The Zapata Times 4/7/2012

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FALCON LAKE COUNTY PARK AND BOAT RAMP

COMMISSIONERS

Room for anglers

County eyes burial fixes

Officials say new park, boat ramp should allow more fishermen access to the lake

By JJ VELASQUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

County officials and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar were on hand Thursday to unveil a park and

boat ramp that could make room for more anglers.

The Falcon Lake County Park and Boat Ramp was made possible by a 2006 earmark of $600,000 the congressman worked to se-

cure. Zapata County and the Texas Department of Transportation each contributed $600,000 as well.

Cuellar said the park and boat ramp, in its first phase of development, would improve quality of life and the local economy.

“I think it’s a win-win situation for Zapata,” he said.

The county is in the midst of a

transition from reliance on oil and gas to basing its economy on ecotourism with outdoors recreation and fishing the main sources of tourism dollars.

“Fossil fuel has been very good for Zapata, but I think it’s always good to diversify the economy,”

See RAMP PAGE 9A

By JJ VELASQUEZ LAREDO MORNING TIMES

US NAVY AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT

have known about, Acosta ordered hit men to kill alleged rivals at a birthday party at a Juarez home Jan. 30, 2010.

“After the armed assault, 16 individuals were killed and 10 individuals were wounded at three different residences in Calle Villas del Portal, Colonia

County commissioners could pave the way for improvements to the Zapata Cemetery at a meeting Tuesday.

In the 1970s, the county began charging $150 for each cemetery plat. That money goes to a fund for expanding and improving the cemetery.

The county has accumulated $50,000 to make improvements to the cemetery.

As part of the proposed development, the county would add water lines in that area, section areas so visitors can find gravesites more easily and asphalt paving for better access.

The cemetery roads are gravel, which Commissioner Jose E. Vela said has caused issues when it rains.

“Some people are hesitant to enter because when it rains, it gets muddy,” he said.

If approved, the measure would initiate part of the paving process. Vela said he hopes to have all of the roads paved, eventually.

The commissioners will also look at providing identification markers for each section so that visitors can find their loved ones’ gravesites using that system.

Vela said the cemetery at the intersection of Oak Street and Farm-to-Market Road 496 spans about 50 acres.

He said he expects the other commissioners will support the improvements.

Also on the agenda Tuesday is the formation of a regional health care partnership with Webb County. Webb, which would anchor the regional partnership, has approached other counties in the region about joining.

The commissioners will decide whether to approve a memorandum of understanding to form the partnership.

The county has a partnership in place with Laredo Medical Center to provide care in the area.

Commissioners Court usually meets on the second Monday of the month. However, in observance of Easter, the meeting was pushed back a day.

In other county business Tuesday, the commissioners will consider the following items: To hire a firm to remove about 300 feet of broken up water pipes and transport

See CARTEL PAGE 9A

See COUNTY PAGE 9A

FIGHTER JET CRASHES

Photo by Kandice Angel | AP

The burning fuselage of an F/A-18 Hornet lies smoldering after crashing into a residential building in Virginia Beach, Va., on Friday. The two aviators ejected from the jet before it crashed. They were being treated for injuries that were not considered life threatening.

5 on ground; pilots hospitalized

By ZINIE CHEN SAMPSON ASSOCIATED PRESS

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Emergency crews searched the charred remains of a Virginia Beach apartment complex Friday after a fighter jet crashed into it just after takeoff in what Navy officials called a “catastroph-

ic mechanical malfunction.”

Two Navy pilots — a student and an instructor from nearby Naval Air Station Oceana — ejected just before the jet careened into the apartment complex, demolishing sections of some buildings and engulfing others in flames. Some 40 apart-

ment units were damaged or destroyed in the crash, but hours later no fatalities had been reported.

Seven people, including both pilots, were taken to a hospital. All except one of the pilots were released by late afternoon.

Virginia Beach Fire De-

See JET CRASH PAGE 9A

Photo by WVEC-TV | AP

Smoke billows near an apartment complex where a Navy jet crashed in Virginia Beach, Va., on Friday.

US FEDERAL COURT

Top Juarez cartel man gets life sentence

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

MCALLEN — A top Juarez cartel figure was sentenced to life in prison in a U.S. court Thursday after he admitted ordering more than 1,500 killings, including the slaying of a U.S. consulate employee in Mexico and the massacre of teenagers at

JOSE ANTONIO ACOSTA HERNANDEZ: Accused of conspiracy, racketeering and murder. a birthday party.

Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez pleaded guilty in El Paso to 11 counts, which include conspiracy, racketeering and murder. U.S. District Judge Kathleen

Cardone sentenced Acosta to seven concurrent life terms, three additional consecutive life terms and 20 years in federal prison.

The plea document alleges that Acosta was involved in some of the most gruesome acts of that period. In addition to the consulate slayings, which the document says Acosta would

PAGE 2A

Zin brief CALENDAR

SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2012

AROUND TEXAS

TODAY IN HISTORY

SATURDAY, APRIL 7

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The 61st annual Flower and Art Show, sponsored by the United Methodist Women of the First United Methodist Church, is from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. today and Sunday in the FUMC Fellowship Hall, 1220 McClelland Ave. The public is welcome. Admission is $3.

SUNDAY, APRIL 10 The 61st annual Flower and Art Show, sponsored by the United Methodist Women of the First United Methodist Church, continues today from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the FUMC Fellowship Hall, 1220 McClelland Ave. The public is welcome. Admission is $3 Voz de Niños invites you to their 3rd Annual Family Field Day at the IBC Lago del Rio from 1 – 5 p.m. Please join us for this all-inclusive event and an afternoon of arts & crafts, field games, face painting, great food, and entertainment. Proceeds will support ongoing efforts to advocate the best interests of abused and neglected children in Webb County. $20 general admission.

SCAN Inc. will host its annual Children’s Play Day for the community from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. today at the Laredo Civic Center grounds and ballroom. It’s a day to come out with your family and enjoy a day of games, prizes, music, food, drinks and fun.

There will be moonwalks and a rock wall. Admission is free. This is a drugfree event.

FRIDAY, APRIL 13 The 12th annual community-wide Wellness Fair, hosted by Laredo Community College and Doctors Hospital, is from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. today in the Maravillo Gymnasium, at the Fort McIntosh campus. For more information, call the LCC Wellness Program at 7215858.

SATURDAY, APRIL 14 Laredo’s Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s 2012 Rock the Cure is from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. today at Texas A&M International University.

Douglas Gonzalez, H-E-B’s director of retail operation for the Southwest, is the 2012 walk chair, and he will be joined by some very special family team chairs and walk ambassadors: local kids who have type 1 diabetes.

People can register on their own, as a team at www.walk.jdrf.org or in the TAMIU Student Center the day of the walk. For more information, call Letty Garcia at 712-2900.

THURSDAY, APRIL 19 Power of the Purse is at 6 p.m. today at La Posada Hotel, 1000 Zaragoza St. It will feature a silent and live auction of purses of every size and style at a cocktail reception to benefit the Girl Scouts of Greater South Texas.

Funds raised will support local outreach in Laredo schools. Tickets are $75 each, and sponsorships are available. The council invites all former Girl Scouts to participate. Call Norma at 723-7251 for more information.

SATURDAY, APRIL 30 Día del Niño will be celebrated in Zapata from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sponsors include Justice of the Peace Fernando Muñoz and County Commissioner Norberto Garza.

The March of Dimes’ 2011 March for Babies is today from 8 a.m. to noon at Texas A&M International University. To register your family or company team, visit http://www.marchforbabies.org/. For more information, contact Luis Garcia, division director, at 1-800-580-3256 or LGarcia@marchofdimes.com.

The Villa San Agustin de Laredo Genealogical Society and the Laredo Public Library will hear from Jose Roberto Juarez, Ph.D., today at 2 p.m. in the H-E-B Multipurpose Room of the Laredo Public Library, 1120 E. Calton Road.

He will give a presentation on “San Agustin Church and Laredo Under Six Dioceses.”

For more information, call Bibi Garza-Gongora at 723-8419.

SATURDAY, MAY 7 A book sale will be held in the Widener Room of the First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland Ave., from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The public is invited, and admission is free.

Donated books and magazines are accepted. Call 722-1674 for more information.

To submit an item for the calendar, send the name of the event, the date, time, location and contact phone number to editorial@lmtonline.com

Austin American-Statesman/Jay Janner | AP

Austin Police Department personnel work the scene of a shooting at a Walmart early Friday morning in Austin. A police officer was shot and killed early Friday at a Walmart in central Texas, and a suspect is in custody, police said. Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said the officer was shot in the neck and died at the scene.

Killing suspect charged

By CHRIS TOMLINSON ASSOCIATED PRESS

A police officer was shot and killed early Friday at a Walmart in Central Texas, and a suspect has been charged with capital murder, officials said.

Senior Police Officer Jaime Padron was shot in the neck and died at the scene, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said, adding that Padron left behind two daughters, ages 10 and six.

Padron was responding to a call about a drunk man inside the store around 2:30 a.m., Acevedo said. The suspect attacked the officer as soon as he arrived at the store and Padron didn’t have a chance to even pull out his own weapon.

"The suspect produced a semi-automatic pistol and shot the officer at point blank range," Acevedo said. The wounded officer

‘High risk’ sex offender sought by authorities HOUSTON — Texas Department of Public Safety authorities say an ex-con they describe as a “high risk” sex offender has fled a Houston halfway house.

Police say 42-year-old Michael Elbert Young was last seen Thursday night at the Southeast Texas Transitional Center, a halfway house in east Houston.

Young was released from prison after serving eight years for two aggravated assault convictions. Both were sex-related. He also served a 20-year term for sexual assault of a child and attempted aggravated sexual assault.

Authorities say he may be mentally unstable if not taking medication. He’s not believed armed but has a history of using weapons.

3 to be declared innocent of 1994 Dallas robbery DALLAS — Three men con-

was able to call for help using his police radio, he added.

"This was a routine call," Acevedo said.

"What makes our job deadly is that there is no routine call."

Two Walmart employees tackled and held the suspect and locked down the store until another police officer arrived to arrest him.

Brandon Montgomery Daniel, 24, was later booked into the Travis County jail on capital murder charges in connection with the shooting, according to jail records.

If convicted of capital murder, Daniel could face the death penalty.

Dante Davis, Daniel’s roommate, told the Austin American-Statesman that Daniel had received a promotion at Hewlett-Packard.

"He’s been a great roommate. We’ve never had any problems. It doesn’t make sense," Davis told the newspaper.

victed of a nearly 20-year-old aggravated robbery of an elderly woman will be declared innocent of the crime Friday.

The Innocence Project of Texas and the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office say the three men were implicated in the 1994 robbery by a faulty eyewitness.

Two others supposedly involved were juveniles.

Four people have since admitted to committing the crime.

State District Judge Lena Levario says their testimony is credible.

Border Patrol agents seize more than 5 tons of pot EDINBURG — Officials say they seized more than 5 tons of marijuana this week in the Rio Grande Valley.

The seizures included nearly 1,000 pounds found inside a truck near La Rosita on Tuesday.

U.S. Border Patrol agents observed several men loading a truck with bundles. The driver of the truck attempted to abandon the load but was apprehended.

Another 900 pounds of marijuana was confiscated after agents encountered a traffic accident near Roma, Texas, on Tuesday.

Additional seizures pushed the total amount of marijuana seized to more than 5 tons.

American Airlines cancel 296 flights after storms FORT WORTH — American Airlines has canceled another 296 flights in North Texas as it works to replace or repair dozens of planes grounded because of hail damage.

Spokeswoman Andrea Huguely says the cancellations on Friday affect flights in and out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

The planes were caught in storms Tuesday that pounded the airport and spawned about a dozen tornadoes in North Texas.

Huguely says only 27 cancellations are planned for Saturday as American gradually returns to normal operations.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION Man guilty of murder in cheerleader’s death GREAT BEND, Kan. — A jury on Friday convicted a central Kansas man of capital murder in the killing of a 14-year-old cheerleader whose charred body was found at the asphalt plant where the man worked.

Adam Longoria, 38, stood and stared straight at jurors, wearing a blank expression as the judge polled each of them to confirm the decision. The jury had deliberated less than four hours after closing arguments capped six days of testimony about the August 2010 killing of Alicia Debolt.

EPA: Water quality OK at 20 wells in Pa. town DIMOCK, Pa. — Testing at 20 more water wells in a northeastern Pennsylvania community at the center of a debate over the safety of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale shows no

Today is Saturday, April 7, the 98th day of 2012. There are 268 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: On April 7, 1922, the Teapot Dome scandal had its beginnings as Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall signed a secret deal to lease U.S. Navy petroleum reserves to his friends, oilmen Harry F. Sinclair and Edward L. Doheny.

On this date: In 1788, an expedition led by Gen. Rufus Putnam established a settlement at present-day Marietta, Ohio.

In 1798, the Mississippi Territory was created by an act of Congress, with Natchez as the capital.

In 1862, Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederates at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee.

In 1927, the image and voice of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover were transmitted live from Washington to New York in the first successful long-distance demonstration of television.

In 1948, the World Health Organization was founded in Geneva.

In 1962, nearly 1,200 Cuban exiles tried by Cuba for their roles in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion were convicted of treason.

In 1969, the Supreme Court, in Stanley v. Georgia, unanimously struck down laws prohibiting private possession of obscene material.

In 1972, mobster Joe Gallo was shot to death by rival gangsters during his 43rd birthday celebration at a New York City restaurant.

In 1978, President Jimmy Carter announced he was deferring development of the neutron bomb, a high-radiation weapon.

In 1983, space shuttle astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson took the first U.S. space walk in almost a decade as they worked in the open cargo bay of Challenger for nearly four hours.

Ten years ago: Israeli troops fought fierce battles with Palestinians in the West Bank, encountering stiff resistance in the Jenin refugee camp and in Nablus. Actor John Agar died in Burbank, Calif., at age 81.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor R.G. Armstrong is 95. Sitar player Ravi Shankar is 92. Actor James Garner is 84. Country singer Cal Smith is 80. Actor Wayne Rogers is 79. Media commentator Hodding Carter III is 77. Country singer Bobby Bare is 77. Rhythm-and-blues singer Charlie Thomas (The Drifters) is 75. California Gov. Jerry Brown is 74. Movie director Francis Ford Coppola is 73. TV personality David Frost is 73. Singer Patricia Bennett (The Chiffons) is 65. Singer John Oates is 63. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is 63. Singer Janis Ian is 61. Country musician John Dittrich is 61. Actor Jackie Chan is 58. College and Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Tony Dorsett is 58. Actor Russell Crowe is 48. Christian/jazz singer Mark Kibble (Take 6) is 48. Actor Bill Bellamy is 47.

Rock musician Dave “Yorkie” Palmer (Space) is 47. Actor Conner Rayburn is 13.

Thought for Today: “Money is in some respects life’s fire: it is a very excellent servant, but a terrible master.” — P.T. Barnum, showman (born 1810, died this date in 1891).

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SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 Elizabeth Williams | Associated Press

In this courtroom drawing, defense attorney Albert Dayan addresses the court during the sentencing of his client, Viktor Bout on Thursday at the federal courthouse in New York. Bout was sentenced to 25 years in prison. dangerous levels of contamination, according to a report issued Friday by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA had already tested 11 wells in Dimock, showing the presence of sodium, methane, chromium or bacteria in six of

the wells before the results of the latest round of testing.

Featured in the documentary “Gasland,” Dimock has been at the center of a fierce debate over drilling, in particular the process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. — Compiled from AP reports

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.

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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

Local

SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2012

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

Family has website for lost man

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

It’s been almost a month since Carl Jonathan Wiegand, a Lockhart man, last called friends in McAllen from Mexico near the Falcon Dam International Border Crossing.

He told them he would find a border crossing in Reynosa. But Carl never made it.

His family filed a missing person report with Caldwell County Sheriff ’s Office. While authorities investigate, the family launched a website this week.

“The website established for Carl, www.helpfindcarl.com, has his bulletin to download in Spanish or English and some

additional information,” Carl’s sister’s Gretchen Wiegand said, adding family constantly monitors the website.

Carl, 35, is a white adult male. He stands 5 feet, 9 inches and weighs 165 lbs. He has brown eyes and brown hair. Relatives say he does not speak Spanish well.

Gretchen said her brother went to visit family in Monterrey, Mexico. He did not know the Lake Falcon Dam International Border Crossing closed at 9 p.m., so called friends in McAllen and told them he planned to the cross the border through the Reynosa-McAllen area.

Relatives say Carl wanted to

THE BLOTTER ASSAULT

DUI

A juvenile was detained and charged with assault at about 8:30 p.m. March 31 in the 300 block of Gonzalez Street. Deputies referred the alleged offender to juvenile probation.

Deputies responded to a fight in progress at 11:55 p.m.

March 31 in the 100 block of Military Road. There, deputies arrested and charged Arturo Cisneros, 32, and Francisco Javier Chapa Jr., 24, with assault. Both men are out on bail from the Zapata Regional Jail.

An assault was reported at 10:36 a.m. Tuesday in the 2500 block of Brazos Street.

Manuel A. Guardian, 17, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence at about 2 a.m. March 30 by 10th Street and Villa Avenue. He was taken to the Zapata Regional Jail and later released to appear in court.

BURGLARY

A 15-year-old juvenile was arrested and charged with possession of substance at about 8 a.m.

March 29 at Zapata Middle School.

The boy was taken to the Webb County Youth Village.

A burglary of a habitation was reported at 8:37 a.m. March 30 in the 5200 block of South Siesta Lane. A 47-year-old man reported that someone stole his battery charger and a chainsaw from his residence.

A 69-year-old man reported at 12:25 p.m. March 31 in the 7400 block of North U.S. 83 that someone burglarized his residence and stole a shotgun, a .22 caliber rifle and two BB guns.

DWI Jose Eduardo Juarez, 24, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated at about 11:30 p.m. March 30 by the Chevron off of U.S. 83. Juarez is out on bail from the Zapata Regional Jail.

POSSESSION

PUBLIC INTOXICATION Jaime Garcia-Medrano, 43, was arrested and charged with public intoxication at about 11 p.m.

March 29 in the 400 block of Ann Drive. The man already served time at Zapata Regional Jail.

find an open international crossing or keep on driving to find a place to spend the night.

It is believed Carl drove southeast on Mexico Route 2, the Nuevo Laredo-Reynosa highway, in a 1998 Maroon Chevy Blazer bearing Texas plates CC8-G299.

“We don’t know what the circumstances (were) in which he was gone missing,” Gretchen said. But the family clings to their faith and also feels the outpour support from the community.

“We still maintain hope for his safe return,” she added.

She described her brother as a compassionate man.

“He’s the kind of person who’d give his shirt off of his

back,” Gretchen said. “He’s very kind-hearted and likes to help out others.”

Zapata Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez said he heard about the incident when a news outlet contacted him about it. Sheriff ’s officials here opened a line of communication with their Caldwell County counterparts. Gonzalez said he has heard that people go in and out of Mexico and nothing happens to them.

He’s heard people saying things are getting back to normal in Mexico. Regardless of the information received, the sheriff still maintains his position that boaters should stay away from Mexican waters of Falcon Lake.

Courtesy photo

Carl Jonathan Wiegand, from Lockhart, last spoke to family a month ago.

Anyone with information on Wiegand’s whereabouts can call 512-230-1377, or the Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office at 765-9960, or email tips@helpfindcarl.com. A reward is being offered.

(César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)

PAGE 4A

Zopinion

SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2012

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM

OTHER VIEWS

Is Obama deceitful or incapable?

By JONATHAN GURWITZ SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Let’s play “Name the Judicial Extremist.”

Who said that “activist, unelected judges believe they know better than the American people about the direction the country should go”?

That was Focus on the Family founder James Dobson in 2005.

It was Newt

poke at conservatives who’ve argued “the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism.” Is it possible that he cannot distinguish between judicial review, which in cases such as Brown v. Board of Education struck down laws that violate the Constitution, and judicial activism, in which judges create new laws without any constitutional foundation?

Lacks understanding

Whose campaign issued a position paper that stated, “The repeated failure of the executive and legislative branches to use their own constitutional powers . . . has effectively rendered the unelected justices of the Supreme Court with the final word on the meaning of the Constitution”? That was Newt Gingrich in 2011.

Who wailed about an unelected group of people taking “what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress”? That was President Obama last week.

Not much difference, is there? And it would be hard to pack more cynicism, more deceit and more bull hockey into one comment than Obama did.

Begin with “unprecedented.” Actually, the precedent for judicial review was established 209 years ago in the seminal case of Marbury v. Madison.

Here, the president may actually not have been deceitful. New research conducted by University of Virginia psychologist Jonathan Haidt suggests he, like many liberals, may be incapable of comprehending the authentic conservative position.

Writing in the May issue of Reason magazine, Haidt builds on genetic and sociological research to explain the existence of “tribal moral communities.” He cites a study that tested how well people across the political spectrum were able to understand opposing political beliefs by asking them to predict how those who hold them might respond to a questionnaire.

“The results were clear and consistent,” Haidt writes. “Moderates and conservatives were most accurate in their predictions. Liberals were the least accurate, especially those who described themselves as ‘very liberal.’”

More than 100

Stereotypes

Next there’s “extraordinary.” In fact, it is completely ordinary. According to the Congressional Research Service, the Supreme Court had on 158 occasions through 1997 held that acts of Congress were in whole or in part unconstitutional.

Then there’s the “strong majority.” In the case of Obamacare, the White House had to use every inducement and payoff conceivable to muster the bare minimum of votes needed for cloture in the Senate. In the House it squeaked by, 219-212.

The president, mind you, was a constitutional law professor and the editor of the Harvard Law Review. He was the master manipulator behind the chicanery on Capitol Hill. He knows his rhetoric is completely unfactual. But he deploys such falsehoods in the hope that most Americans do not.

At the same Rose Garden press conference, the president also took a

In other words, moderates and conservatives are better at political empathy. The more liberal you are, the more likely you are to rely on faulty stereotypes to judge differing political beliefs.

This goes a long way toward explaining how members of the liberal establishment responded to criticism of Obamacare. They smeared opponents as heartless extremists “carrying swastikas.” They scoffed at the notion that the constitutionality of the individual mandate could ever be questioned.

Now that it is in doubt, they’ve preemptively attacked the Supreme Court by arguing that no ruling against Obamacare could possibly be made in good faith. And the saddest part of this exercise in political tribalism is that it is being led by a president who once spoke eloquently against the politics of divisiveness.

(Email: jgurwitz@express-news.net)

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

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Via e-mail, send letters to editorial@lmtonline.com or mail them to Letters to the Editor, 111 Esperanza Drive, Laredo, TX 78041.

COLUMN

Easter — Jesus has risen

A

lleluia! He is risen!

These words of unbridled joy and enthusiasm will greet you tonight at the Easter Vigil Mass and tomorrow at the Easter Sunday Mass.

Many of you will gather tomorrow in celebration of Easter.

The smoke of backyard barbecues that fills the air with the intense aroma of mesquite, the shrieks of children chasing after each other with colorful “cascarones” and the laughter of family and friends enjoying quality time together brings to mind fond memories of Easter Sunday celebrations past.

As the spiritual leader of the Catholic community, I invite you to remember that all our traditions during this time of the year have faith connotations.

Take, for example, the cascarones. These colored eggs filled with confetti engage and inspire both young and old alike to partake in an afternoon of revelry.

The egg reminds us of how Jesus was buried in the tomb and hidden from the world.

“

JAMES TAMAYO

The confetti celebrates the joy of His victory over death.

And as the colorful confetti surprises Easter revelers, it should remind us of the glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ who offers us the gift of eternal life.

Christ’s resurrection lifts the despair in our life and replaces it with the invitation for eternal salvation with our Father in heaven.

The Resurrection of Christ also serves as an opportunity for a new beginning in our life.

However, the seed of a new life is planted and nurtured in the faith-filled sanctuaries of our churches.

Therefore, an integral part of our Easter celebration is our attendance and participation at Easter Sunday Mass.

If not, the opportunity to start anew can be swept away like the confetti dur-

ing the after-party cleanup.

Each Easter egg reminds us to reflect on the true meaning and source of this joyous celebration. We should never forget that Jesus Christ offered His life for our eternal salvation.

When that seed is cultivated in our soul and we develop a relationship with God, it lasts beyond this lifetime. As in the Christian tradition, when someone passes from this earth, we are reminded that life does not end but changes.

On Easter Sunday, we gather around the family table to break bread together. Whether indoors, or outdoors, warmth and laughter spills over as we spend time face-to-face sharing our bounty and sharing our stories.

Another wonderful way, then, to begin the Easter celebration is with our brothers and sisters in our communities of faith who gather at the table of the Lord.

Every Sunday is Easter Sunday as the faith community gathers to commemorate the resurrection of our Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Every Sunday is a cele-

bration of joy and resurrection!

Every Sunday is an opportunity for us to bring our families together in unity with our brothers and sisters in faith to honor the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

And in our Catholic tradition, every Mass is an opportunity to witness the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.

This miracle unites us with the real presence of the risen Lord.

Believers throughout the world renew and strengthen their relationship with God and bear witness to Christ’s death and resurrection when we participate in Holy Mass.

I encourage you to discover the deeper meaning of Easter.

I invite you to join me in drawing closer to God through active participation in Sunday worship services.

And I extend my blessing to you during this glorious and most holy Easter season. May you and your loved ones discover the joy of living life, Todo Con Amor!

Just a step closer to pro ball NEW YORK TIMES

A disquieting postscript to March Madness is the expectation that the starting five of the University of Kentucky’s national champion team — a mix of sophomores and freshmen — will soon jump into the professional basketball draft’s potential riches years shy of a diploma.

brilliantly together for just a season or two as the best way of advancing their livelihood under the “one-anddone” rule of professional basketball . The rule requires players to be at least 19 years old before they can be drafted — a step taken by the professional league to stop prodigies foolishly abandoning high school for the draft.

Who’s an amateur?

Just a business

Fans are right to ask whatever happened to verities like amateurism, education and team loyalty in college sports.

Some accuse John Calipari, the Kentucky coach, of being cynical in recruiting high school stars to play

Calipari does not apologize for his sales pitch to recruits: Spend that one year after 18 at a first-rate basketball factory to polish and market their skills.

He is just part of the far larger problem that college basketball and

football games have become a multibillion-dollar television entertainment industry tightly managed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, too often to the detriment of the young athletes.

Education Fans should recognize the commercial underpinnings of March Madness for what it is: a big business for universities that has little-to-nothing to do with education, except perhaps in the cynicism of the real world.

Other ambitious coaches, inspired

by Calipari’s success, are likely already out competing with him to recruit “one-and-done” players for the next tournament.

DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

Local

SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2012

Five face register charges SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Law enforcement agencies conducted Operation Big Brother on March 21, a county-wide compliance checks operation on convicted sex offenders required to comply with sex offender registration requirements.

Agencies interviewed 10 of the 15 sex offenders living in Zapata County.

Five offenders were noncompliant, and charges are pending, and another is a fugitive.

Agencies taking part in the operation were the Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office, the U.S. Marshals Service, Texas Department of Public Safety, Webb/Zapata County Adult Probation, 49th District Attorney’s Office, Texas Office of the Attorney General and United States Department of Homeland Security/Homeland Security Investigations.

THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

Business workshops set for April SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

The Texas A&M International University Small Business Development Center is sponsoring workshops in April.

Wednesday: Anatomy of a Business Plan Workshop in Zapata is scheduled from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. at the Zapata County Courthouse, suite 248. Fee for the seminar is $20, and each participant receives Linda Pinzon’s “Anatomy of a Business Plan: a Stepby-Step Guide to Building

a Business and Securing your Company’s Future,” a $50 value. Instructor Yael Rodríguez, SBDC-certified business advisor, explains that planning is the map to success in the business world.

Wednesday: the Art of Starting a Business: Basic Business Essentials, free of charge workshop from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the TAMIU Western Hemispheric Trade Center, room 125.

Instructor Angelo Piccirillo, SBDC-certified business advisor, will present

this practical workshop that helps businesses to avoid common pitfalls, evaluate strengths and weaknesses, and the skills needed to succeed.

Friday: QuickBooks Workshop: Putting Financial Management to Work for Your Business, is a hands-on workshop from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in TAMIU’s Dr. Billy F. Cowart Hall, room 113. Instructors Norma Rodríguez, SBDC business advisor, will go over the steps to create a new Quick-

Books company, modify the preset chart of accounts, reconcile a QuickBooks checking account, invoice customers, create sales orders, receive payments from customers and make bank deposits, enter bills into QuickBooks and create and customize QuickBooks reports and graphs. Workshop fee is $50.

Thursday, April 19: Anatomy of a Business Plan Workshop is from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the TAMIU Western Hemispheric

Trade Center, room 126.

Fee for the seminar is $20, and each participant receives Linda Pinzon’s “Anatomy of a Business Plan: a Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Business and Securing your Company’s Future,” a $50 value.

Instructor Angelo Piccirillo explains that planning is the map to success in the business world. One needs to write a business plan when starting or buying a business, financing or refinancing a business, or raising debt or capital.

Crime & More

6A THE ZAPATA TIMES

Man faces 18 more charges

By JERI CLAUSING ASSOCIATED PRESS

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Alcohol, padded expense reports, prostitutes and kickbacks. Those are some the latest charges filed in New Mexico against the mayor-elect of the troubled town of Sunland Park.

Prosecutors Friday filed 18 new felony charges against Daniel Salinas, who has been in and out of jail since being accused in late February of trying to force his opponent out of the race with a video that showed him getting a topless lap dance.

Those allegations set off what prosecutors have described as a full-time investigation by state, local and federal officials of the notoriously dysfunctional town.

On Friday, Salinas, Sunland Park Public Works Director Jesus Dario Hernandez and Jorge Angulo of Envirosystems Management Consultants were accused in what prosecutors describe as a “triangle” or “pyramid scheme.”

Envirosystems had a $2.4 million contract to do an environmental impact study of a border crossing for the town, and picked up expenses for Salinas and other city officials who attended a conference in Mexico last year. The com-

pany then billed the expenses, which included prostitutes, drinks and strip clubs, to the city, the criminal complaints allege.

Angulo is also accused of billing the city thousands of dollars for campaign videos produced for Salinas’s campaign. All totaled, he is accused of submitting some $40,000 in fraudulent expenses through Envirosystems, which prosecutors allege got the contract with Sunland Park after giving $10,000 in cash to Daniel Salinas and $10,000 in cash to another city worker, with the understanding she would run for Dona Ana County Commission.

The money was to be reimbursed from a $12 million account the city created with a donation from Sunland Park Race Track owner Stan Fulton to help get a border crossing to Mexico built in the town.

Sunland Park borders El Paso and the Mexican city of Juarez.

Angulo was charged with six counts of fraud and conspiracy; Hernandez was charged with five. The charges against Salinas include receiving and soliciting illegal kickbacks, fraud and ethics violations.

Arrest warrants were issued for all three men, but officials said none were in custody at the Dona Ana

Ex-teacher arrested for sex abuse of minor ASSOCIATED PRESS

MODESTO, Calif. — A former California teacher who made national headlines when he left his job and family to move in with an 18-year-old student was arrested Friday on suspicion of sexually abusing a different student more than a decade ago, police said.

Christopher Hooker, 41, was arrested at his home and booked in Stanislaus County Jail on one count of oral copulation with a minor.

Police said the case stems from a 1998 relationship he had with a 17-yearold student when he was a teacher at Davis High School in Modesto. The girl was a student at a different school, police said.

In a statement, police said Hooker befriended the 17-year-old. The department did not immediately return a call seeking clarification of how the two met.

Hooker appeared in court Friday. A judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf, set his bail at $50,000 and assigned him a public defender, the Modesto Bee reported.

Hooker requested that his bail amount be reduced, and the judge set a hearing for Tuesday to consider the matter.

Police said the investigation started after Hooker announced his relationship in February with Jordan Powers, whom he taught at Enochs High School in Modesto.

The underage victim was discovered in the course of that investigation, police said.

Appearing on numerous national talk shows and in news interviews, Hooker and Powers maintained they didn’t have a sexual relationship until she turned 18, but police are still investigating whether there was inappropriate contact before that.

In interviews for the “Dr. Phil” show and ABC’s “Good Morning America,” the couple can be seen holding hands and exchanging smiles.

Powers’ mother, Tammie, confronted the couple on “Dr. Phil” and accused Hooker of brainwashing her daughter.

The couple maintains that, while they met when Jordan was 14, their relationship did not become physical until she was of

Photo by Debbie Noda/The Modesto Bee | AP

James Hooker appears in court Friday, in Modesto, Calif. He left his job and family to move in with an 18-year-old student. age, making it permissible under current laws. California’s age of consent is 18.

The Modesto Bee reported that Tammie Powers sent a text message to one of the newspaper’s reporters Friday saying she and her daughter were catching a flight to an undisclosed location.

In response to the relationship between Hooker and Jordan Powers, a state lawmaker from Modesto last week proposed legislation that would ban student-teacher relationships regardless of age, even if the student is 18, and strip school employees of their pensions and retiree health care if they are convicted.

Photo by Robin Zielinski/The Las Cruces Sun-News/file | AP

Sunland Park, N.M., mayoral candidate Gerardo Hernandez is shown Jan. 10. Mayor-elect Daniel Salinas has been barred from taking office by the terms of his release from jail, as he faces charges that he tried to force Hernandez out of the mayoral race.

County jail Friday evening.

Salinas’s attorney did not immediately return a phone call. And there was no immediate response to a message left with a number listed for Envirosystems.

Hernandez of El Paso has been missing since being charged with Salinas, the city manager and another worker in the alleged extortion of Salinas oppo-

nent, Gerardo Hernandez.

The arrest warrant for Salinas requested a $1 million bail. He has already been arrested jailed and released twice, first in the alleged extortion attempt and then on allegations he hired the city’s acting police chief in exchange for the man having his sister drop a challenge to a Salinas ally on the city council.

SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2012

SÁBADO 7 ABRIL DE 2012

Agenda en Breve LAREDO 04/07 — El grupo mexicano “Maná” ofrece concierto como parte de su gira “Drama y Luz” en Laredo Energy Arena, a las 8 p.m.

04/07 — Época de Oro Social Club invita a bailar con Noe Esparza y The Dells, de 9 p.m. a 1 a.m. en el Salón de Baile del Laredo Civic Center. B.Y.O.B. Costo 20 dólares en la puerta.

04/08 — Brunch por Domingo de Pascua en el Hotel La Posada, a partir de las 11 a.m.

04/10 — Celebración de la Semana Nacional de la Biblioteca, de 8:15 a.m. a 4 p.m. en el Aula 2 del Bill Johnson Student Activity Center, 5208 Sta. Claudia Lane. Oradora principal: Senadora Judith Zaffirini, se presentará a las 9:30 a.m.

04/11 — Christian Leuprecht y Todd Hataley del Colegio Militar Royal de Canada y Fellows of Queen’s University’s Centre for International and Defense Policy en Kingston, Ontario. Canada presentará “Making Institutions Resilient: Lessons from the Northern Border on Reconciling Security and Trade” como parte de la Serie de Conferencistas Principales 2011-2012 IBC de TAMIU. El evento será de 7:30 p.m. a 9 p.m. en el aula 203 del TAMIU Student Center Ballroom.

04/12 — “Celebración de la Vida” es un evento para recordar a ex alumnos, estudiantes, catedráticos y personal de TAMIU quienes hayan fallecido el año pasado. Se realizará a las 6:30 p.m. en el Center for the Fine and Performing Arts Recital Hall de TAMIU. 04/14 — “Rock the Cure 2012” del Laredo’s Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation será de 8 a.m. a 11 a.m. en Texas A&M International University. Puede inscribir su equipo en www.walk.jdrf.org.

04/14 — Rio Grande International Study Center invita de 8 a.m. a las 12 p.m. al evento para doblar el espacio del jardín comunitario que fuera construido el año pasado en el Laredo Regional Food Bank.

04/15 — El pianista Anthony Tobin presentará su repertorio en la Serie Steinway de TAMIU, de 3 p.m. a 5 p.m. en el Center for the Fine & Performing Arts Center Recital Hall. Entrada gratuita.

04/16 — La Exhibición Fotográfica Estudiantil de TAMIU abrirá hoy a las 9 a.m. en la Galería del Center for the Fine and Performing Arts. Entrada gratuita.

NUEVO LAREDO 04/07 — Estación Palabra invita a: Bazar de Arte a las 12 p.m.; Lecturas antes de abordar “Grandes Escritores para Peques” a la 1 p.m.; Festival Infantil “Grandes Escritores para Peques” a las 2 p.m.; Taller de Creación Literaria a las 3 p.m..

04/08 — Visitas guiadas a los museos “Museo Reyes Meza” y “Museo de Historia Natural” de 10 a.m. a 7 p.m.

04/10 — Grupo de Teatro Expresión del ITNL presenta la comedia “Cero IVÁN Tres” en el caso Torreblanca, a las 7 p.m. en el Teatro del IMSS. Donación: 20 pesos.

04/11 — Taller de Diseño de Modas para Jóvenes, de 16 a 30 años, en Estación Palabra de 5 p.m. a 7 p.m., hoy, el 12 y 13 de abril. Cupo limitado. Inscribirse llamando al (867) 7127844.

04/17 — Grupo de Teatro Expresión del ITNL presenta la comedia “Cero IVÁN Tres” en el caso Torreblanca, a las 7 p.m. en el Teatro del IMSS. Donación: 20 pesos.

Zfrontera Desafío de Texas

PÁGINA 7A

ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON — El gobierno de Texas aclaró el miércoles que se opone a la decisión de una comisión federal de Estados Unidos de darle agua del río Bravo a México, alegando que el estado de la Unión Americana sufre una sequía histórica que ha mermado

agudamente sus recursos hídricos.

Todd Staples, comisionado de Agricultura de Texas y Carlos Rubinstein, a cargo de la Comisión de Texas sobre Calidad Ambiental, están impugnando una decisión de la Comisión Internacional de Límites y Aguas (IBWC, por sus siglas en inglés) para que

Texas le dé agua a México. Dijeron que solicitaron la intervención del presidente Barack Obama.

El peor año de sequía en la historia de Texas ha provocado pérdidas por más de 7.000 millones al sector agrícola. Algunas presas están apenas a la mitad de su capacidad y el estado tiene la me-

nor cantidad de ganado vacuno desde la década de 1950.

La decisión de la Comisión afecta los planes de Texas para enfrentar la sequía, desperdicia agua y “establece un peligroso precedente de abastecimiento a las demandas de agua de México”, según las autoridades texanas en un comunicado.

TxDOT anuncia taller POR MIGUEL TIMOSHENKOV TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Foto de cortesía | Cámara de Comercio de Zapata

El Congresista Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo) recibe de manos del Presidente de la Cámara de Comercio de Zapata, Paco Mendoza Jr., a la derecha, el Premio Espíritu de la Empresa, que le otorgó la Cámara de Comercio de EU a Cuellar.

PREMIAN A CUELLAR POR ANDREW KREIGHBAUM Y MIGUEL TIMOSHENKOV TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

C

iertos mitos han persistido acerca de los niveles de cargas fiscales y regulaciones en los pasados tres años, expresó el Congresista de EU, Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo) durante una reunión celebrada durante la semana con la comunidad empresarial de Laredo.

Los impuestos son más bajos que en cualquier otro tiempo desde la Administración de Eisenhower, dijo. Y pese a las reformas legales al cuidado de salud y finanzas, sostuvo que tales regulaciones sobre las empresas bajo la Administración de Obama han crecido a una tasa menor que durante los primeros tres años de la Administración de George W. Bush.

Cuellar sostuvo que tales tendencias deberían servir como antecedentes para las luchas en el Congreso que se avecinan para finales de año.

El Congreso tomará la extensión de los recortes en impuestos de Bush y tomará recortes automáticos al presupuesto acordados bajo un trato de límite de deuda el verano pasado. El trato solicita reducciones en el presupuesto de la defensa de EU, una provisión que muchos miembros quisieran tratar de volver a visitar antes de que los recortes tomen efecto.

Cuellar realizó los comentarios al ser reconocido por la Cámara de Comercio de Laredo por recibir el Premio de Espíritu de la Empresa de la Cámara de Comercio de EU. La Cámara califica a miembros del Congreso basados en puntaje de prioridad en votos legislativos.

La Cámara de Comercio de Zapata también tuvo esta semana una ceremonia donde reconocieron a Cuellar. El Congresista mantiene actualmente una calificación de 88% en la Cámara este año.

El Departamento de Transportación de Texas, con sus oficinas en Laredo, programó para este mes un taller de certificación para seguridad del niño pasajero.

El servicio será del 17 al 20 de abril y hay un cupo límite para 20 personas.

Los interesados podrán convertirse, al final del taller, en técnico certificado ‘Child Passenger Safety’ (CPS).

El departamento reporta que actualmente hay un déficit de técnicos en este servicio.

El taller mostrará la forma correcta instalar los asientos de seguridad infantil en vehículos, los padres recibirán la instrucción y “así les permitirá asegurar la vida de sus hijos”, explica un comunicado de prensa de TxDOT. “Los padres necesitan aprender a instalar un asiento (ya que es un) mecanismo que se aplica para asegurar la vida de sus hijos en caso de un incidente”, indica TxDOT. En enero de 2011, 17 personas fueron certificadas como técnicos de CPS en un taller similar que tuvo lugar en Laredo.

“Más técnicos de CPS a nivel local significa más educación y la instrucción a disposición de la comunidad”, dijo Frank Luera, de Safe Riders, Inc. “El último objetivo es proteger a los niños dentro de los vehículos en caso de accidente”.

El curso de cuatro días se ofrecerá en el Departamento de Transportación de Texas, en las oficinas de Distrito de Laredo en 1817 Bob Bullock. Los interesados se pueden registrar en línea o bien comunicarse al 1-877366-8154.

Asesorarán a contribuyente ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Foto por Danny Zaragoza | The Zapata Times

El Presidente del Comité Ejecutivo de la Cámara de Comercio de Laredo, Wilfredo Martínez Jr., posa con el Congresista Henry Cuellar (DLaredo) tras entregarle el Premio de Espíritu de Empresa, a mediados de semana en las oficinas de la cámara.

En Laredo, el Presidente del Comité Ejecutivo de la Cámara de Comercio, Willfredo Martínez, calificó a Cuellar como “un verdadero amigo de las empresas y del sistema de libre empresa”.

“Me siento honrado de recibir este distinguido premio”, dijo Cuellar. “Como pequeño empresario que fui, he considerado en todo momento los desafíos que afronta nuestra comunidad de negocios”.

De los 298 receptores del Premio Espíritu de la Empresa, solamente otros ocho Demócratas lo recibieron, incluyendo cinco Demócratas del Congreso.

La Cámara designa un “voto clave”, tanto en el Senado Federal y la Cámara de Representantes, y los votos se enfocan bajo los registros de temas que han marcado un punto de acción en el país.

Entre los temas se incluyó la derogación de 1099 requisitos de información y la retención del 3 por ciento de los contratistas.

Cuellar es considerado un defensor proactivo del libre comercio, un tema importante para la Cámara de Comercio de EU.

El Congresista dijo que continuará apoyando a los negocios del sur de Texas “porque ellos trabajan de forma innovadora para crear empleos y estimular la economía local”.

“El Congresista Cuellar, año tras año dedica incontables horas y ha conseguido millones de dólares para el mejoramiento de el Condado de Zapata”, dijo el Presidente/CEO de la Cámara de Comercio de Zapata, José “Paco” Mendoza Jr. “Durante el 2011, Cuellar trabajó para proteger y promover los intereses de los creadores de empleo de Estados Unidos”, dijo Thomas J. Donohue, Presidente/CEO de la Cámara de Comercio de USA. “Mediante el apoyo a políticas pro-crecimiento, el Congresista Cuellar está ayudando a liberar el poder de la libre empresa para poner nuestra economía en el camino y que los estadounidenses vuelvan a trabajar”.

(Localice a Andrew Kreighbaum en el (956) 728-2538 o en akreighbaum@lmtonline.com. Localice a Miguel Timoshenkov en el (956) 7282583 o en mramirez@lmtonline.com)

AUSTIN — Durante este mes, la oficina de la Contraloría conducirá 16 seminarios gratis a los contribuyentes en distintas partes del estado. En estos seminarios, los comerciantes pueden orientarse sobre temas que incluyen la manera de completar los formularios de los impuestos sobre las ventas, declarar y pagar impuestos electrónicamente. Información sobre los servicios electrónicos (e-services, en inglés) será disponible también para asistir a los contribuyentes en la administración de sus cuentas en línea. Representantes de la oficina de la Contraloría estarán presentes con el objetivo de responder a las preguntas de los comerciantes y servir a los asistentes.

“Deseamos capacitar a los dueños de negocios en Texas haciendo recursos e información accesibles”, dijo RJ DeSilva, portavoz de la Oficina de la Contraloría. “Conduciendo estos seminarios y disponiendo de la asistencia de nuestro equipo de especialistas proporciona la orientación necesaria para comerciantes”.

Fechas Los seminarios cercanos a esta zona fronteriza (en español) serán: Martes 10 de abril, a las 6 p.m. en Brownsville Field Office, 1900 North Expressway, Suite C-1, Brownsville.

Martes 10 de abril, a las 6 p.m. en McAllen Field Office, 3231 North McColl Road, McAllen.

Jueves 12 de abril, a las 6 p.m. en El Paso Community College (Sala de Consejo de Oficinas Administrativas), 9050 Viscount Blvd., El Paso.

Martes 8 de mayo, a las 6 p.m. en Brownsville Field Office, 1900 North Expressway, Suite C-1, Brownsville.

Martes 8 de mayo, a las 6 p.m. en McAllen Field Office, 3231 North McColl Road, McAllen.

La lista completa de lugares, fechas y horas para los seminarios ofrecidos a los contribuyentes se encuentra disponible en www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/seminars.html.

Más información llamando al 1-800-252-5555.

National

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2012

Former Giffords aide raises most money

By BOB CHRISTIE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PHOENIX — Democrat Ron Barber raised more than twice as much money as any Republican challenger in the special election to fill the congressional seat of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Federal Election Commission records show.

The former Giffords’ aide is running unopposed in the April 17 Democratic primary, so he won’t have to spend much of the $463,704 he had on hand as of March 28 to move on.

All told, he took in $549,132 and spent $85,428 after becoming a candidate Feb. 9.

On the Republican side, FEC records show Tucson

businessman and broadcaster Dave Sitton raised $260,550, former 2010 Giffords challenger Jesse Kelly $210,348, and retired Air Force pilot Martha McSally $132,807.

State Sen. Frank Antenori had not filed a report as of midday Friday that was available through the FEC’s website, although it was due Thursday. Rules require electronic filing if a candidate either raises, spends or expects to raise or spend at least $50,000 in a year.

Calls to Antenori’s campaign and to his personal cellphone were not immediately returned Friday.

Fundraising and spending are indicators of candidates’ support and ability

to catch the public’s eye and spread their messages, and can be big factors in their electability.

Reports submitted by Sitton, Kelly and McSally showed they were spending prolifically to try to win the nomination. With less than two weeks to go until the election, Sitton had the most cash still available to spend, $132,253, with Kelly trailing with $49,395 and McSally with $44,215.

The winner of the Republican primary will take on Barber in the June 12 general election, and the winner of that face-off will serve slightly more than six months before Giffords’ original term ends. A regular election for the next

two-year seat will be held in November, with an August primary.

Giffords resigned from her seat Jan. 25, just over a year after she was shot at a constituent meet-and-greet in Tucson. Six people were killed and 13 others, including Barber and Giffords, were wounded.

Giffords asked Barber to run, and she endorsed him and sent out fundraising appeals. She and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, also opened their own checkbooks, each donating $5,000 to Barber’s campaign. Giffords campaign donated $4,000 in cash and services from the retired congresswoman’s sizable leftover fundraising balance.

Matt York | AP file photo

In this January 23 photo, U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., tours the Gabrielle Giffords Family Assistance Center, with her staffer Ron Barber, in Tucson, Ariz. Barber is the unopposed Democratic contender running to replace Giffords.

Circurt judge not political, allies say

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge who called out President Barack Obama for saying it would be “unprecedented” for the Supreme Court to strike down a law like his administration’s health care overhaul is a conservative voice on what may be the nation’s most conservative appeals court.

But those who know Judge Jerry E. Smith from his years on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans and earlier days in Texas politics paint a more complex portrait of someone who isn’t afraid to buck the party line.

“He takes his judicial responsibilities very seriously and is very careful to stay out of any political controversy,” said Ilya Somin, a George Mason University law professor who clerked for Smith in 2001 and 2002.

Somin said Smith is so careful to remain impartial that he refused to recommend restaurants worth visiting in Houston and New Orleans during a 2003 interview with a blogger. The blogger, Howard Bashman, quoted Smith as saying “it might be improper for a judge publicly to endorse a particular commercial establishment.”

Although Smith was a Republican Party activist in Texas before President Ronald Reagan nominated him for a seat on the 5th Circuit in 1987, Somin and other former clerks say they never saw any evidence politics factored into his work on the appeals court.

Stephen Henderson, a University of Oklahoma law professor who clerked for Smith in 1999 and 2000, described him as a warm man who embodies “what every appellate judge should aspire to be.”

“Judge Smith is not about grandstanding. If he asks a question from the bench, it’s an honest question,” Henderson said. “Judge Smith has no control over whether others turn a court order into a political football. If he asks a question, it’s because he wants to know the answer.”

During a hearing Tuesday for a case that is separate from the Supreme Court’s review of the health care law, Smith ordered the Justice Department to submit a letter affirming the federal court’s authority to strike down laws passed by Congress.

In a letter Thursday responding to Smith’s order, Attorney General Eric Holder offered assurances that the Obama administration respects the authority of the courts.

“The longstanding, historical position of the United States regarding judicial review of the constitutionality of federal legislation has not changed,” Holder wrote.

Smith’s office in Houston declined interview requests this week, and said the judge would not be commenting on the ordered letter.

Smith’s reference to “Obamacare” during Tuesday’s hearing became fodder for the polarizing debate over health-care reform, but a Democratic Party activist who crossed paths with Smith before he became a judge remembers him as someone willing to cross party lines and work outside the mainstream of his own party. David Jones, a Houston lawyer, said Smith’s grassroots work and early support for Reagan made him a GOP “outsider” at the time.

“He was never part of the good-old-boy crowd, and neither was I,” Jones said.

Smith, a Yale Law School graduate, had a private law practice in Houston from 1973 to 1984. He also served as Harris County GOP chairman in the late 1970s.

Ben Margot | AP

Mourners attend a memorial service at the Allen Temple Baptist Church on Tuesday in Oakland, Calif. Several hundred people gathered Tuesday night for a prayer vigil for the victims of Monday’s shooting at Oikos University, a small Christian school in Oakland.

Suspect had tuition dispute

By CANDICE CHOI,GARANCE BURKE & TERRY COLLINS ASSOCIATED PRESS

OAKLAND, Calif. — The founder of the California Christian university where a gunman shot and killed seven people this week said Friday that the former nursing student returned to campus because of a tuition dispute, but previously had not shown any signs of violence.

Jongjin Kim told The Associated Press that One Goh became upset when administrators refused to grant him a full tuition refund after he dropped out of the nursing program last fall.

Goh came to campus Monday morning looking for the person in charge of handling tuition, Kim said.

But before then, Kim said Goh hadn’t exhibited violent tendencies, as far as he knew, and seemed "normal."

Police say Goh may have been seeking multiple targets before beginning his rampage, killing six students and a school secretary while wounding three others. Kim, now the school’s dean, was on campus at the time and believes Goh shot his victims at random.

Numerous administrators have said that Goh grew angry during one of three long meetings with officials over a financial dispute.

Goh became upset because officials would not fully refund his tuition for the nursing program, Jaehoon Moon, chief operating officer of Oikos University, told KGO-TV.

The amount in dispute was $4,000 to $6,000, according to Moon, who said officials had offered partial reimbursement.

The disclosure came as police said they had located a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun they believe was used in the attack on Monday.

The weapon was found in the shallow waters of a tributary of San Leandro Bay, about a half-mile from the school. Its serial numbers match a gun purchased by Goh, city spokeswoman Cynthia Perkins said.

During the meetings with school administrators, the 43-year-old Goh also complained that he didn’t get along with his classmates, so officials offered to transfer him to another classroom, Moon said.

They believed the issue was resolved and he would restart classes, but police say an angry Goh returned to the school on Monday.

Nursing program director Ellen Cervellon previously said she met several times with Goh over the tuition issue and that he said students had been picking on him.

Police have said Goh was targeting a female administrator when he went to his former school, and opened fire when he learned she wasn’t there.

Police are investigating whether Goh was seeking multiple targets.

Cervellon told the AP that she believed she was the intended target.

However, Police Chief Howard Jordan later said the main target was a woman who no longer works at Oikos.

Goh is charged with seven counts of murder and three counts of at-

tempted murder with a special circumstance allegation that could make him eligible for the death penalty. He has not entered a plea.

At the Oikos campus, workers cleaned the building behind police tape Friday morning.

A banner draped at the school’s front entrance read, "In Memoriam, Forever United In Life, April 2, 2012."

It listed the names of the victims, followed by the words: "We Will Remember. We Will Prevail."

School officials moved a growing makeshift memorial from the side of the school to the front steps and added seven framed photos of the victims.

A string quintet then performed in the first of a series of concerts school officials say will occur at noon through April 30.

Students were being allowed back on campus, but classes won’t resume for several weeks, Acting Vice President Namsoo Woo said.

Lucas Garcia, 33, who teaches English as a second language at the school, later read a statement at the vigil.

“This tragedy has profoundly touched all of us, students, families, teachers, staff and administration,” Garcia said.

“This is obviously a very challenging moment for our young and growing institution. We have only just begun to fully take stock of the situation.”

Several students were escorted by police into the school on Thursday to retrieve belongings. It was their first time in the school since Monday.

Calif. college drops payment system after protests

By IAN LOVETT THE NEW YORK TIMES

SANTA MONICA, Calif.

— Following a week of student protests and a request from the chancellor of the California community college system to hold off, Santa Monica College has canceled its plan to offer certain popular courses at higher prices this summer.

At an emergency meeting Friday, the college’s board of trustees voted to indefinitely postpone implementation of the twotiered payment system, which would have offered 50 of the courses in the

highest demand for $180 per credit hour, in addition to the 700 courses the college already offers for $36.

Speaking to the board and the assembled students and faculty members, the college president, Chui L. Tsang, recommended that the board postpone the payment plan after hearing the objections of so many students.

“Based on these concerns of our college community,” he said, “I feel we need to pause, and take a broader look, and take more time for dialogue.”

The two-tiered payment system, which had been

set to begin as a pilot program this summer, was designed to help address the difficulty of getting into some of the most popular classes, amid state budget cuts that have forced the college to trim more than 1,000 course offerings in recent years. The higher price of the classes, administrators said, would cover only the cost to the college of offering them.

Many students, however, mobilized in opposition to the two-tiered pricing plan, which they complained would make lowincome students into second-class citizens.

On

Tuesday, hundreds of students protested outside a board of trustees meeting, demanding to be let inside.

Campus police officers used pepper spray on more than two dozen people; several suffered minor injuries.

Tsang announced Friday that he had set up an independent panel to review the police response to the protest.

The majority of the students at the board meeting Friday cheered the news that the two-tiered pricing plan would be postponed indefinitely. Still, some remained frustrated that ad-

ministrators had changed course only after the protest and subsequent news media coverage.

“This should have happened two months ago,” said Marjohnny Torres, 22.

“If it wouldn’t have been for Tuesday night and the students saying something about it, this would not have happened.”

Some faculty members and administrators countered that the students did not understand the plan.

They said it would have offered some classes at higher prices, in addition to sections of the same courses at regular prices, sim-

ply giving students more options and freeing up space in the less expensive sections of popular classes.

While trustees voted to curtail the two-tiered program for the summer session, they also warned that more state budget cuts were likely, meaning still more cutbacks to course offerings were probable unless they could find creative solutions.

“This is not privatization of education,” Rob Rader, a trustee, said. “We are trying to create an alternative that is more costeffective and creates space for everyone.”

SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2012

THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

ALONSO BUSTAMANTE Alonso Bustamante 87, passed away Sunday, April 1, 2012, at Laredo Medical Center in Laredo.

Mr. Bustamante is preceded in death by his parents, Roberto and Isabel Bustamante; brothers, Rodolfo Bustamante, Roberto Bustamante and sisters, Maria B. Vela and Benilde (Fernando) Rivera.

Mr. Bustamante is survived by his wife, Yolanda Bustamante; sons, Carlos (Manuela) Solis, Octavio (Imelda) Garcia, Jorge (Carmen) Grajeda, San Juana (David) Sanchez; and by numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren; brother, Adolio (Elvira) Bustamante; sisters, Elvira (Jose) Valadez, Isabel (Ramiro) Guajardo; sister-in-law, Criselia “Chela” Bustamante; and by numerous nieces, nephews and many friends.

Visitation hours were held Monday, April 2, 2012, from 6 to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home.

The funeral procession

departed Tuesday, April 3, 2012, at 9 for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.

Committal services followed at Zapata County Cemetery.

Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 Hwy. 83, Zapata.

PEDRO A. MORALES SR. Pedro A. Morales Sr. 98, passed away Tuesday, April 3, 2012, at Laredo Medical Center in Laredo.

Mr. Morales is preceded in death by his first wife, Emilia O. Morales; second wife, Rafaela Morales; grandson, Luis Javier Morales; parents, Refugio and Francisca V. Morales; brother, Martin Morales; sister, Maria Del Refugio M. Martinez and a nephew, Alejandro Martinez.

Mr. Morales is survived by his sons, Pedro Jr. (Rosaura) Morales, Israel F. (Francisca) Morales, Javier E. (Elvia) Morales, Raymundo (Juanita) Morales, Joel (Ayme) Morales and Mario H. (Mayolanda) Morales; 16 grandchildren, 37 greatgrandchildren, three great-great-grandchildren and by numerous nieces, nephews and many friends.

Visitation hours were held Wednesday, April 4, 2012, from 6 to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A Catholic Service was held Thursday, April 5, 2012, at 10 a.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home.

Committal services followed at Zapata County Cemetery.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 Hwy. 83, Zapata.

JET CRASH Continued from Page 1A partment Capt. Tim Riley said more than two dozen residents remained unaccounted for, although all but the six most damaged apartments had been searched.

“What I’m praying for, what I’m thinking about now is that we don’t find any more victims,” Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms told reporters.

The two-seat F18 Hornet had dumped loads of fuel before crashing, though it wasn’t clear if that was because of a malfunction or an intentional maneuver by the pilots, said Capt.

Mark Weisgerber with U.S. Fleet Forces Command.

The jet went down less than 10 miles from Oceana.

Bruce Nedelka, the Virginia Beach EMS division chief, said witnesses saw fuel being dumped from the jet, and that fuel was found on buildings and vehicles in the area.

The plane not having as much fuel on board “mitigated what could have been an absolute massive, massive fireball and fire,” Nedelka said. “With all of that jet fuel dumped, it was much less than what it could have been.”

The crash happened in the Hampton Roads area, which has a large concentration of military bases, including Naval Station Norfolk, the largest naval base in the world. Naval Air Station Oceana, where

the F/A-18D that crashed was assigned, is located in Virginia Beach. Both the pilots were from Virginia Beach, Weisgerber said.

Weisgerber said he did not know how many times the student pilot had been in the air, but that the instructor was “extremely experienced.”

Dozens of police cars, fire trucks and other emergency vehicles filled the densely populated neighborhood where the plane crashed.

Yellow fire hoses snaked through side streets as fire crews poured water on the charred rooftops of brick apartment houses. By late afternoon, the fire had been put out.

Residents of the apart-

ment complex described a confusing scene and an apologetic pilot.

Colby Smith said his house started shaking and then the power went out, as he saw a red and orange blaze outside his window.

He saw billowing black smoke and then came upon the pilot as he ran to a friend’s home.

“I saw the parachute on the house and he was still connected to it, and he was laying on the ground with his face full of blood,” Smith told WVEC-TV. “The pilot said, ‘I’m sorry for destroying your house.”’

Smith said he and another man helped the pilot onto the street.

CARTEL Continued from Page 1A Villas de Salvarcar, Juarez, Mexico,” the document states. Most of the victims of what became known as the Salvarcar massacre were teenagers.

Acosta, nicknamed Diego, was one of 10 people named in the indictment as participating in the killings of Leslie Ann Enriquez, an employee at the U.S. consulate in Juarez; her husband, Arthur Redelfs; and Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, the husband of another consulate employee.

The three had left a children’s party March 13, 2010, in two white sport utility vehicles pursued separately by gunmen and riddled with bullets.

Investigators alleged that Acosta headed La Linea, the Juarez cartel’s enforcement arm. He admitted in court Thursday to ordering more than 1,500 killings before he was captured in July with his bodyguard in the northern Mexico city of Chihuahua.

“As the leader of La Linea’s enforcement wing, Mr. Acosta-Hernan-

dez directed a reign of terror,” Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer said in a prepared statement.

“Today’s guilty plea and sentence are a significant step in our effort to bring to justice those responsible for the consulate murders.”

Breuer thanked law enforcement in Mexico, including Attorney General Marisela Morales Ibáñez, for its “extraordinary assistance.” Mexico extradited Acosta to the U.S. just three weeks ago.

Acosta’s attorney did not return a phone call seeking comment.

When Mexican police arrested Acosta last year, President Felipe Calderón tweeted that it was “the biggest blow” to organized crime in the violence-plagued border city of Ciudad Juarez.

A factual summary attached to the plea agreement explained that around 2008, Acosta became La Linea’s leader and the cartel’s plaza boss in Chihuahua and Juarez. He coordi-

Philanthropist, magazine founder dies

nated “armed enforcement actions” with the Barrio Azteca gang against their common enemies.

At the time, the cartel led by Vicente Carrillo Fuentes was waging a bloody war with the Sinaloa cartel.

The Mexican government has counted more than 9,500 murders tied to drug violence in Ciudad Juarez between 2008 and 2011.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chief Michele Leonhart called Acosta “a cold-blooded murderer with no respect for human life or the rule of law.”

On July 15, 2010, Acosta ordered the car bombing on Calle Bolivia in Juarez that killed four people, including two police officers, according to the plea document.

The violence was part of the cartel’s efforts to secure a multimilliondollar drug-trafficking business that moved marijuana, cocaine and heroin through the area, prosecutors alleged.

AUSTIN — Bernard Rapoport, a longtime patron of Texas Democratic politics and millionaire philanthropist who helped found the influential progressive monthly news magazine The Texas Observer, died after a short hospitalization. He was 94.

Rapoport was taken to a Waco hospital Wednesday and died late Thursday night in his sleep, said Bill Nesbitt, a longtime family friend and a director of the Bernard & Audre Rapoport Foundation in Waco.

Rapoport built his fortune after founding the American Income Life Insurance Co. in 1951 in Waco. He served as the company’s chairman and chief executive officer until the early 1990s. He also served on the University of Texas System board of regents from 1991 to 1997 and established the school’s Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice.

Known by friends and colleagues as “B,” Rapoport was a major contributor to Democratic campaigns. He was a longtime supporter of the liberal and populist wings of the party, financing and fundraising for candidates on local, state and national levels.

“Providing others with access to opportunity and working to level the playing field were a big part of his life’s work and he will be long and well-remembered by the many he helped,” said Boyd Richie, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party.

In 1954, he helped establish the Texas Observer.

“For 50 years, Rapoport supported the mission of the Observer to expose government corruption, ferret out wrongdoing and report stories overlooked by the mainstream media,” the magazine said in a statement.

RAMP Continued from Page 1A Cuellar said.

The park expanded after the county acquired 9.5 acres from a private landowner. Before the purchase, the park consisted of a little more than an acre of land.

The amenities include a playground, an outdoor pavilion, picnic areas, public restrooms, water and wastewater connections, parking and lighting, according to a news release.

Commissioner Jose E. Vela said before the improvements, the space was not large enough to serve visiting fisherman.

He said this project falls in line with the county’s plan to attract more ecotourism to the area.

“This is basically something that we had already had a vision to do,” he said. “Before, we’d get a

lot of anglers, but we didn’t have the facilities to accommodate those people.”

Vela believes anglers will spread the word about the new facilities, which should bring more tourists to the area, he said.

“It’s a big plus for the economy,” he said.

Cuellar said he would try to secure funds for the second phase. He said he would ask county officials and the community what they would like to see in the second phase of development.

The boat ramp is located at 3079 County Road.

County commissioners will decide at a meeting Tuesday what the park’s hours of operation will be.

(JJ Velasquez may be reached at 728-2567 or jjvelasquez@lmtonline.com)

COUNTY Continued from Page 1A them to a landfill.

To waive fees and grant permission to the Zapata Health Fun Fest to use the Zapata Community Center for its festival Aug. 18.

To approve covering $8,000 in expenses for the San Antonio Metro League of Bass Clubs Fishing Tournament.

(JJ Velasquez may be reached at 728-2567 or jjvelasquez@lmtonline.com)

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2012

El Paso school offers state a blueprint

By RALPH K.M. HAURWITZ AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN

EL PASO — The Rock Kiss bar, with its neon pink walls, stands a few steps from the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, the state’s newest medical school. Although a sign advertises happy hour, the bar is shuttered, having been acquired by the growing school to make way for a parking lot, trees and shrubs.

Across the street, a children’s hospital opened earlier this year, as did an adjacent women’s hospital within a recently renovated county hospital.

Thus, in ways large and small, a sizable medical complex is emerging in El Paso, a high-desert city of 649,000 people along the border with Mexico and New Mexico.

Political, business and nonprofit leaders reached a consensus more than 10 years ago that educating medical students, treating patients and exploring biotechnology are essential to the future well-being of this area’s people and economy. Several hundred million dollars — from local tax proceeds, legislative appropriations and philanthropic donations — have flowed into the effort.

“Probably the singular thing here was to have a very consistent message that this is the most important thing to us,” said Woody Hunt, a businessman and philanthropist who helped organize a 1998 economic summit that focused attention on the health care field following the collapse of the garment industry, which had been an economic mainstay.

Hunt added, “You’ve got to have vision. You’ve got to be organized. You’ve got to be patient.”

El Paso’s experience could offer lessons for efforts in Austin to land a medical school and expand the capital city’s footprint in health care. The industry accounts for nearly a fifth of the nation’s economic output.

After waxing and waning for years, efforts got a major boost last year when the University of Texas and its governing board formally declared a goal of establishing a medical school.

State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, is leading a panel of university administrators, elected officials, hospital executives and others pursuing a 10-point wish list that also includes a new teaching hospital, a comprehensive cancer treatment center, expanded mental health services and upgrades at the Travis County medical examiner’s office — all to be achieved within 10 years.

El Paso has realized many similar goals, but challenges remain — especially in securing state money for the medical school and attracting biotech companies.

The Foster School of Medicine, a unit of the Texas Tech University System’s Health Sciences Center, is in many ways the jewel of what officials have dubbed the Medical Center of the Americas, a public-private complex east of downtown that could eventually encompass 440 acres. The school seated its first class in 2009.

A Texas Tech nursing school opened in a leased building downtown two years later and will eventually move to the medical complex. Longstanding elements of the complex include Texas Tech medical clinics in various specialties, a state-run psychiatric hospital, the El Paso County coroner’s office and the county hospital, University Medical Center of El Paso.

Planning is under way for a graduate school of biomedical sciences as well as a public-private research park that officials hope will spawn biotech startups and clinical drug trials. In February, the City Council earmarked $3.2 million a year in fees paid by electric utility customers for nurturing the research park and other life science initiatives.

Texas Tech Chancellor Kent Hance said a crucial step was the formation by local civic and business leaders of the Medical Center of the Americas Foundation, a nonprofit group helping to coordinate development of the medical complex.

“It shows the commitment of local people,” Hance said. “It helps you get organized and get funding.”

El Paso’s medical portfolio is expanding in other ways as well.

A $60 million health sciences

Alberto Martinez/Austin American-Statesman | AP

Students of the Paul Foster Medical School can relax in the courtyard of one of the newest buildings in the Texas Tech medical school campus in El Paso. It is a unit of the Texas Tech University System’s Health Sciences Center. and nursing building opened at UT-El Paso in 2011, the same year that ground was broken for the $966 million William Beaumont Army Medical Center, an eight-building complex scheduled to open in 2016 at Fort Bliss, one of the largest military installations in the country. The Foster school plans to send some students to the Army hospital for clinical training, said Kathryn Horn, the school’s associate academic dean for student affairs.

Landing the medical school and other elements of the Medical Center of the Americas wasn’t easy.

Squabbling over the size of the complex, the use of local tax dollars and other matters erupted in 2002. A $120 million bond issue for the children’s hospital passed by just 768 votes out of more than 44,000 cast in a 2007 election held by the El Paso County Hospital District.

Although Texas Tech began sending some third- and fourthyear students from its medical school in Lubbock to El Paso for

clinical training in 1973, the pieces of a full-fledged, four-year medical school didn’t begin to come together here until the state Legislature authorized $40 million in bonds for a research building in 2001. Two years later, lawmakers approved $45 million for an education building.

The Foster school has seen setbacks at the Legislature as well.

Lawmakers balked in 2005 at appropriating sufficient funds to hire faculty members and equip the school, despite exhortations from Gov. Rick Perry. Funding was approved two years later.

The Legislature declined in 2009 and again in 2011 to authorize bonds for numerous campus construction projects around the state, including two more buildings that officials of the Foster school say are needed for research and clinics.

“We’ve been able to achieve a dream for El Pasoans,” said Jose Manuel de la Rosa, dean of the Foster school. “We have yet to figure out the long-term funding for this program. I don’t think

we can continue to count on the Legislature” to the same degree in the future.

Local funding, research grants, patient revenues and philanthropy must be continuing parts of the mix, de la Rosa said.

The Austin effort faces similar challenges as well as different ones. As in El Paso, the overarching task is to raise hundreds of millions in public and private dollars.

Central Health, Travis County’s health care district, is studying how it might use its local tax proceeds, reserves and federal dollars to support a medical school or a new teaching hospital. It’s unclear whether UT could count on any bond authorization from the Legislature in a time of tight budgets.

However, the UT System Board of Regents has an option not available to Texas Tech: tapping the multibillion-dollar Permanent University Fund for a loan or cash, or a combination of the two. The fund is constitutionally restricted to certain institutions.

SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2012

ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

Sports&Outdoors HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS

Becoming a Jimmie

Courtesy photo

The Zapata tennis team did well at the District 32-3A tournament, with Trey Alvarez capturing the boys’ singles title.

Zapata soars over District 32-3A

By CLARA SANDOVAL THE ZAPATA TIMES

Courtesy photo

Zapata senior Luis Muñoz signed his national letter of intent to play football with Jamestown College in North Dakota.

Zapata’s Muñoz signs with Jamestown

By CLARA SANDOVAL THE ZAPATA TIMES

Zapata senior Luis Muñoz has signed his national letter of intent to attend Jamestown College during a ceremony at the Zapata High School gymnasium on Thursday after-

noon.

In front of teammates, family, friends and coaching staff, and with a stroke of a pen, he signed to play for the Jimmies football team, becoming the first athlete from Zapata this year to sign a letter of intent to play at the collegiate level.

“I am very excited to be playing next year,” Muñoz said. “My mom is very proud of me, and I guess that dreams do come true if you just work hard.”

Muñoz played guard for the

See MUÑOZ PAGE 2B

Zapata had one of the most memorable District 32-3A tennis tournaments in recent memory, bringing back the boys’ singles’ title.

All season long, Trey Alvarez had been sensational with a wicked serve and a ground game that match anyone on the court — even coming back from injury earlier in the year.

Alvarez, the No.1 seed in the tournament, did not disappoint, beating PSJA Southwest’s Luis Guerrero 6-1, 6-1 to be crowned District 32-3A singles champion.

“I am so happy for Trey,” Zapata coach Robert Alvarez said. “He has worked so hard to improve his strokes and increase his conditioning and stamina. Luis was tough, he is also a USTA Champion player, but Trey was very determined to win the district championship.”

As a team the Zapata boys took home second place and the Lady Hawks finished third.

The Hawks kicked off the tournament on Tuesday at the HEB Tennis Center at Pendelton Park in Harlingen before resuming Thursday after an unusual one-day break in the action — due to a conflicting band concert Wednesday.

The district is comprised of Rio Hondo, Port Isabel, Zapata, PSJA Southwest and La Feria, who were all attempting to come home with the title.

Despite playing in tough conditions with hot temperatures and high humidity, the Hawks did well and started the tournament on a good note when Chris Davila disposed of La Feria’s Chris Rodriguez, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, 6-2, 6-1, in the quarterfinals.

Davila executed the game plan precisely, exploiting Rodriguez’s inconsistency on the court early.

“We knew Rodriguez was a good player, but that he could be inconsistent at times,” Alvarez said.

“Chris was patient and made the La Feria player hit as many shots as possible and sure enough, the over-hitting mistakes came.”

Davila advanced to the semis,

MIDDLE SCHOOL TRACK AND FIELD

Merlins give glimpse to future

By CLARA SANDOVAL LAREDO MORNING TIMES

The District 32-3A Middle School track meet unfolded in Rio Grande City on March 29.

The Zapata Merlins put their best foot forward representing Zapata in a positive manner, bringing home many ribbons and giving a small glimpse of the future.

The seventh-grade boys placed fifth, the seventhgrade girls placed fourth, while the eighth-grade boys placed fourth and girls came in fourth place out of six schools.

The girls’ team had to deal with a low turnout, but the athletes that did come out for the team did exceptionally well.

“We didn’t have girls come out to run this year,

The eighth-grade boys placed fourth and girls came in fourth place out of six schools at the District 32-3A Middle School track meet. but the ones that participated did well,” Zapata coach Ana Villarreal said.

“The eighth-grade girls team has speed, and I see

them helping the high school varsity team (in the future).”

Jacob Villarreal took first in the eighth-grade

boys’ 800-meter run.

Marla Gutierrez (seventh-grade girls’ discus

See TRACK PAGE 2B

ZAPATA COACH ROBERT ALVAREZ where he faced PSJA Southwest’s Luis Guerrero — who was not seeded because his coaches did not attend the seed meeting.

Despite his coaches’ lack of responsibility, Guerrero drew everyone’s attention, defeating Smith from Rio Hondo 6-0, 6-0 in the round of 16 and the No.2 seed from Port Isabel 6-0, 6-0.

Davila had a hard time matching Guerrero’s intensity and dropped a 0-6, 0-6 game.

Guerrero moved on to play Alvarez, who had received a bye in the round of 16.

Alvarez went on to defeated PSJA Southwest’s Andres Urea 6-0, 6-1 in the quarters, and No. 4 seed Oliver Salander from Port Isabel, 62,6-0, in the semis.

The much-anticipated finals began with Alvarez breaking Guerrero’s serve, only to have Guerrero return the favor and break Alvarez.

Alvarez then found his footing and got on a roll, mixing power with touch and patience, reeling off the next five games to win the first set 6-1.

The second set was tightly contested, as the players stood at 3-all, but again Alvarez pounded his serve and made some clever drop shots and lobs to win the next three

See TENNIS PAGE 2B

Watching the evolution of roundball

T

Courtesy photo

“

“I am so happy for Trey. He has worked so hard to improve his strokes and increase his conditioning and stamina. … but (he) was very determined to win ...”

his past week was a basketball fanatic’s dream, being treated to two national championship games in two days.

The final game for college basketball unfolded in front of my eyes and the world around me stopped because this is what I wait around all year long — not the NBA finals and not the Super Bowl, but the NCAA Division I national championships.

I do enjoy the men’s game, but it is the women’s game that has me excited because of the adversity they had to overcome for so many years, and I’m proud of the point they have taken the game.

“

CLARA SANDOVAL OVAL

As a child I recall the only women’s college game that they showed on TV was the national championship game.

To say that the women’s game was under exposed is an understatement.

Watching Cheryl Miller lead the Lady Trojans from the University of Southern California to a national championship was the most defining moment for me, which shaped

See SANDOVAL PAGE 2B

PAGE 2B

Zscores

SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2012

England, America face language barrier

By STEPHEN WILSON ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by Linda Kaye | AP

In this Aug. 4, 1993 file photo, Texas Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan, left, hits Chicago White Sox’s Robin Ventura after Ventura charged the mound in Arlington. When Ventura mades his managerial debut for the White Sox on Friday in a season opener at Texas, Ryan will be sitting in the front row of the Rangers’ new-look ballpark.

Ryan, Venture speak 19 years after brawl

By STEPHEN HAWKINS ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARLINGTON — Robin Ventura and Nolan Ryan have spoken for the first time since their infamous brawl 19 seasons ago.

Ryan, the Hall of Fame pitcher who is the Texas Rangers president, went to the visitors’ clubhouse before Friday’s opener to wish good luck to Ventura before his managerial debut for the Chicago White Sox. It was their first meeting since a hot August night at old Arlington Stadium in 1993 when Ventura, then a 26-year-old third baseman for the White Sox, charged the mound.

Ryan, 20 years older and in the last year of his record 27-year playing career, got Ventura in a headlock and landed several blows.

“It was just one of those things and it kind of took a life of its own,” Ryan said in the Rangers dugout about an hour before Friday’s game.

Ryan said then that he hoped to see Ventura, and Rangers spokesman John Blake confirmed that they did visit after that.

Video of that fight is still wildly popular at Rangers Ballpark, getting cheers every time it is shown.

The Rangers don’t plan to show that video while

the White Sox are in town this weekend, but fans took advantage of their opportunity to boo loudly when Ventura was introduced before the game.

Among the many photos lining the hallway between the Texas clubhouse and manager Ron Washington’s office is one of Ryan holding Ventura in the headlock. Ryan long ago signed the photo to the Rangers with the inscription “Some wins are harder than others.

Good Luck.”

Ventura and Ryan have both insisted there was no animosity between them, and that they had just never crossed paths for a meeting before Friday.

MUÑOZ Continued from Page 1B Hawks and was instrumental part of the team, one who dreamed of playing at the college level when he approached head coach Mario Arce early last year.

“I just told coach Arce that I want to play college ball, and he told me to be patient and just work hard in the off season,” Muñoz said.

Muñoz went to work in the weight room to build bulk and gain quickness on his feet as he approached the season.

With each passing week during the season, Muñoz did not give up on his dream of playing at the next level and practiced hard.

When the season was over, with the help of the coaching staff, Muñoz signed up for a recruiting website and put videos up playing for the Hawks.

Things were silent for a while, as no one contacted Muñoz to play, but that did not deter his motivation.

While the weeks went by, Muñoz started to think of his future without football and was leaning on joining the Marines if things did not work out.

The video caught the attention of the Jamestown coaching staff, who then gave a call to Arce.

Arce praised Muñoz’s work ethic and soon the Jamestown coaching staff was offering Muñoz a place on next year’s team.

“I was speechless when I got the call,” Muñoz said. “That was the best feeling that anyone can get. Coach Arce has always supported me and helped me get to this level, and I thank him for that.

“It was a good thing, because the Marines were going to call me that day so I could sign up. Things just happen for a reason and now I am going to be playing football.”

Muñoz will report August 26 for football practice.

LONDON — The lorry driver taking kit to the football pitch was so knackered he pulled into the lay-by near the petrol station for a quick kip.

Huh? For American readers, that translates as: The truck driver delivering uniforms to the soccer field was so tired he pulled into the rest area near the gas station for a nap.

As George Bernard Shaw once observed, England and America are two countries divided by a common language. That trans-Atlantic linguistic divide will be magnified

by Olympic proportions this summer when an estimated 250,000 Americans come to town for the London Games.

Yet important differences remain, prompting this rough guide to just a few of the potential colloquial conundrums that await baffled American visitors to the old country. (A caveat: This is not a definitive, all-inclusive list and doesn’t take into account different spelling, accents, Cockney rhyming slang or expletives!)

FOOD AND DRINK Those are “chips” that

go with your burger, instead of fries. You’d like some potato chips? Those are “crisps.”

A soft drink or soda?

That would be a “fizzy drink.” A soft drink can refer to any nonalcoholic beverage. If you want the hard stuff, go to the “offlicense” rather than a liquor store.

A “cracker” isn’t only what you put cheese on.

It’s also a very good thing, as in “That goal was a cracker!” It can be an adjective, too: “London will put on a cracking opening ceremony.”

OLYMPIC LINGO Let’s talk “sport.”

That’s singular in Britain, not like sports in the U.S. Those “blokes” (guys) hawking 100-meter final tickets? They’re not scalpers, they’re “ticket touts.” Incidentally, if you can’t get any tickets, you can always watch on “telly” where the commercials are called “adverts.”

You’ll definitely do a lot of “queuing” (waiting in line), especially at Olympic venues for security checks. Whatever you do, don’t “jump the queue.”

Of course, soccer is “football.” The sport is played on a pitch, rather than a field. A player

might kick the ball into the “stand,” rather than stands — and there definitely are no bleachers.

Players wear “shirts,” not jerseys, and “boots,” not cleats, and their uniform is called their “kit.”

TRAVEL TALK Londoners don’t walk on the sidewalk. They walk on the “pavement.”

That crosswalk? It’s a “zebra crossing” (pronounced zeh-bra, not zeebra).

The best way to travel around the city during the Olympics will be by the “Underground,” the rail network commonly known as the “Tube.” It’s not the “subway” — that’s a pedestrian underpass.

EXPRESS YOURSELF If someone is feeling “chuffed,” don’t worry.

That means they’re delighted, as in, “I’m chuffed to bits that I got tickets for the closing ceremony.”

If someone says they’re “gutted,” it has nothing to do with fish. They’re just bitterly disappointed, as in the British Olympic sprinter who’s “gutted” after failing to qualify for the 200-meter final. By contrast, he’ll be “over the moon” if he makes it.

TENNIS Continued from Page 1B games to take the title 6-1, 6-3.

Davila came back to win the third place match over Salander, 7-5,6-2, giving the Hawks the first and third boys singles places.

In order for the Hawks to claim the district title, Zapata needed at least a second or third place finish in doubles action, but things did not go according to plan. The Hawks were stunned when Jaime Tejada and Tony Mendoza dropped a heartbreaker to Rio Hondo, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), in the quarterfinals.

Things continued to go down hill for the Hawks when Manuel Benavides and Alex Reyes advanced to the semifinals, where they lost to La Feria, 6-0,7-5.

“I can’t fault the effort of our kids.

Jaime and Tony played well, but we just missed some easy shots when we could not afford it,” Alvarez said.

“Manuel and Alex dug themselves into a hole and by the time they started playing like they are capable, it was too

late.”

Reyes and Benavides then came back to win in the third place match, 6-2, 4-6 and 6-1.

In mixed doubles, the Zapata duo of Carlos Poblano and Gabriella Alvarez advanced to the finals, losing to the defending district and regional champions Jeremy Rodriguez and Alexcia Ceballos, 6-0, 6-0.

Alvarez and Poblano next played La Feria for true second, and also lost, 6-1, 6-2, to take the bronze medal.

In girls’ singles Paola Jasso and Dominic Wayda lost their quarterfinal matches.

Also losing in the quarters were Daniela Lopez and Jeanina Cabugos in doubles.

Christina Medina and Erica Gonzalez lost to the No. 1 seed from La Feria 62,6-2 in the semis. They then lost to Rio Hondo in the third place match to finish fourth place.

SANDOVAL Continued from Page 1B my future in sports.

That is when I realized that girls could play basketball and it was ok to be good at what you liked to do.

Now television stations show more women’s basketball, but the problem is that girls do not watch them, instead they opt to watch the men’s games or NBA games.

The women’s game is very popular all around the country, but ask somebody who Britney Griner is and a lot of people will not be able to answer that question — even high school girls basketball players.

Griner is one of those special athletes that has brought a lot to the game of women’s basketball, and just recently led Baylor to its second national championship in the past six years.

The Final Four is an

electric atmosphere that I have been around as a spectator and as a journalist, and they are both equally exciting.

The University of Connecticut women’s team is a fixture at the Final Four, and a bad year for them is dropping five games and not winning the national title.

This year’s women’s Final Four participants were Baylor, Norte Dame, UConn and Stanford, but I was rooting for Baylor because they are a Texas team.

Tennessee was always a shoo-in for many years, but recently has had trouble getting out of the Sweet 16.

UConn is dubbed the Evil Empire and Geno Auriemma is Darth Vader because of his arrogance, while Norte Dame returned after last year’s loss in

the championship game to Texas A&M. Stanford has been to the Final Four and won national titles with Jennifer Azzi, while Baylor was looking for redemption after last year’s loss to eventual champion Texas A&M. With Griner leading the Lady Bears and as feisty a coach as Kim Mulkey is, there was not doubt that Baylor was the team to beat.

The Lady Bears went 40-0 the first team in NCAA history —men or women — to do so.

I love the month of March because the unlimited amount of basketball to fulfill my heart, but the young players that are coming up through the middle school and high school ranks must make sure they watch the game that’s evolving so much.

Courtesy photo

The seventh-grade boys placed fifth, the seventh-grade girls placed fourth at the District 32-3A Middle School track meet.

TRACK Continued from Page 1B and shot put) and Joan Zuniga (seventh-grade boys 2400-meter run and 1600-meter run) were the only two athletes to bring home two first place ribbons with great performances.

Bringing home second place ribbons were Abigail Zuniga (seventh-grade girls 2400-meter run and 1600-meter run) and the eighth-grade girls 800-meter relay team that consisting of Alana Montes, Adreana Castillo, Alexa Alvarez and Alyssa Alaniz.

8TH GRADE GIRLS 2400 meter run: 3rd Raquel Almaguer; 4th Alondra Lara 400-meter relay: 3rd (Alana Montes Alexa Alvarez, Adreana Castillo, Alyssa Alanis) 100-meter hurdles: 3rd Alana Montes 100-meter dash: 5th Adreana Castillo 800-meter relay: 2nd (Alana Montes, Adreana Castillo, Alexa Alvarez and Alyssa Alaniz) 1600 meter run: 3rd Raquel Almaguer; 5th Alondra Lara Discus: 3rd Victoria Bravo; 5th Roxy Galvan

Shot Put: 4th Becky Salinas; 5th Victoria Bravo; 6th Alexzandrah Palacios Triple Jump: 5th Alyssa Alaniz 8TH GRADE BOYS 400-meter relay: 4th (Adolfo Baez, Regugio Garcia, Orlando Villarreal, Maclori Gomez) 800 meter run: 1st Jacob Villarreal; 2nd Paul Ortiz 800-meter relay: 4th (Adolfo Baez, Regugio Garcia, Orlando Villarreal, Maclorio Gomez) 400-meter dash: 3rd Jacob Villarreal; 6th Raul Ortiz High jump: 4th Raul Ortiz Long jump: 5th Orlando Villarreal Triple jump: 5th Maclorio Gomez 7TH GRADE GIRLS 2400 meter run: 2nd Abigial Zuniga; 5th Marciela Hernandez 400-meter relay: 6th (Madison Lozano, Daniella Santos, Akanesi Kafusi, Jenica Guevara) 800-meter relay: 6th (Madison Lozano, Daniella Santos, Akanesi Kafusi, Jenica Guevara) 1600 meter run: 2nd Abigail Zuniga; 4th Mariela Hernandez Discus: 1st Marla Gutierrez Shot Put: 1st Marla Gutierrez; 6th Brittany Ramirez 7TH GRADE BOYS 2400 meter run: 1st Joan Zuniga; 4th Luis Rodriguez 400-meter relay: 4th (Ricky Sanchez Jr., Robert Solis, Johnny Gonzalez, Javi Flores) 800-meter run: 4th Isauro Sanchez 100-meter dash: 7th Jose Guzman 800-meter relay: 5th (Ricky Sanchez Jr., Robert Solis, Johnny Gonzalez, Conner Moreno) 200-meter dash: 7th Jose Guzman 1600 meter run: 1st Joan Zuniga; 5th Luis Rodriguez

SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2012

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

HINTS | BY HELOISE Dear Readers: Did you know that there is a difference between DEODORANT SOAP AND ANTIBACTERIAL SOAP? According to my friends at the American Cleaning Institute (www.cleaninginstitute.org), deodorant soap is designed to get rid of odors on the body. Antibacterial soaps contain specific ingredients that control the growth of germs on the skin, and they can “provide extra protection against bacteria that may cause many common illnesses,” says the institute.

Using deodorant soap is a good way to freshen up daily. Using antibacterial soap is a good idea after doing certain activities, such as handling pets, using the restroom, changing a diaper and, of course, before preparing and eating a meal.

When you use antibacterial soap, a tiny amount of germ-controlling ingredients is left on the skin and slows the reproduction of germs. Lathering up with plain soap does not stop germs from reproducing and multiplying, but is still a good way to wash your hands. And sing “Happy Birthday” twice so you’ll wash for the suggested 20 seconds. — Heloise PET PAL Dear Readers: Gerry in Burnham, Maine, sent a picture of her black, white and gray cat, Rascal. Rascal likes to stand up and clap his paws at his toys!

To see Rascal and our other Pet Pals, visit www.Heloise.com and click on “Pets.” — Heloise HINTS FROM HIM Dear Heloise: Thank you for all the wonderful hints.

When I went off to college, my mother made sure that I could take care of myself — that is, separate whites

“

HELOISE

from colors in the laundry, and cook an egg. Since then, “Hints From Heloise” has kept me going: I cut a stack of paper towels into quarters. Onequarter of a paper towel serves well for most wipeups and saves a lot of paper!

Also, I save lids from the plastic containers of sour cream, cottage cheese, etc., and use them to separate glasses in the dishwasher so they won’t rub against each other.

I read your column in The (Vancouver, Wash.) Columbian. — James in Camas, Wash.

BUSINESS BOOKMARKS Dear Heloise: About using unused business cards as gift tags: I have a whole box that I acquired from someone who was promoted, and I use them for bookmarks. I don’t have to care if they are lost or left in the book when I’m done.

— Stephanie N., Nipomo, Calif.

VINEGAR Dear Heloise: A good hint for cleaning the toilet bowl when leaving on vacation: Pour 3 or more cups of white vinegar in the bowl and leave it there until you return home. Scrub and see how clean the bowl gets. — Linda in Florida USE FOR OLD MASCARA Dear Heloise: I use old waterproof mascara to carefully cover my gray hair! I have some stubborn gray hairs, and a brushing of brown-black mascara covers them nicely. Perfect to get those hairs that my hair color missed! — L.B. in Indiana

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4B THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2012

Gleason dislikes recording release

By BRETT MARTEL ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP

Texas Rangers’ Ian Kinsler set an Opening Day deadline for his contract negotiations with the Texas Rangers, but the sides couldn’t come together on terms.

Kinsler can’t find deal

By STEPHEN HAWKINS ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARLINGTON — Ian Kinsler began the season Friday without a new longterm contract from the Texas Rangers.

Kinsler and the Rangers had been talking for several weeks about a new deal, but the second baseman has long insisted on a selfimposed deadline of opening day to negotiate.

Before the opener against the Chicago White Sox, Kinsler indicated the two sides were close but that he was now focused on playing.

“Close enough to be disappointed it’s not done,” Kinsler said. “I’m concentrating on baseball. I’m not worried about that.”

The 29-year-old Kinsler is scheduled to make $7 million this season and the Rangers hold a $10 million

option for 2013.

The Rangers’ leadoff hitter opened the season with a double, then homered in the third inning off White Sox starter John Danks.

While Kinsler said he no longer will be involved in any negotiations, he didn’t completely shut the door on the possibility that his agent, Jay Franklin, could have some further discussions with the Rangers.

General manager Jon Daniels said he wouldn’t address or characterize the state of negotiations on a new deal for Kinsler. But Daniels said the Rangers still want to keep Kinsler for a long time.

“Nothing has changed on our end. We absolutely love Ian,” Daniels said before the game. “We love what he brings to the club, and hopes he spends the duration of his career

here. Nothing’s changed in that regard.”

Daniels reiterated that the team’s general philosophy is to not negotiate contracts during the season.

But like Kinsler, he left open the possibility for more discussions with Franklin.

“It’s really about not letting anything becoming a distraction,” he said. “Anything that we do will be handled privately. ... That’s not just with Ian, that’s across the board.”

Kinsler is a .275 hitter over six major league seasons with the Rangers. He is coming off his second season with 30 homers and 30 stolen bases.

Even though he hit only .255 last season, Kinsler had a career-high 32 homers with 77 RBIs, scored 121 runs and had a .355 onbase percentage. He was 30 of 34 on stolen bases.

NEW ORLEANS — A recording of then-New Orleans defensive coordinator Gregg Williams urging players to deliver punishing hits on specific San Francisco players was released without approval from retired special teams standout Steve Gleason, who had helped a documentary film maker gain behind-the-scenes access to the Saints.

“I feel deflated and disappointed. I feel frustrated and distracted,” Gleason said in a statement on his website.

Gleason has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, and has allowed film maker Sean Pamphilon to capture his struggle with the incurable disease.

He played for the Saints from 2000 to 2007 and maintains a strong relationship with the club, which has backed his efforts to improve the lives of those living with the debilitating symptoms of ALS. Gleason’s connections to the team and to Pamphilon allowed the documentarian to be in the room with the Saints defense ahead of New Orleans’ 36-32 playoff loss to San Francisco in January.

“The Saints have been incredibly open and supportive of me and my family during my disease progression,” Gleason wrote.

“From my perspective, the Saints have helped begin to shift the paradigm of how an NFL team should treat its players after retirement.

“I included Sean Pamphilon in some of these activities, because I felt my relationship with the

Photo by Gerald Herbert | AP

This Dec. 12, 2010 file photo shows then-New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. A newly released recording purports to capture Williams telling players to “put a lick” on opposing players.

Saints was an integral part of my overall journey,” Gleason said in the statement posted Friday. “The Saints trusted me and gave us unlimited access in filming, and I, in turn, trusted Sean Pamphilon.”

Gleason said there was an agreement that he and his family would own the rights to any recordings made of his interaction with the Saints and that “nothing can be released without my explicit approval.”

“I did not authorize the public release of any recordings,” Gleason continued.

Williams is suspended indefinitely for his admitted role overseeing a bounty system that rewarded Saints defenders with cash for painful hits during his tenure with the team from 2009 to 2011. The assistant

coach left New Orleans after the playoff loss and was hired as defensive coordinator by the St. Louis Rams.

The recording, which Pamphilon posted one of his promotional websites, purports to capture Williams telling players to “put a lick” on 49ers receiver Kyle Williams to see if he had lingering effects from a concussion.

Williams also tells his players to “beat (running back) Frank Gore’s head,” and “lay out” quarterback Alex Smith. He also reminds his players that receiver Michael Crabtree “becomes human when we ... take out that outside ACL,” a reference to the anterior cruciate ligament in the receiver’s knee.

Pamphilon did not respond to messages left by The Associated Press.