The Zapata Times 4/13/2013

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SHERIFF’S OFFICE

Marijuana load Man accused of hauling pot in tanker truck

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ

JOSE REYES VILLANUEVA III: Arrested in connection with a marijuana bust.

THE ZAPATA TIMES

Courtesy photo

A tanker being pulled by a 2009 Mack truck held 5,019 pounds of marijuana, accord to Zapata sheriff’s officials.

More than 2 tons of pot was recently seized following a traffic stop north of Zapata, authorities announced Tuesday.

Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office deputies charged Jose

Reyes Villanueva III, 34, with first-degree felony possession of marijuana.

Custody records show Villanueva, who was arrested April 4, was at the Zapata Regional Jail as of Friday afternoon on a $500,000

bond set by Justice of the Peace Juana Maria Gutierrez.

“The diligent efforts of the Zapata County Sher-iff ’s Office working in conjunc-

See POT BUST PAGE 9A

WEBB COUNTY HERITAGE FOUNDATION

IMMIGRATION

HISTORIC HOUSES LIVE ON

Closer to finish line Ag workers, growers reach agreement

By GARY MARTIN HEARST NEWSPAPERS

Courtesy photo

Shown is a house photographed by Isidro Antonio González that is now on display at the Villa Antigua Border Heritage Museum, 810 Zaragoza St., in Laredo. The exhibit, called "Casas de Ayer," will be on display through the end of June.

Exhibit: Border-area homes from 2 centuries shown SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

L

AREDO — The Webb County Heritage Foundation has on display “Casas del Ayer,” an exhibit of photographs by Isidro Antonio González at the Villa Antigua Border Heritage Museum, 810 Zaragoza St. The exhibit features a selection of photos of 19th and 20th century homes and buildings in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, Laredo and Roma.

González considers himself a lover of history and historic architecture and his work revolves around documenting the border

“

If you’ve been missing visiting Nuevo Laredo’s old neighborhoods, this is a perfect opportunity to take a virtual walk through these streets again.”

MARGARITA ARAIZA, WEBB COUNTY HERITAGE FOUNDATION

region’s historic districts.

One added feature of the exhibit is a group of photographs of the Plaza Hidalgo tower clock in Nuevo Laredo. Photos include

views into the tower’s interior and close-ups of the historic timepiece’s clockworks.

“We are very happy to present Mr. González’ work to the public,”

said Margarita Araiza, executive director of the Webb County Heritage Foundation. “It’s always a pleasure to share and enjoy our sister city’s wealth of history and heritage. If you’ve been missing visiting Nuevo Laredo’s old neighborhoods, this is a perfect opportunity to take a virtual walk through these streets again.”

The “Casas del Ayer” exhibit will be on display at the Villa Antigua Border Heritage Museum on Tuesdays to Saturdays from 9 a.m. through 4 p.m. until the end of June.

For more information, contact the Webb County Heritage Foundation at 956-727-0977.

WASHINGTON — An apparent agreement involving agriculture workers and growers was reached Tuesday as Texas lawmakers separately filed a border security bill in advance of the upcoming debate on immigration reform.

A final resolution between groups representing agricultural workers and growers could develop within the next few days. Negotiations were continuing on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is trying to broker a deal to provide enough workers for agriculture interests, but disagreements remain on how many visas should be issued and the level of wage rates for workers.

There is “a tentative agreement on a number of things and we’re waiting to hear if it can get wrapped up,” Feinstein told reporters Tuesday. “I’m very hopeful. The train is leaving the station.”

An agreement also has been reached by labor and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on a guest worker program for low-

See IMMIGRATION PAGE 9A

ZAPATA COURT

Settlement cancels trial

By ZACH BROOKE THE ZAPATA TIMES

A trial set to begin between former Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr. and a firefighter he allegedly assaulted was called off last week after both sides agreed to a settlement.

Terms of the settlement were not immediately available, but it appeared the agreement was amicable to both sides.

“I guess both parties are satisfied with the settlement,” said Guillermo del Barrio Jr., the attorney for the plaintiff, Wil-

liam Butterfield, a Zapata County firefighter.

Del Barrio, who would not disclose the agreed-upon dollar amount, added, “I think it was a fair dollar figure considering the type of case it was.”

According to court documents, Butterfield claims Gonzalez punched him in the mouth March 20, 2009, as he was trying to restrain the sheriff from attacking his own son, who was handcuffed to a stretcher.

Butterfield and another firefighter were attending to a patient — Gonzalez’s son — when, the com-

plaint states, the sheriff appeared and started striking his son as he was handcuffed to a stretcher.

At that point, Butterfield said he tried to intervene by getting in between Gonzalez and his son.

Butterfield claims Gonzalez then shoved him away and struck him in the mouth with a closed fist.

Minutes later, Butterfield said Gonzalez approached him and said, “If you ever touch me again, I will kill you.”

In his petition, Butterfield sought compensation for medical expenses,

physical impairment and physical and mental anguish, among other things.

Following the settlement, Gonzalez denied any accusations of wrongdoing.

“I’ve always maintained the information contained in the lawsuit was inaccurate,” he said, “(The county) insurance (department) felt it was better to settle for economic reasons.”

Gonzalez, who retired from his position as Zapata County sheriff in De-

See COURT PAGE 9A

Courtesy photo

Former Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr. and a firefighter were set to face-off in court when they reached a settlement and the trial was called off.

PAGE 2A

Zin brief CALENDAR

SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2013

AROUND TEXAS

TODAY IN HISTORY

SATURDAY, APRIL 13

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium will show: "One World, One Sky: Big Bird’s Adventure" at 3 p.m.; "Lamps of Atlantis" at 4 p.m.; and "Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon" at 5 p.m. Matinee show is $4. General admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Premium shows are $1 more. Call 956-326-3663.

Today is Saturday, April 13, the 103rd day of 2013. There are 262 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: On April 13, 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., on the 200th anniversary of the third American president’s birth.

On this date: In 1613, Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan, was captured by English Capt. Samuel Argall in Virginia and held in exchange for English prisoners and stolen weapons.

In 1742, Handel’s “Messiah” had its first public performance in Dublin, Ireland.

In 1743, the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, was born in Shadwell in the Virginia Colony.

In 1860, the Pony Express completed its inaugural run from St. Joseph, Mo. to Sacramento, Calif. in 10 days.

In 1861, at the start of the Civil War, Fort Sumter in South Carolina fell to Confederate forces.

In 1912, the Royal Flying Corps, a predecessor of Britain’s Royal Air Force, was created.

In 1943, Radio Berlin announced the discovery of thousands of graves of massacred Polish officers in Russia’s Katyn Forest; the Nazis blamed the killings on the Soviets, who in turn blamed the Nazis.

In 1958, Van Cliburn of the United States won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition for piano in Moscow; Russian Valery Klimov won the violin competition.

In 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first black performer in a leading role to win an Academy Award for “Lilies of the Field.” (Patricia Neal was named best actress for “Hud”; best picture went to “Tom Jones.”)

In 1970, Apollo 13, four-fifths of the way to the moon, was crippled when a tank containing liquid oxygen burst. (The astronauts managed to return safely.)

In 1986, Pope John Paul II visited the Great Synagogue of Rome in the first recorded papal visit of its kind to a Jewish house of worship.

In 1992, the Great Chicago Flood took place as the city’s century-old tunnel system and adjacent basements filled with water from the Chicago River.

Ten years ago: U.S.-led forces announced the capture of Watban Ibrahim Hasan, a half-brother of and adviser to Saddam Hussein. After three weeks of captivity, seven U.S. POWs, including Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson, were released by Iraqi troops near Tikrit, Iraq. Mike Weir became the first Canadian to win the Masters after the first sudden-death playoff in 13 years.

Today’s Birthdays: Movie director Stanley Donen is 89.

Former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., is 80. Actor Lyle Waggoner is 78. Actor Paul Sorvino is 74. Poet Seamus Heaney is 74. Rock musician Jack Casady is 69. Actor Tony Dow is 68. Singer Al Green is 67. Actor Ron Perlman is 63. Bluegrass singermusician Sam Bush is 61. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., D-Pa., is 53.

Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov is 50.

Thought for Today: “The excursion is the same when you go looking for your sorrow as when you go looking for your joy.” — Eudora Welty, American author (1909-2001).

TUESDAY, APRIL 16 There will be a special called meeting of the board of trustees of the Zapata County Independent School District at 6 p.m. at the PDC. “Relax & Reduce Stress for a Healthier You!” is set for 6-8 p.m. in room 101 of the De La Garza Building at the LCC Fort McIntosh Campus. Fee is $20 per person for the general public, $10 for LCC employees and students. For more information, call the LCC Economic Development Center at 721-5110, or visit www.laredo.edu/edc.

Photo by Delcia Lopez/The Monitor | AP

Funeral home personnel prepare to pick up a body on Wednesday at the scene of Tuesday’s deadly wreck involving a van carrying suspected illegal immigrants in Palmview. At least nine people were killed and six were hurt in the crash.

THURSDAY, APRIL 18 Los Amigos Duplicate Bridge Club will meet at the Laredo Country Club from 1:15 p.m. to 5 p.m.

The “Anatomy of a Business Plan” workshop is set for 5:30-8:30 p.m. at TAMIU’s Western Hemispheric Trade Center, room 126. Fee is $20.

The will be a ZSISD Policy Board Committee meetings at 6 p.m. at the PDC.

SATURDAY, APRIL 20 Voz de Niños – Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Children, hosts an informational session on the CASA program, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., at 902 E. Calton Road. Volunteers advocate in the best interest of foster youth. No training or experience is necessary, and volunteers must be 21 years or older. Call 956-727-8691.

MONDAY, APRIL 22 The exit-level ELA retest will be given at Zapata schools.

TUESDAY, APRIL 23 STAAR/TAKS exams will be given at Zapata schools.

THURSDAY, APRIL 25 A conference of the Network of Trade Professionals will host a free luncheon at 11:30 a.m. through 2 p.m. at Embassy Suites.

The “Managing Cash — the Small Business Owner’s Guide to Financial Control” workshop is set for 5:30-8:30 p.m. at the TAMIU Western Hemispheric Trade Center, room 126.

Fee is $20.

Los Amigos Duplicate Bridge Club will meet at the Laredo Country Club from 1:15 p.m. to 5 p.m.

FRIDAY, APRIL 26 The Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium will show “Star Signs” at 6 p.m. and “Secrets of the Sun” at 7 p.m. General admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Premium shows are $1 more.

SATURDAY, APRIL 27 The Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium will show: “The Zula Patrol: Down to Earth” at 3 p.m.; “Lamps of Atlantis” at 4 p.m.; and “Pink Floyd’s The Wall” at 5 p.m. Matinee show is $4. General admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Premium shows are $1 more.

SUNDAY, MAY 5 Doors open at 3 p.m. for The Miss Jr. Zapata Texas Pageant and the Miss Zapata Texas Pageant at the Zapata High School auditorium. The pageants start at 4 p.m.

SUNDAY, MAY 19 Zapata High School will compete at state One Act Play and academics in Austin through Wednesday.

SATURDAY, MAY 25 The 10th Annual Juvencio de Anda Memorial Golf Tournament will be held at the Laredo Country Club.

Tee time is 8 a.m. The tournament will honor the late Alfonso “Lefty” Valls.

SATURDAY, JUNE 1 The Bass Champs South Region Fishing Tournament is set for 7 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Zapata County Public Boat Ramp.

Judge rescinds order ASSOCIATED PRESS

McALLEN — A South Texas judge has rescinded his order restricting media coverage in the case of a 16-year-old boy accused of killing nine immigrants in a crash.

The decision followed challenges by The Associated Press and The Monitor newspaper to an order signed March 27 by state District Judge Mario Ramirez. The order to rescind rendered moot the AP’s appeal, which subsequently was dismissed this week.

The underlying case concerned Junior Benjamin Rodriguez, who was 15 years old last April when authorities say he fled Border Patrol in Palmview while driving a minivan packed with 17 immigrants. The van crashed and nine of the immigrants died.

After a week of testimony, Ramirez decided Rodriguez should stand trial as an adult

rather than a minor due to the severity of the charges.

Ramirez ordered reporters to not photograph Rodriguez, publish the names of federal agents and other witnesses who testified in the case or report in detail any evidence from the week’s proceeding. Reporters did not receive the written order until after Ramirez certified Rodriguez as an adult.

The Associated Press filed an appeal on the grounds the restrictions constituted prior restraint. The judge also signed a prosecutor’s motion to hold a reporter from The Monitor in contempt for not obeying the restrictions.

The Monitor reported Friday that after the judge signed the contempt order, Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra said he was unaware of it and his office eventually withdrew its motion.

Isquierdo drops quest for Teen to stand trial as SAISD super’s job adult in abduction-slaying Manuel L. Isquierdo, the lone finalist for the San Antonio Independent School District superintendent position, withdrew his candidacy Friday afternoon, board president Ed Garza said.

“He felt like there was too much to overcome,” Garza said of negative publicity about Isquierdo’s background.

Three board members expressed doubts after reports this week about his financial and legal problems.

BROWNSVILLE — A South Texas judge has approved a request from Cameron County prosecutors to try a 15-year-old as an adult for capital murder and five counts of aggravated robbery for the abduction-slaying of a man last summer.

Jorge Alberto Castro is among eight people indicted for the July slaying of Reyes Bocanegra of Brownsville.

Authorities believe the killing is drug related.

Scarce rain, diversion lowers Lake Tyler

Man charged with Padre Island beach death

TYLER — Lake Tyler, the source of about 40 percent of the East Texas city’s water, is down about 3.7 feet because of scarce rainfall recently.

Greg Morgan, managing director of utilities and public works, says substantial rain needs to fall almost directly on the lake to help with water levels.

CORPUS CHRISTI — A Corpus Christi man has been indicted on a charge of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault for the death of one of two people run down on a Padre Island beach earlier this year.

Charges were filed Thursday against Dahlton Osborn, 19.

3 rescued from burning shrimp boat off coast GALVESTON — Three people have escaped from a shrimp boat that caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico just off the Texas coast.

The Coast Guard says no one was hurt when the blaze broke out Friday morning near Galveston. Another fishing boat nearby picked up the three men.

Bomb team removes device from Waco truck WACO — A disposal team from Fort Hood removed an apparent home-made bomb early Friday after police discovered it inside a pickup truck during a routine traffic stop at a Waco intersection.

Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton told television station KWTX the package was armed and included a hand grenade and other materials.

The truck driver, 52-year-old Joseph Gaynor, was arrested.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION Lawyer: Girl saw details online of sex assault SARATOGA, Calif. — Fifteenyear-old Audrie Pott passed out drunk at a friend’s house, woke up and concluded she had been sexually abused.

In the days that followed, she was shocked to see an explicit photo of herself circulating among her classmates along with emails and text messages about the episode. And she was horrified to discover that her attackers were three of her friends, her family’s lawyer says.

Eight days after the party, she hanged herself.

“She pieced together with emails and texts who had done this to her. Her friends!” said family attorney Robert Allard.

“That was the worst” On Thursday, sheriff ’s officials arrested three 16-year-old boys on suspicion of sexual battery against Audrie, who committed suicide in September.

CONTACT US Publisher, William B. Green........................728-2501 Business Manager, Dora Martinez ...... (956) 324-1226 General Manager, Adriana Devally ...............728-2510 Adv. Billing Inquiries ................................. 728-2531 Circulation Director ................................. 728-2559 MIS Director, Michael Castillo.................... 728-2505 Copy Editor, Nick Georgiou ....................... 728-2565 Managing Editor, Mary Nell Sanchez........... 728-2543 Sports Editor, Adam Geigerman..................728-2578 Spanish Editor ........................................ 728-2569 Photo by Jeff Chiu | AP

Saratoga resident Jamie Perez speaks to reporters about a 15-year-old California girl who committed suicide after she was sexually assaulted by three of her friends and a photo surfaced online in Saratoga, Calif., on Friday.

Police: hostage-taker gave no signs of compromise SUWANEE, Ga. — As a gunman held four firefighters hostage in his Georgia home, police

tried to buy time and create rapport by meeting his initial demands. But when negotiations seemed to go nowhere, police said, officers stormed the house and killed him after he fired on them.

— Compiled from AP reports

SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted.

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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 13, 2013

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

MISS LAREDOS VISIT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Courtesy photo

Villarreal Elementary students met Miss Laredo Celia Villarreal, Junior Miss Laredo Priscilla Elizondo and Little Miss Laredo Abigail Garza. They spoke to girls, encouraging and motivating the girls to do well on the STAAR test. The girls seemed very enthusitatic about the information and eagerly participated in the presentation.

Courtesy photo

Villarreal Elementary School honored Teacher of the Year SanJuanita V. “Vicky” Garza, left, and Instructional Assistant of the Year Elisa Thatcher recently.

Two receive honors SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

SanJuanita V. “Vicky” Garza has been named Teacher of the Year at Villarreal Elementary School.

Elisa Thatcher was selected as Instructional Assistant of the Year.

Garza has taught at the school for eight years. She taught fourth grade for six years and currently is in her second year of teaching third grade. She also coaches UIL and sponsors the school’s dance team, the Hawkettes, as well as serves on the CPDMC for the school.

She is the daughter of the late Jose Refugio Bustamante, Estela D. Solis and Jorge Solis and is married to Rocky Garza. She is a Zapata High School graduate and holds a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Texas at

San Antonio. She is an alumna of Kappa Delta Chi community service sorority.

Thatcher current works at the school as an instructional assistant.

A 1983 graduate of ZHS, Thatcher earned an associate’s degree in business administration in 1985, has federal tax service certification through H&R Block and is a licensed notary public.

The daughter of Marcial Antonio Cadena and Maria Thelmas Peña de Cadena, Thatcher is married to Rudy Thatcher and is the mother of five, including three ZHS graduates (daughters Michelle, Melina and Marlina); Rudie, a ZHS freshman; and Reannah, a fourth graders at Villarreal.

She lists her passion as early childhood education.

Bike race for men, women on the 28th in Eagle Pass

Man pleads not guilty to smuggling

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

THE ZAPATA TIMES

The Women’s Ride Bike Club of Eagle Pass will host a bicycle race on Sunday, April 28.

The club invites cyclists from all around Texas, Coahuila, Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon to take part in the race. Beginners through expert riders are encouraged to participate. Prizes will be awarded in each of the races.

Registration opens at 7:50 a.m. and close at 8:45 a.m. for the first wave and at 10:30 a.m. for the second wave.

Helmets must be worn at all times.

The 30-mile MTB men’s open begins at 9 a.m., while the 30-mile novice race starts at 9:03 a.m.

The 20-mile women’s open begins at 9:05 a.m., while the 10-mile MTB and road bikes race starts at 9:07 a.m.

The 40-mile men’s road open starts at 10:45 a.m., while the 30-mile novice race begins five minutes later.

The race will begin at Loop 480 and Ward Street in Eagle Pass.

For more information, call Ernesto Cumpian at 830-968-8098 or email conexiondeporte@gmail.com.

A man indicted for smuggling two Mexican nationals April 2 pled not guilty in federal court this week, court documents state.

Jose Eligio Casarrubias Ramirez faces charges of conspiring to transport and two counts of transporting people who had entered the country illegally. Each count has a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. He is federal custody on a $75,000 bond.

On March 16, Casarrubias-Ramirez was arrested after Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office deputies pulled him over near Texas 16 for a traffic violation. A criminal complaint alleges Casarrubias Ramirez, a lawful permanent resident, had two Mexican nationals as passengers.

Deputies cited him for possession of an alcoholic beverage in a motor vehicle. Federal officials took custody of Casarrubias Ramirez and the two passengers. Casarrubias Ramirez invoked his right to an attorney. One Mexican national held as witness said a man told him to look for Casarrubias Ramirez at a bar. Both men would’ve paid him $1,500 each to be smuggled to Houston.

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

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ

PAGE 4A

Zopinion

SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2013

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OTHER VIEWS

Thatcher revived the British Isles

By LLEWELLYN KING HEARST NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON — If there had been no Margaret Thatcher, the Brits might have had to invent her.

When she blew into the premiership like a galeforce wind off the North Sea, her island nation appeared to be sinking. The economy was a mess and trade union activism was strangling Britain.

Little activity In those days, the morning radio broadcasts listed the areas of ”industrial action” — the prevailing euphemism for strikes, mostly illegal — as routinely as the weather. For example, “Traffic at Dagenham in Essex will be adversely affected by industrial action at the Ford plant.” Or, “Expect delays on the London Underground today because of industrial action on the Circle Line.”

Newspapers often weren’t printed, trains slowed down, export orders delayed and power stations ran short of fuel.

Flying to London was a gamble on whether the air traffic controllers were peaceful that day. At one point, because of continuing strikes in the coal industry, the government put Britain on a three-day work week and shops were lit with candles.

Shakespeare’s “sceptred isle” was a dark place.

The public blamed the government as much as it faulted the unions. Yet Britain remained committed to trade unionism and the rights of the unions were protected fiercely, in the way that the Second Amendment is now protected in the United States.

Battling the miners Edward Heath, who Thatcher deposed as the leader of the Conservative Party, had been powerless against the miners and their feared leader Arthur Scargill. When the Conservatives decisively won the election of 1979, Thatcher was unleashed. She said of Scargill, “Poor Arthur, he’s out on a limb and all I have to help him with is a chainsaw.”

But Thatcher did not break the unions; she simply brought them into the rule of law with the British equivalent of the U.S. Taft-Hartley Act. In a country that treasured unionism, that was a revolution.

Thatcher took no public prisoners. Matthew Parris, a Conservative member of parliament in the Thatcher years, said she was curt with her own backbenchers and often feared by her ministers. Her sharp remarks cut: No one wanted it known how she had characterized them.

Tough player Her style in the House of Commons was brutal.

It was as though she had brought a club to a fist fight. James Callaghan, leader of the opposition, said to Thatcher, “Congratulations. You’re the only man in your team.”

Thatcher replied: “Well, that’s one more than your

“

Traffic at Dagenham in Essex will be adversely affected by industrial action at the Ford plant.”

RADIO NEWS ITEM

team has.”

Thatcher said of her critics that if she walked on the water across the Thames River, they’d say that she did it because she couldn’t swim.

For all the harshness, there was a softer Thatcher.

Gentler side I was in the press gallery of the House of Commons for one of the bitterest debates of the Thatcher years. It involved the future of Westland Helicopters, a British company seeking foreign investment.

Thatcher not only had to deal with an opposition that smelled blood, but also with a revolt in her own party lead by the defense secretary, Michael Heseltine, who thought he could unseat her. She beat back the opposition and savaged the Heseltine renegades.

Our U.S. press group had been invited to tea at the prime minister’s official residence, Number 10 Downing Street. The contrast between the bravura performance in parliament and the soft hostess who greeted us at her home was dramatic.

She was indulgent of her press secretary, Bernard Ingham, who fell asleep, seated to her right, and an older member of our team, Sterling Slappey, who also dozed off, seated on her left.

Without stopping what she was saying, she gently shook these men awake to save them embarrassment. The gale had fallen to a zephyr.

Later, I was with her at a conference in Arizona, where she exhibited both Thatchers.

From the podium she was relentless, booming, a steel-on-steel kind of exhortation meant to rally conservative backsliders and pillory neo-socialists.

Afterward, she acknowledged old friends and old campaigners in the audience with extraordinary memory and touching sentimentality. How great the change from major to minor.

Always working She also attended every session at that conference, asking questions, taking notes and doing the work of a regular delegate. Even in retirement, Thatcher liked to work.

“Men do the crowing, women lay the eggs,” she said once. Some of hers were golden.

(Email Llewellyn King: lking@kingpublishing.com.)

COLUMN

Sequester, tourism and cancer creates lots of confusion AUSTIN — Once again, our elected leaders in Washington — this time through their inability to agree on how to spend our tax dollars — have shown the ability to make us laugh and cry. The sequester-related cuts range from the trivial to the tragic, from spending we might never miss to spending that can make a life-or-death difference.

Let’s look at some, starting with the latter.

The Washington Post recently wrote this: “Cancer clinics across the country have begun turning away thousands of Medicare patients, blaming the sequester budget cuts.”

Austinite Adrienne Arnold, whose 82-year-old mom Bettie Carrington is a nonsmoker with lung cancer, recently wrote this to Texas’ U.S. senators: “Please exempt cancer drugs for Medicare patients from the sequester cuts.”

Arnold, a state employee, told Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz that her mom’s supplemental Medicare covers her treatments, but she’s concerned about folks without that coverage. “The question remains how can our government be so calloused ... and make these types of reductions, hence policy, for the beautiful

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KEN HERMAN

people of our country who have been productive members of society all their lives?” she asked.

At Texas Oncology, where Carrington is treated, Dr. J. Russell Hoverman, director of quality, said no sequester-related reductions in treatment are scheduled “at this time” but that the “reduction in Medicare reimbursement for most cancer treatment medicines is significant and is not sustainable.”

Texas Oncology, with more than 135 offices in Texas and Oklahoma, sees 86,000 new patients each year. The National Cancer Institute says Medicare covers 45 percent of the nation’s cancer care costs.

Cornyn and Cruz replied to Arnold with emails promising to respond “as quickly as possible.”

This week, the sequester ax fell on the Navy’s Blue Angels aerial acrobatics team, now grounded for the rest of the year because of the cuts. Previously grounded by sequestration were the Air Force Thunderbirds flight team and the Army’s Golden

Knights parachute team.

Sure, we can live without this stuff, but shouldn’t such cuts come as a result of action instead of inaction?

Sequestration’s direct — and trivial — impact on me came last Sunday at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta. Our small group looked forward to the National Park Service guided tour of the home in which King was born (did you know he was Michael Luther King Jr. at birth?) and lived until age 12.

We were told there would be a guided “walkthrough” instead of a guided tour. Can’t be much of a difference, I thought. Wrong.

A pleasant park ranger outside the house told us a bit about its history. Then, a much less pleasant ranger led us on a blur of a walk-through that started at the front door and ended about five minutes later as we were shown out the back door. Our ranger (We’ll call her Ranger Ratched) exuded an Idon’t-want-to-be-here aura compounded by an and-Idon’t-want-you-to-be-hereeither aura.

The walk-through made for a moving experience. I think we were moving at about 70 mph. I might have zoned out for a few seconds, but, for me, the

takeaway was that young King had lived in the house with some other people.

I learned the truth about the walk-through down the block in a historic building where generations have gone to seek the truth. A ranger at Ebenezer Baptist Church told me the walk-throughs, instead of the more comprehensive guided tours, were necessitated by the sequestration that cost the MLK Historic Site one employee.

At tour’s end, I was troubled by this thought: Did I really just go through King’s childhood home or is it something about which I have a dream?

Now I’m troubled by this sequestration thought: It’s one thing to shortcut a tour and shorten the season for some precision pilots. Shortchanging cancer patients, however, is another thing.

We can argue about what should be in the federal budget. But can there be an argument against the notion that the sequestration — budgeting by inaction — is something less than our nation’s finest moment?

(Ken Herman is a columnist for the Austin American-Statesman.

Email: kherman@statesman.com.)

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State

SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2013

GOP eyes $6B from Rainy Day Fund

By PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — The politically forbidden piggybank of the Texas Legislature may soon be cracked wide open. And surprisingly, Republicans are holding the hammer.

Abandoning resistance to seek financial solace in the state Rainy Day Fund, Senate Republicans unveiled a plan Thursday to spend $6 billion for water and road projects, which have taken on new urgency during this 140-day session that is nearing a final sprint.

The unexpected GOP proposal would use roughly half of a projected $12 billion socked away in the growing reserve fund, which Gov. Rick Perry and other top Republicans have fiercely safeguarded in recent years, even as the balance soared and state budgets were slashed.

And before the Legislature adjourns in May, Republican budget-writers in the Senate say they could dig even deeper into the fund to help cushion school districts waylaid by historic cuts in 2011.

“The answer is yes, I’d be willing to consider that,” said Republican state Sen. Tommy Williams, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and author of the proposal that unanimously cleared a committee vote Thursday.

One Republican on the panel said he wouldn’t ultimately support the bill because of debt concerns.

Perry did not personally comment publicly Thursday, but an aide reiterated Perry’s stance that the fund remains wellstocked.

When the session began in January, Perry did throw support behind using the Rainy Day Fund for water and transportation projects, but he called for taking just $3.7 billion.

“He has always said it’s important to maintain a strong Rainy Day Fund in case of natural disaster and to maintain our state’s strong debt rating,” Perry spokeswoman Lucy Nashed said Thursday.

Perry is often ideologically aligned with the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, or TPPF, which panned the proposed draw-down.

Under Williams’ proposal, Texas residents would vote in November on two constitutional amendments: One would take $2.5 billion from the Rainy Day Fund for water projects, and the other would take $3.5 billion to repair and expand crumbling and congested highways.

Talmadge Heflin, director of the Center for Fiscal Policy at the TPPF, said elected lawmakers should not “abdicate their responsibility” by leaving the decision to voters.

Water supply has become a top priority of lawmakers following a historic Texas drought. Momentum to put more money toward transportation projects, on the other hand, has struggled to gain traction. State transportation officials say they need an extra $4 billion annually to keep up with maintenance and a booming Texas population.

The proposed $6 billion is by far the most money the Legislature has suggested taking from the fund, which is where excess oil and gas tax re-

ceipts go. A resurgent Texas economy driven by a booming energy industry has left the fund particularly flush.

Perry and fiscally conservative Republicans have argued that the fund was created for one-time expenses and natural disasters, and not recurring costs such as school funding. Calls to restore money to school districts by tapping the fund have persisted this session, and continued after Williams laid out his bill for the first time.

Democratic Sen. Royce West came ready with an amendment to take $2.4 billion from the fund for schools. Others expressed optimism that the Rainy Day Fund could now be tapped for education, too.

“Long overdue is that we quit getting in these either-or situations,” Democratic Sen. John Whitmire said.

“It shouldn’t put the need for water and highways against public education.

We’re not a poor state by any means.”

Republican Sen. Kevin Eltife, who has challenged his party on its blanket opposition to tax increases, said he would not support the bill in the full chamber. He said more revenue is the only way to cure the state’s continually underfunded and under-built transportation system.

“Taxes. I know everybody is going to have a heart attack when I say the word,” Eltife said. “We have to have new money ... or we’re never going to solve this problem. Continuing to borrow money will not solve it. It’s real easy for politicians to borrow cheap money to solve problems.”

THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

Drug tests get approval

By CHRIS TOMLINSON ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — Depending on how they answer a series of questions, people applying for unemployment benefits may have to undergo drug testing under a proposed law approved Thursday by the Texas Senate, and at least two lawmakers think senators should take the tests, too.

The 31-member Senate unanimously approved the measure by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands. The bill requires state workers to ask unemployment insurance applicants questions, with the state then requiring they take a drug test if they appear to have a drug problem.

“The sooner we identify these people and direct them to treatment plans, the better off they will be

and their families will be,” Williams said. He assured his fellow senators that his bill would not face the same constitutional challenges as similar laws in other states, because he’s worked with federal officials to make sure it complies with federal law.

Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., DBrownsville, said he would back Williams’ bill, but called for support for his resolution that senators also take drug tests.

“I believe drug testing is needed to show that we are people of integrity,” Lucio said. “I can’t imagine a profession that could influence our lives more.”

Democrats signed on to the bill after Williams agreed to add provisions for retesting and drug treatment programs.

Sen. Kirk Watson, D-

Austin, offered an amendment clarifying that if an applicant enrolls in a drug treatment program within seven days of a positive test, he or she would continue to receive benefits.

Applicants also would have 10 days to request a retest to ensure a positive result wasn’t false. Their benefits would not be interrupted during that period. The applicant would have to pay for the retest, but if it does turn out to be a false positive, the state would cover the cost.

The measure now goes to the House for consideration. The Republicancontrolled Legislature is expected to approve the measure along with another drug testing requirement for those applying for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

State

6A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2013

Testing may decrease

By WILL WEISSERT ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by Ricardo Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman | AP

Gov. Rick Perry speaks to members of the media on Friday in Austin. Perry kept guarded Friday about a new Senate GOP proposal to spend half of the state’s $12 billion Rainy Day Fund on water and highway projects, but remained unequivocal that the money should not be used to restore spending cuts to public schools.

Senate passes sweeping charter school bill

By WILL WEISSERT ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — The Texas Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved the state’s most dramatic potential expansion of charter schools since they were first authorized 18 years ago, but only with major modifications that weakened a sweeping proposal supporters had hoped would transform classrooms statewide.

Sen. Dan Patrick’s bill sailed through the chamber 30-1. What little debate there was featured senators mostly congratulating themselves for bipartisan cooperation.

“This is how 31 people work together for the best interest of all Texans,” said Patrick, who hugged and shook hands with a line of colleagues after the vote.

The tea party-backed Republican from Houston chairs the powerful Senate Education Committee and spent months campaigning to do away entirely with a state law that allows authorities to issue no more than 215 licenses for charter schools. Patrick also proposed creating a special board to oversee a flood of new applications he expected would follow.

But the proposal approved by the Senate calls for far more gradual expansion, increasing the cap by 10 for the 2014-2015 school year. It would then keep rising incrementally until hitting a maximum 305 by September 2019.

“I’d like to have a few more, but that’s part of the negotiation process,” Patrick told reporters follow-

ing the session.

The measure now heads to the House, where it may face a tougher road. The Senate passed less ambitious charter school bills in 2009 and 2011, but neither cleared the lower chamber.

Still, Patrick said he likes this bill’s chances, saying he thinks people who were previously skeptical of charter schools may be swayed to vote for it. He said competition from charters can push traditional schools to improve.

For now, the state has issued 209 licenses. Because operators can use a single license to run multiple campuses, Texas has about 500 total charter schools educating about 154,000 children, or 3 percent of its 5 millionplus public school students.

Charter school advocates say more than 100,000 students are on waitlists for charters that don’t have space for them.

Patrick agreed to count out-of-state charter operators who want to run multiple campuses in Texas against the cap, while providing exemptions for special “drop-out recovery” charters that specialize in getting students who have previously abandoned their studies to return to school.

The bill approved Thursday also scraps the idea of a new charter school board while giving the governorappointed state education commissioner the power to shut down poor-performing charter schools after three straight years of low ratings. Currently, poorly rated charter schools have been allowed to remain open for extended periods as they file multiple appeals

against state efforts to close them.

That’s an important concession. About 50 of the 500 existing charter school campuses are low performing, and critics have long questioned why Texas needs more charters when so many existing ones aren’t succeeding. “It’s going to put real teeth to closing down bad charters,” Patrick said.

Those moves ushered in such good feelings that Sen. Royce West, a Dallas Democrat who sits on the Education Committee, jokingly told the Senate, “I want to introduce you to the new Dan Patrick.”

Indeed the floor vote was a far cry from just a few weeks ago, when Patrick suggested that anyone who opposes more charter schools is opposing students and families who weep when they try to attend charters but are waitlisted. Patrick himself has also fought back tears when advocating for charters and other educational reforms.

Asked if he was now softening, Patrick replied: “I am a conservative and I am a Republican. But I care about every Texan and particularly those who are the poorest of the poor. And without education they have no hope.”

He called the charter proposal “probably the most important bill we’re going to pass this session, if we pass it.”

“We know that good charters work,” he said.

“We know that poor students who are going to failing schools go to a good charter school and graduate rates skyrocket.”

AUSTIN — The federal No Child Left Behind law was born in Texas, and billionaire Ross Perot first rallied big business to support tougher standardized testing and high school graduation standards here nearly three decades ago.

But the state now appears ready to step back from the strenuous accountability policies it has long been a national leader in championing, amid fears that youngsters are being forced to take too many high-stakes tests and that too many might drop out because of higher expectations. A number of other states are also considering pulling back.

The Texas House has approved 145-2 an education overhaul that cuts the number of high school standardized tests in core subjects from 15 to five. It also creates a base high school diploma that doesn’t require Algebra II or high-level math and science courses. A similar bill is pending in the Senate.

“Parents, students, business groups, professional education administrators, school boards, everybody’s onboard with this,” said the House measure’s sponsor, Republican Jimmie Don Aycock, chairman of the chamber’s Public Education Committee.

In particular, algebra II should no longer be treated as the “holy grail” of education, said Republican Sen. Dan Patrick, chairman of the Senate Education Committee.

How to measure schools’ effectiveness and hold students accountable has become an almost unresolvable question in some states, coming up again and again for reconsideration. After rounds of raising standards and requiring tests, some legislatures are now swinging in the other direction.

“Texas may be rolling backward too fast,” said Chester Finn, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative education think tank in Washington.

He fears many school districts will only offer enough courses to meet the new minimum degree standards, thus dropping high-level science and math.

“I am not worried about the kids in the fancy suburbs,” Finn said. “It’s kids in little, rural districts and the lesser schools in tough neighborhoods in big cities who are going to find that the school doesn’t offer the courses because they don’t really count.”

The qualms are being felt in both conservative

Photo by Eric Gay | AP

Socar Chatmon-Thomas, center, stands with her daughters Isabella, left, and Guinevere, right, outside their school in Austin. states and progressive ones. But exacerbating matters are the Common Core standards, national benchmarks in reading and math promoted by the Obama administration and designed to enhance critical thinking. They have been adopted by 45 states.

Washington state’s superintendent of schools, Randy Dorn, has publicly worried that the testing has gone too far, with the class of 2015 now required to pass five high school exit exams. In North Carolina, legislators have scaled back the number of tests and the number of days students spend taking them.

Oklahoma’s Legislature was roiled when it was discovered that hundreds of students wouldn’t graduate because of their scores on the state’s new high school exit exam. Efforts to overturn the requirements failed after an emotional debate. Alabama is also fighting over its Common Core standards, with Gov. Robert Bentley and other top Republicans pushing for repeal.

Michael Cohen, president of the Washingtonbased nonprofit Achieve, said that in Texas, though, “it appears to me that there is a more substantial retreat.”

“It’s not just a battle over the math and science,” said Cohen, whose group is dedicated to strengthening academic standards nationwide. “It’s between taking (standardized tests) at all now or not taking them.”

Texas first introduced a school accountability system in 1993, but the movement dates to 1984 when future presidential hopeful Perot headed a state Select Committee on Education that campaigned for tougher graduation standards. George W. Bush, as governor, made student performance on statewide tests a centerpiece of No Child Left Behind, which

was passed into federal law in 2002 during his presidency.

But when the Obama administration began championing the Common Core standards, Texas lawmakers complained that their state requirements were already strenuous enough, especially after the high school testing regimen was increased to 15 tests in 2009.

In the past school year, 47 percent of ninth graders failed at least one test, prompting a backlash.

Fernando Godinez, a sophomore from Waelder near Texas’ Gulf Coast, said he wants to be the first in his family to graduate from high school, but that the battery of tests is intimidating.

As he tried to get ready for each, “It was just a matter of time before I stared down at my desk, frustrated and confused.”

Godinez said. Even though his grades are good, he said he’s worried the tests could keep him from going to college.

Susan Kellner, a mom and former school board president from Houston, said it’s time to “properly align testing with reality.”

Still, moves to pull back barely four years after the latest testing plan was introduced has raised concerns about overcorrecting — especially since Texas has improved its graduation rate in recent years. Last year, the ontime graduation rate reached 86 percent, tied with five other states for the nation’s third-highest.

“I can’t believe this has gone so quickly and it’s a now a foregone conclusion,” said Socar Chatmon-Thomas, an Austin real estate broker and a member of a parents group advocating strong curriculum standards.

“We’ll be perpetuating mediocrity.” Texas’ Commissioner of Education, Michael Williams, also opposes some of the proposed curriculum changes.

SÁBADO 13 DE MARZO DE 2013

Agenda en Breve LAREDO 04/13— The Latino Comedy Jam es a las 8 p.m. en el Club Annex de Laredo Energy Arena. Se presentan Jerry García, Ernie G, Luke Torres y Dillon García, entre otros. Costo del boleto varía de 25 dólares a 152 por persona (en mesa para cuatro personas). Boletos en Ticketmaster y en taquilla de LEA. 04/13— BLive Promotions presenta “Una Tarde con Aly Tadros: Fiesta de Lanzamiento del CD” a las 9 p.m. en Gallery 201, 513 avenida San Bernardo, con J Affair como el DJ. Costo: 10 dólares.

04/14— El Children’s Play Day de SCAN es de 1 p.m. a 5 p.m. en Laredo Civic Center. Habrá comida, refrigerios, brincolines, pintacaritas, manualidades, y entretenimiento. Evento gratuito.

04/14— Brian Mathias, organista para la Universidad Washburn en Topeka, KS, se presenta dentro de la Series de Recitales para Órganos de TAMIU, a las 3 p.m. en el Salón de Recitales del Center for the Fine and Performing Arts. Evento gratuito.

04/16— Eric Hoy Tucker, barítono-bajo del Central Michigan University participará en el recital programado a las 7:30 p.m. en el Salón de Recitales del Center for the Fine and Performing Arts de TAMIU. Estará acompañado por la pianista Larysa Davis y la soprano Dana Crabtree.

Evento gratuito.

04/19— El Día de la Tierra presenta a la banda “Vocal Trash”, exhibiciones, manualidades, mercado agrícola y comida, de 5 p.m. a 9 p.m. en Uni-Trade Stadium, 6320 Sinatra Parkway. Evento gratuito. Más información en 794-1650.

04/19— Texas A&M International University presenta el Concierto Internacional de Guitarra, a las 7:30 p.m. en el Salón de Recitales del Center for the Fine and Performing Arts de TAMIU. Entrada gratuita.

Zfrontera

PÁGINA 7A

ESTADOS UNIDOS

Reforzar fronteras POR ERICA WERNER ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Una iniciativa de ley migratoria que es elaborada de manera bipartidista en el Senado requeriría la vigilancia de 100% de la frontera de Estados Unidos con México y el arresto de 90% de las personas que intenten cruzarla en ciertas zonas de alto riesgo, dijo esta semana una persona familiarizada con la propuesta.

Las personas que viven de manera ilegal en el país podrían comenzar a obtener cédulas de residente permanente (green cards) en 10 años, pero sólo si se implementa un nuevo plan de seguridad fronteriza, si las empresas privadas han adoptado un sistema electrónico de verificación del estatus migratorio de sus trabajadores y si está en operación un nuevo sis-

tema electrónico de salidas en aeropuertos y puertos marítimos.

La persona que suministró la información pidió mantener el anonimato porque las deliberaciones eran de carácter privado.

El esbozo del nuevo plan de seguridad fronteriza surgió mientras los senadores se aprestan a revelar en los próximos días un nuevo proyecto de ley que ofrecería a cerca de 11 millones de inmigrantes que viven sin permiso en el país un mecanismo para su naturalización y que permitiría a decenas de miles de trabajadores de diversas aptitudes entrar en el país con nuevos programas de visado, además de reforzar la seguridad de la frontera.

Legisladores y asesores dijeron que todos los elementos principales estaban completos o cerca de completarse. Aún está pendiente un acuerdo sobre una nueva visa

para trabajadores agrícolas, y sólo había pequeños detalles que afinar sobre las visas para trabajadores especializados en tecnología, pero el senador Dick Durbin dijo que no era suficiente para que la iniciativa fuera viable.

“Estamos más cerca hoy de una reforma migratoria seria que en cualquier momento de los últimos 25 años”, dijo Durbin a reporteros luego de que él y otros demócratas en el grupo de negociación en el Senado presentaron un informe a miembros de la bancada hispana del Congreso. “Este presidente la apoya, y existe un fuerte y creciente esfuerzo bipartidista en el Senado para apoyarla. Esperamos que la cámara baja haga lo mismo”.

El aspecto de la seguridad fronteriza en la iniciativa de ley es primordial para que sea apoyada por los republicanos, pero algunos demócratas se han opuesto a que el

TAMAULIPAS

ALGUACIL

ALTERNATIVAS

Incautan droga; logran arresto POR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

NUEVO LAREDO, MX 04/13— Estación Palabra “Gabriel García Márquez” invita al ‘Bazar de Arte’ a las 12 p.m.; Festival Infantil ‘Los niños y los libros’ a las 2 p.m.; y, Lecturas antes de abordar ‘Cirque Du Freak: Personajes extraordinarios y literatura’ a las 3 p.m. Eventos gratuitos.

04/14— Jóvenes Emprendedores presenta “Moviendo Talentos”, de 4 p.m. a 7 p.m. en el Parque Viveros.

Habrá grupos en vivo, grupos de baile, graffiti expo, exhibición de motocicletas y autos. Entrada gratuita.

04/14— Se presenta la obra de teatro “Animal...es” son Susana Alexander, Beto Castillo y Lola Cortés, a las 4:30 p.m. y a las 6:30 p.m. en el Teatro Principal del Centro Cultural. El costo de entrada es de 100 pesos.

04/14— Domingos de Teatro Universitario presenta “Soltero, Casado, Divorciado, Viudo” con grupo Uteatro, a las 5 p.m. en el Teatro Lucio Blanco de Casa de la Cultura. Entrada libre.

04/16— Colectivo Moviendo Conciencia presenta la exposición artística “Esencia de nostalgia” de 6 p.m. a 9 p.m. en el lobby del teatro del IMSS, Belden y Reynosa. Entrada gratuita.

04/16— Proyecto Teatro presenta “Esencia de nostalgia” de Miguel Ángel Cedano, a las 7 p.m. en el Teatro del IMSS, Belden y Reynosa.

Costo: 20 pesos.

04/18— Taller de fomento a la lectura “Niños Lectores, Niños Felices” para padres de familia, maestros y promotores de lectura, de 10 a.m. a 12 p.m. en el área infantil de Estación Palabra.

mecanismo para obtener la ciudadanía esté condicionado a la seguridad fronteriza. El senador Chuck Schumer dijo que los nuevos requisitos no impedirán la naturalización.

“Mucha gente aquí no quiere poner dólares en la frontera, pero es algo con lo que podemos lidiar como precio para obtener la ciudadanía, siempre y cuando no sea un impedimento para la naturalización sino que opere a la par”, dijo Schumer luego de hablar con legisladores hispanos.

En tanto, esta semana, decenas de miles de activistas se congregaron afuera del Capitolio de Washington y en diversas ciudades de Estados Unidos para presionar al Congreso a que tome medidas sobre la materia. Algunos llevaban banderas estadounidenses y pancartas que decían: “Reforma migratoria para Estados Unidos ya”.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

En Tula, Tamaulipas, se conserva la casa de Doña Carmelita Romero, quien fuera esposa del ex Presidente Porfirio Díaz.

Es el gobierno federal quien designó a Tula como un Pueblo Mágico.

Ofrecen Mier y Tula algo diferente al turismo TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Los pueblos mágicos de Tula y Ciudad Mier, en la frontera norte de Tamaulipas, recibieron más de 8.000 paseantes, atraídos por su historia.

Mónica González García, titular de la Secretaría de Desarrollo Económico y Turismo, declaró que los Pueblos Mágicos representan alternativas frescas y diferentes para los visitantes nacionales y extranjeros.

La categoría de Pueblos Mágicos es otorgada por la Secretaría de Turismo federal como un reconocimiento a quienes habitan esos lugares de la geografía mexicana y han sabido guardar para todos, la riqueza cultural e histórica que encierran, explicó González.

Dijo que Tula, a la que se le conoce como la ciudad de los pianos, posee atractivos como la iglesia de San Antonio de Padua; el hotel Diligencias, que aún conserva una armadura de quien nadie conoce aún su verdadera historia; y la casa de Doña Carmelita Romero, quien

Foto de cortersía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

Conservar casas en buen estado y ser promotor de la historia, es lo que hace que una ciudad sea designada Pueblo Mágico. fuera esposa del ex Presidente Porfirio Díaz.

En Ciudad Mier, el visitante puede hacer un recorrido por sus calles; conocer su arquitectura, además de la historia que marca su protagonismo en la

guerra contra Estados Unidos en el siglo XIX. En esta ciudad también se encuentra la Casa de las Columnas o Edificio Consistorial, que fuera cárcel y templo masónico en otros tiempos, entre otros atractivos.

Más de dos toneladas de droga fueron incautadas recientemente tras que se ordenada un alto al norte de Zapata, anunciaron autoridades esta semana.

Oficiales de la Oficina del Alguacil del Condado de Zapata acusaron a José Reyes Villanueva III, de 34 años de edad, con felonía de primer grado por posesión de marihuana.

Villanueva, quien fuera arrestado el 4 de abril, permanecía en la Cárcel Regional de Zapata, de acuerdo a archivos de la corte. Se le impuso una fianza de 500.000 dólares por parte de la Juez de Paz Juana María Gutiérrez.

“Los esfuerzos de diligencia de la Oficina del Alguacil del Condado de Zapata trabajando junto con la oficina del fiscal del Condado de Zapata llevaron a la incautación de 5.019 libras de marihuana”, escribió el Jefe de la oficina del alguacil, Raymundo Del Bosque Jr., en un comunicado preparado.

A las 8 p.m. del jueves, un oficial detuvo a un camión Mack, modelo 2009, sobre U.S. 83, al norte de una subdivisión conocida como Ramireño, ubicada entre San Ygnacio y Zapata.

Oficiales dijeron que la camioneta desobedeció una zona de no pasar. Siguiendo una investigación en el lugar, una unidad K-9 alertó a las autoridades de posible contrabando dentro de la caja que arrastraba el camión.

Oficiales descubrieron 294 paquetes de marihuana con valor estimado en la calle de 2 millones de dólares, de acuerdo a oficiales del alguacil. El caso continuaba siendo investigado para determinar el origen del cargamento.

El decomiso más grande recientemente en el Condado de Zapata tuvo lugar en el vecindario de Siesta Shores en septiembre. En esa ocasión, oficiales decomisaron 2.080 libras de marihuana con valor en la calle de 880.000 dólares. Cuatro personas enfrentan cargos federales tras que la oficina del alguacil entregó el caso al Drug Enforcement Administration.

Hasta el martes, Villanueva no enfrentaba cargos federales.

(Localice a César G. Rodriguez en el 728-2568 en el cesar@lmtonline.com)

GOBIERNO

México anuncia gasoducto para importar gas ASSOCIATED PRESS

MÉXICO — El presidente Enrique Peña Nieto anunció esta semana la construcción de un enorme gasoducto entre Estados Unidos y México cuyo propósito será

importar más gas a un menor costo, se informó oficialmente.

Un comunicado de la presidencia, informó que Peña Nieto en una visita oficial en Japón dijo que firmó un acuerdo con una compañía

de aquel país para construir dicha tubería con aproximadamente 460 millones de dólares. El proyecto que suscribió Pemex con la compañía japonesa Mitsui Corporation permitirá importar 770 millones de pies

cúbicos diarios de gas de Tucson a la frontera norte.

El comunicado no mencionó qué compañía estadounidense trabajará en dicho proyecto. Agregó que se estudia el desarrollo de otro gasoducto con la misma em-

presa japonesa.

Actualmente, existen varios gasoductos a lo largo de la frontera que divide México de Estados Unidos. La mayoría de estos gasoductos reciben gas natural de Estados Unidos.

Area

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES

Two Zapatans arrested

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

LAREDO — Four people, including two Zapatans, were arrested in Central Laredo for allegedly smuggling people, according to court records released Monday.

Laredoans Joel Armenta and Luis Betancourt, and Zapatans Blanca Garcia and Ricardo Nataniel Garza face charges of bringing in and harboring people who had entered the country illegally. Each remained in federal custody Friday on $75,000 bonds.

On April 4, Homeland Security Investigations special agents conducted surveillance on a home suspected of harboring people who had entered the country illegally. At 11 a.m., agents observed that three vehicles had arrived at the residence at 413 W. Olive St. The three vehicles left the home about a minute later.

Agents, assisted by Webb County Sheriff ’s Office deputies, identified the drivers as Joel Armenta, Blanca Garcia and Ricardo

THE ZAPATA TIMES

Photo by Cesar G. Rodriguez | Laredo Morning Times

This home at 413 W. Olive St. in Laredo is believed to be used by two Laredoans and two Zapatans to stash people.

Garza.

At 4 p.m., agents in plainclothes knocked on the door. A Mexican national answered the door and said he’d been staying at the residence for several days waiting to be smuggled. Soon, six other people walked out of the back door. All were determined to be from Mexico.

Agents learned from the immigrants that Betancourt was involved in the human smuggling oper-

ation. Earlier that day, Betancourt had stopped by at the home to provide food to the Mexican nationals.

Federal officials eventually contacted Armenta, Betancourt, Garcia and Garza. Each person provided a statement “admitting their involvement in the transporting and/or harboring” of people, a criminal complaint states.

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

Courtesy photo

Wardens seize nearly $4M in pot in Starr Co. AUSTIN — Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens have seized more than two tons of marijuana worth nearly $4 million.

“This is one of if not the largest drug seizure by Texas game wardens in the history of our agency,” said TPWD Law Enforcement Director Craig Hunter. “Obviously, we are very proud of the wardens involved in this case. Beyond that, we are tremendously pleased to have played a part in preventing such a large cache of marijuana from reaching our streets,” The drug seizure occurred about 7 p.m. Wednesday in Starr County near the U.S.-Mexican border in South Texas. Retail value of the marijuana was estimated at $3,775,440.

“A game warden received information that marijuana was being stashed at a residence in the Salineno area.

Game wardens then requested assistance from the U.S. Border Patrol,” said TPWD Maj. Alan Teague.

When the warden and Border Patrol agents ap-

Agents accuse man of possessing $1M in pot

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ

Agents sit on marijuana seized on Wednesday in Starr County. A total of 409 bundles of marijuana weighing 4,719 pounds were recovered. Retail value of the marijuana was estimated at $3,775,440.

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2013

proached the residence, the federal officers saw three men running from the rear of the structure. The officers shouted for the men to stop, but they kept running. After a foot pursuit, two of the three men were apprehended.

While escorting the two individuals back to the residence, the officers observed a large pile of bundles which appeared to be packaged marijuana. A closer inspection along with a Border Patrol canine confirmed the bundles were in fact marijuana. Officers also discovered an underground bunker located near the pile of marijuana bundles which contained more marijuana.

A total of 409 bundles of marijuana weighing 4,719 pounds were recovered from the back yard area. It took six trucks to carry the marijuana to a federal storage facility.

“Texas game wardens

routinely come across illegal drug smuggling operations, especially in rural areas and along the border region,” said Chief of Special Operations Grahame Jones, “but this seizure was particularly significant.”

The two suspects were released to the Border Patrol, along with the seized marijuana.

“We certainly appreciate the assistance of the Border Patrol in this case,” said Lt. Col. Danny Shaw. “TPWD has a close working relationship with the Border Patrol and other law enforcement agencies along the border, and this is a perfect example of how that pays off for the citizens of Texas.”

A man was arrested in southern Zapata County this week accused of possessing more than $1 million worth of marijuana, according to court records.

Luis Humberto Ozuna, 36, was charged with possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. Authorities said he was transporting 1,322.10 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $1,057,680.

At 9 p.m. Sunday, a U.S. Border Patrol agent observed a white flatbed utility truck towing an empty, black gooseneck trailer at U.S. 83 and FM 2687. The agent decided “to follow the vehicle to conduct a vehicle registration check due to recent drug seizures involving utility trucks and flatbed trailers in Zapata,” a criminal complaint states.

While the agent got behind the trailer to get the license plates, the truck reduced speed and used the other traffic to prevent the agent from pulling behind him. Federal officials alleged the agent stopped the trailer on the suspicion of carrying contraband. “(The agent) was overcome with the smell of marijuana when passing the trailer to approach the driver,” the complaint alleges. Based on the odor, the agent asked the driver, Ozuna, to search the vehicle based on the marijuana odor.

According to the complaint, the agent observed aftermarket metal panels underneath the trailer. Authorities allege the panels were welded between the frame rails. Ozuna and the

Courtesy photo

A man was arrested in southern Zapata County this week accused of possessing more than $1 million worth of marijuana. vehicle were taken to the Border Patrol station. A K-9 unit called to the scene alerted agents to the possible presence of contraband.

“Agents removed the aftermarket metal panel revealing approximately (1,322.10 pounds) of marijuana,” a complaint states.

“Ozuna stated that he

was told to drive to a hotel in Laredo, which he did not know the name or the location of,” a complaint states. “Once at the hotel Ozuna, would be met (by) unknown individuals who would guide him to an unknown ranch.”

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

Compliance is topic of university conference SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

It’s a word that strikes fear the moment it’s uttered: compliance.

Without it, today’s business, medical, non-profit and service world may not be able to operate, receive critical funding or avoid expensive and protracted legal entanglements.

Helping to ease that fear will be a new Texas A&M International University professional conference: “Compliance: Towards an Ethical Answer,” scheduled Thursday and Friday at TAMIU’s Student Center.

The first-ever conference aims to explore how compliance is best defined, practiced and achieved, consistent with the ethical foundation of all compliancebased organizations.

Ray Keck, TAMIU president, said the university is pleased to present the conference and hopes it will become an annual offering.

“The university is honored to take a leadership role in this pivotal area. We are hopeful that this conference will be-

come an annual offering dedicated to this important and timely topic,” Keck said.

Sponsored by the University’s Office of Continuing Education, the two-day conference will feature guest presenters and panelists in sessions. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will also be available. Seating is limited and conference cost is $200 per participant.

The conference opens Thursday at 1 p.m. with a session on timely detection of fraudulent schemes to help mitigate corruption risks, presented by Jeffrey Harfenist, CPA, and MBA. Session two will follow with an overview of the federal sentencing guidelines for corporations by US District Judge for the Southern District of Texas, Judge Marina García Marmolejo. Judge García Marmolejo will join an ethics panel discussion thereafter with Father Michael T. Scheerger, Catholic Campus Ministry, and TAMIU assistant professor Paul Madlock. A reception will end the first conference day.

The Conference continues Friday with two sessions, beginning at 8:30 a.m.

SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2013

THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

ROEL RAMIREZ Roel Ramirez, 30, passed away Sunday, April 7, 2013 in Zapata, Texas.

Roel is preceded in death by his grandfathers, Federico Ramirez and Arnulfo Garza.

Roel is survived by his wife, Sara Lee Saenz; son, Roberto Guzman; daughters, Leedia Marie Ramirez and Aleesa Raelynn Ramirez; parents, Sergio Roel and Librada Del Carmen Ramirez; sister, Liliana (Hugo Jr.) Martinez; neph-

ew, Hugo Alan Martinez; grandmothers, Maria Elena Ramirez and Maria Clara Garza; and by numerous uncles, aunts and cousins.

Visitation hours were Tuesday, April 9, 2013 from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home.

The funeral procession departed Wednesday, April 10, 2013 at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.

JUAN BERNARDO ‘RED’ GARCIA Committal services followed at Zapata County Cemetery.

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

HERMA CANALES THOMAS Herma Canales Thomas, 86, born in Cd. Mier, Tamps., on Aug. 28, 1926, passed away Wednesday, April 9, 2013, at McAllen Medical Center in McAllen.

Ms. Thomas is preceded in death by her husband, Richard H. Thomas; parents, Albino Canales and Beatriz Ramirez de Canales; and a son-in-law, Dennis C. Moore.

Ms. Thomas is survived by her children, Linda T. Moore, Barbara “Bobbie” Thomas, Richard H. (Katharine) Thomas and James “Jimmy” Thomas (caregiver); step-son, Richard (Nancy) Thomas; grandchildren, Dennis C. Moore II, Randall A. Moore, Kristina (Enrique) Medrano, Michelle (Avery) Jackson, Richard H. Jude Thomas and Rhonda C. Thomas; step-grandchildren Richard J. Thom-

as and Patricia L. Thomas; great-grandchildren, Wesley A. Jackson, Adam T. Jackson, Alexandra K. Medrano and Corrine D. Jackson; brother, Ali Canales; sister, Blanca (Greg) Dickinson; and by numerous other family members and friends.

Special thanks to Thelma Gonzalez for always being there to help.

Visitation hours were Thursday, April 11, 2013, from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home.

A funeral Mass was held at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church at 10 a.m. at 2219 Galveston Street in Laredo.

Committal services followed at Calvary Catholic Cemetery, 3600 McPherson Road, Laredo.

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

Courtesy photo

On display are 5,000-plus pounds of marijuana confiscated by deputies during a traffic stop north of Zapata. tigation, a K-9 unit alerted authorities to possi-ble contraband inside the tank hauled by the tractortruck.

Deputies discovered 294 bundles of marijuana with an estimated street value of $2 million, ac-cording to sheriff ’s offi-cials.

The case remains under investigation to determine the origin of the ship-ment.

A recent large pot bust in Zapata County took place

Gutierrez and Maria Elena (Francisco); mother-inlaw, Julia P. Sanchez; brothers-in-law, Oscar Sanchez Jr., Romeo Sanchez and Calixto Sanchez; sisters-in-law, Sylvia (Rudy) Molina and Noelia (Luis) Arambula; and by numerous nephews, nieces and friends.

Visitation hours were Wednesday, April 10, 2013 from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m., with a wake at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home.

A chapel service was Thursday, April 11, 2013 at 10 a.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home.

Committal services followed at Zapata County Cemetery.

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

COURT Continued from Page 1A cember, said the settlement constituted a “small amount.”

Nevertheless, Gonzalez said he wanted to proceed to trial but was over-

ruled.

“I would have liked to have gone to trial. But it’s not my decision.”

U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo

set April 24 as the date paperwork has to be submitted to finalize the suit.

(Zach Brooke may be reached at 728-2538 or zbrooke@lmtonline.com)

IMMIGRATION Continued from Page 1A

POT BUST Continued from Page 1A

tion with the Zapata County attorney’s office led to the seizure of 5,019 pounds of marijuana,” sheriff ’s office Chief Ray-mundo Del Bosque Jr. wrote in a statement.

At 8 p.m. April 4, a deputy stopped a 2009 Mack tanker truck on U.S. 83 just north of the subdivision known as Ramireño. Deputies said the truck disregarded a no passing zone.

Following an on-site in-ves-

Juan Bernardo “Red” Garcia, 54, passed away Sunday, April 7, 2013 in Zapata, Texas.

Mr. Garcia is preceded in death by his parents, Jose M. and Josefa Garcia; and his father-in-law, Oscar Sanchez.

Mr. Garcia is survived by his wife, Paula S. Garcia; son, Juan B. Jr. (Laura) Garcia; daughters, Maria Isabel (Sergio) Rodriguez, Marisol (Samuel) Cobos and Marlena Idona Garcia; grandchildren, Juan B. Garcia III, Jonathan Garcia, Joaquin Ivan Garcia, Sergio Rodriguez Jr. and Mia Julieta Rodriguez; brothers, Wenselao (Flor) Garcia, Estanislao (Marta) Garcia and Jose Alonso Garcia; sisters, Francisca (Pedro)

in the Siesta Shores neighborhood in September. At the time, deputies seized 2,080 pounds of marijuana worth $880,000.

Four people faced federal charges after the sheriff ’s office turned over the case to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Eventually, prosecutors dismissed the charges.

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

skilled help in other industries, although senators have said some sticking points remain.

The tentative deal on agricultural workers was reached as Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, filed a bill to require the federal government to improve border security and cut wait times at Southwest border bridges and land crossings.

The deal-making and bills filed Tuesday come in advance of a more sweeping bipartisan immigration reform bill expected to be filed soon in the Senate.

The bipartisan Senate bill is expected to address the 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country illegally, the core of the debate over immigration reform. Much of it hinges on enhanced border security.

Cornyn wants the Department of Homeland Security to adopt measuring sticks that can prove the government has operational control of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border before other immigration reform proposals are allowed.

His bill would set goals of a 90-percent apprehension rate at the border, and a 50-percent reduction of wait times at Southwest ports of entry.

Cornyn said those mileposts would “ensure that our national security policy is based on real results and not baseless claims.”

Republican lawmakers cite a 2011 report by the Government Accountability Office that found less than 45 percent of the border under “operational control” of U.S. federal agencies.

Meanwhile, the sweeping Senate bill being drafted by four Republicans and four Democrats, known as the “Gang of Eight,” could be unveiled as early as this week.

Senate staffers are writing the overall legislation.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who is leading the bipartisan effort, has said repeatedly that increased border security would be part of any legislative package produced by the group.

And principles unveiled earlier by the “Gang of Eight” called for border security goals to be met before some citizenship programs could be implemented. The specifics are expected to be in the forthcoming legislation.

Cornyn’s bill is a marker for the border security goals he wants to see in a final bill that comes out of the Democrat-led Senate later this year.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, filed a companion bill Tuesday that could be acted on next month.

McCaul said the bill addresses the skepticism of those who “have seen that promises of border security coupled with im-

migration reform have gone unfulfilled in the past.”

But Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Texas, questioned the practicality of requiring increased federal measures while Customs and Border Patrol is under threat of furloughs and across-the-board budget cuts.

“The math doesn’t add up,” said Gallego, whose congressional district includes 800 miles of U.S.Mexico border. “You can’t reduce border wait times and apprehend more people with fewer employees and less money. Those who supported sequestration should see that.”

Still, some Democrats agreed with the need for metrics to measure progress.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, said she would co-sponsor the bill and noted that border security is “a neutral, nonpolitical issue.”

“We can work together to get things done on both border security and immigration reform,” she said. “It’s like eating ice cream and having a great piece of pie at the same time.”

President Barack Obama has made immigration reform a top priority of his second term, and has declared the Southwest border to be more secure than at any time in recent history.

(Email: gmartin@express-news.net.

Stewart Powell contributed to this report.)

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2013

SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2013

ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

Sports&Outdoors 77TH MASTERS

HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS: ZAPATA HAWKS

Following through Photo by Darron Cummings | AP

Tiger Woods hits on the first fairway during the first round of the Masters on Thursday in Augusta, Ga.

Tiger takes on Augusta

Courtesy photos

The District 31-3A golf tournament was held at Los Ebanos Golf Course in Zapata on April 8 and both teams advanced to the region IV golf tournament in Corpus Christi.

Zapata boys, girls compete in district tourneys

By CLARA SANDOVAL

World No. 1 returns to golf’s hallowed ground

By MARK WHICKER MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The one-man band is back together.

“I think everybody has the same thought on Tiger,” Brandt Snedeker said. “I’m sure he’s going to be up there. If I’m there Sunday afternoon with Tiger, if I’m playing with him, it’s probably going to be a good week.”

Tiger Woods, he meant.

Woods descends upon this Masters carrying a familiar sense of inevitability.

True, he has not won here since 2005, the year before Augusta National was stretched and configured to keep him from beating up par-4s with sand wedges.

A hydrant got in the way of history, on Thanksgiving 2009. So has a swing alteration and other injuries. Now the window seems to be closing again.

Woods has already won Doral, Bay Hill and San Diego in 2013, all on courses that he has possessed since his PGA Tour childhood.

Augusta National would also qualify. He has won here four times and has a scoring average of 70.37, lowest of anyone who has played at least 25 Masters rounds.

Beyond that, Woods has 12 top-10 finishes in 18 events. That includes finishes of third, second, second, sixth, fourth and fourth from

THE ZAPATA TIMES

The District 31-3A golf tournament was held at Los Ebanos Golf Course in Zapata on April 8. As a result, Zapata will send two teams to the region IV golf tournament in Corpus

Christi.

The Lady Hawks swept the top three medals and helped Zapata successfully defend its district title.

Junior Leanna Saenz shot an 87 to claim her second consecutive district title, beating out teammate and fellow junior Jessenia Garza — who fin-

ished eight strokes back.

Garza had to fend off another Lady Hawk, sophomore Leann Hughes (96), who was nipping at her heels. Garza beat Hughes by a stroke to claim second place.

Rounding out the top four finishers

See ZAPATA PAGE 2B

The Hawks and Lady Hawks tennis teams finished second to Kingsville at the District 31-3A tennis tournament held at the Tennis Complex at Pendleton Park in Harlingen.

See TIGER WOODS PAGE 2B

NCAA ATHLETICS

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

Baseball brawl serves costly

By BERNIE WILSON ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by Keith Srakocic | AP

This 2010, file photo shows former coach Mike Rice, left. An investigation into Rice found no evidence of the “coaches against player” brawls.

Scarlet Knights speak up in scandal

By ANTHONY CAMPISI, MELISSA HAYES AND JOHN BRENNAN MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

While the ousted athletic director’s backers used media old and new to voice their support, basketball players whose coach’s behavior ignited the Rutgers athletic controversy talked directly to reporters Thursday, saying his actions weren’t as bad as they seemed

on the nationally broadcast videos that led to his dismissal.

“The things seen on those tapes weren’t as people made them out to be,” player Wally Judge said. “A lot of this situation has been going on, and we feel like we’ve been kind of put on the back burner as far as our opinion in the situation.”

Judge was one of a group of

See RUTGERS PAGE 2B

SAN DIEGO — Zack Greinke’s pitch sailed up and into Carlos Quentin’s upper left arm, and it was on.

A little personal history was at play, as were rules that aren’t in any rule book.

Now the Dodgers will be without their $147 million pitcher for several weeks and Quentin is expected to be suspended by Major League Baseball, partly because of baseball culture and its fuzzy, unspoken guidelines on just when and how it’s OK to bean someone.

After Quentin got hit, the San Diego Padres’ slugger took a few steps onto the grass. When Greinke, Los Angeles’ prize offseason signing, appeared to say something, Quentin tossed his bat aside and rushed the mound.

The 6-foot-2, 195-pound Greinke dropped his glove and the two players lowered their shoulders. The 6-2, 240-pound Quentin — who as a high school senior was named his league’s defensive player of the year as an outside linebacker — slammed into the pitcher.

Quentin and Greinke ended up at the bottom of a huge scrum as players from both sides ran onto the field and jumped in.

Photo by Lenny Ignelzi | AP

The San Diego Padres’ Carlos Quentin charges into the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke after being hit by a pitch in San Diego on Thursday.

Greinke took the brunt of the blow, breaking his left collarbone and inciting a fight that didn’t even end when the game was over.

“It’s a man’s game on the field,” Quentin said. “Thoughts aren’t present when things like this happen.”

Quentin said later that getting plunked by pitches by Greinke during the 2008 and 2009 seasons was justification enough to charge the mound when it happened again.

If Greinke hadn’t said anything, “There’s a chance I don’t” rush the mound, Quentin said.

“Like I said, there is a history there, which is the reason I reacted like I did. Who knows what happens if he doesn’t say anything or if he motions that it wasn’t intentional?”

While pitching for Kansas City against the Chicago White Sox on July 18, 2008, Greinke hit Quentin with a pitch near the left wrist, loading the bases.

Then on April 8, 2009, Greinke hit Quentin between the shoulders in the fourth inning after throwing one high and tight during Quentin’s previous at-bat.

See BRAWL PAGE 2B

PAGE 2B

Zscores

SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2013

BRAWL Continued from Page 1B Quentin took about a step toward the mound then, before plate umpire Bill Hohn jumped in front of him.

At its core, Thursday’s brawl was about baseball’s quirky decorum.

The game naturally has a tension between pitchers and batters over balls thrown over the inside of the plate, and sometimes that flares into disagreement over who “owns” the inside half. Even if Greinke simply missed his location on the pitch that hit Quentin, the slugger apparently felt there was intent to hit him.

The Dodgers were vehement that Greinke wouldn’t put a runner on base leading off an inning in a one-run game.

Greinke’s body language momentarily appeared like he regretted that he hit Quentin. But the fact he threw his glove down and said something perhaps indicated that he felt he had the right to the inside of the plate.

Quentin’s rushing the mound was taking baseball protocol to the extreme, whereas in many other instances, the batter might gesture and yap while being escorted toward first base by the umpire and the catcher.

Quentin was hit by a pitch above the right wrist

by Dodgers reliever Ronald Belisario in Tuesday’s series opener and had to leave the game. He sat out Wednesday night’s game.

The Dodgers weren’t buying Quentin’s explanation. So much so that Matt Kemp, among four players ejected after the brawl, confronted Quentin as they left Petco Park following LA’s 3-2 win. Big Padres lefty Clayton Richard stepped between the two, and police and security moved in to break it up.

Several Dodgers said Quentin should have known by the situation that Greinke’s pitch didn’t come with a purpose.

“I got emotional because first off, we shouldn’t even have been in that situation,” Kemp said in the clubhouse before his confrontation with Quentin.

“People with good baseball IQs know that when you have a one-run lead in the sixth inning and it’s a 3-2 count, Greinke’s not going to hit you on purpose.

“I think Carlos Quentin went to Stanford? Something like that. Yeah. I heard there’s smart people at Stanford. That wasn’t too smart,” Kemp said.

Several Dodgers mentioned how Quentin crowds the plate. Manager Don Mattingly called Quentin “a guy that basically dives into the plate.”

Mattingly was livid and Kemp wasn’t far behind.

“People were saying in the pile, they’ve got history,” Kemp said. “Come on guys, history? I mean, Greinke’s trying to win games. He’s not trying to hit anybody on purpose. If

you look at the video, if you look at where Quentin actually stands on the plate, he gives the pitcher no space to even come inside. Good pitchers have to come inside. Sometimes they miss their spots.

Greinke missed his spot right there. That’s when he hit Carlos Quentin. No big deal. Take it like a man and walk down to first base. But he had to charge the mound. Now one of our best pitchers is hurt for no reason.”

Mattingly added that Quentin showed “zero understanding of the game.”

“He should not play a game until Greinke can pitch. If he plays before Greinke pitches, something’s wrong,” the Dodgers manager said. “He caused the whole thing.

Nothing happens if he goes to first base.”

After the teams started going back to the dugouts and bullpens following the brawl, Jerry Hairston Jr. came running across the field yelling and pointing at someone in the San Diego dugout and had to be restrained.

Hairston claimed a Padres player — whom he wouldn’t name — was making fun of the fact Greinke had been injured.

Hairston, Quentin, Kemp and Greinke were ejected.

Greinke, the 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner, had his left arm in a sling and a dazed look on his face as he told his side of the story.

“I never hit him on purpose,” said Greinke, who still appeared shaken after the game. “I never thought about hitting him on purpose. He always seems to think that I’m hitting him on purpose, but that’s not the case. That’s all I can really say about it.”

Greinke was asked if he said something to Quentin before the slugger rushed the mound.

“I’m not really talking about this. I said what I said to you guys.”

Asked if there was bad blood between the teams, Greinke said: “Now there probably is. I don’t know if there was beforehand.”

The teams play another three-game series at Dodger Stadium beginning Monday night.

Greinke said the injury was “awful. It’s silly that something could happen like that. I’m disappointed.”

Quentin has been hit by pitches 116 times in his career, including an AL-high 23 times in 2011 with the White Sox. Greinke has hit 46 batters since his big league debut in 2004.

“I’ve been hit by many pitches,” said Quentin, plunked more often than any other major league hitter since the start of 2008. “Some have been intentional, some have not been. For the amount I have been hit and my hitting style, I’m going to repeat: I have never reacted that way.”

ZAPATA Continued from Page 1B for Zapata was Andrea Reyes, who came in fifth with a 105. Also on the Lady Hawks golf team are of Kysta Lozano, Macee Moffett, Kaitlyn Ramirez and Myra Garcia.

The Hawks were the runner-up in District 31-3A to qualify for regional, led by freshman Clyde Guerra III, who shot a 92. Rounding out the Hawks were seniors Matthew Lozano and Epi Martinez, junior Rodrigo Saldivar, sophomore Ramiro Torres and freshman J.J. De Jesus.

Tennis results The Hawks and Lady Hawks tennis teams finished second to Kingsville at the District 31-3A tennis tournament held at the Tennis Complex at Pendleton Park in Harlingen.

“It all came down to a couple of long three-set matches, which unfortunately for us we were not able to win,” Zapata coach Robert Alvarez said. “Our doubles and girls’ and boys’ singles had defeated the Brahmas earlier in the year, but they were too tough for us this past weekend.

“Initially I was very disappointed, but our kids gave it everything they had. Kingsville has a very

good program. They play matches year round, so they have a big edge in match experience on us and I think it helped them out at district.

Yet, we had more kids medal than ever before and we will have almost all of our players back next year.”

In boys’ singles, Manuel Benavides and Chris Davila both lost matches to Kingsville in the semifinals.

Benavides edged out Davila for third, but lost to Jesus Rios.

In girls’ singles, the same scenario played out as both Christina Martinez and Jackie Umphres lost to Kingsville in the semifinals.

Martinez edged out Umphres in a three-set third-place match to earn a shot at Kingsville for second.

Martinez fought off leg cramps, a twisted ankle and a cut on her finger that would not stop bleeding and gave Villa a tough match.

“Christina won the first set, but I could tell she was struggling,” Alvarez said. “She really gave it all she had and just came up a little short.

Christina has not been playing long, but she really works hard at it so I am expecting good things from her in the future.”

The boys’ doubles team of Trey Alvarez and Alex Reyes advanced to the final with a solid win over

Kingsville’s second team to set up an epic final with the top Kingsville team.

“Kingsville’s team is one of the top teams in the region,” Alvarez said. “We had defeated them on their courts once but they were able to beat us at district. I think Alex started off a little tight and the Trey tried to do too much and we did not play as well as we wanted.

“Alex is a good doubles player and Trey is getting really good after playing singles, most of the time — until a back injury began to really bother him.”

In girls’ doubles Araceli Velasquez and Virgi Solis advanced to the semifinals and lost a close match to Lyford.

In mixed doubles, the team of Carlos Poblano and Gabriella Alvarez survived a close semifinal to Lyford to advance to the final.

“The Lyford team was a really good and experienced team that had been to regionals last year, but Carlos was steady and Gaby stood up to the challenge as Lyford tried to play every ball to her,” Alvarez said.

The teams will compete in the region IV-3A tournament at the HEB Tennis Center in Corpus Christi on the April 17-18.

TIGER WOODS Continued from Page 1B

Photo by Matt Slocum | AP

Tiger Woods waits to hit off the first fairway during the first round of the Masters on Thursday in Augusta, Ga.

2006-11. He has played 70 Masters rounds and has broken par-72 in 38 of them.

“I’ve been here on Sundays with a chance,” he said. “I just haven’t made enough putts. The only person that theoretically didn’t really putt well was Vijay (Singh), when he won (in 2000), and he hit more greens than anybody ever hit to do it.

“But you have to make a majority of the putts inside 10 feet, and you’ve got to be just a great lag putter for the week.”

Three years ago, Augusta National chairman Billy Payne used his pulpit to scold Woods’ behavior. Now Woods is back on the supermarket tabloid covers, with new friend Lindsay Vonn, the Olympic skiing champion.

They share scarred-up knees and the loneliness that only champions experience. Woods reacquired world No. 1 status when he won at Doral. And, of course, Woods knows how it feels when life goes downhill.

“Life is all about balance, and trying to find the equilibrium, and I feel very balanced,” Woods said.

So is putting.

In the instructive “strokes gained” category, Woods leads the PGA Tour by a wide margin. He was sixth last year and not in the top 10 in any year before that (the statistic became official in 2004).

“The stroke looks like it used to,” said former PGA Tour stalwart Lanny Wadkins. “Before that it was very rigid and mechanical, and he was trying to force the ball into the hole. But then his whole game looks different. He tends to go down when he drives the ball, but if he drives it well here, he’ll be tough to beat.”

The ticking of the life-clock is audible, if not deafening. Woods turned 37 last Dec. 30. Only five of the 25 topranked players in the world are older.

“Jack Nicklaus won his 18th major when he was 46

years old,” Woods said. “So there are plenty of opportunities for me. I feel that I’m in the middle of my career.”

He did not point out that Nicklaus was only 40 when he won majors Nos. 16 and 17. Nicklaus himself says Woods still has a good chance to get the four majors he needs for 18. He also said Tiger’s chances diminish radically each time he lets a Masters escape him.

Left undetermined, for now, is the effectiveness of Woods’ centrifugal force.

In the ’00s, Woods would start moving to the top of the scoreboard and almost become a human weather system. Everyone would scatter like tumbleweeds, particularly the unfortunates like Aaron Baddeley, Luke Donald and Stephen Ames who were playing beside him.

In five of his 14 major victories, Woods won by five or more strokes, including the record 12-shot blitz here in 1997.

Rory McIlroy was 7 years old then. Keegan Bradley was 10.

“Some of the guys weren’t out here when he was in that space,” Adam Scott said. “He’s far from running away with it. He’s just returned to No. 1. And that’s just a number at the end of the day. It’s not a foregone conclusion.”

Wadkins, who excelled in the ’70s and ’80s, smiled at the thought of time travel.

“I would have loved to have seen him in our era, when we had guys who would never back down,” Wadkins said. “They would have relished the challenge to beat him. Guys like Raymond Floyd weren’t afraid of Nicklaus, so it wouldn’t have bothered them.

“But some of these kids out here, I see the same thing in them. And they weren’t the ones getting waxed every week.”

Maybe so. But maybe those who ignore history are condemned to suffer it.

RUTGERS Continued from Page 1B basketball players who spoke outside Rutgers’ main administrative building while the school’s Board of Governors met inside in closed session, the first meeting since coach Mike Rice was fired last week and Athletic Director Tim Pernetti resigned. The school’s former chief lawyer, John B. Wolf, also resigned from the university on Thursday.

Both Pernetti and Wolf had signed off on a three-game suspension for Rice. University President Robert Barchi has said it was only last week that he saw a video of abuse by Rice and ordered him fired.

Judge was accompanied by teammates Logan Kelley, Kadeem Jack, Myles Mack and Austin Johnson. Kelley’s mother, Susan, also spoke, saying she wanted associate head coach David Cox to remain on as her son’s coach and to help turn around the basketball program, which she described as a “train wreck” after Rice’s firing.

“Since last week everybody is standing together. We’re just try-

ing to stay up. We just want Coach Cox as our head coach for next year,” said Mack, who is from Paterson.

The players wished Rice well and said they want to put the incident behind them and move forward.

“Coach Cox has been there, and that’s the guy that we will continue to lean on and that’s the guy we want to see continue to lead us forward,” Judge said. He and the other players declined to take questions.

On Thursday, Pernetti took out a full-page ad in the student newspaper calling his four-decade tenure at the school “a privilege and an honor.”

Pernetti resigned after video footage of Rice surfaced showing him yelling anti-gay slurs and shoving players at practice.

“I will forever cherish the memories I have of the university and you,” Pernetti said.

Students and alumni, in a grass-roots effort, are calling on the school to reverse course and bring Pernetti back.

He has also gotten extensive support in social media from a key figure in Rutgers athletics, High Point Energy Solutions cofounder Tom Mendiburu, whose company has eight years left on a 10-year, $6.5 million naming rights deal for the Rutgers football stadium.

Mendiburu - who goes by “Tommykid1” from Saddle River on Twitter - tweeted his support for Pernetti, while adding of the naming rights agreement, “if not for Pernetti, this deal doesn’t happen.”

Another ex-Rutgers player turned pro, Brian Leonard of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, tweeted that “you will not find an (athletic director) that cares more” about Rutgers athletics than Pernetti.

Former Rutgers running back Ray Rice, a key member of the Super Bowl-winning Baltimore Ravens, lauded Pernetti for his role in the move of the Rutgers athletic program from the Big East to the more prominent Big Ten conference beginning in 2014.

“Big Ten doesn’t happen with-

out Mr. Pernetti. He has done a GREAT job for RU,” Rice tweeted hours before Pernetti was fired.

An “I Support Tim Pernetti” Facebook group had more than 5,000 members Thursday, including students and alumni.

“I don’t understand what Pernetti did wrong,” one supporter wrote.

A website in support of Pernetti is selling T-shirts.

A 1976 alumnus took out his own full-page ad in The Daily Targum, the student paper, calling for Pernetti’s return.

Andy Sisti of Wall Township said in an interview that “we all make mistakes” and that it appeared to him that Pernetti followed all appropriate procedures in dealing with Rice.

Rutgers officials initially decided to suspend and fine the coach when videos from team practices were shown to them last year.

Barchi ordered him fired after viewing the video himself and after ESPN aired it.

Sisti spent more than $1,000 on the advertisement and said he

was acting alone, motivated by his devotion to the school.

“When the situation was leaked to the media and the administration became skittish about how it was perceived it was Tim who was made the scapegoat and let go because of the counsel of school officials,” he wrote in the ad.

Sisti, who majored in business and accounting, said he’s active in fundraising for the school and his local alumni association but said he’s not going to withhold donations to Rutgers.

“I believe the administration made a mistake in pressuring Tim to resign,” he told the Board of Governors.

He was the only member of the public who spoke at the meeting, which was mostly focused on other issues, including the pending merger of Rutgers and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

Barchi, in a brief news conference after the board’s meeting, said Pernetti made the decision to step down.

SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2013

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

HINTS | BY HELOISE Highly Efficient, But Stinky, Too! Dear Heloise: The storebought product for cleaning HIGH-EFFICIENCY WASHING MACHINES, due to odor, is quite expensive and needs to be used regularly. Is there a less-expensive way to accomplish this? — Carol in Royal Palm Beach, Fla. Yes, there is! Many readers complain about the odor that high-efficiency washers tend to have. You would think that a new appliance would have all the kinks worked out. But it seems not so with these washers.

These cleaners cost around $10, and depending how often you have to use them, it can really add up. But here are some hints to help prevent that gross smell in the first place.

The smell usually is coming from the gasket around the washer’s door. When you wash clothes, the door must be airtight. Water can remain inside the gasket, and since there is no fresh air, the machine smells like mildew! So, to keep this from happening, prop the door open when done with laundry so the water can evaporate. Also, use a

“

HELOISE

cloth to wipe out the water left in the gasket.

Some machines have a “clean washer/refresh” cycle feature that should correct the problem as well.

Another thing to try is vinegar! Dip a paper towel in vinegar and wipe the gasket a couple of times. The vinegar won’t harm the gasket. Let it dry, and prop the door open. Vinegar is a staple that every household should have on the pantry shelf. Its uses are practically endless. I have put together a pamphlet that includes many uses for vinegar around the house. This will save you money, because you can use vinegar instead of other costly cleaners. To get the pamphlet, just send $5 and a long, self-addressed, stamped (66 cents) envelope to: Heloise/Vinegar, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. Vinegar also is a good deodorizer. Use it to deodorize the microwave, refrigerator shelves, lunchbox and even sponges. — Heloise

DENNIS THE MENACE

FAMILY CIRCUS

PEANUTS

GARFIELD

DAILY CRYPTOQUOTES — Here’s how to work it:

DILBERT

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2013