The Zapata Times 4/12/2017

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BORDER SECURITY

President Trump’s wall could be in Valley first Courtesy photo

Renato Ramirez, CEO of IBC Bank in Zapata, poses for a photo in front of the Tejano Monument on the south lawn of the Texas Capitol. Gov. Abbot recognized IBC and Ramirez for playing a key role in fundraising $1.3 million dollar to commemorate Tejano heritage.

Ramirez hailed at heritage event Historians, teachers and supporters gathered to celebrate

Nearly 50 miles would occupy Hidalgo County

Existing border fencing Fifty-six miles of fencing were constructed in the Rio Grande Valley under the 2006 Secure Fence Act, 20 miles of it on levees in Hidalgo County. The Trump administration has asked for $999 million this year to construct 28 miles of levee wall, which most likely will go to fill in gaps in Hidalgo County, and six miles of other fencing, which could be built in Roma, Rio Grande City or Los Ebanos, where fencing was planned under former President George W. Bush but never completed.

By Jason Buch STAFF WRITER

Congress this month will decide whether to fund the first 48 miles of President Donald Trump’s border wall, most of which will likely end up in Hidalgo County.

In his request for funding for the rest of this year, Trump asked for $999 million to build 14 miles of fencing in California and 34 miles in South Texas. Of that nearly $1 billion, $498 million would go to what the Homeland Security Department has identified as “28 miles of new levee wall system in Rio Grande Valley Sector.”

Hidalgo County, which includes the cities of McAllen and Edinburg, is home to a unique kind of barrier autho-

Border fence section

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Falcon Lake

Approximate border fence locations shown

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Roma

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Los Ebanos

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Gulf

Edinburg

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Harlingen

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SAN ANTONIO

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N Mike Fisher/San Antonio Express-News

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S P ECIAL T O T HE T I ME S

The fifth anniversary of the Tejano Monument, which immortalizes the Tejano culture with nine life-size statues, was celebrated with a festive gathering.

Gov. Greg Abbot was among the dignitaries saluting IBC Bank and Renato Ramirez, CEO of IBC Bank in Zapata, for fundraising the $1.3 million that brought together The General Land Office, the State Preservation Board, the Texas Historical Commission, the Tejano Genealogy Society, IBC Bank and the University of Texas to commemorate Tejano heritage.

The all-day celebration welcomed historians, teachers and supporters to take part at the Mexican-American History Symposium, Tejano Monument Anniversary Ceremony and a concert, The Evolution of Tejano Music.

“We were in need of positive art around the state house commemorating Tejanos in Texas,” Ramirez said. “Now, nearly 500 years after the mapping of the Texas coast by Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda in 1519, and 175 years after Tejanos Jose Francisco Ruiz, Jose Antonio Navarro and Lorenzo de Zavala signed the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836, the Tejano culture and its contributions to Texas’ evolution is officially recognized by the state.”

Sculptor Armando Hinojosa, based in Laredo, was commissioned to create the monument that is now on the Texas Capitol grounds. The Tejano Monument immortalizes the contribution of Tejanos to Texas culture and history: The Spanish explorer looking to a bright future in Texas; the longhorn bull and cow, originally brought to Texas by Spaniards, indicative of a productive future of the cattle industry; the vaquero on his mustang representing the contribution of Tejano Vaqueros to the cowboy culture in Texas; the Mexican couple with an infant child, the young boy with a goat, the young girl with her lamb are all indicating the Tejano family Tejano continues on A11

810 NORTH US HIGHWAY 83

ZAPATA VETERANS POST OFFICE CEREMONY

Courtesy / U.S. Congressman Henry Cuellar’s Office

Congressman Cuellar presents a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol to the Zapata Veterans Post Office during a dedication ceremony in Zapata on Monday. Pictured are members of the American Legion Post 486 of Zapata, A. L. Benavides Elementary School, Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell, Congressman Henry Cuellar, Zapata County Veterans Service Officer Manuel Uribe, Zapata County Commissioner Precinct 2 Olga M. Elizondo, Zapata County Commissioner Precinct 4 Norberto Garza, Zapata County Tax Assessor Collector Luis Lauro Gonzalez, Zapata Postmaster Tina Ramirez and Zapata County Commissioner for Precinct 1 Jose Paco Mendoza.

Congressman Cuellar presents flag to locals, army vets SPECIAL TO THE TIME S

Congressman Henry Cuellar dedicated Monday the Zapata Veterans Post Office at a ceremony with local officials, veterans and the Zapata community.

In December, President Obama signed H.R. 5591, a bill Cuellar authored to rename the post office located at 810 North U.S. Highway 83 in Zapata, as the

“Zapata Veterans Post Office.”

The bill has previously passed in both the House and Senate.

A press conference will be held in Zapata at a future date.

“Zapata has many proud men and women who have honorably served our country. I introduced this bill to rename the post office to honor their heroism and defense of our great country,” Cuellar said.

“The six Treviño brothers of Zapata, all World War II veterans, are a great example of Zapata’s brave veterans. Teodoro, Leopoldo, Antonio, Anselmo, Filberto Jr., and Jose Manuel Treviño performed many acts of bravery, including taking down enemy plans and protecting soldiers by using their own bodies as shields.

“My mother was born in

Zapata, and having a long history of serving our country is one of the many reasons why we’re proud to call Zapata home. I thank Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell for and the Veterans Services Office in Zapata for their tirelessly work to provide support to our local veterans.”

In September, Cuellar spoke in favor of H.R. 5591.

Zin brief A2 | Wednesday, April 12, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

CALENDAR

AROUND THE WORLD

TODAY IN HISTORY

MONDAY, APRIL 17

ASSOCIATED PRE SS

Chess Club. Every Monday, 4-6 p.m.

LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Compete with other players in this cherished game played internationally. Free instruction for all ages and skill levels. Chess books and training materials are available.

Today is Wednesday, April 12, the 102nd day of 2017. There are 263 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History: On April 12, 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia, at age 63; he was succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman.

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.

SUNDAY, APRIL 23 Spaghetti lunch. Noon to 1:30 p.m.

First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall. Sponsored by the United Methodist Men. No admission fee, free-will donations accepted.

MONDAY, APRIL 24 Chess Club. Every Monday, 4-6 p.m.

LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Compete with other players in this cherished game played internationally. Free instruction for all ages and skill levels. Chess books and training materials are available.

Ahn Young-joon / AP

U.S. Marine soldiers patrol during the U.S.-South Korea joint Exercise Operation Pacific Reach in Pohang, South Korea on Tuesday.

NORTH KOREA DECRIES US CARRIER DISPATCH AS PARLIAMENT MEETS

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26 “A Toast to 25 Years of Music, Art and Fashion.” 11:30 a.m. Laredo Country Club. The Volunteer Services Council for Border Region Behavioral Health Center invites the community to this event to celebrate Administrative Professional Day Luncheon and Fashion Show. A raffle will also be held at the event. To purchase a table, contact Laura Kim at 956-794-3130 or blaurak@borderregion.org.

THURSDAY, APRIL 27 Villa San Agustin de Laredo Genealogical Society Meeting . 3 to 5 p.m.

Joe A. Guerra Public Library, second floor. Speaker: Celso Sanchez, "Don Tomas Sanchez, The Founder of Laredo.” Members free, guests $5. For more info, call Sylvia Reash at 763-1810.

Spanish Book Club. 6 to 8 p.m. Joe A Guerra Public Library, conference room.

For more info, call Sylvia Reash at 763-1810.

MONDAY, MAY 1 Chess Club. Every Monday, 4-6 p.m.

LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Compete with other players in this cherished game played internationally. Free instruction for all ages and skill levels. Chess books and training materials are available.

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.

FRIDAY, MAY 5 2017 Laredo Open. May 5-7. Laredo Country Club. $150 registration fee, which includes live music, food, drinks and raffle prizes. Guest fee: $20 per day. Registration deadline: May 2 at midnight. Sponsor and player packet pickup and party is set for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. May 3 in the Rosewood Room.

Sign up today at tennislaredo.com or at the LCC Tennis Pro Shop.

SATURDAY, MAY 6 Book Sale. 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Widener Book Room, First United Methodist Church. Public invited, no admission fee.

2017 Laredo Open. Laredo Country Club. $150 registration fee, which includes live music, food, drinks and raffle prizes. Guest fee: $20 per day.

Registration deadline: May 2 at midnight. Sponsor and player packet pickup and party is set for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. May 3 in the Rosewood Room.

Sign up today at tennislaredo.com or at the LCC Tennis Pro Shop.

SUNDAY MAY 7 2017 Laredo Open. Laredo Country Club. $150 registration fee, which includes live music, food, drinks and raffle prizes. Guest fee: $20 per day.

Registration deadline: May 2 at midnight. Sponsor and player packet pickup and party is set for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. May 3 in the Rosewood Room.

Sign up today at tennislaredo.com or at the LCC Tennis Pro Shop.

PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea's parliament convened Tuesday amid heightened tensions on the divided peninsula, with the United States and South Korea conducting their biggest-ever military exercises and the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier heading to the area in a show of American strength. North Korea vowed a tough response to any military moves that might follow the U.S. decision to send the carrier and its battle group to waters off the Korean Peninsula.

Pyongyang is always extremely sensitive to the annual U.S.-South Korea war

US says withdrawing UN military from Haiti is good example UNITED NATIONS — U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said Tuesday that U.N. peacekeeping has made "a great contribution" to Haiti and the Security Council's expected vote to withdraw all troops from the Caribbean nation by mid-October is an example of how peacekeeping

games. It has significantly turned up the volume of its rhetoric that war could be on the horizon if it sees any signs of aggression. "This goes to prove that the U.S. reckless moves for invading the DPRK have reached a serious phase of its scenario," the North's statement said, referring to the country by its formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "If the U.S. dares opt for a military action, crying out for 'pre-emptive attack' ... the DPRK is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the U.S." — Compiled from AP reports

missions should change as a country's political situation changes.

The United States is currently reviewing the U.N.'s 16 far-flung peacekeeping operations to assess costs and effectiveness and Haley told the Security Council that thanks to recent elections in Haiti "the political context is right" for a new and smaller mission.

She strongly backed the transformation of Haiti's U.N. mission from military patrols to focusing on developing the

country's police force, supporting the rule of law and protecting human rights.

The Security Council is scheduled to vote Thursday on a resolution to withdraw the 2,370 military personnel by Oct. 15.

Sandra Honore, the U.N. envoy for Haiti, told the council that as a result of successful presidential and legislative elections on Nov. 20 and Jan. 29 "Haiti's political outlook for 2017 and beyond has significantly improved."

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION Police: School shooter threatened his wife SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.

— The man who opened fire in a San Bernardino school was a pastor and Navy veteran who accused his newlywed wife of infidelity. When he failed in his efforts to win her back, he went to her classroom and fatally shot her and one of the special needs children she taught, police said Tuesday.

In the weeks before Monday's violence Karen Smith told family members her new husband, Cedric Anderson, had tried to get her to return home and threatened her, San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said. She didn't take him seriously and thought he was just seeking attention, he said.

Police do not know what triggered the attack or why Anderson chose to attack Smith at the school, Burguan

Reed Saxon / AP

Locals look at a memorial dedicated to the teacher and student who were shot to death Monday in San Bernardino, California.

said, adding she never shared any information about her marital problems with colleagues.

"She effectively kept her private life private," Burguan said.

Anderson, 53, walked into the special-education classroom Monday and fired off 10 shots with a .357 Magnum,

targeting his wife and hitting two of her students before turning the gun on himself.

Eight-year-old Jonathan Martinez, who suffered from a genetic condition known as Williams Syndrome, was killed. A 9year-old boy was also shot and was in stable condition Tuesday, police said.

— Compiled from AP reports

MONDAY, MAY 15 Chess Club. Every Monday, 4-6 p.m.

LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Compete with other players in this cherished game played internationally. Free instruction for all ages and skill levels. Chess books and training materials are available.

Ten years ago: A suicide bomber breached security in Iraq's parliament and blew himself up in the dining hall; a Sunni parliament member was killed.

Five years ago: Jury selection began in Greensboro, North Carolina, for the corruption trial of former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, charged with six counts of campaign finance fraud.

One year ago: Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told 1,500 Marines and sailors at Camp Pendleton, California, that the Pentagon's decision to let women compete for all military combat positions was as irreversible as earlier edicts to integrate blacks and allow gays and lesbians to openly serve. A man convicted of killing his neighbor during a burglary in 1996 became the fourth person put to death in Georgia in 2016.

Today's Birthdays: Children's author Beverly Cleary is 101. Actress Jane Withers is 91. Opera singer Montserrat Caballe is 84. Playwright Alan Ayckbourn is 78. Jazz musician Herbie Hancock is 77. Rock singer John Kay (Steppenwolf) is 73. Actor Ed O'Neill is 71. Actor Dan Lauria is 70. Former talk show host David Letterman is 70.

Author Scott Turow is 68. Singer David Cassidy is 67. Actor-playwright Tom Noonan is 66. Rhythm-and-blues singer JD Nicholas (The Commodores) is 65. Singer Pat Travers is 63.

Actor Andy Garcia is 61. Movie director Walter Salles is 61. Country singer Vince Gill is 60. Actress Suzzanne (cq) Douglas is 60. Model/TV personality J Alexander is 59. Rock musician Will Sergeant (Echo & the Bunnymen) is 59. Rock singer Art Alexakis (Everclear) is 55. Country singer Deryl Dodd is 53. Folk-pop singer Amy Ray (Indigo Girls) is 53. Actress Alicia Coppola is 49. Rock singer Nicholas Hexum (311) is 47. Actor Nicholas Brendon is 46.

Actress Shannen Doherty is 46. Actress Marley Shelton is 43. Actress Sarah Jane Morris is 40. Actress Jordana Spiro is 40. Rock musician Guy Berryman (Coldplay) is 39. Actor Riley Smith is 39. Actress Claire Danes is 38. Actress Jennifer Morrison is 38.

Actor Matt McGorry is 31. Contemporary Christian musician Joe Rickard (Red) is 30. Rock singer-musician Brendon Urie (Panic! at the Disco) is 30. Actress Saoirse Ronan is 23.

Thought for Today: "Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are." — President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945).

CONTACT US

MONDAY, MAY 8 Chess Club. Every Monday, 4-6 p.m.

LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Compete with other players in this cherished game played internationally. Free instruction for all ages and skill levels. Chess books and training materials are available.

On this date: In 1606, England's King James I decreed the design of the original Union Flag, which combined the flags of England and Scotland.

In 1776, North Carolina's Fourth Provincial Congress authorized the colony's delegates to the Continental Congress to support independence from Britain.

In 1861, the American Civil War began as Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

In 1934, "Tender Is the Night," by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was first published in book form after being serialized in Scribner's Magazine.

In 1955, the Salk vaccine against polio was declared safe and effective.

In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space, orbiting the earth once before making a safe landing.

In 1963, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested and jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, charged with contempt of court and parading without a permit.

In 1975, singer, dancer and civil rights activist Josephine Baker, 68, died in Paris.

In 1981, the space shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral on its first test flight. Former world heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis, 66, died in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In 1985, Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, became the first sitting member of Congress to fly in space as the shuttle Discovery lifted off.

In 1990, in its first meeting, East Germany's first democratically elected parliament acknowledged responsibility for the Nazi Holocaust, and asked the forgiveness of Jews and others who had suffered.

In 1992, after five years in the making, Euro Disneyland (now called Disneyland Paris) opened in MarneLa-Vallee, France, amid controversy as French intellectuals bemoaned the invasion of American pop culture.

AROUND TEXAS Records: Driver who collided with church bus had taken pills UVALDE, Texas — Court records say a 20-year-old man whose pickup collided with a church minibus last month in rural Texas, killing 13 people, had taken prescription medication before driving and had

marijuana in his truck.

The San Antonio ExpressNews reports that the court records show state troopers found two whole marijuana cigarettes and five partially smoked ones in Jack Dillon Young’s truck after the March 29 crash on a two-lane highway about 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of San Antonio.

An affidavit seeking a blood

test says Young also told a trooper he had taken prescription medication including clonazepam and the generic forms of Lexapro and Ambien.

A witness to the crash has said Young told him he was texting while driving.

No charges have been filed in the crash.

— Compiled from AP reports

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The Zapata Times

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, April 12, 2017 |

LOCAL

Texas bill lets officials deny issuing gay marriage licenses

By Will Weissert A S S O CIAT E D PRE SS

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Senate has preliminarily approved a hotly debated bill allowing county judges and other officials to refuse to issue marriage licenses for same-sex couple because of personal religious objections.

Sen. Brian Birdwell’s proposal passed 21-10 on Tuesday but only applies in when other officials without objections can step in and issue marriage documents.

If the substituting official is located outside the county where the marriage license is being sought, documents could be sent electronically.

Texas Democrats and progressive groups say the bill sanctions discrimination and

If the substituting official is located outside the county where the marriage license is being sought, documents could be sent electronically. violates the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 legalization of gay marriage.

Birdwell, a Granbury Republican, counters that he’s protecting the religious liberties of county clerks, justices of the peace and others. He says, “If we don’t do this, we are discriminating against people of faith.”

House OKs online tracking system for sex offense cases A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas House has preliminarily approved a bill creating a statewide electronic tracking system for forensic evidence collected in sex offense cases.

The chamber used a voice vote Tuesday to pass Austin Democratic Rep. Donna Howard’s proposal, which would create an online system making cases easier to follow once physical evidence has been collected. It’s expected

to cost about $1.5 million during Texas’ 2018-2019 budget cycle.

Howard says a sizeable rape kit testing backlog has made it difficult for victims to track their cases. She said the idea for the bill came from an assault victim who told of being frustrated with the lack of information about the progress of her case after evidence was collected.

A final vote, likely coming Wednesday, will send Howard’s bill to the state Senate.

A3

Sessions outlines immigration plan during border tour

By Astrid Galvan ASSOCIATED PRE SS

NOGALES, Ariz. — Attorney General Jeff Sessions toured the U.S.-Mexico border Tuesday and unveiled what he described as a new get-tough approach to immigration prosecutions under President Donald Trump.

The nation’s top law enforcement official outlined a series of changes that he said mark the start of a new push to rid American cities and the border of what he described as “filth” brought on by drug cartels and criminal organizations.

The tour included visiting a port of entry, where Sessions exited an SUV in a white shirt and baseball cap before entering a restricted area.

Sessions has been steadily expanding the Justice Department’s role in the anti-immigration agenda of the Trump administration, but the border trip offered the most comprehensive look yet at his plans.

During his visit, he urged federal prosecutors to intensify their focus on immigration crimes such as illegal border crossing or smuggling others into the U.S. Such prosecutions are already happening on a large scale. They made up more than half of all federal prosecutions in fiscal year 2016, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. But prosecutions were slightly down from fiscal year 2015.

In a three-page memo, Sessions told U.S. attorneys to prioritize immigration prosecutions by appointing a border security coordinator who can oversee investigations, keep statistics and provide legal advice and training to prosecutors. The coordinators would meet regularly with federal immigration authorities.

In addition, Sessions said federal prosecutors must consider bringing felony charges against those who have illegally entered the country more than once as well as those who marry to evade immigration laws.

He also urged prosecutors to consider charging those illegal-

Ross D. Franklin / AP

Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at a news conference after touring the U.S.-Mexico border with border officials Tuesday in Nogales, Arizona.

ly in the country with felony identity theft and document fraud.

“This is a new era. This is the Trump era,” he said. “The lawlessness, the abdication of the duty to enforce our immigration laws, and the catch and release practices of old are over.”

Sessions defended Trump’s proposed border wall, saying it will be another tool to fight illegal immigration amid efforts within the Justice Department and other branches of government to punish and deter border crossers.

Critics blasted the initiatives announced by Sessions as fearmongering and anti-immigrant rhetoric not rooted in facts.

“Once again, Attorney General Sessions is scaring the public by linking immigrants to criminals despite studies showing that immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than the native born,” said Gregory Z. Chen, director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Sessions made the announcement in Nogales, a border city that has witnessed a dramatic drop in immigrant and drug smuggling in recent years as more people enter the country in Texas, many of them Central Americans fleeing violence in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

The Border Patrol’s Tucson sector, which comprises most of

Arizona, saw about 65,000 arrests of immigrants last fiscal year, roughly half the number agents made in 2012, according to Border Patrol data. Marijuana seizures have also dropped by about 28 percent from 1 million pounds in 2012 to 728,000 last year.

Following the border tour, Sessions spoke to officials at an International Association of Chiefs of Police conference outside Phoenix. He’ll also speak with service members at Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix.

Sessions’ immigration plans have long been foreshadowed.

Even as it plans to cut the Justice Department’s budget by more than $1 billion, the Trump administration wants hundreds of millions of dollars to hire 60 federal prosecutors and 40 deputy U.S. marshals to focus on border cases.

It also wants to boost immigration courts by $80 million to pay for 75 additional teams of judges. That would speed up removal proceedings for people in the United States illegally and address a backlog of more than 540,000 pending cases.

The proposal also calls for adding $1.5 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s budget to find, detain and deport immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, along with more than $300 million to hire 500 new Border Patrol agents and 1,000 immigration agents.

Zopinion

Letters to the editor Send your signed letter to editorial@lmtonline.com

A4 | Wednesday, April 12, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

OP-ED

OTHER VIEWS

I’m a Syrian opposition member. U.S. intervention can help bring us peace.

By Bassma Kodmani WA S H INGT ON P O ST

Last week, the United States launched cruise missiles into my country.

No one, including myself, can ever be ready for such a moment. But these targeted airstrikes on one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s military bases in direct retaliation for attacking innocent women and children were the message to Assad that Syrians have been waiting for.

Those actions marked the start of what could be a turning point in the Syrian conflict. Now, the Trump administration is connecting the dots between Assad’s war crimes and the obstacle they pose to a political solution. As Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson said over the weekend, it is now incumbent on Russia and the United States to “create the conditions for a political process through Geneva in which we can engage all of the parties on a way forward.”

President Donald Trump’s actions against Assad’s forces were a major first step to end the chaos and lay the foundation for a peace process in Geneva. But to truly be effective, this cannot be a standalone effort. Europe and a coalition of willing regional states must now join the United States to protect Syrian civilians as a step to compel the Assad regime to engage in credible peace talks.

We Syrians can’t dictate the exact type of action the United States should take.

It chose a limited deterrence strike against Assad’s military. It may also choose to make these strikes a mechanism to protect Syrian civilians against indiscriminate violence, including - but not limited to - chemical weapons atrocities.

For six years, Assad and his backers have gotten away with more and more.

What started with the regime’s violent response to peaceful protests in 2011 has today turned into systematic, barbaric targeting of civilians, including last week’s chemical weapons attack in Idlib. The Syrian regime regularly gasses, starves, bombs and tortures innocent people. Up until last week, the regime faced no serious consequences.

Both Syrians and Americans want to see an end to this crisis. No one wants to stand by as little children suffocate, with foam seeping of their

mouths.

Syria’s instability is the world’s instability - and at its root is Assad’s indiscriminate killing of civilians. Assad’s willful violence and lack of interest in the negotiation process is the cause of the Syrian crisis. As long as this violence continues without consequence, refugees will flee Syria and the Islamic State will capitalize on the chaos. And Iran and sectarian militias will never leave Syria without a credible threat of use of force from the United States.

A concerted, civiliansfirst effort led by the United States and its allies could prevent such outcomes. The United States, Europe and a coalition of willing regional states could impose credible consequences - like those witnessed last week - in response to Assad regime attacks on civilians. Such an approach might persuade Russia to ban Assad from sending his air force to slaughter our children.

Russia has this capacity and could create the conditions for credible peace talks.

We in the Syrian opposition are ready for negotiations. For years, we have tried to engage in talks with a regime that has had no incentive to do so. After last week’s airstrikes, there is new pressure on Assad and his backers.

They may not only think twice about carrying out attacks on civilians, but they also may feel the pressure to negotiate to maintain some form of power. The United States, Europe and regional allies must help us keep up the pressure so that we can achieve a political solution.

It is only with a political transition that we can achieve a secure, democratic Syria. We do not want imposed regime change. We do not want a vacuum. We want the conditions for Syrians to be able to decide their future. To get there, we want the United States - in concert with others - to lay the foundations that will compel the regime to abandon its military strategy. This will enable us to secure a peace deal. We are ready to do our part now we need the United States and allies to do theirs.

Bassma Kodmani is a member of the Syrian opposition’s High Negotiations Committee, the main opposition body negotiating peace talks in Geneva.

LETTERS POLICY Laredo Morning Times does not publish anonymous letters.

To be published, letters must include the writer's first and last names as well as a phone number to verify identity.

The phone number IS NOT published; it is used solely to verify identity and to clarify content, if necessary.

Identity of the letter writer must be verified before publication. We want to assure our readers that a letter is written by the person who signs the

letter. Laredo Morning Times does not allow the use of pseudonyms.

This space allows for public debate of the issues of the day.

Letters are edited for style, grammar, length and civility. No name-calling or gratuitous abuse is allowed. Also, letters longer than 500 words will not be accepted.

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

OP-ED

How to properly eject a passenger from a plane

By Frank Cerabino COX NEWSPAPERS

By now, we have all seen the viral smartphone video of that screaming doctor being dragged on his back through the cabin of a United Airlines jet at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

We at Palm Beach International Airport, are taking steps to lessen the chances for a similar incident to take place here.

If there should be an overbooking situation on a flight, and you are instructed by any airline personnel to remove a passenger who is refusing to give up his or her seat, follow this 10-step checklist: 1. Ask the flight attendant to point out the passenger on the plane who is refusing to give up his or her seat.

2. If the flight attendant identifies one of the approximately 30 to 40 wheelchair passengers on any flight from Palm Beach International, be very careful.

Do not assume that this passenger is either frail,

or unable to move quickly under his or her own power. Wheelchair passengers can often move like cheetahs once the plane lands. Many of them also travel with canes and other blunt objects which can be deployed to deliver crushing blows during a nonconsensual debarkation.

3. If the targeted individual is not a wheelchair passenger, but is a male displaying one of the following: a red ball cap, a copy of Guns & Ammo magazine, a sleeveless T-shirt, a neck tattoo, more than one gold chain, or a single gold chain of unusual thickness, call a hostage negotiator for backup.

4. If the targeted passenger is a woman displaying any belongings that identify her as a resident of Boca Raton, Wellington, or Jupiter, call a lawyer for backup.

5. If the targeted passenger is a teenage girl, and on your initial approach, she tells you, “Cash me ousside, howbow dah?”, assume you are part of a reality TV show and be prepared to

sign a release.

6. If the targeted passenger is a middle school teacher, back away slowly, maintaining eye contact the whole time until the K9 unit arrives.

7. Before trying to forcefully remove anybody from the plane, instruct a flight attendant to make announcements that might get some passengers to leave their seats on their own accord.

For example: “Will the owner of the Burmese python under seat 18C, please press the flight attendant call button.”

Or: “Will the passenger who lost an unmarked paper bag containing $10,000 in small unmarked bills, please claim it with the gate agent in the terminal.”

And there’s always: “We’re expecting some heavy turbulence during this flight. If any passenger thinks they might need a motion-sickness pill, a larger barf bag, or a bicycle helmet, please see the flight attendant in the forward cabin.”

8. If none of these announcements dislodge the passenger, you may opt

for the nuclear option.

We have contracted with the A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts to supply the airport a high school theater student on short notice. The student actor will arrive at the airport in an airline captain’s uniform and be ushered into the plane, where he or she will conduct a very loud discussion with one of the flight attendants in the cabin.

Here’s a sample of the script: Flight attendant: Congratulations, captain. I understand this will be your first flight!

High school actor: Don’t remind me! I’m so nervous, I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night. I should have paid more attention in the simulators.

9. If none of these measures work, instruct the flight attendants to confiscate the cellphones of all the passengers. You’re not going to want to star in the video of what happens next.

10. It’s “go” time, ninjas.

Frank Cerabino writes for The Palm Beach Post.

OP-ED

If Gorsuch is like his colleagues, he’ll interrupt female justices

By Tonja Jacobi and Dylan Schweers WASHINGTON P O ST

Judge Neil M. Gorsuch is set to become the newest member of the Supreme Court on Wednesday. That means that the most junior justice on the court will be a man when Justice Sonia Sotomayor and then Justice Elena Kagan each held that title.

During that time, the two female justices were interrupted during oral arguments far more often than the other justices on the court. Some might say that is because they were junior; we predict that the soon-to-be Justice Gorsuch will nevertheless be interrupted far less than those two female justices.

Our new empirical study shows that the male justices interrupt the female justices approximately three times as often as they interrupt one another. We examine the transcripts of Supreme Court oral arguments over 15 years and find that many male justices are now interrupting female

justices at double-digit rates per term, but the reverse is almost never true. In the last 12 years, when women made up on average 24 percent of the bench, 32 percent of interruptions were of the female justices, yet only 4 percent of interruptions were by the female justices.

Supreme Court justices are some of the most powerful individuals in the country, yet the female justices find themselves interrupted not only by their male colleagues, but also by their subordinates: the male advocates who are attempting to persuade them. Despite strict rules mandating that advocates stop talking immediately when a justice begins speaking, interruptions by male advocates account for approximately 10 percent of all interruptions. In contrast, interruptions by female advocates account for approximately 0 percent. The situation only seems to be getting worse with more women on the court. In 2015, male ad-

vocates interrupting Sotomayor were the most common interruptions on the bench, and accounted for 8 percent of all interruptions.

Anyone watching thencandidate Donald Trump repeatedly interrupt Hillary Clinton during the presidential debates would be familiar with this behavior. But is this domineering behavior because she is a woman or because she is a Democrat? We find support for both hypotheses. Liberal justices are interrupted more than twice as often as conservative justices, both by other justices and by the advocates. Yet gender is even more important than ideology: In 1990, the moderately conservative O’Connor was interrupted 2.8 times as often as the average male justice.

Similarly, seniority does not explain the gender pattern. Although senior justices do interrupt junior justices more frequently than vice versa, gender is approximately 30 times more powerful

than seniority. Length of tenure still matters though: We show that, with time, women adapt by becoming more verbally aggressive, framing their questions less politely and leaving less room for interruption.

These behavior patterns are important as oral arguments shape case outcomes. When a female justice is interrupted, her concern is often left unaddressed, which limits her ability to influence the outcome of cases. The chief justice should play a larger role as referee, enforcing the existing rule that prohibits advocates from interrupting the justices and preventing an interrupting justice from continuing with his question. Research like ours has the potential to open the eyes of the justices to what are probably subconscious biases.

Tonja Jacobi is a professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. Dylan Schweers is a J.D. candidate at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, April 12, 2017 |

CRIME

Dallas Woman pleas deal in teacher-visa case A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

DALLAS — Prosecutors say a former Dallasarea educator who helped recruit teachers from foreign countries through the H-1B visa program has pleaded guilty to hiring abuses.

Victor Leos formerly was human resources director for the Garland Independent School District. Records show Leos, in an April 3 plea deal, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit false statements related to immigration documents.

The Dallas Morning

News (http:// bit.ly/2o2UCgs ) reports Leos was approached by recruiters for bilingual teachers in the Philippines and Latin America.

Authorities say Leos accepted kickbacks, travel and other benefits to recruit teachers not needed in the Texas district.

He faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and repaying $317,000 to the district.

An H-1B visa worker is only supposed to be used when no qualified U.S. citizen is available.

Woman gets time for murder plot against daughter's beau A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

WICHITA FALLS, Texas — A North Texas woman has accepted an 18-year prison term in a plea deal for her part in a failed 2015 murder-forhire plot against her daughter's boyfriend.

Christina June Peyton pleaded guilty to murder solicitation Monday in Wichita Falls, an hour before she was to go on trial. If convicted, she could have been sentenced to up to life imprisonment.

Her husband, Jeffrey Bryan Peyton, made his own plea deal last month, accepting a 21-year prison term for murder solicita-

Christina June Peyton pleaded guilty to murder solicitation Monday in Wichita Falls, an hour before she was to go on trial.

tion and implicating his wife in the plot.

Wichita Falls police say the person who met Peyton and posed as a potential hit man was an undercover officer. Police say the boyfriend helped investigators by posing in a photograph staged to look as if he'd been shot.

The boyfriend wasn't hurt.

A5

Homeland Security fields over 1,000 sex abuse complaints

By Elliot Spagat ASSOCIATED PRE SS

An advocacy group said Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog fielded more than 1,000 complaints of sexual assault or sexual abuse from people in custody in a little more than two years.

Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement is the latest group in recent years to document allegations of abuse at immigration detention centers, based on information obtained from public records requests. It comes as President Donald Trump seeks to expand detention capacity in a drive to deport more people.

The numbers obtained by the group don’t provide details on individual cases or a full accounting of how the complaints were addressed, but they suggest complaints are common.

Homeland Security inspector general’s office disclosed that it received 1,016 complaints from detainees reporting sexual abuse or assault from May 2014 to July 2016.

More than 90 percent involved Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency within Homeland Security that has more than 30,000 beds at detention facilities nationwide.

The inspector general received more than 33,000 allegations of a broader range of abuses from January 2010 to July 2016, including 702 for coerced sexual contact, 714 for physical or sexual abuse and 589 for sexual harassment, according to the group. The group’s analysis showed the inspector general investigated 247, or less than 1

John Moore / Getty Images

A boy from Honduras watches a movie at a detention facility on Sep. 8, 2014 in McAllen, Texas.

percent. But it was unclear how many others were taken up by agencies in the department, such as Immigration and Customs and Enforcement or Customs and Border Protection.

The group cited the numbers in a complaint to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly that urges changes in how allegations are handled.

Gillian Christensen, a Homeland Security spokeswoman, said the department would review the complaint “to determine if further action or recommendations are warranted.”

Christensen noted the allegations represent a small number of the more than 2 million admissions to Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities in the sixyear period covered in the report. She said the agency has a “zero tolerance policy” and listed steps it has taken to address sexual abuse of detainees, including a directive to employees on prevention and intervention.

“While ICE’s goal is to prevent all sexual abuse among its custody population, given the volume of individuals who annually pass through its detention system, the agency believes the overall incidence of such activity is very low,” she said.

The inspector general’s office generally focuses on allegations of employee misconduct and often refers complaints of detainee abuse to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Professional Responsibility to follow up, Christensen said.

Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement said it independently documented 27 alleged instances of sexual abuse. Most haven’t filed grievances because they fear retaliation.

Douglas Menjivar was allegedly raped by another detainee in the presence of four witnesses at the Joe Corley Detention Center in Conroe, Texas, in September 2013. The

group says an official told him that he was stupid to let it happen and that the facility didn’t document Menjivar’s claim or provide medical or psychological care. Menjivar reported the incident to a doctor in November 2014, and after being interviewed twice, authorities told him that his allegations were unsubstantiated.

The group also published figures, obtained from a records request by Human Rights Watch, that show private companies contracted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement had the most hotline complaints of sexual and physical assault from Oct. 1, 2012 to March 14, 2016, as opposed to centers managed by the agency. Detention centers managed by The Geo Group Inc. occupied first, third and fourth slots with facilities in Jena, Louisiana; Adelanto, California; and Tacoma, Washington. CCA Inc. facilities in Houston and San Diego occupied the second and fifth slots.

Zfrontera A6 | Wednesday, April 12, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

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.

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.

TAMAULIPAS

HYPERLOOP

Ruta pasaría por Exgobernador es detenido en Florencia, Italia Laredo

Arrestan a Yarrington Por Mark Stevenson y María Verza ASSOCIATED PRE SS

CIUDAD DE MÉXICO — El exgobernador de Tamaulipas Tomás Yarrington, prófugo de la justicia en Estados Unidos y México desde por lo menos un lustro y acusado de lavado de dinero y vínculos con el crimen organizado, fue detenido en Florencia, Italia, 12 años después de que dejara su cargo como mandatario estatal.

de 1999 a 2005 por La captura, el Partido Revoluanunciada por la cionario InstituProcuraduría cional (PRI), y General de Méxsupuestamente ico el domingo por aceptó sobornos la noche, es a tanto del cártel juicio de los analTomás del Golfo como de istas un ejemplo Yarrington los Zetas, cuya de la falta de volucha encarnizada luntad de las auto- Ruvalcaba ha dejado miles ridades a la hora de muertos, desaparecide detener a uno de los dos, a la sociedad totalsuyos, un exmandatario mente atemorizada, los que puede contar con medios de comunicainformación delicada ción silenciados y la que podría involucrar a otros políticos corruptos. frontera noreste del país plagada de fosas clanYarrington fue godestinas. bernador de Tamaulipas

Según explicó el subprocurador Jurídico y de Asuntos Internacionales de la fiscalía federal, Alberto Elías Beltrán, el arresto se produjo por las autoridades italianas gracias a la información de inteligencia proporcionada por México y Estados Unidos. Los dos países aspiran a conseguir la extradición del exmandatario, dijo Beltrán, pero será Italia el que decida a qué autoridades lo entregará una vez se formalicen las peticiones.

SEMANA SANTA 2017

INICIA OPERATIVO

CAMINATA/ CARRERA 5 K 1 La Ciudad de Roma invita al Tributo a las Fuerzas Armadas con Caminata/Carrera 5K iniciando en Guadalupe Plaza, el sábado 20 de mayo a las 8 a.m. a 12 p.m.

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.

GRUPOS DE APOYO 1 El grupo de apoyo para personas con Alzheimer se reunirá en su junta mensual, a las 7 p.m., en el Laredo Medical Center, primer piso, Torre B en el Centro Comunitario. Las reuniones se realizan el primer martes de cada mes en el mismo lugar y a la misma hora.

1 El grupo Cancer Friend se reúne a las 6 p.m. el primer lunes del mes en el Centro Comunitario de Doctors Hospital. Padecer cáncer es una de las experiencias más estresantes en la vida de una persona. Sin embargo, los grupos de apoyo pueden ayudar a muchos a lidiar con los aspectos emocionales de la enfermedad.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

El operativo cuenta con la participación de la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional, Secretaría de Marina Armada de México, Secretaría de Seguridad Pública, Secretaría de Turismo, entre otras instituciones.

Brindará seguridad, información y asistencia a visitantes E SPECIAL PARA TIEMP O DE ZAPATA

CIUDAD VICTORIA, Tamaulipas— El Gobernador Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca dio en esta capital el banderazo que da inicio al Operativo de Seguridad de Semana Santa 2017, el cual tiene como objetivo brindar seguridad a los visitantes, así como asistirlos en casos de imprevistos y proporcionarles información turística, entre otros aspectos.

“El trabajo en equipo del Gobierno del Re-

pública, de la Administración Estatal y de los ayuntamientos hará más grata esta semana, la corresponsabilidad es factor necesario para mejorar las condiciones de vida de los tamaulipecos”, precisó García Cabeza de Vaca.

En su mensaje, el gobernador invitó a las familias que viven dentro y fuera del estado, para que esta semana disfruten todo lo que ofrece la entidad.

El mandatario estatal explicó que los visitantes así como las familias

tamaulipecas contaran con el valioso apoyo de la Coordinación General de Protección Civil, Comisión Estatal Para la Protección de Riesgos Sanitarios, Policía Federal Preventiva, Ángeles Verdes, Delegación de la Cruz Roja Mexicana y autoridades municipales, para hacer del periodo de Semana Santa uno de los más seguros.

“Invito a todos para que tengan a su disposición los siete módulos de información y auxilio turísticos que estarán diseminados estratégica-

mente a lo largo y ancho del territorio estatal, en esos módulos encontraran información esencial para disfrutar sus recorridos, apoyo para su seguridad y servicios médicos y mecánicos”, recalcó el gobernador.

Cada una de las dependencias participantes en el operativo generará diariamente información y estadísticas durante todo el periodo vacacional. La Secretaria de Turismo estará monitoreando el flujo de visitantes en 145 sitios turísticos y seis playas del estado.

E SPECIAL PARA TIEMP O DE ZAPATA

El congresista demócrata por el distrito 28 de Texas, Henry Cuéllar, dice que da la bienvenida a la noticia de que una ruta de Texas, incluyendo a Laredo y a San Antonio, está bajo consideración para un proyecto de transporte de ultra-alta velocidad llamado Hyperloop. La ruta conectaría Laredo con las metrópolis de San Antonio, Houston, Austin y Dallas.

Hyperloop One, una compañía fundada por el visionario Elon Musk de Tesla, se está preparando para construir un sistema para mover pasajeros y carga a través de largas distancias a cientos de millas por hora, en tubos sobre el suelo. Once grupos de todo Estados Unidos presentaron propuestas competitivas sobre dónde debería ir la primera ruta cuando la tecnología esté disponible.

Hyperloop One seleccionó la propuesta de Texas, desarrollada por un equipo de Dallas de la compañía AECOM, en una lista de las cinco mejores propuestas.

"Me siento alentado por la selección de la propuesta de Texas como finalista en el concurso Hyperloop", dijo el Congresista Cuéllar.

"Ser uno de los primeros en adoptar esta nueva tecnología demostraría al mundo que somos un estado creciente e innovador con una economía del Siglo XXI. Atraería nuevas empresas y puestos de trabajo a nuestras ciudades. Nuestras industrias tradicionales también tendrían beneficios inmediatos: podrían transportar mercancías sobre tierra más rápido y más barato que nunca.

Me uno al coro de gobiernos locales y empresas que apoyan un Hyperloop de Texas”.

La propuesta finalista de Texas dice que Laredo "es sin duda uno de los activos económicos más importantes del país".

El año pasado, el congresista Cuéllar se reunió con representantes de Hyperloop en Laredo. La Autoridad Metropolitana de Tránsito, la Autoridad del Puerto de Houston, el Consejo del Área HoustonGalveston y la Cámara de Comercio de los Estados Unidos y México también han respaldado la propuesta de este desarrollo privado.

CONDADO DE ZAPATA

Dedican oficina postal a veteranos E S P ECIAL PARA T I E MP O DE ZAPATA

El Congresista Henry Cuéllar dedicó el lunes la Oficina Postal de Veteranos de Zapata en una ceremonia con funcionarios locales, veteranos y la comunidad de Zapata.

En diciembre, el Presidente Barack Obama firmó H.R. 5591, una ley que Cuéllar escribió para renombrar la oficina postal localizada en 810 North US Highway 83 en Zapata, como la “Oficina Postal de Veteranos en Zapata”. La ley ya había pasado previamente tanto en el senado como en la cámara de

representantes. Una conferencia de prensa será realizada en Zapata en una fecha próxima.

“Zapata tiene muchos hombres y mujeres orgullosos quienes han servido con honor a nuestro país.

Yo presenté esta ley para renombrar la oficina postal en honor a su heroísmo y defensa de nuestra gran nación”, dijo Cuéllar. “Los seis hermanos Treviño de Zapata, todos veteranos de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, son un excelente ejemplo de los valientes veteranos de Zapata. Teodoro, Leopoldo, Antonio, Anselmo, Filberto Jr., y José Manuel Treviño real-

izaron muchos actos de valentía, incluyendo derribar plantas enemigas y proteger soldados utilizando sus propios cuerpos como escudo”.

“Mi madre nació en Zapata, y tener una larga historia al servicio de nuestro país es una de las muchas razones por las cuales estamos orgullosos de llamar a Zapata nuestro hogar. Agradezco al Juez del Condado de Zapata Joe Rathmell y a la Oficina de Servicios Veteranos en Zapata por su incansable trabajo por proporcionar apoyo a nuestros veteranos locales”, finalizó Cuéllar.

Foto de cortesía

El congresista Henry Cuéllar entregó una bandera estadounidense que fue izada sobre el Capitolio a la Oficina Postal de Veteranos de Zapata durante la ceremonia llevada a cabo el pasado lunes. Entre los presentes estuvieron Joe Rathmell, Juez del Condado de Zapata; Manuel Uribe, Oficial de Servicio de Veteranos; Olga M. Elizondo, comisionada del Condado de Zapata precinto 2; Norberto Garza, comisionado del Condado de Zapata precinto 4; Luis Lauro González, recaudador fiscal; Tina Ramírez, administradora de correos y José Paco Mendoza, comisionado del Condado de Zapata precinto 1.

Sports&Outdoors THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, April 12, 2017 |

A7

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION: DALLAS MAVERICKS

Romo’s honorary Mav day turns spectacle for final home game Mavs invite, honor former Cowboys QB

By Schuyler Dixon A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

DALLAS — Tony Romo couldn’t say no when Dirk Nowitzki asked the retiring Dallas Cowboys quarterback to join the Mavericks as an honorary teammate for a day.

Now it’s turned into a scene, with dozens of media members showing up for a morning shootaround before a meaningless final Dallas home against Denver on Tuesday night, with both teams eliminated from the playoffs.

Romo’s “Mav for a day” experience came exactly a week after it was announced that he was leaving the Cowboys and joining CBS as the No. 1 NFL analyst.

He lost his job as the Dallas starter to Dak Prescott last season and chose TV over pursuing a starting job with another team with his 37th birthday approaching next week.

“At first, I was just feeling like I didn’t deserve any of that,” Romo said of his initial first reaction to the offer. “Standing here today, I feel a little embarrassed to be honest in the sense

that you’re lucky enough to be in position, that someone cares enough to do something to honor you.”

But Romo said it was a “nobrainer” to accept the offer of a tribute from Nowitzki and Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle. He will be in uniform in his football No. 9 and go through pregame warmups and introductions.

Carlisle said Monday that Romo wouldn’t play.

When the shootaround was over, a member of the Mavericks staff whistled a circus theme song while walking past reporters. On the court, Romo was playing with his youngest son, Rivers.

A long line of media members followed Romo off the court, then filled the room where Carlisle does his game-day interviews.

“I had close to 600 text messages that I’m still working on,” said Romo, the all-time leader in yards passing and touchdowns for the storied Cowboys franchise but lacking a Super Bowl title. “And 100-some calls and a bunch of other stuff.

“I guess it just makes you feel

that you accomplished something in some ways. I feel like I left something out there that I always wanted to accomplish.

I’ve got to live with that and that’s part of playing sports.”

Carlisle said Romo would be in the group text that sends pregame shooting times to all the players, and the plan was to include Romo in at least one team photo since his honorary day was also the team’s picture day. He also has a locker .

“He has stood for all of the things that great Dallas athletes stand for,” Carlisle said. “Great competitor, winner, plays hurt, the whole thing. And he’s been a great supporter of the Mavericks and a good friend. We wanted to see if he would be willing to do this.”

Romo was a high school basketball standout in Wisconsin and played against Caron Butler, who spent 14 years in the NBA through last season. Butler was on the Dallas roster but injured when the Mavericks won their only championship in 2011.

“I’m gonna score 20,” Romo joked.

LM Otero / Associated Press

Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, left, plays with his son Rivers Romo after a Dallas Mavericks morning shootaround Tuesday. Romo was invited to be a Maverick for a day.

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: HOUSTON TEXANS

FIFA: 2026 WORLD CUP

JOSEPH: SAVAGE HAS ‘ALL THE TOOLS’ TO BE STARTER Mark Lennihan / Associated Press

Victor Montagliani, left, President of the Canadian Soccer Association, Sunil Gulati, center, President of the United States Soccer Federation, and Decio de Maria, President of the Mexican Football Federation, announced a joint bid for the 2026 World Cup.

US, Canada, Mexico ask FIFA for faster World Cup bid process

By Graham Dunbar ASSOCIATED PRE SS

Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle file

Texans quarterback Tom Savage received a stamp approval from a teammate Tuesday as cornerback Johnathan Joseph said he had “all the tools” to be a starter.

Texans CB endorses Savage as starting QB

By John McClain H OUSTON CHRONICLE

Cornerback Johnathan Joseph has watched Tom Savage for three seasons and believes the fourthyear quarterback is ready for his opportunity to become the Texans' starter.

Savage and Brandon Weeden, the only quarterbacks on the roster, are expected to be joined by a prospect drafted as high as the first round.

"It's big for him," Joseph said Tuesday about Savage's opportunity. "He has all the physical talent, all the tools to be a starting quarterback in this league.

"He's a guy that really wants it. He's worked to

get better at his craft every year. He really got upset when he was hurt (concussion) at the end of the season and couldn't finish things. That's the fire you want to see from the guy that's going to be under center."

Joseph made an appearance Tuesday morning with representatives of UnitedHealthcare, which made an $11,000 donation on behalf of Joseph's Dreambuilders program for play-ground equipment for specialneeds children at the T.H. Rogers School.

Joseph was serenaded by the school's orchestra and choir, which sang and signed "What a Wonderful World."

"This is a special mo-

ment," Joseph said. "It puts a smile on the kids' faces. Feeling the joy and excitement that comes from them means more than anything.

"Life's bigger than just football."

Joseph enters his 12th season in the NFL, including his seventh with the Texans. The Texans begin their offseason program Monday. He said the defense will benefit to get back end J.J. Watt and cornerback Kevin Johnson.

Watt and Johnson should help offset the free agent losses of cornerback A.J. Bouye, safety Quintin Demps and outside linebacker John Simon.

"It's big, man," Joseph

said about Watt's return from two back surgeries.

"You can't replace a three-time defensive MVP, no matter who steps up and plays well. I think he'll pick up everyone's level of play even more because putting a guy on the field like that is an instant game-changer.

The Texans are the only team in the league that hasn't signed a free agent. They've lost five.

"Every team has their philosophy as to how they do business," Joseph said. "I leave that to the guys upstairs. We all have the same goal of trying to win a championship. I put my trust in those guys that they'll do the right thing by this team.”

GENEVA — The North American bid to host the 2026 World Cup has asked FIFA for a decision in June 2018, two years ahead of schedule.

In a letter seen by The Associated Press, the soccer federations from the United States, Canada and Mexico asked FIFA to consider their request next month in Bahrain at its annual congress.

The proposal calls for the North American neighbors to be given a clear run without rival candidates until next year, and is item 14.1 on the congress agenda that FIFA published Tuesday.

The bid, launched in New York on Monday, is likely the only realistic option for FIFA’s 211 member federations who are scheduled to choose the 2026 host in May 2020.

That timetable could be fast-tracked on May 11 in Manama.

The added agenda item, written in the letter dated March 11, asks FIFA

members to make a “principle decision” for the 2026 tournament to be “jointly and cooperatively organized” in North America.

That would allow time to prepare a confirmation of the 2026 hosts at the next congress in Moscow.

The Russian capital hosts the annual meeting on the eve of the opening match of the 2018 World Cup. FIFA bidding rules have made the North American bid a strong favorite to win because Europe and Asia cannot present a candidate.

Those continents are blocked because they will have staged the previous two editions in Russia and Qatar.

South America and Africa can rival the U.S.led bid, though Brazil hosted in 2014 and South Africa in 2010. It was 16 years earlier that the World Cup last came to the CONCACAF region, when the United States hosted a 1994 edition that set records for total attendance and average per game.

A8 | Wednesday, April 12, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

INTERNATIONAL

Churches in southern Egypt Ex-Mexican governor's long will not celebrate Easter flight from justice ends

By Menna Zaki ASSOCIATED PRE SS

By Cmark Stevenson A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

MEXICO CITY — The arrest of an ex-governor of the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas caps a five-year, seemingly desultory search for the rulingparty politician accused of organized crime and money laundering.

It may have been one of the least serious searches in history. Analysts say the government was loath to arrest one of its own, a man who both reflected badly on the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, and who may have held sensitive information on other corrupt officials.

U.S. prosecutors have publicly alleged since 2012 that Tomas Yarrington accepted millions of dollars in drug cartel bribes and invested it in Texas real estate. But Mexico didn't offer a reward for his capture until last November.

The current Tamaulipas governor, Francisco Garcia Cabeza de Vaca, said that Yarrington — who left office in 2005, and has faced charges since 2012 — still had a government-provided bodyguard assigned to him until late last year.

The farcical nature of a policeman assigned to guard him while he was on the lam ended only because Garcia Cabeza de Vaca won the 2016 elections and belongs to the opposition National Action Party, or PAN, the party said in a statement Monday.

Yarrington's long-cold trail finally led to Italy, where he was detained Sunday in Florence. Alberto Elias Beltran, the chief Mexican prosecutor

Jaime Puebla / AP

In this 2003 file photo, former Tamaulipas state Governor Tomas Yarrington participates in the XXIth Border Governors Conference in Chihuahua, Mexico.

in charge of extraditions, said Yarrington was found carrying false documents suggesting he was living under a fake name.

Elias Beltran said both Mexican and U.S. prosecutors had provided intelligence information that lead to the arrest and that both Mexico and the U.S. have requested Yarrington be extradited. Italy will decide which country he is sent to.

In a statement, the PRI praised the arrest, but acknowledged it had taken the party four years to expel him after the allegations first surfaced.

Yarrington is the first of a triumvirate of PRI fugitive governors accused of corruption to be arrested.

The other two are Cesar Duarte and Javier Duarte — no relation — the exgovernors of Chihuahua and Veracruz states, respectively. Both supposedly have international detention notices, but despite being very wellknown and recognizable figures, no trace of them has been seen since they left office last year.

But few well-known

politicians have been on the lam as long as Yarrington, who allegedly took bribes from the Gulf and Zetas cartels to allow them to operate in his state. In the ensuing years, the gangs essentially took over Tamaulipas, killing thousands of people, instituting a reign of terror of widespread kidnapping and extortion.

The state was left littered with mass graves and burned-out homes.

Raul Benitez, a security expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said the key to catching Yarrington came when authorities traced phone calls he made to his family in Mexico.

But Benitez also thinks politics came into play, and perhaps Yarrington's disastrous dealings with drug gangs.

"The government had protected a lot of PRI governors, and now has to go after some of the corrupt ones," Benitez said.

"The mixture of corruption and drug trafficking is explosive, and it was very hard for the government to stand by."

The chief prosecutor of another PRI-governed state, Nayarit was arrested in the United States on drug charges last month.

But it doesn't necessarily mean that the other two fugitive governors will be caught soon. Both are accused of embezzlement and other crimes.

Edgardo Buscaglia, an international organized crime expert and consultant, noted that governors of Mexico's 31 states have traditionally enjoyed a sort of de-facto immunity because they are major sources of illegal financing for their party's campaigns.

CAIRO — Egyptian churches, in the southern city of Minya, said on Tuesday that they will not hold Easter celebrations in mourning for 45 Coptic Christians killed this week in twin bombings of churches in two cities during Palm Sunday ceremonies.

The Minya Coptic Orthodox Diocese said that celebrations will only be limited to the liturgical prayers "without any festive manifestations."

Minya province has the highest Coptic Christian population in the country.

Copts traditionally hold Easter church prayers on Saturday evening and then spend Easter Sunday on large meals and family visits.

Ben Curtis / AP

In this 2006 file photo, Egyptian Copts cross their wrists in defiance outside the Saints Church in the Sidi Bishr district of Alexandria in Egypt.

Parliament approved on Tuesday President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi's decision to declare a three-month state of emergency following the attacks, an action seen as

a foregone conclusion since the legislature is packed with el-Sissi supporters. The Cabinet declared it had gone into effect as of 1 p.m. on Monday.

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THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, April 12, 2017 |

A9

BUSINESS

Gas prices to rise this summer but still remain low

United Airlines’ market value takes a $500K hit for bullying passenger

By Fredrick Kunkle WASHINGTON P O ST

By Marley Jay A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

NEW YORK — You didn’t think those superlow gas prices would last forever, did you?

The U.S. government says a rebound in oil prices means drivers will be paying more at the pump this summer than last year. But that will still be a bargain compared to just a few years ago.

The Energy Information Administration on Tuesday forecast that retail gas will cost an average of $2.46 a gallon from April through September, up from $2.23 a gallon over the summer of 2016.

The price of crude oil has risen about 15 percent over the last year, although at $53 a barrel, oil still costs about half as much as it did in the middle of 2014. Prices tumbled after that because of a huge supply glut.

“Motorists have gotten used to gas prices under $3 a gallon and that will continue,” says Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for the gas price tracking firm GasBuddy.

Gas prices rise over the summer as more people hit the road to take advantage of the warmer weather and school breaks. And while gas prices can vary a great deal depending on geography and other factors, the agency says it believes the average price of gas

will rise to $2.39 a gallon this year, from $2.15 a gallon in 2016.

If that holds, the average U.S. household would spend about $200 more on gasoline than it did in 2016, the EIA said. But that imaginary average household would still save about $300 compared to average yearly spending on gas from 2012 to 2016.

Gas prices are now the highest they’ve been in about a year and a half, according to the American Automobile Association.

Prices at the pump are now above $3 a gallon in some places, a barrier that is psychologically significant and keeps some people from driving as much as they would otherwise.

“Demand for gasoline likely will be flat or slightly lower than last year because of the increase in price,” DeHaan said.

Diesel prices are also expected to rise to $2.70 a gallon this year from $2.34 a gallon, but that’s also well below the average price of the fuel over the last five years. The U.S. now produces so much more oil than it did in years past that oil prices, and in turn gas prices, are much lower than they were a couple of years ago.

While DeHaan expects gas consumption to fall slightly, he said drivers will probably set another record for the amount of miles they drive because fuel efficiency has improved.

United lost more than a half-billion dollars in market value in response to outrage over the forcible removal of a passenger who refused to give up his seat Sunday.

And that’s after some improvement on Wall Street.

But it’s probably going to take longer for United to reclaim its reputation, especially because the more we know the worse the episode seems. And it was plenty bad: a knockdown, drag-out incident that left the passenger bloodied and delayed Sunday’s flight from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport to Louisville. Video of the confrontation aboard Flight 3411 rocketed through social media.

For one thing, United now says the flight wasn’t overbooked, as it had initially said. Overbooking is when the airlines sell more seats than they have to compensate for possible no-shows — a practice that’s not just legal, but sensible, too.

Restaurants and hotels do the same thing with reservations. Turns out the airline wanted the seats for crew members it said needed to be in Louisville on Monday.

The U.S. Department of Transportation, under its section on “Fly Rights,” spells out the rules on overbooking for airlines and passengers who have valid reservations to fly.

These include the com-

Richard Drew / AP

In this file photo, United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz waits to be interviewed, in New York.

monsense requirement that the airlines must first ask for volunteers to give up their seats, and that a passenger who is bumped must receive compensation. But the DOT leaves it up to the airlines to specify what form and how much compensation a passenger should receive. The DOT also says that if a passenger misses the check-in deadline, he might not just lose his seat; he might also forfeit the right to compensation.

But now we know that this was a flight where all the passengers who had paid for a seat, survived TSA, and reached the ticket counter and the gate on time, were seated and ready for takeoff. As paying customers, they had done their part.

It was the airline that, for whatever reason, found itself scrambling at the last minute to put four of its employees on board. In other words, the company didn’t plan ahead, apparently. And then it became intent on

violating that cardinal rule of business about putting the customer first.

Unless those four United employees were also brain surgeons needed to perform emergency surgery in Louisville two hours later, United should have found another way to transport them when no passengers volunteered to surrender their seats. United’s employees could have taken the next flight. Or rented a car. In a pinch, United chief executive Oscar Munoz could have paid the United crew to take an Uber.

And now the passenger removed from the flight has taken an additional beating, too. First, Munoz blamed him for the fracas. And then it came to light that the passenger has a “troubled past,”according to some media reports.

To which we say: So what?

It’s natural to want to know more about what happened and everyone

involved — including, we hope, the Chicago Department of Aviation officers who dragged the man off the plane. But unless he had a history of assaulting people, his past doesn’t change the fact that he was dragged caveman-style off a plane after he declined to volunteer his seat.

Since then, Munoz has made a turnabout. In United’s latest statement, Munoz said he would order a review of company policies.

Meanwhile, the United Airlines jokes keep coming — on Twitter, on late night, such as Jimmy Kimmel’s standup and spot-on parody of a commercial for the beleaguered airline - and no doubt MBA candidates are revising their theses on how not to deal with a public relations meltdown.

Not everybody’s laughing: D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) has called for a congressional hearing into the incident.

Marketwatch reported Tuesday that shares of United Continental Holdings had fallen 3.7 percent in morning trading, or about $830 million, from its $22.5 billion market value, despite having weathered the first day of its public relations disaster fairly well. By midday, the airline’s stock was off only about 2.56 percent on Wall Street — or about $576 billion.

For that much money, United should have bought each of its four employees a new car.

Sand mining industry grows in Texas

By Jordan Blum H OUSTON CHRONICLE

KOSSE, Texas — In a deepening pit in this small town southeast of Waco, workers aim a high-pressure water cannon that reduces small hills of clay-like sand into a watery slurry that is filtered, processed, dried into fine particles, and loaded onto trucks bound for hydraulic fracturing operations across Texas.

It will take up to 1,000 trucks to haul enough of this sand to frac a single large well.

The Houston Chronicle reports as drilling has recovered in recent months, particularly in West Texas’ Permian

Basin, the sand mining industry has exploded.

It is producing more than ever to meet the demand of an oil and gas sector that is using up to 20 times more sand per well than it did during peak of the last energy boom. Across the state, already home to nearly 10 frac sand mines, operators are moving to expand quickly, setting the stage for Texas to become a bigger player — and competitor — in an industry long dominated by purer Wisconsin and Minnesota sands.

At the same time, the growth of sand mining is opening a new front in the battle between the energy industry and environmentalists, who

argue the mines despoil pristine land and create health hazards by kicking up silica dust, which has been linked to lung cancer, tuberculosis and other lung diseases when inhaled.

In Atascosa County, south of San Antonio, residents are fighting a 300-acre sand mine proposed by Preferred Sands of Radnor, Pennsylvania, citing health risks, potential well water contamination, truck traffic and potential damage to the site of the 1813 Battle of Medina, a bloody fight in the early years of Mexico’s long war for independence.

“What’s more important? Breathing or having water to drink?” said

neighboring resident Jessie Hardy, who voices local air and water pollution concerns through an opposition group, “Not just dust.”

Sand companies contend they follow regulations to limit silica air pollution and that they have almost no carbon emissions. They are pressing ahead to take advantage of demand and prices that have doubled in a little over a year. Several new sand mines or expansions, covering thousands of acres are proposed in Texas.

Here, at the 300-acre, Superior Silica Sands mine in Kosse owned by Emerge Energy Services, employment over the

past year has rebounded to 30 from its oil-bust low of four, and the company is looking to acquire another Texas sand mine any day now and expand it.

“People were skittish in the beginning if the recovery was real,” said the mine manager Dave Heagle. “But it seems like the real deal now.”

Sand is mixed into fracking fluids that crack shale rock to prop open the fissures to allow oil and gas to escape, hence the industry name “proppant” to describe the fine grains. The largest wells now consume up to 25,000 tons — 50 million pounds — of sand each, up from 1,500 tons, or about 3 million

pounds, per well during the boom years through 2014.

When oil prices crashed and companies sought ways to lower production costs, drillers began experimenting with the idea of using more sand - cheaper than chemicals and ceramic proppants — to increase oil and gas output.

Drillers are creating much longer wells that extend a mile or two horizontally and sometimes pumping more than 5,000 pounds of sand per foot, according to energy analysts and executives, including Rick Shearer, the chief executive of sand manufacturer Emerge Energy Services.

A10 | Wednesday, April 12, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

ENTERTAINMENT

Advertisers are fleeing Bill O'Reilly, but viewers aren't

By David Bauder A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

NEW YORK — Advertisers are fleeing Bill O'Reilly's "no spin zone" on Fox News Channel, but viewers are remaining loyal.

"The O'Reilly Factor" averaged 3.71 million viewers over five nights last week, the Nielsen company said Tuesday.

That's up 12 percent from the 3.31 million viewers he averaged the week before and up 28 percent compared to the same week in 2016.

O'Reilly's show averaged just under 4 million viewers for the first O'Reilly three months of 2017, his biggest quarter ever in the show's 20year history.

"Controversy is a breeding ground for interest," said Marc Berman, editor in chief of The Programming Insider. "So people who otherwise might not have seen his show recently

are curious. People might want to see if he addresses the subject. If the ratings were not up, I would have been surprised."

Some five dozen companies have said they wouldn't advertise on O'Reilly's show following a report in The New York Times on April 2 that five women had been paid a total of $13 million to keep quiet about harassment allegations against cable television news' most popular personality. O'Reilly has denied any wrongdoing.

John Legend to voice, produce virtual reality series

By Jake Coyle A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

NEW YORK — Fresh off his co-starring role in "La La Land," John Legend is trying another medium: virtual reality.

Legend will executive produce and lend his voice to the title character of the upcoming Baobab Studios series "Rainbow Crow." The production company was to announce Legend's involvement Tuesday. The first installment of the series is to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival later this month.

"A lot of the attraction to the project was being involved with a new technology that's just emerging as a new medium for

creative talent," Legend said in an interview.

Inspired

by Native Legend American folklore, "Rainbow Crow" is about a bird "with the most dazzling plumage and mellifluous voice, who, after the planet turns dark and cold, must journey far from home to bring light back to the world." Says Legend: "It's about love.

It's about inclusion. It's about community."

Though virtual reality remains a nascent art form, Baobab has emerged as an early leader. One of its first two VR "experiences," ''Invasion!" was

nominated for an Emmy and is to be adapted into a feature film. "Rainbow Crow" is directed by Eric Darnell, co-founder and chief creative officer of Baobab.

Legend is also producing the WGN America series "Underground," about slaves and abolitionists in the years before the Civil War. He recently taped a guest appearance as Frederick Douglass. At a Black History Month event in February, President Donald Trump appeared to be only somewhat familiar with the abolitionist and author, calling him "an example of somebody who's done an amazing job and is getting recognized more and more, I notice."

Panic! at the Disco's Brendon Urie to star on Broadway

By Mark Kennedy ASSOCIATED PRE SS

NEW YORK — Don't panic, music fans — Panic! at the Disco's singer Brendon Urie is about to make his Broadway stage debut in "Kinky Boots."

The singer-songwriter will play a factory honcho in the musical starting next month, lured by the show's producers who were curious to see if he was interested in exploring some sort of musical theater role. Urie joked that he offered to build sets, but will settle on singing.

"It's a familiar thing, I guess, but it's such a different world. I'm so excited to jump in," Urie tells The Associated Press. "This is a step in an exciting direction for me because I've always dreamed of being a part of Broadway in some way."

The Tony Award-winning "Kinky Boots," which recently celebrated its fourth anniversary on Broadway, is based on a 2005 British film about a staid British shoe factory on the brink of ruin that retrofits itself into a maker of footwear for drag queens. It has songs

by Cyndi Lauper, a story

by Harvey Fierstein and some fierce-looking drag queens in 6-inch heels.

Urie will play the role originated by Stark Sands, who earned a Tony nomination in it.

Urie, who helped build theater sets in high school, said he's feeling a jumble of emotions as he gets closer to his May 26 debut at the Hirschfeld

Chris Pizzello / AP

In this Feb. 11, 2017 file photo, Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco performs at the Clive Davis and The Recording Academy Pre-Grammy Gala in Beverly Hills, California.

Theatre. "I'm terrified.

I'm excited, anxious. I can't wait to get started on it," he said. "I'm mostly just curious, really."

He hopes to be in the show until the fall.

He's preparing to adjust to an eight-show-aweek schedule and is furiously listening to the cast album. "I'd seen a couple of other musicals and this one just made the most sense to me," he said. "I said, 'I want to be a part of this magic that I'm watching.'"

Panic! at the Disco formed in 2004 and its 2005 debut, "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out," went platinum thanks to the band's smash hit single, "I Write Sins Not Tragedies." Urie is the sole

remaining and only fulltime member of the original group.

Urie is just the latest in a wave of musicians jumping to Broadway, including Sara Bareilles in "Waitress," Josh Groban in "Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812," Sting in "The Last Ship" and Green Day's frontman Billie Joe Armstrong in "American Idiot."

Urie said he spoke with singer Carly Rae Jepsen, who starred in "Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella" on Broadway in 2014, who told him it was the best time she's ever had.

"I want to give it a 110 percent. As much as I can," he said.

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, April 12, 2017 |

A11

FROM THE COVER

Mexican mother 3 abortion providers with 4 Ohio kids remain in Louisiana faces deportation NEW ORLEANS — The closure of an abortion clinic in northwestern Louisiana leaves just three other such clinics in the state.

The Bossier City Medical Suite's phone number was no longer in service Tuesday and the website was down. State business records show the company's officers are the same Texas-based principals of Causeway Medical Suite, a suburban New Orleans

WALL From page A1

between populated areas and the riverbank.

“They will try to go with low-hanging fruit,” Olivares said. “They’ll do what’s easiest and most expeditious.”

A Justice Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government has not begun condemning any land for border fencing beyond what was planned under the 2006 law. Condemnation notices sent this year to property owners near Roma and Lose Ebanos are part of nearly 100 unresolved lawsuits in the Valley filed in 2008, the official said.

Still, Olivares said he believes that the feds are hurrying to wrap up the condemnations for those segments before they get funding for more fence construction.

Rio Grande City Mayor Joel Villarreal said the city owns property along the river that he expects will be condemned for a border wall, but the municipal government hasn’t received a notice of taking and he’s not aware of any private property owners in the city who’ve been told their land will be condemned.

Villarreal said he has concerns about whether the federal government will provide fair compensation to landowners, that the city and private landowners get access to the river to exercise their water rights, and that construction in the Rio Grande flood plain could result in rising waters being diverted to residential areas.

“In 2011, we had a huge flood,” he said. “If we had a wall at that time, I don’t think it would have survived the flood. It could bring higher consequences to the surrounding area, plus the structure would not have survived at the time.

Millions of dollars would have been wasted.”

Villarreal said he’d prefer that the Border Patrol increase its number of agents and technological capabilities, but he’s resigned to some wall construction. He said he recently spoke with Manuel Padilla, the Border Patrol chief in the Valley, who told him the Army Corps of Engineers will soon be visiting the area to begin planning. They’re set to meet again in the next few weeks.

“Do I believe it’s going to happen? Yes,” Villarreal said. “I believe there’s going to be some kind of wall built. Do I know what it’s going to be? Not exactly. But that’s why I think it’s imperative we have some kind of input.”

Scott Nicol, co-chair of the Borderlands Team for the Sierra Club, said that when local Border Patrol officials asked for fencing during the Bush administration, they requested the construction that was never undertaken in Roma, Rio Grande City and Los Ebanos, but they didn’t plan levee wall fencing

beyond the 20 miles already completed. The concrete sides on the levee walls make it difficult for animals to escape the Rio Grande when it flows into the flood plain, Nicol said.

“The levee border wall, from an environmental standpoint, is worse than a regular border wall,” he said.

“Filling in the gaps means animals can’t go around the walls. People can get over them.

There’s ladders stacked against the walls. But an ocelot can’t build a ladder. For an animal that needs to move from one piece of territory to another, they can’t go to the end of the wall. They’re trapped. That’s particularly a problem when you have a big flooding event like we had in 2010.”

Officials with Homeland Security, the Border Patrol and Dannembaum didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Raul Sesin, general manager of Hidalgo County Drainage District No. 1, attached the Dannembaum proposal to a letter he sent to members of Congress asking for fence construction that would add concrete shores to the existing earthen levees.

Sesin said he doesn’t necessarily support the wall but that if the Trump administration is set on building one, he’d like it to double as a flood control project.

“We’re saying, if you want to (build in) Hidalgo County, these are the areas that don’t have border fence but that can be improved for flood control,” he said.

It’s unclear whether the wall appropriations will make it through Congress. Both houses are expected to vote by April 28 on funding through the end of the fiscal year, but Senate Democrats have threatened to filibuster certain so-called “poison pill” items, such as funding the wall.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, whose district includes parts of Hidalgo County and all of Starr County, said that during the Bush administration he worked with Homeland Security to combine the levees and the border fencing.

“There may be other discrete situations like that, where federal funding for tactical border infrastructure would be helpful,” Cuellar said.

“Here’s the key distinction: Those would be careful decisions, driven by local assessments of specific needs, applied in a tailored way with input from security experts and residents. Instead, President Trump is pushing a one-size-fitsnone symbolic project that will cost Americans billions and won’t make us safer.” jbuch@express-news.net Twitter: @jlbuch Washington, D.C., correspondent Bill Lambrecht contributed to this report.

By Dan Sewell ASSOCIATED PRE SS

CINCINNATI — A Mexican mother of four U.S.-born children faced imminent deportation Tuesday after a federal appeals court refused to block her removal.

The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of appeals granted the Justice Department's request to dismiss the appeal by Maribel Trujillo Diaz. The terse ruling by a threejudge panel says her bid for court intervention wasn't timely, noting she had been subject to a final order of removal since 2014.

Immigration officials have contended Trujillo Diaz entered the United States illegally in 2002 and had exhausted her appeals.

"We're obviously disappointed with the court's ruling, but we still encourage ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to do the right thing and not separate this mom from her kids," attorney Emily Brown said.

She said the woman was being moved Tuesday

TEJANO From page A1 unit taming the wild lands of Texas.

“I’m proud to be part of the creation of this statue that celebrates cultural diversity and pride,” Ramirez said. “We want little Tejanitos to see something they can be proud of when they visit Austin.”

Cara Owsley / AP

Nuns on the Bus, The Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center and other community members protest, Monday, in Cincinnati, against the deportation of Maribel Trujillo Diaz.

from Ohio to an immigration detention center in Louisiana in preparation for her removal.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati has called for mercy, saying she has made positive contributions to her church and community in Butler County, just north of Cincinnati. Her attorneys say her family has been targeted by drug cartels in her homeland.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a get-tough approach to immigration prosecutions during a

tour Tuesday of the U.S.Mexico border. He urged federal prosecutors to intensify their focus on immigration crimes such as illegal crossings or smuggling others into the U.S. A spokeswoman for Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio said he has personally called immigration authorities urging them to reconsider the case of Trujillo Diaz. A spokeswoman for Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio said his office is trying to help "facilitate a solution."

A tireless advocate of the Tejano culture, Ramirez was recently honored with the Premio Letras de Aztlan Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies-Tejas Foco. This commendation highlighted his work with the Tejano Monument and his dedication to the educational improvement of Mexican-American

students. Further demonstrating Ramirez’s commitment to the culture, he was named El Padrino de Mariachi Music de Tejas by the University of Texas Butler School of Music.

Following the ceremony, Rep. Richard Raymond, Sen. Judith Zaffirini and IBC Bank hosted a reception in honor of those involved with the Tejano Monument.

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"Between clinic regulations and, every legislative session, new things coming, new laws that are coming out, it's a constant battle trying to meet those requirements or challenge those regulations," said Kathaleen Pittman of Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport. The Delta Clinic in Baton Rouge and the Women's Health Care Center in New Orleans also remain open.

.

rized under a 2006 law responsible for the existing 650 miles of fencing on the Southwest border.

The fencing in the county is merged with flood control levees near the Rio Grande. About 20 miles of levees have fencing, but 30 miles are open. Trump’s requested levee walls will likely fill in those gaps.

It’s unclear where the remaining “6 miles of new border wall system in Rio Grande Valley Sector” identified in Homeland Security budget justification documents will be built, costing an estimated $146 million.

The company that managed the initial levee wall construction, Dannenbaum Engineering Corp., has proposed spending $378.92 million to fill in the gaps, which would add concrete shores to earthen levees, then erect several feet of fencing on top.

The levees are owned by the International Boundary and Water Commission, so the land for construction could be quickly acquired, avoiding the lengthy legal battles sparked in 2008 when the federal government began acquiring land for 36 miles of fencing in the Valley not built on the levees. Some of those disputes are still ongoing.

Landowners in western Hidalgo County and Starr County received notices this year that the Justice Department is moving forward on land condemnation cases for segments of wall that were planned under the 2006 legislation but never completed.

That law, the Secure Fence Act, authorized at least 700 miles of fencing, which was completed in 2010 as 650 miles of primary fencing and 50 miles of secondary fencing. Because the law set a minimum amount of fencing, but not a maximum amount, Homeland Security can move forward on construction as soon as it gets funding from Congress, said Efrén Olivares, racial and economic justice director for the Texas Civil Rights Project, which represented landowners whose property was condemned in 2008.

Olivares said construction of the 6 miles of barrier beyond the levee that Homeland Security wants to build quickly most likely will be in one or more of three communities that were slated to receive fencing under the George W. Bush administration.

Land condemnation was begun for a 5.26-mile section in Roma, a 7.3mile section in Rio Grande City and a 1.85mile section in Los Ebanos, but a dispute with Mexico over building in the flood plain and funding issues derailed the plans. Rather than go on the levees, those segments of fence would run

facility that closed last year. They could not be reached for comment.

Louisiana's remaining clinics are in Shreveport, Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

The closures come as abortion restrictions imposed by the Legislature force clinics to fight costly legal battles.

Currently, abortion providers in Louisiana are fighting restrictions including a requirement for a 72-hour waiting period for many women, and a ban on a common sec-

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A12 | Wednesday, April 12, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

NATIONAL

Arizona man accused of stealing a woman's purse on 1st date

Plane makes emergency landing, ends up nose-down A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

BOWDOINHAM, Maine â&#x20AC;&#x201D; A small plane made an emergency landing against traffic on an interstate Tuesday, struck a guardrail and came to rest nose-down, police said. One vehicle had to serve to avoid the plane, but no motorists were injured, and the two people aboard the plane suffered only minor injuries.

The plane, piloted by John Gayley, of Bowdoin, landed in the southbound lane of Interstate 295 in Bowdoinham at about 10:15 a.m. It then crashed into a guardrail off the breakdown lane.

Police said Gayley had minor facial injuries and

was taken to a hospital.

Passenger Rodney Voisene, of Bowdoin, received a minor arm injury and was also taken to a hospital. The plane, a 1947 Cessna, did not hit any cars during its landing. Police said one vehicle had to swerve to avoid the plane as it landed against traffic.

Police said Gayley told troopers he had taken off from a Bowdoinham airfield, and his engine stalled when he attempted to switch fuel tanks. His original plan was to fly to an airfield in Turner.

The Federal Aviation Administration was notified about the crash. A wrecker planned to remove the plane from the road later Tuesday.

ASSOCIATED PRE SS

Main State Police / AP

In this photo released by Maine State Police, a plane stands on its nose after striking a guardrail after it landed Tuesday in the southbound lane of Interstate 295 in Bowdoinham, Maine.

PHOENIX â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Police say a Phoenix man has been arrested for allegedly stealing a woman's purse during a first date.

They say 38-year-old David Harlow met the woman on an online dating site and two talked for several weeks before meeting in person at a Phoenix resort.

During the date, the unidentified woman went to the restroom and asked Harlow to watch her belongings. When she got back, Harlow and her purse were reportedly gone.

Police say Harlow allegedly took the victim's credit card to a casino and tried to withdraw money from several banks.

They say Harlow has

During the date, the unidentified woman went to the restroom and asked Harlow to watch her belongings.

When she got back, Harlow and her purse were reportedly gone. been booked into jail on suspicion of felony theft, theft of a credit card and taking the identity of another person.

It was unclear Tuesday if Harlow has a lawyer yet.