The Zapata Times 6/21/2017

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ZAPATA COUNTY

WORLD WAR II

Two suspected burglars wanted Crime Stoppers will pay cash reward for information leading to an arrest

By César G. Rodriguez TH E ZAPATA T IME S

Zapata County authorities need the community’s help to locate two suspected burglars, officials said this week.

The Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office wants to know the

whereabouts of Juan Carlos Salinas and Luis Angel Vela. Salinas and Vela are wanted for burglary of building.

The state jail

Vela

Salinas

felony carries a punishment of up to two years in jail and a $10,000 fine.

Zapata Crime Stoppers will pay a cash reward to anyone who

provides anonymous information leading to their arrest.

Callers remain anonymous. To provide information, contact the Sheriff's Office at 956-765-9960 or Zapata Crime Stoppers at 765-TIPS (8477).

DEL ALMA PUBLICATIONS

LOCAL AUTHOR EARNS BOOK AWARD HONORS

ARLINGTON, Texas — The remains of a Texas sailor who died in the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor are returning home.

George Anderson Coke Jr.’s remains were recently identified after his family provided DNA samples for testing, the Star-Telegram reported. Before then, his remains had been buried in a mass grave in Hawaii alongside other crewmen.

The Arlington man went

A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

S

Author continues on A11

Vet to be laid to rest in Texas ASSOCIATED PRE SS

Ceremony to be held Sept. 9 in Los Angeles outh Texas educational book publisher, Del Alma Publications, LLC, announced local author, Dr. María Alma González Pérez as the winner of a coveted Purple Dragonfly Book Award and is selected as a top three finalist in the International Latino Book Awards (ILBA). “¡Todos a Comer! – A Mexican Food Alphabet Book ,” the latest bilingual children’s book by Pérez, was awarded second place in the Purple Dragonfly Book Awards contest’s Cultural Diversity category.

The Dragonfly Book Awards recognizes excellence in children’s literature. “¡Todos a Comer! – A Mexican Food Alphabet Book” was also selected as a top three finalist for the 2017 ILBA in the Best Latino Focused Children’s Picture Book category.

“We’re still in awe…….To receive a book award is a great honor – literally ‘a big thing,’” Pérez said, “but, to receive notice of not one, but two awards for the same book on the same day is surreal. That is precisely what happened.

That’s why I say we’re still in awe.

“This text is a resource for the classroom with a culturally regional focus aimed at addressing the needs of Hispanic children in the United States.

These children are losing so much of their culture because of the English-only curriculum they are exposed

Joyce Marshall / AP

Sherry Coke Dorn, the second cousin of George Anderson Coke Jr., visits Parkdale Cemetery on Monday.

Veteran continues on A11

MEXICAN BORDER

Surveillance equipment over wall

By Ron Nixon NEW YORK TIME S NEWS SERVICE

Courtesy

Dr. María Alma González Pérez, local author and poet, poses for a photo holding her award-winning book, “¡Todos a Comer! – A Mexican Food Alphabet Book.”

ROMA, Texas — From a compact, portable shed on the outskirts of this border town, Jonathan Hoyt has an expansive field of vision. His computer is linked to cameras and surveillance equipment that allow him to see rubber rafts on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande nearly three miles away, simply by moving a tiny joystick.

Hoyt, a Border Patrol agent, is using equipment that the Defense Department brought back from Afghanistan, where it was used to track the Taliban. It is part of a potent arsenal that also includes towers, drones and aerostats — giant blimps attached to the ground that can hover as high as 5,000 feet. Helicopters using powerful infrared sensors and video cameras also patrol the skies.

Law enforcement officials Border continues on A11

Zin brief A2 | Wednesday, June 21, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

CALENDAR

AROUND THE NATION

TODAY IN HISTORY

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21

ASSOCIATED PRE SS

Free Laredo Criminal Record Erasure Clinic. 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Texas RioGrande Legal Aid office, 1702 Convent Ave. Attorneys will assist lowincome individuals whose criminal arrest records keep them from obtaining employment, education and professional licenses. All low-income individuals, including youth with juvenile records, are welcome to apply.

Applicants for legal aid must have appointments, which are available only by calling 956-718-4603 between 8:30 - 11:45 a.m. and between 1:30 - 4:45 p.m.

Today is Wednesday, June 21, the 172nd day of 2017. There are 193 days left in the year. Summer begins at 12:24 a.m. Eastern time.

Today's Highlights in History: On June 21, 1942, German forces led

by Generaloberst (Colonel General) Erwin Rommel captured the Libyan city of Tobruk during World War II. (Following his victory, Rommel was promoted by Adolf Hitler to the rank of Field Marshal; Tobruk was retaken by the Allies in Nov. 1942.) An Imperial Japanese submarine fired shells at Fort Stevens on the Oregon coast, causing little damage.

THURSDAY, JUNE 22 Why Invasive Species are So Invasive—An Ecosystem Approach.

6:30 p.m. Lake Casa Blanca International State Park Ranchito. Presented

by Stephen Lange, Project Leader, South Texas Ecosystem Project, Chaparral and Daughtrey Wildlife Management Areas. Free and open to the public. For more information, email: brushcountrychapter@gmail.com Spanish Book Club. 6-8 p.m. Joe A Guerra Public Library. For more info call Sylvia Reash at 956-763-1810.

MONDAY, JULY 3 Ray of Light anxiety and depression support group meeting. 6:30—7:30 p.m. Area Health Education Center, 1505 Calle del Norte, Suite 430. Every first Monday of the month. People suffering from anxiety and depression are invited to attend this free, confidential and anonymous support group meeting. While a support group does not replace an individual’s medical care, it can be a valuable resource to gain insight, strength and hope.

SATURDAY, JULY 22 Laredo and South Texas Weather. 2 p.m. TAMIU Student Center, Room 236.

Presented by Richard ‘Heatwave” Berler, Chief Meteorologist, KGNS-TV. Free and open to the public. For more information, email: brushcountrychapter@gmail.com

FRIDAY, AUG. 18 South Texas Food Bank Empty Bowls XI. Laredo Energy Arena. TexMex power rock trio Los Lonely Boys will perform. The event includes a dinner, a benefit concert and a silent auction featuring artworks from local and regional artists. Sponsorship tables of 10 that include dinner and access to silent auction items are available. There are different levels of sponsorship available: Diamond $20,000, Platinum $10,000, Gold $5,000, Silver $2,500 and Bronze $1,500. Individual table tickets are $150. Table tickets are available at the food bank, 1907 Freight at Riverside.

Concert only tickets are $10, $15 and $25. Tickets are available at the LEA box office, Ticketmaster.com, select Ticketmaster outlets or charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000.

Submit calendar items at lmtonline.com/calendar/submit or by emailing editorial@lmtonline.com with the event’s name, date and time, location, purpose and contact information for a representative. Items will run as space is available.

Genna Martin / AP

A vigil was held outside the apartment where Charleena Lyles lived on June 18. Seattle police are investigating the fatal shooting of a pregnant woman who was said to have mental health issues.

OFFICERS IN FATAL SHOOTING HAD CRISIS TRAINING SEATTLE — Two Seattle police officers who shot and killed a pregnant woman inside her apartment had been trained to deal with people showing signs of mental illness or other behavior crises.

Officials also say the officers had at least one less-lethal way to handle the woman who they knew had a previous volatile encounter with law enforcement and had been having mental health issues.

Still, within minutes of arriving Sunday to take a burglary report, the officers drew their guns and shot 30-year-old Charleena Lyles with three of her four

Brain surgeon charged with child sex abuse gives up license SAN FRANCISCO — A California brain surgeon has agreed to give up his state medical license while he faces charges of sexually abusing children.

Dr. James Kohut agreed to the suspension, electronic monitoring and staying off the internet in addition to other conditions in exchange for bail, according to court documents.

children inside her apartment.

Authorities say Lyles confronted the officers with two kitchen knives — less than two weeks after she had threatened officers with long metal shears when they responded to a domestic disturbance at her home.

Family members say they want to know what happened Sunday and why police didn’t use a non-lethal option when they knew Lyles had been struggling with her mental health. Police and the mayor say the shooting will be investigated.

— Compiled from AP reports

A judge on Monday agreed to release Kohut on bail. But he said he will set the amount at a June 28 hearing and the doctor will remain in custody until then.

Kohut was arrested on May 14 and charged with 10 counts of sex abuse. In unsuccessfully arguing against bail, prosecutors say the doctor sought to impregnate women to create more victims, though there’s no evidence he succeeded.

Several women who had relationships with Kohut said he wanted to have children with them to create “ ‘taboo’ families where the parents

AROUND THE WORLD Venezuela, US spar at OAS meeting in Mexico CANCUN, Mexico — The United States and Venezuela exchanged harsh words at the Organization of American States general assembly Tuesday, after the U.S. representative said the OAS must pass some kind of resolution on the troubled South American country to remain true to its principles.

John Sullivan, U.S. deputy secretary of state, made an impassioned plea for the 34nation organization to approve naming a “contact group” of countries to mediate the fierce political and economic crisis that has already cost over 70 lives in Venezuela and reduced much of the population to poverty.

“If we can’t take that step forward here, we seriously impair our ability to go forward as an organization. It is the least we can do,” Sullivan told the OAS general assembly being held in the Mexican resort of Cancun.

Pedro Pardo / AFP/Getty Images

This photo shows a general view of the OAS 47th General Assembly in Cancun, Mexico, on Tuesday.

Sullivan described the proposal, which has yet to be voted on, as a plan to create a “group of friends” - a multi-country mediation group like the one that helped end the civil war in El Salvador in the 1980s.

The members of the group would be named later, and Sullivan said they would be “balanced” and could include the United Nations or the Vatican. Sullivan said the U.S. wants political prisoners in Venezuela freed, elections held

and violence ended.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez, who walked out of the meeting Monday but returned Tuesday, said the United States wanted to intervene in Venezuela to take advantage of the country’s oil reserves.

Sullivan responded that Rodriguez’s comments “can be summarized in three words: distractions, distortions and irrelevancies.”

That sparked an angry re-

a loaded pistol in her vagina has been sentenced to probation after she pleaded guilty to drug possession.

Ashley Cecilia Castaneda has been sentenced to 10 years on deferred probation for methamphetamine possession. The 33-year-old Waco woman also

was fined $2,500.

Waco police say that when Castaneda was arrested in 2015, she told officers on her way to McLennan County Jail that she was packing a loaded handgun in her birth canal. Police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said a jail matron performed a cavity

raise their children sexually,” Assistant District Attorney Steven Moore said in court documents.

Moore also wrote that the FBI, Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office and police in Australia previously investigated Kohut.

Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Sgt. Chris Clark confirmed that the department did open an investigation, but declined to discuss details. An FBI spokeswoman said the FBI is assisting Watsonville police investigation and declined to discuss the agency’s previous involvement with Kohut.

— Compiled from AP reports

sponse from Rodriguez. “I think the only way they (the U.S.) can impose their will is with their Marines, who would be met with a swift response in Venezuela, should they dare” to intervene, she said.

The OAS narrowly failed to pass a resolution calling for an end to Venezuela’s political crisis. But Peru and other countries continued Tuesday to mention the desperate situation on Venezuela’s streets where at least 70 people have died and more than 1,300 been injured during demonstrations and other unrest.

Rodriguez said of those countries: “If they form part of the litter of lap dogs of imperialism, Venezuela doesn’t.”

It was all part of Venezuela’s long, strange goodbye to the OAS, the first country to decide to leave the group.

Rodriguez said “Venezuela no longer forms part of this organization,” and had previously walked out of Monday’s session, saying she no longer recognized the OAS or any resolution it might pass. But she was back Tuesday.

— Compiled from AP reports

On this date: In 1377, King Edward III died after ruling England for 50 years; he was succeeded by his grandson, Richard II. In 1788, the United States Constitution went into effect as New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it.

In 1834, Cyrus Hall McCormick received a patent for his reaping machine.

In 1932, heavyweight Max Schmeling lost a title fight rematch in New York by decision to Jack Sharkey, prompting Schmeling's manager, Joe Jacobs, to exclaim: "We was robbed!"

In 1954, the American Cancer Society presented a study to the American Medical Association meeting in San Francisco which found that men who regularly smoked cigarettes died at a considerably higher rate than nonsmokers.

In 1963, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was chosen during a conclave of his fellow cardinals to succeed the late Pope John XXIII; the new pope took the name Paul VI. In 1964, civil rights workers Michael H. Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James E. Chaney were slain in Philadelphia, Mississippi; their bodies were found buried in an earthen dam six weeks later. (Forty-one years later on this date in 2005, Edgar Ray Killen, an 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman, was found guilty of manslaughter; he was sentenced to 60 years in prison.)

In 1977, Menachem Begin of the Likud bloc became Israel's sixth prime minister.

In 1982, a jury in Washington, D.C. found John Hinckley Jr. not guilty by reason of insanity in the shootings of President Ronald Reagan and three other men.

In 1985, scientists announced that skeletal remains exhumed in Brazil were those of Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele.

In 1989, a sharply divided Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag as a form of political protest was protected by the First Amendment.

In 1997, the WNBA made its debut as the New York Liberty defeated the host Los Angeles Sparks 67-57.

Ten years ago: Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. nuclear envoy, made a rare trip to North Korea in a surprise bid to accelerate international efforts to press the communist government to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

Five years ago: Miami's LeBron James capped his title bid with 26 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds as he led the Heat in a 121-106 rout of the Oklahoma City Thunder to win the NBA Finals in five games.

Today's Birthdays: Composer Lalo Schifrin is 85. Actor Bernie Kopell is 84. Actor Monte Markham is 82.

Comedian Joe Flaherty is 76. Rock singer-musician Ray Davies (The Kinks) is 73. Actress Meredith Baxter is 70. Actor Michael Gross is 70. Rock musician Joe Molland (Badfinger) is 70. Rock musician Don Airey (Deep Purple) is 69. Country singer Leon Everette is 69. Rock musician Joey Kramer (Aerosmith) is 67. Rock musician Nils Lofgren is 66. Actor Leigh McCloskey is 62. Country singer Kathy Mattea is 58. Actor Marc Copage is 55.

Actress Sammi Davis is 53. Actor Doug Savant is 53. Country musician Porter Howell is 53. Actor Michael Dolan is 52. Writer-director Lana Wachowski is 52. Actress Carrie Preston is 50. Actress Paula Irvine is 49.

Country singer Allison Moorer is 45.

Actress Juliette Lewis is 44. Actress Maggie Siff is 43. Musician Justin Cary is 42. Rock musician Mike Einziger (Incubus) is 41. Actor Chris Pratt is 38.

Rock singer Brandon Flowers is 36.

Britain's Prince William is 35. Actor Jussie Smollett is 35. Actor Benjamin Walker is 35. Actor Michael Malarkey is 34. Pop singer Kris Allen (TV: "American Idol") is 32. Actor Jascha Washington is 28. Pop singer Rebecca Black is 20.

Thought for Today: "Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do." — Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher (19051980).

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AROUND TEXAS

SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY

Woman who hid gun from officers gets probation in drug case WACO, Texas — A Texas woman who police said packed

search and found the gun, right where Castaneda said she had hid it.

Castaneda’s attorney, Seth Sutton, denied the story as impossible, but Swanton said the police department stood by it.

— Compiled from AP reports

(956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Wednesdays and Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata and Jim Hogg counties. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times in those areas at newstands, The Zapata Times is inserted.

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The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas, 78044. Call (956) 728-2500.

The Zapata Times

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, June 21, 2017 |

A3

STATE New Texas water park designed for people with special needs

By Silvia Foster-Frau SA N A NT ONI O E XPRE SS-NEWS

SAN ANTONIO — Judy Rhoads scanned her surroundings. She paused to look at her daughter, Cindy Dolder, who drenched her sun hat and striped shirt in a spray of water, and summed up the scene around her in one word.

“It’s freedom,” said Rhoads, 70. “I mean, look at her!”

The San Antonio Express-News reports Dolder, 40, grinned and shook her head as cool water trickled down her face, before she moved her wheelchair to another spigot in the water park.

The mother and daughter had tried going to

water and amusement parks before, but often the lists of restrictions are so long that Dolder, who has cerebral palsy and uses the wheelchair, can’t participate.

“It’s just impossible to get a wheelchair person on a ride,” Rhoads said Sunday. “This is like a dream come true.”

Morgan’s Wonderland, the only large amusement park in the world designed for people with and without special needs, opened in San Antonio on April 10, 2010.

Over the weekend, the park’s founder, Gordon Hartman, opened a $17 million water park called Inspiration Island. In addition to tweaking its attractions for people

with special needs, it provides specially designed wheelchairs — including a cutting-edge type that’s air-powered and waterproof.

More than 600 people attended Saturday’s opening of Inspiration Island.

Morgan’s Wonderland, a nonprofit, has had more than 1 million visitors from at least 66 countries and all 50 states since its opening.

In many ways, the water park is like any other. Between its five sections, spigots of water burst from large sea horses and islands of tiredlooking starfish. Two large buckets overhead slowly fill and then spill heaps of water. An eightminute boat ride takes

Study: Oil, gas drilling connected to pollution and earthquakes A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

HOUSTON — A new study by a nonprofit science organization says oil and gas drilling in Texas is linked to pollution and earthquakes.

The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas study found drilling for oil and gas in shale rock pollutes the air, erodes soil and contaminates water, while the disposal of millions of gallons of wastewater causes earthquakes, the Houston Chronicle reported.

The study also found that the shale oil boom has degraded natural resources, overwhelmed small communities and

increased the frequency and severity of traffic collisions as workers rush to oil fields with their equipment.

The group began its analysis of the environmental and social impacts of drilling and hydraulic fracturing two years ago. It created a task force of attorneys, geologists, seismologists and engineers, including representatives from oil companies and an environmental group.

The group reviewed and analyzed hundreds of academic studies, many about Texas oil and gas operations.

The study found fracking is spreading rapidly across Texas.

The technique is used by the energy industry to extract oil and gas from rock by injecting highpressure mixtures of water, sand or gravel and chemicals.

“We’re seeing these activities in places we haven’t seen before,” said Marilu Hastings, vice president of sustainability programs for the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, which funded a portion of the research. “And we’re seeing them at an increasing scale, pace and intensity.”

The report calls for the state to improve monitoring and collecting data about the environmental impacts of shale drilling and fracking.

Edward A. Ornelas / AP

In this June 18 photo, Cindy Dolder, left, and her mother Judy Rhoads enjoy Calypso Cove part of Morgan's Inspiration Island at Morgan's Wonderland in San Antonio.

people through a jungle with fake snakes that hiss and cougars that roar.

There are some key differences. The grass is artificial in some areas so clippings don’t get caught in the water filtration systems. The drainage is important because all the water is filtered and recirculated. There are no deep pools of water, only

ones at surface level for splashing.

Before the buckets dump the water, a ding rings out across the park, notifying those who can’t see that it is about to occur. Soon, Hartman said, a whirling signal will be up for those who can see but can’t hear.

There’s also a pool with 92-degree water for peo-

ple with muscular conditions who require warmth.

And everywhere, people of all abilities splash and play together. With the barriers that most people with special needs typically experience removed, suddenly everyone is the same — or at least, similar in their difference.

Zopinion

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

A4 | Wednesday, June 21, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

COMMENTARY

OTHER VIEWS

GOP’s strategy for ramming Trumpcare through is working Greg Sargent WA S H INGT ON P O ST

We already knew that Senate Republicans were going to try to ram through their health care bill by resorting to a scandalously secretive, absurdly compressed process. But now we have the details: According to the Wall Street Journal, the text of the bill will be released Thursday; the Congressional Budget Office will release a score of the bill next Monday or Tuesday; and the Senate will vote on it next Thursday.

Unfortunately, there are signs this morning that the Republican strategy is already working precisely as intended.

First, let’s note that the secrecy adopted by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is explicitly designed to shield the Senate GOP health bill from as much debate and public scrutiny as possible. The text of the bill will be available for all of one week before it is voted upon, after having been drafted in such secrecy that even Republican Senators complained that they were being kept in the dark. There have not been, and apparently will not be, any hearings before the vote.

What’s more, lawmakers and the public will have only two or three days to absorb the details and significance of the CBO’s conclusions.

Given that this will be the most rich and detailed empirical analysis available of the bill’s likely impact on tens of millions of people and one-sixth of the U.S. economy, you’d think this document is deserving of extensive consideration in all its complexity.

But this rolling scandal doesn’t end there.

This compressed schedule is not only designed to limit debate on the bill. As the Journal reports, the vote is being rushed for the express purpose of getting it done before the July 4 recess, because the failure to do so “could open Republican lawmakers up to pressure from constituents,” some of whom might be “concerned about losing their health coverage.” Thus, the schedule is also explicitly designed to shield lawmakers from public exposure and questioning about the immense human toll the measure they are considering could have - before they vote on it.

A new CBS poll finds that the public broadly wants a more open process. Americans say by 73-25 that Senate Republicans should discuss their plans publicly, rather than privately. More than three quarters of

Republican leaders are willing to endure the public’s disapproval of their efforts to hide the bill from the public. independents agree.

But here’s the really key finding from CBS: Americans are in the dark about the measure.

The poll finds that Americans say by 76-23 that they haven’t heard enough yet about the GOP plan to have a good understanding of it. Independents say this by 76-22.

The juxtaposition of these findings neatly underscores the profound cynicism at the core of the GOP approach. As Brian Beutler has argued, GOP leaders are not merely lying about what is in the bill.

They are also lying about the process itself, because copping to what they are actually doing would implicitly admit that their bill - which is very likely to be almost as cruel in its broad strokes as the House bill - cannot survive genuine public debate. This new polling illuminates the point: Republican leaders are willing to endure the public’s disapproval of their efforts to hide the bill from the public (to the degree that they care about that disapproval at all), precisely because those efforts are keeping the public ignorant about what they actually intend to do to our health care system.

But the cynicism and bad faith run even deeper than this. Multiple rank and file Republican Senators also know this secrecy is indefensible after all, they have lodged lots of public complaints about it. But they are not taking any steps they to give those complaints any real force with GOP leaders. Why? The most convincing explanation is that they, too, know they are better off as long as voters despite their disapproval of the process - don’t have a full understanding of what they will soon be voting on, and possibly, passing.

It is possible, of course, that public disapproval of the secrecy of the process and of the bill itself - once we see it - could combine to dissuade a few moderate GOP Senators from voting for the bill, perhaps dooming it. But nonetheless, right now, the Republicans’ blanket of secrecy is working. By keeping the public in the dark about their true designs, it is having precisely its desired effect.

COMMENTARY

Republicans are counting on Trump’s legal team Ed Rogers WASHINGTON P O ST

President Donald Trump probably doesn’t think he has had an adequate spokesperson since the days of “John Miller.”

But his legal team seems to be coming together nicely. No matter how Democrats try to spin it, there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. And if Trump would quit talking about it, it would be that much easier for his lawyers and allies to substantiate the fact that there was also no obstruction of justice.

Trump’s longtime lawyer Marc Kasowitz has a deep, personal relationship with the president.

The legal team also consists of John Dowd, a savvy, big-league professional who knows how to work in Washington and represent clients in high-

profile cases, as well as Jay Sekulow, a reassuring television presence who can help keep conservative constituencies by Trump’s side over the next several months.

Allowing for first-time jitters, Sekulow seems to be hitting mostly the right tone.

Anyway, an important component of Trump’s legal strategy is to maintain message discipline.

But message discipline and restraint is not Trump’s specialty. Assuming no one can rein in Trump’s tweets, it will be up to his legal team to stick to the facts, remain surefooted, defend against the left’s most egregious attacks and clean up after material leaks - all the while avoiding the temptation to take the bait and engage with the media in day-to-day combat.

There is such a thing as having too many lawyers.

But this team seems to be about the right size and have the right mix of relationships and skills. What remains to be seen is whether Trump will make their lives easier or more difficult.

So, what does Trump really need from his legal team? I hope he wants the same things that he needs.

Specifically, he needs to ride out the reported investigation into possible obstruction of justice and put any suggestion of collusion behind him. But Trump, being Trump, will likely want to have a knife fight in which his enemies, imagined or real, are dispatched in a dramatic fashion. It will be up to his lawyers to not indulge him in this fantasy. Even though Trump is innocent, with reckless words and deceitful tweets, he could sink his presidency into the quicksand of high crimes and misdemeanors

COLUMN

Fox News host warmongers on North Korea Erik Wemple WASHINGTON P O ST

“The Fox News Specialists” grappled on Monday with the news that Otto Warmbier, an American who’d spent 17 months imprisoned in North Korea, had died after being sent home. Now that North Korean barbarity was directly affecting the United States, said host Eric Bolling, perhaps it’s time to do something more about this longtime threat. “Right now, the North Koreans keep testing these intercontinental ballistic missiles. If they do go ahead and figure out a way to put a warhead on top of their longest-range missile, 30 minutes is the lead time between firing that missile in North Korea and Los Angeles. Now,

are you willing to risk Los Angeles?. . . It may be time for a preeemptive strike,” said Bolling, who also claimed that “we don’t want to start any, you know, nuclear war.”

When a fellow panelist declared that the “really unfortunate loss” of Warmbier “is enough to start that kind of military effort.”

Bolling returned to L.A. “So what do you do - do you wait till a missile is on its way to Los Angeles and hope . . . that the missile interceptor works, and if it doesn’t you, sacrifice Los Angeles?” Along these lines, Bolling did make this concession: “If you do do this . . . you will have a lot of innocent people who will die. The casualties of war will be massive thousands, tens of thou-

sands will die,” he said.

Bolling’s casualty estimate may be a touch modest. In the case of a preventive strike from U.S. forces, North Korea could wreak havoc. Locating and disabling the North Korean arsenal would be difficult, for starters.

“With only a few of its worst weapons, North Korea could, probably within hours, kill millions.

This means an American first strike would likely trigger one of the worst mass killings in human history,” writes Bowden.

The logical problem in Bolling’s presentation is glaring: The North Korean regime of Kim Jong Un mistreated a U.S. prisoner, a bona fide tragedy and outrage. That doesn’t mean that it’ll launch a nuclear missile attack on

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that could change the course of history.

Trump’s lawyers must walk a delicate line, coordinating every word they say. We no longer live in a world where lawyers have the luxury of ignoring the media. There are simply too many outlets with too large an appetite for content.

When Haley Barbour and I started our firm as a law firm more than 25 years ago, the media strategy we recommended to our clients was always simple. Hide from the media. But now, as a lobbying/PR firm, we have a great deal of client matters that involve multiple law firms and constant media management.

One truism I have learned is that clients never tell you everything and they often do not act how you want them to.

From here, Trump looks just like that kind of client.

DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

Los Angeles when it’s capable of doing so. As Bowden points out, North Korea has had less spectacular opportunities for mass carnage for some time, and has passed them up: Pyongyang has long had the means to all but level Seoul, and weapons capable of killing tens of thousands of Americans stationed in South Korea.

Right now North Korea has missiles that could reach Japan with weapons of mass destruction. The world is already accustomed to dealing with a North Korea capable of sowing unthinkable mayhem.

Something to consider, if you’re Bolling.

Wemple is a Washington Post columnist.

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, June 21, 2017 |

A5

STATE

San Antonio man on death row loses federal appeal A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

HOUSTON — A federal appeals court has rejected an appeal from a San Antonio man on death row who argued Bexar County jurors may have received incomplete instructions when they decided he should die for killing a convenience store owner during a 2004 robbery.

Attorneys for 33-yearold Christopher Young contended jury instructions at his 2006 trial failed to include required guidance about

whether mitigating evidence presented during the trial’s punishment phase could justify a life prison sentence. Attorneys also argued his trial lawyers were deficient for not spotting the instruction lapse.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed the questions should be reviewed and on Tuesday affirmed a federal district judge’s decision to reject the claims.

Young was condemned for fatally shooting 55year-old Hasmukh Patel at Patel’s San Antonio store.

ZAPATA COUNTY BLOTTER TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

1 Baldemar GonzalezFlores, 45, was arrested May 31 and charged with driving while intoxicated with open alcoholic container.

1 Alonso Abel Salinas, 31, was arrested May 31 and charged with failure to appear in court.

1 Mario Eloy Cuellar, 18, was arrested June 4 and charged with racing on highway.

1 Roberto Rene Medina, 17, was arrested June 4 and charged with racing on highway.

ZAPATA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

1 Eduardo Arturo Wheeler, 21, was arrested May 28 and charged with driving while intoxicated.

1 Jorge Javier Jasso, 32, was arrested May 29

Ex-day care owners found innocent of abuse

By David Warren A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

DALLAS — A Texas judge has approved a prosecutor’s declaration of innocence for the former owners of a day care who were imprisoned for 21 years for child abuse that involved claims of satanic rituals, officials said Tuesday.

Dan and Fran Keller were convicted in 1992 of sexually assaulting a 3year-old after children in their care told investigators of dismembered babies, tortured pets and other fantastic tales. The Kellers were freed in 2013 after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals found a doctor was mistaken in

determining there was physical evidence of assault. The appeals court ruled the doctor’s testimony during the Kellers’ trial was false. The physician himself also had recanted.

Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore said Tuesday that state District Judge Cliff Brown earlier approved her motion that absolves the Kellers of any crimes. The determination of outright innocence makes each eligible for $80,000 in compensation for every year they were wrongfully imprisoned. Moore’s finding was first jointly reported by the Austin American-Statesman and KVUE-TV. She told The Associated

Press her office had to review the evidence that remained in the case after removing the false testimony. “We were left with the determination that there was not sufficient credible evidence upon which a reasonable juror could be expected to convict,” she said. Further bolstering the Kellers’ case was an interview the victim provided in 2013 in which she acknowledged having no memory of being abused, Moore said.

The couple was sentenced to 48 years in prison after young children made claims of abuse that occurred as part of satanic rituals at the day care the Kellers operated out of their Austin home.

and charged with reckless driving.

1 Rene Dario Cuellar, 32, was arrested May 30 and charged with terroristic threat of family, household member.

1 Gabriel Abdul Garcia Jr., 24, was arrested May 30 and charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana.

1 Rolando Lopez, 26, was arrested May 30 and charged with possession of marijuana, forge/alter prescription and two counts of possession of a controlled substance. He was additionally served with a warrant charging him with parole violation out of Austin.

1 Rogelio Gervacio Rodriguez, 21, was arrested May 30 and charged with forge, alter pre-

scription.

1 Joel Flores Jr., 21, was arrested May 31 and charged with theft of property.

1 Jose Adolfo Lopez Jr., 17, was arrested May 31 and charged with burglary of habitation.

1 Israel Navarro, 18, was arrested May 31 and charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana and evading arrest.

1 Pablo Bernal, 30, was arrested June 3 and charged with aggravated assault of date, family, household member with weapon and assault of family, household member by impeding breath, circulation.

1 Juan Antonio Camarillo, 32, was arrested June 3 and charged with driving while intoxicated.

1 Jose Adalberto Hernandez, 23, was arrested June 3 and charged with driving while intoxicated.

1 Arnulfo Arambula, 61, was arrested June 4 and charged with assault family violence, assault on a public servant and resisting arrest.

1 Mario Alberto Villarreal, 42, was arrested June 5 and charged with driving while intoxicated.

1 Victor Alonso Sanchez, 23, was arrested June 6 and charged with assault by threat.

1 Roel Villarreal Jr., 31, was arrested June 2 and charged with burglary of building.

1 Angel Dagoberto Villarreal, 26, was arrested June 6 and charged with having a prohibited weapon.

Zfrontera A6 | Wednesday, June 21, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

RIBEREÑA EN BREVE PROGRAMA DE ASISTENCIA MÉDICA 1 Si usted está teniendo dificultades para costear la compra de medicamentos, el programa “Medication Assistance” lo puede ayudar. Acuda el 21 de junio a la Corte del Condado de Zapata (cuarto de juntas ubicado en el segundo piso) de 10 a.m. a 12 p.m. y de 1 p.m. a 3 p.m. Para mayores informes llame a Eslanda Treviño al 361-667-3350.

TORNEO DE GOLF 1 Boys and Girls Club of Zapata County invitan al 1er. Torneo de Golf que se llevará a cabo el sábado, 24 de junio en Los Ébanos Golf Course.

Registro inicia a las 7 a.m. Para mayores informes contacte a Cipriana GonzálezWells al 956-8981365.

CRIME STOPPERS

Se buscan por supuesto robo Recompensarán a quien brinde información sobre paradero de individuos Por César G. Rodríguez TIEMP O DE ZAPATA

Autoridades del Condado de Zapata solicitan ayuda de la comunidad para localizar a dos supuestos ladrones, dijeron oficiales esta semana.

La Oficina del Alguacil del

Condado de Webb desea conocer el paradero de Juan Carlos Salinas y Luis Ángel Vela. Ambos Vela son buscados por allanamien-

Salinas

to.

Este delito podría ser castigado por hasta dos años en prisión y una multa de 10.000 dólares.

Crime Stop-

pers de Zapata pagará una recompensa en efectivo a quien brinde información anónima que lleve al arresto de estos individuos.

Para dar información, contacte a la Oficina del Alguacil al 956765-9960 o Zapata Crime Stoppers al 765-TIPS (8477). Todas las llamadas permanecerán anónimas.

ZCISD

TAMAULIPAS

OBTIENEN RESULTADOS PERFECTOS EN EXÁMEN STAAR

Rescatan a 20 migrantes en Reynosa

ACADEMIA AHEC EN ZAPATA

E SPECIAL PARA TIEMP O DE

1 Estudiantes de preparatoria pueden asistir de manera gratuita a un taller vocacional que se llevará a cabo del 19 al 21 de junio de 10 a.m. a 2 p.m. en el Advanced Education Center (ZTAC), ubicado en 605 N. HWY 83. Se discutirán temas como carreras en el área de salud, liderazgo, entrenamiento de voluntarios, cómo escribir un curriculum vitae y el proceso de inscripción a la universidad.

Para registrarse envíe un correo a rcruz@mrgbahec.org o llame al 956-7120037. Cupo limitado.

CIUDAD VICTORIA, México — Elementos de la Policía Estatal rescataron y aseguraron a 20 migrantes que estaban privados de su libertad en la ciudad de Reynosa y quienes tenían como objetivo cruzar de manera ilegal la frontera con los Estados Unidos; entre ellos se encontraban 9 mexicanos y 11 extranjeros, informó la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública de Tamaulipas.

Tras recibir una denuncia que advertía que había gente gritando solicitando ayuda en un domicilio en la colonia Las Palmas, los efectivos estatales se desplazaron hacia el inmueble el viernes 16 de junio.

Al verificar la situación, un grupo de 20 personas entre ellos un menor de 11 años y una mujer salió de la casa; al solicitárseles que se identificaran, nueve de ellos comprobaron nacionalidad mexicana, tres de Perú, uno de Palestina, uno de Gambia, cinco de Honduras y uno de Guatemala, quienes al cuestionarles el por qué se encontraban encerrados, dijeron que ahí los habían dejado las personas que los transportarían de manera ilegal el río Bravo para llegar a territorio estadounidense.

Las personas aseguradas fueron trasladadas a las instalaciones de Seguridad Pública para que fueran valoradas por un médico, ya que algunos presentaban lesiones.

Algunos de los individuos rescatados mencionaron que eran constantemente golpeados por quienes los cuidaban.

Al no poder comprobar su estancia legal en territorio mexicano los extranjeros fueron puestos a disposición del Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM), que se encargará de asistirlos en el regreso a sus lugares de origen.

ZAPATA

SOLICITUDES 1 La Ciudad de Roma ofrece el servicio de llenado de solicitudes para CHIP, Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, Chip, Prenatal y otros.

Contacte a Gaby Rodríguez para una cita en el centro comunitario o en su domicilio al 956-2467177.

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

Opera de 10 a.m. a 4 p.m. Existen visitas guiadas. Personal está capacitado y puede orientar acerca de la historia del Sur de Texas y sus fundadores. Pida informes en el 956-765-8983.

PAGO DE IMPUESTOS 1 Pagos por impuestos a la propiedad de la Ciudad de Roma deberán realizarse en la oficina de impuestos del Distrito Escolar de Roma, localizado en el 608 N. García St.

PAGO EN LÍNEA 1 La Ciudad de Roma informa a sus residentes que a partir de ahora el servicio del agua puede pagarse en línea a cualquier hora las 24 horas del día.

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.

Foto de cortesía | ZCISD

Estudiantes de quinto grado de A.L.B.E.S. fueron recompensados por obtener resultados 100 por ciento satisfactorios en los exámenes STAAR. Los pequeños disfrutaron de un día de diversión que incluyó paradas en el cine, el boliche, IHOP, el parque de trampolines Altitude, el restaurante Cheddar's, entre otros.

CLIMA SEVERO

Emiten recomendaciones por altas temperaturas Por Melissa Santillana TIEMP O DE ZAPATA

La región de los Dos Laredos ha estado experimentando altas temperaturas que han desatado preocupación de funcionarios locales.

El grupo de organismos “NLD” lanzó la campaña titulada “Por un Nuevo Laredo Hidratado” impulsada por la Confederación Patronal de la República Mexicana (COPARMEX) que dirige Rodolfo Garza Gonzalez.

La campaña que une a los organismos de la ciudad, invita a contar con agua potable en los lugares de trabajo y que

además esté disponible al personal administrativo que ahí laboral.

La Asociación de Agentes Aduanales de Nuevo Laredo y su presidente Edgardo Pedraza Quintanilla, reconocieron la iniciativa y se pronunciaron a favor de este movimiento que tiene objetivo apoyar a quienes trabajan dentro y fuera de los organismos, instituciones y asociaciones, para prevenir alguna deshidratación o malestar a consecuencia del calor.

El Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (SMN) prevé que las altas temperaturas, superiores a

los 40 grados centígrados, continúen por el resto del verano en la región de Nuevo Laredo.

De acuerdo con el Servicio Meteorológico Nacional de Estados Unidos en Corpus Christi (NWS por sus siglas en inglés), se espera que esta semana la temperatura oscile entre los 105 y 109 grados Fahrenheit debido condiciones de humedad.

“Residentes que tengan planeadas actividades al aire libre son exhortados a tomar bastante agua, utilizar ropa ligera y de colores claros, así como tomar descansos frecuentes del calor”, dice una declaración de

clima especial por parte de NWS. “Niños pequeños y mascotas nunca deben dejarse desatendidos en vehículos bajo ninguna circunstancia.

Esto es de especial importancia durante el clima cálido cuando el interior del auto puede alcanzar temperaturas letales en cuestión de minutos”.

Se esperan cielos despejados durante toda la semana y las temperaturas pueden alcanzar hasta 109 grados Fahrenheit. Hay un 20 por ciento de probabilidad de lluvia y tormentas eléctricas para el domingo por la tarde y noche.

TEXAS

Tormenta tropical Cindy se forma en Golfo de México ASSOCIATED PRE SS

La tormenta tropical Cindy se ha formado en el Golfo de México y amenaza con descargar fuertes lluvias sobre un amplio tramo central de la costa.

El Servicio Meteorológico Nacional en Miami

dijo que el centro de la tormenta se encuentra 430 kilómetros (265 millas) al sur de Morgan City, Luisiana, con vientos máximos sostenidos de 75 kph (45 mph) y permanece estacionario en el Golfo. Es la tercera tormenta tropical del año.

El centro pronosticó que el centro de Cindy llegará a la costa de Luisiana el miércoles por la noche y se desplazará tierra adentro por el oeste de Luisiana y el este de Texas el miércoles. El Servicio Meteorológico Nacional incluyó a los condados Harris,

Galveston, Chambers y Liberty en la zona cubierta bajo el aviso de la tormenta tropical.

El potencial de lluvias que puede dejar Cindy en los condados mencionados oscila entre cuatro a seis pulgadas de lluvia para las áreas junto a la costa y entre dos y cuatro

pulgadas para el resto del área metropolitana.

Rige un alerta por tormenta tropical desde High Island en la costa de Texas hasta la boca del río Pearl en el límite entre Luisiana y Mississippi, así como desde High Island hasta San Luis Pass.

Sports&Outdoors THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, June 21, 2017 |

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: HOUSTON TEXANS

A7

NBA: SAN ANTONIO SPURS

Texans pass rusher ‘can beat you several ways’ Mercilus has logged 19.5 sacks in his past 25 games

By Aaron Wilson H OUSTON CHRONICLE

Spinning around blockers, Texans outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus has a growing repertoire of pass-rushing moves.

He has a well-practiced spin move, rip move, swim move and speed rush working in his favor.

Mercilus holds the Texans' franchise record with six sacks in the postseason, including one of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady during a playoff loss in January to the eventual Super Bowl champions as he passed J.J. Watt and Brooks Reed in the record book.

Over his past 25 games, Mercilus ranks third in the NFL with 19½ sacks.

That's exceeded only by the Oakland Raiders' Khalil Mack and the Denver Broncos' Von Miller.

"He can beat you several ways,' Texans linebackers coach Bobby King

Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle file

Houston outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus over his past 25 games ranks third in the NFL with 19½ sacks.

said. "He can beat you with speed, he can beat you with power, he can also drop, he can rush over the center, the guard, the tackle. He's just a hard matchup and he's a true pro, too. He really studies the game and he's a good football player."

When Mercilus was drafted in the first round by the Texans out of Illinois in 2012, it took him some time to adjust to the higher expectations of the NFL. He eventually figured it out and recorded a franchise-rookie record six sacks.

Mercilus recorded a career-high dozen sacks during the 2015 regular season.

Although frequently a marked man by blockers last season with Watt sidelined after undergoing back surgery, Mercilus led the Texans last season with 7½ sacks and 22 quarterback hits and ranked second to Pro Bowl defensive end Jadeveon Clowney with 13 tackles for losses. With four fumble recoveries, Mercilus tied first in the NFL with Miami Dolphins linebacker Kiko Alonso. He was named a third alternate to the Pro Bowl.

"Just looking at new moves to add to my arsenal, watching all the different players at my position, see what they do and see if I can emulate that," Mercilus said.

"Practice it out there on the field, whether it works or not, it doesn't hurt."

COLLEGE WORLD SERIES: TCU 4, TEXAS A&M 1

TCU ELIMINATES TEXAS A&M FROM CWS BY A SCORE OF 4-1

Tom Reel / San Antonio Express-News file

Pau Gasol averaged 12.4 points and 7.8 rebounds last season.

Report: Spurs' Pau Gasol to decline $16.2 million option

By Jeff McDonald SAN ANTONIO EXPRE SS-NEWS

In a somewhat surprising move, veteran forward Pau Gasol has decided to opt out of his $16.2 million contract for next season and enter the free agent market.

His intention appears to be to negotiate a longer-term deal with the Spurs at a lower annual salary that would offer the team immediate salary-cap relief with which to attract additional free agents this summer.

PGA TOUR: TIGER WOODS

Agent: Tiger Woods in a clinic for handling pain medication

By Doug Ferguson ASSOCIATED PRE SS

Nati Harnik / Associated Press

TCU outfielders Josh Watson, Austen Wade, and Nolan Brown celebrate after the Horned Frogs topped Texas A&M 4-1 on Tuesday during an elimination game at the College World Series.

Brian Howard fans 12 Aggies en route to picking up the win

By Eric Olson A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

OMAHA, Neb. — Brian Howard matched his career high with 12 strikeouts in seven-plus innings, Omaha native Ryan Merrill homered to start a three-run third and TCU beat Texas A&M 4-1 in a College World Series elimination game on Tuesday.

The Horned Frogs (4816) avoided going 0-2 for the first time in five alltime CWS appearances.

The Aggies (41-23) have gone two-games-and-out in their last three appearances and have lost eight in a row in Omaha.

Howard (12-3), the Oakland Athletics’ eighthround draft pick, flummoxed the Aggies with pinpoint location of his fastball and cutter. He struck out six of the first seven batters he faced and held the Aggies scoreless until Braden Shewmake’s RBI groundout in the

sixth inning.

Texas A&M starter Stephen Kolek (4-5) was knocked out in 2 2/3 innings, matching his shortest start of the season.

Kaylor Chafin held the Frogs to three singles the rest of the way.

Howard left after George Janca doubled leading off the eighth.

Sean Wymer came on and retired six straight to end the game and earn his second save.

Merrill graduated from Millard West High School in Omaha and passed on a chance to walk on at Nebraska, opting instead to play two years at nearby Iowa Western Community College. The St. Louis Cardinals drafted him in the 15th round in 2015, but he opted to go to TCU for the possibility of someday returning to his hometown to play in the CWS. He became the starting shortstop last year and the Frogs made the CWS,

where he batted .300 with a .462 on-base percentage and made the all-tournament team. In the Frogs’ first game in this year’s CWS he went 1 for 3 in a 3-0 loss to Florida on Sunday.

In his first at-bat Tuesday he drilled Kolek’s 1-2 pitch off the back wall in the right-field bullpen for his sixth homer of the season and seventh of his TCU career. Evan Skoug doubled in a run and Elliott Barzilli had an RBI single to make it 4-0.

Since the Big 12 Tournament, Howard is 4-0 with a 1.20 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 30 innings. He struck out 12 for the second time in four starts.

The game matched teams located 175 miles apart and rivals since their days in the old Southwest Conference.

TCU won three-game super regionals against the Aggies in 2015 and ’16, and beat them 11-10 in 15

innings in their regularseason meeting. The Aggies still lead the all-time series 162-94-4.

AGGIES’ FOIL This is the third straight year TCU has eliminated the Aggies from the NCAA Tournament. It’s the eighth time one team has eliminated the same team in three consecutive seasons in any round of the tournament.

IT’S ABOUT THE K’S TCU, with 14 strikeouts on Tuesday, has had 10 or more in 28 games this season. The Frogs had 40 strikeouts in 24 innings against the Aggies this season.

UP NEXT The Horned Frogs will play Thursday against the loser of Tuesday night’s Louisville-Florida game.

Texas A&M season ends after its 11th straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

The Vertical first reported Gasol's decision.

Gasol, who turns 37 in July, averaged 12.4 points and 7.8 rebounds last season, his first in San Antonio. He thrived after a late-season move to the bench, averaging 13.4 points and shooting a whopping 59 percent from 3-point range in 25 games as a reserve.

Meanwhile, forward David Lee is expected to decline his $1.6 million player option with the Spurs for the 2017-18 season, a league source said Tuesday.

Tiger Woods has checked into a clinic to get help dealing with prescription medication for pain and a sleep disorder, and his agent is not sure how long he will stay.

Mark Woods Steinberg of Excel Sports Management said Tuesday he could not disclose the location of the in-patient treatment. He said pain medication at times was the only way Woods could get up and moving during the toughest days of recovery following four back surgeries.

“I’m proud of him,” Steinberg said. “He’s going to get himself right to be able to essentially lead a healthy lifestyle.”

Woods was arrested on a DUI charge in the early hours of Memorial Day when police in Jupiter, Florida, found him asleep behind the wheel of his slightly damaged car, which was parked awkwardly to the side of the road about 15 miles from his house, headed the opposite direction.

This is at least the second time that Woods has sought in-patient treatment. He was in a Mississippi clinic for 45 days in early 2010 when his personal life collapsed over multiple extramarital affairs.

Woods had his fourth knee surgery after winning the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines for his 14th major. Starting in 2013, however, his back has been the primary source of his injuries. He has had four surgeries on his back starting in the

spring of 2014, the most recent fusion surgery two months ago.

“He’s been in just immense pain for so very long that taking prescribed medication was a must just to be able to get up and move,” Steinberg said. But, he added, “I don’t think it’s fair to say there is an addiction.”

When he was arrested, Woods’ speech was slurred and he was not sure where he was or where he was going.

Woods told police he was on several prescriptions.

He failed every field sobriety test, though he recorded a 0.00 on a breath test after he was taken to jail.

Woods had said alcohol was not involved.

Woods also provided urine samples. The results of those tests are not available.

Jupiter Police spokesman Adam Brown said Tuesday that toxicology results won’t be released because they are part of an active criminal investigation. Nicole Lunsford, a records specialist at the police department, said in an email that they were being withheld “per our town legal counsel.”

An arrest affidavit listed four medications, including Vicodin, that Woods told police he was taking. In another police report that previously had been redacted, Woods told officers he had been taking Xanax, which treats anxiety and insomnia.

“May 29 shook him up quite a bit, as it should,” Steinberg said. Asked if the arrest might turn out to be the best thing to happen to Woods, his longtime agent said: “It was such a somber experience and moment. Thank God that nobody was hurt. But to answer your question, only time will tell.”

A8 | Wednesday, June 21, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

ENTERTAINMENT

Stars of ‘Jumanji’ Daniel Day-Lewis sequel pay tribute to retire from to Robin Williams acting career

By Hernan Munoz Ratto A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

BARCELONA, Spain — Jack Black and Nick Jonas — two of the stars of the upcoming “Jumanji” sequel — have paid tribute to the actor who led the original film — the late Robin Williams.

Describing Williams as a “sweet, sweet man,” Black said the late actor would “love” the movie.

“He had a great sense of adventure. ... It would have been amazing to work with him,” he said Sunday at a press event for the film in Barcelona, Spain.

Williams, who died in 2014, starred in the original 1995 movie as Alan Parrish, who was trapped in a board game for 26 years. The new film, “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” shows where Parrish was all that time.

Jonas was a late addition to the cast and his character is yet to be revealed. He said it was important to the cast to “pay justice” to Williams.

“I think it’s about trying to tell the story in a new and exciting way. And hopefully he would have liked it,” he said.

In the sequel, the board game from the original movie has been reimagined as a vintage video game, into which four teenagers are drawn. The teens become their video game avatars — played by Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan and Black.

“Twenty years have passed and obviously we have better special effects and a bigger budget. That’s why we were able to go into the jungles of Jumanji,” said Black.

“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” will be released in December.

By Jake Coyle ASSOCIATED PRE SS

NEW YORK — Daniel Day-Lewis, one of the most widely respected actors of his generation and a three-time Oscarwinner, says he’s retiring from acting.

The 60-year-old actor announced Tuesday that he has shot his last film and performed in his last play. That makes Paul Thomas Anderson’s already filmed “Phantom Thread,” due out in December, his final film.

“Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer be working as an actor,” his representative Leslee Dart said in a statement. “He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years. This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on this subject.”

The announcement sent

shockwaves through Hollywood, where Day-Lewis is revered as possibly the finest actor of his time.

But Day-Lewis has also long been an exceptionally deliberate performer who often spends years preparing for a role, crafting his characters with an uncommon, methodical completeness.

“I don’t dismember a character into its component parts and then kind of bolt it all together, and off you go,” Day-Lewis told the AP in 2012, discussing Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln.” “I tend to try and allow things to happen slowly, over a long period of time. As I feel I’m growing into a sense of that life, if I’m lucky, I begin to hear a voice.”

He has stepped away from film before. In the late 1990s, he famously apprenticed as a shoemaker in Florence, Italy — a period he called “semiretirement.” “Phantom Thread,” which Focus

DreamWorks / Twentieth Century Fox

This publicity film image shows Daniel Day-Lewis portraying Abraham Lincoln in the film "Lincoln."

Features will release Dec. 25, is his first film in five years, following “Lincoln.”

A five-time Academy Award nominee, DayLewis is the only one to ever win best actor three times. He earned Oscars for “My Left Foot,” “Lincoln” and “There Will Be Blood.”

Day-Lewis, who is married to writer-director Rebecca Miller with three children, broke through with 1985’s “My Beautiful

Laundrette,” by Stephen Frears. His films since then have included “The Last of the Mohicans,” “The Age of Innocence,” “In the Name of the Father” and “Gangs of New York.”

His last play was in 1989, a National Theatre production of “Hamlet,” in London. Day-Lewis infamously walked out in the middle of a performance, and never returned to the stage again.

Movie review: “The Beguiled’ is a tale of feminine warfare

By Katie Walsh TR IBUNE NEWS SE RV ICE

"The Beguiled," is based on a 1966 novel by Thomas Cullinan, but it is more directly in conversation with the 1971 film "The Beguiled," starring Clint Eastwood as the Union soldier, directed by Don Siegel. In fact, it could be seen as a direct rebuke to that film, in which the presence of the soldier sends all the women and girls in the house into a lustful tizzy, before it all

falls apart.

In Coppola’s film there’s an interest piqued by McBurney’s foreign masculine presence, ranging from suspicion and wariness to a quiet, repressed lust. The camera carefully regards McBurney’s exposed, unconscious body while Miss Martha (Nicole Kidman) sponges the battle grime from his skin.

It is the first moment when he is unknowingly under her control, and not the last.

Coppola’s "The Be-

guiled" is studiously naturalistic in style. The hazy light is filtered through leaves or lace; the interior of the house is dim unless lit by candlelight. The emotions are reserved, internal, psychology communicated in inferences.

Some of the performances are rather broad from the young actresses playing the schoolgirls, including Laurence, and Elle Fanning who speaks volumes with the fluttering of her eyelids. That hint of artifice is necessary for this

film, which is more social commentary than social realism.

McBurney may think he’s hit the jackpot in terms of finding himself in enemy territory, but these Southern belles are fiercer than they look, outfitted in pastels, jewels, and delicate braids. McBurney is on their turf, and they set the terms of battle. There is no room for masculine aggression to flourish here. A pistol in the home represents men’s warfare, passed down by and con-

trolled by men, but it is impotent. In Coppola’s hands, "The Beguiled" is a film about women’s work, and women’s war. The skills of sewing, cooking, foraging are the weapons in their arsenal, used for their survival.

Nicole Kidman is particularly, unsurprisingly excellent in her performance as the steely Miss Martha. She is controlled and in control, unflappable. Her genteel manners and femininity coexist easily with her tough-

ness.

While the two sides are spoken of often - McBurney is after all, a prisoner of war of these Confederate women - the real issues of the war fade into the background in this school for girls. This fresh-off-the-boat Irishman isn’t driven by a sense of duty or patriotism. Here, the war is not about a position, but a preservation of the self, and the women fight not for the South, but for themselves.

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, June 21, 2017 |

A9

BUSINESS

Uber rolls out in-app tipping for drivers

By Faiz Siddiqui WASHINGTON P O ST

Giulia Marchi / NYT

The body shop at a Ford plant in Hangzhou, China on April 11. Ford Motor said June 20 that it would build its next-generation small car, the Focus, for American consumers in China rather than Mexico.

Ford to move Focus production to China, sees no US job loss

By Dee-Ann Durbin A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. will export vehicles from China to the U.S. for the first time starting in 2019.

Ford said Tuesday it plans to move production of its Ford Focus small car from the U.S. to China, where it already makes the Focus for Chinese buyers. Ford will continue to make the Focus in Europe, and will also export some variants of the Focus from Europe to the U.S. Sales of small cars have dropped sharply in the U.S. and companies are seeking to cut costs making them. Ford’s president of global operations Joe Hinrichs said the move to China will save the company $1 billion, including $500 million for canceling plans

to build the Focus in Mexico.

Wary of the response from President Donald Trump, who has criticized Ford for making vehicles outside the U.S., Ford said the move won’t cost U.S. jobs. The suburban Detroit plant that currently makes the Focus will be converted late next year to produce the Ford Ranger pickup and Ford Bronco SUV. Ford also said Tuesday that it plans to invest $900 million in its Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville to make the new, aluminumsided Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs. Those vehicles will go on sale this fall and will be exported to more than 55 markets globally, the company said. The investment will secure 1,000 jobs at

the Kentucky plant.

But the White House response was muted.

Asked Tuesday whether Trump plans to get tougher on China or on automakers who leave the U.S., White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the president wants to lower business taxes and reform the tax code so businesses will want to “come back to the United States, grow in the United States, manufacture more in the United States.”

Hinrichs said Ford’s research shows that customers — who are used to phones and other gadgets from China — care more about product quality than where their vehicles are made.

Plans for production of the 2019 Focus — which will be larger and

have some significant updates — have bounced around over the last few months as Ford tries to squeeze some profits from the ailing small car segment. U.S. Focus sales were down 20 percent through May, hurt by low gas prices and consumer preference for SUVs. In January, the company announced it would cancel a new plant in Mexico and instead use capacity at another plant in Mexico to build the Focus. But over the last few months, Hinrichs said, Ford decided it could save another $500 million in tooling and other manufacturing costs if it moved production to China.

Hinrichs said last month’s departure of former CEO Mark Fields had no bearing on the decision, which was in the works for some time.

Uber has introduced in-app tipping for drivers, a feature sought by ride-hailing giant’s workforce and long-offered by chief competitor Lyft.

The feature was launched in Minneapolis, Seattle and Houston on Tuesday, and the company said it is adding more cities in the coming weeks. Uber said it expects tipping to be available to all U.S. drivers by the end of July.

“Why now? Because it’s the right thing to do, it’s long overdue, and there’s no time like the present,” Uber said in a news release.

Uber did not immediately specify when the feature will become available in D.C. Lyft has offered tipping in its app since 2012, and said in March that drivers have netted more than $200 million in tips since then. TechCrunch reported this week that the figure has surpassed $250 million.

Uber touted its in-app tipping announcement as part of an initiative called “180 Days of Change,” where it introduced a series of features aimed at improving the driver experience.

The changes include: shorter cancellation windows for riders - down to two minutes from five compensation during wait times, and a $2 “teen fare” for trips on teen accounts. The teen fare will initially be available in Seattle, Phoenix and Columbus,

Ohio, Uber said.

Uber and its workforce have been engaged in an extended labor struggle, as drivers have pushed for better labor protections and higher earnings. The Independent Drivers Guild, an affiliate of the Machinists’ Union that represents about 50,000 ridehail drivers in New York City, called Tuesday’s announcement a “win for drivers.”

“Cuts to driver pay across the ride-hail industry have made tipping income more important than ever,” said Jim Conigliaro Jr., the guild founder. “We were proud to lead the way on this fight on behalf of drivers in New York City and across the nation.

This is an important first step toward a more fair ride-hail industry.”

Conigliaro said the guild forced the introduction of tipping by putting pressure on regulators. New York’s Taxi and Limousine Commission is weighing a proposal that would require in-app tipping.

And Uber spokesman said the company had been working on the feature for a long time, before any legislation came up.

Uber says it won’t take a cut of driver tips.

Meanwhile, riders will fork over costs for extended wait times, beginning two minutes after the driver arrives, according to an Uber spokesman. The rider will see a separate “Wait Time” fee on their receipt once the trip ends.

Student loan servicer fights back as states eye protections

By Marina Villeneuve A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

AUGUSTA, Maine — The nation’s largest servicer of federal student loans has lobbied against states’ efforts to license student loan servicers in Maine and elsewhere this year as it seeks to become the nation’s single servicer of student loans under a plan backed

by U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. State records reviewed by The Associated Press show

that Navient Corp. has reported spending at least $44,000 since January on lobbyists in Washington state, Maine and New York, three states where lawmakers are considering licensing requirements.

Lawmakers this year have considered such licensing and oversight bills in at least 10 states, including Illinois and Washington, whose state attorneys general have joined the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by filing separate lawsuits accusing Navient of un-

fair and deceptive practices with lending and debt collection.

Navient calls such allegations false and politically motivated. Spokeswoman Nikki Lavoie said “competing stateby-state” requirements will create confusion for borrowers.

She said Navient has “engaged local representation in some states” to assist lawmakers considering servicing standards on federal student loans.

Critics say the Wilmington, Delaware-based company is

only worried about profits and not the rights of the millions of Americans who carry student loan debt.

“I wish Navient would put more effort into training borrowers about repayment plans to keep borrowers out of default than lobbying to protect their bottom line,” said Natalia Abrams, executive director of advocacy group Student Debt Crisis.

Scrutiny is growing as Navient seeks to become the nation’s only servicer of student

loans under a proposal backed

by DeVos. Nationwide, more than 44 million people collectively owe more than $1 trillion in student loan debt, with millions in default and high delinquency rates among minority borrowers. Seth Frotman of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau praised state efforts to increase oversight over student loan servicers as smaller, private loan servicers and refinancers increasingly enter the market.

A10 | Wednesday, June 21, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

NATIONAL

High Court ruling may hurt claims of talc link to cancer

By Jim Salter A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

ST. LOUIS — A Supreme Court ruling this week could have a “chilling effect” on the many lawsuits filed in St. Louis claiming talcum powder causes a deadly form of cancer in women, including cases under appeal in which stricken women and their survivors have been awarded more than $300 million, experts said Tuesday.

Justices ruled 8-1 Monday that hundreds of out-state-residents can’t sue Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in California state court over adverse reactions to the blood thinner Plavix. It followed a similar ruling in May related to out-of-state injury claims against BNSF Railway Co. Both were seen as wins for companies opposed to “venue shopping,” in which those filing suit seek out favorable state courts.

Almost immediately after the Supreme Court ruling, St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison declared a mistrial in a Missouri state court case in which three plaintiffs, two from out-of-state, sued Johnson & Johnson, claiming its talcum powder caused ovarian cancer.

More than 1,000 others have filed similar lawsuits in St. Louis against Johnson & Johnson, but most don’t live in Missouri.

Five trials have already taken place over the past 16 months. In four of those cases, jurors awarded more than $300 million combined.

Johnson & Johnson believes that the Supreme Court ruling “requires reversal of the talc cases that are currently under appeal in St. Louis,” spokeswoman Carol Goodrich said in an email. She said the ruling “makes it clear that Johnson & Johnson was wrongfully forced to defend itself in multiple trials in Missouri, a state with no connection to the plaintiffs.”

Jim Onder, whose suburban St. Louis-based law firm is representing many women and survivors who filed suit, said Missouri is a proper venue because Johnson & Johnson, though based in New Jersey, uses a factory in Union, Missouri, to package and label talcum products.

“If we can establish specific jurisdiction, which we think we can, at that point we can hold the prior verdicts,” Onder said.

Experts aren’t so sure.

The Supreme Court ruling “makes it impossible for groups of plaintiffs in many states to sue a defendant in the forum of the plaintiffs’ choosing,” said Howard Erichson, a professor specializing in civil litigation at Fordham University School of Law. “The decision means that non-Missouri plaintiffs are going to have a very hard time keeping their cases against Johnson & Johnson,” Erichson said.

Michael Duffy, a liability attorney with Duffy & Duffy in Uniondale, New York, said the Supreme Court ruling “really puts a horrific burden on the plaintiff,” and likely means that the four cases involving multi-milliondollar awards in St. Louis will be re-tried.

Lawsuits filed over Arkansas abortion restrictions

By Andrew DeMillo ASSOCIATED PRE SS

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Abortion-rights groups asked a federal court Tuesday to block Arkansas from enforcing new restrictions lawmakers approved this year, including a ban on a commonly used second-trimester procedure that the groups say would make it nearly impossible for many women in the state to have an abortion.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit challenging the measure banning the procedure known as dilation and evacuation. Abortionrights supporters contend it’s the safest and most common procedure used in second-trimester abortions.

“Instead of protecting women’s health, Arkansas politicians have passed laws that defy decency and reason just to make it difficult or impossible for a woman to get an abortion,” Rita Sklar, executive director of the ACLU of Arkansas, said in a statement.

The new law is set to take effect in August.

Similar bans are in effect in Mississippi and West Virginia, while other bans in Alabama, Kansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma have been blocked by court

rulings. A ban approved in Texas will take effect in September. Other restrictions being challenged by the groups include a measure imposing fines and prison time on doctors who perform abortions that are based solely on whether the mother wants to have a boy or girl. The groups are challenging the law’s requirement that a doctor performing the abortion first request records related to the entire pregnancy history of the woman. The groups argue the requirement would violate a patient’s privacy and indefinitely delay a woman’s access to abortion.

Another law being challenged expands the requirement that physicians performing abortions for patients under 14 take certain steps to preserve embryonic or fetal tissue and to notify local police where the minor resides. The new measure raises the age requirement to less than 17 years of age.

The groups are also seeking new block new restrictions approved on how tissue from abortions and miscarriages are disposed of. The groups said the tissue disposal law would require notification of a third party, such as the woman’s sexual partner or her parents, before the abortion to determine how the fetus would be disposed of.

Nearly 1,000 animals rescued from hot truck in California ASSOCIATED PRE SS

FRESNO, Calif. — Fresno Humane Animal Services has been left with nearly 1,000 small animals after California authorities seized them from a truck trailer.

The Fresno Bee reported Monday that 955 animals were found in the trailer. Authorities say 18 animals were found dead from the heat, and 10 more have died since being rescued. They say the truck’s interior temperature was 107 degrees Fahrenheit.

Humane officers say they know who the suspect is and believe the person was going to sell the animals at a conven-

Marc Benjamin / AP

In this Monday photo, the Fresno Humane Animal Services shelter manager holds one of three pigs found in a trailer that registered 107 degrees Fahrenheit the county found June 16 in Fresno, California.

tion this weekend.

Some of the animals rescued include ducklings, roosters, pigeons, doves, cockatiels, parakeets and more.

Robert Yacone / AP

This photo shows people walking around the scene where Interstate 10 was closed in southeastern Arizona due to blowing dust in the area and a vehicle crash on Monday near Wilcox, Arizona.

Pileup during dust storm kills 6 in New Mexico ASSOCIATED PRE SS

LORDSBURG, N.M. — Six people died in a 25vehicle pileup caused by a sudden dust storm along an interstate highway in New Mexico where such conditions have caused deadly collisions in the past, authorities said.

Those killed in the incident Monday near the Arizona border were a 9-month-old girl and her parents from Phoenix, two people from El Paso, Texas, and a California woman.

The high winds and limited visibility caused 18 commercial trucks and seven passenger cars to crash on westbound Interstate 10.

The stretch of highway near rural Lordsburg has seen other deadly crashes and closures due to similar conditions stemming from the desert landscape

and a dry lakebed.

“It’s a topographical area in which the winds come through where there’s nothing that can be done to prevent it,” state police spokesman Carl Christiansen said.

In February, two women were killed when their car got sandwiched between two semi-trucks in a dust storm.

Christiansen said the state has aired public service announcements and posted signs that span 100 miles, warning drivers about sudden winds.

Drivers are advised to pull over when visibility is low and to wait until the dust settles to resume driving.

In May 2014, seven people died when a driver suddenly hit the brakes as blowing dust shrouded visibility. A 9-year-old girl was among the dead in the

chain reaction crash that followed.

“It’s never easy. It doesn’t get easier each time,” Christiansen said.

Most of the vehicles involved in the crash Monday were semitrucks that use I-10 to transport goods across the country.

The highway was closed until early Tuesday, forcing drivers to use a long detour on a twolane highway. Christiansen said towing the damaged vehicles was a slow process and the area lacked enough tow trucks.

The victims were identified as Jose Manuel Clemente, 77, and Maurella Clemente Munoz, 38, of El Paso, Texas; Jose Elias Caraveo-Serrano, 30, and Susana Caraveo, 29, of Phoenix, along with their 9-month-old girl; and Josefina Silva, 47, of Escondido, California.

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, June 21, 2017 |

A11

FROM THE COVER

1 tropical storm churns in Gulf, 2nd disbands in Caribbean

By Kevin McGill ASSOCIATED PRE SS

NEW ORLEANS — Tropical Storm Cindy formed Tuesday in the Gulf of Mexico, hovering south of Louisiana as it churned tides and spun bands of heavy, potentially flooding rain onto the central and eastern Gulf Coast.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency because of the threat of torrential rains and other severe weather, including dangerous high tides and rip currents.

Double red flags snapped in the wind on the public beach at Gulf Shores in her state, warning visitors to stay out of the pounding surf.

Workers on Grand Isle, a barrier island community south of New Orleans, worked to reinforce a rock levee protecting the island’s vulnerable west side. Officials there decided against calling an evacuation but said in a statement that anyone who wanted to head for the mainland should do so as early as possible because water might eventually cover lowlying parts of the only route off the island.

The Louisiana National Guard dispatched high water vehicles and helicopters into flood-prone

Courtesy of Mattel / AP

This photo provided by Mattel shows a broad body-style Ken doll.

Barbie’s companion Ken gets new looks

By Joseph Pisani A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

NEW YORK — He’s been overshadowed by Barbie for decades, but now Ken is finally getting some attention.

Mattel is introducing 15 new looks for the male doll, including different skin tones, body shapes and hair styles. Barbie had a similar makeover more than a year ago, both part of the toy company’s plan to make its dolls more diverse and appealing to today’s kids.

Ken hadn’t changed much since he was introduced 56 years ago as Barbie’s blue-eyed, chiseled boyfriend. Now he’ll be sold in three body shapes: “slim,” “broad” and “original.”

He’ll have modern hairdos, such as cornrows and man buns, and come in seven skin tones. And he’ll also be sporting new fashions: think skinny ties, plaid shirts and graphic tees.

“We are redefining what a Barbie or Ken doll looks like to this generation,” said Mattel’s Lisa McKnight, who oversees the Barbie line.

Mattel is trying to fight falling sales of its iconic

AUTHOR From page A1 to in this country. Instead, these children need to be made proud of their culture and their identity. It is our goal that this book will be of interest and use for bilingual/dual language and early childhood programs."

Pérez’s Spanish poetry collection, “Cantos del Alma y del Corazón – Poesía Original,” received commendations as a finalist in the ILBA’s Book Design category for

doll line at a time when many kids would rather play with an iPad. Barbie sales were down 13 percent in the first three months of the year compared with the same period a year ago. A live-action Barbie movie is in the works for next year, with hopes that the big-screen flick will spur doll sales as well.

Ken was in need of a makeover, said Jim Silver, the editor-in-chief of toy review website TTPM. He said kids who play with the revamped Barbie dolls don’t want an outdated Ken. “He’s part of the storyline and he has to fit in with the picture,” Silver said, “or you would lose sales.”

Some of the new $10 Ken dolls were being rolled out to shops and online stores Tuesday, Mattel Inc. said, and all of them will be on store shelves by the holidays.

The El Segundo, California-based company also announced new Barbie looks Tuesday, including one with a nearly shaved head and another with an Afro. Mattel has been tinkering with other lines to be more inclusive, such as adding its first boy doll for the American Girl brand.

Best Use of Photos.

The award ceremony will be held September 9, 2017 in Los Angeles at the Dominguez Ballroom at California State University Dominguez Hills. “¡Todos a Comer! – A Mexican Food Alphabet Book” and “Cantos del Alma y del Corazón – Poesía Original” are available for purchase at Amazon.com in the U.S. and Europe. Bulk orders and teacher packs, as well as author-signed books can be ordered directly from the publisher at www.delalmapublications.com.

VETERAN From page A1 into service in early 1941 and served aboard the USS Oklahoma. Nearly 430 crewmen were killed after Japanese warplanes launched torpedoes at the ship on Dec. 7, 1941.

Coke was one of almost 50 young Arlington residents who went off to

BORDER From page A1 say that deploying this array of technology has resulted in tens of thousands of arrests on a border that remains a primary transit point for drug smuggling and migrants crossing into the country illegally.

Despite President Donald Trump’s calls for a massive wall to secure the border — which Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, ridiculed as a “14th-century solution to a 21st-century problem” — the fight against illegal immigration and drug trafficking on the U.S.-Mexico border has increasingly become high-tech.

Trump has proposed an increase of $2.9 billion for border security, but nearly 60 percent of that increase would be for the border wall.

Predator drone aircraft, “aerostats and towers fill in existing gaps along the border where Border Patrol just doesn’t have the manpower,” said David Aguilar, a former acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection and now a principal at Global Security and Innovative Strategies, a consulting firm in Washington.

“It allows them a view of what is happening on the border,” Aguilar said, and to “deploy resources to respond to people crossing or drug smuggling.”

That can be easily seen from Hoyt’s desk. On a recent day, he moved his joystick and zoomed in on dozens of people on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. He relayed the information to agents near the river who quickly moved in to catch them on the U.S. side.

The equipment is provided to the Department

Gerald Herbert / AP

People sit in a car and watch the waves on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain as weather from Tropical Storm Cindy, in the Gulf of Mexico, impacts the region in New Orleans on Tuesday.

areas. The state said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was moving 125,000 meals and 200,000 liters of water into Louisiana.

Gov. John Bel Edwards said the advance notice of the storm gave officials time to put emergency plans in place. Louisiana was slammed with major flooding last summer from an unnamed storm that heavily damaged the Baton Rouge and Lafayette regions.

The third tropical storm of 2017, Cindy was stationary Tuesday afternoon but to resume moving and reach the north-

ern Gulf Coast late Wednesday and rumble inland Thursday over western Louisiana and eastern Texas. Forecasters warned 6 to 9 inches (15-22 cms) of rain and up to 12 inches (30 cms) in spots was the biggest threat in parts of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle.

Already some flooding was reported on Alabama’s Dauphin Island and flood control locks and gates were being closed along Louisiana’s bayou-marbled coast.

Authorities in various coastal Louisiana and

Mississippi communities handed out sandbags for areas along rivers and bayous.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Cindy was, on Tuesday afternoon, about 280 miles (450 kilometers) south of Morgan City, Louisiana — or about 360 miles (575 kilometers) southeast of Galveston, Texas. It had top sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph).

A tropical storm warning was in effect from San Luis Pass, Texas, to the Pearl River’s mouth along the LouisianaMississippi line.

war but didn’t come home, said Wanda Marshall, treasurer of the Arlington Historical Society.

In 2015, the Defense Department announced it would exhume the bodies of unidentified USS Oklahoma crew members and try to identify them.

Doland Maner is one of the few relatives left

who knew Coke personally.

“We weren’t buddies,” the 94-year-old said. “But he was an all-American boy. He was into a lot of devilment, but if you didn’t like George Anderson, you didn’t like anybody.”

Coke will have a public memorial service with full military honors Saturday. He’ll be buried in

Parkdale Cemetery, next to his parents George A. “Dutch” Coke Sr. and Julina Jane Tomlin Coke.

“It just gives you goose bumps that after all this time, he will be back in the hometown he loved and the people he loved,” said Geraldine Mills, executive director of the Arlington Historical Society. “I think it is a fitting conclusion.”

of Homeland Security under the Defense Department program established to repurpose military equipment previously used in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Homeland Security also uses more than 12,000 sensors along the border, hundreds of license plate readers at ports of entry, and giant X-ray scanners for trains and trucks. The agency is planning to add smaller drones with facial recognition capabilities, and additional equipment that can capture biometric information.

The combined technology creates what some Homeland Security experts say is a virtual wall in some areas of the border that can be as effective as a physical one, at far lower cost.

Aguilar said acquiring new technology for border security should be the top priority for Homeland Security, above building a wall or other physical barriers and hiring more Border Patrol agents.

“Technology is definitively first,” he said.

“These are things that can be used on any part of the border. There are places where you just can’t put a wall.”

While the technology makes it easier and faster to track smuggling and drugs, it also makes it easier to track innocent people.

Guadalupe CorreaCabrera, a professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and a fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, said the buildup of technology on the border had turned once-sleepy towns where people moved freely across the border into mass-surveillance zones.

Every move of residents is documented and cataloged, she said, eroding the privacy of local

residents.

Despite the concern of privacy rights supporters, Manuel Padilla Jr., the Border Patrol sector chief for the Rio Grande Valley, said the area actually needed more technology.

“If you look at the Rio Grande Valley right now, we do not have the situational awareness of knowing what is happening across the border because of the lack of technology,” Padilla said.

He said the additional technology, such as sensors that can penetrate dense foliage, was needed because Border Patrol agents could not reach many places along the river where there were no access roads.

The technology has also been deployed at ports of entry, where thousands of people cross the border every day. It is used for everything from detecting agricultural pests that pose a threat to the nation’s food supply to catching bulk cash and drug smugglers.

At the Hidalgo port of entry, just across the border from the Mexican city of Reynosa, the technology is on full display.

As vehicles approach checkpoints, stationary cameras take images of the front and rear license plates, an image of the driver and a color picture of the car. Those images are then run through a database to check for criminal records, immigration law violations or terrorist activities.

The cameras also store in a database the location of the vehicle and the date the image was taken — even if a search does not trigger an alert on passengers in the vehicles.

“This gives us a pretty good picture of who is moving across the border,” said Frank Longoria, a Customs officer

who is assistant director of field operations for border security. “Ninetynine percent of people who cross are doing so for good reason, but trying to catch that 1 percent that is doing something illegal is challenging.”

In a small building not far from the entry and exit lanes, a Customs officer, Eugene Jimenez, looked at an X-ray scanning system, which allows him to see anomalies in the frame of a vehicle. He said he was looking for spaces where there should be solid material, or obvious signs of tampering in the gas tanks, batteries or other areas.

But there are limits to using technology on the border. Predators and aerostats, for instance, cannot fly in thunderstorms or high winds.

The high-resolution cameras cannot see in the thick brush that grows along the Rio Grande, and wildlife or cattle can set off sensors, sending Border Patrol agents chasing false alarms.

And drug cartels are constantly adapting their methods and finding ways to bypass the technology. Over time, Homeland Security officials say, smugglers quickly learn how the systems work and adjust their strategy.

Longoria said the shift in tactics by cartels showed that the border technology was having the desired effect.

“The fact that they are trying to find more and more creative ways to get their drugs and smuggle people across shows that the layered system of technology and people is working,” he said. “We want to make it as difficult for them to operate as we can. The cameras, blimps and other equipment gives us the ability to do that.”

A12 | Wednesday, June 21, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES