The Zapata Times 4/1/2017

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49TH DISTRICT COURT

TAMIU

Man guilty of drug possession of pot

Experts eye possible dismantling of NAFTA

Over 1,600 pounds of marijuana was hidden

By Julia Wallace

S P ECIAL T O T HE T I ME S

A man who was caught transporting over 1,600 pounds of marijuana — concealed in bags of fertilizer — was sentenced re-

cently in the 49th District Court.

A jury heard the case over the course of three days and rendered a guilty verdict. Charles D. Tuttoil-

the case. mondo Jr. was According to the sentenced to eight indictment, on Dec. 12, years in prison.

2012, a corporal of the The trial took Texas highway patrol place before division stopped a Judge Joe Lopez truck tractor towing a in Zapata. DisTuttoilmondo semi-trailer that was trict Attorney traveling northbound Isidro R. Alaniz on U.S. Highway 83. He and assistant district atinformed the driver, Tuttorneys Pedro Garza and Guilty continues on A12 Paul Thomson prosecuted

LAREDO MORNING TIME S

Arguably the worst case scenario for South Texas regarding NAFTA would be its dismantling. Economists, trade and small business experts tack-

led this possibility at a forum at TAMIU on Thursday.

For the most part, the three panelists agreed that if the North American Free Trade Agreement TAMIU continues on A12

BORDER SECURITY

WALL FACES CHALLENGES Zinke: Rio Grande and threatened wildlife make building difficult

By Matthew Daly and Alicia A. Caldwell ASSOCIATED PRE SS

Rodrigo Abd / AP

Tourists kayak through Santa Elena Canyon on the Rio Grande river, along a cliff face that is Mexico, left, at Big Bend National Park in Texas, Monday. Here the Rio Grande slides between two sheer cliff faces, one in Mexico and one in the United States, that tower 1,500 feet above the water.

WASHINGTON — Geographic and physical challenges — including the Rio Grande and threatened wildlife — will make it difficult to build the "big, beautiful wall" that President Donald Trump has promised on the U.S.-Mexico border, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Wednesday.

Building a wall "is complex in some areas," including Big Bend National Park and along the river, which twists through nearly half of the 2,000-mile border, Zinke said.

Hundreds of species live within 30 miles of the border, including threatened jaguars and Mexican gray wolves. The Trump administration is poised to relax protections for the jaguars, which live in northern Mexico and parts of the

southwestern United States, to make it easier to build the wall.

Throughout the campaign, Trump energized his crowds with his insistence that a wall will be constructed along the border and that Mexico will pay for it. Zinke's comments, and the administration's budget proposal seeking billions in U.S. taxpayer dollars to finance the project, offer a reality check and a possible sign the president is moving away from his initial plan.

The complications Zinke highlighted were the same faced by Trump's predecessors, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, as they sought to build or complete hundreds of miles of fencing along the border.

Fencing that is already in place is a mixture of various designs, including towering steel bollards designed to keep Border continues on A12

CESAR CHAVEZ MEMORIAL ALLIANCE OF SOUTH TEXAS

14th annual March for Justice set for Saturday

By Liabette A. Rodriguez LA R ED O MORNI NG T IME S

The Cesar Chavez Memorial Alliance of South Texas will hold its 14th annual March for Justice in downtown Laredo on Saturday.

The march will begin at Bruni Plaza and end at San Agustin Plaza. The meeting time is 8:30 a.m., and the march will commence at 10 a.m.

This annual march is held in remembrance of the efforts made by Chavez for migrant workers. Chavez had organized a large march in 1966 from Delano to Sacramento, California to peacefully protest the low wages and deplorable housing situations for migrant workers.

“We follow his legacy,” said Manuel Bocanegra, founding president of the Cesar Chavez Memorial Alliance of South Texas.

The march promotes education for the children of South Texas who do not know who Chavez was or the struggle

Danny Zaragoza / Laredo Morning Times

In this March 2016 file photo, Esmeraldo Pruneda holds a poster of Cesar Chavez as he leads a procession down Hidalgo Street during the Cesar Chavez March for Justice. Pruneda was a security guard for Chavez in the 1960s.

involved with migrant work, said Bocanegra.

The United and Cigarroa high school

bands will be attending the march along with a performance by a group of matachines. A special guest, Robert Bustos,

from California and representing the Cesar Chavez Foundation, will also be present.

“Our mission is to get involved with programs like both district’s magnet programs to give the students scholarships,” said Bocanegra.

Five scholarships were awarded last year.

At the march, the “Cesar Chavez Award” will be presented to Justice of the Peace Danny Dominguez and Juan M. Carrizales, IRS senior tax consultant and education and communication specialist.

The “Cesar Chavez Award” is presented to someone who did migrant work when they were young, gained an education and are now professionals.

“Every year, I try to recognize somebody who went through that kind of work (migrant work),” said Bocanegra. “I have recognized Congressman Henry Cuellar, his family was also part of that culture, and Judge Joe Lopez.”

March continues on A12

Zin brief A2 | Saturday, April 1, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

CALENDAR

TODAY IN HISTORY

AROUND THE WORLD

SATURDAY, APRIL 1

ASSOCIATED PRE SS

Book Sale. 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Widener Book Room, First United Methodist Church. Public invited, no admission fee.

Today is Saturday, April 1, the 91st day of 2017. There are 274 days left in the year. This is April Fool's Day.

Today's Highlight in History: On April 1, 1917, Scott Joplin, "The King of Ragtime Writers," died at a New York City hospital. Joplin, the composer of "Maple Leaf Rag," ''The Entertainer," ''The Easy Winners," ''Heliotrope Bouquet" and "Solace," among other ragtime pieces, was believed to have been 49 years old at the time of his death.

Open viewing for Children of Children: Portraits & Stories of Teenage Parents by Michael Nye. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall. This exhibit is designed as an educational initiative from Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. in collaboration with First United Methodist Church Laredo as host. This exhibit is meant to bring awareness and help launch an upcoming Parents Helping Parents ministry as part of the church’s community outreach.

Cigarroa High School volleyball team fundraiser. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Cigarroa High, 2600 Zacatecas St. Sames Ford and Cigarroa High are partnering to help raise up to $6,000 in support of the school’s volleyball team as part of the Ford Motor Company’s Drive 4 UR Community program. Members of the Laredo community will have the opportunity to raise money for the team by testdriving a Ford vehicle. For every person who test-drives a new Ford vehicle at this one-day event, Ford Motor Company and Sames Ford will donate $20, up to $6,000, to the team’s booster parent club in support of this innercity team for equipment, uniforms and travel.

SUNDAY, APRIL 2 Open viewing for Children of Children: Portraits & Stories of Teenage Parents by Michael Nye. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall. This exhibit is designed as an educational initiative from Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. in collaboration with First United Methodist Church Laredo as host. This exhibit is meant to bring awareness and help launch an upcoming Parents Helping Parents ministry as part of the church’s community outreach.

Ray of Light anxiety and depression support group meeting.

6:30—7:30 p.m. Area Health Education Center, 1505 Calle del Norte, Suite 430. Every first Monday of the month. People suffering from anxiety and depression are invited to attend this free, confidential and anonymous support group meeting. While a support group does not replace an individual’s medical care, it can be a valuable resource to gain insight, strength and hope.

TUESDAY APRIL 4 Community Conversation on Teen & Young Adult Mental Health. 6 p.m.-9 p.m. Border Region Behavioral Health Center, Auditorium, 1500 Pappas St. The purpose of this event is to encourage the community to voice concerns, ask questions and share information on available resources to help those afflicted with a mental illness or a substance abuse problem. We invite the community to join others in the community for an informal conversation on mental health presented by the Area Health Education Center, Border Region Behavioral Health Center and Texas Department of State Health Services-Office of Border Services.

Alzheimer's support group meeting. 7 p.m. Meeting room 2, building B of the Laredo Medical Center. The support group is for family members and caregivers taking care of someone who has Alzheimer's. For information, call 956-693-9991.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5 IBC Keynote Speaker Series: “Failure to Adjust: How Americans Got Left Behind in the Global Economy.” 7:30 p.m. TAMIU Student Center Ballroom, 5201 University Blvd.

The presentation features Edward Allen, author and the Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C. Free and open to the public.

The author will be available for book signing following the lecture.

THURSDAY, APRIL 6 Laredo Area Retired School Educators Association meeting. 11 a.m.

Blessed Sacrament Parish Hall. The topic of discussion will be wills and beneficiaries.

FRIDAY, APRIL 7 Farewell Dinner Tribute for Dr. Tom Vaughan. 7 p.m. Laredo Country Club. The event will feature Joe Guerra Jazz Trio, mariachis, DJ, complimentary wine and beer, guest speakers and memorable giveaways.

For ticket information, call 718-1063 or visit http://www.rgisc.org/

Cho Sung-bong / AP

Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye, center, arrives at a detention center in Uiwang, South Korea on Friday.

FORMER S. KOREA PRESIDENT’S LIFE IN PRISON SEOUL, South Korea — On Friday, Park was required to remove the hairpins she uses to maintain that style before entering the jail where she now resides. Inmates at the Seoul Detention Center cannot have metal hairpins, because they could use them to hurt themselves, officials said.

“When she wakes up in the morning and realizes that she can’t do her hair anymore, she will be faced with the stark new reality,” Lee Yong-ju, a former prosecutor who is now an opposition lawmaker, said in a radio interview Thursday. Park, who was jailed before dawn Friday on charges

Indian state expands penalty for killing cows to life in prison NEW DELHI — The Indian state of Gujarat is tightening the punishment for the slaughter of cows, considered sacred in Hinduism, to a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The move Friday came after a government crackdown on the largely Muslim-run buffalo slaughterhouses in the state of

stemming from the corruption scandal that ended her presidency three weeks ago, now lives alone in a cell, eating $1.30 meals, washing her own tray and sleeping on a foldable mattress on the floor. It is a stark comedown for someone who spent more years living at the Blue House, South Korea’s sprawling presidential palace, than anyone else. If convicted of the charges on which she was arrested Friday, including bribery, Park Geun-hye would face between 10 years and life in prison.

— Compiled from AP reports

Uttar Pradesh and after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, won the state’s elections in a landslide. That victory led to the appointment of hard-line Hindu cleric Yogi Adityanath as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

It is legal to slaughter buffalo cows after they no longer produce milk, but Hindu activists in Uttar Pradesh said the industry masked the illicit slaughter of cows.

The slaughter of cows has long been illegal under an ex-

isting law in Gujarat, where Modi was chief minister until 2014. The stricter law raises the maximum punishment from seven years in prison.

The penalty for transporting beef was also raised to a maximum of 10 years, from three, and the state authorities will now be allowed to confiscate any vehicle used to transport beef, said Babubhai Bokhiriya, the state minister of animal husbandry and water resources.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION Court won't revive suit over Confederatethemed state flag JACKSON, Miss. — A federal appeals court has blocked an African-American attorney's effort to remove the Confederate battle emblem from the Mississippi state flag. He says he'll take the case to the Supreme Court.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Friday that it would not revive a lawsuit rejected by a lower court. Carlos Moore filed the suit in 2016, saying that the flag is "statesanctioned hate speech."

Moore said he is disappointed with the ruling from the New Orleans-based appeals court, which came less than four weeks after judges there heard arguments for and against reviving the suit.

"If we ever get to the merits of the case, I believe we will be

Rogelio V. Solis / AP

In this 2016 file photo, a state flag of Mississippi is unfurled by Sons of Confederate Veterans on the grounds in Jackson, Miss.

able to show the state flag was created with a discriminatory intent and has a negative impact on African-Americans," Moore said in a written statement to The Associated Press.

"Once those two things are proven, the state Confederate flag will finally come down for good."

Mississippi's state flag has

been used since 1894 and is the last in the nation to prominently feature the Confederate battle emblem.

Opponents say the flag is a reminder of slavery and segregation, while supporters say it represents history and heritage.

— Compiled from AP reports

On this date: In 1789, the U.S. House of Representatives held its first full meeting in New York; Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was elected the first House speaker.

In 1924, Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. (Hitler was released in Dec. 1924; during his time behind bars, he wrote his autobiographical screed, "Mein Kampf.")

In 1933, Nazi Germany staged a daylong national boycott of Jewishowned businesses.

In 1945, American forces launched the amphibious invasion of Okinawa during World War II. (U.S. forces succeeded in capturing the Japanese island on June 22.)

In 1947, Greece's King George II died.

In 1954, the United States Air Force Academy was established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

In 1962, the Katherine Anne Porter novel "Ship of Fools," an allegory about the rise of Nazism in Germany, was published by Little, Brown & Co. In 1972, the first Major League Baseball players' strike began; it lasted 12 days.

In 1977, the U.S. Senate followed the example of the House of Representatives by adopting, 86-9, a stringent code of ethics requiring full financial disclosure and limits on outside income.

In 1984, recording star Marvin Gaye was shot to death by his father, Marvin Gay, Sr. in Los Angeles, the day before his 45th birthday. (The elder Gay pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, and received probation.)

In 1987, in his first speech on the AIDS epidemic, President Ronald Reagan told the Philadelphia College of Physicians, "We've declared AIDS public health enemy no. 1."

Ten years ago: Iran's state television aired new video showing two of the 15 captured British sailors and marines pointing to a spot on a map of the Persian Gulf where they were seized and saying it was in Iranian territorial waters; Britain's Foreign Office immediately denounced the video. At age 18 years and 10 months, Morgan Pressel became the youngest major champion in LPGA Tour history, closing with a 3-under 69 at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. (Pressel's age record has since been broken by Lydia Ko.) Five years ago: A coalition of more than 70 partners, including the United States, pledged to send millions of dollars and communications equipment to Syria's opposition groups.

One year ago: World leaders ended a nuclear security summit in Washington by declaring progress in safeguarding nuclear materials sought by terrorists and wayward nations, even as President Barack Obama acknowledged the task was far from finished.

Chicago teachers staged a one-day strike in the nation's third-largest district. Spain's Javier Fernandez defended his figure skating world title at the championship in Boston; Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan placed second while Jin Boyang of China came in third.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Jane Powell is 88. Actor Don Hastings is 83.

Baseball Hall of Famer Phil Niekro is 78. Actress Ali MacGraw is 78.

Rhythm-and-blues singer Rudolph Isley is 78. Baseball All-Star Rusty Staub is 73. Reggae singer Jimmy Cliff is 69. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is 67. Rock musician Billy Currie (Ultravox) is 67. Actress Annette O'Toole is 65. Movie director Barry Sonnenfeld is 64. Singer Susan Boyle is 56. Actor Jose Zuniga is 55. Country singer Woody Lee is 49. Actress Jessica Collins is 46. Rapper-actor Method Man is 46. Movie directors Albert and Allen Hughes are 45. Political commentator Rachel Maddow is 44.

Tennis player Magdalena Maleeva is 42. Actor JJ Field is 39. Singer Bijou Phillips is 37. Actor Sam Huntington is 35. Comedian-actor Taran Killam is 35. Actor Matt Lanter is 34. Actor Josh Zuckerman is 32. Country singer Hillary Scott (Lady Antebellum) is 31.

Actor Asa Butterfield is 20.

Thought for Today: "Ninety-eight percent of all statistics are made up."

— Author unknown.

SUNDAY, APRIL 9 Holy Redeemer Church annual Jamaica. 9 a.m. - 10 p.m. 1602 Garcia, corner of Garcia and Davis.

SATURDAY, APRIL 22 TAMIU Scholarship Benefit Concert. 7 p.m. Laredo ISD Civic Center, 2400 San Bernardo Ave. One of México’s most revered mariachi music groups, Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlán de Guadalajara, will perform their concert México Mágico. The annual event is presented by TAMIU and benefits the Artist in Residence Program and mariachi music student scholarships. Tickets are $40, $30 and $25 and available at the TAMIU Bursar’s Office in Senator Judith Zaffirini Student Success Center, room 137, or by calling Andria Hernández at 956.326.2152.

AROUND TEXAS Texas Senate approves scaled-back school voucher plan AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Senate on Thursday approved a major voucher plan offering state funding to children attending private and religious schools — but only after slashing its potential cost by limiting the number of eligible families and exempting rural areas,

CONTACT US which opponents argue can least afford losing students.

Sen. Larry Taylor's bill creates publicly sponsored education savings accounts for parents while offering tax credits to businesses that sponsor private schooling via donations.

It appeared stalled before the Republican from Friendswood agreed to make wholesale changes. "Our public schools have all the incumbency advantages. They have the facilities, they have the activities and, frankly, for many places,

it's the center of the town's activities," Taylor said Tuesday.

"But there are some students in those schools that that's not the best environment for them."

His overhauled proposal no longer applies to communities with fewer than 285,000 residents and includes caps ensuring that only low-income families are eligible, except in cases of students with special needs who could get funding to enroll in private schools regardless of their family's income.

— Compiled from AP reports

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The Zapata Times

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Saturday, April 1, 2017 |

A3

LOCAL & STATE

Congressman O’Rourke bids to unseat Cruz

By Will Weissert And Erica Werner A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

AUSTIN, Texas — Democratic Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke kicked off his longshot bid to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz on Friday, vowing an unscripted and unconventional campaign that could catch voters' imagination at a moment when Democrats are eager to go on offense against the Trump administration.

"We need to meet this fear, this anxiety, this paranoia that's coming out of the White House — that's gripping so much of this country — with a strength and a confidence that can only come from Texas," O'Rourke told enthusiastic supporters at a rooftop rally in his hometown of El Paso.

The 44-year-old thirdterm congressman took shots at Cruz, who finished second to Donald Trump in last year's Republican presidential primary, saying the state needs a "senator working full-time for Texas" rather than "serving his own interests" running for president and helping lead a government shutdown in 2013.

In response Cruz said: "I welcome him to the race, and will continue to work every day to earn and keep the trust of

Texans across our great state."

But in a fundraising email to supporters, Cruz's campaign made clear the coming lines of attack, deriding O'Rourke as an "unabashed liberal" without "any record of achievement, and a progressive ideology out of touch with the majority of Texans."

Picking off Cruz would be a formidable challenge in Republican-friendly Texas, where no Democrat has won statewide since 1994, and O'Rourke will be the acknowledged underdog in the race. He pledged to campaign without pollsters, consultants or PAC money, and may have trouble getting much attention from a national party focused on defending 10 Senate Democrats who are up for re-election next year in states Trump won.

O'Rourke also may end up facing a primary challenge since fellow Rep. Joaquin Castro is also weighing a bid.

But O'Rourke said he was fine going forward without help from national Democrats, saying he would take his campaign straight to Texas voters.

And with Republicans in control of the Senate 52-48, and scant pickup opportunities for Democrats, he argued that anyone interested in Demo-

Ruben R. Ramirez / AP

El Paso Democratic Congressman Beto O'Rourke officially launches his campaign for the U.S. Senate race in 2018, accompanied by his wife, Amy, in El Paso, Texas, on Friday.

crats taking back the Senate majority should pay attention to his race.

"Playing defense, while important, is not going to turn people on, it's not exciting, it's not going to capture anyone's imagination," O'Rourke said in an interview with The Associated Press shortly after his announcement.

"What's exciting is taking back the Senate, and as far as I can tell the only way to do that is through Texas."

Such an approach could allow O'Rourke to tap into some of the grassroots energy and small-dollar donations that fueled Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign. He recently got attention for going on a 36-hour bipartisan road trip from Texas to Washington with GOP Rep

Will Hurd when a snowstorm canceled their flights. They livestreamed much of the journey, causing an internet stir while enduring traffic jams, making fast-food runs and expressing mutual opposition to Trump's proposed border wall.

O'Rourke said the attention the road trip garnered was a sign of voters' hunger for a bipartisanship that's increasingly rare in Washington.

The congressman speaks fluent Spanish and switched between it and English in his kickoff speech, pledging support for "comprehensive immigration reform" and opposition to Trump's refugee travel ban. He talked about wooing both Democrats and Republicans in Texas, and his

support for congressional term limits.

O'Rourke is the kind of rising political star Democrats hope can help begin turning red Texas blue, aided by a booming Hispanic population and state politics pushed even farther right by Trump and Cruz. He first made a name for himself playing guitar for Foss, an El Paso rock band that included drummer Cedric BixlerZavala, who went on to play for the Grammy Award-winning act The Mars Volta.

He has advocated for legalizing marijuana and wrote a book decrying the federal government's war on drugs. On Friday, he talked about the opioid addiction crisis sweeping much of the country, noted that many states have stopped filling pris-

ons by "locking up marijuana convictions" and said, "We have an opportunity to end this failed war on drugs."

O'Rourke was elected to the El Paso City Council at age 32 but remained little-known until the 2012 Democratic primary, when he stunned eightterm Rep. Silvestre Reyes, a former House Intelligence chairman.

O'Rourke was arrested in 1995 for breaking and entering after jumping a fence at the University of Texas at El Paso during what he now says was a prank, but prosecutors declined the case. Three years later, O'Rourke was arrested for drunken driving and received deferred adjudication to avoid conviction, an incident he has called a mistake.

Dallas County jail inmates learn to train shelter dogs

By Naomi Martin TH E DALLAS MORNI NG NEWS

DALLAS— The men were accused of choking their girlfriends or robbing people or leading cops on high-speed chases.

The Dallas Morning News reports many had been locked up for a few months, growing more hardened.

But on Wednesday, they stood clad in striped jail scrubs before TV cameras, smiling and showing their softer sides as they petted and gave treats to five shelter dogs. They’re the first participants in Home for Hounds, a new program at the Dallas County Jail aimed at helping both the men and dogs change for the better.

“Being in this program has opened up something that I’d closed off,” said Darrell Johnson, 22, who has been working with Diamond, a white-and-brown spotted dog. “I have five little girls and a wife. This helps you with patience.”

Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez got the idea to start the program after hearing about a similar one at another jail. Valdez is a big dog lover, with three at home.

It took three years to get the program up and running because of the bureaucracy and lawyers, Valdez said, but now she’s thrilled with it. It will turn the inmates into “productive citizens,” she said, because they have to adhere to a strict schedule that includes waking up at 5 a.m. to take care of the dogs.

“This teaches accountability, responsibility and affection,” Valdez said.

During the five-week course, an El Centro College instructor teaches the inmates how to train the dogs, who were plucked from the euthanization line at the Grand Prairie shelter.

The dogs learn basic obedience skills such as sit, stay and come, which makes them more adoptable. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals donated collars, leashes and dog beds. The $136,000 budget is funded through the sheriff’s commissary fund, using no taxpayer money.

“I’m hoping by the time they see this story, there’s a line ready to adopt them,” Valdez said.

Dallas County Commissioner Elba Garcia said nearly half of Dallas County inmates are rearrested within three years of being freed. Programs that teach

inmates vocational skills help them turn their lives around, which saves taxpayer money, she said.

“It’s a win-win situation because people are helping animals and animals are helping people,” Garcia said.

Valdez, who as a sheriff has to be tough on criminals, showed her softer side with the dogs.

When one inmate struggled to coax his dog back into the crate, Valdez said: “He doesn’t want to go in. That’s fine, leave him out.”

County Judge Clay Jenkins said it was a “beautiful allegory” that the inmates were training the dogs using “positive reinforcement” and never forcing them to do anything.

“If people are going to be successful in the outside world, they need to find their center from positive reinforcements — family and jobs — not through just fear and discipline,” Jenkins said.

Inmate Thomas Chambers, 58, held Dallas, a little brown Yorkie-terrier mix who wagged his tail.

“I love this little guy,” Chambers said. “Personally, being in this program relieves a lot of stress. It gave me time to reflect on my issues.”

Nathan Hunsinger / AP

In this March 29 photo, Dallas County inmate Christopher Whiteley kisses his dog T-Bone during a press conference about a program that has inmates train dogs at Kays Tower Jail in Dallas.

Zopinion

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A4 | Saturday, April 1, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

COLUMN

OTHER VIEWS

Setting gender can be good for women

By Brittany Shoot WA S H INGT ON P O ST

This week, I was surprised to see commentators pouncing on a single sentence in a recent Washington Post profile of Karen Pence, Vice President Mike Pence’s wife: “In 2002, Mike Pence told the Hill that he never eats alone with a woman other than his wife and that he won’t attend events featuring alcohol without her by his side, either.”

Pence’s policy is standard operating procedure in some Christian circles.

For critics of Pence, the Billy Graham rule suggests a sexist attitude that threatens to reduce women to lusty sex objects and shut them out of professional development. It’s difficult to know what Pence’s reasons are for sticking to this rule of thumb. What I do know is why my Grandpa, a 92year-old retired Protestant pastor, adhered to this rule in some fashion.

I know because he tells me this with pride - but not with the alleged sexism that’s earning Pence so much condemnation.

In fact, the way he approached his relationships with female colleagues helped to support the women he worked with rather than to demean them.

Grandpa spent his career in congregations across Ohio, Indiana and Illinois as an associate pastor by choice, a minister focused on youth education and music, whose job was to support the church’s senior leadership. The era of his ministry he most likes to discuss is the time he worked as an associate to a woman senior pastor in the 1970s and ‘80s - a time and place in which that kind of arrangement was fairly uncommon. When he reflects on their partnership, he says the same things he says about men he worked under: “She was very intelligent,” or “She was a fine Christian.”

Grandpa didn’t completely disavow private meetings with his superior - how could he? - but in his role, he believed avoiding any whiff of impropriety helped to support and elevate the woman in charge. For him, staying away from closed-door meetings or private get-togethers with female co-workers wasn’t a case of wanting to avoid being alone with a woman colleague due to a deepdown certainty of his own uncontrollable lust. Rather, he wanted to spare his boss any personal discomfort, as well as any potential public misconception that their time spent together was anything other than purely professional. This might seem quaint, if not also indicative of a problematic culture. But it was, at

the very least, not rooted in any salacious attitude toward women.

Fellow progressives eager to disparage Christians they imagine must be closet perverts fail to recognize another type of believer: the person who thinks very little about sex, especially in the workplace. For these Christians, setting up boundaries around working relationships is a way of keeping sex out of the question, so the real work can get done. It’s an imperfect solution, but it’s one rooted not in negative attitudes toward women but rather the still-rampant examples of sexual harassment and gender bias in the workplace. In some ways, it’s a guideline meant to combat sexism more than perpetuate it.

It’s true that Pence’s policy may radically limit those who can meet with him, which is unprofessional, if not perhaps skirting some limits of the law. And it’s also the case that being a pastor, though it is a publicfacing job, is different than being an elected official. But there’s also some merit to the idea that men in power should consider how their actions appear, let alone how their actions could cause potential or actual harm to the women they work with.

I am not defending Mike Pence so much as I am trying to defend everyone’s right to not be mocked for being moral in their own way. I find Pence’s views on gay marriage, reproductive rights, and how we as a nation minister to the poor to be repugnant ideas that give mainline conservatism a gross reputation. Further, Pence currently serves at the behest of a confessed abuser, whatever cloak of belief he chooses to wrap around that choice. I grew up in Indiana, and I am horrified and ashamed by how Pence’s extremist policies have allowed flagrant discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans community to flourish and exacerbated a preventable HIV outbreak. These are inexcusably harmful political and personal choices, but those fearful of Pence’s influence on the national stage should focus on his biased lack of leadership when it comes to basic human rights, including the health and safety of all Americans.

That he observes the Billy Graham rule may be the most moral thing about him, not the least.

My Grandpa isn’t going to have the opportunity to influence others with his ever-evolving progressive values much longer. But his strong tenor still carries Shoot is a writer in San Francisco.

COLUMN

Privacy is the price we pay for Internet

By Stephen L. Carter BL OOMBERG NEWS

President Donald Trump is poised to sign legislation to overturn Federal Communications Commission rules forbidding internet service providers from selling data they have vacuumed up about the online habits of their customers. Privacy groups are understandably perturbed. But I wonder whether all the brouhaha is just shouting at the horse to come back long after he’s left the barn.

Yes, it’s a little disturbing that Verizon and AT&T will be able to start behaving like Google and Facebook. But Google and Facebook are already behaving like Google and Facebook. They recognize what we ourselves refuse to see: that we are no longer entirely human.

We may not (yet) be sporting wired implants, but with so much of life spent online, we are increasingly integrated into the digital world. Our smartphones and tablets and computers long ago ceased to be our servants.

They are also not our masters. Whether we are at work or at home, in the street or in the car, at school or on vacation, the devices that were once our tools are now our partners and our symbionts. The day has become unimaginable without our ability to connect at leisure.

We march through the world shedding digital information with every step we take. Whether we are browsing online or browsing in a store, our symbionts surround us and embrace us ... and steal from us. We like to call the bits we leave behind “our” data, but the

truth is that what we shed in our online travels we also abandon -- if not as a matter of law, then as a matter of practical fact.

Most of the time we do little to protect our leavings. We dribble data in our path and never look back, on the cheery assumption that nobody will ever want to examine what we have tossed aside.

For the Internet behemoths — Facebook and Amazon.com and Google — the data constitute a treasure-trove. Their business models are built around finding ever more complex methods of mining what we leave behind for information that advertisers will buy to target us, anonymously but effectively.

The giant internet service providers look enviously upon the ability of other tech companies to monetize our digital trails.

The ISPs peer greedily into their vaults, packed with data potentially even more detailed than what Google and Facebook collect, and wonder why the companies whose signals ride their fiber optic networks can exploit this vast collection and the owners of the network cannot. In their version of the story, the ISPs try to dip their toes in the water, and a Washington establishment that sits in awe of Google and Facebook reacts with horror and bans them from the beach.

With the FCC rules out of the way, it’s everybody into the sea.

This isn’t the end of privacy. Privacy ended already. The FCC rules about to be cast aside, like many other regulatory and legislative barriers, represented mere fingers in the dike.

Nowadays a Wal-Mart

or Nordstrom’s might use your mobile phone, connected to the store’s Wi-Fi, to follow you around the store, combining browsing habits with buying history to personalize offers that are then sent straight to the phone. In his fascinating if disturbing book “The Aisles Have Eyes,” Joseph Turow sharply criticizes this practice, but also tells us where it came from: the need to compete with Amazon, which with its reams of data about customers can both target ads and price discriminate minute-by-minute. If the brick-and-mortar stores couldn’t find a way to exploit similar technologies, they would be left in the dust even faster.

A National Security Agency data center opened three years ago in Utah is estimated to be able to store several exabytes of data, and although the organization is no longer allowed to store most data on our telephone calls, privacy advocates believe that considerable information about our internet usage might be preserved there.

And don’t forget the hackers, who do a lot more than occasionally raid the database of a retail shop. Now that it is possible to scan every port on the Internet in mere minutes, any connected device is likely to be attacked. If the device is poorly protected, it will be hacked. Not might be. Will be. Last year, the Atlantic magazine constructed a virtual wireless toaster to see how much time would pass before an attack was launched. The toaster, which mimicked an actual device connected to the IPv4 space, went live at 1:12 p.m. The first hacking attempt came at 1:53 p.m.

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DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

By midnight the virtual device had been attacked more than 300 times.

And our big privacy worry is that Verizon and AT&T will now be allowed to behave like Google and Facebook?

We lost long ago the battle to be able to protect the data we shed in our wake as we move through the world. The FCC rules were a desperate throw, and, in the long run, perhaps not an important one. It’s time we better armed ourselves. We can delete our cookies when we are done browsing, and we can travel mainly to websites using HTTPS rather than HTTP protocols. But experts agree that such measures are only partly helpful. Using “do not track” commands probably doesn’t help at all.

Most likely we will see another online civil war, such as the one being fought now between users of ad-blocking software on the one hand, and, on the other, websites that support themselves with advertising income. I expect that we will see more apps like TrackMeNot intermittently sending out random search queries, in an effort to make it harder for anyone who might be tracking you to assemble accurate personalized information.

In the end we should expect little return from our efforts. We will go on shedding data and others will go on scooping it up.

We made the big decision when we chose to live in symbiosis with the internet. Remember your high school biology: In a symbiotic relationship, both parties profit.

Stephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg View columnist.

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Saturday, April 1, 2017 |

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A6 | Saturday, April 1, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

STATE

Colorado chemical arms waste may be trucked to Texas

By Dan Elliott A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS Pete Luna / AP

DENVER — The U.S. Army is considering trucking hazardous wastewater from a chemical weapons destruction plant in Colorado to another state because the plant isn’t yet fully operational.

Incinerators in Texas and Arkansas are under consideration to destroy up to 250,000 gallons of wastewater from the Pueblo Chemical Depot, but officials couldn’t immediately provide the exact locations Thursday.

The southern Colorado plant is dismantling and neutralizing shells containing mustard agent but can’t yet process the wastewater and is running out of storage space, officials said.

The waste is primarily saltwater but could irritate human skin because it contains a caustic chemical used to neutralize the mustard. Officials said the wastewater contains no mustard agent.

The highly automated, $4.5 billion plant is destroying about 780,000 shells filled with 2,500 tons (2.3 million kilograms) of mustard agent under an international treaty.

It’s the largest remaining stockpile of chemical weapons in the U.S. Mustard agent can maim or kill by blistering skin, scarring eyes and inflaming airways.

Under most conditions, it’s a thick liquid, not a gas as commonly believed. It is colorless and almost odorless but got its name because impurities made early versions smell like mustard.

The Pueblo plant began work last year and has destroyed more than 19,600 shells and 112 tons of mustard, depot spokesman Tom Schultz said.

Authorities investigate after a deadly crash involving a van carrying church members and a pickup truck on U.S. 83 outside Garner State Park in northern Uvalde County, Texas on Wednesday.

Driver in fatal crash admitted texting before collision

By Juan A. Lozano ASSOCIATED PRE SS Brennan Linsley / AP

In this 2015 file photo, inert 105mm shells sit in the entry point of the explosive destruction system used for destruction of leaky or otherwise problematic chemical munitions, inside the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado.

But a leak delayed the start of one of the last steps in the process — removing salts and other chemicals from the water and converting them to a solid that can be taken to a hazard waste dump. The water would then be re-used in the plant.

The leak has been repaired but officials don’t know whether that part of the plant will be ready before they run out of storage space, so they’re making plans to ship some wastewater elsewhere if necessary.

No decision has been made, Schultz said, and the plant still needs to get approval from state health officials in Colorado to ship the wastewater by truck.

“The projections don’t favor us,” he said. “It appears that we may, I want to stress we may, have to ship up to (250,000 gallons or 946,000 liters) off-site.”

The plant has three storage

Houston woman convicted for online dating scam A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

OKLAHOMA CITY — A federal jury in Oklahoma City has convicted a Houston woman for her role in an online dating scam that conned victims out of millions of dollars.

Akunna Baiyina Ejiofor, 32, has been found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and 18 counts of wire fraud, The Oklahoman reported.

Prosecutors alleged Ejiofor and other coconspirators participated in a “romance scheme” to defraud older, vulnerable women on dating websites, including ChristianMingle.com and Match.com. They said Ejiofor allegedly setup a fraudulent profile for the persona “Edward Peter Duffey,” a fictitious financial adviser from England and would pose as his daughter “Heather.”

Prosecutors believe the scam occurred between May 2014 and January 2016.

During testimony, Ejiofor said she was unaware the scam was happening.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy told jurors that Ejiofor admitted to the FBI last year that she setup the fake dating profiles for the scam.

“Ejiofor only participated to the extent that she could earn money for rent,” she told the FBI, documents show.

In January 2016, the FBI executed search warrants where Ejiofor and her co-defendant Ken Ejimofor Ezeah, 34, lived in Houston. An FBI agent said cellphones and notebooks related to the conspiracy were discovered.

Ezeah pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

He admitted to deceiving victims through “claims of romance,” and targeting women in their 50s and 60s.

“That age group would reflect people either divorced, widowed or more available emotionally,” he testified.

Ex-Texas city manager pleads guilty to lying to FBI A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

DEL RIO, Texas — Prosecutors say a former South Texas city manager faces up to five years in prison for lying to the FBI in a public corruption probe.

Former Eagle Pass City Manager Hector Chavez Sr. pleaded guilty Thursday, in a plea agreement, to making a false statement to a federal agent.

The 68-year-old Chavez remains free on bond pending sentencing in Del Rio. Chavez resigned last

year after being indicted in the case that prosecutors say involves bribes and Maverick County contracts. Investigators say Chavez in 2015 gave false statements to related to work on county contracts and a personal consulting agreement.

Chavez was indicted on charges also including bribery, obstruction and falsifying records. U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Daryl Fields said Friday that those counts are expected to be dropped during sentencing.

tanks that can hold a total of 855,000 gallons. As of Thursday, the tanks held about 700,000 gallons, said Sandra Romero, a spokeswoman for Bechtel Corp., the lead contractor in the partnership that built and operates the facility.

Managers don’t want to stop operating the plant because they would still have $850,000 a day in labor costs whether they are running or not, Schultz said. They also worry that workers’ skills would deteriorate without regular use.

“Their skills can get rusty,” Schultz said. “We can’t afford that to happen. Safety is far too important for us to risk having the workforce, having their skills degrade.”

The Army stores an additional 523 tons of mustard and deadly nerve agents at Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky. A plant to destroy those weapons is expected to begin work in 2020.

HOUSTON — The driver of a pickup truck that collided with a church minibus in rural Texas, killing 13 people, apologized after the crash and acknowledged he had been texting while driving, a witness said Friday.

Jody Kuchler told The Associated Press he was driving behind the truck and had seen it moving erratically prior to the Wednesday collision on a two-lane road about 75 miles west (120 km) of San Antonio, near the town of Concan. Kuchler said the truck had crossed the center line several times while he followed it.

Kuchler said he called the sheriff's offices for both Uvalde and Real counties while he followed the truck and told them "they needed to get him off the road before he hit somebody."

Kuchler said he witnessed the crash and afterward, he checked on both the bus and the truck and was able to speak with the driver, who has been identified by the Texas Department of Public Safety as 20-year-old Jack Dillon Young, of Leakey, Texas.

"He said, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I was texting.' I said, "Son, do you know what you just did? He

said, 'I'm sorry I'm sorry,'" Kuchler quoted the pickup driver as saying.

Department of Public Safety Sgt. Conrad Hein declined to comment on Friday on the cause of the crash or if texting might have played a role. But officials have said the truck driver appeared to have crossed the center line.

Young remains hospitalized following the crash.

Twelve people died at the scene, authorities said. Another bus passenger died at a San Antonio hospital.

The National Transportation Safety Board sent investigators on Thursday to start looking into the crash. The agency was set to hold a news conference later Friday.

The First Baptist Church of New Braunfels, Texas, said its members were returning from a three-day retreat at the Alto Frio Baptist Encampment in Leakey, about 9 miles (15 kilometers) from the crash site.

It is not yet clear if the bus passengers were wearing seatbelts or even if the minibus was fitted with suitable restraints.

The wreck occurred along a curve in the road where the speed limit is 65 mph, according to DPS officials.

Empty jails hope to profit from illegal immigration

By Claudia Lauer ASSOCIATED PRE SS

DALLAS — Several Texas counties that are struggling with debt because their jails have few or no prisoners hope to refill those cell blocks with a different kind of inmate: immigrants who have entered the country illegally.

The debt dates back to the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s, when some rural counties were losing employment prospects and population. To bring jobs and money, they built correctional centers with hundreds and sometimes more than a thousand beds that could be used to house inmates from other counties as well as prisoners for the state and federal governments.

In some cases, the strategy worked, at least for a while. But a decline in crime and an increase in alternative sentencing reduced the Texas prisoner population and created a glut of jail space.

Now the debts, utility bills and maintenance are becoming so burdensome that counties are confronting a difficult choice. They can seek a federal contract to house some of the immigrants expected to be detained in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Or they can sell the vacant detention centers to private prison companies that aim to do the same.

Jails and private prisons across the country are weighing their options after the Department of Homeland Security announced in January that it was shopping for more jail space as part of its efforts to secure the border.

In some places, the

situation is the reverse of Texas, with public prisons full and states paying for extra beds. A private prison operator that had been housing 250 inmates for Vermont recently dropped the state as a client because the federal government will probably offer more for the same space.

“Anyone with vacant beds is hoping the federal government will lease them at a much higher rate,” Lisa Menard, acting commissioner of the Vermont Department of Corrections told lawmakers in February.

“Immigrations and customs enforcement are looking to lease beds everywhere.”

Three vacant Texas detention centers have been sold to private prison companies in the last few weeks, according to county officials and records filed with the national Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.

Some of the jails require updating to meet U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement standards, but the existing facilities could put Texas at an advantage compared with other states where the companies would have to spend months building detention space.

Meanwhile, the traditional inmate-holding business is still declining. A proposed budget from the Texas Senate would end state contracts with four facilities, including three that are privately run, making it more important for those companies to get immigrant contracts to stay profitable.

ICE would not discuss how many beds the agency might need or its timetable for obtaining them. Agency spokesman Carl Rusnok declined to discuss any

negotiations, citing the confidentiality of the federal contracting process.

At least one advocacy group is wary of the secretive process and of putting more detainees in privately run facilities after complaints and violations of inmate-care standards.

“If this is the plan to expand to the bottom of the barrel in detention centers, that should raise huge red flags for people concerned about immigrants’ well-being and rights,” said Bob Libal, executive director of Austin-based Grassroots Leadership, which seeks immigration and detention reform.

Management and Training Corp. recently purchased a South Texas detention center that was shuttered after a 2015 inmate riot left it uninhabitable. The Willacy County Correctional Center, about 45 miles north of the Mexico border, fetched close to $68 million, allowing the county to pay off the construction bonds.

Until the riot over alleged deficiencies in medical care, the company ran the facility in a private-public partnership with the county.

Company spokesman Issa Arnita said MTC was “working closely with ICE and hoping to get a contract.”

Officials in Maverick and Jones counties confirmed that their empty correctional centers were being purchased by the private prison company known as the GEO Group Inc., which runs the most immigrant detention facilities of any private company operating in Texas.

A spokesman for GEO said the company does not comment on specific transactions.

Like a handful of other counties across Texas, Maverick County formed a nonprofit corporation — the Maverick County Public Facility Corporation — to obtain financing through municipal bonds and insulate the county from direct financial responsibility. A private operator would then run the detention center and split the profits.

After a 2013 contract disagreement with GEO over the division of profits, the private company pulled out and the county tried to operate the facility and repay the bonds, said Maverick County Judge David Saucedo, the county’s top administrative officer.

The county eventually reached an agreement with bondholders to foreclose on the facility.

Other counties have entered into agreements with private prison companies to renovate their empty facilities in expectation of reopening if immigrant detention opens opportunities.

However, some county officials say they have no plans to work with prison companies because of previous experiences.

After Emerald Correctional Management pulled out of its contract to run a 600-bed facility in 2014, La Salle County decided to operate the detention center itself.

With 350 to 450 prisoners on any given day, many picked up by the U.S. Marshals Service, the county about 40 miles north of Laredo is finally turning a profit.

Judge Joel Rodriguez was cautious about the prospects of an increase in immigrant detentions.

“There are a lot of facilities in Texas sitting empty,” he said. “And I don’t know if they will be filled because of this.”

Zfrontera THE ZAPATA TIMES | Saturday, April 1, 2017 |

RIBEREÑA EN BREVE PAGO DE IMPUESTOS 1 Desde diciembre, los pagos por impuestos a la propiedad de la Ciudad de Roma deberán realizarse en la oficina de impuestos del Distrito Escolar de Roma, localizado en el 608 N. García St. PAGO EN LÍNEA 1 La Ciudad de Roma informa a sus residentes que a partir de ahora el servicio del agua puede pagarse en línea a cualquier hora las 24 horas del día.

CAMINATA & ZUMBATÓN La Ciudad de Roma invita a la Caminata & Zumbatón para la Concientización del Autismo, de 9 a.m. a 12 p.m., el 1 de abril en el Parque Municipal de Roma.

VACUNACIÓN ANTIRRÁBICA 1 La Semana Nacional de Vacunación Antirrábica, se estar llevando a cabo en Ciudad Miguel Alemán, México del 27 de marzo al 3 de abril.

ERNESTO FONSECA CUMPLÍA PENA POR MUERTE DE AGENTE DEA BEST

Ordenan libertad ASSOCIATED PRE SS

CIUDAD DE MÉXICO — Un narcotraficante mexicano declarado culpable del asesinato en 1985 de un agente de la DEA fue dejado en libertad por orden de una corte en México.

Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo fue excarcelado y puesto bajo arresto domiciliario en 2016 por problemas de salud. Se piensa que tiene 86 u 87 años.

En su casa, Fonseca debía usar un brazalete electrónico y era vigilado por cuatro guardias. El nuevo fallo al parecer

permitirá que "Don Neto" salga de la casa. Le faltan casi nueve años de una sentencia de 40 en prisión.

El viernes, el consejo de la judicatura federal dio a conocer el fallo de una corte que le daría a Fonseca una forma de excarcelación usualmente dada a prisioneros que han cumplido la mayoría de su sentencia.

Fonseca, cofundador del cártel de Guadalajara, fue declarado culpable del secuestro, tortura y asesinato del agente de la DEA Enrique Camarena.

Fonseca se acercó más

a cumplir las condiciones para libertad anticipada en enero, cuando un juez fijó la suma de la compensación que tendría que pagar a las familias de Camarera y de un piloto secuestrado y asesinado en la misma ocasión.

La Procuraduría General de México no respondió de inmediato al fallo.

La embajada estadounidense tampoco respondió al fallo, que marca otro revés para lo que una vez fue descrito como una vigorosa gestión para castigar a los asesinos de Camarena.

Otro cofundador del cártel de Guadalajara, Rafael Caro Quintero, fue dejado en libertad en el 2013 luego que una corte de apelaciones anuló su condena por el asesinato de Camarena sobre bases jurisdiccionales.

La Suprema Corte de México anuló el fallo tres meses más tarde y se emitió una orden de arresto contra Caro Quintero, pero éste sigue prófugo. El gobierno de Estados Unidos ofreció una recompensa de 5 millones de dólares por información que lleve a su captura.

CRUZ ROJA MEXICANA

INICIA COLECTA ANUAL

HUEVOS DE PASCUA 1 La Ciudad de Roma invita a la comunidad a celebrar la Pascua con la búsqueda de huevos en el Parque Municial de Roma, el sábado 8 de abril desde las 10 a.m.

CONSULADO MÓVIL 1 El Consulado General de México en Laredo invita a la comunidad residente en Zapata y zonas cercanas, para que acudan al Consulado Móvil que se llevará a cabo el sábado 8 de abril, en las instalaciones del Zapata County Technical & Advanced Education Center , ubicado en la carretera 83 y calle 9, con horario de servicio de las 8:00 a las 14:00 horas. Se podrán realizar trámites para expedición de matrícula consular, pasaportes, actas de nacimiento, credencial para votar entre otros servicios.

LABORATORIO COMPUTACIONAL 1 La Ciudad de Roma pone a disposición de la comunidad el Laboratorio Computacional que abre de lunes a viernes en horario de 1 p.m. a 5 p.m. en Historical Plaza, a un lado del City Hall.

Informes en el 956849-1411.

DÍA DE LA TIERRA 1 Por segundo año consecutivo, la Ciudad de Roma invita a la Recolección de Llantas para celebrar el Día de la Tierra, el sábado 22 de abril, desde las 8 a.m., en la Plaza Guadalupe.

MUSEO EN ZAPATA 1 A los interesados en realizar una investigación sobre genealogía de la región, se sugiere visitar el Museo del Condado de Zapata ubicado en 805 N US-Hwy 83. Opera de 10 a.m. a 4 p.m.

Existen visitas guiadas. Personal está capacitado y puede orientar acerca de la historia del Sur de Texas y sus fundadores. Pida informes en el 956-765-8983.

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Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Miguel Alemán

Rosa Icela Corro Acosta, segunda de izquierda a derecha, Presidente Municipal de Miguel Alemán, junto a miembros de la Cruz Roja puso en marcha el jueves la Colecta Anual de la Cruz Roja Mexicana Delegación Miguel Alemán.

Fondos ayudarán a sostener gastos y equeipo de institución E SPECIAL PARA TIEMP O DE ZAPATA

Miguel Alemán, México— Rosa Icela Corro Acosta en su calidad de Presidente Municipal de Miguel Alemán, puso en marcha el jueves la Colecta Anual de la Cruz Roja Mexicana Delegación Miguel Alemán en las propias instalaciones de esta benemérita in-

stitución.

Acompañada de los regidores que integran la administración municipal 2016-2018 la primera autoridad felicitó a los integrantes de este gran equipo de colaboradores que brindan desinteresadamente su aportación de trabajo en los diferentes cruceros en donde estarán solicitando la colaboración de la ciuda-

danía.

El coordinador de la Cruz Roja Mexicana Delegación Miguel Alemán Raúl Salinas Cruz agradeció por su parte a las instituciones escolares que harán equipo con los elementos de la Cruz Roja para captar el máximo apoyo que permita seguir solventando los gastos de mantenimiento y del equipo que

utiliza esta benemérita institución.

Por otra parte informó que la colecta anual abarcará los meses de abril y mayo agradeciendo de antemano la aportación que haga el ciudadano a los colaboradores autorizados que estarán colocados en los cruceros estratégicos mas visitados de ese municipio.

COLUMNA

Recuerda origen de ‘Carne asada a la tampiqueña’ Por Raúl Sinencio Chávez TIEMP O DE ZAPATA

Desde establecimientos de postín hasta modestas fondas la incluyen en su menú. Típica y atractiva, esta delicia remite a Tamaulipas. Para esto último deviene idóneo el cosmopolita sureste tamaulipeco.

Salidos de San Luis Potosí, hacia 1915 llegan a temprana edad dos hermanos. De cuna modesta y huérfanos por añadidura, en Tampico pasan inadvertidos al principio.

Loredo se apellidan.

Cabeza del grupo, a Fidel termina abriéndole puertas el oficio de cocinero. José Inés, el menor, descuella en la rama camarera. Sencillo y amable, su trato lo distingue. Ingresaría a la Unión de Empleados de Restaurantes y Similares. Tam-

Foto de cortesía

José Inés Loredo, junto a su hermano Fidel, se asocian con un empresario hispano, e inauguran el Tampico Club en la Ciudad de México. Ellos fueron los creadores del platillo típico ‘Carne asada a la tampiqueña’.

bién atiende las funciones públicas de inspector policíaco e integrante del cabildo porteño. Durante el periodo 1933-1934 resulta alcalde interino.

Tras asociarse con Manuel Suárez, empresario hispano, a fines de aquel decenio los hermanos Loredo inauguran el Tampico Club en la Ciudad de México. Cerca de la Alameda Central, en avenida Juárez número 89, confían la cocina a Fidel y colegas suyos, llevados del referido puerto. La concurrencia queda al cuidado de José Inés.

Cual reflejo del fuerte nacionalismo posrevolucionario, surge entonces la versión prima de cierto platillo que conquista los paladares de paisanos y foráneos. Lo denominan ‘almuerzo huasteco’. Se compone de cecina, queso fresco a la plancha, enchiladas verdes y frijoles negros de la olla con epazote, productos característicos de la región a que pertenece el Tamaulipas meridional.

Rebautizada Carne

asada a la tampiqueña, dicha receta evoluciona con el paso del tiempo.

Cambian la cecina por filete de res, corte más suave. Los frijoles negros son refritos, acompañándolos de totopos y rajas poblanas. Guacamole tampoco falta.

En sociedad todavía con Suárez, los Loredo pasan luego al restaurante del hotel Lincoln. Ahí “puede comerse todo lo que ha acreditado al Tampico” Club, resalta Salvador Novo, escritor de altos vuelos y exigente gourmet.

Al cabo de exitosa carrera, Fidel retorna a la urbe tamaulipeca. Su hermano opta por radicarse en Acapulco. Los parientes de ambos prosiguen la saga. Una calle del municipio que gobernara, lleva el nombre de José Inés Loredo a partir de 1973.

BUSINESS BUREAU

Invitan a hacer limpieza digital Por Miguel Segura BETTER BUSINE SS BUREAU

Se acabó el invierno, y todos sabemos lo que eso significa: limpieza de primavera. Este mes es un buen tiempo para limpiar su armario, la cochera y alrededor de la casa, pero ¿qué pasa con la limpieza de su vida digital?

La mayoría de nosotros tenemos un dispositivo móvil o usamos una computadora al diario —esto crea nuestra huella digital. Ya sean fotos compartidas en redes sociales, copias digitales de registros financieros o la lista de contactos dentro su celular, todos estos datos pueden caer en las manos equivocadas.

De acuerdo con un estudio reciente, más del 68 porciento de ciudadanos americanos guardan el 25 por ciento o más de sus fotos en forma digital. Para muchos, la pérdida de estos recuerdos debido a un virus o robo puede ser devastador.

El Buró de Mejores Negocios recomienda respaldar sus archivos importantes. Si no sabe dónde empezar, comience explorando su aparato —borre archivos que ya no necesita y desinstale programas que no utiliza. Pero recuerde, antes de empezar a limpiar sus dispositivos, asegúrese de respaldar sus imágenes, música y archivos importantes dentro un disco duro externo.

Para asegurarse de que está administrando y ordenando su vida digital de forma segura, BBB ofrece los siguientes consejos: Mantenga su software actualizado. Asegúrese de que todos los dispositivos tengan instaladas las actualizaciones de software más recientes.

Esto incluye software de seguridad, navegadores web, lectores de documentos, sistemas operativos y cualquier otro software que utilice regularmente.

Limpie su dispositivo móvil. Elimine aplicaciones no utilizadas.

Tendrá más espacio de memoria y una mayor duración de la batería en su dispositivo.

Cree contraseñas fuertes. Contraseñas como "123456" o "qwerty" son unas de las contraseñas más comunes en general.

Combine letras mayúsculas y minúsculas con números y símbolos para ofrecer mejor protección.

Limpie el “inbox” de su correo electrónico.

Borre correos electrónicos viejos y cree y etiquete archivos para que sus correos permanezcan organizados. Borre los mensajes de su archivo de “spam” y cancele suscripciones de mensajes que no abre. Mueva correos importantes a un archivo individual.

Cheque la configuración de privacidad en sus perfiles de redes sociales.

Revise la configuración de privacidad y seguridad de los sitios web que utiliza para asegurarse de que permanezcan ajustados a su nivel de comodidad —para compartir con sus amigos o con el público en general.

Sports&Outdoors A8 | Saturday, April 1, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

NCAA BASKETBALL: FINAL FOUR

South Carolina and Gonzaga on the defensive in Final Four David J. Phillip / Associated Press

Both teams make 1st appearance

By Jim O’Connell A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

GLENDALE, Ariz. — South Carolina and Gonzaga have a lot more in common than just being in their first Final Four.

Experience has been a key word around the two programs this week in advance of their national semifinal game on Saturday.

A bigger word that applies is defense. They don’t play the same style but they both are effective in holding down an opponent.

Guard Duane Notice is the defensive focal point

for seventh-seeded South Carolina.

“Just as your point guard initiates your offense, your on-ball defender initiates your defense,” Gamecocks coach Frank Martin said Friday.

“When your point guard’s good offensively, your team is good offensively.

When your on-ball guard is good defensively, your team is good defensively.

They go hand in hand.”

The man top-seeded Gonzaga (36-1) relies on to lead its defense is 7-foot-1 center Przemek Karnowski.

“The rim protection that we have this year is

different than anything we’ve been able to put out there,” Bulldogs coach Mark Few said. “We got the bulk, the strength, size of Karnowski which allows us to not have to double-team. So then we’re not forced into rotations. But then we also can combine that with the athleticism, the shotblocking of Zach Collins and Killian Tillie helps.”

Ask the Gamecocks (26-10) about Gonzaga’s defense and rim protection is mentioned again and again.

“Their bigs are huge,” South Carolina’s Sindarius Thornwell said. “They

Gonzaga has made 18 consecutive tournament appearances under head coach Mark Few but is playing in the Final Four for the first time Saturday against South Carolina.

rebound well and we are big on offensive rebounding. We are big on attacking the rim. They do a great job keeping you out of the rim and make you take pull-up jumpers. We must do a good job moving their defense so we can get easier shots.”

Freshman Maik Kotsar will have the main responsibility of handling Karnowski.

“They have huge bodies and they are tall,” the 6-10 Kotsar said. “Just the physicality of it, we have to guard and not let them get easy paint touches.”

Gonzaga, which has

allowed 60.9 points per game, has kept three of its four opponents under 60 points in the NCAA Tournament, while South Carolina’s scrambling zone has kept its opponents off balance and out of sync.

The Gamecocks allow 64.9 points per game.

“We have been working on it all week, just trying to find ways to exploit their defense,” Gonzaga’s Johnathan Williams said.

“I feel like we’ll be fine.”

Before this tournament, South Carolina’s last NCAA win was in 1973.

Gonzaga has been one of the tournament’s main-

stays winning 21 games in the 18 consecutive years the Zags have reached the NCAA under Few. Thornwell, the Southeastern Conference player of the year, missed Thursday’s practice when he wasn’t feeling well. He practiced Friday and sounded good to go.

“I had a headache, fever and stuff like that. I am fine now. Everything is going good,” he said Friday. “We were glad it occurred on Wednesday so I could get it over with.

Everything worked out and I am glad to be here with my teammates.”

NCAA BASKETBALL: FINAL FOUR

Unfinished business for Tar Heels, Oregon

By Eddie Pells A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Roy Williams could hear his own footsteps as he padded through the nearsilent locker room, still trying to wrap his mind around a question that couldn’t be answered: What do you say to a group of players who did nothing wrong, but lost anyway?

In some form or other, that question has lingered at North Carolina all season. With a win over Oregon in the Final Four on Saturday, the Tar Heels (31-7) will be back to the title game, where, last year, Villanova unraveled their dreams with one dagger of a shot — a game-winning 3 with the buzzer sounding.

“The most inadequate feeling I’ve ever had in my life,” Williams called the aftermath of the game.

“What I did is, I tried to tell them, let’s focus on

using this feeling as fuel, as motivation, to work extremely hard in the offseason.”

Most of the key players from last year’s Tar Heels — among them, Joel Berry II, Isaiah Hicks and Justin Jackson — are back. They have a group-texting channel named, simply, “Redemption.”

The North Carolina players have walked the fine line this season between the natural inclination to dwell on the painful loss, and the impossible task of forgetting it.

“A dream was to get here,” Jackson said. “It wasn’t necessarily to get back here and get back what we thought we won last year.”

Oregon (33-5) had title dreams last year, too.

The Ducks were a No. 1 seed, but in an NCAA Tournament that veered off the rails, guard Dillon Brooks got upbraided by the losing coach in the

first year of the tournament.

“It was stunning when we found out that day that Chris was not going to be with us,” Ducks coach Dana Altman said. “We just had each of our guys step up and try to do a little more.”

Some things to watch when the Ducks meet the Tar Heels in Saturday night’s semifinal:

Brandon Dill / Associated Press

Luke Maye and North Carolina are trying to make a second straight trip to the championship game.

Sweet 16, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, who lectured him in the handshake line for jacking up (and making) an uncontested 3 while the teams were running out the clock.

Then, the top-seeded Ducks ran into Buddy Hield in the Elite Eight .

They looked primed for another run this season, then big man Chris Bou-

cher went down with a torn-up knee in the Pac-12 tournament, and thoughts of Oregon repeating as a 1 seed went out the window.

Instead, the Ducks were seeded third and largely overlooked coming into this year’s tournament.

But now, they’re two wins away from the team’s second championship.

The first came in 1939, the

MAYE DAY Could sophomore Luke Maye be North Carolina’s new go-to guy? Maye hit the game-winner with 0.3 seconds left against Kentucky in the regional final last weekend. It marked the first time a North Carolina player made a game-winning shot in the last 10 seconds of an NCAA Tournament game since 1990 (Rick Fox vs.

Oklahoma). That gamewinner came two days after Maye had 16 points and 12 rebounds — his first career double-double

— in a win over Butler.

HOT SHOT Oregon’s Tyler Dorsey is shooting 65 percent (17 for 26) from 3-point range in the tournament. He said teams haven’t been stepping out to challenge his shot as much in the tournament, and that’s even more the case as he’s extended his range over the last few weeks. The key to keeping a hot hand? “Nothing to figure out, really,” he said. “I’m just getting a lot of shots.

I’m probably getting more than anyone, and I’ve got the hot hand.”

REBOUNDING One reason the Tar Heels are here: Rebounding . They average 13 more rebounds a game than their opponents, a margin unseen in Division I since Michigan State made the Final Four in 2001. It’s resulting in 17.5 secondchance points a game, more than eight more than their opponents.

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Saturday, April 1, 2017 |

A9

BUSINESS

Texas rig count up 7 ASSOCIATED PRE SS

HOUSTON — The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by 15 this week to 824.

A year ago, 450 rigs were active.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes

Inc. said Friday that 662 rigs sought oil and 160 explored for natural gas this week. Two were listed as miscellaneous.

Texas increased by seven rigs and Louisiana added six. Alaska rose by three while New Mexico gained two.

Colorado declined by

two. North Dakota and Utah were off one each.

Arkansas, California, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wyoming were all unchanged.

The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. It bottomed out last May at 404.

Anda Chu / TNS

An EpiPen is used to treat anaphylactic shock.

Mylan expands EpiPen Bill to toughen oil recall to some devices transportation rules clears key hurdle distributed in US

By Jared S. Hopkins B L OOMBE RG NEWS

Mylan NV said it was expanding a recall of its EpiPen allergy injection to some lots of the device that have been distributed in the U.S., after defects were found that could keep the injectors from working in an emergency.

Mylcan called the defect “extremely rare,” and is recalling 13 lots of the pens. The company said it will replace pens from the recalled lots at no cost, and that people

should keep the ones they have until they get their replacements.

“The recall is being expanded to include additional lots as a precautionary measure out of an abundance of caution,” the drugmaker said in a statement Friday.

EpiPen is licensed by Mylan, and the pens are manufactured by Meridian Medical Technologies, a unit of Pfizer Inc. Nina Devlin, a Mylan spokeswoman, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

EpiPen is one of My-

lan’s biggest products, making up the backbone of its specialty drugs division. The company has faced criticism over the drug’s cost. EpiPen’s wholesale price has jumped six-fold since Mylan acquired its marketing rights in 2007 and it now lists for about $600 for a two-pack.

Mylan also sells a generic version of EpiPen for $300.

The injection is used to counteract dangerous allergic reactions, such as those from bee stings or food allergies.

ASSOCIATED PRE SS

OLYMPIA, Wash. — A House bill aimed at increasing the safety around oil transportation on land and water has cleared a key committee.

The House Finance Committee on amended and passed House Bill 1611. It awaits a vote by the full House.

The version that passed Thursday would raise the tax that is collected on crude oil received by vessel or trains by 2.5 cents a barrel, from 4 cents to 6.5 cents.

The measure, however, would not make pipelines that receive crude oil pay a per-barrel tax as proposed initially.

The bill would also require tug escorts and other safety measures for

Rep. Gerry Pollet, a Seattle Democrat, says the bill fills an important need to increase safety and it provides reliable funding to respond to spills.

certain oil tankers.

Rep. Gerry Pollet, a Seattle Democrat, says the bill fills an important need to increase safety and it provides reliable funding to respond to spills.

Rep. Terry Nealy, a Republican from Dayton, called it an unnecessary tax increase.

Real estate boom powered by marijuana

By DAVID GELLES N EW YORK T I ME S NEWS S ERVICE

QUINCY, Mass. — At the edge of an industrial park in this suburb south of Boston, past a used-car auction lot and a defunct cheese factory, is an unmarked warehouse bristling with security cameras and bustling with activity. Until recently, the cinder-block structure was home to a wholesale florist, a granite cutter and a screen printer. Today, it is home to just one tenant: a medical marijuana operation called Ermont.

Legalized marijuana has upset societal norms, created a large legal gray area and generated a lucrative source of tax revenue. Now it is upending the real estate market, too.

In the more than two dozen states that have moved to legalize pot, factories, warehouses and self-storage facilities are being repurposed for the cultivation and processing of potent marijuana plants

and products. Suburban strip malls and beaux-arts buildings have been reimagined as storefronts selling pre-rolled joints and edibles.

And because the marijuana business comes with added baggage, landlords and property owners are charging a premium for new tenants working in the cannabis business. In Quincy, Ermont is paying above market rate for the previously dilapidated 36,000square-foot building.

“The landlord knew he was sitting on a gold mine,” said Zach Harvey, one of Ermont’s financial backers.

Commercial real estate developers say they have never seen a change so swift in so many places at once. From Monterey, California, to Portland, Maine, the new industry is reshaping once-blighted neighborhoods and sending property values soaring. In some Denver neighborhoods, the average asking lease price for warehouse space jumped more than 50 percent

from 2010 to 2015, according to an industry report.

In the city overall, there are five times as many retail pot shops as there are stand-alone Starbucks.

Wall Street is even cashing in. A few months ago, a real estate investment trust focused on leasing out warehouse space to growers started trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The sharp rise in property prices follows the booming market for legal marijuana. Sales of legal cannabis reached $6.7 billion in the United States last year and are expected to top $20 billion by 2021, according to Acrview Market Research.

“This is a new segment of the industrial real estate market that is being created in front of our eyes,” said George M. Stone, a longtime real estate executive now focused on the pot business.

“It’s a huge industry and only getting bigger.”

Yet there are simmering concerns that a real estate bubble might be forming.

Right now, millions of dollars are being spent to make old warehouses suitable for cannabis cultivation. Warehouses are in vogue for a variety of reasons: They are big enough to hold thousands of plants, can accommodate the needed climate controls and are private and relatively easy to secure. What is more, because it is still illegal to transport marijuana across state lines, pot must be grown in the state where it is sold.

But many executives believe that as the industry matures, tenants and investors spending big money on such projects could soon find themselves underwater. Ultimately, the theory goes, growers are likely to turn to less expensive greenhouses as the business matures. And if federal regulations about the transportation of marijuana loosen, dispensaries in Boston could soon sell buds grown in California greenhouses.

There is also a lingering threat that the federal

government, which still classifies marijuana as an illegal substance, could crack down on the burgeoning industry. The attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has expressed his disdain for the legalization movement.

But for now, those concerns are being tossed aside for what looks like a can’t-lose opportunity for everyone involved: Building owners can charge above market rates, real estate groups can profit by subleasing to growers, and growers can make enough money to afford the steep rents.

Denver has emerged as America’s de facto pot capital. Since Colorado legalized marijuana for recreational use in 2012, hundreds of stores selling pot have opened, and enormous growing operations have set up shop.

Legal cannabis sales topped $1 billion in the state last year.

The impact on the local real estate market has been equally big.

From 2009 to 2014, 36 percent of new industrial

tenants were marijuana businesses, according to the report on the city from CBRE Research, a commercial real estate company. Nearly 4 million square feet of industrial space was being used for cultivation in 2015, according to the report, about 3 percent of the city’s warehouse space. Warehouse vacancy rates in Denver fell to just 3.7 percent in 2015, down from 7.5 percent in 2010.

The industry has taken especially deep root among the low-slung warehouses in north Denver. Buildings used for growing marijuana are easy to spot — many are distinguished by extra lights and security cameras. But “I wouldn’t have to point it out,” said Brian Vicente, a partner at Vicente Sederberg, a Denver law firm that specializes in marijuana issues. “You can smell it.”

Retail spaces are just as hot. By 2015, there were upward of 200 marijuana stores in Denver, occupying high-end storefronts and former gas stations.

A10 | Saturday, April 1, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

ENTERTAINMENT

'The Fate of the Furious' screening gets first reactions at CinemaCon

By Lindsey Bahr ASSOCIATED PRE SS

Jeff Chiu / AP

In this 2011 file photo, a man walks past a sign for a Carl's Jr. restaurant in San Bruno, Calif.

Carl's Jr. ditches bikini-clad ads A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

Carl's Jr. and Hardee's are ditching the bikinis and getting back to the burgers.

The chains are famous for advertisements featuring models and celebrities like Paris Hilton, Kate Upton and Emily Ratajkowski munching on burgers while scantily clad.

A new commercial for the chains shows the imagined Carl Hardee Sr. taking back control of the operation from immature son Carl Hardee Jr. Carl Sr. rips down

photos of swimsuit models and puts up framed pictures of hamburgers.

The chains are now calling themselves "pioneers of the great American burger."

The company's racy advertising campaign had a defender in Andrew Puzder, who is stepping down as CEO of the chains' parent company, Carpinteria, California-based CKE Restaurant Holdings. Puzder withdrew as President Donald Trump's nominee for Labor Department secretary last month.

LAS VEGAS — "The Fate of the Furious" is in, and it's good according to first reactions to the upcoming film.

Universal Pictures surprised CinemaCon audiences on Wednesday with an unannounced screening of the eighth film in the franchise and praise spread quickly on Twitter.

The Hollywood Reporter's Rebecca Ford said it was perfection, while the trade publication's Aaron Couch said it is "exactly what you buy your ticket for," calling out Jason Statham's film-stealing sequences.

Couch also noted that there are a few "so bad they're good moments" that the improbable franchise has become known for, including a particularly over-the-top sequence with a submarine.

IMDB's Keith Simanton said director F. Gary

Chris Pizzello / AP

Left to right, Charlize Theron, Kurt Russell, Chris Bridges, Tyrese Gibson and Vin Diesel, cast members in the upcoming film "The Fate of the Furious," discuss the film onstage during the Universal Pictures presentation at CinemaCon 2017 at Caesars Palace on Wednesday in Las Vegas.

Gray, a newcomer to the franchise fresh off of "Straight Outta Compton," is "up to the task."

Slashfilm's Peter Sciretta wrote that it "takes the ridiculousness to a whole new level, but feels very different."

And Steven Weintraub of Collider.com singled out Dwayne Johnson in particular who he called a

"straight up superhero."

Johnson, among other things, deadlifts concrete and coaches a girls soccer team.

"The Fate of the Furious" reunites the Los Angeles street racers, including Michelle Rodriquez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, and Nathalie Emmanuel, taking them to the streets of Cuba,

New York, Berlin and to the frozen Russian landscape. Charlize Theron joins as a dreadlocked baddie with nuclear ambitions and Scott Eastwood teams up with Kurt Russell as an agent in training.

Official reviews are embargoed until April 10 before it races into theaters on April 14.

Verizon reportedly plans to launch new streaming TV service

By Brian Fung WA S H INGT ON P O ST

Verizon is getting ready to launch an online bundle of TV channels that aims to compete with similar offerings from AT&T, Dish Network and Sony, according to Bloomberg News.

The unnamed streaming service could come with “dozens” of channels, according to the report, and may be released as an app as soon as this summer.

With Americans spending more time these days watching video on mobile devices, compa-

nies across the media and telecom ecosystem have been racing to offer smaller bundles of cable content over the Internet.

They are also seeking to balance out losses in their traditional cable TV subscriptions and to target the tens of millions of Americans who do not

subscribe to pay-TV. Verizon could be the latest major provider to offer live TV over the Internet, though Comcast has also reportedly made moves toward a streaming television product by securing streaming rights to channels it has a relationship with.

Already on the market are Dish’s SlingTV, Sony’s PlayStation Vue and Google’s announced, but not launched, YouTube TV. Each service offers a variety of channels for $20 to $70 a month.

Verizon has experimented with online video

before. Its Go90 service, which launched in 2015, is aimed at younger audiences and provides access to short-form videos.

But a full cable-replacement app would be a much larger undertaking.

Verizon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Saturday, April 1, 2017 |

A11

NATIONAL

CBP officers tell Mexican teen to drink liquid meth; family receives $1M for his death

By Kristine Phillips WASHINGTON P O ST

Win McNamee / Getty Images

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton waves to students and guests while receiving a standing ovation before delivering remarks at Georgetown University on Friday in Washington, DC.

Clinton shades Trump in first public post-election speech

By Emily Heil WA S H INGT ON P O ST

WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton returned to public life in Washington on Friday, giving a speech at Georgetown University about the role of women in the peacemaking process in Colombia and around the globe.

Her message was all on-point, but we couldn’t help but detect just a soupcon of shade directed at her onetime campaigntrail rival, President Donald Trump, and to the critiques of her own presidential campaign.

As Clinton, who was giving out an award named in her honor by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, described how women’s involvement in

negotiations to end conflicts is proven to help ensure they succeed, she added this aside: “Here I go, talking about research, evidence and facts.”

That was, apparently, a reference to the frequent criticism of her presidential run — that she often relied on the dry stuff while Trump played to voters’ emotions.

A less oblique dig at Trump came a few moments later. “Women are not inherently more peaceful - that’s a stereotype,” Clinton said. Then a beat. “That belongs in the alternative reality,” she said — a seeming invocation of White House aide Kellyanne Conway’s “alternative facts.”

Both lines drew big applause from the friendly crowd.

Cruz Velazquez Acevedo began convulsing shortly after he drank the liquid methamphetamine he’d brought with him from Tijuana, Mexico.

The 16-year-old had just crossed the U.S.-Mexico border to San Diego and was going through the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

He was carrying two bottles of liquid that he claimed was apple juice.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers told him to drink it to prove he wasn’t lying, court records say.

The teen took four sips.

Then, he began sweating profusely. He screamed and clenched his fists.

In a matter of minutes, his temperature soared to 105 degrees, his family’s attorney said. His pulse reached an alarming rate of 220 beats per minute more than twice the normal rate for adults.

“Mi corazón! Mi corazón!” Acevedo screamed, according to court records — “My heart! My heart!”

He was dead about two hours later.

Now, more than three years after his death, the United States has agreed to pay Acevedo’s family $1 million in a wrongfuldeath lawsuit brought against two border officers and the U.S. government.

The family’s attorney, Eugene Iredale, acknowledged that the teen did something wrong when he tried to bring drugs into the United States on Nov. 18, 2013.

“But he’s a 16-year-old

boy with all the immaturity and bad judgment that might be characteristic of any 16-year-old kid,” Iredale told The Washington Post. “He was basically a good boy, he had no record, but he did something stupid. In any event, the worst that would’ve happened to him is that he would’ve been arrested and put in a juvenile facility for some period of time. . . .

“It wasn’t a death penalty case. To cause him to die in a horrible way that he did is something that is execrable.”

Iredale said he does not know where or how Acevedo got the drugs, or why he brought them into the United States.

“It’s typical for people who are drug smugglers to approach kids and offer them $150 to smuggle drugs across the border,” he said. “We’re never going to know in this case because Cruz died. He knows it’s something he shouldn’t be bringing.”

Acevedo crossed the border through the pedestrian entrance at the San Ysidro Port of Entry at about 6:40 p.m. on that November night. Iredale said the teen was carrying his passport and his border crossing card, which allows Mexican citizens to enter the United States and travel within a certain distance for tourism purposes. In California and Texas, the distance is up to 25 miles from the border; New Mexico and Arizona allow noncitizens to travel for up to 55 miles and 75 miles, respectively.

The two Border Protection officers, Adrian Perallon and Valerie

Baird, believed the teen was carrying a deadly controlled substance, but they “coerced and intimidated” him into drinking the liquid, according to a complaint. The boy was taken to a hospital almost an hour after he had sipped the methamphetamine.

He was pronounced dead just before 9 p.m.

“I’m not prepared to say they knew for certain that it was going to kill him. . . . It’s obvious that they suspected from the beginning that it’s meth,” Iredale said. “Playing a cruel joke on a child is not something that’s justifiable in any way. They have test kits available that would’ve given results in two to three minutes.”

Iredale said the officers did test the liquid for drugs, but only after the teen started overdosing.

He also cited testimony by another border officer who said Baird confessed minutes after the incident.

“I asked him what it was, he said it was juice,” Baird told the other border officer, according to Iredale. “I said to him then, ‘prove it.’ “ Perallon and Baird are still employed by the Customs and Border Protection in San Diego, the agency said in a statement.

“Although we are not able to speak about this specific case, training and the evaluation of CBP policies and procedures are consistently reviewed as needed,” the statement said. Iredale said Acevedo’s death prompted an internal affairs investigation, but neither officer

was disciplined. When asked about the internal affairs investigation, a Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman said the agency had no further comment.

Richard Tolles, an attorney for Baird, said his client and Perallon had sought a summary judgment on the case and were waiting for a hearing on their requests when the government decided to settle.

The U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of California declined to comment. The complaint alleged violations of constitutional rights, including the right to not be subjected to punishment without due process. It also accused government officials of not adequately training border officers. Tolles said there was no misconduct on his client’s part “that would’ve risen to the level of denial of due process.”

“There is no violation of any clearly established constitutional right,” he said. In a motion to dismiss filed on behalf of Baird in 2015, her attorneys said Acevedo wasn’t a U.S. citizen and had no connections with the United States that entitled him to any constitutional rights.

“Nonresident aliens are entitled to constitutional protections only if they have substantial voluntary connections with the United States,” the attorneys argued. Iredale said the settlement was the result of several conversations between the parties. The money has been paid to Acevedo’s parents, Iredale said.

Navy promotes SEAL commander in defiance of Congress

By Craig Whitlock WA S H INGT ON P O ST

In defiance of Congress, the Navy has granted a retroactive promotion, back pay and a bigger pension to an admiral whom lawmakers forced to retire last year after multiple investigations found he had retaliated against whistleblowers, records show.

Brian Losey, a former commander of the Navy SEALs, rose in rank to become a two-star rear admiral in January after the Navy conducted a secretive and unusually rapid review of his case during the final days of the Obama administration, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act. Losey’s promotion came two months after he retired from the military under duress, the casualty of a clash between Navy leaders who wanted to reward the combat-hardened SEAL commander and a bipartisan group of senators who demanded his ouster after the investigations determined he had violated whistleblower-protection laws.

The dispute represented a rare public challenge by senior military leaders to congressional oversight of the armed forces, and left lingering resentments on both sides. Lawmakers thought they had prevailed by blocking Losey’s promotion last year, but the newly obtained documents reveal the Navy had the last word.

The promotion capped a long-running controversy over Losey’s record as a commander of the SEALs and other elite Special Operations forces during a highly decorated 33-year military career.

Three separate investigations by the Defense Department’s inspector general found that Losey had wrongly fired, demoted or punished subordinates during a vengeful but fruitless hunt for an anonymous whistleblower under his command.

Losey denied wrongdoing. Navy leaders dismissed the findings after conducting their own review and decided in October 2015 to promote him anyway. But members of Congress objected strenuously when they learned about the case from a report in The Post, and pressured Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to block Losey’s advancement.

Mabus resisted at first as many other admirals pushed him to stand behind Losey. After the Senate upped the ante by freezing the nomination of the Navy’s second-ranking civilian leader, the service announced in March 2016 that Mabus would reluctantly deny Losey’s promotion, effectively ending his military career.

The documents obtained by The Post, however, show that Mabus later reopened the case.

On Jan. 12, during his last week in office as an Obama political appointee, Mabus signed a memo boosting Losey’s rank from a one-star to a twostar admiral.

Losey, 56, will stay retired, but the documents show that his promotion will benefit him financially for the rest of his life.

His higher rank entitles him to a bigger annual military pension. It will swell to about $142,000 this year, an increase of $16,700, according to Defense Department figures.

He will also receive a one-time check for about $70,000 in back pay because the Navy dated his

Richard Miller / U.S. Navy

In defiance of Congress, the Navy has granted Losey a retroactive promotion, back pay and a bigger pension even though lawmakers forced him to retire last year.

promotion retroactively to the date when he first became eligible for a second star.

Mabus declined to comment. His decision to promote the admiral was based on a recommendation from the Board for Correction of Naval Records, a quasi-judicial panel that fields requests from veterans to review potential errors in their personnel files.

The board has the authority to fix mistakes or “remove injustices” from a veteran’s permanent military record, according to its mission statement.

Losey retired Nov. 1.

Three weeks later, he submitted a petition to the board, arguing that he had been unfairly denied promotion because the inspector general and his critics in Congress were biased against him.

“The damning assertions against my leadership are not supported by the facts, and these errors in fact contributed to an unjust outcome,” he wrote.

The Board for Correction of Naval Records receives 12,000 applications annually and typ-

ically takes between 10 and 18 months to issue a final decision, according to Navy officials.

Losey’s application was approved by the board and Mabus in seven weeks.

Experts in military law said they had never heard of a case being reviewed so quickly.

“I’m not passing any judgment on his promotion and whether he deserves it or not, but the process certainly does look suspicious,” said Raymond Toney, a Utah attorney who specializes in such cases and who reviewed Losey’s file at The Post’s request. “It suggests to me that the rear admiral has some friends who did not want to see him go down in flames at the end of his career.”

Eugene Fidell, a lecturer on military justice at Yale Law School, said the speed in which Losey’s appeal was heard made it appear that the outcome was predetermined. “The circumstantial evidence suggests to me that this was wired,” he said.

Navy officials denied that Losey was given

special treatment.

In a statement, Capt.

Amy Derrick, a Navy spokeswoman, said the Board for Correction of Naval Records “provides a full and fair hearing on all requests that are complete and submitted in accordance with established procedures.”

Thomas Oppel, who served as Mabus’ chief of staff until both left office in January, said in an interview that any suggestion the Navy rushed the process during the waning days of the Obama administration was “a whole lot of speculation without foundation.”

“This is a case that had been freshly investigated, and the facts were fairly well known,” Oppel added.

Losey deferred questions about how his petition was handled to the Navy. “I followed processes available to me,” he wrote in a brief message to The Post. “I do business by the book and have always aimed to be fair.”

Members of Congress who had urged the Navy to hold Losey accountable for punishing whistleblowers said they were dismayed to learn about the admiral’s promotion.

“Cases like these send the wrong message about whistleblower retaliation,” Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in an emailed statement. “When accountability is lacking, retaliation continues.

Good government suffers.”

Sen. Ron Wyden, DOre., who held up the confirmation of the Navy’s second-ranking civilian leader last year in a tactic to block Losey’s rank advancement, said he was disappointed but not surprised.

“The Navy leadership has long sought to sweep away the inspector general’s findings and make excuses for one of its own, and Secretary Mabus’ decision to grant Admiral Losey a backdoor promotion is yet another disappointing example,” Wyden said.

A spokesman for the Senate Armed Services Committee said the panel was not informed of Losey’s post-retirement request for promotion until after it was finalized.

Other lawmakers said they were unaware of his new rank until they were told by The Post.

A prominent figure in the military’s secretive Special Operations forces, Losey served as the head of the Naval Special Warfare Command from 2013 to 2016. He formerly commanded SEAL Team Six, the clandestine unit known for hunting terrorist targets. He deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Bosnia, Panama and other conflict zones.

The Navy first tried to promote Losey to become a two-star admiral in 2011.

The Senate confirmed his nomination that year. But the move was put on hold when the Defense Department’s inspector general began investigating Losey’s actions while serving as commander of Special Operations forces in Africa.

Five of Losey’s subordinates filed complaints that he had unfairly fired or punished them during a ham-handed hunt for a suspected whistleblower.

After spending four years interviewing more than 100 witnesses and reviewing 300,000 papers of emails, the inspector general determined that Losey had violated whistleblower-protection laws in three of the cases.

A12 | Saturday, April 1, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

FROM THE COVER GUILTY From page A1 toilmondo, that he was detained for a Level III inspection under the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program. This check requires inspection of the operator’s driver’s license, medical certification and daily log.

The corporal asked the driver for proper documentation, but Tuttolimondo was unable to provide information on the semi-

MARCH From page A1 Bocanegra was a migrant worker as well. At 5 years old, he would go with his parents to North Dakota and Minnesota where they picked beets. His mother would exchange tortillas for cupcakes with the Anglo owners. In his teens, he would pick cotton or onions on his knees for as little as 25 cents an hour.

The “Si Se Puede Award” will be presented to Boca-

trailer. After further questioning and many inconsistencies, the driver gave verbal consent for the corporal and other troopers who arrived at the scene to search the vehicle.

Upon searching the trailer, 18 nylon bags containing fertilizer were found. One hundred and fifty-two bundles of marijuana were discovered inside the bags, court records state.

Tuttoilmondo was arrested and charged with second-degree possession of marijuana.

negra on Saturday. The award was created by Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the Farm Workers Union along with Cesar Chavez.

Bocanegra is receiving this award for his work to better the working conditions of migrant workers such as the time he spent as a union member.

“In Spanish they called it la causa, the cause, because that’s what the whole idea was — to do something, to get better wages for the farm workers,” Bocanegra said.

BORDER From page A1 both people and vehicles from moving north and shorter steel posts aimed only at blocking cars. In parts of Texas' Rio Grande Valley, some stretches of fencing are nearly a mile away from the border in part to accommodate flood plains and an international treaty.

And in Texas, almost all of the land along the border is privately owned. When Bush tried to build border fencing starting in 2006, he faced stiff opposition from local ranchers and farmers, many of whom took the government to court on plans to use their land.

The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for the border wall, but Zinke said the Interior Department will play a critical support role.

According to the Government Accountability Office, federal

TAMIU From page A1 were to disappear, border cities like Zapata would learn to adapt.

They also agreed that this is not very likely to happen in the first place.

“We’re more afraid of what could happen than what will probably happen,” Federico Schaffler, director of Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development at TAMIU, said. “... If NAFTA turns into three bilateral agreements, trade will continue to flow. We probably shouldn’t panic.”

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, issued a statement about NAFTA on Thursday with a similar level of confidence. He was responding to a draft letter from Stephen Vaughn, U.S. trade representative, that laid out President Trump’s intentions to initiate negotiations on NAFTA. “I’ve been saying all along that we should update NAFTA for the 21st century. I’m glad President Trump has backed down from his campaign rhetoric about eliminating the trade deal entirely, because it has been good for Texas businesses and the entire American economy,” Cuellar said. “This letter that is circulating doesn’t have a lot of specifics

and tribal lands make up about 632 miles (1,017 kilometers), or roughly 1/3 of the nearly 2,000mile (3,218-kilometers) border.

"At the end of the day, what's important is American security and to make sure we have a border," Zinke told reporters on a conference call.

"Without a border a nation cannot exist."

An internal report prepared for Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly estimated that a wall along the entire border would cost about $21 billion.

Congressional Republicans have estimated a more moderate price tag of $12 billion to $15 billion.

Customs and Border Protection said in a statement Wednesday that cost estimates are "premature as there are many variables that are currently unknown." The agency said it could not provide a detailed estimate for the project.

Kelly told Congress in Janu-

yet. It’s declaring an intent to renegotiate, and some general positive goals. I am open-minded and ready to dive into the details.”

“However, there are some concerning provisions in this letter.

Currently, NAFTA member countries can’t put tariffs on goods imported from other members.

This letter suggests creating a way to apply temporary tariffs in some circumstances. I am wary that such a provision may be a backdoor way to limit our international trade relationships and risk American jobs,” Cuellar said.

Schaffler said another source of potential harm would be if customs brokers, manufacturing and logistics organizations left the Laredo-Nuevo Laredo area.

“If we consider the huge amount of dollars that cross through our border and the amount that is earned by customs brokers, that amount is multiplied in our community,” Schaffler said.

Laredo’s competitive trade industry would lose its edge without these organizations, he said.

Stephen Meardon, director of the Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade, said a source of harm to NAFTA’s legitimacy is several studies showing

ary that a wall wouldn't be a complete fix for the border.

"A physical barrier in and of itself will not do the job," Kelly said during his confirmation hearing. "Certainly it has to be a layered approach."

Zinke's comments appeared to bolster that view and followed remarks he made Tuesday to the Public Lands Council, a group that represents Western ranchers.

"The border is complicated, as far as building a physical wall," Zinke said in remarks first reported by E&E News.

"The Rio Grande, what side of the river are you going to put the wall? We're not going to put it on our side and cede the river to Mexico. And we're probably not going to put it in the middle of the river."

Electronic monitors may be more appropriate in that region, Zinke said, while areas with imposing natural features may not require additional

reinforcements.

The border is already dotted with underground sensors and camera towers, along with about 700 miles of fencing in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, and it's unclear how much new fencing the Trump administration is proposing.

According to new budget details sent to Congress, the administration wants immediate funding to complete an existing barrier in the Rio Grande Valley, $500 million to complete 28 miles of a border levee wall near McAllen, Texas, and $350 million for construction along two segments near San Diego.

Senate Democrats have threatened to filibuster any provision providing money for the wall. Many Republicans aren't very enthusiastic about the plan and say the White House has given them few specifics.

its economic effects as minimal.

A study published in the Review of Economic Studies in 2015 showed NAFTA’s total welfare effects in Mexico to be a positive 1.3 percent; in the U.S. it’s only .08 percent.

To some, this might imply that withdrawing from NAFTA would have a similarly modest effect.

He said the models these economists use are well-respected, but do not take into account dynamic effects like reductions to barriers of trade or other countries’ trade policies.

“I think when economists assess NAFTA as having had a modest effect ... they’re understating the effects in both cases,” Meardon said.

Gerry Schwebel, executive vice president of the Corporate International Division at IBC BankLaredo and early proponent of NAFTA, spoke at the end of Thursday’s forum about the importance of the North American model. He said we refer to ourselves as Americans, Mexicans or Canadians.

“Until we talk as North Americans, we’re not going to understand how interconnected we are,” Schwebel said.

Julia Wallace may be reached at 956-728-2543 or jwallace@lmtonline.com

Republican Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, a key budget negotiator, said the Senate is unlikely to include money for a border wall in a broader spending package to avert a partial government shutdown next month.

Customs and Border Protection, the Homeland Security agency that will eventually patrol and maintain any new fencing or walls, has asked contractors to submit proposals for a 30-foot-high wall that is difficult to climb or cut through. Bids were originally due to the government by Wednesday, but the deadline was extended to April 4 amid questions from possible bidders.

In a pair of contract notices made public two weeks ago, the government said proposals could lay out plans for a solid concrete wall or a structure that can be seen through by border agents.