SATURDAY
’HORNS WAIT
NOVEMBER 29,2008
UT EYES POSSIBLE OPPONENTS SPORTS 1B
FREE
The Zapata Times DELIVERED EVERY SATURDAY
TO 4,000 HOMES
A HEARST PUBLICATION
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Tons of Prekinder may get a boost marijuana By JULIAN AGUILAR
LAREDO MORNING TIMES
By NICK GEORGIOU
Wednesday. The first one came shortly after agents encountered an abandoned Ford pickup while patrolling a ranch near Zapata. As the agents approached the pickup, they saw several cellophane-wrapped bundles in the vehicle’s bed and cab. The bundles contained a total of about 2,300 pounds of marijuana, worth an estimated $1.8 million. Agents immediately searched the area for suspects, but found no one, a CBP news release stated. In the second Zapata drug seizure case Wednesday, agents patrolling a ranch near San Ygnacio saw three people in a boat on the Rio Grande. According to the news release, the boat was towing a rubber raft loaded with large burlap-covered bundles. When it landed on the U.S. riverbank, the people in the boat spotted the agents approaching,
THE ZAPATA TIMES
U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Zapata station made two significant drug seizures this week, confiscating more than a ton of marijuana in one case alone, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “(The Zapata Station’s) apprehensions and seizures predominately occur along the riverbanks,” said Eugenio Rodriguez Jr., supervisory agent in charge of the Laredo Sector’s public affairs office. The Zapata station, which is charged with patrolling 939 square miles of land and 61 square miles of water, is located at 105 Kennedy St., just a short distance from Falcon Lake and the Rio Grande. “They have boats on the river and the lake, so that’s where a lot of their seizures happen,” Rodriguez said. Both of the seizures occurred
Among the bills pre-filed by state Sen. Judith Zaffirini is one that would expand and enhance prekindergarten and another she said would help ease a financial burden on college students through tax relief. And while state funding is a concern, particularly with recent
reports that there likely will be little to no surplus for the Legislature to work with in January, Zaffirini said there are ZAFFIRINI other options. Senate Bill 21, the first filed by any state senator, seeks to allow school districts
to voluntarily expand their current half-day prekindergarten operations to full-day programs for students currently eligible for the program. Zaffirini said that should the bill pass, she expected the majority of districts to begin the practice, which also calls for collaboration among districts and high-quality private child care and Head Start providers.
“I believe that many of them will, and we will have to provide the funding,” she said. “I look at it in two ways. If we can get the funding, what is the best that we can do and what is the minimum (amount) of funding that we need?” She said that if a bill is passed but the programs attached to it
See ZAFFIRINI | PAGE 10A
See TONS | PAGE 11A
Photos by Cuate Santos | Laredo Morning Times
Wardens busy at work. ABOVE: Game wardens Dennis Gazaway Jr. and Roy Martinez patrol Falcon Lake near Zapata on Thursday morning. BELOW: Gazaway issues a citation to a fisherman at Falcon Lake.
FALCON Photo by Ulysses S. Romero | Laredo Morning Times
Maria Rodriguez gets a helping hand from volunteer Rico Griffin at the Boys & Girls Club of Zapata.
Man recalls days spent at club
LAKE POLICE Game wardens busy enforcing laws, protecting boaters By JULIAN AGUILAR THE ZAPATA TIMES
(Editor’s note: United Way is funding 25 agencies in Laredo and Zapata with its 2008-09 campaign. This is one in a series about the agencies and the people they help.)
By CHRISTINA ROSALES LAREDO MORNING TIMES
When Rico Griffin was busy playing air hockey and foursquare as a child at the Boys & Girls Club of Zapata County, he had no idea he would end up volunteering and later working there. The place, he said, ended up influencing his character and his future. “I started coming here when
n any given day when the weather is as pleasant as it is known to be in South Texas, fishermen and boaters from all walks of life descend upon the waters of Falcon Lake. Beers are iced down and boat motors and fishing reels are checked, and the waters make a faint splash when a line is cast in hopes of reeling in a hefty bass or catfish. Boaters should, however, expect a team of state officers whose main goal is to protect boaters and make sure a planned day of relaxation and recreation
O I was a little kid,” Griffin said. “I’d spend time here after school and during the summer, just passing the days because staying home gets boring after 65 straight days of doing nothing.” Practically growing up at the club, Rico decided he would volunteer there as soon as he started high school. It was an easy way to get community service hours, he said. “When you go to a place often enough, you get a lot of
“The main thing we do is enforce the Texas Parks and Wildlife code.” GAME WARDEN ROY MARTINEZ
doesn’t instead evolve into a day of tragedy and heartache. “The main thing we do is enforce the Texas Parks and Wildlife code,” said Game Warden Roy Martinez, who with partners Stevan Ramos and Dennis Gazaway Jr. set off one Thursday morning during a fishing tournament. “We check for life jackets, safety equipment, navigation lights and
fishing licenses.” Because fishermen come from all over the country for the tournaments, which are increasing in popularity and helping the local economy, Martinez said they might not know what state law mandates. “They always say it’s the best fishing they’ve ever done. They all come from all over: Arizona, Kentucky, New York
and Oklahoma,” he said. The compliments, however, don’t mean the sportsmen will get off with a warning for not complying with state laws. In other states, boaters may not be required to have life jackets or other safety gear, but in Texas, they must at least be accessible on the boat, if not worn, said Ramos. A throwable life preserver, called a Type IV throwable device, also is required. A violation fine can be as much as $500, including court costs, but the ultimate decision is handed down by Zapata’s justice of the peace court.
See WARDENS | PAGE 10A
See UNITED WAY | PAGE 11A
A LAKE VIEW
Guerra family recognized by Ojuelos community ortunately for posterity, Maria de Jesus Guerra Garcia and her sons worked tirelessly to get an official state marker for the Guerra Historical Cemetery, once part of Los Ojuelos near Mirando City. Guerra Garcia, who died last year at the age of 93, was a direct descendant of Isidro Gutierrez, founder of Los Ojuelos, the community that the Guerra family developed from one of the early Spanish and Mexican land grants. From that once-thriving community, families moved to Zapata,
F
ODIE ARAMBULA Mirando City, Laredo and others. Her passing could have been the loss of an oral history, but fortunately, she and a son related it eight years ago. It was facilitated
by Doña Maria’s dedication to the Guerra family. She and her sons, Raymond Garcia, of Alice, and Lucas Garcia Jr., of Hartford, Conn., had embarked on a campaign to honor the memory of her great-great grandfather, Dionicio Guerra. His remains today rest in the Guerra Historical Cemetery. The area is not easily accessible; the cemetery is now surrounded by private property but occasionally is a stop on historical tours. Don Dionicio was the son of Ignacio Guerra and Maria Petra
Gutierrez. Maria de Jesus GuerraGarcia learned from the Texas Historical Commission on Aug. 15, 1999, that the gravesite of Dionicio Guerra had been designated a state historical cemetery — the only one in Webb County, and one of the few in Texas. “It was a long wait and it took a lot patience and hard work,” Raymond Garcia told the Laredo Morning Times when he visited the newspaper to display the bronze marker. “It’s hard to believe it’s finally here. We’re happy for my mother. We made it a
promise to our mother to see that it was done.” In that May 2002 interview, Raymond said he didn’t realize it had taken so long until he saw the year “2000” on the marker. He recalled having been at the newspaper two years earlier to tell of the work of his mother and brother “to get the state to recognize the Dionicio Guerra gravesite as a historical cemetery.” In a late December 2000 telephone interview, Doña Maria reminisced about the stories her father, Margarito Guerra, used to
tell her about the Los Ojuelos community. Her father died in 1913. “My father took me to Los Ojuelos when I was a child,” Doña Maria said. “He used to tell me stories about the place. I remember taking my first steps walking outside the main house at the ranch. I loved to listen to my father tell stories of how his father’s grandfather raised a family and helped to build the Los Ojuelos community.”
See LAKE VIEW | PAGE 11A