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With a glut of crude oilfilling up pipelines and stor-age tanks and pushingdown U.S. oil prices, Texaslawmakers are calling onWashington to lift its 40-year-old ban on crude ex-ports.

“Congress should updateour national trade policy tobenefit Texas producers andconsumers,” state Rep.Drew Darby, R-San Angelo,said Monday at a joint hear-ing of the House Energy Re-sources Committee, whichhe chairs, and the cham-ber’s International Tradeand Intergovernmental Af-fairs Committee.

More than 100 Texas

House members have signedon to a proposed resolutionthat calls the ban a “relicfrom an era of scarcity andflawed price control poli-cies” that should be lifted.All three Texas railroadcommissioners voiced sup-port for the legislation, say-ing that finding morebuyers for U.S. crude wouldprompt drilling, pouring

more cash into the statetreasury.

“If we want to sustain the‘Texas miracle’ and lead theway to energy security, wehave to compete in the in-ternational market,” Com-missioner David Porter toldlawmakers.

American companiesmay export refined petro-leum products such as gaso-

line or diesel, but mostcrude here is stuck at home.

That’s because of a policydating back to themid-1970s. The U.S. pro-duced far less oil then, andthe 1973 Arab oil embargocaused global oil prices toskyrocket. In 1975, Presi-dent Gerald Ford signed theEnergy Policy and Conser-vation Act, which bannedcrude oil exports with fewexceptions – an effort tokeep oil here and protectagainst price shocks.

Since then, the U.S. — ledby Texas — has become theworld’s top oil producer,largely due to technologicaladvances like hydraulicfracturing allowing oper-

CRUDE OIL

Texas takes aimHouse members propose end to export ban

By JIM MALEWITZTEXAS TRIBUNE

See EXPORT PAGE 11A

American companies may exportrefined petroleum products such asgasoline or diesel, but most crudehere is stuck at home.

RIO BRAVO — It cost $12 million, and was ex-pected to change the lives of hundreds of poor,mostly Hispanic families living in two hard-luckborder towns.

The Rio Bravo Water Treatment Plant openedin 2006 as a state-of-the-art technological wonder,designed to distill 2.4 million gallons of water perday — clean, safe, drinkable water.

But nearly a decade later, the 8,000 residents ofRio Bravo and neighboring El Cenizo mostly stillbuy their drinking and cooking water from bright-ly colored kiosks around town. Elderly patrons atthe senior care center run by Rio Bravo’s mayordrink bottled water and use the caps as loteríamarkers.

“Who here would be willing to drink some tapwater?” Dr. Francisco Peña asked the folks at thecare center last fall, before he was elected mayor.“Who is willing to drink water that comes fromyour public water treatment plant?” From a crowdof 30 people, there was silence.

The Rio Bravo plant has been fraught withproblems since it opened. The sophisticated sys-tem often doesn’t work, or operators don’t knowhow to work it. State inspectors have repeatedlycited the plant for pumping foul water out to itscustomers. Eight current and former employeeshave been indicted for falsifying water quality re-cords sent to the state.

And the locals still cannot trust what comes outof their faucets.

“We had to start using filtered water becausewe didn’t want to lose clients,” says Fausta Mon-toya, an employee at the Los Pasteles Bakery inRio Bravo, which spends more than $150 a monthon bottled water at Family Dollar.

Notorious developer Cecil McDonald charged aslittle as $50 down for property in Rio Bravo and ElCenizo in the 1980s. When his real estate invest-ment firm went bankrupt, the two colonias were

RIO BRAVO

Francisco Peña asks the residents of an adult day carecenter if they feel comfortable drinking the tap water.

Photo by Jennifer Whitney | Texas Tribune

Plan forclean water

crashesIneptitude and alleged frauddestroy hopes for residents

By NEENA SATIJA AND ALEXA URATEXAS TRIBUNE

See WATER PAGE 11A

ZAPATA COUNTY FAIR

TRAIL RIDE LUNCHEON

Laura Moncivais, Vanessa Cantu, Christina Gonzalez, Carissa Gonzalez, Eric Gonzalez, and Andrew Sanchez at the Zapata County Fair-grounds Pavilion during the ZCF Trail Ride Luncheon.

Photo by Victor Strife | The Zapata Times

Two girls were shot and killedby a man Monday afternoon in ahostage situation in West CentralLaredo, police said.

The man, in his 60s, later diedin a shootout with LPD.

Police said the two girls, ages 6and 16, were shot inside a resi-dence in the 1800 block of ConventAvenue, located about a blocksouth of Martin High. The malesuspect then went outside thehome brandishing a revolver andleading to a deadly encounterwith police, LPD said.

Police did not release thenames of the man and two girls,pending the notification of next ofkin. The relationship between thesuspect and the girls was not im-mediately clear as of late Mon-day.At 3:30 p.m., officers respondedto a report of shots fired at a

home on Convent. Initial reportsindicated that a man had takenpeople hostage, according to LPD

Chief Ray Garner.Investigator Joe E. Baeza, LPD

spokesman, said the suspect went

outside the home and opened fireon the officers who had first ar-rived at the scene. On a second oc-

casion, he shot at a SWAT ar-mored vehicle. No injuries werereported.

At about 5 p.m., the suspect hadhis third and final encounter withpolice.

“He came out on the porchbrandishing a revolver and (it)looks like he did point it towardour officers and our officers re-turned fire. He’s deceased,” Gar-ner said in a news conference mo-ments after the shootout. “At thistime, we don’t know why thiswent down like it did.

One hostage rescuedGarner added that one hostage

was rescued from the home. Though the hostage, a man be-

lieved to be in his 80s, was not in-jured, he was taken to the hospitalas a precautionary measure.

LPD detectives took over thecase.

LAREDO POLICE

Man shoots girls, 6 and 16, dies in shootoutBy CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ

THE ZAPATA TIMES

Laredo Police and SWAT team members group outside of a house in the 1800 block of Convent Avenue in Laredo on Mondayafternoon after an armed hostage situation ended with three people dead.

Photo by Danny Zaragoza | The Zapata Times

See LAREDO PAGE 11A

PAGE 2A Zin brief WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11Laredo Association of Human

Resource Management Meeting. 12p.m. Embassy Suites Hotel. Presenterswill be the Rogelio Trevino, executivedirector for the Workforce Solutions ofSouth Texas, and Andrea De La Garza,manager of the Career Center Oper-ations division. Topics include skills de-velopment, workforce makeup and cur-rent labor market information. Registeronline at LAHRM.org and feel free toregister and invite a co-worker, vendor,friend.

Community Emergency Re-sponse Training (CERT) for high schoolstudents. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. UTHSC Re-gional Campus Laredo. Receive train-ing, materials and certification. CallAHEC at 712-0037.

Greens of Guadalupe are accept-ing donations today from 1 p.m. to 5p.m. for a rummage sale in the OurLady of Guadalupe Church hall, 1700San Francisco Avenue. Clothing, furni-ture, jewelry, and more accepted. Con-tact Birdie at 286-7866.

FRIDAY, MARCH 13Cesar Chavez Memorial Alliance

Art Competition Exhibit, 6 p.m. LaredoCivic Center meeting rooms. $5 forstudents and $10 for adults. $500 incash prizes for art competition win-ners. Manuel Bocanegra at 775-7027 orAnna Marie at 508-9255.

Greens of Guadalupe RummageSale from 8 a.m. till 1 p.m. at the OurLady of Guadalupe Church Hall, 1700San Francisco. Call Birdie at 286-7866.

SATURDAY, MARCH 148th Anniversary of the Guada-

lupe Greens Rummage Sale from 7a.m. till 1 p.m. at the Virgin of Guada-lupe Church Hall, 1700 San FranciscoAve. Call Birdie at 286-7866.

Plate Sale to fund 2 year old’seye surgery. Advance Auto Parts, 3019San Bernardo. Chicken and rice platefor $5.

Greens of Guadalupe RummageSale from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the OurLady of Guadalupe Church hall, 1700San Francisco Avenue. Call Birdie at286-7866.

SUNDAY, MARCH 15Greens of Guadalupe Rummage

Sale from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the OurLady of Guadalupe Church hall, 1700San Francisco Avenue. Call Birdie at286-7866.

TUESDAY, MARCH 17TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Sci-

ence Center Planetarium. The Secret ofthe Cardboard Rocket, 5 p.m. ExtremePlanets, 6 p.m. Admission is $4 forchildren and $5 for adults. Admissionis $4 for TAMIU students, faculty andstaff. Call 956-326-DOME (3663).

FRIDAY, MARCH 20TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Sci-

ence Center Planetarium. ExtremePlanets, 6 p.m. Live Star Presentation,7 p.m. Admission is $4 for childrenand $5 for adults. Admission is $4 forTAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call956-326-DOME (3663).

The Pink Cups , a non profitgroup for breast cancer patients, inviteyou to our Boot Scootin’ II CountryWestern Gala at the Laredo Center forthe Arts. 7 PM til midnight. There willbe a live and silent auction with greatitems, fun games and live music to beperformed by the Soda Creek Bankfrom San Antonio. For tickets andsponsorships call Linda Bruni at 337-4556

SATURDAY, MARCH 21The 12th Annual Cesar Chavez

March for Justice. 8:30 a.m assemblytime. March begins at 10 a.m. at St.Peters Plaza. Ends at San Agustin Pla-za. Call Manuel Bocanegra at 775-7027or Anna Marie at 508-9255.

TUESDAY, MARCH 24TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Sci-

ence Center Planetarium. The Secret ofthe Cardboard Rocket, 5 p.m. ExtremePlanets, 6 p.m. Admission is $4 forchildren and $5 for adults. Admissionis $4 for TAMIU students, faculty andstaff. Call 956-326-DOME (3663).

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25“Unsettled/Desasosiego: Children

in a World of Gangs” at TAMIU StudentCenter Ballroom, 5201 University Blvd.from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Presentationon the history behind Central Ameri-ca’s insecurity, resulting in undocu-mented Central American children andyouth seeking entry into the U.S.

CALENDARASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Wednesday, March11, the 70th day of 2015. Thereare 295 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in His-tory:

On March 11, 1865, duringthe Civil War, Union forces un-der General William T. Sher-man occupied Fayetteville,North Carolina.

On this date:In 1861, the Constitution of

the Confederate States ofAmerica was adopted by theConfederate Congress inMontgomery, Alabama.

In 1942, as Japanese forcescontinued to advance in thePacific during World War II,Gen. Douglas MacArthur leftthe Philippines for Australia.(MacArthur, who subsequent-ly vowed, “I shall return,”kept that promise more than21/2 years later.)

In 1977, more than 130 hos-tages held in Washington D.C.by Hanafi Muslims were freedafter ambassadors from threeIslamic nations joined the ne-gotiations.

In 1993, Janet Reno wasunanimously confirmed bythe Senate to be attorney gen-eral.

In 2004, ten bombs explodedin quick succession across thecommuter rail network in Ma-drid, Spain, killing 191 peoplein an attack linked to al-Qaida-inspired militants.

In 2011, a magnitude-9.0earthquake and resulting tsu-nami struck Japan’s north-eastern coast, killing nearly20,000 people and severely da-maging the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station.

In 2012, sixteen Afghan vil-lagers — mostly women andchildren — were shot dead asthey slept by U.S. Army StaffSgt. Robert Bales, who laterpleaded guilty and was sen-tenced to life in prison with-out parole.

Ten years ago: A judge,court reporter and sheriff ’sdeputy were shot to death atan Atlanta courthouse; BrianNichols, who killed them aswell as a federal agent, surren-dered a day later at the apart-ment of Ashley Smith, a wom-an he’d taken hostage. (Ni-chols was later convicted ofmurder and sentenced to lifein prison.)

Five years ago: A federalappeals court in San Francis-co upheld the use of the words“under God” in the Pledge ofAllegiance and “In God WeTrust” on U.S. currency.

One year ago: In an ex-traordinary public accusation,the head of the Senate Intelli-gence Committee, Sen. DianneFeinstein, D-Calif., declaredthe CIA had interfered withand then tried to intimidate acongressional investigation in-to the agency’s possible use oftorture in terror probes dur-ing the Bush administration.

Today’s Birthdays: Mediamogul Rupert Murdoch is 84.ABC News correspondent SamDonaldson is 81. SupremeCourt Justice Antonin Scaliais 79. Actress Tricia O’Neil is70. Singer Bobby McFerrin is65. Movie director Jerry Zuck-er is 65. Actress Susan Rich-ardson is 63. Singer CherylLynn is 58. Actor-director Pe-ter Berg is 53. Actress AlexKingston is 52. Actor JohnBarrowman is 48. Singer LisaLoeb is 47. Actor TerrenceHoward is 46. Actor JohnnyKnoxville is 44. Actor AntonYelchin is 26.

Thought for Today: “Per-haps it is better to wake up af-ter all, even to suffer, ratherthan to remain a dupe to illu-sions all one’s life.” — KateChopin, American writer(1851-1904).

TODAY IN HISTORY

COLLEGE STATION — Michael Youngwill earn more than twice as much as hispredecessor when he takes over as thepresident of Texas A&M University in Col-lege Station.

The Bryan-College Station Eagle reportsthat the System Board of Regents votedMonday, March 9 to hire Young and payhim $1 million annually as part of his five-year contract.

The new president will receive a yearly$200,000 housing allowance and an $800,000signing bonus.

Young will also be eligible to receive upto four $100,000 performance bonuses atthe discretion of the school’s chancellor,John Sharp.

Young completed his three-year tenure

as president of the University of Washing-ton last week, where he was paid $853,000annually.

Chancellor Sharp gave hints aboutYoung’s salary when he said at a February3, 2015 regents meeting that “his salarywill not compare to the last president’s sal-ary because this president does not com-pare to the last president.”

After Monday’s meeting, Regent Chair-man Phil Adams said the contract for thepresident-to-be was appropriate because ashe described Young as “one of the greatsitting presidents in all of the country.”

“I know it’s a lot more than we’ve paid apresident, but he will be outstanding onthe job and well worth it. ... We’ve gotsomebody that’s at the very top of thegame,” Adams said.

AROUND TEXAS

In this Feb. 9 file photo, newly-named president of Texas A&M University Michael Young answers questions during a newsconference held in Rudder Tower on the A&M campus in College Station, Texas. Young, is in line to receive $1 million annual-ly and a signing bonus up to $800,000, the Eagle newspaper reported Tuesday on the proposed contract.

Photo by Dave McDermand/College Station Eagle | AP file

New A&M presidentASSOCIATED PRESS

Drug cartel managers getlong prison sentencesBROWNSVILLE — A federal

judge in Brownsville has sen-tenced two former managers inMexico’s Gulf cartel to long pris-on sentences for their roles indrug and weapons smuggling.Jose Luis Zuniga Hernandezdrew a 50-year prison sentenceTuesday for conspiring to importcocaine and marijuana between2002 and 2013. His brother, Ar-mando Arizmendi Hermandez,was sentenced to 35 years inprison for his guilty plea to thesame charge.

Businessman losesmillions in fraud scamSAN ANTONIO — Federal

agents have arrested a San Anto-nio-area man who authoritiessay defrauded a Mexican busi-nessman out of millions of dol-lars. A federal complaint un-sealed Tuesday charged 53-year-old Armando Jesus HernandezLeal with one wire fraud count.

State lawmakers discussseries of pre-K proposals

AUSTIN — State lawmakersare discussing six bills to bolsterpre-kindergarten programs, in-cluding a funding plan for schooldistricts that meet early educa-tion benchmarks.

The House Public EducationCommittee is also mulling Tues-day other proposals incentivizingschool districts to offer innova-tive approaches, including full-day programs.

Big Spring under boil water notice

BIG SPRING — Nearly 30,000West Texas residents have beentold to boil their drinking waterdue to problems with a pump.

Officials in Big Spring onTuesday announced the manda-tory boil water order.

Authorities blame mechanicaland operational failure at the BigSpring water treatment plant. Apump problem was discoveredMonday and fixed.

Man charged in wreck thatkilled woman, 2 sons

FORT WORTH — Police say aNorth Texas man’s blood alcohollevel was three times the legallimit for driving in a wrong-waycrash that killed a woman andher two sons.

The wreck killed Maranda Ab-shire, 2-year-old Crus Dominguezand 5-year-old Christopher Dom-inguez. Another child in her ve-hicle was injured, but survived.

26 immigrants rescuedfrom refrigerated trailerFALFURRIAS — Officers have

rescued three dozen smuggledimmigrants who were crowdedinto a refrigerated truck trailerin South Texas. The Border Pa-trol on Tuesday announced therescue of the immigrants duringa search. Border Patrol agentsopened the trailer and found theimmigrants, who were shiveringdue to the low temperature. Alldeclined medical attention.

— Compiled from AP reports

Jury finds Pharrell, Thickecopied for ‘Blurred Lines’

LOS ANGELES — A juryawarded Marvin Gaye’s childrennearly $7.4 million Tuesday afterdetermining singers RobinThicke and Pharrell Williams co-pied their father’s music to cre-ate “Blurred Lines,” the biggesthit song of 2013.

Gaye’s daughter Nona Gayewept as the verdict was read andwas hugged by her attorney.

“Right now, I feel free,” shesaid outside court. “Free from ...Pharrell Williams and RobinThicke’s chains and what theytried to keep on us and the liesthat were told.”

ACLU: Snowden provedNSA spying causes harm

BALTIMORE — The Ameri-can Civil Liberties Union andother groups sued the NationalSecurity Agency and the JusticeDepartment on Tuesday, chal-

lenging the government’s prac-tice of collecting personal infor-mation from vast amounts of da-ta harvested directly from theInternet’s infrastructure.

The suit filed in federal courtin Maryland accuses the NSA ofscooping up virtually everything

sent via the Internet betweenAmericans and people outsidethe United States, and thenscouring it to identify and mon-itor foreign intelligence targets.A similar challenge was turnedaway by the U.S. Supreme Court.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

Marvin Gaye’s daughter, Nona Gaye talks to the media after a jury awarded thesinger’s children nearly $7.4 million after determining singers Robin Thicke andPharrell Williams copied their father’s music to create "Blurred Lines," Tuesday.

Photo by Nick Ut | AP

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 State THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

HUNTSVILLE — A gangenforcer convicted of beat-ing and strangling a SanAntonio woman who re-fused to pay a Mexican Ma-fia-imposed tax on her ille-gal drug sales is set to beexecuted this week.

The lethal injection ofManuel Vasquez onWednesday evening wouldleave prison officials in thenation’s most active deathpenalty state with enoughpentobarbital to carry outonly one more executionuntil they are able to ob-tain a new supply. At leastsix executions are sched-uled in the coming weeksin Texas, where prison offi-cials — like in other deathpenalty states — havestruggled to find providersfor drugs for executions.

Vasquez, 46, had no ap-peals in the courts Tuesdayand the Texas Board of Par-dons and Paroles rejected aclemency petition filed onhis behalf in a 7-0 vote.

Evidence at Vasquez’s1999 capital murder trialshowed he and two othermen were carrying out or-ders to kill 51-year-oldJuanita Ybarra for ignor-ing the Mexican Mafia’s 10percent street tax on drugs— known as a “dime.”

After a night of drinkingand drugs at a run-downSan Antonio motel, Vas-quez and two companionsbarged into the nearbyroom of Ybarra and herboyfriend, Moses Bazan,early on March 19, 1998, ac-cording to evidence pre-sented at his trial. Bazanwas knocked out in an en-suing struggle but said hesaw Ybarra being beaten.

Gangenforcer

to bekilled

By MICHAEL GRACZYKASSOCIATED PRESS

BROWNSVILLE — Fromhis bench in a federalcourthouse barely a milefrom the Rio Grande, JudgeAndrew S. Hanen lookedover a procession of small-time drug dealers andthieves, each representing alapse of border enforce-ment.

In a familiar routine forthe judge, he handed outsentences at a hearing lastweek to convicted crimi-nals who had been deport-ed to Mexico and thensneaked back into the Unit-ed States. For returning il-legally, he sent them toprison for a year or so, andmost likely to another de-portation. Hanen warnedthem that their time be-hind bars would be evenlonger if they ever cameback again.

"I want to be sure you

understand that," he said,looking each man in theeye.

Hanen is now in the mid-dle of a much bigger legalfight, after his Feb. 16 rul-ing that temporarily haltedPresident Barack Obama’sexecutive actions to shieldmillions of unauthorizedimmigrants from deporta-tion. Among officials fromthe 26 states bringing thelawsuit, the decision washailed as a triumph of lawover a reckless president.Obama said he was confi-dent that the administra-tion would eventually pre-vail.

Hanen came to the U.S.District Court here almost13 years ago from a strait-laced law practice in Hous-ton. His 123-page injunctionagainst the executive ac-tions was informed by astarkly negative view of theObama administration’sborder security efforts. He

began to express that per-spective after seeing thetraffic through his court-room in this borderlandcity, where migrants illegal-ly cross every day despite abuildup of fences andagents, while bloody feudsrage among Mexican drugcartels just across the river.

"The court finds that thegovernment’s failure to se-cure the border has exacer-bated illegal immigrationinto this country," Hanensaid in the February ruling.The states’ coffers were "be-ing drained by the constantinflux of illegal immi-grants," he wrote.

Advocates for immi-grants who want to see thepresident’s initiatives goforward have portrayed Ha-nen, 61, as a right-wingcrank. But in Texas he isknown as a conservativebut fair-minded jurist withkeen analytical intelligence- and a jovial sense of hu-

mor, even when he is inblack robes.

"He is the complete pack-age," said David Kent, alawyer in Dallas who waswith Hanen in Baylor Uni-versity’s law school class of1978; Hanen graduated firstin the class. "Absolutely assharp as could be," saidKent, who also clerked atthe Texas Supreme Courtwith him, "and on the per-sonal side so funny, so good-hearted."

The Obama administra-tion is seeking an emergen-cy stay of Hanen’s injunc-tion. The judge Monday de-clined to rule yet on thatrequest, and administrationofficials said they wouldprobably move their motionto the 5th U.S. Circuit Courtof Appeals in New Orleansthis week. Hanen still hasto rule on the larger consti-tutional questions in thestates’ challenge. He de-clined to be interviewed for

this article.Hanen’s decisions gained

new importance to Republi-cans in Congress who aredetermined to stop the pres-ident’s actions, after theyfailed last week to elimi-nate funding for the initia-tives in the Homeland Secu-rity spending bill. Republi-cans are now looking to thecourts to keep Obama’s pro-grams from taking effect.

Hanen is one of the fewjudges ever to be nominat-ed twice to the same courtby two presidents: by thePresident George H.W.Bush in 1992, a nominationnever voted on by the Sen-ate, and by PresidentGeorge W. Bush in 2002.

During his years inBrownsville, Hanen hassent a corrupt judge to pris-on and slogged throughdozens of lawsuits over thefederal government’s sei-zure of land to build borderfences.

Brownsville judge has fair reputationBy JULIA PRESTON

NEW YORK TIMES

PAGE 4A Zopinion WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015

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

The costumes are com-ing off, the shackles are be-ing unlocked, and the box-cars are opening. Aftermore than 130 years, theRingling Brothers andBarnum & Bailey circuswill retire its elephants,sending them to a conser-vation center in Florida.

As a child, my favoritemovie was Disney’s "Dum-bo." There is a heart-wrenching scene whereDumbo is being cradled byhis mother, who is chainedinside a boxcar. That indel-ible scene stuck with me,and now as an animalrights advocate, I am over-joyed by this recent news.

There is a deep historyof use and exploitation ofelephants in circuses. In1882, P.T. Barnum, a show-man and businessman,purchased Jumbo, a 12-foot-tall African elephant,from a London zoo andshipped him across the At-lantic to New York to befeatured in the Barnumand Bailey Circus, whichlater merged with RinglingBros. Circus.

Over the years, Ringlingamassed a menagerie ofelephants — they now own53 — and forced them toperform tricks such as ba-lancing on their hind legswith their front legsperched on top of one an-other, forming a sort of ele-phant conga line, all forpaying customers. Whenthey are not performing,they are chained andshipped around the coun-try in boxcars.

Elephants are some ofthe most cognitively com-plex and social nonhumananimals that we know of:they are adept tool users,self-aware, and cooperativeproblem-solvers. In thewild, elephants walk asmany as 40 miles each day.They form deep socialbonds and live in cohesivefamily groups of some-times upward of 100 mem-bers. Elephants frequentlydisplay empathy; for in-stance, they have been ob-served feeding others whoare unable to use theirown trunks to eat. Theycan communicate overlong distances by produc-ing vibrations that are in-audible to humans. Ele-phants possess an under-standing of death and havebeen observed engaging inmourning behavior. A cir-cus environment cannotreplicate the rich array ofexperiences and social lifethat the wild affords them.

After years of mountingpressure, Ringling has suc-cumbed to public protest.Feld Entertainment, Ring-ling’s parent company, saidthey are "adapting" to thechanging climate and"mood shift" among theircustomers.

While this is a majorvictory for activists as wellas consumers who arerightly opposed to the useof elephants in circuses,

the fact that Ringling wasable to exploit elephantsfor this long is a perfectexample of how our legalsystem has failed nonhu-man animals.

The reason Ringlingand other circuses havebeen able to exploit ele-phants is that the lawviews elephants, and everynonhuman animal onearth, as property. The law,at its foundation, classifiesall nonhuman animals ascommodities who can bebought and sold and treat-ed in almost any wayimaginable. Our animalprotection laws are noto-riously weak and havemany exemptions.

Unless the law startsrecognizing these extraor-dinary animals as some-thing other than objects,they will forever be at themercy of their "owners" todecide to do the rightthing. It’s a risk, and a riskthat isn’t paying off formost animals.

That’s why somethingelse is needed — a solutionthat addresses the coreproblem, that nonhumananimals are classified asproperty. A solution thatwon’t leave animals at themercy of companies to re-alize (or not) that keepingsuch extraordinary ani-mals in captivity is inex-cusable. A solution thattakes into account thekind of beings that ele-phants and other animalsare. The NonhumanRights Project has beenstrategizing for years tocome up with a solution,and we have.

In 2013, we filed ourfirst lawsuits in which weargue that certain nonhu-man animals should nolonger be classified as "le-gal things" but instead "le-gal persons" who have thecapacity for basic funda-mental rights. Our ongo-ing lawsuits were filed onbehalf of four chimpanzeesin New York.

We are operating underthe common law, ratherthan statutory law. Thecommon law is inherentlyflexible, and common lawjudges are supposed totake into account andalign the law to changingpublic morality and scien-tific understanding. Justas Feld is "adapting," mycolleagues and I at theNonhuman Rights Projectbelieve the common lawmust adapt to the new sci-entific evidence and chang-ing attitudes about certainnonhuman animals.

As our chimpanzeecases make their waythrough the New Yorkcourts, we are focusing ournext lawsuit on captive ele-phants. We will ask acourt to recognize their le-gal right to bodily libertyso that they can be trans-ferred to a sanctuarywhere they can — as amatter of justice — live thekind of life that is as closeas possible to what theywould experience in thewild.

COMMENTARY

Freeingelephants isnot enough

By NATALIE PROSINTHE WASHINGTON POST

ture Democratic presiden-tial candidate no longerthinks it an affront to theConstitution for a public of-ficial to have a secret emailaccount, which she had dur-ing the four years sheserved as Barack Obama’ssecretary of state.

Mrs. Clinton managed tokeep her stealth email ac-count hush-hush until theNew York Times broke thestory Tuesday. And after go-ing silent for the ensuring24-hour news cycle, she fi-nally responded on Twitter

During a 2007 appearanceat the "Take Back America"conference hosted each yearby the progressive advocacygroup Campaign for Ameri-ca’s Future, Hillary Clintontold her audience that, un-der President George W.Bush, the "Constitution isbeing shredded." As primafacie evidence, she cited"the secret White Houseemail accounts."

Eight years later, theonce and presumptive fu-

near midnight Wednesdayat her home in New York.

"I want the public to seemy email," Mrs. Clintontweeted. "I asked State to re-lease them. They said theywill review them for releaseas soon as possible."

Well, if she is as transpar-ent as her tweet suggested,if she really wanted the pub-lic to see her emails, shecould have asked the StateDepartment to release themwhen she left in 2013.

Or even last August,when the White House and

State Department learned ofher secret email account —after it was first uncoveredby the House select commit-tee on Benghazi.

What the public learnedlast week is that the WhiteHouse and "State" werecomplicit in Mrs. Clinton’sconcealment of her secretemail account, which ac-cording to ABC News, was aviolation of State Depart-ment rules. All she accom-plished with her lack oftransparency was to inviteinvestigation.

EDITORIAL

Hillary hasn’t learned her lessonTHE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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. Thephone number IS NOTpublished; it is used sole-ly to verify identity andto clarify content, if neces-sary. Identity of the letterwriter must be verifiedbefore 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 CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

My personal experiencestories about hunting canbe counted on one handwith a digit or two leftover. Part of that is due tothe fact that, as a boygrowing up, I was neverexposed to game huntingof any kind since my dadwas not a hunter.

However, he did haveseveral friends who huntedand fished. While Dad nev-er hunted that I knew ofand only fished by trotlinewith a group of friendswhose “catches” consistedequally of giant catfish andsome clear liquid in a Ma-son fruit jar, some of hispals did hunt and, on occa-sion, the Webb brothersand Mom got to share inthe largesse of Dad’s out-door cohorts. Mom mightargue the “sharing credit”part since her contributionin any gathering to enjoythe hunting production in-volved cooking the meal.

Dad’s hunter friendswere usually guys who insome way or another didjobs for him and had hispermission to hunt andfish on land that he ownedor leased for raising cattle,his principal livelihood allof his too-short 57 years.

Monk Edwards was one

such friend. He was abachelor and all-aroundhandy man, mostly carpen-try. He was a huge andraw-boned with hands thatcould palm a watermelon.

I was never at the shan-ty that Monk called home,and I suspect Motherwould’ve condemned it onsight and suggested it andall its contents be burned.He’d never married and, asfar as anyone knew, neverhad a relationship with awoman except for the “rai-sin’” he got from his moth-er. His social graces werealmost non-existent, al-though he tried his best tobe courtly and a gentle-man around women,which was a rare occur-rence. And, Monk (like therest of us) thought Momhung the moon.

Mother accepted Dad’sfriends and made somespecial consideration forthe rough-hewn Monk,who just seemed like a bigol’ overgrown boy who ap-peared to have been raised

by a hermit deep in thepost oak woods of EastCentral Texas. However,Mother said Monk had a“good heart.”

Among the creaturesthat Monk hunted werequail. He hunted every dayof the season and he wasvery good at it.

Monk wisely had onemodern convenience in hishouse that was quite use-ful in storing and preserv-ing some of his quarry — alarge freezer. He had a sea-son’s worth of quail frozen,at least a gross.

Since Monk and Dadhung out together (think“Mason fruit jar”), Dadasked Mom if she’d consid-er “cooking up” all ofthose quail and have Monkjoin us for that meal. Ofcourse, Mom agreed.

She provided a batterfor frying the birds, bakedhomemade biscuits plussome of her famous (allher cooking was tabbedthat way by any who ate it)cream gravy. Of course, sheknew her diners (evenMonk) and their capacitiesand, if memory serves,there were about threepans of biscuits (three doz-en). I feel sure Monk pol-ished off a dozen himself

as he managed to munchenough quail for an infan-try squad, despite havingsomething less than amouthful of teeth.

Mother set him up withone end of the dining tableall to himself (his reputa-tion preceded him), so he’dhave plenty of elbow room.Monk proceeded to plunkhis elbows down, bend sohis face was about 6-8 inch-es from his plate and divedright into the quail, bis-cuits, gravy and iced tea.

“Lawd-a-mercy, MissRuth,” Monk muttered be-tween mouthfuls, “youARE the best cook inFreestone County just likeeverbody sez.”

I managed to gobble upseven or eight of the quailmyself, several biscuitsand a pint or two of thatgravy. It wasn’t a time tobe bashful nor to have po-lite dinner table talk. Itwas every man for himselfbecause you knew fromthe get-go that Monkwould outdistance thepack.

Willis Webb is a retiredcommunity newspaper edi-tor-publisher of more than50 years experience. He canbe reached by email atwwebb1937@att.net.

COLUMN

Monk loved to hunt quail

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 Politics THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

Hillary Rodham Clintonon Tuesday defended herexclusive use of a privateemail address during hertime as secretary of state,saying that she did so as amatter of "convenience," tomake life simpler by usingone device and one emailaccount.

"I thought using one de-vice would be simpler; ob-viously, it hasn’t workedout that way," she said inher first public commentssince the issue emergedlast week.

She said that most of heremails were work-related,went to government em-ployees and were capturedon government servers.Clinton said that the StateDepartment would makepublic all of her work-relat-ed emails, which amount toabout 30,000 messages.However, she said that herpersonal email - about is-sues such as her daughter’swedding and the death ofher mother - would remainprivate.

"I feel that I have takenunprecedented steps to pro-vide these public emails;they will be in the publicdomain," she said.

Clinton spoke for about20 minutes during a newsconference, delivering astatement on women’s is-sues and denouncingmoves by Republican law-makers to undermine ef-forts for a nuclear agree-ment with Iran, beforeturning to the controversyover her emails.

Expressing a mix of re-gret and defensiveness overthe matter, Clinton empha-sized that she broke nolaws. "I fully complied withevery rule," she said, add-ing that no classified mate-rial had been sent on heremail.

However, she remainedsteadfast that she wouldnot turn over personalemails and said that thosemessages in fact had beendeleted.

"They were about per-sonal and private matters

that I believed were in thescope of my personal priva-cy and particularly that ofother people," she said."They had nothing to dowith work. I didn’t see aneed to keep them."

The State Departmentsaid Tuesday that it wouldpublish online the full setof emails provided by Clin-ton from her time as secre-tary of state.

"We will review the en-tire 55,000-page set and re-lease in one batch at theend of that review to en-sure that standards areconsistently appliedthroughout the entire55,000 pages," said Jen Psa-ki, the State Department

spokeswoman. "We said weexpect the review to takeseveral months; obviouslythat hasn’t changed."

A smaller set, about 300emails that had been pro-vided to the select Housecommittee on Benghazi,will be released earlier tothe public.

The State Department al-so said it would give anyreasons for redactions, inaccordance with Freedomof Information Act guide-lines.

After a week of criticismand questions about theemail account, she fieldedpolitical questions from re-porters, something she hadnot done since her 2008

presidential campaign.Clinton’s time as secreta-

ry of state provided her arespite from the campaignpress corps, which she felthad turned on her duringthe 2008 Democratic presi-dential primary.

But as she shapes her2016 campaign, Clintonmust wade back into poli-tics, prompted not by herown careful timing butforced by a controversyover whether she intention-ally used a private emailaccount to skirt federal re-cords requests for State De-partment correspondence.

In a Twitter message lastweek, Clinton said shewanted the State Depart-

ment to release about 50,000pages of emails. "I want thepublic to see my email,"she wrote. "I asked State torelease them. They saidthey will review them forrelease as soon as possible."

But the brief responsewas not enough to squelchlingering questions aboutwhether her lack of an offi-cial email address was in-tended to shield her corre-spondence from federal re-cords requests by politicalopponents, journalists andacademics.

The news conference,which took place after shedelivered a keynote addresson women’s issues at theUnited Nations, comes dur-

ing a busy week for Clin-ton. She is participating inback-to-back events in NewYork that are intended tofocus on her activism onwomen’s issues, which isexpected to be a centraltheme of her 2016 cam-paign.

Early Tuesday, Clinton’spotential opponents had al-ready tried to capitalize onthe opportunity to push heroff message.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush ofFlorida sent an email to re-porters reminding them ofhis disclosure of personalemails and provided linksto news articles criticizingClinton for a lack of trans-parency.

Clinton tries to quell email controversyBy AMY CHOZICK AND

ALAN RAPPEPORTNEW YORK TIMES

Hillary Rodham Clinton discusses her use of a private email address during her time as secretary of state, at the United Nations in New York, Tuesday. Clinton said the systemwas adopted as a matter of convenience so that she could use one device instead of two, and also fielded political questions from reporters — something she had not donesince 2008.

Photo by Todd Heisler | New York Times

VENTA DE BOLETOSEl Boys and Girls Club

of Zapata estará vendiendoboletos para entrar a la Feriadel Condado de Zapata el díade hoy y mañana, jueves 12de marzo, a un costo de 18dólares.

Los boletos son para eljueves 12 de marzo, de 5p.m. a 10 p.m., tiempo duran-te el cual se entregarán bra-zaletes para subir a todos losjuegos a un solo precio.

Podrá comprar sus boletospuede acudir a las oficinasdel club de 9 a.m. a 7 p.m.Para más información puedellamar al (956) 765-3892.

FERIA DEL CONDADOA partir del jueves 12

de marzo y hasta el sábado14 de marzo, tendrá lugar laFeria del Condado de Zapata,en Zapata County Fairgrounds.

El viernes 13 se presenta-rán Dustin Lynch Band, La Le-yenda, Grupo Siggno, entreotros.

El sábado se presentaránGrupo Palomo, Los Palominos,Los Traileros Del Norte, entreotros grupos.

DESFILESe invita a todos los

negocios, iglesias, clubes, es-cuelas, organizaciones y ofi-ciales electos a participar enel Zapata County Fair Parade2015, que se celebrará el 14de marzo.

Se entregarán trofeos alas mejores flotas de las dife-rentes categorías. El desfileestá programado para comen-zar a las 9 a.m., sin embargolos participantes deben pre-sentarse antes de las 8:30a.m.

El desfile comenzará en3rd Ave., y continuará haciael norte sobre U.S. Hwy 83,para después tomar hacia laizquierda en 23rd St. y termi-nar en los jardines de la feria.

Para inscribirse debe pre-sentar su solicitud en las ofi-cinas de la Cámara de Co-mercio del Condado de Zapa-ta ubicadas en 601 N. U.S.Hwy 83 o enviarlas por co-rreo electrónico a cbalde-ras@zapatachamber.com.

Puede descargar la solici-tud en www.zapatacountyfair-.com.

FERIA DE EMPLEOEl jueves tendrá lugar

la tercera edición de la FeriaNacional del Empleo NuevoLaredo 2015.

“Las Ferias y Jornadas delEmpleo se han consolidadocomo una herramienta eficazpara para brindar a los ta-maulipecos oportunidades dedesarrollo económico, laboraly personal”, dijo Mónica Gon-zález García, titular de la Se-cretaria de Desarrollo Econó-mico y Turismo (SEDET).

La feria contará con apro-ximadamente 80 empresas,que ofertarán espacios de tra-bajo en los niveles de operati-vo, técnico y profesionales.

“En el mes de marzo es lasegunda Feria del Empleo decarácter nacional en Tamauli-pas y las próximas se realiza-rán en los municipios de Ma-tamoros y Victoria”, dijo Gon-zález García.

Para más información pue-de escribir al gobiernodenue-volaredo@gmail.com.

JUNTA DE COMISIONADOSEl lunes 23 de marzo,

los Comisionados de la Cortedel Condado de Zapata reali-zarán su junta quincenal en laSala de la Corte del Condadode Zapata, a partir de las 9a.m. a 12 p.m.

Para mayores informes lla-me a Roxy Elizondo al (956)765 9920.

JUNTA DE COMISIONADOSEl lunes 13 de marzo,

los Comisionados de la Cortedel Condado de Zapata reali-zarán su junta quincenal en laSala de la Corte del Condadode Zapata, a partir de las 9a.m. a 12 p.m.

Ribereñaen Breve

Un hombre y dos niñas murie-ron después de una situación derehenes reportada el lunes por latarde, aproximadamente a unacuadra al sur de Martin HighSchool, de acuerdo con el Departa-mento de Policía de Laredo (LPD,por sus siglas en inglés).

Reportes iniciales señalaronque el sospechoso de ser el tiradordisparó a dos niñas, de 6 y 16 añosde edad, dentro de una residenciaen la cuadra 1800 de avenida Con-vent. El sospechoso, un hombre dealrededor de 60 años, entonces sa-lió de la residencia blandiendo unrevolver, lo que lo llevó a un en-cuentro con la policía, dijeron lasautoridades.

La policía no reveló los nom-bres de las tres personas que mu-rieron, a la espera de notificar asus familiares. Hasta el momentola relación entre el sospechoso ylas niñas es incierta, pero la poli-cía dijo que era inexistente, deacuerdo con reportes prelimina-res. Habría más información dis-ponible el día de hoy o mañana,de acuerdo con la policía.

A las 3:30 p.m. del lunes, oficia-les respondieron a una llamada

por detonación de arma de fuegoen una casa sobre Convent. Repor-tes iniciales indicaron que unhombre tomó a personas como re-henes, de acuerdo con Ray Garner,Jefe del Departamento de Policía.

El investigador Joe E. Baeza,portavoz del LPD, dijo que el sos-pechoso salió de la casa y abriófuego a los primeros oficiales quellegaron a la escena. En una se-gunda ocasión, el sospechoso dis-paró a un vehículo blindado deSWAT que llegó al lugar. No se re-portaron agentes heridos.

Alrededor de las 5 p.m., tuvo lu-

gar el tercer y último encuentroen una balacera entre él y elemen-tos del orden, causando que laspersonas en el área y los elemen-tos de los medios de comunicaciónesquivaran el incidente y se pusie-ran encubierto.

“Salió hacia el porche blandien-do un revolver y pareció queapuntó a nuestros oficiales y nues-tros oficiales regresaron el fuego.Falleció”, dijo Garner en una con-ferencia de prensa momentos des-pués del tiroteo. “En este momen-to, no sabemos porque sucedió dela manera en qué ocurrió”.

Garner, sin embargo, compartióalgunas buenas noticias.

“Logramos rescatar a un rehénde la casa”, dijo, añadiendo que secreía que el hombre que fue resca-tado tenía alrededor de 80 años. Apesar de que resultó ileso, fuetrasladado a un hospital como me-dida de precaución.

Detectives tomaron la escena.“Estamos asignando investiga-

dores a cargo en el caso, esta tra-gedia confirma ciertas variacio-nes en la investigación”, dijo Bae-za.

Videos publicados en Facebookmuestran a paramédicos corrien-do para ayudar a dos personas,una de ellas una menor.

“Todo ocurrió muy rápido. Alprincipio nuestros paramédicosadministraron soporte vital inten-tando dar resucitación cardiopul-monar para tratar de que su cora-zón volviera a latir… Pero no tu-vieron respuesta”, dijo el Jefe delDepartamento de Bomberos, SteveLandin. “No hubo cambio en suscondiciones. En el hospital hicie-ron lo que pudieron. Tenían múl-tiples heridas de bala en diferen-tes partes del cuerpo”.

Las dos niñas fueron declaradasmuertas en el Laredo MedicalCenter

LAREDO

Evento trágicoPOR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Oficiales del alguacil, la Policía de Laredo e integrantes del equipo SWAT, agrupadosafuera de una casa en la cuadra 1800 de avenida Convent el lunes por la tarde, des-pués de manejar una situación de rehenes con un hombre armado, en la cuadra1800 de avenida Convent.

Foto por Danny Zaragoza | Laredo Morning Times

PÁGINA 6A Zfrontera MIÉRCOLES 11 DE MARZO DE 2015

CIUDAD VICTORIA, Méxi-co— Las autoridades detuvie-ron a cuatro presuntos miem-bros de un cartel de drogas li-gados a un ataque a tiros a laalcaldesa de la ciudad de Mata-moros, México, que en las últi-mas semanas se ha visto afec-tada por un repunte de la vio-lencia atribuido a batallas delnarcotráfico.

El secretario de Gobierno deTamaulipas, Herminio Garza,dijo a la cadena Televisa que lamadrugada del lunes la policíafederal capturó a cuatro hom-bres armados que habríanaceptado su participación en elataque horas antes al convoyen el que viajaba la alcaldesaLeticia Salazar, quien salió ile-sa.

El funcionario señaló quelos hombres declararon quepensaban que en las dos camio-netas del convoy de la alcalde-sa viajaban miembros de algúngrupo criminal rival y por esolo atacaron.

Los desconocidos dispararondesde dos vehículos la nochedel domingo cuando la alcalde-sa ingresaba acompañada porescoltas en camionetas blinda-das a Matamoros.

Garza dijo que los cuatro de-tenidos podrían ser integran-tes del cartel del Golfo, porquees el grupo “que está más pre-sente en esa región”.

En las últimas semanas sehan registrado diversos hechosde violencia, incluidos un ata-que con una granada a las ofi-cinas locales de la cadena Tele-visa y el secuestro por algunashoras del director del diario ElMañana, pese a que se mantie-ne activo un operativo de lasautoridades federales.

A principios de febrero, lue-go de cerca de una semana deenfrentamientos diarios quedejaron más de una docena demuertos, el consulado de Esta-dos Unidos en México señalóque la violencia era reflejo deun presunto enfrentamientoentre facciones rivales del car-tel del Golfo tanto en esa locali-dad como en Reynosa, tambiénen la frontera norte.

El fin de semana, las autori-dades también reportaron ladetención de 14 policías federa-les acusados del secuestro deun empresario de la construc-ción en Matamoros. Trece deellos fueron enviados a unaprisión para ser procesados yuno fue dejado en libertad.

MATAMOROS, MÉXICO

Atacanalcaldesa,hay cuatro

arrestos ASSOCIATED PRESS

Las autoridades identificaron auna persona de interés en un acci-dente por atropellamiento que to-mó la vida de un estudiante deWashington Middle School, du-rante el fin de semana, dijo el De-partamento de Policía de Laredo(LPD, por sus siglas en inglés), elmartes por la tarde.

El Investigador Joe E. Baeza,portavoz de la policía, dijo queRaúl F. Vázquez López, de 28 años,es buscado para ser interrogado.

Vázquez mide 5 pies, 7 pulga-das, y tiene cabello castaño y ojoscafé. Su última dirección conocidaes en la cuadra 13000 de FawnDrive.

“Recibimos información quenos lleva a esta persona. Por aho-ra, él es buscado para ser interro-gado”, dijo Baeza. “No ha sidoacusado de nada. Necesitamos ha-blar con él como una persona deinterés oficial”.

Se pide a las per-sonas que tengan co-nocimiento de su pa-radero llamar a lapolicía al (956) 795-2800, a Alto al Cri-men al 727-TIPS(8477) o enviar unmensaje de texto a

las autoridades al 847411, con lapalabra clave: Laredo. Las llama-das podrán permanecer anónimas.

La policía dijo que los oficialesrespondieron a un reporte poratropello, a las 6 p.m. del sábado,en la cuadra 9500 de CanvasbackDrive, cerca de Father Charles M.McNaboe Park al noroeste de La-redo.

Las autoridades dijeron que Al-berto Alejandro Rabago, de 12años de edad, estaba patinando enel estacionamiento cuando bajó ala calle. La policía dijo que en esemomento, una Ford F-150 que sedirigía al oeste sobre Canvasbackatropelló a Rabago, dejándolo con

heridas graves.El niño fue trasladado a Doctors

Hospital con heridas internasgraves, de acuerdo con la policía.Rabago fue transportado vía aéreaa University Hospital en San Anto-nio, donde fue pronunciado muer-to poco después de media noche, eldomingo, dijeron las autoridades.

Las autoridades obtuvieron unafotografía del vehículo sospechosocapturada por la cámara de vig-ilancia de una casa cercana. Lapolicía dijo que el vehículo sospe-choso era una Ford F-150 colorverde con dorado en la parte infe-rior del vehículo. La unidad tam-bién presentaba ventanas polariza-das y llantas de fábrica, de acuer-do con la policía.

Una recaudación de fondos fueestablecida para ayudar a la fam-ilia con los gastos. Las personasque deseen ayudar pueden visitargofundme.com/o8l2tc. Hasta elmartes por la tarde, más de 6.000dólares se recaudaron.

LPD

Buscan a persona de interésTIEMPO DE ZAPATA

VÁZQUEZ

ZAPATA

FIESTAS DEL CONDADO

Superior: A partir del jueves 12 de marzo y hasta elsábado 14 de marzo, tendrá lugar la Feria del Con-dado de Zapata, en Zapata County Fairgrounds.Entre los artistas invitados estarán Dustin LynchBand, La Leyenda, Grupo Siggno, Grupo Palomo,Los Palominos, Los Traileros Del Norte, entre otrosgrupos. Asimismo el día de mañana la entrada alcarnaval tendrá un costo de 23 dólares y se asigna-rán brazaletes para subir a todos los juegos. De-recha: Desde izquierda, la corte de honor de la Fe-ria del Condado de Zapata 2015: Ashley Ibarra, Re-becca Villarreal, Priscilla Elizondo, Reina de la Feria2015 y Raquel Almaguer, posan para la cámara enlas oficinas de LMT.

Foto de cortesía | Feria del Condado de Zapata

Foto por Victor Strife | Laredo Morning Times

Sports&OutdoorsWEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

JUPITER, Fla. — RobManfred says Major LeagueBaseball is talking with theU.S. government about play-ing exhibition games in Cu-ba.

President Barack Obamasaid in December the U.S.was re-establishing rela-tions with the communistisland nation.

“I can envision a situa-tion, assuming that it isconsistent with the govern-ment’s policy on Cuba,where we could have ongo-ing exhibition game activityin Cuba,” Manfred, the newbaseball commissioner, saidTuesday. He did not specifya timeframe.

There were 25 Cuban-born players in the majorleagues last season, includ-ing stars Yasiel Puig, YeonisCespedes and Jose Abreu,up from eight in 2007 andthe most since 1970, accord-ing to STATS.

“Cuba is a great marketfor us two ways,” Manfredsaid. “It’s obviously a greattalent market. We’ve seenenough of that during theoffseason. It’s a countrywhere baseball is embeddedin the culture. and we likecountries where baseball isembedded in the culture.”

Major league teams visit-ed Cuba before Fidel Cas-tro’s revolution in 1959. Cu-ba’s proximity, just 90 milesfrom Florida, makes quicktrips possible.

“It is some place thatwould be feasible for us todo in an ongoing basis,”Manfred said. “I think thatpeople view Miami as sortof a jumping-off point to La-tin America. I do see LatinAmerica as a place wherebaseball already has greatpopularity but also has agreat potential for growthfrom an international per-spective.”

The Marlins played exhi-bition games in Panama(last year) and Mexico City(2004) and played a regular-season series against theNew York Mets in SanJuan, Puerto Rico (2010).They traveled to Puerto Ri-co in 2003 and 2004 for regu-lar-season games againstthe Montreal Expos, whoplayed a portion of theirhome schedule on the is-land.

MLB has opened its sea-son at Tokyo (2000, ’04, ’08and ’12), Monterrey, Mexico(1999), San Juan (2001) andSydney (2014).

Manfred envisions ex-panding MLB’s presence inLatin America.

“It’s great to go some-place and play a couple ofgames,” Manfred said. “Itgenerates interest here do-mestically. But when I thinkabout international activityI want to do more than playtwo games someplace andgo back five years later.”

Manfred said Miami’s re-cord $325 million, 13-yearcontract with slugger Gian-carlo Stanton reflects thehealth of the sport.

He said MLB plans totake an active role in pro-moting young stars like the25-year-old Stanton, who ledthe NL with 37 home runslast season.

“I think we a have agroup of young payers, andGiancarlo is one of them,that are tremendously ap-pealing because of theiramazing ability on the fieldand the type of human be-ings they are off the field,”Manfred said.

MLB

MLBmay

play inCuba

ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK — As freeagency began Tuesday, theNFL looked more like fan-tasy football.

Trades, anyone?Monster deals sending

Jimmy Graham to Seattleand Sam Bradford to Phi-ladelphia stole the spot-light from free agent sign-ings.

New Orleans agreed tosend its star tight end tothe Seahawks for centerMax Unger, with draftpicks changing hands. TheSaints are to get a first-round pick, while Seattlereceives a fourth-rounder.

That stunner was fol-lowed by Bradford, the in-jury-prone quarterbackwho barely has played thepast two years (knee), go-ing to Philadelphia forNick Foles, who alsocomes off an injury-short-ened season (collarbone).Bradford was the top over-all draft pick in 2010.

Foles is the latest starterto depart Philadelphia. Hejoins two-time All-Pro run-ning back LeSean McCoy,now in Buffalo, and ProBowl wide receiver JeremyMaclin, headed for KansasCity, in going elsewhere.

Baltimore dealt nosetackle Haloti Ngata to De-troit, which is about to

lose All-Pro defensive tack-le Ndamukong Suh in freeagency. Ngata, 31 and afive-time Pro Bowler, isdue $8.5 million next sea-son and has a $16 million

salary cap figure.The Bills confirmed ac-

quiring McCoy for line-backer Kiko Alonso;McCoy also signed a con-tract extension for $40 mil-lion over five years.

Carolina released DeAn-gelo Williams, its careerrushing leader.

Among official freeagency moves early in theprocess were WR BrianHartline to Cleveland; STyvon Branch to KansasCity; TE Owen Daniels toDenver; G Orlando Frank-lin to San Diego; CB Bus-ter Skrine to the Jets; andQB Shaun Hill to Minneso-ta.

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Surprising swapsTrades steal spotlight from NFL’s first day of free agency

By BARRY WILNERASSOCIATED PRESS

Star tight end Jimmy Graham was traded out of New Orleans to Seattle, giving the Seahawks anotherweapon as they try to make a third straight Super Bowl.

File photo by Rogelio Solis | AP

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 Nation THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

RALEIGH, N.C. — Atruck with an oversizedload and a state trooper es-cort was stuck in a railroadcrossing with time enoughto alert approaching trains,but there’s no indicationAmtrak was warned beforea crash that injured 55 peo-ple, officials said.

An eyewitness told TheAssociated Press that thetractor-trailer — whichstretched for 164 feet, longerthan half a football field —spent about 8 minutes stuckon the railroad tracks. TheState Highway Patrol saidthe trooper spent about 5minutes trying to help clearthe tracks.

In any case, the truckdriver and trooper apparent-ly failed to follow the clearlyestablished protocol, whichrequires staying in contactwith train dispatchers dur-ing these trips, a formerFederal Railroad Adminis-tration official said Tuesday.

Amber Keeter, 19, wasstuck in traffic in her carwith her baby directly be-hind the tractor-trailer. Shetold the AP that the truckdriver, his assistant in a flagcar and a trooper spentabout 15 to 20 minutes try-ing to negotiate the left turnacross the tracks at the in-tersection of highways U.S.301 and N.C. 903 in HalifaxCounty, North Carolina.

“It was so long theycouldn’t make the turn,”she said.

She rolled down her win-dow and asked the flag manif he could call someone tostop the trains, “and he said

he didn’t think so,” she said.Then, “the railroad lights

started blinking, and so thetractor-trailer driver tried togun it forward,” she said.“By that time, the train hadhit the tractor-trailer.”

The driver jumped out“just a couple of seconds be-fore,” she said.

Proper protocol calls fortroopers escorting trucks to“clear their routes and in-form the railroad dispatch-ers what they’re doing,”said Steve Ditmeyer, a for-mer Federal Railroad Ad-ministration official whoteaches railway manage-ment at Michigan State Uni-versity.

Even if they lose contactwith the dispatcher duringthe trip, the 1-800 number onthe pole that holds the flash-ing lights reaches a CSX dis-patcher, he said.

“That dispatcher wouldhave immediately put up ared signal for Amtrak andradioed Amtrak to stop,” hesaid.

Truckers and troopersshould know the protocol,and these 1-800 numbers

have been posted for dec-ades. But in this case, thetrain engineer “didn’t knowabout the truck until he wascoming around a curve. Hehad no long vision,” Dit-meyer said.

CSX spokeswoman Kris-tin Seay wouldn’t say if any-one called before the crash.“That’s all going to be partof the investigation,” shesaid.

Most people treated athospitals were released byTuesday, and about a dozenof the train’s 212 passengershad already continued theirjourney by bus to Rich-mond, Virginia, where theycould take another train.

“We’re just thankful thatwe’re still alive. It couldhave been really worse. Godwas really with us,” said Li-sa Carson, 50, of Philadel-phia.

The Federal Railroad Ad-ministration’s databaseshows at least five previouscollisions at the same Hali-fax crossing, all involvingvehicles on the tracks. Themost recent was in 2005,when a freight train hit a

truck’s “utility trailer.” In1977, an Amtrak train hit acar at 70 mph. The drivergot out in time, but a rail-road employee was injured,that accident report said.

Monday’s collision wasthe third serious train crashin less than two months.Crashes in New York andCalifornia in Februarykilled a total of seven peopleand injured 30.

The Federal Railroad Ad-ministration is continuingto interview witnesses andwill review onboard record-ers from the train in Mon-day’s crash. The agency’s as-sociate administrator, KevinThompson, said the tracksreopened about 15 hours lat-er, and that CSX was repair-ing the crossing’s safetyequipment.

The modular buildingwas “an electrical distribu-tion center” being hauledfrom Clayton, North Caroli-na, to New Jersey, said Lt.Jeff Gordon, a spokesmanfor the North Carolina StateHighway Patrol.

Gordon said the truckdriver tried to back up tomake a second attempt witha wider swing to cross thetracks, but there was toomuch traffic behind it.

The approach of the NewYork-bound train from Char-lotte, North Carolina, set offwarning lights and thecrossing arms came down,prompting the driver to flee.

“I saw him jump out ofthe truck when he knew hecouldn’t beat it. ... I heardthe train noise and thought,‘Oh, my God, it’s going tohappen,”’ said eyewitnessLeslie Cipriani, who record-ed the crash on her cell-phone.

Train crash was avoidableBy EMERY P. DALESIO AND

MARTHA WAGGONERASSOCIATED PRESS

Train passenger Alyssa Coleman, right, and her little sister, ViaraHinton, are helped off of a derailed Amtrak train on Monday.

Photo by Erin Carson/The Daily Herald | AP

NORMAN, Okla. — TheUniversity of Oklahoma’spresident expelled two stu-dents Tuesday after hesaid they were identifiedas leaders of a racist chantcaptured on video duringa fraternity event.

University President Da-vid Boren said in a state-ment the two studentswere dismissed for creat-ing a “hostile learning en-vironment for others.”Their names were not re-leased.

The video posted onlineshows several people on abus participating in achant that included a ra-cial slur, referenced lynch-ing and indicated blackstudents would never beadmitted to OU’s chapterof Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

Boren acted swiftly afterthe video surfaced lateSunday, severing ties withthe fraternity and order-ing its house shutteredMonday and announcingthe expulsions Tuesday.

“I hope that students in-volved in this incident willlearn from this experienceand realize that it iswrong to use words tohurt, threaten, and ex-clude other people,” hesaid.

Boren said the universi-ty is working to identifyother students involved inthe chant, who may alsoface discipline.

Windows at the fraterni-ty were boarded up andmoving vans were parkedoutside Tuesday. Membershave until midnight to re-move their belongings.The Greek letters have al-ready been removed fromthe side of the sprawling,sand-colored brick houseon a street lined with fra-ternity and sororityhouses just west of thecenter of campus.

Markeshia Lyon, a ju-nior from Oklahoma Cityand one of about 1,400black students who attendthe university’s Normancampus, said the mostlysegregated Greek cultureat OU is partly to blamefor creating an environ-ment where racism canthrive.

“That’s something that’spassed down, and that’ssomething that needs tochange,” Lyon said.

She also said the videohas sparked intense inter-

est in addressing racialtensions on campus.

The university, locatedin the southern OklahomaCity suburb of Norman,has about 27,000 students,about 5 percent of whomare black.

On Monday, a top highschool football recruitwithdrew his commitmentto attend the university af-ter seeing the video.

North Mesquite HighSchool football star JeanDelance, a top offensivelineman prospect, toldKTVT television andKRLD-AM in Dallas-FortWorth that he spoke Sun-day night with coach BobStoops, but wasn’t toldabout the incident.

“I’m very disappointedin the coaches not lettingme know,” Delance toldKRLD. “But that was justheart-breaking rightthere.”

The Oklahoma footballteam decided to protestrather than practice Mon-day. At the team’s indoorpractice facility, coach BobStoops led the way as play-ers, joined by athletic di-rector Joe Castiglione,walked arm-in-arm, wear-ing black.

Boren attended a pre-dawn rally organized bystudents Monday morningand lambasted the frater-nity members involved as“disgraceful” and calledtheir behavior “reprehen-sible.”

“This is not who weare,” Boren said at a mid-day news conference. “I’dbe glad if they left. I mighteven pay the bus fare forthem.”

National leaders of Sig-ma Alpha Epsilon said aninvestigation confirmedmembers took part in thechant and announced theywould close the local chap-ter. The national groupsaid it was “embarrassed”by the “unacceptable andracist” behavior.

The fraternity also saidin a statement late Mon-day that the chant was nota part of fraternity tradi-tion.

Boren said members ofthe fraternity were “not to-tally forthcoming.” It’s un-clear who recorded thevideo, when it was record-ed and who initially post-ed it online. Boren sug-gested it was likely takenby another student whodidn’t agree with whatwas being chanted.

Two men carry speakers out of the now closed University of Ok-lahoma’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house in Norman, Okla.,Tuesday. University President David Boren expelled two studentsafter he said they were identified as leaders of a racist chant.

Photo by Sue Ogrocki | AP

Two studentsexpelled overracist video

By SEAN MURPHYASSOCIATED PRESS

BOSTON — Jurors inthe trial of Boston Mara-thon bomber DzhokharTsarnaev on Tuesday sawphotographs of a blood-stained, hand-scrawled notespeckled with bullet holesinside the boat he was cap-tured in days after thedeadly 2013 attack.

Prosecutors consider thenote a confession and say itrefers to the motive for theattack carried out by Tsar-naev and his late brother,Tamerlan.

In the note, written inpencil on the inside walls ofthe boat, Tsarnaev appearsto decry U.S. actions inMuslim countries and sayshe is jealous of his brotherbecause he is dead and now

in paradise. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26,

died following a violentconfrontation with policeduring a getaway attemptfour days after the bomb-ings. Dzhokzar, then 19, wasfound hiding in a boatparked in a yard in Water-town.

“I do not mourn becausehis soul is very much alive.God has a plan for eachperson. Mine was to hide inthis boat and shed somelight on our actions,” hewrote, according to the pho-tos shown to the jury byprosecutors.

The note also said: “TheU.S. Government is killingour innocent civilians butmost of you already knowthat. As a M (bullet hole) Ican’t stand to see such evilgo unpunished, we Mus-

lims are one body, you hurtone you hurt us all. ...”

“Now I don’t like killinginnocent people it is forbid-den in Islam but due to said

(bullet hole) it is allowed.”Judge George O’Toole Jr.

is still trying to decidewhether to allow prosecu-tors to cut out and bring to

court the panels of the boatto show jurors or whetherto bring the intact boat tothe courthouse to beviewed outside by the jury,as requested by lawyers forTsarnaev, who is now 21.

The judge ended courtearly Tuesday so he couldgo see the boat, accompa-nied by representatives ofthe prosecution and defenseteams. The judge rejected arequest from the media toallow a pool reporter andphotographer to also seethe boat.

Three people were killedand more than 260 were in-jured April 15, 2013, whentwo bombs exploded nearthe marathon finish line.

During opening state-ments at his trial, Tsar-naev’s lawyer admitted heparticipated in the bomb-

ings but said TamerlanTsarnaev was the master-mind and recruited hisyounger brother to helphim.

Todd Brown, a Bostonpolice bomb technician, tes-tified that he saw the writ-ing inside the boat when hewas sent to check it tomake sure there were noexplosives or booby trapson board.

During cross-examin-ation of Brown, Tsarnaev’slawyers established that allthe bullet holes were fromshots coming into the boatwhen police fired. The offi-cer said no bombs, guns orweapons of any kind werefound inside the boat.

Several FBI agents alsotestified Tuesday about thecollection of bomb compo-nents and other evidence.

Prosecutors argue bloody note is confessionBy DENISE LAVOIEASSOCIATED PRESS

This undated forensics photograph shows handwriting on the bul-let-riddled, blood-stained wall of a boat.

Photo by U.S. Attorney’s Office | AP

FERGUSON, Mo. — Fer-guson city leaders are stay-ing mum on whether morepersonnel changes maycome Tuesday following ascathing U.S. Justice Depart-ment report that has al-ready led to a Missouri ap-peals court judge beingtapped to overhaul the localcourt system.

The City Council in theSt. Louis suburb, belea-guered by unrest since awhite police officer fatallyshot 18-year-old MichaelBrown last summer, isscheduled to hold its firstpublic meeting Tuesdaysince the report’s releaselast week. The report foundracial profiling and bias inthe police department and aprofit-driven municipalcourt system that investiga-tors said made money large-

ly at the expense of minor-ity residents.

The report included rac-ist emails that led to the fir-ing of the city clerk and re-signation of two police offi-cers last week. And onMonday, Municipal JudgeRonald J. Brockmeyer re-signed and was immediatelyreplaced by the MissouriSupreme Court with a stateappeals court judge. Thatjudge will temporarily over-see local court cases start-ing next week and is au-thorized to overhaul courtpolicies to “restore the in-tegrity of the system.”

Mayor James Knowles IIIsaid the city would beginseeking Brockmeyer’s per-manent successor on Tues-day, but he declined furthercomment. However, Su-preme Court Chief JusticeMary Russell warned thatother changes may be com-ing.

“Extraordinary action iswarranted in Ferguson, butthe court also is examiningreforms that are needed ona statewide basis,” she saidin a statement.

Whether other changeswill be imposed in Fergusonremains unclear. The CityCouncil held a closed-doormeeting Monday, gatheringin public only long enoughto adjourn. City ManagerJohn Shaw was escorted tohis vehicle by a police offi-cer afterward, though itwasn’t unclear why.

The state Supreme Courtalso assigned staff from thestate court administrator’soffice to aid Missouri Ap-peals Court Judge Roy L.Richter in reviewing Fergu-son’s municipal court prac-tices. Richter is scheduledto assume his new role onMarch 16.

Ferguson has been understate and federal scrutiny

since police officer DarrenWilson fatally shot Brown, ablack 18-year-old residentwho was unarmed duringthe confrontation on Aug. 9.The shooting prompted pro-tests in the St. Louis areaand across the nation.

A St. Louis County grandjury concluded in Novem-ber that no charges wouldbe filed against Wilson. TheU.S. Justice Departmentconcurred last week, sayingWilson acted in self-defense.

But the Justice Depart-ment said in a separate re-port that Ferguson’s policeand court systems func-tioned as a money-makingenterprise that heightenedtensions among residents.The report noted that Fer-guson was counting on reve-nues from fines and fees togenerate $3.1 million, ornearly a quarter of its $13.3million budget for the 2015fiscal year.

Protestors block traffic outside the Ferguson, Mo., police department, March 4, 2015, in Ferguson. The Justice Department cleared a whiteformer Ferguson police officer in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old, but also issued a scathing report.

Photo by Charles Rex Arbogast | AP

Ferguson City Council meetsBy JIM SALTER

ASSOCIATED PRESS

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES International WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015

VILLA CASTELLI, Ar-gentina — Investigators onTuesday recovered all 10bodies from a remote sitein Argentina where heli-copters serving a realityTV show collided, killingprominent French athletesand leaving the Europeannation in mourning.

The helicopters crashedMonday afternoon nearVilla Castelli, about 730miles northwest of BuenosAires, said La Rioja re-gional Secretary of Securi-ty Cesar Angulo. Allaboard — eight French na-tionals and two Argentinepilots — were killed.

The helicopters camedown about 50 feet apartand were completely de-stroyed. One of the aircraftwas so charred that onlythe blades were recogniza-ble.

Among the dead wereOlympic champion swim-mer Camille Muffat, Olym-pic boxer and bronze-med-alist Alexis Vastine, andpioneering sailor FlorenceArthaud. They had beenamong the contestants inthe reality TV show“Dropped.”

The bodies were beingtransported to the regionalcapital of La Rioja prov-ince, where autopsieswould be conducted, JudgeVirginia Illanes Bordontold The Associated Press.Illanes Bordon said therough terrain made reco-vering the bodies late Mon-day impossible.

At the site, which hadbeen cordoned off, investi-gators pulled cellphones,papers and other charred,unrecognizable items fromthe wreckage in dry scru-bland of a sparsely pop-ulated area along theAndes mountain rangethat separates Argentinaand Chile.

The crash was believedto be one the deadliest in-cidents yet related to real-ity TV shows, a sub-genreof which involves takingcelebrities and others tofar-flung places to facechallenges both physicaland mental.

French President Fran-cois Hollande expressed“immense sadness” overthe deaths, and the Parisprosecutor’s office openedan investigation into possi-ble involuntary man-slaughter, which is to beconducted by a researchunit of the French air

transport police, a Frenchpolice official said.

The remaining victimswere identified as LaurentSbasnik, Lucie Mei-Dalby,Volodia Guinard, BriceGuilbert and EdouardGilles, as well as pilotsJuan Carlos Castillo andRoberto Abate.

The wife of Castillo,Cristina Alvarez, told tele-vision station Todo Noti-cias that her husband wasa veteran of the FalklandsWar and had vast experi-ence flying helicopters, in-cluding in places like Ant-arctica and the FalklandIslands.

Her voice cracking, shesaid her husband was “ex-tremely happy” because hehad recently found out hewas going to be a grandfa-ther.

Angulo, the security sec-retary, said one of the hel-icopters belonged to LaRioja province and the oth-er to neighboring Santiagodel Estero province.

“The helicopter from LaRioja was a Eurocopterwith a capacity to hold sixpeople. It appears to havebrushed against the otherhelicopter from Santiagodel Estero shortly aftertakeoff,” the statementfrom the provincial gov-ernment said.

A widely circulated vid-eo purportedly shot at thescene shows the blades ofone helicopter hitting therails of the second, causingboth aircraft to lose con-trol and crash.

Luis Solorza, press sec-retary for La Rioja prov-ince, told the AP he didn’tknow who shot the videobut that authorities be-lieved it was authentic andinvestigators were using itas part of their probe.

Solorza said renting out

La Rioja’s lone helicopter,for the reality show or dur-ing the Dakar rally,brought much-needed in-come into the province.

“To promote tourism,we lend out the helicop-ter,” said Solorza, addingthat the province had de-clared two days of mourn-ing.

The crew had arrivedSunday in Villa Castelli,where it had previouslyfilmed a version of“Dropped” for Switzerlandand Denmark, said MayorAndres Navarrete.

French Secretary ofState for Sport ThierryBraillard said on the BFMTV channel that “Frenchsport has lost three starsthis morning.”

Vastine, 28, won abronze medal at the 2008Olympic Games in Beijingand lost in the quarterfi-nals four years later inLondon amid a sportingcontroversy that led him tobreak down in tears. Hehad reportedly vowed towin gold at the 2016 gamesin Rio.

Muffat, 25, won gold inthe 400-meter freestyle inLondon, plus a silver med-al in the 200-meter frees-tyle and a bronze in the 4by 200-meter freestyle re-lay. She had since retiredfrom swimming to focuson her personal life.

But perhaps the bestknown was Arthaud, 57, apioneer in sailing. In 1990,she became the first wom-an to win the famed Routedu Rhum race, a trans-At-lantic single-handed yachtrace between Brittany andthe Caribbean island ofGuadeloupe.

Other “Dropped” con-testants on hand includedformer France and Arse-nal striker Sylvain Wil-

tord, ice skating championPhilippe Candeloro, formerOlympic swimming cham-pion Alain Bernard andveteran cyclist JeannieLongo. None of them wasinvolved in the accident.

“I am sad for myfriends, I’m trembling, I’mhorrified, I don’t havewords. I can’t say any-thing,” Wiltord tweeted.

Candeloro, speaking onRTL radio, said the othercontestants were at theirhotel Tuesday awaiting ar-rival of French consularofficials.

The deaths were likelyto place new attention onrisks involved with suchshows. Two years ago, TF1— France’s leading pri-vate-sector network, whichaired the program — can-celed the season of the“Survivor”-like show “KohLanta” after a 25-year-oldparticipant died of a heartattack on the first day offilming in Cambodia.

Show producer Adven-ture Line Productions wasbehind both programs. Ina statement, the companysaid its staffers were “dev-astated” and “share thedeep pain of the familiesand loved ones.”

Reality TV shows canappeal to former adrena-line-powered star athleteswho remain famous andbeloved long after their ca-reers are over, and arelooking for new challengesor fun.

William Forgues, Muf-fat’s companion, told i-Telecable news channel thatshe was instructed not toreveal details about theshow filming, but “told ev-erybody that it was great.She was not forced (to dothings). She was where shewanted to be.”

“C’est la vie,” he added.

Argentina air crash kills 10By NATACHA PISERENKO

AND PAUL BYRNEASSOCIATED PRESS

A man stands next to the wreckage of one of two helicopters that apparently collided in midair, nearVilla Castelli, in Argentina’s La Rioja province, Monday.

Photo by Jose Alamo | AP

LONDON — Three Brit-ish schoolgirls who trav-eled to Syria to join the Is-lamic State group won’t beprosecuted for terrorism ifthey return, a senior Brit-ish police officer saidTuesday.

Police chiefs also de-fended their handling ofthe case, denying a law-maker’s allegation that thefailure to stop the teenswas “a huge blow” to thecredibility of the force.

Mark Rowley, head ofcounterterrorism for theMetropolitan Police, toldlawmakers that “we haveno evidence to support(the teens’) involvement interrorism.”

The journey of thethree 15- and 16-year-oldslast month shocked manyin Britain, left their fam-ilies bewildered and high-lighted the difficulty ofhalting the radicalizationof young Muslims. Rela-tives say police failed to in-form them that a schoolfriend of the teens hadgone to Syria in December.They say if they had theyknown, they would havelooked for any warningsignals of radicalization.

They also accused thepolice of not acting quick-ly enough once they re-ported the girls missing.

“I feel so let down bythe police, because wegave them everything,”said Sahima Begum, sisterof one of the girls. “Wegave them every piece ofinformation.”

The girls’ relatives andsenior police officers ap-peared before Parliament’sHome Affairs CommitteeTuesday as it tried to un-derstand how three appar-

ently smart teenagersfrom east London devel-oped the desire, and themeans, to travel to a re-gion controlled by thebloodthirsty militantgroup.

Sahima Begum said hersister Shamima “was intonormal teenage things.She used to watch ‘Keep-ing up with the Kardash-ians’ and things like that.”

But police say the girlswere being radicalized, un-beknownst to their par-ents. One followed manyextremists on socialmedia. Shamima Begumstole her older sister’spassport and used it totravel to Turkey, and Row-ley said the trio boughttheir plane tickets withmore than 1,000 pounds($1,500) in cash, obtainedby stealing jewelry fromone of the families.

Committee chairmanKeith Vaz suggested thefailure to stop the girlsfrom reaching Syria was“a huge blow to the cred-ibility” of the MetropolitanPolice. But Rowley said itwas unrealistic to expectpolice to spot and stop rad-icalization “if the parentscan’t see changes in behav-ior ... if people in the com-munity don’t spot it.”

The families of Shami-ma Begum, 15, Kadiza Sul-tana, 16, and 15-year-oldAmira Abase are angrythat they were not in-formed that police hadspoken to their daughtersshortly after their frienddisappeared in December.Police interviewed thegirls a second time in Feb-ruary and gave them let-ters to hand to their par-ents saying that police hadspoken to the girls abouttheir missing friend. Theletters were not passed on.

British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond addresses the media inLondon, Tuesday, commenting on Britain’s Intelligence services.

Photo by Justin Tallis | AP

Schoolgirls arenot terrorists

By JILL LAWLESSASSOCIATED PRESS

UNITED NATIONS —At a private working lunchfor the five most powerfulmembers of the United Na-tions Security Council, theconversation turned to thequestion of the next U.N.secretary-general.

A European ambassadorreminded colleagues of aGeneral Assembly resolu-tion nearly as old as the 70-year organization itself, aguiding document for a se-lection process for U.N.chief that has remained se-cretive and almost com-pletely male. The January1946 resolution says a“man of eminence andhigh attainment” shouldhold the post.

Perhaps, the ambassadorsuggested, some mightwant to add the words “ora woman.”

No doubt. Just three fe-male candidates have beenincluded in past closed-door votes and straw pollsthat the Security Councilhas used to make its choicefor decades, but now twocampaigns are launchingto make sure the next“Your excellency” is a she.

“There have been eightmen and no women. Tome, it’s time,” said JeanKrasno, a lecturer at Yalewho leads the new Cam-paign to Elect a WomanSecretary-General.

Secretary-General BanKi-moon will remain in of-fice through Dec. 31, 2016,but the talk about his suc-cessor has already started,especially among U.N.watchers who’ve gone asfar as scrutinizing the

handwriting on paper bal-lots after Security Councilstraw polls. Ban’s successoris expected to be chosenlate next year, though thereis no official date.

On Sunday, the cam-paign will launch Woman-SG.org to feature around adozen women it says areoutstanding possible candi-dates with political experi-ence. Every few weeks, an-other group of possiblecandidates will be postedonline.

Next month, the interna-tional women’s rightsgroup Equality Now willlaunch a similar Time fora Woman campaign whileurging the public to pres-sure the U.N. and memberstates to make “gender aserious consideration forthe first time,” said thegroup’s legal adviser, Anto-nia Kirkland.

Women that they’repointing out include Helen

Clark, former New Zealandprime minister and thehead of the U.N. Develop-ment Program; BulgarianEuropean commissionerKristalina Georgieva; Lith-uanian President DaliaGrybauskaite; DanishPrime Minister HelleThorning-Schmidt, andChilean President MichelleBachelet.

“And obviously, youcould have some sort ofdream thoughts around(German Chancellor) An-gela Merkel,” said LauraLiswood, the secretary-gen-eral of the Council of Wom-en World Leaders, a collec-tion of 53 current and for-mer female heads of statethat’s not part of eithercampaign.

Another name floatingaround is InternationalMonetary Fund managingdirector Christine Lagarde,though as a Frenchwoman,she is likely a long shot.

Next UN chief debatedBy CARA ANNA

ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this combination of file photos, seven high-profile women whohave been mentioned as possible contenders for the post of Unit-ed Nations Secretary General are shown. On Sunday a campaignthat seeks the first female Secretary General launched.

AP photos

DEBALTSEVE, Ukraine— When the wind picks up,the rattle of the corrugatediron roof of a destroyed gasstation can sound like artil-lery. Four charred tanks sitstranded nearby, machineoil splattered on the ground,while a pick-up truck lieson its side surrounded byshrapnel.

Debaltseve, the center ofone of the fiercest battles ofUkraine’s war, lies in ruinsthree weeks after it was cap-tured by Russia-backed sep-aratists.

The struggle for the stra-tegic rail hub — a sleepytown with a pre-war popula-tion of 25,000 people — be-came one of the darkest pag-es in the ongoing conflict ineastern Ukraine, which hasalready killed more than6,000 people. The town iscrucial because it providesa direct link between thetwo main rebel cities of Do-netsk and Luhansk. So vitalwas the prize that the cease-fire deal brokered by Rus-sia, Ukraine and Westernpowers did nothing to slowthe rebel onslaught.

At least 179 Ukrainiantroops were killed in thebattle, along with uncount-ed hundreds of civilians.

Heavy artillery raineddown on Debaltseve for onemonth beginning in mid-January. Those four weekswreaked such devastationthat the whole town hasbeen turned into one heapof rubble. Today it is as un-recognizable as the streetsnext to the Donetsk airportwhere fighting raged fornine months. Entire blocks

of flats in Debaltseve are de-serted, the sun shiningthrough the upper floors asif the roof had been blownaway by a tornado.

The only crowded placeat Debaltseve on a recentmorning was a grocerystore where rebels distrib-uted free bread: one loaf perperson. Of about 100 peoplein line, most were old andfrail and appeared not tohave washed for days. Atthe railroad station, a fewyards away, a Grad rocketwas stuck in a refrigeratorcar. Some power lines weresnapped, hanging from thepoles like branches of a wil-low tree.

Across the road, a burlyman in a black Cossack hatgave orders to his subordi-nates as he sat outside anorange tent pitched on themain town square. Rebelemergency workers havebeen working in these tentssince their forces capturedthe city on Feb. 18, helpinglocal residents with blan-kets and water and charg-ing mobile phones. Alexan-der Afendikov, the city’s

self-appointed mayor, saidthey are trying to returnDebaltseve to normal life asquickly as possible.

“Every house has been ifnot destroyed, then dam-aged,” Afendikov said.“Ninety-nine percent of theglazing has been shattered.”

Afendikov was amongthe rebels who besieged De-baltseve in February, pound-ing the town with artillery.Now the rebels are collect-ing construction materialsto rebuild the town fromRussian humanitarian con-voys and “various privateorganizations” from Russiaand other countries, Afendi-kov said. The priority is giv-en to hospitals, schools andbig apartment blocks. Pri-vate houses — where themajority of Debaltseve resi-dents once lived — are notlikely to get much aid anytime soon. “I can’t send agroup of glass workers to asmall private house whenthere’s a big apartmentblock nearby,” Afendikovsaid. “And you can turn onthe heating there and move100-300 people there.”

Ukrainian town strugglesBy NATALIYA VASILYEVA

ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Feb. 26 file photo, an elderly woman holds a blanket she re-ceived from an aid distribution center in Debaltseve.

Photo by Vadim Ghirda | AP file

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015 THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A

“We’re letting investigators incharge of … this tragedy confirm cer-tain variations of the investigation,”Baeza said.

Videos posted on Facebook showfirst responders rushing to help twopeople.

“Everything went very fast. Ourparamedics initiated advanced lifesupport trying CPR to try to get theirhearts beating again … but they wereunresponsive,” said Laredo FireChief Steve Landin. “There was nochange in their condition. At the hos-pital they did what they could. Theyhad multiple gunshot wounds in dif-ferent parts of their body.”

Both girls were pronounced dead atthe Laredo Medical Center.

“It’s a sad thing for stuff like thisto happen. All we can do is pray forthe families,” Landin said.

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

LAREDOContinued from Page 1Aators to tap resources once

considered unreachable. Butthat surge of production is fill-ing up the country’s pipelinesand storage tanks, drivingdown U.S. prices and slowingdrilling across the country,with big implications for theTexas economy.

U.S. refiners can only handleso much domestic oil, becausemany still run on imports ofheavier crudes — importedfrom Venezuela, Canada orelsewhere — rather than thelight “sweet” stuff pumpedfrom Texas and North Dakotashale.

While global supply and de-mand have depressed crudeprices worldwide, the Ameri-can glut has made U.S. oilabout $10 per barrel cheaperthan what’s sold on the inter-national market.

Supporters of lifting the ban

say the move would bring U.S.prices more in line with inter-national prices, softening theblow of the latest downturn.The status quo, they say, leaveson the table billions of dollarsthat would flow to Texas oilproducers, royalty owners andinto state and federal coffers.

“We’re sort of driving downthe road with the windowsopen and hundred-dollar billsflying out the window for noreason,” said economist JamesLeBas, a former Texas chiefrevenue estimator who testi-fied on behalf of two oilgroups.

Critics argue that shippingU.S. crude overseas wouldthreaten the country’s energysecurity and raise gasolineprices.

“It is inconceivable that youcan export oil and take awaythe surplus and not have it re-

sult in an increase in cost toAmerican consumers,” saidTom “Smitty,” Smith, directorof the Texas office of Public Ci-tizen — one of few people whoregistered as opposing theHouse resolution (though hechose not to testify Monday).“It is a fundamental violationof the law of supply and de-mand.”

Smith and other environ-mentalists also oppose liftingthe ban on grounds that itwould bolster drilling, un-leashing more damage to theenvironment.

But it’s unclear how thechange would affect prices atthe pump. In an October 2014report, the federal Energy In-formation Administration con-cluded that gasoline prices atthe pump are more closelylinked to global crude pricesthan the value of U.S. oil. The

market research firm IHSagrees, estimating that exportscould actually lower gas pricesover time.

Some refiners have opposedlifting the ban, fearing theywould lose their discount ondomestic crude.

“The unlimited export ofcrude is not in the national in-terest,” Bill Day, spokesmanfor San Antonio-based ValeroEnergy Corp., the country’slargest oil refiner, told FuelFix in January. “We’re not sosure who would support sucha thing, unless you were a pro-ducer and wanted to get ahigher price for what you areproducing.”

But neither Valero nor any-one else testified Monday onbehalf of refiners.

“We don’t have a specificcomment at this time,” Daytold The Texas Tribune.

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left to figure out how to getbasic services.

A series of bankruptcysettlements, state criminalaction and citizen lawsuitshelped get the job done. Butwater was particularlytricky because the shoddytreatment plant McDonaldbuilt couldn’t even provideenough water for fire hy-drants.

Things were supposed tochange in 2006.

Trouble From The Start“Was it ever built correct-

ly? We don’t know,” saysLuis Perez-Garcia, the Webbcounty engineer who tookcharge of the troubled plantin the spring of 2013.

With help from the state,Webb County set out tobuild a top-flight plant, thefirst in Texas to disinfectwater — pulled from one ofthe Rio Grande’s most pol-luted stretches — by pour-ing it over fluorescent, ultra-violet lamps. An automatedcomputer system was sup-posed to sample water andensure quality.

Perez-Garcia believes theproblems came not from theplant’s design but from aninexperienced constructioncompany trying to cut costs.Many of those who workedon the project — engineersfor Webb County, who over-saw it, and staff at the TexasWater Development Board,who helped fund it — leftsoon after it was finished,taking knowledge of its sys-tems with them.

It is unusual for Texascounties to operate watertreatment plants, and WebbCounty has not musteredthe political will and finan-cial resources to run its fa-cilities properly, critics say.

From the beginning, resi-dents grumbled about smel-ly, strangely colored water.They increasingly com-plained about gastrointesti-nal issues and skin rashes,advocates say.

Complaints eventually

reached the Texas Commis-sion on EnvironmentalQuality (TCEQ). But thestate’s pollution enforce-ment agency had long beenaware of the problems.

Just months after theplant’s 2006 ribbon-cutting,agency investigator ElsaHull visited and reportedthat the automated comput-er system wasn’t working.The water’s turbidity — akey indicator of whether itis drinkable — wasn’t beingmeasured properly.

A year later, Hull noticedsomething strange about theway workers at the plantwere filling out monthly wa-ter quality reports theywere required to submit tothe TCEQ. At times, the da-ta Webb County sent to thestate was different fromwhat Hull saw the operatorswrite in their daily logs.

Officials now believe whatHull saw was no accident.In October, the Webb Coun-ty district attorney’s officeindicted eight current andformer plant employees forallegedly falsifying the re-cords, including JohnnyAmaya, the former waterutilities director and a long-time Laredo politician.

Amaya has pleaded notguilty, and a trial is expect-ed no earlier than March,says his attorney, Fausto So-sa.

“Instead of trying to fixwhat was wrong with theplant, they were just report-ing rosy numbers,” says Pe-rez-Garcia, who took over asengineer in mid-2013.

In the first seven years ofthe plant’s operation, WebbCounty was cited more than20 times by the TCEQ forfailing to operate the facilityproperly and submitting bo-gus water quality reports tothe state. Webb County paidseveral thousand dollars infines, and most violationswere eventually “resolved,”state records show.

But after receiving morethan a dozen complaintsabout the water in just twodays in the summer of 2013,

Hull returned and foundconditions worse than shehad thought. Many key piec-es of equipment were notworking. Her tests of thewater’s turbidity showed itwas three times higher thanthe level at which the TCEQrequires customers to boilwater before using it. Tur-bidity levels were shown tobe high the month before,too, meaning Webb Countyshould have issued a “boilwater notice” even earlier,Hull wrote to her bosses.

Water produced by theplant also tested positive forE. coli bacteria. Even amouthful of water contami-nated with it can cause se-vere or bloody diarrhea. In-fections from E. coli can al-so cause kidney damage.

Webb County was orderedto post notices urging resi-dents of El Cenizo and RioBravo to boil their water.Hull sent a scathing emailto Perez-Garcia. “Why didthe county not issue a BoilWater Notice earlier?” shesaid. “Who decided to foregoa BWN and not protect thecustomers? This cannot beexcused by inexperience orthe incompetence of un-trained staff.”

The Laredo Health De-partment, which at the timeprovided some public healthservices to the area, wasforced to haul in truckloadsof water and go door to doorteaching residents how toproperly boil the tap waterto avoid exposure to harm-ful bacteria and gastrointes-tinal diseases. (The depart-ment recently ended its con-tract with the county.)

The state health depart-ment was not involved.While it is responsible forproviding services to RioBravo and El Cenizo, whichdon’t have their own healthdepartments, a spokesmanfor the Texas Department ofState Health Services saysits office of border healthhas “no authority or exper-tise in drinking water.”

“Drinking water issuesare the domain of the local

health department andTCEQ,” says agency spokes-man Chris Van Deusen.

After the boil-water noticewent out, Webb County offi-cials nonetheless repeatedlytold residents of Rio Bravoand El Cenizo that their wa-ter was safe to drink, ac-cording to state records. Pe-rez-Garcia asked that theboil notice be lifted just afew days after it was issued.State officials refused.

“The TCEQ was protect-ing themselves,” says Perez-Garcia, adding that he be-lieves some of the agency’ssampling was incorrect, andthat the water was safe todrink long before the boil-water notice was lifted threeweeks later.

After the notice was lift-ed, Hull continued to findproblems at the plant, in-cluding turbidity levels thatwere far too high, recordsshow. In September 2013, theTCEQ slapped Webb Countywith a $60,000 fine for doz-ens of violations, and de-manded that the county fixits automatic computer sys-tem and make several othermajor improvements within60 days.

But the county hasn’tmade much progress, caus-ing mounting frustration atthe agency and within thecommunity.

Taking Matters IntoTheir Own Hands

In the 1990s, local citizensformed alliances to demandbasic services. But by thetime the water plantopened, those groups haddissolved, and few knewwhere to go for help in acommunity where mostspeak Spanish.

“There’s a lot of oppres-sion here, everywhere youturn,” says Karla Tamez,who grew up in El Cenizoand still lives there with hermother and disabled broth-er. “Especially for peoplethat don’t have documents.”

In the spring of 2013, Ta-

mez was finishing up anursing degree and fightingfor better trash collectionand sewer service in El Ce-nizo. A course in microbiol-ogy made her wonder whatwas in the water she wasdrinking.

Tamez gathered morethan 200 signatures to forman activist committee of ElCenizo residents asking forbetter trash collection, wa-ter and sewer services. Itwas called the Comité de Ci-udadanos Unidos de El Ce-nizo, or the Committee ofUnited Citizens of El Cenizo.

Through internet search-es, she learned how to com-plain to state regulators. Ta-mez says TCEQ investiga-tors came to her home totest water and look at bro-ken sewer pipes and over-flows nearby. But nothingseemed to change.

Soon after the infamous2013 boil water notice, Ta-mez’s committee joinedwith a similar group in RioBravo to take matters intotheir own hands. A fewmonths later, with the helpof RioGrande Legal Aid, alaw firm that representslow-income border resi-dents, they sued WebbCounty, alleging it had vio-lated the federal Safe Drink-ing Water Act.

“The TCEQ hasn’t beenas aggressive as you wouldwant them to be,” says at-torney Amy Johnson. Theagency’s authority and re-sources might be limited,she says, “but it’s drinkingwater. At some point, this isessential. This is a basicright.”

The lawsuit ended in asettlement requiring thecounty to post drinking wa-ter quality reports online —which it finally started to doin January, several monthslate. And in communitymeetings also required bythe settlement, RioGrandeLegal Aid’s lawyers say theyare not encouraged by pro-gress reports on repairs atthe plant.

Try, Try AgainNearly a year and a half

after the August 2013 boil-water notice, the plant’scomputer system has justbegun working. The facilitycontinues to produce drink-ing water with turbidity lev-els exceeding state healthstandards, though not highenough to trigger anotherboil-water notice.

Three of the workers in-dicted for allegedly falsify-ing water quality recordsstill work at the plant. Pe-rez-Garcia calls them “basi-cally low-level employeeswho were acting accordingto the orders of their admin-istrators.” The administra-tors no longer work for thecounty.

In an interview, TCEQ of-ficials said their options arelimited. By statute, all theycan do is cite public watersystems — of which thereare nearly 7,000 in Texas —for violations, issue finesand attempt to resolve them.

“You’ve got to look atwhat authority the Legisla-ture’s given to everybody.They’re ultimately the onesresponsible if they want tostep in and do something,”says Steve Niemeyer, headof border affairs for theagency. “We just do whatwe’re told, given the author-ity we have.”

Even with a faulty waterplant, the people of Rio Bra-vo are better off than otherborder communities, offi-cials point out. Some publicwater systems are so smalland remote that there’s noaddress to mail a notice ofviolation to, and nobody toanswer the phone.

“We were in communica-tion, and we still continue tobe in communication withthe county. They’re still talk-ing to us, they’re workingwith us, to try to achievecompliance,” says David Ra-mirez, director of the borderand Permian Basin regionaloffices for the TCEQ. “Wecan’t ask for more thanthat.”

WATER Continued from Page 1A

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015