WEDNESDAYOCTOBER 21, 2015

FREE

DELIVERED EVERY SATURDAY

A HEARST PUBLICATION ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

TO 4,000 HOMES

BRYANT’S RETURN UNCERTAINCOWBOYS NOT SURE IF DEZ BRYANT WILL BE READY FOR GIANTS, 7A

The lack of water in theSiesta Shores WCID Subdi-vision, about three milesnorth of Zapata, was tem-porarily resolved by inter-connecting a pipeline fromthe Zapata County WaterSystem to the residents af-fected.

On Saturday night aproblem occurred whenthe water storage tank atthe subdivision began toleak, threatening to leaveabout 1,000 families with-out water within 48 hours.

“We were able to inter-connect the systems with a700-foot pipe, and at 8 a.m.(Monday) the water beganto flow,” Zapata CountyJudge Joe Rathmell said ina telephone interview. “Wehope that by the end of the

day (Monday) the pressurewill be adjusted.”

Also, familiesneed to follow a boilwater alert for onemore day, or untiltests indicate thatthe water is fit forhuman consumption.

“The elevated tankhad enough water fortwo days, but I thinkwhen residents heard thatthe water was running,many of them used morethan the usual, and thestored water only lasted aday,” he said. “They usedtwice as usual for a Sun-day.”

Even though the watersystem is run by SiestaShores Water Work, an in-dependent firm, Rathmelland the Zapata CountyCommissioners decided totake action.

“We could perform thisworkaround connec-tion into an existingpipeline (from Sies-ta Shores) to a pipein our system,” ex-plained Rathmell.

A new storagetank and water hasbeen located and theWater Work Compa-

ny expects to get in earlyNovember.

“The water system incoordination with TCQwill have to provide theblueprint and at the sametime analyze what kind oftank they’re going to get,and consider all the re-quired specifications,”Rathmell said. “Once thishappens it should takeabout three weeks to set itup.”

Employees from the Za-pata County Water System

worked for 24 hoursstraight to install the tem-porary pine.

“I want to reassure resi-dents that we will do ev-erything in our power tohelp them,” said Rathmell.“County staff was on handto help our neighbors,friends and brothers.”

Meanwhile, H-E-B do-nated 7,000 boxes of waterbottles to Siesta Shores’residents and Webb Coun-ty Judge Tano Tijerina of-fered his help with a tanktruck as well.

Rathmell requested thatfamilies limit their wateruse, until the time comesto demolish the affectedwater storage tank andthe new one arrives, andits set up.

(Contact Melva Lavín-Castillo at (956) 728-2569 ormecastillo@lmtonline.com)

SIESTA SHORES

Water shortageProblem temporarily resolved for subdivision

By MELVA LAVÍN-CASTILLOTHE ZAPATA TIMES

RATHMELL

Two suspected street-lev-el drug dealers werearrested following arecent narcoticsraid, authorities an-nounced recently.

The Zapata Coun-ty Sheriff ’s Officeexecuted a searchwarrant regardingan illegal narcoticsdealer operatingfrom his home inthe 2500 block ofFresno Street, re-ports state.

Sheriff ’s officialssaid they seized 26foils containingcrack-cocaine, 12 plasticbaggies containing mari-

juana, 18 Xanax pills, 30 Al-prazolam pills and $1,106.

Authorities identifiedthe suspects as Eduardo Ja-

vier Gonzalez Jr. andAmador Jay Salinas.

Both were chargedwith two counts ofpossession of a con-trolled substance andone count of posses-sion of marijuana.

Gonzalez and Sali-nas were taken to theZapata County Re-gional Jail. Salinas isout on bond. Custodyinformation on Gon-zalez was not availa-ble.

(César G. Rodri-guez may be reached

at 728-2568 or cesar@lmton-line.com)

ZAPATA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

Two drugdealersarrested

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES

GONZALEZ

SALINAS

Rep. Cesar Blanco, an El Pa-so Democrat, asked two ofhis Republican colleagues ifthere was something theycould do to keep DonaldTrump from exploiting theborder for his own political

AUSTIN — In the middleof Saturday’s Texas TribuneFestival panel on the borderand the Legislature, state

benefit.“Do you think any of us

can control DonaldTrump?” replied state Rep.Larry Phillips, the ShermanRepublican who chairs theHouse Homeland Security

and Public Safety Commit-tee.

Perhaps not.But the panel of border

mayors that followed in-

TEXAS TRIBUNE FESTIVAL

BORDER DISCUSSION

Mayor Pro-temp Juan Narviaez, City Councilman Alejandro Perez and City Manager Jesus Olivares look on as Republican Party presidentialcandidate Donald Trump shakes hands with Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz at a press conference July 23 at the World Trade Bridge in Laredo.

Photo by Cuate Santos | Laredo Morning Times file

Trump ‘changed his tone a little bit’ after visitBy JONATHAN TILOVE

AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN

See BORDER PAGE 8A

The South Texas FoodBank distributed9,909,472 pounds of prod-uct to needy families inits eight-county servicearea during the fiscalyear that ended Sept. 30.

The 9.9 millionpounds is the highest to-tal since the 10,291,719pounds distributed in2011.

Alma Boubel, foodbank executive director,shared the figure at themonthly South TexasFood Bank board meet-

ing at Commerce Bank.Erasmo Villarreal is theSouth Texas Food Bankboard president.

The poundage equals8,257,893 meals served inone of the most impover-ished areas in the stateand nation, where thepoverty rate is 30-pluspercent. The South Tex-as Food Bank, whichopened in 1989 under theauspices of H-E-B as theLaredo Webb CountyFood Bank, now in-cludes the counties of

SOUTH TEXAS FOOD BANK

The South Texas Food Bank distributed 9,909,472 pounds ofproduct to families in its eight-county service area this year.

Courtesy photo

More than 8 million

meals servedSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

See FOOD BANK PAGE 8A

PAGE 2A Zin brief WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015

Wednesday, October 21Pumpkin Patch, First United

Methodist Church, 1220 McClellandfrom 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Public invited;admission free.

Bringing Vitality to Main Street:How Immigrant Small Businesses HelpLocal Economies Grow, from 7–8:30p.m. at TAMIU Student Center Ball-room, 5201 University Blvd. FeaturingDavid D. Kallick, senior fellow and di-rector of the Immigration Research Ini-tiative at the Fiscal Policy Institute inNew York. Free and open to the public.

Thursday, October 22Pumpkin Patch, First United

Methodist Church, 1220 McClellandfrom 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Public invited;admission free.

Spanish Book Club from 6–8p.m. at the Laredo Public Library onCalton. For more information call SylviaReash at 763-1810

TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Plan-etarium shows. 6 p.m.: Cosmic Adven-tures; 7 p.m.: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side ofthe Moon. General Admission is $4 forchildren and $5 for adults. Admissionis $4 for TAMIU students, faculty andstaff. For more information call 956-326-DOME (3663).

Friday, October 23Pumpkin Patch, First United

Methodist Church, 1220 McClellandfrom 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Public invited;admission free.

UISD Dyslexia Awareness ParentFestival from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.at the Student Activity Complex, rooms1 and 2, 5208 Santa Claudia Ln. Par-ents and members of the communityare invited to learn more about dyslex-ia and how to help their child at home.Admission is free. Door prizes will begiven and a light breakfast will beserved. For more information, contactBrenda Benavides at 956-473-5246 or473-5267.

Movies on the Patio at the VillaAntigua Border Heritage Museum, 810Zaragoza St. “The Brain That Wouldn’tDie” will show at 7:30 p.m. Free andopen to the public. Outdoor seatingand concessions. In case of rain, theevent will be canceled. For more infor-mation, call 727-0977.

Saturday, October 24Pumpkin Patch, First United

Methodist Church, 1220 McClellandfrom 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Public invited;admission free.

The Laredo Free Thinkers will behaving Operation Feed the Homeless atJarvis Plaza at 3 p.m. Please volunteertime and/or food, drinks, clothing, etc.For more information please visit/message the Laredo Free Thinkerspage on Facebook.

TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Plan-etarium shows. 2 p.m.: Cosmic Adven-tures; 3 p.m.: The Little Star ThatCould; 4 p.m.: Back to the Moon; 5p.m.: Violent Universe: Catastrophes ofthe Universe. General Admission is $4for children and $5 for adults. Admis-sion is $4 for TAMIU students, facultyand staff. Matinee Shows are $1 less.Call 956-326-DOME (3663).

Sunday, October 25Pumpkin Patch is open in front

of the First United Methodist Church,1220 McClelland. 12:30 to 6:30 p.m.Public is invited, and admission is free.

Monday, October 26Pumpkin Patch, First United

Methodist Church, 1220 McClellandfrom 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Public invited;admission free.

Chess Club meets at the LBV–In-ner City Branch Library from 4–6 p.m.Free for all ages and skill levels. Basicinstruction is offered. Call John at 795-2400, x2521.

Tuesday, October 27Pumpkin Patch, First United

Methodist Church, 1220 McClellandfrom 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Public invited;admission free.

Take the challenge and climb theRock Wall. Free. Bring ID and sign re-lease form. 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. atLBV–Inner City Branch Library, 202 W.Plum St. Call 795-2400, x2520.

TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Plan-etarium shows. 6 p.m.: Cosmic Adven-tures; 7 p.m.: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side ofthe Moon. General Admission is $4 forchildren and $5 for adults. Admissionis $4 for TAMIU students, faculty andstaff. For more information call 956-326DOME (3663).

Halloween Health Fair at theLBV–Inner City Branch Library from 3p.m.–5:30 p.m.

CALENDARASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Wednesday, Octo-ber 21, the 294th day of 2015.There are 71 days left in theyear.

Today’s Highlight in His-tory:

On October 21, 1892, school-children across the U.S. ob-served Columbus Day (accord-ing to the Gregorian calendar)by reciting, for the first time,the original version of “ThePledge of Allegiance,” writtenby Francis Bellamy for TheYouth’s Companion. Thepledge, which has been re-vised several times, originallywent, “I pledge allegiance tomy Flag and the republic forwhich it stands, one nation in-divisible, with liberty and jus-tice for all.”

On this date:In 1879, Thomas Edison per-

fected a workable electric lightat his laboratory in MenloPark, New Jersey.

In 1917, members of the 1stDivision of the U.S. Armytraining in Luneville, France,became the first Americans tosee action on the front lines ofWorld War I.

In 1945, women in Francewere allowed to vote in parlia-mentary elections for the firsttime.

In 1959, the Solomon R.Guggenheim Museum, de-signed by Frank Lloyd Wright,opened to the public in NewYork.

In 1960, Democrat John F.Kennedy and Republican Rich-ard M. Nixon clashed in theirfourth and final presidentialdebate in New York.

In 1971, President RichardNixon nominated Lewis F. Po-well and William H. Rehnquistto the U.S. Supreme Court.(Both nominees were con-firmed.)

In 1985, former San Francis-co Supervisor Dan White —who’d served five years inprison for killing MayorGeorge Moscone and Supervi-sor Harvey Milk, a gay-rightsadvocate — was found dead ina garage, a suicide.

Ten years ago: HurricaneWilma tore into Mexico’s Yu-catan peninsula as a Category4 storm, after killing 13 peoplein Haiti and Jamaica.

Five years ago: Eight cur-rent and former officialspleaded not guilty to lootingmillions of dollars from Cali-fornia’s modest blue-collar cityof Bell. (Seven defendants end-ed up being convicted, and re-ceived sentences ranging fromhome confinement to 12 yearsin prison.)

One year ago: In SouthAfrica, Oscar Pistorius wassentenced to five years in pris-on for killing girlfriend ReevaSteenkamp; legal analysts saidunder the law, the man knownas the “Blade Runner” be-cause of his carbon-fiber run-ning blades, would have toserve 10 months, or one-sixthof his sentence, in prison be-fore he was eligible for housearrest.

Today’s Birthdays: Ac-tress Joyce Randolph is 91. Au-thor Ursula K. Le Guin is 86.TV’s Judge Judy Sheindlin is73. Israeli Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu is 66. Ac-tress LaTanya RichardsonJackson is 66. Movie directorCatherine Hardwicke is 60. Ac-tress-author Carrie Fisher is59. Singer Julian Cope is 58.Christian rock musician Char-lie Lowell (Jars of Clay) is 42.Actor Will Estes is 37. RealityTV star Kim Kardashian is 35.Actor Matt Dallas is 33.

Thought for Today: “Si-lence is sometimes the se-verest criticism.” — CharlesBuxton, English writer (1823-1871).

TODAY IN HISTORY

AUSTIN — Texas announced Monday thatit was cutting off Medicaid funding toPlanned Parenthood clinics following under-cover videos of officials discussing fetal tis-sue, potentially triggering a legal fight likethe one unfolding in neighboring Louisiana.

Planned Parenthood affiliates statewidewere told in a letter that their enrollment inthe joint state-federal Medicaid program wasin the process of being terminated becausethey were potentially “liable, directly or byaffiliation, for a series of serious Medicaidprogram violations.” The five-page letter wassent by the Texas Health and Human Servic-es Commission’s Office of Inspector General.

The move comes after undercover videosreleased by the anti-abortion group Centerfor Medical Progress, which alleges the vid-

eos show that Planned Parenthood illegallysold fetal tissue for profit. Planned Parent-hood denies the allegation and said the vid-eos were misleading.

A federal judge ordered Louisiana onMonday to continue providing Medicaidfunding to Planned Parenthood clinics for 14more days. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal,while running for president, ordered hisstate to block funding in the wake of thesame videos, but Planned Parenthood suedand challenged the state ending of fundingfor non-abortion services, such as cancerscreenings and gynecology exams.

Texas’ letter to its affiliates attempted toaddress the issue of access to other services.

The letter also noted that since 2013, theGOP-controlled Texas Legislature has movedto deny as much funding to Planned Parent-hood as possible.

AROUND TEXAS

In this July 28 file photo, Erica Canaut, center, cheers as she and other anti-abortion activists rally on the steps of the TexasCapitol in Austin, to condemn the use in medical research of tissue samples obtained from aborted fetuses. Texas an-nounced Monday that it was cutting off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood clinics.

Photo by Eric Gay | AP file

Texas cuts off fundingBy WILL WEISSERTASSOCIATED PRESS

Sixth Floor Museum addsOswald’s ring to exhibitDALLAS — The Dallas mu-

seum that tells the story of Presi-dent John F. Kennedy’s death hasacquired his assassin’s weddingband. Lee Harvey Oswald’s ring,left on a dresser the morning ofNov. 22, 1963, went on displayTuesday at the Sixth Floor Mu-seum at Dealey Plaza. The ringis the first personal item belong-ing to Oswald the museum hasacquired.

Nearly 70 homesdestroyed in wildfire

SMITHVILLE — Residentsforced from their homes by a 7-square-mile Central Texas wild-fire have been allowed to returnto the evacuation zone — someto return to their homes, some tocount their losses.

The Texas A&M Forest Ser-vice on Tuesday reported theblaze in Bastrop County was 80percent contained after burning68 homes Oct. 13.

Bond $150K for driverafter motorcycle hit

GRANBURY — A North Texasdriver accused of intentionallyhitting a motorcycle and leavingtwo people hurt says he swervedafter an insect bit him.

William Crum of Granburywas being held Tuesday on twocounts of aggravated assault overthe videotaped wreck near Gran-bury.

Hood County jail records listhis bond at $150,000.

Swift water trainingrescue practice turns real

NEW BRAUNFELS — Emer-gency responders practicingswift water rescues in a SouthTexas river have saved a boywho fell from an inner tube.

Austin-Travis County EMS onMonday announced the Oct. 5rescue in the Comal River inNew Braunfels. The rescue wascaptured on video by a cameraworn by Special OperationsCmdr. Craig Smith.

Patient shot when gundischarges at clinic

BEAUMONT — A handgunthat fell from a purse at a Beau-mont medical clinic has dis-charged and injured a patientwho was checking out of the fa-cility.

Beaumont police said in astatement that the shooting hap-pened Monday as a woman wasassisting her mother at the clinicand the two were at a front deskpreparing to leave.

7 convicted of operatingNorth Texas ‘pill mill’

DALLAS — Federal prosecu-tors say seven people have beenconvicted of operating a NorthTexas “pill mill” that conspiredto illegally distribute prescrip-tion drugs. Dr. Theodore Okechu-ku of Plano and three otherswere found guilty by a federal ju-ry of charges that include con-spiracy to unlawfully distribute acontrolled substance.

— Compiled from AP reports

Sharp-toothed creaturethat bit surfer was an eel

HONOLULU — An eel, not ashark, bit a surfer off the shoreof Hawaii’s Waikiki Beach overthe weekend.

The state Department of Landand Natural Resources saidTuesday it made the determina-tion based on an interview withthe victim and photos of his in-juries.

Hawaii’s coral reefs are hometo a variety of eels, includingsome with large mouths, longteeth and strong jaws that helpin capturing prey. The MauiOcean Center’s website says thesnakelike fish normally aren’taggressive but have been knownto defend their lairs.

Mom, 3 kids, neighborkilled in row house fireMAYSVILLE, Ky. — A fire that

appeared to start on the backporch of a row house spread

quickly Tuesday, killing a wom-an, three of her children and aneighbor, authorities said.

A neighbor who survived saidthe mother went back inside totry to save her kids while flameswere shooting out of the build-ing. “We were saying, ‘God, no,

God, no,’ and I knew she wasn’tcoming back out,” Ruth Austensaid, holding and comforting acrying cat that she said belongedto the victims.

The father of the children sur-vived.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

This Dec. 26, 2011 file photo shows the Mokulua Islands from a view on the Lani-kai Pillboxes trail in Lanikai, Hawaii. Authorities say an eel, not a shark, bit a surf-er off the shore of Hawaii’s Waikiki Beach over the weekend.

Photo by Carolyn Kaster | AP file

Publisher, William B. Green........................728-2501Account Executive, Dora Martinez ...... (956) 765-5113General Manager, Adriana Devally ...............728-2510Adv. Billing Inquiries ................................. 728-2531Circulation Director ................................. 728-2559MIS Director, Michael Castillo.................... 728-2505Copy Editor, Nick Georgiou ....................... 728-2565Sports Editor, Zach Davis ..........................728-2578Spanish Editor, Melva Lavin-Castillo............ 728-2569

SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY(956) 728-2555

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

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

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

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

CONTACT US

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015 Local & State THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

The Texas Border Coali-tion has announced a slateof new officers and commit-tee chairmen to lead the or-ganization in its mission tohelp border communitiesgrow and prosper.

During TBC’s annualmeeting earlier this month,Laredo Mayor Pete Saenzwas elected to a two-yearterm as chairman elect.McAllen City Commission-er Richard Cortez was ap-pointed vice chairman.

Carolyn Petty, presidentof TaxFree Shopping Ltd.,has been appointed chair-woman of TBC’s new eco-nomic development commit-tee, and Sergio Contreras,director of external affairsfor the city of Pharr, willserve as transportationcommittee chairman.

“TBC is privileged tohave experienced and influ-

ential border leaders work-ing on our behalf in Austinand Washington,” said TBCChairman J.D. Salinas III.“With decades of experi-ence, these individuals willapply their knowledge andskills to help solve numer-ous challenges facing bor-der communities. I look for-ward to working with themto confront these challeng-es.”

Since 1998, TBC has beenthe collective voice of bor-der communities on issuesaffecting Texas-Mexico bor-der region. TBC membersare committed to working todevelop innovative policiesand legislation at the na-tional, state, and local levels.

TBC executive committeemembers include ZapataCounty Judge Joe Rathmell;Del Rio Mayor Robert Gar-za; Eagle Pass Mayor Ram-sey Cantu; La Joya MayorJose A. "Fito" Salinas;

McAllen Mayor Jim Dar-ling; Pharr Mayor Ambro-sio “Amos” Hernandez;Pharr-Reynosa Internation-al Bridge Director of Oper-ations Fred Brouwen; PortIsabel Mayor Joe Vega; Ro-ma Mayor Jose AlfredoGuerra; Willacy County Au-relio “Keter” Guerra; andBen Petty, Sr., TaxFreeShopping, Ltd.

Standing committeechairman also include BlasCastaneda, workforce devel-opment; Olga Gabriel,health care; and MonicaWeisberg-Stewart, immigra-tion and border security.

Pete SaenzPete Saenz was elected

mayor of Laredo in Novem-ber, where he is focused onbringing new industry andjobs to the city, while devel-oping trust and transparen-

cy within city government.For 12 years, he was a mem-ber of the Laredo Communi-ty College Board of Trust-ees, serving four years aspresident, playing an instru-mental role in the planningand construction of the LCCSouth Campus.

Saenz built a highly suc-cessful and distinguishedlaw practice, and alsoworked for the U.S. Depart-ment of Agriculture as aRange Conservationist. Inaddition, he has served onnumerous communityboards and advisory com-mittees, including presidentof the South Texas FoodBank and president of theLaredo Affordable HousingCorporation.

Richard CortezRichard Cortez was elect-

ed to the McAllen City Com-mission in May, after havingserved as mayor of the cityfrom 2005-13. A senior part-ner with the public account-ing and management firmof Burton McCumber &Cortez, Cortez has a longhistory of service to munici-pal and civic organizations.

He is a past member ofthe McAllen Economic De-velopment Corporation, theMcAllen Chamber of Com-merce, the McAllen Com-munity Development Coun-cil, the Rio Grande ValleyPartnership and McAllenInternational Museum. Healso is past president of theMcAllen Boys and GirlsClub, past member of TheUniversity of Texas-PanAmerican Business Council,former vice chairman of theMcAllen Public UtilitiesBoard and advisory directorof the International Bank ofCommerce of McAllen.

Carolyn PettyCarolyn Petty is presi-

dent of Addison-based Tax-Free Shopping, which hasoffices around the state andcontracts with U.S. retail-ers to provide instant salestax refunds to foreign shop-pers.

Sergio ContrerasSergio Contreras, direc-

tor of external affairs forthe city of Pharr, is respon-sible for monitoring stateand federal government ac-tivities, developing legisla-tive agendas and coordinat-ing legislative activitieswith public and private sec-tor organizations. He for-merly served as regionalmanager of external affairsfor AT&T in San Antonioand the South border re-gion.

Border Coalition names new officersSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Farmers and ranchers in ZapataCounty qualify for natural disasterassistance from the U.S. Departmentof Agriculture due to damages andlosses caused by a recent drought.

The primary natural disaster ar-ea is in the following nine counties:Bastrop, Dimmitt, Fayette, Grimes,Kinney, Maverick, Rains, Travis andWalker.

However, since Zapata County iscontiguous to the area, its farmersand ranchers also qualify for assist-ance.

“Our hearts go out to those Texasfarmers and ranchers affected by re-cent natural disasters,” said Agri-culture Secretary Tom Vilsack.“President Obama and I are com-mitted to ensuring that agricultureremains a bright spot in our na-tion’s economy by sustaining thesuccesses of America’s farmers,ranchers, and rural communitiesthrough these difficult times. We’realso telling Texas producers thatUSDA stands with you and yourcommunities when severe weatherand natural disasters threaten to

disrupt your livelihood.”Other contiguous counties that

qualify for assistance are Austin,Blanco, Brazos, Burnet, Caldwell,Colorado, Edwards, Frio, Gonzalez,Hays, Hopkins, Houston, Hunt, LaSalle, Lavaca, Lee, Madison, Mont-gomery, San Jacinto, Trinity,Uvalde, Val Verde, Van Zandt, Wall-er, Washington, Webb, Williamsonand Wood.

All counties listed above weredesignated natural disaster areason Oct. 14, making all qualifiedfarm operators in the designatedareas eligible for low interest emer-gency loans from USDA’s Farm Ser-vice Agency, provided eligibility re-quirements are met.

Farmers in eligible countieshave eight months from the date ofthe declaration to apply for loans tohelp cover part of their actual loss-es. FSA will consider each loan ap-plication on its own merits, takinginto account the extent of losses, se-curity available and repaymentability. FSA has a variety of pro-grams, in addition to the EM loanprogram, to help eligible farmersrecover from adversity.

Zapata farms qualifyfor federal assistance

THE ZAPATA TIMES

The Zapata Chamber of Com-merce invites Zapatans to at-tend a free seminar on crisisand suicidal intervention in La-redo on Friday.

Suicidal Counseling: An Inte-grated Crisis Intervention ishosted by the Ecumenical Cen-ter for Religion and Health. Theseminar is by Dr. Lennis Echter-ling of James Madison Universi-ty in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

“In this training, you willlearn techniques that promoteresilience and resolution,” apress release states. “Thesetechniques include offering theLUV Triangle, looking for thesurvivor in the crisis story, ask-ing ‘getting through’ questions,and promoting the emotions ofresolve — courage, hope andcompassion.

“Participants will understandcurrent protocol for suicidal in-tervention, risk assessment andensuring safety. The purpose ofthis training is to prepare car-ing, committed clinicians andreligious leaders to enhancetheir effectiveness as crisis in-terveners in troubled times. Theformat of this training session

will include lecturing, experien-tial exercises and discussions.”

Objectives of the seminarare:

To recognize a crisis as aturning point that involvesboth threats and opportunities

To develop skills in assist-ing a suicidal client

To learn specific tech-niques that help victims be-come survivors who can go onto thrive in their lives.

The seminar takes place Fri-day, Oct. 23 at the Holding Insti-tute auditorium, 1102 SantaMaria Ave. in Laredo, from 9a.m. to 4 p.m. Parking is avail-able on the street behind DavisAvenue.

To register, please contactCecilia Miranda by phone at956-319-2718 or email at ce-cim_garza@hotmail.com. Thisevent is free.

This seminar is sponsoredby Methodist Healthcare Minis-tries and Holding Institute.

About the speakerLennis Echterling is profes-

sor and director of counselingpsychology at James Madison

University. He has more than 30 years of

experience in promoting resil-ience, particularly during crisesand disasters.

He has provided disaster in-tervention services across thecountry, including Mississippiand Texas after Hurricanes Ka-trina and Rita. Following the 9/11 attacks, he worked as a RedCross volunteer with survivorsat the Pentagon.

More recently, he was a crisiscounselor after the shootings atVirginia Tech University. Hisbooks include “Crisis Interven-tion: Promoting Resilience andResolution in Troubled Times,”“"Thriving! A Manual for Stu-dents in the Helping Profes-sions,” “Beyond Brief Counsel-ing,” and “Becoming a Commu-nity Counselor.”

Dr. Echterling has receivedthe College Award for Distin-guished Service, James Madi-son University’s DistinguishedFaculty Award, Virginia Coun-selors Association’s Humanitar-ian and Caring Person Award,and the Counseling Vision andInnovation Award from the As-sociation for Counselor Educa-tion and Supervision.

Crisis seminar set for FridaySPECIAL TO THE TIMES

PAGE 4A Zopinion WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015

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

Donald Trump says itis ridiculous for JebBush to claim that hisbrother, PresidentGeorge W. Bush, "kept ussafe." "The World TradeCenter came down dur-ing his reign," Trumpsays. "He was the presi-dent at the time, and youknow, you could say thebuck stops here."

Blaming Bush for theSept. 11, 2001, attacks isan absurd, left-wing talk-ing point. The fact is,when Bush took office onJan. 20, 2001, planningfor 9/11 was well under-way. Bush inherited aworld where terroristshad been permitted safehaven in terrorist statesand were engaged in avirtually unimpeded of-fensive. Under his prede-cessor, they hadlaunched a string of at-tacks against the UnitedStates: the first effort tobring down the WorldTrade Center in 1993; themurder of 19 Americanairmen at the KhobarTowers in Saudi Arabiathree years later; the1998 bombing of U.S. em-bassies in Kenya andTanzania; and the attackon the USS Cole in 2000,which caused the deathsof 17 American sailors.

In none of these caseswas there a forceful U.S.response. As a result, al-Qaida was convincedthat the United Stateswas soft and that if theyhit us hard enough, wecould be forced to retreatand withdraw as we hadin Beirut and Somalia.

They miscalculated.Unlike his predecessor,Bush did not respond byfiring cruise missiles in-to empty tents and aban-doned obstacle courses.Within weeks, U.S. spe-cial operations forceswere on the ground inAfghanistan, and in lessthan a month they haddestroyed the Taliban re-gime and driven al-Qae-da from its sanctuarythere. After Afghani-stan’s liberation, theUnited States and its coa-lition partners capturedor killed hundreds of al-Qaida leaders, managersand top operational com-manders responsible forday-to-day planning ofthe terror group’s activ-ities across the globe, in-cluding 9/11 mastermindKhalid SheikMohammed.

To uncover and dis-rupt follow-on attacks,Bush established a pro-gram at the National Se-curity Agency to monitorterrorist communica-tions. He built new pro-grams at the TreasuryDepartment to deny ex-tremists state-of-the-artbanking and financialtools, thus making itmore difficult for themto raise funds, movemoney, pay operatives,bribe officials and fi-nance new attacks. Heestablished the CIA pro-gram to detain and ques-tion top terror leaders —an effort that doubledour intelligence on al-Qaida. He created the De-partment of HomelandSecurity and a new di-rector of national intelli-gence and transformedthe FBI and the JusticeDepartment to fight ter-ror.

Using these new toolsand doctrines, the Bushadministration disrupted

a series of planned al-Qaida attacks on ourhomeland, including a2002 plot to fly a plane in-to the tallest building inLos Angeles, a 2003 plotto crash airplanes intotargets on the East Coastand a 2006 plot to blowup multiple passengerjets flying across the At-lantic from Britain toNorth America. The ad-ministration also thwart-ed a series of planned al-Qaida attacks on U.S. in-terests and allies abroad,including a plot to blowup the U.S. Consulate inKarachi, Pakistan; a plotto hijack passengerplanes and fly them in toBig Ben and the CanaryWharf district in Lon-don; and a plot to blowup U.S. Marines at CampLemonier in Djibouti us-ing explosive-laden watertankers — an attack that,if carried out, wouldhave rivaled the 1983 ter-rorist attack on the U.S.Marine Barracks in Bei-rut that killed nearly 300U.S. and French servicemembers.

Asked whether Bushshould even get credit forkeeping the country safeafter 9/11, Trump says,"I’m not sure that any-body can answer thatquestion. Because youdon’t know."

Yes, we do. What doesTrump think — that af-ter 9/11 al-Qaida simplygave up trying to attackthe United States? Ofcourse it didn’t. It wasstopped.

Bush made a lot ofmistakes, especially inhis prosecution of thewar in Iraq. But thismuch is indisputable:Thanks to the actions hetook, the institutions hebuilt, the doctrines he es-tablished, the UnitedStates went 2,688 days onhis watch without anoth-er attack on our soil.That is an achievementfew thought possiblewhen the rubble of theWorld Trade Center wasstill burning.

Even more ridiculousis Trump’s claim that,unlike Bush, he wouldhave stopped 9/11 be-cause under his immi-gration policies "theseterrorists wouldn’t havebeen in the country" andbecause "a good leaderwould’ve made sure thatthe CIA and FBI wouldget along and talk."Trump seems wholly un-aware that several of the9/11 hijackers were al-ready in the countrywhen Bush took officeand that most were herelegally on tourist visas.He also seems obliviousto the fact that there wasa legal wall between theintelligence and law en-forcement communitiesthat prevented themfrom sharing informa-tion — a wall Bush brokedown when he signed thePatriot Act.

According to a recentpoll, more than 80 per-cent of Republican votersagree that Bush kept ussafe. Blaming Bush for 9/11 and denying him cred-it the actions he took tostop al-Qaida from strik-ing us again are thingsone would expect fromthe Democratic presiden-tial nominee — notsomeone vying for theRepublican presidentialnomination.

Thiessen was a speech-writer for Bush from 2004to 2009.

COMMENTARY

Despite 9/11,George W.Bush kept

us safeBy MARC A. THIESSENTHE WASHINGTON POST

OTHER VIEWS

The Zapata Times doesnot publish anonymousletters.

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

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

We want to assure our

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

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

ing or gratuitous abuse isallowed.

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

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY

DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

My son thinks I’m co-matose when I watchfootball on TV and notmuch better when in thestadium.

There are a number ofexplanations for why heor any other normal, rab-id, foaming-at-the-mouth,chew-the-ref, cuss-the-coach football nut casewould think somethingwas wrong with drab-don’t-get-excited-and-yellme.

Mostly, it’s becauseduring my working years(50-plus), watching foot-ball was for mostly pro-fessional reasons. Yeah, Iknow, scouting coachescan get excited during agridiron match, even ifthey have no allegianceto either team on thefield.

Well, let me tell youit’s absolutely taboo, anactual you-can-go-to-re-porter’s-hell screw-up tobecome “emotionally in-volved in the game.”

That means the show-no-favorites dictum is ineffect all during gameweek, but more especial-ly on game night or dayfor a reporter.

Oh, sure, communitynewspaper folks mightget just a bit more in-

volved and less “formal”in watching the home-town boys lay it on theline on Friday night. But,all in all, (Grantland)Rice’s Rules of ReportingGames compels us to beas fair as possible, eventhough the “opposing”newspaper covering theirtown trying to beat yourtown is totally biased fortheir home-base school.

If I’m a human with atrace of a pulse, you say,I’ll be rooting for oneteam or another. Yeah,you’re right, but I didn’tsay I was never rootingfor someone to win thegame.

Anyone can write,“Smith ran off right tack-le for 11 yards and atouchdown.” That meansa sportswriter has to beable, just like a reportercovering a presidential de-bate, to describe movesand strategies in a waythat will be easily under-stood by each and everyreader. Professional prideenters so that hopefullyyou are capable of de-

scribing it in a clear andconcise way, yet not haveyour reader drop off intoslumber land while read-ing.

It has always been eas-ier for me to describesome “regular” newsevent more rationallythan the gridiron’s glory-grabbing gallops (see, toldya).

A news reporter can ap-ply a more analyticalmind to a sequence ofevents in, say, a court caseor even a car wreck thanthey can a “rational”analysis of the hometeams’ game-winningtouchdown drive.

Plus, sportswriters can“get away” with just atouch of “homer-ism”while covering a Fridaynight football foray moreeasily than he can a con-spiratorial city councilconflab.

I always fought like cra-zy to keep from editoria-lizing in sports news sto-ry. Somehow, it’s easier todo that in a straight newsstory than in a footballgame story, particularly ifit’s a small town andyou’re the editor-publish-er of a community news-paper and a playoff spot isriding on the outcome of

this Friday night fracas. But, when you put on

the sportswriter cap in-stead of the judiciouscity council critic seniorgraduate mortar board,those loyal subscribershunger for a little homer-izing. Certainly, the read-ers want you to be as“juicy” as possible so asto grease their gossipygifts of gab for backfence or coffee shop sum-mations of the proceed-ings, but readers expectsome ammo for rational-izing the crucifixion ofthe quarterback or, evenmore desirable, the homecoach.

However, if you’re go-ing to be true to the ten-ets of unbiased journal-ism, you have to be ableto dissect a sports playso that you sound like aknowledgeable Joe Buckinstead of a haranguingHoward Cosell.

So, that’s why I’m stilland quiet while watchingfootball. You understanddon’t you, Son?

Willis Webb is a retiredcommunity newspaper ed-itor-publisher of morethan 50 years experience.He can be reached byemail atwwebb1937@att.net.

COLUMN

Columnist doesn’t watchfootball like a ‘normal’ fan

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015 Zentertainment PAGE 5A

LOS ANGELES — Mil-lions of fans cried out injoy after they saw the lat-est trailer for “Star Wars:The Force Awakens,” butit also left more than a fewwondering where LukeSkywalker has been dur-ing all the marketing.

Twitter said there weremore than 17,000 tweets aminute when the traileraired Monday night andover 1.1 million tweetssince then.

Facebook reported that1.3 million people had 2.1million interactions relat-ed to “Star Wars” withinthe first hour of the trailerscreening. Even MarkZuckerberg commented onthe official fan page, writ-ing “this looks amazing. Ilove Star Wars.”

It didn’t take a Jedi tonotice that Luke Skywalk-er was missing from thepromo.

The ads have focusedmainly on new characterssuch as Daisy Ridley’s Reyand John Boyega’s Finn.But the clips also havestrategically teased outthe return of originalcharacters such as Harri-son Ford’s Han Solo andCarrie Fisher’s PrincessLeia.

Mark Hamill’s LukeSkywalker is nowhere tobe seen — in full at least.

Fans have heard Luke’svoice and seen what ispresumed to be his glovedhand on R2-D2, but hisconspicuous absence fromthe most recent trailerand the official poster hadmany Twitter users ask-ing #whereisluke andwondering what thatmeans for his character.

Director J.J. Abrams issomewhat notorious forkeeping the plots to hisfilms under wraps, and“Star Wars: The ForceAwakens” has been no dif-ferent.

The 2-minute, 35-secondspot debuted duringESPN’s “Monday NightFootball” halftime andwas made available onlineimmediately after. Over-night ratings for the gameshow a definite viewingspike during halftime, sug-gesting that many tunedin solely for the trailer,not the Giants-Eaglesgame.

Tickets for the “TheForce Awakens,” out Dec.18, went on sale earlierMonday, causing sites likeFandango and MovieTick-ets.com to experience in-termittent crashes as a re-sult of demand.

The initial fervor hasdissipated, though, andsites seemed to be back upand running and gettingfans their tickets. AMCtheaters are also sellingtickets for 39 “Star Wars”marathon events, wherethey will be showing allseven films on Dec. 17.

Sellouts have been re-

ported for many of theThursday night previewshowings of the latestchapter. AMC alone soldout 1,000 shows in lessthan 12 hours but alsonoted that there are stillnearly 4 million ticketsavailable for openingweekend.

Ticketing sites tend tokeep specifics about actualsales secret. MovieTicket-s.com did reveal, however,that “The Force Awakens”had accounted for a whop-ping 95 percent of sales onthe site in 24 hours.

Fandango experiencedunprecedented demand fortickets as well. They’ve al-ready sold eight times asmany tickets as they hadfor their previous recordholder, “The HungerGames.”

“Movie theaters arecontinually adding newshow times on Fandangoto meet the phenomenaldemand,” a Fandangocompany statement said.

‘Star Wars’ fans clamor for tickets

This undated photo provided by Disney shows the poster for thenew film, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

Photo courtesy of Disney | AP

By LINDSEY BAHRASSOCIATED PRESS

"Gilmore Girls" fans mayfinally get some closure,thanks to Netflix. TV Line’sMichael Ausiello reportedMonday that the onlinestreaming service hasteamed up with show cre-ator Amy Sherman-Palladi-no and her husband, exec-utive producer Daniel Pal-ladino, to revive thebeloved series.

"Gilmore Girls" fans re-joiced last year when Net-flix announced that all sev-en seasons of the show

would be available tostream. The series ended in2007, but its cult-like follow-ing has endured. So too,have rumors of a revival —Variety notes that the sub-ject came up over the sum-mer when Sherman-Palla-dino reunited with many ofthe show’s stars at the ATXTelevision Festival.

According to TV Line,Netflix is planning a seriesof four 90-minute episodes,to be written by Sherman-Palladino and Palladino,who famously left "GilmoreGirls" before its seventhseason.

Netflix reviving‘Gilmore Girls’

By BETHONIE BUTLERTHE WASHINGTON POST

6A THE ZAPATA TIMES National WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015

VISTA, Calif. — In Cali-fornia’s drought, the strug-gling monarch butterflymay have found a sprin-kling of hope.

Suburban homeownersripping out thirsty lawnsare dotting their newdrought-tolerant landscapeswith milkweed native toCalifornia’s deserts andchaparral — plants thathave the potential to helpsave water and monarchs atthe same time, because thefemale monarch will onlylay her eggs on milkweed.

Overall numbers of themajestic black-and-orangebutterflies have droppedfrom 1 billion to fewer than60 million over the past twodecades as milkweed nation-wide has fallen prey to de-velopment and pesticides.

Earlier this year, the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Serviceannounced $1.2 millionstarter investment to re-

store habitat; other nationalprojects aim to distributemilkweed seeds by mail andbuild databases of breedinghabitats as alarm grows.Whether by choice or bychance, ecologists hope Cali-fornia gardeners looking tosave water can provide aboost to the butterflies onthe West Coast.

“This is a really impor-tant way to provide reallyimportant habitat for a real-ly important butterfly,” saidGreg Rubin, president ofCalifornia’s Own NativeLandscape Design, Inc.

Nurseries are increasing-ly stocking multiple varie-ties of native milkweed andcatering to customers whowant to be drought savvybut also want to attract but-terflies.

Business was up 50 per-cent this season at TomMerriman’s native plantsnursery in Vista, California.Five years ago, Merrimandidn’t sell milkweed at all;this summer, he sold more

than 14,000 plants and isshipping truckloads of seed-lings all over California andother bone-dry Westernstates like Arizona, NewMexico and Utah.

Dozens of monarchs flitthrough a butterfly atriumhe built next to his green-houses and sometimessneak inside his greenhous-es to lay eggs on plantsawaiting sale.

“If you plant it, they willcome,” said Merriman, whohas a greenhouse stuffedwith 8,000 milkweed of adozen types. “We had chrys-alises on shovels, we hadthem on wheelbarrows.They were up in the nurs-ery on palm trees. Theywere everywhere, under ta-bles. We were releasing 500caterpillars a week on na-tive milkweed.”

Anya Shortridge boughta few milkweed plants lastyear for her drought garden.

Now, she grows morethan 100 milkweeds andcarefully scans them for mi-croscopic monarch eggs.When the eggs hatch, shefeeds the tiny black-, gold-and white-striped caterpil-lars until they disappear in-to a shimmering, lightgreen chrysalis where themysterious transformationinto a butterfly occurs.

This season, she and herhusband have released morethan 100 butterflies into thewild.

A sign in front of herhouse on a San Diego hill-top designates her garden asa “monarch waystation.”

“We’re finding eggs —monarch eggs — on the un-derside of our milkweedleaves all the time, so if Iwanted to I could probablyraise thousands,” saidShortridge, who coos andcajoles the butterflies as ifthey were her children.

Some experts, however,are worried that Californiahomeowners who plantmilkweed might actually doharm by trying to do good.

That’s because many gar-deners unwittingly choosetropical — or so-called “ex-otic” — milkweed becauseof its colorful pink and yel-low flowers.

The plants are more at-tractive than the desert va-rieties but could interferewith the monarch’s famedmigration.

Native milkweeds go dor-mant in the winter, leavingthe butterflies no choice butto complete their migratoryjourney. But the tropical va-rieties bloom — and providea place to lay eggs — allyear, distracting the femalesand interrupting migrationpatterns.

Millions of North Ameri-can monarchs travel to Mex-ico each winter, while asmaller number travelthrough the western U.S. towinter in California.

California’s drought helps monarchs

In this Aug. 19 photo, Tom Merriman stands behind a monarch inhis butterfly atrium at his nursery in Vista, Calif.

Photo by Gregory Bull | AP

By GILLIAN FLACCUSASSOCIATED PRESS

CHICAGO — The Ameri-can Cancer Society nowsays women should startmammograms later in lifeand get fewer of them, astance that puts the trustedgroup closer to an influen-tial government task force’sadvice.

In new guidelines outTuesday, the cancer societyrecommends that mostwomen should begin annualscreening for breast cancerat age 45 instead of 40, andswitch to every other yearat 55. The task force advisesscreening every other yearstarting at age 50.

It’s not a one-size-fits-allrecommendation; bothgroups say women’s prefer-ences for when to bescanned should be consid-ered.

The advice is for womenat average risk for breastcancer. Doctors generallyrecommend more intensivescreening for higher-riskwomen, including thosewith specific genetic muta-tions.

“The most importantmessage of all is that amammogram is the most ef-fective thing that a womancan do to reduce her chanceof dying from breast can-cer,” said Dr. Richard Wen-der, the cancer society’s can-cer control chief.

“It’s not that mammo-grams are ineffective inyounger women,” he said,but at age 40, breast canceris uncommon and falsealarms are more likely.“Therefore, you’d have to doa lot more mammograms toprevent one death,” com-pared to older women, Wen-der said.

Concern about falsealarms contributed to thecancer society’s new guid-ance. These lead to worryand more testing — theymean an initial result wassuspicious but that cancerwas ruled out by additional

scans and sometimes biop-sies.

The latest guidelines ac-knowledge that some young-er women are willing to ac-cept that, and that for themstarting annual exams atage 40 is fine, as long asthey know the risks.

The guidelines were de-veloped by experts who re-viewed dozens of studies in-cluding research publishedsince 1997 — the year thecancer group recommendedyearly mammograms start-ing at age 40, and since 2003,when it stopped recom-mending monthly breastself-exams.

The update recommendsthat women continue get-ting screened as long asthey are in good health andhave a life expectancy of atleast 10 years. The old guide-lines did not include an agelimit.

The cancer group alsodropped a recommendationfor routine physical breastexams by doctors, sayingthere’s no evidence thatthese save lives.

The Rev. Jennifer Mun-roe-Nathans, 46, a pastor inMillis, Massachusetts, saidshe hasn’t paid attention toguidelines and started get-ting annual scans aroundage 40 on her doctor’s ad-vice. Her mother had breastcancer, so have some of hercongregants and Munroe-Nathans said she has noplans to change coursewhen she gets older.

“For my own peace ofmind I intend to continueyearly mammograms,” shesaid. “I’ve seen the impactof breast cancer — perhapsthat makes me a little morehyper-vigilant.”

The society’s updatedguidelines say switching toevery other year at age 55makes sense because tu-mors in women after meno-pause tend to grow moreslowly. Also, older women’sbreasts are usually lessdense so cancer is more vis-ible on mammograms, said

Dr. Kevin Oeffinger, chair-man of the society’s breastcancer guideline panel anddirector of the cancer survi-vorship center at MemorialSloan Kettering Cancer Cen-ter in New York.

The guidelines were pub-lished Tuesday in the Jour-nal of the American MedicalAssociation.

More than 200,000 womenin the U.S. each year are di-agnosed with breast cancerand about 40,000 die fromthe disease. Overall, 1 in 8women will be diagnosedwith the disease at somepoint and chances increasewith age.

Oeffinger said womenneed to be familiar withtheir breasts and aware ofany changes, which shouldbe evaluated by their doc-tors.

The U.S. Preventive Ser-vices Task Force, whoseguidelines have historicallyinfluenced Medicare cover-age, made waves in 2009when it recommendedmammograms every otheryear starting at age 50, toage 74. In draft recommen-dations released earlier thisyear, the group said mam-mograms for women intheir 40s should be an indi-vidual decision based onpreferences and health his-tory, and that more researchis needed to determine po-tential benefits or harms forscans for women aged 75and older.

That panel also ques-tioned the value of breastexams by doctors, citing alack of evidence for any ben-efit or harm. It will examinethe cancer society’s evi-dence review in finalizingits update, said Dr. KirstenBibbins-Domingo, the taskforce’s vice chair and a pro-fessor at the University ofCalifornia, San Francisco.

Most health plans are re-quired to cover screeningmammograms free ofcharge as part of preventivecare mandated by the Affor-dable Care Act.

Women advised to getfewer mammograms

By LINDSEY TANNERASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — For-mer Virginia Sen. JimWebb said Tuesday he isdropping out of the Demo-cratic race for presidentand is considering his op-tions about how he might“remain as a voice” in thecampaign.

Webb said at a news con-ference that he is “with-drawing from any consider-ation” of becoming theDemocratic party’s nomi-nee and would spend thecoming weeks exploring hisoptions about a possible in-dependent bid.

“The very nature of ourdemocracy is under siegedue to the power structureand the money that financ-es both political parties,”Webb said, joined by his

wife, Hong Le Webb. “Ourpolitical candidates are be-ing pulled to the extremes.They’re increasingly out ofstep with the people they’resupposed to serve.”

Webb said many of theissues that he cares aboutare not in line with the hie-rarchy of the Democraticparty, saying he did nothave a “clear, exact fit” ineither party. Asked if hestill considers himself aDemocrat, Webb said,“We’ll think about that.”

A Vietnam veteran andformer member of Presi-dent Ronald Reagan’s ad-ministration, Webb com-plained that he did not getthe chance to make hisviews fully known at thefirst Democratic debate.

He has trailed badly inthe field that includes Hill-ary Rodham Clinton andVermont Sen. Bernie Sand-

ers. Webb has been pollingin the back of the pack withformer Maryland Gov. Mar-tin O’Malley and formerRhode Island Gov. LincolnChafee.

Webb has raised onlyabout $700,000 and ended

the month of Septemberwith more than $300,000 inthe bank. Rivals like for-mer Secretary of State Hill-ary Rodham Clinton andVermont Sen. Bernie Sand-ers have raised millions forthe campaign.

Webb surprised manyfellow Democrats when hebecame the first major fig-ure in the party to form apresidential exploratorycommittee in November.

In a sign of Webb’s im-pending decision, the IowaDemocratic Party said hewould not appear at Satur-day’s major Jefferson-Jack-son fundraiser in DesMoines.

Webb, 69, a decorated vet-eran of the Vietnam War,has promoted criminal jus-tice reform and an over-haul of the campaign fi-nance system and has beencritical of the Obama ad-ministration’s foreign poli-cy. He has urged Democratsto appeal to working-classAmericans and white vot-ers in the South who haveleft the Democratic party inrecent elections.

Webb was a Navy secre-

tary under Reagan and anauthor who became a Dem-ocrat in response to theIraq war, which he opposed.

Webb’s opposition to thewar, in which his son Jim-my served, was critical tohis surprise Senate electionin 2006 against RepublicanSen. George Allen.

Webb’s campaign washelped by an anti-Iraq warfervor and missteps by Al-len, whose campaign im-ploded after he called aDemocratic tracker “maca-ca,” an ethnic insult.

In the Senate, Webb fo-cused on foreign affairs andveterans issues and was thedriving force behind a GIBill for post-9/11 veteransseeking to attend college af-ter returning from Iraq orAfghanistan. He announcedhe would not seek re-elec-tion in 2012 and returned towriting.

Jim Webb dropping Democratic bid for president

Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, accompanied by his wife Hong LeWebb, announces he will drop out of the race for president.

Photo by Andrew Harnik | AP

By KEN THOMAS AND LAURIE KELLMAN

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sports&OutdoorsWEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

ting injured early in thefourth quarter against theGiants. Brandon Weedencame on when Romo wentdown a week later againstPhiladelphia, but nowWeeden has been replacedby Matt Cassel after losingall three of his starts.

Dallas is coming off a30-6 loss to New Englandthat was the first time infour years the Cowboyshave gone without atouchdown.

Maybe that’s why own-er Jerry Jones sounds op-timistic.

“It totally depends onhow he’s doing,” Jonessaid on his radio show.“He had a good end of theweek last week. He got insome really good work,didn’t have much negativeresponse from that work.It was strenuous work, thekind that if he can stepout here and have a couplereally good days of prac-tice, you could see him ongo.”

Bryant had a procedurealmost two weeks ago de-signed to try to speed thehealing process, but he’sbeen cautioned by otherreceivers who had thesame injury about return-ing too soon. That includ-ed Atlanta’s Julio Jones.

Garrett said Bryant’sinput would weigh heavilyin the decision.

“We want to be deliber-ate with the process thatwe go through,” Garrettsaid. “And that’s with ev-ery player that is hurt. Wewill never put them in acompromising position inpractice or in a game.”

Still, there is an urgen-cy with the Cowboys visit-ing the Giants (3-3) andrealistically needing atleast two wins in the fourgames Romo will miss forsure. A win over NewYork gives Dallas, the de-fending NFC East cham-pion, a 3-0 record in the di-vision.

“I don’t know what 100percent really means inthis particular case,”Jones said. “One hundredhealed? One hundred per-

cent from the standpointof no sensation, no sensi-tivity?

“I don’t think youwould have no sensitivity,but I do think that all the

combination of all thework he’s done, which hasbeen extraordinary as wellsome of the additional pro-cedures that were donegive us a lot of confidence

that if he’s comfortable toputting it down and driv-ing off of his foot thenwe’re comfortable withhim playing.”

NOTES: The Cowboys

signed LB Darius Eu-banks and DT Casey Walk-er to the practice squad,replacing LB DakoreyJohnson and RB GusJohnson.

IRVING — On theeighth of 11 questions con-cerning whether DezBryant would play sixweeks after breaking hisright foot in the seasonopener, Dallas coach JasonGarrett had heard aboutenough.

“We don’t put thesethings down like the Mag-na Carta that these are allthe different standardsthat we have for Dez,”Garrett said Tuesday. “Wehave an objective. Wewant to get him back onthe football field as quick-ly as we can.”

The All-Pro receiverhasn’t played since theCowboys (2-3) beat theNew York Giants, and nowthe question is whetherhe’ll be ready for the re-match Sunday in what isconsidered the minimumnumber of weeks neededfor the bone to heal.

Dallas is 0-3 withoutBryant and Tony Romo,who will miss at least fourmore games with a bro-ken left collarbone.

Garrett wouldn’t saywhether Bryant will prac-tice Wednesday after heworked on the side for thefirst time since the injuryduring last week’s bye.

And while the coachsaid Bryant was clearedmedically for the workhe’s done so far, Garrettwouldn’t say Bryant hadfinal clearance. He also de-clined to say whether thebone was fully healed.

Bryant wasn’t availablein the locker room whenit was open to reportersTuesday.

“We are not going tomake any determinationtoday as to whether or notDez Bryant is going toplay in this game,” Gar-rett said. “We are going tosee how he is doing. Hehas made a lot of progressin the last two weeks.”

The Cowboys have justtwo touchdown passes inthe four full games thatBryant missed after get-

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DALLAS COWBOYS

Bryant’s return uncertain

Dallas wide receiver Dez Bryant has been out since the season opener as he broke his foot against the Giants. The Cowboys play therematch in New York Sunday as they are riding a three-game losing streak with the injured Bryant and quarterback Tony Romo.

File photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP

Cowboys not sure ifDez Bryant will be

ready for GiantsBy SCHUYLER DIXON

ASSOCIATED PRESS

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015

cluded Pete Saenz of Lare-do, who hosted Trump onhis whirlwind border in-spection tour in July, andmay have actually persuad-ed Trump to slightly mod-erate his plans for a greatwall between Mexico andthe United States.

As Saenz said after thepanel discussion, he wasobligated to be a “gra-cious” host to Trump butalso obliged during his bor-der briefing to explain tothe Republican presiden-tial front-runner why hisplans for a wall and massdeportations were ill-ad-vised.

“I told him it was notpractical,” Saenz said ofthe wall. “I told him asidefrom it being offensive toMexico, which is our sec-ond- or third-largest trad-ing partner, the cost is im-practical, and it’s not prac-tical inside Texas, wherethe Rio Grande sometimesthroughout the year is asource of drinking waterfor livestock.”

“We’re a ranching com-munity,” Saenz said. “What

are you going to do — damthe tributaries?

“He did change his tonea little bit,” Saenz said.“He did say maybe the wallis not appropriate for theentire border and certainsections are not conducivefor that.”

Trump had asked Saenzto meet him at the airportfor his arrival, and “whenhe landed, he asked, ‘Is itsafe for me to get down (offthe plane)?’ In his mind, inhis own consciousness, heperceived danger,” Saenzsaid.

Saenz said he toldTrump there were someprotesters but there was nodanger.

As they were riding inTrump’s Suburban, Saenzsaid, the candidate tooknote of all the people whocame out to see him, re-marking, “Hey, the Hispan-ics love me.”

“I said: ‘No, they don’t.They’ve never see a whiteRepublican before,’” Saenzrecalled. Laredo is 96 per-cent Hispanic and solidlyDemocratic.

The border mayors saidthe state’s new $800 millioninvestment in border secu-rity was both a blessingand a curse — pumpingmoney into the local econo-my but doing untold dam-age to the reputation oftheir communities withpeople considering invest-ing or visiting the region.

Blanco credited the legis-lation to a political atmo-sphere bracketed by Re-publican Lieutenant Gov.Dan Patrick’s campaign forgovernor and Trump’scampaign for president.

But Rep. Tan Parker,chairman of the House Re-publican Caucus, said thatignores the very realthreat to safety posed espe-cially by drug cartels.

Rep. Poncho Nevarez, D-Eagle Pass, who representsthe largest border district,said: “Borders are alwaysgoing to be porous — that’swhat borders are. The ideaof sealing the border, it’snot going to happen.

“What I object to is be-ing a political piñata,” hesaid.

BORDER Continued from Page 1A

Webb, Zapata, Starr (RioGrande City), Jim Hogg(Hebbronville), Dimmit(Carrizo Springs), Maverick(Eagle Pass), Val Verde (DelRio) and Kinney (Brackett-

ville). The food bank is a mem-

ber of the food bank net-work Feeding Texas andFeeding America.

South Texas Food Bank

programs include adopt afamily, distributing 466bags per month; Commodi-ty Supplemental Food Pro-gram, serving 7,164 elderlyindividuals per month;

Kids Café, serving 1,100Monday through Friday af-ter-school meals per day at20 sites; and the SNAP(food stamps) outreach,which helps an average of

200 families with applica-tions and emergency bags(walk-in) that average 200per month.

The South Texas FoodBank, 1907 Freight at River-

side, is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.Monday through Friday.For information, call 956-726-3120 or visit southtexas-foodbank.org. Volunteer op-portunities are available.

FOOD BANK Continued from Page 1A

SEOUL, South Korea — Hun-dreds of mostly elderly Koreans— some in wheelchairs or leaningon walking sticks, most overcomeby tears, laughter and shock —began three days of reunionsTuesday with loved ones manyhave had no contact with sincewar divided the North and Southmore than 60 years ago.

About 390 South Koreans trav-eled to the North’s scenic Dia-mond Mountain resort. Dressedin business suits, formal dressesand traditional hanbok, theybrought long johns, medicine, par-kas, calligraphy works and cashto give as presents to about 140family members in the North.

The reunions, as always, are amixture of high emotion andmedia frenzy. Journalists crowdedaround South Korean Lee Soon-kyu, 85, as she met with herNorth Korean husband, Oh In Se,83. As camera flashes bathedthem in glaring white light, shecocked her head and looked withamazement at Oh, who wore adapper suit and hat and cranedbackward to take in Lee.

The images are broadcastthroughout South Korea, wherethe reunions are big news. NorthKorea’s government, which ana-lysts believe worries that scenesof affluent South Koreans mightinfluence its grip on power, pub-lished a report about the re-unions through its state mediathat said the North Korean parti-cipants explained to their SouthKorean relatives how their liveshave been “happy” and “worth-while” under the North’s socialistsystem.

The deep emotions stem partlyfrom the elderly reuniting afterdecades spent apart, partly fromthe knowledge that this will betheir only chance. None of thepast participants has had a sec-ond reunion.

At a table covered with a whitecloth, bottled water and softdrinks and a vase of flowers,South Korean Kim Bock-rackwept as he clasped the hands ofhis sister as a cameraman silent-ly filmed.

The reunions, the first sinceFebruary of last year, are a poign-ant yet bitter reminder that theKorean Peninsula is still in atechnical state of war because the1950-53 fighting ended with an ar-mistice, not a peace treaty. TheKoreas bar ordinary citizens fromvisiting relatives living on theother side of the border and evenfrom exchanging letters, phonecalls and emails without permis-sion.

Rim Ri Kyu, the widow of fa-mous North Korean mathemati-cian Jo Ju Kyong, looked calm asshe met with her South Koreanbrother and other relatives fromthe South.

She introduced her son to the

visitors, and the relatives burstinto laughter after Jo Ju-chan, theSouth Korean brother of Rim’slate husband, joked that her sonresembled him.

South Korean Lee Ok-yeon, 88,will reunite with her husband forthe first time in 65 years. Shelives in the same house her hus-band, also now 88, built and thatthe couple shared as newlyweds.

Her grandson Chae Jeong-jaetold South Korean reporters thatLee had “asked whether it was adream or a reality” when she wastold she would attend the re-unions.

In a second round of reunions,from Saturday until Monday,about 250 South Koreans are tovisit the mountain resort to re-unite with about 190 North Ko-rean relatives, the South’s Unifi-cation Ministry said.

The Korean War separated mil-lions of Koreans from familymembers for a multitude of rea-

sons. What they have in commonis shock that their homeland re-mains so bitterly split after somuch time.

Choi Hyeong-jin, 95, reunitesthis week with his youngestdaughter, who was 2 when he lefther and is now 64. “I am not sureif I will even be able to recognizeher. I don’t even remember howshe looked as a baby,” Choi said.

North and South agreed in Au-gust to resume family reunionsduring talks to end a standoff thatbegan when land mine blastsblamed on Pyongyang maimedtwo South Korean soldiers. The ri-vals have a history of failing tofollow through with cooperationagreements. These reunions mayhave been in danger had NorthKorea gone through with threatsto conduct a satellite launch earli-er this month. The launch wouldhave likely canceled the reunionsbecause Seoul and Washingtonsee such firings as cover for

banned tests of long-range missiletechnology.

South Korea uses a computer-ized lottery system to pick partici-pants while North Korea report-edly chooses based on loyalty toits authoritarian leadership.

Most people who apply for thereunions are elderly and desper-ate to see their loved ones beforethey die. Nearly half of the 130,410South Koreans who have appliedto attend a reunion have died.

Oh Cheol-ran, a 77-year-oldSouth Korean, said that beforeher parents died they always tear-fully spoke of her brother whowas left in the North. “I’m so hap-py to see him even now. I haven’tbeen able to sleep well,” said Oh,who was dressed in a traditionalhanbok.

Seoul has long called for a bigincrease in the number of peopletaking part in reunions and hold-ing them more regularly. ButNorth Korea has only occasional-ly agreed to the reunions, whichanalysts say Pyongyang uses as abargaining chip in negotiationswith South Korea.

At the same time, the venue forthe reunions may reveal some-thing about North Korea’s aspira-tions. The Diamond Mountain re-sort, largely built with South Ko-rean money, was once a majortourist draw. It brought in nearly2 million visitors, mostly SouthKoreans, and provided the gov-ernment with much needed hardcurrency. That all ended when aNorth Korean soldier shot aSouth Korean tourist to death in2008. Impoverished North Koreano doubt wants to restart tours.

Family reunions were part of aslew of now-stalled rapproche-ment projects the two Koreasagreed upon following first-eversummit talks between their lead-ers in 2000. About 18,800 Koreanshave since participated in 19 face-to-face reunions and about 3,750others have been reunited by vid-eo.

Koreans celebrate reunions across DMZBy HYUNG-JIN KIMASSOCIATED PRESS

South Korean Min Ho-shik, 84, center, hugs his North Korean family member Min Un Sik, right, during the Separated FamilyReunion Meeting at Diamond Mountain resort in North Korea, Tuesday.

Photo by Kim Do-hoon/Yonhap | AP

CONFERENCIA DE MEDICINASe llevará a cabo la

31a Conferencia Anual sobreActualización en Medicina elviernes 23 de octubre y sába-do 24 de octubre en elUTHSC Regional Campus La-redo, 1937 E. Bustamante. Sediscutirán temas como diabe-tes, cáncer, salud mental,obesidad, autismo, entreotros. Se pueden inscribir enel lugar. Se ofrecerán créditosde educación continua paramédicos, enfermeras, trabaja-dores sociales, consejeros ynutriólogos. Llame al (956)712-0037 para registrarse yreservar su espacio. Eventopatrocinado por el Area He-alth Education Center y la So-ciedad Médica de los Conda-dos Jim Hogg-Zapata-Webb.

DESFILE POR NAVIDADLa Cámara de Comer-

cio del Condado del Condadode Zapata invita al Desfile deNavidad y Encendido de laPlaza del Condado. Se invita aque se registren para partici-par en el evento llamando pa-ra detalles al (956) 765-5434.El día del desfile la alineacióniniciará a las 5 p.m. en GlennSt. y 17th Ave. (detrás de OurLady of Lourdes CatholicChurch. El desfile dará inicio alas 6 p.m. y proseguirá por17th Ave. hacia el Sur sobreUS Hwy 83 tomando a la iz-quierda sobre 6th Ave. paraconcluirlo. Posteriormente se-rá el encendido anual del ár-bol de Navidad en la Plazadel Condado, seguido de en-trega de regalos por Santa.

CONSEJERÍA EN TEMA DEL SUICIDIO

El Centro Ecuménicopara Religión y Salud invita aun seminario gratuito con eltema “Consejería ante Suici-dios: Una Intervención Inte-grada ante Crisis” a cargo deLennis Echterling, del JamesMadison Univertity.

Los objetivos del seminarioserán reconocer la crisis co-mo un punto de cambio queinvolucra tanto a las amena-zas como las oportunidad; de-sarrollar herramientas paraauxiliar a clientes con pensa-mientos suicidas; y, aprendertécnicas específicas para ayu-dar a las víctimas a ser so-brevivientes y continuar consus vidas.

El evento es el viernes 23de octubre en el Auditorio delHolding Institute, 1102 SantaMaría Avenue, Laredo, de 9a.m. a 4 p.m. Evento gratuito.

Habrá estacionamiento dis-ponible por avenida Davis.

Para registrarse puedencomunicarse con Cecilia Mi-randa al (956) 319-2718.

PARANORMALLa Borde House pre-

senta “Película – Comida –Música” el 27 de octubre apartir de las 6:30 p.m. en el601 E. Main St. de Rio Gran-de City. Se proyectará el cor-tometraje ganador del StarrCounty Historical Foundation‘Le Rouge and Ocean Pacific’titulado “Paranormal Docu-mentary de Alejandro Domín-guez, con preguntas y res-puestas del director/productor.Música en vivo por Jay Muñiz,Detalles llamando al 956-487-2709.

ACTIVIDADES EN PUERTO ISABEL

Celebración del Día delos Muertos se realizará del10 al 31 de octubre, en hora-rio de 4 p.m. a 11 p.m. en317 E. Railroad Ave. Habrámúsica, baile, vendedores, ex-hibiciones, actividades, músicay concursos de disfraces.

Recepción para Artistasde la Galería se realizará elviernes 30 de octubre, de 5p.m. a 8 p.m. en los Museosde Puerto Isabel y en la Bi-blioteca Pública de PuertoIsabel. El evento es abierto ala comunidad y se les invitaasistir disfrazados. Se ofrece-rán refrigerios por el Día delos Muertos y Halloween.

Agendaen Breve

La interconección de una tube-ría desde el Sistema de Agua delCondado de Zapata hasta los resi-dentes en Siesta Shores solucionótemporalmente el problema de fal-ta de agua en la subdivisión, ubica-da unas tres millas al norte de Za-pata.

El sábado por la noche el tanquepara almacenamiento de agua enSiesta Shores WCID presentó unaruptura, amenazando con dejar sinvital líquido a alrededor de 1.000 fa-milias en un plazo de 48 horas.

“Pudimos interconectar los siste-mas con una tubería de aproxima-damente 700 pies y a las 8 a.m. (dellunes) el agua empezó a fluir”, dijovía telefónica el Juez del Condado

de Zapata, Joe Rathmell. “Espera-mos que para el final del día (lu-nes) tengan la presión acostumbra-da”.

Aunado a esto, fue necesariolanzar un alerta para hervir elagua, pero se espera que sea parahoy mismo que las pruebas indi-quen que el líquido ya es apto paraconsumo humano.

“El tanque elevado tenía aguapara dos días, pero creo que cuan-do residentes escucharon que elagua iba a faltar, muchos de ellosusaron más de la debida, y el aguaalmacenada solo duró un día”, in-dicó él. “Utilizaron el doble de lonormal para un día domingo”.

La participación por parte delJuez, Condado y Comisionados deZapata fue realizada pese a que elsistema de agua está a cargo de la

empresa independiente “SiestaShores Water Works”.

“Pudimos realizar esta solucióntemporal conectamos una tuberíaexistente que tenían en un siste-ma, con una tubería que sale denuestro sistema”, dijo Rathmell.

Un tanque para almacenamientode agua nuevo ya fue ubicado y laempresa privada espera recibirlo ainicios de noviembre.

“El sistema de agua en coordi-nación con TCQ deberá proveer elanteproyecto y analizar qué tipo detanque es y las especificaciones ne-cesarias, pero una vez que estoocurra deberá tomar unas tres se-manas para isntalarlo”, agregó él.

Empleados del Sistema de Aguadel Condado de Webb trabajarondurante 24 horas para instalar latubería temporal.

“Quiero asegurar a los residen-tes que vamos a hacer todo ennuestro poder para ayudarlos”,sostuvo Rathmell. “El personal delCondado destacó por su trabajo afin de ayudar a nuestros vecinos,amigos y hermanos”.

Por su parte, la empresa H-E-Bdonó 7.000 cajas con botellas deagua para donar a los residentesde Siesta Shores; y, el Juez delCondado de Webb Tano Tijerinaofreció su ayuda con un camión-tanque.

Finalmente, Rathmell solicitóque las familias limiten el uso deagua, en tanto llega el momentode demoler el tanque para almace-namiento de agua y reemplazarlo.

(Localice a Melva Lavín-Castilloen el (956) 728-2569 o en mecasti-llo@lmtonline.com)

SIESTA SHORES

Alivio temporalPOR MELVA LAVÍN-CASTILLO

TIEMPO DE LAREDO

Zfrontera PÁGINA 9AMIÉRCOLES 21 DE OCTUBRE DE 2015

El Alcalde de la Ciudad de Laredo,Pete Sáenz fue anunciado como el presi-dente electo de la Coalición Fronterizade Texas (TBC, por sus siglas en inglés),en tanto que Richard Cortez, comisiona-do de McAllen, es el vicepresidente elec-to. El cargo tiene duración de dos años.

“TBC tiene el privilegio de contarcon líderes fronterizos experimentadose influyentes que trabajan en Austin yWashington”, dijo el presidente de TBCJ.D. Salinas III, en un comunicado deprensa. “Con décadas de experiencia, es-tas personas aplicarán sus conocimien-tos y habilidades para ayudar a resolverlos desafíos que enfrentan las comuni-dades fronterizas”

Salinas aseguró que la labor conjuntaauxiliará al momento de hacer frente alos retos.

Otros nuevos funcionarios son Ca-rolyn Petty, presidente de TaxFree Com-pras, Ltd., nombrada presidenta del nue-vo comité de desarrollo económico deTBC; y Sergio Contreras, director deasuntos externos para la ciudad dePharr, quien servirá como presidente dela comisión de transporte.

Desde 1998, TBC ha buscado ser lavoz de comunidades fronterizas en cues-tiones que afectan a la región fronterizade Texas-México.

“Los integrantes de TBC se compro-meten a trabajar para desarrollar políti-cas innovadoras y la legislación a nivelnacional, estatal y local”, de acuerdocon el comunicado de prensa.

Los integrantes del comité ejecutivoincluye a los Alcaldes de Del Rio, RobertGarza; Eagle Pass, Ramsey Cantú; LaJoya, José A. “Fito” Salinas; McAllen,Jim Darling; Pharr, Ambrosio “Amos”Hernández; Puerto Isabel, Joe Vega; Ro-ma, José Alfredo Guerra; al Director deOperaciones del Puente InternacionalPharr-Reynosa, Fred Brouwen; a Aure-lio “Meter” Guerra del Condado de Wi-llacy; al Juez del Condado de Zapata,Joe Rathmell; Ben Petty, TaxFree Com-pras senior, Ltd.; Blas Castañeda, desa-rrollo de personal; Olga Gabriel, aten-ción a la salud; y Mónica Weisberg-Ste-wart, inmigración y seguridadfronteriza.

TBC

Buscanreforzarmisión

ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Nueve condados de Texashan entrado en la categoríade “zonas primarias de de-sastre natural”, tras sufrirdaños y pérdidas por la re-ciente sequía, dio a conocerel Departamento de Agri-cultura de Estados Unidos(USDA, por sus siglas en in-glés).

Los condados enlistados,a partir del 14 de octubre de2015, son: Bastrop, Grimes,Rains, Dimmitt, Kinney,Travis, Fayette, Maverick yWalker.

“Acompañamos en senti-miento a todos los operado-res agrícolas de Texas afec-

tados por los desastres na-turales recientes”, dijo elSecretario de AgriculturaTom Vilsack. “…Queremoscomunicarle a los producto-res y a las comunidades deTexas que USDA está a sulado cuando el mal tiempoy los desastres naturalesamenazan su medio de vi-da”.

Igualmente, los siguien-tes condados también sonelegibles para los beneficiospor desastre debido a queson condados contiguos:Austin, Hopkins, Uvalde,Blanco, Houston, Val Verde,Brazos, Hunt, Van Zandt,Burneo, La Salle, Waller,Caldwell, Lavaca, Washin-

gton, Colorado, Lee, Webb,Edwards, Madison, William-son, Frio, Montgomery, Wo-od, Gonzales, San Jacinto,Zavala, Hays y Trinity.

Todos los operadoresagrícolas en el área desig-nada son elegibles para lospréstamos de emergencia(EM) a bajo interés de laFSA, siempre que se cum-pla con los requisitos deelegibilidad.

Los agricultores en con-dados elegibles tienen ochomeses a partir de la fechade la designación para soli-citar préstamos que los ayu-den a cubrir parte de suspérdidas reales. La FSAconsiderará cada solicitud

de préstamo por sus pro-pios méritos, tomando encuenta la magnitud de laspérdidas, el colateral dispo-nible y la capacidad de re-pago.

Entre los otros progra-mas de FSA que puedenproporcionar ayuda, perono requieren una declara-ción de desastre, incluyenel Programa de Conserva-ción Durante Situacionesde Emergencia (“Emer-gency Conservation Pro-gram”); el Programa de Fo-rraje para Ganado y Ani-males de Granja en Caso deDesastre (“Livestock Fora-ge Disaster Program”); elPrograma de Indemniza-

ción para Ganado y Ani-males de Granja (“Lives-tock Indemnity Program”);el Programa de Ayuda porEmergencia para Ganado,Abejas de Miel, y PescadoCriado en Granja (“Emer-gency Assistance for Lives-tock, Honeybees, andFarm-Raised Fish”); y elPrograma de Asistenciapara Árboles (“Tree Assis-tance Program”).

Los agricultores que es-tén interesados pueden co-municarse con un centrode servicio local de USDApara más daros. Informa-ción adicional también es-tá disponible en http://di-saster.fsa.usda.gov.

USDA

Reportan zona de desastre en 9 condadosESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

El fenómeno de la ‘MareaRoja’ ha sido detectado enplayas de San Fernando,

Soto la Marina, Aldama y Alta-mira, Tamaulipas, desde el 26 deseptiembre.

La lectura realizada para de-tectar la presencia del microor-ganismo ‘Karenia brevis’ es ma-yor a las 5.000 células por litro,indica un comunicado de prensade la Secretaría de Salud.

Desde su detección a la fecha,se han retirado alrededor de 40toneladas de peces muertos.

“La marea roja es un eventonatural cíclico, que está determi-nado por factores meteorológi-cos y oceanógrafos que se mani-fiesta con una coloración pardo-rojiza en la superficie del marcausado por un gran número dealgas microscópicas que se mul-tiplican rápidamente y ocupangran cantidad de oxigeno del

agua, lo que ocasiona que milesde peces mueran por asfixia ysean acumulados por la acciónde la marea en playas y lagu-nas”, explicó José Isauro FloresRivera, Comisionado estatal pa-ra la Protección contra RiesgosSanitarios (COEPRIS).

El Gobierno del Estado ha or-denado la vigilancia permanentepara evitar la venta y consumode moluscos bivalvos (ostiones,almejas y mejillones) desde Ma-tamoros hasta Altamira, así co-mo se ordenó el despliegue deocho brigadas médicas integra-das por 65 elementos, la creaciónde 98 empleos temporales y másde 3.000 apoyos alimenticiosotorgados a los habitantes de lo-calidades y en los campos pes-queros.

Autoridades de salud expresa-ron que al momento no se hanpresentado padecimientos rela-cionados a la marea roja, aun-que en Matamoros y Soto La

Marina se atendieron tres casosde irritación de garganta, “fre-cuente en las personas que se ex-ponen al efecto aerosol cercano ala superficie del mar”, aclara elcomunicado.

Por su parte, el Secretario deSalud, Norberto Treviño GarcíaManzo, lanzó una convocatoriaal sector naval, investigadores einstituciones educativas como laUniversidad del Mar, a trabajarde forma coordinada para docu-mentar y aportar conocimientosque sienten las bases para anti-cipar la aparición del microrga-nismo, estrechamente relaciona-do con la ausencia de fenómenoshidrometeorológicos como tor-mentas y huracanes.

Algunos de los síntomas porintoxicación, originados por latoxina, son el adormecimientode labios, lengua, yemas, pernas,brazos y cuello hasta generarsefalta de coordinación muscular yproblemas respiratorios.

TAMAULIPAS

MAREA ROJA

El Secretario de Salud, Norberto Treviño García Manzo, saluda a pescadores durante un recorrido por el sur de Tamauli-pas, durante la supervisión de los efectos de la marea roja en las costas del Estado.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

Vigilan venta y consumo en toda la costaTIEMPO DE ZAPATA

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES International WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015

TORONTO — Canadianvoters reclaimed theircountry’s liberal identitysending Justin Trudeau —the son of one of the coun-

try’s most dy-namic politic-ians — to theprime minis-ter’s officeand endingnearly a dec-ade of conser-vative leader-ship under

Stephen Harper.The victory in Monday’s

election by Trudeau’s Lib-eral Party was stunning.The Liberals were on apath to win at least 184seats out of 338 — a parlia-mentary majority that willallow Trudeau to governwithout relying on otherparties. The Liberals re-ceived 39.5 percent of theoverall vote compared to 32percent for the Conserva-tives and 19.6 for the NewDemocrats.

Harper, one of the long-est-serving Western lead-ers, will step down as Con-servative leader, the partyannounced as the scope ofits loss became apparent.

Trudeau’s victory couldresult in improved tieswith the United States, atleast for the remainder ofBarack Obama’s presiden-cy. Harper was frustratedby Obama’s reluctance toapprove the Keystone XLpipeline from Alberta toTexas and clashed with thepresident on other issues,including the Iran nucleardeal. Although Trudeausupports the Keystone pipe-line, he argues relationsshould not hinge on theproject. Trudeau is the sonof the late Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau, who sweptto office in 1968 on a waveof support dubbed “Tru-deaumania.”

Canadaelectsnew

leader

TRUDEAU

By ROB GILLIESASSOCIATED PRESS

JERUSALEM — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called forcalm during a surprise visit to Je-rusalem on Tuesday ahead ofmeetings with Israeli and Palesti-nian leaders, in a high-profilegambit to bring an end to amonthlong wave of violence.

The visit comes amid unrestthat erupted a month ago overtensions surrounding Jerusalem’smost sensitive holy site sacred toJews and Muslims. A spate of al-most daily Palestinian attacksagainst civilians and soldiers,most of which have involved stab-bings, has caused panic across Is-rael and raised fears that the re-gion is on the cusp of a new roundof bloodshed.

“These are difficult times for Is-raelis and Palestinians. I am herein the hope that we can work to-gether to end the violence, easethe tensions and begin to restorea long term political horizon ofpeace,” Ban said at a press confer-ence with Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu Tuesdaynight.

“I deplore the random attacksagainst civilians, such terror at-

tacks make every place unsafeand every person regardless togender or age a potential victim,”he said.

Over the past month, 10 Israelishave been killed in Palestinian at-tacks, most of them stabbings. Inthat time, 46 Palestinians werekilled by Israeli fire, including 25identified by Israel as attackers,and the rest in clashes with Israe-li troops. An Eritrean migrantdied after being shot by a security

guard and beaten by a mob thatmistakenly believed he was a Pal-estinian assailant during a deadlyArab attack at a bus station.

Netanyahu said Tuesday nightthat the violence has been causedlargely by incitement from Pales-tinian leaders, including PresidentMahmoud Abbas.

“President Abbas unfortunatelyhas been fanning the flames. Pres-ident Abbas has not condemned asingle one of the 30 terrorist at-

tacks against Israelis over the lastmonth and he continues to glorifythe terrorists as heroes,” Netanya-hu said.

The initial outbreak of Palesti-nian attacks was fueled by rumorsthat Israel was plotting to takeover Jerusalem’s most sensitiveholy site. Unrest began about amonth ago, when Palestinians re-peatedly barricaded themselvesinside the Al-Aqsa Mosque com-pound in Jerusalem’s Old City,hurling stones, firebombs and fire-works at police.

The hilltop compound in Jeru-salem’s Old City is revered byJews as the Temple Mount, site ofthe two Jewish biblical Temples.It is the holiest site in Judaism.

Known to Muslims as the NobleSanctuary, it houses the Al-AqsaMosque and the gold-topped Domeof the Rock. It is the third-holiestsite in Islam after Mecca and Me-dina in Saudi Arabia.

Israel has adamantly denied theallegations, saying it has no plansto change the status quo at thesite, where Jews are allowed tovisit but not pray. Israel has ac-cused Palestinian leaders of in-citement to violence over the site.

But Jewish visits to the sitehave doubled since 2010.

UN chief urges calm amid violenceBy IAN DEITCH

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A Palestinian hurls a stone during clashes with Israeli troops, near Ramallah, WestBank, Tuesday. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for calm in Jerusalem.

Photo by Majdi Mohammed | AP

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015 THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A

Gumersindo Valadez Gar-cia passed away on Thurs-day, Oct. 14, 2015.

Mr. Valadez is precededin death by his parents, Gu-mersindo and Genoveva Va-ladez; and sister, YolandaValadez de Alaniz.

Mr. Valadez is survivedby wife, Leydiana Rodriguezde Valadez; son, Gumercin-do Valadez; daughters, Ley-diana Ruby (Aaron) Carmo-na, Yuliana Zamara Vala-dez; grandchildren, AaronA. Carmona, Anaylea RubyCarmona; brother, RobertoValadez; sisters, RamonaValadez, Alma Rosa Vala-dez, Maria Elena Valadez;and by numerous brothersand sisters-in-law, cousins,nephews, nieces, other fam-ily members and friends.

Visitation hours was heldon Monday, Oct. 19, 2015,from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. with awake at 7 p.m. at Rose Gar-den Funeral Home.

A Chapel Service washeld on Tuesday, Oct. 20,2015, at 10 a.m. at Rose Gar-

den Funeral Home.Committal services fol-

lowed at Zapata CountyCemetery.

Funeral arrangementsare under the direction ofRose Garden Funeral HomeDaniel A. Gonzalez, FuneralDirector, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy 83Zapata, Texas.

GUMERSINDO VALADEZ GARCIA

April 17, 1966 – Oct. 14, 2015

WASHINGTON — Con-sumers, fueled by jobgrowth, cheaper gas andhigher home values, woulddrive the U.S. economythrough a global slump.

That was the widespreadhope just a few months ago.Now, doubts are growingthat the United States canwithstand economic pres-sures flowing from over-seas. Economies in China,Canada, Brazil and Europeare struggling. Canada, thelargest U.S. trading partner,is in recession.

Americans have beenholding back on spendingeven though lower gas pric-es have put more cash intheir pockets. Employershave slowed hiring and helddown pay. Home sales haveflattened. And the U.S. econ-omy has been hobbled by astronger dollar, whichmakes U.S. goods costlieroverseas and is depressingcorporate profits.

“There’s no question thatthe economy is losing mo-mentum,” said Mark Vitner,an economist at Wells Far-go. “The question is wheth-er it is temporary ... or is itsomething that will provemore lasting?”

As recently as early Au-gust, economists hadsketched a bright picturefor the rest of the year and,as a result, thought the Fed-eral Reserve would be confi-dent enough to raise inter-est rates from record lowsin September. The Fedchose not to. And manyeconomists and investorshave pushed back their fore-cast for a Fed rate hike intonext year.

The U-turn in sentimenthappened fast. It occurred

soon after China made aclumsy attempt last sum-mer to prop up its stockprices and then devalued itscurrency. Financial marketsplunged on fears that Chi-na’s once-sizzling growthwas shakier than anyonehad thought and wouldslow economies elsewhere.

This week, China said itseconomy’s growth slid to 6.9percent in the July-Septem-ber quarter from a year ear-lier, the slowest pace inmore than six years.

As China’s appetite foroil, copper, iron ore and oth-er commodities has fallen,so have prices for thosegoods. One consequence isthat U.S. energy companies,squeezed by lower oil pric-es, are buying fewer factorygoods. At Ahaus Tool & En-gineering in Richmond, In-diana, orders for compo-nents it sells to drillingequipment makers havedropped.

Gas drillers “are cuttingtheir costs, which meansthey’re slowing down onbuying new components,”said Kevin Ahaus, the com-pany president. “We’re notseeing much businessthere.”

U.S. factories cut produc-tion for a second straightmonth in September. Manu-facturers are being hurt bya declining appetite fortheir goods overseas and bycheaper foreign-made prod-ucts. U.S. exports are downthis year compared with2014, the first year-over-yeardecline since the Great Re-cession officially ended in2009.

“We haven’t seen near asmuch interest overseas asthere had been the past cou-ple of years,” said TerryBabb, president of ApexTool & Manufacturing in

Evansville, Indiana. Falling demand for U.S.

goods hurts even companiesthat don’t themselves exportproducts. CSX Corp., for ex-ample, said its revenuefrom transporting coal fell19 percent in the third quar-ter from a year earlier inpart because of reducedcoal exports.

The higher-valued dollaris squeezing U.S. corpora-tions’ sales in another way,too: Their revenue in for-eign currencies is worthless once it’s converted backto dollars. Wal-Mart, for ex-ample, says it expects flatsales this year, partly be-cause of such currency ef-fects. Johnson & Johnsonand Monsanto have alsosaid currency exchangerates are depressing reve-nue.

At the same time, U.S.consumers appear to bepulling back. Sales at retailstores and restaurantsdipped in September after aflat reading in August.Though Americans aresnapping up cars at a solidpace, retail sales excludingautos have fallen for twomonths.

Scott Brown, chief econo-mist at Raymond James,

said “middle and lower-endconsumers are still strug-gling a lot.”

With apartment rents ris-ing rapidly and pay growthanemic, “it’s still tough formany households to makeends meet,” he said.

Several economists notedthat Apple’s launch of itslatest iPhone failed to boostoverall sales at electronicsstores, in contrast to previ-ous iPhone releases.

Many companies havebeen stuck with warehousesfull of unsold goods, whichwere built up on optimisticexpectations for demand.Now, the excess supply hasled businesses to reducenew orders. The paring ofinventories could slash eco-nomic growth in the July-

consumer confidence hasrebounded as gas priceshave fallen and stocks haveregained some of their loss-es.

Growth is expected toslow to a meager annualrate of about 1.25 percent inthe July-September quarter.But analysts expect a mod-est rebound in the October-December quarter to about2.5 percent annual growth.

“While this has not beenthe year that we were hop-ing for, whispers of a loom-ing recession are mis-placed,” Michelle Meyer, aneconomist at Bank of Amer-ica Merrill Lynch, wrote toclients.

September quarter by up to2 percentage points, accord-ing to the Federal ReserveBank of Atlanta.

Businesses have alsoslowed hiring. Employersadded 136,000 jobs in Augustand 142,000 in September —far below the 245,000 aver-age gain for the 12 monthsthat ended in July.

“If we’re going to dependon the consumer, we’re go-ing to need more jobs andincome growth,” Vitnersaid.

Many economists note,though, that while growthis slowing, it isn’t stopping.Few foresee anything near arecession. In recent weeks,

Optimism about economy’s strength has dimmed

In this Oct. 30, 2014, file photo, Joe Warner fills up his tank at a gasstation in Atlanta.

Photo by David Goldman | AP file

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABERASSOCIATED PRESS

DETROIT — Elaboratenew transmissions arehelping automakers meetrising fuel economy stan-dards, but they’re also re-quiring more trips to therepair shop.

Transmission problemstripped up Honda, Nissan,Jeep and other brands inConsumer Reports’ annualreliability survey. Driversreported rough shifting,clutch failure and eventransmissions that had tobe replaced twice in thefirst year of car ownership.

Lexus and Toyota —which rely on older trans-missions in many of theirmodels — were the best-performing brands in thesurvey. Lexus or Toyota hastopped the survey since2011. Audi, Mazda and Sub-aru rounded out the topfive. The worst performerswere Infiniti, Cadillac,Ram, Jeep and Fiat among

28 brands.The survey, released

Tuesday, predicts the relia-bility of 2016 cars andtrucks based on a survey ofits subscribers. This year’ssurvey was based on re-sponses from owners of740,000 vehicles. ConsumerReports’ annual survey isclosely watched by the autoindustry, since many poten-tial buyers follow the Yonk-ers, New York-based com-pany’s recommendations.

Wall Street watchesclosely, too. Tesla Motors’

shares fell nearly 10 per-cent after Consumer Re-ports said it would no long-er recommend its Model Ssedan. The Model S gothigh scores in the maga-zine’s driving tests, butowners reported multiplemechanical problems.

Transmissions withmore gears help enginesrun more efficiently. A carwith an eight-speed trans-mission gets about 8 per-cent better fuel economythan one with a four-speed,according to the U.S. Envi-

ronmental Protection Agen-cy. Dual-clutch transmis-sions use separate clutchesfor odd and even gears, al-lowing faster shifting. Andcontinuously variabletransmissions do awaywith fixed gears altogether,relying instead on a systemof pulleys to produce an in-finite variety of engine towheel-speed combinations.

But new technology cancause problems. Honda Mo-tor Co. took a risk and puttwo new transmissions —an eight-speed dual-clutchand a nine-speed — in its2015 Acura TLX sedan.Consumer Reports saidthey had multiple prob-lems, and the Acura brandslipped seven spots to 18thin this year’s survey. TheHonda brand remains inthe top ten, but it fell belowKia for the first time due totransmission problems aswell as glitches with its in-fotainment system.

Jeep, too, remained atthe bottom of the survey.

Lexus is top brand for reliability

In this April 1 file photo, the 2016 Lexus RX is introduced at theNew York International Auto Show, in New York.

Photo by Mark Lennihan | AP file

By DEE-ANN DURBINASSOCIATED PRESS

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015