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WAR ON DRUGS
Kingpin walks free Court nixes sentence of drug lord who killed DEA man By MARK STEVENSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
CARO QUINTERO
MEXICO CITY — Infamous drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero walked free Friday after 28 years in prison when a court overturned his 40-year sentence for the 1985 kidnap and killing of a U.S.
EDUCATION
Local, area schools pass
Drug Enforcement Administration agent, a brutal murder that marked a low point in U.S.-Mexico relations. The U.S. Department of Justice said Friday it was extremely disappointed by the release of the man convicted of killing DEA agent Enrique Camarena, calling
it “deeply troubling.” Caro Quintero, 61, is considered the grandfather of Mexican drug trafficking. The court ruled Wednesday that he was improperly tried in a federal court for a crime that should have been treated as a state offense. Prison officials were notified of the ruling on
Thursday, and an official at the Jalisco state prosecutors’ office said the drug lord left prison before dawn on Friday. The official was not authorized to speak on the record. News media were not alerted
See DRUGS PAGE 11A
AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY
DEFEATING BREAST CANCER
ZCISD schools hit state benchmarks By JJ VELASQUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
The Zapata County Independent School District as well as those in Webb County all hit benchmarks set by a new state accountability system rolled out Thursday. United and Webb Consolidated independent school district campuses all met the new criteria. However, the Laredo Independent School District’s Bruni, Don Gallegos, Farias, Kawas and Macdonnel elementary
SCHOOLS DID WELL STATEWIDE, 5A schools failed to meet a new “student progress” index, which has to do with annual improvement on the math, reading and writing STAAR exams. “We are very pleased with all the campuses, administrators, teachers, students and parents that we can say every single one of our campuses met every one of the indexes on a brand new accountability system,” said Guadalupe Gorordo, UISD associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction. Schools and districts are rated on their ability to meet four indexes: student achievement, student progress, closing performance gaps and postsecondary readiness. Districts and schools either receive a “met standard” or “improvement required” label, which halves the spectrum of ratings given out in the outgoing system. While it may appear more black-and-white than its predecessor on the surface, the new accountability system has been characterized by Commissioner of Education Michael L. Williams as a deeper, more “comprehensive” method of assessing schools. Bobbie Ramirez, LISD executive director of curriculum and instruction, agreed.
See SCHOOLS PAGE 11A
Courtesy photo | Marisela Leal
Shown are members of Marisela Leal’s team in a previous American Cancer Society walk, including front, from left, her parents Maria Garcia and Rogelio Garcia, and back, from left, Enid Flores, Marisela Leal, her husband Rodolfo Leal and Klaryssa Flores.
Nurse helps others in their fight against the disease By MALENA CHARUR THE ZAPATA TIMES
(Editor’s note: This is final part of a two-story series on the triumph of cancer survivors.) A breast cancer survivor of 11 years feels motivated to help others avoid the suffering she has gone through, and at the same time assist the American Cancer Society. As a registered nurse, Marisela Leal immediately knew something was not right when she accidently discovered a lump in
her breast. She will be the keynote speaker at the “Supper of Survivors and Caregivers” on Wednesday at 6 p.m., at the Holiday Inn Express, 167 U.S. Highway 83. “When I was diagnosed, they took me to a room and gave me a box of tissues while I was waiting for the next doctor,” Leal recalled. “I was fine and they asked me, ‘Are you sure you’re OK?’” Because of her profession, Leal knew what lay ahead. She also knew the importance of act-
ing quickly, and managed in a two-week period, always with the help from doctors, to be fully diagnosed and begin treatment which included a double masectomy. Leal said family problems were a distraction from her health problems. However, it wasn’t until the start of her second chemotherapy treatment that she realized she was sick. “It wasn’t until I looked in the mirror and saw how my hair was falling out that I realized I
had cancer. I saw this bald woman staring back at me in the mirror and realized I was in a terrible fight over which I could die. I had no control over it and felt helpless,” Leal said, letting her emotions out as she recalled the occasion. Leal became aware of the American Cancer Society and immediately became involved. The society is a 100-year-old nonprofit organization that promotes research, education and
See CANCER PAGE 11A
FEDERAL COURT
4 get prison in marijuana case By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
LAREDO — A local federal judge sentenced four illegal immigrants to prison this week in federal court for smuggling marijuana in Zapata to cover their crossing fees. All men pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute marijuana in excess of 100 kilograms Feb. 11. On Tuesday, Visiting Judge Ivan Lemelle sentenced Carlos DuarteBenitez to 60 months in prison. Misael Garcia-Beni-
tez and Alfonso PinedaDuarte were handed an 18month sentence by Lemelle. Alfenibe Carlos Hernandez’s sentencing took place Friday. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison. Prosecutors dismissed conspiracy to smuggle marijuana charges on the defendants during their sentencing. Court documents state all four men admitted to smuggling the marijuana to cover their smuggling fees. They were from Nueva Ciudad Guerrero in the
Mexican state of Tamaulipas. “Furthermore, the male subjects stated they crossed through Miguel Alemán and were instructed to carry the bundles inside the vehicle,” a criminal complaint filed Dec. 3 states. The smuggling attempt occurred at about Nov. 29. At about 4 p.m., U.S. Border Patrol agents began following the suspicious driver of a black Chevrolet Tahoe on U.S 83 as it traveled south in Zapata. Though authorities did not activate their unit’s emergency
lights, the driver kept on driving and seemed to crouch down into the seat. Agents also noticed the Tahoe seemed to be “riding low.” Suddenly, the driver accelerated and turned into a side street, made a series of turns and pulled into a residential area before stopping. Four people got out of the Tahoe and began running away, according to court documents. “(Border Patrol) agents saw inside the Tahoe bundles with carrying straps consistent with marijuana
backpacks,” according to plea documents. Agents and Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office deputies chased and caught the people who ran, court documents state. Authorities arrested four people identified as Garcia-Benitez, Duarte-Benitez, Hernandez and Pineda-Duarte. In addition, agents seized 20 bundles of marijuana weighing 864 pounds of marijuana. The contraband had an estimated street value of $691,200. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2013
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
SATURDAY, AUG. 10
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Holy Redeemer Church will be having a garage sale at 1602 Garcia St. 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Call Amparo Ugarte at 286-0862.
TUESDAY, AUG. 13 The Indispensable Assistant Workshop. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Room 101 of Laredo Community College’s De La Garza Building. Early bird registration $149 per person. Regular registration (after July 31) $159 per person. AARP chapter 965 meeting. 2 p.m. Laredo Public Library, 1120 E. Calton Road. Open to people over 50. Scheduled speaker is Congressman Henry Cuellar. Call club president Jorge Castillo at 286-6084.
THURSDAY, AUG. 15 South Texas Food Bank jail and bail. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Laredo Fire Fighters Union Hall, 5219 Tesoro Plaza. Local celebrities will be “locked up.” For “bail,” they must sell tickets for Empty Bowls VII concert at $10, $15 or $25. Call 324-2432. Los Amigos Duplicate Bridge Club. 1:15 p.m. to 5 p.m. Laredo County Club. Call Beverly Cantu at 7270589.
FRIDAY, AUG. 16 Fundamentals of Instructor Training class to become a certified American Red Cross Instructor in First Aid/ CPR/AED. 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Location to be announced. Class is two-and-a-half days. CPR prerequisite. Cost $365, deposit $65 by July 31. Limited seating. Register with Randy Gonzalez, 7238401.
SATURDAY, AUG. 17 The Back to School Kids Fishing Tournament will take place at Bravo Park Pond, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 21 Laredo Toastmaster’s evening meeting. Public speaking and leadership are focus. Meetings held at third Wednesday of each month. http://laredotoastmasters.toastmastersclubs.org. Contact Humberto Vela at humbertovela@sbcglobal.net or 740-3633.
THURSDAY, AUG. 22 Los Amigos Duplicate Bridge Club. 1:15 p.m. to 5 p.m. Laredo County Club. Call Beverly Cantu at 7270589.
FRIDAY, AUG. 23 The South Texas Food Bank’s Empty Bowls VII fundraiser starts at 6 p.m. at the Laredo Energy Arena, 6700 Arena Blvd. Table sponsorships start at $1,500. Call 324-2432.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 7 First United Methodist Church will hold a used book sale, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at 1220 McClelland Ave. Hardback books are $1, paperback books 50 cents, and magazines and children’s books 25 cents.
SATURDAY, OCT. 5 First United Methodist Church will hold a used book sale, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at 1220 McClelland Ave. Hardback books are $1, paperback books 50 cents, and magazines and children’s books 25 cents.
Photo by Dallas County Sheriff’s Office | AP
This photo provided by the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office shows Erbie Bowser after a previous arrest. Investigators arrested Bowser on Wednesday night after the fatal shooting of four people in two Dallas-area homes. Bowser has been charged with two counts of capital murder and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, police announced Friday.
Charges filed in attacks ASSOCIATED PRESS
DESOTO — Additional charges have been filed against former teacher and Dallas Mavericks hip-hop dancer that police say fatally shot four people and injured four others in separate Dallas-area attacks, police announced Friday. Erbie Lee Bowser was charged by Dallas police with two counts of capital murder in the deaths of his girlfriend, Toya Smith, and her 17-year-old daughter, Tasmia Allen. He was also charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for wounding Smith’s 14-year-old son and a 17year-old family friend. Dallas police said in the arrest affidavit that the family friend, Dasmine Mitchell, identified Bowser as the shooter from a lineup of suspect photos.
Mitchell, who police said is recovering from gunshot wounds, said Bowser was the lone shooter on Wednesday evening, according to the affidavit released Friday. Police say after the shootings in Dallas, Bowser, 44, went to a DeSoto home and killed his estranged wife, Zina Bowser, and her daughter, Neima Williams. Police said he also wounded two boys, ages 11 and 13, who were in critical condition Thursday. Bowser is being held in the Dallas County Jail. DeSoto Police Cpl. Melissa Franks said Thursday that detectives have had a hard time interviewing Bowser. “He does lapse into periods where he sits there quietly or wants to lay down or doesn’t want to speak,” she said. He worked for nearly a decade as a special education teacher in the Dallas suburb of Mesquite.
Annual sales tax holiday this weekend
George W. Bush Library marks 100 days
Body of woman found in freezer
AUSTIN — The annual sales tax holiday begins Friday, with tax breaks on certain items through Sunday as families prepare to send children back to school. State officials estimate shoppers will save more than $74 million in state and local sales taxes this weekend.
DALLAS — Open now for 100 days, the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Dallas has drawn more than 170,000 visitors. Officials say that’s a pace to reach their most optimistic firstyear attendance target of 500,000. The presidential museum at Southern Methodist University opened May 1.
MINERAL WELLS — Authorities say a teenager has discovered the body of his mother in a freezer at her Texas home. Mineral Wells Police Chief Dean Sullivan says the body was discovered Thursday evening and that the death is being investigated as a possible homicide.
Arrest warrant issued in Tyler mother’s slaying TYLER — Police are searching for a 20-year-old man after issuing an arrest warrant for him in the death of a mother caught in gang crossfire last week while at a park with her 3-year-old son. Police said Friday that an arrest warrant for a murder has been issued for Rakheem Goldstein of Tyler. A judge has set his bond at $1 million. 20-year-old Briana Raquel Young was pronounced dead at the scene. Her son was not hurt.
Investigators exhume victim from 1972 CLEBURNE — Remains of a man found dead more than 40 years ago have been exhumed from a Texas cemetery so a coldcase team of retired investigators can try to find out who he is and hopefully who killed him. The man removed from the gravesite Thursday in Johnson County is known by police there as “Mr. X.” He was found by a rancher on Dec. 11, 1972. He was shot three times.
Lufkin man arrested for 47th time LUFKIN — A 51-year-old Lufkin man is back in a familiar place. Records show when Angelina County sheriff ’s deputies Wednesday arrested John Richard Burch Sr., it was his 47th arrest. Burch appeared in court Thursday and pleaded guilty to resisting arrest. He’s still held on $1,500 bond. Burch’s record goes back to 1994 with a public intoxication arrest. — Compiled from AP reports
FRIDAY, OCT. 11 Registration for the Texas Team Trail Championship will take place at the Zapata Community Center, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
SATURDAY, NOV. 2 First United Methodist Church will hold a used book sale, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at 1220 McClelland Ave. Hardback books are $1, paperback books 50 cents, and magazines and children’s books 25 cents.
SATURDAY, DEC. 7 First United Methodist Church will hold a used book sale, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at 1220 McClelland Ave. Hardback books are $1, paperback books 50 cents, and magazines and children’s books 25 cents.
Submit calendar items at lmtonline.com/calendar/submit or by emailing editorial@lmtonline.com with the event’s name, date and time, location and purpose and contact information for a representative. Items will run as space is available.
AROUND THE NATION Beauty queen charged with possessing bombs SALT LAKE CITY — Prosecutors filed charges of bomb possession Friday against a recently crowned Utah beauty pageant winner. Kendra McKenzie Gill was arrested last weekend with three accomplices for what one described as a prank. All four face the same set of four felony charges, prosecutor Blake Nakamura said Friday. The 18-year-olds were arrested Saturday after driving around neighborhoods and allegedly tossing plastic bottles of caustic chemicals and shrapnel at people they knew. Nobody was injured.
Crews searching for investigator find body OAKLAND, Calif. — Authorities in California found a woman’s body on Friday in an area where investigators were search-
Today is Saturday, Aug. 10, the 222nd day of 2013. There are 143 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On August 10, 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a measure providing $20,000 payments to still-living JapaneseAmericans who’d been interned by their government during World War II. On this date: In 1680, Pueblo Indians launched a successful revolt against Spanish colonists in present-day New Mexico. In 1792, during the French Revolution, mobs in Paris attacked the Tuileries (TWEE’luh-reez) Palace, where King Louis XVI resided. (The king was later arrested, put on trial for treason, and executed.) In 1821, Missouri became the 24th state. In 1846, President James K. Polk signed a measure establishing the Smithsonian Institution. In 1874, Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, was born in West Branch, Iowa. In 1913, the Treaty of Bucharest was signed, ending the Second Balkan War. In 1921, Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio at his summer home on the Canadian island of Campobello. In 1949, the National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense. In 1962, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum was dedicated in West Branch, Iowa, on the 88th birthday of the former president, who attended the ceremony along with former President Harry S. Truman. In 1969, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were murdered in their Los Angeles home by members of Charles Manson’s cult, one day after actress Sharon Tate and four other people had been slain. In 1975, television personality David Frost announced he had purchased the exclusive rights to interview former President Richard Nixon. In 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the second female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Ten years ago: During a heat wave plaguing Europe, Britain topped 100 degrees Fahrenheit for the first time in recorded history. Five years ago: At the Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps began his long march toward eight gold medals by winning the 400-meter individual medley in 4:03.84 — smashing his own world record. One year ago: A man in an Afghan army uniform shot and killed three American service members in southern Afghanistan; the Taliban claimed the shooter joined the insurgency after the attack. Today’s Birthdays: Actress Rhonda Fleming is 90. Actor-director Tom Laughlin (“Billy Jack”) is 82. Singer Ronnie Spector is 70. Actor James Reynolds is 67. Rock singer-musician Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) is 66. Country musician Gene Johnson (Diamond Rio) is 64. Singer Patti Austin is 63. Actor Daniel Hugh Kelly is 61. Folk singersongwriter Sam Baker is 59. Actress Rosanna Arquette is 54. Actor Antonio Banderas is 53. Thought for Today: “There is no adequate defense, except stupidity, against the impact of a new idea.” — Percy Williams Bridgeman, American scientist (1882-1961).
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Members of the United States volleyball team, two teams, stand on the winner’s podium after taking first and second at the 2013 World Dwarf Games in East Lansing, Mich. on Thursday. ing for a missing federal investigator. Oakland police said the body was discovered near Laguna Valley Park in Vacaville, where crews have been looking for 50year-old Sandra Coke of Oakland.
Officer Johnna Watson said the body has not been identified and will be taken to the Solano County medical examiner. Coke, a capital case investigator in Sacramento, was last seen in Oakland on Sunday. — 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, AUGUST 10, 2013
Man arrested in pot case By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
LAREDO — A Zapata man has been arrested for shipping out marijuana to a Laredo location. Laredo police arrested and charged Jesus Molina, 43, with possession of marijuana at about 12:30 p.m. Monday. The crime is a third-degree felony
which could carry two to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Police found MOLINA enough probable cause to believe that Molina shipped out marijuana to 407 Flecha Lane in the RMR Industrial Park in
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
MARIJUANA SEIZED
northwest Laredo. Molina allegedly sent 27.8 pounds of pot in boxes, according to police. The contraband had an estimated street value of $22,240. Molina remained behind bars at the Webb County Jail as of Friday afternoon. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
THE BLOTTER Assault Elizardo Paredes, 27, was arrested and charged with assault about 9:45 a.m. July 31 in at the Super S Store, off U.S 83. He was fined $500. A 25-year-old man reported at about 4 p.m. Aug. 1 in the 400 block of East Elm Street. An assault was reported at 3 a.m. Wednesday in the 2200 block of Carla Street. A 53-year-old woman reported at 5:21 p.m. Aug. 1 in the 800 block of Elm Street that someone assaulted her.
Burglary A burglary of habitation was reported at 11 a.m. July 31 at Eight Street and Texas 16. Deputies said a pair of boots valued at $100 was stolen.
A 35-year-old woman reported at 1:59 p.m. Aug. 2 in the 1100 block of Elm Street that someone burglarized her home and stole a piggy bank containing $75. A 38-year-old woman reported at 5:17 p.m. Tuesday in the 600 block of Laredo Avenue that someone broke into a building to steal two boxes of ceramics floor tile. The property was valued at $300.
Immigrants Seven suspected people who had entered the country illegally ran into a brush area after deputies attempted a traffic stop on a pickup at about 10:15 p.m. Aug. 4 about 5 miles east of Texas 16. The case was turned over to U.S. Border Patrol.
Public intoxication
A juvenile was detained at about 2 a.m. Aug. 4 in the 600 block of Laredo Avenue. Deputies charged him with public intoxication and curfew violation. The youngster was referred to the juvenile probation department.
Terroristic threat A 40-year-old man reported at 8:57 a.m. Aug. 3 in the 700 block of Bravo Avenue that another man threatened him at his job.
Theft Two men reported at 6:29 p.m. Aug. 2 at a ranch on Garcia’s County Road in the Chihuahua Subdivision that someone stole a flatbed trailer and two all-terrain vehicles. The items stolen have an approximate value of $1,500.
TAMIU back to M to F SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
Texas A&M International University offices have returned to its regular schedule, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. The Killam Library will maintain its regular schedule, Monday – Thursday, 7:30 a.m. – midnight; Friday, 7:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Sunday, noon – midnight, through Thursday. The li-
brary will be open from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Friday and closed Saturday, Aug. 17 and Sunday, Aug. 18. During the intersession, Monday, Aug. 19 – Tuesday, Aug. 27, the library will be open from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. and closed Saturday, Aug. 24 and Sunday, Aug. 25. The library will resume regular hours Wednesday, Aug. 28. The Offices of the Uni-
versity Registrar, Admissions, Recruitment, Campus Card Services, Bursar, Counseling and Disability Services, Financial Aid, Graduate Studies, and Student Health are open Monday, Tuesday and Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Wednesday and Thursday, 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. The first day of classes for fall is Wednesday, Aug. 28.
Courtesy photo
Zapata County Sheriff’s Office Deputies stopped a 2001 Ford truck off of FM 496 at the corner of Oak Street and Howard Drive on the morning of Tuesday, July 30. They fled into a brushy area and 60 bundles of marijuana were seized from the truck. The marijuana had a estimate weight of 717 pounds with a street value of $322,000.
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2013
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
A look back at this year’s legislature AUSTIN — I’m going to wander into the chambers later this week to make sure it’s really, really true, but it looks as if your lawmakers really, really have gone home to live among the people who sent them here. The third special session of the 83rd Texas Legislature wrapped up just before 10 p.m. Monday as our lawmakers displayed the efficiency with which they can work when the task is important and vacations are being interrupted. With pingponglike rhythm Monday, the transportation legislation bounced from one chamber to the other and back again. Thanks to motivation, rule suspensions and the private meetings in which this got worked out, what usually can take weeks to do — or not do — got done in under eight hours. We knew they could do it. And now, at long last, they’re out of here.
The final day Before it fades from memory, let’s look at the last day of what we hope is the last time we see these folks before the 84th regular session convenes in January 2015. On the House side, the final day provided fortuitous opportunity, both personal and political, for Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas. As shutdown approached, Branch sought approval of House Resolution 60, honoring Dr. Charles Leon Branch and Sylvia Lee Boswell Branch of San Antonio (the rep’s parents) on their 60th wedding anniversary, which was Sunday. “I’m grateful to the governor for calling the third session so that we had a chance to honor them,” Branch said. Rep. Richard Peña Raymond, D-Laredo, thanked Branch for his legislative service, a move that gave Branch, who’s running for attorney general, a segue into something of a political speech for the benefit of GOP primary voters. He spoke proudly of working on the legislation that established a moment of silence during which public school students can pray or do whatever public school students do during a moment of silence.
A speech Branch, gesturing to lettering above the speaker’s rostrum, also said, “We got to put ‘In God We Trust’ over the top of the chamber.” Across the Rotunda, there was a bit of an odd aura in the Senate as the
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KEN HERMAN
end drew nigh. Their work done, senators awaited guidance from Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, their leader. He announced that the governor’s office had told him no other topics would be added to the session, meaning there was no reason not to go home. “I just want to say on my behalf I’ve enjoyed working with each and every one of you this session, over these three special sessions,” Dewhurst said, addressing a Senate that included one member, Dan Patrick, R-Houston, who is running against Dewhurst next year. “We’ve got a lot more to do in the future, but I look forward to working with you.”
Looking ahead He might get to. He might not. In addition to Patrick, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples are challenging Dewhurst, the second longest-serving lite guv in Texas history, in the GOP primary. Was Monday night’s closing gavel the last for Dewhurst? After that gavel came down, handshakes, hugs and backslaps ensued on the Senate floor. “Take care of yourself,” Sen. Brian Birdwell, RGranbury, told Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, who could be Sen. Davis, Gov. Davis or citizen Davis when the 2015 Legislature convenes. As Sen. Jane Nelson, RFlower Mound, exited past the press table, I took it upon myself to relay this message from Texans: “Go home,” I said amicably. “Deal,” Nelson replied. “Deal.”
Parting words Sen. Sylvia Garcia, DHouston, had this farewell for journalists as she headed out: “Hasta la vista, babies.” I think Sen. John Whitmire, who, as Senate dean, makes the adjournment motions, spoke for all of us when, just before moving to end the special session, he was overheard by the Texas Tribune’s Alana Rocha to say this: “Let’s adjourn this mutha.” And I don’t think he was talking about Rep. Branch’s mutha. Ken Herman is a columnist for the Austin American-Statesman. Email: kherman@statesman.com.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY The Zapata Times does not publish anonymous letters. To be published, letters must include the writer’s first and last names as well as a phone number to verify identity. The phone number IS NOT published; it is used solely to verify identity and to clarify content, if necessary. Identity of the letter writer must be verified before publication. We want to assure our
readers that a letter is written by the person who signs the letter. The Zapata Times does not allow the use of pseudonyms. Letters are edited for style, grammar, length and civility. No name-calling or gratuitous abuse is allowed. Via e-mail, send letters to editorial@lmtonline.com or mail them to Letters to the Editor, 111 Esperanza Drive, Laredo, TX 78041.
COLUMN
A news patronage system? By CARTER ESKEW SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON POST
When the great Washington restaurant Le Pavillon closed in 1990, chef Yannick Cam theorized that, like great art, great food needed a patron, someone who would support, nurture and ultimately pay for the quality that the market would not. Cam was obsessed with quality and paid whatever it cost to have the ultimate mush-
room or the freshest sea urchins; he charged a lot, but not enough to cover artistry. I thought of him when I read the news that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos would be purchasing The Washington Post. With great news organizations folding or being sold at a fraction of what they were once worth, we have entered a new era: A top media organization now needs people willing to
support it. We live in a world in which the economics of the news business have been revolutionized; information wants “to be free” is the smug phrase. The aggregators of news content are worth more than the institutions that create the content, as we saw recently with the sale of a former Post property, Newsweek. This is the central challenge for a serious journalistic enterprise: how to get
people to pay for the work. No one has figured it out, and a lot of very smart people have tried. For now, we have to rely on patrons to save journalism. What kind of patron will Bezos be? On Monday, he said reassuringly that “the values” of The Post don’t need changing but went on to say that readers will be the publication’s “touchstone,” as will “understanding what they care about.”
COLUMN
Amazon man now has paper By LLEWELLYN KING HEARST NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON — Part of the problem with dragging the news business into the 21st century is that newspaper people are so damned conservative. That’s right, conservative. Some journalists who work in print may harbor liberal political views, but we are conservative about our own trade. We like it the way it has always been. Gruff editors hammered into us how it should be, and we have passed the hammer. While magazines experimented with new ways of presenting their wares and developing new voices, especially in the 1920s, newspapers clung to the past. Horizontal layout — the headlines running across the page rather than sitting astride vertical columns — was considered radical enough. Even the sensational papers of William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer were sensational within bounds. The carved-instone rules of the trade were not challenged — like one that says headlines must have verbs, and another that says the first line of a headline cannot
end with a conjunction or a preposition. The most revolutionary of American newspapers was probably The New York Herald Tribune. In its last decade, even as it was dying a decades-long death from extraordinarily poor management, it became a laboratory for new journalism with certifiable newspaper geniuses like David Laventhol, Eugenia Sheppard, Red Smith, Tom Wolfe, Jimmy Breslin and Clay Felker. Working at the paper was like working for Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater: great stuff was going on. The Washington Post has had its share of dazzling reporters and columnists — and benefited from some of its Herald Tribune hires, including Laventhol, who created its much-imitated Style section. I was lucky to have worked for both papers. The Post has shone in the coverage of politics, interpretative foreign stories and big investigative stories. Watergate gets the kudos, but there was good, even great, investigative work before and after it. The Graham family presided over the Post in its golden period from the 1960s (it bought its morn-
ing rival, The Washington Times-Herald, in 1954) to maybe 2005. The Post never achieved the global recognition that The New York Times enjoys, but it was a close second — and on many days, the Post was clearly the better newspaper. The Washington Post Co., which is controlled by the Graham family and which owned the newspaper, is less of a success story. After its acquisition of Newsweek magazine in 1961, it faltered as a dynamic media entity, even though the newspaper was hugely profitable. It failed to become a major player in television, although it owned stations. It failed to expand its magazine franchise. And it missed out on cable TV, which has been so important to the growth of oldline publishers Scripps Howard and Hearst. The Washington Post Co. bought and sold many properties on the fringes of its core business, but with little success, except for Kaplan Inc., — the for-profit education company — which was very profitable until the student loan imbroglio. In the 1990s the Internet, like an invasive species, be-
DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
gan choking the life out of the Post. But the company didn’t know how to respond. It failed to create a credible Web site and watched two English newspapers, The Guardian and the Mail, build up huge Web presences in the United States. Helplessly it also watched an upstart company, Politico, staffed with Post veterans, take hunks out of its political franchise. As recently as last year, the Post could not establish whether it needed a pay wall on its Web site. Now the Graham family, headed by Washington Post Co. chairman and chief executive officer Donald Graham, has done something very brave in the egotistical world of publishing. It has admitted: We do not know what to do. Jeff Bezos, the inordinately wealthy founder of Amazon, has bought the paper. Does he know what to do? Nobody knows. Nothing Bezos has done suggests that he either understands or reveres newspapers. But he can afford to be radical and he is not bound by newspaperdom’s reverence for the way we used to do it, our conservatism. Email: lking@kingpublishing.com.
National
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
Agency: 84% of schools meet standard By CHRIS TOMLINSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — More than 92 percent of districts and nearly 85 percent of Texas schools meet the state’s minimum education standards and many earned distinctions, the Texas Education Agency said Thursday in releasing ratings using a new accountability system. Education Commissioner Michael Williams scrapped the old system that relied on standardized test scores. The new accountability system uses test scores, graduation rates and college admission exams to calculate indexes for student achievement, student progress, student readiness for college or work and how well a school is helping disadvantaged children. Forty-two percent of the state’s schools won recog-
nition for student progress, mathematics or English. The agency said 778 schools and 80 districts require improvement. Find the ratings: Texas Education Agency 2013 Accountability Ratings: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/account/2013/index.html. “The 2013 ratings confirm that the vast majority of districts and campuses are meeting the state’s standards and providing a quality education for our students,” Williams said. “Under the new accountability system, these designations recognize outstanding work at the campus level that would not be acknowledged in previous years.” STAAR standardized test scores make up the first of four indexes to a school’s rating. The others
“
The 2013 ratings confirm that the vast majority of districts and campuses are meeting the state’s standards and providing a quality education for our students. These designations recognize outstanding work at the campus level.” EDUCATION COMMISSIONER MICHAEL WILLIAMS
include student progress on those tests, the school’s pace in closing the performance gap for disadvantaged kids and the student’s readiness for life after high school by looking at graduation rates and scores on college placement tests. Schools and districts
Davis mulls run for top By JIM VERTUNO ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — Democratic Texas Sen. Wendy Davis said Friday she’ll decide whether to run for governor by Labor Day, but wants to first make sure there’s a “real path” for a Democrat to win a Republican stronghold state before committing to a campaign. The Fort Worth lawmaker acknowledged that many supporters were encouraging her to make a bid to become Texas’ first Democratic governor since 1994. “When you make a decision this big, you want to make sure there’s a real path. You don’t want to be foolhardy, particularly when you are going to have to ask people to invest a tremendous amount of money, energy and resources into helping you,” Davis said after addressing the annual
luncheon of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. “I want to make sure DAVIS we’ve laid the groundwork, done our homework and made sure there is a true path here and a true opportunity to take the governor’s office,” Davis said. Speculation on Davis’ plans have swirled since she gained attention for an almost 13-hour filibuster against an abortion bill in the Texas Legislature. Her delay forced Gov. Rick Perry to call a second special session to pass the ban on most abortions after 20 weeks. The last Democrat elected governor was the late Ann Richards in 1990. Richards was defeated by George W. Bush in 1994 and Republicans have held the office ev-
er since. The GOP has also held every statewide office in Texas since 1998 and controlled the Legislature since 2003. “I believe anything is possible,” Davis said. “In Texas, people are looking for voices that aren’t necessarily aligned blue or red but aligned with making sure the values of their families are reflected in the decisions being made at the state level. I think there’s a void there right now in that regard.” In her prepared remarks, Davis didn’t mention Perry or other Republicans by name, but criticized Republican “leadership” as working to limit transparency in government. She noted Perry’s veto of a bill that would have forced politically active nonprofits that spend millions backing political candidates to reveal their donors.
will no longer receive the exemplary, recognized, academically acceptable and academically unacceptable ratings, which school administrators complained were unfairly based solely on test scores. For now districts and schools will have either “met standard,” “met
alternative standard” or “improvement required.” Individual campuses can earn distinctions such as “Top 25 percent: Student Progress,” “Academic Achievement: Reading/ English Language Arts” and “Academic Achievement: Mathematics.” The agency will grant the higher ratings based on exceeding the minimum goals set out in the accountability system. The state rated 1,228 districts and 8,555 schools, including charter schools and alternative education programs. About 95 percent of public school districts and 79.7 percent of charter operators met the standard. Almost 12 percent of elementary schools needed improvement compared to 8.8 percent of middle schools and 9.6 percent of high schools. “Despite the many posi-
tive numbers, I am confident school leaders across our state share my concern for the number of campuses where improvement is still required, especially at the elementary level,” Williams said. “If we can target our efforts in those grade levels today, the state will see improvements for all students in the years ahead.” State Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, urged parents to review the ratings for their schools carefully. “While the data are helpful, it’s important to remember the ratings mostly ignore skills that can’t be tested and largely reflect what happens at home, not school,” he said. “Clearly we have more work to do to improve our schools and develop an accountability system that isn’t narrowly focused on testing.”
Hasan stays on defense By NOMAAN MERCHANT AND PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
FORT HOOD — The opening week of the trial for an Army psychiatrist accused in the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood is ending with graphic and emotional testimony from survivors. Army Maj. Nidal Hasan on Friday continued defending himself against charges of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others. His standby attorneys insist that Hasan is trying to
secure a death sentence, but a military judge says Hasan has the right to choose his legal strategy. Spc. Meagan Martinez on Thursday was among more than a dozen witnesses who recalled Hasan relentlessly firing into a room of soldiers waiting to receive medical clearance for deployment. Martinez said Hasan fired with a “cold, calculated, hard stare.” She said the rampage felt like an eternity. Hasan is not questioning most witnesses.
National
6A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2013
Navy forms task force on sex assault By OSKAR GARCIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — Top U.S. Navy commanders in the Asia-Pacific region have formed a task force to discuss sexual assault issues as the branch fights to stem a military-wide problem within its ranks. Leaders in the U.S. Pacific Fleet from all over its wide territory met by teleconference this week for the first time to outline how they’ll share successes and failures during monthly meetings. Fleet Master Chief Marco Ramirez, the fleet’s top enlisted sailor, told rank-and-file sailors aboard the USS Paul Hamilton destroyer about the task force on Thursday during a round-table discussion on sexual assault. Speaking to more than a dozen sailors and victims’ advocates in a conference room, Ramirez said sexual assaults hurt the Navy’s ability to be ready when called to duty. “Our value is our sailors, so I just want to make sure everybody understands that. We’re all human beings so we want to take care of you,” Ramirez said. “Because if we’re worried about these problems, we can’t fight.” He told The Associated Press in an interview that the assaults undercut trust among sailors working together and keep the branch from attracting top enlistees. Captain Darryn James, chief spokesman of Pacific Fleet, said the task force organized by fleet Admiral Cecil Haney includes commanders from Hawaii, California, Washington and Guam, as well as Korea, Japan and Singapore. The task force and visits by Ramirez to fleet outposts
around its command area are examples of several initiatives across the military to reduce sexual assaults. The Pentagon estimated in May that as many as 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year, up from an estimated 19,000 in 2011. Military leaders are trying to show they can deal with the issue as congressional lawmakers consider stripping commanders of some authority in assault cases. The U.S. House passed a defense bill in June that would increase punishments and strip commanders of the power to overturn convictions. The Senate has yet to consider the bill. Greg Jacob, policy director of the Service Women’s Action Network, which supports changing authority on sexual assault cases, said commanders would be able to have more blunt conversations if separated from prosecutions. Commanders could then be held more accountable for what happens under their watch, Jacob said. Putting the “commanders on the line” would “help fix the culture.” Jacob said the Navy has partnered with civilian experts to prosecute sexual assaults. During the round table, sailors told Ramirez that Navy leaders needed to show changes themselves to usher in a culture change. Ramirez agreed, saying he didn’t want leaders who would bristle at tough decisions. Good leaders are treating sexual assault with the same importance as operational and other everyday issues, he said. “To have this subject that’s on the same playing field tells you that it’s got everybody’s attention,” Ramirez said. “We can’t bow down to it.”
Photo by M. Spencer Green | AP
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks at the American Legislative Exchange Council’s 40th annual meeting Friday, in Chicago. He defended new uniform achievement standards for students while calling for states to expand school-choice initiatives.
Bush backs new standards By DAVID A. LIEB ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush defended new uniform achievement standards for students around the nation Friday while calling for states to expand school-choice initiatives through more online classrooms. Bush outlined his education priorities to mixed reviews from conservative lawmakers and business executives attending a conference of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a key behind-thescenes policy resource for many Republican-led Legislatures. He said sweeping education changes are needed because the U.S. “has become a global leader in education spending while also becoming a global lagger in math and science.” The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement found that while U.S. fourth- and eighth-graders in 2011 scored better in math and science than children in many countries, they were behind students in nations such as South Korea, Japan and Finland. Bush is among the front-running contenders for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. But he made no mention Friday of whether he aspires to follow his father and brother to the White House, despite an introduction from an Iowa lawmaker who publicly referenced his potential campaign.
Republican lawmakers around the nation are split over new Common Core standards being implemented in many states that set uniform benchmarks for reading, writing and math. The standards are a result of an initiative sponsored by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. The American Legislative Exchange Council has remained neutral. Bush said the common standards are a good way of raising expectations for students, many of whom, he said, are not currently ready for college or careers. “There will be a painful adjustment period as students adapt to these new standards,” Bush said. “It will create a big stink, trust me. But I think that stink is worth having today rather than having dreams unfulfilled over the next generation.” Some opponents of the Common Core standards don’t like the national approach, raising concerns similar to those voiced against the federal No Child Left Behind education law enacted under former President George W. Bush. “I’m not for Common Core at all. I believe education belongs at the local level,” Missouri state Sen. Wayne Wallingford, R-Cape Girardeau, said in an interview after Jeb Bush’s speech. “To me, it’s kind of setting up standards that are dumbing down what our students need to study.” Lawmakers in Indiana have put the implementation of Common
Core standards on hold while reevaluating whether to participate. “I think it opens the door to federally controlled state curriculum,” said Indiana Rep. Tim Wesco, R-Elkhart. Bush called for state policies holding back third graders who cannot read well and ending tenure systems that employ and pay teachers based on experience rather than student performance. He called for more states to adopt an A-F grading scale for schools based on their student achievement — a provision contained in a 1999 Florida education law that he enacted that is embraced as a model bill by ALEC. Bush also said parents should have more options to enroll children in digital classrooms. “We need to make education relevant to 21st century kids, and that means communicating with them on their terms, as digital natives,” Bush said. That proposal appeared to be warmly embraced at the ALEC conference, which hosted a seminar on the merits of virtual schools that enroll students statewide instead of only from particular geographic districts. Among the panelists was Tom Vander Ark, a former public school superintendent in Washington state who is CEO of the digitallearning advocacy group Getting Smart. “School districts may have been good at one point in American history, but they have really in some respects outlived their useful purpose,” Vander Ark said.
NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING TO DISCUSS BUDGET AND PROPOSED TAX RATE The Zapata ISD will hold a public meeting at 6:00 p.m. 08/20/2013 in 702 E. 17th St PDC Building Zapata, Texas 78076. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss tbe school district’s budget that will determine the tax rate that will be adopted. Public participation in the discussion is invited. The tax rate that is ultimately adopted at this meeting or at a separate meeting at a later date may not exceed the proposed rate shown below unless the district publishes a revised notice containing the same information and comparisons set out below and holds another public meeting to discuss the revised notice. Maintenance Tax: School Debt Service Tax Approved by Local Voters
$1.040000/$100 (proposed rate for maintenance and operations) $0.000000/$100(proposedratetopaybondedindebtedness)
Comparison of Proposed Budget with Last Year’s Budget The applicable percentage inorease or decrease (or difference) in the amount budgted in the preceding fiscal year and the amount budgeted for the fiscal year that begins during the current tax year Is indicated for each all the following expenditure categories: Maintenance and operations Debt Service Total expenditures
0.000000% (increase) or %(increase) or % (increase) or
Total appraised value* of all property Total appraised value* of new property** Total appraised value*** of all property Total appraised value*** of new property**
Total Appraised Value and Total Taxable Value (as calculated under section 26.04, Tax Code) Preceding Tax Year $1,698,922,920 $10,873,289 $1,673,964,925 $9,302,116
% (deorease) -100.000000% (decrease) .100,000000% (decrease)
Current Tax Year $1,341,746,103 $5,675,009 $1,341,465,666 $5,070,274
* “Appraised Value” is the amount shown on the appraisal roll and defined by Section 1.04(8). Tax Code . ** “New property” is defined by Section 26.012(11), Tax Code . *** “Taxable value” Is defined by Seetlon 1.04(10), Tax Code. Bonded Indebtedness Total amount of outstanding and unpaid bonded indebtedness: * Outstanding principal
Last Year’s Rate Rate to Maintain Same Level of Maintenance & Operations Revenue & Pay Debt Service Proposed Rate
Maintenance & Operations $1.040000
$1.040000 $1.040000
$0
Comparison of Proposed Rates with Last Year’s Rates Interest & Total Sinking Fund* $0.151500* $1.191500
$0.000000* $0.000000*
$1.040000 $1.040000
Local Revenue Per Student $6,213
State Revenue Per Student $4,116
$4,188 $4,160
$5,426 $5,429
Comparison of Proposed Levy with Last Year’s Levy on Average Residence Last Year This Year Average Market Value of Residence $76,674 $72,319 Average Taxable Value of Residences $36,297 $39,438 Last Year’s Rate Versus Proposed Rate per $100 Value $1.191500 $1.040000 Taxes Due on Average Residence $432.47 $410.15 Increase (Decrease) in Taxes $0.00 $-22.32 Under state law, the dollar amount of school taxes imposed on the residence homestead of a person 65 years of age or older or of the surviving spouse of such a person, if the surviving spouse was 55 years of age or older when the person died, may not be increased above the amount paid in tbe first year after tbe person turned 65, regardless of changes in tax rate or property value. Notice of Rollback Rate: The highest tax rate the district can adopt before requiring voter approval at an election is 1.355000. This election will be automatically held if the district adopts a rate in excess of the rollback rate of 1.355000. Fund Balances The following estimated balances will remain at the end of the current fiscal year and are not encumbered with or by a corresponding debt obligation, less estimated funds necessary for operating the district before receipt of the first state aid payment: Maintenance and Operations Fund Balance(s) Interest & Sinking Fund Balance(s)
$12,595,142 $843,205
National
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A
Prosecutor ends sentencing case By DAVID DISHNEAU ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Jim Mone | AP
Paul White, of Ham Lake, Minn., gets a laugh from his girlfriend Kim VanReese, right, Thursday as he talks about his plans after he was announced a winner of part of the $448.4 million Powerball Jackpot.
16 garage workers have $448M ticket By WAYNE PARRY ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOMS RIVER, N.J. — Sixteen workers from a county garage in a New Jersey shore community hit hard by Superstorm Sandy have one of the three winning tickets in the $448 million Powerball jackpot, and some even came to work for a second straight day after learning they would be multimillionaires, county officials said. “We are absolutely delighted for this group, a real down-to-earth hardworking bunch of people,” Ocean County spokeswoman Donna Flynn said Friday outside the county vehicle maintenance department. A Minnesota man has already claimed his third of Wednesday’s jackpot. The holder of the third winning ticket, also from New Jersey, has not come forward yet. Each ticket, if taken as a
lump-sum payment, is worth $58 million after taxes. All 16 county workers showed up to work Thursday, and some were also back on the job Friday, Flynn said. “They’re asking for their privacy now,” she said. New Jersey Lottery officials did not return calls or messages Friday on whether they had verified the ticket. Flynn said the lottery agency was planning to hold a news conference next week. “This is a wonderful thing to happen to Ocean County after all the difficulties we’ve gone through with Superstorm Sandy,” she said. Ocean County received some of the heaviest damage from Sandy last October and is still recovering from the storm, which made landfall just miles from the supermarket, in Little Egg Harbor, where the winning ticket was
sold. Flynn said she did not know if any of the winners, both men and women, had suffered property damage in the storm. The other winning ticket in New Jersey was purchased at a supermarket in South Brunswick, in central New Jersey. In Minnesota, Paul White wasted no time before revealing his good fortune to the world Thursday. He said he had “been waiting for this day my entire life.” White, 45, a project engineer and divorced father of two from Ham Lake, said his family often gave him a hard time for frequently playing the lottery, and he had a tough time convincing many of them that he had finally won. White said he’ll take the lump sum payout. He said he would be quitting his job with a Minneapolis electrical contractor after helping finish some projects.
FORT MEADE, Md. — The classified information that Army Pfc. Bradley Manning disclosed through WikiLeaks put entire Afghan villages at risk of harm from the Taliban for cooperating with U.S. forces, a Pentagon official testified Friday at the soldier’s sentencing hearing. Navy Rear Adm. Kevin Donegan, director of warfare integration, was director of operations for U.S. Central Command, including Iraq and Afghanistan, when WikiLeaks began publishing the leaked information on its website in 2010. Donegan was among the last two witnesses in the prosecution’s sentencing case. He was followed by another Pentagon official, Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, who testified in a closed session about the classified impact on long-range battle plans of the government secrets Manning disclosed. Manning’s defense team will begin presenting evidence Monday in the court-martial at Fort Meade, near Baltimore. Defense attorney David Coombs said Manning will give a statement before the defense rests on Wednesday. Testifying as a prosecution witness, Donegan said WikiLeaks’ publication of more than 90,000 Afghanistan battlefield reports in July 2010 prompted the creation of a crisis team to assess whether the documents contained anything immediately useful to the enemy or identified people who had given information to U.S. forces.
Photo by Patrick Semansky | AP
Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was acquitted of aiding the enemy, but was convicted of espionage, theft and other charges. He said the team found “a significant number” of such individuals, and also some villages, who had to be warned they were at risk. “Each area of Afghanistan has a shadow Taliban governor associated with it,” Donegan said. “Villages, in and of themselves, for cooperating with the United States, can be retaliated against by the Taliban.” He said the United States had a moral and ethical duty to inform those people and communities of the danger, a process that took nine months from start to final report. Donegan refused to testify in open court about the number of people who were warned. He later testified in a closed session, where he presumably pro-
vided classified details of the mission. On cross-examination, Donegan said he was unaware of any casualties suffered by troops traveling to dangerous areas to inform people at risk. The 25-year-old native of Crescent, Okla., faces up to 90 years in prison for giving more than 700,000 documents and some battlefield video to the antisecrecy group while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq. He was convicted July 30 of 20 counts, including six federal Espionage Act violations, five theft counts, and a federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act charge. Manning claims he leaked the material to expose wrongdoing and provoke discussion about U.S. military and diplomatic affairs.
National
8A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2013
10 years later, US grid faces new threats By KANTELE FRANKO AND JONATHAN FAHEY
ural gas-fired generation also creates weak spots. For example, utilities that supply natural gas to customers for heat can typically take all the gas they need from pipelines before any excess goes to electricity generators. In regions with limited pipeline capacity, such as the Northeast, planners say there might not be enough gas to heat homes and generate electricity simultaneously during a cold snap. “In the winter there could be a significant and sudden unavailability of power,” said former Vermont regulator Rich Sedano, who directs the Regulatory Assistance Project, a nonprofit advisory group. “It’s critical that this emerging threat to the grid is addressed.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The U.S. electrical grid is better managed and more flexible a decade after its largest blackout but remains vulnerable to increasingly extreme weather, cybersecurity threats, and stress caused by shifts in where and how power is produced. Many worry the grid isn’t fully prepared for the new and emerging challenges, even though an analysis conducted for The Associated Press shows maintenance spending has steadily increased since North America’s largest blackout. “This job of reliability is kind of impossible, in the sense that there’s just so many things that could happen that it’s hard to be sure that you’re covering all the bases,” said William Booth, a senior electricity adviser with the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Tree blamed The industry has mostly addressed the failures blamed on a tree branch in Ohio that touched a power line and set off outages that cascaded across eight states and parts of Canada the afternoon of Aug. 14, 2003, darkening computer screens, halting commuter trains, and cutting lights and air conditioners for 50 million people. Grid operators who didn’t initially realize what was happening now have a nearly real-time view of the system and are better equipped to stop problems from growing. Utilities share more information and systematically trim trees near high-voltage power lines. Electricity customers have been giving the grid a bit of breathing room. Power demand has remained flat or even fallen in recent years as lighting, devices, appliances, homes and businesses have gotten more efficient and economic growth has been sluggish. All that reduces stress on the grid. At the same time, aging coal and nuclear plants are shutting down in the face of higher maintenance costs, pollution restrictions and competition from cheap natural gas. Renewable generation such as wind turbines and solar panels is being installed, adding power that’s difficult to plan for and manage. Temperatures and storms are getting more extreme, according to federal data, and that increases stress on the grid by creating spikes in demand or knocking out lines or power plants. Some regulators and policymakers are increasingly worried about cyberattacks that could target systems that manage power plants or grids. “The grid that exists today wasn’t designed for what everybody wants to do with it,” says Joe Welch, CEO of ITC Holdings Corp., the largest independent transmission company in the U.S.
More funding The electric power industry did respond directly to the issues that sparked the blackout. An analysis of spending on maintenance and transmission equipment by more than 200 utilities nationwide conducted for the AP by Ventyx, a software and data services firm that works with electric util-
Older system Photo by Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press/file | AP
A couple enjoys a candlelight dinner at a Toronto restaurant during the power failure Thursday, Aug. 14, 2003. Ten years after a blackout cascading from Ohio affected 50 million people, utilities and analysts say changes made make a similar outage unlikely today. ities, shows that spending rose sharply in the years after the blackout. Maintenance spending for overhead lines increased an average of 8.2 percent per year from 2003 to 2012. In the period before the blackout, from 1994 to 2003, that spending grew 3 percent on average per year. Spending on transmission equipment also increased. From 2003 to 2012, utilities spent an average of $21,514 per year on devices and station equipment per mile of transmission line. From 1994 to 2003, spending averaged $7,185 per year. The number of miles of transmission line remained roughly the same, suggesting new money was mostly spent on equipment to make the existing system stronger and more responsive, according to Ventyx analyst Chris Tornow. Those higher transmission costs have trickled down to customer bills, but they’ve been largely offset by lower electricity prices, thanks to cheap natural gas. Since 2003, average residen-
tial power prices have risen an average of 0.85 percent per year, adjusted for inflation, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Said reliable The grid’s reliability is high, according to a May report from the North American Electric Reliability Corp., which sets standards and tracks the performance of the power plants and high-voltage transmission lines that make up the bulk power system. Last year was particularly good. Not including extreme weather events, major transmission lines caused power losses only twice in 2012, after averaging nine instances annually from 2008 to 2011. The report says transmission lines have been functioning normally and available for use an average of 99.6 percent of the time, not including for planned outages, since tracking began three years ago. Most outages residents
experience stem not from the bulk system, but from smaller failures in distribution systems managed by local utilities and regulated by states. Not including stormrelated outages, the average U.S. customer goes without power 1.2 times annually for a total of 112 minutes, according to PA Consulting Group. The bulk power system is changing, a result of the declining use of coal and nuclear power and the rising use of natural gas and renewable power. One-sixth of the existing coal capacity is projected to close by 2020, much of it at small, inefficient units in the Ohio River Valley, the Mid-Atlantic and the Southeast, according to the Energy Information Administration. The permanent closure of four nuclear reactors in California, Florida and Wisconsin was announced this year, and reactors in New York, Vermont and elsewhere may also close.
New challenges Plant shutdowns mean there’s less of a cushion in electrical capacity when power demand is high or problems arise. Shutdowns also create pockets of transmission congestion or regions where power is scarce. Both situations drive up power prices for customers, make the grid less stable and present planning challenges. “That is a new stress that we hadn’t thought about” a decade ago, said Scott Moore, vice president of transmission engineering and project services at American Electric Power, one of the nation’s biggest utilities. The reliability report raises concerns about the Texas grid, one of the three major U.S. grids, where the amount of wiggle room in capacity is expected to dip below targeted minimum levels. Growing reliance on nat-
ITC Holdings’ Joe Welch argues increased spending on the grid in recent years reflects how quickly it is aging, not a concerted effort to modernize or strengthen it. “We’ve done paltry little,” he said. But planners say changes made since 2003 at least give grid operators better control and add flexibility. “We can’t redirect hurricanes or prevent every cyberattack, but we can focus on resilience,” said Terry Boston, president of PJM Interconnection, a regional transmission organization serving 13 states. For now, there appears to be enough electricity capacity to meet demand, which has remained relatively flat since 2005. The nation’s natural gas plants aren’t fully used, and wind, solar and other renewable generation have been built to comply with state renewable power mandates. “Many feel there is a very long fuse here, and there may not be a bomb at the end of it,” Sedano said.
SÁBADO 10 DE AGOSTO DE 2013
Agenda en Breve LAREDO 08/10— Guns-N-Hoses de Laredo tendrá el Primer 5K Color Dash& Fire Engine Pull anual. El registro inicia a las 7:30 a.m. y el evento a las 9 a.m. en North Central Park, 10200 International Blvd. El evento será en beneficio del Youth of Laredo y del Fondo para Becas Escolares Guns-N-Hoses. 08/10— Primera Feria Anual de Regreso a la Escuela del Precinto 1 del Condado de Webb, de 10 a.m. a 2 p.m. en la Cafetería del Lyndon B. Johnson High School. Se debe presentar calificaciones, durante la inscripción, de alumnos que asistan a una escuela primaria o secundaria en el Precinto 1. Mochilas y artículos están limitados. 08/10— Béisbol: Laredo Lemurs reciben a Grand Prairie Airhogs en Estadio Uni-Trade a las 7:30 p.m. 08/10— Lite Productions y LCA presentan “Chicago: A Musical Vaudeville”, en LCA, 500 avenida San Agustin, a las 8 p.m. Costo: 20 dólares. Otras presentaciones el 11 y 18 de agosto a las 3 p.m.; 16 y 17 de agosto a las 8 p.m. 08/11— Béisbol: Laredo Lemurs reciben a Grand Prairie Airhogs en Estadio Uni-Trade a las 7:30 p.m. 08/13— El Capítulo 965 del AARP se reunirá a las 2 p.m. en la Biblioteca Pública de Laredo, 1120 E. Calton Road. Abierto para personas mayores de 50 años. El orador invitado es el Congresista Henry Cuellar. 08/15— Se promoverá la venta de boletos del séptimo conciero de Empty Bowls con la Prisión y Fianza del Banco de Alimentos de Sur de Texas de 10 a.m. a 2 p.m. en el Laredo Firefighters Union Hall, 5219 Tesoro Lane. Celebridades de Laredo serán ‘encerrados’ y para ‘salir bajo fianza’ deberán vender boletos para el concierto. Los costos varían de 10, 15 y 25 dólares. 08/16— “Curso para evitar distracciones al conducir dirigido a conductores adolescentes” se llevará a cabo de 9 a.m. a 12 p.m. en Laredo Municipal Court, 4610 avenida Maher. Evento gratuito. Informes en el 794-1678. 08/16— Festival del Libro de Laredo: Lo mejor de Texas y Más Allá, es de 1 p.m. a 6 p.m. en la Biblioteca Pública de Laredo, 1110 East Calton Road. El evento celebra a autores e ilustradores locales y de Texas y motiva el interés en libros y la lectura. Evento gratuito.
NUEVO LAREDO, MX 08/10— Estación Palabra invita al “Bazar del Arte” a las 12 p.m.; Festival Infantil con el cuento de “La Cenicienta” teatralizado a las 2 p.m. 08/10— Estación Palabra estará recaudando bienes en especie para la Asociación Protectora de animales de Nuevo Laredo, las donaciones pueden dejarse en la recepción de Estación Palabra, de 10 a.m. a 7 p.m. 08/11— El Grupo de Tetro Laberintus estará hospedará un bazar cultural dentro del Teatro del IMSS, Reynosa y Benden, de 11 a.m. a 2 p.m. Algunos artículos serán libros, discos, películas, artesanías, entre otros. 08/11— Proyecto Teatro presenta “Juanito y las Habichuelas Mágicas” de Benjamín Tabart, a las 12 p.m. en el Teatro del IMSS. Costo: 20 pesos. 08/18— Proyecto Teatro presenta “Juanito y las Habichuelas Mágicas” de Benjamín Tabart, a las 12 p.m. en el Teatro del IMSS. Costo: 20 pesos.
Zfrontera
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MÉXICO
Libre Caro Quintero POR ADRIANA GOMEZ LICÓN ASSOCIATED PRESS
MÉXICO — El capo de las drogas Rafael Caro Quintero salió libre el viernes de una prisión de México después de 28 años de estar encarcelado por el secuestro y asesinato en 1985 del agente antidrogas estadounidense Enrique Camarena, informó un funcionario de la fiscalía del estado de Jalisco. CARO La libertad se concedió porque una corte federal anuló la sentencia de 40 años dictada a Caro Quintero por el asesinato, un episodio que deterioró las relaciones entre México y Estados Unidos. El reclusorio liberó a Caro Quintero las primeras horas del viernes, informó el funcionario que no está autorizado a hablar con la prensa. Un panel de tres jueces del Tribunal Colegiado de Guadalajara decidió que fue juzgado de manera inapropiada por el asesinato, ya que este crimen debió haber sido procesado por corte estatal. El tribunal dictó el miércoles que Caro Quintero debía ser libe-
“
Caro Quintero sigue lavando procedentes del tráfico de narcóticos y mantiene una alianza con organizaciones dedicadas al narcotráfico”. VOCERO DEL DEPARTAMENTO DEL TESORO, JOHN SULLIVAN
rado porque ya cumplió la sentencia por los otros cargos por los cuales se lo condenó. No fue sino hasta el jueves en la noche que el reclusorio recibió la orden de liberarlo. La embajada de Estados Unidos en México no hizo declaraciones sobre la liberación de Caro Quintero. La Procuraduría General de la República dijo no saber si existe una orden de extradición vigente para enviarlo a enfrentar cargos aún pendientes en Estados Unidos. Caro Quintero, de 61 años, es considerado el padrino del narcotráfico en México. Fundó el cártel de Guadalajara que después se dividió en tres de los más conocidos grupos de la delincuencia de la actualidad, incluido el poderoso cár-
tel de Sinaloa. El narcotraficante aún es considerado uno de los principales prófugos internacionales de la agencia antidrogas estadounidense DEA por el secuestro y asesinato del agente y autoridades del país vecino piensan que tras las rejas continuó en control de actividades de lavado de dinero. Caro Quintero ha pasado casi los 28 años en una prisión a las afueras de Guadalajara, la segunda ciudad más grande de México. “Caro Quintero sigue lavando procedentes del tráfico de narcóticos y mantiene una alianza con organizaciones dedicadas al narcotráfico de drogas como el cártel de Sinaloa”, dijo el vocero del Departamento del Tesoro, John Sullivan.
En junio, el mismo departamento impuso sanciones a 18 personas y 15 compañías que presuntamente trabajan para Caro Quintero. Adam Szubin, director de la Oficina de Control de Activos Extranjeros del Tesoro, dijo que el capo utiliza una red de familiares y personas como fachada para invertir su fortuna en empresas aparentemente legítimas y proyectos inmobiliarios en la ciudad de Guadalajara. Las relaciones de México con Washington se dañaron cuando Caro Quintero ordenó el secuestro, la tortura y asesinato de Camarena, supuestamente en venganza por haber alertado a autoridades sobre una plantación de 90 hectáreas (220 acres) de marihuana en el Rancho Búfalo, en el centro de México. Hasta la fecha, las autoridades de Estados Unidos lo buscan para enjuiciarlo en la corte federal del distrito central de California. Después del asesinato de Camarena, autoridades de Estados Unidos acusaron a sus homólogos mexicanos de haber permitido la fuga de los asesinos de Camarena. Caro Quintero fue capturado en Costa Rica en abril de 1985.
COMUNIDAD
CORTE
EJEMPLO DE VIDA
Dictan sentencia a cuatro POR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Foto de cortesía | Marisela Leal
Marisela Leal posa ante la cámara tras recibir una Placa como Presidenta Honoraria del evento Relevo por la Vida de Zapata, de la Sociedad Americana del Cancer, en 2011.
Sobreviviente de cáncer brinda motivación POR MALENA CHARUR TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
C
ada ser humano es distinto y por tanto posee motivaciones diferentes. Para una mujer sobreviviente de cáncer de mama por 11 años el ayudar a que otros no sufran lo que ella ha pasado, es la motivación que actualmente le permite ayudar a la Sociedad Americana del Cáncer (ACS por sus siglas en inglés). Marisela Leal, descubrió por casualidad un bulto en su seno que le hizo sentir inmediatamente que no era algo bueno. Por su experiencia como enfermera registrada sabía que lo que acababa de descubrir no estaba bien. Leal será la oradora principal en la “Cena de Sobrevivientes y Cuidadores” que se llevará a cabo a las 6 p.m. en el Holiday Inn Express, 167 US 83, el miércoles 14 de agosto. “Cuando me diagnosticaron, me llevaron a una sala y me dieron una caja de kleenex, mientras esperaba que me canalizaran con el siguiente médico”, recuerda Leal. “Yo estaba bien y me preguntaban ‘¿Está segura que está bien?’”. Debido a su profesión, Leal no era del todo ajena a lo que venía por delante. Ella también era consciente de la importancia de actuar con rapidez y logró, en un lapso de dos semanas, siempre con la ayuda de los médicos, ser diagnosticada, intervenida de una doble mastectomía e iniciar
EVENTO Cena de Sobrevivientes y Cuidadores Miércoles 14 de agosto A las 6 p.m. Holiday Inn Express, 167 US 83 los tratamientos. Diferentes problemas familiares distrajeron a Leal de su problema de salud. No fue sino hasta que iba a iniciar su segundo tratamiento de quimioterapia que se dio cuenta de que estaba enferma. “Hasta que no vi en el espejo cómo se me caía el pelo, me di cuenta de que tenía cáncer. Hasta que no vi a esta mujer calva que me devolvía la mirada en el espejo, me di cuenta que estaba en una terrible lucha, que podía morir, que estaba a merced de este cáncer, que no tenía el control y tuve una sentimiento de desamparo.”, expresó Leal, sin ocultar la emoción que le causa este recuerdo. Leal tuvo conocimiento de la Sociedad Americana del Cáncer e inmediatamente empezó a apoyarlos. El ACS es una organización sin fines de lucro, con 100 años de existencia, que promueve la investigación, educa y previene el cáncer, con el fin de salvar vidas y lograr su eliminación como un problema de salud, de acuerdo al sitio de Internet de la organización. “Empecé a trabajar para organizar en Zapata el ‘Relevo por la Vida’ (Relay for Life) y la libera-
ción de los globos”, dijo Leal, quien explica que es un evento que celebra a aquellas personas que han vencido al cáncer y recordar a los que han muerto por esta causa. “Haces esto porque, por un lado, tienes que dejar ir, y, por otro, porque quieres seguir luchando, porque los amas y porque sus vidas son importantes”. Ella sostuvo que durante los eventos en Zapata han llegado a reunir a cerca de 1.700 personas. Los fondos que se recaudan se destinan principalmente a la investigación. “Tomó tiempo tomar el control. Recé y deje que Dios trabajara. Yo puse mi parte de comprometerme y creer que lo vas a lograr. Porque tengo todo a mi favor: Dios, los médicos, mi esposo, mi familia. Estoy feliz”, dijo ella. Leal aseguró que seguirá trabajando porque no desea que otra persona sufra lo que ella sintió al ver la expresión de desamparo en el rostro de su esposo, ni que tenga la sensación de que es una persona enferma. No se requiere reservar espacio para participar en la “Cena de Sobrevivientes y Cuidadores” que organiza el ACS. Si desea más información puede comunicarse con Jessica Cárdenas llamando al (512) 9191848 o escribiendo a jessica.cardenas@cancer.org. (Localice a Malena Charur en 728-2583 o en mcharur@lmtonline.com)
LAREDO — Un juez federal local sentenció a prisión a cuatro inmigrantes ilegales esta semana en una corte federal por el contrabando de marihuana en Zapata para cubrir sus cuotas de cruce. Todos los hombres se declararon culpable a posesión con intención de distribuir marihuana en exceso de 100 kilogramos el 11 de febrero. El martes, el Juez Visitante Iván Lemelle sentenció a Carlos Duarte-Benitez a 60 meses en prisión; Misael García-Benitez y Alfonso Pineda Duarte recibieron una sentencia de 18 meses. La sentencia de Alfenibe Carlos Hernández se realizó el viernes. Fue sentenciado a 15 meses en prisión. Fiscales desestimaron los cargos sobre los acusados de conspiración para contrabandear marihuana, durante su sentencia. Archivos de la corte indican que los cuatro hombres admitieron el contrabando de marihuana para cubrir sus cuotas de cruce. Ellos eran de Nueva Ciudad Guerrero, Tamaulipas. “Además, los sospechosos sostuvieron que cruzaron por Miguel Alemán y recibieron instrucciones de llevar los paquetes hacia dentro del vehículo”, indica una querella criminal del 3 de diciembre. El intento de contrabando ocurrió alrededor del 29 de noviembre. Aproximadamente a las 4 p.m., agentes de la Patrulla Fronteriza empezaron a seguir a un conductor sospechoso de una Chevrolet Tahoe, color negra, sobre la U.S. 83 conforme viajaban hacia el sur en Zapata. Aunque las autoridades no activaron sus luces de emergencia de las unidades, el conductor siguió manejando y parecía agacharse en el asiento. Los agentes también notaron que la Tahoe parecía “caída”. De pronto, el conductor aceleró y dio vuelta hacia una calle lateral, hizo una serie de vueltas y se introdujo hacia un área residencial antes de detenerse. Cuatro personas salieron de la Tahoe y empezaron a alejarse corriendo del lugar, de acuerdo a documentos de la corte. “Agentes (de la Patrulla Fronteriza) vieron dentro de la Tahoe, paquetes con cinta para envolver, consistente con las mochilas de marihuana”, de acuerdo a documentos del acuerdo. Agentes y oficiales de la Oficina del Alguacil del Condado de Zapata siguieron y atraparon a las personas que corrieron, indican documentos de la corte. Autoridades arrestaron a cuatro personas identificadas como García-Benitez, Duarte-Benitez, Hernández y Pineda-Duarte. Además, agentes decomisaron 20 paquetes de marihuana, con peso de 864 libras. El contrabando tenía un costo estimado en la calle de 691.200 dólares. (Localice a César G. Rodriguez en el 728-2568 o en cesar@lmtonline.com)
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
Cavity search trooper back By CHRIS TOMLINSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — The Texas Department of Public Safety reinstated a state trooper on Friday that it fired for conducting a roadside cavity search during a traffic stop for speeding. DPS Director Steve McCraw said he was rehiring Trooper Jennie Bui after a grand jury chose not to indict her for the incident in Brazoria County that has triggered a lawsuit by the two women involved. “It was determined that the relatively inexperienced trooper was directed by a more senior trooper to conduct the inappropriate search,” McCraw said in a statement issued late Friday afternoon. “While the actions of Trooper Bui constitute misconduct, I believe her actions are mitigated such that she should not be terminated from the agency.” McCraw said she will be suspended for 60 days and undergo additional training. He added that he was requiring all state police officers to re-familiarize themselves with the department policy on strip searches and body cavity searches. A dash-cam video showed Bui’s supervisor Nathaniel Turner ordering her to internally probe two women on the side of the road in a search for contraband. Turner had stopped them for speeding and said he could smell marijuana in their car. The video shows one of the women wincing as Bui conducted the search. “Trooper Turner’s conduct was unacceptable, and violated DPS policy and was outside any authorized training provided to Trooper Turner by DPS,” McCraw said. “DPS holds its employees to the highest standards, and we will continue to take immediate action in any instance of misconduct to ensure our employees are held accountable.” The women filed a federal lawsuit against DPS and the troopers for the unlawful invasion of their privacy.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2013
Obama eyes spy program reform By JULIE PACE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Responding to critics, President Barack Obama promised on Friday to work with Congress on “appropriate reforms” for the domestic surveillance programs that have stirred criticism at home and abroad. He also said it is time to recalibrate the United States’ relationship with Russia, which is harboring NSA secrets leaker Edward Snowden. “It’s not enough for me to have confidence in these programs,” the president declared of NSA domestic intelligence-gathering programs at a White House news conference, one day before his scheduled departure on a weeklong vacation. “The American people have to have confidence in them as well.” The president announced a series of changes in a program begun under the anti-terror Patriot Act that was passed in the wake of the attacks of Sept, 11, 2001. But none of the moves would alter the basic core of the program, the collection of millions of Americans’ phone records. As for Snowden, recently granted temporary asylum by Russia, Obama said he is not a patriot, as some have suggested, and challenged him to return to the United States to face espionage charges. On Russia, Obama said that given recent differences over Syria, human rights and Snowden, it is “probably appropriate for us to take a pause, reassess where it is that Russia is going ... and recalibrate the relationship.” The hour-long news conference ranged over numerous issues, although the president became especially animated when the questions turned to Republicans in Congress. He said they would risk the wrath of the public if they vote to shut down the government this fall in an attempt to cut off funding for his signature health care law. And on another congressional issue, he said that while he was open to House Republicans proposing an alternative immigration bill, his preference was for a vote on a Senate-passed measure that would combine border security with a chance at citizenship for millions of immigrants living in the country illegally. He said he was “abso-
Photo by Evan Vucci/file | AP
President Barack Obama sits with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Northern Ireland, on June 17. Obama took a shot at Putin for his appearances before reporters. “He’s got that kind of slouch, looking like the bored kid in the back of the classroom,” Obama said. lutely certain” such a bill would pass in the GOP-controlled U.S. House. He did not mince words about the United States’ deteriorating relationship with Russia. He said President Vladimir Putin’s recent decision to grant asylum to Snowden was merely the latest in a series of differences between the two countries, including a response to the Syrian civil war and to human rights issues. “I’ve encouraged Mr. Putin to look forward rather than backward,” Obama said, evoking memories of relations between the United States and the former Soviet Union. The president, who just this week canceled a planned summit meeting with Putin, said he does not want the United States to boycott the upcoming 2014 Olympics scheduled to be held in Sochi, Russia, as a protest against Russian treatment of homosexuals. “One of the things I’m really looking forward to is maybe some gay and lesbian athletes bringing home the gold or silver or bronze, which I think would go a long way in rejecting the kinds of attitudes that we’re seeing here,” he said. “And if Russia doesn’t have gay or lesbian athletes, then that would probably make their team weaker.” On the U.S. economy, Obama said he has a range of candidates he is consid-
ering to become chairman of the Federal Reserve, a nomination he likened in importance to selecting a Supreme Court justice. Among the contenders are former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Janet Yellen, the vice chair of the Fed, he said, adding that whoever replaces Ben Bernanke must focus his attention on keeping inflation in check and helping strengthen the recovery from the worst recession in decades. While saying he won’t pick a Fed chairman until the fall, he expressed irritation at critics of Summers, including some Democrats in Congress, whom Obama said were engaging in “a standard Washington exercise that I don’t like” of launching pre-emptive attacks before an appointment has been made. The president and his family are due to depart the White House on Saturday for a weeklong vacation at Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts. It was Obama’s first fullblown White House news conference since April, and both his opening statement about surveillance programs and the questions that followed underscored the constantly shifting mix of issues in the nation’s summertime capital. Chief among them was the topic of surveillance, a subject the administration has struggled with since Snowden’s leaks triggered a
FCC to cut prison phone rates By SUZANNE GAMBOA ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — A decade after families of prison inmates asked for action, the Federal Communications Commission agreed on Friday to limit how much companies can charge for phone calls made from behind bars. The FCC voted 2-1 during an emotional meeting to cap interstate phone rates at 21 cents a minute for debit or prepaid calls and 25 cents a minute for collect calls. Companies wanting to set higher rates would have to file a request for a waiver and could not charge more until that waiver is granted. “For 10 years, the families and friends of inmates have been asking the FCC to ease the burden of an inmate calling rate structure. Their wait is finally over,” said FCC acting chairwoman Mignon Clyburn, who took over the interim spot in May. The commission’s action ends fluctuating phone rates for inmates that vary depending on the provider, the type of call and size of prison facility. The fees range from 50 cents to $3.95 to place calls, plus additional per-minute rates of anywhere from 5 cents to 89 cents. In some cases, a 15-minute call has cost $17, and numerous fees have been tacked onto call charges. Inmates’ families, many poor, usually are stuck with the bills. For security, inmates are not allowed to have cellphones. Clyburn’s voice, and that of commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, cracked with emotion as they read statements about the decision. The audience, which included family members of inmates, broke out in applause after the vote. Stephanie Joyce, an attorney who represents Dallas-based Secu-
vigorous public debate about the proper balance between government intelligence-gathering programs designed to combat terrorism and individual liberties enshrined in the Constitution. In his remarks, the president gave no indication he was prepared to change the core of one of the most controversial programs, an effort to collect and store identifying information about virtually all the phone calls made in the United States. There was quick reaction from lawmakers. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued a statement saying he would “carefully examine the materials released today and will continue to press for greater transparency, including the release of significant FISA Court opinions.” Sen. Saxby Chambliss, a Georgian and senior Republican on the Senate intelligence committee, said, “I believe there is a consensus among my colleagues that any modifications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act must be made on a strong bipartisan basis and must not impede the intelligence community’s ability to prevent terrorist attacks.” Obama announced relatively modest changes, including one to create an independent attorney to ar-
Epidemic looms for C. America By KATHERINE CORCORAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Susan Walsh | AP
Bethany Fraser, a family member affected by phone rates, listens to testimony during the Federal Communications Commission hearing in Washington, on Friday. rus Technologies Inc., one of the two largest providers of inmate phone services, said the company was withholding comment until the release of the actual order from the commission. Mark Kollar, an attorney representing American Securities, which owns the other large provider, Global Tel-Link, declined to comment. A representative of the National Sheriffs’ Association, which was wary of FCC action before Friday’s meeting, could not be immediately reached Friday. Limiting the rates was made easier after Clyburn, a Democrat, moved into the lead spot on the commission. The five-member panel has two vacancies. Clyburn needed only one supporting vote, which came from Rosenworcel, also a Democrat. The petition asking the FCC to regulate inmate phone call rates was filed in 2003 after a judge dismissed a lawsuit that Martha Wright-Reed brought against a private prison company. She had struggled to keep up with phone bills while her grandson was in-
carcerated. The judge directed her to the commission. Wright-Reed’s grandson, Ulandis Forte, has since been released and was in the audience for Friday’s vote. He wiped away tears when the vote was taken. Clyburn said Wright-Reed would call her then-incarcerated grandson a couple times a week, to speak with him about 15-minutes a call, and “for this minimal contact, she often paid $100 a month.” Bethany Fraser, 36, told commissioners before the vote that her sons, ages 5 and 10, are among 2.7 million children in the U.S. with incarcerated parents. Her husband has been in a Maryland prison for 2 1/2 years, serving 10 years for the drunken-driving death of a bicyclist. “I would do anything and pay any amount to keep the children connected to their father,” Fraser said. “But choosing between essential needs and keeping kids connected to their parents is not a choice any parent should have to make.”
gue against the government during secret hearings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which reviews requests for surveillance inside the U.S. Under current law, prosecutors now make their legal case without opposing argument, subject only to a ruling by a judge. Obama is creating an outside advisory panel to review U.S. surveillance powers, although it is unclear how that differs from the U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an existing panel mandated by Congress, to monitor surveillance and constitutional considerations. Obama said the NSA would hire a privacy officer and that intelligence agencies would build a website explaining their mission. As Obama spoke, the Justice Department released what Obama called “the legal rationale” for the surveillance. The document appeared to be primarily a recitation of what the administration has previously told Congress. On another subject the president declined to confirm a series of drone strikes recently reported carried out in Yemen. At the same time, he said the United States was making progress toward arresting the killers of four Americans who perished last year in a terrorist attack at a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.
MEXICO CITY — Central America is on track to have one of its worst years ever for the painful, sometimes fatal disease of dengue, prompting governments across the region to mobilize against the mosquitoborne virus. There have been 120,000 suspected cases of dengue reported across Central America so far in the season, which is roughly June to November, when the rains make it optimal for mosquito breeding. The number of cases already is about to surpass the total for all of 2012 in the seven countries from Guatemala to Panama. At least 39 people have died so far, more than the 32 for all of 2012. The disease is endemic to the region, but cases tend to surge every three to five years, and the Pan-American Health Organization says this year’s looks unusually bad. Perhaps the worst major outbreak in the Americas was in 2010, when 132 people in Central America died. Honduras and El Salvador have declared health emergencies to channel extra funds and efforts to prevent the spread of the disease. Other nations are also sending teams of workers across villages and cities to squirt bursts of insecticide at puddles and to lecture citizens against leaving standing water where mosquitoes can breed. “They’re involving people from public health, police and soldiers. It’s an all-out effort to
fight the effects of the epidemic,” said Vilma Areas, spokeswoman for the Nicaraguan Health Ministry. At least 17 people have died in Honduras, where more than half the municipalities have registered dengue cases. Most of Nicaragua’s 2,000 cases, including six deaths, are concentrated on the border with Honduras, which has reported nearly 18,000 cases so far, compared with 15,000 for all of 2012. Dengue is a leading cause of illness and death in the tropics and subtropics, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The virus-transmitting aedes aegypti mosquitoes are found in dense population areas where a combination of people and standing water allow them to breed and thrive. There is no vaccine or cure for dengue. Treatments can mirror those for standard flu symptoms or can be more extensive for patients who have to be hospitalized. People contracting the most severe type, hemorrhagic dengue, can experience severe pain, breathing difficulties, bleeding and even circulatory failure. Epidemics can depend on which type of dengue is circulating in a particular year, and whether the population has already built immunities to that type. People with immunity to one type of dengue can still contract others. “New, susceptible people are being born all the time,” CDC epidemiologist Dr. George Han noted.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
DRUGS Continued from Page 1A
SCHOOLS Continued from Page 1A With the four indexes, the state not only tracks overall performance on state exams but also performance of subpopulations, their ability to meet goals, graduation rates and how many graduates went through the more rigorous diploma plan. “It’s being able to demonstrate growth in a variety of ways and having something to show for it,” Ramirez said. “It provides us with a clearer picture of the work that needs to be done.”
Performance Eighty of 1,228 school districts and charters, or 6.5 percent, in Texas received an “improvement required” rating from the state. Almost one of every 10 schools, about 800 of nearly 8,600 campuses, was rated below par.
Several schools received distinctions, either for good performance in reading and English language arts, math, or for being within the top 25th percentile in student progress. The last ratings were given out in 2011. The state suspended its annual issuance of district and campus marks in the 2012-2013 school year as the Texas Education Agency developed a new system. These are the first ratings to be released under the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, which were first administered last spring. They replace the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, which will be phased out once high school seniors in the upcoming school year graduate. Two LISD schools, J.C. Martin Elementary School and Memorial Middle
School, were rated academically unacceptable in 2011. Lamar Bruni Vergara Middle School was the only UISD school to be labeled unacceptable that year.
Changes Already due for changes thanks to action in the 2013 legislative session, the ratings will soon revert back to exemplary, recognized, acceptable and unacceptable tags while districts will receive letter grades A through F. Educators are monitoring the status of the state’s waiver request from requirements under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The U.S. Department of Education is considering the request, but no word has come as to when Texas schools might hear back.
Essentially consolidating the federal and state accountability systems into one, the waiver would come as welcome reprieve from the Adequate Yearly Progress measure that sometimes finds deficiencies in schools that have been deemed adequate by the state. Whether it’s AYP, state ratings or both, LISD will be looking to take further steps to improve achievement, Ramirez said. “The bottom line is we need to educate our kids and prepare them for the future regardless of what the accountability system looks like,” she said. A list of the ratings is available at ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/account/2013/statelist.pdf. (JJ Velasquez may be reached at 728-2579 or jjvelasquez@lmtonline.com)
CANCER Continued from Page 1A cancer prevention. It seeks the elimination of cancer as a health problem, according to the organization’s website. “I started working to help organize the Relay for Live in Zapata and the release of the balloons,” Leal said, explaining that it’s an event for those who have defeated cancer and a reminder about those who died from it. “You do this because, on
the one hand, you have to let go, and the other hand because you want to keep on fighting because you love them and that their lives are important.” She said about 1,700 people participate in the Zapata event. Money raised is used mainly to fund research. “It took time to take control. I prayed and let God work. I raised my hand to
commit and believed I would achieve. Because I have everything going for me, God, my doctors, my husband, my family, I’m happy,” she said. Leal said she will continue to contirbute because nobody should suffer what she felt when seeing the helpless expression on the face of her husband, and the feeling that he is the one who is sick.
No reservations are required to take part in the American Cancer Society’s Survivors and Caregivers Dinner. For more information, contact Jessica Cardenas at (512) 919-1848, or jessica.cardenas@cancer.org. (Contact Malena Charur at 728-2583 or at mcharur@lmtonline.com. Translated by News Editor Mark Webber)
OMAR C. PREZAZ
NARCISA B. MEDINA
MAY 5, 1949 — AUG. 1, 2013
AUG. 2, 1924 — AUG. 4, 2013
Omar C. Prezaz, 64, passed away Thursday, Aug. 1, 2013, at his residence in Zapata, Texas. Mr. Prezaz is preceded in death by his parents, Leonel Prezaz and Armandina M. Prezaz; brother, William Bill Prezaz; and a sister, Nora Prezaz. Mr. Prezaz is survived by his wife, Mary E. Prezaz; mother-in-law, Josefina Guzman; children: Omar (Alice) Prezaz Jr., Julissa (Juan) Benavides, Oscar Carlos (Susie) Prezaz, Angela Pilar (Felix) Obregon, Naphtalie J. Prezaz, Ridgely (Kat) Magsamay; sisters, Cora (Larry) Hargrave, Dora (Ward) Maricle; brothers, Jorge Luis Prezaz, Roberto (Ileana) Thatcher, Leonel Manuel (Cynthia) Martinez; grandchildren: Nistian Omar Prezaz, Omar C. Prezaz III, Abigail Cabrera, Alondra R. Rodriguez, Raven Rochelle Rodriguez, Miguel Angel Rodriguez II, Juan Gabriel Benavides II, Aliyah Jade Obregon, Joel Aidan Obregon, Analy Jasel Obregon, Jose Angel Obregon, Felisha Magsamay, Michael Magsamay; and by numerous aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, cousins, friends and Biker Bros. Visitation hours were held Monday, Aug. 5, 2013,
from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home. The funeral procession departed Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2013, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. Committal services followed at Zapata County Cemetery, including full Military Honors by the American Legion Post 486 Color Guard. Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home, Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy 83, Zapata, Texas.
Narcisa B. Medina was called home to our Lord surrounded by her family on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2013, in San Antonio, Texas. Ms. Medina is preceded in death by her husband the Honorable Judge Santos Medina; sons, Valentin Medina, Eduardo Medina and Victor Medina; daughter, Rosa E. Vasquez; parents, Bacilio and Martina Bustamante; and beloved sister-in-law, Celsa Medina. Ms. Medina is survived by children, Azucena Medina, Laura Smith (Larry), Santos Medina Jr. (Connie), Carmela P. Hernandez (Raymond) and Veronica N. Medina; 17 grandchildren, numerous great-grandchildren and some great-great grandchildren; brother, Ruben Bustamante and sister, Elma Wellinghoff; and a daughter-in-law, Diana Medina. Narcisa (Chata), a great woman of faith and a pillar of strength, will be remembered as a loving and devoted mother, grandmother, sister and aunt. Visitation hours were held Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2013, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at
Rose Garden Funeral Home. The funeral procession departed Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2013, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. Committal services followed at Zapata County Cemetery in Zapata, Texas. Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home, Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy. 83, Zapata, Texas.
until hours after the release, and U.S. authorities apparently received no prior notification. “The Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration learned today that early this morning Rafael Caro Quintero was released from prison,” said Justice Department Peter Carr. The DEA, meanwhile, said it “will vigorously continue its efforts to ensure Caro-Quintero faces charges in the United States for the crimes he committed.” Caro Quintero still faces active charges in the United States, but Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office said it was unclear whether there was a current extradition request. Apparently, the U.S. had requested his extradition for the Camarena killing — something Caro Quintero can’t be tried twice for — but may not have filed extradition requests for pending U.S. drug charges. The U.S. Department of Justice said it “has continued to make clear to Mexican authorities the continued interest of the United States in securing Caro Quintero’s extradition so that he might face justice in the United States.” Caro Quintero is considered a founding member of one of Mexico’s earliest and biggest drug cartels. He established a powerful cartel based in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa that later split into some of Mexico’s largest cartels, including the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels. He is still listed as one of the DEA’s five top international fugitives, and U.S. authorities believe he continued to control the laundering of drug money from behind bars. “Caro Quintero continues to launder the proceeds from narcotics trafficking and he maintains an alliance with drug trafficking organizations such as the Sinaloa Cartel, most notably with Esparragoza Moreno’s network,” said Treasury Department spokesman John Sullivan, referring to Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno, also known as “El Azul,” or “Blue” because of the dark color of his skin, who is allegedly a top leader of the Sinaloa cartel. In June, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions against 18 people and 15 companies that allegedly moved money for Caro Quintero. “Caro Quintero has used a network of family members and front persons to invest his fortune into ostensibly legitimate companies and real estate projects in Guadalajara,” said Adam Szubin, Director of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Caro Quintero has spent almost all of his sentence at a prison on the outskirts of that city, Mexico’s second-
largest. Mexico’s relations with Washington were badly damaged when Caro Quintero ordered Camarena kidnapped, tortured and killed, purportedly because he was angry about a raid on a 220-acre marijuana plantation in central Mexico named “Rancho Bufalo” — Buffalo Ranch — that was seized by Mexican authorities at Camarena’s insistence. Camarena was kidnapped on Feb. 7, 1985, in Guadalajara, a major drug trafficking center. His body and that of his Mexican pilot, both showing signs of torture, were found a month later, in shallow graves. American officials accused their counterparts of letting Camarena’s killers get away. Caro Quintero was eventually hunted down in Costa Rica. At one point, U.S. Customs agents almost blocked the U.S. border with Mexico, slowing traffic to a standstill while conducting searches of all Mexicans trying to enter the United States. Camarena’s fellow DEA agents considered him a hero in the war against drug trafficking and the El Paso Intelligence Center, where U.S. federal agencies collect information about Mexican drug barons, is dedicated to him. Times have changed since the low point, and cooperation has strengthened, but Caro Quintero’s release Friday reopened old wounds. Edward Heath, the former DEA regional director for Mexico at the time of the Camarena killing who was present during the identification of the agent’s body from dental records, said the release reflected a broader lack of cooperation with the U.S. from the new Mexican government, a contrast to the policy of former President Felipe Calderon. “You had a president that was working very close with our government in a quiet way. These people come in and so, boom, the curtain comes down,” said Heath, now a private security consultant. “It means a disrespect for our government.” He said he was skeptical of the explanation that there was a justifiable legal rationale for Caro Quintero’s release. “There’s some collusion going on,” he said. “This guy is a major trafficker. This guy is bad, a mean son of a gun.” Caro Quintero is said to have pioneered links between Colombian cocaine cartels and the Mexican smugglers who transport their drugs into the United States. The ruling left many wondering why it took 24 years for judges to determine Caro Quintero was tried in the wrong court.
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2013
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2013
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Sports&Outdoors NCAA: TEXAS A&M
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: TEXAS RANGERS
Rios a Ranger Photo by Bryan College Station Eagle | AP
Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel may be facing a suspension this season as the Aggies look to compete in the SEC.
File photo by Nam Y. Huh | AP
Former White Sox outfielder Alex Rios was sent to the Rangers for cash considerations and a player to be named later.
Texas acquires Alex Rios from White Sox By ANDREW SELIGMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO — The Texas Rangers acquired Alex Rios from the Chicago White Sox on Friday, beefing up their outfield for the stretch run with AllStar Nelson Cruz suspended. The Rangers will also receive cash considerations while sending the White Sox a player to be named later or cash. The Rangers, who began the day a percentage point behind Oakland for the AL West lead, were looking for help. Cruz, their All-Star right fielder and 2011 AL championship series
MVP, was suspended 50 games Monday by Major League Baseball following its investigation into the Biogenesis clinic accused of distributing banned performance-enhancing drugs. He was leading the Rangers with 27 home runs and 76 RBIs. Rios, 32, is batting .277 with 12 home runs, 26 stolen bases, 55 RBIs and 57 runs scored. He joined the White Sox after he was claimed off waivers from Toronto on Aug. 10, 2009. “For myself, I’m going to go to a team that’s fighting for first place and I think that’s going to be refreshing,” Rios said. “They’re trying to win the
division and go to the playoffs, so let’s see what happens.” White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said it wasn’t easy trading Rios. “It’s difficult to let a player like Alex Rios go,” he said. “He in my opinion was outstanding for us on and off the field during his stay in Chicago. It’s difficult to let a player like Alex Rios go.” The Rios trade is the next step for the retooling White Sox as they try to pick themselves up from a dismal season. They came into Friday’s day-night
In search of the real Manziel What will happen to last season’s Heisman winner? By JEFF MILLER MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
He is a folk hero, a legend back to defend his Heisman Trophy, a player so skilled and dynamic that he could singlehandedly — and double-leggedly — decide the toughest conference in college football. Yet, Johnny Manziel isn’t even fast enough to outrun a tired old man. Outdated and weary, college football still can maintain its grip on the ankle of the game’s most elusive quarterback.
See RIOS PAGE 2B See MANZIEL PAGE 2B
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE : HOUSTON TEXANS
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DALLAS COWBOYS
Options on O-line shrink By DAVID MOORE MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
Photo by Pat Sullivan | AP
Houston running back Arian Foster will again be the catalyst for the Texans offense in 2013.
Texans offense ready to try and repeat success By KRISTIE RIEKEN ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — The Houston Texans had the third most potent offense in the AFC last season, piling up more than 372 yards a game. Andre Johnson’s career-high 1,598 yards receiving were second in the NFL and Arian Foster ran for 1,424 yards for sixth best in the league to power the Texans offense in 2012. The Texans believe an influx of young talent, led by rookie receiver DeAndre Hopkins, and the returning players could make the offense even more explosive. “I think that will keep the defenses a lot more honest this year having to wor-
ry about more people, more than just Andre and Arian or whatever it is,” tight end Owen Daniels said. “That makes things easier for us.” If Hopkins, a first-round pick, develops the way the Texans believe he will, he’ll give them a top-tier receiver to play opposite Johnson for the first time. Hopkins has been solid so far, blending seamlessly into the offense with the confidence of a veteran. “I think he’s balanced us up in training camp,” coach Gary Kubiak said. “The ball’s going both ways, so that’s a good thing. He’s obviously shown that he’s got some special skills in the red
See TEXANS PAGE 2B
OXNARD, Calif. — Now that Brandon Moore has agreed to join the Dallas Cowboys, let’s explore what his addition means . .. . . . . Wait a minute . . . uh, he changed his mind about that agreement. Now, does Moore’s abrupt retirement leave the Cowboys in the lurch? It’s hard to miss a player you never had. But this flirtation gone wrong opens a window into the coaching staff ’s true thoughts about the offensive line. The pursuit of Moore displays the staff ’s lack of faith that Mackenzy Bernadeau or Nate Livings will secure one of the starting jobs at guard. It speaks to the team’s desire to keep rookie Travis Frederick at center and the rise of Ron Leary at left guard. Since the opener against the New York Giants will be the first action in an NFL regularseason game for Frederick and Leary, the Cowboys prefer to place a dependable veteran presence by their sides. Brian Waters is the only quality free agent who fits that profile. The Cowboys have been kicking
Photo by David Richard | AP
Dallas wants to keep first round pick Travis Frederick at center, but may have no choice but to move him to guard. the tires on the six-time Pro Bowler in recent weeks. He appears to be a possibility more than a probability at this stage. "Brian Waters has been a really good player in this league for a long time," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "A couple of years ago, he came in late to New England
and had a Pro Bowl year for them when they went to the Super Bowl. "The biggest issue for Brian right now is he hasn’t played in 18 months. So you have to factor those things in." That’s the internal debate in the organization.
See COWBOYS PAGE 2B
PAGE 2B
Zscores
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2013
COWBOYS Continued from Page 1B Is the team better off taking a chance on the 36year-old Waters, working a trade or sticking with Bernadeau? Livings is on the outside looking in as he recovers from the second arthroscope on his knee in the last six months. Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones wouldn’t address Waters or any player specifically, but said, "We are not through looking." The Cowboys like Bernadeau’s upside. They like the way he finished last season. They don’t like how he began last season, and that’s the concern. Bernadeau got off to a rocky start in 2012 after missing all of the off-season workouts as he recovered from hip and knee
surgery. Shoulder surgery kept him off the field this off-season. He strained his hamstring in the conditioning test to open training camp and only recently worked his way back into practice. "He’s getting there," Garrett said. "He’s a little rusty, there’s no question about that." The Cowboys hope to give Bernadeau some snaps in Friday’s preseason game against Oakland. It’s clear he has a way to go to earn the trust of the coaching staff entering this season. But Bernadeau believes he’s further along than he was at this stage last year. The shoulder injury didn’t keep him from refining his footwork and technique the way his hip
Photo by Mark J. Terrill | AP
Options on the Cowboys offensive line are dwindling after an injury to guard Nate Livings and the retirement of Brandon Moore. and knee injuries did, and he has a better feel for the system. Bernadeau views himself as the starting right guard until proven other-
wise. "I’m confident in my ability, I’m confident in the hard work I’ve put in," he said. "I’ve just got to take care of business, do
TEXANS Continued from Page 1B zone that he can get balls. It’s early right now, but I like the balance of what’s going on.” Quarterback Matt Schaub, who threw for 4,008 yards last year, has been impressed with the work of Hopkins in practice. However, he knows the true test will be how he responds in a game. Houston will get the first opportunity to do that on Friday night against the Minnesota Vikings. “You can do it out here in practice when you get rep after rep, but when it comes to crunch time in a game, that’s when you really got to do it,” Schaub said. “We’ve just got to get to the first preseason game and see how far he has come and then progress from there.” Hopkins isn’t daunted by the idea of playing his first NFL game. After all, he’s been doing well in practice each day against one of the league’s elite defenses. “I feel like I’m going against a great defense that’s putting me in those situations against tough defenses, so I feel like I match up pretty well,” he said. Hopkins understands that while he’ll certainly be tasked with making some catches this season, his other role is perhaps more important that how many yards he gains. “A lot of teams are going to focus in on Andre, so if I can take a little bit of pressure off of him and make a couple plays each game, it’s going to help the team out,” Hopkins said. Against the Vikings, the Tex-
to earn $2 million to retire and stay with his family. "We had some history with Brandon," Garrett said, referring to the time Moore and offensive coordinator Bill Callahan spent together with the New York Jets. "We felt good about him, and he felt good about playing. "But football is one of those games where if you are not completely into it, you are not 100 percent full bore, it’s a bad game to play. It’s a hard game to play anyway if you are completely committed to it. So at this point in his career, he decided not play football anymore. "We’ll continue to evaluate that position and see if we can address it going forward."
MANZIEL Continued from Page 1B
Photo by Pat Sullivan | AP
Houston wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins is looking to make an impact after being the team’s top pick out of Clemson. ans will get a chance to gauge the development of some of their rookie running backs while Foster sits out with back soreness. Ben Tate will likely start, but rookies Ray Graham, Dennis Johnson and Cierre Wood should all see their first NFL action. While the work of Hopkins so far has been what the Texans expected, a pleasant surprise in camp has been the emergence of second-year receiver Keshawn Martin. Martin was a fourth-round pick in 2012 and contributed mostly on special teams as a rookie and finished with just 85 yards re-
ceiving. Schaub raved about the improvement of Martin and is looking forward to more offensive production this season. “The type of talent that some of these young guys have brought in with DeAndre and Keshawn’s growth is really just going to make us even more explosive,” Schaub said. “To have (Hopkins) opposite of Andre and with Owen working in the middle of the field and Keshawn working inside, it just gives us so many options and so many weapons to do so many different route combinations.”
RIOS Continued from Page 1B doubleheader against Minnesota fifth in the AL Central after finishing second to Detroit last season. “We looked so good in spring training, we actually thought we were gonna be contenders,” Rios said. “It’s just bizarre what happened. I can’t point a finger at what exactly happened. It’s just one of those years.” Rios’ departure creates an opening for Avisail Garcia, the promising outfielder acquired from Detroit as part of a three-team deal that sent Jake Peavy from the White Sox to Boston before the July 31 non-waiver deadline. He was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte after the Rios trade was announced. Garcia batted .370 in eight games was the minor-league club and figures to see time in right field and center, where he’d been playing for Charlotte. The trades also give the White Sox some economic flexibility to use on the draft, international players or free agency. “It’s going to go to making the big league club better for the long haul, no doubt,” Hahn said. “One of the positives of an unfortunate season like this is we’re going to have an opportunity to spend a lot more money on amateur talent. That’s going to be the first couple of line items next year — what we spend on the draft and what we spend on that internationally. Even after that, given the flexibility that’s opened up, there will be the opportunity whether it be via trade or free agency to perhaps take on even more money.”
my job and show the coaches that you’ve got to keep me out on the field." Garrett has said repeatedly that the best five will start in the offensive line. If Bernadeau can’t nail down the job, that would mean sliding Frederick to guard and starting Phil Costa at center. The coaching staff wants to keep Frederick at center. Moore and Leary at guard would have cemented that interior. Garrett and Moore spoke Tuesday evening. The conversation ended with the veteran telling the Cowboys coach he would be in camp. A few hours later, Garrett learned that Moore had a change of heart. He turned down a one-year contract and the chance
File photo by Nam Y. Huh | AP
The Rangers added some help to their lineup with outfielder Alex Rios, who will replace Nelson Cruz after receiving his 50-game suspension. As bad as things have gone this season, Hahn believes the makeover won’t take long to complete. Even with Peavy gone, the White Sox have a solid staff led by All-Star Chris Sale. Their hitting and defense is a different story. The White Sox came into Friday’s games ranked 10th
in the AL in batting average (.248) and last in runs. They were also 12th in fielding percentage and fourth in errors with 76. “There’s real changes and improvement that need to take place,” Hahn said. “This again is another step in that process to getting where we need to be.”
File photo by Henny Ray Abrams | AP
Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel became the first freshman in NCAA history to win the Heisman Trophy in 2013. The story of Johnny Football becoming Johnny Wrecking Ball is just the latest example of how ridiculous and obsolete this sport has become in this age. We love the idea of the student/ athlete. We celebrate the notion of amateurism. We appreciate the concept of playing for an education. We’re just not sure what any of this has to do with big-time college football these days. Think about it. This is a system in which Alabama football and Toledo cross country fall under the same umbrella. Is it any mystery why this system would continue to foster controversy? There is too much money, too much exposure, too much demand — there’s just too much everything — for college football to continue to exist in its current model, a model that goes back to the days when schools such as Cornell and Princeton were winning national titles. What is there too much of in college cross country? Blisters? When players need police escorts just to go home after games, it’s time for an elderly sport to evolve into something more representative of the century in which we live. The quarterbacks are too worshipped, the pass-rushers too touted, the running backs too popular to still be treated under the same NCAA rules that govern the pole vaulters. Football players today are too big — as images, brands and revenue-producers — to still be cut out of the financial team photo. It wasn’t enough for Manziel to beat Alabama or win the Cotton Bowl or be an All-American. He also had to sit with Leno and read Letterman’s top-10 list. He had to throw out multiple first pitches. He had to pose with politicians. It is too easy to be a celebrity these days and too easy to embrace that fame, especially when the business of constructing heroes never has been more robust. Manziel, of course, has done nothing to discourage the attention. He accepted all those invitations to appear. He showed up at the Super Bowl and then the NBA Finals. Just check the web. You’ll find recent photos of him with everyone from LeBron James to Mike Trout. But it’s not just the athletes. It’s all of us. It’s our society. It’s what
we’ve become. College football, in this era of exposure that’s instant and over-the-top, has swelled into something its founders wouldn’t recognize. Addressing the disproportionate value placed on the game, a coach once explained, "It’s kind of hard to rally ’round a math class." That coach was Bear Bryant, who died in 1983. In the three decades since Bryant’s passing, college football’s value hasn’t exactly shrunk. Manziel also has tweeted some remarkably poor judgment. He crashed a frat party at Texas, which isn’t the smartest thing to do when you attend Texas A&M. He left the Manning Passing Academy early and without a solid explanation. His name and face sure seem to be attached to a lot of partying, particularly for someone still four months short of his 21st birthday. And now Manziel is being investigated by the NCAA for selling his signature, selling it thousands of times, perhaps, the sort of thing that might earn him extra credit in an economics class but could cost him his place on the football field. He isn’t the first college athlete to try to turn a profit, but Manziel’s situation also isn’t the classic, tired story of a kid who just needs pizza money. Manziel comes from a wealthy family, drives a Mercedes-Benz and never has spent a day wanting for anything. Yet, he potentially has run afoul of the NCAA because his sport, his decisions and his society conspired to make him famous, too famous for an accomplished quarterback to handle cleanly. Does Johnny Manziel still fit in college football? Probably no more than college football still fits in college. The time to evolve officially has arrived now, meaning evolution still remains years away. Until then, the pains of watching young men struggle to grow up will continue thriving in prime time. Manziel is being painted as a lot of things these days, with opinions ranging from immature, vulnerable kid to well-aware, manipulative jerk. Some are saying he should receive sympathy. Others suggest a kick in the head. Who knows who Johnny Manziel really is? But we’re sure of one thing he doesn’t look like anymore: a student/athlete. Not these days. Not playing this sport.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B
HINTS | BY HELOISE NOT A DROP TO WASTE Dear Heloise: WATER is such a precious commodity, and we all should conserve in any way we can, large or small. When I am cooking a dish that needs additional water, I warm the amount needed in the microwave instead of running the tap until it gets warm. It is a shame for unused water to run into my septic system. — Norma Gayle, Concan, Texas How right you are! We in Texas are very careful about saving our water! — Heloise PET PAL Dear Readers: Marie Martin of Waterville, Maine, sent in a photo of Barqs, a multicolored cat, who is peeking out from the Christmas tree. Marie says: “It looks like Barqs is playing peekaboo. When the cat climbed into the tree, my daughter grabbed the camera and snapped this photo.”
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HELOISE
To see Barqs, visit my website at www.Heloise.com and click on “Pets.” — Heloise STUFFING BELL PEPPERS Dear Heloise: When making stuffed bell peppers, I used to have a difficult time keeping the peppers from falling over in the baking dish. Now I evenly cut off the tops of the peppers. Then I clean out any seeds and membrane. I take the tops of the peppers, cut out the stems and place the tops flat on the bottom of the baking dish, then sit the peppers on top. It keeps the peppers upright, and also there is less waste by using the tops of the peppers. — J. Williams, via email
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4B THE ZAPATA TIMES
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