WEDNESDAYJANUARY 14, 2015

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GARRETT AGREES TO DEALCOWBOYS HEAD COACH SIGNS FIVE-YEAR CONTRACT, 1B

Olga M. Elizondo is the first-ever female to serve as a coun-ty commissioner in Zapata.

Elizondo represents Precinct2, which encompasses NorthZapata and San Ygnacio.

According to the March 4primary election results, Eli-zondo beat her opponents with56 percent, or 377 votes. Her op-ponents were the incumbentGabriel Villarreal and VictorJuan de Dios Gonzalez, whogarnered 32.39 percent and11.59 percent, respectively.

Elizondo has been marriedto Sergio Elizondo for 26 years,

and the couple has three chil-dren: Ivan, Eric and Priscilla.

She said she has resided inZapata her entire life.

Elizondo has served thecommunity in various capaci-ties since the early 1990s. Shewas previously the Presidentof the area’s Little League As-sociation, which she saidpiqued her interest in youthprojects.

She also served as PTO Pres-ident.

“I remember when mygrandfather, Felipe Morales,would tell me that one day Icould be elected into office forall my dedication to our com-munity in Zapata,” Elizondo

told The Zapata Timesvia textSaturday.

“My future projects plansare to have more lighting, im-prove projects that would bene-fit our youth and elderly andfinish street paving.”

Elizondo said she was moti-vated to run for the position ofcounty commissioner afterhearing complaints about thecleanliness of her precinct.

She also said that she planson supporting the sheriff ’s de-partment’s anti-drug program.

“(I plan to) upgrade thesheriff ’s and fire department’sequipment, start planning for

PRECINCT 2

New commissionerElizondo is Zapata’s first female county commissioner

By GABRIELA A. TREVIÑOTHE ZAPATA TIMES

ELIZONDOSee NEW PAGE 11A

Two of the three Zapata resi-dents indicted Nov. 25 on humansmuggling charges pleaded guiltyMonday before a federal magistratejudge in Laredo.

Misti Lea Grandstaff and MarioHumberto Garza III each pleadedguilty to one count of transporting

SMUGGLING CHARGES

Twoplea

guiltyPair attempted to

transport immigrantsBy PHILIP BALLI

THE ZAPATA TIMES

See GUILTY PAGE 11A

AUSTIN — The Texas Legislatureroared back to life Tuesday with plenty ofpomp but also the first House leadershipfloor fight in 40 years — an early hint ofwhat could be bitter policy clashes aheadas re-galvanized Republicans work tokeep sweeping conservative promises ontax cuts, gun rights, education and immi-

gration.Keeping those promises could be even

more difficult, though, as plummeting oilprices may eventually harm Texas’ econ-omy.

The start of the 140-day session fea-tured more ceremony than policy with anotable exception in the House, whereSpeaker Joe Straus, a San Antonio Re-publican, easily beat back a tea-partychallenge to his post.

Second-term Rep. Scott Turner claimedStraus was too moderate and ran againsthim, forcing the lower chamber’s firstfloor vote on the speakership since 1975.But a coalition of Republicans and Demo-crats supported Straus 127-19, trouncingTurner, a former NFL football playerfrom Richardson in suburban Dallas whowas backed by the GOP’s far-right fac-tion.

“Small members sought to divide us up

with misleading and personal attacks,”Straus said. “But you cannot effectivelygovern this House by dividing it.”

Entering his fourth term as speaker,Straus is one of the few veterans return-ing to a top Texas political post. Thelargest shake-up in a generation last No-vember changed the names in power, butnot the party. The GOP still controls ev-

TEXAS POLITICS

LEGISLATURE OPENS AMID OIL WOES

Visitors line up in the Texas Capitol to enter the House Chambers for the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Tuesday in Austin, Texas.

Photo by Eric Gay | AP

House speaker retains post, Republicans work to keep promisesBy JIM VERTUNO AND PAUL J. WEBER

ASSOCIATED PRESS

See LEGISLATURE PAGE 11A

MEXICO CITY — A proposalto free a female vigilante leaderwho holds dual U.S.-Mexico na-tionality has become a subject ofheated debate in Mexico.

The case of Nestora Salgadohas pitted supporters who claimshe is a crime-fighter and victimof a political vendetta, againstvictims-rights activists, who say

freeing her would be an added of-fense to victims of unlawful de-tention.

Salgado returned from Wash-ington state, where she lived andobtained U.S. citizenship, to herhometown of Olinala in southernGuerrero state to head a vig-ilante-style community policeforce.

She was arrested in August2013, after people detained by vig-

ilantes complained they had beenkidnapped. Some said Salgado’sforce had demanded payments inexchange for releasing them.

Last week, Guerrero GovernorRogelio Ortega suggested lastweek that charges against Salga-do be dropped.

But anti-crime activist IsabelMiranda de Wallace said Monday

GUERRERO, MEXICO

Jailed US vigilantebecomes political football

This 2009 family photo provided by Grisel Rodriguez shows Nestora Salgado, whohas been detained since she was arrested Aug. 21, 2013 in the state of Guerrero.

Photo by Grisel Rodriguez | AP file

ASSOCIATED PRESS

See VIGILANTE PAGE 11A

PAGE 2A Zin brief WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2015

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 14Employment Law Update spon-

sored by Laredo Association of HumanResource Management, from noon to 1p.m., Embassy Suites. Contact BerthaSolis at president@lahrm.com or visitwww.lahrm.com.

The Laredo Toastmaster, a pub-lic speaking and leadership club, meetsfrom noon to 1 p.m. at Laredo Cham-ber of Commerce, 2310 San BernardoAve. http://laredotoastmasters.toast-mastersclubs.org.

Aggies are invited to Hal’s Land-ing at 6 p.m. Network and plan the fu-ture of the Laredo A&M Club. ContactBecky Garcia, class of 1998, at 693-8700 or laredoaggies@sbcglobal.net orlaredoaggies.blogspot.com.

American Cancer Society andDoctors Hospital of Laredo monthly ICan Cope Class for people with cancerand their family and friends. Thismonth’s topic is Nutrition During Can-cer Treatment. Second Wednesday ofevery month from 6 to 8 p.m. at Doc-tors Hospital Cancer Treatment CenterLobby. To RSVP or contact Diana Jua-rez at 956-319-3100 or diana.jua-rez@cancer.org.

THURSDAY, JAN. 15The Elysian Social Club hosts its

regular monthly meeting, 7 p.m. toTBA, Maria Bonita Restaurant. Allmembers are encouraged to attend.

Attend BYOBook on the thirdThursday of every month to find outwhat Laredo is reading, bond overbooks and discover new authors.www.laredolibrary.org.

Los Amigos Duplicate BridgeClub will meet at the Laredo CountryClub at 1:15 to 5:00 p.m. Contact Be-verly Cantu at 727-0589.

Contemporary Bible Talk.6:30pm to 7:30pm. Laredo Church ofChrist Chapel, 1505 Calle del Norte,suite 330. Contact Miguel Zuñiga atmglzuniga@yahoo.com or call 286-9631.

FRIDAY, JAN. 16TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Sci-

ence Center Planetarium. Back to theMoon, 6 p.m. Saturn: Jewel of theHeavens, 7 p.m. General admission is$4 for children and $5 for adults. Ad-mission is $4 for TAMIU students, fac-ulty and staff.

SATURDAY, JAN. 17TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Sci-

ence Center Planetarium. The LittleStar that Could, 2 p.m. Stars of thePharoahs, 3 p.m. Back to the Moon, 4p.m. Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 5p.m. General Admission is $4 for chil-dren and $5 for adults. Admission is$4 for TAMIU students, faculty andstaff.

South Texas Food Bank volun-teer day in honor of Martin LutherKing Day. South Texas Food Bankgrounds, 1907 Freight Street in westLaredo, from 8 a.m. to noon. For infor-mation call (956) 324-2432.

TUESDAY, JAN. 20TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Sci-

ence Center Planetarium. Back to theMoon, 5 p.m. Saturn: Jewel of theHeavens, 6 p.m. General Admission is$4 for children and $5 for adults. Ad-mission is $4 for TAMIU students, fac-ulty and staff. 326-DOME (3663) orClaudia Herrera at claudia.herrera@ta-miu.edu, or www.tamiu.edu/planetari-um.

THURSDAY, JAN. 22The American Cancer Society is

rolling out the Red Carpet for the 2015Relay for Life of Webb County at itskickoff party at Laredo Firefighters’Union Hall from 6 to 8 p.m. Call DianaJuarez at 319-3100 or Laura Nañez at286-6955.

FRIDAY, JAN. 23TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Sci-

ence Center Planetarium. Back to theMoon, 6 p.m. Saturn: Jewel of theHeavens, 7 p.m. General Admission is$4 for children and $5 for adults. Ad-mission is $4 for TAMIU students, fac-ulty and staff.

SATURDAY, JAN. 24STCE’s Comic Con at TAMIU

Student Center from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. 20th Annual Crime Stoppers

Menudo Bowl at the LIFE Fairgroundson Highway 59. Gates open 11 a.m.Menudo cooking contest. Call 724-1876.

TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Sci-ence Center Planetarium. The LittleStar that Could, 2 p.m. Stars of thePharoahs, 3 p.m. Back to the Moon, 4p.m.

CALENDARASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 14,the 14th day of 2015. There are351 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in His-tory:

On Jan. 14, 1784, the UnitedStates ratified the Treaty ofParis ending the Revolution-ary War; Britain followed suitin April 1784.

On this date:In 1914, Ford Motor Co.

greatly improved its assembly-line operation by employingan endless chain to pull eachchassis along at its HighlandPark plant.

In 1943, President FranklinD. Roosevelt, British PrimeMinister Winston Churchilland French General Charlesde Gaulle opened a wartimeconference in Casablanca.

In 1952, NBC’s “Today”show premiered, with DaveGarroway as the host, or“communicator.”

In 1954, Marilyn Monroeand Joe DiMaggio were mar-ried at San Francisco CityHall. (The marriage lastedabout nine months.)

In 1963, George C. Wallacewas sworn in as governor ofAlabama with the pledge,“Segregation forever!” — aview Wallace later repudiated.Sylvia Plath’s novel “The BellJar” was published in Londonunder the pen name “VictoriaLucas,” less than a month be-fore Plath committed suicide.

In 1975, the House InternalSecurity Committee (formerlythe House Un-American Activ-ities Committee) was disband-ed.

In 1989, President RonaldReagan delivered his 331st andfinal weekly White House ra-dio address, telling listeners,“Believe me, Saturdays willnever seem the same. I’ll missyou.”

Ten years ago: Army Spc.Charles Graner Jr., the reput-ed ringleader of a band ofrogue guards at the AbuGhraib prison, was convictedat Fort Hood, Texas, of abus-ing Iraqi detainees. (Granerwas sentenced the next day to10 years in prison; he was re-leased from prison in Aug.2011 after serving more than 61/2 years.)

Five years ago: PresidentBarack Obama and the U.S.moved to take charge in earth-quake-ravaged Haiti, dispatch-ing thousands of troops alongwith tons of aid.

One year ago: Sporadic vi-olence flared across much ofEgypt as a two-day referen-dum on a new constitution be-gan.

Today’s Birthdays: Bluessinger Clarence Carter is 79.Former NAACP Chairman Ju-lian Bond is 75. Actress FayeDunaway is 74. Actress Hol-land Taylor is 72. Singer-pro-ducer T-Bone Burnett is 67.Movie writer-director Law-rence Kasdan is 66. PulitzerPrize-winning columnist Mau-reen Dowd is 63. Movie writer-director Steven Soderbergh is52. Actor Mark Addy is 51. FoxNews Channel anchormanShepard Smith is 51. RapperSlick Rick is 50. Actor DanSchneider is 49. Actress EmilyWatson is 48. Actor-comedianTom Rhodes is 48. Rapper-ac-tor LL Cool J is 47. Actor Ja-son Bateman is 46. Rock sing-er-musician Dave Grohl (FooFighters) is 46. Retro-soul sing-er-songwriter Marc Broussardis 33. Rock singer-musicianCaleb Followill (Kings of Leon)is 33. Actor Zach Gilford is 33.Actor Jonathan Osser is 26.

Thought for Today: “Dig-nity is like a perfume; thosewho use it are scarcely con-scious of it.” — Queen Christi-na of Sweden (1626-1689).

TODAY IN HISTORY

WASHINGTON, D.C. — For a ChicagoBulls fan, President Obama had high praiseMonday as he honored the San AntonioSpurs for their 2014 NBA World Champion-ship.

“It’s never easy celebrating a non-Bullsteam,” he joked at the traditional WhiteHouse ceremony for winners of major sportchampionships. “That’s all I’ve been able todo. So far. But even I have to admit, theSpurs are hard to dislike."

San Antonio, which defeated the MiamiHeat in a five-game championship series inJune, was in town to face off against theWashington Wizards on Monday evening.

Tim Duncan, Coach Gregg Popovich, Gen-eral Manager R.C. Buford and the rest of theteam entered the White House East Room to

cheers of “Go Spurs Go” from a crowd in-cluding a number of high-profile Texans.

“I know we got a lot of Spurs fans in thehouse, including a guy I stole from San An-tonio, our Secretary of Housing and UrbanDevelopment, former Mayor Julián Castro,”the president said.

Castro’s twin brother, Rep. Joaquin Castro,also attended, along with a giddy contingentfrom the Texas delegation. Joaquin Castroand Reps. Joe Barton, R-Ennis; Henry Cuel-lar, D-Laredo; Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin; AlGreen, D-Houston; Will Hurd, R-San Anto-nio; Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston; and La-mar Smith, R-San Antonio, sat together forthe event. The president complimented theteam on several fronts – for its charitablework, style of play and its internationalmakeup. He went so far as to call the Spursthe “U.N. of basketball teams.”

AROUND TEXAS

President Barack Obama acknowledges the contribution that San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan, of the Virgin Islands,second from upper left, made to the team as he honored the 2014 NBA Champions the San Antonio Spurs basketball teamduring a ceremony in the East Room White House in Washington, Monday.

Photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais | AP

Spurs go to WashingtonBy ABBY LIVINGSTON

TEXAS TRIBUNE

Man accused of payinghigh school girls for sexGALVESTON — Opening

statements have begun in Galves-ton in the sexual assault trial ofa 63-year-old man who prosecu-tors say paid thousands of dol-lars to high school girls for sex.

Prosecutors contend he paidthousands to multiple girls whoattend two area high schools.They say he was known to fre-quent restaurants and solicitwaitresses.

Museum unveilingredevelopment plan

HOUSTON — The Museum ofFine Arts, Houston is unveiling a$450 million project that will in-clude two new buildings de-signed to complement the exist-ing structures. Board chairmanRichard Kinder said the redevel-opment project being unveiledTuesday is the most exciting inthe museum’s 90-year history. Hesays it’s expected to be completeby 2019.

Man pleads guilty inwoman’s strangulationLUFKIN — An East Texas

man has pleaded guilty to stran-gling a woman with an electricalcord and then dumping her bodynear the banks of a river lastyear.

Justin Welch, 23, of Lufkinpleaded guilty to murder Mon-day in the April death of 30-year-old Elisha Henson of Pollok. Ajudge then sentenced Welch to 50years in prison.

High school footballplayer shot to death

ARLINGTON — Authoritiessay a high school football playerfrom Arlington has been shot todeath in front of a car wash inthe nearby town of Kennedale.

He was shot after several peo-ple met in an apartment complexparking lot near the car washMonday afternoon. Witnessessaid that the shooting stemmedfrom an altercation at the schoolduring the lunch hour.

Travis County detectivefired after DWI chargeAUSTIN — Officials say a Tra-

vis County detective has beenfired after he was arrested andcharged with drunken drivingover the weekend. A spokesmanfor the Travis County Sheriff ’sOffice says 47-year-old JamesSapp was terminated Monday af-ter he was charged with drivingwhile intoxicated, unlawful car-rying of a weapon and posses-sion of a controlled substance.

Plans in works for Dallascivil rights leader’s home

DALLAS — Plans are under-way to turn the home of a lateDallas civil rights leader whoseinvolvement in educationspanned decades into a museumand learning center.

The home of Kathlyn Gilliam,who died in 2011 at the age of 81,is expected to open as a museumand learning center Oct. 16, herbirthday. — Compiled fromn APreports

Climber phones home onway down Mount McKinley

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneso-ta climber making his way downfrom the summit of MountMcKinley in Alaska says he’slooking forward to a hot shower,then a hot bath, then some goodfood and drink. Lonnie Dupre, ofGrand Marais, said by satellitephone Tuesday that he wasdrinking hot cocoa at 11,000 feetand waiting for the weather toclear up a bit before headingdown to his camp for the night ataround 7,500 feet. Dupre is claim-ing credit for becoming the firstsolo climber to reach the 20,320-foot summit of Mount McKinleyduring January.

Attacks could prompt newbid to delay Tsarnaev trial

BOSTON — Legal analysts saythe terror attacks in Paris couldprovide new grounds for BostonMarathon bombing suspect

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s lawyers toargue that his trial should be de-layed and perhaps moved outsideof Boston. Defense lawyers andjury consultants say the pall castby the attacks in Paris last weekcould make it even more difficultto pick an impartial jury with

the new terror attack fresh inthe minds of prospective jurors.Tsarnaev’s lawyers have tried re-peatedly to delay the start of thetrial and move its location. Butthe judge has so far rejectedtheir requests. — Compiled fromAP reports

AROUND THE NATION

In this 2012 photo provided by climber Lonnie Dupre, Dupre takes a selfie duringa failed attempt to climb the summit of Alaska’s Mount McKinley, the tallest peakin North America.

Photo by Lonnie Dupre | AP

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CONTACT US

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2015 State THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

The Zapata County Chamber of Commerce ishosting its Winter Texan & Senior Citizen Appre-ciation day Thursday, Feb. 19 at the Zapata Coun-ty Community Center. The event recognizes andshows gratitude to the area’s senior citizens fortheir contributions to the community.

In 2013 more than 400 senior citizens participat-ed in the event.

In order to provide lunch, refreshments, enter-tainment and prizes for the event, sponsors arecalled to donate. There are four sponsorship levelsthis year:

$2,000 or more (Platinum Level): Bannerwith your company name and logo, logo presenceon event T-shirt, website, email marketing andflyers.

$1,000 (Gold Level): Logo presence on eventT-shirt, email marketing, website and flyers.

$500 (Silver Level): Logo presence on event T-shirt, email marketing and flyers.

$300 (Bronze Level): Logo presence on flyersand email marketing.

For more information, call the Zapata CountyChamber of Commerce at 956-765-4871 or visit za-patachamber.com

Call fordonationsfor senior

celebrationSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

AUSTIN — Texas is not report-ing hundreds of child deaths re-lated to abuse and neglect, andmore than 50 child welfare work-ers in recent years have beencaught lying to prosecutors or en-gaged in other case misconduct,according to a newspaper investi-gation published Sunday.

Lawmakers are now calling foranswers ahead of a new legisla-tive session that begins Tuesdayunder Gov.-elect Greg Abbott.Findings from a six-month inves-tigation by the Austin American-Statesman are likely to put thestate’s beleaguered Department

of Family Services under morescrutiny.

Between 2010 and 2014, thestate did not publicly report 655child abuse fatalities becausecaseworkers decided that mis-treatment was not directly re-sponsible for those deaths, thenewspaper found. Nearly half ofthose children who died camefrom families that had been in-vestigated by the state multipletimes.

Advocates say the state is in-tentionally suppressing the num-ber of child abuse deaths to mini-mize culpability. Family and Pro-tective Services spokesmanPatrick Crimmins says the agen-

cy isn’t trying to hide anythingand has followed state and feder-al laws.

“I’m speechless,” Democraticstate Sen. Carlos Uresti said. “Iwant to know who these kids are.Every one of these kids has aname and has a story and wouldhave had a life ahead of them.”

Uresti authored a 2009 law thatrequires Family and ProtectiveServices to provide the publicwith detailed reports when case-workers rule that maltreatmentdirectly killed a child. But thatdoes not include cases in whichabuse was found to be presentbut did not directly contribute tothe death.

It is not always clear whyseemingly comparable deaths endup on different lists. For example,Crimmins said that one type ofcase that might not be includedin the public fatality count iswhen a child riding a four-wheel-er is killed. The failure to super-vise the child would not necessar-ily be considered to have been di-rectly connected to the death, hesaid.

But the newspaper found threesuch fatalities in which a familymember was blamed and landedon the publicly disclosed list.

State and court documents al-so reveal that since 2009, dozensof state caseworkers have been

caught lying to prosecutors, ig-noring court orders, falsifyingstate records or obstructing lawenforcement. At least four formerstate Child Protective Servicesemployees are currently facingcriminal charges for their allegedmisconduct.

State officials insist thosecases are rare: Employees ac-cused of misconduct found by thenewspaper represent a fraction ofthe 3,400 investigators and fostercare workers in the agency. Butthe agency cannot definitivelysay how often it happens since itdoes not comprehensively trackthe number of people who werefired for such offenses.

Texas did not report many child deathsASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON — State re-cords indicate that employ-ees at a Houston-area pesti-cide plant where a poison-ous gas leak killed fourworkers in November mayhave been periodically ex-posed to the dangerousfumes for years.

The Houston Chroniclefound that DuPont reportedexhaust and ventilationsystem malfunctions at theLa Porte plant to the TexasCommission on Environ-mental Quality in 2009 and2010, but that neither thecompany nor the state reg-ulator alerted the Occupa-tional Health and SafetyAdministration.

Pipes and vents at theDuPont plant at La Portehave become clogged overthe years, and as many as 3pounds of methyl mercap-tan leaks out in an hourduring line-clearing activ-ities, according to the re-ports filed with the com-mission and obtained bythe newspaper.

Based on state recordsand the company’s own dis-closures, the newspaperconcluded that workerscould have been exposed tothe gas far above the levels

deemed acceptable by OH-SA since 2008. As much as600 parts per million of thegas an hour could havefilled a poorly ventilatedroom, but federal guide-lines say workers shouldn’tbe exposed to more than anaverage of 10 ppm per dayof the gas, which is used tomanufacture insecticideand fungicide.

Four employees at theDuPont plant died after be-ing exposed to methyl mer-captan on Nov. 15. Federalofficials and the state agen-cy are investigating thedeaths.

DuPont declined to com-ment on its workers’ poten-tially prolonged exposureto the gas.

“Considering individual

issues in isolation or spec-ulating can lead to inaccu-rate conclusions,” DuPontspokesman Aaron Woodssaid. “DuPont is committedto maintaining the integri-ty of ongoing investiga-tions. To that end, it is pre-mature for us to commentor provide additional infor-mation outside of theseprocesses.”

Workers were exposed for yearsASSOCIATED PRESS

This undated file photo shows a sign at a DuPont facility in La Porte, Texas. Records show that employees atthe Houston-area pesticide plant may have been exposed to dangerous fumes for years.

Photo by Marie D. De Jesus | AP file

PAGE 4A Zopinion WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2015

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

Ever since the newsbroke last Friday thatMitt Romney is not onlythinking about runningfor president again in2016 but also makingmoves that suggest he isgoing to run, I’ve beentrying to figure out why.I’ve talked to Republi-cans who are close toRomney and Republicanswho are only interestedobservers.

For people outside ofRomney’s direct orbit,there is bafflement aboutwhat Romney is doing.Closer allies explain,without their names at-tached, why Romneyrunning again isn’t asodd as it is being por-trayed. "Lots of peopleget elected to governoror senator on their thirdtry," said one Romneysupporter urging the for-mer governor to run."Nothing magical aboutthat not being a presi-dential."

Those conversations —and my own thinking —have produced three ba-sic reasons to explainwhy Romney is doingwhat he is doing:

1. He doesn’t believeJeb Bush is a terriblystrong candidate/fron-trunner.

2. He doesn’t thinkanyone in the currentfield can beat HillaryClinton.

3. He believes he hassomething more/new/different to offer thecountry at a critical mo-ment in history.

Numbers one and twoare, of course, intricatelylinked. Romney doesn’tlike Bush’s public cri-tique of the sort of cam-paign he ran in 2012 andbelieves that Bush drasti-cally misunderstandshow the modern politicalworld works. Bush, whohas not run for any of-fice since 2002, has deepvulnerabilities on thework — from finance toeducation — that he hasdone since leaving office,Romney believes. And,Bush simply doesn’t un-derstand (or doesn’twant to understand) theproblems he has on thatfront.

And if you believe, asRomney does, that Bushis much weaker thanmost people — includingmany Republican donors— currently regard him,then the prospect of aClinton presidencyseems very real. "Rom-ney is only person whois beating anybodythinking about runningin both parties," said oneRomney supporter. "Heonly beats Hillary by apoint or two but still, ifyou are beating everyoneand can raise money,that’s not a reason to runbut it’s certainly not areason not to run."

Fair enough. It is abso-lutely true that Bush re-mains largely untestedin the world of Vine, In-stagram and Twitter onthe campaign trail. Andthat his gubernatorial —and, more importantly,post-gubernatorial — re-cord has not taken any-where near the scrutinyit will if/when he runs.And that Romney is aproven fundraiser andvote-getter.

It’s that third point,though, that Romney, ac-cording to those whoknow him best, sees asmost important — and

on which he and I partways.

"There is something inMitt that drives him tosolve problems," ex-plained one Romney con-fidante of the governor’smindset. "When he seessomething is a mess, hedoesn’t have it in hisDNA to sit back and letsomeone else just try toclean it up."

Added another: "He be-lieves he can help thecountry and help peo-ple."

I don’t doubt Romney’ssincerity. But I do thinkhe and those close to himare fooling themselvesthat he can simply pro-claim that he is runninga new and different cam-paign — one based onforeign policy and pover-ty, according to Politico— and that will be that.

It’s literally impossibleto imagine such a scena-rio. The reason Romneyis in the position he is —nationally known, a mas-sive fundraising network— is because of his 2008and 2012 campaigns.Those are the pluses ofhaving run twice before.But there are also signif-icant minuses in havingdone so. Does Romneythink either his Republi-can opponents or poten-tially Hillary Clinton ina general election are go-ing to just let the whole"47 percent" thing drop?Or that the car elevator,"severely conservative"and the picture of himwith money coming outof his suit jacket are go-ing to disappear?

Um, they won’t. Thesecond Romney declares— and, even now as hemoves toward a candida-cy — all of the thingspeople didn’t like abouthim will start to creepback to the front of theirminds. The image of himas an out-of-touch pluto-crat, which the Obamateam so effectively paint-ed, will linger no matterwhat Romney says ordoes as a candidate. Andunlike in 2012 when hewas seen as the de factofrontrunner due to hisclose-but-no-cigar bid in2008, the logic for why hewould choose to runagain in 2016 wouldmake him a puzzle in theeyes of many Republicanprimary voters. Peopledon’t usually vote forpuzzles.

There’s no questionthat Romney feels a callto service and believesthat he is uniquely ableto solve the problems ofthe GOP and the countryat the moment. But theassumption that he canpluck the good thingsfrom his past candida-cies while wiping awayall the bad stuff from vot-ers’ minds is a deeplyflawed reading of howpolitics works. And it’swhy it makes little sensefor Romney to run again.

COLUMN

It makes nosense for

Romney torun again

By CHRIS CILLIZZATHE WASHINGTON POST The image of

him as anout-of-touchplutocrat …will linger nomatter whatRomney saysor does as acandidate.

OTHER VIEWS

The Zapata Times does not publish anonymous let-ters.

To be published, letters must include the writer’sfirst and last names as well as a phone number to veri-fy identity. The phone number IS NOT published; it isused solely to verify identity and to clarify content, ifnecessary. Identity of the letter writer must be verifiedbefore publication.

We want to assure our readers that a letter is writtenby the person who signs the letter. The Zapata Timesdoes not allow the use of pseudonyms.

Letters are edited for style, grammar, length and ci-vility. No name-calling or gratuitous abuse is allowed.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY

CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

I grew up in Texas andmany friends and familymembers still living there.So I’ll always feel an alle-giance to the Lone StarState. That’s one reasonI’m worried that the recentplunge in oil prices willdevastate the Texas econo-my, in a replay of the 1980s.

The other reason is thatthe "Texas Miracle" hasbeen one of the big driversof the U.S. recovery: untilrecently, Texas was respon-sible for all of the net jobgrowth in the countrysince the start of the GreatRecession. Yes, you readthat right - from December2007 through October 2014,total employment actuallywent down in the U.S. ex-Texas.

Now the miracle state isin trouble. Texas has beenat the vanguard of theshale fracking boom, bothbecause many of the big-gest shale plays are locatedin the state, and becausethe companies that providethe technology and servic-es for shale extraction arebased there. In 2009, Texaswas responsible for a quar-ter of all U.S. oil produc-tion; in 2014, thanks toshale, that number had in-creased to 40 percent.

The collapse in oil pric-es - down about half fromrecent protracted highs -will be a big problem forTexas’s shale industry. Al-though many of the Texasshale producer can be prof-

itable even at today’s lowerprices, many are not. Thatmeans there will be muchless incentive to drill newwells to replace the onesthat run out. Reduced in-vestment means lower eco-nomic activity. Meanwhile,oil services companiessuch as Schlumberger andHalliburton made fortunesproviding the technologyto other countries to ex-tract hard-to-get oil whenoil prices were high. Nowthat prices are low, theirservices won’t be neededas much.

Energy is only 11 per-cent of Texas’ economy.But because of multipliereffects, an oil bust can bemuch larger than thatnumber would suggest. Oiland oil-services jobs tendto be high- paying, andwhen workers in those in-dustries get fired or takepay cuts, they don’t buy asmany goods and servicesfrom the local economy. Sothe pain spreads. That’swhy, after oil pricescrashed in the 1980s, Tex-as’ economy was hit sohard.

But during my 18 yearsgrowing up in Texas, Ilearned that the peopleand institutions of myhome state are smart,hard- headed and pragmat-ic. I believe that Texas willtake the necessary steps tomake this oil bust lesspainful than the one in1986, and to use the oppor-tunity to emerge from thebust with a stronger econ-omy than before.

The 1980s taught Texasthe hard lesson that a di-versified economy is abso-lutely essential. In the dec-ade and a half after 1986,Texas’ economy grew by118 percent, while themining industry (which in-cludes oil and gas) grewonly 18 percent. Even sincethe shale boom began, Tex-as has seen much greateremployment growth in sec-tors like professional ser-vices and health care thanin extractive industries.There is also a substantialhigh-tech cluster centeredin Austin, and Texas ac-tually exports more high-technology goods to othercountries than does Cali-fornia. This will limit theinevitable pain of an oilbust.

On a more fundamentallevel, Texas has a youngpopulation, abundant natu-ral resources, low taxesand a friendly regulatoryclimate. An oil bust doesn’talter those strengths.

That doesn’t mean Tex-as couldn’t do even more.An oil bust will be the per-fect opportunity for thestate to shore up its re-maining weaknesses.

One area in which Tex-as could do better is high-er education. Despite beingthe second most populousstate, Texas has only twouniversities that makeForbes’ list of the top 100colleges - tiny Rice Univer-sity at No. 32, and the Uni-versity of Texas at No. 76.California, in comparison,has 10. Only 22 percent of

Texans graduate fromfour-year universities,compared with 35 percentof Californians.

Even as a low-tax state,Texas could afford tospend more to boost theperformance of its flagshippublic universities, theUniversity of Texas andTexas A&M University(disclosure: My father is aprofessor at Texas A&M).Other public schools, suchas the University of NorthTexas, the University ofHouston, and Texas Tech,could also use a boost.

A second way that Texascould improve is by build-ing better cities. Austin, ofcourse, is such a success-ful case of urban planningthat urbanists study it theworld over. But Dallas,Houston and other citieshave developed in a morehaphazard manner, andcould benefit from morecooperation between pub-lic and private actors toturn them into trulyworld-class cities. Everyleader in Texas wouldlearn something by read-ing the writings of PikePowers, the politician-turned-consultant whohelped give Austin the vi-sion that eventually turn-ed it into a vibrant indus-trial cluster.

So although the threatof an oil bust looms, Texas’leaders shouldn’t hunkerdown to wait out the siege.They should be imple-menting the reforms thatwill fuel the state’s nextrise.

COLUMN

Collapsing oil prices don’thave to mess with Texas

By NOAH SMITHBLOOMBERG NEWS

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2015 Nation THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

NEW YORK — A U.S. juryat a high-stakes civil trial wasasked on Tuesday to decidewhether the Palestinian au-thorities should be held re-sponsible and pay hefty dam-ages for a series of terror at-tacks in Israel that killed andwounded Americans.

“The evidence will showthat killing civilians wasstandard operating procedurefor the Palestine LiberationOrganization and the Palesti-nian Authority,” attorneyKent Yalowitz, representingthe victims, said in openingarguments at a trial in feder-al court in Manhattan.

Defense attorney Mark Ro-chon countered in his open-ing statement that six attacksfrom 2002 to 2004 were carriedout by suicide bombers andgunmen “acting on their ownangry, crazy reasons.”

The exchange came in acourtroom packed with spec-tators including people wholost loved ones or suffered in-juries in the attacks. Some ofthe victims are slated to testi-fy at the trial, expected to lastat least six weeks.

“Terrorism tore these fam-ilies apart — not just physi-cally, but in many cases, emo-tionally,” Yalowitz said.

The plaintiffs’ lawyer re-counted the six deadly at-tacks that killed dozens, in-cluding suicide bombings ona bus and at a university cafe-teria. He told jurors theywould see payroll records andother documents proving thePalestinian Authority “em-braced these crimes” by con-tinuing to pay security offi-cials who organized the at-tacks, even after they wereconvicted of murder.

After introducing two Pal-estinian officials who were at-tending the trial, Rochon ar-gued that the PLO and thePalestinian Authority werevictims of guilt by associationwith assailants in attacksthat were never officially

sanctioned.“We are not defending

these acts,” Rochon said, call-ing them “horrific.”

But he asked jurors to setaside their emotions overscenes of bloodshed and opin-ions about the Palestinian-Is-raeli conflict and instead fo-cus on the question of“whether or not the govern-ment I represent should beheld liable for things it didnot do.”

The first witness, Meshhu-lam Pearlman, testified thathe witnessed a bus bombingin Jerusalem in 2004 near aflower shop he operates there.The blast left the streetstrewn with body parts, hesaid.

“People were severed intopieces. ... It was worse than awar,” said the 70-year-old wit-ness.

The 2004 lawsuit wasbrought under the Antiterror-ism Act of 1991 and seeks abillion dollars from the Pales-tinian Authority and the PLO.Lawyers for the plaintiffs sayany damages awarded wouldbe automatically tripled be-cause the claims involved actsof terrorism.

The trial went forward de-spite an unsuccessful last-ditch attempt by the PLO andPalestinian Authority to con-vince appeals judges that aManhattan court does nothave jurisdiction.

In court papers, lawyers forthe Palestinian Authority andthe PLO say a U.S. courtshould not have jurisdictionover the case just because thePLO maintains a 12-person of-fice in the United States.They say the Palestinian Au-thority and the PLO’s home isin the West Bank.

They also said the publici-ty of the trial, “some of it in-evitable, some of it sought byplaintiffs, will undermine theconfidence in the PA’s abilityto govern and contribute to aworsening of tensions in theregion at a delicate moment.”

The trial was to resume to-day.

PLO on trial inUS civil case

By TOM HAYSASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES — Videosplayed Tuesday in the case of fourteens charged in the murder of aChinese graduate student showedthe victim being surrounded byshadowy figures and then chaseddown the street.

Details were not sharp in theblack and white surveillance vid-eo, but a prosecutor said laterthat they showed the beating thatkilled Xinran Ji.

A judge will determine if threeof the teens, including two juve-niles, will stand trial in the kill-ing of Xinran Ji near the Univer-sity of Southern California. Afourth suspect faces a later hear-ing.

Authorities allege JonathanDel Carmen, 19; Andrew Garcia,19; Alberto Ochoa, 17; and Alejan-dra Guerrero, 16, were trying torob Ji, 24, when they beat himwith a bat and wrench and lefthim for dead. Ji was able to makeit to his apartment, where a

roommate found him dead in bedin the morning.

Photos displayed at the hearingshowed Ji lying in his bed inwhat appeared to be a blood-stained shirt and pants. Puddles,droplets and smears of whatlooked like blood were foundthroughout the apartment.

Los Angeles Detective MatthewCourtney said he and his partnerfollowed a possible trail of bloodfrom the apartment, down thestreet and around the corner.

The school and Los Angeles po-lice beefed up patrols on andaround campus after two Chinesegraduate students were murderedoutside an off-campus apartmentin 2012. The university is sur-rounded by historically high-crime neighborhoods.

The July 24 killing of Ji renew-ed criticism about the safety ofChinese students at USC. China’sconsulate general said it was con-cerned about student safety at thecampus.

Until last year, USC had re-cruited the highest number of for-

eign students in the country formore than a dozen years. Itdropped to No. 2 behind NewYork University, according to asurvey by the Institute of Interna-tional Education, though it re-mains very popular with studentsfrom abroad. About 40 percent ofits foreign students are from Chi-na.

Ji enrolled at the university in2013 after excelling at one of Chi-na’s best universities, where hewon a prize for mathematicalmodeling.

Del Carmen and Garcia couldface the death penalty if convict-ed. Ochoa and Guerrero arecharged as adults but can onlyface up to life in prison withoutthe possibility of parole if convict-ed because of their ages. All fourare being held without bail.

Proceedings against Garciawere postponed because his law-yer was ill and questions wereraised about his mental compe-tency. Garcia blurted out obscen-ities in court Monday at the endof a brief hearing.

Andrew Garcia, left, is led out of the courtroom by Sheriff’s bailiffs after an outburst during an appearance in Los Angeles Su-perior Court Monday as one of four defendants being charged in connection to the 2014 beating death of USC graduate stu-dent Xinran Ji during an attempted robbery.

Photo by Al Seib/Los Angeles Times | AP

Videos at murder hearingshow attack of USC student

By BRIAN MELLEYASSOCIATED PRESS

JUNTA DE COMISIONADOSEl lunes 26 de enero,

los Comisionados de la Cor-te del Condado de Zapatarealizarán su junta quincenalen la Sala de la Corte delCondado de Zapata, a partirde las 9 a.m. a 12 p.m.

Para mayores informesllame a Roxy Elizondo al(956) 765 9920.

TORNEO DE PESCAEl torneo de pesca de

bagre Falcon Lake Babe —In-ternational Catfish Series—para damas solamente, sellevará a cabo el sábado 14de febrero.

La serie de cinco torneosque se realizan mensual-mente desde noviembre fi-nalizará con una ronda decampeonato en el mes demarzo.

El torneo es un eventoindividual que permite hastatres concursantes por em-barcación. Las participantesdeberán pagar la cuota departicipación en los cincotorneos para tener derechoa la ronda de campeonato.

Las inscripciones se reali-zan el viernes anterior al sá-bado del torneo en BeaconLodge Rec. Hall. La cuota deinscripción es de 20 dólarespor persona.

El siguiente torneo seráel 7 de marzo para finalizarcon la ronda de campeonatoel 7 de marzo.

Para mayores informescomuníquese con Betty Ortizal (956) 236-4590 o con El-cina Buck al (319) 2395859.

PATROCINIOLa Cámara de Comer-

cio de Zapata invita a la co-munidad a participar en elWinter Texan & Senior Citi-zen Appreciation Day, quese celebrará el 19 de febreroen el Centro Comunitariodel Condado de Zapata.

Durante el evento se re-conocerá y mostrará la gra-titud de la comunidad paralos adultos mayores quecontribuyeron con la comu-nidad.

Si desea puede participarcomo patrocinados: Platino,2.000 dólares; Oro, 1.000dólares; Plata, 500 dólares;Bronce, 300 dólares. El di-nero recaudado será desti-nado a la compra de comi-da, refrescos, entretenimien-to, premios y regalos para elevento.

En 2013, el evento ayudóa más de 400 adultos ma-yores participantes.

Para más informaciónpuede llamar al (956) 765-4871.

ALBERGUESEl Sistema Para el

Desarrollo Integral de la Fa-milia en Miguel Alemán, Mé-xico, anuncia que se conti-núa atendiendo a las perso-nas en situación vulnerableque necesiten ser alojadasen albergues invernales du-rante los próximos días defrío.

Así mismo se mantieneuna estrecha comunicacióny coordinación con los po-blados del Área Rural, quie-nes han asumido la respon-sabilidad de atender a laspersonas en vulnerabilidadque acudan a estos alber-gues, señala un comunicadode prensa de la entidad.

Dado que el Sistema Me-teorológico Nacional pronos-ticó que para los próximosdías se podrían registrartemperaturas por debajo delos cero grados centígradosse pidió a la población ex-tremar precauciones, sobretodo en los menores deedad y personas adultas,que son los sectores másvulnerables ante los cambiosbruscos de temperaturas.

La Casa Club del AdultoMayor y la Estancia Diurnaservirán como albergues queserán coordinados por me-dio de Protección Civil.

Ribereñaen Breve

Olga M. Elizondo es la primeramujer que sirve como comisionadaen la corte de Zapata.

Elizondo representa al Precinto 2,que abarca el Norte de Zapata y SanYgnacio.

De acuerdo con los resultados delas elecciones primarias del 4 demarzo, Elizondo abatió a su oponentecon el 56 por ciento, o 377 votos. Susoponentes fueron el titular GabrielVillarreal y Víctor Juan de Dios Gon-zález, quienes obtuvieron el 32.39 porciento y el 11.59 por ciento, respecti-vamente.

Elizondo ha estado casada con Ser-

gio Elizondo por 26 años, y la parejatiene tres hijos: Iván, Eric y Priscilla.

Ella dijo que ha vivido en Zapatatoda su vida.

Elizondo ha servido a la comuni-dad en varios aspectos desde princi-pios de 1990. Previamente fue la Pre-sidenta de la Asociación de la LigaPequeña del área, que de acuerdo consu declaración despertó su interés enproyectos juveniles.

También se desempeñó como Pre-sidenta de PTO.

“Recuerdo cuando mi abuelo, Feli-pe Morales, me decía que algún díapodría ser elegida en la oficina portoda la dedicación a nuestra comuni-dad en Zapata”, dijo Elizondo a Lare-do Morning Times a través de un

mensaje de texto, el sábado. “Mis pla-nes a futuro son tener mayor proyec-ción, mejorar los proyectos que bene-ficien a los jóvenes y adultos mayoresy terminar la pavimentación de lascalles.

También dijo que planea apoyar elprograma antidrogas del departa-mento del alguacil.

“(Planeo) mejorar el equipo del de-partamento de bomberos del alguacily, comenzar a planificar la ubicaciónde un lugar que sea relleno sanitario,y tratar de comprar más ambulanciaspara transportar a las personas a La-redo”.

(Localice a Gabriela A. Treviño en956-728-2579 o en gtrevino@lmtonli-ne.com)

CONDADO DE ZAPATA

Nueva delegadaPOR GABRIELA A. TREVIÑO

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

ELIZONDO

PÁGINA 6A Zfrontera MIÉRCOLES 14 DE ENERO DE 2015

Dos de los tres residentes de Zapata acu-sados formalmente el 25 de noviembre concargos por contrabando de personas se de-clararon culpables el lunes ante un juez fe-deral en Laredo.

Misti Lea Grandstaff y Mario HumbertoGarza III se declararon culpables de un car-go por transportar y tratar de transportar ainmigrantes indocumentados para obtenerganancias financieras durante un ajuste fi-nal de la conferencia previa al juicio.

El Juez Magistrado Guillermo Garcíaaceptó las declaraciones de culpabilidad.

Los dos se enfrentan a hasta 10 años enprisión federal y una posible multa de250.000 dólares.

Grandstaff y Garza fueron arrestados el 5de noviembre después de un intento de con-trabando humano que fue frustrado.

Garza es un presunto miembro de la ban-da Valluco.

Una tercera persona también fue deteni-da en relación al caso. La conferencia pre-via al juicio final para Manuel AlejandroGarza fue terminada el lunes.

Alrededor de las 3 p.m. del 5 de noviem-bre, investigadores de la Oficina del Algua-cil del Condado de Zapata llamaron a unagente de la Patrulla Fronteriza (BP, por sussiglas en inglés), para solicitar ayuda conuna parada de tráfico en carretera U.S. 83.

Los oficiales dijeron al agente que vierona un conductor, posteriormente identificadocomo Grandstaff, recogiendo a cuatro perso-nas cerca de una parada de tráfico sobre US83.

Esa información fue transmitida a unayudante del alguacil, que más tarde detuvoel vehículo, un Pontiac Grand Prix, modelo1999, color plata.

Grandstaff supuestamente admitió haberrecogido a los inmigrantes indocumentadosy haber sido contratada por Garza paratransportar a cuatro de ellos a Zapata por100 dólares.

Los investigadores vieron un Ford Mus-tang, color rojo, usualmente conducido porGarza que seguía el Pontiac.

Oficiales detuvieron el Mustang y detu-vieron a tres personas: Garza, su hermanoAlejandro Garza y Javier Castro. Más tarde,Mario Garza dijo a las autoridades que élera un miembro de la pandilla Valluco.

En una entrevista después de la deten-ción, Grandstaff sostuvo que Garza estuvoinvolucrado en el intento de contrabando.

Mario Garza actuó como la guía a pie delgrupo de inmigrantes, mientras que Ma-nuel Garza fue el explorador, ella dijo a lapolicía.

Grandstaff y Garza serán sentenciadosen una fecha posterior.

(Localice a Philip Balli en 728-2528 o enpballi@lmtonline.com)

CORTE

Dosaceptanculpa

POR PHILIP BALLITIEMPO DE ZAPATA

MEXICO— La Policía Federalrescató a 15 inmigrantes centroame-ricanos que estuvieron secuestradosdurante una semana en una vivien-da de Reynosa, en el estado norteñode Tamaulipas, fronterizo con Te-xas, informaron el sábado autorida-des.

El gobierno federal explicó en uncomunicado que en el operativo,que no detalla cuándo ocurrió, sedetuvo además a una persona quepresumiblemente custodiaba el in-mueble y vigilaba a las víctimas.

Once de los rescatados son hon-dureños, dos son guatemaltecos yotros dos salvadoreños. Ninguno deellos cuenta con documentos para

acreditar su estancia legal en elpaís.

Luego de verificarse su estado desalud, las 15 personas fueron trasla-dadas a las instalaciones del Institu-to Nacional de Migración, "con ape-go a sus derechos humanos y bajoestrictas medidas de seguridad paragarantizar su integridad física",añade la nota.

El tráfico por México de inmi-grantes sin permiso de residenciaque buscan llegar a Estados Unidoses uno de los negocios más lucrati-vos del crimen organizado y en elestado de Tamaulipas lo realizantanto el cártel del Golfo como LosZetas. Muchas veces los inmigran-tes son secuestrados e inclusomuertos.

REYNOSA, MX

Policía federal rescata a 15 inmigrantes ASSOCIATED PRESS

MEXICO— La petrolera esta-tal Petróleos Mexicanos, Pemex,reconoció que algunos estadosdel país sufren escasez de gasoli-na debido a las continuas inte-rrupciones en el suministro pro-vocadas por el robo de combusti-ble.

Los ladrones, muchas vecesvinculados al crimen organiza-do, suelen hacer tomas clandesti-

nas en los oleoductos que distri-buyen la gasolina desde las refi-nerías a los centros dedistribución del centro norte delpaís.

Según informó Pemex en uncomunicado, los más afectadosen esta ocasión fueron el ductoque une el Golfo de México conla capital y otro en el centro-nor-te del país.

La compañía a veces ha redu-cido la presión en los oleoductos

para reparar las tomas ilegalespero ahora optó por incrementarel transporte de combustible me-diante camiones para evitar eldesabastecimiento, aunque ad-virtió que esta medida no puedereemplazar a los oleoductos por-que es 17 veces más costosa.

En los nueve primeros mesesde 2014 se reportaron 2.500 to-mas clandestinas que conlleva-ron el robo de más de mil millo-nes de dólares de combustible.

MÉXICO

Robo a oleoductos afectaabundancia de gasolina

ASSOCIATED PRESS

GUERRERO, TAMAULIPAS

RECORRIDOFRONTERIZO

El Gobernador Egidio Torre Cantú llegó a Guerrero, México, el lunes por la mañana para comenzar un recorrido por lafrontera chica. Durante su visita acudió a la escuela secundaria Oscar González Blackaller, junto a la presidenta munic-ipal Nathyelli Elena Contreras Villarreal. En la imagen Torre Cantú posa junto a alumnos de la escuela.

Foto de cortesía

Sports&OutdoorsWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2015 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ur-ban Meyer and the nationalchampion Ohio State foot-ball team returned home toa rousing welcome on Tues-day.

About 75 fans greeted theBuckeyes when they arrivedat a Columbus airport, freshoff a 42-20 victory over Ore-gon at the inaugural cham-pionship game of the Col-lege Football Playoff onMonday night in Dallas.

Meyer, the second coachto win national titles at twoschools, walked over to thecrowd inside the airport,shook hands and signed afew autographs. His players,including championship-game MVP Ezekiel Elliott,followed with high-fives forthe fans.

The players outside, somewearing the championshiphats handed out at thegame, slapped hands withfans who were bundled upin scarlet and gray hats andcoats in 20-degree weatherat Rickenbacker Interna-tional Airport.

Tracy Stasiulewicz, ofAshville, was in tears at theairport, just like she was atthe end of Monday night’sgame.

“We know their names.We’ve seen them play thewhole time,” she said. “Tome, it’s very emotional.”

The Buckeyes, who defiednaysayers to claim the na-tional title after losing twostarting quarterbacks to in-juries, earned the final spotin the playoff. They upsetAlabama and Oregon be-hind quarterback CardaleJones.

“You’ll never see any-thing like that again,” saidRon Chapman, a longtimeBuckeyes fan from Pataska-la.

Some of the playerssigned a few autographs atthe airport before boardingbuses for a short ride backto campus, where about 100people were waiting to meetthe team.

NCAA FOOTBALL

Bucksback

inOhio

Champions getwarm welcome

By JENNIFER SMOLA AND KANTELEFRANKO

ASSOCIATED PRESS

IRVING, Texas — Dallas coachJason Garrett fielded questionsabout his shaky job security fortwo years before breakingthrough with the first trip to theplayoffs for the Cowboys since2009.

Now he’s all but guaranteed tohave the second-longest coachingtenure for the storied franchisebehind Tom Landry, the onlycoach the Cowboys knew for theirfirst 29 years.

Garrett has a new five-yearcontract, and defensive coordina-tor Rod Marinelli is also comingback on a three-year deal, a per-son with knowledge of both agree-ments told The Associated Presson Tuesday. The person spoke oncondition of anonymity becausethe team had yet to announce thedeals.

Garrett will make about $6 mil-lion annually — roughly $30 mil-lion in total value — after justcompleting his first contract, atfour years and $20 million.

The Cowboys broke through athree-year rut of 8-8 seasons thatended with losses that kept themout of the playoffs by winning the

NFC East at 12-4. Dallas beat De-troit in the wild-card round beforelast weekend’s 26-21 divisionalround loss at Green Bay.

“I really believe that we’vebuilt something here that we’reall proud of and we’re all excitedabout taking the next step withthis football team,” Garrett saidearlier Tuesday, before the dealswere settled.

“I think we have the right kindof guys on our staff, the rightkind of guys on our team and

we’re excited about the opportuni-ties and the challenges ahead.”

The 48-year-old Garrett, a for-mer backup on Dallas’ SuperBowl-winning teams of the 1990s,is 42-32 in four-plus seasons andneeds two victories to tie his oldcoach, Jimmy Johnson, for sec-ond on the franchise wins list.Landry is third all-time in theNFL with 250 victories.

When he finishes the first yearof his new contract, Garrett willhave coached the Cowboys longer

than Johnson, who won consecu-tive Super Bowls after the 1992and ’93 seasons. Landry also wontwo titles.

Marinelli replaced Monte Kif-fin as defensive coordinator be-fore this season — a year afterthey came in together to install afour-man defensive front afterDallas spent nearly a decade in a3-4 formation. The Cowboys im-proved from the league’s worst de-fense to 19th along with being sec-ond in takeaways.

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DALLAS COWBOYS

Garrett set to return

Jason Garrett agreed to a five-year deal Tuesday to return as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

Photo by Brandon Wade | AP

Dallas coachagrees to

5-year dealBy SCHUYLER DIXON

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.— The Golden Globesinched closer to legitimacyin its 72nd show, givingawards not just to A-List ce-lebrities, but to the edgierproductions that unequiv-ocally deserved recognition,including “Boyhood,” “TheGrand Budapest Hotel,” and“Birdman.”

Adding to the spirit ofsubversion was the recur-ring theme of free speech,which dominated the re-marks of everyone fromGeorge Clooney to Jared Le-to. Even hosts Tina Fey andAmy Poehler tackled a myr-iad of timely, and taboo, top-ics, including the SonyHack, North Korea and BillCosby.

Perhaps this isn’t a newmode for the Globes goingforward, but on Sunday, themost readily mocked showof awards season transcend-ed its party reputation tobecome something more,even if everything got start-ed with the “Entourage”cast using the red carpet tofilm a scene for their up-coming movie.

As for what it all meansfor the Academy Awards,whose nominations are an-nounced on Thursday, manyfields seem more open thanever.

Richard Linklater’s “Boy-hood” dominated theGlobes, winning the night’stop honor, best drama, aswell as best director forLinklater and best support-ing actress for Patricia Ar-quette.

The 12-years-in-the-mak-ing indie effectively captiv-ated audiences, critics, andthe industry to become oneof the year’s major awardscontenders — a streak thatcould be solidified or de-stroyed when Oscar nomi-nations are announced.

“Bottom line is we’re allflawed in this world. No

one’s perfect,” said Linklat-er. “I want to dedicate thisto parents that are evolvingeverywhere and familiesthat are just passingthrough this world and do-ing their best.”

Tied with two wins eachwere Alejandro Gonzalez In-arritu’s dark showbiz film“Birdman” and the StephenHawking biopic “The Theo-ry of Everything,” in whichEddie Redmayne emergedvictorious in one of the eve-ning’s most hotly contestedcategories, best actor in adrama.

For his portrayal offamed theoretical physicistStephen Hawking, Redmay-ne beat out Benedict Cum-berbatch (“The ImitationGame”), Steve Carell (“Fox-catcher”), David Oyelowo(“Selma”) and Jake Gyllen-haal (“Nightcrawler”).

While Michael Keatontook the best actor prize for“Birdman,” the film flailedin the best comedy or musi-cal category, losing out toWes Anderson’s “The GrandBudapest Hotel.” Beloved bycritics and audiences, An-derson’s dark, whimsical fa-ble was considered a bit ofan underdog in the categoryand awards season on thewhole.

Awards favorite JulianneMoore won best actress in adrama for her startling per-formance as an academicwith early on-set Alzheim-er’s in “Still Alice,” andAmy Adams surprised intaking best actress in a com-edy or musical for portray-ing Margaret Keane in “BigEyes.” Looking forward toOscar nominations, the bigquestion has become wheth-er or not “The ImitationGame,” “Selma,” or “Fox-catcher” can regain theirfooting in the race, and, ifAngelina Jolie’s “Unbro-ken,” shut out at the Globes,could possibly emerge as aserious contender, too.

‘Boyhood’ tops Golden Globes

WINNERS AT 72ND GOLDEN GLOBES

FilmsBest picture, drama: "Boyhood"

Best picture, comedy or musical: "The Grand Budapest Hotel"Actress, drama: Julianne Moore, "Still Alice"

Actor, drama: Eddie Redmayne, "The Theory of Everything"Actor, musical or comedy: Michael Keaton, "Birdman"Actress, musical or comedy: Amy Adams, "Big Eyes"Supporting actor, drama: J.K. Simmons, "Whiplash"

Supporting actress, drama: Patricia Arquette, "Boyhood"Director: Richard Linklater, "Boyhood"

Screenplay: Alejandro G. Inárritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dine-laris, Armando Bo, "Birdman"

Foreign language film: "Leviathan," RussiaAnimated film: "How to Train Your Dragon 2"

Original score: Johann Johannsson, "The Theory of Everything"Original song: "Glory," from "Selma"

TelevisionBest series, drama: "The Affair" (Showtime)

Best series, comedy or musical: "Transparent" (Amazon)Best television movie or mini-series: "Fargo" (FX)

Actress, drama: Ruth Wilson, "The Affair"Actor, drama: Kevin Spacey, "House of Cards"

Actress, comedy or musical: Gina Rodriguez, "Jane the Virgin"Actor, comedy or musical: Jeffrey Tambor, "Transparent"

Actress, miniseries or television movie: Maggie Gyllenhaal, "TheHonorable Woman"

Actor, miniseries or television movie: Billy Bob Thornton, "Fargo"Supporting actress, miniseries or television movie: Joanne Froggatt,

"Downton Abbey"Supporting actor, miniseries or television movie: Matt Bomer, "The

Normal Heart"

By LINDSEY BAHRASSOCIATED PRESS

Co-hosts Tina Fey, left, and Amy Poehler speak during the 72nd An-nual Golden Globe Awards on Sunday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel inBeverly Hills, Calif.

Photo by Paul Drinkwater/NBC | AP

PAGE 8A Zentertainment WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2015

NEW YORK — Long-time NBC News corre-spondent and anchor AnnCurry is leaving her full-time job with the networkafter a quarter-century.

But she will still beseen on NBC platforms,the company said Tues-day in announcing a part-nership with her and themedia venture she willlaunch, to be “seeded” byNBCUniversal.

The arrangement willallow Curry to report onany platform or network,in or out of NBC News.Her startup will generatecontent of national andglobal importance with amulti-platform distribu-tion approach, NBC said.

“This is about reachingfor the edge of the futurein journalism,” Currysaid. “I am excited aboutworking to become a valu-able link between tradi-tional media and what isto come.”

“We’re proud to sup-port Ann in her new ven-ture, and we look forwardto more of her exceptionalstorytelling,” said Pat Fili-Krushel, chairman of

NBCUniversal NewsGroup. “She is committedto uncovering critical is-sues, humanizing them,and ultimately helpingviewers understand andconnect.”

Curry, 58, had beenwith NBC since 1990, join-ing as a Chicago-basedcorrespondent.

Among her many roles,she anchored “NBC Newsat Sunrise” for six yearsand anchored “DatelineNBC.”

She also establishedherself as a globe-trottingcorrespondent, reportingfrom such hotspots as Su-dan to report on the vio-lence and ethnic cleans-ing, and to Albania andMacedonia, where she re-ported on the humanitar-ian refugee crisis causedby the genocide in Koso-vo.

Her exit comes 2 1/2years after she was oustedfrom the anchor desk ofthe “Today” show afterjust a year, during whichquestions persisted abouther comfort level along-side Matt Lauer.

Curry spoke warmly ofher former co-workers atNBC “and I look forwardto what we will do ahead.”

In this Nov. 12, 2014 photo, Ann Curry attends the Panthere deCartier Collection dinner & party at Skylight Clarkson Studios.

Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision | AP file

Ann Curry toexit NBC News

By FRAZIER MOOREASSOCIATED PRESS

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2015 THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES International WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2015

HAVANA — Cuban dissi-dents freed as part of a his-toric detente with the Unit-ed States said Tuesday theysupport the warming of re-lations and predicted it willhelp their efforts to bringchange inside their country.

Fifty-three dissidentswere let go, most in the lastweek, as part of a deal thatalso saw both countries freehigh-profile prisonerscharged with espionage andmove to normalize relationsafter five decades of tension.

Some members of the Cu-ban opposition have criti-cized the deal, saying Wash-ington didn’t win enoughconcessions — an argumentechoed by critics of Cuba’sgovernment outside thecountry, such as U.S. Sen.Robert Menendez, whocalled the deal “one-sided

and misguided” on Tuesday.“Will these 53 political

prisoners be able to peace-fully work in their countryfor freedom and humanrights — or will they bethrown into Castro’s gulagsonce again?” Menendez saidon the Senate floor.

But freed dissidents inter-viewed by The AssociatedPress all expressed confi-dence that the decrease intensions with the U.S. willimprove life in Cuba andmake their activism easier.

Angel Yunier Remon Ar-zuaga, a rapper known as“The Critic,” said the de-tente “gives me the strengthto keep demanding ourrights and freedoms.”

Cuba has long describeddomestic dissenters asagents backed by the U.S.and by expatriate critics ofleaders Fidel and Raul Cas-tro.

Remon was arrested in2013. He said state security

agents painted his housewith pro-government slo-gans, leading to a fight withpolice. He was sentenced tosix years for attacking statesecurity.

Held five miles from hishouse in eastern Cuba, hewas loaded into a car Thurs-day and driven outside theprison. “Right there theygave me a release documentand said, ‘Get out,”’ Remonsaid.

“It’s a hard blow againstthe regime when they them-selves have to let out peoplewhen they supposedly hadproof that they’d committedcrimes,” he said.

He called the U.S.-Cubadeal “a historic moment, anoverwhelming event for mycountry, and I feel veryproud.”

Miguel Alberto Ulloa, a25-year-old Havana man ar-rested in 2013 for paintinganti-government slogans,said that he will stay at

home until the chargesagainst him expire in twomonths but that he’s “eagerto go to the street, speak out,show that I’m dissatisfied.”

He said he had watchedRaul Castro and PresidentBarack Obama’s simultane-ous announcements fromprison on Dec. 17 and of the100 or so prisoners of alltypes watching with him,“some were happy and oth-ers not.”

Cuba dissidents praise detenteBy ANNE-MARIE GARCIA AND ANDREA

RODRIGUEZASSOCIATED PRESS

PARIS — France’s primeminister demanded tough-er anti-terrorism measuresTuesday after deadly at-tacks that some call thiscountry’s Sept. 11 — andthat may already be lead-ing to a crackdown on lib-erties in exchange forgreater security.

Police told The Associat-ed Press that the weaponsused came from abroad, asauthorities in several coun-tries searched for possibleaccomplices and the sourc-es of financing for lastweek’s attacks on the satir-ical newspaper CharlieHebdo, a kosher marketand police. A new suspectwas identified in Bulgaria.

“We must not lower ourguard, at any time,” PrimeMinister Manuel Valls toldParliament, adding that“serious and very highrisks remain.”

Lawmakers in the oftenargumentative chamberlined up overwhelminglybehind the government,giving repeated standingovations to Valls’ rousing,indignant address — andthen voted 488-1 to extendFrench airstrikes againstIslamic State extremists inIraq.

“France is at waragainst terrorism, jiha-dism, and radical Isla-mism,” Valls declared.“France is not at waragainst Islam.”

He called for increasedsurveillance of imprisonedradicals and told the interi-or minister to quicklycome up with new securityproposals.

French police say asmany as six members ofthe terrorist cell that car-ried out the Paris attacksmay still be at large, in-cluding a man seen drivinga car registered to the wid-ow of one of the gunmen.The country has deployed10,000 troops to protect sen-sitive sites, including Jew-ish schools and syn-agogues, mosques and trav-el hubs.

Several people are beingsought in connection with

the “substantial” financingof the three gunmen be-hind the terror campaign,said Christophe Crepin, aFrench police union offi-cial. The gunmen’s weap-ons stockpile came fromabroad, and the size of it,plus the military sophisti-cation of the attacks, indi-cated an organized terrornetwork, he added.

“This cell did not in-clude just those three. Wethink with all seriousnessthat they had accomplices,because of the weaponry,the logistics and the costsof it,” Crepin said. “Theseare heavy weapons. When Italk about things like arocket launcher — it’s notlike buying a baguette onthe corner. It’s for targetedacts.”

Speaking to legislatorsin London, the head of theEuropean police agencyEuropol, Rob Wainwright,said that 3,000 to 5,000 Eu-ropean nationals have goneto fight in the Mideast, call-ing it a “startling figure”and “the most seriousthreat Europe has facedsince 9/11.”

He urged better intelsharing, saying later to theBBC: “The way the net-work is diffuse in nature,not homogenous, not cen-tralized, but a gathering ofthousands of independentand semi-independent ac-tors makes it very, very dif-ficult for the security agen-cies to monitor it whole-sale.”

In a sign that French ju-dicial authorities were us-ing laws against defending

terrorism to their fullestextent, a man who hadpraised the terror attackswhile resisting arrest on adrunk driving violationwas swiftly sentenced tofour years in prison.

While the attacks haveleft France in jitters, somewarned against going asfar as a French version ofthe U.S. Patriot Act passedafter Sept. 11.

“This must not lead tothe renouncing of funda-mental freedoms, other-wise we prove right thosewho come to fight on oursoil,” former Prime Minis-ter Francois Fillon said onFrance-Inter radio.

The investigation spreadto yet another country: ABulgarian prosecutor an-nounced that a Frenchmanjailed since Jan. 1 had tiesto Cherif Kouachi, one ofthe brothers who carriedout the Charlie Hebdo at-tack.

The man, identified byFrench prosecutors as Joa-chim Fritz-Joly, was arrest-ed as he tried to cross intoTurkey. He was facing twoEuropean arrest warrants,one citing his alleged linksto a terrorist organizationand a second for allegedlykidnapping his 3-year-oldson and smuggling him outof the country, said DarinaSlavova, the regional prose-cutor for Bulgaria’s south-ern province of Haskovo.

“He met with Kouachiseveral times at the end ofDecember,” Slavova said.The child was sent back tohis mother in France.

At a hearing in Haskovo

on Tuesday, authorities de-cided to keep Fritz-Joly incustody until another hear-ing to determine whetherhe will be extradited toFrance. The Frenchmantold the court he hadknown Cherif Kouachisince childhood.

“A man can have friendsand they can do whateverthey want, but I am simplygoing on vacation and havenothing to do with it,” hetold the court.

Kouachi and his olderbrother, Said, killed 12 peo-ple at the satirical paper’soffices on Jan. 7, whiletheir friend, Amedy Couli-baly, killed a French police-woman Thursday and fourhostages Friday in a Pariskosher grocery. All threeclaimed ties to Islamic ex-tremists in the Middle East— the Kouachis to al-Qaidain Yemen and Coulibaly tothe Islamic State group.

All three gunmen diedFriday in clashes withFrench police.

Authorities were search-ing around Paris for theMini Cooper registered toHayat Boumeddiene, Couli-baly’s widow, who Turkishofficials say is now in Sy-ria. French police alsosought the person or per-sons who filmed and post-ed a video of Coulibaly ex-plaining how the attacks inParis would unfold.

Earlier Tuesday, in cere-monies thousands of milesapart, France and Israelpaid tribute to the victimsof the terror attacks.

At police headquartersin Paris, French PresidentFrancois Hollande placedLegion of Honor medals onthe flag-draped caskets ofthe three police officerskilled in the attacks.

France will be “merci-less in the face of anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim acts,and unrelenting againstthose who defend and car-ry out terrorism, notablythe jihadists who go to Iraqand Syria,” Hollandevowed.

A ceremonial unit of theNew York Police Depart-ment, including Muslim of-ficers, was among those at-tending the service for theslain officers.

Weapons came from abroadBy LORI HINNANT AND ANGELA

CHARLTONASSOCIATED PRESS

Soldiers guard the synagogue of Bayonne, southwestern France,Tuesday. France ordered 10,000 troops into the streets Monday.

Photo by Bob Edme | AP

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria —Survivors of an assault byIslamic militants that killeda large number of civiliansin Nigeria have describeddays of relentless violencein which, one witness said,some people were slaughter-ed “like insects.”

The accounts were givenby villagers who fled thecarnage in and around Ba-ga, a town in Borno statethat lies in the northeasterncorner of Nigeria near theborder with Chad. The kill-ing unfolded over severaldays after Boko Haramfighters seized a key mili-tary base there on Jan. 3.

Amnesty Internationalhas said there are reportsthat the death toll could beas high as 2,000, thoughsome witnesses cite lowertolls in the hundreds.

Maj. Gen. Chris Oluko-lade, a military spokesman,said Monday that the evi-dence available so far indi-cates a death toll of no morethan 150, including insur-gents killed in combat withtroops. The military hassaid 14 soldiers were killedand 30 were wounded in theBaga attack, and that it wasmaking a plan to restore“law, order and normalcy”to the area.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moonas well as the United States

and other countries havecondemned the Baga blood-shed, which highlights theincreasingly brazen tacticsof an insurgent movementin Nigeria’s northeast aswell as the inability of Ni-gerian forces to respond ef-fectively. President Good-luck Jonathan is runningfor re-election in Feb. 14elections, but it is uncertainhow voting can proceed inareas under Boko Haram’ssway.

In Washington, State De-partment spokeswoman Ma-rie Harf said the U.S. stillwas trying to get informa-tion from the ground on re-ported atrocities.

She said Nigeria neededto move forward with “cred-ible and peaceful elections”despite the attacks, but ac-knowledged it would be dif-ficult.

“Boko Haram is a hugethreat,” Harf said. She saidthe U.S. was trying to workwith Nigeria despite thegovernment’s terminationin November of a thirdphase of a training oper-ation involving a Nigerianarmy battalion.

She also condemned“horrific reports today ofyoung girls being used toconduct suicide attacks.”

Boko Haram is suspectedof using a 10-year-old girl todetonate a bomb at a marketin Maiduguri on Saturday,killing at least 10 people andseriously injuring others.

In this Nov. 27, 2014 photo, children displaced after attacks by BokoHaram line up in the camp of internal displace people in Yola.

Photo by Sunday Alamba | AP

Nigerian survivorsdescribe killings

By HARUNA UMAR AND CHRISTOPHERTORCHIA

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2015 THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A

Angel R. “Nano” Rami-rez, passed away on Janu-ary 10, 2015 at Doctors Hos-pital in Laredo, Texas.

Mr. Ramirez is precededin death by his parents, Ra-miro and Linda G. Rami-rez; and sister, Reyna Ra-mirez.

Mr. Ramirez is survivedby his brothers, Juan Ar-min (San Juana) Ramirez,Manuel Ramiro (+Sylvia)Ramirez, Jose Roberto (Ma-ria Guadalupe) Ramirez;sisters, Romelia (+Carlos)Garza, San Juana (JuanManuel) Vidal, and Leticia(Javier) Rodriguez; and bynumerous cousins, neph-ews, nieces, other familymembers and friends.

Visitation hours wereheld on Sunday, January11, 2015, from 2 p.m. to 9p.m. with a Catholic ser-vice at 7 p.m. at Rose Gar-den Funeral Home. Inter-ment will follow at a laterdate at Panteon Municipal

in Nva. Ciudad Guerrero,Tamps.

Funeral arrangementswere under the direction ofRose Garden FuneralHome Daniel A. Gonzalez,Funeral Director, 2102 N.U.S. Hwy 83 Zapata, Texas.

ANGEL R. "NANO" RAMIREZ

Aug. 2, 1948 – Jan. 10, 2015ery statewide office, from governorthrough the state appeals courts,and enjoys strong majorities in theHouse and Senate.

It plans to use it. Energized bylandslide wins for the top posts, Re-publicans have vowed to keep push-ing an already conservative stateeven further right. That likelymeans renewed debates over beef-ing up border security, expandingwhere and how Texans can carryguns and whether to allow parentsto use state money for privateschool vouchers.

Central to it all will be the two-year state budget, the Legislature’sonly must-pass bill. Lawmakerswill have $7.5 billion left unspentfrom the current budget for their2016-2017 spending plan, a figureRepublicans will likely use to pushfor tax cuts.

But the economy is a source ofsome budget anxiety. Oil has beentrading below $50 a barrel for thefirst time since 2009, and new stateComptroller Glen Hegar warnedthat oil production and regulationtax revenues could drop by up to 14percent.

“I am confident that we’ll be ableto craft a budget that prioritizeseducation, border security, jobs andtransportation funding,” and stillcut taxes, Gov.-elect Greg Abbottsaid.

Lines to access the House andSenate galleries — including law-makers’ relatives, friends and topsupporters — snaked around partof the stately rotunda and downthree flights of steps before Tues-day’s session began.

“It’s like the first day of school,”said Deputy State Fire MarshallJohn Nichols, who has been hand-ling opening days in the Legisla-ture since 1995.

The only partisan bitternessTuesday was the House speakervote, but the fact that a vote washeld was more dramatic than thelopsided results themselves.

Gun-rights advocates, meanwhile,were holding a rally outside theCapitol pushing for laws allowingopen-carry of handguns, with someeven bringing a 3-D printer thatproduces components finishing outthe lower receiver of an AR-15 rifle.

“Our most important weapon is

our voice and we defend it with theSecond Amendment,” said PabloFriars of Arlington, with an AR-15over his right shoulder and a bull-horn in his left hand.

Gov. Rick Perry’s 14-year tenureends Jan. 20, when Abbott, the for-mer state attorney general, issworn in. Also taking office then isincoming Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, alongtime leader of the party’s rightwing. He’s pledged an ultra-conser-vative agenda on issues such as im-migration and school vouchers.

Patrick also could lead an effortto grab even more power for SenateRepublicans. The lieutenant gover-nor-elect has said he wants the Sen-ate to lower the traditional thresh-old for passing bills in that cham-ber from two-thirds to 60 percent.That would effectively marginalizeSenate Democrats, whose 11 mem-bers have just enough votes toblock especially contentious billsfrom coming up.

Senators said Tuesday that theydon’t expect any votes on the rulesuntil next week — setting up thefirst Senate showdown of the ses-sion.

LEGISLATURE Continued from Page 1A

and attempting to transportundocumented immigrantsfor financial gain during afinal pretrial conference set-ting.

U.S. Magistrate JudgeGuillermo Garcia acceptedthe guilty pleas.

The two are facing up to10 years in federal prisonand a possible $250,000 fine.

Grandstaff and Garzawere arrested Nov. 5 after athwarted human smuggling

attempt. Garza is an alleged Vallu-

co gang member.A third individual was al-

so arrested in connection tothe case. The final pretrialconference hearing for Man-uel Alejandro Garza was ter-minated Monday.

At about 3 p.m. Nov. 5, Za-pata County Sheriff ’s Officeinvestigators flagged down aBorder Patrol agent, request-ing help with a traffic stop

on U.S 83.They told the agent they

saw a driver, later identifiedas Grandstaff, picking upfour people near the brushon U.S. 83.

That information was re-layed to a sheriff ’s deputy,who then pulled over the ve-hicle, a 1999 silver PontiacGrand Prix.

Grandstaff allegedly ad-mitted to picking up the ille-gal immigrants and that she

had been hired by Garza totransport four of them to Za-pata for $100.

Investigators had seen ared Ford Mustang usuallydriven by Garza followingthe Pontiac.

Deputies pulled over theMustang and detained threepeople: Garza, his brotherAlejandro Garza and JavierCastro. Mario Garza latertold authorities he was amember of the Valluco gang.

In a post-arrest interview,Grandstaff claimed the Gar-zas were involved in thesmuggling attempt.

Mario Garza acted as thefoot guide for the group ofimmigrants while ManuelGarza was the scout, shetold law enforcement.

Grandstaff and Garza willbe sentenced at a later date.

(Philip Balli may bereached at 728-2528 or pbal-li@lmtonline.com)

GUILTY Continued from Page 1A

a standby locationfor a landfill, andtry to buy more am-bulances to trans-port people to Lare-do.”

(Gabriela A. Tre-viño may be reachedat 956-728-2579 orgtrevino@lmton-line.com)

NEWContinued from

Page 1A

that freeing her would be a vio-lation of victims’ rights, and thatthe governor’s intervention con-stituted improper political pres-sure on prosecutors, who havethe final say on such decisions.

“I ask the governor to respectthe law, and enforce it,” Mirandade Wallace said. “To respect therule of law, and the independenceof prosecutors.” She said somevictims fear for their safety ifSalgado and other radical com-munity police leaders are re-leased.

Miranda de Wallace also said agroup of congressmen had been

improperly lobbying for Salga-do’s release. “They should let thejudiciary do its work, within theframework of the law.”

One legislator pressing for Sal-gado’s release said Tuesday itwas a simple question of rectify-ing violations of Salgado’s hu-man rights.

“We are getting involved aspart of an effort to defend humanrights,” said federal congressmanRoberto Lopez of the leftist Dem-ocratic Revolution Party. “Whatwe want is for the law to be ap-plied and due process be respect-ed.” Lopez said Salgado had been

arrested unjustly "because shehad affected political interests”by detaining a town councilmanand fighting drug trafficking.

Lopez also said she had notbeen given consular assistance,as a U.S. citizen is entitled, norhad been she been given ade-quate access to legal representa-tion.

Much of the dispute revolvesaround the somewhat hazy legalstanding of community police inGuerrero. Lopez argued thatstate law 701 guarantees townsthe right to form community po-lice; however, that law applies on-

ly to Indian communities, andMiranda de Wallace noted thatSalgado is not an Indian, nor wasshe elected under a traditionalIndian governance system.

Salgado, from the Seattle sub-urb of Renton, has been accusedof kidnapping in connection withthe arrest of several teenage girlson suspicion of drug dealing, andof a town official for allegedlytrying to steal a cow at the sceneof a double killing.

The Guerrero state govern-ment said following the arrestthat authorities had receivedcomplaints from the families of

six kidnappings victims, includ-ing three minors, and that ran-som had been demanded.

Salgado grew up in Olinala, amountainous town of farmersand artisans. She moved to theU.S. when she was about 20, set-tling in the Seattle area andworking as a waitress and clean-ing apartments.

The killing of a taxi driver inOlinala who refused to pay pro-tection money to a cartel sparkedSalgado and others to form thevigilante group, which mountedpatrols to protect residents fromthe gang.

VIGILANTE Continued from Page 1A

NEW YORK — As oil’slong slide continued, theEnergy Department fore-cast Tuesday that produc-tion from U.S. shale oper-ators will begin to tail offin the second half of theyear. The decline wouldmark the first such drop inwhat has been a 6-yearboom in U.S. onshore crudeproduction.

The price of oil fell Tues-day, dipping briefly under$45, before ending down 18cents to $45.89 a barrel.That’s the lowest since thespring of 2009, and a dropof 58 percent over the pastsix months.

Oil fell after the energyminister for the UnitedArab Emirates, a memberof OPEC, suggested thatthe cartel will not lowerproduction to reduce globalsupplies in an effort to re-

verse falling prices. Brent crude, an interna-

tional benchmark used toprice oil used by many U.S.refineries, fell 84 cents toclose at $46.59 a barrel inLondon.

Low crude prices areleading to significant sav-ings for buyers of diesel,gasoline, jet fuel and heat-ing oil.

Typical U.S. householdswill spend $750 less on gas-oline this year than in 2014,

because the average gaso-line price will fall to $2.33per gallon, from $3.36 lastyear, the Energy Depart-ment also forecast Tuesday.

The national averagestood at $2.12 a gallon Tues-day, according to AAA, thelowest in nearly 6 years.

The forecast was part ofa monthly outlook releasedby the Energy Depart-ment’s Energy InformationAdministration. It wasEIA’s first outlook to in-

clude forecasts for 2016.Onshore fields in North

Dakota, Texas and else-where have driven theenormous increase in U.S.crude oil production overthe past 6 years. That rise,combined with more sup-plies from Iraq, Canadaand elsewhere, is the mainfactor pulling down globaloil prices. But those lowerprices have already begunto force drillers to delay orcancel plans for new explo-

ration, and the EIA expectsa slip in onshore produc-tion in the second half ofthis year. Production fromthose fields is expected topeak at 7.4 million barrelsper day in May, and fall to7.2 million barrels per dayby December.

“Many oil companieshave cut back on their ex-ploration drilling in re-sponse to falling crudeprices,” EIA AdministratorAdam Sieminski said.

Government predicts shale slowdown as oil fallsBy JONATHAN FAHEY

ASSOCIATED PRESS

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2015