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COWBOYS CENTRALJONES WANTS ROMO TO RETURN THIS SEASON, 1B

The newly built Advance Edu-cation Center is a cause for con-cern, with several building codeviolations found by newly hiredAEC Director David Brown thatwill have to be addressed prompt-ly at the next regular Commis-sioners Court meeting on Mon-day, among other county projectrequirements and ordinances.

“The building inspector foundnot structural but very serioussafety violations that presentdanger to the public in the mainstair well,” Brown said. “Thestairwell is only halfway complet-ed.”

The stairwell includes threedangerous drops that are verylikely to cause injury to the pub-lic, Brown said.

The roof is another cause forconcern, as the view from US 83

is a grassy hilltop; the roof of thebuilding is under the hilltop,Brown said.

“The building has no barrieror railing above the grass,”Brown said.

Brown was concerned andcould not sleep the day before thecounty Christmas parade andlighting of the county tree, hesaid, due to the fact that the pa-rade took place in front of theAEC and children attending the

event would most likely be climb-ing the hill with no barriers andcould likely fall two stories downto concrete.

“I just can’t imagine the build-ing was left in such a dangerouscondition with a complete drop,”Brown said.

“Barriers were put up for theparade,” he added.

The design of the roof camou-

ADVANCE EDUCATION CENTER

Brand new problemsCommissioners face serious situation at ed center

By LORRAINE L. RODRIGUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES

See COMMISSIONERS PAGE 10A

It’s a potentially explosive ideabeing circulated on petitions inHouston’s Latino supermarketsand lobbied for in Chicago’s His-panic neighborhoods, and now it’slanding on the front pages of theSpanish-language press.

With more than 30,000 dead inthe last four years from drug vio-lence in Mexico, some immigrantadvocates are starting to lobby theU.S. government to grant millionsof illegal immigrants from Mexi-co “Temporary Protected Status,”a kind of temporary reprievefrom deportation generally re-served for countries ravaged bynatural disasters or destabilizedby war.

“There is a big chance of get-ting kidnapped and killed overthere right now. It is extremely,extremely violent,” said VictorIbarra, president of the Houstonadvocacy organization AlianzaMexicana. “That is why we’reasking for temporary protection.”

Ibarra said volunteers had col-lected more than 1,000 signaturesin support of TPS since starting apetition drive in Houston on Nov.4. He said 15 immigrants rightsorganizations in Texas, includingseveral in Dallas, Austin and SanAntonio, were planning to partici-pate in the petition drive. Nation-ally, he said, he’s been talkingwith organizations in California,Arizona and Chicago about mak-ing a more unified push for TPS.

But the idea, which would re-quire the approval of HomelandSecurity Secretary Janet Napoli-tano, is highly controversial and,many say, unlikely to happen inthe foreseeable future. MatthewChandler, a DHS spokesman, saidDHS is not considering TPS for

IMMIGRATION

Newstatus

for someAdvocates lobby

for ‘protected status’ By SUSAN CARROLL

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

See STATUS PAGE 9A

Zapata County IndependentSchool District held a planningand decision-making committeemeeting to update all memberson construction projects andtechnology initiatives.

The committee meets monthly

to discuss district planning, bud-geting, curriculum, staffing pat-terns, and school organizations.

The first item on the agendawas an update on the ZapataMiddle School construction pro-ject by Superintendent NormaGarcia.

The district facilities commit-tee, along with other key mem-

bers of the construction process,organized a walk-through of thefinished product, Garcia said.

“We noticed our middle schoolis looking great,” Garcia said. “Itis going to be like a brand newschool and should last us about30 or 40 years.”

Some of the technology in-stalled in the school is still not

found in newer schools, Garciasaid.

The middle school is projectedto be finished by Dec. 17, Garciaadded.

“We were set back becausethere are still some things wewere not aware of but things arestill a go,” Garcia said.

Zapata Middle School teachers

are scheduled to move into thecampus Dec. 20 and 21.

These days are unofficial, Gar-cia added.

“We want to make sure theteachers have enough help,” Gar-cia said. “People are excited andthey want to be ready for the

ZCISD

ZMS construction set to finish by FridayBy LORRAINE L. RODRIGUEZ

THE ZAPATA TIMES

See ZCISD PAGE 10A

The Christmas spirit is ev-erywhere in Zapata County asresidents first gathered in SanYgnacio on Sunday for the an-nual Historic House Tour andtree lighting and then met onceagain along US 83 for theChristmas Parade and the light-ing of the county Christmastree at Bravo Park Wednesdaynight.

The cheerful but chilly pa-rade Wednesday was sponsoredby the Zapata County Chamberof Commerce for the secondconsecutive year.

“The purpose of the paradeand lighting is for the commu-nity to come together and cele-brate the spirit of Christmas,”said Jose F. “Paco” Mendoza,president and chief executiveofficer of the Chamber of Com-merce.

That night the whole commu-nity waited anxiously on theedge of newly remodeled Bravo

ZAPATA COUNTY

VISITING HISTORIC HOUSES

Dora and Henry Martinez, as Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus, ride in the San Ygnacio Christmas Parade with a group of childrenfrom A.L. Benavides Elementary.

Photo by Cuate Santos | The Zapata Times

Also on tap:parade, tree

lightingsBy LORRAINE L. RODRIGUEZ

THE ZAPATA TIMES

See CHRISTMAS PAGE 10A

PAGE 2A Zin brief SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2010

SATURDAY, DEC. 11Texas A&M International Univer-

sity’s Fall Commencement is scheduledfor today at 10 a.m. for students grad-uating from the A. R. Sanchez, Jr.School of Business. Commencement forthe College of Education and College ofNursing and Health Sciences will takeplace at 2 p.m., followed by the com-mencement for the College of Arts andSciences at 6 p.m. The ceremonies willtake place at TAMIU’s Kinesiology andConvocation Building (gym). For moreinformation on the TAMIU 2010 Com-mencement, visit tamiu.edu/commence-ment.

The Falcon Lake Babes are hold-ing their December International CatfishSeries tournament today. Tournamentsare held once a month, starting in No-vember, with a championship round inMarch. The tournament is an individualevent with a maximum of three con-testants per boat. Bank fishing allowed.You must fish three out of four tourna-ments to qualify for the championshipround in March. Registration is held atthe Beacon Lodge Recreation Hall everyFriday from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m. beforeeach tournament on Saturday. You mayalso register by phone. Entry fee is $20per person. Payback is 100 percentthrough sponsors, prizes and gifts.Twenty percent of each events prizepool is held back for the championshipround in March. For more information,call Shirley at (956) 236-3842 or Jerriat (318) 613-9257.

SUNDAY, DEC. 12Laredo’s St. Jude Catholic

Church will celebrate its groundbreakingceremony for their new offices locatedon Bristol Road and Albany from 1:30p.m. until 2:30 p.m. Resident of Laredoand surrounding communities and par-ishioners are invited to join in this ven-ture.

TUESDAY, DEC. 14Fidel and Andrea R. Villarreal

Elementary School will host its jamaicatoday from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. at theZapata Country Pavilion. Enjoy foodbooths, entertainment, games andprizes. Children must be accompaniedby an adult. Admission is free, with pic-tures with Santa Claus at $2.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 15Celebrating 75 years of service

to the community, the Salesian Sistersof St. John Bosco and the Webb Coun-ty Heritage Foundation present an ex-hibit of photos, artifacts, and memora-bilia documenting the history of MaryHelp of Christians School in Laredo.The public is cordially invited to anopening reception today at 6 p.m. atthe Border Heritage Museum, 810 Zara-goza St. For more information, call(956) 727-0977 or email heri-tage@webbheritage.org.

LCC’s Fine Arts Center and thePerforming Arts Department are hold-ing auditions from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. atthe Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez FineArts Center (room 100) for the upcom-ing comedic productions, slated forFeb. 10-13. The auditions are open tothe community, and no prior experienceis necessary. Technical and stage creware encouraged to attend. For more in-formation, contact William Hausermanat william.hauserman@laredo.edu.

The Monte Mucho Audubon So-ciety will celebrate a successful 2010during a meeting at the Lamar BruniVergara Environmental Science Center@ LCC from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thepublic is invited to learn more informa-tion about bird watching. For more in-formation, contact Raul Delgado atrcdelg@sbcglobal.net.

FRIDAY, DEC. 17The Texas A&M International

University Lamar Bruni Vergara Planeta-rium is showing "Season of Light" at 6p.m. and "Stars of the Pharaohs" at 7p.m. Admission prices are $4 for chil-dren and $5 for adults. Premium showsare $1 more. For show times call (956)326-DOME.

Texas A&M International Univer-sity’s Center for the Fine and Perform-ing Arts (CFPA) presents the 2010Young Dancer Christmas Program, to-day at 7 p.m. in the CFPA Theatre. Theprogram will feature all students fromthe Young Dancer Program. The per-formance will also feature studentsfrom the Ballet Folklórico Juvenil. Thisevent is free and open to the public.For more information, please contactBede Leyendecker at (956) 326-2649or e-mail bleyendecker@tamiu.edu.

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

CALENDARASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Saturday, Dec. 11,the 345th day of 2010. Thereare 20 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in His-tory:

On Dec. 11, 1936, Britain’sKing Edward VIII abdicated inorder to marry American di-vorcee Wallis Warfield Simp-son.

On this date: In 1602, forces sent by Char-

les Emmanuel I, Duke of Sa-voy, launched a surprise at-tack on the city-state of Gene-va by attempting to climb itswalls; the Genevans were ableto repel or capture the invad-ers.

In 1792, France’s King LouisXVI went before the Conven-tion to face charges of treason.(Louis was convicted, and exe-cuted the following month.)

In 1816, Indiana became the19th state.

In 1910, French inventorGeorges Claude publicly dis-played his first neon lamp,consisting of two 38-foot-longtubes, at the Paris Expo.

In 1928, police in BuenosAires announced they hadthwarted an attempt on thelife of President-elect HerbertHoover.

In 1937, Italy announced itwas withdrawing from theLeague of Nations.

In 1941, Germany and Italydeclared war on the UnitedStates; the U.S. responded inkind.

In 1946, the United NationsInternational Children’s Emer-gency Fund (UNICEF) was es-tablished.

In 1980, President JimmyCarter signed into a law legis-lation creating a $1.6 billionenvironmental “superfund” topay for cleaning up chemicalspills and toxic waste dumps.“Magnum P.I.,” starring TomSelleck, premiered on CBS.

In 1997, more than 150 coun-tries agreed at a global warm-ing conference in Kyoto, Ja-pan, to control the Earth’sgreenhouse gases.

Ten years ago: The U.S.Supreme Court heard argu-ments from lawyers represent-ing George W. Bush and AlGore concerning the Floridapresidential vote recount.Shortstop Alex Rodriguezagreed to a $252 million, 10-year deal with the Texas Rang-ers. (Rodriguez was traded tothe New York Yankees in2004.)

Today’s Birthdays: Com-poser Elliott Carter is 102. Ac-tor Jean-Louis Trintignant is80. Actress Rita Moreno is 79.Former California state law-maker Tom Hayden is 71. Popsinger David Gates (Bread) is70. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.)is 69. Actress Donna Mills is68. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)is 67. Singer Brenda Lee is 66.Actress Lynda Day George is66. Music producer TonyBrown is 64. Actress Teri Garris 63. Movie director SusanSeidelman is 58. Actress BessArmstrong is 57. Singer Jer-maine Jackson is 56. Rock mu-sician Mike Mesaros (TheSmithereens) is 53. Rock musi-cian Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue)is 52. Rock musician DarrylJones (The Rolling Stones) is49. Actor Ben Browder is 48.Singer-musician Justin Currie(Del Amitri) is 46. Rock musi-cian David Schools (Gov’tMule, Widespread Panic) is 46.

Thought for Today: “Thepeople who think they arehappy should rummagethrough their dreams.” — Ed-ward Dahlberg, American au-thor and critic (1900-1977).

TODAY IN HISTORY

LUBBOCK — Opponents of a plan to allownuclear waste from 36 other states to be bur-ied near the Texas-New Mexico borderraised their concerns Thursday at a publichearing, complaining that the rules are be-ing rushed through the approval process.

Craig McDonald of Texans for Public Jus-tice was among the 25 people who arguedagainst the proposal during the meeting ofthe Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Dis-posal Compact Commission in Austin. Hecalled it a "rush to radiation," suggesting the30-day comment period that ends Dec. 26doesn’t allow nearly enough time to weighthe issues, particularly because it comes dur-ing the holiday season.

"In the development of the timeline forthis rule the commercial interests have been

placed ahead of the public interest," he said."Public safety and fiscal responsibility de-mand a more thorough examination of theconsequences of the adoption of this rule."

But Rick Jacobi, a licensed nuclear engi-neer speaking on behalf of the company thatoperates the site, Dallas-based Waste ControlSpecialists, said the commission has giventhe public ample time to comment.

"This rule has been more than thoroughlyreviewed, debated, discussed, amended andconsidered by both the public and the com-mission," Jacobi said.

A previous set of rules withdrawn for revi-sions this summer had allowed for a 90-daycomment period.

Opponents of the plan far outnumberedthe supporters at the meeting and expressedconcerns about the potential dangers oftransporting the waste.

AROUND TEXAS

Tom Jones III, general manager at Waste Control Specialists near Andrews surveys the 800,000-cubic-yard hazardous wastelandfill in this Jan. 13, 2005, file photo. Opponents of a plan to allow nuclear waste from 36 other states to be buried nearthe Texas-New Mexico border raised their concerns at a public hearing this week in Lubbock.

Photo by Odessa American/Cindeka Nealy/file | AP

Nuke foes argue caseBy BETSY BLANEYASSOCIATED PRESS

Man guilty in SA ofprostituting girl, 13

SAN ANTONIO — A San An-tonio man faces up to life in pris-on after being convicted in whatprosecutors say was the abduc-tion, rape and prostituting of a13-year-old runaway girl.

A jury on Thursday night con-victed Juan Moreno of humantrafficking, super aggravated sex-ual assault of a child, aggravatedkidnapping and compelling pros-titution.

UT Tower replica lands carwash in hot water

CEDAR PARK — A replica ofthe famed 307-foot-tall Universityof Texas tower has landed anAustin-area car wash operator inhot water.

UT officials are claiming po-tential trademark violations withthe 60-foot-tall structure at TowerCar Wash in Cedar Park.

Owner and Longhorns fanBob Tesch says he just wanted tocreate something interesting.

Conviction over MardiGras burned body

AUSTIN — An Austin manhas been convicted of murder inthe 2009 Mardi Gras slaying of awoman whose body was foundburned.

The penalty phase continuesFriday for Kenneth Hernandez.

The body of 21-year-old Chris-ty Lynne Espinosa was dumpedin a field.

Police say Hernandez and hiswife, Martha, suffocated Espino-sa because they wanted to stealher identity.

Agents seize marijuanahidden in cotton seed

FALFURRIAS — Border Pa-trol agents at the Falfurriascheckpoint seized more than 5tons of marijuana this week.

Those seizures included near-ly 9,000 pounds from a Kenworthtractor hauling a grain trailer.

The pot, contained in 359 bun-dles, was hidden within a load ofcotton seed.

Border Patrol agentsdiscover pot in hay baleLA GRULLA — Border Patrol

agents from the Rio Grande Citystation say they encountered anunusual method of marijuanaconcealment this week — the potwas tucked inside a hay bale.

Agents following foot tracksfrom the Rio Grande on Thurs-day discovered a large hay balethat appeared to be out of place.Looking closer, they found morethan 30 pounds of marijuanaglued upon a layer of the bale.

Man charged withdefrauding oil spill fundHOUSTON — A Rancho Viejo

man has been charged with wirefraud for falsely claiming he wasdue more than $28,000 from theBP oil spill disaster fund.

An indictment alleges SergioCorona sought $28,434 for lost in-come from a sea shell and collec-tible business using false re-ceipts and invoices.

— Compiled from AP reports

Couple who only prayedfor dying tot convictedPHILADELPHIA — A funda-

mentalist Christian couple whorelied on prayer, not medicine, tocure their dying toddler son wasconvicted Friday of involuntarymanslaughter and endanger-ment.

Herbert and Catherine Schai-ble of Philadelphia face morethan a decade in prison for theJanuary 2009 pneumonia deathof 2-year-old Kent.

Report details tiesbetween US and ex-Nazis

NEW YORK — DeclassifiedCIA files reveal that U.S. intelli-gence officials protected a Ukrai-nian fascist leader and suspectedNazi collaborator from prosecu-tion after World War II and sethim up to wage covert waragainst the Soviet Union.

Mykola Lebed led an under-ground movement to undermine

the Kremlin and conduct guerril-la operations for the CIA.

RFK-owned EmancipationProclamation sold

NEW YORK — A copy of the

Emancipation Proclamationsigned by President AbrahamLincoln that was purchased byRobert F. Kennedy sold Fridayfor more than $3.7 million, anauction record for a U.S. presi-dential document.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

Snow covers a sign on Schell Road in southern Grand Traverse County, Mich. Res-idents in northern areas of the country are expecting cold and snow over theweekend.

Photo by Keith King/Traverse City Record-Eagle | AP

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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

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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2010 Zlocal PAGE 3A

Falcon Lake Babe’s In-ternational Catfish Seriesis a fishing tournamentlike no other, made up ofwomen fighting for a pur-pose: to prove FalconLake is safe.

“We want to show thatif women can get outhere and fish this lake bythemselves, then it’s per-fectly safe for everyone,”said Dee Dee Fox, presi-dent of Falcon LakeBabe’s International Cat-fish Series. “The bass fishand catfish are awesome;it’s just a great lake tofish in.”

Fox organized thistournament to changethe negative reputationFalcon Lake has receivedthe past couple ofmonths, she said.

“We want to bring apositive message to thewhole border region,”Fox said. “We need to getpeople to come back toshow them that FalconLake is not Mexico andthat it is a safe place.”

Falcon Lake has beenthe focal point of severalserious incidents with al-leged cartel members at-tacking fishermen, espe-cially the murder of Da-vid Hartley, a touristkilled while jet skiing onthe lake.

Hartley was killedwhile touring the OldGuerrero Church, whichis not located on FalconLake but seven miles upthe Salado River border-ing Mexico, Fox said.

“The media kept say-ing it happened on Fal-con Lake when it didn’t,”Fox said. “People don’t

want to come over here any-more because they areafraid.”

The bad publicity haskilled tourism on FalconLake and affected the borderregion of Texas, Fox added.

“It’s not just about ZapataCounty, it’s about the wholeborder region affected by thedrug wars that is in turn af-fecting our economy,” Foxsaid.

The fishing series beganNov. 28 with an event hap-pening every month until thechampionship round inMarch.

Approximately nine wom-en participated in the lasttournament that took placeon Thanksgiving weekend,Fox said.

The next fishing tourna-ment will take place Dec. 11at the Beacon Lodge, Foxsaid.

“We would like to seeabout 20 women, because wewant the public to under-stand that if women can fishthis lake, it is safe,” Fox said.“There are still a lot of fish-ermen fishing this lake.”

Registration will takeplace every Friday at theBeacon Lodge RecreationHall from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.,according to a press re-lease.

The tournament calls forindividual teams with anentry fee of $20, and therewill be 100 percent payback including sponsors,prizes, and gifts. Twentypercent of each events prizepool will be held back forthe championship round,according the release.

Three women are al-lowed on one boat and willbe launching boats fromBeacon Lodge, Fox said.

The only downfall tohaving a women-only tour-nament is that most wom-en do not know how to ma-neuver a boat, Fox added.

“Women will be allowedto fish from the banks ofBeacon Lodge only,” Foxsaid.

After the tournament,individual teams will alsobe weighing in their big-gest catfish at BeaconLodge, she said.

Tourney women hopeto prove lake is safe

By LORRAINE L. RODRIGUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES

VILLARREAL ELEMENTARY STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

Courtesy photo

Bottom row left to right: Victor Vela, Arturo Martinez, Guillermo Ramirez, Christopher Arroyo, RobertoDegollado, Claudia Amelia Garza, Victoria Alvarez and Ashley Mendoza.Second row kneeling left to right: Adnrea Martinez, Jennifer Medellin, Juan Carlos Guzman Ponce,Jaime Bautista, Jose Reyes, Ricardo De Leon, Jose Leal and Meztli Marquez. Top row standing left to right: Elizabeth Angeles, Fernando Rodriguez, Yesenia Montalvo, Luis MartinezNavarro, Luis Vega, Ramon Sanchez, Daniela Galvan, Mindy Garcia and Ernesto Martinez.

Texas will offer a newappliance rebate programDec. 20. Approximately $10million will be availablefor this program, which isaimed at promoting aware-ness of Energy Star ap-pliances and decreasing en-ergy consumption by en-couraging appliancereplacement.

“Recent technologicaladvancements in manycommon household ap-pliances are now givingmore people opportunitiesto save money,” Rep. RyanGuillen said. “This pro-gram will promote energyconservation in our statewhile being easy on thewallets of Texans.”

The Texas ApplianceMail-In Rebate Program isa traditional mail-in rebateprogram, and rebates willbe available on a first-come, first-served basis un-

til all funds are distributed.Texas residents with validresidential addresses mayapply for the program ifthey follow all programrules.

To participate, first re-search and select a new ap-pliance. Then, on or afterDec. 20:

Purchase a qualifyingEnergy Star appliancefrom a Texas retailer orcontractor and retain thereceipt;

Install the new, quali-fying appliance at a validTexas residential address;

Either properly dis-pose of or recycle the ap-pliance being replaced;

Completely fill out arebate application form, in-cluding the appliance dis-posal or recycling informa-tion;

Mail in the completedapplication form with thereceipt and any other re-quired documentation (for

example, disposal or recy-cling verification) to theaddress that will be availa-ble before the start of thepurchase period on Dec. 20.

Application forms willbe ordered by the postmarkdate on the envelope of theapplication. If a postmarkis missing, the applicationwill be placed in the orderbased on the day it arrivesat the processing facility.

Rates will be offered forappliances in eight catego-ries: air-source heatpumps, clothes washers,freezers, room air condi-tioners, central air condi-tioners, dishwashers, re-frigerators and water heat-ers.

To view the detailsabout eligible appliances,find out more informationabout the program or get arebate application form,visit http://www.texaspo-werfulsmart.org/rebate/ap-pliances.php.

Rebate program couldsave consumers moneySPECIAL TO THE TIMES

PAGE 4A Zopinion SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2010

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

WASHINGTON —Last week, con-gressional Re-

publicans wrote a newchapter in governmentreform when they con-vened a meeting inWashington with 16 new-ly elected GOP gover-nors. To some, the confablooked like just anotherphoto-op celebrating theparty’s historic gains inlast month’s midtermelections.

But that view missesthe meaning of this freshphase in federalism: Amore active partnershipbetween Washington andthe states makes sense ata number of levels andwill help both Congressand governors better ac-complish their policyand political goals.

Compared to the lastfour years, this renewedcollaboration representsa different tone and di-rection. House SpeakerNancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,and her fellow travelersbelieved states shouldtake direction from Con-gress. Washington need-ed to “protect” citizensfrom misguided state de-cisions — actions thatcould jeopardize all ofthe good things Congresscould lavish on voters.States, by the way, werealso hamstrung with thefinancial burdens pro-duced by this govern-mental generosity, wis-dom and compassion.What a deal.

No communicationIn Pelosi’s House,

there wasn’t much roomfor dialogue or collabora-tion. States were toldwhat to do, how to struc-ture benefits, and whowas eligible for pro-grams. In essence, themessage was: “We expectyou to do this, so just fig-ure it out.”

No more. Congression-al Republicans rejectsuch an approach forboth practical and philo-sophical reasons. “Wash-ington doesn’t have allthe answers, and the bestsolutions usually comefrom outside of the Belt-way,” Speaker-elect JohnBoehner, D-Ohio, saidlast week. Republicansprefer solutions generat-ed closer to the people.What works in Mainemay not in Montana. Tothink otherwise is bothpolitically arrogant andsubstantively dumb.

Boehner’s method re-quires dialogue — notdictates; malleability —not mandates.

While emphasis onpartnership with gover-nors is a break from thelast four years, it’s notentirely new either.

Ronald Reagan usedthe phrase “new federal-ism” during the early1980s as a way to de-scribe his administra-tion’s emphasis on de-volving money, power,and influence out ofWashington. Unfortu-nately, a Democratic ma-jority in the House ofRepresentatives had oth-er ideas.

Working togetherIn the mid-1990s, after

similar GOP gains inCongress and the state-houses, the party alsoforged new partnershipswith statehouse leaders.During those years, theRepublican congression-al majority, working

closely with governors,such as George W. Bushof Texas, John Engler ofMichigan, Tom Ridge ofPennsylvania, and Tom-my Thompson of Wiscon-sin, crafted a host of in-novative policies on is-sues including welfare,education reform andMedicaid ideas that pro-vided states with moreflexibility, produced bet-ter solutions, and reac-quainted Washingtonwith the virtues of fiscalrestraint.

New attitudeNow, with Republicans

capturing the majorityin the House, growingtheir numbers in theSenate, and expandingcontrol to 29 statehouses, the time is rightto reprise experiments infederalism.

“For the last fouryears the attitude inCongress was, ‘We’re go-ing to tell you what todo,”’ a senior GOP lead-ership aide told me.“Boehner’s view is justthe opposite. He’s askingthe governors, ‘Whatkind of flexibility do youneed to succeed?”’

This also means theera of big mandates isover. “We understandyou can’t ask the statesto do more with less andthen tie their hands,” heexplained.

But there’s anotherreason why the time isripe for new approachesto federalism — Wash-ington needs a budgetarydiet and fiscal restraintproduces its own set ofpolitical challenges.

As a result, Republi-cans in Washington needallies to navigate theseshoals. Governors canhelp by validating thewisdom of breathing newlife into creative federal-ism.

Democrats in Wash-ington will no doubt at-tack Republicans forharming children, im-poverishing the elderly,or wrecking the environ-ment as they attempt toshrink Washington’s sizeand reach. Expandingfederal power is alwaysjustified under the guiseof noble protection.

Governors can effec-tively challenge thisrhetoric. Health care isjust one example. Demo-crats in Washington willmoan that efforts to re-peal Obamacare are anexample of austerity-crazed, politically moti-vated Republicans gonewild.

But many statehouseleaders see throughthese accusations andtake a different view.They believe the newhealth-care law is jobkilling and fiscally un-sustainable. Repeal is amatter of budgetary andeconomic self-preserva-tion, not ideology.

Moreover, governorssaying they just can’t af-ford Obamacare have alot more credibility withvoters than spendthriftDemocratic congression-al leaders who argue thatthe definition of compas-sion is to just spendmore.

This is the season torenew the spirit of feder-alism. The motive andthe means to contractthe federal Leviathannow exist. And it lookslike Speaker-elect Boehn-er has a large number ofallies in statehouses todo just that.

(E-mail: Ga-ry.Andres@dutkoworld-wide.com)

COLUMN

GOP ushersin more

FederalismBy GARY ANDRES

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The Zapata Times doesnot publish anonymousletters.

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

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

We want to assure our

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

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

ing or gratuitous abuse isallowed.

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

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY

DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

If you tell a secret to aclose friend, there’sgood reason to believe

what you’ve divulged willbe kept in confidence. Ifyou tell it to a group offriends, there’s a chance itwill remain within yourcircle. But if you tell it toa few hundred thousandpeople, you’d be nuts toexpect it won’t gain widercirculation.

Shared infoYet that is precisely the

absurd expectation thatlies at the heart of the Wi-kiLeaks fiasco. The Unit-ed States has created aninformation-sharing net-work that gives at least500,000 and as many as 3million people around theworld access to Pentagonreports and State Depart-ment cables classified as“secret” — a high level ofclassification — and be-low.

Accessing infoNot some of the reports

and cables, and not on aneed-to-know basis. All ofthem, for any reason, ac-cessible by anyone with a“secret” clearance and aconnection to the net-

work. The Defense Depart-

ment created the SecretInternet Protocol RouterNetwork, or SIPRNet, in1991. Use of the networkby the Pentagon and theState Department grewtremendously after the 9-11 Commission identifiedthe “stovepiping” of infor-mation — for instance, thefailure of the CIA and theFBI to share informationon suspected terrorists —as a key flaw that allowedthe 9-11 plot to succeed.

Too much growthThe unrestrained

growth of SIPRNet, how-ever, was the wrong solu-tion to a real problem.That problem was a legalbarrier that Congresserected in 1978 with theForeign Intelligence Sur-veillance Act, which itselfwas an overreaction to do-mestic intelligence abusesidentified by the ChurchCommittee investigation.

“The ‘wall’ betweencriminal and intelligenceinvestigations,” the 9-11Commission concluded,“apparently caused agentsto be less aggressive thanthey might otherwise havebeen in pursuing ... sur-veillance powers in coun-terterrorism investiga-tions.” Instead of creatingsensible pathways

through that wall, Con-gress under the leader-ship of both parties andthe executive branch un-der both the Bush and theObama administrationshave engaged in thewholesale demolition ofintelligence compartmen-talization.

Blame gameThat is how an Army

private first class was al-legedly able to download260,000 classified docu-ments without anyonenoticing. And now mem-bers of Congress and offi-cials in the State and theDefense Departmentswant to blame Julian As-sange or the New YorkTimes or Amazon.com forintelligence leaks? Thismeets the classic defini-tion of “chutzpah”: whena child kills his parentsthen begs the court formercy on the grounds thathe’s an orphan.

Not to excuse Assange,who has revealed himselfto be a pompous, anti-American provocateurmasquerading as a RobinHood of the digital age. Onthe WikiLeaks Web site,he chortles that the SIPR-Net document dump “re-veals the contradictionsbetween the U.S.’s publicpersona and what it saysbehind closed doors —

and shows that if citizensin a democracy want theirgovernments to reflecttheir wishes, they shouldask to see what’s going onbehind the scenes.”

Hard at workActually, the cables do

nothing of the sort. Forthe most part, they showAmerican diplomats work-ing diligently and givingvaluable assessments thatare completely consistentwith, if somewhat morecolorful than, what theysay in public. They do,however, show the world’sdictators and oligarchs tobe two-faced thugs.

The day Assange pub-lishes the state secrets ofChina or Russia or Iran,he can begin to claim tobe a whistleblower forfreedom. Citizens of thosenations want their gov-ernments to reflect theirwishes, too.

Meanwhile, the Penta-gon is reviewing SIPRNetsecurity protocols and theState Department has atleast temporarily discon-nected from the network.Assange’s only regretmight be that the CIA andthe NSA resisted the rushto bare all and never com-pletely connected in thefirst place.

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

COLUMN

Let’s see the secrets of ChinaBy JONATHAN GURWITZ

SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Recently there has been talk that I travel quitea bit. This is partially true since there have beenseveral times that I have been invited to testifybefore Congress in Washington and at the StateCapitol in Austin. I also attend meetings that arebeneficial to you, the taxpayers. Seldom arethese meetings to my advantage but rather theyare meetings in which concerns regardingZapata County, and other counties are dis-cussed, all to the benefits of Zapata County citi-zens. I have also been invited to make presen-tations or speeches in Texas and other states.By state law I cannot accept honorariums but askthat whoever is inviting me pay for the travelexpenses.

Now, to set the record straight, there is alsotalk that the traveling to these meetings is costinglocal taxpayers much money. In reality most ofmy travel expenses come from drug forfeiturefunds and not from local taxpayer budgets.Other travel expenses come from grants that areawarded to my office, the Zapata County Sheriff’sOffice. Now, it has always been known that sit-ting behind a desk will not get the Zapata CountySheriff’s Office much money in the form of grants.The Sheriff has to go looking for the fundingsince these grants will not land on my lap.Please keep in mind that I always have the goodcitizens in mind when I testify or inform our law-makers.

Another advantage in seeking these funding isthat equipment is being purchased throughgrants instead of purchasing much neededequipment from local funds. I have also had theprivilege of having many doors opened at thestate capitol and in Washington, DC. ZapataCounty is known in these areas for the good peo-ple living here and for the professionalism beingshown by your Zapata County Sheriff’s Office.

So, as a result of some of the meetings Iattend, I want to report the following to you, thetaxpayers, even though I realize that this will notstop the talking by my opponents that will just notadmit that we are in fact making progress.Bottom Line: Bring home the grants that are verymuch needed in our community.

The Zapata County Sheriff’s Office, since2003, has received a total of $9,204,121 fromfederal and state grants. The Zapata CountySheriff’s Office mission objectives for thesegrants are listed in two categories:

To enhance border security by working in con-junction with other law enforcement agencies onthe same objectives to deter, prevent and appre-hend illegal transport of narcotics and suspiciousactivities along the border to help maintain peaceand security for the community, state and countryand,

To implement a statewide communicationsplan that will fully integrate Zapata County intothe state of Texas Homeland Security strategyplan to target capabilities in planning, communi-cation, local governmental preparedness, intelli-gence and information sharing, local emergencycommand and control coordination of emer-gency, man-made or natural disasters and actsof terrorism.

FUNDS RECEIVING IN THE FORMOF GRANTS:

Operation LinebackerAwarded $367,500 in 2005 used to enhance

border security by enhancing patrol in high crimetarget areas and areas with a nexus to bordersecurity and the purchasing of six (6) 2006 FordF-150 marked pickup trucks that are still beingused today for regular patrol and for enhancedoperations. The vehicles were purchased at noexpense to local taxpayers.

Operation LaredoAwarded $106,000 in July 2006 to enhance

border security. This funding was used in a spe-cial state-wide operation with other local, state,and federal agencies.

Operation WranglerAwarded $53,254.56 in 2007 that was used for

a nine (9) day operation for border security.

Additional Linebacker FundsAwarded $249,100 and $481,017.01 in 2008

and of $214,285 in August 2009 for border secu-rity and to patrol areas with high crime rates witha nexus to border security.

Congressional and Governor’sFunding for Borderstar

OperartionsAwarded $814,919 in 2006 and 2007 for over-

time and other operational use for border securi-ty.

Operation Stonegarden – 2008Awarded $1,710,000 for the enhancement of

border security that included the purchasing oftwo (2) ICX Mobile Surveillance Towers and nine(9) 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe patrol vehicles. Thesepieces of equipment greatly enhance surveil-lance techniques not only for border security butalso in surveilling neighborhoods and targetareas from a distance.

New Allocated StonegardenFunds – 2009

Awarded an additional $941,801.40 that wasused for the purchase of communications equip-ment to replace old and outdated radio equip-ment. A total of 72 Motorola two-way radios and85 Motorola handheld portable radios were pur-chased along with 40 Panasonic Toughbook carecomputers that are currently on order to be usedby deputies in their patrol vehicles. This willenable a patrol officer to have real time alertinformation with other officers and will eventuallyintegrate with other agencies in the state ofTexas with the use of a COPsync program thatwill also be purchased with these monies.Deputies will be able to check vehicles and indi-viduals via their in-car computer to see if war-rants are active. Eventually, license plate read-ers will also be installed in select patrol cars thatwill tell a deputy if a car is stolen or wanted for acrime without the officer even checking the car.

Through the purchasing of new radio equip-ment the Zapata County Sheriff’s Office was ableto equip 90% of emergency first responders inZapata County (to include the fire department,county attorney’s office, and the four constableoffices. This enabled Zapata County to be aheadof schedule in the region to be communicationsready for the state’s interoperable emergencyplan).

New Additional Funding for the2009 Stonegarden

Additional funding for the amount of$1,413,737 for the purchasing of 2 Explosive andNarcotic Detectors portable computers, 4 Ford F-150 pickup trucks, 2 4X4 Ford F-350 pickuptrucks, 1 Chevrolet Tahoe and 1 ChevroletSuburban. These vehicles are being used byinvestigators in their investigative duties. Thelarger vehicles are used for patrol or transporta-tion purposes for trainings, etc. These vehiclesare also purchased without burdening the localtaxpayers. This funding was also used to pur-chase of a TerraHawk Surveillance Tower Vanand a Mobile Command Center that is currentlybeing assembled in Columbus, Ohio, and alsothe activation of three Reserve Deputies that arepaid through Stonegarden funds. This hasincreased the patrol force by one full-time andtwo part-time deputies. It has also resulted inmore enhanced patrol in some neighborhoods inZapata.

Texas Homeland Security/SouthTexas Development Council Grant

ProgramsAwarded in 2008 the amount of $105,000 for

the purchase of a Mobile CommunicationsSuburban to enhance interoperable communica-tions systems, not just for Zapata County but forthe region in case of manmade or natural disas-

ters where local communications would be dis-abled. The communications vehicle has satellitecommunications capabilities.

In 2009 the state of Texas granted ZapataCounty $240,897.99 for the purchase of a new480 foot communications tower that replace theold and outdated 280 foot radio tower. This toweris located at the northern edge of Zapata. Theold tower was built in 1973 and was in danger offalling. With the acquired funding the ZapataCounty Sheriff’s Office now has a 480 foot tower,almost double what we used to have. Again,funded at zero expense to Zapata County. Thistower benefits the Sheriff’s Office, FireDepartment, County Attorney’s Office, DPS,Game Wardens, Border Patrol, and other stateand federal agencies.

Additional funding from 2003 to 2006 in theamount of $445,083.32 to enhance communica-tions capabilities by the Sheriff’s Office and otherlocal, state, and federal emergency public safetyagencies.

Cops Tech Grant$75,000 was awarded in July 2009 used for

the purchase of two FLIR thermal surveillancecameras and one hand held thermal camera.

Edward Byrne Memorial JusticeAssistance Grant Program

Awarded in 2009, $15,455 for the purchasingof three vehicle mobile radios.

Criminal Justice ProgressJAG-CJD Grant

Awarded in 2009 the amount of $63,106.30 forthe purchase of 8 Heart Safe emergency defibril-lators to equip the female and male jail facilitiesand for deputies on patrol to be used in caseswhere someone may be suffering a heart attackor their heart has stopped. The funding is to alsobe used to purchase of a Ford F-350 Utility Truckthat will be converted into a crime scene vehicleto be used by patrol deputies and investigators atscenes of crimes, accidents, search and rescuemissions and other emergencies. This vehicle,equipped with a radio, emergency lighting andequipment will have four telescopic lighting sys-tems for the illumination at crime and accidentscenes. This vehicle is currently being assem-bled and delivered.

Operation BorderstarGrant – (Task Force)

$135,000 was awarded in 2008, 2009, and 2010,for a total of $405,000, for a three man TaskForce team in Zapata County that is currently inuse for narcotics investigations and apprehen-sions.

APPROVED BUT YET TO BEAWARDED FUNDING FOR THE

SHERIFF’S OFFICE IN 2010.

Stonegarden 2010 funding for a totalamount of $1,129,698 to be used in the purchas-ing of mobile and portable radios, patrol vehicles,surveillance equipment and other items neededto maintain the same objectives of deterring, pre-venting and apprehending of suspicious activitiesfor homeland security.

ARRA Borderstar 2010 Grant fundingof $300,000 to be used for overtime and the pur-chase of two patrol Tahoe vehicles and a thermalcamera for surveillance.

Homeland Security Grant Programfunding in the amount of $73,267 in 2010 forupgrading and purchasing of communicationequipment for the Regional InteroperableCommunications Plan. A plan designed to workwith the state and the South Texas DevelopmentCouncil (STDC) of integrating the region thatincludes the counties of Jim Hogg, Webb, Starrand Zapata, into one communications link forlocal, state and federal disasters.

A MESSAGE TO THE TAXPAYERS OF ZAPATACOUNTY FROM SHERIFF SIGI GONZALEZ, JR.

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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2010 THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

PAGE 6A Zentertainment SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2010

PILLAR hosts HairCut-A-Thon at MDNWith a $10 donation, you

can get a hair cut and helpa good cause: the PILLARHair Cut-A-Thon at Malldel Norte.

PILLAR, which standsfor People with Ideas, Love,Liberty, Acceptance and Re-spect, is hosting the fund-raiser on Saturday, from 11a.m. to 6 p.m., next to Dil-lard’s department store.

Styling hair will be parti-cipating salons such asNew Visions Beauty Salon,Regis Hair Salon, Roel’s Im-ages, Steel Magnolia’s Uni-sex Salon, Trade Secret, Gi-na Tovar, Luz Hair Salon,Cristelle’s Hair Design, Is-mael Inclan and TDK Pre-mium Streetwear & BarberShop.

PILLAR is a non-profitorganization comprised ofvolunteer mental-healthproviders, business andcommunity leaders, nurses,attorneys, clergy, and youth— all lending their effortsto create a resource centeraimed at addressing andimproving the lives of peo-ple, namely youth. Formore information, cal 220-6100 or 337-2881.

Farmers Market set for next Saturday

El Centro de Laredo willhost its December FarmersMarket on Saturday, Dec.18, from 9 a.m. to noon.

Held every third Satur-day of the month, the mar-ket provides a small-townatmosphere that allows peo-ple to visit with friends,neighbors and family mem-bers, swapping recipes, tell-ing stories and sharing thefruits of labor.

Different than a typicalmarket, El Centro de Lare-do is home to local growers,gardeners and bakers whohave unique products forsale. The relaxed communi-ty event will be held in oneof Laredo’s beautiful parks,Jarvis Plaza.

For more information, e-mail lmsoffice@att.net orcall 286-0642.

Animal Posada at St. Peter’s Plaza

The Gateway Gatos ofLaredo, St. Peter’s Church,the Laredo Animal Protec-tive Society, St. Joseph’sChurch Youth Group, Di-vine Mercy’s Church YouthGroup and The Greens ofGuadalupe are having aChristmas Animal Posadaat St. Peter’s Plaza.

The event, which encour-ages participants to dressup as animals, or to wearanimal masks, will be heldon Sunday, Dec. 19, at 4 p.m.

Organizers also invite ev-eryone to take their pets ona leash or a harness or in acage. The Laredo AnimalProtective Society will havecats and dogs available foradoption.

The location will be theplaza, at the intersection ofMatamoros Street andMain Avenue.

For more information,call Birdie Torres at 286-7866.

Dance battlepostponed till January

The dance-off scheduledfor this weekend at the La-redo Civic Center has beenmoved to Saturday, Jan. 29,due to elections.

The Civic Center is apolling site, prompting thechange.

The judging will bebased on style, originality,coordination and stagepresence and will be opento Top 40 and hip-hop mu-sic. Each team will have 3minutes or less for its rou-tine. Doors open at 10 a.m.

For more information,call 744-5274, or go to twit-ter.com/globalbm.

— The Zapata Times

COMING UP

The Laredo Little Theatre, inconjunction with The DramaticPublishing Company of Wood-stock, Illinois presents its Christ-mas production of “It’s a Wonder-ful Life: A Live Radio Play,” byPhilip Grecian, at Laredo LittleTheater, 4802 Thomas Ave.

The play started Friday night,but additional showtimes are to-night at 8 p.m., and a matinee onSunday at 3 p.m.

Directed by Lisa King, the playis based on the film by Frank Ca-pra.

The presentation of the playwill be unique, and a first for La-redo, as it will be produced onstage as a radio drama, an enter-tainment form which has beendead for 50 years, according to theBalance Publishing Company.

Radio drama is the medium bywhich the public was entertainedbefore the advent of television.

The actors in radio drama hadat their disposal only their voicesto convey the story or to allowtheir audience to “see” the charac-ters they were playing.

Today’s actors have it slightlyeasier, with movement, props,lights, sound and costumes as vi-sual aides.

When the audience walks intothe Laredo Little Theatre, theywill see a radio station of the1940’s on stage — complete withmicrophones and sound booth.

The cast includes Alex Lopez asGeorge, Elisabeth (Elle) King asMary, Gerardo Cantu as Clarence,Aira Greco as Gabrielle, EdwardKing as Mr. Potter, Mara Lopez as

Mrs. Bailey, Carlos Alvarez as Mr.Gower, Coqui Alvarez as youngGeorge, John Roman Galo asyoung Harry, Bianca Martinez asyoung Violet, Maya Vela-Cuellaras Zuzu, Jade King as young Mary,and Andria Zuñiga as Mrs. Hatch.

The cast also includes SilkeGage, Marisol Suarez, Lauren Ka-zen, Katelyn Kahn, Ray Cortez,Polo Garcia, Linda Treviño, An-drea Lozano, Juan Ramirez, Fer-nando Castillo, Rebeca Rodriguez,

Mariana Salido, Sebastian Luna,Nicolas Pena, Paulita Rios, Eduar-do (Wayo) Alvarez, Michael Ka-zen, Analise Zuñiga, Silke Gonza-lez, Nina Vela-Cuellar, Monica Gu-tierrez and Carolina Garcia.

Maria Eugenia Lopez is assist-ant director and Albert Guajardois on board as consultant and willhandle sound effects.

The cast will be costumed in’40s attire.

The public is invited to go take

a trip to the past and witnessGeorge Bailey’s awareness of histruly wonderful life.

Admission is $5. In the spirit ofthe Christmas season, the LaredoLittle Theatre invites theatergoersto bring non-perishable food itemswhich will be collected for theSouth Texas Food Bank to helpmake someone else’s life “wonder-ful.”

For more information, call theLLT at 723-1342.

‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ continues at LLTSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Part of the cast of “It’s a Wonderful Life” rehearses at the Laredo Little Theatre Wednesday afternoon. The play will be perform-ed at the venue this weekend, beginning tonight at 8 p.m.

Photos by Ulysses S. Romero | Laredo Morning Times

PHOENIX — The Har-lem Globetrotters, whohave contributed more in-novations to the game ofbasketball than any otherteam in history, have im-plemented the first-ever 4-point shot as part of all ofits games on the team’s2011 “4 Times the Fun”North American tour, theteam’s record 85th seasonof touring.

This game-changing in-

novation will be on dis-play in Laredo, when theGlobetrotters take on theWashington Generals at 7p.m. Thursday, Jan. 27, atLaredo Energy Arena.

“The Globetrottershave been at the forefrontof basketball’s evolutionthroughout the sport’shistory,” said Globetrot-ters CEO Kurt Schneider.“From the alley-oop tothe slam dunk to the be-hind-the-back pass, theGlobetrotters have long

brought innovations tobasketball that are nowstaples of the game, andwe’re confident the 4-point shot will changethe game of basketball go-ing forward.”

Throughout their his-tory, the Globetrottershave showcased their

iconic talents in 120 coun-tries and territories onsix continents, oftenbreaking down culturaland societal barrierswhile providing fans withtheir first-ever basketballexperiences. Proud induc-tees of the Naismith Me-morial Basketball Hall of

Fame, the Globetrottershave entertained hun-dreds of millions of fansfor more than eight dec-ades.

Tickets start at $23.75and are on sale atwww.harlemglobetrotter-s.com and the Laredo En-ergy Arena box office.

Harlem Globetrotters returning to arenaSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

SÁBADO 11 DE DICIEMBRETexas A&M Internatio-

nal University presenta lasCeremonias de Graduaciónde Otoño hoy a las 10 a.m.para alumnos egresando dela A. R. Sanchez, Jr. Schoolof Business; a las 2 p.m.para egresados del Collegeof Education y el College ofNursing and Health Scien-ces; y, a las 6 p.m. paraalumnos graduando del Co-llege of Arts and Sciences.Todos los eventos son en elGimnasio del Edificio de Ki-nesiology and Convocationde TAMIU.

La Iniciativa HealthyEating Active Living (HEAL)encabezará un “Holiday Fit-ness Festival” de 10 a.m. a2 p.m. en North CentralPark (10202 InternationalBlvd.). Habrá actividades co-mo frisbee golf, clases despinning, campamentos desoccer y béisbol, yoga,‘punt, pass and kick’, porris-tas y danza.

El Club de maestrosde TAMIU explorará “Lectu-ra” durante el “SaturdayStory Hour” en la BibliotecaPública de Laredo (1120 E.Calton Road) de 2 p.m. a 3p.m. Es para niños de 3 a 8años de edad, acompañadosde un adulto.

Veteranos AyudandoVeteranos tendrán una reu-nión de grupo en el aula126 del Western Hemisphe-ric Trade Center de TAMIU,a las 2:30 p.m. de hoy. Lareunión es confidencial y ex-clusiva para veteranos mili-tares. Habrá otra reunión el18 de diciembre.

NUEVO LAREDO —Hoy es el 2do Maratón dePastorelas a las 6 p.m. en elTeatro Lucio Blanco de laCasa de la Cultura.

DOMINGO 12 DE DICIEMBREDunamis Ministries in-

vita a su evento anual “Venpor un jueguete” hoy a par-tir de las 2 p.m. en la Lare-do Energy Arena. Se presen-tará la obra “Aventura en elEspacio”. Entrada gratuita.

La Orquesta Filarmó-nica de Laredo presente “TisAn LPO Season to Celebratethe Holidays” de 3 p.m. a 6p.m. en las casas de RayKeck, Mr. y Mrs. Javier deAnda, Peggy Newman, y Mr.y Mrs. Juan B. Carranza.

LUNES 13 DE DICIEMBRENUEVO LAREDO — El

Taller de Arte RenacimientoA.C. y Fundación Sergio Pe-ña presentan “México, suhistoria y esplendor. Cente-nario y Bicentenario”, unprograma de lecturas, histo-ria, música, bailes y sorpre-sas a las 7 p.m. en el TeatroPrincipal del Centro CulturalNuevo Laredo. Evento gratui-to abierto al público en ge-neral.

SÁBADO 18 DE DICIEMBREHoy es el 7mo. Tor-

neo de Voliból “Spike for Ti-kes” de 10 a.m. a 3 p.m. enel Centro de RecreaciónNortheast Hillside (320 Wyo-ming). La entrada es un ju-guete de 10 dólares, máscomida enlatada, más 5 dó-lares por participante. Losjuguetes serán donados aniños en la comunidad y laslatas al Banco de Alimentosdel Sur de Texas.

Veteranos AyudandoVeteranos tendrán una reu-nión de grupo en el aula126 del Western Hemisphe-ric Trade Center de TAMIU,a las 2:30 p.m. de hoy. Lareunión es confidencial y ex-clusiva para veteranos mili-tares.

MIÉRCOLES 29 DEDICIEMBRE

El Show Mágico deMickey tendrá dos presenta-ciones el día de hoy en laLaredo Energy Arena, a la 1p.m. y las 4 p.m. Adquierasu boleto en Ticketmaster yla taquilla del LAE.

Agendaen Breve

El gobierno estatal y fe-deral prometieron rescatara Ciudad Mier utilizandoprogramas económicos afondo perdido para nego-cios, un programa de em-pleo temporal y con la reac-tivación de la produccióndel campo.

El martes, durante unavisita al conocido como‘Pueblo Mágico’, el Secreta-rio de Gobernación JoséFrancisco Blake Mora, dijoque el combate a la crimi-nalidad no ha cesado y que“el gobierno mantendrá suliderazgo y continuará conel control de los territoriosnacionales de frontera afrontera”.

Prometió que se conti-nuará actuando para queprevalezca la ley y justicia,“porque no van a permitirde ninguna manera que los

criminales se desplacen enimpunidad”.

Dijo que buscarán sindescanso la tranquilidad yseguridad en las regiones.

“Allí estaremos dondemayormente se ha expresa-do la violencia”, dijo Blake.

Pero aunque las noticiassuenen alentadoras, un gru-po de cien familias critica-ron al gobierno federal por-que, aseguran, se sintieronabandonados.

“Nos dejaron solos a ma-nos de los criminales”, dijouna persona. “Los soldadosjamás viajaron a esta ciu-dad. Las balaceras erancontinuas, solamente nospersignábamos y nos ocul-tábamos en casa”.

Los manifestantes tam-bién sostuvieron que mu-chas familias aún viven enLaredo, Roma, del ladoamericano; y en MiguelAlemán.

Sesión de evaluaciónEn el marco de reunión

del Grupo CoordinadorOperativo de Tamaulipas yel Grupo Coordinador Cen-tral, Blake junto con el Go-bernador de TamaulipasEugenio Hernández Floresy el Presidente Municipalde Ciudad Mier, José IvánMancias Hinojosa, revisa-ron las estrategias que so-bresaldrán para regresarlela vida a esta comunidad.

Por un lado se anuncióque se trabajará con SA-GARPA para motivar alsector primario, que refierea la producción del campo,después que los ranchos re-gionlaes fueron abandona-dos debido a la inseguridad.

También rescatarán lospozos de PEMEX para suasignación a la paraestataly ayudar a fortalecer conmayor dinamismo la activi-dad económica de Mier y

de otros municipios de lafrontera Chica.

Se estima que PEMEXgenera empleo para alrede-dor de 400 personas.

“Nos preocupa el temade la inseguridad en nues-tro estado”, dijo Hernándeza la vez que reconoció la la-bor de Gobernación, elEjército, la Armada de Mé-xico y la Policía Federal.

Hernández aseguró quela criminalidad se ha reple-gado y algunas comunida-des ya regresaron a sus ac-tividades.

Mancias Hinojosa refren-dó al gobernador y al Secre-tario Blake su agradeci-miento por regresar a la vi-da a los habitantes, porqueahora ven mayor patrullaje.

Aplicación deprogramas

Hernández dijo que con

la presencia constante delas autoridades se permiti-rá que la ciudad esté tran-quila.

“Nos da aliciente paraseguir trabajando y creare-mos empleos”, dijo él.

Acerca de personas desa-parecidas, Blake dijo que setrabaja con la ProcuraduríaGeneral de la República enlos casos denunciados.

“Seguramente seránatendidos con la atingenciaque sea necesaria para po-der tener los datos, y laspistas y la información pa-ra poder lograr encontraresa infromación”, dijo Bla-ke.

Dijo que se trabaja bajoun esfuerzo común pararestablecer el orden consti-tucional y buscar en los es-pacios de paz, tranquilidad,que son de los ciudadanos.

(Localice a Miguel Timos-henkov en el 728-2583 ó enmramirez@lmtonline.com)

El Secretario de Gobernación José Francisco Blake Mora, el Gobernador de Tamaulipas Eugenio Hernández Flores y el Presidente Municipal de Ciudad Mier José Iván ManciasHinojosa, encabezaron una reunión donde detallaron los planes para rescatar Ciudad Mier.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

Prometen rescatar Cd. MierPOR MIGUEL TIMOSHENKOV

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Zfrontera PÁGINA 7ASÁBADO 11 DE DICIEMBRE DE 2010

Al rendir su sexto y último informede actividades, el Gobernador de Ta-maulipas Eugenio Hernández Floresaceptó que tuvo retos pero igualmenteaseguró que deja un estado “competiti-vo, moderno y justo”.

Durante el punto de seguridad, enfa-tizó que Tamaulipas fue el primer esta-do en modernizar totalmente la red detelecomunicaciones policiales y losprimeros también en migrar hacia elsistema de mando único de informa-ción criminal de Plataforma México.Dio la bienvenida al Operativo Noreste,que con apoyo del Ejército, La Marina yFuerzas Federales a través del Grupode Coordinación Interinstitucional, re-fuerzan su presencia en el estado y re-nuevan nuestra esperanza de revertir elflagelo de la violencia. Añadió quedesde hace dos años, se encauzaron losesfuerzos al cumplimiento puntual delAcuerdo Nacional por la Seguridad, laJusticia y la Legalidad, en el que seasumieron 15 compromisos que se man-ifestaron, entre otros avances, en el for-

talecimiento del Programa Escuela Seg-ura, en la implementación de un pro-grama para repatriados, en trabajo deprevención y atención de las adiccionesy en la construcción de 46 Tamules.

Ante invitados reunidos en el Polyfo-rum de Victoria, destacó otros aspectoscomo la educación donde dijo que elpromedio de escolaridad básica subiódel 8.6 al 9.1 y que en el nivel superiorse lograron abrir nuevas universidadescomo el Tec Milenio en Matamoros yNuevo Laredo, y nuevas unidades aca-démicas en los Tecnológicos de Mata-moros y Reynosa.

Habló también de cultura, deportes,desarrollo social y salud. En éste últi-mo renglón destacó “la construccióndel primer hospital regional de alta es-pecialidad, el nuevo hospital maternoinfantil de Reynosa, el hospital generalde El Mante y los de Río Bravo, ValleHermoso, Miguel Alemán y de Altami-ra, lo que se une a la ampliación y mod-ernización de los hospitales generalesde Victoria, Matamoros, San Fernando,Nuevo Laredo y el hospital infantil deTamaulipas”.

El Gobernador de Tamaulipas, Eugenio Hernández Flores, rindió su sexto y ultimo informe de ac-tividades desde Ciudad Victoria Tamaulipas el miércoles. El Gobernador habló de varios temas,pero enfatizó la seguridad sobre los demás.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

Gobernador ha ofrecidosu último informe

TIEMPO DE ZAPATACIUDAD VICTORIA — Sehan modernizado y equipadomás de 200 embarcaciones ca-maroneras, lo que ha permi-tido consolidar a Tamaulipascomo uno de los principalesproductores de camarón a ni-vel nacional.

Las embarcaciones, quehoy conforman la flota mejorequipada del Golfo de Méxi-co, fueron dotadas de tecnolo-gía de punta, que consta deequipos de navegación satel-ital, GPS y radares, que per-miten hacer más eficiente yseguro el trabajo en altamar.

Gracias al esfuerzo conjun-to de productores y Gobiernodel Estado, Tamaulipas regis-tra una producción anual demás de 15 mil toneladas decamarón, lo que lo convierteen el tercer productor de estecrustáceo a nivel nacional. El50% de la producción en elGolfo de México, pertenece ala entidad.

"Desde un principio", ase-guró Víctor de León Orti,Secretario de Desarrollo Ru-ral (de quien depende la Di-rección de Pesca y Acuacul-tura), "la instrucción del Go-bernador EugenioHernández fue trabajar paracontar con la mejor flota ca-maronera del país y duplicarla producción".

La modernización de laflota camaronera ha benefi-ciado a más de 5 mil familias,entre pescadores, marineros,despicadoras y empacadoras,quienes basan su economíaen esta actividad.

Simultáneamente, el Go-bierno del Estado en coordi-nación con la federación, haimpulsado la instalación degranjas acuícolas, en dondese producen más de mil 870toneladas de camarón y otrasespecies anualmente con ele-vados estándares de sanidad.Además cuenta con 45 uni-dades de producción y 57 uni-dades de procesamiento.

Con una gran inversión estatal mas de 4 mil embarcaciones integranla flota camaronera en la zona lagunaria son operadas por 30 orga-nizaciones pesqueras que reciben apoyo para rehabilitación y equipa-miento.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Nuevo Laredo

Mejoran industriacamaronera

ESPECIAL TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2010

CRIMINAL MISCHIEFDeputies responded to a

criminal mischief call at 11:17 p.m.Dec. 4 in the intersection of 23rdAvenue and Fresno Street. A mantold deputies he saw someone heknows slashing a rear tire of hispickup.

A woman told deputies at9:42 a.m. Dec. 5 in the 400 blockof Falcon Shore Drive that a per-son she knows broke the back win-dow of her vehicle while it wasparked in the driveway in the 400block of Falcon Shore Drive.

FIGHTA fight was reported be-

tween two men at 4:53 p.m. Mon-day in the 400 block of MirafloresStreet. Deputies say the alleged of-fenders used a steel pipe and sev-eral rocks as weapons. The Zapata

County Sheriff’s Department islooking into the case.

POSSESSIONRuben Villarreal was arrested

after reports of suspicious activityat 4:30 a.m. Dec. 4 in the inter-section of North Siesta and Mis-sion lanes. Villarreal was chargedwith possession of a controlledsubstance and was taken to ZapataRegional Jail.

STALKINGA woman called deputies at

5:07 p.m. Dec. 5 in the 5100 blockof Laredo Lane. She told author-ities she had been bothered by aperson she knows with text mess-ages. The complainant also tolddeputies the alleged offenderwould park outside her residence

to look at her house.

TERRORISTIC THREATDeputies responded to a call

at 7:20 p.m. Dec. 2 at the cornerof Seventh Street and Hidalgo Bou-levard. The complainant told depu-ties she wanted to file a terroristicthreat report against a person sheknows.

A woman reported at 10:47a.m. Dec. 5 in the 2200 block ofBrazos Street that three peopleshe knows passed by her residenceand threatened her and her son.

THEFTDeputies responded to a

theft call at 11:40 p.m. Dec. 5 inthe 2100 block of Sunset Drive. Awoman told deputies that someonestole her dog.

THE BLOTTER

The Zapata County Inde-pendent School District willbe deliberating or taking ac-tion on the reinstatement offour bus driver positions, anew position for SpecialEducation instructional as-sistant, and other contracts

or proposals in the next reg-ular meeting Tuesday.

Other items needingboard approval are the Spe-cial Education contractedconsulting service and arenovation proposal for theProfessional DevelopmentCenter. The PDC is thebuilding where all board,staff, and committee meet-

ings are held. Also at the meeting, the

Zapata High School JROTCand Future Farmers ofAmerica will be giving spe-cial presentations.

ZCISD board meetingwill take place on Tuesdayat 6:15 p.m. at the Profes-sional Development Center,600 W. 17th Ave.

District to consider drivers’ jobsBy LORRAINE L. RODRIGUEZ

THE ZAPATA TIMES

Students at Fidel and An-drea R. Villarreal Elemen-tary will celebrate a Nochede Fiesta jamaica beforethey break for Christmas.The fiesta will raise fundsfor class trips and for buy-ing Christmas gifts forneedy children.

“We’re inviting the com-munity to join VillarrealElementary (at) our Nochede Fiesta jamaica to pro-mote family involvement,”said Principal Carmen Za-vala. “We hope to see thecommunity out there be-cause it’s for a good cause.”

The Noche de Fiesta ja-maica will be taking placeat the Zapata County Pavil-ion on Tuesday, Dec. 14,from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. free ofadmission.

All grade levels, includ-ing kindergarten throughfifth, will be sponsoringfood and game booths.

Third grade classes takea major field trip to SeaWorld and the proceeds willhelp with the expense par-ents have to make, Zavalaadded.

“There’s going to be lotsof food, fajita tacos, sausagewraps, nachos, hot dogs,baked goods, popcorn, allsorts of holiday treats,” Za-

vala said. “Games includeloteria, cupcake walk, moonwalk, ring toss, Guitar He-ro, and a coloring contest.”

Additional entertainmentwill be provided by the kin-der classes and the ZapataMiddle School Mariachi Ju-venile Halcon Band, Zavalasaid.

The kinder classes willbe singing and dancing toChristmas songs, Zavalaadded.

Children will also be ableto take their pictures withSanta for $2 each, Zavalasaid.

(Lorraine L. Rodriguezmay be reached at (956)728-2557.)

Kids raise funds for tripsBy LORRAINE L. RODRIGUEZ

THE ZAPATA TIMES

TYLER, Texas — Twomen indicted in a string ofarson fires set at churchesin East Texas have saidthey will plead guilty nextweek.

The Tyler Morning Tel-egraph reported Fridaythat 20-year-old JasonBourque and 22-year-oldDaniel George McAllisterwaived their right to a ju-ry trial during a hearingin Tyler on Thursday.They say they will pleadguilty at a plea hearingscheduled for Wednesday.Sentencing is scheduledfor Jan. 10.

Bourque was indictedon five counts of arsonand three counts of at-tempted arson. McAllister

was indicted on twocounts of arson and twocounts of attempted arson.

It is unclear if the menplan to plead guilty to allof the charges.

McAllister’s attorneyBrent Ratekin told The As-sociated Press a judge’sgag order prohibits himfrom commenting.

The Tyler Morning Tel-egraph reported Fridaythat Bourque’s motherhopes people have compas-sion for her son. She de-scribes him as a "goodChristian young man"who has much to offer.

"I feel like we do (a)wrong thing and sin everyday and we ask God forforgiveness," KimberlyBourque said.

Bourque and McAllister

remain in the SmithCounty jail on bonds of$10 million apiece and faceup to life in prison if con-victed on all charges. Theywere arrested in February.

The men were chargedin one fire and suspectedof setting up to nine oth-ers. Nobody was injuredin the blazes.

Two churches wereburned down on NewYear’s Day in Athens andVan Zandt County. Overthe next six weeks, twomore churches in Athens,five in Smith County andanother in Wills Pointburned before the menwere arrested.

Investigators used vid-eotapes and shoe prints tohelp them link Bourqueand McAllister to the fires.

Church fire suspectsto plead guilty

ASSOCIATED PRESS

HANGING ON FOR A 94

Photo by Duane Prokop/Las Vegas Review-Journal | AP

Bull rider J.W. Harris from Mullin, Texas, hangs on a for a score of 94.5, the only 90 plus point ride ofthe night, winning round 7 of the 2010 Wranglers National Finals Rodeo on Friday at the Thomas andMack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2010 THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

ZAPATA — EusebiaFlores Villarreal, born Dec.15, 1911, passed awayWednesday, Dec. 1, 2010, atthe age of 98, 14 days beforeher 99th birthday.

She is preceded in deathby her husband, CasimiroVillarreal; two daughters,Lina and Josefina Villar-real; two grandsons, RubenVillarreal and Abel AngelVillarreal; her parents, Da-niel and Lucinda Flores;brothers, Manuel andAndres Flores; and two sis-ters, Felicidad and Nativi-dad Bustamante.

She is survived by hersons, Jose H. (Alicia) Vil-

larreal, Rolando (Mercedes)Villarreal, Roel (Esther)Villarreal and Rodolfo (Dia-na) Villarreal; daughter-in-law, Margarita Villarreal;14 grandchildren; 35 great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren; andby numerous other rela-tives and friends.

Pallbearers were: Jose H.Villarreal Jr., Rolando A.Villarreal Jr., Ricardo Vil-larreal, Raul Villarreal,Roel Villarreal Jr. and LuisDaniel Villarreal.

Visitation hours wereheld Friday, Dec. 3, 2010,

from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. with arosary at 2 p.m. at RoseGarden Funeral Home.

A funeral Mass was heldat 3:30 p.m. at Our Lady ofLourdes Catholic Church.Committal services fol-lowed at Zapata CountyCemetery.

Condolences may be sentto the family at www.rose-gardenfuneralhome.com.

Funeral arrangementswere under the direction ofRose Garden FuneralHome Daniel A. Gonzalez,Funeral Director, 2102Highway 83 Zapata, Texas.

Eusebia Flores Villarreal

ZAPATA — Juliana M.Barrera, 86, passed awayWednesday, Dec. 1, 2010, atLaredo Specialty Hospital.

Mrs. Barrera is preced-ed in death by her parents,Eusebio (Manuela) Men-diola; granddaughter, Yo-landa Renee Elizalde;brothers, Toribio Mendio-la, Martin Mendiola andJesus Mendiola; and sis-ters, Juanita Alva, LuciaMoralez, Angela Garciaand Maria Lucia Mondo-ca.

Mrs. Barrera is sur-vived by her husband, Pro-ceso Barrera Jr.; sons, Pro-ceso Barrera III and OmarBarrera; daughters, HildaBarrera and Nora (Jesse)Garcia; 10 grandchildren;18 great-grandchildren;and 16 great-great-grand-children; brothers and sis-ters, Jose G. Mendiola, Hi-ginio Mendiola and LiliaReyna; and by other fam-ily members and friends.

Visitation hours wereheld Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010,from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. witha rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose

Garden Funeral Home.The funeral procession

departed Wednesday,Dec.8, 2010, at 9:45 a.m. fora 10 a.m. funeral Mass atOur Lady of Lourdes Cath-olic Church. Committalservices followed at ZapataCounty Cemetery.

Condolences may besent to the family atwww.rosegardenfuneral-home.com.

Funeral arrangementswere under the directionof Rose Garden FuneralHome Daniel A. Gonzalez,Funeral Director, 2102Highway 83, Zapata, Texas.

Juliana M. Barrera

ZAPATA — Dora AliciaAleman, 46, passed awayWednesday, Dec. 1, 2010, atLaredo Specialty Hospital.

Mrs. Aleman is preced-ed in death by her father,Felix Benavides; father-in-law, Ruben A. Aleman;and sister-in-law, Ana Ali-cia Aleman de Barrera.

Mrs. Aleman is sur-vived by her husband,Luis Felipe Aleman; son,Luis Felipe Aleman Jr.;mother, Ana Maria Bena-vides; sister, Myrna Casta-ñon; brothers, Felix(Siomara) Benavides andClaudio Benavides; moth-er-in-law, Maria Del Car-men Gonzalez de Aleman;brothers-in-law, Ruben(Tere) Aleman, Julio C.Aleman, Aldo Alberto Ale-man and Joel Barrera; sis-ters-in-law, Rosa Martha(Juan Francisco) Ramirez,Maria Del Carmen (Ariel)Hernandez and NormaAngelica Aleman; and bynumerous nephews, niec-es and friends.

Visitation hours wereheld Thursday, Dec. 2,

2010, from 10 a.m. to 9:00p.m. with a rosary at 7p.m. at Rose Garden Fu-neral Home.

A funeral mass washeld Friday, Dec. 3, 2010,at 10 a.m. at Our Lady ofLourdes Catholic Church.

Condolences may besent to the family atwww.rosegardenfuneral-home.com.

Cremation arrange-ments were under the di-rection of Rose GardenFuneral Home Daniel A.Gonzalez, Funeral Direc-tor, 2102 Highway 83 Zapa-ta, Texas.

Dora Alicia AlemanZAPATA — Baby Kayla

Aaralyn Martinez passedaway Saturday, Dec. 4,2010, at Doctors Hospitalin Laredo, Texas.

Baby Kayla is survivedby her mother, Rut Marti-nez; maternal grandpar-ents, Rosevelt (Maria DelCarmen) Martinez; aunt,Alejandra (Obed) Ibarra;uncle, Rosevelt Junior(Perla Garza) Martinez;cousins, Obed Ibarra Jr.,Gisselle Ibarra, Kassan-dra Ibarra, Roselyn Marti-nez and Carolina Marti-nez; and by other relativesand friends.

Visitation hours wereheld Wednesday, Dec. 8,2010, at 2 p.m. with achapel service at 3:30 p.m.at Rose Garden FuneralHome. Committal servicesfollowed at Zapata County

Cemetery. Condolences may be

sent to the family atwww.rosegardenfuneral-home.com.

Funeral arrangementswere under the directionof Rose Garden FuneralHome Daniel A. Gonzalez,Funeral Director, 2102Highway 83 Zapata, Texas.

Kayla Aaralyn Martinez

Mexican nationals. “We continue to work with our

Mexican partners to ensure the safe-ty and security of communities onboth sides of the border,” Chandlersaid.

Mark Krikorian, executive directorfor the Center for Immigration Stud-ies, an organization based in Wash-ington, D.C., that advocates for strict-er immigration controls, called theidea of TPS for Mexicans in the U.S. a“nightmare scenario.”

“People have talked about it, the ac-tivist types, but I don’t see that hap-pening,” he said. “Honestly, if thepresident actually did that, a sweep-ing TPS for Mexicans, I could see ar-ticles of impeachment being offered.That would be so beyond the palethat I just don’t see any way that canhappen.”

About 6.65 million illegal immi-grants from Mexico live in the U.S.,according to the most recent estimatefrom DHS in January 2009. It’s impos-sible to know how many would qual-ify for TPS.

Temporary protected status givespeople the opportunity to live andwork legally here but offers no pathtoward a green card or citizenship.The U.S. government granted TPS toSalvadorans after two massive earth-quakes in 2001 killed 1,200 people. Af-ter Hurricane Mitch in 1998, Nicara-guans and Hondurans were also of-fered the special status. In January,Napolitano granted Haitians TPS inresponse to the earthquakes there.

Isaias Torres, a Houston immigra-

tion attorney, said Congress allowsthe DHS secretary to grant TPS whenan “armed conflict” in a country en-dangers deportees.

Supporters of the idea of grantingTPS to Mexicans say it would offermuch-needed protection to peoplewho have fled violence south of theborder, but do not have viable asylumcases, which typically require that ap-plicants face persecution in theirhome countries for specific reasonssuch as their race, religion or mem-bership in a particular social group.

During the past two years, immi-gration judges denied more than 85percent of requests of the 1,145 asy-lum petitions filed by Mexicans inU.S. immigration courts, according togovernment data analyzed by theTransactional Records Access Clear-inghouse at Syracuse University.

“My colleagues and I have heardstories from people that would makethe hair on the back of your neckstand up, chilling things, stories ofpeople who have witnessed people be-ing assassinated and executed in very,very gruesome ways,” said ElizabethMendoza Macias, a Houston immi-gration attorney. “But that doesn’tnecessarily mean they would have anasylum claim. And other than asy-

lum, there isn’t per se anything theycan apply for based strictly on fear ofreturning to Mexico.”

Israel Martinez, a 29-year-old den-tist from Tancitaro, Michoacan, andhis wife, Dulce Carolina Lopez, cameto Houston recently on tourist visasand say they are afraid to returnhome when their permits expire inFebruary. After consulting with im-migration attorneys in Houston, Mar-tinez said he was told they did nothave an asylum case, despite witness-ing gunfights and kidnappings andwatching as their small town slippedinto the control of cartels that ran offthe municipal government and policeforce.

“Nothing happened to me personal-ly, directly,” he said. “But I’ve seenand heard these things. I was afraid;little by little, they were taking moreterritory and people were beingkilled, and we didn’t understand why.We didn’t want to wait for somethingto happen.”

Even supporters of the idea saidthey do not expect the U.S. govern-ment to grant TPS to Mexicans anytime soon.

“It will be a long fight for this,”Ibarra said. “It might take a fewyears, but we will keep fighting.”

STATUS Continued from Page 1A

About 6.65 million illegal immigrants fromMexico live in the U.S., according to the mostrecent estimate from DHS in January 2009.

AUSTIN — The invest-ment team that achieved anearly 13 percent returnfor the pension systembenefiting Texas teacherswill share $9.7 million inperformance bonuses.

The $104 billion Teach-er Retirement System ofTexas turned in the bestone-year performanceamong the nation’s largestpublic pension funds as ofSept. 30, the Austin Amer-ican-Statesman reported.

The fund had a 12.6 per-cent one-year return, ac-cording to figures re-leased Thursday by thepension system.

Chief Investment Offi-cer Britt Harris will re-ceive a $444,553 bonus ontop of his $480,000 basesalary. Harris also will getanother $343,515 based onthe fund’s 2009 perform-ance. Payment of that bo-nus was deferred until thefund turned in a positiveannual return.

The bonuses are part ofa performance incentiveprogram established in2006.

Between 2008 and 2010,the investment team gen-

erated $2.3 billion morethan benchmarks for theincentives.

The bonuses are “goingto sting” for retired teach-ers who have not receivedan increase in theirmonthly checks in thepast 10 years, said TimLee, executive director ofthe Texas Retired Teach-ers Association.

Texas law says no addi-tional benefits can be giv-en to retirees unless thetrust fund is fully funded,and it still has only 83cents for every dollarneeded to meet long-termobligations made to thesystem’s 1.3 million activeand retired public schoolemployees.

Lee said he would likethe 2011 Legislature tofind a way to get retireesa benefit increase, butthat would require thestate to increase its con-tribution by more than$500 million.

Texas lawmakers aretrying to cut spending todeal with a projected bud-get shortfall topping $20billion. On Tuesday, lead-ers asked state agencies toplan for additional cuts of2.5 percent.

Pension fundbonuses upset

retired teachersASSOCIATED PRESS

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2010

first day of school.”Texas Education Agency

visited ZCISD last year andnoticed handicap accessi-bility has not been complet-ed throughout the district,Garcia said.

An official FacilitiesCommittee meeting will beheld soon to discuss theTEA requirements, shesaid.

Curriculum itemsNext on the agenda were

three different items re-garding the 2011 curricu-lum.

The first of the three wasDPDMC Chair OlindaFlores announcing the2009-2010 ZCISD and cam-pus Gold Performance Ac-knowledgements.

“Every school was recog-nized and we’re veryproud,” Flores said.

Zapata High School wasrecognized for graduatingmore than 85 percent of itsstudents in the Recom-mended High School Pro-gram or DistinguishedAchievement Plan, shesaid.

Zapata Middle Schooland Zapata South Elemen-tary were recognized forcomparable improvementin mathematics, Floressaid.

A. L. Benavides Elemen-tary and Fidel and AndreaR. Villarreal Elementary

were recognized for compa-rable improvement in read-ing, Flores said.

Benavides, Zapata Southand Fidel and Villarreal re-ceived commended per-formance in science, Floressaid.

“This is the highestachievement the kids canget,” Flores said.

A course called eInstruc-tion Simple Solutions RealResults, a technology initia-tive by coordinator of sci-ence and technology in-struction Connie Gray, wason the agenda.

Gray introduced a demoof the new response systemfor teachers to use withtheir students in the class-room.

“This is a totally differ-ent generation comingalong what I like to call thevideo game generation,”Gray said. “We need to geton the bandwagon and getthem what they want.”

The demo included a tab-let also known as the In-terwrite Mobi and a clickerfor 25 to 30 students with aUSB connection.

Each set is estimated tocost from $2,000 to $2,500,Gray said.

In a video clip, Grayshowed the committee theInterwrite Mobi tabletfunctionality.

“It allows for instantfeedback,” Gray said.

The tablet also allows formultiuser activities and

students can only write ontheir own tablets and areunable to mess with others’responses, Gray added.

The committee agreedthe system is necessary inevery classroom and distri-bution will be discussed inthe future.

Initially, principals andlibrarians will be respon-sible for the systems ontheir campuses, Gray said.

Teachers will have tocheck the systems out fromthe librarian, Gray said.

Gray also discussed Proc-lamation 2011 TextbookAdoptions, the next item inthe agenda.

The district will beadopting textbooks forpre-k systems, handwrit-ing, spelling, English, Span-ish, English as a SecondLanguage, and speech fordifferent grade levels andteachers.

For the last item in theagenda, Garcia had allteachers present represent-ing their campus highlightand update the staff devel-opment plan schedule.

“This is to see what hasbeen done and needs to bedone,” Garcia said.

(Lorraine L. Rodriguezmay be reached at (956)728-2557.)

ZCISD Continued from Page 1A

Park in front of US 83 forthe parade to pass by. Asthe parade passed in frontof them they cheered andcalled out to familiar faces.

This year the parade hadapproximately 25 entries,including Border Patrol,Texas Parks and Wildlife,Zapata High School Band,ZHS Future Farmers ofAmerica, ZHS JROTC.AARP and veteran organi-zations also joined in.

After the parade filledwith Christmas-themedfloats reached the ZapataCounty Courthouse, thecommunity surroundedthe county Christmas treeand waited as CountyCommissioner Jose E. Ve-la, County CommissionerEddie Martinez, and Coun-ty Judge-elect Joe Rathmellflipped the switch to lightthe tree’s lights.

The Christmas tree, ap-proximately 25 feet tall, isnicely decorated with shi-ny red and gold ribbon,clear Christmas lights thatlit up the plaza, and topped

with a large gold star.“It’s very beautiful and I

hope this keeps going formany years to come,” Velasaid.

After the lighting of thetree people stared in awe,sipping on hot cocoa andmingling with their fam-ilies and friends.

Some people took pic-tures of the nicely lit tree,while others stood in frontof it while others took pic-tures of them.

This tradition was sadlyterminated a few yearsback, Mendoza said.

“This had been going onfor quite a long time. I re-member it going on when Iwas a kid,” Mendoza said.“Then for a while it was letgo.”

The Zapata County Newsformerly sponsored theevent before the Chamberof Commerce took over lastyear, Mendoza added.

“It’s very hard for a pri-vate business to control, sowe decided to take on theresponsibility,” Mendoza

said. “We’ve been improv-ing it every year, and I’mvery satisfied with the re-sults,” Mendoza said.

“There are always a lotof people from the commu-nity that come out,” Men-doza added.

The main reason for thecelebration was to gatherthe community childrenand hand them earlyChristmas gifts donated bylocal businesses and othercommunity members,Mendoza said.

“We had a lot of gifts andgenerous donations fromthe businesses and otherindividuals so Santa couldgive to the kids,” Mendozasaid. “Most kids won’t getas many toys as theywould like because timesare hard right now withthe economic situation.

“Many families arestruggling, so we do thisevent to help those fam-ilies,” Mendoza added.

(Lorraine L. Rodriguezmay be reached at (956)728-2557.)

Visitors to San Ygnacio got to meet and hear about the historic home of Adrian Martinez during lastSunday’s Christmas House Tour.

Photo by Cuate Santos | The Zapata Times

CHRISTMAS Continued from Page 1A

flaged by the grassy hilltop could also fool driversunaware of the roof designand in case of an accidentthe roof is not prepared totake on the weight of a nor-mal-sized vehicle, muchless an 18-wheeler, Brownsaid.

Brown foresees a majordisaster if the violationsare not addressed as soonas possible, especially sincethe AEC is scheduled toopen soon and will be filledwith students, he said.

“This is the most won-derful opportunity for Za-pata to bring higher educa-tion and vocational educa-tion to the community andthat could really cause aproblem,” Brown said.

The building is still un-der warranty and the ar-chitect is legally obligatedto make the building safe,Brown said.

“I’m going to make surethat we have a safe, func-tional, and fully operation-al learning center for thepeople of Zapata County,”Brown said. “There will beno compromises; safetywill always come first andwe’re moving forward withall fronts, but safety con-cerns are a priority.”

Also needing court ap-proval are several require-ments for the Waste WaterTreatment Plant projectand the Las Palmas pro-ject, two major projects inZapata County.

Both projects are movingalong, but both still lack afew requirements, includ-ing bond counsel, said Ma-rio Gonzalez-Davis, ZapataCounty Projects Coordina-tor.

Items 24 through 31 onthe agenda include the ap-proval of a bond counsel,bond counsel ordinance,signature for rights of way,and farm land/flood plainresolutions for both pro-jects.

“We need to hire a bondcounsel, the legal person toissue bonds,” Gonzalez-Da-vis said.

All items are require-ments of both projects, in-cluding reports sent by theproject engineer confirm-ing the need of rights ofway that will need to besigned by the court, Gonza-lez-Davis said.

“We were told by the en-gineer that Las Palmas re-quires some rights of way,but the Waste Water Treat-ment Plant doesn’t.

“The engineer also certi-fied both projects are notbeing done on farm land orwet land,” Gonzalez-Davissaid.

Las Palmas project con-sists of connecting the com-munity of Las Palmas tothe main wastewater sys-tem in Zapata County, Gon-zalez-Davis said.

The Waste Water Treat-ment Plant project is a $6.4million project to meet newservice needs due to newerdevelopments in the coun-ty, Gonzalez-Davis said.

“The past few yearswe’ve been adding differentdevelopments and the treat-ment plant needs more ca-pacity, so we’re upgradingit to handle what is comingin now and what the futurewill bring,” Gonzalez-Davissaid. “It has a 20-yeargrowth plan, so when weare finished it should begood for another 20 years.”

In other business, Pre-cinct 1 Commissioner JoseE. Vela has requested anupdate from Linebarger,Goggan, Blair and Samp-son, LLP, the companyhired to collect more than$2 million worth of delin-quent fines and fees.

Vela had requested an of-ficial progress report fromthe company in the lastCommissioners Courtmeeting, but the companydid not make one.

The progress report isexpected to be heard in thenext Commissioners Courtmeeting, Vela said.

“They are going to tell ushow much we have to col-lect,” Vela said.

Vela has also suggested

increasing the amount ondelinquent fines and feesowed, he said.

Also at the meeting, Ve-la, recently faced with apollution violation in hisprecinct, has requested areport by the Texas Com-mission on EnvironmentalQuality to be discussed inexecutive session.

“We want to hear fromthe wastewater or sewerplant departments to seewhat they are doing to alle-viate the problem,” Velasaid. “We want to knowwhat the protocol is ifthere is another leak orspill in the lift stations.”

“We don’t want anymore spills and we’re try-ing to avoid any morespills,” Vela added.

Commissioners will behearing possible solutionsfrom Premier Engineeringdirector Manuel Gonzalezto prevent future problems,Vela said.

Other resolutions andproclamations include pro-hibiting aerial fireworks inZapata County.

“We do have an ordi-nance in the county toeliminate all aerial fire-works,” said Fire ChiefJuan Jose Meza. “If youcan shoot it up in the airand any part of it comesback down it is illegal,which includes bottle rock-ets.”

The ordinance will bementioned at the meetingto warn the public for theupcoming holidays, Mezasaid.

“Kids can be handedsparklers but with any fire-works there should be pa-rental supervision,” Mezasaid.

“Children should becareful with their hair andclothing while using spar-klers,” Meza added.

The meeting will be heldat the Zapata CountyCourthouse, 200 E. 7th Ave.,Suite 108, at 9 a.m.

(Lorraine L. Rodriguezmay be reached at (956)728-2557.)

COMMISSIONERS Continued from Page 1A

Sports&OutdoorsSATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2010 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

EDITOR’S NOTE: Hall of Fam-er Mike Schmidt hit 548home runs, was a three-timeNL MVP and led the Phil-lies to their first World Se-ries championship in 1980.

It’s old news in the base-ball world, happened a fewdays ago: Jayson Werth, for-mer Phillies right fielderand free agent, agreed to ac-cept $126 million over sevenyears to play for the Wash-ington Nationals.

Carl Crawford thentrumped Werth, getting $142million and seven yearsfrom the Red Sox. Cliff Leemight get even more.

The Werth signing hasgotten me thinking and Ican’t for the life of me un-derstand it. It’s not abouthim being worth the money,but about an industrywhere they can spend hun-dreds of millions on poten-tial.

I’m very happy for Jay-son and his family who, as Ionce did, reaped the bene-

fits of baseball’s free-agentsystem. He is a multitalent-ed player who was impor-tant in the Phillies’ recentruns. In my estimation, hehas the potential to winmultiple MVP awards overthe life of his new contract.He can become an elite play-er. The Nationals are bet-ting on it.

Jayson is a quiet youngman. Marches to his ownbeat, as they say. He is mywife’s favorite player — shelikes to see what his hairlooks like every game.

He enjoyed reasonablesuccess his last two years inPhilly because he was leftalone to be himself, do histhing his way with low ex-pectations. He played in theshadow of several All-Stars,highly paid teammates, theperfect environment.

In his so-called breakout

COMMENTARY

Hall of Fameperspective on

free agencyBy MIKE SCHMIDTASSOCIATED PRESS

See SCHMIDT PAGE 2B

MIKE SCHMIDT: For-mer Phillies slug-ger, and Hall ofFamer.

ARLINGTON — TexasRangers owner ChuckGreenberg traveled to Ar-kansas on Thursday andpresented Cliff Lee with a“menu of multiple offers”in an attempt to persuadethe prized pitcher to re-

main with the team hehelped reach the World Se-ries.

Greenberg, assistantgeneral manager Thad Le-vine and co-chairman RayDavis, a pipeline billio-naire, met with Lee, thepitcher’s wife and agentDarek Braunecker atBraunecker’s office.

While Greenberg wouldnot get into specific de-tails, he said Thursdaynight the offers included“substantial additionalcommitments in years anddollars.” He characterizedthem as “highly competi-tive.”

Before Thursday, theRangers had asked Lee to

tell them what it wouldtake for him to stay withTexas, which acquired theace left-hander from Seat-tle in July.

The New York Yankeesadded a year to their offerearlier in the day, propos-ing a seven-year contract

MLB

This Oct. 27 file photo shows Texas Rangers’ Cliff Lee throwing during the second inning of Game 1 of the World Series against the SanFrancisco Giants, in San Francisco. On Wednesday the New York Yankees made an offer to Lee, a six-year proposal worth nearly $140million.

Photo by David J. Phillip | AP

Rangers, Yanks splurge for LeeBy STEPHEN HAWKINS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

See LEE PAGE 2B

ARLINGTON — BeforeMichael Vick and the Phi-ladelphia Eagles can eventhink about playing atCowboys Stadium in Feb-ruary, they’re going tohave to knock off the Dal-las Cowboys.

Twice, preferably.The Eagles are tied for

first place in the NFC East

with four games remain-ing, and two are againstthe Cowboys, their mostdreaded division rival.They meet Sunday nighton Dallas’ home turf, the$1.2 billion site of the up-coming Super Bowl, thenin Philadelphia on the fi-nal Sunday of the regularseason.

Losing both could be di-sastrous for the Eagles(8-4). Winning both would

go a long way toward help-ing them claim the divi-sion title or at least a wildcard. It also would helpmake up for the way lastseason ended — a shutoutloss in the regular-seasonfinale at Cowboys Stadi-um, then a 34-14 loss in awild-card game playedthere six days later.

"Oh, man, if you can’tget motivated by that, Idon’t know what will moti-

vate you," Vick said. "Iwasn’t even on the fieldplaying and it hurt medeeply. I can imagine whatthe guys who were outthere are feeling now."

The teams haven’t metsince. What a shame forPhiladelphia.

Because the NFL movedsome division games intothe final month to boostthe stakes (and ratings),the Eagles missed a

chance to kick the Cow-boys while they weredown.

Now Dallas has reco-vered. Since a 1-7 start un-der coach Wade Phillips,the Cowboys are 3-1 underinterim coach Jason Gar-rett. They’re coming off anovertime win in Indiana-polis.

"I think it shows the

NFL

Cowboys try to contain

Dallas Cowboys place kicker David Buehler (18) kicks a 38-yard field goal out in overtime to defeat the Indianapolis Colts, 38-35, in a football game in Indianapolis on Sun-day.

Photo by Darron Cummings | AP

Vick’s high-speed Eagles visit Big D for Sunday nightBy JAIME ARON

ASSOCIATED PRESS

See COWBOYS PAGE 2B

IRVING — Dallas Cow-boys owner Jerry Joneswants Tony Romo to playagain this season, even ifthe playoffs are a long shotat best. He just wants hisstar quarterback to getback on the field.

Romo has been sidelinedsince Oct. 25 when hebroke his collarbone in aloss to the Giants, andwould only be able to re-turn for the team’s finaltwo games, at Arizona onDec. 25 and at Philadelphiaon Jan. 2.

Asked if Romo would be

Dallas Cowboys quarterback To-ny Romo tosses a football be-fore the game against the NewOrleans Saints on Nov. 25 atCowboys Stadium in Arlington.

Photo by Brandon Wade | AP

Joneswants

Romo toReturn

ASSOCIATED PRESS

See ROMO PAGE 2B

PAGE 2B Zscores SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2010

free agent year, he was ahighly touted position play-er. The Phillies were defend-ing National League pen-nant winners, consistentlyon national television.Werth was having a goodyear while many of histeammates were strugglingwith injuries, so he got thelion’s share of the attention,especially as a free agent tobe.

He’s durable, can run likea deer, play a Gold Gloveright field and hit with pow-er. He can be the real deal,but will he? In Philly, thestars were aligned perfectlyfor him. Should the Nation-als have considered this?

This is what puzzles meabout this contract. Are theNationals in a position towager $126 million that hecan do it all? In Philly, Jay-son had men on base on aregular basis with provenplayers Jimmy Rollins,Shane Victorino and ChaseUtley stirring it up. He

could stumble into 75 RBIsjust by playing everyday, buthe only drove in 85 last sea-son.

In Washington, the lineupis young and inexperienced,right-handed dominant, andthe park is big, so RBIs willnot come as easily. RBIs aremuch tougher when every-one’s counting. Jayson nowwill be the man, the cleanuphitter with the burden ofproduction, far surpassinganything he has experi-enced. His name will befirst on the opposition’s“don’t let him beat us” list.If the Nationals don’t comeup with a legit left-handedbat behind him, he willquickly see what Ryan How-ard had to deal with in Phil-ly.

Baseball’s executivesdon’t understand the re-sponsibility that playing un-

der a contract like thisbrings, nor do players untilthey feel it. Is it Werth theweight, so to speak. I know,I felt it, it’s really heavy ifyou are in New York orPhilly. Lucky for him, notnearly so in Washington, asattendance will drop as theseason progresses, but thebaseball world will bewatching, and the playerfeels it.

Is it good business to drop$126 million in the lap of aplayer who is in the growthstage?

The Phillies had the rightplan for Jayson, a plan thatworked well for Ryan How-ard and Chase Utley. Bothwere slowly adjusted up-ward. Ryan was forced touse arbitration, then a com-petitive multiyear deal andthen, after Rookie of theYear, MVP award and ave-

raging 135 RBIs a season, hegot his bonanza. Not a gam-ble, a lock.

Utley’s path was similar.Up through the Phillies sys-tem, slowly climbed the sal-ary ladder, became the bestsecond baseman in thegame, will jump to Howardmoney soon. Again, likebuying Apple stock, no risk.This is good management.The Phillies were lookingfor the same for Jayson. Hewas one 30-homer/100-RBIyear from $100-plus millionwith Philadelphia, and may-be a couple more champion-ship rings with them. Buttoday the open market is ir-resistible.

The Nationals are build-ing a nice team. AdamDunn is gone and boy,would he have cast a niceshadow. Ryan Zimmerman,Ivan Rodriguez and Josh

Willingham, and Bryce Har-per is not far away. Ofcourse, Stephen Strasburgwill be back eventually.There are several youngplayers with great potential,but a journeyman startingstaff will not allow anyteam to contend, especiallyagainst the Phillies andBraves.

Maybe they have some-thing up their sleeve, a cou-ple more signings to bolsterthe middle infield, a firstbaseman, a left-handed hit-ter with power, maybe CliffLee. Now we’re talking con-tention, but no money inthe till to pay the groundscrew.

So if the season started to-morrow, Jayson Werth willmake nearly the same ayear as the Nationals’ start-ing lineup combined. Thatcan add some pressure,

wouldn’t you think? My closing thought on

this is that I’d have done thesame thing, given the samesituation as Jayson. Sowould most everyone else.He could have stayed inPhilly and earned his $100million, but there’s always achance of a career-endinginjury, so you take the mon-ey and run.

I guess there is no one atfault here. It’s the money-driven world in which welive. Players are commodi-ties and are worth whatsomeone will pay for them.

The Nationals needed ashot in the arm, a player tofeature on billboards,they’re betting on him astheir future star. Now it’shis shadow that will be caston other players, he will beexpected to deliver, he willneed to face the media mu-sic every game, all as thesearch for the potential theNationals are betting onhim to attain unfolds.

SCHMIDT Continued from Page 1B

Players are commodities and are worth what someone will pay for them.

true character of a lot ofplayers, to be in the situa-tion where we are, and thefight that we have," tightend Jason Witten said. "Ja-son’s instructions has beenclear and everybody is fol-lowing that up. A lot ofthose players are veteranguys that could’ve takenthe easy way out. Thatshows the mental tough-ness you have to have tobounce back."

However, the best theycan do this season is breakeven. While not yet elimi-nated from the playoffs,their chances are so re-mote that it might take thealignment of all the plane-ts, plus Pluto regainingplanet status and falling inline, too.

There are still realisticgoals, especially for Gar-rett. Beating Philadelphiaonce would clinch noworse than a break-even re-

cord for his tenure. Beatingthe Eagles twice wouldreally impress team ownerJerry Jones as he consid-ers whether to give Garrettthe job permanently.

"I don’t know if this isthe time to be impressedby anything," Garrett said."We’ve got work to do. ...But I think our team hasfought well. They hear metalk a lot about adversityand challenges of thisleague. It’s hard. It’s hard

to win on Sundays. Youhave to fight through dif-ferent things to win. And Ithink our team is doingthat."

The Cowboys have man-aged to thrive despite beingwithout starting quarter-back Tony Romo (brokencollarbone). The trainingroom is starting to getcrowded, though, as Ma-rion Barber could miss asecond straight game be-cause of a calf strain and

rookie receiver Dez Bryantjust went on injured re-serve with a broken anklesuffered against the Colts.

Fill-in quarterback JonKitna has been a steadyingforce and so has an im-proved running game. Newstarter Felix Jones gained83 yards against Indianapo-lis and Tashard Choice ranfor 100 yards in relief.

Dallas know it had torun the last two weeks tokeep Drew Brees and Pey-ton Manning on the side-line. The Cowboys willneed to do so again Sundaynight with Vick leading theEagles to the most yardsand second-most points inthe NFL.

"You have to account foreverything," said Vick, whoalso has moved into the topspot in Pro Bowl voting."We’re a pass-heavy team.We’re going to throw thefootball, we’re going to mix

in the run, you’ve got toprepare for the wildcat,you’ve got to prepare forthe pass, prepare for thescramble. It’s not just me,it’s the entire team andhow the coach takes advan-tage of our talent."

Philadelphia playersshould be fresh Sundaynight, having gone fromfour games in 18 days tofive days off before practic-ing Wednesday.

Coach Andy Reid’s teamsgenerally have done welllate in the season, rested ornot. He also is 14-9 againstDallas — but lost all threegames to the Cowboys lastseason. Coincidence or not,sweeping changes followed.

Nearly half the rosterturned over, with DonovanMcNabb the headlineroverall and among several30-somethings sent pack-ing.

"That didn’t necessarily

have anything to do withthe games against the Cow-boys," Reid insisted. "Weneeded to get younger andwe did that. We did most ofour stuff through the draftand not free agency. Wehad a fill a few holes infree agency. We were ableto get most of it done withthe draft and get a littleyounger."

Whether the overhaulhad the Cowboys in mindor not, they’ll find out Sun-day night — and in the fi-nale — whether it wasenough for them to reclaimthe NFC East title Dallaswon last season.

"We’re going to come outon a mission," receiver Jer-emy Maclin said. "Our mis-sion is to achieve what wewant to achieve, and notjust beat Dallas. So, weknow in order to do that,we have to beat Dallas thisweek."

COWBOYS Continued from Page 1B

“I think it shows the true characterof a lot of players, to be in thesituation where we are, and thefight that we have,"TIGHT END JASON WITTEN

ready for the Cardinals,Jones said: “In my opin-ion, he will be.”

“I want to do anythingwe can to win thosegames. (The decision) willbe based on what gives usthe best chance to win,”Jones said. “And, whenhe’s ready to go, he’s goingto be ready. I shouldn’t beconcerned about addition-al injury to his shoulder.”

Jones added that Romowould only come back thisseason as the starter, notas a backup. Jon Kitnahas filled in for Romo, go-ing 3-3 in his six starts.

Given the fact that theCowboys are virtually outof the playoff hunt, thebenefits of having Romoplay seem minimal. Butalong with trying to win

those games, Jones alsosaw a potential benefit ofhaving Romo back beforenext season.

“I can envision a scena-rio where you have a littlebetter taste in your mouthif he came back, and heplayed the last two gamesand played lights out thanif he hadn’t played,” hesaid.

As for interim coach Ja-son Garrett, the ownerhad cautious praise. Sincetaking over for Wade Phil-lips, Garrett has led theCowboys to a 3-1 recordheading into Sunday’shome game against Phila-delphia.

“Jason is doing verywell,” Jones said. “But Iexplore all possibilities. Ialways do. I look for what

ifs in things where indi-viduals have expressedthe direction of wherethey’re going with theircareers. I work throughthat.”

In determining whowould be the next coach,Jones said he would valueexperience “a lot.”

Jones made it clear thathe is disappointed thisseason. After all, the Cow-boys began the year withhopes of becoming thefirst team to play a SuperBowl in their home stadi-um.

“I feel very much in-volved in the shortcomingthat we’ve had this year,”Jones said. “And I am. Noquestion about it. There’sno one on this coachingstaff that’s not here be-

cause I wanted them. Nota player on this team. It’sreal easy. I get in the mir-ror and look and see whatwe can do differently andwhat we’re doing wrong.”

Jones said he didn’tknow when running backMarion Barber (strainedleft calf) would return.Asked if placing Barberon season-ending injuredreserve was a considera-tion, Jones said: “Not to-day.” ... Jones doesn’t re-gret splitting trainingcamp between Texas andCalifornia and doesn’t be-lieve it led to his team’sseason struggles. “We’vetraveled all over the worldand won world champion-ships,” Jones said, addingthat he’d do the samething again.

ROMO Continued from Page 1B

for the 2008 AL Cy YoungAward winner. On Wednes-day, the Yankees offered asix-year deal worth $137.5million to $140 million.

Then the Boston Red Soxagreed Wednesday night toa $142 million, seven-yearcontract with All-Star out-fielder Carl Crawford.Greenberg said that dealchanged the free-agent mar-ket dynamics and prompt-ed the trip to Arkansas.

“A very positive discus-sion,” Greenberg said. “Wereiterated our strong desirefor him to remain a Rang-er.”

Asked if he consideredhimself optimistic or pessi-mistic about that happen-ing after the nearly 90-min-ute meeting, Greenberg re-sponded, “We felt very good

about the discussion.” Greenberg, whose group

bought the team from TomHicks in August, said theRangers weren’t given atimetable for Lee’s deci-sion. And they didn’t pushfor one either since a “con-siderable amount” of newinformation was presentedto the pitcher and his fam-ily.

“We’d rather it be soonerthan later,” the owner said,“but they have an enor-mous decision to make.”

It was the third timeRangers officials visitedLee in his home state.Team president NolanRyan and general managerJon Daniels were involvedin the earlier trips, andGreenberg also visited pre-viously.

LEE Continued from Page 1B

LAKE BUENA VISTA,Fla. — A dapper Cam New-ton strolled briskly downthe red carpet, smiling andacknowledging adoringfans. He paused momentar-ily to sign a few auto-graphs, then rushed off tobegin collecting some of hispostseason hardware.

The Auburn star wonthe Davey O’Brien Awardas the nation’s top quarter-back Thursday night, whenhe also walked away withthe Maxwell Award as thebest all-around player inthe country. His next stopwill be New York, wherehe’s the favorite to win theHeisman Trophy today.

“No guy would be able todo it without a supportingcast,” he said to an audi-ence that included hismother, Jackie, and hiscoach, Gene Chizik.

Dressed in a black suit,white shirt and orange tie,Newton was the next-to-last

player introduced on thered carpet for the CollegeFootball Awards Show atDisney World — just aheadof Wisconsin offensive tack-le Gabe Carimi, the Out-land Trophy winner as thenation’s best interior line-man.

The 6-foot-6, 250-poundquarterback led top-rankedAuburn (13-0) to the South-eastern Conference cham-pionship and a spot in theBowl Championship Seriesnational title game againstNo. 2 Oregon on Jan. 10 inGlendale, Ariz.

“I just take pride in be-ing the person that every-body looks to for leadershipand guidance,” said New-ton, who answered ques-tions during ESPN’s tele-cast but wasn’t available toreporters covering theevent.

Newton led the SEC inrushing with 1,409 yards,while also completing 67.1percent of his passes for2,589 yards and 28 touch-downs. In all, he accounted

for 49 TDs, scoring one ona reception and runningfor 20 to join former Flor-ida star Tim Tebow andNevada quarterback ColinKaepernick (also this year)as the only Football BowlSubdivision players with atleast 20 TDs both rushingand passing in a season.

“I think he’s the bestplayer in the country,” saidOregon’s LaMichael James,who won the Doak WalkerAward as the nation’s toprunning back and also is afinalist for the Heisman.

The other Heisman final-ists — Stanford quarter-back Andrew Luck andBoise State QB KellenMoore — also were up forthe awards Newton sweptThursday night. Earlier inthe day, he won the WalterCamp player of the yearaward as well.

Prior to the show, New-ton said in an interviewwith ESPN that he “did nowrong” during the recruit-ing process that led to himsigning with Auburn.

Speaking hours beforethe broadcast, Newton toldthe network that he fol-lowed his heart in signingwith the Tigers instead ofMississippi State.

“I’m a person that did nowrong,” Newton said. “Idid it the right way.”

He had not spoken pub-licly about the failed pay-for-play scheme involvinghis father, Cecil, and for-mer Mississippi State play-er Kenny Rogers while thestar quarterback was beingrecruited by the Bulldogs.The NCAA ruled that CamNewton was unaware ofthe payment scheme.

After the ruling, GeorgeLawson, the Newton familyattorney, said that CecilNewton cooperated withthe NCAA.

“Cam’s father participat-ed in the investigationtruthfully and honestly interms of what he knew andwhat he didn’t know, re-gardless of the consequenc-es,” Lawson told WSB-TVin Atlanta.

College awards set stage for HeismanBy FRED GOODALLASSOCIATED PRESS

Auburn quarterback Cameron Newton is pictured at the universityin Auburn, Ala. Newton is a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, award-ed to the nation’s top college football player each year.

Photo by Dave Martin | AP

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CATS ON THE COUN-TER

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Betty, this is a commonproblem because cats arenatural jumpers and, ofcourse, very curious.

Don’t discourage theirjumping; just provide al-ternatives, such as carpet-ed perches and “trees,”available at pet stores.

Keep food put away andoff the counters to preventtemptation.

A “hands off” way toteach nonjumping? Putaluminum foil on thecounters, or aluminum pieplates that will startle acat.

Most importantly, don’tscold or punish a cat; it’sjust doing what comes nat-urally, and it’ll only learnto be afraid of you. -- He-loise

GOOD DOG, BADBREATH

Dear Readers: Does yourdog have bad breath? Theculprit could be bits of wetfood stuck in between theteeth. Your veterinarian

should do a tooth and gumcheckup. A tooth cleaningmay be all that’s needed,and afterward? A dogtoothbrush and beef-fla-vored toothpaste for dogs.Never use human tooth-paste on dogs. -- Heloise

GIVING HAIR THEBRUSHOFF

Dear Heloise: To removedog hair from sofas andchairs, I use one of thesmall dog brushes that Iuse to brush my dog. AfterI have removed the hairthat I picked up from thebrush, I give the brush agood cleaning with sham-poo and warm water.Works wonders! -- Anna inVirginia

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HINTS BY | HELOISE

“HELOISE

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2010

HOUSTON — Texanssafety Bernard Pollard islooking forward to seeingthe Baltimore defense inperson Monday night. He’shoping that Houston’syounger players also watch— and learn.

Baltimore (8-4) doesn’thave the league’s top de-fense, not this year anyway,but still has a reputationfor punishing hits andfierce intensity.

The Texans (5-7), mean-while, rank near the bot-tom of the league in everydefensive category, and thesecondary has given up bigplays in the fourth quarterof their last four losses. Theunit has shown signs of im-provement in recent weeks,but Pollard laments howmany mental breakdownsthe Texans are still makingat crucial moments.

The Ravens, Pollard says,simply don’t have thosekinds of lapses.

"They go out there andfight all game," Pollardsaid. "That’s been one ofour biggest knocks. Nobodycan question the talent wehave on this team. Whatthey can question is the ef-fort that’s been given, as faras for 60 minutes. We haveto evaluate ourselves, be-cause we’re not who wethink we are."

The Texans havedropped five of six, but sitonly two games behindfirst-place Jacksonville inthe AFC South. They drawhope for salvaging this sea-son. Last year, they wontheir last four games to fin-ish 9-7, the franchise’s firstwinning record.

Baltimore is in muchbetter shape for the post-season, though last week’s13-10 loss to Pittsburghdropped them out of firstplace in the AFC North.

Coach John Harbaughcalled the defeat the tough-est he’s had in three yearsin Baltimore, but he doesn’texpect any mental letdownheading into Monday’s

game."I think they do a good

job of taking it one day at atime," Harbaugh said."We’ve got a lot of prepara-tion to put in before we canbe prepared to play thatgame. That’s our focus."

Harbaugh is more con-cerned about the Ravens’offensive consistency afterthey mustered fewer than20 points for the fifth timethis season. Baltimore aver-aged only 2.2 yards on 20carries in the game andranks 16th in rushing thisseason (108.4 yards pergame).

"I’m disappointed in the

fact that we haven’t run theball for a better yard-per-carry average," Harbaughsaid. "I think we’re capableof doing better than that.That establishes a lot ofother things."

Harbaugh expects full-back Le’Ron McClain(sprained ankle) to returnfor Monday’s game, butsaid tight end Todd Heap"doesn’t look good" for thegame due to a hamstringinjury.

The Texans have hardlyslowed down any offense,regardless of who’s beenhurt on the other side. AndPollard thinks that teams

actually gain confidencewhen they study the Tex-ans on film, knowing thatsooner or later, the defensewill give up a pivotal play.

"A lot of teams come inhere say, ’If our passinggame isn’t going right, it’sgoing to go right on Mon-day. If our running gameisn’t going right, it mightbe all right on Monday,’"Pollard said. "They’re goingto slap us around a fewtimes. We’re going to justkeep swinging, and eventu-

ally we’re going to knockthem out."

The Texans’ offense hasdone its part to keep theseason afloat, averaging 373yards and 24 points pergame. Arian Foster leadsthe league in rushing (1,230yards) and yards fromscrimmage (1,709), whileAndre Johnson ranksfourth in yards receiving(1,018), despite playing mostof the season with asprained right ankle.

Foster is Houston’s sec-

ond-leading receiver, with50 catches for 479 yards,and reminds Ravens line-backer Ray Lewis of formerSan Francisco 49ers run-ning back Roger Craig.

"He’s very shifty and ve-ry smooth," Lewis said. "Ve-ry shifty with high knees,and (he) runs way fasterthan people think. He’smore of a glider with goodhands out of the backfield.The kid has the total pack-age when it comes to an all-purpose back."

Texans to face tough defense on MNFBy CHRIS DUNCANASSOCIATED PRESS

Houston Texans’ Derrick Ward (32) tries avoid a tackle from Phila-delphia Eagles’ Mike Patterson in the second half of a football gamelast Thursday in Philadelphia. Philadelphia won 34-24.

Photo by Michael Perez | AP