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LADY HAWKS REBOUNDOFF TO A 5-0 START IN DISTRICT AFTER MISSING PLAYOFFS A YEAR AGO, 1B

One of the top items Com-missioners Court discussed atthe last regular meeting Mon-day was taxing eight-liner busi-nesses in Zapata County $500 ayear to bring in more revenueand to deter new businessesfrom opening.

The commissioners passedan ordinance to regulate themachines and to collect the feeduring the meeting. It goes into

effect Feb. 1.“I believe we need to regulate

the amusement eight-liners andthat’s what we’re doing withthe ordinance,” said CountyJudge Joe Rathmell during dis-cussion of the measure. “If youwant to have this type of busi-ness these are the rules youhave to abide by.”

According to the court, thecounty needs to find additionalrevenue sources with the recentchange in natural gas produc-tion and the decrease in miner-al valuations.

“That has brought us to lookfor other avenues to replacethis very important incomesource,” Commissioner Jose E.

EIGHT-LINERS

$500 license feecould provide

county revenue

See 8-LINER PAGE 12A

Commissioners alsohope to deter more

from opening in areaBy LORRAINE L. RODRIGUEZ

THE ZAPATA TIMES

While Commissioners Courtis willing to save money to al-leviate the budget deficit, thecommissioners are also will-ing to invest in larger develop-ment projects to bring in reve-nue.

Commissioners Court is al-so keeping a close eye on on-going projects and the depart-ments responsible for them.

One of the larger develop-ment projects considered bythe court in the last regularCommissioners Court meetingMonday is a port of entry inZapata.

“Its only time we start look-ing into other avenues,” saidCommissioner Jose E. Vela.

Raba-Kistner Consultants,Inc. gave a presentation on thelong process to begin con-struction on a port of entry inZapata during the meeting.

The port of entry wouldmean great possibilities for ec-onomic growth, said SeniorVice-President Steve Jones,Raba-Kistner Consultants, Inc.

The county would need a

feasibility study and permits,and would have to notify ap-propriate agencies in both theUnited States and Mexico,Jones added.

The mayor of Guerrero waspresent at the meeting andshared a few words with thecourt and the public.

“This is the most importantproject for our region,” hesaid in Spanish. “A newbridge represents a grand op-portunity to transcend in his-tory.”

Another future project isthe construction of a hospitalwith emergency medical ser-vices.

The project has been underconsideration for many yearsbut has been on hold due tolack of funding.

After requesting updates onsome ongoing projects, Com-missioners Court was briefedon the progress of the Mu-seum of History, the AdvanceEducation Center, and theCACST Health Clinic.

Repairs are needed on theroof and the floor of the mu-seum, Vela said.

Also, County Judge JoeRathmell disapproved thefront doors of the museum.

“The doors were not suita-ble for our needs,” Rathmellsaid.

ZAPATA

Commissionerseye projects for revenue

Port-of-entry, 8-linerordinances could

help county’s budget

See COURT PAGE 12A

By LORRAINE L. RODRIGUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES

Before he enlisted in the Army, Pfc. IraBenjamin “Ben” Laningham IV, 22,would lend his musical services, play-ing taps during Veterans Day or Memo-

rial Day in his tiny hometown of Zapata.On Jan. 7, Laningham died of wounds suf-

fered when insurgents attacked his unit usingan improvised explosive device and a small-arms firefight ensued in Logar Province, Af-ghanistan.

FALLEN SOLDIER

REMEMBERINGA ZAPATA SON

ABOVE: Enrique and Norma Cantu mourn their son Private First Class Ira Benjamin Laningham IV at their home. BE-LOW: The Zapata County Courthouse flies flags at half-mast Tuesday afternoon in honor of PFC Ira Benjamin Laning-ham, who died on Jan. 7 in Afghanistan supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Photo by Ulysses S. Romero | The Zapata Times

Mom remembers‘Ben’ Laningham’s

life, serviceBy DENISE BLAZ

THE ZAPATA TIMES

See SOLDIER PAGE 12A

PAGE 2A Zin brief SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011

SATURDAY, JAN. 15The Villa San Agustin de Laredo

Genealogical Society and The LaredoPublic Library invite its membershipand the general public to its monthlymeeting, where Hector Farias, Jr., PhD,will give a presentation on “ColonelSantos Benavides: Unparalleled CavalryWarrior.” The meeting will be held Sat-urday, January 15, 2011 at 1:00 p.m. inthe HEB Multi-Purpose Room of theLaredo Public Library, located at 1120East Calton Road. For more informa-tion, contact Bibi Garza-Gongora at723-8419.

El Centro de Laredo Farmer’sMarket is from 9 a.m. to noon todayat Jarvis Plaza, in Downtown Laredo.

From 8 a.m. to noon at CasaBlanca State Park, high school stu-dents have the opportunity to volun-teer for community service hours. Stu-dents will help clean up around theshoreline and the park area.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 19The Gateway City Book Lovers’

Club will be ringing in the new year atits January meeting by having a pot-luck dinner, celebrating the beginningof its fifth year and welcoming anynew members who are interested injoining us in the new year of 2011. Al-so, the first book discussion of theyear will take place at this meeting onWednesday, January 19, 2011 from 6p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Laredo PublicLibrary 1st Floor Conference Room.Members will delve into “The Post-American World” by Newsweek maga-zine editor Fareed Zakaria. For more in-formation about the book club or thismonth’s selection, contact Pam Burrellat (956) 795-2400, x2268 or via e-mail at pam@laredolibrary.org.

THURSDAY, JAN. 20Nixon High School is hosting a

blood drive from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.at 2000 Plum. Blood donor require-ments are as follows: anyone who is 16years old weighing 120 pounds (withparental consent form), or at least 17years old weighing 110 pounds, and ingood general health can donate blood.Identification required. call 1-800-292-5534 for more information.

FRIDAY, JAN. 21Laredo Medical Center is hosting

a blood drive from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.at 1700 East Saunders. Blood donorrequirements are as follows: anyonewho is 16 years old weighing 120pounds (with parental consent form),or at least 17 years old weighing 110pounds, and in good general healthcan donate blood. Identification re-quired. call 1-800-292-5534 for moreinformation.

FRIDAY, JAN. 28Big River Outfitters will be host-

ing their quarterly musical fundraisertoday from 7 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., pool-side at the Rio Grande Plaza Hotel,One South Main Avenue. Proceeds willbenefit Laredo’s Animal Shelter. Bandsinclude La Mata, The Shazz, The Arch-er Crab and a host of musical guests,in addition to open mic. Caffe Dolce isdonating cupcakes.

TUESDAY, FEB. 1Les Amis will have its monthly

luncheon at 11:30 a.m. at the HolidayInn at 800 Garden St. The honoreesare Maria Eugenia Garcia, Olivia C. Gar-cia, Velia Herrera, Mary Lou Soliz, Yo-landa Gonzalez and Olga Hovel. Thehostesses are Viola Moore, Frances Ma-dison and Ma. Teresa Ramirez.

SATURDAY, FEB. 5Veterans Helping Veterans will

meet in the Laredo Public Library, 1120E. Calton Road, from noon to 2:30p.m. today and Feb. 19 and March 5and 26. Meetings are confidential andfor military veterans only. For more in-formation, contact George Mendez at794-3057 or georgem@borderregion.orgor Jessica Morales at 794-3091 or jes-sicam@borderregion.org

League of United Latin AmericanCitizens No. 7 will host the 16th annualgala dance Noche de Cabaret from 7p.m. to 1 a.m. today in the Laredo Civ-ic Center Ballroom, 800 Garden St.Tickets are $20 per person or $200for a table of 10. LCC President JuanMaldonado will be honored with theHigher Education Award. The event willfeature Grupo Premier de los dos Lare-dos. For tickets or more information,call 949-7685, 206-1098 or 753-6656.

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, Jan. 15,the 15th day of 2011. There are350 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in His-tory:

On Jan. 15, 1961, a U.S. AirForce radar tower off the NewJersey coast collapsed into theAtlantic Ocean during a se-vere storm, killing all 28 menaboard. (The structure wasknown as “Texas Tower 4” be-cause of its resemblance to anoil platform.)

On this date: In 1559, England’s Queen El-

izabeth I was crowned inWestminster Abbey.

In 1777, the people of NewConnecticut declared their in-dependence. (The tiny repub-lic later became the state ofVermont.)

In 1844, the University ofNotre Dame received its char-ter from the state of Indiana.

In 1929, civil rights leaderMartin Luther King Jr. wasborn in Atlanta.

In 1943, work was completedon the Pentagon, headquartersof the U.S. Department of War(now Defense).

In 1947, the mutilated re-mains of 22-year-old ElizabethShort, who came to be knownas the “Black Dahlia,” werefound in a vacant Los Angeleslot; her slaying remains un-solved.

In 1967, the Green Bay Pack-ers of the National FootballLeague defeated the KansasCity Chiefs of the AmericanFootball League 35-10 in thefirst AFL-NFL World Cham-pionship Game, retroactivelyknown as Super Bowl I.

In 1971, the recently com-pleted Aswan High Dam inEgypt was dedicated during aceremony attended by Presi-dent Anwar Sadat and SovietPresident Nikolai Podgorny.

In 1981, the police drama se-ries “Hill Street Blues” pre-miered on NBC.

In 2009, US Airways Capt.Chesley “Sully” Sullenbergerditched his Airbus 320 in theHudson River after a flock ofbirds disabled both the plane’sengines; all 155 people aboardsurvived.

Ten years ago: President-elect George W. Bush markedthe Martin Luther King Jr. ho-liday at an elementary schoolin Houston, where he prom-ised black Americans: “My jobwill be to listen not only to thesuccessful, but also to the suf-fering.” Wikipedia, a web-based encyclopedia, made itsdebut.

Five years ago: After a sev-en-year journey, a NASA spacecapsule, Stardust, returnedsafely to Earth with the firstdust ever fetched from acomet. Michelle Bachelet (bah-cheh-LET’) was elected Chile’sfirst woman president. Ku-wait’s longtime ruler, SheikJaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah,died; he was succeeded by thecrown prince, Sheik Saad AlAbdullah Al Sabah.

Today’s Birthdays: Ac-tress Margaret O’Brien is 74.Actress Andrea Martin is 64.Actor-director Mario Van Pee-bles is 54. Actor James Nesbittis 46. Alt-country singer WillOldham (aka “Bonnie PrinceBilly”) is 41. Actress ReginaKing is 40. . Rapper/reggaetonartist Pitbull is 30.

Thought for Today: “I re-fuse to accept the idea that the‘is-ness’ of man’s present na-ture makes him morally inca-pable of reaching up for the‘ought-ness’ that forever con-fronts him.” — Martin LutherKing Jr. (1929-1968).

TODAY IN HISTORY

DALLAS — Despite a heated dispute be-tween the U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency and Texas on how to regulate pollu-tion, coal-fired power plants and oil refiner-ies aren’t likely to face delays as the agencytakes over greenhouse gas permits in thestate, an EPA official said Friday.

Al Armendariz, an EPA regional director,said businesses may have questions sincethe state continues handling permits for oth-er areas. Officials have estimated that 167projects would be affected by the new per-mits, required since Jan. 2 for large busi-nesses that release greenhouse gases and arebuilding new facilities or making major ren-ovations.

“It would be preferable for the state to op-erate (the greenhouse gas permits), but I

don’t anticipate delays,” he told The Associ-ated Press during a break in a daylong EPApublic hearing in Dallas. “Our staff is readyto start issuing permits.”

A federal appeals court ruling this weekallows the EPA to issue greenhouse gas per-mits directly to Texas industries, a decisionmade by the agency after the state refused tocomply with the new Clean Air Act regula-tions.

Texas, the only state refusing to comply,has more oil refineries, chemical plants andcoal-fired power plants than any other state— and leads the nation in greenhouse gasemissions and industrial pollution.

Texas is suing to stop the EPA from imple-menting the new greenhouse gas regula-tions, accusing the Obama administration ofoverstepping boundaries and meddling instates’ rights.

AROUND TEXAS

In this Feb. 25 file photo, refineries and chemical plants release steam near the Houston Ship Channel. Texas and the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency are fighting over permitting and other bureaucratic issues, a battle that environmentalists,state regulators and the EPA agree puts human health and the environment at risk.

Photo by Pat Sullivan | AP

EPA: No permit delaysBy ANGELA K. BROWN

ASSOCIATED PRESS

2 county officials indictedin nursing case

KERMIT — Two top officialshave been indicted on chargesstemming from the criminalprosecution of two whistle-blow-ing nurses.

Winkler County Sheriff RobertRoberts and County AttorneyScott Tidwell were each indictedThursday on two counts of mis-use of official information, twocounts of retaliation and twocounts of official oppression.

Brownsville teen accusedof killing ex-girlfriend

BROWNSVILLE — A Cam-eron County grand jury has in-dicted a youth over the Auguststabbing death of his 17-year-oldformer girlfriend.

Javier de la Rosa Jr. remainsin custody on a capital murdercharge.

Police say de la Rosa, now 17,was a minor at the time of the at-tack. A judge has ruled that de laRosa will be tried as an adult.

Company had wrong ID onCity Hall photo

DALLAS — A photographystudio is taking the blame for amisidentified mayoral picturehanging at Dallas City Hall.

A visitor to city hall said thephoto, in honor of former MayorWoodall Rodgers, wasn’t him.

Rodgers served as mayor from1939 to 1947. He died 1961.

Relatives of a constructioncompany magnate confirmed hewas the person in the photo.

Texas burial for 2 Vietnamvets shot down in 1969DALLAS — Two Vietnam War

veterans whose remains wereidentified decades after theywere shot down were buried.

Air Force Col. James Dennanywas 34 when his plane was shotdown over Laos in 1969.

. Robert Tucci, 27, of Detroit,was the pilot. Dennany, who wasborn in Mattawan, Mich., wasthe weapons system officer.

Man pleads in doublehomicide

BEAUMONT — A 29-year-oldmember of the Aryan Brother-hood of Texas has pleaded guiltyto federal charges related to anAugust 2007 double homicide.

Charles Cameron Frazier, ofNacogdoches, pleaded guilty tocommitting a violent crime inaid of racketeering activity. Fra-zier admitted that he had partici-pated in two murders.

Woman questions $10 fee,dead Ike-sculpture treeGALVESTON — A woman

wonders why a no-fee tree whenit was alive now requires a $10payment as a Hurricane Ike-killed oak made into a sculpture.

City officials say the license-to-use fee applies because thesculptures are designed. Aspokesperson said the fee doesnot distinguish placement of oneobject from another in the rightof way.

— Compiled from AP reports

Obama to ease Cubatravel restrictions

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Presi-dent Barack Obama plans toloosen Cuban travel policy to al-low students and church groupsto go to the communist country,the administration announced.

Students seeking academiccredit and churches traveling forreligious purposes will be able togo to Cuba. Americans will be al-lowed to send as much as $500every three months to Cubanswho are not part of the Castroadministration and are not mem-bers of the Communist Party.

Also, more airports will be al-lowed to offer charter service.

Company recallsnonprescription drugsFORT WASHINGTON, Pa —

Johnson & Johnson said Fridayit is recalling nearly 47 millionpackages of Tylenol, Sudafed andother nonprescription drugs

manufactured at a Pennsylvaniafacility that has already beensubject to a series of massive re-calls, battering the company’shousehold brand.

The latest recall affects certainlots of Tylenol, Benadryl and Su-dafed products because of insuffi-

cient cleaning procedures,though the company does not be-lieve that quality was impacted.The company also recalled cer-tain lots of Rolaids tablets be-cause they do not include certainlabeling information.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

New York City Schools Chancellor Cathie Black meets with teachers at a Brooklynschool on Jan. 3. A spokeswoman said Black was making a joke Thursday whenshe suggested overcrowded schools could be solved with birth control.

Photo by Seth Wenig | AP

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

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SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011 Zlocal PAGE 3A

Plans to construct aport-of-entry in ZapataCounty resurfaced in thelast Commissioners Courtmeeting with a prelimina-ry presentation by a con-sulting firm advising thecourt of the necessarysteps to take.

Raba-Kistner Consult-ants, Inc. gave a brief pre-sentation on the long pro-cess the county wouldhave to follow in order tobegin the large but benefi-cial project.

The county has nothired the consultants butwill consider them whenthey are ready for a feasi-bility study, Rathmell said.

“They would walk usthrough the process if wedecide to pursue this inthe future,” Rathmell said.“It’s not something we’regoing to do right away.”

Past county administra-tions considered the port-of-entry project and haveheld off for many yearsdue to the lack of funding,said County Judge JoeRathmell.

“It’s a very expensiveproposition and the coun-ty would not be able to doit on its own with the per-mits and the construc-tion,” Rathmell said. “It’sway out of our meansright now, but the present-ation was a startingpoint.”

Raba-Kistner Consult-ants, Inc. Senior Vice-Pres-ident Steve Jones advisedthe court that they wouldhave to speak with the ad-ministrations from boththe United States andMexico.

“Both sides of the riverhave to be in favor,” Rath-mell said.

Shortly after Jones ad-vised the board to contactMexican officials the May-or of Guerrero, Mexico,stood and addressed thecourt and gave them a fewwords of encouragement.

“This is the most im-portant project for our re-gion,” he said in Spanish.“A new bridge representsa grand opportunity totranscend in history.”

The court said it looksforward to working withhim soon in a project thatwill benefit both theircommunities.

“It was encouragingthat he approved of whatwe’re trying to do, so Iguess we have a partnernow,” Rathmell said.

Zapata is one of the fewcounties that doesn’t havea border crossing.

“We’ve been very isolat-ed and the bridge wouldallow our residents andthe residents of Mexico tosee each other,” Rathmellsaid.

“There would be moretraffic coming through ourquiet community,” Rath-mell added.

The potential is thereand the possibilities areendless, Rathmell said.

“It would increase jobs,revenue, and trade withour sister city,” Rathmellsaid.

The court is aware of

the risks border citieswith port-of-entries experi-ence, but it believes the ad-vantages outweigh the dis-advantages.

“Anything associatedwith port-of-entries we’dbe exposing our residentsto,” Rathmell said.

Besides more traffic, thecourt is also aware of thesecurity concerns Mexicohas and the possibility ofthe violence spilling intoZapata, Rathmell said.

“The potential negativewould be increased drugactivity and security con-cerns, but there’s still somuch more good than thebad,” Rathmell said.

Some residents mayhave a problem with ex-panding Zapata, the smallcommunity they callhome, Rathmell said.

“There are just somepeople that would like tokeep it a quiet and peace-ful town,” Rathmell said.“We’ll have to weigh ouroptions.”

Since the decrease innatural gas productionand mineral valuation, thecounty has lost a variableamount of revenue.

The court has been ada-mant about finding othersources of revenue to re-place the lost revenue.

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

Presentation givesport-of-entry process

By LORRAINE L. RODRIGUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES “We’ve been very isolated and the

bridge would allow our residentsand the residents of Mexico tosee each other.” COUNTY JUDGE JOE RATHMELL

ASSAULTDiego Camarillo, 17, was ar-

rested and charged with assaultcausing family violence at 4:34 p.m.Jan. 7 in the 1900 block of DiazAvenue. He was taken to Zapata Re-gional Jail, where he was held inlieu of $10,000 bond.

Deputies responded to a fightin progress at 11:11 p.m. Jan. 8 inthe 1800 block of Delmar Street.Joe Rodriguez III, 35, was arrestedand charged with assault causingfamily violence. Rodriguez was tak-en to Zapata Regional Jail and re-leased to appear in court later.

Deputies responded to an ag-gravated assault call at 2:32 a.m.Jan. 10 in the 2200 block of GlennStreet. An 18-year-old man tolddeputies that someone in a blackpassenger car attempted to drivehim off the roadway.

EVADING ARREST

Jorge Javier Jasso, 25, wasarrested and charged with assault,evading arrest and resisting arrestat 7:32 a.m. Jan. 9 in the intersec-tion of Elm Street and 10th Ave-nue. The man was taken to ZapataRegional Jail, where he was held inlieu of a $17,000 combined bond.

POSSESSIONA deputy conducted a traffic

stop on a black truck at 9:14 p.m.Jan. 10 at Second Street and Texas16. An incident report states Alber-to Garcia Jr., 39, was arrested af-ter being found in possession of awhite powdery substance believedto be cocaine. He was chargedwith possession of a controlledsubstance and transported to Za-pata Regional Jail. He was held inlieu of a $5,000 bond.

Jose Lauro Macias-Moreno,21, was arrested and charged withpossession of marijuana at 8:30a.m. Jan. 12 in the vicinity of 13th

Street and Zapata Avenue. He wastaken to Zapata Regional Jail, wherehe was held in lieu of a $5,000bond.

THEFTDeputies responded to a theft

call at 7:40 p.m. Jan. 8 at the Dol-lar General Store, 1104 Texas 16. Anincident report states the complai-nant knows the person who stole 16packages of beef jerky. The allegedoffender walked out the store andleft the area in a 1995 ChevroletLumina with Texas license plates.

TERRORISTIC THREATSA juvenile was detained and

charged with terroristic threat at1:30 p.m. Jan. 7 at Zapata MiddleSchool, near the corner of 17th Ave-nue and Carla Street. The teenagerwas turned over to juvenile person-nel.

THE BLOTTER

Officials say a manfrom Maryland was onmedication when he leddeputies on a chase thatstretched out for a fewmiles in the San Ygnacioarea early Wednesday.

Fausto Alberto Castillo,33, was arrested andcharged with evading ar-rest with a motor vehicle.

Deputies responded to acall of a possible drunkdriver around midnight inRamireño on U.S. 83,

south of San Ygnacio. Sgt.Mario Elizondo said depu-ties caught up with aChevrolet pickup and sig-naled a traffic stop. Thetruck, bearing Marylandlicense plates, stoppedand deputies checked onthe driver.

Elizondo said the manseemed to be under the in-fluence. A further investi-gation showed the driver,identified as Castillo, wason medication. Reportsdid not specify the type ofmedication Castillo took.

Castillo then made asudden move.

“During the investiga-

tion, he jumped back tothe vehicle and droveaway from the deputies,”Elizondo said.

Castillo drove north-bound on U.S. 83. He lostcontrol of his pickup andhit an embankment, caus-ing the vehicle to jumpthe embankment and hit astop sign near a rest areanorth of San Ygnacio, Eli-zondo said.

“He almost flippedover,” he added.

Castillo was notharmed during the inci-dent. Deputies took himto Zapata Regional Jail,where he was held in lieuof a $5,000 bond.

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

Man leads deputies onchase near San Ygnacio

FAUSTO A. CASTILLO:On medication, hewas charged withevading arrest.

Maryland mancharged with

evading arrestBy CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ

THE ZAPATA TIMES

PAGE 4A Zopinion SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011

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

Eleven years aftergross injusticecompelled a mora-

torium on capital pun-ishment in Illinois, thestate legislature has con-cluded that the only wayto guard against execu-tion of the innocent is tooutlaw the death penalty.Gov. Pat Quinn, who hassent mixed signals in thepast, should quickly signthe legislation into law.

Former Gov. GeorgeRyan declared the mora-torium in 2000 in theface of a running scandalof faulty trials that costinnocent inmates theirlives. Three years later,Ryan stunned the nationby commuting 167 deathrow felons to life termsand calling for a hardlook at the business ofstate-sanctioned death.(Ryan subsequently wentto prison for statehousecorruption, but the flawsof capital punishment re-mained clear, as dramat-ically confirmed now bythe legislature.)

ReformsUnder prodding from

outside investigators, thestate has had to free 20inmates from death rowsince 1987. It has also en-acted some commend-able reforms. These in-cluded mandatory tapingof interviews with homi-

cide suspects — a mea-sure that followed talesof torture in notoriousChicago precinct houses.

But other vital re-forms to clean up foren-sic lab abuses and stage-managed witness identi-fications were rejected.And for all the officialstudy, caution and re-forms of the past decade,the legislature found thesystem still riddled withrisk and doubt.

Temporary stopFifteen inmates are

now on death row underthe open-ended moratori-um as prosecutors con-tinue to pursue capitalpunishment. Most re-cently, two condemnedmen convicted on the ba-sis of confessions wereexonerated by DNA evi-dence.

Quinn said last fallthat he supported themoratorium as well ascapital punishment “ap-plied carefully and fair-ly.” Illinois’s own experi-ence has shown why thatis not possible. Mostmodern nations, and 15states in this country,have rightly abandonedthe barbarism of stateexecutions. The sanctityof human life and thehonor of the state re-quire Quinn to lead Illi-nois beyond its wrench-ing history of wrongfuldeath-row convictions.

EDITORIAL

Capitalpunishmentfaces the end

NEW YORK TIMES

OTHER VIEWS

The Zapata Times doesnot publish anonymousletters.

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

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

We want to assure our

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

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

ing or gratuitous abuse isallowed.

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

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY

DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

AUSTIN — The Tuc-son tragedy — be itthe product of over-

heated political rhetoric orplain ol’ freelance loon —unfortunately underscoresthe wisdom of installingmetal detectors at the en-trances to the Capitol.

The Arizona shootings al-so underscore the nonsenseof allowing holders of con-cealed handgun licenses tobypass the metal detectorsand carry their concealedhandguns into the building.

Why anybody needs ahandgun in the Capitol isbeyond me. I guess self-de-fense could come up, butI’m OK with leaving myprotection to the trainedprofessionals in the build-ing. Some might think I’mdelusional, but I find it acomforting delusion.

As we learned in Arizo-na, people who legally carryconcealed handguns sud-denly can go rogue, as Sa-rah Palin might say. Statisti-cally, it’s the overwhelmingexception, which is why Isupport the right to carryconcealed handguns, withcertain restrictions onwhere you can carry.

I’d put the Capitol on theoff-limits list. But it is not.In fact, there is an expresslane that allows CHL hold-ers to skirt the metal detec-tors. And that is why, har-

boring no intention of everowning a gun but with noill will toward people whodo, I recently completed the10-hour CHL course.

I like bypassing metal de-tectors, especially when I’mtoting a backpack jammedwith gizmos that properlyattract close inspection. Lotsof folks who frequent theCapitol have gone the CHLroute to bypass metal detec-tion. Many lobbyists tooktime out from summeringin Nantucket to return toTexas to take the course.

I was among nine jour-nalists who recently took itat Cabela’s, that vast won-derland of ammo and camoin Buda.

Our CHL instructor wasMike Cox. Instructor Mikewas friendly, supportive, in-formed, funny and reallyhelpful in preparing for the50-question written exam.

We began by discussingwhy we want CHLs. We ac-knowledged it involved Cap-itol entry. Mike told us he isan NRA activist who saidhis wife him tells him “nosoap box” when he teachesthe course. Mrs. Cox, pleaseknow that Mike often suc-ceeded in avoiding the soapbox during our class, savefor a few slipups.

We learned that formerTravis County District At-torney Ronnie Earle is a“communist,” the MothersAgainst Drunk Driving are“hysterical women,” the

Texas Alcoholic BeverageCommission is “the moral-ity police” and the TexasMunicipal League is a “Na-zi-type organization”.

Under it all was a solidmessage. We were learning,Mike told us, not how toshoot to kill but how to“shoot to live.” He could nothave been more serious andeffective in hammeringhome the awesome respon-sibility we accept when weload a weapon.

Shortly after noon, weheaded to the shootingrange at Mike’s place forour proficiency exams. Hedid a great job in ensuringsafety and inspiring confi-dence among a bunch ofnotebook-wielding journal-ists with little to no firearmexperience. I last had fired aweapon at summer camp.

Each of us fired 50rounds; 20 from three yards,20 from seven yards and 10from 15 yards. Maximumscore is 250. Passing is 175.

“You’ve got a perfectscore,” Mike told me aftermy shots from two nearerdistances.

I wilted at longer rangeand wound up with 243points. I remain confidentthe errant shots came fromthe Dallas Morning News’Wayne Slater, who, to myleft, was clearly jealous ofmy dead-eye prowess.

Thanks to Mike, we allpassed the shooting and 50-question written tests (per-

fect score for me on the lat-ter, thanks for asking).

Mike has taught thecourse to lots of folks whoseprimary interest might beswift Capitol entry. Here’s aFriday tweet from Rep. Ja-son Isaac, R-DrippingSprings: “Happy Birthday toMike Cox of www.Drift-woodCHL.com. My staff andI had a great time at yourplace last week, thank you.”

Having passed the course,I’m now in the filling-out-forms process. On Friday, Iwent to get my fingerprintstaken. When the techniciancalled up the screen of folkswith Friday appointments, Inoticed the name of a jour-nalist friend with whom Itook the course. I also sawmy barber’s name. Maybehe’s getting a ConcealedHairdryer License.

Soon, I expect to be certi-fied as proficient to carry aconcealed handgun.

Truthfully, here’s aboutall I feel proficient to do: IfI’m attacked, and if the at-tacker will stop about threeyards from me, and if hewill stand really, really still,and if he will give meenough time to go buy agun and some ammo, and ifhe will remind me how toload the ammo into the gun,he’s a dead man.

And, of course, I’ll beable to bypass the Capitolmetal detectors.

(E-mail: kherman@states-man.com)

COLUMN

Licensed to pass the detectorsBy KEN HERMAN

COX NEWSPAPERS

To the editor:After the initial shock,

the first breakdown onSaturday night and a lita-ny of sobs, screams rantsand anger at the uni-verse, I began a lonelyvigil in New Haven. Isaw the Defense Depart-ment press release thathad one of my closestfriends in the universelisted as Pfc. Ira B. La-ningham IV. I Googledhis name in restless anx-iety: Every new article,video or blog post gaveme another attempt atcomprehending what mymind did not want to be-lieve. It was not helpful,mostly because amid thepictures, articles, videosand condolences, theyseemed detached fromwho he had been as ahuman being.

I do not ever recallcalling him Ira. I calledhim Ben. Most of us did.In death, that bit of himseems lost. I want to re-member.

We need to remember. What will we remem-

ber? He can become ablank slate, where we canproject the easiest of cat-egories and the most con-venient of characteristics.Nary a word said aboutthe things that caused allhis loved ones multipleanxieties throughout hislife. This does not do himjustice. Forgetting hisflaws does indignity tohis memory: It belittleshis greatness because forall of those who lovedhim, his flaws were neverremotely close to match-ing the awesomeness ofhis virtues. The occasion-al irresponsibility, thesometimes-present narcis-sism and his frustratinglack of tact were neverobstacles to loving him:they simply made him ahuman being. His posi-tives were simply magnif-

icent. Those we want toremember.

They are ours to re-member.

I will never forget hispassion for life, or thesimple way in which hebrought joy to everyroom and an off-beatsense of humor to everyconversation.

Even so, they pale incomparison to his great-est virtue: His magna-nimity in forgiveness wassimply beyond the capa-bility of most human be-ings. He forgave. Fromthe smallest transgres-sions to the ones thatshould not be forgiven,he forgave. I’m not surewhere it stemmed from— perhaps his attempt tolove everyone aroundhim. I never deserved for-giveness for some actions,yet that too was granted.

The most importantlessons I never learnedin a classroom. Fouryears of Yale could notteach me to love, to for-give, to understand or ap-preciate; Ben did, even ifI was a bad studentmany times.

Ben contained multi-tudes. He was a hero,husband, son, brother,classmate, coworker andfriend. He participated ina variety of activities,each illustrating for us alittle part of who he was.No one can remember allof them.

As a community, weeach contribute to re-membering him whole.We cannot recreate him,but we honor him eachtime we remember, eachtime we tell a story, eachtime we relearn what itis to live life withouthim.

Remember him.Signed,Fernando ReyesYale Class of 2010New Haven, Conn.

YOUR TURNBen Laningham’s friend remembers the human

being he was

SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011 THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

6A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011

SÁBADO 15 DE ENEROLa Sociedad Genealó-

gica Villa San Agustin de La-redo y la Biblioteca Públicade Laredo invitan a su reu-nión mensual donde HectorFarias, Jr. dará una presenta-ción sobre “Colonel SantosBenavides: Unparalleled Ca-valry Warrior” a la 1 p.m. enla Sala de Usos MúltiplesHEB de la biblioteca, 1120East Calton Rd.

LAREDO — El equipode baloncesto femenil de Te-xas A&M International Uni-versity recibe a OklahomaPanhandle State University alas 2 p.m. La entrada gene-ral es de 5 dólares. Visitegodustdevils.com para másinformación.

LAREDO — LaredoTheatre Guild International(LTGI) junto con TAMIU pre-senta “Agnes of God” en elteatro experimental SamJohnson del Center for theFine and Performing Arts hoya las 3 p.m. y 8 p.m. Entra-da general es de 15 dólares,precio especial para estu-diantes y adultos mayores.

LAREDO — El equipode baloncesto varonil de Te-xas A&M International Uni-versity recibe a St. Edward’sUniversity a las 4:30 p.m. Laentrada general es de 5 dó-lares. Visite godustdevils.compara más información.

DOMINGO 16 DE ENEROLAREDO — Laredo

Theatre Guild International(LTGI) junto con TAMIU pre-senta “Agnes of God” en elteatro experimental SamJohnson del Center for theFine and Performing Arts hoya las 3 p.m. y 8 p.m. Entra-da general es de 15 dólares,precio especial para estu-diantes y adultos mayores.

MARTES 18 DE ENEROLAREDO — Oscar Go-

mez, director del Programade Tecnología Radiológica delLaredo Community Collegepresenta una nueva exhibi-ción “Inner Seascapes” apartir de las 10:30 a.m. dehoy en la Biblioteca Senado-ra Judith Zaffirini, del Cam-pus Sur de LCC.

LAREDO — Juego deHockey, los Laredo Bucks re-ciben a Rio Grande Valley Ki-ller Bees a las 7:30 p.m. enLaredo Energy Arena.

MIÉRCOLES 19 DE ENEROLAREDO — El Gateway

City Book Lovers’ Club sereunirá hoy de 6 p.m. a 7:30p.m. en la Sala de Conferen-cias en el Primer Piso de laBiblioteca Pública de Laredo.Se hablará del Mundo Post-Americano por el editor dela revista Newsweek FareedZakaria.

JUEVES 20 DE ENEROWBCA invita a la

Commander’s Reception alas 7 p.m. en Laredo EnergyArena. Se requiere invitación.

VIERNES 21 DE ENEROLAREDO — WBCA y la

Laredo Webb County Bar As-sociation invitan a la Nochede Agave, Cata de Tequila,de 8 p.m. a 12 p.m. en Pa-seo Real. Costo 100 dólarespor persona.

SÁBADO 22 DE ENEROLAREDO — Hoy es la

16ta edición del MenudoBowl, Cook-off, organizadopor Laredo Crime Stoppersen LIFE Fairgrounds de laCarretera 59. La entrada esde 5 dólares por adulto; ni-ños de 12 años y menoresentran gratis. El estaciona-miento también será gratui-to. Más información en el724-1876.

JUEVES 27 DE ENEROLAREDO — Los Har-

lem Globetrotters se presen-tan hoy a las 7 p.m. en laLaredo Energy Arena. Ad-quiera sus boletos en la ta-quilla de LEA.

Agendaen Breve

Zfrontera PÁGINA 7ASÁBADO 15 DE ENERO DE 2011

Hasta el miércoles por latarde habían sido activado118 albergues en 38 munici-pios de Tamaulipas, ante lapresencia del frente fríonúmero 20.

El Gobierno del Estadoreportó que se habían al-bergado a 182 personas has-ta el miércoles por lanoche.

Los mecanismos interin-stitucionales fueron activa-dos para que, además deabrir los albergues se lesentregara a las personascon cobijas, se les brindeatención médica y propor-cione alimentos.

En la coordinación par-ticipan el gobierno estatal,federal y municipales, ade-más de los Sistemas para elDesarrollo Integral de laFamilia locales.

“Mi recomendación a lasinstituciones participantes

primero es salvaguardar lavida de las personasmediante la activación delas medidas preventivas ne-cesarias durante esta tem-porada invernal”, dijo elGobernador Egidio TorreCantú.

Hasta el miércoles, el re-porte de los municipios erael siguiente: 60 en NuevoLaredo; 40 personas en Mi-quihuana; 25 en Madero; 20en Jiménez; 12 en Tampico;12 en Matamoros; siete enMante; tres en Reynosa;uno en Victoria; uno en Lle-ra y uno en San Fernando.

Los refugios cuentan conmedicamentos que llevapersonal del Sector Salud.

Nuevo Laredo

En el caso de Nuevo La-redo, ahí se ubicó un refu-gio temporal en el crucerode Gutiérrez y Luis Caball-ero, en la Colonia Hidalgo.

A los 60 albergados se lesdotó de cobijas, colchonetasy alimentos.

Jesús Vargas Castro, de60 años, dijo que en el al-bergue encontró comida yatención.

“Hoy comí pan, picadil-lo, sopa de arroz y frijoli-tos”, dijo Vargas. “Tienenvacunas para nosotros deigual forma contamos conáreas para descansar yasearnos”.

Durante la noche delmiércoles, autoridades deEU deportaron a 90 person-as por el Puente Interna-cional N° 2, de las cuales 60fueron canalizadas a las di-ferentes terminales de au-tobuses para retornarlos asus lugares de origen, y 30fueron enviadas refugio lo-

cal.

ClasesEn tanto, ante las bajas

temperaturas el Secretariode Educación en Tamauli-pas, Diódoro Guerra Rodrí-guez, reiteró que “los pa-dres de familia podrán deci-dir si envían o no a sushijos a clases cuando el ter-mómetro marque 5º C omenos”.

Las clases nunca fueronsuspendidas y se otorgarona quienes pudieron asistir.

El permitir el criterio alos padres tiene como pro-pósito proteger a los estu-diantes, dijo Guerra,

En caso de asistir a clas-es, la Secretaría de Educa-ción recomienda asistir a laescuela con ropa adecuadapara la temporada invernal,así como suspender las ac-tividades al aire libre cuan-

do las condiciones atmos-féricas no sean las apropia-das.

SaludPor otra parte se han

creado filtros sanitarios ala entrada de los plantelespara identificar a quienespresenten cuadros respira-torios como catarro, tos,fiebre o malestar general, yen casos especiales se suge-rirá a los padres de familiaque sus hijos guarden repo-so en casa, debiendo recibiratención médica e incorpo-rarse a clases en cuanto serecuperen, indica un co-municado de prensa.

También se está promo-viendo el lavado frecuentede manos, en particulardespués de toser o estornu-dar, así como el uso de pa-ñuelos desechables para cu-brirse boca y nariz.

ACTIVAN ALBERGUES EN TAMAULIPAS

Alerta ante frente fríoTIEMPO DE ZAPATA DIÓDORO GUERRA:

Dijo que se respe-tará criterio depadres de familia.

Con el objetivo de reacti-var la economía rural dela zona ribereña fue crea-do el programa “Estrate-gias de Comunidades Seg-uras Frontera Chica delEstado de Tamaulipas”con recursos de 23.1 mil-lones de pesos.

Ciudad Mier recibirálos recursos de manera in-mediata.

Se trata de un plan con-formado por el Gobiernode Tamaulipas y depend-encias federales tras laprimera reunión mensualde la Comisión Intersecre-tarial del Consejo Estataldel Desarrollo Rural Sus-

tentable.La Secretaría de Desar-

rollo Rural y la Secretaríade Agricultura, Ganadería,Desarrollo Rural, Pesca yAlimentación (SAGARPA)determinaron aplicar re-cursos de inmediato almunicipio de Mier ante lademanda de apoyos de losproductores cuyos recur-sos coordinará la Comi-sión Intersecretarial.

Los recursos también

serán complementadoscon la gestión de más de800,000 pesos que Torre ca-nalizó para el sector ga-nadero de Mier dentro delprograma Activos Produc-tivos.

El Secretario de Desar-rollo Rural Jorge AlbertoReyes Moreno aclaró queel resto de los municipiosrecibirán apoyos económi-cos para lograr su reacti-vación, previa evaluación

de daños ocasionados ensus unidades de produc-ción.

En esta Comisión Inter-secretarial participan laComisión Nacional de Zo-nas Áridas (CONAZA), elFondo Nacional de Apoyopara las Empresas en Soli-daridad (FONAES), la Sec-retaría de Medio Ambi-ente y Recursos Naturalesy la Secretaría de Econo-mía.

ESTADO DECIDE PROGRAMA DE AYUDA AL CAMPO

Ciudad Mier será de las primeras zonas del estado en recibir el apoyo de un programa emergente de rescate. Entre las áreas a atenderse encuentra el campo.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Determinaron aplicar recursos de inmediato al municipio de Mier ante la demanda de apoyos de los productores.

MÉXICO — Un total de34.612 personas murieronen hechos de violencia re-lacionados con el narco-tráfico en los cuatro añosque pasaron desde que elpresidente Felipe Calderónle declaró la guerra a loscárteles de la droga, segúndatos que presentó el miér-coles el gobierno federal.

Las muertes violentasrelacionadas con el narco-tráfico subieron un 63%en 2010, cuando hubo15.273. En 2009, hubo 9.616asesinatos de este tipo.

La tasa de homicidiossubió en la primera mitaddel año, pero luego se esta-bilizó y declinó un 11% enel último trimestre, dijo elvocero federal de temas deseguridad, Alejandro Poi-ré, al presentar una basede datos sobre los crí-menes relacionados con elnarcotráfico.

“Efectivamente, 2010 hasido un año de extrema vi-olencia”, dijo Calderón enla reunión de organiza-ciones de lucha contra elcrimen en que se presentóel sistema. “Todos estamosconscientes de que atrave-samos tiempos difíciles enmateria de seguridad”.

El gobierno dijo que encuatro años hubo 30.195ejecuciones, 3.075 muertesen tiroteos entre bandascriminales y 527 enataques contra las autori-dades.

Los cárteles mexicanosse disputan diferentes re-giones del país con altosniveles de violencia desdeque Calderón lanzó suofensiva contra ellos pocodespués de asumir el car-go el 1 de diciembre de2006.

Calderón dijo que granparte de las muertes delaño pasado fueron partedel enfrentamiento entrela banda de los Zetas y suantiguo aliado, el Carteldel Golfo. Tanto el presi-dente como otros funciona-rios destacaron que cercade la mitad de los asesina-tos fueron en tres estadosnorteños: Chihuahua, Si-naloa y Tamaulipas.

El presidente dijo quelos 31 gobiernos estatalesdeben contribuir más a lalimpieza de las fuerzas deseguridad locales y a la lu-cha contra el crimen, yaque el federal hace suparte.

Méxicoreporta34.612

muertes Calderón: se viventiempos difíciles

POR MARK STEVENSONASSOCIATED PRESS

AGUA PARA TODOS EN CIUDAD MIER

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Ciudad Mier

El Presidente Municipal de Ciudad Mier, Alberto González Peña tuvo a su cargo el banderazo de inicio de la obra de interconexión de redde agua potable cabecera municipal, el 11 de enero. La obra tiene por objetivo abastecer de agua a Ciudad Mier sin contratiempos.

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011

CORAL GABLES, Fla.— Republican speakers ata conference on reachingHispanic voters urged theparty to tone down itsrhetoric on immigrationand to take up comprehen-sive reform in Congress,warning that the partycould lose ground with thecountry’s increasingly di-verse citizenry if itdoesn’t.

“(Hispanics) will be theswing voters as they aretoday in the swing states.If you want to elect a cen-ter-right president of theUnited States, it seems tome you should be con-cerned about places likeNew Mexico, Arizona, Ne-vada, Florida, Texas, plac-es where but for the His-panic vote, elections arewon and lost,” said formerFlorida Gov. Jeb Bush,who co-chaired the confer-ence organized by the newHispanic Leadership Net-

work. But those gathered at

the South Florida confer-ence seemed split overwhether the GOP’s lack ofHispanic support is sim-ply because of the party’stone, or if there’s a more

substantive problem withthe GOP’s policies.

“If you think it’s abouttone, you have missed thepoint,” independent col-umnist Ruben Navarettetold the audience of morethan 300 at the Biltmore

Hotel in the Miami suburbof Coral Gables.

Other speakers blameda liberal bias in the mediaand a few extreme voicesin the party.

Lincoln Diaz-Balart, theFlorida Republican who

retired from Congress thisyear and has long cham-pioned immigration re-form, suggested Republi-cans need to work theirtone and message.

“The decibels have to belower,” he said. “It doesn’tmatter how good our poli-cy positions are, if we areperceived as being anti-immigrant, we cannot bethe majority party.”

Diaz-Balart also urgedcongressional leaders toquickly take up a compre-hensive immigration billthat a bipartisan group oflegislators has quietlyworked on for months.Diaz-Balart promised thenew proposal would ad-dress previous concernsabout people in the coun-try illegally earning resi-dency before those whofollow the rules.

“It solves many impos-sible-to-solve issues,” hesaid, “including makingsure people waiting legal-ly get preference.”

The daylong conference

is the latest of several newRepublican efforts toreach out to Hispanics,who have voted over-whelmingly for Democratsin recent presidential elec-tions. Former HouseSpeaker Newt Gingrich, apossible 2012 presidentialcandidate, announced asimilar effort in Washing-ton, D.C., last month withhis Americanos group.The conservative HeritageFoundation also now has aSpanish website, Liberta-d.org. Meanwhile, AlfonsoAguilar, former PresidentGeorge W. Bush’s first citi-zenship and immigrationczar, runs the Latino Part-nership for ConservativePrinciples.

The Hispanic Leader-ship Network is backed byformer Minnesota Sen.Norm Coleman, whoseAmerican Action Networkfunneled more than $30million in campaign fundsto Republicans in about 30congressional races lastyear.

GOP: Anti-immigration stance hurts partyBy LAURA WIDES-MUÒOZ

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Former U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart gestures as he speaks on Friday, during a Republican gathering atthe Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Fla., to improve the party’s outreach to Hispanic voters. Diaz-Balartsaid Republicans can’t be the majority party if they are perceived to be against immigration.

Photo by Wilfredo Lee | AP

Sofia Whitcombe beganher day with the startlingrealization that she mightnot be exactly who shethought she was.

“My whole life, I thoughtI was a Capricorn,” the 25-year-old publicist said.“Now I’m a Sagittarius? Idon’t feel like a Sagittari-us!”

It felt, she said, like arug had been pulled fromunder her feet.

“Will my personalitychange?” she mused. “Ca-pricorns are diligent andregimented, and super-hard-working like me. Sag-ittarians are more laidback. This is all a little off-putting.”

People reacted on socialnetworks Friday to the“news” that the stars haveshifted alignment, astrolog-ically speaking. No matterthat the astronomy instruc-tor who started it all in aweekend newspaper inter-view said, it was an old sto-ry — very old; 2,000 yearsold, actually — and that as-trologists were insisting itwouldn’t change a thing.The story had traveledaround the blogospherelike, well, a shooting star.

Some seemed angry. “I believe it’s a zodiac

scam,” said Jose Arce, a 38-year-old from Fort Lee, N.J.,who runs a body shop. “I’veknown myself to be a Sagit-tarius, I believe, since I wasborn. So to come up now

with some new sign? It’sunacceptable!”

But others weren’t soready to curse the stars.Kathy Torpey always feltlike she was “a Scorpiotrapped in a Sagittarianbody” — emotional andcreative, she said, morethan competitive and intel-lectual like Sagittarians.

So on Friday, eventhough she pays little heedto horoscopes, Torpey saidshe was thrilled to discoverthat she may have alwaysbeen a Scorpio, after all.

“You have no idea whatrelief and joy I felt afterhearing the wonderfulnews of the zodiac chang-

es,” wrote the 43-year-oldmother of two from WillowGrove, Pa., in an e-mail,tongue-in-cheek to be sure.“Up until now, I felt likemy whole life has been alie!”

Astrologers across thecountry reported a wave ofcalls, e-mails or websitehits from clients.

“People are more at-tached and loyal to theirsigns than they thought,”said Eric Francis, editor ofPlanetWaves.net, who saidhe had had 25,000 hits onhis site since midnight.“It’s interesting how manypeople are panicking theirsign is wrong.”

Astounded by all the ker-fuffle was the man whostarted it, astronomy in-structor Parke Kunkle.

In an interview Sundayin the Star Tribune of Min-neapolis, Kunkle had ex-plained the Earth’s wobblyorbit means it’s no longeraligned to the stars in thesame way as when thesigns of the zodiac werefirst conceived, about 5,000years ago. That means,Kunkle said, that when as-trologers say the sun is inPisces, it’s really in Aquar-ius, and so on.

“Astronomers haveknown about this sinceabout 130 B.C.,” Kunkle

told The Associated PressFriday in his office at theMinneapolis Communityand Technical College, hisphone ringing constantly,as it had since the articlecame out. (One person hadeven demanded: “Give memy sign back.”)

“This is not new news.Almost every astronomyclass talks about it.”

New news or old, mostpeople had never heard itbefore. And one of themore fascinating elementsof the story was talk of anew sign altogether.

By the reckoning of Kun-kle and other astronomers,astrologers are not only a

month off in their zodiacsigns, but they are neglect-ing a 13th constellation,Ophiuchus (Ooh-FEE-yew-kus) the Serpent Bearer, forthose born from Nov. 30 toDec. 17.

According to myth,Ophiuchus became a heal-er when he killed a snakeand another appeared withan herb in his mouth thatrevived the dead one, saidAmy Sayle, an astronomyeducator at the MooreheadPlanetarium at the Univer-sity of North Carolina,Chapel Hill.

Mary-Iris Taylor, a writ-er in St. Louis, had seenthe story of Kunkle’s zodiacon TV, but Friday she reada link a friend had postedon Facebook and realizedshe was an Ophiuchus.

And what, she wondered,did that mean?

“I’d just like to knowwhat I’m supposed to belike now,” she said. “As aSagittarius, I was supposedto be the life of the party —at least, that’s what I want-ed it to mean,” shelaughed. “Now what?”

According to many as-trologists, she shouldn’tworry.

Linda Zlotnick, an as-trologer for 32 years in St.Paul, Minn., said she andfellow astrologers havelong known of the issueraised by Kunkle, but thatthe most commonly usedzodiac — tropical — isn’taffected by it. Zlotnick saidthe sidereal zodiac, whichisn’t as widely used, isbased on the constellations.

Horoscope readers atwitter at changesBy JOCELYN NOVECK AND CHRIS

WILLIAMSASSOCIATED PRESS

Sammy Limon, an apprentice tattoo artist at Atomic Tattoos, shows off his Pisces-inspired tattoo that is still in progress at Atomic Tattoos,on Friday, in Milwaukee. A Minneapolis astronomy professor said Friday that he’s stunned by the attention he’s getting for suggesting thesigns of the zodiac are all wrong.

Photo by Darren Hauck | AP

SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011 Zentertainment PAGE 9A

Boxing event at Civic Center

Los Dos Laredos BoxingProductions will presentseveral bouts at the Lare-do Civic Center on Satur-day.

Promoted by HernanFerreyro, the brother of lo-cal well-known boxer Hec-tor, the event will show-case several local talents,including Eduardo “EddieRamirez” in the six-roundmain event. He will faceRamiro Torres of San An-tonio.

The event, dubbed“Boxing’s Young Guns,”will also include the firstprofessional female boxerfrom Laredo, Christina“Mandy” Fuentes, in a re-match against Maria Ruizof Houston.

Five other matches arescheduled.

Tickets are $8 generaladmission, and people cansit anywhere. Ringsidetickets are $30 and doorsopen at 6 p.m.

For more information,call Ferreyro at 337-2720.

Lingerie show at Tab’ooh North

Tab’ooh North, 201 W.Del Mar Blvd., will host alingerie fashion show onSaturday at 8 p.m.

The intimate clothingstore welcomes couplesand women to take asneak peak at the store’scollection.

They will also haveitems available for pur-chase ahead of Valentine’sDay for private shopping.

For more information,call 222-8787.

Tiesto tickets go on sale today

Ranked No. 1 in theworld for several years,DJ/producer Tiesto ismaking a return to SouthPadre Island duringSpring Break.

In Laredo, tickets go onsale Saturday, Jan. 15, ex-clusively at the tdk storeinside Mall del Norte.General admission tickets

start at $30 and VIP tick-ets are $75.

Tiesto, from the Nether-lands, will perform Friday,March 18, at SchlitterbahnBeach Waterpark.

For more information,call tdk at 753-2489.

Menudo Bowl setfor Jan. 22

The 16th annual Crim-estoppers Menudo Bowl isset for Saturday, Jan. 22, atthe Laredo InternationalFair and Expositiongrounds.

The event will featurefood, merchandise, motor-cyle rides, a team ropingcontest, a children’s area,live music and, of course,plenty of menudo to betasted.

The menudo cook-offcontest kicks off at 11 a.m.and the menudo tastingstarts at 1 p.m.

Yearly, tens of teamscook up some of the best-tasting menudo and a peo-ple’s choice award is givenout. Other categories areshowmanship, media/sponsor and open division.

If you would like to en-ter the contest, the dead-line to apply is today.

Admission is $5 at thedoor and free for children12.

For more information,call 724-1876.

Randy Rogers Bandconcert on Jan. 21The Randy Rogers Band

returns to Casa BlancaBallroom on Friday, Jan.21.

“Burning the Day” isthe Randy Rogers Band’snewest album, releasedlast August. It was the sec-ond-most downloaded al-bum on iTunes (allgenres), just under pop su-perstar Katy Perry. The al-bum was also No. 2 onBillboard’s Country Al-bums chart and sold 29,000units its first week.

Presale tickets are $15and available at Casa RaulWestern Wear South. Theconcert and dance starts 8p.m.

— The Zapata Times

COMING UP

“The baby was discov-ered in a wastepaper basketwith the umbilical cordknotted around its neck.The mother was found un-conscious by the door to herroom ...”

With those words, courtpsychiatrist Doctor MarthaLivingstone describes acrime that was believed tobe committed by the moth-er, Agnes, a young novicenun who insists that thebirth was the result of a vir-gin conception. Doctor Li-vingstone, assigned the caseto determine Agnes’ sanity,runs into strong and curi-ous conflict from MotherMiriam Ruth, the MotherSuperior of the convent. IsAgnes a murderer, guilty ofinfanticide? Is she a victim?Or is she something else en-tirely?

The Laredo TheatreGuild International (LTGI),in cooperation with TexasA&M International Univer-sity, will present John Piel-meier’s gripping murdermystery “Agnes of God.”

The play continues itsrun at TAMIU’s Center forthe Fine and PerformingArts’ Sam Johnson Experi-mental Theatre today andSunday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Directed by Vernon Car-roll, stage managed by Lau-rence Wensel, and producedby Linda L. Howland,“Agnes of God” is the sec-ond play in LTGI’s secondseason and the first of theseason to be presented inthis unique 100-seat intim-ate venue.

“This wonderful and im-portant theater space lets usgrab the audience by thethroat, metaphoricallyspeaking only, of course,”chuckled director VernonCarroll. “I have played inthis venue as an actor (in2008’s “The Best Man,”) anddirected (2009’s “Doubt”) init. The actors are at timesmere feet from the audi-ence, and we are so close tothem they can hear, see, andfeel every nuance andthought that we have, as wedo it. It is a special way to

experience theater for ev-eryone.”

“Agnes of God” features atrio of very different womenthrown together in circum-stances that challenge theirindividual perceptions andbeliefs. Portraying DoctorMartha Livingstone will beCarllyn Walker, who wasseen in this same theaterlast January as Sister Aloy-sius in Doubt, plays at theother end of the faith spec-trum, this time as the athe-ist who believes that her re-ligion is within her ownmind.

“Playing Dr. Livingstoneis a stretch for me. As a be-liever of God, I have to com-pletely empty my mind ofthose thoughts because theDoctor is completely void ofthat belief. She is a strongwoman who believes thatshe can accomplish mira-cles with her mind. Like

her, I too am strong, but Ibelieve that God is the au-thor and finisher of ourfaith.” Carllyn most recent-ly directed the LTGI secondseason opener, The Lion inWinter.

As the Mother Superior,Dee Dee Diaz holds firmlyto the mystery and power ofthe church, as she attemptsto maneuver her young nov-itiate through very complexlegal and psychiatric chal-lenges.

“This role has been quitea challenge for me, particu-larly because it has been 30years since I’ve played a ma-jor role in theater and thefact that the character ofMother Superior that I por-tray, is very different fromwho I really am. Unlike theconfrontational nature ofMother Superior, I ammuch more easygoing.” DeeDee was recently seen in

LTGI’s The Sound of Music,which also featured herdaughter Andrea as one ofthe von Trapp children.

Rounding out the cast isMara Lorena Lopez playingthe title role, the enigmaticand ethereal Agnes. Lopezis making her LTGI debut,but she is not a theater nov-ice. Tickets will be availablefor advance purchase at Fos-ter’s, 202 Del Mar Boule-vard, Suite 101; Blue Top, at101 Hillside Rd., No. 11; andat the TAMIU Bookstore.Tickets are $15 and $10 forstudents with valid ID andSenior Citizens.

For more information,call 319-8610 or visit www.la-redotheaterguild.com.

Gripping murder mysteryLTGI presents‘Agnes of God’

at TAMIU’s SamJohnson Theatre

this weekendSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Martha Louis Livingstone, left, potrayed by Carllyn Walker, smokes a cigarette as Agnes, played by Mara Lo-rena Lopez, speaks to her during a rehearsal for “Anges of God” at the Sam Johnson Theatre at TAMIU.

Photo by Ulysses S. Romero | The Zapata Times

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011

TUCSON, Ariz. — Thefederal judge killed in theArizona shooting rampagewas known for an immi-gration ruling that got himdeath threats, but on Fri-day he was remembered asa man devoted to his fam-ily, his basset hounds andhis Irish-Catholic heritage.

U.S. District Judge JohnRoll had stopped by a su-permarket meet-and-greetfor Rep. Gabrielle Giffordson Saturday when he waskilled, along with five oth-ers. Giffords, recoveringfrom a gunshot wound tothe head, was still in criti-cal condition, but progress-ing.

Documents released Fri-day showed that shootingsuspect, Jared Loughner,22, bought bullets at a Wal-mart, posted “Goodbyefriends” on the Internetand took photographs ofhimself partially clothedand holding a gun.

Roll’s funeral Fridaycame amid tight security,as police officers andSWAT team members pa-trolled the neighborhoodaround St. Elizabeth AnnSeton church. About a doz-en coach buses broughtjudges who knew Roll overthe years.

The speakers focusedless on Judge Roll andmore on John Roll, tender

and at times goofy, andlargely hidden from thosehe served.

“It made it personal,”said Carol Bahill, 61, whosehusband knew Roll fromhis undergraduate and lawschool days at the Universi-ty of Arizona. “You do feellike you knew something

about him personally.” The news media were

barred from the event atthe request of Roll’s familyand for security reasons.The Associated Press inter-viewed mourners, such asBahill, as they left the ser-vice and got an account ofthe funeral.

Roll’s older brother, Ed,told mourners that his fam-ily moved to Arizona fromPittsburgh when Roll was achild because their moth-er’s health was failing anddoctors thought the weath-er might help.

When Roll’s mothereventually died, of a heart

condition, the future judgewas just 15.

Her death deeply affect-ed him and he changed hismiddle name from Paul tohis mother’s maiden nameof McCarthy “to keep thatpart of the family alive,”Bahill said.

His brother said he

stepped in as Roll’s de factoparent, driving him toschool and chaperoninghim on some dances.

Bahill said she appre-ciated gaining more insightinto the private life andpersonality of Roll. His fu-neral comes a day after theyoungest victim, ChristinaTaylor Green, was eulo-gized, also at the samechurch.

Members of Roll’s family,including his sons and fivegrandchildren, participatedin the funeral Mass andspeakers also included achildhood friend, his chiefclerk and a colleague onthe federal bench.

The service ended with arendition of “When IrishEyes Are Smiling.”

Dignitaries attending in-cluded Arizona Gov. JanBrewer as well as Sens.John McCain and Jon Kyl.Former Vice President DanQuayle brought a handwrit-ten message from formerPresident George H.W.Bush, who appointed Rollto the bench in 1991, saidspokesman Adam Gold-berg.

Before Jan. 8, Roll, 63,was known for the deaththreats he received afterhis ruling in a border-crossing case two yearsago. He needed 24-hour pro-tection after he said 16 ille-gal immigrants could file acivil rights claim againstan Arizona border rancher.

Fed judge called fair jurist, family manBy GILLIAN FLACCUS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Norma Itule holds a rose on the street outside the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church before the funeral of U.S. District Judge John Roll onFriday, in Tucson, Ariz. Dozens of dignitaries including former Vice President Dan Quayle are attended the funeral of the federal judge slainduring the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.

Photo by Morry Gash | AP

WASHINGTON — Inretrospect, Gary Peel’sfirst mistake on the roadto his conviction onchild pornographycharges was the affair hebegan in 1974 with hissister-in-law. She was 16at the time.

It probably also wasnot a good idea to takenude pictures of her. Orkeep them for three dec-ades. And it certainlywas not advisable to tryto use the pictures toblackmail his ex-wife,the woman’s sister, intoredoing their divorce set-tlement. Especially be-cause his ex-wife hadgone to authorities, whorecorded the blackmailattempt on tape.

The photos led toPeel’s conviction for pos-session of child pornog-raphy, a conviction thatPeel, once a successfullawyer, now is asking theSupreme Court to over-turn. The justices metFriday to consider ac-cepting new appeals, in-cluding Peel’s, but didn’tannounce any decisions.

“This is a child por-nography case that doesnot involve a child,”Peel’s lawyers told thecourt in their brief. Theyare claiming violationsof the First Amendmentand of the Constitution’sbar against ex post factoconvictions for violatinglaws that were not inplace when an allegedcrime occurred.

In the first place, theyargue, the age of consentin Illinois was 16 in 1974,which they say meansPeel’s affair did not vio-late state law.

There also was no federalchild pornography statute atthe time. It was enacted in1978 and, after being amend-ed, now applies to sexual de-pictions of children youngerthan 18.

The Justice Departmentis urging the court to rejectthe appeal. Peel “is beingpunished for his possessionof child pornography in2006,” Solicitor GeneralNeal Katyal said in a courtfiling. In addition, the gov-ernment disputes the affairbetween Peel and the wom-an was legal at the time.

The court does not evenneed to consider any ofthose issues now, Katyalsaid, because the 7th U.S.Circuit Court of Appeals inChicago has ordered thetrial judge to redo Peel’sprison sentence and throwout a bankruptcy fraud orobstruction of justice con-viction that went along withthe child pornographycharge. Peel had been sen-tenced to 12 years in prison.

The 7th Circuit upheldthe child pornography con-viction, dismissing ques-

tions about whether prose-cutors proved that Peel re-called in 2006 that thewoman in the photo-graphs was 16 at the timethey were taken.

“He had known hersince she was in fourthgrade,” Judge RichardPosner said in describingcontacts between them,“and years later had rep-resented her in her di-vorce proceeding.”

Peel, now in hismid-60s, was a prominentlawyer in Illinois’ MadisonCounty, northeast of St.Louis. He and DeborahPeel divorced in 2003 and,beset by financial difficul-ties, Peel filed for bank-ruptcy in 2005. A shortwhile later, he approachedhis ex-wife, acknowledgingthe affair and telling herabout the photographs.

Peel said he mightmake them public if hisex-wife did not let him outof his financial obliga-tions. He showed her theoriginals at a meeting thatwas being recorded by fed-eral agents.

Old pics of sister-in-law lead tomodern child porn case

By MARK SHERMANASSOCIATED PRESS

MILAN — Inflation wor-ries weighed on world mar-kets as the trading weekdrew to a close on Friday,but strong U.S. bank earn-ings helped Wall Street rally.

China’s move to tightenlending, a move to counterinflation, was accompaniedby a U.S. report that con-sumer prices rose 0.5 per-cent last month, the largestgain since June 2009.

The day before, EuropeanCentral Bank PresidentJean-Claude Trichet hadwarned about inflationrisks in Europe, causing the17-nation currency to rally.

After gaining most of theday, the euro shed 0.12 per-cent to $1.3344 late Friday —the prospect of higher inter-est rates, even months away,tends to boost a currency.

Stocks were shaken bythe news. Even the success-ful eurozone bond auctionsa day earlier failed to buoyEuropean indexes.

“Although the week couldhave been catastrophic hadthe news from Portugal,Spain and Italy not beenquite as upbeat, the air ofcaution that’s settling in iscertainly warranted,” IGMarkets’ Ben Potter said.

European indexes tradeddown all day Friday, beforea mixed closing. Britain’sFTSE was 0.36 percent low-er at 6002.07 while Germa-ny’s DAX was closed up by0.01 percent at 7,075.7. TheCAC-40 in Paris closed up0.21 percent to 3,983.28.

Wall Street opened nar-rowly mixed after the gov-ernment said prices and re-tail sales rose in December,but JP Morgan Chase andother banks later drove ithigher. JP Morgan reporteda 47 percent increase infourth-quarter profits.

The Dow Jones industrialaverage gained 31 points, or0.2 percent, to 11,762. TheStandard & Poor’s 500 indexrose 5, or 0.3 percent, to

1,289. Oil prices fell to $91.02 a

barrel as traders weighedwhether demand in a slowlyrecovering U.S. economywill be enough to pushcrude above $100 soon. Thedollar rose against the yenat 82.85.

Japan’s stock averageclosed down 0.9 percent at10,499.04 after Prime Minis-ter Naoto Kan’s Cabinet re-signed and a new govern-ment was put in place in abid to revive the economy.

Investors were takingprofits after the Nikkeiclosed at an eight-monthhigh on Thursday, and thedollar’s fall under the 83-yenline hurt exporters.

South Korea’s Kospi rose

0.9 percent to 2,108.17, thethird time this week that ithas reached a record high.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200gained 0.1 percent to 4,801.50and those in India and thePhilippines also rose. Index-es in Taiwan, Singaporeand New Zealand fell.

Chinese shares closedlower before the centralbank announced it hadraised the amount of moneythat banks must keep on re-serve for the seventh timein a year.

Stock markets hurt byglobal inflation concerns

By COLLEEN BARRYASSOCIATED PRESS

Trader John Lotti works on the floor of the New York Stock Ex-change on Wednesday.

Photo by Richard Drew | AP

SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011 THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A

Alicia Ch. Muñoz, 67,passed away Monday, Jan.10, 2011, in McAllen.

Ms. Muñoz is precededin death by her husbandFernando Muñoz; parentsAlfonso (Teresa M.) Cha-pa; and brothers MiguelAngel Chapa, Roel Chapaand Javier Chapa.

Ms. Muñoz is survivedby her children Judge An-na M. (Rudy) Guerra,Judge Fernando Jr. (AnaMaria) Muñoz, Fidel Al-fonso Muñoz and AlmaArianna Muñoz (Juan Ar-turo Garcia); grandchil-dren Jessica Ann (Con-rad) Hein, Militza AnnGuerra, Ayacel Anahi Mu-ñoz, Fernando Muñoz III,Leonardo Javier Muñoz,Adelina Vega and RyanVega; great-granddaught-er Janessa Kayleen Hein;brothers Melecio, Arman-do, Alfonso, Roehl and An-gel; sisters Dora Chapa,Magda Lopez, Norma Cha-pa, Alma Garcia and Blan-ca Chapa; and by numer-ous nephews, nieces, oth-er relatives and friends.

Visitation hours wereheld Wednesday, Jan. 12,

2011, from 5 to 9 p.m. witha rosary at 7 p.m. at RoseGarden Funeral Home.

The funeral processiondeparted at 9:15 a.m.Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011,for a 10 a.m. funeral Massat San Pedro Mission inLopeño. Committal servic-es followed at Falcon Cem-etery.

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

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

Alicia Ch. Muñoz

WASHINGTON — TheObama administration onFriday ended a high-techsouthern border fencescheme that cost taxpayersnearly $1 billion but didlittle to improve security.Congress ordered the high-tech fence in 2006 amid aclamor over the porousborder, but the projectyielded only 53 miles ofprotection.

Homeland Security Sec-retary Janet Napolitanosaid the lesson of the mul-timillion-dollar program isthere is no “one-size-fits-all” solution for security.

Napolitano said the de-partment’s new technologystrategy for securing theborder is to use existing,proven technology tailoredto the terrain and popula-tion density of each regionof the nearly 2,000-mileU.S-Mexico border. Thatwould provide faster tech-nology deployment, bettercoverage and more bangfor the buck, she said.

Although it has beenwell known the virtualfence project would bedumped, Napolitano in-formed key members ofCongress Friday that an“independent, quantita-tive, science-based reviewmade clear” the fence,known as SBInet, “cannotmeet its original objectiveof providing a single, inte-grated border securitytechnology solution.”

The fence, initiated in2005, was to be a networkof cameras, ground sen-sors and radars that wouldbe used to spot incursionsor problems and decidewhere to deploy BorderPatrol agents. It was sup-posed to be keeping watchover most of the southernborder by this year.

Instead, taxpayers endedup with about 53 miles ofoperational “virtual fence”in Arizona for a cost of atleast $15 million a mile, ac-cording to testimony incongressional hearings.

Sen. Joe Lieberman,chairman of the Senate’sHomeland Security andGovernmental AffairsCommittee, said the SBI-net concept was unrealis-tic from the start. Napoli-tano’s decision “ends along-troubled programthat spent far too much ofthe taxpayers’ money forthe results it delivered,”said Lieberman, I-Conn.

The high-tech fence wasdeveloped as part of aBush administration re-sponse to a demand fortighter border securitythat arose amid immigra-tion debate in Congress.

The Bush administra-tion awarded Boeing athree-year, $67 million con-tract. Then-Homeland Se-curity Secretary MichaelChertoff said at the time

the department was “look-ing to build a 21st centuryvirtual fence.”

But the fence had a longlist of glitches and delays.Its radar system had trou-ble distinguishing betweenvegetation and people inwindy weather, camerasmoved too slowly and sat-ellite communications alsowere slow. Although someof the concept is in use intwo sections of Arizona,the security came at toohigh a cost.

DHS and Boeing offi-cials have said that theproject called for puttingtogether the first of itskind “virtual fence” tooquickly by combining off-the-shelf components thatweren’t designed to belinked.

Mississippi Rep. BennieThompson, top Democratof the House Homeland Se-curity Committee, said thecommittee held 11 congres-sional hearings on thefence project and commis-sioned five reports by theGovernment Accountabili-ty Office, which blastedthe project. Thompson,who chaired the commit-tee until Republicans took

over the House thismonth, called the project agrave and expensive disap-pointment.

Last January, Napolita-no suspended spending onthe project beyond workon two phases of the fencein Arizona. She ordered astudy to determine wheth-er SBInet could be fixed soit worked effectively andfulfilled its original goal.She also asked for a studyto come up with lowercost, equally effective al-ternatives. She used $50million meant for thefence to buy other technol-ogy and Border Patrol ve-hicles.

Boeing was the contrac-tor for SBInet. Despite theproblems, the HomelandSecurity Departmentgranted Boeing a secondone-year option on a three-year contract to work withthe department for mainte-nance and upkeep of thetwo Arizona sections thatare operational. Thatagreement continuesthrough September.

Some technologies fromthe project, such as sta-tionary radar and infraredand optical sensor towers,

will be used in future bor-der security that willlargely rely on mobile sur-veillance systems, un-manned aerial vehicles,thermal imaging devicesand tower-based remotevideo surveillance sys-tems. Money that was pro-vided in an interim spend-ing bill for the high-techfence will go to the proventechnologies.

The agency said in a re-port that it does not intendto use the existing Boeingcontract to buy other tech-nology systems for futuresouthwest border security.It also said it will conduct“full and open competi-tion” for elements in thenew border security plan.

The Homeland SecurityDepartment has beenstudying other areas of thesouthern border to decidewhat technology and otherresources would best beefup security in those areas.An initial proposal of tech-nology needed to monitorthree sectors — El Paso,which includes New Mexi-co; San Diego and the RioGrande Valley of Texas —was to be done by thismonth.

High-tech fence put to restBy SUZANNE GAMBOA

ASSOCIATED PRESS

This undated picture provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows a prototype of a towerfor a virtual fence along the U.S.-Mexico border at a test facility in Playas, N.M. The Obama adminis-tration on Friday ended a high-tech southern border fence scheme that cost taxpayers nearly $1 bil-lion but did little to improve security.

Photo by U.S. Customs and Border Protection/file | AP

BROWNSVILLE — Jim-my Paz is 69 now, but hewell remembers how heand his boyhood palswould follow “Tarzan” mat-inees with a bicycle trip totheir own jungle forest onthe banks of the RioGrande.

Sustained by mayon-naise jars full of water andpaper bags full of tortillas,they hunted in the thick fo-liage for elephants and alli-gators to a live soundtrackof rustling palms and chat-tering chachalacas.

“We never saw them, butwe were sure we heardthem,” Paz said.

It’s the same enchant-ment Paz hopes to seeagain in the faces ofschoolchildren broughtthrough the Sabal PalmSanctuary, a 527-acre tractthat is the last large standof the subtropical palm spe-cies in the United States.

Faced with money prob-lems and the uncertaintiesposed by the Department ofHomeland Security’s bor-der fence, Audubon Texasin May 2009 closed thesanctuary. The wetlandsrecreated to mimic whatwas once natural floodingof the Rio Grande began todry up. The visitors centergathered dust. Pieces ofroofing began falling away.

But thanks to an agree-ment with the Gorgas Sci-ence Foundation ofBrownsville, the sanctuaryreopened Jan. 3 and Paz re-

turned as manager, al-though for now unpaid. ByJan. 4, a representativefrom a local school was onsite arranging a visit.

“For school kids, it’s amagical experience,” Pazsaid during a walk throughone of the sanctuary’sthree miles of nature trail.“

An armadillo bustledacross the path. A long-billed thrasher sang outfrom the brush. Coyote scatdotted the ground, rich,Paz explained, with an en-zyme needed to makesprout the dung’s semi-di-gested palm seeds.

Palm forests once dom-inated the lower RioGrande delta, so much sothat the Spanish explorerAlonso de Pineda calledthe river “Rio de las Pal-mas.” It’s estimated asmany as 40,000 acres of mil-lennia-old palm forest oncelined the river, only to beleveled as farming tookhold of the region aroundthe turn of the 20th centu-ry.

When the Rio Grandebecame the new border,Frank Rabb described as a“rancher, farmer, land pro-moter, politician, intriguer,and wheeler-dealer,” estab-lished what became an ele-gant plantation propertyand riverboat landing.

The plantation house,completed in 1892, becamefor Rabb a place to sit onthe wrap-around porch andwatch the river — the re-gion’s “highway” beforethe railways came in.

Palm Sanctuary isone of the last

By LYNN BREZOSKYSAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011

Vela said.Most cities or counties

do not allow eight-linerbusinesses; however, Lare-do is one city that has al-lowed them to exist with ayearly permit tax of $250.

The county will chargea $500 per machine fee to

discourage eight-linterowners from opening theirbusinesses in ZapataCounty, Rathmell said.

“(Commissioners Court)felt that would be a rea-sonable amount,” Rath-mell said. “It’s not an ob-scene amount, it’s an

amount that will makethese business ownersthink twice.”

The revenue supplied bythe permit fee will be usedfor the code enforcementdepartment to control ille-gal dumping in the countyand also to help the ani-

mal control department,as well as other county is-sues, Rathmell said.

“It’s going to help withissues that affect our dailylives,” Rathmell said.

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

8-LINER Continued from Page 1A

Given where Zapata islocated, the museumdoors have to be hurri-cane-proof, the judge said.

“Other doors were se-lected by the architect andwill be installed as soonas the judge approvesthem,” said project coordi-nator Mario Gonzalez-Da-vis.

Rathmell will wait onan official progress reportby the architect before ap-proving the hurricane-proof doors, he said.

The county is still wait-ing on a $1 million federalgrant reimbursement forthe construction of theAEC.

Zapata County Econom-ic Development CenterPresident Peggy Umphres-Moffett assured the courtthe money is on its way.

“The final review hasbeen completed and fund-ing is coming,” Umphres-Moffett said. “Safety viola-tions still need to be com-pleted on the county’spart and a timeline is stillnot sure, but it will bepaid.”

The court also reviewedthe progress of the CACSTHealth Clinic the countypurchased a few monthsago.

A lien release is stillpending from the InternalRevenue Service, Commis-sioner Eddie Martinezsaid.

After discussing wherecounty expenditures arebeing made, the court dis-cussed how to bring inmore revenue while con-trolling the eight-linerbusinesses that haveboomed in Zapata Countythe last few years.

In order to bring inmore revenue and controlthe eight-liner businesses,the court hired consultantHector Uribe to help withan ordinance and the li-censing of the machines.

The County Commis-sioners passed that ordi-nance Monday. It goes intoeffect Feb. 1.

The county plans to col-lect a fee of $500 per ma-chine per year from eight-liner business owners.

The Code EnforcementDepartment will be giventhe task of regulating andenforcing the businesses,Rathmell said.

Also at the meeting, thecounty is looking into re-cording and broadcastingregular meetings for pub-lic access.

The technology is al-ready in place.

Brian Martinez, execu-tive clerk for the countyjudge, said the problem iswith the bandwidth.

The court will now con-sider expanding the band-width to hold large files,as people would have todownload two- or three-hour long video footage.

Another option wouldbe to create a link, saidTreasurer Romeo Salinas.

The cost for the expan-sion of bandwidth is ap-proximately $500 a year,Salinas added.

Making their meetings

available over videomakes the court more ac-countable, commissionerssaid.

“We need to keep ourcourt transparent,” Velasaid.

“I agree,” Martinez add-ed.

In other business, thecourt was approached bySouth Texas Council onAlcohol and Drug Abuse(STCADA) Executive Di-rector Romeo Rodriguezabout the ongoing issue ofheroin use, overdoses, anddeaths among adolescents.

Zapata County Inde-pendent School Districtand Serving Children andAdolescents in Need(SCAN) have joinedSTCADA in its effort toestablish drug awarenessand prevention programsto eliminate and/or re-duce the number of inci-dents.

“We’re going to take avery aggressive ap-proach,” Rodriguez said.“We need to take an activeapproach on prevention.”

The organizationswould like the county tojoin in the effort and thecourt agreed to get in-volved.

“We need to get in-volved and get to the bot-tom of what is going on,”Vela said. “Somethingneeds to be done aboutgetting these pushers.”

Other approved itemsinclude rescinding the payincentives for the tax col-lector/assessor’s depart-ment and the requirementthat any proposed countypay increases be present-ed during the county bud-get process only.

The court also approveda total of 20 members forthe Zapata County Histor-ical Commission to servethe required two-yearterms with the addition ofLaura E. Ramirez, AnaKatrina Ramirez, andJose Luis Elizondo.

Lastly, the court ap-proved a resolution oppos-ing the application withthe Texas Railroad Com-mission for a commercialsurface disposal facilitypermit by Texas EnergyServices L.P., c/o Gordonand Lawton, Inc., to uti-lize land treatment andland farm cells and drill-ing fluid disposal pits inSan Ygnacio.

“We are not in supportof that,” Rathmell said.

In executive session, thecourt discussed the coun-ty health clinic fund ac-count, a demand letterand potential litigationwith the consultation ofan attorney.

The court did not takeaction on those items.

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

COURT Continued from Page 1A

In executive session, the court discussed the countyhealth clinic fund account, a demand letter andpotential litigation with the consultation of anattorney.

“When my uncle died,he was a Vietnam veter-an and Ben played taps”said his mom, NormaCantu, as she was sur-rounded by family in herZapata home Jan. 11.

“He always wanted toplay because he saidthey were heroes, andnow they’re going to beplaying for him. Hewould play it and it gaveme chills, he would puthis heart in it. I wouldsay, ‘You have to makethat trumpet cry,’ and hewould.”

Arriving from DoverAir Force Base in Dela-ware, with his casket be-ing accompanied by hisnewly-wed wife, Pfc. Ste-phanie Armendariz-La-ningham, the fallen sol-ider touched base inMcAllen over the week-end.

Funeral services arescheduled to be heldMonday, with visitationto be held from 3 to 9p.m.

A rosary is scheduledto be held at 7 p.m. Mon-day.

A funeral processionwill depart at 9:45 a.m.from Rose Garden Funer-al Home for a 10 a.m.Mass at Our Lady ofLourdes Catholic Churchon Tuesday.

Interment will followwith a procession to con-tinue to Mission, wherehe will be buried withfull military honors atRio Grande Valley StateVeterans Cemetery.

“He just wanted to bein the military so much,”said Cantu, about hisson’s vision, he held

since he was a youngboy.

“When he graduatedfrom high school hewanted to leave and Italked him out of it. I or-dered him to go to col-lege …He came homeone day and he said,‘Mom, I’ve tried it yourway, but what would yousay if I joined the Army?’And, I said, ‘OK, we’ll gotalk to the recruiters.’But he said, ‘No, mom, Ijoined the Army.’ I wasreally proud of him forfollowing his dream.”

Following his olderbrother’s example, hisbrother, Joseph “Joey” E.Cantu, also enlisted inthe Army.

“We had been talkingabout joining the Armyfor a long time,” said hisbrother. “We always saidwe were going to do it.But when I found out heenlisted, at first I feltlike he had done some-thing without me. But Iwas proud of him; it wasa decision he made allhis own.”

Laningham, a graduateof Zapata High School,joined the Army in 2009.

He was deployed to Af-ghanistan in Octoberand was assigned to the2nd Battalion, 30th Infan-try Regiment, 4th Bri-gade Combat Team, 10thMountain Division, atFort Polk. La.

“He always had a smileon his face,” said hismother. “He loved beinga solider. What betterway for him to rest?”

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

SOLDIER Continued from Page 1A

INDIANAPOLIS — For IUPUIcoach Ron Hunter, the game onSaturday is all about the shoes.

He’s taking his off to help col-lect more for the world’s impov-erished children.

It’s Hunter’s fourth annualshoeless home game. He will gobarefoot against South DakotaState and endure sore feet for afew days for the sake of charity.

“A day

doesn’t go by that I don’t dosomething for this cause,” Hun-ter said Thursday night, justminutes after beating North Da-kota State 67-64. “You know, if Icouldn’t do this, I’d never takeanother job. Thankfully, ourchancellor here allows me to doit.”

Going shoeless has neverbeen easy for a coach known forpacing the sidelines, talkingwith players and officials and,yes, repeatedly stomping his

feet. On Thursdaynight, the

manwho

oncecele-

brated winning a conferencetourney with a bellyflop in asuit, put another black mark onthe courtside advertisement bykicking the scorer’s table.

Try doing that without shoes. “Usually, I tell the players ’I’m

going shoeless, so play hard.’ If Ihad gone shoeless today, I wouldhave broken my foot,” said Hun-ter, with a laugh.

He considers that a smallprice given what he has wit-nessed since 2008, his first shoe-less game. Back then, he wasimploring IUPUI fans to joinhim in going barefoot. Now oth-ers have joined the cause.

Last year, more than 2,000 col-lege, prep and AAU coacheswent without shoes. Last Easter,nearly 1,000 pastors acrossAmerica also preached in barefeet and some governors workedwithout shoes.

This year, the North Carolina-based charity has already re-ceived commitments from morethan 1,000 coaches, includingJohn Calipari of Kentucky, PaulHewitt of Georgia Tech, BobMcKillop of Davidson and BradStevens of Butler.

“It took one man (Hunter) to

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Footnote: coach goesshoeless for charityBy MICHAEL MAROTASSOCIATED PRESS

See FOOTNOTE PAGE 2B

Sports&OutdoorsSATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

After missing the playoffs lastyear, the Zapata Lady Hawks’basketball team has been on amission to get into the postsea-son picture.

The Lady Hawks have made astrong showing five games into

the district season.Currently Zapata has a perfect

5-0 record in District 31-3A playbehind the strong play of seniorBrandi King.

“I always tell the girls thatthey have what it takes,” Zapatacoach Clyde Guerra said. “They

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

Brandi King and the Zapata Lady Hawks have had a dominant run through thedistrict season so far.

Courtesy Photo

On top ofdistrictLady Hawks soar on

King’s wings to 5-0 startBy CLARA SANDOVAL

ZAPATA TIMES

See BBALL PAGE 2B

ATLANTA — Bart Starr. Lam-beau Field. Ray Nitschke. Title-town USA. Reggie White. Heck,they even named the Super Bowltrophy after Green Bay’s most fa-mous coach.

Yep, the Packers are just oozingwith tradition.

The Atlanta Falcons? Not somuch.

“We’re fairly new on theblock,” said Roddy White, the Fal-cons’ Pro Bowl receiver. “We’restill trying to prove ourselves.You’ve got to go out there and winplayoff games. That’s what thisleague is all about.”

The Falcons (13-3) are the topseed in the NFC playoffs headinginto Saturday night’s divisionalgame against Green Bay (11-6). At-lanta merely needs to win twomore games — both at the Geor-gia Dome, where the team is 20-4over the last three seasons — toreach the Super Bowl for only thesecond time in franchise history.

Up first, Atlanta will have toget by a franchise with a muchmore impressive resume over thelong haul.

The Packers have won a record12 NFL titles, three more than

any other franchise, a bounty thatincludes three Super Bowls victo-ries. Compare that with the Fal-cons, who have managed just fourdivision titles in 45 years and losttheir lone Super Bowl appearancein 1999. In fact, Atlanta had neverput together back-to-back winningseasons until its current run ofthree in a row.

When it comes to star power,Green Bay is about as good as it

NFL

Falcons take aim attraditional powerGreen Bay must

dispatch Atlanta tobring Lombardi home

By PAUL NEWBERRYASSOCIATED PRESS

Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Rodgersruns with the ball during the first halfof a game in Green Bay, Wisc. on Jan2. Today’s divisional playoff game inAtlanta will serve as a big stage forperhaps the two best young quarter-backs in the NFL.

Photo by Jim Prisching | AP

See FALCONS PACKERS PAGE 2B

PITTSBURGH — Looks likeanother winter classic in Pitts-burgh.

Some NFL rivalries are man-ufactured. Some ebb and flowdepending on the teams’ re-cords. Then there’s Ravens vs.Steelers, one that is as real as itgets. The games usually aremeaningful, with an intensitythat isn’t faked and a physical-ity that caused Pittsburgh widereceiver Hines Ward to label itthe Black and Blue Bowl.

The eighth meeting in threeseasons between AFC North ri-vals that are alike in makeupand personality will leave thewinner one victory short of theSuper Bowl. The survivor of Sat-

urday’s AFC divisional gamemeets the winner of Sunday’sJets-Patriots game in the AFCchampionship game on Jan. 23.

Yes, another big Ravens-Steel-ers game, only a month and 10days since the last. Yet many inBaltimore and Pittsburghcouldn’t wait for it.

“Both sides know when thewhistle blows, you’re going toget what we got and we’re goingto get what they got,” said Rav-ens linebacker Ray Lewis,

whose renowned nastiness fitsperfectly into a rivalry whereemotions run high and scoresrun low. “So, once again — Ilove to use this — here we goagain.”

The Ravens and Steelers tiedwith 12-4 regular-season records,but Pittsburgh earned a first-round bye based on its superiordivision record — one madepossible by its improbable 13-10

NFL

RIVALS ON THECHOPPING BLOCK

After scoring a 25-yard touchdown, Baltimore Ravens running back Willis McGahee does a tomahawk chop during thefourth quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in Kansas City, Mo. Derrick Mason joins in.

Photo by Jeff Tuttle | AP

Ravens, Steelers hope to cut each other out of playoff picture with victory

By ALAN ROBINSONASSOCIATED PRESS While Baltimore is 7-3 in road playoff

games, Pittsburgh is 8-0 — zero losses in40 years — when it meets a division rivalin the postseason.

See RAVENS STEELERS PAGE 2B

PAGE 2B Zscores SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011

win in Baltimore on Dec. 5.The Ravens were within acouple of first downs of se-curing a 10-6 win, but ProBowl safety Troy Polamalucaused a Joe Flacco fumblethat led to Ben Roethlis-berger’s winning 9-yardtouchdown pass with 2:51remaining.

Just like that, a seasonflipped. But Steelers coachMike Tomlin cautions theRavens are capable of “flip-ping the script” in a seriesthat’s so close, each of thelast four games was decid-ed by three points. Thecombined score since 2003is Ravens 302, Steelers 302.

Still, the Ravens are 0-2in the postseason in HeinzField, where new sod wasput down amid a series ofsnowy days that followedthe NHL’s Winter Classicbetween the Capitals and

Penguins on Jan. 1. Thatwas hockey in the rain.This will be football withsnow flurries, temperaturesin the 20s and emotionsthat will be super heated.

Former Steelers line-backer Joey Porter provedthat when he tried to climbaboard the Ravens’ bus andfight Lewis in 2003. So didPlaxico Burress and JamesTrapp when they fought onthe field in 2002. So did theRavens, who stood mockingan oft-sacked Ben Roethlis-berger in 2006. Perhapsthat wasn’t a good idea;Roethlisberger is 6-0against them since then.

The numerous injuriesillustrate the physical na-ture of the rivalry. Porter’sdangerous hit on an unpro-tected Todd Heap in 2004still infuriates the Ravens.Lewis ended running back

Rashard Mendenhall’s roo-kie season by breaking hisshoulder in 2008. Ravenslinebacker JameelMcClain’s helmet hit onHeath Miller last monthcaused a concussion andled to a $40,000 fine. In thesame game, Haloti Ngatasmacked Roethlisberger inthe face, breaking the quar-terback’s nose with a hitthat cost him a $15,000 fine.

“We’re similar styles,we’re physical and we tryto impose our will on eachother,” Steelers nose tackleCasey Hampton said. “Ithink both teams try to seethemselves as bullies.”

For the Ravens, perhapsthere’s a tinge of envy thatthe Steelers always seem togain the upper hand whenit matters; they are 2-8against Roethlisberger. Rav-ens quarterback Joe Flac-

co, who threw two touch-down passes in a 30-7 wild-card dismantling of KansasCity last weekend, is 0-5when he starts againstRoethlisberger.

While Baltimore is 7-3 inroad playoff games, Pitts-burgh is 8-0 — zero lossesin 40 years — when itmeets a division rival inthe postseason.

“Some stats you keep upwith, some you don’t careabout,” Lewis said. “I don’tcare. We can’t pack a bagwith 40 years on it and say,‘Hey guys, look what wehaven’t done in 40 years.’Forget it.”

The Ravens reboundedfrom last month’s loss towin their last five, withHeap — who missed nearlyall the Dec. 5 game with ahamstring injury — mak-ing 10 catches against Kan-

sas City. Ray Rice was heldto 52 yards in the two regu-lar-season games, but is theonly opposing back in 50games to run for more than100 yards against the Steel-ers’ league-leading rushingdefense.

There’s much to worrythe Ravens, too, as theSteelers have won six ofseven.

Polamalu, bothered forweeks by a sore rightAchilles’ tendon, is thehealthiest he’s been sincemidseason. Roethlisberger,under constant pressurelast month from linebackerTerrell Suggs, often useshis size and strength to ex-tend plays that appear tohave broken down. Wide re-ceiver Mike Wallace, whowill be playing in his firstpostseason game, has sevencatches of 40-plus yards and

possesses the kind of speedthe Ravens haven’t seenelsewhere.

“He hit a gear that Ididn’t even know existed ina human being on a littlepop pass Ben threw to him(against Carolina),” Suggssaid. “I was like, ‘Wow,that’s just amazing.”’

There’s often a ‘wow’ fac-tor in Ravens-Steelersgames. Ward knows hedoesn’t want to experiencethe opposite feeling, espe-cially given that, due to theNFL’s unstable labor situa-tion, the loser won’t knowwhen it will play again.

“We know what’s atstake, and whoever winsthis game will have tothink about that loss all off-season,” Ward said. “It’s go-ing to be physical. And itusually comes down to thefourth quarter.”

RAVENS STEELERS Continued from Page 1B

gets. The franchise boasts21 members of the ProFootball Hall of Fame andsurely has at least onemore on the way with BrettFavre, who actually beganhis career with the Falconsbut was traded away in oneof the game’s great person-nel blunders. The Packers’list of greats includes coachVince Lombardi, whose in-fluence on the game was soprofound the NFL put hisname on its championshiptrophy shortly after hisdeath in 1970.

No one has considerednaming a trophy after any-one from the Falcons.Heck, the team has yet tosend even one player toCanton; the best it can dois Eric Dickerson and Tom-my McDonald, two Hall ofFamers who played brieflyfor Atlanta late in their ca-reers. And when it comesto coaches, the team withthe odd-looking bird logocan’t come close to Lom-bardi or Curly Lambeau,who guided the Packers totheir first six NFL titles inthe 1930s and ’40s.

OK, the Falcons did hireone of Lombardi’s assist-ants, Norb Hecker, as theirfirst head coach in 1966.But his record was a veryun-Vince-like 4-26-1, whichpretty much sums up thedivide between these twofranchises.

“That organization overthere, they’ve been doing itfor a long time,” RoddyWhite said. “They’ve prettymuch got the Super Bowltrophy named after theirsquad and their coach. So,they’ve got a lot of good tra-dition. They’ve done a lotof good things in thisleague.”

The Packers insistthey’re looking forward,but there’s no doubtthey’ve got an eye on theirlegacy. Green Bay hasn’twon a Super Bowl sincethe 1996 season. LongtimePackers such as receiverDonald Driver figure that’slong enough.

“We all know exactlywhat sits in front of us,”Driver said. “We want thattrophy. It’s named after us.We need to get it backhome, where it belongs.”

Even though he grew upin Georgia, Packers defen-sive lineman Jarius Wynnnever really cheered for theFalcons. There wasn’tmuch reason, given theirtrack record.

“It would have beenREAL tough to be a Fal-cons fan,” Wynn said.

He played his college ballfor the Georgia Bulldogs, ateam with plenty of historyand titles. Still, it didn’tmatch up to what he foundin Green Bay.

“We had tradition, goingback to Herschel Walkerand winning the national

championship,” Wynn saidof his college team. “Buthere, it’s a whole new lev-el.”

Thankfully for the Fal-cons, Saturday night’sgame won’t be played in ahistory book. They’veearned home-field advan-tage for only the secondtime and intend to take ad-vantage of it. They won’thave to worry about Lom-bardi calling one of his fa-mous sweeps. Or Starrsneaking into a frigid endzone for the winning touch-down.

This game will be playedindoors in the 72-degreecomfort of the GeorgiaDome, contested by playerswho weren’t even bornwhen those guys were dom-inating pro football, in

front of a mostly red-cladcrowd that has helped turnthe Falcons into a virtuallyunbeatable squad on itsown field.

“None of that matters,”Falcons safety WilliamMoore said. “When thoselights come on, those play-ers from the past ain’t play-ing that night. It’s justabout who’s going to comeout and play ball thatnight.”

Atlanta has played somegood ball ever since thenew regime — generalmanager Thomas Dimitroffand coach Mike Smith —took over in 2008. Quicklybouncing back from a mi-serable season in whichfranchise quarterback Mi-chael Vick went to prisonand coach Bobby Petrinoabandoned the team afterjust 13 games, the Falconsmade the playoffs as a wildcard in Year 1 of what ev-eryone figured would be amultiseason rebuilding job.

Injuries scuttled a returntrip to the playoffs in 2009,but the Falcons removedanother stigma from theirsad history by winning thefinal three games to go 9-7— the first consecutivewinning seasons for thefranchise.

Now, it’s three in a row,with the best record in theNFC for good measure.Anything less than a SuperBowl title will be consid-ered a disappointment for ateam loaded with offensivestars (White, quarterbackMatt Ryan, tight end TonyGonzalez, running backMichael Turner) and plen-ty of up-and-comers on de-fense.

“That sure would lookgood on a banner in theDome,” Moore said.

FALCONS PACKERS Continued from Page 1B

Even though he grew up in Georgia, Packersdefensive lineman Jarius Wynn never really cheeredfor the Falcons. There wasn’t much reason, giventheir track record.

Atlanta Falcons punt return specialist Eric Weems (14) reacts afterreturning a punt for a touchdown against the Carolina Panthers inthe first half at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on Jan. 2.

Photo by Dave Martin | AP

are a very athletic team. Iam just happy that theyare practicing and playinggames with great determi-nation. I am very proud ofour team.”

In Tuesday’s districtmatchup against La Feria,the Lady Hawks got off toa slow start, managing on-ly 11 points in the openingquarter and allowing theLady Lions to stay close inthe game.

La Feria posed the mostviable threat to the LadyHawks, with sole posses-sion of first place on theline.

Zapata (15-4) utilized acombination of offensiveexplosiveness from Kingand a great defensive effortby the entire team to walk

away with a 58-39 victory.Zapata started to find its

offensive rhythm in thesecond quarter, going in-side to King and the sure-shooting Selina Mata tostart pulling away from LaFeria.

Mata connected on eightpoints, with the majoritycoming from the perime-ter.

La Feria had no answerfor King who worked theglass and took advantageof her incredible leapingability.

The Lady Hawks playedlast night against La Grul-la on the road to continuetheir quest for a district ti-tle. Read today’s LaredoMorning Times for resultsfrom the game.

BBALL Continued from Page 1B

say yes and that ripple ef-fect has continuedthroughout the last threeyears,” said Todd Melloh,the Samaritan’s Feetspokesman.

Hunter’s goal this yearis to collect 150,000 pairs ofshoes, 50,000 of which willgo to Houston’s impover-ished children during theFinal Four. He did thesame thing in Detroit andIndy the past two years.There has been some dis-cussion about starting asimilar tradition at thewomen’s Final Four.

The NCAA has gotteninvolved, too, organizingthe distribution of shoesand recruiting athletic di-rectors and universitypresidents to help. Thissummer, Hunter is plan-ning to spend five weeksoverseas, handing outshoes.

And the program seemsto expand every year.

For the first time in2010, Samaritan’s Feet vol-unteers washed feet andgave shoes to Indy’s impov-erished children on the

Martin Luther King Jr. ho-liday.

On Monday, 12 more ci-ties will take part in theactivities. Celebrities rang-ing from poet Maya Ange-lou to television announ-cer and former NBA play-er Clark Kellogg, andmusician Big Kenny of thecountry music duo Big &Rich are scheduled to par-ticipate. Jay Hein, the for-mer White House directorof Faith Based Initiatives,is also expected to help.

“We’ve always washedthe feet, and that’s whatdifferentiates us,” Mellohsaid. “We believe the ex-change between the recip-ient and the giver is anamazing exchange of love.”

Since the organizationstarted in 2003, it hashanded out more than 2million pairs of shoesaround the globe. Yet Hun-ter knows that’s still notnearly enough.

The group says morethan 300 million childrenworldwide go shoeless ev-ery day. In almost every in-terview, Hunter encourag-es people to experience lifewithout shoes for a day.

This year, Hunter haspromised to go barefoot atany game where the op-posing coach does thesame. There have alreadybeen two takers — NorthDakota State’s Saul Phil-lips and South DakotaState’s Scott Nagy. Unfor-

tunately, that doesn’t leavemuch time to recover be-tween the games on Feb.10 and 12.

But Hunter, who is 3-1all-time in barefoot games,isn’t worried about his feetor wins or losses.

“I’ll always do it on Mar-tin Luther King weekend,whether we’re home oraway. And if we’re away,I’ll do it again at home an-other time,” Hunter said.“It’s really about losingyour comfort level a littlebit, and when I get off theplane in those countriesand I see those kids, it’slike Christmas Day be-cause their eyes just lightup. You just can’t believeit.”

FOOTNOTE Continued from Page 1B

“You know, if I couldn’t do this, I’d never takeanother job. Thankfully, our chancellor here allowsme to do it.” RON HUNTER, IUPUI COACH

WASHINGTON — Thechairman of the FederalTrade Commission says hisagency is looking into mar-keting claims that somefootball helmets can help re-duce concussions, respond-ing to a senator who wantsthe FTC to investigate whathe called "misleading safetyclaims and deceptive prac-tices" in the sale of new hel-mets and reconditioning ofused ones.

"We agree that these areserious concerns, and willdetermine what action bythis agency may be appro-priate," FTC Chairman JonLeibowitz wrote to Sen.Tom Udall, D.M.

"Given the dangers thatconcussions pose for youngathletes engaged in contactsports, it is essential that ad-vertising for products claim-ing to reduce the risk of thisinjury be truthful and sub-stantiated," he added.

In the letter, obtained Fri-day by The AssociatedPress, Leibowitz said that is-sues involving serioushealth concerns — especial-ly those for children andyoung adults — are a "highpriority for the commis-sion." He said the commis-sion would look at severalfactors "in determiningwhether to take enforce-ment or other action."

Leibowitz was respond-ing to a Jan. 4 letter fromUdall, who said he was“troubled by misleadingmarketing claims by Rid-dell, a leading helmet makerthat supplies the official hel-met to the National FootballLeague.”

He quoted Riddell’s web-site as saying that “researchshows a 31 percent reduc-tion in the risk of concus-sion in players wearing aRiddell Revolution footballhelmet when compared totraditional helmets."

“Yet there is actually ve-ry little scientific evidenceto support the claim," Udall

said, adding that the volun-tary industry standard forfootball helmets doesn’t spe-cifically address concussionprevention or reduction.The senator also mentionedanother helmet manufactur-er, Schutt Sports.

At the time of Udall’s let-ter, Schutt Sports said itnever claimed its helmetswere "concussion reducing."On Friday, the companysaid it didn’t have anythingto add in response to theFTC letter. Riddell, whichhad called Udall’s allega-tions "unfounded and un-fair," had no immediatecomment Friday.

FTC spokeswoman BetsyLordan said the commissioncould decide to launch aninvestigation, but wouldn’tconfirm or deny one until iteither closed the investiga-tion without bringing charg-es, or announced it wasbringing charges of decep-tive advertising.

Stephen Ross, a formerFTC lawyer who now di-rects the Penn State Insti-tute for Sports Law, Policyand Research, said the com-mission has several optionsif it decides to pursue actionagainst companies, includ-ing a cease-and-desist order.

In a statement, Udall saidhe was "pleased and encour-aged that Chairman Leibo-witz shares my serious con-cerns about misleading foot-ball helmet safety claims inadvertising by sports equip-ment companies. This is asafety issue with the poten-tial to impact every childthat plays football."

Last fall, Udall asked theConsumer Product SafetyCommission to investigatewhether safety standardsfor football helmets are ade-quate to protect young play-ers from concussions.

Concussion and otherhead injuries are receivingincreased attention at alllevels of sports, from theNFL on down to Pop War-ner, the nation’s oldest andlargest youth football organ-ization.

FTC tackleshelmet safety,

marketingBy FREDERIC J. FROMMER

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011 THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

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

Dear Readers: Winterand COLD WEATHERmean outside pets need ex-tra care. Here are somehints to keep in mind:

Pet shelters and dog-houses should be kept dry,and up off the ground.

The doghouse shouldbe the correct size for thedog; larger is not better.

Fresh, clean water is amust; check it often so itdoesn’t freeze.

Outdoor pets need toconsume more calories (tokeep their energy up) thanindoor pets.

The best place for ourfurry friends in the winter?Ideally, indoors.

— HeloiseCAT BOXDear Heloise: When pre-

paring to evacuate for ahurricane, my daughtercould not find enough petcarriers for her cats. Myclever husband came to therescue with a large, plasticstorage bin with a lid. Hedrilled lots of air holes inthe sides and the lid, andput the cats in their new“home.” The cats traveledquite safely and even

stayed in the boxes minusthe lids upon arrival. Wealso keep bags of food, hay,fresh cedar shavings andbottled water in an emer-gency box for our othersmall pets. We are pre-pared! — Barbara in Texas

If you live in a disaster-prone area — whether hur-ricanes, floods, fires, earth-quakes, mudslides or tor-nadoes — and have pets,you should be preparedwith a “pets-to-go” tote. —Heloise

FEEDING FISHDear Heloise: When my

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4B THE ZAPATA TIMES Sports SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011

A video making therounds on the Internetshows former tennis starAndre Agassi — tongue-in-cheek? — offering biddersat a charity auction in Tai-wan a chance to see a nudephoto of his wife, SteffiGraf.

One newscast clip —

with nearly 20,000 views onYouTube as of Fridaymorning — shows Agassiholding a plate up for bidsand telling the crowd at anevent this month: “You paymore than $4,000, and I willshow you a picture of mywife — on my phone —naked.”

Later, a man — presum-ably the top bidder — ap-

pears next to Agassi. Ham-ming it up, Agassi motionsto the man to relax andtake deep breaths. Agassithen shows his phone tothe man, who mugs for thecameras.

It’s not clear what pic-ture — Graf as a newborn?— really was on the phone,if there even was a photo atall.

Agassi auctions nudewife photo for charity

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Former ten-nis championAndre Agas-si, right, sitswith to hiswife, formertennis cham-pion, Ger-man bornSteffi Graf,left, during abreak in amixed doubletennis matchtest event onWimbledon’sCentreCourt, inLondon, onMay 17,2009.

Photo by Alastair Grant | AP

LOS ANGELES —Newly released recordsshow the United StatesPostal Service spent$31.9 million sponsoringLance Armstrong’s teamduring the height of therider’s Tour de Francedominance.

Financial records ob-tained by ESPN througha Freedom of Informa-tion request revealed thepreviously undisclosedamount of Postal Servicespending from 2001 to2004, when the federalagency heavily promotedthe rider. Armstrongwon the Tour each yearfrom 1999 to 2005. ESPNreported on the recordsFriday.

The sponsorship couldbecome an issue in ei-ther a federal investiga-tion into doping in pro-fessional cycling, or afederal whistleblowerlawsuit that disgracedcyclist Floyd Landis has

reportedly filed againstArmstrong.

Landis has claimedArmstrong among othersused performance-en-hancing drugs, which —if found to be true —would have been a viola-tion of their agreementwith the Postal Service.

Armstrong has repeat-edly denied doping, andhis attorneys have saidthere never was anywrongdoing regardingthe USPS sponsorship.

“Over the years, manydifferent sponsors haveseen — and continue tosee — the benefits of as-sociating with Lance andhis cycling teams,” Arm-strong spokesman MarkFabiani said in a state-ment.

Several Armstrongteammates and associ-ates have appeared be-fore a grand jury in LosAngeles that has been in-vestigating pro cyclingfor months, but no charg-es have been filed.

Alleged doping may have violated USPS sponsorship

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WICHITA, Kan. — A for-mer University of Kansasathletics official pleadedguilty Friday for his role a$2 million ticket-scalpingscheme, shedding light onhow authorities uncovereda scam that brought downseven other former univer-sity employees.

Rodney Jones, theschool’s former assistantathletic director, admittedhis part in a conspiracythat began in 2005. Thescheme unraveled last year,after the Internal RevenueService noticed an inordi-nate amount of season tick-ets being sold by one brokerwhose checks for about$975,000 were cashed byJones’ friend at the broker’sbank.

Assistant U.S. AttorneyRichard Hathaway revealedat Friday’s hearing that in-vestigators did a "trashpull" at the friend’s houseand discovered all but oneof an undisclosed numberof ticket stubs were in con-secutive order. The uniden-tified friend told agents whoconfronted him that he be-lieved the basketball andfootball tickets had beenlawfully obtained by Jones.

Hathaway also told thejudge that Jones convertedcash from the ticket sales

into money orders inamounts of between $400and $500 to avoid currencyreporting requirements.The government contendsJones got the tickets fromthree other athletics depart-ment employees.

Jones, 42, of Lawrence,was in charge of the Wil-liams Educational Fund,the university’s fundraisingarm that uses the sale oftickets to contribute toscholastic and athleticscholarships for students.Hathaway said Jones hascooperated since being con-fronted by investigators.

His defense attorney, Ger-ald Handley, gave reportersa written statement beforeFriday’s court hearing thatsaid Jones accepted respon-sibility for his role.

"He deeply regrets his in-volvement in this episode.He apologizes to the univer-sity for his conduct," thestatement read. "He hasagreed to and is cooperat-ing with the authorities toresolve the issues that arereferred to in the indict-ment."

Jones pleaded guilty to a

single count of conspiracyfor illegal acts such as wirefraud, interstate transporta-tion of stolen goods and ob-struction in the collectionof income taxes. He couldface up to 20 years in prisonwhen sentenced March 31,but will likely receive lessunder federal sentencingguidelines.

Prosecutors have agreedto recommend a lighter sen-tence if Jones provides sub-stantial assistance to inves-tigators. U.S. District JudgeWesley Brown is not boundby that recommendation.

As part of the plea deal,Jones agreed not to contesta $2 million judgmentagainst him, an amountthat is to be paid jointly byall the defendants.

Brandon Simmons, theschool’s former assistantathletic director for sales,and Jason Jeffries, the for-mer assistant director ofticket operations, pleadedguilty in July to knowingabout the ticket scam andfailing to report it to au-thorities. They will be sen-tenced March 7.

Five other former em-

ployees were indicted on asingle conspiracy count inNovember. Former systemsanalyst Kassie Liebschpleaded guilty to conspiracythis week.

The remaining three de-fendants — former associ-ate athletic director Char-lette Blubaugh; her hus-band, Thomas, a consultantfor the ticket office; and for-mer associate athletic direc-tor Ben Kirtland — are setfor trial in February.

Guilty plea in scalping plotBy ROXANA HEGEMAN

ASSOCIATED PRESS As part of the plea deal, Jones agreed not to contest a$2 million judgment against him, an amount that isto be paid jointly by all the defendants.

BEYOND OZ, AUSTRIA TRAVELED TO QATAR FOR ASIAN SOCCER CUP

Photo by Kin Cheung | AP

South Korea’s playerPark Ji Sung, centre, is

tackled by Australia’splayer Sasa Ognenov-ski, number 6, during

their AFC Asian Cupgroup C soccer match

Australia against SouthKorea at Al Gharafa

Stadium, in Doha, Qatar, Friday.