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CENSUS
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CENTER
Figures show new US
Stopping the funds
Hispanics hit 50 million milestone
No new agreement results in order to vacate offices By NICK GEORGIOU ZAPATA TIMES
A potential legal battle may be brewing after Zapata County commissioners voted Wednesday to stop funding the Economic Development Center and ordered the nonprofit to vacate county offices within 30 days. The vote came on the heels of
a proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the center and the county falling through. The document would have allowed the county to appoint a majority of the center’s board of directors and gain oversight of the organization. Commissioners said the MOU was justified because the county gives the center $80,000 a year
that’s doled out in quarterly payments. Peggy Umphres Moffett, president and executive director of the center, had said she supported the MOU, but that it threatened the organization’s status as a nonprofit. County Commissioner Eddie Martinez said that in his view, the center does not even exist anymore, as eight of its nine
board members had resigned early this month. But Umphres said that ever since the former members resigned, the center has largely reassembled its board of directors. New board members include Dr. Edmundo Garcia, Meg Guerra of Laredo’s LareDos publication,
See COUNTY PAGE 12A
By HOPE YEN ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Hispanics accounted for more than half of the U.S. population increase over the last decade, exceeding estimates in most states as they crossed a new census milestone: 50 million, or 1 in 6 Americans. Meanwhile, more than 9 million Americans checked two or more race categories on their 2010 census forms, up 32 percent from 2000, a sign of burgeoning multiracial growth in an increasingly minority nation. The Census Bureau on Thursday released its first set of national-level findings from the 2010 count on race and migration, detailing a decade in which rapid minority growth, aging whites and the housing boom and bust were the predominant story lines. Analysts said the results confirmed a demographic transformation under way that is upending traditional notions of racial minorities, political swing districts, even city and suburb. “These are big demographic changes,” said Mark Mather, an associate vice president at the nonprofit Population Reference Bureau. “There is going to be some culture shock, especially in communities that haven’t had high numbers of immigrants or minorities in the past.” “By 2050, we may have an entirely new system of defining ourselves,” he said. According to data released Thursday, Americans continued their decades-long migration to fast-growing parts of the Sun Belt. Their move to big states
See CENSUS PAGE 12A
GRATEFUL STUDENTS
Photo by Ulysses S. Romero | The Zapata Times
Monica Rodriguez, William Hammers and Lizette Cervantes sign a Thank You sign at TAMIU as a way to show gratitude to all the university donors.
COLLEGE LIFE
Transport program rolling up success stories By ERICA MATOS THE ZAPATA TIMES
Cries of dismay across Laredo campuses frequently revolve around escalating gas prices, limited parking and rush-hour traffic. But for some Zapata students, these aren’t merely idle complaints; they are factors that can make or break college careers. It is precisely for them that the Zapata County College Transportation Program exists.
The program has been in place since March 2010, and every semester, Laura Guerra, program director, enrolls an average of 28 students for transportation service on the two buses. She has 37 students enrolled and a waiting list of about 70-90 students. One of the many students grateful for these services, Julian Delgado, is a second-year criminal justice student at Laredo Community College. Attend-
ing school didn’t seem like a viable option to him for a while. Despite having a fascination for criminal justice since he was very young, Delgado encountered a number of obstacles during his first semester at LCC. The family of three — his mother, his younger brother of 13 and himself — share one car. “One (thing) is that right now, I haven’t been able to get my driver’s license. Second is the gas prices. We’re not really
of high income, and it’s only my mom,” Delgado said. “My two first semesters, it was hard because if I couldn’t find a ride to college, I couldn’t go.” Delgado is the first in his immediate family to go to college and was inspired by an uncle to study to become a U.S. customs agent. Thanks to the program, he can ride either the 6 a.m. or the 7 a.m. bus to LCC Fort McIntosh for only a dollar a day.
In fact, the buses travel to both LCC Fort McIntosh and South Campus, Texas A&M International University, Kaplan College and Laredo Beauty College. The brainchild of Commissioners Gabriel Villarreal (Precinct 2) and Jose Emilio Vela (Precinct 1) started small, but didn’t stay that way for long “We got started with only one student, Pablo Zapata, a year
See BUSES PAGE 12A