The Zapata Times 6/11/2011

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MATA REPS WESTLADY HAWK PARTICIPATES IN CHARITY GAME, 1B

A raid by federal and state law enforce-ment resulted in the arrests of 12 ZapataCounty residents early Friday morning.

They were all charged with various of-fenses related to moving drugs, includingcrack cocaine, and cash as a part as a partof multi-million-dollar conspiracy, accord-ing to authorities.

According to the 11-count indictment,the individuals are being asked to forfeit$18 million, the proceeds of the alleged il-legal trafficking activity.

Charged in the indictment are Lopeñoresident Andres “Chango” Qunitero-Ortiz,46; and Zapata residents Pedro Navarro,36; Alex Navarro Jr., 21; Servando “Maria-chi” Guerrero Jr., 36; Rene Davila, 29; Leo-nel “La Dona” Rodriguez, 41; Juan LuisRivera, 29; Juan Antonio Valadez Sr., 53;

Jose Luis Gonzalez-Chapa, 23; Judith Zam-ora, 26; Claudia Medrano, 27; and LeonidesNavarro, 21.

Since 2006Prosecutors allege the illegal activity

began in June 2006 and continued until

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Drug conspiracy12 Zapata County residents face trafficking charges

By DENISE BLAZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

See CHARGES PAGE 10AThe Zapata County Commis-

sioners Court is scheduled tomeet on Monday at 9 a.m. at theZapata County Courthouse.

One among several agendaitems proposed is the replace-ment of all television monitors atthe commissioners’ bench. Coun-ty Judge Joe Rathmell requestedconsideration of this item.

If the action is approved, PixlStudios, a Laredo-based companyspecializing in digital media, willprovide the high-definition moni-tors for the court.

Contract terminationAnother item of special inter-

est is the possible termination ofthe contract between ZapataCounty and Dr. Edmundo O. Gar-cia. Rathmell has proposed thatthe court take action on a 90-daywritten notice of intent to end the

GOVERNMENT

Countyfaces

packedagenda

See COUNTY PAGE 10A

By ERICA MATOSTHE ZAPATA TIMES

A former mayor of a NorthTexas town in the middle of nat-ural gas development said Fridaynot to expect the Texas RailroadCommission to be a savior if anycommunity encounters problemswith drilling.

“This industry is not beingheld accountable at least in thestate of Texas,” said Calvin Till-man, a former mayor of Dish, atown 25 miles north of FortWorth in the heart of the BarnettShale.

More than 150 people attendeda Friday night town hall meetingin Laredo involving oil and gasactivists from North Texas and

ENERGY

Paneltakes

look atdrilling

See DRILLING PAGE 10A

By ANDREW KREIGHBAUMTHE ZAPATA TIMES

Mexico’s army, Secretaría de la De-fensa Nacional or SEDENA,raided a warehouse used by or-ganized crime to modify vehicles

to fight back in armed confrontations, offi-cials said June 5.

Eighth Military Zone soldiers workingOperation Northeast last weekend located awarehouse used to modify trucks with steelplates in Colonia Prolongación González inCiudad Camargo, in the Tamaulipas state.

Camargo is located across the border fromStarr County.

Soldiers seized four dump trucks. Twowere modified with steel plates and are capa-

MEXICO

ABOVE: In this image released by Mexico’s Defense Department, SEDENA, on Sunday, a makeshift armored truck is displayed after it was seized June 4 in the city ofCamargo, Mexico. According to Mexico’s Defense Department, two makeshift armored trucks were found in a clandestine shop that was being used to create thesevehicles. Heavy machinery, weapons and 23 large trucks were also seized during the operation. BELOW: A similar truck, also seized June 4, is shown.

Photos courtesy of SEDENA | AP

TRUCKS GET FULL ARMORArmy seizes vehicles modified for organized crime

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

See TRUCKS PAGE 10A

PAGE 2A Zin brief SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 2011

SATURDAY, JUNE 11The Villa San Agustin de Laredo

Genealogical Society’s monthly meetingis from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. today in the H-E-B Multi-Purpose Room of the LaredoPublic Library, located at 1120 E. CaltonRoad. Jose Roberto Juarez, Ph.D., willgive a presentation on “San AgustinChurch and Laredo Under Six Dioceses.”For more information, call Bibi Garza-Gongora at 723-8419.

SUNDAY, JUNE 12Fireflight, an award-nominated

Christian rock band, will play a concertat 7:15 p.m. today at the Laredo CivicCenter, 2400 San Bernardo Ave., to ben-efit the South Texas Food Bank. Two oth-er bands also are performing. Tickets are$12 and are available at Guadalupe Mu-sic Shop, 2101 Guadalupe St.; GospelBookstore, 1219 Baltimore St.; and thefood bank, 1907 Freight St. For more in-formation, call Linda Tijerina at (956)206-4044.

MONDAY, JUNE 13The Hidalgo Coin Club will meet at

7:30 p.m. at the St. Mark United Metho-dist Church in McAllen, Texas. This clubmeets every second Monday of themonth and sponsors two very large coinshows a year. The organization is the on-ly one in a very large district which cov-ers an area of 10 counties in deep SouthTexas—from South Padre Island to Lare-do and further north. Any coin collectorsfrom the Laredo area are welcome tojoin. For more information, please visitthe club website at www.hidalgocoinclub-.com.

TUESDAY, JUNE 14The local chapter of AARP meets

every second Tuesday of the month at 2p.m. at the Laredo Public Library, 1120E. Calton Road, 956-795-2400. Themeeting is open to AARP members. Dis-cussions are held regarding health, So-cial Security, Medicare and keeping safe.For more information, call Jorge Castillo,local president, at 956-722-5307.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15Paleo Paul will bring part of Dino-

saur Quest to the Laredo Public Library,1120 E. Calton Road, from 2:30 p.m. to4:30 p.m. today. The full exhibit, housedin Rivercenter Mall in downtown San An-tonio, contains prehistoric skulls and life-size dinosaur skeletons displayed undercaptivating lights with sound effects andhigh-end animation.

THURSDAY, JUNE 16The Consumer Credit Counseling

Service of Laredo will hold a free “Mon-ey Management Basics” workshop from5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. today at AccionTexas, 902 E. Calton Road. Preregistra-tion is requested; call Irma Alaniz or An-na Rocha at 956-791-1887 to preregister.

FRIDAY, JUNE 17Open Art Studio will host Sundown

Story Hour from 6:30-7:30 p.m., duringwhich Mystery Storyteller reads a funbook. Attendance is free, but space mustbe reserved at www.open2art.com. Formore information, contact Victoria Orte-ga at [email protected].

SATURDAY, JUNE 18Veterans Helping Veterans will

meet in the Laredo Public Library, 1120E. Calton Road, from noon to 2:30 p.m.today. Meetings are confidential and formilitary veterans only. For more informa-tion, contact George Mendez at 794-3057 or [email protected] orJessica Morales at 794-3091 or [email protected].

The Run for Roofs 5K CharityRun/Walk is today at North Central Park,10202 International Blvd. The event ben-efits Habitat for Humanity. Registrationbefore May 30 is $15. Otherwise, regis-tration is $20. For more information orto register, call 724-3227, email [email protected] or visit Habitat for Hu-manity offices at 4703 Warehouse Lane.

El Centro de Laredo Farmer’s Mar-ket is from 9 a.m. to noon today at Jar-vis Plaza, in Downtown Laredo.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22This is the last day to register for

the bowling tournament hosted by theFriends of Special ICE Agent Jaime Zapa-ta, which will begin at 5:30 p.m. at JettBowl for five-player teams. The cost is$25 per person or $125 per team. Regis-tration deadline was June 22. For infor-mation, contact Rosie Gregory at 956-744-7505 or 956-791-8759.

To submit an item for the cal-endar, send the name of theevent, the date, time, locationand contact phone number to [email protected]

CALENDARASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Saturday, June 11,the 162nd day of 2011. Thereare 203 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlights inHistory:

On June 11, 1776, the Conti-nental Congress formed acommittee to draft a Declara-tion of Independence callingfor freedom from Britain.

On this date: In 1509, England’s King

Henry VIII married his firstwife, Catherine of Aragon.

In 1770, Captain JamesCook, commander of the Brit-ish ship Endeavour, discoveredthe Great Barrier Reef off Aus-tralia by running onto it.

In 1910, voters in Oklahomachose Oklahoma City to be thestate’s capital over Guthrie(which had been the territo-rial capital) and Shawnee.

In 1919, Sir Barton won theBelmont Stakes, becominghorse racing’s first TripleCrown winner.

In 1947, the government an-nounced the end of householdand institutional sugar ration-ing, to take effect the next day.

In 1963, a Buddhist monk(Thich Quang Duc) set himselfafire on a Saigon street to pro-test the government of SouthVietnamese President NgoDinh Diem.

In 1970, the United Statespresence in Libya came to anend as the last detachment leftWheelus Air Base. (The anni-versary of this event is cele-brated as a holiday in Libya.)

In 1971, the year-and-a-half-long occupation of Alcatraz Is-land in San Francisco Bay byAmerican Indian activists end-ed as federal officers evictedthe remaining protesters.

In 1977, Seattle Slew wonthe Belmont Stakes, capturingthe Triple Crown.

In 1985, Karen Ann Quin-lan, the comatose patientwhose case prompted a histor-ic right-to-die court decision,died in Morris Plains, N.J., atage 31.

Ten years ago: TimothyMcVeigh, 33, was executed byinjection at the federal prisonin Terre Haute, Ind., for the1995 Oklahoma City bombingthat killed 168 people.

Five years ago: Al-Qaida inIraq vowed “major attacks” af-ter the death of leader AbuMusab al-Zarqawi in a U.S. air-strike. Rafael Nadal won hissecond consecutive FrenchOpen title, beating Roger Fe-derer 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (4). Se RiPak beat Karrie Webb to winthe LPGA Championship.

Today’s Birthdays: Operasinger Rise Stevens is 98. Ac-tor Gene Wilder is 78. ActorChad Everett is 74. Interna-tional Motorsports Hall ofFamer Jackie Stewart is 72.Singer Joey Dee is 71. ActressAdrienne Barbeau is 66. Rockmusician Frank Beard (ZZTop) is 62. Animal rights activ-ist Ingrid Newkirk is 62. Rocksinger Donnie Van Zant is 59.Actor Peter Bergman is 58.Pro Football Hall of Famer JoeMontana is 55. Singer GioiaBruno (Expose) is 48. Rockmusician Dan Lavery (Tonic)is 45. Actor Peter Dinklage is42. Country musician Smilin’Jay McDowell is 42. Rock mu-sician Tai Anderson (ThirdDay) is 35. Actor Joshua Jack-son is 33. Christian rock musi-cian Ryan Shrout is 31. ActorShia LaBeouf is 25.

Thought for Today: “Peo-ple do not believe lies becausethey have to, but because theywant to.” — Malcolm Mugge-ridge, British author and com-mentator (1903-1990).

TODAY IN HISTORY

AUSTIN — A Latino civil rights group onFriday combined its lawsuit to stop Repub-lican-drafted redistricting plans with one byHispanic lawmakers.

The League of United Latin American Ci-tizens filed a motion Friday to join their suitwith one originally filed by the MexicanAmerican Legislative Caucus. The federallawsuit alleges that proposed congressionaland legislative redistricting plans diminishthe voting power of Hispanic citizens in Tex-as.

The league, better known as LULAC, hasbrought hundreds of lawsuits over the last 40years, most of them successful. LULAC testi-fied against the new redistricting plan beforethe Legislature and submitted an alternativemap. LULAC argues the Republican plan

splits Hispanic communities so that conser-vative Anglos would be more likely to winseats in Congress, or packs Hispanics intoother districts so that they can’t influenceother districts.

“The Texas Legislature has never, ever,successfully drawn a legislative redistrictingplan since the Voting Rights Act came intoTexas in 1975,” said Luis Roberto Jr., LU-LAC’s national general counsel, who filedthe suit. “Texas is one of the most polarizedstates in the United States. People vote alongracial lines.”

The Republican lawmakers who draftedthe new maps insist they are fair and legalbut said they expected numerous lawsuits tochallenge them. At least six other suits havealready been filed, but LULAC’s history ofwinning makes theirs particularly signifi-cant.

AROUND TEXAS

Brent Wilkes, executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, right, and Melanie Healey, the North Amer-ican president for Procter & Gamble, listen in at a news conference on Thursday about the annual convention. Friday, LULACjoined the Mexican American Legislative Caucus in a lawsuit to stop Texas’ redistricting plans.

Photo by Al Behrman | AP

LULAC sues over planBy CHRIS TOMLINSON

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Exxon’s Texas refineryreports propylene leakHOUSTON — Environmental

groups say Exxon Mobil Corp.has told Texas environmentalregulators there was an eight-week-long, 108,000-pound propyl-ene release at the company’s Tex-as refinery.

Sierra Club and EnvironmentTexas say Exxon reported to reg-ulators a tubing leak was discov-ered on June 2 and was isolatedwithin a half-hour. However, Ex-xon says the leak may have start-ed on April 12.

Sheriff: Couple confessesin death of man, momLUBBOCK — A sheriff says a

Lubbock couple confessed in thefatal stabbing and shooting of aman and his mother in an al-leged robbery and cover-up.

Lubbock County Sheriff KellyRowe said murder charges maybe filed next week against CaseyLedbetter and his wife, MeredithJonell Ledbetter.

Ex-deputy guilty in SouthTexas marijuana scheme

MCALLEN — A former inves-tigator in South Texas has plead-ed guilty to federal charges thathe tried to sell confiscated mari-juana to informants.

Prosecutors say ex-HidalgoCounty Deputy Omar Salazarpleaded guilty Thursday to pos-session of marijuana and con-spiracy to possess marijuanaSa-lazar faces up to 40 years in pris-on.

US agent named in suitover Mexican teen death

EL PASO — Lawyers for thefamily of a 15-year-old Mexicanboy fatally shot by a U.S. BorderPatrol agent are now naming theofficer as part of their lawsuitagainst the federal government.

The family’s lawyer, Bob Hill-iard, tells The Associated Pressthat the agent’s name is JesusMesa Jr. An attorney for theagent didn’t immediately returna call from AP seeking comment.

Suspect in 2009 cartelkidnapping nabbed

EL PASO — Authorities saythey’ve arrested a man wantedin the kidnapping and death of aWest Texas drug smuggler.

FBI spokesman Michael Mar-tinez said Friday that 21-year-oldCesar Pineda was arrested onMay 5 in the border town of Tor-nillo.

Pineda’s accused of participat-ing in the Sept. 3, 2009, kidnap-ping of Sergio Saucedo.

Man guilty of murder inDallas officer’s death

DALLAS — A jury has founda Dallas man guilty of murder inthe 2009 shooting death of a po-lice officer who was trying toserve an arrest warrant at hisapartment.

The Dallas County jury re-turned the verdict Fridayagainst Charles Payne. Prosecu-tors had sought a capital murderconviction and death penalty.

— Compiled from AP reports

Congressman wants Iraqto repay US for war costBAGHDAD — A U.S. congress-

man visiting Baghdad Fridaysuggested that Iraq pay back theUnited States for the money ithas spent in the eight years sincethe U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher spokeduring a one-day visit by a groupof six U.S. congressman. The Cal-ifornia Republican said he raisedthe suggestion during a meetingwith Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

He did not say what reaction,if any, the prime minister had tothe suggestion.

Miami-Dade wildfirecontinues to grow

MIAMI — A wildfire that hasbeen burning in western Miami-Dade County for nearly a weekhas grown to 50,316 acres.

Florida Division of Forestryspokesman Scott Peterich said

Friday that the fire is about 55percent contained.

Rain sends Bighorn Riverover flood stage at Basin

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Two

inches of rain caused a rise Fri-day in the Bighorn River inWyoming, flooding agricultureareas in the vicinity of Basin.

There were no reports of dam-age to buildings, roads orbridges.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

Kellen Backbone prepares to hook up a hose to a pump being installed to removewater from an area in Crow Agency, Mont., on Wednesday. During a break in therain, the tribe worked to bolster its flood defenses along the Little Bighorn River.

Photo by Matthew Brown | AP

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SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 2011 Local THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

The South Texas FoodBank recently receivedhigh praise from the Com-modity Supplemental FoodProgram’s state directorfor its efforts. The pro-gram gives food to area el-derly residents.

At the food bankboard’s monthly meetingWednesday, executive di-rector Alfonso Casso Jr.said CSFP state directorSam Varela had reviewedthe program.

“He told us, ‘You guysdo the best CSFP distribu-tion in Texas,’ ” Cassosaid.

The Texas Departmentof Agriculture runs theprogram.

CSFP, mainly for clients60 or older, is one of sever-al food bank programsthat fulfills the food bank’smission, feeding the hun-

gry. CSFP has a maximum

case load of 7,000 permonth. In May, 6,808 peo-ple were given a bag offood. However, 555 are on awaiting list. CSFP clientsare mostly on fixed in-comes, and the food tidesthem over to the nextmonth. The program alsoserves women with in-fants.

The South Texas FoodBank distributed 1.23 mil-lion pounds of supplemen-tal food to the needy inMay, bringing the year’stotal to 4.25 millionpounds. The 4.2 million isahead of last year’s 4.03million pounds. The mil-lion-plus total is the mostfor one month this year.The food bank distributeda record 12 million poundsin 2010.

The food bank’s goal ofdistributing more nutri-tional food also got a

boost.“We received more than

400,000 pounds of freshproduce, mostly corn,green beans and broccolifrom the Pearsall area,”said Mike Kazen, chief fi-nancial officer. The pro-duce, distributed via foodbank agencies, came froma co-op of South Texasgrowers based in Pearsall.“It’s a big benefit for usand other food banks. Wenow have a better coordi-nation of getting the prod-uct.”

The food bank, at 1907Freight St. and RiversideDrive in west Laredo, isopen Monday through Fri-day from 8 a.m. to noonand 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Thephone number is 726-3120,and the website iswww.southtexasfoodban-k.org.

(Salo Otero is the direc-tor of development for theSouth Texas Food Bank.)

Food bank earns praise forefforts with elderly residents

By SALO OTEROSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

The Toyota ShareLunkerspawning season produceda record number of finger-lings for stocking into lakesthat contributed fish to theprogram, and those fishnow swim in the lakeswhere they will grow up tothrill future anglers.

More than 170,000 finger-lings were stocked into thesix lakes that producedShareLunkers (13-pound orbigger largemouth bass)during the season that end-ed April 30. Each lake thatproduced one or more Sha-reLunkers received finger-lings.

The number of finger-lings stocked into each lakewas as follows: Lake Austin— 3,913; Lake Fork —39,872; Caddo Lake —32,037; O.H. Ivie Reservoir— 34,064; Lake Gilmer —30,891; Falcon InternationalReservoir — 30,488.

“Each lake was original-ly scheduled to receiveabout 3,500 fingerlings,”said Texas Parks and Wild-

life Department fisheriesbiologist Juan Martinez.“We wound up producingmany more fingerlingsthan expected due to verygood survival in the ponds.At the time Lake Austinwas stocked, we only hadone pond ready for harvest.When the other ponds wereharvested later, we dividedthose fish among the otherfive lakes, partly becausethe Lake Austin fish weremuch bigger. Bigger finger-lings survive better, so few-er fish were needed forLake Austin.”

Martinez added that thesize difference among thefingerlings was due to dif-fering stocking densities inthe rearing ponds. TheLake Austin fish werestocked at a lower densityand therefore grew biggerfaster than the fingerlingsin the other ponds.

TPWD has now stockedat least a million Share-Lunker offspring into Tex-as reservoirs.

Anyone legally catchinga 13-pound or bigger large-mouth bass from Texas wa-ters, public or private, be-tween Oct. 1 and April 30may submit the fish to the

Toyota ShareLunker pro-gram.

Anglers entering fish in-to the Toyota ShareLunkerprogram receive a free rep-lica of their fish, a certifi-cate and ShareLunkerclothing and are recognizedat a banquet at the TexasFreshwater Fisheries Cen-ter in Athens.

For complete informa-tion and rules of the Share-Lunker program, tips oncaring for big bass, a list ofofficial Toyota ShareLunk-er weigh and holding sta-tions and a recap of lastyear’s season, seewww.tpwd.state.tx.us/sha-relunker. The site also in-cludes a searchable data-base of all fish entered intothe program, along withpictures where available.

The Toyota ShareLunkerProgram is made possibleby a grant to the TexasParks & Wildlife Founda-tion from Gulf States Toyo-ta. Toyota is a long-timesupporter of the foundationand the Texas Parks andWildlife Department, pro-viding major funding for awide variety of education,fish, parks and wildlife pro-jects.

Falcon gets fingerlings30,488 brought to

the lakeSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

RATHMELL IS SECOND VICE PRESIDENT OF ASSOCIATION

Courtesy photo

Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmell has been elected second vice president for the 78th South TexasCounty Judges and Commissioners Association, which is made up of county judges and commissionersof 67 South Texas counties. Webb County Commissioner Jerry Garza was recently elected president.Pictured, from left to right, are Brooks County Judge Raul M. Ramirez; Calhoun County CommissionerNeil Fritsch, first vice president; Garza and Rathmell.

PAGE 4A Zopinion SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 2011

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO [email protected]

AUSTIN — Want tosee a guy wearinga wife-beater drop-

kick a box of dishes downa flight of stairs?

Then your best betmight be catching CraigBudreau’s First AnnualMovers Olympics.

Budreau, a retired mov-er who can tote an easychair like it was a toolbox,plans to hold his gameson Sunday afternoon,June 26, at Giddy Ups, thebeer joint in Manchaca,Texas.

Finding a suitable loca-tion was tricky, since Bu-dreau wanted a placewhere spectators can seethe stairs the Olympianswill climb up while totingheavy furniture for gold,silver and bronze medals.So he’s planning on build-ing a outdoor staircase inGiddy Ups’ yard especial-ly for the games.

“You know, like in‘Gunsmoke,’ they canbuild a (gallows) to hangsomebody in a 24-hour pe-riod, right?” Budreausaid.

Budreau, 51, a SouthAustin guy who wrote abook on how to pick amover called “YourMove,” says that he’s con-tacted moving companiesaround town and thatthey’re ready to compete.

The main event? Howabout team piano moving?

“We’re going to havethe upright piano; it’s go-ing to weigh 730 pounds,”he said.

“The task would befour men to move it up-stairs, around a narrowlanding switchback. Anydamage to the piano orthe floor will greatly di-minish your score.”

At least one mover isexcited about the chanceto strut his stuff — or inthis case, other people’sstuff. “Box races: with twopeople with a dolly,” saidTim Toomey, 34, whoworks for Aloha Movinghere in Austin and plansto chase the gold. “On awhistle, they start goingup the stairs; that’s com-pelling.”

Have you ever wantedto see a man carry acouch on his noggin?Well, here’s your chance.“The other freestyle eventwould be the sofa on topof the head, upstairsaround switchbacks,” Bu-dreau said. Sounds likeMonaco, with cushions.

Budreau has lined upsix judges with a com-bined 150 years in thebusiness. He’s seriousabout testing for skills.

“We’re going to begrading these movers ondexterity, coordinationand all these other thingsyou have to do as mov-ers,” he said.

Not that it’ll all beheavy lifting. “We’re alsogoing to have packing foreach team, with fine chi-na and stemware. Andthen we roll that down aflight of stairs,” Budreausaid. “And points will bebased on breakage.”

E-mail: [email protected].

COLUMN

Movers vie at olympics

By JOHN KELSOCOX NEWSPAPERS

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 [email protected] or mail them toLetters to the Editor, 111Esperanza Drive, Laredo,TX 78041.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY

DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

With our countryengaged in threecritical military

conflicts, the last thingthat Congress and theWhite House should bedoing is squabbling overwhich branch of govern-ment has the final author-ity to send Americantroops to war. But that isexactly what has beenhappening, culminatingwith the House’s rebukeof the Obama administra-tion last Friday for theway it has gone about thewar in Libya.

On one hand is a bipar-tisan group of Housemembers who argue thatPresident Obama over-reached because he failedto seek congressional ap-proval for the military ac-tion in Libya within 60days of the time the warstarted, as required by theWar Powers Resolution.The lawmakers are partic-ularly upset because theadministration sought,and received, supportfrom the United Nations— but not from them.

On the other hand isthe White House, whichargues that history is onits side. The 1999 NATO-led bombing over Kosovolasted 18 days longer thanthe resolution’s 60-day re-quirement before the Ser-bian regime relented.

Stuck in the middle arethe American people, par-ticularly our soldiers inarms. They would be bestserved if our leaders de-bated the substantive is-sues regarding the con-flict in Libya — and those

of Afghanistan and Iraq— rather than engagingin turf battles about whohas ultimate authorityconcerning the nation’swar powers.

There is, unfortunately,no clear legal answerabout which side is cor-rect. Some argue for thepresidency, saying thatthe Constitution assigns itthe job of “Commander inChief.” Others argue forCongress, saying that theConstitution gives it the“power to . . . declarewar.” But the SupremeCourt has been unwillingto resolve the matter, de-clining to take sides inwhat many consider a po-litical dispute between theother branches of govern-ment.

We believe there is abetter way than wastingtime disputing who is re-sponsible for initiating orcontinuing war.

Almost three years ago,we were members of theMiller Center’s bipartisanNational War PowersCommission, which pro-posed a pragmatic frame-work for consultation be-tween the president andCongress. Co-chaired byone of us and the lateWarren Christopher, thecommission could not re-solve the legal question ofwhich branch has the ulti-mate authority.

Only the court systemcan do that. Instead, thecommission strove to fos-ter interaction and con-sultation, and reduce un-necessary political fric-tion. The commission —which represented abroad spectrum of views,from Abner Mikva on theliberal end to Edwin

Meese on the conservativeend — made a unanimousrecommendation to thepresident and Congress in2008.

The commission’s pro-posed legislation wouldrepeal and replace theWar Powers Resolution.Passed over a presidentialveto and in response tothe Vietnam War, the 1973resolution was designedto give Congress the abil-ity to end a conflict andforce the president to con-sult more actively withthe legislative branch be-fore engaging in militaryaction.

The resolution, a hastycompromise between com-peting House and Senateplans, stated that the pres-ident must terminate aconflict within 90 days ifCongress has not author-ized it. But no presidenthas ever accepted the stat-ute’s constitutionality,Congress has never en-forced it and even thebill’s original sponsorswere unhappy with theend product. In reality,the resolution has onlyfurther complicated theissue of war powers.

Our proposed War Pow-ers Consultation Act of-fers clarity. It creates aconsultation process, de-fines what constitutes“significant armed con-flict” and identifies specif-ic actions that both thepresident and Congressmust take.

On the executive side,the president would be re-quired to confer with aspecific group of congres-sional leaders before com-mitting to combat oper-ations that last or are ex-pected to last more than a

week. Reasonable exemp-tions exist, includingtraining exercises, covertoperations or missions toprotect and rescue Amer-icans abroad. Likewise, ifan emergency precedesengagement, or secrecy isrequired that precludesprior consultation, thenconsultation can followwithin three days. Underthis proposal, the strikeon Osama bin Ladenwould plainly fall withinthe president’s prerog-ative, while an actionsuch as our current en-gagement in Libya wouldrequire advance consulta-tion and congressional ac-tion at the appropriatetime.

On the legislative side,Congress would have tovote on a resolution of ap-proval no later than 30days after the presidenthad consulted lawmakers.If Congress refused tovote yea or nay, it woulddo so in the face of a clearrequirement to the con-trary. Inaction would nolonger be a realistic op-tion.

Given the Constitu-tion’s ambiguity, no solu-tion is perfect. But Con-gress and the WhiteHouse should view theWar Powers ConsultationAct as a way out of theimpasse. It is what theAmerican people wantwhen their leaders con-front the serious ques-tions of war and peace.

James A. Baker III wassecretary of state from1989 to 1992. Lee H. Ha-milton is a former Demo-cratic representative fromIndiana who chaired theHouse Committee on For-eign Affairs.

COLUMN

Break the war power stalemateBy JAMES A. BAKER III AND LEE H. HAMILTONTHE WASHINGTON POST

The Fair SentencingAct of 2010 broughta measure of sanity

to the grossly unfair cracklaws. Where once an of-fender faced a mandatoryfive-year sentence for car-rying five grams of crack— the weight of two pen-nies — the new sentencingact imposes the same pen-alty only if the offender isconvicted of peddling 28grams. Just as important,the new law eliminatesmandatory minimum sen-tences for simple posses-sion, and it narrows thegap between the harshcrack sentences imposedmost often on young, Afri-can American men andthe far more lenient penal-ties for powder cocaine in-fractions more often asso-ciated with white and His-panic offenders.

The Fair SentencingAct, in other words, guar-antees that those whobreak crack cocaine lawsin the future will face apunishment tailored to thecrime. But what of thosewho are serving long, un-justified sentences underthe old and now discredit-ed legal regime?

The U.S. SentencingCommission has beentasked with developingsentencing guidelines forthe new crack law and lastweek took up the issue ofwhether the reduced pe-nalties may be applied ret-roactively. The Justice De-partment endorsed retro-activity but argued thatcrack offenders who hadbeen convicted of a guncharge and those withlonger criminal historiesshould not be allowed toseek lower sentences.While we appreciate the

department’s legitimatepublic safety concerns, wedo not believe this ap-proach is warranted.

The most important rea-son to set aside the JusticeDepartment’s approach isfairness. The old cracklaws were draconian —and that is true whetherthey were applied to afirst-time offender or tosomeone who also wasfound to be in possessionof a weapon.

Concerns over publicsafety can be — and havebeen — addressed throughother means. The most se-rious criminals and thosedeemed violent “career”offenders are not amongthe 13,000 or so inmates el-igible for a potential sen-tence reduction. Moreover,no sentence could be re-duced until a judge eval-uates an inmate’s recordand signs off on the reduc-tion. The judge would havethe authority to reduce on-ly the penalties associatedwith the crack violations;penalties for other offens-es, including gun infrac-tions, would remain intact.

Federal judges have agood record in makingsuch judgment calls. Judg-es rejected some 36 percentof requests for reducedsentences after the com-mission tweaked the crackguidelines in 2007 and per-mitted retroactive reduc-tions. The commission re-cently documented thatthose who were releasedafter their sentences wereshortened recorded recidi-vism rates that wereslightly lower than typical.Those with longer recordsor gun convictions werenot automatically excludedfrom consideration, andthey shouldn’t be this timearound, either.

EDITORIAL

Retroactivitya good move

THE WASHINGTON POST

SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 2011 Crime & More THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

18, was arrested and charged withdriving under the influence atabout 2:30 a.m. June 3 in the200 block of Alamo Street. Hewas taken to the Zapata RegionalJail and later released, pendingcourt appearance.

Daniel Sanchez Jr., 18, wasarrested and charged with drivingunder the influence at about 8:45p.m. June 5 in the vicinity of 13thand 16th streets. The man wastaken to Zapata Regional Jail andlater released, pending court ap-pearance.

PUBLIC INTOXICATIONJuan Ramon Gallegos, 31,

was arrested and charged withpublic intoxication at 8:01 p.m.June 4 in the 2100 block of DelMar Street. He was taken to Zapa-ta Regional Jail and later releasedfor court appearance.

Reymundo Sanchez-Arredon-do Jr., 37, was arrested andcharged with public intoxication at11:30 p.m. June 4 in the 300block of North U.S. 83. He wastaken to the Zapata Regional Jailand later released, pending courtappearance.

Delfino Casso, 31, was ar-rested and charged with public in-toxication at 1:30 a.m. June 5 onOso Blanco Road. He was taken toZapata County Jail and later re-

leased to appear in court.

THREATENING LETTERA 35-year-old reported at

6:35 p.m. June 3 in the 900 blockof Carla Street that someone left alife-threatening letter at his house.The case is under investigation.

THEFTA 58-year-old woman report-

ed a theft at 1:58 p.m. Tuesday atthe Falcon Motor Motel.

A 43-year-old woman report-ed at 7:12 p.m. Tuesday in the300 block of Pauls Valley Streetthat someone stole her laptop.

ASSAULTHoracio Maldonado, 63, was

arrested and charged with aggra-vated assault with a deadly weap-on at 10:35 p.m. Tuesday in the2200 block of Elm Street. Theman was taken to the Zapata Re-gional Jail and held in lieu of a$20,000 bond.

BURGLARYA burglary of a building was

reported at 7:12 p.m. June 7 inthe 200 block of Ann Drive.

DUIAbelardo Javier Hernandez,

THE BLOTTER

Investigative work doneby Zapata County sheriff ’sdetectives led to the recov-ery of three vehicles report-ed stolen in recent days.

Investigators recovered a1998 Chevrolet Silverado3500 4-door crew cab pickupbearing Texas license platesMonday.

“Investigators conductingsurveillances and intensiveinvestigative work led themto recover this vehicle ap-proximately one mile eastof Zapata, along Texas 16,”said Sgt. Mario Elizondo, ofthe sheriff ’s office.

He noted that this vehi-cle had been reported sto-len last week. Officials fea-tured it as the crime of theweek.

Other investigationsyielded two other vehicles,a Jeep Wrangler and a Ka-wasaki 2009 all-terrain vehi-cle. Elizondo said the vehi-cles were recovered on oth-er ranch properties alongTexas 16.

All three vehicles have acombined value of $28,000.No arrests were reported.The cases are still under in-vestigation.

Sheriff recovers vehiclesBy CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ

THE ZAPATA TIMES

A 2009 Kawasaki all-terrain vehicle is pictured in the middle of a creek. It was one of three vehicles re-covered by the Zapata County Sheriff’s Office in recent days.

Courtesy photo | Zapata County Sheriff’s Office

The ProcuraduríaGeneral de la Repúblicaor PGR, Mexico’s Attor-ney General, announcedFriday it is investigatinga case in which five menwere arrested for at-tempting to smugglemore than 1,300 poundsof marijuana onto U.S.soil.

Officials say the inci-dent happened in aranch area called La Ros-ita in Guardados de Aba-jo, within Ciudad MiguelAlemán, across the RioGrande from Roma.

Federal authorities ar-rested Martín EstradaArredondo, Juan Monte-longo Martínez, JoséManuel Muñoz Nery,Juan Manuel Valles Car-rillo and César Alejan-dro Ulivarria Delgado.PGR officials say themen were found in pos-session of bundles ofmarijuana on the river-banks.

According to a reportfiled with the PGR, theMexican army receivedan anonymous tip re-porting floating bundleson the Rio Grande nearLa Rosita.

Soldiers responded tothe scene and spotted

five men taking the bun-dles out of the river.When the men saw thesoldiers, they tried to getaway but were appre-hended shortly. An inves-tigation yielded morebundles when UlivarriaDelgado led military per-sonnel to a landfill inGuardados de Abajo.

According to the PGR,soldiers found a 5-footdeep hole. In it, officialsfound 43 bundles of mari-juana, which weighedabout 1,380 pounds.

NL seizureIn an unrelated case,

the Mexican army seizedabout 1.6 tons of marijua-na at the internationalbridge Comercio Mun-dial in Nuevo Laredo, of-ficials announced Mon-day. Édgar Arcindo SalasLira drove a 1998 tractor-trailer Freightliner tothe bridge export lot. Sol-diers inspected the cargoand found 124 bundles ofmarijuana, weighing ap-proximately 1.58 tons.

Soldiers arrested SalasLira. The incident is be-ing investigated.

(César G. Rodriguezmay be reached at 728-2568 or [email protected])

Authorities stoptraffickers onMexico side

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

PAGE 6A Zentertainment SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 2011

‘Tennis Festival’ at Boys Club next week

The Boys and Girls Club, in conjunc-tion with The Laredo Tennis Association,is hosting “Quick Start Tennis Festival”next weekend.

It’s part of the Boys and Girls Clubsummer program, and will take place atall three Boys Club locations.

The Northwest Boys Club on Santa Ma-ria Avenue, the Benavides (Main) locationon Moctezuma Street, and the Bruni-Ver-gara Boys Club on Los Presidentes Ave-nue will all take part in this event.

The tennis festival is slated for Friday,June 17, from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

It’s a fun way to kick off the summerand beat the Laredo heat.

Contest seeks ‘La Voz de Laredo’Popular radio stations La Ley 100.5 FM

and Digital 107.3 FM are having a seriesof singing contests in July for the fifthyear.

“Batalla de Talento: La Voz de Laredo”is similar to a battle of the bands, with in-dividual singers competing.

The first elimination round is set forSunday, July 3, at the Laredo Civic Center.Two more rounds of elimination competi-tions will take place on Thursday, July 14,and Thursday, July 28, also at the CivicCenter.

The grand finale will be Wednesday,Aug. 17, at 6 p.m., and will be followed bya concert.

Proceeds will benefit the South TexasAcademic Rising Scholars and the UISD/LISD student uniform fund.

Those interested in competing can joinby visiting the BMP offices at 107 Calledel Norte, Ste. 102, or by calling 725-1000.

‘Fightfest 3’ at LIFE in JulyThe Laredo International Fair and Ex-

position Grounds will host the third in-stallment of “Fightfest” in July.

After successful events in Decemberand February, Adolfo “Fito” Martinez ofTriple-A Promotions is planning his big-gest attraction yet: “Fightfest 3.”

The July 29 cage fighting event will fea-ture more than five Mixed Martial Arts(MMA) bouts, with some local fighters onthe card.

Laredoans Jorge “Goofy” Gonzalez andAngel Perez will fight, and others are stillbeing recruited.

“Fightfest 3” will also feature specialappearances by Ultimate Fighting Cham-

pionship (UFC) fighter Houston Alexan-der and former UFC ring girl and nation-al bikini/fitness competitor Ali Sonoma.Both will be signing autographs and tak-ing photos with fans.

The card has Derek Campos vs. Gilbert“The Pitbull” Jimenez for three rounds;Elias Marks vs. Michael Salazar in threerounds; Joe Rodriguez vs. Daniel Loyde,also for three rounds; and Vinnie Lopezvs. Carlos Martinez in a three-round bout.

Martinez said the fighters are fromthroughout Texas and some are from De-troit, Mich.

“This is going to be a good one,” saidMartinez, himself a boxer. Tickets are $15general admission and $60 ringside seats.

Rock-Fest 2011 set for July 30Laredo rock bands are joining forces

next month for the first annual SummerRock-Fest at the Laredo Park-N-Ridegrounds on Hillside.

The concert is set for 4 p.m. to mid-night, with some proceeds benefiting theSouth Texas Food Bank. The show is setfor Saturday, July 30.

Among the local rock bands that willperform are Bastard Sons, SweeTooth,Moldy Laundry Boys, Push, Full Contact,Requiem for Redemption, Dying Breed,Sikmind, Iron Skull, Rojo Vil, Erebus,Pretty Visitors and Quarter Past 12. In-somnia from San Antonio will also per-form.

— Emilio Rábago III, The Zapata Times

COMING UP

RING GIRL IN LAREDO: Unfortunately, Ali Sono-ma, a former UFC ring girl, won’t be in Laredountil next month, when she will make a specialappearance at “Fightfest 3.” The event will be atLIFE Downs on Friday, July 29.

Courtesy photo

Now that the summer ishere and kids are out ofschool, the Laredo PublicLibrary is hosting a dino-saur expert Wednesday forthose interested in the pre-historic creatures.

Paleo Paul of “DinosaurQuest” will be at the publiclibrary for the 2:30 p.m.presentation in which hewill explain facts about di-nosaurs and present fossilsand interesting finds. Hewill also answer questions.

He’s representing Dino-saur Quest, a large dino-saur exhibit inside River-center Mall in downtownSan Antonio. The mall isabout a block away fromThe Alamo and is the sameone that connects to theSan Antonio Riverwalk.

“The experience is anextraordinary exhibit of di-nosaurs like you have nev-er seen before with prehis-toric skulls and life-size di-nosaur skeletons, displayedunder captivating lightswith sound effects andhigh-end animation,” ac-cording to a news releasefrom the City of Laredo.

The exhibit is owned byLaredo Energy Arena Gen-

eral Manager Xavier Villa-lon and his wife, Leticia.

“It’s been there since lastMay and more than 50,000people have gone throughit,” said Xavier. “It was sup-posed to be a summerthing (last year), but dino-saurs are something peopleare really interested in.”

Villalon credits the in-trigue of the pre-historiccreatures, the nature oftheir size and the educa-tional value for the successof the exhibit.

The presentation

Wednesday is free, but tick-ets to the exhibit in SanAntonio are $10 to $12. Ex-hibit representatives willbring tickets and coupons.

About future plans tobring the exhibit to Laredo,Villalon said “It’s not im-possible.”

“The right group of peo-ple need to come togetherand negotiate a house forit,” he said. “The rightthings need to happen.”

(Emilio Rábago III maybe reached at 728-2564 [email protected])

S.A.’s ‘Dinosaur Quest’expert to visit Laredo

By EMILIO RÁBAGO IIITHE ZAPATA TIMES

Large dinosaur skeletons are on display in San Antonio at the River-center Mall. On Wednesday, the Laredo Public Library will host Di-nosaur Quest representatives for a presentation at 2:30 p.m.

Courtesy photo

Fireflight, an award-nom-inated Christian rock band,will be in concert at the La-redo Civic Center on Sun-day at 7:15 p.m. in a benefitshow for the South TexasFood Bank.

Organizers say half of theproceeds will go to theSouth Texas Food Bank,which distributes supple-mental food to eight coun-ties from Del Rio to RioGrande City.

Fireflight has been nomi-nated for a Grammy in the“Christian Rock Band of theYear” category and for theDove Award. The band hasbeen together for 11 years,according to its website,www.fireflightrock.com.

Also on the lineup willbe Texas rap-reggaetonaward-winning artist X-Triste and the Christianrock band Living WaterSound.

Fireflight received itsfirst career Grammy nomi-

nation at the end of 2010 forits third album release “ForThose Who Wait.” The al-bum was nominated for“Best Rock Album” by TheRecording Academy, as de-termined by the votingmembers.

Rap reggaeton artist X-Triste is one of the top rapartists in Texas in the Gos-pel category. He performs in

a Spanish-and-English mixof heartfelt tunes mostlycoming from his ex-gangmember affiliation.

Tickets are $12 and onsale in Laredo at GuadalupeMusic Shop, The GospelBookstore, The South TexasFood Bank (warehouse andfreight location in west La-redo), and online at www.it-ickets.com.

Fireflight in benefit showBy SALO OTERO

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

SÁBADO 11 DE JUNIOLAREDO — Hoy es el

segundo de tres días de laAsamblea del Distrito de losTestigos de Jehová “Vengatu reino” en Laredo EnergyArena a partir de las 9:20a.m.

LAREDO — La Socie-dad Geneaológica Villa SanAgustin de Laredo presenta“San Agustin Church and La-redo Under Six Dioceses” alas 2 p.m. en la Sala deUsos Múltiples H-E-B de laBiblioteca Pública de Laredo,1120 East Calton Road, unapresentación a cargo de Jo-se Roberto Juarez.

LAREDO — Pase latarde en el Planetario LamarBruni Vergara de TAMIU yexplore “Wonders of the Uni-verse” a las 4 p.m. y “Se-crets of the Sun” a las 5p.m. Entrada general: 5 dóla-res, 4 dólares par niños yestudiantes.

LAREDO — “NocheFlamenca” del Taller de Fla-menco Rogelio Rodríguez deTexas A&M International Uni-versity es hoy a partir de las7 p.m. en el Teatro Centerfor the Fine and PerformingArts de TAMIU. Entrada ge-neral es de 5 dólares.

NUEVO LAREDO —Charla sobre las danzas conel Maestro Chuy Treviño Ga-llegos a las 2 p.m. en SalaGabriel García Márquez deEstación Palabra.

McALLEN — VIII En-cuentro de Literatura Vocesen la Frontera TamaulipasTexas continúa hoy con acti-vidades en MISCO, 2101 W.Military Hwy. Suite J1, esqui-na 23rd.

DOMINGO 12 DE JUNIOLAREDO — Hoy es el

último día de la Asambleadel Distrito de los Testigosde Jehová “Venga tu reino”en Laredo Energy Arena apartir de las 9:20 a.m.

LAREDO — La bandade rock cristiana “Fireflight”,X-Triste y Licing WaterSound, se presentan hoy alas 7 p.m. en Laredo CivicCenter, 2400 avenida SanBernardo.

NUEVO LAREDO —Danzas Folklóricas presenta-rán “La Fundación de Méxi-co-Tenochtitlán” hoy a las7:30 p.m. en la Plaza Hidal-go.

MIÉRCOLES 15 DE JUNIOLAREDO — Paleo Paul

presenta Dinosaur Quest enla Biblioteca Pública de Lare-do, 1120 E. Calton Road, de2:30 p.m. a 4:30 p.m. dehoy.

NUEVO LAREDO —Desfile de Carros Alegóricos,con motivo del 163 Aniversa-rio de la Fundación de Nue-vo Laredo a partir de las 9a.m.

JUEVES 16 DE JUNIONUEVO LAREDO —

Conferencia “Franciscanos dePropaganda Fide, en NuevoSantander-Tamaulipas”. Pre-sentación del libro “Dicciona-rio de Clérigos y MisionerosNorestenses” del Pbro. JoséAntonio Portillo Valadez a las11 a.m. en Estación Palabra.

NUEVO LAREDO — Ex-posición fotográfica y docu-mental “Nuevo Laredo, Cunadel Béisbol en México” porCarlos Treviño Treviño a las7 p.m. en el Archivo Generaldel Municipio.

NUEVO LAREDO —Hoy se presenta la obra “Co-mo si fuera esta noche”, diri-gida por Gerardo Villezca, alas 8 p.m. en el Teatro LucioBlanco de la Cas de la Cul-tura. Otras presentaciones el23 y 30 de junio.

VIERNES 17 DE JUNIONUEVO LAREDO —

Concierto de gala en honora los fundadores de NuevoLaredo. Orquesta Juvenil eInfantil del DIF, dirigida porCuauhtémoc Ibarra a las 7p.m. en Sala Sergio Peña.

Agendaen Breve

Una redada conducida por au-toridades federales y estatales re-sultó en el arresto de 12 residen-tes de Zapata y uno de Lopeño lamadrugada del viernes, acusándo-los de varias ofensas por traficarnarcóticos, incluyendo cocaína, ydinero como parte de una conspi-ración multimillonaria, según lasautoridades.

Según la acusación de oncecargos, a los individuos se les estápidiendo entregar 18 millones dedólares, los ingresos de la supues-ta actividad narcotraficante.

Los sospechosos en la acusa-ción son: el residente de Lopeño,Andrés Quintero-Ortiz alias“Chango”, de 46 años de edad; ylos residentes de Zapata: PedroNavarro, 36; Alex Navarro Jr., 21;Servando Guerrero Jr. alias “Ma-riachi”, 36; René Dávila, 29: Leo-nel Rodríguez alias “La Dona”, 41;Juan Luis Rivera, 29; Juan Anto-nio Valadez Sr., 53; José Luis Gon-zález-Chapa, 23;Judith Zamora,26;Claudia Medrano, 27; y Leonides

Navarro, de 21 años de edad.La fiscalía alega que las activi-

dades criminales iniciaron en ju-nio del 2006 y hasta la fecha másreciente documentada del 4 deabril — una confabulación elabo-rada de cinco años que incluía po-sesión con la intención de distri-buir sustancias controladas yconspirar para trasladar divisasde EU hacia México.

La conspiración narcotrafican-te también acusa a algunos de losindividuos de cargos por posesióncon la intención de distribuir va-rias sustancias controladas, lascuales se alega de que varían depor lo menos 200 a 2,200 libras demarihuana, 50 gramos de metan-fetaminas y cinco gramos de co-caína.

Retornada el 7 de junio, la acu-sación también acusa a otros indi-viduos que al momento no se en-cuentran detenidos.

Los individuos arrestados en-frentarán su primer día tras rejasfederales el 13 de junio.

(Localice a Denise Blaz llaman-do al 728-2547 o escriba [email protected])

INVESTIGACIÓN

Arrestan a 12en redada

POR DENISE BLAZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

La experiencia vivida en juliodel 2010 con el Huracán Alex obligóa autoridades municipales, estata-les y de la Comisión Internacionalde Límites y Aguas (CILA), la Co-misión Nacional del Agua (Cona-gua) a reunirse y empezar a deta-llar acciones ante la nueva tempo-rada de huracanes.

En Reynosa, el Secretario de De-sarrollo Urbano y Medio Ambiente(Seduma) de Tamaulipas, Homerode la Garza Tamez, dijo que las ac-ciones pretenden el reforzamientoy modernización de las obras deprotección del bajo río Bravo. Enun informe se presentaron los nive-les que actualmente guardan laspresas internacionales Amistad yFalcón.

En Nuevo Laredo, el director delCILA, David Negrete, expuso quela historia indica que se deben or-ganizar, comunicar y responder alos llamados.

La avenida del agua registradaen 1954 registró 32,000 millones demetros cúbicos que provocaron lainundación del centro de NuevoLaredo. Negrete explicó que depen-de del agua que ingrese río arribaa la Presa La Amistad, pero no des-cartó que pudieran desfogarse36,000 millones de metros cúbicospara no poner en riesgo la capaci-dad de la presa.

“Nuestras disposiciones son quesi la presa se encontrara en riesgotendríamos que desfogarla aunquese inunde Nuevo Laredo”, dijo Ne-grete. “Aún con los adelantos tecno-lógicos nada está previsto, así quedebemos estar preparados para to-do”.

El Coronel de Infantería delEjército Mexicano, Claudio RodolfoRomero Arce, dijo que estarían dis-ponibles para aplicar el Plan DN-III.

También sugirió contactar a em-presarios de la industria de laconstrucción que cuenten con ma-quinaria pesada que pudiera utili-zarse en momentos de emergenciaque requiera la ciudad.

El Director de Protección Civilen Nuevo Laredo, Juan Ernesto Ri-vera Gómez, dijo que en caso deque hubiera que evacuar personas,tienen espacios para hasta 15,000.

Rivera aclaró que continúan conla limpieza de arroyos, para dejarla salida natural del agua.

La Secretaría de Desarrollo Ur-bano y Medio Ambiente anuncióque las partes involucradas en lapreparación ante la temporada dehuracanes, esperan reunirse den-tro de 45 días para la conformacióndel consejo, en el que tendrán par-ticipación los tres órdenes de go-bierno.

(Localice a Miguel Timoshenkoven el (956) 728-2583 o en [email protected])

ACCIONES

La Comisión Internacional de Límites y Agua se prepara para liberar miles de ga-lones de agua en la Presa Falcón en julio del 2010. CILA y otras dependencias se es-tán reuniendo para determinar acciones con el inicio de la temporada de huracanes.

Foto por Ulysses S. Romero | The Zapata Times

Se preparanante temporal

POR MIGUEL TIMOSHENKOVTIEMPO DE ZAPATA

SAN ANTONIO — México afir-ma que la mayor parte de su terri-torio es segura y desea que Texasdeje de decirle lo contrario a losturistas.

El presidente del Consejo dePromoción Turística de México,Rodolfo López Negrete, se reunióel miércoles con autoridades deTexas para tratar de impedir otrosboletines genéricos y con visosominosos como el difundido enmarzo, cuando el Departamentode Seguridad Pública del estadoadvirtió sin rodeos a los posiblesvacacionistas que “Eviten viajar aMéxico durante el Receso de Pri-mavera y sigan vivos”.

López admite que hay ciudadesfronterizas con Estados Unidosque todavía son peligrosas y de-ben evitarse. Pero quiere que Te-xas ya no haga generalizacionesque den la idea de todo un país su-mido en un derrame de sangre yplagado de peligros.

“Creemos que esas alertas deviaje son demasiado generales yhacen declaraciones muy ciegassobre México que no reflejan larealidad”, dijo López.

El funcionario tenía programa-do reunirse en Austin con el se-cretario de Estado de Texas, HopeAndrade, y funcionarios del De-partamento de Seguridad Públicaestatal, que emite los boletines so-bre viajes. Ningún organismo sepronunció de inmediato sobre elencuentro.

México está hondamente preo-cupado por su problema de ima-gen. La lucha antidrogas en elpaís ha sido cruenta y despiadadaentre carteles rivales, y ha dejadoal menos 35.000 muertos desde el2006, particularmente en estadosnorteños. Sobre la frontera de Te-xas, muchas familias que iban ru-tinariamente a México, han deja-do de hacerlo por temor.

López dijo que, evidentemente,los vacacionistas no deben viajar

a la violenta Ciudad Juárez, alotro lado de la ciudad estadouni-dense de El Paso, en una adverten-cia que también México hace. Elfuncionario indicó que los viaje-ros deben también ser prudentesy recurrir al “sentido común”cuando vayan a las ciudades fron-terizas de Nuevo Laredo y Reyno-sa, pero no sugiere que las eludandel todo.

El gobierno mexicano quiereque el gobierno de Texas deje derelacionar con la violencia los cen-tros vacacionales en el centro deMéxico y junto al mar, como Can-cún o Veracruz.

“Esos son perfectamente segu-ros”, dijo López.

El turismo en México bajó 2%en el mes posterior a la alerta deTexas, señaló López. Pero atribuyóesa reducción marginal a la desa-celeración económica en EstadosUnidos que impide largos viajes alos vacacionistas y a que Méxicoapenas se está recuperando de lacrisis financiera del año pasadoen la aerolínea Mexicana, que fueuna de las mayores del país.

Más de la mitad de los 22 millo-nes de personas que visitaron Mé-xico el año pasado viajaron a cen-tros turísticos, dijo López.

VACACIONES

Mientras camiones que conforman la “Caravana por la Paz” salen de Saltillo, Méx-ico, en un viaje visitando ciudades afectadas por la violencia, el Gobierno está so-licitando a Texas bajar el tono de las alertas que piden no visitar México durantelas vacaciones.

Foto por Hans-Maximo Musielik | Associated Press

México pide a EU evitar alertas

POR PAUL J. WEBERASSOCIATED PRESS “(Esas alertas)

hacendeclaraciones muyciegas sobreMéxico que noreflejan larealidad”.RODOLFO LÓPEZ NEGRETE,PRESIDENTE DEL CONSEJO DE PROMOCIÓN TURÍSTICA DE MÉXICO

Zfrontera PÁGINA 7ASÁBADO 11 DE JUNIO DE 2011

SAN ANTONIO — Presuntosnarcotraficantes abrieron fuego eljueves contra agentes federales es-tadounidenses desde el lado mex-icano del Río Bravo, y las autori-dades respondieron al fuego e hi-rieron a por lo menos tressospechosos, informaron funcio-narios en Texas.

Habían trascendido pocos de-talles sobre el tiroteo ocurrido enla madrugada del 9 de junio en elCondado de Hidalgo. El enfrenta-miento comenzó después de queagentes estadounidenses, que real-izaban un patrullaje en lanchas,trataron de incautarse de un car-gamento de drogas en el Río Bra-vo, informó Tela Mange, voceradel Departamento de SeguridadPública de Texas.

Mange dijo que no podía revel-ar si algún agente federal estadou-nidense fue herido. Añadió quelos agentes fueron blanco de “dis-paros intensos”, pero no señaló

cuánto duró el tiroteo.Las autoridades informaron

que fueron notificados funciona-rios mexicanos sobre dos embar-caciones “cargadas de drogas”,las cuales fueron abandonadasdespués del enfrentamiento a ti-ros.

La Patrulla Fronteriza dijo quetodas las preguntas sobre el casodebían hacerse al Departamentode Seguridad Pública, que utilizóa sus agentes de elite conocidoscomo Rangers de Texas, en el in-tento de incautación.

No es la primera vez queocurre un tiroteo a lo largo de lafrontera entre Texas y México.Desde enero del año pasado, el De-partamento de Seguridad Públicaha rastreado al menos una docenade casos de disparos desde Méxicohacia Texas. Los agentes estadou-nidenses han respondido en algu-nos de esos casos.

No se ha reportado ninguna au-toridad estadounidense herida enesos tiroteos.

TEXAS

Presuntos narcosdisparan hacia EU

ASSOCIATED PRESS

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HOUSTON — The num-ber of rigs actively explor-ing for oil and natural gasin the U.S. rose by one thisweek to 1,855.

Houston-based drillingproduct provider BakerHughes Inc. reported Fri-day that 969 rigs were ex-ploring for oil and 879 fornatural gas. Seven werelisted as miscellaneous. Ayear ago, the rig countstood at 1,527.

Of the major oil- andgas-producing states, NewMexico gained seven rigs,Louisiana rose by six,Wyoming by four andPennsylvania by three. Tex-as dropped 10 rigs, whileOklahoma decreased byfour. North Dakota and Col-orado each decreased bytwo. California and Alaskaeach dropped one. Arkan-sas and West Virginia re-mained unchanged.

The rig count peaked at4,530 in 1981, the height ofthe oil boom. A low of 488was recorded in 1999.

US rigcount

rises to1,855

ASSOCIATED PRESS

LUBBOCK — Residentsliving near a low-level ra-dioactive waste burialground in West Texas willbe asked to complete ahealth survey as part of astudy commissioned bystate officials.

State environmental andhealth officials have hiredthe University of North Tex-as to assess about 24,000people who live within a 35-mile radius of Waste Con-trol Specialists LLC’s nucle-ar dump site in AndrewsCounty near the New Mex-ico border.

University spokeswomanLeslie Wimmer said lettersencouraging residents inTexas and in New Mexicoto participate will go out inthe next few days.

The survey, authorized inlegislation in 2003, will pro-vide a baseline health as-sessment before radioactivematerial is buried at thesite later this year. Neitherthe questions nor the re-sults will be made public,Wimmer said.

“The health survey is anappropriate safety precau-tion to take,” Waste Controlspokesman Chuck McDo-nald said Friday. “I thinkit’s another example of theprudent approach the statehas taken throughout thisprocess.”

Lawmakers agreed thisyear to let 36 other statesdispose of their low-level ra-dioactive waste at the site.Previously, only the federalgovernment, Texas and Ver-mont were authorized todispose of radioactive wastethere.

No radioactive waste iscurrently at the site. Thewaste that will be buriedthere includes workers’clothing, glass, metal andother materials now storedat nuclear power plants,hospitals, universities andresearch labs.

Environmentalists areconcerned about the possi-ble contamination ofgroundwater sources thatlie 150 feet from the dumpand close to the nation’slargest aquifer. A recent re-port by Public Citizen Texassays contamination of theOgallala Aquifer would bedevastating both econom-ically and environmentally.

The survey, which resi-dents can do over the phoneor online, is a good start,said Tom “Smitty” Smith ofthe environmental groupPublic Citizen.

The survey was put to-gether by the university’sSurvey Research Center, theTexas Commission on Envi-ronmental Quality and theTexas Department of StateHealth Services.

Residents to complete

healthsurvey

By BETSY BLANEYASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN— The TexasHouse approved a draftschool finance law on Fri-day that could soften a $4billion blow to the state’spublic schools.

An amendment to thelaw, proposed by Rep.Donna Howard, D-Austin,would allow the statecomptroller to spendmoney collected unex-pectedly by the state oneducation instead of send-ing it to the Rainy DayFund. The comptrollerforecasts the fund wouldbe worth $9.8 billion bythe end of 2013, but if oilprices remain high, thattotal could reach $12 bil-lion or more.

The draft school fi-nance bill will now go toa conference committee,where senators andHouse members will workout the differences be-tween their two versionsof the bill.

Republicans have in-sisted the overall 2012-2013 budget should staywithin the currentlyavailable revenue. Thatmeans a cut of $27 billionworth of services fromwhat the state currentlyprovides, including a $6.6billion cut that wouldmaintain the current lev-el of school funding.

Democrats had wanted

to spend $4 billion fromthe Rainy Day Fund,and Howard’s amend-ment was seen as a com-promise.

The comptrollercould only use moneybeyond what was ex-pected, and the amountwould be capped at $2.2billion. That equals theamount experts predictthe state needs to coverthe growing number ofstudents over the next

two years. “It is contingent on the

funds being there, but ifthey are there, and the(student) growth is occur-ring, then we will have itavailable,” Howard said.

Because more than 80percent of education costsare personnel-related, dis-

tricts across the statehave already started lay-ing off thousands ofteachers, which will re-sult in larger class sizes.

The proposed changeto the law spreads the $4billion in cuts over twoyears, with a 6 percent,across-the-board cut in

2012 and a $2 billion re-duction in 2013 thatwould reduce funding forsome schools more thanothers based on a compli-cated formula taking intoaccount cost of living, thenumber of students andthe local property taxbase.

House adopts education proposalBy CHRIS TOMLINSON

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Rep. Jim Pitts, R- Waxahachie, right, and Rep. Rob Eissler, R- The Woodlands, talk while Rep. Sylvester Turner, D- Houston, left, debatesin opposition to a bill to help balance the state budget and change public school funding formulas in Austin on Sunday, May 29.

Photo by Jack Plunkett | AP

BUST ON THE BORDER

Photo by Eric Gay | AP

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and Texas Department ofPublic Safety seized 57bundles of marijuanaweighing more than1,200 pounds at the Texas border along theRio Grande, Wednesdayin Abram, Texas.

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES State SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 2011

SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 2011 THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

ZAPATA — Elma M.Guzman, 44, passed awaySunday, June 5, 2011, at La-redo Medical Center.

Mrs. Guzman is preced-ed in death by her parents:Juan E. and Gabriela G.Meza; and her in-laws: Lo-renzo and Zulema V. Guz-man.

Mrs. Guzman is survivedby her husband, Joel Guz-man; son, Joel Jr. (Isabel)Guzman; daughter, SaraGuzman; brothers: Juan J.(Lupita) Meza and Crisanto(Edith) Meza; sisters: Bea-triz M. (Juan) Longoria,Norma M. (Adrian IV) Ra-mirez and Dubelza (Joe)Orengo; and by numerousother family and manyfriends.

Visitation hours wereThursday, June 9, 2011, at 8a.m., with a rosary at 9a.m., at Rose Garden Fu-neral Home.

The funeral processiondeparted Thursday, June 9,2011, at 10:30 a.m. for an 11a.m. funeral Mass at Our

Lady of Lourdes CatholicChurch. Committal servic-es followed at Zapata Coun-ty Cemetery.

Funeral arrangementswere under the direction ofRose Garden FuneralHome, Daniel A. Gonzalez,funeral director, 2102 U.S.83, Zapata, TX.

ELMA M. GUZMAN

ATLANTA — CallistaGingrich has been a nearconstant presence at herhusband’s side, a visiblesymbol that the twice-di-vorced House speaker isnow a devoted familyman.

But Gingrich’s thirdwife also is being cited bypeople close to him as akey factor in the staff re-volt that has left his pres-idential campaign on lifesupport.

At least 16 aides andadvisers abandoned theGingrich campaign onThursday, an unpreceden-ted exodus that has castdoubt on his viability asa contender for the Re-publican presidentialnomination.

Gingrich has pledgedto push forward with hiscampaign and is set to of-fer a foreign policy ad-dress to a Jewish Repub-lican group in Los An-geles on Sunday. It’s aspeech that Gingrichhopes will reset his WhiteHouse bid, and it’s a nearcertainty that his wifewill accompany him.

Finger-pointingIn the implosion’s af-

termath, officials close tothe Gingrich campaignprivately pointed fingersat Callista Gingrich asthe source of the tensionbetween her husband andhis staff. They say she ex-

erted enormous influenceon the former Housespeaker, controlling hisschedule and encourag-ing him to disappear on aluxury cruise in theGreek Isles just weeks af-ter he got into the race.That trip was the finalstraw, for some, whopleaded with him not togo.

These officials saidGingrich ceded to hiswife’s wishes, whichsometimes involved hiscurtailing necessary timeon the campaign trail inkey states like Iowa, NewHampshire and SouthCarolina. The officialsspoke on condition ofanonymity to discuss pri-vate campaign business.

As criticism mounted,the candidate defendedhis wife’s involvement,saying that the two ofthem “make decisions asa couple.”

‘Refreshing’“I think most couples

would find that refresh-ing and not a problem,”he said outside his homein McLean, Va., an up-scale Washington suburb.

In fact, it may havebeen no different fromother campaigns; frictionbetween political spousesand paid campaign staffis common, with bothcompeting for the candi-date’s attention.

But several people in-volved in the campaignsaid Callista Gingrich

was not the only prob-lem.

Since Gingrich enteredthe race this spring,fundraising has been ane-mic and the combativeformer congressman hasstrayed off message re-peatedly, most memorablyin his NBC “Meet thePress” interview justdays after entering therace in which he basheda Republican budget planthat had passed theHouse as “right-wing so-cial engineering.”

Calendar controlBut Gingrich some-

times seemed more inter-ested in placating hiswife than serious cam-paigning. And CallistaGingrich’s iron-fistedcontrol over her hus-band’s calendar madeplanning nearly impossi-ble. Gingrich wouldsometimes be late tomeetings with donors be-cause his wife neededsome time at a hotel tofreshen up. He would tryto book trips so he couldbe home in time for hiswife’s choir practice.

Admirable in a hus-band. But perhaps incom-patible with the gruelingschedule needed of a seri-ous presidential candi-date.

“Yes, Newt is guilty ofputting family ahead ofpolitics,” Gingrichspokesman R.C. Ham-mond said.

From the start, Gin-

grich put his wife frontand center in the cam-paign, answering ques-tions with “Callista andI” and featuring her pic-ture prominently on hiswebsite. To a certain de-gree, it seemed an at-tempt to prove to socialconservatives and otherRepublicans skeptical ofhim for his adulterouspast. Gingrich, 67, has ac-knowledged he carriedon an affair with Callistawhen he was speaker ofthe House and sheworked at the HouseAgriculture Committee.

But, even if she didhelp bolster an image ofGingrich as a familyman, she was linked withdistractions early in thecampaign.

It was jewelry Gin-grich bought for his wifethat spurred days of badpress coverage focused ona no-interest line of cred-it worth up to $500,000,reinforcing the imagethat he was out-of-touchwith regular Americanssmarting from the reces-sion.

Exacting and precise,Callista Gingrich, 45, is aslender concert pianistwho sings in the choir ofher Catholic church. Shehas a signature look:ramrod straight posture,elegant clothes, tightsmile and flawlesslycoiffed blond hair.

Since they married,the Gingriches have mod-eled their marriage onthe partnership of Ronaldand Nancy Reagan.

In this June 8 file photo, Republican presidential hopeful, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, accompanied by his wife Callista Gin-grich, speaks in Hudson, N.H. Gingrich’s campaign manager and numerous other key aides have resigned together, a strong blow to hishopes for the Republican presidential nomination.

Photo by Cheryl Senter | AP

Gingrich’s wife takes blameBy SHANNON MCCAFFREY

ASSOCIATED PRESSBERLIN — After days of

confusion, German author-ities said Friday that theyhad concluded that contam-inated sprouts from an or-ganic farm in the country’snorth were the most likelycause of one of the world’sworst outbreaks of E. coli.

Officials acknowledged,however, that laboratorytests to confirm the find-ings had produced onlynegative results and thatquestions remained abouthow the sprouts had beencontaminated in the firstplace.

To reach their conclu-sion, health officials saidthey relied on an epidemi-ological study of the pat-tern of infection among pa-tients, tracking the out-break along the food chainfrom hospital beds, to res-taurants and back to thefarm, southeast of Ham-burg, at Bienenbuettel.

Pathogens ID’dHours after the an-

nouncement in Berlin, offi-cials in a different region,North Rhine-Westphalia,said they had, for the firsttime, identified the patho-gens thought to be causingthe outbreak in an openpackage of bean sproutsfrom the same farm.

Johannes Remmel, thestate consumer protectionminister, said the discovery— in a garbage can at thehome of two infected pa-tients in Cologne — meantthat it was “becoming in-creasingly more likely that

bean sprouts” from thefarm had caused the out-break. Federal officials cau-tioned that the findingsstill needed to be con-firmed.

Friday’s announcementseemed intended to assureGermans that foods sus-pected earlier of containingtoxins — cucumbers, toma-toes and lettuce — weresafe to eat. But many shop-keepers remained angryover the handling of thecrisis.

“The whole thing is abig scandal,” said Riza Ce-tinkaya, 24, who works inher father’s grocery storein the Charlottenburg dis-trict of Berlin, where, shesaid, sales had droppedabout 70 percent.

“People were very unset-tled. Every day somethingdifferent was announced,”Cetinkaya said. “Now Ihear on the radio that itwas the sprouts. But peoplewere even buying less fruit.That is simply insane.”

The outbreak hasclaimed at least 30 lives inGermany, unsettled the na-tion and thrown Europeanagriculture into disarray.Although authorities havemade “decisive progress,”the outbreak “is not yetover,” said Reinhard Burg-er, the president of the Rob-ert Koch Institute, thecountry’s disease controlagency, because new caseswill still be reported.

At a news conference inBerlin, Burger said the in-stitute’s scientists did notyet know how pathogenscame into contact with thesprouts or whether some ofthe contaminated producewas still in circulation.

Officials: Sproutscaused E. coli

By ALAN COWELLNEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 2011

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexi-co — A well-known Mexi-can poet who has turnedhis grief over a murderedson into a crusade forpeace ended his weeklong“consolation caravan” Fri-day in the country’s mostviolent city, saying he seeksto change public conscious-ness and the government’scurrent strategy for fight-ing drug trafficking.

Javier Sicilia, who start-ed the caravan from out-side Mexico City last Satur-day, had amassed about1,500 followers, includingothers who had lost inno-cent family members andfriends to drug violence, bythe time he reached CiudadJuarez, the border cityacross from El Paso.

Sicilia visited a park cre-ated in the memory of 15teens slaughtered in 2010by gang members in whatwas believed to be a case ofmistaken identity, as wellas a field where the bodiesof eight women were foundin 2001. Hundreds of wom-en were murdered in Jua-rez in the 1990s, the symbolof the city’s violence beforea fight among drug cartelsheated up, killing at least3,100 people last year alone.

“Do your jobs, stop hu-miliating the citizens ofJuarez, and do justice to somany who have died,” Sici-lian called out to state andlocal officials. “This is thebeginning of a civil resist-ance movement to trans-form consciousness, to starta dialogue in the absence ofgovernment policies.”

The number of homi-cides has fallen for threestraight months in Juarez,though government offi-cials haven’t given a reasonfor the drop. But the city isemblematic of Mexico’s

problem with drug crimesand impunity. At least 95percent of crimes there arenever prosecuted, accord-ing to local human rightsgroups.

Several people have beenarrested in the March 28slaying of Sicilia’s son,Juan Francisco Sicilia, acollege student who author-ities say was in the wrongplace at the wrong time.

Prosecutors say druggang members killed himand six others 10 days aftera couple of Sicilia’s friendshad a chance scuffle with

the gangsters. The caravan of about a

dozen buses started inCuernavaca, a central re-sort and industrial citywhere Sicilia’s son and theothers were slain.

Since then, Sicilia hasled several marches, first inCuernavaca and then fromCuernavaca to Mexico City.He also has proposed writ-ing the names of the deadon plaques at the spotswhere they were killedthroughout the country sothat they won’t just benumbers.

Caravan arrives in JuarezBy RICARDO CHAVEZ CARBAJAL

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Mexican poet Javier Sicilia, center right, stands with Luz Maria Davila during an event of the “Cara-van for Peace with Justice and Dignity” in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Thursday.

AP

the last recorded date ofApril 4 — an elaboratefive-year scheme thatcalled for possessingwith intent to distributecontrolled substancesand conspiring to trans-port U.S. currency intoMexico.

The drug conspiracyindictment also chargessome individuals withpossession with intent todistribute various con-trolled substances, rang-ing from at least 200 to2,200 pounds of marijua-na, 50 grams of metham-

phetamine and fivegrams of crack cocaine.

Returned on June 7,the indictment also in-cludes other individualsnot yet in custody.

The individuals arrest-ed are scheduled to ap-pear in federal courtJune 13. According to anews release from theU.S. Attorney’s Office,prosecutors will seek tokeep the defendants incustody pending trial.

(Denise Blaz may bereached at 728-2547 [email protected])

CHARGES Continued from Page 1A

agreement. Garcia is the family

practitioner of ZapataCounty Medical Group,which provides emergencyservices that otherwisecould only be reached anhour away, in Laredo.

New districtAttorney Hector Uribe

requested approval of anamendment to the ZapataCounty and Falcon LakeZoning Regulations thatwould allow for the estab-

lishment of the ZapataCounty Farmers andRanchers Market District.

Questions that may fallunder consideration wouldbe how the regulationscurrently affect the plan,and how residents in thearea would be affectedpost-redistricting, if at all.

Another proposal is thepurchase of a dump truckfor the landfill, requestedby Environmental DirectorGuillermo Saenz.

(Erica Matos can bereached at 728-2567 or [email protected])

COUNTY Continued from Page 1Able of resisting some high-caliber gunfire. In the shop,officials found tools to in-stall the armor and finishthe modification of the ve-hicles.

Military personnel alsoseized 23 tractor trailers,four bulldozers, two trail-ers, seven platforms, a trac-tor, three live magazinesand 77 cartridges. No ar-rests were reported duringthis operation.

This is not the first timemilitary personnel have en-countered these types of ar-mored vehicles.

On May 25, the Secretar-

ía de Marina or SEMAR,Mexico’s navy, announcedmarines had located awarehouse in the vicinityof Monclova in the Coahui-la state, about 156 mileswest of Nuevo Laredo.

Marines say an anony-mous tip led them to awarehouse used as a shopto customize vehicles withsteel plates. Federal author-ities say these vehicles arespecially designed forarmed confrontationsagainst rival cartels.

(César G. Rodriguez maybe reached at 728-2568 or [email protected])

TRUCKS Continued from Page 1A

staffers from the TexasRailroad Commission andthe Texas Water Develop-ment Board.

Members of the SafeFracking Coalition orga-nized the event with the as-sistance of state Rep. Rich-ard Raymond, D-Laredo.Tricia Cortez, leader of thecoalition and executive di-rector of the Rio Grande In-ternational Study Center,said the town hall was in-tended to answer questionsabout the industry.

“Some people said youguys want to stop progress,you want to stop jobs, youwant to stop the economyhere in Laredo,” she said.“We just have a lot of ques-tions, especially given thenumber of cases and re-ports across the country. Wewant to be better in-formed.”

Tillman said Dish had ex-perienced air quality prob-lems and pollution fromwastewater produced by hy-draulic fracturing of natu-ral gas wells.

Gil Bujano, the directorof the oil and gas divisionat the Railroad Commis-sion, said the commission’sstaffers are faced with bothjurisdictional and staffingchallenges in regulatingdrilling.

He said the commissionhas seen its staff reduced

from 720 to 320 in recentyears.

“The commission is un-derstaffed and I don’t thinkyou’ll find anybody therewho will dispute that,” hesaid.

But Bujano said therehave been no substantiatedcases of groundwater con-tamination because of hy-draulic fracturing.

The coalition did not in-vite representatives fromoil and gas developers ac-tive locally to the panel, butthey were welcome at themeeting. None joined thepanel but several employeesfrom industry were part ofthe event’s audience.

The town hall did not fea-ture information on WebbCounty itself as much aswhat other Texas communi-ties have experienced withfracking, how counties onthe Eagle Ford could be im-pacted and how the state asa whole is regulated.

Robert Mace, who directsthe water science and con-servation group at the Wa-ter Development Board,said by 2030, water use byindustry could make up 10percent of overall water de-mand within the EagleFord shale.

(Andrew Kreighbaummay be reached at 728-2538or [email protected])

DRILLING Continued from Page 1A

Sports&OutdoorsSATURDAY, JUNE 11, 2011 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

The hot summer months are in fullswing and Zapata has many sporting ac-tivities going on around the county.

Little league baseball and softball, theactivities at the Zapata boys and girls cluband the local bowling league at FalconLanes Bowling are just a few of the activ-

ities that will take place this summer andthe Zapata Times strives to cover all as-pects.

Zapata residents are highly encouragedto contact The Zapata Times via email ofupcoming sporting events that will be tak-ing place in Zapata, from sports camps toZapata athletes that are playing at the col-lege level.

Teams are encouraged to email team or

individual championship photos to bepublished, or schedules and results ofbaseball and softball games throughoutthe summer.

The Zapata Times would also like tocover outdoors activities on Falcon Lakethat includes any fishing tournamentsthat will be taking place this year.

Any photos or information of big catch-es can be emailed to The Zapata Times’

sports reporter Clara Sandoval at [email protected].

Zapata Tennis CampsZapata head tennis coach Robert Alva-

rez is pleased to announce the Zapata

SUMMER ACTIVITIES

Seasonal camps aplentyBaseball, softball, bowling and tennis highlight summer sports scene

By CLARA SANDOVALTHE ZAPATA TIMES

See CAMPS PAGE 2B

LAREDO – Zapata’s Seli-na Mata was the onlyLady Hawk athlete toparticipate in the Mer-

cy-Bosom Buddies softball all-star game that took place onMay 30 at the Student ActivityComplex.

The all-star game returned tothe May lineup after a six-yearhiatus thanks to the efforts ofLaredo United South coach Dia-na Isassi, who helped revive thegame that will now be part of

the Mercy-Bosom Buddies all-star lineup for the followingyear.

The softball all-stars did nottake long to show their offensivemuscle with the East jumpingout to a 3-0 lead on its way to an8-5 victory over the West infront of a large crowd at theSAC.

Players from Laredo and thesurrounding areas came out tosupport a great cause in theMercy Cancer Assistance Pro-gram that helps out indigentcancer patients.

“This is a great cause,” Mata

said. “At the same time, we allgot to play with people that wehad never played with before. Itwas a lot of fun.”

The Mercy-Bosom Buddiesall-star games raised $8,000through their girls’ and boys’basketball, volleyball and soft-ball games.

Both all-star teams sportedpink uniforms to show supportfor breast cancer awareness.Breast cancer affects one ineight women in the UnitedStates.

SOFTBALL

Zapata’s Selina Mata was the lone Lady Hawk to participate in the Mercy-Bosom Buddies all-star softball game lastmonth in Laredo.

Photo by Clara Sandoval | Laredo Morning Times

MATA REPS WESTPlays in Bosom Buddies All-Star game

By CLARA SANDOVALZAPATA TIMES

See MATA PAGE 2B

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — TexasA&M lost ace right-hander JohnStilson to a season-ending shoul-der injury at the end of the regu-lar season. Coach Rob Childressjokes that he wakes up two orthree times a night crying aboutthat injury.

But losing Stilson hasn’tslowed down the Aggies (45-19) inthe postseason because of theirdeep pitching staff. Texas A&M

won four straight games to cap-ture the Big 12 championship.Then they won three of fourgames in the NCAA regional toadvance to play Florida State (45-17) in a best-of-three Super Re-gional that starts on Saturday.

“They’ve rallied around thefact that they’ve lost their No. 1guy,” said Florida State coachMike Martin. “They have reallybeen impressive.”

COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

See A&M PAGE 2B

Texas A&M players celebrate their 3-0 win over Arizona in an NCAA regional base-ball game in College Station on Tuesday.

Photo by Eric Kayne | AP

Hot Ags prepare forsizzling Seminoles

ASSOCIATED PRESS

DALLAS — Jason Terry puthis faith in these Dallas Maver-icks in ink. On the inside of hisright biceps.

With one more win, he’ll get tokeep his tattoo of the NBA’s cham-pionship trophy — plus have thereal thing.

Terry had his title hopes inject-ed into his arm in October, dur-ing a get-together at teammate

DeShawn Stevenson’s house. Atthe start of the playoffs, Terryvowed to have it removed if theMavericks didn’t win it all.

Thanks largely to him regain-ing his shooting touch in that in-ked-up arm, Terry and the Mavsflew to Miami on Friday closer toa title than ever before in fran-chise history. It could belong tothem as soon as Sunday night.

“We put ourselves in the situa-

NBA

The Dallas Mavericks’ Jason Terry celebrates with fans after Game 5 of the NBAFinals game against the Miami Heat Thursday in Dallas.

Photo by Mark Humphrey | AP

Terry’s tattoopremonitionBy JAIME ARON

ASSOCIATED PRESS

See MAVS PAGE 2B

LONG POND, Pa. —Dale Earnhardt Jr. neededan extreme makeover toshake up his sagging ca-reer. New shop. New crewchief. New team.

Now comes the best partfor NASCAR’s most pop-ular driver.

Better results. His winless drought is

stuck on 106 races enteringPocono Raceway and thethree-year mark of his lastvictory is closing in. Earn-hardt, though, might final-ly have his career back ontrack after a string of un-derachieving seasons atHendrick Motorsports.

His next win, especiallyif it comes soon, won’t be astunner because he’s beenone of the hottest driversin the sport, boosting bothhis morale and his spot inthe standings.

“We’re not satisfied. Wewant to win races,” Earn-hardt said Friday. “I knowthose guys are itching towin and get into VictoryLane.”

He’s getting close tograbbing the checkeredflag.

Earnhardt thought hewas going to win at Mar-tinsville Speedway untilKevin Harvick passed himwith four laps left for thewin. He settled for second,which started a string ofthree top-10 finishes. Thencame heartbreak at Char-lotte Motor Speedway. Heled on the final lap beforehis gas tank ran dry andfinished seventh. Lastweek at Kansas, anothersecond, giving him seventop 10s this season — onefewer than his 36-race totalfrom a year ago.

Earnhardt has battledthe frustration of being soclose to taking the check-ered flag with the pride ofknowing he’s running atthe front of the pack. Hehas not won since Michi-

gan in June 2008, his firstseason with Hendrick Mo-torsports.

He was 12th in thestandings that year, thenfinished 21st last year and25th in 2009.

In any other sport, thosekind of results can get youbooed out of town.

But Earnhardt’s legionof diehards have never wa-vered in their support evenas he slumped, and fewsounds in sports canmatch the roar from thestands when No. 88 zoomsinto the lead.

They all have reason tocheer this year.

Earnhardt pointed to allthe changes at Hendrickfor the reason he’s third inthe points race. His part-nership with crew chiefSteve Letarte, who previ-

ously called the shots forJeff Gordon, has been aninstant success. When thecar does struggle or theyfall a lap behind, they stillfind a way to keep the racefrom completely gettingout of hand.

“I feel like it’s a good re-lationship and going prettygood,” Earnhardt said.“Just trying to protect itand keep it going thatway.”

Team owner Rick Hen-drick has long tried to findthe right formula to makeEarnhardt as successful —or least in the same league— as teammates Jeff Gor-don and Jimmie Johnson.

Earnhardt remains up-beat that his first win inthree years is on the way.

“It’s great, it’s not frus-trating,” he said.

Competitive changes

Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) waits during practice for Sunday’sNASCAR Sprint Cup Series 5-hour ENERGY 500 auto race Friday, inLong Pond, Pa.

Photo by Russ Hamilton Sr. | AP

Earnhardt triesturnaround

By DAN GELSTONASSOCIATED PRESS

PAGE 2B Zscores SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 2011

High School Tennis Camp.This year’s camp will

feature the Quick StartTennis Program for chil-dren 10-and-under.

Quick Start Tennis al-lows for courts and equip-ment to be sized right forkids so that they can enjoythe game right from thestart.

The camp will takeplace Monday throughThursday and will be bro-ken down into three ses-sions, all taking place atthe Zapata High Schooltennis courts.

First session is for 7-8and 9-10 year olds and willmeet from 9-10 a.m.

The focus will be onQuick Start and other fun-damentals.

Everyone must have

fun. Children are encour-aged to bring a 23-25 inch(length) junior tennis rac-quet if possible.

Incoming sixth and sev-enth graders will meetfrom 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

The focus of this groupwill be tennis fundamen-tals, such as groundstrokes, volleys, serving,and beginning match play.

Incoming eighth andninth graders will meetfrom 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

This group will focus onimproving their tennisskills in preparation forteam participation. Begin-ners are welcome.

Camp cost is $30 for thetwo-week session. All pro-ceeds will benefit the Za-pata High and middleschool tennis teams.

CAMPS Continued from Page 1B

During the regular sea-son, Mata helped the LadyHawks capture their firstdistrict title as a keymember at the plate andon the field.

At the all-star game,Mata manned left fieldand made a key catch inthe third inning to keepthe West close to the East.

At the plate, Mata madecontact with the ball, but

a great defensive unit bythe East prevented herfrom getting on base.

“This was a great expe-rience, and I wish that allof my teammates couldexperience it,” Mata said.“It was fun to come outhere and represent Zapa-ta.”

(Clara Sandoval can bereached at [email protected])

MATA Continued from Page 1B

tion we wanted, to go backthere with this opportuni-ty,” center Tyson Chandlersaid. “But we can’t get tooahead of ourselves. Wecan’t get caught up in allthe hoopla.”

In their previous 30 sea-sons, the closest the Maver-icks came to being champswas in 2006, when theyheld a 2-0 series lead overthe Heat and a big, latelead in Game 3.

Dallas ended up blowingit in six games. The Mavshad to watch the Heat cele-brate on their own homefloor. So the chance to closeit out in Game 6, in Miami,is a delicious bit of pay-back to Terry and Dirk No-witzki, the only holdovers.

“Game 6,” Terry said, sa-voring the notion. “Wemust go out, play aggres-sively and take advantageof our opportunity.”

The Mavs have done thatall postseason.

Every time they’ve got-ten three wins a series, thefourth has followed rightaway. They are 3-0 inknockout chances. Onlyone was on the road, but itwas in one of the NBA’smost hostile arenas, inPortland. Dallas alreadyhas tamed the Miamicrowd, handing the Heattheir first home loss of thepostseason in Game 2.

“It’s going to be hard to

go in there in Miami andwin, but we know we arecapable of doing it,” for-ward Shawn Marion said.“It’s going to be crazy. Weknow what’s at stake here.It’s going to be exciting.”

The Mavs are keepingtheir excitement level un-der wraps.

They’ve been in anti-cel-ebration mode since Game2 of the second round,when Nowitzki was upsetabout how giddy guys gotover a second straight vic-tory in Los Angeles. He’sremained stoic regardlessof the circumstances, evenwalking out of the WesternConference title celebra-tion before it was over.

On Thursday night, fol-lowing the most significantwin in franchise history,with fans going bonkers,all Nowitzki did was weari-ly raise his arms.

“I really can’t enjoy itmuch,” he said, still snif-fling a bit because of a si-nus infection that grippedhim in Game 4, but now isas much of a nuisance asthe splint on his left mid-dle finger, which isn’tmuch.

“In the playoffs, for somereason, you’re always onthe edge,” he said. “Youdon’t sleep much. Youthink basketball 24-7. I canenjoy it hopefully nextweek when we’re on vaca-

tion.” The Mavs have needed

fourth-quarter rallies ineach of their three wins.But they keep gettingsmaller, from 12 to nine tofour. In the last game, Dal-las also had the luxury ofplaying from ahead most ofthe night, a first in this se-ries.

The best sign for the Ma-vericks was how manyguys were scoring.

Terry, Jason Kidd andJ.J. Barea all had theirmost productive games ofthe series, pacing an of-fense that blistered theHeat’s vaunted defense.Dallas was especially goodon 3s, making 13 of 19.

“We’re happy with ourperformance,” Kidd said,“but there’s always room toget better.”

Like on defense. While Dallas made 56.5

percent of its shots, Miamimade 52.9 and scored 103points, its best this postsea-son. Easy buckets fueled afourth-quarter rally thatput the Heat ahead andmade the Mavericks needyet another late rally.

Terry was right in themiddle of Dallas’ 15-3 clos-ing kick.

He made an open,straightway 3-pointer thattied it at 100, then fed No-witzki for the dunk thatput the Mavericks back

ahead for good. Terry turn-ed playmaker again on thenext score, driving into thelane and dishing back outto Kidd for a 3-pointer thatextended Dallas’ lead.

His best shot followed, a3-pointer from the rightside, released just over theoutstretched arms of Le-Bron James. It was espe-cially sweet for Terry be-cause James had kept himfrom scoring in the fourthquarter of both games Dal-las lost.

Terry also backed upsome big words, as he’dyapped for days that Jamescouldn’t shut him down ev-ery night and that theMavs wouldn’t lose if theyscored 100 points.

“Ever since I’ve been aMaverick, I’ve been theguy in the fourth quarterthey depended on to eithermake plays or make shots,so I really relish in thatrole,” said Terry, who hadeight of his 21 points in thefinal period. “Thank God Iwas able to do that again.”

He’ll be even morethankful if he can avoidlooking up the phone num-ber of a tattoo removal ex-pert. And for the record,Terry vowed late Thursdaythat the trophy tattoo “ismy last one.”

“I’m not ever getting an-other one,” he said, smil-ing and tapping his biceps.

MAVS Continued from Page 1B

For the series opener,both teams will be startingpitchers with impressiveseasons as Texas A&Mright-hander Ross Striplingfaces Seminoles left-handerSean Gilmartin.

Although Stripling wasn’tthe Aggies’ top pitcher inthe regular season, he haspitched like one. Stripling, aninth-round pick by the Col-

orado Rockies, has a 2.28ERA and is tied for first inthe nation with 13 wins.

Gilmartin, selected in thefirst round by the AtlantaBraves, is just a win behindStripling at 12-1 with a 1.83ERA. He’s pitched at leastsix innings in all 16 of hisstarts.

“Gilmartin is as good asthere is in the country,” said

Texas A&M’s Childress. Of additional concern to

Florida State’s pitchers andcatcher Rafael Lopez is thatthe Aggies have 104 stolenbases — 15th best in Divi-sion I this season.

“That is part of our of-fense,” Childress said.“We’re going to have to putpressure on people and tryto create a run.”

The Seminoles have a bal-anced lineup, which willchallenge a Texas A&Mteam that has the nation’sfifth-lowest ERA at 2.64,Childress said. FloridaState’s lineup features sixeveryday players who hit atleast .300, led by JamesRamsey (.364) and JayceBoyd (.335).

“There’s not a guy in that

lineup where you can catchyour breath,” Childresssaid. “They’re very, verytough to get out.”

FSU is hosting a SuperRegional for the fourthstraight season and theSeminoles are trying toearn a College World Seriesbid for the 21st time in theprogram’s history. TexasA&M is playing in its first

Super Regional since 2008and is aiming for its firstCWS berth since 1999.

“That’s our goal, to get toOmaha,” said Martin, whois in his 32nd season at Flor-ida State and is working to-ward the school’s first Col-lege World Series title. “Wedon’t hide that fact. It getstougher every year. Thereare so many good clubs.”

A&M Continued from Page 1B

NEW YORK — MannyPacquiao never has trou-ble finding a fight. Any-body with a shred of cred-ibility who can come closeto making weight hasbeen lining up for years toface the box-office sensa-tion.

So when Pacquiaoagreed to fight Juan Man-uel Marquez in November,their third matchup inwhat already has been anepic series, everyone elsestarted pairing up.

Junior welterweighttitleholders Amir Khanand Zab Judah found eachother. They’ll meet in LasVegas in a highly antici-pated unification match inJuly.

Former titleholderDevon Alexander lined upwith hard-hitting LucasMatthysse. They’ll meet inAlexander’s native St.Louis later this month.

Floyd Mayweather Jr.announced plans to end a16-month layoff this week.He agreed to face welter-weight champ Victor Ortizat a venue to be decided inSeptember.

The combined record ofthose eight fighters? 290wins, 19 losses, five draws.They also have about 30world titles between them,depending on what youcount.

“I really can’t remem-ber any other weight classthat has been so talent-loaded,” Golden Boy Pro-motions chief executiveRichard Schaefer said, re-ferring to the 140- and 147-pound divisions, by far themost exciting in boxingover the past few years.

Those are just the fightsthat have been finalized.

Golden Boy is close to adeal for lightweight champRobert Guerrero to moveup to 140 pounds againstMarcos Maidana, anotherhard-punching contender.

And former three-divisionchampion Erik Morales isexpected to return soon af-ter taking Maidana to thebrink in April.

“These are some bignames, some great match-ups,” Schaefer said thisweek. “They bring namerecognition, so not onlyfight fans tune in, butsports fans as well.”

The pool of fights re-minds Schaefer of the1980s, when the quartet ofSugar Ray Leonard, Mar-vin Hagler, ThomasHearns and Roberto Du-ran were reaching theirpeak — four fighters of thesame elite caliber whocame together for a seriesof slugfests, nine in all.

They’ve stood the test oftime.

There was Leonardmaking Duran call “nomas” at the Louisiana Su-perdome. Hagler-Hearnsin April 1985, in the oldoutdoor stadium at Cae-sar’s Palace, still consid-ered the greatest three-round fight in boxing his-tory. And the rematch be-tween Leonard and Duranin December 1989, thefight that effectively closedthe chapter on the memo-rable era.

The series of fightsscheduled to take placeover the next six monthsmay not live up to thoselofty standards, but theyshould provide anotherjolt of intrigue to a sportthat has been trying to re-capture the public’s imag-ination.

“It’s like those great

fights in the 1980s, greattiming,” said FreddieRoach, who will have ahand in several of thematchups as a trainer ofPacquiao and Khan.

“Even Mayweather isgetting in there. I think hepicked a southpaw, maybehe’s getting ready for Man-ny,” Roach said. “It kind ofexcites me. I’m glad thefight is happening.”

There are a few fightsthat aren’t happening, anda few fighters left out.

The most notable is un-beaten welterweight title-holder Timothy Bradley,who backed out of a pro-posed unification fightagainst Khan and a re-portedly career-high pay-day. Now that just aboutevery other marqueename has locked up afight, Bradley is left with-out a dance partner.

“My whole goal is tofight Bradley, and then hepulled out. But it’s one ofthose things,” Khan said.“They just didn’t want thefight. He said, ’I don’twant to fight Amir,’ but bythe time he gets back inthe ring, it’ll be over ayear off.”

Bradley’s loss ended upbeing Judah’s gain.

The former undisputedwelterweight championhas been making a come-back at 140 pounds, hismore natural weight, andhas been impressive inrattling off five straightvictories. His most recentwin earned him the va-cant IBF junior welter-weight title.

Fighters lining up forshot at Pacquiao

By DAVE SKRETTAASSOCIATED PRESS Golden Boy is close to a deal for

lightweight champ RobertGuerrero to move up to 140pounds against Marcos Maidana,another hard-punchingcontender.

SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 2011 THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

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

COLOR-CODED PETSDear Heloise: With four

dogs, it’s easy to becomeoverwhelmed with theirtoys, blankets, etc. I cameup with an easy way to stayorganized: COLOR-CODEDSTICKERS! These can befound in the office-supplysection of most stores.

Each dog, and even thecat, has its own color. Thismakes things much easierwhen I go away and havesomeone else housesit andwatch my pets. — Shelly inTexas

SNAKE BITEDear Readers: Do you

spend a lot of time outdoors,hiking, hunting, boating,etc., with your dog? Beaware of the possibility ofcoming in contact withsnakes! And in warmweather, snakes are about.

If your pet is bitten byany snake, even a nonven-omous one, get to the veter-inarian immediately! Don’tdo anything yourself.

Know the snakes that arein your area. If your dog isbitten, don’t try to kill orfind the snake — you’rewasting valuable time foryour pet’s care. — Heloise

PET PALDear Readers: Nina R. of

Ventura, Calif., sent a pic-ture of her 10-year-old whitedog, Phoebe, smiling andstanding next to a tie-dyedT-shirt. To see Phoebe andour other Pet Pals, log on towww.Heloise.com and clickon “Pets.” — Heloise

FAVORITE PET HINTSDear Readers: What are

your favorite pet/animal-care hints? For dogs? Cats?Or any pet or animal? Forsummertime? For anytime!We would love to share yourhints with our readers.Send your hints to: Heloise/Pet Hints, P.O. Box 795000,San Antonio, TX 78279, or

send email to [email protected]. — Heloise

CREATIVE CATCARRIER

Dear Heloise: One day, Iwas in a bind and needed toget my cat to the vet, but Ididn’t have my cat carrierhandy. My sister suggestedtaking one laundry basket,putting a towel in the bot-tom and using twist-ties tosecure a second laundrybasket to the top. Workedlike a charm! — A Reader,Fort Wayne, Ind.

CRATE RESPONSEHi, Heloise: I read your

article on traveling withpets in crates. This is theonly safe way to transportan animal in a vehicle. Inaddition to safety, we haveour dogs’ information in aclear envelope attached tothe outside of the crate. Onone side it says, “In Case ofEmergency,” and the otherside has the names andphone numbers of two peo-ple who would take ourdogs in case we are unableto speak or are taken to thehospital. Also included isthe name and phone num-ber of our vet’s office. —Kathy, via email

BIRD WATERERDear Heloise: I have

many birds, and providingthem with water was a nev-er- ending chore! I made it abit easier by purchasing aself-watering containermeant for cats and dogs. Re-filling it is much less time-consuming than constantlyrefilling the small cups thatare intended for birds. Theynow never run out of fresh,clean water. — A BirdFriend, via email

HINTS BY | HELOISE

“HELOISE

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES Sports SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 2011

LOS ANGELES — The head of thesports and entertainment firm that wantsto build an NFL stadium in downtown LosAngeles has been in talks with officialsfrom five pro football teams about the pro-posed venue, a company official said Fri-day.

Anschutz Entertainment Group Presi-dent and CEO Tim Leiweke has spokenwith representatives from the MinnesotaVikings, San Diego Chargers, OaklandRaiders, St. Louis Rams and Jacksonville

Jaguars, company spokesman MichaelRoth told The Associated Press.

Leiweke said all those teams are “in themix,” but conceded, “We’re not packingany (moving) vans right now,” accordingto the Orange County Register, which wasfirst to report on the talks.

The most recent discussion took place aweek ago, said Leiweke, who didn’t specifywhich team those talks were with.

Leiweke also told the Register that AEGowner Philip Anschutz was prepared toacquire a majority stake in an NFL teamthat would play at the proposed venue andthat the company was willing to pay for a

team to get out of its current lease. Chargers spokesman Mark Fabiani told

the AP that the team is in frequent contactwith Leiweke concerning unrelated busi-ness, but that a move to Los Angeles hasnot been discussed.

He also said that Chargers owner AlexSpanos and his family were not interestedin relinquishing a majority stake of theteam.

Messages left with the Vikings, Raiders,Rams and Jaguars were not returned.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy de-clined to comment on whether the leaguewas aware of team discussions with AEG.

“Teams are permitted to talk to thirdparties,” McCarthy said in a statement.

AEG’s $1 billion plan for a 72,000-seatstadium on part of the city’s conventioncenter campus is one of two competingproposals that aim to bring pro footballback to Los Angeles 15 years after theRams and Raiders left the nation’s second-largest market within months of one an-other.

Warehouse magnate Ed Roski has per-mits in place to build a separate 75,000-seatstadium about 15 miles east of Los An-geles, in the city of Industry, but has alsonot secured a team.

Los Angeles exploring NFL optionsBy JACOB ADELMANASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Even without aTriple Crown on the line, the 143rdBelmont Stakes may indeed be the“Test of the Champion.”

The final leg of the TripleCrown features not only the rub-ber match between Kentucky Der-by winner Animal Kingdom andPreakness winner Shackleford onSaturday, but the top seven finish-ers from the Derby for the firsttime as well.

“Why did everyone pick thisyear to come back?” wondered asmiling Graham Motion, whotrains Animal Kingdom.

After watching his Derby win-ner gallop around the 11/2-milemain track at Belmont Park on

Friday morning, Motion declaredhis colt in “great form” and up tothe challenge of taking on a slewof rivals for the third time in fiveweeks.

“To have seven horses comeback from the Derby, and to havethe winner of the Preakness andDerby, what more can you want?”Motion said. “Everyone wants tosee a Triple Crown winner, but ul-timately this is the test of cham-pions and I think this really is go-ing to be that test.”

Animal Kingdom is the 2-1 fa-vorite in a field of 12 3-year-olds ashe attempts to become the 12thhorse to complete a Derby-Belmontdouble. The last to succeed wasThunder Gulch in 1995.

Derby runner-up Nehro is thesecond choice at 4-1, with Shackle-

ford next at 9-2 as he tries to be-come the 19th horse to take thePreakness and Belmont.

Ahmed Zayat, who owns Nehro,can’t wait to see what happens. Ofcourse, he’s hoping his colt willshed his bridesmaid reputation af-ter second-place finishes in theLouisiana, Arkansas and Ken-tucky derbies.

“This race will be somethingspecial,” he said. “It’s another Der-by at the test of champions.”

The matchup of a Derby winneragainst a Preakness winner in the11/2-mile Belmont doesn’t occur of-ten. This will be the 22nd time it’shappens, and first since 2005, whenPreakness winner Afleet Alex de-feated Derby winner Giacomo.Preakness winners have won 10times, Derby winners five times.

Short of a Triple Crown bid,“this is going to be one of the mostexciting Belmonts I can remem-ber,” Shackleford’s trainer Dale Ro-mans said.

The New York Racing Associ-ation is hoping for a crowd of60,000, far less than the record120,139 that showed up for SmartyJones’ Triple Crown try in 2004.Weather could be a factor withforecasts calling for a 60 percentchance of rain, with thunder-storms possible by late afternoon,and temperatures in the high 60s.

Motion and Romans have said awet track shouldn’t be a problemfor their horses, while long shotRuler On Ice has won over a slop-py dirt track before.

Post time for the race on NBC is6:35 p.m.

Nehro, with an unidentified exercise rider up, gallops Friday at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Photo by Mark Lennihan | AP

Belmont Stakes poses champion’s testBy RICHARD ROSENBLATT

ASSOCIATED PRESS

TAMPA, Fla. — LandonDonovan expects the Unit-ed States men’s nationalsoccer team to be on itsgame when it resumesGold Cup play againstPanama.

Noting there’s a historyof close games betweenthe teams in the tourna-ment that determines thechampion of North andCentral America and theCaribbean, Donovanstressed the favoredAmericans can not affordto overlook their next op-ponent on Saturday night.

The U.S. has beatenPanama in each of thepast three Gold Cups, in-cluding 2005 when theyplayed to a scoreless tie inthe final. The Americanstook the title that year af-ter winning a penaltyshootout, then eliminatedthe Panamanians in thequarterfinals in 2007 and2009.

Winning the Gold Cupnot only would ensure theU.S. a berth in the 2013Confederations Cup, butalso send a message to re-gional competitors theAmericans potentiallycould face in qualifiersleading to the next WorldCup in Brazil.

“They always give us atough matchup. Athleti-cally, they are challengingand they do a pretty goodjob tactically of makingthe game hard againstus,” Donovan said.

“They have a lot of ex-perience. People forgethow much experience thisgroup of players have now.It’s been basically thesame team for five, six,seven, eight years,” theAmerican star added. “It’sgoing to be a difficultgame. We expect a toughtest.”

But one the U.S. fullyexpects to win, providedthere’s no dropoff from asolid performance in a 2-0tournament-opening vic-tory over Canada on Tues-day night.

The Americans canclinch a top-two finish inGroup C, thus guarantee-ing a quarterfinal berth ifthey beat Panama andCanada also gets at leastone point against Guade-loupe in the first game ofSaturday’s doubleheaderat Raymond James Stadi-um.

Securing a berth in thenext round after twogames could afford U.S.coach Bob Bradley an op-portunity to rest someregulars while also givingsome of the team’s young-er players a chance to getsome valuable Gold Cupexperience against Guade-loupe in Kansas City onJune 14.

“Obviously if we winwe’ll be sitting pretty andin a good spot to definitelywin the group,” defenderTim Ream said.

“This tournament is al-ways important for us. Wealso qualify against theseteams,” Donovan stressed.“So there’s the games, butthere’s also the mental as-pect that’s important aswell.

If we play Panama in aqualifier in the future wewant to know that wehave the advantage ofbeating them here, andhopefully that stays intheir minds.”

Donovanwon’t

overlookPanama

By FRED GOODALLASSOCIATED PRESS

MONTREAL — Sebastian Vettelis in the company of the great driv-ers in Formula One history — notjust by winning the 2010 worldchampionship, but also by crash-ing into the legendary “Wall ofChampions” at the CanadianGrand Prix.

Vettel had his first practice runat the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit cutshort after only eight laps Fridaywhen he lost control on the 14thturn and hit the same wall whereF1 champions Jacques Villeneuve,Michael Schumacher and DamonHill also left their marks. Vettelwas not hurt; he returned to thetrack in the afternoon and finishedwith the second-fastest lap of theday.

“It’s a special circuit here,” Vet-tel said. “It’s quite rough with allof the curbs and chicanes, but Ilike it. I had a crash this morning,and some people went off after me.So things can happen quicklyhere.”

Crashing in the afternoon prac-tice were Kamui Kobayashi, whohit the wall hard after failing tomake it through Turn 4, and Je-rome D’Ambrosio in the same cor-ner. Adrian Sutil also crashed inthe second session, which wasstopped twice with red flags.

But Vettel was back out there,trailing only Fernando Alonso forthe fastest lap of the day. Alonsoran his best lap at 1 minute, 15.107seconds, and Vettel was 0.369 sec-

onds behind. In the morning ses-sion, it was Nico Rosberg with thefastest time at 1:15.591, with Alonso0.548 behind him and MichaelSchumacher 0.958 seconds back.

The runaway points leader inFormula One this season, with a143-85 lead over second-place LewisHamilton of McLaren, Vettel wastrying to navigate a quick right-leftchicane — the final turn on thecircuit — when he skidded and hitthe wall with the right front tire.Debris from his Red Bull car wasscattered over the track, bringing

practice to a brief halt. Vettel got out of the car on his

own and walked to the safety van.The car was lifted by a crane andremoved from the course.

“I lost the rear, but by the time Ihit the wall I had low speed, so thecrash was quite mild,” said Vettel,who has won five of the first sixraces on the schedule this year.“There wasn’t much damage, sowe could fix the car and get backout this afternoon.”

Mexican driver Sergio Perez,who was hospitalized after crash-

ing during qualifying at Monaco,withdrew from the race and wasreplaced by Pedro de la Rosa. Perezhad been cleared to drive in Mon-treal after recovering from a con-cussion and leg injury, but theSauber F1 team said that Perez“reported feeling unwell” after Fri-day morning practice and it wasdecided he should “miss one raceon grounds of safety.”

“Of course I wanted to drive,and I had no doubt I was all right,”Perez said. “But apparently this isunfortunately not the case. I amdeeply disappointed. I spoke to theteam after the session and toldthem that I’m not 100 percent fit. Ionly want to drive when I’m 100percent well. I need some moretime to recover.”

Team principal Peter Saubersaid the development was a sur-prise because Perez was checkedby the hospital in Monaco, anotherin Zurich and finally by FIA doc-tors in Montreal on Thursday.

“Nobody could have foreseenthat he would feel unwell,” Saubersaid. “Maybe we are being overlycautious, but when it’s about thehealth of our drivers we take zerorisks.”

Hamilton, who has won the Can-adian GP two of the last threetimes, was sixth-fastest in themorning and fourth in the after-noon. Hamilton was in Montrealafter avoiding a threatened six-raceban by apologizing to the sport’sgoverning body and his fellowdrivers for a series of outbursts atMonaco on May 29.

Crash stalls Vettel in Canadian GP practiceBy JIMMY GOLEN

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Force India driver Paul Di Resta races his car to the sixth fastest time during thesecond practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix auto race Friday in Montreal.

Photo by Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press | AP