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Zapata residents with damaged property after flood-ing from Tropical Storm Alex on July 29 can expecthelp soon as President Barack Obama has declared anemergency in Texas and authorized federal aid in sev-eral counties.

The Department of Homeland Security and FederalEmergency Management Agency (FEMA) have beengiven authorization to begin disaster relief efforts,“which will alleviate the hardship and suffering causedby the emergency on the local population,” states anews release.

Under Title V of the Stafford Act, “to save lives andto protect property and public health and safety, and tolessen the threat of a catastrophe,” these agencies willprovide appropriate assistance to 25 counties includingZapata, Starr, Jim Hogg, Cameron and surroundingcounties.

Zapata can expect FEMA and Homeland Security onAugust 25-29, and September 16-19.

“The first round is for all the people who had issues

NATURAL DISASTER

FEMAexpected tohelp with

flood relief

See FEMA PAGE 12A

By LORRAINE L. RODRIGUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES

While touring Gateway Community Health Centerin celebration of National Health Center week, Con-gressman Henry Cuellar said Zapata, Webb, and JimHogg county residents should benefit from the healthreform and an increase in funding for communityhealth centers from $8.5 billion to $11 billion.

“Beginning Oct. 1, 2010, increased funding for com-munity health centers will help nearly double the num-ber of patients seen by the centers over the next fiveyears,” Cuellar said. “The funding can go toward help-ing the 318 existing community health centers in Texasand can also support the construction of new centers.”

According to Cuellar, Texas will be the biggest bene-ficiary of the reform. The state, which has the most un-insured people in the country, will receive $101 billionin health care resources.

Those most affected by the reform will be the middleworking class, Cuellar said.

“Medicaid covers the poor; if you’re rich, you don’thave to worry about it; it’s for the middle working classtrying to provide for their families,” he said.

Gateway Community Center also celebrated for thefirst time a weeklong campaign that began Sunday andends today to raise awareness about the mission and

PUBLIC HEALTH

Congressman:Area to

benefit fromhealth reform

See HEALTH PAGE 12A

By LORRAINE L. RODRIGUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES

Just a few weeks ago Zapata Coun-ty leaders had been anticipating a $3million shortfall. That figure wasthen raised to $6 million last week,but it now appears the county will beshort $7 million in revenue. At ameeting Monday, the issue became aheated dispute that climaxed whenCounty Treasurer Romeo Salinaswas escorted out of the court roomby a bailiff after Salinas was found in

contempt of court.The $3 million deficit came to light

in a letter Chief Appraiser AmadaGonzalez sent to County Judge Rosal-va Guerra, advising her of a criticalproblem.

“I regret to inform you that an er-ror was made in the calculation ofthe M&O portion,” Gonzalez wrote,referring to the maintenance and op-eration funds in the budget.

Another error in calculating re-serve funding led to the additional $1million shortfall.

The M&O fund is composed of thecounty’s general fund and the debtservice the county pays, which in-cludes the farm to market road/floodcontrol, and the special road andbridge funds.

Guerra addressed the court Mon-day, saying her certified values ofproperties were correct.

“There are no errors on my val-ues,” she said.

Commissioners were visibly upset

COMMISSIONERS

Growing shortfallCounty now $7M short, and faces deeper cuts

See COUNTY PAGE 12A

By LORRAINE L. RODRIGUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES

Of the $100,000 the United Way ofLaredo Board of Directors recentlyawarded its agencies, the ZapataBoys and Girls Club received $10,000.

“We receive monies on a yearlybasis but this CIV (Community Ini-tiative Venture) fund grant is some-thing you apply for,” explainedRicky Ramirez, chief volunteer offi-cer for the Boys and Girls Club ofZapata.

The allocated funding had beentagged to replace an old sidewalk“from the clubhouse to the paviliongym,” Ramirez said.

Community children, between theages of 6 and 13, flooding the centerweekly now have safer way of ac-cessing the neighboring facilities.

“They love playing outside, play-ing basketball. Inside, we have foos-ball, air hockey, a TV room, an artroom,” said Leslie Ann Vela, recre-ation assistant.

And, with a laundry list of activ-ities the Zapata Boys and Girls Clubprovides for children, each child hasa preference. For Jasmine Contreras,8, it’s spending time outdoors bikingand playing basketball, she said asshe tossed the basketball into thehoop.

“(You) just got to love kids. We’vegot lots of them,” said IleanaMontes-Thatcher, Zapata Boys andGirls Club Program coordinator ofthe 78 children they currently pro-vide services for over the summer.

“For fall we’re estimating about

UNITED WAY AGENCY

FUNDS TO HELP MAKEPLAY SPOT SAFER

Luis Olvera, right, teaches Javier Gutierrez how to shoot a basketball at the Zapata Boysand Girls Club during a summer camp.

Ulysses S. Romero/

Grant pays forsidewalk atyouth club

By STEPHANIE M. IBARRA THE ZAPATA TIMES

See FUNDS PAGE 12A

PAGE 2A Zin brief SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2010

SATURDAY, AUGUST 14Marine Corp League hosts a

Beef, Sausage and More plate sale to-day, starting at 12 p.m. at the cornerof 22nd and Hidalgo St. Donations are$6 per plate. All proceeds go to com-munity projects.

4-H will host a volunteer work-shop today from 1 to 4 p.m. in thelobby area of the County Extension Of-fice, located in the Community Center.There will be a $10 charge for screen-ing. For more information, contact Ca-leb Eaton at (956) 765-9967.

Laredo Energy Arena hosts theInternational Boxing Federation light-weight world championship tonight. Inthe main event, IBF No. 1-ranked Ji-Hoon “Volcano” Kim, of Goyang City,Korea, will battle IBF No. 3-ranked Mi-guel Angel “Titere” Vazquez, of Guada-lajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Doors open at6 p.m. Ticket prices range from $20to $80, and tables, $300 four seat,$10-seat tables available for: $700(third row), $1,000 (second row),$1,500 (ringside), are also available.Tickets are available at Laredo EnergyArena Box Office, all TicketMaster out-lets and by phone, at 1-800-745-3000.For more information, call (956) 791-9192

TUESDAY, AUGUST 17Zapata Chapter No. 1106 Order

of the Eastern Star joins tonight at7:30 p.m. at the Masonic Lodge, locat-ed at 14th St. and Hwy 16.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 19A Wildlife for Lunch webinar on

“Remote Sensing Cameras — A Valua-ble Wildlife Management Tool” isschedule for Thursday, Aug. 19, fromnoon to 1:30 p.m. at the Zapata Coun-ty Courthouse in the second floor con-ference room. Bring your lunch andlisten to a brief wildlife program.

The Texas Department of StateHealth Services will hold a vaccinationclinic from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. today inthe multipurpose room at Los ObisposMiddle School, 7801 S. Ejido St., from10 a.m. to 1 p.m. today. The clinic isfor students entering the seventhgrade. Parents/guardians must bringshot record for each child being vacci-nated and must accompany each childbeing vaccinated. For more informa-tion, call your school nurse. For moreinformation about other shot clinics,call the state health services depart-ment immunization branch at (956)794-6381.

The Webb County Heritage Foun-dation invites the public to meet pho-tographer Christopher Talbot at theopening reception for an exhibit of hisphotographs of the Camino Real delos Tejas National Historic Trail at 6p.m. today at the Villa Antigua BorderHeritage Museum, 810 Zaragoza St.The exhibit features outstanding imag-es of trail swales, acequias, rivercrossings, forts, missions, presidiosand other original remnants along theold route. For more information, con-tact the Webb County Heritage Foun-dation at (956) 727-0977.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 21A hunter’s education course will

be offered at Zapata County Public Li-brary today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.and Sunday, August 22 from noon to5 p.m. Every Hunter, including out-of-state hunters, born on or after Sep-tember 2, 1981, must successfullycomplete a Hunters Education Trainingcourse to hunt any animal in the Stateof Texas. The minimum age to receivecertification is 9 years old. For moreinformation, contact Marshall Davidsonat (956) 337-5917.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25The event honors State Sen. Ju-

dith Zaffirini for her contribution tothe South Texas Food Bank and fea-tures a concert by 1970s musical sen-sation Three Dog Night. Floor tabletickets for 10 start at $1,000. Tabletickets include dinner and access tosilent auction of artwork bowls. Con-cert-only tickets are $15 and are avail-able at the Laredo Energy Arena andTicketmaster.com. For more informa-tion, call the South Texas Food Bankat (956) 726-3120.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 27Gold and platinum certified art-

ist, Mark Chesnutt, performs at theCasa Blanca Ballroom tonight at 8p.m. Tickets for admission begin at$15. For more information, visit mark-chesnutt.com

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

CALENDARASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Saturday, Aug. 14,the 226th day of 2010. Thereare 139 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in His-tory:

On Aug. 14, 1935, PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt signedthe Social Security Act intolaw.

On this date: In 1848, the Oregon Territo-

ry was created. In 1900, international forces,

including U.S. Marines, en-tered Beijing to put down theBoxer Rebellion, which wasaimed at purging China of for-eign influence.

In 1908, a race riot eruptedin Springfield, Ill. as a whitemob began setting black-own-ed homes and businesses onfire; at least two blacks andfive whites were killed in theviolence.

In 1909, the newly openedIndianapolis Motor Speedwayheld its first event, a series ofmotorcycle races.

In 1945, President Harry S.Truman announced that Ja-pan had surrendered uncondi-tionally, ending World War II.

In 1947, Pakistan became in-dependent of British rule.

In 1969, British troops wentto Northern Ireland to inter-vene in sectarian violence be-tween Protestants and RomanCatholics.

In 1980, President JimmyCarter and Vice PresidentWalter Mondale were nomi-nated for second terms at theDemocratic national conven-tion in New York.

In 1980, workers went onstrike at the Lenin Shipyardin Gdansk (guh-DANSK’), Po-land, in a job action that re-sulted in the creation of theSolidarity labor movement.

Ten years ago: On theopening night of the Demo-cratic National Convention inLos Angeles, President BillClinton offered a triumphantreview of his years in officeand exhorted delegates to pro-pel Al Gore on the road to suc-ceed him.

Five years ago: Israelsealed the Gaza Strip to Israelicivilians, signaling the start ofthe historic withdrawal fromthe Gaza Strip.

One year ago: PresidentBarack Obama denouncedwhat he suggested was newsmedia overemphasis on scenesof angry protesters at town-hall meetings on health care,telling his own town hall-stylemeeting in Belgrade, Mont.that “TV loves a ruckus.”Charles Manson follower Ly-nette “Squeaky” Fromme, 60,convicted of trying to assassi-nate President Gerald Ford in1975, was released from a Tex-as prison hospital after morethan three decades behindbars.

Today’s Birthdays: Rocksinger David Crosby is 69. Au-thor Danielle Steel is 63. Ac-tress Halle Berry is 44. ActressCatherine Bell is 42. Countrymusician Cody McCarver(Confederate Railroad) is 42.Rock musician Kevin Cadoganis 40. Actor Scott MichaelCampbell is 39. Actress Lala-nya Masters is 38. Actor Chris-topher Gorham is 36. ActressMila Kunis is 27. TV personal-ity Spencer Pratt is 27.

Thought for Today: “Free-dom of speech and freedom ofaction are meaningless with-out freedom to think. Andthere is no freedom of thoughtwithout doubt.” — BergenBaldwin Evans, American au-thor (1904-1978).

TODAY IN HISTORY

NEW ORLEANS — BP’s broken oil well isnot dead yet.

The government’s point man on the crisissaid Friday that the blown-out well is not se-curely plugged to his satisfaction and thatthe drilling of the relief well — long regard-ed as the only way to ensure that the hole atthe bottom of the Gulf of Mexico never leaksoil again — must go forward.

"The relief well will be finished," said re-tired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen. "Wewill kill the well."

Work on the relief well was suspended ear-lier this week because of bad weather. Allendid not say when it would resume.

From there, it could be only a matter ofdays before the "bottom kill" is done and thewell that wreaked havoc on the Coast econo-

my and environment is no longer a threat.Last week, BP plugged up the ruptured oil

well from the top with mud and cement, andfor a while, it appeared that the relief wellthat BP has been drilling 2½ miles underthe sea all summer long in an effort to sealup the leak from the bottom might not benecessary after all. But Allen dashed thosehopes after scientists conducted pressuretests on Thursday.

Scientists had hoped that the cementpumped in from the top had plugged the gapbetween the well’s inner pipe and its outercasing. The pressure tests showed some ce-ment was in that gap, but officials don’tknow enough about what’s there — or howmuch of it — to trust that there is a perma-nent seal, said Allen, who has repeatedly in-sisted on an "overabundance of caution"when it comes to plugging the well.

AROUND THE NATION

Harry Cheramie, a shrimper and fisherman, drags a trawl net along the floor of Barataria Bay with the Louisiana Departmentof Wildlife and Fisheries to check for oil near Grand Isle on the Louisiana coast, in advance of the Monday’s start of theshrimping season. In addition to shrimp samples, the LDWF took five shrimpers to check for oil; none was found.

Photo by Gerald Herbert | AP

Feds: Well needs workBy TOM BREEN

ASSOCIATED PRESS

7.2 quake strikes GuamHAGATNA, Guam — A mag-

nitude 7.2 earthquake struckabout 230 miles off the southerncoast of Guam on Saturdaymorning but many residentsdidn’t even notice.

The Pacific Tsunami WarningCenter in Hawaii said there wasno widespread tsunami generat-ed from the shallow quake.

Judge: No challengeSAN FRANCISCO — The fed-

eral judge who overturned Cali-fornia’s same-sex marriage bansaid he doubts backers have theright to challenge his ruling.

The judge rejected a request todelay his decision barring Propo-sition 8 from taking effect untilhigh courts can take up an ap-peal lodged by its supporters.

No mosque ad comingALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s

Conservative Party is planning atelevision ad campaign to pres-sure a New York City utility toblock a proposed mosque nearground zero.

The ad wants “real answers”about the Islamic group planningthe cultural center and mosque.

-- Compiled from AP reports

Lawyer’s work notedAUSTIN — Longtime open

government advocate Joe Larsenhas received the James MadisonAward from the Freedom of In-formation Foundation of Texas.

Larsen, who is special counselfor Sedgwick, Detert, Moran &Arnold, LLP in Houston, re-ceived the award at the founda-tion’s annual conference Friday.

The award is given each yearto someone who has demonstrat-ed commitment and service inupholding the principles of theFirst Amendment.

DPS graduates fast classAUSTIN — Training is com-

plete for the first Texas Depart-ment of Public Safety trooperclass taking part in courses thatcan put the law officers on thestreet in just eight weeks.

The first class of 29 troopers,in the advanced recruit school,graduated Friday in Austin.

All were police officers. DPS had 400 vacancies and

was offering experienced law of-ficers a chance to become troop-ers in just two months.

Dallas sees hoax lettersDALLAS — Investigators say

25 white powder hoax lettersmentioning al-Qaida have beenreceived by churches, mosquesand businesses in the Dallas area

since Aug. 5. The FBI and the U.S. Postal

Inspection Service on Friday an-nounced a reward of up to$100,000 for information leadingto the arrest and prosecution ofthose responsible.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND TEXAS

Oakland Raiders fans enjoy the fourth quarter of the NFL preseason game againstthe Dallas Cowboys at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, on Thursday. The Raiderscame back in the last quarter to win 17-6.

Photo by Sharron Ellman | AP

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

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CONTACT US

Carbon monoxide kills EMTWHITE OAK — One emergen-

cy medical technician died andtwo co-workers were hospitalizedFriday after being overcome bycarbon monoxide while on dutyin White Oak.

The three were discovered at 7a.m. Friday.

The carbon monoxide appar-ently was from a generator leftrunning on an ambulance.

Board: No clemencyHOUSTON — The Texas

Board of Pardons and Paroles hasrefused a clemency petition fromcondemned killer Peter Cantu,set to die next week in Huntsvillefor a 1993 double rape-slaying.

The panel voted 7-0 to rejectCantu’s request that his deathsentence be commuted to life.

The 35-year-old Cantu was con-demned for killing two teens.

Heat downs eight soldiersFORT HOOD — Eight soldiers

from Fort Hood were hospitalizedfor heat-related problems after anearly morning 12-mile march.

Two soldiers were listed in se-rious condition, and three werelisted in fair condition after be-ing taken to different hospitalsFriday morning. Another threewere treated and released.

— Compiled from AP reports

SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2010 Zlocal PAGE 3A

Seventy-five Laredo andZapata youths returnedhome Friday from a De-partment of Justice spon-sored and United StatesAttorney’s Office support-ed Drug Education forYouth summer camp,United States Attorney Jo-sé Angel Moreno an-nounced today.

DEFY is a preventiveprogram sponsored by theDOJ and a means for in-creasing community par-ticipation and commit-ment to area youth. DEFYworks with 9- to 12-year-olds and helps developcharacter, leadership andconfidence to engage inpositive healthy lifestylesas drug-free citizens. Thisyear’s summer camp washeld from Aug. 9-13 at theNaval Air Station in Cor-pus Christi.

Special thanks go to theTexas National GuardCounterdrug Program forcoordinating and sponsor-ing the event and to theCity of Laredo Parks andRecreation Department,Laredo Housing Author-ity, Laredo Police Depart-ment, South Texas Coun-cil on Alcohol and DrugAbuse, Zapata Boys andGirls Club, Zapata Sher-iff ’s Office and the UnitedStates Border Patrol forproviding mentors andother assistance.

The DEFY program in-cluded two phases. PhaseI involves a five-day sum-mer camp where studentstake part in activities in-cluding swimming, toursand classes in leadership,discipline and drugawareness. The expensesfor this camp, includinglodging and meals, werepaid for by the Texas Na-tional Guard Drug De-mand Reduction Program.

After the summercamp, the students willbegin Phase II of the pro-gram, which involvesmonthly sessions inwhich the students meeton a given Saturday andattend activities reinforc-ing and building on theirPhase I lessons. Activitiesduring Phase II often in-clude lessons or activitiesin drug resistance, self-es-teem building, leadershipand general social skills,team building and com-munity service.

Mentors are not just ex-pected to look after theyouth but are to be posi-tive role models to the DE-FY students throughoutthe program. The LaredoDEFY program has beenin existence since 2001and has not only beensuccessful with its stu-dents, but is a sign of col-laborative efforts from allagencies and organiza-tions that provided men-tors.

Zapata childrenlearn at DEFY

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

DON’T MISS THE BUS

Courtesy photo

Community leaders cut a ribbon in celebration of Zapata County obtaining buses to transport residents to higher education facilities in La-redo. Pictured, from left to right, are Laredo Community College President Juan Maldonado, Congressman Henry Cuellar, nursing studentPablo Zapata, Commissioner Jose Vela and Commissioner Gabriel Villarreal.

The Zapata Border Pa-trol station’s Explorer Post9000 attended the 2010 FortWorth Police Department’sExplorer Swat Camp onAug. 5-8. In attendancewere 10 posts from FortWorth, Waco, San Antonio,Dallas, Crowley, Midlandand Tomball. All policeposts to include Border Pa-trol Explorers totaled 75Explorers; both boys andgirls competed in this com-petition.

The training consisted ofteamwork building, physi-cal fitness, SWAT tactics,area observation, planningdevelopment with execu-tion and social skills. Theseskill sets building up toteam competitions such asa canoe race, bike relay,confidence course, searchand rescue, a triathlon andscenarios in domestic vio-

lence, shoot/don’t shoot,serving a warrant, buildingsearch and the Border Pa-trol’s illegal land bordercrossing affecting an arrestand search, sometimes

finding a weapon of masseffect.

The Fort Worth SWATTeam trained the Explorersin a physical techniquessession, the surrender ritu-

al, building searches, vehi-cle assaults and a breach-ing equipment relay.

They also introducedand demonstrated breach-ing equipment such as theentry shield, pry bar, bat-tering ram, less than lethaldeployment long arm, andthe detonating of a smokegrenade and a flash bangdistraction device.

While the Zapata Explor-er Post is only two monthsold, this was their firstcompetition and they didan outstanding job in train-ing and competing. A Zapa-ta Station Explorer tookfirst place award in thetriathlon competition. As agroup the Explorers placedsecond on Flag Design andPresentation and thirdplace on Search and Res-cue.

Members say they areexcited and look forward tothe next competition.

Explorer post attends campSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Members of the Zapata Border Patrol Explorers post, Justin Cobb,Matt Cooper and Colby Cooper participate celebrate their awards.

Courtesy photo

PAGE 4A Zopinion SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2010

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

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

We want to assure our

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

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

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

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY

DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

WASHINGTON —The indicatorsare so dismal for

Democrats that theycouldn’t be blamed if theydecided to forfeit the No-vember elections.

The immortal words ofone of their own, JamesCarville, are being thrownright back in their facesby Republicans. Of course,I mean Carville’s 1992 dec-laration: “It’s the econo-my, stupid.”

If today’s economic sit-uation is not in the tank,it sure looks like it maybe teetering on the edgeagain. Pessimism reigns.The newest Wall StreetJournal/NBC News pollshows that nearly two-thirds of those polled aredepressed about the per-ceived recession.

Can’t blame BushAs much as Democrats

would still like to blameGeorge W. Bush, he’s nolonger president, a jobthat is also known as the“Blame-Taker-in Chief.”And the poll numbersshow that.

Six in 10 feel PresidentObama’s economic poli-cies have fallen short.This is not exactly a hos-pitable environment for

those in his own party,struggling to keep Repub-licans from taking controlof Congress.

There is one numberthat gives Democrats aglimmer of hope. That’sthe puny 24 percent of vot-ers who give the Republi-cans a positive mark, anew low for the WallStreet Journal’s survey.But even that glimmer istarnished for the Demo-crats by their own 33 per-cent rating, which is pret-ty close to their historicbottom.

SymbolismDemocratic pollster Pe-

ter Hart, a member of theteam that conducted theWall Street Journal/NBCpoll, suggested that wide-spread public frustrationwas symbolized by theJetBlue flight attendantwho used the emergencyslide to jump out of hisplane after it landed atKennedy Airport follow-ing a confrontation with apassenger.

The November ballot-ing is the “JetBlue elec-tion,” Hart said. “Every-one’s hurling invectiveand they’re all taking theemergency exit.

So the Republicanssmell blood — and theirbase is stoked by theirpassionate belief that the

country is heading towardsocialistic ruin. As for theDemocratic base, it’s dis-gruntled with little to getgruntled about. . . .or getrevved up enough to vote.

The D’s have one bigchance against the R’s.It’s the strategy as old aspolitics: Go negative. Sodo not be surprised tohear Democrats engagingin some GOP name-call-ing....names like SharronAngle, Rand Paul, LindaMcMahon...and don’t for-get Sarah Palin, the Mam-ma Grizzly, whatever thatis.

Those are members ofthe GOP Wild Bunch. . .Senate nominees whomarch to the Tea Party’sdrummers.

Election battlesNevada’s Angle has al-

ready accomplished theimpossible by giving Sen-ate Democratic LeaderHarry Reid a chance ofbeing re-elected. McMa-hon, the former WorldWrestling EntertainmentCEO, can expect a no-holds-barred campaignagainst her in Connecti-cut.

As for Paul, in Ken-tucky, he’s taking a crashcourse in keeping his po-litical opinions to himselfafter a few wisps ekedout, such as his skeptical

view of the Civil RightsAct of 1964. After his re-marks sparked criticism,he quickly announced hewould not support its re-peal.

The primaries in Flor-ida and Arizona on Aug.24 are likely to give usmore evidence of the pub-lic mood. Florida is thetest of nouveau Independ-ent Charlie Crist, who af-ter being shunned by con-servative fundamentalistsas not “Republicanenough,” bailed on his onhis party and will run inNovember against theanointed Republican,Marco Rubio, and which-ever Democrat emergesfrom the primary.

As for Arizona, the bigissue is immigration. In-cumbent Sen. JohnMcCain is doing every-thing he can to obscurehis record of moderationbecause he’s runningagainst J.D. Hayworth, ared-meat conservative,former member of theU.S. House and recent theradio talk show host.

A good rule of thumb isto be wary of convention-al wisdom, even if thepolls back it up. Rightnow consensus is that thisis a “Throw-the-Rascals-Out” kind of year. Thebest hope for the Demo-crats is to hammer awayat the ones who want tobe thrown in.

COLUMN

American public turns sourBy BOB FRANKEN

HEARST NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON —The hostesseson “The View”

probably won’t inviteSen. John Thune, R-S.D.,on the show to discusshis new budget proposal.Ideas this thoughtfulrarely attract pop cul-ture media attention.

Despite the glitterati’slack of interest, theSouth Dakota senator’snew plan to restore fis-cal discipline should be-come a cause for deci-sion-makers and regularAmericans alike.

President Obama, onthe other hand, has noproblems finding hisway to a daytime TV set.But when it comes tocurbing red ink, he dis-appears when others yell“Action!”

Lots of debtThe White House’s

current budget forecastsdo contain a cinematicquality— but it’s morelike a scary movie. Evenif we make some heroicassumptions and believeeverything goes right interms of spending andrevenue forecasts, Amer-ica ends up with unsus-tainable levels of debt.

Like a bad vaudevilleact, Obama’s budget pro-duction should get thehook.

Enter Thune. His pro-posal, introduced lastmonth, delves into theprosaic world of budgetprocedure and rules.This subject is not par-ticularly glamorous, butit is critically importantto our nation’s future ec-onomic security.

DisciplineThe implicit part of

Thune’s narrative is themost critical. Returningto budgetary healthwon’t happen overnight.It’s not a screenplay thatpolicymakers can pro-duce and conclude in anelection cycle or two. Itrequires a sustained, dis-ciplined approach, de-manding a wide assort-ment of tools.

Thune’s ideas are so-ber and methodical —more epic film thanshort-term documentary.

His script includessome familiar features.First he calls for com-mon sense spending re-forms — a binding 10-year discretionaryspending cap for non-na-tional security and vet-eran programs, as wellas an end to stimulusspending not obligatedby the end of this year.That alone produces bil-lions in savings over thenext decade.

Thune’s initiative alsoproposes several budgetprocess improvements.He forces the executiveand legislative branchesto work more closely byrequiring the WhiteHouse to approve thecongressional budget.Right now the presidentand the Congress pro-duce separate plans. Butthis year the Democratsin Congress took the“dog ate my homework”approach and didn’teven write a fiscal blue-print.

Split approachThe South Dakota

Senator’s initiative alsoestablishes a two-yearbudget timeline (now

Congress is supposed toproduce annual budgets)and a legislative lineitem veto. Under thisplan, the president pro-poses spending cuts, butthen subjects thesechanges to congressionalapproval. This approachavoids the constitutionalissues encountered byother line-item veto pro-posals that do not in-clude a role for the legis-lative branch.

Examining the debtBut it’s Thune’s final

idea that deserves spe-cial attention — the cre-ation of a Joint Commit-tee of Congress on Defi-cit Reduction. This newpanel would include 20members of Congress, 10from the House of Repre-sentatives and 10 fromthe Senate. The plan re-quires the new commit-tee to introduce legisla-tion annually to cut atleast 10 percent of theprevious year’s budgetdeficit by eliminatingspending. This measurewould receive expeditedconsideration in bothchambers to act on itsrecommendations.

It’s an approach thatmakes sense for a varie-ty of reasons. First, weare no longer awaitingthe fiscal crisis. It hasarrived. We may not yetfeel its full impact, butlike a cancer, it’s grow-ing.

Seek out wasteCongress needs to rec-

ognize and elevate thisfiscal emergency on itspriority list. Numerouscommittees in the Houseand Senate spend taxdollars and create or ex-pand programs. But Con-gress has no panelswhose sole purpose is tofind and eliminate need-less or ineffective spend-ing. The new joint com-mittee would do justthat.

It would also signal tofinancial markets andthe American peoplethat Congress finallygets it. Washingtonshould not be immunefrom the belt tighteningexperienced by everyoneelse.

Congress has even cutspending using this ap-proach in the past. In1941, they passed a newlaw creating the JointCommittee on the Reduc-tion of Federal Expendi-tures — a panel that in-cluded senior membersof the House and Senate,as well as the Secretaryof the Treasury and thehead of what was thencalled the Bureau of theBudget (now the Officeof Management and Bud-get). At the time, Con-gress was trying to elim-inate a number of NewDeal programs that hadoutlived their useful-ness.

Sounds like history isrepeating itself. Spend-ing and debt are out ofcontrol, and Congresslacks the tools and disci-pline to address theproblem. Political scien-tists have long arguedthat procedure shapespolicy. This new set ofutensils could help law-makers attack the long-term budget issue.

Thune is throwing hiscolleagues some proce-dural lifelines. Lawmak-ers better not wait for aninvite from Barbara Wal-ters or Whoopi Goldbergbefore they agree to takehold.

COLUMN

Thune’s planto return to

budget sanityBy GARY ANDRES

HEARST NEWSPAPERS

SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2010 THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

It took less than threeminutes for South KoreanJi-Hoon Kim to knock outPanama’s Ameth Diaz lasttime Kim was in the ring atthe Laredo Energy Arena.

With a devasting blow tothe back of Diaz’s left ear inMay, Kim earned a shot atthe International BoxingFederation lightweightchampionship — the titlematch which will be heldSaturday at the arena.

Kim, known in the box-ing world as “Volcano” andranked No. 1 in the IBFlightweight category, willfight Saturday again at thearena against No. 3-rankedMiguel Angel “Titere” Vas-quez of Guadalajara, Jalis-co.

It will mark Kim’s thirdfight at the LEA, and his re-cord in Laredo is 2-0.

“He wanted to come toLaredo because he reallylikes the city,” said AnissaTreviño, the LEA’s market-ing director. “He’s becomefan favorite here. The timesI’ve talked to him, he’s thenicest person in the world.”

His record speaks for it-self: 21-5 (18 knockouts). Vas-quez, meanwhile, has a re-cord of 25-3 (12 knockouts).

Presented by Art Pelullo/Banner Promotions, RodneyBerman/Golden Gloves andZanfer Promotions, themain event will crown anew IBF lightweight cham-pion — a title that is cur-rently vacant.

Banner Promotions presi-dent Art Pelullo says “thiswill be the first major world

title fight in Laredo sincethe great International Box-ing Hall of Famer OrlandoCanizales defended the IBFbantamweight world titleagainst Sergio Reyes in Oc-tober 1994.”

International flavorBoxers from South Korea,

Mexico, South Africa andBrazil will get in the ring,and announcers from South

Africa, Mexico and Brazilwill call the action.

Featured fighters in theother matches include Hek-kie Budler, of Johannes-burg, South Africa, andJackson Junior, of Sao Pau-lo, Brazil. Also appearing onthe card will be local favor-ite Rodolfo Gomez Jr., theson of Manuel “Shotgun”Gomez. Gomez Jr. is fromthe Canizalez boxing camp.

“We’re very lucky to havea fight of this caliber. Put itthis way: (The winner’s)next fight will be in the sixfigures,” Treviño said.

(Emilio Rábago III maybe reached at 728-2564 or era-bago@lmtonline.com)

Kim fights for title todayBy EMILIO RÁBAGO III

THE ZAPATA TIMES

An ecstatic Ji-Hoon Kim, center, celebrates after his first-roundknockout win at the Laredo Energy Arena in May. He’ll compete forthe IBF lightweight title on Saturday, also at the LEA.

File photo by Ricardo Segovia | The Zapata Times

EVENT DETAILSWhen: Saturday, Aug. 14Time: Doors open at 6 p.m.; firstfight at 8 p.m.Tickets prices: $10-$30, plusfacilty fees, available at all Ticket-master locations.Table prices: 10-seat tablesavailable for $350 (third row);$500 (second row), $750 (ringside)TV: TV Azteca and Fox SportsSouthwest

PAGE 6A Zentertainment SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2010

Downtown’s Gallery201 will host dancersfrom as far as Spain for“Fuego de Flamenco,” setfor Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

The show will featureartists from the Mexico-España Dance Company,which includes Sonya Ji-menez, Francisco J. “Yi-yt” Orozco, Jackie Rodri-guez Navar and SteveArispe.

Jimenez is a dancer.She began her dancestudies at the age of 6.She has also danced withthe Jose Greco II DanceCompany and the EntreFlamenco Dance Compa-ny.

Orozco, the group’ssinger and percussionist,was born in Barcelona,where he started flamen-co at the age of 4. He wastrained by his father, fla-menco singer Joselon deJerez. He started singingin his late teens and hasperformed throughoutEurope, Japan and theU.S.

Navar, from San Anto-nio, began dancing whenshe was very young andhas performed nationallyand internationally inmany flamenco festivals.She is an instructor atthe San Antonio DanceAcademy.

Arispe is considered apowerful flamenco guita-rist. He also hails fromSan Antonio. He is self-taught and has been play-ing for more than 15years.

According to Gayle Ro-driguez of Gallery 201,the quartet’s show will bepassionate. Gallery 201 islocated at 513 San Ber-nardo Ave.

Tickets to “Fuego deFlamenco” are $20, withtapas and set-ups includ-ed. The event is BYOB.

For information, call237-0627 or 251-2442.

‘Fuego de Flamenco’today at Gallery 201

THE ZAPATA TIMES

Gallery 201, in downtown Lare-do, is hosting the Mexico-España Dance Company for“Fuego de Flamenco” today at7:30 p.m.

Courtesy photo

Can you make a mean-tasting hamburger?

If the answer is yes, youmight want to enter the“Build a Better Burger”contest, sponsored by H-E-B.

The H-E-B at the cornerof McPherson Road and DelMar Boulevard in Laredo,known as the “Gucci-B,”will host the contest at 3p.m Sunday . The contest isopen to any cook 21 or older,

but you must enter by 3p.m. today, the sign-up dead-line.

To enter, simply fill out aform at the H-E-B’s winesection. Wine Steward FayMainhart is inviting thepublic to participate andshe is at the store afternoon.

Burgers will be judged oncreativity, taste, visual ap-peal and ease of prepara-tion.

Here are the rest of therules:

All burgers must havea recipe and name

All burgers must bemade of grilled patties andcooked to their recipe

No sides; only the burg-er must be presented

Burgers must be pre-sented to the judges at 3p.m. sharp Sunday.

The contest, only the sec-ond in Laredo, is part of thenational “Build a BetterBurger” contest, celebratingits 20th anniversary.

H-E-B is handing out gift

cards valued at $75, $50 and$25 for first, second andthird place, respectively.

Mainhart said most en-trants cook their burgers athome, but a grill will beavailable at the store aswell.

People are also encour-aged to go check out thewinners Sunday.

For more information,call Mainhart at 712-2459.

(Emilio Rábago III maybe reached at 728-2564 or era-bago@lmtonline.com)

H-E-B seeks best burger recipeBy EMILIO RÁBAGO III

THE ZAPATA TIMES

SÁBADO 14 DE AGOSTOLAREDO — El Laredo

TEA Party estará vendiendoplatillos de carne asada enO’Reilly Auto Parts (302Calton Road) de 11 a.m. a 3p.m. de hoy por 5 dólarescada uno. El dinero es parapublicitar la agenda del gru-po.

LAREDO — Hoy es laJornada Sabatina del Con-sulado de México en Lare-do, de 9 a.m. a 1 p.m. Pue-de obtener una cita previautilizando el servicio de Me-xitel, en EU marcando al 1-877-639-4835) y en Méxicoal 01-800-9000-773.

LAREDO — Hoy es elevento de IBF World TitleFights en la Laredo EnergyArena a las 8 p.m.

NUEVO LAREDO — ElPRI invita a una BrigadaMédico Asistencial en Soria-la La Fé a partir de las 10a.m. Se beneficiará a resi-dentes de las Colonias LaFé, Américo Villarreal, Frac-cionamiento J. Longoria,Las Torres y Cavazos Lerma.

NUEVO LAREDO —Celebración Internacional delos Pueblos Indígenas conproyección de imágenes ysonidos prehispánicos a las4 p.m. en el Museo ReyesMeza. Entrada libre.

MIÉRCOLES 18 DE AGOSTOLAREDO — El Centro

de Rehabilitación Ruthe B.Cowl tendrá una recauda-ción de fondos en Chili’sBar & Grill, del 5702 SanBernardo Ave., de 11 a.m. a11:30 p.m. el día de hoy.Chili’s donará 10 por cientode su compra de comida alcentro de rehabilitación.

JUEVES 19 DE AGOSTOLAREDO — La Funda-

ción para la Herencia delCondado de Webb invita alpúblico a conocer al fotó-grafo Christopher Talbot enla recepción de apertura deuna exhibición de sus foto-grafías “Camino Real de losTejas National Historic Trail”a las 6 p.m. de hoy en elVilla Antigua Border Herita-ge Museum, 810 ZaragozaSt.

SÁBADO 21 DE AGOSTOLAREDO — La Villa

San Agustin de Laredo Ge-nealogical Society se reúnehoy de 9:30 a.m. al medio-día en el Auditorio de laUTHSC, 1937 E. BustamanteSt. La reunión presentará ellibro “No Greater Sacrifice -A Son’s Model to Success”del ex laredense ArmandoL. Garcia, ex alumno de laGeneración 1962 de MartinHigh School.

MIÉRCOLES 25 DE AGOSTOLAREDO — Hoy es la

campaña de recaudación defondos “Empty Bowls” queorganiza el Banco de Ali-mentos del Sur de Texas yla Laredo Energy Arena, conla presentación de ThreeDog Night. Adquiera sus bo-letos por 15, 25 y 30 dóla-res, a través de Ticketmas-ter y la Taquilla de LEA.

SÁBADO 4 DE SEPTIEMBRELAREDO — Se llevará

a cabo una venta de librosen la Widener Room de laFirst United MethodistChurch, 1220 McClellandAve., de 8:30 a.m. a 1 p.m.La entrada es gratuita. Tam-bién se acepta la donaciónde libros y revistas.

LAREDO — Hoy es elAutMust Fest en terrenosde Texas A&M InternationalUniversity. La música iniciaa las 4:30 p.m. Los boletostienen costo de 15 dólaresen la puerta. Niños menoresde 12 años entran gratis. Elestacionamiento también esgratuito.

SÁBADO 2 DE OCTUBREHoy se presenta en

la Laredo Energy Arena elcomediante Gabriel Iglesias.

Agendaen Breve

MÉXICO — Los gober-nadores de México le ad-virtieron el jueves al pre-sidente Felipe Calderónque algunas zonas fronte-rizas están paralizadaspor la violencia del narco-tráfico y le pidieron am-pliar la atención a los jó-venes para evitar que se-an captados por loscarteles de las drogas.

Como parte de una se-rie de reuniones para eva-luar y remodelar su estra-tegia contra el crimen or-ganizado, el mandatariohizo un llamado a los go-bernadores de enfrentarjuntos el problema, puesde lo contrario el país “es-tará en gravísimo peligropara las generaciones fu-turas por la amenaza cri-minal”.

Los jefes de los gobier-nos de estados del sur delpaís le pidieron más ac-ción para controlar lafrontera con Centroaméri-ca, de donde llegan ar-mas, drogas e inmigran-tes indocumentados.

En el encuentro, el go-bernador de Tamaulipas,Eugenio Hernández, ase-guró que la violencia delcrimen organizado ha pro-vocado que algunas regio-nes fronterizas se vean“paralizadas” en materiaeconómica, aunque no es-pecificó los lugares.

Tamaulipas ha sidouno de los estados másafectados por el narcotrá-fico y ha padecido uno delos hechos inéditos de laviolencia atribuida al cri-men organizado como elasesinato de un virtualcandidato a gobernador.

José Reyes, gobernadorde Chihuahua, dijo queademás de la batalla para

detener a los presuntoscriminales es necesariorealizar estudios psicoló-gicos, antropológicos y so-ciológicos sobre la actua-ción de las pandillas loca-les, integradas en buenaparte por jóvenes que sonreclutados por los cartelesde las drogas.

Propuso iniciar una po-lítica de reparación deldaño social a los familia-res de las más de 28.000víctimas de la violenciaatribuida al crimen orga-nizado, para evitar una“cadena de odio” que loslleve a buscar venganza.

Chihuahua es el estadoque más asesinatos ha pa-decido en todo el país y aél pertenece Ciudad Juá-rez, la localidad conside-rada más afectada por laviolencia de los carteles ydonde también han ocu-rrido algunos hechos iné-ditos como el reciente usode un coche bomba paraatacar a la policía federal.

El jefe de gobierno dela ciudad de México, Mar-celo Ebrard, consideróque “si no afectamos suflujo de recursos, su patri-monio, la magnitud de lasutilidades (de los carte-les), yo veo muy difícilque podamos vencerlos enlos próximos años”.

Coincidente en la nece-sidad de atender mejor alos jóvenes, Ebrard propu-so ampliar la oferta edu-cativa, particularmentepara la población entre 15y 25 años, y fortalecer losplanes para evitar el cre-cimiento de adicciones.

Los gobernadores tam-bién coincidieron en lanecesidad de invertir másen infraestructura, pro-moción de empleo y reac-tivación económica en laszonas afectadas por la vio-lencia.

Hernández:hay parálisis

por narco POR E. EDUARDO CASTILLO

ASSOCIATED PRESSLíderes del Condado deZapata, ya tambaleados porlas noticias de que el con-dado está enfrentando eldoble de déficit que espera-ban, fueron golpeados conmás malas noticias el 9 dejulio, cuando se les dijoque el condado debía espe-rar 7 millones de dólaresmenos de los que tuvo elaño pasado.

La revelación surgió trasque la Jefa de AvalúosAmada Gonzalez envió unacarta a la Juez del Conda-do Rosalía Guerra, aseso-rándola de un problemacrítico.

“Lamento informarleque se hizo un error en elcálculo de la porciónM&O”, escribió Gonzalez,refiriéndose a los fondos demantenimiento y opera-ción en el presupuesto.

El M&O está compuestode los fondos generales delcondado y el servicio dedeuda que el condado paga,lo cual incluye la labor pa-ra marcar el control de ca-minos/inundaciones y losfondos especiales de cami-nos y puentes.

Causa y efectoAl calcular el M&O, la

oficina de Gonzalez inad-vertidamente utilizó los va-lores de propiedad del añopasado en lugar de los nue-vos, dijo ella.

“Mis valores de certifica-ción, los cuales certifiquéel 28 de julio, son correc-tos”, dijo Gonzalez a laCorte de Comisionados ellunes. “No hay errores enmis valores”.

Los comisionados esta-ban visiblemente decepcio-nados por el error en cál-culo de Gonzalez.

“No son 3 millones de

dólares, sino 7 millones dedólares (menos)”, dijo elComisionado Jose E. Vela.

“Ahora tenemos que en-frentarnos a los recortes”.

Cuando Gonzalez pre-sentó los valores certifica-dos el 28 de Julio, Guerrautilizó esas cifras para de-sarrollar el balance presu-puesto que presentó el 30de julio.

La tasa total de impues-to para el 2010 para el Con-dado de Zapata, después delas exoneraciones, se ubicaen 2.7 billones de dólares.

Esa cifra de certificaciónes significativamente me-nor que la valoración totaldel 2009, la cual fue de 3.1billones de dólares.

Propiedad menor y valo-res de minerales resulta-ron en el déficit presupues-tal original del año fiscal2010-2011.

NúmerosZapata ha mantenido la

misma tasa de impuestospor los pasados cinco años,y si la tasa del condado de0.736096 por 100 dólares devaloración continúa igual,la menor valoración depropiedad podría no gene-rar suficientes gananciaspara el siguiente año fiscal,poniendo al condado en unagujero más profundo yforzando a oficiales a incre-mentar impuestos ó hacermás recortes presupuesta-les.

El año pasado, el presu-puesto del condado fue de

aproximadamente 29 millo-nes de dólares.

Este año, con la reduc-ción de 7 millones de dóla-res, el condado solamentetendrá 22 millones de dóla-res en el presupuesto totalpara trabajar, a menos quela tasa de impuestos se in-cremente a la tasa efectivade 0.839300.

“Estaremos cortos, porlo que no podemos irnoscon la tasa de impuestosdel año pasado”, dijo DeliaMendoza, gerente de la ofi-cina de impuestos del Con-dado de Zapata.

“Tenemos que irnos porla tasa de impuestos efecti-va de .8393. Esto es cuántonecesitaremos para gene-rar la misma cantidad dedinero que el año pasado”.

En la reunión, los comi-sionados dejaron en claroque ellos no desean incre-mentar la tasa de impues-tos y estará viendo otroscaminos para recortar gas-tos.

“Aún hay 3 millones dedólares que los comisiona-dos necesitan recortar siellos no desean incremen-tar los impuestos”, dijoGuerra.

De acuerdo a oficiales, lacantidad de ganancia espe-rada en el año fiscal 2010-2011 es incierta, conformeel condado sigue trabajan-do con cifras preliminares.

Cifras finales no estarándisponibles hasta que elpresupuesto sea certificadoen septiembre.

(Localice a Lorraine L.Rodriguez en el 728-2557)

Zapata tendrá undéficit mayor

Condado recibirá 7 millones menos de lo esperadoPOR LORRAINE L. RODRIGUEZ

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA “No podemos irnos con la tasa deimpuestos del año pasado”.DELIA MENDOZA, GERENTE DE LA OFICINA DE IMPUESTOS DELCONDADO DE ZAPATA

MÉXICO, D.F. — La SAGARPA realizaráun primer aporte de 100 millones de pesospara apoyar a los productores que perdie-ron la totalidad de sus cosechas de sorgo ymaíz en los distritos 025 y 026 por el tras-vaso de agua de las presas “Carranza”,“Marte R. Gómez” y “Falcón”.

Debido a ese trasvase unas 16 mil hectá-reas continúan inundadas en demérito dela economía de los agricultores y de Ta-maulipas.

El gobernador del Estado, Eugenio Her-nández Flores, quien estuvo acompañadode diputados federales y representantes delos productores de los distritos de riego025 y 026, detalló al Secretario de la SA-GARPA, Francisco Mayorga Castañeda, lasituación que atraviesa el campo tamauli-peco como consecuencia de las inundacio-nes que han impactado de manera negati-va la producción de granos y a los hatosganaderos.

Mayorga instruyó al secretario de Desa-rrollo Rural, Víctor de León Orti, colocaren el mercado de granos las 500 mil tonela-das de sorgo, cuya calidad se ha visto mer-mada como consecuencia del exceso de hu-medad, pero que aún es útil para su indus-trialización.

Hernández destacó que los 2 millones

de tonelada de sorgo que se pactaron bajoel concepto de agricultura por contrato seencontraban en bodega al momento delimpacto del huracán “Alex” y será a fina-les de esta semana, cuando concluya la tri-lla de las 100 mil hectáreas el momento enel que se entregarán los apoyos a los pro-ductores que se han visto afectados por lasinundaciones en estos distritos.

En cuanto a la ganadería, Hernándezdijo que existen mecanismos de apoyo pa-ra dar cobertura a los productores que sevieron afectados con la pérdida de unas 3mil cabezas de ganado, así como daños ensus unidades de producción.

Comercializarán cosechasESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

La SAGARPA y Gobierno de Tamaulipas colocaránen el mercado de granos unas 500 mil toneladasde sorgo que, pese a la humedad, aún es útil parasu industrialización.

Foto de cortesía Gobierno de Tamaulipas

WASHINGTON — De-cidido a demostrar quese propone contener elflujo de inmigrantes in-documentados, el Senadode Estados Unidos apro-bó el jueves un proyectode ley que asigna 600 mi-llones de dólares a refor-zar la frontera con Méxi-co con más agentes yequipos.

El voto nominal envíala legislación al presiden-te Barack Obama, quienha instado al Congreso aasignar más fondos parala seguridad fronteriza,en medio de quejas de losestados vecinos de Méxi-co, acosados por indocu-mentados y narcotráfico.

Los senadores destaca-ron la urgencia de la me-dida al interrumpir sureceso veraniego para vo-tarla. La iniciativa ya ha-bía sido aprobada el mar-tes por la Cámara de Re-presentantes.

La ley agrega 1.500efectivos a la patrullafronteriza, aduanas e in-migración y nuevos avio-nes no tripulados de pa-trullaje.

Los demócratas en lacámara baja también ha-bían convocado a una se-sión especial para apro-bar la ley de seguridadfronteriza y una asisten-cia por 26.000 millones dedólares para evitar despi-dos de maestros y otrostrabajadores públicos.Ambas cuestiones —em-pleos y seguridad fronte-riza— figuran entre losque figurarán de manera

destacada entre las priori-dades de los votantes ennoviembre.

Donald Ritchie, histo-riador del Senado, dijo queera apenas la segunda vezdesde que se impuso el re-ceso de agosto en 1970 quela cámara alta lo había in-terrumpido para reunirse.La primera vez fue des-pués del huracán Katrinaen 2005.

La medida de seguridadfronteriza financiará lacontratación de unos milagentes de la PatrullaFronteriza en zonas críti-cas, 250 agentes de inmi-gración y aduanas y 250de aduanas y protecciónfronteriza.

Casi un tercio de losfondos van al Departamen-to de Justicia para ayudara oficinas como el FBI, laDEA y la Oficina Federalde Alcohol, Tabaco y Ar-mas de Fuego (ATF porsus siglas en inglés) a li-diar con traficantes dedrogas o de indocumenta-dos.

Senado de EU da‘ok’ a reforzar su

frontera surPOR JIM ABRAMSASSOCIATED PRESS La ley agrega

1.500 efectivosa la patrullafronteriza,aduanas einmigración ynuevosaviones notripulados depatrullaje.

Zfrontera PÁGINA 7ASÁBADO 14 DE AGOSTO DE 2010

ANTES DEL CAMBIO DE PODERES

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

El Gobernador de Tamaulipas, Eugenio Hernández Flores, a la derecha, y el Gobernador electo, EgidioTorre Cantú, sostuvieron una reunión de trabajo en Casa de Gobierno, en la que abordaron diferentestemas. Hernández refrendó su compromiso para que la transición de gobierno se genere en las me-jores condiciones técnicas y administrativas. La entrega recepción es un proceso legal que permite ten-er la información y la documentación necesaria para facilitar el cambio de una gestión pública a otra.

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES Crime & More SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2010

ASSAULTDeputies responded to a

criminal mischief call that laterturned into a fight in progress atabout 3 a.m. Aug. 6 at Oso BlancoMotel on U.S. 83 in south Zapata.Nora Ampara Toscano, 37, was ar-rested on charges of assault of apublic servant, assault family vio-lence and violation of protectiveorder. An incident report statedthat Toscano became aggressiveand pushed a deputy. The womanwas booked and transported to Za-pata Regional Jail and held in lieuof a combined $60,000 bond.

Deputies responded to an as-sault call at about 6 p.m. Aug. 6at Villa Del Rio Apartments on2300 Alamo St. An incident reportstates that a woman was assaultedby a known person.

Deputies responded to an ag-gravated sexual assault call around2 a.m. Aug. 8 in the 1200 block ofDavis Lane. The Zapata County

Sheriff’s Department has openedan investigation.

BURGLARYA man reported a burglary

around 8 p.m. Aug. 7 in the 5200block of Cuellar Lane. The complai-nant stated that an unknown per-son stole a stereo from his truck.

Deputies responded to a bur-glary of habitation call at about 9p.m. Aug. 8 in the 5300 block ofLopez Lane. The victim stated thatunknown people broke into herresidence and stole her TV.

Deputies responded to a bur-glary of building call around 8:30a.m. Monday in the intersection ofLopez Lane and Monterrey Drive inthe Siesta Shores Subdivision. Thecomplainant stated that someonestole her lawnmower.

An attempt to burglarize abuilding was reported around mid-night Thursday in the 5200 block

of Pascual Lane. The complainantstated that unknown people brokethe north side window of the prop-erty with a rock.

THEFTOfficials responded to a theft

call at about noon Aug. 7 at EOGResources/Maureen AlexanderLease on U.S. 83. An incident re-port states that unknown peopleused a truck to steal 61 barrels ofraw diesel, worth $5,551.

Deputies responded to atheft call at about 1 p.m. Aug. 8 inthe 400 block of Zapata Avenue.The male complainant stated thatsomeone stole his ladder.

Deputies responded to atheft call at about 11 p.m. Aug. 8in the 1000 block of South SiestaLane in the Siesta Shores Subdivi-sion. The complainant stated thatsomeone stole booster cables anda battery charger from his home.

THE BLOTTER

Deputies seized 56pounds of marijuana aftera man led them on a 15-minute chase early Fridaythroughout Zapata andboundary of Jim HoggCounty.

At about 5 a.m., ZapataCounty Sheriff ’s Officedeputies attempted a trafficstop on a silver Dodge pick-up in central Zapata. Ac-cording to officials, thedriver of the vehicle re-fused to stop and sped off.

Sgt. Mario Elizondo saidthe vehicle was traveling athigh rate of speed andreached about 100 mph.

The driver eventuallyturned east on Texas 16 to-ward Hebbronville, he add-ed.

Deputies attempted tostop the suspected vehicle,but the pickup struck twopatrol cars and entered in-to Jim Hogg County, head-

ing toward the Border Pa-trol checkpoint.

Elizondo said nobodywas harmed.

The driver bailed out ofthe vehicle and abscondedin the brush. Elizondo saidauthorities are followingleads to identify the allegedoffender.

When deputies inspectedthe vehicle, they found ablue laundry bag in theback of the truck.

It contained one largebundle of marijuana. Itsweight was approximately56 pounds and had an ap-proximate street value of$7,896.

The sheriff ’s departmenthas an open investigationon the case. To provide in-formation, call deputies at765-9960.

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

Highway chase leadsto marijuana find

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

After a 15-minute chase Friday, Zapata County Sheriff deputies find56 pounds of marijuana in a laundry bag.

Courtesy photo

SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2010 Nation THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

DENVER — A Colora-do hospital announcedFriday that it has tempo-rarily suspended live do-nor liver transplantswhile it investigates thedeath of a South Dakotaman who donated part ofhis liver to his brother.

The death would beColorado’s first of a liveliver donor and the fourthin the country if it’s ruledit was a result of the pro-cedure, according to theUnited Network of OrganSharing.

The University of Col-orado Hospital, which per-formed its first successfullive donor liver transplantin 1997, is continuing oth-er transplants but is “tak-ing a step back” from livedonor liver transplantsfollowing the death of 34-year-old Ryan Arnold ofWatertown, S.D.

“If there’s somethingthat needs to be corrected,we will correct it,” spokes-woman Erika Matichsaid. The hospital hasconducted 141 successfullive donor liver trans-plants.

Ryan Arnold died Aug.2, four days after the sur-gery in which he gavepart of his liver to hisbrother Chad, 38, wholives in suburban Denver.Chad Arnold was homebriefly but was readmit-

ted to a Denver-area hos-pital to continue his re-covery.

“I think overall his atti-tude is to make his lifecount,” said Rod Arnold,42, referring to how hisbrother Chad is holdingup.

UNOS spokesman JoelNewman said the livingdonor liver transplantsare relatively rare in theU.S., where the procedurehas been conducted 4,126times since 1989.

“Everybody at the hos-pital is very distraught,anybody who had any-thing to do with this won-derful family,” she said.

Ryan Arnold went intocardiac arrest Aug. 1 andthen fell into a coma, RodArnold said. The coronerhasn’t determined a causeof death, he said.

“He was a man of un-common character andsomeone I looked up to,”Rod Arnold said. “Whathe did for Chad was reallyjust an extension of howhe lived his life.”

Rod Arnold said hisbrother “never really wa-vered” in his decision togive part of his liver tohelp his brother battle anincurable liver diseaseknown as PSC.

“From the beginninghe just said, ’I gotta dothis,”’ Rod Arnold said.

Ryan Arnold is sur-vived by his wife, Shan-non, and three sons.

Man dies afterliver donation

By IVAN MORENOASSOCIATED PRESS

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. —An Arizona fugitive’s ac-complice was acting as adrug mule for a white su-premacy group andagreed to become a policeinformant weeks beforeshe helped him escapefrom prison, authoritiessaid Friday.

Casslyn Welch andJohn McCluskey, who isWelch’s fiance and cousin,are now consideredamong the most wantedfugitives in America. Au-thorities say Welch helpedMcCluskey and two othermen escape from the Ari-zona State Prison in King-man on July 31 by throw-ing wire cutters over afence. Daniel Renwick andTracy Province have sincebeen captured.

Welch was visitingMcCluskey at the medi-um-security prison inJune when a randomsearch of Welch and hervehicle turned up mari-juana, heroin and drugparaphernalia, MohaveCounty sheriff ’s spokes-woman Trish Carter said.

Welch wasn’t jailed be-cause she agreed to be-come an informant, andshe provided informationabout the suppliers of thedrugs, Carter said. Welchtold investigators she wasbeing paid by members orassociates of supremaciststo smuggle heroin into theprison as she had success-fully done three times be-fore. She declined to saywho the items were in-tended for at the prison.

Fidencio Rivera, chiefdeputy U.S. marshal forArizona, said authoritiesbelieve Welch andMcCluskey have minimalties to white supremacygroups in or out of pris-ons and “we’re not ex-pending much resourceson that right now.”

The search continuedFriday for Welch and

McCluskey, but it no long-er was focused on Arkan-sas, where Welch has fam-ily, or Montana, where thetwo last were seen Aug. 6.Rivera said the pair couldbe anywhere.

“It’s a cat and mousegame right now,” he said.“They’re hiding, andwe’re trying to findthem.”

Attention on Arkansasintensified Wednesdaywhen a man and a womanwho robbed a beauty par-lor in Gentry were be-lieved to be the Arizonafugitives. Officials havesince conceded that therobbers were probably lo-cals.

Marshals and border of-ficials in Montana are fol-lowing up on what leadsthey have, but there havebeen no developments inthe past few days, saidRod Ostermiller, Monta-na’s acting U.S. marshal.

“At this point in time,just because of the timeframe we’re working with,we’re expanding way be-yond Montana,” Oster-miller said Friday after-noon.

A reward of up to$35,000 is being offered forinformation leading totheir Welch’s and McClus-key’s arrests. They are be-lieved to be traveling in a

1997 Nissan Sentra that isgold, gray or tan in color.Authorities say the twolikely will become moredangerous as the man-hunt continues.

“Our concern is thatthey’re still desperate.There’s a lot of attentionon them,” Rivera said.“They’re going to poten-tially make a mistake andhurt somebody.”

Marshals are askingtravelers at truck stopsalong highways and incampgrounds nationwideto watch out for the cou-ple, who may have dyedtheir hair and otherwisechanged their appearance.McCluskey and Welch arefinancing their getawayby committing crimesalong the way and usingtheir experience as long-haul truck drivers, Riverasaid.

“We know they’re outthere and they’re commit-ting crimes out there toget money,” Rivera said.“They have limited funds,they’re sleeping in theircar, they’re staying at reststops, campsites. They’renot using a whole lot ofmoney.”

Rivera said authoritiesbelieve that McCluskeyand Welch are avoidingcontact with family mem-bers, who have providedlimited information to au-thorities. Their route hascrossed at least 1,900 milessince their escape.

“Sometimes we trackpeople for years, some-times we get lucky,” Riv-era said.

“No matter what hap-pens, this case will alwaysbe a priority for us.”

Welch is facing a grow-ing list of charges sincethe escape, including kid-napping, armed robberyand aggravated assault.She was charged last

week with six counts ofnarcotics violations forthe drugs she’s accused ofbringing to the prison.

Welch told investigatorsin June that the marijua-na belonged to her, Cartersaid, but she picked upwhat she was told washeroin packaged in bal-loons from two men inPhoenix and was paid$200 each time she smug-gled it into the prison, ac-cording to police records.

On the night of the es-cape, Welch had packed agetaway car nearby withcash, weapons and falseidentification, Rivera hassaid. But Renwick, Prov-ince, McCluskey becamedisoriented and could notfind the car after they cutthrough the prison fence.

The group split up, andRenwick found the vehicleand drove off, leaving theother three to hijack atractor-trailer and head toFlagstaff. Renwick, whowas serving time for sec-ond-degree murder, wasarrested after a shootoutwith law enforcement inRifle, Colo., two days afterthe escape.

The rest of the groupwas linked through foren-sic evidence to the deathsof an Oklahoma couplewhose bodies were foundin their charred camperin eastern New Mexicolast week, authoritiesthere said.

Province, who was serv-ing a life sentence formurder and robbery, wascaptured without incidentafter being spotted hang-ing out and singinghymns at a Wyomingchurch.

McCluskey was servinga 15-year prison term forattempted second-degreemurder, aggravated as-sault and discharge of afirearm.

Accomplice was informantBy FELICIA FONSECA

ASSOCIATED PRESS

JOHN MCCLUSKEY:Serving a 15-yearsentence when heescaped.

CASSLYN MAEWELCH: Was adrug mule beforeshe aided escape.

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES Nation SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2010

HAGATNA, Guam — Amagnitude 7.2 earthquakestruck about 230 miles offthe southern coast ofGuam on Saturday morn-ing, but many residentsdidn’t even notice.

The Pacific TsunamiWarning Center in Hawaiisaid there was no wide-spread tsunami generatedfrom the shallow quake

that occurred at 7:19 a.m.local time.

Brandon Aydlett, a fore-caster at the NationalWeather Service’s office inGuam, said nothing wasfelt in the U.S. territory.

“It was completely un-noticed out here,” he said.

Shawn Gumataotao,deputy chief of staff forGov. Felix Camacho, saidthere were no immediatereports of damage with

many people sleepingthrough the quake.

Officials in nearbyCommonwealth of theNorthern Mariana Islandsalso said there were no re-ports of damage.

The temblor occurredat a depth of about 3miles, according to theU.S. Geological Survey.

Guam is located 3,700miles southwest of Ha-waii.

7.2 quake hardly felt in GuamASSOCIATED PRESS

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. —Bored on a hot summerday, three Florida young-sters were just sittingaround when one sent atext message to anotherwith an adventurous idea.

“Hey do you want to go 2Tennessee today,” the mess-age read.

“Sure,” the other re-sponded.

Not even old enough toget a driver’s license, theytook a taxi to the airportTuesday, bought ticketswith baby-sitting moneyand — unbeknown to theirparents, the three (ages 15,13 and 11) — boarded aSouthwest Airlines flightfrom Jacksonville to Nash-ville, according to a TVnews account.

Nobody asked a ques-tion. Nobody asked foridentification.

Not the taxi driver. Notthe ticket counter. Not se-curity officials or flight at-tendants or other passen-gers. So when they landedin Nashville with just $40left and their destination,Dollywood, still hundredsof miles away, they finallycalled home.

The jig was up. “I just wanted to fly,” 15-

year-old Bridget Brown,told WJXX-TV in Jackson-ville. “I had the money.”

Now their parents arewondering how the tripwas possible.

Southwest Airlines saidin a statement that thecompany’s policy on mi-nors is similar to other car-riers in that it covers chil-dren ages 5 through 11 trav-eling alone, and that the11-year-old in this case wasaccompanied by two oldercompanions. The Transpor-tation Security Administra-tion does not require any-one under age 18 to showidentification, but all bagsare still screened.

It is still unclear if anyof the three should havebeen allowed to purchasetickets. A Southwestspokesman did not immedi-ately return a messageseeking comment.

Messages left by The As-sociated Press on Friday atthe families’ homes werenot immediately returned.

In an age of heightenedsecurity and terrorismthreats, some are con-cerned three youngsterscould so easily board anairline without parental

consent. Richard Bloom, an avia-

tion a security expert, saidwhile this incident amount-ed to a childhood jaunt, ithighlights legitimate safetyimplications.

The three youngsterscertainly had no problemhopping a flight.

Brown, with the $700 shehad saved, took her 11-year-old brother Kodie and 13-year-old friend Bobby No-lan III to the airport in theearly afternoon. She saidshe purchased the threetickets at the SouthwestAirlines counter withoutany problems.

“He said OK and told ushow much it would be andthen we paid him,” Brownsaid. “Then he put theflight things on our bags,and then he said, ’You bet-ter run because you mightmiss your flight.”’

No issues at security, ei-ther.

“We just took our stuffout of our pockets, took ourshoes off and walkedthrough it,” Nolan told theTV station. “And theydidn’t say nothing.”

The three arrived inNashville and, realizingtheir plan was flawed, final-ly ’fessed up.

In this frame grab from video by First Coast News in Jacksonville, Fla., the three kids who decided tofly to Nashville to go to Tennessee talk about their experience from their Jacksonville home Friday. Thekids, from left, Codie Brown, 11, friend Bobby Nolan III, 13, and Bridget Brown, 15, flew with moneysaved from babysitting, unbeknownst to their parents.

Photo by The Florida Times-Union/First Coast News | AP

3 kids buy tickets, flyBy BRENDAN FARRINGTON

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Carmen Ramirez - Rathmell, D.D.S.“Let your smile be

a sign of happiness& good health”

1520 Corpus Christi StreetTelephone (956) 726-0160

ZAPATA − Maria AuroraGarza, 85, passed away Mon-day, Aug. 9, 2010, at her resi-dence in Zapata.

Ms. Garza is preceded indeath by her husband Mace-donio Guzman; sons JuanRamon Guzman, RogelioGuzman and Calixto Guz-man and grandchildren Ka-tia Isabel Guzman and Fer-nando Garza. Ms. Garza issurvived by her sons Roy(Raquel) Guzman, HectorGuzman, Macedonio (Angel-ica) Guzman and Jose Emi-lio (Celia) Guzman; daugh-ters Alice Guzman, Adelina(Federico) Garza, Margarita(Jose) Uvalle and MariaAurora (Victor) Medellinand by numerous grandchil-dren, great-grandchildren,great-great-grandchildren,nephews, nieces andfriends. Visitation hourswere held Tuesday, Aug. 10,2010, from 6 to 9 p.m. with arosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Gar-den Funeral Home.

The funeral processiondeparted Wednesday, Aug.11, 2010, at 9:45 for a 10 a.m.funeral Mass at Our Lady ofLourdes Catholic Church.Committal services followedat Zapata County Cemetery.

Condolences may be sentto the family at www.rose-gardenfuneralhome.com.Funeral arrangements wereunder the direction of RoseGarden Funeral Home, Da-niel A. Gonzalez, funeral di-rector, 2102 Hwy. 83, Zapata.

MARIA AURORAGARZA ZAPATA − Sotero E.

Rodriguez, 63, passedaway Saturday, Aug. 7,2010, at McAllen MedicalCenter.

Mr. Rodriguez is pre-ceded in death by broth-ers, Regulo Rodriguezand Rogelio Rodriguez;sister, Maria ManuelaMartinez and a brother-in-law Miguel T. Marti-nez.

Mr. Rodriguez is sur-vived by his wife MariaDe Jesus Rodriguez; chil-dren Sotero E. (Edna Ed-ith) Rodriguez of Mission,Homero (Minerva) Rodri-guez and Maria Isabel“Mari” Rodriguez (EmilioGarza); grandchildren So-tero E. III, Christian Eli-ud, Giovanni Rodriguez,Arian Francisco, MichaelCortez, Samantha, Isabel-la Sofia Rodriguez, J. Ja-vier (Maribel) Flores Jr.,Vianey Ruby Lara andJuan Manuel Garza;great-grandchild JayleenIsmar Flores; brothersand sisters Juan Antonio(Juana Estela) Rodriguez,Alejandro (Natalia) Ro-driguez, Adelfa Martinez,Elisa (Vicente) Zesatifrom King City, Calif.,Emma (Rogelio) Rodri-guez and Elvira (Adolio)Bustamante; sister-in-law,Araceli Rodriguez; broth-er-in-law Domingo Marti-nez and by numerous ne-phews, nieces and manyfriends.

Visitation hours wereheld Sunday, Aug. 8, 2010from 6 to 9 p.m. with arosary at 7 p.m. at RoseGarden Funeral Home.

The funeral processiondeparted Monday, Aug. 9,2010, at 9:45 a.m. for a 10a.m. funeral Mass at OurLady of Lourdes CatholicChurch. Committal ser-vices followed at ZapataCounty Cemetery.

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

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

SOTERO E. RODRIGUEZ

SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2010 THE ZAPATA TIMES 11AS

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2010

and asked Gonzalez repeat-edly if there were no errorsin her calculations why wasan apology letter sent toGuerra. The letter was laterforwarded to all commis-sioners.

Commissioner Jose E. Ve-la said the court will nowbe responsible for makingmore budget cuts in all de-partments if the taxes arenot raised to the effectiverate of 0.839300. Last year’stax rate was 0.73096 per $100valuation.

Salinas was shortlykicked out after that discus-sion when he began ad-dressing the court from hisseat and discussing itemsnot in the agenda.

As Guerra and Salinas ar-gued over budget issues andcounty employee salaries,Guerra decided to stop thediscussion and move on, butSalinas would not stopspeaking. That is whenGuerra warned him if hedid not stop talking shewould hold him in contemptof court and be escorted outof her courtroom. Salinascontinued to argue, andGuerra held him in con-tempt of court and had Sali-nas removed.

At first, Salinas was in-compliant saying, “I am an

elected official, and I haveevery right to be here.”

Also at the meeting, Sali-nas was also stripped byGuerra of his telephone sys-tem, retirement system, in-surance, and electric utilityresponsibilities. Guerramade herself, the county au-ditor and the personnel di-rector the sole responsibleparties. Prior to the new ap-pointments, Salinas hasbeen the only on authorizedto handle the duties andGuerra said she wantedmore people to have access.

According to Vela, therewas no need to remove Sali-nas of his duties as he hasbeen very reliable and hassaved the county money.

“I wouldn’t like to have aproblem later for their lackof experience,” he said.

In other business, withthe news of the greater bud-get deficit the county willface, the Convention andVisitors Bureau was denieda request for $40,000, the re-

maining budget balanceneeded for a team ropingevent.

“The event they wantedto invest the money inwould not stimulate the ho-tel-motel tax fund,” saidJose F. “Paco” Mendoza,Chamber of CommercePresident/CEO. “I wouldlike to see the bureau dis-solve because there is noneed for two organizations.”

Also approved at themeeting:

an official five-membercommittee and policy forthe Falcon CommunityCemetery

Commissioner GabrielVillarreal has been appoint-ed to serve on the Commu-nity Justice Council

Vela has been reap-pointed member of the Bor-der Region MHMR Commu-nity Center Board of Trust-ees

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

COUNTY Continued from Page 1A

According to Vela, there was noneed to remove Salinas of hisduties as he has been very reliableand has saved the county money.

accomplishments of Amer-ica’s health centers.

With more than 8,000community health centers,20 million people are ser-viced with 60 million vis-its per year.

“We provide high-quali-ty services that emphasizeprimary care and wellnessso that families can stayhealthy and out of hospi-tals,” said Miguel TreviñoJr., chief executive officerfor Gateway CommunityCenter. “There are 30,000patients from Zapata,Webb and Jim Hogg (coun-ties).”

Gateway assumed re-sponsibility of the man-agement and operation ofclinics in Zapata and JimHogg counties in May of

last year.More health care is in

store for Zapata throughhealth fairs and education-al programs, Treviño said.

“We need to increaseour feasibility in Zapata,”he said. “There’s a greatneed over there.”

According to Treviño,the theme for the week is“Turning the Vision intoReality,” and it coincideswith Gateway’s 47-year re-cord of providing highquality, cost-effectivehealth care.

The center began by ser-vicing migrant farm work-ers in small buildings.Now, it has grown into amulti-million-dollar facili-ty, with plans to constructa wellness education and

training center.“That is the key to the

future,” Treviño said. According to Treviño, 40

years from now, providinghealth care for baby boom-ers will not be an issue;the child obesity epidemicwill be a problem, as willhaving enough midlevelphysicians to provide carefor them.

“We’re going to haveobese kids with diabetes,cholesterol (and) chronicillnesses, and there’s notgoing to be enough moneythe way Medicare is go-ing,” he said. “Our plan isto build on an educationalcomponent stronger than(what) we have already.”

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

HEALTH Continued from Page 1A

the same amount,” saidThatcher, adding, “It de-pends on the bus route.”

With the fall scheduleset from 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.Monday through Thurs-day, children are sure tohave a good time, chimesVela.

According to Thatcher,tennis lessons will be add-ed to the list of activitiesthis fall.

“We have staff membersthat know how to playand want to teach,”Thatcher said.

Currently employing a

handful of staff, Thatcherattributes much of the or-ganizations’ success tovolunteers and workforcemembers.

(Stephanie M. Ibarramay be reached at (956)728-2567 or sibar-ra@lmtonline.com)

FUNDS Continued from Page 1A

with the flood,” AuddyHernandez said from thecounty judge’s office.“They will have to fill outpaperwork and answerquestions. The secondround is to come finish theprocess.”

Falcon Lake flood vic-tims could be eligible forup $29,900 from FEMA, butdeductions will be made ifother organizations havealready assisted with fund-ing or materials, Hernan-dez said.

FEMA representativeswill be setting up an officein the county courthouseon the second floor inroom 248, Fire Chief JuanJ. Meza said. “They are go-ing to come and survey the

area and talk to people tosee what they are going toneed.”

Flood victims can beginregistering by calling (800)621-FEMA (3362). Teletype-writer, or TTY, users suchas the hearing impairedcan call (800) 462-7585 from7 a.m. to 10 p.m. centraltime “until further notice,”according to a FEMA newsrelease.

Online registration isavailable at www.disaste-rassistance.gov, and mobilephone users can go to FE-MA’s mobile phone page,m.fema.gov.

Residents will be re-quired to bring certain in-formation for the applica-tion process, which in-

cludes the address of thedamaged property, the cur-rent address and telephonenumber of residents, totalhousehold income, SocialSecurity number, bankrouting or direct depositaccount number.

Insurance information,photos and receipts ofdamages if any should alsobe included, Laredo MayorRaul Salinas has said.

After all applications areprocessed, FEMA represen-tatives will determine thetotal amount allocated toeach case. CongressmanHenry Cuellar has said theaverage award is between$5,000 and $7,000.

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

FEMA Continued from Page 1A

Sports&OutdoorsSATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2010 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

LAREDO – The strength of a team emerges when itis tested without its head coach roaming the sidelines.

Zapata head volleyball coach Rosie Villarreal wasunable to attend the game Tuesday night due to per-sonal reasons and took a leave of absence as interimcoach Ana Villarreal took the reigns temporarily forZapata.

The Lady Hawks had their coach in their hearts and

VOLLEYBALL

Kristina de Leon (11) of the Zapata Lady Hawks, goes for the ballas Natalia Medina of the Nixon Lady Mustangs defends during aTuesday volleyball match at Nixon.

Photo by Cuate Santos | Laredo Morning Times

Rockyroad

Lady Hawks fall inroad loss to Nixon

By CLARA SANDOVALLAREDO MORNING TIMES

See VOLLEYBALL PAGE 2B

ARLINGTON — TonyRomo and the Dallas Cow-boys are headed to Cali-fornia, hoping a change inscenery — and climate —snaps them out of their of-fensive funk.

If nothing else, the 30-degree drop in temper-ature could tempt coachWade Phillips to leavethem on the practice fieldlonger.

Sure, it’s only preseasonand the starters haven’tbeen out there much —just three series led by Ro-mo. They’re also breakingin a new starter at lefttackle and injuries haveclaimed top pick DezBryant and most of theirtight ends.

The worrisome part forDallas is that the prob-lems exposed in the firsttwo preseason games lookawfully familiar: longdrives that approach thegoal line but don’t cross it(a bugaboo all last season)and an inability to keepquarterbacks upright (thefatal flaw in their playoffouster).

“We did some goodthings, some things wehave to work on and getbetter at,” Romo said fol-lowing a 17-9 loss to theOakland Raiders onThursday night.

NFL

COWBOYS SINGING RED ZONE BLUES

Oakland Raiders linebacker Trevor Scott forces a fumble by Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback Tony Romo(9) during the first quarter of the preseason NFL football game in at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington,Texas, Thursday.

Photo by LM Otero | AP

Familiarflaws

reappearBy JAIME ARON

ASSOCIATED PRESS

See COWBOYS PAGE 2B

HOUSTON — An attor-ney for Brian McNameesaid Friday he’s lookingforward to airing — inNew York — a defamationlawsuit the personal train-er has filed against seven-time Cy Young winner Rog-er Clemens in their fightover doping allegations.

Attorney Richard Emerycommented one day after afederal appeals court re-fused to reinstate a similarsuit Clemens has filedagainst McNamee in Texas.

In its 2-1 ruling, a panelof the 5th U.S. CircuitCourt of Appeals agreedwith a judge’s dismissallast year of most of Clem-ens’ claims against McNa-mee. The former trainersaid he injected Clemenswith steroids and humangrowth hormone morethan a dozen times, a claimthe pitcher has denied.

Clemens appealed the de-cision by U.S. DistrictJudge Keith Ellison, sayingthe court lacked jurisdic-tion over Clemens’ claims

involving statementsMcNamee made in NewYork.

“Thankfully, the courtprotected Brian from Clem-ens’ bullying ploy,” Emerysaid in an e-mail to The As-sociated Press. “We cannow see Clemens in courtin Brooklyn and hold himaccountable for his lies.”

Clemens’ lawyer RustyHardin said Thursday hehadn’t decided what to donext about the appealscourt ruling.

In a dissent, Judge Ca-tharina Haynes wrote shebelieved a proper jurisdic-tion for the lawsuit wasTexas, Clemens’ homestate, “where the brunt ofthe injury to his personaland professional reputationwas sustained.”

At a hearing last monthbefore the New Orleans-based appeals court, Clem-ens’ attorneys argued Elli-son was wrong when heruled McNamee is entitledto immunity for statementshe made to baseball investi-gator George Mitchell.

MLB

Clemens facesdefemation

lawsuitBy MICHAEL GRACZYK

ASSOCIATED PRESS

See CLEMENS PAGE 2B

keeping their players. Lee is the ace left-hand-

er the Rangers managedto get in a trade from Seat-tle on July 9, despite theiruncertain situation thenand the New York Yankeesalso pursuing the pitcher.Lee can become a freeagent after this season,and is likely to be one ofthe most coveted and ex-pensive players if he is on

the market. “Right now the terms

are secondary. What mat-ters most now is demon-strating that this is a fam-ily,” Greenberg said, add-ing the Rangers have “apretty good idea” of whatit will cost without offer-ing specifics.

Lee, who is 2-2 with a2.97 ERA in seven startsfor Texas with two com-

ARLINGTON — Thenew owners of the TexasRangers are already lower-ing prices for fans whilepreparing for the increasein payroll they know willbe necessary for the ALWest leaders to have thechance to keep Cliff Leeand their core group ofplayers intact.

“We’re fully prepared tobear the cost of that,” newmanaging partner ChuckGreenberg said Friday.“And do it with a smile be-cause we’re here to win.”

A day after MajorLeague Baseball formallyapproved a sale that pulledthe Rangers out of bank-ruptcy, the new ownershipgroup led by Greenbergand Hall of Fame pitcherand team president NolanRyan announced lowerprices for concessions,parking and merchandise.Those went into effect Fri-day night for the start of aweekend series againstBoston.

Greenberg said the im-mediate lowering of costsfor fans at Rangers Ball-park and the increasedprice paid in auction lastweek to get the team for a$590 million bid will noteffect plans by the newgroup of 18 investors forballpark upgrades and

plete-game losses, saidhaving the ownership andbankruptcy cleared upmakes it easier for him toconsider staying in Texaspast this season.

“Obviously you wantedthat taken care of. It’smore of a stable situation,for sure. It’s good for theorganization,” he said.“Yeah, it’s better than abankrupt situation, forsure. It’s more attractive,yeah.”

Josh Hamilton, the ma-jors’ leading hitter, is eligi-ble for salary arbitrationafter this season. The two-time All-Star is making$3.25 million, a bargain fora potential MVP.

Greenberg and Ryan,who was not at the ball-park Friday, have alreadymet with general managerJon Daniels about the ros-ter.

“We feel like we have apretty good handle on howto keep this team togetherwith Cliff as a part of it,”Greenberg said. “It’s noth-ing that frightens us, andwe’d be real happy to gointo next season with thatgroup and the cost that weproject.”

The Rangers have oneof the lowest payrolls inthe majors this season ataround $55 million.

“Right now this roster

MLB

New owners get to workBy STEPHEN HAWKINS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

This Aug. 5, 2010, file photo shows Texas Rangers president No-lan Ryan arriving for a news conference in Arlington.

Photo by LM Otero | AP

See RANGERS PAGE 2B

PAGE 2B Zscores SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2010

Romo’s opening drivesputtered after reachingthe 16. He was sacked ontwo of the next threesnaps, making it threesacks for that drive, andneeding a 42-yard fieldgoal to salvage any pointsthat series.

Backup Jon Kitna hadone possession behind thestarting linemen and hewas dropped, too, nearlyfor a safety. He later leddrives that reached the 13and 9; the first ended ondowns, the second result-ed in a field goal. Dallaslater started a drive at the11 after recovering abotched punt, moved onlyto the 10 and settled foranother field goal.

Romo noted there’s afine line between trying towork on things and notgiving away too many se-crets about this season’soffense.

“But at some point, wehave to get it in and getbetter,” he said. “Thisteam is not where we needto be yet. We’ve madesome strides, we’ve donesome good things, but wehave a lot of work andtime left to continue to getbetter. That’s actually ex-citing from my perspectivebecause we have somethings we need to workOxnard and we will havesome time to do it outthere.”

Ah, yes, Oxnard and the

gentle breeze off the Pacif-ic Ocean.

After two weeks insidethe climate-controlled Ala-modome in San Antonio,and a week in the Dallasarea, where temperatureshave consistently cracked100, the Cowboys left fortheir occasional WestCoast base on Friday.They resume two-a-dayworkouts Saturday morn-ing and the weeklong fore-cast shows highs in the60s.

“We are going to have tolayer up just to break asweat,” linebacker BradieJames said.

The defense and specialteams can consider theCalifornia trip a reward

for how they’ve done sofar.

The Cowboys haven’t al-lowed a point in the firstthree quarters of eithergame, and David Buehleris 6 of 7 in his audition tobecome the placekicker.

Dallas missed a shutoutin the Hall of Fame gameagainst Cincinnati whenthe deep reserves — most-ly guys fighting for jobson the practice squad —allowed a fourth-quartertouchdown. A fourth-quar-ter flop against the Raid-ers turned another poten-tial shutout into a loss asOakland scored two touch-downs and a field goal inthe final 4:58.

James and fellow inside

linebacker Keith Brookingwere as fired up for thefirst home preseasongame as they would be fora regular-season opener.Their intensity helped fuela pair of three-and-outs onOakland’s first two drives.The first-string nickel unitalso returned for a fourth-down stop against theRaiders’ starters.

“You don’t want to gettoo excited but there issome excitement in the airfor what we have beenable to accomplish,”James said. “And it onlygets harder. ... Teamsknow what we have, butit’s up to us to go outthere and execute andmake plays. You know, you

just gradually get to thatpoint to get to the regularseason and that’s all weare doing as far as thefirst team.”

Buehler can hardly stopsmiling. He’s heading tohis native turf in South-ern California knowinghe’s off to a great start inhis bid to be both kickoffspecialist and placekicker.His kickoffs have re-mained outstanding, get-ting touchbacks on allfour boots against Oak-land.

“I feel good,” Buehlersaid. “I was confidentcoming into this presea-son and I’m going to putthe ball through the up-rights.”

COWBOYS Continued from Page 1B

played like a Rosie Villar-real team that fought tothe end despite not havingher there physically.

With every attack on of-fense and a defense thatwould not back down, onecould almost see Villar-real willing her team towin.

The Lady Hawks’ sea-son opener against Nixonexposed a high-poweredoffense that took the Lare-do 5A school to the limit.

Nixon is regarded asone of the best volleyballprograms in the GatewayCity, boasting a string ofplayoff appearances thelast five years undercoach Mike Gabrillo.

The Lady Hawks ulti-mately dropped a 23-25, 25-22, 25-19, 17-25, and 14-16heartbreaker decision tothe Lady Mustangs on theroad.

“The girls did very well.They fought for everypoint and never gave up. Iam very proud of them,”coach Ana Villarreal said.“We are just learning toplay together, especiallytrying to get meshed theexperienced players withthe new varsity players.The team is improving ev-ery single day.”

Zapata flexed an offen-sive muscle that recorded

30 kills in the game andhad the Lady Mustangsdefense shifted into over-drive.

Zapata was led by theexplosive offensive arm ofsenior Brandi King, wholed all players with 16kills.

King controlled the of-fensive attack for Zapataand was keyed by the Nix-on defense early on in thegame.

Kristina De Leon, Shel-by Bigler and Celina Matacombined for 13 kills tospread Zapata’s offensiveattack.

De Leon and Bigler,who were making theirvarsity debut, played likeveteran players andshowed no signs of inex-perience with their deci-sion-making at the net.

Their attack on the netleft the door open for Kingto do some damage fromthe middle.

The Lady Hawks jump-ed out to an early lead inevery game to surprisethe Nixon defense withtheir powerful kills thatwere masterfully hit awayfrom the defense.

But it was not to be, astwo crucial misalign-ments on defense in thefifth game cost the LadyHawks.

VOLLEYBALL Continued from Page 1B

series of town hall meet-ings and online chats withfans to get their feedbackand see what they want.

This is the “easy part”after the lengthy process tobuy the team, which beganfor Greenberg in May 2009.His group entered into ex-clusive negotiations withTom Hicks in December,struck a deal in Januaryand then had a months-long struggle that includeda messy bankruptcy caseand ultimately a bidding

is a lot more valuable thanit is expensive, and that’sbecause of the relativeyouth and where playersare in the economic systemthat baseball has,” Green-berg said. “Our payroll isgoing to rise on its own, it’snothing we need to make aconscious decision to do. ...To go out and say we’re go-ing to be at this club’s levelor that club’s level wouldbe a foolish thing to do, be-cause it would be an artifi-cial number.”

Texas expected a selloutcrowd Friday night for theRed Sox, and fans foundcheaper prices at the con-cession stands that will bein effect at least throughthe rest of this reason.

Hot dogs were reducedfrom $4.50 to $4, soda in

souvenir cups was downfrom $5.75 to $5 and bottledbeers were cut from $7 to$6. The most-reduced con-cession was hot chocolatefrom $3 to $1, but with tem-peratures in the upper 90sthat is not a big seller

There are also plans forsignificant improvementsto the 16-year-old RangersBallpark, including newvideo boards.

Greenberg said all thatwas only the beginning.His group plans to hold a

war with Dallas Mavericksowner Mark Cuban.

“At the end of the day itcame down to will, and itcame down to resolve andcommitment and passion,and we just weren’t goingto be denied,” Greenbergsaid. “I think our fans cantake a lot of comfort fromthe fact that that’s howwe’re going to operate thefranchise. We’re really acompetitive group of peopleand there was no way weweren’t going to win.”

RANGERS Continued from Page 1B

Lee, who is 2-2 with a 2.97 ERA in seven starts forTexas with two complete-game losses, said having theownership and bankruptcy cleared up makes it easierfor him to consider staying in Texas past this season.

They contended the protec-tion doesn’t extend to theMitchell Commission thatinvestigated performance-enhancing drug use inbaseball, even thoughMcNamee spoke to the pan-el as part of his coopera-tion with federal investiga-tors.

Clemens sued his former

personal trainer in Texasstate court in January 2008,a month after McNamee’saccusations against thepitcher were published inthe Mitchell Report. Thesuit was moved a monthlater to the federal court inHouston.

McNamee claimed in thereport that he injected

Clemens with steroids andhuman growth hormone in1998, 2000 and 2001.

Clemens said McNamee’sstatements, which thetrainer also repeated toSports Illustrated’s website,were “untrue and defama-tory.” The trainer suedClemens for defamation infederal court in Brooklyn.

Clemens and McNameein 2008 repeated their con-flicting claims to a congres-sional committee, whichthen asked the Justice De-partment to look intowhether the pitcher lied.Clemens denied using per-formance-enhancing drugswhen he testified underoath to Congress.

CLEMENS Continued from Page 1B

DALLAS — Snapshotsof players, coaches andteams to watch as anotherhigh school football sea-son begins Aug. 26.

PLAYERS: JAXON SHIPLEY,

BROWNWOOD Last of Shipleys and

McCoys tries for elusivestate title

Colt McCoy and JordanShipley have moved on tothe pros. Case McCoy hasfollowed both to Texas.

Now the last of theShipleys and McCoys willtry to win the state cham-pionship that somehoweluded the rest of thebunch through four tripsto title games.

Brownwood receiverJaxon Shipley is headed toTexas, too. But first, hehas a chance to bring astoried Texas high schoolprogram its eighth state ti-tle.

“It’s fun to play at aplace like Brownwoodwhere football is so impor-tant,” coach and fatherBob Shipley said. “I thinkhe’s really enjoyed that as-pect of it.”

The Lions went threerounds deep in the play-offs a year after a shock-ing 3-7 record their firstseason after dropping toClass 3A. Enter Bob Ship-ley, who led them back tothe playoffs despite hisson missing half the sea-son with a broken collar-bone. Jaxon Shipley neverplayed with quarterbackGraylon Brown, who gothurt before he came back.

If both stay healthy,Brownwood could win itsfirst title since 1981.

“He’s really passionateabout trying to win a statechampionship while he’s

in high school,” Bob Ship-ley said of his son.

Although his talentdraws double teams, Jax-on Shipley should be ableto blend in a little betterthan last year when ColtMcCoy and Jordan Ship-ley made a run for a na-tional title while theyounger brothers wereplaying in the same dis-trict. Case McCoy andGraham beat Brownwoodby a point.

“I think there’s not astoryline game that every-body’s kind of pointing tolike everybody was lastyear,” Bob Shipley said. “Idon’t think that affectedhim last year, nor will itaffect him this year.”

Others to watch: — Michael Brewer, Lake

Travis: The son of formerTexas quarterback RobertBrewer was sensational inhis first season replacingcurrent Longhorns quar-terback Garrett Gilbert.He accounted for 66 touch-downs in matching Gil-bert’s 16-0 championshipseason from 2008.

— Johnathan Gray, Ale-do: There are a bunch ofgood senior running backsin Texas this year, but thisjunior might be the best.He had 2,813 rushingyards — more than any re-turning running back inthe state — and 50 touch-downs in 2009.

— Johnny Manziel,Kerrville Tivy: He piledup 3,450 yards and 53touchdowns passing andrushing in leading the An-tlers to the Class 4A Divi-sion II semifinals. He’samong eight returningstarters on offense.

— Deion Sanders, Le-wisville Marcus: The sonof the flamboyant formerNFL star transferred fromCedar Hill, where he was

used occasionally as a re-ceiver. He’s expected to bethe quarterback at Mar-cus.

COACHES: HANK CARTER, LAKE

TRAVIS Coach makes debut un-

der glare of 46-game win-ning streak

Hank Carter picked aheck of a way to make hishead coaching debut. Hewill carry the burden ofLake Travis’ 46-game win-ning streak, along withthe feeling that anythingshort of a state record-ty-ing fourth straight cham-pionship is a disappoint-ment.

He’s trying not to lookat it that way.

“I think it probablymakes more difference tothe people we’re playingthan us,” Carter said. “Notthat they need any reasonto get up for Lake Travis.But it definitely givesthem just a little incentivethat they could knock usoff and they could be theone that ended the streak.That’s not really a focus ofours.”

Carter was the naturalchoice after spending 10seasons on the staff of for-mer coach Chad Morris,who left to try his hand atcollege coaching as an as-sistant at Tulsa. The lastfive of those were as Mor-ris’ defensive coordinator,and Carter will still callthe plays on defense. Theoffensive coordinator re-turns, too.

“I think that’s the bestpart about it. We get tokeep our system intact,”Carter said. “Not a wholelot is going to look any dif-ferent than it’s looked.”

That includes the quar-terback. Michael Brewerwill be in his second yearas the starter after replac-

ing Texas quarterbackGarrett Gilbert last year.Brewer matched Gilbert’s16-0 record, threw for 4,450yards and accounted for 66touchdowns.

Brewer’s presence miti-gates his coach’s anxiety, apoint Carter made to hisformer boss as Morriswrestled with the decisionto leave.

“It was kind of light-hearted at the time, but Itold him if you’re going togo, go now because I knowI’ve got the quarterbackcoming back and thatmakes life a lot easier,”said Carter, who played forMorris at Eustace.

Others to watch: — Trent Fuller, Arling-

ton Lamar: Fuller replacesEddy Peach, the onlycoach Arlington Lamarhas ever known. Peachwon 309 games in 39 sea-sons.

— Ronnie Gage, Bar-bers Hill: A two-time statechampion at Lewisville inthe 1990s, Gage has re-turned to high schoolcoaching. He spent thepast three years at AustinCollege after a stint as theLewisville school districtathletic director.

— Steve Marrow, Ennis:Marrow will coach at leastthe 2010 season while SamHarrell battles multiplesclerosis. Harrell, who haswon three state titles,went to Costa Rica thissummer for treatments inhopes that his conditionwill improve enough to al-low him to return to thesidelines.

— G.A. Moore, Aubrey:The state’s winningestcoach will try to pad hislead in his second seasonat Aubrey. He is 418-80-9 af-ter leading Aubrey to an11-2 record last year, a six-win improvement over

Texas football primerBy SCHUYLER DIXON

ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLLEGE STATION —For a program steeped inas much tradition as Tex-as A&M, the last severalyears have been tough.

The once-feared Aggieshaven’t found much suc-cess since the glory daysof the Wrecking Crew de-fenses of the late 1980sand early 1990s. From1985-1998, Texas A&Mwon seven conferencechampionships. Sincethen, the Aggies haven’tfinished atop their con-ference and haven’t evenhad a winning record inBig 12 play since 2006.

A year ago, a 6-7 recordand a 44-20 loss to Geor-gia in the IndependenceBowl left fans wonderingwhether the team will ev-er be a power again.Third-year coach Mike

Sherman believes TexasA&M is making progress.

“When I took the job, Ireally felt that we hadenough of a recruitingbase in the state of Texasand that we had enoughto sell, that we would beable to recruit players tocome to make TexasA&M that type of team,”he said. “I think we’regetting closer to thatpoint, that vision that Ihad when I took the job.This season for us isabout taking that nextstep, and the next step forus it to be in games inthe fourth quarter withtwo minutes left whereyou’re in position to winthe football game.”

“I think the Big 12needs A&M to step up tothe plate ... and be thattype of team,” he said.“We’re ready to acceptthat challenge.”

Texas A&M’s returning all-american linebacker Von Miller (40)will be a key cog in new defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter’sattempts to revive the Wrecking Crew.

Photo by Brett Davis | AP

Ags seek returnto glory daysBy KRISTIE RIEKENASSOCIATED PRESS

SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2010 THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

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HINTS BY | HELOISE

“HELOISE

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES Sports SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2010

LUBBOCK — TommyTuberville has a dilemmafamiliar to Texas Tech.

The new coach doesn’thave a starting quarter-back picked for a RedRaiders offense he sayswill continue to throw theball all over the Big 12.

Predecessor Mike Leachoften waited to pick astarter, though never be-cause of injury.

Tuberville, who steppedin after the universityfired Leach late last yearamid allegations he mis-treated a player with aconcussion, will decide be-tween seniors Taylor Pottsand Steven Sheffield. Bothgot injured early in springworkouts.

A starter will be pickedabout a week before theRed Raiders host SMU toopen their season Sept. 5.

Neal Brown, who Tuber-ville brought in as offen-sive coordinator frompass-heavy Troy State inAlabama, said Potts hasthe stronger arm, whileSheffield is the better run-ner.

“I want both of them tothink that they can be astarter,” Tuberville said.“What we’re looking for ismore consistency fromboth of them. Both willplay, but we’re not going tohave a situation where oneplays the first quarter, andone plays the second.”

Sheffield and Potts eachhad surgery in March.Sheffield, who threw for1,219 yards and 14 touch-downs in six games in lastseason, needed repair tothe same bone in his leftfoot that he injured in Oc-tober at Nebraska.

Potts, who threw for3,440 yards and 22 touch-downs in 11 games lastseason, needed surgery to

fix an injury between hisindex finger and middlefinger he got hitting ahelmet while throwing.

Competing for thesame job hasn’t createdfriction, the seniors said.

“We’re cool. We neverwalk by each other with-out saying, ’What’s up?”’Sheffield said. “But at thesame time, we’re not text-ing each other or playingvideo games together oranything like that.”

Whoever is pickedwon’t have to watch overhis shoulder, said Brown,whose Troy State teamfinished third nationallyin total offense (486yards) and fourth in pass-ing (336 yards) last sea-son.

“It’s not a deal whereif he throws five incom-pletions in the first quar-ter you go to the nextguy,” Brown said. “Ithink you got to let himplay, and obviously if hedoesn’t produce over anextended period of timethen you make achange.”

The offense will pass

first but Brown wants tospread the ball around tothe team’s playmakers, in-cluding running backs Bar-on Batch and Eric Stephensand a receiving corps thatreturns two strong starters— Detron Lewis and AlexTorres.

“The No. 1 goal is to winand we want to run the ballgood enough where if ourquarterback doesn’t playhis ’A’ game, let’s say heplays his ’C’ game, we wantto run the ball where westill got a chance to winthat game,” Brown said.“That’s what we’re lookingat.”

Time will tell whetherBrowns’ concerns on of-fense — depth at runningback and the line — willcontinue to keep him “up atnight.”

Overall, Tuberville wantsmore quickness on offenseand defense. To that end,

many offensive linemendropped a combined totalof about 240 pounds thissummer. They are trim-mer, have more enduranceand are stronger, he said.

“All those little thingswill add up,” Tubervillesaid.

A lingering question isthe Red Raiders’ defense,long the stepchild of TexasTech football and for yearsmaligned as the reason theprogram couldn’t get to aconference championship.

“To me they don’t walkaround with the swaggerthat they need to,” Tuber-ville said. “They need tofeel like, ’Hey, we’re asmuch of this team as any-body else and we can winas many games as the of-fense.’ We have to get tothat point.”

Texas Tech opens theseason Sept. 5 at homeagainst SMU.

Question marks in Lubbock

Texas Tech coach Tommy Tuberville answers questions from the media during a news conference atthe Big 12 Football Media Day Tuesday, July 27, 2010, in Irving, Texas.

Photo by Cody Duty | AP

By BETSY BLANEYASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — The start of anew season means the Tex-as Longhorns can finally —thankfully — start talkingabout something otherthan their last game andanswering the constantquestions of “What if?”

What if Colt McCoyhadn’t been hurt on thefirst drive of the BCS na-tional championship game,a 37-21 loss to Alabama?

What if the Texas coach-es had opened up the play-book for Garrett Gilbert abit earlier instead of havinghim hand off while waitingto see if McCoy could re-turn?

Texas will never knowhow to answer those ques-tions. With McCoy out, Ala-bama raced to a big lead,then snuffed a late Long-horns rally to win thechampionship and sendTexas into a painfully longoffseason.

“That game hurt,” saidTexas senior cornerbackCurtis Brown. “Garrett Gil-bert came and played hisheart out. After the game I

didn’t have any regrets. Itadded fuel to the fire forthe next year.”

So welcome to the 2010season, where Gilbert isnow the starting quarter-back. He had four turn-overs against Alabama, buthis improved play in thesecond half and goodspring workouts gave coachMack Brown confidencethat the Longhorns shouldbe fine at quarterback.

Where McCoy was a rel-ative unknown from asmall Texas town when hegot his first start in 2006,Gilbert steps into a role hewas groomed for from ayoung age.

The son of career NFLbackup Gale Gilbert, Gar-rett Gilbert was a highschool All-American andone of the top recruits inthe country when hesigned with Texas in 2009.He quickly won the No. 2spot last season and playedin 10 games in mop-up du-ty.

“I can’t wait to get outthere and get started andI’ve kind of got butterfliessince football is startingagain,” Gilbert said.

In this Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010, file photo, Texas quarterback GarrettGilbert throws a pass during the first quarter of the BCS Champion-ship NCAA college football game against Alabama in Pasadena, Cal-if. The Longhorns are handing their offense to Garrett Gilbert.

Photo by Marcio Jose Sanchez | AP

Horns hooked onGarret Gilbert

By JIM VERTUNOASSOCIATED PRESS