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UNITED STATES BORDER SECURITY

Family members sentenced to prison Human smuggling ring operated for some time

By Joana Santillana LA R ED O MORNI NG T I ME S

Almost a dozen members of a human smuggling organization were sentenced Thursday in a Laredo federal court.

Visiting Judge Keith P. Ellison presided over the sentencing hearings of Sandra Gongora, Abraham Alfonso Garza, Carlos Enrique Reyna-Garcia, Maria de Lourdes Gongora, Jose Gongora Sr., Juan Antonio Luna, Joseph Graves Jr., Guillermo Valdovinos-Rios, Mario Adalberto Ramirez-Guerrero, Jose Francisco Morales Jr. and Luis Rodriguez Jr. The organization was a family business, with parents, uncles and in-laws taking part in the illicit activities. The defendants’ plea agreements document several instances in which the defendants had encounters with law enforcement and were found to have participated in human smuggling.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alfredo De La Rosa described the human smuggling ring as a longstanding organization that operated for a significant period of time.

“This was not a one-time deal,” the prosecutor said. “This was a thorn on the side of Border Patrol and South Texas law enforcement.”

The multi-person indictment states that the defendants conspired and agreed to move or attempt to transport and move undocumented immigrants within the United States between Sept. 1, 2015 and June 23, 2017.

Multiple material witnesses admitted to paying between $5,000 and $10,000 to be transported to various locations in the country, according to court documents.

Sandra Gongora and Garza received the longest prison sentences, 36 months and 30 months, respectively.

De La Rosa said the investigation showed that Gongora was the second in command. She helped transport undocumented immigrants from several locations and load them into trailers and other vehicles.

Court documents state that Garza confessed that he had moved undocumented immigrants to a tractor-trailer for a friend he owed money to. He admitted to picking up the immigrants from another vehicle and taking them to the trailer after.

Reyna-Garcia was ordered to serve 24 months in prison. His plea agreement states that he transported undocumented immigrants and allowed the organization to use his rented home in south Laredo as a stash house.

Maria Gongora, Jose Gongora Sr., Luna, Graves and Valdovino-Rios were all sentenced to 12 Court continues on A3

Cuate Santos / Laredo Morning Times

Jason D. Owens, acting chief patrol agent for the Laredo Sector Border Patrol, addresses members of the National Guard during an orientational meeting at the Laredo Energy Arena on Thursday.

NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS ARRIVE IN GATEWAY CITY About 180 members will help support local Border Patrol agents

By Julia Wallace LAREDO MORNING TIME S

About 180 members of the National Guard filed their way in to the Laredo Energy Arena early Thursday morning, marking the arrival of the first boots on the ground in Laredo since President Donald Trump signed an order for their deployment in April.

Jason D. Owens, acting chief patrol agent for Laredo Sector Border Patrol, said these guardsmen will be here to help with Border Patrol’s efforts at least until October, but perhaps even through Fiscal Year 2019.

Like U.S. Border Patrol as a whole, the Laredo Sec-

tor, which includes Zapata, is understaffed, Owens said.

“We are less than 1,700 agents when we should be over 1,800. And the same is true for our operational support personnel. ... That’s before we even touch on the additional 5,000 Border Patrol agents that the president wants to give the entire United States,” Owens said.

That would represent a 25 percent increase in Border Patrol’s force.

After today’s orientation and training, these guardsmen will be filling roles in air support, operating camera towers, helping maintain the 1,500 or so vehicles in Laredo Sector Border

Patrol’s arsenal, and assisting with intel analyst support.

“That’s the primary mission of this operation, is to help the Border Patrol increase its situational awareness along the border. ... We should be able to see when somebody crosses, we should be able to see where they’re going,” Owens said.

In his address to the 180 guardsmen and women at the arena, Owens asked how many of them are from the border area. Less than 10 raised their hands.

He then asked for how many of them this is their first time on the border.

Essentially everyone else raised their hands.

When people think of the U.S.-Mexico border, they typically envision an area like San Diego, where there’s a 20-foot border fence, Owens said.

“What we have here is the Rio Grande. It twists

and turns through our (area of responsibility) in very dense vegetation, very flat on both sides. So maintaining that situational awareness, being able to respond to the traffic, is made much more difficult,” he told the Guard.

There’s 170 miles of border to cover in the Laredo Sector. Owens said when the weather is good, all camera towers are working and aerostats are flying, only about a third of this area is under persistent surveillance.

“Much has been said about the role that you guys are going to be accomplishing with us,” Owens said in his address. “It is going to be behind the scenes. It is not going to be out front doing enforcement action.

So what? It’s critical. We need you doing it. ... It’s going to help keep bad things and bad people from Border continues on A3

INSTITUTIONAL REVOLUTIONARY PARTY

MEXICO OIL INDUSTRY

Polls portend Mexico’s ruling party’s imminent dissolution

Reeling from job cuts, Pemex pins hopes on a rebel candidate

By Shannon O’Neil

By Amy Stillman

B L OOMBE RG NEWS

BL OOMBERG NEWS

The PRI is dead, long live the PRI! As Mexico hurtles toward a momentous election this July, the storied Institutional Revolutionary Party that dominated the country for nearly a century seems doomed. Sadly, however, while the PRI may implode, the clientelist system it created — and that holds Mexico back — will likely roll on.

Things weren’t supposed to turn out this way. President Enrique Peña Nieto was going to

MEXICO CITY — In the wetlands of Tabasco in southeast Mexico, indigenous farmers stand guard outside oil wells. They have no official status — but anyone who wants to do business there has to pay to get past.

At Well 144 in the massive Sen field, for example, owned by state-run Pemex, service companies say they have to pay off two such groups, who claim to represent local communities and landowners. In some areas there are as many as 10.

Alejandro Cegarra / Bloomberg

Jose Antonio Meade, PRI presidential candidate, speaks in Mexico City, Mexico on Wednesday.

be the PRI’s savior. After the party’s heavy legislative losses and dismal third place showing in the 2006 presidential

race, the photogenic governor used his political lineage, his made-for-TV personal story, and a Mexico continues on A8

Alejandro Cegarra / Bloomberg

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, MORENA presidential candidate, speaks in Mexico City.

They charge fees that can reach 50,000 pesos ($2,670) a month for the larger international firms.

There aren’t too many

other ways for the province’s people to make money out of oil. In the four years since Mexico Oil continues on A8

In Brief A2 | Saturday, May 5, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

CALENDAR

AROUND THE NATION

TODAY IN HISTORY

SATURDAY, MAY 5

ASSOCIATED PRE SS

First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 8:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

1220 McClelland Ave. Hard cover $1, paperback $0.50, magazines and children’s books, $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.

TUESDAY, MAY 8 Tiny Toes Virtual Tour – English. 11 a.m.-12 p.m. The virtual tour gives mothers-to-be detailed information about what to expect upon arrival and during their stay at Laredo Medical Center. To reserve a space, call 956796-4019 or visit www.laredomedical.com/tiny-toes.

Tiny Toes Super Milk Class – English. 6-7 p.m. This class offers mothers-to-be all the information they need before their baby’s birth to ensure a successful breastfeeding experience. To reserve a space, call 956-796-4019 or visit www.laredomedical.com/tiny-toes.

Mark Humphrey / AP

Don Aaron, public affairs manager for the Metro Nashville Police Department, speaks during a news conference outside Opry Mills Mall Thursday in Nashville, Tenn.

THURSDAY, MAY 10 Tiny Toes Super Milk Class – Spanish. 6-7 p.m. This class offers mothers-to-be all the information they need before their baby’s birth to ensure a successful breastfeeding experience. To reserve a space, call 956-796-4019 or visit www.laredomedical.com/tiny-toes.

MAN KILLS ANOTHER AT NASHVILLE MALL

WEDNESDAY, MAY 9 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 1220 McClelland Ave. 10 a.m. to noon. Hard cover $1, paperbacks $0.50, magazines and children’s books $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.

TUESDAY, MAY 15 Tiny Toes Prenatal Class – English.

6-7:30 p.m. This class gives mothersto-be the most important information to help them deliver a healthy, fullterm baby from the start of labor until birth. To reserve a space, call 956796-4019 or visit www.laredomedical.com/tiny-toes.

Veterans Conference…A new beginning. 9 a.m.-2 p.m. UT Health Regional Campus Laredo, 1937 Bustamante, Laredo, Texas, 78041. Call Gerardo Alvarado for more information at (956) 794-3089. This conference is open to all veterans and their families

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 1220 McClelland Ave. 10 a.m. to noon. Hard cover $1, paperbacks $0.50, magazines and children’s books $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.

Joint Replacement Surgery Seminar. 6 p.m. Learn more about this innovative program, offered by the Laredo Bone and Joint Center at Laredo Medical Center. To reserve a space, call 956-796-3009 or 7963223.

Weight Loss Surgery Seminar. 6:30 p.m. Learn more about this innovative program, offered by the Laredo Bone and Joint Center at Laredo Medical Center. To reserve a space, call 956796-3223.

THURSDAY, MAY 17 Healthy Lifestyle Luncheon. 12 p.m.

Laredo Medical Center invites adults who are 50 or better to have lunch and listen to a presentation on stroke by the city’s newest neurosurgeon, Dr. Scott Robertson. To reserve a space, call 956-796-2007 or stop by the Senior Circle at LMC, Tower B. Tiny Toes Prenatal Class – Spanish. 6-7:30 p.m. 1700 East Saunders.

Tower B, 1st floor. This class gives mothers-to-be the most important information to help them deliver a healthy, full-term baby from the start of labor until birth. To reserve a space, call 956-796-4019 or visit www.laredomedical.com/tiny-toes.

Celiac Support Group Meeting. 7:15 p.m. Laredo Medical Center, 1700 East Saunders, Tower B, 1st floor. The Laredo Chapter of the Celiac Disease Foundation invites the community to attend. For more information, email laredo@celiac.org.

SATURDAY, MAY 19 Laredo Spring Alzheimer’s Educational Symposium. 8 a.m.-2 p.m. UT Health Regional Campus Laredo, 1937 Bustamante, Laredo, Texas, 78041.

Call Ginny Funk for more information at (210) 822-6449 Ext. 8102. An informational symposium regarding Alzheimer’s.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Church loteria. 6:30 p.m. 1718 San Jorge Ave., in the church hall. $20 for four cards.

Open to the public.

TUESDAY, MAY 22 Tiny Toes Virtual Tour – English. 11 a.m.-12 p.m. 1700 East Saunders.

Tower B, 1st floor. The virtual tour gives mothers-to-be detailed information about what to expect upon arrival and during their stay at Laredo Medical Center. To reserve a space, call 956-796-4019 or visit www.laredomedical.com/tiny-toes.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 23 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 1220 McClelland Ave. 10 a.m. to noon. Hard cover $1, paperbacks $0.50, magazines and children’s books $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — One 22-year-old man ended a fight with another by fatally shooting him inside a Tennessee mall on Thursday, and then gave up his weapon and surrendered, saying he didn’t want any more trouble, police said.

Nashville Police spokesman Don Aaron said the shooter put the gun on the counter of a ticket booth across from the Opry Mills Mall, and then was ordered to lie on the ground by a retired California police officer who now lives in Tennessee.

The victim has been identified by police as Demarco Churchwell, who is also 22.

DNA match sought in Zodiac Killer case in California SAN FRANCISCO — Northern California detectives still trying to identify the infamous Zodiac Killer who targeted victims in the late 1960s and taunted investigators with letters say they hope to try the same DNA tracing technology recently used to arrest a suspect in another string of coldcase serial slayings — those blamed on the Golden State

The suspected shooter has been identified as (backslash)Justin Golson, police said. It is not clear if Golson will face charges or if he has a lawyer. He was in police custody and being interviewed by investigators Thursday evening.

The gunfire prompted an outsized response. The mall was evacuated, police officers responded in force, at least a half a dozen ambulances converged on the scene and authorities said the adjacent Grand Ole Opry House and convention center were put on lockdown for a time. — Compiled from AP reports

Killer. But first they have to get a better DNA profile.

Several months ago, the Vallejo Police Department sent two letters written by the Zodiac Killer to a private lab in hopes of finding his DNA on the back of the stamps or envelope flaps he may have licked. They are expecting results soon.

“They were confident they would be able to get something off it,” said Vallejo police Detective Terry Poyser.

Poyser said he hopes a full DNA profile will be found that will let detectives try the same

DNA sleuthing techniques that investigators used to arrest Joseph DeAngelo on April 25.

Authorities suspect he committed at least a 12 murders and 50 rapes in California between 1976 and 1986. Investigators uploaded DNA collected at one of the crime scenes to an opensource genealogical website and found a partial match to a distant relative of DeAngelo’s.

From there, they painstakingly constructed a family tree dating back several generations before they zeroed in on DeAngelo. — Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE STATE Report: Southwest pilots struggled to control crippled jet DALLAS — The pilots of a Southwest Airlines jet struggled to handle the plane after an engine blew apart at 32,000 feet over Pennsylvania last month.

Investigators say the captain, Tammie Jo Shults, took over control from the co-pilot. She first asked air traffic controllers for permission to land at the nearest airport, but then aimed for Philadelphia, where the crippled plane made an emergency landing.

A jagged chunk of an engine part called the inboard fan cowl hit a window, shattering it and causing a partial loss of pressure in the cabin that pushed 43-year-old Jennifer Riordan halfway out the window. She died later. The NTSB provided new details Thursday on the fatal accident aboard Southwest Flight 1380 on April 17.

Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg

President Trump speaks to Southwest Airlines Pilot Tammie Jo Shults, second left, and First Officer Darren Ellisor, left.

Shults and co-pilot Darren Ellisor, both former military pilots, have not talked publicly about the dramatic flight. They and other crew members and a few passengers met President Donald Trump in the White House on Tuesday, and Trump praised their bravery and skill.

In its update, the NTSB also said that investigators have

found pieces of the broken engine fan blade suspected of triggering the accident when it snapped off due to metal fatigue, or microscopic cracking.

The NTSB said the other blades in the engine on the Boeing 737 were nicked during the accident but showed no signs of cracking. — Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE WORLD Mexico finds 113 fake police in raid on local force MEXICO CITY — Prosecutors and soldiers raided the headquarters of a local police force in central Mexico and found a strange thing: 113 of the 185 officers weren’t police at all.

The Public Safety Department in Puebla state said late Wednesday the 113 are facing charges equivalent to impersonating an officer and that the

state government would take over policing duties in the town of San Martin Texmelucan.

Puebla’s interior secretary Diodoro Carrasco said the town government had lost control and could no longer guarantee the safety of residents. He cited multiple instances in which bound or dismembered bodies had been left on the town’s streets. Some of the fake officers presumably paid to avoid vetting and registration procedures. Others weren’t registered as police in any way, but

Today is Saturday, May 5, the 125th day of 2018. There are 240 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History: On May 5, 1862, Mexican troops defeated French occupying forces in the Battle of Puebla.

On this date: In 1494, during his second voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus landed in Jamaica.

In 1818, political philosopher Karl Marx, co-author of "The Communist Manifesto" and author of "Das Kapital," was born in Prussia.

In 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte, 51, died in exile on the island of St. Helena.

In 1892, Congress passed the Geary Act, which required Chinese in the United States to carry a certificate of residence at all times, or face deportation.

In 1927, "To the Lighthouse," Virginia Woolf's fifth novel, was published in London.

In 1942, wartime sugar rationing began in the United States.

In 1945, in the only fatal attack of its kind during World War II, a Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon, killing the pregnant wife of a minister and five children. Denmark and the Netherlands were liberated as a German surrender went into effect.

In 1955, West Germany became a fully sovereign state. The baseball musical "Damn Yankees," starring Stephen Douglass as Joe Hardy, Gwen Verdon as Lola and Ray Walston as Applegate, opened on Broadway.

In 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America's first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight aboard Mercury capsule Freedom 7.

In 1978, Ben & Jerry's ice cream had its beginnings as Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield opened an ice cream parlor at a converted gas station in Burlington, Vermont.

In 1981, Irish Republican Army hunger-striker Bobby Sands died at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland in his 66th day without food.

In 1994, Singapore caned American teenager Michael Fay for vandalism, a day after the sentence was reduced from six lashes to four in response to an appeal by President Bill Clinton.

Ten years ago: Three men were arrested and beaten by Philadelphia police officers after a vehicle chase in a scene videotaped by a WTXF-TV news helicopter. (The three men were later acquitted of attempted murder and all other charges stemming from a shooting that led to their arrests; four of the 18 police officers at the scene were fired and a number of others were disciplined.) Irvine Robbins, co-founder of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream chain, died in Rancho Mirage, California, at age 90.

Five years ago: In Afghanistan, seven Americans and one German soldier were killed in three separate attacks. Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, seriously wounded in a 2011 shooting at a Tucson, Arizona, shopping mall, received the 2013 Profile in Courage award at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston. LeBron James of the Miami Heat was the overwhelming choice as the NBA's Most Valuable Player. Brett Rumford won the China Open by four strokes to become the first Australian in 41 years to win consecutive European Tour titles.

One year ago: President Donald Trump signed his first piece of major legislation, a $1 trillion spending bill to keep the government operating through September. The Labor Department reported a burst of hiring in April 2017 as employers added 211,000 jobs, more than double the weak showing in March.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Pat Carroll is 91. Former AFL-CIO president John J. Sweeney is 84. Saxophonist Ace Cannon is 84. Country singer-musician Roni Stoneman is 80.

Actor Michael Murphy is 80. Actor Lance Henriksen is 78. Comedianactor Michael Palin is 75. Actor John Rhys-Davies is 74. Rock correspondent Kurt Loder is 73. Rock musician Bill Ward is 70. Actress Melinda Culea is 63. Actress Lisa Eilbacher is 61.

Actor Richard E. Grant is 61. Former broadcast journalist John Miller is 60.

Rock singer Ian McCulloch is 59. NBC newsman Brian Williams is 59. Rock musician Shawn Drover is 52. TV personality Kyan Douglas is 48. Actress Tina Yothers is 45. Rhythm and blues singer Raheem DeVaughn is 43.

Actor Santiago Cabrera is 40. Actor Vincent Kartheiser is 39. Singer Craig David is 37. Actress Danielle Fishel is 37. Actor Henry Cavill is 35. Actor Clark Duke is 33. Soul singer Adele is 30.

Thought for Today : "The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority." — Ralph W. Sockman, clergyman (1889-1970).

CONTACT US video provided by the state government showed them wearing uniforms.

A few other officers were arrested for charging potential policemen between $155 and $260 to allow them to avoid vetting and background checks. San Martin Texmelucan has become a center for contraband sales of stolen fuel.

Corrupt municipal police forces have been detected and disbanded in several states in Mexico. — Compiled from AP reports

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The Zapata Times

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Saturday, May 5, 2018 |

A3

LOCAL & STATE

Officials ignore dioxin spread in waterways

Grand opening of CVS set for Sunday SPECIAL TO THE TIME S

By Lise Olsen H OUSTON CHRONICLE

HIGHLANDS, Texas — Evelyn and Jerome Matula were still polka-dancing newlyweds in 1950 when they spotted a halffinished cottage in the woods along the San Jacinto River east of Houston. It seemed idyllic, with panoramic views and a sandy path to the river, where their three children and later their grandchildren fished. Now, the retired refinery worker and former educator fear their kin were poisoned by carcinogenic dioxin in the fish and well water.

Decades ago, paper mill waste barged down the Houston Ship Channel was buried across the river. From their bluff today, the Matulas can see orange buoys marking a federal Superfund hazardous waste site established in 2008.

An agreement announced last month has cleared the way for the San Jacinto Waste Pits to finally be cleaned up. But dioxin damage already has spread far beyond the waste pits, the Houston Chronicle and The Associated Press found.

More than 30 hotspots — small sites where dioxin has settled — have been located in sediments along the river, the Houston Ship Channel and into Galveston Bay, according to University of Houston research conducted from 2001 to 2011 and pieced together by the news

COURT From page A1 months and one day.

The Gongoras, Luna and Valdovino-Rios used their personal vehicles to transport undocumented immigrants from one place to another and into trailers as well as to scout specific areas and checkpoints, court documents

organizations.

The affected areas are alongside parks and residential neighborhoods with thousands of homes. But the residents’ wells or yards have not been tested by state health officials.

Details about the hotspots have not been made public by Texas environmental regulators, who used more than $5 million in federal money to pay for the research. In 2012, they ended a fact-finding committee that oversaw the project and had proposed new standards for dioxin and PCBs that could have been costly to corporate polluters.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality refused to release the full results of the studies that identified the sources of dioxin and PCBs, even to academic researchers, Harris County officials and lawyers who later sued companies over environmental damage. The research funding ended in 2011, leaving unanswered questions about whether toxic damage spread even farther during hurricanes Ike and Harvey.

The university data linked hotspots primarily to three sources: the leaking waste pits, the original site of the paper mill in Pasadena and a major chemical complex in nearby Deer Park that is part of another Superfund site, records show.

None has been cleaned up.

Under the Clean Water Act

state.

Graves, a truck driver who lives in Iowa, was found to be a single-time participant. On June 23, 2017, LPD found 21 undocumented immigrants in the sleeper compartment of the truck he was driving, according to court documents.

Graves said he was surprised by the number of people other co-con-

and state law, Texas authorities were required to address dioxin and PCBs in the river and ship channel, waterways officially designated as “impaired.” Setting such standards could have forced the responsible companies to clean up and upgrade contaminated stormwater and wastewater treatment.

All three TCEQ commissioners, appointed by the governor, declined an interview request.

Carl Masterson, a former Houston-Galveston Area Council staffer who for years served as a facilitator for the committee, said state regulators failed to do their duty. Once “the meetings were done, the project was over and the findings were in, the TCEQ should have approved” the committee’s recommendations, he said.

In a statement, the agency said it’s still working on “a document summarizing the source characterization of dioxin loads in the Houston Ship Channel/ Upper Galveston Bay system.”

The state’s approach to dioxin follows the same pattern the Chronicle and AP previously identified in an investigation into air and water pollution releases from Hurricane Harvey.

The news organizations found that state and federal regulators did little in response to massive releases of toxic pollution reported during and after Harvey’s torrential rains.

spirators were putting in his tractor-trailer because he was recruited to move only 10 undocumented immigrants through the Laredo Border Patrol checkpoint for $5,000, records state.

Ellison determined that Ramirez-Guerrero, Morales and Rodriguez all played a minor role in the conspiracy and sentenced them to time served. The

A grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held Sunday for the new CVS Pharmacy in Zapata.

The business is located at 1205 North U.S. Highway 83.

The ceremony will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The store is set to open at 8 a.m. and the ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for 9 a.m.

BORDER From page A1 coming in to our country.”

Owens cited members of the Zetas cartel, along with murderers and rapists, and people coming from countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Yemen.

While they are here, these soldiers are representing both their uniform and Border Patrol’s uniform, Owens told them.

“This community of Laredo is supportive of border security. Laredo likes the Border Patrol. It’s because we are a part of this community. We love this community; be cognizant of that. This is a great community; take care of it,” Owens said.

Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz said he was concerned when he first heard about an active

investigation showed that they mostly participated by driving scout vehicles to alert other co-conspirators, court documents state.

Jose Andres Gongora Jr., the group’s leader, has also pleaded guilty to being involved in the conspiracy and is pending sentencing, court records show.

The public is invited to attend the grand opening and ribbon cutting.

CVS sells prescription drugs and a wide assortment of general merchandise, including over-the-counter drugs, beauty products and cosmetics, film and photo finishing services, seasonal merchandise, greeting cards, and convenience foods

military deployment to Laredo.

He called Owens and asked if this was a political move, or if Border Patrol actually needs the help. Owens said they do.

“I kind of yield to him. If he needs people and it’s going to help his situation …” Saenz said. “I as a mayor want a safe, secure city. And the more help we can get, the better — short of militarizing it.”

Saenz also noted the economic benefit of having this influx of new people in the city.

At least for now, these guardsmen are staying in hotels around Laredo, according to Sara Melendez, Laredo Sector Border Patrol spokeswoman.

“It helps in more way than one,” Saenz said.

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

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

A4 | Saturday, May 5, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

COLUMN

OTHER VIEWS

Bad data used to access maternal mortality rate

By Cynthia M. Allen FO RT WORT H STAR-T E LE GRAM

Texans may well remember the shocking 2016 study on maternal health and mortality that found the rate at which new mothers were dying in the Lone Star state to be alarmingly — almost unbelievably — high.

The study published in the medical journal Obstetrics and Gynecology said that in 2012 Texas reported 147 women who died from pregnancyrelated causes — a more than doubling over the previous year.

Indeed, the mortality rate was unmatched by any other state or nation in the world, rendering Texas a deadly place for new mothers, as national and local headlines were quick to report.

The study authors did not assign a cause for the sudden, puzzling increase in maternal deaths, but pro-choice abortion rights advocates were quick to offer an explanation of their own.

The rise in maternal deaths occurred just after the Texas Legislature reduced funding for family planning services and added new restrictions to abortion clinics. In the wake of the cuts, more than 80 clinics, many of which provided abortions, closed their doors.

"Women have been left out in the cold," said Sarah Wheat, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood. She called these clinics a "gateway to the healthcare system" for many women and strongly implied their closings were responsible for the startling increase in maternal deaths.

Former state Sen. Wendy Davis joined the fray, railing against her former Republican colleagues, all but blaming them for the deaths of 600 Texas women between 20002014.

The Guardian’s Jessica Valenti, an outspoken abortion rights proponent, was even more blunt. She boldly declared, "Politics is killing mothers in Texas."

To these observers the connection seemed easy or at least politically convenient.

And "in the absence of war, natural disaster, or severe economic upheaval," what other reasonable explanation could there be for the dramatic and sudden increase in maternal mortality rates?

Try the simple and even obvious one: The researchers were using bad data.

Last week, two years after the original study was released, the same

medical journal published further analysis of maternal mortality rates in Texas over the same period of time and determined that the number of maternal deaths in Texas in 2012 was actually 56, about a third of the 147 initially reported.

The second study, conducted by the Texas Department of State Health Services, found that data coding errors in previous research misclassified a number of deceased women as pregnant. These were human errors, understandable and forgivable, but not without consequence.

In seeking to correct these statistics, the Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force cross-referenced birth and death certificates and medical records for all 147 women whose 2012 deaths were attributed to pregnancy-related health issues.

They discovered instead that only 56 deaths fell under the definition of maternal mortality, not only a far smaller number, but one more in line with maternal mortality findings in other states.

Maternal mortality rates in the U.S. are among the highest in the developed world for reasons that remain unclear.

But Texas is hardly the outlier that it was once thought to be.

To their credit, the legislature and Gov. Greg Abbott prioritized maternal health after the release of the 2016 study, extending the mandate of the state’s maternal health task force until 2023.

The task force is charged, among other things, with looking at the health disparities and racial and socioeconomic status of women. It seeks to equip health care providers with best practices and procedures for caring for pregnant women, and provide better solutions to help women with postpartum depression.

Improving the maternal health landscape and protecting new mothers should remain high priorities for the state, even in the wake of the corrected data.

But this latest study underscores the importance of accurate information in public policy making. And it should be a admonition to abortion rights advocates looking to draw hasty conclusions for political gain.

But we’ll have to manage our expectations on that score.

Cynthia M. Allen is a Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist.

COMMENTARY

Citizenship is the keystone of our liberal democracy

By Clive Crook BL OOMBERG NEWS

Western democracies aren’t working well.

Liberal democratic norms are under strain in the U.S. and much of Europe. In other parts of the world, authoritarian governments grow confident and ambitious.

As citizens of democratic countries, we can all agree: Restoring the vitality of our systems of government is essential.

One crucial yet neglected part of this task is to understand what we mean by that phrase, "As citizens."

Like much else in Western politics, notions of citizenship have polarized. The space between the poles isn’t ideological in the old left-right sense. (At the moment, that kind of ideology seems largely beside the point.) It’s based instead on class, culture and geography.

Away from the cities, populists care about citizenship to a fault, on a spectrum that runs, at the extreme, to hardline nativism and ethnic bigotry. The urban gentry cares about it hardly at all, to the point, in the U.S., of supporting "sanctuary cities" and frowning on the very term, "illegal immigrant."

The subject preoccupies me at the moment, because I’m applying for U.S. citizenship. Telling this to friends and neighbors, I’m struck by the contrast I just mentioned. In my professional circles, it’s usually seen as a dull administrative matter. I have a green card, they understand, so it isn’t complicated. You fill in some forms, take a little test, swear an oath of some

kind, and get a second passport. (Useful thing to have, though it means you’ll have to do jury service.)

My West Virginia neighbors see it as a really big deal. At the moment I’m British, and I’ve decided I want to be an American. (Wow.) On this subject, I share the West Virginian view of the world. I think acquiring U.S. citizenship is a big deal, and I’ve hesitated over it.

I’m uncomfortable with the idea of dual citizenship, something that the U.S. and Britain (unlike Japan and the Netherlands, for instance) tacitly allow.

If the U.S. will have me, I’m enough of a pragmatist to keep my British passport for as long as that’s allowed, yet principled enough to want to be sure I’d choose the U.S. over the U.K. if ever required to pick - as, in fact, I believe I should be.

In urban settings, this position elicits laughter and a rolling of eyes — not least from my nativeborn American wife, who also happens to be Canadian and Irish.

Sorry, dear: There’s something unsatisfactory about pledging loyalty to more than one country.

In West Virginia, at least, they understand.

Granted, the urban gentry’s discomfort with citizenship is in part both rational and ethically sound. People are people, right? And they don’t choose where they’re born.

Why should the mere accident of starting out in a rich country endow a person with rights denied to others less fortunate? It’s a good question. There’s no avoiding it: The idea of

citizenship does involve blinding oneself to the idea of (what used to be called) the brotherhood of man.

This moral blindness can seem especially offensive when it comes to dealing with people who came to the country (or remained here) illegally, but have lived here for many years — as family, or as valued friends, neighbors, co-workers and otherwise law-abiding taxpayers.

The more so, of course, if they didn’t choose to put themselves in that position. The plight of young people in the U.S. ensnared in the mess called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals shocks the conscience, or ought to.

The U.K.’s Windrush scandal, which has just claimed the head of another member of Theresa May’s beleaguered government, is even more egregious.

Children who came to Britain from Commonwealth countries before 1971, admitted on their parents’ British passports but without documents of their own, have been asked to prove their entitlement to remain in the country and threatened with removal — 50 years on. Plumbing new depths of bureaucratic cruelty and incompetence, the episode seems to discredit the very idea of citizenship.

The trouble is, that idea is indispensable for liberal democratic government. A radical libertarian is entitled to disagree, but if your view of government, whether conservative or progressive, involves taking from some and giving to others, it requires a measure of social solidarity.

The more taking and

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DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

giving you hope to do — the more progressive your ambitions for national politics — the more solidarity you’re likely to require.

Social solidarity has to be about more than merely being there. It involves a sense of mutual obligation — and not just what’s required by law. Like citizenship, social solidarity is both inclusive and exclusive.

It’s inclusive because it binds people together.

It’s unavoidably exclusive because not everybody gets bound in. As long as national politics is the principal driver of government action, liberal democracies will need citizens who think of themselves as citizens — even if that does entail a degree of moral blindness. The strand of progressivism that favors open borders is founded on a contradiction.

A liberal conception of citizenship recognizes certain universal human rights and the demands of ordinary decency so far as non-citizens are concerned. It understands that people are people, and owe each other something on that account alone.

For that reason, it rejects ethno-nationalism and other kinds of racism out of hand. It also understands the benefits that a liberal immigration policy can bring to existing citizens.

But it doesn’t deny citizens the right to make that judgment. It puts citizens first. It never suggests that citizenship doesn’t much matter.

The weaker the commitment to citizenship, the worse the prospects for liberal democracy.

Clive Crook is a Bloomberg News columnist.

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Saturday, May 5, 2018 |

A5

BUSINESS

Grand jury indicts former VW executive

Musk causes angst on Wall Street

By Tom Krisher

By Tom Krisher and David Mchugh

ASSOCIAT ED PRE SS

A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

DETROIT — Elon Musk’s quirky behavior has long been chalked up to that of a misunderstood genius. But never have his actions caused so much angst on Wall Street.

Investors have for years endured millions of dollars in short-term losses in hopes of a long-term payoff. They might have even been able to stomach the $8.3 million that Telsa Inc. burns through each day. But it was a conference call Wednesday that left many wondering how much more they can take.

Just after the electric car and solar panel company announced a record first-quarter loss, the Tesla CEO cut off two analysts who sought some basic answers: details about the company’s cash needs and orders for its all-important Model 3 mass-market electric car.

“These questions are so dry.

They’re killing me,” Musk said as he dismissed an RBC Capital Markets analyst in favor of a blogger who served up queries more to his liking.

Shares fell quickly in afterhours trading, and analysts began writing that Musk shouldn’t bite the hands that feed his company’s enormous cash needs because soon he may need more. By Thursday afternoon, Tesla stock had lost nearly 6 percent of its value.

Tesla tumbled 5.5 percent to $284.45 after the car maker took another loss as it struggles to produce its lower-cost Model 3 sedan.

“While they may be dry in nature, we argue such questions are extremely important for a highly leveraged and cash-hungry company,” Mor-

DETROIT — A federal grand jury in Detroit has indicted former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn on charges stemming from the company’s diesel emissions cheating scandal in a plot that prosecutors allege reached the top of the world’s largest automaker.

The four-count indictment unsealed Thursday charges Winterkorn, 70, with three counts of wire fraud and one of conspiring with other senior VW executives and employees to violate the Clean Air Act. He was indicted in March.

Volkswagen has admitted to programming its diesel engines to activate pollution controls when being tested in government labs and turning them off when on the road.

Winterkorn faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the conspiracy charge and up to 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine on the wire fraud charges. He is the ninth person charged by U.S. authorities in the case. Two have pleaded guilty and are serving jail time, while six others remain in Germany.

“Volkswagen deceived American regulators and defrauded American consumers for years,” Matthew Schneider, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said in a statement.

“The fact that this criminal conduct was allegedly blessed at Volkswagen’s highest levels is appalling.”

The U.S. government believes Winterkorn is in Germany, so it’s unlikely he’ll ever see a U.S. courtroom or jail. Germany’s constitution forbids extradition

Thomas Kienzle / AP

Former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn has been indicted in the United States over his alleged role in the German auto giant's 'dieselgate' scandal, court papers showed Thursday.

of its citizens other than to another European Union member state or to an international court.

He still could be charged in Germany, however. Prosecutors in the city of Braunschweig said in January of 2017 that Winterkorn was among 37 suspects being investigated in a criminal probe related to the emissions scandal. Prosecutors’ statement said they were investigating him on suspicion of fraud and false advertising.

Winterkorn testified in the German parliament that he didn’t learn of the problem until shortly before U.S. investigators announced it in September of 2015.

The indictment alleges that Winterkorn was told of the emissions cheating in May of 2014 and again in July of 2015, yet “agreed with other senior VW executives to continue to per-

petrate the fraud and deceive U.S. regulators.”

The plot was discovered when the International Council on Clean Transportation, which works with governments to control emissions, paid for emissions testing on two diesel VWs. The study of on-road performance found that one emitted up to 35 times the allowable amount of toxic nitrogen oxide.

According to prosecutors, Bernd Gottweis, senior VW manager then responsible for product safety, met with engine development employees and learned about the ICCT study.

On May 22, 2014, he wrote a one-page memo describing the test results and warning that VW could not explain the increased pollution. The memo was attached to a cover note authored by another senior executive and was addressed to Winterkorn, prosecutors allege.

John Raoux / AP

Elon Musk's quirky behavior has long been chalked up to that of a misunderstood genius. But never have his actions caused so much angst on Wall Street.

gan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a note to investors.

The conference call behavior was labeled bizarre by some investors. It also followed some recent wild tweets by Musk about building a cyborg dragon, how his eyebrows can grab things and an April 1 post in which he wrote, “Despite intense efforts to raise money, including a last-ditch mass sale of Easter Eggs, we are sad to report that Tesla has gone completely and totally bankrupt. So bankrupt, you can’t believe it.”

To be sure, Musk has joked in the past and poked fun at critics. He often posts updates to his 21.5 million Twitter followers about his companies, retweets posts from happy customers and warns about artificial intelligence.

A Tesla spokesman wouldn’t comment on Musk. But the stock slide showed that Wall Street’s seemingly endless patience with Musk — who is also a rocket scientist and tunnel company chief — may be growing thin.

Frontera A6 | Saturday, May 5, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

RIBEREÑA EN BREVE CONCIERTO MARIACHI

GUARDIA NACIONAL

Llegan militares

1 El distrito escolar Roma Independent School District invita a su Concierto de Mariachi el 7 de mayo desde las 6:30 p.m., en el Centro de Artes Escénicas del Roma ISD. CONCIERTO ORQUESTA 1 1 El distrito escolar Roma Independent School District invita a su Concierto de Orquesta el 8 de mayo desde las 6:30 p.m., en el Centro de Artes Escénicas del Roma ISD. CONCIERTO DE BANDA 1 1 El distrito escolar Roma Independent School District invita a su Concierto de Banda el 9 de mayo desde las 6:30 p.m., en el Centro de Artes Escénicas del Roma ISD. EVENTO CONTRA LUPUS 1 3er. evento anual contra Lupus, el 10 de mayo en el parque Bravo. Mayores informes con Gilda Jasso al 237-9456 y 208-8390.

CONCIERTO CRISTIANO 1 La Iglesia Nueva Belén de Roma invita a disfrutar la música de Samuel Hernández, desde las 7 p.m., el 10 de mayo, en el Salón V.F.W. Mayores informes con el pastor Eladio Palacios al 437-4986 y 353-9264.

SE APLAZA REUNIÓN 1 La Junta Directiva del distrito escolar Roma Independent School District ha cambiado la fecha de su reunión al viernes 11 de mayo, a las 5 p.m., en el Centro de Artes Escénicas de Roma ISD. CONCIERTO DE BANDA 1 La escuela secundaria Ramiro Barrera Middle School invita a su Concierto de Banda el 14 de mayo desde las 6:30 p.m., en el Centro de Artes Escénicas del Roma ISD. RECITAL BAILE FOLCLÓRICO 1 La escuela preparatoria Roma High School invita a su Concierto de Baile Folclórico el 16 de mayo desde las 6:30 p.m., en el Centro de Artes Escénicas del Roma ISD.

Cuate Santos / Laredo Morning Times

Jason D. Owens, agente de patrulla en jefe interino para el sector Laredo de la Patrulla Fronteriza, se dirige a los miembros de la Guardia Nacional durante una sesión de orientación en Laredo Energy Arena, el jueves.

Arribaron alrededor de 180 soldados a la Ciudad de Laredo Por Julia Wallace TIEMP O DE LAREDO

C

erca de 180 miembros de la Guardia Nacional llegaron a Laredo Energy Arena el jueves por la mañana, marcando así la llegada de las primeras tropas a Laredo desde que el presidente Donald Trump ordenó su despliegue en abril.

Jason D. Owens, jefe interino del sector Laredo de la Patrulla Fronteriza, dijo que estos miembros de la Guardia Nacional están aquí para ayudar a la Patrulla Fronteriza hasta octubre al menos, pero quizás su presencia sea requerida hasta el año fiscal 2019.

Tal como la Patrulla Fronteriza en su totalidad, el sector Laredo está falto de personal, expresó Owens.

“Somos menos de 1.700 agentes cuando debería-

mos de ser más de 1.800.

Y la situación es la misma con nuestro personal de apoyo operativo. …Y eso sin tomar en cuenta a los 5.000 agentes adicionales de la Patrulla Fronteriza que el presidente quiere en todo el país”, dijo Owens. Esto representaría un incremento del 25 por ciento en las filas de la Patrulla Fronteriza.

Después de asistir a sesiones de orientación y entrenamiento ayer, los miembros de la Guardia Nacional ocuparán puestos de apoyo aéreo, operarán torres de cámaras de vigilancia, ayudarán a dar mantenimiento a los cerca de 1.500 vehículos en el arsenal del sector Laredo de la Patrulla Fronteriza, y proporcionarán apoyo en las operaciones de inteligencia.

“Esa es la misión primaria de esta operación, es ayudar a la Patrulla Fronteriza a incrementar el conocimiento de la

situación en la frontera. …Deberíamos de ser capaces de saber cuando alguien cruza, deberíamos de ser capaces de saber a dónde van”, dijo Owens.

En su discurso ante 180 miembros de la Guardia Nacional, Owens preguntó cuántos de ellos eran del área fronteriza. Menos de 10 levantaron la mano.

Después preguntó para cuantos de ellos esta era su primera visita a la frontera. Casi todos levantaron la mano.

Cuando la gente piensa en la frontera entre los Estados Unidos y México, típicamente se imaginan un área como San Diego, donde existe una valla fronteriza de 20 pies, dijo Owens.

“Lo que tenemos aquí es el río Bravo. Gira y gira a través de nuestra (área de responsabilidad) que cuenta con una vegetación muy densa, muy plana en ambos lados. Se complica mucho mantener el conocimiento de la situación y la capacidad de respuesta al tráfico”, les dijo Owens a los miembros de la Guardia Nacional.

El sector Laredo comprende 170 millas de fron-

tera. Owens mencionó que cuando las condiciones climáticas son favorables, todas las torres con cámaras de vigilancia están funcionando y los aerostatos están en al aire, solo un tercio del área se encuentra bajo vigilancia permanente.

“Se ha dicho mucho sobre el papel que ustedes van a desempeñar con nosotros”, dijo Owens durante su discurso. “Va a ser detrás de bambalinas.

No van a hacer cumplir la ley allá afuera. ¿Y qué? Es de suma importancia.

Necesitamos que lo hagan. …Va a impedir que cosas y gente mala entren a nuestro país”.

Owens citó a miembros del cártel de los Zetas, junto con asesinos y violadores, y gente proveniente de países como Bangladesh, Sri Lanka y Yemen.

Mientras estén aquí, estos soldados representarán su uniforme y el de la Patrulla Fronteriza, les dijo Owens.

“La comunidad de Laredo apoya la seguridad fronteriza. A Laredo le gusta la Patrulla Fronteriza. Eso se debe a que somos parte de esta co-

DÍA DE LA TIERRA

TAMAULIPAS

CAMPAÑA DE RECOLECCIÓN

Gobierno denuncia a policías federales ASSOCIATED PRE SS

CONCIERTO DE CORO 1 El distrito escolar Roma Independent School District invita a su Concierto de Coro el 17 de mayo desde las 6:30 p.m., en el Centro de Artes Escénicas del Roma ISD. FUN RUN/WALK 1 La Ciudad de Roma invita a la carrera/caminata Fun Run/Walk 5K & 1K por el Día de las Fuerzas Armadas, que se llevará a cabo el 19 de mayo desde las 8 a.m. La carrera iniciará en Roma Guadalupe Plaza.

PREMIOS TELEVISIVOS 1 La preparatoria Roma High School invita a la entrega de premios Roma High School Gladiator Television Network Awards el 24 de mayo desde las 6:30 p.m.

munidad. Amamos esta comunidad; sean conscientes de eso. Esta es una comunidad grandiosa; cuídenla”, dijo Owens.

El alcalde de Laredo Pete Sáenz dijo haberse preocupado cuando escuchó por primera vez sobre el despliegue de tropas a Laredo. Sáenz le preguntó a Owens si era una medida de carácter político, o si la Patrulla Fronteriza realmente los necesitaba.

Owens respondió que los necesitaban.

“Si necesitan personal y esto va a ayudar a mejorar la situación…” dijo Sáenz. “Yo como alcalde deseo una ciudad segura.

Y mientras más ayuda podamos obtener, mejor será, menos militarizarlo”.

Sáenz también destacó el beneficio económico que representa la llegada de estas personas a la ciudad.

Al menos por ahora, estos miembros de la Guardia Nacional se hospedan en hoteles de Laredo, de acuerdo con Sara Meléndez, portavoz del sector Laredo de la Patrulla Fronteriza.

“Ayuda en más de una forma”, expresó Sáenz.

Foto de cortesía / Ciudad de Roma

Jóvenes voluntarios y miembros de la comunidad estuvieron presentes en una campaña de recolección de llantas durante el Día de la Tierra, organizada por la Ciudad de Roma, el sábado 21 de abril.

CIUDAD DE MÉXICO — El gobierno de Tamaulipas denunció el miércoles a policías federales por impedir una revisión en seis camiones de carga que transitaban por una carretera que conecta Ciudad Victoria con la localidad fronteriza de Matamoros.

En un comunicado, el ejecutivo de esta entidad del noreste de México indicó que los seis camiones eludieron una inspección el martes en la madrugada que formaba parte de un operativo anti contrabando. Cuando las autoridades estatales intentaron perseguirles, fueron detenidas por elementos de la policía federal, con lo que los camiones se dieron a la fuga.

Las autoridades estatales tienen competencia para revisar todo tipo de cargamentos como parte de los operativos para combatir el tráfico ilegal de drogas o personas.

La Comisión Nacional de Seguridad ya investiga el caso, agrega la nota.

Sports&Outdoors

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Saturday, May 5, 2018 |

A7

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DALLAS COWBOYS

Cowboys’ Witten leaving football Dallas tight end retiring without Super Bowl for TV job on MNF

By Schuyler Dixon A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

FRISCO, Texas — Jason Witten mostly held it together while announcing he was retiring after 15 years with the Dallas Cowboys to go into TV. One wavering moment came when the tight end turned to owner Jerry Jones on a stage in front of his family, teammates and club employees in what normally serves as the dining room in the team’s practice facility.

“The hardest part of this decision was knowing that I would never be able to hand you that Lombardi Trophy,” Witten said during his 15minute speech Thursday.

“I told you back in 2006 that I would not let you down. I hope that in your eyes, I held up my end of the bargain.”

Just days away from turning 36, Witten is leaving to be the analyst for ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” telecast, a move the network confirmed after Witten’s retirement announcement.

The decision by the

franchise leader in games, catches and yards receiving is the same one friend and longtime teammate Tony Romo, the club passing leader in yards and touchdowns, made last year with CBS. They joined the Cowboys together in 2003 — Witten a third-round pick out of Tennessee and Romo the undrafted quarterback three years from becoming the starter. They left without getting Dallas to an NFC championship game.

“Jason has given so much to this team, to this franchise. He emptied the bucket here,” Jones said, responding to a question about that missing Super Bowl after speeches by all three on stage: Witten, Jones and coach Jason Garrett.

“When I look at where we were with the great legacy of our fans that have had 56 years of being around some of the greatest people and names of players ever ... to me, no one has ever given more of himself and no one has ever made any bigger impact.”

The circumstances for

NHL: DALLAS STARS

Witten and Romo were different. The Cowboys were anticipating a 16th season, which would have been a club record, from their 11-time Pro Bowl player. Romo had lost his job to Dak Prescott while injured and was deciding last offseason whether to play elsewhere.

As recently as two weeks ago, Witten suggested he might play until he was 40 and said he “absolutely” was returning. He acknowledged the offer from ESPN changed things.

“In those moments, those other things didn’t exist,” said Witten, set to call the Cowboys’ home game against Tennessee on Nov. 5. “I was certain when I went through it that I wanted the blessing of Jerry and his family, an opportunity I have to stay around the game.”

Dozens lined Witten’s walk from the entrance to the team’s headquarters, down some stairs and a long hallway to the dining room.

His retirement ceremony, with Prescott and star running back Ezekiel Elliott watching from the

Richard Rodriguez / Associated Press

Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten officially announced his retirement after 15 NFL seasons on Thursday. He will join Monday Night Football as an analyst.

same row, came not far from a huge picture of Witten’s signature moment — a 2007 game when he ran nearly 30 yards and was tackled without a helmet after it was knocked off.

The Cowboys hung that picture over the entrance to their indoor practice field long before Witten pondered retirement. He spent two seasons walking under it.

“Whenever young kids come to me up and ask me, ‘How do you grow up and play for the Dallas Cowboys, and have that type of career?”’ Witten said. “My answer was always the same, the secret is in the dirt. I was never the most talented, never the flashiest, I relied on grit.”

Witten was also known for durability, holding club records for consecutive games (235) and starts (179). He missed one game, the fifth of his rookie season because of

a broken jaw, and returned 23 days after rupturing his spleen in a preseason game to play the 2012 opener.

With 1,152 catches for 12,448 yards, Witten joins Tony Gonzalez as the only NFL tight ends with at least 1,000 catches and 10,000 yards. His 15 seasons are tied for the most in Dallas with defensive end Ed “Too Tall” Jones, safety Bill Bates and late offensive lineman Mark Tuinei.

“He’s one of the best and most complete tight ends ever to play this game,” Garrett said. “The stats and the credentials speak for themselves.

They don’t really begin to tell the story. Over the last 15 years, he’s played virtually every play.”

Witten is third on the Cowboys’ list with 68 touchdown catches. He trails Dez Bryant, released last month with 73 TDs, and Hall of Famer Bob Hayes (71).

Without Witten and Bryant, the Cowboys are missing their top two receivers from last year and essentially for the past six seasons. Among the tight ends left behind, only one has a catch in a regular-season game: Geoff Swaim with nine over three seasons.

The Cowboys are high on Blake Jarwin and hope that former Baylor basketball player Rico Gathers can develop after missing his entire second season with a concussion.

Dallas drafted Stanford’s Dalton Schultz in the fourth round last week.

“There’s an old saying in pro football, the circus doesn’t stay in town forever,” Witten said. “And when you’re young, I think it takes on a meaning that when your opportunity comes, grab it.

I’ve decided that the time has come for me to pass the torch to the next generation of Dallas Cowboys.”

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION: HOUSTON ROCKETS

ROCKETS’ 3S BEING LIMITED BY THE JAZZ Jae S. Lee / Associated Press

Dallas’ next head coach in Jim Montgomery, center, was introduced on Friday by CEO Jim Lites, left, and general manager Jim Nill.

Stars introduce Jim Montgomery as their head coach A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

DALLAS — When Stars general manager Jim Nill started his third coaching search in five years, he took a look at the talented roster that is still among the youngest in the NHL. Their new coach is certainly accustomed to dealing with youth.

Jim Montgomery was introduced Friday by the Stars, becoming the second head coach in three years to go directly from the college ranks to the NHL. “I think the game is changing, and in the end it’s dealing with people,” Nill said. “It’s dealing with the younger players, and on top of it, winning, and he’s done that.”

Montgomery was 125-5726 the past five seasons at the University of Denver, including a national title in 2016-17. As a player, he was part of a national championship at Maine in 1993.

“We loved our life in Denver and I loved my job, and the only way I

was going to move from a great position was for an opportunity that was better,” said the 48-yearold Montgomery, who has four young children.

Before Denver, he spent three seasons as head coach and general manager for Dubuque of the United States Hockey League. The Fighting Saints were 118-45-21 from 2010-13, when they won two USHL titles.

Montgomery is a departure from the two first two hires by Nill, grizzled NHL veterans Lindy Ruff and Ken Hitchcock.

Hitchcock, who coached the Stars to their only Stanley Cup title in 1999, returned as their coach for only one season before retiring last month and becoming a consultant for the team. The Stars have missed the playoffs eight of the last 10 seasons.

Montgomery inherits a Dallas squad led highscoring All-Star forwards Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, one of the topscoring defensemen in John Klingberg, and goalie Ben Bishop.

Houston finding its usual volume of 3s difficult to come by against Utah

By Jonathan Feigen HOUSTON CHRONICLE

The Rockets in the regular season were the first team in NBA history to take more than half their shots from beyond the 3-point line, but in the first two games of the series just 39 percent of their attempts have been 3s. In 82 games of the season and five games against the Timberwolves, they had attempted fewer than 40 percent of their shots from beyond the 3-point line just four times.

“We took 37 (in Game 2) instead of 44 (the Rockets average attempts in the first round) or 42 (their average during the season.) The looks are the same,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said.

They’re doing a good job of running us off and they really concentrate on staying at home because they have (Rudy) Gobert.

We knew that coming into the series. We’re not going to get 50 3s up.

“To counteract that, we have to get stops and get in transition. That’s where 3s come from a lot of times, from a defense

Michael Ciaglo / Houston Chronicle

The Rockets went 10 of 37 on 3-pointers in Wednesday’s Game 2 loss to the Utah Jazz — their worst mark from range so far this postseason.

like this. We didn’t do that. It’s kind of tied in with your defense.”

The Rockets made just one 3-pointer in transition on Wednesday. The most 3-pointers they made in any quarter was the three on 10 attempts they made in the third quarter.

“In the third quarter, we got some good 3s, good looks,” D’Antoni said. “We hit them.

They’re wide open because our defense generated that. We have to get back to that.”

The Rockets made just 10 of 37 3-pointers on Wednesday, matching their worst 3-point shooting in the seven post-

season games. They had made 17 of 32 (53.1 percent) in Game 1, their best 3-point shooting game in the playoffs.

“The shooting will come and go,” D’Antoni said. “Some guys will get hot. Some guys have to find themselves. That’s normal. We don’t sweat about it.

“Sometimes it’s – I know no one likes to hear it – (if) you got to make shots. We didn’t make them. They made them.”

The Jazz generally limit the number of 3s teams take, but ranked just 17th in 3-point percentage defense in the regular season, allowing 36.5 percent shooting on 3s.

The Rockets, who ranked seventh in 3-point percentage defense, made 43.5 percent in the regular season against the Jazz.

“It was more about them not falling,” Rockets forward Luc Mbah a Moute said. “We really got some good shots. We made up for a lot of stuff, too. We scored 108 and didn’t shoot the ball well from 3. We were able to find some other ways to score. That was encouraging. We got some good looks. Give them credit.

They’re a good defensive team, one of the best in the league. They made it tough for us, but we have to stay with it. That’s what we do.”

A8 | Saturday, May 5, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

FROM THE COVER OIL From page A1 opened its energy industry to global business, more than 100 exploration and production contracts have been signed. But the promised wave of investment hasn’t arrived, while Pemex and its contractors cut jobs as crude prices fell and haven’t restored them in the current rally.

That’s one reason voters in Mexico’s oil heartland are deserting the government in the run-up to July’s presidential election.

They’re swinging behind the only candidate who’s promising a more nationalist energy policy — one that has alarmed investors.

It helps that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is a local boy.

"Andres is from Tabasco, he understands the poverty we live in," said Pablo Osorio, one of the indigenous farmers watching over the well.

"There are no hospitals, no big supermarkets. The only thing the oil reforms have brought us is polluted land."

Lopez Obrador says he’ll review contracts already signed with private oil companies, and may stop awarding new ones. He also promises to strengthen Pemex, and to build two new refineries — one of them in Tabasco.

Gasoline and electricity prices will be frozen for three years.

It looks increasingly likely that the 64-year-old will get the chance to implement that agenda.

He’s headed for a landslide win, according to Bloomberg’s Mexico election tracker, which compiles local polls. It has Lopez Obrador at 47 percent — almost 20 points clear of closest rival Ricardo Anaya, who backs the energy reforms.

In the industry, there’s concern that Lopez Obrador would return Mexican oil to the bad old days.

The reforms haven’t halted a slide in Mexico’s crude output, but supporters say they should be judged over the longer term. Reversing course now would be "an error and a brake on the country," said Javier Zambrano, chief executive officer of

MEXICO From page A1 revitalized party machine to win the 2012 election by some 3 million votes, and make the PRI again the largest party in both houses of Congress. After 12 years out in the cold, the PRI looked as if it was back and had adapted to a more democratic era.

Yet now, Peña looks to be the PRI’s final executioner. Polls portend the PRI’s imminent dissolution. Its presidential candidate Jose Antonio Meade ranks a low third with voters — many surveys put fewer than 2 in 10 Mexicans in his corner. At the state level, the party trails the others in all but Campeche, which holds less than one percent of the country’s population. It looks to surrender more than 30 of its current 55 Senate spots, and upwards of 100 seats in the House, leaving it third in terms of size and influence in a new Congress. At best it could win one of the nine governorships up for grabs this July, leaving it in control of roughly a dozen of the nation’s 32 states, compared to every

local oil company Jaguar Exploracion y Produccion.

Foreign capital is starting to arrive, ranging from global giants like Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp. to small drillers with big ambitions. Canada’s Renaissance Oil Corp. was among the pioneers. It took part in just the third competitive auction ever held in Mexico, in December 2015, winning three onshore blocks.

The company’s current output of 1,650 barrels a day is just the start, said founder Craig Steinke — provided the reforms continue. "What’s important is a steady flow of new opportunities."

Economists also worry that Lopez Obrador’s plans will drain the public coffers. His refineries would cost billions of dollars each — but Mexico already has six, operating at below 40 percent of capacity. Pemex is the world’s most indebted oil major.

Freezing fuel prices has political appeal after a sharp hike last year, known locally as the "gasolinazo" or price-slam. It

single one 30 years ago.

The PRI’s decimation is all the more shocking given its famous adaptability and resilience. The key to its longevity was its big tent model, enabling it to incorporate, mollify and ultimately control different interests groups. By creating official pillars for labor, peasants, and professionals and bureaucrats, the PRI ensured that political conflicts occurred within the party and were mediated by it, not the government.

Thus, even when particular sides lost, the party, as the final and indispensable arbiter, still won. And the promise that loyal losers would be compensated if not rewarded politically in the next round kept the game going for years.

The PRI reinforced this control by manipulating the press through a mix of lavish advertising budgets, personal payoffs and control of newsprint paper.

It bought business support though handouts, subsidies and concessions.

Its clientelism extended to individuals: Local PRI leaders mobilized voters with washing machines, building supplies or even just a meal given away at a campaign rally or the polling stand.

was part of a liberalization that has encouraged companies such as Chevron Corp. to invest in gas stations and fuel-import facilities.

That Lopez Obrador policy could be costly, too.

"Who is going to subsidize it?" said Federico Garcia, an industrial equipment manufacturer in Villahermosa. "And what about the companies investing in Mexico? You can lose competitiveness if you drop the price." Garcia also dismissed the refinery plan, saying the government doesn’t have the resources and "isn’t an efficient constructor."

Fighting over oil in Tabasco helped launch Lopez Obrador’s political career. Discoveries there propelled a boom in the late 1970s, but there was already concern that locals weren’t getting a share of the wealth.

After losing a controversial 1994 election for the state governorship, Lopez Obrador joined activists who were blockading Pemex’s wells. He gained national exposure by appearing on television covered in blood after a

clash with police.

Plenty of people in Tabasco remember those days. "We threw rocks, they beat us and sprayed us with tear gas," said Raul Drouaillet, now president of the National Movement for the Defense of Oil Workers. And they remember Lopez Obrador’s role too. "His political work has always been in the field, against the establishment," said Carlos Lopez, who went to elementary school with the candidate.

Election talk in oil towns like Villahermosa is dominated by jobs. Tabasco has Mexico’s highest unemployment rate.

When oil slumped in 2014, Pemex’s budget got squeezed and that led to job cuts at service companies like Weatherford International Plc. Pemex accounts for as much as 85 percent of its local business, because private production has been slow to develop, said Franco Pulido, regional account manager at Weatherford’s office in Villahermosa.

Several workers at Pemex’s exploration and production arm in Ta-

The PRI was never above manipulation at the ballot box — more than once it may have lost the vote but won the election. At times it resorted to outright repression, mostly of leftist opposition. But its real brilliance and staying power came from organizing and buying off society and interests. Out of the public eye and realm, these backroom negotiations and cold hard cash enabled it to tighten its grip.

Since the start of the 21st century, this system looked to be faltering. Democratic competition took away the PRI’s near political monopoly, diminishing its hold over office seekers and public pots of money. Rising violence and insecurity washed away the belief in the PRI’s ability to “get things done.” And corruption scandal after corruption scandal revealed the seedier side of these clientelist exchanges.

Yet here’s the thing: Even as frontrunner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has

basco also said they’re worried about their jobs, and expressed support for Lopez Obrador — even though their labor union has ties with the ruling political party, the PRI. The workers, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisals, said training programs have been cut.

Pemex said there’s been no such reduction, though it said arrangements are constantly changing.

Yesugai Frias says he hasn’t decided who to vote for — but he has no doubt about the decisive issue.

He’s chief executive of Herramientas Varco, which sells drilling equipment. The company has lost about 40 percent of its workforce and 60 percent of sales in the past two years. Inside its plant, bright red drill pipes gather dust and cobwebs. Frias points to a row of trucks that he says would have been on the road in better times.

"I’ll vote for the candidate that will generate jobs, not just going by their word but by the projects they announce," he said. "We are ready to work."

railed against the PRI’s “mafia of power,” he is attempting to re-create his party of Morena in its image.

To his political tent, AMLO has invited teachers unions and labor leaders, most notoriously former mining union head Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, currently exiled in Canada due to allegations of stealing $55 million from a workers’ trust fund. AMLO has assiduously cultivated rural workers and organizations, and reached out to religious conservatives. He is wooing the PRI’s rank and file, and converted many party notables to his side, including former ministers of the interior Manuel Bartlett and Esteban Moctezuma Barragan, by implicitly offering a pass on past misdeeds. And like many of his PRI brethren before, he has no use for independent voices from civil society or the media, accusing them of being part of the larger power mafia and of protecting rather than fighting corruption.

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Saturday, May 5, 2018 |

A9

ENTERTAINMENT

Sandra Bullock’s stalker kills self in standoff

By Christopher Weber A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

LOS ANGELES — A man who killed himself during a standoff with Los Angeles police was convicted last year of breaking into Sandra Bullock’s home and stalking the Oscar-winning actress, his lawyer said Thursday.

Joshua James Corbett missed a court date last month and on Wednesday barricaded himself inside his house when police arrived to serve an arrest warrant, attorney Steve Sitkoff told The Associated Press. Corbett was scheduled to appear for a progress report as part of his probation in the Bullock stalking.

SWAT officers were called after Corbett threatened to kill police, LAPD Detective Meghan Aguilar said.

Corbett, 42, was found dead about five

hours later at the home in the La Crescenta neighborhood. The death was reported as a suicide and an autopsy was planned Thursday, said coroner spokesman Ed Winter.

Corbett’s father had reported that his son, who suffered from mental health problems, hadn’t been doing well in recent weeks, Sitkoff said.

“He was due for a progress report and he just didn’t want to go to court,” the attorney said. “It’s a very sad situation.”

Corbett pleaded no contest last year to felony stalking and burglary charges after being arrested inside Bullock’s West Los Angeles home in 2014. He was sentenced to continuing mental health treatment and probation.

He was also ordered to stay away from the “Miss Congeniality” actress and not attempt to contact her for 10 years.

Jordan Strauss / AP

A man who killed himself during a standoff with Los Angeles police was convicted last year of breaking into Sandra Bullock's home and stalking the Oscar-winning actress, his lawyer said Thursday.

Giuliani drops bombshell during Hannity interview

By David Bauder A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

NEW YORK — Sean Hannity and Fox News Channel scored a scoop they may not have wanted.

Midway through a Wednesday night interview with Hannity, new Trump legal adviser Rudolph Giuliani noted that President Donald Trump had reimbursed lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. It was instantly news; Trump had previously said he did not know that Cohen paid Daniels not to talk about an affair with Trump that she alleges and he denies.

News, yes. But Hannity makes no secret of his admiration for Trump — and now his show had broken a story that left the president open to questions about his truthfulness. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday she didn’t know about it until she saw it on television.

Other news outlets quickly followed up, noticeable enough that Fox’s Laura Ingraham said that “the left is jumping all over” the story.

The first story on Fox’s web site about Hannity’s interview didn’t even mention the payment, leading instead with Giuliani’s assertion that people can’t blame Trump for feeling that he is being mistreated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s “garbage investigation.”

Hannity, who has acknowledged taking legal advice from Cohen,

Matthew Barakat / AP

Bloomberg / Bloomberg

Actress Rose McGowan, center, flanked by lawyers, speaks to the media outside the Loudoun County courthouse Thursday in Leesburg, Va.

Drug charge against Rose McGowan sent to grand jury

By Matthew Barakat ASSOCIATED PRE SS

Evan Agostini / AP

FOX News personality Sean Hannity’s, photo below, interview with Trump legal adviser Rudolph Giuliani, photo above, on Wednesday revealed that Trump had reimbursed lawyer Michael Cohen for paying $130,000 in hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels so she wouldn't talk about her alleged affair with the president.

calls himself a commentator and not a journalist. But he knew instantly when Giuliani brought up the payment that it was news. “Oh, I didn’t know that,” he said.

“But do you know the president didn’t know about this? I believe that’s what Michael said,” Hannity followed up.

CNN and MSNBC made the revelation their lead story for much of

Thursday. Fox seemed caught between touting and belittling it.

On “Fox & Friends,” host Brian Kilmeade acknowledged that it was “huge news.” But he also said, “The American people don’t care about this agreement. There’s a reason why the president’s approval ratings are ticking up — because he’s productive at his job and this is a distraction.”

LEESBURG, Va. — Actress Rose McGowan could face indictment in Virginia on a felony drugpossession charge after a judge found probable cause Thursday to send the case to a grand jury.

McGowan unsuccessfully sought to have the charges dismissed at a preliminary hearing in Leesburg. A grand jury will hear the case June 11.

While it is possible the grand jury could choose not to indict, in all likelihood she will face an arraignment in circuit court June 12.

She has suggested in court papers that the drugs may have been planted by agents hired by disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. McGowan was

among the first actresses to accuse Weinstein of sexual assault. Weinstein has denied rape allegations. McGowan and others say Weinstein aggressively sought to discredit his accusers.

Authorities say cocaine was found in a wallet McGowan accidentally left behind on a flight to Dulles International Airport in January 2017.

At Thursday’s hearing, McGowan’s lawyers presented no evidence that the drugs may have been planted. Instead, they simply argued that at least several hours elapsed between the time McGowan left the plane and it was found by a cleaning crew in the firstclass section of a United Airlines cabin. They said it was impossible to account for who may have handled the wallet during

that time.

“There is no evidence Ms. McGowan was aware of the presence of cocaine” in her wallet, defense lawyer Jessica Carmichael argued.

Carmichael also suggested McGowan was facing increased legal scrutiny because she’s famous.

“She may be a public figure but she’s a person just like the rest of us,” Carmichael said.

General District Judge Dean Worcester said the legal standard for establishing probable cause to send the case to a grand jury is low, and that arguments about planted evidence are better suited for trial. He noted that the drugs weren’t just found on the floor of the cabin but in a wallet with McGowan’s driver’s license.

Film Academy expels Cosby and Polanski

By Lindsey Bahr A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

LOS ANGELES — The organization that bestows the Academy Awards announced Thursday that it has voted to expel two prominent members convicted of sexual offenses, Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski, from its membership.

It’s the first major decision since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences implemented revised standards of conduct for its over 8,400 members following its expulsion of disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein in October. In Polanski’s case, the expulsion comes more than 40 years after he was accused of raping a 13-year-old girl he plied with champagne and Quaaludes during a photo shoot, and 15 years after he won a best director Oscar.

The academy wrote in a statement that its board of governors met Tuesday night and voted on Polanski and Cosby’s status in accordance with the new standards. Polanski’s membership dates back to 1969, and Cosby’s

File photos / AP

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors has voted to expel Bill Cosby, left, and Roman Polanski from its membership.

to 1996.

Polanski, who won a best director Oscar for 2002’s “The Pianist,” remains a fugitive after

pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in 1977 and fleeing the United States the following year. Cosby was convicted last

week of sexual assault in Pennsylvania, for drugging and molesting Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his

suburban Philadelphia mansion 14 years ago.

Representatives for Cosby and Polanski did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

In a statement, the film academy said its board “continues to encourage ethical standards that require members to uphold the Academy’s values of respect for human dignity.”

Adopted in December, the code of conduct stipulates that the academy is no place for “people who abuse their status, power or influence in a manner that violates standards of decency.”

The academy’s board may now suspend or expel those who violate the code of conduct or who “compromise the integrity” of the academy.

Before Weinstein, only one person is thought to have been previously expelled from the academy: Carmine Caridi, a character actor who had his membership revoked in 2004 for lending DVD screeners of films in contention for Oscars that ended up online.

A10 | Saturday, May 5, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES