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SAN YGNACIO — As South Tex-as’s oilfield epicenter shifts from Za-pata and Hidalgo counties to countiesin the Eagle Ford Shale, officials hereare asking why San Ygnacio and itsresidents have to bear the brunt ofwaste expelled from those areas.

Last year, the county officially an-nounced its opposition to Texas Ener-gy Services’ plan to expand its oper-ations in San Ygnacio and include anew oilfield waste facility less than amile from residential areas and thecommunity’s drinking water source.

On Feb. 13, the San Ygnacio CivicCenter will host a town hall meetingat 6:30 p.m. to discuss residents’ con-cerns.

“We certainly support the oil andgas industry, but there is a limit towhat we can do,” County Judge JoeRathmell said. “This company is be-ing unreasonable for wanting to builda site that is so close to the people of

San Ygnacio.”Rathmell said he thinks the coun-

ties that produce oilfield waste shouldbe responsible for treating and dis-posing of it.

The Commissioner’s Court official-ly opposed the oilfield service compa-ny’s permit application a year ago.Under the plan, Texas Energy Servic-es would expand on its current salt-water injection facility east of SanYgnacio to include an oilfield wastesite for drilling mud and other suchwaste to be disposed of.

The application is being reviewedby the Railroad Commission of Texas,the agency that regulates the state oiland gas industry and can approvepermit applications.

The county commissioners are al-so in the process of drafting an ordi-nance against further waste sitesnear residential areas, county offi-cials said.

Rathmell said the county’s pri-mary concern lies in protecting thehealth of its residents, especially

those who live in the Valle Verde sub-division, the closest neighborhood tothe proposed facility.

Because the oilfield service compa-ny is proposing to dump its chem-icals onto the surface, whereas otherwaste is sometimes injected into ce-ment wells, runoff and seepage areconcerns of the county.

But a spokesman for Texas EnergyServices told the San Antonio Ex-press-News last week those concernsare unfounded, with the engineeringof the facility reducing the risk ofcontamination.

A representative from the compa-ny could not be reached before presstime.

The proposed expansion wouldrun afoul of Zapata County’s plan toboost eco-tourism in the area, saidHector Uribe, an attorney who offerslegal counseling to the county.

Uribe, of Austin, helped advisecounty officials in their plan to make

SAN YGNACIO

Oilfield wasteFirm wants dump near town’s water supply

By JJ VELASQUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES

See OILFIELD PAGE 10A

Zapata County Pct. 2Justice of the Peace JuanaMaria Gutierrez said thisweek the man found float-ing on Falcon Lake watersa couple of weeks ago diedof asphyxiation due todrowning.

On Thursday afternoon,Gutierrez identified theman as Jose Alberto Vas-quez Garcia, a 41-year-oldman from Mexico. AnaLaura Benavides C., a Mex-ican consulate spokeswo-man in Laredo, said con-sulate officials are yet totrack down family mem-bers.

According to ZapataCounty Sheriff SigifredoGonzalez Jr., officials foundan identification card fromNuevo Laredo on the man.

On Jan. 24, the ZapataCounty Sheriff ’s Office re-ceived a call reporting abody floating in the lake.The location given was ap-proximately four miles up-river from Beacon Lodge.

At 4:50 p.m., Gutierrez

pronounced the persondead. An autopsy was re-quested from Webb CountyMedical Examiner CorinneStern. After receiving re-ports from Stern, Gutierrezsaid the man’s cause ofdeath was drowning.

A day after Vasquez Gar-cia’s body was found, Gon-zalez told Laredo MorningTimes the body did notshow any signs of foul play.Vasquez Garcia’s body wasthe second recovered fromthe lake since Dec. 29,when a pro angler postedon his Facebook page thathe found human remainsin the Mexican waters ofFalcon Lake, north of SanYgnacio.

At first, people believedthat might have been DavidHartley, a jet skier gunneddown by drug traffickingorganization memberswhile sightseeing in Guer-rero Viejo. Days later, Mex-ican authorities confirmedthe remains were not Har-tley’s.

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

FALCON LAKE

Officials sayMexicandrowned

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES

A three-vehicle collisionkilled three people — twofrom Laredo — last weekon U.S. 83 near the Starrand Zapata county lines, ac-cording to a Department ofPublic Safety spokesman.

DPS officials identifiedthe victims as Edith Ledez-ma Martinez, 27, and Ser-gio Arellano, 30. A McAllenman who also died at thescene was identified as JoseAlfredo Ruiz Cruz, 33.

Cpl. Frank Hernandez, aDPS spokesman, said RuizCruz was heading north onU.S. 83. At about 4:55 p.m.,he lost control of his GMCEnvoy and collided head-onwith a Chevy pickup tow-ing a trailer.

An F150 rear-ended theEnvoy.

“The driver (of the F150)could not avoid the colli-sion,” Hernandez said, not-

ing the man sustained mi-nor injuries.

Arellano, Ledezma Mar-tinez and Ruiz Cruz all diedat the scene, according toDPS officials.

According to their obitu-aries, both Ledezma Marti-nez and Arellano wereborn in Nuevo Laredo, Ta-maulipas. However, they’vebeen Laredo residents formost of their lives. Bothpeople are survived by nu-merous friends and rela-tives.

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

VEHICLE FATALITY

Laredoansamong dead infatal collision

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES

SERGIO ARRELLANO:Multi-vehicle crashclaims life of La-

redo man.

EDITH LEDEZMAMARTINEZ: Lare-doan died in mul-ti-vehicle collision.

TAKING TO THE SKIESON HIS SKATEBOARD

Skaters take advantage of the week’s nice South Texas weather at Blas Castañeda Park in Laredo on Tuesday afternoon.Photo by Danny Zaragoza | The Zapata Times

PAGE 2A Zin brief SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

SATURDAY, FEB. 4The Area Health Education Cen-

ter will sponsor a workshop on collegeentrance exams preparation with em-phasis on the SAT from 7:45 a.m. tonoon today at the UT Health ScienceCenter Laredo campus, 1937 E. Busta-mante St., for LISD high school stu-dents. For more information, call 712-0037 or email mrgbahec-coord@stx.rr.com.

League of United Latin AmericanCitizens Council No. 7 will have its 17thannual Noche de Cabaret, a galadance, from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. today inthe Laredo Civic Center Ballroom, 800Garden St. At the dance, TAMIU fineand performing arts department chairBede Leyendecker will receive theHigher Education Award. Tickets are$20 per person or $200 for a table of10, with proceeds to benefit the coun-cil’s scholarship fund. Cocktail attire isrequired. For tickets or more informa-tion, call 949-7685 or 753-6656.

The Laredo Theatre Guild Interna-tional, in cooperation with Texas A&MInternational University, will presentWilliam Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth”at TAMIU’s Center for the Fine andPerforming Arts Theatre at 8 p.m. to-day. Tickets are available for advancepurchase at Foster’s, 1202 Del MarBlvd., Suite 101; Blue Top, 101 HillsideRoad, No. 11; the TAMIU Bookstore;and the box office before each show.Tickets are $15 general admission and$10 for students with valid ID and forsenior citizens. For more information,call 956-319-8610 or visit laredothea-terguild.com.

TUESDAY, FEB. 7The Zapata Chamber of Com-

merce board of directors will meet atnoon at a restaurant to be announced.Board meeting date subject to change.For more information, call 956-765-4871.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 8The American Cancer Society

and Doctors Hospital will offer I CanCope, a series of educational classesfor people with cancer. I Can Copehelps patients meet the challenges ofcancer by clarifying cancer facts andmyths. The classes are offered the sec-ond Wednesday of every month from 6p.m. to 8 p.m. at Doctors Hospital inthe Women’s Center Conference Room.Classes are free and open to the pub-lic. To RSVP or for more information,call Diana Juarez at 723-9682.

SATURDAY, FEB. 11The Diocese of Laredo will rec-

ognize couples celebrating 25 or 50years of Catholic marriage with a spe-cial Mass at 11 a.m. today at SanAgustín Cathedral, 201 San AgustinAve., officiated by Diocese of LaredoBishop James A. Tamayo. To register,call your parish office or the FamilyLife Office of the Diocese of Laredo at727-2140. The registration deadline isFriday, Feb. 3.

The Texas A&M InternationalUniversity Lamar Bruni Vergara Plane-tarium will host Family Movie Day, fea-turing the film “Shrek.” Show times arenoon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8p.m. General admission is $3. Formore show times, visit tamiu.edu/plan-etarium.

MONDAY, FEB. 13The Zapata County Commission-

ers Court will meet in regular sessionat 9 a.m.

THURSDAY, FEB. 16Today is Winter Texan and Se-

nior Appreciation Day. For more infor-mation, call 956-765-4871.

TUESDAY, MARCH 8Spring Break begins for Zapata

ISD students.The Zapata County Fair begins

today. For more information, call 956-765-4871,

THURSDAY, MARCH 10Today is the last day of the Za-

pata County Fair.

FRIDAY, MARCH 16This is the last day of Spring

Break for Zapata ISD students.

FRIDAY, APRIL 6Easter holiday for Zapata ISD

students.To submit an item for the calendar,

send the name of the event, the date,time, location and contact phone num-ber to editorial@lmtonline.com.

CALENDARASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Saturday, Feb. 4,the 35th day of 2012. There are331 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in His-tory:

On Feb. 4, 1962, St. JudeChildren’s Research Hospitalwas founded in Memphis,Tenn., by entertainer DannyThomas.

On this date:In 1783, Britain’s King

George III proclaimed a for-mal cessation of hostilities inthe American RevolutionaryWar.

In 1789, electors choseGeorge Washington to be thefirst president of the UnitedStates.

In 1861, delegates from sixsouthern states that had re-cently seceded from the Unionmet in Montgomery, Ala., toform the Confederate States ofAmerica.

In 1932, New York Gov.Franklin D. Roosevelt openedthe Winter Olympic Games atLake Placid.

In 1941, the United ServiceOrganizations (USO) came in-to existence.

In 1962, a rare conjunctionof the Sun, Moon, Mercury,Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Sat-urn occurred.

In 1972, Mariner 9, orbitingMars, transmitted images ofthe red planet.

In 1974, newspaper heiressPatricia Hearst was kidnappedin Berkeley, Calif., by the Sym-bionese Liberation Army.

In 1976, more than 23,000people died when a severeearthquake struck Guatemalawith a magnitude of 7.5, ac-cording to the U.S. GeologicalSurvey.

In 1982, President RonaldReagan announced a plan toeliminate all medium-rangenuclear missiles in Europe.

In 1983, pop singer-musicianKaren Carpenter died in Dow-ney, Calif., at age 32.

In 1987, pianist Liberacedied at his Palm Springs, Cal-if., home at age 67.

Ten years ago: PresidentGeorge W. Bush proposed a$2.13 trillion budget, includingbillions for fighting terrorism.The World Economic Forumconcluded five days of meet-ings in New York. Activists inPorto Alegre, Brazil, conclud-ed their World Social Forum,held as a counter to the gath-ering in New York. FormerEnron chairman and chief ex-ecutive Kenneth Lay resignedfrom the board, cutting hislast tie to the company beyondstock ownership.

Today’s Birthdays: For-mer Argentinian PresidentIsabel Peron is 81. Movie di-rector George A. Romero is 72.Rock musician John Steel(The Animals) is 71. SingerFlorence LaRue (The Fifth Di-mension) is 68. Rock singerTim Booth is 52. Rock musi-cian Henry Bogdan is 51.Country singer Clint Black is50. Actor Rob Corddry is 41.Singer David (dah-VEED’)Garza is 41. Actor MichaelGoorjian is 41. Boxer Oscar DeLa Hoya is 39. Rock musicianRick Burch (Jimmy EatWorld) is 37. Singer NatalieImbruglia (em-BROO’-lee-ah)is 37. Rapper Cam’ron is 36.Rock singer Gavin DeGraw is35. Olympic gold medal gym-nast-turned-singer Carly Pat-terson is 24.

Thought for Today: “Thetest of the morality of a socie-ty is what it does for its chil-dren.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer,German theologian (1906-1945).

TODAY IN HISTORY

DALLAS — A Dallas teenager who was de-ported to South America under a false namenever expressed concern during jailhousephone calls that she was being misidentifiedas an illegal immigrant from Colombia.

The more than two dozen recorded tele-phone calls reviewed by The AssociatedPress show 15-year-old Jakadrien Turner ex-pected to be deported to Colombia yet didnot complain of having no ties to the coun-try.

Instead, during several conversations shehad with two men she identified herself asTika Lanay Cortez and discussed renewingher green card and having her passport andColombian identification card sent to au-thorities.

Yet, Turner claimed in a recent TV inter-

view that she repeatedly tried to convinceauthorities she had lied when she initiallyidentified herself to Houston police as Cor-tez, a 21-year-old Colombian national, afterbeing arrested for shoplifting.

“At a certain point, I just gave up because Isaid it multiple times: ‘I’m Jakadrien Turn-er, I’m 15 years old, and why am I here?’“Turner, who was returned to Texas lastmonth, told Dallas television station WFAA,in an interview that aired Wednesday night.

The Associated Press reviewed recordingsof 25 telephone calls Turner made while incustody in Houston in April and May. A lawenforcement official who has listened tomost of the calls and has been briefed on thecase confirmed the caller is Turner. The offi-cial spoke on the condition of anonymity be-cause the official is not authorized to public-ly discuss details of the case.

AROUND TEXAS

In this Jan. 6 photo, Jakadrien Turner, 15, center, walks with her grandmother Lorene Turner, left, and mother Johnisa Turnerat Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. Turner was mistakenly deported to Colombia after Immigration and Customs Enforcement sayshe claimed to be a Colombian woman named Tika Lanay Cortez.

Photo by Mike Fuentes | AP

Teen maintained aliasBy ALICIA A. CALDWELL AND LINDA STEWART BALL

ASSOCIATED PRESS

FBI seeks ‘tall, dark,handsome’ bank robberHOUSTON — A fugitive de-

scribed by the FBI as being a“tall, dark and handsome bandit”has been accused of holding uptwo banks this week in Texas.

Bank surveillance photos pro-vided Friday show a suspect, be-lieved to be the same man, withsunglasses atop his head duringrobberies in Houston and Beau-mont.

The robber is described as awhite man, in his 30s, about 6feet tall, with short brown hair.

Ex-soldier pleads guilty inTexas recruiting scamSAN ANTONIO — A former

soldier in South Texas has plead-ed guilty in a scheme to collectpart of $244,000 in bonuses for re-ferring recruits.

The Justice Department saysformer Spc. Xavier Aves of SanAntonio pleaded guilty Friday toconspiracy to commit wire fraudand to aggravated identity theft.

$4M grant for Galvestonfor water service

GALVESTON — A SoutheastTexas city slammed by Hurri-cane Ike has received a $4 mil-lion grant to help maintain wa-ter service in case of another di-sastrous storm.

Galveston officials say the gov-ernment block grant will go to-ward a new water line from Pel-ican Island to Galveston.

City engineer Justin Bowlingsays the goal is to avoid total wa-ter failure like what happenedwhen Ike swamped Galveston inSeptember 2008.

Democrat Gibson dropsout of US senate race

AUSTIN — Houston trial law-yer Jason Gibson has droppedout of the Democratic primaryrace for the U.S. Senate.

In a statement Thursday, Gib-son endorsed former state Rep.Paul Sadler for the Democraticnomination. The AFL-CIO en-dorsed Sadler on Wednesday.

FBI probing death infederal reserve on border

HAVANA — The FBI is inves-tigating the death of one manand wounding of another afterBorder Patrol agents found themin a federal wildlife refuge alongthe Rio Grande.

Agents are investigating a re-ported altercation on the Mexi-can side. Tamaulipas state Interi-or Secretary Morelos CansecoGomez said that there was a con-frontation between law enforce-ment and suspects in the areawith no one wounded or de-tained. He would not say wheth-er anyone crossed the border.

2 convicted in North Texasembezzlement schemeDALLAS — A federal jury has

convicted two people of takingpart in a conspiracy to embezzlemoney from the city of Garland.

Kenneth Wayne Brown andLeah Michele Brown were foundguilty Thursday in Dallas.

— Compiled from AP reports

Hiring surges in January;jobless rate at 8.3 pct.WASHINGTON — In a long-

awaited surge of hiring, compa-nies added 243,000 jobs in Janu-ary — across the economy, upand down the pay scale and farmore than just about anyone ex-pected. Unemployment fell to 8.3percent, the lowest in threeyears.

Prosecutors closeArmstrong inquiry

LOS ANGELES — Federalprosecutors closed their investi-gation of Lance Armstrong with-out charging him over allega-tions he used performance-en-hancing drugs Friday, ending anearly two-year effort aimed atexamining whether a doping pro-gram was created to keep theseven-time Tour de France win-ner and his teammates runningat the head of the pack.

Armstrong has steadfastly de-

nied he doped during his unpar-alleled career.

Obama pushes forveterans jobs programsWASHINGTON — In an effort

to cut the unemployment rateamong veterans, President Ba-rack Obama is calling for a newconservation program thatwould put veterans to work re-building trails, roads and leveeson public lands.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

Japanese competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi looks up as he eats chicken wingsduring SportsRadio WIP’s Wing Bowl 2012 eating contest on Friday in Philadel-phia. Kobayashi won by eating 337 wings.

Photo by Alex Brandon | AP

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The Zapata Times is free.The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning

Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129,Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500.

The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Ave-nue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mailthezapatatimes.net

CONTACT US

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012 Local THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

The Laredo WrestlingAlliance once again bringsits unique brand of in-ringaction to town tonight withBeatdown in Z Town.

The card, a mix of high-flying lucha libre andknock-down-drag-out braw-ling, includes a first for theyear-old company: a titleversus career match. LWAchampion Burhan puts thecompany’s top prize on theline against Prince Fonte-not. If Fontenot does notwin the title, he must retirefrom professional wres-tling.

“I’m trying to call on allthe fans for their support,”said Fontenot (Fon-te-no)about the all-or-nothing sit-uation he finds himself in.“Come out and give meyour yelling. Give me yourenergy. If you see me hav-ing a hard time, give it tome. I thrive on the energyof the crowd.”

The rivalry betweenthese two goes back to La-redo’s Menudo Bowl lastmonth. Perched on the toprope and ready to splashAbel Cruz and win a titleshot, Fontenot felt some-thing knock his calf. He fell

straddled on the turnbuck-le and lost to Cruz. Whenhe looked at who had inter-fered, he saw the beardedface of the Burhan.

“My assumption is hemust’ve wanted to faceAbel and not me becausewhy else would he helphim win?” Fontenot said.After losing, he grabbedthe microphone and chal-lenged Burhan, who saidhe’d defend his title if Fon-tenot agreed to retire if helost. Caught in the middleof this and with a title shotin his back pocket, Cruzstepped aside and let Fonte-not get the title shot first.

“Don’t let anyone saywrestlers are dumb,” saidFontenot. “Cruz knowswhat he’s doing. If I lose, hehas one less guy to worryabout. If I win, he still hasa title shot, and can comeafter me.”

This will be Fontenot’sfirst match in Zapata butby no means his first go-round. The 12-year careerhe risks ending tonight in-cludes stints in Austin’sBattleground Zero, CorpusChristi’s Gulf Coast Wres-tling, and American Cham-pionship Wrestling in SanAntonio. He held majorchampionships in all three.

Fontenot also hold thedistinction of being the on-ly professional body build-er wrestling in the LWA.

“I actually took four orfive years away from wres-tling to focus on my body-building,” he said. “It’shard to train for both. It’shard to take a top-rope su-plex and then go the nextday and do some squats.”

His experience in bothsports earned him a repu-tation, attracting the atten-tion of some of wrestling’sbiggest names. Most sportsmedia lit up this week atthe news that World Wres-tling Entertainment will in-duct Mike Tyson into itshall of fame. Tyson getsthis distinction because herefereed the main event ofWrestleMania 14. But fewknow about Fontenot’s in-volvement.

“I provided conditioningtraining for Shawn Mi-chaels and ‘Stone Cold’Steve Austin when theywere getting ready for thatmatch,” he said, addingthat Michaels credited himfor this on camera.

Fontenot later wrote acardiovascular condition-ing program for Michael’sSan Antonio wrestlingschool.

“I’ve done a lot in thisbusiness,” he said.

If he loses tonight, itcould all end. If he wins thebelt, he could make history.Fontenot would be theLWA’s first African-Ameri-can champion.

“It’s black historymonth,” he said. “What bet-ter time to put a fine pieceof tin on a fine man?”

Heading into Beatdownin Z Town, Burhan also hasa lot to lose.

Currently, Burhan holdstwo championships at once,a rarity for the sport. Winor lose against Fontenot, helater has to defend his LWAHardcore Championship.This title is contested onlyin “hardcore” wrestlingmatches, where anythinggoes. A chair to the head isas legal as a wristlock.

As if wrestling twice inone night and having oneof those matches in a hard-core environment wasn’tenough, Burhan faces twoopponents at once: Necro-monger and The Freak.The Freak is a Zapata na-tive. So is the hardcorechampionship.

“This title debuted in Za-pata,” said LWA founderRey Chavarria. “So we’reglad to see it contested in

the place it was born.”For Chavarria, Zapata

holds a special place in theLWA’s short but excitinghistory. The company hasdeveloped a devoted follow-ing here, and Chavarriasaid he always tries to giveZapatans a better showeach time. This is why he’sbringing not just LWA, buttwo other Texas wrestlingpromotions.

“We’re being joined bytalent from Wrestling Revo-lution in Rio Grande,” hesaid, “as well as SyndicateWrestling from Borne.”

As they usually do whenthey perform in Zapata, theLWA promises to donate aportion of the proceeds to ascholarship fund for localstudents. To date, Chavar-ria estimates they’ve raisedmore than $3,000 for this

cause. “We always try to give

back to the community,whether it’s in Zapata, La-redo,” he said. “Whereverwe go, we try to make sureit’s about more than us.”

Beatdown in Z Town al-so features the UnitedStates championship on theline as Pretty Boy Ocho de-fends against The Joker.Havoc and The Regulatorsbattle Airborne Infernoand Southside. Takinghardcore to a new level,LWA also presents abarbed wire Texas tornadoand ladder match.

The bell rings at 7 p.m.at the Osvaldo H. and Juan-ita Ramirez Exhibit Hall.The action goes on until 10.Tickets are $5 and availableat the door. Card is subjectto change.

Wrestling giants top today’s cardBy MIKE HERRERA IV

THE ZAPATA TIMES

Wrestler “Genocide” kicks his opponent “Southside” as they per-form at the 2011 Autmusfest.

Photo by Danny Zaragoza | The Zapata Times

The United Way of Lare-do, Inc. will be having aproposal preparationworkshop for eligible non-profit agencies seekingfunding for 2013.

In order to apply forfunding from United Way,agencies must attend themandatory workshopWednesday at 1 p.m. at theUnited Way of Laredo of-fice, 1815 E. Hillside Road.

Agencies wishing to ap-

ply must be registeredwith the IRS as 501 (c) (3)organizations, be auditedannually, have voluntaryboards of directors, havecommunity-oriented goalsand objectives and be inoperation for at least oneyear.

The deadline to submitcompleted applications isThursday, Feb. 23 at noon.

For more informationcall the United Way of La-redo, Inc. office at 956-723-9113.

Workshop toaid agencies

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Acting Under Secretaryfor Farm and ForeignAgricultural Services Mi-chael Scuse has an-nounced the U.S. Depart-ment of Agriculture willconduct a four-week Con-servation Reserve Pro-gram general signup, be-ginning March 12 andending April 6.

“It is USDA’s goal to en-sure that we use CRP toaddress our most criticalresource issues,” saidScuse. “CRP is an impor-tant program for protect-ing our most environmen-

tally sensitive lands fromerosion and sedimenta-tion, and for ensuring thesustainability of ourgroundwater, lakes, rivers,ponds and streams.”

CRP is a voluntary pro-gram available to agricul-tural producers to helpthem use environmentallysensitive land for conser-vation benefits. Producersenrolled in CRP plantlong-term, resource-con-serving covers to improvethe quality of water, con-trol soil erosion and devel-op wildlife habitat. In re-turn, USDA provides par-ticipants with rental

payments and cost-shareassistance. Contract dura-tion is between 10 and 15years.

About 30 million acresare enrolled in CRP; andcontracts on an estimated6.5 million acres will ex-pire on Sept. 30.

Offers for CRP con-tracts are ranked accord-ing to the EnvironmentalBenefits Index. USDA’sFarm Service Agency col-lects data for each of theEBI factors based on therelative environmentalbenefits for the land of-fered. Each eligible offeris ranked in comparison

to all other offers and se-lections made from thatranking.

In 2011, USDA enrolleda record number of acresof private working landsin conservation programs,working with more than500,000 farmers andranchers to implementconservation practicesthat clean the air webreathe, filter the waterwe drink, and prevent soilerosion.

For more informationon CRP and other FSAprograms, visit a localFSA service center orwww.fsa.usda.gov.

Program may aid landownersSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

PAGE 4A Zopinion SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

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

AUSTIN — Lord knowswe all love Texas state em-ployees. And woe be untoany local politician whodares doubt that each andevery state employee isamong the best, hardest-working, finest-lookingpeople ever created.

So it is with a heavyheart that I must reportevidence indicating lots ofstate employees and reti-rees might be lying pig-dogs. What could causethese hard-working, fine-looking people to lie?Thirty bucks a monthseems to be the price.

Last year, Texas law-makers had a good idea(hey, one out of a bazillionisn’t bad). The idea, con-verted into law, is a ”to-bacco cessation” programfor state workers and reti-rees, including higherhealth insurance premi-ums for tobacco users andcoverage for tobacco ces-sation drugs. It went intoeffect Jan. 1.

State employees and re-tirees had from Nov. 7 toDec. 9 to report if they orany family members cov-ered by the plan are to-bacco users (defined asusing tobacco productsmore than five times inthe previous threemonths). The additionalmonthly premium for to-bacco users is $30 per per-son, with a maximum of$90 per family.

(Best footnote on theEmployees RetirementSystem Q-and-A about theprogram: ”The charge fora child is the same re-gardless of how manychildren in the householduse tobacco.” Sure, junior,go ahead and light up.We’re already paying foryour sister.)

So what we have is aself-reporting system.That always goes well,doesn’t it? Please raiseyour hand if you want topay more.

Last year, the Legisla-tive Budget Board —working with a Centersfor Disease Control andPrevention estimate that18 percent of adult Texansuse tobacco products —guesstimated there are74,150 tobacco users cov-ered by the state healthplan. ERS board memberswere told at an Augustmeeting the agency ”willdepend on members tocertify that they use to-bacco. A special campaignwill be conducted this fallto communicate the tobac-co information.”

The special campaignwas held, and the sign-upsbegan. But somehow, as ofmid-January, only 20,460state employees or reti-rees or their covered de-pendents were signed up.That’s 53,690 short of theprojection. (My editor isamazed so many peoplesigned up. He’s such acynical man.)

This leads to two possi-

ble conclusions: State em-ployees and their depend-ents use tobacco at farlower rates than otherTexans, or many state em-ployees are lying pig-dogs(possibly smoking lyingpig-dogs, one of the worstkind).

So, Andy Homer of theTexas Public EmployeesAssociation, which is it?

”We certainly don’twant to call state employ-ees liars,” he said, notingthat state employees tendto be highly educated andthat highly educated folkstend to be tobacco usersat lower rates. And,Homer noted, close to halfof association memberswork for the prison sys-tem, where tobacco use isbanned.

Could be, though I stillthink there is a lying pig-dog factor at work here.What about it, ERSspokeswoman Mary JaneWardlow?

”I won’t draw any con-clusions,” she said, encou-raging folks to fess up andsign up, and adding,”There may be conse-quences.”

Smoking seems to beits own consequence. Butthe state has other conse-quences in mind. TheERS Q-and-A notes tobac-co users who do not ”cer-tify” could face ”a penalty,a fraud investigation ortermination from healthinsurance coverage.”

I like the A to Q12,which asks, ”What if mydoctor says I can’t quit?”Lucky you. You can keepenjoying tobacco withoutpaying the additional pre-mium if you can find adoc to declare you have”an uncontrolled healthfactor, such as nicotine ad-diction.”

In such cases, the phy-sician signs a form say-ing, ”In my professionalmedical opinion, a healthfactor makes it unreason-ably difficult or medicallyinadvisable for the indi-vidual named above tostop using tobacco prod-ucts or otherwise satisfythe health plan’s require-ments in order to avoidpaying the tobacco premi-um surcharge.”

So far, 256 affidavitshave been submitted. Askyour doctor if an affidavitis right for you. And re-view Q14 before seeingyour lawyer:

Q: ”Is this kind of addi-tional premium illegal?”

A: ”No, many employ-ers have enacted similar,or even more strict, rules.These rules have survivednumerous legal challeng-es.”

So please, dear stateemployees, fess up if youuse tobacco. Don’t makeus have to come aroundand take photos outsidethe front door duringsmoke breaks.

Ken Herman is a col-umnist for the AustinAmerican-Statesman. E-mail: kherman@states-man.com.

State workersdon’t seemto smoke

By KEN HERMANCOX NEWSPAPERS

COLUMN OTHER VIEWS

The Zapata Times doesnot publish anonymousletters.

To be published, let-ters must include thewriter’s first and lastnames as well as aphone number to verifyidentity. The phone num-ber IS NOT published; itis used solely to verifyidentity and to clarifycontent, if necessary.Identity of the letterwriter must be verifiedbefore publication.

We want to assure our

readers that a letter iswritten by the personwho signs the letter. TheZapata Times does notallow the use of pseudo-nyms.

Letters are edited forstyle, grammar, lengthand civility. No name-calling or gratuitousabuse is allowed.

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 — Hey,remember the tea party?

Yes, the tea party, themovement that upendedthe 2010 congressional elec-tions and was supposed totransform American poli-tics.

Who cares?In recent days, some

voices that have defined themovement over the pasttwo years — former Alaskagovernor Sarah Palin, erst-while 2012 candidate Her-

man Cain, Nevada Republi-can Sharron Angle andreal estate mogul/self-pro-moter Donald Trump — of-fered their endorsementsin the GOP presidentialrace.

And the political worldyawned in unison.

EndorsementsCain officially endorsed

former House speakerNewt Gingrich before Tues-day’s Florida primary,while Palin said she wouldvote for Gingrich if shewere a Floridian. Thepayoff: Newt lost the state

by double digits.Then, on Thursday,

Trump endorsed Mitt Rom-ney in the run-up to Satur-day’s Nevada caucuses.”Mitt is tough, he’s sharp,he’s smart,” Trump de-clared. Just one problem:Polling shows that the Do-nald’s support probablyhurts Romney more than ithelps him, and the endorse-ment was more sideshowthan show-stopper.

Weak endorsementPerhaps most revealing

of all was Angle, who justtwo years ago defined the

tea party’s 2010 efforts bywinning a crowded GOPprimary and facing offagainst Senate MajorityLeader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).On Thursday, she endorsedRick Santorum with all theforce of a church mouse, asthe nominal leader of a Ne-vada tea party that has fall-en apart.

Ineffective brewThe tea party, for trying

to brew some strong influ-ence over the GOP race butwinding up with chamo-mile, you had the worstweek in Washington.

WORST WEEK IN WASHINGTON

Tea party’s balloon has burstBy AARON BLAKE

THE WASHINGTON POST

For 30 years, Susan G.Komen for the Cure hasbeen helping women find,fight and, when possible,beat breast cancer. Towardthose ends, it has contribut-ed $1.5 billion to supporteducation, screening andtreatment programs andadvanced medical research.

Until very recently, theKomen organization hasused the bounty of its pro-digious fund-raising acu-men to focus on improvingthe health of women andprotecting them from need-less suffering from breastcancer.

On Tuesday, however,Komen confirmed that itslocal chapters no longermay fund breast cancerscreening and educationprograms offered in theircommunities by local affil-iates of Planned Parent-hood. The move eliminatesabout $700,000 worth of ser-vices provided each year in19 Planned Parenthood re-gions. Wednesday after-noon some affiliates wereannouncing that they hadbeen granted exemptions

from the new policy.This profound mistake

undermines the group’scredibility and contradictsits mission. Its boardshould review and reversethe decision before womenin these areas suffer need-lessly from breast cancerthat screening and educa-tion programs could havecaught early.

A Komen spokeswomantold the Associated Presson Tuesday that a new pol-icy “barring grants to or-ganizations that are underinvestigation by local, stateor federal authorities” re-quired cutting off supportfor Planned Parenthoodprograms.

That might ring true ifPlanned Parenthood wereunder investigation by lo-cal, state or federal law en-forcement or regulatoryagencies. But the Komenspokeswoman referred, in-stead, to a U.S. House com-mittee inquiry being led byRepublican Cliff Stearns ofFlorida, which might moreaptly be described as a po-litical and ideological cru-sade driven by anti-abor-tion passions.

Planned Parenthood op-erations long have been atarget of anti-abortiongroups and like-mindedpublic officials becauseabout 3 percent of the ser-vices it provides annuallyto some 11 million peopleinvolve pregnancy counsel-ing and legal abortions.More than 95 percent of itsservices are related to can-cer screenings, contracep-tion, prevention counselingand treatment of sexuallytransmitted diseases andother reproductive healthissues.

Of course, private spe-cial-interest groups are freeto advocate their causes aspassionately as they choosewithin the law. But thatshould have no bearing onKomen’s pursuit of advanc-ing the cause of women’shealth, a mission closelyaligned with the screening,prevention, education andtreatment work of PlannedParenthood.

Until recently, the Ko-men organization has ac-knowledged as much, whilecarefully avoiding the ideo-logical battleground ofabortion. In a 2010 state-

ment explaining Komen’srelationship with PlannedParenthood, Komen’s chiefscientific adviser, Dr. EricWiner, explained that localaffiliates regularly auditPlanned Parenthood chap-ters to ensure that Komengrants are spent solely onbreast cancer screeningand education programs, asthe terms of the grants re-quire. Komen’s suddenshift puts it on a slipperyslope. After nearly 10 yearsof supporting it financially,will Komen now denounceresearch into the possibleroles of adult and embryon-ic stem cells in breast can-cer progression and treat-ment? Will Komen with-draw its research-basedpolicy statement, posted onits website as of Wednesdayafternoon, that abortionsdo not increase the risk ofbreast cancer?

Breast cancer cells donot care about the incomestreams, social standing,political beliefs, ideologicalcredos or geographic loca-tions of the people whosetissues they attack or thepeople who care for them.Neither should Komen.

EDITORIAL

Keep politics out of cancerMCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012 THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

6A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

The fifth annual Sport-ing Clay Tournament &Cook-off on Jan. 28 in sup-port of the Zapata Boys &Girls Club raised morethan $100,000, the largestsingle-event amount raisedin the event’s history.

Four hundred residents,along with businesses andcommunity volunteers, par-ticipated. This is the big-gest fundraiser of the yearfor the Boys & Girls Clubof Zapata, and accounts formore than half of the year’sbudget.

The main sponsor of theevent was IBC Bank-Zapa-ta. The event took place atbank president Ricardo Ra-mirez’s ranch.

Ramirez and Mark Alva-renga, vice-president ofsales, serve as presidentand vice president of theZapata Boys & Girls Club;together they created theconcept for the event in2007.

Bank employees serve asvolunteers, running the sta-tions on the sporting claycourse and helping withevent registration. Othersponsors who volunteeredand contributed to theevent’s success includedTexas Energy, CC Forbes,US Liquids of Louisiana,Wolverine Constructionand R&P Ramirez.

“It’s amazing to see howthe event continues to growin both the amount of mon-ey raised and the great sup-

port from the community,”Ramirez said. “The morethan $100,000 raised at thisyear’s event will go to de-fray the cost of running theclub that provides servicesto more than 400 registeredchildren of all ages fromZapata County.”

The clay tournament at-tracts shooters from as faras Tennessee, who shoot a12-station sporting claycourse of 100 clay targetswith 12-gauge or smallershotguns.

This year, 31 five-mem-ber teams competed for a$1,500 first prize.

Seven cook-off teamscompeted to prepare thebest fajitas, whole chicken,pork ribs, “pan de campo”and beans.

The fifth annual Sporting Clay Tournament & Cook-off on Jan. 28 raised more than $100,000 for theZapata Boys & Girls Club. The tournament attracted shooters from as far as Tennessee.

Courtesy photo

Tourney raises $100Kfor Boys & Girls Club

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

A Mexican national ar-rested in Zapata pledguilty Friday in federalcourt in Laredo to possess-ing nearly 600 pounds ofmarijuana.

Joel Hugo Robles Perez,24, was scheduled for trialFeb. 14 and was in courtFriday for a related hear-ing. He suddenly waivedthat hearing and opted toplead guilty in the case.

Robles Perez was ac-cused of having nearly 600pounds of marijuana in-tended for distribution,United States AttorneyKenneth Magidson an-nounced Friday.

On Dec. 9, Immigrationand Customs Enforce-

ment-Homeland SecurityInvestigations and U.S.Border Patrol assisted byZapata County sheriff ’sdeputies acted on informa-tion that a large amountof marijuana was beingheld at a residence in Za-pata.

Upon their arrival atthe suspected residence,Robles Perez, a Mexicannational legally in theUnited States at the time,answered the door andgave permission to searchthe property. He subse-quently informed theagents they would find ap-

proximately 600 pounds ofmarijuana hidden in atruck parked behind thehome.

Agents then discoveredapproximately 270 kilo-grams of marijuana hid-den in various placeswithin the vehicle. U.S.District Judge MarinaGarcia-Marmolejo, whoaccepted the guilty plea to-day, has set sentencing forMay 24.

Robles Perez faces aminimum of five and upto 40 years in prison and/or a $5 million fine to befollowed by a term of su-pervised release of at leastfour years. Assistant Unit-ed States Attorney Home-ro Ramirez prosecuted thecase.

Man pleads guilty topossessing marijuana

THE ZAPATA TIMES JOEL HUGO ROBLESPEREZ: Pleadsguilty to posses-sion of pot.

ACCIDENTA man called deputies at

8:56 p.m. Jan. 27 from FM 2687 toreport he struck a wild hog withhis vehicle.

ASSAULTLee Roy Salinas was arrest-

ed and charged with assault familyviolence at about 11:45 p.m. Jan.27 in the 1500 block of Falcon Ave-nue. A report states he assaultedhis wife. The man is out on bailfrom the Zapata Regional Jail.

A man reported at 10:42p.m. Wednesday in the 400 blockof Fresno Street that four strangersassaulted him at his house. An in-cident report states the man wastaken to Laredo Medical Center.

CRIMINAL TRESPASSDeputies conducted a traffic

stop Jan. 26 at 11:09 p.m. at 23rdAvenue and U.S. 83. There, author-ities served Roberto Holguin with acriminal trespass warrant. He wastaken to the Zapata Regional Jail.

DISORDERLY CONDUCTCarlos Javier Sanchez Jr.

was arrested and charged with dis-orderly conduct after a fight in pro-

gress was reported at 12:22 a.m.Jan. 26 at Seventh and Mirafloresstreets. The man was taken to theZapata Regional Jail.

Simon Alberto Martinez wasarrested and charged with disorder-ly conduct at about 5:45 a.m. Jan.26 in the 1400 block of RamireñoAvenue. The man was taken to theZapata Regional Jail.

HIT AND RUNA woman reported at 5:22

p.m. Tuesday at Lowe’s at 10thStreet and U.S. 83 that another ve-hicle struck hers in the store’sparking lot.

MINOR IN POSSESSION OFALCOHOL

Rogelio de Jesus Huerta wasarrested and charged with minor inpossession of alcohol at about12:45 a.m. Jan. 29 at 23rd Avenueand Glenn Street. The man wastaken to Zapata Regional Jail.

POSSESSIONDeputies arrested Jose Ar-

mando Lara Jr. and Estela Sanchezafter a search warrant executedlate Jan. 26 in the 100 block ofKens Way in Rhoda Maria Estates.An incident report states the peo-

ple were found in possession of co-caine. They were charged with pos-session of a controlled substanceand taken to the county jail.

Mario Alberto Martinez andHector Abel Solis were arrested af-ter a traffic stop at Seventh Streetand Villa Avenue in the Medina Ad-dition at about 12:30 a.m. Jan. 29.Both are facing charges of posses-sion of marijuana. They were takento the Zapata Regional Jail.

Deputies arrested Roel Ra-mirez for possession of a controlledsubstance at about 2:15 a.m. Tues-day at 16th Street and Villa Ave-nue. He was taken to the ZapataRegional Jail.

PUBLIC INTOXICATIONServando Rafael Garcia was

arrested and charged with publicintoxication at about 3:30 a.m. Jan27 at 10th Street and Roma Ave-nue in the Medina Addition. He wastaken to the Zapata Regional Jail.

Jose Angel Ceja was arrestedand charged with public intoxica-tion at about 3:45 a.m. Jan. 29near the Aqua Bar off of SouthU.S. 83. An incident report statesCeja was found intoxicated outsidethe establishment after it wasclosed. He was taken to the ZapataRegional Jail.

THE BLOTTER

NUEVO LAREDO02/04 — Colectivo La

Aurora y Gorguz Teatro pre-sentan “El Prólogo” a las 7p.m. en el Acervo de Esta-ción Palabra. Para adolescen-tes y adultos. Texto y direc-ción de Eduardo Guardado;actuaciones de BenjamínCruz-Grande y Eduardo Guar-dado.

02/04 — Expresión/Ex-press presenta la obra “LilithVs Eva” y “Asmodeo VsAdán” de Lorena Illoldi y Mi-guel Cedano, respectivamen-te, a partir de las 7 p.m. enel Teatro Lucio Blanco de laCasa de la Cultura. Entradagratuita.

02/05 — Expresión pre-senta la obra “Mi viuda yano me llora” de Román Sar-mentero, a las 7 p.m. en elTeatro Lucio Blanco de laCasa de la Cultura. Entradagratuita.

02/09 — Epidauro Tea-tro presenta “Homenaje aTomás Urtuástegui” (obrascortas) a las 7 p.m. en elTeatro Lucio Blanco de laCasa de la Cultura. Entradagratuita.

02/10 — EscritoriosPoéticos presenta “Actividadde Paralibro” en Paseo Re-forma a las 4 p.m. Entradagratuita.

02/10 — Museo ReyesMeza invita a la inauguraciónde “Campo Unificado: LaFrontera” de Beatriz Ezban,a las 6 p.m.

02/10 — Teatropólis,UAT presentan “El Vigía” deRomán Sarmentero a las 7p.m. en el Teatro Lucio Blan-co de la Casa de la Cultura.Entrada gratuita.

LAREDO02/04 — El Festival de

Música y Danza para la Ju-ventud de la WBCA es de 2p.m. a 5 p.m. en el Audito-rio del Centro Cívico de La-redo. Entrada gratuita.

02/04 — Hoy es el pri-mer Festival Fronterizo de laCerveza (Border Beer Fest)en la Laredo InternationalFair & Exposition Pavillion,sobre US Hwy. 59, de 6 p.m.a 11 p.m. Costo: 25 dólaresen preventa y 35 dólares enla puerta; conductores desig-nados pagan 10 dólares.

02/04 — La 17ma. Galade Danza Anual “Noche deCabaret” del Concilio LulacNo. 7 es hoy de 7 p.m. a 1a.m. en el Laredo Civic Cen-ter Ballroom. Costo: 20 dóla-res por persona.

02/04 — Gala para laCata de Vino del Boys &Girls Club de Laredo a las 7p.m. en Laredo CountryClub. Mesas para 10 perso-nas entre 2.500 a 5.000 dó-lares.

02/04 — Hockey: Lare-do Bucks recibe a WichitaThunder a las 7:30 p.m. enLaredo Energy Arena.

02/04 — LTGI y TAMIUpresentan “Macbeth” en elteatro del CFPA de TAMIU alas 8 p.m. Costo: 15 dólaresgeneral y 10 dólares para es-tudiantes. Otra función el 5de febrero a las 3 p.m.; y el9 y 10 de febrero a las 8p.m.

02/07 — “Taste of Lare-do” (evento de la WBCA) enLaredo Energy Arena a partirde las 7 p.m. Costo: adultos22 dólares; niños de 12 añosy menores por 12 dólares.

02/07 — American His-torical Theatre presenta Ge-orge Washington, en unapresentación a cargo deUnion Paciifc Railroad a las7 p.m. en el Center for theFine and Performing Arts deTAMIU. Entrada gratuita.

02/09 — Inicia el Car-naval de la WBCA en el es-tacionamiento de LaredoEnergy Arena. Puertas abrena las 5 p.m. entre semana;fines de semana puertasabren a las 12 p.m. Costo: 2dólares. Boletos de preventaa 7 dólares en las escuelasy en el kiosko del Mall delNorte.

Agendaen Breve

Zfrontera PÁGINA 7ASÁBADO 4 DE FEBRERO DE 2012

CD. VICTORIA, México— En Tamaulipas se hanpresentado 16 casos de in-fluenza estacional estatemporada, y la Secretaríade Salud de Tamaulipas(SST) negó la muerte deuna persona debido a laInfluenza A-H1N1.

Esta semana, se confir-mó la positividad de tresnuevos casos de influenzaestacional en las jurisdic-ciones sanitarias de Rey-nosa, Padilla y Tampico.

El Secretario de Salud,

Norberto Treviño García-Manzo, explicó que la dis-tribución de casos por ju-risdicción sanitaria es elsiguiente: Reynosa, 6 ca-sos con una defunción;

Nuevo Laredo, 3 casos;Valle Hermoso, 2 casos (lo-calizados en el municipiode Rio Bravo); Victoria, 2casos; Tampico, 2 casos; yPadilla, 1 caso confirma-

do.Treviño aclaró que la

persona de sexo masculinode 34 años de edad que fal-leció en el Hospital Gener-al de Reynosa el 31 de en-

ero, fue debido a neumo-nía y no por el virus delA-H1N1.

“Tanto las muestraspositivas como la negati-va, fueron analizadas yconfirmadas por el Labo-ratorio Estatal de SaludPública”, sostuvo.

Concluyó diciendo quela influenza estacional es-tá bajo control epidemio-lógico, con una transmi-sión restringida, focaliza-da y desacelerada, “singenerar brotes epidémi-cos, ni alerta, ni emergen-cia sanitaria”.

SECRETARÍA DE SALUD DESCARTA MUERTE POR A-H1N1

Todo está bajo controlTIEMPO DE ZAPATA

“La influenza estacional está bajo controlepidemiológico, con una transmisión restringida,focalizada y desacelerada”.NORBERTO TREVIÑO GARCÍA-MANZO, SECRETARIO DE SALUD

ZAPATA, Texas – El quinto torneo anual de ti-ro deportivo y cocina celebrado el 28 de eneroen apoyo del Zapata Boys & Girls Club recau-

dó más de 100.000 dólares, que se traduce en lamayor cantidad total recaudada en la historia delevento.

El torneo constó de un curso de 12 estaciones detiro, de 100 objetivos con rifles calibre-12 (o más pe-queños). Este año, 31 equipos de cinco integrantescompitieron por un premio de 1.500 dólares alprimer lugar. Siete equipos compitieron para prep-arar la mejor fajita, pollo entero, costillas de puer-co, “pan de campo” y frijoles.

Alrededor de 400 residentes locales, junto con

empresarios y voluntarios, se unieron para apoyara la organización. Este es el evento para recaudarfondos más grande del año para el Boys & GirlsClub of Zapata, y le sostiene más de la mitad delpresupuesto del año.

El principal patrocinador del evento fue el BancoIBC-Zapata y se llevó a cabo en el rancho del Presi-dente del banco, Ricardo Ramírez.

“Es maravilloso ver cómo el evento sigue cre-ciendo tanto en cantidad recaudada de dinero comoen el gran apoyo de la comunidad”, dijo Ramírez.

Otros patrocinadores fueron: Texas Energy, CCForbes, US Liquids of Louisiana, Wolverine Con-struction, y R&P Ramirez.

El Zapata Boys & Girls Club otorga servicio amás de 400 niños registrados.

DEPORTES

CIFRA RÉCORD

Participantes que compitieron por el primer lugar del Torneo de Tiro de Zapata son, de izquierda a derecha: Chad Cooley,primer lugar; Andrew Clabough, cuarto lugar; Hank Shaper, segundo lugar; Danny Webb, tercer lugar.

Foto de cortesía | KGBTexas.communications

Torneo de tiro recauda fondospara Boys & Girls Club de Zapata

ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

El hombre que fue encontrado flotan-do en el Lago Falcon hace un par de se-manas murió ahogado, confirmó laJuez de Paz del Precinto 2 del Condadode Zapata, Juana María Gutiérrez.

El jueves por la tarde, Gutiérrezidentificó al hombre como José AlbertoVásquez García, de 41 años de edad, deMéxico.

La vocera del Consulado de Méxicoen Laredo, Ana Laura Benavides, dijoque oficiales del consulado siguen tra-tando de dar con familiares de la vícti-ma.

De acuerdo al Alguacil del Condadode Zapata, Sigifredo González Jr., ofi-ciales encontraron una tarjeta de iden-tificación de Nuevo Laredo, México, enel hombre.

El casoEl 24 de enero, la Oficina del Algua-

cil del Condado de Zapara recibió unallamada reportando un cuerpo flotandoa unas 4 millas río arriba de BeaconLodge. Guardabosques asistieron a ofi-ciales hacia la orilla del lago a las 4:45p.m.

A las 4:50 p.m., Gutiérrez pronunciómuerto al hombre. La autopsia se reali-zó a través de la Médico Forense delCondado de Webb, Dr. Corinne Stern.Tras recibir reportes de Stern, Gutiér-rez dijo que el hombre se había ahoga-do.

Un día después que el cuerpo de Vás-quez García fuera encontrado, Gonzá-lez dijo a The Zapata Times que elcuerpo no mostraba señales de ser unacto criminal.

El cuerpo de Vásquez García es elsegundo en ser recuperado del lagodesde diciembre 29, cuando un pesca-dor profesional escribió en su páginade Facebook que había encontrado res-tos humanos en aguas mexicanas delLago Falcón, al norte de San Ygnacio.

Al principio, las personas creían quepodían ser los restos de David Hartley,un esquiador baleado por miembros delcartel, mientras visitaba Guerrero Vie-jo hace más de un año. Días después,autoridades mexicanas aclararon quelos restos no eran los de Hartley.

(Localice a César G. Rodriguez en el728-2568 o en cesar@lmtonline.com)

ZAPATA

Revelannombrepersonaahogada

POR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZTIEMPO DE ZAPATA

La Procuraduría General de Jus-ticia del Estado (PGJE) fortaleciósu programa para alertar a los ciu-dadanos acerca de extorsiones tele-fónicas y secuestros.

Una característica es que las ex-torsiones telefónicas generalmentese realizan desde ciudades fuera deTamaulipas.

El procedimiento, dijo la PGJE,por lo regular es el siguiente:

Los delincuentes llaman al telé-fono de la víctima (especialmentecelulares) y dicen que la tienenvigilada, al igual que a sus famil-

iares; luego la obliga a viajar aotros lugares y hospedarse en de-terminado hotel, donde estarán ba-jo vigilancia.

Los victimarios también advier-ten que por ninguna circunstanciadeberán comunicarse con sus fa-miliares, ya que también ellos es-tán vigilados y pueden atentar con-tra sus vidas.

Los delincuentes se comunicancon los familiares de las víctimas yles exigen el pago de determinadacantidad de dinero, que deberá serdepositada en cuentas bancarias,previamente seleccionadas.

Entonces obligan a la víctima,

ya en calidad de secuestrada en unhotel, a mantenerse incomunica-das. A los familiares les urgen arealizar el depósito bancario paradejarlas en libertad.

RecomendacionesDebido a que ésta es la manera

de operar, la PGJE está recomen-dado lo siguiente:

Cuelgue de inmediato cuandoreciba una llamada intimidatoria oamenazadora.

Llame inmediatamente al 066.No responda una nueva lla-

mada ni mucho menos propor-cione información, hasta que entreen contacto con la autoridad corre-spondiente.

Comunicarse con familiarespara alértalos, por si recibieran al-guna llamada pidiendo rescate.

Evite proporcionar númerosa desconocidos.

La PGJE sostuvo que aunque eneste tipo de casos la personal querecibe la llamada telefónica notiene contacto con el delincuente,ni sufre daño físico alguno, el sen-timiento por lo regular es psicológ-ico, por lo que la víctima debe ev-itar caer en pánico.

SEGURIDAD

Procuraduría lanza alerta ante extorsionesTIEMPO DE ZAPATA

En la última semana de en-ero, militares de la Zona Octa-va, que incluye desde NuevoLaredo a Matamoros, México,arrestaron a 42 hombres queaseguran son miembros de ladelincuencia organizada.

Además confiscaron 7.3 tone-ladas de marihuana y 9,681kilos de cocaína.

También fueron aseguradas

189 armas de asalto (incluidasunas del tipo AK-47), pistolasde 49mm; 13,205 cartuchos y459 cargadores.

Los 42 sospechosos fueronpuestos a disposición de laSubprocuraduría de Investiga-ción Especializada en Delin-cuencia Organizada (SIEDO),para continuar con investiga-ciones a cargo de la Procuradu-ría General de la Republica(PGR).

La Secretaría de la DefensaNacional (Sedena) ademásagrega que adicionalmenteaseguraron más de 60,000 dosisde marihuana y cocaína. El re-porte no indica el peso total dela droga dividida en dosis.

“Los delincuentes cuentancon armas poderosas y grana-das de fragmentación, así comocamiones cisterna donde trans-portan gasolina”, indica el co-municado de Sedena.

FRONTERA

Sedena captura a 42 personasTIEMPO DE ZAPATA

HOUSTON — Texas fin-ancier R. Allen Stanfordhelped fake profits for hisCaribbean bank and funnelmillions of depositors’ dol-lars to a secret Swiss bankaccount used for personalexpenses, bribes to regula-tors and employee bonuses,the man who was incharge of the tycoon’sbooks told jurors Friday.

James M. Davis, the for-mer chief financial officerfor Stanford’s companies,testified the financier’sbank never reported an un-profitable year because heand Stanford fabricated fig-ures for annual reportsand other documents. Pros-ecutors claim Stanfordbilked investors out ofmore than $7 billion in amassive Ponzi scheme cen-tered on the sales of certif-icates of deposit, or CDs,from the bank on the is-land nation of Antigua.

Davis, 63, said the falsenumbers were meant tohide the fraud and showCDs purchased by inves-tors were doing well andthe bank itself was on solidfinancial footing.

“Was Stanford uncom-fortable with reporting toohigh a (profit) number?”prosecutor William Stell-mach asked Davis, theprosecution’s star witness.

“No,” Davis said before apacked courtroom that in-cluded Stanford’s mother,one of his daughters andtwo of the financier’s ex-employees — Gilberto Lo-pez and Mark Kuhrt —who have also been indict-ed and are free on bond asthey await trial in Septem-ber.

Authorities allege Stan-ford used depositors’ mon-ey to operate his business-es and pay for his lavishlifestyle and bribes to regu-lators and auditors. Theyalso say he lied to depos-itors by telling them theirmoney was being safely in-vested.

Stanford’s attorneys con-tend the financier was asavvy businessman whosefinancial empire, head-quartered in Houston, waslegitimate. They have sug-gested Davis, who worked21 years for Stanford, is be-hind the fraud.

Stanford is on trial for

14 counts, including mailand wire fraud, and facesup to 20 years in prison ifconvicted.

Davis said while thebank never reported an un-profitable year, it did haveto report at least one un-profitable quarter to keepup the charade: the thirdquarter of 2001 when the 9/11 terrorist attacks hap-pened.

“It would have been un-reasonable to report a prof-it when world markets col-lapsed,” he said.

Davis also testified Stan-ford transferred CD depos-its to a secret Swiss bankaccount the financier hadwith Societe Generale. Hesaid Stanford used themoney for “real estate pur-chases, paying for personalexpenses, beginning anoth-er company.”

Davis also said Stanfordhad him transfer somemoney from the Swiss ac-count to accounts the fin-ancier had in Houston andback to Antigua, wherebribes of at least $10,000 to$15,000 were paid everythree months to the topregulator on the island na-tion who oversaw the fin-ancier’s bank. Some of themoney from the secret ac-count was used to pay em-ployee bonuses, he said.

The Antigua regulator,Leroy King, helped tip thefinancier off in 2005 whenthe U.S. Securities and Ex-change Commission beganinvestigating the CD pro-

gram, Davis said. Stanfordhelp write the responseKing sent back to the SECin 2006 saying his agencyhad found nothing wrongat the bank, he said. Kinghas also been indicted inthe case and is awaiting ex-tradition to the U.S.

Davis testified fundsfrom the Swiss accountwere also used to regularlybribe Stanford’s outside au-ditor, C.A.S. Hewlett, whowas based in Antigua, withamounts as high as$180,000. Davis said Stan-ford considered Hewlett“greedy” but “indispens-able” to hiding the fraud.

Stanford worried aboutHewlett’s health and evenbrought him to Houstonfor a physical exam, hesaid. When Hewlett died inJanuary 2009, Stanford said“he was the lucky one,”Davis told jurors. Author-ities took over Stanford’scompanies the followingmonth.

Davis pleaded guilty tothree fraud and conspiracycharges in 2009 as part of adeal he made with prosecu-tors in exchange for a pos-sible reduced sentence. Histestimony, which startedThursday, is scheduled tocontinue Monday.

Stanford was once con-sidered one of the UnitedStates’ wealthiest people,with an estimated networth of more than $2 bil-lion. He’s been jailed with-out bond since being in-dicted in 2009.

Former executive:bank’s profits faked

By JUAN A. LOZANOASSOCIATED PRESS

Attorney David Finn and James Davis, former chief financial officerof Stanford International Bank Ltd., leave court Thursday in Hous-ton. Prosecutors allege financier R. Allen Stanford masterminded afraud in which he bilked investors out of more than $7 billion.

Photo by Mayra Beltran | AP

SAN ANTONIO — The once-a-decadefight over political boundaries in Texashas been so frenetic that a Democrat whobolted for the GOP saw his state Housedistrict redrawn solidly blue, optedagainst re-election, then got new hopefrom the U.S. Supreme Court that itmight go red again.

And amid all the confusion, a deadlineof Monday looms for some kind of redis-tricting compromise.

Aaron Peña’s situation epitomizes a le-gal clash driven by new census numbersthat show a burgeoning Hispanic popula-tion in Texas. The stakes are unusuallyhigh because the nation’s second-largeststate is adding four congressional seats— and the way they’re divvyed up couldbe pivotal in determining which partycontrols the U.S. House.

The GOP-dominated Legislature gotthe first crack at drawing new maps forCongress and the Statehouse. But nowthe matter is being hashed out in federalcourtrooms in San Antonio and Wash-ington, D.C., because Texas is one of thestates required to prove to the U.S. gov-ernment that its election changes don’tdiscriminate against minorities. The U.S.Supreme Court has already weighed in.

The state and a coalition of minoritygroups have until Monday to compro-mise on temporary maps, or see theApril 3 Texas primaries pushed possiblyinto May or even later. That would likelystrip away any influence Texas mighthave had in selecting the Republicannominee for president.

“Something needs to happen,” said Pe-ña, who represented his House districtalong the U.S.-Mexico border for a decadeas a Democrat before switching partieslast year. “We need certainty.”

Peña’s district became a Democraticstronghold under a court ruling, but thenthe U.S. Supreme Court signaled notenough deference was shown to the mapsdrawn by Republicans in the Legislature.If the district is changed again, thatcould cause Peña to seek re-election afterall.

But even if there’s a temporary deal byMonday, it’s no quick-fix. Millions of vot-er registrations need to be mailed, candi-dates still have campaigns to launch, andpolitical action committees must quicklydecide where to spend.

It’s the fourth straight decade that Tex-as’ redistricting plans have been hotlycontested in court. In 2003, dozens of Tex-as Democrats famously fled the state andcamped out at a Holiday Inn in Oklaho-ma to prevent passage of a Republican-drawn map. Furious GOP leaders wantedthe FBI to track them down.

While there have been no similar the-atrics, plenty is on the line. Texas’ gainin congressional seats is twice as large asany other state’s, and those gains werelargely driven by nearly 3 million newHispanic residents. Minority groups ac-cused the GOP-controlled Legislature ofignoring those gains and illegally dilut-

ing their voting power.Another wrinkle is getting the minor-

ity coalition suing the state — some nineseparate plaintiffs — to agree on thesame map. On Friday, several Texas con-gressional members sent Texas AttorneyGeneral Greg Abbott a letter warning thestate that all the parties need to agree onany deal or risk another court challenge.

While a San Antonio federal courttries to settle on a primary date, anotherfederal court in Washington announcedthis week that a separate issue overwhether the maps violate the VotingRights Act won’t be decided for at least amonth.

That further dampened the likelihoodof an April 3 primary and set off a freshround of groans around the state.

The influential Texas Farm Bureau,which spent more than $650,000 on racesin 2010, may endorse far fewer candi-dates than normal this year because ofthe little time to screen candidates, saidJim Sartwelle, the organization’s directorof public policy.

“We’re in complete chaos right now,”Sartwelle said. “We’re at a total stand-still.”

So are election workers. Minoritygroups have paraded elections adminis-trators from the state’s largest countiesinto federal court to testify about thedaunting task of organizing a primary ononly weeks’ notice. Millions of voter reg-istration cards tailored to the new mapwould have to be mailed, and workerswould need to go street-by-street to checkprecinct numbers and program thou-sands of ballots.

Elections workers statewide want 12weeks’ notice before a primary but aremore likely to only get six or seven, saidJackie Callanen, the Bexar County elec-tions administrator in San Antonio.More than a quarter of the 875,000 regis-tered voters there will be moved into newsubgroups or precincts, she said.

Those preparations will be made eventougher — and more costly — if Texassettles on a split primary: one for thepresidential nomination and the otherfor the rest of the ballot. The Texas Dem-ocratic Party submitted in a filing thisweek that it wouldn’t oppose a split pri-mary if the state picked up the tab.

Larger counties around Dallas andSan Antonio say those costs would ex-ceed $1 million. Officials from smaller,cash-strapped rural counties have testi-fied they might have to lay off employeesto cover the costs of holding split elec-tions.

“The workload on this just feels monu-mental,” Callanen said. “We’ve never hadsuch a tight turnaround.”

With the entire state stuck in politicalpurgatory, even frustrated Democrats areborrowing tactics from Republican Gov.Rick Perry — a former presidential con-tender — in hopes of a final fix.

Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davisurged Texans this week to do what Perryproclaimed when the state was grippedby drought last year. He asked them topray.

Rep. Aaron Peña, R-Edinburg, is sworn in at the 82nd Texas Legislature in Austin, on Jan. 11. Peña,who changed parties, opted against re-election due to ever-shifting political boundaries.

Photo by Eric Gay | AP

Elections in limboover redistricting case

By PAUL J. WEBERASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — An estimated32,000 Texas school employ-ees, 12,000 of them teachers,already have lost their jobsdue to $5.4 billion in educa-tion cuts the state Legisla-ture imposed, a school ad-vocacy group said lastweek, and said more layoffsare likely on the way.

The Texas State Teach-ers Association wants Gov.Rick Perry to call a speciallegislative session to tapthe state’s $7.3 billionrainy-day fund and fill edu-cation funding gaps, some-thing the GOP-dominatedLegislature refused to dolast summer. Perry, his eyethen on an ultimately un-successful run for the Re-publican presidential nomi-nation, also opposed usingthe fund.

“It’s time to stop thebleeding and stop the cutsnow,” association presidentRita Haecker said atWednesday’s news confer-ence.

She said lawmakerscould draw $2.5 billionfrom the fund just for edu-cation next year. Her groupis distributing petitionsstatewide urging a specialsession.

The Legislature isn’tscheduled to reconvene un-til 2013, and Perry spokes-woman Allison Castle saidWednesday that, “there areno plans to call a specialsession on this or any oth-er issue.”

Haecker quoted job-lossestimates from Moak,Casey & Associates, aschool finance consulting

firm. The firm also esti-mates that more than 8,200elementary school classesin Texas are now largerthan the 22-student maxi-mum state law allows. Ele-mentary schools can seekwaivers to exceed the class-size limit, and many havedone so.

The exact number ofeducation jobs that havebeen lost won’t be clear un-til March, when the TexasEducation Agency releasesits employment data.

The Legislature cut $4billion over the next twoyears in funding for schooldistricts — the first de-crease in per-studentspending in Texas sinceWorld War II. Lawmakers

also cut $1.4 billion ingrants for education pro-grams.

This school year, dis-tricts saw about a 6 percentcut across the board. Nextyear, there will be a $2 bil-lion reduction that affectssome schools more thanothers. Haecker said dis-tricts will soon begin devis-ing next year’s budget,promising more job cuts.

More than 500 school dis-tricts encompassing about3.3 million students havefiled lawsuits against thestate, charging that theLegislature violated Texasconstitutional guaranteeson education funding —but those cases will likelymean years of litigation.

32,000 ed jobs lost in cutsBy WILL WEISSERTASSOCIATED PRESS

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES State SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012 THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

a lawyer filed a claimagainst the district statingthat he intended to file alawsuit alleging an uniden-tified girl ate a sugar cook-ie laced with the semen ofthe first teacher arrested,Mark Berndt.

Earlier this week,Berndt, who worked at theschool for 32 years, wascharged with committinglewd acts on 23 children,ages 6 to 10, between 2005and 2010. He remains jailedon $23 million bail andcould face life in prison ifconvicted.

Lawyer Raymond Bouch-er, whose Beverly Hillsfirm specializes in sexualabuse lawsuits againstschool districts, religiousinstitutions and hospitals,said the legal claim of be-half of “Jane Doe 1” allegesthe district did not take ad-equate steps to preventBerndt from repeatedlyabusing children after offi-cials received complaintsabout him.

After news broke earlyFriday about Springer be-ing removed from the class-room, several parents tooktheir children out of theschool.

Ida Santana said her sis-ter called her and told herto pick up her nephew.

“It’s hard to leave our

LOS ANGELES — A sec-ond teacher at an inner-cityelementary school where ateacher is accused of com-mitting lewd acts on 23children was arrested Fri-day on suspicion of fon-dling two girls in his class-room.

Los Angeles Countysheriff ’s Capt. Mike Parkersaid Martin B. Springer, 49,of Alhambra was arrestedfour days after allegationssurfaced against the firstteacher, but there was noknown connection betweenthe two cases. Springer wasbeing held on $2 millionbail.

The expanding case hasshocked the nation andthrown a chill into its sec-ond-largest school district,with 650,000 studentsacross hundreds of campus-es.

Parker said the victimsin the second case wereabout 7 and 8 years old andwere fondled once each in aclassroom at MiramonteElementary School duringthe past three years.

Detectives interviewedSpringer and the allegedvictims on Thursday andhad him under surveil-lance. He was arrested Fri-day as he exited a schooldistrict building in SouthLos Angeles, Parker said.

Detectives anticipatethat more victims mightcome forward, he said.

A phone message left atSpringer’s home was notimmediately returned.

Los Angeles UnifiedSchool District Superin-tendent John Deasy saidthe district plans to fireSpringer next week.

“We are prepared to firehim next week and we’ll dothat at the next board meet-ing for inappropriate con-duct and inappropriatelytouching students,” the su-perintendent told KTTV.

In a related development,

kids here,” Santana said.“We can’t trust the teach-ers no more. Now there’sanother teacher.”

The development involv-ing the second teacher wasmade public a day after au-thorities acknowledgedthat 18 years ago, a 10-year-old girl claimed Berndttried to fondle her.

Prosecutors declined tofile charges against Berndtin the 1993 report, sayingthey didn’t have enoughevidence. Berndt, who de-nied the allegation at thetime, was never arrested.

The details of that caseand other claims by twoformer students aboutstrange behavior by Berndtsurfaced just three days af-ter his arrest.

The allegations raisedfurther questions aboutwhy he wasn’t disciplinedby school officials, whohave been lambasted bysome parents for waiting ayear to reveal that Berndtwas suspected of blindfold-ing children and feedingthem his own semen in hisclassroom in what childrenwere allegedly told was atasting game.

School officials and in-vestigators said proper pro-cedures were followed to in-vestigate and build a caseagainst the teacher.

2nd teacher arrested

Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lt. John Babbit speaks to the mediaoutside the Miramonte Elementary School in Los Angeles on Friday.A second teacher pulled from a classroom at Miramonte Ele-mentary School this week was arrested Friday.

Photos by Damian Dovarganes | AP

By ROBERT JABLONASSOCIATED PRESS

DENVER — The mostpowerful storm of the win-ter season pounded Col-orado and parts of neigh-boring states on Friday,creating whiteout condi-tions on the easternplains, cancelling morethan 600 flights in Denverand closing hundreds ofmiles of highway betweenmajor Colorado cities andthe Kansas border.

Snow piled up to 6 feeton Rocky Mountain foot-hills — and it was a wel-come boost to several skiresorts that have sufferedbelow-average snowfallthis season. But whileEcho Mountain and otherresorts close to Denver cel-ebrated up to 40 inches ofpowder, the storm onlydusted larger resorts, likeVail, with a few inches inColorado’s Rockies.

“It’s been fantastic,”said Scott Gales, a spokes-man for Echo Mountain,about 25 miles west ofDenver. “We only hadabout 26 or 27 inches thismorning. Now we’re over

40 and it’s still snowing atthe rate of an inch or twoan hour.”

The Colorado Ava-lanche Information Centerissued warnings for slopeseast of the Continental Di-vide until noon Saturday,saying 2 feet or more ofnew snow could easilyoverrun the weak, exist-ing snow pack.

Blizzard conditions hitColorado’s eastern plains,with 5-foot drifts in partsof Elbert County. Severeweather struck parts ofsoutheast Wyoming, west-ern Kansas and Nebraska,where a band of heavysnow stalled, dumpingnearly 13 inches in somespots.

Icy snow made drivingdifficult as far south asNew Mexico.

A winter storm warn-ing remained in effect fora broad swath of the west-ern and central plainsfrom northeastern Colora-do, across most of Nebras-ka and into southeasternIowa. A blizzard warningwas lifted in Colorado butremained for four countiesin western Nebraska.

Snow was still fallingFriday night, with another2 to 4 inches expected inDenver and northeasternColorado. It was expectedto taper off by Saturday asthe storm moved east.

Earlier Friday, near-zerovisibility forced officialsto close all 160 miles ofwestbound Interstate 70between the Kansas stateline and Denver. A 70-milestretch of eastbound I-70from Denver to the plainstown of Limon also wasclosed. Highway officialssaid the freeway wouldlikely remain closed over-night Friday.

Parts of I-70 were downto one lane west of Denver,and chain laws were in ef-fect throughout the moun-tains.

Major state highwaysstretching eastward fromDenver, Colorado Springsand other front-range ci-ties also were closed be-cause of blizzard condi-tions in the plains coun-ties of Kit Carson, Elbert,Lincoln, Cheyenne and ElPaso. The closures wereexpected to remain untilSaturday.

University of Colorado freshman Tucker Brumley grinds a rail Friday, at New Vista High School inBoulder, Colo. A powerful winter storm swept across Colorado on Friday as it headed east.

Photo by Jeremy Papasso/The Daily Camera | AP

Heavy snow hits Colo.By STEVEN K. PAULSON

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— Members of a majordrug trafficking and moneylaundering Albuquerqueorganization recentlynamed in an indictmenthad connections to thedeadly Sinaloa drug cartelin Mexico, federal officialssaid Friday.

Drug Enforcement Ad-ministration special agentKeith Brown said that the15 men named in a 29-count federal indictmentunsealed last week workedas a large-scale marijuanaand cocaine distributor forthe violent cartel.

“This was a huge organi-zation that had a lot of im-

pact on drug sales in Albu-querque,” said Brown.“These organizations arewhat feed the cartels.”

The indictment stemsfrom a multi-agency, nine-month investigation intothe major criminal empirethat federal officials said al-so operated in parts of Tex-as and Florida.

According to the indict-ment, the 15 men were partof a group that distributedcocaine, methamphetamineand marijuana betweenMay 2011 and January. ButBrown said authorities be-lieve it had been operatingfor several years.

Last week, a team of fed-eral and local authoritiesarrested most of the mennamed in the indictment

and executed 10 searchwarrants at Albuquerqueresidences and a ranch inEdgewood. Authorities saidthey seized 26 kilograms ofcocaine, 500 pounds of mar-ijuana and $165,000 in cash.

“The charges in this in-dictment are some of themost significant drug andmoney laundering chargesever filed in the District ofNew Mexico,” said U.S. At-torney Kenneth Gonzales.

Brown said authoritiesbelieve the group was re-sponsible for bringing inhundreds of kilos of co-caine and thousands ofpounds of marijuana andthe bust “hurts the cartelswhere it counts.”

Federal authorities saidsome of the men bought

eight race horses and mayhave used them to hidetheir business dealings.

Of the 15 named in theindictment, federal officialssaid two remained at large.

Among those arrestedwere Steve Chavez, 32, afirefighter with the Albu-querque Fire Department,and Homero Varela, 29,who authorities say wasthe leader of the group.

Authorities said Chaveztried to hide more than$100,000 from various drugsales by depositing andwithdrawing cash in Bankof America and Wells Far-go banks in New Mexicoand Tampa, Fla.

A federal judge deniedbond this week to Chavez,who authorities also said

told investigators that hespied on federal drugagents.

Chavez’ attorney, JasonBowles, called the spyingaccusations false and saidauthorities didn’t seize anylarge amounts of money onChavez or any amount ofdrugs.

Varela turned himself in-to authorities shortly afterlast week’s announcement.

Brown said authoritieswere able to link the Albu-querque group to a mem-ber of the Sinaloa cartelthrough surveillance ofcellphone conversations.

The Sinaloa cartel head-ed by Joaquin “El Chapo”Guzman, is consideredMexico’s most powerfultrafficking organization.

Guzman is Mexico’s mostwanted man and had beencalled by U.S. authoritiesthe “world’s most powerfuldrug trafficker.”

Guzman, 54, keeps au-thorities running with thesupport of many locals inhis home in northwesternSinaloa state, where he re-portedly uses his wealth tohelp the poor and his drug-trafficking business to keepmany employed. He isthought to be hiding out inthe mountains of the “Gold-en Triangle” straddling Si-naloa and Durango states— territory so remote andlawless that housewivesgrow opium poppies fordecoration and it can takepolice hours to reach thescene of shootings.

NM drug trafficking ring linked to Sinaloa cartelBy RUSSELL CONTRERAS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

birding, hunting, fishingand hiking central to thearea’s economy, which hasrelied in the past on the oiland gas industry.

Zapata County has longbeen a destination for so-called winter Texans andother eco-tourists lookingfor the outdoors experienceZapata offers, especially inregards to fishing.

So as drilling productiondiminishes in the Zapataarea, the county hasplanned a transition froman economy that relies on

oil and gas production toone whose focal point is theoutdoors and the people itattracts to the area, Uribesaid.

“The county is recogniz-ing it has a role to play increating a good environ-ment for its residents andits guests,” he said. “Withall of those elements inplay, the Commissioner’sCourt, when faced with thepossibility that there wouldbe expansion of a dump,notified me. They consultedwith me, and together we

decided that it would be inthe best interest to Zapata,its residents, its visitorsand to the long-term futureto oppose the expansionand permit.”

For now the county andthe residents of the historicSan Ygnacio communityawait the Railroad Com-mission’s decision. If thedecision doesn’t go theirway, the county would like-ly appeal it, officials said.

(JJ Velasquez may bereached at 728-2567 or jjve-lasquez@lmtonline.com)

OILFIELD Continued from Page 1A

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

BELGRADE, Serbia —At least 11,000 villagershave been trapped by heavysnow and blizzards in Ser-bia’s mountains, author-ities said Thursday, as thedeath toll from Eastern Eu-rope’s weeklong deep freezerose to 122, many of themhomeless people.

The harshest winter indecades has seen temper-atures in some regionsdropping to minus minus22 F and below, and hascaused power outages, traf-fic chaos and the wide-spread closure of schools,nurseries and airports.

The stranded in Serbiaare stuck in some 6,500homes in remote areas thatcannot be reached due toicy, snow-clogged roadswith banks reaching up to16 feet. Emergency crewswere pressing hard to tryto clear the snow to deliverbadly needed supplies.

On Bosnia’s Mt. Romani-ja, near Sarajevo, a chopperthumped down in the smallhamlet of Ozerkovici,where a single nun lives ina Serb Christian Orthodoxmonastery surrounded byjust a few village residents.

Wrapped tight in a blackjacket and a scarf, SisterJustina greeted aid work-

ers at her monastery: “Ilive alone here,” she said.“God will help me.”

In Serbia, relief effortsare concentrated on evac-uating the sick, on food de-livery and gasoline distri-bution.

“We are trying every-thing to unblock the roadssince more snow and bliz-zards are expected in thecoming days,” Serbianemergency police officialPredrag Maric told The As-sociated Press.

He said “the most dra-matic” situation is nearSerbia’s southwestern townof Sijenica, where it hasbeen freezing cold or snow-ing for 26 days, and dieselfuel supplies used by snow-plows are running low.

Most people in the vil-lages will have enough foodsupplies stored up for thewinter, Maric said, but hewarned those who arestranded not to try to goanywhere on their own andto call emergency servicesif they need help.

Newly reported deathson Thursday because of thecold included 20 in Uk-raine, nine in Poland, eightin Romania, and one moreeach in Serbia and theCzech Republic. In WesternEurope, one person was re-ported dead in Germany.

Polish governmentspokeswoman Malgorzata

Wozniak said her country’svictims were mostly home-less people under the influ-ence of alcohol who hadsought shelter in unheatedbuildings. Officials ap-pealed to the public toquickly help anyone theysaw in need and homelessshelters were full.

In Warsaw, where thetemperature Wednesdaynight was minus 8 F, thecorridors of the Monarhomeless shelter werefilled with drying washing,and the residents crammedinto a small dining roomwith bowls of soup.

Martyna, pregnant andunemployed, said she wasgrateful to find a placethere after her family re-jected her and her partner.

“This is the only safeplace for me, where I canlive and hide — from thissudden cold, too,” the 22-year-old said.

Brothers Robert, 32, andWieslaw, 27, arrived lastweek from Inowroclaw, incentral Poland, saying theywere promised full-timejobs that never material-ized. They would have beenleft in the cold, but some-one told them to go to thecenter, which currentlyhouses 278 people.

“We don’t have to worryanymore where we willspend the night,” saidWieslaw.

Snow traps SerbiansBy DUSAN STOJANOVIC

AND MONIKA SCISLOWSKAASSOCIATED PRESS

Sports&OutdoorsSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

The Lady Hawks sewedup a postseason berth withone game to spare.

Zapata heads to the play-offs as the No. 2 seed behindDistrict 32-3A champion LaFeria, who clinched lastTuesday with a win overRio Hondo.

Zapata’s loss a week agoto Rio Hondo knocked theLady Hawks out of conten-tion for the district title.

The Lady Hawks had abye this past Tuesday, whichmight cost them. The com-petitive juices can be lostwhen taking a day off fromthe game.

Coach Hector Garcia Jr.has been keeping his LadyHawks busy, making surethey watch film and finishthe regular season strong.

“We (watch) the video onthe game that we justplayed and the team we areabout to play next,” Garciasaid. “We break down videoto see what is working andwhat we need to correct. Weimplemented it in practice

to see if the game planworks.”

No one plays bigger thansenior Shelby Bigler, who’sput up monstrous numbers.

Bigler averages 18 pointsper district game, alongwith 14 rebounds .

“Shelby has been playingwell for us and is scoringand rebounding in doubledigits,” Garcia said. “Shejust works very hard in thegame and has been a realasset to the team.”

HawksOn the boys side, the

Hawks are 3-5 in districtplay and 6-20 overall.

Against Rio Hondo, Zapa-ta matched up well, givingthe Bobcats a good game.

“We played Rio Hondothis past Friday (Jan. 27)and played very well,” Zapa-ta boys’ coach Juan Villar-real said. “We played themvery close but got in foultrouble and lost 66-51.”

Zapata played with an in-

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

Playoff boundLady Hawks clinch postseason berth

By CLARA SANDOVALTHE ZAPATA TIMES

Zapata Hawk Andy Gonzalez led the inexperienced Hawks throughdistrict, looking forward to next season.

Photo by Clara Sandoval | The Zapata Times

See BASKETBALL PAGE 2B

The Super Bowl,the Mecca of theNFL, is tomor-row night and it

cannot get here soonenough. I love the SuperBowl, and that is onething that I look forwardto on that holy Sunday toconclude the football sea-son. Not even the glori-fied Pro Bowl gets me ex-cited.

I love everything aboutit: from the pre-gameshow, to the hanging outwith my good friends, tothe food that will beserved.

One thing I don’t do ispick a team … well, may-be I have a soft spot forthe underdog, and thisyear I am leaning towardthe New York Giants.

Ironic, I am rooting fora team that is called theGiants, yet they are theunderdogs, at least in myeyes.

They are calling thisSuper Bowl the rematchafter meeting a few yearsago.

When New York beatthe previously unbeatenNew England Patriots afew years ago, I wasdancing on my couch forjoy.

The Patriots strolled inwith their 18-0 recordand were on the brink ofmaking history, to be-come the second team inthe NFL to go unbeatenand win a Super Bowl.

The 1972 Miami Dol-phins hold that distinc-tion, and New Englandwas poised to become thesecond team to accom-plish it.

New England had TomBrady, Mr. Handsome,and New York has EliManning, who looksmore like Opie from“The Andy GriffithShow.”

My goodness. DoesTom Brady have to bethat handsome, with hischiseled chin and smok-ing eyes? It has gotten tothe point where I despisehim. To top it all off, heis even married to a su-permodel, so you can addanother X against Mr.Gorgeous.

As you can tell, the Gi-ants will be my team —and no, I will not wearany Giants gear, althoughI might wear a blue Aber-cromie shirt, but first Ihave to find it in thething they call my closet.

To top things off, forthis Super Bowl, one ofmy favorite singers, Ma-donna, will be the half-time entertainment,something I am sure sheis familiar with in othercapacities.

Madonna tops the listof musicians I would liketo watch in a concert buthave never had the op-portunity to.

I do enjoy just the at-mosphere of the SuperBowl, but it’s the com-mercials that people can’twait to see and talkabout.

SuperSunday isupon us

See SANDOVAL PAGE 2B

The Zapata tennis teamsare young this year, return-ing only one player fromlast year that competed atthe district tournament.

Sophomore Trey Alvarez— the lone varsity return-ee — will utilize his experi-ence to bring along a youngteam.

As a freshman, Alvarezreached the finals in theboys’ singles, before losing

to eventual district cham-pion, La Feria’s Juan Ro-driguez.

Youth might scare somecoaches, but not Zapata’s.

The Hawk’s up-and-com-ing players — hailing fromZapata Middle — were thefirst players to start thetennis program at the mid-dle school level.

Currently, Zapata boasts19 boys and 20 girls for theupcoming season, withmostly freshmen and soph-omores making up the

teams.“Ordinarily if (I) have

only one returning letter-man in both the boys andgirls teams, I would belooking at a long season,but, fortunately for me, thisteam is very talented,” Za-pata coach Robert Alvarezsaid. “We have 19 boys and20 girls on our roster. Ourroster is made up mostly offreshmen and sophomores,but these kids have beenplaying since seventh gradewhen we first established

our middle school pro-gram.”

Robert Alvarez broughtalong players at a slowerpace, playing them at thejunior varsity level and theninth grade division togain experience.

The Hawks came awaywith the district title in theninth grade division andjunior varsity. The girls’team was runner up inboth categories.

HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS

SWEET STROKE

Zapata’s Trey Alvarez is the only returner with district-tournament experience on the youthful Hawks team.

Photo by Clara Sandoval | The Zapata Times

Hawks set to hold court with youthful teamsBy CLARA SANDOVAL

THE ZAPATA TIMES

See TENNIS PAGE 2B

D-Day — the day every-one across the state ofTexas waited for — cameand went Thursday whenthe University Interscho-lastic League announcedits new bi-annual districtrealignments.

Everyone held theirbreath when the newalignment lists were re-leased at 9 a.m. in allclassifications.

Zapata has a new dis-trict to call home thenext two years, as theHawks move to District31-3A, away from District32-3A.

“We knew that therewas an outside chancethat we would be going tothe Coastal Bend,” Zapa-ta head football coachand Athletic Director Ma-rio Arce said. “This wasjust a surprise to us andLa Grulla.”

Zapata joins Kings-ville, Rio Grande City LaGrulla and welcomesback Lyford and Ray-mondville to form a five-team district.

“This was a curve(ball) thrown at us,” Za-pata volleyball coach Ro-sie Villarreal said. “Wewere not expecting thatand we were hoping that

they did not throw us inwith the Corpus Christidistrict.”

La Grulla, Lyford,Kingsville and Raymond-ville made the playoffslast year in football. Theteams will test theHawks.

“This is going to be atough district with Ray-mondville and Lyfordadded to the mix,” Arcesaid. “They have beenthe top teams in the (RioGrande) Valley for thepast six or seven years.And Kingsville has themajority of their kidscoming back next year.”

Despite the new dis-trict, Arce still has thesame expectations for theentire boys’ and girls’programs.

“I like our chances inevery sport,” he said.“Our goals are the sameand they will not change— to go out there andwin.”

“We played some ofthese teams three yearsago and we will hold ourown again.”

Zapata leaves their old

UIL DISTRICT REALIGNMENT

Hawks fly intorealigned

District 31-3ABy CLARA SANDOVAL

THE ZAPATA TIMES

See DISTRICT PAGE 2B

MARIO ARCE: Zapata footballcoach andAthletic Director

PAGE 2B Zscores SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012

The Super Bowl com-mercials have becomean event unto them-selves, as people willrate the best ones andthe ones that just couldnot grab their atten-tion.

From what I under-stand, companies pay

millions for these com-mercials, and to havepeople vote againstthem … some peoplewill lose their jobs overthat.

Imagine working allyear long on a conceptand commercial for aSuper Bowl ad that

doesn’t get your mess-age across.

Like Donald Trumpsaid, “You’re fired.”

People in Zapata willgather at a goodfriend’s house or host aSuper Bowl party oftheir own to have agood time with some

great carne asada andhang out with familyand friends.

The Super Bowlbrings family andfriends together for agreat night of fun.

(Clara Sandoval canbe reached at sand-oval.clara@gmail.com)

SANDOVAL Continued from Page 1B

district of Port Isabel, La Feria,Rio Hondo and PSJA Southwest.

In volleyball, the Lady Hawksbattle teams like Lyford andRaymondville.

“Two years ago they were ve-ry competitive when we playedthem in district, and next year Iexpect the same thing,” Villar-real said.

Kingsville and Lyford areknown for their softball pro-grams.

Year after year, they go deepin the playoffs. Raymondvillehas solid overall boys’ and girls’programs.

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

DISTRICT Continued from Page 1B

Zapata’s nemesis is stateranked La Feria, whichruns its program like a 5Aschool playing tennis in thefall. Most 3A schools onlyhave spring tennis.

La Feria has months ofcompetition, strengtheningit, and hits the spring sea-son in full stride — despitenot being able to competefor a district title in thefall.

“They cannot competefor district, but they playmany of the Valley’s tough-est 4A and 5A programs,and even schools like Lare-do United in team tennismatches,” Robert Alvarezsaid.

With the top five playerson the boys team as the on-ly sophomores, the futurelooks bright for Zapata.

“I feel this team is al-ready more talented thanany other I have had. Thes-es boys work very hard thealways come to practice,they work hard in the sum-mer,” Robert Alvarez said.“They compete in USTAand open tournamentswhen the have the opportu-nity.”

Trey Alvarez heads intothe season as the No. 1 seedfor the boys team. He’s fol-lowed by sophomores AlexReyes (No. 2), Manuel Bena-vides (No. 3), senior TonyMendoza (No. 4), seniorJaime Zepeda (No. 5), soph-omore Carlos Poblano (No.6), sophomore Chris Davila(No. 7) and Collin Moffet(No. 8).

Playing doubles for theHawks are Reyes and Bena-videz, and Mendoza andZepeda.

“They (Reyes and Bena-vides) did very well in theUISD Winter Classic, reach-ing the quarterfinals,” Rob-

ert Alvarez said. Trey Alvarez and Moffet

are on tap to play in thesingles’ division with Po-blano and Davila teamingup with the girls team formixed doubles.

The Lady Hawks’ tennisteam is coming along withsophomore Gabriella Alva-rez taking the No. 1 seed onthe team.

Gabriella Alvarez is fol-lowed by seniors MarlenHurtado (No. 2), DanielaLopez (No. 3), Jeanina Ca-bugos (No. 4), Paola Jasso(No. 5), Erica Gonzalez (No.6), Virgie Solis (No. 7) andAndie Medina (No. 8).

Gabriella Alvarez andHurtado will play singleswhile Lopez, Cabugos, Me-dina and Gonzalez willteam up and play doubles.

Solis is slated to play inthe mixed-doubles’ divi-sion.

“I expect our team towork hard to get better ev-ery day, every week,” Rob-ert Alvarez said. “I have fo-cused more on condition-ing, agility and quicknessthan I ever have.”

Robery Alvarez, whostarted working with theplayers since starting thetennis program at the mid-dle school level, will nowfocus on the strategy sideof the game.

“The fact that most ofmy players have playedsince 7th grade allows meto focus less on basicgroundstroke, serving tech-niques and volleys becausethey already have a goodgrasp of these fundamen-tals and more on the finerpoints of the game,” hesaid. “I fully expect qualifysome players to regionaland compete for the districttitle.”

TENNIS Continued from Page 1B

experienced group that returns nextyear to try their luck in their newdistrict, which was revealed duringThursday’s realignment announce-ment.

Zapata finishes the season Tuesday

against Rio Grande City La Grulla.

Zapata Middle SchoolThe future looks bright for Zapata

with the recent success of ZapataMiddle School.

The eighth grade girls’ basketballA-team placed second in district play,while the B-team was crowned Dis-trict 32-3A eighth grade champion.

BASKETBALL Continued from Page 1B

The Zapata softballteam had its first opportu-nity to see what the sea-son brings, when theyscrimmaged Martin andUnited South on Jan. 31.

Zapata managed onlytwo hits — both from se-nior catcher MichelleArce — but witnessed theemergence of pitcher Ga-by Chapa, who took themound in the absence ofstarting pitcher EstellaMolina, who is still withthe basketball team.

Zapata coach JaimeGarcia lauded the play ofChapa and Liana Flores,who made early impres-sions.

The Lady Hawks alsoreleased their schedule.Zapata opens the seasonwith Cigarroa at home,Feb. 13, before pushing offto the one of the toughesttournaments in the RioGrande Valley, the Mis-sion Tournament, Feb. 16-18.

Zapata welcomes SanDiego Feb. 21 before head-ing down Highway 83 tothe La Joya Tournament,Feb. 23-25. The LadyHawks play Rio GrandeCity — a district foe — ina non-district contest onFeb. 28 before hosting theannual Lady Hawks Tour-nament March 2-3.

Zapata defends its dis-trict title when it opens

district play with Port Isa-bel on March 13.

Zapata Softball ScheduleJan. 31

*Zapata at Martin, United South;Junior Varsity, Varsity; 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

Feb.3*Zapata at Cigarroa;Junior Varsity, Varsity; 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

Feb. 6*Rio Grande at Zapata;Junior Varsity, Varsity; 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

Feb.11*Zapata at Roma, LBJ;Junior Varsity, Varsity; 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1p.m.

Feb.13Cigarroa at Zapata;Junior Varsity, Varsity; 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

Feb. 16-18Mission Tournament;Varsity; TBA

Feb. 21San Diego at Zapata;Junior Varsity, Varsity; 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

Feb. 23-25La Joya Tournament;Varsity; TBA

Feb. 28Grulla at Zapata;Junior Varsity, Varsity; 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

March 2-3Zapata Tournament;Varsity; TBA

March 13Zapata at Port Isabel;Junior Varsity, Varsity; 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

March 15PSJA-Southwest at Zapata;Junior Varsity, Varsity; 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

March 20Zapata at Rio Hondo;Junior Varsity, Varsity; 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

March 23Zapata at La Feria;Junior Varsity, Varsity; 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

March 27Rio Grande City Grulla at Zapata;Junior Varsity, Varsity; 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

March 30 Port Isabel at Zapata;Junior Varsity, Varsity; 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

April 3 Zapata at PSJA-Southwest;Junior Varsity, Varsity; 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

April 5 Rio Hondo at Zapata;Junior Varsity, Varsity; 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

April 10 La Feria at Zapata;Junior Varsity, Varsity; 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

April 13 Zapata at Rio Grande City Grulla;Junior Varsity, Varsity; 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

*ScrimmageDistrict games

Lady Hawkstake to

diamondBy CLARA SANDOVAL

THE ZAPATA TIMES

With each passing week, the Zapa-ta golf team puts its best swing for-ward when they hit the golf course.

Last Saturday, the Hawks took tothe UISD Invitational while the girlstook a week off from competition.

The Hawks were led by Tony Gu-tierrez, finishing in fourth placeamong some of the best players inDistrict 29-5A.

“He’s always up for tough chal-lenges. This past weekend was nodifferent,” Zapata coach Clyde Guer-ra Jr said. “A couple of mistakes onSaturday cost him a few strokes, butthat makes him work harder for ournext tourney.”

The tournament boasted regionalqualifiers — United senior ArchieRamos and Alexander junior LukeBegwin — but Gutierrez went toe-to-toe with them, staying in the topfour.

Teammate Ricky Prado came in23rd-place with a score of 95-97 for atwo-day total of 192, and RamiroTorres shot a 100-116-216

The team totaled 365 for the tour-nament.

“We did ok. It was a tough twodays of golf,” Guerra said. “Thewind never let up.”

Guerra likes the direction theteam is taking with two tourna-ments under itsbelt and is excitedabout the future of Zapata golf.

“We are headed in the right direc-tion,” he said. “Our boys are playingin tough tournaments. This will on-ly make them better as the seasonprogresses.”

The girls are currently playing atthe UISD Tournament in Laredo,wrapping up today. The boys havethe week off from competition.

Individual results1.Archie Ramos.............................United.............................74-74—1482.Cline Jones ...............................United ...............................82-75—1573.Luke Begwin ..........................Alexander ..........................83-74—1574.Tony Gutierrez............................Zapata............................78-81—1595.Jaime Hernandez .........................United .........................81-81—1626.Pedro Arguindegui.................St. Augustine.................82-81—1637.Brian Gates...............................United...............................81-83—1648.Ben Lira ..................................United ..................................82-85—1679.Connor Wilkinson .....................Alexander .....................90-82—17210.Bob Contreras...........................United...........................87-86—17311.Guillermo Aviles......................Alexander......................92-82—17412.Erik Velasquez...........................United...........................86-91—17713.Eddie Villareal............................Nixon............................93-89—182

14.Lupito Saenz .............................Nixon .............................92-91—18315.Mario Tamez ............................United ............................89-95—18415.Zachary Belcher .....................Alexander.....................97-87—18417.Esteban Palacios.....................Alexander.....................87-98—18518.Rene Rangel Jr. ......................Alexander ......................91-96—18718.Gustavo Zavala .............................LBJ .............................88-99—18720.Rocky Ortiz..............................United..............................89-99—18821.Daniel Zavala ...............................LBJ ...............................93-96—18922.Carlo Morales ....................St. Augustine ....................97-94—19123.Ricky Prado.............................Zapata.............................95-97—19223.Lucio Garcia..............................Nixon..............................93-99—19225.Danny Preciado ..........................Nixon ..........................96-99—19526.Marco Chaires...........................United...........................98-98—19627.Memo Villareal..........................Nixon..........................91-107—19828.Chris Mejia......................St. Augustine......................101-98—19929.Oscar Rios.......................United South.......................104-96—20030.Robert Guel .............................Nixon .............................98-106—20431.Ivan Lopez ..............................Nixon ..............................98-108—20632.Victor Padilla .............................LBJ .............................106-102—20833.Victor Martinez.......................Cigarroa.......................116-94—210

34.Armando Velasquez ......................LBJ ......................103-108—21135.Oscar Gonzalez..........................Nixon..........................98-114—21236.Matt Stark.........................Alexander.........................107-106—21337.Joey Lopez.........................Alexander.........................109-106—21538.Ramiro Torres.........................Zapata.........................100-116—21639.Matthew Cadena ..................Alexander ..................110-108—21840.Christian Recio ......................Cigarroa......................116-103—21941.Mike Benavidez .....................Cigarroa .....................117-108—22542.Isaac Castillo........................Cigarroa........................115-117—23243.Juan Capetillo.........................Martin.........................116-121—23744.Ruben Garza.......................Alexander.......................117-122—23945.Angel Moran....................United South....................125-119—24446.Joseph Salazar..............................................................126-121—24747.Arturo Flores ................................ ................................123-126—24948.Joey Blanquez.........................Martin.........................126-126—25249.Ricky Olivares.........................Martin.........................131-127—25850.Martin Davila..........................Martin..........................134-130—26451.Damien Flores.........................Martin.........................130-135—26551.James Odaffer ..............................................................132-133—265

In the swing of thingsBy CLARA SANDOVAL

THE ZAPATA TIMES

Zapata’s Ricky Prado sets up to tee off at the UISD Invitational at the Casa Blanca GolfCourse in Laredo, where he finished 23rd.

Photo by Clara Sandoval | The Zapata Times

ARLINGTON — Texas Rangersoutfielder and recovering drug ad-dict Josh Hamilton said Fridaythat he had a relapse that startedwith “three or four” drinks at aDallas-area bar this week, apologiz-ing for a “weak moment” and in-sisting he will try to make sure itdoesn’t happen again.

The 30-year-old Hamilton saidhis actions “are mine that hurt alot of people very close to me.”

Hamilton was suspended formore than three years for drug andalcohol use while in the TampaBay organization. The former No. 1overall draft pick missed the entire2004 and 2005 seasons, but has be-come one of the best players inbaseball on a team that has wonthe last two American League pen-nants. He was the AL MVP in 2010.

But Hamilton this week had hissecond known alcohol-related re-lapse in three years. Both cameduring the offseason.

In January 2009, he drank to ex-cess in a bar in Tempe, Ariz. Be-fore that, Hamilton said he hadbeen sober since Oct. 6, 2005.

Without being specific, Hamiltonsaid his weak moment Mondaynight came for “personal reasons”with a family member. He said hewalked to a restaurant to have din-ner and ended up ordering “threeor four drinks.”

Hamilton said he has not takenany drugs, and had no thoughts ofdoing so. He said he has been test-

ed for drugs twice this week, partof his normal routine. He said heexpects to meet soon with MajorLeague Baseball doctors and coun-selors in New York for an evalua-tion in his continued recovery.

Hamilton spoke for about 12minutes without using any pre-pared notes or taking any ques-tions. Though there were no tears,he struggled with his emotions attimes. He closed his eyes at onepoint, forced a smile at anothertime.

“My life in general is based onmaking the right choices, every-thing as far as my recovery, as faras my baseball goes, it’s all basedaround my relationship with theLord,” Hamilton said. “And I lookat it like that, you all know howhard I play on the field and I giveit everything I absolutely have.When I don’t do that off the field, Ileave myself open for a weak mo-ment.”

After having a few drinks withdinner, Hamilton called Ian Kinslerto come hang out with him.

Hamilton said Kinsler didn’tknow he had been drinking, andthat he never had a drink in frontof his teammate, even when theyleft before the restaurant closedand went to another place nearbyfor 25-30 minutes. Then Kinslerdrove him back to where he wasstaying not far away.

Though Hamilton told Kinslerhe was not going anywhere else,Hamilton said he later returned tothe place they had left had hadmore drinks.

“Things happened that me, per-sonally, I’m not proud of after Idrank, and they are personal andare being handled as that,” he said.“Knowing this was going to get outin social media, Twitter, people getexcited. There was no pictures tak-en of me having a beer with some-body or anything like that, but Idid take pictures with people.”

Months after the 2009 incident, adozen or so pictures were postedonline showing Hamilton takingshots off the bar, and dancing andhugging several young women. Hepublicly apologized then.

In Twitter posts Friday, Hamil-ton’s wife, Katie, wrote: “Truly ap-preciate all the encouraging & sup-portive tweets we’ve been getting.God is Faithful and forgives- sothankful that you all are ... Show-ing us such love and encourage-ment during this time.”

When the Rangers acquired himfrom the Cincinnati Reds in De-cember 2007, they were aware ofHamilton’s off-the-field problems.He is tested for drug use threetimes a week and has had an ac-countability partner to supporthim in his recovery — though thatjob is now vacant.

Assistant hitting coach JohnnyNarron’s primary role was to sup-port the former No. 1 overall draftpick, but Narron left the Rangersin November for Milwaukee.

Hamilton explains relapseBy STEPHEN HAWKINS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

JOSH HAMILTON: Rangers’outfielder and recover-ing addict had an re-lapse earlier this week.

DENNISTHE MENACE

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012 THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

Dear Readers: A readerrecently shared her con-cerns regarding PET SIT-TERS. The reader foundthat none of the pet sittersin her area was bonded,and most of them keephouse keys with address in-formation on them. Hereare other reader responses:

Mark and Mary, viaemail, say: “We’re pet sit-ters and could not agreemore with the reader. A petsitter should not only bebonded, but licensed (BUSI-NESS license — Heloise)and insured as well. A fewother suggestions:

“ Anyone doing pet sit-ting should give the poten-tial client a free in-homeconsultation, so that the cli-ent can ask questions anddiscuss special services thepets need.

“ Will the person do-ing the interview be theperson taking care of thepets, or will it be someoneelse?

“ Is the person caringfor your four-legged babiescertified in pet CPR andfirst aid?”

A reader in Washingtonsays: “Our daughter was aprofessional ’critter sitter.’She had the usual ring ofkeys for her clients. Hermethod was essentially fool-proof in identification. Allof her keys had ONLY thename of the critter. Verysimple yet very secure.”

— HeloisePET PAL

Dear Readers: Marcy ofMaurepas, La., sent a photoof her dog, Josie Henley, onher way to a hunting camp.Look at her reflection in themirror! To see Josie, visitwww.Heloise.com and clickon “Pets.” — Heloise

COLLEGE HINTDear Heloise: When shop-

ping for items for a dormroom, a wastebasket is oneof the must-have items.Thinking of the limitedspace, you opt for a smaller,room-size garbage can.

Once I got to school, I quick-ly realized that I shouldhave gotten a normal-sizegarbage can to hold all thefast-food remains. It wouldkeep me from having tomake daily trips to the maintrash bin. When I go back toschool next time, I definitelywill be getting a larger-sizegarbage can! — Adriana U.,West Palm Beach, Fla.

Good point, but let’s hopethis year there is not somuch fast-food trash! Howabout fresh-food trash? —Heloise

HAND-WASHINGMETHOD

Dear Heloise: We knowhow important hand wash-ing is, yet I see people inpublic bathrooms washingtheir hands, then contami-nating them as soon as theyturn off the water or openthe bathroom door.

In the health-care field,we are taught to let the wa-ter run, then use the papertowel we dried our handswith to turn off the water.Also, use the towel to openthe bathroom door, usingyour shoulder to keep itopen to exit.

Most stores now havesanitizing wipes inside theirentrances, but you can car-ry some with you. Be sureto use them to clean thehandle of your shoppingcart. Using these hints canhelp keep you from gettingsick. — Sharon K., Churu-busco, Ind.

Send a money-saving ortimesaving hint to Heloise,P.O. Box 795000, San Anto-nio, TX 78279-5000, or youcan fax it to 1-210-HELOISEor email it to Heloise(at)He-loise.com. I can’t answeryour letter personally butwill use the best hints re-ceived in my column.

“HELOISE

INDIANAPOLIS —MVP quarterbacks onmarquee franchises. A re-match of a nail-biter fromfour years ago, featuringmany of the same keycharacters. Madonna andplenty of Manning — Eli,and Peyton, too.

This Super Bowl cer-tainly has all the mak-ings of another thriller,the perfect finish to a sea-son that began in turmoiland wound up the mostsuccessful in league his-tory.

The NFL couldn’t haveplanned it any better.

“It’s actually been a ve-ry fun week here,” saidPatriots quarterback TomBrady, seeking his fourthSuper Bowl ring in 11seasons, and doing it inthe city where archrivalPeyton Manning hasworked for 13 years — ifnot for much longer, giv-

en his health issues anddisagreements with Coltsmanagement. “It’s a bitsurreal to be playing inIndy’s home stadium andto be practicing at theirfacility.”

It’s been even weirderfor Eli Manning to haveled the Giants here, onlyto find his superb seasonand chase for a secondchampionship overshad-owed by big brother.

The most popular sto-ryline this week has beenPeyton’s pain in his neck.Or, rather, his status fol-lowing three neck surger-ies in 19 months; whetherthe Colts will keep himaround, at the cost of a$28 million roster bonusdue in March; and wheth-er he’s truly feuding withowner Jim Irsay’s re-building organization.

Eli, who will surpasshis brother for NFL titleswith a victory Sunday atLucas Oil Stadium — yes,Peyton’s Place — claims

his sibling’s issues are ir-relevant to this game, inwhich New York (12-7) isa 3-point underdog.

“I’m proud of Peyton.I’ve talked to him thisweek. None of that comesup,” Eli said. “When Italk to Peyton, he does agreat job of trying tokeep me relaxed. (We)talk a little football andtalk about New Englandsome. He’s supported methis week. I know he’sjust working hard tryingto get healthy and I’m go-ing to support him onthat.”

While Eli would owntwo championships witha victory, to one for Pey-ton, Brady could tie hischildhood quarterback-ing hero, Joe Montana,and Terry Bradshawwith four. Coach Bill Bel-ichick would equalChuck Noll with thesame number.

To get it, the Patriots(15-3) must protect their

crown jewel. Four yearsago, Brady was bangedaround so much by NewYork that it turned theSuper Bowl in the Gi-ants’ favor.

Yes, they needed DavidTyree’s miracle pin-the-ball-against-the-helmetcatch, then Plaxico Bur-ress’ touchdown recep-tion to shatter New Eng-land’s perfect season. Butthat victory was built onthe relentless pressureapplied to Brady.

The formula hasn’tchanged.

“We feel that we cer-tainly have a very stronggroup of men in thefront,” Giants coach TomCoughlin said. “It’s justthe way we play and pre-fer to play. It’s a pressuregroup, and we haveplayed better in the backend as well, probably as aresult of the ball havingto come out faster than ithas at certain times dur-ing the year.”

David Tyree (85) made the miracle catch the last time the New York Giants played the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. TheRematch will be Sunday.

Photo by Andrew Mills | AP

Are you ready for The RematchBy BARRY WILNERASSOCIATED PRESS

INDIANAPOLIS — TomCoughlin’s pinched face,ever present on the NewYork Giants’ sideline dur-ing his eight seasons, givesway to a smile more oftennow. He’ll even crack aone-liner or two.

Funny how a second tripto the Super Bowl in fouryears can mellow a guy.

In reality, though, the 65-year-old Coughlin is stillbasically the same coachon the field and definitelythe same man off the field.

Discipline, preparednessand execution are histrademarks at the office;family, church and charitywork have his attention athome.

“He is who is he is,” KeliCoughlin, the coach’sdaughter, said in a tele-phone interview Friday,two days before the Giantsfaced the New England Pa-triots for the NFL title. “Idon’t know if that has everchanged. You know exactlywhat to expect from himand what he expects from

you in return. Everybodycan appreciate that or be-ing comfortable becauseyou know where youstand.”

“Have I changed?”Coughlin asked rhetorical-ly. “Probably, but I thinkit’s important as the pro-cess of learning. You learn,develop, and change everyyear. You have to bring afresh approach each yearto your team, especiallywhen you’ve been doing ita few years in the sameplace. If I’ve changed, it’sbeen an attempt to motiva-te and put us in the bestpossible chance that wecan be.”

A history buff, especial-ly military history, Cough-lin acknowledges he’s morepatient now than earlier inhis career. When a playerdid something wrong, thecoach would be all overhim immediately. Now, hepicks his spots.

The one thing thathasn’t changed is his open-door policy.

Have a problem? Hewants to know about it andtalk about it.

New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin smiles, as the Giants face theNew England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5.

Photo by Eric Gay | AP

Coughlincracks a new

attitudeBy TOM CANAVANASSOCIATED PRESS

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES Sports SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2012