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PULLING WEIGHTLADY HAWKS POWERLIFTERS MUSCLE INTO REGIONAL MEET, 1B

A grand jury sitting inZapata has indicted Francis-co Rodriguez III in connec-tion with an alleged inci-dent of cattle rustling.

Rodriguez is the formerowner of Rodriguez Phar-macy.

Information in the indict-ment alleges that Rodriguez“acquired property, namelycattle, valued less than

$100,000” on June 13.The single transaction oc-

curred without the consentof the livestock’s owner,Jose Luis Gonzalez, docu-ments state.

According to the indict-ment filed in November, Ro-driguez faces one count oftheft of livestock.

An arraignment is sched-uled for Rodriguez in the49th District Court in Zapa-ta County on Wednesday.

49TH DISTRICT COURT

Cattle at centerof pharmacist’s

indictmentTHE ZAPATA TIMES

NUEVO LAREDO —Mexico’s Secretariat of Na-tional Defense, or Sedena,confirmed the deaths of 13presumed cartel hitmen inNuevo Laredo, on Thurs-day, in a press release.

Three soldiers werewounded in the incident,according to the report.

In addition, a federal of-ficial who asked to remainanonymous told The Zapa-ta Times that among thedead were Francisco Medi-na Mejia, nicknamed “ElQuemado,” who was said tobe in charge of organizedcrime in the Nuevo Laredoarea.

The press release saidsoldiers were following upon intelligence of an orga-nized crime cell on theMexico II highway, at ki-lometer 15, when they werereportedly attacked by gun-men.

The gunmen approachedin several vehicles, firing atthe soldiers, the press re-lease said. Sedena said the

soldiers were aided byarmed helicopters.

Officials said lookouts,known as “halcones,” re-portedly blocked intersec-tions to interfere with themilitary’s operation and tohelp the gunmen escape.

In addition to the deathsof the 13 alleged cartel hit-men, Sedena said soldiersconfiscated 12 large-caliberfirearms; a loaded rocket-propelled grenade launch-er; and a grenade for a40mm weapon.

Soldiers also found anunspecified number ofmagazines for several bul-let calibers and loose bul-lets in several calibers, anda package containing awhite dust with the charac-teristics of cocaine.

They also confiscatedthree vehicles, one ofwhich was armored.

Other gunbattles report-edly took place throughoutThursday night and Fridaymorning to the southwestof the city, but the militaryhas not released details onthose incidents.

MEXICO VIOLENCE

A relative of the Laredoman arrested this week inconnection with the Febru-ary murder at a home onCuatro Vientos Drive re-vealed to local investigatorsa possible motive in thestabbing death, accordingto court documents.

A criminal complaint fil-ed Feb. 15 with the 49thDistrict Court states LuisJimenez, whom federal au-thorities in San Diego ar-

rested Wednesday in con-nection with the murder,allegedly confessed to hisfemale cousin that hestabbed Roberto Carlos Be-navides because Benavides“wanted to be intimatewith him.”

On Feb. 9, Benavideswas found dead, his facedown against his bed, withwounds on his face andneck area, according to thecourt documents.

Police were unable toclarify the vague wordingFriday as the case is ongo-

ing, said Investigator JoeBaeza, a spokesman for theLaredo Police Department.

Benavides’ mother, Ma-ria Herlinda Benavides, al-so declined to comment onthe claims made in thecourt documents becausethe case is awaiting trial,and her comments couldbe used against her incourt.

Maria Herlinda said in astatement that was emailedto Laredo Morning Times:“Keep in mind that myRobert is the victim. Al-

ways remember him theway he lived and not theway he died.”

BackgroundOn the morning of Feb.

9, police responded to a callat 3510 Cuatro VientosDrive after Maria Herlindafound her son dead in hisbedroom.

Maria Herlinda arrivedat her son’s home that

ROBERTO CARLOS BENAVIDES STABBING

Murder arrestCourt documents: Victim wanted ‘intimacy’

By JJ VELASQUEZLAREDO MORNING TIMES

See ARREST PAGE 7A

ZAPATA COUNTY FAIR

ROYALTY SPREADSWORD ABOUT THE FAIR

Zapata County Fair’s first runner-up, Alyssa Jo Gutierrez, 2012 Queen Sofia Regalado and second runner-up Rebecca R. Quintanilla vis-ited The Zapata Times/Laredo Morning Times offices on Wednesday afternoon. See the Zapata County Fair tabloid in today’s paper.

Photo by Danny Zaragoza | The Zapata Times

WASHINGTON — PresidentBarack Obama warned that heis not bluffing about attackingIran if it builds a nuclear weap-on, but in an interview publish-ed Friday, Obama also cautionedU.S. ally Israel that a premature

attack on Iran would do moreharm than good.

In his most expansive re-marks on the issue thus far,Obama told The Atlantic maga-zine that Iran and Israel bothunderstand that “a militarycomponent” is among a mix ofmany options for dealing withIran, along with sanctions and

diplomacy. That is the most di-rect threat he has issued duringmonths of escalating tensionwith Iran over its disputed nu-clear development program.

His comments appearedaimed more at Israel and itssupporters in the United Statesthan at Iran. Obama addressesthe influential American Israel

Public Affairs Committee onSunday and meets with IsraeliPrime Minister Benjamin Ne-tanyahu Monday at the WhiteHouse. Netanyahu will also ad-dress AIPAC.

“I think that the Israeli gov-ernment recognizes that, aspresident of the United States, Idon’t bluff,” he said in the inter-

view. “I also don’t, as a matter ofsound policy, go around advertis-ing exactly what our intentionsare. But (both) governments rec-ognize that when the UnitedStates says it is unacceptable forIran to have a nuclear weapon,we mean what we say.”

US FOREIGN POLICY

Interview: Obama says he’s not bluffing on attack By MARK S. SMITH AND ANNE GEARAN

ASSOCIATED PRESS

See IRAN PAGE 7A

Army findsweapons in

battle’s wakeTHE ZAPATA TIMES

PAGE 2A Zin brief SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012

SATURDAY, MARCH 3Zapata County Fair Trail Ride at

7 a.m.Give Blood, Play Hockey is from

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today. All presentingdonors will receive a pair of tickets toa Laredo Bucks game (on a date to beannounced), coupons from GreatAmerican Cookies and Chick-fil-A, anda chance to win an autographed Lare-do Bucks jersey or a Southern Motionrocker recliner, courtesy of Lacks Furni-ture. Visit southtexasblood.org for thecomplete details or search Connect forLife on Facebook or Twitter.

The Laredo Philharmonic Orches-tra will present a Broadway Spectacu-lar at the Martinez Fine Arts Center, atLaredo Community College, at 7:30p.m. today. Tickets are $15 for adultsand $12 for seniors and are availableat the door. For more information, con-tact Brendan Townsend at 326-3039 orlpobren@gmail.com.

Kaplan College, 6410 McPhersonRoad, will hold a health fair from 10a.m. to 1 p.m. today. Services will in-clude blood pressure testing. Theschool’s criminal justice departmentwill stage a crime scene scenario.

MONDAY, MARCH 5Individual and class pictures will

be taken at Fidel and Andrea R. Villar-real Elementary School.

The TAKS exit level retest willbe given at Zapata High School.

TUESDAY, MARCH 6The American Cancer Society, in

collaboration with Lazo Rosa de NuevoLaredo, A.C., presents “AprendiendoSobre El Cancer De La Mujer.” The pro-gram, which will be presented in Span-ish, offers Hispanic women informationon risk factors, diagnostics, and treat-ments options regarding cancer of thecervix, uterus and breast. The event isfrom 6-8 p.m. today in the Texas A&MInternational University Student Center,Room 120. The program is free. Formore information, call the local ACSoffice at 956-723-9682.

A record hop will be held be-tweeen 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. at Fidel andAndrea R. Villarreal Elementary School.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7The Laredo Health Department

will give presentations on bullying dur-ing physical education classes at Fideland Andrea R. Villarreal ElementarySchool.

TAKS testing for grades 10 and11 and exit level.

THURSDAY, MARCH 8Spring Break begins for Zapata

ISD students.The Zapata County Fair begins

today. For more information, call 956-765-4871.

THURSDAY, MARCH 10Today is the last day of the Za-

pata County Fair.

FRIDAY, MARCH 16This is the last day of Spring

Break for Zapata ISD students.

MONDAY, MARCH 26STAAR testing at Zapata High

School.

TUESDAY, MARCH 27Today will be a STAAR test day

for fourth-grade writing and fifth-grademath at Fidel and Andrea R. VillarrealElementary School.

STAAR testing at Zapata HighSchool.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28Today will be a STAAR test day

for fifth-grade reading and fourth-gradewriting at Fidel and Andrea R. VillarrealElementary School.

STAAR testing at Zapata HighSchool.

THURSDAY, MARCH 29STAAR testing at Zapata High

School.

FRIDAY, APRIL 6Easter holiday for Zapata ISD

students.

MONDAY, APRIL 9Last day of Easter holiday for

Zapata ISD students.To submit an item for the calendar,

send the name of the event, the date,time, location and contact phone num-ber to editorial@lmtonline.com.

CALENDARASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Saturday, March 3,the 63rd day of 2012. There are303 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in His-tory:

On March 3, 1931, PresidentHerbert Hoover signed a con-gressional resolution making“The Star-Spangled Banner”the national anthem of theUnited States.

On this date:In 1845, Florida became the

27th state.In 1849, the U.S. Department

of the Interior was established.In 1887, Anne Sullivan ar-

rived at the Tuscumbia, Ala.,home of Captain and Mrs. Ar-thur H. Keller to become theteacher for their blind anddeaf 6-year-old daughter, He-len.

In 1894, British Prime Min-ister William Gladstone sub-mitted his resignation toQueen Victoria, ending hisfourth and final premiership.

In 1923, Time magazine,founded by Briton Hadden andHenry R. Luce, made its debut.

In 1940, Artie Shaw and hisorchestra recorded “Frenesi”for RCA Victor.

In 1945, the Allies fully se-cured the Philippine capital ofManila from Japanese forcesduring World War II.

In 1961, King Hassan II ac-ceded to the throne of Moroc-co, following the death of hisfather, King Mohammed V.

In 1969, Apollo 9 blasted offfrom Cape Kennedy on a mis-sion to test the lunar module.

In 1974, a Turkish AirlinesDC-10 crashed shortly aftertakeoff from Orly Airport inParis, killing all 346 people onboard.

In 1987, comedian DannyKaye died in Los Angeles atage 74.

In 1991, motorist RodneyKing was severely beaten byLos Angeles police officers ina scene captured on amateurvideo. Twenty-five people werekilled when a United AirlinesBoeing 737-200 crashed whileapproaching the ColoradoSprings airport.

Ten years ago: Voters inSwitzerland approved joiningthe United Nations, abandon-ing almost 200 years of formalneutrality. Country songwriterHarlan Howard, whose hits in-cluded “I Fall to Pieces” and“Busted,” died in Nashville atage 74.

Today’s Birthdays: Blue-grass singer-musician DocWatson is 89. Socialite LeeRadziwill is 79. Singer Jennif-er Warnes is 65. Actor-directorTim Kazurinsky is 62. Singer-musician Robyn Hitchcock is59. Actor Robert Gossett is 58.Rock musician John Lilley is58. Actress Miranda Richard-son is 54. Radio personalityIra Glass is 53. Actress MaryPage Keller is 51. Olympictrack and field gold medalistJackie Joyner-Kersee is 50.College Football Hall of FamerHerschel Walker is 50. Rapper-actor Tone Loc (lohk) is 46.Rock musician John Bighamis 43. Actress Julie Bowen is42. Country singer Brett War-ren (The Warren Brothers) is41. Actor David Faustino is 38.Singer Ronan Keating (Boy-zone) is 35. Rapper Lil’ Flip is31. Actress Jessica Biel is 30.Rock musician Blower (akaJoe Garvey) (Hinder) is 28.

Thought for Today:“Nothing is really real unlessit happens on television.” —Daniel J. Boorstin, educatorand onetime Librarian of Con-gress (1914-2004).

TODAY IN HISTORY

HOUSTON — Thousands of Texas ricefarmers won’t get water for irrigation thisyear because lakes and rivers remain low af-ter more than a year of drought.

The Lower Colorado River Authority saidFriday it won’t release water from two Aus-tin-area lakes into the rivers and canals thefarmers use for irrigation. The announce-ment was expected, but notable as the firsttime in the authority’s history that it won’tprovide the water.

Farmers in the Colorado River basin makeup almost three-quarters of the state’s totalrice acreage. But without irrigation, manyfarmers will be able to plant only a fractionof the rice they usually grow, and somewon’t plant any.

"Farmers were prepared for the almost in-

evitability of this ... but things came so closeat the end, there were some who thought wemight get it," said Ronald Gertson, whogrows rice in Lissie, about 60 miles south-west of Houston.

Conditions have eased in recent weekswith some significant rains, but two-fifths ofthe state remains in a severe drought. As ofFriday morning, lakes Travis and Buchananwere about 3,200 acre-feet, or more than 1 bil-lion gallons, short of the level they’d need toreach for the farmers to receive water.

A small percentage of farmers, those withsenior water rights along the river, will getabout 20,000 acre-feet of water. The rest willnot get any.

LCRA spokeswoman Clara Tuma had saidThursday that the authority did not expectto reach the 850,000 acre-feet needed to pro-vide water to all farmers

AROUND TEXAS

Ron Gertson stands beside one of his tractors on Feb. 8 at his rice farm in Lissie. Water officials announced Friday that theywon’t release irrigation water for thousands of farmers in the state’s rice-growing region.

Photo by Pat Sullivan | AP

No water for rice farmsBy RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Border Patrol exchangesfire across Rio GrandeROMA — Border Patrol agents

making a drug seizure near theborder west of Roma have ex-changed gunfire with smugglersin Mexico.

The Border Patrol said in astatement late Thursday that oneday earlier agents were nearlyrun over by vehicles loaded withmarijuana near the banks of theRio Grande. Agents fired at thedrivers and then gunmen acrossthe river began shooting at them.The agents returned fire acrossthe border. No agents were in-jured.

Agents found nearly 4,000pounds of marijuana, but thedrivers of the vehicles escaped.

Stanford waits to learnfate in fraud trial

HOUSTON — A federal juryhas ended its deliberations forthe day in the fraud trial of jailedTexas tycoon R. Allen Stanfordon charges he bilked $7 billion

from investors in a massive Pon-zi scheme.

The panel will resume deliber-ating on Monday.

Defense attorneys told jurorsthat Stanford made money for in-vestors who bought certificatesof deposit from his Caribbeanbank.

Prosecutors countered thatStanford took investors’ moneyand flushed it away on failedbusinesses and his lifestyle.

9 guilty in scheme to getransom for immigrantsMcALLEN — Nine people

have pleaded guilty in connec-tion with a scheme to hold 18 il-legal immigrants for ransom in aSouth Texas apartment.

The U.S. attorney’s office saysbrothers Juan De Dios Cedillo-Narvaez and Luis Fernando Ce-dillo-Narvaez, both Mexican citi-zens in the U.S. illegally, pleadedguilty Friday in McAllen to con-spiracy to commit hostage tak-ing. Seven others pleaded guiltyto conspiracy to harbor illegalimmigrants.

The Cedillo-Narvaez brothersface up to life in prison. Sentenc-ing is scheduled for May 16.

2 pilots home afterdetainment in PanamaHOUSTON — Two Houston pi-

lots have been allowed to returnhome after being detained formonths in Panama in a moneylaundering investigation.

Kenneth Chonoski and CarlMoody were conditionally re-leased Thursday. Both were ar-rested last May on suspicion ofmoney laundering after landinga private jet.

Customs inspectors found $2.3million in the bags of a passen-ger from Honduras. Three pas-sengers, a customs officer and achauffeur face charges.

Moody says he and Chonoskiproved their innocence to prose-cutors.

The pilots spent severalmonths in prison, then werefreed but required to stay in Pan-ama pending the outcome of thecases.

— Compiled from AP reports

US stocks slip, even afterreaching milestones

NEW YORK — The stock mar-ket reached a couple of mile-stones this week — Dow 13,000for the first time since 2008 andNasdaq 3,000 for the first timesince 2000 — but it didn’t achievemuch else.

Stocks crept lower Friday, andthe Dow Jones industrial averageturned in its third losing week ofthe year.

18-term Rep. Norm Dicksof Wash. retiring

SEATTLE — As a young man,he worked for the late WarrenMagnuson, a towering figure inthe U.S. Senate. Almost four dec-ades later, Rep. Norm Dicks roseto nearly equal stature in theHouse, famous as a fierce advo-cate for his state and labor inter-ests but still able to count oppo-nents as friends.

Dicks announced he’ll retire

at the end of the year after 18terms in Congress.

Dahmer hunting groundstour stirs backlash in Wis.

MILWAUKEE — A planned

tour providing a peek into serialkiller Jeffrey Dahmer’s life andthe haunts where he met andstalked his victims is drawingprotests, prompting online deal-maker Groupon to cancel whatsome called a creepy promotion.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

A semitrailer lies flipped near Sparkman High School after a reported tornadocame through Harvest, Ala., on Friday. Tornadoes did particular damage in someparts of the South and the Midwest this week.

Photo by Eric Schultz/The Huntsville Times | AP

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

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

Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129,Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500.

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

CONTACT US

ASSAULTA 33-year-old woman re-

ported at 7:12 p.m. Feb. 23 thather son was assaulted near theHawk Stadium.

Joel Arnulfo Vargas, 41,was arrested and charged withassault family violence at about10:15 a.m. Feb. 25 in the 1800block of Hidalgo Boulevard. Theman was taken to the ZapataRegional Jail and later releasedfor future court appearance.

An assault was reportedat 12:58 p.m. Wednesday in the2500 block of Fresno Street.

Deputies went out to theZapata County Health Center,800 U.S. 83, at 11:30 p.m. foran assault report. The victimknows the suspects.

BURGLARYA burglary of a building

was reported at 3:35 a.m. Mon-day in the 1400 block of HidalgoStreet.

A 77-year-old man report-ed a burglary of a building at8:57 a.m. Monday in the 200block of Lake Shore Drive.

A 34-year-old man report-ed a burglary of a building at8:23 p.m. Monday in the 300block of Gonzalez Street.

A burglary of a buildingwas reported Tuesday in the 900block of Laredo Avenue. Deputiessay someone stole jewelry,among other items worth ap-proximately $2,090.

CRIMINAL MISCHIEFA 60-year-old woman re-

ported at 10:40 a.m. Feb. 24 inthe 200 block of Juarez Avenuethat a juvenile shattered her ve-hicle’s windshield with a BB gun.

LICENSE INVALIDSergio Gonzalez-Landa Jr.,

43, was arrested and chargedwith driving while license invalidat about 3 a.m. Feb. 25 at Sev-enth Street and Villa Avenue.The man was taken to the Zapa-ta Regional Jail, where he waslater released for future courtappearance.

POSSESSIONA woman reported at

11:05 a.m. Monday in the 400block of Seagull Street that shefound marijuana in her son’sroom.

PUBLIC INTOXICATIONLuis Javier Hernandez, 21,

was arrested and charged withpublic intoxication at about 4:30a.m. Feb. 23 in the 1200 blockof Mier Avenue. The man wastaken to the Webb County Jail.

STRIKING A FENCE

An 89-year-old woman re-ported at 9:07 a.m. Feb. 23 inthe 1400 block of Roma Avenuethat someone had crashed intoher chainlink fence.

THEFTDeputies went out to a

theft call at 8:56 a.m. Feb. 23 atZapata Middle School. Reportsstate a trumpet was reportedstolen, but it was later locatedat a local pawn shop. An investi-gation is underway.

A theft was reported at8:02 p.m. Feb. 25 in the 2500block of Brazos Street.

A 22-year-old woman re-ported at 4:54 p.m. Feb. 26 inthe 1100 block of Zapata Avenuethat her purse was stolen fromher vehicle.

A 40-year-old man report-ed at 3:31 p.m. Monday at theLake View Motel that someonestole two GPS devices.

THE BLOTTER

Zapata County deputieson Monday investigated abreak-in at Rex StorageRentals in which 10 stor-age lockers were brokeninto.

Damage was reported to

the doors of six other stor-age lockers at the facility,which is on FM 496. Dam-ages amounted to approxi-mately $9,600, according toa press release issued bythe sheriff ’s office.

Owner Jamie Gonzaleztold deputies someone had

entered the premises afterbreaking a padlock on afence gate. The 10 storagelockers also had beenforced open, he said.

Sheriff ’s investigatorsare following leads in thecase, the press releasestated.

Deputies look intobreak-in at facility

THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 Crime & More THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

PAGE 4A Zopinion SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012

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

WASHINGTON — Le-muel Gulliver is back!You remember him —he’s the hero of “Gulliv-er’s Travels,” a satirewritten by JonathanSwift, first published in1726.

Many adventures be-fall Gulliver, but the onemost remembered is thathe’s captured and pinneddown with innumerablestrings by the tiny Lilli-putians. By their stan-dards, he was a giant, butthey tied him down sowell that he was helpless.

That, according tothose seeking the Repub-lican presidential nomi-nation, is the state of theU.S. energy industry. Byenergy, they mean oil andgas.

Too many regsAccording to Newt

Gingrich, who’s echoedby frontrunner Mitt Rom-ney and his two rivals,the oil and gas industrieshave been cruelly tieddown by government,which imposes onerousenvironmental regula-tions and restricts drill-ing in the most hopefulparts of our oceanshelves and on federallands.

If these lands andocean sites were justopened to drilling, theRepublican hopefuls ar-gue, the United Stateswould become the world’sgreatest energy producer,as it was in the 1940s and1950s. Drill, baby, drilland a gigantic cornuco-pia of energy awaits, en-ergy for the United Statesand the world.

More drillingJack Gerard, president

and CEO of the Ameri-can Petroleum Institute,the take-no-prisonerstrade association thatrepresents nearly 500 oiland gas companies, is avocal advocate of moredrilling in more places.He’s a Gulliver theorist.

From Republicans andthe oil industry, this is anew optimism born of anold idea. The old idea isthat if you drill enoughholes in enough places,oil will be abundant.

Less scientificThat optimism has ex-

isted more in the fringeworld of wildcatting thanit did in the big oil com-panies, which knew thatthere were limited re-serves of recoverable oiland gas in the UnitedStates. They also knewthat once a reserve is inproduction, you can cal-culate the point at whichit will decline, as hashappened with the NorthSlope of Alaska, whereless than half the 2 mil-lion barrels a day pro-duced at its peak is flow-ing today.

Then came the newtechnologies, largely de-veloped by the despisedgovernment. Now in fulldeployment, these tech-nologies have incontro-vertibly changed expecta-tions for natural gas buttheir impact on oil is de-batable.

A look underneath

The first of these is 3-Dseismic mapping. Ad-vanced physics enablesthe companies to deter-mine very accurately howmuch hydrocarbon a par-ticular formation under-ground might contain.Gone are the days whenthe hard-drinking wildcat-ter followed his gut andmysterious patterns inthe tumbleweed.

Next, is the hole itself.At one time, a well was awell — drilled straightdown, looking for a poolof oil, a cavern of gas orboth.

Better frackingFracturing — the pro-

cess in which water,chemicals and other sub-stances are injected downthe hole to break up rockin proximity to the hole— has been used to re-lease more of the goodstuff. With time, fractur-ing — also called “frack-ing” — has become moresophisticated.

What has made the eu-phoria of the politiciansand oil lobbyists possibleis the miracle of horizon-tal drilling, which allowsas many as eight holes tobe spread out for milesfrom a single shaft. Thisand better fracking havechanged the prospects forgas out of all hope, andhas somewhat improvedoil expectations.

Much of the enthusi-asm for new drilling hascome from the success ofthe new technologies inNorth Dakota, which hasovernight become thefourth-largest oil-produc-ing state in the Union.But beware. This isn’tTexas circa 1945.

Costly oilOil from North Dako-

ta’s Bakken Field isn’tcheap. Its “lifting cost” isamong the most expensivethere is: It costs about $50a barrel to bring NorthDakota oil to the surface,compared with about $15in Russia and Saudi Ara-bia. Is it oil or incense?

API’s Gerard told re-porters in a telephoneconversation, designed topreempt President Oba-ma’s “all of the above” en-ergy recommendations,that technology in its in-evitable advance wouldkeep the oil flowing formany generations.

Only the government,in Gerard’s view, standsbetween the Americanpeople and abundant oil.

Less productionHowever, fields that

have peaked — like theNorth Slope and much ofTexas, Louisiana and theNorth Sea —have seen de-clining production and notechnology has beenenough to revive them.All the oil has been re-moved.

Gone, baby, gone.More drilling has al-

ready improved domesticoil production. But willunfettered drilling reallymake a new Saudi Arabiaof the United States?

Can the resource basestand the exploitation?Can Gulliver actuallystand up?

The next generation oftechnology won’t putmore oil in the ground.

(Email: lking@king-publishing.com.)

Some saydrill. Otherssay it’s gone

By LLEWELLYN KINGHEARST NEWSPAPERS

COLUMN OTHER VIEWS

The Zapata Times doesnot publish anonymousletters.

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

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

We want to assure our

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

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

ing or gratuitous abuse isallowed.

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

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY

DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

In Afghanistan, violentmobs go on a rampage be-cause of what U.S. officialsdescribe as the inadver-tent incineration of copiesof the Quran. In Iran, atrial court issues a finalorder of execution for aChristian pastor accusedof apostasy.

Remind me again: Whois it that needs lessons intolerance?

ComparisonsMerely juxtaposing

these two recent news sto-ries guarantees an accusa-tion of Islamophobia. Butphobias are irrational.There’s nothing irrationalabout noting the violenceof Islamic extremists ortheir violation of civilizednorms of discourse.

And when it comes totheological provocations,there’s nothing charitableabout believing that Mus-lims — the vast majorityof whom are not extre-mists — are less capable ofresponding in a civilizedmanner than members ofother religions.

Lives lostIn Afghanistan, the im-

mediate assumption wasthat the U.S. military haddeliberately desecrated Is-

lam’s holy book. Even ifthat were true, would itjustify the violence inwhich more than 30 Af-ghans lost their lives andsix American servicemem-bers have been killed incold blood?

Pastor’s deathAnd what could justify

the execution of PastorYousef Nadarkhani, whosecapital crime — accordingto Iranian prosecutors —is that he was born a Mus-lim and became a Chris-tian? After refusing to re-cant his faith, Nadarkhaninow appears to be at im-minent risk of being put todeath.

Then there is the case ofTalag Elbayomy. Elbayomywas charged with physi-cally harassing an atheisthe accused of blasphemy.The judge in the case, be-yond finding no evidenceof a crime, berated the al-leged victim for being in-sufficiently deferential tomembers of the Muslimfaith.

US caseElbayomy’s trial didn’t

take place in Kabul orTehran. It took place inMechanicsburg, Pa.

The complainant in thecase was Ernie Perce,state director of the Amer-ican Atheists organiza-

tion, who marched as a“zombie” Prophet Mo-hammed along with a fel-low “zombie” pope in aMechanicsburg Halloweenparade. A good deal of fal-lacious reporting sur-rounds the Elbayomy trial,including the falsehoodthat the presiding judge —Cumberland County Mag-istrate Mark Martin —himself is Muslim.

Judge’s behaviorLegal scholars such as

Jonathan Turley haveraised serious questionsabout Martin’s decisionsto exclude some video-phone and eyewitness evi-dence. But the real shock-er, which is a matter ofpublic record, is Martin’sscolding of Perce.

Martin, who served twotours in Iraq in the ArmyReserve, made it threaten-ingly clear that Perce’s an-tics would be punishableby death in many Muslimcountries.

ComparisonsHe made the similarly

irrelevant assertion thatthere is a big differencebetween how Americanspractice Christianity andhow Muslims practice Is-lam. And Martin, anAmerican judge, warnedPerce that he was “wayoutside your bounds on

First Amendment rights.”Over the course of 10

years of cultural and reli-gious sensitivity training,Americans have come toaccept the violent spasmsof religious intolerancethat frequently convulseparts of the Islamic world.But is it too much to askthat judges in the UnitedStates uphold rights enu-merated in the U.S. Consti-tution?

Muslim intoleranceAmericans tolerate all

sorts of offenses as the ve-ry acceptable price of freespeech. Christians accepta popular culture that reg-ularly mocks their beliefs.Jews accept Nazis march-ing through their neigh-borhoods. Americans of allreligions and no religiontolerate the disgustingprotests of the WestboroBaptist Church zealots.

When they don’t, whenthey resort to violence orintimidation in an effortto abridge free speech,they are held accountablebefore the law. Supportersof peace, tolerance and ba-sic human rights do a dis-service to Muslim moder-ates when they hold extre-mists to a lower standardthan themselves or glossover their abuses — herein the United States orabroad.

(Email: jgurwitz@ex-press-news.net)

COLUMN

Intolerance of the extremistsBy JONATHAN GURWITZ

SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

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OR Border Region Zapata County, 101 First Street Telephone (956) 765-9664

Equal Opportunity Employer

SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 State THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

FORT WORTH — WhenAndrew Marsh’s studentsat Danny Jones MiddleSchool in Mansfield walkaround mouthing lyricsabout the Runaway Scrape,Spanish presidios, AnsonJones and the Know-Noth-ing Party, they’re not kill-ing time.

They’re studying Texashistory.

The songs, which borrowtunes from the likes of Dr.Dre, Eminem and Maroon5, are the most popular ofMarsh’s classroom innova-tions.

Friday was Texas Inde-pendence Day, marking theRepublic of Texas’ birth onMarch 2, 1836, and it is upto teachers like Marsh tomake the rich story rele-vant for today’s students.

He is not alone in tryingnew ways to school stu-dents on state history.

Texas history curriculahave been a changing land-scape since the Texas Ses-quicentennial in 1986.

Teachers and researchershave refocused, trying toaugment the swashbucklingtales of the Texas Revolu-tion with broader studies ofits background, conse-quences and multiculturalnature.

“They’ve added some his-torical people and somemore recent political peo-ple, and they’ve diversi-fied,” said Angela Whitaker,social studies director ofthe Fort Worth school dis-trict.

“It’s the same timelinewithin the past and in-cludes a higher-level vocab-ulary.”

Students today learnabout Juan Seguin, Rep.Barbara Jordan, the Leagueof United Latin AmericanCitizens and Gov. Ann Rich-ards right along with Ste-phen F. Austin, SusannaDickinson, the Treaty of Ve-lasco and James Fannin.

“The narrative of theTexas Revolution itself hasevolved since 1986,” saidBruce Winders, curator andhistorian of the Alamo. “I’mnot sure how much of thenew interpretation has ac-tually reached the public,let alone school and evenuniversity classrooms.”

History teachers in thoseclassrooms point out thatstandards keep evolving be-cause of changes in ac-countability testing and thestate curriculum.

“Our standards havechanged,” Whitaker said.“We examine Texas historyfrom the early beginning tothe present, within the con-text of influencing the Unit-ed States’ history.”

Texas history is taught infourth grade and with morecontext in seventh grade.

Seventh-graders get amore in-depth study of Tex-as after the republic period,Whitaker said, includingthe ages of oil, cotton andcattle, the Great Depression,the Dust Bowl, and Texas’connections to World War IIand the civil-rights andwomen’s rights movements.

“When I first found outthat I had to take Texas his-tory, I wasn’t really happy,because it’s history,” saidSydney Veatch, 13, one ofMarsh’s students. “But thisis a more in-depth curricu-lum and it’s more hands-on.”

Educators say studentsoriginally from other statesare at first perplexed thatTexas schools cover the

state’s history so thorough-ly. But native Texans under-stand the state’s influencein the country and theworld, they say.

“I think students are ve-ry passionate about Texashistory because it’s thestate they live in,” said Whi-taker, a former U.S. historyteacher in Keller. “They

make those life connectionsto their own lives.”

The new State of TexasAssessments of Academic

Readiness and a scheduledrewrite of social studiescurriculum standards havebrought about the latest up-

date.“There has been an effort

Independence Day marks state’s 176thBy SHIRLEY JINKINS

FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM

Andrew Marsh uses songs and political cartoons to teach Texas history at Danny Jones Middle School, in Mansfield. Texas history curriculahave been a changing landscape since the Texas Sesquicentennial in 1986. Teachers and researchers have refocused, trying to augmentthe swashbuckling tales of the Texas Revolution with broader studies of its background, consequences and multicultural nature.

Photo by Rodger Mallison/The Fort Worth Star-Telegram | AP

See TEXAS PAGE 7A

NUEVO LAREDO, MÉXICO03/03 — Estación Pala-

bra invita a: “Bazar de Arte”a las 12 p.m.; Festival Infan-til “La Primavera” a las 3p.m.; Taller de Creación Lite-raria con Jacobo Mina a las3 p.m. Eventos gratuitos.

03/03 — Museo paraNiños presenta Taller de laExposición de Beatriz Exbana las 4 p.m. en la Sala deServicios Educativos del Cen-tro Cultural. Entrada gratui-ta.

03/04 — Domingo deTeatro Universitario presenta:“El Dilema del Prisionero”con el Grupo de Teatro Ex-presión a las 7 p.m. en elTeatro Lucio Blanco de laCasa de la Cultura. Entradalibre.

LAREDO03/03 — Los feligreses

de la Iglesia Our Lady ofGuadalupe y el grupo ecolo-gista Greens of Guadalupeinvitan a su venta de artícu-los de segunda mano de 7a.m. a 5 p.m. en la la IglesiaOur Lady of Guadalupe,1700 San Francisco Avenue.Informes en el (956)7236954 o (956)286-7866.Continúa el domingo de 8a.m. a 2 p.m.

03/03 — First UnitedMethodist Church, 1220McClleland Avenue, llevará acabo una venta de librosusados de 8:30 a.m. a 1p.m.

03/03 — El evento dedonación de sangre ‘GiveBlood, Play Hockey’ es de 10a.m. a 5 p.m.

03/03 — Kaplan Colle-ge, 6410 McPherson Road,tendrá una feria de salud de10 a.m. a 1 p.m.

03/03 — La OrquestaFilarmónica de Laredo pre-senta Espectáculo de Broad-way en Martinez Fine ArtsCenter de Laredo Commu-nity College a las 7:30 p.m.Costo: 15 dólares, adultos y12 dólares, seniors.

03/05 — Exhibición dearte “Back to the Future” enla Galería del Center for Fineand Performing Arts, de 12p.m. a 5 p.m.

03/06 — El EmbajadorRonald K. McMullen, Diplo-mático en Residencia en laUniversity of Texas en Aus-tin, dará una conferencia so-bre oportunidades en el De-partamento de Estado deEU, a la 1:30 p.m. en el Stu-dent Center Ballroom; 4:30p.m. en el Bob Bullock Hall118; y, 6 p.m. en el WesternHemispheric Trade Center103. Evento gratuito.

03/06 — La AmericanCancer Society, en colabora-ción con Lazo Rosa de Nue-vo Laredo, A.C., presenta“Aprendiendo Sobre El Can-cer De La Mujer”. El eventoes de 6 p.m. a 8 p.m. en elCentro Estudiantil de TAMIU,Aula 120. Evento gratuito.

03/06 — Edwin Bar-nhart presentará la conferen-cia “2012: An End of Days?”durante la Serie de Confe-rencistas Distinguidos deLCC en el teatro del Guada-lupe and Lilia Martinez FineArts Center en el CampusFort McIntosh a las 6:30p.m. Evento gratuito.

03/06 — “Cirque du So-leil” presenta “Dralion” enLaredo Energy Arena a las7:30 p.m. Costos: 35-80 dó-lares. Otra presentación el 7de marzo a las 3:30 p.m. y7:30 p.m.

03/08 — Celebraciónpor el Día Internacional dela Mujer en Laredo Commu-nity College, a partir de las12 p.m. en la CommunitySuite del Billy Hall StudentCenter, en LCC, Campus delSur. Evento gratuito.

03/08 — “Holi – Festi-val de Colores” en TexasA&M International Universitya partir de las 3 p.m. en elUniversity Green. Evento gra-tuito. Participantes debenvestir ropas antiguas.

— Tiempo de Zapata

Agendaen Breve

Oficiales del Consula-do de EU en Nuevo Lare-do, México están advir-tiendo a ciudadanos esta-dounidenses radicandoallá estar en alerta debi-do una reciente ola deasaltos reportados en laColonia Madero, al estede la ciudad.

De acuerdo a un men-saje de seguridad emitidola semana pasada, oficia-les del consulado señala-ron haber recibido repor-tes sobre asaltos involu-crando un grupo decuatro jóvenes masculi-nos.

Oficiales dicen que losreportes indican que lospresuntos asaltantes via-jan en un auto Ford tipoTaurus de color dorado.

El mensaje de seguri-dad menciona que en porlo menos un par de oca-siones, los presuntosofensores confrontaban asus víctimas mientras es-tas se encontraban sa-liendo o ingresando a lascocheras de sus residen-cias.

Oficiales del consuladoseñalan que los jóveneshan mostrado armas y sehan logrado robar dineroen efectivo y otras cosasde valor antes de huir delas escenas.

El reporte no especifi-ca el tipo de armas usa-das durante los atracos.

Un tercer incidenteocurrió cuando un grupode hombres jóvenes in-gresaron a una fiesta quese celebraba en una resi-

dencia a través de unportón que no se encon-traba cerrado.

Todas las personas enla reunión fueron asalta-das, indica el reporte.

“El Consulado Generaladvierte tomar las nece-sarias medidas de pre-caución al ingresar y sa-lir de residencias en estaárea residencial”, decla-ra el mensaje de seguri-dad.

VigilanciaDurante una visita re-

ciente a Laredo, el Jefede Gobierno de NuevoLaredo, Benjamín Gal-ván Gómez fungió comoorador invitado en unareunión mensual de laAsociación de Logísticay Manufactura, Puertode Laredo.

Durante dicha reu-nión, Galván mencionóque los elementos milita-res que actualmente pa-trullan las calles son lapolicía municipal deNuevo Laredo, conocidoscomo Seguridad Tamau-lipas.

Nuevo Laredo se en-cuentra sin una fuerzapolicíaca desde el pasadoverano tras la suspen-sión de elementos paraser evaluados por el go-bierno.

Actualmente, la ciudades vigilada por elementosmilitares al igual que lapolicía estatal y federal.

(Localice a César G. Ro-driguez en el (956)728-2568o en cesar@lmtonli-ne.com)

Alerta antereportes

POR CÉSAR G. RODRÍGUEZTIEMPO DE ZAPATA

A través de un comunica-do de prensa, la Secretaríade la Defensa Nacional (Se-dena) confirmó la muertede 13 presuntos sicarios enNuevo Laredo, México, enacontecimientos ocurridosel jueves.

Durante los enfrenta-mientos resultaron heridostres soldados, agrega el re-porte.

Además, una fuente fede-ral, quien habló bajo condi-ción de anonimato, confir-mó a Laredo Morning Ti-mes, que entre los hombresque murieron se encuentraFrancisco Medina Mejía,conocido como ‘El quema-do’, quien al parecer era elJefe de la Plaza para unaorganización criminal.

En el comunicado, la IVRegión Militar de la Sedena

informó que el jueves se-guían información de inteli-gencia para ubicar célulascriminales sobre la carrete-ra “México II”, a la alturadel kilómetro 15, cuandosoldados fueron objeto deuna agresión con disparosde armas de fuego.

Un grupo indeterminadode individuos viajaban abordo de diversos vehículos,por lo que los militares tu-vieron que repeler la agre-sión, aclara. Además de ladefensa por tierra, fueronauxiliados por helicópterosartillados.

Los enfrentamientos oca-sionaron persecuciones endiferentes puntos de NuevoLaredo, mientras que jóve-nes de los llamados “Halco-nes” se dedicaron a bloque-ar cruceros para ayudar alos sospechosos en su hui-da, agrega el comunicado.

Además de los 13 civilesarmados muertos, la Sede-na logró confiscar 12 armaslargas; un lanza cohetescon un proyectil en su inte-rior; un aditamento lanzagranadas; y, una granadapara aditamento calibre 40mm.

También estaban pen-dientes por contabilizar car-gadores para cartuchos dediferentes calibres, cartu-chos de diferentes calibres,un paquete conteniendo unpolvo blanco con las carac-terísticas de la cocaína.

Igualmente fueron confis-cados tres vehículos, uno delos cuales estaba blindado.

Durante el jueves por lanoche y madrugada delviernes se generaron otrosenfrentamientos al sur oes-te de la ciudad, pero no sedieron a conocer mayoresdetalles.

Un militar revisa una camioneta tipo Durango, a la cual persiguieran y balearan desde tierra y cielo, eneventos ocurridos contra presuntos miembros del crimen organizado, el jueves en Nuevo Laredo, México.

Foto de cortesía | Sedena

Violenciafronteriza

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

AUSTIN — La Contra-lora Susan Combs publi-có el mes pasado el infor-me “The Impact of the2011 Drought and Be-yond” el cual analiza losefectos de la severa se-quía de 2011 en Texas,los actuales y los futurosrecursos e innovadorassoluciones utilizadas porel estado y el Suroeste afines de resolver la crisisdel agua.

“Planificar y manejarel uso del agua será im-portantísimo para el cre-cimiento y la prosperi-dad del estado” dijoCombs. “Mientras quelas recientes lluvias hanayudado un poco en laseveridad de la sequía endistintas partes del esta-do, aún enfrentamos pe-ligro”.

Combs expuso comoTexas tiende a sufrir dis-tintos ciclos de sequía yesto obliga a los residen-tes, los negocios y a losgobiernos estatal y loca-les a manejar el uso delagua.

“Cada tejano enfrentalos mismos problemascon el agua que el esta-do”, sostuvo.

El plan para el aguade la Junta de desarrollodel agua en Texas 2011predice que la demandapor agua en Texas au-mentará 22 por ciento co-menzando desde ahorahasta el 2060. Tambiéncalcula que de sufrirotra severa sequía de ré-cord para el estado iguala la de 1950 podría costara las empresas y a susempleados cerca de 116mil millones de dólaresen ingresos durante unperiodo de casi 50 añoshasta el 2060.

La publicación “TheImpact of the 2011Drought and Beyond”examina las solucionespara el manejo del aguatales como el almacena-miento y adquisición deacuíferos utilizados en

ciudades como San Anto-nio; el uso de aguas resi-duales tratadas para lairrigación y la conver-sión de aguas subterrá-neas salobres a aguas po-tables, conocida como de-salinización.

“También contacta-mos planificadores deagua en Nuevo México yArizona, los cuales hanenfrentado problemascon agua desde los 1980 y90”, explicó Combs. “Lasestrategias utilizadas enestos dos estados cubrendesde variados métodospara obtener agua de dis-tintos recursos a reem-bolsos por utilizar plan-tas nativas que toleran lasequía en los jardines”.

El informe sobre elagua rinde valuables co-nocimientos mientrasTexas estudia la gran va-riedad de soluciones dis-ponibles para tratar losasuntos relacionados conel agua, agregó Combs.

Encuentre The Impactof the 2011 Drought andBeyond por Internet enhttp://www.window.sta-te.tx.us/specialrpt/drought/.

Buscan resolvercrisis del agua

ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

“Mientras quelas recienteslluvias hanayudado unpoco en laseveridad dela sequía endistintaspartes delestado, aúnenfrentamospeligro”.SUSAN COMBS,CONTRALORA DE TEXAS

Inició la reactivación dela pesca en Tamaulipas.

El fin de semana pasa-do se celebró en el Muni-cipio de Camargo la Pri-mera Copa de Pesca De-portiva de Lobina“Frontera Tamaulipas2012”.

Según comunicado deprensa del Gobierno deTamaulipas, el eventoatrajo a 119 participantesy se emplearon 57 lanchasen la presa Marte R. Gó-mez.

Los ganadores de lacompetencia fueron Ma-nuel Gauna y Arturo Liz-cano, con un peso acumu-lado de 31.070 kilogramos,

y un premio en efectivo de22.000 pesos de una bolsatotal de 100.000 pesos a re-partir entre las mejorescapturas.

“Debido a la abundan-cia de la especie y a lasbuenas condiciones de lapresa, el torneo arrojóuna captura total de 526lobinas, con un peso de1,218.7 kilogramos, entrelos cuales se obtuvo un go-lón de 5.750 kilos”, infor-ma el comunicado.

El torneo se celebró ba-jo las reglas de la Federa-ción Mexicana de Pesca,dentro de la modalidad decapturar y liberar en elmismo sitio, y convocó aun numeroso grupo de ni-ños y padres de familia en

la devolución de los pecesvivos al agua.

Se reportó que a las ac-tividades asistieron pesca-dores de Acuña y PiedrasNegras, Coahuila.

La Segunda Copa dePesca Deportiva de Lobi-na “Frontera Tamaulipas2012” se llevará a cabo enla presa Las Blancas, el 17y 18 de marzo, bajo losmismos requisitos y mo-dalidades.

“(Así se) apoya la reac-tivación económica de lazona fronteriza, impulsala pesca deportiva y lasactividades recreativas, ypromueve la convivenciafamiliar de visitantes y re-sidentes de la entidad”,concluye el comunicado.

El Municipio de Camargo fue la sede de la Primera Copa de Pesca Deportiva de Lobina “Frontera Ta-maulipas 2012”, el 25 y 26 de febrero. El evento, reportan las autoridades, fue todo un éxito. En la ima-gen, al centro, los ganadores Manuel Gauna y Arturo Lizcano.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

TORNEO ATRAEVISITANTES

Camargo celebra Copa de PescaTIEMPO DE ZAPATA

PÁGINA 6A Zfrontera SÁBADO 3 DE MARZO DE 2012

SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A

to make the narrative that’s beingtaught more diverse and inclusive,”said Stephen Cure, educational ser-vices director for the Texas State His-torical Association.

“I don’t think that was new. It waspart of the oncoming trend to reflectthe true diversity as part of the story.In order for them to connect withTexas history, students need to seethemselves reflected in it.”

Cure, a former seventh-gradeteacher in Round Rock, was on thecommittee that made initial recom-mendations to the State Board ofEducation before the curriculum wasrewritten.

Both groups received a deluge ofpublic feedback about the new curri-culum and the number of names add-ed to the text.

“I don’t think it changed thatmuch,” teacher Chad Hannon said.“We’ve always talked about Mexicanhistory and how that intertwineswith Texas history.”

Hannon, who teaches Texas histo-ry at Grapevine Middle School, ap-preciates what he says is more clar-ity in the new standards.

Alamo historian Winders saidscholarly study of the Texas Revolu-tion has “greatly matured” and isnow more in line with earlier histori-ans’ broader views that the conflictwas more complex than Texans ver-sus Mexicans.

“Their interpretations remove the

‘us versus them’ mentality that hasmade the Texas Revolution appear tobe largely an ethnic conflict,” Win-ders said.

While nodding to tradition, teach-ers are pioneering 21st-century meth-ods for a 19th-century subject.

Besides the original songs aboutstate history, Marsh’s Mansfield stu-dents draw topical cartoons and usea website to simulate their own na-tion.

“The first part of the year theycome in and think, ‘OK, we did thisin fourth grade,”’ Marsh said. “I haveto make some global connections andAmerican connections, and by theend of the year, they have a deeperappreciation of Texas history.”

Travis Moore, Marsh’s principal,says the methods are backed bysound research.

“There’s a lot of research aboutmusic and memory, and how onehelps the other,” Moore said.

“The political cartoons requirethem to do analysis and criticalthinking.”

Marsh’s students adapt well to crit-ical thinking. After studying the evi-dence, Jonathan Ramirez, 13, hasconcluded that Sam Houston was abetter Texas Republic president thanMirabeau B. Lamar.

His classmate Christopher Mo-rales, 13, says his favorite constitu-tional amendment is the SecondAmendment and is drawing a politi-

cal cartoon to show why.“The way I’m going to do it is to

draw people with their hands up, likethey’re a militia,” he said.

The songs, cartoons, and opinionquestions all liven up the subject forRamirez.

“It refreshes me about Texas histo-ry and it gives me more informa-tion,” he said. “You know how peoplewould be bored reading from a text-book.”

In Grapevine, Hannon uses musicas well as visuals as teaching tools.He had his students do video projectson the Alamo and is marking eachday of the siege with a classroomnarrative to set the scene.

Seventh-grade standards cover Tex-as’ past so thoroughly that even with-out the pressures of accountabilitytesting, teachers can struggle to get itall in.

“It runs from the beginning of timeto modern day,” Hannon said. “Thatis, in my opinion, an impossible taskto teach, but we really try.”

Right now, classes are studyingTexas’ revolutionary period. Hannonsaid they must move on to the CivilWar after spring break, then studyoil and cattle and end on modernTexas politics and the shift fromDemocratic to Republican dom-inance.

“A lot of things have happenedfrom Cabeza de Vaca to Spindletop,”Hannon said.

TEXAS Continued from Page 5A

Angel Garza, 61, passedaway Saturday, Feb. 25,2012, at his residence inZapata, Texas.

Mr. Garza is precededin death by his parents:Amado and Rosenda Gar-za.

Mr. Garza is survivedby his wife, Lilia Arredon-do; son, Angel Jr. (Sandra)Garza; daughters: MariaIsabel (Samuel) Villarreal,Zonia Garza and Beatriz I.(Roel) Garcilazo; grand-children: Angel III, Victo-ria Rae Garza, KatherineVillarreal, Klarissa BelleVillarreal, Samuel Villar-real Jr., Jozlynn I. Garza,Joseph Obregon, KarinaGarcilazo and Kibely Gar-cilazo; brother, AmadoGarza Jr.; sisters: Manu-ela (Anibal) Villarreal,Eulalia (Mario) Ramirezand Esmeralda Garza; andby numerous nephews,nieces and many friends.

Visitation hours wereheld Monday, Feb. 27, 2012,from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. witha rosary at 7 p.m. at RoseGarden Funeral Home.

The funeral procession

departed Tuesday, Feb. 28,2012, at 9:45 a.m. for a 10a.m. funeral Mass at OurLady of Lourdes CatholicChurch. Committal servic-es followed at ZapataCounty Cemetery.

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

ANGEL GARZA

morning after he had notreturned calls made to hiscell phone Feb. 8 and failedto report to work.

Police and emergency re-sponders arrived to a crimescene in which beer cans,bottles, cigarette butts andclothing had been strewnabout on the floor andwhere a party had takenplace the night of Feb. 7,friends of Benavides’ told in-vestigators. Friends saidthey left Benavides’ home at11 p.m. that night after they“consumed drugs anddrank beer,” the court docu-ments state.

Brian Sullivan, Bena-vides’ roommate who wasout of town for work duringthe incident, said he spokeand texted with Benavidesthat night up until 1:40 a.m.Wednesday, according to thedocuments.

On Feb. 10, detectives re-ceived a lead that led to theeventual arrest of Jimenez,who left town for San Diego,Calif. Authorities therewere investigating Jime-nez’s relatives at a homewhere he was spotted andidentified as the suspectsought here in connectionwith the stabbing death.

CousinsJimenez’s cousins de-

scribe in the documents aman who was “depressed”and “acting different” be-fore Benavides’ death. At7:30 a.m. on Feb. 8, Jimenezwent to a female cousin’shome and allegedly con-fessed to stabbing someone,according to the documents.

The documents state Ji-menez told his cousin thatthe stabbing on CuatroVientos Drive being report-ed by media outlets on Feb.9 was the same stabbing he

had confessed to. He toldher not to say anything, ac-cording to the documents.

A male cousin told a La-redo Police Department in-vestigator that Jimenezabused drugs, according tothe court documents.

The male cousin told in-vestigators that Jimenezhad also confessed to himabout the stabbing, the doc-uments state.

Jimenez, the cousin toldinvestigators, said Bena-vides “picked him up in aFord Mustang and askedhim if he wanted to party.”He said that he went to Be-navides’ home, where Bena-vides “wanted to be intim-ate with him.” He thengrabbed a knife, accordingto the cousin’s retelling ofthe events in the docu-ments, and stabbed Bena-vides several times.

Jimenez is being held ina San Diego corrections fa-cility. He had previouslybeen arrested in 2009 oncharges of assault, familyviolence. He is pending ex-tradition to Webb County.

Benavides, a Zapata na-tive, moved to Laredo fiveyears ago for work. Heworked at Doctors Hospitalas a medical assistant be-fore taking a sales represen-tative job at a local compa-ny.

Funeral services wereheld in Zapata on Feb. 13.

In a statement, his moth-er describes Benavides as a“curious, full of life and ex-tremely intelligent” child.She held him lifeless in herarms when his body wasfound, she wrote.

“To find my baby the wayI did,” she said in the state-ment, “I felt that I had diedwith him. I fell on my kneesand cried so loud. … But Ialways felt in my heart thatGod was in control.”

ARREST Continued from Page 1A

Netanyahu, speaking Fridayahead of a meeting in Canada withCanadian Prime Minister StephenHarper, called Iran’s nuclear ambi-tions a “grave threat to the peaceand security of the world, and Ithink it’s important that the inter-national community not allow thisthreat to materialize.”

“As for Israel, like any sovereigncountry, we reserve the right to de-fend ourselves against a country,against a country that calls andworks for our destruction,” Netan-yahu said.

Obama will try to convince Ne-tanyahu to postpone any plans hisgovernment may have to unilater-ally attack Iran’s nuclear facilitiesin coming months. An attack thatsoon would not carry U.S. backing,and the U.S. would probably not beinvolved in planning or executingit.

Nonetheless, it could force theUnited States into a new conflictand an arms race in the MiddleEast, as Obama made clear in thelengthy interview. It also could al-low Iran to paint itself as the vic-tim and draw new support thatwould undermine rather than en-hance Israel’s security, Obamawarned.

“At a time when there is not a lotof sympathy for Iran and its onlyreal ally (Syria) is on the ropes, dowe want a distraction in whichsuddenly Iran can portray itself asa victim?” Obama said.

At the same time, Obama hasconsistently refused to renounce amilitary option for the UnitedStates down the road. The disputewith Israel is over the timing andefficiency of such a strike, notwhether one is ever appropriate.The difference of opinion hasquickly come to dominate the U.S.-Israeli relationship and the U.S.strategy for dealing with a nuclearIran is a major issue for AmericanJewish voters in this election year.

Israeli leaders have stronglyhinted that they want to hearclearer terms from Obama forwhat the United States would do ifIran crosses the threshold from nu-clear energy to nuclear weapons.Until now, Obama has said a nucle-ar Iran is unacceptable but has notspelled out just what the U.S.would do or when.

In the interview, Obama did gofurther than he has before. He ex-plicitly referred to the possible useof military force, and he firmly re-jected the notion that the UnitedStates might settle for a strategy ofdeterring Iran from using a nucle-ar weapon.

“You’re talking about the mostvolatile region in the world,” hesaid. “It will not be tolerable to anumber of states in that region forIran to have a nuclear weapon andthem not to have a nuclear weap-on. Iran is known to sponsor ter-rorist organizations, so the threatof proliferation becomes that muchmore severe.”

He also pointed to economic tur-moil in Iran and reiterated thatsanctions against the Iranian re-gime are starting to bite.

In a series of recent meetingswith Israeli leaders, administra-tion officials are believed to havesought to persuade the Jewishstate to give sanctions more timeto work and to hold off on any mil-itary strike. Speaking Thursday to

reporters, White House press sec-retary Jay Carney said Obama be-lieves there is still “time andspace” for those measures to per-suade the Iranian regime to take adifferent course.

Israeli officials acknowledge thepain in Iran but have publicly ex-pressed doubt those measures willever cause Iran’s clerical leaders tochange course.

Obama wasn’t so sure. “They’resensitive to the opinions of the peo-ple and they are troubled by theisolation that they’re experienc-ing,” he told the Atlantic. “Theyknow, for example, that when thesekinds of sanctions are applied, itputs a world of hurt on them.”

Though Obama emphaticallyportrays himself as one of Israel’sbest friends, touting military andother ties, his relationship withNetanyahu has at times beenfrosty. The two have sparred pub-licly over Jewish settlements onthe West Bank, with Netanyahupushing back on Washington’s ef-forts to move forward on peacetalks with the Palestinians.

The Iran issue has risen to theforefront of his foreign policy. At afundraiser in New York on Thurs-day night, an audience membershouted out, urging the presidentto avoid a war with Iran.

“Nobody has announced a war,”Obama cautioned. “You’re jumpingthe gun a little bit.”

IRAN Continued from Page 1A

“But (both) governments recognize that whenthe United States says it is unacceptable forIran to have a nuclear weapon, we mean whatwe say.”PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012

HENRYVILLE, Ind. —Powerful storms stretchingfrom the Gulf Coast to theGreat Lakes wrecked sev-eral Indiana towns andkilled at least 14 peopleFriday as the system toreroofs off schools andhomes, flattened a fire sta-tion, flipped over tractor-trailer trucks and dam-aged a maximum securityprison. It was the seconddeadly tornado outbreakthis week.

Authorities reportedeight deaths in southernIndiana, where Marysvillewas leveled and nearbyHenryville also sufferedextreme damage. Therewere five deaths in Ken-tucky and one in Ohio.

Aerial footage from aTV news helicopter flyingover Henryville showednumerous wrecked houses,some with their roofs tornoff and many surroundedby debris. The video shotby WLKY in Louisville,Ky., also shows a mangledschool bus protrudingfrom the side of a one-sto-ry building and dozens ofoverturned semis strewnaround the smashed re-mains of a truck stop.

Andy Bell was guardinga demolished garage untilhis friend could get to thebusiness to retrieve somevaluable tools Fridaynight. He looked around atthe devastation, pointingto what were now emptylots between a Catholicchurch and a Marathonstation about a block away.

“There were housesfrom the Catholic churchon the corner all the wayto the Marathon station.And now it’s just a pile ofrubble, all the way up,” hesaid. “It’s just a great ... ”

His voice trailed off, be-fore he finished: “Woodsticks all the way up.”

An Associated Press re-porter in Henryville saidthe high school was de-stroyed and the secondfloor had been ripped offthe middle school nextdoor. Authorities saidschool was in sessionwhen the tornado hit, butthere were only minor in-juries there.

Classroom chairs werescattered on the groundoutside, trees were uproot-ed and cars had huge dentsfrom baseball-sized hail.Throughout town, therewere bent utility poles andpiles of debris. Volunteerspushed shopping carts fullof water and food up thestreet and handed it out topeople.

Ruth Simpson of Salemcame to the demolishedtown right after the stormhit, looking for relativesthat she hadn’t been ableto find. “I can’t find them,”she said, starting to cry,and then walked away.

The town was withoutpower, and there was nocell phone reception or ser-vice for land lines. Author-ities planned to search therubble through the nightfor survivors.

By nightfall, the onlyvisible lights in town werevehicles inching throughtown. The rural town

about 20 miles north ofLouisville is the home ofIndiana’s oldest state forestand the birthplace of Ken-tucky Fried Chicken foun-der Col. Harland Sanders.

Ernie Hall, 68, weath-ered the tornado inside histiny home near the highschool. Hall says he sawthe twister coming downthe road toward his house,whipping up debris in itspath.

“I knew there was somebad weather out in theMidwest that was comingthis way, but you don’tcount on a tornado hittinghere that bad,” he said.

He and his wife ran intoan interior room and useda mattress to block thedoor as the tornado struck.It destroyed his car andblew out the picture win-dow overlooking his porch.

“There was no mistak-ing what it was,” he said.

The threat of tornadoeswas expected to last untillate Friday for parts ofKentucky, Tennessee, Indi-ana and Ohio. Forecastersat the National WeatherService’s Storm PredictionCenter in Oklahoma saidthe massive band ofstorms was putting 10 mil-lion people in severalstates at high risk of dan-gerous weather.

14 die, towns levelledas storms rip Midwest

By KEN KUSMER AND BRUCESCHREINER

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jerry Vonderhaar, left, comforts Charles Kellogg after severe weath-er hit the Eagle Point subdivision in Limestone County, Ala. on Fri-day. A reported tornado destroyed several houses in northern Ala-bama as storms threatened more twisters across the region.

Photo by Jeronimo Nisa/The Decatur Daily | AP

Sports&OutdoorsSATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

Last Friday a cold and blusteryday greeted the Zapata tennisteams as they arrived in Hebbron-ville to participate in the Long-horn Invitational Tennis Tourna-ment.

A total of nine schools congre-gated at Hebbronville, but withthe unpredictable weather thatsurrounded the tournament thedirectors decided to limit the play-ers to a five-minute warm-up.

In boys’ singles, Trey Alvarezwas seeded No.2 and received abye into the quarterfinal, whichhe won 6-0, 6-0. Alvarez won hissemifinal match 6-0, 6-1 to set upthe finals match against No. 1seed Chris Peña of Bruni.

“Everyone had been anticipat-ing this match all day,” Zapatacoach Robert Alvarez said. “Penais a USTA Champion player inthe 18s and Trey is one in the 16s.Also Trey had never beatenChris, losing to him twice in tour-nament finals last year.”

This time around Alvarez woneasily, 6-1, 6-3 to make a statementat the tournament.

“Trey served really well andtook control with his forehand,”Alvarez said. “He really hit theball hard and controlled it well

HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS

Zapataserves

uprallies

By CLARA SANDOVALTHE ZAPATA TIMES

See TENNIS PAGE 2BThe powerlifting season has seen

many great performances from the LadyHawks and the time has come to see thefruits of their labor unfold at the 3A Re-gional Powerlifting Meet today at CalAl-len High School.

Zapata is sending their largest contin-gency to the regional meet as 15 LadyHawks punched their ticket earlier inthe season for the right to compete at theregional meet.

“This is the largest group that wehave ever sent to the regional meet,” Za-pata coach Veronica Arce said. “I am ve-ry proud of the girls and what they havedone for the program.”

All season long the Lady Hawks havehit the weight room every day and fol-lowed the instructions of Arce in orderto accomplish their first goal of the sea-son--a trip to the regional meet.

Now 15 Lady Hawks will get an oppor-tunity to put their best lift forwards sothey can compete at the state meet in afew weeks.

Sophomore dynamo Angela Darnell,who is considered one of the best in the

97-weight class, had a total lift of 595 toqualify for the regional meet while team-mate Gina Rodriguez lifted 525 for heropportunity at the regional title.

In the 105-weight class, sophomoreJackie Garcia (580 total lift) and juniorAshley Guzman (455 TL) will represent

Zapata, and both are considered amongthe top lifters in that category.

The 114-weight class is led by a pair offreshman, Alexandra Garcia (565 TL)and Brianna Gonzalez (540 TL), two com-

POWERLIFTING

Up to the challenge

Zapata Lady Hawk Michelle Arce is doing her powerlifting program proud, advancing to today’s 3A Regional Powerlifting Meet at CalAllen High School.

Courtesy photos

Lady Hawks take to lifting at 3A regional meet todayBy CLARA SANDOVAL

THE ZAPATA TIMES

Zapata Lady Hawk Delaney Cooper muscles through her powerlifting set for the regional-bound LadyHawks.

See POWERLIFTING PAGE 2B

Spring sports are in fullswing and the people ofZapata have 10 sports tochoose, including base-

ball, softball, girls’ track, boys’track, girls’ golf, boys’ golf, soc-cer, boys’ tennis, girls’ tennisand powerlifting.

The majority of the teamsports are navigating throughdistrict in hopes of bringinghome a district title, but thesport that I have become a fan ofis powerlifting.

As I mentioned earlier in oneof my columns, I was finally ableto see a powerlifting meet thisearly, and the Lady Hawks dom-inated both times going toe-to-toe with the big 5A schools inLaredo.

I was impressed how the LadyHawks carried themselves inand out of competition, the con-centration that they posses priorto their lift and the person turn-ed into when lifting.

The Lady Hawks were unrec-ognizable as they grunted andyelled as if to ask the gods for anextra boost in their efforts whenlifting some weights that mostmales would have a hard timewith.

Today the powerlifting team iscompeting at the 3A regionalmeet in Calallen, and this is thelargest group that coach Veron-ica Arce has taken to a regionalmeet during her tenure at thehelm.

Arce should be lauded for all

Liftingthe

load forZapata

See SANDOVAL PAGE 2B

NEW YORK — With lessthan a month to go beforeopening day, baseball at last de-cided who’s in and who’s outcome October.

Now, even a third-place teamcan win the World Series.

Major League Baseball madeit official Friday, expanding theplayoff format to 10 teams byadding a wild-card club to eachleague.

“I hope we get that extraspot,” said new Houston Astrosgeneral manager Jeff Luhnow,whose team is coming off a 56-106 finish that was the worst inthe majors. “I think it’s greatany time you have more mar-kets involved.”

Who knows, maybe a rookiesuch as Bryce Harper will getthat shot this year.

“Cool,” the 19-year-old Wash-ington sensation said after agame against college kids. “It’sgreat. Hopefully, we’re thatplayoff team.”

Boston and Atlanta surecould’ve used this setup last

year. They went through awfulcollapses in September thateventually cost them playoffspots on the final day of theseason.

“I think the more, the mer-rier,” new Red Sox manager

Bobby Valentine said. “I thinkfor the fans, the players, the en-ergy at the end of the season, Idon’t mind. What would it be, athird of the teams? I think it’llbe good.”

This is the first switch in

MLB’s postseason format sincethe 1995 season, when wildcards were first added. Themove creates a new one-game,wild-card round in the AL and

MLB

Baseball playoffs expand to 10 teams

Major League Baseball has elected to use a 10-team playoff system, adopting two additional wildcard teams to play inone-game playoffs at the conclusion of the regular season. Now even a third-place team can win the World Series.

Photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP

See MLB PAGE 2B

By BEN WALKERASSOCIATED PRESS

PAGE 2B Zscores SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012

NL between the teamswith the best records whoare not division winners.

“It’s a good thing forbaseball. That seems to bewhat the people want,”Detroit manager Jim Ley-land said.

“There are a lot ofmixed emotions but aslong as the playoffs don’tget watered down, it’sfine, but that won’t hap-pen in baseball,” he said.

The additions mean 10of the 30 MLB teams willget into the playoffs.That’s still fewer than inthe other pro leagues — 12of 32 make it in the NFL,and 16 of 30 advance inthe NBA and NHL.

The long-expected deci-sion was announced lessthan an hour before Seat-tle and Oakland startedthe exhibition season. OnMarch 28, the Mariners

and Athletics will play thebig league opener in To-kyo.

“This change increasesthe rewards of a divisionchampionship and allowstwo additional markets toexperience playoff base-ball each year,” Commis-sioner Bud Selig said in astatement.

Also, a tweak: For the2012 postseason, the five-game division series willbegin with two homegames for lower seeds, fol-lowed by home games forthe higher seed. Afterthat, it will return to the2-2-1 format previouslyused.

MLB said that withschedules already drawnfor this season, the post-season had to be com-pressed to fit in the extragames. Hence, fewer off-days for travel.

“I don’t think it reallychanges the way you lookat this season. You reallyhave to fight to win yourdivision,” New York Yan-kees manager Joe Girardisaid. “It is kind of strangeto start on the road. Thatdoesn’t quite seem right,but it’s a one-year thing. Iunderstand why they’redoing it.”

If the World Series goesto Game 7 this year — as

it did last season, whenthe wild-card St. LouisCardinals won the cham-pionship — it would beplayed Nov. 1.

“I like the extra playoffspot. I like the one-gameplayoff because it reallygives the advantages tothe division winner,” LosAngeles Dodgers managerDon Mattingly said thisweek.

As in, it’ll be real dicey

for the wild-card conten-ders to immediately jumpinto a winner-take-allgame, then quickly turnaround to start the divi-sion series.

Starting this year, too,there’s no restriction onteams from the same divi-sion meeting in that best-of-five division series.

Baseball players’ unionhead Michael Weiner saidthere had been internaldiscussions way backabout possibly having sixplayoff teams from eachleague. He said that oncebargaining began withowners on a new labordeal, it was clear MLB on-ly wanted five.

“The players were in fa-vor of expanding the play-offs,” Weiner said.

In particular, he said,the players wanted to putmore emphasis on win-

ning a division, especiallywhen MLB goes to a pairof 15-team leagues nextyear with three divisionseach. The Astros areswitching from the NL tothe AL to make that pos-sible.

A portion of the moneygenerated by the one-game playoffs will go inthe players’ pool that issplit among the postsea-son participants.

In 1999, Valentine andthe New York Mets won aone-game tiebreaker forthe NL wild-card spot.

“I didn’t think that en-tering the playoffs in ’99when I had to play a one-game playoff against Cin-cinnati that the nextround was cheapened,” hesaid. “It seems to be simi-lar to that. I don’t know ifit’s the same thing, but itseems.”

MLB Continued from Page 1B

“I don’t think if two teams aregood enough to make the playoffsthat it should be decided by onegame like that.”BRAVES SECOND BASEMAN DAN UGGLA

petitors who have made an impact in their first year.The lone Lady Hawk representative in the 123-weight

class is sophomore Lily Cantu with a 535 total lift,while junior Joana Rivera (670 TL) owns the 148-weightclass.

The largest representation from Zapata is in the 165-weight class as the Lady Hawks are led by the threeMusketeers, senior Michelle Arce (910 TL), junior Alex-is Garza (745 TL) and sophomore Secilia Mata (645 TL).

The Lady Hawks are also sending three representa-tives in the 181-weight class, led by senior Klarisa Sali-nas (890 TL).

Sophomore Elise Munoz (745 TL) and freshmanAmanda Esquivel (730 TL), the future of the 181 weightclass and will represent Zapata today at the regionalmeet.

In the 198-weight class, junior Yajaira Lara lifted atotal of 720 pounds.

POWERLIFTING Continued from Page 1B

her efforts with the girls’ powerlift-ing team and the accolades they havebrought to Zapata in recent years.

While covering the Cigarroa pow-erlifting meet a few weeks ago, a Ci-garroa competitor mentioned she didher best at the meet and was one ofthe favorites in the 97-pound weightclass, until she found out Zapatawould be at the meet.

That is how much respect Laredoteams have for Lady Hawks power-lifting. Opposing teams know whenthey walk into a meet, Zapata isforce to deal with, and that is attri-buted to the dedication these youngladies have to a sport usually associ-

ated with males.Angela Darnell, Gina Rodríguez,

Jackie García, Ashley Guzman, Alex-andra García, Brianna González, Li-ly Cantú, Joana Rivera, MichelleArce, Alexis Garza, Secilia Mata,Klarissa Salinas, Elise Muñoz,Amanda Esquivel, and Yhajaira Larahave put Zapata on the map as theycompete today at the regional meetin a variety of weight classes.

Each one of these young ladiesshould be patted on the back andtold they are doing a great job whenthey walk the halls of Zapata High orare seen anywhere else in Zapata.

They all have brought a positive

image to Zapata, and people aroundSouth Texas know when you have‘Zapata Powerlifting’ across yourchest, you are going to have a fighton your hands at the powerliftingmeet.

I just can’t wait until I find outhow many of these young ladies willbe moving on to the next level--thestate meet.

After today I hope to get somegood news from Arce. With the waythe Lady Hawks powerlifting teamhas been performing all season longI have no doubt in my mind thatquite a few will be lifting at the nextlevel.

SANDOVAL Continued from Page 1B

from corner to corner. I don’t think Chris played as well ashe would have liked, but Trey really played good”.

For all his efforts on the court Alvarez received a plaquefor outstanding tournament player.

Also putting their best swing forward for the Hawks wasChris Davila.

Davila had lost to Peña in the semifinals but gave him agood match, losing 6-3, 6-3. He easily won his match forthird over Hebbronville 6-0, 6-2.

In boys’ doubles, Alex Reyes and Manuel Benavides wereseeded No. 1 and they didn’t disappoint with their perform-ance at the tournament.

Reyes and Benavides easily won their quarterfinal andsemifinal matchs to head to the championship match.

In the finals they played No. 2 seed Kevin Alaniz andRobert Salinas of Falfurrias.

Reyes and Benavides controlled the match and won eas-ily 6-3, 6-3 to earn the title championship.

Tony Mendoza and Jaime Tejada had to play the Falfur-rias pair in the first round and almost pulled the tourna-

ment upset, but lost 10-8 in the third set super tiebreaker.“Manuel and Alex played good enough to win but I think

they were a little disappointed in their play,” Alvarez said.“They are really focused on getting better.”

In mixed doubles Gabby Alvarez and Carlos Poblanostruggled in their first match before pulling it out in athird set super tiebreaker 10-5.

Alvarez and Pobano finally started to find their groovein the tournament and began to play better to easily wintheir semifinal and finals match over Riviera 6-3, 6-2.

“I had wanted to pair up Gabby and Carlos but Carloshad been out with a shoulder injury,” Alvarez said. “Theystarted really bad but then got on a roll and came togetherfor the title.”

Playing girls’ singles was Dominic Wayda, who lost totop seed Leah Hubert of Rivera in the quarters.

The girls’ doubles team consisted of Erica Gonzalez andChristina Medina.

“We had some girls out that were involved in the Queenscontest for our County Fair, but these girls played well,” Al-

varez said. In the junior varsity competition the Hawks swept three

divisions, taking home the first place trophy.Collin Moffet placed first in boys singles and beat team-

mate Carlos Romero, who grabbed the runner-up trophy.The duo of Hector Leduc and Danny Hinojosa took home

the boys doubles trophy,and the mixed doubles team of JoseMolina and Alicia Gutierrez captured first place.

Molina and Gutierrez had to beat teammates Javi Fer-nandez and Samantha Garcia.

The girls doubles of Christina Martinez and Araceli Ve-lasquez captured third place to round out the JV division.

“The kids played great,” Alvarez said. “We won the var-sity boys and JV boys team titles and placed second in theGirls JV Division. Also Trey received a plaque. All of thekids that received trophies in the Varsity events are sopho-mores. I am pleased with the development of our players.We will continue to work hard and get better every day.”

The Zapata tennis teams will be in action today at theU.I.S.D. Spring Open Tennis Tournament.

TENNIS Continued from Page 1B

AVONDALE, Ariz. —Jimmie Johnson’s carfailed inspection before theDaytona 500 and he didn’tlast long in the race, col-lected in a wreck on thesecond lap.

His crew chief was sus-pended six races and fined$100,000, and his car chiefwill have to watch for sixraces, too. Johnson alsowas docked 25 points andheads into this weekend’srace at Phoenix Interna-tional Raceway last in theSprint Cup standings.

He’s hoping to have agood race just so he canget out of the red in points.Coming off his worst yearin NASCAR, this isn’t howthe five-time championwanted to get his seasonstarted.

“It’s certainly not a po-sition we want to be in,”Johnson said Friday. “Butthere’s a lot of racing be-tween now and Septem-ber.”

Johnson wasn’t much ofa factor last season in hisbid to win six straightSprint Cup champion-ships. He made the Chaseafter winning just one raceand finished sixth in thefinal standings, 99 pointsbehind champion TonyStewart.

Johnson vowed to turnit around in 2012, but itdidn’t get off to a verygood start.

First, his car failed in-spection the opening dayof Speedweeks on Feb. 17after NASCAR ruled theNo. 48 Chevrolet had ille-gally modified sheet metalbetween the roof and theside windows, an areaknown as the C-posts.

Johnson qualifiedeighth for the Daytona 500.But after nearly two daysof rain delays, he wasknocked out of the race onthe second lap when El-liott Sadler nudged himfrom behind and triggereda multi-car wreck.

Johnson didn’t returnto the track — missing thejet blower fire and thelaundry detergent cleanup— and finished 42nd, earn-ing just two points in Mon-day night’s season-openingrace.

Two days later,NASCAR announced itssteep penalties for John-son’s team.

Crew chief Chad Knauswas fined $100,000 and sus-pended six races, and carchief Ron Malec was toldhe’d have to sit out sixraces. Hendrick Motor-sports appealed, so bothchiefs will be allowed to at-tend races during the pro-cess.

Johnson also was penal-ized, dropping him to mi-nus 23 points, 70 behindDaytona 500 winner MattKenseth in the seasonstandings.

“It’s going to makethings exciting and that’ssomething we like to dowith the 48 team,” Knaussaid. “It seems somehowor another we seem to getthrough adversity prettywell. So, I’m not saying welike a challenge like thisbut I’m pretty sure we’llrise to the occasion.”

The wreck at Daytonawas hard to take, but un-avoidable, one of thosetough-luck breaks thatcome with racing.

Knaus said the car hadpassed inspection on “mul-tiple occasions” with thesame configuration andthat they didn’t anticipateany problems heading intoSpeedweeks. He also saidthe failed inspection wasbased on an eyeball test,not anything technical.

“It was all visual,” hesaid. “The templates neverwere actually put on thecar. We never got the op-portunity to present it onthe templates. That defi-nitely will come up duringthe appeal and we’ll talkabout it. NASCAR has agood set of standards thatare black and white andothers that are not.”

Knaussurprised bysuspensionBy JOHN MARSHALLASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — New Or-leans Saints players and atleast one assistant coachmaintained a bounty pro-gram the last three seasonsfor inflicting game-endinginjuries on opposing play-ers, including Brett Favreand Kurt Warner — a poolthat reached as much as$50,000 and paid specificamounts for “cart-offs” and“knockouts,” the NFL saidFriday.

The report said the poolamounts reached theirheight in 2009, the year theSaints won the Super Bowl.

The league said between22 and 27 defensive playerswere involved in the pro-gram and that it was ad-ministered by defensive co-ordinator Gregg Williams,with the knowledge ofcoach Sean Payton.

No punishments havebeen handed out, but theycould include suspension,fines and loss of draftpicks. The league said thefindings were corroboratedby multiple, independent

sources, in an investigationby the league’s security de-partment.

Williams, who was hiredin January as defensive co-ordinator by new Ramscoach Jeff Fisher, was notimmediately available tocomment.

“The payments here areparticularly troubling be-cause they involved notjust payments for ‘perform-ance,’ but also for injuringopposing players,” Com-missioner Roger Goodellsaid in a statement. “Thebounty rule promotes twokey elements of NFL foot-ball: player safety and com-petitive integrity.”

Payoffs included $1,500for a “knockout” and $1,000for a “cart-off,” withpayouts doubling or tripli-ng during the playoffs.

“It is our responsibilityto protect player safety andthe integrity of our game,and this type of conductwill not be tolerated,”Goodell said. “We havemade significant progressin changing the culturewith respect to player safe-ty and we are not going to

relent. We have more workto do and we will do it.”

The league absolvedSaints owner Tom Bensonof any blame, but said theinvestigation showed Pay-ton and general managerMickey Loomis knew aboutthe bounty program.

“Although head coachSean Payton was not a di-rect participant in thefunding or administrationof the program, he wasaware of the allegations,did not make any detailedinquiry or otherwise seekto learn the facts, andfailed to stop the bountyprogram. He never in-structed his assistantcoaches or players that abounty program was im-proper and could not con-tinue,” the NFL said.

When informed about itearlier this year, the NFLsaid Benson directed Loo-mis, to “ensure that anybounty program be discon-tinued immediately.” How-ever, the NFL’s report saidthe evidence showed Loo-mis did not carry out Ben-son’s directions, and that in2010 Loomis denied any

knowledge of a bounty pro-gram. Benson responded tothe NFL’s report saying: “Ihave been made aware ofthe NFL’s findings relativeto the ‘Bounty Rule’ andhow it relates to our club. Ihave offered and the NFLhas received our full coop-eration in their investiga-tion. While the findingsmay be troubling, we lookforward to putting this be-hind us and winning morechampionships in the fu-ture for our fans.”

The NFL began its inves-tigation in early 2010 afterreceiving allegations thatquarterbacks Warner ofArizona and Favre of Min-nesota had been targeted.After interviewing severalSaints who denied thebounty program existed —and having the player whooriginally made the allega-tions recant — the leaguecouldn’t prove anything.

However, Goodell saidthe NFL “recently receivedsignificant and crediblenew information and theinvestigation was re-openedduring the latter part of the2011 season.”

NFL: Saints used bountiesBy BARRY WILNERASSOCIATED PRESS

DENNISTHE MENACE

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— HeloisePET PAL

Dear Readers: Judith W.in Flemington, N.J., sent apicture of her two rescuedcuddling cats, Mazel andP.C. (Pussy Cat). They aresnuggling in their cat bedtogether. I think they

would agree: Two headsare better than one! To seeMazel and P.C., visitwww.Heloise.com and clickon “Pets.” — Heloise

KEEPING TRACKDear Heloise: I buy a

notebook calendar everyyear that displays a weekat a time. I list all birth-days for the year, doctorappointments, anythingthat goes on that day of im-portance and requires in-formation in the future.

If I am given a confirma-tion number by a custom-er-service representative, Iwrite in the name of therep, the number and allpertinent information.That has saved me manytimes! I keep it by my tele-phone with a pen at alltimes. I have referred backto dates many times andwas glad I had made a no-tation about something.Thought this might helpsomeone else. — Lori H.,Colorado Springs, Colo.

Lori, are you a fly on thewall in my home office? Iuse a large monthly calen-dar as a kind of journal.It’s fun to look back onpast events! — Heloise

VIDEO CALLINGDear Readers: Keeping

up with friends, family andco-workers can create a di-lemma: Do you call andrun up a phone bill, or losethe personal touch withemail? Luckily, computersare making it easier withfree video-calling services.All you need is an Internetconnection, a webcam andsomeone to talk to! Videocalling makes catching upwith a child studying awayfrom home a little morepersonal. — Heloise

“HELOISE

SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES Sports SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012

NEW YORK — Even be-fore Darren Howard en-tered the NFL, the defen-sive end had dreams of be-ing in the music business.He was a DJ in highschool and by the time hewas in college, he’d creat-ed a “rag-tag” recordingstudio in the basement ofhis residence.

“It’s always been some-thing I loved,” Howardsaid. “I knew one day thatI would transform to that.”

So after Howard retiredin 2009, the former NewOrleans Saints and Phila-delphia Eagles playerjumped into making re-cords. He started his ownlabel, Empyre, and signeda pop and R&B singer thathe’s confident about.

But Howard admits hehasn’t yet had what he’dcall success, calling themusic industry “fickle.”

“The music business isfunny,” Howard said.“Some artists go 10, 15years of making recordsbefore they ever recoupand make any money. Thelabel can be the same, be-cause they’re dependingon the artist. Hopefully itwon’t take that long.”

This week, the NFL of-fered an assist to currentand former players likeHoward who are trying tofind their footing in a busi-ness that can be just as un-forgiving as football. Itsplayer engagement divi-sion paired with New YorkUniversity’s Clive DavisInstitute of Recorded Mu-sic, part of the TischSchool of the Arts, for the“Business of Music BootCamp.”

The camp had key mu-sic figures — from mogulDavis to record companyexecutives and managers— offering their insightsin intimate sessions withthe players. Each playerwas then paired with amentor, who will continueto coach him in themonths to come.

“The music game, it’snot just finding the tal-ent,” said Jeffrey Rabhan,the institute’s departmentchair and a mentor in theprogram. “It’s what you dowith that talent that ulti-mately determines yourlevel of success,”

Given that sports can beconsidered entertainmentitself, it’s not surprisingthat some athletes migrateinto the field. Magic John-son may be among the big-

gest success stories, withhis theaters and other ven-tures. Shaquille O’Nealwas a recording artist andactually had a platinum al-bum.

Chris Webber, MettaWorld Peace and othershave also tried their handin the music business, andRoy Jones Jr. had a recordlabel Body Head (whose fi-nancial troubles, accord-ing to a recent Sports Il-lustrated article, may bepart of the reason the for-ty-something boxer is stillin the ring).

While Rabhan notedthere have been a smatter-ing of athletes who havemade it in the music in-dustry, “unfortunately, thestories of those who havenot had successes are alonger list, so we’re tryingto change that.”

About 70 players appliedto be a part of the four-dayprogram, and 20 were ac-cepted. Among those whotook part in the camp wereformer Oakland RaiderJustin Fargis, New YorkGiants defensive linemanMarvin Austin, St. LouisRams receiver BrandonLloyd, and Torry Holt, areceiver who played forthe Rams and the Jackson-ville Jaguars.

Musician Ryan Leslie, left, meets with NFL player Ashton Youboty of the Jacksonville Jaguars at thefirst-ever NFL Business of Music Boot Camp in New York on Tuesday.

Photo by Charles Sykes | AP

NFL strikes right notesBy NEKESA MUMBI MOODY

ASSOCIATED PRESS

PHILADELPHIA — WiltChamberlain didn’t justtower over his peers, heleft records that enduredfor decades. And for 50years, one mighty numberhas stood as the MountEverest of sport’s magicnumbers.

100 points.At 25, Chamberlain had

already crafted a careerbuilt on steady, sustainedand spectacular excel-lence. Playing at 7-foot-1and 260 pounds for thePhiladelphia Warriors,Chamberlain held the sin-gle-game record of 78points (in three overtimes)and the regulation mark of73 in January 1962.

One hundred points wasno flash of momentarygreatness. It was a fireballof scoring that will likelynever be topped — and putChamberlain everywherefrom the record book, to“The Ed Sullivan Show,”to an unmatched spot inthe short list of sport’s all-time unbelievable per-formances.

But on March 2, 1962 atthe Hershey Sports Arena,hardly anyone noticed.

There were no TV cam-eras. Sports writers werescarce — and so were thefans. Only 4,124 (at $2.50 aticket) attended the game,in fact, between the War-riors and the New YorkKnicks as the final stretchof the 1961-62 season dwin-dled down. The number ofpeople who claimed theywere there to witness his-tory, however, could havestretched the East Coast.

And why not? The mile-stone, after all, changedthe game forever.

“The 100-point gamewas a hyperbolic an-nouncement of the rise ofthe black athlete in basket-ball,” said author GaryPomerantz, who wrote thecomplete narrative of that

game in the 2005 book,“WILT, 1962: The Night of100 Points and the Dawn ofa New Era.

No NBA star has reallycome close to scoring 100points. Los Angeles Lakersstar Kobe Bryant had theluxury of the 3-point shot(he hit seven) when hescored 81 on Jan. 22, 2006.Michael Jordan nevertopped 69. Allen Iversonhit 60. David Robinsonscored 10 less field goalsthan Chamberlain made inthe 100-point game whenhe scored 71 in 1994.

“I’d hate to try andbreak it myself,” Chamber-lain said, according toPomerantz’s book.

Chamberlain played all48 minutes in Philadel-phia’s 169-147 win over theKnicks. He shot 36 of 63from the floor and an un-Wilt like 28 of 32 from thefree-throw line. Chamber-lain, a woeful 51.1 percentcareer shooter from theline, attempted his freethrows underhand against

the Knicks.“I personally don’t

think it will ever happenagain,” said Chamberlain’sWarriors’ teammate, AlAttles. “I don’t know if ateam will allow it to hap-pen now.”

Oh, the game came dur-ing a season when Cham-berlain averaged 50.4points a game.

“I played one gamewhere he got 78 points andwe lost,” Attles said. “Theguy got 50 regularly. Itwasn’t that big a deal.”

At least not through thefirst three quarters, whenChamberlain scored 69.

While 100 is tough toimagine, think about this:Warriors public addressannouncer Dave Zinkoffwould state the point totalto the crowd as the num-ber swelled in the fourth.When Chamberlain brokehis own mark, Zinkoff toldthe fans, “Ladies and gen-tleman, a new scoring re-cord has been created byWilt Chamberlain!”

Wilt’s 100 turns 50By DAN GELSTON

ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this March 2, 1962, file photo, Wilt Chamberlain holds a signreading “100” in the dressing after he scored 100 points. For 50years, Chamberlain’s 100-point night has stood as one of sportsmagic numbers.

Photo by Paul Vathis | AP