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SERVING UP A HOT STARTZAPATA TENNIS PERFORMS WELL AGAINST REGIONAL COMPETITION, 1B

and employment contract days. While legislators will hold many hearings be-

fore passing the 2012-13 biennium budget, schooldistricts and other state-funded agencies are brac-ing for the worst and drawing up budget reductionstrategies.

Zapata County Independent School Districtcould lose between $4.9 million and $8.5 million infunding because of the state’s projected massivebudget shortfall, according to a leading school fi-nance firm.

Exactly how much state funding ZCISD and oth-er school districts will lose remains to be seen.Lawmakers likely will not pass the 2012-13 bienni-um budget until May. But deep cuts are expected,as both the House and the Senate have proposedslashing public education funding by at least $10billion over a two-year period.

The preliminary budgets have triggered wide-spread fear, with leaders of public education insti-tutions saying they will have to take drastic mea-sures to absorb the proposed cuts.

Those measures would include closing schools,employee furloughs, layoffs and cutting salaries

PUBLIC EDUCATION

Losing moneySchool district faces loss of up to $8.5M

By NICK GEORGIOU THE ZAPATA TIMES If ZCISD were to lose

between $4.9 million and$8.5 million, that wouldequal 11 to 20 percent of itsgeneral operating revenuebudget.

See SCHOOLS PAGE 12A

Three suspected drug traffick-ers died in a confrontation withthe Mexican Army in CiudadMier last weekend, continuing anunrelenting wave of violenceacross the northern Mexican bor-der.

Few details about the Jan. 30attack were available. The Mexi-can Department of National De-fense issued a news release con-firming the deaths but gave nonames or information aboutwhen or where the confrontationoccurred. The department’s state-ment noted that soldiers confiscat-ed five rifles, 89 clips and morethan 1,500 rounds of ammunition.

A day later, soldiers arrestedfour people near Diaz Ordaz dur-ing a routine patrol. The defensedepartment’s statement said sol-diers found 1.5 kilos of marijuana,two cartridges and a ammo load-er.

In Nuevo Laredo, the new po-lice chief, Manuel Farfán Carrio-la, was assassinated in an am-bush late Wednesday as he was

MEXICO VIOLENCE

3 armedmen

shot byArmy

Weapons, ammo wereconfiscated by

soldiers after battleTHE ZAPATA TIMES

See ARMY PAGE 12A

Icy weather gripped Zapata County, turn-ing fountains into frozen artwork and caus-ing several minor accidents, but no majorinjuries were reported.

“We don’t have it this cold very often,”

said Edna Umphres, a retired teacher whohas lived in Zapata more than 40 years. “Wehad ice on the bird bath and the grass wasjust covered with ice (Friday morning). Theice was just everywhere. It looked like snowin a way, but it was ice.

“Last winter was very mild,” she noted.

“This is a little colder than we usually havehere.”

The cold that settled over South Texaspushed temperatures into the 20s Thursdayand Friday, but the sun came out and the

WEATHER

REVELING IN THE ICE

Eva Mendez and Ernesto I. Guerra enjoy playing with an icy water fountain at the Best Western Inn in Zapata on Friday afternoon.

Photo by Ulysses S. Romero | The Zapata Times

Cold blows through county, but warmth is on its wayTHE ZAPATA TIMES

See WEATHER PAGE 12A

1 1 4 T H F E S T I V A Lwashington’s birthday celebration association

GEORGE AND MARTHA ARE GETTING READY

Photo by Ulysses S. Romero | The Zapata Times

Martha Wash-ington, por-

trayed by Bet-ty B. Moreno,

and GeorgeWashington,

portrayed byFrancis Cullen"Pancho" Ave-

rill Jr., showoff their cos-

tumes, de-signed by Lin-

da Gutierrez,during the So-

ciety of MarthaWashington

Media Day atthe J.C. Martin

residence inLaredo, on

Wednesday af-ternoon.

PAGE 2A Zin brief SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2011

TUESDAY, FEB. 1The Zapata Chamber of Com-

merce invites the public to the unveil-ing of the official 2011 Zapata VisitorsGuide at 5:30 p.m. at the ZapataCounty Courthouse. The keynotespeaker will be U.S. CongressmanHenry Cuellar. Food and refreshmentswill be provided. RSVP by contactingCelia Balderas at (956) 765-4871 orcbalderas@zapatachamber.com.

The Webb County CommunityCoalition of SCAN, Inc. invites thepublic to attend the WCCC meeting onTuesday, February 1, 2011 from 11:30a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Border RegionMHMR Community Center, 1500 Pap-pas St. The guest speaker will beAgent Michael Wise from the FBI of-fice. For questions or to RSVP, pleasecall Melissa Belmares-Cavazos or Ve-ronica Jimenez at (956) 724-3177.

The Alzheimer’s support groupwill meet today at 7 p.m. in meetingroom 2, building B of the Laredo Med-ical Center. The support group is forfamily members and caregivers takingcare of someone who has Alzheimer’s.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 2Kick off the Laredo Birding Fes-

tival with an opening reception, todayfrom 6:30-10:30 p.m. in the Philip VRoom at La Posada Hotel, located at1000 Zaragoza Street. This openingevent will feature nature photographerand field expert Larry Ditto entitled“Big birds, little birds, pretty birds,sneaky birds.” This event is free andopen to the public. Contact the LaredoConvention and Visitor’s Bureau at(956) 795-2200 or visit www.laredo-birdingfestival.com.

THURSDAY, FEB. 3Texas A&M International Univer-

sity College of Arts and Sciences Cen-ter for the Fine and Performing Artspresents “Deep in the Heart…” an artexhibit and reception featuring the art-work of Janet Krueger, Mary Quiros,Miki Rodríguez, Christina Zorillo Speerand Marilu Flores Gruben. Opening re-ception is from 5-7:30 p.m. in theCFPA Gallery Lobby. Admission is freeand open to the public. The exhibitwill be on display in the CFPA Gallerythrough March 24. Contact the TAMIUDepartment of Fine and PerformingArts at (956) 326-2654.

FRIDAY, FEB. 4The Texas A&M International

University Lamar Bruni Vergara Plane-tarium will show "IBMX-Search for theEdge of the Solar System" at 6 p.m.and "Wonders of the Universe" at 7p.m. General admission is $5, $4 forchildren, and TAMIU students, faculty,staff and alumni. Premium shows are$1 more. Call (956) 326-DOME.

SATURDAY, FEB. 5Texas A&M International Univer-

sity’s Baseball team plays the Universi-ty of Texas – Permian Basin at 12p.m. General admission tickets are $5,$3 for students, and free for anyonewith a TAMIU I.D. Call (956) 326-2891or visit GoDustdevils.com.

The Texas A&M InternationalUniversity 2011 Ballet Folklórico Festiv-al Concert is today at 7 p.m. at TA-MIU’s Center for the Fine and Per-forming Arts Theatre. Contact the De-partment of Fine and Performing Artsat (956) 326-2654.

The Texas A&M InternationalUniversity Lamar Bruni Vergara Plane-tarium will show "Star Signs" at 5p.m., "IBMX- Search for the Edge ofthe Solar System" at 6 p.m. and "PinkFloyd’s Dark Side of the Moon" at 7p.m. General admission is $5, $4 forchildren and TAMIU students, faculty,staff and alumni. Premium shows are$1 more. Call (956) 326-DOME.

Lend a helping hand during themonthly work day for the Paso del In-dio Nature Trail from 8 a.m. to 12p.m., and then explore the wild side ofthe Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmen-tal Science Center from 10 a.m. to 2p.m. for a small admission fee; freewith LCC or TAMIU I.D. Call (956)764-5701.

MONDAY, FEB. 7Texas A&M International Univer-

sity College of Arts and Sciences Cen-ter for the Fine and Performing Artspresents “Deep in the Heart…” an artexhibit featuring the artwork of JanetKrueger, Mary Quiros, Miki Rodriguez,Christina Zorillo Speer and MariluFlores Gruben. Admission is free andopen to the public.

To submit an item for thecalendar, send the name of theevent, the date, time, locationand contact phone number toeditorial@lmtonline.com

CALENDARASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Saturday, Feb. 5,the 36th day of 2011. There are329 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in His-tory:

On Feb. 5, 1811, George, thePrince of Wales, was namedPrince Regent due to the men-tal illness of his father, Bri-tain’s King George III.

On this date: In 1631, the co-founder of

Rhode Island, Roger Williams,and his wife, Mary, arrived inBoston from England.

In 1783, Sweden recognizedthe independence of the Unit-ed States.

In 1887, Verdi’s opera “Otel-lo” premiered at La Scala.

In 1911, Missouri’s secondCapitol building in JeffersonCity burned down after beingstruck by lightning. Operasinger Jussi Bjoerling wasborn in Borlange, Dalarna,Sweden.

In 1917, Congress passed,over President Woodrow Wil-son’s veto, an immigration actseverely curtailing the influxof Asians. Mexico’s constitu-tion was adopted.

In 1937, President FranklinD. Roosevelt proposed increas-ing the number of SupremeCourt justices; critics accusedRoosevelt of attempting to“pack” the court. (The propos-al failed in Congress.)

In 1940, Glenn Miller andhis orchestra recorded “Tuxe-do Junction” for RCA Victor’sBluebird label.

In 1971, Apollo 14 astronautsAlan Shepard and EdgarMitchell stepped onto the sur-face of the moon in the first oftwo lunar excursions.

In 1989, the Soviet Unionannounced that all but a smallrear-guard contingent of itstroops had left Afghanistan.

Ten years ago: Four disci-ples of Osama bin Laden wenton trial in New York in the1998 bombings of two U.S. em-bassies in Africa. (The fourwere convicted and sentencedto life in prison without pa-role.) Flanked by a jumbo re-fund-check stage prop, Presi-dent George W. Bush askedAmericans to get behind hisproposed tax cuts. A disgrun-tled former factory workerkilled five people, includinghimself, at an engine plantnear Chicago.

Today’s Birthdays: Coun-try singer Claude King is 88.The Rev. Andrew M. Greeley is83. Baseball Hall-of-FamerHank Aaron is 77. ActorStuart Damon is 74. Tony-win-ning playwright John Guare is73. Financial writer JaneBryant Quinn is 72. Actor Da-vid Selby is 70. Singer-song-writer Barrett Strong is 70.Football Hall-of-Famer RogerStaubach is 69. Movie directorMichael Mann is 68. Rocksinger Al Kooper is 67. ActressCharlotte Rampling is 65. Rac-ing Hall-of-Famer Darrell Wal-trip is 64. Actress BarbaraHershey is 63. Actor Chris-topher Guest is 63. Actor TomWilkinson is 63. Actor-comedi-an Tim Meadows is 50. Ac-tress Jennifer Jason Leigh is49. Actress Laura Linney is 47.Rock musician Duff McKagan(Velvet Revolver) is 47. WorldGolf Hall-of-Famer Jose MariaOlazabal is 45. Actor-comedianChris Parnell is 44. Rock sing-er Chris Barron (Spin Doc-tors) is 43.

Thought for Today:“Many excellent words are ru-ined by too definite a knowl-edge of their meaning.” —Aline Kilmer, American poet(1888-1941).

TODAY IN HISTORY

FORT WORTH — Another blast of winterweather slammed Dallas with up to 5 inchesof snow Friday, making driving hazardousand forcing the cancellation of hundreds offlights as tens of thousands of football fansdescended on the city for the Super Bowl.

North Texas was still struggling to recoverfrom Tuesday’s ice storm, part of a massivesystem that paralyzed a large swath of thecountry with blizzards and bone-chillingtemperatures this week.

The National Weather Service issued awinter storm warning Friday for Arlington,home of the $1.3 billion Cowboys Stadiumwhere the Pittsburgh Steelers and the GreenBay Packers are set to face off this weekend.Forecasters expect a mostly sunny SuperBowl Sunday with highs in the 40s, and orga-

nizers said last week that the stadium’s re-tractable roof will be closed.

But the weather was causing travel prob-lems for die-hard fans on Friday — whichwas expected to be the busiest day for travelto Dallas ahead of the game.

American Airlines and its affiliate, Eagle,cancelled more than 300 flights that weresupposed to land at its main hub, Dallas-FortWorth International Airport. Love Field,home to Southwest Airlines, was closeddown before dawn because of snow on therunways, but reopened by noon.

As many as 5 inches of snow fell in theDallas area Friday. Amber Elliott of the Na-tional Weather Service said subfreezing tem-peratures will linger until Saturday. Thehigh Sunday is expected to be in the 40s, butthat is probably not warm enough to melt allthe snow and ice, Elliott said.

AROUND TEXAS

Elaine O’Brien snaps a photo of a frozen fountain at a shopping center Friday in Shenandoah, north of Houston. Forecastersexpect a mostly sunny Super Bowl Sunday with highs in the 40s. Plans are to keep the roof at Cowboys Stadium closed.

Photo by Eric S. Swist/The Courier | AP

Snow tackles Bowl fansBy SCHUYLER DIXON

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Brenham house fire killsmom, 2 kids

BRENHAM — Authorities saya woman and her two childrenwere found dead in a house fire.

A cinder-block home was en-gulfed in flames when the fire de-partment arrived 4:45 a.m. Thurs-day.

A 50-year-old man escapedwith third-degree burns over halfhis body. He was in critical condi-tion in San Antonio.

Board places indicteddoctor on probation

AUSTIN — Medical regulatorson Friday placed on probation adoctor involved in the unsuccess-ful prosecution of two nurses whocomplained he was unethical andhad risked patients’ health.

The Texas Medical Boardmeeting in Austin technicallysuspended Dr. Rolando G. Ara-files Jr., but said he could contin-ue to practice medicine while onprobation for four years, if hecompleted additional training.

Attorney: Player settleslawsuit over collapse

DALLAS — A former DallasCowboys player who was insidethe team’s practice facility whenit collapsed in 2009 settled a law-suit against the company that de-signed the building and compa-nies operated by team owner Jer-ry Jones.

Jamar Hunt was attempting tomake the Cowboys as a rookiefree agent when the structure fellin a wind storm on May 2, 2009.

AAA says gas prices instate mostly unchangedIRVING — Gasoline prices are

stable across most of Texas thisweek but jumped to a high of $3per gallon in Amarillo.

The AAA Texas survey re-ports that the average price for agallon of regular unleaded gaso-line statewide this week remainsunchanged at $2.95. But Amarillohas become the first major Texascity in more than two years withan average price of $3.

UT admissions case to goto full 5th US Circuit

AUSTIN — The full 5th U.S.Circuit Court of Appeals is beingasked to consider a 2008 chal-lenge to University of Texas ad-mission standards.

A three-judge panel of the NewOrleans-based court ruled Jan. 18that UT-Austin can consider raceand ethnicity in its admissionsstandards.

Audit criticizes prisonsystem medical providerHOUSTON — A state audit of

the major provider of the prisonsystem’s health care program iscriticizing the school for lack ofoversight in reimbursements forservices and for boosting somesalaries.

The audit released Thursdayalso said the University of TexasMedical Branch at Galvestonmay be charging its correctionalcare division for a disproportion-ate amount of indirect costs.

— Compiled from AP reports

Bill would nullify Islamiclaw in state courts

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A propos-al would prevent the state’scourts from enforcing foreignlaw, including Islamic Sharia law,though Muslim advocates say itcould essentially ban religionfrom mundane matters such asweddings and even burials.

The bill makes no reference toa specific religion or country.

Group wants deportationsof sick to stop

MIAMI — The Inter-AmericanCommission on Human Rights isurging the United States to stopdeporting Haitians who are seri-ously ill or who have familymembers in this country.

The commission said Fridaydeporting sick Haitians couldjeopardize their lives because ofthe unhealthy conditions in theHaitian jails where they wouldbe detained after arriving.

Icy roads in South blamedfor traffic deaths

NEW ORLEANS — Icy roadsare blamed for traffic deaths inthe South.

One person was killed in aFriday accident in Iberville Par-ish in Louisiana involving three18-wheelers and a pickup truck.

In Mississippi, a man and awoman died in separate wreckson ice patches on Interstate 10.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

Identical twins Melissa Ventura-Benel, left, and Meilyn Ventura-Benel, center,shake hands with a soldier after they took the U.S. Army oath of enlistment atthe U.S. Army East Bay Recruiting Company, in Hayward, Calif., on Friday.

Photo by Paul Sakuma | AP

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2011 Zlocal PAGE 3A

A series of bills de-signed to help Texas veter-ans by promoting entre-preneurship, protectinghomeowners and econom-ic development have beenfiled by state Rep. RyanGuillen, D-Rio Grande City.

“Our state’s militarypersonnel fight tirelesslyto ensure the safety of theUnited State and its citi-zens,” said Guillen. “Mylegislative proposals re-garding veterans honorthose who have served toprotect our country.”

More than 1 million vet-erans and their familymembers live in Zapata.

The legislation includes:HB 888 would provide

that disabled veterans beincluded in the criterianecessary to be considereda historically underutilizedbusiness. Those includedin the Texas State Comp-troller’s HUB directorybenefit from increased ex-posure to opportunitieswith state and private enti-ties who take part in a di-versity program.

HB 445 would allowthe surviving family mem-bers of those killed in the

line of duty or disabledveterans an opportunity topay property taxes in in-stallments. This bill easesthe transition for disabledveterans and the survivingspouses of those killedwhile serving.

HB 635 would ensurea grace period before aforeclosure on the resi-dence of a survivingspouse of service memberswho lost their lives duringactive military duty.

HB 26 would prohibitan increase in propertytaxes imposed by a taxingauthority for military re-serves ordered to activemilitary duty. Reservistsshould not have to endureunexpected tax increaseswhile they are on activeduty and away from theircivilian jobs and income,Guillen said.

“This proposed legisla-tion will ensure that Texasveterans, active reservistsand their families are ableto contend with the chal-lenges brought by serv-ing,” Guillen said.

Rep has filedseveral bills

THE ZAPATA TIMES REP. RYAN GUILLEN:Bills are pendingin state Legisla-ture.

For the second year in arow, the U.S. Department ofAgriculture is offering ageneral Conservation Re-serve Program signup.

The general signup startsMarch 14 and continuesthrough April 15.

“Financial incentivesavailable through CRP af-ford farmers and ranchersa low risk opportunity toimplement a variety of con-servation practices that willbenefit the environment ina number of ways,” saidMartin J. Garcia, executivedirector for the Webb Coun-ty USDA Farm ServiceAgency. “Over the past 25years, CRP practices haveimproved water and airquality, increased wildlifehabitat and prevented soilerosion,” he said.

Landowners enrolled inCRP receive annual rentalpayments and cost-share as-sistance to establish long-term, resource conservingcovers on eligible farmland.Land that is not currentlyenrolled in CRP can be of-fered during sign-up if alleligibility requirements aremet. CRP participants withcontracts expiring this fallcan make new contract of-fers during the signup peri-od. Contracts awarded dur-ing this general signup willbecome effective Oct. 1.

All CRP offers are eval-uated and ranked using anEnvironmental Benefits In-dex (EBI) that indicates theenvironmental benefits ofenrolling land in CRP.There are five environmen-tal factors that make up theEBI: wildlife, water, soil, air,enduring benefits and cost.Decisions will be made fol-lowing the end of the sign-up period and after analyz-ing EBI data on all of theoffers.

In addition to the generalsign-up, the continuousCRP sign-up program willbe ongoing.

For more information,visit /www.fsa.usda.gov/crp.

Agriculturedepartment

offeringprogram

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Laredo’s state senatorhas been reappointedchair of the Senate HigherEducation Committee byLt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

In addition, Sen. JudithZaffirini also has beenreappointed to the com-mittees on finance, healthand human services, ad-ministration, economicdevelopment and redis-tricting.

“Strengthening ourhigher education systemis essential to ensuringTexas’ future economiccompetitiveness,” Zaffirinisaid. “I am delighted forthe opportunity to contin-ue to champion the prior-ities of Texas colleges anduniversities, students andfamilies.”

Zaffirini added thatDewhurst named her “tothe best positions fromwhich to make a differ-ence for the families ofour district and of ourstate.”

The Senate Higher Edu-cation Committee will ad-dress issues facing colleg-es and universities, in-cluding financial aid,college advising and high-er education accountabili-ty. Zaffirini chaired theHigher Education Sub-committee from 2005 to2009, when Dewhurst up-graded it to a full commit-tee

Since 2001, Zaffirini hasserved on the Senate Com-mittee on Administrationthat certifies legislationfor the Local and Uncon-tested Calendar — about75 percent of the legisla-tion passed by the Senateeach session, includingmany bills important tocommunities in Senate

District 21 and across Tex-as.

She is the rankingmember of the SelectCommittee on Redistrict-

ing, which is charged withredrawing the boundariesof congressional, legisla-tive and state board ofeducation districts. Her

goals include keepingSouth Texas communitiestogether and adhering tothe principles of the Vot-ing Rights Act.

Senator again in ed chairSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Sen. Judith Zaffirini appear at a university graduation ceremony in this un-dated photograph.

Courtesy photo

PAGE 4A Zopinion SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2011

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

The Republican ma-jority in the U.S.House of Represen-

tatives is promising tocut $100 billion from do-mestic spending thisyear. The Tea Party cau-cuss response? Ill seeyour $100 billion andraise you $2.4 trillionover 10 years.

Short-timersBoth groups are bark-

ing up the wrong tree or,to use a more appropri-ate animal analogy, put-ting the cart before thehorse. The road to realdeficit reduction, not acosmetic nip and tuck,runs through term lim-its. If Americans are tru-ly interested in shrink-ing the size of govern-ment — one of thetakeaways from the 2010midterm election — theycan start by limiting theamount of time lawmak-ers are allowed to serve.

This would require aconstitutional amend-ment (see U.S. Term Lim-its, Inc. v. Thornton,1995), no mean feat, re-quiring as it does ap-proval by a two-thirdsmajority in Congress.But not impossible ei-ther. Recent events in theMiddle East demonstratejust how potent peoplepower can be.

Would it surprise youto learn that newbies inCongress (those whohave served six years orless in the House and 12or less in the Senate) aremore likely to vote forfiscal restraint than vet-eran lawmakers? Or thatthis finding was basedon votes taken from 1995through 1998, when Re-publicans controlledboth houses of Congress?Even Newt Gingrich’sclass of 94, determined toshrink the size and scopeof government, couldn’tbuck the Old Guard, ac-cording to the results ofthis Cato Institute study.

Shrunken EgosIn the last two years,

the spending increasesin bills proposed byfreshman House Demo-crats were 60 percentlower than those spon-sored by their more se-nior colleagues, accord-ing to Peter Sepp, vicepresident for communi-cations at the NationalTaxpayers Union. TheGOP freshmen proposed15 percent more cuts inspending than the old-timers.

It turns out the old ad-age is true: The longerthey stay, the more theyspend. Its what politicalscientist James L. Paynecalls The Culture ofSpending, the title of his1991 book.

What goes on is a so-cialization process: a nic-er way of saying indoc-trination, Payne said ina telephone interview.One is surrounded bypeople who have a biasedreason for arguing thatfederal spending is good,necessary, wise and prop-er. There’s no reason foranyone to enter this pro-cess if he believes its un-wise or unethical.

Clearly the Paul fam-ily, father Ron and sonRand, stands out as anexception.

Payne v. BaumPayne, an independent

researcher in Sandpoint,Idaho, challenged mypremise that spending isthe surest route to re-election. If spendingwere motivated by an at-tempt to buy votes, thenlawmakers who an-nounce they’re retiring18 months before theelection would demon-strate a pattern of great-er fiscal restraint, ac-cording to Payne.

They don’t, he said.The election does notdrive spending, which iswhy long-serving con-gressmen from electoral-ly safe districts are prof-ligate spenders as well.

So thats why the lateRobert Byrd, who repre-sented West Virginia forhalf a century in the Sen-ate, has 33 roads, bridgesand buildings named af-ter hI’m.

While Payne upendedmy notion that lawmak-ers spending is driven bya desire to ingratiatethemselves with key con-stituencies, Im happy toreport his research sup-ports my conclusion.Term limits would en-sure a regular flow ofnew blood. New blood isless tainted than oldblood when it comes tothe culture of spending.

LifetimeEmployment

From 1964 to 2008, theincumbency rate in theHouse of Representativesaveraged 93 percent, ac-cording to the Center forResponsive politics, anon-partisan independ-ent research group track-ing money in politics.Even in a wave electionlike the 2010 midterms,where the GOP pickedup 63 House seats, the re-election rate was 86 per-cent, the lowest since1948.

So yes, Virginia, wehave created a perma-nent ruling class, some-thing the Foundersfeared. James Madisonworried that withoutterm limits, legislatorswould serve their nar-row self-interest at theexpense of the nationalinterest. He was right.

Whether Payne is cor-rect and the culture ofWashington drivesspending, or Baums the-ory of pay-to-play is oper-ative, term limits are thesolution. As it nowstands, the only lawmak-ers who self-limit theirterms of office are theones who support termlimits. That leaves uswith lifers and losers.

Cut My Benefit?Our representatives

see a steady stream ofconstituents traipsingthrough their officeswith requests for govern-ment largesse. Aunt Ger-trude can’t pay her med-ical bills. Uncle Rogerwatched his home andoffice succumb to a tor-nado. Cousin Vinny losthis home to foreclosure.

Like most human be-ings, lawmakers want tohelp. So they blithelyvote for more spendingbecause, quite simply, ifthey don’t put their handin the cookie jar, some-one else will.

When was the lasttime a constituent walk-ed into his congress-man’s office and askedfor cuts in popular gov-ernment programs? Un-less you believe in fairytales, a prerequisite forsmaller government isshort-term legislators.

COLUMN

Easy fix-up:Institute

term limitsBy CAROLINE BAUMBLOOMBERG NEWS

OTHER VIEWS

The Zapata Times doesnot publish anonymousletters.

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

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

We want to assure our

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

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

ing or gratuitous abuse isallowed.

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

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY

DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

“Sixty years ofWestern nationsexcusing and

accommodating the lackof freedom in the MiddleEast did nothing to makeus safe, because in thelong run stability cannotbe purchased at the ex-pense of liberty.” — Presi-dent George W. Bush, Nov.6, 2003

Thousands of peopletake to the streets to pro-test against three decadesof political repression, ar-bitrary justice and eco-nomic beggary. The gov-ernment responds byshutting down communi-cations networks andmaking a show of strengthwith its security forces.As events unfold and thefate of a pivotal nationhangs in the balance, theleader of the free worldhas a message for themasses marching forchange: You’re on yourown.

Egypt, 2011? No — Iran,2009.

Is it meddling?As police and paramili-

tary groups ruthlesslybeat peaceful protestorsand dragged them away todreaded prisons, Presi-dent Obama said the Unit-ed States should not be“meddling in Iranian elec-

tions.” Of course, the protests

in Iran — like the currentprotests in Egypt — wereonly nominally about elec-tions. They were funda-mentally about humandignity and basic princi-ples of freedom.

“I see the moment weare witnessing as a civilrights movement ratherthan a push to topple theregime,” Hamid Dabashi,an Iranian scholar andColumbia University pro-fessor, wrote on a NewYork Times blog in 2009.“If Rosa Parks was theAmerican ‘mother of thecivil rights movement,’the young woman whowas killed point blank inthe course of a demonstra-tion, Neda Agha Soltan,might very well emerge asits Iranian granddaught-er.”

ReactionAs pressure mounted

for the president to makesome statement in sup-port of the aspirations ofthe Iranian protestors, theObama administrationclung to the position thatit was purely an internalmatter.

“This is a debate inIran among Iranians,” anofficial told the WallStreet Journal. “It is notabout us.”

Fast-forward to 2011,and you see the same de-

fault position, the same ti-midity, the same refusal toacknowledge legitimategrievances of the people.With masses on Cairo’sstreets, Secretary of StateHillary Clinton said “theEgyptian government isstable.”

Vice President Joe Bi-den described Hosni Mu-barak, now in his 30thyear in power, as an allybut not a dictator.

Just wordsAs the absurdity of

these statements grew,U.S. policy slowly beganto shift. Clinton an-nounced there would needto be an “orderly transi-tion.” A week after theprotests began, PresidentObama started to speakabout “universal values”and talked directly to thepeople of Egypt: “We hearyour voices.”

Why the hesitancy? So-called realists from

the left and the right de-rided the Bush forwardstrategy on freedom as de-lusional and destructiveto U.S. interests. Then, op-position to the democracyagenda got bound up inhostility against the IraqWar. Even people investedin the power of changeand the moral arc of histo-ry reflexively rejected theprospect that oppressed ci-tizens of the Middle Eastand elsewhere might also

share in the blessings ofliberty.

AcknowledgmentEvents in Tunisia,

Egypt, Yemen and Jordandemonstrate that, indeed,stability cannot be pur-chased at the expense ofliberty. The Obama ad-ministration has reluc-tantly, tepidly and belated-ly begun to revive a publicdiscussion of, as the presi-dent put it Tuesday night,“the inevitability of hu-man freedom.”

That inevitability iscertain not only in na-tions whose autocraticleaders happen to be al-lied with the UnitedStates. Orderly transition,which could easily be mis-taken for regime change,should also apply to Iranand Libya and, for thatmatter, China.

Speaking upObama has the poten-

tial to be an extraordinaryadvocate for politicalchange, particularly inthe Muslim world. Thatchange is coming, oneway or another. Far betterfor the United States tohave a voice in the pro-cess than be an impotentbystander defending anossified status quo.

(E-mail: jgurwitz@ex-press-news.net)

Pay attention to Muslim worldBy JONATHAN GURWITZ

SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2011 THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

taken to Zapata Regional Jail andheld in lieu of a $5,000 bond.

DWIGloria Arambula, 25, was

arrested and charged with driv-ing while intoxicated with a childyounger than 15 years of age atabout 2:30 p.m. Jan. 25 in Ra-mireño, off U.S. 83. The womanwas taken to Zapata County Jail,where she was held in lieu of a$3,000 bond.

POSSESSIONFernando Villarreal III, 26,

was arrested and charged withpossession of marijuana at 7:41p.m. Jan. 27 in the 1100 blockof Juarez Avenue. Deputies sayhe had 9.1 grams of marijuana.The man was taken to the Zapa-ta Regional Jail, where he washeld in lieu of $5,000 bond.

Jaime Garza, 17, was ar-rested at 1:36 a.m. Wednesdayin the vicinity of Texas 16 andSeventh Street after a brief footchase. Garza was charged withevading arrest and possession of

marijuana. He was taken to Za-pata Regional Jail, where he washeld in lieu of combined bond of$8,000 bond.

RECKLESS DRIVINGAdrian Garcia, 19, was ar-

rested and charged with recklessdriving and striking a fence atabout 12:15 a.m. Jan. 26 in the1900 block of Bravo Avenue. Hewas taken to Zapata RegionalJail and held in lieu of a com-bined bond of $8,000.

THEFTJorge Peña, 24, was arrest-

ed and charged with theft at4:08 a.m. Jan. 25 at El Tigre Ex-xon at the corner of Texas 16and U.S. 83. Deputies say hetook two 40-pound bags of deercorn. He was taken to ZapataRegional Jail, where he was heldin lieu of a $500 bond.

A 29-year-old woman calleddeputies at 6:53 a.m. Tuesday inthe 1600 block of Ramireño Ave-nue. She stated that someonestole her 2009 Yukon.

ASSAULTRefugio Guzman, 36, was

arrested and charged with as-sault family violence at 7:48a.m. Jan. 27 in the 100 block ofMadison, at El Rey RV Park. Theman was taken to Zapata Re-gional Jail, where he was held inlieu of a $25,000 bond.

Manuel M. Galvan-Gomez,32, was arrested and chargedwith assault around 12:15 a.m.Jan 29 in connection with an in-cident in the 1200 block of Ro-ma Avenue. He was taken to Za-pata Regional Jail, where he washeld in lieu of a $25,000.

A 19-year-old man reportedat 4:20 a.m. Jan. 30 that some-one assaulted him at a socialgathering in the 300 block ofFalcon Lane.

DISORDERLY CONDUCTWilliam D. Cloud, 58, was

arrested and charged with disor-derly conduct at 1:23 p.m. Jan.26 in connection with an inci-dent that occurred at the cornerof U.S. 83 and FM 496. He was

THE BLOTTER

February crept up on us before weknew it, and March is sure to followsuit, with the event that many Zapatansanticipate each year: the Zapata CountyFair.

The climax of this affair is the Zapa-ta County Fair Parade, scheduled forSaturday, March 12.

The parade unofficially begins withfloats, organizations, and other partici-pants gathering on 3rd Avenue at 9:30a.m. and making their way to the hill-top County Plaza, where local dignitar-ies await. Once there, the National An-them and a balloon launch officiallykick off the parade.

Past participants have been a motleygroup, including school organizations,veterans, ranching associations, carclubs and motorcycle clubs.

“We don’t want to be exclusive; we

want to be inclusive. We want everyoneto participate,” said Roberto O. Montes,parade committee spokesperson.

This year’s theme is “Wild AboutOur County Fair,” allowing partici-pants the freedom to show what theyare “wild about” based on the organiza-tions they represent.

The parade will travel north on USHighway 83 and is expected to reachthe county fair grounds around noon,where parade spectators can strollabout, partaking in the delicious fareand refreshments.

“We’re going to be awarding trophiesfor ‘Best Western,’ ‘Most Colorful,’ etc.Those will be awarded on the countyfair grounds at 1:30 (p.m.),” Montessaid.

Those interested in participatingshould submit their parade entry formsto the Chamber of Commerce no laterthan Feb. 21.

March 12 is ZapataCounty Fair parade

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

6A THE ZAPATA TIMES Local SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2011

David Gergen, advisor tofour United States presi-dents, senior political ana-lyst for CNN and HarvardUniversity professor willmake a rare public appear-ance at Texas A&M Inter-national University onThursday, Feb. 24 at 8 a.m.for a special morning lec-ture and breakfast.

Tickets are $35 and areavailable for advance pur-chase with the university’sOffice of Institutional Ad-vancement. Funds for thepresentation will help sup-port TAMIU’s student lead-ership program, Leader-ship TAMIU.

Gergen is a professor ofpublic service and directorof the Center for PublicLeadership at the HarvardKennedy School. In 2000, hepublished the best-selling

book, Eyewitness to Power:The Essence of Leadership,Nixon to Clinton.

TAMIU President RayKeck said the university ishonored to have the oppor-tunity to host Gergen. Thispast summer, Keck and TA-MIU students participatedin the inaugural LatinoLeadership Initiative atHarvard and met Gergen, aCPL faculty member.

“We were all very im-pressed by professor Ger-gen’s keen interest in fos-tering leadership, especial-ly leadership by youngLatinos. His insight and ac-cessibility to our studentswas inspiring and helpedour Leadership TAMIU

program here. During hisvisit here, he will be meet-ing with our LLI cohort tohear of their progress inleadership initiatives here,”Keck said.

Gergen lives in Cam-bridge, Mass., with hiswife, Anne, a family ther-apist. The couple has twochildren, Christopher andKatherine, and four grand-children.

Leadership TAMIU is aleadership-training pro-gram at the university. Itoffers a series of group ex-periences, opportunities todevelop skills, self-assess-ment exercises and target-ed ways to test leadershipthrough community out-reach. Students self-elect toparticipate in LeadershipTAMIU, but must meet re-quirements, attend groupmeetings and complete as-signments.

Breakfast features former adviserSPECIAL TO THE TIMES DAVID GERGEN: For-

mer presidentialadviser to speakat university.

In 1948, the only funeralhome in Three Rivers, justa two-hour drive from Lare-do, refused to hold a wakefor fallen World War II heroFelix Longoria, allegedlybecause the decorated Mex-ican-American soldier wasnot white.

The controversy andfight for equality that fol-lowed from that eventmade headlines across thenation and is the focus of anew PBS documentary byfilmmaker John Valadez, ti-tled “The Longoria Affair.”

Texas A&M Internation-al University will present ascreening of “The LongoriaAffair” and an opportunityto interact with the film-maker Tuesday at 7 p.m. inthe Student Center Audito-rium. The screening is freeand open to the public.

María Flores and Marce-la Morán, assistant profes-sors of communications,

said they invited Valadez tovisit TAMIU after they methim during his visit lastyear to Laredo.

“We felt our studentsand the community wouldbenefit from a viewing of‘The Longoria Affair,’ andfrom a question and an-swer session with him,”Morán said.

The documentary bringsattention to an event thatmarks one of the startingpoints of the Chicanomovement, Flores said.

“I hope that the audi-ence will be able to also un-derstand an important partof Texas history by watch-ing this film,” she said.

Before the film screen-ing, Valadez will speak toMoran’s film history andvideo production classes aswell as Flores’ transnation-

al trends in communica-tions class about documen-tary techniques, Moránsaid.

“The students will mostdefinitely benefit from hisinsights,” Morán said.

PBS productions have tomeet high standards of pro-duction and screen writing,Flores explained.

“Our students will havethe opportunity to be in-spired by interacting withValadez,” she said, “He isone of the most well-knownLatino PBS producers.”

Flores said she hopesher students learn tech-niques about how to na-tionalize a local story.

“Valadez’s work does aremarkable job in bringinga local story into the na-tional spotlight and I hopemy students learn how thisis achieved,” she said.

Valadez said the filmprovides lessons from thepast that could be appliedto the present.

Movement filmmaker tospeak at TAMIU

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES JOHN VALADEZ:Made ground-breaking film ‘TheLongoria Affair.’

SÁBADO 5 DE FEBREROLAREDO — Hoy es el

día para trabajar en el PasoNatural del Indio, de 8 a.m. a12 p.m. en el Laredo Commu-nity College, campus FortMcIntosh. También se podrávisitar el Centro de CienciasAmbientales Lamar Bruni Ver-gara de 10 a.m. a 2 p.m. Másinformación en el 764-5701.

LAREDO — Hoy s reali-zará una venta de libros en laWidener Room de la FirstUnited Methodist Church,1220 McClelland Ave., de8:30 a.m. a 1 p.m. El públicoestá invitado. La entrada esgratuita. Se aceptan libros yrevistas en donación.

LAREDO — El equipode béisbol de TAMIU recibe aUniversity of Texas – PermianBasin a las 12 p.m. La entra-da general es de 5 dólares.Más información en el326.2891.

LAREDO — WBCA invi-ta al Festival de Danza Juve-nil de 2 p.m. a 5 p.m. en elAuditorio del Laredo CivicCenter. Entrada gratuita.

LAREDO — Cirque DuSoleil se presenta hoy con“Alegria” en Laredo EnergyArena a las 3:30 p.m. y 7:30p.m.

LAREDO — Pase la tar-de en el Planetario LamarBruni Vergara de TAMIU y ex-plore “Star Signs” a las 5p.m., “IBEX: Search for theEdge of the Solar System” alas 6 p.m., y Pink Floyd’s”Dark Side of the Moon” alas 7 p.m. Entrada general esde 5 dólares. Más informa-ción en el 326-DOME.

LAREDO — No se pier-da el Concierto del Festivaldel Ballet Folklórico de TAMIUhoy a las 7 p.m. en el teatrodel Center for the Fine andPerforming Arts de la univer-sidad. Adquiera su boleto lla-mando al 326-2654.

LAREDO — WBCA invi-ta a la Noche de Cabaret delLULAC Concilio 7 de 7 p.m. a1 a.m. en el Laredo CivicCenter Ballroom. Se rendiráhomenaje a Juan Maldonado,presidente de LCC. Costo esde 20 dólares por persona y200 dólares en mesa para10. La música estará a cargode Grupo Premiar de los dosLaredos.

LAREDO — WBCA invi-ta a la Gala de Cata de Vinodel Boys & Girls Club de La-redo a las 8 p.m. en el Lare-do Country Club. Mesa para10 personas tiene costo de2.500 dólares.

LAREDO — PapagallosUSA, 5920 San Bernardo,presenta hoy a El Pega Pegade Emilio Reyna. Puertasabren a las 8 p.m. Conciertoes a las 10:30 p.m.

NUEVO LAREDO: Hoyes el estreno de la obra “MásPequeños que el Guggen-heim” en el Teatro del IMSSa las 7 p.m. Admisión es de50 pesos. Informes y ventade boletos: (867) 132-3388 y(867) 109-3297. Otra funciónserá a las 8:30 p.m.

DOMINGO 6 DE FEBREROLAREDO — Cirque Du

Soleil se presenta hoy con“Alegria” en Laredo EnergyArena a la 1 p.m. y 5 p.m.

MARTES 8 DE FEBREROLAREDO — El Club de

Música y Literatura de losMartes tendrá su ValentineTea anual el día de hoy a las4 p.m. en First United Metho-dist Church Fellowship Hall,1220 McClelland Ave. El pro-grama será “Un Popurrí Ro-mántico” por Joseph Crabtreey Dana Crabtree, acompaña-dos al piano por Mikolaj Go-recki. Más información lla-mando a Linda Mott al 206-3033 ó escriba almott@stx.rr.com.

LAREDO — WBCA invi-ta a Taste of Laredo a las6:30 p.m. en Laredo EnergyArena. El costo es de 22 dó-lares por adulto y 12 dólarespara niños de 12 años y me-nores.

Agendaen Breve

Zfrontera PÁGINA 7ASÁBADO 5 DE FEBRERO DE 2011

Los extranjeros con tenencias agrí-colas en Estados Unidos están obliga-dos a informar sobre sus propiedadesy todas sus transacciones a la Secre-taría de Agricultura.

Por esa razón el Director Ejecutivode la oficina en Webb de la Agenciade Servicio Agrícola, Martin García,dijo que de no presentarse tales in-formes conlleva una sanción conmultas de hasta un 25% del valor jus-to de mercado de las tierras agríco-las.

“Cualquier extranjero que adquie-ra, transfiera o tenga alguna partici-pación, con excepción de una garan-tía prendaria, en tierras agrícolas enEU está obligado por ley a reportar latransacción a más tardar 90 días des-

pués de la fecha de esa transacción”,dijo García. “La multa se aplica yasea que no presenten un informe, oque la presentación de un informe sede con atraso o esté incorrecto.

Los inversionistas extranjeros de-ben presentar informes de acuerdo ala Ley de Divulgación de InversionesAgrícolas Extranjeras en la oficinade condado de la FSA, que mantienelos informes del condado donde seencuentra la propiedad.

A efectos de AFIDA, la tierra agrí-cola se define como cualquier tierrautilizada para la agricultura, la gana-dería o la producción de madera, sila extensión suma a un total de 10acres o más.

Un informe de divulgación tam-bién es necesario cuando hay cam-bios en el uso de la tierra.

“Los informes son necesarioscuando el uso de la tierra cambia deuso no agrícola a agrícola o vicever-sa. Los inversionistas extranjerostambién deben presentar un informecuando se produce un cambio en elestado del propietario, tales comocambios de dueño extranjero a dueñono extranjero, de no extranjero a ex-tranjero, y de extranjero a extranje-ro”, explicó Martín.

Los datos adquiridos de estas de-claraciones se utilizan para prepararun informe anual al Presidente y alCongreso sobre el efecto de dichas te-nencias, en las granjas de tamaño fa-miliar y comunidades rurales en losEU.

Para mayor información puedevisitar la página: http://www.us-da.gov.

AGRICULTORES DEBEN DAR INFORME O PODRÍAN SER MULTADOS

Esperan reportesTIEMPO DE ZAPATA

En la región norte deTamaulipas, elementosde la Secretaría de laDefensa Nacional hanrealizado diversos oper-ativos con resultadosvariados. En la mayoríade los casos reportanaseguramiento de ar-mas, drogas e inclusivela muerte de presuntosagresores, tras enfrenta-mientos.

A continuación un re-sumen de los reportesrecientes de SeDeNa du-rante la semana:

Ciudad Mier

El 30 de enero, trespresuntos agresores re-sultaron muertos cuan-do elementos del Ejérci-to Mexicano repelieronuna agresión. Posterior-mente se logró el asegu-ramiento de un vehícu-lo, cinco armas largas,89 cargadores y 1,527cartuchos de diferentescalibres.

Díaz Ordaz

El 31 de enero, du-rante reconocimientosen el área rural, se lo-gró la detención de cua-tro presuntos infrac-tores quienes se trans-portaban en dosvehículos en posesiónde 1.5 Kgs. de marihua-na, 2 cartuchos y 1 car-gador.

Nuevo Laredo

El 31 de enero per-sonal militar fue agredi-do con disparos de ar-mas de fuego por inte-grantes de ladelincuencia organizaday al repeler la agresiónun sospechoso perdió lavida. Se logró la denten-ción de tres presuntosdelincuentes y la liber-ación de cinco presun-tos secuestrados. Igual-mente fueron asegura-dos tres vehículos, 12armas largas, un adita-mento lanza granadas,una granada, 137 carga-dores y 3,570 cartuchosde diferentes calibres.

El 31 de enero, fue-ron asegurados tres ve-hículos, uno con reportede robo, los cuales se en-contraban abandonados.En el interior se locali-zaron dos cargadores y33 cartuchos de dife-rentes calibres.

El 30 de enero,cuando soldados realiza-ban acciones de recono-cimientos a inmedia-ciones del rancho SanIgnacio, lograron asegu-rar 110 gramos de mari-huana, dos vehículos,un lanza granadas, Cal.40 mm. y siete granadasdel mismo calibre; cua-tro armas largas, un ar-ma corta, 211 carga-dores y 3,304 cartuchosde diferentes calibres.

El 30 de enero, fue-ron localizados tres ve-hículos, de los cualesuno con reporte de robo.Esto sucedió cuando sol-dados realizaban reco-nocimiento sobre laAvenida Guerrero, de lacolonia Centro. El re-porte indica que se es-cucharon detonacionesde granadas y disparosde armas de fuego.

TAMAULIPAS

Sedenaaplicaplan

generalOperativos llevan

a decomisos y arrestos

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

DÉCADAS DESPUÉS

La imagen muestra lo que queda del “Restaurante Tío Beto” en Ciudad Mier, México. Se trata de un otrora famoso y lujoso restaurante delpueblo. Cuentan los mierenses que inclusive el cantante Carlos Lico estuvo presente en su inauguración en los años 70.

Foto de cortesía | La del Miernes

La Secretaría de Desarrollo Económico yTurismo, a través del área de Vida Silvestre,inició los preparativos para organizar el ter-cer torneo de caza de guajolote en Tamauli-pas.

La convocatoria estará abierta a los 43municipios de Tamaulipas.

De acuerdo con el área de Vida Silvestre,el torneo de caza del guajolote atrae anual-mente a alrededor de 400 participantes.

El Gobierno de Tamaulipas ofrecerá trespremios económicos a los ganadores: 50.000pesos al primer lugar, 30.000 al segundo, y20.000 pesos al tercer lugar.

Los requisitos para entrar a la competen-cia comprenden la licencia de caza vigente,obtener el cintillo de presa, y cubrir la cuotade inscripción, que se publicará en los próxi-mos 15 días.

El torneo iniciará el 27 de febrero y con-cluirá el 18 de mayo.

Copa de CiclismoEl domingo 27 de febrero se realizará la

Copa “Dr. Rodolfo Torre Cantú” que formaparte del Serial Nacional de Ciclismo deMontaña en la pista de 7.4 kilómetros ubica-da en Los Troncones.

El inicio de la competencia Cross Countryserá a las 10 a.m.

Serán más de 400 los participantes,quienes buscarán hacer los mejores tiempos,ya que se trata de un evento clasificatorio ala Olimpiada Nacional dentro de las catego-rías juveniles, así como puntuable para lostorneos de Campeonato Mundial y JuegosPanamericanos de Guadalajara 2011.

Las cartas fuertes de Tamaulipas paraeste evento son: Benjamín García, originariode Jaumave, quien contendrá en la categoríajuvenil expertos; así como Erick AndrésReyes, de Victoria, en la categoría sub 23, di-jo el presidente de la Asociación Estatal deCiclismo, Arturo Silva Infante.

Al torneo asistirán Lorenza Morfín y Da-niela Campuzano, posibles medallistas de losJuegos Panamericanos de Guadalajara yotros integrantes del equipo Turbo, quienesencabezan las clasificaciones del país y sonbase de la selección nacional de ciclismo,anunció el representante de la FederaciónMexicana de Ciclismo, Armando Becerra.

DEPORTES

Programantorneos para27 de febrero

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

DALLAS — Una nueva ola declima invernal azotó el viernes aDallas con hasta 12,5 centíme-tros (5 pulgadas) de nieve, quevolvieron peligroso circular enautomóvil y forzaron a cancelarcientos de vuelos cuando dece-nas de miles de fanáticos del fút-bol americano intentaban llegara la ciudad para el Super Bowl.

El norte de Texas aún busca-ba recuperarse de la nevisca delmartes, parte de un frente fríoque paralizó esta semana granparte del país con nevadas, tor-mentas eléctricas y temperatu-ras heladas.

El Servicio Meteorológico Na-cional emitió el viernes unaalerta de tormenta invernal pa-ra Arlington, donde está el esta-dio Cowboys, sede de la final delfútbol americano que disputa-rán el domingo los Packers deGreen Bay y los Steelers dePittsburgh. El pronóstico prevéun día soleado con temperaturasde 5 a 10 grados centígrados (40a 50 Fahrenheit) y los organiza-dores dijeron que el techo re-

tráctil del estadio permanecerácerrado.

El vecino estado de Oklaho-ma, que se recuperaba de unanevada de hasta 50 centímetros(20 pulgadas), recibía más desdela madrugada del viernes. Laacumulación total podría ser deentre 7,5 y 10 centímetros (3 a 4pulgadas), dijo la meteorólogaCheryl Sharp. Se esperaba aúnmás nieve para el domingo.

El clima les traía problemas alos fanáticos que iban camino aDallas. American Airlines y susubsidiaria Eagle cancelaronmás de 300 vuelos que debíanllegar allí. El aeropuerto LoveField, principal terminal de laaerolínea Southwest, cerró a las3 a.m. por la nieve acumuladaen las pistas.

Aunque la temperatura enDallas rondaba los 6 grados cen-tígrados bajo cero (20 Fahren-heit), no era probable que estoamedrentara a los equipos de lagran final: en Pittsburgh la tem-peratura era la misma elviernes y en Green Bay estabaun poco más baja.

(Paul Weber y Diana Heigerdcontrbuyeron a este despacho)

Dallas dice está listopara Super Bowl

POR SCHUYLER DIXONASSOCIATED PRESS

PLANES DE DESARROLLO Y AMBIENTE

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Nuevo Laredo

La Secretaría de Desarrollo Urbano y Medio Ambiente se encuentra coor-dinando para Nuevo Laredo, al menos cinco proyectos bipartitos en áreas co-mo: planificación urbana, medio ambiente, área del agua, suelo y vivienda, asícomo transporte público. De derecha a izquierda, el Secretario de DesarrolloUrbano y Medio Ambiente, Homero de la Garza Taméz y el Jefe de GobiernoBenjamín Galván Gómez.

AUSTIN — Texas medi-cal regulators placed onprobation Friday a WestTexas doctor involved inthe unsuccessful prosecu-tion of two nurses whocomplained anonymouslythat the physician was un-ethical and risking pa-tients’ health.

The Texas MedicalBoard technically suspend-ed Dr. Rolando G. ArafilesJr., but said he could con-tinue to practice medicinewhile on probation for fouryears, if he completed addi-tional training.

The board also said Ara-files must be monitored byanother physician and sub-mit medical and billing re-cords for review. The mon-itor will report his or herfindings back to the board.

In the mediated ordersigned in Austin, the boardconcluded that Arafilesfailed to treat emergencyroom patients properly, didnot apply hormone therapyto a female patient appro-priately and failed to docu-ment patient diagnoses andtreatment plans.

The board also foundthat Arafiles improperlytried to intimidate twonurses who reported himto the medical board forunethical behavior.

Arafiles now faces crimi-nal charges for allegedlyasking the Winkler Countysheriff in 2009 to investi-gate after the doctorlearned that the board waslooking into a complaintfiled against him.

In January, Arafiles wasindicted on two countseach of misuse of officialinformation and retaliationthat stem from the prosecu-tion of Anne Mitchell andVickilyn Galle, both formernurses at Winkler CountyMemorial Hospital. Charg-es that could have led to 10years in prison were

dropped against Galle, andMitchell was exonerated attrial in February 2010.

Both nurses were firedfrom the hospital in June2009 and a month later in-dicted for misuse of infor-mation after they com-plained anonymously tostate regulators about Ara-files’ medical procedures.

Among the nurses’ com-plaints in their unsignedApril 2009 letter to the med-ical board were that Ara-files improperly encour-aged patients to buy herbalmedicines from him andhad wanted to use hospitalsupplies to perform a pro-cedure at a patient’s home.

Arafiles, licensed in Tex-as since 1998, has said thenurses’ letter to the boardwas intended to harm himpersonally.

In June, the medicalboard filed a complaint al-leging Arafiles used “poormedical judgment” and“poor decision-making,”overbilled patients, pre-scribed nontherapeutictreatments and intimidatedwitnesses. He faced disci-plinary action, includingthe loss of his license.

The complaint was thefirst time allegations con-cerning Arafiles’ medicalpractices had been laid outin a public document.

Among the allegationsin the complaint, Arafilesis accused of prescribinghormone replacement ther-apy to a patient with a his-tory of deep vein thrombo-sis, which can cause “seri-ous complications/death,”and of not documenting thehistory. The patient devel-oped a thrombosis afterstarting the medication.

The unprofessional con-duct allegation stems fromArafiles’ decision to go tothe Winkler County sheriff,“a personal friend and pa-tient,” to have the anony-mous letter investigatedand to pursue criminalcharges against the nurses.

Medical board putsindicted physician

on probation By CHRIS TOMLINSON

ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON — The astro-naut husband of Rep. Ga-brielle Giffords said Fri-day his wounded wifewould embrace his deci-sion to rocket into space intwo months and he expectsher to be well enough to beat his launch.

Space shuttle command-er Mark Kelly refused tosay whether the congress-woman took part in his de-cision and declined to gointo details about her con-dition or whether she cancommunicate.

“I know her very welland she would be verycomfortable with the deci-sion that I made,” Kellytold reporters.

His decision, announcedFriday, comes just fourweeks after Giffords wasshot in the head outside aTucson, Ariz., supermar-ket. His choice to leadspace shuttle Endeavour’sfinal voyage was made eas-ier, he said, by his wife’srapid progress in rehab.

The 46-year-old astro-

naut said he never imag-ined in the immediate af-termath of the shootingthat he would ever fly thetwo-week mission. He im-mediately quit training af-ter the Jan. 8 shooting.

Kelly said he told hermother there was no wayhe’d leave Giffords’ side.Gloria Giffords responded,“Are you kidding me?”

Within two weeks, Gif-fords was transferred toTIRR Memorial Hermannhospital in Houston, andthat’s when he started re-considering. He weighedhow much time he couldspend with her, and howmuch he needed to be withhis crew at Johnson SpaceCenter on the outskirts ofHouston.

“So that’s a debate I hadwith myself,” he said. Thefact that she’s busy all dayin rehab was key.

Kelly said their parents,siblings and his teenagedaughters were “complete-ly unanimous.”

“Everybody felt thatthis was the right thing forme to do,” he said.

Kelly said any critics ofhis decision don’t know

his wife. “She is a big supporter

of my career, a big sup-porter of NASA,” he said.

Giffords’ bullet woundwas devastating. Thoughdoctors described herearly progress as remarka-ble, they have said very lit-tle about her condition.Houston doctors are notgiving updates.

In the first several daysafter the shooting, shegave a thumbs up and wasable to stand with help.She massaged her hus-band’s neck, picked outcolors on an iPad and play-fully took the ring off anurse’s finger. Friends andKelly described her as ableto understand them.

But rehab experts sayher progress will be slow,and the head of the hospi-tal where she’s stayingsaid doctors will help herreach “a new normal.”

No one has yet reportedthat Giffords has spokenor made sounds. She canswallow and breathe onher own and follows com-mands to lift an arm or aleg.

Kelly said a doctor told

him she’s doing betterthan 99 percent of otherpeople with this type of in-jury. He said he’s not pro-viding any updates on hercondition to avoid specula-tion by strangers.

“It’s not something I feelcomfortable talkingabout,” he said.

When asked if Giffordsmight be well enough toattend his launch, he re-plied: “Absolutely. I haveevery intention that she’llbe there for the launch.I’ve already talked to herdoctors about it.”

Giffords, 40, was meet-ing with constituentswhen she was gunneddown. Six people werekilled and 13 were injuredin the rampage; a 22-year-old suspect is in custody.

Kelly’s space missionwill be Endeavour’s finalflight and the fourth forhim. He will lead a veter-an, all-male crew to the In-ternational Space Station.

A Navy captain, he en-tered the astronaut corpsin 1996, along with hisidentical twin Scott, who’scircling the planet as thespace station commander.

Astronaut Mark Kelly prepares to discuss his decision to command the final flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavor during a news confer-ence at Johnson Space Center on Friday, in Houston. Kelly’s wife, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, is recuperating from a gunshot wound to thehead in a Houston hospital.

Photo by Michael Stravato | AP

Kelly says yes to shuttle flightBy MARCIA DUNN AND JUAN A.

LOZANOASSOCIATED PRESS

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES State SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2011

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2011 Zentertainment PAGE 9A

The first months of theyear are an exciting timeto be in Laredo, thanks tothe Washington’s BirthdayCelebration, and the sea-son of revelry continuestonight with the 16th an-nual Noche de Cabaret atthe Laredo Civic CenterBallroom, presented byLULAC Council No. 7.

The celebration is anopportunity to have funand enjoy performancesby lively musicians anddancers, but it is also for anoble cause: Funds raisedby the event go towardscholarships for Laredostudents.

“Not only will you behelping to enhance thequality of life througheducation, you’ll have agood time, too,” said JoseGonzalez, first vice presi-dent and event chairman.

The night begins with asocial hour at 7 p.m., last-ing until 8 p.m., duringwhich free shrimp cock-

tails, fruit botanas, mar-garitas and beer will beserved along with the La-redo Chamber of Com-merce’s own Ojo Rojo (apunch combining Bacardi,wine and delicious secretingredients). Noche at-tendees are invited tobring platters and spiritsof their own preferencefor the rest of the evening.

To start the night off,Round Rock High School’sballet folklorico group willperform during the socialhour.

“They’re friends ofmine, and I thought itwould be something thatwould be in line with thetheme of Noche de Caba-ret,” said Dr. Francisco Pe-ña, who is sponsoring thegroup.

The folklorico dancerswill, for this event, be per-forming to swing musicreminiscent of the 1940s.Peña said he was inspiredto bring focus to the zootsuit riots that took placein Los Angeles circa 1943.

“LULACs have always

been interested in bring-ing out Hispanic culture.What we’re doing is bring-ing back memories aboutthis; I think that the zootsuit riot is a symbol ofMexican American in-volvement,” Peña said.

Following the socialhour, a brief award cere-mony will be held honor-ing this year’s recipient ofthe Higher EducationAward, Laredo Communi-ty College President JuanMaldonado, Ph.D., whowill be accompanied tothe stage by this year’sMiss LULAC Neydia Cas-tilleja.

Past honorees includeGary Jacobs, Judge DannyValdez, the late Pepe Tre-viño, Dr. Francisco Cigar-roa, Congressman HenryCuellar, TAMIU PresidentRay Keck, LCC TrusteeBelinda Gutierrez, then-superintendent SylviaBruni and Fernando A.Salinas.

“Dr. Maldonado servesas a role model for therest of the kids of the com-

munity,” said Joe Medina,president of LULAC Coun-cil No. 7. “He’s local, andhe’s directing the higherinstitution of Laredo Com-munity College.”

National LULAC Presi-dent Margaret Moran willbe speaking at tonight’sevent, which was nearsell-out status Thursday.

The main attractiongenerating so much ex-citement for the Noche deCabaret is Grupo Premierde los dos Laredos fromNuevo Laredo. The per-formance group includesa seven-person orchestrathat will play all kinds ofmusic — from swing toTejano, salsa and me-ringue — and a duo oflovely singers and dancerssure to add to the livelymood of the event. In addi-tion, local singer and imi-tator Gino Zavala will per-form during intermission.

Last year, LULAC gaveout $28,800 in scholar-ships, a step in providingLaredo with a more edu-cated workforce.

Banda Premier de los dos Laredos is sure to delight revelers at this year’s Noche de Cabaret tonight at Laredo Civic Center. It’s a WBCA event.

Courtesy | LULLAC Council No. 7

Noche de Cabaret tonightBy ERIKA MATOS

THE ZAPATA TIMES

Tickets“Ricky Martin is one of

today’s biggest acts,” saidXavier Villalon, generalmanager of the SMG-man-aged Laredo Energy Arena.

“The LEA is pleased tohost this monumental con-cert,” he continued.

Tickets go on sale todayat 10 a.m., and prices rangefrom $30.50 to $126, plus fa-cility fees.

They will be available atall Ticketmaster locations,including online and theLEA box office, or byphone at 1-800-745-3000.

Puerto Rican pop starRicky Martin will be re-turning to the Laredo En-ergy Arena in April.

The LEA and LiveN-ation, the concert’s promo-tion company, announcedthe show last Friday.

The world-renowned La-tin performer will release“Musica+Alma+Sexo,” hisfirst studio album in sixyears, and his tour isnamed after it.

Ricky Martin’s concertis set for Tuesday, April 26,at 8 p.m. at the arena.

After critical praise forhis “MTV Unplugged” and“Ricky Martin Live – Black& White Tour” albums, theGrammy award-winningsuperstar his new album,“Musica+Alma+Sexo,” isalready the No. 1 sellingLatin album at Amazon,based on presales.

The album’s first single,“Lo Mejor De Mi Vida EresTú,” is the top Latin popsong in the country, accord-ing to a release.

Ricky Martin returns toLaredo arena in April

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Latin superstar Ricky Martin willbe back in Laredo on April 26.Tickets range from $30.50 to$126 and already on sale.

AP file photo

The Boys & Girls Clubsof Laredo is hosting its mostambitious Wine Tasting Ga-la event to date, as organiz-ers prepare to paint thetown “Liquid Blue.”

The 13th Annual WineTasting Gala will be on Sat-urday at the Laredo Coun-try Club . In addition to anopen bar, wine master Tris-ten Beamon will be on handto present an extraordinaryselection of fine wines.

Live and silent auctionswill feature unique itemssuch as luxury stays in San-ta Fe, N.M., and Mustang Is-land; several premier wild-life hunts; a U.S. Open Ten-nis Tournament Packagefor two, including tickets tothe women’s and men’s fi-nals; original artwork; aneight-day African safari;and several dinner and par-ty packages. A four-day tripfor two to either New YorkCity or San Francisco willalso be raffled.

This year’s featuredband, Liquid Blue, is basedin San Diego, Calif. Theband’s official slogan, “Mu-sic to Move You,” says it all:Liquid Blue epitomizesdance music. Their spectac-ular concerts have been wit-nessed by sell-out crowds ofup to 65,000 and millionsmore worldwide on televi-sion. With the pulsatingsounds of DJ Layla Loxaand four unique lead vocal-ists performing more than600 songs, dancing, drinkingand dining enthusiasts willdefinitely be happy at thisyear’s Wine Tasting event.

Award winners

Liquid Blue has garnerednumerous awards includ-ing: “America’s Best DanceBand” at the National Mu-sic Awards in 2001; runner-

up “Best Band” at the Inter-national Music Awards;“Best Cover Band” and“Best Dance Band” at theSan Diego Music Awards;“VH1 Song of the Year”;“Pop Album of the Year” atthe Los Angeles MusicAwards; Billboard WorldSong Contest Finalist; and“America’s Best Independ-ent Artist.”

The band is the most-traveled dance band in mu-sic history, having perform-ed sold-out shows in morethan 100 countries aroundthe world, including at the2008 Beijing Summer Olym-pics kick-off concert. Youcan check out their musicat www.liquid-blue.com. Theband is backed by the sing-ing and dancing talents ofthe Blue Girls. These beauti-ful and multi-talented ladieshave achieved notable musi-cal success of their own, in-cluding two Billboard DanceChart hits, a finalist in theAsian version of “AmericanIdol,” a contestant in theMiss USA Pageant, andwriting a hit song forBeyonce. The girls have per-formed for U.S. ArmedForces in 25 countries andhave been invited to singthe Star Spangled Banner atnumerous national and in-ternational sporting events.

Ticket informationThe Boys & Girls Club

Wine Tasting Gala will haveit all — exquisite wines andcuisine, prizes, and a greatway to help make a differ-ence in the lives of thou-sands of young people inour community.

Tables of 10 are availablefor $2,500, or $250 per per-son. The event begins at 7p.m. and continues intoearly morning.

For more information ortickets, call C.Y. BenavidesIII at 763-8973.

Each year, the Wine Tasting Gala features an exquisite variety offine wines. This year it will be held at the Laredo Country Club.

Courtesy photo | WBCA

San Diego’sLiquid Blue atWine Tasting

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

One of WBCA’s mostpopular events, the Taste ofLaredo, is set for Tuesdayat the Laredo Energy Are-na.

The food sampling extra-vaganza starts at 7 p.m. andwill surely tantalize yourtaste buds.

“We are thrilled to onceagain welcome our finestrestaurants and food aficio-nados to the largest andmost popular food sam-pling on both sides of the

border,” said Xavier Villa-lon, general manager at La-redo Energy Arena.

Doors will open at 6:45p.m. for a ribbon-cuttingceremony and the tastingfestivities begin afterward.

It’s the 9th consecutiveyear the arena hosts Tasteof Laredo. The event hasbeen part of the WBCAsince 1985.

Every year, about 2,500people sample deliciousfoods, prepared by the bestchefs and cooks in Laredo.Attendees also vote for the

“People’s Choice,” the bestfood in Laredo. Restaurantswill also be judged in thecategories of “Best Decorat-ed Booth” and “Best Over-all Taste,” according to lo-cal celebrity judges.

This year’s live musicwill be provided by localband Little Sister.

Taste of Laredo willagain feature a chef compe-tition, a bartender show-down, a pizza eating con-test sponsored by HungryHowie’s and a blazing wingeating contest sponsored by

Buffalo Wild Wings. Any-one who dares to competewill be able to do so.

Tickets for the Taste ofLaredo are $22 for adultsand $12 for children 12years or younger. Ticketsare available through allTicketmaster locations, in-cluding the LEA box office.

Taste of Laredo set for TuesdaySPECIAL TO THE TIMES

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10A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2011

WASHINGTON — Em-bracing an Egyptian futurewithout Hosni Mubarak,President Barack Obamaon Friday pressed the em-battled leader to considerhis legacy and exit office ina way that would give hiscountry the best chance forpeace and democracy. Oba-ma tried to rally worldpressure on Mubarak tomake “the right decision”but did not call for his im-mediate resignation.

“I believe that PresidentMubarak cares about hiscountry. He is proud, buthe’s also a patriot,” Obamasaid.

The U.S. president saidhe had urged Mubarak tolisten to those in his gov-ernment and the pleadingvoices of his people, and de-cide if he’s willing to ac-cept a serious transitionout of power.

Obama, limited in his

leverage to control events,appeared to adjust his tac-tics in making brief com-ments to reporters. Insteadof just outlining Egyptiansteps to halt the street vio-lence and move toward afreer government, Obamaopenly played to Mubarak’spride and reputation.

Mubarak, facing an up-rising in his country afternearly 30 years of rule, hassaid he will not run for re-election in September. Oba-ma called that a “psycho-logical break” for Mubarakand then challenged him toreflect on his next move.He did that with a remind-er that the world is watch-ing.

“The key question heshould be asking himselfis, ‘How do I leave a legacybehind in which Egypt isable to get through thistransformative period?’”Obama said. “And my hopeis — is that he will end upmaking the right decision.”

The comments came in

response to a reporter’squestion about Egypt, thefirst one Obama hadagreed to answer since thecrisis began 11 days earlier.In an appearance with Can-adian Prime Minister Ste-phen Harper, Obama de-clined to answer whether atransition toward free, fairelections in Septembercould begin while Mubarakremained in power.

Protesters are adamantthat Mubarak must gonow; they have campaignedfor days, at times met withviolence.

The latest rally in Cairoon Friday drew roughly100,000 protesters, and itwent off largely peacefullyto the enormous relief ofU.S. officials.

The Obama administra-tion has been talking withtop Egyptian officials onthe formation of a military-backed caretaker govern-ment that could preparethe country for new elec-tions.

Anti-government protestors react in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt, on Friday. The Egyptian military guard-ed thousands of protesters pouring into Cairo’s main square on Friday who gathered in an attempt todrive out President Hosni Mubarak after a week and half of pro-democracy demonstrations.

Photo by Khalil Hamra | AP

Obama to Mubarak:Consider your legacy

By BEN FELLERASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Re-publican Sen. OrrinHatch, an opponent of therecently enacted healthcare overhaul, says JusticeElena Kagan should nottake part in the widely ex-pected Supreme Courtconsideration of the newlaw.

Hatch’s call is part ofthe broad legal and politi-cal maneuvering on bothsides for the most favor-able conditions surround-ing court review of Presi-dent Barack Obama’s sig-nature domestic policyaccomplishment.

His comments came thesame week that VirginiaAttorney General KenCuccinelli said he plans to

file a motion to take thecase directly to the Su-preme Court, bypassingan appeals court, after hewon a federal judge’s rul-ing in December againstthe law’s requirement thatmost Americans buyhealth insurance.

On Monday, a secondfederal judge declared thelaw unconstitutional. Twoother judges have upheldit.

Hatch said he is sureKagan participated in dis-cussions about the lawand challenges to it whileshe served in the JusticeDepartment as Obama’stop Supreme Court lawyer.Hatch told Fox News hebelieves Kagan “should re-cuse herself,” although henoted the justice willmake that determination.

The Utah senator alsovoted against Kagan’s con-firmation to the SupremeCourt in August.

The issue of Kagan’sparticipation looms largeif the justices’ views onthe health care law dividealong ideological lines.Her absence in such a sit-uation could leave thecourt split 4-4, whichwould prevent it from set-tling the subject with auniform set of rules forthe entire country.

Kagan addressed herparticipation during herconfirmation hearing. Shesaid then that she “attend-ed at least one meetingwhere the existence of thelitigation was briefly men-tioned, but none whereany substantive discussionof the litigation occurred.”

Hatch: Kagan should recuse selfBy MARK SHERMANASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Afternearly a decade of wran-gling, the TransportationSecurity Administrationsaid Friday more than40,000 airport screenerswill get limited collectivebargaining rights,strengthening their voicein work conditions butbarring them from strik-ing or negotiating overpay or security proce-dures.

The decision — thoughlimited — won praise fromgovernment workerunions and many TSAworkers, who fought towin the same protectionsas other federal employeesdespite claims from Re-publican lawmakers thatunion demands could jeop-ardize national security orslow response times in acrisis.

The agency’s adminis-trator, John Pistole, saidthe decision will allow

bargaining on a nationallevel over certain employ-ment issues such as set-ting work shifts, transfers,vacation time and awards.The deal prohibits nego-tiating on issues thatmight affect security, thedeployment of securitypersonnel, job qualifica-tions, testing or discipline.It also bars any work slow-downs.

“The safety of the trav-eling public is our top pri-ority and we will not nego-tiate on security,” Pistolesaid. “But morale and em-ployee engagement cannotbe separated from achiev-ing superior security.”

Florida Rep. John Mica,Republican chairman ofthe House Transportationand Infrastructure Com-mittee, called the decision“an Obama union payoff”and said it would hamstr-ing the government’s fightagainst terrorism.

Union officials calledsuch arguments an insultto the hundreds of thou-

sands of public safety offi-cers who already have col-lective bargaining rights,including Border Patrolagents, firefighters andCapitol police.

“Today marks the recog-nition of a fundamentalhuman right for 40,000 pa-triotic federal employeeswho have been disenfran-chised since the inceptionof the agency,” said JohnGage, president of theAmerican Federation ofGovernment Employees.His union already hasmore than 12,000 dues-pay-ing members among thescreeners’ ranks, but hasnot been allowed to bar-gain on their behalf.

Gage called the decision“a big first step” for TSAworkers. He said it wouldhelp improve employeesatisfaction and morale atthe agency, which wasranked near the bottomamong all federal agenciesin a recent survey con-ducted by the Office ofPersonnel Management.

Airport screeners gaininglimited union rights

By SAM HANANELASSOCIATED PRESS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2011 THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A

Doralisa Benavides Ve-la, 66, died Jan. 28, 2011, inAustin, Texas.

Mrs. Vela was bornAug. 3, 1944, in Laredo,Texas. She grew up inHebbronville, Texas,where she graduated fromHebbronville High School,then went on to obtain adegree in education fromTexas Women’s Universityin Denton, Texas. Shelived most of her life in Za-pata, Texas, where sheworked as an elementaryschool teacher for 33years. Those close to herknew her as “Doris.” Shewas an amazing daughter,sister, wife, mother andfriend. She was loved bymany, and will be greatlymissed.

Mrs. Vela is preceded indeath by her parents: JuanBenavides Jr. and Celia M.Benavides of Hebbronville,Texas.

Mrs. Vela is survived byher husband of 44 years,Alvaro Vela, of Zapata,Texas; daughters: MarissaV. (Servando) Perez andDina M. Vela, both of Aus-tin, Texas; son, Alvaro A.“Sonny” Vela of CorpusChristi, Texas; five grand-children: Jacqueline R. Ve-la, Adriana R. Perez, Ro-berto A. Vela, Alejandro D.Perez and Javier A. Vela;sister, Nelda B. (Humber-to) Martinez of Alice, Tex-as; and brother, Jaime J.(Candace) Benavides ofArlington, Texas.

Visitation hours wereheld Monday, Jan. 31, 2011,from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m.,with a rosary at 7 p.m. at

Rose Garden FuneralHome and on Tuesday,Feb. 1, 2011, from 8 a.m.until 9:30 a.m. The funeralprocession departed at 9:45a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeralMass at Our Lady ofLourdes Catholic Churchin Zapata, Texas. Inter-ment followed at ZapataCounty Cemetery.

Pallbearers were: Alva-ro A. “Sonny” Vela, Ser-vando Perez Jr., HumbertoMartinez, David A. Coro-nado, Martin Briseño andJesus R. Briseño.

Honorary pallbearerswere her five grandchil-dren: Jacqueline R. Vela,Adriana R. Perez, RobertoA. Vela, Alejandro D. Pe-rez and Javier A. Vela.

Funeral arrangementswere under the directionof Rose Garden FuneralHome, Daniel A. Gonzalez,funeral director, 2102 USHighway 83, Zapata, Tex-as.

DORALISA BENAVIDES VELA

ZAPATA, TEXAS —Hortencia E. Ramirez,90, passed away Friday,Jan. 28, 2011, at StarrCounty Memorial Hospi-tal in Rio Grande City,Texas.

Mrs. Ramirez is pre-ceded in death by herhusband, Jose S. Rami-rez; parents: Federicoand Dominga Elizondo;brothers: Manuel (Her-linda) Elizondo, Federico( Aurora) Elizondo, Fran-cisco (Eusebia) Elizondo,Ernesto (Aurora) Elizon-do, Alberto (Benilde) Eli-zondo and Ivo (Ofelia)Elizondo; sisters: Maria(Silvestre) Garcia andAmalia ( Amado) Saenz;and niece Azucena Eli-zondo.

Mrs. Ramirez is sur-vived by her nephews:Francisco A. (Maricela)Elizondo, Rodolfo (MariaGuadalupe) Elizondo, Ru-ben (Maria Elena) Eli-zondo, Salvador (Leticia)Elizondo, Roel Elizondoand Jose Luis (Rosa Ma-ria) Elizondo; nieces: Ma-ria Estela (David) Laneand Rosa Nelia (Jose Ra-fael) Villarreal; and nu-merous friends.

Visitation hours wereheld Sunday, Jan. 30,

2011, from 6 p.m. until 9p.m. with a rosary at 7p.m. at Rose Garden Fu-neral Home.

The funeral processiondeparted Monday, Jan.31, 2011, at 9:30 a.m. for a10 a.m. funeral Mass atOur Lady of LourdesCatholic Church.

Committal services fol-lowed at Zapata CountyCemetery. Funeral ar-rangements were underthe direction of RoseGarden Funeral HomeDaniel A. Gonzalez, fu-neral director, 2102 High-way 83 Zapata, Texas.

HORTENCIA E. RAMIREZ

MEXICO CITY — Offi-cials are warning U.S. citi-zens not to drive at night inparts of the western Mexi-can city of Guadalajara af-ter suspected drug-gangmembers burned vehiclesand blocked streets. A sep-arate U.S. alert Friday saidthe northern city of Mon-terrey has seen a signifi-cant increase in armed rob-beries at restaurants andconvenience stores.

Some of the blockades inGuadalajara took place ona highway leading to thecity’s airport and to LakeChapala, a popular retire-ment and vacation spot forU.S. and Canadian citizens.

Hotel managers on LakeChapala said Friday thewarning has not signifi-cantly affected business.

The U.S. consulate inGuadalajara, Mexico’s sec-ond-largest city, posted amessage on its websiteThursday saying that ithad prohibited U.S. diplo-matic personnel from trav-eling the highway to theairport at night, and that it“recommends that U.S. citi-zens consider similar pre-cautions.”

On Tuesday, assailantshurled grenades, burnedvehicles and blocked sever-al Guadalajara streets andhighways in seven near-si-multaneous attacks that in-jured a policeman and twotransportation workers.Such tactics have beenused by cartels in the pastto aid their escapes frompolice.

The attacks were stagedby drug gangs, possibly inretaliation for the arrests oftheir members, said Fer-nando Guzman Perez, inte-rior secretary of Jaliscostate, where Guadalajara is

located.Such alerts have been is-

sued in the past for high-ways in northern and west-ern Mexico, but are uncom-mon for Guadalajara,which is not consideredone of the focal points of adrug war that has claimedmore than 34,600 lives since2006.

Chapala, a shimmering,mountain-ringed lake, hasbeen popular among U.S.and Canadian citizens fordecades.

Ricardo Soto, manager ofthe lakeside Quinta SanCarlos hotel, said the druggangs’ actions this weekhad affected business “a lit-tle.”

He said some customersalmost didn’t show up be-cause they did not knowthere were other routes toget to the hotel.

“Once you explain it tothem, the people come,”said Soto, who noted thatthe hotel was nearly book-ed Friday. “This is a won-derful place, and all theproblems with drug traf-ficking haven’t really affect-ed us, because it is all moreover toward the airport.”

Ricardo Hernandez, whomanages the Casa MisAmores hotel in the nearbylakeside town of Ajijic, saidof the problems, “It hasn’taffected us up to now.”

The consulate’s message

advised motorists encoun-tering roadblocks to get offthe highway immediatelyand take shelter in a shop-ping mall, hotel or any oth-er business they could findnearby.

It also included somecreative driving tips.

“If you are presentedwith an imminent threaton the road, do not hesitateto run over any median (orsimilar obstacle) to makean emergency U-turn to getout of harm’s way,” themessage said.

The advisory issued Fri-day by the U.S. consulate inMonterrey warned of anincrease in armed robber-ies at restaurants, cafesand convenience stores inthat city.

The robberies have beencarried out by a smallarmed group that guardsthe entrance and takespurses, wallets, phones andother valuables from cus-tomers inside, the consul-ate said. None of the rob-beries has resulted in vio-lence or kidnapping, theadvisory said.

Monterrey has been af-fected in recent years bygrowing drug violence, at-tributed to a dispute be-tween rival cartels. Theconsulate’s message didn’tsay whether the recent rob-beries were related to orga-nized crime.

US warns against nightdriving in Guadalajara

By MARK STEVENSONASSOCIATED PRESS On Tuesday, assailants hurled

grenades, burned vehicles andblocked several Guadalajarastreets and highways in sevennear-simultaneous attacks thatinjured a policeman and twotransportation workers.

UNREST IN INDIA

Photo by Mustafa Quraishi | AP

Activists of India’s mainopposition Bharatiya Ja-nata Party youth wingbreak police barricadesat a protest in New Del-hi, India, on Friday,against alleged anklemonitors placed on Indi-an students of Tri-ValleyUniversity in California.According to an Indiannewspaper, several Indianstudents at the U.S. uni-versity, shut down oncharges of massive immi-gration fraud, have beenforced to wear monitorson their ankles so U.S.authorities can keep tabson their movements.

CAIRNS, Australia —The tail end of one ofAustralia’s largest-evercyclones was felt at theother end of the countrySaturday, as wild stormslashed Melbourne withdestructive winds andflash flooding.

Many parts of Austra-lia have suffered a sum-mer of awful weather, in-cluding pounding rainsacross northeasternQueensland state thatcaused the nation’sworst flooding in dec-ades, killing 35 peopleand causing an estimat-ed $5.6 billion damage.

The tropical low thatwas Cyclone Yasi, whichhit the northeast earlierthis week, was activeover central Australiaand making a series ofthunderstorms over thesouthern city of Mel-bourne and other largetowns in Victoria statemuch worse.

More than 7 inches ofrain fell overnight Fri-day in Melbourne andwinds gusting to 80 mphknocked down trees.

Drains were over-whelmed, causing flashflooding that coveredstreets and swampedsome homes. The StateEmergency Service said84 people were rescuedfrom cars that stalled inflooded streets, or frominundated properties.

Towns in the north-west of the state were al-so hit by the bad weath-er, which was a combina-tion of the remnants ofYasi and a series of pow-erful storm cells.

CycloneYasi lashessouthernAustralia

By KRISTEN GELINEAUASSOCIATED PRESS

going home from policeheadquarters. A deputy po-lice chief and one of FarfánCarriola’s bodyguards alsowere slain in the assault.

It has been a violent 10days in northern Mexico.

Last week, the entire po-lice force of General Terán,a ranch town southeast ofMonterrey, resigned aftertwo of its officers were kid-napped and beheaded bygangsters.

“Given the thorough pen-etration by the Zetas of thepolice forces in those mu-nicipalities that were hit, amuch more likely explana-tion is that the attacks werea signal from the Gulf cartelto the police to cease/desisttheir support of the Zetasand switch sides,” the U.S.Consul General in Monter-rey wrote Washington fol-lowing similar attacks lastFebruary, in a cable recentlymade public by Wikileaks.

“Other plausible theoriesexist as well,” the diplomatwrote, “but none involve or-ganized crime responding to“effective” state governmentenforcement efforts.”

Farfán likely was targetedeither because he refused tocooperate with the Zetas orbecause the Gulf Cartel con-sidered him a threat to their

efforts, said a retired U.S.law enforcement officialwho closely follows the vio-lence in northeastern Mexi-co.

“Most of the generals thathave been placed in chief ofpolice positions have beenwith (Mexican President)Calderón and his program,”said the former official. “SoI would say it’s more likelyhe refused to join the Zetasand they killed him.”

Before taking the post inNuevo Laredo, Farfán hadserved as police chief inCuernavaca, capital of thestate of Morelos south ofMexico City, and just a fewmonths as head of the statetransit police in Michoacán.Those states are amongMexico’s most violent andgangster-ridden. Both arecontrolled by enemies of theZetas.

Mexican officials haveblamed the Zetas for the re-cent assassinations of twoother former generals whohad taken control of munici-pal police forces.

Juan Esparza, the publicsecurity director of García,a Monterrey suburb, wasgunned down along withseveral aides in November2009. And Mauro Enriquezwas tortured and murderedearlier that year, along withan active duty army officerserving as his aide, weeksafter taking command of thepolice in the Caribbean re-sort of Cancún.

A senior Cancún policeofficial was charged withhelping carry out Enri-quez’s killing at the behestof the Zetas.

(The San Antonio Express-News and Houston Chroniclecontributed to this report)

ARMY Continued from Page 1A

Last week, the entire police forceof General Terán, a ranch townsoutheast of Monterrey, resignedafter two of its officers werekidnapped and beheaded bygangsters.

As of this week, it’s un-clear how ZCISD is prepar-ing for potential budgetcuts. ZCISD SuperintendentNorma Garcia could not bereached for comment andschool board President JoseM. Ramirez III deferredcomment to school districtadministration. He said theboard of trustees has not re-ceived information on anyZCISD budget reductionstrategy. And until lawmak-ers pass the state budget,it’s all rumors and conjec-ture, Ramirez added.

State Rep. Ryan Guillen,D-Rio Grande City, whosedistrict covers Zapata Coun-ty, declined comment onTexas’ preliminary draftbudget. His office in Austinsaid he is in the process of

writing an in-depth analysisof the preliminary budgetand how it’s going to affectTexas and his district.

The representative willrelease the analysis nextweek and will field ques-tions on the draft budget atthat time, his office said.

If ZCISD were to lose be-tween $4.9 million and $8.5million, that would equal 11to 20 percent of its generaloperating revenue budget.That’s based on ZCISD’sgeneral fund of $43.7 millionfor the 2010-11 school year.

Of the $43.7 million, $14.4million, or more than 33percent, comes from thestate. The majority, or about61 percent, comes from localsources, such as propertytaxes.

According to a presenta-tion from Moak, Casey andAssociates, an Austin-basedpublic school finance con-sulting firm, the worst casescenario for school districtsis losing an average of 15percent in funds.

Under that scenario, per-sonnel cuts are “almost acertainty for most districts,”the presentation states. Un-der a “better case” scenario,districts will lose 7 to 8 per-cent of funds. The presenta-tion added that either way,“districts are confrontedwith a new reality: achievemore rigorous performancestandards with diminishedresources.”

(Nick Georgiou may bereached at 728-2582 or ngeor-giou@lmtonline.com)

SCHOOLS Continued from Page 1A

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2011

precipitation ended, bring-ing milder conditions.

“We’re expecting it towarm up into the mid 60s(today) and into the low70s on Sunday and Mon-day,” said Tim Tinsley, me-teorologist with the Na-tional Weather Service inCorpus Christi.

But don’t put awaythose coats just yet. Tin-sley said there’s more coldweather in the offing.

“There’s another blastfrom the arctic comingin,” he said. “We’re look-ing at the upper 50s forhighs Wednesday andmaybe the mid 50s onThursday.”

Some lucky Zapatans —if you like winter weather— saw a rare snowfall, if asmall one.

“There was a little bandof snow south of Zapata …near the reservoir,” Tin-sley said. “You could see iton the satellite. It was alake effect. About one ortwo inches of snowformed right off thatlake.”

Umphres said the majortrouble resulting from thisstretch of cold would beits effect on plant life.

“I was out checking myplants,” she said. “A lot of

plants froze, but they maycome out from the roots.Some of the little treeswere pretty badly frozen.We hope it hasn’t hurt ourorange trees too much,but we’ll just have to waitand see.”

The Zapata CountySheriff ’s Office reportedfive accidents on icybridges Thursday nightand only one accident Fri-day. None resulted in ma-jor injuries or road clo-sures, officials said.

Tinsley said this situa-tion isn’t all that unusual.

“This is pretty typicalfor this time of year,” hesaid. “We get these coldsnaps every so often.”

And Umphres said therehave been more notableweather events.

“I was here in 1968when we had a real snow-fall,” she said. “There hadto be around five or sixinches deep where wewere. It was something tosee.”

WEATHER Continued from Page 1A

Plants around Zapata County were coated in ice due to adverseweather during the week.

Courtesy photo by Erica Benavides

CHICAGO — In a city known for puni-shing mayors for their handling of snow-storms, Mayor Richard Daley was carefulnot to step in front of the cameras untilthe main streets were clear.

When he finally did Thursday, the may-or swiftly brushed aside any criticism ofthe city’s response to the monstrous bliz-zard that created a startling spectacle:hundreds of motorists stranded overnighton the city’s marquee thoroughfare.

So far, few fingers were pointed at Da-ley, despite some inevitable second-guess-ing.

Instead, in typically self-effacing Mid-western fashion, some of the very drivers

who got stuck on Lake Shore Drive ac-knowledged it was their fault for using thelakefront roadway in the first place.

Meanwhile, the storm left in its wakeone final blow: a band of bitter cold span-ning from New Mexico to the Great Lakesthat kept roads slick and contributed to atleast six new deaths in traffic accidents.Temperatures dropped into the single di-gits or lower, with wind chills thatplunged nearly to minus 30 in some plac-es.

The system dumped more than 20 inch-es of snow on Chicago, making it thethird-largest winter storm in the city’s his-tory.

Pressed about whether workers didtheir best, Daley responded, “Yes, theydid. ... They did a very, very good job.”

Chicago mayor speaksabout blizzard

By DEANNA BELLANDI AND MICHAEL TARMASSOCIATED PRESS

DALLAS — Mike Tomlinstood stone-faced behind theLombardi Trophy as a few dozencameras fired away.

“Smile, Mike!” one photogra-pher yelled out.

“Nah,” the Pittsburgh Steelerscoach said without a hint of agrin on another cold, snowy Fri-day in Big D.

He eventually cracked a smile,but this is serious stuff for Tom-lin as the Steelers go for the sev-enth Super Bowl title in fran-chise history Sunday against theGreen Bay Packers.

“We’re putting the finishingtouches, of course, on our plan

here,” Tomlin said in a sparselyattended final media session thatlasted barely five minutes. “It’sbeen a good week, but of course,like the Green Bay Packers, I’msure we’re all getting a little ant-sy and getting ready to play.”

Tomlin will keep an eye on hisguys during the next few days tomake sure they remain even-keeled with so much at stake.

But what about the 38-year-oldcoach who could be hoisting thattrophy for the second time in hisfour seasons?

NFL

In a photo taken with a fisheye lens and seen through a window, ice covers a walk-way to Cowboys Stadium, the site of Super Bowl XLV, on Wednesday in Arlington.

Photo by Charlie Riedel | AP

“Robot” Tomlinsays Steelersready to go

By DENNIS WASZAK JR.ASSOCIATED PRESS

See SUPER BOWL PAGE 2B

INSIDESee Page 4B for related content

Sports&OutdoorsSATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2011 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

The Zapata Hawks are flyinghigh after recording the boys’soccer program’s first win intheir first year of varsity compe-tition against a formidable andsolid opponent.

On Tuesday, Zapata cameaway with a 1-0 victory on theroad over powerhouse Hidalgo,which picked up a state title twoyears ago and is the defendingdistrict champion.

“This is a huge win over a sol-id soccer program,” Zapatacoach Blake Garza said. “Thiswin solidifies our soccer pro-gram and this is a great way tohead into district.”

Last year, the Hawks competedin a junior varsity division be-fore being granted the right tocompete on the varsity level thisyear.

The Hawks’ preseason was

trying at best, as they were rout-ed in most of their games andjust were not able to get theirfooting early in the season.

Zapata finally started to findits team identity and it all cametogether against Hidalgo.

Garza is still tinkering withthe lineup and utilized the firsthalf to give everyone plenty ofplaying time.

Despite the constant lineupchange throughout the first half,the Hawks were able to keep upa strong defensive game thatturned away the Pirates at everycorner.

“A lot of credit goes to the de-fense because they were able toshut out Hidalgo,” Garza said.

Freshmen goalie Roman Ro-driguez erected a wall of defenseat the net to turn away 40 shotsat the goal.

The Pirates were not able toget one in back of the net due toRodriguez patrolling the net witha vengeance.

“He has very good goalie skillsand plays very smart,” Garzasaid. “When he is out there, hegoes all out. During the

HIGH SCOOL SOCCER

Hawks pick upfirst varsity win

Historic victory comesagainst recent statechampions, Hidalgo

By CLARA SANDOVALZAPATA TIMES

See SOCCER PAGE 2B

About 400 Zapata residents, including busi-nesses and community volunteers, came togeth-er recently to celebrate the Fourth AnnualSporting Clay Tournament & Cook-off in sup-port of the Zapata Boys & Girls Club.

The event, sponsored by IBC Bank - Zapata,Texas Energy and Amistad Home Health onJan. 29, took place at Bank CEO Renato Rami-rez’s ranch and raised a total of $61,000 – thelargest single-event amount raised in theevent’s history. This is the biggest fundraiser ofthe year for the Boys & Girls Club of Zapata,and accounts for more than half of the year’sbudget.

IBC Bank Zapata President Ricardo Ramirezand Mark Alvarenga, vice-president of sales,are the president and vice president of the Za-pata Boys & Girls Club. Together they createdthe concept for the event in 2007. IBC Bank em-

ployees serve as volunteers, running the sta-tions on the sporting clay course and helpingwith event registration. Local businesses andorganizations, including the South Texas Coun-cil on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, also volun-teered and contributed to the event’s success.

“It’s amazing to see how the event continuesto grow in both the amount of money raisedand the great support from the community,” Ri-cardo Ramirez said. “We are looking forward toseeing this event become a community staplefor many years to come.”

The clay tournament attracts shooters fromas far as Tennessee, who come down to shoot a12-Station Sporting Clay course of 100 clay tar-gets. This year, 33 five-member teams participat-ed for a total of 165 shooters as well as eightcook-off teams. Prizes were given out to the firstand second-place teams in Flights A,B,C and Dand individual prizes given out to first, secondand third-place for the Master Class.

CLAY SHOOTING

Winners of the 4th Annual Sporting Clay Tournament and Cook-Off are, left to right: Chad Cooley, first place in MasterClass Division; Mark Alvarenga, IBC Bank Zapata President and Vice President of Zapata Boys & Girls Club; and RamiroTorres, IBC Bank Zapata Sr. Vice President and Treasurer of Zapata Boys & Girls Club.

Courtesy Photo

IBC HOSTS CLAY SHOOTFourth annual event draws hundreds

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

The Zapata tennis teams areoff to a great start as they trav-eled to Laredo to participate inthe UISD Winter Classic tennistournament to compete with 15schools.

All the Gateway City schools,in addition of St. Augustine, Ea-gle Pass, CC Winn, McAllenNikki Rowe, San Benito, ValleyView and Roma, rounded outthe tournament in three divi-sions: varsity, junior varsityand freshmen.

“Overall I think it was agood tournament. Coach (Mark)Collins of United and the otherU.I.S.D. coaches are to be com-mended as they put on a lot ofmatches,” Zapata coach RobertAlvarez said. “For us, this isreal important since we do nothave fall tennis. We are a littlerusty compared to the otherschools so we need as manymatches as we can get.

“I have high hopes and ex-pectations for our team thisyear. We have a good mix of up-perclassmen and younger kids.On the boys’ side, three of mytop six are freshmen and theyare all good players.”

The varsity played a compassdraw, where the winners go tothe main draw and play for firstplace through 16 after the

round of 32. Losers head over tothe consolation draw and playit out for places 17-32.

Freshmen Trey Alvarez ledthe Hawks into battle as he de-feated his San Benito rival inthe round of 32 to advance tothe main draw.

Alvarez lost to Nikki Rowe’sJorge Velasquez, 6-4, 7-5 despitebeing up in the second set 5-3.

Alvarez’s inexperienceshowed through and Velasqueztook the opportunity to regainthe momentum and eventuallywin the game.

Alvarez was able to bounceback and take the next twomatches from an Eagle Pass

and United South opponent be-fore running into Trey Gonza-lez of Alexander for the maindraw consolation title.

“Trey played well. It was hisfirst varsity tournamentagainst an excellent field, so tofinish ninth was good,” Alvarezsaid.

Also making an impact forthe Hawks was senior RubenReyes, who won his first matchover LBJ to advance to themain draw.

The doubles team of GarretUmphres and Javy Zapataopened with a win over Nixon.

HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS

Tennis beginsHawks perform admirably in Laredo

By CLARA SANDOVALZAPATA TIMES

Zapata freshman Trey Alvarez has started his tennis season strong for the Hawks.

COURTESY PHOTO

See TENNIS PAGE 2B

PAGE 2B Zscores SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2011

“I’m a robot,” Tomlinsaid. “I’m just going to ridethe wave.”

And it could carry him toa special place among NFLcoaches. He would becomeonly the 13th coach inleague history to win multi-ple rings.

“It’s awesome, it reallyis,” Tomlin said of the op-portunity. “It’s humbling,it’s inspiring, it motivatesyou. It’s all those things. Ithink fortunately for us, wehave what you can’t buy,which is legacy — which isunbelievable standard andexpectation and all thosegreat things.”

The Steelers had their fi-nal full practice at TCU lat-er Friday, and Tomlin saidthe players would havesome free time at night to

spend with family andfriends. They’ll have a“dress rehearsal” Saturdayin their last practice, goingthrough what Tomlin called“a mock game” before theSuper Bowl at Cowboys Sta-dium.

Tomlin said rookie ProBowl center MaurkicePouncey, dealing with ahigh left ankle sprain, willbe out for the Super Bowl.Doug Legursky will makehis first start at center inPouncey’s place.

Pouncey, who didn’t prac-tice all week, was injuredearly in the Steelers’ 24-19victory over the New YorkJets in the AFC champion-ship game nearly two weeksago. The Dallas-Fort Wortharea has been hit by severalinches of snow and sub-

freezing temperatures sincethe Steelers arrived, butTomlin said it hasn’t both-ered the team.

“We’re kind of used to in-clement weather,” Tomlinsaid. “At least from my per-spective, it hasn’t changedhow we’ve worked at all.”

In a few days, Tomlincould be back in chilly Pitts-burgh with another SuperBowl trophy — and smiling.

“It’s the pinnacle,” he saidof being a champion. “Thir-ty-two teams start this jour-ney with the same inten-tions. So, of course, you’reovercome with emotions.Great feelings of satisfac-tion, but also humility be-cause you realize that thereare probably a lot of peoplethat are deserving, to bequite honest with you.”

SUPER BOWL Continued from Page 1B

In their next matchagainst the top Alexanderdoubles team, Umphressustained a knee injurythat hindered the teamand was unable to contin-ue the tournament.

The girls’ doubles teamof Isabella Martinez andCristina Mendoza were de-feated in its openinground by Alexander.

“The girls played a closefirst set, but I don’t thinkthey were as focused asthey needed to be,” Alva-rez said. “The girls wentto the consolation draw,where they did not lose amatch, to win the consola-tion title.”

Martinez and Mendozaredeemed themselves andhad wins over Martin, Ci-garroa and United South.

“They played much bet-ter after they lost some ofthe rust in that firstmatch,” Alvarez said.

In the mixed doublescategory, Eliseo Solis andKassie Flores lost in theopening round but thenwent on to win threestraight matches beforelosing in the consolationfinals to United.

Solis and Flores wereable to pick up wins overMartin, United South andCigarroa.

The freshmen teams al-so had a great showing,with Alex Reyes winningthe ninth grade singleschampionship while thedoubles team of ManuelBenavides and Carlos Po-blano took third.

In the girls’ singles, Ga-

briella Montalvo came insixth and Gaby Alvarezdropped a close match inthe first round (8-7) to aneventual finalist, but wonthe rest of her matcheseasily to win the consola-tion title.

The Hawks will be inaction today as they travelto Falfurrias for the 80thHearts Delight TennisTournament. Weathercanceled Friday’s matchesand shortened the tourna-ment to only one day.

On Friday, Feb. 11, theHawks and Lady Hawkswill host the 2nd AnnualZapata Invitational tennistournament.

Schools attending willbe LBJ, Nixon, Martin, Ci-garroa, Hebbronville, St.Augustine and Bruni.

TENNIS Continued from Page 1B

St. Augustine game (earli-er this season), he dove in-to the pole to stop a ball.

“Roman is going to be agood one for us for thenext few years.”

Also helping out on de-fensive duties was MarioGonzalez, who was there to

back up Rodriguez’s effort.After heading into half-

time with no one beingable to get one in the net,Garza unveiled the project-ed starting lineup in thesecond half and had an of-fensive surge.

The Hawks finally found

the back of the net on thefoot of senior Renato Le-duc to give Zapata a 1-0lead.

The defense held itsground and took away ev-ery opportunity in the sec-ond half, and when theclock expired it was the

Hawks celebrating theirfirst win in the school’shistory.

Now the Hawks will facea new challenge next Fri-day when they open Dis-trict 61-4A play against RioGrande City La Grulla, al-so a new soccer program,

at Hawk stadium.Zapata joins Roma, Mis-

sion Veterans, Rio GrandeCity, Rio Grande City LaGrulla and La Joya Juarez-Lincoln in District 61-4A.

The Hawks will also behaving Parent’s Night towitness a historic night

when the first whistleblows to mark a new era inZapata sports.

Garza and all the Hawksinvite the entire Zapatacommunity to witness his-tory in their back yardwith the game set to kickoff at 7:30 p.m.

SOCCER Continued from Page 1B

NEW YORK — Theowners of the Mets turneda blind eye to Bernard Ma-doff ’s massive fraud, reap-ing $300 million in falseprofits and using a largechunk to run the team, ac-cording to a lawsuit un-sealed Friday.

The lawsuit claims theowners were so dependenton the disgraced finan-cier’s too-good-to-be-truereturns that it “faced a se-vere and immediate liquid-ity crisis” when Madoff ’scrimes were revealed in2009.

Owners in hot waterThe searing allegations

were made by Irving Pi-card, the trustee appointedto recover funds for inves-tors burned by Madoff ’sscheme.

The suit filed by Picardin federal bankruptcycourt in Manhattan namesSterling Equities, alongwith its partners and fam-ily members, includingMet owner Fred Wilpon,team president Saul Katzand chief operating JeffWilpon, the owner’s son.

“Given Sterling’s de-pendency on Madoff, itcomes as no surprise thatthe partners willfully turn-ed a blind eye to every redflag of fraud before them,”Fernando A. Bohorquez,Jr., a lawyer representingPicard, said Friday.

The suit had been filedunder seal in Decemberwhile the parties tried towork out a settlement. Butlawyers told a judge thisweek that talks had col-lapsed and consented tohaving the complaintmade public.

Its opening salvo:“There are thousands ofvictims of Madoff ’s mas-sive Ponzi scheme. ButSaul Katz is not one ofthem. Neither is Fred Wil-pon.”

Phony profitsThe complaint alleges

the partnership “receivedapproximately $300 millionin fictitious profits” fromhundreds of accountsopened with Madoff ’sfirm.

Of that, it says, $90 mil-lion of “other people’smoney” were withdrawnto cover day-to-day oper-ations of the Mets.

Wilpon and Katz firedback Friday with a state-ment calling the suit “anoutrageous strong-arm ef-fort to force a settlementby threatening to ruin ourreputations and businesseswe built for over 50 years.”

The pair called the accu-sations “abusive, unfairand untrue,” insisting theywere victims of the fraud.

“We should not be madevictims twice over — thefirst time by Madoff andagain by the trustee,” theywrote.

The lawsuit said Wilponand Katz had meetingswith Madoff in his office atleast once a year, a privi-lege few investors enjoyed,and Katz at times spoke di-rectly with Madoff at leastonce a day.

Suit stainsThe suit has cast a

cloud over the Mets owner-ship, which has said it’sexploring a partial sale ofthe team. But Wilpon andKatz denied Friday thatthe operation was ever de-pendent on Madoff.

“That is complete non-sense,” they said. “We havegood, sound businessesthat were successful yearsbefore we invested withMadoff, including bothreal estate and the NewYork Mets.”

Madoff, 72, is serving a150-year sentence in a fed-

eral prison in North Car-olina after admitting thathe ran his scheme for atleast two decades, usinghis investment advisoryservice to cheat individu-als, charities, celebritiesand institutional investors.

Losses are estimated ataround $20 billion, makingit the biggest investmentfraud in U.S. history.

“Sophisticatedprofessionals”

The lawsuit describesthe Sterling Partners as “ateam of sophisticated pro-fessionals who built a busi-ness empire spanning fourmajor industries, includ-ing real estate, profession-al baseball and sportsmedia, private equity andhedge funds.”

It says Sterling Partners“willfully disregarded anycriticisms of Madoff andsimply buried their headsin the sand” during a near-ly quarter-century rela-tionship in which it sup-ported its substantial busi-ness empire with Madoffmoney and reaped the ben-efits of bogus profits.

The firm was “simply in

too deep ... to do anythingbut ignore the gatheringclouds,” the lawsuit says.“In the face of the paradeof red flags, the SterlingPartners chose to do noth-ing.”

Ignoble ignoranceNumerous financial in-

dustry professionals overthe years warned Sterlingabout Madoff and speculat-ed that he was operating afraud.

One Sterling consultantadvised Saul Katz in 2003that he “couldn’t makeBernie’s math work andsomething wasn’t right,”the court papers say.

The lawsuit says Ster-ling was on notice as earlyas 1991 that Madoff ’s firmwas audited by a three-per-son operation in RocklandCounty, N.Y., that consistedof a certified public ac-countant, a semiretired ac-countant and an assistant.

In 1996, it says, multiplebanks refused to serve ascustodian of Sterling’s401K plan because of con-cerns about Madoff ’s lackof transparency and inabil-ity to provide daily ac-

count balance information.

Next time, get theinsurance

At one point after sever-al financial news publica-tions raised questionsabout the Madoff businessin May 2001, Sterling con-sidering getting fraud in-surance that would haveincluded a Ponzi scheme.

Sterling ultimately re-jected the insurance be-cause coverage limitsmeant most of their moneywas uninsurable, accord-ing to the court papers.

The lawsuit said Ster-ling’s Madoff accounts pro-duced positive returns dur-ing the Black Mondaystock market crash of 1987,the bursting of the dot-combubble in 2000, the terror-ist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,and the recession andhousing crisis of 2008.

“Remarkably, Sterling’s(Madoff) investments wereeffectively immune fromany number of market ca-tastrophes, enjoying steadyrates of return even duringevents that otherwise dev-astated financial markets,”the lawsuit says.

Mets owe Madoff victims $300MBy TOM HAYS AND LARRY

NEUMEISTERASSOCIATED PRESS

New York Mets Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon, left, club president Saul Katz and Mets owner Fred Wilpon, right, look on during abaseball news conference in New York on Oct. 29. The owners of the Mets turned a blind eye to Bernard Madoff’s massive fraud, reaping$300 million in false profits and using a large chunk to run the team, according to a lawsuit unsealed on Friday.

Photo by Kathy Kmonicek | AP

DALLAS — Chad Ocho-cinco asked NFL Commis-sioner Roger Goodell thequestion all his fellow play-ers want answered: Howfar away are we from real-istically getting a labordeal done?

Goodell hopes it can bedone “in the next fewweeks,” meaning beforethe collective bargainingagreement expires March3.

“I can tell you the com-mitment on behalf of theownership is on getting anagreement,” Goodell said.“I think that’s only goingto happen when there’s in-tense negotiations fromyour union and the own-ers. This is the window ofopportunity to get thisdone right. Otherwise, un-certainty is going to seepinto all of our operations.... I say, let’s get to work,let’s get an agreement thatworks for everybody.”

Goodell and union offi-cials are scheduled to meetSaturday in the Dallas-FortWorth area, the first for-mal bargaining sessionsince November. Two moresessions have been sched-uled for next week, at anundisclosed location.

NFLPA spokesmanGeorge Atallah describedthe meeting as “a windowof opportunity” and added:“We intend to go in therewith open minds and openears.”

“I don’t think it’s a goodidea to set any expectation,other than the fact that weintend to sit down and con-tinue to have a discussionthat should guarantee foot-ball for our fans, footballfor our players,” NFLPAexecutive director DeMaur-ice Smith said Thursday.

Goodell repeatedly men-tioned needing “intensive,around-the-clock negotia-tions to address the issuesand find solutions.”

“I can assure you that Ihave that sense of urgen-cy,” Goodell said. “Thereare enough incentives forall of us to get to the tableand get a deal done.”

Extending the regularseason by two games to 18is among the major issues.However, Goodell said“there are no deal-break-ers.”

The main issues be-tween the owners and play-ers union include how todivide about $9 billion inannual revenues.

Goodellwantsdeal in‘weeks’

By JAIME ARONASSOCIATED PRESS

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2011 THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

JUST LIKE CABBIE?Dear Readers: Some say

most mini-schnauzersLOOK ALIKE, but do they?Our Cabernet (Cabbie forshort) is a silver-hairedsweetheart with big, browneyes. If you have a dog thatlooks like Cabbie, send in aphoto, and we will pick ahandful to post on my web-site. So, take a look atwww.Heloise.com to see sev-eral photos of she who runsthe household! Each personwhose pet photo is postedwill receive a special thank-you from Cabbie and He-loise Central. Please send agood-quality photo to: He-loise/Cabbie, P.O. Box795000, San Antonio, TX78279, or e-mail He-loise@Heloise.com, andplease put in the subjectline “Cabbie.” -- Heloise

DOG BISCUITS FORHAMSTERS

Dear Heloise: My friendsays that he feeds his ham-ster dry dog biscuits. Is thisOK? I’ve heard of givinghamsters treats, but I’ve al-ways bought them at the pet

store, and I have never giv-en mine a dog biscuit! --Harry in New Hampshire

Harry, your hamster canchew on a dry dog biscuitoccasionally. It’s best to givehamsters a small piece ofone every day or so, alongwith their regular hamsterfood. Did you know that apiece of apple is anothergood treat? -- Heloise

TOOTHBRUSH REUSEDear Heloise: Rather

than destroy old tooth-brushes, pet owners shouldsave them for use as facialbrushes for their dogs andcats. The toothbrushes arethe right size to brusharound the eyes, snout andears without being frighten-ing to the animal. My wifeand I have been giving kittyfacials for years, and all ourlittle felines love them. --Russ Vaughn, Ruidoso, N.M.

HINTS BY | HELOISE

“HELOISE

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2011

DALLAS — Coming outof college two years ago,Ramon Foster wasn’t goodenough to be drafted by anNFL team.

Around the middle ofthis season, Erik Waldenwasn’t good enough to beon the roster of an NFL

team. On Sunday, both will be

starters in the Super Bowl. Injuries gave each a

chance to show what theycould do, and both havehelped keep their teamshumming along. They’rehardly alone.

Walden is among sixstarters on the Green BayPackers who got their job

as in-season injury replace-ments. Foster is amongfour such guys on the Pitts-burgh Steelers.

All told, nearly one-fourth of all Super Bowlstarters will be fill-ins,which proves somethingelse about these teams.They weren’t just the bestin their conferences, theyalso were the best at the

game within the game ofpro football — weatheringthe injuries that are inevi-table in such a violentsport.

“The NFL is the NFL.It’s not supposed to be easy,and it hasn’t been easy,”Packers general managerTed Thompson said.

Here’s how difficult itwas: Placed on injured re-

serve were starters at run-ning back, tight end, righttackle, a safety and a pairof linebackers. A total of 16players were on injured re-serve. What had been apromising season turnedshaky. Green Bay made theplayoffs as a sixth seed, butnow they are the oddsmak-ers’ pick to win the SuperBowl.

“I think a lot of creditgoes to guys like TedThompson for picking theright dudes,” right guardDaryn Colledge said.“When teams get in an in-jury situation, a lot of themgo hunting, they try to findguys on the market whoare available. Our teamdoesn’t have to do thatmuch.”

Injury fill-ins keep Super Bowl teams patched upBy JAIME ARON

ASSOCIATED PRESS