HAWK GOLFER GETS SHOLARSHIP
SATURDAY JUNE 23, 2012
FREE
GUTIERREZ TO PLAY FOR TAMIU AFTER STRONG SENIOR YEAR, 1B
DELIVERED EVERY SATURDAY
TO 4,000 HOMES
A HEARST PUBLICATION
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
ZAPATA COUNTY
CRIME
$4 million shortfall
Suspect charged in three deaths
Officials seek other revenue as mineral values drop By JJ VELASQUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Dwindling mineral values have the county facing a $4 million budget shortfall, and options are being explored to alleviate it, County Judge Joe Rathmell said. With a diminishing oil and
gas industry presence as the Eagle Ford Shale boom drives companies north of Zapata, county officials have acknowledged that it is in the process of weaning itself off oilfield money and looking for other sources of revenue. Revenue streams from Zapata’s fervent bass fishing scene are flowing, but not at a high
enough rate to balance out losses in oil and gas production. “It is certainly going to be another challenging budget,” Rathmell said. “We’ve lost a considerable amount in value this year. It’s going to be a difficult process. Elected officials and employees both know it’s going to be difficult.”
Mineral values, which are appraised based on oil and gas production in previous years, make up a majority of Zapata County’s taxable value. In a 2011 annual report by the county’s appraisal district, mineral values represented 73 percent of
See COUNTY PAGE 10A
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Photo by Danny Zaragoza | The Zapata Times
Zapata High School’s Mariachi Halcon treated an audience at Texas A&M International University’s Center for the Fine and Performing Arts to a performance Thursday afternoon after a screening of the PBS documentary, “Mariachi High.” The documentary will next air on Friday at 9 p.m. on KLRN public television.
BASKING IN THE SPOTLIGHT Mariachi Halcon stars in a PBS video on its success By JJ VELASQUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
It’s something in the bloodlines. That’s what Adrian Padilla reckons in a documentary film about the mariachi band he directs at Zapata High School. Texas A&M International University hosted a screening of “Mariachi High,” a PBS-funded film that follows Zapata High’s Mariachi Halcon, a nationally acclaimed group. It will also air on KLRN public television on Friday at 9 p.m. For a school Zapata High’s size to be competitive on a national scale, Padilla believes the talent for performing this Mexican folk music must be rooted in the gene pool. The year before Padilla became Mariachi Halcon’s director, the group won the Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza Competition in San Antonio, which pits
some of the nation’s top mariachi programs against each other. Six years ago, Padilla began his tenure there, and they took home two more trophies, he said. “That’s when we caught the eye of the producers,” he said.
Approval The production crew approached the program about doing the film. They got approval from administration, and the film crew infiltrated the campus and followed the band’s every move. Padilla said it was “pretty intense” at the onset of filming, but after a while, the crew’s presence was second nature. “They did such a good job being ninjas and hiding away,” Padilla said of the cameramen. Originating in Mexico, maria-
chi music has spread as a discipline across the United States, as students as far as New England and the Pacific Northwest are strumming guitarrons and belting out love ballads in Spanish. With Latino populations on the rise nationwide, Padilla said mariachi was destined to take off. “Some of our culture has to come with us anyway,” he said. “Why not let it be (mariachi music)? It’s a phenomenal type of music.” But because of cuts to state funding for education, the fine arts are suffering, Padilla said. So he said the mariachi program has been limited in resources of late. Zapata High senior and guitarron player Collin JohnsonMoffett hopes the film will open viewers’ eyes to the artform of mariachi music. He said the genre is more
than the stereotype that is sometimes affixed to it. Mariachi belongs in the same breath as some of the highest-regarded forms of music, he said. “It’s something that needs to be respected just as much as classical, rock ’n’ roll and jazz,” Johnson-Moffet said. He said he hopes, rather than shrink or stagnate in the face of budget cuts, that Zapata County Independent School District’s program grows so that future generations develop just as much of a passion for the music as he and his peers did. Charlie Rodriguez, a violin player and junior at the school, agreed. “It would still be nice to have younger kids be able to be introduced to mariachi,” Rodriguez said. “It would be really nice considering our success.” (JJ Velasquez may be reached at 728-2579 or jjvelasquez@lmtonline.com)
By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
The 6-year-old victim in this week’s shooting at the Holiday Inn in Laredo died late Wednesday in a San Antonio hospital after he was taken off life support. “Family members made the trip to San Antonio and said goodbye to Jayden (Thompson) prior to his BLUNTSON passing,” Laredo Police Department said in a statement Thursday morning. A police spokesman said Thompson’s biological father was among the family memCERNY bers. In light of the boy’s death, Webb County District Attorney Isidro R. Alaniz prepared a capital murder warrant Thursday and served DeTHOMPSON mond Bluntson, 36, with it Friday afternoon at Webb County Jail. Bluntson was arrested at the Holiday Inn, 800 Garden St., after he allegedly shot Thompson and his 21-month-old son, Devian, in a hotel room. The infant died at the scene. Hours after the shooting, Brandy Cerny, the boys’ mother and Bluntson’s girlfriend, was found dead in El Campo, about 250 miles east of Laredo off U.S. 59. Bluntson remains behind bars under a $3.5 million bond. He is charged with two counts of capital murder, aggravated assault and two counts of aggravated assault against a public servant. In addition, Wharton County officials charged Demond Bluntson on Thursday afternoon with murder in connection with Cerny’s death. Alaniz said that after his office evaluates and analyzes the case evidence, it will decide if the state will pursue the death penalty. “It’s too early to tell at this time,” Alaniz said. Tuesday’s shooting happened around noon, when Laredo police responded to a welfare concern report from police in El Campo, where the family resided. El Campo police told LPD that Cerny had been reported missing Monday and had registered as a guest at the Holiday Inn. Police officers went to the hotel room, but the man inside did not open the door for them, only telling them children were in there with him. The officers soon
See SHOOTING PAGE 10A