The Zapata Times 9/21/2013

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POLITICS

FEDERAL COURT

Immigration break

Man could get 10 years

2 Texas reps leave secret group working on bill

By ERICA WERNER

JOHN CARTER: Criticizes administration’s handling of the immigration bill.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan House group that’s been working in secret to write a comprehensive immigration bill splintered Friday with the departure of two Republicans,

the latest sign of difficulty in solving the contentious issue.

Texas Reps. John Carter and

SAM JOHNSON: Leaves group working on comprehensive immigration bill.

Sam Johnson said they can no longer be part of the effort because they don’t trust Presi-

dent Barack Obama to enforce any legislation they write.

Their move may amount to the end of the group, which even before Friday’s development had failed to produce a final product after months of de-

See BILL PAGE 9A

Court indicts man accused in smuggling case

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ

TECHNOLOGY

THE ZAPATA TIMES

IPHONE 5 CALLS WORLD

Photo by John Amis | AP

In Atlanta, Isabel Ramo, 3, right, compares her iPhone 4 with her mom Christen Ramo’s new iPhone 5s on Friday, the day of release for Apple’s new iPhone 5 series.

Thousands line up to buy new models 5s and 5c

By ADAM SATARIANO BLOOMBERG NEWS

Apple Inc. attracted long lines of shoppers at its retail stores Friday for the global debut of its latest iPhones, in the company’s biggest move this year to stoke new growth.

In Munich about 2,000 people lined up and at the

Louvre in Paris about 300 people waited ahead of the 8 a.m. opening. At Tokyo’s Ginza area store there were about 800 people, including some dressed as Batman and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in a face mask, jeans and black turtleneck. A Beijing store attracted a crowd of only about 50 because buyers had to register online for an

appointment to collect their devices.

The iPhone 5s and 5c handsets also went on sale Friday in Hong Kong, Singapore, Germany, France, U.K. and the U.S. It’s the first time Apple is rolling out its flagship product for sale in China on the same day as elsewhere, rescinding the usual three-month delay, as the

company seeks to lure new customers in the world’s largest mobile-phone market.

“Last year, if you wanted an iPhone 5 right after the launch, it was very expensive because you had to buy one that had been brought in from Hong Kong or the U.S.,” said Max Zhang, a 20-year-

See IPHONE PAGE 9A

A Zapata man caught transporting four illegal immigrants near the Siesta Shores neighborhood Aug. 27 has been indicted in federal court, court records released this week show.

Juan Francisco Ledesma faces one count of conspiracy to transport undocumented people within the United States and two counts of transport and attempt to transport undocumented people for financial gain, the indictment filed Tuesday states.

Each count carries a punishment of not more than 10 years and/or $250,000. The indictment was filed Tuesday. Ledesma has arraignment set for Sept. 26 in courtroom 2C with U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker.

At 7:30 p.m. Aug. 27, a Zapata County Sheriff ’s investigator requested assistance from U.S. Border Patrol with a vehicle stop along U.S. 83 near the Siesta Shores neighborhood. An investigator had stopped a white 2005 Chevrolet Silverado with a black hood for expired registration and expired motor vehicle inspection. Ledesma was identified as the driver.

The investigator approached the driver’s side and noticed four people lying in the back seat of the Silverado. Authorities had placed a lookout on a white Chevrolet pickup with a black hood following a report from a concerned citizen, a criminal complaint states.

Reports indicated that the white Chevrolet loaded four people who came out from a brushy area within the back of a property. When Border Patrol arrived, Ledesma identified himself as a U.S. citizen. The four passengers were Mexican nationals who had entered the country illegally, court documents state.

An illegal immigrant held as witness stated his mother had made arrangements with an unidentified man in Dallas to smuggle him, his mother and cousin into the United States. On Aug. 27, the group met with a man identified in court documents as “El Flaco.” “El Flaco” got them in a boat to cross Falcon Lake. Once on U.S. soil, they walked through the brush to the rear of the trailer near the Siesta Shores neighborhood.

(César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)

WEATHER

Rainy weekend is here ASSOCIATED PRESS

DALLAS — Parts of Texas have been getting soaked as rain and cooler temperatures reach the state in a soggy end to summer.

Oncor reported about 7,500 customers without electricity Friday, compared to four times that number overnight as storms reached North Texas. Most outages are in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Classes at Rockwall-Heath High School were canceled Friday due to no electricity.

Arlington firefighters used a ladder truck to rescue several motorists whose vehicles stopped in high water. Waco police reported flooded roads and some stalled vehicles.

Odessa also had street flooding.

The National Weather Service reported scattered showers in the Corpus Christi area and far South Texas.

Emergency management officials in the Houston area warned of possible widespread heavy rain late Friday and potential for flooding.

According to Weather Underground, a cold front extended from southwest Texas to the northern Plains on Friday, bringing widespread thunderstorms to the state and parts of the central Plains.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms associated with a pair of low pressure systems brought plenty of precipita-

tion and some flooding to Texas on Friday. This cold front moved very slowly through the state, which caused flooding along parts of the southeast portion of the state.

Remnants of Tropical Cyclone Manuel also moved northeast over Mexico earlier today, which helped feed energy to the system sitting over Texas. Although the state was prone to flooding on Friday, drought-stricken areas felt plenty of relief as this system trekked over the state. Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Illinois also Photo by Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune Herald | AP experienced wet weather as a result of this slow-moving Jordan Rousseau, right, lends a hand to help Jonathan Jolly, left, retrieve his pickup truck after it stalled in the high water near Interstate 35 and the Baylor University campus on Friday, in Waco. frontal boundary.

Heavy rains are forecast throughout the state this weekend.

Autumn begins Sunday.

PAGE 2A

Zin brief CALENDAR

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2013

AROUND TEXAS

TODAY IN HISTORY

SATURDAY, SEPT. 21

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Zapata Lions Club will hold a chicken plate sale, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Zapata Community Center parking lot. $5 per plate. Proceeds will go towards the Zapata Lions Club’s annual dictionary project, scholarships and annual Christmas turkey giveaway.

For more information, contact Aurelio Villarreal at 286-3085 or Steve Sanchez at 285-9128.

Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium: “Zula Patrol: Down to Earth” at 2 p.m.; “Earth, Moon and Sun” at 3 p.m.; “Attack of the Space Pirates” at 4 p.m.; and “Pink Floyd’s The Wall” at 5 p.m.

General admission $4 for children and $5 for adults. Premium shows $1 more. Call 326-3663.

Today is Saturday, Sept. 21, the 264th day of 2013. There are 101 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: On Sept. 21, 1912, magician Harry Houdini first publicly performed his so-called Chinese Water Torture Cell trick at the Circus Busch in Berlin, escaping after being immersed upside-down in a vertical water tank, his ankles secured in a set of stocks which made up the tank lid, which was locked into place.

On this date: In 1792, the French National Convention voted to abolish the monarchy.

In 1893, one of America’s first horseless carriages was taken for a short test drive in Springfield, Mass., by Frank Duryea, who had designed the vehicle with his brother, Charles.

In 1897, the New York Sun ran its famous editorial, written anonymously by Francis P. Church, which declared, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”

In 1912, legendary cartoon animator Chuck Jones was born in Spokane, Wash.

In 1937, “The Hobbit,” by J.R.R. Tolkien, was first published by George Allen & Unwin Ltd. of London.

In 1938, a hurricane struck parts of New York and New England, causing widespread damage and claiming some 700 lives.

In 1948, Milton Berle made his debut as permanent host of “The Texaco Star Theater” on NBC-TV. In 1962, “The Jack Paar Program,” a weekly, prime-time show that followed Paar’s stint on “The Tonight Show,” began a three-year run.

In 1970, “NFL Monday Night Football” made its debut on ABC-TV as the Cleveland Browns defeated the visiting New York Jets, 31-21.

In 1982, Amin Gemayel, brother of Lebanon’s assassinated president-elect, Bashir Gemayel, was himself elected president. National Football League players began a 57-day strike, their first regular-season walkout.

In 1987, NFL players called a strike, mainly over the issue of free agency. (The 24-day walkout prompted football owners to hire replacement players.)

Ten years ago: NASA’s aging Galileo spacecraft deliberately plunged into Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere, bringing a fiery conclusion to a 14year exploration of the solar system’s largest planet and its moons. Five years ago: “Mad Men” became the first basiccable show to win the top series Emmy; “30 Rock” and its stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin won comedy awards. One year ago: No one was injured when a plane carrying Ann Romney made an emergency landing in Denver after smoke filled the cabin.

Today’s Birthdays: Poetsongwriter Leonard Cohen is 79. Author-comedian Fannie Flagg is 72. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer is 70. Musician Don Felder is 66. Author Stephen King is 66. Basketball Hall of Famer Artis Gilmore is 64. Actor-comedian Bill Murray is 63. Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Delahoussaye is 62.

Rock musician Philthy Animal is 59. Movie producerwriter Ethan Coen is 56.

Thought for Today: “The crisis of yesterday is the joke of tomorrow.” — H.G. Wells, English author (born this day in 1866, died 1946).

THURSDAY, SEPT. 26 Los Amigos Duplicate Bridge Club. 1:15 p.m. to 5 p.m. Laredo Country Club. Call 727-0589.

Book-signing with Beatriz de la Garza, author of “From the Republic of the Rio Grande.” 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Villa Antigua Border Heritage Museum, 810 Zaragoza St. Books available for sale.

Call 727-0977.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 28 Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium: “The Little Star that Could” at 2 p.m.; “Force 5: Nature Unleashed” at 3 p.m.; “Violent Universe” at 4 p.m.; and “Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon” at 5 p.m. General admission $4 for children and $5 for adults. Premium shows $1 more. Call 326-3663.

SATURDAY, OCT. 5 First United Methodist Church’s used book sale. 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

1220 McClelland Ave. Hardback books $1. Paperback books 50 cents. Magazines and children’s books 25 cents.

Outrun Abuse 5k Run/Walk, hosted by Kristine Meza Foundation in partnership with Battered Women’s Shelter. 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in San Antonio. facebook.com/TheKristineMezaFoundation.

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.

TUESDAY, OCT. 15 A One Day Crash Course for Creative Leadership. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Room 101, De La Garza Building, Fort McIntosh Campus, Laredo Community College. $159 per person. Visit laredo.edu/edc or call 721-5110.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 16 Laredo Toastmaster’s evening meeting. Public speaking and leadership are focus. Meetings held at third Wednesday of each month. http://laredotoastmasters.toastmastersclubs.org.

Contact Humberto Vela at humbertovela@sbcglobal.net or 740-3633.

International Bank of Commerce 2013-2014 Keynote Speaker Series, featuring Dr. Shannon K. O’Neil, senior fellow for Latin American Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C. 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

TAMIU Student Center Ballroom (SC 203). O’Neil will present “Two Nations Indivisible: Medico, the United Sates, and the Road Ahead.” Contact Amy Palacios at 326-2820 or cswht@tamiu.edu.

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. Items will run as space is available.

Photo by Todd Spoth/The Houston Chronicle

Rodrick Glaze, left, fills out a variety of applications, during a job fair on Sept, 10, 2012, at the M.O. Campbell center in Houston. According to the Texas Workforce Commission, Texas unemployment rate fell slightly in August to 6.4 percent.

Jobless rate falls slightly ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — Texas unemployment rate fell slightly in August to 6.4 percent, the Texas Workforce Commission said Friday.

Last month’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate compares to 6.5 percent in July, TWC officials said.

The U.S. unemployment rate in August was 7.3 percent.

The Midland area had Texas’ lowest jobless rate last month, at 3.2 percent. The rate was 3.9 percent in the neighboring Odessa area. The McAllen-Edinburg-Mission area had the highest unemployment statewide at 10.8 percent, commission figures show.

“Every major industry in Texas showed positive annual job growth and Texas employers added 274,700 jobs over the year,”

said Andres Alcantar, TWC chairman. “We encourage Texans to visit their local Workforce Solutions office to access the many job search tools available to them free of charge.”

An upward revision of July’s total nonfarm employment figures showed 36,800 jobs added. Total nonfarm employment in August decreased slightly by a net total of 6,400 jobs.

Texas has added 26,600 jobs over the last three months, according to the TWC. Employers in mining and logging expanded their payrolls last month, adding 1,900 jobs to the industry, which has the highest annual growth rate among the major industries in Texas at 5.5 percent, TWC figures show.

Professional and business services added 2,900 jobs in August.

2 men robbed in Houston waiting for new iPhone

Bush to host golf tournament for veterans

San Marcos woman gets life in prison for 6th DWI

HOUSTON — Two people in Houston are getting an assist from an AT&T Store where they had their old iPhones stolen while waiting for their new ones.

The men were in line Friday when they were approached by armed men who demanded their phones and wallets. When the store opened, they got their new iPhones — with credit for the phones that were stolen.

IRVING — Former President George W. Bush will participate in the third Warrior Open golf tournament scheduled to be held next week in North Texas.

The George W. Bush Presidential Center announced Wednesday that 24 wounded U.S. military members will play in the tournament in Irving.

The event begins Thursday, Sept. 26.

SAN MARCOS — A 44-yearold Central Texas woman has been sentenced to life in prison for her sixth driving while intoxicated conviction.

A Hays County jury on Wednesday sentenced Rose Ann Davidson of San Marcos.

Prosecutors say Davidson served time in prison for her previous alcohol-related convictions.

Drivers overcharged at DFW airport

Houston craft beer to benefit cancer research

GRAPEVINE — Thousands of drivers leaving Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport have been overcharged due to technical errors during the first two weeks of a new $56 million parking control system.

Airport officials say some problems involved scanners not properly reading toll tags.

The airport says all overcharges will be reimbursed.

HOUSTON — A Houston craft brewery has released a limitededition beer in tribute to a veteran beer adviser and his fight against brain cancer.

The Houston Chronicle reports Buffalo Bayou Brewing released the beer Friday.

Each bottle will sell for $10, with $3 going to the Christus Stehlin Foundation for Cancer Research.

2 killed when bus, tractor-trailer collide CARTHAGE — A tractor-trailer rig slammed into a passenger bus early Thursday on a rural East Texas road, killing the bus driver and a passenger and injuring four other people.

A Texas Department of Public Safety statement says the crash happened about 1 a.m. on U.S. 59.

DPS Trooper Jean Dark says the El Expreso bus was traveling from Houston to Chicago.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION Obama, first lady, to attend memorial WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will visit with families of victims of the Washington Navy Yard shooting on Sunday and attend a memorial at the Marine Barracks Washington, the White House said.

The memorial also is scheduled for Sunday at the historic barracks, not far from the Navy Yard where 12 people were fatally shot by 34-year-old Aaron Alexis, who was killed by law enforcement Monday.

CONTACT US Publisher, William B. Green........................728-2501 Business Manager, Dora Martinez ...... (956) 324-1226 General Manager, Adriana Devally ...............728-2510 Adv. Billing Inquiries ................................. 728-2531 Circulation Director ................................. 728-2559 MIS Director, Michael Castillo.................... 728-2505 Copy Editor, Nick Georgiou ....................... 728-2565 Managing Editor, Mary Nell Sanchez........... 728-2543 Sports Editor, Adam Geigerman..................728-2578 Spanish Editor ........................................ 728-2569 Photo by Stephen Morton | AP

Fund for honest homeless man raises $100k

U.S. Army Honor Guard Spc. Steven Fleming stands at attention during a Warriors Walk tree dedication ceremony Thursday in Fort Stewart, Ga. The 466 trees planted serve as a monument to soldiers serving with the 3rd Infantry Division.

BOSTON — A fund set up for a Boston homeless man who turned in a backpack he found filled with more than $40,000 has raised more than that.

Glen James flagged down a police officer Saturday after he

found a backpack containing $2,400 in cash and nearly $40,000 in traveler’s checks at the South Bay Mall.

The man who lost the backpack told workers at a nearby store at the mall and they called police, who returned the back-

pack.

Midlothian, Va., resident Ethan Whittington read about James’ honesty and started a fund for him. By late Thursday donations were near $111,000 and growing.

— Compiled from AP reports

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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, SEPTEMBER 21, 2013

Lions hosting plate sale SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

The Zapata Lions Club will host a chicken plate sale today.

The plate sale will take place at the Zapata

Community Center parking lot from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Each plate is $5.

Proceeds will go towards the Zapata Lions Club’s annual dictionary

project, scholarships and annual Christmas turkey giveaway.

For more information, contact Aurelio Villarreal at 286-3085 or Steve Sanchez at 285-9128.

Sheriff seeks assistance

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

Zapata County Sheriff ’s officials need assistance from the community to identify the person or people who broke into Eva’s Cash and Carry business.

Deputies responded to a burglary call reported at the business at 1:38 p.m.

Tuesday in the 1000 block of U.S. 83. The owner told

deputies that someone forced open a wooden window that’s located around the building. The break-in occurred sometime between Sept. 13 and Sept. 15, authorities said.

A ratchet and socket set, jewelry items, collectable coin set, 10 PlayStation games, a crystal pitcher, a stereo surround sound system, two toaster ovens and two karaoke machines

were reported stolen, according to sheriff ’s officials.

Sgt. Mario Elizondo said the stolen property was valued at about $1,550. People with information on the case are asked to call the sheriff ’s office at 7659960. All callers may remain anonymous.

(César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)

THE BLOTTER Assault An assault, family violence incident was reported at 5:45 a.m. Monday in the 700 block of Bravo Avenue.

Burglary A burglary of a vehicle was reported at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 1800 block of Jackson Street.

Criminal mischief A criminal mischief was reported at 4:11 a.m. Sept. 14 in

the intersection of Seventh Street and Laredo Avenue.

A criminal mischief was reported at 10:48 a.m. Monday on Miraflores Avenue.

Dog bite A dog bite was reported at 10:15 p.m. Sept. 13 in the 1500 block of Falcon Lane.

Possession A juvenile was detained and charged with possession of marijuana in a drug-free zone at about 12:15 p.m. Friday at Zapa-

ta High School.

Theft A theft was reported at 9:49 a.m. Sept. 12 in the 400 block of Elm Street.

A theft was reported at 4:20 p.m. Sept. 15 at the Garcia Ranch.

A theft was reported at 8:35 a.m. Monday at LCA Oil Field Rental and Services in the 100 block of Madison Avenue.

A theft was reported at 9 p.m. Monday in the 1300 block of Guerrero Avenue.

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

Feds indict woman

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

A federal grand jury in Laredo formally charged this week a woman caught in Laredo transporting illegal immigrants from Zapata to Laredo for money on Aug. 30, court documents show.

An indictment filed against Eva Linette Garcia on Tuesday charges her with one count of conspiracy to transport undocumented people within the United States and two counts of transporting and attempting to transport undocumented people for financial gain.

Garcia’s allegations

stem from a traffic stop made by a Department of Public Safety trooper at 10:40 a.m. Aug. 30 along U.S. 83, north of the City of Rio Bravo in Southern Webb County. The trooper pulled over a gray 2004 Ford F-250 because the pickup did not have a license plate, a criminal complaint filed Sept. 3 states.

Garcia was cited for operating a motor vehicle when unlicensed.

During the stop, the trooper noticed five passengers who could not provide proper identification.

A complaint alleges none of the five people would speak English. U.S. Border

Patrol agents arrived to perform immigration inspections and discovered that all five people were in the United States illegally.

In a post-arrest interview, Garcia spoke to federal authorities.

“Garcia also voluntarily stated that she was transporting the undocumented (people) for financial gain from Zapata to Laredo,” court documents read.

Garcia remains in federal custody.

She has arraignment set for Sept. 26 in courtroom 2C with U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker.

(César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmontline.com)

PAGE 4A

Zopinion

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2013

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM

COLUMN

OTHER VIEWS

Constitution Day leaves us lessons AUSTIN — I trust you had an enjoyable and productive Constitution Day on Tuesday. Mine was nice, thanks for asking.

As you know, an act of Congress made Constitution Day a holiday, though not one when you get to take the day off. There also, best I can tell, were no mattress sales. (And remember, if you don’t buy a new mattress every couple of weeks you will be eaten by vermin while you sleep.)

Federal law requires all publicly funded schools to observe Constitution Day, commemorating its signing Sept. 17, 1787, by teaching something about our nation’s guiding document. The Texas chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates takes it to an impressive level with its James Otis Lecture Series, which brings highachieving high school kids to the Capitol for activities.

FYI, Otis was a colonial-era lawyer credited with popularizing the concept of “A man’s home is his castle” as he railed against the Brits’ warrantless searches. Otis also said, “Taxation without representation is tyranny.” He also said, “I hope when God Almighty in his righteous providence shall take me out of time into eternity that it will be by a flash of lightning.”

Otis, 58, died in 1783, struck by lightning.

This year’s lecturer was H.W. Brands, the celebrated author and University of Texas professor.

“It was just the work of a bunch of guys,” Brands said of the Constitution, which remains an amazing guiding document, even as we argue about whether the founders had the Internet and automatic weapons in mind when they endorsed free speech and the right to bear arms.

The students got copies of the U.S. Constitution, which Brands told them is a “slim little pamphlet,” while the Texas Constitution is “a big fat book.”

“It’s one of the secrets of success of the United States Constitution,” Brands said of its relative brevity.

State constitutions tend to be longer than the federal document and Texas’ is among the longest, with 474 amendments and nine more pending on the Nov. 5 ballot. You’re doing your homework on those, aren’t you?

There are some important items on that ballot — including a water plan for the state. And then there’s stuff like Proposition 2, stuff that results from a too-long, overly detailed Constitution that includes stuff that should be in statute, not a constitution.

“

KEN HERMAN

“

I hope when God … shall take me out of time into eternity that it will be by a flash of lightning.”

COLONIAL-ERA LAWYER JAMES OTIS

EDITORIAL

Business hunt is more a stunt FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM

Prop 2 on the Nov. 5 ballot says: “The constitutional amendment eliminating an obsolete requirement for a State Medical Education Board and a State Medical Education Fund, neither of which is operational.”

The ever-vigilant League of Women Voters of Texas tells us that state Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, sponsor of the proposed amendment, has said the board “was ineffective in its time and, as a result, has been idle since 1988.” The amendment, he said, “will trim our sprawling Constitution and finally eliminate an agency that the Sunset Commission advised us to abolish 25 years ago.”

And then there’s Prop 8: “The constitutional amendment repealing Section 7, Article IX, Texas Constitution, which relates to the creation of a hospital district in Hidalgo County.”

I sense some indecision on this one. I hear a collective “Huh?” out there in that magic place we call voterland. Prop 8 actually is an unamendment, not an amendment, because it would remove an amendment voters added in 1960. It’s up to you to decide the future of the Hidalgo County hospital district, even though some of you have no idea where Hidalgo County is.

This is a great process, isn’t it?

Here’s an early warning: If you’re not already registered to vote, you have until Oct. 7 to do so to qualify to cast your ballot Nov. 5.

Alabama’s got the longest state constitution.

We’ve got another chance coming up to add to ours.

Ken Herman is a columnist for the Austin American-Statesman.

Email: kherman@statesman.com.

Gov. Rick Perry’s latest economic-development raid on another state has sunk into a familiar pattern: Perry announces his arrival — this time in Maryland — with a barrage of radio and TV ads saying, “Move to Texas.”

Local officials protest and accuse Perry of staging an outlaw raid on unsuspecting citizens.

Perry lands to frontpage headlines, TV cameras and radio microphones, and talks about Texas’ favorable tax and

regulatory climate.

Everybody gets lots of jokes for morning radio, Perry is home by the next Aggie game, and Texas gets the travel bill.

The governor will make his next cold call Wednesday when he goes to Maryland.

Perry’s past pirate raids have been to states big enough to matter: California, New York, Illinois. Maryland is barely bigger than Brewster and Pecos counties in Texas.

But on the list of “best states for business,” Maryland is no smallfry. The

state is the 16th best state for business, according to Forbes (Texas is No. 7) and has both a better and more educated labor supply and a far better “quality of life.”

Maryland officials responded by emphasizing their education credentials.

State House Speaker Michael E. Busch said the raid is “ironic from someone who, when he ran for president, couldn’t identify the government agencies he’d like to eliminate.”

Gov. Martin O’Malley chimed in by telling a party fundraiser Perry is “all

COLUMN

It’s time to show the bodies

By LLEWELLYN KING HEARST NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON — The thing about gun lovers is that they are passionate.

The thing about those who aren’t gun lovers is that they simply want the killing to stop. That makes the argument asymmetrical and gives the advantage to the gun lovers.

After every mass shooting — Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, and now the Navy Yard — there is outrage among the articulate middle class, but in time it dies down. This, too, is asymmetrical.

The middle class can’t get to the barricades fast enough when it is they who are in trouble; but it is notably absent when their members aren’t being shot or, for that matter, imprisoned, frisked, or fighting on the front lines.

In Chicago, an average of three homicides occur every night. On Labor Day alone, 12 people were killed and 25 wounded. But these are almost all in the ghetto and are black-on-black murders.

As a nation, we lose 31,000 people to gun deaths,

accidental suicide and murder every year. By 2015, gun deaths will exceed road fatalities. Most of the gun deaths will be among youngsters on the street.

Cars are getting safer by design, as new technology is incorporated. Guns are getting more dangerous by design, as more civilian versions of military weapons flood the country.

Military weapons are supposed to be lethal. The most obvious example of a modified battlefield weapon is the AR-15; it is the civilian version — semiautomatic instead of fully automatic — of the U.S. Army’s basic assault rifle, the M16. The AR-15 was used in the Sandy Hook shootings.

Let’s take time out for people like me who like guns. I love the feel of them, the inherent majesty of them, the transference of power when you heft one.

Yes, they make you feel more manly, more like a card-carrying member of the warrior class.

I learned to shoot when I was quite young, maybe 11.

The thrill — the sense of being augmented — stays with you. Guns are seduc-

tive. If you are young and male, the seduction is complete; you have a pocketful of machismo.

But if you are young and male and you live on the streets of a city like Chicago or Houston or Los Angeles, entrapped by drugs and gangs, your gun will seem like your best friend until someone else’s gun takes your life, or you take another life. In this demimonde, children who are too young to have been in love are not too young to kill or be killed.

Joe Madison, a tireless crusader for many causes, and broadcaster on SiriusXM Satellite Radio, urged after the Dec. 14 Sandy Hook shooting rampage that the bodies — the broken, bloody, shattered bodies — of the schoolchildren, should be shown on television. That way, he argued, the nation would be shocked into action.

No good, in other words, showing the flowers and the teddy bears. Guns don’t make flowers and teddy bears; they make gaping, lethal wounds.

It was the pictures of the wounded and the dead that

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hat and no cattle” and that when the two debated state affairs in 2011, “I kicked his … and he never came back again.”

Perry’s pitch targets O’Malley for raising taxes and for Maryland’s “rain tax,” which essentially charges landowners for paving that increases runoff into Chesapeake Bay. Perry told Fox News the trip shows off Texas’ “competitive environment”: “If you’re afraid of competition, maybe you shouldn’t be in the game.”

Mostly, he’s competing for cameras.

DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

turned the tide of public opinion during the Vietnam War; it was stark pictures that drove home the horror of lynching.

If the day-in, day-out murders were documented, if the agony of the street killings were exposed by a modern-day Charles Dickens, this national veneration for the tools of killing would pass. Guns would begin to go where they belong: under lock and key, or in a well-ordered militia.

Guns don’t enhance freedom, they curtail it; they put our cities off limits to many after dark and take life. Death is the absolute confiscation of freedom.

The gun lobby cannot be fought the way Piers Morgan of CNN fights it — with logic. The victims must speak from the grave through photography, video and even fiction.

You don’t fight the gun lobby; you undermine it with the silent voices of those it has claimed. Guns kill people.

(Llewellyn King is executive producer and host of ”White House Chronicle” on PBS. Email: lkingkingpublishing.com.)

State

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2013

Early stumbles in post-Perry races

By PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — For Republicans eager to lead Texas after Gov. Rick Perry finally steps aside in 2014, there’s one easy way to describe their campaign blunders so far: Oops.

Attorney General Greg Abbott, the early favorite to replace Perry, thanked a supporter who tweeted that likely Democratic challenger Wendy Davis was a “retard Barbie.” Top Abbott strategist Dave Carney, who ran Perry’s failed White House bid in 2012, himself tweeted the headline of an article that said Davis was “too stupid” to be governor.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, facing a fierce GOP primary challenge for his seat, was trying to show his conservative mettle at a debate this week when he said he doesn’t put Democrats in charge of “critical committees.” Among his Senate panels helmed by Democrats: Veteran Affairs.

All are unforced errors

by GOP front-runners that any political opponent would relish — especially Texas Democrats, who need all the help they can get to lessen the long odds next year of the party winning a statewide office for the first time in 20 years.

But as they wait for Davis’ expected Oct. 3 announcement that she will run, they’re left without a candidate to pounce on their rivals’ missteps.

“When Todd Akin made a misstep, at least there was Claire McCaskill to take an opportunity,” said Democratic strategist Matt Glazer of the Austin-based Glazer Group. He was referring to the 2012 U.S. Senate race in Missouri when Akin, a Republican,

doomed his candidacy by saying that women’s bodies have a way of shutting down ABBOTT during “legitimate” rape.

“If there were a candidate already announced, you can fundraise off it.

You can get endorsements off of it,” Glazer said. “But to do that, you have to be the counterpoint to the Republican alternative.”

Perry, the longest-serving governor in Texas history, is not seeking re-election after 14 years in office.

But a trip this week to Maryland, which included a stop at a gun manufacturer, continues fueling speculation that he may again run for president in 2016. Doing so would mean shaking off the gaffe that sunk his candidacy in 2011, when Perry forgot the name of the third federal agency he would abolish during a debate.

Backlash over the retweets from Abbott’s camp and Dewhurst’s choice of words was mostly led by Democratic activists. Both Republicans, however, still responded this week.

Asked about Carney’s “too stupid” tweet during a campaign stop in suburban Austin, Abbott distanced himself.

“I disagree with that statement and we’re going to make sure that this campaign focuses on the real issues that matter to Texans,” Abbott said.

In August, Abbott wrote “thanks for your support” to a backer who tweeted that Davis was a “retard Barbie.” Abbott has said he did not see the comment while firing of gratitude to supporters and rebuked the language in the tweet.

Democratic Sen. Leticia

Van de Putte, who is rumored to be weighing a run for lieutenant governor and chairs the Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs, sent Dewhurst a letter this week criticizing his characterization of the panels he leaves in the hands of Democrats.

“As a Democrat in the state of Texas, I would understand if you attacked me personally at a Republican political debate. However, I take great exception with dismissing the work of the committee which I chair,” Van de Putte wrote.

A spokesman for Dewhurst responded by asserting his support for veterans and their families.

Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, said the tweets will only haunt Abbott if it becomes a pattern.

Jones said the issue is a delicate one for the Texas GOP. Barring a female Republican candidate getting in a race, Jones said the party will go into 2014 without at least one female candidate running for one of the state’s top six executive posts for the first time since 1986.

But being so early in the campaign season, hardly all rank-and-file voters are noticing the slip-ups, anyway.

Lisa Sneed, a Republican who said she owned a cupcake bakery near Dallas that was frequented by Perry, was not even aware of the miscues by Abbott and Dewhurst. She is a strong supporter of Abbott, but said she hoped he was careful with Davis in the months ahead.

“I love Gov. Perry. I love him. But he is not a good public speaker. He does not have a gauge, a filter, between the brain and the mouth,” Sneed said.

THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

State won’t change drug

By MICHAEL GRACZYK ASSOCIATED PRESS

HUNTSVILLE — The nation’s most active death penalty state says it won’t change its execution drug, but won’t say how it will replace its supply that expires this month.

“We have not changed our current execution protocol and have no immediate plans to do so,” Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark said in a statement to The Associated Press on Thursday, shortly before the state carried out its 12th execution this year.

He would not elaborate on how the state will obtain the drug.

Texas switched to a lethal, single dose of the sedative pentobarbital last year after one of the drugs used in its previous threedrug execution process became difficult to obtain and the state’s supply expired. Other death-penalty states have encountered similar problems after some drug suppliers barred the drugs’ use for executions or have refused, under pressure from death-penalty opponents, to sell or manufacture drugs for use in executions.

In the past two years, pentobarbital has been used alone or in concert with other drugs in all executions in the U.S. Some death penalty states, including Georgia, have said they’re turning to compounding pharmacies for pentobarbital.

Such pharmacies make customized drugs not scrutinized by the Federal Drug Administration. It’s hard to tell exactly how many states have used or are planning to use compounding pharmacies for execution drugs because states frequently resist disclosing the source of the drugs.

Missouri, meanwhile, is planning to use propofol, an anesthetic which gained infamy in the 2009 death of pop star Michael Jackson, as the lethal drug for scheduled executions of two convicted killers later this year.

If Texas plans to continue using the same execution drug, it would make sense that it would get it from a compounding pharmacy, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington.

“States are taking different routes, but they’re all facing this kind of crisis,” he said.

Dieter said it’s hard to know if getting execution drugs through compounding pharmacies will become the norm for states.

But he expects there will be legal challenges to the procedure as inmates and their attorneys will want to find out information about the drug, its dosage, the reliability of its manufacturer.

Georgia’s first use of an execution drug obtained through a compounding pharmacy was put on hold in July after the condemned inmate challenged

a new state law that bars the release of information about where Georgia obtains its execution drug.

“This is a basic matter of due process. A defendant has a legitimate interest in how he’s going to be executed,” he said.

The FDA considers compounding pharmacy products unapproved drugs and does not verify their safety or effectiveness.

As of May 2012, Texas had 46 of the 2.5-gram vials of pentobarbital — presumably enough to execute as many as 23 prisoners, since each execution requires a 5-gram dose.

The execution Thursday of Robert Gene Garza, convicted of being involved in the fatal ambush shootings of four women in the Rio Grande Valley, was the 21st lethal injection since that disclosure.

It’s possible the drug issue could result in court challenges by death penalty opponents or attorneys for the inmates facing imminent execution, such as Arturo Diaz, set to die in Texas next week for the slaying of a Rio Grande Valley man stabbed nearly 100 times during a 1999 robbery.

Garza, in late appeals Thursday to the U.S. Supreme Court, contended the state should disclose the expiration date of drugs intended for his execution, arguing that those nearing the end of their shelf life could fail and leave him in pain, paralyzed or comatose.

International

6A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2013

Pope blasts abortion after blast on rules

By NICOLE WINFIELD ASSOCIATED PRESS

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis offered an olive branch of sorts to the doctrine-minded, conservative wing of the Catholic Church on Friday as he denounced abortions as a symptom of today’s “throwaway culture” and encouraged Catholic doctors to refuse to perform them.

Francis issued a strong anti-abortion message and cited Vatican teaching on the need to defend the unborn during an audience with Catholic gynecologists.

It came a day after he was quoted as blasting the church’s obsession with “small-minded rules” that are driving the faithful away. In an interview that has sent shockwaves through the church, Francis urged its pastors to focus on being merciful and welcoming rather than insisting only on such divisive, hot-button issues as abortion, gay marriage and contraception.

Even before the interview was published, some conservatives had voiced disappointment that Francis had shied away from restating such church rules. Francis explained his reason for doing so in the interview with the Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica, saying church teaching on such issues is wellknown, he supports it, but that he doesn’t feel it necessary to repeat it constantly.

He did repeat it on Friday, however. In his comments, Francis denounced today’s “throw-away culture” that justifies dispos-

Photo by Claudio Peri/pool | AP

Pope Francis exchanges gifts with Hungary’s President Janos Ader at the Vatican on Friday. Pope Francis offered an olive branch of sorts to the conservative wing of the Catholic Church on Friday as he denounced abortions as a symptom of today’s “throw-away culture.” ing of lives, and said doctors in particular had been forced into situations where they are called to “not respect life.”

“Every child that isn’t born, but is unjustly condemned to be aborted, has the face of Jesus Christ, has the face of the Lord,” he said.

He urged the gynecologists to abide by their consciences and help bring lives into the world.

“Things have a price and can be for sale, but people have a dignity that is priceless and worth far more than things,” he said.

Francis’ comments to

Civilta Cattolica contained no change in church teaching, but they represented a radical shift in tone and stood in stark contrast to the priorities of his two immediate predecessors.

John Paul II and Benedict XVI were both intellectuals for whom doctrine was paramount, an orientation that guided the selection of a generation of bishops and cardinals who, in countries like the United States, have put themselves on the front lines in opposing abortion and gay marriage. They now find themselves being asked to preach more to those who

Manuel back to hurricane status

By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN ASSOCIATED PRESS

MIAMI — The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Manuel has become a hurricane with its northern eyewall now nearing the Pacific Coast of Mexico.

Forecasters say the deadly storm has strengthened and it has top sustained winds of 75 mph. Late Friday Manuel was centered about 20 miles southeast of the western Mexican community of Altata.

The center also says Manuel is moving north at 5 mph and a hurricane warning is in effect from La Cruz to Topolobampo in Mexico. Some strengthening is possible as it nears the coast.

Meanwhile, the toll from devastating twin storms climbed to 80 on Wednesday as isolated areas reported deaths and damage to the outside world, and Mexican officials said that a massive landslide in the mountains north of the resort of Acapulco could drive the number of confirmed dead even higher.

Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said federal authorities had reached the cutoff village of La Pintada by helicopter and had airlifted out 35 residents, four of whom were seriously injured in the slide. Officials have not yet seen any bodies, he said, despite reports from people in the area that at least 18 people had been killed.

“It doesn’t look good, based on the photos we have in our possession,” Osorio Chong said, while noting that “up to this point, we do not have any (confirmed) as dead in the landslide.” Osorio Chong told local media that “this is a very powerful landslide, very big ... You can see that it hit a lot of houses.”

Mayor Edilberto Tabares of the township of Atoyac told Milenio television that 18 bodies had been recovered and possibly many more remained buried in the remote mountain village. Atoyac, a largely rural township about 42 miles west of Acapulco, is acces-

sible only by a highway broken multiple times by landslides and flooding.

Ricardo de la Cruz, a spokesman for the federal Department of Civil Protection, said the death toll had risen to 80 from 60 earlier in the day, although he did not provide details of the reports that drove it up.

In Acapulco, three days of Biblical rain and leaden skies evaporated into broiling late-summer sunshine that roasted thousands of furious tourists trying vainly to escape the city, and hundreds of thousands of residents returning to homes devastated by reeking tides of brown floodwater.

The depth of the destruction wreaked by Tropical Storm Manuel hit residents and visitors with full force as Mexico’s transportation secretary said it would be Friday at the earliest before authorities cleared the parallel highways that connect this bayside resort to Mexico City and the rest of the world. Hundreds of residents of Acapulco’s poor outlying areas slogged through waist-high water to pound on the closed shutters of a looted Costco, desperate for food, drinking water and other basics.

Many paused and fished in the murky waters for anything of value piling waterlogged clothing and empty aluminum cans into plastic bags.

“If we can’t work, we have to come and get something to eat,” said fisherman Anastasio Barrera, 60, as he stood with his wife outside the store. “The city government isn’t doing anything for us, and neither is the state government.”

Manuel re-formed into a tropical storm Wednesday, threatening to bring more flooding to the country’s northern coast. With a tropical disturbance over the Yucatan Peninsula headed toward Mexico’s Gulf coast, the country could face another double hit as it struggles to restore services and evacuate those stranded by flooding from Manuel and Hurricane Ingrid, which hit the Gulf

coast over the weekend.

Mexico’s federal Civil Protection coordinator, Luis Felipe Puente, said 35,000 homes were damaged or destroyed.

Elsewhere in the verdant coastal countryside of the southern state of Guerrero, residents used turned motorboats into improvised ferries, shuttling passengers, boxes of fruit and jugs of water across rivers that surged and ripped bridges from their foundations over the weekend. Outside the town of Lomas de Chapultepec, the Papagayo River surged more than 30 feet during the peak of Manuel’s flooding, overturning a bridge that stretched hundreds of feet across the mouth of the river.

In Acapulco’s upscale Diamond Zone, the military commandeered a commercial center for tourists trying to get onto one of the military or commercial flights that remained the only way out of the city.

Thousands lined up outside the mall’s locked gates, begging for a seat on a military flight or demanding that airline Aeromexico honor a previously purchased ticket.

“We don’t even have money left to buy water,” said Tayde Sanchez Morales, a retired electric company worker from the city of Puebla.

A lucky few held up ransacked beach umbrellas against the sun. Temperatures were in the mid-80s but felt far hotter. Dozens of others collapsed in some of the few spots of shade, joined there by panting stray neighborhood dogs.

“Forty-eight hours without electricity, no running water and now we can’t get home,” said Catalina Clave, 46, who works at the Mexico City stock exchange.

“Now all I ask for is some shade and some information.”

have fallen away from the church and offer them a compassionate welcome home.

Greg Burke, the Vatican’s senior communications adviser, insisted Friday that Francis was by no means calling into question the papacies and priorities of his predecessors.

“The pope is not condemning his predecessors,” Burke told The Associated Press. “What he is saying is ‘We’ve spent a lot of time talking about the boundaries. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about what is sin and what’s not. Now let’s move on. Let’s talk

about mercy. Let’s talk about love.”’

Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Ireland’s most reform-minded Catholic leader, said Francis’ comments will be tough for the church to put into action because there is a tendency to get “trapped” into the right and wrong, white and black of Catholic teaching.

“It’s a way of thinking that will actually be very hard for the right and the left of the church, either of them, to accept,” he told RTE radio. But he said Francis wasn’t dismissing everything that has been

taught to date.

“He’s saying let’s move in a different direction.”

Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, just last week had said in an interview with his diocesan newspaper that he was “a little bit disappointed” that Francis hadn’t spoken out about abortion.

On Friday, in an official statement responding to the La Civilta Cattolica article, Tobin said he admired Francis’ leadership.

“Being a Catholic doesn’t mean having to choose between doctrine and charity, between truth and love. It includes both.

We are grateful to Pope Francis for reminding us of that vision,” he said.

U.S. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who as head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has taken a lead role in voicing the U.S. church’s opposition to contraception and gay marriage, said the church isn’t the only one obsessed with such issues — today’s culture is.

“Every pope has a different strategy,” Dolan told “CBS This Morning.”

“What I think he’s saying is, ‘Those are important issues and the church has got to keep talking about them, but we need to talk about them in a fresh new way. If we keep kind of a negative finger-wagging tone, it’s counterproductive. “ He said that while Francis had sent shockwaves throughout the church, clearly it was necessary.

“Every day I think, ‘Thank God he was elected.’ ... Every day I say, ‘This man is batting a thousand.”’

Biden meets with Peña

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON ASSOCIATED PRESS

MEXICO CITY — U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Friday that he wants to deepen relations between the neighboring countries beyond drugs, security and immigration.

Launching the High Level Economic Dialogue to boost trade and investment ties, Biden urged the two countries to develop a stronger economic partnership that can move “more people, goods and information across our border.”

“We have a billion dollars a day in trade. Is there any businessman or woman here who can’t rationally picture in 10 years that being $2 billion?” Biden asked at the Foreign Ministry before he met with the president. “We cannot settle for business as usual.”

Biden later talked with Peña Nieto about expanding trade between the countries by improving border crossing infrastructure and keeping international bridges open longer hours so more goods can move across. The meeting came just weeks after revelations that the National Security Agency had monitored Peña Nieto’s emails before his 2012 election.

“There is no relationship that we value more, there is no economic relationship that we think holds the most promise and there is no part of the world that has the opportunity to do as much to generate economic growth over the next 20 or 30

Photo by Dario Lopez-Mills | AP

Vice President Joe Biden, left, waves accompanied by Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico City, on Friday. years in the hemisphere,” Biden said afterwards. Peña Nieto has been dealing with massive flooding in the southern state of Guerrero and street protests by teachers opposed to his education reforms.

Biden offered to provide assistance for storm recovery if Mexico asked for it.

He said he was traveling next to see the flooding in Colorado.

The vice president also characterized Mexico’s reforms as “historic changes,” saying they would help the country “establish a new role in the 21st century.” In educational cooperation, Biden said the two countries have great opportunities for increased academic and student exchanges and joint research.

Peña Nieto said he set a goal with Biden for 100,000 Mexican students go study in the U.S. and 50,000 U.S. students study in Mexico.

“Vice President Biden’s visit in Mexico reaffirms our government’s common vision and the interest we

have in making our region of North America stronger, more solid and consolidated,” said Peña Nieto.

Before his meeting with Mexico’s leader, Biden referred to the recent marches by protesting teachers that have choked Mexico City streets, and quipped that he thought the masses had assembled to welcome him.

“I was disappointed when I found out that the 15,000 out there weren’t hollering ‘Biden, Biden,”’ he said.

Biden met with Mexico’s secretaries of finance, foreign affairs, tourism, economy and education.

He is traveling with the U.S. secretaries of commerce, homeland security and transportation.

President Barack Obama announced the bilateral economic dialogue in a visit to Mexico in May. According to the White House, the annual Cabinet-level meetings are designed to promote mutual growth, job creation and economic competitiveness.

SÁBADO 21 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2013

Agenda en Breve LAREDO 09/21 —AVISO: En horario de 9 a.m. a 1 p.m. se llevará a cabo el Programa de Revisión de Asientos Infantiles para el Carro, en la Oficina de Distrito en Laredo para el Departamento de Transportación de Texas, 1817 Bob Bullock Loop. El evento es gratuito para el público.

09/21 —AVI SO: Laredo Detachment 895 de la Marine Corps League tendrá una Venta de Platos de Carne Asada de 11 a.m. a las 2 p.m. en 1306 Malinche. Los fondos se utilizarán para entregar becas a estudiantes de preparatoria para que asistan a la universidad. Cada platillo tiene valor de 5 dólares.

09/21—La asociación de egresados de TAMIU estará llevando a cabo una carrera de 5 Kilómetros a las 7 a.m. dentro de la universidad. El costo es de 25 dólares. Para más información llamar al 726-4786.

09/21—South Texas Collectors Expo se llevará a cabo de 10 a.m. a 5 p.m. en el Salón del Laredo Civic Center. Habrá historietas, juguetes, tarjetas de intercambio, anime/manga, recuerdos deportivos, torneos, cosplay, firma de autógrafos, entre otras diversiones. Costo: 10 dólares. Evento continúa el domingo 22 de septiembre.

Pague 15 dólares por los dos días.

09/21—Presentación del documental “Stolen Education” (Educación Robada) en el Salón Multiusos HEB de la Bibloteca Pública de Laredo, 1120 E. Calton Road. La proclamación ser realizará a las 10 a.m.; la presentación del documental a las 10:15 a.m. y sesión de preguntas y respuestas a las 11:20 a.m.

Evento gratuito.

09/21—A las 12 p.m. se llevará a cabo el partido de volleyball entre TAMIU y McMurry dentro del edificio Kinesiology-Convocation.

Costo: 5 dólares.

09/21— Planetario Lamar Bruni Vergara de TAMIU presenta: “Zula Patrol: Down to Earth” a las 2 p.m.; “Earth, Moon and Sun”, a las 3 p.m.; “Attack of the Space Pirates”, a las 4 p.m.; “Pink Floyd’s The Wall” a las 5 p.m. Costo varían de 4 a 6 dólares.

09/21— El Circo Alzafar Shrine se presenta en Laredo Energy Arena a las 2 p.m. y 8 p.m. Las puertas abren una hora y media antes del evento. Costo: 18 dólares, general; 28 dólares junto a la pista. Compre un boleto de adulto y reciba uno de niños gratis, con cupón. El circo continúa hasta el domingo.

09/22— South Texas Collectors Expo se llevará a cabo de 10 a.m. a 5 p.m. en el Salón del Laredo Civic Center. Habrá historietas, juguetes, tarjetas de intercambio, anime/manga, entre otras diversiones.

Zfrontera

PÁGINA 7A

AUTORIDADES DE TAMAULIPAS REPORTARON QUE 4.000 CONTINÚAN EN REFUGIOS

Damnificados TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Autoridades de Tamaulipas reportaron que más de 4.000 personas continúan en refugios tras el paso de la tormenta tropical Ingrid.

El viernes por la tarde oficiales del gobierno tamaulipeco dieron a conocer, a través de un comunicado de prensa de 4.287 personas continúan refugiadas en 41 albergues habilitados hasta el momento en 16 de los 33 municipios afectados por “Ingrid”. También se indicó que algunas cabeceras y comunidades continúan

cretario de Desarrollo Social, aseguró que en coordinación con la Secretaría de Desarrollo Urbano y Medio Ambiente, la Comisión Nacional del Agua y las Comapas de Altamira y Tampico, se está dando seguimiento a la perturbación que se presenta en el Golfo de México, a la altura de Yucatán.

De la Garza también detalló que funcionarios de Sedesol estatal trabajan de manera coordinada con las autoridades federales y municipales en el levantamiento de daños y entrega de apoyos a las familias damnifica-

incomunicadas por anegamiento.

La instrucción es atender a la población damnificada y reparar a la brevedad los daños, se indicó en un comunicado de prensa. Algunas de las ciudades más afectadas son Padilla, Jiménez, Soto La Marina (La Pesca) y Abasolo, en la parte central de la entidad.

Oficiales tanto del estado como federales mantienen un monitoreo permanente de las condiciones del clima y los pronósticos de lluvia para las siguientes horas en la zona sur de la entidad, de acuerdo con el comunicado.

Homero de la Garza Tamez, Se-

das.

La Cruz Roja Mexicana habilitó en apoyo a los damnificados, dos cuentas bancarias, una para depósitos en pesos y otra en dólares. Las cuentas registradas están activas en BBVA Bancomer, para cuenta en pesos 04040404006 con clave interbancaria 012180004040404062 y para dólares 0147593139 con clave interbancaria 012180001475931394.

Asimismo, se pide que por el momento no se entreguen donativos en especie, ya que las necesidades de víveres están cubiertas en las zonas afectadas.

TXDOT

COMUNIDAD

NIÑOS SEGUROS

Calderón destacó puntos POR MALENA CHARUR TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Foto por Cuate Santos | Laredo Morning Times

La Administradora del Distrito de TxDOT en Laredo, Melisa Montemayor, al dirigir mensaje durante una conferencia de prensa celebrada en su oficina el viernes por la mañana, para promover el asegurar de manera adecuada los asientos para menores.

Invitan a participar en inspección gratuita POR MALENA CHARUR TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Como cierre de la Semana de Seguridad para Menores Pasajeros, el Departamento de Transporte de Texas (TxDOT, por sus siglas en inglés), junto con autoridades policíacas y funcionarios de distintas agencias, están invitando a la comunidad para acudir a una revisión gratuita de los asientos de seguridad para menores dentro del vehículo.

Según datos de National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA por sus siglas en inglés), los accidentes viales son la principal causa de muerte en menores de trece años en Estados Unidos. Esto se debe a que tres de cada cuatro niños no son abrochados correctamente.

La ley de Texas, vigente desde 2009, establece que los niños menores de 8 años o que midan menos de cuatro pies y nueve pulgadas, deben viajar en un asiento de seguridad.

Con respecto a esto, Oscar Omar Martínez, Juez de Paz, Precinto 4, señaló que la multa

por este concepto asciende a 305.10 dólares por notificación.

Dijo que alrededor de un 30 por ciento de las notificaciones corresponden a no utilizar cinturón.

Gerard Cantú, asistente del fiscal para el Condado de Zapata, dijo que la carga más valiosa en un vehículo era la vida de los niños. Recordó que en el pasado no había leyes que los protegieran, pero que con las leyes actuales, era necesario advertir al público de lo importante de seguir las reglas, porque si no hay ese conocimiento, no se puede tomar el primer paso para evitar lesiones y muertes en los menores.

“Un mensaje que le quiero dar a la comunidad en Zapata, es la importancia de proteger a los niños y que utilicen los asientos de la manera apropiada. Que aprovechen y vengan a verificar si están haciendo lo correcto ya que, al venir, harán una gran diferencia que potencialmente protegerá la vida de nuestros niños”, dijo.

Albert Escobedo del Departa-

mento de Policía de Laredo, exhortó a la población a acudir a las oficinas de TxDOT dónde se realizarán las inspecciones.

La inspección de los asientos de seguridad para los niños estará a cargo de técnicos certificados. Se realizará de 9 a.m. a 1 p.m., en la parte trasera de las instalaciones de TxDOT, en 1817 Bob Bullock Loop. Estará abierto desde las 8:30 a.m.

La entrada se realizará por la intersección de Clark Blvd y Bob Bullock Loop, se le solicita conducir hacia el este sobre la calle Spur 400 (Clark Blvd), girar hacia la derecha en el segundo señalamiento de entrada para empleados, virar nuevamente hacia la derecha para llegar a las instalaciones de TxDOT. Los niños que regularmente viajan en un vehículo así como los asientos que los aseguran deben estar presentes durante la verificación, ya que los factores como peso y altura se toman en cuenta para determinar si es el asiento adecuado.

Para mayores informe llame al 712-7400.

El ex-Presidente de México, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, fungió como orador invitado del Laredo Stars Extravaganza, en su edición 2013, el miércoles por la noche.

El evento, auspiciado por Stars Scolarship Fund, se realizó por onceavo año consecutivo y su finalidad es la recaudación de fondos para becas escolares.

Durante su mensaje, Calderón resaltó la relación entre Texas y México, a quienes calificó de aliados y que produCALDERÓN cen un movimiento económico arriba de 100 billones de dólares, lo que genera una cantidad importante de empleos en ambos lados de la frontera.

Después se refirió a los temas que constituyeron fuertes retos en su administración. Mencionó que el 2009 fue un año especialmente difícil para los mexicanos y para él.

“Hace cuatro años fue el momento más difícil en la historia económica reciente de México: El impacto de la crisis económica; baja en los ingresos por el petróleo; las noticias terribles acerca de un virus letal, terrible y desconocido AH1N1 que estaba matando a muchos mexicanos, sin saber cómo curarla; y la violencia, que estaba aumentando más y más rápido”, dijo.

Comparó al país como si hubiera sido arrasado por una tormenta y que, ante esta problemática, decidió actuar en consecuencia.

“Pero teníamos que actuar y decidimos enfrentar estos problemas y el pueblo también decidió. No sólo íbamos a lidiar con la crisis, sino que íbamos a convertir la crisis en una oportunidad de incrementar el nivel de competitividad de México”, afirmó.

Acerca de la seguridad comentó que su objetivo no era combatir el narcotráfico, sino reforzar la ley y proteger a las familias.

“Como presidente era importante actuar en el problema. Mi propia convicción es que no hay estado sin ley y no hay prosperidad en ninguna nación si la ley no prevalece. Si México quiere ser un gran país, México necesita un día ser un estado de ley” comentó Calderón.

NUEVO LAREDO 09/21— Expomex 2013 presenta en el Teatro del Pueblo a “Sonora Dinamita”.

Charreada a partir de las 6:30 p.m. en el Lienzo Charro Nuevo Laredo. También el atractivo Serpencoatl, Mini Golf y el Pabellón de las Águilas.

09/22— NUEVO LAREDO, México — Expomex 2013 presenta en el Teatro del Pueblo a “Playa Limbo”.

También el atractivo Serpencoatl, Mini Golf y el Pabellón de las Águilas.

09/23— NUEVO LAREDO, México — El grupo de Teatro Laberintus presenta la obra de teatro “Arrojados al mundo sin cobertor de lana”, de Mario Cantú Toscano a las 7 p.m. en el teatro del IMSS.

EU

Continúan frutos de unión Ejército y Fundación PRNEWSWIRE-HISPANIC PR WIRE

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — El Ejército de los Estados Unidos continúa con su asociación con la Fundación Herencia Hispánica (Hispanic Heritage Foundation – HHF, por sus siglas en inglés) para ayudar a incrementar la cantidad de estudiantes que siguen carreras académicas y profesionales en ciencia, tecnología, ingeniería y matemáticas (STEM, por sus siglas en inglés), y para educar a los estudiantes sobre esas oportunidades disponibles a través del servicio en

el Ejército.

El Ejército, patrocinador del programa Latinos on the Fast Track (LOFT) de la HHF, participará en siete eventos de LOFT entre septiembre y noviembre de 2013 en Houston, Miami, Chicago, Phoenix, Santa Clara (California), Los Ángeles y Sacramento (California). LOFT ofrece capacitación en liderazgo y talleres específicos de la industria para más de 75,000 estudiantes y jóvenes profesionales.

“Es imprescindible que ofrezcamos recursos y capacitación educativa para pre-

parar a la juventud para carreras en ciencia y tecnología. A través de los eventos de LOFT, la HHF y el Ejército reforzarán la importancia de la educación superior y el liderazgo para cientos de jóvenes hispanos con miras a aumentar la cantidad de estudiantes que terminan la universidad con un grado en STEM”, afirma Antonio Tijerino, presidente y CEO de la Hispanic Heritage Foundation.

En cada evento, representantes del Ejército celebrarán un taller interactivo en el que los estudiantes discu-

tirán sobre el liderazgo y desarrollarán su plan de acción personal para alcanzar sus objetivos. El personal del Ejército participará también en un panel centrado en STEM para poner de relieve la amplia variedad de opciones profesionales disponibles en el Ejército, que incluyen ingeniería, tecnología de la información y bioquímica.

El Ejército se enorgullece de presentar también sus programas educativos gratuitos, que incluyen March2Success, una herramienta en línea que prepa-

ra a los estudiantes de escuela secundaria para las pruebas estandarizadas, así como EjércitoEdSpace, la herramienta en línea que brinda una sólida guía de programas educativos del Ejército.

Para conocer más sobre las oportunidades educativas y profesionales del Ejército, incluso las becas universitarias disponibles a través del Ejército Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), visite www.goEjército.com.

(Fuente: Ejército de los EU)

National

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2013

GOP House: Aim at ‘Obamacare’

By DAVID ESPO ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by Nati Harnik/file | AP

A coal train travels in Wyoming, on Aug. 22, 2006. Tough new limits on the amount of heat-trapping emissions new power plants can emit will likely accelerate a shift away from coal-fired power.

Obama hits coal power

By DINA CAPPIELLO ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Linking global warming to public health, disease and extreme weather, the Obama administration pressed ahead Friday with tough requirements to limit carbon pollution from new power plants, despite protests from industry and Republicans that it would dim coal’s future.

The proposal, which would set the first national limits on heat-trapping pollution from future power plants, is intended to help reshape where Americans get electricity, moving from a coal-dependent past into a future fired by cleaner sources of energy. It’s also a key step in President Barack Obama’s global warming plans, because it would put in motion proposals to end what he called “the limitless dumping of carbon pollution” from all power plants.

Under the law once the Environmental Protection Agency controls carbon at new plants, it will also control carbon at existing plants — a regulation the agency said Friday it would start work on immediately to meet a June 2014 deadline.

Yet the federal government’s own analysis of the new power plant proposal concludes that it would have a “negligible” impact on carbon dioxide emissions, pose little to no costs for the industry and provide no additional benefits to the public by 2022. That’s because it essentially locks in what was widely expected to happen anyway. Even without new federal regulations, the agency concluded no new coal plants would have been built without carbon controls. Instead, the bulk of new power in this country would be supplied by natural gas, which already meets the standard announced Friday.

“The EPA ... does not anticipate this rule will have

any impacts on the price of electricity, employment or labor markets or the U.S. economy,” the EPA wrote in its analysis.

The industry, and its allies in Congress, quickly dismissed that conclusion.

Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., said the agency was holding the coal industry to “impossible standards.”

“If these regulations go into effect,” he said, “American jobs will be lost, electricity prices will soar and economic uncertainty will grow.”

Deck Slone, a senior vice president at Arch Coal, said that the technology was simply not available to clean coal plant emissions.

“We believe that coal plants with near-zero greenhouse gas emissions will be achievable in time, but such technology is simply not available today,” he said. “The administration’s proposal goes way too far, way too fast — and threatens to arrest rather than spur technology advances.”

EPA administrator Gina McCarthy said Friday that rather than damage an industry, the proposed regulations would help the industry to adapt, by encouraging energy companies to develop ways to reduce carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from burning coal.

“This proposal, rather than killing future coal, actually sets up a certain pathway forward for coal to continue to be part of the diverse mix in this country,” McCarthy said. “We know that coal is going to be part of the energy generation that we rely on substantially over the next few decades. Why wouldn’t we now acknowledge and invest in the kind of technologies that will allow coal a future long beyond that?”

McCarthy pressed her case by linking global warming to environmental problems that include severe weather, disease and worsening of other types of air pollution.

“We know this is not just

about melting glaciers,” McCarthy said. “Climate change — caused by carbon pollution — is one of the most significant public health threats of our time.”

Despite some tweaks, the rule packs the same punch as one announced last year, which received more than 2.5 million comments and was legally vulnerable because it required coal and natural gas to meet the same limit.

Coal and natural gas now have separate standards, but the effect is the same: New coal-fired power plants will need to install expensive technology to capture between 30 and 50 percent of their carbon dioxide and bury it underground. No coal-fired power plant has done that yet, in large part because of the cost. Virtually all new natural gas plants would meet the standard without additional controls.

The EPA’s own analysis says that a new natural gas-fired plant would cost $891 per kilowatt. But a new coal plant built to meet the standard would cost between $3,274 and $3,301 per kilowatt.

Environmental groups praised the proposal for taking action against the largest remaining uncontrolled source of greenhouse gas pollution. That pollution, the EPA said Friday, is worsening air quality, water quality, disease and contributing to more severe weather.

“Big polluters have been getting a free ride for decades, while Americans foot the bill in the form of asthma attacks, respiratory illness, floods, wildfires and superstorms,” said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club.

The regulations have been in the works since 2011 and stem from a 1970 law passed by Congress to control air pollution. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that law, the Clean Air Act, could be applied to heat-trapping pollution.

WASHINGTON — Charting a collision course with the White House, the Republicancontrolled House approved legislation Friday to wipe out the 3-year-old health care law that President Barack Obama has vowed to preserve — and simultaneously prevent a partial government shutdown that neither party claims to want.

“The American people don’t want the government shut down, and they don’t want ‘Obamacare,’” Speaker John Boehner said as members of his rank and file cheered at a celebratory rally in the Capitol moments after the 230-189 vote. He stood at a lectern bearing a slogan that read, “(hash)Senate must act.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said it will — but not the way Boehner and his tea party-heavy Republican contingent want. Assured of enough Senate votes to keep the government open and the health care law in existence, the Nevada Democrat accused Republicans of attempting “to take an entire law hostage simply to appease the tea party anarchists.”

Behind the rhetoric lay the likelihood of another in a series of complex, inside-the-Beltway brinkmanship episodes as conservative House Republicans and Obama struggle to imprint widely differing views on the U.S. government.

In addition to the threat of a partial shutdown a week from Monday, administration officials say that without passage of legislation to allow more federal borrowing, the nation faces the risk of a first-ever default sometime in the second half of next month.

House Republicans intend to vote to raise the nation’s debt limit next week to prevent that from happening. But they have said they will include a one-year delay in Obamacare to reinforce their determination to eradicate the program.

The same bill will include provisions to reduce deficits and stay the administration’s environmental agenda as the GOP seeks gains for its own priorities. Raising the cost

Photo by J. Scott Applewhite | AP

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, speaks after GOP members passed a bill preventing a government shutdown. of Medicare for financially better-off beneficiaries is one likely provision to be added, according to numerous officials. So, too, is a ban on federal regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.

Obama, who has said repeatedly he will not negotiate over debt limit legislation, called Boehner late in the day to tell him that directly. The speaker expressed disappointment, his office said, and responded that Congress “will chart the path ahead.” The White House said Obama also called House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.

Obama responded in remarks before an audience at a Ford assembly plant near Kansas City, Mo. He blamed a “faction on the far right of the Republican Party” for threatening to shut down government operations or default on government debts.

“They’re focused on trying to mess with me,” he told plant workers. “They’re not focused on you.”

Unlike other budget showdowns of the recent past, this one pits younger Republicans in the House against GOP veterans in the Senate, although not to the extent it does one party against the other.

Republicans are united in their opposition to the health care law, which they say will force the price of coverage higher and prompt employers to reduce work hours for workers. But they disagree on how to attack it.

The bill that won passage on Friday was all but forced on Boehner and fellow House GOP leaders, who fear a repeat of the twin government shutdowns nearly two decades ago that inflicted serious

political damage on Republicans.

Caution on the part of GOP elders was overwhelmed by tea partyaligned lawmakers, who were in turn responding to the urgings of outside groups and their allies in the Senate, Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas among them.

The vote in the House was almost completely along party lines, and the administration threatened in advance to veto the bill if it should pass the Senate as well. Among Democrats, only Reps. Mike McIntyre of North Carolina and Jim Matheson of Utah supported the measure. Virginia Rep. Scott Rigell was the only Republican voting against it.

The Republican rally in the Capitol afterward was unusual for its overtly political tone.

“You know, many Senate Republicans have promised to leave no stone unturned fighting for this bill, and all of us here support that effort. We’re calling on Senate Democrats to do the same thing,” said Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, who then asked how four Democrats who face re-election in swing states next year will be voting. Among the four, Sens. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mark Begich of Alaska, Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana all voted for the law when it passed Congress, and none has indicated a vote for nullification.

Instead, the likelihood is that the Senate will strip off the provision to defund the health care law, as well a different section that prioritizes debt payments in the event the Treasury lacks the funds to meet all its obligations.

US, Iran speak; nuke progress unsure

By JULIE PACE AND LARA JAKES ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Iran and the United States are making plenty of friendly gestures, but real progress is going to be harder. A notable first meeting between the two nations’ presidents suddenly seems possible, but without nuclear concessions the U.S. is unlikely to give Tehran what it wants: an easing of punishing sanctions that have resulted in soaring inflation and unemployment.

President Barack Obama and Iran’s new president, Hasan Rouhani, both will be in New York next week for the U.N. General Assembly. And a recent flurry of goodwill gestures has raised the prospect that they will meet face to face.

As part of the effort to cast a promising outlook on Iranian diplomacy, Rouhani touted his commitment to “constructive engagement” in a column published Friday in The Washington Post. He wrote that nations spend a lot of time, perhaps too much, discussing what they don’t want rather than what they do want.

“This approach can be useful for efforts to prevent cold conflicts from turning hot. But to move beyond impasses, whether in relation to Syria, my country’s nuclear program or its re-

lations with the United States, we need to aim higher,” Rouhani said.

“Rather than focusing on how to prevent things from getting worse, we need to think — and talk — about how to make things better. To do that, we all need to muster the courage to start conveying what we want — clearly, concisely and sincerely — and to back it up with the political will to take necessary action.”

The nuclear issue may be the most difficult challenge. The U.S. and other world powers are seeking reductions in Iran’s uranium enrichment, real-time monitoring of its nuclear facilities and scaled-back production at its underground Fordo facility. Not likely, Iran experts say. At least not yet.

“I’m a bit skeptical that we’ll see those kinds of concessions this early in the game,” said Gary Samore, who until earlier this year was Obama’s top arms control adviser.

The Obama administration has welcomed the election of Rouhani, a moderate cleric who achieved a stunning victory in Iran’s June presidential elections.

But U.S. officials are still skeptical of whether Rouhani’s more palatable rhetoric will be followed by actual shifts in Iran’s longstanding refusal to curb its

nuclear program. The U.S. and its allies suspect Iran is trying to produce a nuclear weapon, though Tehran insists its nuclear activities are only for producing energy and for medical research.

Obama has been testing the waters through an exchange of letters with his Iranian counterpart. U.S. officials say Obama used his correspondence to convey urgency in resolving the nuclear dispute through diplomacy before that option is cut off.

Rouhani, in an interview with NBC News, said he thanked Obama for his outreach and “expressed Iran’s viewpoint on the issues raised in his letter and some other issues.”

Rouhani has made other overtures that have grabbed the Obama administration’s attention. He included Iran’s only Jewish lawmaker in his delegation to the U.N. meeting. And the Iranian government this week released a dozen prominent political prisoners, including a human rights lawyer who defended opposition activists and was imprisoned for three years.

White House officials said Friday that no meetings between Obama and Rouhani are scheduled, but they left open the prospect of a direct exchange.

“We’re always open to

diplomacy if we believe it will advance our objectives,” said Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser.

A face-to-face meeting between Obama and Rouhani would mark a significant step in the U.S.-Iranian relationship. But the real work on the nuclear issue would come either from direct negotiations between U.S. and Iranian officials or renewed talks between Iran and six world powers— the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

Those negotiations have stalled largely because of disagreements over Iran’s right to enrich uranium, even at low levels that would cut off their capability to build a nuclear bomb. Iran wants the international community to acknowledge its right to enrich under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, but the six negotiating countries have shied from doing so.

Among Iran’s primary concerns in negotiations is securing the removal of crippling international economic sanctions, while accepting as few constraints as possible on its nuclear program. The Obama administration, however, sees the sanctions as a key lever of power and is reluctant to ease the penalties.

“We believe that the most stringent sanctions

regime we’ve ever put in place against the Iranian government is part of why we are here today with this opportunity for diplomacy,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Friday.

The diverging views on sanctions and enrichment capabilities stymied negotiations with Iran earlier this year, when the parties considered a proposal for Tehran to reduce its uranium reduction to 5 percent.

That’s a level the U.S. and its partners say would let Tehran continue legitimate nuclear activities and help build global confidence that it is committed to its pledge that it will not build an atomic bomb.

However, the Iranians wanted the U.S. to significantly ease economic sanctions in exchange, said Samore, who is now at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Samore said the world powers were open to only a modest easing of sanctions — and only if Iran agreed to the reduction, plus halting production and limiting its stockpiles of 20 percent enriched uranium.

That’s the highest grade of enrichment that Iran has acknowledged and one that experts say could be turned into a nuclear warhead grade in a matter of months.

U.S. officials have also said that enrichment would need to be suspended at Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear facility southwest of Tehran, and its stockpile of high-grade uranium be moved out of the country.

Iran acknowledged in 2009 that it was building the bunker-like plant — but only after U.S. intelligence revealed it to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The facility is located on an Iranian military base, and it was built to hold about 3,000 centrifuges — which a senior U.S. official said is the amount needed to build nuclear weapons.

Fordo compounded the general distrust of Iran’s program and fueled concerns that international monitors do not have an up-to-the-moment understanding of activities at nuclear sites around the country.

Robert Einhorn, who was one of the U.S. negotiators until he left the State Department in May, said world powers may also demand that remote hook-ups be placed at Fordo or other plants “so that the first time Iran broke the seals on any stored material, that would immediately go to some monitor in IAEA headquarters.”

However, Einhorn warned: “These Iranians are not going to be pushovers in the negotiations.”

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2013

THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

AMALIA GONZALEZ Oct. 13, 1934 – Sept. 16, 2013

PERLA YVETTE SANCHEZ OBREGON

BILL Continued from Page 1A

July 5, 1975 – Sept. 17, 2013 Amalia B. Gonzalez, 78, passed away Monday, Sept.

16, 2013, at Laredo Medical Center in Laredo, Texas.

Ms. Gonzalez is preceded in death by her husband, Cesario Gonzalez; sons, Gabriel Gonzalez, Ezequiel Gonzalez; granddaughter, Sandra (Angel) Tovar; great-grandson, Angel Tovar Jr.; brother, Vicente Benavides; sister-inlaw, Francisca B. Sanchez and a son-in-law, Homero Treviño.

Ms. Gonzalez is survived by her sons, Cesario Jr. (Socorro) Gonzalez, Vicente (Nely) Gonzalez; daughters, Celia (J. Guadalupe) Carbajal, Nora Treviño, Ruth (Jose Amando) Chapa, Sylvia (Sergio) Martinez; 21 grandchildren; 30 greatgrandchildren; one greatgreat-grandchild; brother, Noe Benavides; sisters, Maria De Los Angeles Benavides, Felicidad Benavides; and by numerous nephews, nieces and friends.

Visitation hours will be held Wednesday, Sept. 18, 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 Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. Committal services will follow at Zapata County Cemetery.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home, Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy. 83, Zapata.

ANTONIA VELA Oct. 26, 1921 – Sept. 14, 2013 SAN YGNACIO — Antonia S. Vela, 91, passed away on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013, at Laredo Medical Center in Laredo.

Mrs. Vela is preceded in death by her husband, Teofilo Vela Sr.; parents, Lazaro and Bruna Salinas; grandchildren, Armando Vela Jr., Jaime Paredes, Hector Paredes and Wanda I. Vargas; brothers, Hemeregildo (Juanita) Salinas, Reynaldo Salinas; and sisters, Juanita (Cipriano) Villarreal, Carlota (Pedro) Villarreal, Manuela Rodriguez, Brigida (Leobardo) Villarreal, Angelina (Severo) Villarreal and Paula S. Jasso; sisters-in-law, Cidelia V. (Lauro) Garza, Josefa V. (Luis) Leal; brothers-in-law, Fernando (Linda G.) Vela, Manuel (Teresa S.) Vela and nephews, Jorge L. Jasso and Juan J. Jasso.

Mrs. Vela is survived by sons, Teofilo Jr. (Antonia) Vela, Armando (Elvira) Vela; daughters, Guadalupe (†Silvestre Jr.) Bustamante, Leticia V. (†Francisco) Paredes and Oralia (Guadalupe Jr.) Garcia; grandchildren, Vilma (Ricardo) Montes, Norma A. Vela, Lorena (Sergio) Navarro, Teofilo III (Belia) Vela, Rene Ricardo Vela, Armando “Mando” Vela, Silvestre Bustamante III, Myrna (Santiago, Jr.) Hernandez, Eduardo (Dora) Bustamante, Ana M. (Rodolfo) Bravo, Francisco “Wally” Paredes Jr., Daniel O. Paredes, Jamie A. Paredes, Paulita (Jesus) Treviño, Guadalupe III (Alice) Gar-

It is with a grieving and sorrowful heart that we announce the passing of our beloved Perla Yvette Sanchez Obregon. She finished her earthly journey on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013, at a local hospital.

Perla was truly a devoted person to love, life and family. She had a tremendous joy and selfless self to always give to all who needed love. Her parents and brother will always cherish those wonderful and countless memories that were etched throughout their lives.

She has fulfilled God’s plan for her on earth and has become an angel who will continue to watch over us from heaven. She never gave up on life and remained our perfect Perla until the end. May you rest from your labors, for your good deeds go with you, Amen.

Perla leaves behind her husband of 12 plus years of marriage: Gustavo Obregon Sr.; children: Bianka Ivette Obregon, Gustavo Obregon Jr. and Valerie Tabitha Obregon; her parents: Emilio Javier Sanchez Sr. and Adamina Peña; brother: Emilio Javier (Roxanna) Sanchez Jr.; paternal grandparents: Jose Antonio (Amanda) Sanchez; maternal grandparents: Emilio (+Flora)

Peña as well as a great number of aunts, uncles, cousins, other beloved relatives and many friends.

Visitation hours were held Friday, Sept. 20, 2013, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home.

The funeral procession will depart Saturday, Sept.

21, 2013, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. Committal services will follow at Zapata County Cemetery.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home, Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy. 83, Zapata.

IPHONE old student waiting at the Wangfujing store in Beijing for an iPhone 5s.

“Now that I can buy it directly in the Apple Store, it’s cheaper.”

Samsung competition cia, San Juanita Garcia and Margarita Garcia; 28 great grandchildren, 23 greatgreat-grandchildren; and brother, Francisco (†Genoveva) Salinas; brother-inlaw, Ricardo (†Manuela) Rodriguez; niece, Oneida Jasso and by numerous friends and other family members.

Visitation hours were held Monday, Sept. 16, 2013, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home.

The funeral procession departed Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at Our Lady of Refuge Mission.

Committal services followed at Panteon Del Pueblo in San Ygnacio.

Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home, Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy. 83, Zapata.

Opening-weekend sales are crucial to boosting Apple after nearly a year without releasing a new device and ceding market share to rivals including Samsung Electronics Co. in the $280 billion smartphone market.

Whether the Cupertino, Californiabased company can surpass the record 5 million smartphones sold during last year’s iPhone debut depends largely on whether there is enough supply of the feature-rich iPhone 5s.

“It really depends entirely on how good or bad the yields on the 5s are,” said Carl Howe, an analyst at Yankee Group, who correctly predicted opening weekend sales last year. Apple could top 7 million in sales if it has enough handsets, though “Apple may not even hit the 5 million I predicted last year if the 5s is in really short supply,” he said.

Apple will sell as many as 6 million units even though it won’t have enough iPhone 5s handsets available, according to Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray Cos. New fingerprint- reading technology makes the gadget harder to manufacture, he said. Brian Marshall, an analyst with ISI Group, also predicts 6 million iPhones will be sold.

Apple fell 0.1 percent to the equivalent of $471.63 in German trading at 9:38 a.m. Frankfurt time.

lay. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida is now the sole Republican with four Democrats involved in the effort. Another Republican, Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho, departed the group several months ago.

A joint statement from Johnson and Carter underscored how the thorny immigration issue is made even tougher by partisan politics on Capitol Hill and the distrust many House Republicans have for Obama.

“The administration’s practice of hand-picking what parts of laws they wish to enforce has irrevocably damaged our efforts of fixing our broken immigration system,” their statement said.

“If past actions are the best indicators of future behavior, we know that any measure depending on the president’s enforcement will not be faithfully executed. It would be irresponsible to empower this administration by granting them additional authority or discretion with a new immigration system,” they said. “The bottom line is — the American people do not trust the president to enforce laws, and we don’t either.

However, it’s not clear the development will have much of an impact on what the House does with respect to immigration,

since House Republican leaders already had made clear they planned to proceed with a step-by-step approach, not with a single big bill like Johnson and Carter’s group had working on or like the Senate passed in June.

The group’s failure to deliver had already made it largely an afterthought in the House, where the Judiciary Committee has moved forward with individual, single-issue immigration bills that could come to the House floor sometime later this year or next.

The Senate bill, strongly backed by the White House, includes billions for border security, a reworked legal immigration system to allow tens of thousands of high- and low-skilled workers into the country, and a 13-year path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants already here illegally. The bill being written by the House working group, which was said to be largely complete, proceeded along similar lines, although with a longer path to citizenship and other, tougher elements.

Most House Republicans reject this comprehensive approach and many question offering citizenship to people who broke U.S. immigration laws to be in this country.

Continued from Page 1A

Camping out In some places, people started camping out in front of Apple stores days ago to get the new iPhones, evoking scenes from earlier product introductions — even though the gadget is now six years old.

“I started lining up five days ago,” said Sachihisa Saishiki, a 45-year-old who runs his own business and has camped outside the Tokyo Ginza store at least six times previously. “I was with a group of 10, and we took turns going out for food, going back home to take showers. I spent time sleeping out here, too, lying down on a cardboard box,” he said after buying a gold iPhone 5s.

At the Paris Opera store, dozens of people had gathered by 7:30 p.m., prepared to stay overnight with a weather forecast for rain. Some had blankets and campers’ chairs. At the Louvre, a group of 20 Italians had waited since yesterday morning.

“We all met through Facebook, got on a bus and came to Paris to get the new iPhone because it’s not available in Italy,” said Jacopo Famularo, a 23year-old blogger from Verona.

Fingerprint technology Outside Apple’s Regent Street store in London, the line was about 1 mile this morning. Said Alkadi, a 52year-old dentist, had flown from Jordan to buy new iPhones for his kids because they will only go on sale in the country later.

“They can’t wait that long,” he said. “When I get home I will be dancing in the street because I com-

pleted the mission!”

The iPhone 5s features a new camera and faster processor. It costs $199 to $399 depending on the amount of memory and with a two-year wireless contract. Without a contract, the smartphone costs at least $649.

For the less-expensive iPhone 5c, Apple took last year’s iPhone 5 and mostly repackaged it in a new plastic casing that’s offered in five different colors. It costs $99 to $199 with a two-year contract, or $549 without one.

‘New toy’ “I just want a new toy,” said Felix Peters, a 21-year-old student, as he waited outside Apple’s store near Munich’s historic Marienplatz square. “It was clear that the changes wouldn’t be that big but I’m still happy.”

Amy Bessette, a spokeswoman for Apple, declined to comment.

In addition to the new handsets, Apple also introduced a new mobile operating system, iOS 7, to customers Sept. 18. It includes a redesign of applications like e-mail, calendar and photos, and adds new icons, fonts and color scheme.

“It’s not about having a large screen or powerful hardware, it’s about the balance of everything,” said Jimmy Gunawan, a 33-year-old freelance filmmaker who bought two gold iPhone 5s models, one for himself and one for his mother, from Sydney’s George Street store.

Every iPhone release is critical for Apple because the product accounts for about half its revenue.

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2013

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2013

ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

Sports&Outdoors NFL: HOUSTON TEXANS

NCAA FOOTBALL: TEXAS LONGHORNS

Texas’ future?

Photo by David J. Phillip | AP

Houston running back Arian Foster admitted to receiving improper benefits while he was in college at Tennessee.

Foster took money at Tennessee Texans running back admits to receiving benefits from Vols ASSOCIATED PRESS

File photo by Gerald Herbert | AP

According to the AP, Alabama head coach Nick Saban’s agent was contacted by a regent from Texas and a former regent about becoming the next head coach of the Longhorns.

Report: Texas regent contacts Saban’s agent

By JIM VERTUNO ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — A few days after Alabama won the 2013 national championship, a University of

Texas regent and a former regent talked with Nick Saban’s agent about the possibility of the Crimson Tide coach replacing Longhorns coach Mack Brown, The Associated Press has learned.

Regent Wallace Hall of Dallas told the AP he spoke by telephone with agent Jimmy Sexton a few days after the Jan. 7 game.

See SABAN PAGE 2B

BROWN, UT FACE K-ST.

By JIM VERTUNO ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — It’s been a long, tough week for Texas coach Mack Brown.

Consecutive losses have him desperately trying to figure out how to recover in time for the start of the Big 12 season Saturday night against Kansas State (2-1). Then came Thursday’s revelation that a school regent and a close friend talked in January with Alabama coach Nick Saban’s agent about the possibility of luring Saban to Austin if Brown retired. The friend followed the phone call with a meeting with Brown to ask him if he was ready

Photo by Rick Bowmer | AP

Texas head coach Mack Brown is on the hot seat as his team faces Kansas State this week after a 1-2 start to the season. to retire.

No, Brown said, and that was that — until two straight losses, to BYU and Mississippi, sparked a new flurry of questions about his future at Texas.

Now Brown has to coach a game against a Wildcats program that has won five in a row over Texas. Even if he can ignore the off-field distractions about Saban, he’s

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Houston Texans running back Arian Foster says in an upcoming documentary he accepted money his senior year at Tennessee.

Foster, who played for the Volunteers from 2005-08, says that, “My senior year, I was getting money on the side.”

Sports Illustrated first reported Foster’s comments in the EPIX documentary, “Schooled: The Price of College Sports.”

“Honestly, I don’t know if this will throw us into an NCAA investi-

got plenty of problems to handle within his team.

The Longhorns (1-2) are battling key injuries on offense and a shaky confidence.

Quarterback David Ash didn’t play last week because of lingering concussion symptoms. He was cleared to practice Wednesday with further evaluations expected up until game time. The defense is still learning its way under new coordinator Greg Robinson, who has spent just two weeks on the job after Brown fired Manny Diaz.

Brown told his team to focus on winning the Big

See TEXAS PAGE 2B

gation, but my senior year I was getting money on the side,” Foster says in the documentary.

“I really didn’t have any money. I had to either pay the rent or buy some food. I remember the feeling, like, ’Man, be careful,’ but there’s nothing wrong with it.

“You’re not going to convince me that there is something wrong with it.”

Tennessee didn’t respond immediately to a message seeking comment. A phone call to Phillip Fulmer, the Tennessee coach during Fos-

See FOSTER PAGE 2B

Photo by Charlie Riedel | AP

Dallas running back DeMarco Murray was held to 25 yards on 12 carries in a 17-16 loss in Kansas City last weekend.

Dallas A&M hopes to improve ‘D’ searches for run game

By KRISTIE RIEKEN ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON — Texas A&M’s defense knows they need to tighten things up.

While the offense ranks third in the nation in total yards, the defense has struggled and is allowing more yards than all but 10 teams in the nation (489 yards per game).

The unit was back to full strength for the first time this season last week against Alabama after missing players to suspensions in the first two weeks, but it still had problems in a loss to the top-ranked Crimson Tide.

Now the 10th-ranked Aggies look for improvement in the unit as they prepare for SMU on Satur-

Cowboys hope to run the ball against St. Louis

By SCHUYLER DIXON ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by David J. Phillip | AP

Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin is looking to see his defense fix their problems, allowing more yards per game than all but 10 teams in the nation. day.

“The things that we saw are correctable,” Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin said. “Our players

understand that. We’ll get some continuity and not as much newness for the rest of the year on defense.”

Teams aren’t simply piling up yards against the Aggies; they’re also

See A&M PAGE 2B

IRVING — The Dallas Cowboys still see DeMarco Murray as the back who altered the future of their running game with a record-setting day against St. Louis two years ago.

They don’t see him as a back who hasn’t had a 100-yard game in more than a year and can’t seem to invigorate a

rushing attack probably best described as stale.

“DeMarco’s a good football player,” coach Jason Garrett said. “And we’ve got to give him more chances and we’ve got to run block for him better up front and on the edges and give him some chances to be successful.”

This is probably a good week to keep try-

See COWBOYS

PAGE 2B

PAGE 2B

Zscores

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2013

TEXAS Continued from Page 1B 12, a league he feels is “wide open” and ripe for the taking.

“I still think this team’s got a great shot. We’ve got a chance in every game left because I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it in practice. It’s a great group of young people trying,” Brown said.

Kansas State had to do its own turn-around. The defending Big 12 champions lost to Championship Subdivision champion North Dakota State at home before beating Louisiana-Lafayette and Massachusetts.

Wildcats coach Bill Snyder said was sympathetic with Brown’s struggles.

“I know when they don’t have the success that they want it is painful for him as it is for anybody,” Snyder said. “He cares about his players, and he hurts for them as well.”

BROWN Who else? There is no bigger topic of conversation in Austin than Brown’s future. The 16thyear coach built up expectations the Longhorns were ready to return to the national elite this season, only to see them fall flat out of the gate.

ASH

A&M

With him, the Texas offense has big-play capability. Ash accounted for seven touchdowns — six passes and a 55-yard run — in the first two games before he was hurt.

RUNNING ’CATS BYU and Mississippi’s option attack ran all over Texas the last two weeks and Snyder certainly noticed. In 2010, Snyder inserted a little-used quarterback named Collin Klein to run the ball in a Wildcats rout. Snyder has said slippery backup quarterback Daniel Sams will definitely get on the field against the Longhorns.

LOCKETT UP Speedy junior wide receiver Tyler Lockett is the Wildcats’ big playmaker.

His career kickoff return average of 32.9 yards ranks first in Big 12 history.

FADE TO GRAY? Texas running back Johnathan Gray was a high school phenomenon, setting a national record for touchdowns (205) and finishing third in career rushing yards. None of that has translated on the college level yet. The sophomore leads Texas in rushing with 209 yards but has just two touchdowns.

Continued from Page 1B

piling up points. The Aggies rank 107th nationally in scoring defense by allowing 36 points a game. This week they’re facing another up-tempo offense in the June Jones-led Mustangs.

“It’ll be another challenge for our defense because it’s different than what we saw last week,” Sumlin said. “We’re going to have to defend the whole field-vertically and sidelineto-sideline-because they are going to stretch us out to make us play in space.”

The Mustangs’ potent passing attack is averaging more than 352 yards a game and Texas A&M’s secondary has struggled through the first three weeks. Texas A&M defensive coordinator Mark Snyder expects his group to get better as it matures.

JOHNNY FOOTBALL Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel has thrown for more than 400 yards in consecutive games, the first A&M player to do that. His 379 yards of total offense a game ranks fifth in the country. This week the dual-threat quarterback will face a defense that is allowing more than 419 yards a game.

GILBERT’S GAME SMU quarterback Garrett Gilbert, the former Texas quarterback in his second season at SMU, is averaging 393.5 yards of total offense a

game, which ranks third in the nation. His 38 completions a game lead the nation and his 352.5 yards passing a game rank fourth. Gilbert completed almost 73 percent of his passes last week and led the Mustangs on a game-winning touchdown drive for a 31-30 win over Montana State.

EVEN EVANS Texas A&M receiver Mike Evans leads the country with 518 yards receiving. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound Evans set an A&M record with 279 yards against Alabama. The previous record of 250 yards receiving was set in 1965. Evans has at least six catches and 80 yards receiving in six straight games.

OLD FOES These former Southwest Conference foes first played in 1916 and played annually from 1919-1995, except in 1987 and 1988. The Aggies got a 48-3 win last season and have won the last four meetings. SMU’s last win in the series came 1984, but the teams played to a 21-21 tie in 1994.

DOUBLE TROUBLE The Mustangs have a pair of receivers who rank in the top-20 in yards receiving a game in Jeremy Johnson and Darius Joseph. Johnson is eighth in the country with 121.5 yards receiving a game. Joseph 108 yards a game are tied for 17th.

SABAN Continued from Page 1B Tom Hicks, a former regent who is the brother of current Regent Steve Hicks, also was on the call.

Tom Hicks, the former owner of the Texas Rangers, the Dallas Stars and the English professional soccer club Liverpool, was a regent in 1997 when Brown came to Texas and was instrumental in hiring him away from North Carolina.

Two days after the call with Sexton, Tom Hicks met with Brown over lunch and told him about the call, according to several people who spoke with the AP. He asked Brown if he was ready to retire.

Brown, who had just finished his 15th season at Texas, said he wanted to keep coaching and the matter was dropped.

On his weekly radio show Thursday night, Saban said he didn’t know anything about the meeting and said he’s too old to start over someplace else. He also joked about Sexton talking to another school.

“That’s what they’re supposed to do. That’s why I hired the guy.

That’s why I pay him,” Saban said.

“Nothing went on that I know of. I mean, I don’t know about any of this stuff. I haven’t talked to anybody about that particular situation. They have a coach there that I’ve got a lot of respect for. Every year it’s something. Last year, it was the Cleveland Browns.

The year before it was something else, going back to the NFL,” Saban said. “But (wife) Terry and I are very happy here in Tuscaloosa. We really love the University of Alabama.”

Brown, who is under contract until 2020 and will be paid $5.4 million this year, won the 2005 national title and lost to Saban’s Alabama team in the 2010 championship game. The Longhorns are 23-18 since that defeat and Brown is under fire from fans upset about a 1-2 start this year after consecutive lopsided losses to BYU and Mississippi.

Brown has said he plans to coach through his contract. But three sub-par seasons and two consecutive losses this season have led to speculation about Brown’s future, and Saban is often mentioned as a potential replacement.

Saban has won four national championships, one with LSU in 2003 and three with Alabama after the 2009, 2011 and 2012 seasons. Saban earns $5.6 million per year, but Tex-

FOSTER Continued from Page 1B ter’s college career, wasn’t immediately returned. Emails to the NCAA were not immediately answered, either.

The Foster report comes one week after Yahoo Sports reported that a runner for agents provided illegal benefits to Tennessee defensive lineman Maurice Couch and former Tennessee quarterback Tyler Bray as well as former Alabama offensive tackle D.J. Fluker, former Mississippi State defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and former Mississippi State wide receiver Chad Bumphis. Couch has been ruled ineligible while the school investigates those allegations.

Andrew Muscato, a producer of the documentary, said Foster didn’t specify how much money he received or who paid him.

In the clip of the documentary that appeared on Sports Illustrated’s website, Foster says he once complained to a coach about how he had no food or money, and that the coach responded by giving about 50 tacos to him and a handful of friends.

Muscato said Foster’s comments came from a four-hour interview that took place in February, Muscato said the documentary is an examination of college sports through the scope of athletes’ rights.

“There were a lot of guys on my team that sold drugs,” Foster said

in the documentary. “Some of them sold drugs. That’s why you hear a lot of guys selling their rings. They’re just trying to eat, man. It was total (bull). You don’t say anything because if you say anything, you’re stepping out of line, and that will hurt your chances of getting to that next level. It’s a brilliantly devised evil scheme to keep kids quiet.”

Tennessee is on probation through Aug. 23, 2015, for previous violations. The probation was extended by two years last November after the NCAA ruled former assistant Willie Mack Garza provided impermissible travel and lodging for an unofficial visit by prospect Lache Seastrunk, who eventually signed with Oregon and has since transferred to Baylor. Garza worked on the staff of former Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin, who’s now at Southern California.

In an interview with the Associated Press on Thursday, SEC commissioner Mike Slive criticized the NCAA rules regarding agents and said conferences that produce plenty of NFL prospects should have the authority to create their own regulations to curb such problems.

“I feel like the current NCAA rules and regulations are part of the problem, they’re not part of the solution,” Slive said.

File photo by Chris O’Meara | AP

Alabama head coach Nick Saban reportedly interests Texas as the top-ranked Crimson Tide look to win their fourth championship in five years in 2013. as — the nation’s wealthiest athletic program — could certainly afford him.

Whether Sexton initiated the contact with Texas is unclear. He did not return a telephone message from the AP on Thursday.

Alabama spokesman Jeff Purinton also declined comment.

Hall said a person he would not identify called him, unsolicited, and proposed an introduction to Sexton.

“I notified then-chairman Gene Powell, who then informed vice chairman and athletic liaison Steve Hicks, which resulted in a conference call with Mr. Sexton,” Hall said in a prepared statement to the AP. “Introductions were made and then I withdrew from the process.”

Tom Hicks declined comment on the call and the meeting with Brown.

Steve Hicks told the AP he was in Australia the second week in January and said he never talked to Sexton, Brown or Saban, “or authorized anyone to do so.”

“Wallace Hall brought this to the chairman and myself. Nothing was authorized by the board and the chairman and myself thought the board should not be involved,” Steve

Hicks said. “Tom and Mack are friends and talk often. They simply visited and just talked the idea through. It was dropped and nothing happened ... It was a short conversation.”

Powell did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Joe Jamail, a billionaire trial lawyer who is one of the top donors to Texas, is Brown’s attorney. When asked about the conference call with Sexton and the lunch meeting, Jamail suggested Hall was acting on his own and threatened to sue anyone outside the university if they try to pressure Brown to resign.

“If there are any more, get ready for a lawsuit,” Jamail said. “Mack has publicly stated he wants to coach.”

After Brown and Tom Hicks spoke, Sexton was informed that Brown would not retire, Hall said Thursday. He said he has not been in further contact with Sexton and didn’t know if anyone else from the university had spoken with the agent.

Hall is under impeachment investigation by the state House of Representatives and lawmakers have complained that he

has tried to force out university President Bill Powers, who has been a strong advocate for Brown. Steve Hicks has been among the regents backing Powers in a public spat that has embroiled the board members and state lawmakers for more than a year.

A spokesman for Powers said the president was unaware of the call with Saban’s agent or the meeting with Brown.

The conversation has been rumored for months. That a regent participated — whether on behalf of the board or on his own — underscores the pressure Brown is under to turn around his struggling program.

Texas went 69-9 from 2004-2009. But the Longhorns slid to 5-7 in 2010 before seasons of 8-5 in 2011 and 9-4 in 2012. With 19 returning starters, Brown suggested before the season that Texas was on the verge of returning to national prominence. Instead, the losses to BYU and Ole Miss have left Brown fending off questions about his future every week.

On Monday, Brown dismissed “rumors” about his job.

“They’ve been swirling for 16 years,” Brown said.

COWBOYS Continued from Page 1B ing, with the Rams set to visit the Cowboys on Sunday for the first time since Murray had a franchise-record 253 yards in his first start in 2011. He had a 91-yard touchdown on his first carry — the longest first career TD since the merger in 1970.

Murray had two more 100yard days almost immediately, and Felix Jones was never considered the starting running back again. But Murray missed nine games over two seasons, first with a broken ankle and then a sprained foot.

The Cowboys finished last season with the worst per-carry average in franchise history, and it didn’t get much better when Murray returned for the final five games. He has averaged just 3.8 yards per try over the past seven games, capped by just 25 yards on 12 attempts in last weekend’s 17-16 loss to Kansas City.

On Dallas’ first offensive play, Murray bounced back from the line like a rubber ball and lost 2 yards, which leads to several questions. Is the line not blocking very well? Is Murray not seeing the holes very well? Can running backs have slumps like hitters do in baseball?

If there are any answers, they haven’t come from Mur-

ray. He hasn’t taken questions from reporters this week.

“I would tell you that we are definitely working at every end to get our run game up and going and it’s not because we don’t like to run,” said offensive coordinator Bill Callahan, who took over play-calling duties from Garrett this year.

“We’d love to run the football.

But there were opportunities in the game where we tried to take advantage of the players we have.”

Like the fourth-quarter stretch where the Cowboys ran 19 straight pass plays against the Chiefs. Dallas talked all offseason about easing the burden on Romo, who set franchise records for attempts, completions and yards last year when the running game floundered.

The Cowboys are getting their quarterback that “extra half a second” owner Jerry Jones talked about after they drafted center Travis Frederick in the first round. Garrett says the pass protection has been the best he’s seen in years with the Cowboys.

But they’re not giving Romo much of an option to hand off and enjoy the scenery from the backfield.

“I feel like I should be better in the run game and I should

be a bigger part of it,” Frederick said. “There’s just this list of all these technique things that I need to get better at and I’m way better at than I was when I got here. But you’ve just got to continue working on it.”

Even if there’s something to the idea Murray’s not seeing the field well, a baseball-like move to juggle the lineup is a bit problematic.

The primary backups, Phillip Tanner and Lance Dunbar, have a fumble apiece so far, and fifth-round pick Joseph Randle hasn’t shown the coaches enough to get on the field in the regular season.

“Obviously they have to secure the football,” Garrett said.

“That’s a big part of earning that trust of the coaching staff and your teammates.”

Meantime, the Cowboys are trying to rediscover the back who had 601 yards in his first four starts.

“I think he’s done a terrific job,” Callahan said of Murray.

“He’ll continue to get better as we move forward. We just have to give him more touches. He’s a good back. He’s physical and he has good eyes and good vision.”

The Cowboys have seen it before, and think they will see it again.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2013

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

HINTS | BY HELOISE Dear Heloise: I save CONTAINERS of different sizes. When condiments and lotions get low in their containers, I transfer condiments, etc., to a smaller container, making it easier to get the item out when needed. This sometimes helps to keep that item from spoiling or drying out. — Karen in New Mexico Karen, love this hint.

Have you ever needed a small amount of an ingredient and don’t have it in your pantry or refrigerator? Don’t panic; I have compiled a pamphlet that includes lots of items that can be substituted for others, as well as recipes for homemade seasoning mixes. To receive a copy, just send $3 and a long, self-addressed, stamped (66 cents) envelope to: Heloise/SSS, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. Did you know that a substitute for sour cream is 1 cup of plain yogurt and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar?

This works just fine in a pinch. — Heloise HAIRBALL HELPER

Dear Heloise: I have a 5year-old kitty that has had a hairball vomiting problem. I read (not in this column — Heloise) that giving a kitty a small amount of olive oil will eliminate this problem.

After approval by the veterinarian, I started giving her some. No more painful vomiting, and her fur is soft and healthy. — Virginia, via email It’s normal for most cats to have hairballs, especially long-haired cats, but olive oil is NOT the recommended way of dealing with them. Hairballs are caused by the cat’s hair that is swallowed as it grooms itself. There isn’t anything you can do to totally prevent hairballs, and it’s normal for most cats to have them. If your cat is coughing them up more often than normal, a visit to the veterinarian should be in order.

There are commercial products and foods made specifically for hairball issues. So, please call your veterinarian again to double-check. — Heloise

DENNIS THE MENACE

FAMILY CIRCUS

PEANUTS

GARFIELD

DAILY CRYPTOQUOTES — Here’s how to work it:

DILBERT

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2013