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RANGERS MAKE MOVESTEXAS RESIGNS LEWIS, ADDS FORMER TOP PICK AFTER PRISON RELEASE, 1B

The Zapata CountySheriff ’s Office is warn-ing the community abouta recent utility bill scam,authorities said this week.

Through their Face-book, officials said scam-mers are calling ZapataCounty Water Works’ cus-

tomers about a past duebill.

Scammers then tell cus-tomers they have a billthat has to be paid urgent-ly by phone or in person,or the services will be ter-minated immediately, theSheriff ’s Office said.

Authorities said thenumber scammers arecalling from is 956-545-

0287.“If you receive a phone

call from someone claim-ing to be your local waterworks office and you feelyou are being victim ofsuch scam, please callyour local water districtoffice and verify withthem before you take anyaction,” authorities said.

Often in phone scams,

if a caller pressures peo-ple to give them their per-sonal information — so-cial security number orcredit card information —it’s likely a scam, accord-ing to consumer informa-tion by the Federal TradeCommission.

“Every year, thousandsof people lose money totelephone scams — from a

few dollars to their lifesavings. Scammers willsay anything to cheat peo-ple out of money. Someseem very friendly — call-ing you by your firstname, making small talkand asking about yourfamily,” states the FTC inits website.

ZAPATA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

Water Works’ customers scammedBy CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ

THE ZAPATA TIMES

See SCAMMED PAGE 12A

ZAPATA

ANNUAL CHRISTMAS PARADE

Zapata’s annual Christmas Parade and Lighting of the County Plaza took place Thursday, and the Zapata Chamber of Commerce deemed it a complete success. “Whata great Christmas event we had, and it was all thanks to you,” the chamber said in a news release. “We not only met our goal, but we shattered our previous event re-cord. We hope you had a good time and enjoyed the event.”

Courtesy photos

The general counsel ofthe City of Laredo HousingAuthority, which servesWebb and Zapata counties,is contesting the removal

of RaymondBruni fromits board ofcommis-sioners,saying hewas not giv-en due pro-cess.

Mean-while, Mayor Pete Saenz,who appointed Bruni’s re-placement, said Bruni’sterm had “overstayed histenure” due to a technical-ity, so he was allowed toappoint his own commis-sioner to the board. Saenzsaid the city’s legal depart-ment told him that becauseBruni had “overstayed histenure” past former MayorRaul Salinas’ term, he nowhad the right to appoint acommissioner of his choos-ing.

“It’s not per cause oranything else,” Saenz said.“It’s just the fact that I hadthat right.”

Bruni, 68, was first ap-pointed to the board in2007 by Salinas.

Saenz appointed Jose L.Ceballos to replace Brunion Dec. 11, about a week af-ter Bruni was arrested. Ce-ballos that same daysigned an oath of officecertificate before the citysecretary.

The Housing Authorityattorney’s, Patrick Bernalof San Antonio, releasedan opinion Tuesday re-garding the removal ofBruni, who was chargedwith aggravated assaultearlier this month.

In a letter addressed toLaredo Housing AuthorityExecutive Director LauraLlanes on Tuesday, Bernalsaid the housing authorityhad not received a noticeof any charges citing a spe-cific reason for Bruni’s re-moval.

Bernal says state law al-lows a mayor to remove acommissioner “for specificgrounds, including ineffi-ciency, neglect of duty ormisconduct in office.”

He also states that be-fore a commissioner maybe removed, he or shemust be given a copy ofcharges at least 10 days be-fore the date of a hearing.

LAREDO

BRUNI

Bruniousted

bymayorHousing Authoritycontests removal

By KENDRA ABLAZATHE ZAPATA TIMES

SAENZ

See BRUNI PAGE 12A

Three of ZCISD’s six campusesfell short of minimum standardsand have been placed on the Pub-lic Education Grant List for the2016-17 school year.

When a school is included inthe list, it means the campus hadpassing rates on State of TexasAssessments of Academic Readi-ness that are less than or equal to

50 percent in any two of the pre-ceding three years or the schoolwas rated improvement requiredin 2013, 2014 or 2015.

Students at a PEG school areallowed to transfer to other cam-puses or a different district.

Schools receiving studentsfrom PEG-list campuses receive10 percent more funding for eachof those students.

Zapata County ISDFor a second year in a row, Za-

pata County Independent SchoolDistrict’s Fidel and Andrea R. Vil-larreal elementary, Zapata Middleand Zapata High Schools are onthe PEG list.

Last year, the campuses seemedto be struggling with the scienceportion of the exam, with the ex-ception of Zapata High School.

The campus struggled in the

reading portion of the exam. Additionally, Fidel and Andrea

R. Villarreal Elementary and Za-pata Middle were labeled im-provement required for the 2015-16 school year.

For the 2016-17 school year, Fi-del and Andrea R. Villarreal Ele-mentary was labeled improve-ment required.

The campus is also struggling

ZCISD

Short of standardsHalf of district’s campuses struggled on STAAR exams

By JUDITH RAYOTHE ZAPATA TIMES

See ZCISD PAGE 12A

PAGE 2A Zin brief SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2015

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19Teatro Tejano de la Calle from 3

p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at La Posada Hotel,1000 Zaragoza St. Street theatre-stylehistory tour, $5 per person.

Laredo Free Thinkers: OperationGive Back. The LFT will be giving outwarm clothing, blankets and toys toLaredo’s needy in Jarvis Plaza at 3p.m. Please donate clothing or toys oreven bring food. For more informationplease call 744-5674 or visit the Face-book page Laredo Free Thinkers.

TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Plan-etarium shows. 2 p.m.: Wonders of theUniverse; 3 p.m.: Season of Light; 4p.m.: Mystery of the Christmas Star; 5p.m.: Let it Snow (Music Show.) Ad-mission is $4 for children and $5 foradults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU stu-dents, faculty and staff. The 3 p.m.show is $1 less. For more information,call 956-326-DOME (3663).

Spiritual Wisdom on Dreams.Free Bilingual Spiritual Discussion. 1-2:30 p.m. at the Laredo Public Libraryon Calton. For more information pleasecall 210-831-7113 or go to our web-sites: www.Eckankar-Texas.org orwww.spiritualexperience.org. Presentedby the Texas Satsang Society, Inc.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20Memorial Bells of the First United

Methodist Church presents the seventhannual Christmas concert entitledHandbell Festival. 4 p.m. First UnitedMethodist Church sanctuary, 1220McClelland. The event is free and opento the public. Donations will be accept-ed to help defray concert-related costs.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 21TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Plan-

etarium will show their Holiday BreakSpecial. 2 p.m.: Accidental Astronaut; 3p.m.: Mystery of the Christmas Star; 4p.m.: Let it Snow (Music Show). Gener-al admission is $3. For more informa-tion, call 956-326-DOME (3663).

Chess Club at the LBV-Inner CityBranch Library, 202 W. Plum, from 4p.m. to 6 p.m. Free for all ages and allskill levels. Basic instruction is offered.Call John at 795-2400 x2521 for moreinformation.

Knitting Club at the LBV-InnerCity Branch Library, 202 W. Plum, from1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Learn how to knitscarves, crochet hats and much more.Knit at your own pace. Instruction isavailable and supplies are limited. CallJohn at 795-2400 x2521 for more in-formation.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Plan-

etarium will show their Holiday BreakSpecial. 2 p.m.: The Little Star thatCould; 3 p.m.: Season of Light; 4 p.m.:Let it Snow (Music Show). General ad-mission is $3. For more information,call 956-326-DOME (3663).

Computer Basics class at the La-redo Public Library, 1120 E. Calton Rd.,from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Classroom Bon the second floor. Classes are free.Seating is limited and first come firstserved. No registration required. Call795-2400 x2242 for more information.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 28Knitting Club at the LBV-Inner

City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum, from1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Learn how to knitscarves, crochet hats and much more.Knit at your own pace. Instruction isavailable and supplies are limited. CallJohn at 795-2400 x2521 for more in-formation.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29Computer Basics class at the La-

redo Public Library, 1120 E. Calton Rd.,from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Classroom Bon the second floor. Classes are free.Seating is limited and first come firstserved. No registration required. Call795-2400 x2242 for more information.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13The Laredo Vet Center (part of

the U.S. Department of Veterans Af-fairs) will be hosting an Open Housefrom 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. at North TownProfessional Plaza, Laredo Vet Center,6999 McPherson Road, Suite 102. Thisevent is meant to inform the commu-nity of mental health services availableto eligible veterans and their families.

Submit calendar items atlmtonline.com/calendar/submitor by emailing edito-rial@lmtonline.com with theevent’s name, date and time, lo-cation, purpose and contact in-formation for a representative.Items will run as space is avail-able.

CALENDARASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Saturday, Dec. 19,the 353rd day of 2015. Thereare 12 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlights inHistory:

On Dec. 19, 1915, legendaryFrench chanteuse Edith Piafwas born in Paris. Germanpsychiatrist Alois Alzheimer,who discovered the pathologi-cal condition of dementia, diedin Breslau (now Wroclaw), Po-land, at age 51.

On this date:In 1777, Gen. George Wash-

ington led his army of about11,000 men to Valley Forge,Pennsylvania, to camp for thewinter.

In 1813, British forces cap-tured Fort Niagara during theWar of 1812.

In 1843, “A Christmas Car-ol,” by Charles Dickens, wasfirst published in England.

In 1907, 239 workers died ina coal mine explosion in Ja-cobs Creek, Pennsylvania.

In 1932, the British Broad-casting Corp. began transmit-ting overseas with its EmpireService to Australia.

In 1946, war broke out in In-dochina as troops under HoChi Minh launched wide-spread attacks against theFrench.

In 1957, Meredith Willson’smusical play “The MusicMan” opened on Broadway.

In 1961, former U.S. Ambas-sador Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.,73, suffered a debilitatingstroke while in Palm Beach,Florida.

In 1974, Nelson A. Rockefell-er was sworn in as the 41stvice president of the UnitedStates in the U.S. Senate cham-ber by Chief Justice WarrenBurger with President GeraldR. Ford looking on.

In 1975, John Paul Stevenswas sworn in as an AssociateJustice of the U.S. SupremeCourt.

In 1985, in Minneapolis, Ma-ry Lund became the first wom-an to receive a Jarvik VII arti-ficial heart. (Lund received ahuman heart transplant 45days later; she died in October1986.)

In 1998, President Bill Clin-ton was impeached by the Re-publican-controlled House forperjury and obstruction of jus-tice (he was subsequently ac-quitted by the Senate).

Ten years ago: A Chalk’sOcean Airways seaplanecrashed off Miami Beach,Florida, killing all 18 passen-gers and both pilots.

Five years ago: The bodyof an American tourist, Kris-tine Luken, 44, was found neara road outside Jerusalem.

One year ago: PresidentBarack Obama said Sony Pic-tures Entertainment “made amistake” in shelving “The In-terview,” a satirical film abouta plot to assassinate North Ko-rea’s leader; Sony defended itsdecision, saying it had nochoice but to cancel the film’sChristmas Day theatrical re-lease because the country’stop theater chains had pulledout in the face of threats.

Today’s Birthdays: Ac-tress Cicely Tyson is 91. For-mer game show contestantHerb Stempel is 89. FormerSouth Korean President LeeMyung-bak is 74. Actor TimReid is 71. Singer Janie Frickeis 68. Actor Scott Cohen is 51.Actor Robert MacNaughton is49. Magician Criss Angel is 48.Model Tyson Beckford is 45.Actress Amy Locane is 44. ProFootball Hall of Famer WarrenSapp is 43. Actress ActressAlyssa Milano is 43. ActorJake Gyllenhaal is 35.

Thought for Today: “Hethat jokes confesses.” — Ital-ian proverb.

TODAY IN HISTORY

HOUSTON — A judge on Thursday set a2017 trial date for a wrongful death lawsuitfiled by the family of a black woman whodied in a Texas jail cell three days after herarrest during a contentious traffic stop lastsummer.

U.S. District Judge David Hittner set trialfor Jan. 23, 2017, for the lawsuit filed by thefamily of Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old Chica-go-area woman whose death July 13 wasruled by a medical examiner to be a suicide.Her family disputes the finding and is seek-ing unspecified damages from the Texas De-partment of Public Safety, the white statetrooper who arrested her, Waller County andtwo jailers.

Cannon Lambert, the Bland family’s leadattorney, told Hittner he couldn’t accept the

suicide finding — that she hung herself inher jail cell by using a plastic garbage bag asa ligature — because his legal team hasn’tbeen able to examine the report of an inves-tigation of the case by the Texas Rangers fol-lowing Bland’s death.

“We’ve not had occasion to assess finger-prints on the ligature,” Lambert told thejudge. “A lot of information we frankly don’thave. We’re not able to finish our own med-ical investigation.”

Asked by Hittner whether he disputed thecharacterization of suicide, Lambert replied:“That’s right. It’s undetermined.”

Lambert later made the same commentsoutside the courthouse in downtown Hous-ton, where scores of chanting Bland support-ers clogged the sidewalk. Several dozen ofthem were inside the courtroom during thehourlong status hearing.

AROUND TEXAS

Geneva Reed-Veal, the mother of a black woman found dead in a Texas county jail three days after a confrontation with awhite state trooper, speaks to the media outside the federal courthouse Thursday, in Houston. A federal judge has set a2017 trial date for a wrongful death suit filed by the family of Sandra Bland.

Photo by Pat Sullivan | AP

Trial date set for BlandBy MICHAEL GRACZYK

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Texan arrested on warrantin 1973 death of wife

SUGAR LAND — A Houston-area man has been arrested on awarrant charging him in the1973 death of his wife in subur-ban Chicago, authorities saidFriday.

Donnie Rudd, who is 73, wasbeing held Friday on $1 millionbond at the Fort Bend CountyJail outside Houston after beingarrested at his apartment in Sug-ar Land.

Man gets life sentence for shooting at officersSAN ANTONIO — A man fac-

ing an attempted capital murdercharge for shooting a police offi-cer during a traffic stop has beensentenced to life imprisonmentfor shooting at San Antonio offi-cers during a multi-county chase.

A jury deliberated less thantwo hours in San Antonio beforesentencing Robert Rendon to lifeimprisonment for aggravated as-sault of a police officer.

2 dozen men charged inprostitution investigation

HOUSTON — Police say twodozen men allegedly trying toswap money for sex have beenarrested in a Houston prostitu-tion sweep.

Houston police on Friday an-nounced the men face prostitu-tion charges in an anti-sex traf-ficking effort that began Nov. 19and ended Tuesday. The arrestsinvolved three separate areasnear south Interstate 45.

Man charged with injuryto child in death of son, 2

KILLEEN — A Central Texasman faces charges following thedeath of his 2-year-old son whodoctors say was severely mal-nourished and dehydrated.

Bell County jail records show29-year-old George Ryan Murphyof Killeen was being held Fridayon a charge of injury to a childwith serious bodily injury.

Murphy was booked Thursdaywith bond set at $1 million.

Ex-banker in Houstonpleads guilty to $2M fraud

HOUSTON — An ex-banker inHouston faces up to five years inprison for helping a man withonly $100 in his account secure a$2 million loan that later wentinto default. Jason F. Meadorspleaded guilty Wednesday to con-spiracy to commit bank fraud.

Meadors in 2006 worked forBank of Texas and helped a manseeking $100,000 increase the re-quest to get $2 million.

3.0-magnitude earthquakerattles north Fort WorthIRVING — A 3.0-magnitude

earthquake rattled the northernsuburbs of Fort Worth.

The U.S. Geological Surveysays the 4:30 p.m. Thursdayquake was centered almost 17miles north of Fort Worth innortheastern Haslet.

The USGS received reportsthat the quake was felt fromnorthern Fort Worth to Roanoke.

— Compiled from AP reports

Cleanup from 2 Californiafires estimated at $243M

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —Cleaning up from two destruc-tive Northern California wild-fires this fall will cost at least$243 million, far exceeding thecost for other recent blazes, stateofficials estimated Friday as theytransferred more money fromthe state’s rainy day fund to helppay for it.

“The devastation caused bythese fires is extraordinary,” De-partment of Finance director Mi-chael Cohen said in a letter Fri-day to lawmakers. “Debris re-moval must continueexpeditiously to enable commu-nity rebuilding and economic re-covery.”

Young Pennsylvania manarrested on terror charges

A Pennsylvania 19-year-oldpledged allegiance to the IslamicState group, used Twitter to

spread its propaganda and had abackpack with ammunition thatsuggests he might have beenplotting an attack, federal au-thorities said Thursday.

Jalil Ibn Ameer Aziz, of Har-risburg, was arrested Thursdayand charged with two counts of

attempting to provide materialsupport to terrorists.

Court documents said a “gobag” found in Aziz’s closet dur-ing a Nov. 27 search contained ahigh-capacity magazine loadedwith ammunition.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

In this Sept. 13 file photo, a sign hangs above an entryway to a home destroyedby fire in Middletown, Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration estimates it willcost at least $243 million to clean up and remove debris left in the wake of twomajor Northern California wildfires this fall.

Photo by Eric Risberg | AP file

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CONTACT US

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2015 Local THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

Congressman HenryCuellar, D-Zapata, an-nounced Friday he hadworked with representa-

tives fromother citrus-growing re-gions, in-cluding Cali-fornia andFlorida, tosecure $5.5million inadditional

federal funding in the pro-posed government fundingpackage to tackle citrusgreening disease and aidthe citrus industry in Tex-as, Florida and California.The funding will come ina combination of a one-time funding increase anda previously approved al-location of $2 million.

Huanglongbing (HLB),also known as citrusgreening disease, greensripe citrus and misshapesthe fruit, making it bitterand unmarketable. The ef-fect of this disease on the$11.2 billion U.S. citrus in-dustry has been damag-ing, especially in the RioGrande Valley and Flor-ida. The federal govern-ment’s main response tocitrus greening disease is

implemented by twogroups: the HLB Multi-Agency Coordination taskforce (MAC) and the Cit-rus Health Response Pro-gram (CHRP). Bothgroups are under the ju-risdiction of the federalgovernment but also workwith state departments ofagriculture and the citrusindustry to combat thedisease.

Through the proposedgovernment funding pack-age, Congressman Cuellarsecured an additional $5.5million for control andmanagement of the dis-ease across the countrythrough September 2017.This money is a one-timeallocation on top of the $50million announced thissummer for a total of $55.5million.

Dale Murden of TexasCitrus Mutual, a non-prof-it trade association repre-senting Texas citrus grow-ers, owns a citrus grove inthe Rio Gande Valley andhas personally seen the ef-fects of the disease since itwas first positively identi-fied in the Valley in 2008.

“It is becoming a verywide-spread problem inthe Valley … as seriousthe situation in Florida al-ready is,” Murden said.

Funds help tacklecitrus greening

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

CUELLAR

The Zapata Lions Clubspread Christmas cheeraround town Friday whenthey gave out holidaymeals to more than 100families.

Twenty Lions Clubmembers and 10 ZapataHigh School Leos passedout turkeys, mashed pota-

toes, rolls, soft drinks andpie at the Lions ClubHouse, 2310 Hidalgo St.

“It was a huge success,”said Zapata Lions ClubPresident Aurelio Villar-real. “We want to thankall our sponsors.”

The group also facilitat-ed a gift-giving to childrenat Lago Day Care Center.

The Leos, who are a ju-

nior Lion group at thehigh school, brought giftsfor the Pre-K kids at thelow-income day care cen-ter. The Lions Club donat-ed $200 to assist the stu-dents.

The turkey feast wassponsored by Saíd AlfonsoFigueroa Zapata Conty At-torney Youth AwarenessProgram, Zapata County

Sheriff ’s Office, R&R Col-lision Center, State Farm,Premier, Holiday Inn Ex-press, VPS Zapata-Lare-do, Ahh…Smile FamilyDentistry, IBC Bank, theZapata County Fair,Amistad Home Health,Inc., M&S Liquor Run,Ralph’s AC & Refrigera-tion, Southern Distribut-ing and others.

Lions Club distributes mealsSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

These courtesy photos show Zapata Lions Club members and Zapata Leos at their two Christmas events from this week. The Zapata HighSchool Leos brought gifts to kids at Lago Day Care Center and the Lions gave out turkey feasts to more than 100 families.

Courtesy photos | Zapata Lions Club

PAGE 4A Zopinion SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2015

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

Whatever your feelingsabout Texas’ junior sen-ator, it must be said: Theman sure can debate.

Even if one disagreeswith the substance of hisstatements, it’s hard tonot appreciate his skill atverbally sparring withhis opponents, parryingeven the most pointed as-sault with ease.

So it was fascinating towatch Ted Cruz backhimself into a corner dur-ing Tuesday’s Republicanpresidential debate on anissue that has come toframe the contest for hisparty: immigration.

During a heated ex-change with Sen. MarcoRubio of Florida, Cruztold the audience, "I havenever supported legaliza-tion and I do not intendto support legalization."

Cruz was referring tothe failed Gang of Eightlegislation, of which Ru-bio was an author - a rolethat earned him substan-tial criticism from theparty base.

The bill’s opponentsdenounced it as amnesty,in part because it offeredlegal status to millions ofimmigrants before need-ed border security mea-sures were implemented.

"Indeed, I led the fightagainst his legalizationand amnesty," Cruz de-clared, affirming his op-position to Rubio’s bill.

It was the kind of re-sponse one expects tohear in a debate - concise,definitive, vehement.

It was also questiona-ble, at best.

To be fair, Cruz did op-pose the Gang of Eightlegislation, as did manyRepublicans.

But he also offeredamendments that in hisown words were an at-tempt to "find (a) solutionthat reflected commonground and fixed theproblem."

For example, Cruz’sproposal included athree-year waiting periodfor provisional legal sta-tus while border securitymeasures where imposed.

And according to Cruz,he believed if his amend-ments were adopted, thebill would pass.

Speaking at a Prince-ton University alumnievent in May 2013, Cruzdescribed his proposals:

"The underlying billfrom the Gang of Eightprovides for legal statusfor those who are here il-legally. . The amendmentI introduced would notchange any of that, whichwould mean the 11 mil-lion who are here illegal-ly would all come out ofthe shadows and be legal-ized under the Gang ofEight’s bill.

"It would simply pro-vide that there are conse-quences for having comeillegally, for not having

followed the legal rules,for not having waited inline, and those conse-quences are that those in-dividuals are not eligiblefor citizenship."

And as the NationalReview’s Jim Geraghtypoints out, "At no pointdid (Cruz) describe hisamendment as a poisonbill or procedural maneu-ver to derail the bill. Hehad every chance to sayhe opposed a legal statusfor illegal immigrantsand didn’t do so."

There were significantproblems with the Gangof Eight bill, and Cruz’samendments would nothave resolved them all.But by his own descrip-tion, they appeared to bean earnest and practicalattempt to reach compro-mise on an issue that hasreached its tipping point.That’s a Ted Cruz manyof us don’t know.

On Tuesday, Cruz’scharacteristic, unmiti-gated bluster returned.

The Cruz campaignstaff immediately rein-forced his opposition tolegalization by saying,"His plan is attritionthrough enforcement."

The phrasing is farmore careful than that ofreal estate mogul and fel-low candidate DonaldTrump, but the positionsounds similar toTrump’s "mass deporta-tion," a solution as im-probable as Gov. MittRomney’s "self-deporta-tion."

Aside from the rhetori-cal acrobatics Cruz mustemploy to explain awaywhat appears to be a dra-matic shift in his policystance, his commentsraise other potentialproblems for his cam-paign.

A firm and unyieldingapproach to illegal immi-gration plays well withthe Republican base, es-pecially during a crowdedprimary.

But the general elec-tion will be different.

Rubio’s position on im-migration has also shift-ed since his role in thefailed Gang of Eight bill.

But Rubio, whilescripted, appears farmore forthright.

Asked Tuesday night ifthe very long path to le-galization he advocatesshould end at citizenship,Rubio conceded both thathe is "personally open" tothat possibility and thathe knows such a positionis unpopular amongmany in his party.

Cruz, in contrast, con-cedes nothing, includinghis dubious shift to "attri-tion through enforce-ment."

Even the best debateskills can’t cloak a lie.

Cynthia M. Allen is acolumnist for the FortWorth Star-Telegram.Readers may send heremail at cmallen@star-tel-egram.com.

COLUMN

Cruz hits aproblem on

immigrationBy CYNTHIA M. ALLEN

FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM

OTHER VIEWS

The Zapata Timesdoes not publish anony-mous letters.

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

We want to assure

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

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

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

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICYCLASSIC DOONESBURY (1985) | GARRY TRUDEAU

Chief Justice John G. Ro-berts Jr., I’m surprised atyou. Didn’t your motherraise you better than to in-sult whole groups of peo-ple?

For those who are won-dering, I’m talking about aremark the chief justicemade last month duringoral arguments in Bruce v.Samuels, a dispute aboutfederal prisoners paying le-gal fees. Here I quote fromAmy Howe of SCOTUSblog:When reminded that pris-ons maintain libraries, "Ro-berts then shot back, pre-sumably sarcastically, ’I’msure they are very good li-braries, too.’"

I run a library at a stateprison for men in Califor-nia, and I can attest that itis indeed a "very good li-brary." My library is taskedwith assuring that inmateshave access to the courtsbecause, although they areconvicted criminals, theyretain certain civil and hu-man rights. We providethem with access to legalforms, typewriters, law

books and computers thatcan be used to researchcase law and the myriadrules of the courts, as wellas a daily legal newspaper.We make available typingpaper, numbered pleadingpaper and envelopes for fil-ing court documents. Wemake the required numberof copies of outgoing legalwork. We weigh documentsto determine the number ofstamps needed for mailing.In short, we have every-thing that an inmate actingas his own lawyer needs tobring his concern to the at-tention of the appropriatecourt.

I say "we" because I su-pervise three inmate li-brary assistants, who, fivedays a week, work harderthan a lot of people on theoutside but whose wagestop out at 24 cents an hour.These library assistantshave acquired many habitsand skills they can apply inany job they get after theyleave prison, such as punc-tuality, responsibility, self-discipline, proper groom-ing, teamwork, clericalskills and, perhaps most im-portant, "people" skills. We

often serve more than 300patrons a day, and libraryassistants quickly learnhow to deal with unhappyor unruly customers. To-gether, we run a tight ship.

In addition to the lawcomponent, my library con-tains more than 10,000 vol-umes for recreational andself-help reading. We spendour yearly acquisitions bud-get on many of the bookson the library’s "wish list,"and we accept donationsfrom inmates and outsiders.The prison’s inmate welfarefund pays for subscriptionsto more than 30 magazines,and we have a collection ofencyclopedias, dictionariesand other reference books.We offer a peer-tutoringprogram, a book report pro-gram, parole preparationresources and a quarterlynewsletter written and com-piled by the members of awriters group that meetsweekly. Chief Justice Ro-berts, does this begin tosound like a "very good li-brary"?

The prison library is aplace of reading, writing,learning and support. It isan oasis of normalcy in an

oftenintense, custodial des-ert. It is clean, quiet andwelcoming. We don’t havethe latest technology, but wemake every effort to be avaluable mine of informa-tion. If we don’t know some-thing, if we don’t have aneeded resource, we willfind it.

I sometimes encountermen who never visited a li-brary before going to pris-on, who never checked outa book and had to be re-sponsible for returning it,who perhaps never beforehad a chance to learn toread. I meet budding poetsand memoirists. I see mentrying to atone for theirmistakes, using the tools ofeducation and rehabilita-tion. I work hard and I amrewarded daily when I seethe good that can be donein a "very good library."

So Chief Justice Roberts,consider this an open invi-tation, from one govern-ment worker to another, tocome and see for yourself.

Valerie Schultz works as alibrary technical assistantfor the California Depart-ment of Corrections and Re-habilitation.

COMMENTARY

Shush on prison libraries,Chief Justice Roberts

By VALERIE SCHULTZTHE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — Ash-ton Carter must have spentthe past year on anotherplanet. That’s the only log-ical explanation for the rev-elation, first reportedWednesday by the New YorkTimes, that the defense sec-retary conducted a portionof his government businessvia a personal email ad-dress — in direct violationof the department’s rules.

Carter must have neverheard of Hillary Clinton, the

former secretary of stateand Democratic presidentialfront-runner who spentmost of 2015 dealing withthe fallout from her use of aprivate email account andserver during her time asthe country’s top diplomat.

While Carter and histeam insisted that he hadnever dealt in classified in-formation while using hisprivate email account andthat all emails he sent fromthat account were copied tohis government one, itdoesn’t exactly solve theproblem. What about poten-

tially exposing his emails tohackers, for instance?

"After reviewing hisemail practices earlier thisyear, the secretary believesthat his previous, occasionaluse of personal email forwork-related business, evenfor routine administrativeissues and backed up to hisofficial account, was a mis-take," a Pentagon spokes-man said. Um, you think?

While his email setupwas Carter’s main problemthis past week, it wasn’t hisonly one. Iraqi Prime Minis-ter Haider al-Abadirejected

the Defense Department’soffer to use AmericanApache helicopters in thefight to take back the city ofRamadi from the IslamicState. While Carter playeddown the significance ofthat decision, it speaks tothe broader difficulty of U.S.attempts to counter Iranianinfluence in the region anddestroy the Islamic State.

Ash Carter, for forgetting(very recent) history and,therefore, being doomed torepeat it, you had the worstweek in Washington. Con-grats, or something.

COLUMN

Ashton Carter had the worst weekBy CHRIS CILLIZZA

THE WASHINGTON POST

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2015 THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

ALERTAEl Gobierno de EU es-

tá advirtiendo a los viajerosvisitando México que esténalertas ante asaltos. Segúnreportes de víctimas, lascuales han obedecido las de-mandas de los sospechosos.El reporte indica que aque-llos que han pretendido es-capar han recibido disparoshacia sus vehículos.

El reporte agrega queaunque los incidentes violen-tos pueden ocurrir en cual-quier momento del día, esmás frecuente que ocurrenen caminos estrellos o aisla-dos, y cuando es de noche.

A fin de reducir estosriesgos se recomienda tomarlas siguientes precauciones:viajar entre ciudades sola-mente durante el día; evitarcaminos aislados; y, utilizarcaminos de cuota cuandosea posible.

RÍO BRAVO, TEXASDesfile Navideño en la

Ciudad de Rio Bravo, a partirde las 11 a.m. Durante elevento se repartirán más de500 regalos para niños. Ha-brá alimentos y música. Másinformación llamando a ErikaNavarro Rebeles al (956)790-9500 o al (956) 290-6176.

DIPUTADA AMIGALa Diputada Federal

Yahleel Abdala dio a conocerque el lunes 21 de diciembreestará atendiendo quejas,sugerencias, denuncias porabusos, extorsión, maltrato uhostigamiento que hayan re-cibido viajeros por parte depersonal de Aduanas en sutránsito por el Puente Inter-nacional I, II o II de NuevoLaredo, México.

El servicio será de 10a.m. a 1 p.m. en la Oficinade Enlace ubicada en Av.Santos Degollado 1601 enNuevo Laredo, México.

Informes en el (867) 712-6563.

BAILE DE NAVIDADEl grupo Costumbre

se presentará en el Baile deNavidad de Nueva CiudadGuerrero, Tamaulipas. El bai-le tendrá lugar el viernes 25de diciembre, a las 9 p.m.en el Centro Cívico de laCiudad.

MIGUEL ALEMÁN, MÉXICOEl Alcalde de Miguel

Alemán, Ramiro Cortez, en-cabezó el arranque del ope-rativo de seguridad anualdenominado Lupe-Reyes.

Él encabezó el contingen-te de vehículos oficiales ensu recorrido por las principa-les avenidas.

El operativo Lupe-Reyesinició el 12 de diciembre yconcluirá el 6 de enero.

Cortez reiteró el mensajede convivir en armonía yrespeto a fin de construir unciclo de vacaciones blanco.

SOCIEDAD GENEALÓGICALa Sociedad Genealó-

gica Nuevo Santander infor-ma que la próxima reuniónserá el sábado 9 de enerodel 2016 a las 2 p.m. en805 N Main St/ US Hwy 83.El tema será “Texas LandHeritage Award”.

La sociedad indica que seinvita especialmente a quie-nes tienen una granja o ran-cho que ha funcionado másde 50 años.

FERIA DEL CONDADO DEZAPATA

La Feria del Condadode Zapata elegirá a sus re-presentantes de belleza ainicios del 2016. El Certá-men de Belleza para Jr. Ro-yalty se celebrará el 7 de fe-brero; en tanto que el Con-curso para Reinas de la Feriadel Condado de Zapata secelebrará el 28 de febrero.

Los dos eventos se reali-zarán a partir de las 2 p.m.en el Auditorio de ZapataHigh School.

Ribereñaen Breve

El consejero general de Hou-sing Authority de la Ciudad deLaredo se encuentra refutando laremoción de Raymond Bruni dela junta de comisionados, dicien-do que no se le dio el debido pro-ceso.

El martes, el abogado PatrickBernal, de San Antonio, emitióuna opinión en relación al nom-bramiento que el Alcalde Pete Sá-enz hizo de un nuevo comisionadopara reemplazar a Bruni, quienfue acusado de agresión con agra-vantes a principios del mes.

El 11 de diciembre Sáenz nom-bró a José L. Ceballos para reem-plazar a Bruni. Ese mismo día,Ceballos firmó un certificado dejuramento al cargo ante el secre-tario de la ciudad.

El martes, en una carta dirigi-da a la Directora Ejecutiva de

Housing Authorityen Laredo, Bernaldijo que la autori-dad de vivienda noha recibido una no-tificación de ningu-na acusación que ci-te la razón específi-ca de la remoción deBruni.

Bernal dijo que la ley estatalpermite a un alcalde quitar a uncomisionado “por motivos especí-ficos, incluyendo ineficiencia, ne-gligencia del deber o mala con-ducta en el cargo”.

También señaló que antes deque un comisionado sea removi-do, a él o ella se le tiene que en-tregar una copia de los cargos almenos 10 días antes de la fecha dela audiencia. En la audiencia, elcomisionado puede apelar en per-sona o a través de un abogado.

Bernal añade que Housing Aut-hority no ha recibido detalles es-

pecificando del mo-mento en que Ceba-llos asumirá elpuesto en la junta.

“La ley estatal es-tablece que ‘antes’de que un comisio-nado pueda ser re-movido, se debe dar

el debido proceso, que consistenen la notificación de cargos y unaoportunidad de ser escuchados”,escribió Bernal. “Ya sea que el se-ñor Bruni renuncie a su posicióncomo comisionado o sea removidopor orden del alcalde tiene que es-tar en conformidad… con el Códi-go Gubernamental local de Texas,el señor Bruni continúa siendoun comisionado hasta que conclu-ya su término el 31 de marzo”.

Previamente, Sáenz habría di-cho que el departamento legal dela ciudad confirmó que tenía elderecho de nombrar a alguien desu elección a la junta. Las llama-

das que se realizaron el jueves pa-ra buscar comentarios de Sáenzno fueron respondidas de inme-diato.

Bruni, de 68 años, fue asignadoa la junta por primera vez en2007, por el entonces alcalde RaúlSalinas.

El 3 de diciembre, se le entregóy ejecutó una orden con cargospor agresión con agravantes conun arma mortal, un delito gravede segundo grado.

Una denuncia criminal presen-tada a la Juez de Paz del Precinto2 de Zapata, Juana María Gutié-rrez, alega que Bruni disparó unarma de fuego en un rancho, ha-ciendo que el denunciante, un pa-riente de Bruni, temiera por suvida.

Bruni se encuentra libre bajofianza.

(Localice a Kendra Ablaza en728-2538 o en kablaza@lmtonli-ne.com)

CASO RAYMOND BRUNI

Refutan remociónPOR KENDRA ABLAZA

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

BRUNI SÁENZ

PÁGINA 6A Zfrontera SÁBADO 19 DE DICIEMBRE DE 2015

La Oficina del Alguacil del Condado de Zapataadvierte a la comunidad sobre un reciente esque-ma de fraude a través de facturas de servicios pú-blicos.

A través de su página en Facebook, los oficia-les dijeron que los estafadores están llamando alos clientes de Abastecimiento de Agua del Con-dado de Zapata, en relación a una factura venci-da.

Entonces, los estafadores dicen a los clientesque tienen un recibo que tiene que ser pagadopor teléfono o en persona inmediatamente, yaque si no (se realiza el pago) los servicios seránsuspendidos, dijo la Oficina del Alguacil.

Las autoridades dijeron que el número del queestán llamando los estafadores es (956) 545-0287.

“Si recibe una llamada telefónica de parte dealguien que sostiene ser un oficial del departa-mento de agua local y siente que está siendo víc-tima de dicho esquema fraudulento, llame a laoficina de distrito y verifique con ellos antes detomar cualquier acción”, dijeron las autoridades.

Regularmente, durante los fraudes telefónicos,si la persona que llama presiona a quien está alteléfono para darle información — el número deseguro social o información de la tarjeta de crédi-to — usualmente es un fraude, de acuerdo con in-formación emitida por la Comisión Federal deComercio (FTC, por sus siglas en inglés).

“Cada año, miles de personas pierden dineroen fraudes telefónicos— desde algunos dólareshasta los ahorros de toda su vida. Los estafadoresdirán cualquier cosa para engañar a las perso-nas. Algunos se escuchan muy amigables — lla-mándole por su primer nombre, manteniendo pe-queñas pláticas y preguntándole sobre su fami-lia”, sostiene FTC en su página de Internet.

“Deberán decir que trabajan para una compa-ñía en la que confía, o les enviarán un correoelectrónico o colocarán anuncios para convencer-le de que llame… Cuelgue y repórtelo a la Comi-sión Federal de Comercio”.

Para reportar un fraude visite http://www.con-sumer.ftc.gov/.

(Localice a César G. Rodriguez en 728-2568 o encesar@lmtonline.com)

SEGURIDAD

Adviertensobre estafastelefónicas

POR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZTIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Una observación realiza-da por fray Vicente de San-ta María a finales del sigloXVIII, indica que la sal esun efecto necesario paragozar la vida civil.

Sostiene que (en Tamau-lipas) es “en tanta copia,de tan buenas cualidades yde tan cómoda su cosecha,que [de] estos parajes sola-mente podrían surtirse, sinhipérbole, todas las islas ytodo el resto del continen-te” americano.

Sostiene que desde lascercanías de Tampico (Pue-blo Viejo, Veracruz) hastael Río Bravo “se encuen-tran salinas en trechos pro-porcionados y con inme-diación a los ríos navega-

bles”.Agrega que “en las sali-

nas de San Fernando sueleser necesario la barra [dehierro] y golpes para des-quiciarla de su centro”.

Acerca de los usos en laremota época, comenta:“Su color […] es blanco […]y la cualidad de salada esalgo excesiva, de maneraque es necesario usarla enpoca cantidad, para quebaste. Para la conservacióndel pescado y de la carnees excelente […] En los rea-les de minas debía preferir-se a cualquier otra […] porel […] exceso de partículasacres […] en el beneficio delos metales”, regulándose“el mayor o menor excesode su acrimonia”.

Aunque existen yaci-mientos también río Bravo

adentro, todos adquierencategoría de “reales” cuan-do pasan al control de lasautoridades novohispanas.Tras independizarse Méxi-co quedan en manos de lafederación, que establecesalvedades en Tamaulipas.

En 1824 el diputado Pe-dro Paredes propone que“en beneficio de las villas”del norte tamaulipeco,“que sin este alicienteaquellos habitantes aban-donarían los puntos referi-dos y los [indios] bárbarosharían sus incursiones condaño […] a toda la nación”.

Queda así entonces de-cretado: “Las salinas delRefugio [después Matamo-ros] y Reinosa […] se cedenpor ocho años a beneficiocomún de sus vecinos y delos de Camargo, Mier, Revi-

lla [luego Ciudad Guerre-ro] y Laredo [o sea las Vi-llas del Norte] bajo las re-glas que establezca lalegislatura del estado a quepertenecen”. En 1825 deter-mina por ende el congresoestatal “que los ayunta-mientos de las Villas delNorte […] nombren […] unadministrador” que cubrafianza y designe éste “elguarda o guardas que creanecesarios”.

En 1873, Alejandro Prie-to Quintero sostiene que“Las salinas […] de Tamau-lipas son más numerosasque [en] ningún” vecino es-tado del “Golfo de México,pues […] desde el puerto deTampico […] hasta Mata-moros […] se encuentransalinas naturales, en que lacoagulación se hace por sí

misma, sin necesitarse […]el trabajo del hombre sinopara cosecharlas”.

Al declinar la dictaduraporfiriana, mantienen pre-sencia las producciones ta-maulipecas, aunque van re-trayéndose al uso gastronó-mico. De la ofertacomercial da idea “El Pro-gresista”. El 28 de febrerode 1909 este tabloide deCiudad Victoria anuncia:“Rafael L. Álvarez, cose-chero de sal de mar, [la po-ne en] venta a precios sincompetencia. Lomas delReal, Tamaulipas”.

Sobreviven las salinasde Lomas del Real, ubica-das en Altamira.

(Con permiso del autorsegún fuera publicado enLa Razón, Tampico, Tamps.el 4 diciembre 2015)

COLUMNA

Sal de Tamaulipas destaca por sus cualidadesPOR RAÚL SINENCIO CHÁVEZ

ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

CIUDAD DE ROMA

JURAMENTO

Iván Garza, a la derecha, realizó su juramento para formar parte del Departamento de Policía de la Ciudad deRoma, el jueves. Fue el Alcalde Roberto Salinas quien llevó a cabo la ceremonia, felicitando al nuevo oficial ydándole la bienvenida al departamento.

Foto de cortesía | Ciudad de Roma

La empresa Diavaz Offshorede México, se adjudicó el cuar-to campo maduro Bardocónen Tamaulipas, en lo que fuela tercera fase de licitación dela Ronda 1 referente a la ex-tracción de hidrocarburos.

El campo Bardocón es uncampo maduro superior a 10km. cuadrados, que contieneaceite, en la zona de Altamira,dio a conocer el titular de laAgencia Estatal de Energía,José María Leal Gutiérrez.

Diavaz Offshore cumpliócon los requisitos establecidosen las bases de licitación y enbreve firmará el contrato de li-cencia para el desarrollo delcampo Bardocón, con una su-perficie d 11 kilómetros cua-drados, y volumen original deaceite 3P de 165.5 millones debarriles de crudo, agregó LealGutiérrez.

Agregó que Diavaz Offshorese adjudicó el cuarto campomaduro Barcodón al ofrecerun Valor de la Regalía Adi-cional de 64.5 por ciento, esto

en comparación al uno porciento que solicitaba la Secre-taría de Hacienda. Por otraparte, la empresa Strata Cam-pos Maduros ganó su segundocontrato al adjudicarse el cam-po Ricos, el 14 de los subasta-dos, ubicado entre Tamaulipasy Nuevo León, dice el . Elcomplejo posee 24 km. y cuen-ta con un Volumen Originalen Sitio de 62.300 millones depies cúbicos. La producciónacumulada en el campo es de17.4 mil millones de pies cúb-icos de producción de gas.

HIDROCARBUROS

Empresa mexicanaobtiene campo Bardocón

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2015 State THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A

DALLAS — A manhuntis underway for a Texasteenager sentenced to pro-bation in 2013 for killingfour people in a drunken-driving wreck after his de-fense lawyers claimed hesuffered from “affluenza.”Authorities say he missedan appointment last weekwith his probation officerand the juvenile equiva-lent of an arrest warrantwas issued for him. He’sbelieved to have fled withhis mother, with whomhe’d been living. Here area few questions surround-ing the case involving 18-year-old Ethan Couch:

Do authorities knowwhere Couch may

be?Officials say they don’t

know his whereaboutsand have expressed con-

cern that he may have leftthe country, although SamJordan, a spokeswomanfor the Tarrant Countydistrict attorney’s office,says there’s no specific in-dication that he has cross-ed the border.

“He and his motherhave the means to be ableto travel to wherever theymay want to travel,” Jor-dan said.

Couch was supposed tobe accompanied by a par-

ent for a regular visit Dec.10 with his probation offi-cer. When he didn’t show,authorities issued an or-der for his arrest the nextday.

The U.S. Marshals Ser-vice has issued a wantedposter promising a re-ward of up to $5,000 for in-formation leading toCouch’s whereabouts andcapture.

Why would he havefled?

Tarrant County investi-gators were looking forCouch to ask him about avideo posted online a fewweeks ago showing peopleat a party playing drink-ing games. One of themappears to be Couch, andif found to be drinking,his parole could be re-voked and a 10-year pris-on sentence could be im-posed. Tarrant CountySheriff Dee Anderson said

Friday that he believesCouch fled in the days af-ter the video came tolight. He said Couch andhis mother may have leftthe area in late November,shortly after Couch at-tended a mandatory meet-ing with his probation of-ficer and well before theirnext scheduled meetingon Dec. 10.

Why wasn’t Couchalready in prison forkilling four people?In June 2013 at age 16,

Couch was driving drunkand speeding on a darktwo-lane road south ofFort Worth when hecrashed into a disabledSUV off to the side, kill-ing four people. Amongthe injured were some ofthe seven minors whowere in Couch’s pickup.Couch pleaded guilty tofour counts of intoxica-

tion manslaughter andtwo counts of intoxicationassault causing seriousbodily injury. Because ofhis age, he wasn’t certi-fied as an adult for trialand a judge sentencedhim in juvenile court to10 years’ probation and astint in a rehabilitationcenter.

What is ‘affluenza’?During the sentencing

phase of his juvenilecourt trial, Couch’s attor-neys relied on a defenseexpert who argued thatCouch’s wealthy parentscoddled him into a senseof irresponsibility — acondition the experttermed affluenza. Thecondition is not recog-nized as a medical diag-nosis by the AmericanPsychiatric Association,and its invocation drewwidespread criticism andridicule.

Is Couch’s motherfacing charges?

Terry Grisham, aspokesman for the Tar-rant County Sheriff ’s De-partment, said investiga-tors haven’t confirmedwhether Tonya Couch fledwith her son and he de-clined to say whethershe’s facing any charges.

“We are only assumingthat they’re together,”Grisham said. “They’reboth missing. But no onehas placed them togetheroutside of Tarrant Coun-ty.”

Where is Couch’sfather?

Anderson, the TarrantCounty sheriff, saidCouch’s father, FredCouch, told investigatorsthat he hasn’t heard fromhis son or ex-wife inabout two weeks.

A look at the search for ‘affluenza’ teenASSOCIATED PRESS

COUCH

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES State SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2015

SAN ANTONIO — When ElenaGarcia grasps dumbbells, painfrom her arthritis shoots throughher hands. Her shoulders ache. Shegrimaces as she wiggles her fin-gers between sets.

She’s 70 years old, obese andhad never formally exercised untilshe began a workout routine inFebruary. It’s tough going.

But Garcia has a fierce motiva-tion to work through the pain.

With each repetition, she honorsher son Hector Garcia Jr., whodied a year ago after a lifelong bat-tle with obesity. She vowed to losethe excess weight she carries onher 5-foot, 1-inch frame.

Since willingly taking up herson’s struggle, Garcia has lost 50pounds by changing her diet andadopting an exercise routine. Shehopes to shed more weight.

“I’m doing it for him,” Garcia,who has gone from 270 to 220pounds, told the San Antonio Ex-press-News. “I hope wherever heis, he can see I’m trying my best.

Hector, who was 49 when he col-lapsed and died on Dec. 8, 2014, hadbeen overweight since childhood.At one point, he weighed morethan 600 pounds.

As an adult, he once droppedhundreds of pounds through gas-tric-bypass surgery, but the num-bers on the scale inevitably creptback up. Later, without being ableto afford the help of a personaltrainer or dietitian, he lost about350 pounds through diet and exer-cise in order to undergo doubleknee replacement surgery. With hismobility restricted after four sur-geries, he slowly regained theweight.

In the last few years of his life,obesity confined Hector to his bed-room in his parents’ South Sidehome. In his final months, he spentmost of his time in an oversizedchair. He talked about starting an-other diet, but he ran out of time.

After an Express-News articleabout Hector’s struggle was pub-lished in December 2014, the day-time talk show “The Doctors” in-vited Garcia to share her son’s sto-ry. They connected her with FitTherapy of Texas, which providedher with personal training, nutri-tion education and counseling ses-sions.

Garcia had dieted unsuccessful-ly in the past, but this time it wasdifferent. This was her chance tofulfill the promise she had made to

her son.“My son always wanted me to

lose weight like he wanted to loseweight,” she said. “I could never doit. I didn’t think I could. But I can, Ican do it. And I will do it. I’m notgoing to let him down.”

From February through mid-September, Garcia dutifully drove50 miles round trip from the SouthSide to Fit Therapy in Stone Oakthree times a week. At first, shedidn’t have much confidence in herability to transform her lifestyle.

“I had never exercised in mylife,” she said. “I thought I was go-ing to die.”

She started slow. Fit Therapy co-owner Kenny McClendon had herwalk on a treadmill for 10 minutes,then walk back and forth acrossthe small personal training studioholding a weighted ball.

She grew winded easily and hadlimited range of motion in herright shoulder, which she had in-jured hoisting her son’s wheelchair.

Molly Cortez, then a nutritionistwith Fit Therapy, wrote up a foodplan, took Garcia grocery shoppingand gave her an in-home cookinglesson. Garcia cut down on friedfoods and salty snacks and starteddrinking more water and less soda.Now, she now cooks with olive oilinstead of lard. Fruits and vegeta-bles dominate her diet, and she hasstarted reading food labels.

“I’m teaching myself to eat foodsI never ate before,” such as fetacheese and yogurt, she said.

Meanwhile, as Garcia’s endu-rance and strength improved, fit-ness expert Brittany Ewingramped up the workouts.

Weight loss was one goal, but

Ewing also led Garcia in moves toimprove her range of motion tomake everyday activities easier.Garcia’s positive attitude helped.

“She never complained onetime,” Ewing said. “She would getdone doing 20 squats, out of breath,and she would look up with a smileand said, ‘OK, what’s next?’ She’sdefinitely very inspiring. Everyonehas an excuse (not to exercise). Ele-na never had an excuse.”

Garcia’s husband also praisedher efforts. “I’m really proud ofher,” said Hector Garcia Sr.

The hard work has paid off. Gar-cia no longer has to ride the elec-tric carts to shop at sprawlingstores. Her blood pressure has im-proved, although she still musttake medicine to treat it. She hasmore energy. She dropped dress siz-es.

“I’ve already taken in all of mypants twice,” she said. “If I have totake them in again, that’s it. I’llhave to get rid of them. I haven’tseen this weight in 20, 30 years.”

Witnessing her son’s attempts atweight loss taught Garcia aboutthe importance of self-control andcommitment. She knows how easyit is to get discouraged, to regainthe weight.

Tracy Cooper, co-owner of FitTherapy of Texas and a licensedprofessional counselor who workedwith Garcia, said that while herson continues to motivate her, Gar-cia also began recognizing the im-portance of caring for her health.

“She was always doing every-thing for everyone else,” Coopersaid. “It became about her. It be-came, ‘I have to do this for myself.”’

Exercise has become a daily

habit for Garcia. She wakes at 4:30a.m. three mornings a week towalk with her husband at the YM-CA near their home, then pedalsan exercise bike and uses resist-ance bands. She attends an exer-cise class for arthritis relief twice aweek and has begun a line-dancingclass. At home she lifts weights be-tween household chores. And shevisits Fit Therapy twice a month.

It’s not easy. Every day is a bat-tle, she said. She takes it one mealand one workout at a time.

Sometimes she falters — Chee-tos are her Kryptonite — but “ev-ery time I get tempted to eat some-thing I shouldn’t, I feel like my sonis telling me, ‘No, no, no.”’

Garcia’s focus on change ex-tends beyond her personal goals.Feeling strongly that the communi-ty should do more to fight child-hood obesity and bullying, she ad-vocates publicly for vulnerablekids.

In May, she visited a South SanAntonio ISD board meeting, pass-ing out copies of the Express-Newsstory about her son to the boardmembers.

“My son wanted to help childrenand adults that were suffering fromobesity,” she told them. “He suf-fered from bullying since he was inelementary all the way throughhigh school and it stayed with him.It hurt him very much. And if thiscan help our children make betterchoices about what they eat and al-so stop bullying, I’ll all for it. I amtrying to keep his legacy going.”

The grief of her son’s death andthat of her daughter Terry, whodied of cancer in 2007, never leavesGarcia.

“I’m forever crying,” she said. “Ijust miss them so much. Life willnever be the same without them.Your heart is broken and nothingwill ever mend it.”

But she smiles when she remem-bers the way they laughed, theirlove of children. She consoles her-self by thinking of them in heaven,“teaching the Lord’s little angels.”

On Nov. 19, which would havebeen Hector’s 50th birthday, Garciapaid tribute to her son and daugh-ter in her front yard with friendPatsy Villarreal.

The week before Thanksgiving,the sun shone, wind chimes on theporch delicately tinkled and late-blooming pink roses swayed in thewind against the small blue-and-white house.

“I wish mijo could see me now,”she said. “He kept telling me,‘You’ve got to lose this weight.’

Mother vows to escape son’s fateBy JESSICA BELASCO

SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

In a Feb. 19 photo, Elena Garcia takes a break as she exercises for the second timewith Fit Therapy of Texas co-owner Kenny McClendon in San Antonio. Seventy yearsold and obese, she had never formally exercised until she began a workout routinein February. She does it she to honor her son Hector Garcia Jr., who died a year agoafter a lifelong battle with obesity.

Photo by Lisa Krantz/The San Antonio Express-News | AP

ARLINGTON — Themother of a Sikh middleschool student accused ofthreatening to detonate abomb at his Texas school isasking police to drop charg-es, saying that her son nev-er made such a threat.

Armaan Singh, 12, wasarrested Dec. 11 after Ar-lington police said he ad-mitted to making the threatwhile they were question-ing him without his par-ents present. He spentthree days in juvenile de-tention before being re-leased and placed underhouse arrest with anklemonitor. He also was sus-pended from school.

His mother, GurdeepKaur, said a classmateasked whether a battery inArmaan’s backpack was abomb, and that he said itwasn’t, but the classmatetold the teacher he said itwas.

There was no bomb inthe backpack.

Kaur said the familydidn’t learn of Armaan’sarrest until hours after ithappened. She told The As-sociated Press that she pan-icked when he didn’t comehome from school, and af-ter searching the apart-ment complex, they went tothe school to look for him.She said they called theprincipal, who told themArmaan had been taken in-to custody.

“She told them that hewas with the police but shedidn’t know which facility,”said Arlington schoolsspokeswoman Leslie John-ston.

Kaur said the family fi-nally learned Armaan wasin the detention center fourhours after his arrest whenthey called 911.

Bombthreat

chargeseyed

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2015 National THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

NEW YORK — “TheForce Awakens” feverspread through movie thea-ters around the globe onFriday, even reaching theWhite House, as “StarWars” yet again began top-pling box-office recordswith waves of lightsaber-wielding fans.

Following a record $57million from Thursdaynight showings in NorthAmerica, and packed mati-nees on Friday, the WaltDisney Co. forecast that“The Force Awakens” willsurpass $200 million on theweekend and possibly bestthe record domestic open-ing of “Jurassic World,”which debuted with $208.8million in June.

Such an outcome wouldsurprise few analysts, butthe numbers were never-theless eye-popping. “TheForce Awakens” was head-ing toward a Friday take ofmore than $100 million do-mestically, said Dave Hollis,head of distribution forDisney. That would surpassthe one-day high of $91.1

million set by “Harry Pot-ter and the Deathly Hal-lows, Part 2” in 2011.

In such rarified territo-ry, Disney has been cau-tious about overestimatingthe box-office force of J.J.Abrams’ seventh chapterin George Lucas’ space sa-ga. Disney’s biggest worryhas been that moviegoerswill be too daunted by sold-out shows and long lines.Hollis has repeatedly re-minded that “there are lit-erally millions of ticketsavailable.”

The international rolloutfor the film, made for about$200 million, has alreadybrought in an estimated to-tal of $72.7 million sinceopening in a handful ofcountries Wednesday. “TheForce Awakens” is simulta-neously opening aroundthe world just about every-where but China, where itdebuts in January.

It’s setting records over-seas, too, including the big-gest single day ever in theUnited Kingdom with anestimated $14.4 million onThursday.

While “Star Wars”helped create the summer

blockbuster, “The ForceAwakens” is debuting inthe holiday season of De-cember, where the previoustop opening was the $84.6million debut of 2012’s“The Hobbit: An Unexpect-ed Journey.” By Disney’sestimates, “The ForceAwakens” — the widest De-cember opening ever with4,134 theaters — blew pastthat number by Friday af-ternoon.

3-D and Imax screeningsare helping to propel therecord gross. Disney saidthat 47 percent of theThursday box office camefrom 3-D showings and $5.7million from Imax screens.

A lot is riding on thefilm for Disney, which paid$4.06 billion for Lucasfilmin 2012. Sequels and spin-offs are already in develop-ment for years to come, notto mention an entire cor-ner of Disneyland devotedto the franchise.

Strong reviews for thefilm, which is set 30 yearsafter “Return of the Jedi,”have added to the fervor for“The Force Awakens.” Crit-ics have hailed it as a fan-friendly return to form for

the franchise; the Ameri-can Film Institute listed itamong its top 10 films ofthe year.

Such a positive reactionfor “The Force Awakens”may attract the kind of re-peat viewings that madeJames Cameron’s “Avatar”and “Titanic” the highestgrossing films of all time.Whether “The Force Awak-ens” can come close to theglobal hauls of those films($2.8 billion for “Avatar”and $2.2 billion for “Titan-ic”) won’t be clear forweeks.

But so far, “The ForceAwakens” is attracting theinterest of seemingly every-one. President Barack Oba-ma began a year-end newsconference Friday noting,“Clearly, this is not themost important eventthat’s taking place in theWhite House today.” Soonto begin was a screening ofthe film for families whohave lost a relative to com-bat or service-related inju-ries.

After fielding questions,Obama concluded the pressconference: “OK everybody,I got to get to ‘Star Wars.”’

Jesse Kremer, left, sells soda to Ethan Sanchez, both of Dubuque, Iowa, dressed as a Storm Trooper, before the early showing of "StarWars: The Force Awakens" at Mindframe Theaters in Dubuque, Iowa on Thursday.

Photo by Nicki Kohl/Telegraph Herald | AP

‘Star Wars’ on record pathBy JAKE COYLE

ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — In achaotic year, when Repub-licans in the House un-seated a speaker, Congressproduced a significantamount of bipartisan leg-islation that affects everyAmerican.

It enacted laws recast-ing federal education poli-cy, restricting governmentaccess to bulk phone re-cords, renewing highwayand transit programs andeven resolving a long-standing problem of howMedicare reimburses doc-tors. Before leaving townfor the year, it sent Presi-dent Barack Obama bipar-tisan legislation Friday fi-nancing government agen-cies in 2016 and cuttingtaxes, mostly by extendingdozens of expiring levies.Here are highlights of aneventful year in Congress:

Budget dealA $1.1 trillion spending

bill approved Friday fundsthe government for the2016 budget year and ex-tends $680 billion in taxcuts for businesses and in-dividuals. The deal — avictory for new HouseSpeaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.— avoids a governmentshutdown, allows crudeoil exports for the firsttime in 40 years and ex-tends a huge variety oftax breaks, includingthose for college tuitionand renewable energysuch as solar and windpower.

EducationObama signed a sweep-

ing overhaul of the NoChild Left Behind educa-tion law, the biggest edu-cation reform since 2002.The bipartisan law ushersin a new approach to ac-countability, teacher eval-uations and the way themost poorly performingschools are pushed to im-prove. Students will stilltake federally requiredstatewide reading andmath exams, but the lawencourages states to limittime spent on testing anddiminishes the stakes forunderperforming schools.

College loansCongress extended a

federal loan program thatprovides low-interest mon-ey to the neediest collegestudents.

Highways and transitAfter years of stymied

efforts, Congress approveda bipartisan bill to im-prove the nation’s agingand congested highwaysand transit systems. Thenew law assures statesthat federal help will beavailable for major pro-jects, although it does notresolve how to pay fortransportation programsin the long term.

Trade promotionauthority

Congress approved abill granting the presidenttrade promotion authority.The law allows Congressto ratify or reject tradeagreements negotiated bythe executive branch, butnot change or filibuster

them. Obama has not sub-mitted to Congress a re-cently competed tradeagreement with 11 PacificRim nations.

SurveillanceObama signed into law

the USA Freedom Act,which extends three expir-ing surveillance provi-sions of the USA PatriotAct, passed after the 9/11attacks on New York andWashington. The law over-hauls the previous law’smost controversial provi-sion, which had been in-terpreted to allow bulkcollection of U.S. phone re-cords by the National Se-curity Agency. The newlaw gives private compa-nies more leeway to pub-licly report informationabout the number of na-tional security surveil-lance demands they re-ceive.

DefenseCongress approved a

sweeping defense-authori-zation bill that includes atroop pay raise and pro-hibits transfer of Guanta-namo Bay detainees to theUnited States.

Doc fixUnder a bill shepherded

by former House SpeakerJohn Boehner and HouseDemocratic leader NancyPelosi, Congress finallyapproved a bipartisanmeasure that permanentlyrecasts how Medicare re-imburses doctors for treat-ing over 50 million elderlypeople. The $214 billionmeasure prevented a 21-percent cut in physicians’Medicare fees, preventinga flood of complaints fromdoctors and seniors.

Export-Import BankCongress revived the

federal Export-ImportBank five months afterlawmakers allowed it toexpire.

———————————Despite those accom-

plishments, the Republi-can-controlled Congressfailed on a number offronts:

Iran nuclear dealGOP lawmakers failed

to block a deal involvingthe United States, Iranand five other world pow-ers that would curb Iran’snuclear activities in ex-change for giving Iran ac-cess to billions in frozenassets and oil revenue.

Planned ParenthoodCongress tried but

failed to halt federal pay-ments to Planned Parent-hood, after secretly record-ed videos of Planned Par-enthood officialsdiscussing tissue dona-tions fueled an uproaramong congressional Re-publicans and abortionopponents.

“Obamacare”Lawmakers tweaked

the edges of Obama’shealth care law but didnot overturn it despite re-peated votes to repeal allor part of it.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., left, and AppropriationsCommittee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., return to Ryan’s office af-ter passing the omnibus bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday.

Photo by J. Scott Applewhite | AP

WhatCongressgot done

By MATTHEW DALYASSOCIATED PRESS

BISMARCK, N.D. —When Elizabeth Garcialooked at the bare area un-der her Christmas tree andconsidered the bills thathad been mounting sinceher last job layoff, sheknew she had to do some-thing to give her family amerry holiday. She turnedto social media.

Garcia, 33, one of thou-sands of North Dakota resi-dents to lose their jobs dur-ing oil’s current downturn,went public with her plighton Facebook. She offeredto sell a camper she hadbought earlier this year for$500 so that she could givea real Christmas to herson, 8, and daughter, 5.

Although she got no of-fers for the camper, the re-plies brought her to tears.A store offered to let herpick out presents for herkids. People donated toys,store gift cards and groce-ry store cards.

“If you saw my Christ-

mas tree right now, it is ab-solutely ridiculous howmany presents are underthere,” she said. “If Iwouldn’t have put the(Facebook) post up, I prob-ably wouldn’t have beenable to get my kids anypresents at all.”

Garcia, a single divorcedmother who moved to Wat-

ford City in the westernNorth Dakota oil patchfrom Colorado in 2012 tostart a new life, was laidoff last summer from herjob with a company build-ing a natural gas plant.She later was laid off fromwelding and carpentryjobs.

The North Dakota Petro-

leum Council estimates asmany as 20,000 workershave lost their jobs in thecurrent oil downturn.

“There’s a new norm,”Louis “Mac” McLeod, exec-utive director of the MinotArea Homeless Coalition,said of people strugglingand agencies like his work-ing overtime to help them.“And we don’t like the newnorm. But it is what it is.”

Garcia was hired by a lo-cal laundry, and she’s alsoselling homemade food toget by until she can findanother oil field job. Shehopes to make North Dako-ta her permanent home;she likes the schools andher kids are happy, shesaid.

And that was before theoutpouring of support fromher Facebook post. She haslived in many states, shesaid, and “I don’t thinkthis would have happenedanywhere else.”

“There are more warmpeople here than anywhereelse I’ve ever lived,” Garciasaid.

Facebook plea brings holiday aidBy BLAKE NICHOLSON

ASSOCIATED PRESS

This June 21 family photo provided by Elizabeth Garcia shows Gar-cia posing with her children Cristian, rear, and Nayeli, at their homein Watford City, N.D.

Photo by Elizabeth Garcia | AP

SAN FRANCISCO —Nearly three dozen religiouscolleges and universities in20 U.S. states have receivedfederal waivers allowingthem not to accommodatetransgender students in ad-missions, housing and otherareas of campus life, accord-ing to a report by the na-tion’s largest LGBT rightsgroup and documents ob-tained by The AssociatedPress.

The church-affiliatedschools that in 2014 and 2015obtained exemptions to alaw that prohibits sex dis-crimination in educationalsettings collectively enrollmore than 73,000 students,the Human Rights Cam-paign said in a report pub-lished Friday.

“What we want students

to know is schools are seri-ous about this, that theyhave gone out of their wayto make sure they have thelegal ability to discriminateagainst LGBT students,”said Sarah Warbelow, thecampaign’s legal director.

Eighteen of the 34 univer-sities and colleges that toldthe U.S. Department of Edu-cation that giving transgen-der students access to sin-gle-sex restrooms and facili-ties that correspond withtheir gender identity wouldbe inconsistent with theirreligious tenets are con-trolled by the Southern Bap-tist Convention, accordingto public records obtainedby both the Human RightsCampaign and the AP.

The Department of Edu-cation has seen the surge inwaiver applications becauseits Office for Civil Rightshas “exceeded its legal au-

thority” by taking the posi-tion since 2013 that the fed-eral law that prohibits sexdiscrimination applies totransgender students, Alli-ance Defending Freedom Se-nior Counsel Gregory Bay-lor said.

“The schools have reason-ably concluded that they arequite likely to become thenext target of OCR if theyfollow their religious convic-tions on these matters,” saidBaylor, whose Christian le-gal advocacy group has ad-vised some colleges on howto seek the exemptions.

The tension mirrors dis-putes that have arisen overthe refusal by Catholic hos-pitals and universities to of-fer contraception in theiremployee health plans andmoves by local governmentsto stop contracting with reli-giously affiliated adoptionagencies that refuse to place

children in householdsheaded by same-sex couples.

Higher education institu-tions that receive federalfunds for research or finan-cial aid are barred from dis-criminating on the basis ofsex under Title IX, the 1972law that originally was usedto open men’s colleges towomen and to create moreathletic opportunities forwomen at co-ed schools.

Colleges controlled by re-ligious organizations alwayshave been eligible to seekexemptions from Title IX.More than 190 representingboth Christian and Jewishdenominations received thewaivers from the mid-1970sthrough the late 1990s, seek-ing permission, for exam-ple, to only hire male teach-ers for certain positions orto sanction students or em-ployees who had sex outsidemarriage.

Religious colleges vs. LGBT rightsBy LISA LEFF

ASSOCIATED PRESS

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES International SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2015

VATICAN CITY — Moth-er Teresa, the tiny, stoopednun who cared for the poor-est of the poor in the slumsof India and beyond, will bedeclared a saint next yearafter Pope Francis approveda miracle attributed to herintercession.

The Vatican on Fridayset no date for the canoniza-tion, but it is widely be-lieved that it will take placein the first week of Septem-ber to coincide with the19th anniversary of MotherTeresa’s death and duringFrancis’ Holy Year of Mercy.

“With her work, she wasalways the symbol of mercy,not just with words butwith her actions,” said thesuperior general of MotherTeresa’s Missionaries ofCharity, the Rev. SebastianVazhakala.

The Vatican said Francisapproved a decree attribut-ing a miracle to Mother Te-resa’s intercession duringan audience with the headof the Vatican’s saint-mak-ing office on Thursday, his79th birthday.

The miracle in questionconcerned the inexplicablecure of a Brazilian man suf-fering from a viral brain in-fection that resulted in mul-tiple abscesses. By Dec. 9,2008, he was in a coma anddying, suffering from an ac-cumulation of fluid aroundthe brain.

The Rev. Brian Kolodiej-chuk, the postulator spear-heading Mother Teresa’scanonization case, said in astatement Friday that 30minutes after the man wasdue to undergo surgery, hesat up, awake and withoutpain. The surgery did nottake place and a day laterthe man was declared to besymptom-free.

The Vatican later attri-buted the cure to the fer-vent prayers to Mother Te-resa’s intercession by theman’s wife, who at the timeof his scheduled surgerywas at her parish churchpraying alongside her pas-tor.

“This is fantastic news.We are very happy,” saidSunita Kumar, a spokeswo-man for the Missionaries ofCharity in the eastern cityof Kolkata (earlier calledCalcutta), where Mother Te-resa lived and worked.

In this February 1986 file photo,Pope John Paul II holds his armaround Mother Teresa as theyride in the Popemobile in Kolka-ta, India.

AP file photo

MotherTeresato be asaint

By NICOLE WINFIELDASSOCIATED PRESS

UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Se-curity Council members unani-mously approved a U.N. resolu-tion Friday endorsing a peaceprocess for Syria including acease-fire and talks between theDamascus government and theopposition, but the draft makesno mention of the most conten-tious issue — the future role ofSyrian President Bashar Assad.

The resolution makes clearthat the blueprint it endorseswill not end the conflict, deep in-to its fifth year with well over300,000 killed, because “terroristgroups,” including the IslamicState group and the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front, are notpart of the cease-fire.

U.S. Secretary of State JohnKerry praised “the unpreceden-ted degree of unity” in the coun-cil, which has been stymied inthe past over a political solutionin Syria, and called the resolu-tion “a milestone.”

Foreign ministers from 17countries met for more than fivehours on how to implement theircall in Vienna last month for acease-fire and the start of nego-tiations between the governmentand opposition in early January.At the same time, diplomatsworked to overcome divisions onthe text of the resolution.

The resulting agreement“gives the Syrian people a realchoice, not between Assad andDaesh, but between war andpeace,” Kerry said, using the Ar-abic acronym for the IslamicState extremists.

“We’re under no illusionsabout the obstacles that exist ...especially about the future ofPresident Assad” where “sharpdifferences” remain, Kerry said.

He made clear that Assadmust go if there is to be peace inSyria, saying that “Assad has lostthe ability ... to unite the coun-try.”

But Kerry later told reportersthat the United States and theopposition had eventually real-ized that demanding Assad’s de-parture up front in the processwas “in fact, prolonging thewar.”

Kerry, Russian Foreign Minis-ter Sergey Lavrov and U.N. spe-cial envoy Staffan de Misturamade clear that the previouslyenvisioned Jan. 1 start to peace

talks was unlikely. De Misturasaid invitations to the talks willgo out in January, at least.

Kerry said a start to the talksin the middle or end of themonth would be more reasona-ble. “In January, we expect to beat the table and implement a fullcease-fire,” he said.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the council that Syriawas “in ruins,” singling out be-sieged areas where “thousandsof people have been forced to liveon grass and weeds,” which hecalled “outrageous.”

“This marks a very importantstep on which we must build,”Ban said of Friday’s resolution.

But Syria’s ambassador to theU.N., Bashar Ja’afari, criticizedthe “glaring contradictions” be-tween the talk about letting theSyrian people decide their fateand what he called interferencein his country’s sovereignty bytalking about replacing Assad.

At an earlier ministerial meet-ing, Ban said he urged the gov-ernment and opposition to im-plement confidence-buildingmeasures, including a halt to theuse of barrel bombs and other in-discriminate weapons against ci-vilians, as well as granting un-conditional access to aid con-voys, lifting restrictions on thedelivery of medical aid and re-

leasing all detainees.Ministers said they would

meet again in January, and deMistura is now tasked with pull-ing together a final negotiatingteam for the Syrian opposition.

The resolution calls on thesecretary-general to convene rep-resentatives of the Syrian gov-ernment and opposition “to en-gage in formal negotiations on apolitical transition process on anurgent basis, with a target ofearly January 2016 for the initia-tion of talks.”

Within six months, the processshould establish “credible, inclu-sive and non-sectarian govern-ance,” and set a schedule fordrafting a new constitution. U.N.-supervised “free and fair elec-tions” are to be held within 18months under the new constitu-tion.

The resolution calls the transi-tion Syrian-led and Syrian-own-ed, stressing that the “Syrianpeople will decide the future ofSyria.”

The resolution also says cease-fire efforts should move forwardin parallel with the talks, and itasks Ban to report within amonth on ways to monitor thecease-fire.

Still, it notes that the cease-fire “will not apply to offensiveor defensive actions” against the

Islamic State group and al-NusraFront. This means that airstrikesby Russia, France and the U.S.-led coalition apparently wouldnot be affected, nor would mili-tary action by the extremists.

Jordanian Foreign MinisterNasser Judeh said he presentedlists submitted from each coun-try of groups they consider ter-rorist organizations. He saidsome countries “sent 10, 15, 20names” and others more.

A group of countries will joinJordan in developing that list,Kerry told reporters, withoutgiving details.

Lavrov stressed that “terror-ists of all stripes have no place inthe talks” and said, “It is inad-missible to divide terroristsamong good and bad ones.”

Those around the table includ-ed the United States, key Euro-pean nations and Saudi Arabia,who support the Syrian opposi-tion, and the Assad govern-ment’s top allies, Russia andIran.

Chinese Foreign MinisterWang Yi said the two most im-portant issues are launching po-litical negotiations among Syr-ian parties and implementing aU.N.-monitored cease-fire. “With-out peace talks, the cease-firecannot be sustained. Without acease-fire, peace talks cannotcontinue to produce results,” hesaid.

Wang noted the “severe threatposed by international terror-ism,” a reference to the IslamicState group, which has exploitedthe chaos to seize large parts ofSyria.

The peace plan agreed to inVienna last month by 17 nationsas well as the U.N., EuropeanUnion, Arab League and Organi-zation of Islamic Cooperationsets a Jan. 1 deadline for thestart of negotiations between As-sad’s government and oppositiongroups.

The U.N. representative for theSyrian National Coalition, themain Western-backed oppositiongroup, told reporters Friday thata comprehensive solution to theconflict requires “the removal ofall foreign troops from Syria, allof them,” including Russia. Mos-cow began a campaign of air-strikes in September that havefocused on more moderate forcesfighting Assad in areas wherethe Islamic State group has littleor no presence.

UN endorses peace processBy EDITH M. LEDERER AND CARA ANNA

ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this photo released on Dec 13 by the Douma Revolution News Network on theirFacebook page, Syrians try to extinguish a fire that was caused by Syrian govern-ment aerial bombardment on the Damascus suburb of Douma, Syria.

Photo by Douma Revolution | AP

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2015 THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A

WASHINGTON — Justas the Federal Reserve ispulling back slightly on theeconomic accelerator, Con-gress is pressing down a bitharder.

The spending and tax-cutpackage that Congress ap-proved Friday stands tomodestly boost growth nextyear. It could also help drivea shift away from govern-ment as a drag on economicgrowth to a source of poten-tial stimulus.

“This shift ... is currentlybeing overlooked by finan-cial markets and analysts,”said Joseph Carson, U.S.economist at asset managerAlliance Bernstein. “But webelieve this will be a key as-pect of a more positive andfaster growth environmentfor next year.”

Economists at GoldmanSachs have forecast that in-creased federal spendingand tax cuts should add toeconomic growth in 2016 forthe first time in six years.

The $1.1 trillion budgetdeal boosts spending formost Cabinet agencies byabout 6 percent next year. Aseparate tax measure pro-vides $680 billion in tax cutsover 10 years. It would do somostly by extending ormaking permanent about 50different expiring taxbreaks.

That measure followsCongress’ approval of a five-year, $305 billion highwaybill earlier in December.

Taken together, the mea-sures could increase growthto about 3 percent next year,Carson estimates, up from alikely pace of about 2.25 per-cent this year.

Alec Phillips, an econo-mist at Goldman Sachs,forecasts a smaller gain andenvisions overall growthnext year of 2.25 percent.

The picture now looksbrighter for state and local

governments, too. Their taxrevenue has increased asthe economy has improved.The economy now hasabout 4.5 million more jobsthan it did before the GreatRecession began in late2007.

Spending on constructionat all levels of government,for example, rose 6.1 percentin October compared with ayear earlier. Additional gov-ernment spending can alsotranslate into more purchas-es of military equipment.

The economic lift fromgovernment, if it proved sig-nificant and if it raised un-desirably low inflation,could make it easier for theFed to continue raisingshort-term interest rates.On Wednesday, citing theimproved economy, the Fedannounced its first rate in-crease in nine years. Forseven years, the centralbank had kept its key short-term rate at a record lownear zero to encourage bor-rowing and spending.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen’spredecessor, Ben Bernanke,had frequently called onCongress to limit its budgetcuts in the short run to helpthe economy recover. But inrecent months Yellen hasnoted that governments atall levels were spending abit more. That likely helpedset the stage for the Fed’srate increases.

“Fiscal policy actions atboth the federal and thestate and local levels looklike they are no longer a sig-nificant drag on economicgrowth,” Yellen said in May.

The Fed said Wednesdaythat any rate hikes nextyear would likely be gradu-al and that it may delay fur-ther increases if the econo-my weakens. The Fed’s in-terest rate target will likelyremain below its longer-runaverage all next year, Yellensaid, meaning that consum-er borrowing rates shouldalso remain at historicallylow levels.

Business groups applaud-

ed Congress’ extension oftax credits, particularlythose that enable companiesto write off their expensesfor big-ticket purchases andresearch and developmentexpenses.

They have long com-plained that the temporarynature of those tax breaksmeant companies couldn’tbe sure they would be avail-able. Next year will be thefirst year since 2013 thatcompanies will start theyear knowing that the cred-its will be available, Phillipsnoted.

“Fiscal instability anduncertainty in the tax codehave stifled investment foryears,” said Mark Weinberg-er, CEO of consulting firmEY and chair of the Busi-ness Roundtable, a group oflarge company CEOs. “Bytaking steps to addressthese long-standing prob-lems, Congress will providea boost to economic growth,innovation and job cre-ation.”

Bill may aid US economy

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), center, speaks during a news conference on CapitolHill in Washington, Friday. The House overwhelmingly approved a $1.1 trillion spending bill Friday.

Photo by Zach Gibson | New York Times

Women may be badly outnum-bered in the top ranks of corpo-rate America, but at least theyaren’t underpaid.

Compensation for female chieffinancial officers at S&P 500 com-panies last year outpaced that oftheir male counterparts, accord-ing to an analysis by executivecompensation firm Equilar andthe Associated Press. It follows asimilar trend seen with femaleCEOs in recent years.

The median pay for femaleCFOs last year rose nearly 11 per-cent to $3.32 million. Male CFOpay rose 7 percent, to $3.3 mil-lion. This follows several years ofsteady gains for both sexes.

The gains, for both men andwomen, are in part a result of theexpansion of the CFO role to in-clude far more responsibility andvisibility.

“The CFO is no longer a bean

counter,” said Josh Crist, manag-ing director at executive searchfirm Crist Kolder Associates.

Companies and shareholdersbecame more focused on finan-cial security and regulation afterthe financial crisis, and corporatefinance began to play a biggerrole in company strategy, accord-ing to Gregg Passin, a compensa-tion expert at consulting firmMercer.

Ruth Porat, became one of themost powerful women on WallStreet while helping steer Mor-gan Stanley, one of the nation’sbiggest investment banks,through the aftermath of the fi-nancial crisis. She topped the listof highest paid female CFOs withher $14.4 million pay packagefrom Morgan Stanley for the 2014fiscal year.

Google has since lured heraway with a pay deal worth $70million. Investors have warmlywelcomed her arrival at Google,where she is expected to bring

some financial discipline to whatsome consider their free-spend-ing ways.

The increased responsibilityand visibility has helped somewomen CFOs rise even further, toCEO. Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsi-Co and Lynn Good, CEO of DukeEnergy are both former CFOs.

“It’s a unique position that hasthe ability to contribute to day-to-day operations but also on long-term strategic planning,” Goodsaid. She called the CFO position“a critical training ground” foraspiring CEOs.

The other top-paid femaleCFOs, after Porat, include Mar-ianne Lake of JPMorgan Chase,whose compensation package isvalued at $9.1 million, CatherineLesjak of Hewlett-Packard at $8million, Sharon McCollam atBest Buy at $7 million and RobinWashington of Gilead Sciences at$6.2 million. This ranking reflectsonly the companies where theCFOs who have served two con-

secutive years in their particularposition.

To calculate pay, Equilar addssalary, bonus, perks, stockawards, stock option awards andother pay components. To deter-mine what stock and optionawards are worth, Equilar usesthe value of an award on the dayit is granted, as shown in a com-pany’s proxy statement.

The high median pay for fe-male CFOs is partly a result ofsample size — there were only 60female CFOs at the S&P 500 com-panies that qualified for inclu-sion in the study during the lastfiscal year, compared with 437men, according to Equilar.

It is also a factor in femaleCEO pay. Median CEO pay forwomen was $15.9 million lastyear, according to an analysisdone earlier this year by Equilarand the AP, compared with $10.4million for male CEOs. Therewere just 17 female CEOs, howev-er.

The small group of women inthese important roles tended tobe focused at the largest compa-nies, where pay is higher. Cristsaid that he expects more womento take on CFO duties in yearsahead but the pay range willbroaden as more women joinsmaller companies.

He notes that women have his-torically been underrepresentedin finance overall. That is chang-ing, and helping fuel this shift atthe top. Younger women are get-ting better opportunities at entrylevels and these lead to better op-portunities down the line.

A Crist Kolder study foundthat the percentage of female CE-Os and CFOs has hit an all-timein 2015. Of the 672 Fortune 500and S&P 500 companies evaluat-ed, nearly 5 percent had femaleCEOs and 13 percent had femaleCFOs.

“It’s a heck of a trend,” hesaid. “It has been predominantlywhite male centric forever.”

Women out-earning men in corporate financeBy SARAH SKIDMORE SELL

ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — The Texasunemployment rate forNovember rose to 4.6percent, the thirdstraight month of state-wide higher jobless fig-ures, the Texas Work-force Commission re-ported Friday.

The October joblessrate in Texas was 4.4percent. Texas in Sep-tember had 4.2 percentunemployment, accord-ing to TWC figures. Thenationwide jobless ratefor November was 5 per-cent.

“Texas employers add-ed 179,300 jobs over thepast year, highlightingthe diversity of the Tex-as economy and job mar-ket,” said Andres Alcan-tar, commission chair-man.

Amarillo had the low-est unemployment ratein Texas last month at3.2 percent. The Austin-Round Rock area was al-so on the low end for job-less rates, at 3.3 percent.The McAllen-Edinburg-Mission area had thehighest jobless ratestatewide at 8.0 percent,the TWC said.

Texas employers ex-panded their payrollslast month by adding16,300 seasonally adjust-ed nonfarm jobs. Morethan half, about 9,000jobs, were in the con-struction industry, acommission statementsaid.

The professional andbusiness service indus-try also added jobs forthe fourth month in arow, adding 5,500 posi-tions in November.

“Texas employers con-tinue to lead the good ec-onomic news for ourstate,” said Commission-er Ruth R. Hughs. “Thefact that our state hasadded jobs for nine ofthe eleven months of2015 is a credit to the di-versity and resilience ofemployers in Texas.”

Texas joblessrate increasesto 4.6 percent

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Amarillo hadthe lowestunemploymentrate in Texaslast month at3.2 percent. TheAustin-RoundRock area wasalso on the lowend for joblessrates, at 3.3percent. TheMission areahad the highestjobless ratestatewide at 8.0percentaccording to theTWC.

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2015

with the science portion ofthe exam, but had an im-provement, meeting thestandards for the writingportion of the test.

Zapata middle and highschools met all the criteriafor the state this schoolyear.

Laredo ISDFor the 2016-17 school

year, Bruni, Don Jose Gal-lego, Dovalina, Daiches,Leyendecker, Macdonell,Santa Maria, SanchezOchoa, Farias, Zachry, Ka-was elementary, Christen,Cigarroa, Lamar middleand Cigarroa, Martin andNixon high schools are onthe PEG list.

According to the TexasEducation Agency report,most of the campuses arestruggling with the scienceportion of the exam.

“Last year, we had somedrops in science,” said Ro-berta Ramirez, Laredo In-dependent School Districtcurriculum and instructionexecutive director. “Thestandards are increasing.”

Ramirez said the in-crease in campuses on thelist came as a surprise todistrict officials.

“We were a little disap-pointed in that,” she said.

Some campuses, however,met all the state criteria ofthe exams.

But when a campus isplaced on a PEG list, it isrequired the school remainthere for about two to threeyears, Ramirez explained.

Such schools includeDon Jose Gallego, FariasElementary, Lamar Middle,and Nixon High schools.

United ISD

At United IndependentSchool District, AntonioGonzalez Middle, ClarkMiddle, Lamar Bruni Ver-gara Middle, Los ObisposMiddle, Salvador GarciaMiddle, and Lyndon B.Johnson high schools areon the PEG list.

Last school year, Clark,Lamar Bruni Vergara, LosObispos and Salvador Gar-cia middle schools andLyndon B. Johnson HighSchool were on the PEGlist.

According to the TEA re-port, Antonio GonzalezMiddle School is strugglingwith the writing portion ofthe exam.

The campus was also la-beled improvement re-quired.

The rest of the campusesmet all the state criteria.

(Judith Rayo may bereached at 728-2567 orjrayo@lmtonline.com)

ZCISD Continued from Page 1A

At the hearing, the com-missioner can appear inperson or by legal coun-sel to be heard.

Bernal adds that theHousing Authority hasnot received details spec-ifying when Ceballos is toassume his position onthe board.

“State law provides that‘before’ a commissionermay be removed, due pro-cess must be given, con-sisting of notice of charg-es and an opportunity tobe heard,” Bernal wrote.“Until Mr. Bruni either

resigns his position ascommissioner or is re-moved by order of themayor pursuant to … theTexas Local GovernmentCode, Mr. Bruni contin-ues to be a commissioneruntil the expiration of histerm on March 31.”

Bruni was served witha warrant Dec. 3 charginghim with aggravated as-sault with a deadly weap-on, a second-degree felo-ny.

A criminal complaintfiled in Zapata with Pre-cinct 2 Justice of the

Peace Juana Maria Gu-tierrez alleges that Brunifired a gun at a ranch,causing the complainant,a relative of Bruni, to fearfor his life.

Records state the ranchhas been divided throughmediation but it does nottake effect until May.

Bruni was also recentlyserved with a protectiveorder in connection withthe case.

He is out on bond.(Kendra Ablaza can be

reached at 728-2538 or ka-blaza@lmtonline.com)

BRUNI Continued from Page 1A

“They may claim towork for a company youtrust, or they may sendmail or place ads to con-vince you to call them. …

Hang up and report it tothe Federal Trade Com-mission.”

To report a scam, visithttp://www.consum-

er.ftc.gov/.(César G. Rodriguez

may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmton-line.com)

SCAMMED Continued from Page 1A

DES MOINES, Iowa — The alle-gations read like a movie plot: alottery industry insider installsundetectable software giving himadvance knowledge of winningnumbers, then enlists accomplicesto play those numbers and collectthe jackpots. And they secretly en-rich themselves for years — untila misstep exposes them.

Eddie Tipton, former securitydirector of the Multi-State LotteryAssociation, has been convicted offraud for fixing one jackpot in DesMoines, but prosecutors say hishigh-tech scheme extended far be-yond Iowa. He’s accused of tam-pering with lottery drawings infour states over six years, and in-vestigators are expanding their in-quiry nationwide.

Investigators have asked statesto review jackpots produced bythe number-generators Tipton hadaccess to, and whose winningnumbers were specifically request-ed by the ticket buyer. They hopeto talk with anyone aware of suchpayouts being collected by some-one other than the person whoends up with the money, said RobSand, a state prosecutor in DesMoines who is leading the probe.

The inquiry is sending a chillthrough state governments thatdepend on public confidence incontests that generate $20 billionannually in lottery revenue.

“It would be pretty naive to be-lieve they are the only four” jack-pots involved, said now-retired Io-wa deputy attorney general Thom-as H. Miller, who oversaw theinvestigation for 21⁄2 years. “If youfind one cockroach, you have to as-sume there are 100 more youhaven’t found.”

Thirty-seven states and U.S. ter-ritories use random-number gen-erators from the Iowa-based asso-ciation, which administers gamesand distributes prizes for the lot-tery consortium. So far, Colorado,Wisconsin, and Oklahoma haveconfirmed paying jackpots valuedat a total of $8 million allegedlylinked to Tipton and associates.

Tipton, 52, was sentenced to 10years but is free pending appeal af-ter being convicted at trial of try-ing to claim a $16.5 million jackpot

in Iowa. He’s also charged withcriminal conduct and money laun-dering involving the other threestate lotteries. His brother, TommyTipton, and his best friend, RobertRhodes, are under investigation aspossible accomplices.

Rhodes’ attorney did not re-spond to messages. Tommy Tip-ton, who resigned his elected judi-cial position in Texas last month,did not return calls. Eddie Tip-ton’s attorney, Dean Stowers, sayshis client is innocent.

“There’s just absolutely no evi-dence whatsoever that he did any-thing to alter the proper oper-ations of the computers that wereused to pick those numbers, abso-lutely no evidence. It’s just allspeculation,” Stowers said.

Prosecutors say Tipton installedsoftware known as a root kit thatenabled him to manipulate num-bers without a trace. What trippedhim up, investigators say, was hisdecision to buy the winning tickethimself at a service station nearthe headquarters of the associ-ation, whose workers are prohibit-ed from trying their luck.

Iowa got suspicious in 2012 aftera New York lawyer representing anewly created trust tried to claimthe $16.5 million Hot Lotto jackpoton behalf of a Belize-registered

corporation, turning in the tickethours before a one-year deadline.The trust eventually withdrew theclaim rather than identify the tick-et purchaser.

Investigators initially suspectedthe buyer was merely trying tohide the winnings from a formerspouse or creditor. Still, whowould walk away from $16.5 mil-lion?

The case took an even moredramatic twist after authoritiessought the public’s help, releasingsurveillance video showing astocky, hooded man buying thewinning ticket and hot dogs at aservice station in December 2010.Lottery colleagues were stunned,stepping forward to say the manlooked and sounded like Tipton.

Eddie Tipton had worked at theassociation since 2003, after a ca-reer in information technology, in-cluding at a Rhodes-owned firm inHouston called Systems Evolution.He was promoted in 2013 to securi-ty director, a job that included pro-tecting the integrity of the com-puter programs that generate win-ning numbers.

Investigators allege that Tiptonpassed the winning ticket toRhodes, a businessman in SugarLand, Texas, who was his class-mate at the University of Houston.

Jackpot-fixing investigation expandsBy RYAN J. FOLEY AND DAVID PITT

ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this July 15 file photo, Eddie Tipton looks over at his lawyers before the start ofhis trial in Des Moines, Iowa. The former security director of the Multi-State Lot-tery Association, accused of tampering with lottery drawings to rig jackpots infour states, was convicted of fraud in the attempt to claim a $16.5 million jackpot.

Photo by Brian Powers/The Des Moines Register | AP file

Sports&OutdoorsSATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2015 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

Colby Lewis is staying with theRangers.

AL West champion Texas andthe pitcher have agreed on a $6million, one-year contract, a per-son familiar with the deal saidFriday. That person spoke on con-dition of anonymity because thedeal is pending a physical on thepitcher’s surgically repaired rightknee, and that exam likely won’thappen until after the holidays.

Lewis was a free agent aftersetting career highs last seasonand leading the Rangers with 17wins and 204 2/3 innings. The 36-year-old right-hander has won 27games over the past two seasonssince a hip resurfacing procedurethat was unprecedented for a ma-jor league pitcher.

In October, only two days afterthe Rangers lost Game 5 of theAL Division Series to Toronto,Lewis had torn meniscus re-paired in his right knee, which

See LEWIS PAGE 2B

MLB: TEXAS RANGERS

The Rangers and pitcher Colby Lewisagreed to a one-year, $6 million con-tract Friday.

Photo by Ron Jenkins | AP

Lewisresigns

withTexas

Rangers bring backstarter on 1-year deal

By STEPHEN HAWKINSASSOCIATED PRESS

Former No. 1 overall draft pick MattBush agreed on a minor league contractwith the Texas Rangers after spending 31/2 years in prison for a drunken drivingaccident in Florida that seriously injureda man.

Bush said Friday that he has been so-ber since the March 2012 accident afteryears of alcohol issues.

“It was a startling experience. ... It waspretty scary to deal with,” Bush said dur-ing a conference call with Rangers beatwriters. “I didn’t really pay attention tothe baseball world for a while because itwas too hard for me.”

Bush will report to minor league springtraining in Arizona in February, themonth he turns 30. He is home with hisfamily in California, where he has beensince his release from prison Oct. 30.

Rangers general manager Jon Danielssaid Bush will be accompanied through-

out spring training by his father, who willalso stay with him through the season ifthe hard-throwing right-handed relievermakes a minor league roster. Bush willcontinue in an Alcoholic Anonymous pro-gram and will have other requirements,including community service.

Daniels acknowledged that his initialresponse about Bush “was one of skepti-cism.” The GM became more open-mindedwhen hearing more, and getting a chanceto meet Bush and his father.

“Unlike some who have been accused ofdifferent crimes, or have had stuff happenin the past, Matt is not running and hid-ing from this,” Daniels said. “He has beenextremely accountable, extremely remor-seful.”

Bush was drafted No. 1 overall as ashortstop by his hometown San Diego Pa-dres in 2004, but had several alcohol-relat-ed incidents and was traded five years lat-er to Toronto. After being released by theBlue Jays, he signed a minor league dealas a pitcher with Tampa Bay. He last

played in the minors in 2011. The Rangers took a look at Bush on a

recommendation from Roy Silver, a playerdevelopment assistant for the team whohas helped others come back from trou-bled pasts. Silver had a big impact onslugger Josh Hamilton, the former No. 1overall pick who was out of baseball formore than three years because of cocaineand alcohol addictions.

“He saw something in Matt that madehim feel like that there was somethingwell worthwhile to invest in and help,”Daniels said.

Bush went to prison after a no contestplea deal he made in Charlotte County inFlorida for DUI with serious bodily injury.Authorities said Bush’s blood alcohol levelwas more than twice the legal limit whenhe hit a 72-year-old man on a motorcycleand left the scene.

There is no probation for Bush, whosesentence ended with a nine-month work

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

Rangers sign Bush

The Rangers signed former No. 1 overall pick Matt Bush to a minor league contract after he was released from prison.

Photo by Charles Krupa | AP

Former top pick joins team after release from prisonBy STEPHEN HAWKINS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

See BUSH PAGE 2B

ARLINGTON — Ryan Fitzpa-trick has the New York Jets inposition to make the playoffseven though they didn’t expecthim to be their starting quar-terback this season.

The Dallas Cowboys havehad no such luck with theirbackups to Tony Romo, and thedefending NFC East championscould be eliminated from thepostseason by the end of Week

15.It may be hard for the Jets

(8-5) to remember that Fitzpa-trick wasn’t their guy whenthey went to training camp —before Geno Smith’s jaw wasbroken by a punch from then-teammate Ikemefuna Enemkpa-li at camp.

Now New York makes itsfirst visit to the $1.2 billionhome of the Cowboys on Satur-day night with Fitzpatrick clos-

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

See COWBOYS PAGE 2B

Matt Cassel and the Cowboys host New York on Sunday night. The Jets havewon three straight games to take control of one of the AFC wild-card spots.

Photo by Jeffrey Phelps | AP

Cowboys look tobreak Jets’ streak

By SCHUYLER DIXONASSOCIATED PRESS

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana-polis and Houston started theseason as the two best teams inthe AFC South.

So perhaps Sunday’s gameplaying a pivotal role in deter-mining a division championshould have been expected.

The surprise will be the quar-terbacks determining the cru-cial outcome — Houston’s T.J.Yates and either Matt Hassel-beck or Charlie Whitehurst forthe Colts.

“I feel very fortunate thatwe’ve got Matt Hasselbeck,”Colts coach Chuck Pagano said,sounding confident that Hassel-beck will be healthy enough toplay this weekend. “He can playat a winning level, and he willplay again at a winning level.”

Without Hasselbeck, the Colts(6-7) might not even be in theplayoff hunt.

He has won twice as manygames this season (four) as thestarter he replaced, AndrewLuck, and with Luck still reco-vering from a lacerated kidneyand a partially torn abdominalmuscle and ruled out of thisweek’s game, the Colts are nowpinning their playoff hopes to a40-year-old backup who has beenbattered the past two weeks.

If he actually plays.

Hasselbeck left late in the lossat Pittsburgh two weeks ago af-ter hurting his neck and shoul-der and then was diagnosedwith a mild separation of theribs. Last week, in a loss atJacksonville, he re-injured theribs and spent the early part ofthis week with his left arm in asling.

He returned to practiceThursday and while Pagano re-mains hopeful Hasselbeck starts— and finishes —the game, Has-selbeck acknowledged that thehardest part has been breathing.

“I’m not in an incredible

amount of pain, I just need to beable to play at a high level,” hesaid. “That’s the case at everyposition, but especially for me.”

If he can’t go, Whitehurstwill.

Houston (6-7) has taken itsshare of hard knocks, too.

The Texans lost former NFLrushing champion Arian Fosterin late October with a torn rightAchilles tendon. They cut one-time starting quarterback RyanMallett two days after he misseda team flight. Two-time defen-

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Texans, Colts face for 1st place

Backup quarterback T.J. Yates will start for the Texans on Sunday in a key divi-sional showdown against the Colts.

Photo by Frank Victores | AP

By MICHAEL MAROTASSOCIATED PRESS

See TEXANS PAGE 2B

PAGE 2B Zsports SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2015

release program.“I feel like my future is

as bright as I make it. Ihave to dial in each daymentally and spiritually,and physically,” Bush said.“I wake up each morningin a positive state of mind.

I feel renewed after time Iserved and had to thinkthings through, the agonyabout destroying my lifeand the lives of others.

“I want to be a player, bea part of the game, be arole model and show ev-

erybody that I can makesomething out of the op-portunity which I was giv-en a long time ago, andreally just make thingsright for myself, my familyand the Texas Rangers.”

Bush, selected just

ahead of Justin Verlanderin the 2004 draft, hit .219with three homers and 70RBIs in the minor leagues.As a pitcher, he was 7-3with a 4.14 ERA in 53 ap-pearances, with 113 strike-outs in 71 2-3 innings.

BUSH Continued from Page 1B

bothered himfor much ofthe second half of last sea-son. He is expected to beready for spring training.

If Lewis passes his phys-ical, it would line up theRangers to go into the 2016season with the likely rota-tion including left-handersCole Hamels, Derek Hollandand Martin Perez, alongwith Lewis. Ace right-hand-er Yu Darvish expected toreturn in May after missingall of last season because ofTommy John surgery.

Lewis is 71-67 with a 4.81ERA over 10 major leagueseasons, eight of those withthe Rangers.

He was a first-round sup-plemental choice of theRangers during the 1999amateur draft and made hisbig league debut in 2002. Hehad right shoulder surgeryin early 2004 before sittingout all of 2005. He then

pitched for Detroit and Oak-land and spent two years inJapan before returning toTexas in 2010 and beingpart of the Rangers’ onlyWorld Series appearances.

After going 4-1 with a 2.34ERA in eight postseasonstarts in 2010 and 2011, Le-wis was hampered by inju-ries. He had surgery in July2012 to repair a torn flexortendon in his right elbow.

His comeback from thatwas thwarted by the trou-blesome hip that had both-ered him for some time be-fore he had the resurfacingprocedure in August 2013that was just short of a fullhip replacement. He was 10-14 with a 5.18 ERA in 29starts in 2014, but had a 3.86ERA with two completegames while averaging 62/3 innings in 13 starts af-ter the All-Star break thatseason.

LEWIS Continued from Page 1B

The Las Vegas Bowl has taken ona new moniker: The Holy War in SinCity.

Longtime rivals BYU and No. 20Utah will meet in the postseason forthe first time on Saturday with aneye on finishing on a high note. Bothprograms ended the season on a dournote despite posting nine wins.

Las Vegas was a far-down-the-listdestination for the Utes (9-3) afterstarting the season 6-0 and beingranked No. 3 in the country. Therewas talk of playing in the CollegeFootball Playoff at one time, but Utahlost three of six to wrap up the regu-lar season and didn’t even win thePac-12 South. The Utes and USC fin-ished with identical conference re-cords, but the Trojans earned thehead-to-head tiebreaker.

“We were essentially one gameaway from being able to play in the(Pac-12) championship game, so thatwas disappointing, but it’s still been avery good year for us,” Utah coachKyle Whittingham said. “Co-champsof the South, that’s not bad whenyou’re picked to finish fifth.”

BYU (9-3) is back in Vegas afterplaying in the bowl five consecutivetimes from 2005-09. Life as an inde-pendent leaves little on the line aftertwo losses, but the last two weeks en-ergized the Cougars.

Saturday will be the last game forcoach Bronco Mendenhall after 11years at the head of the program.He’s been hired to coach Virginia, butwill go for his 100th win first.

A showdown with the Utes pro-vides an edge to the game that noother program could.

The two teams have never playedin the postseason or at a neutral site.

“One of the first things that Ithought after hearing the news fromCoach Mendenhall immediately was,’I can’t wait to play in the bowl gamebecause of how hard we’re going tofight for this guy,”’ BYU receiverMitch Mathews said. “That is some-thing that will happen. There’ll be anew level of fight in us for CoachMendenhall.”

Things to watch during the LasVegas Bowl:

HOLY WARThere were extensive debates this

year about the series between the twoschools located 46 miles apart. Theyplayed the so-called Holy War rivalrygame every year from 1946 to 2013,when Utah discontinued the series toplay Michigan in 2014 and 2015. Theypick back up in 2016, but Utah ques-tions the viability of playing every

year. The Utes have a tough Pac-12schedule and the BYU game presentsa difficult nonconference game thatdoesn’t necessarily carry the weightnationally that a matchup with aPower 5 school would.

CLOSE CONNECTIONSUtah has three coaches who played

at BYU — Whittingham, co-offensivecoordinator Aaron Roderick and line-backers coach Justin Ena. BYU defen-sive line coach Steve Kaufusi used tocoach at Utah.

FALLEN STARSBoth teams are without star offen-

sive players. BYU quarterback Tay-som Hill was lost for the year in theseason opener. Utah leading rusherDevontae Booker is out after havingknee surgery and leading receiverBritain Covey is questionable with aleg injury.

BAD BLOODUtah defensive tackle Viliseni Fau-

onuku called BYU “a dirty team” onthe microphone at the welcome re-ception for the two teams. BYU fanswere not amused. The university hasdealt with several incidents of ques-tionable behavior recently. BYU bas-ketball player Nick Emery was re-cently suspended a game for punch-ing Utah guard Brandon Taylorduring a game.

QUOTABLE“As you get closer to the game, we

get more hyped to play the game, weget more juiced and we’re excited toplay an in-state rival at a bowl game,”Utah linebacker Gionni Paul said.“We’re preparing our behinds off towin this game and I think there ain’tno bowl game out there more seriousthan this bowl game.”

Rivals face in Las Vegas BowlBy KAREEM COPELAND

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Cory Butler-Byrd and No. 20 Utah face ri-val BYU on Saturday in the Las VegasBowl.

Photo by Rick Bowmer | AP

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— Playing in the postsea-son has become somethingof a habit for Arizona. Thesame isn’t true of NewMexico, but the Lobos arehoping to start a similartrend.

For Arizona (6-6), Satur-day’s New Mexico Bowlmarks the Wildcats’ fourth-consecutive bowl appear-ance under coach Rich Ro-driguez in a season thatsaw the team battling inju-ries to key players. Starlinebacker Scooby Wright,for example, barely playedin two games this year dueto various injuries.

The New Mexico Bowlappearance comes just ayear after Arizona made itto the Pac-12 championshipgame and eyed a playoffspot. But Rodriguez saidhe’s not fazed by Arizona’srecord this year and is hap-py the team is playing inthe postseason.

“I came here to build oneof the best football pro-grams in the country,” Ro-driguez said. “We’re notthere yet.”

The Lobos (7-5) are re-turning to the postseasonfor the first time in nearlya decade and it comes afteryears of turmoil in the pro-gram. New Mexico coachBob Davie said earning abowl appearance was thefirst step in regaining a“winning culture” at NewMexico.

“We still have a lot ofwork to do,” said Davie, aformer coach at NotreDame who returned tocoaching after a 10-year hi-atus when he took over atNew Mexico. “We can eas-ily return to back if wearen’t careful.”

Here are some thingsto watch in Saturday’sNew Mexico Bowlmatchup:

WOLF BITEThe Lobos gained na-

tional attention in Novem-ber by beating Utah Stateand Boise State in back-to-back close games. Afteryears of losing records,New Mexico was suddenlywithin striking distance ofgoing to the Mountain Westchampionship but lost toColorado State next in an-other close game. Now,New Mexico finds itself inits first bowl game since2007 and it will be playedon its home field.

SCOOBY WILLScooby Wright is expect-

ed to play on Saturday de-spite missing most of thisseason. Rodriguez saidWright could have easilyopted not to play but wantsin on behalf the Wildcats.Likely not at 100 percent,Wright is needed to helpslow down New Mexico’striple-option offense thatcan break a big play on anydrive.

RED ZONE LOBOSThe Lobos have allowed

only 30 scores on 44 redzone possessions by oppo-nents this year. The break-up of scoring opportunitieshas earned New Mexico a68.2 percent opponent suc-cess rate, the fourth-bestmark in the nation. NewMexico also has allowed on-ly 18 touchdowns in those44 red-zone possessions.

FAST CATSArizona has had 53

touchdown drives and 28 ofthose have lasted two min-utes of less. That’s a resultof Rodriguez’s trademarkhigh-octane offensive attackthat can put points on theboard quickly and has beenadopted by other programsacross the country. Davieeven acknowledged Rodri-guez’s mark and said everyoffense in the country hasa bit of Rodriguez DNA toit. If New Mexico can slowit down, expect a closegame.

Austin Hill and Arizona face New Mexico Friday in the New MexicoBowl.

Photo by Eric Draper | AP

Arizona facesLobos in NewMexico Bowl

By RUSSELL CONTRERASASSOCIATED PRESS

sive player of the year, J.J.Watt, played last week af-ter breaking his left handin practice. And nowstarting quarterbackBrian Hoyer is out afterbeing diagnosed with hissecond concussion in lessthan a month.

That leaves their fate inthe hands of T.J. Yates,who won his only startthis season.

“He’s a really brightguy, so now being here fora while, I think he has areally good grasp of ouroffense,” coach BillO’Brien said. “So we cando the things we need todo to help us beat theColts.”

But the better backupwill probably give histeam the inside track to adivision title and a homeplayoff game, somethingeverybody in both locker

rooms understands in ahigh-stakes game.

“Things haven’t beengoing our way lately butthis is a must-win,” Coltsreceiver T.Y. Hilton said.“This is our playoff gameand one that we have tohave.”

Here are some otherthings to watch in Sun-day’s game:

WATT’S CLUBWatt has been one of the

NFL’s most dominantplayers but wasn’t himselfwith the “club” cast pro-tecting his hand last weekagainst New England.And the Colts neutralizedhim in their first meeting,in October. If Watt returnsto form this weekend,against left tackle Antho-ny Castonzo, who missedthe last three games witha right knee injury, Hous-ton’s chances would in-

crease.DEFENSIVE DILEMMA

The last two weeks havebeen ugly in Indy. TheColts have been outscored96-26, allowing Ben Roeth-lisberger and Blake Bor-tles to throw for a com-bined 614 yards and sevenTDs. They can’t afford tohave a repeat againstYates and the Texans.

NO CLOWNING AROUNDLast week, outside line-

backer Jadeveon Clowney,the No. 1 overall pick inthe 2014 draft, sacked TomBrady twice — the firstmulti-sack game of his in-jury-plagued career. NowHouston wants to see himdo it again. “He’s a confi-dent player,” O’Brien said.“ ... When he feels goodand he’s healthy, he’s agood football player.”

GROUNDEDFor four seasons, Paga-

no has talked incessantlyabout the need to run.The Colts might need aground game more thanever. Over the last fourweeks, Indy has rushedfor 62.5 yards per gameand 2.7 yards per carry.Improving those numberswould help keep the quar-terbacks upright.

LOPSIDED RIVALRYHouston has a problem

in Indy. It can’t win. TheTexans couldn’t win inDecember 2011 when theirplayoff-bound team lost toa one-win Colts’ team thathad Dan Orlovsky at quar-terback. They couldn’twin in December 2012when they were facing arookie quarterback with ashot at the AFC’s No. 1seed. And if they want tomake the playoffs thisyear, they need to end this0-13 run.

TEXANS Continued from Page 1B

ing in on his first trip tothe playoffs in the formerIvy Leaguer’s 11th NFLseason.

During a three-gamewinning streak that givesthe Jets one of the AFCwild-card spots at the mo-ment, Fitzpatrick has 930yards with nine touch-downs, no interceptionsand a 111.5 passer rating.

“I think as a fan of foot-ball and someone who’sbeen around football mywhole life, I have an affin-ity for him,” said Dallascoach Jason Garrett, whowas a quarterback atPrinceton about 15 yearsbefore Fitzpatrick was atHarvard. “He’s a smartguy. He’s a tough guy. Heplays the game the rightway.”

Matt Cassel once won 10games filling in for TomBrady in New England.But he’s 1-5 as the secondreplacement for Romo thisseason, after BrandonWeeden went 0-3. TheCowboys have scored morethan one touchdown justtwice in his six starts.

“They still have a greatoffensive line; they’ve gota slew of running backs,”said New York coach Todd

Bowles, who missed Romolast year as well when hewas defensive coordinatorin a win for Arizona. “Weexpect to get the Cowboysthat won a division, theCowboys that play hardand do everything they’vebeen doing. We expect atough game.”

Things to considerwith the Jets going fortheir first four-gamewinning streak since2010:

BRACKET? WHAT BRACKET?The Jets currently have

one of two playoff spotsamong a trio of 8-5 teamswith Kansas City andPittsburgh. Not that Fitz-patrick is looking. “It’s tooearly for me to even thinkabout that,” he said.“We’re trying to win everysingle game, but this is thenext one.”

WALKING CONTRADICTIONSNew York is among the

best offenses inside the 20,converting 68 percent intotouchdowns and 96 per-cent overall (42 of 44). Dal-las is among the worst atgetting into the end zone(44 percent). “That wasone of the things we saidto start the season, thatwas a big goal of ours, to

be very good in that area,”said Jets offensive coordi-nator Chan Gailey, whocoached the Cowboys in1998-99.

The Jets are one of sev-en teams with at least 24takeaways, and the Cow-boys are the only team insingle digits with eight.It’s probably not goodnews for Dallas that NewYork has just one turnoverduring its winning streak.

DYNAMIC DUOBrandon Marshall and

Eric Decker are havingone of the best seasons ev-er for a pair of Jets receiv-ers. Marshall has 89 catch-es, five shy of breaking AlToon’s franchise record.He has 1,187 yards and 11touchdowns. Decker has 66receptions for 875 yardsand nine TDs, includingeight in the red zone —second in the NFL to Jack-sonville’s Allen Robinson(11) among WRs.

The duo’s 20 combinedTD catches tie the fran-chise mark, also held byArt Powell and Don May-nard (1960) and Toon andWesley Walker (1986). Mar-shall and Decker have alsoeach caught a TD pass inseven games this season,

tying the NFL record setin 1998 by Minnesota’sRandy Moss and Cris Car-ter.

DEZ AND CONFUSEDAll-Pro receiver Dez

Bryant has 13 straightgames for Dallas with atleast one touchdownagainst AFC opponents,the longest interconfe-rence streak since 1970.But he has just two TDsthis season after missingfive games with a brokenfoot. It’s likely the end of athree-year run with atleast 10 TDs each season.“Certainly for Dez thisyear it’s been challengingfor a lot of different rea-sons,” Garrett said. “Dezunderstands that and youjust have to work throughit.”

CHASING 1,000New York running back

Chris Ivory needs 86 yardsfor his first 1,000-yard sea-son in his sixth year. Healready has career highswith 914 yards and seventouchdowns. Dallas’ Dar-ren McFadden (798 yards)has a little further to gofor the second 1,000-yardseason for the fourth over-all pick in the 2008 draftby Oakland.

COWBOYS Continued from Page 1B

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2015 THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

GLOW STICKSHello, Heloise: I enjoy

your column in the Spring-field (Mo.) News-Leader.My hint is a child/pet safe-ty warning.

Glow sticks and necklac-es can be given to childrenthroughout the holidaysand into New Year’s Eve.My granddaughter was giv-en a glow necklace, whichshe laid on the kitchencounter.

Our cat bit into it, andhe shot off the counter andaround the house. He wasfoaming from his mouth.We held him over the sinkand washed his mouth outwith water. He was fine,but he might not have beenif we hadn’t been there. ––Zelda W., Springfield, Mo.

Zelda, these glow sticksare tempting for children,cats, dogs, ferrets and otherinquisitive animals. Gladyour kitty is fine.

The research I did showsthat if animals ingest asmall portion of the fluidinside the glow stick, itwon’t kill them. An animalmay get an upset stomachand minor mouth irrita-

tion, which should be tem-porary symptoms. Muchdepends on the size of theanimal and the way it eatsor ingests food. Birds aredifferent from dogs, andcats are, well, cats!

When in doubt, don’twait! Call your vet or ananimal poison-control hot-line; with most the call isfree, but the consultationmay cost. –– Heloise DOG HAIR AND LEAVES

Dear Heloise: I read yourcolumn every day in theTexarkana Gazette. Withfour dogs and lots of trees,I had trouble vacuumingthe combination of doghair and leaves with myregular vacuum cleaner; itwould stop up too quickly.

I discovered that my wet-and-dry workshop vacuumwas the answer. It goes fora long time without stop-ping up or filling up. ––Betty F., via email

“HELOISE

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2015