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Details emerge Mom pushed boy into doorjamb By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Records obtained Tuesday on a capital felony case allege a woman pushed her 22-month-old son against a doorjamb, causing “traumatic injuries.” The child, Roberto Saldivar III, then began stretching and stiffening, accord-
ing to court documents. Air Evac flew the boy from San Ygnacio to a McAllen hospital, where the child died July 30. His death prompted a capital murder charge on the mother, Irene Yamiles Del Bosque-Saldivar, 19. She was arrested Aug. 28. Del Bosque-Saldivar is behind bars at the Zapata
County Jail. The Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office said the case unfolded July 25. At 9:28 p.m., deputies were called out to traffic control due to Air Evac picking up a patient at a gas station in San Ygnacio. On arrival, deputies
ABBOTT
Abbott takes ROYAL GRANT IMMIGRATION DETENTION CENTERS first State STILL FACING CHALLENGES sued trip
DEL BOSQUE-SALDIVAR
See DETAILS PAGE 9A
SALDVIAR III
for land
Safe border is common concern By ALFREDO CORCHADO THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — More than 600 descendants of a Mexican settler have sued Texas over the alleged 1870s seizure of a royal land grant, claiming that they are entitled to the mineral revenue the state has collected for years. Joaquin Galan received a land grant from the Spanish king more than two centuries ago. His heirs say it was illegally seized in the 1870s. The state still owns about 40,000 acres of the land northwest of Laredo. The family filed a lawsuit in July in Travis County District Court, the Austin American-Statesman reported. The main defendant is the General Land Office, whose commissioner is George P. Bush. “The land was pretty inhospitable,” Tony Zavaleta, a sociology professor at the University of Texas at Brownsville who helped a coal company survey the land in the 1980s told the newspaper. “Who knew that it was sitting on a sea of minerals?” Land grants are a source of pride and pain among generations of Hispanics in
See LAND PAGE 9A
Photo by Eric Gay | AP file
In this Sept. 10, 2014 file photo, detained immigrant children line up in the cafeteria at the Karnes County Residential Center, a temporary home for immigrant women and children detained at the border, in Karnes City, Texas.
Lawyers say ‘real policy’ not established By JULIÁN AGUILAR TEXAS TRIBUNE
Two weeks after a federal judge ordered that the majority of women and children being held in Texas immigration detention centers be released, attorneys said they are making moderate progress in securing their clients’ freedom.
But they also claim the government hasn’t established clear criterion spelling out who gets released and when. “We are seeing more and more that [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is releasing people but sometimes without an explanation,” Luis Mancheno, an attorney with the New York-
based Immigrant Justice Corps, said last week. “What I feel is so disturbing right now is that after the judge’s decision, some people are being released and there is no real policy behind it.” The women and children are part of last summer’s surge when tens of thousands of un-
documented families and unaccompanied children from Central America entered Texas illegally and surrendered to U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley. On August 21, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee gave the Obama administration until late October
See IMMIGRATION PAGE 8A
Photo by Molly Hennessy-Fiske/Los Angeles Times | TNS
The South Texas Family Residential Center is the largest of the nation’s three immigration detention centers for families, housing up to 2,400, and has drawn criticism from immigrants and advocates.
MEXICO CITY — Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday that the most “pleasant and biggest surprise” during his three-day visit with high-ranking Mexican officials was hearing their willingness to help Texas secure the border. In a brief interview with Texas reporters, Abbott said he’s been impressed with how, “behind closed doors, Mexico has shown great support for securing the border.” “In all my talks with all Mexican officials, no one has said anything negative about what Texas has done on the border,” Abbott said. “To the contrary, they have talked about ways in which they can better secure the border and better collaborate with Texas.” Abbott’s observations came during his first international trip as governor, a three-day visit to Mexico amid tensions over border security, and he sought to balance those concerns with prospects of greater economic integration. The visit ended Tuesday with a meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto at Los Pinos, the presidential residence. Abbott is expected to invite Peña Nieto to visit Texas in the coming months, and the two leaders are expected to announce initiatives on issues ranging from border infrastructure to water. Mexican officials have expressed
See ABBOTT PAGE 8A
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LCC Fall Student Art Show at the Visual and Performing Arts Center, West End Washington Street, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Creations by Laredo Community College art students in the Martha Fenstermaker Memorial Visual Arts Gallery.
Today is Wednesday, Sept. 9, the 252nd day of 2015. There are 113 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Sept. 9, 1965, Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitched a perfect game against the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium. Final score: 1-0. On this date: In 1543, Mary Stuart was crowned Queen of Scots at Stirling Castle, nine months after she was born. In 1776, the second Continental Congress made the term “United States” official, replacing “United Colonies.” In 1850, California became the 31st state of the union. In 1893, Frances Cleveland, wife of President Grover Cleveland, gave birth to a daughter, Esther, in the White House; it was the first (and, to date, only) time a president’s child was born in the executive mansion. In 1919, some 1,100 members of Boston’s 1,500-man police force went on strike. (The strike was broken by Massachusetts Gov. Calvin Coolidge with replacement officers.) In 1926, the National Broadcasting Co. (NBC) was incorporated by the Radio Corp. of America. In 1948, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) was declared. In 1956, Elvis Presley made the first of three appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” In 1971, prisoners seized control of the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York, beginning a siege that ended up claiming 43 lives. In 1976, Communist Chinese leader Mao Zedong died in Beijing at age 82. In 1986, Frank Reed, director of a private school in Lebanon, was taken hostage; he was released 44 months later. In 1997, Sinn Fein (shin fayn), the IRA’s political ally, formally renounced violence as it took its place in talks on Northern Ireland’s future. Actor Burgess Meredith died in Malibu, California, at age 89. Ten years ago: Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown, the principal target of harsh criticism of the Bush administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina, was relieved of his onsite command. Five years ago: A natural gas pipeline explosion killed eight people and destroyed dozens of homes in the San Francisco suburb of San Bruno, California. One year ago: President Barack Obama met privately with congressional leaders at the White House to discuss his plan for taking action against Islamic State militants. Today’s Birthdays: Actress Sylvia Miles is 81. Actor Topol is 80. Rhythm-and-blues singer Luther Simmons is 73. College Football Hall of Famer and former NFL player Joe Theismann is 66. Rock musician John McFee (The Doobie Brothers) is 65. Musician-producer Dave Stewart is 63. Actor Hugh Grant is 55. Actor Adam Sandler is 49. Model Rachel Hunter is 46. Actor Eric Stonestreet is 44. Actor Henry Thomas is 44. Pop-jazz singer Michael Bublé is 40. Latin singer Maria Rita is 38. Actress Michelle Williams is 35. Country singer-songwriter Hunter Hayes is 24. Thought for Today: “A heretic is a man who sees with his own eyes. “ — Gotthold Lessing, German dramatist-critic (1729-1781).
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium shows. 6 p.m.: Extreme Planets; 7 p.m.: Stars of the Pharaohs. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-326-DOME (3663). The Laredo Area Retired School Employees Association’s first meeting of the new school year at Blessed Sacrament Parish Hall, 2219 Galveston from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Planned is dedication and passing out of yearbooks.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium shows. 7 p.m.: Stars of the Pharaohs; 8 p.m.: Live Star Presentation (Observing will occur after if weather permits). General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-326-DOME (3663).
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium shows. 2 p.m.: Accidental Astronaut*; 3 p.m.: Cosmic Adventures; 4 p.m.: Extreme Planets; 5 p.m.: Led Zeppelin. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. *Matinee Shows are $1 less. Call 956-326-DOME (3663).
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium shows. 6 p.m.: Extreme Planets; 7 p.m.: Stars of the Pharaohs. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-326-DOME (3663).
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium shows. 6 p.m.: Extreme Planets; 7 p.m.: Stars of the Pharaohs. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-326-DOME (3663).
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium shows. 2 p.m.: Accidental Astronaut*; 3 p.m.: Cosmic Adventures; 4 p.m.: Extreme Planets; 5 p.m.: Led Zeppelin. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. *Matinee Shows are $1 less. Call 956-326-DOME (3663).
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium shows. 6 p.m.: Extreme Planets; 7 p.m.: Stars of the Pharaohs. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-326-DOME (3663).
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 Spanish Book Club will meet from 6-8 p.m. at the public library on Calton Road. Call Sylvia Reash at 7631810. TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium shows. 6 p.m.: Extreme Planets; 7 p.m.: Stars of the Pharaohs. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-326-DOME (3663).
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium shows. 2 p.m.: Accidental Astronaut*; 3 p.m.: Cosmic Adventures; 4 p.m.: Extreme Planets; 5 p.m.: Led Zeppelin. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. *Matinee Shows are $1 less. Call 956-326-DOME (3663).
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 All you can eat spaghetti lunch sponsored by the United Methodist Men. From noon to 1:30 p.m. at Fellowship Hall, First United Methodist Church, 1000 Guadalupe at 1220 McClelland. No admission fee. Crochet Club of the First United Methodist Church will hold their annual pre-holiday sale.
Photo courtesy of JR Central | Texas Tribune
Shown is Japan Central’s N700 high speed train, the same train that a private firm wants to bring to Texas. Tim Keith, who has served as Texas Central’s CEO for just more than a month, said the project is moving forward as planned and is more or less on schedule.
Bullet train moving forward By AMAN BATHEJA TEXAS TRIBUNE
The private firm hoping to build a highspeed rail line between Dallas and Houston has been celebrating a summer of successes: completing a successful round of fundraising, seeing a key federal study move forward, surviving the legislative session unscathed. But three years after Texas Central Partners first revealed its ambitious venture, a series of financial, logistical and political challenges remain. To Kyle Workman, president of Texans Against High-Speed Rail, those challenges are enough to make him question whether construction on the project will ever begin. “Frankly, they’re on a salvage mission,” Workman said of Texas Central executives. “They’re trying to generate news that says,
‘We think we’re close.’ The reality is, they’re not that close.” Yet Tim Keith, who has served as Texas Central’s CEO for just more than a month, said the project is moving forward as planned and is more or less on schedule. “I think my biggest challenge is conveying an abstract idea to Texans,” Keith said. “We are firmly committed to doing everything in our control and power to be selling tickets beginning in 2021.” Texas Central announced in 2012 a partnership with Japanese train operator JR Central to debut that company’s bullet train technology in Texas. Unlike most other train lines in the country, Texas Central predicts its train will operate at a profit and has pledged to not take public subsidies to cover operational costs. JR Central plans to sell its famed Shinkansen trains to Texas Central.
Most-wanted convicted sex offender caught
2 freight trains hauling vehicles collide, 2 hurt
Police investigating vandalism at cemetery
AUSTIN — A convicted sex offender on the Texas Department of Public Safety 10 Most Wanted list has been captured in Wyoming. Ernest Leroy Smith of Houston faces return to Texas. The Texas Department of Public Safety on Tuesday announced the arrest of the 46-year-old Smith. He was caught Sunday following a disturbance at a truck stop in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
TEXARKANA — Two crewmembers have been hurt when two freight trains hauling new vehicles collided on Union Pacific property in Northeast Texas. Authorities are trying to determine why the westbound train hit the northbound train at a UP intersection. DeGraff says a conductor and an engineer on the westbound train suffered minor injuries.
TEMPLE — Police in the Central Texas town of Temple are investigating after grave markers and headstones were damaged at a cemetery. Police said Monday that the damage was done sometime between Saturday evening and Sunday at Hillcrest Cemetery. Brenda Coley, Hillcrest Cemetery Association president, said that so far she’d counted more than 35 damaged graves.
Woman located after Body of missing man, 58, leaving kids at fire station found in dry creek bed HOUSTON — Authorities are
LEWISVILLE — Police say a 58-year-old Dallas-area man who left home to walk to a drug store but never returned has been found dead in a dry creek bed. Lewisville police do not suspect foul play in the death of Lonny Lee, whose body was discovered Tuesday. Police say a man walking in a nearby field spotted Lee’s body.
trying to determine why a woman left a 9-month-old boy and a 2year-old boy at a Houston fire station. Fire department officials say the woman dropped off the children Monday afternoon, saying she could no longer care for them, then she left. Houston police later located the woman.
Former spouses dead after shooting LEANDER — Two former spouses have been shot to death in what police say was a domestic disturbance in Central Texas. Police say 47-year-old Nury Velez-Derivera and her ex-husband, 48-year-old Mauna Jaimes Alcantara, died in the shooting at Velez-Derivera’s home. Police are not searching for a suspect. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION 4-year-old and his dog rescued from well JACKSON, Miss. — After spending three hours in an old water well, a 4-year-old boy was rescued along with his dog in southern Mississippi as emergency workers cheered. Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency Director Clifford Galey said Tuesday that Gabe Allbritton was in the yard with his mother when he disappeared Monday afternoon. The two were walking across the yard when Gabe fell into an old water well about 24 feet deep and a little more than a foot in diameter.
Actress Jean Darling of ‘Our Gang’ dies at 93 LOS ANGELES — Jean Darling, an actress who appeared in the silent-film series “Our Gang” and the original Broadway production of “Carousel,” has died
CONTACT US Publisher, William B. Green........................728-2501 Account Executive, Dora Martinez ...... (956) 765-5113 General Manager, Adriana Devally ...............728-2510 Adv. Billing Inquiries ................................. 728-2531 Circulation Director ................................. 728-2559 MIS Director, Michael Castillo.................... 728-2505 Copy Editor, Nick Georgiou ....................... 728-2565 Sports Editor, Zach Davis ..........................728-2578 Spanish Editor, Melva Lavin-Castillo............ 728-2569 Photo courtesy of WJTV | AP
In this image taken from WJTV video, rescuers using a rope try to rescue a boy and his dog trapped in a well, about 70 miles south of Jackson in Lincoln County, Miss., Monday. at age 93. Darling’s son Roy HamiltonBowen said Tuesday that his mother died Friday in Rodermark, Germany, after a sudden illness. Darling appeared in the “Our Gang” series between 1927 and
1929, when the short films began incorporating sound into the productions. Hamilton-Bowen says his mother remained active up until her death and recently had finished writing a crime novel. — Compiled from AP reports
SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted. The Zapata Times is free. The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500. The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail thezapatatimes.net
State
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
Dallas photographer’s work shown ASSOCIATED PRESS
FORT WORTH — Dallas photographer Laura Wilson’s images of the American West are featured in a new exhibit at a Fort Worth museum. The exhibit titled “That Day: Laura Wilson” opened Saturday at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. The exhibit featuring more than 70 of her photographs runs through Feb. 14. The subjects of Wilson’s photographs include: American Indian communities in South
Dakota; debutantes in Laredo, Texas; Hutterite communities in Montana; people along the U.S.Mexico border; and sixman football teams across Texas. Wilson, who worked with photographer Richard Avedon on his project photographing the American West, is the mother of actors Andrew, Owen and Luke Wilson. Her work has appeared in publications including The New York Times Magazine and she is the author of four books.
Obama to award Fly, McMurtry
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Laura Wilson/Amon Carter Museum of American Art | AP
This photograph titled “Cowboys Walking,” by Laura Wilson in Shackelford County, Texas in 1997 is one of the photographer’s images featured in a new exhibit at a Fort Worth museum.
Texan earns prestigious award for cancer study By MALCOLM RITTER ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — “Lonesome Dove” author Larry McMurtry and San Antonio architect Everett L. Fly, a pioneer in the field of historical preservation, are Texans among other luminaries set to receive a National Humanities Medal or a National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama. Obama will bestow the honors on 18 people and three institutions during a White House ceremony Thursday. McMurtry, of Archer City, Texas, wrote the novel “Lonesome Dove” and adapted the novel for a television miniseries. He also shared the 2006 Academy Award for best adapted screenplay with co-writer Diana Ossana for “Brokeback Mountain.” Fly, landscape architect on the restoration and extension of the Texas Capitol, is the mastermind behind the “Black Settlements in America” project that identifies, restores and preserves historic black settlements.
Apple building in Austin
NEW YORK — Three researchers won prestigious medical awards Tuesday for a new approach to treating cancer and insights into how creatures deal with DNA damage. The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation also honored the medical group Doctors Without Borders for its work on health emergencies, such as Africa’s Ebola outbreak. The Lasker prizes, each of which includes an honorarium of $250,000, will be presented Sept. 18 in New York City. This is the 70th year for the awards. The Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award went to James Allison of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The foundation said he “cracked open a brand-new therapeutic world” by finding a particular way to make a patient’s body attack cancer. That approach has greatly prolonged
survival for many people with advanced cases of the deadly skin cancer melanoma, the foundation said. Allison’s research focused on a protein on the surface of some disease-fighting cells of the immune system. In mice, he showed that the protein was preventing the immune system from attacking tumors, and that blocking its effect could fight cancers. After studies showed success in human patients, the federal government approved a drug based on the approach in 2011. The general approach pioneered by Allison is now being tested against many other cancers, the foundation said. The Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award was shared by Stephen Elledge of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and Evelyn Witkin, a professor emerita at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. They laid the foundation for understanding how humans and other creatures re-
spond to DNA damage from radiation, chemicals or other causes, the foundation said. Witkin started investigating radiation resistance in bacteria in 1944, and Elledge began work on DNA damage in yeast in the 1980s. The Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award was given to Doctors Without Borders “for bold leadership in responding to the recent Ebola outbreak in Africa and for sustained and effective frontline responses to health emergencies.” The organization provides medical assistance and humanitarian aid in response to war, famine, infectious disease and natural disasters. It was founded in France in 1971 and now consists of 24 national or regional associations. The Lasker foundation was established in 1942. Albert Lasker was an advertising executive who died in 1952. His wife Mary was a longtime champion of medical research before her death in 1994.
AUSTIN — Apple Inc. is quietly building a home away from home. The tech giant is transforming a 38acre wooded lot into its largest global operation outside of Silicon Valley, the Austin American-Statesman reported. In line to receive $35 million in tax incentives from the city, county and state for its Austin expansion, Apple has pledged to create 3,600 new jobs while retaining at least 3,100 existing jobs. If Apple reaches those hiring figures, it would make it the secondlargest technology employer in Central Texas behind Dell Inc., which has about 14,000 local workers. The company also agreed to spend $282 million on new buildings and equipment in Austin over the next decade. When Apple completes its Austin campus next year, it will boast 1.1 million square feet of space including restaurants, a gym and a wellness center. Apple’s new campus is responsible for running the company’s business operations for the Western Hemisphere. “It will help create a new wave of talent,” Mark McClain, CEO of Austin software maker SailPoint and chairman of the Austin Technology Council, told the newspaper. “Some people will come to work for Apple and get the entrepreneurial bug and go start a company. Others will eventually leave to join local tech companies that need their expertise.” Denise Young Smith, Apple’s head of human resources, said the company was drawn not only by Austin’s talent pool but also because of its cultural diversity. “Austin has always been a voice and proponent of diversity and inclusiveness,” Young Smith said. “And there is also diversity in terms of talent, including the music and artistic community. We like that cross-pollination, and the job candidates that have been able to hire because of it.” Despite stock market uncertainty because of an economic slowdown in China, Apple is still growing. The company reported a jump in profits during the third quarter as demand for iPhones soared.
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
4 solipsistic, anti-party men Political parties are civic institutions. They are broad coalitions built for the purpose of creating a governing majority that can be used to win elections and pass agendas. This summer three American politicians have risen to the fore, and they all sit outside or at the margin of the party they are trying to lead. Donald Trump didn’t even swear allegiance to his party’s eventual nominee until last week. He is a lone individual whose main cause and argument is Himself. Ben Carson has no history in politics and a short history in the Republican Party. He is a politically unattached figure whose primary lifetime loyalty has been to the field of medicine. Bernie Sanders is a socialist independent, who in the Senate caucuses with the Democrats. And yet, these anti-party figures are surging in the party races for the presidential nominations. This phenomenon is even more extreme in Britain. The British Labour Party suffered a crushing election defeat in May because people did not think its leader was strong enough, and because they thought its policy agenda was too far left. And yet at the moment the favorite to become the next leader of the British Labour Party is Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn has existed for decades on the leftward fringe of the Labour Party, tolerated as sort of a nice but dotty uncle. He spent much of his career at the edge of the parliamentary party, writing columns for The Morning Star, a communist-founded newspaper. He’s a pacifist who called for British withdrawal from NATO. He’s spent his career consorting with the usual litany of anti-Western figures, including his friends in Hamas and Hezbollah. Until about three months ago he was considered the most outside of the outsiders — until a cult of personality developed around him, rocketing him to the top of the polls. These four anti-party men have little experience in the profession of governing. They have no plausible path toward winning 50.1 percent of the vote in any national election. They have no prospect of forming a majority coalition that can enact their policies. These sudden stars are not really about governing. They are tools for their supporters’ self-expression. They allow supporters to make a statement, demand respect or express anger or resentment. Sarah Palin was a pioneer in seeing politics not as a path to govern-
“
DAVID BROOKS
ance but as an expression of her followers’ id. Why has this type risen so suddenly? First, political parties, like institutions across society, are accorded less respect than in decades past. But we’re also seeing the political effects of a broader culture shift, the rise of what sociologists call expressive individualism. There has always been a tension between self and society. Americans have always wanted to remain true to individual consciousness, but they also knew they were citizens, members of a joint national project, tied to one another by bonds as deep as the bonds of marriage and community. As much as they might differ, there was some responsibility to maintain coalitions with people unlike themselves. That meant maintaining conversations and relationships, tolerating difference, living with dialectics and working with opposites. The Democratic Party was once an illogical coalition between Northeastern progressives and Southern evangelicals. The GOP was an alliance between business and the Farm Belt. But in the ethos of expressive individualism, individual authenticity is the supreme value. Compromise and coalitionbuilding is regarded as a dirty and tainted activity. People congregate in segregated cultural and ideological bubbles and convince themselves that the purest example of their type could actually win. The young British left forms a temporary cult of personality around Jeremy Corbyn. The alienated right forms serial cults around Glenn Beck, Herman Cain, Palin, Trump and Carson. These cults never last because there is no institutional infrastructure. But along the way the civic institutions that actually could mobilize broad coalitions — the parties — get dismissed and gutted. Without these broad coalition parties, the country is ungovernable and cynicism ratchets up even further. Maybe this is a summer squall and voters will get interested in the more traditional party candidates come autumn, the ones who can actually win majorities and govern. But institutional decay is real, and it’s what happens in a country in which people would rather live in solipsistic bubbles than build relationships across differences.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY The Zapata Times does not publish anonymous letters. To be published, letters must include the writer’s first and last names as well as a phone number to verify identity. The phone number IS NOT published; it is used solely to verify identity and to clarify content, if necessary. Identity of the letter writer must be verified before publication. We want to assure
our readers that a letter is written by the person who signs the letter. The Zapata Times does not allow the use of pseudonyms. Letters are edited for style, grammar, length and civility. No namecalling or gratuitous abuse is allowed. Via e-mail, send letters to editorial@lmtonline.com or mail them to Letters to the Editor, 111 Esperanza Drive, Laredo, TX 78041.
COLUMN
Social media is trash talk Okay, I’ve avoided this topic long enough. I don’t do social media — Facebook, Twitter, whatever. To me, it’s all back-fence gossip. I doubt that anything on it is newsworthy. It is “she said, he said, you said.” Gossip. Badmouthing. Trash talk. Stabbing people in the back. Alright, not all Facebookers, or whatever you call them, are gossip mongers. My Life Mate does a bit of Facebooking, but being the nice, decent, former newswoman that she is, the gossipy bit of it is distasteful to her. Life Mate uses it occasionally to keep up with family and good friends, as old cave man me clings to email as my principal mode of written messaging. And I’ve been known to do a typewritten, (or once or twice a handwritten) letter to someone. And, I’m told that some legitimate media use the Internet, and Facebook in particular, to print nuggets of information that will likely be expanded into full reports in wonderful print. One of the very best assessments of Facebook and its genre comes from Dan Parker of the Port Aransas
South Jetty: “I am so sick of social media and the misinformation that saturates it. It’s as if you handed a printing press to every D-minus eighth grader out there and told him to go nuts with it.” You go, Dan. You rock. Amen, brother. Let’s hear it from the congregation. Of course, those of us in the congregation, and that especially includes newspaper people, decry gossip, particularly of a slanderous or libelous nature. As a matter of fact, we are faced with laws governing libel and slander. There are potential charges under those laws, plus printing something libelous also provides an opportunity for someone who might feel libeled or slandered to file a lawsuit for civil action. However, the Internet has opened up a whole new world for every individual to have his or her own “front page or opinion page.” Such individual posturing on the Internet is
mostly ungoverned and free from the code of ethics that each and every legitimate newspaper staff member is required to pledge and obey. And, Internet gossip mongers can labor under the cloak of anonymity. Those mystery writers pretty much go scot-free. Any offended party can, however, sue for libel and/ or slander … that is, if they can figure out who the person is who is disseminating the information in question. A newspaper staffer can be fired if they slip something by the editor that could and does result in litigation. Those who proffer opinions in a newspaper column must “sign” our name to that offering AND pass the blue pen of an editor. As is the case with most columnists, my piece is often accompanied by a photo and, as I have said many times, some angry person could begin shooting at me as I stroll through the park with Life Mate and Sawyer The Famous River Wonder Dog and I wouldn’t know what they were mad about. Of course, God help whoever that might be. I might be fair game, but woe unto anyone who tries to hurt
my Sweetie or The Puppy. I’d face the death penalty to protect them. Back to social “media” — it’s worse than back fence gossip or an early 1900s telephone party line. Give me Uncle Edward Ezzell (mentioned in last week’s column) and his long ago, famous Luna News in my hometown newspaper any day. He could larn ‘em a thang or two about “social media” … “Mrs. Cora Mandeville is on the puny list this week” or “I just finished listening to a mighty fine sermon by Bro. Oral Roberts on the radio.” Uncle Edward walked around the Luna community to “gather” the news first hand from the residents of that little rural haven of the first half of the 20th Century. Then, he penciled (yep) the news on a ruled tablet and mailed it into the newspaper for publication the following Thursday. Now, that’s a personal-social-media-touch that you won’t find today. Willis Webb is a retired community newspaper editor-publisher of more than 50 years experience. He can be reached by email at wwebb1937@att.net.
EDITORIAL
Moving statues doesn’t change past PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE
After the shootings in Charleston, S.C., state and local officials around the country were right to purge the Confederate battle flag from government buildings. But efforts to erase all discomfiting traces of America’s checkered past are futile and wrong. The University of Texas at Austin has relocated stat-
ues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and President Woodrow Wilson for their associations with slavery and racism. University officials removed the Davis statue in late August, saying "it was no longer in the university’s best interest to continue commemorating him." Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, both slaveholders, are in posthu-
mous trouble, too. In many cities, Democrats are renaming their traditional Jefferson-Jackson fundraising dinners. If Jefferson falls, George Washington could, too, and the poignant statue of the general and Indian chief Guyasuta, crouched high upon Mount Washington, would be endangered — as well as the Washington Monument and countless ci-
ties bearing his name. While he made provisions for their freedom in his will, the nation’s first president owned slaves from age 11 until his death. The website for Mount Vernon acknowledges the troubling history matter-of-factly. This is a good model for the nation to follow when it comes to its flawed presidents. Honor the office; the facts will speak for themselves.
CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
Nation
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
Clerk who fought gay marriage leaves jail By ADAM BEAM ASSOCIATED PRESS
GRAYSON, Ky. — The Kentucky county clerk jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples was released Tuesday after five days behind bars, emerging to a tumultuous hero’s welcome from thousands of supporters waving large white crosses. “I just want to give God the glory. His people have rallied, and you are a strong people,” Kim Davis told the crowd after stepping outside, her arms raised like a victorious boxer, to the blaring “Rocky”sequel theme song “Eye of the Tiger.” Her lawyer refused to say whether she would defy the courts again. “Kim cannot and will not violate her conscience,” said Mat Staver, founder of the Liberty Counsel, the
Christian law firm representing Davis. As for whether she will issue licenses, Staver said only: “You’ll find out in the near future.” The Rowan County clerk whose defiance has made her a hero to the religious right walked free after the federal judge who ordered her locked up lifted the contempt ruling against her, saying he was satisfied that her deputies were fulfilling their obligation to grant licenses to same-sex couples in her absence. But U.S. District Judge David Bunning also warned Davis not to interfere again, or else she could wind up back in jail. Davis, 49, has refused to resign her $80,000-a-year job. As an elected official, she can lose her post only if she is defeated for re-election or is impeached by the state General Assembly. The latter is unlikely, given the leg-
Photo by Pablo Alcala/Lexington Herald-Leader | AP
Kim Davis reacts towards her parents after appearing at a rally outside the Carter County Detention Center, Tuesday, in Grayson, Ky. islature’s conservative slant. As the surprise news of her impending release spread, a crowd of dozens of supporters who had gathered on the jailhouse lawn for a previously scheduled rally swelled to thousands. They broke into “Amazing Grace” and “God Bless America” and waved signs,
Votes locked for deal By ERICA WERNER ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Pressing their advantage, the White House and insistent Senate Democrats locked up the votes Tuesday to frustrate attempts by outraged Republicans to pass a legislative rebuke to the Iran nuclear accord. Four previously undeclared Senate Democrats — Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Ron Wyden of Oregon, Gary Peters of Michigan and Maria Cantwell of Washington state — announced their support for the international agreement in a coordinated burst. That pushed supporters to a 42vote total, one more than necessary to block a GOP disapproval resolution with a filibuster, and prevent a final vote. “There is no better deal available now,” declared Blumenthal, one of the Senate’s Jewish Democrats, announcing his support for an accord that is strongly opposed by Israeli leaders as well as Republican senators. Blumenthal, Wyden and Peters were among just a handful of undeclared senators and were all considered possible “no” votes. Coming on the first day of Congress’ fall session after a five-week summer recess, their announcements were a dramatic start to what promises to be a bitter, partisan debate on the deal aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program. The debate will take on some of the trappings of a political circus Wednesday with presidential candidate Donald Trump preparing to headline an anti-accord rally outside the Capitol. It will play out at the start of a hectic three weeks on Capitol Hill. Congress must also find a way to keep the government funded past the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30, and lawmakers will host a historic visit from Pope Francis. It remained uncertain Tuesday if all 42 senators now on record in favor of the Iran deal would hold together on the procedural maneuvers necessary to mount a filibuster. And the developments didn’t change the ultimate outcome, which has been clear for days: Even if the disapproval resolution should pass the House and Senate this week, President Barack Obama would veto it, and Democrats have the votes in hand to sustain his veto. But Obama and his Democratic allies now have within reach the possibility of stopping the resolution without a messy veto fight, despite the unanimous opposition of the Republicans who control both the House and the Senate. “If we have to go through the procedural charade of a veto, and a vote to sustain the veto, it will be embarrassing for this administration and this country,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, DConn., who’s been involved in coordinating support for the agreement. “So I think it’s cleaner, simpler and much better for American credibility around the world
Photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais | AP
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., discusses the Iran nuclear agreement in Washington, Tuesday. if the motion to disapprove doesn’t get past the Senate.” At the White House, Press Secretary Josh Earnest indicated the administration shares that preference as the administration officially issued a veto threat. Rejection of the deal “would be the worst of all possible worlds, leaving us in a position of weakness, not strength,” the administration said in a statement. Republican opponents on Capitol Hill complained angrily about Democratic attempts to avoid a final vote on the disapproval resolution. The pro-Israel lobby AIPAC was also pressuring senators behind the scenes to allow a final vote even if they intend to oppose the disapproval resolution, creating uncertainty as to whether a filibuster would succeed. “The Senate should not hide behind procedural obfuscation to shield the president or our individual views,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. McConnell jousted on the Senate floor with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., over the terms of the debate as each side sought to frame the other as obstructionist. “This agreement will stand,” Reid said. Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, top Republican on the Foreign Relations Com-
mittee, delivered an impassioned speech that was a broadside against the Obama administration. “We know we have no policy in the Middle East,” Corker said. The Iran deal “ends up being our de facto policy.” On the other side, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, said, “What the president is trying to do is something that I believe should be the starting point in every critical foreign policy decision: Use diplomacy.” The agreement struck by Iran, the U.S., China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany in July would provide Iran hundreds of billions of dollars in relief from international sanctions in exchange for a decade of constraints on the country’s nuclear program. The deal aims to keep Iran at least a year away from being able to produce enough nuclear material for a weapon. Even as they faced the prospect of legislative defeat, Republicans tried some last-ditch maneuvers to avoid that outcome. In the House, Republican Rep. Peter Roskam of Illinois offered a resolution to delay the vote, arguing the clock on the congressional review period shouldn’t start until lawmakers get more information on side agreements negotiated with Tehran.
flags and crosses. Cries of thanks to Jesus echoed through the crowd as Davis emerged next to Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and her husband, Joe, who was in overalls and a straw hat. Huckabee and fellow GOP White House candidate Sen. Ted Cruz visited
her at the jail just after the decision came down. “If somebody has to go to jail, I’m willing to go in her place,” said Huckabee, a former Baptist minister and Arkansas governor. “She has shown more courage than any politician I know.” Natalie Ferguson, who came to the rally from Elora, Tennessee, said: “We have to stand because if we sit back and be quiet, you know then as a Christian community we’re going to get run over.” Davis was locked up on Thursday for the boldest act of resistance by a public official yet to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that effectively legalized same-sex marriage across the nation. Citing “God’s authority” and her belief that gay marriage is a sin, Davis, an Apostolic Christian, stopped issuing all marriage licenses.
Two gay couples and two heterosexual ones sued her. Bunning ordered Davis to issue the licenses, and the Supreme Court backed him. But she still refused and was held in contempt of court and hauled off to jail in handcuffs, igniting protests from religious conservatives. They rallied for days at her office, at the jail and outside the judge’s home. The timing of her release after just five days came as something of a surprise. Last week, Bunning said that he might reconsider his decision to jail her in a week. Five of Davis’ six deputy clerks — all except her son, Nathan — agreed to issue licenses to gay couples with Davis behind bars. In lifting the contempt order, Bunning asked for updates on the clerks’ compliance every two weeks.
PÁGINA 6A
Zfrontera
Ribereña en Breve SUICIDIO LAREDO — El jueves 10 de septiembre, el organismo PILLAR de Laredo, encabezará una Vigilia con Velas para recordar a aquellos quienes se han suicidado. El objetivo es crear atención a fin de prevenir el suicidio. El evento se realizará a las 7 p.m. en el Departamento de Salud de la Ciudad de Laredo, 2600 Cedar Avenue.
SALIDA ANTICIPADA Zapata County ISD informa que el viernes 11 de septiembre se dará salida temprana (Early Release) a todos los estudiantes. La hora de salida será de la siguiente manera, primarias (VES, ZSE, ZNE, ABE) a las 12 p.m.; Zapata Middle School a las 12:15 p.m. y Zapata High School a las 12:30 p.m.
INFORME DE GOBIERNO MIGUEL ALEMÁN, México — El Presidente Municipal de Ciudad Miguel Alemán, Ramiro Cortez Barrera, rendirá su II Informe de Gobierno el viernes 11 de septiembre, a las 5 p.m. en el Salón Milenium.
SOCIEDAD GENEALÓGICA La Sociedad Genealógica Nuevo Santander realizará su reunión mensual regular el sábado 12 de septiembre a las 2 p.m. en el Zapata County Museum, 805 N Main St/ US Hwy 83. La conferencista invitada es Dora Villarreal.
CARGO DE HOMICIDIO CAPITAL
Interrogatorio POR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Archivos obtenidos el martes sobre un caso de felonía capital alegan que una mujer empujó a su hijo de 22 meses de edad contra un marco de puerta, causándole “lesiones traumáticas”. El menor, Roberto Saldivar III, entonces empezó a estirarse y atiesarse, de acuerdo con documentos de la corte. El servicio de Air Evac trasladó al niño desde San Ygnacio a un hospital en McAllen, donde falleció el 30 de julio. La muerte hizo que surgiera un cargo de homicidio capital en contra de la madre, Irene Yamiles Del Bosque-Saldivar, de 19 años. Ella fue arrestada el 28 de agosto. Del Bosque-Saldivar se encuentra encerrada en la Cárcel del Condado de Zapata. La Oficina del Alguacil del Condado de Zapata dijo que el caso inició el 25 de julio. A las 9:28 p.m., los comisarios fueron llamados para controlar el tráfico debido a que Air Evac estaba recogiendo a un paciente en una gasolinera en San Ygnacio. A su llegada, los comisarios se enteraron que el Departamento de Bomberos del Condado Zapata había solicitado asistencia con el control del tráfico con respecto a un menor de 22 meses que no respondía, que más tarde sería identificado como Saldivar. Air Evac trasladó vía aérea a Saldivar al hospital Rio Grande Regional Hospital en McAllen. El personal en el lugar dijo a los comisarios que el niño presentaba “lesiones traumáticas”, se establece en los registros. Saldivar había sido llevado a una
CONCIERTO EN EL QUIOSCO El sábado 12 de septiembre tendrá lugar un concierto gratuito en el marco de las fiestas patrias mexicanas. El evento tendrá lugar en el Quiosco de avenida Britton y 2nd Street, de 6 p.m. a 10 p.m. El grupo que se presentará es Inkieto & Nuevo Reto. Más información en el (956) 487-0672.
MIÉRCOLES 9 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2015
clínica de 24 horas en Zapata. Los registros establecen que el menor tenía una mordida en su antebrazo izquierdo y moretones en sus piernas. Los comisa- DEL BOSQUE rios hablaron con el equipo de bomberos que respondió al llamado. Uno declaró a las autoridades que Saldivar tenía “las pupilas muy dilatadas y estaba muy pálido”, muestran los registros. El equipo de emergencia entonces llevó a Saldivar a San Ygnacio para acortar el tiempo en que el helicóptero lo pudiera recoger. El incidente fue reportado a Servicios de Protección del Menor. Las autoridades más tarde descubrieron que el menor había sido sometido a una cirugía debido a un trauma severo en su cabeza. “…Parte del cráneo del menor había sido removido debido a la inflamación del cerebro”, se establece en la querella criminal. Durante la investigación, se descubrió que Saldivar y otro niño habían estado bajo cuidado temporal con Servicios de Protección Infantil. Sin embargo, el padre y Del BosqueSaldivar habían vuelto a obtener custodia de los niños el 5 de junio. Del Bosque-Saldivar estaba “muy a la defensiva y no mostraba emociones de ninguna forma” cuando habló con representantes de CPS, indican archivos. Oficiales supieron que la familia había rentado el Cuarto 120 en Falcon Motel porque una bolsa abierta de Cheetos había causado que su casa en la cuadra 5300 de Cuellar Lane resultada infectada con hormigas e insectos. El padre rentó un cuarto para
que pudiera fumigar su casa. Mientras realizaba sus mandados, Del Bosque-Saldivar lo llamó diciéndole que su hijo no respondía, de acuerdo SALDIVAR III con documentos de la corte. Del Bosque-Saldivar supuestamente estuvo de acuerdo en hablar con autoridades acerca del caso. Al preguntar si alguien más estaba con ella en el cuarto cuando ella notó que el bebé no respondía, ella respondió que ella había estado sola con los niños por aproximadamente dos horas. Ella supuestamente declaró que el niño empezó a actuar de manera diferente después que ella lo bañara. Ella deseaba despertar al niño porque no había comido en todo el día, solamente gomitas de gusanos, indican archivos. Acerca de la marca por mordedura, ella dijo que su hija había mordido al niño hacía aproximadamente una semana. Él sostuvo que el niño no tenía moretones cuando lo llevaron a la clínica en Zapata. Ambos padres creyeron que el niño estaba sufriendo un ataque al corazón, de acuerdo con documentos de la corte. Autoridades notaron que Del Nosque-Saldivar no lloró y no mostró alguna emoción durante la entrevista. Oficiales dijeron que obtuvieron consentimiento para registrar el cuarto en Falcon Motel. Ellos dijeron que descubrieron una toalla blanca con manchas rojas, que se cree era sangre, toallas de papel/papel sanitario con manchas que se cree eran sangre y una bolsa vacía de potpurrí Zombie Mode, también conocida como mari-
huana sintética o Kush. Archivos alegan que se encontraron toallas en el canasto de basura del baño y que la bolsa vacía de potpurrí fue encontrada adentro de una bolsa de McDonald’s. El 28 de agosto, investigadores realizaron una entrevista video grabada a Del Bosque-Saldivar. Ella declaró desconocer qué le había ocurrido a su hijo, y que desconocía cómo se había lastimado. Posteriormente en el interrogatorio, ella declaró que su hijo pudiera haberse caído en la bañera y que se lesionó. Entonces, ella declaró que su hija pudiera haber golpeado a Saldivar y éste se hubiera caído de la cama. Investigadores entonces la cuestionaron acerca de mensajes que había enviado a través de Facebook. Los archivos no especifican de qué se trataban los mensajes. Del Bosque-Saldivar supuestamente dijo que ella no había hecho ago para lesionar a su hijo. “(Un investigador) entonces procedió a salir del cuarto mientras (otro investigador) permaneció en el cuarto de interrogatorios con Irene. Mientras que (el investigador) estaba en el cuarto con Irene, Irene confesó que ella había empujado a su hijo en contra del marco de la puerta después que se sintiera frustrada que los niños estuvieran corriendo alrededor del cuarto del hotel y que no le hicieran caso”, indica la querella. Después del golpe, el menor “empezó a estirarse y atiesarse de sus brazos y piernas”, alegan archivos. El niño falleció el 30 de julio en McAllen. La investigación continúa. (Localice a César G. Rodriguez en el 728-2568 o en cesar@lmtonline.com)
ZCISD
TERRENOS
EDIFICIO EN PROCESO
Familia demanda a Texas
DECOMISO REYNOSA, México — Oficiales de Tamaulipas cumplieron una orden de arresto en contra de tres personas sospechas de estar en posesión de narcóticos, de acuerdo con autoridades estatales. Se trata de Edgar Alexis López Balderas, Fernando Salvador Cervantes y José Armando Perales Ramírez. Los sospechosos declararon pertenecer a un grupo delictivo que opera en Reynosa, indica el reporte. Sostuvieron que se dedicaban a vender drogas al menudeo, así como reportar los movimientos de las fuerzas estatales y federales de seguridad, añade un comunicado de prensa del Gobierno de Tamaulipas. Oficiales además decomisaron 100 dosis de cocaína en piedra, 39 dosis de cocaína en polvo, un cigarro de marihuana, un equipo de radiocomunicación y un vehículo Lincoln Zephyr, modelo 2006, sin placas de circulación.
SEMANA DE LISTÓN ROJO En el marco del Mes de Prevención de Uso de Narcóticos a nivel Nacional, se celebrará el evento “Red Ribbon Week” del 23 al 31 de octubre. El evento representa un compromiso nacional para crear conciencia y evitar el uso de narcóticos, entre estudiantes. Durante la semana se realizarán diferentes actividades para concientizar a los estudiantes. Para realizar donaciones puede ponerse en contacto con Norma González llamando al (956) 765-8389. Lo recaudado será destinado a comprar obsequios para los estudiantes.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Foto de cortesía | ZCISD
La Junta de Fideicomisarios y estudiantes de Zapata County ISD, dieron inicio oficial al proyecto del Edificio para el Estudio de Danza y Sala de Pesaje, el lunes. El edificio estará ubicado al lado noreste de Zapata County High School, entre el campo de baseball y el edificio vocacional.
TEXAS
DPS: Pandillas son amenaza aún POR CÉSAR G. RODRÍGUEZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
El Departamento de Seguridad Pública de Texas (DPS por sus siglas en inglés), dijo esta semana que las pandillas aún representan una amenaza importante para la seguridad pública debido a sus actividades violentas y criminales. “Las pandillas en Texas permanecen activas en las operaciones tanto de contrabando como de tráfico humano. Los miembros de las pandillas asociadas al contrabando humano tienen relaciones directas con organizaciones de contrabando (humano)… y los carteles mexicanos”, establece Texas Gang Threat Assessment (Evaluación de Amenaza de Pandillas en Texas). La evaluación se desarrolla anualmente para proporcionar una visión de conjunto de las actividades de pandillas en el estado, de acuerdo a DPS. “La pandilla Texas Mexican Mafia tiene una fuerte presencia en el área de Del Río-Eagle Pass-Uvalde y en Laredo, al igual que (Hermanos Pistoleros Latinos)”, se establece en la evaluación. El jefe de la Oficina del Alguacil del Condado de Webb Fred Garza dijo que las pandillas han existido por
mucho tiempo. En el 2009, la oficina del alguacil vio la necesidad de establecer una unidad de inteligencia e identificar las operaciones de las pandillas afectando al condado, dijo. “Hemos podido identificar las pandillas que actualmente constituyen una amenaza a nuestra área. Ellos son Mexican Mafia, la cual tiene una fuerte presencia en esta área; HPL, la cual está asociada con los Zetas… Luego, tienes a Tango Blast cuya actividad emana desde Corpus Christi y Texas Syndicate, la cual ha mantenido un bajo perfil, pero que existen. No hay duda”, dijo Garza. Otros grupos criminales que enlistó fueron el Partido Revolucionario Mexicano, Mara Salvatrucha y Latin Kings, dijo Garza. Los crímenes en los que estas pandillas participan incluyen actividad relacionada con los carteles, tales como contrabando humano, tráfico humano, extorsiones, secuestros, drogas y lavado de dinero, dijo Garza. “Los carteles mexicanos regularmente utilizan pandillas tejanas para su propósito de contrabando de cruces ilícitos por la frontera”, establece la evaluación. Garza dijo que las autoridades están trabajando en conjunto constantemente para interrumpir las opera-
ciones. “No podemos decir que somos perfectos en el sentido de mantenernos delante de sus movimientos, pero nosotros… tenemos una idea de quién está operando en esta área”, dijo Garza. El investigador Joe E. Baeza, vocero del Departamento de Policía de Laredo dijo que la comunicación entre las autoridades es un factor clave para contrarrestar la actividad ilícita. “Estamos constantemente fortaleciendo las relaciones inter-agencias con nuestras agencias de aplicación del orden a nivel federal, estatal y local”, dijo. Las relaciones, cooperación y actualización en tiempo real de la información son cruciales para desmantelar continuamente las pandillas transnacionales y las organizaciones locales de pandillas criminales”. Las pandillas representan un problema dada la actividad criminal en la que participan”, dijo Garza. “No se trata de un problema de las autoridades. Es un problema de la comunidad. La comunidad necesita reportar actividades sospechosas y darnos a conocer lo que ven en sus vecindarios”, dijo Garza. (Localice a César G. Rodríguez en el 728-2568 o en cesar@lmtonline.com)
AUSTIN— Más de 600 descendientes de un poblador mexicano demandaron a Texas por la supuesta confiscación de una cesión de terreno real, alegando que tienen derecho sobre los ingresos que el estado ha estado teniendo durante años sobre mineral extraído. Joaquín Galán recibió la propiedad del terreno de manos del rey español hace más de dos siglos. Sus herederos dicen que le fue ilegalmente confiscado en la década de 1870. El estado todavía es propietario de unas 16.000 hectáreas (40.000 acres) del terreno al noroeste de Laredo. La familia interpuso una demanda en el tribunal del distrito del condado de Travis en julio, informó Austin American-Statesman. La principal demandada es la Oficina General de Tierras, cuyo comisionado es George P. Bush. “La tierra era bastante inhóspita”, dijo al periódico Tony Zavaleta, un profesor de sociología de la Universidad de Texas en Brownsville, quien le ayudó a inspeccionar la tierra a una compañía de carbón en la década de los 1980. “¿Quién sabía que estaba sobre un mar de minerales?”. “Te pudieron haber robado la tierra, pero fue hace mucho, y entregar los documentos adecuados es muy complicado”, dijo Lance Bruun, un abogado de hidrocarburos del sur de Texas que el año pasado presidió un comité creado por la Asamblea Legislativa para organizar las demandas de cesiones de terrenos españolas heredadas. Galán recibió la cesión de derecho en algún momento antes de 1804. Para 1816, un asentamiento llamado Palafox contaba con 277 residentes.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: SA JOHN JAY
Players accuse referee Ref accused of racial slur before hit ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN ANTONIO — Two Texas football players accused of intentionally ramming into a referee during a high school game allege the referee directed racial slurs at them, school district officials said Tuesday. The district, which previously suspended the two players, has placed an assistant coach on paid leave while it investigates allegations that he suggested there should be retaliation against the referee for missed calls, Northside Independent School District Superintendent Brian T. Woods said at a news conference. The two suspended John Jay High School students, whose names aren’t being released, will go through a disciplinary hearing and the incident will be treated as an assault on a school official, according to the school district. “The incident is shameful and in no way reflects who Northside ISD and Jay High School are,” Woods said. The district, which has 105,000 students, is in the process of filing a complaint about the racial slur allegation with the Texas Associ-
ation of Sports Officials, Woods said. Michael Fitch, the association’s executive director, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment on Tuesday. The name of the referee has not been made public. Video from Friday’s game between John Jay High School and Marble Falls High School showed the referee watching a play, and his head snapping back when he is leveled from behind. The other player then dove on top of him. The game took place in Marble Falls, located about 90 miles north of San Antonio. Northside school district officials said that during the game, the suspended players “were feeling lots of frustration by what they perceived to be missed or wrong calls by the refs.” The players also alleged the referee directed racial slurs at them. The students allege that assistant coach Mack Breed, 29, said “that guy needs to pay for cheating us” or words to that effect, according to the district. “The alleged comments by the coach are in no way a reflection of the John Jay coaching staff whatsoever. If that did happen, he let the
emotions get the best of him,” said Northside school district athletic director Stan Laing. Breed didn’t immediately respond to a voicemail message left Tuesday by The Associated Press. Woods said if a racial slur was directed at the two players, the protocol should have been to let the lead official at the game know about it. “We’re obligated to use this as a teachable moment ... As educators, we’ve got to take this opportunity to teach our young people two wrongs don’t make a right,” Laing said. The University Interscholastic League, which governs primary and high school sports and is working with the school district and officials on the investigation, said in a statement Tuesday that it supports the initial disciplinary measures taken by the Northside school district. The Marble Falls police department, which is investigating the hit on the referee, will take at least a week to complete its probe, said Sgt. Tom Dillard. Dillard said if charges are filed, it could be for misdemeanor assault, but that wasn’t “chiseled into stone.”
Photo by Billy Calzada | San Antonio Express-News
NISD superintendent Dr. Brian Woods, front, and athletic director Stan Lang speak during a press conference on Tuesday about the John Jay football players who attacked an official on the field on Sept. 4.
8A THE ZAPATA TIMES
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015
ABBOTT Continued from Page 1A hope that Abbott will either amend or end the controversial travel advisory, in which Texas’ top law enforcement agency warns thousands of college and high school students to avoid Mexico during spring break. “Those are issues that are still under negotiation,” Abbott said when asked whether he had plans to eliminate the advisory. Asked about Abbott’s remarks on security, one senior Mexican official expressed appreciation about the governor’s “satisfaction,” but reiterated that Mexico has long been working to secure its border with the United States and that any attack on the U.S., particularly through the Mexican border, would have devastating consequences for Mexico. Mexican officials have especially been sensitive about GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s fulminations against Mexico and its people. “We’re pleased Governor Abbott has shown great courage to come here and his willingness to listen firsthand to Mexico’s views on border security and only wish others, too, would learn the facts before speaking their minds,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “The more we communicate, the easier we can achieve our mutual goal of generating prosperity for both sides of the border.” Former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza said, “I think Governor Abbott knows that safe, secure and efficient borders are possible, but only through open communication with our partners in Mexico.” Trump has led the recent barrage, but Texas Republicans and some Democrats have used border security as an issue to win electoral support. Texas is sending hundreds of its law enforce-
ment officers to the border to crack down on illegal immigration and organized crime, although Mexican migration is down dramatically, and few cases of spillover violence have been reported. During the 2015 legislative session, Abbott championed a dramatic increase in state spending on border security. Over the next two years, the state will spend $800 million, a cost Abbott has said is necessary because the federal government has not met its responsibilities. But the real danger isn’t just the border, said Agustin Barrio Gómez, president of the Mexico Image Foundation, an organization created to improve Mexico’s image abroad. “The biggest danger is ignorance and not knowing how much the prosperity of both countries depends on mutual cooperation,” Barrio said. The goal of Abbott’s visit, people in both Mexico and Texas have said, is to lower the harsh rhetoric and focus on expanding trade opportunities. “This is a new chapter in the relationship of Mexico and Texas, and it is a new beginning of what has been a rich history,” Abbott said in a keynote address Monday to a group of business and political leaders. “But I believe that as we move forward, the chapters yet to be written will be more profound, more successful, more enriching, more prosperous than the chapters in the past.” Abbott noted that his wife, Cecilia, has Latino roots and said that their marriage is a union of cultures that transcends borders. He pointed to his own accident — a tree that fell on him and left him using a wheelchair — as a realization that “shows that our lives are not defined by how we are challenged. Instead, we define our lives
and our future by the way we respond to the challenges we face.” He added, “In our long history of Texas and Mexico, there have been so many great things that have happened, and, yes, we have our challenges, and we will have our challenges going forward, (but) the important thing as we leave here today is to focus on the way we respond to those challenges.” Still, it’s been more than eight years since a Texas governor visited Mexico, a theme that resonated in the luncheon chatter. Mexico’s new undersecretary for North America, Carlos Perez Verdia, praised Abbott for visiting Mexico but noted that eight years between visits is “far too long.” “Let’s not let that happen again,” he said. Carlos Cascos, the Texas secretary of state, later responded: “That will never happen again. … We’re not just roommates or neighbors. We share culture, and more importantly we share family and friendship.” The luncheon — co-sponsored by TexasOne, the state’s quasi-governmental organization for promoting Texas — was packed with more than 200 people representing such organizations and corporations as the Association of Mexican Entrepreneurs and Dallas-based AT&T Inc., which recently completed a $1.8 billion acquisition of Nextel Mexico, a wireless provider. The company plans to create a North American mobile service area that will cover more than 400 million consumers and businesses in Mexico and the U.S. Thaddeus Arroyo, AT&T’s CEO for Mexico LLC and Iusacell, looked around the luncheon room and observed, “This meeting, Governor Abbott’s visit, is so important because our economies really serve both sides.”
IMMIGRATION Continued from Page 1A to release women and children still being held in detention centers in Dilley and Karnes City, Texas. Attorneys said about 2,000 women and children are being held in those centers and a smaller facility in Pennsylvania. That order came after Gee ruled in July that the immigrants were being held in “deplorable” conditions and their prolonged detention violated the provisions of a 1997 decision called the Flores v. Meese agreement. Gee’s final order said the detainees should be released unless they are a danger to themselves or the public, or are a flight risk. Mancheno said he and his colleagues have seen immigration officials taking more than those two factors into account when making decisions. “They are releasing people who are likely to succeed [in immigration court] but their immigration history is very different from one to another,” he said. Government officials say they are doing what Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson mandated in a 2014 memo. That includes using the agency’s limited resources to ensure dangerous criminals are kept off the streets. “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement makes custody determinations on a case-by-case basis with a priority for detention of serious criminal
offenders and other individuals who pose a significant threat to public safety, based on the priorities laid out in Secretary Jeh Johnson’s memo,” said ICE spokesperson Adelina Pruneda. “Those who are not subject to mandatory detention and do not pose a threat to the community may be placed on some form of supervision as part of ICE’s Alternatives to Detention program.” Ankle monitors are one of the most common alternatives, though critics blast them as unnecessary. Mancheno said about 80 percent of those released are required to wear the monitors, which have to be charged while being worn. They are also equipped with GPS tracking devices, which the Detention Watch Network, a watchdog coalition that monitors immigration detention issues, called “dehumanizing and unacceptable”. Though he disagrees with the ankle monitors, Mancheno knows his clients still have plenty to be thankful for. Their chances of being able to stay in the United States skyrocket when they have legal representation, which only a minority of immigrants are able to obtain. Immigrants in detention are allowed counsel if they can afford it or can find a probono lawyer. But they are not guaranteed an attorney. Through July 2015, there were about 49,200 cases involving women with chil-
dren heard in immigration courts, according to data analyzed by the Transactional Records Action Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. That included about 10,760 in Texas. Only about 2,600 of those in Texas had legal representation. According to the clearinghouse data, 390 of the family units with representation were issued removal orders and more than 2,000 have cases pending. That’s compared to the 4,850 removal orders issued to the family units that did not have an attorney out of 8,146 overall. The chances an unaccompanied minor has of being deported are even greater. According to the TRAC data, more than 80 percent of unaccompanied minors who entered the country between 2012 and 2014 and didn’t have representation were deported. Mancheno knows how high the stakes are for his clients after he sought asylum in 2008. He fled Ecuador that year after being persecuted because of his sexual orientation, he said. “I don’t think I would have been able to do what I did had I been in deportation proceedings,” he said. “Even somebody like me, who was able to speak English at the time and who had a general idea of what asylum procedures, I wouldn’t have been able. It’s so shocking to me there are thousands of people out there who are doing it on their own.”
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
United CEO steps down amid investigation By DAVID KOENIG ASSOCIATED PRESS
The chairman and CEO of United Airlines is stepping down in connection with an investigation into the airline’s dealings with the former chairman of the agency that operates New York-area airports. United Continental Holdings Inc. said Tuesday that Jeff Smisek and two other senior executives had resigned and railroad executive Oscar Munoz was named CEO and president. United disclosed earlier this year that the company
and some of its executives had received subpoenas from a federal grand jury for informaSMISEK tion about its dealings with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. United said it was conducting its own internal investigation. Former Port Authority chairman David Samson’s activities have been subject of document requests from the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey, including Sam-
LAND Continued from Page 1A Texas. Previous claims have not fared well in the courts. The Texas Supreme Court ruled in 2008 against a family, deciding that the suit had run afoul of the statute of limitations. The court issued a similar ruling in 2003. “Your land may have been stolen, but it was a long time ago, and proving it with the right documents is really difficult,” said Lance Bruun, a South Texas oil and gas attorney who last year chaired a committee created by the Legislature to sort out Spanish land-grant inheritance claims. Galan received the land grant sometime before 1804. By 1816, a settlement called Palafox had 277 residents, but Comanche raiders burned the village and killed most of its residents in 1829. The land was intermittently populated after that. LEGAL NOTICE
Application has been made with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission for a Mixed Beverage Permit with a Mixed Beverge Late Hours Permit and a Beverage Cartage Permit by Blazin’ Wings INC. DBA Buffalo Wild Wings, to be located at 6629 San Dario Ave, Laredo, Webb County, Texas 78041. Officers of said Corporation are Sally J. Wold, President/CEO/ Director, Mary J. Twinem, CFO/Treasurer/ Secretary, James M. Schmidt, VP, and Emily C. Decker, VP. L-27
son’s votes on United Airlines projects at Newark Airport at the same time United was restarting flights from Newark to Columbia, South Carolina, near where Samson has a vacation home. United began an about twice-weekly direct flight from Newark to Columbia that began after Samson became chairman and was canceled days after he resigned last year. Smisek was CEO of Continental Airlines before it merged with United in 2010. He has been under pressure for several years as United
was slower than Delta Air Lines to return to profitability and also suffered several embarrassing computer outages, the latest in June and July, that led to large numbers of delays and canceled flights. A filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission described the terms of Smisek’s separation agreement. He’ll receive a separation payment in the amount of $4,875,000, and remain eligible for a pro-rated bonus. Smisek will have health insurance until his is eligible for Medicare, and maintain flight
benefits and parking privileges for the remainder of his lifetime. He also gets to keep his company car. Smisek also agreed to cooperate fully with United “in the defense, prosecution or conduct of any claims or investigations which relate to events or occurrences that transpired” while Smisek was employed. Samson, a former state attorney general in New Jersey, headed Gov. Chris Christie’s transition team and was appointed chairman of the Port Authority by Christie in in 2011. He resigned in March 2014, sever-
al months after the scandal surrounding politically motivated lane closures at the George Washington Bridge the previous September. Munoz was a United board member and chief operating officer at freight railroad CSX Corp. Another director, Henry L. Meyer III, was named non-executive chairman. In a letter to employees, Munoz said that executive vice president Nene Foxhall and senior vice president Mark Anderson also stepped down. Both oversaw government affairs at the Chicago-based airline.
DETAILS Continued from Page 1A learned that the Zapata County Fire Department had requested assistance with traffic control regarding an unresponsive 22month-old boy, who was later identified as Saldivar. Air Evac flew out Saldivar to Rio Grande Regional Hospital in McAllen. Staff there told deputies the boy had “traumatic injuries,” records state. Saldivar had been taken to a 24-hour clinic in Zapata. Records state the boy had a bite to his left forearm and bruises to his legs. Deputies spoke to the fire crew that responded to the call. One stated to authorities that Saldivar’s eyes were “very dilated” and he “was very pale,” records show. Crews then rushed Saldivar to San Ygnacio to shorten the pick up time for the chopper. The incident was reported to Child Protective Services. Authorities later found out that the child had undergone surgery due to se-
vere head trauma. “… Part of the child’s skull had to be removed due to swelling of the brain,” states the criminal complaint. During the investigation, it was discovered that Saldivar and another child had been in foster care with Child Protective Services. However, the father and del Bosque-Saldivar had regained custody of the children June 5. Del Bosque-Saldivar was “really defensive and had no emotion at all” when she spoke to CPS representatives, records state. Deputies learned the family had rented a Room 120 at the Falcon Motel because an open bag of Cheetos had caused their home in the 5300 block of Cuellar Lane to be infected with ants and bugs. The father rented a room so he could fumigate his home. While he ran errands, del Bosque-Saldivar called him saying their son was unresponsive, accord-
ing to court documents. Del Bosque-Saldivar allegedly agreed to speak to authorities about the case. Asked if anybody else was with her in the room when she noticed the baby unresponsive, she replied that she had been alone with the children about two hours. She allegedly stated that the boy began acting differently after she bathed him. She wanted to wake up the boy because he had not eaten food all day, only gummy worms, records state. About the bite mark, she said her daughter had bitten the boy about a week ago. She claimed the boy did not have bruises when they took him to the clinic in Zapata. Both parents thought the boy was suffering a heat stroke, according to court documents. Authorities noticed that del Bosque-Saldivar did not cry and did not show any emotion during the inter-
view. Deputies said they obtained consent to search the room at Falcon Motel. They said they recovered a white towel with red stains believed to be blood, paper towel/toilet paper with stains believed to be blood and an empty bag of Zombie Mode potpourri, also known as synthetic marijuana or Kush. Records allege the towels were found in the restroom trashcan and the empty potpourri bag was found inside a McDonald’s bag. On Aug. 28, investigators conducted a video interview of del Bosque-Saldivar. She stated she did not know what had happened to her son and she did not known how he had gotten injured. Later in the interview, she stated that her son might have fallen in the tub and gotten injured. Then, she stated that her daughter might have knocked Saldivar off of the bed. Investigators then ques-
tioned her about messages she had sent over Facebook. Records do not specify what the messages were about. Del BosqueSaldivar allegedly said she did not do anything to hurt her son. “(One investigator) then proceeded to exit the room while (another investigator) remained in the interview room with Irene. While (the investigator) remained in the room with Irene, Irene confessed that she had pushed her son against a doorjamb (door frame) after she got frustrated because he kids were running around the hotel room and would not listen to her,” states the complaint. After the hit, the child “started stretching and stiffening his arms and legs,” records allege. The boy died July 30 in McAllen. The investigation continues. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015