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Possible sex biz vexing BP agent By ZACH LINDSEY
“Maybe we can establish something so that we can have a say ... ”
THE ZAPATA TIMES
Reports that an adult-oriented business might set up shop in a residential area of Zapata appear to be just talk for now, but Zapata County commissioners are taking no chances. At their regular meeting Monday, Commissioners Court will discuss implementing measures that would control where such businesses could operate. Currently, there are no regula-
COUNTY COMMISSIONER JOE RATHMELL tions in place about adult-oriented businesses, a term that often refers to such enterprises as bookstores that sell sexually explicit material and lounges with topless dancers, euphemistically referred to as “gentlemen’s clubs.”
Zapata County Commissioner Joe Rathmell plans to present a proposal for controlling those businesses. “We don’t have a permit structure in place yet, so nobody necessarily needs to file anything to
get something open,” Rathmell said. “Maybe we can establish something so that we can have a say exactly where these kind of places are going to go up.” Rathmell hopes to be able to keep the businesses outside town limits. He said some local residents have contacted him with concerns about the possibility of an adult-oriented business opening in Zapata.
See SEX BIZ | PAGE 11A
charged in bribes By JASON BUCH THE ZAPATA TIMES
A Border Patrol agent stationed in Zapata has been arrested on charges that he took bribes to protect a shipment of cocaine. Agent Leonel Morales, 30, is accused of taking a $9,000 bribe to escort a load of cocaine in June or August of this year, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston. Morales has been with Border Patrol almost two years and has been stationed in Zapata County, where agents’ primary duties are to patrol the river-
Photos by Cuate Santos | The Zapata Times
ABOVE: A Black Swallowtail stands on a flower. To its right is a Tropical Ermine Moth. BELOW: A Queen butterfly is seen on a Mule’s Fat flower.
THE ZAPATA TIMES
Zapata residents who can’t afford legal help will have the opportunity to have uncontested civil matters resolved at no cost starting next year. Private attorneys will donate their time at Social Justice Day Court, once every three months in the 49th District Court in Zapata, Judge Joe Lopez and representatives for Texas RioGrande Legal Aid announced this week. The court in Zapata sees a lot of pro se filings, or civil suits filed by parties who do not have legal representation, Lopez said. The social justice court will
FLIGHT Butterflies and plants are in rarefied air ByJULIAN AGUILAR
See BRIBERY | PAGE 11A
Zapatans get free legal aid By JASON BUCH
BEAUTY IN
banks and Falcon Lake, said Eugenio Rodriguez Jr., supervisory agent in charge of public affairs for the Laredo Sector. A grand jury in Houston indicted Morales on charges of bribery, possession of more than 5 kilograms of cocaine with intent to distribute and conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute, according to federal prosecutors. FBI agents arrested Morales without incident Wednesday at FBI offices in Laredo, said Norm Townsend, senior supervisory agent for the FBI in Laredo.
allow people involved in civil lawsuits, such as divorces, in which both sides are in agreement but need legal representation to dispose of their case, to get that representation, Lopez said. There are often problems when people prepare their own court documents or hire someone who is not a lawyer to do so, Lopez said. “What ends up happening inevitably is we do not get the cases, the cases are dismissed or the orders are unenforceable,” he said. Parties can contact RioGrande Legal Aid in Laredo to
See LEGAL | PAGE 11A
LAREDO MORNING TIMES
estled away within the serene confines of Falcon State Park in Starr County is something every plant and butterfly enthusiast should visit: a butterfly garden home to native species of both gifts of nature. The garden houses some of the most endangered plant life in Texas that, because of nature’s workings, means it also attracts some of the rarest butterflies found in the region.
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Sylvia Bruni is executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of LaredoWebb County.
Female butterflies Fran Bartle, the park’s volunteer bird and butterfly expert, said that because female butterflies stick to one particular plant when they lay their eggs, the plant must be found in the region if a butterfly zealot hopes to catch a glimpse of the insect. Even rare butterflies cannot be reared in captivity, she said. “The only thing you can do is make sure its host plant is available,” Bartle said. “Most butterflies are plant-specific — the female will lay eggs on only one certain type of plant. The caterpillar hatching from those eggs can only eat that one plant, if it tries to eat anything else it will die. Nature’s just that way.”
Rarities Some of the rarities found in the garden include the Telea Hairstreak, which Bartle said had not been confirmed in the country in more than 60 years when it was sighted in the garden in 2007. The butterfly’s host is the Chihuahuan Balloonvine, a rare plant native to South Texas currently on the verge of extinction. Through Bartle’s efforts, however, the butterfly garden now could be responsible for the re-emergence of the plant at the state park.
Laredo Morning Times file photo
Falcon State Park naturalist Frances Bartle holds a photograph of a rare moth she found and photographed as she stands in front of the butterfly garden she designed and maintains at the park in this Oct. 17 file photo. Another plant, the Capriara, was actually thought extinct until it resurfaced at the park in the 1990s, and the Damiana, which usually grows only in areas near the Rio Grande, also can be spotted at the butterfly garden. The Damiana brings with it the chance to see the Mexican Fritillary butterfly, which helps butterfly watchers add another name to the list of species they can brag about having seen. “The fritillary will come over and breed on this plant, (but) there are very few of these plants left,” Bartle said. “Many people keep lists, like many of the birders do; they keep lists of the but-
terflies. Well, they want as big of a list as they can get, so when they come to South Texas, if they want the Mexican Fritillary, they’ve got to come to a place that has the Damiana.”
Her treasure chest Bartle designed the garden herself and is available with her treasure chest of plant and butterfly knowledge to any of the park’s visitors, which she said includes people from all over the country and even some from as far away as England and Canada.
See BUTTERFLIES | PAGE 11A
Center helps the smallest victims By CHRISTINA ROSALES THE ZAPATA TIMES
Ten years ago, walking down the halls of the Laredo Police Department, there was no special unit that advocated and worked for the smallest and meekest victims of abuse. Homicide, assault, child abuse and robbery were together in one unit. All of the cases were treated the same. It was the way business was done — until the Children’s Advocacy Center of Laredo-Webb County, which also helps kids in Zapata County, got involved.
“When the advocacy center opened, it was a totally different way of doing investigations,” investigator Cordelia Perez said. “It was so much easier than what we were used to. That’s why CAC is a blessing. It really helps us out in our investigations, and I can tell you that because I worked with
See UNITED WAY | PAGE 11A