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Crime stats now complete
Facing budget cuts
By MIKAELA RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Zapata County is now up to snuff after its criminal prosecution offices were found to be falling short with the Texas State Auditor’s reporting standards. Law enforcement agencies and prosecutors are required to file dispositions and information relating to arrests, sentencing and prosecution under Texas law. Up-to-date records filed on time within the Criminal Justice Information System facilitate thorough background checks for public and private employers, ultimately ensuring the safety of the public, said Lucy Nashed, spokesperson for the Criminal Justice division of the Governor’s Office. Complete records also provide vital information for judges in criminal sentencing. A September 2011 State Auditor’s Office report showed Zapata County filed dispositions for six out of 614 criminal arrests, placing its records at a 0.9 percent completion rate. The county received a notice from the state in December stating it had a deadline of Sept. 1 to bring completion of disposition filings to 90 percent, or lose eligibility to apply for federal Justice Assistance Grants. “Once we knew the importance of the funding that was at stake, we all got to work on it,” said Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell. One entity, the Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office, relies on state funding for equipment and overtime, among other uses. Rathmell said “lots and lots” of Department of Justice funds simply cannot be matched by the county. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, Zapata County now boasts an 89 percent
See RECORDS PAGE 11A
30 jobs proposed for elimination include 15 layoffs By JJ VELASQUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
About 30 positions will be slashed from the county payroll next fiscal year if Zapata County commissioners adopt the proposed 2012-13 budget without making any changes. Half of the removals call for layoffs. The other half would account for vacated positions to be
cut from the budget, said County Judge Joe Rathmell. The payroll and benefits reductions would remove about $1 million from the county’s expenses, Rathmell said. “I didn’t have any good choices in front of me,” said Rathmell, adding he endured many sleepless nights drafting the budget. “We’ve had two consecutive years with nearly $400 mil-
lion lost in taxable values. Basically, all I have left is reductions in personnel and benefits.” The county courthouse will host a public hearing Monday at 9 a.m., where department heads may announce amendments to the budgets they have requested. After the hearing, the Commissioners Court will convene to consider adopting the budget
as well as the tax rate for next fiscal year. Rathmell said the budget proposes a little more than a cent increase in the tax rate. He said the increase would amount to an additional $30 in taxes paid for an owner of a $100,000 home. Declining mineral values, which are determined by oil
See BUDGET PAGE 11A
THE BORDER
SKY HIGH BORDER EYE
Photo by Christopher Sherman | AP
A 72-foot-long helium-filled balloon flies 2,500 feet above the border on Wednesday, near Roma. The Border Patrol is testing the surveillance balloons on loan from the Defense Department to see if they could be as effective spotting illegal immigrants and drug smugglers as they were spotting insurgents in war zones.
US testing surveillance balloons over the Rio Grande By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
ROMA — Floating 2,500 feet above scrub-covered U.S. ranchland near the Mexican border, the payload of hightech cameras onboard a bal-
loon being used by the Border Patrol can easily see a cluster of reporters and the make, model and color of their vehicles a couple of miles away. In Iraq or Afghanistan, where the technology has already proven effective at spot-
ting attackers, such balloons provide surveillance around bases. U.S. officials think they could be equally helpful in tracking drug smugglers and illegal immigrants along a rugged stretch of the Rio Grande that doesn’t have any
segments of border fence. The Border Patrol is testing two blimp-shaped, heliumfilled balloons, which are on loan from the Defense Department. Congressional staff
See BALLOONS PAGE 11A
MEXICO
Police fire on US Embassy car By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO CITY — The Mexican Navy said Friday that federal police opened fire on a U.S. Embassy vehicle carrying two U.S. government employees, after the vehicle entered an area where the Mexican officers were conducting anti-crime operations. The two U.S. Embassy employ-
ees were hospitalized, one with a wound to the leg and the other hit in the stomach and hand, according to a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The U.S. Embassy said it could not release details of the shooting or the names of the victims. The Navy said at least four vehicles opened fire on the Americans’ sport utility vehicle on a
road south of Mexico City, but did not make clear if any of the four carried federal police officers. The shootings appeared to have been the result of a confused running gunbattle that broke out on a rural road in a mountainous area that has been used by common criminals, drug gangs and leftist rebels in the past.
See EMBASSY PAGE 11A
Photo by Alexandre Meneghini | AP
Military guards stand in front of an armored U.S. Embassy vehicle attacked by unknown assailants on the highway leading to the city of Cuernavaca, near Tres Marias, Mexico, on Friday. Two U.S. government employees were shot and wounded in the attack.