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OIL AND GAS
FOOD STAMPS
New business
State has billions in unused aid 1,160 residents eligible are not enrolled for food stamps in Zapata By MELISSA FLETCHER STOELTJE SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
Photo by Cuate Santos | Laredo Morning Times
SureFind Pipeline Markers owners Mario J. and Amada V. Garza cut the ribbon for their business Friday afternoon. The markers, which were conceived 11 years ago, aid in finding underground utility lines to prevent serious incidents.
Pipeline marker finds home in Zapata By RICARDO R. VILLARREAL THE ZAPATA TIMES
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Friday afternoon for SureFind Pipeline Markers, cementing a business headquarters for a product first developed more than a decade ago. The device, which originally went on sale in September 2011, promises “complete and total accuracy” in finding underground utility lines. It indicates the location and depth of underground gas, water, communications, electrical and sewer lines. Mario Garza, company president and inventor of the SureFind Pipeline Marker, said that technology was limited to “a stick in the mud” when finding utility lines. “Ours is different. It sits on your pipe. Starting at zero, it goes on up to a depth of 20 feet, and it tells you who it belongs to,” Garza said. The markers were originally developed with the oil field industry in mind, according to the company’s website, but are versatile enough for multiple uses. Garza, who has worked in the oil field industry for 36 years, said he first began developing his product about 11 years ago. “We filed for a patent, got it approved and im-
Photo by Cuate Santos | Laredo Morning Times
Owners Mario J. and Amada V. Garza react after cutting the ribbon to their business Friday afternoon. They were joined by family, friends and well wishers. proved it to its present composition of a durable polyurethane that lasts forever,” he said. “We built our place of business last week, and here we are.” Each utility is color coded for determining the line’s function at a glance. Yellow is for gas, blue for water, orange for technological communication, red for electricity and green for sewer. An additional feature
allows a utility company’s sticker or logo with contact information to be displayed for immediate identification. Company literature states about 34 percent of serious incidents involving all pipeline systems were caused by excavation damage, and the new device is designed to decrease such incidents. Zapata Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Paco Mendoza said
he was pleased the company is based in Zapata. “We’re very happy that Mario and his wife, Amada, both life-long residents of Zapata, have been successful with their product. We know there will be a demand for it,” Mendoza said. Amada V. Garza is the vice-president of the company. (Rick Villarreal at 7282528 or rvillarreal@lmtonline.com)
CRIME
As Congress this week considers possible changes to the nation’s food stamp program, an advocacy group released a report on Monday that estimates only two-thirds of Texas residents who were eligible for food stamps received them in 2011 — costing the state more than $3 billion in unused federal aid. The Texas Food Bank Network’s report used new state and federal data to estimate participation rates in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — also known as food stamps. The report also showed how much money was "left on the table" in counties across the state because of underenrollment. In Zapata County, more than 5,500 people were eligible for food stamps last year, but 1,160 weren’t enrolled in the program - leaving more than $1.7 million in unused aid, according to the report. Lawmakers should be discussing how to increase enrollment in the program, not reducing it, a network official said. "We’re astounded that Congress would consider cuts of more than $20 billion from this crucial nutrition program," Celia Cole, CEO of the network, said in a press release. "Clearly SNAP is a targeted benefit that helps the most deserving among us. We shouldn’t tighten our belts around our most vulnerable neigh-
CRIME
Company offers reward in tires theft By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Officials detain three connected to burglaries By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Zapata County Sheriff ’s officials announced this week they detained three juveniles responsible for several burglaries and acts of vandalism in San Ygnacio. Sheriff ’s investigators charged three male juveniles — aged 13, 14 and 16 — with burglary and criminal mischief charges. Each juvenile was referred to the Zapata County Juvenile Proba-
tion and later transported to a juvenile detention facility in San Diego. Sgt. Mario Elizondo said the property damages were estimated to be in the several thousands of dollars. It’s alleged the juveniles targeted areas around Grant, Lincoln, Morelos, Santa Maria, Treviño and Washington streets. “Investigators are making contact with victims, and an investigation is still ongoing,” Elizondo said.
Sheriff ’s office Chief Raymundo del Bosque Jr. said many factors contributed to the detention of the juvenile trio. Del Bosque said investigators put their tools to use and discovered some stolen items had been pawned at shops in Webb County. “The guys are doing a good job,” del Bosque said. He encouraged people to report suspicious activity. For people who purchase items, he suggests they should write
down the serial numbers. By having the serial numbers, this allows the investigators to trace down the stolen item. Del Bosque also suggested people mark their property in areas where only they would know. People with information leading to the recovery of stolen items can call the sheriff ’s office at 7659960. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 7282568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
bors." The report also highlighted the demographics of food stamp recipients in Texas, the majority of which are children, seniors and persons with disabilities. More than half of recipients — 55 percent — are children. Food stamps primarily serve the working poor and those who’ve recently lost employment, according to the report. More than 80 percent of Texas households that received food stamps last year had members who were employed at some point during the 12 months, it said. The House Agriculture Committee will vote on Wednesday on a new farm bill that includes a proposal that would eliminate state flexibility rules regarding who can enroll in the program and other guidelines. That change could potentially take aid away from up to 300,000 people in Texas, Cole said. "Our Texas representatives in Washington need to show leadership by rejecting these cuts, even as a procedural maneuver to keep the farm bill moving," said Cole. "They need to send a clear message that cuts to SNAP are not up for debate." The Texas Food Bank Network is composed of food banks across the state, including the San Antonio Food Bank. ( The Zapata Times contributed to this report. Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje may be reached at mstoeltje@express-news.net)
A Texas-based energy company is offering reward money for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for stealing 792 tractor-trailer tires May 3. Key Energy Services in Zapata will pay up to $20,000, states an advertisement posted in Monday’s Laredo Morning Times. Key representatives did not return calls to comment on this article. On May 3, Zapata County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the company’s yard located in the 3000 block of U.S. 83, a mile north of Zapata, for a theft report. A sheriff’s office spokesman said tires and rims worth approximately $332,000 were unaccounted for at the yard. Key representatives posted in the ad
the tires were delivered by Tire Center Inc. No suspects have been named. Sheriff’s office Chief Raymundo del Bosque Jr. said investigators are following leads to arrest the people responsible for the theft. Sheriff’s officials encouraged the community last week to come forward with information regarding the case. Key representatives did the same this week. “Key will not seek to prosecute anyone providing information,” the ad reads. “The anonymity of all sources will be carefully protected.” Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the sheriff’s office in Zapata at 765-9960. Members of the public can also call Key’s loss prevention department at 866-902-3438. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
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Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
SATURDAY, MAY 18 Laredo Crime Stoppers’ Battle of the Badges Ribs & Beans Cook-Off & Motorcycle Scavenger Hunt is from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. at El Metro Park & Ride Grounds. The event is dedicated to the memory of all fallen law enforcement officers as part of National Law Enforcement Week. Admission is $3; children 12 and under get in free; and parking is free. Contact the Crime Stoppers’ administration office at 7241876 or crimestoppers@bizlaredo.rr.com. An open non-rated chess tournament for student K-12 is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Muller Elementary, 4430 Muller Memorial Blvd. Registration is from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., with first round at 11:30 a.m. The entry free is $7 if pre-registered and $10 at the door. Contact Dan Navarro at 7224600 or dan209@stx.rr.com. El Centro de Laredo Farmers’ Market, from 9 a.m. to noon at Jarvis Plaza, will feature a cooking demonstration by La Posada Chef Alberto Gutierrez. There will also be a ballet performance by Dance Forum. Get free parking at El Metro with a market purchase. Contact Marisa Laufer at 956523-8817 or laredofarmermkt@att.net.
SUNDAY, MAY 19 The St. Patrick Catholic Church Men’s Club steak plate sale is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the church, 555 E. Del Mar Blvd. The fee is $5 per plate to benefit scholarships. Call 324-2432.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 22 The Genealogical Family Trees Exhibition will be presented by the Villa de San Agustin de Laredo Genealogical Society, from 5 p.m. to 7 pm., at Gallery 201, 513 San Bernardo Ave. Sixteen members and friends will share their family history in addition to poetic contrast readings by Raquel ValleSenties and Olga Valle-Herr. Call 7223497. SCAN will offer free anxiety and depression screenings, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., at their main office, 2387 E. Saunders St. Screenings will be provided on a walk-in basis by licensed professional counselors. SCAN licensed professional counselors will provide adolescents and adults participating an individual screening session. Call Dr. Susana Rivera at 956-724-3177.
FRIDAY, MAY 24 The Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium will show “The Zula Patrol: Down to Earth” at 6 p.m. and “Stars of the Pharaohs” at 7 p.m. General admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Premium shows are $1 more. Call 326-3663.
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. It’s Family Movie Day at the Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium. “Toy Story 3” will show at 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. General admission is $3. There will be free face painting, arts and crafts. Call 326-3663.
FRIDAY, MAY 31 The Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium will show “The Zula Patrol: Down to Earth” 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. Call 3263663
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.
SATURDAY, JULY 20 The PFC Ira “Ben” Laningham IV 5K Memorial Run is set for 8 a.m. through 5 p.m. There will also be a 200m Kids Fun Run. Early registration through Sunday is $8; from Monday through July 19, $10; and late registration on race day is $15. Registration for the Kids Fun Run is $5. Those who wish to participate may register at Zapata Boys & Girls Club, 306 6th St.; Zapata County Chamber of Commerce, 601 N. U.S. 83; Momentum Running Co., 1202 E. Del Mar Blvd., Ste. 103, Laredo; or by email at http:// www.evenbrite.com/ event/5820121139#.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Ron T. Ennis/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram | AP
A heavily damaged home in Granbury is seen in an aerial view on Thursday, May 16. Gov. Rick Perry visited the town Friday, two days after a tornado left six people dead. Ten tornadoes touched down in several small communities in North Texas overnight, leaving dozens injured and hundreds homeless.
Perry tours devastation By DAVID WARREN & JAMIE STENGLE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GRANBURY — Gov. Rick Perry says the tornado-wrought devastation in a North Texas neighborhood is almost incomprehensible. Perry toured Granbury on Friday, two days after a tornado left six people dead in the city about 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth. Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds said residents in the affected areas will be allowed to get belongings and begin cleaning up during daytime hours starting Saturday. Granbury bore the brunt of the damage during the outbreak of 16 tornadoes in North Texas. In Granbury, much of the devastation occurred in the Rancho Brazos Estates. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott also
Texas sues BP for damages related to spill Texas on Friday became the fifth state to sue British oil company BP over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, seeking damages related to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. The lawsuit, filed by the office of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, is seeking lost tax revenue, lost revenue from state parks, damages to natural resources and civil penalties for each day that oil was spilled and for every barrel of oil that was illegally discharged. The April 2010 blowout of BP’s Macondo well triggered an explosion that killed 11 workers on the rig and spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. “Today’s filing follows years of work with Texas’ sister Gulf states and the federal government, as well as BP, to resolve damages associated with harm caused to the Gulf. Because the parties to date
was in Granbury and urged residents to be cautious of those who might try to scam them as they rebuild. People who were missing in the wake of the destructive tornadoes in North Texas have been found safe, officials said Friday, but they didn’t indicate when residents of one hard-hit neighborhood will be allowed to return to survey damage. The Hood County Sheriff ’s Office said the death toll from the violent storm system Wednesday night remains at six and is unlikely to change. Authorities had said Thursday that as many as seven people were listed as missing, but everyone has now been accounted for. Sheriff ’s spokesman Nathan Stringer said authorities were focusing Friday on a devastated neighborhood in Granbury known as Rancho Brazos Estates.
have been unable to fully resolve claims related to the disaster, the state filed today’s enforcement action to preserve the state’s claims against BP and other defendants,” Abbott’s office said in a statement. In an email, BP spokesman Scott Dean declined to comment on the lawsuit.
require an audit of charitable bingo halls to make sure they are giving money to charity. State lawmakers use about $2 billion from the lottery for education.
Senate votes to extend Texas Lottery
AUSTIN — The Legislature has approved opening a medical school in South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. The House on Friday passed a constitutional amendment already approved by the Senate which seeks to open, as early as 2016, a medical school along the underserved Texas border with Mexico. The new university is projected to enroll 28,000 students, employ 7,000 people and generate $11 million in research expenditures. The University of Texas System already has pledged $100 million for the project. The effort has been backed by Gov. Rick Perry and enjoyed widespread, bipartisan support. — Compiled from AP reports.
AUSTIN — The Texas Senate has voted to extend the life of the state lottery in a vote that was much less contentious than in the House, where some lawmakers tried to kill it off. In a unanimous vote with little discussion, the Senate voted Friday to continue the Texas Lottery for another 12 years. Last month, conservatives in the House led a charge to kill the lottery as an immoral tax on the poor. House members ultimately defeated that effort, but will get another crack at the bill next week. The Senate changed the bill to
Lege approves South Texas medical school
AROUND THE NATION Arrests in New Orleans parade shootings cheered NEW ORLEANS — Days after bursts of gunfire brought a chaotic and bloody end to a Mother’s Day neighborhood parade in New Orleans, news of now seven arrests gave an organizer of the traditional event reason to celebrate again. “I’m just ecstatic,” Edward Buckner, president of the Original Big 7 Social Aid and Pleasure Club, said Thursday. Two brothers were booked with 20 counts each of attempted second-degree murder in Sunday’s shooting spree in which 19 people were struck by bullets and one was injured while fleeing. Authorities said three people remain in critical condition. Akein Scott, 19, was captured Wednesday night. A $10 million bond was set for him in the shooting case Thursday and he was ordered held without bond, pending another hearing on an unrelated gun and weapon
Today is Saturday, May 18, the 138th day of 2013. There are 227 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On May 18, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a measure creating the Tennessee Valley Authority. On this date: In 1642, the Canadian city of Montreal was founded by French colonists. In 1765, about one-fourth of Montreal was destroyed by a fire. In 1863, the Siege of Vicksburg began during the Civil War, ending July 4 with a Union victory. In 1896, the Supreme Court, in Plessy v. Ferguson, endorsed “separate but equal” racial segregation, a concept renounced 58 years later in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. In 1910, Halley’s Comet passed by earth, brushing it with its tail. In 1944, during World War II, Allied forces finally occupied Monte Cassino in Italy after a four-month struggle with Axis troops. In 1953, Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier as she piloted a Canadair F-86 Sabre jet over Rogers Dry Lake, Calif. In 1969, astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, Thomas P. Stafford and John W. Young blasted off aboard Apollo 10 on a mission to orbit the moon. In 1973, Harvard law professor Archibald Cox was appointed Watergate special prosecutor by U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson. In 1980, the Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington state exploded, leaving 57 people dead or missing. Ten years ago: A Hamas suicide attacker disguised as an observant Jew killed seven Israeli bus passengers. Pope John Paul II celebrated his 83rd birthday with an open-air Mass and requests for prayers so he could continue his papacy. “Les Miserables” closed on Broadway after more than 16 years and 6,680 performances. Five years ago: President George W. Bush lectured the Arab world about everything from political repression to the denial of women’s rights in a speech at the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheik. Kenny Chesney was named entertainer of the year by the Academy of Country Music for the fourth straight time. One year ago: Social network Facebook made its trading debut with one of the most highly anticipated IPOs in Wall Street history; however, by day’s end, Facebook stock closed up only 23 cents from its initial pricing of $38. The Olympic flame arrived in Britain, the country hosting the 2012 Olympics. Today’s Birthdays: Baseball Hall-of-Famer Reggie Jackson is 67. Actress Candice Azzara is 66. Rock musician Rick Wakeman (Yes) is 64. Actor James Stephens is 62. Country singer George Strait is 61. Rhythm-and-blues singer Butch Tavares (Tavares) is 60. Actor Chow Yun-Fat is 58. Comedian-writer Tina Fey is 43. Rapper Special Ed is 39. Rock singer Jack Johnson is 38. Actor Matt Long is 33. Actor Allen Leech (TV: “Downton Abbey”) is 32. Actor Spencer Breslin is 21. Thought for Today: “The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.” — Fred Astaire, American dancer-actor (1899-1987).
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Shawn Scott, 24, a suspect in the Mother’s Day parade shooting, is led out of the New Orleans 5th District Police Station, Thursday, May 16, in New Orleans. Shawn and his brother Akein each face 20 counts of attempted second-degree murder. charge. His brother, Shawn Scott, 24, was arrested Thursday morning. The district attorney’s office had said Shawn Scott would make an initial court appearance Friday, but court records
show bond was set at $10 million for him in a hearing Thursday evening. An additional $91,000 in bond was added for other drug and weapon charges. Five others were accused of helping suspects avoid capture.
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, MAY 18, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
LCC to offer summer courses in Zapata SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
This summer, Zapata residents can once again pursue a college education without traveling too far, as Laredo Community College and the Zapata County Technical and Advanced Education Center team up to offer courses. Registration is under way for three college credit courses that LCC will offer at the ZTAC, as part of the college’s Summer Session 1 course offerings.
The history and math courses LCC is planning to offer in Zapata are part of the core curriculum for students who want to earn a certificate or associate’s degree from LCC and/or transfer to a four-year university. “Laredo Community College encourages the Zapata community to participate and to take advantage of this great opportunity,” said Assistant Dean of LCC South Pricilla Medina. “We are working hard to make sure students save as many trips to Lare-
do as possible throughout their college career at LCC.” Math 1314 will be offered in a “face-to-face” classroom setting, while History 1301 and 1302 will be transmitted from LCC’s Fort McIntosh and South campuses to the ZTAC using teleconferencing technology. All of LCC’s core courses can transfer to any Texas college or university and most other schools. Prospective students must go through LCC’s admissions pro-
Senator honored for casting landmark vote SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
State Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, extended her career-long 100-percent voting record by casting her 50,000th consecutive vote Friday in the Texas Senate. To celebrate the nationally inimitable milestone, the Texas Senate presented her with a commemorative gavel and passed Senate Resolution 973 authored by Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, and co-authored by all other senators. “Each vote I cast in the Texas Senate reflects my commitment to balancing the needs and interests of Senate District 21 families with those of our great state,” Zaffirini said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to make difference in the lives of Texans, especially the very young, the very old and persons with disabilities.” Zaffirini’s legendary work ethic also is reflected in her 100 percent perfect attendance in the Texas Senate since 1987, except for breaking quorum deliberately in 2003 to prevent an untimely redistricting that the U.S. Supreme Court later ruled violated
the Voting Rights Act and disenfranchised voters in her Senatorial District 21. ZAFFIRINI Zaffirini has been recognized routinely as one of the best and hardest-working legislators. In 1997, State Legislatures magazine highlighted her 15,000th consecutive vote in an article titled, “15,000 and Still Counting: The Tireless Texan.” No one responded to the magazine’s request for information about similar records in any other state. When she approached 30,000 consecutive votes in 2003, The Alcalde, the official alumni magazine of The University of Texas at Austin, called her the “Cal Ripken of the Texas Legislature.” In 2011, Texas Monthly named her to its list of “10 Best Legislators” for the fourth time, and in 2009, the magazine noted Zaffirini’s tenacity in championing the interests of her constituents: “No one works harder. No one is more organized. No one is more re-
lentless.” The first Mexican American woman to be elected to the Texas Senate, to serve as president pro tempore of the Senate, and to serve as Governor for a Day, Zaffirini also is the second highest-ranking Texas senator; the longest-serving woman in the Texas Senate; the highest ranking woman, Hispanic and minority senator; and the senior senator for South Texas, Central Texas and the border region. Named an honorary nun by the Sisters of Mercy, Zaffirini attributes her success in the Texas Senate partly to lessons learned from the Ursuline nuns, particularly her punctuality and reverence for decorum. To help others, particularly freshmen, master the complexities of the Senate, each session she voluntarily writes a Presiding Guide handbook that memorializes the procedures and language for passing bills and for presiding over the Senate and Senate committees. Zaffirini has sponsored and passed 740 bills and 52 substantive resolutions and co-sponsored and passed another 384 bills.
cess to register for the courses. Students may apply online at www.laredo.edu/apply. Advisement and online registration are available through Saturday, June 1. Students must be advised before they can register for classes. Students can get advised by the Student Success Center via email at www.laredo.edu/e-advising. “It is very important for Zapata students to participate in these courses so we can offer more opportunities like these in
the near future,” Medina said. “We are looking forward to a great turnout and a fantastic summer session.” Students can register for classes online via PASPort at https://pasport.laredo.edu. Summer Session 1 is from Monday, June 3 through Monday, July 8. For information about the admissions, advising and/or registration process, call the Enrollment and Registration Services Center at 721-5109 or 794-4110.
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Zopinion
SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013
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COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
Jolie and the other women By JENNIFER GRAHAM THE BOSTON GLOBE
To hear the chorus of adulation that arose from the surgical excise of two celebrity breasts, you’d think we should all have “Jolie Strong” signs in our front yards. Angelina Jolie’s decision to trade an elevated cancer risk for a double mastectomy has been lauded as brave, admirable, and compassionate. Her confidence in the decision, expressed in her revelatory op-ed in The New York Times, recalls the Latin maxim “mater semper certa est” — literally, “the mother is always certain.” Figuratively, it means, the matter is beyond dispute. And Jolie is indeed unlikely to get breast cancer if she has no breasts (although a 5 percent risk remains). But let’s put the brakes on the canonization, and on the dubious extrapolation that what one highly visible woman has done is a best practice. Jolie, a person of extraordinary privilege, has exercised an option that’s not available to most women — and that many women wouldn’t choose even if they could. When you’re already the fairest of them all, you can lose a breast or two and still be quite fetching; Brad Pitt is not going anywhere. Jolie’s decision, while no doubt agonizing, is much different from the decision facing a similarly threatened woman in her 20s who has not yet found a partner or nursed an infant.
Further, the surgery Jolie underwent is an elective surgical procedure — one that, to women who are warier than Jolie is of permanently modifying their bodies, might feel like a form of self-mutilation. Perhaps it’s unfair to compare a preventive measure of noble intent to, say, repeatedly puncturing your skin and injecting it with ink. Yet for me, it’s hard to separate the message from the messenger. Jolie herself isn’t exactly recommending double mastectomies; in her piece, she expressed the hope more women can be tested for the same cancer-related genetic mutation she carries. To her credit, she carefully noted, “that there are many wonderful holistic doctors working on alternatives to surgery.” And this is a good thing, because as she also noted, “Breast cancer kills 458,000 people each year, according to the World Health Organization, mainly in low- to middle-income countries.” For poor women dying of breast cancer in dirty huts with no running water, there are no $3,000 tests for genetic mutations, no surgery, no reconstruction and no one to care for their families. Let’s not see Jolie’s choice of surgery as a saintly act that other women should be quick to emulate. Much more courage was demanded of other women who have made this choice before her, and those whose did not make the choice, but had it made for them.
COLUMN
Two scandals not similar THE WASHINGTON POST
Standing before reporters Thursday, President Obama declined an invitation to compare the recent scandals weighing down his administration with those that forced President Nixon to resign in 1974. So allow us to do the work for him: There is no comparison. Nixon, in a series of crimes that collectively came to be known as Watergate, directed from the White House and Justice Department a concerted campaign against those he perceived as political enemies, in the process subverting the FBI, the IRS, other government agencies and the electoral process to his nefarious purposes. Obama has done nothing of the kind. Nor is there much to support a lesser “unifying theory” of this week’s scandals, which is that together they prove Obama guilty of a grand overreach of federal power. A recap of our views: (1) The Benghazi talking points scandal is no scandal whatsoever. The government failed to anticipate the attack on Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and to protect him and those who died alongside him, but there was no coverup of the failure and no con-
spiracy to deceive the American people about what had happened. (2) The broad search of telephone records from the Associated Press in search of a government leaker seems, on all available evidence, to have been a dangerous and unjustified violation of normal Justice Department practice, under which Justice should have negotiated with the AP to narrow the search as far as possible. The administration has yet to offer any justification for this violation. There’s no reason to believe that Mr. Obama knew anything about it, and it’s worth recalling that Republicans clamored for the investigation in the first place. But the president’s unwillingness to condemn it is sadly consistent with his administration’s record of damaging the First Amendment. (3) The IRS targeting conservative opponents of Mr. Obama for special scrutiny is horrifying and inexcusable. We don’t have a full picture of how the practice originated, how high in the administration knowledge of it rose and how members of Congress were repeatedly misinformed on the subject. But there is so far no evidence of White House knowledge or instigation of the practice.
COLUMN
The price of cheap clothing By JOANNA WEISS THE BOSTON GLOBE
It’s easy to feel powerless against the tidal wave of discount clothes, the pull of $5 chinos for a fastgrowing boy, the trendy summer dresses that are bombarding my inbox, starting at $14.99. There are global implications to fast fashion; lowprice, low-quality goods have to exact a cost somewhere, and, most recently, it was in Cambodia, where a shoe factory collapsed on Thursday, killing several workers.
What can we do? But what’s a shopper to do? According to a recent survey in Retail Week, 44 percent of consumers say they won’t change their shopping habits after last month’s factory collapse in Bangladesh, which killed more than 1,100 people. That might not be callousness so much as confusion: Many people are conflicted, but also perplexed. Do you boycott Bangladesh, or would a collapse of the garment industry hurt the Bangladeshis more? Can you trust multinational companies to police their factory floors? And if you skip out on a pair of cargo pants, does it make a sound? Actually, consumers have more power than they think, said Ellen Ruppel Shell, a Boston University professor and the author of “Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture.” Bad publicity matters, which helps to explain
“
If consumers are willing to pay more for clothes they trust, that could send a message to discount retailers …”
some retailers’ decisions last week to sign onto a legally binding agreement, requiring some minimum safeguards on factory safety. Shell suspects that shoppers would be willing to pay an extra 10 to 15 percent — the amount one University of Massachusetts economist calculates that it would take — to cover the cost of improved factory conditions overseas. And Shell thinks people are poised to make more fundamental changes in their clothes-shopping habits. The hope springs from a different retail setting: the organic-food aisles that have, in recent years, become standard issue in grocery stores. If people are willing to pay more for a trustworthy tomato, she said, will they pay more for ethically made clothes? Say, $144 for an oxford shirt?
One business plan That’s the business plan of Mark Bollman, the 25year-old founder and president of Ball and Buck, a menswear and accessories store that moved to Newbury Street last year, hav-
ing outgrown its original North End location. Bollman started Ball and Buck in 2008 as an undergraduate at Babson College. He was inspired by his upbringing in Atlanta, where hunting and fishing were woven into family culture, and where his grandfather, in a duck blind, once pulled on a pair of waders and proudly pointed out that he’d bought them 45 years earlier. Bollman proposed that a made-in-America pledge, a connection to old-school traditions and ethical values, would appeal to more than just luxury buyers. Maybe even more so in New England. “This was something that we hinged upon,” he told me. “People are less willing, when they’re being tight with their dollars, to just buy some shirt for the night and throw it away.” He pitches his products, instead, as items that will last for decades — that you can save for your grandchildren to wear. That sales pitch sometimes requires retraining, he said. Consumers don’t always know how to recognize the differences between a good garment and a cheap one, until they
start pulling threads from their hems after two washings. Hands-on demonstrations help, Bollman said; that’s the concept behind American Field, a two-day pop-up store that he created last year, featuring dozens of vendors who demonstrate their Americanmade wares. He’ll hold a second one in September, in a restored power station in the South End. Bollman’s vision ties into a “heritage brand” movement that has taken hold in menswear: old brands are also up with hip designers, creating high-end fashion lines that are designed to last. There’s a hipster quality to this trend; it’s associated with the same types who flock to artisinal cheese.
Broader movement But while that’s a niche market, Bollman has hopes that the movement could broaden. He gushes about the implications of organic food, the way the food industry has shifted in a small amount of time. “Everyone’s doing a kitchen in 1/8the middle of3/8 the restaurant now,” he told me. “You’d never think that McDonalds would have organic coffee. It’s becoming mainstream.” And if consumers are willing to pay more for clothes they trust, that could send a message to discount retailers: signals about the price shifts people are willing to accept. Two dollars more for a summer dress? That’s the cost of a good tomato, and a mountain of goodwill.
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SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
Crime
6A THE ZAPATA TIMES
THE BLOTTER ASSAULT Victor A. Sanchez, 19, was arrested and charged with assault at about 5 a.m. May 12 in the 600 block of Villa Avenue. He was released for future court appearance.
BURGLARY A burglary of habitation was reported at 7:20 a.m. Monday in San Ygnacio. A burglary of habitation was reported at 8:15 a.m. Monday in the 300 block of Grant Avenue. A burglary of habitation was reported at 5:35 p.m. Tuesday in the 700 block of Laredo Street.
Shooting leads to jail By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
A shooting incident May 9 in the Siesta Shores neighborhood in Zapata landed a man in jail. Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office deputies served arrest warrants on Jeremy Scott Muster, 31. He was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony that could be punishable with two to 20 years in prison. Muster remained in custody at the Zapata Regional Jail as of Friday night. Details on his arrest are not clear. Chief Raymundo del Bosque Jr. said authorities continue to investigate the case. On May 9, deputies responded to a
residence in the 5200 block of Juan Lane for reports of a person armed with a weapon. A news release issued by the sheriff ’s ofMUSTER fice states Muster had sustained “selfinflicted wounds” to his left arm with a 20-gauge shotgun. Zapata County Fire Department EMS transported Muster to Laredo Medical Center for treatment. No one else was injured, according to the sheriff ’s office. Details on the probable cause to arrest Muster were not immediately available. The case remains open. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
DWI Luis Angel Resendez Jr., 26, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated and reckless driving at about 8:45 p.m. May 11 in the intersection of Seventh Street and Falcon Avenue. Resendez had a combined $5,000 bond at the Zapata Regional Jail. Noe Barrientos, 41, was arrested at about 11:45 p.m. May 11 at 24th Avenue and Hidalgo Street following reports of unsafe driving. Deputies charged Barrientos with driving while intoxicated. He was taken to the Zapata Regional Jail, where he was held on a $2,000 bond. Robert Julian Boatright, 22, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated at about 3 a.m. May 12 in the intersection of 10th Street and Roma Avenue. He had a $5,000 bond at the Zapata Regional Jail.
HIT AND RUN A hit-and-run accident was reported at 7:28 p.m. May 11 at the corner of 13th Street and Diaz Avenue.
PUBLIC INTOXICATION Antonio Uvalle-Guzman, 36, was arrested and charged with public intoxication at about 3:15 a.m. May 13 in the intersection of Seventh Street and Zapata Boulevard. Deputies said he was walking in the middle of the street intoxicated. Guzman-Uvalle was fined $300. Sergio Barrera, 31, was arrested and charged with public intoxication at about 4:45 a.m. Monday at West 22nd and Brazos streets. Barrera was fined $300. Mario O. Garcia, 24, was arrested and charged with public intoxication at about 2 a.m. Wednesday in the intersection of 16th Street and Bravo Avenue. Deputies also served Garcia with a theft warrant. He was taken to the Zapata Regional Jail, where he had a $1,000 bond.
THEFT A 33-year-old man reported at 9:52 a.m. May 11 in the 5200 block of Pety Lane that someone stole chrome wheels valued at $2,000. Deputies eventually located the property in the back of the home. An investigation is underway. A 20-year-old man reported at 2:04 p.m. Wednesday at Pepe’s Car Wash in the 300 block of U.S. 83 North that someone stole a tailgate from a 2009 Sierra pickup. Investigators are looking into the case.
Man in custody for checkpoint refusal By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
A Laredo man arrested at the U.S. Border Patrol Interstate 35 checkpoint May 12 for allegedly impeding agents’ duties and making false statements remained in federal custody as of Friday night with no bond. Cosme Cortez Jr., 36, chosen to waive his preliminary detention hearing, which was set for Friday morning before in Courtroom 3C before U.S. Magistrate Judge Guillermo R. Garcia. Cortez arrest dates back to Sunday. That day at about 9:30 a.m., Border Patrol conducted an immigration inspection on a tractor-trailer driver and its passenger. The passenger stated his citizenship while the driver, identified as Cortez, refused to provide his citizenship after two requests were made. “I don’t have to answer your questions,” Cortez allegedly told agents on their first request. After a second request, Cortez allegedly said, “I told you, I don’t have to answer your questions.” Cortez then turned off the tractor-trailer’s motor and remained seated, the criminal complaint states.
A supervisory agent asked Cortez to move the tractortrailer to secondary inspection because he was blocking traffic. Cortez allegedly refused to comply with the request, remaining seated in the driver’s chair. The supervisory agent then told Cortez he would be arrested for impeding government operations. “OK, arrest me then,” Cortez allegedly told agents. Agents arrested Cortez and took him into Border Patrol offices at the checkpoint for further processing. Before arriving at the processing area, Cortez told the supervisory agent that he had told the agent at the primary inspection lane that he was a U.S. citizen, the complaint states. But after being read his Miranda rights, Cortez allegedly told federal agents that he refused to provide his citizenship and refused to move the tractortrailer from the primary inspection lane. He said he refused to move the vehicle “because no reason was provided to him and no paperwork was requested by Border Patrol,” the criminal complaint states. He was charged with impeding government operations and mak-
ing a false statement. Robert L. Harris, CBP Commander for the South Texas Campaign, explained further the arrest of Cortez and added Cortez did refuse to answer questions but more importantly, he blocked the lane of traffic, Harris said. Billions of dollars of legitimate trade travel through the checkpoint. Agents hope to cause inconvenience as little as possible to allow legitimate cargo to flow, Harris said. “We have one lane at Interstate 35 for commercial traffic. This individual blocked that lane of traffic, thereby impeding the ability of our agents to conduct further inspection. That’s why he was arrested. It wasn’t for failure to answer questions,” Harris said. Harris recalled making arrests for impeding a federal officer during the performance of his official duties back in his patrol days in 1984. “As citizens we do have the right to challenge laws we don’t agree with. There are correct ways to do it. You’d want to contact your congressman,” Harris said. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013
Man pleads guilty to transporting By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
A man arrested March 20 who was allegedly leading a group of 14 immigrants through a brushy area in Zapata pleaded guilty in federal court this week. Antonio Castro Rangel, of Mexico, pled guilty Tuesday to transporting immigrants. A sentencing date is yet to be determined. Castro Rangel faces up to 10 years in prison. Homeland Security Investigations special agents arrested Castro Rangel near the Twin Lakes neighborhood in Zapata on March 20 at about 12:30 p.m. That same day, U.S. Border Patrol agents discovered 14 people who had entered
the country illegally hiding in the brush. Federal officials said the immigrants identified Castro Rangel as the “foot guide” who would lead them through the brush area, his plea documents state. In a post-arrest interview, Castro Rangel admitted he crossed the group across the Rio Grande from Mexico into the United States. He would’ve been paid $200 per person, according to court documents. All 14 people were citizens of Mexico. People held as material witnesses stated to federal agents they had paid a fee to be smuggled further north into the country. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A
National
8A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013
Feds: Time needed to indict Tsarnaev By DENISE LAVOIE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON — Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev won’t be indicted within the 30-day period prescribed under the Federal Speedy Trial Act but prosecutors said Friday they would ask for more time. Sunday marks 30 days since Tsarnaev was arrested following the April 15 twin bombing that killed three people and injured more than 260. U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz’s
office did not specify the exception under which they would seek more time but those available to prosecutors include delays related to the defendant’s physical capacity. Tsarnaev remains in a prison hospital after being badly wounded in a gun battle with police before his arrest. Earlier Friday, a judge denied a request from Tsarnaev’s attorneys that they be allowed to take periodic photos of the 19year-old to document “his evolving mental and physical state” and whether his statements to
authorities after his arrest were made voluntarily. Tsarnaev’s lawyers could be trying to arTSARNAEV gue that statements he made to authorities after his arrest on April 19 were not voluntary because of his poor physical condition. Defense attorney Miriam Conrad declined to comment. The motion from Tsarnaev’s lawyers remained sealed Friday. But the ruling by U.S. Magis-
trate Judge Marianne Bowler included excerpts from the defense filing which suggest Tsarnaev’s lawyers may want to use the photos to argue for a lighter sentence. Tsarnaev, 19, is charged with using a weapon of mass destruction in the April 15 bombings. He could face the death penalty if convicted. Bowler said Tsarnaev’s lawyers asked if they could regularly take their own photos of Tsarnaev. “The defendant contends that his ‘injuries over time’ provide
evidence of ‘his evolving mental and physical state’ which, in turn, is probative of ‘the voluntariness of (his) statements and sentence mitigation argument,”’ Bowler wrote. Bowler found Tsarnaev’s lawyers could not take their own photos, saying the Fort Devens prison where Tsarnaev is housed has a policy against visitors bringing cameras. The Bureau of Prisons could take photos of Tsarnaev with his lawyers present but those pictures would have to be shared with prosecutors, Bowler said.
Photo by Christian Abraham/The Connecticut Post | Associated Press
Emergency workers arrive at the scene of a train collision, Friday, May 17, in Fairfield, Conn. A New York-area commuter railroad says two trains collided in Connecticut.
Trains collide in Conn. ASSOCIATED PRESS
FAIRFIELD, Conn. — A New York-area commuter railroad says two trains have collided in Connecticut. Police say that 20 or more people were injured, but that there were no fatalities. The Metro-North Railroad says emergency
workers are arriving at the scene of Friday’s accident near Fairfield. The rail line referred to it in a news release as a “major derailment.” Fairfield Police Officer Matt Panilaitis says 20 to 25 people were injured. He says there were no fatalities. The railroad says a
train that departed Grand Central Station en route to New Haven derailed. A westbound train on an adjacent track then struck the derailed train. Some cars on the second train also derailed as a result of the collision. Amtrak suspended service indefinitely between New York and Boston.
Ill. Senate sends pot bill to governor By MONIQUE GARCIA & RAFAEL GUERRERO CHICAGO TRIBUNE
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Siding with patients who say cannabis is the only drug that can safely ease their chronic pain, the Senate sent Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn a measure Friday that would make Illinois the 19th state to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. The issue sparked an emotional debate between opponents who argued that lawmakers should in no way endorse a product classified as a controlled substance by the federal government and supporters who touted the strict nature of the proposal and declared it was not intended to allow the recreational use of pot. “This bill will advance the common good of society,” said sponsoring Democratic Sen. Bill Haine. “People who are suffering and in desperate need of relief should not be relegated to narcotics, opiates that are highly physically addictive and have horrific side effects.” The measure was sent to the governor on a 35-21 vote. Quinn previously has said he was “open minded” to the proposal after meeting with veterans who use marijuana to ease pain related to war wounds. On Friday, his office said that he will “carefully review” the legislation when it reaches his desk. The Democratic governor must weigh not only the merits of the bill but also the politics, given his re-election campaign next year. To a large extent, Quinn already has positioned himself as a liberal, having signed off on a major income tax increase, approving civil unions and abolishing the death penalty while in office. Critics of the marijuana
legislation argued that while the intentions may be good, the bill would encourage use of a gateway drug that could lead users to harder substances, destroying families along the way. “For every touching story we have heard about the benefits to those in pain, I remind you today that there are a thousand times more parents who will never be relieved from the pain of losing a child due to addition which in many cases started with the very illegal, FDA-unapproved, addiction-forming drug that you are asking us to now make a normal part of our communities,” said Republican Sen. Kyle McCarter, who indicated after the debate that his 21-year-old daughter died from an accidental overdose of laced heroin. Under the proposal, a four-year trial program would be created to allow doctors to prescribe patients no more than 2.5 ounces of marijuana every two weeks. To qualify, patients must have one of 42 serious or chronic conditions listed in the bill - including cancer, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma or HIV - and an established relationship with a doctor. They would undergo fingerprinting and a criminal background check and would be issued a registration ID card. Marijuana use would be banned in public, in vehicles, around minors and near school grounds. Property owners would have the ability to ban marijuana use on their grounds. Patients could not legally grow marijuana, and would have to buy it from one of 60 dispensing centers across Illinois. The state would license 22 growers, one for every state police district. Opponents said they did not trust the state to
properly regulate marijuana production, pointing to Illinois’ inability to solve existing problems such as a budget crisis fueled by inaction on pension reform. They also questioned the legitimacy of using marijuana for medical reasons, saying there are other options for pain management that have been approved by federal regulators. “All of this rhetoric that I keep hearing all day is ridiculous,” said Sen. Mattie Hunter, a Democrat who is a certified alcohol and drug counselor. “You all know full well the effects marijuana has on the body. All they did was put ’medical’ in front of marijuana. It’s still a drug.” Supporters countered that marijuana is more “benign” than many of the pharmaceuticals doctors currently prescribe, including the highly addictive oxycodone. “I think that is a much more dangerous drug than the medical marijuana we’re talking about, the medical marijuana that will help the 35-yearold mother with MS be able to walk her child to the end of the block to be able to catch her bus rather than be confined to her bed because of spasticity,” said Sen. Linda Holmes, an Aurora Democrat who has multiple sclerosis. The Illinois State Police remained neutral on the bill, and an agency spokeswoman said officers will “enforce whatever law is in place.” But the measure drew strong opposition from the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association, which sent a letter to the governor and lawmakers warning the proposal would not stop medical marijuana card holders from driving while under the influence.
Photo by Hans Gutknecht/Los Angeles Daily News | Associated Press
A firefighting helicopter makes a drop on a wildfire Friday, May 3, in Thousand Oaks, Calif. A huge Southern California wildfire burned through coastal wilderness to the beach on Friday.
Calif. fire crews battle 2 blazes ASSOCIATED PRESS
FRAZIER PARK, Calif. — Firefighters battled terrain and flames as they worked to surround a wildfire burning for a third day in harsh hills and mountains north of Los Angeles. Thirty miles to the south, firefighters worked to save 19 mountain homes in a 250-acre blaze. Temperatures dipped Thursday and remained cool Friday, but winds exceeding 20 mph continued to swirl. Much of the Frazier Park blaze that has blackened more than 6 square miles was in rocky, rugged, difficult-to-reach places, making containment a challenge. After a heavy aerial firefighting effort, the blaze was 35 percent contained Friday. In Castaic to the south, a fire started just before 1:30 p.m. Friday and briefly threatened an elementary school. Firefighters in the air and on the ground were able to douse the flames closest to Northlake Hills
Elementary School. The school had a large defensible space around it, so it was easy to protect, Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Scott Miller said. The campus was put on lockdown and buses were put on standby for a time in case hundreds of kindergarten through fifth-grade students needed to be evacuated. After the flames were redirected, Los Angeles County sheriff ’s Sgt. Brian Allen said the students were released to their parents without incident. Although the fire was still some distance from the homes on Elk Ridge Road and Vista Point Place, Miller said residents were asked to leave as a precaution. The fire was moving toward Castaic Lake. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The Frazier Park fire broke out near Interstate 5 on Wednesday when temperatures were in the 80s, and though they have since cooled, winds have continued to be a problem.
“It’s definitely gusty, but we’re lucky, the winds are blowing away from homes,” Kern County Fire Department spokesman Corey Wilford said Friday. “It would be better if we didn’t have winds at all though.” Lower temperatures were expected to persist into the weekend. The fire has spread to three counties — Los Angeles, Kern and Ventura — but burned in mostly unpopulated areas and threatened no homes or buildings. A Kern County high school was closed as a precaution. The fire initially burned thick brush, seasonal grasses and sage, but then moved into trees. The cooler weather helped firefighters overnight clear brush and create breaks in hopes of slowing the blaze. Efforts Thursday were focused on the southern edge of the fire. The cause of that fire was also under investigation.
Log: Cleveland suspect pass time pacing, staring By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A man accused of imprisoning three women in his Cleveland home for a decade spends most of his time in jail resting or asleep, with breaks for pacing, showers and cell cleaning. New jail logs released Friday also document defendant Ariel Castro thanking a guard for bringing him breakfast and wishing him a good day. Castro, 52, remains on suicide watch with his activities documented in writing every 10 minutes at the Cuyahoga County jail. He faces preliminary charges of rape and kidnapping following his arrest last week on suspicion of kidnapping the women off the streets near his west side neighborhood, then holding them against their will and sexually assaulting them over the next 10 years. DNA tests showed Castro is the father of a 6-
year-old girl born to one of the women during her time in the house. Castro, a former school bus driver, was arrested May 6 shortly after one of the women, Amanda Berry, kicked out part of a locked door of his house and yelled to neighbors to help her and call police. Police quickly arrived and found Berry in the street holding a girl and then raced through the house, freeing Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight. The women were admitted to a hospital but have been released and have remained in seclusion, appealing for privacy. The three disappeared between 2002 and 2004, when they were in their teens or early 20s, authorities said. Castro has been jailed on $8 million bond. Castro’s attorney, Craig Weintraub, has described Castro’s cell as a 9-by-9-foot cell containing a metal bed with a thin mattress cov-
ered in plastic, a metal sink, and some kind of mirror. Previous logs said Castro walked around the cell naked early in his confinement, though he later covered up. Weintraub, who has said Castro will plead not guilty, did not immediately return a message left Friday about the logs. The logs show that Castro periodically asks for the time, looks out the window and stares at the ceiling. “... up and pacing,” according to a handwritten note at 8:10 a.m. on Tuesday, which follows an entry on Castro going to the bathroom. “Inmate laying on mat staring at the floor,” says an entry that night at 7:30 p.m. “Inmate laying on mat staring at the ceiling,” says an entry 10 minutes later. Wednesday morning beginning at 10:20 a.m., Castro cleaned his cell for 40 minutes.
Politics
SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013
‘Christmas’ bill OK’d ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — It’s Christmas in May in the Texas Legislature. The Texas Senate on Friday approved a bipartisan bill that aims to remove legal risks of saying “Merry Christmas” in Texas public schools. Traditional holiday symbols, such as a menorah or nativity scene, would also win a nod of state sup-
port so long as more than one religion and a secular symbol are also reflected. State Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, says teachers have been reluctant to say “Merry Christmas” under fear of facing what he calls “frivolous” lawsuits. “Merry Christmas to you all,” Nichols said when the bill passed. The bill now goes to Gov. Rick Perry for his consideration.
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
Teacher program advanced By MICHAEL BRICK ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — Texas lawmakers are advancing a plan to create a residency training program for school teachers. In a 28-2 vote on Friday, the Senate approved a program similar to medical residencies for doctors. The bill
goes to the House, which has passed a similar version. Arlington Republican Rep. Diane Patrick has said her proposal would help prepare teachers to work in poor urban schools. It’s modeled on programs in Boston, Memphis and Chicago. The program would be run through a public university in partnership with a
nearby school district. Residents would work with university faculty members and serve as apprentice teachers. They would get stipends and job placement assistance. They would earn master’s degrees and certification. A budget analysis projects the program would cost the state about $1.3 million annually.
Budget deal struck, now goes to Perry By CHRIS TOMLINSON & PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — A deal on a Texas budget is finally done. Now the Legislature must withstand one final and furious week without sinking a compromise that restores nearly $4 billion to public schools and puts more water in the pipeline amid a historic drought. Gov. Rick Perry must also like this bargain, or lawmakers will dig in for a long summer. House and Senate negotiators settled Friday on a roughly $100 billion state budget. It would reverse most of the historic spending cuts that socked Texas classrooms in 2011, give state employees a modest raise and still afford Republicans the political cover of not busting a cap on state spending. “We’ve written a good budget for the people of Texas,” said Republican state Sen. Tommy Williams, the House budget chief. “It’s a conservative budget that reflects our values.” The full House and Senate must now ratify the compromise before the 140-day session ends May 27. Just as important is whether Perry will sign this budget bill that falls short of the $1.8 billion in tax relief he demanded lawmakers to deliver. The budget deal contains a little more than $1 billion in business tax cuts and refunds. Williams declined to predict whether the bill would satisfy Perry, whose aides would not comment on the numbers in the deal.
Photo by Ricardo Brazziell/Statesman.com | Associated Press
Senate members, guest, and Michael Morton look on as Governor Rick Perry signs the Senate Bill 1611 Michael Morton Act into law at the Texas State Capitol on Thursday, May 16. Perry has said that without significant tax breaks and $2 billion to jump-start a new water fund — which Friday’s deal includes — he would haul lawmakers back to the Capitol for a special summer session. “We will take a look at the bill and make a decision on it once the Legislature sends it to us in its final form,” Perry spokesman Josh Havens said. Even as negotiators unveiled the compromise Friday, tensions continued at the end of a tumultuous week of spending talks. About $200 million of the restored school funding, for instance, is on track to go through a separate emergen-
cy spending bill. That worries some Democrats, who fear Republicans could change their minds and shift that money elsewhere at the last minute. When Democratic state Rep. Sylvester Turner pressed why all the school funding wasn’t kept together, Williams showed little patience. “I told you, because I said so,” Williams said sternly. Turner blasted Perry and other GOP leaders this week over accusations they derailed a better deal for schools. Other leading Democrats were more supportive of a compromise that replenishes classrooms stripped of $5.4 billion
by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2011, when the state faced a massive budget shortfall. In the deal, the state would add $3.4 billion to public education spending and put $530 million toward schools’ contribution to the Teacher Retirement System. All of the money would be in the Foundation School Program, which sets the formulas that determine funding. “This budget has come a long way,” said Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, who voted against the first draft budget but support the compromise. “This is about the amount cut
from the Foundation School Program a year ago. We should not let the perfect get in the way of the good.” Republicans handily control both the Senate and the House. But without the support of Democrats, the House cannot reach the two-thirds threshold necessary to draw $2 billion from the state’s Rainy Day Fund in order to jump-start an aggressive, bipartisan plan for new water projects across the drought-parched state. Other budget highlights include fully funding the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, which started the session fighting merely to survive following a criminal investigation into questionable and lucrative awards. Sweeping reforms have since eased lawmakers’ minds about the embattled agency. State employees would receive a 3 percent raise under the budget, and more money would be sunk into mental health. The deal is similar to one announced by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst late Thursday night. Conservative Republicans had complained the deal would spend too much on schools, while Democrats wanted more. Although negotiators were optimistic of the deal surviving the final week, the 150-member House carries the greatest risk of resistance. Even Republican state Rep. Jim Pitts, the House budget chief, stopped short of predicting passage in his chamber. “I can never predict what the House is going to do,” Pitts said.
PÁGINA 10A
Zfrontera
Agenda en Breve LAREDO 05/18— Mercado Agrícola “El Centro de Laredo” se celebra de 9 a.m. a 12 p.m. en Plaza Jarvis. Habrá una demostración de cocina por parte del Chef Alberto Gutiérrez, del Hotel La Posada, así como la presentación de Dance Forum. Estacionamiento gratuito en El Metro, al realizar una compra en el mercado. 05/18— Se realizará el evento “Battle of the Badges Ribs and Beans Cook Off and Motorcycle Scavenger Hunt”, de 4 p.m. a 10 p.m. en el Park and Ride Grounds, 1819 Hillside. Costo: 3 dólares, adultos; gratis niños de12 años y menores de edad. Estacionamiento gratuito. 05/18— Average Joe’s, 9652 McPherson, Suite 1, presenta a “Grupo Fantasma”. Boletos en pre-venta por 12 dólares; 20 dólares en la puerta. Informes en el 724-6767. 05/18— Silverado’s Night Club, 5920 San Bernardo, presenta a Alicia Villarreal en concierto a las 9 p.m. Informes al 726-4347 y 726-1076. 05/24— Silverado’s Night Club, 5920 San Bernardo, presenta a Rogelio Martínez, El RM, a las 9 p.m. Informes al 726-4347 y 726-1076.
SÁBADO 18 DE MAYO DE 2013
INVESTIGACIÓN EXPLOSIÓN WEST, TEXAS
No descartan crimen Autoridades siguen buscando pistas POR NOMAAN MERCHANT Y JIM VERTUNO ASSOCIATED PRESS
WEST, Texas — Los investigadores no han descartado la actividad delictiva como la causa de la fuerte explosión en una planta de fertilizantes, que dejó 14 muertos y dejó en ruinas parte de un pequeño poblado texano, dijeron el jueves dos funcionarios familiarizados con los hallazgos. La explosión del 17 de abril en West Fertilizer dejó 200 heridos y destruyó parte del poblado de West. Las autoridades han pasado un mes peinando los escombros y hablando con cientos de testigos. Pero aún no han podido deter-
minar la causa del siniestro, dijeron los funcionarios. Un funcionario estatal que ha visto un reporte de la investigación y un segundo funcionario que fue informado sobre los hallazgos, dijeron a The Associated Press que los investigadores se enfocan en un carro de golf con la presunción de que tendría un desperfecto, en un problema eléctrico o en posible actividad criminal. El funcionario estatal dijo que los investigadores estaban “escasos de información definitiva” sobre la causa del estallido. Se negó a dar más detalles hasta que las autoridades ofrecieran una conferencia de prensa para anunciar sus hallazgos. No obstante, el funcionario de la agencia del orden dijo que el
carrito de golf en cuestión a veces estaba estacionado en el lugar donde comenzó el incendio, pero los investigadores dijeron que no podían confirmar que el vehículo estuviera estacionado ahí la noche de la explosión. Los investigadores han descartado algunas causas, como el que alguien estuviera fumando o un evento natural, dijo el funcionario de la agencia del orden. “La ciencia sólo alcanza para esto hasta ahora”, dijo el funcionario policial. “Y es todo lo que se puede hacer”. Ambos funcionarios hablaron bajo condición de anonimato porque los informes preliminares estaban en proceso. Así, no querían hablar públicamente antes de una conferencia de prensa programada por autoridades federales y es-
TEXAS
TEXAS-TAMAULIPAS
SALDO TRÁGICO
Crearán zona económica fronteriza
NUEVO LAREDO, MX 05/18— Estación Palabra presenta “Bazar de Arte” a las 12 p.m.; Lecturas Antes de Abordar “Tras la pista del delito: novela policíaca”, a las 3 p.m. 05/18— Tamaulipas celebra a “Rigo Tovar” con charla y anécdotas con el cantante de Los Matemáticos y ex manager de Rigo, Juan Garza “El Matemático”, exposición de fotografías, lecturas biográficas y reseñas, a las 3 p.m. en Estación Palabra. Entrada libre. 05/18— Museo para Niños “Celebrando el Día Internacional del Museo” con invitado especial Colectivo 400Lux, a las 6 p.m. en la Sala de Servicios Educativos del Museo Reyes Meza. Entrada libre. 05/19— Matinée Cultural Infantil a las 11 a.m. en el Teatro Lucio Blanco de Casa de la Cultura. Entrada libre. 05/19— El Grupo de Teatro Laberintus presenta la obra “Alicia en el país de las maravillas”, del Clásico de Lewis Carroll, dirigida por Luis Edoardo Torres, a las 12 p.m. en el teatro del IMSS, Reynosa y Belden, Sector Centro. Costo 20 pesos. 05/19— Domingos de Teatro Universitario presenta “El Drama de la Risa” con Grupo Tiempo y Espacio, a las 6 p.m. en el Teatro Lucio Blanco de Casa de la Cultura. Entrada libre. 05/19— Tamaulipas celebra a “Rigo Tovar” con la premiación para el doble de Rigo Tovar, expo mural grafitos y arte urbano, patinetas y motos, concierto y baile popular, a las 6 p.m. en la Plaza Hidalgo. Entrada libre. 05/21— Cine Club presenta “Homenaje a Carmen Montejo” (1947), a las 6 p.m. en el Auditorio de Estación Palabra. Apta para adolescentes y adultos. 05/21— Laberintus Teatro presenta “Diálogos de Nostalgia y Pollos”, a las 7 p.m. en el Teatro del IMSS, Belden y Reynosa. Costo: 20 pesos. 05/24— Homenaje a Rayuela: 50 años de una leyenda literaria en “Paralibros” de Paseo Reforma a las 5 p.m. Entrada gratuita. 05/25— El programa “Leo… Luego Existo” presenta a la actriz Ángeles Marín, en el Auditorio de Estación Palabra a las 6 p.m.
tatales. Las autoridades han determinado que la sustancia que estalló fue nitrato amónico, pero no saben qué inició el incendio o causó la explosión. Entre los muertos se encuentran 10 brigadistas y dos voluntarios que trataban de apagar el incendio inicial, que se reportó 18 minutos antes del estallido. La explosión arrojó escombros a más de kilómetro y medio (una milla) de distancia, y dejó un cráter de 28 metros (93 pies) de diámetro. El nitrato amónico es una sustancia química usada como fertilizante que además se puede emplear como una alternativa barata a la dinamita. Fue la sustancia empleada en el atentado de Oklahoma City de 1995.
ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Foto por Ron T. Ennis/The Forth Worth Star-Telegram | Associated Press
Residencias dañadas son vistas en Granbury, Texas, el jueves. Diez tornados tocaron tierra sobre varias pequeñas comunidades al Norte de Texas la noche del miércoles, dejando como saldo seis personas muertas y destrucción.
Tornados dejan muerte y destrucción POR JOHN L. MONE Y ANGELA K. BROWN ASSOCIATED PRESS
G
RANBURY — Varios tornados azotaron comunidades pequeñas del norte de Texas durante la noche del miércoles, donde dejaron seis muertos, decenas de heridos y a cientos de personas sin hogar. La violenta tormenta primaveral desperdigó cadáveres, desbarató casas y arrojó tractocamiones sobre automóviles. En Granbury, la ciudad más golpeada, un tornado se introdujo en dos vecindarios alrededor de las 8 p.m. del miércoles. Elizabeth Tovar, una residente, describió los granizos del tamaño de un puño que precedieron la llegada del tornado. Al verlos, ella y su familia decidieron refugiarse en el baño. “Todos estábamos como abrazados en la tina y fue entonces cuando comenzó a ocurrir. Escuché cristales que se rompían y supe que mi casa estaba yéndose”, afirmó Tovar.
“Miramos hacia arriba y... todo el techo había desaparecido”. El alguacil del condado de Hood, Roger Deeds, describió el devastador escenario y la búsqueda de cadáveres en Granbury, ubicada a unos 64 kilómetros (40 millas) al suroeste de Fort Worth. Seis personas murieron en la ciudad. “Algunos fueron hallados dentro de las casas. Algunos fueron encontrados alrededor de las viviendas”, dijo Deeds. “Hubo un reporte de que dos de estas personas que fueron encontradas ni siquiera estaban cerca de sus casas. Así que vamos a tener que registrar el área”. Alrededor de la medianoche, Deeds dijo que 14 personas aún estaban desaparecidas, pero el alcalde Pro Tem Nin Hulett declaró a la televisora ABC el jueves en la mañana que creía que la mayoría de los residentes ya han sido detectados. Cerca de 50 personas fueron llevadas a un hospital de Granbury, señaló Deeds.
Hasta 100 personas resultaron heridas, dijo Matt Zavadsky, portavoz de la firma de servicios médicos MedStar Mobile Healthcare. La misma tormenta generó otro tornado que según los observadores de tormentas tenía un diámetro de kilómetro y medio (una milla). Ese tornado arrasó parte de Cleburne, donde residen unas 30.000 personas, a unos 40 kilómetros (25 millas) al sureste de Granbury. No hubo informes de muertos ni heridos graves por esa tormenta, dijo el alcalde de Cleburne, Scott Cain, aunque siete personas sufrieron lesiones menores. Calculó que decenas de viviendas resultaron dañadas y declaró el área como zona de desastre. Otro tornado golpeó al pequeño poblado de Millsap, a unos 64 kilómetros (40 millas) al oeste de Fort Worth. El juez Mark Kelley del condado Parker dijo que varias casas sufrieron daños en sus tejados y un granero fue destruido, pero no se reportaron lesiones.
Con el propósito de elevar la competitividad de la frontera, autoridades, industriales y académicos de Tamaulipas y Texas sostuvieron una reunión para analizar las propuestas encaminadas a convertir las ciudades fronterizas de ambos estados en una Zona Económica Binacional BiNED (por sus siglas en inglés). A decir de Mónica González García, titular de la Secretaría de Desarrollo Económico y Turismo (SEDET), las acciones que promueve el Gobierno de Tamaulipas coinciden con el diseño del programa BiNED para consolidar las inversiones y la competitividad. Unas de las acciones, por ejemplo, son tener una agenda de trabajo y reuniones bilaterales. González explicó que con la iniciativa BiNED se pueden promover nuevos sectores de inversión que obtengan mayor valor por estar cerca de la frontera, como manufactura avanzada, re manufactura, logística o centros de investigación. Dijo que una zona económica binacional incrementa el potencial de esta región para atraer empresas especializadas y de alto contenido tecnológico sin olvidar a la industria de gran demanda de mano de obra. La región fronteriza tiene más de 40 años de experiencia en el sector maquilador, con personal altamente competitivo que ha podido desarrollar habilidades especializadas de manufactura y logística, dijo ella. Entre otras ventajas que Tamaulipas aporta a este proyecto está la fortaleza de sus sectores eléctrico-automotriz, autopartes, electrónico, tecnología de la información y servicios logísticos, expresó González. De igual forma, el sector salud presenta oportunidades de crecimiento gracias a la oferta de médicos, especialidades y servicios hospitalarios de calidad que se ubican en la zona fronteriza de Tamaulipas. Entre algunos acuerdos tomados, se adoptó el compromiso de establecer un grupo de trabajo con especialistas y funcionarios de ambos países que coordine las estrategias, metas, proyectos y el marco legal de esta nueva zona económica.
SON BRIONES
Foto de cortesa Rosario Salinas | La del Miernes
La imagen muestra a parte de los integrantes de la Familia Briones, originaria de Ciudad Mier, que con motivo del Día de las Madres se reunieron en Rio Grande City el 27 de abril. Más de 60 descendientes atendieron el evento. Estuvo presente Amalia Briones González Vda. de Salinas, de 97 años de edad, quien es la sobreviviente de mayor edad.
SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
TAMIU to give business workshops SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
The Texas A&M International University Small Business Development Center (TAMIU-SBDC) in Laredo will sponsor several workshops throughout the month of May. On Wednesday, May 22, Managing cash - the Small
Business Owner’s Guide to Financial Control Workshop, is scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon, classroom location provided with registration confirmation; $20 fee includes Workbook. Cash flow is what comes into and goes out of a business. On Thursday, May 23,
JAIME GARZA Jaime Garza, 42, passed away Wednesday, May 8, 2013, at McAllen Medical Heart Hospital in McAllen, Texas. Mr. Garza is preceded in death by his mother, Juana Santos. Mr. Garza is survived by his wife, Maria S. Garza; sons: Jaime Garza Jr., Eduardo Garza, Luis Garza and Mark Garza; grandchild, Jaime Garza III; stepfather, Aide Santos; sisters, Ofelia Bustamante and Ricarda Sariñana; brothers: Zaragoza, Roberto, Baldemar, Javier Garza, Rafael Bustamante and Tomas Bustamante; and by numerous other family members and friends. Visitation hours were held Friday, May 10, 2013, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., with a wake at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home. A chapel service was held 10 a.m. Saturday, May 11, 2013, at Rose Garden Funeral Home. Committal services followed at Zapata
Books company, modify the preset chart of accounts, reconcile a QuickBooks checking account, invoice customers, create sales orders and more. Workshop fee is $50. On Thursday, May 30, Economic opportunity forum “Texas Wants YOUR Business” from 8 a.m. to
noon at the Senator Judith Zaffirini Student Success Center room 101. Successful businesses tap into new markets daily, securing new business to better their bottom line and extend their business’ reach. On Friday, May 31, the TAMIU-SBDC, in conjunction with the Texas Rio
Grande Legal Aid: Legal Assistance to Microenterprise Project (L.A.M.P.) will provide a Seminar designed to assist potential and existing business owners with legal issues. Seminar is free and scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon; classroom location provided with registration.
Facebook aims for big ads By BARBARA ORTUTAY ASSOCIATED PRESS
County Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.rosegardenfuneralhome.com. Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home, Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Highway 83, Zapata, TX.
BERNARDO ‘NANO’ BUSTAMANTE Bernardo “Nano” Bustamante, 77, passed away Sunday, May 12, 2013, at Laredo Medical Center in Laredo, Texas. Mr. Bustamante is preceded in death by his parents, Silvestre and Maria Luisa Bustamante; brothers, Jose Luis Bustamante and Silvestre Bustamante Jr.; and a sister, Ana Maria Bustamante. Mr. Bustamante is survived by his wife, Lydia S. Bustamante; son, Bernardo Jr. (Clementina) Bustamante; daughters: Maria Luisa (Miguel) Molina, Aimee (Kenny) Ortamond and Lydia (Lauro) Garza; grandchildren: Fernando Bustamante, Thomas Lee Bustamante, Julia Garcia, Christina (Ryan) Castillo, Miguel Molina, Ashley Marie Ortamond, Lydia Garza and Laura A. Garza; greatgrandchildren, Brianna Castillo and Rylynn Castillo; sisters: Blanca (Aureliano) Salinas, Minerva (Andres) Arambula and Maria Concepcion (Oscar) Villarreal; sisters-in-law, Maria De Los Angeles Bustamante, Guadalupe V. Bustamante; and by numerous nephews, nieces and many friends. Visitation hours were held Tuesday, May 14, 2013, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., with
QuickBooks workshop: Putting Financial Management to Work for Your Business is a hands-on workshop from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in TAMIU’s Dr. Billy F. Cowart Hall, room 113. Instructor Norma Rodríguez, SBDC-certified business advisor, will go over the steps to create a new Quick-
a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home. The funeral procession departed Wednesday, May 15, 2013, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. Committal services followed at Bustamante Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.rosegardenfuneralhome.com Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home, Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Highway 83, Zapata, TX.
NEW YORK — It was supposed to be our IPO, the people’s public offering. Facebook, the brainchild of a young CEO who sauntered into Wall Street meetings in a hoodie, was going to be bigger than Amazon, bigger than McDonald’s, bigger than Coca-Cola. And it was all made possible by our friendships, photos and family ties. Then came the IPO, and it flopped. Facebook’s stock finished its first day of trading just 23 cents higher than its $38 IPO price. It hasn’t been that high since. Even amid the hype and excitement surrounding Facebook’s May 18 stock market debut a year ago, there were looming doubts. Investors wondered whether the social network could increase advertising revenue without alienating users, especially those using smartphones and tablet computers. The worries intensified just days before the IPO when General Motors said it would stop paying for advertisements on the site. The symbolic exit cast a shroud over Facebook that still exists. Facebook’s market value is $63 billion, some two-thirds of what it was the morning it first began trading. At around $27 per share, the company’s stock is down roughly 30 percent from its IPO price. Meanwhile, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index is up 27 percent over the same period. Despite its disappointing stock market performance, the company has delivered strong financial results. Net income increased 7 percent to $219 million in the most recent quarter, compared with the previous year, and revenue was up 38 percent to $1.46 billion. The world’s biggest online social network has also kept growing to 1.1 billion users. Some 665 million people check in every day to share photos, comment on news articles and play games. Millions of people around the world who don’t own a computer
Photo by Zef Nikolla/NASDAQ | AP
In this May 18, 2012, file photo, provided by Facebook, founder, chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, center, rings the opening bell of the Nasdaq stock market. use Facebook, in Malawi, Malaysia and Martinique. And much has changed at Facebook in a year. The company’s executives and engineers have quietly addressed the very doubts that dogged the company for so long. Facebook began showing mobile advertisements for the first time just after the IPO. It launched a search feature in January and unveiled a branded Facebook smartphone in April. The company also introduced ways for advertisers to gauge the effectiveness of their ads. Even GM has returned as a paying advertiser. Now, Facebook is looking to its next challenge: convincing big brandname consumer companies that advertisements on a social network are as important — and as effective — as television spots. “We aspire to have ads, to show ads that improve the content experience over time,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told analysts recently. “And if we continue making progress on this, then one day we can get there.” To achieve those aims, the company has rolled out tools to help advertisers target their messages more precisely than they can in print or on television. Companies can single out 18- to 24-year-old male Facebook users who are likely to buy a car in the next six months. They
can target 30-year-old women who are researching Caribbean getaways. Analytic tools like these weren’t available a year ago. But last fall Facebook hired several companies that collect and analyze data related to people’s online and offline behavior. Facebook’s advertisers can now assess whether a Crest ad you saw on Facebook likely led you to buy of a tube of toothpaste in the drugstore. The services take what Facebook knows about you and what ads you saw and combine this with the information retailers have about you and what you’ve purchased through loyalty cards and the like. Advertisers are also making use of Facebook’s partnership with audience measurement firm Nielsen Co. Nielsen introduced a tool last fall that helps marketers discover “not only who saw their ad online and who saw their ad on TV, but also how these audiences match up,” says David Wong, vice president at product leadership. Sean Bruich, Facebook’s head of measurement platforms and standards, believes the new tools are paying off. “What we can see conclusively a year after the IPO is that ads on Facebook really do help drive people into the store and help them make purchasing decisions, help influence their purchasing deci-
sions,” he says. A Nielsen analysis found that consumers are 55 percent more likely to recall “social ads” than traditional online ads. So powerful is Facebook’s new analytic arsenal that privacy advocates are growing concerned about the potential intrusiveness of merging consumers’ online and offline experiences. People “are getting served ads based on things they didn’t put on Facebook and maybe wouldn’t be comfortable putting on Facebook,” says Rainey Reitman, activism director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Facebook says mechanisms are in place to protect privacy. “We’ve never had anything like Facebook,” Reitman says. “We’ve never had an entity that was able to collect so much information on so much of the world’s population, ever.” Advertisers aren’t complaining. “Anywhere that more than a billion people spend time with their friends each month is extremely valuable to us,” says Brad Ruffkess, connection strategist at Coca-Cola. At Procter and Gamble, the world’s biggest advertiser, “we saw almost from the start that social media is the world’s largest focus group,” says Marc Pritchard, the company’s global brand building officer.
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013
SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
HORSE RACING
West finals Spurs ready for Memphis By ANTONIO GONZALEZ ASSOCIATED PRESS
OAKLAND, Calif. — Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and the San Antonio Spurs are back in the Western Conference finals for the second straight season with the same style that has carried them to four NBA titles. Don’t call these guys old just yet. After wearing down the younger Golden State Warriors in a grueling sixgame series, the Spurs look as spry as ever. And they already know what to expect when they open the conference finals at home against Memphis on Sunday. “It’s going to be a rough one,” Duncan said. “If you thought this was physical, it’s going to turn up about 10 notches.” San Antonio has shown it can still grind out a series. Duncan had 19 points and six rebounds, Kawhi Leonard added 16 points and 10 rebounds and the Spurs held off a furious final rally to eliminate the Warriors with a 94-82 victo-
See SPURS PAGE 2B
File photo by Darron Cummings | AP
In this May 4 file photo, jockey Joel Rosario celebrates aboard Orb after winning the 139th Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Ky.
Orb favored to take Preakness After winning the Kentucky Derby, Orb looking to set up Triple Crown By RICHARD ROSENBLATT ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Marcio Jose Sanchez | AP
San Antonio’s Tim Duncan shoots around Golden State’s Klay Thompson during the first half Thursday in Oakland, Calif.
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
BALTIMORE — Everything’s a go for Orb. The Kentucky Derby winner was in a playful mood the day before the Preakness, making faces for photographers between nibbles of grass outside his stall at Pimli-
co Race Course. “He’s really settled in well. He seems to be energetic about what he’s doing so I couldn’t be more pleased,” trainer Shug McGaughey said on a warm and sunny Friday morning. “We’re excited about giving him a whirl
See PREAKNESS PAGE 2B
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
File photo by Sharon Ellman | AP
In this Nov. 18 file photo, Dallas quarterback Tony Romo looks around tackle Doug Free against Cleveland in Arlington, Texas.
Doug Free reduces pay Ryan new Astros president for Dallas Photo by Smiley N. Pool | AP
Houston pitching great and current Texas Rangers executive Nolan Ryan, center, talks with, from left, former Astros’ Enos Cabell and Craig Biggio, and his son Reese Ryan, right, before his eldest son Reid Ryan was announced as the new Astros president on Friday in Houston.
By KRISTIE RIEKEN ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — Reid Ryan choked back tears as he was introduced as president of his beloved Astros, the team he grew up watching in the days when his Hall of Fame father, Nolan Ryan, starred as a pitcher for Houston. “My ties with the Astros go all the way back to 1980 when my dad came over,” Reid Ryan said. “Today really is a dream come true because you grow up an Astros fan if you’re in
Houston. Everybody’s got their hometown team, and the Astros were mine. This is just a very special day.” Astros owner Jim Crane certainly appreciates having the Ryan name associated with his team again, but was quick to point out that Reid Ryan is much more than simply the son of a famous ball player. “It’s great to have your kid in the business, but now he can prove himself as Reid Ryan,” Crane said. “His dad’s is a famed player, a very, very famous guy, but Reid’s the kind of guy
that stands on his own, and I think you’ll see him stand alone in this position and do a great job.” Since 1998, Ryan, the eldest son of Nolan Ryan, has been the CEO of RyanSanders Baseball, which owns the Triple-A Round Rock Express and Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks. The 41-year-old Reid Ryan helped create the Express, an affiliate of the Texas Rangers and the Hooks, an Astros’ affiliate. Don Sanders, who coowns Ryan-Sanders Baseball with Nolan Ryan,
raved about Reid Ryan. He pointed out the work he did in luring fans to see his teams, which have often been ranked at the top of the minor leagues in attendance. Reid Ryan also came up with the idea for the Rangers to play two exhibition games at the Alamodome in San Antonio in March that drew more than 75,000 fans. “If I were going to buy a baseball team and I could have anybody in the country to run it, he’d be the
See ASTROS PAGE 2B
Cowboys sign Anthony Hargrove to add depth along the defensive line By TOM ORSBORN SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
Embattled right tackle Doug Free reportedly agreed to a hefty pay cut Thursday that will allow him to remain with the Dallas Cowboys and likely retain his starting job. Free’s new deal calls for him to receive about half of the $14 million he was scheduled to collect over the next two years. His base salary has been
reduced from $7 million to $3.5 million but only his 2013 salary is guaranteed, ESPNDallas.com reported. Free signed a four-year, $32 million contract in 2011, a pact that included $17 million guaranteed. Free struggled last season and was forced to split time late in the campaign with Jeremy Parnell. After Free gave up seven sacks and commit-
See COWBOYS PAGE 2B
PAGE 2B
Zscores
SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013
COWBOYS Continued from Page 1B ted 13 penalties, the Cowboys told him he would only stay with the club if he agreed to a substantial pay cut. The move benefits Dallas in that it cleared $3.5 million worth of salary cap room, which will allow it to either sign more free agents or extend the contract of one of its players. D-LINEMAN SIGNED Also Thursday, Dallas signed defensive end Anthony Hargrove to a oneyear deal to bolster depth. The nine-year veteran missed last season because of an eight-game NFL-imposed suspension for his role in the New Orleans bounty scandal. To make room for Hargrove, 29, on the 90-man roster, the Cowboys cut guard D.J. Hall, a Texas State product. Hargrove missed the 2012
season because of an NFLimposed eight-game suspension for his role in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal. He was signed by Green Bay in March 2012 but released in August. Hargrove has played for three other teams. A thirdround pick by Saint Louis in 2004, he has 19.5 career sacks, including 5.0 for the Saints’ Super Bowl-winning team in 2009. FACILITY CHANGE? The Cowboys are considering relocating their practice facility in Irving to another city in North Texas, according to reports. Citing sources, the Dallas Morning News reported the Cowboys are unhappy with their Valley Ranch facility, which is below current NFL standards. Dallas has trained at the facility since 1985. According to ESPNDal-
las.com, the franchise would like to remain in Irving but is also eyeing possible sites in Arlington, Frisco and Plano.
Texans sign Williams HOUSTON — The Houston Texans have signed fourth-round draft pick linebacker Trevardo Williams. The 6-foot-1, 241-pound Williams was taken with the 124th overall pick out of Connecticut. He’s one of five drafted players signed by Houston, also including tackle David Quessenberry, receiver Alan Bonner, defensive tackle Chris Jones and tight end Ryan Griffin. Williams started 30 of 50 games he played in for Connecticut and had a school-record 301/2 career sacks.
SPURS Continued from Page 1B
San Antonio small forward Kawhi Leonard dunks over Golden State power forward Carl Landry during the second half Thursday in Oakland, Calif. and seemingly seized control for good. Instead, the Warriors roared back. Klay Thompson, who had 10 points on 4-for-12 shooting, made a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter that sliced San Antonio’s lead to three. Then Curry’s pull-up jumper brought the Warriors within 77-75 with 4:52 to play. Parker was 1 for 13 before hitting a corner 3pointer and Leonard followed with two free throws to put the Spurs up seven. Jack made a jumper and two free throws to bring the Warriors back again. Then Leonard hit another shot from beyond the arc to put the Spurs ahead 8579. Curry and Thompson each had consecutive 3s rim out on the same possession that could’ve kept Golden State close. But Parker hit another 3-pointer to put San Antonio up 88-79 with 1:15 remaining and send some of the yellow-shirted crowd of 19,596 to the exits. “I just kept believing in me,” said Parker, who added eight assists and finished 3 for 16 from the floor. “My teammates, they were behind me. They would keep telling me, ‘Keep shooting, they’ll go in.”’ In the end, most of the Warriors’ faithful still stuck around. Fans serenaded the home team with chants of “Warr-i-ors!” in the final seconds. Curry grabbed a microphone after the game and thanked fans at half court, breaking the huddle with the crowd, “Just us!” The Warriors had only made the playoffs once since 1994 before this season and hadn’t won two games beyond the first round since 1977. “It’s inspiring to think of what we were able to accomplish this year and the foundation that has been laid,” Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. Added Curry: “It will take a minute to realize the accomplishments we have made, for a Warriors team to be in this position, it’s a good thing, and we can build on this for next year.” The Spurs showed incredible ball movement
In this June 19, 2012, file photo, Anthony Hargrove speaks to the media outside the National Football League headquarters in New York. The Cowboys signed Hargrove to add depth along the defensive line.
ASTROS Continued from Page 1B
Photo by Jeff Chiu | AP
ry Thursday night. Parker shook off a poor start to score 10 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter and Tiago Splitter added a career-playoff high 14 points for San Antonio, which watched a 13-point lead in the third quarter dissolve to two in the final minutes. But the Spurs stayed steady, just the way they have for nearly two decades, and avoided the perils of a decisive Game 7 against Golden State. “They’ve got great character. They’re competitive. They know there’s not a million chances to do this sort of thing. They wanted it,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of his squad. Stephen Curry shot 10 of 25 from the floor to score 22 points on a nagging left ankle, and Jarrett Jack had 15 points as the injurysaddled Warriors finally tired. Rookie forward Harrison Barnes injured his head in the second quarter, returned in the third and was sidelined in the fourth with a headache. The Spurs outshot Golden State 45 percent to 39 percent and outrebounded the Warriors 46 to 40 to put themselves in position to make another championship run. The fifth-seeded Grizzlies eliminated Oklahoma City in five games. Memphis and San Antonio split the season series 2-2. “It’s not going to be pretty, sorry. It’s just not going to be,” Duncan said. The Spurs lost to the Thunder in the conference finals in six games last season after going ahead 2-0 at home. They haven’t been to the NBA Finals since 2007, when they won their fourth title with a sweep of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. “I think everybody on the team, we all want to go one more time,” Parker said. “It’s been a long time.” The Spurs became the first team to win consecutive games in the series and hand the sixth-seeded Warriors consecutive losses in the playoffs — and they did it at just the right time. The Spurs quieted a standing-room-only crowd late in the third quarter
Photo by John Minchillo | AP
and had the Warriors playing from behind most of the way. San Antonio’s first 10 field goals came on an assist, going ahead by 10 points in the second quarter and maintaining that cushion until late. Golden State stayed close despite more injury setbacks in a season full of them. Andrew Bogut walked gingerly to the locker room with 8:31 remaining in the second quarter to get his troublesome left ankle retaped. At one point, he told Jackson he “couldn’t move.” “I was running on fumes the whole series,” said Bogut, who had three points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes. In the second quarter, Barnes fell awkwardly while leaping to contest a layup from Boris Diaw. Barnes hit the court hard and his teammates immediately called for the training staff to attend to him as the arena fell silent. He received six stitches above his right eye at halftime and ran on the court late to start the third quarter, bringing fans to their feet roaring once more. At least for a moment. Barnes left the game in the fourth quarter because of a headache. The team said he had passed a concussion test and followed NBA protocol before he returned. Barnes finished with nine points and four rebounds in 31 minutes. The steady Spurs kept making the Warriors work for every shot and grinding out points on the other end. San Antonio took a 61-48 lead late in the third quarter before Golden State started its final surge. NOTES: NBA Commissioner David Stern, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and prospective Kings owner Vivek Ranadive attended the game. ... The Spurs are 10-1 in closeout games since the start of the 2007 playoffs. ... Parker’s worst shooting performance in the playoffs with more than five shot attempts came when he was 1 of 12 against New Jersey in the 2003 NBA Finals won by the Spurs. ... The Warriors fell to 4-1 after a loss in the playoffs.
guy,” Sanders said. “He’s just awfully good. I don’t know that in this arena that anybody is any better.” Reid Ryan takes over a job where he will be tasked with helping increase attendance and win back disillusioned fans to a team that has finished with 100 losses in each of the last two seasons and has the worst record in the majors again this year. He acknowledged that Houston’s problems are complex and that there’s no way he could know how he will work to get things back on track on his first day. But he did share a couple of keys that he will focus on. “We have to put the fans first in everything we do and then we’ve got make sure we’re taking care of the players, because it’s all about the players,” Reid Ryan said. “If you don’t have the players, you’re really not going to have anything.” While the team has been baseball’s worst for the last couple years, Reid Ryan has been impressed with how the infusion of quality prospects from Houston’s many recent trades has improved the organization’s farm system. “We had a stretch where we finished last five years in a row in Corpus Christi, and it was tough and we didn’t have a lot of prospects,” Reid Ryan said. “Then (general manager) Jeff (Luhnow) started making some of the hard decisions he made ... now there’s a lot of talent, a lot more than I’ve seen in my time with the Astros.” His father played for the Astros from 1980-88 and spent four years beginning in
2004 as a special assistant to the general manager in Houston before joining the front office of the Texas Rangers. His famous dad and former Astros great Craig Biggio were on hand Friday for the announcement. Though Nolan Ryan now works for Houston’s in-state rival about 200 miles up the road, he still has a keen interest in the team he once played for. “He grew up an Astros fan. I’m still an Astros fan. I follow them on a day-to-day basis,” Nolan Ryan said. “I’m very connected to the team and very connected to what goes on here in Houston with the baseball climate. So that’s a part of us and will always be a part of us.” Nolan Ryan said he hasn’t shared any advice with his son about his new job, but he is very excited to see his son working for his former team. “You’re very proud when you see one of your children get an opportunity of this nature,” Nolan Ryan said. “I’m very proud of the fact that our kids grew up in baseball and have a relationship with baseball and enjoy it and want to be associated with it. So that makes you feel good.” The younger Ryan takes over the position that was left vacant when George Postolos resigned on Monday. Also on Friday, Crane announced that he had agreed to a letter of intent to buy the Hooks. The sale is pending MLB and Ryan-Sanders shareholders’ approval. The Astros plan to assume control of operations of the Hooks at the end of the 2013 season.
PREAKNESS Continued from Page 1B to see if we can get it done and go on to the next step.” Getting it done would mean defeating eight rivals in the 1 3-16-mile Preakness to set up a Triple Crown try in the Belmont Stakes three weeks from Saturday. Orb is the even-money favorite, and there’s a growing feeling that this 3-yearold bay colt may be special enough to give thoroughbred racing its first Triple Crown champion since Affirmed in 1978. “We’d sure love to have that opportunity,” said McGaughey, seeming relaxed and confident. “Probably the racing world would love to see it, too. It brings a lot more attention to what we’re doing from all standpoints.” Orb extended his winning streak to five with a thrilling victory in the Derby two weeks ago, when jockey Joel Rosario patiently guided the colt from 17th to first in the final half mile over a sloppy track. In the Preakness, Orb will break from the No. 1 post, a spot that has seen only one winner — Tabasco Cat in 1994 — since 1961. “Who knows how this race is going to go, but I don’t think it will be a problem,” Rosario said of the inside post. “He’s a horse that comes from behind, so I really don’t think it will affect him. I’m just excited to go into this with a horse who has a chance to win.” A chance? While rival trainers aren’t conceding the race, most agree Orb is the best of the bunch. “Orb, he’s a freak. Right now, everybody should be rooting for Orb, except for the connections of the other horses in the race,”
Photo by Patrick Semansky | AP
Kentucky Derby winner Orb, with exercise rider Jennifer Patterson aboard, gallops during a workout Thursday in Baltimore. trainer Bob Baffert said — and he’s got a horse in the race, 12-1 choice Govenor Charlie. “Anybody who’s not rooting for Orb, there’s something mentally wrong with them.” Baffert has been there before. Three of his five Preakness winners had also won the Derby, but were unable to complete the Triple Crown with a win in the Belmont. He says the Preakness is the least stressful of the three races. “There is absolutely no pressure, believe it or not because you’ve just won the Derby,” he said. “You’re flying high and everybody’s excited. You don’t think about it. The next one (the Belmont) is the pressure.” Getting to the next one may sound easy. It isn’t. Six of the past eight Derby winners did not win the Preakness, and McGaughey is well aware of the pitfalls. “There are a lot of ways you can lose. Freaky things can happen,” he said. “You hope he doesn’t get in any trouble, you hope he handles the track, you hope he handles the kickback of the dirt, you hope he handles
the day. If he does all that, I would have to think it will take a pretty darn good horse to beat him.” Maybe it’s Goldencents, who did not take to the slop at Churchill Downs and finished 17th after winning the Santa Anita Derby in April. “Orb’s not like a one-race hit. All year long he’s been super impressive,” said Goldencents trainer Doug O’Neill, who won the Derby and Preakness last year with I’ll Have Another, only to scratch the colt the day before the Belmont because of a tendon injury. “But we’ve seen Goldencents do some brilliant things in the afternoon. If he does, I think he can beat him.” Maybe it’s Itsmyluckyday, another top 3-year-old who did not handle the sloppy track and finished 15th in the Derby. Or maybe it’s Departing, one of the three horses in the race who did not run in the Derby. Orb knows Departing well — the two were pals growing up at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky., and ran around together in the same field.
SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B
HINTS | BY HELOISE ADOPTION BRINGS NEW LIFE Dear Heloise: I, too, want to say “thank you” for promoting ADOPTION OF SHELTER DOGS AND CATS. I persuaded my husband to let me foster a dog until it could be adopted. The Humane Society gave us a 3-year-old white boxer found wandering the streets, underweight and with injuries. The Humane Society had taken him from animal control, where he was scheduled to be put down the next day. It took only a few hours for us to fall in love with him, so instead of fostering, we adopted him. We treated his injuries and helped him get back to his ideal weight. When we meet people during our daily walks, they tell our dog how lucky he is that we adopted him. But we feel the opposite: We’re the lucky ones to have such a wonderful boy. He is sweet, happy, well-behaved and loves everyone! Adoption is the only way to go! Everyone can
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HELOISE
help to reduce the overpopulation of stray and unwanted dogs and cats by getting your pets spayed and neutered! — Shelley P. in Florida “Woof, woof ” from all of the happy adopted pets now in a safe environment. — Heloise ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS Dear Heloise: My grandmother puts artificial flowers on my grandpa’s grave. She would go to the bigger stores, and the flowers cost her quite a bit. At a dollar store, I saw pretty artificial flowers that were only $1! I told my grandma, and now she gets the flowers there. They are just as pretty, and they save money. — Josephine M., via email How thoughtful of you to help your grandmother save money. — Heloise
DENNIS THE MENACE
FAMILY CIRCUS
PEANUTS
GARFIELD
DAILY CRYPTOQUOTES — Here’s how to work it:
DILBERT
4B THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013