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CRIME
PUBLIC EDUCATION
Intocable cites loss of $49K in equipment
Staying honest
Burglary targets popular group’s building By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Grupo Intocable is not that untouchable. Crime took a bite out of the
Grammy-winning group this week, according to a Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office report.
See INTOCABLE
PAGE 9A
Agency to keep eye on school cheating By JUAN CARLOS LLORCA ASSOCIATED PRESS
EL PASO — The Texas Education Agency said it would create a new investigative division after a state audit released Friday highlighted serious flaws with how the agency monitors its more than 1,000 school districts. The State Auditor’s Office conducted an audit that con-
firmed TEA didn’t perform a thorough investigation of cheating allegations in the El Paso Independent School District. The audit also said the state has a flawed system because education officials depend on school districts to police themselves. An El Paso Times investigation revealed that district administrators were holding students back, promoting them or
coercing them into leaving school to improve scores on standardized tests. That gave the appearance of improving academic performance, qualifying the district for more federal funds. TEA Commissioner Michael Williams blamed his predecessor for failing to investigate alle-
See SCHOOLS PAGE 9A
RIO GRANDE VALLEY ECONOMY
USING NATURE TO FIGHT PESTS Wasps to the rescue By LYNN BREZOSKY SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
EDINBURG — Sometimes, it takes a bug to kill a bug. And a wasp no bigger than a pinprick may be the Texas citrus industry’s best weapon against the Asian citrus psyllid, a jumping lice that can infect trees with a devastating disease known as citrus greening. The wasp — its formal name is Tamarixia radiata — likewise originates in Asia. And much as the psyllid feeds off the sap of citrus trees, the wasp feeds off the insides of the psyllid. The adult female lays an egg beneath the psyllid, which hatches into a larva that literally sucks
See CITRUS TREES PAGE 9A
Photo by Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News | AP
Dan Flores, entomologist with the USDA, checks for imported Tamarixia radiate wasps in bug dorms at one of the facility’s greenhouses in Edinburg, on Aug. 22. The wasp — no bigger than a pinprick — may be the state’s citrus industry’s best weapon against devastating disease known as citrus greening.
WAR ON DRUGS
Sleeping man leads to pot By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
A man sleeping behind the wheel in the Medina Addition led deputies to discover about $80,000 worth of pot, according to Zapata County Sheriff ’s officials. Deputies responded at about 11:15 p.m. Monday in the 1700 block of Villa Avenue for a suspicious sport
JUAN CARLOS SALAZAR: Found sleeping in a vehicle full of marijuana. utility vehicle report. “Deputies apparently witnessed a (man) asleep at the wheel with the engine running,” states a news release issued this week by the sheriff ’s office. Deputies approached
the man and identified him as 36-year-old Juan Carlos Salazar. In addition, deputies could smell a strong odor of marijuana emitting from the vehicle. Several bundles of suspected marijuana were seen in the back seat of the SUV, sheriff ’s officials said. Salazar was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana, a second-degree felony that car-
ries a punishment of two to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The narcotics added up to 179 bundles and had an estimated street value of $80,000. Salazar was taken to the Zapata Regional Jail. He posted a $20,000 bond Thursday, according to custody records. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
Courtesy photo
These are some of the 179 bundles of marijuana valued at $80,000 found in a vehicle in the 1700 block of Villa Avenue.
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 2013
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
SATURDAY, AUG. 31
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dinner and dance for Martin High School Class of 1958 reunion. 7 p.m. to midnight. D’Versailles Reception Hall, 5216 Tesoro Plaza. All class members and guests welcome. Contact Adelfa Mendiola Pérez at 724-3283; Rubén Chavarría at 722-1300; laredomhs58@yahoo.com.
Today is Saturday, Aug. 31, the 243rd day of 2013. There are 122 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On August 31, 1886, an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.3 devastated Charleston, S.C., killing at least 60 people, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. On this date: In 1688, preacher and novelist John Bunyan, author of “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” died in London. In 1888, Mary Ann Nichols, apparently the first victim of “Jack the Ripper,” was found slain in London’s East End. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act prohibiting the export of U.S. arms to belligerents. In 1941, the radio program “The Great Gildersleeve,” a spinoff from “Fibber McGee and Molly” starring Harold Peary, debuted on NBC. In 1954, Hurricane Carol hit the northeastern Atlantic states; Connecticut, Rhode Island and part of Massachusetts bore the brunt of the storm, which resulted in nearly 70 deaths. In 1963, French artist Georges Braque, 81, died in Paris. In 1972, at the Munich Summer Olympics, American swimmer Mark Spitz won his fourth and fifth gold medals, in the 100-meter butterfly and 800-meter freestyle relay; Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut won gold medals in floor exercise and the balance beam. In 1973, movie director John Ford, 79, died in Palm Desert, Calif. In 1980, Poland’s Solidarity labor movement was born with an agreement signed in Gdansk (guh-DANSK’) that ended a 17-day-old strike. In 1986, 82 people were killed when an Aeromexico jetliner and a small private plane collided over Cerritos, Calif. The Soviet passenger ship Admiral Nakhimov collided with a merchant vessel in the Black Sea, causing both to sink; up to 448 people reportedly died. Ten years ago: Vowing revenge and beating their chests, more than 300,000 Shiites (SHEE’-eyetz) marched behind the rose-strewn coffin of a beloved cleric, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim (BAH’-keer ahl hah-KEEM’), who had been assassinated in a car bombing in Najaf, Iraq. Five years ago: With Hurricane Gustav approaching New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin (NAY’-gin) pleaded with the last of its residents to get out, imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on those who were staying and warned looters they would be sent directly to prison. One year ago: In a speech to an annual Federal Reserve conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Chairman Ben Bernanke sent a clear message that the Fed would do more to help the still-struggling U.S. economy but did not specify exactly what or when. Today’s Birthdays: Japanese monster movie actor Katsumi Tezuka is 101. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Frank Robinson is 78. Actor Warren Berlinger is 76. Rock musician Jerry Allison (Buddy Holly and the Crickets) is 74. Actor Jack Thompson is 73. Violinist Itzhak Perlman is 68. Singer Van Morrison is 68. Thought for Today: “Fashion can be bought. Style one must possess.” — Edna Woolman Chase, American fashion editor (1877-1957).
MONDAY, SEPT. 2 Bola Blanca Golf Tournament. Laredo Country Club. 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Two-person Florida scramble with shotgun start. Five flights with trophies for first and second places. Skill prizes at every hole. Registration fee $150 for chamber members and $175 for nonmembers.
TUESDAY, SEPT. 3 Alzheimer’s support group meeting. 7 p.m. Meeting Room 2, Building B, Laredo Medical Center. Call Melissa L. Guerra at 693-9991. Les Amies Birthday Club’s monthly luncheon. 11:30 a.m. Holiday Inn Civic Center. Honorees are: Viola Garcia, Lydia Linares, Frances Madison, Olga Hovel, Beatriz Martinez and Mercedes Salinas. Hostesses are Oralia Laurel, Leonar Daves, Teresa Saenz and Maria Luz Bustamante. Webb County Community Coalition of SCAN meeting. 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. San Martin de Porres Catholic Church meeting room, 1704 Sandman St. Frank Valley from Starlite Recovery Center will discuss dangers of substance abuse and recovery. RSVP with Veronica Jimenez at 724-3177.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 5 Los Amigos Duplicate Bridge Club. 1:15 p.m. to 5 p.m. Laredo Country Club. Call 727-0589.
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. St. John Neumann Altar Society’s annual rummage sale. 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. St. John Neumann Catholic Church, 102 W. Hillside Rd. Contact Christina Pedraza at 645-5959 or cpedraza@stx.rr.com. Habitat for Humanity’s Donate Your Stuff event. 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Accepting appliances, cabinets, furniture, building materials, lighting, home décor and more. All donations tax deductible, and free pickup available. 100 percent of profits benefit Habitat for Humanity of Laredo. Contact 724-3227 or habitatlaredo@aol.com.
TUESDAY, SEPT. 10 Using More of Your Mind for a Healthier You: Tension & Migraine Headaches. 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Laredo Community College, Fort McIntosh Campus, De La Garza Building, Room 101. Learn techniques to get relief from tension and migraine headaches and control bad habits with Enrique T. De la Garza. $25 per person for general public; $15 per person for LCC students and employees. Register at laredo.edu/edc or call 721-5110.
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.
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.
Photo by Jerry Larson/Waco Tribune Herald | AP
Former Baylor football coach Grant Teaff greets West Trojans football player Tyler Pustejovsky and his teammates on Thursday at a morning pep rally in West. The West Trojans opened the season Thursday night on their field that was used as a triage site when West Fertilizer Plant exploded on April 17, where 15 people died.
Football returns to West By NOMAAN MERCHANT ASSOCIATED PRESS
WEST — Four months after a fertilizer plant explosion tore through their small Texas community, killing 15 people and damaging buildings for blocks around, the West Trojans opened their football season and recovered a degree of normalcy that’s been missing since the blast. The high school field, which became a triage site immediately after the April 17 blast in the community 100 miles south of Dallas, was replanted and repainted for the game against the Little River-Academy Bumblebees. Few Texas traditions are as celebrated or mythologized as high school football under the lights, but Thursday night’s kickoff held particular significance for West’s roughly 2,800 residents, who have endured
months of struggle and uncertainty. “Everyone is just really excited that we can do normal things like go to football games, when just a couple of months ago we were hurting so badly,” high school English teacher Chelsey Lauer said before the game. The home stands were packed with excited Trojan fans, including many who attended a pep rally earlier in the day that included former Baylor coach Grant Teaff and a Czechthemed dance group, in a nod to West’s immigrant roots more than a century ago. Most remained until the end of a 41-7 loss. “From here to now, we didn’t even know if we were going to see a first game,” said Monique Hardin, whose nephew, Quentin Dancer, plays for the Trojans and ran more than 70 yards for the team’s only touchdown. “God spared me and the rest of us to live this day,” she said.
Sen. Davis delays decision Convicted shooter arrives on future plans at death row AUSTIN — Fort Worth Sen. Wendy Davis says she is delaying an announcement about her future plans to care for her father. In a statement released Thursday, Davis said she would not make any announcements in the near future so that she could concentrate on caring for her father, who has been in critical condition at a Fort Worth hospital for the past week following complications from a surgery.
Houston Zoo holding first-ever garage sale HOUSTON — The Houston Zoo is holding its first-ever garage sale to clear out storage space. Items offered at the sale today will include audio equipment, posters and editions of National Geographic Magazine. Proceeds from the sale will benefit the Houston Zoo Wildlife Conservation Program.
FORT HOOD — Fort Hood officials released a statement Friday saying the Army psychiatrist sentenced to death for the 2009 shooting rampage has arrived at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. A military jury convicted Maj. Nidal Hasan last week of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 at Fort Hood.
Man sentenced for infecting women with HIV MIDLAND — A Zimbabwean (zihm-BAHB’-way-uhn) national in the country illegally has been sentenced to 120 years in prison for knowingly infecting four West Texas women with the HIV virus. Derick Nhekairo (nuh-KYE’roh) came to the United States in 2000 and remained after his student visa expired. He slept with 18 women and told none that he carries the virus.
Judge refuses to throw out blood test DALLAS — A judge has refused to throw out a blood test that showed former Dallas Cowboys player Josh Brent was driving drunk the night of a crash that killed a practice player. Brent’s attorneys argued his blood was drawn under an improper warrant. They wanted the test results excluded at trial. Judge Robert Burns on Friday denied their request.
State panel backs off proposed road transfers AUSTIN — State transportation officials are backing off an effort to shift the burden for maintaining urban highways to local governments in a bid to save upward of $165 million. The Texas Department of Transportation has drawn criticism from municipal and county leaders who object to absorbing the added costs for maintenance. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION Judge sets dates for Holmes’ mental records DENVER — The judge in the Colorado theater shootings says a mental hospital and a university must turn over their mental health records on defendant James Holmes on Sept. 30. The judge on Friday granted a prosecution request to set that date for submitting the records. Prosecutors are entitled to the records because Holmes pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Holmes is accused of killing 12 and injuring 70 last July. He faces charges of murder and attempted murder. The records are from the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo and the University of Colorado, Denver.
Military practice bomb lands in Md. parking lot SUDLERSVILLE, Md. — Maryland officials say a military
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Adrian Montes, from Sevilla, Spain, does a hand stand while posing for photos at Twin Peaks on Friday in San Francisco.
practice bomb landed in a tavern parking lot but no one was injured. Witnesses reported the bomb fell from the sky Thursday night onto the paved parking lot at Darlene’s Tavern in Sudlersville. Deputy State Fire Marshal Bruce
Bouch says the device did not contain explosive material. Bouch says the bomb was turned over to the 175th Wing Air National Guard, which is working to determine how it was dropped in that spot. — 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 31, 2013
THE BLOTTER Assault A 45-year-old man was assaulted at about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Fourth Street and Ramireño Avenue.
Burglary A juvenile was detained and charged with burglary of habitation at about 4:30 p.m. Aug. 21 in the 300 block of Third Street. He was taken to the Webb County Youth Village. A burglary of a vehicle was reported at 12:19 a.m. Tuesday in the 1500 block of First Street.
Dog bite A dog bite was reported at 9:20 a.m. Wednesday in the 900 block of Bravo Avenue.
DUI Reynaldo E. Gonzalez, 17, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence at about 12:30 a.m. Aug. 24 in the intersection of Seventh Street and Villa Avenue. In addition, deputies arrested and charged Diego A. Villarreal, 17, with public intoxication. Both teens were later released for future court appearance. Joel R. Pacheco Jr., 18, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence at about 3 a.m. Aug. 25 in the intersection of 17th Avenue and Fresno Street. He was released for future court appearance.
DWI Juan L. Esquivel, 48, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated at about 1 a.m. Aug. 23 in the intersection of Roma and 10th Streets. He was taken to the Zapata Regional Jail, where he was held on a $1,000 bond.
Public intoxication Miguel Castillo, 18, Ezequiel Garcia Jr., 21, and Jorge L. Garcia, 18, were arrested and charged with public intoxication at about 1:45 a.m. Monday near the intersection of Guerrero Avenue and 16th Street. All men were later released for future court appearance.
Scam A 69-year-old man reported at 4:17 p.m. Monday in the 1900 block of Brazos Street that someone attempted to get his personal information over the phone.
Theft A 26-year-old man reported at 3:54 p.m. Aug. 22 in the 100 block of Loma Verde Circle that someone stole $5,000 worth of fishing equipment from his boat. A woman reported at 8:48 p.m. Aug. 24 in the 1700 block of Medina Avenue that someone stole her air conditioning unit. A cell phone was reported lost or stolen at 8:05 p.m. Aug. 23 in the 300 block of Glenn Street.
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
Wine tasting raises $62,000 SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
LAREDO — KLRN Public Television has announced the Laredo and Zapata community raised more than $62,000 at the 18th annual Laredo Wine Tasting on Tuesday at the IBC Annex Ballroom. International Bank of Commerce hosted the event, and the Texas A&M International University Classical Guitar Ensemble provided the music. More than 200 people attended, and sampled fine food and wine. The event was a fundraiser for KLRN, the PBS station that serves the area.
Event chairs Renato and Patricia Ramirez worked several weeks prior to the event. The event resulted in the highest grossing Laredo Wine Tasting event in history, leaving KLRN with many new friends and supporters. “The Laredo Wine Tasting this year was a resounding success due to the passion for public television that our event chairs, Renato and Patricia Ramirez, have. Events like this help us to continue to bring the great programming and other initiatives to the Laredo and Zapata community. We cannot thank the people of Laredo and Zapata enough,” Mario Vazquez, president and CEO of KLRN, said.
Courtesy photo
Pictured at the KLRN fundraiser in Laredo are Renato Ramirez and Patricia Ramirez, event chairs, and Mario Vazquez, KLRN president and CEO.
Game wardens prep Woman still for holiday weekend in fed custody SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
AUSTIN — All available Texas game wardens will be patrolling the state’s public waters over the Labor Day weekend to make sure everyone who goes boating or fishing gets home safely. Game wardens will be particularly on the lookout during the holiday for boat operators who have had too much to drink. Boating while intoxicated provides the same penalties as DWI, and for those on the water, it is just as dangerous. So far this year, TPWD game wardens have arrested 195 people statewide for BWI. In 2012, game wardens took 301 people to jail for operating a boat while drunk. During the Labor Day weekend last year, game wardens handled 6 BWI cases and investigated 9 boating accidents that resulted in 13 injuries and one fatality. In addition, two drownings were reported during the holiday period in 2012. Statewide so far this year, 59 people have drowned in Texas public waters. For all of 2012, 88 drownings were reported. When heading out to the water,
don’t drink if you are going to be operating a boat, wear your lifejacket even if you are a good swimmer and if on a personal watercraft, keep at least 50 feet away from other PWCs, vessels, the shore or any object such as a boat dock. Boating Safety Tips Wear a personal flotation device Avoid alcohol Be especially careful on personal watercrafts Children younger than 13 must wear a Coast Guard-approved life jacket while underway Take a boater education class Don’t overload your boat Operate at a safe speed Have a passenger serving as a lookout in addition to the operator In light of the ongoing drought, watch out for low water areas or submerged objects Carry extra PFDs in both adult and child sizes PWC operators and passengers must wear a life jacket Maintain a 50-foot distance from other PWCs, vessels, persons, shore, stationary platform or other objects unless operating at idle speed
By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
LAREDO — A Zapata woman arrested Aug. 18 for allegedly attempting to smuggle 13 illegal immigrants remained in federal custody, according to court documents. Raquel Solis-Esquivel, 40, waived her preliminary examination and detention hearing set for this week on Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Diana Song Quiroga. She is being charged with bringing in and harboring people, states a criminal complaint filed against her Aug. 20. Solis-Esquivel’s charges stemmed from a traffic stop by a Zapata County Sheriff ’s deputy on her vehicle and another vehicle Aug 18 in Zapata County. U.S. Border Patrol agents conducted an immigration inspection on the occupants of both vehicles, including a juvenile driver, and all were illegally in the United States. Solis-Esquivel allegedly admitted to dropping off illegal immigrants in the brush area and also led agents to an area where more immigrants were found, according to court documents. Solis-Esquivel expected a payment of $125 per immigrant. Federal officials said witnesses identified her as the one transporting the immigrants. Homeland Security Investigations special agents are the lead investigators in the case. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 7282568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 2013
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
Sectarian woes likely in Mideast What’s the biggest threat to world peace right now? Despite the horror, it’s not chemical weapons in Syria. It’s not even, for the moment, an Iranian nuclear weapon. Instead, it’s the possibility of a wave of sectarian strife building across the Middle East. The Syrian civil conflict is both a proxy war and a combustion point for spreading waves of violence. This didn’t start out as a religious war. But both Sunni and Shiite power players are seizing on religious symbols and sowing sectarian passions that are rippling across the region. The Saudi and Iranian powers hover in the background fueling each side.
Deadly place As the death toll in Syria rises to Rwanda-like proportions, images of mass killings draw holy warriors from countries near and far. The radical groups are the most effective fighters and control the tempo of events. The Syrian opposition groups are themselves split violently along sectarian lines so that the country seems to face a choice between anarchy and atrocity. Meanwhile, the strife appears to be spreading. Sunni-Shiite violence in Iraq is spiking upward. Reports in The New York Times and elsewhere have said that many Iraqis fear their country is sliding back to the worst of the chaos experienced in the past decade. Even Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain and Kuwait could be infected.
‘Religious war’ “It could become a regional religious war similar to that witnessed in Iraq 2006-2008, but far wider and without the moderating influence of American forces,” wrote Gary Grappo, a retired senior Foreign Service officer with long experience in the region. “It has become clear over the last year that the upheavals in the Islamic and Arab world have become a clash within a civilization rather than a clash between civilizations,” Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies wrote recently. “The Sunni versus Alawite civil war in Syria is increasingly interacting with the Sunni versus Shiite tensions in the Gulf that are edging Iraq back towards civil war. They also interact with the Sunni-Shiite, Maronite and other confessional struggles in Lebanon.” Some experts even say that we are seeing the emergence of a single big conflict that could be part of a generation-long devolution, which could end up toppling regimes and redrawing the national borders that were established after World War I. The forces ripping people into polarized groups seem stronger than the forces bringing them together.
Poor strategy It is pretty clear that the recent U.S. strategy
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DAVID BROOKS
of light-footprint withdrawal and nation-building at home has not helped matters. The United States could have left more troops in Iraq and tamped down violence there. We could have intervened in Syria back when there was still something to be done and some reasonable opposition to mold.
Any U.S. influence? At this late hour, one question is whether the sectarian fire has grown so hot that it is beyond taming. The second question is whether the United States has any strategy to limit the conflagration. Right now, President Barack Obama is focused on the imminent strike against the Assad regime, to establish U.S. credibility when it sets red lines and reinforce the norm that poison gas is not acceptable. But the president does have the makings of a broader anti-sectarian strategy. He has at least three approaches on the table. The first is containment: trying to keep each nation’s civil strife contained within its own borders. The second is reconciliation: looking for diplomatic opportunities to bring the Sunni axis, led by the Saudis, toward some rapprochement with the Shiite axis, led by Iran. So far, there have been few diplomatic opportunities to do this. Finally, there is neutrality: The nations in the Sunni axis are continually asking the United States to simply throw in with them, to use the CIA and other U.S. capacities to help the Sunnis beat back their rivals. The administration has decided that taking sides so completely is not an effective long-term option. Going forward, there probably has to be a global education effort to reduce anti-Sunni and antiShiite passions. Iran could be asked to pay a higher price not only for its nuclear program, but for its mischief-making around the region. But, at this point, it’s not clear whether American and other outside interference would help squash hatreds or inflame them. The legendary diplomat Ryan Crocker argues in a recent essay in YaleGlobal that major outside interventions might only make things worse. “The hard truth is that the fires in Syria will blaze for some time to come. Like a major forest fire, the most we can do is hope to contain it.” Poison gas in Syria is horrendous, but the real inferno is regional. When you look at all the policy options for dealing with the Syria situation, they are all terrible or too late. The job now is to try to wall off the situation to prevent something just as bad but much more sprawling.
COLUMN
Questions linger as Hasan court martial ends FORT HOOD — For several weeks, I watched a fanatic plot his suicide as he proved that you can lead a defendant to trial but you can’t make him defend himself. Maj. Nidal Hasan — barred by military law from pleading guilty as he preferred — wanted, deserved and got the ultimate punishment for his rampage at Fort Hood back in November 2009. The death sentence was returned Wednesday. I leave the post with lingering questions about the court-martial in which his fate, pending mandatory appeal, was decided by 13 soldiers of Hasan’s rank or higher. Seems fair, jury of your peers and all that. But let’s think about this. The Army is an employer that teaches intense loyalty to colleagues. We who have never served can’t understand the bond among warriors. Multiply that loyalty by a soldier’s responsibility to a fallen comrade. Now think about letting career soldiers sit in judgment of a traitor accused of killing 12 soldiers and one retired soldier. Those are the rules. Here is the question, one posed without questioning the integrity of the soldier jurors in this case: Is this like letting IBM employees
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KEN HERMAN
sit in judgment of somebody accused of a massacre of IBM employees at an IBM facility? My next question percolated Tuesday as I sat in the courtroom about 12 feet behind Hasan, who earlier told the court that as a U.S. solider he was “on the wrong side of the war against Islam.” He acted on that twisted epiphany by going to Guns Galore to arm up for a one-man jihad — and, in his mind, a oneway ticket to paradise — against GIs coming home from or heading to Afghanistan or Iraq.
Old strategy Fight them here, he thought, so allies on his new team won’t have to fight them there. Where have I heard that strategy before? I know. It was at the White House when I covered President George W. Bush. “It’s better to fight them there than here,” Bush often would say. It made sense then. It makes sense now, which leads to two
troubling questions that in no way justify Hasan’s actions. If the strategy of killing enemy combatants on their home turf makes sense for us, doesn’t it also make sense for the other side? (Remember, U.S. soldiers became Hasan’s perceived enemy.) And don’t many of us hope our CIA or military or whoever handles such missions tries to get folks on the other side to switch teams and kill folks in training over there, so we don’t have to fight them here? Or, put another way, to do what Hasan did at Fort Hood. And if we are doing it, doesn’t that mean the other side also has widows and parents and kids enduring the horrific grief we heard on the Fort Hood witness stand from survivors of those killed by Hasan? Again, nothing herein is offered as any kind of justification for Hasan’s unjustifiable acts. It’s an attempt, meager perhaps, to figure out how a soldier psychiatrist gets crazy enough to open fire on fellow soldiers. War, somebody once sort of said, is something other than heaven. In the end, the soldier jurors chose death as the proper punishment for the man who killed and in-
jured their colleagues. But what are we to make of the fact that that’s what Hasan, hell-bent on martyrdom but more likely hell bound, wanted? This crime warranted the most severe penalty. This criminal covets the most severe penalty.
Punishment Is a punishment supposed to fit the crime or the criminal? Sometimes, as in this case, the two are not the same. My last lingering question stems from a quote from Mark Todd, the thenFort Hood policeman whose shots downed Hasan and ended the horror. Todd, now disabled by a medical condition unrelated to the shootings, offered a statement that was read into the record. He said this about what he did after he shot Hasan: “I started checking his vitals, you know, trying to save his life,” he said. My question, and perhaps yours, is this: Why? In that answer lies the difference between us and them. Ken Herman is a columnist for the Austin AmericanStatesman. E-mail: kherman@statesman.com.
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phone number IS NOT published; it is used solely to verify identity and to clarify content, if necessary. Identity of the letter writer must be verified before publication. We want to assure our
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-call-
DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
ing or gratuitous abuse is allowed. Via e-mail, send letters to editorial@lmtonline.com or mail them to Letters to the Editor, 111 Esperanza Drive, Laredo, TX 78041.
Area
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 2013
Rotarians hear reunion plans SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
This presentation was made at the recent Rotary Club meeting. Our guest speaker for this week will be José García. His topic will be on a reunion on a grand scale that will take place in Zapata on Oct. 17 to the 19. Not from Zapata? No problem. You can still enjoy the big party. Join us for lunch and a great program. Armengol Guerra, program chair. The year 2013 marks the 60th anniversary of an event that significantly changed the lives of Zapata county residents forever. On a warm fall day, Oct. 19, 1953, to be exact, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his Mexican counterpart, President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines, formally dedicated Falcon Dam and Falcon Lake. Yet amidst the joy and fanfare that surrounded the momentous occasion, a more life-changing event also occurred, the displacement of about 3,000 people to make
way for the rising waters of the Rio Grande that created the lake. Although the move had been planned for 1955, torrential rains that drenched the area in 1953 forced families to make the move sooner. In fact, the unexpected transition caused many families to flee the rising lake waters with only the clothes on their backs, forcing them to leave behind their possessions and even their pets. To pay tribute to the sacrifices made by these families, Zapata, Texas, will host a three day event that will define the meaning of unity for past and present residents of the communities of Zapata, Ramireño, Uribeño, Lopeño and Falcon. “Zapata Rising: The Biggest Family Reunion in the World” takes place on the weekend of Oct. 17-19, 2013. Over 600 of the original families and their descendants will converge in Zapata, Texas, for a three-day affair filled with memories, educational highlights and numerous commemorative activities.
Festivities welcome university students SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
Texas A&M International University’s “2013 Fall Welcome Week” and “iWeek” is held the first two weeks of classes and concludes Thursday. The events help new students make the transition to university life. Remaining “Welcome Week” events include: How to become involved in campus organizations during iWeek, running Monday through Thursday.
Monday: iLead and iGoGreek—recruitment/information tables/TAMIU Trailblazers, Student Center rotunda, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.; Intramurals and U, recreational sports information booth, between PH and CH, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Also, Freshman Leadership Organization, Sophomore Leaders Involved in Change and Leadership TAMIU applications are due by 5 p.m. See http:// www.tamiu.edu/studentaffairs/index.shtml for applications.
Tuesday: iDiscover— Study Abroad Fair, SC rotunda, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.; Greek Council barbecue, RLC, 6 p.m. Late registration ends Tuesday. Wednesday: iServe Fair—volunteer services fair, SC rotunda, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.; Greek Council showcase, Kinesiology-Convocation Building lawn, 7 p.m. Thursday: iEngage— student organization fair, SC rotunda, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Additional information is available at facebook.com/txamiu.osa.
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
Promotions made at university SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
Texas A&M International University has named a new university registrar and announced a series of promotions for its Division of Student Success. Minita Ramírez, vice president for Student Success, announced the addition and changes. “We are pleased to name Juan Gilberto García as our new university registrar. García’s experience and passion for TAMIU and our students makes him the perfect person for the position. His success and experience with scheduling, advising, records, data mining and technology will help the Office continue to expand its services. His vision for the growth and development of personnel and students will help us define areas of need and adjust adroitly,” Ramírez said. García, who has been associated with the university for 10 years, was most recently TAMIU’s director of Recruitment and School Relations. A TAMIU graduate, he holds his BBA with a concentration in Finance and his MBA in International Business from TAMIU. He is pursuing a Ph.D. at
Minita Ramírez announced the changes. Texas A&M University. Ramírez announced additional promotions: Scheiby Fisher, part of the university for the past nine years, has been named director of Recruitment and School Relations. “Her experience as a recruiter and associate director in the office makes her ideal for the position. As we expand our recruitment markets and further embrace diversity, we are confident that she will lead the office and the university’s undergraduate recruitment growth. We have been long impressed by her creativity and energy and share her steadfast belief that everyone can learn and deserves a university experience,” Ramírez said. Fisher holds a BBA from TAMIU. Gerardo Alva, affiliated with TAMIU for the past 13 years, has been promoted to associate vice president of Student Affairs, supervising Recreational Sports, Student
Conduct and Community Engagement, Student Orientation, Leadership and Engagement and Student Health Services. Alva holds a BA in Political Science from TAMIU and a Masters in Education with a specialization in Enrollment Management from Capella University. Miguel Treviño, associated with TAMIU for the past eight years, is now director of Student Orientation, Leadership and Engagement. He recently received his Master of Arts in Applied Psychology in Higher Education Student Administration from the Massachusetts School of Psychology. His BBA was earned at Baylor University. Mayra Hernández, part of TAMIU for the past four years, will be director of Student Conduct and Community Engagement. She earned her BA in Psychology with a concentration in Criminal Justice and her MA in Political Science from TAMIU. Aracely Hernández, associated with TAMIU for the past five years, will be director of Student Counseling and Disability Services. She received her BA in Psychology and her MA in Counseling Psychology from TAMIU.
National
6A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 2013
Fort Hood shooter faces long appeals By WILL WEISSERT ASSOCIATED PRESS
FORT HOOD — If Nidal Hasan plans to welcome a death sentence as a pathway to martyrdom, the rules of military justice won’t let him go down without a fight — whether he likes it or not. The Army psychiatrist was sentenced Wednesday to die for the 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage that killed 13 people and wounded more than 30. But before an execution date is set, Hasan faces years, if not decades, of appeals. And this time, he won’t be allowed to represent himself. “If he really wants the death penalty, the appeals process won’t let it happen for a very long time,” said Joseph Gutheinz, a Texas attorney licensed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. “The military is going to want to do everything at its own pace. They’re not going to want to let the system kill him, even if that’s what he wants.” Hasan opened fire at a Fort Hood medical center packed with soldiers heading to or recently returned from overseas combat deployments. He also was set to soon go to Afghanistan to counsel soldiers there, and said he carried out the attack to protect Muslim insurgents on foreign soil. During trial, Hasan acknowledged that evidence showed he was the gunman, and put up virtually no defense of his actions. He’s suggested in writings that he would “still be a martyr” if he received death. At trial, Lt. Col. Kris Poppe, a standby military attorney assigned to Hasan, told the judge that Hasan’s “goal is to remove impediments or obstacles to the death penalty.” Now that Hasan’s been sentenced to death, a written record of the trial will be produced and Fort Hood’s commanding general will have the option of granting clemency. Assuming none is granted, the case record is then scrutinized by the appeals courts for the Army and armed forces. If Hasan’s case and death sentence are eventually affirmed, he could ask the U.S. Supreme Court for a review or file mo-
Photo by Eric Gay | AP
Kerry Cahill, right, comforts her mother, Joleen, as they talk about Michael Cahill, killed during the Fort Hood shootings at a news conference following the sentencing phase for Maj. Nidal Hasan on Wednesday, in Fort Hood. Also pictured are Keely Vanacker, left, and brother, James, second from left. tions in federal civilian courts. The president, as the military commander in chief, also must sign off on a death sentence. That process is anything but speedy. The military hasn’t executed an active-duty U.S. soldier since 1961. As the appeals proceed, Hasan is going to military death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. He was shot in the back during the rampage, paralyzing him from the waist down. He is confined to a wheelchair and requires specialized care — though the death row facility has a health clinic that apparently can meet his needs. Military appeals courts have overturned 11 of the 16 death sentences of the last three decades — and that doesn’t include former Senior Airman Andrew P. Witt, who is one of five men on military death row but whose sentence was ordered reopened recently on appeal. There’s no way to estimate
how long the appeals process could take for Hasan or any other case. The longest current case is that of Ronald Gray, a former Army cook at Fort Bragg in North Carolina who was convicted in 1988 on 14 charges, including two premeditated murders. Once his appeals begin, Hasan will be assigned military counsel. He could also choose to retain civilian lawyers. John Galligan, a retired Army colonel who was Hasan’s former lead civilian counsel, said he doesn’t believe Hasan is seeking execution, as his appointed standby lawyers at trial have suggested. He has met with Hasan frequently during the trial and said several civilian attorneys — including anti-death penalty activists — have offered to take on his appeal. Galligan estimates the military has already spent more than $6 million on Hasan’s trial. He said that will triple during appeals, which he believes will
take longer than Hasan’s remaining life expectancy. “This will invariably be an appeal that will take decades,” Galligan said, “and, Maj. Hasan, I don’t know if he’ll ever survive it.” He added: “If anything’s going to kill Hasan in the short term ... it will probably be natural causes due to his medical conditions.” Hasan may have a plausible appeal on the grounds that he was never competent to represent himself at trial. Gutheinz said that argument could be complicated somewhat if Hasan refuses help from any civilian attorneys and is reluctant to cooperate with assigned military counsel — but that may not make things go any faster since there will be pressure for the military system to move cautiously on such a high-profile case. “Obviously this appeal will have high visibility but I believe, if anything, it will be a slower
process,” Gutheinz said. Keely Vanacker, whose father Michael Cahill was gunned down when he charged Hasan with a chair to try and stop the rampage, said she knows that the lengthy appeals process means Hasan is likely to die in prison. “As long as I don’t ever have to see him in the media again,” said Vanacker, “that matters more to me than whether or not he’s put to death.” Kathy Platoni, who still struggles with images of Capt. John Gaffaney bleeding to death at her feet, said she was surprised he was sentenced to death partly because the families had talked openly about their desire to deny Hasan the right to perceive himself as a martyr. Still, she wasn’t opposed to the punishment. “I don’t know how long it takes for a death sentence to be carried out,” Platoni said, “but the world will be a better place without him.”
SABADO 31 DE AGOSTO DE 2013
Agenda en Breve FRONTERA RIBEREÑA 08/31— MIGUEL ALEMÁN, México — FIT 2013 presenta: Compañía Banyan de Marionetas, a las 6 p.m. en el Museo del Río Centro Cultural. 08/31— CIUDAD MIER, México — FIT 2013 presenta: Esther Tovar a las 7 p.m. en Plaza Juárez. 08/31— NUEVO GUERRERO, México — FIT 2013 presenta: Cuentacuentos a las 2 p.m. en Casa Club del Adulto Mayor; y, Norteños de Río Bravo a las 7 p.m. en Teatro del Pueblo. 09/01— MIGUEL ALEMÁN, México — FIT 2013 presenta: The Guadaloops a las 7:30 p.m. en la Explanada de la Plaza Municipal. 09/01— CIUDAD MIER, México — FIT 2013 presenta: Cuentacuentos a las 10 a.m. en Escuela Club de Leones; y, “La Manta” a las 7 p.m. en La Plaza Juárez. 09/01— NUEVO GUERRERO, México — FIT 2013 presenta: Laboratoryo Teatro a las 6 p.m. en el Centro Cívico. 09/02— CIUDAD MIER, México — FIT 2013 presenta: “Opus IV” a las 7 p.m. en Plaza Juárez. 09/03— CIUDAD MIER, México — FIT 2013 presenta: Alan René a las 7 p.m. en Plaza Juárez. 09/04— CIUDAD MIER, México — FIT 2013 presenta: Ballet Folklórico a las 7 p.m. en Plaza Juárez. 09/05— MIGUEL ALEMÁN, México — FIT 2013 presenta: Cuentacuentos a las 2 p.m. en la Escuela Primaria Ignacio Ramírez; y, “Kahlo, Viva la Vida” a las 7 p.m en la Universidad Politécnica. 09/05— CIUDAD MIER, México — FIT 2013 presenta: Valeria Guglietti a las 7 p.m. en Casino Argüelles; y, Coro Municipal Santiago de Querétaro a las 8 p.m. en Iglesia Inmaculada Concepción. 09/06— MIGUEL ALEMÁN, México — FIT 2013 presenta: Norteños de Río Bravo a las 7:30 p.m. en la Explanada de la Plaza Municipal. 09/06— CIUDAD MIER, México — FIT 2013 presenta: Umano Aché y Fusión a las 7 p.m. en Plaza Juárez. 09/06— NUEVO GUERRERO, México — FIT 2013 presenta: Periférico Infinito a las 6 p.m. en el Centro Cívico.
LAREDO 08/31— Soccer: El equipo de fútbol soccer varonil de TAMIU recibe a Coastal Bend College a las 12 p.m. en el TAMIU Soccer Complex. Costo general: 5 dólares. Gratis para estudiantes de TAMIU. 08/31— Cena- baile de la generación 1958 de Martin High School, a partir de las 7 p.m. en D’Versailles Reception Hall, 5216 Tesoro Plaza. Todos los grupos están invitados. Llame a Adelfa Mendiola Pérez al 724-3283 o a Rubén Chavarría al 7221300 para más información. 08/31— Wrestling Shop presenta “Destruction”, con espectáculo de carros y concierto de hip-hop de 12 p.m. a 6 p.m., y lucha libre a partir de las 7 p.m. en el Firefighters Union Hall, 5219 Tesoro Plaza. Costo: 5 dólares. Informes al 775-6689.
SAN ANTONIO 08/31— “Festival People en Español” con actividades gratuitas durante el día en el Centro de Convenciones Henry B. Gonzalez, y concierto durante la noche en el Alamodome. Visite www.peopleenespanol.com/festival para detalles completos. Actividades continuarán hasta el 1 de septiembre.
— Reportes Tiempo de Zapata
Zfrontera
PÁGINA 7A
ECONOMÍA
Asignan recursos ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Más de 107 millones de dólares en fondos federales para los programas de preparación para el Estado de Texas durante el Año Fiscal 2013 fueron anunciados por la Agencia Federal de Administración de Emergencias (FEMA, por sus siglas en inglés). FEMA, perteneciente al Departamento de Seguridad Nacional de EU, anunció que de estos fondos, la cantidad de 441.999 dólares estarán dedicados exclusivamente al Condado de Zapata. Estos fondos proveerán recursos
para evaluaciones, respuesta, recuperación por actos de terrorismo y amenazas hacia áreas urbanas, así como para mejorar la cooperación en seguridad fronteriza entre los EU y México, y preparación general ante emergencias. “Aplaudo al Departamento de Seguridad Nacional por demostrar nuevamente su compromiso para Texas, un estado que es clave para los esfuerzos nacionales por mantener una nación segura”, expresó el Congresista Henry Cuellar (DTX28). “Conmino a los gobiernos locales asegurarse que estos fondos sean utilizados donde más se necesitan, en los 14 condados de Texas
que están situados a lo largo del Río Grande y la frontera con México”. Cuellar urgió a ciudades y condados fronterizos a llamar a Austin y solicitar que la mayoría de los fondos sean enviados a las comunidades fronterizas. “(Las comunidades fronterizas) son la primera línea en aspectos de seguridad que afectan al Estado de Texas y el resto del país”, agregó él. Los fondos otorgados para Texas se dividen de la siguiente manera, dentro del Programa de Subsidios de Seguridad Nacional: Operación Stonegarden – 19’422.318. De ésa cantidad a Zapata
le corresponden los 441.999 dólares. Programa de Seguridad Nacional Estatal – 18’650.481 dólares Iniciativa de Seguridad en Áreas Urbanas – 38’559.207 dólares Programa de Subsidios para Actuación en Manejo de Emergencias – 18’833.958 dólares. Programa de Subsidios en Seguridad Sin fines de lucro dentro de la Iniciativa de Seguridad en Área Urbana – 67.960 dólares. Programa en Subsidio de Seguridad de Transporte – 160.000 dólares. Programa de Subsidio en Seguridad Portuaria – 11’228.503 dólares.
SENADO
QUERELLA
CONCURSO FOTOGRÁFICO
Continúa acusación tráfico de humanos
Destacarían a ‘sequía’
POR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
C
onforme las condiciones de sequía persisten a través del estado se dio inicio a un concurso fotográfico que revelará el impacto de la sequía. La Senadora Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) anunció recientemente el inicio la campaña fotográfica “What does your Texas drought look like?” (¿Cómo se ve tu sequía en Texas?) e invitó a los Tejanos a contribuir sus imágenes. La campaña, que es un esfuerzo de colaboración entre el Texas Water Development Board (Consejo de Desarrollo del Agua en Texas — TWDB, por sus siglas en inglés), el Texas Department of Agriculture (Departamento de Agricultura de Texas) y el Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (Departamento de Parques y Vida Salvaje de Texas), conmina a que los tejanos den a conocer fotografías tomaFoto de cortesía | Distrito 21 del Senado das por ellos, ya sea a través de Internet utilizando Flickr e Ins- Una ventana enmarca una escena de sequía en un rancho en el Condado de Latagram. Salle, ubicado en el Distrito 21 del Senado. “Una imagen vale más que mil palabras, y esta campaña es del agua. La campaña fotográfi- creativas para conservación de una gran oportunidad para que ca continuará durante septiem- agua, eso también es bienvenido”. los Tejanos compartan imágenes bre. Científicos creen que la acEl Distrito 21 del Senado, el convincentes sobre la sequía actual”, dijo Zaffirini. “El impacto cual abarca desde el Río Grande tual sequía pudiera perdurar severo de la sequía sobre el Dis- hasta el Río Colorado, ha sido muchos años. Actualmente 99 trito 21 del Senado es indiscuti- impactado particularmente por por ciento de Texas se encuenble, y este proyecto creará una la sequía, continuó diciendo tra experimentando condiciones de sequía, y el 2011 fue el peor comprensión visual registrada ella. “Ha impactado de forma ne- año de sequía que se haya regisde sus efectos sobre nuestra regativa no solamente a nuestros trado en la historia de Texas. gión de nuestro estado”. Información referente al conAgencias participantes tam- agricultores y rancheros, sino bién presentarán imágenes se- también a las empresas, el turis- curso puede ser obtenida en leccionadas de sus respectivas mo y la industria de hidrocarbu- www.twdp.texas.gov ó pueden cuentas de medios sociales y si- ros”, dijo Zaffirini. “Conmino a compartir sus imágenes vía tios de Internet. Su propósito es mis constituyentes a enviar sus Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/ ayudar a educar a los tejanos en fotografías sobre el impacto de groups/texasdrought/) o en Insrelación a los problemas asocia- la sequía. Las imágenes pueden tagram (nombre de cuenta “teo hashtag dos con la sequía y la importan- mostrar a plantas nativas flore- xasdrought” cia del agua y la conservación cientes sin agua y soluciones #txdrought).
Una mujer de Zapata quien fuera arrestada el 18 de agosto por supuestamente contrabandear a 13 inmigrantes ilegales continuaba en custodia federal, de acuerdo a documentos de la corte. Raquel Solís-Esquivel, de 40 años de edad, desestimó su interrogatorio preliminar y audiencia de arresto programada para SOLÍS-ESQUIVEL esta semana, el martes, ante la Juez Magistrada de EU, Diana Song Quiroga. Solís-Esquivel está siendo acusada con traer personas y darles albergue, indica una querella criminal presentada el 20 de agosto. Los cargos contra Solis-Esquivel surgieron tras que oficiales del Alguacil del Condado de Zapata ordenaran a el automóvil de ella, y otro automóvil más que se detuviera, el 18 de agosto en el Condado de Zapata. Agentes de la Patrulla Fronteriza de EU realizaron una inspección migratoria sobre los ocupantes en ambos vehículos, incluyendo un conductor adolescente, y todos se encontraban de manera ilegal en los EU. Solís-Esquivel supuestamente admitió haber dejado a los inmigrantes ilegales en un área de maleza y también llevó a los agentes a un área donde fueron encontrados otros inmigrantes, de acuerdo a documentos de la corte. Solís-Esquivel esperaba un pago de 125 dólares por inmigrante. Oficiales federales dijeron que testigos la identificaron como la persona que estaba transportando a los inmigrantes. Agentes especiales de Investigaciones de Seguridad Nacional se encuentran a cargo de investigar el caso. (Localice a César G. Rodriguez en el 728-2568 o en cesar@lmtonline.com)
SALUD
Campaña ‘Be Covered Texas’ lanza línea de ayuda ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Richardson — Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas anunció que ya cuenta con 112 organizaciones comunitarias en Texas que se han unido a su campaña educativa Be Covered Texas “Asegura Tu Salud”, incluyendo organizaciones comunitarias Latinas las cuales ayudan a informar, educar y registrar a los residentes que no tienen seguro médico. Además de ofrecer una página de internet, folletos y material educativo en inglés y español, también lanzó una campaña de alertas de texto, y línea de ayuda gratuita 1800 en español: 1-866-427-7492. Los consumidores pueden llamar a este número gratuito de lunes a viernes de 8 a.m. a 5 p.m. (hora centro) para solicitar mayor información
“
“Mientras mayor sea el número de personas que se registre este otoño, mejores resultados tendrá el Intercambio de Seguros Médicos”. DR. ESTEBAN LÓPEZ, PRESIDENTE REGIONAL DE SAN ANTONIO, PARA BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD OF TEXAS
sobre los requisitos de la nueva ley federal del Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio. En Texas, se estima que los latinos forman casi la mitad de aquellos que son elegibles para recibir créditos tributarios para ayudar a cubrir el costo de su cobertura mé-
dica. “Mientras mayor sea el número de personas que se registre este otoño, mejores resultados tendrá el Intercambio de Seguros Médicos, y no sucederá a menos que nos asociemos con organizaciones de importancia y en las que la comuni-
dad ya confíe para poder llegar al mayor número de latinos que no tienen seguro médico”, dijo el Dr. Esteban López, Presidente Regional de San Antonio, para Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas. “Estamos orgullosos de estar trabajando con más de 20 organizaciones comunitarias latinas para llegar a miles de personas”. La campaña Be Covered Texas “Asegura Tu Salud” continúa sus esfuerzos de construir sociedades con organizaciones comunitarias que ayuden a llegar a la comunidad latina que no tiene seguro médico en Texas. Los socios comunitarios de Be Covered Texas “Asegura Tu Salud” comparten el mismo objetivo de incrementar el acceso de un seguro médico a bajo precio por medio de una plataforma educativa.
International
8A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 2013
Kerry becomes advocate for US attack By PETER BAKER AND MICHAEL R. GORDON NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON — Jabbing his finger at the lectern, his voice forceful, his words brimming with indignation, Secretary of State John Kerry laid out the case like the prosecutor he once was, making a closing argument to a skeptical jury. Again and again, some 24 times in all, he used the phrase “we know” to describe the intelligence that Syria’s government massacred more than 1,400 people with chemical weapons. And then, while saying no decision had been made, he left no doubt that the United States would respond with military power. “We know that after a decade of conflict, the American people are tired of war — believe me, I am too,” said Kerry, who opposed the Iraq war in his failed presidential bid in 2004. “But fatigue does not absolve us of our responsibility. Just longing for peace does not necessarily bring it about. And history would judge us all extraordinarily harshly if we turned a blind eye to a dictator’s wanton use of weapons of mass destruction against all warnings, against all common understanding of decency.” Just seven months after being sworn in as secretary of state, Kerry has become President Barack Obama’s
Cartel man caught ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO CITY — Mexican police captured an alleged former Sinaloa drug cartel lieutenant accused of involvement in the killings of more than 350 people found in various mass graves in 2011, officials said Thursday. Police in the northern state of Chihuahua detained Mario Nuñez, a 39-year-old also known as “M-10,” on Wednesday in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, federal security spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said. Nuñez, a former police officer, began working with the Juarez Cartel before joining the rival Sinaloa organization allegedly led by Mexico’s most-wanted man, Joaquin Guzman. The government partially blames Nuñez for an upsurge in drug violence that brought shootouts in broad daylight, ambushes of police and kidnappings to Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso. U.S. court documents say Guzman, known as “El Chapo,” hired Nuñez and gave him the job of snatching the smuggling corridors into the U.S. from the local Juarez Cartel, through ordering gangs of hit men to carry out killings that included grisly mutilations and decapitations. The Juarez Cartel lost ground to the Sinaloa organization in a three-year battle that wound down in 2011. But Nuñez’s criminal career continued, authorities say. The Mexican government claims Nuñez’s power struggle with another drug chieftain in the spring of 2011 resulted in the slayings of 350 people, whose bodies were unearthed in 23 mass graves in the northern state of Durango. “Much of the violence seen in the states of Chihuahua and Durango is partially because of the actions carried out by this man,” Sanchez said. Nuñez is wanted in the U.S. on drug-trafficking charges in a federal court in Texas. The Mexican government said he could face up to 40 years in prison in Mexico, and it was not immediately clear whether there was a U.S. extradition request for him.
frontman in the public argument for a military strike against the Syrian government. While the president sounds restrained in his language and even perhaps personally ambivalent about the operation he seems likely to order, Kerry came across Friday as an unstinting advocate for action against what he called “a despot’s brutal and flagrant use of chemical weapons.” In effect, Kerry has picked up the mantle of his predecessor, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who pressed Obama unsuccessfully to take a more assertive role in the Syrian civil war. With the evidence of a chemical weapons attack now confronting the president and his team, Kerry’s position has met with more favor in the Situation Room. Kerry has been “seized with the importance” of making sure that President Bashar Assad of Syria is held accountable, said Benjamin J. Rhodes, the president’s deputy national security adviser. “He doesn’t do anything halfway,” Rhodes said. “He has no hesitancy about throwing himself into the most difficult challenges.” That Kerry is the administration’s chief public advocate of intervention is the latest turn in his central involvement in U.S. military affairs during four decades. He came to national attention as a Vietnam
Photo by Charles Dharapak | AP
Secretary of State John Kerry makes a statement about Syria at the State Department in Washington, on Friday. hero who became an antiwar activist asking Congress in 1971, “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?” He supported the 2003 war against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein — a “brutal, murderous dictator,” as he put it at the time — only to turn against what he called the “catastrophic choice” as the war went south and he ran for president against George W. Bush in 2004. That change of heart was used against him with devastating effectiveness in his presidential run. It was at Kerry’s nominating convention that year that he gave a major speaking role to an Illinois state senator who would ride that early
visibility to the White House and end up installing Kerry at the State Department. Kerry has a history with Syria as well. As a senator, at the start of the Obama administration, he met with Assad in Damascus in 2009, hoping he could help broker a rapprochement between Syria and the United States as a step toward Middle East stability. After becoming secretary this year, he flew to Moscow to arrange for a Geneva peace conference between Assad’s government and Syrian rebels, an idea stymied by disagreements about who would attend and overtaken by events on the ground.
In his closed-door meeting with President Vladimir Putin in May, Kerry argued that if Russia and the United States joined forces there was no need for Syria to become another Iraq, invoking an analogy that was calculated to appeal to Russian officials who have long complained that the U.S. intervention there yielded a violent, failed state. Now he finds himself the chief spokesman for U.S. intervention, able and willing to be more outspoken than the president he serves. Along with Susan E. Rice, the president’s national security adviser, and Samantha Power, his ambassador to the United Nations, Kerry has been among those who argued that the chemical weapons attack on Aug. 21 required a strong U.S. response. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has long been among the skeptics. “The book is still open on John Kerry’s life, but before this, the most famous words he ever uttered were as a Vietnam veteran testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,” said Jim Gomes, who served as Kerry’s chief of staff from 1982 to 1986. “His statement today was indicative of someone who believes it would be a mistake not to respond to the horrors in Syria.” At 69, Kerry has plunged into his new job with a passion that has surprised
many observers. After narrowly losing Ohio and the 2004 presidential race, he no longer harbors dreams of the White House. With nearly three decades of service on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and an extensive array of international contacts, Kerry does not lack confidence in his negotiating skills and often meets one on one with foreign leaders. And he has ties to members of Obama’s national security team, including Rice and her predecessor, Thomas E. Donilon. In his early months on the job, Kerry talked repeatedly about the need to change Assad’s “calculation” that he can hang on to power, hinting at a somewhat more robust effort to arm and equip the rebels. At times, that appeared to put him a step ahead of the White House in his public articulation of a strategy. So when it came time to make the case against Syria, the White House turned to Kerry. On Friday, he denounced “the indiscriminate, inconceivable horror of chemical weapons” and, after laying out the intelligence, broadened the case to a moral imperative that “matters deeply to the credibility” of the United States.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
EVA CUELLAR
ENRIQUE ELOY SANTOS
Sept. 15, 1937 – Aug. 29, 2013
Jan. 8, 1937 – Aug. 23, 2013
Eva Cuellar, 75, passed away on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2013, at her residence in Zapata. Mrs. Cuellar is preceded in death by her parents, Lorenzo and Juliana G. Saenz; and a sister, Angela Martinez. Mrs. Cuellar is survived by her husband, Fernando Cuellar; sons, Fernando Jr. (Grizelda) Cuellar, Cesar (Lesvia) Cuellar; daughters, Nelly E. Cuellar-Garcia, Belinda (Alfredo) Vela, Vianey (Keith) Martin, Wanda (Omar) Garcia; 12 grandchildren; brothers, Agapo (Mary) Saenz, Lorenzo (†Sharon) Saenz, Alfonso (San Juanita) Saenz, Adan (Yolanda) Saenz; sister, Julia (Leo) Perez; and by numerous cousins, nephews, nieces and friends. Visitation hours were held Friday, Aug. 30, 2013, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home. The funeral procession will depart Saturday, Aug. 31, 2013, at 8:30 a.m. for a 9 a.m. funeral Mass at Our
Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. Committal services will follow at Zapata County Cemetery in Zapata. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home, Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral cirector, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy. 83, Zapata.
Enrique Eloy Santos, passed away on Aug. 23, 2013, at Doctor’s Hospital in Laredo. Mr. Santos is preceded in death by his parents, Remigio and Manuela Santos; and brother, Gilberto Santos. Mr. Santos is survived by his former wife, Lupita Santos; sons, Enrique Eloy Santos Jr. (Abram Gonzalez), and Daniel A. (Sylvia) Santos; daughters: Donna M. (Pete) Wagner, Sharon E. (Dr. Leo) Flores, Christina A. (Marcus) Torres, Cheryl L. (Lupe) Torres, Monica Y. (Jose) Jaramillo and Brenda L. (Luis) Santos; 12 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren; one brother, Aide Santos; sisters, Elma (†Sigifredo) Gonzalez and Maria Elena (Carlos) Martinez; and by uncle, nephews, nieces, friends and other family members. Visitation hours were held Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013, from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home. The funeral procession departed Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m.
INTOCABLE At 12:20 p.m. Monday, deputies responded to a burglary call in the 1100 block of Elm Street for a burglary of a building call. The building belonged to Grupo Intocable.
A 25-year-old woman identified as the secretary for the Intocable organization told deputies that about $49,000 worth of equipment and musical instruments were stolen, a
Continued from Page 1A
police report states. Grupo Intocable did not respond to requests for comment as of press time. The sheriff ’s office is looking into the case. People with
CITRUS TREES the life out of the psyllid from beneath. The larva eventually takes residence, continuing to grow inside the lifeless husk before reaching adulthood and chewing its way out. “We call them mummies,” Daniel Flores, an Edinburg-based U.S. Department of Agriculture entomologist, said of the deceased psyllids. While the psyllid itself is harmless, the bacteria it may carry are the kiss of death to citrus trees. The bacteria cause a vascular disease known as Huanglongbing, or citrus greening. “All of a sudden you’ll notice that on this big, bushy tree, there’s this one branch, and all of the leaves off of that branch are yellow,” Flores told the San Antonio Express-News. Next, the fruit becomes bitter, mottled and misshapen. The disease eventually spreads through the tree’s veins to the canopy and root system, killing it. While citrus greening has already devastated citrus groves throughout Florida, scientists in California and Texas hope the wasp can be deployed preemptively against the psyllid, and therefore Huanglongbing. The disease so far has appeared in just one backyard in California and, last year, two adjacent orchards in San Juan. Both discoveries prompted officials to set up quarantine zones stretching several miles around the infection. Ray Prewett, president of the trade group Texas Citrus Mutual, said the grove owner recently made the costly and difficult decision to pull out some of his best producing trees, which were asymptomatic but still could have been infected. The grower’s losses were steep.
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.
information about the breakin can call 765-9960. All callers may remain anonymous. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
Continued from Page 1A
Mark Hoddle, a biological control expert at University of California, Riverside, collected and carried the wasps to California from Pakistan. So far, he’s released about 80,000 in backyards throughout Southern California. “The parasite appears to have established,” he said. Flores, the USDA scientist, had some sent via Federal Express from Pakistan to a border inspection station about 90 minutes away from the USDA quarantine facility near Harlingen in August 2009. Their arrival — they were chilled and packed in Styrofoam boxes — took on the urgency of an ambulance ride. “It was like, ‘We’re trying to save the world — get out of the way!”’ he recalled. After about two years of testing to make sure the wasp would attack only the Asian citrus psyllid, it was time to begin mass production. By partnering with Hidalgo County horticulturist Barbara Storz and a network of trained “master gardeners,” researchers were able to find trees to grow wasp populations. Commercial groves weren’t usable because use of pesticides would work against the wasp, Storz explained. But there are yards across the Valley with lemon and lime trees, and many of the “Winter Texan” trailer parks scattered across Hidalgo County — home to people from out of state who seek South Texas’ warm climate in the winter — were built on former citrus groves and retained some orange and grapefruit trees. There are more than 60 such parks in the quarantine zone, Storz said. Locals have volunteered trees that are hedged to allow for new growth that is irresistible to psyllids.
“We’re talking like a buffet for psyllids,” Flores said. The trees are covered with meshed caging, and the wasps are brought in. About 700 will be introduced to a given tree. When the tree is uncovered two to three months later, it will have produced about 11,000. More are produced in smaller trees, known as “bug dorms,” in Flores’ Edinburg lab. Of the approximately 100,000 produced there per month, about half are introduced to backyard trees throughout the Valley, where it’s hoped the wasps will begin to spread on their own. The other 50,000 are picked up by authorities from across the border in Tamaulipas, Mexico, where citrus trees also grow in a lot of neighborhoods. The goal, Flores said, is to create a “biological barrier.” Whether such a barrier would have prevented the disease’s appearance in Texas is unclear. A disease-carrying psyllid could have wafted across the Rio Grande or rode in on a fruit shipment. It also could have been transported unknowingly, perhaps by a winter Texan bringing a potted lemon or lime tree from a previous wintering ground in Florida. Since the disease can be dormant for years before attacking the tree, the traveler wouldn’t have known. “There’s no smoking citrus tree, so to speak,” said Larry Hawkins, a California-based USDA spokesman. “You can buy a tree that looks perfectly normal, move it from one state to another and plant it and actually be moving that disease.”
SCHOOLS Continued from Page 1A gations of cheating in the state’s ninthlargest school district. He said Friday that the leader of a new investigative unit, which was one of the audit’s recommendations, must have a strong background. “The Texas Education Agency must work within its existing resources. However, I am committed to assuring this new office has the capability of carrying out its functions. That starts with hiring someone to lead this office who has some type of investigative or prosecutorial background,” Williams, himself a former prosecutor, told The Associated Press in an email. According to the audit, TEA neglected to investigate the cheating allegations, did not travel to El Paso to interview those who knew about the cheating scheme and instead limited itself to a desk review that relied on information submitted by the district. The contents of the audit were first reported by El Paso Times on Friday. TEA placed the El Paso school district on probation in August 2012 after the newspaper exposed the cheating scandal. Several officials resigned or were fired, and ex-Superintendent Lorenzo Garcia — who received at least $56,000 in bonuses as a result of the improved test scores — is serving 3 years in prison for fraud. The scheme devised by Garcia was meant to prevent academically struggling students, mostly immigrants from neighboring Mexico with low English proficiency, from taking the state’s highstakes standardized test in the 10th grade. Some were held back a year, others were inexplicably promoted to the 11th grade, and others were told to drop out and find an education somewhere else. TEA also installed a conservator, ousted the board of trustees and installed a new board in the months following the scandal, Garcia’s incarceration and later conviction for fraud. On Friday, the El Paso Independent School District said the investigative unit wouldn’t have stopped Garcia had it been in place when he was organizing the scheme. “Regardless of the findings of the auditor’s office and TEA’s lack of oversight, it would not have prevented what occurred in the EPISD, but only brought it to the forefront much earlier,” the district said in a written statement. TEA said in a statement that it had already implemented some of the audit’s recommendations, chiefly the creation of the office of complaints, investigations and school accountability. TEA spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliffe said the agency wouldn’t request additional funding for the creation and staffing of the new unit. Williams added that he wants to hire someone by the end of the year to lead the investigative unit. That person will work with investigative units already in place at TEA, he said. TEA said it has already implemented other recommendations such as accepting anonymous complaints and setting up a hotline for TEA employees to report concerns on school accountability. It also has a process to inform the governor and legislators about its investigations. The audit also recommended that the agency allocate sufficient resources for the investigations and that final investigative reports be submitted to the governor and lawmakers. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst commended Williams on Friday for “tackling this situation head-on and taking steps to address the findings in the report.” Dewhurst said it shouldn’t have to take the threat of an audit for “people to do what’s right ... the response should be to improve processes and communication.”
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 2013
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 2013
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
NCAA FOOTBALL
Texas turnaround? ‘Horns look to return to dominance By JIM VERTUNO ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Eric Gay | AP
Texas coach Mack Brown is on the hot seat as the Longhorns look to return to form as one of the nation’s best teams.
AUSTIN — There’s a buzz surrounding the Texas Longhorns that hasn’t been felt the last few years. At least that’s the case in Austin. Starting Saturday night, the Longhorns will see if they can per-
suade the rest of college football to take notice of what coach Mack Brown thinks could be the team that returns Texas to prominence. A game against an overmatched opponent such as New Mexico State, a program that hasn’t
See TEXAS PAGE 2B Photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP
A&M OPENS WITH RICE Manziel to sit first half By KRISTIE RIEKEN
Preseason conclusions After the preseason, five things about the Texans, Cowboys
ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLLEGE STATION — Johnny Manziel won’t be on the field when No. 7 Texas A&M opens the season against Rice on Saturday. At least not until after halftime. The Heisman Trophywinning quarterback was suspended Wednesday for the first half of the game for what the school said was an “inadvertent” violation of NCAA rules. The
See A&M PAGE 2B
The Texans and Cowboys played in the preseason finale, with Houston winning 24-6.
By SCHUYLER DIXON ASSOCIATED PRESS
File photo by LM Otero | AP
Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel returns to the field after being suspended for one half in Texas A&M’s season opener against Rice.
TCU takes on SEC power LSU No. 20 Horned Frogs battle No. 12 Tigers By STEPHEN HAWKINS ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Paul Connors | AP
TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin is expected to split time at quarterback.
FORT WORTH — Not so long ago when TCU was still a BCS buster, these were the kind of games the Horned Frogs had to play in hopes of proving themselves.
This season opener against 12thranked LSU was in the works long before TCU joined the Big 12 Conference. “It’s a little bit different, but we want to prove ourselves regard-
See TCU PAGE 2B
ARLINGTON — The Houston Texans look set at backup quarterback no matter who they pick, and the Dallas Cowboys have problems with depth on defense. Those were among the conclusions to be drawn from the Texans’ 24-6 victory Thursday night in a preseason finale that was missing all but maybe one starter. Houston quarterbacks Case Keenum and T.J. Yates continued their solid preseason play, but got a big assist from an offensive line that pushed around Dallas’ backup defenders all night. “Obviously their group played better than our group,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “I think in some ways it does reflect on the depth of the football team right now.” The Cowboys have to decide whether to keep Alex Tanney as a third quarterback. The Texans made his life miserable, sacking him seven times. Five things we know
about the Texans at the end of the preseason: BACKUP QB? CHECK In the battle to back up Matt Schaub, Keenum and Yates have been neckand-neck all preseason, and nothing changed in the final exhibition game against Dallas. Houston could go with the experience of Yates, who got Houston’s first-ever playoff win when Schaub was hurt in 2011. Then there’s the potential of Keenum, who spent last season on the practice squad after leaving the University of Houston as the NCAA’s all-time passing leader. WHAT’S UP WITH REED? The Texans may have to decide by Saturday whether to keep injured safety Ed Reed on the physically unable to perform list, which would cost him at least the first six games. The 34-year-old Reed had his second hip surgery in three years. The last one cost the nine-time Pro Bowler the first six games of 2010. FOSTER’S PEOPLE Running back Arian
See NFL PAGE 2B
ZAPATA COMPETES AT LONGHORN TOURNAMENT
Photos by Cuate Santos | Laredo Morning Times
Zapata’s (left to right) Sessy Mata, Clarissa Villarreal (1) and Alexiss Alvarez (7) competed against Alexander as part of the Longhorn Tournament Friday.
PAGE 2B
Zscores A&M Continued from Page 1B
Photo by Patric Schneider | AP
Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin enters his second season coaching the Aggies after going 11-2 last year. quarterback was being investigated for allegedly accepting money for autographs from memorabilia brokers, which could have led to a much longer suspension. The brief punishment keeps Texas A&M’s national championship hopes intact as the team opens its second season in the Southeastern Conference. Manziel became the first freshman to win the Heisman last season, setting numerous school and SEC records while leading A&M to an 11-2 mark and a victory over No. 1 Alabama. He then spent the offseason making headlines for immature antics off the field before the NCAA investigation became a distraction as A&M prepared for the most highly anticipated season in College Station in years. Now that the Aggies know how long they’ll be without him, they can focus on moving forward, and that starts with taking care of the Owls, who enter the game on a five-game winning streak. “Just like everyone else in the country, we’re excited,” A&M coach Kevin Sumlin said. “Our kids are excited. Our fans are excited. Everyone’s excited. This is a time of year where guys work extremely hard, especially down here in this part of the country. It’s a time for this team to come together.” Five things to know about Rice-Texas A&M: WHO WILL FILL IN FOR JOHNNY FOOTBALL? The Aggies will use either junior Matt Joeckel or freshman Kenny Hill in the first half in place of Manziel. Joeckel is more of a pocket passer and Hill is a dual-threat quarterback. Joeckel has thrown 11 passes in his college career. Hill, who starred at Texas high school powerhouse Southlake Carroll, threw for 2,291 yards and 20 TDs and ran for 905 yards and 22 more scores as a senior last season. Sumlin said the competition between the two is ongoing, and that he’s been pleased with the progress of both players. NO GAINES Rice cornerbacks Bryce Callahan and Darrion Pollard will have to pick up the slack with the absence of Conference USA preseason defensive player of the
year Phillip Gaines against Texas A&M’s powerful passing game. Gaines was suspended for Saturday’s game for violating a team rule. Saturday will be Pollard’s first game back after being injured in Rice’s opener in 2012. NEW-LOOK O-LINE Texas A&M’s offensive line is expected to be strength of the team despite the loss of left tackle Luke Joeckel, the No. 2 overall NFL draft pick. Jake Matthews has moved to left tackle and will be joined on the line by little brother Mike Matthews at center. They are sons of NFL Hall of Famer Bruce Matthews. “We’ve got a really solid offensive line which takes a little bit of the pressure off Matt and Kenny,” Sumlin said. “When Johnny’s taking snaps, when he’s in there he’s really trying to help the perimeter guys. Our offensive line gives us an opportunity to rotate those quarterbacks and have them be successful.” LONG HISTORY This is the first meeting between these teams since the Southwest Conference disbanded after the 1995 season, but these teams met every year from 191495. Texas A&M has won 15 straight over Rice with the Owls’ last win coming in 1980. REMEMBERING POLO The Aggies will wear a special helmet sticker this season to remember defensive lineman Polo Manukainiu, who was killed in a New Mexico car crash along with two others late last month. The sticker is black and white and features his No. 90 with designs in the number that were inspired by his Tongan heritage. “We wanted to come up with a tribute to Polo as a player, but also reflect a bit of his personality as well,” Texas A&M equipment manager Matt Watson said. “After talking with several of his friends and family it was evident how much Polo’s Tongan heritage meant to him. After trying to incorporate partial elements of Polo’s actual Tongan Tribal arm tattoos we came up with this design that hopefully his family, friends, and teammates will deem a fitting and personal reflection to who he was both on and off the playing field.”
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 2013
TEXAS Continued from Page 1B been to a bowl game in 53 years, likely won’t do it — but it’s a start. “I have worked as hard as I can possibly work for three years to get this team to where it will get back into the mix and I’m excited about seeing if we are,” Brown said this week. “I think we are.” The last three seasons certainly were a struggle by Texas standards. The Longhorns crashed to 5-7 after playing for the 2009 national championship. Winning seasons of 8-5 and 9-4 the last two years merely disguised the 9-9 record in the Big 12 over that span. Texas hasn’t been close to challenging for the league title and the Longhorns believe that with 19 returning starters, they’re ready to return to the top. “We need to come out and make a strong statement. But not just this game, it’s got to be every game for us,” senior cornerback Carrington Byndom said. Here are five things to watch when the Longhorns open the season Saturday night against New Mexico State: THE TEXAS OFFENSE Brown has promised a breathless, up-tempo offense under new playcaller Major Applewhite with a goal of snapping the ball every 15 seconds. That puts a premium on physical fitness not just on opposing defenses in the 100-degree Texas heat, but with the Longhorns as well. Quarterback David Ash is the clear No. 1 now, which means no more looking over his shoulder at Case McCoy. That should give him some comfort if the up-tempo offense doesn’t pile up the points right away. TEXAS WIDE RECEIVER/RUNNING BACK DAJE JOHNSON Johnson showed flashes of brilliance last season but rarely touched the ball. Expect him to be featured
Photo by Ricardo B. Brazziell | AP
After playing for the national title in 2009, coach Mack Brown and Texas are 22-16 in the last three years. this year. Johnson is among the fastest players in the Big 12 and said this week he thinks he can be as good as Tavon Martin was for West Virginia last season. “I would like that,” Brown said. “He’s got great speed so he can make those space plays in his league that Austin made against all of us last year.” NEW MEXICO STATE QUARTERBACK ANDREW MCDONALD The junior college transfer gets his first start on the road, in front of about 100,000 and has to do it without his best target, wide receiver Austin Franklin, who was declared academically ineligible this season. Franklin was the best player for the Aggies in last season’s 1-11 campaign. McDonald threw just three passes last season and got the starting job midway through training camp.
TEXAS KICKER ANTHONY FERA Texas didn’t get what they were expecting from the Penn State transfer last season and a solid performance in the season opener would go a long way to earning Brown’s confidence. Fera was one of the top kickers and punters in the Big Ten in 2011 before transferring but showed up at Texas with a gimpy groin. He was just 2-4 on field goals last season with a crucial miss in a loss to West Virginia. TEXAS DEFENSIVE END JACKSON JEFFCOAT Jeffcoat is one of the best pass rushers in the country when he’s healthy. The problem is he’s often hurt. He missed the last seven games of 2012 after tearing a pectoral muscle. But when healthy, he dominates, posting at least one sack in 10 of his last 13 games.
TCU Continued from Page 1B less,” senior defensive end Jon Koontz said. “It’s the first game of the season, but it’s not the entire season.” The 20th-ranked Frogs open their second Big 12 season Saturday night against LSU, facing a team from the seven-time defending national champion SEC in an NFL stadium only about 20 miles from the TCU campus. In the 2010 season-opening Cowboys Classic, TCU beat Oregon State in another Top 25 matchup. That started a 13-0 season capped with a Rose Bowl victory over Wisconsin and final No. 2 national ranking. “For us, all the things I said about the Big 12 hold true for LSU,” Frogs coach Gary Patterson said. “We’ve got to acquire depth to play with guys. That doesn’t mean that we don’t feel like that if things went right, you could have some things happen, that you can’t win the ball game.” The Frogs now try to make a Big 12 statement against the SEC, which has six teams ranked higher than No. 13 Oklahoma State, the highest-ranked Big 12 squad. “I think a game like this, and us coming out and playing our game, and coming out with a big win would be a big testament for the Big 12,” tight end Stephen Bryant said. LSU cornerback Jalen Mills, who is from the Dallas area, called TCU a great team, adding “a lot of guys who do like Texas schools will either go to Texas or TCU, so there’s no difference.” The Tigers won the Cotton Bowl at the Cowboys’ stadium over Texas A&M in January 2011, eight months before beating third-ranked Oregon in their other Cowboys Classic appearance. They have won a nation’s-best 41 regular season games in a row against non-conference teams since 2002. Their 10-game winning streak in openers includes that Oregon game and a 2010 victory over 18th-ranked North Carolina in the Georgia Dome. “As a program, we’re used to taking these challenges on. ... I think there’s some excitement that builds,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “We enjoy playing in an environment that will be kind of charged and ready, and even though there will be some young guys and a first-time experience, the people that have worn those uniforms, they know how to operate in that. There’s reasons to believe that this team will respond as LSU teams in the past have.” Eleven players left LSU early after a 10-3 season when the Tigers were second in the SEC West behind defending national champion Alabama. A team-record eight defensive players were taken in the NFL draft last April. TCU was still playing in the Mountain West when a
File photo by LM Otero | AP
TCU quarterback Casey Pachall will make his return to the lineup after being indefinitely suspended after a drunk driving arrest. series with the Tigers was scheduled, even before the Frogs had consecutive undefeated regular seasons (2009 and 2010) that ended in BCS games. Under that original deal, the Frogs would have been playing their second game this season at LSU, with the Tigers coming to Fort Worth in 2014. The schools announced about a year ago that they instead would replace those games with what now is one of only two opening-weekend games matching Top 25 teams. “I’m more worried about TCU, how we play within ourselves, how we do,” Patterson said. “ It’s one thing to play it when you make mistakes, like last year against Grambling (56-0) where it didn’t make any difference. This one, a small (mistake) can become a big thing.” The Frogs initially accepted an invitation in November 2010 to join the Big East Conference. They changed course 11 months later for the Big 12. During a conference-hopping journey after being left out of the original Big 12 lineup in 1996, TCU won championships in the WAC, C-USA and MWC. Starting with a 2001 opening loss at No. 4 Nebraska, Patterson’s first regular season game as head coach, the Frogs were 16-4 against opponents from conferences with automatic BCS bids before becoming one of those teams.
NFL Continued from Page 1B Foster could be ready for the Sept. 8 opener at San Diego, but he missed most of training camp with a right calf strain and then a sore back. There’s a bevy of backs behind him. Ben Tate is an established backup, and Deji Karim was the leading rusher in the preseason before sitting the finale against Dallas. Cierre Wood had 107 yards rushing against the Cowboys, and Dennis Johnson added 79 yards and a touchdown. SMITH SITS ONE MORE Defensive Antonio Smith will sit against the Chargers as the final game of a threegame suspension for ripping the helmet off Miami’s Richie Incognito and hitting the Dolphins guard with it. Dynamic end J.J. Watt will be out there, though. And the Texans seem to apply pressure no matter who’s out there. JOHNSON AND COMPANY Andre Johnson is healthy and ready, as he showed last week with 131 yards receiving in his only extensive work of the preseason. Rookie DeAndre Hopkins, a firstround pick, is already listed as a starter and expected to be ready for the opener after a concussion. DeVier Posey caught two passes against Dallas in his return from an Achilles tendon tear in last year’s playoffs.
Photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP
Houston wide receiver DeVier Posey looks to return from an Achilles tendon tear in last year’s playoffs.
Five things we know about the Cowboys: ROMO’S TIME TO SHINE Tony Romo has the richest contract in franchise history and a much bigger stake in the offense. He avoided any bad plays in limited preseason action, and was in the face of rookies when they made mis-
takes. He needs a long playoff run to justify the big payday. It could help save coach Jason Garrett’s job, too. FEELING THE RUSH Defensive end DeMarcus Ware looks like he’s ready for a big year in Dallas’ new four-man front. He’ll need help from the other side, though, and Anthony Spencer
may not be ready for the opener after arthroscopic knee surgery early in training camp. The Cowboys don’t have any proven NFL sack specialists beyond those two. ON GUARDS The Cowboys seem to think Ron Leary and Doug Free could be the starting guards for the opener Sept. 8 against the New York Giants. If so, Jermey Parnell is the likely starter at right tackle, which means four players would be making their first NFL starts at their positions. PLAYMAKING LINEBACKERS There’s plenty of anticipation to see how Sean Lee and Bruce Carter look in the new 4-3 defense. New defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin made stars of similar players at Tampa Bay. Lee just signed a six-year extension worth at least $42 million. SPECIAL TEAMS STRUGGLES New special teams coach Rich Bisaccia has some work to do to get the Cowboys where they need to be on special teams. They’ve had multiple breakdowns throughout the preseason — everything from blocked field goals and botched punts to long returns given up on kickoffs and punts.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 2013
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B
HINTS | BY HELOISE UNIFORM DISCUSSION Dear Heloise: My husband is retired from the military and has some old UNIFORMS we’d like to store. Some are heavily starched. Should I wash out the starch before I store them? — A.L., Huntsville, Ala. Good question! Before storing a uniform, you want to make sure it is clean, of course. Some experts say you don’t have to remove the starch, but it can cause permanent creases in uniforms when stored. Others (me included) think you should wash (if the uniform is washable) out the starch. If they are “dress” uniforms, do have them professionally cleaned. Before storing, wrap it in acid-free paper. Remove small pieces, like belt, nameplate, etc., and wrap separately, and it’s recommended to store uniforms flat. Store in a box in a cool, dry spot. The perfect place? Under your bed. — Heloise MELTED CRAYON Dear Heloise: My daughter left a pink crayon in the backseat of my car. The seats are cloth, and it melt-
ed! How do I remove it? — Melisa B., via email Melisa, this can be a difficult stain to remove, but let’s give it a try. Put a couple of ice cubes in a metal pan and place the pan over the wax until it hardens. Next, scrape off as much of the wax as you can using a plastic credit card or a dull knife. Next, put some dry-cleaning solvent (found at the grocery store) on the stain using a clean, white cloth. Let it absorb, and then blot it. The color should start to come up. Use a clean section of the cloth each time you blot. You may need to reapply the solvent, continuing to blot until all of the stain has been removed, then blot using a damp (only water) microfiber cloth. Good luck! Stains are never fun to deal with! For my pamphlet that is filled with stain-removal hints, Heloise’s Handy Stain Guide, just send $5 and a long, self-addressed, stamped (66 cents) envelope to: Heloise/Stain, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. Always test a stain remover on a hidden section of fabric first! — Heloise
DENNIS THE MENACE
FAMILY CIRCUS
PEANUTS
GARFIELD
DAILY CRYPTOQUOTES — Here’s how to work it:
DILBERT
4B THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 2013