The Zapata Times 12/1/2012

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SATURDAY DECEMBER 1, 2012

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HUNTING ACCIDENT

FEDERAL COURT

Teen’s death gets a look

Cartel war weapons

Hunting accident takes 15-year-old’s life

Court filings: Lake is part of weapons smuggling route

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

Two alleged gun runners associated with Los Zetas who allegedly used Falcon Lake as part of a smuggling route were arrested this week in Roma, ac-

cording to federal court documents.

One man told federal agents he would smuggle weapons onto U.S. soil to avoid the Gulf Cartel-controlled territories. He told agents the weapons smuggled into Mexico were used to

fight rivals in the northern Tamaulipas town of Miguel Alemán, which borders Roma.

Juan Ricardo Martinez-Cardenas and Daniel Blanco-Avila face weapons charges. Both men are in federal custody.

On Monday, a Roma Police

Department officer pulled over a Ford Explorer for a traffic violation. Police identified the driver as Martinez-Cardenas, a Mexican citizen.

Following a consent to

See WEAPONS PAGE 9A

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ

HUNTING

THE ZAPATA TIMES

Investigations are ongoing into the shooting death of a 15-year-old boy near San Ygnacio, according to Zapata County sheriff’s officials.

On Nov. 18, Javier E. Benavides BENAVIDES and his uncle went hunting on a private property located 1.5 miles south of San Ygnacio near the riv-

KEEPING BUTCHERS BUSY

See JAVIER PAGE 9A

FEDERAL COURT

2 men cleared of charges Court says men not involved in trafficking

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

Charges were dropped this week against two people initially named in a criminal indictment for cocaine trafficking, according to federal court documents.

Javier Molina Balderas and Leonardo Cortez have been cleared of charges in the interest of justice, court documents state. Both men had been originally named as cocaine runners for Jose Daniel Mercado, a wellknown cocaine dealer in Zapata, court documents state.

Attorney Eduardo Jaime, Balderas’s lawyer, said it seemed the government had an identity problem. The informant who made the cocaine controlled

See CLEARED PAGE 9A

Photo by Jennifer Whitney/The San Antonio Express-News | AP

Owner Gary Riley’s son, Nathan, 7, prepares a whitetail buck for processing at Eddie’s Game Processing in San Antonio. While processing plant owners declined to say how much they expect profits to grow this season, they’re optimistic that this year will be better than last.

Dear hunting season great for processing plants

By VICKI VAUGHN SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

SAN ANTONIO — The deer carcass, stiff from being put on ice, was weighed and then hung by its back legs from an elevated rail.

A worker pushed the animal down the rail into a refrigerated room where 26 other white-tail deer hung in the chill before being rendered into venison steaks, chili meat, jerky, or cheese and jalapeño sausage.

It was shaping up as a busy day at Eddie’s Game Processing, one of at least a

half-dozen businesses in the San Antonio area that are preparing for the busiest time of the year.

While processing plant owners declined to say how much they expect profits to grow this season, they’re optimistic that this year will be better than last, when 2011’s punishing drought devastated the deer population in Texas.

“We may do 2,000 deer this season, which would be a decent year,” said Gary Riley, co-owner of Eddie’s, as a tang of spices hung in the air. The smoker in back was packed with sausage.

“It looks a whole lot better than last

year,” said Gerry Pruski, co-owner of Presa Frozen Food Lockers in San Antonio, a processing specialist. “This year, the deer are all fat.”

Then there’s Granzin’s in New Braunfels, which might be the big daddy of processors in terms of volume. Granzin’s expects to handle as many as 7,000 deer this season, processing manager Jason Reyes said.

As hunters bag greater numbers of white-tail deer this season, they add to the coffers of family-owned businesses

See DEER MEAT PAGE 9A

PAGE 2A

Zin brief CALENDAR

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012

AROUND TEXAS

TODAY IN HISTORY

SATURDAY, DEC. 1

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium will show: “Season of Light” at 2 p.m.; “Holiday Music Magic” at 3 p.m.; “Mystery of the Christmas Star” at 4 p.m.; and “2012: Ancient Skies, Ancient Mysteries at 5 p.m. Matinee show is $4. General admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Premium shows are $1 more. For more information, call 956-326-3663.

Today is Saturday, Dec. 1, the 336th day of 2012. There are 30 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: On Dec. 1, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln sent his Second Annual Message to Congress, which was read aloud by the Secretary of the Senate.

In it, Lincoln called for the abolition of slavery, saying that “in giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free,” and toward the end of his message, wrote: “Fellowcitizens, we can not escape history. We of this Congress and this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves.”

On this date: In 1824, the presidential election was turned over to the U.S. House of Representatives when a deadlock developed between John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford and Henry Clay. (Adams ended up the winner.)

In 1860, the Charles Dickens novel “Great Expectations” was first published in weekly serial form.

In 1921, the Navy flew the first nonrigid dirigible to use helium; the C-7 traveled from Hampton Roads, Va., to Washington, D.C. In 1934, Soviet communist official Sergei M. Kirov, an associate of Josef Stalin, was assassinated in Leningrad, resulting in a massive purge.

In 1941, Japan’s Emperor Hirohito approved waging war against the United States, Britain and the Netherlands after his government rejected U.S. demands contained in the Hull Note.

In 1942, nationwide gasoline rationing went into effect in the United States.

In 1952, the New York Daily News ran a front-page story on Christine Jorgensen’s sexreassignment surgery with the headline, “Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty”.

In 1955, Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, was arrested after refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Ala., city bus; the incident sparked a year-long boycott of the buses by blacks.

In 1969, the U.S. government held its first draft lottery since World War II. In 1973, David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, died in Tel Aviv at age 87.

In 1989, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.

In 1992, in Mineola, N.Y., Amy Fisher was sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison for shooting and seriously wounding Mary Jo Buttafuoco. (Fisher served seven years.)

Ten years ago: Colombia’s largest right-wing paramilitary group declared a unilateral cease-fire in its long-running battle against leftist rebels. Russia won its first Davis Cup title by rallying to beat defending champion France 3-2.

Today’s Birthdays: Actordirector Woody Allen is 77.

World Golf Hall of Famer Lee Trevino is 73. Singer Dianne Lennon (The Lennon Sisters) is 73. Rock musician John Densmore (The Doors) is 68.

Actress-singer Bette Midler is 67. Actor Treat Williams is 61.

Actress Charlene Tilton is 54.

Actress-comedian Sarah Silverman is 42.

Thought for Today: “Life begins when a person first realizes how soon it will end.” — Marcelene Cox, American writer.

TUESDAY, DEC. 4 The board of the Zapata County Chamber of Commerce meets from noon until 1 p.m. at the chamber offices.

South Texas Food Bank fundraiser, Hal’s Landing Restaurant and Bar, 6510 Arena Blvd., 6 to 11 p.m., featuring music by Ross and Friends and several raffle prizes. Donation $10 to the South Texas Food Bank mission of feeding the hungry.

The Alzheimer’s support group will meet at 7 p.m. in Meeting Room 2, Building B of the Laredo Medical Center. The support group is for family members and caregivers taking care of someone who has Alzheimer’s.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 5 The board of the Zapata County Fair Association meets from 6:30-8 p.m. The location will be announced.

The Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium will show “One World, One Sky: Big Bird’s Adventure” at 3:30 p.m. and “The Future Is Wild” at 4:30 p.m. The special holiday price is two shows for $5. For more information, call 956326-3663.

THURSDAY, DEC. 6 The Christmas Parade and Lighting of the County Plaza is set for 5:30-9 p.m.

Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center will be showing “The Zula Patrol: Under the Weather” at 3:30 p.m. and “Force 5 Nature Unleashed” at 4:30 p.m. The special holiday price is two shows for $5.

FRIDAY, DEC. 7 The Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium will show “Holiday Music Magic” at 6 p.m. and “Mystery of the Christmas Star” at 7 p.m. General admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. For more information, call 956326-3663.

SATURDAY, DEC. 8 The Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium will present Family Movie Day. “The Muppets Christmas Carol” will show at noon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. General admission is $4.

SUNDAY, DEC. 9 The Grand Tour of Historic Homes begins at 11:30 a.m. in San Ygnacio at the Arturo L. Benavides Elementary school gym. Plate sale and house tour tickets, both priced at $6, will be sold separately. The house tour begins at 1:30 p.m.

MONDAY, DEC. 10 The Zapata County Commissioners Court meeting is set for 9 a.m. at the Zapata County Courthouse.

Photo by Lara Solt/The Dallas Morning News | AP

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst speaks to the Dallas Regional Chamber at the Fairmont Dallas Hotel, in Dallas on Thursday. Dewhurst suggested that lawmakers consider using $1 billion from the state Rainy Day Fund to help pay for reservoirs and other new sources of drinking water in an effort to deal with Texas’ spiraling population growth.

$1 billion for water?

By NOMAAN MERCHANT ASSOCIATED PRESS

DALLAS — Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst suggested on Thursday that lawmakers consider using $1 billion from the state’s rainy day fund to help pay for reservoirs and new sources of drinking water in an effort to deal with Texas’ spiraling population growth.

Speaking in Dallas, Dewhurst proposed a “water infrastructure development bank” to help cities and counties pay for environmental studies, permits and other groundwork for new construction, he said. Local governments could pay back the bank through their construction budgets, he said.

New water projects “could cost tens of millions of dollars, and for some smaller cities and counties, that’s difficult,” Dewhurst told reporters afterward.

He suggested the rainy day fund might al-

Holidays: Governor’s Mansion honors military

Dallas-area battery recycling plant closing

Man, 90, dies in Beaumont house fire

AUSTIN — The Texas Governor’s Mansion has a military theme with holiday decorations saluting the nation’s armed forces.

Gov. Rick Perry said Friday that each public room in the historic structure in Austin honors a different service branch.

FRISCO — A Dallas-area battery recycling plant is closing in a $45 million deal to end disputes over lead emissions and ground contamination.

The Exide Technologies plant in Frisco shut down Friday. The city will buy 180 acres of undeveloped land owned by the company.

The company, which recycled millions of used vehicle batteries annually year, laid off more than 120 employees as part of the Frisco closure.

BEAUMONT — Police say a 90-year-old Southeast Texas man has died in a house fire blamed on a space heater in his home.

Beaumont police on Friday identified the victim as Junius Hill.

Police say firefighters late Thursday night responded to emergency calls about a burning house. Neighbors reported Hill was still believed to be in the home.

Driver dies in fiery gas tanker wreck HILLISTER — Investigators say a gasoline tanker truck driver has been killed in a fiery Southeast Texas wreck.

Tyler County Sheriff David Hennigan told KFDM-TV that the fatal accident happened Friday morning on Highway 69 in Hillister. The Department of Public Safety identified the driver as 58-year-old Bertis Wood of Jasper.

The accident forced traffic to be diverted from the roadway in Hillister.

THURSDAY, DEC. 12 The Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center and Planetarium will show “The Little Star that Could” at 3:30 p.m. and “New Horizons” at 4:30 p.m. The special holiday price is two shows for $5.

The Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center and Planetarium will show “The Secret of the Cardboard Rocket” at 3:30 p.m. and “Star Signs” at 4:30 p.m. The special holiday price is two shows for $5.

FRIDAY, DEC. 12 The Texas A&M International University Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center and Planetarium will show “The Little Star that Could” at 3:30 p.m. and “New Horizons” at 4:30 p.m. The special holiday price is two shows for $5.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 26 The Zapata County Commissioners Court meets from 9 a.m. until noon.

so be used to fund new roads. He said the Texas Department of Transportation would need “additional dedicated revenue,” which could come from a number of different sources.

“I think, as a fiscal conservative, we could draw down a little bit and still keep a very healthy balance in the rainy day fund,” said Dewhurst.

Business and conservation groups have long warned Texas is beginning to run out of drinking water. During last year’s drought, some communities ran out of water and parts of several rivers ran dry, said Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas.

A water plan approved last year by the Texas Water Development Board said the state should eventually spend $53 billion over the next half-century on new reservoirs, dams, pipelines and wells.

Man imprisoned for killing Lubbock woman dies AMARILLO — Texas prison officials say a man serving a life term for the 2006 killing of a Lubbock State School co-worker has died of apparent natural causes.

Mickey Patterson died in the infirmary at the Clements Unit in Amarillo.

Border businessman pleads guilty to theft DEL RIO — A South Texas construction company owner has pleaded guilty to theft in an ongoing corruption investigation in Maverick County.

Federal prosecutors in Del Rio say 37-year-old Joe M. Rodriguez faces up to 10 years in prison in the scheme for equipment paid for but never delivered.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION NJ train derailment tips tankers, sickens dozens PAULSBORO, N.J. — A freight train derailed Friday on a railroad bridge that has had problems before, toppling tanker cars partially into a creek and causing a leak of hazardous gas that was blamed for sickening dozens of people, authorities said.

Members of the National Transportation Safety Board arrived in New Jersey on Friday afternoon to investigate. They will try to determine whether the derailment was caused by a problem with the bridge or if the derailment was to blame for the bridge’s partial collapse.

Ind. financier gets 50 years for $200m swindle INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana financier and former chief executive of National Lampoon convicted of swindling investors out of about $200 million was

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In this frame grab from video, crews work the scene where a freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed over Mantua Creek on Friday in Paulsboro, N.J. At least two tanker cars toppled into the creek causing a leak of vinyl chloride. sentenced Friday to 50 years in prison by a judge who told him his “deceit, greed and arrogance” had cost many of his victims their life savings and dreams of retirement.

U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson said Timothy Dur-

ham had violated the trust of thousands of small investors from the American Heartland who had been careful with their money. She told the court Durham had plundered money so he could live a luxurious lifestyle.

— Compiled from AP reports

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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

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012

Zlocal THE BLOTTER

ASSAULT

DUI

Deputies responded at 2:36 p.m. Nov. 22 to the Zapata County Medical Clinic on U.S. 83 and Seventh Avenue. A man reported that another person broke his nose. An aggravated assault report was filed.

Simon Alberto Martinez, 24, was arrested and charged with two counts of assault, interference with an emergency call, theft and unauthorized use of a vehicle at about 1 p.m. Nov. 23 at the M&S Liquor Store Run, 1309 U.S. 83. Martinez had a $65,000 bond at the Zapata Regional Jail.

Rosa Carla Villarreal, 19, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence at about 3:30 a.m. Nov. 21 in the 1000 block of Hidalgo Boulevard.

She was fined $300.

BURGLARY A burglary of a vehicle was reported at 9:15 p.m. Nov. 23 in the 800 block of Laredo Avenue.

A burglary of a habitation was reported at 7:29 p.m. Tuesday in the 200 block of Los Ebanos Road.

DWI Serafin Saenz IV, 28, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated at about 1 a.m. Nov. 23 at Second Street and Zapata Boulevard. He is out on bail.

Domingo Mendiola III, 32, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated at about 2:45 a.m. Nov. 23 at Sixth Avenue and U.S. 83. He had a $3,000 bond at the Zapata Regional Jail.

POSSESSION Armando A. Gomez, 18, was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana at about 2:15 a.m. Tuesday at Alamo

Street and East 20th Avenue. He had a $5,000 bond.

THE ZAPATA TIMES

A 20-year-old man who allegedly threw rocks at two people and injured them remained behind bars at Zapata Regional Jail on a combined $50,000 in bonds, according to Zapata County sheriff ’s officials.

On Nov. 15, Carlos Valadez, 20, was served with a couple of warrants charging him with two counts of aggravated assault, a sec-

ond-degree felony punishable with two to 20 years in prison. That day, deputies had VALADEZ responded to an argument reported in the 1500 block of Falcon Avenue.

Two men, aged 30 and 37, told deputies Valadez was refusing to leave the property. According to Sgt. Mario Elizondo, Valadez threw rocks at the victims,

Home tour is on Dec. 9 SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

PUBLIC INTOXICATION Mario Medina Jr., 25, was arrested and charged with public intoxication at about 6 p.m. Nov. 24 at the Little League Softball Field at West 15th Avenue and Glenn Street. He was fined $500.

THEFT A 45-year-old man reported at 9:42 a.m. Nov. 20 in the 100 block of FM 3074 that someone stole oilfield equipment from Forest Oil Company.

A theft was reported at 9:03 p.m. Monday in the 3800 block of South U.S. 83.

A 48-year-old man reported at 4:26 p.m. Wednesday at Midcon Compression in the 3300 block of North U.S. 83 that someone stole a flat bed trailer from the yard. The stolen property was valued at $3,900.

1 jailed after rock throwing incident

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ

PAGE 3A

causing injuries to their heads and elbows. Both victims refused medical attention, according to the sheriff ’s office.

But authorities had more in store for Valadez the day deputies arrested him for the rock throwing incident. Valadez was additionally served with warrants for burglary of a habitation and violation of a protective order.

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

The Grand Tour of Historic Homes will take place in San Ygnacio on Sunday, Dec. 9, starting with lunch and entertain-

ment at the Arturo L. Benavides Elementary School Gym at 11:30 a.m.

Plate sale tickets are $6 and house tour tickets will be sold separately for $6.

The house tours will be-

gin at 1:30 p.m. and will include five homes and the Martinez Museum, Nuestra Señora del Refugio Catholic Church, San Ygnacio Plaza and the Treviño Fort.

Dec. 16 Christmas tour includes merienda SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

The Zapata County Museum of History, the Torres Home and La Hacienda de las Flores will be featured in the Christmas Town and Country Tour Homes tak-

ing place on Sunday, Dec. 16. Proceeds will benefit the museum.

Guests will enjoy Christmas displays and a merienda including samplings of Mexican and Spanish treats.

Tickets are $5 per person and are available at the Zapata County Museum of History, 805 N. Hwy 83.

Maps and tickets for the tour will be available at the museum beginning at 1 p.m. on the day of the tour.

Christmas parade starts at 5 p.m. Thurs.

By RICARDO R. VILLARREAL THE ZAPATA TIMES

The 2012 Zapata County Christmas Parade and Lighting of the County Plaza will take place Thursday, beginning at 5 p.m. The parade will start at the corner of 17th Avenue and Glenn Street and will end on 6th Street at the Zapata County Plaza.

“This will be our fourth annual Christmas parade, where we will have floats from organizations in the community and featuring the schools, the county fair and elected officials,” said Zapata County Chamber of Commerce Presi-

“

About 500 children will receive presents. They really enjoy it.”

CHAMBER PRESIDENT AND CEO PACO MENDOZA

dent and CEO Paco Mendoza.

He said the event is one of the highlights of the holiday season for the community.

Elected officials will light the Christmas tree at the plaza, Mariachi Halcón will perform and Santa Claus will have children sitting on his lap and will

hand out gifts.

“About 500 children will receive presents. They really enjoy it. This is a very anticipated event and people enjoy coming together to celebrate and start the holiday season,” Mendoza said.

(Rick Villarreal may be reached at 728-2528 or rvillarreal@lmtonline.com)

PAGE 4A

Zopinion

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012

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

OTHER VIEWS

Don’t fall for Hamas’ PR lies

By MICAHEL OREN SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON POST

What makes better headlines? Is it numbing figures such as the 8,000 Palestinian rockets fired at Israel since it unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and the 42.5 percent of Israeli children living near the Gaza border who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder? Or is it high-resolution images of bombed-out buildings in Gaza and emotional stories of bereaved Palestinians?

The last, obviously, as demonstrated by much of the media coverage of Israel’s recent operation against Hamas.

But that answer raises a more fundamental question: Which stories best serve the terrorists’ interest?

Hamas has a military strategy to paralyze southern Israel with short- and middle-range rockets while launching Iranianmade missiles at Tel Aviv.

With our precision air force, top-notch intelligence and committed citizens army, we can defend ourselves against these dangers. We have invested billions of dollars in bomb shelters and early-warning systems and, together with generous U.S. aid, have developed history’s most advanced, multi-layered anti-missile batteries.

For all of its bluster, Hamas does not threaten Israel’s existence.

But Hamas also has a media strategy. Its purpose is to portray Israel’s unparalleled efforts to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza as indiscriminate firing at women and children, to pervert Israel’s rightful acts of selfdefense into war crimes.

Its goals are to isolate Israel internationally, to tie its hands from striking back at those trying to kill our citizens and to delegitimize the Jewish State.

Hamas knows that it cannot destroy us militarily but believes that it might do so through the media.

One reason is the enlarged images of destruction and civilian casualties in Gaza that dominated the front pages of U.S. publications. During this operation, The Post published multiple front-page photographs of Palestinian suffering. The New York Times even juxtaposed a photograph of the funeral of Hamas commander Ahmed Jabari, who was responsible for the slaughter of dozens of innocent Israelis, with that of a pregnant Israeli mother murdered by Hamas. Other photos, supplied by the terrorists and picked up by the press, identified children killed

by Syrian forces or even

by Hamas itself as victims of Israeli strikes.

In reporting Palestinian deaths, media routinely failed to note that roughly half were terrorists and that such a ratio is exceedingly low by modern military standards — much lower, for example, than the NATO campaign in the Balkans. Media also emphasize the disparity between the number of Palestinian and Israeli deaths, as though Israel should be penalized for investing billions of dollars in civil-defense and earlywarning systems and Hamas exonerated for investing in bombs rather than bomb shelters. As in Israel’s last campaign against Hamas in 2008-09, the word “disproportional-

ity” has been frequently used to characterize Israeli military strikes. In fact, during Operation Pillar of Defense this year, Hamas fired more than 1,500 missiles at Israel and the Israeli Air Force responded with 1,500 sorties.

The imbalance is also of language.

“Hamas health officials said 45 had been killed and 385 wounded,” the Times’ front page reported.

“Three Israeli civilians have died and 63 have been injured.” The subtext is clear: Israel targets Palestinians, and Israelis merely die.

The media perpetuated Hamas propaganda that traced the fighting to Jabari’s elimination and described Gaza as the most densely populated area on earth. Widely forgotten were the 130 rockets fired at Israel in the weeks before Jabari’s demise. For the record, Tel Aviv’s population is twice as dense as Gaza’s.

Hamas is a flagrantly anti-democratic, antiSemitic, anti-Christian, anti-feminist and anti-gay movement dedicated to genocide.

The United States, Canada and the European Union all consider it a terrorist organization. Hamas strives to kill the maximum number of Israeli civilians while using its own population as a human shield — under international law, a double war crime. Why, then, would the same free press that Hamas silences help advance its strategy?

Media naturally gravitate toward dramatic and highly visual stories. Reports of 5.5 million Israelis gathered nightly in bomb shelters scarcely compete with the Palestinian father interviewed after losing his son. Both are, of course, newsworthy, but the first tells a more complete story while the second stirs emotions.

This is precisely what Hamas wants. It seeks to instill a visceral disgust for any Israeli act of selfdefense, even one taken after years of unprovoked aggression.

Hamas strives to replace the tens of thousands of phone calls and text messages Israel sent to Palestinian civilians, warning them to leave combat zones, with lurid images of Palestinian suffering. If Hamas cannot win the war, it wants to win the story of the war.

Veteran journalist Marvin Kalb, writing for Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government on the terrorists’ successful media strategy against Israel, warned that “the trajectory of the media, from objective observer to fiery advocate,” had become “a weapon of modern warfare.” Kalb quotes a U.S. military expert who describes how perception has replaced reality on the battlefield and that the terrorists know it.

Israel will take all legitimate steps necessary to defend our citizens. We know that, despite our most painstaking efforts, tragic stories can emerge — stories that the enemy sensationalizes.

Like Americans, we cherish a free press, but unlike the terrorists, we are not looking for headlines. Our hope is that media resist the temptation to give them what they want.

(The writer is Israel’s ambassador to the United States.)

EDITORIAL

They’ll always be around

By THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER MCT

Staring old age in the eyes and laughing, the Rolling Stones rocked a London crowd of 20,000 Sunday, reminding anyone who has even just tolerated their blues-influenced pop and shamelessly commercial music of the raw power of rock-and-roll. And this on their 50th anniversary tour.

The theatrical Mick Jagger swiveled his hips a little less quickly and wasn’t quite as acrobatic as when he satisfied crowds in Philadelphia’s old JFK Sta-

dium 31 years ago, or at the equally vintage Live Aid concert, when he danced with the formidable Tina Turner. But the videos circulating on the Web show a defiant Jagger. At 69, he is still bursting with the peerless, in-your-face exuberance that defined the genre.

They opened with an old Beatles song, “I Wanna Be Your Man,” as if to settle the “Beatles or Stones” argument. On that tune, at least, the Beatles win.

At one point, Jagger, clad in skintight black jeans and T-shirt, took a

break to say, “It’s amazing we’re still doing this, and it’s amazing that you’re still buying our records and coming to our shows.”

The name of the critically acclaimed production is “50 and Counting.” But at their age — the oldest, drummer Charlie Watts, is 71 — it’s more like 50 and flaunting.

The Stones are scheduled to play Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and Newark’s Prudential Center next month.

Chances are rock’s original bad boys will be there. Time seems to be on their side.

COLUMN

Advent helps connect to God Over 100 years ago, a young girl wrote to the editor of a New York City newspaper, asking if there really was a Santa Claus. The editor’s beautiful reply, titled “Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus” has been reprinted at Christmas in countless newspapers.

And just who is Santa Claus?

His name is derived from Saint Nicholas, a real-life Catholic saint who lived in the fourth century. St. Nicholas was bishop in what is present day Turkey.

This saint certainly did exist on earth and he exists now in heaven.

We even celebrate his feast day on Dec. 6.

This feast day falls during a period in the Catholic calendar where we begin preparing for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. This liturgical season, which begins this weekend, is called Advent.

Unfortunately, and as a result of commercialism, the tendency today is to practically celebrate Christmas right after Thanksgiving, with decorations, parties and even early gift giving.

It’s understandable that people do not want to wait until the actual celebration of Christmas, but aren’t we

“

JAMES TAMAYO

then acting like the children who search their house for weeks before their own birthday trying to find where their presents are hidden?

If those children happen to find their presents beforehand, then their birthday becomes a big let down.

Unfortunately, that is what can happen to us when we celebrate Christmas ahead of time.

Those of us who are followers of Christ believe that He is God the Son who became one of us 2,012 years ago in order to save us from the terrible penalty of our sins.

This is a birth well worth celebrating. But to fully understand Christmas, it is most important that we be prepared spiritually.

Advent is a very important time to help us reconnect to the message given to God’s chosen people as far back as 1000 B.C., when King David was promised that one of his descendants would be the Messiah — the King forever.

Over those 10 centuries and up through the time of John the Baptist, the prophets helped prepare the way for the Messiah by telling the faithful to turn away from sin and to rekindle their love for God and for each other.

This is how we can also best observe the time of Advent, the special time God has given us to prepare our hearts to welcome Jesus.

During the next 24 days, let us take the opportunity to take part in the sacrament of reconciliation (confession), to forgive someone who has trespassed against us, to pray together, to read parts of the Bible together as a family (the Gospel of Luke would be a great place to start) and to make some special effort to help those who are less fortunate than ourselves.

God knew that His chosen people needed 10 centuries to prepare for the first coming of the Messiah.

Is it too much to ask for us to spend a few weeks preparing ourselves to celebrate His birthday?

If a Virginia asks you if there really is an Advent season, tell her "Yes, Virginia, there is an Advent!”

And it’s a very important time to prepare our hearts to better welcome Jesus. — Todo con Amor!"

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DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

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National

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012

THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

Stamp honoring Lady Bird Johnson unveiled ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — The smiling face of Lady Bird Johnson, who during her time as the nation’s first lady advocated for the environment, appears on a new postage stamp that was dedicated Friday by the U.S. Postal Service in Austin.

The ceremony marked the 47th anniversary of her husband, President Lyndon B. Johnson, signing legislation she supported that helped beautify America’s highways. The event was held at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas.

“Lady Bird Johnson changed the face of America — literally,” said Thurgood Marshall Jr., chairman of the postal service’s Board of Governors.

“She believed we had a responsibility to our environment to restore what had been damaged — and to remember what had been neglected. That’s why she led campaigns to clean up our cities and urged more Americans to visit national parks,” he said.

Her daughters, Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Johnson Robb, joined Marshall at the dedication ceremony. Their mother, a Tex-

as native, died in 2007.

The Lady Bird Johnson souvenir sheet features six stamps, including one of her official White House portrait. The sheet also included a quote from the former first lady reflecting her belief that the environment was common ground, and a black-and-white image of her taken from a family photograph shot in 1963 by Yoichi Okamoto.

The stamps are available at post offices in Texas and in the Washington metropolitan area, as well as online and by calling the U.S. Postal Service.

Photo by Susan Walsh | AP

Police 40 years ago in Washington arrested five men breaking in to the Democratic National Committee offices in Washington. The complex they were breaking into became infamous: the Watergate.

Watergate files released

By STEPHEN BRAUN AND RICHARD LARDNER ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by Oded Balilty/file | AP

Israel approved the construction of 3,000 homes in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, a government official said Friday.

Israel, Palestinians mum

By BRADLEY KLAPPER ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration sought Friday to direct Israel and the Palestinians back toward peace talks, even as the two sides and much of the world seemed to be ignoring the U.S. attempts at leadership on a Mideast peace strategy.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met senior Israeli and Palestinian officials Friday, with each side locked in a pattern of actions that the United States had warned against: the Palestinians winning U.N. recognition of a state on Thursday and the Israelis retaliating Friday by approving 3,000 new homes on Israeli-occupied territory.

The administration has campaigned for nearly two years to prevent the Palestinian action at the United Nations, fearful it would anger Israel so much that the resumption of direct talks between the Jewish state and Palestinians would be impossible. The administration remains concerned as well that statehood could mean International Criminal Court action against Israeli soldiers for their conduct in Palestinian or disputed territory — a scenario Washington believes would greatly debilitate peace hopes.

“We have to convince Palestinians that direct negotiations with Israel represent not just the best but

the only path to the independent state they deserve,” Clinton said Friday night in a speech at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy in Washington.

“America supports the goal of a Palestinian state, living side by side in peace and security with Israel. But this week’s vote at the U.N. won’t bring Palestinians any closer, and it may bring new challenges for the United Nations system and for Israel.”

Most of the world’s governments brushed aside Israeli and American concerns, with U.N. member states voting 138-9 to recognize Palestine as a nonmember observer state and grant it the most significant upgrade in diplomatic status in its more than sixdecades of conflict with Israel. The United States insists that the result has changed nothing on the ground, but it is struggling to shift the focus to where it believes progress on an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is possible.

Clinton said Israel, too, needed to reach out to moderate Palestinians and “help those committed to peace to deliver for their people in the here and now” at a time when the U.S. is hoping that a fragile cease-fire Egypt sealed last

week between the Jewish state and Hamas will prove durable. On Israel’s settlement announcement Friday, she said “these activities set back the cause of a negotiated peace.”

The Obama administration has almost nothing to show for four years of mediation efforts. IsraeliPalestinian talks have been mostly dormant since the failure of the last high-level U.S. engagement to produce an agreement, when President George W. Bush brought leaders to Annapolis, Md., with the goal of a treaty by the end of 2008.

After a two-year hiatus, talks begun under the Obama administration quickly fizzled out.

The rough contours of any agreement are clear.

The two sides would have borders based on Israel’s boundaries before the 1967 Mideast war

WASHINGTON — Watergate Judge John J. Sirica aided the prosecution in pursuing the White House connection to the Democratic headquarters break-in by providing the special prosecutor information from a probation report in which one of the burglars said he was acting under orders from top Nixon administration officials, according to once-secret documents released Friday by the National Archives.

One newly public transcript of an in-chambers meeting between Sirica, the U.S. District Court judge in charge of the case, and then-Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox in July 1973 shows the judge revealed secret probation reports indicating that E. Howard Hunt had cited orders from officials high up in the Nixon administration. Several of Hunt’s co-defendants had previously denied any White House involvement in court testimony, and Sirica told Cox and other prosecutors that he felt the new information “seemed to me significant.”

The government released more than 850 pages from the Watergate political scandal, providing new insights on privileged legal conversations and prison evaluations of several of the burglars in the case. A federal judge had decided earlier this month to unseal some material, but other records still remain off limits.

The files do not appear

to provide any significant new revelations in the 40year-old case that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon and criminal prosecutions of many of his top White House and political aides.

But the files provide useful context for historians, revealing behind-thescenes deliberations by Sirica, the U.S. District Court judge in charge of the case, along with prosecutors and defense lawyers.

The documents stem from the prosecution of five defendants arrested during the June 1972 Watergate break-in and two men, Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, who were charged as the burglary team’s supervisors. All seven men were convicted.

In the conversations between Cox and Sirica, the special prosecutor agreed with the judge’s concerns that the probation report should be sealed and thanked him for the information. Cox promised that his team would not divulge the new information unless they felt there was a prosecutorial need and returned for a hearing to make it public. “Unless we came back,” Cox told Sirica, “we wouldn’t reveal it.”

Former Nixon White House lawyer John Dean, who cooperated with prosecutors and testified against Nixon during an explosive congressional hearing in June 1973, said Friday after reviewing some of the newly released files that he believed Sirica “was very aggressive for a judge, even more than the White House was aware of at the time. No

one in the Nixon White House knew exactly where he was coming from.”

Dean added that while Sirica’s investigative zeal was well-known, his dealings with Cox and other prosecutors were “eye-opening.”

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the files unsealed earlier this month after a request from Luke Nichter, a professor at Texas A&M University-Central Texas.

Nichter wrote Lamberth in 2009 asking for release of the materials. Lamberth held back other sealed materials but agreed to ask the Justice department to explain the reasoning for keeping those materials secret.

The documents released by the Archives also reinforce Sirica’s reputation as a gruff, no-nonsense jurist.

During pretrial hearings in December 1972, Hunt’s defense attorney sought to delay the trial after the former CIA man’s wife was killed in a plane crash.

Sirica refused to put the trial on hold unless there was proof Hunt was suffering from a serious medical condition, according to the transcripts. “If he is just emotionally upset, that, in my opinion, is not a valid excuse,” Sirica said. “If he gets tired during the day, I will arrange for him to go down and take a rest for two or three hours if he wishes.”

A doctor who examined Hunt said in a letter to Sirica in early January 1973 that he suffered from ulcers and gastrointestinal ailments but “has sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer.”

State

6A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012

Ed boss defers using STAAR for grades

By WILL WEISSERT ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — Texas high school students are getting a reprieve for a second consecutive year on a controversial requirement that would have made the state’s new and more difficult standardized tests count toward 15 percent of their final grades in key courses.

Education Commissioner Michael Williams announced Friday he was continuing the suspension of the rule at least until the 2013-2014 school year.

The move comes a day after Gov. Rick Perry, who appointed Williams in August, suggested ending the practice of including the test in final grades completely.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Sen. Dan Patrick, a tea party favorite who chairs the chamber’s public education committee, also wrote Williams a letter backing a proposal to leave application of the socalled “15 percent rule” up to local school districts.

Williams’ announcement at an Austin conference of experts on standardized testing caused the hundreds packed into a hotel ballroom to rise to their feet and applaud.

The state’s highest-ranking public-education official then held a copy of his order over his head and grinned while many in the room snapped pictures.

“Applause always makes you feel good,” Williams joked to reporters mo-

“

We’re trying to do what we think is the right thing for kids and moms and dads.”

EDUCATION COMMISSIONER MICHAEL WILLIAMS

ments later. “But we’re not trying to pat ourselves on the back. We’re trying to do what we think is the right thing for kids and moms and dads, and I think, in that regard, it is the right decision.”

Federal data released this week showed that Texas tied with five other states for the third-highest on-time graduation rate in the nation for the Class of 2011 — though the high

rank was due in part to a change in the way states report their data.

The 15 percent rule has been backed by statewide business groups who say Texas is not producing students that are prepared for today’s high-tech workforce and that cementing standardized test results in their grades is the only way to ensure kids will take the test seriously.

But lowering the stakes

when it comes to how students fare on the exams — known as the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR — has bipartisan support in the state Legislature.

Parents have backed the idea, too, afraid that lower test scores could hurt their kids’ grades enough that they won’t be accepted by top colleges.

Created in 2009 and implemented last school year, STAAR replaced the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills exam.

Amid a firestorm of controversy last year, Williams’ predecessor gave high school students a one-year break from the requirement this school year after more than 50 percent of freshman failed

the STAAR writing exam.

Friday’s deferral gets them off the hook this year. Students still must take the test and score well enough in order to graduate.

Williams’ decision — backed by Perry, Dewhurst and Patrick — only gives individual school districts the option of waving the 15 percent rule for their students, but more than 1,100 out of the roughly 1,200 statewide districts did so last year. Williams said he expects at least that many to do so again.

Some tea party lawmakers have called for a full moratorium on all standardized testing in Texas — something that would be difficult given federal accountability requirements.

SÁBADO 1 DE DICIEMBRE DE 2012

Agenda en Breve SÁBADO 1 DE DICIEMBRE LAREDO— “Guitar Studio and Ensemble Concert” es a la 1 p.m. en Rotonda Fernando A. Salinas, LCC-Fort McIntosh Campus.

Evento gratuito.

LAREDO— Disney On Ice presenta “Treasure Trove” a las 2:30 p.m. y 6:30 p.m. (en español) en Laredo Energy Arena. Costo: 20 dólares general; 30 dólares VIP; y 40 dólares, en primera fila. Adquiera boleto en Ticketmaster o taquilla de LEA. LAREDO— El Planetario Lamar Bruni Vergara presentará: A las 2 p.m.

“Season of Light”, a las 3 p.m. “Holiday Music Magic”, a las 4 p.m. “Mystery of the Christmas Star” y a las 5 p.m. “2012: Ancient Skies, Ancient Mysteries”.

El matine tiene un costo de 4 dolares para niños y 5 para adultos. Para mayor información llame al 3263663.

LAREDO— El Ballet Folklórico de TAMIU, el Ballet Folklórico Juvenil y el Mariachi Internacional de TAMIU estará en Las Posadas 2012. El evento se llevará a cabo en el teatro del Center for the Fine and Performing Arts a las 7 p.m. La admision general es de 5 dólares y niño menores de 10 años y alumnos de TAMIU entran gratis.

Zfrontera

PÁGINA 7A

DRENAJE SANITARIO EN MIGUEL ALEMÁN

Financiamiento POR MIGUEL TIMOSHENKOV TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Gracias a un financiamiento del Banco de Desarrollo de América del Norte (BDAN), la ciudad fronteriza de Miguel Alemán, México, podrá invertir 6.25 millones de dólares en un proyecto para extender una red de tubería para drenaje sanitario.

“La Ciudad no tiene la capacidad económica para llevar a cabo este proyecto por sí mismo”, dijo el alcalde de Miguel Alemán, Ramón Edmundo Rodríguez Garza.

“Con estos fondos se podrá rehabilitar el sistema de alcantarillado en el centro de un plazo de tres años”.

De no tener el apoyo del BDAN, cuyos fondos fueron asignados a través de la Agencia de Protección Ambiental (EPA) y del Fondo de Infraestructura Ambiental Fronteriza (BEIF), Miguel Alemán hubiera demorado 15 años en poder ejecutar el plan para resolver los problemas de drenaje sanitario, sostuvo Rodríguez.

El plan incluye la construcción

Foto de cortesía | BDAN

Ricardo Rodríguez García, Gerente General de la COMAPA-Miguel Alemán; Ramón Edmundo Rodríguez Garza, Alcalde de Miguel Alemán; Gerónimo Gutiérrez, Director Gerente del BDAN; Víctor Alfonso Sánchez Garza, Alcalde de Matamoros; y, Gerardo Guerra Astudillo, Gerente General del JAD-Matamoros (JAD), durante la firma de los contratos para obras de drenaje sanitario. de más de 63.000 metros de redes de alcantarillado y colectores y la instalación de 1.888 conexiones de alcantarillado residenciales. Igualmente contará con una estación de bombeo para transmitir todo de las aguas residuales de la ciudad a la actual planta de tratamiento ubicada en el lado este de la ciudad, indica un comunicado de prensa de BDAN. La estación de bombeo tendrá

una inversión de 1,98 millones de dólares.

El comunicado también aclara que las aguas residuales tratadas se utilizan para fines agrícolas.

Junto con el acuerdo firmado con Miguel Alemán, BDAN firmó otro con Matamoros. El total del financiamiento, para ambas ciudades, es de 18 millones de dólares, que son con recursos no rembolsables.

TAMAULIPAS

VACACIONES

COMPROMISO

Medidas buscan evitar muertes

DOMINGO 2 DE DICIEMBRE LAREDO— Disney On Ice presenta “Treasure Trove” a las 2:30 p.m. en Laredo Energy Arena. Costo: 20 dólares general; 30 dólares VIP; y 40 dólares, en primera fila. Adquiera boleto en Ticketmaster o taquilla de LEA. LAREDO— Compañía de Ballet Laredos presenta “The Nutcracker” de Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, y dirigida por Becky Chapa, a las 5 p.m. en Laredo Civic Center. Adquiera su boleto en Ballet Becky Dance Academy, 7019 Village Blvd.

Suite 106. Informes en (956) 337-3694.

ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

MARTES 4 DE DICIEMBRE LAREDO— Recital de Música de Cámara de Laredo Community College (LCC) es a las 7:30 p.m. en el teatro del Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Fine Arts Center del Campus Fort McIntosh. Entrada gratuita.

MIÉRCOLES 5 DE DICIEMBRE LAREDO— Planetario Lamar Bruni Vergara de TAMIU presenta: a las 3:30 p.m. “One World, One Sky Big Bird’s Adventure”; a las 4:30 p.m. “The Future is Wild”. Precio especial de temporada: 2 presentaciones por 5 dólares. Informes al 326-3663.

JUEVES 6 DE DICIEMBRE LAREDO— Planetario Lamar Bruni Vergara de TAMIU presenta: a las 3:30 p.m. “The Zula Patrol: Under the Weather”; a las 4:30 p.m. “Force 5 Nature Unleashed”. Precio especial de temporada: 2 presentaciones por 5 dólares. Informes al 326-3663.

LAREDO— Concierto de Percusiones de Laredo Community College es a las 7:30 p.m. en el aula 102 del Visual and Performing Arts Center, en el Campus Fort McIntosh, con la actuación de “Grenadiers Drumline”. Evento gratuito.

VIERNES 7 DE DICIEMBRE LAREDO— La banda mexicana “Reik” se presenta en Laredo Energy Arena, a las 8 p.m. Costos del boleto: 78 dólares, 58 y 38 (incluye cuota de instalaciones). Adquiera su boleto en taquilla de LEA.

“Los proyectos en su conjunto representaran un costo general de 76 millones de dólares”, de acuerdo al comunicado.

El Alcalde de Matamoros, Víctor Alfonso Sánchez, explicó que se trabaja en obras del alcantarillado sanitario en 34 colonias, así como la Planta de Tratamiento de Aguas Negras, que podrá tratar 12. 33 millones de galones por día.

La asignación del miércoles para Matamoros, de 12.2 millones de dólares, se destinará a la expansión del sistema de alcantarillado y de tratamiento, y se empezará a tratar 36.825 conexiones de alcantarillado existentes antes de su descarga.

La implementación de estas obras de infraestructura se realiza en colaboración con la Comisión Nacional del Agua (CONAGUA).

A la fecha, el BDAN ha otorgado financiamiento por más de 315 millones de dólares en créditos y recursos no rembolsables en apoyo a 16 proyectos de infraestructura ambiental ubicados en comunidades a lo largo de la frontera norte de Tamaulipas.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

El Gobernador de Tamaulipas, Egidio Torre Cantú, rindió su Segundo Informe de Gobierno, donde dio a conocer un panorama de la situación económica, en seguridad y laboral que guarda la entidad.

Gobernador Egidio Torre rinde informe ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

E

l 2012 ha sido un año de contrastes, retos y logros, según lo definió el Gobernador de Tamaulipas, Egidio Torre Cantú durante su II Informe de Gobierno.

Parte del mensaje se centró en la seguridad, que dijo sigue siendo uno de los compromisos de su gobierno, aunado con el fortalecimiento de las instituciones de seguridad pública y de justicia.

Durante mayo se refrendó el convenio con la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional que garantiza la permanencia de elementos del Ejército Mexicano quienes trabajan en coordinación la policía estatal.

Aseguró que inclusive el nuevo gobierno, que inicia hoy sábado, estuvo de acuerdo en ratificar un convenio para que las fuerzas armadas permanezcan en Tamaulipas el tiempo que sea necesario, dijo.

“Enrique Peña Nieto es el próximo Presidente de la República, en él reconocemos el liderazgo que México necesita”, dijo Torre. “En Enrique Peña Nieto vemos una gran esperanza para México y para Tamaulipas”.

También hizo referencia a que el Estado es el octavo a nivel nacional con mayor atracción de inversión extranjera directa.

“Las cifras lo dicen: 41 empresas de capital extranjero se incorporan a nuestra planta productiva con una inversión de más de 1.600 millones de dólares y este año se han generado casi 29.000 empleos formales, de acuerdo a los datos del Instituto

Los accidentes viales ocasionan más de 500 muertes al año en Tamaulipas. Por esta razón el Gobierno de Tamaulipas inició el fortalecimiento de estrategias junto con las 35 instituciones que conforman el Consejo Estatal para la Prevención de Accidentes (Coepra).

De igual forma ya se dio a conocer el arranque del Programa Paisano.

Actualmente los accidentes de tránsito se ubican como la primera causa de muerte en la población de 5 a 15 años de edad y la segunda causa de muerte en la población de 15 a 34 años.

“Les invito a redoblar esfuerzos”, dijo el secretario de Salud, Norberto Treviño García-Manzo. “(Es necesario) adoptar aquellas medidas que permitan evitar, en todo lo posible, los accidentes”.

Este año, el gobierno de Tamaulipas ha invertido recursos superiores al millón de pesos para orientar a los tamaulipecos y reducir la morbilidad y mortalidad a causa de accidentes viales.

Igualmente fue lanzada la Estrategia Nacional de Seguridad Vial 20112020, con la meta de reducir para 2020 un 50% el número de muertes originado por este tipo de siniestros.

Coepra propone la adopción de medidas de carácter general con la participación de la comunidad en materia de prevención y control de accidentes.

Operativo Paisano Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

Durante la lectura de su II Informe de Gobierno, el Gobernador de Tamaulipas Egidio Torre Cantú dijo que solicitó al nuevo Presidente de México, Enrique Peña Nieto, ratificar un convenio para que las fuerzas armadas permanezcan en Tamaulipas el tiempo que sea necesario.

“

En Enrique Peña Nieto vemos una gran esperanza para México y para Tamaulipas”.

EGIDIO TORRE, GOBERNADOR DE TAMAULIPAS

Mexicano del Seguro Social”, señaló.

En relación al campo, anunció que en sorgo se levantó una cosecha que representa el segundo mayor volumen de producción desde 1980, con una productividad de casi un 20% más que el año pasado; en caña de azúcar se obtuvo la segunda mayor cifra histórica y en cítricos, la producción fue superior en 18%

a la del año pasado.

Concluyó hablando del programa “Todos por Tamaulipas” que dijo “significa hacer más por nuestra gente, significa apoyos alimentarios para las familias que los necesitan, significa agua potable suficiente para todos y significa la creación de empleos con el Programa Tamaulipeco de Empleo a la Gente”.

En el mismo ámbito, el Instituto Tamaulipeco para los Migrantes (ITM), arrancará el 14 de diciembre un operativo para brindar atención a más de 100.00 paisanos que se contempla crucen por Tamaulipas durante el periodo vacacional navideño.

“Estamos operando y preparados para recibir a los paisanos”, dijo Juan José Rodríguez Alvarado, director general del ITM. De los 100.000 paisanos que se esperan, más del 50 por ciento cruzarán por Nuevo Laredo, un 25 por ciento por Reynosa, 15 por ciento por Matamoros, y el 10 por ciento restante por otras ciudades fronterizas.

El programa en Tamaulipas para atención a los paisanos se denomina “En Tu Camino Cuentas Con Nosotros” y es calificada como una estrategia estatal que tiene el espíritu de incrementar la seguridad en los caminos, ciudades y centrales de autobuses.

Rodríguez indicó que el ITM cuenta además con una infraestructura jurídica que les permite apoyar a los paisanos para que continúen su viaje, así como darle seguimiento a alguna queja, en caso de que así se requiera o que la falta de la que fueron objeto, requiera algún tipo de sanción.

National

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012

Police: Killing happened in class

By MEAD GRUVER ASSOCIATED PRESS

CASPER, Wyo. — A man wielding a sharpedged weapon killed one person in a Casper neighborhood Friday before killing a male teacher and himself in front of students in a community college classroom, causing a campus-wide lockdown as authorities tried to piece together what happened.

Police found the suspect and one of the victims dead at a science building on the Casper College campus, which was locked down for about two hours, school and police officials said.

The other victim was found about two miles away.

The suspect used at least one sharp-edged weapon and no guns were involved, police said.

The attacker wasn’t believed to be a Casper College student and it appeared he knew the victims, Casper Police Chief Chris Walsh said. He didn’t identify the suspect or victims but said the victims were a male and a female.

“We’re locating next of kin and working on notification absolutely as fast as we can,” Walsh said.

He added authorities don’t believe there is any further threat to the community.

“I want to emphasize that this is a horrible tragedy,” Walsh said. “And I want the city to ... just feel safe right now. There is no one at large.”

The attack at the twoyear community college in Casper, about 250 miles northwest of Denver, occurred just before 9 a.m. while class was in session.

“On the third floor we located a crime scene, and secured that,” Walsh said.

He said authorities evacuated all students and staff from the science building.

The college sent out a

Answers wanted on $11M grant

By PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by Alan Rogers/Casper Star-Tribune | AP

Law enforcement officers from various agencies prepare to sweep the Wold Physical Science Center after a reported homicide at Casper College on Friday, in Casper, Wyo. A man entered the junior college campus, killing an instructor in front of his students, then himself. campus-wide alert via text message and email within two minutes of receiving word of the attack at 9:06 a.m., school spokesman Rich Fujita said. The lockdown ended about 11 a.m. after school officials received word police were no longer searching for a suspect, Fujita said.

There are fewer classes on Friday than any other day of the week at Casper College, so only between 1,500 and 2,000 of the college’s 5,000 students were there, he said.

Political science instructor Chris Henrichsen said he was showing the film “Frost/Nixon” to his Wyoming and U.S. government class when he stepped into the hall to get something for a student and was told a homicide had occurred on campus.

He went back to his classroom, where students were getting messages about the campus lock-

down on their phones.

“We locked the door and waited for further instruction,” Henrichsen said.

The students were later sent home, but some who parked near a different campus building where the attack occurred had to leave their cars there, Henrichsen said.

About two miles away, Dave Larsen said he was headed to the gym when drove passed a body in a gutter with two people standing over it, one talking on a cellphone.

Larsen lives about a block from the location of the body, a well-kept neighborhood of mostly single-story houses.

Emergency vehicles had the street blocked off Friday afternoon.

Police provided some details in a news conference streamed live by the Casper Star-Tribune.

Walsh said 33 law enforcement officers from

different agencies responded to the college after receiving reports of the attack. He said authorities first thought it might have been an “active-shooter-type situation.”

“We quickly contained the building and started a sweep through the building,” he said.

Walsh said that within minutes of the initial call, there was another report of a traumatic injury about two miles southwest of campus. That victim was found in the street, the Star-Tribune reported.

Classes were canceled for the day. A meeting was held in the afternoon for the 150 teachers and students who remained. College president Walt Nolte addressed them, calling it the worst day of his more than 40 years in higher education. He encouraged the community to come together, Fujita said.

“It is particularly pain-

ful because of our size,” Fujita said of the small, tight-knit campus.

Counselors were speaking to students and planned to be available through the weekend.

About 450 students live on campus.

Classes were to resume on Monday.

“We agreed it doesn’t do any good to just set the students loose. It makes the most sense to have them come back to campus, where they can get help if they need help and come to terms with what happened,” Fujita said.

Casper is Wyoming’s second-largest city with a population of about 56,000.

Wyoming residents refer to it as the “Oil City” because it’s a hub for the state’s oil industry.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead was traveling to Casper Friday afternoon to meet with the police and the head of the college.

AUSTIN — Key lawmakers demanded answers Friday on why Texas’ troubled $3 billion cancer-fighting agency gave $11 million in taxpayer funds to a biomedical company without scrutinizing the merits of the proposal.

It’s the second time this year the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas has acknowledged that a project wasn’t fully vetted before receiving a lucrative award. But the agency’s improper grant to Peloton Therapeutics Inc., which was revealed Thursday, has reaped the most publicly stated concerns yet from state leaders.

CPRIT has doled out more than $700 million in taxpayer funds, making the state-run agency home to the nation’s largest pot of cancer research dollars next to the federal National Institutes of Health.

The two Republicans who filed the bill creating the groundbreaking agency in 2007, state Sen. Jane Nelson and Rep. Jim Keffer, said they want an explanation as to how Peloton’s application was approved despite never going through the peer-review process.

“CPRIT cannot succeed in its effort to fight cancer without the public’s trust, and right now that trust is in serious jeopardy,” the lawmakers wrote in a joint letter sent to the agency Friday.

Josh Havens, a Perry spokesman, said the governor expects the agency to apply rigorous review standards and that lawmakers and the public “deserve to have the full background of this situation.”

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012

THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

Second Calif. storm brings intense rain, flood warnings

By TERRY COLLINS ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN FRANCISCO — The second in a series of storms slammed Northern California on Friday as heavy rain and strong winds knocked out power, tied up traffic and caused flooding along some stretches.

The weather also may be behind the death of a Pacific Gas & Electric worker in West Sacramento who was killed after his truck crashed into a traffic signal pole during the stormy weather.

Flights were delayed at San Francisco’s airport, and in the city’s affluent Pacific Heights neighborhood, traffic was blocked for hours after a large tree crashed down, smashing a car and obstructing a busy street.

A flash flood watch will remain in effect for most of the San Francisco Bay Area extending to the Santa Cruz Mountains throughout the weekend. A constant barrage of downpours could lead to standing water and overflowing drains, said Diana Henderson, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Monterey.

The North Bay was seemingly hit the hardest, as parts of Sonoma County received more than 7 inches of rain and areas in Napa County received nearly 6 inches, Henderson said.

“It’s not a super storm by any measure, but this is pretty significant,” Henderson said. “We

“

It’s not a super storm by any measure, but this is pretty significant.”

DIANA HENDERSON, FORECASTER

should see periods of moderate to heavy rains.”

With rain expected all weekend long, Tony Negro, a contractor from Penngrove, Calif., in Sonoma County, said he is worried about water flooding his workshop.

“I’m on my way to get some sand bags,” he said.

Thousands of people were without power in that area after an outage that also affected the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

The suspension span of the bridge was briefly in the dark as traffic was backed up longer than usual because of rain and strong wind gusts.

Also, a mudslide shut down a stretch of Highway 84 east of Fremont, the California Highway Patrol reported. There was no estimate on when it would reopen.

In Sacramento, an empty bigrig jackknifed in the southbound lanes and struck the median divider on Interstate 5 south of downtown Friday morning, the CHP said.

“I would definitely say it’s

weather-related. The reports came in that he hit a water puddle and hydroplaned and couldn’t correct,” CHP Officer Mike Bradley said. “A lot of high-profile vehicles, especially the lighter ones, are getting windblown and having some problems maintaining their lane.”

No one was injured in the crash on I-5, California’s main north-south highway. But a second vehicle also was damaged and had to be towed, while workers cleaned up diesel fuel spilled from the tractor-trailer.

In West Sacramento, police say wet conditions may have been a factor when a PG&E worker died after he lost control of his vehicle and slammed into a traffic pole.

PG&E workers at the scene told KCRA-TV that the driver had been working overtime and was returning from Clarksburg in southern Sacramento County.

Henderson said rain in the region is expected to taper Saturday, but return later that night into Sunday. The storms could create

CLEARED Continued from Page 1A purchase described the suspect as having burn marks in the neck area.

Jaime said his client does not have scars in the neck area. Authorities wrongfully assumed Balderas was part of the coke runners for Mercado, Jaime said.

“I commend the prosecutors for making sure an innocent man was not

wrongfully accused,” he added.

Court documents state agents made several controlled purchases from Mercado. He pleaded not guilty to the cocaine charges against him. Mercado has a pretrial conference set for Dec. 10 in Courtroom 3C before U.S. Magistrate Judge Guillermo R. Garcia. Jury selec-

tion has been tentatively scheduled for Dec. 14.

Co-defendants Angel Javier Cuellar, Martin Emilio Pacheco, Magda Ramos and Lucia Guadalupe Hinojosa have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

(César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 7282568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)

WEAPONS Continued from Page 1A search the Explorer, police found one grenade launcher, four 40mm grenades, five AK-47 assault rifles, several AK-47 magazines and several rounds of 7.62x39mm ammo.

Homeland Security Investigations agents took over the case.

“Martinez-Cardenas stated that he has been under the employment of Los Zetas, a transnational criminal organization, for the last six months and was being paid 12,000 Mexican pesos (about $900) every other week to work under the direction of Los Zetas,” the criminal complaint states. Martinez-Cardenas said peo-

ple he knows gave him weapons and ammo at his Roma home, according to court documents.

During the investigation, agents got tipped off that Blanco-Avila was involved in the weapons transportation. On Monday, Roma PD spotted him driving a blue Dodge Durango. Once in custody, Blanco-Avila stated to HSI agents that he’d transported marijuana, weapons and ammo from Falcon Lake to a home in Roma on Monday.

Blanco-Avila had been working for a person associated with Los Zetas for the last two months.

He was going to be paid

$1,000 for transporting narcotics and weapons, the complaint states.

“Blanco-Avila stated that the marijuana, weapons and ammunition were smuggled into the United States from Mexico and the weapons were intended to be smuggled back into Mexican territories controlled by Los Zetas,” the complaint states.

“Blanco-Avila stated the weapons were smuggled in this manner in order to evade the Gulf Cartel controlled territories in Mexico.”

(César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 7282568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)

the possibility of rock and mud slides in areas already saturated and affected by wildfires this summer.

In Los Angeles, conditions were wet and gloomy as downtown skyscrapers disappeared in low-hanging clouds.

Elsewhere in the West, a state of emergency was declared in Reno, Sparks and Washoe County in Nevada due to expected flooding as a storm packing heavy rain and strong winds swept through the area. Reno city spokeswoman Michele Anderson said public servants would be working overtime through the weekend to control what’s expected to be the worst flooding there since 2005. The National Weather Service issued a flood warning along the Truckee River.

The weather also prompted cancellations of Christmas parades and tree lightings in Sparks and Truckee, just across the border from California.

Also, a storm rushed through southern Oregon this week, lingering inland over the Rogue Valley and dropping record rainfall.

It largely spared coastal Curry County and its southernmost city, Brookings, which were still recovering from a storm this month.

“We are still vigilant for landslides and road closures and trees down, but so far — knock on wood — we are still good to go,” Curry County Sheriff John Bishop said.

JAVIER Continued from Page 1A erbanks. Deputies and paramedics responded to an emergency call at 4:30 p.m.

Though first responders went out immediately, they could not do much for the young man, who died in the brush, said sheriff’s Investigator Juan Fernando Gonzalez. Justice of the Peace Juana Maria Gutierrez pronounced him dead. An autopsy is pending.

Gonzalez said it’s unclear what happened, but he did mention Benavides had a gunshot wound to the head.

Gonzalez said the wound was caused by a 300 Winchester rifle. Officials are yet to determine who was carrying the rifle, according to Gonzalez.

Benavides is survived by his parents, Alfonso and Lydia Z. Benavides; and brothers and sisters, among numerous family members.

Committal services took place at Panteón del Pueblo in San Ygnacio on Nov. 24.

Rose Garden Funeral Home handled the arrangements.

Several people posted comments on Facebook and on the Rose Garden website expressing their heartfelt condolences.

“R.I.P. Javy, (you’re) now in all our hearts and u will never be forgotten. I love u primo! Now u may rest in peace,” states a Facebook comment.

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

DEER MEAT Continued from Page 1A such as Eddie’s and Presa, along with Granzin’s in New Braunfels, San Antonio’s Texas Big Game Processing, Dzuik’s Meat Market in Castroville and Schott’s Meat Market in Helotes.

Most are run by secondgeneration owners.

“It is nothing glamorous, and it’s hard work,” said Riley, who owns Eddie’s with his wife, Lisa. Her father, Eddie Eckols, launched the business in 1974.

Gerry and Linda Pruski’s Presa Frozen Food Lockers has even more history. His father founded the company 70 years ago, offering customers a place to store meat before people had home freezers. The business still has 500 lockers for rent.

Deer processors’ big season generally starts with rifle-hunting season for white-tail deer, which this year started Nov. 3 for a 30county region of South Texas and ends Jan. 20.

The cost to process a deer varies by weight. A hunter will pay about $70 for “standard process” for an 85-pound deer. Standard process calls for the deer to be made into steaks and ground meat. Processors

charge more for specialty items such as sausage, salami and jerky.

Now deer processors with roots in the past century are adding high-tech touches.

Eddie’s has a software system to track customers’ orders and the cuts of meat they want.

And at Texas Big Game Processing in San Antonio, owner Bradley Garcia emails customers to let them know how the processing of their deer is going and when their orders are complete. And a friend is making him a smartphone app.

“Right now, I’d say at least 40 percent of my customers are tracking their orders by smartphone.

They do everything by email, and it makes it easier for me.”

The email ordering system helps prevent price shocks, Garcia said. “Let’s say a guy brings in a 100pound animal and they want all sausage. That can get expensive. So with email, we tell them they can choose less expensive options.”

Pruski is more old school — and proud of it.

“No computer,” Pruski said as he thumbed

through a thick sheaf of orders. Instead, he puts trust in his own secret sausage recipe. He prepares all the sausage himself — smoked using hickory sawdust.

“If you ever taste my sausage, you’ll never want anything else,” he said.

Although deer hunting has gotten to be an expensive sport as the cost of deer leases has increased, processors say they aren’t worried about going out of business.

“The market is not overloaded,” said Garcia of Texas Big Game Processing.

Most processors have their own recipes for items such as sausage and jerky that have won them devoted followings. “Everybody is different, so we don’t steal business from each other,” Garcia said.

At Dzuik’s Meat Market in Castroville, owner Marvin Dzuik has seen major growth since he started the business in 1975.

“That first year we opened, we did just 240 deer,” he said. This year, he thinks that he’ll process 3,000 to 4,000.

“My two sons-in-law are in the business now, so I’m happy. I have had a wonderful career.”

State

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012

Parts of the state move back to drought

By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON — A dry fall that is on track to making the record books has sent portions of Texas, including Houston and Fort Worth, back into severe drought, raising concerns about wildfires and the health of wheat crops and tree farms, climatologists said Thursday.

September and November could be the driest of those months since 1950 and among the top five driest on record, State Climatologist John NielsenGammon said. And not much more rain is expected this winter or spring since the El Niño pattern meteorologists had counted on for some moisture fizzled out almost before it began.

El Niño is characterized by unusually warm temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. La Niña comes from unusually cool temperatures there. El Niño usually brings rain to Texas and dryer conditions to the North. La Niña typically does the opposite.

While Texas had largely been spared by the devastating drought that has parched much of the Midwest and areas in the South, it never fully recovered from the historic dry spell in 2011 that forced ranchers to sell off their cattle, made hay prices skyrocket, turned reservoirs into muddy puddles and prevented rice farmers in South Texas from getting enough water to irrigate their fields. Now, the lack of rain again puts the state in a perilous situation.

“Normally, by this time in most of the state, the ground is taking up a lot of moisture and the temperatures are cool enough for the ground to stay moist for most of the winter,” Nielsen-Gammon said. “But in a lot of parts of the state, it

Photo by Ron Jenkins/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram | Associated Press

Darrell Francis walks on what was the bottom of a pond on his ranch near Perrin on Thursday. A dry winter that is on track to making the record books has sent portions of Texas, including Houston and Fort Worth, back into severe drought, raising concerns about wildfires and the health of wheat crops and tree farms, climatologists said. simply hasn’t rained much in the past couple of months, so things are as dry as they are during the summer.”

As a result, reservoirs are not refilling, and some are even dropping, which is unusual for winter in Texas, Nielsen-Gammon added.

The lingering impacts of 2011, when Texas endured the worst one-year drought in state history, are part of the problem, said Mark Svoboda, a climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.

“We climbed up on the fence but we never really got off the fence,” he said of the drought. “It’s a very

fast tumble off of recovery back into the depths of drought.”

All it took was a couple of months of below average rainfall for the U.S. Drought Monitor map Svoboda helps put together each week to begin registering significant problems for a state that is the nation’s No. 1 cattle producer and a significant agricultural machine.

The latest map released Thursday shows nearly 55 percent of Texas in severe drought, up from just over 40 percent last week. A severe drought is the third of five stages of drought reported by the Drought Monitor.

About 24.5 percent of Texas, including Houston and Fort Worth, is now in an extreme drought, the fourth stage, up from 23 percent last week. Overall, more than 80 percent of the state is in some form of drought, a 5 percent increase from a week ago.

“We keep waiting for a decent rainstorm to appear in the forecast, but it doesn’t look like there’s any in the next week,” NielsenGammon, the state climatologist, said.

Food prices are going to be impacted by the drought in Texas as it combines with the problems caused by the widespread dry spell plaguing the Midwest, Cen-

tral Plains and the South, Svoboda added. Beef prices could rise to $6.75 a pound by next month, and the price of hay — crucial forage for the cattle industry — is skyrocketing. Concern among Texas planners that water may be a problem in 2013 is also justified, he said.

Denise Gutzmer, a drought impact specialist at the National Drought Mitigation Center, said winter wheat crops are suffering in Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska, and outright dying in parts of the Texas Panhandle. And ranchers in Texas who started restocking their cattle herds after getting some spring

and summer rains are rethinking that move.

“Now they’re looking out the windows and their pastures are brown and they’re starting to destock again,” Gutzmer said.

As the drought spreads through Texas, and continues across other parts of the United States, it feeds on itself and recovery becomes more difficult and distant, Svoboda added.

There is no rain, and the soil is so dry, moisture doesn’t rise from it, further hindering cloud formation.

“This drought is so large and so intense the spatial footprint of it won’t change markedly between now and February,” he said.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012

ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

Sports&Outdoors NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL

Moving to LCC Zapata’s De Leon signs with LCC

By CLARA SANDOVAL THE ZAPATA TIMES

The Zapata Lady Hawks had an outstanding season on the volleyball court with their third consecutive district title.

After a stellar career that included many accolades, one player has the opportunity to continue her volleyball career after she graduates this May. In front of family, friends and teammates, senior all-around player Kristina De Leon made it official earlier this month when she signed her national letter of intent on Nov. 12 to play for Laredo Community College Lady Palomino volleyball team this coming fall.

“I am excited that I finally signed and to do it in front of my parents and friends was a great feeling,” De Leon said.

De Leon always had a goal of playing at the college level and when she finally inked her name on the dotted line, it was a great day for not only her but the Zapata community who has watched this young lady develop into an outstanding volleyball player.

“Kris is excited about continuing to play at the college level,” Zapata coach Rosie Villarreal said.

“She was a big force and a great leader especially in her junior and senior year.”

When the time came to choose which college she would attend, LCC tugged at her heart a little bit more than the rest of the schools who were courting her for next year.

LCC appealed to De Leon, who gets the best of both worlds. She gets to play at the college level and remain close to Zapata, a place that she grew up and loves.

“She decided to play at LCC because she would be close to home, and she ready liked LCC coach (Binny) Canales and the program that he offers,” Villarreal said. “I am so excited for her because she is able to fulfill her goal on playing college ball.”

Photo by Rick Osentoski | AP

Houston’s J.J. Watt has 14.5 sacks on the year, nearly as many as the rest of the Texans roster combined (15.5).

Houston looking for its pass rush J.J. Watt carrying team’s sack totals

By CHRIS DUNCAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON — The Houston defense was a major hit, literally, in its first year under Wade Phillips, finishing the 2011 season with a franchise-record 44 sacks.

Statistically, this year’s defense stacks up well with last year’s unit, and defen-

sive end J.J. Watt has emerged as one of the NFL’s top pass rushers, now second in the league with 14 1/2. But the pass rush has tapered off as a whole in recent weeks, and the defense has yielded big passing numbers as an indirect result.

See TEXANS PAGE 2B

Photo by Clara Sandoval | The Zapata Times

Zapata’s Kristina De Leon signed her national letter of intent on Nov. 12 to play at Laredo Community College next season.

LCC is coming off of a successful season that ended at the Region XIV Women’s Volleyball Championship Tournament in

Baytown.

The Lady Palominos ended the

See DE LEON PAGE 2B

Photo by LM Otero | AP

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION

Dallas running back DeMarco Murray (29) will return to the Cowboys after missing the last six games with a foot injury. In his last game he rushed for 93 yards in a loss at Baltimore on Oct. 14.

Murray returns vs.

Philadelphia Cowboys look to remain in the playoff race in a tightly-contested NFC

By TOM ORSBORN SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

File photo by Patrick Semansky | AP

The Spurs were fined $250,000 after players including Manu Ginobili, left, Tim Duncan, right-center, Tony Parker, right, and Danny Green, not pictured, were sent home to rest in the final game of a six-game road trip instead of playing against Miami.

NBA fines Spurs $250,000

By BRIAN MAHONEY ASSOCIATED PRESS

Gregg Popovich sent his best players home, deciding they reached the end of the road before the trip was over.

For that, and for keeping it a secret, the San An-

tonio Spurs were fined $250,000 by the NBA on Friday.

Commissioner David Stern said the Spurs “did a disservice to the league and our fans” when they didn’t bring Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili or Danny Green

to Miami for the final game of the six-game trip.

“The result here is dictated by the totality of the facts in this case,” Stern said in a statement. “The Spurs decided to make four of their top players unavailable for an earlyseason game that was the

team’s only regular-season visit to Miami. The team also did this without informing the Heat, the media, or the league office in a timely way. Under these circumstances, I have concluded that the

See SPURS PAGE 2B

IRVING — Tailback DeMarco Murray likely will return to action this weekend after the Dallas Cowboys listed him as questionable on Friday’s injury report.

Murray has sat out the last six games with a sprained left foot. He was limited in practice this week, but owner Jerry Jones indicated he’ll play against Philadelphia on Sunday night.

“We’ll see how he does in the next couple of days, but it looks like we’ll have him,” Jones told Dallas’ KRLD-FM.

Murray’s backup, Felix Jones, is questionable with a pair of sore knees.

The fifth-year pro from Arkansas has averaged just 38.3 yards per game during Murray’s absence.

Three other offensive starters are questionable: wide receiver Miles Austin (hip), center Ryan Cook (knee) and left tackle Tyron Smith (ankle).

Those three, like Murray and Jones, failed to go through a full practice this week.

Pro Bowl nose tackle Jay Ratliff is doubtful with a groin injury that sidelined him in last

See MURRAY PAGE 2B

PAGE 2B

Zscores SPURS Continued from Page 1B

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012

Title shot awaits SEC winner

By PAUL NEWBERRY ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by Lance Murphey | AP

NBA Commissioner David Stern fined the San Antonio Spurs $250,000 claiming the Spurs did a “disservice” to the fans.

Spurs did a disservice to the league and our fans.”

Teams are required to report as soon as they know a player will not travel because of injury.

The league’s statement said the Spurs were in violation of league policy reviewed with the board of governors in April 2010 against resting players in a manner “contrary to the best interests of the NBA.” The Spurs didn’t comment on the penalty.

The issue of resting healthy players has been debated before, though usually at the end of the season, not a month into it.

And the Spurs have been right at the center of it, Popovich using the rest strategy for an aging team that could use more time off than the NBA schedule often allows.

They even made a joke out of it last season, the box score listing “OLD” next to the 36-year-old Duncan’s name as the reason he didn’t play.

Stern wasn’t laughing Thursday.

He has a nearly $5 billion a year industry to protect and can’t like it when teams aren’t willing to put their best product on display in a marquee game televised by national TV partner TNT. Fans and viewers were excited about seeing the Spurs try to complete an unbeaten road trip against LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the NBA champions, so there was an understandable letdown when they learned of the absences.

But there’s never a guarantee that any players are going to play, and Stern himself has previously made it clear he wasn’t going to impose rules to change that.

The Cleveland Cavaliers rested a healthy James for four straight games at the end of the 2009-10 regular season. Owners discussed the issue later that week at a meeting in New York, and Stern reported that there was “no conclusion reached, other than a num-

ber of teams thought it should be at the sole discretion of the team, the coach, the general manager, and I think it’s fair to say I agree with that, unless that discretion is abused.”

In the NFL, the Indianapolis Colts rested a healthy Peyton Manning even with an undefeated record late in the 2009 season, and the league eventually started trying to schedule as many division matchups as possible for the final two weeks of the season in an effort to make late-season games matter.

Popovich doesn’t wait until the end of the season to start resting players.

He was both praised and ripped for the way he navigated the lockout schedule last season, twice surrendering 11-game winning streaks by playing without his Big Three. Even those who didn’t like it conceded that a coach who had won four championships with what’s long been considered the NBA’s model organization probably knew what he was doing, and more defense came Thursday night.

“Popovich has done this before and he knows what’s best for his team,” former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal said on TNT. “It’s his job to manage his players and do whatever he’d like. He’s thinking about the big picture.”

Another former player turned TNT analyst, Steve Kerr — who played for Popovich — also defended the franchise’s actions.

“If the NBA punishes the Spurs for sitting players, it opens up a huge can of worms,” he wrote on Twitter. “This is a serious legal challenge for the league.”

That San Antonio — largely unloved in its championship days but suddenly a plucky underdog cheered by those who felt Stern overstepped his bounds — nearly won the game before the Heat rallied for a 105-100 victory didn’t sway the commissioner.

ATLANTA — The national championship could be decided with a dream matchup between two of college football’s most storied programs: Notre Dame vs. Alabama.

Of course, Georgia might have something to say about that.

The third-ranked Bulldogs are eager to wake up some echoes of their own.

Coach Mark Richt’s team will take on No. 2 Alabama in a Southeastern Conference title game that essentially serves as a national semifinal. The winner of Saturday’s contest at the Georgia Dome will surely land a spot against topranked Notre Dame in the BCS title game at Miami on Jan. 7.

While Alabama (11-1) is a sevenpoint favorite to remain on course for its third crown in four years, Georgia (11-1) wants to carve out its own legacy, something beyond the great teams of the early 1980s led by Herschel Walker.

“We respect and honor those guys that played ahead of us, but we really need to give the fans something else to talk about,” linebacker Christian Robinson said. “If that’s all we have to talk about, we must not be doing anything special.”

Georgia won its only Associated Press national title in 1980, Walker’s freshman year. The Bulldogs were in position to win another two years later, the running back’s final season between the hedges, but Penn State knocked them off in the Sugar Bowl.

In an interesting twist, Walker announced this week that he’ll soon be opening a restaurant in Athens after the first of the year.

By then, the Bulldogs hope they’ve cooked up another national title.

All those who’ve come along since Walker will be cheering on this team, including Denver Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey. He played at Georgia in the late ’90s and planned to give the Bulldogs a pep talk by

Photo by David Goldman | AP

Alabama head coach Nick Saban, left, and Georgia head coach Mark Richt, right, will see their teams compete for a national championship shot. phone.

“We can’t let this one slide,” Bailey said. “This is one of those oncein-a-lifetime opportunities because I’m tired of people talking about Herschel Walker. That was 30-something years ago. There’s been a lot of things happen between now and then, but no championships. That’s why they still talk about him.”

Indeed, even though Georgia finished No. 2 in the AP rankings in 2007, this is the best shot at finishing No. 1 since the Walker era. If the Bulldogs win the next two games, they’re the champions.

“We’re hungry,” Robinson said.

“We’ve got something to prove.”

So does Alabama.

A year ago, the Crimson Tide didn’t even make it to Atlanta for the SEC championship game — LSU won the Western Division — but Alabama got a do-over against the Tigers for the BCS title. Even with a resounding 21-0 victory, there are still those who think the Tide didn’t deserve a second chance after losing to LSU in the regular season.

If Alabama beats Georgia and Notre Dame, no one can say the Tide didn’t earn it, despite an upset loss to Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M. “There is a lot more pressure, but

DE LEON Continued from Page 1B season with a record of 20-9.

“LCC is the place for me,” De Leon said. “It is a very successful program and I am hoping to contribute next year.”

De Leon was the driving force of the offense and was key in the Lady Hawks success as she pounded the ball relentlessly throughout the season for Zapata.

As a sophomore, De Leon was named Newcomer of the Year and followed that feat the following year by picking up Most Valuable Player honors.

This year she had to share that title, being named Co-MVP to conclude an outstanding high school career.

De Leon led the Lady Hawks into three state volleyball appearances and three district titles to become one of the most decorated volleyball players to come out of Zapata High.

Courtesy Photo

Zapata’s Kristina De Leon, a two-time MVP and winner of three district titles, will play at Laredo Community College in 2012.

TEXANS Continued from Page 1B Watt had a career-high three sacks in Houston’s 3431 overtime win over Detroit on Thanksgiving.

Take him away, and the rest of the Texans have only 151/2 sacks all season and now outside linebacker Brooks Reed, who has 21/2, is out indefinitely with a groin injury.

The Texans (10-1) have still kept right on winning and can clinch a playoff berth with win at Tennessee (4-7) on Sunday. But the defense can’t ignore the fact that it’s given up an average of 395.5 yards passing and six touchdown catches in the last two games.

“I’m proud of my boys, because each week, got to find a way to win, and we keep winning,” defensive end Antonio Smith said.

“But you can’t just sit and act like the yardage didn’t happen, the touchdowns didn’t happen. A lot of the things we have not let happen this year, we let happen in the last two weeks.

“The defense that we are, we take pride in being one of the best,” Smith said.

“We definitely want to get that fixed, get a stop.”

Smith has four sacks and Reed’s injury creates an opportunity for first-round pick Whitney Mercilus, who has three sacks in the last four games. Mercilus led the nation in sacks last season at Illinois (16), and Phillips is hoping he blossoms like Reed did last sea-

Photo by Rick Osentoski | AP

The Texans pass rush has some concerns after finishing 2011 with a franchise-record 44 sacks. son after Mario Williams was hurt.

“This is his time and he’s got to come through for us,” Phillips said of Mercilus.

Connor Barwin, who led the Texans with 111/2 sacks last season, will move to the strong side with Reed out. Linebacker Bradie James, who worked with Phillips in Dallas and coordinates the defense on the field, is also questionable for Sunday with a hamstring injury. Darryl Sharpton has been filling James’ play-calling role in just his third game back after a torn right quadriceps that sidelined him for a year.

that is what we like,” running back Eddie Lacy said. “You come to Alabama to be in situations like this and play in games like this.”

The SEC finalists are remarkably similar on paper.

— Georgia’s Aaron Murray is the nation’s top-rated passer, just ahead of Alabama’s AJ McCarron.

— The Crimson Tide has a dynamic running back duo with Lacy (1,001 yards, 14 touchdowns) and freshman T.J. Yeldon (847 yards, 10 TDs). So does Georgia with a pair of freshmen, Todd Gurley (1,138 yards, 14 touchdowns) and Keith Marshall (720 yards, eight TDs.) — Each squad has lost a couple of key receivers to injuries.

— Alabama leads the nation in points allowed (9.2 per game) and total defense (233.7 yards). Georgia has been just as stout since senior safety Shawn Williams called out his defensive teammates before a big game against Florida, accusing them on playing “soft.” Over the last five weeks, the Bulldogs have surrendered just 43 points.

“This matchup is right on,” Georgia receiver Tavarres King said.

“These are two great teams, two physical teams, that get after it every Saturday. It should be a fun game.”

After some maneuvering, the Texans know what positions they’ll play on Sunday. Now they just have to figure out how to get back to pressuring the quarterback again.

“We’ve been close,” Sharpton said. “It’s just a matter of time and I think this could probably be the week that we convert some of that pressure into sacks.”

With quarterbacks Chad Henne and Matthew Stafford getting an important extra second or two in the last two games, Houston has also allowed some big games by receivers, too.

Jacksonville’s Justin Blackmon had 263 yards receiv-

MURRAY Continued from Page 1B ing on seven catches in a 43-37 loss to the Texans on Nov. 18. Detroit’s Calvin Johnson and Ryan Broyles both topped 100 yards receiving in the Thanksgiving game.

Phillips downplayed concerns about the last two performances.

“It’s a team game, we’ve won 10,” Phillips said. “It’s about winning, it’s not about the stats overall, it’s about being able to win.

Our team has learned how to win. We’d like to win by 21 points every time, but that’s not always going to happen. We’ve learned to fight and win in tremendously tough situations, that’s the key.”

Not only is Reed out, but lead cornerback Johnathan Joseph is questionable after injuring a hamstring in the Jacksonville game and sitting out in Detroit. Joseph, who has two interceptions and eight pass break-ups this season, worked individually with trainers on Wednesday and sat out on Thursday to rest.

Like the pass rushers, Houston’s secondary feels like the last two games were anomalies and there are only minor glitches to fix.

“You don’t want to look too much into that,” safety Danieal Manning said.

“Now, we’ve got to a chance to look back at all that, get off our feet, relax and play ball like we have been.”

“

(The amount of injuries) gets a little upsetting.

ROB RYAN, COWBOYS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR

week’s 38-31 loss to Washington. Backup safety Charlie Peprah (foot) is also doubtful for a defense that has been decimated by injuries, including season-ending ones to standout inside linebackers Sean Lee (toe) and Bruce Carter (elbow).

In all, five defenders have lost their season to injuries, including a total of four starters. Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan was asked if all that bad luck has led him to indulge in some self pity.

“I do that at home but nowhere else,” Ryan told reporters in Irving. “It gets a little upsetting, it does. That’s just being realistic. It says four guys out, but it’s always six or seven. All of these guys have roles and it gets a little annoying.

“But that’s the way it is.

We’re not making excuses.

We want to win football games.”

Three players are out: center Phil Costa (concussion), defensive tackle Ben Bass (ankle) and slot cornerback Orlando Scandrick, who is expected to

miss the rest of the regular season after undergoing surgery this week to repair a broken hand.

Wide receiver Kevin Ogletree (concussion), safety Danny McCray (hip), fullback Lawrence Vickers (knee) and defensive ends Jason Hatcher (concussion) and Sean Lissemore (ankle) are probable. Lissemore has missed the last six weeks.

Haley, Allen Hall candidates: Two former Cowboys from the 1990’s Super Bowl era, defensive end Charles Haley and guard Larry Allen, are among 27 semifinalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2013, the NFL announced Friday.

The list also includes Bill Parcells, who coached the Cowboys from 2003 through 2006.

Haley has been eligible for the Hall of Fame for eight years and has been a finalist three times. This is Allen’s first year of eligibility.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

HINTS | BY HELOISE FROM FROZEN BAGELS TO CAR MATS Dear Heloise: Here are some of MY FAVORITE HINTS: When freezing bagels, always cut them in half horizontally and place them front to back in a plastic bag. Makes it much easier to remove one piece at a time.

The cabinet or shelf over the refrigerator is so hard to access. Remove the doors and use it as a display space for special knickknacks.

Our gift for our grandson’s 16th birthday was to underwrite his driver-education course and the fee for a passport.

Lasts much longer than another CD or a check.

Use rubber sink mats (usually under $10) under your feet in the car instead of spending $20 or $30 for the “real” thing.

— Harriet Platt, Rockville, Md. PET PAL Dear Readers: Shawn in Fredericksburg, Texas, sent a photo of his feral cat, Susie, while she was snuggling with her litter of four kittens. To see Susie and the kitties, visit my website, www.Heloise.com,

“

HELOISE

and click on “Pets.” — Heloise BUDGET WISE Dear Heloise: Since we are retired and on a strict budget, I felt our ideas may help some other people who are on a limited income. Each month, we give 10 percent to our church and put 10 percent in a savings account. We live on 80 percent of our income. I budget for groceries and gasoline. We watch what we buy in the grocery store, and try to do all of our errands at the same time we go to the grocery store.

I keep a record in my checkbook on a separate page for groceries and gasoline. It helps me not to overspend during the month. I have a Christmas Club account, so I know how much money I have to spend on the first of November. Thanks for the wonderful, practical advice you give each day. — A Contented Grandmother in Louisiana

PARDON MYPLANET

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Sports

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2012

Wright signs record deal with Mets

By MIKE KERWICK MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE INFORMATION SERVICES

David Wright, a flickering candle on a floundering team, is sticking around for what he hopes will be a Mets renaissance.

In a post-midnight deal, the Mets and Wright agreed to an eight-year, $138 million contract early Friday morning. The pact, first reported by WFAN’s Ed Coleman, makes Wright the highest-paid player in franchise history and one of the richest third basemen in the history of the sport.

More importantly - barring a trade somewhere down the line - it will make him a Met for life. The 29year-old will try to help resurrect a franchise that has finished fourth in the National League East for four straight seasons.

"I know just talking to

David he wanted to stay, wanted to be a Met," said Mets manager Terry Collins. "I have no idea how long he’s going to play, but I think in our age today, it’s a great statement that the guy wants to stay and the organization wants to keep him start to finish. I always thought David was going to do the right thing and stay here."

Reached over email Friday morning, Wright said, "Can’t talk yet. Sorry."

Wright, a six-time AllStar, is already one of the most decorated Mets in franchise history. This past season, he set all-time team records for both hits (1,426) and RBI (818). He has 204 home runs - 48 shy of the all-time lead.

He had a bounceback season in 2012, hitting .306 with 21 homers and 93 RBI. Wright flirted with .400 for a few months before com-

File photo by Alan Diaz | AP

New York third baseman David Wright agreed to a franchise record $138 million, eight-year contract with the Mets. ing back to earth. He carried the Mets offense for the first three months of the season, allowing the team to contend until the All-Star break.

"He’s the consummate pro," Collins said. "That’s why I’ve said all along, for me, if I’m a young player, I’m going to follow him around. And whatever he

does, I’m going to try to do."

Mets general manager Sandy Alderson told reporters in October that he would use the team’s young pitching as part of his sales pitch. Matt Harvey went 3-5 with a 2.73 ERA during his first season in the majors.

Zack Wheeler, the team’s other blue chip pitching

prospect, could be up in the big leagues sometime this coming season.

"I’m always optimistic," Wright said back in October. "Judging by some of the young arms we have, judging by some of the progress that the guys who have been here for a few years have made, I have a ton of faith and confidence in Sandy and his staff to make this team better."

So now Alderson and his staff get the chance to mold a new foundation around Wright. The team still has plenty of holes. When the Winter Meetings open next week, the Mets will be searching for players to populate their outfield. It would help if they can find a righthanded-hitting catcher who has a little pop in his bat.

And there is still the matter of deciding how to proceed with R.A. Dickey -

the 2012 Cy Young Award winner. The Mets picked up Dickey’s option earlier this offseason, but the two sides have been trying to piece together an extension that will keep Dickey in Queens.

Mets COO Jeff Wilpon has acknowledged that the team has explored trading the 38-year-old Dickey if they cannot come to terms.

For the moment, at least one major chess piece has been locked up long term.

Collins said he had an inkling that both sides were close. But like most Mets fans, the manager said he only learned the deal was complete when he woke up Friday morning and found four voicemails waiting for him.

"It really helps us going into spring training that we can get ourselves prepared without something hanging over our heads," Collins said.

Beckham’s final game in MLS Cup

By GREG BEACHAM ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by Kin Man Hui | San Antonio Express-News

Longhorns running back Malcolm Brown and Texas look to keep Kansas State out of the BCS with a win this weekend.

Texas looks to upset KSU

By DAVE SKRETTA ASSOCIATED PRESS

MANHATTAN, Kan. — There will be a time not long from now that Kansas State’s players will gather to reflect on the season, one that’s brought unimaginable joy along with soulcrushing heartache.

It’s not that time just yet.

Despite a loss two weeks ago to Baylor that knocked the seventh-ranked Wildcats from national title consideration, they still have plenty to play for Saturday against No. 23 Texas: The third conference championship in school history and an automatic BCS bowl berth.

Not a bad consolation prize for a team expected to finish somewhere in the middle of the Big 12, but that rose to No. 1 in the BCS standings before that lousy night in Waco.

“I haven’t reflected back on the season. I haven’t reflected forward,” Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said this week. “I have reflected on our most recent game and our preparation for the game coming up.

That’s where my attention has been.”

It certainly hasn’t been on No. 12 Oklahoma, which plays TCU earlier Saturday.

If the Sooners lose to the Horned Frogs, the Wildcats (10-1, 7-1) will already have wrapped up at least a share of the Big 12 championship and, due to tiebreakers, the BCS bid, long before Collin Klein and the rest of the senior class is introduced to a sellout crowd.

“It’s going to be an emotional day for me,” said Klein, who is widely expected to be invited to New York City next week for the Heisman Trophy ceremony.

“I know being around here now for, this is my fifth year, you see a lot of players enter and exit in their tenure, and now my time has come in that sense, and that’s not an easy thing,” Klein said. “I have so many fond memories of my time here. It’s going to be hard.”

The Sooners are comfortable favorites to beat TCU, which means the Wildcats are certainly preparing for the Longhorns (8-3, 5-3) as if they’ll need to

win themselves.

Kansas State’s only Big 12 title came in 2003, when it beat then-No. 1 Oklahoma when the conference still had a championship game. Its only other league title came in 1934, during the old Big Six days, when Lynn “Pappy” Waldorf was the coach.

More common have been the kind of losing seasons that brought Snyder to Manhattan, Kan., in the late-1980s, and brought him back from a brief retirement a few years ago.

“We’ve just been fortunate, and it’s been good fortune,” Snyder said. “We’ve played well most of the time, but again, Texas is the dominant football program and you have to have good fortune to beat teams like that, and particularly in this conference.”

The Longhorns, who plan to start Case McCoy over David Ash at quarterback, also will be trying to improve their bowl destination. They’re tied for third in the Big 12 with Oklahoma State, which plays Baylor on Saturday and beat Texas earlier this season.

CARSON, Calif. — David Beckham wraps up his six seasons with the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday in the MLS Cup. He just hopes fans realize they’ll miss an excellent game if all eyes are focused only on him.

Los Angeles goes after its second straight MLS title in a rematch with the Houston Dynamo, who lost 1-0 to the Galaxy last season at Home Depot Center. The field was soaked with rain last year, and it’s likely to be soggy again this weekend.

They’re perfect conditions for the Galaxy’s attempt at replicating last season’s result in a watershed game for their franchise and MLS, which is losing Beckham’s magnetic appeal after a halfdecade of impressive league-wide growth.

“I know I’m quite an emotional person,” Beckham said. “I’m just really excited about the game, to be in a third MLS Cup final, especially the second one that’s being played in our own stadium. It’s going to be special. ... I’m happy the team are in the position we are, and the reason we’ve done well this season is because we’re a complete team.

We’ve got character.”

Los Angeles’ late-season run to another championship game has carried a certain sense of destiny for a franchise that’s in for big changes in the offseason. Beckham could be joined in departure by U.S. star Landon Donovan, who’s thinking about walking away from the Galaxy in an apparent mid-career case of burnout.

Even if the Galaxy’s

Photo by Ted S. Warren | AP

Los Angeles’ David Beckham will try to win back-to-back MLS Cups in his final game in the league. core is breaking up, they’re eager to go out with the franchise’s fourth MLS Cup, tying D.C. United’s league record.

“It’s been quite a ride, and with one more win, it will all be worth it,” said Los Angeles defender Omar Gonzalez, who also might leave in the offseason. “We’re similar to last year, but they’re a totally different team. They’re going to be tough.”

All that uncertainty will be discarded for at least 90 minutes when the eighth-seeded Galaxy host ninth-seeded Houston in an unlikely final between veteran teams that gathered momentum at the perfect time, barreling through the playoffs with style after barely making the postseason.

“We’ve got two good attacking teams, and I expect some goals this year,” said Los Angeles coach Bruce Arena, who could win his fourth MLS title.

“Last year’s final, poor weather conditions were a factor. This year should make for a more attractive game. Having a rerun of last year is kind of interesting, and certainly

they’re going to have a lot of motivation. But so are we.”

While the world watches Beckham, the Dynamo believe they’re better prepared this year to spring an upset for their first title since 2007. Key Houston playmaker Brad Davis is healthy after missing the final last season with an injury, and the Dynamo have been every bit as impressive as the Galaxy lately.

“When Houston and L.A. got into the playoffs, I think a lot of teams weren’t happy about it,” said Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear, who could win his third MLS Cup. “I think they saw something inside of us that’s going to make us difficult to knock out, and I think they thought the same thing about the Galaxy.”

Although Beckham is still the star attraction for one more game, the Galaxy increasingly belong to Robbie Keane, the Irish national team captain who scored 16 regular-season goals and five more in the playoffs during an outstanding first full season with the Galaxy.

Mavericks sign veteran point guard Derek Fisher ASSOCIATED PRESS

DALLAS — Derek Fisher shed a little blood in his first practice as a member of the Dallas Mavericks.

Maybe it’s a sign of commitment.

The veteran point guard who signed with Dallas as a free agent this week took blow to the face Friday.

“It was an exciting first day. There was a little bit of a minor setback when I took a nice elbow to the nose, I had some nice leakage, so right back into the mix on the first day,” laughed Fisher, who at 38 has not played since he helped Oklahoma City sweep the Mavericks in the first round of last spring’s playoffs before falling in the NBA Finals to Miami.

“He had a little spark of blood out there, so I said, ’Welcome to full contact again,”’ joked Dallas forward Shawn Marion. “But he’s a solid point guard, he knows how to control the tempo of the game, he takes what the defense gives him and he’s poised out there. And that’s what you expect.”

Proving to be a good teammate already, Fisher would not disclose who elbowed him. He seemed happy just to be on the court with his new squad.

“I’ve been working hard, just keeping myself ready for this moment, not really knowing where it would be,” Fisher said.. “Just to be back out here with a group of guys with everybody working hard is

good.”

The Mavericks are 3-8 in their last 11 games and could use leadership from the 16-year veteran. Dallas will be without star Dirk Nowitski for another several weeks and starting point guard Darren Collison is questionable for Saturday night’s home game against Detroit.

“For a guy that’s been sitting out, he’s obviously been working hard and taking care of himself,” said coach Rick Carlisle.

“It’ll take a little while to get game legs, but he did a great job today and he’s going to help us. He’s going to be involved, he’s probably going to be our starting point guard. We’re not looking at him as a cure-all for anything, but we feel

he can help us. He strengthens our team and experience is something that is invaluable in this league.”

Fisher’s experience includes 229 playoff games, eight trips to the NBA Finals and five championships with the Lakers (2000-02, 2009-10). Still, it was difficult waiting to find out his next destination.

“I was always planning to play again this season.

I’ve been training hard, preparing myself for this moment,” said Fisher, who has also played for Golden State and Utah. “Nothing prepares you for playing in a game, so there will be some moments where I’ll have to push through, but overall, I feel great.”

File photo by Jeff Roberson | AP

Former Oklahoma City point guard Derek Fisher signed with the Dallas Mavericks on Nov. 29 after their 101-78 loss to Chicago.