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RIO GRANDE
CRIME
River bacteria Zapata native says water quality needs study By JJ VELASQUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Zapata County faces water quality issues. The Rio Grande in the county hasn’t been found to have exorbitant bacteria levels like it has near International Bridge No. 2 in Laredo. The problem is
that water quality is under-studied, said Maricia Perez Rodriguez, a native Zapatan who does consulting work for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality — which regulates water quality, among other things, in the state. Perez Rodriguez said
there are two samplings sites on the river in the county. One test site samples twice a year; the other tests bacteria levels once a year. “We need to keep a better eye on it,” she said. “Somebody’s got to be monitoring it.” She said more testing
would require funding, which can be obtained through grants from the TCEQ. In San Ygnacio, melon and onion farmers draw their water directly from the river, Perez Rodriguez said.
See RIVER PAGE 9A
REMEMBERING VETERANS
Courtesy photo
Authorities say this artifact was made of PVC pipe, duct tape, wires and batteries, but lacked an explosive element.
Deputies say man called in bomb threats ELY ALANIZ JR.: Facing charges related to alleged bomb threats.
By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
A man accused of calling in three different bomb threats around the county was arrested May 17. Zapata County sheriff ’s officials identified the alleged offender as 29-yearold Ely Alaniz Jr. Investigators served him with warrants charging him with two counts of false alarm and one count of hoax bomb, both Class A misdemeanors; one count of false alarm, a state jail
felony; and three counts of terroristic threat by interrupting a public service, a third-degree felony. Alaniz is out on bond from Zapata Regional Jail. Sgt. Mario Elizondo said investigators were busy for the last two weeks pinpointing the suspect who called in bomb threats around town. Deputies say
See THREATS PAGE 9A
CRIME
Courtesy photo
This pickup truck, deputies say, had parts stolen from it for resale.
Four facing theft charges By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Photo by Cuate Santos | The Zapata Times
Gold Star Mother Francisca Martinez sits next to a framed image of her son Guadalupe Martinez, killed in action during the Vietnam War, during a Memorial Day ceremony held Friday at Memorial Middle School in Laredo. Area residents as well as Americans everywhere will honor military veterans on Memorial Day, on Monday.
Four men were arrested this week in connection with a string of thefts of motor vehicle parts and accessories within Zapata County. Ruben Campos, 18, and Aristo A. Villarreal, 18, were charged with theft, a state jail felony which carries a punishment of 180 days to two years in jail and $10,000 fines. Both men were at Zapata County Regional Jail as of Friday evening. Sgt. Mario Elizondo said
Courtesy photo
Shown are emblems allegedly taken in a series of thefts. investigators have had their eyes on thefts of vehicle emblems. According to Elizondo, the thefts had been ongoing for the past six
See ARRESTS PAGE 9A
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, MAY 26, 2012
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
SATURDAY, MAY 26
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Day One for the BLT Open Team Tournament. The ninth annual Juvencio de Anda Memorial Day Golf Tournament is today at 8 a.m. at the Laredo Country Club. The tournament honors the late Bill Powell and Horace Watson. For more information, contact Nancy de Anda at 763-9960.
Today is Saturday, May 26, the 147th day of 2012. There are 219 days left in the year. Today’s Highlights in History: On May 26, 1942, the U.S. War Department formally established the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) during World War II as a way of boosting morale among American troops overseas. That same day, Radio Tokyo boasted of recent victories in the Pacific War and declared that “the Japanese people can look forward to a triumphal march into London and a victory march in New York.” The Tule (TOO’-lee) Lake Segregation Center, which held JapaneseAmerican wartime internees, opened in northern California. On this date: In 1521, Martin Luther was banned by the Edict of Worms because of his religious beliefs and writings. In 1868, the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson ended with his acquittal on the remaining charges. In 1938, the House UnAmerican Activities Committee was established by Congress. In 1940, the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied troops from Dunkirk, France, began during World War II. In 1941, the American Flag House, where Betsy Ross once lived, was donated to the city of Philadelphia. In 1952, representatives of the United States, Britain, France and West Germany signed the Bonn Convention granting conditional sovereignty to, and ending the Allied occupation of, West Germany. In 1960, U.N. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge accused the Soviets of hiding a microphone inside a wood carving of the Great Seal of the United States that had been presented to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. In 1969, the Apollo 10 astronauts returned to Earth after a successful eight-day dress rehearsal for the first manned moon landing. In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in Moscow. In 1981, 14 people were killed when a Marine jet crashed onto the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz off Florida. In 1992, Charles Geschke, president and chief operating officer of Adobe Systems Inc., was kidnapped in the company’s parking lot in Mountain View, Calif., and held for ransom. (Geschke was rescued four days later; his kidnappers were arrested.) Ten years ago: Fourteen people were killed when barges being pushed by a towboat crashed into the piers of the Interstate 40 bridge in Oklahoma, causing part of the structure to fall into the Arkansas River. Today’s Birthdays: Rock musician Garry Peterson (Guess Who) is 67. Singer Stevie Nicks is 64. Actress Pam Grier is 63. Actor Philip Michael Thomas is 63. Country singer Hank Williams Jr. is 63. Former astronaut Sally K. Ride is 61. Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait is 50. Singer Lenny Kravitz is 48. Actress Helena Bonham Carter is 46. Actor Joseph Fiennes is 42. Thought for Today: “I am never afraid of what I know.” — Anna Sewell, English author (1820-1878).
SUNDAY, MAY 27 Day Two for the BLT Open Team Tournament. The LULAC No. 12 Bowling Tournament is today at noon at Jett Bowl North, 701 Gale St. The entry fee is $150 per team of five bowlers. The tournament will raise funds for the LULAC No. 12 Scholarships and General Fund. For more information, contact Bobby Treviño at 693-0019 or vtrevino9@stx.rr.com.
MONDAY, MAY 28 Kindergarten graduation at 9 a.m. at Villarreal Elementary School.
THURSDAY, MAY 31 Awards Day at 8:30 a.m. at Villarreal Elementary School. The API Fishing Tournament begins today and continues through Friday.
FRIDAY, JUNE 1 Vidal M. Treviño School of Communications and Fine Arts music department’s 2012 Ballroom Gala-Dance is today from 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the Laredo Civic Center (meeting rooms), 2400 San Bernardo Ave. VMT’s jazz ensemble SoundTown will be featured. Tickets are $10 per person and are available at the VMT office, located at 820 Main St. For more information, contact Robert M. Lopez at 956-273-7811 or rmlopez@elisd.org.
MONDAY, JUNE 4 The deadline for organizations and businesses to submit an application for the City of Laredo’s Fourth of July parade is today. This year’s theme is “Symbols of a Free Nation.” An entry fee is required by each unit payable upon submission of the applications. Entry fee for non-profit and tax-exempt organizations is $25 and $60 for commercial entries. Each entry, float or nonfloat with a generator must pay an additional fee of $20 for the Laredo Fire Department for the fire extinguisher. For more parade entry information, contact 210-588-9206 or vparaderentals@yahoo.com.
TUESDAY, JUNE 5 The Alzheimer’s support group will meet today at 7 p.m. in meeting room 2, Building B of the Laredo Medical Center, 1700 E. Saunders St. The support group is for family members and caregivers taking care of someone who has Alzheimer’s. For more information, call Melissa L. Guerra at 693-9991.
MONDAY, JUNE 11 The Zapata Commissioners Court will have its regular meeting today at 9 a.m.
SATURDAY, JUNE 16 Infinity Kill returns to Laredo with special guest Signal Fist for a one-night engagement from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. at Cold Brew Rock Bar, 4520 San Bernardo Ave. For more information, contact Christian Lee at 210-3743165 or cksfrecords@gmail.com.
FRIDAY, JUNE 22 Registration for the Second Annual Classic Bass Fishing Tournament is from 3-7 p.m. at the boat ramp.
SATURDAY, JUNE 23 The Second Annual Classic Bass Fishing Tournament begins with weigh-in at 2:30 p.m. There will be two person teams. Entry fee is $150 per boat. First place is guaranteed $3,000.
MONDAY, JULY 9 The Zapata Commissioners Court will have its regular meeting today at 9 a.m.
SATURDAY, AUG. 11 The Back To School Kids Fishing Tournament takes place today. To submit an item for the calendar, send the name of the event, the date, time, location and contact phone number to editorial@lmtonline.com
Photo by Mayra Beltran/Houston Chronicle | AP
U.S. Senate candidates, from left, Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Democrat Sean Hubbard, Republican Tom Leppert, Democrat Paul Sadler, Republican Craig James, and Republican Ted Cruz, participate in a debate on May 3 in Houston.
‘Amnesty’ ad jolts race By WILL WEISSERT ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — The Republican primary battle for a U.S. Senate seat turned nastier Friday when Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst implied that tea party favorite Ted Cruz supports amnesty for illegal immigrants and Cruz retaliated by saying Dewhurst is “race-baiting” and making generalities about Hispanics. Dewhurst and Cruz, an attorney and former state solicitor general, are seeking the GOP nomination to replace retiring Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, as are former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert and Craig James, an EPSN commentator. If no one gets at least 50 percent of the votes in Tuesday’s primary, a runoff is set for July 31. Dewhurst’s television ads have long attacked Cruz for his firm representing a Chinese tire manufacturer in an intellectual
property dispute with an American company. But Cruz has won the support of national limited-government groups, such as the Club for Growth, which have organized media campaigns claiming Dewhurst has been too moderate during his nearly nine years overseeing the Texas Senate. Tensions spiked over a Dewhurst radio spot featuring two women talking while birds chirp and children play in the background. It says Cruz “helps run two national organizations that have been leading the push to give amnesty to illegal immigrants.” Cruz hasn’t denied being involved with the Hispanic Alliance for Prosperity Institute and the Hispanic Leadership Fund, but says he’s always opposed amnesty. He denounced the ad on a Dallas radio station as “designed to say anyone who is Hispanic must support amnesty.”
Lawmakers hoping to promote diverse juries
Texas deputy arrested on drug charge
Undercover police fatally shoot knife-wielding man
HOUSTON — Several lawmakers upset by an all-white jury’s acquittal of a former Houston police officer in the alleged beating of a teenage burglary suspect say they plan to present a bill at next year’s state legislative session to promote diverse juries. U.S. Reps. Al Green and Sheila Jackson Lee said Friday they will work with state Rep. Sylvester Turner on legislation to review the number of single-race juries that have decided trials around the state.
McALLEN — A judge in McAllen has ordered a sheriff ’s deputy held for his alleged role in a drug trafficking conspiracy. Federal prosecutors say Duval County deputy Ruben Silva took $5,000 and planned to smuggle cocaine in his sheriff ’s department vehicle from the Rio Grande Valley through the Border Patrol inland checkpoint. He was arrested Thursday.
HOUSTON — A Houston man is dead after undercover police officers say they shot him when he began attacking them with a box cutter. Police say 51-year-old Kevin Hunter stabbed one of the Houston officers during the confrontation Thursday night. Homicide officers say the two were in an unmarked car parked in a vacant lot when Hunter and another man approached them.
SEC bars Dallas man from practicing before agency DALLAS — A former official with the Securities and Exchange Commission has been barred from representing clients before the agency for a year due to federal conflict of interest violations. The SEC imposed the ban on Dallas attorney Spencer Barasch.
Customs officer in Texas arrested for gun buys BROWNSVILLE — A U.S. customs officer has been arrested in South Texas on federal charges of illegally buying guns for another person. Federal prosecutors say 38year-old Manuel Eduardo Peña twice bought hunting rifles at a Brownsville sporting goods store and then accepted reimbursement from a legal permanent resident.
State: Texas alligator killing wasn’t self-defense FORT WORTH — A fisherman is facing a $5,300 penalty for shooting an 11-foot alligator he thought was attacking him and his fishing buddy. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports Friday that state game wardens have determined the alligator killing was not in self-defense. — Composed from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION Churches raising money to fight gay marriage PORTLAND, Maine — Scores of Maine churches will pass the collection plate a second time at Sunday services on Father’s Day to kick off a fundraising campaign for the lead opposition group to November’s ballot question asking voters to legalize same-sex marriages. Between 150 and 200 churches are expected to raise money for the Protect Marriage Maine political action committee, said Carroll Conley Jr. of the Christian Civic League of Maine. Conley is also trying to drum up support for the Maine campaign from religious leaders from around the country.
Senators seek to name bison ‘national mammal’ BILLINGS, Mont. — Western lawmakers want to elevate the Plains bison to a status similar
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This 2012 photo taken on the Fort Peck Reservation near Polar, Mont., shows a heard of bison. Western lawmakers are seeking to elevate the plains bison to a status similar to that of the iconic bald eagle. to that of the iconic bald eagle with legislation to declare the burly beasts America’s “national mammal.” Bison advocates launched a “vote bison” public relations campaign Friday to coincide with the bill.
The National Bison Legacy Act introduced in the Senate is backed by lawmakers from Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Rhode Island. — Compiled from AP reports
SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted. The Zapata Times is free. The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500. The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail thezapatatimes.net
Local
SATURDAY, MAY 26, 2012
Pot gets man 33 months By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ
JOEL ROBLES PEREZ: Sentenced on marijuana conviction.
THE ZAPATA TIMES
A Mexican national was sentenced to federal prison for moving and attempting to distribute 600 pounds of marijuana, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced this week. Visiting U.S. District Judge Joseph Hood sentenced 25-year-old Joel Hugo Robles Perez to 33 months in federal prison Wednesday. The judge further or-
dered Robles Perez to serve three years of postprison supervised release. Robles Perez remains in federal custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility. Robles Perez pled guilty Feb. 3. An ongoing investigation led Immigration and Customs Enforcement
agents to believe that narcotics were being stored at a residence in Zapata County. On Dec. 9, ICE agents, assisted by U.S. Border Patrol and Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office deputies, met with Robles Perez at a Zapata residence not disclosed in the criminal complaint. The complaint states Robles Perez stated there was marijuana in a white 2000 Chevy pickup bearing Tamaulipas plates
parked in the back of the house. A complaint states agents found 52 bundles of marijuana, which weighed approximately 270 kilograms. Robles Perez said he had picked up the marijuana the night before at a boat landing near Veleño Bridge in Zapata. The marijuana, he said, was to be transported to Laredo, a complaint states. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
12M acres now in program SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture will accept 3.9 million acres offered under the 43rd Conservation Reserve Program general sign-up. During the extended five-week signup, the Department received nearly 48,000 offers on more than 4.5 million acres of land. USDA has now enrolled nearly 12 million acres in the CRP since 2009. There are more than 29.6 million acres enrolled on more than 736,000 contracts. “For more than 25 years, lands in
CRP have helped to support strong incomes for our farmers and ranchers and produce good middle-class jobs throughout the country related to outdoor recreation, hunting, and fishing,” said Vilsack. Enrollment of the new 3.9 million acres will allow USDA to continue important targeting of CRP acres through continuous sign-up initiatives — including those announced earlier this year for highly-erodible land, as well as grasslands and wetlands. The two continuous sign-ups announced earlier this year will target an additional 1.75 million acres in total.
For the first continuous sign-up program, USDA encourages landowners with land that has an Erosion Index (EI) of 20 or greater to consider participating in the Highly Erodible Land initiative. Lands eligible for this program are typically the least productive land on the farm. For the second continuous sign-up program, landowners with sensitive grasslands, wetlands and wildlife habitat are encouraged to participate. The grasslands and wetlands initiative increases acres set aside for specific enrollments that benefit duck nesting habitat, upland birds, wetlands and wildlife.
FIRST GRADE TOP READERS Villarreal Elementary first grade students participated in a silent auction for being the top accelerated readers earning the most points. Their reading paid off in the form of great prizes. Top point reader was Daniel Rodriguez, followed by Claudia Garza, Kassandra Ibarra, Steven Gonzalez, Uriel Alaniz, Arturo Navarro, Hugo Martinez, Mariana Nino, Alyssa Ramirez, Abel Lara and Javier Garza. Courtesy photo
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
THE BLOTTER Burglary A man reported at 12:14 a.m. Sunday in the 400 block of Miraflores Avenue that someone burglarized his two Ford pickups. An incident report states the suspects stole two cell phones and a gaming console. The items had an estimated value of $930. A burglary of a habitation was reported at 1:54 p.m. Monday near the San Ygnacio landfill, off U.S. 83. An incident report states someone stole a desktop computer and some antiques from a ranch house. The stolen items had an estimated value of $8,000. A 38-year-old woman reported a burglary of a building at 7 a.m. Wednesday in the 1900 block of Miraflores Avenue. A 61-year-old man reported at 8:25 p.m. Thursday in the 1500 block of Falcon Avenue that someone burglarized his truck and stole a battery valued at $90.
Possession Gilberto Sanchez, 34, was arrested and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia at about 12:15 a.m. Monday at 13th Street and Medina Avenue. He was at Zapata Regional Jail as of Friday afternoon. A 14-year-old male juvenile
was detained and charged with drug paraphernalia at about 4:15 p.m. Tuesday in the 2400 block of Fresno Street. He was turned over to juvenile probation. Homero Resendez, 24, was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance at about 1 a.m. Wednesday at Fourth Street and Medina Avenue. He had a $5,000 bond at Zapata Regional Jail. Jaime Javier Buentello, 18, was arrested and a 15-year-old male juvenile detained at about 11:45 a.m. Wednesday in the 5200 block of Carrizo Lane. Both were charged with possession of a controlled substance. Buentello was at Zapata Regional Jail as of Friday evening. The juvenile was turned over to the Webb County Youth Village.
Public intoxication Roberto Saldivar Jr., 18, was arrested and charged with public intoxication at about 5:30 a.m. Sunday in the 5200 block of Cuellar Lane after an argument was reported in the vicinity. He is out on bail.
Theft A person reported at 8:30 a.m. May 19 in the 100 block of Trinity Lane that someone stole his 2011 Chevy flatbed truck.
Small business target of talk SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
Texas A&M International University Western Hemisphere Trade Center Room 104-TTVN Auditorium will be the only site for this month’s small business video conference sponsored by Rep. Henry Cuellar. The video conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday. The conference had been planned for viewing
in Zapata at the education center, but that plan had to be scrapped due to technical difficulties. The Zapata location will be ready for next month’s video conference, according to Cuellar’s office. Due to limited seating for the May video conference, Cuellar’s office asked that those interesting in attending RSVP by Tuesday to Pete Arguello at pete.arguello@mail.house.gov.
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
SATURDAY, MAY 26, 2012
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
Ad fun in the primary season By KEN HERMAN COX NEWSPAPERS
AUSTIN — We’re not quite to the finish line yet, and the best may be yet to come, but please allow me to recommend three Texas primary season campaign ads for your perusal. Two make the list for entertainment value. As you recall, the First Rule of Politics is, if you expect anything more than entertainment, you’re headed for disappointment. The third made the list because you’ll scratch your head and say, “Hmm.”
Let’s have some fun First, entertainment. Go to GlennAddison.com to see GOP U.S. Senate candidate Glenn Addison’s spot showing animated versions of his foes David Dewhurst being chased by a TSA agent and Ted Cruz getting money pumped into his hand by a Chinese guy. I’m not sure where this ad fits into the larger scheme for advancing democracy, but you’ll smile. And go to tinyurl.com/ sledgefence to see GOP Railroad Commission candidate Roland Sledge’s video in which he makes a point, I think, by showing a man getting a charge (simulated, I hope) out of urinating on an electric fence. Delightful, though perhaps a harbinger of the end times.
Nothing new with child actors The head-scratcher is one in which state Rep. J.M. Lozano, R-Kingsville, turns his son into perhaps the youngest human ever used as a campaign ad prop. I’ve stashed it at tinyurl.com/ lozanobaby. Lozano, seeking a second House term, was a Democrat until March 8. “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party; the Democratic Party left me,” he said. That’s what they always say. Party-switching, if sincere, is OK. And Lozano did it the right way, which is prior to election season. Reps. Aaron Peña of Edinburg and Allan Ritter of Nederland did it the wrong way in December 2010 by announcing they had become Republicans a few weeks after getting re-elected as Democrats.
Camping in the womb At his announcement, Lozano was accompanied by wife Abby, then eight months pregnant. “We will keep you in our prayers as you have your third little Republican,” Gov. Rick Perry said. Lozano said “our upcoming son Carlos” was “campaigning as we speak.” It was a joke, but not for long. Carlos now stars in dad’s campaign ad, which starts with a tight shot of the sleeping baby. “Dear Carlos,” Lozano says in a comforting tone, “I know you’re too
young to understand, but I want you to know why I’m running for state representative.” Piano music tinkles in the background as Lozano walks to the crib. “A man named Barack Obama is ruining our country,” Lozano tells his sleeping son as we move to a tighter shot of Carlos. “If we don’t stand up and fight, he’ll take away your future. It’s going to be tough, but we have to do it.” Lozano then picks up his son and says, “You sleep now and know that Daddy’s doing everything he can.”
A creepy feeling I don’t know. This one seems awfully close to Creepyville. It has kind of a president-as-a-scarything-under-the-bed feel to it. But I guess it’s reasonable for Republicans — even new ones who until recently were on Obama’s team — to believe the president’s policies are ruinous. In a 2010 Democratic primary, future Republican Lozano ousted South Padre Island Rep. Tara Rios Ybarra, whom he branded as a “closet Republican.” There was no GOP nominee in the heavily Democratic district, and Lozano easily beat a Libertarian foe to win the South Texas seat. Now, post-redistricting, Lozano faces two GOP primary foes in a GOP-friendly district. Rep. Jose Aliseda, R-Beeville, the district’s incumbent, is not seeking re-election.
Nothing new Using kids — a candidate’s and other people’s — is not new in campaign ads. Among the genre’s most famous is Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 ad showing a young girl counting petals pulled from a daisy and transitioning into a countdown to a mushroom cloud. “These are the stakes,” LBJ says on the ad aimed at making GOP challenger Barry Goldwater look dangerous. “To make a world in which all of God’s children can live or to go into the dark. We must either love each other or we must die.” “The stakes are too high for you to stay home,” a narrator then said.
Unanswered questions Would Goldwater have led to intergalactic atomic obliteration? We’ll never know. Will Obama be the ruination of this country? We might find out. It’s an important possibility we must discuss, but it seems it’s a discussion we can have without having a candidate let us watch him tell his newborn about the bad man in the White House. On the other hand, I find myself oddly in favor or more ads involving electric fences. (Ken Herman is a columnist for the Austin American-Statesman. Email: kherman@statesman.com.)
COLUMN
Banking careers take 2 paths By DAVID BROOKS NEW YORK TIMES
Several years ago, the investment banks and consulting firms decided it was better to hire a supremely gifted 22-year-old than a moderately gifted 40-year-old who wanted to go home to his family. To attract these young superstars, the firms set up training programs that offered recent college graduates great salaries, practical skills and interesting life experiences. Top students at elite universities are now showered with these opportunities. Before the financial crisis, nearly half the graduates at some colleges went to work at investment banks, consultancies, hedge funds and the like. But students are now looking at these programs more skeptically. This year, Rob Reich, a Stanford political science professor (not the former labor secretary, the other one), held a terrific online discussion on why so many elite students go into finance and consulting and whether this is a good thing. Many recent Stanford grads ardently defended the finance path. One new investment banker wrote that he’s learning how the crude oil market works, meaning he now knows about Iran’s relationship to Russia, the cultural dynamics in Nigeria and many other things. A Ph.D. student argued that these private sector
firms do a lot more to alleviate poverty than nongovernmental organizations. Look at how global investment has reduced poverty in China. An undergrad argued that these firms serve as great signaling devices. An altruistic nongovernmental organization is more likely to hire you if you did a stint at Goldman Sachs. You’ll be better at ending hunger later because you learned to be an analyst today.
Considered waste Other students argued that the flood of talent into finance and consulting is a giant waste. Too many students slide into the finance job application process by default because it feels comfortably like applying to college. There’s a certain automatic prestige to it. It’s competitive, so it must be good. These critics lament the brain drain into finance and consulting. The smartest people should be fighting poverty, ending disease and serving others, not themselves. The student discussion was smart, civil and illuminating. But I was struck by the unspoken assumptions. Many of these students seem to have a blinkered view of their options. There’s crass but affluent investment banking. There’s the poor but noble nonprofit world. And then there is the world of high tech startups, which magically
provides money and coolness simultaneously. But there was little interest in or awareness of the ministry, the military, the academy, government service or the zillion other sectors. Furthermore, few students showed any interest in working for a company that actually makes products. It sometimes seems that good students at schools in blue states go into service capitalism (consulting and finance) while good students in red states go into production capitalism (Procter & Gamble, John Deere, AutoZone). The discussion also reinforced a thought I’ve had in many other contexts: that community service has become a patch for morality. Many people today have not been given vocabularies to talk about what virtue is, what character consists of, and in which way excellence lies, so they just talk about community service, figuring that if you are doing the sort of work that Bono celebrates, then you must be a good person. Let’s put it differently. Many people today find it easy to use the vocabulary of entrepreneurialism, whether they are in business or social entrepreneurs. This is a utilitarian vocabulary. How can I serve the greatest number? How can I most productively apply my talents to the problems of the world? It’s about resource allocation. People are less good at using the vocabulary of
moral evaluation, which is less about what sort of career path you choose than what sort of person you are. In whatever field you go into, you will face greed, frustration and failure. You may find your life challenged by depression, alcoholism, infidelity, your own stupidity and self-indulgence. So how should you structure your soul to prepare for this? Simply working at Amnesty International instead of McKinsey is not necessarily going to help you with these primal character tests. Furthermore, how do you achieve excellence? Around what ultimate purpose should your life revolve? Are you capable of heroic self-sacrifice or is life just a series of achievement hoops? These, too, are not analytic questions about what to do. They require literary distinctions and moral evaluations. When I read the Stanford discussion thread, I saw young people with deep moral yearnings. But they tended to convert moral questions into resource allocation questions; questions about how to be into questions about what to do. It’s worth noting that you can devote your life to community service and be a total schmuck. You can spend your life on Wall Street and be a hero. Understanding heroism and schmuckdom requires fewer Excel spreadsheets, more Dostoyevsky and the Book of Job.
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phone number IS NOT published; it is used solely to verify identity and to clarify content, if necessary. Identity of the letter writer must be verified before publication. We want to assure our
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DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
ing or gratuitous abuse is allowed. Via e-mail, send letters to editorial@lmtonline.com or mail them to Letters to the Editor, 111 Esperanza Drive, Laredo, TX 78041.
SATURDAY, MAY 26, 2012
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
Researcher is again target of critics
TOP OF THE CLASS OF 2012
By KEVIN BEGOS ASSOCIATED PRESS
PITTSBURGH — A wellknown expert on the natural gas boom is again facing criticism over his ties to industry and a lack of transparency in how he presents work to the public, fueling debates over research that’s been published by major universities. Timothy Considine was lead author on a shale gas report recently issued by the University at Buffalo and a previous report from Penn State University. Critics say both reports presented research in misleading ways and failed to fully disclose funding sources. Considine, now at the University of Wyoming, has gotten funding from industry groups such as the Marcellus Shale Coalition, the Wyoming Mining Association, the American Iron and Steel Institute, and the American Petroleum Institute. On Thursday, the Public Accountability Initiative, a Buffalo nonprofit, issued a critique of the UB study. “Taken together, the serious flaws in the report, industry-friendly spin, strong industry ties, and fundraising plans raise serious questions about the Shale Resources and Society Institute’s independence and the University at Buffalo’s decision to lend its independent, academic authority to the Institute’s work,” the critique said. Some say Considine and the University at Buffalo could easily have avoided the controversies over transparency. “It sounds like a moral blind spot,” said Stephen Satris, a professor of philosophy at the Clemson University Rutland Institute for Ethics. In 2010, Penn State ad-
The Wyoming funding was disclosed in a conference call with reporters. ministrators retracted the original version of a report on the economic impact of Marcellus Shale natural gas, noting that Considine and his co-authors made “a clear error” in not disclosing that the report was funded by an industry group, as well as “flaws in the way the report was written and presented to the public.” This week, the University at Buffalo published a correction to Considine’s report on environmental regulations involving the Marcellus Shale, noting that an initial claim that it went through an independent peer-review process “may have given readers an incorrect impression.” The University at Buffalo also said the report “was not funded or commissioned by external sources.” But Considine told The Associated Press in an email that the University of Wyoming paid him and two other lead authors. Considine said the Wyoming funding was disclosed in a conference call with reporters, and that he was just doing work as a tenured professor. But that funding link wasn’t acknowledged in the actual published report. Considine is the director of the UW Center for Energy Economics & Public Policy, and the group’s website includes a page called “Outside Organizations.” It contains links to the American Gas Association, the American Petroleum Institute, the Natural Gas Supply Association and the International Society for In-
dustrial Ecology. Asked about industryfunded research, Considine replied that “two plus two should always equal four, no matter who paid for the pencil.” He added that he doesn’t see how the shale institute “could provide any more transparency than it already has.” Satris said the suggestion that more transparency wasn’t possible is flat-out wrong. The University at Buffalo didn’t respond to repeated requests from the AP for comment about the Wyoming funding. Though some criticize Considine for accepting research funding from industry, that practice is widespread in academia. Wyoming spokesman Chad Baldwin said the school “does not prohibit professors from doing private consulting work” and wouldn’t have information on private contractual arrangements. “I think that’s behind the times,” Satris said of the school policy, noting that the medical community has moved to embrace full disclosure of research funding after scandals over how the tobacco industry secretly funded pro-smoking studies for decades. University at Buffalo administrators weren’t clear about the origin and status of funding for the shale institute. Artvoice, a local publication, first reported that the school said funding came through a separate foundation, whose donors aren’t publicly disclosed.
Courtesy photos
Zapata High School administrators have announced the top seniors in the Class of 2012. Salutatorian is Edgar Hernandez, and Valadictorian is Rebecca Aimee Gonzalez.
6A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, MAY 26, 2012
Race a new test for GOP establishment By CHRIS TOMLINSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — The story line on the Republican Senate race in Texas is a now familiar one: A veteran politician supported by the GOP establishment is challenged by a young insurgent backed by national conservative groups. In this distinctly Texas episode in the saga for control of the Senate, David Dewhurst is the reserved, self-made millionaire and lieutenant governor facing off against Ted Cruz, the feisty son of a Cuban exile who calls himself “a proven fighter for liberty because his family knows what it means to lose it.” The underdog is former Dallas mayor and businessman Tom Leppert, who offers himself as the no-nonsense alternative to politics as usual. In heavily Republican Texas, whoever wins the GOP primary on Tuesday is almost sure to replace retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Cruz and Leppert acknowledge that Dewhurst is more familiar with voters and has more cash — he’s spent $9.2 million of his $200 million fortune on the primary. But both hope to force a runoff, and if one succeeds, the runner-up could win in July. While there have been no reliable, independent polls in the nine-candidate race, those released by partisans show Dewhurst on the cusp of getting the 50 percent-plus-one he needs to avoid a runoff, with Cruz in second place. Conservative groups that complain many Senate Republicans now in office are too quick to compromise have spent more than $4 million trying to help Cruz. The benefactors include South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint’s Senate Conservatives Fund, the anti-tax Club for Growth and former Texas Rep. Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks. Similar Senate primary battles are taking place in Wisconsin, where tea party favorite Mark Neuman is running against former Gov. Tommy Thompson, and in Arizona, where six-term Rep. Jeff Flake is being challenged by Wil Cardon, who also casts himself as a tea party candidate. Cruz is drawing comparisons between Texas and Indiana, where state Treasurer Richard Mourdock defeated incumbent Sen. Richard Lugar in the Republican primary. Leppert looks for inspiration from Nebraska, where Deb Fischer, a state legislator, rose up from third place to become the GOP’s Senate nominee there. Cruz, 41, made his name representing
Photo by Laura Skelding/file | AP
Photo by Deborah Cannon/Austin American-Statesman/file | AP
Photo by Pat Sullivan | AP
Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, the reserved, self-made millionaire, is facing off against Ted Cruz, the feisty son of a Cuban exile who calls himself “a proven fighter for liberty because his family knows what it means to lose it.”
Ted Cruz, former Texas Solicitor General, started preparing for a U.S. Senate race almost 30 years ago, and for many of the state’s Republicans, he’s the candidate they’ve sought after for almost as long.
Republican primary candidate for the U.S. Senate Craig James is backed by supporters at a press conference Thursday, in Houston. Also vying for the party’s nomination are Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, ex-Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert and Ted Cruz.
Texas before the Supreme Court in highprofile cases. He has endorsements from former GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in addition to several tea party groups. Dewhurst, 66, has the backing of Gov. Rick Perry and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as well as support from the state’s most influential Republican clubs, anti-abortion organizations and political action committees. There are few significant policy differences between the top three candidates: All oppose abortion rights, amnesty for illegal immigrants and tax increases of any kind. That has forced their campaigns to focus on personality and records with often harsh attack ads. Tall, reserved and impeccably dressed, Dewhurst was raised by a single mother after his father was killed by a drunken driver. He served in the Air Force and as a CIA officer in Bolivia before returning to Houston, where he started a natural
gas business and made his fortune. Cruz’s father fought against Cuba’s Batista regime in the late 1950s before getting a student visa to attend the University of Texas. Cruz was born in Alberta, Canada, where his dad worked in the oil fields before moving back to Houston. A champion debater, Cruz attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School and has spent most of his career in politically appointed positions in the Bush administration or working for the Texas attorney general. Leppert, 57, has been CEO of several companies, including the Turner Corp., the nation’s largest construction company. He ran for Dallas mayor as a reformer and balanced the city’s budget. The competition between Dewhurst and Cruz turned ugly early. Each has spent more than $4 million on TV and radio attack ads. Dewhurst has derided Cruz as a trial lawyer even though Cruz has specialized in handling appeals. His campaign also
pilloried Cruz for representing a Chinese tire company appealing a $26 million judgment that it had stolen intellectual property from a U.S. company. Cruz replied he was only doing his job as an attorney for an international law firm. Cruz, meanwhile, attacks Dewhurst as a “timid, moderate politician” who too often has compromised with Democrats. “Enough of these little kitty cats we keep sending to Washington,” Cruz said. “David Dewhurst will compromise every day in the U.S. Senate. ... It’s what he’s done every day in state government.” Boasting about his experience as a top business executive, Leppert calls Dewhurst a career politician and Cruz a government staffer. Dewhurst says Leppert’s record as Dallas mayor is too liberal for Texas Republicans. Whoever wins the GOP nomination will face one of two Democrats, former state Rep. Paul Sadler and party activist Sean Hubbard. No Democrat has won a statewide office in Texas since 1994.
Dragon arrives at space station in historic first By MARCIA DUNN ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The privately bankrolled Dragon capsule made a historic arrival at the International Space Station on Friday, triumphantly captured by astronauts wielding a giant robot arm. SpaceX is the first private company to accomplish such a feat: a commercial cargo delivery into the cosmos. “There’s so much that could have gone wrong and it went right,” said an elated Elon Musk, the billionaire maestro of SpaceX. “This really is, I think, going to be recognized as a significantly historical step forward in space travel — and hopefully the first of many to come.” NASA astronaut Donald Pettit used the space station’s 58-foot robot arm to snare the gleaming white Dragon after a few hours of extra checks and maneuvers. The two vessels came together while sailing above Australia. “Looks like we’ve got us a dragon by the tail,” Pettit announced from 250 miles up once he locked onto Dragon’s docking mechanism. NASA controllers applauded as their counterparts at SpaceX’s control center in Hawthorne, Calif. — including Musk — lifted their arms in triumph and jumped out of their seats to exchange high fives. The two control rooms worked together, as equal partners, to pull off the feat. The company’s youthfullooking employees — the average age is 30 — were still in a frenzy when Musk took part in a televised news conference. They screamed with excitement as if it were at a pep rally and chanted, “E-lon, E-lon, E-lon,” as the 40-year-old Musk, wearing a black athletic jacket with the SpaceX logo, described the day’s events. Alcohol was banned
from the premises during the crucial flight operation, Musk noted, “but now that things are good, I think we’ll probably have a bit of champagne and have some fun.” The crowd roared in approval. Although cargo hauls have become routine, Friday’s linkup was significant in that an individual company pulled it off. That chore was previously reserved for a small, elite group of government agencies. Not only that, the reusable SpaceX Dragon is designed to safely return items, a huge benefit that disappeared with NASA’s space shuttles. It’s the first U.S. craft to visit the station since the final shuttle flight last summer. Two hours after the capture, the crew attached the Dragon to the space station as the congratulations poured in. “Now that a U.S. company has proven its ability to resupply the space station, it opens a new frontier for commercial opportunities in space — and new job creation opportunities right here in the U.S.,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement. “Nearly 43 years after we first walked on the moon, we have taken another step in demonstrating continued American leadership in space,” said Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin, the second man to step onto the moon. The bell-shaped capsule— 19 feet tall and 12 feet across — is carrying 1,000 pounds of supplies on this unprecedented test flight. The crew starts unpacking Saturday and will have just under a week to unload the food, clothes and other contents. After this test flight, SpaceX — officially known
as Space Exploration Technologies Corp. — has a contract to make a dozen delivery runs. It is one of several companies vying for NASA’s cargo business and a chance to launch Americans from U.S. soil. SpaceX launched the capsule from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday with its Falcon 9 rocket. On Thursday, the Dragon capsule came within 1-1/2 miles of the space station in a practice fly-by. It returned to the neighborhood early Friday so Pettit, along with Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers, could capture it with the station’s robot arm. First, the capsule went through a series of stopand-go demonstrations to prove it was under good operating control. NASA ordered extra checks of the Dragon’s imaging systems as the capsule drew ever closer to the space station, putting the entire operation slightly behind schedule. At one point, SpaceX controllers ordered a retreat because of a problem with on-board tracking sensors. Given that the Dragon is
Photo by NASA-TV | AP
The SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft is seen after being grappled by the Canadarm2 robotic arm and connected to the International Space Station, on Friday. Dragon is scheduled to spend about a week docked with the station before returning to Earth on Thursday for retrieval. a brand new type of vehicle and this is a test flight, the space agency insisted on proceeding cautiously. A collision by vehicles traveling at orbital speed — 17,500 mph — could prove disastrous for the space station. NASA’s space station program manager, Mike Suffredini, said the way the SpaceX team handled the problem and the entire operation was “remarkable.”
SÁBADO 26 DE MAYO DE 2012
Zfrontera CAMPAÑA ESTATAL BUSCA MINIMIZAR MUERTES EN ACCIDENTES
Agenda en Breve
Viajeros seguros
LAREDO 05/26 — El Concilio Indo-Americano de Laredo invita a su Pow Wow por el Día de los Caídos, de 12 p.m. a 10 p.m. en Laredo Civic Center. 05/26 — La Fundación del Patrimonio del Condado de Webb invita a su comida por el Día de los Fundadores a las 12 p.m. en el Student Center Ballroom de TAMIU. El evento presentará la inauguración del nuevo Presidente de la República del Rio Grande, Renato Ramírez, así como la entrega de los Premios Anuales del Patrimonio. Evento abierto al público en general. Para obtener boletos de entrada llame al (956) 727-0977 o escriba a heritage@webbheritage.org. 05/26 — Planetario Lamar Bruni Vergara de Texas A&M International University presenta “One World, One Sky Big Bird’s Adventure” a las 4 p.m., “Starsof the Pharaohs” a las 5 p.m., “2012: Ancient Skies, Ancient Mysteries” a las 6 p.m., y “Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon” a las 7 p.m. Costo: 5 dólares, adultos; 4 dólares, menores. 05/27 — Hoy a las 12 p.m. es el Primer Torneo Anual de Boliche organizado por LULAC #12 en Jett Bowl North, 701 Gale St. Costo: 150 dólares por equipo (5 personas por equipo). El objetivo es recaudar fondos para becas. Informes en el 693-0019. 05/27 — El Recital de Danza Juvenil 2012 se presenta hoy en el teatro del Center for the Fine and Performing Arts de TAMIU a las 3 p.m. Evento gratuito. 06/01 — El Departamento de Música de la Escuela de Comunicaciones y Bellas Artes Vidal M. Treviño presenta su Gala-Danza Salón de Baile 2012 de 7:30 p.m. a 11 p.m. en las salas de junta de Laredo Civic Center, 2400 avenida San Bernardo. Se presenta el grupo de Jazz de VMT. Costo: 10 dólares. Informes en (956) 273-7811. 06/07 — El ex Laredense, Jack Strunk, se presentará en la Sala de Usos Múltiples H-E-B de Laredo Morning Times, de 2 p.m. a 3:30 p.m. para discutir sus experiencias personales y su libro. Otra presentación es el 9 de junio a las 6 p.m.
NUEVO LAREDO, MÉXICO 05/26 — Estación Palabra presenta “Bazar de Arte” a las 12 p.m.; “Lecturas antes de abordar: Homenaje a Carlos Fuentes” a la 1 p.m.; Festival Infantil “Día Mundial de la Diversidad” a las 2 p.m.; Taller de Creación Literaria con Jacobo Mina a las 3 p.m. Eventos gratuitos. 05/26 — Museo para Niños proyectará la caricatura “Rapunzel” a las 4 p.m. en la Sala de Servicios Educativos del Centro Cultural. Evento gratuito. 05/26 — Compañía de Danza Nuevo Laredo presenta “Prácticas Escénicas” a las 5 p.m. en el Teatro Experimental del Centro Cultural. Evento gratuito. 05/27 — Laberintus Arte y Cultura, A.C. presenta “Historia del Otro Lado” de Ángel Hernández, a las 12 p.m. en el Teatro del IMSS, Reynosa y Belden. Costo: 20 dólares. 05/29 — Laberintus Arte y Cultura, A.C. presenta “Rapaz” de Edoardo Torres, a las 8 p.m. en el Teatro del IMSS, Reynosa y Belden. Costo: 20 dólares. Apta solo para adultos. Cupo limitado. 06/03 — Laberintus Arte y Cultura, A.C. presenta “Historia del Otro Lado” de Ángel Hernández, a las 12 p.m. en Teatro del IMSS, Reynosa y Belden. Costo: 20 dólares.
PÁGINA 7A
ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Durante este fin de semana del Día de los Caídos (Memorial Day), miles de policías estatales, oficiales de policía y ayudantes del Alguacil de todo Texas, estarán al acecho de conductores y pasajeros que no estén usando el cinturón de seguridad y también si los niños no lo están usando apropiadamente. La campaña “Click it or Ticket” del Departamento de Transportación de Texas (TxDOT), indica que conductores y pasajeros que decidan no ajustar sus cinturones de seguridad podrían ser detenidos por la policía y recibir una multa hasta 250 dólares, más costos de corte. La ley de Texas requiere que tanto conductores y pasajeros estén usando sus cinturones de seguridad. Niños menores de 8 años de edad, deben pasearse en un asiento de seguridad para niños o una silla de seguridad para bebés
La ley de Texas requiere que tanto conductores y pasajeros estén usando sus cinturones de seguridad. al menos que rebasen los 4 pies y nueve pulgadas de alto. TxDOT hace uso de la campaña “Click it or Ticket” para hacer conciencia acerca de la ley que rodea el uso del cinturón de seguridad y de la importancia de siempre abrocharse. “Solo toma un minuto abrocharse el cinturón de seguridad y asegurarse que todos los demás en el vehículo estén apropiadamente abrochados”, dijo en un comunicado de prensa la directora de la división de operaciones de tráfico de TxDOT, Menciona Carol Rawson. “Ese minuto puede salvar una vida”. Aunque Rawson sostuvo que no se debe estar recordando a la gen-
te el uso del cinturón de seguridad, “en este caso, los oficiales de policía alrededor del estado estarán sancionando a las personas que no han entendido el mensaje”. Accidentes automovilísticos son la principal causa de muerte en el estado de Texas. En el 2011, alrededor de 3,000 personas murieron en choques fatales en las calles y carreteras de Texas debido a que casi la mitad de esos conductores y pasajeros no tenían puesto el cinturón de seguridad. Usar un cinturón de seguridad reduciría el riesgo de lesiones mortales de un porcentaje de 45 por ciento en accidentes automovilísticos y un 60 por ciento en accidentes de camión ligero.
“Click it or Ticket no solamente se dedica a multar, también se dedica a salvar vidas”, mencionó Rawson. “El uso del cinturón de seguridad en Texas es mucho más alto de lo que era antes que empezáramos con este esfuerzo hace 11 años, pero todavía tenemos oposición. “Queremos que todos se acostumbren al hábito de abrocharse el cinturón de seguridad”. De hecho, Texas esta en la séptima posición en la nación en el uso general de cinturón de seguridad. Según al Texas Transportation Institute, expertos en el National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estiman que el incremento fijo en el uso de cinturón de seguridad en el estado de Texas en los últimos 10 años han resultado en menos de 2,843 victimas mortales en accidentes automovilísticos y menos de 48,000 lesiones serias con un ahorro al estado de mas de 10 billones en costos asociados.
MÉXICO
CONDADO DE WEBB
SEMANA DE SALUD
Ceremonia honrará a ciudadanos ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Foto de cortesía | Secretaría de Salud
El Sector Salud y el Sistema DIF invita a familias, especialmente a aquellas con hijos menores de 5 años, a que participen del 26 de mayo al 1 de junio en la Segunda Semana Nacional de Salud.
Campaña busca reforzar vacunas POR MIGUEL TIMOSHENKOV TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Hoy inicia la Segunda Semana Nacional de Salud en México, y la misma continuará hasta el viernes 1 de junio. El objetivo de la semana es reforzar las acciones preventivas de salud en la comunidad, principalmente buscando fortalecer la cartilla de vacunación de menores. “Madres de familia han mostrado una importante cooperación para inmunizar a sus hijos, lo que permite que Nuevo Laredo, México, y la frontera ribereña, quede acorazada por las enfermedades de los niños”, dijo el Jefe de la Jurisdicción Sanitaria No. V, Jaime Emilio Gutiérrez Serrano. En la Segunda Semana Nacional de Salud se dará la aplicación de la vacuna anti poliomielítica tipo Sabin en el universo de menores de 5 años. En infantes menores de
“
El trabajo del sector salud ha sido excelente”. JEFE DE LA JURISDICCIÓN SANITARIA NO. V, JAIME EMILIO GUTIÉRREZ SERRANO.
un año de edad, se aplicará a quienes habrían recibido dos dosis de vacuna inactivada de polio virus a través de la vacuna pentavalente. Personal de salud tiene contemplado complementar y distribuir los sobres de Vida Suero Oral, y buscarán reforzar la administración de suplementos y vitaminas, minerales, hierro y ácido fólico, especialmente con la población de alto riesgo. En esta acción con el Departamento de Salud colabora directamente personal de los Sistemas para el Desarrollo Integral de la Familia. En Nuevo Laredo, la
Presidenta del Sistema DIF, Martha Alicia Aldapa de Galván, sostuvo que estarán impulsando el bienestar y mejores condiciones de salud a los infantes. Tan solo en Nuevo Laredo esperan cubrir a unos 15,000 niños menores de 5 años, dijo Aldapa. La Primera Semana Nacional de Salud tuvo lugar en febrero, donde se logró cubrir al 97 por ciento de la meta. “El trabajo del sector salud ha sido excelente”, dijo Gutiérrez. (Localice a Miguel Timoshenkov en el (956) 7282583 o en mramirez@lmtonline.com)
ELECCIONES
Campañas cierran en costos POR TOM RAUM ASSOCIATED PRESS
La batalla entre el presidente Barack Obama y el republicano Mitt Romney será la campaña presidencial más costosa de la historia nacional. Sin oposición en las primarias demócratas, Obama tuvo gran ventaja al principio. Pero Romney, que casi seguramente sobrepasará el martes los 1.144 delegados que necesita para oficializar su candidatura en las primarias de Texas, se acerca gracias a la generosidad de grandes donantes conservadores. Hasta abril, Obama y los grupos demócratas que lo apoyan habían recaudado casi 450 millones de dólares y tienen más
de 150 millones en el banco. Romney y los republicanos que lo respaldan han recaudado más de 400 millones de dólares en el mismo tramo y disponen de unos 80 millones. Ambos candidatos buscan redondear unos 800 millones, que elevaría los gastos en las dos campañas sumadas a unos 1.600 millones de dólares. A esa suma se podrían agregar otros centenares de millones de gastos de Supercomités y las respectivas convenciones. Obama rechazó la financiación pública en el 2008 y recaudó 750 millones de dólares. Sus gastos superaron los de su rival, el senador John McCain, limitado a los 84 millones que recibió de los contribuyentes. En esas elecciones no existían los Supercomités.
Celebrando el 257 aniversario de la fundación de Laredo, la Fundación para el Patrimonio del Condado de Webb, celebrará el Día de los Fundadores hoy al mediodía, rindiendo homenaje a los descendientes del fundador de la ciudad Don Tomás Sánchez y a todas las familias fundadoras de Laredo. El evento se realizará en el Student Center Ballroom de Texas A&M International University. Es abierto al público; todos los descendientes de familias fundadores, así como todos los amigos de preservación, están invitados a asistir. La fundación dará un tributo especial a las personas responsables por lograr la colocación del Monumento Tejano en el Capitolio. El Monumento Tejano, creado por el artista local Armando Hinojosa, es un testamento de los pioneros hispanos y mexicanos de Texas, de acuerdo a la fundación. Continuando con ese tema, la fundación ha seleccionado a Renato Ramírez, CEO de International Bank of Commerce en Zapata y vice presidente del Consejo de Directores del Monumento Tejano, como el Presidente de la Republica del Río Grande 2012. Ramírez será inaugurado durante la comida y se presentará su gabinete ese día. La presentación de los Premios del Patrimonio rendirá homenaje a organizaciones y personas quienes han mostrado un compromiso para preservar la historia y herencia comunitaria. Anualmente, la Fundación para el Patrimonio del Condado de Webb reconoce
RENATO RAMÍREZ: Nuevo Presidente de la República del Río Grande a personas, empresas, organizaciones y familias quienes han contribuido a la herencia arquitectónica y cultural del Condado de Webb. La Fundación para el Patrimonio del Condado de Webb ha seleccionado a ocho homenajeados para recibir los Premios del Patrimonio durante el mismo evento de hoy. Este año los Premios del Patrimonio reconocerán a un grupo diverso de preservasionistas de la historia de todo el estado. PREVIO AL SERVICIO MERITORIO: Consejo de Directores del Monumento Tejano: Cayetano E. Barrera III, Renato Ramírez, Homero Vera, Andrés Tijerina, Richard Sánchez y Jaime Beaman. PREMIO LUCIANO GUAJARDO: Jerry Thompson, editor, y José Roberto Juárez, traductor, por “Tejanos in Gray: Civil War Letters of Captains Joseph Rafael de la Garza and Manuel Yturri”; Arnoldo de León por “War Along the Border: The Mexican Revolution and Tejano Communities”; e, Hildegardo Flores, director del Museo de Historia del Condado de Zapata, que abrió el año pasado. PREMIO RICARDO HERNÁNDEZ: educador de Martin High School, Luis R. González. PREMIO A LA PRESERVACIÓN DEL FOLKLORE/COSTUMBRES/TRADICIONES: Laredo Main Street (Mercado Agrícola Centro de Laredo). PREMIO PARA LA PRESERVACIÓN DEL MEDIO AMBIENTE: Eric Ellman de Big River FoundationReserve su espacio llamando a la Fundación al (956) 727-0977.
MÚSICA PARA ZAPATA
Foto de cortesía
Paul Foster, Maestro del Coro de la Preparatoria United, a la izquierda, es visto junto a Mary y Amador Zapata, madre y padre del agente del U.S. ICE, Jaime Zapata, quien falleciera en México. El Coro de la Preparatoria United interpretó temas patrióticos y de inspiración durante la develación del busto de bronce dedicado a Jaime Zapata dentro del Edificio Federal en Laredo.
National
8A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, MAY 26, 2012
Man arraigned in murder Handcuffing students stops: settlement
By COLLEEN LONG AND LARRY NEUMEISTER ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Thirty-three years to the day after 6-year-old Etan Patz vanished without a trace while walking to catch a school bus, a man accused of strangling him and dumping his body with the trash was arraigned on a murder charge on Friday in a locked hospital ward where he was being held as a suicide risk. A lawyer for Pedro Hernandez, who was a teenage convenience store stock clerk at the time of the boy’s disappearance, told the judge that his client is mentally ill and has a history of hallucinations. Hernandez, now 51, appeared in court on Friday evening via video camera from a conference room at Bellevue Hospital, where he was admitted earlier in the day after making comments about wanting to kill himself. The legal proceeding lasted only around 4 minutes. Hernandez didn’t speak or enter a plea, but his courtappointed lawyer, Harvey Fishbein, told the judge that his client was bipolar and schizophrenic and has a “history of hallucinations, both visual and auditory.” A judge ordered Hernandez held without bail and authorized a psychological examination to see if he is fit to stand trial. Hernandez was expressionless during the hearing. He wore an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs. A police officer stood behind him. The prosecutor who appeared in court, Assistant District Attorney Armand Durastanti, said it was “33 years ago today that 6-year-old Etan Patz left his home on Prince Street to catch his school bus. He has not been seen or heard from since. It’s been 33 years, and justice has not been done in this case.” Hernandez, a churchgoing father now living in Maple Shade, N.J., was arrested Thursday after making a surprise confession in a case that has bedeviled investigators and inspired dread in generations of New York City parents for three decades. Etan disappeared on May 25, 1979, on his two-block walk to his bus stop in Manhattan. It was the first time his parents had let him walk the route by himself. Next to the bus stop was a convenience store, where Hernandez, then 18, worked as a clerk. When police,
By JEFF AMY ASSOCIATED PRESS
AP photos
Stan Patz, right, father of missing child Etan Patz, left, arrives at his home in SoHo, on Friday, in New York. New life has been breathed into the case after Pedro Hernandez implicated himself in the death of 6-year-old Etan, whose disappearance 33 years ago on his way to school helped launch a missing children’s movement that put kids’ faces on milk cartons. acting on a tip, interviewed him this week, he said he lured Etan into the basement with a promise of a soda, choked him to death, then stuffed his body in a bag and left it with trash on the street a block away, police said. Etan’s remains were never found, even after a massive search and a media campaign that made parents afraid to let their children out of their sight and sparked a movement to publicize the cases of missing youngsters. Etan was one of the first missing children to be pictured on a milk carton. Hernandez’s confession put investigators in the unusual position of bringing the case to court before they had amassed any physical evidence or had time to fully corroborate his story or investigate his psychiatric condition. Police spokesman Paul Browne said investigators were retracing garbage truck routes from the late 1970s and deciding whether to search landfills for the boy’s remains, a daunting prospect. Crime scene investigators also arrived Friday morning at the building in Manhattan’s SoHo section that once held the bodega where Hernandez worked. Authorities were considering excavating the basement for evidence. They were also looking into whether Hernandez has a history of mental illness or pedophilia.
Browne said letting Hernandez remain free until the investigation was complete was not an option: “There was no way we could release the man who had just confessed to killing Etan Patz.” Legal experts said that even though police have a confession in hand, they are likely to work hard to make certain Hernandez isn’t delusional or simply making the story up. “There’s always a concern whether or not someone is falsely confessing,” said former prosecutor Paul DerOhannesian. As Fishbein arrived at the courthouse, he asked reporters to be respectful of some of Hernandez’s relatives there, including his wife and daughter. “It’s a tough day. The family is very upset. Please give them some space,” Fishbein said. Etan’s father, Stanley Patz, avoided journalists gathered outside the family’s Manhattan apartment, the same one the family was living in when his son vanished. Former SoHo resident Roberto Monticello, a filmmaker who was a teenager when Patz disappeared, said he remembered Hernandez as civil but reserved and “pent-up.” “You always got the sense that if you crossed him really bad, he would hurt you,” Monticello said, although he added that he never saw him hit anyone.
JACKSON, Miss. — Jackson public schools will no longer handcuff students to poles or other objects and will train staff at its alternative school on better methods of discipline. Mississippi’s secondlargest school district agreed Friday to the settlement with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which had sued over the practice of shackling students to a pole at the district’s Capital City Alternative School. The suit was filed in June 2011 by Jeanette Murry on behalf of her then-16year-old son, who has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It said staffers routinely restrained students for hours for offenses as minor as dress code violations, forcing them to eat lunch while chained to a stair railing and to shout for help when they needed to go to the bathroom. The settlement, approved by U.S. District Judge Tom Lee, says all district employees will stop handcuffing students younger than 13, and can only handcuff older students for crimes. In no case will employees shackle a student to a fixed object such as a railing, a pole, a desk or a chair. “It’s apparent there were severe problems that we hope are being addressed and will be alleviated,” Lee told lawyers in court Friday, just before signing the settlement order. Troubles at the alternative school helped spark the proceedings that have jeopardized the accreditation of the entire 30,000-stu-
dent district. Nationwide, a report from the U.S. Department of Education showed tens of thousands of students, 70 percent of them disabled, were strapped down or physically restrained in school in 2009-10. Advocates for disabled students say restraints are often abused, causing injury and sometimes death. Currently there are no federal standards, although legislation is pending in Congress. The U.S. Department of Education says Mississippi is one of 13 states with no statewide rules governing restraints. The law center’s Vanessa Carroll said after Friday’s hearing that she hoped the settlement would improve a “profoundly dysfunctional school culture.” “We hope with this settlement agreement, the district and school will both take a more positive approach to student discipline,” she said. Carroll said the executive director of Mississippi Families as Allies for Children’s Mental Health will serve as a district-paid monitor as part of the settlement. Joy Hogge will check compliance for two years. Under the settlement, the district also agreed to record every time handcuffs or other restraints are used. Jackson schools’ chief lawyer JoAnne Shepherd told Lee that the district has told employees at the alternative school to stop using restraints. “We’re looking forward to improving that environment,” she said. “We think the agreement will help us.”
SATURDAY, MAY 26, 2012
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
2 officers sue over Drill ship nearly done female combat ban By TED WARREN AND DAN JOLING ASSOCIATED PRESS
By ZINIE CHEN SAMPSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
RICHMOND, Va. — Two women in the Army Reserve have sued the U.S. Department of Defense and the Army in a bid to reverse military policies banning women from serving in combat roles. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia accuses the government of violating the constitutional rights of servicewomen by excluding them from certain ground combat units and other positions solely on the basis of their gender. It seeks to end such policies by the Defense Department and Army and to require the military to make all assignments and training decisions without regard to a service member’s gender. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, names Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Secretary of the Army John McHugh, Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Gen Thomas Bostick and Assistant Army Secretary Thomas Lamont. It is the first lawsuit to challenge the combat ban, according to University of Virginia Law School professor Anne Coughlin, who led an effort to look into the policies. Command Sgt. Maj. Jane Baldwin and Col. Ellen Haring allege the policies have hindered their career advancement, and that continued enforcement of the policy unconstitutionally bars women from certain positions available to men, restricts current and future earnings, their opportuni-
Photo by Kristin M. Hall | AP
Capt. Sara Rodriguez of the 101st Airborne Division walks through the woods during the field medical badge testing at Fort Campbell, Ky., on May 9. Female soldiers are moving into new jobs in once allmale units as the U.S. Army breaks down barriers in recognition of what’s already happened in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. ties for advancement and their future retirement benefits. The lawsuit also notes that women are already serving in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, and instead of assigning them to combat units, the military is purposefully and deliberately circumventing the exclusion by “attaching” them to such units. In doing so, however, the policies put the women in more danger than their male counterparts because they’re barred from receiving combat-arms training necessary for engaging with hostile forces. Haring has held positions as platoon leader, commander, executive officer and bridge commander over a 28-year Army career. She currently serves as a Joint Concept Officer for the Joint and Coalition Warfighting Center in Suffolk, Va. The lawsuit argues that Haring’s options
“were limited to support positions with no possibility to compete within the combat arms.” The ban also has caused Baldwin and Haring to “suffer invidious discriminatory treatment in a work environment that institutionalizes the unequal treatment of women solely because of their sex and notwithstanding their individual abilities,” the lawsuit said. Department of Defense spokesman Todd Breasseale declined to comment specifically Friday about the lawsuit. But he said Panetta “remains strongly committed to examining the roles of women in the U.S. military, as evidenced by the recent step of opening up thousands more assignments to women.” Under that change, female officers and non-commissioned officers will be assigned to combat units below the brigade level.
ARRESTS Continued from Page 1A months. A Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office news release states the suspects would tear off the emblems from parked vehicles. Buying an emblem from a dealership is expensive. Prices range from $300 to $600, Elizondo said. He added that criminals prefer to steal emblems and sell those at a cheap price. “It’s an easy profit for them,” the sergeant said. More people were arrested in connection to theft of motor vehicle parts and accessories. Rogelio Valadez Jr., 39, was arrested and charged with burglary of a vehicle. A sheriff ’s office news release states a string of burglaries were occurring at Gordo’s Auto Sales Junk Yard at 128 Garcia Road. Elizondo said the parts were being taken from used and junk vehicles to be sold
VILLARREAL RIOS around town. Investigators recovered about $20,000 in used parts. Parts included seats, transmissions, hoods, differentials, dashboards, and rear view mirrors, among other parts. “They were making a big profit,” Elizondo said. Valadez was also implicated on another charge with Francisco M. Rios, 24. They face theft charges. If convicted for the state jail felony, both men could face 180 days to two years in jail and $10,000 fines. A sheriff ’s office news release states the charge stems from a 2003 Chevrolet Silverado being taken from the Aqua
VALADEZ CAMPOS Restaurant and Bar parking lot at 178 S. U.S. 83 on April 21. Investigators later found the vehicle burned and totaled in the Falcon Meza subdivision. Rios and Valadez were at Zapata Regional Jail as of Friday evening. Elizondo encourages members of the public to come forward with information about other thefts and burglaries. To report suspicious activity, call Crime Stoppers at 765-TIPS (8477). Callers may remain anonymous and could qualify for rewards. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
SEATTLE — From the air, the Arctic drill ship Kulluk looks like a giant bowling pin seated on a shallow bowl. With the centerpiece of the ship, the 160-foot derrick, Shell Oil hopes to send down drill bits and pipe to tap vast oil reserves below the Beaufort Sea off Alaska’s north coast. But it’s the funnelshape hull, with its flared sides, that makes the ship appropriate for Arctic Ocean waters, according to the company. “This conical shape is designed so that if ice starts to run under it — ice moves in the Arctic — if that ice starts to run un-
der it, what that cone does is deflect the ice downward and breaks the ice up into pieces,” said Brent Ross, Shell Offshore Wells manager. “So in essence, you have a big drilling rig on a hull that’s shaped like an ice-breaker.” If the oil giant gets its final federal permits and overcomes court challenges by environmental groups, the Kulluk and a second drill ship, the Noble Discover, will be in Alaska waters this year. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates Arctic waters hold 26 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 130 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The United States consumed 18.8 million barrels per day of petroleum products during
2011, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Shell’s drilling plan calls for two exploratory wells by the Kulluk in the Beaufort Sea and three exploratory wells by the Noble Discoverer in the Chukchi Sea and, sometime in the future, a pipeline link to the trans-Alaska pipeline. Shell in 2008 spent $2.1 billion on leases in the Chukchi but has yet to drill a well. The company estimates it has spent more than $4 billion preparing for Arctic offshore drilling, including about $100 million for the latest modifications to the Kulluk, which has been berthed in Seattle for about 10 months.
RIVER Continued from Page 1A “Who’s to say their crops (aren’t) affected?” she asked. The Texas Clean Rivers Program, a partnership between the state’s regulatory agency on water quality and regional water quality entities, released preliminary results from a 2011 study of bacteria levels in the Rio Grande. Fecal coliform and E. coli levels at the stretch of the river that starts at downtown Laredo and runs to International Bridge No. 2 exceed federal standards for swimming, fishing and boating, the study finds. Swim in the water or dare eat the fish that inhabit that stretch of the Rio Grande, and you’re likely to get sick — at least from diarrhea, but exposure to the high bacteria levels can increase one’s risk of contracting hepatitis or dysentery. Water drawn for drinking, of course, is taken to water treatment plants and made suitable for human consumption. But the livelihood of the river and its ecosystem are at stake, said Tricia Cortez, executive director of the Rio Grande International Study Center.
Cortez recently wrote an opinion article urging government entities on the U.S. and Mexican sides to address the issue. The onus for high bacteria levels lies partly on Mexico’s shoulders, she said. Nuevo Laredo has two wastewater treatment plants. The first was built in 1996 and the second in 2009. But not all of the city’s storm drains are connected to the plants. Instead, 165 liters of raw sewage gets dumped into the river by the second, a representative from Nuevo Laredo’s municipal water utility office said in January at a local conference. While Cortez called on elected officials to take action, she said it would take support from the community to effect change. “As a community, we have to take a big-picture approach … to make sure that we do all that we can to make sure (the river is) healthy and safe,” she said. Jorge Vera, a Laredo city councilman whose district runs along the river, said the city’s primary concern is producing potable drinking water for its
citizens. “At our level, we just want to make sure that Laredo has the best quality drinking water possible,” he said. He said the city has pressed the issue before in trips to the nation’s capital as well as with various state and federal elected officials representing the area. Until Mexico addresses the problem, there isn’t much the local government can do to make the river safe for recreational use, according to Vera. He has spoken with County Commissioner Jaime Canales about possibly taking treated water out of Lake Casa Blanca and into the Rio Grande. For Laredoans, poor water quality in the river has, for several decades now, been par for the course. In her op-ed, Cortez said it is time for that to end. “The lack of political will by the U.S. and Mexico to deal with this problem has been a source of shame and embarrassment for our community for far too long,” she said. (JJ Velasquez may be reached at 728-2567 or jjvelasquez@lmtonline.com)
THREATS Continued from Page 1A the sheriff ’s office received reports of bomb threats on three different occasions. On April 28, a hoax bomb was located at 1:48 a.m. within the vicinity of the Boys and Girls Club, 302 Sixth Ave. Laredo police’s bomb squad assisted deputies in the case. Investigator Joe E. Baeza, Laredo police spokesman, said at the time that the artifact was not a threat to the community. According to Baeza, the artifact was made of PVC pipe, duct tape, wires and batteries. However, investigators did not find an explosive component. Bomb
squad experts disabled the item using a high pressure water jet system that helps break apart the outer shell of a bomb without detonating it. Two more bomb threats followed. On May 6, deputies responded to an emergency call at 4:25 a.m. at Zapata High School. On May 13, the Boys and Girls Club was targeted again at 12:04 a.m. Following leads and evidence, Elizondo said investigators were able to piece together the case and identify Alaniz as the person responsible. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, MAY 26, 2012
Police like social networking as a tool By PATRICK M. WALKER FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
ARLINGTON — When officer Zhivonni McDonnell reported for a shift earlier this year, she was armed with one of the Police Department’s newest tools: a smartphone equipped with Twitter. As she accompanied a Citizens on Patrol member that night, McDonnell, the department’s social media specialist, tweeted updates on what they were seeing and doing, giving followers a taste of what the volunteer group does. Think social networking is just a frivolous timewaster for celebrities, kids and the weak-minded? Law enforcement agencies from Arlington to Zurich increasingly see Facebook, Twitter and other platforms as 21st-century ways to walk the beat, prevent crime and bust the bad guys. The key, said ChyngYang Jang, an associate professor in the University of Texas at Arlington’s department of communication, is having personnel who are trained in their use. “If you’re going to use it to just post information, then I don’t think it will be too effective,” he said. “The real powerful thing is the two-way communication.” Cleveland police used it during an Amber Alert in April and received a tip within a few hours that led to the children’s rescue. In Pennsylvania, a police department made three arrests in one week off leads generated by social media. Recently, one of Denton’s most-wanted misdemeanor fugitives saw his mug shot on the Police Department’s Facebook page and turned himself in, hoping to keep his family and friends from finding out. Social media “is here. It’s going to stay,” said officer Ryan Grelle, spokesman for the Denton Police
Department and one of the first in North Texas to use the tool aggressively. “My captain told me, ‘Just do it. Don’t embarrass us, but do what you think we should do.’” Arlington police, who have also made arrests off information distributed via social media, use the platforms to publicize good work by officers that the traditional media may not cover, to provide safety tips and to keep the community posted on emergencies like the April 3 tornado outbreak. Going to the Rangers game? Follow @arlingtonpd for reports on traffic and parking — and to see who’s having fun tailgating. With 4,160 Facebook fans and 3,101 Twitter followers one day recently, the department is gaining on the top five U.S. law enforcement agencies for its size, according to the most recent numbers reported by the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s Center for Social Media. The outreach is not simply a public-relations move to control the message and put a smiley face on everybody who wears a gun and badge. “If it were,” said Sgt. Christopher Cook, supervisor of the department’s communications team, “then we would never post about murders. We wouldn’t want anybody to think their community wasn’t safe.” The desire to add another layer of transparency and accountability starts at the top. “By being there, engaging in dialogue with our citizens through social media,” said Police Chief Theron Bowman, now an interim assistant city manager, “we are able to have candid and personable conversations, thereby facilitating legitimacy, the building block of thriving communities.” Cook took charge of the communications staff in July after about two years in which former Dallas
Photo by Richard W. Rodriguez/Fort Worth Star-Telegram | AP
Arlington Police Officer Zhivonni McDonnel tweets on her iPhone at the Parks Mall in Arlington on Feb. 10 during a ride-along with Citizens on Patrol Mobile, as part of the department’s first Street Tweet. Law enforcement agencies world-wide increasingly see Facebook, Twitter and other platforms as 21st-century ways to walk the beat, prevent crime and bust the bad guys. Morning News reporter Tiara Richard was often the lone department spokeswoman. Now the team also includes McDonnell, who focuses on social media, and Cheryel Carpenter, who came over from the city staff to handle the department’s community relations. All four share the duty of monitoring and updating the department’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Nixle platforms. “We found that you really have to have the staff to handle that stuff,” Cook said. “There’s just no way to keep up with it otherwise.” Last fall, the staff attended a Social Media, the Internet and Law Enforcement — or SMILE — conference in Dallas, where it learned what departments elsewhere in the country were doing in cyberspace, including the idea of virtual ride-alongs.
The “tweetalong” — a Twitter hashtag that the Arlington department believes it was the first to use — has proved popular, in one case helping the department attract hundreds of followers in mid-December when Bowman tweeted while accompanying a drunken-driving task force patrol shift. Law enforcement agencies across North Texas are feeling their way around how to best use the platforms. Dallas police are posting official news releases on Facebook. Fort Worth police, who drew criticism two years ago for questionable tweets, now use Facebook and Twitter in much the same way as Arlington. Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson has hired an administrative assist-
ant who is knowledgeable about social networking to guide him. “We’ve tried to be careful in disseminating information,” he said. “Most of what we do is very serious, and not everything can be put out to the public. We’re going to operate as much on a transparency level as we can. I think that in the right times and in the right ways, it can be a good channel to communicate, but we’re not going to force it on anybody.” Properly used, social media platforms can put the police and the average citizen on equal footing, fostering a casual exchange in a comfortable manner. That can be reassuring for many who would normally encounter officers only during a traffic stop or other stressful
situation. “It shows that there’s a real person behind the badge,” Grelle said. “Police officers are human, too.” In February, Denton police began posting their most-wanted felony and misdemeanor lists on Facebook. The tips they received have led to eight arrests, including the embarrassed fugitive who turned himself in. On April 18, the Cleveland Police Department posted an Amber Alert on its new Facebook and Twitter accounts, which had about 2,000 followers. Some 200 of them quickly shared the information with their own followers, and so on. Within hours, the suspect and missing children had been spotted, according to a May 5 story on cleveland.com.
Zapata County ISD PK-4 Pre-Registrations ZCISD will be registering all new PK-4 students, for the school year 2012-2013. Registrations will be held on the week of May 28 - June 1, 2012, from 8:00 am - 3:00 pm. All elementary schools will be holding their registrations at their own campus. Documentation needed for registrations: Proof of residency (utility bill), birth certificate, ssn card, Immunizationcard, and parent photo id. For more information, please call your school. Zapata North Elementary (956-765-6917) Zapata South Elementary (956-765-4332) Fidel & Andrea R. Villarreal Elementary (956-765-4321)
SATURDAY, MAY 26, 2012
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors MERCY-BOSOM BUDDIES ALL-STAR GAMES
Zapata senior class one to remember
Flying away
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ext week is graduation for Zapata High School, and it is time to say good-bye to some great athletes who have worn the school colors with pride and joy. These athletes went through something most students could not endure — four years of high school athletics. Being an athlete takes dedication to a sport and sometimes two or three sports. Some athletes will get to experience their first summer off in years because they are not in open gym, in the weight room or in the summer conditioning program. These athletes are going to have so much time on their hands that they will not know what to do with this extra time, so their parents might suggest they work. The Zapata athletes have had to miss many things during their high school careers because they have a passion for their sports. Many people cannot distinguish between loving a sport and just liking to play it once in a while. If you have no desire to
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CLARA SANDOVAL OVAL
win, then maybe PE is the class for you because athletes always want to win and make sure they put their best forward every time they step on the field, court or course. Being a high school athlete means you might miss some family events when you are in season or you may miss so many family dinners that the microwave becomes your best friend. Athletes sacrifice so many things that some players figure sports are not for them, so they drop out of athletics. Every year, more and more of those players who started off will drop out. By the time they are seniors, only a handful have made it through. I would like for all of the Zapata seniors to think back to when they were in seventh grade and how many people were on the team. Now, how many of
See SANDOVAL PAGE 2B
Courtesy Photo
The girls’ and boys’ all-star teams pose for a photo at St. Augustine Gym last weekend.
Three Lady Hawks play their last games By CLARA SANDOVAL THE ZAPATA TIMES
The 11th annual Mercy-Bosom Buddies all-star games are in the books as the stars came out to play Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Zapata was well-represented in the all-star games, as three athletes and two coaches, along with their coaching staffs, made their way to Laredo’s St. Augustine High School. On Tuesday night, Zapata seniors Shelby Bigler, Estella Molina and Jackie Salinas played in the girls’ basketball all-star game. Bigler and Molina played for the West All-Star team, while Salinas was on the East All-Star team.
The West team took a huge lead and never looked back, winning 5534. In the second game of the night, the boys’ all-stars took the floor with Zapata coach Juan Villarreal at the helm for the East, composed of players from Laredo. The game was evenly matched, giving fans excitement through four quarters of play. “It was awesome coaching a great group of talented guys,” Villarreal said. “It was close to the end. My coaching staff and I enjoyed the seesaw battle, and the guys battled till the end. Ultimately I just tried to make sure everyone had enough playing time and (was) hoping they had as much fun
CLEMENS TRIAL
as we did.” In the end, LBJ’s Bill Groogan, the West All-Star coach, who is retiring this year, won the last game of his coaching career and now has called it quits after 47 years on the sidelines. The West prevailed, 73-68, as the East was forced to foul down the stretch. “We had to start fouling at the end, and they made most of their free throws,” Villarreal said. “That’s where they pulled away. It also didn’t hurt that they had close to 70 years of coaching experience on their bench and we had only 10. They kinda out-coached us.”
See ALL-STARS PAGE 2B
NBA PLAYOFFS
Spurs a model of NBA success By JEFF LATZKE Photo by Manuel Balce Ceneta | AP
ASSOCIATED PRESS
OKLAHOMA CITY — When Clay Bennett was seeking a leader for his team that would one day become the Oklahoma City Thunder, he picked a rising star from a San Antonio franchise on the verge of winning its fourth NBA championship in a decade. It was the start of a process that would model Bennett’s franchise after the Spurs, leading up to their meeting in the Western Conference finals starting Sunday night. The standards that led to San Antonio’s success rubbed off on Sam Presti, who got his start as a video intern for the Spurs before rising through that organization and eventually getting hired by Bennett as general manager of the relocating Seattle SuperSonics. He recognized the importance San Antonio placed on humility, sacrifice and a family atmosphere and has tried to in-
Former Houston Astros pitcher Roger Clemens, who is accused of lying to Congress in 2008 when he denied using performanceenhancing drugs, leaves federal court in Washington, D.C., on Friday.
Key evidence discussed in Clemens trial By JOSEPH WHITE Photo by Mark J. Terrill | AP
San Antonio Spurs center Tim Duncan puts up a shot as Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan defends during Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals last Sunday in Los Angeles. The Spurs won 102-99. still those standards in the Thunder. “I think everyone within the NBA has great respect for what the Spurs have accomplished and the standards that they have established in recent years, but I think every organization has to have
their own identity,” Presti said Thursday. “Certainly, we’re always going to look to try to pull from organizations such as the Spurs in our effort to build an identity and a foundation for an organization in Oklahoma City that has great endu-
rance.” The similarities are numerous. Each team plays in a smaller NBA market and has a nucleus of homegrown players acquired through the draft, including hidden gems
See SPURS PAGE 2B
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — A needle stored with a beer can appeared to contain an extremely tiny amount of Roger Clemens’ DNA, which turned out to be good news and bad news for both sides in the perjury trial of the seven-time Cy Young Award winner. A forensic scientist on Friday linked Clemens to cotton balls and a syringe
needle saved from an alleged steroids injection 11 years ago. His testimony, laced with statistics and probabilities, was one of the last pieces of the government’s case in its effort to prove that the pitcher lied to Congress in 2008 when he denied using performance-enhancing substances. Under cross-examination, Clemens’ lawyer
See CLEMENS PAGE 2B
PAGE 2B
Zscores
CLEMENS Continued from Page 1B tried to poke holes in the physical evidence. He got the expert to acknowledge there were “hundreds of thousands” of white males in the United States who could be a match for the scant amount of DNA found on the needle, and that it’s “conceivable” the cotton balls could have been contaminated by beer and saliva. Prosecutors had hoped to wrap up their case heading into the long holiday weekend as the trial reached the end of its sixth week, but the DNA expert’s testimony took much longer than expected. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton then ended the session a half-hour early when one of the jurors learned that her mother had died. The judge said he doesn’t expect the juror, a woman who works in law enforcement with the local public transportation authority, to return. Two jurors have previously been dismissed for sleeping, and another departure would leave only one alternate in a trial expected to last at least two more weeks. The government’s key witness, longtime Clemens strength coach Brian McNamee, says he injected Clemens with steroids in 1998, 2000 and 2001 and with human growth hormone in 2000. He said he kept the needle and other waste from a 2001 injection and stored it in and around a beer can in a FedEx box in his home for more than six years before turning it over to federal investigators. Alan Keel of Forensic Science Associates told jurors that the DNA found on two cotton balls was “unique to one person who has ever lived on the planet” — Clemens. He said that one of the cotton balls had a random match possibility of one in 15.4 trillion for Clemens’ DNA, and the other was one in 173 trillion, when compared to the population of white people in the U.S. But the needle was not as conclusive. Keel was able to detect only six to 12 cells for testing when he examined it. A drop of blood, by comparison, contains up to 30,000 cells. The match: one in 449 for Clemens. “That means that Mr. Clemens is the likely source of that biology,” Keel said. Knowing that the defense would attempt to undermine the integrity of the evidence, prosecutor Courtney Saleski asked: “Is there any way to fake this?” “No,” said Keel, shaking his head. “If this were contrived, I would expect to obtain much more biological material.” In other words, it would have been extremely difficult for anyone, including McNamee, to purposely contaminate the needle because it contained such a minute amount of human residue. During cross-examination, Clemens lawyer Michael Attanasio attacked
the findings in several ways. He pointed out that Keel was being paid by the government. He pointed out that Keel didn’t test all of the items available. He pointed out that the DNA had degraded over time. He noted that 449 was a “far, far smaller number” than the other numbers in the trillions, and it therefore can’t be said with uncontested certainty that the DNA on the needle belongs to Clemens. Attanasio got Keel to agree that the Clemens blood found on one cotton ball appeared to be from the aftermath of an injection, but that the Clemens puss on the other cotton ball “is not from an immediate injection site.” The lawyer also suggested the blood on the cotton ball might not have come from an injection at all: “Is it not at all uncommon for a pitcher to have a little blood blister at the end of his finger when he was pitching?” Attanasio further implied that residue beer and saliva inside the can could have soaked the cotton balls. Keel said that was “conceivable” and “not implausible,” but he added that the appearance of the cotton balls would have reflected the contamination. “You would have a big, diffuse mess,” Keel said. Saleski picked up on that point in her follow-up questioning. “Did you see any evidence that these cotton balls were exposed to a bunch of beer?” she asked the witness. “Not really, no,” Keel said. Keel also re-emphasized his opinion that the minute sample of DNA on the needle could not have been manipulated or put there “by design.” “It would be virtually impossible,” Keel said. The needle naturally caught the attention of the jurors, who submitted multiple questions for the judge to ask the witness about the one-in-449 ratio. “There’s the rub,” said Keel as he explained again that the results were compatible with Clemens — but couldn’t be considered a conclusive match. Clemens’ lawyers have maintained all along that a beer can is no way to store evidence. During the questioning of Keel, the government decided to emphasize that point, too, inferring that if McNamee had truly intended to keep the needle and cotton balls with the intention of implicating Clemens, he would have found a more sterile place for it. McNamee has said he kept the evidence to placate his wife, who was concerned he would take the fall if his involvement in performance-enhancing drugs ever came to light, and that he had no plans to make it public. Keel also found a gauze pad and tissue that matched McNamee’s DNA to an even greater probability than the Clemens matches.
SATURDAY, MAY 26, 2012
Rest important for Heat By TIM REYNOLDS ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI — Dwyane Wade has been battling knee soreness. LeBron James was hobbling after a falling into a courtside cameraman. Chris Bosh remains sidelined indefinitely with an abdominal strain. Mike Miller looks to be in agony whenever he moves. An extra day of rest doesn’t sound like much, but it means plenty right now to the Miami Heat. Now halfway to their goal of an NBA championship, the Heat took a welcomed — and needed — day off Friday after closing out their Eastern Conference semifinal matchup with the Indiana Pacers. The East finals open Monday in Miami against either Philadelphia or Boston, teams that will settle their second-round series with a Game 7 on Saturday night. “We can use it,” James said after the Heat ousted the Pacers with a Game 6 win in Indianapolis on Thursday. “Any team in the postseason, any extra day that you can get, it definitely helps us. So we’re going to take advantage of it.” It’s not like the Heat were planning to sit at home all day, since most players at this time of year tend to hit the training room on off days. Still, for the first time in a while, Friday provided a chance for the reigning East champs to relax a bit, especially after three hardfought wins in five days allowed Miami to claw back from what was a soon-forgotten 2-1 series deficit to the Pacers. Wade and James combined to score 197 points in the final three games of the Indiana series, while the Pacers’ starters collectively managed 184. Other Heat players stepped up along the way — Udonis Haslem with 14 points in Game 4, Shane Battier with 13 in Game 5, Miller with 12 in Game 6 — but with Bosh sidelined, it was Wade and James who welcomed the challenge of having to handle much of the offensive responsibility. “I don’t know if they’ve been required to shoulder as much responsibility as they’ve had to now, particularly now that Chris is out,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “And we’re making no excuses. We have enough. But they have to give us
Photo by Charles Trainor | AP
Miami’s Mike Miller grabs a ball that was going out of bounds during Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at the Bankers Life Field House in Indianapolis on Thursday. more and that’s what competition will do. You play against good competition in this league and it brings out the best in you — you hope.” Bosh told ESPN.com this week that he is improving, but stopped short of offering a date for his possible return. He was hurt midway through Game 1 of the Indiana series, meaning nearly two full weeks have passed since he was diagnosed with a strained lower abdominal muscle. The best-case scenario for recovery for someone with that type of injury is typically 2-3 weeks, though the Heat have never deviated from saying Bosh is out indefinitely. “I appreciate extra rest,” Wade said. “I’m never going to cross my eye on that at all. I feel like it’s welldeserved. I think also it gives us an opportunity to get Chris more therapy, more treatment the days that we’re off and he moves that much closer to being able to rejoin this ballclub. I thought this was a very physical series ... so the rest will do us some (good).”
The Pacers probably would suggest Wade couldn’t get much better than he was in the last 10 quarters of their series. Wade was awful — 2 for 13 shooting, five points, five turnovers — in Game 3, an Indiana blowout that many thought put the Pacers in control of the series. He started Game 4 by missing seven of his first eight shots. And from there, the 2006 finals MVP was in 2006 finals MVP form again: Wade shot 39 for 57 the rest of the series, putting up 41 points and 10 rebounds in Thursday’s clincher. Since 1992, according to STATS LLC, there’s been 52 instances of someone having at least 40 points and 10 rebounds in a playoff game. Of those, 50 came from players listed to be at least 6-foot-6. The other two are by Wade, perhaps generously listed at 6-foot-4. “Spectacular, from the beginning to the end,” James said of Wade’s Game 6 effort. “He got in a rhythm early and just kept going.” Miller scored 12 on Thursday.
SANDOVAL Continued from Page 1B those players made it all the way through high school sports? If you are lucky, maybe a third became Hawks or Lady Hawks and were able to stick with it for four years. People started dropping out for a variety of reasons, and many do regret leaving the sport, while some witnessed the writing on the wall and knew they were not up to par with the rest. Some wanted to contribute and instead became the team managers — very important jobs. I feel that a varsity jacket is to be given only to athletes who have made it through all four years of hard work and sweat. Zapata gives letterman jackets only to seniors, and I enjoy that notion. It’s unlike in Laredo, where some players play only their freshman year and can get a letterman jacket and quit the team. I am glad to hear that in Zapata, you have to earn
that jacket for four years of representing the school positively. And yes, only seniors should wear the jackets — no one else. During my playing days, no underclassman was allowed to have a jacket on, even if it belonged to an older brother or sister who got one and passed it down. Only seniors were allowed to wear the jackets. A sense of accomplishment and pride accompanied the jackets. I wore my jacket only during my senior of high school, and then it went back in the closet because I was not about to wear it in college. So with graduation around the corner, I would like to take this time to thank all the Zapata athletes for four memorable years. Though I have not met many of you, I have watched you grow from afar and have enjoyed writing about you every week. Hawks pride forever.
ALL-STARS Continued from Page 1B On Wednesday night, Zapata volleyball coach Rosie Villarreal and her staff, along with Molina, Bigler and Salinas, took the court in the volleyball all-star game. Villarreal and her team had to come from behind after losing the first two games to take home the victory, 3-2.
“I really had a lot of fun coaching the West team with the talented seniors,” Villarreal said. “It’s neat to sit there and have the girls themselves help each other out. I also enjoyed one of the girls on the bench saying how they were all from different schools and how well they had gelled. They all com-
mented on how much fun they had. As much fun as (I had) coaching them.” The East All-Stars took control of the first two matches and won while the West was warming up. The West then took games three, four and five to make it a West sweep in the all-star games.
SPURS Continued from Page 1B plucked from overseas. But more than the basketball product, the franchises have a reputation for how they handle their business: no badmouthing other teams or players, few scrapes with the law or other incidents and no sense of entitlement. “I tell guys all the time: Not every guy can come here and play. This isn’t for everybody,” said Nazr Mohammed, who won an NBA title with San Antonio in 2005 and is now a backup for the Thunder. “The same in San Antonio. That isn’t for everybody. ... It’s not even the player, more so the person.” It may not be no-nonsense, but there certainly isn’t much of it. “It starts at the top, the way Sam has built the organization and then the players he’s brung in to match that system. It’s amazing to have these young guys around here that understand just the hard work, the family atmosphere,” Mohammed said. “I’ve been on some teams where you’ve got a bunch of young guys. Family atmosphere is the furthest thing from guys’
minds. Guys are thinking about, ‘When am I going to get my opportunity to get out there and show the world what I can do and get my second contract?’ Here, it’s nothing like that. Guys just want to work, win, get better and they know and understand like veterans that the rest will take care of itself.” While Presti has tried to foster that San Antonio-style atmosphere, he credits his players and coaches for carrying it out and putting in the work that has led to consecutive Western Conference finals appearances for the second time in franchise history. The attitude filters down from ownership — Bennett used to represent the Spurs on the NBA’s board of governors — and through the front office, but Mohammed said the key is the franchises’ ability to find players who buy into it. At the forefront, he sees San Antonio’s Tim Duncan and Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant — both superstars who don’t care about the limelight and only want “to work hard and play basketball.” “You can preach it around but it’s still got to come from the player because you
can get a young guy now who’s unbelievable but if he doesn’t buy into it, he’s going to think his own way and do his own thing no matter what,” Mohammed said. Spurs general manager R.C. Buford said he knew within a week of hiring Presti that he wouldn’t be an intern long. Presti ended up helping persuade the franchise to draft point guard Tony Parker, who has developed into an AllStar and the Spurs’ leading scorer, on his rise through the organization. Coach Gregg Popovich joked that San Antonio “tried to keep him in a closet for a while so no one would know about him” but word eventually got out. And now some of the Spurs’ secrets may be working against them. “I don’t have the intimate details of what Sam’s culture is. But from an outsider’s perspective, the things that are important to the Thunder’s culture as established by Sam are similar to what’s important to the Spurs culture,” Buford said. Bennett, who declined comment through a spokesman, said upon hiring the 30-year-old Presti in 2007 that he
viewed the Spurs “as the premier franchise in our business” but he was hiring the GM on his own merits and not because he worked for San Antonio. Presti has said from the beginning that he wasn’t trying to re-create the Spurs. “No two places are the same and you’re going to have different circumstances and different approaches. That’s what makes the NBA great,” Presti said. “We have a lot of respect for them but we also have to build our own identity, but we’re also certainly using some of the core values that are in place there, that are also in place in other successful and sustainable sports franchises.” And there are still four major differences between the franchises: The Spurs’ championships in 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007. “I’d like to think that as we continue to grow and build our organization that we’ll establish an identity for the Oklahoma City Thunder but that doesn’t happen in four years,” Presti said, “and we have to embrace the fact that we have a long road ahead of us.”
SATURDAY, MAY 26, 2012
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B
HINTS | BY HELOISE Dear Readers: JEWELRY BOXES can hold only so much, so try displaying your jewelry in a decorative way: Pick up vases from a crafts store or resale shop with different-size necks. Shepherd-hook and clip-on earrings can hang around the opening, and bracelets and necklaces can dangle around the neck. Try hanging up some lengths of wire or ribbon along your closet wall to make a cute, space-saving display with all your jewelry. Have a dress form sitting in the attic or garage? Decorate it with necklaces to add a vintage touch to a vanity area. I have one that I use to hold lots of hats. Glue some lace in the window of a pretty picture frame to store stud and dangle earrings. — Heloise PET PAL Dear Readers: Avalon I. in Grapeland, Texas, sent a picture of her “Chicken Nugget,” a bird that found its way into her home and has laid an egg inside a chicken-motif planter, surrounded by other ceramic
“
HELOISE
chickens! It is a very cute and comical sight, all those chickens! To see Chicken Nugget and our other Pet Pals, visit www.Heloise.com and click on “Pets.” — Heloise SMALL PORTION Hi, Heloise: When dining out, if you are not hungry enough to eat a main dish, order an appetizer, which usually is enough food for a small eater like me. Often my husband and I share a dinner and a salad. If there are leftovers, I take them home for lunch the next day. — Sharyn in Rockville, Md. EASILY TIDY Dear Heloise: I have back trouble, and I really don’t like to bend over to put every little pull-strip or bit of paper in the wastebasket under the sink. My solution? I keep a nice-looking pottery jar on the counter for small trash. Then I empty it at the end of the week. — Sally C., Sacramento, Calif.
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4B THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, MAY 26, 2012
Williams sisters ready to compete By HOWARD FENDRICH ASSOCIATED PRESS
PARIS — Between bites of some “frites” at the players’ restaurant, Oracene Price smiled at the thought of being back at the French Open with her daughters, Serena and Venus Williams. The family wasn’t at Roland Garros a year ago, making it the first Grand Slam tournament since 2003 without either Williams. Serena was still working her way back from a series of health scares, including two foot operations and blood clots. Venus revealed in August she’d been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that causes fatigue. Now they’ve returned. “I’m happy about it. They’re happy about it,” Price said Friday. “Serena’s thanking God that she’s able to play at all. And so is Venus, with her illness; it’s still there. They’re doing the best they can do.” Which tends to be pretty good, of course. Both have been ranked No. 1. Serena’s 13 Grand Slam titles are by far the most among active women; Venus comes next with seven. None of the other entrants in the French Open, which begins Sunday, owns more career Grand Slam match wins than Serena’s 211 or Venus’ 210. And it’s certainly tough to match Serena’s self-confidence on a tennis court. When it was pointed out to her Friday that five women divvied up the past five Grand Slam titles — Kim Clijsters at the 2011 Australian Open, followed by Li Na at the French Open, Petra Kvitova at Wimbledon, Sam Sto-
Photo by Alessandra Tarantino | AP
Serena Williams returns the ball to Italy’s Flavia Pennetta during their quarterfinal match at the Italian Open tournament in Rome last week.
Photo by Clara Sandoval | The Zapata Times
Clint Dempsey, shown here in a file photo, was named one of 23 players on the U.S. national team. sur at the U.S. Open, and current No. 1 Victoria Azarenka at January’s Australian Open — Serena needed only a second or two to formulate a response. “Hopefully it will be six this time — with me,” Williams, who won the 2002 French Open, said. What would a second title, a decade later, mean to her? “It would be really intense and really crazy,” Serena said. “I mean, obviously there are several people here that want to win. I think I’m one of those people.” Price said a championship at Roland Garros “would be huge” for Serena, because it would make clear that “it doesn’t look like she’s ready to quit” at 30 years old. Asked whether her younger daughter is ready to get her name etched on another Grand Slam trophy, Price chuckled. “For sure,” she said. “You know Serena. She’s got to be on the list at least once a year, right?” One challenging step along the way over the next two weeks could come in the quarterfinals, where Serena might have to face three-time major champion Maria Sharapo-
va, who is seeded second and also a popular pick. “She’s such an experienced player that has been under so many different circumstances and achieved so much in her career,” Sharapova said. “When she’s fit, she’s extremely strong on the court and hits a very powerful ball. That makes her very dangerous.” That sounds like a rather fair scouting report for Sharapova, too, even on clay these days. Having once described her movement on the slow red surface as something akin to a “cow on ice,” the Russian can get around well on the stuff. “I’m much more comfortable on this surface. Even though I don’t play too many tournaments on it throughout the year, I feel like with every year that has come, and the clay-court season that arrives, I feel physically stronger,” Sharapova said. “That’s definitely helped me in the recovery process, as well. I’m enjoying it a bit more. Before, I felt like in matches I was saving myself a little bit because I didn’t always believe that physically I could play seven matches in difficult, heavy conditions in Europe.”
U.S. soccer roster is set after Friday cuts ASSOCIATED PRESS
KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Forward Juan Agudelo, defender Alfredo Morales and midfielders Danny Williams and Graham Zusi were cut Friday as U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann picked his 23-man roster for upcoming exhibition games and World Cup qualifiers. The moves leave the U.S. with seven defenders, seven midfielders and six forwards for their five matches. “We have chosen the 23 players who are in the best form right now and ready to get the job done,” Klinsmann said. “These guys have put in a tremendous amount of hard work in the last 10 days, and they are hungry to get started with the matches.” Corona is the only player on the roster for the first time. He scored four goals in qualifying as the U.S. under-23 team failed
to make the London Olympics. Five players are from Major League Soccer. Four each are based in Germany and Mexico, three in England, two each in Scotland and Denmark, one apiece in Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal. The Americans have exhibitions against Scotland on Saturday at Jacksonville, Fla., Brazil on Wednesday at Landover, Md., and Canada on June 3 at Toronto. Seeking their seventh straight World Cup berth, the Americans open qualifying on June 8 against Antigua and Barbuda at Tampa, Fla., then play at Guatemala on June 12.
THE ROSTER GOALKEEPERS: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England), Tim Howard (Everton, England), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)
DEFENDERS: Carlos Bocanegra (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Geoff Cameron (Houston), Edgar Castillo (Tijuana, Mexico), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Clarence Goodson (Brondby, Denmark), Oguchi Onyewu (Sporting Lisbon, Portugal), Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland, Denmark) MIDFIELDERS: Kyle Beckerman (Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Chievo Verona, Italy), Joe Corona (Tijuana, Mexico), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim, Germany), Jermaine Jones (Schalke, Germany), Jose Torres (Pachuca, Mexico) FORWARDS: Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar, Netherlands), Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund, Germany), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles), Herculez Gomez (Santos Laguna, Mexico), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose).