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PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Technology High school students to get iPads By RICARDO R. VILLARREAL THE ZAPATA TIMES
Courtesy photo
Shown is a photo of the new Zapata North Elementary School. The contractor said the project is at least two weeks ahead of schedule.
Trustees approved iPads for student use at Tuesday’s school board meeting, and were planning to spend about $500 on each of the wireless devices. Board member Anselmo Tre-
viño Jr. said that as a district “we have to remain innovative and keep up with the times.” Chief Personnel Officer Jose Morales, iPad distribution coordinator Connie Gray and Technology Facilitator Rogelio Gonzalez presented a proposed handbook policy and agreement for
plans to provide all staff and, initially, high school students with iPads. Included in the policy is a usage fee based on income for the privilege of taking the devices home. Students would be responsible
See BOARD PAGE 10A
LAW ENFORCEMENT ARMED FORCES
ON THE FRONT LINES
Compiled from AP reports
A search warrant yielded six firearms and cocaine. Jesus L. Garcia, 48, was charged with possession of a controlled substance.
Cocaine, firearms get 1 arrested Man could face 10 years in prison Photo by Lynn Hey | AP
U.S. Army Capt. Linda L. Bray is seen at home in Clemmons, N.C. During the invasion of Panama in 1989, Bray became the first woman to lead US troops in battle. She was commander of the 988th Military Police.
Women have served, died from the first By CONNIE CASS ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — American women have served and died on the nation’s battlefields from the first. They were nurses and cooks, spies and couriers in the Revolutionary War. Some disguised themselves as men to fight for the Union or the Confederacy. Yet the U.S. mili-
tary’s official acceptance of women in combat took more than two centuries. New roles for females have been doled out fitfully, whenever commanders have gotten in binds and realized they needed women’s help. “The main driver is that it’s been militarily necessary,” says retired Capt. Lory Manning, a 25-year Navy veteran who leads military stud-
ies for the Women’s Research & Education Institute. She points, for example, to creation of the Army Nurse Corps in response to the struggle against disease in the Spanish-American War. Some milestones on the way to this week’s lifting of the ban on women in ground combat jobs:
From the first They didn’t wear uniforms, but the Army hired women as nurses, cooks and laundresses during the American Revolution. Women were also spies and saboteurs. They carried George Washington’s messages across enemy lines to his generals.
See WOMEN PAGE 10A
By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Investigators found small amounts of cocaine and six firearms after executing a search warrant Jan. 10 in the 100 block of Flores Avenue. Zapata County Sheriff ’s deputies arrested Jesus L. Garcia, 48, and charged him with possession of a controlled substance, a third-degree felony punishable with a maximum of 10 years in prison. Justice of the Peace Jose Clemente Gutierrez set a $5,000 bond. Garcia is out on bond. Sgt. Mario Elizondo said deputies went inside the home looking for nar-
cotics and found firearms they believed were stolen. Elizondo said investiGARCIA gators seized less than 2 grams of cocaine. During their search, investigators came across six hunting rifles and a revolver for which the defendant could not immediately prove ownership. Elizondo said investigators seized the weapons to investigate. No weapons charges have been filed against Garcia. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
COLLEGE FINANCES
Financial aid program may get changed By JIM VERTUNO ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — The popular Texas Grants financial aid program needs a lot more money if the state is going to keep up with the goal of helping poor students get the degrees they’ll need to work, education officials say. Texas education officials see two trends: growing numbers of poor students who will want to go to college and increasing demand
by employers that workers have some level of college education. But lawmakers for the first time cut funding for the Texas Grants program in 2011, leaving it able to cover only about 59 percent of eligible students. The mission of the Texas Grants program “is simply not sustainable” without more money or changes in how awards are granted, Higher Education Coordinating Board Commissioner Raymund Paredes told state
lawmakers this week. Created in 1999, the Texas Grants program has spent more than $2 billion in financial aid and helped 300,000 students. The Higher Education Coordinating Board has asked the Legislature to put $164 million back into the program over the next two years or take other steps to drop the average award almost in half and require students to enroll in a minimum of 12 hours per semes-
ter. That could allow the state to spread the money around to more students. After a decade of soaring tuition costs in Texas, “this is a critical time for higher education to remain affordable and available,” board Chairman Fred Heldenfels told lawmakers. State figures show that about 60 percent of children enrolled in Texas public schools now qualify as economically disadvantaged. And according to a study by
Georgetown University, 65 percent of jobs in the U.S. will require some level of postsecondary education by 2020. That’s compared with just 28 percent in 1973. Compounding the problem is the soaring cost of education. Texas deregulated tuition rates in 2003, allowing campuses to set their own, and since then the average student at a state university has seen their tuition and fees jump by 55 percent.
Those factors put the state economy at risk of “decades of declining competitiveness” if lawmakers don’t act, Heldenfels said. Sen. Judith Zaffirini, DLaredo, who has championed Texas Grants, was doubtful the program would get all the money officials want, but is willing to consider the proposed changes to how grants are awarded. “In my dreams, I would
See FINANCES PAGE 10A
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
SATURDAY, JAN. 26
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium will show “Attack of the Space Pirates” at 3 p.m.; “Extreme Planets” at 4 p.m.; and “Wonders of the Universe” at 5 p.m. General admission is $4 children and $5 adults. Premium shows are $1 more. For more information, call 956-326-3663. Los Carnales/La Familia Benefit Plate Sale for Sacred Heart Children’s Home. The chicken-sausage plate sale ($6 donation) runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Cowboys Country Bar, 5507 McPherson Road.
TUESDAY, JAN. 29 Kiwanis Club of Laredo meets weekly from noon to 1 p.m. Guest speakers are usually on tap. New members are welcomed. For info, call Memo Cavazos at 956-337-2266.
THURSDAY, JAN. 31 Los Amigos Duplicate Bridge Club will meet at the Laredo Country Club from 1:15 p.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call Beverly Cantu at 7270589.
FRIDAY, FEB. 1 The Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium will show "Force 5: Nature Unleashed" at 6 p.m. and "Wonders of the Universe" at 7 p.m. General admission is $4 for children and $5 adults. Premium shows are $1 more. For more information, call 956-326-3663.
SATURDAY, FEB. 2 First United Methodist Church will hold a used book sale from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1220 McClelland Ave. Hardback books are $1, paperback books 50 cents, and magazines and children’s books 25 cents. Women’s City Club steak plate sale will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Dr. Ike’s parking lot. Tickets are $5 each. Contact Nancy de Anda at 763-9960 for ticket information. The Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium will show: "One World, One Sky: Big Bird’s Adventure" at 3 p.m.; "Origins of Life" at 4 p.m.; and "Violent Universe" at 5 p.m. Matinee show is $4. General admission is $4 for children and $5 adults. For more information, call 956-326-3663.
TUESDAY, FEB. 5 Les Amis will hold its monthly luncheon at the Holiday Inn at 11:30. This month’s honorees are Maria Eugenia Garcia, Velia Herrera, Mary Lou Solis and Yolanda Gonzalez. This month’s hostesses are Viola Moore, Yolanda J. Gonzalez and Rebecca Martinez. The Alzheimer’s support group will meet at 7 p.m. in Building B’s Meeting Room 2 at the Laredo Medical Center, 1700 E. Saunders St. The support group is for family members and caregivers taking care of someone who has Alzheimer’s. For more information, call Melissa L. Guerra at 956-6939991.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 6 The IBC 2012-2013 Keynote Speaker Series features Dr. Pia Orrenius, assistant vice president and senior economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the TAMIU Student Center Ballroom. Orrenius will present “What’s Behind High Hispanic Poverty Rates?” The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 3262820 or visit http://freetrade.tamiu.edu/whtc_services/whtc_speaker_series.asp. The pre-Lenten all you can eat pancake supper is from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at First United Methodist Church’s Fellowship Hall, 1220 McClelland Ave. Admission is free, but free-will donations will be accepted.
THURSDAY, FEB. 7 The Ruthe B. Cowl Rehabilitation Center will host a meet-and-greet for physicians in Laredo and surrounding areas from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. For more information, call 956-722-2431.
FRIDAY, FEB. 8 The Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium will show "Two Small Pieces of Glass" at 6 p.m. and "Secrets of the Sun" at 7 p.m. General admission is $4 for children and $5 adults. Premium shows are $1 more. For more information, call 956-326-3663.
Photo by AP
Lance Armstrong listens as he is interviewed by talk show host Oprah Winfrey during taping for the show "Oprah and Lance Armstrong: The Worldwide Exclusive" in Austin. Armstrong confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France cycling during the interview that aired Thursday, Jan. 17, reversing more than a decade of denial.
Cyclist to help ‘clean up’ By JIM VERTUNO ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — An attorney for Lance Armstrong told the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency the cyclist will cooperate with efforts to "clean up cycling," though it’s the sport’s governing body and world anti-doping officials who should take the lead. In letters sent this week between attorneys for Armstrong and USADA, and obtained by The Associated Press, USADA attorney William Bock requested Armstrong testify under oath by Feb. 6, but the cyclist’s attorney, Tim Herman, responds that Armstrong cannot accommodate that schedule. Last week, Armstrong admitted to taking performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France seven times. Herman’s letter said Armstrong intends to appear before the International Cycling
Union’s planned "truth and reconciliation" commission. Herman says the cycling union and the World Anti-Doping Agency should take the lead in cleaning up the sport. "As you have candidly confirmed, USADA has no authority to investigate, prosecute or otherwise involve itself with the other 95 percent of cycling competitors. Thus, in order to achieve the goal of ’cleaning up cycling,’ it must be WADA and the UCI who have overall authority to do so." The letter from USADA also confirms a Dec. 14 meeting between Bock, USADA CEO Travis Tygart, Herman and Armstrong. "Mr. Armstrong has already been provided well over a month since our meeting in December to consider whether he is going to be part of our ongoing efforts to clean up the sport of cycling," Tygart said in a statement.
Teacher, 60, accused of student relationship
Woman to die next week loses clemency bid
Judge to decide if teen is to be tried as adult
PENITAS — A 60-year-old Spanish teacher has been charged with having an improper relationship with an 18-yearold female student. A spokeswoman for the La Joya Independent School District said Friday that Ruperto Salinas Villalon has been put on administrative leave. Police on Jan. 8 responded to an incident at Palmview High School.
HUNTSVILLE — The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has unanimously refused a clemency request from a Dallas County woman set to die next week for the slaying and robbery of a retired 71-year-old college psychology professor at her home. Attorneys for Kimberly McCarthy had sought a 120-day reprieve from her scheduled Tuesday execution and that her sentence be commuted to life.
EDINBURG — A judge says he’ll decide next week whether a 17-year-old boy charged with attempted murder will stand trial as a juvenile or an adult. The boy, whose name is withheld because he is a juvenile, was age 16 on July 3 when authorities say he shot at a fleeing vehicle driven by a federal agent.
Ex-border county workers Boy Scouts recruit help to plead guilty to charges restore burned park DEL RIO — Three former employees of a South Texas county under a federal corruption investigation have pleaded guilty in a kickback scheme relating to county contracts. Former Maverick County auditor’s worker Alejandra Garcia pleaded guilty Thursday to taking a bribe, published reports state.
BASTROP — The Boy Scouts of America are recruiting volunteers to help reforest a popular Central Texas campground devastated by 2011 wildfires. The Texas A&M Forest Service says nearly half of the 5,000acre Griffith League Scout Ranch was left charred by wildfires that destroyed 32,400 acres of timber and 1,660 homes.
Dozens of dogs taken from home after mauling BROWNSVILLE — Authorities seized more than 25 dogs from a small home after a number of them turned on their owners while being fed. Neighbors and others came to the aid of two women who were mauled Thursday at their Brownsville home. Sixty-threeyear-old Josefina Ledezma and 51-year-old Estela Regalado suffered multiple bites and taken to a hospital for treatment. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION MIT students studying Big Island volcano vog KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii — Students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been on the Big Island studying a vog plume from near the Kilauea crater. The students spent about a week studying vog, also called volcanic smog, aimed at providing undergraduates with handson experience in environmental fieldwork.
Sunken wooden vessels raised, towed to town HOMER, Alaska — Two wooden fishing boats that sank last month have been raised and towed to Homer. The Kupreanof and the Leading Lady are to be moved from Homer Harbor to a boat yard for auctioning or disposal. The vessels spilled an estimated 50 gallons of diesel fuel.
Today is Saturday, Jan. 26, the 26th day of 2013. There are 339 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Jan. 26, 1788, the first European settlers in Australia, led by Capt. Arthur Phillip, landed in present-day Sydney. On this date: In 1784, in a letter to his daughter Sally, Benjamin Franklin expressed unhappiness over the choice of the eagle as the symbol of America, and stated his own preference: the turkey. In 1837, Michigan became the 26th state. In 1870, Virginia rejoined the Union. In 1939, during the Spanish Civil War, rebel forces led by Gen. Francisco Franco captured Barcelona. In 1942, the first American Expeditionary Force to go to Europe during World War II arrived in Belfast, Northern Ireland. In 1950, India officially proclaimed itself a republic as Rajendra Prasad took the oath of office as president. In 1962, the United States launched Ranger 3 to land scientific instruments on the moon — but the probe ended up missing its target by more than 22,000 miles. Charles “Lucky” Luciano, a leading Mafia figure in the U.S., died in Naples, Italy, at age 64. In 1973, actor Edward G. Robinson died in Los Angeles at age 79. In 1979, former Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller died in New York at age 70. In 1988, Australians celebrated the 200th anniversary of their country as a grand parade of tall ships re-enacted the voyage of the first European settlers. The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “Phantom of the Opera” opened at Broadway’s Majestic Theater. In 1993, Vaclav Havel was elected president of the newly formed Czech Republic. In 1998, President Bill Clinton forcefully denied having an affair with a former White House intern, telling reporters, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.” Ten years ago: Secretary of State Colin Powell, citing Iraq’s lack of cooperation with U.N. inspectors, said he’d lost faith in the inspectors’ ability to conduct a definitive search for banned weapons programs. Today’s Birthdays: Actress Anne Jeffreys is 90. Actress Joan Leslie is 88. Cartoonist Jules Feiffer is 84. Sportscaster-actor Bob Uecker is 78. Actor Scott Glenn is 74. Singer Jean Knight is 70. Activist Angela Davis is 69. Rock musician Corky Laing (Mountain) is 65. Actor David Strathairn is 64. Alt-country singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams is 60. Rock singer-musician Eddie Van Halen is 58. Reggae musician Norman Hassan (UB40) is 55. Actress-comedian-talk show host Ellen DeGeneres is 55. Hockey Hall-of-Famer Wayne Gretzky is 52. Musician Andrew Ridgeley is 50. Rhythm-and-blues singer Jazzie B. (Soul II Soul) is 50. Actor Paul Johansson is 49. Gospel singer Kirk Franklin is 43. Actress Jennifer Crystal is 40. Rock musician Chris Hesse (Hoobastank) is 39. Thought for Today: “Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one’s thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (GU’tuh), German poet, dramatist and author (1749-1832).
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Prisoners walk to a bus at the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center, in Lexington, Okla., on Thursday. The prisons director told lawmakers Thursday that he needs more money is his budget, including money for pay raises.
Lawmakers want to make sure kids eat breakfast DENVER — Colorado Democratic lawmakers say they want to ensure children are eating
breakfast by requiring schools to serve the meal for free after the first bell of the day. Schools that have 70 percent of more students who qualify for free or reduced lunch would be required to participate. — 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
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013
THE BLOTTER ASSAULT Marco A. Cavazos, 43, and Elma E. Rodriguez, 47, were arrested and charged with assault at about 8 a.m. Jan. 18 in the 2300 block of Alamo Street. The couple was released for future court appearance. Derly Sanchez, 42, was arrested and charged with assault at about 2:45 a.m. Jan. 20 in the 900 block of Bravo Avenue. He is out on bond. Ruben S. Villarreal, 17, was arrested and charged with two counts of assault at about 11:30 a.m. Jan. 22 in the 700 block of Glenn Street. He is out on bail. Deputies detained two female juveniles and charged them with assault at about 3 p.m. Tuesday at Zapata Middle School. They were referred to juvenile probation.
CRUELTY TO ANIMALS A 54-year-old woman reported at the sheriff’s office at 2:17 p.m. Jan. 17 that she witnessed two men killing two dogs in an area near Falcon Lake. She also stated the men threw rocks at the dogs. Deputies responded to the scene but did not locate the dead dogs or the suspects.
DWI Armandina Peña, 35, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated around midnight Jan. 20 in the 3G’s parking lot located along Zapata Avenue. She is out on a $3,000 bond.
MIP Jaime Garza, 19, was arrested and charged with minor in possession of alcohol at about 10:30 p.m. at the Stripes parking lot in the 100 block of North U.S. 83. He was fined $250. Ovidio Garza Jr., 19; Juan A. Gonzalez, 18, and Luis Saenz, 19, were all arrested and charged with minor in possession of alcohol at about 12:30 a.m. Jan. 20 in the 100 block of North U.S. 83. Saenz was additionally charged with public intoxication. Garza and Gonzalez were fined $250. Saenz was fined $500.
POSSESSION Mario A. Martinez Jr. 20, was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana at about 2:30 .m. Jan. 20 by 11th Avenue and U.S. 83. He is out on bail.
PUBLIC INTOXICATION Alfredo Hernandez, 63, was arrested and charged with public intoxication at about 10:45 p.m. Jan. 19 by 10th and Juarez Avenue. He was released for future court appearance. Derly Torres Jr., 23, and Jesse Sanchez, 20, were arrested and charged with public intoxication at about 5:30 a.m. Jan. 20 by Seventh Street and Zapata Avenue. Both people were released for future court appearance.
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
Park operates south of town SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
Camping, picnicking, or fishing are some of the activities available to the public at Falcon State Park, located 30 miles south of Zapata. Superintendent of Falcon State Park Carlos Rivas
showed a video as he described recreation at the park at the January meeting of the Zapata County Retired School Employees Association. Other features at the park include bird watching, boating, rock hunting, hiking and handicap access. A fee is charged for entry to the park,
and reservations can be made for tent and camping sites.
Open year around Assisting Rivas was Esmeralda Pilon, park office manager. The park is open year round with a park offi-
cial on duty at all times. Rivas stated people from all areas of the United States have visited the park, since the lake is known to be a top bass fishing lake. Park officials suggest visitors learn of park regulations by contacting the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept.
Affordable housing is goal By JESSICA SAVAGE CORPUS CHRISTI CALLER-TIMES
CORPUS CHRISTI — Luis Garza remembers the frequent police raids at four rundown houses across the street from his home. It happened so often that he and his family developed a nickname for the police. They called them ninjas because of their masterful ability to surprise the drug dealers and prostitutes who frequented the area. Those days are over. A developer bought the four houses on the corner and tore them down. In their place are eight new cottage houses called the Oak Park Cottages — the first development of its kind in Corpus Christi under a new set of ordinances. “This was a bad neighborhood, but ever since they built those houses it has pushed the evil out of here,” Garza said. The transformation in Oak Park, at the corner of Mueller Street and Erwin Avenue, is what city planners hoped for when they wrote the cottage housing ordinance, said Julio Dimas, interim senior project manager with the city’s development services. “The intent is to take an existing lot and redevelop them into smaller, more efficient lots and do an infill for a neighborhood that needs some revitalization,” Dimas said. “That first one is truly the intent of it.” Under the ordinance, an acre can be subdivided to fit
Photo by Michael Zamora/Corpus Christi Caller Times | AP
George Hodge Jr., chairman of Advance Housing Alternatives Corporation, stands in front of a clear lot as he explains his plans to create a cottage housing development on the west side of Corpus Christi. more houses than what once was allowed. It’s especially useful for older neighborhoods ripe for revitalization, which includes areas on the city’s Westside and Northside where there are pockets of dilapidated, abandoned houses on small lots, Dimas said. The trend toward smaller lots and houses, known as cottage housing, hasn’t quite caught on yet in Corpus Christi as the ordinances still are new and developers are waiting to see how it’s used. As more developments are finished others will see the benefits, Dimas said. There are plans for a cottage housing subdivision on the Southside near the intersection of Slough and Rodd
Field roads. The land has been subdivided, but construction hasn’t started for the Braselton Homes project. George Hodge Jr., who developed Oak Park Cottages, also has plans for another project called Bohemian Colony Cottages, off Greenwood Drive near Saratoga Boulevard. The Braselton and Bohemian projects are on undeveloped pieces of land, which can be easier because developers usually are dealing with a couple land owners instead of several individual landowners in a developed neighborhood, Dimas said. That didn’t deter developer Hodge from moving ahead with the project in Oak Park. He had a more pressing rea-
son for building the homes — the need for affordable housing. There is a shortage of housing for residents who are living just above the poverty line and aren’t eligible for public housing. “The need is tremendous,” Hodge said. “When we talk about affordable, we talk about decent and sanitary living conditions.” There are 836 families on a waiting list to live in Section 8 housing, which allows low-income families to lease an apartment or house at a reduced cost, according to Corpus Christi Housing Authority data as of 2010. Section 8 housing is available to families who earn too much income to qualify for public housing.
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
Valley gal wants to be governor AUSTIN — We have our first announced 2014 gubernatorial candidate, and I see no need for any others. For pure entertainment value, it’ll be hard to do better than Republican Miriam Martinez, a Rio Grande Valley resident who’s moving to Austin. Her candidacy was announced this week in a release, from a former Martinez business partner, touting her as ”a renowned international journalist,” as well as a small-business owner and losing 2012 candidate for a Texas House seat. I had been unaware of Martinez’s international renown as a journalist. But that’s just me. With a past in South Texas television stations, Martinez, 40, now hosts the thrice-weekly, hourlong ”Red Hot Texas Politics with Miriam Martinez” on KIRT radio in the Rio Grande Valley. Martinez pays the station to air her show. She told me she’s done a variety of things at border-area TV stations, include selling ads. The McAllen Monitor, in a story about her candidacy, said that prior to her 2012 House race she was ”perhaps best known for her broadcast work at Univision and an interview with the San Antonio Express-News about her extensive cosmetic surgery.” Martinez told the Monitor, ”I’m your Hispanic Margaret Thatcher; half Eva Peron and a little touch of Madonna.” And the Hispanic Margaret Thatcher is sure she can beat potential GOP primary foes Gov. Rick Perry and state Attorney General Greg Abbott. ”I don’t see Abbott as a threat,” she told the McAllen paper, ”I don’t see Perry as a threat. The difference between them and myself is I’m Martinez. And there are more Martinez(es) in Texas than Abbott(s) and Perry (s).” Martinez, who was born in Reynosa, Mexico, and became a U.S. citizen in 2010, initially ran as a Democrat in her losing bid last year for a Texas House seat. She switched to the GOP primary and got 54 percent of the vote in defeating a guy who dropped out of the race because of illness. She got 38 percent in losing to Democrat Robert Guerra in the general election in the heavily Democratic district. ”The level of corruption in South Texas is amazing,” Martinez told me, adding, ”I’ve been a journalist and I’ve been around all that, and I’m sick and tired of it.” I get a vibe that she’s something of a self-pro-
“
KEN HERMAN
moter, but what politician (and what journalist) isn’t? She harbors a favorable view of the journalistic skills she showed after working her way up from receptionist. ”I would bring the exclusive stories. I was the go-getter. I intimidated and scared everybody,” she said. Martinez recounted a visit by then-Gov. George W. Bush to her area. ”I told my camera guy, ’You need to be ready because I’m going to interview George W. Bush.’ He (the camera guy, not Bush) laughed at me. As soon as he arrived, I was right there. He (Bush) was holding my arm and I said, ’Are you ready to convert a Democrat into a Republican?’ We had a nice conversation, and everybody was in shock,” Martinez recalled. That is some prize-winning journalism right there. And speaking of prizewinning journalism, I was quite the go-getter in delving into Martinez’s cosmetic surgery, a topic I don’t recall broaching with any other politician. (I never asked, but I thought 2010 gubernatorial candidate Farouk Shami had a little work done.) Martinez was miffed at the questioning. I, far above such trivial matters, didn’t feel good about it either. But I knew you’d be interested. In a 2005 report about cosmetic surgery in Mexico, the San Antonio Express-News included a story about south-of-theborder procedures that went well. ”After bearing two children, Univision broadcaster Miriam Martinez began to worry at the age of 27 how she looked on camera,” the story began. ”Blond, good-looking and still petite, Martinez wanted plastic surgery to correct what she perceived as flaws.” Martinez offered a pretty specific comment about the surgery. Let’s just say it involved something resulting from keeping her kids wellnourished when they were young. She told me, ”I don’t call it extensive, but it was something that was needed.” She was pleased with the results and wound up doing commercials for the surgeon. I’m glad it worked out well, and I wish Martinez safe travels on the campaign trail. (E-mail: kherman@statesman.com.)
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.
WORST WEEK IN WASHINGTON
Queries bite GOP senator By CHRIS CILLIZZA THE WASHINGTON POST
Wednesday didn’t start out badly for Sen. Ronald H. Johnson. Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin who was elected in 2010, drew national headlines — and praise from conservatives — for pushing Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on the origins of the Sept. 11 attack on an American outpost in Benghazi, Libya. At a hearing in front
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Clinton choked up when discussing Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and the three other Americans who died that day. Then, in an interview after the hearing, Johnson suggested that Clinton’s emotional moments were just a tactic to avoid tough questioning. "I think she just decided . . . she was going to describe emotionally the four dead Americans, the he-
roes, and use that as her trump card to get out of the questions," Johnson told BuzzFeed. "It was a good way of getting out of really having to respond to me." Oh no, he didn’t! It’s one thing to disagree about whether the genesis of the Benghazi attack is critical to understanding how to prevent future assaults. It’s another entirely to insinuate that Clinton cried on command, faking tears to avoid facing the music. Johnson, sensing he had
gotten too far out over his skis, eased back on Thursday. "Maybe I shouldn’t have speculated" about the reasons for Clinton’s emotions, he told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien. "I probably speculated, and I shouldn’t have." To quote myself at 10 years old: No duh. Ron Johnson, for forgetting that questioning someone’s motives is always a losing strategy, you had the worst week in Washington. Congrats, or something.
COLUMN
George doesn’t need last name By O. RICARDO PIMENTEL EXPRESS-NEWS COLUMNIST
See. I don’t even have to use the last name and many of you know who this is, though his tio, W, has him beat on name abbreviation. Many calculate that P is a future governor, attorney general, land commissioner or, apparently, holder of whatever statewide office presents itself first in Texas. And someday? You didn’t hear it here first — President P. But, of course, were it not for the surname-thatneed-not-be-mentioned, he’d have to work much harder to be mentioned. No, that’s not quite right. Mexican roots also burnish his star stature. He represents the perfect mixture of dynasty and just-regular-folks (who also happen to be a growing portion of the electorate). P is thrown into some pretty fast company on this question of whether Republicans can cut themselves bigger portions of this pie. Marco Rubio, Florida’s wunderkind U.S. senator, and our newly elected Sen.
George P. already has a head start on Latinos envisioning him on that tamal line. Ted Cruz are also mentioned — more often, actually, since each has already won high office. But, in the Southwest anyway, P has some things going for him. His roots on his mother’s side are in Guanajuato, Mexico. That’s where Columba Bush was born and where she met her future husband, exchange student Jeb. And P, though he reportedly supported tea party darling Cruz, has, near as I can tell, avoided that label. He should keep it that way. If the Republican Party needs anything, it’s something new. I called to see if George P., in fact, represents this new way. That was last week; no return call. But let’s suppose that P, though conservative, is more H W than T.C. Cruz. Let’s say also that he is more than a soothing tone — Rubio — and has an
open mind on the role of government in investing in opportunity. Such a change would represent a paradigm shift for the Texas GOP, might actually be the real deal in canceling Democratic advantage with Latinos. As political scientist Cal Jillson of Southern Methodist University explains, P likely doesn’t have to contort rightward to win votes in a Texas primary. And in the general, he stands a good chance of denying a Democratic candidate the Latino votes crucial to winning statewide. We would then, of course, see phenomenal pressure on the Castro brothers to run statewide. Coming down the pike for George P. is the Latino litmus test. Cruz is familiar with this. No Latino candidate should have to be. Regional ethnic identity is a fact of life but gauging whether someone is really,
DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
truly all Latino is an exercise in exclusion and alludes to a purity that doesn’t and cannot exist. Nonetheless, George P. already passes on one wellknown level. He has raised nearly $1.5 million through family and the family ”network.” This is soooo Mexican. If you’re in this group, you’ve probably lost count how many times you’ve helped a family member clean, paint, cook, build, move or pay a bill. Our old cars don’t become tradeins. They go to brothers, sisters and kids. This is not exclusively Mexican, but the culture of the family tamal assembly line could take a patent out on it. The Bush lineage, for W anyway, didn’t shut down his regular-guy image. So George P. already has a head start on Latinos envisioning him on that tamal line. If he cultivates this and embraces policies that appeal — or at least don’t alienate — therein lies a winning strategy in an increasingly Latino Texas. (o.ricardo.pimentelexpress-news.net)
State
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
Jitney’s once served Dallas commuters By ROY APPLETON THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
DALLAS — The stub of a metal pole still juts from the triangular plot of land. It’s all that’s left of a state historical marker dedicated there in May 1974. A grand pecan tree still graces the grounds along Sylvan Avenue at Seale Street in West Dallas. But gone are the plants laid in for the marker ceremony. Long gone are Victor and Willie Bilbo, who lived there after their marriage in 1913. The marker was probably stolen for its metal. So the assumption goes. But there is no melting away its message, no denying the past presence of Victor and Willie’s Bilbo Jitney Line. These days, buses, taxis, light rail and an expanding streetcar system offer public transportation around Dallas. For such service in 1915, the city had three privately owned streetcar companies and a horse-drawn wagon here and there. Plus those up-and-comers: the motorcar and truck. Demand for such mobility was brisk across the nation that year, with Texas reporting an estimated 77,000 automobiles. Enterprising motor vehicle own-
ers — or even renters — put them to work, carrying passengers along a loosely scheduled route for a fee. Jitneys, or jitney buses, the rides were called. As in jitney, slang for nickel, a typical fare. They began operating in Dallas in January 1915 and numbered more than 500 a month later, the local streetcar companies’ manager reported that year. Nationwide, the streetcar industry became concerned about this unregulated competition. Jitney drivers “would lay in wait, and when they would see a streetcar coming, they would pull up and offer their riders cheaper fare,” said Johnnie Myers, who is writing a history of Dallas streetcar lines. Dallas leaders responded by imposing rules, such as requiring jitney drivers to post a bond, secure a chauffeur’s license and prohibit passengers from riding on vehicle doors. While the city, streetcar interests and jitney operators wrangled in court, Victor “Red” Bilbo built a business, moving people between the downtown courthouse and points west. In 1915, at age 21, he started driving for jitney operator V.G. Schrader, learning quickly that the job required more than skill with
a steering wheel. “When two competitive drivers met on the mud or dirt road, they stopped the car and fought for the right of way,” Graneta Bilbo Goodwin wrote in a biography of her father. “Passengers waited patiently, then proceeded with the winning driver.” Goodwin’s unpublished biography, Wheels, and recollections-based research for the Bilbo Jitney historical marker continue the story. After several weeks of conflict, Schrader wanted out and sold Bilbo his fleet, two Ford Model T touring cars, for $160. The Bilbo Jitney Line rolled on, bringing motorized public transportation to western Dallas County, linking downtown and the likes of Cement City, the oil company center of Gates, the Sowers and Eagle Ford communities and Irving. And, in time, serving Cedar Hill, Midlothian and Grapevine. Downtown, Bilbo drivers circled the courthouse square or parked on Commerce Street near where the Kennedy Memorial now stands. Their routes west included Commerce Street, near the future marker site, and Eagle Ford Road, today’s Singleton Boulevard. The neighborhoods could be rough, as could the un-
paved roads. Flat tires, breakdowns, wrecks and run-ins with opposing drivers were part of the experience. Workers, shoppers, schoolchildren, anyone paying the fare climbed aboard Bilbo’s sometimes-packed rides. When all the seats of the five-passenger Model T’s were filled, “people sat on the doors; stood on the wide running boards; sat on the fenders; and in sunny weather . sat on the car top and hung their feet over the back of the car,” C.L. “Slim” Alexander, a Bilbo jitney driver, recalled in a 1973 letter of support for the historical marker. The Model T’s were replaced with Chryslers, Packards, a Studebaker and other cars in what became an eight-vehicle fleet. Whatever they drove, Bilbo men would deliver passengers to their home in bad weather and food and prescription drugs to the ill. Free rides to school events, church and Sunday school were a common courtesy. “I can never forget the gratitude I felt for the transportation service provided for the West Dallas area by V.C. Bilbo and his fleet of jitneys,” Mabelle Robinson wrote in a marker support letter. “The drivers were our neighbors and friends, and
we greeted them and our fellow riders by name.” In a 1965 interview with The Dallas Morning News, Bilbo recalled fighting to protect his routes and how his wife, who kept the books, would heat water on cold mornings to pour on his vehicles’ carburetors. He told of hauling goods, as well as people. And he recalled bouncing a young Bonnie Parker, the outlawto-be, on his knee. Bilbo’s jitney ride lasted 12 years, ending in 1927 after the Texas Railroad Commission gained authority to regulate the state’s bus services. In her biography, Graneta Bilbo Goodwin said a “national bus company” had secured a permit to operate her father’s route and others and he was “told that Jitneys were no longer in business.” In the end, rising costs and increasing regulations ended the jitneys’ run, Johnnie Myers said. Bilbo went on to expand his trucking business. Bilbo Transports, almost a century old, is now owned by his grandson, Allan Bilbo, in Irving. Victor and Willie Bilbo retired to their ranch near Fort Worth in 1955, and both died in 1968. Goodwin, a history buff, spent years compiling her father’s story and pursuing
other projects, such as a marker for the La Reunion colony cemetery in West Dallas. She and her brother, Victor Bilbo Jr., sponsored the Bilbo Jitney Line marker. “She was heartbroken” when the piece turned up missing, recalled her son, Larry Goodwin, and didn’t want to replace it. “She said it’s not worth the money because it will just get stolen again.” Graneta Goodwin died in 1996. T.L. Wheeler Jr., an attorney and West Dallas property owner, apparently wanted to help right the wrong. Texas Historical Commission records show that he paid $402 for a replacement marker and that the “dedication material” was sent to him in October 1991. But the commission has no proof it was actually installed. Members of the Bilbo family say they didn’t know Wheeler, who died last year, and had never heard about a marker replacement. A member of the Dallas County Historical Commission said that group also had no information about such a project. A longtime Wheeler employee said he often supported people and causes in West Dallas, but she, too, hadn’t heard about a marker or the Bilbo Jitney Line.
Police officers wear badges, stethoscopes By MICHELLE MONDO SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
SAN ANTONIO — Kneeling next to Roxana Tenorio, officer Jose Garay told himself he would not let her die. A car speeding the wrong way on Loop 410 after the driver fled a burglary had slammed into a motorcycle she was riding on with her husband. He didn’t survive the impact, but she still was breathing. Garay, trained in trauma care, knew Tenorio was in serious trouble. He is one of 36 San Antonio police officers in a unit that combines law enforcement and advanced life-saving techniques — a rarity among police departments nationwide. Since the unit launched in 2010, officers have treated more than 360 people and at least 20 patients may have been saved, police statistics show. “It was her femur,” Garay said about the September crash. “We have major blood vessels in the leg and the bones. When they break, they are like knives. So it’s like all those very sharp knives tore up her leg.” EMS was just a couple of minutes away. But in trauma care, life or death can be measured in seconds. Garay grabbed his medic bag. Mosquitoes buzzed around his face as he set to work putting a tourniquet on Tenorio’s leg, wrapping a collar on her neck and running an IV. When EMS got there, all she needed was a quick assessment. University Hospital surgeons told Garay’s supervisors that without such quick care, Tenorio likely would have died. Integrating militarystyle first aid, often referred to as “buddy aid,” into officer training is something more departments should do, said Alexander Eastman, a Dallas police lieutenant and trauma surgeon. “It’s exceedingly rare” to have a dual role of officer and emergency medical provider, said Eastman, who’s also the medical director for the Texas Tactical Police Officers Association. “To train them and make it a priority is a great example for other departments to follow,” he said. Of the department’s more than 2,300 sworn officers, 35 men and one woman make up SAPD’s Tactical Medic Unit. They attend SWAT school, are certified with the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians, main-
Photo by Edward A. Ornelas/The San Antonio Express-News | AP
San Antonio Police Department officer Justin Remmers, one of 36 officers in SAPD’s Tac Medic unit, leaves the scene of a one-car crash in December in San Antonio. The program has been credited with saving at least 20 of the more than 300 patients the officers have treated. tain a Texas Department of Health EMT license and are trained in current Tactical Combat Casualty Care standards. “It really is an emphasis that they are law enforcement officers and that is their expectation,” said Dr. Craig Manifold, the medical director for the San Antonio Fire Department EMS Division and overseer of the program. “Secure that scene and make that scene safe ... then transition to medic side.” As part of the basic peace officer course, the state requires 16 hours of emergency medical training; and usually basic first aid and CPR is as advanced as it gets, said SAPD officer Richard Smith, who helps oversee the unit with Sgt. Edward Klauer. Police usually partner with fire departments and train with those medics for high-risk situations, they said, but even then, EMTs or firefighters aren’t allowed to go into a hostile situation such as a shooting. Dr. Thomas Scalea, the physician-in-chief at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center, said the program, if run successfully, makes sense. “It’s arming the pre-hospital (personnel) with tools to essentially take the tech-
nology further out from the hospital,” he said. “It’s a lot of work, but those of us that have done that believe it translates into lives saved and that’s why we’re here.” Gunfire erupted at 2:42 a.m. July 19 in the Cowboys Dancehall parking lot. Officer Gabriel Rosas was eating dinner at a nearby restaurant. He and another officer rushed to the club in about two minutes. Another officer already had a suspect in custody and control of the scene. Rosas used the skills he gained from two tours in Iraq as an Army medic and focused on how to best treat three people at once. “The trauma here is more aimed at gunshot wounds that we can treat really well, as opposed to overseas with blast injuries,” Rosas said. As he gave oxygen to the victim closest to death, Rosas instructed another officer and bystanders. Someone did chest compressions for one victim while others placed a special bandage on the second victim’s chest wound. Rosas also told a bystander how to apply pressure to the abdomen wound. When the first EMS unit arrived within seven minutes of the call, Rosas gave its members an update and handed off the patient in
the worst condition. He continued treating the other two victims, including using an advanced lifesaving technique called needle decompression — inserting a 31/4-inch needle between the victim’s second and third rib — to help alleviate pressure from the gunshot wounds to the chest, he said. Doctors reported that Rosas’ actions helped save two of the victims, according to his supervisors. One person did not survive. The SAPD program is modeled after the Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue Unit, or BORSTAR, and the Border Patrol was a critical catalyst, organizers said. The federal agents still do the tactical combat training for the officers. Beginning in 1998 to curb deaths of illegal immigrants, BORSTAR agents are trained in various search-and-rescue techniques and tactical medicine, among other skills, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The agents also get their EMT certification. Jason Wood, the Del Rio Sector BORSTAR commander, was on the team that created the federal program. Wood also helped train some of the SAPD officers. He said the idea for the city’s project began in 2009, when liaisons from the Border Patrol brought
up cross-training. The unit took a hiatus in 2010 so Manifold and the city could make sure officers wouldn’t be liable if they bypassed patients. They found they were on solid legal footing. The extra medical resources the officers provide could be instrumental in a mass casualty situation, organizers said. In November, the unit trained for a movie theater shooting. “Now you have officers that have knowledge on how to stop bleeding, stabilize fractured limbs, clear airways. ... A lot of them are simple, but they are life-saving in traumatic incidents,” Wood said. The driver was trapped. His leg was crushed by the car’s dashboard, which had folded from the impact of slamming into the utility pole; his left arm dangled in his red sweatshirt sleeve, the bones creating an unnatural 90-degree angle. Officer Justin Remmers yelled to him, “I need you to stop moving. OK? OK? You have to stop moving.” Remmers was the first responder at the intersection where the car crashed. He assessed the situation before running back to his patrol car to grab his large black backpack. The driver needed to be cut out of the vehicle, so Remmers could only make sure his neck was still. He
would be the only patient on that shift. “One week I had three patient contacts, but another time I went more than a month without treating anyone,” he said. He was credited with helping save the life of a gunshot victim last year. The fact officers may not use skills regularly makes ongoing training paramount, Remmers said. “Everyone thinks they’ll rise to the situation and be a hero,” he said. “But it rarely happens that way. You fall back on training.” The upkeep of the team is a testament to the partnership between the Fire and Police departments, unit supervisors said. Both chiefs supported the implementation and ongoing training. Aside from police and fire, the organization and communication among partners at the University of Texas Health Science Center, the Border Patrol and the military — combat doctors often help in training — has been instrumental in keeping the unit going, the organizers said. Officers need 72 hours of medical training every two years, meet eight times a year for classroom training and ride with a Fire Department EMS crews six times a year. And while the state EMS mandate for passing the course is a score of 70, the SAPD officers would get cut for anything below 80. Dr. Robert Bass, who oversees Maryland’s statewide trauma and emergency medical system, which includes first aid training for all police, said the struggle for any program is trying to balance officer duties and continued medical training. Bass called the SAPD program “unique and very exciting” but added the department needs to make sure its getting the “right blend of investment vs. return.” One key factor is that all the officers volunteered and were selected, said Klauer, the sergeant who helps oversee the unit, so they accepted the workload, extra training and the fact they don’t get incentive pay. The unit’s small size makes it easier to manage, he said. Members have been nominated for awards. “There are people who will live no matter what we do and people who will die no matter what we do,” Remmers said, echoing a mantra about the unit. “Then there are people who will live or die depending on what we do.”
State
6A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013
College shooting prompted by ‘idiocy’ By MICHAEL GRACZYK AND RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ron Jenkins/Fort Worth Star-Telegram | AP
U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, center, from Texas’s 25th Congressional District, greets citizens after speaking Friday at the Off Duty Armory, a gun store and shooting range in Burleson.
Solons: Gun bill needed By JIM VERTUNO ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — This week’s gunfire at a Houston-area college prompted new calls Wednesday for allowing concealed handgun license holders to carry their weapons into Texas college buildings and classrooms as a measure of self-defense. Texas lawmakers already are considering a bill that allows concealed handguns in college classrooms. A similar measure failed in 2011, but last month’s shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., had already helped renew the debate over safety in schools, and Tuesday’s gunfire at Lone Star College had supporters looking to rally more support. Sen. Brian Birdwell, RGranbury, who filed the Campus Personal Protection Act last week, called the Lone Star College shooting a prime example for the need for his bill. “It affirms what we know is true: When you disarm law-abiding citizens that we ought to trust, we make them defenseless,” Birdwell said. The prospects for the bill’s passage are uncertain in a session that began Jan. 8 and runs until Memorial Day. So far, 14 senators, all Republicans, in
the 31-member Senate have signed on in support of Birdwell’s bill. But in 2011, the measure was backed by a large majority in the House and Senate and Gov. Rick Perry, a concealed handgun license holder, before dying without a final vote. College administrators have generally not supported the bill in the past, saying they worry more guns will spark more campus violence and suicide. Supporters call it a critical selfdefense measure. “It levels the playing field,” in terms of safety, said Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels. “We have to allow people the option for self-protection.” And if the shooter at Lone Star College had turned the gun on others “and blasted folks ... I would have been thankful if somebody with a concealed handgun would have shot the people killing folks,” Campbell said. Texas passed its concealed handgun license law in 1995. License holders must be at least 21 and pass a training course. Sen. Rodney Ellis, DHouston, said supporters should “be careful about using an incident like that for political gain,” Ellis said. Ellis, who opposes the bill, said professors may be
intimidated by students if they are worried about who may be armed. “It’s a tense atmosphere,” Ellis said. A volley of gunshots around noon Tuesday at Lone Star College prompted a lockdown then evacuation of the campus and set off worries that the campus could be under siege by a shooter. While some students huddled in classrooms for safety, others fled as soon as they heard the first shots. “To stay where I wasn’t an option,” said Keisha Cohn, 27, who fled from a building that houses computers and study areas. All the students were eventually evacuated, running out of buildings as police officers led them to safety. Authorities have charged 22-year-old Carlton Berry with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Richard Carpenter, chancellor of the Lone Star College System, said the campus is a gun-free zone that “has been safe for 40 years.” The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which has opposed the guns on campus measure, said the gunfire at Lone Star College is “yet another example that the gun lobby is out of touch with the American public.”
HOUSTON — A young man accused of opening fire at a college after someone “bumped into” him was arrested Friday about 250 miles away from the Houston campus, authorities said. Trey Foster, 22, was brought back to Houston after being arrested at around 1 a.m. in a home in the Dallas suburb of Plano, where he was apparently staying with acquaintances, Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia said. It’s unclear how Foster got there after Tuesday’s shooting that injured three men at Lone Star College, or whether his friends knew he was a fugitive, the sheriff said. But, Garcia said, Foster “confirms that being bumped into is at the root of this incident.” The sheriff blamed the incident on “idiocy and stupidity, and I think today I’ll add pre-puberty behavior.” Authorities say at least 10 shots were fired during the incident, causing a campus-wide lockdown and terrifying students, some of whom immediately thought of the Connecticut elementary school shootings that killed 20 children last month. A gun that authorities believe Foster used during the shootings was recovered during his arrest, Garcia said. According to court documents, an argument erupted after 25-year-old Jody Neal bumped into Foster on campus. About 30 minutes later, Foster and his friend, 22-year-old Carlton Berry, spotted Neal near the doorway to
Photo by Pat Sullivan | AP
Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia answers questions Friday, in Houston, about a shooting at Lone Star College. the Academic Building. Foster fired at Neal, who was wounded in the abdomen and leg, the documents said. Neal ran into the campus library and collapsed. According to the affidavit, Neal told investigators that Foster shot him. Berry, who was shot in the leg, was arrested at the scene. Bobby Cliburn, a 55-year-old maintenance worker who was standing nearby, was also shot in the leg. Foster fled, and a manhunt ensued. But the affidavit does not say who shot Berry and Cliburn, and Garcia said officers are trying to determine whether Foster was the only one who fired a gun. Berry and Foster are both charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault with a deadly
weapon. Berry is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday. Court documents say Foster is being held on a $50,000 bond and will appear in court Monday. Arriving at the sheriff ’s office Friday morning, Foster acknowledged to reporters that he knew Berry but ignored other questions. Witnesses reported seeing one person flee on foot after the shooting, the affidavit said. Berry had a Lone Star College identification card, but officials are still determining whether he and Foster were enrolled at the school. Neal was pursuing his GED, and no charges are expected to be filed against him, according to the sheriff ’s office.
SÁBADO 26 DE ENERO DE 2013
Agenda en Breve LAREDO 01/26— Planetario Lamar Bruni Vergara de TAMIU presenta: “Attack of the Space Pirates” a las 3 p.m.; “Extreme Planets” a las 4 p.m.; y “Wonders of the Universe” a las 5 p.m. Costo: 4 y 5 dólares. 01/27— Orquesta Filarmónica de Laredo presenta estilos de sinfonía latina del compositor Roberto Sierra durante el Concierto para Celebrar la Diversidad, a las 3 p.m. en el teatro Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Fine Arts Center, del Campus Fort McIntosh de Laredo Community College. Costo: 20 dólares y 15 (adultos mayores). 01/30— Desde disección hasta robótica, estudiantes de preparatoria de todo Laredo aprenderán acerca de carreras STEM (ciencia, tecnología, ingeniería y matemáticas) durante el Laredo Community College STEM Connection College y Career Fair, de 9:30 a.m. a 2:30 p.m. en el Campus Fort McIntosh de LCC. 02/01— Primer Conferencia Annual de Voz de Niños CASA será en la Posada Hotel and Suites, de 8:15 a.m. a 4:30 p.m. Como invitada especial estará Ana María Canseco, presentadora en el programa “Despierta América”, además de diversos temas durante el día. Costo: 120 dólares. Visite vozdeninos.eventbrite.com para registrarse. 02/01— El equipo de béisbol de TAMIU recibe a University of Texas – Permian Basin, a las 3 p.m. en el Estadio Unitrade. Más información en (956) 3263000. 02/01— Planetario Lamar Bruni Vergara de TAMIU presenta: “Force 5: Nature Unleashed” a las 6 p.m.; y, “Wonders of the Universe” a las 7 p.m. Costos: 4 y 5 dólares. 02/01— La cantante y compositora mexicana Gloria Trevi se presenta en Laredo Energy Arena a las 8 p.m. Boletos varían de: 28 dólares, 38, 58, y 78. 02/02— First United Methodist Church invita a su venta de libros usados, de 8:30 a.m. a 1 p.m. en 1220 avenida McClelland. Libros de pasta dura a 1 dólar; pasta blanda a .50 centavos. 02/02— El equipo de béisbol de TAMIU recibe a University of Texas – Permian Basin, a las 1 p.m. en el Estadio Unitrade. Más información en (956) 326-3000. 02/02— Venta de platilos del Women’s City Club se llevará a cabo de 11 a.m. a 2 p.m. en el estacionamiento de Dr. Ike’s. Costo: 5 dólares. 02/02— Taller Juvenil para Avistamiento de Aves, para niños del Jardín de Niños al 5to grado, de 2 p.m. a 3:30 p.m. en la Sala de Usos Múltiples de la Biblioteca Pública de Laredo. Se enseñará acerca de las aves por medio de actividades. Evento gratuito patrocinado por RGISC. 02/02— Planetario Lamar Bruni Vergara de TAMIU presenta: “One World, One Sky Big Bird’s Adventure” a las 3 p.m., “Origins of Life” a las 4 p.m.; “Violent Universe” a las 5 p.m. Costos: 4 y 5 dólares. 02/02— Segundo Festival Anual de la Cerveza en Salón de Baile del Laredo Civic Center, 2400 avenida San Bernardo, a partir de las 6 p.m. Boletos en pre-venta a 15 dólares; 20 dólares el día del evento. Conductores designados pagan 10 dólares. Evento solo para personas de 21 años de edad y mayores. Las ganancias se destinarán al programa South Texas Academic Rising Scholars (S.T.A.R.S.).
Zfrontera
PÁGINA 7A
OPERATIVO
Rifles de asalto TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Un cargamento de 59 rifles de asalto, de los conocidos como AK-47 o Cuerno de Chivo, fue asegurado por elementos militares, el martes, al sur de Nuevo Laredo, México. Las Cuerno de Chivo fueron localizadas dentro de un vehículo comercial en el punto de revisión de la Aduana Mexicana ubicado a la altura del Kilómetro 26 de la Carretera Nacional 83, Nuevo LaredoMonterrey, dijo una fuente federal bajo condición de anonimato. Agregó que el cargamento tenía como destino Monterrey, capital de Nuevo León. “Militares arrestaron al conductor de la unidad el martes por la
madrugada”, agregó la fuente. Se cree que las armas llegaron a Nuevo Laredo, procedentes de EU, según reporte confidencial. Rick Pauza, vocero para Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza en Laredo, evitó comentar sobre si las armas aseguradas habían cruzado por esta frontera. Pauza comentó que deberán ser las autoridades mexicanas quienes deban comentar sobre el caso de las armas confiscadas al sur de Nuevo Laredo, el martes.
Frontera chica Por otra parte, en reporte que comprende del 14 al 21 de enero, en
Nuevo Laredo, a la altura del Kilómetro 26 de la Carretera Nacional, un retén militar logró confiscar 1.800 kilogramos de marihuana. Dos hombres fueron arrestados en este incidente. En otro evento, dos hombres fueron arrestados por calle Pino Suárez, en la Colonia Granjas Regina, al sur de Nuevo Laredo. Aunque en un comunicado de prensa del Ejército se indica que fueron “encontrados en flagrante delito”, éste no fue especificado. A los hombres les fue confiscado un vehículo comercial, un radio Kenwood y un radio tipo Nextel, mismos que fueron entregados a la Agencia del Ministerio Público Federal. En tanto, en Miguel Alemán, Mé-
xico, fue confiscada un arma Barrett, calibre 50, y varias minas unipersonales, de acuerdo a la fuente federal. En la semana del 14 al 21 de enero, en los municipios de Miguel Alemán y Ciudad Guerrero militares confiscaron dos toneladas de marihuana, la cual estaba abandonada en un área rural. En Ciudad Díaz Ordaz y San Fernando fueron localizados entre la maleza, 55 paquetes, conteniendo 551 kilos de marihuana. En ése sector, militares enfrentaron a varios civiles armados, muriendo dos. A los sospechosos les fueron aseguradas cinco armas de asalto, una pistola, cargadores y cartuchos.
TEXAS
RECONOCIMIENTO FAMILIAR
Fotos de cortesías | USDA-NRCS
IZQUIERDA: Leo Serna Jr y su padre, Leopoldo Serna, alimentan al ganado durante la severa sequía, en el Rancho Tres Venadas en el Condado de Duval. DERECHA: La Senadora Judith Zaffirini y el Comisionado de Agricultura en Texas, Todd Staples, reconocen a Leopoldo R. Serna y su hijo, Leopoldo Serna Jr por 136 años de continua producción agrícola por la familia Serna durante la Ceremonia de Herencia de Terrenos Familiares en el Capitolio del Estado de Texas.
Trabajo de generaciones destaca al Rancho ‘Tres Venadas’ POR MELISSA BLAIR ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Le tomó a la familia Serna más de 136 años de arduo trabajo, dedicación familiar y orgullo para que el Rancho “Tres Venadas”, en el Condado de Duval, fuera reconocido en noviembre por el Capitolio del Estado de Texas, durante la 37ma ceremonia anual Herencia de Terrenos Familiares (FLH por sus siglas en inglés) en Austin. El Programa FLH del Departamento de Agricultura de Texas reconoce a las familias tejanas que han mantenido sus granjas y ranchos en continúa producción agrícola por mas de 100 años. Actualmente, Leopoldo Serna Jr (Leo), tataranieto del fundador Refugio Serna, es el dueño y opera el Rancho “Tres Venadas” junto con su padre, Leopoldo Serna Sr, y sus tres hijas, Koreena, Kasey y Kelly.
Historia Refugio Serna nació en México y llegó al Condado de Duval en 1875 a la edad de 26 años. Refugio y su esposa, Agustina, se instalaron en 1.600 acres que él compró
en 1876. Criaron 10 hijos. Su granja tenía ganado, maíz, cabras, sorgo, borregos. Su hijo, Ismael Serna, heredó parte de la tierra y siguió los pasos de su padre, agregando algodón a su producción. Durante la década de los 30, fue construida una escuela en la propiedad. El hijo de Ismael, Luis Serna, heredó la tierra y agregó una granja lechera a la operación que estuvo funcionando por 20 años. La propiedad pasó a manos de Leopoldo Serna Sr en 1983 y en 1995 se la pasó a su hijo. La familia cría ganado de concurso y avena de invierno para pasto. De acuerdo con Leopoldo Sr, él llevaba a su hijo, Leo, al rancho para enseñarle sobre la tierra, los animales y sobre lo que se necesita para ser dueño y operar un rancho. Leo no solo ha usado sus habilidades para continuar con el rancho de la familia, sino también para ayudar a la conservación de la tierra como técnico en Servicio de Conservación de Recursos Naturales— USDA (NRCS por sus siglas en inglés) en el Condado de Frío. Antes de NRCS, Leo trabajaba en la Comisión de Calidad Ambiental
de Texas (TCEQ) con el Programa de Agua de Rio Grande y también manejó un rancho de 30.000 acres al sur de Falfurrias. “Estamos trabajando con NCRS en el Condado Duval sobre asistencia técnica para control de maleza, instalaciones de agua, y pastoreo rotacional para control de la erosión”, dijo Leo. “Tenemos que aprender a trabajar con la tierra y la naturaleza para protegerla, para que siga proveyendo para mis hijas y las futuras generaciones”.
Hijas Leo, como su padre lo hizo con él, lleva a sus hijas al rancho a trabajar y les ha inculcado el amor por la tierra lo cual se ha reflejado en su pasión. “Ser parte del rancho me ha enseñado un aspecto de negocios así como de agricultura desde que estaba pequeña”, dijo Koreena de 18 años, quien asiste a su padre y abuelo manejando el rancho llevando la mercadotecnia del ganado y las finanzas. “He aprendido todo lo básico sobre el manejo de animales y venta y crianza de ganado”.
Kasey, de 17 años, planea usar su conocimiento y habilidades con el manejo de la salud del rebaño en el rancho para obtener un título en Ciencias de Texas A&M International University. “Siempre he tenido interés en ayudar a los animales con la esperanza de convertirme en una veterinaria, por lo que trabajar en el rancho de la familia es muy emocionante”, dijo Kasey. Kelly, de 13 años, disfruta de la caza a punta de flecha en el rancho y practicar el tiro al blanco con su rifle. “Es un gran honor poder mantener el rancho en la familia y pasarlo a futuras generaciones a pesar de todos los retos y cambios”, dijo Leopoldo Sr. En el 2012, el Comisionado de Agricultura Todd Staples honró 104 granjas y ranchos de 67 condados de Texas en la ceremonia de FLH. A la fecha, el Departamento de Agricultura ha reconocido a más de 4.700 propiedades en 237 condados en Texas en el Programa de FLH. (Melissa Blair, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Zone 3 NRCS Especialista de Relaciones Públicas)
EDUCACIÓN/INVESTIGACIÓN
Avión no tripulado entrena a estudiantes POR CASSANDRA HINOJOSA ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
CORPUS CHRISTI — Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi realizó entrenamiento con un aeroplano no tripulado y misiones de investigación científica sobre ranchos en el Sur de Texas, del 14 al 18 de enero. El aeroplano, comúnmente conocido como “drone”, obtuvo información, incluyendo imágenes de la vegetación, caminos, y planicies lodozas. Durante la misión el drone RS-16 de la Universidad (UAV) llevó a bordo una cámara de multi espectro la cual adquirió imágenes en los rangos de
frecuencia visible, infrarojo (IR) y ultravioleta (UV). “Una principal meta de nuestra actual investigación es desarrollar la habilidad para combinar los diferentes tipos de imágenes para detectar derrames de aceite y otros contaminantes en superficie acuáticas”, dijo David Bridges, Director de la Iniciativa de Sistemas de Aeroplanos No Tripulados del Colegio de Ciencia e Ingeniería. “Las imágenes de alta definición serán utilizadas para detectar caminos, canales, y otros aspectos geográficos utilizados en sistemas de información geoespacial para crear mapas de alta precisión para rastre-
ar fenómenos tales como la erosión costera”. Bridges, quien supervisó la semana de entrenamiento, agregó que la información también puede ser utilizada para detectar incendios en los puntos calientes donde el fuego está obscurecido por el humo, y para rastrear animales salvajes durante la noche. Dijo que las misiones proveerán a los investigadores con la información que necesitan para hacer uso de la carga útil para la investigación específica y las aplicaciones específicas. “Estas misiones son preliminares para muchas más robustas misiones de investigación programadas
Foto de cortesía | TAMIU-CC
El drone RS-16 de la Universidad (UAV) durante una misión de prueba llevada a cabo durante este mes. para marzo”, dijo L.D. Chen, Decano Asociado para Investigación en el Colegio de Ciencia e Ingeniería. “Creemos que ciertas
industrias del sector privado y agencias del gobierno estarán interesadas en los resultados de nuestras misiones en la primavera”.
National
8A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013
Coal decline hits Western stronghold By MATTHEW BROWN ASSOCIATED PRESS
SHERIDAN, Wyo. — Hundreds of millions of tons of coal, packed into seams up to 60 feet thick, are still to be had beneath the rockstrewn hillsides speckled with snow that rise up along the remote Montana-Wyoming border. Yet for Mike Cooley, the days of drilling explosives into the ground to blast the fuel from the earth are over, long before he ever expected. The 41-year-old thought his job as a “powderman” at the Decker strip mine would take him into retirement. Now he’s looking for new work, after he and 58 other miners were laid off from Decker in recent weeks to add to several hundred jobs reported lost in the past year from the nation’s largest coal-producing region. As a dispute over West Coast ports hobbles the industry’s ability to reach booming markets in Asia, cheap natural gas is undercutting coal in the U.S. — and putting some of the small towns in coal country in economic peril. Wringing his calloused, idle hands and staring into the winter sun through the kitchen window of his trailer house in Sheridan, not far from the mine, Cooley said he’s reluctant to leave with the eldest of his three children poised to graduate high school this spring. “But I don’t want to go back to pounding nails either, not at $13 an hour,” the former construction worker said as his youngest child, two-year-old Mason, hovered nearby sucking on a lollipop. For decades, the 25,000-squaremile Powder River Basin that surrounds Sheridan has been the stronghold of the U.S. coal industry. Massive strip-mines, carved from a landscape dominated by sage brush and cattle ranches, churn out close to a half-million tons of the fuel annually, dwarf-
Photo by Matthew Brown | AP
Mike Cooley, one of 59 workers laid off from the Decker Coal mine along the Montana-Wyoming border, discusses his future job prospects at his house in Sheridan, Wyo., with his wife and 2-year-old son, in the background. ing production from mines in the Appalachians and Midwest. Now the depressed domestic coal market is finally catching up to mines such as Decker. At least 300 jobs have been lost from mines in Montana and Wyoming since early 2012, according to preliminary data from the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Paradoxically, out-of-work miners in Montana and Wyoming are scrambling for new employment even as global coal markets enjoy a heyday. Driven by Asian demand, experts say, coal is projected to challenge oil as the world’s top energy source within the next four years. The sole exception will be in the U.S. The Decker lay-offs cut the mine’s workforce roughly in half — and came as a shock to Cooley and fellow miners who earned almost $30 an hour and for years sat comfortably near the top of the region’s resource-based economy. Just last year, Decker’s co-owner, Ambre Energy of Australia, was promising to ramp up
mining and start shipping millions of tons annually to countries such as South Korea — part of an industry-wide trend as companies battered by the domestic market looked to foreign buyers. But Ambre’s plans to build and expand West Coast ports to load the fuel onto ships have become entangled in political opposition and bureaucratic red tape, forcing the company to push back its timeline to begin operating. Mining industry heavyweights, including Arch Coal, Inc., face the same problems. It’s been several years since coal mining peaked in the Powder River Basin, which accounts for the bulk of production from Montana and Wyoming. Only in recent months has the number of workers started to drop. Despite the logistical hurdles, some of the basin’s coal is making it to overseas markets by squeezing through the limited West Coast port capacity already available. But analysts and industry observers say those routes have essentially maxed out. “Unless you can send (coal) by
Federal Express, the export market can’t take off,” said Montana’s former governor, Brian Schweitzer. The Democrat spent two terms seeking to bolster the state’s coal industry before leaving office this month. He predicted it will take up to five years for ports in Washington state and Oregon to come to fruition, and just as long for U.S. coal demand to rebound. That leaves Cooley and others like him stuck between tomorrow’s promise and yesterday’s boom, in a region with few comparable employment prospects. “I’ve never been laid off. Always had a job, since I was 14,” said Cooley, whose family will rely on his wife’s income as a grocery store cashier until he finds a new job. As with other laid-off Decker miners interviewed, Cooley hopes Decker rebounds but is looking beyond coal as he searches for new work. He’s got applications in at a zinc mine in Alaska, a gold mine in Nevada and to work as a roustabout for an oil company in North Dakota’s Bak-
ken oil patch. Others already have moved on to such places after finding it impossible to match their former wages in Sheridan, a town of 18,000 a short drive across the Montana line from the Decker mine and where most of its workers live. Hard times have visited before in this part of Wyoming, where coal was euphemistically dubbed “the black diamond” after a boom early last century. North of Sheridan along the Tongue River can be seen the ruins of now-defunct company-owned coal mining towns such as Monarch, Kleenburn and Acme. Those communities and their underground mines peaked in the 1920s. Their decline left a gap in the economy that wasn’t replaced until Decker and other strip mines came along decades later. After opening in 1972, Decker quickly ramped up to several hundred workers digging up 10 million tons of coal a year, a volume that it produced for its first two decades “like clockwork,” said Hal Kansala, who has been working at the mine since 1979. Ambre spokeswoman Liz Fuller said the mine remains viable and the company is seeking buyers for its coal. She would not comment on employment prospects except to say the company would look to rehire laid off workers if mining rebounds. Regardless of whether the company’s export aspirations come to pass, the short-term outlook looks grim. The five to ten years it could take to surmount environmental opposition to West Coast coal ports is simply too long for miners and their families to wait, Sheridan Mayor Dave Kinskey said. “It reminds me of that old saw: The first economist says, ‘Well, in the long run these things all work themselves out.’ And the other economist says, ‘In the short term, we’re dead.”
Valley teen faces trial Order’s documents By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
EDINBURG — A South Texas judge said Friday he will take the weekend to consider whether a 17-yearold boy will stand trial as an adult for allegedly firing on a vehicle driven by a federal agent. Hidalgo County District Judge Jesse Contreras said he was “puzzled” by the case of the boy who had no prior record and who a probation officer said was extremely compliant. At the end of arguments Friday, Contreras told attorneys he would offer his decision Jan. 29. Authorities say the boy’s father, Pedro Alvarado, woke up his 18-year-old son, Arnoldo Alvarado, and his then-16-year-old son last July and told them a suspicious vehicle was vehicle parked near their home. The boy and the two men are charged with the attempted murder of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Kelton Harrison. The boy is charged in state court, while the men are charged in federal court. The state asked that the
“
We’re dealing with a sophisticated, mature individual.” JUDGE JESSE CONTRERAS
17-year-old be tried as an adult. Prosecutor Marisela Ledesma argued that the seriousness of the offense and the boy’s own admission that he grabbed his .22-caliber rifle warranted that he be tried as an adult. Ricardo Flores, the boy’s attorney, said it was a mistake made by a boy awakened in the middle of the night by his father. Contreras dismissed that argument. “We’re dealing with a sophisticated, mature individual,” he said. No one has suggested the boy knew a federal agent was inside the silver Jeep Grand Cherokee. Harrison was conducting surveillance in the area in a drug traf-
ficking investigation. He was unarmed and fled at speeds of 100 mph. The Alvarados followed in a pickup truck. The chase happened in the pre-dawn hours of July 3 in Hargill, a rural community northeast of Edinburg. Court documents indicate a related drug investigation had been under way for two years. Six others have been charged with drug offenses, but not the Alvarados. At least one neighbor called sheriff’s deputies to the area to investigate shortly before the confrontation and called Pedro Alvarado as well. The younger brother fired the rifle from the pickup’s back seat, while Arnoldo Alavardo fired a 9 mm handgun from the front. The Alvarados chased Harrison for more than two miles until he crashed into a field. Hidalgo County sheriff’s deputy Joshua Kaltenbach testified Friday that Harrison heard vehicle doors slam after he crashed and believed it was the shooters. He had been shot once in the back, but recovered and transferred out of the area, Kaltenbach said.
may remain sealed By DAVID KLEPPER ASSOCIATED PRESS
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A judge agreed on Friday to delay the release of documents related to a disgraced Roman Catholic organization called the Legion of Christ to give it time to appeal his earlier ruling unsealing them. Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein gave the Legion until Feb. 15 to ask the state Supreme Court to intervene in the tug-of-war over the records, which are from a lawsuit filed by a woman contesting the will of a wealthy aunt who left the Legion $60 million. The judge had ruled on Wednesday that the public had a right to access the documents despite concerns from the Legion’s attorney, Joseph Avanzato, that they could taint a future jury. Avanzato, in asking the judge to stay his ruling, said Friday that it would be wrong to release the documents before the
Legion had an opportunity to appeal the decision that unsealed them. “The Legion has a right of appeal here, which would be destroyed if there is no stay,” Avanzato said. The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Providence Journal and the National Catholic Reporter had asked the judge to unseal the documents, saying they could shed light on the Legion’s operations and there was no justification to seal them. The media organizations’ attorney, Joseph Cavanagh, asked the judge not to grant the delay. “He (Avanzato) keeps arguing that once the cat is out of the bag, they’re done,” Cavanagh said. “Let it out.” The Legion, founded in Mexico City in 1941, calls itself a religious congregation of pontifical right and says its mission involves “extending the Kingdom of Christ in society,” according to its website. The
Vatican took over the Legion in 2010 after determining that its late founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, had sexually molested seminarians and fathered three children. The Legion, which has facilities in Rhode Island, has faced other complaints, including one from a Connecticut man who claims to be Maciel’s son. Another Connecticut man has alleged the Legion used predatory means to persuade his ailing father to hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars. The wealthy aunt whose will is the focus of the current case, Gabrielle Mee, a widow, died in 2008. Mee’s niece Mary Lou Dauray had sought to challenge her will, saying Mee had been defrauded by the Legion into leaving it her fortune. The judge last year threw out the challenge because he determined the niece lacked standing, and her attorney plans to appeal.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
Aid’s family sells JFK memorabilia By RODRIQUE NGOWI ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON — The family of a former special assistant to President John F. Kennedy is auctioning hundreds of photographs, documents, gifts and other memorabilia that once belonged to the late president. David Powers, who died in 1998, was a close personal friend to Kennedy and his wife, Jackie. He was also the first curator of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston until he retired in 1994. Powers’ family found “an extraordinary collection” of memorabilia locked away last year as they prepared to sell the family home, according to John McInnis Auctioneers in Amesbury. Powers, who joined Kennedy for his first political campaign for Congress in 1946 and was with him when he was assassinated in Dallas in 1963, collected keepsakes and documents spanning years of friendship with the Kennedy family. His collection of about 2,000 items will be auctioned in 723 lots on Feb. 17. The collection includes the president’s Air Force One leather bomber jacket; photos of the baptism of his only surviving child, Caroline Kennedy; pictures of JFK’s birthday party taken in December 1963; and a birthday card that the president sent to his father a few months before he was assassinated. Other items include ephemera, letters, documents and gifts to and from the family. The JFK Library, which is charged with promoting the life and legacy of Kennedy, says it is trying to figure out whether some of the items belong to the institution. “The Kennedy Library is working with the family of Dave Powers to explore whether any of the items currently up for auction by the Powers family properly belong to the Kennedy Library and should be donated to library similar to other items that they have donated in the past,” the institution said in a statement released Friday.
“
You have to remember they’ve donated so much stuff through the years. These are their own private things.” AUCTIONEER DAN MEADER
At the request of Robert F. Kennedy, Powers in 1964 began assembling and collecting Kennedy memorabilia that was to become part of the library’s permanent exhibit, the library says on its website. He also traveled around the world with an exhibit to raise money for the library’s construction, according to the website. Powers’ daughter, Mary, was not at home and could not be reached for comment Friday. Dan Meader, of John McInnis Auctioneers, played down ownership concerns. “You have to remember they’ve donated so much stuff through the years,” Meader said. “These are their own private things and the Powers family ... loves the JFK Library and they want to do anything they can do to preserve that legacy that their father started.” Meader said he did not know how much the auction is likely to generate or the estimated total value of the items being sold. The auctioneer’s highest estimate was for the bomber jacket, at $20,000 to $40,000, while some lots were estimated in the $50 to $100 range. The memorabilia, Meader said, has generated interest from all over the world. People from Ireland, United Kingdom, Germany, Mexico, South Africa, Canada, Australia, United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands and elsewhere have already registered to bid, he said.
ELAINE R. BRUNS Elaine R. Bruns 86, passed away Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013, at her residence in Zapata. Mrs. Bruns was preceded in death by her husband, Calvin E. Bruns and a son-in-law, John Arnold Oetinger. Mrs. Bruns is survived by his children, Kenneth N. (Colleen) Bruns, Patricia L. Oetinger, Thomas N. (Marti) Bruns, James N. Bruns; grandchildren, Joshua (Nikki) Bruns, Jacob Bruns, Philip (Jovanna Brackett) Oetinger, Tricia (Derik) Hockett, Cathryn (Dallas) Love, Sue Ann (Jeff) Sweeney, Marilyn (Andrew) Russell, Lori Redmond; great-grandchildren, Mason Bruns, Jalynn and Deacon Hockett, Stella Ruth Sweeney and Adrian Russell; and by numerous other family members. Mrs. Bruns was an active member of the United Methodist Church, Eastern Star and the American Legion Auxiliary.
Visitation hours were held Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home. A service was held at United Methodist Church on Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013, at 9:30 a.m. Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home, Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy. 83, Zapata.
SAN JUANA V. LIEURANCE San Juana V. Lieurance, 55, passed away Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013, in San Antonio. Mrs. Lieurance is preceded in death by her father, Antero Villarreal Sr.; sister, Maricela Villarreal and brother-inlaw, Larry Freudenberg. Mrs. Lieurance is survived by her husband, Charles L. Lieurance; son, Charles L. Lieurance, Jr. (Kathleen McCarty); daughter, Charlene Lieurance (Samuel Garcia); granddaughters, Emma Leigh and Leandra Marie; mother, Emilia R. Villarreal; brother, Antero, Jr. (Blanca) Villarreal; sister, Martha Freudenberg; and by one uncle, numerous nephews, nieces, and friends. San Juana was born in Zapata, on Aug. 30, 1951, she graduated from Orange Grove High School in 1978. After graduating she moved to Corpus Christi, where she worked more than eight years at Sears, meanwhile having met and married her husband Charles and given birth to a son Charles, Jr. After moving to Zapata in 1984 and giving birth to her second child, a daughter Charlene, she worked several odd jobs until she was hired by ZCISD as a substitute. After numerous promotions she was labeled PEIMS for Villarreal Elementary. Shortly after she was diagnosed with Triple Negative Inflammatory Breast Cancer.
After 5 years and being told that the only option was for her to join a research study, she decided to donate many tissue samples and join numerous studies to help herself and in extension, many others by enduring the unknown. She finally decided to rest after a long and hard journey of six-and-a-half years. Visitation hours will be held Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013, from 6 to 9 p.m. with a wake at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home. Chapel services will be held Monday, Jan. 28, 2013, at 11 a.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home. Committal services will follow at Las Alejandreñas Cemetery at Chihuahua Ranch. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home, Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 U.S. Hwy. 83, Zapata.
EDWARD J. WAYDA JR. Edward J. “Grandpa” Wayda Jr., passed away Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, at Laredo Medical Center in Laredo. Mr. Wayda is preceded in death by his parents, Edward John Wayda and Mildred Elizabeth Wayda. Mr. Wayda is survived by his wife of 49 years, Hattie Marie Wayda; son, James E. (Rosalinda) Wayda; daughters, Deborah A. Braun and Christine M. (Michael) Neagley; 12 grandchildren; 15 greatgrandchildren; brother, Paul (Linda) Wayda, Thomas (Kathy) Wayda; and by numerous nephews, nieces and friends. Mr. Wayda retired from the U.S. Air Force after 22 years of service. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of
Rose Garden Funeral Home, Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 Zapata.
JAMES L. WILLIAMS SAN YGNACIO — James L. Williams, 88, born in Holbrook, Ariz., on Feb. 17, 1924, passed away on Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, at his residence in San Ygnacio. Jim lived with his parents in Los Angeles through the 1930s and 1940s and went through high school at Fremont High. Enlisted into the U.S. Marine Corp, May 12, 1943, and honorable discharged Nov. 29, 1945; he re-enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserves Aug. 7, 1947 to Aug. 6, 1949, re-enlisted again Sept. 15, 1949 to Sept. 15, 1954. He served in Pacific area from Oct. 28, 1943 to June 12, 1945.Wonded in action on Okinawa on May 10, 1945. Beach heads and campaigns at New Guinea from Dec. 19, 1943, to Dec. 24, 1943.Cape Gloucester, New Britain, Dec. 26, 1943 to March 1, 1944. First wave group at Peleu, Sept. 15, 1944 to Oct. 14, 1944. First wave at Okinawa’s Ryukyu Island at April 1, 1945 to May 10, 1945. Trained as rifleman, barman, scout and recon leader. Due to wartime conditions the information on discharge certificate are incomplete. Korean area Aug. 18, 1950, to June 3, 1950; Inchon landing Sept. 15, 1950 to Sept. 17, 1950; North Korean aggression, Sept. 18, 1950 to Nov. 2, 1950; Communist China aggression Nov. 3, 1951 to Jan. 24, 1951; First U.N. counteroffensive Jan. 25, 1951 to April 21, 1951; Communist China spring offensive April 22, 1951 to April 28, 1951. After being discharged from U.S. Marine Corps, Jim moved to Lancaster, Calif. and went to work at Edward Air Force Base for Civil Service department of the Air Force, served 20 years and received numerous awards for work and school achievements. Jim served as the De-
partment of California Commandant of the Marine Corps League from 1969-70 and 1970-71 in Lancaster, Calif. After moving to the county he was an active member in the Veterans Associations, Marine Corps League, V.F.W. and American Legion Post 486. Jim enjoyed serving his country and being a veteran of the military service. Semper Fi. Mr. Williams is preceded in death by his wife, Vivian M. Williams; parents, James and Cora Williams and a brother, Leo H. Williams. Mr. Williams is survived by his wife, Darlene Williams; son, Steven J. (Maria Buchanan) Williams; granddaughter, Stephanie L. Williams; one greatgrandchild and by many fellow veterans and friends. Visitation hours will be held Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, at 1 p.m. with a chapel service at 2 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home. Burial services will follow at Zapata County Cemetery, including full military honors by the American Legion Post 486 Color Guard. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home, Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 Zapata.
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013
BOARD Continued from Page 1A for the usage fee of $35 to $50, depending on family income. Seniors would likely receive them first. Trustees also discussed protocol in the event of damaged or lost devices. Students who had a wireless connection at home could use the devices there, or at several “hot spots” around town. However, the thrust of iPad usage would be work not needing Internet access. There was also good news concerning school construction. Morales introduced the architect and contractor of the new Zapata North Elementary School. Board members were pleased to hear that construction of the school is ahead of
schedule and under budget. “Work is moving along very well. We don’t have any delay issues,” project architect Robert Sepulveda said. The budget for the project was originally approved at just over $10 million but contractor Gary Leyendecker said the new price reflects a savings of about $190,000. “We will continue working to get you the best price that we possibly can,” Leyendecker said.
Ahead of schedule He added the project is at least two weeks ahead of schedule and that he is hoping for completion in
“
Work is moving along very well. We don’t have any delay issues.” PROJECT ARCHITECT ROBERT SEPULVEDA
August. Among other items on the agenda were approval of bills, claims and accounts for December 2012, finance updates of the child nutrition program and the general operating fund and tax reports. Also on the agenda was approval to expand the current year’s stipend plan for teachers who are UIL program sponsors.
Finance updates and reports were presented by Chief Financial Officer Suzette Barrera. Carmen Zavala updated the board on the Special Education Annual Evaluation, explaining the report of programs which serve the 218 students with special abilities or who are intellectually disabled. Zavala said improvements are aimed in the alignment
WOMEN Continued from Page 1A Many “camp followers” went to war with their soldier husbands, sometimes bringing children along. Some stepped into the places of fallen men in battle. Other women disguised themselves as young men to join the fighting. A few hundred women secretly served as Civil War soldiers, historians estimate. There are records of some who were discovered only after they were wounded or killed. For her service as a Civil War surgeon, Dr. Mary E. Walker was awarded her era’s Medal of Honor. Harriet Tubman led a group of former slaves who spied on Confederate troops in the South and helped the Union Army free more slaves. A Virginia woman, Elizabeth Van Lew, ran one of the war’s most sophisticated spy rings for the Union. Clara Barton’s experiences tending battlefield wounded led her to found the American Red Cross.
Nurses needed Despite their record as volunteers and contract workers, women were denied a place within military service until 1901, when the Army Nurse Corps was created. Navy nurses followed in 1908. What prompted the creation of the Nurse Corps? The devastating toll of typhoid, malaria and other diseases that killed far more soldiers than the fighting during the Spanish-American War. Overwhelmed by the tropical diseases, the military rushed to find more than 1,500 female contract nurses to serve at military hospitals and aboard ships. Twenty-one nurses died in the line of duty. After the war, the Army’s surgeon general called for creation of a permanent nurse corps with reserves at the ready for future wars.
Over there
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The world wars brought large-scale proof that women could handle many of the military’s noncombat jobs. They were recruited to “Free a man to fight!” For the first time in World War I, women other than nurses were allowed to enlist in the Navy and Marines. They worked as telephone operators, accountants, draftsmen, clerks. Some went to Europe. Still, only about 35,000 women, the majority of them nurses, served among nearly 5 million U.S. men. They were promptly sent home after the armistice. They were the advance troops for the wave of women to come in the next world war, including the Navy’s WAVES and the Army’s WACS. There were even civilian pilots — the WASPS — who repositioned planes and towed gunners’ targets but were denied Air Force status. The demands of a huge military buildup and a diminishing pool of male draftees crumpled resistance to enlisting large numbers of women for World War II. More than 400,000 women served, at home and overseas, stepping into nearly all types of noncombat jobs. Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Wilma L. Vaught, a teenager then, remembers women’s eagerness to help. “America was attacked,” said Vaught, president of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation. “Women felt, ‘This is my country, I’ve got to help defend my country.’ They wanted to be part of it.” World War II was the turning point that earned women full-fledged military status. In 1948, after fierce debate, Congress approved allowing women to serve in the regular forces of all branches of the service all the time, not just in war.
In peacetime, the Pentagon retreated back to assigning females to “women’s work.” They got few chances at promotion and couldn’t be admirals or generals. Although military nurses risked their lives in Korea and Vietnam, the military insisted women weren’t fit for combat conditions. The equal rights movement prompted some changes — in 1967, Congress got rid of a law limiting women to 2 percent of the military and opened up promotions to higher service grades. But the armed services didn’t welcome women back in a big way until the nation cut off its guaranteed supply of men. In 1973, the draft ended and the all-volunteer military was born. Short on male volunteers, the Defense Department began seriously recruiting women and assigning them a wider range of jobs. In 1975, the service academies were opened to women. Women grew to more than 10 percent of America’s force by the 1980s.
Front lines blur More than 40,000 women deployed for the Persian Gulf War in 1990 and 1991. They worked alongside men, flying helicopters, driving trucks, guarding bases and firing missiles as Americans at home watched on television news. Officially women were banned from combat. But there were no clear front lines. Women soldiers and Marines were at risk wherever Scud missiles fell. “They always said the American public will not live with women coming back in body bags,” said Vaught. “Well, they did. We found out there wasn’t a big reaction from the public. They recognized that these
FINANCES Continued from Page 1A fully fund Texas Grants ... but that’s not likely,” Zaffirini said. If lawmakers leave the program in its current form and funding, Texas Grants would cover only about 18 percent of new eligible students. Boosting funding would help the program cover up to 71 percent. Students can use Texas Grants to attend any public college or university in the state. The maximum award possible is $7,400 per academic year to cover a student’s total school costs, which can include transportation and clothing. The coordinating board is already encouraging schools to limit grants to academic costs such as tuition and course materials. Writing that approach into law would drop the average award from $5,000 to $3,000. The board also wants to cap awards at eight semesters. Even without more money, those changes could help thousands more students get some share of Texas Grants, the board says. Critics warn the proposed changes could hurt students who attend colleges in cities
where the cost of living is higher, such as Austin, Houston and Dallas. Sen. Rodney Ellis, a Houston Democrat who passed the original Texas Grants bill 14 years ago, opposes reducing the award cap. The program needs more money, Ellis said. “It’s not like reducing the amount of the grant does anything to reduce the actual cost of school. Someone would have to make up the
difference, either the schools or the student,” Ellis said. Capping the grant to eight semesters could hurt some students who work and may need more time to graduate, Ellis said. Zaffirini said lawmakers have been reluctant in the past to make big changes to a program that has been a successful pathway to college for poor and lower-middle income students.
women were there doing their jobs. We have adjusted to that as a people.” After the Gulf War, jobs flying combat planes and serving on warships were opened to women. And some restrictions on combat-related jobs in the Army and Marines were eased.
After 9/11 More than 200,000 women serve in the military now — 15 percent of a force of 1.4 million. And the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have obliterated any remaining notion that they can be kept out of the fight. With the military straining to staff two wars at once, everyone was needed. But battle lines were jagged; insurgents could be anywhere. Women in support jobs found themselves in firefights and blasted by roadside bombs. And their gender made them especially valuable on some patrols: They could search and interview Muslim women whose culture forbid such contact with men. In 2012, to reflect the new realities, the Defense Department changed its rules to officially allow women into many jobs they were already doing, but in units closer to the fighting. They were still banned from the most dangerous jobs, such as being infantry soldiers or Special Operations commandos.
Ban ends On Thursday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced an end to the ban on women in combat. Women have become an integral part of the service, fighting and dying alongside men, Panetta said. In fact, 152 women in uniform have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. “The time has come,” he said, “for our policies to recognize that reality.”
reading program as well as counseling services. Director of Assessment and Instructional Support Olinda Flores explained the 2012 Academic Excellence Indicator System District and Campus Report and Gonzalez presented and explained several funding reports, including results and savings from an audit conducted in 2009 by the Federal Communications Commission. In addition to discussing regular school business, the board welcomed students, teacher and parents as they honored board members in observance of Governor Rick Perry’s proclamation of January as School Board Recognition Month. Director of Special In-
structional Services Carmen G. Zavala introduced students, in pairs, from each of the district’s schools. Each pair of students took turns commending a board member and presenting them with a certificate and a gift. “We are blessed to have seven extraordinary people who voluntarily tackle the enormous job of governing our school district. We admire and recognize your dedication, hard work and commitment and appreciate the sacrifices you make to ensure that our students have the opportunity to achieve their educational goals,” Zavala said. (Rick Villarreal may be reached at 728-2528 or rvillarreal@lmtonline.com)
ND to get more oil drilling, in mountain area ASSOCIATED PRESS
BISMARCK, N.D. — Regulators have given Hess Corp. the go-ahead to drill oil wells in the Killdeer Mountains area of western North Dakota provided the company protects the environment and safety of residents. The plan drew opposition from landowners, American Indians, archaeologists and others who fear the drilling will harm the area’s beauty and its historical and cultural significance. Hess wants to drill five miles southwest of Medicine Hole, a site considered sacred by Native Americans, and near the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield Historic Site, where Sioux tribes fought Army soldiers in 1864. Theodora Birdbear, of Mandaree, told the state Industrial Commission on Thursday that members of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation use the Killdeer Mountains for prayer and that the industrialization would affect the spiritual experience. “It’s kind of equivalent to having an oil well
right beside your Catholic church,” she said. State Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms said denying the request would leave in the ground 3.5 million barrels of oil worth about $250 million. Industrial Commission members also said they had a responsibility to private mineral owners who want to see the minerals developed in their lifetimes. The Industrial Commission, which regulates the oil industry in the state, is made up of Gov. Jack Dalrymple, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring. They voted unanimously to approve the drilling under conditions to protect resources and minimize truck traffic. “The Department of Mineral Resources’ Oil and Gas Division has dedicated many hours looking at various development scenarios for well locations in order to minimize the potential impact on the landscape as well as any cultural impacts the well locations may have,” Helms said.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013
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Sports&Outdoors NBA: ALL-STAR GAME
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
Back for more Photo by Kathy Willens | AP
Justin Upton, still is just 25 years old, will join older brother B.J. Upton, who recently signed a free agent contract with Atlanta.
Photos by H. Rumph Jr | AP
San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan wasn’t an All-Star last year for the first time in his career but has bounced back with a terrific season at age 36, averaging 17.5 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.7 blocked shots, his best statistics since 2009-10.
Duncan earns 14th selection By BRIAN MAHONEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Tim Duncan was selected to his 14th All-Star game, Spurs teammate Tony Parker is joining him, and the Chicago Bulls also had two reserves chosen Thursday for next month’s game in Houston. Joakim Noah and Luol Deng were picked from the Bulls, who have stayed in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race despite the season-long absence of point guard Derrick Rose. Noah is one of five first-time All-Stars for the East, along with New York’s Tyson Chandler, Indiana’s Paul George, Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving, and Philadelphia’s Jrue Holiday. Miami’s Chris Bosh, picked for his eighth AllStar team, rounded out the East squad. West forwards David Lee (Golden State), LaMarcus Aldridge (Portland) and Zach Randolph
San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan (21) was selected to his 14th AllStar game on Thursday for next month’s game in Houston. (Memphis) all were picked for the second time. Houston’s James Harden was chosen for the first time and joins former Oklahoma City teammate Russell Westbrook, headed to his
third straight All-Star game. Duncan wasn’t chosen last year for the first time in his career but has bounced back with a terrific season at age 36, averaging 17.5 points, 9.8
rebounds and 2.7 blocked shots, his best statistics since 2009-10. The co-MVP of the 2000 All-Star game joined a group that includes Michael Jordan for fifthmost selections. Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett, both voted to start, and Shaquille O’Neal all were picked 15 times. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the career leader as a 19-time All-Star. The reserves were voted by the head coaches from each conference, who had to select two guards, three frontcourt players and two players regardless of position. They were not allowed to vote for players from their own teams. With centers Chandler and Noah, East coaches passed on Brooklyn’s Brook Lopez, the leading scorer for a resurgent team that is right behind the Knicks for the Atlantic Division lead. Perennial All-Stars Deron Williams and Joe Johnson of the Nets also missed out, as did Boston’s Paul Pierce. Lee gave the Warriors their first All-Star since Latrell Sprewell in 1997, but coach Mark Jackson and his team hoped for more. However, Stephen
Braves land blockbuster for Upton Diamondbacks ship duo for Atlanta’s prospects, utility-man Prado By BOB BAUM ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHOENIX — Arizona has traded outfielder Justin Upton to the Atlanta Braves in a seven-player deal that sends former All-Star infielder Martin Prado to the Diamondbacks. The Braves also get third baseman Chris Johnson. Atlanta is giving
up four minor leaguers in the deal, including top pitching prospect Randy Delgado. The other minor leaguers headed to Arizona are right-hander Zeke Spruill, shortstop Nick Ahmed and first baseman Brandon Drury. Prado, projected to play third base for the Diamondbacks, can become a free
See BASEBALL PAGE 2B
NFL: SUPER BOWL XLVII
AP photo
San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, left, and Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh will play each other in the Super Bowl.
Harbaughs NBA DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE keep it all in WEST BECOMES LEGEND the family ASSOCIATED PRESS
FRISCO — Guard Delonte West was acquired by the Texas Legends on Friday, setting him up in the NBA Development League three months after Dallas released him following a pair of suspensions. West can sign with any NBA team while playing for the Legends, just as he could have as a free agent after the Mavericks let him go. The Legends acquired him because they were next in line to pick up players from the DLeague player pool when West joined it. “This is all about oppor-
Photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP
Delonte West (13) was acquired by the Texas Legends in the NBA D-League three months after Dallas released him. tunity,” said Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson, a co-owner of the Legends. “This is Delonte joining
the league and getting back in front of NBA teams’ eyes. And all his options are open, for all 30 teams.”
See ALL-STAR PAGE 2B
Dallas has been shuffling veteran guards on the roster since West’s release in October. Derek Fisher joined the Mavericks in November before deciding three weeks later to return to his family in Los Angeles after injuring a knee. Mike James is on his second 10-day contract, and the Mavericks must decide by Sunday night whether to guarantee his deal for the rest of the season. West was waived after two suspensions in as many weeks for conduct detrimental to the Mavericks. West, an eighth-year
See WEST PAGE 2B
Brothers face off, relatives remain neutral for championship game By JANIE MCCAULEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Jackie Harbaugh will wear a neutral-colored outfit, still to be determined. Her daughter, Joani Crean, little sister to coaching brothers John and Jim Harbaugh, plans to sport all black at the Super Bowl to show no allegiances whatsoever. “I am wearing whatever fits that day,” Crean quipped. The entire Harbaugh family — a close-knit, hyp-
er-competitive crew that also includes Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean — realizes it has already won big. They got their Super Bowl victory on Sunday, when each coach did his part to ensure a family reunion in New Orleans next week, with John’s Baltimore Ravens facing off against Jim’s San Francisco 49ers in the first Super Bowl with sibling coaches on opposite sidelines. One Harbaugh will haul
See SUPER BOWL PAGE 2B
PAGE 2B
Zscores
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013
BASEBALL Continued from Page 1B
SUPER BOWL Continued from Page 1B
Photo by Matt York | AP
Arizona has traded Justin Upton to the Atlanta Braves in a deal that sends All-Star third baseman Martin Prado to the Diamondbacks. agent after this season. Upton, who has fiveplus major league seasons but still is just 25 years old, will join older brother B.J. Upton, who recently signed a free agent contract with Atlanta. The younger Upton, who has three years and $38.5 million left on his contract, had been the subject of trade speculation throughout the offseason and vetoed a trade to the Seattle Mariners. Prado, who joins fellow Venezuelan Miguel Montero in Arizona, made the All-Star team in 2010 as a second baseman and played mostly in left field last season. A versatile infielder, Prado was projected to move to third base for the Braves this season to replace the retired Chipper Jones. Diamondbacks President Derrick Hall said via Twitter that the team wants to sign Prado to a long-term deal. “This is the type of player we want in our lineup,” he wrote. The Braves didn’t resign centerfielder and leadoff hitter Michael Bourn and Prado, the No. 2 hitter behind Bourn, had been a candidate to hit leadoff. Shortstop An-
drelton Simmons now is expected to assume that role. Simmons hit .289 with a .335 on-base percentage in 49 games as a rookie last season. Arizona had accumulated a glut of outfielders, signing Cody Ross as a free agent last month. Upton was the most marketable. Upton, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 draft, raced through the minors and came up to the big league club in August 2007 at age 19. He made the NL All-Star team in 2009 and 2011. Upton has played five full major league seasons, so his best years could well be ahead of him. Last season, he hit .280 with 17 home runs and 67 RBIs but did score a career-high 107 runs. In 2011, while helping Arizona to its surprising NL West crown, Upton hit .289, with 31 home runs and 88 RBIs — the latter two categories are career bests — and finished fourth in NL MVP voting. Overall, he’s a career .278 hitter with 108 home runs, 739 hits, 147 doubles and 80 stolen bases. Delgado, a 23-year-old right-hander, had been expected to challenge for a spot in the Braves rota-
tion. His acquisition bolsters the young pitching depth in Arizona depleted by the trade of Trevor Bauer. Delgado was 4-9 with a 4.37 ERA in 18 appearances, 17 as a starter, for the Braves. Rated Atlanta’s No. 3 prospect by Baseball America the past two years, he was 4-3 with a 4.06 ERA with Triple-A Gwinett last season. The trade leaves Arizona with three veteran outfielders — Ross, Jason Kubel and Gerardo Parra — along with two youngsters the team feels are ready for the majors — Adam Eaton and A.J. Pollock. General manager Kevin Towers has praised Eaton’s potential as a center fielder and leadoff hitter. Johnson was acquired by the Diamondbacks on July 29 from Houston and batted .286 with seven doubles, seven home runs and 35 RBIs in 44 games with Arizona. In Atlanta, he could platoon at third with Juan Francisco. “Really enjoyed my time in Arizona,” Johnson said in a tweet. “Thank you to the Diamondbacks organization and fans for your hospitality!”
home the Lombardi Trophy from the Big Easy. And, no, the family members haven’t decided where to sit for the Feb. 3 NFL title game at the Superdome — or at least they aren’t revealing it if they have. “We are neutral in the Super Bowl, and we are just excited that they have brought their teams to the pinnacle of sports,” Jackie Harbaugh said Thursday. “The Super Bowl is the ultimate accomplishment for them and for their teams and for all of the extended football family and all of the teams who have participated in this great game. We are excited for that type of thing.” Her sons, all of 15 months apart, have tried to downplay this matchup from the moment it developed — each wanting to keep the focus on the players, on the field. The Harbaughs have been inundated with well wishes and media requests since the moment John’s Ravens beat New England on Sunday night a few hours after the 49ers won at Atlanta. This matchup provides the storyline of storylines, one that will compete with Ravens star Ray Lewis’ last hurrah before retirement and the emergence of secondyear San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick (in a savvy move, he had pizza delivered to the overcrowded press trailer Thursday). Fortunately for the Harbaugh folks, they’ve been through this once before — albeit on a slightly smaller stage: prime time on Thanksgiving night 2011. John’s Ravens won 16-6 at home. “We experienced that last year at Thanksgiving,” Jack Harbaugh said, “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” Jack visited each locker room after that game and observed the “smile on John’s face,” then headed over to see how Jim was handling it. “It was quiet and somber, and finally I saw Jim, all by himself, no one around him,” Jack said. “He still had his
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I am going to be neutral in the game, and I know one is going to win and one is going to lose, but I would really like to end in a tie. Can the NFL do that?” JACKIE HARBAUGH
coaching thing on, and his hands on his head, and we realized that that is where we were needed. . And we know we are going to experience that next week.” For Jackie Harbaugh, who has held things together for decades and is known to offer up a sports cliche or two herself, the real celebration began last weekend. “I felt that was a joyful moment for them, for our whole family, our extended family and for my father, who is 97 years old,” she said. “Great feeling of joy. I am going to be neutral in the game, and I know one is going to win and one is going to lose, but I would really like to end in a tie. Can the NFL do that?” If only it could finish that way. And don’t count on Jack doing any in-game analysis, or to start guessing which team might have the edge in any given phase. “I’m only neutral on that,” he said. “I don’t look for body language. I am not really a coach anymore. I am a spectator and a parent. When I had the chance to watch over the weekend, all of those parents of those players that were competing and the thrill of watching their youngsters compete at that level, all of the coaches involved, their careers,
ALL-STAR Continued from Page 1B Curry wasn’t selected despite averaging 20.9 points. He’s the league’s eighth-leading scorer and the highest one who won’t be in Houston for the Feb. 17 showcase. Lee called his selection “bittersweet” because Curry — the first person to send him a congratulatory text — wasn’t picked. “In our practice facility, there’s that All-Star chart and it stops at ’97 and there hasn’t been any since. So the whole team was really excited with the improved record this year and to get one or both of our guys on there,” Lee said. “I’m really excited to be the one that goes and represents our team. I wish Steph could be a part of it and maybe he’ll still be able to. I’m just very, very excited. It’s been a long time for the Bay Area fans. Not only to have an AllStar, but to be winning games.” Voted as East starters by fan voting along with Garnett were Miami’s LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, New York’s Carmelo Anthony and Boston’s Rajon Rondo. The West starting five is Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard of the Lakers, Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, and Clippers teammates Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. The Clippers were hoping for a third All-Star, but sixth-man Jamal Crawford wasn’t picked. Commissioner David Stern would choose the replacement if any players are injured. Randolph leads the NBA with 27 double-doubles and becomes the first Grizzlies player with multiple selections. “It is truly an honor to be named by the NBA’s coaches to the 2013 Western Conference All-Star team,” he said in a statement. “I am grateful for
WEST San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan, left, and Tony Parker will both be NBA All-Star game reserves in Houston.
Photo by Darren Abate | AP
this opportunity and look forward to playing with the best players in the world.” The leaders of the teams with the best winning percentage in their conference through games of Feb. 3 will be the coaches. Miami’s Erik Spoelstra has the inside track on the East spot, while San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich and the Clippers’ Vinny Del Negro are battling for the West honor since Scott Brooks, whose Thunder have the league’s best record, is ineligible after coaching last year. Irving, the reigning Rookie of the Year, and Holiday were re-
warded for outstanding individual seasons even though their teams are well below .500. Irving is the Cavaliers’ first AllStar since James, the only other East player averaging at least 20 points and five assists. “It’s one of the best days of my life,” Irving said Thursday night, shortly after also being honored as Cleveland’s professional athlete of the year award at the Greater Cleveland Sports Awards. “It’s a big deal for me and it’s a big deal for the city of Cleveland to be picked as an All-Star for the first time. I’m turning 21 on March 23 and to
how they all started out in high school and college, and now they are in the NFL and competing for this ultimate prize. I think more as a parent now than I do as a coach, and I don’t really get involved in those other things.” Unless one of his kids tries to pull a fast one, that is. John Harbaugh produced a little prank of his own during his parents’ NFL-organized conference call Thursday morning. “John in Baltimore,” the moderator said, announcing the next person up for a turn to ask a question. “Is it true that both of you like Jim better than John?” John chirped, before getting figured out fast by his sister. Jackie had begun speaking with, “We do not.” “Hey, John, how are you?” Joani replied. “Is that John?” Jackie asked. After a quick greeting, he was off to practice. “Love you both, love you Joani,” John said. Back to game-planning. And 3,000 miles away on a rainy day in the Bay Area, Jim, too, was busy gearing up. And, for everybody getting a kick out of those catchy “Harbowl” and “Superbaugh” nicknames for the game, the parents ask that it be kept simple and authentic. “Jack Harbaugh here, I prefer it to be called the Lombardi Trophy winner,” he said. Added his wife, “I prefer it to be called the Super Bowl.” San Francisco safety Donte Whitner is prepared for all the back and forth of the Harbaugh family affair for another week. “Oh, man, I know that they’re very proud, I know that either way they’re going to feel for the one that loses and they’re going to be happy for the other,” Whitner said. “But at the end of the day, they’re all family, and you bring a Super Bowl ring back to the family.”
be with those guys, to see those names on TV, that was truly a blessing.” The 22-year-old Holiday, the youngest All-Star in franchise history, is averaging 19.0 points and 9.0 assists but feared the 76ers’ 17-25 mark would work against him. “I thought so. I definitely thought so. I think anybody else probably would, too,” he said while watching a Philadelphia Flyers game. “We’re not getting on a winning streak or anything like that. I just tried to stay positive and not talk about it.”
Continued from Page 1B pro who has bipolar disorder, was involved in a pair of locker room incidents during the preseason, and was on his second straight one-year contract for the veteran minimum, which was $1.2 million this season. The first suspension of West was lifted after just a day after a meeting with Nelson and coach Rick Carlisle. A week later, though, he said he received a text telling him not to come to practice a week before the start of the regular season and was released a few days later. He said he was blamed for an argument that didn’t involve him in the locker room after a preseason game. West was a valuable role player for Dallas last season, even starting 33 games as the backcourt struggled with injuries before he was sidelined himself by a broken finger. He was close to his career averages with the Mavericks, at 9.6 points and 3.2 assists per game. West was suspended for the first 10 games of the 2010-11 season after pleading guilty to weapons charges in Maryland. Authorities say he was carrying three loaded guns and a knife when he was stopped for speeding on a three-wheel motorcycle in 2009. Part of West’s value a year ago came from being a younger, experienced player to help point guard Jason Kidd and Jason Terry. The Mavericks now have a much younger backcourt in Darren Collison and O.J. Mayo.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B
HINTS | BY HELOISE Dear Heloise: I’d like to suggest to your readers to ask their schoolage children if their school collects and uses “BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION” coupons. These are found on many products and earn money to buy necessary school supplies. Schools that use these will be grateful for more. Also, I’ve always had difficulty trying to measure, cut and apply shelf paper. My hint has been very helpful for me. I bought self-sticking vinyl floor tiles. They are easy to measure and cut with a box cutter; plus, they are easy to wipe clean. I now have my shelves and drawers lined with vinyl. Works great! Keep up your great column in the San Antonio Express-News. I really enjoy reading every one of them. — Patsy F. Shinn in San Antonio Patsy, I’m glad you enjoy my column. I’m happy to pass along your hint about the box tops! Readers, start saving
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HELOISE
them, and give them to the school of your choice. — Heloise PET PAL Dear Readers: Dorothy Shaulis in the Shanksville/Berlin area of Pennsylvania sent a photo of her beautiful blue point Siamese cat that she adopted from a shelter two years ago. Dorothy says: “She was about 9 months old when we adopted her. She loves to crawl under the covers on the bed in my sewing room and take her afternoon nap. She does this herself. I walked in one afternoon, saw her sleeping and ran to get my camera. She is a real sweetie, and I love her!” To see this “sleeping beauty,” visit my website, www.Heloise.com, and click on “Pets.” — Heloise
DENNIS THE MENACE
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DAILY CRYPTOQUOTES — Here’s how to work it:
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Sports
4B THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013
Te’o still faces questions By BRIAN HAMILTON MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
Photo by Sang Tan | AP
Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, right, is tackled by Arsenal’s Kieran Gibbs during an English Premier League match at Stamford Bridge, London, on Jan. 20.
Chelsea’s Hazard charged for violent kick By STEVE DOUGLAS ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — The English Football Association charged Chelsea winger Eden Hazard on Friday for kicking a ball boy, a move that could add extra games to his three-match ban for violent conduct. After reviewing footage, the FA said the standard suspension would be “clearly insufficient” and gave Hazard until Tuesday to respond to the charge. Hazard was sent off Wednesday for kicking a ball boy in the 79th minute of the League Cup semifinal match against Swansea. The Belgian winger attempted to retrieve the ball after it had rolled out of play. The 17-year-old ball boy refused to return the ball promptly and dropped down on top of it. Hazard aimed a kick underneath the teenager to release the ball. Hazard and ball boy
Photo by Nick Potts | AP
Chelsea’s Eden Hazard walks off the field after a red card for violent conduct. Charlie Morgan apologized to each other after the match and were spoken to by police. Morgan’s family doesn’t intend to press charges. South Wales Police said
Friday they were no longer involved in the matter, having been obliged to follow up after three complaints by members of the public. In the FA’s statement, the governing body said it will be reminding “all clubs of their responsibilities in ensuring ball boys and other personnel around the pitch act in an appropriate manner at all times.” Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins said he was eager to move on. “On a personal note I find it remarkable that there is any thought of police action,” Jenkins said Friday. “Things are done in the heat of the moment and probably everybody looks back and wishes things had been done differently. We accept how things are and all move forward.” Chelsea manager Rafa Benitez said any disciplinary action taken against Hazard by the club was an “internal” matter.
The efforts to rinse Manti Te’o of the infamous fake dead girlfriend hoax continued the day before his first televised interview, with clips of that confab appearing early Wednesday and spreadsheets purported to represent his phone records bubbling up later in the day. In samples of his interview with Katie Couric that airs Thursday, Te’o conceded that he perpetuated the storyline of a girlfriend who died of leukemia in September despite receiving a call Dec. 6 from someone claiming to be that girlfriend, Lennay Kekua. “This girl who I committed myself to died on Sept. 12,” Te’o said in the clip aired on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “Now I get a phone call on Dec. 6, saying that she’s alive, and then I’m going to be put on national TV two days later, and they ask me about the same question. What would you do?” Meanwhile, ESPN received spreadsheets allegedly representing Te’o’s phone records from a source it did not name not the original records themselves - that show Te’o made 500 hours of calls between May and September of 2012 to a number with a 661 area code the former Notre Dame linebacker allegedly believed belonged to Kekua. ESPN said it could not independently verify the information in the spreadsheets. Te’o said he believed he had a relationship with a woman named Lennay Kekua who died of leukemia on Sept. 12. It has been revealed since that Kekua was a hoax, the product of a scam allegedly run by a 22-year-old
Photo by David J. Phillip | AP
Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o’s girlfriend who died of leukemia — a loss he said inspired him to play his best all the way to the BCS championship — was a hoax perpetrated against the linebacker. California man named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. Notre Dame and Te’o have maintained the player had no part in the ordeal, though the flashpoint for some was Te’o continuing the dead girlfriend narrative two days after a call that threw the situation into doubt. Couric - who shares the same spokesman as Te’o and reportedly also is represented by Creative Artists Agency - addressed that discrepancy in a clip aired Wednesday. “You stuck to the script,” Couric said. “And you knew that something was amiss, Manti.” Te’o replied: “Katie, put yourself in my situation. I, my whole world
told me that she died on Sept. 12. Everybody knew that. This girl, who I committed myself to, died on Sept. 12.” Couric also interviewed Te’o’s parents, Brian and Ottilia. “Now many people writing about this are calling your son a liar,” Couric said. “They are saying he manipulated the truth, really for personal gain.” Replied Brian Te’o: “People can speculate about what they think he is. I’ve known him 21 years of his life. And he’s not a liar. He’s a kid.” The full Couric interview with Te’o airs on Thursday on her syndicated talk show, “Katie.”
Sports Special
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 1D
Sky’s the limit
Photos courtesy of Jonny Durand
This undated handout screenshot of Jonny Durand, foreground, and Dustin Martin shows the pair gliding above Texas. As they pursued a hang gliding record over hundreds of miles across Texas in July 2012, Martin and Durand were often within shouting distance of each other.
Pair of pilots ride into the record books By A.G. SULZBERGER NEW YORK TIMES
The clouds stretched across the Texas sky like a highway. And soaring along those lanes, lofted nearly 8,000 feet by the hot air rising from the earth, two hang gliders raced in tight pursuit of the most prized feat in this high adrenaline niche sport: farthest ever flown. The men suspended underneath their aluminum and fabric wings, Jonny Durand and Dustin Martin, had already journeyed 438 miles in 10 hours, splitting up and converging repeatedly as each pursued his own path alongside the red-tailed hawks and turkey vultures. Against all odds, they were now flying nearly wingtip to wingtip. Because of the consoles of gadgets mounted on their control bars, the two men knew that they had now flown farther than any person ever had using a hang glider. Farther than anyone had without the drone of an engine or the protective shell of a plane. They had flown, and were
Hang gliders Dustin Martin, left, and Jonny Durand point out — roughly — where they had started and finished their south-to-north flights. flying still, farther than anyone had in the manner dreamed of in centuries of tall tales, from Icarus to Superman — cheeks in the
wind, like a bird. Having launched near the southern tip of Texas in July, a few miles from Mexico, the two men had
pushed north, propelled by the fierce flatland wind, and at times had reached more than 80 miles per hour.
They crossed low over desolate expanses of cactus and mesquite, which threatened shins full of thorns for any pilot forced
into an early landing. They crossed over the concrete sprawl of small cities with houses that looked like pebbles, and over the tumbling, juniper-dusted canyons of hill country, and, finally, over the parched farmland that heralded the northern borders of the state. There was Durand, dangling under his Red Bullsponsored wing, who had prophesied that morning, “I’ve got a good feeling about today.” The archetype of the adventurous Australian, he was known to friends as someone who operated best with a few margaritas or at least a decent hangover. There are those who take to the sky and revel in the silence; he filled it with whoops of delight. And there, soaring alongside, was Martin, the quiet, perpetually destitute product of the American West. His youthful dreams of flight had never given way to more practical considerations. Since he started working at an airport as a teenager, earning less than he handed back for his flying lessons, he had scraped together just enough on the ground to spend as much time as possible off it. They called themselves friends. But, as those who had spent the previous few days with them would attest, rivals better fit the jaunty, “sure you’re up for this?” competitiveness of the daring prodigies. In the
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Dustin Martin glides above the desert in the vicinity of Maricopa, Ariz., in this file photo from Nov. 29, 2012. The pair pursued a hang gliding record over hundreds of miles across Texas in July.
sky, where they snacked on protein bars and water and relieved themselves freely over the world below, they were as evenly matched as two hang glider pilots could be. As they flew past the old world-record distance — close enough to hear each other yahooing in celebration — the question turned first to how much farther they could possibly go. But as the sun retreated and they began their inevitable, decisive descent, another, more pointed question began to nag at the two men: who would go the farthest? ‘‘It was at the front of both our minds,” Martin later recounted during one of the dozens of interviews with participants that were used, along with video and flight recorder data, to reconstruct the journey. “After all this, we just happened to be at the same spot. We were starting from scratch essentially.” And with the knowledge that both had broken the old record but only one might set the record, Durand and Martin began the final push.
Zapata, Texas A sports record offers a small claim to immortality: certified evidence that a person not only lived but excelled. The pursuit of this particular record — farthest ever flown — had for more than a decade drawn some of the world’s best hang glider pilots to Zapata, a dingy border town at the southern tip of Texas best known for oil wealth and drug violence. The pilots almost universally hated the place, cursing the second-rate Mexican food and the motel room scorpions that kept them company during what could be weeks of waiting between flights. The locals, too, wondered at this peculiar summer migration to their hardluck community of 5,000. The closing of the bowling alley and drive-in movie theater had left complaining about nothing to do as the most popular pastime. Even Falcon Lake, the bass-rich reservoir along the Rio Grande that served as the area’s princi-
pal draw, was struggling to lure anglers after piratestyle attacks by members of a Mexican cartel who use it to smuggle drugs. ‘‘There’s nothing here,” said Linda Cameron, the manager of Lakefront Lodge, the motel and campground that most of the pilots called home during their annual visits. “We’re 54 miles south of Laredo and we’re 52 miles north of Rio Grande, and there’s a lot of cactus in between.” The low-lying area seems an unlikely home for a high-altitude sport. But the town had been identified by Gary Osoba, a former hang gliding pilot who studied decades of weather data to find the place with the best meteorological conditions for long flights. Around the globe, Zapata stood out for its hot desert air — laden with enough moisture from the Gulf of Mexico to seed cumulus clouds — that bellowed northward for hundreds of miles as if out of a giant furnace.In 2000, Osoba started what he called the World Record Encampment, which drew some of the best hang glider pilots each summer to chase various distance records. There was an entry fee — to pay for the special plane used to tow the hang gliders into the air and a few other shared expenses — but mostly it was a casual gathering, with fewer than a dozen pilots flying and socializing for a few weeks. They returned year after year because the weather models had been right. Before the site was identified, only one pilot had ever flown more than 300 miles. By last summer, Zapata had served as the staging ground for four flights of more than 400 miles. “Almost everyone who goes to Zapata has had the longest flight of their lives,” said David Glover, a businessman in Oklahoma City who has attended most years. That distinction has made the spot controversial among hang gliding enthusiasts, with some regarding the records set there as less than authentic, liking winning a slam dunk contest with the help of a trampoline or a weight-lifting title on the
moon. But for the cadre of pilots who attended the gatherings, the epic aerial journeys carried no asterisks. The flying was, if anything, more difficult than in many places, requiring pilots to brave high wind and treacherous landings — in addition to the usual risks like a hang glider tumbling midair or crashing. ‘‘The idea that you can use your wits and skills to defy the law of gravity and cross a vast stretch of this massive state is breathtaking,” said Pete Lehmann, a part-time flight instructor from Pittsburgh who was among the Zapata regulars. “Why people go bowling or play golf is simply beyond me.”
The pilots gather Dustin Martin was at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., on the night of June 29 when his cellphone rang. Seeing the name on the screen, he guessed what was about to happen. It was Jonny Durand. He and a handful of other gifted pilots had assembled in Zapata. They expected to be there for weeks. And Durand, aware of the risk, wanted his rival to join them. The two men, both 32, had met more than a decade earlier at a hang gliding competition in Australia, when both were better described as promising rather than accomplished. Since then, Durand and Martin had become two of the top-ranked pilots in the world and had learned along the way that having the other in the air gave them an edge that helped fuel some of their best performances. When the flying was over, often with them winning the top two places, they would spend the night together swilling beer and taking their chances with women. ‘‘It’s been a rivalry since the early days,” Durand said. “But we’re also friends and enjoy flying together.” The sport of hang gliding was not much older than these two youthful adherents. But its roots reach much further back. The most famous design
for what could generously be called an early hang glider remains Leonardo da Vinci’s of a contraption seemingly pulled from a children’s book. By the end of the 19th century, inventors had finally started to figure out the rough mechanics involved in getting a person airborne, birthing a series of gliding contraptions that were unwieldy, dangerous and usually flew only a few feet above the ground. The invention of the airplane made unpowered gliding seem like an odd relic. But a dedicated few continued to work at it, convinced that motorized flight had eliminated a feeling of elemental conquest. The modern hang glider emerged out of a simple triangular design, which made it lighter, stronger and more responsive to steering than previous gliding devices. Francis Rogallo, the NASA engineer credited as the father of the sport, predicted men would use them to fly off mountains. And in the early 1970s, scores of brave, perhaps foolhardy, pioneers started doing just that. Those early years were filled with promise and tragedy. Images of a hang glider soaring through the Grand Canyon were offset by reports of dozens of pilots dying each year in accidents. Hang gliding became safer as technology improved and training guidelines were established. But even as interest in other extreme sports has continued to swell, the number of licensed hang glider pilots in the United States has dropped by about twothirds from its peak, to 5,000 last year. Instead, many would-be pilots have taken up the sibling sport of paragliding, the aerial equivalent of switching from skiing to snowboarding. The hang glider pilots who remained, a group increasingly dominated by gray hair, remained fiercely dedicated to what they viewed less as a pastime than a calling. Some of the most wellknown of these pilots had gathered in Zapata in July, when the weather was ideal. The group included
Osoba, who started the world record encampment; Davis Straub, who ran the Oz Report, a website that was an online watering hole for hang gliding pilots; Glen Volk, a former national hang gliding champion; Andre Wolf, a Brazilian pilot who had set the South American distance record; Glauco Pinto, another top competition pilot from Brazil; Glover, a former president of the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association; and Lehmann, who was chronicling the gathering for Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine. Durand was regarded as the only pilot there with the ability to break the absolute distance record. That changed after the phone call from the Steak House, where some of the pilots had gathered to trade the same old stories over dinner. A few drinks later, Durand and others decided that they were going to give Martin a hard time for skipping the gathering. The conversation veered between genuine enticement and friendly trash talk. Durand told Martin that the weather was looking very good. He noted that his own sponsors had paid for his trip and wondered whether Martin’s sponsors were being cheap. He mused that in Martin’s absence, records might fall. ‘‘I don’t know if he really wanted me out there,” Martin said, “but he was definitely egging me on.” Martin had attended three previous encampments, coming closer than any other pilot to breaking the distance record in 2008 with a flight of 410 miles. He intended to skip the 2012 gathering because he was broke and, as he frequently reminded anyone willing to listen to his trademark rant, he hated the place. But the combination of Durand’s needling and the prospect of missing a rare opportunity provoked Martin to make a few phone calls. He consulted with several other pilots in Zapata and confirmed that the sky seemed even more promising than usual. He connected with his main sponsor, the hang glider manufacturer Wills Wing, which said it would send a
check for $2,500 overnight to pay the entrance fee and other costs. Then he texted Durand that he was making the 1,100-mile drive. The response, he inferred, betrayed a mix of surprise and a little bit of nervousness. ‘‘Really?” Durand asked. His own car had no airconditioning, so Martin rented a small hatchback. He lashed his hang glider to the top, crunching the roof sufficiently that he would have to hammer out the dents before he returned the car. One thought above all had changed his mind: “I didn’t want Jonny to fly 500 miles while I just sat here.”
‘See you up there’ On the morning of July 3, Martin and Durand woke to a text from Osoba: “Today is excellent.” Not everyone seemed so sure. Most mornings in Zapata begin with a long, sometimes heated, debate about the weather. The pilots, conscious that margins matter when it comes to breaking records, agreed they must wait for just the right day. They differed about what that would look like. On this day, the conditions were something short of perfect. The sky was a bit too clear; only a few white puffs clouded the blue expanse. The wind could have been stronger. The ground was still moist from heavy rain a few days earlier. But Martin and Durand, hoping the conditions would improve once they were in the air, and eager to escape the monotony of another day of waiting, readied themselves for flight. So did Straub, Lehmann, Volk and Pinto. ‘‘You can’t always expect to have everything perfect,” Durand said. “You just have to try.” Martin had arrived in Zapata two days before. Durand’s displeasure was unmistakable. And he wasn’t alone. Some of the pilots resented Martin’s decision to join them only after the conditions had
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Dustin Martin and his friend Jonny Durand flew nearly as tandems across their south-to-north journey through the skies of Texas.
turned so promising. Some were irritated that he had arrived without a driver to make the sometimes daylong retrievals, leaving him dependent on rides from the others. Martin felt ganged up on, and he let Durand know it, stoking the tension. Despite his late arrival and some mild protest from Durand, Martin was allowed to launch first because he was the first to get his hang glider assembled and on the runway. Like the other pilots, Martin carried enough technology to fill a carryon suitcase: a global positioning device that helped him determine his route, a variometer that measured how quickly he was rising or falling, a flight data recorder that tracked his movements for record verification, a two-way radio to communicate with other pilots and support crew, a rescue beacon that could be tracked online in case he found himself stranded in remote country, and a strobe light in case he landed after sunset. His clothing was more basic. He wore nylon tights covered with a streamlined jumper. He strapped on a helmet, covered his face with a ski mask and sunglasses, and pulled on a pair of gloves. He stuffed eight Balance Bars into his sleeves for easy midair retrieval. On a whim, he decided to switch from his usual Clif Bars, a decision he would soon regret when the chocolate coating melted into an irritating mess. He filled a bladder with 70 ounces of water, which he could drink through a rubber straw that hung over his shoulder. As extra protection against dehydration, he chugged a large orange Gatorade. Then he strapped into his harness, which suspends the pilot into a prone position below the wing — the hang in hang gliding. On the ground he kept his feet free for launching, but once in the air, he would zip himself into the harness like a sleeping bag. Finally he turned to Durand. ‘‘See you up there.”
Dustin Martin At 9:57 a.m., the tow bridle attached to Martin’s hang glider snapped tight. There are two ways that hang gliders typically get into the air. The traditional approach is to run off the top of a hill, mountain or cliff. But pilots also use a technique that has made the sport far less beholden to local topography: towing. A line is attached from a plane to the pilot and then pulled forward until the hang glider is brought into the air — a method familiar to anyone who has witnessed tourists parasailing behind boats in beach towns. In Zapata, the pilots
used a slow-flying, experimental propeller plane designed for the task and called “the dragonfly.” And with the plane sputtering forward, Martin suddenly lifted into the air, riding its wake like a water skier. The winds whistled and slapped around him. The next eight minutes, he knew, would be the most dangerous of the trip, with countless ways to make a mistake and little time to recover from one. But his ascent went smoothly. Once he had reached 3,000 feet off the ground, he pulled a cord releasing him from the plane. He was, at last, in the sky and on his own. It is a speculative exercise to identify a pivot point in the course of any life, but Martin suspects just such a moment occurred when, as a teenager in Arizona, he picked up a book at his local library. It was a small volume, nearly three decades old, about sailplanes, a type of unpowered aircraft. After reading the book, Martin noticed that a woman’s name and home phone number had been written inside as contact information. He dialed the number, unchanged after years, and the surprised woman guided him to a local airport where he could learn to fly. Martin headed there and got his first job, earning $2.50 an hour running alongside the sailplanes to make sure they did not tip over as they took off. But even when he was sitting in the cockpit himself, he longed for a purer form of flight, something that was, as he put it, “more birdlike.” He tried to replicate the sensation by building a homemade glider out of aluminum tubes and plastic tarps, which succeeded only in providing scrapes and bruises after each painful encounter with the ground. At 16, he took a six-day, $600 introductory course in hang gliding. Soon he was flying every weekend around the dormant volcanoes around Flagstaff, Ariz. Then most weekdays. He was fired from the airport, the first of many lost jobs, accused of spending too much time looking at the sky. Martin settled on an itinerant lifestyle: work a few months painting, fixing bikes or teaching hang gliding, and spend the rest of the year flying. He competed in Australia, Europe and South America, throughout the Rockies and then the Alps. He was soon winning enough to get much of his equipment and travel costs paid by sponsors. Among the small circle of competitive pilots, he was known as shy, even reclusive, alternately funny and fussy, with a savantlike knowledge of the sport. In 2000, Martin was one of the pilots present for the first record encampment in Zapata. The first day, he
flew 202 miles. It was his personal best, but his celebration faded to disappointment when he learned that another pilot had set a world record with a 311-mile flight. The world record continued to grow, but each time Martin traveled to Zapata, something would go wrong. One year, he was forced to sleep outside for a night while waiting for someone to pick him up after a flight. Another year, he hitchhiked and rode back to civilization inside a border patrol van that had been rounding up illegal immigrants. His 410mile flight still ranked as the third longest ever, but somehow, the place felt cursed. ‘‘You would never go here for any other reason,” Martin said. “You’re either moving drugs across the border, you’re making money with oil, or you’re killing it with hang gliders.”
The journey begins Once in the air, Martin assessed the landscape. The humid morning air, still cool on the skin, dulled the view, creating the illusion that the thicket of mesquite and prickly pear below extended forever. Regardless of how far he hoped to go, he would have to make it past this perilous territory first. Because a hang glider is constantly descending — at roughly 200 feet a minute — a pilot must find columns of warm rising air, called thermals, to gain the altitude needed to stay in the sky for more than just a sled ride, as short flights are disparagingly called. Invisible to the eye, thermals are recognizable to most people as the source of turbulence on airplane flights or what allow a bird to circle skyward without flapping its wings. The billowing growth of a cloud on a warm day is perhaps the clearest sign of a thermal, with the cloud capping the rising air like foam does the rising bubbles of a beer, which is why pilots use clouds to help plot their paths. Strong thermals, which are sought and feared, are capable of lifting a hang glider thousands of feet in minutes. Lighter thermals, the ones Martin was hunting, require precise flying to find and then ascend. In most other places, pilots would simply wait until the day had warmed sufficiently before starting their flights. But for this record chase, every extra minute of daylight mattered. So Martin traveled cautiously, watching for soaring birds and developing clouds to detect areas with lift, while eyeing the ground to make sure he had a backup plan if he kept descending. Pilots hated this early stretch of the trip. Air conditions often force them to
fly so low that they have to be ready to land at any time. But there was nowhere to land, except the clearings around the occasional oil pump, that did not risk shredding them and tearing up their gliders with thorns up to three inches long. Avoiding that nightmarish situation was the main thought in Martin’s mind as he struggled to stay aloft that morning. About nine miles after he disconnected from the plane, he sank to just 1,073 feet above the ground.
Jonny Durand Durand took off at 10:10 a.m., 13 minutes after Martin. His first goal was to survive that difficult early stretch. His second was to chase down Martin. Growing up in a forested outpost not far from the Gold Coast of Australia, Durand had also come to the sport at an early age. His father, a skilled hang glider pilot, had purchased some property with an unusual perk: a private mountain. After school, his father would take him up on tandem flights, during which Durand would toss paper airplanes, watching as they gently sank thousands of feet to the ground. As soon as he was old enough to carry his own glider, at 14, he started flying himself. Nearly two decades later, his father was still the eighth-ranked pilot in Australia; the No. 1 spot belonged to Durand. By then, Durand had built something recognizable to anyone in sports marketing as a brand. He was not just winning competitions, he was doing so with a charismatic flair that stood out even among the rugged daredevils around him. He was supremely confident in his skills and almost pathologically energetic, spending nine months of the year on the road and developing a reputation for his practical jokes and partying. The sponsors embraced him — first industry stalwarts like Moyes Delta Gliders, an Australian manufacturer, and then mainstream brands like Red Bull, the energy drink maker with an eye on adrenaline seekers. ‘‘Everyone likes Jonny unless you’re a woman whose heart he broke,” said Timothy Ettridge, who encouraged Durand to go to Zapata and volunteered as his driver. In 2009, Durand flew 323 miles from the clearing atop his family’s mountain, still the longest mountain flight in the history of the sport. For the purists, who believe that hang gliding should never require mechanical assistance like towing, it was perhaps the greatest prize. But for Durand, the larger goal still loomed. He wanted the absolute distance record. And he knew
where he had to go to get it. After he spent a year bouncing among Brazil, Italy and Australia, his trip to Texas stood out not only for its lofty ambition but for its sheer unpleasantness. He had been to Zapata once, several years earlier, to endure three weeks of bad weather that allowed him to stage only a few disappointing flights, one of which ended with a terrifying landing, so he knew what to expect. ‘‘Hot and dry, long days,” Durand said. “I knew it wasn’t exactly going to be a holiday out there. ‘‘But the margaritas are fantastic.”
Midair meeting Thirty miles from Zapata, Durand spotted Martin for the first time. The gray wing with blue and white stripes was just a speck in the sky, about three miles ahead. The men were approaching Laredo, an old river crossing that had grown into a bustling hub of border country. It was also, because of the federally restricted airspace around the city’s airport, the closest thing to an obstacle in the course the men were taking. Among the more improbable dangers of the sport was the risk of being struck by an airplane. Martin had once come within a dozen feet of such an accident. But of greater concern was this: A hang gliding flight that crossed into restricted airspace was ineligible for the record book. This was one of the few rules that the two men had to observe during their flight. They also could not be towed higher than 1,000 meters, travel too close to the clouds or fly for more than a half-hour after sunset. These rules were strictly enforced using the flight recording equipment they carried. The previous longest flight ever made — 438 miles — was not in the record book because of a technicality. Durand kept clear of the Laredo airport, while Martin dared to get closer. But both skirted it safely. The conditions had started to improve. The sky, which had been mostly clear when they took off, was filling with clouds. The air was warming, and the men were climbing higher with almost every thermal. The difficult morning flying was giving way to great afternoon conditions. A key to a long-distance flight is to relax. When pilots are tense, flying can offer a Pilates-level workout as the core muscles strain rather than hang loosely in the harness. Maneuvering with the control bar — pulling in to speed up, pushing out to slow down, shifting left or right to bank into turns — should require about as much pressure as pushing
a full grocery cart. But over the course of the day, the feat they were trying to pull off could be compared to pushing a full grocery cart across an entire state. After coming close several times, Durand finally caught up to Martin near Carrizo Springs, 114 miles into the trip. It was 1 p.m. They had been communicating by radio, trading bearings and occasionally cracking jokes, and both men were anticipating flying together, with more a sense of relief than rivalry. After spending several hours hunting for thermals alone, each man could now watch the other as well, essentially doubling their chances of finding areas of lift. Martin compared the approach to professional bike racing, in which competitors cluster until breaking away. And Durand and Martin flew together well. A few years earlier, the two men had jointly set the record for the longest flight on the East Coast, 283 miles, flying from Central Florida deep into Georgia, eventually landing side by side. They had similar flying styles. Both made quick decisions in the air and remained steady through difficult moments. And, setting them apart from other competitive pilots, they flew unusually fast, which eats up altitude quicker, believing the increased risk of an early landing was offset by the extra gain in mileage. They reached well over a mile above the ground, nearly high enough to scrape the underbellies of the clouds.
Endurance test At Uvalde, where the land brightens through a valley that nourishes herds of beef cattle, they forked west off U.S. Highway 83, which they had been following from above. They tracked State Highway 55, mimicking the curves of the Nueces River as it wound into the Texas Hill Country. Though they were not tethered in any way to these roads, they used them like landmarks to help guide their flight, even as they occasionally diverted miles from them to pursue areas with better flying conditions. The Hill Country was known as the most technically challenging segment of the trip. The ridges and folds in the earth stir up the wind, making the air more violent and unpredictable. The rising terrain eats at the altitude from below while providing few places to land. Many record attempts fell short there. For the first time all day, nearly 240 miles into the journey, Durand seemed to have an edge, soaring comfortably at 7,000 feet while Martin descended to nearly 2,000 feet.
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Dustin Martin and his friend Jonny Durand flew across the skies of South Texas until they reached north Texas, about the distance from New York to Detroit.
Durand, anticipating the difficult terrain, had decided to fly more cautiously, slowing to preserve altitude. He had once been forced to land in the area — “the scariest landing I’ve ever had,” he said — and was not eager to repeat the experience. Martin, though, had maintained his aggressive approach, costing him the height he had worked so hard throughout the day to gain. At one point, hours earlier, Martin had been forced to enter what looked from above like a mini-tornado. It was a dust devil, a thermal strong enough to suck up a column of dust and other debris and which any experienced pilot knew should generally be avoided. But if he had not gone higher, Martin faced a difficult landing — and no record. Experienced pilots are like risk calculators, rapidly weighing the dangers of any course of action. Martin carried two reserve parachutes, rather than the customary one, to provide the extra security he needed to push the odds. Inside that dust devil, the air had churned violently around him. A roller coaster, which provides momentary loss of gravity during drops and the accelerating forces of it during fast turns, may be the most apt analogy. At the time, the gamble had paid off, giving him thousands of feet of extra altitude. But now he was uncomfortably low again, searching for any promising thermal as he watched Durand all but disappear ahead of him.
The race is on It took Martin almost an hour to catch back up. Both men had made it through the Hill Country, onto the spare, short grass savanna of the Edwards Plateau. By 4:38, shortly before some of the workers of the world below finished the labors of an unremarkable Tuesday, the two men were flying side by side again. They had traveled 280 miles. Durand was mugging for his video camera, describing his excitement and, occasionally, not forgetting how he financed his lifestyle, giving shout-outs to his sponsors. ‘‘I think we’re going to do it,” he said. “I’m a real happy man right now. Oh my God.” By then, the other pilots who had launched that morning were already on the ground and heading back to Zapata. Volk had gone the farthest, about 230 miles, followed by Lehmann at about 215. Pinto, dealing with an equipment malfunction, had landed after just 40 miles. Straub had set down at 160 miles after a particularly violent thermal. ‘‘Basically, I got scared,” Straub said. “Dustin and Jonny experienced the
height on his rival. The realization hit Durand at once. In a journey that had lasted hundreds of miles, these 262 feet would be the difference. Durand, speaking to his video camera, made a painful peace: “He’s going to get me by a little bit.”
The journey ends
Dustin Martin at the Ak-Chin Regional Airport prior to his glide above the desert in Maricopa, Ariz., Nov. 29, 2012. As they pursued a hang gliding record over hundreds of miles across Texas in July, Martin and his friend Jonny Durand each broke the world record as they flew. same thing, and they stayed in it.” As the other pilots drove south, they marveled that Durand and Martin remained in the air and on pace for the record. The wind remained strong and steady, averaging 23 mph. The sky was still thick with clouds. The sun was still high. And on nearly every climb, they were soaring to nearly touch the clouds. ‘‘That is when we knew they had a chance,” Lehmann said. “Everything was on their side. Now it was just a matter of staying up.” The contest between the two men had developed a leapfrog rhythm. A mistake by the pilot in front was seized upon by the pilot in back, and the lead changed. Then another battle to catch up. And then a repeat. They had by now traded the front spot more than a dozen times. After two hours of flying close together, suddenly, Martin shot miles ahead. They were above a lonely stretch, where the few signs of civilization included fields of enormous windmills. Durand strained his eyes to the horizon: “He’s really far in front.” The day was getting late, and Durand was getting low enough that he was more concerned about landing than he was about catching up. He forced himself to switch his mindset from winning the contest to staying in the air long enough to break the distance record. ‘‘Before I knew it, he had 10 or 15 miles on me again,” Durand said. “I thought, that’s it, he’s got the world record.”
The record falls Though the official record was 435 miles, the real number to beat was 438 — the farthest anyone had ever flown in a hang glider. As that moment approached, Martin, having
built a seemingly insurmountable lead, watched his GPS to see when the number ticked over. It was like watching a clock on New Year’s Eve, using technology to confirm a landmark that would otherwise be impossible to recognize. ‘‘I was already celebrating my record,” Martin said. And then suddenly, there was Durand, flying in shouting distance. The two men were shocked to see each other again after nearly two hours apart. Durand, who had also been fixated on his GPS to mark the moment, was so surprised that he initially suspected that this was simply a random encounter with another recreational hang glider. ‘‘I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Durand said. “I thought I’d never see him again.” They circled each other as they exceeded the longest distance. For Martin, though, the accomplishment was dulled by a growing dread. He thought he had traveled safely ahead of his competitor, but Durand had pushed hard to regain his altitude and flown fast enough to make up the lost ground. Now the two men were even. The contest was falling into a pattern that he knew too well. He would build a lead, and at the last minute, Durand would seize it. In competitions, the two men often finished first and second, but as Durand noted, “Usually it’s me in first.” Martin said: “I had made the breakaway, and it didn’t really work. Here’s the guy I’ve got to beat, and now we’re neck and neck and there is no energy left in the atmosphere and nothing really to separate us.” Around the world, hang glider pilots were calling one another with the news that Durand and Martin were competing for the longest flight ever in the sport. Thousands of pilots
gathered around computer screens to track their progress online. In California, workers at the Wills Wing factory tracked the flight on computers and smartphones, rooting on Martin. ‘‘There was a lot of excitement for sure,” said Mike Meier, a co-owner. “You’re watching someone do something that’s never been done before.” In Australia, where Durand is popular, hang glider pilots roused themselves from sleep to watch the final hours unfold in an act of national solidarity. Driving 70 mph to keep up with the hang gliders from below, Ettridge started receiving dozens of calls and text messages from pilots around the world, wanting to know if the reports could really be accurate. He eventually stopped picking up his phone.
The final push The cooling air was calming after the restlessness of the long summer day. It was 8:15. The thick cover of clouds had whittled to one tiny puff, under which Durand and Martin converged to make their final climb. The phrase pilots use for this moment, when the thermals disappear almost at once, is “switched off.” A modern competition hang glider has a “glide ratio” of 15 to 1, which means for every foot it descends vertically, it will travel 15 feet horizontally over the land. That descent is almost imperceptible, but the reality was that Durand and Martin were proving the old saying about what goes up. As they fought gravity’s grasp, tiny decisions would make a huge difference. Martin, dogged by his past failures, was almost resigned to defeat. Over the course of the day, he had held the lead for more than six hours, while Durand had led for just an hour and a half. The rest of
the time, like now, the two had flown side by side. ‘‘I thought, there is a damn good chance he’s going to outfly me at the end here,” Martin said. “It seemed inevitable.” Durand was no more confident. He was elated but also worn out. The night before, when Martin had made an early retreat to bed, Durand had stayed out shooting pool and buying drinks. Now Martin could see him rocking in his harness, stretching his neck, looking ready for the long day to end. ‘‘I knew he was wasted,” Martin said. “I took note of it because I was feeling strangely fresh.” But it was more than just the physical toll. In races, there are finish lines, a clear moment when a goal is met, an event ended. But setting a record like this is an openended proposition. After battling so hard just to catch up with Martin, Durand had filled with relief when they broke the old mark. ‘‘I let my mind slip a little,” Durand said. “I wasn’t really thinking about trying to fly as far as I could at that point. It’s like running a marathon, and once you reach the finish line, you aren’t really eager to keep running.” The pilots flew cautiously as their margin for error continued to erode. They stayed close as they circled, blown along by the wind. Durand was restless, leaving tiny pockets of lift before they were tapped out. Martin, worried that his rival would catch something better, trailed just behind him defensively. Then, at 8:34, Martin hit a small thermal. The pocket of lift was so light that earlier in the day he might not have even noticed it. So light, in fact, that he was not even going up at all; he was being lifted just enough to offset his descent, a phenomenon pilots call “zero sink.” Martin circled for six minutes, staying even to the ground but gaining 262 feet of
As they glided toward the earth, details that had been lost for the better part of the day re-emerged one by one. Patches of green revealed individual trees, trees revealed leaves. They crossed over some cliffs and above an expanse of farmland, a welcome sight for pilots looking for a place to land. Durand, no longer concerned about going as far as he could, lined up his landing along a road so he could be picked up easily. He skimmed low over a dry field, approaching a farmhouse shaded by a cluster of trees. He unzipped his harness, feeling a sense of relief as his feet dropped under him. He turned into the wind to come to a gentle stop. He had flown more than 472 miles, or about the distance from New York to Detroit. So far, in fact, that the sun was setting as he landed, 26 minutes later than it had in Zapata. The flight would have taken about an hour in a commercial plane; by hang glider, it had taken nearly 11 hours. As soon as his feet reunited with the ground, Durand typed a message into his flight tracker that was seen by people watching the final moments online around the world: “I just landed and would like a margarita.” Martin had taken his chances, putting the wind squarely at his back to gain as much extra mileage as possible. He no longer had any fears about where to land. He just wanted to keep flying. Later, after he had landed three miles farther, near the small town of Lorenzo, the two men had an awkward reunion, full of celebration and freighted humor that continued during the 12-hour drive back to Zapata. Durand remained there for a couple of more weeks, cultivating a list of excuses for his secondplace showing as he tried again and again to break the record. Martin left as soon as he had submitted the paperwork for the record book. But in his final airborne moments, Martin was in no hurry for the ground to resume its claim on him. The sun was disappearing beneath the horizon, and the moon had already emerged. There was no euphoria, no exhaustion befitting the conclusion of an epic race. Just the quiet contentment of a man in his element, savoring the end of the longest flight of its kind ever made — cheeks in the wind, like a bird.