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Methodist Healthcare Minis-tries of South Texas was present-ed Wednesday with a ceremonialcheck for $10 million from the So-cial Innovation Fund to support aprogram aimed toward improv-ing behavioral health and chron-ic disease in South Texas.

Healthcare Ministries is thelargest private, faith-based fund-ing source for health care servic-es in South Texas.

The Social Innovation Fund isa key White House initiative andprogram of the Corporation forNational and Community Ser-vice.

The unprecedented grant toMethodist Healthcare Ministriesmarks the first time the SocialInnovation Fund has selected a

SOCIAL INNOVATION FUND

Federal investment$10M grant to improve healthcare in South Texas

By PHILIP BALLITHE ZAPATA TIMES

U.S. Congressman Henry Cuellar spoke Wednesday morning at the First United Methodist Church at a press conferencewhere Cuellar presented a ceremonial check for $10 million to the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas. The fundscome from Unprecedented Federal Grant to benefit Webb County and South Texas.

Photo by Cuate Santos | The Zapata Times

See GRANT PAGE 12A

AUSTIN — Texas’ unem-ployment rate has declinedfor the third month in a rowto 4.9 percent in Novemberas the state continues to addjobs, the Texas WorkforceCommission reported Friday.

The state added 34,800 sea-sonally adjusted total non-farm jobs in November for atotal of 441,200 jobs addedsince last year.

The November seasonallyadjusted unemployment ratewas slightly lower than the5.1 percent reported in Octo-ber, and down from 6.1 per-cent a year ago. The ratewas 5.2 percent in Septem-ber and 5.3 percent in Au-gust.

“The Texas economy con-tinued its record-breakingexpansion, providing job op-portunities across a widerange of industries,” TexasWorkforce CommissionChairman Andres Alcantarsaid. He added that “wemust continue to focus ourefforts on expanding ourstate’s skilled workforce tomeet employer needs inhigh-demand industries.”

Seven of 11 major indus-tries added jobs in Texasover the month, includingan additional 13,500 jobs inprofessional and businessservices, 7,200 jobs added ineducation and health servic-es and 6,000 jobs added inleisure and hospitality.

In November, employersadded 4,500 manufacturingjobs, marking the industry’slargest monthly increasesince January 2006. Con-struction grew by 3,600 jobs.The information industryadded 3,300 jobs in Novem-ber and includes jobs in pub-lishing, telecommunications,data processing, hosting andrelated services.

Midland had the lowestunemployment rate in No-vember, at 2.3 percent. TheMcAllen-Edinburg-Missionarea had the highest, at 8.2percent.

TEXAS ECONOMY

Statejobless

ratefalls

Nov. unemploymentrate is 4.9 percent

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHRISTMAS PARADE AND LIGHTING OF COUNTY PLAZA

CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS

A school bus decorated as a lighted cartoon character was part of the Christmas Parade and Lighting of County Plaza activities. See related photos, page 9A.

Courtesy photo

MCALLEN — Federal immi-gration agents apprehendednearly 97,000 more people tryingto enter the U.S. illegallythrough Texas’ southern borderduring the 2014 fiscal year thatthey did in 2013, the Departmentof Homeland Security an-nounced on Friday.

About 332,460 people were ap-prehended in Texas between Oc-tober 2013 and September 2014,up from 235,600 the year before.Nationwide, agents apprehendedabout 486,600 people in fiscalyear 2014, compared with 420,800in 2013.

The government attributed

the increase to the influx of un-documented children and fam-ilies caught in Texas during amass exodus from Central Amer-ica over the summer.

“While Border Patrol appre-hensions of Mexican nationalsin FY 2014 decreased by 14 per-cent when compared to FY 2013,apprehensions of individualsfrom countries other than Mex-ico — predominately individualsfrom Central America — in-creased by 68 percent,” the agen-cy said in its annual report.

About 50,000 unaccompaniedchildren were caught in the RioGrande Valley sector in fiscalyear 2014, compared with 21,550in 2013. An additional 3,800 and3,270 were apprehended in the in

the Laredo and Del Rio sectors,respectively, in 2014. Overall,about 68,600 unaccompanied mi-nors were apprehended alongthe southwest border, an in-crease of 77 percent from 2013.There were also about 68,400family units apprehended in2014 on the southwest border, in-cluding about 52,300 in the RioGrande Valley — an increase ofmore than 500 percent in that re-gion compared with 2013’s 7,265.

The state’s Republican leader-ship responded to the influx thisyear by sending a surge of De-partment of Public Safety offi-cers to the Rio Grande Valley inJune. Weeks later, the Texas Na-

HOMELAND SECURITY

Border apprehensions inTexas spiked in 2014

In this July 24 photo, U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehend men who crossed theRio Grande River from Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico in Anzalduas Park in McAllen.

Photo by Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman | AP

By JULIÁN AGUILARTEXAS TRIBUNE

See BORDER PAGE 12A

PAGE 2A Zin brief SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2014

SATURDAY, DEC. 20Planetarium movie showings.

From 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. TAMIU LBVPlanetarium and Science Center. Con-tact Claudia Herrera at claudia.herre-ra@tamiu.edu or tamiu.edu/planetari-um. For more information call 326-DOME (3663).

Disney Junior Live: Pirate andPrincess Adventure. Starts at 5 p.m.at the Laredo Energy Arena, 6700Arena Blvd. Tickets available at tick-etmaster.com.

2nd annual Holiday Celebrationfor families of individuals with Downsyndrome from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30p.m. Laredo Public Library, MediaRoom, 1120 E. Calton Rd., Laredo.Contact Raquel Canizales at raquelu-cha56@yahoo.com. Immediate familymembers only due to limited space.Please RSVP.

SUNDAY, DEC. 21“Ring we now of Christmas”

from 4 to 5 p.m. First United Metho-dist Church, 1220 McClelland. LindaMott at lmott@stx.rr.com or thechurch office at 722-1674.

MONDAY, DEC. 22Webb County December Adop-

tion Meeting. Starting at 6 p.m. DFPSOffices, 1500 N. Arkansas. For moreinformation, contact Cornelia Garza361-516-0943.

Planetarium Open House. From1 p.m. to 4 p.m. TAMIU LBV Planeta-rium and Science Center. ContactClaudia Herrera at claudia.herrera@ta-miu.edu or tamiu.edu/planetarium.For more information call 956-326-DOME (3663).

SUNDAY, DEC. 28Winterfest 2014 at Roxxy, 8510

Las Cruces Dr. From 2 p.m. to 10p.m.

MONDAY, DEC. 29Monthly meeting of Laredo

Parkinson’s Disease Support Group.6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Laredo Medi-cal Center, Tower B, First Floor Com-munity Center. Patients, caregiversand family members invited. Free infopamphlets available in Spanish andEnglish. Richard Renner (English) at645-8649 or Juan Gonzalez (Spanish)at 237-0666.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 31Epoca de Oro New Year’s Scho-

loarship Dance. Table reservations andtickes on sale at Rolis. Call Rosa at337- 7178, Sid at 740-3572 or Danielat 290-7341 for more information.

THURSDAY, JAN. 1First Day Hikes at Lake Casa

Blanca International State Park. From9 a.m. to 11 a.m., the Mesquite BendNature Hike, about 1.75 miles. From11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., White-tail LoopFossils Hike, about 1.25 miles. From1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., Junior RangerHike, about 1 mile. From 3 p.m. to 5p.m., Roadrunner Trail, about 2.25miles.Meet at the Boat Ramp Rest-rooms for all hikes. Contact Holly Re-inhard at holly.reinhard@tpwd.tex-as.gov or 725-3826.

MONDAY, JAN. 5Colecta Navideña 2014 Baja

Duty Free. 1420 Grant St. 728-8954

(Submit calendar items atlmtonline.com/calendar/sub-mit or by emailing edito-rial@lmtonline.com with theevent’s name, date and time,location and purpose and con-tact information for a repre-sentative. Items will run asspace is available.)

CALENDARASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Saturday, Dec. 20,the 354th day of 2014. Thereare 11 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in His-tory:

On Dec. 20, 1860, South Car-olina became the first state tosecede from the Union as all169 delegates to a special con-vention in Charleston voted infavor of separation.

On this date:In 1790, the first successful

cotton mill in the UnitedStates began operating at Paw-tucket, Rhode Island.

In 1803, the Louisiana Pur-chase was completed as own-ership of the territory was for-mally transferred from Franceto the United States.

In 1812, German authors Ja-cob and Wilhelm Grimm pub-lished the first volume of thefirst edition of their collectionof folk stories, “Children’s andHousehold Tales.”

In 1963, the Berlin Wall wasopened for the first time toWest Berliners, who were al-lowed one-day visits to rela-tives in the Eastern sector forthe holidays.

In 1987, more than 4,300 peo-ple were killed when the DonaPaz, a Philippine passengership, collided with the tankerVector off Mindoro island.

In 1989, the United Stateslaunched Operation JustCause, sending troops intoPanama to topple the govern-ment of Gen. Manuel Noriega.

In 1999, the Vermont Su-preme Court ruled that homo-sexual couples were entitled tothe same benefits and protec-tions as wedded couples of theopposite sex.

Ten years ago: In a sober-ing assessment of the Iraqwar, President George W. Bushacknowledged during a newsconference that Americans’ re-solve had been shaken by gris-ly scenes of death and destruc-tion, and he pointedly criti-cized the performance ofU.S.-trained Iraqi troops.

Five years ago: Relativesreported the death of GrandAyatollah Hossein Ali Montaz-eri, 87, the spiritual father ofIran’s reform movement. Ac-tress Brittany Murphy, who’dstarred in “Clueless” and “8Mile,” died at age 32.

One year ago: RussianPresident Vladimir Putin par-doned jailed tycoon MikhailKhodorkovsky, who had spent10 years in prison on chargesof tax evasion and embezzle-ment. A federal judge struckdown Utah’s ban on same-sexmarriage.

Today’s Birthdays: For-mer South Korean PresidentKim Young-sam is 87. ActorJohn Hillerman is 82. OriginalMouseketeer Tommy Cole (TV:“The Mickey Mouse Club”) is73. Rock musician-music pro-ducer Bobby Colomby is 70.Rock musician Peter Criss is69. Producer Dick Wolf (“Law& Order”) is 68. Rock musi-cian Alan Parsons is 66. Ac-tress Jenny Agutter is 62. Ac-tor Michael Badalucco is 60.Actress Blanche Baker is 58.Rock singer Billy Bragg is 57.Actor Joel Gretsch is 51. Coun-try singer Kris Tyler is 50.Rock singer Chris Robinson is48. Actress Nicole deBoer is44. Movie director Todd Phil-lips is 44. Singer David Cook(“American Idol”) is 32. ActorJonah Hill is 31. Singer JoJo is24.

Thought for Today: “Ex-perience teaches you that theman who looks you straight inthe eye, particularly if he addsa firm handshake, is hidingsomething.” — Clifton Fadi-man, American author, editorand radio personality (1904-1999).

TODAY IN HISTORY

EL PASO — More than 20 color-changingtowers and sculptures, powered by windturbines that generate electricity, are illu-minating an interstate near the El Paso In-ternational Airport.

The display was officially lit Thursdayevening along Interstate 10 near AirwayBoulevard, marking the end of Camino RealRegional Mobility Authority’s $7 millionproject, which also includes lighting, land-scaping, painting and pedestrian walkways.

The neon attraction by Seattle-based art-ist Vicki Scuri will be lit daily from dusk todawn.

Scuri said the sculptures were inspiredby aeronautical forms and the shape of des-ert plants.

“We want people who pass through ElPaso to say, ‘Wow. This is a great city, may-be we need to stop,”’ city Rep. Emma Acos-ta told the El Paso Times.

Before construction finished on the pipe-like structures, which are plain white dur-ing the day, some El Paso residents criti-cized that they looked like egg-beaters andspace aliens.

“In the beginning, we had our doubts.Nothing was happening and it took solong,” resident Joe Castillo said.

But after seeing the finished product, heand Gloria Castillo said they were im-pressed with the lighting display.

“They are beautiful,” Gloria Castillosaid. “For people who come from out oftown and passing through, they are goingto say, ‘Have you seen those lights in El Pa-so?”’

AROUND TEXAS

In this photo taken Thursday, neon, self-powered artwork illuminates Interstate 10 near the El Paso International Airport in ElPaso.

Photo by Ruben R. Ramirez/El Paso Times | AP

El Paso displays lights ASSOCIATED PRESS

Texas eatery worker getsmink coat from customer

LIBERTY — A worker at aHouston-area fast-food restau-rant has received a $10,000 minkcoat from a customer who litera-lly offered the fancy fur right offher back.

Cheryl Semien says she wasworking at a Whataburger inLiberty when she complimentedthe driver about the beautiful furcoat she wore. The customer waspicking up food Wednesday whenshe took off the coat and handedit to Semien via the drive-thruwindow.

Death among 5 reportedin listeria outbreak

DALLAS — Texas health offi-cials say one person has diedand three became sick in a foodpoisoning outbreak linked to pre-packaged caramel apples.

The Centers for Disease Con-trol and Prevention on Fridaysaid the listeria outbreak in-cludes 10 states and five deaths.

10 Aryan Brotherhood ofTexas members get prison

HOUSTON — Ten more mem-bers of the Aryan Brotherhood ofTexas have been sentenced toprison to complete prosecution ofthree dozen people indicted in2012.

All 10 defendants who weresentenced this week were con-victed of racketeering-relatedcounts and acknowledge beingpart of the white supremacistgang.

2 brothers dead inpossible suicides

BEAUMONT — Two brothershave been found dead in Beau-mont and investigators say themen appear to have committedsuicide.

Police say the bodies were lo-cated late Thursday afternoonbehind a house. Sgt. Rob FloresJr. says a person living at thehome called 911 to report findingtwo of his visiting relatives deadin a wooded area.

Texas authorities rescuebeached dolphin

BOLIVAR PENINSULA — Au-thorities in Southeast Texas haverescued a bottlenose dolphin thatwas found beached. The TexasMarine Mammal Stranding Net-work recovered the animal onThursday after a GalvestonCounty Sheriff ’s Office employeespotted it on a beach near Gal-veston Bay. The female dolphinhas been taken to a rehabilita-tion tank in Galveston.

Perry criticizes Obama’snew Cuba policy

AUSTIN — Outgoing TexasGov. Rick Perry criticized Presi-dent Barack Obama’s shift inU.S. policy toward Cuba, sayingit’s part of a troubling pattern ofnegotiating with those who holdAmericans captive. Perry said hewas happy that American gov-ernment contractor Alan Grosshad been released after five yearsas a Cuban prisoner. — Compiledfrom AP reports

Driver charged after carcrashes into crowd

TORRANCE, Calif. — A 56-year-old woman has beencharged with five felony countsfor allegedly driving into acrowd outside a Californiachurch, killing four people in-cluding a 6-year-old boy.

The Los Angeles County dis-trict attorney’s office says MargoBronstein is expected to be ar-raigned Friday. She is chargedwith four counts if gross vehicu-lar manslaughter and one countof driving under the influence ofa drug causing injury.

Flu season hitting hard inSouth and Midwest

NEW YORK — Health officialssay the flu is now hitting hard inparts of the country, especiallythe South and Midwest.

The Centers for Disease Con-trol and Prevention on Friday re-ported cases were widespread in

29 states last week. If the trendcontinues, it could bring anotherearly peak to the flu season ashappened in the last two winters.

Experts worry this will be abad season because the dom-inant strain is a nasty bug notcovered in this year’s vaccine.

But officials have not seen an un-usually high number of hospital-izations or deaths so far.

Flu season traditionally peaksaround February. But in the lasttwo winters, flu peaked by earlyJanuary. — Compiled from APreports

AROUND THE NATION

Firefighters work on a victim at left after a driver suspected of being intoxicatedhit a group of pedestrians and another car outside a church as a Christmas ser-vice ended in Redondo Beach, Calif., Wednesday evening.

Photo by Mark Milutin | AP

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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2014 THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

Greater protection isnow available from theNoninsured Crop DisasterAssistance Program forcrops that traditionallyhave been ineligible forfederal crop insurance.

The new options, creat-ed by the 2014 Farm Bill,provide greater coveragefor losses when natural di-sasters affect specialtycrops such as vegetables,fruits, mushrooms, flori-culture, ornamental nurs-ery, aquaculture, turf

grass, ginseng, honey, syr-up, and energy crops.

“These new protectionswill help ensure that farmfamilies growing crops forfood, fiber or livestockconsumption will be bet-ter able to withstand loss-es due to natural disas-ters,” said AgricultureSecretary Tom Vilsack onTuesday. “For years, com-modity crop farmers havehad the ability to pur-chase insurance to keeptheir crops protected, andit only makes sense thatfruit and vegetable, and

other specialty crop grow-ers, should be able to pur-chase similar levels ofprotection. Ensuringthese farmers can ade-quately protect them-selves from factors be-yond their control is alsocritical for consumerswho enjoy these productsand for communitieswhose economies dependon them.”

Previously, the programoffered coverage at 55 per-cent of the average mar-ket price for crop lossesthat exceed 50 percent of

expected production. Pro-ducers can now choosehigher levels of coverage,up to 65 percent of theirexpected production at 100percent of the averagemarket price.

The expanded protec-tion will be especiallyhelpful to beginning andtraditionally underservedproducers, as well asfarmers with limited re-sources, who will receivefee waivers and premiumreductions for expandedcoverage. More crops arenow eligible for the pro-

gram, including expandedaquaculture productionpractices, and sweet andbiomass sorghum. For thefirst time, a range ofcrops used to produce bio-energy will be eligible aswell.

To help producers learnmore about the programand how it can help them,a Web tool, available atwww.fsa.usda.gov/nap, al-lows producers to deter-mine whether their cropsare eligible for coverage.It also gives them an op-portunity to explore a va-

riety of options and levelsto determine the best pro-tection level for their op-eration.

If the application dead-line for an eligible crophas already passed, pro-ducers will have untilJan. 14, to choose expand-ed coverage through theNoninsured Crop DisasterAssistance Program. Tolearn more, visit theFarm Service Agencywebsite at www.fsa.us-da.gov/nap or contact thelocal FSA office at office-s.usda.gov.

Specialty crops further protected in billSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

ZAPATA LIONS CLUB PASSES OUT TURKEYS TO FAMILIES IN NEED

Photo courtesy of Zapata Lions Club

On Friday the Zapata Lions Club and the newly formed Zapata High School LEO club help 88 families have a merrier Christmas by pass-ing out turkeys to community families. This was made possible from funds raised during a chicken plate sale.

CORPUS CHRISTI — ASouth Texas woman isfree on bond while sheawaits a new capital mur-der trial for the 2006 saltpoisoning death of her 4-year-old foster son.

Hannah Overton, 37, ofCorpus Christi, alreadyhad served more than sev-en years of a life prisonterm when she was re-leased Tuesday on $50,000bond. Prosecutors hadsought $250,000 bail.

State District Judge Ma-rio Ramirez Jr. also al-lowed her to have contactwith her five other chil-dren. Prosecutors had re-quested restrictions onthe contacts.

In September, the TexasCourt of Criminal Ap-peals, citing poor legalhelp at her 2007 trial, over-turned her conviction inthe death of Andrew Burd.At her trial, prosecutorscontended Overton fed thechild a mixture of waterand Cajun seasoning,causing sodium poisoning.

Evidence showed hehad elevated sodium levelswhen he died at a Corpus

Christi hospital. Physi-cians also found he hadsuffered a head injurythat led to bleeding on hisbrain and swelling. A phy-sician testified at her trialthat the boy could havesurvived if he had beenbrought to the hospitalsooner. The child’s deathwas ruled a homicide.

Overton has main-tained that the boy sheand her husband wereplanning to adopt hademotional and medicalproblems, including aneating disorder that madehim consume odd fooditems.

Defense attorneyscalled about a half dozenwitnesses who testified toOverton’s “gentle,” “pa-tient,” and “exemplary”character. Attorneys alsoprovided a letter from thewarden at a Gatesvilleprison where Overton hasbeen locked up, describingher as “the epitome of amodel prisoner.” Everymonth, Overton’s husbandand other children visitedher in prison, separatedfrom her by glass andspeaking with her on atelephone.

Woman free inpoisoning case

ASSOCIATED PRESS

PAGE 4A Zopinion SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2014

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

The cyberattack on SonyPictures Entertainmenthas taken an even moredisturbing turn.

First it demonstratedhow cyberthieves can raida company’s most valuabletrade secrets.

Now it has escalated in-to a blatant terrorismthreat by a group linked toNorth Korea and an as-sault on the freedom ofspeech directed from a cap-ital of totalitarianism.

Both the cyberattackand the coercion are unac-ceptable and cannot go un-answered.

According to news re-ports, the U.S. governmenthas determined that agroup in North Korea, orone sponsored by it, brokeinto Sony Pictures’ net-works in retaliation for thestudio’s production of acomedy depicting the as-sassination of leader KimJong Un.

Sony Pictures hastilywithdrew the film fromtheatrical release after thesame hackers threatenedtheaters. We’ve never beenwild about the widespreadcomical treatment of Kim;he may have a funny hair-cut, but there is nothingfunny about the gulagwhere hundreds of thou-sands of Koreans havebeen condemned to slaveryand death.

Still, the canceled movie,“The Interview,” shouldn’tbe judged without beingseen — and whatever itsmerits, the method of itsdemise should ring alarmbells everywhere.

Threat to democracyThe most serious threat

is to free speech, a pillar ofdemocracy that protects ascrewball comedy in whicha foreign leader gets hishead blown off, just as itprotects an artist who

draws a blasphemous pic-ture of a religious figure.

These crudities may riseor fall in the market ofpublic opinion, but bansare not the right response.Satire cannot be censored,even when it is offensive.This is a principle entirelyalien to Kim, who presidesover one of the most rigid-ly controlled prison-stateson the planet.

The cyberattack on SonyPictures by a group callingitself Guardians of Peacelooted sensitive trade se-crets from a U.S. subsidi-ary of a global conglomer-ate.

The studio is not alonein its vulnerability. Con-gress has tried but failed toapprove legislation thatwould have allowed the fed-eral government to workmore closely with the pri-vate sector to protect cor-porate networks.

We hope the next Con-gress will act soon. Not on-ly movie studios but also

electric utilities, banks andother essential corporateactors are vulnerable.

Meanwhile, the UnitedStates cannot let Kim in-timidate movie theaters in-to silence nor allow his ter-ror threats to succeed. Norcan Sony Pictures or U.S.movie theaters be expectedto stand up to the threatunaided, even if it is unset-tling that the picture waswithdrawn so quickly.

Perhaps posting “The In-terview” to YouTube, sothat billions of peoplecould watch for free, wouldbe one element in a fittingresponse.

The nation would nottolerate a ballistic missilelanding in a movie lot; howshould it respond to a cy-bermissile and a directthreat of violence? Presi-dent Obama has signed adirective laying out crite-ria for the use of U.S. cy-berforces for offense anddefense. We hope he isreading it anew today.

EDITORIAL

Kim fires warning shotTHE WASHINGTON POST

OTHER VIEWS

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

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY

CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

AUSTIN — Itshouldn’t take an act ofCongress to help expe-dite the airport screen-ing process for elderlyWorld War II vets headedto Washington to see themonument this nationbuilt for them. Itshouldn’t take an act ofCongress, but it did.

It’s H.R. 4812, and itwas signed into lawTuesday by PresidentBarack Obama.

To its credit, andshowing that it can bedone, Congress movedquickly on this one, ad-vancing it from introduc-tion in June to House ap-proval in July and Sen-ate approval this month.The measure doesn’t ac-tually do anything, but ittells somebody to dosomething.

Louisiana Rep. CedricRichmond’s measure re-quires the administratorof the Transportation Se-curity Administration toestablish “a process forproviding expedited anddignified passengerscreening services” forveterans visiting “memo-rials built and dedicatedto honor the service ofsuch veterans.”

It’s called the “HonorFlight Act” for the pri-vate, nonprofit programthat takes elderly vets, atno charge to them, to theNational World War IIMemorial in Washing-ton.

“In Congress andacross the country, westand in support of treat-ing our veterans withthe reverence they de-serve,” Richmond said ina statement after theSenate OK’d his bill. “Iam proud the Senate hasjoined the House of Rep-resentatives in acting topay a debt of gratitude toa group of Americanswho were willing tomake the ultimate sacri-fice. I’m humbled to havebeen able to play a smallrole in ensuring that vet-erans across the nationcontinue to enjoy a moreexpedient process asthey travel to our na-tion’s capital.”

The CongressionalBudget Office’s fiscalanalysis of the bill pro-vides one reminderabout how World War IIveterans, in the not-too-distant future, will bejust a memory. The officereports the costs of themeasure “would be neg-ligible, particularly be-cause of the relativelysmall number of veter-

ans who would qualifyfor expedited screeningunder the bill.”

Here’s another re-minder about how WorldWar II vets are becominga scarce asset: The Con-gress that convenes inJanuary will be the firstwithout a World War IIvet since that war. Thelast two to leave areReps. John Dingell, an88-year-old MichiganDemocrat, and 91-year-old Ralph Hall, R-Texas.

Approval of the HonorFlight Act provides an-other chance to tout thelocal version of the pro-gram. So far it’s had 22flights that have takenover 650 vets to Washing-ton.

Earlier this month,there was a special flightfor 13 Pearl Harbor sur-vivors on the anniver-sary of the devastatingJapanese attack on Ha-waii. Also this month,there was what’s knownas a “TLC Lone Eagle”flight to Washington totake a terminally ill vet.In that case, program of-ficials note, TLC canstand both for “tenderloving care” and “theirlast chance.”

Allen Bergeron, HonorFlight Austin chairman,said officials with theTSA, Austin-BergstromInternational Airportand Southwest Airlineshave been very helpfulwith getting the localvets on board the flights.

“TSA at ABIA is ex-tremely supporting andunderstanding,” Berge-ron said, adding, howev-er, that Washington’sReagan National Airport“for obvious reasons is adifferent animal. Theprocess of going throughTSA (at Reagan) is muchslower.”

Let’s hope the HonorFlight Act helps on thatend.

Three local HonorFlights are scheduled forApril and May.

If you’re looking togive a holiday season giftwith meaning, this pro-gram is worth your con-sideration. Check it outat honorflightaustin.org.

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

COLUMN

Airportinspectionseased for

WWII vets

“KEN HERMAN

WASHINGTON — Presi-dent Barack Obamashocked the world this pastweek by announcing thatthe United States wouldmove toward normalizingdiplomatic relations withCuba after more than fivedecades of embargoes andtravel bans.

No one was more sur-prised than Sen. Bob Me-nendez, D-N.J., a son of Cu-ban immigrants whose out-spoken opposition to theCastro regime sits at thecenter of his political perso-na.

“President Obama’s ac-tions have vindicated the

brutal behavior of the Cu-ban government,” Menen-dez said in the immediateaftermath of the news. Lat-er, he was no more san-guine: “I think it stinks,”he said, while admitting,according to NJ.com, thathe had not been consultedby Obama on the decision— which reportedly hadbeen 18 months in the mak-ing.

To make matters worsefor Menendez, his formerSenate colleague and thelikely 2016 Democratic pres-idential nominee, HillaryClinton, quickly came outin support of Obama’smove.

“Despite good intentions,our decades-long policy of

isolation has only strength-ened the Castro regime’sgrip on power,” Clintonsaid in a statement that hadto make Menendez grimace.

It wasn’t just Cuba,though. The New YorkTimes reported this pastweek that Menendez hadengaged in a “relentless ef-fort” to overturn the U.S.travel ban on a prominentEcuadorean woman whosefamily had donated hun-dreds of thousands of dol-lars to Democratic cam-paign committees. Thosegroups included the Demo-cratic Senatorial CampaignCommittee, which Menen-dez chaired in the 2010 elec-tion cycle. His office insist-ed that nothing untoward

was afoot — despite the factthat the woman and herfamily members were notNew Jersey residents.

In a final indignity, Me-nendez’s time as chairmanof the Senate Foreign Rela-tions Committee officiallyended this past week as thelame-duck session of the113th Congress closed. WithRepublicans set to take overin January, Menendez hadto hand over his gavel.

Bob Menendez, for get-ting blindsided and be-smirched, you had theworst week in Washington.Congrats, or something.

Cillizza covers the WhiteHouse for The WashingtonPost and writes The Fix, itspolitics blog.

WORST WEEK IN WASHINGTON

Sen. Menendez blindsided on CubaBy CHRIS CILLIZZA

THE WASHINGTON POST

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2014 THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

DESTINO TURÍSTICOEl Gobierno de Ta-

maulipas invita a visitar susPueblos Mágicos, como unaopción para visitar durantela temporada invernal

Los Pueblos Mágicos deMéxico se han convertido enun destino turístico para na-cionales y extranjeros quegustan de disfrutar las tradi-ciones, gastronomía, artesa-nías, la arquitectura y todolo que envuelve la culturamexicana, además de seruna oferta basada en la his-toria y actividades propiasdel lugar, así como de laaventura y deporte extremoen escenarios naturales.

Los Pueblos Mágicos deTamaulipas son Tula y Mier,México.

DEPORTESNuevo Laredo, México,

logró el primer lugar en laetapa estatal de la Olimpia-da Infantil y Juvenil 2015 enla disciplina de Karate-Do, ycon esto el trofeo "CONADE"de la Comisión Nacional deCultura Física y Deporte.

Entre los jóvenes neolare-denses que asistieron a di-cho encuentro, destacan AnaKaren Rodríguez Hernández,Yaneth Quiroz Castillo, Zuge-hin Gallardo Rivera, MagalyUranga Balderas, César Ra-mos Hernández, Brenda Re-yes Muro, Alondra Rivera Ga-llegos, Abraham Treviño Ran-gel, Christian Anaya Castro,Tania Ramos Hernández yJulio Treviño Rangel.

Dentro de la competenciaestatal participaron deportis-tas procedentes de distintosmunicipios como Ciudad Vic-toria, Mante, Madero, SanFernando, Matamoros, Rey-nosa y Altamira, México.

Los ganadores del prime-ro y segundo lugar de cadacategoría, división y rama,integrarán la selección esta-tal que estará presente en elCampeonato Nacional Clasifi-catorio que definirá, a travésdel ranking, a los karatecasque estarán presentes en laOlimpiada Nacional 2015.

Con la participaciónde más de 80 jóvenes dedistintas ciudades de Tamau-lipas, se realizó la etapa es-tatal de la Olimpiada Nacio-nal de Ajedrez, en dondedestacó la participación dela delegación neolaredense.

Cristian Gael BojórquezGallardo, Grecia Cruz Espino-za, Ricardo Tamayo Vázquezy Alexia Carmina Galaviz, tu-vieron un desempeño favora-ble al obtener el segundo lu-gar en sus divisiones varonily femenil.

ECOLOGÍAEl estado de Tamauli-

pas busca la conservación yaprovechamiento responsa-ble de una amplia variedadde especies de flora y faunasilvestres en de los habitan-tes de las comunidades don-de se encuentran, cuidandola sustentabilidad y equili-brio, señala un comunicado.

Con el objetivo de prote-ger, manejar y mantener losecosistemas, hábitats y po-blaciones de vida silvestre,se promueve la creación denuevas Unidades de Manejoy Aprovechamiento de VidaSilvestre – UMA. Actualmen-te se cuenta con 1.952 uni-dades bajo ese esquema. EnAbasolo, se realizan activida-des de manejo y recupera-ción de ecosistemas.

Con la finalidad de forta-lecer la actividad cinegéticay generar una derrama eco-nómica en la zona rural, seexpidieron oportunamente alos titulares de las UMAS586 autorizaciones de apro-vechamiento para las dife-rentes especies de interés,2.251 cintillos de cobro cine-géticos y 847 licencias decaza deportiva.

— Con información delGobierno de Tamaulipas

y la Ciudad de Nuevo Laredo, México.

Ribereñaen Breve

Los oficiales del Departamentode Policía de Laredo (LPD, por sussiglas en inglés) que estuvieron im-plicados en la muerte a tiros de Jo-sé Walter Garza, no enfrentaránningún cargo criminal, de acuerdocon el Fiscal del Distrito del Conda-do de Webb, Isidro Alaniz.

El jueves por la tarde, duranteuna conferencia de prensa, la ofici-na del fiscal anunció la decisiónrealizada por un gran jurado en laCorte de Distrito 49.

Alaniz dijo que el jurado deliberóun “no bill” (caso sin suficientescausas y que es rechazado), despuésde considerar los cargos por homi-cidio que los oficiales enfrentaban.

“El uso de la fuerza mortal (encontra de Garza) fue justificado”, di-jo Alaniz.

Los seis oficiales dispararon ymataron a Garza, de 30 años deedad, el 30 de agosto, después deresponder a una llamada del 911,procedente de un empleado de Gate-

way Truck Stop. La llamada al 911 fue reproducida

a los asistentes a la conferencia deprensa, y quien llamó, Arnoldo Vi-llarreal, dijo que Garza tenía un ar-ma.

El arma, sin embargo era una ré-plica de arma de fuego de aire com-primido, la cual Garza compró enun Walmart poco antes de su muer-

te.El video de un hombre no recono-

cible, quien Alaniz dijo era Garza,fue visto apuntando lo que parecíaser un arma en la dirección generaldel primer oficial en responder, San-tiago Martínez, quien estaba de piea algunos pies de distancia.

Cuando se produjo un movimien-to (por parte de Garza) Alaniz dijo

que la policía disparó “simultánea-mente”.

Entre seis oficiales dispararon untotal de 61 tiros, 19 de los cuales gol-pearon a Garza.

Después de que Garza cae al sue-lo aún se escuchan disparos, sin em-bargo Alaniz sostuvo: “Los disparoscontinuarán hasta que una personacae y ya no es una amenaza”.

Alaniz dijo que una alta cantidadde evidencia fue considerada, entreella las llamadas al 911, testimoniosde los seis oficiales implicados, testi-gos presénciales en los interrogato-rios, videos de policía y videos devigilancia de la escena.

De acuerdo con el vocero del de-partamento de policía, el investiga-dor Joe E. Baeza, los seis oficialesaún se encuentran en licencia admi-nistrativa debido a que aún no se hacumplido con una investigación ju-dicial.

Una investigación interna se en-cuentra en curso.

(Localice a Gabriela A. Treviñoen 728-2579 o en gtrevino@lmtonli-ne.com)

FISCALÍA DE DISTRITO

No habrá cargosPOR GABRIELA A. TREVIÑO

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

El Fiscal de Distrito Isidro Alaniz, apunta a un monitor en pausa que revela la ub-icación de un oficial que intentó hablar con José Walter Garza, el 30 de agosto. Unaconferencia de prensa se llevó a cabo en la oficina de Alaniz, el jueves.

Foto por Danny Zaragoza | Laredo Morning Times

PÁGINA 6A Zfrontera SÁBADO 20 DE DICIEMBRE DE 2014

Dos personas muertas, un hombrearrestado y los decomisos de armamento ynarcóticos, fueron el resultado de una se-rie de operativos y enfrentamientos ocu-rridos en tres ciudades del norte de Ta-maulipas esta semana, anunciaron autori-dades tamaulipecas.

Fue el martes, alrededor de las 6:30p.m., que en la carretera Díaz Ordaz-Ca-margo, un grupo de civiles armados arre-metieron en contra de elementos militaresmexicanos. Los atacantes tripulaban unaToyota Tacoma y un Volkswagen Jetta,ambos de reciente modelo, señala un co-municado de prensa, emitido el miércoles.

Tras el ataque se produjo una persecu-ción que continuó hasta la ciudad de DíasOrdaz, México, donde la Toyota cayó enuna parcela. Dos de sus tripulantes en-frentaron a los soldados y fueron abatidos,añade el reporte. Posterior al enfrenta-miento se aseguraron tres armas largas,37 cargadores para rifles AK-47 y AR-15,numerosos cartuchos útiles y dos fornitu-ras, además del vehículo.

Los municipios de Reynosa y San Fer-nando, México, fueron el escenario de dosoperativos conjuntos entre elementos de laPolicía Estatal y Armada de México.

En Reynosa ocurrió el descubrimientode un vehículo con las puertas abiertas,sin placas de circulación, de acuerdo conel comunicado. Posterior al hallazgo, sedecomisó un arma con dos cargadoresabastecidos, 18 cartuchos, un radio-fre-cuencia, tres celulares y una bolsa de plás-tico transparente con 73 bolsitas con co-caína y 70 con marihuana.

Elementos de la Policía Estatal realiza-ron el arresto de un hombre en el munici-pio de San Fernando después de que huye-ra de ellos. Se le encontró un cargador y27 cartuchos de uso exclusivo del Ejército.Según reportes sostuvo ser integrante deun grupo delincuencial que opera en esaregión.

Todos estos objetos quedaron a disposi-ción del Ministerio Público de la Federa-ción.

TAMAULIPAS

Operativosarrojan

muerte ydecomisos

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

SYDNEY — Ocho niños fueronencontrados sin vida el viernes,en una sola casa en los suburbiosde Cairns, Australia, la policíaestatal de Queensland, está inves-tigando.

Oficiales respondieron a unallamada a las 11:20 a.m. a una ca-sa en los suburbios de Manoora,donde encontraron los cuerpos deniños de entre 18 meses y 15 añosde edad, junto con una mujer de

34 años de edad, que presentabaheridas graves. Se cree que lamujer es la madre de siete de losocho menores, y fue trasladada aun hospital donde fue tratada porlas heridas del apuñalamiento.

Reportes de las noticias localesdijeron que al menos algunos delos niños fueron apuñalados. Unvocero de las oficinas de la poli-cía del estado, quien habló bajocondición de anonimato, dijo quetomará días a los investigadorespara determinar la causa de lamuerte de los niños. Dijo que 12

investigadores especialistas de lapolicía han sido enviados aCairns, en la parte norte de Que-ensland, por parte de la capitaldel estado Brisbane, para ayudar.

“Hay equipos forenses en la ca-sa, y les tomará algunos días alos investigadores trabajar a tra-vés de la escena del crimen y de-terminar la causa de la muerte”,dijo.

Temprano, el Detective Inspec-tor Bruno Asnicar, dijo a reporte-ros en la escena, “Esta es una tra-gedia, un evento trágico”. Él dijo

que la mujer estaba en condicio-nes estables y estaba ayudando ala policía con la investigación.Ella no ha recibido cargos.

Un vocero de la policía dijoque otros detalles no están dispo-nibles.

El Primer Ministro, Tony Ab-bott, describieron las noticias co-mo un corazón roto.

“Todos los padres sentirían undolor desgarrador sobre lo quepasó”, dijo en un comunicado.“Estos son días difíciles paranuestro país”.

INTERNACIONAL

Abren pesquisa; hay ocho niños sin vidaPOR MICHELLE INNIS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ha comenzado la eje-cución del Programa“Bienvenido Paisa-no, en Tu Camino

Cuentas con Nosotros” en Mé-xico.

El jueves, durante una con-ferencia de prensa, celebradaen la Aduana del Puente In-ternacional Hidalgo, de Rey-nosa, México, por parte de au-toridades tamaulipecas seanunció que el Programa Pai-sano vuelve a estar en vigoren 17 cruces internacionales.Durante la duración del pro-grama se dará atención y au-xilio a los paisanos las 24 ho-ras del día en ciudades y ca-rreteras, con información,orientación y vigilancia entreotros servicios.

“Sepan que en Tamaulipasencontrarán en todos ladosgente hospitalaria y amable.Nuestro propósito es que cadauno de nuestros paisanos sien-ta la mano amiga, que sepaque en nosotros podrá encon-trar una oportunidad segurade regresar a su lugar de ori-gen”, indicó Gobernador deTamaulipas, Egidio TorreCantú, quien estuvo presentedurante la ceremonia.

El Instituto Tamaulipecopara Migrantes estará a dispo-sición de los paisanos en lasciudades de Nuevo Laredo,Reynosa, Matamoros y Tampi-co, México, donde brindaráorientación, información yapoyo.

Del mismo modo, se instala-ron puntos de atención en elkilómetro 13 Nuevo Laredo-

Reynosa, Reynosa, Matamo-ros, en la “Y” kilómetro 202carretera Victoria-Matamoros;kilómetro 128 Victoria-Mata-moros, carretera Aldama-LaComa, entre otros puntos de lared estatal de carreteras.

Con el inicio de este progra-ma los connacionales podránacceder al programa “Traza tuRuta”, disponibles en las di-recciones electrónicas:www.sct.gob.mx y www.paisa-no.gob.mx donde podrán pla-near sus rutas carreteras, asícomo revisar otras orientacio-nes para un viaje seguro porel territorio nacional.

Para mayor información delos puntos de auxilio en lafranja fronteriza, centro y zo-na sur de la entidad se podráconsultar la página electróni-ca www.tamaulipas.gob.mx .

FRONTERA

‘BIENVENIDO PAISANO’

El jueves dio inicio el Programa “Bienvenido Paisano, en tu camino, cuentas con nosotros”, en la Aduana del PuenteInternacional Hidalgo, de Reynosa, México.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

Inicia operativo de atención a visitantesTIEMPO DE ZAPATA

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2014 Nation THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A

CAUSE NO. P-01796IN THE MATTER OF

THE ESTATE OF:ALBERTO TREVINO, JR.,

DECEASEDIN THE COUNTY COURT

OF ZAPATA COUNTY,TEXAS

NOTICE TO ALL PERSONSHAVING CLAIMS AGAINSTTHE ESTATE OF ALBERTO

TREVINO, JR.

Administration of the Estate of Alberto Trevino, Deceased,has been commenced bythe issuance of Letters Testamentary to EthelihaGloria Lopez Trevino onDecember 15, 2014, by the County Court of ZapataCounty, Texas acting in CauseNo. P-01796, styled In the Matter of the Estate of Alberto Trevino, Jr., Deceased, inwhich court the matter ispending.

All persons having claims against the Estate are notifiedto present them to theIndependent Executrix at the address shown below within the time prescribed by law:

Ethelina Gloria Lopez Trevinoc/o lucinda j. garcia

Attorney forIndependent Executrix

615 N. Upper Broadway,Suite 1100

Corpus Christi, Texas78401-0748

DATED: December 15,2014

NEW YORK — MayorBill de Blasio was elect-ed last year after makingpromises to keep crimelow while improving re-lations between policeand the community. Asthe tensions betweenthose promises continueto mount, Friday showedjust how tricky thread-ing that needle has been.

In the morning, deBlasio met with leadersof the protests that haveswept through New YorkCity in the weeks after agrand jury declined toindict the police officerwho placed Eric Garnerin a fatal chokeholdwhile trying to arresthim.

In the afternoon, heventured to New YorkPolice Department head-quarters to heap praiseon the force, a week af-ter an angry policeunion circulated a pet-ition to bar him fromany NYPD funerals.

And in the evening, apair of protests — onepro-police, the otheragainst — were held out-side City Hall, with eachside yelling at the otherwhile claiming a lack ofsupport from its occu-pant.

“The mayor is making abig mistake. The police arethe most important thingto control what goes on inthis city,” said Andrew In-sardi, whose brother is aretired NYPD officer.

The mayor has voicedsupport for the protesters’rights, and the traffic-snarl-ing protests have largelybeen peaceful, though a re-cent poll found that theyare opposed by a majorityof New Yorkers. De Blasioalso took pains to say hesupports Police Commis-sioner William Bratton.

An anti-police demonstrator and a pro-police demonstrator, con-front one another during a pro-police rally in New York Friday.

Photo by Jason DeCrow | AP

Mayor facesprotests, police

By JONATHAN LEMIREASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Presi-dent Barack Obama de-clared Friday that Sony"made a mistake" in shelv-ing a satirical film about aplot to assassinate NorthKorea’s leader, and hepledged the U.S. would re-spond "in a place and man-ner and time that wechoose" to the hacking at-tack on Sony that led to thewithdrawal. The FBIblamed the hack on thecommunist government.

Speaking of executives atSony Pictures Entertain-ment, Obama said at a year-end news conference, "Iwish they had spoken to mefirst. ... We cannot have a so-ciety in which some dicta-tor someplace can start im-posing censorship."

Obama said he imaginedsituations in which dicta-tors "start seeing a docu-mentary that they don’t likeor news reports that theydon’t like."

Sony said it had nochoice but to cancel distri-bution of the movie sincetheaters were refusing toshow it. North Korea deniedanew that it had hacked thestudio.

"There is not any connec-tion," U.N. diplomat KimSong told The AssociatedPress. Song criticized thefilm but disputed his gov-ernment hacked Sony andorchestrated the movie’sshutdown: "It defamed theimage of our country. Itmade a mockery of our sov-ereignty. We reject it. Butthere is no relation" to thehacking.

The U.S. decision to open-ly blame North Korea —which involved agreementby the State Departmentand intelligence agencies —escalated a global game ofbrinkmanship. It happenedafter the disclosure of confi-dential Sony emails andbusiness files and threats ofterror attacks against U.S.movie theaters until Sonyagreed to cancel the Christ-

mas Day release of its come-dy, "The Interview."

Obama spoke not long af-ter the FBI provided themost detailed accounting todate of the digital break-in.The president’s pointed crit-icism of Sony shifted focusto whether the studio wouldmodify its decision, as someleading celebrities — includ-ing actors George Clooneyand Sean Penn — have rec-ommended.

"Sony is a corporation. Itsuffered significant damage.There were threats againstits employees. I am sympa-thetic to the concerns thatthey faced," Obama said."Having said all that, yes, Ithink they made a mistake."

Sony Pictures chief exec-utive Michael Lynton said itwas the president who wasmistaken, noting that Sonycanceled the release only af-ter all major theater chainsdecided not to show themovie. But the HomelandSecurity Department con-cluded those threats werenot credible, and the topmultiplex chains in NorthAmerica dropped "The In-terview" only after Sony in-formed them it would notprotest if the theaters pulledthe film.

"The president, the pressand the public are mistakenas to what actually hap-pened," Lynton told CNN."We do not own movie thea-ters. We cannot determinewhether or not a movie willbe played in movie thea-

ters."Lynton did not indicate

whether Sony planned to re-lease the movie on DVD orthrough video-on-demandservices, which are not con-trolled by theaters, but thecompany suggested thatwas an option in a state-ment late Friday.

"The only decision thatwe have made with respectto release of the film wasnot to release it on Christ-mas Day in theaters, afterthe theater owners declinedto show it," the companysaid. "After that decision,we immediately began ac-tively surveying alternativesto enable us to release themovie on a different plat-form."

As for the case againstNorth Korea, the U.S. detect-ed communications betweencomputer Internet address-es known to be operated byNorth Korea and hackingtools left behind at thecrime scene, which the FBIsaid contained subtle clueslinking them to that coun-try’s government.

The U.S. said in a state-ment: "North Korea’s ac-tions were intended to in-flict significant harm on aU.S. business and suppressthe right of American citi-zens to express themselves."The statement included ageneral promise to impose"costs and consequences" onany person, group or gov-ernment using cyberattacksto threaten the U.S. or its in-

terests.Obama wasn’t any more

specific."They caused a lot of

damage, and we will re-spond," he said. "We will re-spond proportionally, andwe’ll respond in a place andtime and manner that wechoose. It’s not somethingthat I will announce here to-day at a press conference."

In a taunting new email,the hackers told Sony thatexecutives were "very wise"to cancel the movie’s releaseand warned the studio nev-er to release the film "inany form."

In Hollywood, Clooneysaid the entertainment in-dustry should push for im-mediate release of "The In-terview" online. In an inter-view with the trade siteDeadline, he urged Sony to"do whatever you can to getthis movie out. Not becauseeverybody has to see themovie, but because I’m notgoing to be told we can’t seethe movie. That’s the mostimportant part."

Penn said: "By caving tothe outside threat, we makeour nightmares real. Thedecision to pull ’The Inter-view’ is historic. It’s a caseof putting short-term inter-ests ahead of the longterm."

The evidence implicatingNorth Korea was previouslydescribed as largely circum-stantial, including unspeci-fied clues in the hackingtools left behind and the in-volvement of at least onecomputer in Bolivia tracedto earlier attacks blamed onNorth Korea. Now, the FBIsaid, those clues includedsimilarities to other toolsdeveloped by North Koreain specific lines of computercode, encryption algorithmsand data deletion methods.More significantly, the FBIdiscovered that computerInternet addresses knownto be operated by North Ko-rea were communicating di-rectly with other computersused to deploy and controlthe hacking tools and col-lect the stolen Sony files.

Obama vows response to hackBy ERIC TUCKER AND TED BRIDIS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A banner for "The Interview"is posted outside Arclight Cinemas,Wednesday, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles.

Photo by Damian Dovarganes | AP

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES Nation SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2014

DENVER — The parentsof Colorado theater shooterJames Holmes begged Fri-day for his life to be sparedthrough a plea bargain — amove that rekindled thelong-running, emotional de-bate about whether the hor-rific details of the mass kill-ing should be played out athis upcoming trial.

The statement releasedby Robert and ArleneHolmes emphasized a keylegal issue in the torturedhistory of the case — wheth-er Holmes was sane when12 people were killed and 70others were injured, andwhether he should die ifconvicted of the crime.

“He is a human beinggripped by a severe mentalillness,” the parents wrotein just their second publiccomments since the 2012 at-tack. “We have always lovedhim, and we do not wanthim to be executed.”

The statement also thrustthe mass shooting into thespotlight once again at atime of heightened concernsover theater safety. Thehackers who prompted Sonyto withhold the release of“The Interview” had threat-ed violence against theaters.

Prosecutors previouslyrejected at least one pro-posed plea deal made by at-torneys for Holmes, criticiz-ing the lawyers for publiciz-ing the offer and calling it aploy meant to draw the pub-lic and the judge into whatshould be private.

They said the proposalcould not be considered gen-uine because the defense re-peatedly refused to givethem information needed toevaluate it. No details wereprovided on the informationbut attorneys have arguedin court previously aboutaccess to details concerningHolmes’ mental health.

Jury selection is set to be-gin on Jan. 20 in the trial.

It’s hard to know exactly

what Holmes’ legal defenselooks like, since court filingshave been heavily redactedand the findings of twocourt-ordered sanity evalua-tions have been sealed frompublic view.

Defense attorneys don’tdeny he was the shooter butsay he was in the grips of apsychotic episode.

The comments byHolmes’ parents incensedsome survivors of the attackand relatives of those killed.They questioned the timingaround the holidays and as9,000 jury summonses werebeing delivered for the trial.

“To give a person whocommitted such a calculat-ed, horrific crime a life sen-

tence, to me that’s like giv-ing him a slap on the wrist,”said Marcus Weaver, whowas shot in the arm andwhose friend, Rebecca Win-go, died in the attack.

He called the statement aploy by defense lawyers tomanipulate the jury pooland generate “sympathy fora man who has done a hor-rific thing.”

“For his parents to sendus an apology letter threeyears later is an insult,”Weaver said. “It would havebeen better if they had saidnothing at all.”

Holmes’ defense attorneyDaniel King didn’t immedi-ately return a call seekingcomment.

The prospect of a longcourt battle troubled victimPierce O’Farrill, who wasshot three times.

He said he would wel-come an agreement that im-prisons Holmes for life anddid not see how a possibledeath penalty would “bringpeace to anybody, whether

it’s justice or not.” “Life in prison, throw

away the key, and he doesn’tsee the light of day againand we move on.” O’Farrillsaid of a possible plea deal.

Prosecutors, who are un-der a gag order, declined tocomment, saying it wouldhurt the fairness and integ-rity of the trial.

Holmes has pleaded notguilty by reason of insanityto the charges filed after theJuly 2012 attack at the thea-ter in Aurora.

His parents, who live inRancho Peñasquitos, Cali-fornia, say they want toavoid a traumatic trial. Oneoption would be a deal thatcalls for a guilty plea in ex-change for a sentence of lifein prison without parole,they said.

“If that happened, ourson would be in prison therest of his life, but no onewould have to relive thosehorrible events at a trial themedia has permission to tel-evise,” the parents wrote.

Theater shooter’s parents plead for son’s lifeBy SADIE GURMANASSOCIATED PRESS

The parents of Colorado theater shooter James Holmes, shown,begged Friday for his life to be spared through a plea bargain.

Photo by Andy Cross/pool/file/The Denver Post | AP

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2014 Local THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

A LOOK AT THE CHRISTMAS PARADEA float featuring military veterans was part of the recent Christmas Parade and Lighting of County Plaza activities.

Courtesy photo

The Zapata County queen and her court were part of the recent Christmas Parade and Lighting ofCounty Plaza activities.

Courtesy photo

Helpers carry Christmas gifts as part of the recent Christmas Pa-rade and Lighting of County Plaza activities.

Courtesy photo

A school bus sporting hundreds of lights was a part of the recent Christmas Parade and Lighting of County Plaza activities.Courtesy photo

Children rode on this Western-themed float during the recent Christmas Parade and Lighting of CountyPlaza activities.

Courtesy photo

Members of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps prepare forthe Christmas Parade and Lighting of County Plaza activities.

Courtesy photo

The U.S. Border Patrol’s Santa Claus was part of the recent Christ-mas Parade and Lighting of County Plaza activities.

Courtesy photo

Floats representing businesses were part of the recent ChristmasParade and Lighting of County Plaza activities.

Courtesy photo

Riders on horseback were part of the recent Christmas Parade andLighting of County Plaza activities.

Courtesy photo

Santa Claus poses with the Zapata County Fair queen and her court at the recent Christmas Parade and Lighting of County Plaza activ-ities.

Courtesy photo

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES Nation SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2014

HARRISBURG, Pa. —Former Penn State assist-ant football coach JerrySandusky has lost a legalbattle to restore his $4,900-a-month pension, a benefitthat was canceled twoyears ago after he wassentenced for child moles-tation.

The State Employees’Retirement Board’s 122-page opinion, made publicFriday, determined Sand-usky remained a PennState employee after hisannounced retirement in1999, meaning his abuse ofchildren fell under a 2004state law that added sex-ual offenses against stu-dents to the crimes thattrigger forfeiture.

Sandusky attorneyChuck Benjamin said heplanned to file a challengeto the decision in court.

“All I can say at thispoint is we’re looking for-

ward to litigating the rev-ocation of the pension incourt,” Benjamin said.“That’s the next step ofthis process. We’ve ex-hausted our administra-tive remedies, and nowwe’ll be filing paperswithin the next 30 days incourt.”

The decision wentagainst the recommenda-tion in June by a hearingexaminer who said Sand-usky had already retiredby the time the PensionForfeiture Act was ex-panded. Six sex crimesagainst two children metstandards of the forfeiturelaw, the board said.

“He knew that his pen-sion was conditioned onnot performing certainconduct,” the opinionsaid. “He elected to en-gage in that conduct.”

The board said Sandus-ky, through his formercharity the Second Mile,continued to work in anoutreach capacity for

Penn State after 2004, ap-pearing at golf tourna-ments that universityalumni, boosters and ath-letics officials attended.

Sandusky, 70, is servinga decades-long sentenceand appears likely to diein prison. His wife, Dottie,would have been in line tocontinue collecting 50 per-

cent of his pension uponhis death, but the opinionalso denied her survivor-ship benefits.

“I think that for theSERS to say that Jerrysomehow remained aPenn State employee afterhe retired from Penn Stateand went to work for (theSecond Mile) is ridiculous

and ignores reality,” Dot-tie Sandusky said in anemail to the AP.

The board wrote thatSandusky “continued toattend athletic events atPenn State, including foot-ball games in the PennState suite designed to at-tract and solicit donors.”It also said he had accessto facilities, free tickets toevents, an office and afree phone, highlighting a1999 “letter agreement”with the university thatthe board said wasunique.

“The nature of the workperformed by (Sandusky)established an employ-ment relationship,” theboard concluded. “Theparties expressly agreedand understood that(Sandusky’s) efforts weredirected towards increas-ing the visibility and en-hancing the reputation ofPenn State and its athleticprograms.”

The hearing examiner,

Michael Bangs, had saidthat the retirement sys-tem had improperly ap-plied the forfeiture law toSandusky for crimes hecommitted as a retiree.

Sandusky testified fornearly three hours by vid-eo link earlier this year ata hearing before Bangs re-garding the forfeiture. Hewas the only witnesscalled by his lawyers.

Sandusky spent decadesas Penn State’s defensivefootball coach before retir-ing in 1999. Penn Stateemployees do not work forthe state government butare eligible to participatein the state pension sys-tem.

Sandusky collected a$148,000 lump sum pay-ment at the time he re-tired, and a total of$900,000 in pension pay-ments by September 2012.

He was convicted by ajury in 2012 of sexualabuse of 10 boys and sen-tenced to 30 to 60 years.

Sandusky loses $4,900 monthly pensionBy MARK SCOLFOROASSOCIATED PRESS

Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky has losta legal battle to restore his $4,900-a-month pension.

Photo by Gene J. Puskar/file | AP

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2014 THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A

Gabino Guzman, 80,passed away Tuesday, Dec.16, 2014, at Laredo Medi-cal Center in Laredo, Tex-as.

Mr. Guzman is precededin death by parents, San-tiago and Juliana Guz-man; and brothers, TomasGuzman, Margarito Guz-man and Santiago (Maria)Guzman.

Mr. Guzman is survivedby his wife, EnriquetaGuzman; sons, GabinoGuzman, Rolando Guz-man and Arnulfo Guz-man; daughters, YolandaGuzman and Maribel Guz-man; grandchildren, Ve-ronica (Edgar) Gutierrez,Nancy (Javier) Placensia,Evelyn (Enrique) Rico,Maria (Anthony) Rodri-guez, Eduardo Luis Guz-man, Hector Madrigal Jr.,Saul Madrigal, HeribertoMadrigal, Jessica Guz-man, Alejandra Guzman,Mariela Guzman, ArnulfoGuzman Jr., Damian Guz-man, Emilio Guzman andJulian Guzman; 12 great-grandchildren; brothers,Nicasio (Esperanza) Guz-man and Noe (Ester) Guz-man; sisters, Elvia (†Flo-rencio) Aguilar, Adalia(Alfonso) Cruz, Irma (†Er-nesto) Montemayor, Manu-

ela (†Isac) Chapa and Ma-ria Ester (Jaime) Corona;and by numerous otherfamily members andfriends.

Visitation hours wereheld Thursday, Dec. 18,2014, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.with a wake at 7 p.m. atRose Garden FuneralHome.

Cremation arrange-ments are under the direc-tion of Rose Garden Fu-neral Home, Daniel A.Gonzalez, funeral director,2102 N. U.S. Hwy. 83, Zapa-ta, Texas.

GABINO GUZMAN

Jan. 4, 1934 – Dec. 16, 2014

MEDINA, Wash. — Sav-vy Seattle-area real estateagents have gained an ad-vantage by paying atten-tion to the growing con-nections between Chinaand Washington state.

“I’m so glad my mothermade me study Chinese,”laughed property brokerJanie Lee, after showing aclient from Beijing a $4million home in the sub-urb of Medina. “I’ve beenusing it a lot.”

This year, Chinese vis-itors are on pace to top thelist of international travel-ers to the Evergreen State.More than half of the 7,300international students atthe University of Washing-ton are from the People’sRepublic. And a recent top-grossing Chinese romanticcomedy featured a Beijingwoman who finds love inSeattle.

The influx has made itsway to high-end propertymarkets, and observersdon’t expect it to slowdown any time soon.

“This is just the begin-ning from just a few yearsago. So in a few years

there will be even more,”Lee said, interpreting forher prospective buyer,Hongbin Wei.

In anticipation, someSeattle-area homes are be-ing built or remodeled toimprove their feng shui,but other factors can helpmake a property attractive.

As Wei considered theMedina mansion, Leeasked the seller whetherall five bedrooms had theirown bathrooms.

“Most of the buyers, theAsian buyers, like privatesuites for their parents orextended family,” she said.

Behind their growingeconomy, wealthy Chinesehomebuyers have pouredinto the U.S., spending $22billion on property in thestates, tops among all for-eign purchasers over the12 months preceding aMarch study from the Na-tional Association of Real-tors. That was up from$12.8 billion the previousyear, when Chinese buyersalso took the No. 1 spot.The homes had a medianprice of more than$500,000, which againtrumped other interna-tional clients.

Washington state re-

ceived a hefty share of at-tention, ranking secondonly to California in salesto Chinese buyers.

“We’re at the very be-ginning of the Chinese out-bound investment cycle.It’s the tip of the iceberg,”said Simon Henry, co-CEOof Juwai.com, an influen-tial real estate website thatconnects Chinese buyerswith international proper-ties.

The China-Washingtonties include direct flightsbetween Seattle, Beijing,Hong Kong and severalother Chinese cities, andthat proximity is part ofwhat makes the WestCoast attractive, said JedSmith, a research directorwith the Realtors group.Other foreign investors fol-low similar patterns, hesaid, noting that Mexicanbuyers often purchase inthe Southwest, while Euro-peans tend to favor theNortheast.

Nationally, Smith said,foreign buyers spent about$90 billion on U.S. propertylast year, out of about $1.3trillion in total sales. Theinternational impact hadpotential to raise spot pric-es, but not enough to in-

flate costs across the U.S.or crowd out local buyers,he said.

The recent links — in-cluding the film “Bei JingYu Shang Xi Ya Tu,”which Lee says literallytranslates to “BeijingMeets Seattle” and refer-ences the Tom Hanks, MegRyan classic “Sleepless inSeattle” — come as othermajor U.S. cities, includingNew York, San Franciscoand Las Vegas, have expe-rienced a tourism boostfrom the Far East.

Chinese tourists havebeen among the fastest-growing and highest-spending U.S. visitors inrecent years. In 2013, about1.8 million Chinese travel-ers came to the U.S., con-tributing about $21 billionto the economy, accordingto a White House release.

State Department fig-ures show Chinese tour-ists spent about $7,000 perperson in the U.S., com-pared with the average of$4,500 for all overseas vis-itors.

To encourage such trav-el and spending, the U.S.government last month ex-panded the availability ofvisas to Chinese visitors.

Chinese find homes in Wash.By MANUEL VALDESASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Despite anearly start, sales data provided toThe Associated Press show thatstores may once again have to re-ly on procrastinators to save theholiday shopping season.

Sales rose 1.8 percent fromNov. 1 through Monday com-pared with the same period ayear ago, according to paymenttechnology company First DataCorp.

The numbers are modest con-sidering that the National RetailFederation, the nation’s largestretail trade group, expects salesfor the entire season — Novem-ber and December — to rise 4.1percent to $616.9 billion.

The slow growth also comes ata time when retailers tried to doa number of things to jumpstartthe season and encourage shop-pers to spend. Some offered “ho-liday” discounts as early as Hal-loween instead of waiting untilthe day after Thanksgivingknown as Black Friday. Andmore stores opened on Thanks-giving Day itself to offer peopleearly enticements to spend.

But the incentives seem tohave backfired. Shoppers tookadvantage of the earlier salesand hours, but that had the effectof syphoning away sales fromBlack Friday, which is typicallythe biggest sales day of the year.

“The numbers are lower thanwhat people expected them to beso it will be interesting to seewhat happens in the final days ofthe holiday shopping season,”said Rishi Chhabra, First Data’s

vice president of informationand analytics.

As a result of the modest sales,retailers are making a big finalpush to lure shoppers into stores.And they’re employing tacticsthey’ve had to use since the re-cession.

Dennis May, CEO and presi-dent of Hhgregg Inc., said theconsumer electronics chain add-ed a “buy more, save-more” salesevent that is ending this week.And it’s also extending the cutoffdate for online shoppers whowant to pick up their items in

the store until noon ChristmasEve. Last year, the cutoff datewas Dec. 23.

“I think the consumer is verysavvy,” he said. “They’re notshopping with abandon. They’renot throwing their budgets to thewind.”

Major retailers including Ma-cy’s and Toys R Us are offeringmarathon shopping hours.Kohl’s, for instance, is openingits stores for 132 hours straightuntil 6 p.m. Christmas Eve. Thatcompares with 108-hour stretchlast year.

“Customers can rely on usaround the clock for their last-minute gift-giving solutions,”said Michelle Gass, Kohl’s chiefcustomer officer.

Despite the frenzy, retailersdon’t necessarily have to panic.There still are big potentialspending days ahead, includingtoday, which some industrywatchers are saying could be thebiggest shopping day of the year.In fact, the average holiday shop-per had completed only 52.9 per-cent of their holiday shopping asof December 10, according to a

survey of more than 6,165 shop-pers conducted by the retailtrade group.

But retailers also have towatch their bottom lines. Shop-pers have become more accus-tomed to deals, and many aren’twilling to pay regular price any-more.

Indeed, C. Britt Beemer, chair-man of America’s ResearchGroup, said 60 percent of 1,000shoppers polled last weekendsaid they were only buying dealsthis holiday season. That com-pares with 40 percent last year.

But all the discounts eat awayprofits. According to First Data,the number of transactions rose1.8 percent, but the averagetransaction was flat at $73.85,showing how heavy discountingcan hurt the bottom line.

“I don’t think it’s great outthere,” said Ron Friedman, headof the retail and consumer prod-ucts group at accounting firmMarcum LLP who estimates thatholiday sales will be up 2 percentfrom last year. “People are out inthe stores and shopping, butthey’re all looking for deals.

Indeed, some shoppers arehesitant to spend a lot, despitesome recent good economicnews. Average gas prices nation-ally have dropped and the unem-ployment rate is at a six-yearlow. But some shoppers stillstruggle with higher costs andstagnant wages.

“I have to still watch what Ispend and make sure every-thing’s on sale,” said Teresa Con-rad, 51, who was shopping re-cently at a suburban Indianapo-lis mall.

Christmas shopping is down to the wireBy ANNE D’INNOCENZIO

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Giselle Basurto, of Mexico, shops at a Kmart store in New York on Thanksgiving Day. Retail sales rose 1.8 percent from Nov. 1through Monday, according to First Data Corp., which tracks purchases at 800,000 stores including online.

Photo by John Minchillo | AP

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2014

faith-based organization toreceive funding since its in-ception, and is one of thelargest grants made to theseven organizations select-ed to receive funding in2014, according to a newsrelease.

“This federal investmentwill greatly improve thehealth of the people ofSouth Texas,” said U.S.Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Lare-do, who was on hand tomake the announcementand present the check.“The Texas border regionhas some of the highest un-insured rates in the coun-try and is disproportionate-

ly affected by chronic andcommunicable diseases.”

The investment will sup-port Methodist HealthcareMinistries’ ‘Sí Texas: So-cial Innovation for aHealthy South Texas’ pro-ject.

The objective of the pro-ject is to stimulate im-provements in behavioralhealth and chronic diseasein South Texas, and tohighlight integrated behav-ioral health models thatare effectively improvinghealth outcomes in thecommunities with highrates of poverty, depres-sion, diabetes, obesity and

associated risk factors.The project will target 12

counties that span the U.S.-Mexico border, includingWebb, Zapata, Starr, Hidal-go, Cameron, Willacy, Kene-dy, Kleberg, Jim Wells, Du-val, Jim Hogg and Brooks.

Sister Maria Luisa Veraof Mercy Ministries of La-redo emphasized how thefunds will help addressgreat needs in Webb Coun-ty such as diabetes.

“The incident of diabetesis high here,” Vera said.“Methodists HealthcareMinistries will providesome of the technical as-sistance to us, but we have

to do the ground work.”During the presentation,

Kevin Moriarty, presidentand CEO at MethodistHealthcare Ministries, ex-plained how the grant com-plemented its previous andongoing efforts in SouthTexas.

“We have been investingin programs and servicesthat have sought to addressthe remarkable health careneeds in Laredo to the tuneof $12.6 million for over adecade,” Moriarty said.

Methodist HealthcareMinistries is accepting ap-plications for funding fromorganizations that provides

medical services in the pro-ject’s 12-county area.

Rebecca Brune, vicepresident of strategic plan-ning and growth at Metho-dist Healthcare Ministries,said it has been in touchwith approximately 120 or-ganizations that could po-tentially apply.

“We’re looking for some-where between seven and10 grantees and the grantswill range anywhere be-tween $250,000 and $2 mil-lion per grantee,” Brunesaid. “We know from ourwork with our funded part-ners that there are innova-tive models that can effec-

tively address these chron-ic illnesses and behavioralhealth needs.

“This project will allowus to evaluate these modelsand help sustain and scalethose efforts by attractingadditional investments inthis region.”

Agencies interested inapplying for funds mustsubmit a letter of interestby Dec. 19. The applicationitself is due Jan. 5, and theawards will be announcedApril 15, according toBrune.

(Philip Balli may bereached at 728-2528 or pbal-li@lmtonline.com)

GRANT Continued from Page 1A

tional Guard was de-ployed to assist in themission. Gov. Rick Perry,House Speaker Joe Strausand Lt. Gov. David Dew-hurst said last month thatthe operation would ex-tend through August andcost about $86 million. It

will be expanded to in-clude the entire Texas-Mexico border, thoughthe National Guard’s ef-forts will be drawn downgradually and be complet-ed by March.

Since October of thisyear, the number of chil-

dren traveling alone hasdipped, though the RioGrande Valley continuesto receive the most. FromOctober to the end of No-vember, about 3,200 chil-dren were apprehended inthe Rio Grande Valley sec-tor, compared with 5,460

during the same timeframe last fiscal year.

In addition to the in-crease in apprehensions,Customs and Border Pro-

tection and Border Patrolagents also seized about1.017 million pounds ofdrugs in Texas, a slightdip compared with 1.2 mil-

lion pounds in 2013. About$7.7 million in cash wasseized last fiscal year,compared with $13.6 mil-lion in 2013.

BORDER Continued from Page 1A

NEW YORK — A pain doctor convictedof manslaughter in two patients’ overdosedeaths was sentenced Friday to more thana decade in prison, after patients’ relativespleaded for a tough punishment and saidhe put money ahead of medicine.

Dr. Stan Li got a 10 2/3-to-20-year term ina case that reflected the widening reach ofcriminal prosecutions of physicians ac-cused of abetting prescription drug abuse.Believed to be New York’s first manslaugh-ter case against a doctor in an overdosedeath, it also invoked the specter of drug-related violence: One of Li’s former pa-tients shot four people in a pharmacy hold-up.

“This is a fair and just sentence, givenLi’s egregious criminal conduct,” city Spe-cial Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennansaid in a statement.

Li’s lawyer, Raymond Belair, didn’t im-mediately respond to an inquiry aftercourt. He has called Li’s conviction a “mis-carriage of justice” and said Li just tried tohelp people who misused medications andmisled him.

Li, a 60-year-old anesthesiologist and

pain management specialist from Hamil-ton, New Jersey, was convicted in July ofmanslaughter, reckless endangerment andother charges.

He saw as many as 90 patients a day at aQueens weekend pain-management clinicthat charged on a per-prescription scale,making at least $450,000 in two years on topof his six-figure salary as a hospital anes-thesiologist, prosecutors said.

Other doctors called to tell him aboutone suicidal patient’s repeated overdoses.Another patient’s father went to Li’s officeto implore him to stop, according to prose-cutors. But Li kept prescribing.

“I cannot understand how someone whotook an oath to protect people can kill an-other human being,” Margaret Rappoldwrote in a letter to the court. Li prescribedher 21-year-old son, Nicholas Rappold,scores of painkiller and anti-anxiety pills inthe five weeks before he took too many anddied in his car, slumped over a bottle ofdrugs Li had prescribed, prosecutors said.

Vincent Cornetta, whose brother Mi-chael also was among Li’s patients, calledthe physician a “ghoul” who exploited drugdependency instead of treating it.

“Li cashed in his humanity each and ev-ery time he turned his back on Michael

and other afflicted addicts he cynicallyabused” to keep money coming in, VictorCornetta wrote to state Supreme Court Jus-tice Michael Sonberg. Michael Cornetta, 40,died of an overdose; his case spurred reck-less endangerment but not manslaughtercharges against Li.

Li also was convicted of selling prescrip-tions to David Laffer, who shot and killedtwo employees and two customers whileholding up a Long Island pharmacy forpainkillers in June 2011. Laffer pleadedguilty to murder and is serving a life sen-tence.

Li’s defense said the doctor was genuine-ly treating, not just enabling, people whowere often physically dependent on painmedications. He often reduced dosages oth-er physicians had prescribed, and he some-times stopped treating patients who didn’ttake the medications as ordered, Belairsaid during Li’s trial.

Manslaughter charges against doctorsfor overprescribing drugs are uncommon.Perhaps most notoriously, former cardiolo-gist Conrad Murray was accused of givingpop superstar Michael Jackson a lethaldose of the anesthetic propofol as a sleepaid in 2009 and was convicted of involun-tary manslaughter.

NY pain doctor gets prisonBy JENNIFER PELTZASSOCIATED PRESS

BERNE, N.Y. — A 19-year-old womanstrangled a 5-year-old cousin who hadbeen in her parents’ care, then discard-ed his body along a road before callingin a false report that two masked in-truders took the boy from their Albany-area home, authorities said Friday.

Tiffany VanAlstyne’s bogus 911 callon Thursday afternoon set off a searchfor Kenneth White that lasted into thenight, authorities said. A search dogpicked up a scent at about 9 p.m., andKenneth’s body was found in a culvert,covered with snow VanAlstyne used ina bid to hide the crime, Albany CountySheriff Craig Apple said.

“We’re angry we had a 5-year-old tak-en from us, a senseless death,” he said.“It’s sinful and it’s sad.”

VanAlstyne was charged Friday withsecond-degree murder. She said nothingat her arraignment. She is due back incourt on Tuesday for an initial hearingto enter a plea.

Womankilled boy

By JOHN KEKISASSOCIATED PRESS

Sports&OutdoorsSATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2014 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

After years of rumors and nearmisses, it finally happened: Pointguard Rajon Rondo has been tradedfrom the Boston Celtics.

Rondo, a four-time All-Star, andpower forward Dwight Powell willjoin the Dallas Mavericks in exchangefor Brandan Wright, Jae Crowder, Ja-meer Nelson, a 2015 first-round pickand a 2016 second-round pick. It wasan aggressive move by the Mavericks,who are eager to make a champion-ship push knowing that 36-year-oldDirk Nowitzki’s years as a premierplayer are numbered.

The trade is a tale of two teams tak-ing different routes to championship

contention. The Mavericks (19-8) hopean upgrade at point guard, Rondo’sposition, will propel them into theelite echelon of the brutal WesternConference. Meanwhile, the Celticsacquire more draft picks and an im-portant trade exception, both ofwhich will aid their long-term re-building efforts, in exchange for aplayer who was likely to leave in theoff-season anyway.

In 2008, Rondo won an NBA titlewith a Celtics team that featured Ke-vin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Al-len. He has shown a knack for takinghis game to another level in the play-offs and nearly averaged a triple dou-ble for 14 playoff games in 2009. YetRondo is far from a known quantity.Now 28 years old, he has not reco-

vered his peak form since he tore hisanterior cruciate ligament in January2013.

Before his injury, Rondo recordedat least 10 assists in each of the first37 games of the 2012-13 season, an in-credible feat, and was shooting a tidy48.4 percent from the field. Since re-turning to action, he has been neitherthe whirlwind attacking ballhandlernor the disruptive defender he oncewas.

This season, Rondo again leads theleague in assists per game, but unlesshe improves his shooting (currently40.4 percent), he may not do much toboost the Mavericks’ formidable of-fense. Dallas has the best scoring at-

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION

Trading to win now

Point guard Rajon Rondo was traded to the Mavericks on Friday night for Brandon Wright, Jae Crowder, Jameer Nelson and two draft picks.

Photo by Winslow Townson | AP

Mavericks land PG Rajon Rondo from CelticsBy BECKLEY MASONMCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

See RONDO PAGE 2B

MINNEAPOLIS — The HoustonRockets made a move to bolster theirdepth on the perimeter on Friday,landing veteran swing man CoreyBrewer from the Minnesota Timber-wolves.

The Rockets sent shooting guardTroy Daniels, cash considerations anda pair of future second-round picks toMinnesota, a person with knowledgeof the agreement told The AssociatedPress on condition of anonymity be-cause the trade has not been officiallyannounced. The Timberwolves willget a second-round pick in 2015 fromSacramento and a 2016 second-round-er from Houston.

The trade gives the Rockets anotherproven veteran defender in Brewer to

Minnesota forward Corey Brewer was sent tothe Rockets in a trade for Troy Daniels, cashand two future second-round picks.

Photo by Stacy Bengs | AP

Rocketstrade forBrewer

By JON KRAWCZYNSKIASSOCIATED PRESS

See BREWER PAGE 2B

The College Football Play-off era is here and as thebowl season starts, it feels abit like a New Year’s three-for-one special: Three biggames instead of one.

There’s still a bit of con-troversy just like there wasin the BCS — ask Baylorand TCU — but most col-lege football fans believe theselection committee got itright with two marquee

semifinal games to set upthe Jan. 12 national cham-pionship game in NorthTexas.

But those are far from theonly bowls worth watching.

With 39 bowls, there areplenty of other great games,star players and must-seematchups this season. And,of course, we’ve got a run-down of the biggest and thebest.

TOP GAMESCollege Football Cham-

pionship, teams TBD, Jan.

12 in Arlington, Texas. Goeswithout saying.

Rose Bowl, Florida Statevs. Oregon, Jan. 1 in Pasade-na, California. Not only anational semifinal, it pitsthe past two Heisman Tro-phy winners and two dy-namic offenses.

Sugar Bowl, Ohio Statevs. Alabama, Jan. 1 in NewOrleans. Another nationalsemifinal, another can’t-miss game.

NCAA FOOTBALL: BOWL PREVIEW

Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston leads the unbeaten Seminoles into the college football play-off looking for a second straight championship.

File photo by McCarn | AP

Bowl season begins asplayoff approaches

By JOHN MARSHALLASSOCIATED PRESS

See BOWL PAGE 2B

IRVING — All signspoint to DeMarco Murrayplaying for Dallas againstIndianapolis despite theNFL rushing leader’s bro-ken left hand.

Murray was listed asquestionable Friday a fewhours after Cowboys own-er Jerry Jones said on hisradio show that the team“should be able to counton” him playing.

The fourth-year backwent through individualdrills Wednesday beforeexpanding his role inworkouts Thursday andFriday. He says he will ul-timately decide whether toplay on Sunday.

“People deal with inju-ries all the time, so you’vegot to be able to fightthrough the pain,” Mur-ray said Thursday. “Theseare some important gamesthat we’ve got coming up,and I know how impor-

tant they are. We knowhow important they are.”

The NFC East-leadingCowboys (10-4) can wrapup a playoff berth if theybeat the Colts (10-4) andPhiladelphia loses toWashington. But Dallascould miss the postseasonwith a loss in one of tworemaining games if theEagles beat the Redskinsand New York Giants.

Murray, injured late in

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DALLAS COWBOYS

Dallas running back DeMarco Murray looks on course to play Sunday against the Colts after havingsurgery to repair a broken bone in his left hand this week.

Photo by Andy Jocobsohn | AP

Cowboys’ Murrayexpected to play

By SCHUYLER DIXONASSOCIATED PRESS

See MURRAY PAGE 2B

compete in the demanding West-ern Conference, where they werein fourth place at 19-6 afterThursday’s games. Rockets GMDaryl Morey has been in pursuitof help for weeks, knowing thatGolden State, Memphis, San An-tonio, the Clippers all may havesuperior depth to his roster.

Houston lost out to rival Dallasin the bidding for point guardRajon Rondo on Thursday, soMorey immediately turned hissights to Brewer, who scored 51points in a game against themlast year. That scoring explosionwas an anomaly, but Brewer is ahard-working veteran whoshould fit in well with team-mates James Harden and Dwight

Howard. Brewer is one of theNBA’s best at stealing the ball,and his ability to get out for easytransition buckets will allow himto make an easy transition toHouston.

Rockets coach Kevin McHaleknows Brewer well. McHale wasthe GM in Minnesota when theWolves chose him seventh over-all in 2007.

Brewer left and won a cham-pionship with the Mavericks be-fore blossoming as an energyguy off the bench with the Den-ver Nuggets.

He returned to Minnesota lastyear and was serving as a valua-ble mentor to youngsters An-drew Wiggins, Zach LaVine, Sha-

bazz Muhammad and AnthonyBennett. On a team beset by in-juries, Brewer was even filling inat backup point guard for longstretches.

But with Mo Williams backplaying after missing time with aback injury and Ricky Rubiopossibly returning before Janu-ary, the Wolves started to enter-tain offers for Brewer as they gowith a full-on youth movement.

Injuries to Rubio, Nikola Pe-kovic, Kevin Martin and Wil-liams have short-circuited anyhopes the Wolves had of being asurprise team in the first seasonafter trading Kevin Love toCleveland. They were 5-19 head-ing into Friday night’s game at

Boston, the worst record in theWest, so they flipped a valuableasset in Brewer, who has a playeroption on his contract next sea-son for more than $5 million fora young shooter in Daniels andsome future draft picks.

The move will allow them toget an even longer look at Mu-hammad, who has been theirbest player this season but hasbeen stuck in a logjam on thewing partially because of Brew-er’s presence.

Daniels played less than 7 min-utes per game for the Rocketsthis season, but his ability toshoot the 3-pointer will be a wel-come addition to the Wolves,who are among the league’s

worst 3-point shooting teams.It also could signal the first of

many moves as president andcoach Flip Saunders embraces ayouth movement he initiallyhoped to avoid. Saunders addedWilliams and veteran power for-ward Thaddeus Young in the off-season in hopes of surrounding ayoung core of Wiggins, Rubioand LaVine with experiencedsupport.

But Rubio has been out sinceNov. 7 with a sprained ankle,Martin is out until well into Jan-uary with a broken wrist and Pe-kovic continues to be botheredby soreness in his right foot.

Yahoo Sports first reported thedeal.

BREWER Continued from Page 1B

PAGE 2B Zscores SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2014

tack in the NBA, thanks totalented personnel andcoach Rick Carlisle’s ele-gant and devastating sys-tem.

Good offenses rely onspacing, and no three play-ers stress a defense’s abil-ity to cover the whole flooras do Monta Ellis, Nowitz-ki and Tyson Chandler.Nowitzki is the best shoot-ing big man in history,and his unblockable jumpshot stretches the defenseto the perimeter. Chandleris a constant threat tocatch a lob for a dunk, andEllis is as quick as theycome off the dribble.

Where will Rondo, whois a poor shooter in the

middle of the worst shoot-ing season of his career, fitinto this ecosystem? Andhow will he and Carlisle -two of the most intelligent,stubborn and sometimesabrasive personalities inthe league - mesh on thesame sideline?

Nelson, the guard whomRondo will replace, hasbeen struggling to makeshots in his own right, buthis advanced shooting sta-tistics are stronger be-cause he shoots so many 3-pointers. In the long term,Rondo, who has indicateda willingness to re-signwith the Mavericks in theoff-season, is clearly a bet-ter option than Nelson.

But the best fit next toEllis and Nowitzki is abig, defense-focused guardwho can cover for Ellis’deficiencies and cash inon open 3-pointers; some-one like the Mavericksbackup point guard DevinHarris, or Jason Kidd, cir-ca 2011. Rondo is a soliddefender when locked in,but he is smaller than El-lis, loves to dribble and isa bad deep shooter. Talent-ed though he may be, Ron-do will force Carlisle to re-jigger his system to keepthe Mavericks’ offense atthe top of the league.

Even if Rondo does re-gain his preinjury form,the Mavericks still could

end up dearly missingWright, who leads theNBA in field goal percent-age. Though a bit smallerthan Chandler, Wright ap-proximates his defense atthe rim and is a lights-outfinisher in the pick-and-roll. He is also crucial in-surance should Chandlerbe injured. The Maverickswill not win a title with-out Chandler, but Wrightcould keep the Mavericks’offense afloat if Chandlerhad to miss a month ortwo. This matters in thehypercompetitive WesternConference, where amonthlong swoon couldmean the difference be-tween home-court advan-

tage and missing the play-offs.

This is almost certainlynot the last move for theowner Mark Cuban andthe Mavericks’ front office.They will do what theycan to upgrade the backupcenter position and addshooting depth aroundRondo. But defense willcontinue to be a majorconcern, and Carlisle mayend up staggering Ellisand Rondo’s minutes sothat Harris can coverguards like James Harden,Klay Thompson, RussellWestbrook and Tony Park-er, whom Harris defendedadmirably in the playoffslast season.

Things will change inDallas, that is for sure. ButCuban takes well-earnedpride in the environmenthe has helped create sincetaking over the franchise.The facilities are worldclass. The coaching staffand training resources aresecond to none.

Many scoffed when theMavericks invested in El-lis, but the combination ofCarlisle and Nowitzkibrings out the best in al-most any player. The Ma-vericks are hoping thatthey can repeat the trickwith Rondo, and that Ron-do can recreate his memo-rable playoff runs in Bos-ton.

RONDO Continued from Page 1B

last week’s win at Philadelphia that gave theCowboys the division lead, has 1,687 yardsrushing and needs 87 to break all-time NFLrushing leader Emmitt Smith’s franchise re-cord of 1,773.

Rookie right guard Zack Martin didn’t prac-tice all week because of an ankle injury, butJones was optimistic about him playing.

“With what we did yesterday in practice,Murray and Martin, I’m pretty positive abouthaving the ability to play them and to gettingthat decision,” Jones said. “Both of those guys,you should be able to count on.”

Jones indicated right tackle Doug Freewouldn’t be available as he battles injuries tohis left foot and ankle. Free missed three gamesearlier this season with a broken right foot.

Murray had a large wrap on his hand Tues-day, the day after surgery to repair the boneabove his left ring finger. But the wrap was sig-nificantly smaller Wednesday, and he said hedid “a lot more” in practice a day later.

“This guy is like, there’s nothing to hold thisguy from doing anything,” play caller Scott Li-nehan said. “He’s one of the great competitorsI’ve been around.”

Murray missed at least two games each ofhis first three seasons with injuries. He sat outthe final three games his rookie year with abroken ankle, missed six games with asprained foot in 2012 and two more last yearwith a sprained knee. But now he has a 22-game starting streak, easily the longest of hiscareer.

“I’m competitive, very competitive person,and I want to help this team out as much as Ican,” said Murray, who has tied Smith’s fran-chise record with 11 100-yard games this sea-son. “Whatever that portrays me doing comeSunday, then we’ll see from there.”

MURRAYContinued from Page 1BCotton Bowl, Baylor vs. Mi-

chigan State, Jan. 1 in Arling-ton, Texas. Classic strength-against-strength matchup: theBears’ prolific offense facingthe stingy Spartans.

Fiesta Bowl, Boise State vs.Arizona, Dec. 31 in Glendale,Arizona. Teams with a flairfor the dramatic in bowlgames. Might want to watchthis one all the way through.

TOP PLAYERSMarcus Mariota, QB, Ore-

gon. Won the Heisman. Youmay have heard of him.

Jameis Winston, QB, Flor-ida State. Despite the off-the-field troubles, last year’s Heis-man winner is a dynamicplayer who still hasn’t lost agame as the Seminoles’ start-er.

Amari Cooper, WR, Alaba-ma. Heisman finalist is un-stoppable even when teamsknow the ball his headed hisway.

Melvin Gordon, RB, Wis-consin. One last chance to seeGordon run before he headsto the NFL.

Shaq Thompson, WR,Washington. The all-purposeAll-American will be all overthe Cactus Bowl.

Scooby Wright, LB, Arizo-na. Makes ball carriersscream ruh-roh!

TOP INDIVIDUAL MATCHUPSEast Carolina WR Justin

Hardy vs. Florida CB Vernon

Hargreaves III. Hardy set theNCAA career record with 376receptions and Hargreaves isone of the nation’s best covercorners. Certainly should addsome intrigue to the Birming-ham Bowl.

Georgia Tech QB JustinThomas vs. Mississippi StateLB Benardrick McKinney.Thomas leads an option of-fense that was third national-ly in rushing. McKinney, asecond-team All-American,will be the key to stoppinghim in the Orange Bowl.

Alabama OT Cam Robinsonvs. Ohio State DE Joey Bosa.A big game within the gameto keep an eye on during theSugar Bowl.

Auburn LB CassanovaMcKinzy vs. Wisconsin’s Gor-don. Gordon ran for over 2,300yards and 26 TDs and McKin-zy figures to meet him in afew holes during the OutbackBowl.

ODDSAccording to Glantz-Culver,

the two national semifinalswill not be close.

In the Rose Bowl, Oregonhas been picked as a nine-point favorite and Alabama isfavored by 9 1/2 points overOhio State in the Sugar Bowl.

The biggest spread is Stan-ford by 14 points over Mary-land in the Foster FarmsBowl. The smallest spread is apoint in three games: Kansas

State over UCLA in the AlamoBowl, Nevada over Louisiana-Lafayette in New Orleans andMemphis over BYU at MiamiBeach.

The highest over/under is72 points between Oregon andFlorida State in the RoseBowl, the lowest 40 points be-tween Boston College andPenn State in the PinstripeBowl.

NUMBERS33—Straight bowl appear-

ances by Florida State, longestin the nation.

45—Consecutive gameswith touchdown pass by Mar-shall’s Rakeem Cato, an FBSrecord.

54—Years since Duke won abowl game. The Blue Devilsface Arizona State in the SunBowl.

87—Years since a bowlgame was played outside theUnited States or Canada be-fore this year’s BahamasBowl. The Bacardi Bowl inHavana, Cuba, was the last.

4,344—Passing yards thisseason by Western Kentucky’sBrandon Doughty, the FBSleader.

BOWL SPONSORSThere was a time when dot-

coms were the primary spon-sors of bowl games.

Now, food and cars are king.The 2014-15 bowl season in-

cludes six games sponsoredby car-related companies and

six more that have to do withfood, from potatoes to friedchicken.

Four bowls do not have pri-mary sponsors, going only bethe site name: Miami Beach,Boca Raton, Hawaii and Bir-mingham.

There’s also three bowlssponsored by apparel compa-nies, one by a mover, a mediacompany, health products andeven one by the online homeof the Duck Dynasty guys.

DISTANCESWhen it comes to home-

town advantages, no team willhave a better one than SanDiego State this bowl season.Playing in the PoinsettiaBowl, the Aztecs will face Na-vy just up the road at Qual-comm Stadium.

Stanford will have a similar-ly-short drive, making the 15-mile-or-so trip to Levi’s Stadi-um in Santa Clara to face Ma-ryland in the Fosters FarmsBowl, and Louisiana-Lafayettewill be playing about 135miles away in New Orleansagainst Nevada.

The longest trip by far be-longs to Rice. The Owls willbe about 3,900 miles fromhome when they face FresnoState in the Hawaii Bowl.

Longest trip without cross-ing an ocean goes to FloridaState, which will travel rough-ly 2,200 miles to face Oregonin the Rose Bowl.

BOWL Continued from Page 1B

SAN DIEGO — In a diz-zying series of trades in justmore than a week, new SanDiego Padres general man-ager A.J. Preller has re-vamped the worst offense inthe major leagues by addingMatt Kemp, Wil Myers, Jus-tin Upton, Derek Norris andWill Middlebrooks.

Preller’s wheeling anddealing isn’t over yet, sincehe has a surplus of outfield-ers.

Preller was hired in Au-gust after developing a repu-tation as a hard-working,hard-charging scouting andplayer development execu-tive with the Texas Rangers.

Since Dec. 11, Preller hasdisplayed a win-now atti-tude by working a five-play-er deal with the division ri-val Los Angeles Dodgers toget Kemp; an 11-player dealwith Tampa Bay and Wash-ington to get Myers, the2013 AL Rookie of the Yearwith the Rays; a multiple-player deal with Atlanta forUpton; a four-player trade

with Oakland involvingNorris; and a straight-uptrade with Boston to getMiddlebrooks for catcherRyan Hanigan, who cameover from Tampa Bay.

It’s a stunning haul for ateam that has had only twowinning seasons since itslast playoff appearance, in2006.

Kemp and Upton areamong the top power hit-ters.

Kemp was scheduled tobe introduced at a newsconference Friday. He had astrong second half in 2014for the NL West championDodgers. He finished theseason with a .287 average,25 home runs and 89 RBIs.That deal, agreed to earlythe morning of Dec. 11 atthe winter meetings in SanDiego, was finalized Thurs-day night.

Upton, who will earn$14.5 million in the finalyear of his contract, had 29homers and 102 RBIs lastseason. That deal has yet tobe finalized.

Preller seems to be a lat-er-day “Trader Jack” McKe-

on, just without the cigar.McKeon was general man-ager of the Padres whenthey went to the World Se-ries in 1984, earning hisnickname for his fondnessfor deals.

Padres President MikeDee said Preller had the ad-vantage of seeing the Padresfor the final two months of2014, when they rebounded

enough from their awfulfirst half to finish third inthe NL West.

“He believes this teamwas competing last year,”Dee said. “We were over .500after the All-Star break. Hisview was, let’s try to keepthe core of our pitching staffintact, add some offense andlet’s make a run with thisgroup and we can compete

in 2015. That’s exactly whatwe’re doing. It’s somethingour fans can be excitedabout.”

Preller has managed toretain his top three startersand most top prospects.

In order, Preller has:—obtained Kemp and

catcher Tim Federowiczfrom the Dodgers for catch-er Yasmani Grandal andright-handers Joe Wielandand Zach Eflin. Preller alsogot $32 million from theDodgers to help defray theremaining $107 million onKemp’s deal. The Padres’obligation of $75 million toKemp during the next fiveyears becomes the biggestcontract in club history.

—obtained Myers, Hani-gan, left-handed pitcherJose Castillo and right-handed pitcher GerardoReyes from the Tampa BayRays while sending catcherRene Rivera, right-handerBurch Smith and infielderJake Bauers to Tampa Bay,as well as right-hander JoeRoss and a player to benamed later to Washington,expected to be shortstop

Trea Turner, San Diego’sfirst-round draft pick in 2014. The Rays receive outfielderSteven Souza Jr. and left-hander Travis Ott from theNationals. In the works forseveral days, that deal wasfinalized Friday morning.

—acquired Norris, anAll-Star catcher, and minorleague right-hander SethStreich from Oakland onThursday night for rightiesJesse Hahn and R.J. Alvarezalong with an internationalsigning bonus slot.

—landed Upton from At-lanta for a group of pros-pects that could include lef-ty Max Fried, one of SanDiego’s top prospects.

—swapped Hanigan tothe Boston Red Sox for Mid-dlebrooks on Friday.

The Padres had a histor-ically awful offense in thefirst half of 2014. Althoughthey played better in thesecond half, they finished atthe bottom of the majorswith a .226 average, .292 on-base percentage and 535runs. Their 109 homerswere the second fewest inthe baseball.

Padres revamped with series of blockbustersBy BERNIE WILSONASSOCIATED PRESS

Outfielder Justin Upton was traded to San Diego from Atlanta, giv-ing the Padres one of the most dangerous outfields in the league.

Photo by Al Behrman | AP

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2014 THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

A Champagne LunchDear Readers: A few

months ago, I spoke at thesisterhood luncheon at Agu-das Achim Synagogue inSan Antonio. Proceeds fromthe event went to the Hu-mane Society here, wherewe adopted our NEW DOGlast year. Champagne(Chammy, Cham, Chim,Cham Cham and Chamina-tor) was just the right dogto help mend our hearts af-ter having to send Cabbie todoggie Valhalla just amonth before. My husbandand I learned through theyears that our home is notcomplete without a furry,funny, cold-nosed cuddlecharmer to share our space.

The group also workedwith the Humane Society tobring some young puppiesto the location and havethem available for hugs andadoption. It was very tempt-ing to go home with a newplaymate for Cham, but wewant her to feel secure in"her" home before addinganother dog. The membersalso brought dog food to do-nate to the cause.

Chammy came to livenup the event, and boy, didshe! The saying "she nevermet a stranger" certainlyapplies to our girl! To openmy "show," I had Cham onher purple harness with aretractable leash, and shechased her green toy. Thesoft, fuzzy toy is attached toa line on an old fishingpole, and we play "fishingwith Cham" back and forthuntil one of us gets tired.

A lovely handwrittenthank-you from the syn-agogue arrived a shortwhile later on a beautifulfloral notecard. The left in-side of the card was blank,so I took a hint from my-self ! I tore off that part, andnow use it for quick notesto remind me of things todo while "putting on myface’ in the morning.

Big hug, and "woof,woof!"

– Heloise and Chammy

“HELOISE

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2014