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HAWKS HOLD IN SPRING SPORTSTENNIS AND GOLF STAY IN FULL SWING, 1B

AUSTIN — There’s a new Tex-as budget on the table, and withbarely any drama this time.

A marathon debate over a newtwo-year, $93.5 billion state spend-ing plan ended late Thursdaywith overwhelming passage inthe Texas House, where Republi-cans and Democrats brokered

deals to diffuse volatile ideologi-cal battles and trumpeted a newair of bipartisanship afterward.

Clashes over Medicaid expan-sion could not be averted, and so-cial conservatives fumed after theHouse slapped down a schoolvoucher push that is now ren-dered potentially dead in the Leg-islature. Yet even those scrapesnever escalated into full-on bat-tles, and most House members

left satisfied over more money forpublic schools, college campusesand mental health.

The budget bill passed 135-12and now goes to a conferencecommittee with the Senate.

“Even when you fundamental-ly believe that more should beadded, there comes a time whenyou have to recognize that posi-

TEXAS GOVERNMENT

$93B for stateCommittee gets budget after House OK

By PAUL J. WEBERASSOCIATED PRESS

See BUDGET PAGE 9A

Zapata County authoritiesare asking the community forinformation about a San Ygna-

cio burglary during which thesuspect or suspects made it outwith $1,000 worth of items, in-cluding a 20-gauge shotgun.

SHERIFF’S OFFICE

Sheriff askingfor help in

solving crimeShotgun among items stolen in San Ygnacio

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES

See SHOTGUN PAGE 9A

MEXICO CITY — A con-struction magnate’s prep-py son is forced to driveone of Mexico City’s bat-tered green buses, whilehis spoiled sister waits ta-bles at a cantina in aminiskirt and non-design-er shoes. Their creditcards have been canceled,their BMWs and mansionseized.

OMG!The Mexican riches-to-

rags movie, “We are theNobles,” has opened to

packed theaters in a coun-try with one of the world’swidest income gaps — anda love for laughing at mis-fortune. More than 1 mil-lion people showed up inthe first week to see thestory of an impresario whofakes a government raidon his riches to teach hischildren the value of work.

Only a Hollywood block-buster featuring BruceWillis and DreamWorks’latest 3D animation beat itat the box office last week-end, the second-biggestopening for a domesticfilm here in more than 10

years.“Latin America is a re-

gion where middle class isvery small,” said writerand director Gary “Gaz”A-lazraki. “So I thought ifyou want to capture themood of the public withcinema, that’s the firstplace to look, the contrastbetween rich and poor.”

In the movie, patriarchGerman Noble’s eldest sonspends his days at daddy’scompany dreaming up bigideas, such as mixing theworld’s largest rum and

MEXICO

This image released by Warner Bros. Studios shows actors, from left, Luis Gerardo Mendez, Juan PabloGil, Gonzalo Vega and Karla Souza in the movie “Nosotros los Nobles,” or “We are the Nobles.”¶

Photo by Warner Bros. Studios | AP

Comedy on incomegap a big screen hit

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICONASSOCIATED PRESS

See MOVIE PAGE 8A

AUSTIN — Man’s best friend ispriceless. But a dog gone isworth nothing in Texas.

The Texas Supreme Courtruled Friday that bereaved dog ownerscan’t sue for emotional damages whensomeone else is to blame for the deathof a pet. A Fort Worth family had chal-lenged the law after an animal sheltermistakenly euthanized their Labradorretriever in 2009.

Justice Don Willet wrote the 25-pageopinion with flourish rarely seen fromthe state’s highest civil court. He openedwith a dog-admiring passage from theEnglish poet Lord Byron and opined theheartache wrought by “Old Yeller.”

Yet Willet concluded that “the hu-man-animal bond, while undeniable”doesn’t elevate to collecting money forgrief.

“Measuring the worth of a belovedpet is unquestionably an emotional de-termination — what the animal meansto you and your family — but measur-ing a pet’s value is a legal determina-tion,” Willet wrote. “We are focused onthe latter, and as a matter of law anowner’s affection for a dog (or ferret, orparakeet, or tarantula) is not compensa-ble.”

Texas does allow owners to collectdamages for wrongfully killed pets thathad economic value, such as a prize-

winning show dog or a stunt canine.Jeremy and Kathryn Medlen said

equally irreplaceable was their familydog, Avery, although the pet was essen-tially worthless in terms of market val-ue. Avery wound up at an animal shel-ter after running away from home, andwas mistakenly put down even though aworker at the pound placed a tag on Av-ery instructing that she not be euthan-ized.

Adding to the heartbreak, the Me-

dlens had tracked Avery down at theshelter but did not have the $80 on handto retrieve her. When they returnedwith the cash a few days later, it was toolate.

Randy Turner, the family’s attorney,said Kathryn Medlen sobbed upon hear-ing the court’s decision.

“They never cared about the money.They just wanted to change the law,”Turner said. “This is a huge defeat forour four-legged friends.”

Dogs are considered property underTexas law. Turner argued to the highcourt in January how that should makecollecting sentimental damages for a petno different than suing for the negligentdestruction of family heirlooms.

The nine-member court disagreed ina unanimous opinion.

Yet they weren’t without sympathy.“Even the gruffest among us,” Willet

wrote, “tears up (every time) at the endof Old Yeller.”

TEXAS SUPREME COURT

TEARS, LAWSUIT AFTER MISTAKEThis photoproved by theMedlen familyshows JeremyMedlen, left, andKathryn Medlenwith their dog,Avery. The TexasSupreme Courtruled Friday thebereaved FortWorth dog own-ers can’t sue foremotional dam-ages when some-one else is toblame for thedeath of a pet.The family hadchallenged a lawafter an animalshelter mistaken-ly euthanizedtheir Labrador re-triever in 2009.

Photo by Medlen Family/file | AP

Court: Ownerscan’t sue afterpet put to sleep

By PAUL J. WEBERASSOCIATED PRESS

PAGE 2A Zin brief SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2013

SATURDAY, APRIL 6The Texas A&M International

University Lamar Bruni Vergara Plane-tarium will show: "The Little Star ThatCould" at 3 p.m.; "Ancient Skies, An-cient Mysteries" at 4 p.m.; and "Lampsof Atlantis" at 5 p.m. Matinee show is$4. General admission for is $4 forchildren and $5 for adults. Premiumshows are $1 more. Call 956-326-3663.

The community is invited to at-tend the St. John Neumann CatholicChurch’s Spring Jamaica from 4-210p.m. The festival will have cake, plantsand food booths, as well as music, acountry store and children’s games.Bingo will be from 3-6 p.m. A silentauction will begin at the jamaica andwill extend until April 14, taking placeafter each weekend Mass. For more in-formation, contact Sanjuanita Martinez-Hunter at 722-3497.

LCC’s Lamar Bruni Vergara Envi-ronmental Science Center’s trail clean-up is from 8 a.m. to noon at Paso delIndio Nature Trail on the Fort McIntoshcampus. Registration begins at 7:30a.m. Call 764-5701.

SUNDAY, APRIL 7The Society of Renaissance

Women will hold its first Spring Fash-ion Show from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Mod-els will feature the latest spring fash-ions from Dillard’s. Appetizers will beserved from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Ticketsfor the event are $25 per person. Forticket information, contact Mary Solerat 286-1590.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10The International Bank of Com-

merce 2012-2013 Keynote Speaker Se-ries featuring Dr. Peter Dorfman isfrom 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the TAMIUStudent Center Ballroom. Dorfman isthe president of the Board for theGlobal Leadership and OrganizationalBehavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) Foun-dation for Research and Education inLas Cruces, N.M. He will present “Ex-ecutive leadership from the GLOBEworldwide perspective: What do out-standing CEOs have in common incomparison to less than stellar CEOs?”This event is free and open to thepublic. Call 326-2820 or visit free-trade.tamiu.edu/whtc_services/whtc_speaker_series.asp.

Zapata High School’s track teamwill compete at the district track meetat Raymondville.

Zapata High School will competeat the MS UIL concert contest atKingsville High School.

THURSDAY, APRIL 11Zapata High School will compete

at Regional One Act Play and Academ-ics in Corpus Christi through Saturday.

FRIDAY, APRIL 12The Texas A&M International

University Lamar Bruni Vergara Plane-tarium will show "Earth, Moon andSun" at 6 p.m. and "Lamps of Atlantis"at 7 p.m. Matinee show is $4. Generaladmission is $4 for children and $5for adults. Premium shows are $1more. Call 956-326-3663.

The opening reception for “Ca-sas del Ayer,” an exhibit of photo-graphs by Isidro Antonio Gonzalez, isfrom 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Villa AntiguaBorder Heritage Museum, 810 ZaragozaSt. The exhibit features photos of his-toric buildings in Nuevo Laredo, Laredoand Roma. Contact the WCHF at 956-727-0977 or visit webbheritage.org.

SATURDAY, APRIL 13The Texas A&M International

University Lamar Bruni Vergara Plane-tarium will show: "One World, One Sky:Big Bird’s Adventure" at 3 p.m.;"Lamps of Atlantis" at 4 p.m.; and"Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon"at 5 p.m. Matinee show is $4. Generaladmission is $4 for children and $5for adults. Premium shows are $1more. Call 956-326-3663.

TUESDAY, APRIL 16“Relax & Reduce Stress for a

Healthier You!” is set for 6-8 p.m. inroom 101 of the De La Garza Buildingat the LCC Fort McIntosh Campus. Feeis $20 per person for the general pub-lic, $10 for LCC employees and stu-dents. For more information, call 721-5110, or visit www.laredo.edu/edc.

MONDAY, APRIL 22The exit-level ELA retest will be

given at Zapata schools.

TUESDAY, APRIL 23STAAR/TAKS exams will be giv-

en at Zapata schools.

CALENDARASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Saturday, April 6,the 96th day of 2013. There are269 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in His-tory:

On April 6, 1973, Ron Blom-berg of the New York Yankeesbecame Major League Base-ball’s first designated hitter ashe faced pitcher Luis Tiant ofthe Boston Red Sox at Fenway.(Blomberg was walked withthe bases loaded; Boston wonthe game, 15-5.)

On this date:In 1830, the Church of Jesus

Christ of Latter-Day Saintswas organized by JosephSmith in Fayette, N.Y.

In 1862, the Civil War Battleof Shiloh began in Tennesseeas Confederate forceslaunched a surprise attackagainst Union troops, whobeat back the Confederates thenext day.

In 1896, the first modernOlympic games formallyopened in Athens, Greece.

In 1909, American explorersRobert E. Peary and MatthewA. Henson and four Inuits be-came the first men to reachthe North Pole.

In 1917, Congress approveda declaration of war againstGermany.

In 1943, “Le Petit Prince”(The Little Prince) by Antoinede Saint-Exupery was firstpublished in the U.S. by Rey-nal & Hitchcock of New York.

In 1945, during World WarII, the Japanese warship Ya-mato and nine other vesselssailed on a suicide mission toattack the U.S. fleet off Okina-wa; the fleet was interceptedthe next day.

In 1959, “Gigi” won the A-cademy Award for best pictureof 1958; Susan Hayward wasnamed best actress for “I Wantto Live!” and David Niven wasnamed best actor for “Sepa-rate Tables.” (To the embar-rassment of the show’s pro-ducers, the scheduled 2-hourceremony fell about 20 min-utes short.)

In 1963, the United Statessigned an agreement to sellthe Polaris missile system toBritain.

In 1973, NASA launchedPioneer 11, which flew by Ju-piter and Saturn.

In 1988, Tirza Porat, a 15-year-old Israeli girl, was killedin a West Bank melee. (Al-though Arabs were initiallyblamed, the army concludedTirza had been accidentallyshot by a Jewish settler.)

In 1998, country singerTammy Wynette died at herNashville home at age 55.

Ten years ago: In the IraqWar, U.S. forces encircled andbegan flying into Baghdad’sinternational airport. Britishforces in the south made theirdeepest push into Basra, Iraq’ssecond-largest city.

Today’s Birthdays: NobelPrize-winning scientist JamesD. Watson is 85. Composer-con-ductor Andre Previn is 84.Country singer Merle Haggardis 76. Actor Billy Dee Williamsis 76. Writer-comedian PhilAustin (Firesign Theatre) is72. Movie director Barry Le-vinson is 71. Actor John Rat-zenberger is 66. Actress Mari-lu Henner is 61. Olympicbronze medal figure skater Ja-net Lynn is 60. Actress AriMeyers is 44. Actor Paul Ruddis 44. Actor-producer JasonHervey is 41. Actor Zach Braffis 38.

Thought for Today: “Tobe really cosmopolitan, a manmust be at home even in hisown country.” — ThomasWentworth Higginson, Ameri-can clergyman-author (1823-1911).

TODAY IN HISTORY

AUSTIN — Back in his home state on Fri-day, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz said no one should beshocked by the stir he’s caused after barely80 days in office — he’s just keeping his cam-paign promises.

“Washington is a curious place,” the teaparty firebrand told an adoring crowd at anAustin Chamber of Commerce luncheon.“They are very, very surprised when you gothere and actually do what you said youwere going to do.”

Cruz, 42, was a little-known former statesolicitor general before he rode a tidal waveof fiercely conservative, grass-roots supportto an upset win in last summer’s Republicanprimary over Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, thechoice of Texas’ GOP establishment. Hecoasted to victory in the general election.

Since arriving in Washington in January,Cruz has made headlines by embracing therole of Senate troublemaker. His first act wasintroducing an amendment to repeal theWhite House-backed health care reform lawthat had no hope of passing. Cruz also turn-ed up the verbal heat on former Sen. ChuckHagel during his confirmation hearings forSecretary of Defense.

Democrats have compared his style toMcCarthyism and some Republicans havebristled at Cruz’s political bomb-throwing.

Cruz said Friday he doesn’t shy away fromthe role but “what I’ve tried to do every sin-gle day there is do my job.”

The crowd gave him a standing ovation,though some of the loudest applause camewhen Cruz recalled that U.S. economicgrowth topped 7 percent in 1984, during Pres-ident Ronald Reagan’s first term.

AROUND TEXAS

Sen. Ted Cruz answers a question during an event held by the Austin Chamber of Commerce in Austin on Friday. Cruz hasupset Democrats and some Republicans in Washington, D.C., by challenging established views.

Photo by Deborah Cannon/Austin American-Statesman | AP

Cruz causes stir in D.C.By WILL WEISSERTASSOCIATED PRESS

Clemency petition fromEast Texas killer rejected

HUNTSVILLE — The TexasBoard of Pardons and Paroleshas rejected a clemency requestfrom an East Texas man facingexecution next week for a fatalshooting during a home robberymore than 22 years ago.

The board voted 7-0 Friday tonot recommend clemency for 50-year-old Rickey Lynn Lewis.

Judge: Online companiesowe cities $55M

SAN ANTONIO — A federaljudge has ruled that online hotelbooking companies must paymore Texas cities $55 million inback taxes.

U.S. District Judge OrlandoGarcia’s ruling Thursday followsa jury’s determination in 2009that booking companies weren’tpaying their share in occupancytaxes. Travel Technology Associ-ation’s Robin Reck says the asso-ciation expects the ruling to beoverturned on appeal.

Official: Jail guarddistracted during escape

SULPHUR SPRINGS — Asheriff ’s office spokesman inEast Texas says two inmates whoescaped for two days took advan-tage of a guard distracted by sev-eral other duties.

Capital murder suspect BrianAllen Tucker and John MarlinKing — who recently pleadedguilty to a drug possessioncharge — were found Thursdayin a barn in Cooper, about 20miles from Sulphur Springs.

Man pleads guilty toimpersonating CIA agent

HOUSTON — A Houston-areaman has pleaded guilty in feder-al court to two counts of pretend-ing to be a federal agent.

The Houston Chronicle re-ports Paul Alan White, alsoknown as Jonathan Alan Daven-port, entered the plea Wednesday.Sentencing is set for June 28. Hefaces up to three years in prisonfor each violation.

Former deputy appears incourt on drug chargesMCALLEN — A former South

Texas sheriff ’s deputy has plead-ed not guilty in federal court todrug conspiracy charges.

Former Hidalgo County sher-iff ’s Deputy Jorge Garza is theseventh member of the depart-ment accused of helping to stealor protect drugs to be resold by atrafficker. He was arrested Mon-day and had his bond set at$100,000 during a court hearingFriday.

San Antonio firefighterhurt in fall at fire

SAN ANTONIO — A San An-tonio firefighter was injured af-ter falling off a ladder as he triedto rescue a resident on a balconyduring a fire at a condominiumcomplex.

The reports the firefighter fellabout 20 feet Thursday afternoonand was taken to the hospitalwith broken bones.

— Compiled from AP reports

Kan. Senate approvesanti-abortion bill

TOPEKA, Kan. — A sweepinganti-abortion bill that blocks taxbreaks for providers and outlawsabortions solely because of thebaby’s sex cleared the KansasSenate on Friday, setting up aHouse vote that could send themeasure to Gov. Sam Brown-back.

Senators voted 28-10 for a com-promise version of the bill recon-ciling differences between thetwo chambers. The House wasexpected to take up the bill laterin the day, and if passed, support-ers expect Brownback to sign it.The Republican governor is astrong abortion opponent.

Trayvon Martin’s parentssettle with Fla. HOA

SANFORD, Fla. — The par-ents of a teenager who was fatal-ly shot by a neighborhood watchvolunteer last year have settled a

wrongful-death claim against thehomeowners association of theFlorida subdivision where theirson was killed.

The Orlando Sentinel reportedFriday that an attorney for Tray-von Martin’s parents — SybrinaFulton and Tracy Martin — filed

that paperwork in SeminoleCounty and that portions of itwere made available for publicreview Friday.

According to the newspaper,the parties specify that they willkeep the amount confidential.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

This image provided by Christie’s auction house shows the painting “Blackwell’sIsland” by Edward Hopper. The painting of Roosevelt Island, once known as Black-well’s Island, in New York City will be auctioned May 23 at Christie’s.

Photo by Christie’s | AP

Publisher, William B. Green........................728-2501Business Manager, Dora Martinez ...... (956) 324-1226General Manager, Adriana Devally ...............728-2510Adv. Billing Inquiries ................................. 728-2531Circulation Director ................................. 728-2559MIS Director, Michael Castillo.................... 728-2505Copy Editor, Nick Georgiou ....................... 728-2565Managing Editor, Mary Nell Sanchez........... 728-2543Sports Editor, Adam Geigerman..................728-2578Spanish Editor ........................................ 728-2569

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The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the LaredoMorning Times and for those who buy the Laredo MorningTimes at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted.

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

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

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

CONTACT US

SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2013 Local THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

ACCIDENTAn accident with a deer was

reported at 8:39 p.m. March 28 onLa Perla Road near Arroyo Salado.

An accident was reported at1:54 a.m. Sunday in the 300 blockof Miraflores Avenue.

A hit-and-run accident wasreported at 12:18 p.m. Sunday inthe 200 block of FM 3074.

ASSAULTAn assault causing bodily in-

jury incident was reported at 5a.m. Tuesday on Roma Avenue. Theassault involved juveniles, an inci-dent report states.

BURGLARYA burglary of a habitation

was reported at 10:50 a.m. March29 in the 500 block of HidalgoStreet.

DISORDERLY CONDUCTA disorderly conduct was re-

ported at 1:14 a.m. Sunday in the1600 block of Villa Avenue.

THEFTA theft was reported at 7:35

p.m. March 27 in the 200 block ofElizabeth Lane.

A theft was reported at 2:25p.m. March 28 in the 200 block ofCardinal Street.

A theft was reported at 7:59p.m. Sunday in the 1600 block ofGlenn Street.

THE BLOTTER

Jury selection has been set tentatively fora man arrested Feb. 26 and accused of smug-gling four people who had entered the coun-try illegally, according to court documents.

Noe Margarito Zuñiga, of Edinburg,waved his presence at arraignment March 27but did enter a not guilty plea. A federalgrand jury returned an indictment March 19charging Zuñiga with conspiring to trans-port and transporting four people who hadentered the country illegally.

Each count is punishable with no morethan 10 years in prison and/or a $250,000fine. Zuñiga, a U.S. citizen, remains out on a$75,000 bond.

Federal officials said the case unraveledFeb. 26 when U.S. Border Patrol agents work-ing a tactical checkpoint in Zapata inspecteda white Chevrolet Impala. Zuñiga claimednot to know the four individuals riding withhim, according to court documents.

“During secondary inspection, Zuñigafreely admitted that he was smuggling thefour passengers to Laredo,” a criminal com-plaint filed March 1 states.

Zuñiga stated he’d met a man identified as“Mr. Muñoz,” who offered him “easy money”for smuggling people to Laredo. Zuñigawould’ve gotten paid about $800, the com-plaint states.

One man held as a material witness saidhe paid $3,000 to be taken to Houston. A sec-ond witness said he paid $6,500 to be smug-gled to Laredo. Zuñiga picked up the menfrom a stash house, both men state in thecomplaint.

(César G. Rodriguez may be reached at728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)

Jury picksto take place

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES

The Zapata County Communi-ty Coalition seeks to provide anddisseminate realistic informa-tion on the negative effects thatalcohol can have at any age dur-ing April, which is AlcoholAwareness Month.

The ZCCC reminds residentsof several tragic reasons, besidesthe law, to take alcohol-relatedproblems and alcoholism seri-ously: highway death, drowning,

suicide, violent injury, disruptedfamilies and unwanted pregnan-cy.

An alcohol-free weekend, tra-ditionally observed by the Na-tional Council of Alcoholismand Drug Dependence in April,is scheduled through Sunday. Itbegan on Thursday.

Alcohol Awareness Month is anational grassroots effort ob-served by communities through-out the United States to supportprevention, research, education,

intervention, treatment and re-covery from alcoholism and al-cohol-related problems.

During Alcohol-free Weekend,NCADD and the Zapata CountyCommunity Coalition ofS.C.A.N. ask parents and otheradults to abstain from drinkingalcoholic beverages for a 72-hourperiod to demonstrate that alco-hol isn’t necessary to have agood time. If participants find itdifficult to go without alcoholduring this period, they are

urged to call S.C.A.N. at 765-3555for information about alcohol-ism.

NCADD Alcohol AwarenessMonth offers ZCCC and othercommunity organizations con-cerned about individuals, fam-ilies and children an opportuni-ty to work together to not onlyraise awareness and understand-ing about the negative conse-quences of alcohol, but to high-light the need for local actionand services focused on preven-

tion, treatment and recovery. The mission of ZCCC is the

reduction of substance abusethrough a commitment to the de-sign and delivery of comprehen-sive prevention services. Coali-tion members play an active rolein developing community effortsto prevent drug and alcoholabuse by partnering with theCoalition on initiatives rangingfrom prevention education andawareness to the development ofdrug-free alternative activities.

April is Alcohol Awareness Month hereSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

LAREDO — A man arrestedMarch 16 in Zapata for smug-gling two Mexican nationalswas indicted in federal courthere this week, according tocourt records.

On Tuesday, a federal grandjury indicted Jose Eligio Ca-sarrubias Ramirez on chargesof conspiring to transport andtwo counts of transporting peo-ple who entered the country il-legally.

Each count has a maximumpenalty of 10 years in prisonand/or a $250,000 fine. Casar-rubias Ramirez is set to be ar-raigned at 11 a.m. April 11 in

Courtroom 2C before U.S. Mag-istrate Judge J. Scott Hacker.Casarrubias remained in fed-eral custody on a $75,000 bondas of Friday afternoon.

His arrest stems from a traf-fic stop made by Zapata Coun-ty Sheriff ’s Office deputies atabout 1 a.m. March 16 nearTexas 16. Deputies alleged Ca-sarrubias Ramirez was speed-ing. Deputies requested U.S.Border Patrol agents for assist-ance.

A criminal complaint alleg-es authorities identified Casar-rubias Ramirez, a lawful per-manent resident, as the driver.The two passengers said theywere from Mexico. Casarru-bias Ramirez was cited for pos-

session of an alcoholic bever-age in a motor vehicle. Agentstook custody of CasarrubiasRamirez and the two passen-gers, a complaint states.

Casarrubias Ramirez askedto speak to an attorney. OneMexican national held as amaterial witness stated he’dcrossed the Rio Grande nearLaredo.

He claimed an unidentifiedman told him to wait for Ca-sarrubias Ramirez at a bar.Court documents allege eachMexican national would payCasarrubias Ramirez $1,500 tobe smuggled to Houston.

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

Grand jury indicts manBy CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ

THE ZAPATA TIMES

VILLARREAL ELEMENTARY STUDENTS CONQUER THE STAARS

Courtesy photo

Villarreal Elementary fourth and fifth graders took STAAR exams on Tuesday and Wednesday. Day one was thefourth grade writing and fifth grade math. Wednesday continued with day two of the writing test, while the fifthgrade took reading. Instructors shown are W. Lane, Swords, C. Gallegos, V. Gonzalez. Not shown are Dalia Gar-cia, Mirssa Martinez, Esmeralda Sosa, Jessica Navarro and Yvonne Soliz.

PAGE 4A Zopinion SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2013

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

Two months ago, menstopped eating at theAmerican prison at Guan-tanamo Bay. By last week,the Guantanamo hungerstrike had spread to doz-ens of other inmates.

The government putsthe number of protestersat about 40; lawyers forthe prisoners say that amajority of the more than160 men being held are re-fusing food. At least 11 arebeing force-fed.

After a visit to the de-tention facility last week,the Red Cross saw ”aclear link” between thehunger strike and the”emotional state” of menheld in suspended anima-tion, illegally deprived notonly of freedom, but ofhope.

A month ago, PresidentObama said, ”I am not adictator.” He lacks thepower, he explained, to”do a Jedi mind-meld” onlegislators who thwart hisproposals. He was speak-ing of a paralyzed budgetprocess, but he could havebeen talking about Guan-tanamo.

On his first day in of-fice, in 2009, he signed anexecutive order closingthe detention facility ”nolater than one year” fromthat date. It did not hap-pen. Almost a year later,he ordered that a prisonin Illinois be readied toreceive detainees fromGuantanamo. It did nothappen. A year after that,he signed another order,to establish a review pro-cess for detainees. It didnot happen.

InactionAt every stage, the

president was blocked byCongress. Two monthsago, the office of the StateDepartment’s special en-voy for closing Guantana-mo was itself shut down,a signal of the administra-tion’s defeat.

Obama may not be adictator, but that is smallcomfort to prisoners heldin Cuba. For them, thereis no habeas corpus; nodue process; no speedytrial; no being charged,even, with a crime. Morethan half of those heldhave already been clearedby review boards, whichfound them to be nothreat to the UnitedStates. Yet not even theyhave been released and re-patriated.

Such arbitrary impris-onment is an essentialnote of despotism, whichis why America’s foun-ders took pains to shun it.That President Obamabows before the limits ofthe Constitution, appar-ently washing his handsof the patently unjust fateof those being held, doesnot mean the Constitutiongoes unbetrayed.

On budget matters, atleast, the president hasthreatened his congres-sional opponents by vow-ing to ”speak to the Amer-ican people about the con-sequences of the decisionsthat Congress is making.”He has done so, with posi-tive results.

In recent weeks, the po-litical impasse over fiscalpolicy has eased consider-ably. The president has al-so mounted an aggressivecampaign for gun control,making, as he puts it, ”thebest possible case for whywe need to do the rightthing.”

Two sidesAs for those unjustly

held in Guantanamo? Thepresident’s mute resigna-tion on this questionstands in stark contrast tohis vocal determinationon others. And not justvocal: This is the presi-dent, after all, who claimsstand-alone authority toorder assassination bydrone, and to bypass Con-gress on immigration re-form. But on Guantana-mo, he can do nothing?

The fact that those be-ing wrongly punished areall Muslims should dis-turb Americans all themore. In the name of pro-tecting the United Statesfrom jihadists, the policyof indefinite, extralegaldetention of Muslims hassurely become the extre-mist recruiters’ great re-source.

In the face of congres-sional stasis and presiden-tial withdrawal, the pris-oners themselves are tak-ing action. By refusing toeat they are refusing to beignored.

A US spokesman atGuantanamo, with barelycontained contempt, dis-missed the hunger strikeas an ”orchestrated eventintended to garner mediaattention.” But of coursethat’s what it is. Gettingattention is the point. Ifthe president won’t maketheir case, they will makeit themselves.

Like hunger strikersbefore them, they are ap-pealing to the conscienceof their oppressors.

In normal dictator-ships, citizens lack thepower to influence theirrulers, and therefore can’tbe held responsible forcriminal deeds by theirgovernment. But democ-racy is different. TheAmerican public is fullyresponsible for what isdone in its name. Prison-ers at Guantanamo knowthat, which is why theirrefusal to eat is addressedto the nation.

What must happen be-fore this travesty is resolv-ed? Detainees starving todeath? If so, the world willsee that all it takes forAmerica to act like a dic-tatorship is the moral in-difference of its citizens.

US public isuncaring toGitmo woes

By JAMES CARROLLTHE BOSTON GLOBE

OTHER VIEWS

The Zapata Timesdoes not publish anony-mous letters.

To be published, let-ters must include thewriter’s first and lastnames as well as aphone number to verifyidentity. The phonenumber IS NOT publish-ed; it is used solely toverify identity and toclarify content, if neces-sary. Identity of the let-ter writer must be veri-fied before publication.

We want to assure

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

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

Via e-mail, send let-ters to editorial@lmton-line.com or mail them toLetters to the Editor, 111Esperanza Drive, Lare-do, TX 78041.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

“The world is full ofguys,” Corey Flood says inthe classic 1980s film “SayAnything.” “Be a man.Don’t be a guy.”

President Barack Obamaforgot that life lesson dur-ing a speech at a fundraiserin the San Francisco sub-urbs on Thursday. He sangthe praises of California At-torney General KamalaHarris calling her “bril-liant,” “dedicated” and“tough.” So far, so good.Then he added: “She alsohappens to be, by far, the

best looking attorney gener-al in the country.” Muchless good.

Touting a female politic-ian’s looks is almost neversmart — particularly whenthere’s already a story lineout there that the presi-dent’s inner circle is a boys’club that is unwelcoming towomen.

(For those who insist thatObama meant the lookscomment as praise and thatany outrage over it is manu-factured, we ask this: Wouldhe have mentioned how“handsome” Delaware StateAttorney General Beau Bi-den is if he had been speak-

ing at an event in the FirstState? Hard to imagine.)

The Twittersphere ex-ploded — with voices on theleft condemning Obama forindulging a sort of locker-room, boys-being-boys men-tality and those on the rightinsisting that if a Republi-can politician had saidsomething similar, themedia would have treated itas a national scandal. (Itseems that Obama’s remarkdrew plenty of national cov-erage, but that’s just us.)

New York magazine’sJonathan Chait summed upthe sentiment: “For a presi-dent who has become a cul-

tural model for many of hissupporters in so many oth-er ways, the example he’ssetting here is disgraceful.”

Obama called HarrisThursday night to apol-ogize. But in a week inwhich the president wantedto talk gun control, budgetand sequester, another de-bate about White House at-titudes toward womenserved as a major distrac-tion.

President Obama, for for-getting that you shouldn’tjust say anything that popsinto your head, you had theworst week in Washington.Congrats, or something.

WORST WEEK IN WASHINGTON

T’was a bad week for ObamaBy CHRIS CILLIZZA

THE WASHINGTON POST

AUSTIN — The state isbeing asked for permissionfor the state to sue the stateso the state can sit downwith itself to try to settle aland boundary dispute in-volving the state and thestate.

This, in addition to whyhalf of Major League Base-ball has the designated hit-ter and the other half doesnot, will be added to thelist of things it’s going to betricky to explain to theMartians when they land.

This is a turf war (a realone) between one arm ofthe state and another. Andit’s kind of a battle, albeitan amicable one, betweenone of Land CommissionerJerry Patterson’s functionsand another of his func-tions.

I’m not sure if this kindof stuff finds Patterson orhe finds it. Either way, partof the weirdness of thisdeal stems from the factthat he is chairman of theboard that oversees theleasing of university landsand another board thatmanages PermanentSchool Fund land.

Background: Under sov-ereign immunity, nobodycan sue the state withoutthe Legislature’s permis-

sion. Not even the state cansue the state without theLegislature’s permission.

That’s why the state Sen-ate Jurisprudence Commit-tee on Tuesday heard SanAntonio Sen. Carlos Ure-sti’s Senate ConcurrentResolution 30 seeking per-mission for the state to sueone of its arms — the Uni-versity of Texas System.The controversy is overwhether future mineralrevenue from about 157acres of state land in PecosCounty should go to thePermanent School Fund,which benefits K-12 educa-tion, or the Permanent Uni-versity Fund, which bene-fits UT and Texas A&Mschools.

”This basically is to getmyself out of a fiduciaryjam by allowing myself tosue myself to determinewhere the boundary lies,”Patterson told the commit-tee, adding somethingabout how it’s ”kind of likehaving two wives.”

The dispute involves an1879 survey of the property,a 1936 resurvey and a for-mer land commissioner’s1944 letter questioning the1936 resurvey. Everythingwas OK, I guess, until 2008when, as SCR 30 says, theUT System board ”beganremoving a fence locatedon or about the true bound-

ary of the university landsand began constructing anew fence west of the trueboundary of the universitylands.” The move, about1,000 feet, was based on a1936 survey by Frank F.Friend, who was workingfor UT.

In 1944, J.H. Walker, whohad been land commission-er from 1929-37, wrote a let-ter about the 1936 survey tothen-Land CommissionerBascom Giles. At the time,Walker was ”land officer”at UT’s University Landsdivision.

”Dear Bascom,” hewrote, ”For some years Ihave been making occa-sional investigations on theground and in the recordregarding the correctnessof the Friend survey of theWest Escondido System ofUniversity land in PecosCounty.”

The letter, heavy on sur-veyor-speak, makes it clearWalker was being sarcasticin a comment aboutFriend’s survey being ”amarvel of mathematical ex-actitude.”

Patterson told me thathe became aware of theboundary dispute whensomebody out there toldhim about the UT fencemove. Scott Kelley, the UTSystem’s executive vicechancellor for business af-

fairs, told the Senate com-mittee this is ”an honestdispute. We need some im-partial direction, and there-fore this remedy seems ap-propriate.”

Patterson says there’snot a lot of money at stakebecause, to date, there’s notbeen much mineral produc-tion on the land. Neverthe-less, he believes it’s impor-tant to get this settled. Andsettled is what he expects.The lawsuit, if approved bylawmakers, would put allparties in position to try tonegotiate a settlementwithout a real trial, accord-ing to Patterson.

Kind of weird, right? Butthere are worse ways to set-tle land disputes. Anybodyremember a 2003 releasefrom Patterson headlined”Showdown at the StateLine?”

”Texas Land Commis-sioner Jerry Patterson to-day challenged his NewMexico counterpart (Pa-trick Lyons) to settle a landdispute brewing betweenthe two states for morethan 140 years with an old-fashioned duel.”

Best I can recall, theduel never happened. Onthe other hand, I haven’theard anything aboutLyons in a long time.

(E-mail: kher-man@statesman.com.)

COLUMN

The winner, loser is the stateBy KEN HERMAN

COX NEWSPAPERS

COLUMN

SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2013 National THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

SACRAMENTO, Calif.— A federal judge on Fri-day rejected Gov. JerryBrown’s bid to regainstate control of inmates’mental health care after 18years of court oversightand billions of dollarsspent to improve treat-ment.

U.S. District Judge Law-rence Karlton in Sacra-mento ruled that the statefailed to prove that it isproviding the level of carerequired by the U.S. Con-stitution for the state’smore than 32,000 mentallyill inmates.

“This court finds thatongoing constitutional vio-lations remain in this ac-tion and the prospectiverelief ordered by this

court remains necessaryto remedy those viola-tions,” the judge said inhis 68-page decision.

The decision is a blowto the Democratic gover-nor’s attempts to end near-ly two decades of expen-sive federal lawsuits thatinfluence nearly every as-pect of California’s prisonsystem. It also under-mines Brown’s efforts tolift a separate court orderthat otherwise will forcethe state to reduce its pris-on population by nearly10,000 by year’s end.

Brown has promised toappeal.

The judge and the attor-neys for both sides ac-knowledged that the statehas made significant im-provements in its treat-ment of mentally ill in-mates since the lawsuit

was filed in 1991. That suitclaimed the original carewas so poor it violated theConstitution’s ban on cru-el and unusual punish-ment, prompting federalsupervision to be imposedfour years later.

The state has spentmore than $1 billion onnew facilities and devotes$400 million a year to car-ing for the mentally ill,who account for about onein every four inmates in33 adult prisons.

Yet court-appointed ex-perts reported that theprison system still hasmajor problems. That in-cludes a suicide rate thatworsened last year to 24per 100,000 inmates, far ex-ceeding the national aver-age of 16 suicides per100,000 inmates in stateprisons.

Feds keep control ofprison mental healthBy DON THOMPSONASSOCIATED PRESS

CENTENNIAL, Colo. —New questions confrontedthe University of Colorado,Denver on Friday amid dis-closures that a psychiatristwho treated theater shoot-ing suspect James Holmeshad warned campus policea month before the deadlyassault that Holmes wasdangerous and had homi-cidal thoughts.

Court documents madepublic Thursday revealedDr. Lynne Fenton also tolda campus police officer inJune that the shooting sus-pect had threatened and in-timidated her.

Fenton’s blunt warningcame more than a monthbefore the July 20 attack ata movie theater that killed12 and injured 70. Holmeshad been a student in theuniversity’s Ph.D. neuros-cience program but with-drew about six weeks be-fore the shootings after fail-ing a key examination.

Campus police officerLynn Whitten told investi-gators after the shootingthat Fenton had contactedher. Whitten said Fentonwas following her legal re-quirement to report threatsto authorities, accordingone of the documents, asearch warrant affidavit.

“Dr. Fenton advised thatthrough her contact with

James Holmes she was re-porting, per her require-ment, his danger to thepublic due to homicidalstatements he had made,”the affidavit said.

Whitten added that Fen-ton said she began to re-ceive threatening textmessages from Holmes af-ter he stopped seeing herfor counseling, the docu-ments said.

It was not clear if Fen-ton’s concerns aboutHolmes reached other uni-versity officials. Whittentold investigators she deac-tivated Holmes’ access cardafter hearing from Fenton,but the affidavit did not saywhat other action she took.

Neither Whitten norFenton immediately re-sponded to telephone mess-ages Friday.

The university releaseda statement Friday sayingthe documents supportedits assertions in Augustthat Holmes’ access cardwas deactivated when hequit a doctoral programbut that he was not bannedfrom campus.

The statement did notaddress whether the uni-versity took any steps inresponse to Fenton’s warn-ing that he was a threat tothe public.

It also didn’t directly ad-dress the university policeofficer’s statement that shedeactivated Holmes’ accesscard because of Fenton’s

concerns. Ken McConnellogue, a

spokesman for the Univer-sity of Colorado Systemand its governing Board ofRegents, said Friday theuniversity stands by itsstatement that Holmes’card was canceled “as hewithdrew from school.”

“We can’t comment onwhat was said in a policereport,” McConnelloguesaid.

Nicholus Palmer, an at-torney for the widow ofone of the people slain inthe attack, said it’s still un-clear how much school offi-cials knew about Holmesbefore the shootings.

“But from what’s comeout, there’s clearly knowl-edge that this guy was dan-gerous,” he said. Palmer’sclient is suing the universi-ty and Fenton.

The indication that apsychiatrist had calledHolmes a danger to thepublic gave momentum toDemocratic state lawmak-ers’ plans to introduce leg-islation to further restrictmentally ill people frombuying guns. State Rep.Beth McCann initially cit-ed the information Thurs-day as a reason she wouldintroduce a bill as soon asFriday. No date has beenset.

The theater massacre al-ready helped inspire a newstate ban on large-capacityfirearm magazines.

Marcus Weaver talks to the media after sitting in on a hearing for Aurora theater shooting suspectJames Holmes in Centennial, Colo., on Monday.

Photo by Brennan Linsley | AP

Questions in shootingsBy DAN ELLIOTT

AND NICHOLAS RICCARDIASSOCIATED PRESS

6A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2013

CINCINNATI — Attor-neys for a group of Amishmen and women foundguilty of hate crimes forcutting the hair and beardsof fellow members of theirfaith are arguing that thegroup’s conviction, sentenc-ing and imprisonment inseparate facilities acrossthe country violates theirconstitutional rights andamounts to cruel and un-usual punishment, accord-ing to recent court filings.

The filings in federalcourt in Akron seek the re-lease of seven of 16 Amishconvicted in September inthe 2011 eastern Ohio at-tacks, which were meant toshame fellow Amish theybelieved were strayingfrom strict religious inter-pretations.

Although six of the re-quests were denied by thetrial judge, one is pending,and the judge could at anytime order any of them re-leased as they await the

outcomes of their appeals,expected to be filed thissummer. Defense attorneysmay also appeal denials ofthe release requests to the6th U.S. Circuit Court ofAppeals in Cincinnati.

The Amish group’s lead-er, Samuel Mullet Sr., wassentenced to 15 years inprison, while the rest of thegroup got sentences rang-ing from one to sevenyears.

The Amish have beensent to different prisonsacross the country, placingan overly harsh burden ontheir relatives, who, be-cause of their religion, can-not travel by plane andhave to hire drivers for cartravel, the group’s attor-neys argue.

For instance, for Mullet’swife to visit him and threesons convicted in the case,she’d have to travel to Okla-homa, Louisiana and twoprisons 160 miles apart inMinnesota.

The Amish “are beingtreated much more harshlythan the typical federal

prisoner, including thosewith much worse criminalhistories and offense con-duct,” Mullet’s attorney, Ed-ward Bryan, wrote in aMarch 29 filing. “The man-ner in which their sentenc-es are being carried out bythe Bureau of Prisons iscruel and unusual.”

Prosecutors, in their re-sponse filed on Friday,pointed out that Mullet hasunsuccessfully argued to be

released five times through-out the case, and they citedcomments from federalJudge Dan Polster thatMullet showed no remorsefor the attacks and “en-joyed receiving prompt re-ports about the violent as-saults, and even received abag of hair as proof thatone such assault was suc-cessful.”

The prosecutors alsosaid that as recently as Feb.

8, the judge noted “Mullet’sdangerous hold” on hiscommunity and that Mullethad shown “a blatant disre-gard for the law.”

They rejected that theAmish’s placement in dif-ferent prisons is cruel andunusual and said movinghim would be a waste oftaxpayer money.

The prosecution’s filingdoes not address other ar-guments being put forth bythe defense that are farbroader, largely unchartedterritory in the courts andcould eventually land inthe U.S. Supreme Court, ac-cording to attorneys in-volved in the case and con-stitutional law professorscontacted by The Associat-ed Press.

Defense attorneys for theAmish are attacking thegroup’s prosecution underthe federal hate crime stat-ute, passed in 2009. Thestatute stipulates that toconstitute a federal viola-tion, the crime has to in-volve crossing state lines orusing “an instrumentality

of interstate or foreigncommerce.”

In this case, governmentprosecutors successfully ar-gued that the scissors andhair clippers were an in-strumentality of interstatecommerce.

That argument is anabuse of federal power andis unconstitutional, the de-fense attorneys argue.

Bryan pointed to lastyear’s landmark decisionby the U.S. Supreme Courtover President Barack Oba-ma’s federal health carelaw. The court found thatthe individual insurancemandate at the heart of thelaw was not enforceable un-der Congress’ power overinterstate commerce butrather as a tax.

Bryan said that case, de-cided after the Amish wereindicted, shows a willing-ness by the nation’s highestcourt to narrow Congress’authority over interstatecommerce, and could guidethe 6th Circuit in its con-sideration of the Amishgroup’s appeal.

Beard-cutting Amish fight for release

Sam Mullet is seen in 2011 in front of his rural Ohio house. Mulletreceived a 15 year prison sentence.

Photo by Amy Sancetta | AP

By AMANDA LEE MYERSASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — A Texas statepolice crime lab scientistwhose shoddy work mayhave tainted thousands ofdrug cases had been pro-moted despite a history ofproblems doing accurateand timely work, accordinga review by the Texas Fo-rensic Science Commis-sion.

A commission reportadopted Friday found thatHouston crime lab workerJonathan Salvador strug-gled with chemistry, wastold to correct his work inabout a third of his casesand, according to his super-visors, routinely scrambledto keep up with monthlywork expectations.

Salvador was suspendedin 2012 after his work atthe Department of PublicSafety lab came into ques-tion. More than a dozenconvictions have alreadybeen overturned by theTexas Court of CriminalAppeals as officials grapplewith the potential scope ofthe impact of Salvador’swork, which involved near-ly 5,000 cases in 36 coun-ties.

“The fact that this guywent on as long as he didwithout ever being figuredout is appalling,” said JeffBlackburn, an attorney

with the Innocence Projectof Texas. “Once DPS fig-ured it out, they did theright thing, but they shouldhave gotten wise to himlong before.”

Salvador’s work cameunder scrutiny after a co-worker told a supervisor hesuspected Salvador usedtest results from one drugcase to support a conclu-sion in a separate one. In-vestigators then retested100 other cases Salvadorworked on and found moreerrors.

In April 2012, DPS sentan email to prosecutorstelling them of the agency’sreview and attaching a listof affected cases from theirjurisdictions. The email al-so said prosecutors couldsubmit any evidence fromthese cases for retesting byanother DPS lab worker.

The forensics commis-sion report found Salva-dor’s supervisors had notedthat about one out everythree reports he turned inneeded some sort of correc-tion, from simple adminis-trative fixes to more seri-ous ones, including techni-cal problems with hisfindings. The report notesother lab workers had acorrection rate of less than10 percent.

Evaluations noted thatSalvador struggled with an“overall understanding of

chemistry, especially in dif-ficult cases,” the reportsaid. Supervisors describedSalvador’s struggles as “ve-ry systemic” and his workas “right on the edge” ofacceptability.

The report also foundSalvador was promotedand given a pay raise be-cause he was friendly anda hard worker who tried toimprove. Supervisors didn’tconsider the issues abouthis work “catastrophic,”the report said, but in atleast one case, an error in-cluded a misplaced decimalpoint that could have led toa felony charge instead of amisdemeanor possessioncharge.

Salvador’s poor work hascreated problems for prose-cutors who have won con-victions in his cases. Theappeals court has openedthe door for any Salvadorcase in which the evidencehas been destroyed or wasleft in his sole custody topotentially have their con-victions overturned.

Earlier this year, theTexas District and CountyAttorneys Association toldits members that all of thecases Salvador handled“may all be jeopardized.”The commission stoppedshort of that threshold,however, noting that inmany cases, evidence stillexists to be retested.

Lab worker hadpoor work history

By JIM VERTUNOASSOCIATED PRESS

MCALLEN — A formerSouth Texas sheriff ’s dep-uty who is the latest lawenforcement officer in Hi-dalgo County to be ac-cused of being on an al-leged drug trafficker’s pay-roll pleaded not guiltyFriday to a federal drugconspiracy charge.

The growing federal in-dictment to which formerHidalgo County sheriff ’sdeputies Jorge Garza andJames Phil Flores wereadded this week now in-cludes nine former offi-cers, including the sons ofthe Hidalgo County sheriffand Hidalgo police chief.

Garza waived the read-ing of the indictment Fri-day and U.S. MagistrateJudge Dorina Ramos sethis bond at $100,000. Hisattorney has declined tocomment. A judge set thesame bond for Flores lastweek. The charge carriesa sentence of between 10years and life in prison.

At the center is Fernan-do Guerra Sr., who was ar-

rested in February. Prose-cutors allege he would ar-range to buy drugs inSouth Texas and then usecorrupt law enforcementofficers to intercept the de-liveries. Prosecutors saywhat appeared to be legiti-mate busts were actuallydrug robberies with cor-rupt cops turning theproduct over to Guerra forresale.

The veneer of legitima-cy was critical, becausedrug traffickers routinelymete out severe punish-ments for stolen loads. Inat least some instances,Guerra went so far as tomake sure the person hewas buying from wit-nessed the phony policebust to tamp down anysuspicion, according tocourt records.

An informant told au-thorities that Garza andFlores performed this ruseabout 20 times and madeabout $10,000, court re-cords say. Each load wastypically more than 500pounds of marijuana.

Additionally, authoritiessay Guerra paid Garza to

guard stash houses wheredrugs were stored.

The pieces started fall-ing in December, whenfour former officers werecharged. Three of themwere members of the“Panama Unit,” a jointtask force between the Hi-dalgo County Sheriff ’s Of-fice and Mission PoliceDepartment targeting thestreet-level drug trade inthat city.

The Mission officers,Jonathan Treviño andAlexis Rigoberto Espino-za, are sons of HidalgoCounty Sheriff Lupe Tre-viño and Hidalgo PoliceChief Rodolfo “Rudy” Es-pinoza.

Federal prosecutors saythe U.S. Immigration andCustoms Enforcement de-partment that conducts in-ternal reviews received atip in August about Espi-noza and another taskforce member stealingdrugs. Federal investiga-tors set up a sting.

Those first four officerscharged allegedly escorteddrug loads for money inthe sting last fall.

Charges snare deputyBy CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN

ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAREDO04/06— El equipo de

softball de TAMIU recibe aSt. Mary’s University, a las12 p.m. en Jorge HaynesField.

04/06— El equipo debéisbol de TAMIU recibe aUniversity of Arkansas FortSmith, a la 1 p.m. en el Es-tadio Uni-Trade.

04/06— Planetario La-mar Bruni Vergara de TAMIUpresenta: “The Little StarThat Could” a las 3 p.m.; y,“Ancient Skies, AncientMysteries” a las 4 p.m.; y,“Lamps of Atlantis” a las 5p.m. Costos: 4 dólares y 5dólares.

04/07— Como parte delSteinway Series de TAMIU,Di Wu presentará una selec-ción de piezas clásicas parapiano, a partir de las 3 p.m.Concierto gratuito.

04/07— Concierto Bailede Primavera de LaredoCommunity College a las 3p.m. en el teatro MartinezFine Arts Center del CampusFort McIntosh. Costo: 10 dó-lares, adultos, y 5 dólarespara adultos mayores.

04/11— La Celebraciónde Vida es un servicio de re-cuerdo para estudiantes, exalumnos, catedráticos y per-sonal fallecido de TAMIU, alas 6:30 p.m. en el Salón deRecitales del Center for theFine and Performing Arts deTAMIU. Reserve su espacioal (956) 326-4483 o enrsvpevents@tamiu.edu.

04/12— El Juan Francis-co Farias Military MuseumArtifact Collection, es de 9a.m. a 3 p.m. en las escue-las Cigarroa High School,2600 Zacatecas St.; MartinHigh School, 2002 San Ber-nardo Ave.; y, Nixon HighSchool, 2000 Plum Street.Se aceptará: ropa, medallasy condecoraciones, herra-mientas, muebles, artículospersonales, armas, vehículos,miscelánea. Los artículos se-rán donados o prestados almuseo por un periodo míni-mo de un año.

04/12— El Webb CountyHeritage Foundation invita ala exposición Fotográfica“Casas del Ayer” de IsidroAntonio González Molina, dela Sociedad Histórica deNuevo Laredo, a las 6 p.m.en el Villa Antigua BorderHeritage Museum, 810 Zara-goza St. La exhibición conti-nuará hasta finales de junio.

NUEVO LAREDO, MX04/06— Estación Pala-

bra Gabriel García Márquezpresenta “Bazar de Arte”(Festejo del Día Internacionaldel libro infantil y juvenil), alas 12 p.m.; Festival Infantil“Los niños y los libros” a las2 p.m.; Lecturas antes deabordar, “Cuentos para niñosperversos” a las 3 p.m.; Ta-ller de creación literaria conJacobo Mina, a las 3 p.m.Todos los eventos son gratui-tos.

04/09— Colectivo Mo-viendo Conciencia presentala exposición artística “Esen-cia de nostalgia” de 6 p.m.a 9 p.m. en el lobby del tea-tro del IMSS, Belden y Rey-nosa. Expositores: MiguelAngel Cedano, Diana Ordaz,Miguel Fernández, Diana Lo-redo, Norma Johnson, Ro-berto Teniente, Danny Sum-mers, Mark García; LisandroBaltazar, Osvaldo Cruz, PedroVelazco y Tony Barraza. En-trada gratuita.

04/09— Proyecto Teatropresenta “Esencia de nostal-gia” de Miguel Angel Ceda-no, a las 7 p.m. en el Teatrodel IMSS, Belden y Reynosa.Costo: 20 pesos.

04/12— “Proyecto Fri-da”, muestra fotográfica dePepe García, con Clauzen Vi-llarreal como artista invitada.A las 5 p.m. en la GaleríaRegional de Artes Visualesdel Centro Cultural NuevoLaredo. Entrada gratuita.

— Reportes por Tiempo de Zapata

Agendaen Breve

Un hombre arrestado el 16 demarzo en Zapata por contrabande-ar a dos nacionales mexicanos, fueacusado en la corte federal de La-redo esta semana, de acuerdo a ar-chivos de la corte.

El martes, un gran jurado fede-ral acusó a José Eligio Casarru-bias Ramírez por cargos de conspi-ración para transportar y dos car-gos de transportación de personasquienes entraron al país sin docu-mentos legales.

Cada cargo conlleva una penamáxima de 10 años en prisión y/omulta de 2.500 dólares.CasarrubiasRamírez fue programado para lalectura de cargos el 11 de abril alas 11 a.m. en la Corte 2C ante elJuez Magistrado de EU J. ScottHacker. Casarrubias continuaba encustodia federal con una fianza fi-jada en 75.000 dólares, hasta elviernes por la tarde.

Su arresto fue resultado de unalto vial ordenado por oficiales dela Oficina del Alguacil del Conda-do de Zapata, alrededor de la 1 a.m.del 16 de marzo, cerca de Texas 16.

Oficiales sostuvieron que Casarru-bias Ramírez iba a exceso de velo-cidad. Oficiales solicitaron el apo-yo de agentes de la Patrulla Fron-teriza de EU.

Una querella criminal sostieneque autoridades identificaron a Ca-sarrubias Ramírez, un residentelegal permanente, como el conduc-tor. Los dos pasajeros dijeron queeran de México. Casarrubias Ra-mírez fue ordenado comparecerpor posesión de una bebida alcohó-lica en un vehículo. Agentes arres-taron a Casarrubias Ramírez y alos dos pasajeros, indica la quere-

lla.Casarrubias Ramírez pidió ha-

blar con un abogado. Un nacionalmexicano, quien fuera retenido co-mo testigo material, dijo que cruzóel Río Grande cerca de Laredo.

Él sostuvo que un hombre noidentificado le dijo que esperara aCasarrubias Ramírez en un bar.Documentos de la corte alegan quecada nacional mexicano pagaría1.500 dólares a Casarrubias Ramí-rez para ser llevado hasta Houston.

(Localice a César G. Rodriguezen el 728-2568 o en cesar@lmtonli-ne.com)

CORTE

Acusación formalPOR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Zfrontera PÁGINA 7ASÀBADO 6 DE ABRIL DE 2013

La selección de jurado ha sidoprogramada tentativamente paraun hombre arrestado el 26 de febre-ro y que está acusado de contra-bandear a cuatro personas quieneshabían entrado al país sin docu-mentos legales, de acuerdo a docu-mentos de la corte.

Noé Margarito Zúñiga, de Edin-burg, declinó a su presencia enuna lectura de cargos el 27 de mar-zo pero presentó una declaraciónde no culpable. Un gran jurado fe-deral regresó una acusación el 19de marzo acusando a Zúñiga conconspiración para transportar ypor transportar a cuatro personasquienes habían entrado al país sindocumentos legales.

Cada cargo puede recibir castigopor no más de 10 años en prisióny/o multa de 250.000 dólares. Zúñi-ga, un ciudadano de EU, continua-ba libre bajo fianza de 75.000 dóla-res.

Oficiales federales dijeron que elcaso se resolvió el 26 de febrerocuando agentes de la PatrullaFronteriza de EU, trabajando en unpunto de revisión táctico en Zapa-ta, inspeccionaron un ChevroletImpala, color blanco. Zúñiga sostu-vo desconocer quienes eran lascuatro personas que iban con él, deacuerdo a documentos de la corte.

“Durante una segunda inspec-ción, Zúñiga admitió librementeque él estaba contrabandeando acuatro pasajeros a Laredo”, indicauna querella criminal presentadael 1 de marzo.

Zúñiga declaró que conoció a unhombre identificado como Mr. Mu-ñoz quien le ofreció “dinero fácil”para contrabandear a cuatro perso-nas a Laredo. A Zúñiga le hubieranpagado alrededor de 800 dólares,indica la querella.

Un hombre retenido como testi-go material dijo que pagó 3.000 dó-lares para ser llevado a Houston.Un segundo testigo dijo que pagó6.500 dólares para serllevado porcontrabando hasta Laredo. Zúñigapasó por el hombre a una casa deseguridad, declararon ambos hom-bres en una querella.

(Localice a César G. Rodriguezen el 728-2568 o en cesar@lmtonli-ne.com)

JUICIO

Hombredeclaraser no

culpablePOR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

AUSTIN — El Goberna-dor de Tamaulipas, EgidioTorre Cantú, sostuvo reu-niones de trabajo con legis-ladores y funcionarios deTexas, para impulsar pro-yectos de desarrollo comer-cial, educación y cultura.

Torre fue recibido en elCapitolio.

“Debemos de conocer losesfuerzos que estamos rea-lizando en ambos lados dela frontera para construiruna agenda en común y

consolidar los temas quenos interesan”, expresó To-rre. “Me duele mucho quehablen mal de Tamaulipas,porque no lo conocen. En eltema de seguridad no soyomiso, pero no estoy deacuerdo en que sea el únicotema”.

Torre expuso el proble-ma de la migración fronte-riza y los retos que repre-senta para solucionarla.

En su gira por Texas, To-rre se reunió también conJoe Strauss, Presidente dela Cámara de Representan-

tes de Texas con el queabordó temas concretos so-bre el desarrollo económicoy social de Tamaulipas.Más tarde se trasladó a laoficina del Vice Goberna-dor de Texas, David Dew-hurts, y un grupo de sena-dores a los que expuso losavances que tiene Tamauli-pas en economía y comer-cio internacional.

Asimismo acudió a laUniversidad de Texas enAustin, para iniciar proyec-tos inmediatos para el in-tercambio académico.

INTERNACIONAL

Impulsa Tamaulipas proyectos con TexasESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

El Gobernador de Tamaulipas, Egidio Torre Cantu, quinto de iz-quierda a derecha, es visto junto a Legisladores de Texas, reunidosen el Capitolio en Austin, el viernes.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

Proteger al medio ambiente yluchar por mantener bello a Lare-do nuevamente brinda un recono-cimiento a un joven local y suclub.

El primero de mayo, Oscar’sClean-Up Club, de Oscar Medina,de 11 años de edad, recibirá unpremio de parte del Texas Envi-ronmental Excellence Award, enel Centro de Convenciones de Aus-tin.

“Me siento motivado, pero creoque hay personas que han sidomuy cooperativas en este proyectoque deben ser reconocidas conmi-go”, dijo Medina. “Mis primos yamigos han estado a mi lado, ytambién personas adultas y el Go-bierno de Laredo que no me hadejado”.

Medina, su club y Lynn Nava,Director ejecutiva de Keep LaredoBeautiful, el regidor Oscar Vera,del Distrito VII, y Astrid Hinojosa,Consejera de Rehabilitación Profe-sional y Familiar, ayudaron elviernes por la mañana en la lim-pieza del Parque Father McNaboe,así como en la plantación de seisárboles de encino.

Fue en mayo del 2011 cuando

Medina creó su club, auspiciadopor Hinojosa, durante su gestióncomo especialista consejera parainvidentes.

Desde entonces, Oscar’s Clean-Up Club recorre diferentes par-ques de la ciudad, embelleciéndo-los.

Nava dijo que Medina pidiólimpiar el parque McNaboe, almismo tiempo se le tomaba videoy fotografías que se exhibirían an-tes de la entrega de los premios enAustin.

“Medina ha mostrado un granliderazgo y ha podio escalar pre-mios nacionales por su interesan-te labor frente a esta cruzada porel medio ambiente”, dijo Nava.“Es un hecho que lo apoyamosporque sabemos que su interés esbuscar sembrar la semilla de laresponsabilidad y de protegernuestro entorno”.

Agregó que aunque Keep Lare-do Beautiful ha logrado marcar li-derazgo en el medio ambiente, essin duda Medina quien ha roto ré-cord de reconocimientos.

“Estamos muy motivados porsu entusiasmo y en efecto hay quetrabajar intensamente para ir cre-ando mas conciencia”, dijo Nava.

Hinojosa dijo que Medina leplanteó en el 2011 su interés de

crear el club, continuó creando va-rios métodos para desarrollar susmetas, y el resto ha sido constantetrabajo.

“Fue tanto el entusiasmo que,pese a sus debilidades, no le hanimpedido enfatizar su interés porla limpieza”, dijo Hinojosa. “Cree-mos que el amor y la pasión quele asigna a cuidar el medio am-biente puede despertar a otros me-nores, adolescentes y adultos a tra-bajar por ésta causa”.

Por su parte, Vera estuvo cavan-do pozos para la siembra de los ár-boles, ya que dijo que Medina lesha dado impulso a trabajar por elmedio ambiente.

“Si miras aquí, Oscar ha sem-brado como unos 45 árboles, queahora serán parte de una herenciaque disfrutarán otras generacio-nes, mirando todo verde”, dijo Ve-ra. “Acompañaremos a Oscar por-que nos ha mostrado su gran lide-razgo y haremos que continúe contodo nuestro apoyo”.

Durante la limpieza en el Par-que McNaboe estuvieron partici-pando estudiantes de WashingtonMiddle School.

(Podrá localizar a Miguel Timos-henkov al (956) 728 2583 o al correoelectrónico mramirez@lmtonli-ne.com)

COMUNIDAD

CONSTANCIA

Oscar Medina, a la derecha, de Oscar’s Clean-Up Club, utiliza su equipo para recoger basura en el Parque Father McNaboede Laredo, el viernes por la mañana. Le auxilian Taryn Brown y Angela Prado del Washington Middle School.

Foto por Miguel Timoshenkov | The Zapata Times

Joven lucha por mantener ciudad bellaPOR MIGUEL TIMOSHENKOV

TIEMPO DE LAREDO

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2013

Coke in Mexico City’s sto-ried Aztec Stadium. Hisdaughter is engaged to afailed businessman and as-pires to open a restauranton her father’s dime. Theyoungest is a hipster whopreaches against capital-ism, even as dad pays hisprivate college tuition —until he is expelled forsleeping with a professor.

After surviving a heartattack and getting a secondchance at life, Noble de-cides to stage a raid on hisBeverly Hills-like home.

“Can someone please ex-plain why they are confis-cating all our stuff, as if wewere in Venezuela?” the ag-itated daughter, Barbie, de-mands to know in the Mex-ican equivalent of Valleyspeak.

“They discovered fraud,”German Noble tells her.

“Jesus Christ,” she an-swers in English.

People like the fictitiousNobles appear on any ritzycorner of the city, whereMexico’s carefully coiffed,wearing the highest fash-ions, can be seen steppingfrom the running boards oftheir enormous SUVs,their bodyguards lurkingoutside as they go for aworkout or pedicure. Theyhave been to the bestschools in the world andthe finest malls in Texas,but never to one of thecity’s ubiquitous, crowded

marketplaces or a street-food stand.

“I haven’t seen the arche-types of urban Mexico por-trayed on the big screen sowell in a long time,” saidOscar de los Reyes, an ex-pert on cinema and societyat the Technological Insti-tute of Monterrey.

It’s not surprising thatthe social contrast is play-ing big in the cinema. InMexico, 10 percent of thepeople held nearly 40 per-cent of the wealth in 2010,according to the EconomicCommission for LatinAmerica. The world’s rich-est man, Carlos Slim, holdsmore than 6 percent him-self. While Americans lookup to the rich, believingthey too could be amongthem one day, the dream ismostly unattainable inMexico, where upward mo-bility is smaller and slower.

Videos and tweets dis-playing the arrogance ofMexico’s privileged classperiodically go viral.

One video, recorded by apasser-by, shows two richgirls, dubbed “the Ladies ofPolanco” after one of Mex-ico City’s most exclusiveneighborhoods, shoving,slapping and insulting atraffic cop who pulled themover suspecting they weredrunk. In another clipdrawn from surveillancecameras a man in an af-fluent suburb beats up the

valet of his luxuriousapartment building for notproviding a jack to replacea flat tire on his Porsche.

Mexican President En-rique Peña Nieto’s daugh-ter reacted to people wholaughed at one of her fa-ther’s campaign gaffes bytweeting that they were “abunch of idiots who formpart of the proletariat andonly criticize those they en-vy,” causing a national up-roar. The tweet disap-peared and Peña Nietoapologized.

Alazraki said he was try-ing to capture the behaviorbehind Paulina Peña’stweet in his film, whosehashtag is #WelcomeToTh-eProle.

He acknowledges hecomes from the very socie-ty he is lampooning. His fa-ther, Carlos Alazraki, is aninfluential advertisingbusinessman behind sever-al presidential campaignsand publicity for Slim’srestaurants and phonecompany. When he wasyounger, Alazraki has saidin interviews, all he caredabout was having the pret-tiest girlfriend and going to

the hottest club. After at-tending film school at theUniversity of Southern Cal-ifornia, he now pities peo-ple who stay inside thebubble of Mexico’s rich.

“It’s very interesting tosee our characters trans-form,” said Luis GerardoMendez, who plays Javi.“You get to see on one sidehow this group of peoplespends so much money,and on the other end, theeveryday jobs people haveto do to survive. Peoplewho think there is no rac-ism here, there is. It iscalled classism.”

The script was inspiredby the 1949 film “The GreatMadcap” by surrealist LuisBunuel, in which a richman wasting his moneyand life is fooled intothinking he lost his for-tune. It leads his familymembers to take low-pay-ing jobs as seamstresses,shoe shiners and carpen-ters.

The three Noble offspr-ing end up working as abus driver, a waitress and abank teller.

“What is your biggestproblem?” eldest son Javi

Noble asks a fellow busdriver.

“There is this chick frommy town who says that herchild is mine and shewants me to send her mon-ey. But she can’t prove it.So, until I send her money,she will send her cousinswith sticks and ma-chetes...”

“For that, you need body-guards,” Javi tells him.

Barbie, meanwhile, endsup falling for her nanny’snephew, a youth she onceteased for being poor.

When he tells her that heused money her fatherloaned him to open a standselling pirated CDs, shescolds him: “Did you knowthat drug traffickers runthose informal CD shops ...Seriously, you are only fos-tering crime in this coun-try.”

He becomes enraged.“The criminals are your

little friends,” he says.“Don’t tell me you don’tknow about the two friendswho were at your most re-cent party. The politician’ssons. Haven’t you seen thevideos? Everyone did. Ifyou are really worried

about your country, don’tfeed them, don’t invitethem to your parties, don’tget on their yachts.”

Moviegoers said theyfind a lot of reality in thehumor. Arturo Lopez, whoworks in construction, saidhe has friends like the No-bles.

“Here, your social statusdepends completely onwhat you have,” he said atan exclusive movie theaterin high-end Polanco. “It’sreally ugly, but there aremany people like that.”

Maria Larios, a nurse,paid a third of the luxurytheater’s ticket price to seethe same film in the mid-dle-class neighborhood ofSanta Maria La Ribera.

“This is real,” Lariossaid. “There are peoplewho are very picky andstuck-up. When the rolesare reversed, it changesthem, brings them down toearth.”

MOVIE Continued from Page 1A

KITTERY, Maine — The first signof trouble for the USS Thresher was agarbled message about a “minor diffi-culty” after the nuclear-powered sub-marine descended to about 1,000 feeton what was supposed to be a routinetest dive off Cape Cod.

Minutes later, the crew of a rescueship made out the ominous words“exceeding test depth” and listenedas the sub disintegrated under thecrushing pressure of the sea. Justlike that, the Thresher was gone,along with 129 men.

Fifty years ago, the deadliest sub-marine disaster in U.S. history deliv-ered a blow to national pride duringthe Cold War and became the impe-tus for safety improvements. To thisday, some designers and maintenancepersonnel listen to an audio record-ing of a submarine disintegrating tounderscore the importance of safety.

“We can never, ever let that happenagain,” said Vice Adm. Kevin McCoy,an engineer and former submarinerwho now serves as commander of theNaval Sea Systems Command inWashington, D.C.

This weekend, hundreds who lostloved ones when the Thresher sankwill gather at memorial events inPortsmouth, N.H., and Kittery, Maine.

Built at Portsmouth Naval Ship-yard in Kittery, and based in Groton,Conn., the first-in-class Thresher wasthe world’s most advanced fast attacksubmarine when it was commis-sioned in 1961.

Featuring a cigar-shaped hull andnuclear propulsion, the 278-foot-longsubmarine could travel underwaterfor unlimited distances. It could divedeeper than earlier submarines, en-during pressure at unforgivingdepths.

On April 10, 1963, the submarinealready had undergone initial seatrials and was back in the oceanabout 220 miles off Cape Cod, Mass.,

for deep-dive testing. Some submari-ners are baffled by the initial mess-age about a minor difficulty becauseit’s believed a brazed joint on an inte-rior pipe had burst — a problem any-thing but minor.

The Navy believes sea watersprayed onto a panel, shorting it outand causing an emergency shutdownof the nuclear reactor.

The submarine alerted the USSSkylark, a rescue ship trailing it, thatit was attempting to surface by emp-tying its ballast tanks. But that sys-tem failed, and the sub descended be-low crush depth.

Understanding their dire situation,Navy crew members and civiliantechnicians would have scrambled toclose valves to try to stem the flood-ing, struggled with a ballast systemdisabled by ice, and worked to restorepropulsion by restarting the reactor.

Their deaths would have been in-stant because of the force of the vio-lent implosion. The sub’s remnantscame to a rest on the ocean floor at adepth of 8,500 feet.

There was nothing the divers onthe Skylark could do.

“It’s one of those times whenthere’s silence,” recalled Danny Mill-er, one of the Skylark divers, now 70and living in Farmington, Mo. “Youdon’t know what to say. You don’tknow how to feel. You just knowsomething tragic has happened.”

The Thresher wreckage covers amile of ocean floor, according to Uni-versity of Rhode Island oceanogra-pher Robert Ballard, who used his1985 discovery of RMS Titanic as aCold War cover that he had surveyedthe Thresher on the same mission.

“It was like someone put the sub-marine in a shredding machine,” Bal-lard said in a recent interview. “Itwas breathtaking. There were only acouple of parts that looked like a sub-marine.”

Word of the disaster spread.Paul O’Connor, now a union presi-

dent at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard,

remembers seeing the bulletin on TV.He was 6. Barbara Currier, whosehusband, Paul, was a civilian workeron the Thresher, was shopping withher daughters when she heard thenews on the radio in a store.

What followed was a blur of activ-ity for families. Navy officers in dresswhites showed up on doorsteps.Friends and neighbors brought food.

After the submarine was declaredsunk, President John F. Kennedy or-dered the nation’s flags lowered tohalf-staff.

“The men, they were heroes. Mostof them were doing what they wantedto do for their country to keep thecountry safe,” said Currier, 86, whonever remarried and still lives in thesame house in Exeter, N.H. werepushing things to the limit.”

For the families, the silver lining isthat subs are now safer. The Navy ac-celerated improvements and createda program called “SUBSAFE.”

People involved in the SUBSAFEprogram are required to watch a doc-umentary about the Thresher thatends with an actual underwater re-cording featuring the eerie sounds ofmetal creaking and bending as a U.S.Navy submarine breaks apart withthe loss of all hands.

Hundreds of family and friends ofthe Thresher’s crew, along with sail-ors who previously served on thesubmarine, will gather Saturday for amemorial service in Portsmouth,N.H. A day later, neighboring Kitterywill dedicate a flagpole in remem-brance of the number of lives lost.

Because of their tender ages, andthe lack of a body or proper gravesite, children like Vivian Lindstrom,who lost her father, Samuel Dabruzzi,were unable to grieve properly.

Thanks to the reunions, they atleast know they’re not alone, saidLindstrom, of Glenwood City, Wis.

“We’ve experienced the samethings, felt the same things,” shesaid. “We feel like family. We call our-selves the Thresher family.”

The nuclear-powered submarine USS Thresher is launched at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, on July 9, 1960. Fifty yearsago 129 men lost their lives when the sub sank during deep-dive testing off Cape Cod.

Photo by the U.S. Navy/file | AP

Sunk sub leads to safety changesBy DAVID SHARP

ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES — InSouthern California,where urban sprawlmeets pristine wilder-ness, one can stand on abackwoods mountaintrail and be so close tothe city as to still hearthe rumble of traffic andmake out a downtownskyline.

Which is something,wilderness experts say,that can lead to a falsesense of security.

Earlier this week, twoteens hiking in a sectionof the rugged ClevelandNational Forest that isonly a couple miles froma shopping mall mayhave fallen victim to justthat when they wanderedoff a trail and were lostfor days.

Nicolas Cendoya andKyndall Jack hadplanned a short EasterSunday hike on a moder-ately easy trail in a sec-tion of the Cleveland Na-tional Forest that servesas the backyard for thesuburban Orange Countyneighborhood where theylive. When they wanderedoff the marked trail thatafternoon and couldn’tfind their way back, how-ever, it took authoritiesdays to find them.

Badly dehydrated andnearly incoherent whenrescuers located them,both were lucky to havesurvived. They are reco-vering in Southern Cali-fornia hospitals.

That’s a scenario thatshould almost never hap-pen, but it happens allthe time in Southern Cal-ifornia, said Mike Leum,who headed a team thathiked up a near verticalcanyon wall on Thursdayto rescue Jack from asmall rock outcroppingwhere the 18-year-old hadtaken refuge. Cendoya, 19,was found nearby thenight before.

There were a record560 similar rescue effortscarried out in Los An-geles County alone lastyear, said Leum, reserve

chief of search and rescuefor the Sheriff ’s Depart-ment.

“A lot of these placesyou can see downtownLos Angeles from,” Leumsaid, noting that may givesome hikers an extra feel-ing of security when theyhead out for what theybelieve will be just ashort day hike.

But even being min-utes from a city of 3.8 mil-lion, or in the case ofJack and Cendoya a shortdrive from a suburbanshopping mall, meansnothing if you can’t getback down the mountainyou’ve just climbed up.

“And you have to spendthe night there in freez-ing temperatures andyou’re not prepared for it,then you’re probably notgoing to survive,” he said.

In Jack and Cendoya’scase, the weather wasmild every night theywere trapped in the for-est’s Falls Canyon, butthey ran out of water bythe end of their first day.

Although they man-aged to place a 911 callseeking help, their cell-phone battery died beforeauthorities could pin-point their location. Andalthough the sprawlingexpanse of Southern Cali-fornia suburbia is clearlyvisible from the forest’sridgelines, in the canyonwhere they were trappedthe brush was so thickthey couldn’t find a roadthat was just 500 feetaway.

Although four nationalforests with more than2,000 miles of hikingtrails dot Southern Cali-fornia, experts remindthat, while the area maybe crisscrossed by free-ways and filled with high-rise buildings, that’s wil-derness people are head-ing into and they need tobe as prepared for it asthey would be enteringan area that’s a hundredmiles from a city.

There’s no excuse, theysay, for not bringing suffi-cient water, decent hikingshoes, proper clothes andother provisions.

Hikers showdangers ofrural areas

By JOHN ROGERSASSOCIATED PRESS

SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2013 THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

Victoria R. Garza, 84,passed away Saturday,March 30, 2013 at herresidence in Zapata, Tex-as.

Ms. Garza is precededin death by her husband,Francisco F. Garza, Jr.

Ms. Garza is survivedby her daughters, Victo-ria (Marcos) Discua andMyra (Juan) Bonilla;grandchildren, JohnnyJr. (Gabriela) Scarberry,Francisco Manuel Riosand Charles (Myra) Scar-berry; and by numerousgreat-grandchildren andfriends.

A funeral Mass willbe held Thursday, April4, 2013 at 10 a.m. at OurLady of Lourdes Catho-lic Church following agraveside service at Za-pata County Cemetery.

Funeral arrangements

are under the directionof Rose Garden FuneralHome, Daniel A. Gonza-lez, funeral director, 2102N. U.S. 83 Zapata, TX.

VICTORIA R. GARZA

Laura P. Ramos, 37,passed away Thursday,April 4, 2013 at Doctor’sHospital in Laredo, Tex-as.

Mrs. Ramos is preced-ed in death by her son,Carlitos Ramos; and herfather, David Santos.

Mrs. Ramos is sur-vived by her husband,Adolio Ramos; sons, Ado-lio Ramos Jr. and JoseAngel Ramos; daughter,Victoriana Ramos; moth-er, Marina M. Gonzalez;brothers, Jose Adolfo (Pa-tricia) Santos and DavidJr. (Araceli) Santos; sis-ters, Claudia (Eusebio)Silva and Marina S. Ra-mirez; and by numerousnephews, nieces and oth-er family members.

Visitation hours willbe Friday, April 5, 2013from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m.with a rosary at 7 p.m. atRose Garden FuneralHome.

The funeral processionwill depart Saturday,April 6, 2013 at 8:30 a.m.for a 9 a.m. funeral Mass

at Our Lady of LourdesCatholic Church.

Committal serviceswill follow at ZapataCounty Cemetery.

Funeral arrange-ments are under the di-rection of Rose GardenFuneral Home, Daniel A.Gonzalez, funeral direc-tor, 2102 N. U.S. 83 Zapa-ta, TX.

LAURA P. RAMOS

Eloisa Coronado de Marti-nez, 103, passed awayWednesday, April 3, 2013 ather residence in Zapata, Tex-as.

Ms. Martinez is precededin death by her husband, Be-nito Martinez; sons, Juan F.Martinez, Benito MartinezJr., Eloy R. Martinez, MauroM. Martinez and Angel Mar-tinez; grandson, Benito Mar-tinez; great-grandson, AbelVillarreal; daughters-in-law,Helga Martinez, BarbaraHyde, Lupita Benavides, Lin-da Martinez and Amanda O.Espinoza; parents, Clementeand Guadalupe Coronado;four sisters; and a one broth-er.

Ms. Martinez is survivedby her sons, Jose Luis Marti-nez, Carlos S. (Maria Elena)Martinez and Gilberto(Joyce) Martinez; daughter,Mercedes (Alfredo) Gonzalez;25 grandchildren; 54 great-grandchildren; 55 great-

great-grandchildren; daugh-ter-in-law, Josefa M. Marti-nez of San Diego, Texas; andby numerous nephews, niec-es and friends.

Ms. Martinez was a mem-ber of Sacred Heart Society;she loved cooking for all herfamily and enjoyed havingeveryone over.

Special thanks to her care-givers, Claudia Gallegos, Ma-ria C. Ladesma, Dora Busta-mante, Lupita Villanueva

and Elisa Carmona and alsoto Amistad Home Health andTexas Visiting Nurses.

Visitation hours wereThursday, April 4, 2013 from6 p.m. until 9 p.m. with a ros-ary at 7 p.m. at Rose GardenFuneral Home.

The funeral procession de-parted Friday, April 5, 2013 at9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeralMass at Our Lady of LourdesCatholic Church.

Committal services fol-lowed at Zapata County Cem-etery.

Funeral arrangementswere under the direction ofRose Garden Funeral Home,Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeraldirector, 2102 N. U.S. 83 Zapa-ta, TX.

ELOISA CORONADO DE MARTINEZ

Juan J. Gonzalez, 72, passedaway April 4, 2013 at LaredoMedical Center in Zapata, Tex-as.

Mr. Gonzalez was a 1961graduate of Zapata HighSchool. He loved baseball, box-ing and music.

Mr. Gonzalez is preceded indeath by his parents, Mel-quiades and Maria AntoniaGonzalez; brother, Melquiades(Francisca) Gonzalez; sisters,Cora (Mario) de los Santos, Zu-lema (Felix) Carreon and MariaCristina Torres; and brother-in-law, Manuel L. Santiago.

Mr. Gonzalez is survived byhis wife, Estela G. Gonzalez;son, Juan J. Jr. ( Martina) Gon-zalez; daughters, Antonia (Ste-ven) Todd and Alma Gonzalez;grandchild, Juan J. GonzalezIII; brothers, Heberto (Maria)Gonzalez and Jorge (Elda) Gon-zalez; and sister, Ofilia Santia-go; and by numerous otherfamily members.

Visitation will be held April7, 2013 from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m.with a rosary at 7 p.m. at RoseGarden Funeral Home.

The funeral procession willdepart April 8, 2013 at 9:30 a.m.for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass atNuestra Senora del RefugioMission in San Ygnacio, Texas.

Committal services will fol-low at the Panteon del Pueblo.

Funeral arrangements areunder the direction of RoseGarden Funeral Home, DanielA. Gonzalez, funeral director,2102 N. U.S. 83 Zapata, TX.

JUAN J. GONZALEZ

Zapata County sheriff ’s deputies re-sponded to burglary of a residence callon March 29 in the 500 block of HidalgoBoulevard in San Ygnacio.

A 59-year-old man said someone hadbroken into his home. Sgt. Mario Eli-zondo said the suspect or suspects stolea flat-screen Magnavox television set, alarge blue car jack and a 20-gauge Re-mington shotgun.

The sheriff ’s office recorded at leasttwo more incidents in San Ygnacio in atwo-week span. On March 24, a 30-year-old woman reported in the 200 block of

Martinez that someone had stolen achild’s pink wheelchair.

On March 27, a 28-year-old woman re-ported in the 200 block of ElizabethLane that someone stole an iPad miniand its carrying case. Deputies said thestolen items had an estimated streetvalue of $417.

Deputies are investigating the inci-dents. People with information aboutthe cases are asked to call the sheriff ’soffice at 765-9960.

(César G. Rodriguez may be reachedat 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)

SHOTGUN Continued from Page 1A

tive steps are taken,” Democratic stateRep. Sylvester Turner of Houston said.“I will vote proudly yes on this bill, be-cause there are major accomplishmentsin this bill.”

Critics say the bill doesn’t spendenough to cover the needs of a rapidlygrowing Texas population, but a majorspending battle never erupted on theHouse floor.

The House plan boosts state spendingacross the board by 7 percent. State em-ployees would see small raises and fi-nancially shaky state parks would bespared from closure, symbolic of theLegislature’s spending power made pos-sible by a roaring Texas economy.

Voting out the House budget is a sig-nificant milestone in a 140-day sessionthat has enjoyed relatively feel-good bi-partisanship — at least compared to theacrimony in 2011, when the Republican-controlled Legislature cut the budget tothe bone.

“We’ve been able to restore signifi-cant portions of last session’s cuts,”said Republican state Rep. Jim Pitts,the House’s chief budget writer. “We’venot done so recklessly, and we have notreplaced every dollar removed from lastsession.”

But dollars didn’t set off the most in-tense clashes.

Nearly 270 amendments were filed fordebate, and none flared emotions morethan add-ons related to Medicaid andschool vouchers. As the floor sessionapproached its 10th hour, conservativesscrambled to make a fresh stand onMedicaid — after the Republican-con-trolled House initially adopted an out-line of how the state might expandhealth care to the working poor.

Gov. Rick Perry has vowed not to ex-pand Medicaid under the federal Affor-dable Care Act. Approval of an amend-ment to merely open the door to Med-icaid expansion negotiations drewinstant criticism from conservative ac-tivists outside the Capitol, and Repub-licans later pulled the vote back.

But one defeat that will stick with so-cial conservatives was passage of an an-ti-school voucher amendment. The mea-sure passed the House 103-43 and dealta potential knockout punch to a prior-ity item of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst andother Senate leaders.

Many House members are uneasyabout vouchers, arguing that givingparents state funds to let them pulltheir children out of underperformingpublic schools and enroll them in pri-vate campuses siphons money fromcash-strapped school districts.

Republican state Rep. Debbie Riddleof Tomball blasted the Democrat be-hind the proposal, Rep. Abel Herrero ofRobstown, for denying parents thechoice she said his own family could af-ford.

“You have the wealth to make thatchoice, yet you want to keep poor fam-ilies from making it,” Riddle said.

Backroom deals doused other poten-tial fireworks. A bipartisan pact led tothe withdrawal of amendments relatedto women’s health and abortion, avert-

ing the rehash of another intense politi-cal feud in 2011 when the Legislaturecut state funding to Planned Parent-hood.

Rep. Bryan Hughes, among the lead-ing tea party members in the House,said both sides backed down sincefunding for women’s health would in-crease and taxpayer dollars are alreadyoff-limits to health providers linked toabortion services.

“We were able to get that done with-out having some divisive debates on thefloor,” Hughes said.

Combined with federal dollars, the to-tal price tag of the bill is $193.8 billion.The budget plan doesn’t restore about$15 billion lawmakers slashed in 2011 —which included about $5.4 billion cutfrom public schools. The House budgetrestores about $2.5 billion to school dis-tricts, $1 billion more than the budgetpassed by the Senate last month.

Sneaking more money into schoolsemerged early Thursday as one of theDemocrats’ major concerns.

“It’s a huge chunk of money to re-store what was cut,” Democratic state.Rep. Donna Howard said of the schoolspending. “Not what we wanted to be,obviously, but it did restore.”

Even though nearly every state agen-cy is in line for additional funding un-der the House budget, there are someexceptions. Neither of Perry’s two sig-nature economic development pro-grams, the Emerging Technology Fundand the deal-closing Texas EnterpriseFund, would receive new taxpayer dol-lars for private businesses.

Replenishing the scandal-wrackedCancer Prevention and Research Insti-tute of Texas is also on hold untilsweeping reforms pass both chambers.The $3 billion cancer-fighting agency,known as CPRIT, is under criminal in-vestigation and a spending freeze fol-lowing the revelation of grants that by-passed the review process.

About $594 million is on the table forCPRIT if reforms are passed. The mostsignificant reform bill cleared the Sen-ate this week.

BUDGET Continued from Page 1A

“We’ve been able torestore significantportions of lastsession’s cuts. We’venot done so recklessly,and we have notreplaced every dollarremoved from lastsession.”STATE REP. JIM PITTS

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2013

Sports&OutdoorsSATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2013 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

Zapata is remaining activeduring the final day of the Dis-trict 31-3A tennis tournament,held in Harlingen at the HEBTennis Center.

“We did not have a tourna-ment (before district), so wehave focused on conditioning,

stroke consistency and serve re-liability,” Zapata coach RobertAlvarez said. “The seed anddraw meeting for the districttournament was held Thursdayin Lyford and, I must say, I waspleased with the outcome.

“Our players are where theyneed to be. Now it is a matter ofplaying well and comingthrough. I really think we have

a good chance at both the boys’and girls’ district titles.”

In boys’ singles, Chris Davilais seeded No. 2, while ManuelBenavides is seeded No. 3.Kingsville’s Juan Rios is the topseeded.

“I am hoping Manuel orChris can upset Rios,” Alvarezsaid. “He is tough, but Chrishas played him close — only

losing 6-4, 7-5 at the FalfurriasTournament.”

In boys’ doubles, Trey Alva-rez and Alex Reyes are the topseeds, but they will face toughKingsville doubles teams incompetition.

“This is the Brahmas tough-est division,” Alvarez said.“Both teams are really good. Wedid beat both in Kingsville, but

it was close between Kings-ville’s No. 1 team and us. Wejust won it 4-6, 6-1, 16-14.”

In mixed doubles competi-tion, Gaby Alvarez and CarlosPoblano are No. 2, and Javi Fer-nandez and Samantha Garciaare seeded fourth.

HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS: ZAPATA HAWKS

Swinging through spring

The Zapata boys’ and girls’ golf teams placed third at the LBJ tournament on March 26 at the newest Laredo golf course, The Max Mandel.

Zapata tennis, golf keep momentum toward postseason tourneysBy CLARA SANDOVAL

THE ZAPATA TIMES

Zapata’s boys’ and girls’ tennis teams are remaining active during the final day of the District 31-3A tennis tournament, held in Harlingen at the HEB Tennis Center.

Courtesy photos

See ZAPATA PAGE 2B

What are your plans fortonight? They probably willplay out something like this:

Get off work at quittingtime.

Sit in the car for about15 minutes — give or take— on your go-home com-mute.

Eat something that youeither cooked at home orgrabbed on a go-home-com-mute detour.

Turn on the TV towatch your favorite team.

Well, there’s some badnews waiting for you if your

team of choice happens tobe the Houston Astros and,chances are, as a Texan thatyou bleed either Astros Or-ange or Texas Rangers Blue.The Astros won’t be any-where on your big-screenTV; the channel — ComcastSportsNet Houston — thatcarries the Astros, Houston

Rockets and Houston Dyna-mo is not carried by any ofour area’s cable or satelliteproviders. In fact, it’s onlycarried by 58 percent ofHouston-region televisons,according to a report byHouston’s local ABC affil-iate.

So 58 out of every 100Houstonians get to see theAstros. You can bet thatnumber drops significantlywhen applied to Texas tele-vision sets.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

CSN Houston has compiled an online petition with 91,665 requests and counting for the channel. Thenetwork has launched a webpage dedicated to the petition and information on how to get the channelat www.csnhouston.com/page/i-want-csn-houston.

Photo by Karen Warren | Houston Chronicle

You may be missing out

See GEIGERMAN PAGE 2B

“ADAM GEIGERMAN

ARLINGTON — Long-time Texas Rangers fanRobbie Parker grabbedformer star catcher IvanRodriguez in a long em-brace and didn’t seem towant to let go.

A few months ago,Parker never would haveimagined crying on the

shoulder of one of hisboyhood heroes. But a lothas happened since De-cember and here he was,throwing out the ceremo-nial first pitch in honorof his 6-year-old daughter,Emilie, who was amongthe 26 killed in the massschool shooting in New-town, Conn.

So when Parker tossedthe ball all the way to the

14-time All-Star’s glove —he’d spent the last fewweeks worrying aboutmaking a good throw —he held on tight when heand Rodriguez met half-way between the moundand home plate, his wifeand two daughters watch-ing nearby and thou-sands standing and

See RANGERS PAGE 2B

Robbie Parker, left, receives a hug from Texas Rangers representative Ivan Rodirguez (7) after throw-ing out the ceremonial first pitch before the game between the Los Angeles Angels and Rangers onFriday. Parker’s daughter was among the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting.

Photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP

Rangers help healingBy SCHUYLER DIXON

ASSOCIATED PRESS

To put it in more hardball terms,the Astros won three-fewer gamesin 2012 than the percent of Hous-ton’s population that can view them.The Astros are rebuilding after a 55-107 season, but are in a new-lookAmerican League West with newowners, new players and new oppo-nents.

The time is now for the Astros tostart over in the hearts of everyTexan. But it could quickly turnfrom a time to shine to out of sight,out of mind.

Houston’s first three games wereeasily viewable to everyone, withthe Opening Day 8-2 victory overthe Rangers on ESPN, and the sub-sequent shutout losses that bothaired on Fox Sports Southwest —the Rangers home and former homeof the Astros. We all got a taste, butmuch like a Sunday trip to Sam’sClub, that sample will be the extentof it unless someone ponies up thecash for the new sports channel.

“We want the fans to get to knowour players. We have a lot of youngplayers. They’re not householdnames. We’re hoping they’re goingto become household names,” As-tros general manager Jeff Luhnowtold ABC 13 in Houston. Astrosowner Jim Crane, the largest stake-holder in CSN Houston — a jointventure between Comcast, the Rock-ets, and the Astros — added: “It’sterrible for the fans. We really wantto get these games on TV and we’revery concerned about. We work onit every day. It’s not good. And wefeel it’ll get worked out relativelysoon.”

CSN Houston has aired the Rock-ets since the NBA season tipped inOctober and the Dynamo since theMLS season kicked off in March.Tonight’s Astros game against theOakland Athletics will be the sec-ond Astros-only broadcast on CSNHouston.

In a statement Wednesday, CSNHouston told ABC 13, “We continueto work day and night until this is

resolved, but fans should recognizethat they hold more power thanthey realize. We urge all fans to calltheir television providers and de-mand the network. At the least, fansshould demand a reduction in theirmonthly bills as many are payingthe same amount as last year, ex-cept now they are not getting towatch the Astros, Rockets and Dy-namo.”

The dispute between the networkand providers has raged on, withCSN Houston compiling an onlinepetition with 91,665 requests andcounting for the channel. The net-work has launched a webpage dedi-cated to the petition and informa-tion on how to get the channel atwww.csnhouston.com/page/i-want-csn-houston.

Unsurprisingly, as of right now,Comcast is the only major providerto carry the network.

According to the ABC 13 report, itasked DirecTV, Dish Network, andAT&T for their comments on thenegotiations, but only DirecTV re-sponded, saying in part, “We toowant to enable any Astros fans tohave CSN Houston. If the Astrosand Comcast will agree to make thechannel available only to those cus-tomers who want to pay for it ormake it more reasonable for all ofour customers, we can have anagreement completed very soon.”

The mind games will rage on, itseems, with only Astros fans andthe unviewable games serving asthe money war’s casualties.

Although the metaphor alludes tobasketball rather than baseball, I’mstill closing with it: the ball is in theviewer’s court. If the Astros areyour ballclub, make your voiceheard; if not, keep cheering forwhoever is.

GEIGERMAN Continued from Page 1B

The Astros won’t be anywhere on your big-screen TV; the channel — Comcast Sports-Net Houston — that carries the Astros, Houston Rockets and Houston Dynamo is notcarried by any of our area’s cable or satellite providers.

Photo by Karen Warren | Houston Chronicle

PAGE 2B Zscores SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2013

“Kingsville’s team is topseeded and they are reallygood,” Alvarez said. “Theyhave beaten us twice thisyear, but we have been get-ting closer. Lyford also has astrong team, seeded third,but Javi and Sam are capableof playing really well.”

Girls’ singles sees Christi-na Martinez seeded first andJackie Umphres is third,while Kingsville’s No.1 girl isseeded second.

“Christina and Jackie havereally improved from lastyear,” Alvarez said. “Christi-na has defeated the two seedthis year already. Jackie hasthe game to beat the twoseed, so an all-Zapata final ispossible. “

In girls’ doubles, AraceliVelasquez and Virginia Solisare seeded second.

“Araceli and Virgi were do-ing well in (junior varsity)singles, so I paired them upand they are a solid team,”

Alvarez said. “The No. 1 seedis the Kingsville team andthey are tough, but I hope weplay them in the finals.

“I believe we are ready togo down to Harlingen andplay our best tennis. I hopewe can take a record numberof players to the regionaltournament. They haveworked very hard and I amvery proud of them.”

GolfThe Zapata boys’ and girls’

golf teams placed third at theLBJ tournament on March26.

The tournament was heldat the newest Laredo golfcourse, The Max Mandel.

The girls scored a 394 teamscore, and the boys scored a366.

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

ZAPATA Continued from Page 1B

cheering at sold-out Rangers Ballpark in Arlingtonon Friday.

“It was really tough to try to keep my emotionsunder control there,” Parker said a few minutes lat-er, still fighting back tears. “It was pretty amazing.”

Rodriguez offered more than just a hug — two, ac-tually.

“He said, ‘I just want you to know how much Ilove you,’ and he just said your daughter is being agreat example to so many people,” Parker said. “Andhe just pointed to the crowd and said, ‘All these peo-ple are here for you and they’re here because ofher.”’

Not long after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elemen-tary School in Newtown, a photo circulated of Park-er and Emilie at Fenway Park in Boston last year,the girl holding a home run ball hit by the Rangers’David Murphy during batting practice. When Parkerwould watch his beloved Rangers on TV, Emiliewould ask about “the guy who hit that ball.”

Less than a year later, Murphy walked to themound holding the hand of one of Emilie’s sisters,gave Parker a hug and picked up one of the girls.

“They’ve got a game to play and they’ve got to fo-cus and so I didn’t want to be a distraction to any-body at all,” Parker said. “But he’s just a nice guy.That was really special that he was able to do thatfor us.”

It was the second time in the past two years fanshere have had tears in their eyes because of tragedy.In September 2011, 6-year-old Cooper Stone stood onthe pitcher’s mound and tossed the ceremonial firstpitch of the playoffs two months after his firefighterfather fell to his death while trying to catch a ballthrown to him by Josh Hamilton in the outfield.

Parker grew up a Rangers fan because he spent al-

most all of the first 10 years of his life in Arlington,not far from Rangers Ballpark. When his familymoved back to Utah, where he was born, he madehis mother promise they could go to one Rangersgame a year.

When his brother got married, Parker took Emilieto her first Rangers game when she was 3 monthsold. His job as a physician’s assistant has taken himto several cities, so they caught a game in Seattlewhen he was working there, and even went to seeone of the Rangers’ minor league teams in Albu-querque, N.M.

They went to last year’s game in Boston when afamily member was there to run the Boston Mara-thon.

When Rangers officials saw the photo from Bos-ton, they reached out to Parker about the season’sfirst ceremonial pitch before the home openeragainst the Angels. The Rangers say thousands ofdollars have been raised in North Texas for the Emi-lie Parker Fund, started by two of Parker’s highschool friends to support the 26 families affected bythe shootings. Parker’s brother, Jeremie, still lives inthe area.

Parker said it made sense to make the trip, andseemed glad he had. As a bonus, the family got tomeet Rangers CEO Nolan Ryan, another great fromParker’s years in Arlington, and former PresidentGeorge W. Bush and his wife, Laura.

“I guess there’s a little room where the VIPs get tohang out and we were just invited to kind of hangout for a little,” Parker said. “But that’s definitelynot where we belong. We belong in the $5 seats uptop.”

Not on a day that he and thousands of teary-eyedRangers fans won’t soon forget.

RANGERS Continued from Page 1B

As coach of the lowest-seededteam to reach the Final Four,Wichita State’s Gregg Marshallwill accept the role of underdogthis weekend in Atlanta. Justdon’t compare his Shockers to anyDisney character.

“Cinderella found one glass slip-per. We won four games,” Mar-shall said in a teleconference earli-er this week with Final Fourcoaches. “I don’t think she foundfour glass slippers. Cinderella usu-ally wins a game or two. . Whenyou get to this point, you’re goodenough to win it all.”

For teams from non-BCSleagues like Wichita State (30-8),the Missouri Valley Conference’sfirst Final Four entry since LarryBird’s Indiana State team reachedthe championship game in 1979,the NCAA Tournament is becom-ing a proving ground more than amine field in recent seasons.

Wichita State is the seventhteam from outside college basket-ball’s six power conferences toreach the Final Four in the pastdecade and the fourth to do so inthe past four seasons. Teams fromthe Horizon League (Butler, twice)and Conference USA (Memphis)

have played for three of collegebasketball’s last five nationalchampionships.

None of them have cut downthe nets. But their success, com-bined with the widespread parityof this year’s regular season andNCAA Tournament, suggests thata Final Four run by an under-the-radar underdog is becoming thenorm, not the exception, in today’scollege basketball.

In simpler terms: There shouldbe nothing shocking about the

Shockers rolling through the WestRegional as a No. 9 seed to set upSaturday’s showdown against top-seed Louisville (33-5) in Atlanta.After all, double-digit seeds fromVirginia Commonwealth (No. 11,2011) and George Mason (No. 11,2006) have had their Final Fourmoments in recent seasons, too.

Yet in an era of unprecedentedparity in men’s college basketball,punctuated by the annual exodusof one-and-done freshmen starsheading to the NBA Draft, we’re

still stunned when lower-seededteams notch a series of high-pro-file victories in March. That iswhy Marshall, in his sixth seasonat Wichita State following a dec-ade at Winthrop (1998-2007), hasseen his cell phone blow up thisweek with congratulatory textmessages from peers at other pro-grams run on shoestring budgetscompared to the deep-pocketedbluebloods — Louisville, Michi-gan, and Syracuse — who willjoin the Shockers at the Final

Four.But every successful Final Four

run by Wichita State, George Ma-son, VCU or Butler blurs the linebetween which programs truly of-fer the “bigger, better job” in col-lege basketball. Because it takesonly two elite athletes and a hand-ful of role players to put a basket-ball program on the map, unlikethe double-digit supply of three-and four-star signees needed forsustained success in college foot-ball, turnarounds can happenquickly in hoops. If those playersbond over multiple seasons, theycan shock the world as seniors.

The more upstarts that ad-vance, the greater the opportunityfor Cinderella to wind up at theFinal Four. Although Marshall dis-likes that label, Louisville coachRick Pitino said it fits the Shock-ers as well as the Providence teamhe took to the 1987 Final Four, Piti-no’s first as a college coach. If theShockers can continue to play sti-fling defense in Atlanta, theycould become the first team froma non-BCS league to win anNCAA title since UNLV in 1990.At the very least, they are the lat-est in a growing line of under-the-radar programs using the FinalFour to show the nation they arecapable college teams, not justCinderella stories.

Playing Cinderella has become more commonBy JIMMY BURCH

FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM

For teams from non-BCS leagues like Wichita State (30-8), the Missouri Valley Conference’s first Final Four entry since LarryBird’s Indiana State team reached the championship game in 1979, the NCAA Tournament is becoming a proving groundmore than a mine field in recent seasons.

Photo by David J. Phillip | AP

HOUSTON — Texas manag-er Ron Washington was cer-tainly impressed as hewatched Yu Darvish flirt withperfection.

He was even more blownaway when he saw a televisionreplay of the Japanese starcoming within an out of thesecond perfect game in Rang-ers history.

“It wasn’t as nasty lookingfrom the side as it was when Isaw it on TV,” Washingtonsaid Wednesday. “He was nas-ty. I mean, his ball was mov-ing all over the place. He hadhis cutter working. He had abreaking ball. He threw somesplits. He threw a couple ofchangeups. He threw very fewfour-seamers. To watch it afterthe fact, I said he was dom-inating.”

The celebrated right-handerstruck out a career-high 14 ina 7-0 win over the Houston As-tros on Tuesday night. He wasin complete control beforeMarwin Gonzalez grounded

the first pitch he saw up themiddle with two outs in theninth inning.

Darvish was unable to gethis glove down in time andthe ball skittered into centerfield well beyond a desperatedive by shortstop Elvis An-drus.

Washington immediatelywent to the mound and sig-naled for a reliever after thehit by Gonzalez. He’d decidedin the eighth inning that he’dpull him the moment therewas a hit or a walk.

Of course, Washingtondidn’t want to see Darvish losethe perfect game, but if it hadto end, he was relieved it end-ed on a hit instead of a walk.

Darvish’s 14 strikeouts werethree more than his previouscareer-high of 11, and the mostby a Rangers pitcher since No-lan Ryan had 14 against theAngels in July of 1991.

Tuesday’s victory gives Dar-vish five straight regular-sea-son victories dating to last sea-son. He took the loss in theRangers’ 5-1 loss to Baltimorein the AL wild-card game.

Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish ends the 8th inning against the Hous-ton Astros. Darvish pitched 8.2 perfect innings in the Rangers’ 7-0 win.

Photo by Pat Sullivan | AP

Yu comes withinsight of perfection

By KRISTIE RIEKENASSOCIATED PRESS

SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2013 THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

DAILY CRYPTOQUOTES — Here’s how to work it:

FAMILY CIRCUS

PEANUTS

GARFIELD

DILBERT

DENNIS THE MENACE

HINTS | BY HELOISEMagazines Become Works

of ArtDear Heloise: Recently, you

had a column on a useful do-nation to veterans hospitalsfor recently issued MAGA-ZINES. At the same time, yourequested that the magazinesbe from within the past twomonths (Heloise here: Veter-ans hospitals and other plac-es that use them for readingmaterial would prefer cur-rent issues).

My experience on the sub-ject is that there are untoldpiles of decor magazinesprobably in attics. People donot want to discard them,and church bazaars, thriftshops and such don’t wantthem.

My idea is to have themagazines put to use by veryyoung students in publicschools’ art classes usingcookie cutters and scissors tocreate their wonderful worksof art. Even children whocannot draw surely wouldtake delight in pasting differ-ent colors on paper as inmodern art.

In Japan, origami is cred-ited with teaching young chil-dren the basics of geometry—— squares, circles, rectan-

gles and so on. Arrangingthe colored pieces of papershould have the same result.Great fun! —— ElizabethHickey, Washington, D.C.

Recycle and reuse aregood habits to teach ouryoung students and for us toremember, and passing onmagazine pages is a good ex-ample of both. These “readyto throw out” books also canbe used as good filler for thenew way of scrapbooking,where odds and ends of pa-per make journals.

Yes, using pages frommagazines can help peoplelearn math, language andother skills. —— Heloise

PET PALDear Readers: Rita and

Don Cetrone of Billings,Mont., sent a photo of theirminiature schnauzer,Stormy, comfortably lying onthe floor with his tennisballs, just waiting for some-one to play with him. To seeStormy, go to www. Heloise-.com and click on “Pets.”—— Heloise

“HELOISE

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2013