Televisa and ESPN in Mexico. Televisa owns Azteca Stadium, which has a capacity of about 95,000. “We hope to celebrate Azteca Stadium’s 50th anniversary with the increase of the league’s fan
Photo by Charlie Riedel | AP
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks to the media during a news conference Friday in San Francisco. base (in Mexico),” Televisa Deportes vice president Yon de Luisa said. “Mexico is honored to have been selected by the NFL to play a regular-season game here,” Mexico’s secretary of tourism Enrique de la Madrid Cordero said. “Our country has hosted several world class sporting events, including Formula One, and we hope to take advantage of the popularity of the NFL in the U.S. and international
markets to highlight Mexico’s tourist attractions.” According to NFL Mexico, the Raiders are the sixth-most popular team in Mexico; the Steelers are first. The Raiders’ popularity dates back to the ’70s, when the NFL began being televised in Mexico and the team was a consistent championship contender. “The Raiders are truly a global brand,” owner Mark Davis said. “We have
a tremendous fan base. We are looking at it as a home game, I don’t think we are giving a home game.” Davis then chimed in during a Spanish portion of a news conference: “Can I get in on this?” “Viva Los Raiders. Solo ganar, Bebe (Just win, Baby),” he added with a smile. The Mexican market might mean even more to the Texans — unless Davis plans to move his franchise there. Houston, of course, has an advantage over many other NFL franchises thanks to its proximity to Mexico. “We are excited the Houston Texans can represent the NFL on an international stage for the first time on ’Monday Night Football’ this fall,” said Texans owner Bob McNair. “This is a great opportunity to grow our brand on a global scale and we are looking forward to playing in front of a passionate crowd at historic Azteca Stadium.” The NFL also has played seven preseason matches south of the border, none since 2001. Mostly, the league has concentrated on games in London, and it has three scheduled for 2016. Washington plays Cincinnati and Indianapolis plays Jacksonville at Wembley Stadium, with the Bengals and Jaguars as hosts. The Giants face the Rams at Twickenham Stadium, a rugby ground being used for the first time, with the Rams as host.
MIRRA Continued from Page 1B loving member of this community, and that remains.” Thomas said Friday that he had talked with Mirra for about 20 minutes outside a restaurant just hours before he died. Mirra had some exciting things he wanted to plan for children in Greenville, the mayor said. Thomas said while Mirra was known around the world, to many in Greenville he was “just a dad, just a friend.” Police Chief Mark Holtzman said the medical examiner on the scene said everything appeared to be consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The chief said as far as the investigation was concerned, the facts had not changed since Thursday. Steve Astephen, a longtime family friend and Mirra’s agent, released a statement on behalf of the family: “Dave’s wife and family are shocked and saddened by the loss of such a remarkable person whom they loved so deeply. Thank you for your kind thoughts and prayers and for respecting their privacy through
File photo by Ed Reinke | AP
Fort Worth, Texas, on Jan. 29. Manziel has not been charged in the incident, but a Fort Worth Police helicopter searched the area for him. Paul Manziel said that he tried to have his son admitted Tuesday to Carrollton Springs Hospital, but that Johnny was allowed to leave. Paul Manziel said that he is upset that his son was allowed to walk away after Paul told a Denton County Sheriff officer that he believed Johnny to be suicidal. A public information officer from the Denton County Sheriff ’s office said it has no record of Manziel coming into contact with an officer. Carrollton Springs is a 45-bed psychiatric and chemical dependency hospital in Carrollton, Texas, providing inpatient and outpatient treatment to adults suffering from mental illness and/or addiction, according to its website. Johnny Manziel, who is from Tyler and Kerrville, Texas, has spent the last several weeks in Dallas. The former Texas A&M quarterback and 2012 Heisman Trophy winner has been seen out, including at Wednesday night’s Mavericks game. Colleen Crowley, Manziel’s ex-girlfriend, said Manziel acted like he was on drugs but not intoxicated during the Jan. 29 incident, according to the police report. He also allegedly dragged her by her hair, forced her into a car and told her to "shut up or I’ll kill us both," WFAA-TV (Channel 8) reported, citing unnamed sources. Paul Manziel told Fort Worth police he had seen his son and his son was doing fine, according to the police report. Paul Manziel went on to say that he did not wish to further comment on the situation and requested officers not contact him again unless there is an existing warrant. Manziel, who is expected to be released from the Cleveland Browns in early March, spent time in a rehabilitation facility during the last NFL off-season. He started six games for the Browns this season, his second in the league, but his time in Cleveland has been dominated by off-field incidents since he was selected in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft. In a statement Friday, Burkhardt said: "It is with deep regret that after several emotional and very personal discussions with his family, his doctors, and my client himself, I have made the decision to terminate my professional relationship with Johnny Manziel. Though I will remain a friend and Johnny support-
er and he knows I have worked tirelessly to arrange a number of professional options for him to continue to pursue, it has become painfully obvious that his future rests solely in his own hands. His family and I have gone to great lengths to outline the steps we feel he must take to get his life in order. Accountability is the foundation of any relationship, and without it, the function of my work is counterproductive." That Manziel’s voracious social life and partyboy reputation could be the symptoms of deeper issues emerged when Paul Manziel publicly worried about Johnny and the fishbowl scrutiny on the quarterback in a August 2013 ESPN story, with Manziel about to begin his redshirt sophomore season at A&M. "Yeah," Paul said then, "it could come unraveled. And when it does, it’s gonna be bad. Real bad." A friend of Johnny Manziel’s since his time at A&M said he doesn’t share Paul Manziel’s concerns. Johnny is a normal guy who has made some questionable decisions, the friend said. The friend said Manziel has been working out at a facility in Dallas and is intent on getting back into the NFL as a starting quarterback. If the Browns do release Manziel in early March, it makes him available to other teams. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has had a long-standing interest in the player since almost drafting him in the first round in 2014. Other Cowboys executives are less enthusiastic about Manziel, but the team is looking for a backup quarterback. The NFL toughened its stance on domestic violence before the start of the 2014 season. If the NFL rules that Manziel violated the league’s personal conduct policy, he would be suspended without pay for at least six games for a first offense and would face a lifetime ban from the NFL for a second offense. Manziel doesn’t have to be found guilty in court - or even charged - to face punishment by the NFL. The NFL typically doesn’t move swiftly with its rulings on suspensions. The league could take months before ruling on the length of a possible suspension for Manziel. At that point, he would probably appeal. Under league rules, any player arrested or charged with conduct violating the new domestic violence policy will be offered a formal clinical evaluation and appropriate follow-up education, counseling or treatment.
Dave Mirra won a medal every year from 1995 to 2008 at the X Games including 14 gold medals during that stretch. The BMX rider’s body was found Thursday with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 41. this difficult time.” Mirra, a native of Chittenango, New York, near Syracuse, was an accomplished BMX rider and one of the most decorated
athletes in X Games history, medaling every year from 1995 to 2008 and winning 14 gold medals. His one-time record of 24 career medals was bro-
ken in 2013 by Bob Burnquist. He also hosted MTV’s “Real World/Road Rules Challenge” and two video games carried his name.
BAN Continued from Page 1B about the allegations in late August and immediately launched its own investigation. The athletic department hired Smrt of The Compliance Group to look into the allegations. Smrt said Friday that the action taken by the university is “a very significant step” considering the investigation is ongoing. ACC Commissioner John Swofford praised Louisville’s decision, saying Friday in a statement that “removing themselves from any men’s basketball postseason opportunities is both proactive and significant. ... We fully support their decision.” Pitino said he informed his players of the university’s decision earlier Friday, a moment he described as “painful.” The coach said players hugged and cried, with graduate transfers and leading scorers Da-
MANZIEL Continued from Page 1B
mion Lee and Trey Lewis particularly emotional because they came to Louisville this season with high hopes of playing in the NCAA Tournament. “As I told them the penalty, they all stood up and started hugging Damion and Trey as they cried,” Pitino said. “It’s never easy for the people that don’t deserve it. This is not a team that wasn’t going to make the tournament. This is a team that is very much favored to go very far in the tournament.” Powell’s book, “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen” was released online Oct. 3 and in hardcover 17 days later. On Oct. 20, Powell said in interviews with ESPN’s “Outside The Lines” that she had no proof that Pitino knew about the shows that took place in the players’ Billy Minardi Hall dor-
mitory from 2010-14. But Powell said that with “a boatload” of recruits and dancers, “loud music, alcohol, security, cameras” in a campus dormitory, “how could Rick not know?” The NCAA hasn’t accepted coaches’ explanations that they didn’t know about violations or illegal activities. The sports’ governing body has at times viewed ignorance as a sign of lack of institutional control in penalizing programs. Hall of Famers such as Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim and SMU’s Larry Brown were recently cited, with both coaches suspended nine games each for violations they contended occurred outside of their view. Pitino said McGee denied the allegations when brought to his attention in August, and he said other
assistants weren’t aware of the activities described in the 104-page book. As successful as the defense-minded Pitino has been at winning college basketball games, he has also been at the center of some embarrassing episodes of sexual misconduct. The first occurred in 2010 when Karen Sypher, the ex-wife of former assistant Tim Sypher, was convicted of trying to extort money from Pitino to keep secret their 2003 tryst on a restaurant table. She is serving a seven-year sentence for the crime in a Florida prison. Last February, Pitino dismissed senior guard Chris Jones from the team just before his arrest for rape and sodomy of two women in a campus dorm. A grand jury declined to indict Jones and two other men in the incident.
SUPER Continued from Page 1B and photographers. From finding a fuming Vince Lombardi in front of a Santa Barbara hotel for the first game in 1967 to seeing the game’s greatest moments, they shared moments of times gone by in what has become the biggest game in sports. Detroit News writer Jerry Green remembered attending a party put on by Rozelle at a Los Angeles hotel for the first game, when writers were squared off in camps supporting teams from the upstart AFL and those of the established NFL. “All the guys form NFL cities sat on one side of the ballroom while the AFL writers sat on the other side,” Green said. “We were sort of glaring at them and they glared at us.” Not surprisingly, several of the best memories revolved around Joe Namath leading the New York Jets to an upset win in the third Super Bowl, which finally gave the AFL credibility as an equal to the NFL. Green was one of those in the famous photo taken by Walter Iooss, Jr. of
Sports Illustrated talking to Namath as he tanned himself poolside in Florida instead of attending press conferences with his teammates. Also in the picture were Brent Musburger, two women who went to all of Namath’s games and a writer used a newspaper to cover his head from the sun. “If the Jets would have lost that game that picture would have been locked in the files forever,” Iooss said. David Tyree’s helmet catch that helped the Giants upset the Patriots in 2008 still sticks with Donald Crisman, a Patriots fan who has been to every game. “One of my nightmares,” he said. Some of the moments happened during halftime. In New Orleans, where three Super Bowls were held in the early 1970s, Iooss remembers a stripper running onto the field in a bikini, while security chased her and tried to cover her with a fur coat. Jerry Izenberg, the StarLedger (N.J.) columnist, was asked if he was happy to make it to 50 Super Bowls. “I’m just happy to be alive,” Izenberg said.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2016
Dear Readers: The SUPER BOWL is tomorrow, Feb. 7, and if you are like many, it’s time for a party. It may be all planned, or you might just want to have a few friends over, or maybe they drop by. Here are some quick hints: Finger foods probably are the easiest to prepare and serve. Lots of veggies with dip, chips with dips, nuts, granola or anything that can be eaten by hand. Generally, whatever you put out, people will eat! Paper plates, bowls and napkins are a good choice to serve on –– less cleanup! Make sure you have plenty of ice, paper towels and toilet paper on hand. These are items you don’t want to run out of. It’s about the game! If you think you are going to order a pizza at halftime, don’t! You and a million others are thinking the same. Order early –– very early! If it’s not far, go pick it up. Trust me on this ... you will be glad you did. If not, tip well! There are people working today so you
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HELOISE
can enjoy the game. –– Heloise TAKE A MINUTE Dear Heloise: To anyone who gets annoyed and aggravated with family, loved ones, friends or anyone you talk to, take a breath and think for a minute. If they ramble on, talk about the same thing all the time or repeat themselves, you try to avoid this because it takes up your time, and you’ve already heard it! Enjoy every second you have with that person now. One day, you won’t have them. –– A Reader, via fax It sounds as if you have lost a loved one who “was not themselves” and talked on and on, or repeated themselves. It can be difficult to deal with. Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease can be very hard on loved ones. Thank you for writing. –– Hugs, Heloise
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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2016