The Zapata Times 6/1/2016

GARRIDO STEPS DOWN AT TEXAS

WEDNESDAYJUNE 1, 2016

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SAN YGNACIO

TEXAS

Border Patrol arrests two Suspects allegedly smuggled 18 illegal immigrants

By César G. Rodriguez TH E ZAPATA T IME S

Two people were recently arrested for picking up illegal immigrants near the San Ygnacio area, according to an affidavit.

Court records filed May 20 identified the suspects as Pedro Milera and Alexis Nadine Bridges. Both were charged with

transporting illegal immigrants.

U.S. Border Patrol said the smuggling attempt occurred at about 10 p.m. May 18. An agent observing traffic approximately 13 miles north of San Ygnacio on U.S. 83. received information about suspected illegal immigrants in a brush area nearby.

Minutes later, the agent ob-

served a green Ford Expedition and a dark Chevrolet Tahoe passing his location. Authorities said the vehicles stopped on the right side of the road.

That’s when agents alleged they heard the vehicles’ doors opening and closing.

Agents began following the Expedition and the Tahoe. The Expedition slowed down while the driver of the Tahoe sped up.

Records state the Expedition stopped about 1 mile north of Dolores Creek along U.S. 83, about 18 miles north of San Ygnacio.

Agents identified the driver as Bridges. She allegedly had 12 passengers who admitted to being illegally in the country.

Minutes later, Border Patrol received information that a Smuggle continues on A11

Laura Skelding/Austin American-Statesman / AP

Lt. Governor Dan Patrick speaks during a news conference Tuesday, in Austin, Texas.

EAGLE FORD SHALE

Lt. Gov. asks schools to ignore directive

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

Fight over LGBT rights escalates

By Paul J. Weber ASSOCIATED PRE SS

the field, said everyone is looking to see how the region stabilizes with oil prices.

“The naive optimism that oil prices would bounce back has subsided,” Tunstall said.

“We’ll see what reality leaves us with.”

Communities in and around the oil patch had to deal with

AUSTIN, Texas — The fight over bathroom rights for transgender students escalated in Texas on Tuesday as the state’s lieutenant governor urged schools to defy the Obama administration while parents of transgender children accused Republican leaders of stoking intolerance and making their kids targets for bullying.

Few states are as publicly and persistently pushing back on transgender rights as Texas.

Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick pledged at a press conference to support for schools that refuse to let transgender students use the bathrooms of their choice. Texas is leading an 11-state lawsuit that accuses the federal government of turning schools into “laboratories for a massive social experiment.”

“Transgender students deserve the rights of anyone else.

It does not mean they get to use the girls’ room if they’re a boy,” Patrick said.

Parents of transgender students warned outside the Texas Capitol on Tuesday that the constant repudiation is taking

Shale continues on A11

LGBT continues on A11

Carolyn Van Houten / San Antonio Express-News

Six pumpjacks stand outside of Cotulla, Texas in the Eagle Ford Shale region on Aug. 6, 2015.

Researchers looking to see how the region stabilizes

By Jennifer Hiller SA N A NT ONI O E XPRE SS-NEWS

Many South Texas communities were dying a slow death before the shale drilling boom arrived around 2009 and injected the region with economic adrenaline.

Now that oil prices have cratered — with prices down

by more than half from the peak, in 2014, to nearly $50 per barrel Friday — cities and counties are trying to figure out what the future holds for the 400-mile-long Eagle Ford Shale oil field and the beleaguered energy industry that has become a key piece of their economic health.

The communities that have

been on oil’s wild ride will gather Friday at the Omni San Antonio Hotel — the fifth annual gathering of the Eagle Ford Consortium, a group founded so the region could share ideas and experiences.

Thomas Tunstall, a research director at the University of Texas at San Antonio who has tracked the economic impact of

2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Hillary Clinton: “We could win Texas” in November

By Abby Livingston TEXAS TRIBUNE

Mel Evans / AP

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton waves as she walks in a Memorial Day parade Monday, in Chappaqua, New York.

WASHINGTON — Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton posed a wild notion in a new interview: She could carry Texas in the fall.

In a newly published New York magazine interview with reporter Rebecca Traister, Clinton was asked which traditionally red states she might make a play for against likely GOP

nominee, Donald Trump: “Texas!” she exclaimed, eyes wide, as if daring me to question this, which I did. “You are not going to win Texas,” I said. She smiled, undaunted. “If black and Latino voters come out and vote, we could win Texas,” she told me firmly, practically licking her lips.

While a long-coveted prize for Democrats, few political players in Texas see a path for the Democrats to carry the state in this general election.

Two years ago, the state’s Democrats had a similar strategy to Clinton’s in hoping that Wendy Davis could draw more minorities to the polls in a high-profile bid for governor. She ultimately lost to Republican Greg Abbott by 20 points.

Still, Trump’s unconventional candidacy has re-set the electoral map, with political strategists debating which states are — and are not — Clinton continues on A11

Zin brief A2 | Wednesday, June 1, 2016 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

CALENDAR

AROUND THE NATION

TODAY IN HISTORY

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1

ASSOCIATED PRE SS

1

Rabies VACUNA Clinic. 7–8 p.m.

McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St. Rabies shots for pets: $12. Microchip: $10.

Registration cost: $5. For Laredo residents only.

Today is Wednesday, June 1, the 153rd day of 2016. There are 213 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: On June 1, 1916, Louis Brandeis took his seat as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the first Jewish American to serve on the nation’s highest bench.

THURSDAY, JUNE 2 1

Cancer Friends Meet. 6 p.m.

Laredo Medical Center, A.R. Sanchez Cancer Center, Tower A, 1st Floor.

Having cancer is often one of the most stressful experiences in a person’s life. However, support groups help many people cope with the emotional aspects of cancer by providing a safe place to share their feelings and challenges and learn from others who are facing similar situations. For more information, call the A.R. Sanchez Cancer Center at 956-796-4725.

1 Pints for Puppies Beer Tasting.

6:30 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse, 11210 East Point Dr. This fundraiser invites ticket holders to sample an array of specialty craft beers and watch a surprise special feature to aid in the Laredo Animal Protective Society’s mission to rescue local homeless dogs and cats. Tickets are $25 per person.

For more information and to purchase tickets, contact Susie Druker at 956337-4381.

Jeff McCurry/The Cincinnati Enquirer / AP

A June 20, 2015 photo provided by the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden shows Harambe, a western lowland gorilla, who was fatally shot Saturday to protect a 4-year-old boy.

SHOOTING INVESTIGATED

SATURDAY, JUNE 4 1

Book sale. 8:30 a.m.–1 p.m., Widener Book Room, First United Methodist Church. No admission charge; everyone is invited.

TUESDAY, JUNE 7 1

Alzheimer’s Disease Support Group. 7 p.m. Laredo Medical Center, 1st Floor, Tower B in the Community Center. Meetings are open to individuals who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, as well as family, friends and caregivers of Alzheimer’s disease patients. Those interested in learning more about the disease, as well as gathering more information on resources available, are invited and encouraged to attend. For more information, call Melissa Guerra at 956-693-9991 or Laredo Medical Center at 956-796-3223.

1 Rock wall climbing. 4–5 p.m.

LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Free. Take the challenge and climb the rock wall! Fun exercise for all ages. Must sign release form. For more information, contact John Hong at 795-2400 x2521.

MONDAY, JUNE 13 1

Laredo Stroke Support Group. 7 p.m. San Martin de Porres Church, Family Life Center. Meetings are held the second Monday of each month and are open to all stroke survivors, family and caregivers. Everyone is welcomed to share their story, encourage and support others, and hear informative speakers. For more information on the support groups, call 956-286-0641 or 956-763-6132.

By Christine Hauser NEW YORK TIME S

The Cincinnati police are investigating after a 4-year-old boy slipped into a zoo enclosure on Saturday, leading to a tense, chaotic scene in which the male gorilla that dragged the boy around was shot dead by zoo workers.

The shooting of the teenage gorilla, named Harambe, prompted a chorus of online criticism, vigils for the lost animal, complaints by animal rights activists and petitions blaming the boy’s mother. The episode was even raised at a news confer-

SiriusXM suspends Glenn Beck over Trump comments NEW YORK — Conservative host Glenn Beck has been suspended by SiriusXM satellite radio for agreeing with an author who asked hypothetically “what patriot will step up” to remove Republican Donald Trump from office if he’s elected president and oversteps his authority.

SiriusXM said Beck’s program was suspended for this

ence held Tuesday by Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

As video showing the boy and the huge gorilla continued to be played on television and online, officials raised the possibility on Tuesday of criminal charges.

Julie Wilson, a spokeswoman with the Hamilton County prosecutor’s office, said the matter had been referred to the Cincinnati Police Department for investigation. Wilson added that any investigation would not be directed at either the zoo or the mother.

week and the company was “evaluating its place” in the lineup.

The comments “may be reasonably construed by some to have been advocating harm against an individual currently running for office,” SiriusXM said in a statement.

During an interview May 25, author Brad Thor said he was “about to suggest something very bad” before citing a weak Congress and asking “what patriot will step up” to stop President Trump if he tried to exceed the powers of his office.

“I would agree with you on that,” Beck responded.

Thor, a frequent guest of Beck’s and an author of thriller novels, said in a statement to The Associated Press that he and Beck “were discussing a speculative future America under a dictator.”

“Safeguarding the Republic against a dictatorship is a topic of conversation that dates back to the Founders,” he said.

A representative for Beck didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

— Compiled from AP reports

TUESDAY, JUNE 14 1

Rock wall climbing. 4–5 p.m.

LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Free. Take the challenge and climb the rock wall! Fun exercise for all ages. Must sign release form. For more information, contact John Hong at 795-2400 x2521.

THURSDAY, JUNE 16 1

Cancer Friends Meet. 6 p.m.

Laredo Medical Center, A.R. Sanchez Cancer Center, Tower A, 1st Floor.

Having cancer is often one of the most stressful experiences in a person’s life. However, support groups help many people cope with the emotional aspects of cancer by providing a safe place to share their feelings and challenges and learn from others who are facing similar situations. For more information, call the A.R. Sanchez Cancer Center at 956-796-4725.

TUESDAY, JUNE 21 1

Rock wall climbing. 4–5 p.m.

LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Free. Take the challenge and climb the rock wall! Fun exercise for all ages. Must sign release form. For more information, contact John Hong at 795-2400 x2521.

MONDAY, JUNE 27

AROUND THE WORLD Mediterranean Sea disasters leave more than 1,000 dead GENEVA — The treacherous Mediterranean Sea crossing from Libya to Italy claimed the lives of at least 1,083 migrants over the past week — mostly because barely seaworthy smuggling boats foundered and sank despite calm seas and sunny skies, a migration agency said Tuesday, citing new accounts from survivors.

The staggering death toll could foreshadow more disasters in coming months as the region gears up for the traditional summer-fall spike in human trafficking as the weather improves and seas grow warmer. Aid officials say it also suggests that Libyan smuggling gangs are using even riskier tactics to profit from the torrent of people desperate to reach the safety and economic promise of Europe.

Making matters worse, the

1

Laredo Parkinson’s Disease Support Group. 6:30 p.m. Laredo Medical Center, 1st Floor, Tower B in the Community Center. The meeting is open to anyone with Parkinson’s disease, a friend or family member of a PD patient, and primary care givers of patients with PD who are interested in learning more about the disease.

Pamphlets with more information in both English and Spanish are available at all support group meetings.

For more information, call Richard Renner at 645-8649 or 237-0666.

TUESDAY, JUNE 28 1

Rock wall climbing. 4–5 p.m.

LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Free. Take the challenge and climb the rock wall! Fun exercise for all ages. Must sign release form. For more information, contact John Hong at 795-2400 x2521.

RICHMOND — Residents of some rural southeastern Texas counties were bracing for more flooding along a river that reached a record-high crest on Tuesday but could swell further with more rain expected in the coming days.

Large swaths of suburban communities southwest of Houston were underwater and

Ten years ago: Six world powers, including the U.S., agreed on a package of incentives to persuade Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program.

A contrite U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took responsibility for the flooding of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. Seven family members were shot to death in an Indianapolis house.

(Two suspects were later convicted of murder; Desmond Turner was sentenced to life in prison without parole while co-defendant James Stewart received 425 years in prison.)

Five years ago: In a face-to-face meeting, GOP leaders complained to President Barack Obama that he had not produced a detailed plan of spending cuts and accused him of playing politics over Medicare; the White House said Obama had in fact led on the issue, and accused Republicans of trying to destroy the popular health care program for seniors. Space shuttle Endeavour and its six astronauts returned to Earth, closing out the next-to-last mission in NASA’s 30-year program.

One year ago: South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham opened his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. The Supreme Court threw out the conviction of a Pennsylvania man prosecuted for making threats on Facebook, but the justices stopped short of laying out broad constitutional protections for such comments. A cruise ship capsized in China’s Yangtze River, killing 442 people. Vanity Fair released its cover photo featuring the former Bruce Jenner with the headline, “Call Me Caitlyn” as the Olympic gold medalist publicly completed his gender transition.

Christian Buttner / AP

In this Friday photo, a Sea-Watch humanitarian organization crew member holds a drowned migrant baby.

tally is only from the capsizings or shipwrecks known to authorities, who acknowledge they don’t have precise information on how many people are being jammed into unsuitable vessels and swallowed up by the vast waters of the southern Mediterranean.

Two Eritreans among the hundreds of shipwreck survi-

vors brought to Italian ports last week described being haunted by the number of women and children on their capsized boat who did not survive.

“I started to cry when I saw the situation,” said 21-year-old Filmon Selomon who plunged into the sea to save himself.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND TEXAS Residents flee swollen rivers, flooding

On this date: In 1792, Kentucky became the 15th state of the union.

In 1796, Tennessee became the 16th state.

In 1813, the mortally wounded commander of the USS Chesapeake, Capt.

James Lawrence, gave the order, “Don’t give up the ship” during a losing battle with the British frigate HMS Shannon in the War of 1812.

In 1868, James Buchanan, the 15th president of the United States, died near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at age 77.

In 1915, the T.S. Eliot poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” was first published in “Poetry: A Magazine of Verse” in Chicago.

In 1926, actress Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in Los Angeles.

In 1943, a civilian flight from Portugal to England was shot down by Germany during World War II, killing all 17 people aboard, including actor Leslie Howard.

In 1955, the romantic comedy “The Seven Year Itch,” starring Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, had its world premiere in New York.

In 1968, author-lecturer Helen Keller, who’d earned a college degree despite being blind and deaf almost all of her life, died in Westport, Connecticut, at age 87.

In 1977, the Soviet Union formally charged Jewish human rights activist Anatoly Shcharansky with treason.

(Shcharansky was imprisoned, then released in 1986; he’s now known by the name Natan Sharansky.)

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed the foundation of a landmark treaty for the first-ever cuts in strategic nuclear missiles and a pact to slash chemical weapons stockpiles.

In 2009, Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330 carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean with the loss of everyone on board.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Richard Erdman is 91. Singer Pat Boone is 82.

Actor-writer-director Peter Masterson is 82. Actor Morgan Freeman is 79.

Actor Brian Cox is 70. Country singer Ronnie Dunn is 63. Actress Lisa Hartman Black is 60. Rock musician Simon Gallup (The Cure) is 56. Country musician Richard Comeaux (River Road) is 55. Basketball player-turnedcoach Tony Bennett is 47. Modelactress Heidi Klum is 43. Singer Alanis Morissette is 42. Pop singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile is 35. Actress Willow Shields is 16.

Thought for Today: “When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest.” — William Hazlitt, British essayist (17781830).

CONTACT US hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes before the Brazos River crested at nearly 54 feet in Fort Bend County, just two years after it had run dry in places because of drought.

The skies were clear in the affected areas on Tuesday, but an additional 1 to 3 inches of rain expected later this week could keep the Brazos in major flood stage into the weekend.

“I’m scared,” said Abigail Salazar, standing in knee-deep water outside her home in

Richmond, where she was retrieving personal belongings after the city issued a voluntary evacuation advisory. “My kids ask me in the morning, ‘Ma, what happened? The water is here.”’

During four days of torrential rain last week, at least six people died in floods along the Brazos. A Brazos River Authority map showed that all 11 of the reservoirs fed by the Brazos were at 95 to 100 percent capacity.

— Compiled from AP reports

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The Zapata Times

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, June 1, 2016 |

A3

LOCAL

Testimonials reveal the atrocities migrants endure in their 1,600-mile journey to the US SPECIAL TO THE TIME S

Cuate Santos / The Zapata Times

South Texas Food Bank’s Empty Bowls committee board chairs Leslie Benavides and Kevin Romo stand next to a poster promoting Empty Bowls X set for Friday, Aug. 19 at the Laredo Energy Arena.

Food bank sets fundraiser S P ECIAL TO THE TI ME S

The South Texas Food Bank has scheduled one of its largest fundraising events, Empty Bowls, for Friday, Aug. 19 at the Laredo Energy Arena in Laredo.

The food bank is a nonprofit organization that aims to alleviate hunger in its eight-county service area, which includes Zapata, by collecting and distributing food through partner agencies and programs while creating awareness and educating the community on the realities of hunger.

The funds raised are used to purchase and transport food to needy families in our service community. The South Texas Food Bank currently serves over 28,000 families every month throughout their service area that extends from Del Rio to Rio Grande City.

In Zapata County, they have two food pantries and a Kids Café (including the Kids Café San Ygnacio — an extension of Kids Café Zapata).

This year’s honoree at Empty Bowls is the South Texas Outreach Foundation.

Empty Bowls X will have live music by 70s and 80s band Grand Funk Railroad (“We are an American Band,” “Some Kind of Wonderful” and many more).

Tickets start at $10.

For sponsorship table purchases, call the South Texas Food Bank at 7263120.

Tickets go on sale Friday, June 24 at the LEA Box Office and Ticketmaster.

All proceeds benefit the South Texas Food Bank programs.

For more information, contact Angie Osterman at 726-3120 or aosterman@southtexasfoodbank.org.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released the first in a series of 60-second Spanish language video testimonials of Central American migrants who voluntarily share their horrifying 1,600-mile journey to the north in the hands of human smugglers. The testimonials are part of a new awareness effort and the continuation of the information campaigns CBP has launched in recent years.

In the first of many such accounts, a young Central American mother, whose identity is protected, describes her frightful experience, “you suffer a lot, you encounter people that try to sexually abuse you.

Sometimes you travel in tractor trailer boxes unable to breathe. At the end of it all, nothing was like they say it would be.”

“She is an anonymous voice, one of thousands of Central American migrants, including unaccompanied children, who in recent years have endured a myriad of atrocities, sexual abuse, extortion, assault, kidnapping and exploitation in the hands of coyotes or human smugglers,” said CBP spokesperson Jaime Ruiz.

In conjunction with the launching of the testimonials series, CBP announced the expansion of the Border Safety Initiative (BSI) border dangers messaging outreach to key Central American

Image from video still / CBP

In the first of many such video accounts produced by CBP, a young Central American mother, whose identity is protected, describes her frightful experience traveling from Central America.

communities in California, Texas, Florida, New York and Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas.

Historically, the summer months are the deadliest. More than 6,100 migrants have tragically lost their lives in recent years from exposure to the unforgiving elements, suffering heat stroke, dehydration, hyperthermia, and drowning in canals, ditches, and the Rio Grande. Others have fallen victim to criminals and drug smugglers.

The Border Safety Initiative (BSI) is the deployment of lifesaving technology, emergency response personnel, coupled with binational information campaigns aimed at reducing the numbers of migrant deaths.

In addition to preventing deaths, BSI also aims to rescue migrants who fall prey to unscrupulous human smugglers who have no regard for their life and safety.

The combined efforts of Border Patrol’s Border Search, Trauma and Rescue team (BORSTAR) and Air and Marine Operations (AMO) have resulted in rescuing and saving the lives of more than 29,000 people at the Southwest border.

The deployment of specialized personnel, area-specific technology, and public awareness campaigns are among the efforts undertaken by the U.S. Border Patrol each year in order to prevent the unfortunate loss of life.

The Border Patrol currently has more than

4,150 first responders, 730 Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and 70 paramedics. All are U.S. Border Patrol agents who have the capability to treat aliens and fellow agents with immediate medical needs in the field.

The testimonial is a continuation of Spanishlanguage messaging campaigns CBP has launched in recent years in Central America, Mexico and in key Central American communities in the United States.

Through these efforts CBP hopes to prevent the loss of human lives and to raise awareness of the real dangers and hazards Central American migrants and their families face in the hands of unscrupulous human smugglers.

Zopinion

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A4 | Wednesday, June 1, 2016 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

COLUMN

OTHER VIEWS

Big and little loves Ever since the days of ancient Greece, philosophers have distinguished between the beautiful and the sublime. Beauty is what you experience when you look at a flower or a lovely face. It is contained, pleasurable, intimate and romantic. Sublime is what you feel when you look at a mountain range or a tornado. It involves awe, veneration, maybe even a touch of fear. A sublime thing, like space or mathematics, over-awes the natural human dimensions and reminds you that you are a small thing in a vast cosmos.

Recently neuroscientists have shown that the experiences of beauty and awe activate different parts of the brain.

The distinction between the beautiful and the sublime is the distinction between the intimate and the transcendent. This sort of distinction doesn’t just happen in aesthetics but in life in general. We have big and little loves.

The soldiers who we honored on Memorial Day were animated by a big love — serving their country — and by a little one — protecting their buddies.

Religious people experience a love of God that is both big and little.

Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik wrote that God is in one guise majestic and infinite, the author of the universe. But when Soloveitchik’s wife lay on her deathbed, God did not appear that way. Instead, he appeared as a “close friend, brother, father. … I felt His warm hand, as it were, on my shoulder, I hugged His knees, as it were. He was with me in the narrow confines of a small room, taking up no space at all.”

In daily life we have big and little loves, too. The little loves, like for one’s children, one’s neighborhood or one’s garden, animate nurture, compassion and care. The big loves, like for America or the cause of global human rights, inspire courage and greatness. A little love is a shepherd protecting his flock. A great love is Martin Luther King Jr. leading his people.

The small attachments serve as the foundation of our emotional lives, but when you have a big love for your country or a cause, you are loving something that transcends a lifetime. You are pursuing some universal ideal and seeking excellence. A big love involves using power well, seeking honor and glory and being worthy of them.

The amount of big love in a society can rise and fall. Alexis de Tocqueville wondered if democracy would dampen Americans’ big love.

“What worries me most,” he wrote, “is the danger that, amid all the constant trivial preoccupations of private life, ambition may lose both its force and its greatness, that human passions may

“

DAVID BROOKS

grow gentler and at the same time baser, with the result that the progress of the body social may become daily quieter and less aspiring.”

I’d say that in America today some of the little loves are fraying, and big love is almost a foreign language. Almost nobody speaks about the American project in the same ardent tones that were once routine.

Big love is hopeful, but today pessimism is in vogue. Big love involves a confidence that one can use power well, but today Americans are suspicious of power, have lost faith in leaders and big institutions and feel a sense of impotence in the face of big problems.

Big love involves thinking in sweeping historical terms. But today the sense that America is pursuing a noble mission in the world has been humbled by failures and passivity.

The country feels more divided than unified around common purpose.

Big love involves politics, and thus compromise, competition and messiness. Americans today are less likely to discern the noble within the grittiness of reality.

The very words that the founders used to describe their big love for their country sound archaic: glory, magnanimity, sacred honor and greatness.

There is, in sum, less animating desire in the country at the moment, and therefore less energy and daring. The share of Americans moving across state lines in search of opportunity has fallen by more than half since the 1970s. The rate of new business creation is down.

Productivity is falling for the first time in three decades. Economic growth is anemic. There’s a spiritual and cultural element behind these trends.

So I write today in defense of big love, the love not only of your little platoon but of the grand historical project this country represents. Young people now want to join startups or NGOs, or eat locally grown foods, but I’m writing in defense of the big love that once inspired big projects, like NASA, the national railroads and the creation and maintenance of the postwar, U.S.-led world order, with the free movement of people, goods and ideas.

Before the country can achieve great things it has to relearn the ability to desire big things. It has to be willing to love again, even amid disappointments — to love things that are awesome, heroic and sublime.

David Brooks is a columnist for the New York Times

COLUMN

Cincinnati Zoo did the right thing to protect child and shoot 400-pound gorilla

By Gary Stein SUN SENTINEL

You want to know why people often laugh at animal rights activists?

It’s because those extremists have no idea of what the real world is like.

Their sense of reality is warped.

Case in point: The

gorilla who was shot at the Cincinnati Zoo so that a child could be saved.

You’ve seen the video over and over the past few days. You’ve seen how the 4-year-old boy fell into the gorilla enclosure. You’ve seen the 400-pound gorilla, Harambe, grabbing the boy by his ankles and dragging him around a

moat.

Before the gorilla could do something that would result in the boy’s death, the staff at the zoo shot and killed the gorilla.

They made the right decision. No doubt about it. No second guessing.

They did what they had to do. Bravo.

But now you have activ-

COLUMN

Great thing about my job: meeting interesting people Several years ago, one of our nieces spent part of a day riding around with Life Mate Julie while she tracked down news. After a while she said “You have a great job; you get to get in everyone’s business and you get paid for it.”

Perhaps that’s how some people might see it, but one of the very best things about our business is the interesting people we get to meet. And, if we’re lucky, we get to know them well.

One of the first interesting and delightful people I met when I moved to Jasper was attorney Joe Tonahill.

Tonahill was a personal injury-trial attorney with quite the reputation for winning big sums of money for his clients. Most of his cases were of a personal injury nature.

Of course, I’d heard of him before we met. His time in the headlines had little to do with the majority of his cases. What got him the big headlines was a national trial.

Joining famed San Francisco attorney Melvin Belli, Tonahill was appointed as one of the attorneys to defend Jack Ruby, the man who half of America had witnessed on live TV shoot President John F. Kennedy’s assas-

sin, Lee Harvey Oswald.

Ruby ran right up to the group of policemen and shot Oswald to death.

Ruby was initially found guilty, but they won a new trial for him when an appellate court ruled Ruby should not have been tried in the highly charged atmosphere in Dallas.

Ruby died in jail awaiting a new trial.

Soon after arriving in Jasper in 1991, I instructed a reporter to interview Tonahill. She shrieked and drew back… “You mean Joe Tonahill?!”

“Yes, I mean Joe Tonahill.”

So, off she went and a couple of hours later she came back just bubbling about the interview. I told her to write the story while it was fresh on her mind.

Within a few minutes of her return, I received a phone call from none other than Tonahill.

“I want to thank you for sending that young lady over here to interview me,” he said. “That’s the very first time anyone

from The Jasper Newsboy has ever interviewed me for anything.”

I was astounded. And, the reporter cranked out a great feature.

Tonahill and I began regular visits in his cavernous office replete with all sorts of awards, trophies and plaques. On one large section of wall was the nearly life-size, wellknown picture of Ruby shooting Oswald. But, more than those memorabilia, he had lots of stuffed wildlife on his walls. He loved hunting and the outdoors.

What he also loved was talking politics. Aha! The great man and I had something in common.

And, we spent a lot of time doing just that over the next several years.

Since the gifted lawyer had a colorful reputation, he tried to live up to it in some ways.

Tonahill’s ranch, a tract that, true to the area, contained a sizable number of pine trees and was named Sherwood Forest.

For those not immersed in adventures, Sherwood Forest is the “home” of Robin Hood, famed English “outlaw,” about whom a number of movies have been made. According to legend, Robin Hood robbed the rich and

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ists screaming and yelling about the gorilla’s death.

They say the zoo staff should have used a tranquilizer instead of killing Harambe.

Nice thought, except the child could have been dead before the tranquilizer started to work.

Are these activists nuts or what?

DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

gave it to the poor.

Tonahill did enjoy his wealth — he had two Rolls Royce automobiles, one red and the other yellow. However, he drove a Ford pickup powered by propane. So, he practiced what his politics preached.

I believe Tonahill’s use of the Sherwood Forest name represented his thinking that in winning personal injury cases and high awards for clients, he was essentially taking from the “haves” and giving it to the “havenots.”

The soft-spoken lawyer was a participant in the political process and gave lots of money to elected officials.

On one occasion, East Texas Democratic Congressman Charlie Wilson was coming to town for a big bash in downtown Jasper. I strode up to Joe standing by a tree as he awaited the congressman’s appearance. He was holding a large check in his hand to give to the congressman.

I had a great job.

Willis Webb is a retired community newspaper editor and publisher of more than 50 years experience. He can be reached by email at wwebb1937@att.net.

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, June 1, 2016 |

A5

NATIONAL

Woman pulls casket for miles in New Jersey for mental health awareness

By Michael Catalini A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

TRENTON, N.J. — A woman is walking 80 miles while pulling a casket from her home to the state Capitol to raise awareness of mental health issues, including suicide and addiction.

Greta Schwartz set out on her three-leg journey Monday and plans to arrive Wednesday.

The 48-year-old has a backpack of water and is storing food in the wooden casket she is pulling behind her with a strap fastened to her waist.

The casket has the word “revolution” printed on its lid. It also bears the names of about

70 people to whom Schwartz had a personal connection who have killed themselves. It has two wheels at the narrow end to help Schwartz pull it.

“I can’t just sit around,” she said. “This is happening. I have over 70 names. That’s just people I have a connection with. Not even strangers.”

She said her son knew two students at Ocean City High School who killed themselves in 2014 and 2015.

About a dozen people came out of their homes along a residential stretch during her walk, shared their stories involving suicide and

Mel Evans / AP

Greta Schwartz, of Seaville, N.J., pulls a casket as she walks along route 206.

wrote their loved ones’ names on the casket, she said.

“It’s really just unbelievable,” said Schwartz, whose feet are blistered after the first 40 or so

miles.

Schwartz, who owns the Red Sky Cafe in Seaville, put her theatrical experience as a former actor in New York City to work after attending a

discussion on mental health from former Rhode Island U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, who spoke in November at Stockton University.

Kennedy, the son of late Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, now lives in Brigantine and has been a political advocate for mental health issues.

Schwartz said Kennedy told the audience the only way to make a change was to be loud.

“I’m not a professional in the field. I’m just a mom with experience,” Schwartz said. “So my goal in this is to use this election year to really get people to talk about it.”

Schwartz walked from

Seaville to Hammonton on Monday and was headed from Hammonton to Mount Holly on Tuesday. She’ll set out Wednesday for Trenton.

Suicide is the 10thleading cause of death in the U.S., according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

The national suicide rate was about 13 per 100,000 people in 2014, the latest year when statistics were available, according to the foundation. New Jersey tracks lower than the national average at about eight per 100,000, according to the foundation.

The state operates a suicide prevention hotline and website.

Scientists say Flint water quality OK for bathing, showering

By John Flesher A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

Municipal water in Flint, Michigan, has improved significantly and is safe for bathing and showering, although people should continue filtering the water before drinking it, scientists said Tuesday.

Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech engineering professor whose testing last summer confirmed lead contamination of the city’s water, said sampling in recent months has found that lead levels are steadily declining. Also trending downward are bacteria that can cause Legionnaires’ disease, while byproducts from disinfectant chemicals are at normal levels.

“We’re seeing some very, very encouraging

results,” Edwards said at a news conference in Flint, adding that he was “pretty hopeful” the water would meet federal standards for lead content within the next six months. Results of another round of testing expected in August will make the situation clearer, he said.

The economically struggling city of nearly 100,000 has been dealing with poor water quality since switching from the Detroit system, which draws from Lake Huron, to the Flint River in April 2014 as a short-term measure to save money while another pipeline to the lake was under construction.

Residents quickly complained of bad tastes, odors and colors. E. coli

Jake May/The Flint Journal / AP

In this May 27 photo, Alaysia Carr spins around as she dances under a fire hydrant in Flint, Mich.

bacteria hit unsafe levels.

And last September, state officials acknowledged failure to add chemicals to limit corrosion had enabled the river water to scrape lead from aging pipes, exposing people in some homes and schools to the potent neurotoxin.

The city was under state management at the time, leading to an apol-

ogy from Gov. Rick Snyder. State officials approved returning Flint to the Detroit system in October 2015.

Edwards, who has strongly criticized state and federal agencies’ handling of the matter, was hired by the city in January to oversee water testing independently, with his work funded

through private donations.

He said Tuesday that resumption of phosphate treatments to coat pipes and reduce corrosion was having a positive effect. A program that provides financial assistance for water use has encouraged people to flush more water through the system, washing away lead-tainted rust, he said.

Sampling of water in large and small buildings showed a decline in legionella bacteria readings from October to March, said Amy Pruden, another Virginia Tech professor.

Despite the scientists’ reports of improvements, some Flint activists and outside groups remain skeptical. Water Defense, an organization founded by actor Mark Ruffalo,

has raised concerns about the safety of water inside hot-water heaters and the absence of government standards for baths and showers. Of particular concern to Water Defense is the presence of byproducts generated by use of chlorine to disinfect water, which in high concentrations can be unhealthy.

Edwards and two other water specialists — David Reckhow of the University of Massachusetts and Shawn McElmurry of Wayne State University in Detroit — said during the news conference their analyses had shown that levels of disinfectant byproducts in Flint water were typical of those in other cities.

“There’s nothing out of the ordinary from what we see,” Reckhow said.

Zfrontera A6 | Wednesday, June 1, 2016 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

RIBEREÑA EN BREVE Encuesta para padres 1 Zapata County Independent School District está solicitando a los padres de familia con hijos que ingresarán al grado de “pre-k 4” que respondan una encuesta. La encuesta puede ser accesada visitando http:// tinyurl.com/zkcrahr

Próximos deportistas 1 Estudiantes interesados en participar en deportes en Zapata Middle School y Zapata High School deberán acudir al examen físico de atletismo el 28 de julio. Para el nivel preparatoria será a la 1 p.m. en el gimnasio de ZHS. Para el nivel secundaria (7o y 8o grados) será a las 3 p.m. en el gimnasio de ZHS. El costo es de 20 dólares. Para cualquier información llame a Roni Arce en el Departamento de Atletismo de ZCISD en el 956-765-0280, extensión 3517.

Torneo de Fútbol de Bandera 1 Se invita al primer torneo de fútbol de bandera por el Día del Padre, el 18 de junio y el día 19 de junio, en caso de ser necesario a partir de las 8 a.m. en el Zapata Boys & Girls Club, E 6th Ave y calle Lincoln en Zapata.

Habrá dos categorías.

Informes con Christopher Dávila al 956251-9986 o escribiendo a chris_davila_2014@yahoo.com

CONTRABANDO

CLIMA

Frustran intento Arrestan a dos cerca de San Ygnacio Por César G. Rodriguez TIEMP O DE ZAPATA

Dos personas fueron arrestadas recientemente por recoger inmigrantes indocumentados cerca del área de San Ygnacio, de acuerdo con una querella.

Documentos de la corte emitidos el 20 de mayo identifican a los sospechosos como Pedro Milera y Alexis Nadine Bridges.

Ambos fueron acusados de transportar inmigrantes indocumentados.

La Patrulla Fronteriza dijo que el intento de contrabando ocurrió alrededor de las 10 p.m. el 18 de mayo. Un agente observando el tráfico aproximadamente a 13 millas al

norte de San Ygnacio en US 83 recibió información sobre supuestos inmigrantes indocumentados cerca del área de los matorrales.

Minutos más tarde, el agente observó una camioneta Ford Expedition color verde y una Chevrolet Tahoe oscura pasando por su locación. Autoridades dijeron que los vehículos se detuvieron al lado derecho del camino.

Fue entonces cuando los agentes alegaron que escucharon las puertas de los vehículos abrirse y cerrarse.

Los agentes comenzaron a seguir la Expedition y la Tahoe. La Expedition bajó la velocidad

mientras que el conductor de la Tahoe aceleró. Documentos indican que la Expedition se detuvo alrededor de una milla al norte de Dolores Creek sobre US 83, alrededor de 18 millas al norte de San Ygnacio.

Los agentes identificaron al conductor como Bridges. Ella supuestamente llevaba 12 pasajeros que admitieron estar en el país de forma ilegal.

Minutos más tarde, la Patrulla Fronteriza recibió información sobre un patrullero del Departamento de Seguridad Publica de Texas que había estado involucrado en una “persecución vehicular” cerca de la línea entre los Condados de Webb y Zapata y terminó cerca del vecindario Century City en Laredo.

DPS tomó custodia del conductor, quien después

fue identificado como Milera, mientras agentes alcanzaron a seis personas que supuestamente entraron al país ilegalmente.

Agentes especiales de Investigaciones de Seguridad Nacional respondieron con ayuda para la investigación. Bridges supuestamente negó su derecho a un abogado verbalmente y por escrito.

“Bridges indicó que ella conscientemente y por su voluntad transportó (inmigrantes indocumentados) a cambio de una ganancia financiera”, indica la querella.

“Bridges identificó al conductor de la Chevrolet Tahoe quien ella tenía instrucciones de seguir y asistir en el transporte de (inmigrantes indocumentados), quien más tarde fue identificado como Pedro Milera”.

SOCIEDAD GENEALÓGICA NUEVO SANTANDER

PASADO FAMILIAR

Mundos Imaginarios 1 La exposición ‘Mundos Imaginarios’ con obras de Patricia Fabre tendrá una recepción el viernes 3 de junio, de 6 p.m. a 8 p.m. en Laredo Center for the Arts, 500 avenida San Agustin en Laredo. La exhibición continuará hasta el 28 de junio.

Academia Roma FC Soccer 1 Se invita a participar en la escuela infantil Academia Roma FC Soccer para niños de 3 años a 10 años de edad. Cuota de 40 dólares que incluye uniforme.

Registro es martes y jueves de 6 p.m. a 8 p.m. en el Roma Park Soccer Field. Participan en juegos de fin de semana y torneos.

Informes en el 956437-2700 ó 956-4379112.

Laboratorio Computacional 1 La Ciudad de Roma pone a disposición de la comunidad el Laboratorio Computacional que abre de lunes a viernes en horario de 1 p.m. a 5 p.m. en Historical Plaza, a un lado del City Hall. Informes en el 956-849-1411.

Walk Across Texas 1 El mercado agrícola y artesanal de Zapata y Texas A&M University invita al arranque del evento Walk Across Texas, el sábado 4 de junio, de 10 a.m. a 1 p.m., que consta de un reto de ocho semanas para mantenerse físicamente activo a través de carrera/caminata.

El evento es gratuito y lleno de actividades. Regístrese en walkacrosstexas.tamu.edu o el día del evento en Zapata County Plaza.

Foto de cortesía | NSGS

Participantes en la reunión de la Sociedad Genealógica Nuevo Santander, el 21 de mayo, de izquierda a derecha, el presidente Hildegardo E. Flores, Presidente, Marsha Shumway, Del Shumway, y Viqui Uribe.

Ellos recibieron certificados de reconocimiento. Con Uribe, descendientes de Flores Burford, estuvieron Yolanda Rangel, Araceli Martinez, y Ricardo Martinez. En la reunión también participaron la parlamentaria Olga Flores, las integrantes María del Refugio Ramírez, y María Del Carmen Carbajal y la Secretaria María Concepción Villarreal.

Jon Shapley | AP

Panorama de la inundación causada por tormentas en Rosenberg.

Temen inundación en Texas Por Emily Schmall ASSOCIATED PRE SS

FORT WORTH — Los habitantes de una zona rural de Texas temen la crecida de un río y las consecuentes inundaciones, a pesar de que hace casi dos años estaba vacío debido a una sequía.

Se vaticina que el río Brazos crecerá a 16 metros (53 pies) al mediodía del martes en el condado Fort Bend, es decir un metro (3 pies) por encima de su récord anterior y por encima del nivel que tenía durante desastrosas inundaciones en 1994.

Tras cuatro días de torrenciales aguaceros, seis personas han muerto debido a inundaciones en la zona, que corre desde New Mexico hasta el Golfo de México. Un mapa oficial muestra que todos los estanques alimentos por la vía fluvial están entre 95 y 100% de su capacidad.

Cuatro de las seis personas fallecidas fueron halladas en el condado Washington, ubicado entre Austin y Houston, dijo el juez John Brieden.

Agregó que Lake Somerville, uno de los embalses alimentados por el Brazos, estaba "emanando agua descontroladamente", amenazando a los habitantes de la zona.

Unas 40 personas fueron rescatadas entre domingo y lunes de viviendas cerca de las zonas en peligro en Simonton, un poblado en el condado Fort Bend de unos 800 habitantes.

TAMAULIPAS

Futbolista sometió a un secuestrador Por ALFREDO PEÑA ASSOCIATED PRE SS

CIUDAD VICTORIA — Poco más de 24 horas después de haber sido secuestrado, el futbolista mexicano Alan Pulido quedó a solas con uno de sus captores y vio una oportunidad. El delantero del club Olympiacos forcejeó, lo sometió, le quitó la pistola y el celular, y llamó al número de emergencias.

En cuestión de minutos, el futbolista estaba libre, a bordo de una patrulla.

Un reporte oficial que resume las tres llamadas a un número de emergencias que hizo Pulido, y obtenido por The Associated Press, muestra cómo el jugador de 25 años amenazó y golpeó a uno de sus captores para que le dijera dónde estaban, al tiempo que se mantenía al teléfono con un operador.

El dramático recuento también muestra que Pulido fue el actor principal de su liberación, en contraste con el inicial reporte oficial de que fue rescatado por la policía tras su secuestro el sába-

Foto de cortesía | AFP/Getty Images

El Gobernador de Tamaulipas, Egidio Torre Cantú, habla a miembros de la prensa tras la liberación del futbolista mexicano Alan Pulido, el lunes en Tamaulipas. Pulido había sido secuestrado el domingo, de acuerdo con las autoridades.

do en Ciudad Victoria, capital de Tamaulipas.

En una primera llamada, Pulido dijo que dos de tres secuestradores dejaron la casa y entonces sometió a quien quedó con él. El jugador se asomó a la ventaba y describió que estaba en una casa color blanco de dos pisos, con dos autos, uno gris y otro rojo, estacionados enfrente.

En la siguiente llamada, Pulido indicó al operador —no se menciona si un hombre o una mujer estaba al otro lado de la línea— que la policía estatal había llegado a la casa. El operador pidió luego al jugador que disparara la pistola a fin de que los

agentes supieran que estaban en el lugar correcto, pero él les respondió que no tiene balas.

El jugador señaló que la policía comenzó a disparar hacia la casas y que él iba vestido de short y playera, y que no lo confundieran con el secuestrador, que para entonces estaba inconsciente.

Una vez que estuvo con la policía, Pulido hizo una tercera llamada sólo para confirmar con el operador que estaba con agentes “de confianza”, según describe el reporte.

El procurador de Tamaulipas, Ismael Quintanilla, dijo más temprano en un mensaje a la prensa que Pulido aprovechó “un

descuido de los captores” para llamar a los servicios de emergencia poco después de la medianoche del domingo.

En una entrevista posterior con Imagen Radio, el procurador confirmó que tras someter a uno de sus secuestradores se apoderó del celular.

“Hubo intercambio por allí de golpes entre ellos”, afirmó el funcionario, aunque no mencionó la pistola.

Quintanilla añadió que Pulido se cortó la muñeca cuando rompió una ventana para intentar escapar.

Pulido fue secuestrado por cuatro hombres armados que lo interceptaron cerca de las 11:30 de la noche en una carretera de las afueras de Ciudad Victoria cuando regresaba de una fiesta.

Su novia, que no fue secuestrada, alertó a la familia.

“Y desde ese momento todo el mundo se empezó a activar para buscarlo, sobre todo cuando supimos quién era, pues porque supimos que iba a hacer ruido y nos iba a estar afectando mucho en todos los medios”, dijo

Quintanilla.

Para la 1:30 de la tarde del domingo, la familia del futbolista recibió una llamada en que se pedía un pago por su liberación.

Otro funcionario federal afirmó que aunque hubo una negociación no se pagó nada.

El sospechoso detenido tiene 38 años y es originario del estado de Veracruz, México. Quintanilla dijo que el detenido pertenece a uno de los grupos criminales que operan en la ciudad, pero no ofreció más detalles.

Pulido compareció brevemente ante la prensa la madrugada del lunes con la mano derecha vendada, poco después de su liberación.

Interrogado por reporteros sobre su estado, Pulido sólo alcanzó a decir “Muy bien, gracias a Dios”.

El lunes por la tarde, Pulido agradeció a todos por sus oraciones que “nos ayudaron mucho en esta terrible experiencia de nuestras vidas que no se lo deseamos a nadie”.

También reconoció el esfuerzo de las autoridades.

Sports&Outdoors THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, June 1, 2016 |

A7

NCAA DIVISION I BASEBALL: TEXAS LONGHORNS

Augie Garrido steps down at Texas Winningest coach in college baseball history relinquishing his duties

By Jim Vertuno A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

AUSTIN — Augie Garrido, the winningest coach in college baseball history, is out after 20 seasons at Texas.

The decision Monday comes after the Longhorns’ first losing season since 1998. Texas will miss the NCAA postseason for the third time in five years.

The university said in a statement Monday the 77-year-old Garrido was “relinquishing his duties” as coach and will become special assistant to athletic director Mike Perrin.

Garrido, who had one year left on a contract that paid him nearly $1.1 million, had said he wouldn’t resign and wanted to stay.

“Augie has long been among the best coaches in college athletics, an exceptional developer of young men, great leader and tremendous repre-

sentative of our university,” Perrin said. “I have deep appreciation, admiration and gratitude for all that he has accomplished in his 20 years leading our baseball program.”

Garrido had 1,975 victories dating back to 1969 to go along with five College World Series titles. Three came with Cal-State Fullerton, 1979, 1984 and 1995, and the last two with Texas, in 2002 and 2005.

Texas this season finished 25-32. The Longhorns advanced deep into the weekend’s Big 12 Tournament but ended the season with an 8-2 loss to TCU. Florida State coach Mike Martin called Garrido an “icon.”

“I am surprised he has stepped down, but he’s a guy a lot of young coaches got information from,” Martin said in a statement. “He’s a good man.”

Texas hired Garrido in 1997. His best years with

Eric Gay / AP

With the most wins in college baseball history, Augie Garrido is stepping down at Texas.

the Longhorns were from 2002 to 2010 when he won two national titles and had six 50-win seasons.

He will be inducted

into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in July. He was the first coach to reach 1,900 wins and needed just 25 to reach 2,000. He also was hon-

ored six times as national coach of the year.

Garrido’s coaching career included jobs at San Francisco State (1969), Cal Poly (1970-72), Fullerton (1973-87 and 1991-96) and Illinois (198891).

Texas hired Garrido from Fullerton in 1997 to replace Cliff Gustafson, who won two national championships with the Longhorns and had the program on a regular rotation at the College World Series.

Garrido’s personality of California cool and his aura as a Zen-master coach who talked as much about thinking about winning as swinging a bat, took some time to take root at Texas. But once he did, Garrido had the Longhorns back among the nation’s top programs.

His first team failed to qualify for the Big 12 Tournament. In 1998, Garrido’s second team

had the first losing season since the 1950s. Texas showed signs of life when the Longhorns went 3626 in 1999 and made it the postseason but finished sixth in the Big 12.

Fans who were calling for his job were soon cheering his success.

Texas went back to the College World Series in 2000. Garrido guided the Longhorns to the two national titles and three more CWS bids in a seven-year span. Garrido said he knew the high expectations at Texas: “Omaha is mandatory.”

Texas made the CWS in 2011 and 2014, but the lean years between and since had Garrido entering this season facing questions about his future.

“If they give me a chance, I’ll fix it,” Garrido said before the Big 12 Tournament. “I’d like to go out on my own terms, and I’d like to go out a winner.”

2016 NBA FINALS: CLEVELAND CAVALIERS VS. GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS

Ben Margot / AP Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle file

LeBron James and the Cavaliers will look to contain MVP Stephen Curry as Cleveland will meet Golden State in the NBA Finals for the second straight year.

Cavaliers ready for challenge of slowing Curry

Stephen Curry hit the game-clinching 3 as the Warriors won 96-88 in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals over Oklahoma City on Monday night.

Curry, Warriors chase second title Golden State finishes off Thunder

By Janie Mccauley

Cleveland faces Finals rematch

By Tom Withers A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — LeBron James has already felt the stinging spray from the Splash Brothers in the NBA Finals.

When league MVP Stephen Curry and trigger-happy Golden State teammate Klay Thompson are knocking down 3pointers from 30 feet, swishing contested jumpers over taller players and destroying defenses designed to stop them, the only option is pray they miss.

“Some of those shots,” James said. “There’s nothing you can do about it.”

As the Cavaliers, considerably healthier than they were a year ago, prepare to take on the 73-win Warriors in the finals again, they know their chances of ending Cleveland’s 52-year championship drought hinge on how well they defend

Curry, Thompson & Co. Stopping the Warriors is impossible. Slowing them isn’t.

“They shoot the ball extremely well,” James said before the team left for California and Game 1 on Thursday. “Klay and Steph are probably the two greatest shooters that we’ve probably ever seen.

Better offense beats great defense any day. So we have to be able to do other things to stop them, but it’s hard to contain them.

“We all know that. The whole league knows that.

Our team knows that. But we have a game plan and we have to follow it and be true to it.”

Although they won’t admit it publicly, the Cavs have been eyeing a rematch with the Warriors since losing to them in six games last year.

James back then was virtually on his own after Kevin Love separated his left shoulder in the first round and Kyrie Irving

shattered his left kneecap in Game 1 of the finals.

James did everything possible, averaging 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists — an unprecedented finals stat line — but it wasn’t enough. The Warriors had too much ball movement, athleticism and depth.

While fans, the league office and TV executives clamored for a CurryJames rematch, the Cavs claim they were ready for any opponent.

“It didn’t matter,” said James, appearing in his sixth straight finals. “Like Coach (Tyronn) Lue said, we’re just waiting on the winner. We’re fortunate to be here and we look forward to the challenge. It’s an unbelievable team that we’re going against. Hats off.”

This time around, the Cavs have comparable talent.

That won’t matter, though, if they don’t defend.

ASSOCIATED PRE SS

OAKLAND — Fresh charcoal gray NBA Finals cap on backward and wearing a wide grin, Stephen Curry summed up his wild, up-and-down postseason so far and reminded everybody he’s not close to done.

The MVP’s got his groove back, all right — looking healthy again at last after dealing with a troublesome ankle, right knee sprain that sidelined him and even a puffy elbow from an awkward dive into the stands.

“Now we’re four wins away from our goal, and that’s a pretty special accomplishment,” Curry said Monday night after his Golden State Warriors wrapped up the Western Conference finals by beating the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7.

Curry is taking the 73-win Warriors back to the NBA Finals with a shot at a second straight championship, his plan from the get go.

Golden State’s ultimate

goal of a repeat title has been in the works since Day 1, even if the Warriors’ chances of digging out of a big hole against Oklahoma City looked dire just last week. His body beat up, Curry had no choice but to watch fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson and others carry the Warriors for much of this postseason run while he worked his way back.

Just as he did after the Warriors won Game 5 to stave off elimination, Curry chanted through Oracle Arena, “We ain’t going home!” as Golden State became just the 10th team to rally from a 3-1 deficit to win a postseason series with Monday night’s 96-88 Game 7 victory.

Curry and his teammates earned a day off Tuesday before preparations begin in earnest Wednesday for a Finals rematch against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, who lost last season’s title to Golden State in six games.

For Curry, there’s just one more step to take to cap a remarkable, record-

setting season.

The 28-year-old global superstar earned the first unanimous MVP award in league history, while also becoming the first player not only to make 300 3-pointers in a season but also 400 — he finished with 402 — before a series of injuries slowed him when it mattered most.

Perhaps it’s easy to forget how Curry led the Warriors to an NBA-record 24-0 start and a record 73-9 finish.

“You have an MVP, two-time, and what he contributes every single night and what he means on the floor for them, you just have to have your antenna up even more,” Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving said.

Four more wins, that’s all Curry cares about right now. However they come.

“The one thing with Steph is he understands that with all these accolades, MVPs, commercials, with all that comes great responsibility to his team, to the organization, the fans. He gets that,” Kerr said.

A8 | Wednesday, June 1, 2016 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

NATIONAL

Big Trump checks to vets groups sent on day of media report

By Michael Biesecker, Jill Colvin and Steve Peoples A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

NEW YORK — More than a dozen big checks flowed out of New York last week, bound for veterans’ charities from Donald Trump. On Tuesday, he announced he had made good on his promise of last January to give the groups millions of dollars from a highly publicized fundraiser.

The announcement by the presumptive Republican presidential candidate came in the midst of a 40-minute rant against “dishonest” and “sleazy” reporters who have been pressing the issue.

The largest donation, a $1 million check dated May 24 and drawn from Donald J. Trump’s personal account, was addressed to a small Tuckahoe, New York, group that provides scholarships to the children of fallen Marines.

Trump had been interviewed that same day

by The Washington Post, which for weeks had been raising questions about where the promised money was, urging him to disclose recipients of the millions raised during a splashy telethon-style fundraiser he held in Iowa in January in place of a Fox debate he was boycotting.

At a news conference Tuesday, Trump released a list of 41 groups he said had received $5.6 million.

“Most of the money went out quite a while ago,” Trump said. “Some of it went out more recently. But all of this has gone out.”

Throughout Tuesday’s confrontational event, Trump repeatedly slammed the media as “unbelievably dishonest” for its treatment of the issue and dismissed an ABC reporter as “a sleaze.” He said many times that he didn’t want

Bebeto Matthews / AP

U.S. Army vet Claude Copeland, center, speaks outside a news conference, Tuesday, in New York.

"We stand against anyone who is using hate rhetoric in regard to representing veterans," said Copeland.

credit for the fundraising but seemed peeved that he wasn’t thanked for it.

“Instead of being like, ‘Thank you very much, Mr. Trump,’ or ‘Trump did a good job,’ everyone’s saying, ‘Who got it? Who got it? Who got it?’ And you make me look very bad,” Trump complained, taking on reporters in the room. “I have never received such bad publicity

for doing such a good job.”

The Associated Press spoke or left messages with each of the organizations Trump named. Of the 30 groups that responded by Tuesday, about half said they had received checks from Trump just last week.

Several said the checks were dated May 24 — the same date as Trump’s

interview with The Post, and shipped out overnight express.

Among them was the big check from Trump himself, written to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation.

Trump’s campaign had previously told the newspaper that his promised $1 million personal donation had already been distributed.

Though the foundation had received a $100,000 check from Trump’s charity in March, last week’s $1 million donation came as something of a surprise.

“It is obviously a wonderful donation,” said Sue Boulhosa, the group’s executive director and sole employee. She said the group had “an inkling” that more might come but the amount was a happy surprise.

Trump has a longstanding relationship with the group, which Boulhosa said typically raises a total of between $2 million and

$3 million a year. The foundation had presented Trump with an award at its 2015 gala held at a New York hotel.

Appearing on CNN Tuesday, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said she was glad that Trump had given out the promised money.

“The problem here is the difference between what Donald Trump says and what Donald Trump does,” Clinton said. “He’s bragged for months about raising $6 million for vets and donating $1 million himself, but it took a reporter to shame him into actually making the contribution.”

Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski had originally told the Post that the event had raised about $4.5 million — less than the $6 million originally announced by Trump — because some who’d pledged had backed out.

The Laredo Job Corps is a residential program for (low-income) young adults.The center has the capacity to house 186 resident students (86 males and 86 females), there are 16 female non-residents and 10 male non-resident positions available. The classes are Monday thru Friday 8:00am-4:00pm. Curfew is 9:30pm Monday thru Thursday. Resident students are allowed to go home Friday after classes and must return no later than Sunday at 9:30pm.

Admission Requirements Applicant must be between 16 and 24 years old.

U.S. Citizen or legal residents • Economically disadvantaged Not have any serious behavior problems • Have the capacity to benefit from the Job Corps program.

Vocational Choices: 1. Electricity 2. Culinary Arts. 3. Building & Apt. Maintenance 4. Accounting 5. Nurse Assistant 6. Welding 7. Carpentry 8. Security Officer Academic Classes: Reading (GEI/HSD on Line) • English as a Second Language(ESL) • Career Skills • Social Skills • Driver License Benefits: 1. Free room and board Vision Medical and Dental Care Non residents students receive additional $12.00 bi-weekly for transportation.

2. Bi-weekly stipend 1-182 days the amount will be $25.00 per pay period for students with 183 paid days or more the amount will be $35.00 per pay period.

3. Child Care Matched at 5 times the student share by Job Corps.

4. Personal Career Development Plan (PCDP)

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, June 1, 2016 |

A9

BUSINESS

US stocks struggle as energy companies fall with oil prices

By Marley Jay A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

NEW YORK — U.S. stock indexes struggled to a mixed close Tuesday as energy companies fell with the price of oil, overcoming gains in utilities and phone companies.

Investors sold household goods makers after a report showed consumers are growing more worried about business and job market conditions.

Stocks were lower for most of the day after the Conference Board said consumer confidence fell for the second month in a row and reached its lowest level in six months.

In the afternoon stocks fell further following comments from the energy minister of the United Arab Emirates, the sec-

ond-largest Arab economy. His remarks suggested there isn’t a lot of urgency in addressing a global glut in oil supplies.

Despite the losses, stocks finished May with solid gains.

The price of oil has almost doubled since early February, and U.A.E. Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazroui said he is “optimistic” about the state of the energy market. Ministers from OPEC nations will meet in Vienna this week.

David Schiegoleit, managing director of investments for the private client reserve at U.S. Bank, said he thinks oil won’t go much higher unless the global economy improves or major nations start spending more.

“We do see $50 as sort

of high end” until then, he said.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 86.02 points, or 0.5 percent, to 17,787.20. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 2.11 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,096.95. The Nasdaq composite index gained 14.55 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,948.05.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 23 cents to $49.10 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, gave up 7 cents to $49.69 a barrel in London.

Chevron fell $1.02, or 1 percent, to $101 and Exxon Mobil shed 99 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $89.02.

Meanwhile investors searched for a sense of how consumers, who drive a large portion of the U.S. economy, are behav-

ing. The Commerce Department said consumer spending rose 1 percent in April as purchases of cars and other long-lasting goods increased. Wages and salaries, the most important component of incomes, gained 0.5 percent. That suggests the U.S. economy could pick up in the second quarter after six months of sluggish growth.

Economists at the Conference Board said consumer confidence fell for the second month in a row and reached its lowest level since November. The board said consumers are feeling cautious about business and job market conditions, and they anticipate little change in the months ahead. That was a surprise since a similar survey by the University

Obama to revisit struggling town

By Tom Coyne A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

ELKHART, Ind. — President Barack Obama came to Elkhart County less than a month after he took office, visiting the Indiana manufacturing center that was then struggling in the depths of the Great Recession to highlight his economic policies.

When the president returns Wednesday to the city of Elkhart, which bills itself as the “RV Capital of the World,” he will find the area remains heavily dependent on recreational vehicles and still striving to diversify its economy despite a sharp decline in the jobless rate over the past seven years.

With recreational vehicle purchases fluctuating with the state of the economy, local officials have tried to attract non-RV businesses in recent years, including an electric car company that went bankrupt and an electric truck venture that Obama touted in a later visit. But despite the general lack of success in attracting new businesses, officials say Elkhart County is now better positioned for the next economic downturn because many of its RV suppliers have become more diversified.

“It’s easier to find companies that survived the recession and diversified than it is to find new companies that came in that are completely non-

Michael Conroy / AP file

This Aug. 5, 2009 photo shows President Barack Obama as he delivers remarks on the economy in front of Navistar's all-electric commercial truck at a manufacturing plant in Wakarusa, Ind.

RV-related,” County Commissioner Mike Yoder said.

He gave the example of Cleer Vision, an Elkhart company that makes windows and tempered glass. Rick Collins cofounded the business in 2003, focusing at first on making transit bus windows and then becoming an RV supplier. In 2009, Cleer Vision had about 40 employees and about 75 percent of its business came from the RV industry. Now it has nearly 300 employees and 60 percent of its business comes from the RV industry.

“It’s our (tempered) glass operation that has really broken our dependence upon the industry,” Collins said.

Elkhart County’s unemployment rate spiked to 18.9 percent in March 2009, two months after Obama’s initial visit. It was down to 3.9 percent in April of this year, according to the most recent jobless data available.

“Elkhart is in fact a symbol of the nation’s

recovery,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

Elkhart is still heavily dependent on manufacturing, which includes RV companies and their suppliers. In April 2006, Elkhart County had a workforce of 133,500 people and 66,300 of those, or 49.6 percent, worked in manufacturing. By April 2009, employment had fallen to 96,200 and manufacturing accounted for 37,000 jobs, or 38.4 percent. By this past April, employment was back up to 125,800 and manufacturing accounted for 57,900 jobs, or 46 percent.

Jerry Conover, director of the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, said the county has seen some growth in other areas, including health care and social services jobs, but that the RV industry is still dominant.

“So much of their economy is based on what is essentially a discretionary product,” Conover said.

The Recreational Vehi-

cle Industry Association, the industry’s primary trade group, reports that 374,246 RVs were shipped in 2015, the most since a record 390,500 were shipped in 2006. That number dropped to 165,700 in 2009.

The RVIA projects RV shipments will total 396,400 this year, which would be an all-time high, and will hit 404,800 next year.

Mark Dobson, president and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Elkhart County, said the diversification of existing companies has made attracting new businesses less of a concern.

“I don’t think we have the heartburn that we once did. We still have that urgency to keep moving forward, but not that heartburn that maybe it’s a house of cards,” he said.

Conover said diversity is always a good idea.

“It gives you better odds for weathering storms,” he said. “Manufacturing accounts for a large chunk of jobs in Elkhart and that puts them in a vulnerable position.”

Yoder said Elkhart County is in a better position today to try to attract new businesses.

“It’s much easier to do it from a community that is economically viable and growing in affluence than it is from a community that’s suffering high unemployment and appears to be dying to the outside world,” he said.

of Michigan on Friday showed consumers were the most optimistic they’ve been in a year.

Companies that make household goods like food, drinks, cleaners and other everyday items slipped.

Beer and wine maker Constellation Brands lost $4.68, or 3 percent, to $153.15 and Clorox gave up $1.16 to $128.54.

Despite the dip in consumer confidence, Erik Davidson, the chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank, said Americans are gradually spending more and getting over the shocks of the financial crisis and Great Recession.

“There’s probably never been a better time to be a consumer than right now,” Davidson said. He noted that the job market re-

mains solid, wages are inching higher and a strong dollar is making goods produced overseas less expensive.

Westar Energy, the biggest utility company in Kansas, surged after Great Plains Energy agreed to buy it for $8.5 billion, or $60 per share in cash and stock. The deal will give Great Plains a total of 1.5 million customers in Kansas and Missouri. Westar climbed $3.41, or 6.4 percent, to $56.33 and Great Plains Energy slid $1.82, or 5.9 percent, to $29.18.

Westar’s gains helped pull utility companies higher. Also contributing were gains in bond prices, which sent yields lower and made utility and phone company stocks more appealing to investors seeking income.

Staples CEO to step down following failed Office Depot deal

By Nick Turner BL OOMBERG NEWS

Staples Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ron Sargent will step down from the job next month, handing the reins to lieutenant Shira Goodman, after his strategy to acquire Office Depot Inc. was blocked earlier this month.

Sargent and the board “mutually agreed” on the move, which makes Goodman an interim CEO, the Framingham, Massachusetts-based company said in a statement Tuesday.

Sargent will leave the job after the office-supply chain’s annual shareholder meeting on June 14, though he will remain a director and nonexecutive chairman until Jan. 28.

Sargent had staked Staples’ future on a $6.3 billion deal to acquire its main rival, Office Depot.

But the merger was blocked by regulators, who complained it would stifle competition and leave the U.S. with only one national office-supply chain. The would-be merger partners pointed to Amazon.com Inc. as a viable competitor, but the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan rejected that argument.

“With the termination of the merger, we mutually agreed that now is the right time to transition to new management to lead Staples through its next

phase of growth,” Staples’ lead independent director, Bob SulenSargent tic, said in the statement. “Shira has tremendous experience and a long track record of success at Staples, always bringing fresh perspective and change to every role she has had.”

Shrinking sales Sargent, 60, is stepping down after 27 years at Staples. He leaves a company that still leads the market for office supplies but has struggled with declining sales and mounting online competition. Staples’ shares, which have dropped 47 percent during the past year, were hammered after the Office Depot deal was blocked.

Sargent will receive his current salary and bonus until January. After that, he’ll get monthly payments of $166,740 for two years, totaling about $4 million. The executive received a salary of about $1.2 million in the most recent year. Goodman takes the interim CEO role after serving as president of Staples’ North American operations. She has spent 23 years at the company, overseeing e-commerce, supply-chain management and other areas.

A10 | Wednesday, June 1, 2016 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

ENTERTAINMENT

Actor convicted of 2nd-degree Robinson still Cruisin’ at 76 with focus on health, business murder in killing of wife A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

LOS ANGELES — A jury on Tuesday convicted an actor who played a police officer on TV of second-degree murder in the shooting death of his wife that was partially witnessed by their two young sons.

The verdict in the trial of Michael Jace, who appeared on the FX series “The Shield,” came after a weeklong trial in which Los Angeles jurors were told the actor shot his wife, April, in the back and then twice in the legs with a revolver that belonged to her father.

Jace, 53, did not testify in his own defense. He told detectives soon after the attack that he had retrieved the gun to kill

himself but couldn’t do it. Instead, he planned to shoot his wife, an avid Jace runner, in the leg so she would feel pain, Jace said in a recorded interview.

Deputy District Attorney Tannaz Mokayef told jurors the actor was waiting for his wife, shot her in the back and taunted her before shooting each of her legs.

Jace’s 10-year-old son testified that he heard his father say, “‘If you like running, then run to heaven,”’ before firing the second time.

Savoy Brown, an adult son of April Jace, said the family was pleased with the verdict. He said

watching Michael Jace has been difficult for the family, and he is hoping the actor, who bit his bottom lip when the verdict was read but showed no other emotion, will show his feelings when he is sentenced.

“I’d just like to see the sadness on his face, that he realized it because it seems every now and then, there’s moments of sadness and there’s moments of not,” Brown said after the verdict.

“And those moments of not really get me questioning, you know, how can you go that far? How can you say those words?

How can you do that?”

Mokayef said the potential sentence would be 40 years to life in prison when Jace is sentenced on June 10.

By Nicole Evatt ASSOCIATED PRE SS

LOS ANGELES — Smokey Robinson credits the habits that were instilled in him as a child with helping him maintain a healthy, active lifestyle — including being able to tour the country at 76.

“I used to run marathons and do those things that I thought were going to be beneficial for me at this time in my life,” he said in an interview last week. “When I got to this point in my life I did not realize ... how beneficial it was going to be because I feel great.”

While Robinson created his legend writing classic songs like “My Girl,” “I

Second That Emotion” and more for Motown, he was also a bit of a Robinson jock, playing basketball, baseball and more.

He also has practiced yoga for 35 years and has been a vegetarian longer than that.

“I’m only going to get this one body so I want to be healthy as long as possible. I believe in taking care of myself,” he said.

Robinson said his new skincare line is an extension of that. It’s a collaboration with his wife Frances and includes two products: “My Girl” for women and “Get Ready”

for men, created for people of color.

“This is our first time (working together) and we’re definitely on the same page,” Robinson said of mixing business and pleasure with his wife, who is an interior designer.

Robinson says it all boils down to taking care of your body. And these days, while he’s on tour, that includes a lot of rest.

“When I do concerts, people come to me after the show because they think that show business is just wine, women and songs — you party and that’s it,” he said. “Now I’m going back to my hotel room and I’m gonna watch TV until I fall asleep and get some rest.”

NMLS493828

By Anthony McCartney

FINANCING TEXAS FOR 100 YEARS. Laredo Office | 956.753.0758 10410 Medical Loop, Ste 5D

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, June 1, 2016 |

A11

FROM THE COVER

2nd man arrested in kidnapping of Mexican soccer player in Tamaulipas

By Alfredo Pena A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico — Police arrested a second suspect in the kidnapping of Mexican soccer player Alan Pulido, after wounding the man in a gunbattle, the Tamaulipas state prosecutor said Tuesday.

The kidnappers had demanded $325,000 (6 million pesos) from Pulido’s family for his safe return, but the athlete overpowered and beat one of his captors so badly that he had to be hospitalized.

The first suspect, Daniel Morales, gave police enough information to find the second suspect, Osvaldo Velazquez, at a house in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of the northern border state. Tamaulipas Attorney General Ismael

Quintanilla said that when police approached, Velazquez opened fire and was wounded in the shoulder and neck when the officers shot back.

None of the police were injured, and Velazquez’s wounds were not lifethreatening, Quintanilla said. He said Velazquez is married to a cousin of Pulido’s and may belong to a drug and kidnap gang. Velazquez appeared to have been the mastermind behind the kidnapping, he added.

In an interview Tuesday on Imagen Radio, Alan Pulido’s brother, Armando Pulido, said that minutes before he learned his brother had escaped, a kidnapper had warned that Alan Pulido would be dead by the following day if the family did not come up with the money.

“We’ve always gone

Alfredo Pena / AP

Mexican soccer player Alan Pulido, left, stands next to Tamaulipas State Gov. Egidio Torre Cantu.

around very relaxed, without security, without anything, and for that reason, the truth is we could never imagine, we never imagined something of this magnitude,” Armando Pulido said.

He said his brother was in good shape and resting.

Alan Pulido, a 25-yearold forward with Olym-

piakos in the Greek league, was abducted late Saturday by gunmen after leaving a party near Ciudad Victoria in the border state of Tamaulipas with his girlfriend. His brother was also at the party and found out within minutes of Alan’s departure that he had been kidnapped. He said the family contacted

authorities immediately.

The first ransom demand came early Sunday afternoon to a relative.

From then on Armando Pulido handled the negotiations. When the kidnappers demanded 6 million pesos, “I responded that it was impossible,” he said.

He received a number of calls as the kidnappers grew more desperate. He kept telling them he could not get that kind of money.

On the last call around 11:30 p.m. Sunday, Armando Pulido told the kidnapper to call him back the next day and he would see how much money he could gather by then.

“No, in the morning you’re going to find him dead,” he said he was told.

Minutes later someone from the anti-kidnapping unit called to say that his

brother had escaped.

In turned out that while Armando Pulido was negotiating over the ransom, his brother Alan had seized an opportunity.

According to an operator’s summary of three 911 calls obtained by The Associated Press, Alan Pulido jumped his guard, wrestled away his gun and cellphone and alerted authorities to his location.

Within minutes police arrived to whisk him away.

Tamaulipas has been plagued with violence in recent years as the Gulf and Zetas drug cartels battle for control. Both organizations also are involved in theft, extortion and kidnappings.

According to government statistics, 41 kidnappings were reported in the state in the first four months of this year.

South Korea says North Korea missile launch likely failed

By Foster Klug and Hyung-jin Kim A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

SEOUL, South Korea — A North Korean missile launch likely failed on Tuesday, the U.S. and South Korean militaries said, the fourth in a series of high-profile failures that somewhat temper recent worries that the North is pushing quickly toward its goal of a nuclear-tipped missile that can

LGBT From page A1 a dangerous toll. They included the mother of a 5-year-old transgender girl who held a picture of her child smiling in a pink patterned dress and shoulder-length hair. She cried while asking why the state wants to force her daughter into the boys’ room at school.

She and other parents

SHALE From page A1 an unprecedented influx of workers and truck traffic during a yearslong period of high oil prices, when crude was selling as high as $100 per barrel.

Now they’re dealing with a drop in tax collections of all kinds and worker layoffs.

The number of drilling rigs working in the Eagle Ford is at 29, down from 204 at the start of 2015, according to the Baker Hughes rig count. Some of the biggest companies operating in the Eagle Ford — firms that collectively hold more than a

CLINTON From page A1 newly competitive. Some argue that Trump could possibly challenge Clinton in Rust Belt states that Democrats have recently carried with ease, while motivating a backlash in minority turnout in Southern and Western states.

The thinking is that if Clinton can expand the map, her best offensive opportunities will likely be in Arizona and Georgia. Both are conservative states, but each has strong minority populations that could be motivated to turn out against Trump.

But Clinton has long had a soft spot for the

reach America’s mainland. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said the missile was a powerful intermediate-range Musudan, which could potentially reach U.S. military bases in Asia and the Pacific.

Yonhap cited an unidentified government source as saying the missile exploded at a mobile launch pad as soon as the launch button was pressed. The report, if

confirmed, suggests the missile may have even failed to lift off. Yonhap did not say how its source obtained the information.

South Korea’s military couldn’t confirm the report. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that North Korea attempted to launch an unidentified missile early in the morning from the eastern coastal town of Wonsan, but that it likely failed. It released no other details.

The U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement that its assessment also indicated that the launch was a failure. It condemned the launch as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions that prohibit North Korea from using ballistic missile technology.

Despite the recent failures, there have been growing worries about North Korea’s nuclear and missile activities this year,

which include a nuclear test in January and a rocket launch in February that outsiders saw as a test of banned long-range missile technology.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the failed missile test did not pose a threat to North America. But he cautioned that “North Korea’s continued pursuit of ballistic missile and nuclear weapons capabilities pose a significant threat to the

United States, our allies, and to the stability of the greater Asia-Pacific.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued an order in March that tests be conducted of a nuclear warhead and ballistic missiles capable of carrying such warheads. The order was thought to be part of North Korea’s response to annual South Korea-U.S. military drills that it sees as a rehearsal for an invasion.

said Patrick’s comments are provoking hostilities in school hallways. Like many other Republicans across the country, Patrick says the privacy and safety of students are put at risk by letting transgender people use the bathroom that matches their gender identity.

“You, specifically you, are endangering my child’s life,” said Ann Elder, mother of a 10year-old transgender

child near Houston. “You have now told everyone in the state of Texas it is OK to harass my child.”

Transgender-rights advocates say claims of bathroom rights posing a public safety risk are malicious and false. They say that 18 states and scores of cities have experienced no significant public safety problems linked to their existing laws allowing transgender people to use the

bathrooms of their choice.

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said there wasn’t much research on whether children have been threatened in bathrooms while announcing the 11-state lawsuit against the Obama administration filed last week. The lawsuit asks a federal judge to declare the directive over bathroom rights unlawful and was

filed in a North Texas federal court.

Two small school districts that joined the lawsuit, one in Texas and another in Arizona, have fewer than 600 students combined and no transgender students. Other states bringing the challenge are Oklahoma, Alabama, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Tennessee, Maine, Arizona, Louisiana, Utah and Georgia.

Patrick, a former con-

servative talk radio host, suggested that the Texas Legislature will take up school bathroom access in 2017. He has also asked Paxton to determine whether the Fort Worth school district — the sixth-largest in Texas — is breaking state education law with privacy rules that opponents say keeps conversations between transgender students and school officials from their parents.

million acres in the region — have pulled their rigs out of South Texas entirely.

With oil briefly topping $50 per barrel last week, many experts are saying the low came and went with prices as dismal as $26 in January and February. But Tunstall thinks it will take time for drilling rigs to start moving back into the Eagle Ford.

“There seems to be a lot of flurry about them reaching $50. They’re going to have to stay at that level for a while for things to really change,” Tunstall said.

Jeff Labenz-Hough, a retired program manager

with engineering company HDR Inc., who volunteers with the consortium, said the conference will look at topics that include the future of the Eagle Ford, the potential for oil and gas production in neighboring Mexico, and the ongoing, workaday stuff of the Eagle Ford — the production and maintenance that continues no matter that day’s oil price.

“Our focus is to remind people that just because the price of oil has dropped doesn’t mean South Texas has gone back to 2008,” said Labenz-Hough. “There are still more people and businesses. There’s main-

tenance and monitoring, and those jobs have to be local.”

The consortium includes government, business and education officials from 20 South Texas counties impacted by the Eagle Ford Shale oil field.

Speakers for the conference include Darin Turner of Invesco, North Dakota state Sen. Brad Bekkedahl, Jarl Pedersen of the Port of Corpus Christi, Olivia Varela of the Laredo Development Foundation and attorney Alejandra Bueno of AEM Bi-National Energy Committee.

Tickets cost $175. For information, visit eaglefordconsortium.org.

SMUGGLE From page A1

agents responded for investigative assistance.

Bridges allegedly waived her right to an attorney verbally and in writing.

“Bridges stated she knowingly and willingly transported (undocumented immigrants) for monetary gain,” states the complaint.

“Bridges identified the male driver of the Chevrolet Tahoe that she was instructed to follow and assist in transporting the (undocumented immigrants), who was later identified as Pedro Milera.”

Lone Star State. One of her first jobs was a Democratic operative was to register South Texas Hispanics to vote for 1972 nominee George McGovern. In her later career, the state was a positive turning point for her in both the 2008 and 2016 Democratic presidential nomination fights.

Clinton has also not been shy about suggesting that she might pick former San Antonio Mayor (and current Obama Cabinet member) Julían Castro as a running mate, eliciting excitement in Texas Democratic circles.

But Castro is one of many in consideration for the post.

The reality for Clinton is that her Texas general election outlook remains

grim, even if Trump’s incendiary statements about Hispanics and African Americans might boost turnout against him in the state’s metropolitan areas.

In 2012, Republican Mitt Romney defeated President Obama by a 16 point margin. U.S. Sen. John McCain defeated Obama by an 11 point margin in 2008.

Stranger things have happened in American politics, but Texas is still deeply conservative and prohibitively expensive to compete in. What separates Texas most from states like Georgia and Arizona is the sheer cost and geographic demand on campaigning in the state. The state is home to four of the most expen-

sive media markets in the country.

The last Democrat to seriously compete in Texas was Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996. But he had an ally: third-party candidate Ross Perot pulled votes away from the Republican nominees.

Such a scenario could possibly come to pass for Hillary Clinton. Many Texas Republicans are unenthused with Trump, and they might rally behind Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson or another candidate who might mount a third party run. Yet the deadline for an Independent to land a spot on the Texas ballot has already passed, but there is still the possibility of a write-in presidential campaign.

Texas Department of Public Safety trooper had been involved in a “vehicular bailout pursuit” near the Webb and Zapata County line and ended near the Century City neighborhood in Laredo.

DPS took custody of the driver, who was later identified as Milera, while agents caught up to six people suspected of entering the country illegally.

Homeland Security Investigations special

A12 | Wednesday, June 1, 2016 | THE ZAPATA TIMES