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HOT START FOR LADY HAWKSEXPERIENCED TEAM CHARGES EARLY IN FRESH SEASON, 1B

Human trafficking, drug smug-gling and people carrying weap-ons while trudging throughranches are some concerns SouthTexas ranchers voiced to arealawmen during a rural border se-

curity panel discussion Mondaymorning at Laredo CommunityCollege’s Ft. McIntosh Campus.

During the event hosted byRep. Henry Cuellar, ranchersspoke about concerns about whothey should communicate withwhen suspicious activity is spot-ted on their properties.

Rob Hinnant, a representativeof the Texas Farm Bureau, saidlandowners in South Texas haveconcerns about safety and privateproperty destruction.

“The safety issue comes fromthe new type of people that arecoming across the border,” saidHinnant, who grew up in South

Texas. “We used to have illegalimmigrants coming across look-ing for work.”

At the time, Hinnant would de-scribe the people as innocent. Butthings have changed. Ranchersare now facing human and drugtrafficking.

“Many of these people involved

in the trafficking are carryingfirearms,” Hinnant said. “It is aconcern. I live in the country. Ihave a wife and daughter who arein my home.”

Private property destruction isas simple as pedestrians walking

BORDER SECURITY

Ranchers: Border unsafePoliticians, lawmen hear concerns about trafficking, drug smuggling

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES

See BORDER PAGE 9A

The storied history of ZapataCounty comes alive tomorrow inSan Ygnacio. As it has for thelast four years, the Historic

Homes Tour promises to transport vis-itors into the late 19th and early 20thcenturies by allowing them to visit SanYgnacio’s oldest buildings.

Established in 1830, San Ygnacio isZapata County’s oldest town and is listedin the National Register of HistoricalPlaces for, among other things, boastingmore late 19th century Spanish-style

sandstone homes than any other loca-tion in South Texas. Its founder, Don Je-sus Treviño, built such a home facingwhat is now Uribe Street. Known as FortTreviño, this colonial structure, toppedwith the famous sundial, is San Ygna-cio’s cultural showpiece, and a symbolfor the sense of history that unifies thecommunity.

“As far as San Ygnacio is concerned,there is that spirit of unity, that pride inour history,” said Norma V. Arellano,principal of A.L. Benavides ElementarySchool. The school itself takes on therustic appearance with its river stone fa-çade inspired by Fort Treviño, appropri-

ate considering the Historic Homes Touris a project for and by the school.

“This tour helps us raise funds for theschool, and one teacher is assigned toeach historic site,” Arellano explained.“They learn about the home and its his-torical importance.”

On the grounds of the school, rightnext to the playground, is La Paz Mu-seum, also a part of the tour. From 1898to 1918, this building saw use as a canti-na, schoolhouse, and a mess hall for U.S.troops stationed in San Ygnacio amidtensions with Mexico. Its collection of

SAN YGNACIO

OPENING DOORS TO HISTORIC PAST

Pictured on Wednesday afternoon is a kitchen setting that takes visitors back in time. People can admire a historical way of setting up a table at La PazMuseum located on Arturo L. Benavides Elementary School grounds during the Historic Homes Tour on Sunday.

Photo by Cesar G. Rodriguez | The Zapata Times

See TOURS PAGE 9A

Homes tour shows how area residents once livedBy MIKE HERRERA IV

THE ZAPATA TIMES

A San Ygnacioman was arrestedlast weekend afterauthorities say hewas the aggressorduring a stabbingattack a few daysago in Laredo.

Zapata CountySheriff ’s Office deputies servedJorge “Camaron” Arambula, 27,with an aggravated assault witha deadly weapon warrant after atraffic stop Nov. 26 near U.S. 83and 20th Avenue.

Arambula was taken to the Za-pata Regional Jail and later re-leased to authorities to bringhim to Webb County Jail. He re-mained behind bars as of Fridayafternoon.

Around 9 p.m. Nov. 21, the vic-tim got into a heated argumentwith a person he knows in the2000 block of North India Avenuein Laredo.

The criminal complaint statesthat the person owed the victim$200. The victim got upset withthe person because he was ableto buy beer but could not pay adebt of $200.

According to the complaint,an intoxicated person went tothe victim’s apartment complexto call him out.

During a verbal argument, asmall, black car operated by awoman pulled over.

A man later identified asArambula stepped in for the per-son. The complaint states thatArambula attacked and stabbedthe victim once with a knife and

CRIME

Laredodisputeleads toarrest

See ARREST PAGE 9A

San Ygnacio manaccused of assault

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES

ARAMBULA

PAGE 2A Zin brief SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2011

SATURDAY, DEC. 3A book sale will be held in the

Widener Room of the First UnitedMethodist Church, 1220 McClellandAve., from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thepublic is invited, and admission is free.Donated books and magazines are ac-cepted. Call 722-1674 for more infor-mation.

The Texas A&M International Uni-versity Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetari-um will show “The Polar Express” atnoon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Santawill be available for pictures between 2p.m. and 6 p.m.

The Bazaar Art Movement isfrom 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. today at La Res-erva Bar and Grill, 107 Calle Del Norte.Artists will have the opportunity to sellor showcase their work at no charge.For more information, add Bazaar Lare-do on Facebook or email BackTheBa-zaar@gmail.com.

A garage sale will be held in theHoly Redeemer Church parking lot,1602 Garcia St., from 7 a.m. to noontoday.

SUNDAY, DEC. 4The United High School boys’

basketball booster club will host itsfirst annual Christmas Bingo from 2p.m. to 5 p.m. at Chapa’s ReceptionHall, 5904 West Drive. Items include a42-inch flat-screen TVs, cologne sets,household items and electronics. Sup-port the program by purchasing a tick-et for $15 (three cards for 10 games).For more information or to purchasetickets, call Abrahan Rubio at 763-1544or Diana Juarez at 319-3100.

The Laredo Community CollegeFaculty Cello Recital is from 3:30 p.m.to 4:30 p.m. today in the Private DavidB. Barkeley Cantu Veterans MemorialChapel. It features new LCC music in-structor Guillermo Teniente. It is freeand open to the public.

MONDAY, DEC. 5The Laredo Community College

Fine Arts Center will host auditions forthe Tony Award-winning musical “Pic-nic” from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. today. “Pic-nic” will be staged in the spring. Act-ing experience is not required.

TUESDAY, DEC 6The Zapata Community Coalition

will meet from 11:30 a.m. through 1p.m. at the Zapata Community Center.RSVP to SCAN, Inc., at 956-765-3555or email nedina.gutierrez@scan-inc.orgor sonia@scan-inc.org.

Les Amies will have its monthlyluncheon at 11:30 a.m. at the HolidayInn at 800 Garden St. Honorees areAlicia Laurel and Olga Laurel. Hostess-es are Consuelo Lopez, Hilda Lopez,Berta Garza and Olga Hovel.

The South Texas Food Bank willhave a fundraiser today at Hal’s Land-ing, 6510 Arena Road. The event willfeature a lockup “jail and bail” of Lare-do personalities from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.A Hal’s-sponsored party will be from 6p.m. to 11 p.m. Admission is $10 perperson, with raffle prizes available. Pro-ceeds benefit the food bank. For moreinformation, call the food bank at 324-2432.

The Alzheimer’s support groupwill meet at 7 p.m. today in MeetingRoom 2, Building B, of the LaredoMedical Center. The support group isfor family members and caregivers tak-ing care of someone who has Alzheim-er’s.

The Webb County CommunityCoalition of SCAN Inc. will meet from11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. today at the TexasNational Guard Armory, 6001 Bob Bull-ock Loop. Guest speaker will be WebbCounty Medical Examiner Dr. CorinneStern. The public is invited. For moreinformation or to RSVP, call MelissaBelmares-Cavazos or Veronica Garza Ji-menez at 724-3177.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 7The Texas AgriLife Extension Ser-

vice will sponsor a Pesticide ApplicatorRecertification Course from 8:30 a.m.to 3 p.m. today at the Webb CountyAgriculture Building, 7209 E. SaundersSt. The course is an approved TexasDepartment of Agriculture courseworth five credits toward a private,noncommercial or commercial pesticideapplicator license. The registration feeincludes a noon meal, refreshments,training materials and handouts. Forspecial accommodations, call the WebbCounty Extension Service office in ad-vance. For more information, contactWebb County Agricultural ExtensionAgent George L. Gonzales at 721-2626,721-2627, 721-2229 or gl-gonzales@ta-mu.edu.

The Zapata Community Coalitionwill host bingo at the Zapata CountyPavilion.

CALENDARASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Saturday, Dec. 3,the 337th day of 2011. Thereare 28 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in His-tory:

On Dec. 3, 1911, Italian filmcomposer Nino Rota, knownfor scoring works by such di-rectors as Federico Fellini andLuchino Visconti, as well asthe first two “Godfather” mov-ies, was born in Milan.

On this date:In 1810, British forces cap-

tured Mauritius from theFrench, who had renamed theisland nation off southeastAfrica “Ile de France.”

In 1818, Illinois was admit-ted as the 21st state.

In 1828, Andrew Jacksonwas elected president of theUnited States by the ElectoralCollege.

In 1833, Oberlin College inOhio — the first truly coedu-cational school of higherlearning in the United States— began holding classes.

In 1925, George Gershwin’sConcerto in F had its worldpremiere at New York’s Carne-gie Hall, with Gershwin at thepiano.

In 1947, the Tennessee Wil-liams play “A Streetcar NamedDesire” opened on Broadway.

In 1967, surgeons in CapeTown, South Africa led by Dr.Christiaan Barnard performedthe first human heart trans-plant on Louis Washkansky,who lived 18 days with thenew heart. The 20th CenturyLimited, the famed luxurytrain, completed its final runfrom New York to Chicago.

In 1979, 11 people werekilled in a crush of fans atCincinnati’s Riverfront Coli-seum, where the British rockgroup The Who was perform-ing.

In 1984, thousands of peopledied after a cloud of methylisocyanate gas escaped from apesticide plant operated by aUnion Carbide subsidiary inBhopal, India.

In 1991, radicals in Lebanonreleased American hostageAlann (cq) Steen, who’d beenheld captive nearly five years.

Ten years ago: In the wakeof bombings that had killed 26Israelis, Prime Minister ArielSharon declared a war on ter-ror. Homeland Security Direc-tor Tom Ridge asked Ameri-cans to return to a high stateof alert, citing threats of moreterrorist attacks. Enron tooksteps to bolster its weak finan-cial footing following its his-toric bankruptcy filing, ar-ranging $1.5 billion in financ-ing and slashing 4,000 jobs, or20 percent of its work force.

Today’s Birthdays: SingerAndy Williams is 84. Movie di-rector Jean-Luc Godard is 81.Singer Jaye P. Morgan is 80.singer Ozzy Osbourne is 63.Rock singer Mickey Thomas is62. Country musician PaulGregg (Restless Heart) is 57.Actor Steven Culp is 56. Ac-tress Daryl Hannah is 51. Ac-tress Julianne Moore is 51.Olympic gold medal figureskater Katarina Witt is 46. Ac-tor Brendan Fraser is 43. Ac-tress Anna Chlumsky is 31.Actor Brian Bonsall is 30.Pop/rock singer-songwriterAndy Grammer is 28. ActressAmanda Seyfried is 26. ActorMichael Angarano is 24. ActorJake T. Austin is 17.

Thought for Today: “Fac-ing it, always facing it, that’sthe way to get through. Faceit.” — Joseph Conrad, Polish-born English novelist (bornthis date in 1857, died 1924).

TODAY IN HISTORY

AKRON, Ohio — A Texas parolee nowlinked to a deadly Craigslist robbery schemewas in an Ohio jail and poised to stay therebut was released after Texas officials saidthey only wanted him extradited if he wereconvicted on a drug charge, according tocourt records and a sheriff ’s office.

Richard Beasley, released in July on ajudge’s order, is now linked to a plot inwhich, authorities say, someone tried to lurerobbery victims by posting a bogus ad tout-ing a cattle farm job in southeast Ohio.

Texas issued a warrant in February whenBeasley was arrested on drug charges andconfirmed the existence of the warrant withOhio officials in June when he was arrestedagain on a separate drug-dealing charge. TheTexas warrant asked that Beasley be held for

violating parole on a burglary conviction.Beasley asked to be released on bond, and

on July 12, Akron Judge John Murphy grant-ed his request. “Texas authorities are onlyinterested in extradition if there is a convic-tion in Ohio,” Murphy wrote.

Texas says it never authorized Beasley’srelease and filed two additional warrants forhis arrest. Beasley was released “despite theexistence of the Texas warrant and detainer,”Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Texas De-partment of Criminal Justice, said Thursday.

“That doesn’t say to me we were OK withhim being free from custody,” Clark said. BillHolland, a spokesman for the Summit CountSheriff ’s Office, said Texas officials said theywanted to wait until the outcome of the Ak-ron drug case, “because if he was found notguilty, then there would be no parole viola-tion.”

AROUND TEXAS

Barb Daily, sister of Timothy Kern, speaks of her bother in Massillon, Ohio on Tuesday. Timothy Kern has been missing forover a week after responding to a Craigslist help wanted ad. He is believed to be the third victim to be linked to the employ-ment robbery scheme.

Photo by Scott Heckel/The Repository | AP

Texas man releasedBy ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS AND THOMAS J. SHEERAN

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Woman unharmed afterplane crashes into house

MIDLAND — Officials say an81-year-old woman was rescuedunharmed after a small planecrashed into her West Texashome, a fiery accident that de-stroyed the house and injuredthe pilot.

City of Midland spokeswomanTasa Watts says the woman wasinside the home when the crashoccurred Friday morning.

3 Dallas police officershurt working wrecks

DALLAS — Three Dallas po-lice officers were hurt while try-ing to clear two unrelated Inter-state 635-area wrecks on a rainymorning.

Police say two officers were in-jured around 2 a.m. Friday whena tractor-trailer rig hit twoparked squad cars.

The second accident happenedaround 2:30 a.m. Friday when astopped patrol car was hit frombehind by another vehicle.

Bay City woman shot byspouse remains criticalBAY CITY — A Southeast Tex-

as woman shot three times byher husband, who then fatallyshot their four children beforekilling himself, remains in criti-cal condition two days after theattack.

A spokesman for MemorialHermann-Texas Medical Centerin Houston said Laura Gonzalezof Bay City remained hospital-ized Friday.

Capital murder indictmentover Texas deputy deathNEW BOSTON — A man ac-

cused in the shooting death of asheriff ’s deputy has been indict-ed on a capital murder charge.

A grand jury in New Bostonon Thursday indicted TuckerStrickland of Texarkana. He re-mains in the Parker County Jailwith bond set at $3 million.

Bowie County sheriff ’s DeputySherri Jones was shot in thehead her own gun.

Texan, 81, shoots atburglars, she later diesHOUSTON — Police say an 81-

year-old Houston-area womanhas died of an apparent heart at-tack after shooting a gun andscaring off two burglars.

Memorial Villages police be-lieve a man and a woman hadposed as utility workers and talk-ed the homeowner into openingher door to them.

Man cited after wildturkey at N.B. dies

NEW BRAUNFELS — A manhas been cited over the death ofa wild turkey that was a favoriteof visitors to a South Texas park.

The turkey died Nov. 22, a dayafter allegedly being grabbed bythe neck and thrown into a wad-ing pool.

Game warden Brent Satskysays 53-year-old Ernesto ZavalaCerna of San Antonio has beencited for illegal possession of alive game bird.

— Compiled from AP reports

EPA eases boiler rule;health benefits unchanged

WASHINGTON — Facing crit-icism from industry and law-makers, the Obama administra-tion on Friday proposed easingrules aimed at reducing toxic airpollution from industrial boilersand incinerators.

But administration officialsmaintained that the health bene-fits of the regulation wouldn’t becompromised.

The changes would requirepollution controls at the 5,500largest and most polluting boil-ers nationwide, such as those atrefineries and chemical plants.An additional 195,000 smallerboilers would be able to meet therule through routine tune-ups.

Unemployment rate dropsto lowest since 2009

WASHINGTON — The unem-ployment rate, which has refusedto budge from the 9 percent

neighborhood for two and a halffrustrating years, suddenlydropped in November, driven inpart by small businesses.

The rate fell to 8.6 percent, thelowest since March 2009. Unem-ployment passed 9 percent thatspring and had stayed there or

higher for all but two months.The country added 120,000 jobs

in November. The economy hasgenerated 100,000 or more jobsfive months in a row — the firsttime that has happened sinceApril 2006.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

Good Jobs LA and Occupy LA activists, left, yell as people participate in a homeauction outside the county courthouse in Norwalk, Calif., on Friday. Protesters arecalling for an end to foreclosures.

Photo by Jason Redmond | AP

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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2011 Zlocal PAGE 3A

The holidays may bringtheir share of gift-givingstress, but the 2011 Christ-mas Parade and Lightingof the County Plaza prom-ises a welcome reprieve.

For just one eveningnext week, Zapatans canforget the season’s materi-al demands and join theirneighbors shoulder toshoulder to partake in oneof the county’s long-stand-ing traditions.

“People look forward tohis every year,” said CeliaBalderas, membership ser-vices coordinator for theZapata County Chamber ofCommerce, which hasspearheaded the event forthe last three years. Balde-ras remembers peopleturning out in droves ev-ery year to watch theschool marching bandsand elaborately decoratedfloats.

“The weather is usuallygreat, and people get veryexcited,” she said.

The parade lines up atthe corner of 17th andGlenn Street and proceedssouth on U.S. 83 until itends on 6th Avenue at theZapata County Plaza,where the Christmas treewill be lit.

“We’re staring to workon the tree this week,” Bal-deras said. “It should beup soon, and once it’s lit, itlooks beautiful.”

While the parade andplaza lighting ceremony goway back, it’s only over thelast two years that all chil-dren who go receive a freetoy.

“It’s a toy drive that we(the chamber) added overthe last couple of years,”said Balderas. “Just to give

kids something extra tolook forward to.”

As to what she feels per-sonally about the parade,Balderas gives a simple an-swer.

“Warmth. Warmth andthe love of the holiday sea-son.”

The parade starts at 5:30p.m. Thursday. Anyone in-terested in donating to thetoy drive is encouraged tocontact Balderas at 765-4871.

(Mike Herrera IV can bereached at 728-2567 ormherrera@lmtonline.com)

Christmas parade, treelighting is Thursday

By MIKE HERRERA IVTHE ZAPATA TIMES

Celia Balderas, Zapata County Chamber of Commerce membershipservices coordinator, holds a large stocking Wednesday afternoonat the chamber’s office. Children can register during the parade forraffle of the stocking.

Photo by Cesar G. Rodriguez | The Zapata Times

ANIMAL ACCIDENTAn accident was reported

at 7:34 p.m. Nov. 26 on U.S. 83near Arroyo Dolores. A sheriff’soffice incident report states amaroon 2011 Nissan Roguestruck a deer while travelingsouthbound to Zapata. No inju-ries were reported.

A 48-year-old man report-ed an accident with an owl at11:04 p.m. Monday in Busta-mante near Texas 16. A sheriff’soffice report states a white FordF-150 sustained damage to thefront grill. No one was harmed.

ASSAULTMartin Herrera, 47, was ar-

rested and charged with assaultfamily violence after deputies re-sponded to a domestic disturb-ance call at about 9:30 p.m.Nov. 19 in the 200 block of Lo-zano Road. The man was takento the Zapata Regional Jail. Hewas later released to appear incourt.

Annette Marie Perez, 21,was arrested and charged withassault at about 7:15 p.m. Nov.27 in the 600 block of MirafloresAvenue. A sheriff’s office incidentreports states Perez struck aman in the head with a closedfist. She was taken to the ZapataCounty Jail, where she was laterreleased to appear in court.

BURGLARYA 52-year-old man report-

ed at 3:12 p.m. Nov. 20 in the800 block of Ramireño Avenuethat he believes two people heknows stole some metal pipes.

CRIMINAL MISCHIEFDeputies responded to a

criminal mischief call at 3:59p.m. Tuesday at the ZapataCounty Cemetery on FM 496. A53-year-old man stated that twoaluminum brown horse statueswere stolen from his stepson’sgrave site.

DRIVING UNDER THEINFLUENCE

Erik Jasso, 20, was arrest-ed and charged with driving un-der the influence after a trafficstop at about 2:15 a.m. Nov. 14the parking of a local conve-nience store in the 100 block ofNorth U.S. 83. The man was lat-er released from the Zapata Re-gional Jail for court appearance.

FIREDeputies and firefighters

responded to a vehicle on firecall at 7 p.m. Nov. 19 in the1800 block of Fourth Street. Asheriff’s office incident reportstates officials have reason tobelieve it may have been arson.

INTERFERE WITHEMERGENCY CALLA 13-year-old juvenile was

detained and charged with inter-ference with an emergency callat about 12:30 a.m. Nov. 27 inthe 1900 block of North SiestaLane. A sheriff’s office incidentreport states a woman suspectedthe boy was using drugs. Whenshe called deputies, the boy wastrying to prevent her from mak-ing the call. The juvenile wastaken to the Webb County Juve-nile Detention Center.

POSSESSIONU.S. Border Patrol agents

turned over Carlos Javier San-chez Jr., 21, to deputies. San-chez was arrested and chargedwith possession of marijuana atabout 8 p.m. Nov. 19 in the 100block of Kennedy Street. Theman was taken to the ZapataRegional Jail and held on a$1,500 bond. Deputies say theman had 21 grams of marijuana,for an approximate street valueof $20.

A 14-year-old boy was de-tained and charged with posses-sion of marijuana at about 11:30a.m. Nov. 25 in the 100 block ofKen’s Way. The boy was taken tothe Webb County Juvenile Deten-tion Center.

PUBLIC INTOXICATIONJorge Alejandro Galvan,

20, was arrested and chargedwith public intoxication at about3:45 a.m. Nov. 23 near 16thStreet and Laredo Avenue. Theman was taken to Zapata Re-gional Jail. He was released tolater appear in court.

TERRORISTIC THREATDeputies responded to a

terroristic threat call at 5:56p.m. Tuesday in the 1300 blockof Juarez Avenue. A woman tolddeputies that two individualsthreatened her and her family.She also stated she had an argu-ment with the mother of thepair.

THEFTA 72-year-old man report-

ed at 8:01 p.m. Nov. 25 in the300 block of Gonzalez Streetthat someone broke into his resi-dence and stole two revolvers.The stolen items had a total val-ue of $800.

THE BLOTTER

PAGE 4A Zopinion SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2011

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

The French philoso-pher Blaise Pascal — whohad a sideline interest ingambling — argued thatbelief in God, even if theexistence of God is indoubt, is a sure bet for arational human being.

If you believe in Godand that belief is corrobo-rated in the hereafter,then the benefits are infi-nite. If you do not believein God and that lack offaith is disproved, thenthe losses are substantial.If God does not exist, thendeath brings the believerand the non-believer aliketo the same end.

The essence of Pascal’sWager is that, whateverthe probability of God’sexistence, you have every-thing to gain from beliefand nothing to lose. Salva-tion is priceless. Beliefcosts nothing.

Believers in catastroph-ic global warming — andthe conviction that hu-man activity is its pri-mary cause — have theirown version of Pascal’sWager. The losses for fail-ing to believe in globalwarming are a hellfirebrew of melting polar ice-caps, catastrophic floodingfrom rising oceans, devas-tating hurricanes andfamine-inducing droughts.

The salvation of planetEarth and its inhabitantsis priceless. Belief costs . .. well, $37 trillion, accord-ing to a report from theInternational EnergyAgency prepared in ad-vance of the 2009 U.N. Cli-mate Change Conferencein Copenhagen.

Also in advance of thatconference, an anony-mous source who identi-fies himself as “FOIA”leaked confidential emailsamong leading globalwarming researchers thatshowed their willingnessto subvert science and si-lence criticism in an ef-fort to uphold a worst-case scenario for human-caused global warming.They talked about theneed to use ”tricks” and”hide the decline,” deleteemails and purge data toavoid Freedom of Infor-mation requests and si-lence dissenting views“even if we have to rede-fine what the peer-reviewliterature is.”

That sounds less like

sound science and morelike a cult. One of thetests of a scientific theoryis falsifiability — the pos-sibility that it can be dis-proved by experimenta-tion or observation. Yet,according to true believ-ers, everything is evi-dence of a human hand inglobal warming — bothrains and droughts, snow-storms and hurricanes,record cold and recordheat. Thus the need toadopt the more flexibleterm “climate change.”

Now another U.N. Cli-mate Change Conferenceis taking place in Durban.And “FOIA” has releasedanother trove of emailsshowing scientists collud-ing to manipulate data,help “the cause” and dis-credit anyone whose workdiverges from their ortho-dox beliefs.

None of this disprovesglobal warming or man’scontribution to it. But itdoes sow skepticism, doeshighlight the complexityof climate science and thecountless variables — in-cluding sun spot activity,volcanic eruptions andnaturally occurringgreenhouse gases — thatinfluence it, and shouldraise serious questionsabout the immediacy ofthe global warmingthreat, what’s causing itand what a sensible strat-egy should be to deal withit.

Which gets us back toPascal’s Wager. In a noteaccompanying the releaseof the latest emails,”FOIA” writes: “Over 2.5billion people live on lessthan $2 a day. Every daynearly 16,000 children diefrom hunger and relatedcauses. One dollar cansave a life — the oppositemust also be true.”

His point is that the re-mediation strategy pro-posed by global warmingalarmists will cost at least$37 trillion, the majorityof which will presumablybe borne by developingnations. Assuming anynation would be willing toforgo a rising standard ofliving, better health andall the other benefits thatderive from development,shouldn’t such a costlywager be based on fact,not on a scheme morereminiscent of religiousdogma than science?

(Email: jgurwitz@ex-press-news.net)

Believingcan cost you

trillionsBy JONATHAN GURWITZ

SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

OTHER VIEWS

The Zapata Times doesnot publish anonymousletters.

To be published, lettersmust include the writer’sfirst and last names aswell as a phone numberto verify identity. The

phone number IS NOTpublished; it is used sole-ly to verify identity andto clarify content, if nec-essary. Identity of the let-ter writer must be veri-fied before publication.

We want to assure our

readers that a letter iswritten by the person whosigns the letter. The Zapa-ta Times does not allowthe use of pseudonyms.

Letters are edited forstyle, grammar, lengthand civility. No name-call-

ing or gratuitous abuse isallowed.

Via e-mail, send lettersto editorial@lmton-line.com or mail them toLetters to the Editor, 111Esperanza Drive, Laredo,TX 78041.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY

DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

WASHINGTON — Toparaphrase Leon Trotsky,you may not be interestedin the euro but the euro isinterested in you.

If the Europeans get itwrong and there is a cas-cade of defaults by finan-cially weak European coun-tries, led by Greece and fol-lowed by Italy, Spain and,maybe, Portugal, then aworld financial crisiswould result and the euromight collapse.

The epicenter of the cri-sis would be Europe, butevery economy would beshaken as currencies re-aligned, banks collapsed,and gold soared to evenhigher and more unsus-tainable levels.

If the euro collapses, sopossibly would the Euro-pean Union itself. Thatwould be a great historicalregression, a reversal of anoble purpose. And itwould leave the continentvulnerable to the will of thestrongest. In this instance,Germany. No one thinksthat is a good idea. Noteven the Germans.

The European Union hasone overriding purpose:peace in Europe. That wasthe inspiration of its foun-ders, who planned a cus-toms arrangement in 1958between six nations thathad suffered two greatwars and had a 2,000-yearhistory of internecine war.As the generation that hadknown war died out andwas replaced by genera-tions that have known

peace and prosperity, thepurposes of European inte-gration became moreclouded and more political.

The committed Euro-peans wanted a form of Eu-ropean federation: a kind ofUnited States of Europe.But national interests pre-vailed and Europe has beenshaped instead by leaderswho want a kind of UnitedStates-lite: an affiliation ofnations rather than a trueunion.

Lacking a central politi-cal voice, Europe slippedinto a rancorous family ar-rangement where every na-tion is an in-law. Disparatefamily members bound to-gether in self-interest.There are now 27 nationsin the European Union, 17of which have adopted theeuro as their currency.

Kind of successfulThis has resulted in dys-

function at many levels andcreated the impression —emphasized by British Con-servatives and Americanright-wingers — that thewhole enterprise has failed.In reality, there is moresuccess than failure.

The so-called democraticdeficit is the most glaringweakness. European na-tional legislatures are stillwhere law is made, not inthe European Parliament,which has no power and isa sort of giant Sundaymorning talk show writlarge.

Instead, the power hasbeen concentrated in theEuropean Commission.

Based in Brussels, this iswhere Europe is governedby bureaucrats through li-censing and regulation.The commissioners reapthe ire of politiciansthroughout Europe and re-flexively in Britain.

The commission makesrules about everything andtries, so much as it can, to”harmonize” products andlabels. But French wineproducers, Italian pastamakers do not wish to be”harmonized,” even thoughthey appreciate the ease ofintra-European trading,road subsidies and farm-support prices.

Poles appreciate the free-dom of labor to move tomore prosperous countriesand the workers in thosecountries resent the immi-grants. Individuals, partic-ularly small business oper-ators, object to health andsafety standards comingout of Brussels. But theydon’t hesitate to run to theEuropean Court in Luxem-bourg if they feel they arenot being treated right bytheir own government. In-deed, the court is one ofEurope’s successes.

The rest of the world hasbeen able to find a commonvoice in the EuropeanUnion, instead of 27 sepa-rate voices. The union hasworked despite its flaws.

The common currency,the euro, is something else.It was wished into being bystrong, idealistic forces.The finance ministers ofthe 17 nations in the cur-rency union are not sleep-ing well.

It was always known

that the euro had one greatweakness: no regional flex-ibility. Overheated coun-tries could not cool off byallowing their currency torise and weak ones couldnot boost their exports bydevaluing the currency.One size fit all, badly. Manyeconomists warned of thisinherent weakness whenthe euro was introduced in1999.

But the European archi-tects so wanted the build-ing block of a currency thatthey ignored the problemand forged ahead. It alsohad to be known that cer-tain countries were cook-ing the books, notablyGreece, to get into the euro.

So why not disband theeuro? How? If the euro iswithdrawn, how to do thatwithout true chaos? Sup-pose Greece, Italy andSpain try to return to thedrachma, the lira and thepeso? Who would converttheir euros to drachma orlira or pesos? Who wouldtrade a known currency fora fledgling one? If the eurowere to be withdrawn alto-gether, who would not wantGerman marks over Irishpounds?

All the options for Eu-rope other than riding outthe crisis with, ironically,lashings of German sup-port, look catastrophic forEurope and nearly as disas-trous for us. We caused aglobal tremor with thehousing bubble, but the eu-ro can cause the full earth-quake.

(Email Llewellyn King atlking@kingpublish-ing.com.)

COLUMN

Euro may cause world ‘quake’By LLEWELLYN KING

HEARST NEWSPAPERS

Newt Gingrich, the for-mer House speaker ridingatop the GOP polls, hasbeen shooting his mouthoff. He called himself a ce-lebrity who makes $60,000a speech.

A tweet from CharlesBlow of The New YorkTimes piqued my interestThursday. It began: “RTfoxnewspolitics Gingrich:‘Poor kids don’t knowwork unless it’s crime.’”Surely, I thought, the FoxNews report was refer-ring to something fromGingrich’s end-welfarepast. Would that were so.

“GOP hopeful NewtGingrich defended hisstance against certainchild labor laws during acampaign stop, sayingchildren born into pover-ty aren’t accustomed toworking unless it involves

crime.“‘Really poor children,

in really poor neighbor-hoods have no habits ofworking and have nobodyaround them who worksso they have no habit ofshowing up on Monday,’”Gingrich claimed.

“‘They have no habit ofstaying all day, they haveno habit of I do this andyou give me cash unless itis illegal,’ he added.”

A lot can be said aboutthe plight of families notlucky enough to make$60,000 for a half-hour ofbloviation. But Gingrich’sblanket condemnation of“really poor children, inreally poor neighbor-hoods” is disgusting. Andit is disrespectful of theoverwhelming majority ofthose children and theirfamilies, who live theirlives with far more integ-rity and far less cash thanGingrich ever will.

Disrespect isuncalled for

By JONATHAN CAPEHARTTHE WASHINGTON POST

COLUMN

The Zapata CountySheriff ’s Office is askingthe community for help insolving a break-in thattook place late Tuesday inFalcon Meza.

Deputies went out to aburglary call at 11:16 p.m.to the 600 block of EagleStreet. A 62-year-old manstated the shed located inthe back of his residencewas burglarized. He alsosaid the shutter door hadbeen broken.

According to Sgt. MarioElizondo, the alleged of-

fenders stole several toolsvalued at approximately$1,235. Items stolen includ-ed a Craftsman sand blas-ter, a Tig Welder, a com-pound saw, a blue wheelbarrow, six ¾-inch pipeclamps, some handsawsand hand tools.

Investigators are look-ing into the case. To pro-vide information, call thesheriff ’s office at 765-9960or Crime Stoppers hotlineat 765-TIPS (8477). All call-ers may remain anony-mous.

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

Burglary hassheriff stumped

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ LAREDO MORNING TIMES

A sex offender regis-tered in Illinois was arrest-ed in Zapata on Nov. 29 forviolating his supervisoryterms of release as a de-ported aggravated felon.

Jesus Duron-Montoya,50, was interviewed by Za-

pata Countydeputies onNov. 29 fol-lowing suspi-cions of hisstatus as adeported fe-lon.

According to a press re-lease provided by the sher-iff ’s office, Montoya is a

former Illinois residentwho has been residing inZapata for approximatelythree years.

During an interviewwith deputies, Montoyawas able to provide officerswith an Illinois Identifica-tion Card, and through theassistance of U.S. BorderPatrol personnel, deputies

were able to identify Mon-toya’s criminal history.

Montoya has a historyof numerous convictionsand arrests in the state ofIllinois, including aggra-vated sexual assault, fail-ure to register as a sex of-fender and unlawful pos-session of a firearm by afelon.

Deported felon arrested hereBy STEPHANIE IBARRA

THE ZAPATA TIMES

DURON-MONTOYA

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2011 THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

MEXICO CITY — The head ofMexico’s former ruling party re-signed Friday over a financialscandal that threatened the par-ty’s efforts to rebrand itself ascorruption-free and retake thepresidency in 2012.

Institutional RevolutionaryParty head Humberto Moreirastepped down at a party meetingbroadcast nationwide and inter-cut with live denunciations by op-position politicians. It was a re-markable scene in a countrywhere the leader of the PRI onceheld virtually unquestioned pow-er.

The PRI ruled Mexico for sev-en decades until voters angry ateconomic mismanagement, cro-nyism and corruption voted forthe conservative National ActionParty in the 2000 presidentialrace.

Eleven years later, Mexicansappear to widely accept the PRI’sargument that it has learnedfrom the past and become openand democratic. Its youthful andtelegenic candidate, former Mexi-co State Gov. Enrique Peña Nieto,leads potential competitors bydouble digits in recent opinion

polls on the July 2012 election.Moreira was widely promoted

as the face of the new PRI afterhe stepped down as governor ofthe northern state of Coahuilalast January.

Then, in July, the Coahuila leg-islature said the state’s total debtwas four times larger than the 8.4

billion pesos ($700 million) thatwas reported by state officialsjust before Moreira stepped down.

The PAN said it suspected atleast some of the public moneywas stolen by officials, demand-ing a criminal investigation intothe assets of one of Moreira’s for-mer aides. Moreira has not clear-

ly explained the ballooning debtfigure, but has said repeatedlythat the debt issue is being usedby PAN as a smear campaign.

For months, Peña Nieto andother powerful PRI membersstood by Moreira, who repeatedlysaid he would not step down.

Then, on Monday, Coahuila’s

state treasurer was arrested onsuspicion of falsifying state docu-ments that authorized the govern-ment to seek new loans — thefirst criminal charges in the case.

Peña Nieto and other PRImembers began distancing them-selves from the party head, andon Thursday the presidential can-didate told Milenio Televisionthat the party “clearly needed toweigh the circumstances of theweakening of our party’s leader.”

By Friday it was clear Moreirawould be forced out.

“I’ve resigned because I’m notgoing to allow a media war that istrying to harm our party to con-tinue,” Moreira told party mem-bers. “I also do it because I be-lieve in a man who is the hope forMexico, Enrique Peña Nieto.”

PRI secretary-general CristinaDiaz was named interim presi-dent of the party.

The national head of the leftistDemocratic Revolution Party, Je-sus Zambrano, said Moreira hadbeen “sacrificed” to save PeñaNieto, 45.

“It’s becoming much clearerthat the highly touted new PRI isthe same old PRI that the major-ity of the people threw out of thepresidency in 2000 because it wasa true burden and a tragedy forthe country,” he said.

Mexico’s ex-ruling party leader quits amid scandalBy OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ AND MICHAEL

WEISSENSTEINASSOCIATED PRESS

Coahuila, Mexico, Gov. Humberto Moreira Valdes is shown in 2006, in Austin. Moreira, head of Mexico’s Institutional Revolu-tionary Party, resigned Friday in a scandal that threatened the party’s efforts to rebrand itself as corruption-free.

Photo by Harry Cabluck/file | AP

The Zapata County Chamber ofCommerce is asking the public’s helpwith this year’s Blue Santa program.

Those who would like to helpshould bring either unwrapped orwrapped gifts to either the chamberoffice, 601 U.S. 83 South, or the officeof the justice of the peace at the Zapa-

ta County Courthouse, Suite 205. Wrapped gifts should indicate the

intended age of the recipient andwhether the recipient should be a boyor a girl.

Blue Santa needs Christmas helpTHE ZAPATA TIMES

PAGE 6A Zentertainment SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2011

It’s a story often told,but never quite like this.This week, audiences inLos Dos Laredos get to ex-perience “The Nutcracker”performed by dancersfrom both cities under thedirection of Becky SalinasChapa.

“This is a Christmastradition,” Chapa saidabout Piotr Illich Tchai-kovsky’s Nutcracker. “Ev-erybody enjoys it — chil-dren, adults.”

For this performance,students from her Laredoand Nuevo Laredo danceschools as well as otheracademies are united asthe Compañía de Ballet La-redos. All dancers had toaudition and demonstrateclassical ballet experience.

“This is a company, sowe don’t teach,” said Cha-pa. “You’re expected to al-ready know how. I directthe rehearsals, but this isnot to learn how to dance.”

The group performsSunday at 5 p.m. at the La-redo Civic Center Audito-rium.

The 39 dancers selectedby a panel of judges haveworked under Chapa’s di-rection since August to tellthis classic holiday story.

Though synonymouswith the Russian compos-er, “The Nutcracker”comes from German writ-er E.T.A. Hoffman. Knownfor his fantasy and horrortales, Hoffman often usedliving dolls as charactersin his stories. In 1816, hepenned “The Nutcrackerand the Mouse King,”which was later adaptedby French novelist Alex-andre Dumas (he of “TheThree Musketeers” fame)and finally became Tchai-kovsky’s ballet by 1892.

The basic story remainsthe same. At a ChristmasEve party hosted by herparents, young Clara re-ceives a special gift fromher godfather, Drossel-meyer, a toymaker. Afterdispensing toys to the oth-er children, he gives Claraa nutcracker in the shapeof a soldier. Later, whenthe clock strikes midnight,magic takes over and theadventure begins.

“It really is about mag-ic,” said Chapa. “The mag-ic of dance, the magic of‘The Nutcracker.’ That’swhat I tell my dancers,and that’s what audiencesfeel.”

In the true spirit of holi-day sharing, the Compañíade Ballet Laredos decidedto share this magic withthose less fortunate.Thursday, the companygraced the stage at NuevoLaredo’s Centro Culturalfor two performancesaimed at children from lo-cal orphanages.

“These performances

are free of charge. Wewant to share this withchildren who may not haveexperienced it before,”Chapa said.

Nuevo Laredo MayorBenjamín Galván Gómezalong with the Rotary In-ternational Nuevo LaredoReforma sponsored busesto transport the childrento and from the culturalcenter.

Expressing her appre-ciation of the sponsors,Chapa called the perform-ances “really exciting.”This isn’t the first timeshe’s held shows for theunderprivileged children,and she keeps doing thembecause she loves watch-ing children experienceballet for the first time.

“They’re the most amaz-ing audiences because,even though they may not

know about classical bal-let, they appreciate it.They applaud and standand cheer,” she said. “Atthe end of the perform-ance, we send the dancersdown with the audience totalk to the children andshow the costumes. It’s areal treat for them.”

Like any ballet companyinterpreting this tale, theCompañía de Ballet Lare-dos has a few surprises instore for “The Nutcrack-er.”

“This year at the end ofthe performance, we’reputting a piece with thesame Nutcracker musicbut with rhythm and mod-ern dance. It will be a likea techno-type piece,” Cha-pa said.

(Mike Herrera IV can bereached at 728-2567 andmherrera@lmtonline.com)

‘Nutcracker’ is SundayBy MIKE HERRERA IV

THE ZAPATA TIMES

Andrea Salinas dances the part of Clara in “The Nutcracker” by theCompañía de Ballet Laredos on Sunday at 5 p.m. at the Laredo Civ-ic Center Auditorium.

Photo by Ulysses S. Romero | The Zapata Times

The South Texas FoodBank’s mission of feedingthe hungry receives a holi-day boost with a fundraiserTuesday at Hal’s LandingRestaurant and Bar, 6510Arena Blvd., next to the La-redo Energy Arena.

The event features Lare-do’s Jolly Ranchers from 7to 11 p.m. Doors open at 6.

The day includes a jailand bail lockup of Laredocelebrities from 10 a.m. to 5p.m. in a mock jail also atHal’s.

“Fugitives” jailed mustraise at least a $500 bail forrelease.

Hal’s Landing ownersTom and Marianne La-mont sponsor the partynight for the food bank.

Admission is $10 perperson. Raffle tickets willalso be sold for severalitems.

“We dearly appreciatethe Lamont family’s sup-port of the food bank overthe last three years withevents such as this,” saidCindy Liendo Espinoza,STFB chief development of-ficer.

Lamont noted, “The foodbank is a well organized,important entity in Laredo.We’re conscious that non-profits are having a toughtime because of today’seconomy and we’re willingto lend a hand.”

The Jolly Ranchers havebeen playing music in La-redo and the area for 17years under the leadershipof Mark Guerrero, a 1993graduate of United HighSchool.

Guerrero recalled, “Meand a TAMIU student Bul-garian friend Steve Pandovstarted playing at the oldLaredo Bar and Grill forfun, making $20 to $30 anight. The good money wasin the after parties.”

The Jolly Ranchers

name? Guerrero explained,“Some lady put a JollyRancher into a cup (thatbelonged to Steve) and thenext day they were callingus the Jolly Ranchers.

“It stuck, but with aname like that, people don’tknow what to expect, acountry band or somethingelse.”

The group has grownthrough the years.

“We’ve had 25 or 26 (mu-sicians) come in and out.Many have gone on to bet-ter things,” Guerrero said.

The growth includedpeople whose family nameshave a long associationwith music in Laredo, spe-cifically Cano and Cisne-ros.

The Cano Brothers —Frank, Mauricio, Steve andAlex — all at one time oranother played with theJolly Ranchers.

Mauricio went on toplay with La Cosumbreand Duelo.

Steve has his master’sdegree and teaches in Aus-tin.

The Cisneros familyoriginates in the band withbrothers Archie and Andy.

Today’s Jolly Ranchersinclude Arturo Cisneros onguitar and Alex Cano onbass.

Guerrero, now 36, andwife, a Laredo school teach-er, are parents of three chil-dren — boys, 11 and 7, anda girl, 8.

Distinguished by hisblack fedora hat on stage(“Because I like gangster

movies”), Guerrero is theguitar player and lead vo-calist.

The other Jolly Ranch-ers are Larry Botello ondrums, “Chino” (“He’s just‘Chino,’ no other name,”said Guerrero) on percus-sion, Danny Garcia ontrumpet and Jerry Espino-za on saxophone. The vo-calist is Claudia Rodriguez.

Guerrero says the groupis musically diverse.

“All bring something dif-ferent to the table,” Guerre-ro said. “I grew up listen-ing to soul. On any givennight we can play soul,rock, classic rock, jazz, sal-sa, merengue or a cumbia.”

The Jolly Ranchers havebeen on stages in whatGuerrero called, “the SouthTexas Circuit (Laredo, Al-ice, Corpus Christi, Pre-mont, South Padre Island,the Valley, etc.). We’ll per-form four to five times perweek … about 225 gigs peryear. I can tell you we workreal hard.”

From 1999 to 2002 and2006 to the present, the Jol-ly Ranchers have been reg-ulars at Laredo’s CoyoteCreek Bar and Grill.

Celebrating its 24th anni-versary in December, theSouth Texas Food Bank,which started as the Lare-do-Webb County FoodBank in 1989, distributessupplemental food once permonth to 24,000 families,7,000 elderly, 6,000-plus chil-dren and 500 veterans andtheir widows in an eight-county area.

Band to help food bankSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

“We’ve had 25 or 26 (musicians)come in and out. Many have goneon to better things” JOLLY RANCHERS LEADER MARK GUERRERO

NUEVO LAREDO12/03 — En el marco

de “Así Soy y Leo” se pre-sentan “Los Generales deNuevo Laredo y otras Aso-ciaciones Civiles” para leercuentos. Las lecturas inicia-rán a las 2 p.m.

12/07 — Reunión parael Primer Encuentro de Es-critores de Nuevo Laredo, alas 6 p.m. en Estacióm Pala-bra.

LAREDO12/03 — ‘Trinkets &

Treasure Market’ at LaredoCenter for the Arts, 500avenida San Agustin, de 10a.m. a 3 p.m. Habrá manua-lidades y libros.

12/03 — Planetario La-mar Bruni Vergara de TAMIUinvita a disfrutar “The PolarExpress” a las 12 p.m., 2p.m., 4 p.m. y 6 p.m. Santaestará disponible entre las 2p.m. y 6 p.m.

12/03 — El Movimientode Arte Bazaar es de 2 p.m.a 6 p.m. en La Reserva Barand Grill, 107 Calle Del Nor-te. Artistas podrán mostrar yvender su trabajo.

12/03 — Concierto deNavidad de la Primaria New-man, a las 5 p.m. en el BillJohnson SAC, 5208 Sta.Claudia Lane.

12/03 — Concierto LasPosadas 2011 del Ballet Fol-klórico a las 7 p.m. en elCenter for the Fine and Per-forming Arts de TAMIU.Evento gratuito.

12/03 — Hockey: LaredoBucks recibe a Quad CityMallards a las 7:30 p.m. enel Laredo Energy Arena.

12/04 — Recital de Vio-lonchelo de la Facultad eshoy a las 3:30 p.m. en Pri-vate David B. Barkeley CantúVeterans Memorial Chapel,del Campus Fort McIntosh.Evento gratuito.

12/04 — Compañía deBallet Laredos presenta “ElCascanueces” de Piotr IllichTchaikovsky, dirigida porBecky Salinas Chapa, a las 5p.m. en el Laredo Civic Cen-ter. Boletos a la venta enBallet Becky Dance Aca-demy, 7019 Village Blvd. Ste107. Teléfono: (956) 337-3694. Evento en memoria deFernando A. Salinas.

12/05 — Recital Benéfi-co de la Orquesta Filarmóni-ca de Laredo con la presen-tación de Jolyon Pegis yBrett Serin a las 7:30 p.m.enCenter for the Fine and Per-forming Arts (CFPA) de TA-MIU. Pegis presentará unaclase maestra a la 1 p.m. enel Salón de Recitales deCFPA. Entrada gratuita.

12/06 — Hockey: LaredoBucks recibe a Texas Bra-hams a las 7 p.m. en LaredoEnergy Arena.

12/08 — Reunión parael Primer Encuentro de Es-critores de Nuevo Laredo, alas 6 p.m. en Estacióm Pala-bra.

Último Show del Año de“Joyería de plata ‘Linda Fran-co Collection’” a las 6 p.m.en Embassy Suites.

12/09 — Reunión parael Primer Encuentro de Es-critores de Nuevo Laredo, alas 6 p.m. en Estacióm Pala-bra.

Laredo Center for theArts, 500 avenida San Agus-tin, presenta a Sharon The-riot Ferrara con su exposi-ción “Passion for Point”. Ce-remonia/cocktail de aperturade 6 p.m. a 9 p.m. en LCA.

12/09 — Programa Na-videño de Jóvenes Bailarinesse presenta hoy a las 7 p.m.en el Teatro del Center forthe Fine and Performing Artsde TAMIU. Evento gratuito.

12/09 — Nudo PiediContemporary Dance presen-ta “Passage” en Laredo CivicCenter a las 7:30 p.m. Cos-to: 5 dólares.

12/09 — Hockey: LaredoBucks recibe a Rio GrandeValley Killer Bees a las 7:30p.m. en Laredo Energy Are-na.

Agendaen Breve

Zfrontera PÁGINA 7ASÁBADO 03 DE DICIEMBRE DE 2011

MÉXICO — El ejércitomexicano desmanteló unasofisticada red de radioco-municaciones que servíapresuntamente a miembrosdel narcotráfico en cuatroestados del norte del país,informó el jueves la Secre-taría de la Defensa Nacion-al (Sedena).

La dependencia señalóen un comunicado que mil-itares confiscaron entreotras cosas 167 antenas, 155repetidoras, 166 fuentes depoder, 1.446 radios, 1.306celulares y 71 equipos decómputo que presuntos

narcotraficantes utilizabanpara comunicarse y ras-trear movimientos del per-sonal militar.

Los equipos fueron ubi-cados y decomisados en lasciudades de Saltillo en Coa-huila, Escobedo en NuevoLeón, San Luis Potosí enSan Luis Potosí y Reynosaen Tamaulipas.

En el comunicado, Sed-

ena intuye que el sistema“les permitía conocer losmovimientos y ubicacióndel personal militar, paraocultarse o darse a la fugasin ser detenidos”.

También varios “inte-grantes de grupos delicti-vos”, de quienes no especif-icaron más información,fueron detenidos.

La Sedena no especificó

a que grupo o grupos delnarcotráfico pertenecíanlos equipos de comunica-ción.

No se informó si los ra-dios estaban dispersos enun número de bases o sieran unidades móviles; nisi las estaciones repetido-ras y las antenas estabanoperando o no.

Por otra parte, el miér-

coles las fuerzas militaresconfiscaron 1 tonelada 74kilogramos de marihuanaque estaba escondida en 59paquetes dentro de un trac-tocamión en el Puente In-ternacional III “Del Come-rcio Mundial” de NuevoLaredo, México.

El ejército arrestó al con-ductor del vehículo.

También el miércoles enel poblado Argüelles, mun-icipio de Reynosa, militareslocalizaron ocultos entreárboles, dos vehículos encuyo interior localizaron427 paquetes de marihuanacon un peso total de 2 tone-ladas 192 kilos 300 gramos.

EJÉRCITO DESMANTELA RED DE COMUNICACIÓN DE ORIGEN SOSPECHOSO

Ubican equipo sofisticadoASSOCIATED PRESS

Militares confiscaron entre otras cosas 167 antenas,155 repetidoras, 166 fuentes de poder, 1.446 radios,1.306 celulares y 71 equipos de cómputo.

Las adversidades enfrenta-das en once meses de go-bierno se han convertido

en oportunidades para en el2012 aplicar programas de go-bierno que reconstruyan el teji-do social.

Este fue el mensaje centralexpresado en su Primer Informede Actividades por el Goberna-dor de Tamaulipas, EgidioTorre Cantú.

Para el 2012, aseguró que apli-cará una estrategia clara, conrumbo y metas para atenderprioridades que reclaman con-tribuyentes de los 43 municipiosde la Entidad.

Una de las prioridades es re-gresar el clima de seguridad aTamaulipas.

“Mi gobierno quiere la paz,por eso actúa con firmeza; bus-ca el orden, por eso asume suresponsabilidad de sus ac-ciones”, dijo Torre. “El puebloquiere la tranquilidad y demosasegurarsela. Transitamos parallegar y nadie nos va a detener”.

Alabó la sociedad de Tamauli-pas con el Gobierno Federal pa-ra tener en las calles una poli-cía honesta y confiable, intere-sada en defender la vida eintegridad de los Tamaulipecos.

“(En 22 municipios) están in-corporados 500 elementos delEjército Mexicano a las tareasde policía estatal y 2,290 policíasmilitares para la labor preventi-va”, dijo Torre.

En clara referencia a lugarescomo Ciudad Mier, Torre expre-só:

“Nada nos alienta más quever a nuestros conciudadanosregresar a su tierra, volver a supueblo, sentirse dueños otra vezde su casa y de su calle”, dijo.“Que sean dueños otra vez de supresente y su futuro”.

En el aspecto económico, sos-tuvo que el gobierno de Tamau-lipas se está recuperando de susfortalezas financieras al nego-ciarse los pasivos heredados dela anterior administración.

Torre dijo que ha reestructu-rado las condiciones de créditospor 1,700 millones de pesos, asícomo se han recuperado 500millones de pesos de las reser-vas.

En el aspecto educativo revelóque el 45 por ciento del presu-puesto fue destinado a éste ru-bro, impulsando el Sistema Es-tatal de Becas, Estímulos y Cré-ditos Educativos con iniciativaspara reconocer y estimular laexcelencia y el logro educativo.

“Mi compromiso con la edu-cación es total”, dijo. “En bene-

ficio de la economía de las fam-ilias tamaulipecas distribuimospaquetes escolares a todos losalumnos de educación básica delas escuelas públicas del Esta-do”.

En el aspecto humano, agra-deció la labor que al frente delSistema para el Desarrollo Inte-gral de la Familia realiza su es-posa María del Pilar González.

“(Ella) trabaja con las presi-dentas del Sistema DIF en los 43municipios y juegan un papelesencial para la vida de quienesmenos tienen”, dijo Torre.

Tan solo con el programa Nu-triendo Tamaulipas se ha con-tribuido a mejorar la alimenta-ción de 60,000 familias en condi-ciones de pobreza y de casi 8,000niños en riesgo de desnutrición.

En el programa Primero De-sayuno durante este año seapoyó a más de 190,000 niños enedad escolar.

Finalmente, durante el men-saje de Primer Informe de Go-bierno en el Polyforum Victoria,Torre expresó que su tesis degobierno es: “desempeñar elcargo con el orden que exigeeste ejercicio, con honestidad enel manejo de los recursos públi-cos”.

(Localice a Miguel Timoshen-kov en el (956) 728-2583 o en mra-mirez@lmtonline.com)

GOBIERNO

PRIMER INFORME

El Gobernador de Tamaulipas, Egidio Torre Cantú es visto durante la lectura de su Primer Informe de Gobierno en el Poly-forum Victoria, el 27 de noviembre en Ciudad Victoria, México.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

Gobernador asegura prioridad esrecuperar clima de seguridad

POR MIGUEL TIMOSHENKOVTIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Si las familias tienen planeado salir de viajeen esta temporada decembrina, la Secretaría deSeguridad Pública del Estado de Tamaulipas(SSP) los exhorta a que aseguren su domiciliopara evitar delitos patrimoniales.

Entre las recomendaciones están el dejar las

puertas y ventanas de su domicilio bien cerra-das, desconectar aparatos eléctricos, evitar al-macenar combustibles innecesarios, ropa vieja,periódicos, pinturas etc.

ContactoOtra sugerencia es comunicar a sus familiar-

es y vecinos que van a salir de viaje o, en casonecesario, dejar la llave de su casa con algunode ellos, por si se requiere, así como dejar el

número telefónico donde se puedan localizarpara una emergencia.

Si se requiere el auxilio de los cuerpos de se-guridad y de socorro, podrán llamar al teléfonode emergencia 066 las 24 horas del día. La lla-mada es gratuita y se puede hacer desde celu-lar, casetas telefónicas, teléfonos públicos o denegocios y particulares.

También se recomienda no subir a extrañosen la carretera, no ingerir bebidas alcohólicasen el viaje, respetar los límites de velocidad, noconducir fatigado y revisar el automóvil.

SEGURIDAD

SSP ofrece consejos para antes de salir de viajePone a disposición de familias

teléfono de emergencia 066TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Un hombre de SanYgancio fue arrestadoel pasado fin de sema-na luego de que auto-ridades dicen que élfue el presunto agre-sor en un apuñala-miento ocurrido hacealgunos días en Lare-

do. Oficiales de la Oficina del Algua-

cil del Condado de Zapata le cum-plieron a Jorge “Camarón” Arám-bula, de 27 años de edad, una ordende aprehensión por cargos de agre-sión agravada con un arma mortíf-era después de una parada de trán-sito el 26 de noviembre cerca de lacarretera U.S. 83 y 20th Avenue.

Arámbula fue remitido a la Cár-cel Regional de Zapata y posterior-mente fue entregado a las autori-dades correspondientes para sertrasladado a la Cárcel del Condadode Webb. Él sospechoso permanecíatras las rejas el viernes por la tarde.

Alrededor de las 9 p.m. el 21 denoviembre, la víctima del apuñala-miento se vio envuelto en unafuerte discusión con una personaconocida en la cuadra 2000 de NorthIndia Avenue en Laredo.

La queja criminal indica que lapersona le debía 200 dólares a la víc-tima. La víctima se molestó con lapersona debido a que tal personahabía podido comprar cerveza masno había podido pagar una deuda de200 dólares.

Según la queja, una persona em-briagada fue al complejo de departa-mentos en donde vive la víctima pa-ra enfrentarlo.

Durante un altercado verbal, unpequeño auto de color negro condu-cido por una mujer se aproximó.

Un hombre posteriormente iden-tificado como Arámbula intervinopor la persona embriagada. La que-ja indica que Arámbula atacó y apu-ñaló a la víctima en una ocasióncon una navaja y posteriormentehuyó en el auto de color negro.

Una investigación resultó en de-tectives identificando a Arámbula,de San Ygnacio, como el presuntoagresor. Con el auxilio de la Oficinadel Alguacil del Condado de Zapata,la víctima, mientras se encontrabahospitalizada en el Laredo MedicalCenter, identificó a Arámbula comoel agresor, indica la queja criminal.

(Localice a César G. Rodriguez enel (956)728-2568 o en cesar@lmton-line.com)

INVESTIGACIÓN

Arrestanacusado de

agresiónPOR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

ARÁMBULA

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES National SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2011

ST. LOUIS — The memo-ries that came floodingback were so horrific thatLisa Nasseff says she triedto kill herself: She hadbeen raped several times,had multiple personalitiesand took part in satanic rit-uals involving unthinkableacts. She says she only gotbetter when she realizedthey weren’t real.

Nasseff, 31, is suing asuburban St. Louis treat-ment center where shespent 15 months beingtreated for anorexia, claim-ing one of its psychologistsimplanted the false memo-ries during hypnosis ses-sions in order to keep herthere long-term and run upa bill that eventually

reached $650,000. Theclaims seem unbelievable,but her lawyer, KennethVuylsteke, says other pa-tients have come forwardto say they, too, were brain-washed and are consider-ing suing.

“This is an incrediblenightmare,” Vuylsteke said.

Castlewood TreatmentCenter’s director, Nancy Al-bus, and the psychologist,Mark Schwartz, deny theallegations. Albus pledgedto vigorously fight the law-

suit, which was filed Nov.21 in St. Louis County andseeks the repayment ofmedical expenses and puni-tive damages. As in re-pressed memory cases,which typically involve al-legations of abuse that oc-curred during childhood,the outcome will likelyhinge on the testimony ofexperts with starkly differ-ent views on how memoryworks.

Nasseff, who lives in St.Paul, Minn., stayed at Cas-tlewood from July 2007through March 2008 and re-turned for seven months in2009. She was strugglingwith anorexia and as a res-ident of Minnesota, whichrequires insurers to coverlong-term eating disorders,she could afford to stay atthe center.

Woman blames, sues psychologistBy JIM SALTER

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Lisa Nasseff walks through a St. Paul, Minn., park. Nasseff, 31, issuing a St. Louis center over psychological treatment issues.

Photo by Jim Mone | AP

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Aself-help author imprison-ed for the deaths of threepeople following an Arizo-na sweat lodge ceremonysettled civil lawsuits withthe victims’ families formore than $3 million, ac-cording to court docu-ments.

James Arthur Ray be-gan serving a two-yearsentence last month on atrio of negligent homicideconvictions. The terms ofthe settlements reachedlast year recently weredisclosed in court docu-ments filed as exhibits inRay’s criminal case andreleased Friday at the re-quest of The AssociatedPress.

The families of KirbyBrown, 38, of Westtown,N.Y.; James Shore, 40, ofMilwaukee; and Liz Neu-man, 49, of Prior Lake,Minn., sued Ray after theOctober 2009 ceremonynear Sedona. The lawsuitsaccused Ray and his com-pany of negligence, fraudand wrongful death. Oth-ers who were injured inthe ceremony also wereparty to the lawsuit.

Brown’s parents, whoreceived nearly $860,000,said they were motivatedto settle because of the fi-nancial burden thatShore’s death had placedon his own family. Shore’swife, Alyssa Gillespie, tes-tified in the criminal trialthat she saw her massagetherapy business crumbleafter her husband’s death.Since Shore took care ofall the bills, she said shewas uncertain whethertheir cars were paid off orwho provided their cell-phone service.

“They had lost theirmain breadwinner,”Brown’s mother, Virginia,said Friday.

Shore’s family, includ-ing Gillespie and his three

children, received $1.38million, and Neuman’sfamily received more than$1 million in the settle-ment. The payments madefor physical injury, sick-ness and emotional dis-tress didn’t come fromRay himself but from hisinsurers. Ray’s businesstumbled after the deaths,and his attorneys pro-claimed during a bailhearing he was broke.

Brad Jardine, who rep-resented Ray in the civilcases, said he could onlyassume that Ray “felt ve-ry deeply that everythingpossible should be donefor those families.”

Ray is being held at theArizona state prison inFlorence. Other civil casesagainst him are pending,including a wrongfuldeath suit filed by a wom-an who committed suicideat one of Ray’s events andanother brought by theowners of the Angel Val-ley Retreat Center, whichRay rented for his five-day“Spiritual Warrior” eventthat resulted in thedeaths.

Ray was released fromany other claims or poten-tial claims by the victims’families, and no attor-neys’ fees were awardedin the settlement.

Both prosecutors anddefense attorneys tiptoedaround specifics of thecivil settlement duringRay’s criminal trial al-most until the end be-cause of a confidentialityagreement. At one point,Yavapai County AttorneySheila Polk suggested thatby settling the civil case,Ray was admitting faultfor the deaths. Ray’s attor-neys quickly denied that,and the settlement in-cludes no admission ofguilt.

The amount paid to thefamilies eventually cameup in questioning byRay’s defense team duringthe sentencing phase.

Sweat lodgelawsuits settled

By FELICIA FONSECAASSOCIATED PRESS

TEMPLE CITY, Calif. —As the hurricane-forcewinds that pummeled theWest eased Friday, DianeJohnson stood knee high inleaves and branches, sur-veying a fallen tree trunkat eye-level and trying todecide just how to beginthe big cleanup.

A near century-old euca-lyptus tree toppled over inthe middle of the night,crushing all three of thefamily’s cars, landing at thedoorstep of their SouthernCalifornia home and block-ing any view from theirwindows.

Trapped inside forhours, they were able to getout when the fire depart-ment cut them a smallpathway.

“I have no idea what todo,” she said. “I don’t know.I don’t know.”

Like hundreds of thou-sands of people in South-ern California on Friday,Johnson was without elec-tricity. And just like John-son, residents and crews

struggled to clean upsmashed trees, toppledpower lines and debris-strewn roadways.

Several cities in the re-gion, the hardest hit fromWednesday night’s wind-storms, were still in a stateof emergency.

In Temple City, the LosAngeles suburb where

Johnson lives, a row of top-pled power poles withwires attached blocked astreet. The city’s mainstreet remained a shutteredghost town as cars inchedpast darkened stop lightsand shop signs in Chinese.

Seventy-five percent ofthe city remained withoutpower. As residents in

some parts were being ad-vised to boil water or usebottled water, others begantossing out the food intheir increasingly pungentrefrigerators. As many as200 trees fell in the storms.

As the night loomed, po-lice increased patrols andthe city handed out freeflashlights.

Calif. grapples with storm cleanupBy NOAKI SCHWARTZ

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Power company crews work to clean up and restore power Friday in Temple City, Calif. People begancutting up felled trees, hauling away trash and firing up power generators.

Photo by Bret Hartman | AP

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2011 THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

items reflects each of these eras andmore. Visitors will see everythingfrom an old typewriter to an arrow-head collection and medical kitswith all manner of elixirs and cure-alls. A faded poster displaying mem-bers of the 1923 Zapata Tigers base-ball team hangs near an enclosurewith a 19th century stove and iron.

Visitors strolling down Washing-ton or Grant Avenues will noticethe gabled sandstone of the BlasMaria Uribe Plaza and, across fromit, Nuestra Señora Del RefugioCatholic Church, another importantstop on the tour. Its Spanish vernac-

ular features were not widelyknown until the modern veneerswere taken down during recon-struction efforts following a 1991fire.

Starting at 10 a.m. and ending at1 p.m., this walking tour also allowsvisitors to meet the people of SanYgnacio. Significant sites such asthe Don Trinidad Uribe and Proce-so Martinez Homes are privatelyowned, and the owners add a per-sonal element to the tour.

“It’s the homeowners that makethis tour special,” said Arellano.“They bring you in and you get not

just San Ygacio’s history, but theirfamily history.”

In all, five sites comprise this cel-ebration of history. Admission is $6per person, and the tour begins atthe River Pierce Foundation Vis-itor’s Center, 602 Washington Ave-nue at Benavides Street. The Bena-vides Elementary children’s choirwill sing Christmas carols, and theschool’s Parent Teacher Organiza-tion will hold a bingo game at 1p.m.

(Mike Herrera IV can be reachedat 728-2567 or mherrera@lmton-line.com)

TOURS Continued from Page 1A

People traveling down to the Historic Homes Tour on Sunday in San Ygnacio may admire old-fashioned items such as the iron and coffeepot pictured on Wednesday morning at La Paz Museum.

Photo by Cesar G. Rodriguez | The Zapata Times

left in the black car.An investigation led detectives to

name Arambula of San Ygnacio asthe suspect. With the assistance of

the Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office,the victim, while hospitalized at La-redo Medical Center, identifiedArambula as the aggressor, the com-

plaint states.(César G. Rodriguez may me

reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmton-line.com)

ARREST Continued from Page 1A

through the property andcutting fence or destroyingwater systems, Hinnantsaid. Furthermore, theft ofproperty, such as vehicles,and ranch burglaries are aconcern.

“Some of the issues arepursuits, people going intotheir property,” said ZapataCounty Sheriff SigifredoGonzalez Jr., who labeledthe gathering as a “produc-tive meeting.”

During the panel discus-sion, ranchers expressedconcerns about confrontingtraffickers or individualsbringing “stuff” throughtheir property, Gonzalezsaid. Gonzalez’s and WebbCounty Sheriff MartinCuellar’s offices often seesuch reports.

Cuellar said not knowingwho to call is a concern forranchers.

“Sometimes Border Pa-trol may (respond) quickerbecause they may be in thearea,” Sheriff Cuellar said.

A rancher was con-cerned about self protec-tion. The man asked,“What do we do if we arefired upon?”

“There’s state law that ifyou are going to protectyourself, you have thatright,” Sheriff Cuellar said.But the sheriff said lawmencannot specifically tellranchers what to do andhow to do it.

“There are other issues.There are judgment callsthese ranchers have to have… If someone wants tosteal a jug of water, are youreally going to shoot him?”the sheriff asked.

Webb County Sheriff ’sChief Deputy Fred Garzasaid society is living timesin which citizens need tohelp out law enforcement.

“Looking the other wayis not the right thing to doanymore,” Garza said. “Wewish we could put a policeofficer, a deputy in everyranch but you know that’snot reasonable. That’s notrational.”

Capt. Orlando Alanis, ofthe Texas Department ofPublic Safety, said the pan-el discussion covered the

different sets of tasks law-men undertake to protectthe border.

“But it was more impor-tant to hear (the ranchers’concerns),” he said.

Ranchers worry aboutcollateral damage from pur-suits going onto their prop-erty. They also are con-cerned about the lawmen’sresponse time to emergen-cies.

“When they see any kindof criminal activity ontheir ranches, who canthey communicate with isone of the biggest challeng-es,” Alanis said, noting put-ting together a call list forthe ranchers would givethem opportunities to makecontact as soon as possible.

Bringing in the folks whoare out on the groundhelped in the sharing ofideas to work collaborative-ly to secure the border, Rep.Cuellar said. Every yearthere’s $25 to $30 billion inillegal profits being sent in-to Mexico.

“The bad guys are goingto do anything they can toprotect (their profit),” hesaid.

To combat crime, Rep.Cuellar said federal offi-cials have augmented theirmanpower by hiring Bor-der Patrol, Immigrationand Customs Enforcementand Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire-arms and Explosives Bu-reau agents.

“The ICE office in SanAntonio is the largest inthe country now. It’s neverbeen like that,” he said. La-redo falls under that areaof responsibility.

Rep. Cuellar pointed outthat a recent Rio GrandeMission Requirement Anal-ysis — 2011 Report to Con-gress made by the U.S.Coast Guard concluded thatcommunities north of theRio Grande are safe.

If people spot suspiciousactivity, they are encour-aged to call their local sher-iff ’s office. In case of anemergency, 911 should bedialed immediately.

(César G. Rodriguez maybe reached at 728-2568 or ce-sar@lmtonline.com)

BORDER Continued from Page 1A

WASHINGTON — TheJustice Department on Fri-day provided Congresswith documents detailinghow department officialsgave inaccurate informa-tion to a U.S. senator in thecontroversy surroundingOperation Fast and Fu-rious, the flawed law en-forcement initiative aimedat dismantling major armstrafficking networks on theSouthwest border.

In a letter last Februaryto Charles Grassley, theranking Republican on theSenate Judiciary Commit-tee, the Justice Department

said that the Bureau of Al-cohol, Tobacco, Firearmsand Explosives had notsanctioned the sale of as-sault weapons to a strawpurchaser and that theagency makes every effortto intercept weapons thathave been purchased ille-gally. In Operation Fast andFurious, both statementsturned out to be incorrect.

The Justice Departmentletter was responding toGrassley’s statements thatthe Senate Judiciary Com-mittee had received allega-tions the ATF had sanc-tioned the sale of hundredsof assault weapons to sus-pected straw purchasers.Grassley also said there

were allegations that two ofthe assault weapons hadbeen used in a shootoutthat killed customs agentBrian Terry.

In an email four days lat-er to Justice Departmentcolleagues, then-U.S. Attor-ney Dennis Burke in Phoe-nix said that “Grassley’sassertions regarding theArizona investigation andthe weapons recovered” atthe “murder scene arebased on categorical false-hoods. I worry that ATFwill take 8 months to an-swer this when they shouldbe refuting its underlyingaccusations right now.”That email marked thestart of an internal debate

in the Justice Departmentover what and how muchto say in response to Grass-ley’s allegations. The factthat there was a criminalinvestigation into Terry’smurder prompted some atthe Justice Department toargue for less disclosure.

Some of what turned outto be incorrect informationwas emailed to LannyBreuer, the assistant attor-ney general in charge ofthe Justice Department’scriminal division. Breuersent an email saying “let’shelp as much as we can” inresponding to Grassley.

The emails sent to Capi-tol Hill on Friday showedthat Burke supplied addi-

tional incorrect informa-tion to the Justice Depart-ment’s criminal divisionthat ended up being for-warded to Breuer. For ex-ample, Burke said that theguns found at the Terrymurder scene were pur-chased at a Phoenix gunshop before Operation Fastand Furious began. In fact,the operation was underway at the time and theguns found at the Terrymurder scene were part ofthe probe. Breuer was oneof the recipients of that in-formation. In written com-ments this week to Grass-ley, Breuer said that he wason a three-day official tripto Mexico at the time of the

Justice Department re-sponse and that he wasaware of, but not involvedin, drafting the Justice De-partment statements toGrassley.

Where Burke got the in-accurate information isnow part of an inquiry con-ducted by the inspectorgeneral’s office at the Jus-tice Department.

Burke’s information wasfollowed by a three-daystruggle in which officialsin the office of the deputyattorney general, the crimi-nal division and the ATFcame up with what turnedout to be an inaccurate re-sponse to Grassley’s asser-tions.

Justice Dept. details how it got statements wrongBy PETE YOST

ASSOCIATED PRESS

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2011

VERACRUZ, Mexico —Rafael Echevarria had asteady factory job, a modesthome of his own, andenough cash to occasional-ly take his family to McDo-nald’s. It was a good lifeuntil the drug war hit Ciu-dad Juarez, followed by tworobberies at his house, ex-tortion at his daughter’sschool, and finally, theshootout on the bus.

When the firing began,6-year-old Valeria dove tothe floor, breaking a tooth.There was so much bloodfrom her mouth wound,her parents thought she’dbeen shot.

The next day, the coupleand their two childrenboarded a flight back hometo Veracruz, along with1,600 others who had oncemoved north for work inforeign assembly plantsand now were fleeing southin search of safety. The Ve-racruz state governmentpaid for the flights, and as-sured the drug war refu-gees that there would bejobs, education and hous-ing.

At the time, it seemed tothe Echevarrias like theonly solution.

Then the drug war fol-lowed them home.

No mercyMilitary offensives

against the drug cartelsand turf battles amongcrime syndicates havepushed the war into areasonce considered quiet. Ayear after their hopefulflight, the Echevarrias arenot only caught anew in acrush of violence, but stillwithout the promised help.

In Juarez, the Echevar-rias had a house and a van.In Veracruz, they’ve had topawn their appliances andmove to a concrete hut tomake ends meet. The tradeof solvency for safety was afake choice, because in Jua-rez, Echevarria said, “We

would have been livingwell.

“Now we’re in a hole.And it’s very difficult to getout.”

The Echevarrias areamong thousands of Mexi-cans who make up the in-ternal diaspora trying toescape drug violence thatseems to migrate ratherthan cease, with more than45,000 troops fighting car-tels and more than 40,000dead by many counts.

Recent survey results byParametria found that 1.6million Mexicans havemoved because of drug vio-lence since 2006. One studyby the Geneva-based Inter-nal Displacement Monitor-ing Centre put the numberat 230,000 in 2010, estimat-ing that half fled to theUnited States.

Another study, by de-mographer Rodolfo Rubioat Colegio de la FronteraNorte, says 200,000 peopleleft Juarez alone for otherMexican cities between2007 and 2010.

Must stay putMany of the affected are

working class or poor whocan’t leave the country.

“People who have statusor small medium-sizedbusinesses don’t have aproblem going to the U.S.,”said Genoveva Roldan, amigration expert at the Au-tonomous University of Ci-udad Juarez. “That’s notthe case for workers in themaquiladoras. They don’thave that option.”

Veracruz is a steamy,tropical mountain statethat cultivates sugar caneand coffee. But it was thelack of opportunity therethat drove thousands of Ve-racruzanos northward be-ginning in the 1990s, whenborder factories startedrecruiting assembly work-ers with above-averagewages and benefits.

Echevarria had grownup poor and left school inthe ninth grade to help hisfather support the family.He joined the navy for awhile, he says, and later be-came a taxi driver. But itwasn’t enough to pay thebills.

In 2004, he and his wife,Alejandra Duran, decidedthey could build a betterlife in Ciudad Juarez for

their two younger children.

Doing wellThere, Echevarria and

his son, Cristian, foundjobs working in the as-sembly plants that largelyproduce goods exported tothe U.S. Cristian rose toquality control inspector ina factory that made printercartridges. Together thetwo made about 14,000 pe-sos a month, nearly tripleMexico’s average salary.

They bought a three-bed-room house on the south-eastern outskirts of town,as well as a van.

“Juarez was a land thathelped people,” Duran said.

By 2008, the drug warsshattered the peace. Two ri-val cartels — Juarez andSinaloa — began fightingfor control of the lucrativesmuggling corridor to theU.S. The annual murderrate nearly doubled from1,600 in 2008 to 3,100 in2010.

President Felipe Calde-rón deployed thousands ofsoldiers to curb drug vio-lence, and later federal po-lice to patrol the streets

and lead counterattacks.Nonetheless, the Eche-

varria house was robbedtwice. An uncle was at-tacked by a group of mentrying to steal his car.

Then came the extortion.Valeria’s teacher told theEchevarrias that gangmembers were asking for aweekly fee from the school.

It was hard to sleep,Echevarria said.

In early 2010, word gotaround that the Veracruzgovernment was offering toevacuate the refugees andhelp them resettle.

The day after the busshooting, the Echevarriasabandoned their house andleft with a washing ma-chine, a set of saucepans, adining table, Valeria’sdresser and her Disneyprincess chairs.

Once back in Veracruz,Cristian Echevarria got ajob as a cashier in a conve-nience store, while his fa-ther decided to get a taxidriver’s permit.

Valeria had stopped talk-ing after the trauma of thebus shooting, insteadspending her time drawingpictures of corpses in thegraves that were found

around their Juarez neigh-borhood. But she seemed toimprove after enrolling inschool.

Then-Gov. Fidel Herre-ra’s administration alsopromised to transfer the ti-tle of Echevarrias’ home inJuarez to a government-subsidized house in Vera-cruz.

That never happened.The phones to the officesset up to help the returningresidents stopped working.A new governor, JavierDuarte, took office last De-cember. Gina Dominguez,Duarte’s spokeswoman,said the “social agenda”was going in a different di-rection.

“It was a good programon paper,” she said. “Butobviously the executionwasn’t simple because ithad to provide for every-one.”

Herrera did not respondto requests for an inter-view.

Echevarria couldn’t gethelp paying the 6,000 pesosfor his taxi license plates.

Drug routeVeracruz had long been

a route for drugs and mi-grants coming from thesouth. For years it wasdominated by the Gulf car-tel, which had contractedwith former army specialforces — the Zetas. Becausethe state and the port werecontrolled by one druggang, it was quiet.

In early 2010 the Zetassplit from the Gulf cartel,triggering a vicious war inthe border state of Tamau-lipas, just north of Vera-cruz. This year a govern-ment offensive to stop thatdrug war spilled the vio-lence into Veracruz.

The Echevarrias foundthemselves in a situationworse than the one they’dfled.

They had moved to aslum of concrete-blockhousing outside Veracruzto save 500 pesos a monthin rent.

Drug war refugees escape to more bloodshedBy ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON

ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Nov. 16, photo, Rafael Echevarria, 50, left, stands inside his home with members of his family. They moved from Ciudad Juarez toVeracruz to escape violence, but the violence followed them.

Photo by Felix Marquez | AP

Sports&OutdoorsSATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2011 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

Anew era has

started in Za-pata. HectorGarcia Jr.

has taken over the La-dy Hawks basketballteam after Clyde Guer-ra Jr. stepped down totake on the golf pro-gram.

Garcia served as aboy’s assistant coachfor three years undercoach Juan Villarreal,and was finally giventhe nod to lead the La-dy Hawks back in Sep-tember.

Garcia brings hisup-tempo style of playthat has the LadyHawks fast breakingall over the court andscoring at will whilealso taking the time topound the ball insidethe paint.

The Lady Hawksare off to a great startwith their 4-1 presea-son record, with theirlatest win coming lastTuesday against Fal-furrias, 31-26.

Garcia welcomesfive returning letter-man and impact play-ers who to the team,changing the dynamicwith their recent playon the court.

Seniors Jackie Sali-nas, Shelby Bigler, Es-tella Molina, JackieGutierrez, Aly Jo Gu-tierrez, Liana Floresand Kristina De Leonhave been a collectivesteady hand for theLady Hawks and haveZapata off to a greatstart.

They are all coming

off the volleyballteam, where enjoyedsuccess and finishingwith a district title intheir pocket.

Now they are vyingto sprinkle some mag-ic on the basketballhardwood.

Rounding out theLady Hawks: seniorAshley Gracilazo, ju-nior Rebecca Quinta-nilla, sophomore CeliaRathmell and fresh-men Isela Gonzalez.

Bigler and Molinaare the team captains

for the season.Despite the early

wins and great record,Garcia feels that theteam is trying to findtheir identity and gelas a team

“We are trying tofind the right team

chemistry and are stillin the learning pro-cess,” he said.

The Lady Hawksare having a hard timefinding the basketearly in games andhave had to mount afew comebacks to se-cure their victories.

Against Roma andSan Diego, Zapata fellbehind by as much as15 points, but was ableto find a second windin the second half,leading to wins.

“We are looking likea second half teamthat comes back aftera sluggish start in thefirst half,” Garciasaid. “We find someway to pull it out inthe second half andcome back.”

Leading the LadyHawks on the offen-sive end, Bigler andDe Leon have scoredin double figuresthrough the first fivegames while Molina,Gutierrez and Salinashave been steady fromthe perimeter.

The Lady Hawksare aggressive on thedefensive end, playingget-in-your-face de-fense that doesn’t al-low teams wiggleroom bringing the ballup the court.

“I like the team’saggressiveness andthe way that they playdefense,” Garcia said.

Zapata is coming offa co-district title —shared with La Feriaand Port Isabel — andare predicted to makeanother run for the re-

HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

Ready for liftoff

Lady Hawks team captain, senior Estella Molina has been a steady hand for Zapata.

Courtesy photo

Veteran Lady Hawks start hot, want much moreBy CLARA SANDOVAL

THE ZAPATA TIMES

See HOOPS PAGE 2B

We are in the midst ofthe school year withteachers hard atwork making surethey cover all the re-

quired material so students can besuccessful when the state testscome around in late spring.

It takes a special person to be-come a teacher; not many are will-ing to take on the challenging ca-reer that gives you sleepless nightsand oft cases of heartburn.

The teacher turnover rate is as-tronomical with many first-yearteachers quitting after a fewmonths in the classroom, runningaway from a noble profession thatlays the foundation of our society.

I recall when I started my stu-dent-teaching. I would come homedrained and needing a nap after31/2 years of college classes thatended before noon, well, my school-ing didn’t prepare me for a full dayof teaching.

The teaching profession haschanged over the years, with in-creased responsibilities bestowedon teachers and new demands le-vied every year. The days of lessonplans have become accompanied bybenchmark tests, taking attendance,parent phone logs, student profiles,tracking special education students,and after-school tutorials.

The required paperwork forteachers is ridiculous and everyyear the school systems pile some-thing on top of the ever-growinglist.

Teachers don’t only teach, butthey have become counselors — attimes because students come tothem with problems —and nursesat others — when they need a bandaid — or even psychologists attimes.

Buildersfor thefuture

See SANDOVAL PAGE 2B

Texas A&M was sup-posed to return to nationalprominence this season.

Instead the Aggies fin-ished the regular seasonwith a disappointing 6-6 re-cord that cost Mike Sher-man his job.

Athletic director Bill By-rne announced Sherman’sfiring in a statementThursday night.

The Aggies, who areleaving the Big 12 for theSEC next season, mustnow find a replacement tolead the team into theirhighly competitive newleague.

The school hasn’tnamed any candidates, butpossible replacementscould include Houstoncoach Kevin Sumlin orLouisville coach CharlieStrong. Sumlin, who hasled the seventh-rankedCougars to a 12-0 record,was an assistant at A&Mfrom 2001-02. Strong alsospent time with the Ag-gies, working as a gradu-ate assistant in 1985.

Sherman, 25-25 in fourseasons at A&M, had threeyears remaining on hiscontract and the buyoutwill be about $5.8 million.He was given a one-yearextension to his originalcontract in July, but it wasnever executed.

He was hired at the endof the 2007 season threedays after Dennis Fran-chione resigned.

His best and only win-ning season came last year,when the Aggies won theirlast six regular-seasongames and lost in the Cot-ton Bowl to finish 9-4.

“I appreciate CoachSherman’s selfless serviceto Texas A&M as our headfootball coach and his tire-less efforts in buildingleaders of character,” By-rne said in the statement.“He is truly one of thegreat offensive minds infootball, both collegiate

NCAA FOOTBALL

A&M, Shermansplit up after

disappointmentBy KRISTIE RIEKENASSOCIATED PRESS

MIKE SHERMAN:Head footballcoach, was firedby Texas A&M.

See TEXAS A&M PAGE 2B

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The last twotimes the Dallas Cowboys came tothe desert, they lost in excruciatingfashion.

A blocked punt in overtime costthem in 2008, and after Arizona con-verted on fourth-and-19, Jay Feelybooted a 48-yard field goal with 5 sec-onds left to give the Cardinals 27-26victory last Christmas.

So there should be no looking pastthe 4-7 Cardinals on Sunday by aDallas team that, at 7-4, holds a one-game lead over the New York Giantsin the NFC East. The Giants are atDallas next weekend.

“Never do we go into Arizona andnot have a tough game,” Cowboysquarterback Tony Romo said. “Itjust continually happens since I’vebeen here. It just seems like that’s al-ways taken shape. We’ve got to beprepared for a tough, grind-it-outfootball game.”

The Cowboys have won four in arow, and a victory Sunday wouldgive them their longest winningstreak since they won seven straightin 2007. The streak left Romo 17-2 inNovember, so the Cardinals must bepleased this one is on Dec. 4.

“He’s a guy that’s scary becausehe makes plays,” Arizona coach KenWhisenhunt said. “Just in the lastgame (20-19 over Miami on Thanks-giving), there at the end, he had thatlast drive. He moved around andmade plays and made throws. That’sthe thing that you have to be carefulwith this guy. He’s always lookingdown the field, even when he has to

scramble or move in the pocket. Hecan make those throws.”

The Cardinals have won three offour, but two were against the St.Louis Rams, now 2-9, and one was atreeling Philadelphia. Arizona is 0-4against teams that currently have awinning record.

The Cardinals are expected tohave quarterback Kevin Kolb in thelineup for the first time in fivegames. A frustratingly slow-to-healright turf toe and bruise on the sideof the same foot has sidelined himfor four games. While Arizona hasgone 3-1 in his absence, backup JohnSkelton struggled mightily the pasttwo games, completing a combined

18 of 42 for 213 yards, with no touch-downs with five interceptions.

Kolb grew up in Texas as a Cow-boys fan, specifically a Troy Aikmanfan, so he likes the idea of comingback against Dallas.

“It will be fun,” Kolb said. “Theyare playing well right now on bothsides of the ball, leading their divi-sion. It will be a true test for us andwe know that. We are ready for it.We feel like we are getting better inall phases.”

It won’t be much fun if his mobil-ity is hampered by the injury as hetries to evade Dallas’ powerful pass

NFL

Cowboys play for redemption

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo (9) and tight end Jason Witten (82) haven’t wonin Arizona in their last two tries, but this weekend they look to buck the trend against theCardinals.

Photo by Matt Strasen | AP

By BOB BAUMASSOCIATED PRESS

See COWBOYS PAGE 2B

PAGE 2B Zscores SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2011

rush, led by DeMarcusWare, who leads the NFLwith 14 sacks.

“Their front seven is asgood as anybody’s,” Kolbsaid. “Rob Ryan does agood job of mixing a lot ofdifferent looks in there,getting mismatches hereand there that he wants.That causes a lot of dis-turbance. When thingsget like that, you just haveto play your own game, fo-cus in on the details ofyour own offense, and tryto simplify things and dothem right.”

Arizona running backBeanie Wells said it’s im-portant for him to havesome success on theground to keep the pres-sure off Kolb. Wells, de-spite a nagging right kneeinjury that limits him inpractice, set a franchiserecord with 228 yardsrushing in last Sunday’s23-20 win at St. Louis.

“We don’t want to goout there and say it was afluke — it happened onetime — and we can’t runthe ball successfully, wecan’t block successfully,like we did that game,”Wells said.

Dallas’ standout punter,Mat McBriar, will face theNFL’s rising punt-returnstar Patrick Peterson, therookie whose fourth re-

turn for a TD this seasoncame last week against St.Louis and tied a leaguerecord.

“It’s easier said thandone to say we’re going topunt it out of bounds orwe’re going to do thiswith the ball,” Dallascoach Jason Garrett said.“Those are hard things todo. Every team that facesthe Cardinals has thischallenge. It’s very impor-tant for our coverageteams to play well andkeep him contained, andto tackle him well. He’sreally exceptional. I thinkthe evidence has been outthere over the course ofthe first 11 games.”

Arizona’s defense hasplayed better lately, grow-ing more comfortable inthe scheme of first-yearcoordinator Ray Horton.But against the Cowboys,the Cardinals will be chal-lenged not only by Romoand his receivers but byrookie running back De-Marco Murray, who in hisfirst extensive playingtime following an injuryto Felix Jones set a single-game franchise rushingrecord of 253 yards. LikeWells, he did it againstthe Rams.

Murray has gained 834yards, averaging 5.7 percarry.

“He was banged upearly in training campand didn’t really play ve-ry much in the preseasonuntil the last preseasongame,” Garrett said. “Hewas working his way togetting some more reps asthe season started, andthen he got a real goodopportunity against theRams a few weeks backand did a really good jobfor us running the foot-ball. He’s certainly helpedus a great deal, and we’rehopeful that he’ll contin-ue to play as well as hehas.”

The teams have met 86times and used to faceeach other twice a seasonwhen they belonged to theNFC East. In the old days,before University of Phoe-nix Stadium was built,about the only time Arizo-na sold out at home waswhen the Cowboys cameto town and their fanspacked Sun Devil Stadi-um. Even now, a goodshare of the crowd will becheering on the Cowboys.

And as for those lasttwo hair-raising match-ups, “Don’t mean noth-ing,” Cardinals defensivetackle Darnell Dockettsaid. “Different teams, dif-ferent records, differentpersonnel. Don’t meannothing.”

COWBOYS Continued from Page 1B

and professional, and Iknow that he has much tooffer the game of football inthe future.”

Byrne said he will talkwith the assistant coachesto decide who will serve asthe interim coach for TexasA&M’s bowl game. He alsohopes to meet with theteam and remaining staffFriday.

Texas A&M President R.Bowen Loftin thanked Sher-man for his contributionsto the program and said hecreated a “solid foundationfor Texas A&M to build up-on in the future.”

“Decisions of this natureare never easy, and I appre-ciate the patience of Aggieseverywhere as we carefullyevaluated the current stateof our football program andthe prospects for the fu-ture,” Loftin said.

The Aggies entered thisseason with 18 returningstarters, a top-10 rankingand were expected to con-tend for the Big 12 cham-pionship and be a factor inthe national title hunt.

Instead they lost earlygames to Oklahoma Stateand Arkansas after holdingdouble-digit halftime leadsto fall to 2-2.

They won three in a rowafter their first skid, but athree-game losing streak,which included two over-

time losses, ensured the Ag-gies of a mediocre season.The low point of the seasoncame when Texas A&Mended its more than centu-ry-old rivalry with Texaswith a 27-25 loss at home onThanksgiving.

At times, Shermanseemed to be grasping forways to deal the team’s nar-row losses. Four of their sixdefeats were by a combined10 points, including a 53-50four-overtime loss to Kan-sas State.

“I’ve never experienced aseason like this and I don’tplan on experiencing a sea-son like it again,” Shermansaid after the loss to Texas.“This was a very difficultseason to swallow. We havegood kids, they work hard,but for whatever reason theball bounced funny for ussometimes, and we didn’tmake the play when weneed to make it to win thegames we didn’t.”

Current and former play-ers expressed their thanksand support for Shermanvia Twitter as they learnedthe news on Thursdaynight.

“It’s unfortunate to seeCoach Sherm go. He is likeanother father to me. Hehelped me become the per-son I am today. I will neverforget, never,” tweeted VonMiller, the former A&M

pass-rusher taken secondoverall in the year’s draftby the Denver Broncos.

Texas A&M quarterbackRyan Tannehill was disap-pointed to see Shermanleave.

“I consider myself fortu-nate to have had the oppor-tunity to play for such agreat coach and great manas Mike Sherman,” he said.“He helped us become notonly better football players,but better men. ... He willbe missed.”

Sherman came to TexasA&M after spending twoseasons a Houston Texansassistant coach. A&M washis first college job since heworked as an assistant withthe Aggies from 1995-96.

After leaving A&M hewas an assistant for GreenBay and Seattle before be-coming the Packers’ coachin 2000. Green Bay went 59-43 under Sherman and wonthree NFC North titles insix seasons, but he wasfired after the Packers fin-ished 4-12 in 2005.

The change gives the Ag-gies a chance for a freshstart when they move intothe SEC next season. Theyend their time in the Big 12after a decade filled mostlywith disappointing finishes.The team had more thanseven wins just twice since2002.

TEXASA&M Continued from Page 1B

I love that fact that peopleare always saying that teach-ing is the easiest job to do outthere. People also throw inthat teachers have almost 31/2months of vacation and theyshould not be whining aboutworking, because most otherprofessions only have two orthree weeks of vacation a year.

What most fail to under-stand is that teachers head in-to the summer break drainedand beaten from a long schoolyear where they strive toguide students to comprehendthe material.

When you are a teacher, youneed the 31/2 months off.

Now days, individual scoresare posted in the teacher’slounge so everyone knowswhich teacher is doing theirjob, and who might need topush harder in the classroom.

They call this a healthycompetition among the teach-ers but the reality is that theadministration is putting indi-rect pressure on the teachersbecause schools are measuredon how they perform on theSTAAR tests.

Teachers do need the sum-mer break and every otherbreak that they get throughthe school year because theyneed to recharge so they can

come back full of energy andget ready to tackle anotheryear.

With recent school budgetcuts, salaries and raises are inthe back burner.

No person is going to be-come rich off teaching andmost teachers live comfortableonly after teaching for morethan 20 years. If you are a firstyear teacher, then you came inat the right time when salariesare getting better — not wherethey need to be — but better.

Teachers that teach for along time and retire from thiscareer should be lauded fortheir years of service.

We don’t have paradesdowntown where people honorteachers and cheer for educat-ing the next generation of doc-tors, lawyers, engineers or,even, teachers.

We do have a teacher appre-ciation week in the month ofMay but we should not have towait to thank a teacher whohas inspired to fulfill ourdreams and future careergoals.

So this is our moment ofhonor. Thank you coach Deb-bie Esparza.

(Clara Sandoval can bereached at sandoval.cla-ra@gmail.com)

SANDOVAL Continued from Page 1B

peat and a playoff spot, but will have toget through La Feria and Rio Hondo.

The Lady Haws first district game ison December 13, when they open leagueplay against Port Isabel on the road.

With 10 days until that first districtgame, Garcia is working hard to hit thedistrict season in stride and work on theaspects of the game that will allow theLady Hawks to be one of three playoffteams when all the dust settles at theend of the season.

“We still need to work on our freethrow shooting,” he said. “We are play-ing a good defense but we are lackingout free throw shooting and down thestretch of a game.”

HOOPSContinued from Page 1B

We’ve got two words forall you Detroit Lions fans— boo Suh.

By the time mean, nastyPro Bowl defensive line-man Ndamukong Suh re-turns from his two-gamesuspension for stompingon a Packers’ player, his Li-ons could find themselvesall but eliminated fromNFL playoff contention.

They enter Sunday’sgame at NFC South leaderNew Orleans in a wild-cardplayoff scramble with thelikes of the Bears, Falconsand Giants. Suh could haveplayed a huge role in lead-ing the charge againstSaints quarterback DrewBrees, but now the Lionswill have fill a gigantichole in the line, a task noteasily accomplished.

So let the Motown boobirds sing away while theirLions head to the Big Easyfor a big game withouttheir big man in what canturn out to be a big loss.

Suh has far from cor-nered the booing market,but he’s so far ahead wefelt it necessary to create aPick Six of players, coachesand teams worthy of a booor two.

Andy Reid: With vir-tually the entire crowd atthe Linc imploring the Ea-gles to “Fire Andy, Fire An-dy,” in last Sunday’s loss tothe Patriots, imagine howhigh the heat will be turn-ed up in Philly followingThursday night’s loss tothe Seahawks? Perhaps it’sa good thing the Eagles’next game on Dec. 11 is atMiami. So much losingwith so much talent usual-ly gets blamed on thecoach, but Reid just keepsplugging along. For now.

Ryan Pontbriand: TheBrowns aren’t very good.

The coach is in his firstyear. Some of the losseshave been excruciating.Many are to blame, but PatShurmur took aim at vet-eran long snapper RyanPontbriand, who waswaived two days after hissecond poor snap in threeweeks cost Cleveland an-other possible win. Afterhis latest bad snap, Pont-briand said he was in apretty tough slump. Theday before he was let go,Shurmur said, “We can’tslump.” On Tuesday, hewas waived.

Indianapolis Colts: Aloss to the Panthers inwhat looked to be theColts’ last chance at win-ning a game this seasondrew the wrath of even themost loyal fans. Boos rangdown from the home

crowd, the only cheerscoming at halftime whenWR Marvin Harrison wasinducted into the Colts’Ring of Honor and some ofhis fabulous plays wereshown during a video trib-ute. Next day, the teamfired the defensive coordi-nator, benched Curtis Pain-ter and told Dan Orlovskyhe’s starting against thePatriots.

Jim Leonhard: TheJets safety may have to getused to the boos if the teamdoesn’t make the playoffs.Seems Leonhard was “frus-trated” that the homecrowd booed QB Mark San-chez before last Sunday’slast-minute win against theBills. Imagine the fans’ re-action if the Jets had lost.

Caleb Hanie: This maybe borderline, but if the

Bears quarterback doesn’tknow the rules, well, booon him. We’re overlookinghis three interceptions in a25-20 loss to the Raiders —one late in the first halfwhen Chicago was lookingto take a lead — but abotched spike attempt inthe final seconds cost histeam a chance at a finalplay. Game over.

Stevie Johnson: Notfunny. A 15-yard penaltywas called, followed a fewdays later by a $10,000 fine,but the Bills wide receiv-er’s post-TD antics mayhave cost the Bills a winover the Jets. After catch-ing a TD pass, he celebrat-ed by mimicking PlaxicoBurress shooting himselfin the thigh, then imitateda jet in flight before crash-ing to the turf.

It’s time to boo Suh

Detroit Lions’ Sammie Lee Hill (91), Andre Fluellen (96) and Ndamukong Suh (90) have been tena-cious, but Suh’s borderline dirty antics landed him a suspension.

Photo by Rick Osentoski |

By RICHARD ROSENBLATTASSOCIATED PRESS

MILAN — The Williamssisters want to defendtheir Olympic doubles ti-tle in London next sum-mer.

Serena Williams saidFriday that she and sisterVenus are eager to go fortheir third Olympic goldtogether after victories atthe 2000 Sydney and 2008Beijing Games.

First up, the sisters willplay an exhibition matchin Milan on Saturdayagainst Italian duo Fran-cesca Schiavone and Fla-via Pennetta.

“We’re the defendingchampion and we want todefend our title and I don’tsee why we wouldn’t,” Se-rena said of the LondonGames. “This is a goodpreview to the Olympics,we both want to play. Sothis is a great, great timefor us, so exciting.”

The sisters were unableto defend their title inAthens 2004 after Serenainjured her knee.

Venus also won the sin-gles gold medal in Sydney.However, the five-timeWimbledon champion’sranking has fallen to No.104 because of injuries,while Serena’s rankinghas improved to 12th aftermissing nearly a year withinjuries and health issues.

Venus has played justonce since pulling out ofthe U.S. Open threemonths ago because of animmune system disease.She defeated Serena 6-4,

7-6 (5) in an exhibitionmatch in Colombia lastweek.

Venus has changed herdiet to include more vege-tables after being diag-nosed with Sjogren’s syn-drome, which can causefatigue and joint pain.

“I’m eating differentthings and that’s helping.”Venus said. “I need to tryand be stronger for nextyear. This is a good startfor me. It’ll show mewhere I’m at physically.

“The goal is to comeback in Australia. I’m tak-ing each day at a time.When I feel good, I feelreally happy. Today I feelreally good, so it’s a greatday.”

Serena returned shortlybefore Wimbledon afterdealing with foot surger-ies and blood clots in herlungs. She fell to No. 175but has managed to rise inthe rankings.

“I told myself I wantedto end the year in the Top20,” Serena said. “But Ididn’t think I would. SoI’m really happy now.”

Serena has played justonce since losing to Sa-mantha Stosur in the U.S.Open final in September.

“I was tired after theOpen and didn’t want togo to Asia,” she said be-fore bursting into laughterand correcting herself.“Well no, I was injured.”

The Williams sisters,who often design theirown tennis outfits andhave launched clothinglines, said they’ve been toArmani during their stay.

Williamssisters returnto Olympics

By DANIELLA MATARASSOCIATED PRESS

DENNISTHE MENACE

DAILY CRYPTOQUOTES | HERE’S HOW TO WORK IT:

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2011 THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

Dear Heloise: I have a 92-year-old CEDAR CHESTthat was my mother’s, andmy granddaughter wouldlike to have it. It is a beauti-ful piece of furniture, butthe problem is that throughthe years, the cedar aromahas turned rancid.

I have tried leaving thechest open for a couple ofweeks in fresh air, and Iadded baking soda, leavingthe chest both closed andopen. I also tried a fabricrefresher. I thought maybesanding it would restorethe cedar aroma, but I amafraid to try.

If possible, I would liketo eliminate any fragranceat all. I was hoping youmight have some ideas; mygranddaughter and I wel-come your thoughts. —Ann in California

Hi, Ann. Completelyeliminating any cedar fra-grance? That is a challenge.Normally, cedar would notgive off a rancid smell un-less it had absorbed thescent of something storedin it or something the chestwas treated with.

This question stumpedHeloise Central, as well asa leading cedar-chest manu-facturer! Removing mildewand mothball smells hasbeen addressed, as well asrefreshing the cedar scent,but never how to eliminatethe cedar smell entirelyfrom storage chests. Youmight try wiping the in-sides with my beloved vine-gar on a cloth.

If cleaning and lightlysanding the inside of thechest do not help, then yourlast resort is to seal in theodor by using an oil-basedprimer on the interior.Then paint the inside withlatex paint.

Contact an auction houseor antiques dealer prior topainting the chest to findout about any depreciationin value of the chest. Goodluck. — Heloise

PET PALDear Readers: Catherine

C. of Lansing, Ill., sent in apicture of her adorableblack-and-white Chihua-hua, Piccolo. Piccolo under-stands Italian and knows 12animal toys by name. Cath-erine says that “Piccolo”means “little” in Italian.Fine, but how do you say“adorable” in Italian? Tosee Piccolo and our otherPet Pals, visit www. Heloi-se.com and click on the“Pets” link. — Heloise

DIRTY DISHCLOTHDear Heloise: I noticed a

friend of mine toss herwadded-up dishcloth in theupper rack of her dish-washer before running it. Ihave tried this, and itworks really well in keep-ing the dishcloth clean andfresh. — Betsy in Maryland

Betsy, be careful. Thecloth can come loose andget caught in the dishwash-er. Secure the cloth if youuse this hint. — Heloise

SELF-GRIPPINGFABRIC TAPE

Dear Heloise: What canyou do to get self-grippingfabric tape to stick again onshoes? — A Reader, viaemail

Easy answer! Clean thelint out of the fabric tape.Use a small crochet hook oran old, stiff toothbrush togently clean out the debris.

Also, pressing the twosides together when notwearing the shoes will helpprevent lint from buildingup. — Heloise

HINTS BY | HELOISE

“HELOISE

NEW YORK — Oklaho-ma City will host Orlandobefore Blake Griffin andthe Los Angeles Clippersvisit Golden State onChristmas night, runningthe NBA’s planned open-ing-day schedule to fivegames.

Those games were addedFriday to the three thatwere already set when the2011-12 schedule was origi-nally unveiled: Boston atNew York, Miami at Dallas,and Chicago at the Los An-geles Lakers.

Commissioner DavidStern said the leaguehoped to open the seasonwith that tripleheader afterannouncing a tentativeagreement on a new labordeal with the players lastSaturday. But the leaguedecided to add two latergames, with the nightcapfeaturing Mark Jackson’sdebut as Warriors coach.

The revised 66-gameschedule will be releasedTuesday night during anNBA TV special.

TNT will televise theopener, while ABC gets theNBA finals rematch andthe matchup between MVPDerrick Rose and KobeBryant, whose Lakers willbe playing their first gameunder former Clevelandcoach Mike Brown. The fi-nal two contests will air onESPN.

The Thunder reachedthe Western Conference fi-nals last season behindleague scoring championKevin Durant, while theMagic face the uncertaintyof Dwight Howard’s future

with the team.“It’s a different opening

day than has ever hap-pened in the past andChristmas Day games havealways been a big day forthe NBA,” ESPN analystJeff Van Gundy said in astatement. “This uniquesituation combined withthe unveiling of a cham-pionship banner for theMavericks in a finals re-

match, and then to see theLakers and the debut ofMike Brown as head coach,those things are all goingto be very compelling.”

The Dec. 25 opening dateis contingent on the CBAbeing ratified next week.

Lawyers for the leagueand players’ association re-sumed negotiations Fridayon the remaining issues,the so-called B-list items

such as drug testing, thedraft eligibility age and thecommissioner’s power todiscipline. The goal is tocomplete the agreementTuesday so it could be pre-sented at a meeting of play-er representatives Wednes-day, then both sides wouldvote to ratify it Thursday.

If that happens, trainingcamps and free agencywould open next Friday.

Two added to Christmas

Dallas Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki (41) and Miami Heat’s Mike Miller (13) will meet again on ChristmasDay as the two pick up where they left off after last year’s NBA Finals.

Photo by LM Otero | AP

By BRIAN MAHONEYASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON — The starsand even their backupskeep falling for the Hous-ton Texans.

This team has weath-ered season-ending inju-ries to linebacker MarioWilliams and quarterbackMatt Schaub as well asplaying for six gameswithout Andre Johnson,yet managed to remainatop the AFC Southstandings.

Now this resilientbunch will face its tough-est test when rookie third-string quarterback T.J.Yates makes his first NFLstart against the AtlantaFalcons (7-4) on Sunday.

Yates saw his first NFLaction in a 20-13 win overJacksonville last week af-ter backup Matt Leinartwas injured. Leinartbroke his left collarboneand is out for the season,leaving Yates as the Tex-ans’ best option (for now)as they try to secure theirfirst playoff berth.

This certainly isn’t thescenario the Texans envi-sioned when the seasonbegan. Still, they insistthere’s no reason for pan-ic and that they’ll dealwith this setback just asthey’ve handled every-thing else thrown at themthis year.

“Nothing’s changed.We’ve been dealing with

injuries all year,” John-son said. “Everybody’srunning around here likethings are supposed to bebad, but the team is fine.”

Johnson has plenty ofreasons to be confident.The Texans (8-3) have theleague’s top defense (mea-sured by yards allowed),the third-most potent run-ning game and have wonfive straight heading intoSunday’s game.

Yates, a fifth-roundpick out of North Caroli-na, doesn’t seem dauntedby his new responsibility.

“I wasn’t expecting forit to come under these cir-cumstances and thisquick in my career, butI’ve been preparing for itall season long just incase something like thiswas going to happen,” hesaid.

Yates was 8 of 15 for 70yards against Jackson-ville after Leinart was in-jured in the second quar-ter.

Falcons coach MikeSmith isn’t expectingmuch of a drop-off withYates in at quarterback.

“It is a system offense.Coach (Gary) Kubiak’s of-fense has a system andit’s really based, in mymind, around the runninggame and the runninggame sets up everythingelse,” Smith said. Atlantacornerback and formerTexan Dunta Robinsonagrees.

Houston Texans quarterback T.J Yates (13) is set to take thesnaps against the Falcons on Sunday with both Matt Leinart andMatt Schaub injured.

Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack | AP

Oft-hurtTexans takeon Atlanta

By KRISTIE RIEKENASSOCIATED PRESS

STILLWATER, Okla.— In more than a centu-ry’s worth of Bedlamgames, the stakes havenever been higher forOklahoma State.

The Cowboys (10-1, 7-1Big 12) are No. 3, match-ing their highest rankingever heading into the an-nual rivalry gameagainst No. 13 Oklahoma(9-2, 6-2), and they stillhave an outside chanceat getting into the na-tional championshipgame with an impressivewin Saturday night.

At the least, the in-state showdown is a sub-stitute for the Big 12championship game,which went away whenthe league shrank to 10teams this year.

The Sooners will be at-tempting to win theireighth Big 12 crown, byfar the most in theleague’s 16-year history.Oklahoma State is afterits first outright confer-ence title since 1948.

“We know we have alot at stake and it’s goingto be a fun challengedown there,” Oklahomacornerback DemontreHurst said. “Going downthere to their place, play-ing against one of ourbiggest rivals, going onthe road, trying to de-fend the Big 12 titleagain, there’s a lot goingon. It’s exciting.”

To earn a shot at itsfirst national champion-

ship, Oklahoma Statewill have to put togethera strong case against aSooners team that haswon eight straight Bed-lam games and is 81-17-7in the series.

The Cowboys are thirdin the BCS standings,but must make up themost ground on top-ranked LSU and No. 2Alabama in the humanpolls. They’re rankedfifth in the coaches andHarris polls, and — un-like the idle CrimsonTide — have one lastchance to make an im-pression before ballotsare due.

“The way I look at it isthat if we go out and playwell enough and win thefootball game, thensomebody’s going to haveto make a decision basedon it,” OSU coach MikeGundy said.

So it does matter whatthe Cowboys do.

OSU’s BCS biddepends on

Bedlam gameBy JEFF LATZKE

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Oklahoma’s James Hanna out-runs the Oklahoma State de-fense for a late touchdown in2010. But OSU could keep itsnational championship hopesalive with a win.

Photo by Billy Hefton | AP

NEW YORK — Miguel Cotto andAntonio Margarito have sold outMadison Square Garden, provingthere’s plenty of interest in whathappens in their rematch Saturday.

Even if it often sounds as thoughthey’re still fighting their boutfrom more than three years ago.

“There’s a lot of anger. There’s alot of hatred between both of us,”Margarito said Wednesday througha translator. “Someone will be get-ting hurt in this fight. Both of usare going out to hurt each other.”

The two boxers spent more timetalking about the past than the pre-sent in the buildup to their fight forCotto’s WBA super welterweight ti-tle. Margarito beat Cotto in July2008, but what happened sixmonths later forever changed dis-cussions about that bout.

Margarito was found to have ille-gal hand wraps before a loss toShane Mosley and didn’t box againfor more than a year. Cotto says hehas photos proving that Margaritoalso used illegal hand wraps intheir fight — which Margarito de-nies, just as he insists he didn’tknow his former trainer had placedillegal pads atop his fists in Janu-ary 2009.

“He has to accept that like aman,” Cotto said of wanting Marga-rito to admit wrongdoing. “That’s

the only issue I have with him.”Margarito said Cotto was just

“talking the talk.”“That’s what he wants to do,”

Margarito said. “What I said andI’ll say again: I fight clean; I’ve al-ways been clean.”

The Tijuana Tornado stoppedCotto in the 11th round in Las Ve-gas in their first meeting. Cottosaid he long resisted a rematch be-cause he didn’t want money goingto an opponent who didn’t fightfair.

“He played with my health,” Cot-to said. “This is a sport where youuse your skills, your conditioning.”

Cotto (36-2) said he noticed“something strange, somethingweird” in their first fight. His faceswelled up in ways it shouldn’thave.

Cotto controlled the early roundsin that bout, but Margarito (38-7)withstood punch after punch withnot a hint of backing down.

“My constant pressure got tohim,” Margarito said, “and I fin-ished him off.”

He plans more of the same inSaturday’s pay-per-view event.

“Everyone knows how I fight,”Margarito said. “Pressure, pres-sure. That’s what I’m going to bedoing.”

The 31-year-old Cotto said hedidn’t view the rematch as vindica-tion, because nobody questionswhether he was clean in the first

bout.“I don’t have to prove anything,”

he said. “The pressure is on him.”This is the second time Cotto has

sold out the Garden — he also didit for his title defense against ZabJudah in 2007. The Pride of PuertoRico would have a loud contingentbacking him even if not for Marga-rito’s current role of boxing villain.

Promoter Bob Arum dismissedtalk that the crowd would sway thescores.

“He plans to knock Cotto out,”Arum said. “He doesn’t need thejudges.”

It’s a high-profile stage for bothboxers to prove they’re still forcesin the sport. Both have been bat-tered by Manny Pacquiao sincetheir first meeting.

The 33-year-old Margarito need-ed surgery to repair a fractured or-bital bone in his right eye after ablow from Pacquiao last year. Heconsidered retirement before doc-tors assured him he could stillfight. The New York State AthleticCommission didn’t license Marga-rito until Nov. 22 after ordering an-other examination of his eye.

Since losing to Margarito, Cottohas defeated Michael Jennings,Joshua Clottey, Yuri Foreman andRicardo Mayorga while losing toPacquiao.

“I just prepare myself for a war,”he said. “That’s what everyone’s go-ing to see.”

Antonio Margarito, right, of Mexico, faces a rematch three years in the making with Miguel Cotto, of Puerto Rico, tonight in NewYork’s Madison Square Garden.

Photo by AP

Cotto, Margarito set for rematchBy RACHEL COHENASSOCIATED PRESS

4B LAREDO MORNING TIMES Sports SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2011