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A Laredo woman wasarrested Thursday as sheheaded out of ZapataCounty and authoritiesfound five illegal immi-grants in her minivan,two of which were foundlying down on the floorboard between the rearpassenger seats.

Brenda Elizabeth Huer-ta was arrested around1:15 a.m. after authoritiesobserved the vehicle shewas driving appeared tobe riding low and did notcontain any visible pas-sengers.

According to a federalcriminal complaint, Bor-der Patrol agents becameaware that the vehicle

slowed down to 45 milesper hour in a 65 mile perhour zone,

The agents also observ-ed that the car “attemptedto veer off the road sever-al times,” states the com-plaint, which adds thatthe behavior is similar tothat of smugglers realiz-ing law enforcement is on-to them.

When authoritiesstopped the car, approxi-mately 25 miles north ofZapata, two people werefound lying on the floorboard and three peoplewere crouched down onthe first row passengerseats.

During questioning,Huerta told agents that

BORDER PATROL

1 jailed afteragents findimmigrants

By DENISE BLAZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

See WOMAN PAGE 12A

With glimmering Fal-con Lake teeming with avariety of large fish, itwill come as no surprisethat only two days afterTuesday’s voting com-menced for the WorldFishing Network’s “Ulti-mate Fishing Town” com-petition, Zapata was al-ready leading in theSouthwest division.

Falcon Lake has recent-ly been the site of a num-ber of popular bass fish-ing tournaments, wroteZapata County Commis-sioner Jose Vela in astatement provided by Ce-lia Balderas, membershipservices coordinator forthe Zapata County Cham-ber of Commerce.

“These bass tourna-ments brought fishermenfrom all parts of the U.S.,”she said. “We are nowbetter prepared, and therehas been a tremendousgrowth of restaurants, ho-tels and tackle storesserving all our visitingfishermen.”

A total of 29 towns areincluded in the Southwestregion, with cities across

Texas, Louisiana, Oklaho-ma and Arizona partici-pating. The WFN onlineleaderboard places Zapatajust ahead of Grand Isle,La., with 119 votes and108 votes, respectfully, asof Thursday.

“We’re doing prettygood, but I notice that(Grand Isle) is right be-hind us,” Balderas said.

Those who are proud ofthe excellent fishing Fal-con Lake offers are en-couraged to vote by May3, which marks the end ofthe first round of compe-tition. Two cities will beselected from each of sev-en regions — Southwest,Midwest, Southeast, Flor-ida, Northeast, Pacificand Rockies—which willautomatically advance tothe finals.

In addition, the officialwebsite states, six wildcard towns will be select-ed to round out the top 20towns chosen.

“We’re getting ourvotes in to get into thetop 20,” Balderas said.

The town that earnsthe claim to fame of beingthe “Ultimate FishingTown USA” will win agrand prize of $25,000 togo toward a fishing-relat-ed cause in the communi-

RECREATION

Lake takesthe lead

Program eyes topareas for anglers

By ERICA MATOSTHE ZAPATA TIMES

See FISHING PAGE 12A

Native Laredoan Alfon-so (Poncho) Casso Jr. isthe new executive directorof the South Texas FoodBank.

Casso’s appointmentwas announced at themonthly South Texas FoodBank board meeting earli-

er this weekHe is replacing Alfredo

Castillo, who resigned af-ter 13 years. Castillo, whotold the board of his plansthree months ago, will re-main at the food bank un-til Dec. 31. Casso starts onMay 2.

Casso, 60, graduatedfrom St. Joseph Academyin 1968 and from St. Louis

University with a degreein commerce, majoring inmarketing with a minor inmanagement science. Hewas involved with CassoGuerra and Co., a familywholesale grocery busi-ness, from 1972 to 2002.Casso was president ofCasso Guerra from 1985-2002. He has worked atLowe’s Home Improve-

ment Warehouse since2002, serving as manager,operations manager, zonemanager, sales managerand assistant manager.

Casso’s involvement inthe community includesMercy Medical CenterBoard of Trustees for 12years, including six as

SOUTH TEXAS FOOD BANK

Laredoan becomes next directorBy SALO OTERO

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

See FOOD PAGE 12A

Zapata County commissioners hadno need to threaten a lawsuit if theEconomic Development Center in Za-pata didn’t return funds that areowed to the county within 30 days,center officials said Friday.

“It’s really unfair to put the EDCin the middle of something like that,”

said Peggy Umphres Moffett, presi-dent and executive director of thecenter. We’re just doing our job. Thiscould have been resolved a long timeago if we had gotten the paperwork(from the county).”

The money at the center of the de-bate is $315,000 owed to the county inreimbursed grant money.

Monday, Zapata County Commis-sioners Court vote to set the 30-day

time limit.Juan Cruz, of Escamilla, Poneck

and Cruz, a law firm contracted bythe county, said if the center does notsend the money to the county withinthat timeframe, commissioners willauthorize him to seek legal action torecoup the funds.

Moffett said there was no need for

COMMISSIONERS

Debating $315K‘It’s really unfair’: development center director

By NICK GEORGIOU LAREDO MORNING TIMES

See LAWSUIT PAGE 12A

CLOWNING AROUND

Villarreal Elementary hosted Clown Bolitas in the school’s gymnasium recently. He spoke about the importance of reading and doing wellin school. Children also danced and played games. They were motivated to try their best on the upcoming TRPRI exam and the Tejas Leestate reading assessment.

Courtesy photo

PAGE 2A Zin brief SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2011

SATURDAY, APRIL 16El Centro de Laredo Farmer’s

Market is from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. todayat Jarvis Plaza, in Downtown Laredo.

As part of Laredo’s Biggest LoserChallenge, the City of Laredo Parksand Leisure Services Department willhold Zumba classes at North CentralPark, 10202 International Blvd., from 9a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Saturdays fromApril 9 through May 21, except HolySaturday, April 23. To encourage partic-ipation, the department is offering theclasses for six weeks. Registration is$25, payable at any recreation centerthis week, including Northeast HillsideRecreation Center, 320 Wyoming St.Payments will also be taken on site.For more information, visit Laredo’sBiggest Loser Challenge on Facebook.

Texas A&M International Universi-ty will host a performance of the 2011Spring Dance Concert at 8 p.m. todayin the TAMIU Center for the Fine andPerforming Arts Theatre. Admission is$5 per person, with free admission forchildren up to 10 years old. Proceedsbenefit student scholarships and thedance program. Students will performballet, flamenco, jazz and moderndance. For more information, call 326-2654.

The Texas A&M International Uni-versity Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetari-um’s sixth anniversary celebration istoday. “The Little Star That Could” willpremier, and “Toy Story” will screen.The celebration is from noon to 8 p.m.Admission is $3 per movie. “The LittleStar That Could” premieres at noonand also plays at 3 p.m. “Toy Story”shows at 1 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8p.m. For more information, call 326-DOME (3663) or visit tamiu.edu.

The Laredo Open chess tourna-ment is today and Sunday at BravoCare, 6508 N. Bartlett Ave. Onsite reg-istration is from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. USCFregistration is required. Several grand-masters will play. For more informa-tion, contact Lakshmana Viswanath at717-8384 or vis@consultant.com orJoel Sauceda at 693-8770 orjoel2785@gmail.com.

SUNDAY, APRIL 17The Laredo Open chess tourna-

ment ends today at Bravo Care, 6508N. Bartlett Ave. USCF registration is re-quired. Several grandmasters will play.For more information, contact Laksh-mana Viswanath at 717-8384 orvis@consultant.com or Joel Sauceda at693-8770 or joel2785@gmail.com.

MONDAY, APRIL 18The Laredo Community College

Student Music Recital is from 7:30p.m. to 8:30 p.m. today in the Guada-lupe and Lilia Martinez Fine Arts Cen-ter theater. Sponsored by the LCC per-forming arts department, the recital isfree and open to the public.

THURSDAY, APRIL 21Former Texas A&M University stu-

dents will assemble in Laredo at 6p.m. today for the annual Texas AggieMuster to honor Texas Aggies whohave passed away in the last year.Muster activities will begin at 6 p.m. atthe Dolores Ranch in Laredo. Currentand former students, their families andfriends of Texas A&M University are in-vited.

SATURDAY, APRIL 23PECTO-North, 2450 Monarch

Drive, will have an Easter event today.The event will feature a Kids EasterColoring Contest and adoption ofhomeless cats. For more information,call the store at 723-3719.

SATURDAY, APRIL 30The March of Dimes’ 2011 March

for Babies is today from 8 a.m. tonoon at Texas A&M International Uni-versity. To register your family or com-pany team, visit http://www.marchfor-babies.org/. For more information, con-tact Luis Garcia, division director, at1-800-580-3256 or LGarcia@marchof-dimes.com.

The first Zapata County ScoutingCompetition pitting the Zapata GirlScouts vs. the Zapata Explorers, willrun from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Za-pata County Pavilion. For more infor-mation, call the Zapata Chamber ofCommerce at (956) 765-4871.

SATURDAY, MAY 7A book sale will be held in the

Widener Room of the First UnitedMethodist Church, 1220 McClellandAve., from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thepublic is invited, and admission is free.Donated books and magazines are ac-cepted. Call 722-1674 for more infor-mation.

CALENDARASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Saturday, April 16,the 106th day of 2011. Thereare 259 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in His-tory:

On April 16, 1789, President-elect George Washington leftMount Vernon, Va., for his in-auguration in New York.

On this date: In 1862, President Abraham

Lincoln signed a bill endingslavery in the District of Co-lumbia.

In 1879, St. Bernadette,who’d described seeing visionsof the Virgin Mary at Lourdes,died in Nevers (neh-VEHR’),France.

In 1910, Boston Arena (nowMatthews Arena) first opened.

In 1917, Vladimir Ilyich Le-nin returned to Russia afteryears of exile.

In 1947, the French shipGrandcamp blew up at theharbor in Texas City, Texas;another ship, the High Flyer,exploded the following day.The blasts and resulting fireskilled nearly 600 people.

In 1960, shortly before mid-night, rock-and-roll performerEddie Cochran, 21, was fatallyinjured in a taxi crash inChippenham, Wiltshire, Eng-land (he died the next day).

In 1972, Apollo 16 blasted offon a voyage to the moon.

In 1991, Sir David Lean, di-rector of “The Bridge on theRiver Kwai,” “Lawrence ofArabia” and “Doctor Zhivago,”died in London at age 83.

In 1996, Britain’s Prince An-drew and his wife, Sarah, theDuchess of York, announcedthey were in the process of di-vorcing.

In 2007, in the deadliestshooting rampage in modernU.S. history, student Seung-HuiCho (sung-wee joh) killed 32people on the campus of Vir-ginia Tech before taking hisown life.

Ten years ago: Israellaunched an air strike againsta strategic Syrian radar sta-tion in Lebanon, killing threeSyrian soldiers. The Orego-nian of Portland won two Pu-litzer Prizes. In breaking newsreporting, The Miami Heraldwon for its coverage of the pre-dawn raid by federal agentswho took custody of ElianGonzalez; the story also pro-duced the breaking news pho-tography award for Alan Diazof The Associated Press. Mi-chael Chabon won the PulitzerPrize for his novel “The Amaz-ing Adventures of Kavalierand Clay.”

with the Securities and Ex-change Commission, but didnot admit legal wrongdoing.)

Today’s Birthdays: PopeBenedict XVI is 84. Actor Pe-ter Mark Richman is 84. Sing-er Bobby Vinton is 76. Den-mark’s Queen Margrethe II is71. Basketball Hall-of-FamerKareem Abdul-Jabbar is 64.NFL coach Bill Belichick is 59.Rock singer-turned-politicianPeter Garrett is 58. Actress El-len Barkin is 57. Rock musi-cian Jason Scheff (Chicago) is49. Singer Jimmy Osmond is48. Rock singer David Pirner(Soul Asylum) is 47. Actor-co-median Martin Lawrence is46. Actor Jon Cryer is 46. Rockmusician Dan Rieser is 45. Ac-tor Peter Billingsley is 40. Ac-tor Lukas Haas is 35.

Thought for Today: “Theonly graceful way to accept aninsult is to ignore it; if youcan’t ignore it, top it; if youcan’t top it, laugh at it; if youcan’t laugh at it, it’s probablydeserved.” — Russell Lynes,American writer (1910-1991).

TODAY IN HISTORY

AUSTIN — The unemployment rate inTexas dropped slightly to 8.1 percent inMarch, marking the first time in four yearsthat the figure has fallen in consecutivemonths, the state employment agency saidFriday.

The jobless rate was down from 8.2 per-cent in February, and the state added 37,200nonfarm jobs, the sixth consecutive monthof job growth, according to figures from theTexas Workforce Commission. The Februaryunemployment rate dropped from 8.3 percentin January.

The last time the jobless rate dropped inback-to-back months was February-March2007.

“More jobs and more Texans working arethe bottom lines,” said Ronny Congleton, the

commissioner representing labor. The U.S. unemployment rate for March

was 8.8 percent.Professional and business services led the

state’s job sectors with an increase of 10,800jobs. Leisure and hospitality employment in-creased by 9,900 jobs, and mining and log-ging added 4,300.

“These job gains occurred across most ma-jor industry sectors,” said Andres Alcantar,the commissioner representing the public.

Unemployment rates are adjusted for sea-sonal trends in hiring and firing, whichmost economists believe give a more accu-rate picture of the job market. Without theseasonal adjustment, the jobless rate in Tex-as dropped to 8.1 percent in March from 8.2percent in February.

The preliminary local jobless rates forMarch for Laredo was 8.3 percent.

AROUND TEXAS

In this March 22 photo, job applicants wait in a long line at a job fair in San Jose, Calif. Fewer people applied for unemploy-ment benefits last week, a sign that layoffs are dropping and companies may be stepping up hiring.

Photo by Paul Sakuma | AP

Texas jobless rate dropsASSOCIATED PRESS

Texas dad told 911 hekilled his kids

GRAHAM — A Texas fatheraccused of killing his two sonscalled 911 and confessed about 10hours before the infant and tod-dler were found dead under theirhome, according to police docu-ments released Friday.

Graham police started investi-gating Gabriel Armandariz afterone of his sisters called Wednes-day and reported seeing a pic-ture from his cell phone thatshowed the infant hanging bythe neck, according to an arrestwarrant affidavit obtained byThe Associated Press.

Southwest CEO 2010compensation doubledDALLAS — Southwest Air-

lines Co. more than doubled thecompensation for its CEO lastyear, to nearly $3.4 million,thanks mainly to a stock awardworth $1.8 million.

Gary C. Kelly was rewardedfor a big jump in Southwest’s in-

come as passenger traffic rosesharply in a bounce-back yearfor the airline industry.

Paul Quinn College gainsnew accreditation

DALLAS — The only histori-cally black college in Dallas hasobtained accreditation from a na-tional agency that certifiesChristian schools.

Transnational Association ofChristian Colleges and Schoolssays it granted Paul Quinn Col-lege full membership Wednesday.

The Southern Association ofColleges and Schools droppedPaul Quinn from membership in2009 citing limited finances andother concerns.

Hispanics and Democratscriticize new House map

AUSTIN, Texas — Hispanicgroups and Democrats are criti-cizing a new redistricting pro-posal for the Texas House.

The map, being debated Fri-day in the House RedistrictingCommittee, is designed to elect a

strongmajority of Republicans.Hispanic groups, including theMexican American Legal De-fense and Education Fund, saythe proposal should have asmany as five new Hispanic-dom-inated districts. Republicans saytheir map adds a new Hispanicdistrict in the Corpus Christi ar-ea.

El Paso’s Cortez Buildingundergoes restorationEL PASO, Texas — El Paso’s

historic Cortez Building is beingrestored, gradually being trans-formed into a first-class officecomplex that keeps its familiarclassic touches.

The former hotel is getting themost extensive facelift since asubsidiary of El Paso Electric Co.spent $12 million in the 1980srenovating the 1920s-era land-mark in downtown El Paso.

El Paso’s Dipp family is notsaying exactly how much theCortez renovation will cost butestimated the total investmentwill exceed more than $1 million.— Compiled from AP reports

Obama: Congress mustand will raise debt limitCHICAGO — President Ba-

rack Obama confidently predict-ed Friday that a divided Con-gress would raise the nation’sborrowing limit to cover thestaggering federal debt ratherthan risk triggering a worldwiderecession, but he conceded forthe first time he would have tooffer more spending cuts to Re-publicans to get a deal.

Pushed to the brink, Obamasaid, the two parties would find“a smart compromise.”

FDA clears first-of-a-kinddevice for brain cancerWASHINGTON — Device

maker Novocure said Friday thatthe Food and Drug Administra-tion approved its first-of-a-kindtreatment that fights cancerousbrain tumors using electrical en-ergy fields.

The FDA approved the device

for patients with brain tumorsthat have returned after treat-ment with chemotherapy andother interventions. Patientswith recurring brain cancer usu-ally live only a few months.

Studies showed that people us-ing the device lived about as long

as those taking chemotherapy,roughly six months.

For decades, doctors havetreated cancer with three meth-ods: drugs, radiation or surgery.Novocure’s NovoTTF device rep-resents a fourth approach.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

President Barack Obama walks off Marine One before leaving from Chicago’sO’Hare International Airport on Friday.

Photo by Paul Beaty | AP

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

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CONTACT US

SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2011 Zlocal PAGE 3A

ASSAULTJorge Javier Jasso, 25, was

arrested and charged with aggra-vated assault with a deadly weap-on at about 5:45 p.m. Monday inthe 400 block of Falcon ShoreDrive. An incident report statesJasso tried to run over a man witha vehicle. He was taken to the Za-pata Regional Jail.

BURGLARYDeputies responded to a

burglary of a residence call at 7:36a.m. April 10 in the 1500 block ofLaredo Avenue. The complainantstated that someone broke into hishouse and stole several items.

A man called deputies at4:51 a.m. Wednesday from the2400 block of Del Mar Street toreport that someone stole his bill-fold from his pickup.

A burglary of a vehicle wasreported at 7:11 a.m. Wednesday inthe 2000 block of Del Mar Street.

Deputies responded to aburglary of a vehicle call at 10:47a.m. Wednesday in the 2500 blockof East Hidalgo Street. The com-plainant told deputies that some-one stole a purse from an un-locked vehicle.

CHILD ABUSEA woman called deputies at

9:24 p.m. April 8 from the 1800block of Siesta Lane to report thata child made an outcry of abuse.

CRIMINAL MISCHIEFDeputies went out to a call

at 11:58 p.m. April 10 in the inter-section of Washington Avenue andU.S. 83 in San Ygnacio. The com-plainant told officials that someoneused a beer bottle to break a vehi-cle’s windshield.

DWIMaria Elena Harsacky, 45,

was arrested and charged withdriving while intoxicated at approx-imately 9 a.m. April 9 in the inter-section of Fourth Avenue and U.S.83. An incident report states thewoman was driving a black sportutility vehicle without lights. Depu-ties say the vehicle was weaving inand out of traffic, changing lane tolane. She was taken to ZapataCounty Jail, where she was held inlieu of a $1,500 bond.

THEFTDeputies responded to a

theft call at 9:27 a.m. Wednesdayin the 700 block of Texas 16. Aman told authorities that a womanhe knows was caught on camerastealing food products from astore.

THE BLOTTER

An altercation betweentwo men led a 66-year-oldman to pull a rifle and firea shot in the air the eve-ning of April 8 in San Yg-nacio.

Jose Ramiro Garza, 62,

was arrested and chargedwith discharge of a fire-arm. The man was takento the Zapata RegionalJail. He was held in lieu

of a $1,000 bond. Deputies responded to a

shots fired call at 8:57 p.m.in the 100 block of HidalgoStreet in San Ygnacio.

According to Sgt. MarioElizondo, Garza and the17-year-old male complai-nant argued because ofsome sort of “littering”

problem. Elizondo said a witness

corroborated the victim’sstatement. Deputies reco-vered a .22-caliber rifleand one spent casing fromthe scene.

(César G. Rodriguezmay be reached at 728-2568or cesar@lmtonline.com)

Man jailed after incidentBy CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ

THE ZAPATA TIMESJOSE RAMIRO GAR-ZA: Police chargehimwith dischargeof a firearm,

Deputies working on an investigationfound a man in possession of a handgunin the early hours of April 9 in the Medi-na Addition.

Arturo Luis Muñoz, 42, was arrestedand charged with unlawful possession ofa handgun after a traffic stop at 1:47a.m. in the 500 block of Ramireño Ave-nue.

Sgt. Mario Elizondo said deputies in-vestigating an incident noticed a gray2007 Pontiac, which matched the de-scription of a suspect vehicle.

Deputies pulled over the vehicle to in-vestigate. When Garza got out of the car,officials noticed the man had a bulge inhis waistband.

“They could see the outline of the pis-tol,” Elizondo added.

Deputies say the item hidden turnedout to be a .40-caliber semiautomatichandgun.

Elizondo said the man is not relatedto the case deputies were investigating.Garza was taken to Zapata Regional Jail.He was held in lieu of a $25,000 bond.

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

Deputies arrestman found withhandgun in car

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

ARTURO LUIS MUÑOZ: Chargedwith unlawful possession of ahandgun,

SHOPPING FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Photo by Ulysses S. Romero | The Zapata Times

Jose Fransisco Flores, front center, walks in downtown Laredo as shoppers take ad-vantage of Easter Holiday bargains.

Listen to some of thebest jazz musicians in thearea at the Texas A&M In-ternational UniversitySecond Annual Jazz Fes-tival on Tuesday, startingat 4 p.m. in the Center forthe Fine and PerformingArts Recital Hall.

Admission is free andopen to the public.

Five school groups willperform between 4 and 6p.m. with the perform-ance of the TAMIU JazzBig Band at 7:30 p.m.

Clinician and soloistwith the TAMIU Bandwill be Airman FirstClass Kenneth Jones.

Jazz musicians to ruleTAMIU on Tuesday

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

PAGE 4A Zopinion SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2011

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

President BarackObama and PaulRyan are two of the

smartest, most admirableand most genial men inWashington. It is sad, al-though not strange, thatin today’s Washingtonthey have never had a se-rious private conversa-tion. The president hasnever invited Ryan overeven for lunch.

As a result, both menare misinformed aboutthe other, and both havedeveloped a cold con-tempt for the other’s posi-tion. Obama believesRyan wants to take Amer-ica back to what he seesas the savage capitalismof the 1920s (or even the1760s). Ryan believes Oba-ma wants to turn Ameri-ca into a declining Euro-pean welfare state.

Eye to eyeIf they met, would they

resolve their differences?No, but they would un-derstand them better.Paul Ryan believes fivethings Barack Obamadoes not. First, he be-lieves that aging popula-tions, expensive newhealth care technologiesand the extravagant polit-ical promises have madethe current welfare statemodel unsustainable.Fundamental reform isnecessary or the wholething will collapse, hereand in Europe.

Second, he believesthat seniors and the mid-dle class cannot be ex-cused from the benefitcuts that will have to beimposed to rebalancethese systems. Third, hebelieves that health carecosts will not be broughtunder control until con-sumers take responsibili-ty for their decisions andproviders have market-based incentives to re-duce prices.

More reasonsFourth, he believes

that tax increases shouldnot be part of these re-forms because the eco-nomic costs outweigh thegains. Fifth, he does notbelieve government cannurture growth and re-duce wage stagnationwith targeted invest-ments.

Obama, meanwhile,does not believe the cur-rent welfare arrange-ments are structurallyunsustainable. They haveto be adjusted, but notfundamentally altered. Hedoes not believe the se-niors and members of themiddle class have to suf-fer significantly in thecourse of these adjust-ments. The approach heoutlined Wednesdaymostly shields thesegroups from cuts, even ifCongress can’t reach adeal on deficit-cuttingand a fiscal trigger kicksin.

Obama does not be-lieve in relying on marketmechanisms to reducehealth care costs. Instead,he would rely mostly on aboard of technical ex-perts, who would be givenpower to force their rec-ommendations upon Con-gress.

More taxesObama believes that

tax increases on the richhave to be part of a fiscalpackage. His approachclaims to contain $3 in

cuts for every $1 in taxes,but if you count thesethings the way a normalperson would, it’s closerto one to one. Finally,Obama believes that gov-ernment investments inresearch and infrastruc-ture nurture broad-basedprosperity.

Each is rightPersonally, I agree with

Ryan on items onethrough three and withObama on items four andfive, and I think an ac-ceptable package could beput together to reconcilethese views. But I do notbelieve there is anychance this will happenin the current climate.What’s going to happen isthis: We’re going to raisethe debt ceiling in a waythat fudges the issues.Then we’re going to havean election featuringthese rival viewpoints,and Obama will win eas-ily.

It doesn’t take a geniusto see that Obama is verylikely to be re-elected. Ev-ery few years, Republi-cans try to reform thewelfare delivery systemsto make them more mar-ket-like. Every few years,voters, even Republicanvoters, reject this. The sit-uation today is slightlyless hostile to these ideas,but not much.

Easy cutsThe president, mean-

while, hit the politicalsweet spot with hisspeech this week. Hemade a sincere call to re-duce debt, which willplease independents, buthe did not specify anytough choices. He calledfor defense cuts andasked the Pentagon tofind some. He called for areduction in tax creditsbut didn’t point to anythat should actually go.He called for reductionsin Medicare costs andasked his board of tech-nocrats to come up withsome.

These are exactly thesort of vague but well-in-tentioned policies thathave sold well in electionafter election. The presi-dent is not being cynicalabout this. He genuinelydoes believe that seniorsand the middle class canbe spared from anyshared sacrifice. He real-ly does believe in callingtogether teams of expertsto devise proper solu-tions. Obama’s sincerepreferences happen to bemore popular.

Possible ruinHopes of any Gang of 6-

style bipartisan compro-mise are being washedaway by the partisan fury.After the next election,though, interest costs onthe national debt are like-ly to rise ruinously; glob-al markets might loseconfidence in America’sdebt, with catastrophicconsequences.

The coming age of per-manent austerity will beterrible for those conven-tional Democrats and Re-publicans who proposepolicies that could passonly if the other partyceased to exist. But it willbe a moment of opportu-nity for us Hamiltonians,who believe, with Ryan,in market mechanisms toallocate resources andcontrol costs and also,with Obama, in govern-ment’s ability to selective-ly nurture prosperity.

COLUMN

Obama, Ryanbutt headsover beliefs

By DAVID BROOKSNEW YORK TIMES

OTHER VIEWS

The Zapata Times doesnot publish anonymousletters.

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

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

We want to assure our

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

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY

DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

WASHINGTON —Speaking of his fel-low politicians, as

they court one fiscal disas-ter after another, Max thesenator summed things upbeautifully when he said,“We’re acting like we don’tknow how to run the coun-try.”

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., is chairman of theSenate Finance Committee,so he should know.

It’s a mighty convincingact in a budget melodramathat seems to never end. Itmoves from one familiarbackdrop to another. Thescript stays the same,though there are a few vari-ations. Take the currenthorror show over raisingthe national debt ceiling be-fore it tops out in May —and certainly before it be-comes impossible for theU.S. government to borrowany money, probably in July.

This time, President Oba-ma has decided to dabble atthe role of leading man.Somebody probably remind-ed him that Harry Trumanhad a sign on his desk thatread: “The buck stops here.”It didn’t say: “Pass thebuck.”

Before he delivered hisspeech at George Washing-ton University on Wednes-

day afternoon, the presidentbriefed congressional lead-ers at the White House.

The Republican Houseand Senate leaders hadtheir reaction to the meet-ing even before it began. InDC-speak, it was “prebut-tal,” as opposed to post-speech rebuttal. In this case,the “buttal” was more like ataunt, with House SpeakerJohn Boehner, R-Ohio, offer-ing sarcastic congratula-tions to a chief executivewho had “finally decided toengage.” That was for con-sumption by his tea partybackbenchers in the Capi-tol.

The scene quickly shift-ed. Obama took his scriptand teleprompters to near-by George Washington Uni-versity, which is appropriatebecause if the entire nation-al debt was individual dol-lar bills, we’d see Washing-ton’s face more than 14 tril-lion times.

The Obama outline envi-sions the elimination offour of those trillions over12 years. Two of themwould come with spendingcuts and one, as he put it,would be agreement to “re-duce spending in the taxcode.” That’s his term forhigher taxes for the wealthy,putting an end to the Bush-era tax rate reductions forthe wealthy, which, accord-ing to the Congressional

Budget Office, lowered theeffective rate at the top fromapproximately 24 to 19 percent.

Speaking of the cumula-tive effect, he declared: “Wecannot afford one trilliondollars worth of tax cuts forevery millionaire and billio-naire in our society. And Irefuse to renew themagain.“

By comparison, the Re-publican plan, which comesfrom Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the GOP’s House Bud-get Committee chairman,has no tax increase. Itclaims over 4 trillion dollarsin deficit reduction over 10years. Obama called for“shared sacrifice” as op-posed to “sacrifice fromthose who can least affordit.”

Many in his camp com-plain that Obama has beentoo willing to sacrifice hisprinciples, that his wordswould have more meaningif he meant them. To winthem over, he would need toact on principle instead ofexpedience, on effective ac-tion instead of re-election ti-midity.

Raise-taxes-on-the-wealthy has been boiler-plate Obama for awhile now,but each time his boiler-plate turns cold when ex-posed to the heat of opposi-tion politics. Last year, hisparty was still in the major-

ity in the House of Repre-sentatives. Even so, when itcame to a tax hike for thosewho make more than$250,000 a year, he took ahike, and left a revenueshortfall of 700 billion des-perately needed Georges.His explanation: The minor-ity Republicans would haveforced middle class taxeshigher if the rich had to paymore.

Now the Republicanscontrol the House and thetea partiers control the Re-publicans. Once again,Boehner adamantly insiststhat any tax hike is a “non-starter.”

Still, after the WhiteHouse meeting, Senate Mi-nority Leader MitchMcConnell, R-Ky., describeda plot where everyonewould “deal with what’sdoable,” whatever thatmeans.

We can only hope some-thing is “doable.” Thestakes are too high for allthis suspense. Surely, ourperformers realize that ifthey can’t perform andreach agreement and raisethe debt ceiling, the entirefinancial structure willcome crashing down ontothe national stage. Theycould not possibly allowthat to happen.

Or could they? (Email: ob@earstdc.com;

online: www.bobfranken.tv)

COLUMN

It’s really time to face the debtBy BOB FRANKEN

HEARST NEWSPAPERS

SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2011 THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

6A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2011

ZAPATA COUNTY INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICTSPECIAL EDUCA TION OFFICE

PUBLIC INFORMATIONCHILD FIND/CHILD SERVE

Do you know a child or a student ages 0-21 who shows signs ofdevelopmental delay, on-going learning problems, behavioral ormedical problems that interfere with learning? Do you suspect thepresence of a disability?

Zapata County Independent School District has an on-goingprocess in identifying locating, and evaluating any children/ stu-dents residing within the district who are in need of special educa-tion and related services. Please contact any of the following forreferral information:

¿Conoce Ud. algùn niño o algùn estudiante entre la edad de 0 alos 21 años que demuestre retraso del desarrollo, problemas deaprendizaje, problemas de salud o problemas de comportamientoque se interponen con su aprendizaje? ¿Sospecha Ud. la pres-encia de algùn impedimento?

El distrito escolar del condado de Zapata tiene un proceso paraidentificar, localizar y evaluar niños o alumnos dentro del distritoescolar que tienen necesidad de educaciòn especial o de servi-cios relacionados. Para màs informaciòn favor de comunicarsecon alguna de las siguientes personas:

Jose Maria Flores, Jr.PrincipalZapata High SchoolBox 3750Zapata, Texas 78076956-765-0280

Norma Villarreal-ArellanoPrincipalA.L. Benavides ElementaryP.O. Box 219San Ygnacio, Texas 78067956-765-5611

Carmen G ZavalaPrincipalFidel & Andrea R. Villarreal ElementaryBox 3637Zapata, Texas 78076956-765-4321

Gerardo H GarciaPrincipalZapata Middle SchoolBox 3636Zapata, Texas 78076956-765-6542

Pedro M MoralesPrincipalZapata South ElementaryBox 2030Zapata, Texas 78076956-765-4332

Erica A RamirezPrincipalZapata North ElementaryBox 3224Zapata, Texas 78076956-765-6917

Deryl Villarreal, Jr.Director of SpecialInstructional ServicesP.O. Box 158Zapata, Texas 78076956-765-6130

Esmeralda MoraChid Find SpecialistRegion One ESC1900 West SchuniorEdinburg,Texas 785391-800-274-7346

Ana PerezProject Niño Director5709 SpringfieldLaredo, Texas 78041956-728-1769

USTED, COMO PADRE DE UN ESTUDIANTE CON IMPEDIMENTOS, O ESTUDIANTE ADULTO CON IMPEDIMENTOS DE 18 ANOS EN ADELANTE O CASADO TIENE EL DERECHODE:

1. RECIBIR UNA LISTA DONDE SE LOCALIZA LOS ARCHIVOS Y TIPO DE EDUCACION QUE RECIBE SU HIJO(A) QUE SE CONSERVAN, O QUE SE UTILIZAN EN LAS ESCUE-LAS (34 CFR 300.565);

Los archivos de los estudiantes se conservan en la oficina del Departamento de Educaciòn Especial ubicada en 17 th & Carla asì como en la escuela a la que asiste el estudiante. Lainformaciòn de referencia, el reporte del comitè de Admisiòn, Repaso, y Retiro (ARD), reporte de servicios relacionados, reportes de evaluaciòn, y correspondencia que estè relaciona-da con el estudiante se conservan en el archivo principal en la oficina del Departamento de Educaciòn Especial. El archivo que permanece en la escuela contiene copias del reportede Admisiòn, Repaso y Retiro (ARD), reportes del comitè, y El Plan Individual de Educaciòn (IEP).

2. REVISAR Y REPASAR TODOS LOS ARCHIVOS EDUCATIVOS DE SU HIJO(A) SIN TENER QUE ESPERAR MUCHO TIEMPO, Y ANTES DE CUALQUIER JUNTA DE IEP O AUDI-ENCIA, Y POR NINGUN MOTIVO ESPERAR MAS DE 45 DIAS DESPUES DE HACER SU SOLICITUD (34 CFR 300.562).

Cuando usted o el estudiante hace la solicitud, el Director del Programa de Instrucción Especial, deberà solicitar, ya sea por escrito o verbalmente, que estos archivos le sean propor-cionados. El Director se reserva el derecho de pedir identificaciòn al solicitante, si este no es ampliamente conocido. Cada solicitud serà atendida lo màs pronto posible, y siempreantes de los 45 dias. Se darà aviso oportunamente al Superintendente de las escuelas si por algun motivo la solicitud no puede ser atendida dentro de los 45 días. El Director delPrograma de Instrucción Especial asignará un lugar apropiado para el repaso de los archivos. El Director anotarà en el archivo del estudiante la fecha en que se llevò a cabo el repasodel archivo, el nombre de la persona que hizo la solicitud, y la razòn por la cual se hizo el repaso.

3. TENER ACCESO A L A LISTA DE PERSONAS, ADEMAS DE USTED O PERSONAL AUTORIZADO DE LAS ESCUELAS, QUE HAN TENIDO ACCESO A LOS ARCHIVOS EDUCA-TIVOS DE SU HIJO(A) Y LA RAZON POR LO CUAL FUERON REVISADOS (34 CFR 300.563).

El distrito no atenderà la solicitud para la revisiòn de archivos con informaciòn personal si no està autorizada por escrito por los padres/tutores o estudiante elegible y solamante seestà autorizado por algùn oficial responsable de la escuela que necesite la informaciòn para prestar servicios educativos al estudiante. Oficial responsable de la escuela se consideraa aquellas personas que se considera sean representantes de la escuela segùn la lista del Boletìn de la Agencia de Educaciòn de Texas, Centro Educativo Region I, la Agencia deEducaciòn de Texas, y el gobierno de los Estados Unidos. El Director tendrà a su cargo la responsibilidad de verificar que las razones de los representantes de las agencias arribamencionadas sean legìtimas y necesarias para llevar acabo una auditorìa o para supervisar las actividades. Una lista de las personas que han revisado el archivo de su hijo(a) semantendrán en el archivo personal del estudiante por un período de siete años consecutivos. El Director del Programa de Instrucción Especial es responsable de mantener informacionconfidencial y no podrà dar ninguna informaciòn a la persona sin presentar propia identificaciòn y consentimiento de los padres o tutor.

Si tiene alguna duda sobre sus derechos confidenciales, puede llamar o escribir a:

DERLY VILLARREAL, JR.DIRECTOR DEL PROGRAMA DE EDUCACION ESPECIAL

17 TH & Carla P.O. Box 158 Zapata, Texas 78076(956) 765-6130/765-4049 • (956) 765-3967 Fax

AS A PARENT OF A STUDENT WITH A DISABILITY OR ADULT STUDENT WITH A DISABILITY (18 YEARS OR OLDER OR MARRIED), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO:

1. RECEIVE A LIST OF THE TYPE AND LOCATION OF YOUR CHILD’S EDUCATIONAL RECORDS WHICH ARE COLLECTED, MAINTAINED, OR USED BY THE SCHOOL (34 CFR300.565);

The student’s records are maintained at the Special Education Office located at 17 th & Carla Street and at the school the student attends.

The referral information, the Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) Committee reports, the related service reports, assessment reports, and any correspondence pertaining to the stu-dent is kept in the main folder at the Special Education Office. The school folder contains the copies of the Admission, Review, or Dismissal (ARD), and Individual Educational Plan.

2. INSPECT AND REVIEW ALL OF YOUR CHILD’S EDUCATIONAL RECORDS WITHOUT UNNECESSARY DELAY AND BEFORE ANY IEP MEETING OR DUE PROCESS HEARINGAND IN NO CASE MORE THAN 45 DAYS AFTER YOUR REQUEST (34 CFR 300.562).

When you and/or a student makes the request, the Director of Special Instructional Services will ensure that before records are made available, identification will be required when therequest is received from an individual of the specified classification who is not personally known. Each request will be honored as soon as possible, but the time will be no longer thanforty-five days. The superintendent of schools will be notified if a request cannot be honored in time. A suitable place for record inspection will be provided by the Director of SpecialInstructional Services. The Director will see that a notification is placed in the student record folder indicating date of access, name of individual obtaining access, and reason forinspection.

3. SEE A LIST OF THOSE PERSONS, BESIDES YOU OR AUTHORIZED SCHOOL EMPLOYEES, WHO HAVE SEEN YOUR CHILD’S EDUCTIONAL RECORDS AND WHY THEY SAWTHEM. (34 CFR 300.563)

The district will not honor requests for personally identifiable information or records unless authorized by written consent by the parent/guardian or eligible student unless requested byresponsible school officials needing the information to provide educational services to the student. Responsible school officials are considered to be representatives of the school listedin Texas Education Agency, Region One Education Center, and the United States Government.

The Director will be responsible to determine that representatives of the agencies listed above have a legitimate need to the information to carry out an audit or monitoring function.

The list of the persons who have seen your child’s records will be maintained in the individual student folder for seven consecutive years.

The Director of Special Instructional Services assumes the responsibility for ensuring the confidentiality of any personally identifiable information.

If you have any concerns regarding the confidentiality rights, feel free to write or call:

DERLY VILLARREAL, JR.DIRECTOR DEL PROGRAMA DE EDUCACION ESPECIAL

17 TH & Carla P.O. Box 158 Zapata, Texas 78076(956) 765-6130/765-4049 • (956) 765-3967 Fax

ZAPATA COUNTY INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT / SPECIAL EDUCATION OFFICE

CONFIDENTIALITY RIGHTS

DISTRITO ESCOLAR INDEPENDIENTE DEL CONDADO DE ZAPATA / OFICINA DE EDUCACION ESPECIAL

DERECHOS CONFIDENCIALES

SÁBADO 16 DE ABRILLAREDO — La Laredo

Art League invita a Jardin deArte a las 11 a.m. en Vega’sImports, 4002 avenida SanBernardo. Habrá arte y deco-raciones mexicanas.

LAREDO — Hoy es el6to Aniversario del Planeta-rio Lamar Bruni Vergara deTAMIU. Se presenta The Lit-tle Star That Could a las 12p.m. y 3 p.m.; Toy Story a la1 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m. y 8p.m. Costo: 3 dólares porpelícula.

LAREDO — Hoy es elConcierto Primaveral de Dan-za 2011 en el teatro delCenter for the Fine and Per-forming Arts de TAMIU, a las8 p.m. Costo: 5 dólares, conentrada gratuita para niñosde 10 años de edad y meno-res. Las ganancias se desti-narán a becas escolares.

NUEVO LAREDO —Rotarac Nuevo Laredo 90 in-vita a donar un juguete du-rante el evento “Kilómetrodel Juguete” en la ExplanadaEsteban Baca Calderón, de 9a.m. a 9 p.m. Los juguetesse donarán el 30 de abril aniños de las colonias Prime-ro de Mayo y Arnulfo TejadaLara.

DOMINGO 17 DE ABRILLAREDO — Hoy se

presenta la película “Gas-land” a las 2 p.m. en la Salade Usos Múltiples H-E-B dela Biblioteca Pública de Lare-do, 1120 E. Calton Rd. “Gas-land” fue nominado al MejorDocumental por la Academiaen el 2011. Evento gratuito.

LAREDO — LaredoPhilharmonic Orchestra pre-senta su concierto final detemporada “Winning Connec-tions” hoy a las 3 p.m. en elGuadalupe and Lilia MartinezFine Arts Center del LaredoCommunity College, CampusFt. McIntosh. Costo: 25 dóla-res, adultos; 17 dólares, se-niors; estudiantes gratuitos.

LUNES 18 DE ABRILAVISO: El Servicio

Postal de Correo de EUanuncia que hoy estaránabiertos hasta la mediano-che a fin de responder a lademanda de personas en-viando sus declaraciones deimpuestos al IRS. Hoy es lafecha límite que da el IRS.Las oficinas de correos par-ticipantes son: Oficina cen-tral en 2700 calle E. Saun-ders, que abrirá en horarionormal y posteriormente de7 p.m. a la medianoche; y,The Postal Center Plus, 7917McPherson Rd # 205, queabrirá de 9 a.m. a la media-noche.

LAREDO — Hoy es elRecital Musical Estudiantil dealumnos del Laredo Commu-nity College en el teatro delGuadalupe and Lilia MartinezFine Arts Center en el Cam-pus Fort McIntosh a las 7:30p.m. Entrada gratuita.

MARTES 19 DE ABRILLAREDO — Segundo

Festival Anual de Jazz en elCenter for the Fine and Per-forming Arts de TAMIU. Gru-po locales tocarán de 4 p.m.a 6 p.m. y la Jazz Big Banda las 7:30 p.m. Entrada gra-tuita.

MIÉRCOLES 20 DE ABRILLAREDO — La Confe-

rencia de Perspectiva Econó-mica Vision 2011 inicia hoy alas 7 a.m. en el Centro Estu-diantil de TAMIU, 5201 Uni-versity Blvd.

LAREDO — El Recitalde Música de Cámara deLCC es hoy a las 7:30 p.m.en el teatro Guadalupe andLilia Martinez Fine Arts Cen-ter. Entrada gratuita.

JUEVES 21 DE ABRILLAREDO — Recepción

de apertura de la exhibiciónde Arte de Seniors por Gra-duarse en la Galería delCFPA de TAMIU, de 5 p.m. a7:30 p.m.

Agendaen Breve

Zfrontera PÁGINA 7ASÁBADO 16 DE ABRIL DE 2011

MÉXICO — Un juez fed-eral autorizó someter aprisión preventiva a trespersonas más involucra-das en la muerte de al me-nos 145 personas, cuyoscadáveres fueron localiza-dos en fosas clandestinasen Tamaulipas en un he-cho descrito por el presi-dente Felipe Calderón co-mo de una “barbarie ex-trema”.

La Procuraduría Gener-al de la República informóque los tres hombres per-manecerán al menos 40días en prisión preventivamientras se amplían lasinvestigaciones por suprobable responsabilidadde los delitos de secuestro,homicidio y crimen orga-nizado.

Los tres son parte de las

17 presuntos miembros delcartel de las drogas de LosZetas detenidos hasta aho-ra por los homicidios delas personas que se creeeran pasajeros de autobus-es que fueron plagiados yluego asesinados. Losotros 14 arrestados ya es-taban sometidos a prisiónpreventiva.

La PGR publicó elviernes en el Diario Ofi-cial el ofrecimiento dehasta 15 millones de pesos(unos 1,2 millones de dó-lares) a quien dé informa-ción que permita la captu-ra de otros cuatro presun-tos miembros de Los Zetasvinculados con los crí-menes.

La procuradora Marise-la Morales ya había ade-lantado esta semana lasrecompensas.

Autoridades continúan

la búsqueda de más cuer-pos en San Fernando,donde se han encontradohasta ahora 26 fosas con almenos 145 cadáveres.

La Procuraduría de Jus-ticia de Tamaulipas infor-mó el jueves que 23 de lasvíctimas habrían sido ase-sinadas al menos un mesantes de que se iniciaranlos secuestros de pasajerosen las inmediaciones deSan Fernando.

Las autoridades tam-bién han detenido a 16 pol-icías municipales por pre-suntamente encubrir a losmiembros de Los Zetas.

El subsecretario paraAmérica Latina de la can-cillería, Rubén Beltrán, in-formó el viernes que serealizó una reunión conembajadores de Centroa-mérica para informalessobre el caso. Dijo que en

particular Guatemala, ElSalvador y Honduras hanexpresado su preocupa-ción.

Entre las víctimas sólose ha identificado hastaahora sólo a un guatemal-teco, quien llevaba consi-go un acta de nacimiento.

San Fernando fue esce-nario en agosto de 2010 deuna masacre de 72 mi-grantes que también ha si-do atribuida a Los Zetas.

El presidente FelipeCalderón dijo que loshomicidios en San Fer-nando han “enlutado” aMéxico y aseguró que sugobierno capturará hastael último de los responsa-bles.

“Estos asesinatos sonactos de barbarie extremaque nos muestran la baje-za, la crueldad que han al-canzado estos criminales,

con tal de sacar gananciasa costa de las personashonestas”, dijo el manda-tario durante una reunióncon transportistas.

Dijo que ha dado in-strucciones para aumen-tar la presencia de fuerzasfederales en Tamaulipas yen general en el norestedel país que ha visto unrepunte de la violencia delnarcotráfico en los últi-mos meses.

En la última semanatambién han sido localiza-dos varios cuerpos en fo-sas clandestinas en Sina-loa y Sonora y sin rela-ción con los hechos de SanFernando.

En Durango se encon-traron 10 cuerpos comple-tos, tres sin cabeza y cua-tro cráneos, en Sinaloa 13cadáveres y en Sonoracuatro más.

CONTINÚAN INVESTIGACIONES POR MATANZAS EN TAMAULIPAS

Ofrecen recompensaASSOCIATED PRESS

NUEVO LAREDO —Con el inicio el domingode la Semana Santa, laIglesia Católica hizo un lla-mado para que las person-as se arrepientan, pidanperdón y se acerquen aDios.

El Obispo de la Diócesis,Gustavo Rodríguez Vega,dijo que, en cuanto a Dios,“nadie es tan bueno queno lo necesite ni tan maloque no pueda afligirse yencontrarlo”.

A partir del domingo,con la celebración del

Domingo de Ramos, iniciala Semana Mayor que con-cluirá el domingo 24 deabril, cuando se celebra elDomingo de Resurrección.

“Arrepiéntanse y cam-bien de vida” pidió Rodrí-guez especialmente aquienes practican la vio-lencia y a quienes se haninvolucrado en las diver-sas formas del crimen or-ganizado.

ProgramaDomingo de Ramos

Gran Caminata delDomingo de Ramos a las 9

a.m. con salida en la Ex-planada Baca Calderón(Maclovio Herrera y Guer-rero).

A las 5 p.m. procesiónsolemne con salida en Pa-seo Colón y Río Tamazun-chale, concluyendo conMisa a las 6 p.m. con gru-pos parroquiales y sec-tores.

Martes SantoMisa por los enfermos a

las 10 a.m.Miércoles Santo

Misa Crismal a las 12p.m.

Jueves SantoMisa solemne de la Ce-

na del Señor a las 6 p.m. y

adoración eucarística enCatedral y los nueve sec-tores a las 7:30 p.m.

Viernes SantoViacrucis a las 10 a.m.

con salida en Río Taman-zunchale y Paseo Colón pa-ra concluir en Catedral;Celebración de la Pasión alas 3 p.m.; Procesión del Si-lencio a las 6 p.m. con sali-da en la Plaza Juárez/Par-roquia Santo Niño, con-cluyendo en el atrio de laCatedral con el Sermón delPésame; y a las 9 p.m. Ro-sario del Pésame (Coronadolorosa).

Sábado SantoSolemne vigilia pascual

a las 9 p.m.Domingo de Resur-

recciónMisas a las 11:30 a.m., 1

p.m., 3:30 p.m., 6 p.m. y 7p.m.

“Los hombres debenponer a Dios en su corazón(y) deben dejar de servir aldinero y el placer sin lí-mites”, dijo Rodriguez.“Entonces la violencia detodo tipo terminará”.

También valoró lasprácticas cuaresmales delayuno, la abstinencia, laoración y la limosna.

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

SEMANA SANTA

Diócesis anuncia actividades en CatedralPOR MIGUEL TIMOSHENKOV

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

CD. VICTORIA, México— La entidad tiene 41 nue-vos jefes de Oficinas Fis-cales en igual cantidad demunicipios tamaulipecos ycuatro nuevos delegadosdel Transporte Público.

El Gobernador EgidioTorre Cantú les exigió res-peto y trato cordial a loscontribuyentes, ya que co-mo jefes fiscales aseguróson parte importante deatención al público.

“Son la cara del Gobier-no de Tamaulipas en larepresentación cotidianaante el ciudadano”, dijoTorre. “La gente que va apagar tienen que sentir esacalidez y trato humano”.

Los nuevos Jefes de lasOficinas Fiscales del Esta-do en la frontera norte deTamaulipas son: José CruzTreviño Garza, Camargo;Otilio González Ruíz, Guer-rero; Oscar Mario MoralesGutiérrez, Díaz Ordaz; Abe-lardo Guerra Farías, Mata-moros; Abdón CanalesDíaz, Mier; Amanda Barre-ra González, Miguel Ale-mán; Imelda Mangín Torre,Nuevo Laredo; José Ar-mando Garza Faz, Reynosa;y, Eduardo René López Ló-pez, Río Bravo.

Los nuevos delegadosmunicipales del TransportePúblico son: Gonzalo Trevi-ño Alanís, Matamoros; Héc-tor Tomás Morales Mireles,Tampico-Madero-Altamira;Eduardo Roel CuellarPuentes, Nuevo Laredo; Os-car Salinas Dávila, Reyno-sa.

FISCAL

Torreentreganuevoscargos

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

CD. VICTORIA, Méxi-co — Alrededor de500 niños participa-

ron durante la semana enel Concurso Estatal deRondas Infantiles y Saltode Cuerda, organizado porel Sistema para el Desar-rollo Integral de la Fam-ilia.

Más de 30 mil niños denivel primaria participa-ron en las eliminatoriasmunicipales y regionales,llegando a esta etapa losmejores exponentes derondas y salto de cuerda.

Los 500 menores, vis-tiendo trajes de colores,

bailaron música tradicion-al mexicana durante lasrondas, como “El Son dela Negra”, “La Raspa”,“Arroz con Leche”, “LaVíbora de la Mar”, “ElPatio de mi Casa” y“Mambrú”

Los menores represen-taban las tres zonas de laentidad: Cuenca central,zona huasteca y franjafronteriza.

La Presidenta del Siste-ma DIF-Tamaulipas, Ma-ría del Pilar González deTorre, dijo que los me-nores presentaron unacompetencia de alto nivel.

“El objetivo de este cer-tamen es rescatar nues-

tras tradiciones mediantelos juegos individuales ycolectivos, donde se propi-cie la creatividad y la ale-gría natural de los niñostamaulipecos”, dijo Gonzá-lez. “Además nos permitepromover la sana convi-vencia entre los niños y elrescate de los juegos mex-icanos tradicionales”.

Agregó que las rondasinfantiles y el salto decuerda también motivan alos niños a mostrar sushabilidades físicas, coordi-nación y talento.

ResultadosPrimer lugar en rondas

infantiles: escuela primar-ia “Himno Nacional” de

Tampico.En salto de cuerda indi-

vidual la ganadora fueMaría Isabel Sámano Gon-zález, del Colegio AteneoVictoria.

En salto de cuerda porpareja ganaron JohannAlcázar Hernández y Bea-triz Pérez Gallardo, de laprimaria Luis DonaldoColosio de Ciudad Victo-ria.

Salto de cuerda por gru-po, alumnos de la primar-ia Josefa Ortiz de Domín-guez, de Tula.

Los tres primeros lu-gares de cada categoría re-cibieron bicicletas y med-allas.

TRADICIONES MEXICANAS

La Presidenta del Sistema DIF-Tamaulipas, María del Pilar González de Torre, segunda de derecha a izquierda, hizo entrega de los pre-mios y medallas a los triunfadores en la competencia estatal de rondas infantiles y salto de cuerda. La acompañan el Secretario deEducación, Diódoro Guerra Rodríguez; el alcalde de Ciudad Victoria Miguel González Salum y su esposa Adriana Margarita Sáenz deGonzález, presidenta del DIF Victoria.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

COLOR Y MÚSICAPremian a concursantes en rondas infantiles

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

The saying “you arewhat you eat” is based intruth, and Chef Beto Gu-tierrez of Zaragoza Grillinvites the community tolearn more about healthyeating and cooking.

La Posada Hotel andMercy Ministries of Lare-do recognize the signifi-

cance of healthy cookingand have partnered up tooffer a Healthy CookingClass.

The event, set forThursday, is free and opento the public.

The class will be heldfrom 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in theSan Agustin Ballroom in-side of the historic La Po-sada Hotel.

The class will be con-ducted by a very popularchef, Beto Gutierrez, whois the lead cook at theaward-winning ZaragozaGrill, which is located indowntown Laredo.

The event is free, butseating is limited, so thoseinterested must RSVP bycalling Roxanna Gonzalezat 753-4401.

Laredo Chef Beto Gutierrez to teach healthy cooking

THE ZAPATA TIMES

On Wednesday, LazyDaze Counter Culturewill host a free One LoveArt & Music Festival atthe El Metro Park andRide.

The afternoon event isscheduled to begin at 4p.m. and last until mid-night. It will featuremany activities and localtalents, such as DJs, po-etry readers, palm read-ers, painters, and jewelrymakers.

The L&F Stage willfeature local bands in-cluding Automatic Week-end, Bucket of Six, CloudNine, Fallen On Septem-ber, La Mata, Shazz! andSomewhere in Between.

There will also begames such as Foxy Box-ing, presented by Cross-fit Laredo, Tug of War,and others. Four local

food vendors will caterthe event.

The purpose of theOne Love Art & MusicFestival is to bring theessence of peace and loveto Laredo through thefine arts.

Going green is anoth-er important elementand the event will bringawareness of the envi-ronment to the commu-nity during the festival.

Lazy Daze was estab-lished in 2005 and sellsnovelty items and rockmemorabilia. Laredo is atown rich in Hispanicculture and tradition,and the business pridesitself in bringing imagi-nation, innovation, andentertainment here.

All profits will be do-nated to the “Keep Lare-do Beautiful” campaign.

For more information,call 727-5955.

Lazy Dazeto host festival

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

The Laredo Philharmon-ic Orchestra’s 32nd seasoncloses Sunday with a 3 p.m.concert at Laredo Commu-nity College’s Guadalupeand Lilia Martínez FineArts Center.

Titled “Winning Connec-tions,” the season’s finalefeatures the winner of the2nd Annual Laredo Concer-to Competition, Justin Balli,a cellist who will performTchaikovsky’s “Variationson a Rococo Theme” for cel-lo and orchestra.

Balli is a Texas A&M In-ternational University se-nior majoring in music anda student of BrendanTownsend, LPO music di-rector and assistant profes-sor of music at both TAMIUand LCC.

As a senior in highschool, Balli was concur-rently enrolled at LCC as acello student, making this“connection” a true reflec-tion of the tripartite agree-ment between LCC, the LPO

and TAMIU.Also featured will be mu-

sic students from area highschool bands joining withthe LPO brass and percus-sion sections to perform Aa-ron Copland’s “Fanfare forthe Common Man.” Otherworks on the program in-clude the world premiere of“Connections” by DavidManuel García, director of

bands at TAMIU and theLPO’s composer-in-resi-dence. His work brings outthe spirit of Laredo withtouches of mariachi, flamen-co, and classical musicthroughout.

Sunday’s concert patronswill have the opportunity tosign up for an “Early BirdSurprise.” By reservingtheir season tickets for next

season, patrons will receivecomplimentary CDs withhighlights from this season.

Tickets will be on sale atthe door at $25 for adultsand $17 for seniors. Stu-dents with current ID canattend free of charge, basedon available seating.

For more information,call Brendan Townsend at326-3039.

LPO closes season SundayTHE ZAPATA TIMES

The Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra performs at the Texas A&M International University’s Center forthe Fine and Performing Arts last season. The orchestra closes its “Connections” season on Sunday at3 p.m. at the Laredo Community College Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Fine Arts Center.

File photo by Ulysses S. Romero | The Zapata Times

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES Zentertainment SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2011

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SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2011 State THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

A federal judge has or-dered the trial of a Saudiman accused of attempteduse of a weapon of mass de-struction reset for Octoberbecause the case is com-plex.

The trial for KhalidAli-M Aldawsari was to be-gin May 2. It is now set forOct. 24.

U.S. District Judge SamCummings ruled the casecomplex last week after at-torneys for the prosecutionand Aldawsari filed a jointmotion seeking the desig-nation. Designating a casecomplex suspends the fed-eral statute that mandatesa trial start within 70 daysof indictment.

Court documents allegeAldawsari hatched plans toattack various U.S. targets,including in New York Cityand at former PresidentGeorge W. Bush’s Dallashome. The 20-year-old, le-gally in the U.S. on a stu-dent visa, was arrestedFeb. 23.

Saudi man’sterror plottrial reset

for OctoberASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — Texas driv-ers would no longer haveto slow down for night-time road trips and somehighway speed limitswould be increased to 75mph under legislation ap-proved Friday in theHouse.

The bill, which was ap-proved without opposi-tion, would eliminate thecurrent requirement thatdrivers slow down to 65mph when the sun goesdown on most Texas high-ways.

75 mph possibleIt would also allow the

Texas TransportationCommission to set high-way speeds at 75 mph, upfrom the current 70 mphlimit on most non-urbanstate highways. Countieswould be eligible for thehigher limit only if a safe-ty study deemed it to besafe and reasonable foreach portion of highway.

Houston RepublicanRep. Gary Elkins, thebill’s sponsor, said thechanges would increaseefficiency and would giveTexas speed standardssimilar to nearby states.

Some rural counties al-ready are allowed to post75 mph limits, but the pro-posal would make allcounties eligible for theupper limit.

While lawmakers saidthe effort would makeTexas roadways more effi-cient, a report by the Tex-as Transportation Insti-tute at Texas A&M Uni-versity said that higherspeeds have been found tosharply increase crashand injury severity.

“Anytime you increasethe speed limits, you doincrease the risk because... those accidents are go-ing to be more severe innature,” said QuinnBrackett, senior researchscientist for the TexasTransportation Institute.

While the likelihood ofcrashes to occur becauseof higher speeds was lessclear, the institute found“evidence that increasesin posted speed limit mayresult in increases in thenumber of crashes.”

“I think that we have torely on the transportationengineers that are goingto examine the roadwaysto do a credible job and

make sure not to raise thespeed limits on roadwaysthat increase risk of inju-ry to motorists,” Brackettsaid.

Legislation also ispending that would allowthe state to raise thespeed limit to 85 mph oncertain future highways.The increase would notapply to highways that al-ready exist.

Supporters said theslower nighttime speed isan outdated function putin place when headlightswere not suited to higherspeeds. A bill analysisdrafted by the House Re-search Organization saidTexas is the only statethat has retained the day-to-night differential.

But the Texas A&M re-port said slower night-time speed limits helpcompensate for reduceddriver vision in the dark.Detection of possible haz-ards in the roadway, forinstance, may take longerthan during the daylighthours and lower speedsallow drivers to come tosudden stops more quick-ly.

Even though headlightsand vehicle safety haveimproved over the years,“you can’t really make thelights as bright as orequivalent to daylight,”Brackett said. “You stillhave some limitations asfar as visibility that arecreated at nighttime.

“Eliminating the differ-ential we have for night-time speeds may be a lit-tle problematic, particu-larly for people that havereached the elderly driverage.”

The bill must clear aprocedural vote in theHouse before it can be eli-gible for consideration inthe Senate.

Bill would nixslower night

highway speedBy APRIL CASTROASSOCIATED PRESS Some rural

countiesalready areallowed to post75 mph limits,but theproposalwould makeall countieseligible for theupper limit.

AUSTIN — A psycholo-gist who examined morethan a dozen Texas deathrow inmates for intellec-tual disabilities has beenbanned by the state fromperforming similar evalua-tions in the future.

George Denkowski ofFort Worth, who has beena witness for prosecutorsand defendants in deathpenalty cases, reached asettlement with the stateBoard of Examiners ofPsychologists on Thursdayafter other doctors and de-fense attorneys raisedquestions about his meth-ods.

Denkowski admitted nowrongdoing, but agreed tostop performing intellec-tual disability reviews incriminal cases.

Defense attorneys saythey hope to use Thurs-day’s settlement to haveappeals courts review the

cases of at least 14 inmatesnow on death row andhelp those men avoid le-thal injection. The order,however, says it can’t beused as evidence to retrycases in which Denkowskihas already testified.

Psychologists and de-fense lawyers have com-plained that he used unsci-entific methods and artifi-cially inflated IQ scores indetermining inmates’ in-tellectual capabilities. In2010, the American Associ-ation on Intellectual Devel-opmental Disabilitiesmanual urged “strong cau-tion against practices suchas those recommended by

Denkowski.” Denkowski has publish-

ed articles saying that so-cial and cultural factorsshould be part of the intel-lectual exam. He arguedsomeone living in povertyor in a community wherebasics skills, such as usingsimple tools or personalhygiene, are not valuedmay lack those skills butnot show true signs ofmental retardation.

The U.S. Supreme Courtin 2002 banned the deathpenalty for people withmental retardation.

“Once again, anotherjunk science scandal hasrocked Texas’ death row,”

said Kathryn Kase of theTexas Defender Service,who represents formerdeath row inmate DanielPlata.

Denkowski testified in2005 that Plata did nothave mental retardationdespite tests that showedhis IQ was under 70. Pla-ta’s death sentence was re-duced to life in prison onappeal in 2008 because ofhis intellectual capabili-ties. He now lives with oth-er disabled inmates.

Denkowski’s attorney,Jennifer Andrews, did notimmediately respond to amessage left at her officeseeking comment.

Psychologist out of prison workBy JIM VERTUNO

ASSOCIATED PRESS “Once again, another junk science scandal has rockedTexas’ death row.” KATHRYN KASE OF THE TEXAS DEFENDER SERVICE, WHO REPRESENTS FORMER DEATH ROWINMATE DANIEL PLATA.

DALLAS — A wildfiresweeping across 20,000acres in North Texas hasdestroyed at least 30homes, forced hundreds ofevacuations — includingan entire town — andclosed a state park, stateofficials said Friday.

The blaze was burningin a rural area about 120miles west of Dallas, butthe region also has expen-sive lake homes and is apopular recreation spot forthe Dallas-Fort Worth ar-ea. Officials closed PossumKingdom State Park andcleared out its campsites,fearing the fire could blockaccess roads.

“The fire, it’s a badone,” Texas Parks andWildlife Departmentspokesman Rob McCorklesaid. “This is pretty un-usual to have this manyfires going across the stateat the time.”

The fire also promptedofficials to evacuate Gor-man, a city of about 1,200residents, and set up ashelter at a church in anearby town for residentswho didn’t have someplace

else to stay. “The school, the nurs-

ing home and the wholecity has been evacuated,”City Clerk Jill Rainey said.

No injuries have beenreported and no structureshave been damaged, saidEastland County fire offi-cial Daniel Morgan.

Texas Forest Servicespokeswoman Holly Huff-man said that since thefire began Wednesday, 30homes have been de-stroyed, 200 homes havebeen evacuated and 275

people have been dis-placed. A firefighter suf-fered minor injuriesThursday, but no other in-juries have been reported.

Huffman said author-ities have not yet been ableto survey the area to gaina complete count of thenumber of homes lost.

McCorkle said strongwinds were increasing thechance that the fire wouldclose off the only roads ac-cessing Possum KingdomState Park, and as the firemoved closer to the wood-

ed area, county officialsasked that it be closed.

“This being a weekend,it would probably be pret-ty full,” McCorkle said.“They wanted to get every-body out.”

The blaze also claimedthe life of a firefighter.

The mayor of the WestTexas town of Eastlandsaid 51-year-old GregoryM. Simmons died Fridayafternoon. Details haven’tbeen released. Eastland isabout 130 miles west ofDallas.

Wildfire zaps 30 housesFirefighter loses

life fighting blazeBy LINDA STEWART BALL

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A half-burned Juniper bush, one of many ignited by fire crews along Ranch Road 2886 to greet theedge of a growing wildfire south of Iraan, burns Wednesday.

Photo by Heather Leiphart/Odessa American | AP

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2011

HOUSTON — Police saya 31-year-old man wantedfor the fatal shooting of anoff-duty Harris Countydeputy constable has turn-ed himself in to author-ities.

Lee Eldridge Sonier wastaken into custody afterturning himself in at

Houston police headquar-ters on Friday.

He has been chargedwith capital murder in thedeath of 47-year-old DeputyConstable Ronnie EarlBrewer.

Investigators say Brewerwas shot after getting intoan argument with Sonier,accused of being a pimp,over money following sexwith a prostitute.

Also charged with capi-tal murder is the allegedprostitute, 40-year-old JudyLucille Hambrick, who iscurrently jailed.

According to a probablecause affidavit releasedFriday, Hambrick perform-ed a sex act on Brewer inhis car early Tuesdaymorning. Afterward, po-lice say Sonier arguedwith Brewer and shot him.

Constable shot after sex actBy JUAN A. LOZANOASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — Hispanicgroups and Democrats arecriticizing a new redis-tricting map for the TexasHouse.

The map being debatedFriday in the House Redis-tricting Committee is de-signed to elect a strongmajority of Republicans inthe 150-member chamber.

Hispanic groups, includ-ing the Mexican AmericanLegal Defense and Educa-tion Fund, say the propos-al should have as many asfive new Hispanic-dom-inated districts. Republi-cans say their map adds anew Hispanic district inthe Corpus Christi area.

There’s also a proposednew district in the FortWorth area that is morethan 60 percent black andHispanic. Republicans inslow-growth areas, includ-

ing rural East and WestTexas and Dallas, wouldhave to give up seats un-der the proposal. But themap would draw moreGOP-leaning seats in fast-growing suburban areas.

The U.S. Voting RightsAct, written to counter theeffects of racial discrimi-nation, requires that law-makers enhance andmaintain opportunities forminority voters to influen-ce the outcome of electionswithin legislative and Con-gressional districts andother political jurisdic-tions.

MALDEF, representing

a coalition of Hispanicgroups, says the map asdrawn violates federal law.Rep. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen, said the changesin heavily Hispanic SouthTexas, including in herdistrict, also violate safe-guards against breakingup minority communitiesand “packing” them intoothers.

Rep. Burt Solomons, thenorth Texas Republicanwho drew the GOP-dom-inated House map, said hedidn’t want to pit mem-bers against each otherbut called his map fairand legal.

Hispanics, Demscriticize House map

ASSOCIATED PRESS

There’s also a proposed newdistrict in the Fort Worth areathat is more than 60 percentblack and Hispanic.

MEXICO CITY — Tencomplete bodies, threeheadless bodies and foursevered heads were foundwhen authorities dug up apit in a house in the Mex-ican state of Durango, au-thorities said Friday.

Authorities are deter-mining whether some ofthe heads belonged to thebodies. The decayed corps-es were taken to a morguefor autopsies, the Durangostate prosecutor’s officesaid in a statement.

Durango has been thescene of a turf battle be-tween the Sinaloa Carteland the Zetas gang. The

discovery comes as graveswith dozens of bodies havebeen discovered in thenorthern state of Tamauli-pas, where the Zetas arefighting the Gulf Cartel.

Also Friday, the armyannounced it had captureda man who allegedly con-fessed to participating inthe killing of a well-knownpoet’s son and six others.

The March 28 slaying ofJuan Francisco Sicilia, theson of poet Javier Sicilia,sparked demonstrationsthroughout the countryagainst the violence ofMexico’s drug war, whichhas claimed more than34,000 lives.

But the circumstances ofthe arrest in the high-pro-

file case immediately drewsuspicions.

The army said suspectRodrigo Elizalde Mora wascaptured Thursday inCuernavaca, where the kill-ings occurred.

He confessed to workingfor the South Pacific Car-tel, and to helping kill Sici-lia and a group of friends,according to the armystatement.

But Elizalde Mora ap-peared badly beaten, andsaid he had been kid-napped by unidentifiedmen, who then apparentlyturned him over to author-ities.

“They picked me up andthey beat me,” Elizalde Mo-ra told local media.

Morgue workers remove a body, found in a mass grave in northern Mexico, from a refrigerated truck atthe entrance of a funeral home in Mexico City on Thursday. More bodies were found Friday when au-thorities dug up a pit in a house in the Mexican state of Durango, authorities said. Durango has beenthe scene of a bloody turf battle between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Zetas gang.

Photo by Marco Ugarte | AP

House yields 13 bodiesBy MARK STEVENSON

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2011 THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A

decade to 8 cents of borrow-ing for every dollar spent.

"If the president won’tlead, we will," Boehner saidas he closed debate. "Nomore kicking the can downthe road, no more whis-tling past the graveyard.Now is the time to addressthe serious challenges thatface the American peopleand we will."

Obama saw the situationdifferently. In the AP inter-view, he said the Republi-cans’ "pessimistic vision ...says that America can nolonger do some of the bigthings that made us great,

WASHINGTON — In aprelude to a summer show-down with President Ba-rack Obama, Republicanscontrolling the Housepushed to passage on Fri-day a bold but politicallydangerous budget blueprintto slash social safety netprograms like food stampsand Medicaid and funda-mentally restructure Medi-care health care for the el-derly.

The nonbinding planlays out a fiscal vision cut-ting $6.2 trillion from year-ly federal deficits over thecoming decade and calls fortransforming Medicarefrom a program in whichthe government directlypays medical bills into avoucher-like system thatsubsidizes purchases of pri-vate insurance plans

The GOP budget passed235-193 with every Demo-crat voting "no." Obamasaid in an Associated Pressinterview that it would"make Medicare into avoucher program. That’ssomething that we stronglyobject to."

The vote sets up the Re-publicans’ next round ofconfrontation with Obamaand Democrats over must-pass legislation to allow thegovernment to borrowmore money to finance itsoperations and obligationsto holders of U.S. bonds.For the first time, Obamaacknowledged that raisingthe debt limit is "not goingto happen without somespending cuts" insisted up-on by Republicans andsome Democrats.

The vote came on thesame day Obama signed ahard-fought six-monthspending bill that averted agovernment shutdownwhile cutting $38 billionfrom the government.Struck last week, the com-promise was the first be-tween the White House andthe emboldened Republicanmajority in the House.

Under the House Repub-lican plan approved Friday,deficits requiring the feder-al government to borrowmore than 40 cents for ev-ery dollar it spends wouldbe cut by the end of the

that made us the envy ofthe world."

The plan by BudgetCommittee Chairman PaulRyan, R-Wis., exposes Re-publicans to political risk.Its Medicare proposalwould give people presently54 or younger health insur-ance subsidies that wouldsteadily lose value overtime — even as currentbeneficiaries and people 55and older would stay in thecurrent system.

The budget measure isnonbinding but lays out avision to fundamentally re-shape government benefit

programs for the poor andelderly, programs whosespiraling costs threaten tocrowd out other spendingand produce a cripplingdebt burden that could puta major drag on the econo-my in the future.

"Which future do youwant your children tohave? One where the debtgets so large it crushes theeconomy and gives them adiminished future?" Ryanasked. "Or this budget ...that literally not only getsus on the way to balancingthe budget but pays off ourdebt?"

The GOP’s solution tounsustainable deficits is torelentlessly attack thespending side of the ledgerwhile leaving Bush-era taxcuts intact. It calls for taxchanges that would lowerthe top income tax rates forcorporations and individu-als by cleaning out a taxcode cluttered with taxbreaks and preferences, butit parts company with Oba-ma and the findings of a bi-partisan deficit commis-sion, which proposed devot-ing about $100 billion ayear in new revenue to eas-ing the deficit.

Democrats and manybudget experts say thisspending-cuts-only ap-proach is fundamentallyunbalanced, targeting so-cial safety net programslike Medicaid and foodstamps while leaving inplace a tax system they saybestows too many benefitson the wealthy. The GOPblueprint would cut almost$800 million from the feder-al-state Medicaid program— which provides healthcare to the poor and dis-abled and pays for nursinghome care for millions ofindigent senior citizens —into a block grant programrun by the states.

Republicans counter thatlow taxes and spendingcuts would unleash capitalinto the economy and putit on firm footing — andavoid a European-style debtcrisis that could force farharsher steps.

Republicans shied awayfrom tackling Social Secu-rity shortfalls, steeringclear of what pundits some-times call the "third rail ofAmerican politics."

House passes huge GOP budget cutsBy ANDREW TAYLORASSOCIATED PRESS

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio looks on at right as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Va. speaks during a news conference onCapitol Hill in Washington, on Friday.

Photo by Evan Vucci | AP

Jorge Jasso, 77, passedaway Wednesday, April13, 2011, at Laredo Medi-cal Center.

Mr. Jasso is precededin death by his first wife,Rosa B. Jasso; and abrother, Dagoberto Jasso.

Mr. Jasso is survivedby his wife, Felicitas Jas-so; sons: Jorge Jr. (Ma-ria) Jasso and FlorencioJasso; daughters: MariaGuadalupe Solis, NormaJ. Jasso, Estela (Candela-rio) Herrera and MariaJ. Boatright; 14 grand-children; brothers: Flo-rencio J., Arturo and Ar-mando, Ricardo; sisters:Aurora Vela, Simona Oli-vares, Sylvia Villarreal,Zulema Rodriguez, AdelaVallejo, Socorro Reyes,Amanda Salinas andFrancisca Solis; and bynumerous great-grand-children and other fam-ily members.

Visitation hours wereheld Friday, April 15,2011, at 8 a.m. at RoseGarden Funeral Home.

The funeral proces-sion departed Friday,

April 15, 2011, at 9:45a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeralMass at Our Lady ofLourdes CatholicChurch. Committal ser-vices followed at ZapataCounty Cemetery.

Funeral arrangementswere under the directionof Rose Garden FuneralHome Daniel A. Gonza-lez, funeral director, 2102Hwy. 83 Zapata.

JORGE JASSOSeveriano Rodriguez Jr.,

“I am the light of the world;he who follows me will notwalk in darkness, but willhave the light of life,” John8:12.

On Wednesday, April 13,2011, Mr. Severiano Rodri-guez Jr. of Zapata, Texas,made the transition into therealm of eternity at the La-redo Medical Center.

Peacefully, the final cur-tain of his life was drawn atthe age of 90. “Chano“, ashe was affectionately calledby those who knew him wasa most humorous and full oflife gentleman. His life wascharacterized by love forothers, good deeds for thosein need, and positivethoughts of all he workedand lived with. His conta-gious laughter and humorspread joy to all who knewhim, especially while run-ning his fruit stand in Zapa-ta. Mr. Severiano RodriguezJr. was a World War II veter-an who served in the U.S.Armed Forces as a privatefirst class in Company F,349th Infantry, from Aug. 15,1941 through Sept. 15, 1945.

His service included battlesand campaigns in Naples-Foggia, Rome-Arno andNorth Apenines Po Valley.He was awarded the Euro-pean African Middle East-ern Campaign Medal withfour Bronze Stars, Ameri-can Defense Service Medal,Croix de Guerrea with Ver-million Star and the GoodConduct Medal.

Mr. Rodriguez was bornin San Ygancio, Texas, Feb.1, 1921. He was preceded indeath by his parents: Sever-iano and Maria Del RefugioChapa Rodriguez; his wife,Emma O. Rodriguez; hisson, Raul Ignacio Rodriguez;

his in-laws: Delfino and Elo-sia Ornelas; his brothers:Juan De Dios (Josefa) Rodri-guez and Rogelio (Estela)Rodriguez; his sisters: Ma-ria Del Refugio (Olegario)Villarreal, Andrea (Fidel)Villarreal, Lucia (Delfino)Ornelas, Lucila (Miguel)Trevino, Rosa (Manuel) Lu-na and Jacobita Rodriguez.

Mr. Rodriguez is survivedby his daughter, JacobitaMirta Rodriguez (Pedro E.)Laurel; his grandchildren:Melissa Emma Laurel, Pe-dro Eduardo Laurel Jr., Ma-rissa Aida Laurel (Timothy)Wilson, and Melinda J. Lau-rel (John) Sandoval, GaryIgancio Rodriguez, Raul Ig-nacio (Blanca) RodriguezJr., Gerardo (Jocelin) Rodri-guez, Jessica Rodriguez (El-ly) Menchaca and CristinaRodriguez; his great grand-children: Michael AnthonyCervantes Jr., Jose Fernan-do Loaiza II, Pedro CristobalLoaiza, Ricardo Rodriguez,Issac Rodriguez, Gissely Ro-driguez, Hazael Rodriguez,Zoe Rodriguez and DenalyRodriguez; as well as manycousins, nieces, and neph-

ews.Visitation hours will be

Monday, April 18, 2011, from8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. with arosary at 9 a.m. at Rose Gar-den Funeral Home. The fu-neral procession will departfrom Rose Garden Funeralhome at 9:30 a.m. for a 10a.m. funeral mass at OurLady of Lourdes CatholicChurch.Committal serviceswill follow at Zapata Co.Cemetery, including full mil-itary honors by the Ameri-can Legion Post 486 ColorGuard.

The family would like togive very special thanks tothe staff at Retama ManorLaredo South fort theirtime, dedication and sup-port. Funeral arrangementsare under the direction ofRose Garden Funeral Home,Daniel A. Gonzalez funeraldirector, 2102 Highway 83,Zapata.

SEVERIANO RODRIGUEZ JR.

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2011

president. He was on theSt. Augustine HighSchool board for 11 years,including two terms aspresident. Casso, the fa-ther of three grown chil-dren, is married to Eliza-beth (Libbie) Rizer Casso.He served on the adviso-ry board of San AntonioWinston Churchill, aschool for students withlearning differences, forseven years. He is also apast director of the Lare-do Chamber of Com-merce and the Washing-ton’s Birthday Celebra-tion Association.

“He (Casso) brings agreat wealth of knowl-edge in warehousing andbusiness,” said Kevin Ro-mo, South Texas FoodBank board president.“We’re confident he willbring the food bank togreater heights.”

Casso indicated he’slooking forward to hisnew role.

“I’m humbled and hon-ored to lead this organi-zation,” Casso said. “Thisis more than a job. It is amission and a noblecause. It’s good that I willhave Mr. Castillo to guideme for a while.”

The March servicenumbers also were re-leased at the meetingWednesday. The foodbank distributed 672,205pounds, bringing theyearly total to 2.2 millionpounds. Through Febru-ary, 44,499 families, 35,311children, 70,772 adultsand 105,889 meals havebeen served.

The food bank’s nextfundraiser is May 10 at

Hal’s Landing, with mu-sic by Ross & Friends.Admission is $10 andtickets are now on sale.

Board member AnnaBenavides Galo, co-chairof the Empty Bowls Vfundraiser, set for Aug. 11at the Laredo EnergyArena, announced long-time South Texas FoodBank board membersOdie Arambula, ErasmoVillarreal and Galo Gar-cia as the honorees. Theevent features a concertby 1980s Grammy Awardwinner ChristopherCross.

New board member Ta-no Tijerina attended hisfirst meeting. Also, theSouth Texas Food Bankwill soon have a newwebsite format atwww.southtexasfoodban-k.org and Hopey was in-troduced as the new mas-cot.

The board also ap-proved at membership inthe State of Texas Co-opprogram.

(Salo Otero is director ofdevelopment for the SouthTexas Food Bank.)

FOOD Continued from Page 1A

The foodbank’s nextfundraiser isMay 10 atHal’s Landing,with music byRoss &Friends.

ty, 10 WaveSpin Reels andan official check presenta-tion and media event withthe network in the win-ning community. In addi-tion, the town will be fea-tured in a broadcast onWFN and WFN HD.

“A $25,000 donationwould help our localChamber of Commerce tokeep promoting FalconLake and our community,”stated Vela. “With new fa-cilities in place, the com-munity of Zapata willbring many visitors andhelp the local businessesthrive and create much-needed jobs.”

Balderas has been ac-tively circulating e-mail

messages to garner votesfor Zapata.

In fact, voting isn’t re-stricted to Zapata locals, sovisiting fishing enthusiastselsewhere are welcome toshow their support.

“What I’m trying to do ispromote that no matterwhere you’re from, youcan vote for Zapata,” Velasaid.

The deadline to vote isMay 3, so to show supportfor Zapata in this endeavor,one has only to visitwww.wfnfishingtown.com.Voting is allowed up tofour times a day.

(Erica Matos may bereached at 728-2567 or ema-tos@lmtonline.com)

FISHING Continued from Page 1A

she was a U.S. citizen, butdid not know the otherpeople and “was just giv-ing them a ride.”

She was going to bepaid $100 per person andwas instructed to trans-port them by a personknown as “Aldo,” saidHuerta.

Huerta also admitted toan arrest on similarcharges on Dec. 12, whenshe was caught by author-ities at the Interstate 35checkpoint, but was laterreleased along with hertwo infants, who werewith her at the time.

The other individualsfound in the car admittedto being Mexican nation-

als when questioned byauthorities.

A material witness inthe case said the groupentered the United Stateson April 10 by wadingthrough the Rio Grandenear El Cenizo.

They walked to a houseand stayed there untilHuerta arrived to pick upthe group, the materialwitness said.

Huerta faces charges ofbringing in and harboringillegal immigrants.

Court records showHuerta remains in federalcustody without bond.

(Denise Blaz may bereached at 728-2547 ordblaz@lmtonline.com)

WOMAN Continued from Page 1A

that because the countywill soon get its money.

“I’m processing the close-out,” she said, referring tothe grant that came fromthe Economic DevelopmentAdministration. “We’ll besubmitting the check assoon as possible.”

George Altgelt, the cen-ter’s attorney, explainedlast month that the centerhad not yet sent the moneyto the county because thecounty was not in compli-ance with the terms of thegrant. He cited missing pa-perwork and questions

over one of the projects. But the center has since

confirmed that the countycomplied with the terms ofthe grant and is entitled toreceive the $315,000, Altgeltsaid.

The reimbursed grantmoney is in relation to the$1 million grant that thecenter helped secure tofund the Advanced Educa-tion Center in Zapata.

Commissioners had con-sidered taking legal actionagainst the center for alleg-edly withholding the reim-bursed grant money, but

they voted to postpone thataction Monday in light ofthe center’s “settlement of-fer.”

On March 23, commis-sioners cut ties with thecenter, as they voted to stopfunding the nonprofit andordered the center to va-cate county offices within30 days.

Previously, commission-ers had sought to execute amemorandum of under-standing with the centerthat would have given thecounty more oversight ofthe center and allowed

them to appoint a majorityof the center’s board of di-rectors.

Altgelt and Moffett wereconcerned that such anagreement would compro-mise the organization’s sta-tus as a nonprofit so theMOU was not approvedand the relationship wassevered.

As a result, the Econom-ic Development Center isnow a stand-alone agencywithout county funding.

(Nick Georgiou may bereached at 728-2582 or nge-orgiou@lmtonline.com)

LAWSUIT Continued from Page 1A

REBELS FIGHT, FOREIGN MINISTERS MEET

Photo by Nasser Nasser | AP

Libyan rebel fighters ridingarmed pickup trucks join

rebels gather by the west-ern gate of Ajdabiya, Libya,

on Friday. NATO foreignministers meeting in Berlin

sought to overcome deepdifferences over the military

campaign in Libya on Fri-day, amid calls for the alli-

ance to show a unitedfront.

Sports&OutdoorsSATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2011 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

History was made Tuesday night when the Zapata La-dy Hawks took the field against Rio Hondo in a keymatchup that would determine the fate of the softballteam.

A victory would garnish the Lady Hawks at least ashare of the district title and a loss would put them indespair.

Zapata did not leave anything to chance, however, as ittook care of business and beat Rio Hondo in one of themost anticipated games of the year.

Zapata jumped put to a two-run lead and never lookedback as it beat Rio Hondo 3-2 to thrust itself into the Za-pata history books and become the first softball team toshare at least a tie for the District 31-3A title.

Zapata’s only blemish on its district record is an early

SOFTBALL

Hawksmake

historyEarn program’s firstshare of district title

By CLARA SANDOVALTHE ZAPATA TIMES

See SOFTBALL PAGE 2B

ferent events.The Lady Hawks finished the

regular season in fourth place, justa point away from third.

The night belonged to seniorMarlena Garcia, who left her markat the district track meet for manyyears to come with a great race inthe 3200 meter and 1600-meter runsand saw two records fall along theway.

Garcia dazzled and made thecrowd gasp with her record-break-ing performance in the 3200-meter

Records fell at the District 31-3Atrack and field meet that was heldat Rio Grande City last week.

Zapata sent a strong group oftrack athletes that demolished afew district records along the wayto a regional berth.

Ten athletes will represent Zapa-ta at the Region IV 3A meet in Ca-lallen on May 2-3 and each one ofthem took the meet by storm in dif-

and broke a 25-year-old record onThursday night to kick off her se-nior campaign and successfully de-fend her district title in the event.

Garcia blazed the track and re-corded an 11:50 (personal record)and erased the old mark of 12:00that stood since 1989.

Garcia’s record-breaking per-formance was not over, however, asshe returned to the track on Satur-day.

TRACK AND FIELD

BROKEN RECORDS

Courtesy Photo

TOP LEFT: From left to right are Zapata Lady Hawks track and field standouts Jazmine Garcia, Marlena Garcia and Cassie Pena. TOP RIGHT:Zapata’s Brandi King has earned four consecutive district titles in track and field.

Hawks set historic marks at district meetBy CLARA SANDOVAL

THE ZAPATA TIMES

See TRACK PAGE 2B

DALLAS — The playoffs are here andso are the Dallas Mavericks. Of course.With 11 straight 50-win seasons, the onlyquestion each spring seems to be wherethey’ll be seeded.

Followed by another question: Howearly will they get bounced?

Since reaching the NBA finals for thefirst and only time in 2006, Dirk Nowitzkiand the Mavs have won a single playoffseries. They’ve gone out in the firstround three of the last four years.

This postseason, they’re seeded thirdin the Western Conference and will playPortland in a series that begins tonightin Dallas.

Sentiment is building that Dallas is asvulnerable as ever. Lakers guard MattBarnes and Nuggets coach George Karlmade comments in recent weeks suggest-ing the Mavericks are the team everyonewants to play.

It’s not just mind games. Four straightwins to close the regular season bumpedthem to a mere 12-9 since early March.Until beating New Orleans on Wednesdaynight, they’d lost nine straight againstWestern playoff teams, including twoagainst the Trail Blazers.

“I hope whoever we’re facing is think-ing, ’Same old Mavs, a team that’s goingto come in and get knocked out early,’ be-cause that’ll give us an advantage,” cen-ter Tyson Chandler said. “Sometimes it’sgood to be the hunter instead of the hunt-ed.”

Then again, Chandler is a newcomer.He doesn’t know the here-we-go-againfrustration in and around the organiza-tion. A few years ago, in fact, Chandlerhelped the Hornets add to the Mavs’ mi-sery with one of those first-round oust-ings.

Yet his presence is one of the reasonsDallas is hoping things will be different.He and Brendan Haywood give the Ma-vericks the best depth and flexibilitythey’ve ever had at center.

“(Chandler) is the most athletic big

man I’ve ever played with,” Nowitzkisaid. “If our two big guys play like (Dal-las expects), we can beat some people inthe playoffs.”

So, which is it going to be — same old,same old or something new?

Only three other teams have put to-gether as many 50-win seasons as Dallas— Bill Russell’s Celtics, Magic Johnson’sLakers and Tim Duncan’s Spurs. Each ofthose clubs won at least three champion-ships along the way. San Antonio’s run isstill going.

The knock on the Mavericks has al-ways been that they’re soft, relying toomuch on jump shots. The label will lin-ger until they prove otherwise. Heck,

NBA

The search forstaying power

Mavericks aim to end cycleof early playoff exits

By JAIME ARONASSOCIATED PRESS

Dallas Mavericks’ guard Jason Kidd (2) drives pastHouston Rockets’ defender Courtney Lee in thesecond half of an NBA basketball game in Houstonon Monday. Dallas won the game 98-91.

Photo by Jon Eilts | AP

See MAVS PAGE 2B

SAN ANTONIO — Chris Bosh wasnever signing with San Antonio. At least,that’s what everyone figured.

“At one time we had certainly consid-ered going after Bosh,” Spurs owner Pe-ter Holt recently recalled. “We didn’tspent a lot of time on that. We didn’t feellike we could compete.”

At the time, who didn’t think thatabout the Spurs?

Yet one year after San Antonio ap-peared to be fading NBA royalty — bare-ly making the playoffs, constant injuriesto an aging core, a roster overhaul thatnever worked out — the Spurs open theplayoffs back atop the Western Confer-

ence. San Antonio hosts Memphis in Game

1 on Sunday as the No. 1 seed for the fifthtime in the Tim Duncan era. It’s a 14-year span that includes four champion-ships and the highest winning percent-age in the NBA (.700), but the team ap-peared on the downside last spring afterthe worst season yet.

Six months later, Tony Parker arrivedat training camp predicting this wouldbe the last shot for the Spurs. It was anow-or-never declaration that sounded al-most brutally honest at the time.

Now it looks like the Spurs could havemore chances ahead of them.

“Every game, every playoff is special

San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker (9), of France, shoots around Utah Jazz’s Earl Watson (11) during thefourth quarter of an NBA game, Saturday, in San Antonio.

Photo by Eric Gay | AP

Spurs enter playoffsin familiar No. 1 spot

By PAUL J. WEBERASSOCIATED PRESS

See SPURS PAGE 2B

PAGE 2B Zscores SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2011

With gusts of windreaching close to 20 milesper hour, Garcia managedto put an extra force be-hind her as she hit thetrack, determined to cap-ture her second gold med-al of meet.

She captured the 1600-meter run and broke an-other record along theway and erased the 17-year mark of 5:27 and low-ered it to 5:24.

Garcia was only one sto-ry line of the meet as fel-low senior Brandi Kingcontinued her dominanceof the high jump and isundefeated in the event allseason long, including astop at the prestigiousBorder Olympics in Lare-do in March.

King’s great leapingability has helped securefour straight district titles.She is making her fourthstraight trip to regionals.

Freshman Jazmine Gar-cia grabbed second place

in the 3200-meter run(12:40) and in the 1600-me-ter run (5:35, personal re-cord). In addition, sheturned around after themile run and anchoredthe mile relay to becomethe only Zapata athlete toadvance to regionals inthree events.

Kristina De Leon ismaking back-to-back tripsto regionals in the triplejump (second, 33’2 ½”)and high jump (third,4’8”), while Lauren Men-doza is making her fourthstraight trip to regionalsafter capturing third inthe 300m hurdles (51.6).

The 1600-meter relaythat consisted of GloriaJauregui, De Leon, Jaz-mine and Lauren Mendo-za captured third place toearn a trip to regionals.

Kristina Garcia will bemaking her second trip inthe mile relay.

The Lady Hawks alsoreceived some key points

from Jauregui (sixth, 800-meter run), De Leon(fourth, 100-meter dash),Evelyn Mendoza (sixth,100-meter dash), Cassan-dra Pena (fifth, 3200-meterand 1600-meter runs).

The 400x100 meter relayand 800-meter relay fin-ished in fourth place.

HawksThe Hawks placed third

overall as a team andwere led by senior An-drew Magee, who is leav-ing a longlasting legacy atZapata High School.

Magee, who has beenstellar all season long forthe Hawks and is nostranger to the regionals,secured a spot early in thefield events by utilizinghis great leaping ability inthe triple and long jumps.

Magee exploded for aleap of 42’3” to grab hisfirst gold medal and fin-

ished off with a leap of21’2 ½” to win the longjump and earn his secondgold medal of the day.

Rookie Jorge Guerramade the most of his firstvarsity competition bytossing the discus 131 feetfor a runner-up medal andearned his first trip to theregional meet.

Rafael Benavides cap-tured bronze medals inthe 3200-meter run (10:34)and the 1600-meter run(4:37) for back-to-back re-gional trips.

Zapata was instrumen-tal in getting some crucialpoints from freshman Car-los Rodriguez (fourth,3200-meter and 1600 me-ter), Roy Guerra (fourth,pole vault), Raul Hinojosa(fifth, shot put), EpitacioMartinez (sixth, highjump), Michael Alvarez(fifth, triple jump), JeromeCabugos (fifth, 3200-meterrun), Juan Rangel (fourth,800-meter run), Luis Gar-

za (sixth, 800-meter run)and Josue Velasquez(sixth, 200-meter dash).

All three relays (4x100,4x200, and 4x400) finishedin fifth.

Junior varsityThe JV girls held their

own ground at the meetand were led by the per-formances of Sara Penaand Erica Hernandez,who both captured threegold medals.

Pena grabbed first inthe 400-meter dash, 800-meter run and the 1600-meter relay, while Hernan-dez exhausted the field inthe 3200 meter-run, 1600-meter run and the 1600-meter relay.

Wendy Medina and An-gela Darnell also capturedgold in the mile relay. Me-dina also took fourthplace in the 400-meterdash and fifth in the 800-

meter run.Scoring for the JV girls

squad are Norma Cepeda(sixth, 3200-meter and1600-meter runs), Christi-na Garza (third, 200-meterdash and 100-meter dash),Joann Rivera (sixth, 200mdash).

The JV boys had theirshare of medalist includ-ing two gold medals fromJose Garcia in the 3200-meter run and 1600-meterrun.

Other JV boys membersgrabbing top six finisheswere Romeo Morales(third, 32-meter run), LuisLerma (fourth, 3200-meterrun), Edgar Hernandez(second, 1600-meter run),Heriberto Perez (fourth,1600-meter run), MartineSalinas (third, high jump;fifth, 110-meter hurdles),Sam Camacho (third, 800-meter run), Jose Resendez(fourth, 800-meter run),Justin Brandon (fifth,high jump).

TRACK Continued from Page 1B

first round loss to Port Isa-bel. The Lady Hawkspunched their district re-cord to 7-1 after Tuesday’sgame against Rio Hondo.

The real fight is for sec-ond place, after threeteams are all in a deadlockfor the playoff spot withtwo district games left inthe regular season.

Sitting with a 5-3 districtrecord are La Feria, RioHondo and Port Isabel.

The fate of the LadyHawks rest in their ownhands, as they need to winone more district game tobe the outright districtchampions, a first for Za-pata High School.

The Lady Hawks willface La Feria on Tuesdaynight at La Feria and endthe regular season against

Rio Grande City La Grullaat the Zapata softball com-plex.

The arm of junior Estel-la Molina has led the LadyHawks. She has been aforce on the mound, re-cording a 7-1 district re-cord.

Backing Molina is catch-er Michelle Arce, who hasbeen steady behind theplate all season long.

At the plate is the three-headed monster of Arce,Molina and Maria Espino-sa, who can rip the ball tothe outfield.

All of Zapata is invitedto make the trek to La Fe-ria on Tuesday or catchthe Lady Hawks at homeon Thursday and be readyto witness some history inthe making.

SOFTBALL Continued from Page 1Bright now. I understandthat,” Duncan said Friday.“This is the end of my ca-reer, the last couple ofyears. I’m not taking any-thing for granted. Everyyear we’re given our lastchance (to win a title).We’ll take this as it is.

“Maybe we’ll get anotherone. Maybe we won’t.”

The Spurs may start theplayoffs without ManuGinobili, who sprained hisright elbow in Wednesday’sregular season finale atPhoenix. The All-Star islisted as doubtful for Game1 but tweeted Thursdaythat the pain was alreadyalmost gone.

Spurs coach GreggPopovich said Friday thatGinobili will play duringthe Grizzlies series. It’s oneof only a few bumps SanAntonio (61-21) has facedwhile carrying the NBA’sbest record until the final

week and posting the third-best regular season in fran-chise history.

“I don’t think there’sanybody in or out of theleague that thought thisteam would be the firstseed in the West,” Popovichsaid. “I think that’s a fact.They’ve done a great job.We’ll see if we can build onit.”

The resurgence evenseems to astonish Holt.

“We’re definitely goingfrom the Tim Duncan erato the next era whateverthat’s going to be,” Holtsaid. “We really are goingto try to do something that,in the history of the NBA,is very difficult when youlose a Hall of Famer likeTim Duncan to not fall offthe map and go throughthe rebuild process.”

According to Holt, thatconversation ended some-thing like this: Let’s stick

with who we have. Holt said he met with

Popovich and general man-ager R.C. Buford to talk outthe different scenarios.They were in no position toget a big name but alreadyhad two on their roster:Ginobili, who would sign athree-year extension lastApril, and Parker, whocame into this season withan expiring contract.

The Spurs wanted to getyounger and had concernsabout Parker and Ginobiliholding up after years ofinjuries. In the end, Holtsaid, they believed in theirhealth and valued their loy-alty. Holt also creditedRichard Jefferson, who opt-ed out of a guaranteed $15million last summer, thenre-signed a four-year dealthat the owner said helpedmake all the numbers workand kept the Spurs underthe salary cap.

“I’m not New York orL.A.,” Holt said. “I can’tpay those kind of dollars.”

In all, the Spurs extendedthree key contracts in asix-month span that Holtsaid has established thecore of the team for at leastthe next three seasons.Duncan, who turns 35 thismonth, has one more yearleft on his contract but apotential lockout loomsnext season.

So for now, the Spurswant to make the best ofthe chance they have.

“We always have some-thing to prove,” saidGeorge Hill, who will startSunday if Ginobili can’tplay. “All year long no onehas counted us in. Weknow that. All year long noone thought we were thebest team. We were over-rated, old, whatever theycalled us. But the recordspeaks for itself.”

SPURS Continued from Page 1B

coach Rick Carlisle evensaid it a few weeks ago.

Fingers are mostlypointed at Nowitzki be-cause everything aboutthis club starts with him.While he should be be-yond questions about hisskills and toughness, hisability to lead will bequestioned until he winsa title.

In the playoffs, teamshave been willing tosmother Nowitzki andtake their chances witheveryone else. Whether hegets enough help thistime around might an-swer the question of howlong Dallas lasts.

Things were lookinggood early, when CaronButler was the wing man.Then he tore up a knee.Jason Terry resumed therole as the second-leadingscorer with mixed results.

An emotional leader ca-pable of hitting big shots,Terry also can be incon-sistent. His emotions havegotten the best of him thelast few weeks. He’s start-ed a fight, got a technicalfoul late in a close game,yelled at a teammate inthe huddle and appearedto lose track of the scorein the final seconds of agame.

The offense runs bestwhen Jason Kidd is goingstrong, but how strongcan his 38-year-old bodybe this time of year? Hemissed two recent gamesfor rest and came back re-freshed. He’ll need to pacehimself to avoid fading inthe playoffs like last year.

Then there’s the diffi-culty of the first-roundmatchup. The Trail Blaz-ers are a tough draw, andtheir star, LaMarcus Al-dridge, is from the Dallasarea.

Yet there is plenty torally the pro-Mavs fac-tion.

Although Dallas lostboth games in Portlandthis season, the Maver-icks tied Miami for themost road wins in theNBA. They also allowedthe 10th-fewest points thisseason, while scoring the11th-most; only the Heat

and the Lakers were thatgood on both ends of thecourt.

“We’ve got to play greatdefense — that’s the thingthat’s got to be our callingcard in this series,” Car-lisle said. “If we do that,it’s always going to en-hance our offense.”

Carlisle is expected torevert to his best defen-sive starting lineup,which includes DeShawnStevenson.

Stevenson started mostof the season, includingthe majority of the Maver-icks’ 18-1 spurt from lateJanuary to early March,then gave way when sec-ond-year guard RodrigueBeaubois returned from abroken left foot. Expecta-tions were high thatBeaubois would be a biglift, but he struggled sobadly that on Wednesdaynight he lost his startingjob to Stevenson, thenwound up spraining histroublesome left foot inthat game.

Regardless of Beaubois’availability, Carlisle hasplenty of depth and versa-tility on his bench, fromTerry, Haywood and J.J.Barea to late-season addi-tions Peja Stojakovic andCorey Brewer.

And, if Dallas can lastlong enough in the post-season, Butler could re-turn.

The Mavericks’ playoffroad potentially includesthe Lakers in the secondround and the Spurs inthe conference finals.Should they knock off thetwo-time reigning cham-pions, they certainlywould have the attitudethat this could be theyear, the chance for Kiddand Nowitzki to finallybecome champions.

Actually, that goes forall of them, as no playeron the Dallas roster haswon an NBA title.

“We know this is not aneasy challenge, but weknow it’s a challenge thatis a great one,” Carlislesaid. “So, embracing itand being energized by itis what we’re going tomake it about.”

MAVS Continued from Page 1B

INDIANAPOLIS — Col-lege football could have avery different look nextfall.

Teams will have the op-tion of shaving 10 secondsoff the clock for penaltiescalled in the final minuteof each half. They willcontend with a more liber-al definition of intentionalgrounding, and they couldsee points taken off thescoreboard for tauntingpenalties.

The most sweepingchange approved by theNCAA Playing Rules Over-sight Panel on Thursday isthe 10-second runoff,something the NFL hasused for years. Collegeteams will now have theoption of taking the yar-dage and the time, the yar-dage only or declining the

penalty. The committee also ap-

proved a change in howintentional grounding willbe called. Previously, thepenalty was called if theintended receiver did nothave a “reasonable oppor-tunity” to catch the pass.Starting this fall, the pen-alty will be called only if areceiver is not in the areaof the pass — a modifica-tion that more closely re-sembles the NFL rule.

And the panel adopted arule allowing video moni-tors in the coaches’booths. The televisionswill have access only toany live broadcast of thegame — no video record-ers — to help coaches de-cide if they should chal-lenge a call. If the moni-tors are available to thehome team, they must alsobe available to the visitor.

Those changes coincidewith perhaps the biggestchange of the season —implementation of the newtaunting rule.

Last April, the playingrules panel approved a de-cision to nullify touch-downs if a player is calledfor taunting before hecrosses the goal line. Ex-amples include players fin-ishing touchdown runs byhigh-stepping into the endzone or pointing the balltoward an opponent.

The panel decided thento wait one year beforemaking the change.

Previously, the 15-yardpenalty was assessed onthe extra point attempt, 2-point conversion attemptor the ensuing kickoff. Pe-nalties called after theplayer crosses the goalline still will be assessedon those plays, but live-

ball fouls will be assessedat the spot of the foul andeliminate the score.

In addition, the playingrules panel wants to makethe game safer.

Players lined up withinseven yards of the centeron scrimmage plays willstill be permitted to blockbelow the waist anywhereon the field.

But receivers or run-ning backs lined up out-side the tackle box will on-ly be allowed to block be-low the waist if they areblocking straight ahead ortoward the nearest side-line. If they go inside andblock toward the play, itwould be a penalty.

The defensive team alsowill be assessed a 5-yardpenalty if three or moreplayers try to overpowerone offensive lineman onplace kicks.

NCAA football’s new rulesASSOCIATED PRESS

INTERNATIONAL SOCCER

Photo by Fernando Llano | AP

Venezuela’s Ca-racas FC’s JulioMachado, right,

fights for theball with Argen-

tina’s Velez Sars-field’s Ricardo

Alvarez during aCopa Liberta-dores soccer

match in Cara-cas, Venezuela,

on Thursday.

SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2011 THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

DAILY CRYPTOQUOTES — Here’s how to work it: FAMILY CIRCUS DENNIS THE MENACE

Dear Readers: Do youwant to get a SNAKE AS APET? Do some research be-forehand!

Nonvenomous snakesare available in many petstores, and these are someof the species we foundavailable in our area:

ball pythonscorn snakesking snakesmilk snakesrosy boa constrictorssand boa constrictors.

Snakes need specificcare and supplies to keepthem healthy and happy.Some snakes are fed liveanimals, like rodents (al-though there are fresh-fro-zen rodents available atsome pet stores). You reallyneed to study up on thesnake species you choosebeforehand so you knowexactly what it needs andthe commitment it willtake.

Some snakes, like con-strictors, can get huge! Asthey grow, they will neednew enclosures and morecare.

Also, you may not beable to house differenttypes of snakes together.Be sure to research beforeadding a new snake — onesnake could kill another orpass along a disease.

You must consider care-fully before making thechoice to bring a snake in-to your life. — Heloise

PET PALDear Readers: Linda

George of Camarillo, Calif.,sent a picture of her Aus-tralian shepherd cattle dog,Mei Mei, enjoying a warmspring day in the grasswith Linda’s other pet, atortoise named Wilbur. Tosee Mei Mei and Wilbur, aswell as our other Pet Pals,go to www.Heloise.com andclick on “Pets.” — Heloise

FLAVORFUL FOOD

Dear Heloise: A trick Ihave with my dogs is tochange the flavor of theirfood each time they’redone with one can. Most, ifnot all, canned dog-foodbrands come in differentflavors. Just like we wouldget bored with eatingchicken or beef every day,the dogs do, too. Each timethey’re finished with thatcanned-food flavor, they geta new flavor. It keeps themexcited about eating! —Ophélie M. in Louisiana

An interesting idea? Wespoke to a couple of lead-ing manufacturers of dogfoods. One suggested agradual switch from, say,chicken to beef. However, ifthe dog is happy withchicken (he gobbles it up),there is no need to change.The other source said foodchanges depend on yourdog. Some are VERY sensi-tive to change, and it cancause potential problems.So, watch your dog.

Changing flavors of wetfood in the same brandshould be fine, as long asthe dog’s system can toler-ate it. When in doubt,please check with your vet-erinarian. — Heloise

SCENTSDear Heloise: Before we

picked up our new puppy, Igot a towel and made surethe scent of all our familymembers was on it. I tookthe towel to the breeder aweek before we picked upLouie. He never whim-pered or cried once whenhe came home with us. I’mconvinced it’s because heknew our scents so welland immediately felt safe,secure and at home. —Rhonda in Madison, Ala.

HINTS BY | HELOISE

“HELOISE

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES Basketball SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2011

HOUSTON — RickAdelman came to Houstonin 2007 hoping to build acontending team aroundAll-Stars Yao Ming andTracy McGrady.

Both were stricken withinjuries almost from themoment Adelman arrived,and the Rockets playedmost of the past two sea-sons without them.

McGrady underwentmicrofracture surgery onhis knee and was traded inFebruary 2010, and Yaomissed all but five gamesthis season with a stressfracture in his left ankle.

The remaining Rocketsscraped out winning re-cords the past two seasons,but they’ll miss the play-offs again.

Changes are almost cer-tain, and they may startwith Adelman, whose con-tract is up. The 64-year-oldAdelman moved intoeighth all time in regular-season victories (945) withHouston’s win in Minneso-ta in Wednesday’s finale.

Many players had theirend-of-season interviewswith both Adelman andteam executives on Thurs-day. To a man, the Rocketsraved about their coachand lobbied for the organi-zation to retain him.

“I definitely feel that heshould be back,” reserveguard Courtney Lee said.“I think that managementand everybody up thereunderstands that Rick is agood coach. It’s kind ofhard to decide. That’s thejob for them. As far as theplayers, we just went inthere and just put our casefor him to come back.”

Adelman said beforeMonday’s home finaleagainst Dallas that he en-joyed coaching his under-manned group this season

and still has deep passionfor the job. He also saidthat he was putting off anyfirm decisions about hisfuture until after he meetswith management, possi-bly Friday.

“You have to evaluateeverything when it’s allsaid and done, and youhave a chance to sit downand talk about it,” Adel-man said. “Now, there’sjust a lot of questions andeverybody’s future is un-certain with the lockout.That’s going to affect a lotof stuff.”

The collective bargain-ing agreement expires af-ter the playoffs, and awork stoppage is possible.The players are comfort-able with Adelman, andthe Rockets would be tak-ing a risk by changingcoaches and giving thenew staff little or no timeto teach the players a new

system. General manager Daryl

Morey was unavailable forcomment on Thursday.

Once the Rockets decideon Adelman, they’ll haveto determine their futurewith Yao, whose contractexpired this season. Yaohad surgery in January torepair the stress fracturein his left ankle, and evenhe questioned whether hecould return from yet an-other injury. If his rehabprogresses without anysnags, he could be runningagain by June.

Yao walked past Adel-man and a group of report-ers before Monday’s game,and Adelman jokinglyasked Yao if he was readyto play. But Adelmanhasn’t been able to hidehis discouragement thathe missed his chance togrow the roster aroundYao and McGrady.

Rockets’ season overTeam must rebuildafter bad showing

By CHRIS DUNCANASSOCIATED PRESS

Houston Rockets’ Courtney Lee, right, loses the ball in a race withMinnesota Timberwolves’ Nikola Pekovic, of Montenegro, duringthe first half of an NBA game on Wednesday in Minneapolis.

Photo by Jim Mone | AP

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. —Phil Jackson showed upfor the first day of his finalNBA playoff run with theLos Angeles Lakers in aplaid shirt and khakishorts, lightly leaning on awalking stick.

The most successfulcoach in league historylooked a bit like a hiker, ormaybe a shepherd — a roleJackson has filled with un-paralleled skill over thepast 22 years with theBulls and Lakers. Inherit-ing two teams with enor-mous talent and no realsuccess, he patientlynudged and directed themto greatness with hisunique combination of bas-ketball savvy and mentalmanipulation.

But the walking sticksubtly underlined the 65-year-old former Knicks for-ward’s nagging mobilityproblems, which areamong several reasons hecan’t wait to retire thissummer. The shepherd isleaving the flock, and hesays there’s nothing theLakers can do about it.

“I’m looking forward togoing through this thingand giving it every bit ofenergy I have left until it’sover,” Jackson said. “Mythoughts are about tomor-row, about practice.”

Jackson clearly hasplenty of energy for thelast task on his career to-do list, and his final team— dominant at times, in-competent at others — cer-tainly has kept him busy.After nearly quitting lastsummer in the glow of his11th NBA title, Jackson de-cided he owed KobeBryant, Derek Fisher andtheir teammates a chanceto finish what they allstarted, returning to chaseNo. 12 and an unpreceden-ted fourth threepeat.

“He made a decision,and it’s not like we expecthim to change his mind,”said forward Pau Gasol,whose arrival in 2008 gaveJackson the tools neces-sary to build anotherchampionship club. “Heknows better than anybodythat he likes to play mindgames with everybodyhere. I’m not mad at himfor that. I know he’s herewith us now.”

The process continuesSunday in the Lakers’ play-off opener against New Or-leans. Los Angeles is theNo. 2 seed in the WesternConference after finishing

with exactly the same re-cord (57-25) it posted lastyear despite a roller-coast-er season featuring every-thing from a 17-1 post-All-Star break run to a five-game losing streak thatended just last week.

Jackson won his 1,155thcareer regular-seasongame — fifth-most in NBAhistory — on Wednesdayin Sacramento, the sameday he was fined $75,000 bythe NBA for discussing thepotential league lockout’simportance to his retire-ment decision. He neverhad a losing season ormissed the playoffs.

Lakers’ Jackson preparesfor last playoff run

By GREG BEACHAMASSOCIATED PRESS

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant celebrates after scoring athree-point shot during overtime against the Sacramento Kings ina NBA game in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday.

AP photo