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SATURDAY JANUARY 19, 2013
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SOUTHERN BORDER
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Unrelated cases
Ranchers, farmers to get help
FBI: No link between man, slain BP agent By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
McALLEN — A man held in the Edinburg jail on charges he threatened a South Texas sheriff had nothing to do with the 2010 killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona, according to the sheriff and the FBI.
In an interview with the Spanish language network Univision, a man identified as Gustavo Lozano Cruz claims to be a Mexican drug hit man responsible for agent Brian Terry’s death. The man spoke to Univision in an interview in Monterrey, Mexico, before he turned himself in to U.S. author-
ities in Texas. His face was obscured during the interview, but Univision said a crew followed him to the border as he surrendered. Terry was mortally wounded on Dec. 14, 2010, in a firefight north of the Arizona-Mexico border between U.S. agents and five men who had sneak-
ed into the country to rob marijuana smugglers. The killing figures in the Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal because two rifles found at the scene were linked to that botched federal investigation. James Turgal Jr., head
See LINK PAGE 9A
Federal drought aid now available SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
The United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency has declared all counties in the
28th Congressional District a disaster area due to extreme drought, including Zapata County. As a result of this desig-
See ASSISTANCE PAGE 9A
ORGAN DONOR
TRANSPLANT FAMILIES MEET
Photo by John Rhodes/Fort Worth Star-Telegram | AP
Nancy Suarez Lee, right, of North Richland Hills, hugs Ellen DuVernay, second from right, of Gulfport, Miss., near the Baggage Claim at Love Field in Dallas on Thursday. DuVernay’s other daughter Kortney, left, hugs Lee’s daughter Jessica, second from left. When DuVernay’s daughter Brittany Lynn DuVernay Saucier died in a accident, the family donated her lungs to Lee, saving her life.
Donor, recipient meet each other after one life saves another
By ALEX BRANCH FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
DALLAS — Nancy Suarez Lee waited anxiously at Dallas Love Field baggage claim Thursday morning. She had never met the
family arriving on Southwest Airlines flight 1643, but the North Richland Hills woman felt like she knew them. They had communicated for months through telephone calls, text messages and Facebook.
Sixteen months earlier, Lee, 54, underwent a lifesaving double-lung transplant at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. The lungs, she learned more than a year later, came from Brittany Saucier, a
26-year-old wife and mother who died in an accident in Gulfport, Miss. Thursday, Saucier’s mother, younger sister and godmother were trav-
See TRANSPLANTS PAGE 9A
FEDERAL COURT
Brothers plead not guilty in pot case By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
LAREDO — Two Roma brothers arrested Dec. 14 in southern Zapata with more than $800,000 worth of marijuana pleaded not guilty Thursday in federal court in Laredo. An indictment dated Jan.
8 charges Daniel Ramirez and Marco Antonio Ramirez with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 100 kilograms or more of marijuana and possess with intent to distribute 100 kilograms or more of marijuana. Court records state both men waived their presence
at the arraignment but entered a written not guilty plea. The punishment range per each count ranges from five to 40 years in prison, according to the indictment. Both men are out on bail. A final pretrial conference is set for 1:30 p.m. Feb. 11 in Courtroom 3C before U.S. Magistrate Judge Guil-
lermo R. Garcia Jury Selection has been tentatively set for Feb. 15. The brothers had 1,009.2 pounds of marijuana worth $807,360, a criminal complaint dated Dec. 17 states. On Dec. 14, agents assigned to a temporary checkpoint on U.S. 83 in southern Zapata followed a
dark blue 2006 Chevrolet Silverado after it exited the primary inspection lane and made a U-turn. Agents pulled over the driver shortly after. A complaint alleges Marco Antonio Ramirez had 377.90 pounds of marijuana in his vehicle. Moments later, agents detained a Ford
F-150 that had been driving in tandem with the Silverado. Agents identified Daniel Ramirez as the driver. He had bundles of marijuana adding up to 631.30 pounds of marijuana. A complaint alleges they are brothers. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)