ZAPATA SERVES UP HISTORY
SATURDAY APRIL 20, 2013
FREE
BOYS TENNIS TAKES ON REGIONAL TOURNAMENT WITH EYES ON STATE, 1B
DELIVERED EVERY SATURDAY
TO 4,000 HOMES
A HEARST PUBLICATION
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
NATURAL RESOURCES
BOSTON
Filling the lake Falcon to get filled up by upstream water SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
EL PASO — Falcon Lake is expected to slowly fill up, with the water eventually to be released to meet irrigation and municipal water demand in
the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The releases are in response to water needs in both the United States and Mexico and do not impact Mexico’s deficit in deliveries to the United States
when I drive over the bridge, but I did two days ago and it bothered me. I didn’t realize how low the water was,” said Celia Balderas, Zapata County
under a water treaty signed in 1944. “For me it’s very hard to see that there’s no water in the lake, especially when we bring in the fishing tournaments. So I try not to look at the dry bed
See LAKE PAGE 11A
SHERIFF’S OFFICE
HUNTING FOR DRUGS Handler takes part in contests By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
A man points towards the upper floors of a store as police go door to door while searching for a suspect, on Friday.
Police nab suspect in bombing College student found hiding in a small boat; residents cheer after arrest
Narcotic detection in searching buildings, cars and trailers was part of the training held during the weeklong National Narcotic Detector Dog Association National Conference in Laredo. K-9s from around the country and abroad honed their skills at different training sites. Two sites were Mercy Hospital and the Cigarroa Medical offices in Central Laredo, where the dogs searched for contraband inside offices or cars. Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office had its representative in Deputy Ricky Garza, the office’s K-9 handler. Garza became Zapata’s first K-9 handler in years when he agreed to work alongside his partner, Jack, a Malinois or Belgian shepherd. Zapata’s K-9 unit also came down to the Gateway City to train. “I love working with dogs,” Garza said and added he has five hunting dogs. When he was offered the K-9 position in February, he didn’t hesitate to say yes. Garza and Jack assist in narcotics investigations. They can be seen assisting in executing search warrants at homes and other locations. On occasion, U.S. Border Patrol agents and Texas Department of Public
See K-9 JACK PAGE 11A
Photo by Charles Krupa | AP
By JAY LINDSAY AND EILEEN SULLIVAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Ulysses S. Romero | The Zapata Times
Zapata sheriff’s Deputy Ricky Garza and his dog Jack participate in a narcotic detection exercise at the Laredo Energy Arena on Friday. Garza is Zapata’s only K-9 handler.
WATERTOWN, Mass. — A 19-year-old college student wanted in the Boston Marathon bombings was taken into custody Friday evening after a manhunt that left the city virtually paralyzed and his older brother and accomplice dead. Police announced via Twitter that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was in custody. They later wrote, “CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody.” Tsarnaev’s brother, 26year-old Tamerlan, was killed Friday in a furious attempt to escape police. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had been holed up in a boat in a Watertown neighborhood. The crowd gathered near the scene let out a cheer when spectators saw officers clapping. “Everyone wants him alive,” said Kathleen Paolillo, a 27-year-old teacher who lives in Watertown. Boston Mayor Tom Menino tweeted “We got him,” along with a photo of the police commissioner speaking to him. During a long night of violence Thursday into Fri-
day, the brothers killed an MIT police officer, severely wounded another lawman and hurled explosives at police in a car chase and gun battle, authorities said. The suspects were identified by law enforcement officials and family members as Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, ethnic Chechen brothers who had lived in Dagestan, which neighbors Chechnya in southern Russia. They had been in the U.S. for about a decade, an uncle said, and were believed to be living in Cambridge, Mass. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, a 26year-old who had been known to the FBI as Suspect No. 1 and was seen in surveillance footage of the marathon in a black baseball cap, was killed overnight, officials said. His younger brother, who had been dubbed Suspect No. 2 and was seen wearing a white, backward baseball cap in the images from Monday’s deadly bombing escaped and was on the run. Their uncle in Maryland, Ruslan Tsarni, pleaded on live television: “Dzhokhar, if you are alive, turn yourself in and ask for forgiveness.” Authorities in Boston suspended all mass transit
See BOMBER PAGE 10A
SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Dispatchers get their recognition By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
LAREDO — “Dispatchers are the backbone of our department,” said Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office 9-1-1 Supervisor Tony Elizondo while talking about the critical role a dispatcher plays in keep-
ing deputies safe. As part of National Telecommunicators Week, City of Laredo 9-1-1 Regional Administration, together with representatives from Jim Hogg, Webb, Starr and Zapata counties gathered Wednesday at La Posada Hotel in Laredo to recognize their 9-1-1 dispatch-
ers. 9-1-1 National Public Safety Telecommunications Week is a time when citizens thank public safety men and women who respond to emergency calls and dispatch emergency professionals, a City
See DISPATCHERS PAGE 11A
Courtesy photo
9-1-1 Supervisor Tony Elizondo, Chief Raymundo del Bosque Jr. and Capt. Hector Garcia were in Laredo on Wednesday at La Posada Hotel/Inn for a luncheon honoring dispatchers.
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
SATURDAY, APRIL 20
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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. Contact Alexis Herrera at alexis@vozdeninos.org or 956-7278691. The Laredo Farmers Market will celebrate “going green” at this month’s market, from 9 a.m. to noon, at Jarvis Plaza in downtown Laredo. There will be live music, free parking at El Metro (with market purchase), and Lone Star Cards are accepted. Contact the organizers at 956-523-8817 or laredofarmermkt@att.net. TAMIU’s Spring Carnival and Planetarium’s 8th Anniversary is from noon to 8 p.m. at the Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium. The event will feature food, carnival rides and other activities — and will also feature the premiere of the new Planetarium show, “The Zula Patrol: Down to Earth.” Call 956-326-3663.
Today is Saturday, April 20, the 110th day of 2013. There are 255 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On April 20, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation admitting West Virginia to the Union, effective in 60 days (June 20, 1863). On this date: In 1861, Col. Robert E. Lee resigned his commission in the United States Army. (Lee eventually became general-inchief of the Confederate forces.) In 1889, Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria. In 1912, Boston’s Fenway Park hosted its first professional baseball game while Navin Field (Tiger Stadium) opened in Detroit. (The Red Sox defeated the New York Highlanders 7-6 in 11 innings; the Tigers beat the Cleveland Naps 6-5 in 11 innings.) In 1968, Pierre Elliott Trudeau was sworn in as prime minister of Canada. In 1972, the manned lunar module from Apollo 16 landed on the moon. In 1978, a Korean Air Lines Boeing 707 crash-landed in northwestern Russia after being fired on by a Soviet interceptor after entering Soviet airspace. Two passengers were killed. In 1988, gunmen who’d hijacked a Kuwait Airways jumbo jet were allowed safe passage out of Algeria under an agreement that freed the remaining 31 hostages and ended a 15-day siege in which two passengers were slain. In 1993, Mexican comedian Cantinflas (Mario Moreno) died in Mexico City at age 81. In 1999, the Columbine High School massacre took place in Colorado as two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, shot and killed 12 classmates and one teacher before taking their own lives. In 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, leased by BP, killed 11 workers and began spewing an estimated 200 million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico for nearly three months. Ten years ago: U.S. Army forces took control of Baghdad from the Marines in a changing of the guard that thinned the military presence in the capital. Celebrating Easter, the Rev. Emmanuel Delly, a longtime Iraqi bishop, pleaded for safeguards against the persecution of Christians in the new Iraq. A landslide in southern Kyrgyzstan (KEHR’-gihstahn) killed some three dozen people. Today’s Birthdays: Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is 93. Actor George Takei is 76. Singer Johnny Tillotson is 74. Actor Ryan O’Neal is 72. Bluegrass singer-musician Doyle Lawson (Quicksilver) is 69. Rock musician Craig Frost (Grand Funk; Bob Seger’s Silver Bullet Band) is 65. Actress Jessica Lange is 64. Actress Veronica Cartwright is 64. Actor Crispin Glover is 49. Olympic silver medal figure skater Rosalynn Sumners is 49. Actress Carmen Electra is 41. Thought for Today: “If anyone tells you something strange about the world, something you had never heard before, do not laugh but listen attentively; make him repeat it, make him explain it; no doubt there is something there worth taking hold of.” — Georges Duhamel, French author (1884-1966).
MONDAY, APRIL 22 The exit-level ELA retest will be given at Zapata schools.
Photo by Charlie Riedel | AP
Mourners attend a service at St. Mary’s Church of the Assumption on Thursday, a day after an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West. The massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. Wednesday night killed as many as 14 people and injured more than 160.
West grieves for dead By NOMAAN MERCHANT AND PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
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.
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. The Laredo Detachment of the Marine Corps League will hold a steak plate sale to raise funds for college scholarships, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at 1306 Malinche Ave. Tickets are $5 each and can be obtained at the Malinche address on the day of the plate sale or by calling 722-5614 or 7446039.
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.
WEST — Buck Uptmor didn’t have to go to West Fertilizer Co. when the fire started. He wasn’t a firefighter like his brother and cousin, who raced toward the plant. But a ranch of horses next to the flames needed to be moved to safety. “He went to help a friend,” said Joyce Marek, Uptmor’s aunt. “And then it blew.” Two days after the fertilizer facility exploded in a blinding fireball, authorities announced Friday that they had recovered 14 bodies. Ten of the dead were first-responders — including five from the West Volunteer Fire Department and four emergency medics, West Mayor Tommy Muska said. The dead included Uptmor and Joey Pustejovsky, the city secretary who doubled as a
member of the West Volunteer Fire Department. A captain of the Dallas Fire Department who was off-duty at the time but responded to the fire to help also died. Officials offered reassurances for those concerned about the 60 or so persons listed as unaccounted for. McLennan County Judge Scott Felton said Friday that many persons on the list are likely those who have lost their homes. Muska says he was living in a hotel because his home was destroyed. Donald Adair, owner of Adair Grain Inc., said Friday “I want to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt sympathy for those affected and my appreciation for those who responded,” including an employee who responded to the explosion as a volunteer firefighter and who died in the blast..
Sheriff: Storage unit led to arrests in DA deaths
Decision expected on Morton prosecutor
GOP, Dems clash on redistricting
KAUFMAN — A tip pointing to a cache of guns and a vehicle hidden at a storage unit helped investigators to unravel a revenge plot that culminated in the killings of three people, including two North Texas prosecutors, a sheriff said. Former justice of the peace Eric Lyle Williams and his wife, Kim Williams, are charged with capital murder in the fatal shootings of District Attorney Mike McLelland, wife, Cynthia, and assistant prosecutor Mark Hasse.
GEORGETOWN — The prosecutor who sent an innocent man, Michael Morton, to prison for the murder of the man’s wife is set to face an inquiry into his handling of the case. A decision is expected Friday afternoon on accusations against former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson. Morton spent 25 in prisonHe was exonerated in 2011. Now District Judge Louis Sturns must decide the fate of the prosecutor.
AUSTIN — Texas Republicans proposed legislation on Thursday that would adopt the current political maps, but Democrats promised to fight the effort. Amarillo Sen. Kel Seliger offered a redistricting bill to the Senate State Affairs Committee that would formally adopt interim maps drawn by a federal court in San Antonio last year.
Texas unemployment rate remains unchanged AUSTIN — State officials say the Texas unemployment rate for March was unchanged from the prior month, remaining at 6.4 percent. The Texas Workforce Commission said Friday the rate is down from the 7 percent unemployment figure from a year ago.
2nd passenger in fatal bus wreck files lawsuit FORT WORTH — A woman who was among the last passengers to be released from a hospital following a deadly bus accident in North Texas has filed a lawsuit against the bus company. Patricia Ruth Markham is seeking damages from Cardinal Coach Line Inc. of Mansfield for negligence.
House removes limits on greenhouse gases AUSTIN — The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will no longer have the authority to limit greenhouse gas emissions under a proposal the Texas House of Representatives passed on Thursday. Lawmakers voted on a new provision that would instead require the agency to issue greenhouse gas emission permits under federal regulations. — Compiled from AP reports
TUESDAY, MAY 7 The UISD Family Leadership Institute Training class is from 5:30-8 p.m. in Room 2 of the Bill Johnson Student Activity Complex, 5802 Santa Claudia Lane. The objective of the institute is to teach parents and caregivers the art and skill of family leadership. Dinner and daycare will be provided. For more information and to register for the classes, call 473-6471 or 473-6470.
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. through 4 p.m. at the Zapata County Public Boat Ramp. The race starts at the Zapata County Courthouse.
AROUND THE NATION Judge sides with sons over Thorpe remains HARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal ruling is clearing the way for sports great Jim Thorpe’s sons to have his remains removed from the Pennsylvania town that bears his name and reinterred on American Indian land in Oklahoma. U.S. District Judge Richard Caputo ruled Friday that Jim Thorpe borough in northeastern Pennsylvania amounts to a museum under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. A lawyer for Bill and Richard Thorpe says the men will pursue the legal process to have their father returned to Sac and Fox land in central Oklahoma. The brothers and the tribe sued the borough and local government officials. Calls seeking comment from attorneys for the defendants weren’t immediately returned late Friday.
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 Bob Gathany/al.com | AP
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, left, signed a state law pardoning the Scottsboro Boys, the nine black youths wrongfully convicted of raping two white women more than 80 years ago, in Scottsboro, Ala.
Alabama governor pardons Scottsboro boys SCOTTSBORO, Ala. — Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has signed a bill posthumously par-
doning a group of black youths who were wrongfully convicted of raping two white women more than 80 years ago. House Joint Resolution 20 formally exonerated the Scottsboro Boys. — Compiled from AP reports
SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted. The Zapata Times is free. The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500. The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail thezapatatimes.net
Local
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013
Race to honor local man SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
A 5K Run/1-Mile Walk and a children’s race set for Saturday, July 20 will honor a Zapatan who was killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan. The runs and the walk will start at the Zapata County Courthouse and will follow a route through Zapata. Early registration for the adult race and walk will continue through Sunday, and will cost $8. Regular registration begins Monday and continues
through July 19 and will cost $10. Registration on the day of the race will cost $15. Registration for the 200meter Kids Fun Run, for ages 4-12, will take place through race day and will cost $5. The races will commemorate Pfc. Ira B. “Ben” Laningham IV, a Zapata native and a 2006 graduate of Zapata High School. Laningham, 22, was stationed in Afghanistan on Jan. 7, 2011 when he was killed by an improvised explosive device in Logar
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
LIONS CLUB HELPS CHILDREN
Province. Potential participants can register at Zapata Boys & Girls Club, 302 6th St.; Zapata County Chamber of Commerce, 601 N. U.S. 83; and Momentum Running Co., 1202 E. Del Mar Blvd., Laredo. Online registration is at http://www.eventbrite.com/ event/5820121139#. For more information, contact Armando Canales at zwebmsandoca@yahoo.com or Jorge Nazarin at momentumrunningco@gamil.com or 956-7400815. Courtesy photo
Mercury is under study SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
Two Texas A&M-Corpus Christi researchers are attempting to trace a poison throughout the aquatic food webs of Texas game fish to improve the management of the pollutant in the Texas coastal zone. Dr. James Simons and Dr. Kim Withers, both of the Center for Coastal Studies at the university, are focusing on methyl mercury, the most toxic form of mercury. Humans are most commonly exposed to the toxin through consumption of marine and estuarine game fish. The fetuses of pregnant women who eat large amounts of fish and seafood are most at risk of methyl mercury exposure. “We will examine the tissues and major diet components of popular Texas coastal game fishes to determine how much methyl mercury actually exists in the food webs of our bay waters,” said Simons in a press re-
lease issued by the university. “Once we have the results, we will construct a model of likely pathways of mercury accumulation in the food webs.” The researchers will study food webs in Lavaca, San Antonio and Nueces bays. They will concentrate on gathering information about the presence of the toxin in the food webs of red drum, black drum and spotted seatrout, as well as shrimps, crabs and worms. The Gulf of Mexico has some of the highest levels of mercury in its seafood, according to the release from the university. Species such as mackerel, tuna and sharks have some of the highest levels, though it is uncertain how they accumulate the mercury. The research project will be funded by a $79,850 grant from the Texas General Land Office Coastal Management Program and $6,000 from the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program.
Kids’ race will be May 11 SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
The Zapata Hawks Inaugural Cross Country tournament for elementary school students is set for Saturday, May 11. Registration is set for 7:30 a.m. The first race of the day begins at 8:30 a.m. The fee is $2. The course will be the dirt and grass course at Zapata High School. Each race will be co-ed, though boys and girls will
compete for awards only within their genders. The top 10 finishers will receive a medal, while all runners will receive an award. Water will be available at both the start and the finish lines. Divisions and approximate start times are as follows: 8:30 a.m. — Kindergarten and younger, 1K. 8:45 a.m. — 1st grade, 1K. 9 a.m. — 2nd grade, 1K. 9:15 a.m. — 3rd grade,
1K. 9:30 a.m. — 4th grade, 1 mile. 9:45 a.m. — 5th grade, 1 mile. 10 a.m. — 6th grade, 1 mile. Registration contact people include Mike Villarreal, 956-500-4451; Rick Garza, 956-765-8177; and Roel Ibanez, r_ibanez@yahoo.com. Registrations forms also are available at the offices of the Zapata County Chamber of Commerce.
Shown are Dr. Ronald Newton, Lions Club President Jaime A Gonzalez, Zapata North Elementary student Juan Angeles Pizano, member Daniel Gonzalez and Secretary/Treasurer Aurelio Villarreal.
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
Peaceful town suffers tragic losses By KEN HERMAN COX NEWSPAPERS
WEST — Mid-April — which sadly has become a peak season for American mayhem — hit hard at the roadside stop in West that is a happy tradition for many Austinites making the drive to or from Dallas. For years, the Czech Stop has been a welcome oasis of kolaches and kitsch (need a T-shirt that says in Czech ”Rain, rain, frog has no ears”?) along what’s got to be one of the nation’s dullest drives. To many Austinites, West is a baked goods and bathroom break in a town where nothing ever happens. Something happened Wednesday night, and Beverley Nunley, a Czech Stop manager, knew as soon as she heard the explosion about a mile from her home that she’d be needed at work early on Thursday. She came in around 4:30 a.m. and helped as the store made water and other provisions available for folks in need. ”It’s just a disaster. I have employees that have lost their homes, and it’s just ...,” she said, understandably unable to quite pinpoint what it’s just like. Her home, best she could tell early on, only lost a few windows. Nunley moved here from Houston two years ago. I asked her why. ”Hurricanes, you know,” she said, immediately picking up on the irony, or whatever it is, of winding up a mile from a more unpredictable peril. She’s pretty sure about the life lesson in that. ”You never know,” Nunley said. Next door at the Little Czech Bakery, where ”Delicious is Our Business,” Beatrice Nors was chatting with some customers who had made their selections and were expressing sympathy and support for the locals. Everybody — including folks who called from other countries — were doing that, said Nors, who’s worked at the bakery for 25 years and lived in the area for 50. What happened here Wednesday night is the kind of thing that’s not supposed to happen here, she said. Nors lives about a mile and a half from the fertilizer plant, or, more accurately, what’s left of the fertilizer plant and the school and the homes that were near it. ”We’re not sure,” she said when I asked about damage to her home. ”We haven’t had time to check because I had to be here before daylight.” Nors is deeply moved by the outpouring of support from surrounding
“
I have employees that have lost their homes.” BEVERLEY NUNLEY, STORE MANAGER
communities. A look in the bakery’s parking lot and around downtown West (there is one, don’t laugh) shows the support has come from farther away than that. Emergency vehicles converged here from around the state. Around town, there were conflicting visuals, some left over from before West became Breaking News and suddenly was on the mind of a president of the United States who probably had never heard of it before Wednesday night. At City Hall, a sign reminded folks about this Sunday’s Spring Awakening Dance at the Knights of Columbus Hall and Saturday’s child safety seat check-up (to somebody’s credit, it’s not spelled Czech-up) at the fire station. But there also were many reminders of life after Wednesday night. It’s generally not good when out-of-town TV trucks are all over the place, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Red Cross vehicles show up, and a vacant parking lot off the interstate is filled with trucks from Belfor Property Restoration (”The worldwide leader in disaster recovery and property restoration”). Someday we’ll figure out what the deal is with mid-April. The siege at the Branch Davidian compound in nearby Waco ended April 19, 1993. Two years later, to the day, the Oklahoma City bombing jolted the nation. The Columbine High School shootings in Colorado happened on April 20, 1999. The Virginia Tech shootings were on April 16, 2007. The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico happened on April 20. 2010. And on April 15, 2013, three people died in a blast at the Boston Marathon finish line. West, Texas, (which America now knows is not in West Texas) now joins that list. At the Czech Stop, I asked Nunley, busy with customers, how this town will get over this disaster. ”I haven’t a clue, sir,” she said. (Ken Herman is a columnist for the Austin American-Statesman. Email: kherman@statesman.com.)
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY The Zapata Times does not publish anonymous letters. To be published, letters must include the writer’s first and last names as well as a phone number to verify identity. The phone number IS NOT published; it is used solely to verify identity and to clarify content, if necessary. Identity of the letter writer must be verified before publication. We want to assure our
readers that a letter is written by the person who signs the letter. The Zapata Times does not allow the use of pseudonyms. Letters are edited for style, grammar, length and civility. No name-calling or gratuitous abuse is allowed. Via e-mail, send letters to editorial@lmtonline.com or mail them to Letters to the Editor, 111 Esperanza Drive, Laredo, TX 78041.
COLUMN
Women’s needs are ignored By O. RICARDO PIMENTEL SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
This incremental approach to restricting women’s access to abortion is a time-honored tradition that, I’m guessing, goes back 40 years or so to Roe vs. Wade and the awakening of that quaint notion that women have a right to make their own legal, medical decisions. But we need only dial the wayback machine a mere nine years to understand the reason for one of the latest manifestations in Texas — Senate Bill 537 by Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Greenville. It requires abortion clinics to upgrade to ambulatory surgical centers if they want to continue operating, a costly undertaking. The measure might come up short — barely — of the two-thirds of the Senate needed to bring the measure to the floor. But this type of bill and
others of its type have a rich history in Texas and elsewhere. Back in 2003, there was Texas’ Woman’s Right to Know Act, which took effect in 2004. It required women receive information about abortion and wait at least 24 hours before the procedure. The purpose was to get women to change their minds. The fiction was that these women didn’t already know the biology of pregnancy. Another lesser known feature was that all nonhospital abortions occurring 16 weeks or more into the pregnancy had to be performed in ambulatory surgical centers. Afterward, abortions at 16 weeks or after declined nearly 70 percent in Texas. The number of out-of-state abortions for Texas women increased four-fold but most women in these circumstances stayed put — an estimated 6,631 unintended births resulting that first year, most of
which undoubtedly were paid for by taxpayers. This is all in a report — ”Regulating Abortion: Impact on Patients and Providers in Texas” — published in 2011 in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. I first wrote about it in March last year. There is little reason to believe that requiring all abortions be performed in ambulatory surgical centers would have a different outcome. It’s no accident that anti-abortion legislators in other states are also imposing such standards. You see, only five of 400 ambulatory surgical centers in Texas perform abortions. And of the state’s 44 licensed abortion clinics, only six meet these standards. But Deuell tells me that this is really about giving women quality care. He said his experience as a physician makes him disbelieve that complication rates — the ostensible reason for requiring these
standards — are as low as reported; less than 0.5 percent of all medical and aspiration abortions before 13 weeks, when most abortions occur. I have no doubt that as a medical practitioner Deuell wants safety. I also have no doubt that he is a smart man who can figure effect. This bill and others like it elsewhere aren’t even medically necessary. Still around as bills are those requiring nearby hospital privileges for abortion doctors and making abortions after 20 weeks illegal. The first one is, again, medically unnecessary given the low complication rates for abortions, and the latter is based on the disputed notion that fetuses feel pain at that point. But what’s clear here is that what women and their physicians want or need is irrelevant to a majority of the Texas Legislature, made up, by the way, of 143 men and 37 women.
COLUMN
Be positive in face of tragedy All of us are understandably disturbed by the horrible bombings at the Boston Marathon earlier this week. Our hearts go out to the victims who have been injured, permanently maimed and even killed. Let us remember those who have died in our prayers, that the Lord may grant them eternal rest. We pray, too, for healing — physical, mental and spiritual — for the survivors of this terrible tragedy. Let us also ask God to grant consolation and strength to the families and the loved ones of those who have been killed or injured. The impact of this tragedy really hits home when we realize that a Laredo resident who was running the marathon, Maribel Garcia, very narrowly es-
“
JAMES TAMAYO
caped injury when one of the bombs exploded only about 100 feet away from her. We thank God that she was not physically harmed and is now in the loving embrace of her family and our community. Many victims’ lives were very likely spared because of the generous actions of bystanders and first responders who administered emergency first aid. There have been many moving stories of bystanders who rushed to the aid of the wounded in spite of the great danger, using belts and clothes to slow
down or stop the heavy bleeding of victims and even carrying them to ambulances. We are also inspired by the reports of exhausted runners who, instead of resting from the marathon, found the strength to go immediately to local hospitals to give blood for the many wounded. These stories remind us that even in times of greatest darkness, we are called by God to let His light shine through us in providing assistance to those who are in need. Blessed Pope John Paul II said that in many ways we are living in a “Culture of Death,” when many people have embraced violence and killing as acceptable ways to further their objectives. Violence and killing are a kind of dark-
DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
ness which denies the incomparable dignity of the human person, treating us as if we were no more than expendable objects. And this denial of our dignity attacks the very foundations of the human community which must be built on mutual kindness and respect. But when we make sacrifices to help others, we become as lights in the darkness, re-affirming both our own great dignity and that of those we assist. When we give of ourselves for the sake of others, we in fact become a stronger and more caring community. May we respond to this tragedy and to all other acts of darkness with great faith, hope and charity as we reach out to help those in need. Todo con Amor!
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
6A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013
Man with pot arrested By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Federal agents arrested a man accused of smuggling more than 200 pounds of marijuana Tuesday afternoon. Cristian Alejandro Enriquez is being charged with possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. At 3 p.m. Tuesday, U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the San Ygnacio area were alerted to anonymous tips regarding vehicles involved in smuggling operations. A blue Pontiac G6 and a gold Pontiac Grand Prix were seen heading north on U.S. 83. Agents identified the driver of the Pontiac Grand Prix as Enriquez, a person known for scouting during smuggling operations. Once close enough to the car, agents attempted to pull over Enriquez but the vehicle drove off the high-
Alleged guide is indicted by feds By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Courtesy photo
Federal agents seized 213.9 pounds with an estimated street value of $171,120, and arrested one man in connection with the incident. way. A complaint alleges the vehicle had reached Laredo. An unidentified man and Enriquez bailed out of the car near Laredo Community College’s South Campus. Agents detained Enriquez but the unidentified man escaped. Federal officials observed several large
cellophane-wrapped bundles believed to be marijuana in the backseat of the vehicle. In total, agents seized 213.9 pounds with an estimated street value of $171,120. Enriquez remains in federal custody. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
A man arrested in March and later identified as a foot guide leading 13 immigrants was indicted this week in federal court. On Tuesday, Antonio Castro Rangel was formally charged with two counts of transporting people who had entered the country illegally. Each count has a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison, states an indictment filed Tuesday. Castro Rangel has ar-
raignment set Thursday in U.S. Magistrate Judge Diana Song Quiroga’s courtroom. He remained in federal custody as of Friday evening. On March 21, U.S. Border Patrol agents detained 14 people traveling east in the Twin Lakes area. Agents followed foot signs and discovered several people “lying under high brush,” according to court documents. Federal officials said all the people had entered the country illegally. While processing them at the Za-
pata Border Patrol station, several detainees identified Castro-Rangel as the foot guide, a complaint states. He eventually admitted he had smuggled 13 people into the United States in exchange for $200 per person, court documents state. Two illegal immigrants held as witnesses said Castro-Rangel was the man deciding when the group would stop and rest, a complaint states. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
Photo by Rodger Mallison/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram | AP
Sheriff David Byrnes speaks as local, state and federal law enforcement officers hold a news conference in Kaufman, on Thursday. Photo by Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman | AP
Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg is handcuffed after pleading guilty to drunken driving on Friday, in court in Austin. Lehmberg was sentenced to 45 days in jail.
Tips lead to two arrests By DANNY ROBBINS
DWI gets DA jail time By CHRIS TOMLINSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg became belligerent after her drunken-driving arrest last weekend and deputies had to place her in restraints, according to documents released Friday after a judge sentenced her to 45 days in jail for driving while intoxicated. After Lehmberg entered a guilty plea, deputies placed her in handcuffs and took her from the courtroom. Lehmberg, 63, was arrested last weekend and later issued a formal apology and said she would plead guilty to whatever charge the county prosecutor thought appropriate. The prosecutor with 38 years of experience did not ask for a plea deal or any special treatment. She was also fined $4,000 and her driver’s license was suspended for 180 days. Based on sentencing standards, it was not immediately clear how long she would actually spend in jail. Arrest documents released Friday afternoon detail how a 911 caller reported her dangerous driving and how deputies immediately realized her identity, even though she didn’t have her driver’s license. Once at the jail, she refused a breath test and resisted deputies when they tried to search her. “Inmate Lehmberg refused pat search. Inmate Lehmberg refused several directives to stop kicking the cell,” an Isolation Cell Record said. “In an attempt to protect Inmate Lehmberg from harming herself, deputies placed Lehmberg in the Emergency Restraint Chair.”
Deputies kept her restrained for almost two hours while they obtained a search warrant to draw her blood. A separate test result also released Friday showed her blood alcohol level was .239, almost four times the legal limit. At Friday’s hearing, she did not make any comment, but in a letter to the prosecutor and court on Sunday she wrote: “I am guilty of DWI and of acting unreasonably and the fault is all my own. I am deeply sorry for my actions.” Lehmberg has said she hoped to put the matter behind her and continue in office until her planned retirement in 2016, but there have been calls for her resignation. The Austin American-Statesman released an editorial on Friday urging her to step down and one resident has petitioned for her removal. “She knew better and did it anyway. As a result, Lehmberg’s ability to perform her official duties is profoundly impeded,” the editorial said. “The tragedy is that she ended a good career, but end it must.” Texas law provides for the removal of a district attorney for drunkenness. Austin attorney Kerry O’Brien filed a suit on Tuesday seeking a court order to suspend her pending a hearing. “Lehmberg violated the public trust, demeaned her office and created a substantial risk of injury to others,” O’Brien’s suit says. Politics do complicate the case; Travis County is heavily Democratic and if Lehmberg steps down or is removed, Republican Gov. Rick Perry would appoint a replacement pending the next election.
Proposal nixes gas limits By CHRIS TOMLINSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will no longer have the authority to limit greenhouse gas emissions under a proposal the House of Representatives passed on Thursday. Lawmakers voted on a new provision that would instead require the agency better known as TCEQ to issue greenhouse gas emission permits under federal regulations. The federal Environmental Protection Agency currently has that
responsibility in Texas. Rep. Wayne Smith, RBaytown said the EPA currently has a backlog of permit requests in Washington and the bill would help Texas industries. The measure would also remove the right of citizens to contest permits granted by TCEQ through an administrative hearings process. “The EPA and TCEQ have been in conversation, they agree the permitting process should come to Texas, so this is an agreedto thing,” Smith said. “If the EPA is forced to stop regulating greenhouse gas-
PUBLIC NOTICE American Towers LLC (ATC) is proposing to modify the lighting on a 313’ guyed-wire telecommunications tower located at 118 N CR 20, San Yqnacio, Zapata County, TX. The proposed modification will involve a change in lighting from 24-hour medium intensity white flashing strobes to dual red/medium intensity white flashing strobes with steady-burning red side markers. ATC seeks comments from all interested persons on any potential significant impact the proposed action could have on the quality of the human environment pursuant to 47 C.F.R. Section 1.1307. Interested persons may review the project application pending with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) at www.fcc.gov/asr/applications by entering Form 854 File No. A0831435. Interested persons may comment or raise environmental impact concerns about the proposed action by filing a Request for Environmental Review with the FCC. The FCC strongly encourages all interested parties to make such filings online, following the instructions found at www.fcc.gov/asr/environmentalrequest. Paper filings can be sent to: FCC Requests for Environmental Review, Attn: Ramon Williams, 445 12th Street SW, Washington, DC 20554. All comments or filings regarding environmental impact concerns must be received on or before 05/20/13. Re: 21340060 L-76
es, the TCEQ will too.” Environmentalists, though, oppose the bill because they say it could lead to more climate changing pollution. Rep. Chris Turner, D-Arlington, tried to restore language that would have allowed TCEQ to regulate greenhouse gases, but his amendment was defeated by the Republican majority.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KAUFMAN — A tip pointing to a cache of guns and a vehicle hidden at a storage unit helped investigators to unravel a meticulous revenge plot that had culminated in the killings of three people, including two North Texas prosecutors, a sheriff said. Former justice of the peace, Eric Lyle Williams, and his wife, Kim Williams, are charged with capital murder in the fatal shootings of District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, and assistant prosecutor Mark Hasse. Investigators say the prosecutors had been concerned that Williams might be a threat to them after they successfully prosecuted him for theft last year, even going to the extent of carrying handguns following Williams’ conviction. Williams was sentenced to two years’ probation, lost his law license and his elected position as justice of the peace — a judge who handles mostly administrative duties. Hasse was shot by a masked gunman in January as he made his way to his courthouse office. The McLellands were gunned down two months later at their rural home. Sheriff David Byrnes told reporters Thursday that while Williams “has always been on the radar” — investigators questioned him after Hasse’s slaying and again after the McLellands’ deaths — authorities did not have the evidence to tie everything together until they found the storage unit. Authorities say a friend of Williams’ told them about the weapons. “The discovery of the
storage locker probably was the watershed event that put us on to this,” Byrnes said. Authorities allege Eric Williams, 46, was the gunman in all of the slayings. They say his wife, who is also 46, was the getaway driver when her husband shot Hasse. They contend she was a passenger when her husband drove to the McLellands’ home to carry out those killings early on the morning of March 30. “Basically, this was a collaborative effort between Eric Williams and his wife,” Byrnes said. Eric Williams is being held on $23 million bail, and his wife is being held on $3 million bail. Online jail records do not indicate attorneys representing the couple. Criminal defense attorneys Toby Shook and Bill Wirskey, both former Dallas County prosecutors, have been appointed as special prosecutors. According to an arrest warrant, a friend of Williams’ contacted authorities last week and told them the former justice of the peace had told him he needed to rent a storage unit to hide some items because of his ongoing legal problems. Investigators searched the unit in Seagoville on Saturday and found a Crown Victoria matching security video of a car in the McLellands’ neighborhood the day they were killed, according to the warrant. Williams used a false name to purchase the Crown Victoria in February, the affidavit said. They also found guns, including eight .223-caliber weapons, authorities said. Investigators believe a .223-caliber firearm was used in the killings of the McLellands. Ammunition
consistent with that used both in Hasse’s and the McLellands’ slayings was also found in the storage locker, according to the warrant. Investigators also traced emails to a computer in Williams’ home in which the author confessed to all three slayings and threatened more violence against county officials, the warrant says. Williams was arrested Saturday and charged with making a terroristic threat in connection with that email. Kim Williams was arrested Wednesday. An arrest affidavit contends she confessed to the killings and told investigators her husband was the gunman. Williams was elected to his judicial post in 2010 after practicing law in the county east of Dallas for a decade. He previously served as a peace officer in five North Texas cities and two counties, including Kaufman, according to records obtained by The Associated Press from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education. As recently as December 2010, he was a reserve officer in the Kaufman County Sheriff ’s Office. During his theft trial, McLelland and Hasse portrayed Williams as a dishonest public official with a dangerous streak. Williams has appealed the conviction, and on March 29 — a day before the McLellands’ bodies were found — a state appeals court in Dallas agreed to hear oral arguments in the case.
SÁBADO 20 DE ABRIL DE 2013
Agenda en Breve SÁBADO 20 DE ABRIL LAREDO — Mercado Agrícola El Centro de Laredo será de 9 a.m. a 12 p.m. en Plaza Jarvis, y celebrará el Día de la Tierra con venta de vegetales, hierbas, plantas, jabones hechos a manos, panes, jamones, sazonadores, comida preparada y salsas. Estacionamiento gratuito en El Metro. Música en vivo. LAREDO — Octavo Festival y Carnaval Anual de Primavera de Texas A&M International University, de 12 p.m. a 8 p.m. en el Planetario Lamar Bruni Vergara. El evento incluye comida, juegos, paseos en carnaval, alpinismo, entretenimiento y actividades educativas infantiles. Además se estrenará “The Zula Patrol: Down to Earth”. Los niños podrán conocer y tomarse fotos con los personajes. La entrada es gratuita, pero los paseos cuestan 1 dólar, y las presentaciones en el planetario tendrán costo de 4 dólares, general. LAREDO — Voz de Niños (Defensores Especiales Designados para la Corte Infantil) tendrá sesión informativa de 3 p.m. a 5 p.m. en 902 E. Calton Road. Visítelos para obtener más información sobre las oportunidades para ser voluntario de CASA. NUEVO LAREDO, México — Primer Aniversario de la Compañía de Danza Nuevo Laredo, con presentaciones a las 12 p.m. y 5 p.m. en el Teatro del Centro Cultural. Entrada libre. NUEVO LAREDO, México — Estación Palabra presenta el Festejo del Día Internacional del Libro, a partir de las 12 p.m con el “Bazar del Libro”; a las 2 p.m. con un “Encuentro de fans de literatura juvenil”; a las 2 p.m. con el “Festival Infantil: Los niños y los libros”; y, a las 3 p.m. el Taller de creación literaria con Jacobo Mina en el Aula Telmex. NUEVO LAREDO, México — Museo para Niños “Taller de Pintura” a las 4 p.m. en la Sala de Servicios Educativos del Museo Reyes Meza. Entrada libre.
DOMINGO 21 DE ABRIL LAREDO — Como parte del concierto Celebrando la Década del Maestro, la Orquesta Filarmónica de Laredo presentará a Carlos Morales, ganador de la Cuarta Competencia Anual de Concierto de Laredo, a las 3 p.m. en el teatro del Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Fine Arts Center en Laredo Community College del Campus Fort McIntosh. NUEVO LAREDO, México — “El duende metalillo” con el grupo de teatro Expresión, a las 12 p.m. en el Teatro del IMSS. Costo: 20 pesos. NUEVO LAREDO, México — “Soltero, casado, viudo y divorciado” con el Grupo Uteatro, a las 5 p.m. en el Teatro Lucio Blanco en Casa de la Cultura. NUEVO LAREDO, México — Primer Aniversario de la Compañía de Danza Nuevo Laredo, con presentación a las 5 p.m. en el Teatro del Centro Cultural.
LUNES 22 DE ABRIL NUEVO LAREDO, México — Taller de Estrategias de Desarrollo Conceptual y de Promoción en las Artes Visuales”, del 22 al 26 de abril, en horario de 5 p.m. a 9 p.m. en Museo Reyes Meza.
MARTES 23 DE ABRIL NUEVO LAREDO, México — 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.
Zfrontera Accidente fatal
PÁGINA 7A
EXTRAEN 12 CADÁVERES TRAS EXPLOSIÓN EN TEXAS
Escombros de la planta de fertilizantes son vistos en esta imagen del jueves, horas después de que ocurriera una explosión en West, Texas. Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times | Associated Press
POR CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN Y NOMAAN MERCHANT ASSOCIATED PRESS
WEST, Texas — Los cadáveres de doce personas han sido extraídos de los escombros de una planta de fertilizantes de Texas donde se produjo una intensa explosión que demolió los vecindarios circundantes y dejó unos 200 heridos, dijeron el viernes las autoridades. El sargento Jason Reyes, del Departamento de Salud Pública de Texas, dijo que “penosamente” confirmaba
la extracción de 12 cadáveres del área de la explosión de la planta en West, a unos 32 kilómetros (20 millas) al norte de Waco. Aun antes de que los investigadores dieran a conocer el número de víctimas fatales, los nombres de los muertos ya eran conocidos en el pequeño pueblo de 2.800 habitantes. Reyes dijo que no podía confirmar el viernes cuántos de los muertos eran quienes habían respondido primero —entre bomberos y socorristas— para sofocar un incendio en la planta
que precedió a la explosión. Los socorristas pasaron gran parte del día después del estallido del miércoles por la noche en busca de sobrevivientes, y Reyes dijo que el esfuerzo continuaba. Agregó que las autoridades habían inspeccionado 150 edificios el viernes por la mañana y les faltaban otros 25. Una víctima a quien Rodarte conocía era Kenny Harris, de 52 años, capitán del departamento de bomberos de Dallas que vivía al sur de West. Estaba fuera de servicio en ese momento
pero se movilizó inmediatamente para ayudar, según una declaración de la ciudad de Dallas. Mientras proseguía la tarea de búsqueda y rescate, estaba claro que el paisaje del pueblo había cambiado para siempre por la destrucción que arrasó con un radio de cuatro a cinco manzanas. Al parecer la explosión fue desencadenada por un incendio, pero no está claro qué provocó las llamas. Un equipo de la Oficina de Alcohol, Tabaco, Armas de Fuego y Explosivos todavía
no había iniciado su investigación el jueves debido a que la situación aún era peligrosa, dijo Franceska Perot, vocera de la agencia. La instalación de la firma West Fertilizer Co. almacena y distribuye amoniaco anhidro, un fertilizante. Registros revisados por The Associated Press muestran que la Administración de Seguridad de Ductos y Materiales Peligrosos multó a West Fertilizer con 10.000 dólares a mediados del año pasado por violaciones a la seguridad.
EU
INMOVILIZAN BOSTON, CAZAN SOSPECHOSO POR MEGHAN BARR, KATIE ZEZIMA, Y EILEEN SULLIVAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
WATERTOWN, Mass. — La policía ordenó paralizar el tránsito en Boston y sus alrededores el viernes, en busca de uno de los sospechosos de los atentados del maratón, luego de que el otro murió baleado en un enfrentamiento con la fuerza pública. Horas antes los dos sospechosos habían matado a un policía y lanzaron explosivos a una patrulla durante su fuga en una larga noche de violencia tras la cual uno quedó muerto y el otro huyó. Decenas de agentes del FBI acudieron el viernes a la casa en Nueva Jersey de la hermana de los sospechosos, que son hermanos. El director de la policía de West New York, Nueva Jersey, dijo que la mujer ha dicho que ella no ha estado mucho en contacto con sus hermanos y que está muy molesta. La policía no divulgó el nombre de la mujer. La mujer, hablando desde adentro de la casa, le dijo al diario The Star-Ledger de Newark que sus hermanos son chicos inteligentes y buenos, y que ella no sabe qué es lo que les pasó. Dijo también que lamenta “que tanta gente fue lastimada”. Los sospechosos fueron identif-
Associated Press
Equipos tácticos conducen a través de un vecindario mientras buscan a un sospechoso de las explosiones de la Maratón de Boston, en Watertown, Mass., el viernes. icados por las autoridades y por familiares como los hermanos Tamerlán y Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, de la región rusa de Chechenia. Tamerlán Tsarnaev, un joven de 26 años conocido por el FBI como sospechoso número 1 y que fue visto en imágenes de seguridad luciendo una gorra negra en la escena de las explosiones, murió en un encuentro con las autoridades por la madrugada. Su hermano Dzhokhar, de 19 años, llamado sospechoso número 2 y visto con una
gorra blanca, se escapó. Luego el tío de los sospechosos le exhortó a su sobrino prófugo a entregarse a la policía y pedir perdón a las víctimas. Las autoridades en Boston suspendieron todo el transporte público y llamaron a alrededor de un millón de personas en la ciudad y algunos de sus suburbios a permanecer resguardados, mientras proseguía la búsqueda del sospechoso número 2. Se pidió además a los negocios que permaneciesen cer-
rados. Personas que esperaban en estaciones del metro y paradas de autobuses recibieron instrucciones de regresar a sus casas. Desde Watertown hasta Cambridge, equipos especiales de la policía, francotiradores y agentes del FBI con vehículos blindados rodearon varios edificios, mientras helicópteros de la policía sobrevolaban. “Consideramos a este hombre (Dzhokhar) un terrorista”, dijo el comisionado de policía de Boston Ed Davis. “Pensamos que es alguien que vino al país a matar”. El final para el sospechoso número 1 se produjo apenas horas después de que el FBI diese a conocer fotos y video de los dos jóvenes junto a la línea de meta del maratón y pidieron al público ayuda para identificarles y capturarles. La información comenzó a llegar al FBI de inmediato, pero exactamente cómo las autoridades lograron acercarse a los dos no estaba claro. El tío de los jóvenes, Ruslán Tsarni, de Montgomery Village, Maryland, le dijo a The Associated Press que los hermanos viajaron juntos al país desde Chechenia. El padre, Anzor Tsarnaev, dijo en una entrevista telefónica con The Associated Press desde la ciudad rusa de Majachkala que su hijo menor, Dzhokhar, es “un verdadero ángel”.
TAMAULIPAS
ECONOMÍA
Participarán en Olimpiadas
Unirán Frontera con agencia en común
ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
CIUDAD VICTORIA, México — La Delegación Tamaulipas participará en la Olimpiada Nacional 2013 que se desarrollará en Baja California el 24 de abril, así también en Jalisco, Querétaro y Aguascalientes, señala Sofía Velazco, maestra de Gimnasia Rítmica. Comenta que en la disciplina de la Gimnasia Rítmica las niñas y jovencitas tamaulipecas son amplias favoritas para adjudicarse, una vez más, el cetro y corona. Sofía Velazco expresa su optimismo en torno a este magno evento deportivo “es mucho compromiso ya que somos siete veces consecutivas, campeonas nacionales. En lo particular, trabajé muchísimo en este año (2013), metí a 26 niñas en la Selección Tamaulipas, y las 26 clasificaron al Campeonato Nacional que es la próxima semana, esperando que las 26 niñas vayan a la Olimpiada Nacional y estaríamos hablando de algo histórico como escuela que somos
para representar a Tamaulipas en la Olimpiada Nacional”. Las alumnas de Sofía Velazco representan el 85% de la Selección Tamaulipas. “Las veo muy bien a mis niñas. Aunque hay que tener un poco de cuidado en sus curvas de entrenamientos porque ya estamos en la fase de competencia ya que es de mucha repetición y de mucho cansancio. Son niñas y han dado muy buenos resultados, sobre todo en Canadá en un evento de mucha jerarquía”, agregó. Las alumnas de Sofía Velazco, arrasaron en el rankeo nacional en la Copa Tampico desde la Infantil a la Juvenil con Cindy Gallegos a plenitud. “Vamos muy fuertes a la Olimpiada Nacional 2013, sin duda alguna. Yucatán será nuestro rival a vencer ya que es una potencia en Gimnasia Rítmica, al igual que Tamaulipas. También, siento que Jalisco será difícil de vencer con Cinthia Valdez, todavía en activo”, enfatizó la maestra Sofía Velazco.
ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE LAREDO
Impulsar una agenda común entre Texas y Tamaulipas fue el punto de acuerdo alcanzado entre el Gobierno de Tamaulipas y congresistas tejanos. Al tener una agenda común se pretende fortalecer las relaciones económicas, culturales y de cooperación en todos los ámbitos que beneficien a las poblaciones de ambas entidades fronterizas. Texas y Tamaulipas comparten 350 kilómetros de frontera. Tamaulipas cuenta con 433 kilómetros de litoral marítimo en el Golfo de México; alrededor de dos millones de habitantes en la región fronteriza; más de un tercio del comercio exterior de México transita por los cruces fronterizos y puertos marítimos de Tamaulipas y el estado es la novena economía del país, contribuyendo con el 3.2% del PIB nacional. Tamaulipas es el corredor económico con Texas; cuenta con 17 cruces internacionales; 14 puentes vehiculares; 2 puentes ferroviarios y un transbordador. Además cuenta con cinco aeropuertos internacionales: Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, Matamoros, Ciudad Victoria y Tampico; dos puertos marítimos de
altura. Mónica González García, Secretaria de Desarrollo Económico y Turismo, resaltó que la reunión, con funcionarios de Texas y el mandataGONZÁLEZ rio estatal fue muy puntual en el avance que ha tenido Tamaulipas en los últimos años. “De hecho estoy hablando de una agenda en común, lo cual es muy importante, Tamaulipas y Texas tienen que trabajar juntos porque coincidimos”, dijo González. “Tenemos una frontera que nos une que ha sido muy importante para el comercio exterior y muchos otros aspectos de la economía de ambos estados”. Ella precisó que además de toda la mercancía que fluye entre ambas fronteras, hay un vínculo bicultural “en donde existen familias que viven en Texas y tienen familiares en Tamaulipas, así como también, gente de Tamaulipas que tiene gente muy cercana a Texas”. González aseguró que por tanto es fundamental que ambas entidades mantengan una relación cercana. “que le permitan crecer y mejorar su economía”.
8A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013
BOMBER Continued from Page 1A
Photo by Elise Amendola | AP
Photo by Charles Krupa | AP
Bridal couple Sarah and Neil Sands, of Dublin, Ireland, right, laugh with their bridal party as they pose for pictures outside an empty Fenway Park in Boston, on Friday.
A barefooted woman runs for cover as police surround a home while searching for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings in Watertown, Mass., on Friday.
and warned close to 1 million people in the entire city and some of its suburbs to stay indoors as the hunt for Suspect No. 2 went on. Businesses were asked not to open. People waiting at bus and subway stops were told to go home. The Red Sox and Bruins postponed their games. From Watertown to Cambridge, police SWAT teams, sharpshooters and FBI agents surrounded various buildings as police helicopters buzzed overhead and armored vehicles rumbled through the streets. Authorities also searched trains. “We believe this man to be a terrorist,” said Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis. “We believe this to be a man who’s come here to kill people.” The bombings on Monday killed three people and wounded more than 180 others, tearing off limbs in a spray of shrapnel and instantly raising the specter of another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Chechnya was the scene of two wars between Russian forces and separatists since 1994, in which tens of thousands were killed in heavy Russian bombing. That spawned an Islamic insurgency that has carried out deadly bombings in Russia and the region, although not in the West. Investigators in the Boston case have shed no light on the motive for the bombing and have said it is unclear whether it was the work of domestic or international terrorists or someone else entirely with an unknown agenda. The endgame — at least for Suspect No. 1 — came just hours after the FBI released photos and video of the two young men at the marathon’s finish line and appealed to the public for help in identifying and capturing them. State Police spokesman Dave Procopio said police realized they were dealing with the bombing suspects based on what the two men told a carjacking victim
Photo by Matt Rourke | AP
Police in tactical gear conduct a search for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, on Friday, in Watertown, Mass. The bombs that blew up seconds apart near the finish line of the Boston Marathon left gaping questions of who chose to attack and why. during their getaway attempt overnight.
The search for Boston bomb suspects All times Eastern Daylight Time BOSTON — Key moments related to the search for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, based on reports from the Massachusetts governor, the Middlesex County district attorney, Massachusetts State Police and Boston police. At 5:10 p.m. Thursday, investigators of the bombings release photographs and video of two suspects. They ask for the public’s help in identifying the men. Around 10:20 p.m., shots are fired on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, just outside Boston. At 10:30 p.m., an MIT campus police officer who was responding to a disturbance is found shot multiple times in his vehicle, apparently in a confrontation with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects. He is later pronounced dead. Shortly afterward, two armed men reportedly car-
jack a Mercedes SUV in Cambridge. A man who was in the vehicle is held for about a half hour and then released unharmed at a gas station on Memorial Drive in Cambridge. Police soon pursue the carjacked vehicle in Watertown, just west of Cambridge. Some kind of explosive devices are thrown from the vehicle in an apparent attempt to stop police. The carjackers and police exchange gunfire. A transit police officer is seriously injured. One suspect, later identified as Suspect No. 1 in the marathon bombings, is critically injured and later pronounced dead. Authorities launch a manhunt for the other suspect. Around 1 a.m. Friday, gunshots and explosions are heard in Watertown. Dozens of police officers and FBI agents converge on a Watertown neighborhood. A helicopter circles overhead. Around 4:30 a.m., Massachusetts state and Boston police tell people living in that section of eastern Watertown to stay in their homes. They identify the carjackers as the same men suspected in the marathon
bombings. Overnight, police also release a photograph of a man believed to be Suspect No. 2 wearing a gray hoodie-style sweatshirt. The image apparently is from surveillance video taken at a gas station. Around 5:50 a.m. authorities urge residents in Watertown, Newton, Waltham, Belmont, Cambridge, Arlington and the AllstonBrighton neighborhoods of Boston to stay indoors. All mass transit is shut down. Around 6:35 a.m., The Associated Press reports that the bomb suspects are from a Russian region near Chechnya and lived in the United States for at least a year. Around 6:45 a.m., The Associated Press identifies the surviving Boston bomb suspect as Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, who has been living in Cambridge. Around 8 a.m., Boston’s police commissioner says all of Boston must stay in their homes as the search for the surviving suspect in the bombings continues. Around 8:40 a.m., a U.S. law enforcement official and uncle of the suspects confirms the name of
the slain suspect is Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s older brother. Around 10:20 a.m., Connecticut State Police say a car believed to be linked to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been recovered in Boston. They initially call it a Honda CRV, but authorities later say it was a Honda Civic. Around 10:35 a.m., the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth says it closed its campus and ordered an evacuation after confirming that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is registered there. The school says it closed the campus “out of an abundance of caution” as the search continued. Around 11:30 a.m., Massachusetts State Police explain that the brothers suspected in the bombings were in the Honda when they carjacked the Mercedes SUV. For a while, each drove one of the two vehicles, but then ditched the Honda and reunited in the Mercedes. Around 12:35 p.m., state police in Watertown say officers are searching door-to-door but still have not found the bombing suspect.
Around 6:30 p.m., Massachusetts Gov. Patrick Deval announces that mass transit is resuming and the “stay indoors” order is being lifted even though one suspect remains on the lam. State police say that suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, fled on foot and there is indication he has a vehicle. They believe he is still in the state because of his ties to the area. Around the time the order is lifted, a flurry of gunfire breaks out in the same community that was being searched. Law enforcement officials locate Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in a boat parked behind a home. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is taken into custody by police at approximately 8:45 p.m.
Mom-in-law sickened by attack NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — The mother-in-law of the bombing suspect killed during a gunbattle with police said Friday her family is sickened by the horror inflicted by the deadly attack. Judith Russell was distraught as she made the comments Friday evening through a crack in her front door in a large house on a cul-de-sac in a quiet, wooded suburban neighborhood. She spoke shortly after Department of Homeland Security agents escorted a car containing two women, one of whom was shielding her face, to the home, where it drove into the garage. Neighbors said they saw state troopers and black SUVs in the neighborhood Friday morning. Russell’s oldest daughter, Katherine, was married to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, an ethnic Chechen who came to the U.S. from Russia and was believed to be Suspect No. 1 in the Boston Marathon bombings, the one in sunglasses and a dark baseball cap in surveillance camera pictures.
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
Famed aviators hold final reunion By MELISSA NELSON-GABRIEL ASSOCIATED PRESS
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — At 97, retired Lt. Col. Richard Cole can still fly and land a vintage B-25 with a wide grin and a wave out the cockpit window to amazed onlookers. David Thatcher, 91, charms admiring World War II history buffs with detailed accounts of his part in the 1942 Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, in which he earned a Silver Star. Retired Lt. Col. Edward Saylor, 93, still gets loud laughs from crowds for his one liners about the historic bombing raid 71 years ago Thursday that helped to boost a wounded nation’s morale in the aftermath of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Cole, Thatcher and Saylor — three of the four surviving crew members from the history-making bombing run — are at Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle for a final public reunion of the Doolittle Raiders. They decided to meet at Eglin because it is where they trained for their topsecret mission in the winter of 1942, just weeks after the Japanese devastated the American fleet at Pearl Harbor. The fourth surviving raider, 93-year-old Robert Hite, could not make the event. “At the time of the raid, you know the war was on and it was just a mission we went on, we were lucky enough to survive it but it didn’t seem like that big of a deal at the time. I spent the rest of the war in Europe and with the guys in Normandy and taking bodies out of airplanes and stuff and I didn’t feel like a hero,” Saylor said Wednesday following a ceremony in which an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter maintenance hangar at the base was named in his honor. Saylor joked with the audience of young airmen and local dignitaries. “My reaction when I found out we were bombing Japan from an aircraft carrier was that it was too far to swim back home so we might as well go ahead with it,” he said. The 16 planes, loaded with one-ton bombs, took off from the aircraft carrier on less than 500 feet of runway. They had only enough fuel to drop their bombs and try to land in China with the hope that the Chi-
Photo by Mark Kulaw/Northwest Florida Daily News | AP
Doolittle Raiders, in caps, left to right, Edward J. Saylor, David J. Thatcher and Richard E. Cole view the new Doolittle Raiders exhibit with facilities coordinator Mia Checkley, far right, on Wednesday. nese would help them to safety. “We were all pretty upbeat about it, we didn’t have any bad thoughts about what was going to happen. We just did what we had to do,” said Cole, who was Doolittle’s co-pilot. Wednesday’s event at the base is part of a weeklong series of activities planned by the military and community leaders to honor the men. Thomas Casey, business manager for the Raiders and a longtime fan of the men, said the four survivors have decided they can no longer keep up with the demands of group public appearances. “The mission ends here in Fort Walton
LAKE Continued from Page 1A Chamber of Commerce membership services coordinator. “This morning, there wasn’t very much, but there was water. My husband knows I get upset when there’s no water in the lake and he teases me about it. He says, ‘Did you see the water level? It’s really low.’ He works for the county maintenance department. I joked with him when I noticed the level had risen and asked him if he had put a water hose in the lake,” she said. She added that she felt joy at seeing the level rise and was hoping to see it get higher. The water will eventually be released to meet irrigation and municipal water demand in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The releases are in response to water needs in both the United States and Mexico and do not impact Mexico’s deficit in deliveries to the United States under the treaty.. Water releases from Amistad Dam, located on
the Rio Grande at Del RioCiudad Acuña, Coahuila, are now increasing this month, bringing high flow to the river and rapidly-declining lake levels approaching the record low. At Del Rio, the National Weather Service expects the Rio Grande to approach and remain near flood stage over the period of release. The river is forecast to reach action stage at Colombia International Bridge just upstream from LaredoNuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas beginning on Sunday. Action stage is a predetermined level at which forecasts are issued to increase awareness for people, companies, and government agencies with interests near rivers. While flood conditions may not appear to occur at action stage, in many cases actions might be needed to avoid negative impacts as the river flow increases. At midnight Thursday, releases increased to nearly 8,000 cubic feet per second, including about 5,300 cubic
feet per second of Mexican water and 2,600 cubic feet per second of U.S. water. Sunday morning there will be an additional increase, for a total release rate of nearly 9,000 cubic feet per second, including approximately 5,300 cubic feet per second for Mexico and 3,500 cubic feet per second for the United States. The new release rate is expected to cause the level of Amistad Lake to drop by as much as several feet before the end of the month, approaching the record low elevation of 1,058 feet that occurred in August 1998. Amistad Dam is operated by the International Boundary and Water Commission, United States and Mexico. During normal and low reservoir conditions, the rate of U.S. releases is determined by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Rio Grande Watermaster based on the need to deliver water to Texas users. (The Zapata Times staff writer Ricardo Villarreal contributed to this story.)
Beach on Saturday night, but their legacy starts then,” he said. Casey said he hopes everyone who has had a chance to interact with the men will keep their legacy alive. “I want them to tell the story to their children, their grandchildren, their neighbors and keep their story going because their story is worthwhile telling.” At each reunion is a case containing 80 silver goblets with the name of each raider inscribed right-side up and upside down on a single goblet. The men toast their fallen comrades each year and turn their goblets upside down in their honor. They have also saved a bottle of Hennes-
sy cognac from 1896, the year mission commander James Doolittle was born. The Raiders had said the final two survivors would open the bottle, but they have since decided that the four survivors will meet in private later this year for the toast. At Wednesday’s dedication of the Saylor Hangar, the three men posed for pictures beneath a vintage B-25 bomber and an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that sat beside it. Col. Andrew Toth, commander of the F-35 squadron at Eglin, told the men, “You boosted the morale of this nation just four months after Pearl Harbor. Thank you for your dedication and service.” Young airmen and women obtained the old veterans’ autographs and thanked them for their service. “I’ve seen the movies — you know, ‘Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo,’” said Air Force Lt. Col. Mike Matesick. “I think this is awesome because they actually trained here at Eglin and they did the ceremony to actually name a hangar after one of the guys. It’s pretty cool.” Larry Kelley owns the vintage B-25 aircraft that Cole flew a day earlier during a demonstration of four restored B-25s from the World War II era. Kelley choked up when trying to explain what it has meant to him to meet Cole and the other raiders over the past several years and to have the men fly in his aircraft. “Here are some of the most famous aviators that came out of World War II and they’ve never put a nickel in their pocket” as a result of their fame, he said. Instead, he said, any money from book signings and appearances has always gone to the James H. Doolittle Scholarship Fund for aviation students. Kelley said sitting beside Cole while Cole took the controls of the B-25 and landed the aircraft was a highlight of his life as a World War II and aviation buff. “Oh yeah, he did most of the flying today. He did the landing. He’s dead on. I kept looking over the altimeter. I told him to hold 1,500 feet and I kept looking at the altimeter and it was dead on: not 1,499 feet, not 1,501 feet. He had the altimeter pegged at 1,500 feet,” he said.
K-9 JACK Continued from Page 1A Safety troopers will require his assistance. Garza is solely dedicated to full time highway interdiction, monitoring traffic for people with contraband. Garza and Jack played a role in discovering a recent 5,000-pound marijua-
na stash in Ramireño, one of the office’s largest seizures. Another deputy had stopped a tanker truck for a traffic violation but the driver denied consent to search. But since the truck had been pulled over for a traffic violation,
Garza ran the narcotics dog and Jack alerted to contraband inside the tank. “From there, we opened it and we saw all the bundles,” Garza recalled. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
DISPATCHERS Continued from Page 1A of Laredo news release states. Elizondo and Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office Chief Raymundo Del Bosque Jr. and Capt. Hector Garcia attended the event. Asked about the important role a dispatcher plays for the sheriff ’s office, Del Bosque said dispatchers are the eyes and ears for deputies. When officials respond to a rural area, dispatchers are the ones gathering as much information as possible on the location for officer safety. Del Bosque said if the
office receives a suspicious activity call coming from Los Lobos Road, deputies could be certain that the call may relate to narcotics smuggling. The same could be for calls coming out of San Ygnacio and areas bordering the Webb and Zapata county lines, according to sheriff ’s officials. Currently, the sheriff ’s office has six dispatchers divided in various shifts to cover the county 24-7. Elizondo said it takes a certain type of person to work as a dispatcher in
Zapata. Dispatchers in Zapata are unique because aside from tending to emergencies, they also undertake administrative calls, Elizondo said. Regardless of the workload, dispatchers do their jobs to better protect the deputy out on the field and do it well, Elizondo said. “(Dispatchers) are the lifeline to our deputies,” he added. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 7282568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS: ZAPATA HAWKS
Hitting history Hawks doubles team inches away from state By CLARA SANDOVAL THE ZAPATA TIMES
Courtesy photo
Alex Reyes, left, and Trey Alvarez made tennis history, advancing to the semifinals of the region IV-3A tournament at the HEB Tennis Center in Corpus Christi on Wednesday and Thursday.
NBA
The Hawks doubles team of Trey Alvarez and Alex Reyes made tennis history, advancing to the semifinals of the region IV-3A tournament at the HEB Tennis Center in Corpus Christi on Wednesday and Thursday. Alvarez and Reyes, both juniors, were not seeded in
the tournament, drawing the district champions from 28-3A’s Pleasanton in the first round. The duo bolted out of the gate with strong serves and net play to dismantle the Eagles team, 6-0 and 6-0, moving to the next round. Next, the Hawks took on the third seeded team from Bellville in a close match with both teams playing to
great points. The first set stood at 6-all, forcing a tiebreaker. Alvarez and Reyes came up with clutch shot after clutch shot to pull out 8-6. The second set was also close, and Bellville got ahead, 4-3, but the Hawks rallied to pull the set 6-4. “When we were down 4-3, I went to talk to the boys and told them that they
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DRAFT
Can anyone stop Miami?
DALLAS DISCONNECT
The talent evaluators at Valley Ranch determined that Arkin, a guard from Missouri State, was worthy of a fourth-round selection in 2011, the 110th overall choice. Two years into his career, Arkin is still awaiting his chance to play for the Cowboys. Arkin has been healthy for all 32 games of his career but has been deactivated for 27 of them. In the five games he has
NEW YORK — Are you ready for some Peyton Manning? This year’s NFL schedule is filled with return visits and intriguing matchups, and some of the best involve the Denver Broncos’ quarterback. The former Colts star will make his first trip back to Indianapolis, will play younger brother Eli in another Manning Bowl, and will face the defending Super Bowl champions in the season opener. The Baltimore Ravens travel to Denver for the now-traditional Thursday night opener on Sept. 5. The Orioles are home that night and Major League Baseball could not move their game. So $121 million quarterback Joe Flacco and his fellow champs were sent to Denver — to face Manning and the team
See COWBOYS PAGE 2B
See NFL SCHEDULE PAGE 2B
ASSOCIATED PRESS
See PLAYOFFS PAGE 2B
MLB: TEXAS RANGERS
Photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP
Texas’ Derek Holland is a power pitcher, averaging a 92.9 mph fastball.
By BARRY WILNER ASSOCIATED PRESS
By BRIAN MAHONEY Looking for a reason not to pick the Miami Heat to win another NBA title? Don’t check the odds, where the Heat are such an overwhelming favorite that it might as well be Tiger Woods against a weekend hacker. Definitely don’t bother with the Heat’s results, which show exactly three losses since the start of February. And certainly don’t look on the court, where LeBron James sent season-long reminders that he’s better than ever and already the best in the world. The only people who might really believe in caution are the Heat themselves. “There’s going to be trials and tribulations no matter what, no matter how good of a team you are,” Dwyane Wade said. “There’s going to be a mo-
See ZAPATA PAGE 2B
NFL slate packed with drama Return meetings, rivalries shine
Hoops playoffs tip off tonight
were three games away from making history and needed to find another gear. I was so happy when they did,” Alvarez said. The boys next took on the second seeds from Fredricksburg. “In 4A and 5A they play only two matches on the first day and play the semis
Photo by Michael Conroy | AP
Valley Ranch determined that Arkin, a guard from Missouri State, was worthy of a fourth-round selection in 2011, the 110th overall choice, but Arkin has yet to step on the field.
Valley Ranch avoids youth By RICK GOSSELIN THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
DALLAS — There is a disconnect over at Valley Ranch that’s troublesome. It exists between the personnel department and the coaching staff. There’s no better way of explaining it than the plight of David Arkin. The fourth round of any draft is still a value round. Quality players, starting-caliber players, can be found there.
Holland starts hottest By EVAN GRANT THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
CHICAGO — Until the ninth inning Tuesday, when the game got as wacky as a Chicago election, there was one clear story about the Rangers. It was Derek Holland. Truth be told, he has been the story of the starting rotation to this point. Yes, Matt Harrison was the opening day starter. Yes, Yu Darvish nearly pitched a perfect game. Yes, Nick Tepesch made one of the best debuts in Rangers history. Those all were one-start stories. Holland’s is more about his work in general. Tuesday night was only anoth-
See RANGERS PAGE 2B
INTERNATIONAL SOCCER
Soccer sells its soul to technology Goal-line aides may ruin global game By JOHN LEICESTER ASSOCIATED PRESS Photo by Frank Augstein | AP
Chelsea is close to signing Bayer Leverkusen striker Andre Schurrle on a five-year contract for 20 million pounds ($30.5 million), the Daily Telegraph reported.
Kicking up new rumors By DAN BAYNES BLOOMBERG
The following is a roundup of soccer stories from U.K. newspapers, with clickable Internet links. FIVE-YEAR CONTRACT
Chelsea is close to signing Bayer Leverkusen striker Andre Schurrle on a fiveyear contract for 20 million pounds ($30.5 million), the Daily Telegraph reported. Leverkusen sporting director Rudi Voll-
See TRANSFERS PAGE 2B
PARIS — Kiss goodbye to soccer as we know it. In getting machines to help men spot when goals are scored, soccer is making a mistake. This pact with the devil of goal-line technology will come at a cost to the sport’s soul. Policed solely by humans, soccer can offer lessons on life for those prepared to listen. Referees who fail to spot when the ball has crossed the goal line, or who award a goal when it hasn’t, remind us that nobody will ever be perfect and that making mistakes is part of the human condition.
COMMENTARY Accepting the golden rule that the referee’s word is final, even when he or she is wrong, also teaches respect for authority — something our societies are hardly over-stocked with. An incorrectly awarded or disallowed goal can feel grossly unfair, just as life does sometimes, too. Again, soccer can teach us to shrug a shoulder at that, to move on and trust that justice will be done next time. Do we accept flaws, even cherish them, or kick, scream and demand they be ex-
See TECHNOLOGY PAGE 2B
PAGE 2B
Zscores
ZAPATA Continued from Page 1B on the next day, but in 3A we play three the first day, so I was hoping our conditioning would hold up because it was hot, humid and windy in Corpus Christi on Wednesday,” Alvarez said. “Fredricksburg came out and really took it to us in the first set, 6-1, but we adjusted and went to more of a finesse game with lobs, and tried to take some pace off the ball. With the Fredricksburg teams, it seemed the harder you hit at them the more they liked it.” The strategy worked as Fredricksburg began to miss shots and the Hawks used that to their advantage to win the second set, 6-2. The third set saw the Fredricksburg duo also making adjustments. A tough and gritty set was played with every point battled out. With the score 4-4, Fredricksburg got the break it needed and closed out the match. “Then boys were really disappointed and exhausted, but we knew we were still not out of it, as we would take on the fourth seeds, our district rivals from Kingsville for third place,” Alvarez said. “Kingsville had lost in the semis to the No. 1 seeds from Fredricksburg. If we were to win and the team from Fredricksburg that beat us won in the finals we would get another shot in a true second playback.” The Hawks and the Brahmas were set to play the rubber match of the season. Alvarez and Reyes started hot and took the first set 6-2. But as news came from the adjacent court that the team from Fredricksburg was winning it seemed to fire up Kingsville. The Brahmas won the next set 6-3 and raced out to a 5-2 lead in the third. At that point, Alvarez and Reyes won three games in a row, including two breaks of serve to even the score at 5. The Brahma duo broke serve and held to win the third set, 7-5. The Kingsville team won its playback in a three-set match to win a trip to state. “I am proud of the boys. We did not fold; we kept fighting and just needed to come through with a few more big shots,” Alvarez said. “We were the only team in the semifinals that will be back next season, as the rest were seniors, so we have to continue working hard in the offseason and make another run at state next year.” The Hawk mixed doubles team of Gaby Alvarez and Carlos Poblano did not fare as well. They lost to the 26-3A district champions from Smithville, 6-1. 6-3. “We did not play very well. The team was very nervous and got off to a very slow start,” Alvarez said. “By the time they finally settled down and started to play, it was too late. They are also juniors and I know with this experience they will be a tougher team next year.”
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013
PLAYOFFS Continued from Page 1B EASTERN CONFERENCE
WESTERN CONFERENCE
NO. 1 MIAMI HEAT (66-16) vs. NO. 8 MILWAUKEE BUCKS (38-44) Season series: Heat, 3-1. Milwaukee took Miami to overtime in the first meeting this season before losing 113106, then won a wild game in December where the Bucks led by 12 at halftime, trailed by two entering the fourth, then outscored Miami 35-14 in the final 12 minutes for a 104-85 romp. After that, it was all Miami, with the Heat winning 107-94 on the road in March and then 94-83 at home last week. Story line: The road toward what the Heat hope is a repeat championship finally gets underway, after a regular season that included a 27-game winning streak and the best record in the NBA. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade combined to average 48 points and both had their bestshooting seasons. The Bucks haven’t won a playoff series since 2001, and lost 12 of their final 16 games. Key Matchup I: James vs. Everybody. The Bucks will have to send a bunch of different bodies and looks toward the reigning MVP in an effort to keep him guessing, and to get the Heat offense out of sorts. Milwaukee’s only win against Miami this season was a game where the Bucks had a 25-2 edge in points off turnovers. They’ll need massive efforts like that again in this series. Key Matchup II: Mario Chalmers vs. Brandon Jennings. Chalmers has been a huge threat from 3-point range this season and is far more consistent now than he was even a couple years ago. But Jennings always seems to find a way against the Heat, averaging 23.8 points against Miami this season on 46 percent shooting. X-Factor: Larry Sanders, only because he averaged one technical foul every 24 minutes against Miami this season, and he’ll need to be on the floor if Milwaukee will succeed in its quest to at least slow Chris Bosh. Prediction: Heat in 5. NO. 2 NEW YORK KNICKS (54-28) vs. NO. 7 BOSTON CELTICS (41-40) Season series: Knicks, 3-1. New York won the season series for the first time since 2003-04, also the last time it won twice in Boston. Carmelo Anthony averaged 25.3 points but made his biggest news off the court, when he confronted Kevin Garnett outside Boston’s team bus after the two exchanged words during the Celtics’ 102-96 victory in New York on Jan. 7. The Knicks then won the last three meetings. Story line: After ending the Celtics’ five-year reign as Atlantic Division champions with their first division title since 1994, the Knicks will try to win a playoff series for the first time since 2000. Boston has never lost in the first round with Garnett and Paul Pierce. Key matchup I: Tyson Chandler vs. Garnett. Neither center, both former Defensive Players of the Year, appeared in the final two meetings, and Garnett’s absence was particularly noticed when the Knicks scored 100 or more in both games. Chandler missed most of the final weeks with a bulging disk but is set to play. Key matchup II: J.R. Smith vs. Jason Terry. Terry averaged only 5.5 points and shot poorly against the Knicks during a somewhat disappointing season for the former Sixth Man award winner. Smith made himself a strong candidate for this season’s honor with his second-half play, including a 32-point performance in Boston on March 26. X-factor: Chris Copeland. The former pro player in Europe has become a surprising contributor in his rookie NBA season for the Knicks and seems to have found a place in the rotation. He scored 22 in the last meeting against Boston and had a pair of 30-point games to end the regular season. Prediction: Knicks in 7. NO. 3 INDIANA PACERS (49-32) vs. NO. 6 ATLANTA HAWKS (44-38) Season series: Tied, 2-2. Both teams went 2-0 at home. Here’s how even the season series was — the Pacers outscored the Hawks 400-395 in the four games, while the Hawks held tiny edges in rebounding (164-163), points in the paint (160-154) and fast-break points (51-48). Story line: Neither team is exactly hitting the postseason in high gear, with the Pacers having lost five of their final six games and the Hawks going 11-15 since the start of March — then looking downright awful for the final two games, losses that at least got them out of the Miami side of the East bracket. If there is a series that will wind up being a grind-it-out, low-scoring one in the opening round of these playoffs, this one could be the most likely candidate. Key Matchup I: David West vs. Josh Smith. Simply put, whichever guy plays better will probably see his team win the series. West has been relatively consistent all year and his 54-percent field-goal shooting since the AllStar break suggests he’s in the type of form the Pacers would want. Smith could be playing his final games with the Hawks, with free agency looming for him this summer. His approach to this series might give some hints as to whether his bags are already packed. Key Matchup II: Roy Hibbert vs. Al Horford. Hibbert is obviously a matchup nightmare for everyone because of his size, but Horford tends to control the paint using athleticism, so this one would look to be one of those classic-clash-of-styles situations. Horford averaged 16 points against Indiana in the regular season, Hibbert averaged only 9.5 against Atlanta. X-Factor: Frank Vogel. The Indiana coach turned into a master motivator last season when Indiana ended up bowing to Miami in six games, though it was a series where the Pacers had the eventual champions down 2-1. Even with no hope for Danny Granger’s return this season, if Vogel can get the “gold swagger” mode back, Indiana could be dangerous. Prediction: Pacers in 6. NO. 4 BROOKLYN NETS (49-33) vs. NO. 5 CHICAGO BULLS (45-37) Season series: Bulls, 3-1. Chicago had an 11-point victory, while the other three games were decided by four points, two and one. The Bulls, never fully healthy, were without Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah and Kirk Hinrich in their lone loss, a 93-89 defeat in Brooklyn on Feb. 1. Story line: Ending a successful first season in Brooklyn with the franchise’s first playoff appearance since 2007, the Nets open against the resilient Bulls, who made it to the middle of the Eastern Conference playoff standings even while playing all season without Derrick Rose. Key matchup I: Deron Williams vs. Hinrich and Nate Robinson — or Rose? Williams had a terrific second half of the season after treatment for his ankles around the AllStar break, though one of his poor performances during that span was a 4-for-12 night in a 96-85 loss at Chicago on March 2. Rose could still play, unlikely as it seems, after sitting out all season following major knee surgery. But the Bulls have gotten by without him thanks in part to Robinson, who had three 12-point games against Brooklyn. Key matchup II: Brook Lopez vs. Noah. Noah had 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in the lone blowout, but he missed two games and was limited down the stretch by a foot injury even when he did play. The Bulls will need his defense against fellow All-Star center Lopez, who averaged 22 points against Chicago. X-factor: Reggie Evans. Evans had some decent scoring nights in the second half to go with his usual strong rebounding, but didn’t manage a basket in three of the four games against Chicago. He shot 4 of 5 in the one Nets victory, and Brooklyn will need some offense along with his defense on Carlos Boozer. Prediction: Nets in 7.
NO. 1 OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER (60-22) vs. NO. 8 HOUSTON ROCKETS (45-37) Season series: Thunder, 2-1. Oklahoma City won a pair of blowouts before the Rockets pulled out a 122-119 home victory on Feb. 20 behind 46 points from James Harden. The Thunder gave Harden a rude welcome back on Nov. 28 when they held him to 3-of-16 shooting in a 120-98 victory, and they followed that a month later by rolling to a 124-94 win. Story line: After combining for a blockbuster trade in the preseason that dealt Harden to the Rockets, the teams meet in the first round as Oklahoma City tries to begin a second straight trip to the NBA Finals. Key matchup I: Thabo Sefolosha and Kevin Martin vs. Harden. Harden will try to outduel the player he used to replace in the lineup and the one who ultimately replaced him via trade. Martin has taken over as Harden’s sixth man role and averaged 17 points against his former team, while defensive ace Sefolosha provided some unexpected offense in the series with a 28-point game. Key matchup II: Russell Westbrook vs. Jeremy Lin. Lin helped his team reach the playoffs in his first full season as a starter and had a terrific performance in Houston’s victory over Oklahoma City, finishing with 29 points, eight assists and six rebounds. But his first playoff appearance comes against a dominant point guard in Westbrook, who twice scored 28 points against the Rockets. X-factor: Patrick Beverley. The Rockets aren’t afraid to give the backup point guard big minutes, and might need to use him if Westbrook’s quickness is too much for Lin. Prediction: Thunder in 5. NO. 2 SAN ANTONIO SPURS (58-24) vs. NO. 7 LOS ANGELES LAKERS (45-37) Season series: Spurs, 2-1. Los Angeles prevented a sweep with a 91-86 victory on Sunday in its first game after losing Kobe Bryant to a season-ending injury. The Spurs took the other two by a combined five points, pulling out an 84-82 victory in Los Angeles on Nov. 13 during the Lakers’ stormy start to the season and winning 108105 at home on Jan. 9. Story line: A top Western Conference rivalry in the last decade, this meeting comes without Bryant, who tore his Achilles’ tendon last week. The Lakers managed to make the postseason without him, winning their final five games to finish seventh and ending up opposite the Spurs, who battled injuries down the stretch and couldn’t hold off Oklahoma City for the No. 1 seed. Key matchup I: Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter vs. Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard. With Bryant gone and Steve Nash sidelined down the stretch, the Lakers reinvented themselves as an inside team, looking little like the usual Mike D’Antoni offense. Duncan, still near the top of his game as he turns 37 next week, and Splitter will have to control them while scoring themselves. Key matchup II: Tony Parker vs. Nash. Parker was banged-up late in the season and had just four points on 1-of-10 shooting last Sunday in Los Angeles. But he was still healthier than Nash, who missed the final seven games with a strained right hamstring. Parker averaged 21.5 points in the Spurs’ two victories and should be able to blow through the Lakers’ defense if he’s healthy. Nash played only once against San Antonio, finishing with 14 points and nine assists in the Jan. 9 loss. X-factor: Steve Blake. He started in Nash’s place down the stretch and was particularly good after Bryant was lost, scoring 23 and 24 points in his final two games. Prediction: Spurs in 6. NO. 3 DENVER NUGGETS (57-25) vs. NO. 6 GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (47-35) Season series: Nuggets, 3-1. The teams met three times in November and Denver nearly won them all, taking a double-overtime affair on the road in the first meeting, then winning at home and falling 106-105 on the road — all those games coming in a three-week span. They haven’t played since Jan. 13, a 116-105 home win for the Nuggets. Story line: It’s just the second trip to the playoffs for the Warriors in 19 years, which means Mark Jackson’s team will have to guard against the just-happy-to-be-here pratfall that tends to affect clubs in that situation. Meanwhile, Denver was an in-vogue pick by many people to emerge from the loaded West before the season, and even without Danilo Gallinari the Nuggets have to think they can make a deep run, given their 23-game home win streak. Key Matchup I: Ty Lawson vs. Stephen Curry. Lawson won’t have to do it alone, but the safest way for Denver to grab control of this series would be to not allow Curry — the league’s newly crowned single-season 3-point record-holder — to shoot the Warriors into the second round. It’ll be interesting to see how keeping at least one eye on Curry on one end will affect Lawson’s scoring. Key Matchup II: Andre Iguodala vs. Klay Thompson. Both are capable of big numbers at any time, but Thompson and Curry form what plenty of people in the NBA say is the league’s best-shooting backcourt, probably in some time. Iguodala hasn’t been great in the playoffs of late, shooting a combined 80 for 203 in his last two postseasons in Philadelphia. The Nuggets will need more than that. X-Factor: David Lee. He’s a two-time All-Star, an eightyear veteran and not only is this his first time in the NBA playoffs, but it’s his first time playing for a team that won more than 36 games. That’s right — his most recent postseason game was against Villanova. Prediction: Nuggets in 7. NO. 4 LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (56-26) vs. NO. 5 MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES (56-26) Season series: Clippers, 3-1. One of the Los Angeles wins was a blowout, a 99-73 road romp that came at the perfect time for the Clippers, since they were smarting from having just lost at home to Orlando and Memphis was mired in what became a six-game stretch where it couldn’t break the 85-point mark. The Clippers won both games in Memphis, the Grizzlies split two in L.A. Story line: A pair of 56-win teams, both playing well and meeting a year after the Clippers went into Memphis and won a Game 7 to reach the second round of the playoffs — this has all the ingredients for a classic series. The Clippers are clearly the more high-octane of the two clubs, while the Grizzlies play with a defensive ruggedness probably not found anywhere else in the West. Key Matchup I: Blake Griffin vs. Zach Randolph. Griffin was bothered by back spasms in the season finale, and Randolph — who Heat forward Shane Battier affectionally compared to an ox earlier this season — will probably create a new bruise or two for the Clippers’ star to deal with in this series. Neither will shy away from the other, for certain. Key Matchup II: Chris Paul vs. Mike Conley. Paul is an absolute superstar, and the Clippers will probably go as far as he takes them. But Conley isn’t far off from joining that elite level of player in this league. The head-to-head edge in the regular season clearly went to Paul, as Conley shot just 30 percent in the four games and Paul posted a nearly 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. X-Factor: Marc Gasol. A strong defensive player of the year candidate, he shot 52 percent in the series against the Clippers last season. If he matches that, there will be an “upset” alert, though one 56-win club topping another would hardly be considered an upset. Prediction: Grizzlies in 7.
Photo by Lynne Sladky | AP
The Miami Heat’s LeBron James (6), Mike Miller (13), Mario Chalmers, center, and Dwyane Wade (3) will certainly be the team to beat in the playoffs. ment in the playoffs where our back is going to be against the wall. And I think everything we’ve done this season will prepare us for that moment. We have a goal, just like every other team that gets into the playoffs, to win a championship. But we understand the process that it takes.” It starts Saturday, when the playoffs start with four first-round games. The Heat will open Sunday against Milwaukee in what’s expected to be a quick series. Then it will be up to someone like the Knicks, Thunder, Spurs, or some other contender, to prove that the next two months aren’t just a formality. New York, which won three out of four from Miami, hosts Boston on Saturday in the playoff opener. The Nets welcome Chicago for the first postseason game in Brooklyn, while the Western Conference has Golden State visiting Denver, and the Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies squaring off in a first-round rematch. On Sunday, the Lakers go to San Antonio without Kobe Bryant, and defending West champ Oklahoma City faces former Thunder star James Harden and Houston. Indiana and Atlanta meet in the other East game. Miami went 66-16 and has been so dominant since Super Bowl Sunday that the betting site Bovada gave the Heat opening odds to win the championship that it said were “unheard of in recent years” — and then already had to lower them when most of the action was coming in on the Heat, anyway. That dropped Miami to a 2-to-3 favorite, meaning a $3 bet only won $2 more. The Heat were 2-to-9 favorites to win the East, where Indiana and Chicago also beat them multiple times during the regular season. Knicks center Tyson Chandler said the other contenders shouldn’t feel slighted by all the experts that are picking the Heat. “No, not at all. They should pick the Heat,” he said. “They’re the defending champions and they should get that respect. But that’s not what we believe. We haven’t believed in that throughout the year. But they should get that respect because they’ve earned it.” Miami faced plenty of adversity
during last season’s championship run. They were down 2-1 to Indiana in the second round, with Wade struggling and Chris Bosh injured. The Celtics took a 3-2 lead in the conference finals back to Boston before James fought off elimination with a 45-point performance in Game 6, and the Thunder took the opener of the NBA Finals and nearly rallied two nights later to put the Heat in a 2-0 hole. But this version of the Heat is much better, and certainly miles above the team that lost in the 2011 finals in the first season with its Big Three. With Ray Allen, Chris Andersen and Rashard Lewis, the Heat have added players who were able to win games for them even when they chose to rest their superstars down the stretch. There is much more intrigue out West, especially in the two series involving Los Angeles teams. The Clippers and Grizzlies went seven games last year before the Clippers advanced, and this time they have the home-court advantage. The Lakers didn’t even clinch a playoff spot until Wednesday, but they won their final five games and look dangerous even without Bryant thanks to the inside play of Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol. The Lakers and Spurs had one of the NBA’s best postseason rivalries in the last decade, and this one could join their list of memorable series. “We’re happy that we’re in the playoffs but we’re not done yet,” Howard said. The highlight in the East could be in the Boston-New York series. The Knicks ended the Celtics’ fiveyear reign as Atlantic Division champions with their first division title since 1994, with Carmelo Anthony leading the NBA with 28.7 points per game. New York will have to fight off a No. 7 seed hoping it still has a run left with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett and trying to give a lift to a hurting city after the Boston Marathon bombings. The winner could emerge as the best hope in the East to beat the Heat — if there is such a thing. Count former NBA coach and ESPN analyst Flip Saunders among those who doubt there is, saying Wednesday on a conference call that he doesn’t “see anyone challenging them.”
RANGERS Continued from Page 1B er chapter. He pitched seven shutout innings, allowed three hits and worked quickly. It was very similar to his other two starts this season in that he went at least seven innings, allowed two or fewer runs and six or fewer hits. He did not allow a homer for the
second straight start. Oh, and two problems that surfaced over and over again last year — his ability to finish off batters with two strikes and innings with two outs — have been non-events in the short sampling thus far. Holland allowed hitters a .159 average with two strikes
COWBOYS Continued from Page 1B suited up, Arkin has yet to step on the field. League-wide, NFL teams started rookies in a record 1,000 games last season. The Cowboys contributed just 17 of those starts. Either the scouts are doing a poor job evaluating talent or the coaches are doing a poor job developing that talent. Like I mentioned earlier, there’s a disconnect somewhere. Two years in, we still have no
er traveled to London yesterday to conclude negotiations over a deal for Schurrle, for whom Chelsea unsuccessfully bid 16 million pounds and 18 million pounds last year, the newspaper added. PELLEGRINI STAYING PUT Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini said he isnt interested in becoming Chelseas new manager even though his current club is behind with his wages, the Sun reported. Im not looking to change club, the Sun cited Pellegrini, 59, as saying. My main objective is to finish my contract with Malaga and continue the work we have started. MORRISON MOVE Manchester City is considering a move former Manchester United midfielder Ravel Morrison, whos currently on loan at Birmingham City from West Ham, the Daily Mirror reported. City has made discreet inquiries about the 20-year-old midfielder once rated by United manager Alex Ferguson as one of the best young players hes ever worked with, the Mirror added.
his fastball down just a bit, which allows him to reach back for more velocity when he might need it. He is still a power pitcher, averaging 92.9 mph with the fastball, but he’s also a more well-developed pitcher who keeps batters uncomfortable with a quicker-paced delivery.
NFL SCHEDULE Continued from Page 1B
clue whether or not David Arkin can play. If you’re going to use a draft pick on a player, then play him. Find out about him. If he can’t play, get rid of him. If he can play, he may surprise you how good he can become. This looms as a crucial draft for the Cowboys. With all of their needs, the Cowboys could use four walk-in starters in their six picks. But will the coaches play them?
TRANSFERS Continued from Page 1B
last year; it is .083 through three starts. He allowed hitters a .258 batting average after two strikes last year; it is .148 this season. Through three starts, he’s throwing both the slider and changeup slightly more than 19 percent of the time. That’s brought the reliance on
they beat in double overtime on their way to the Super Bowl. New York Jets coach Rex Ryan, who spent 10 years as an assistant in Baltimore, seemed most interested in — and annoyed by — the Ravens being forced to kick off the season on the road. “I think that the world champs can open up at home and that’s where I think they should open, at home,” Ryan said. “I think it is common courtesy. I don’t know what gets involved in that. I am not
in charge of it, but if I would have been, the Ravens would be opening at home. “If baseball had only 16 games, I might understand it. But just as common courtesy maybe (the Orioles) say, ‘I’ll play this one on the road.” Just from a fan perspective of sports.” The Sunday night season opener is the Giants at the Cowboys, and the Monday night doubleheader has Philadelphia at Washington, then Houston at San Diego.
TECHNOLOGY Continued from Page 1B cised like an unsightly mole? The cameras of Hawk-Eye and GoalControl — the first chosen by the English Premier League, the second by FIFA for the 2014 World Cup — could have told us whether Soviet linesman Tofik Bakhramov correctly called Geoff Hurst’s goal in the 101st minute for England against Germany in the 1966 World Cup final. How sad. Because that would have deprived soccer of a call so infamously controversial that it has endured as a story through the decades since. Which also shows that such incidents are remembered not because they happen every week but because they don’t. Even fewer of the goals wrongly given or not are actually decisive. The Premier League calculates that the technology, if installed this season, could have proved useful in around 20 of some 320 matches played thus
far. In many of those, the ball was either clearly over the line or clearly not, few were difficult calls, and officials mostly got them right. Perhaps the most glaring error was referee Mike Jones not awarding a goal when Victor Anichebe’s header for Everton crossed Newcastle’s goal-line in September. GoalControl costs $260,000-$330,000 per stadium to install. There are also small running costs of $3,900$5,200 per match. Hawk-Eye and the Premier League won’t say how much their system will cost for the English clubs who’ll need the cameras perhaps just once per season. But with the money going on goalline technology in England and at 12 World Cup stadiums in Brazil , you could have rebuilt the bombedout soccer stadium in Gaza, laid the first turf pitch in Bangladesh and paid for the first artificial grass field in Greenland and still have come out with perhaps a couple of million dollars in change.
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B
HINTS | BY HELOISE What Can Clean Granite? Dear Heloise: I love my GRANITE COUNTERTOPS. However, I don’t know how to clean/disinfect them without using chemicalbased commercial cleaners. I use vinegar to clean/disinfect the sink, stove and other appliances. Can I use vinegar on granite, or is there another natural product I can use? — Lois McNamara, Cedar Grove, N.J. This is an often-asked question, and it may be a hard one (pun intended) to answer. There is much conflicting information about how to clean and “sanitize” granite countertops. So, it is best to check with the manufacturer or the installer of your granite to see what is suggested. The most important thing to remember when you start thinking about cleaning or disinfecting granite is that many cleaners might damage granite. Don’t use abrasive cleaners or anything with a high acid content (like grout, tile, toilet, etc.). Also, when you spill something on the granite
“
HELOISE
countertop, wipe it up as soon as possible to keep it from staining. You usually are safe with a drop or two of mild dish soap on a damp sponge. Wipe the surface, rinse with water and wipe dry. — Heloise PET PAL Dear Readers: Miriam Brown of Benton, Maine, sent a photo of her large black cat sitting up and begging for his food. To see the black cat, visit www.Heloise.com and click on “Pets.” — Heloise CEREAL CRUMBS Dear Heloise: To avoid waste and practice good nutrition, I use a large-mesh sieve to remove the “fines” from cereal; they become my breading for salmon croquettes, chicken, etc. Sometimes I mix it with a bit of cornmeal or flour, depending on what I’m frying. It’s important that the cereal not have much, if any, sugar or sugar substitutes! — A Reader, via email
DENNIS THE MENACE
FAMILY CIRCUS
PEANUTS
GARFIELD
DAILY CRYPTOQUOTES — Here’s how to work it:
DILBERT
4B THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2013