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Four Laredoans involvedin a kidnapping ordered bythe Zetas drug cartel weresentenced to prison Thurs-day in federal court.

Efrain Garza, 33, was or-dered by U.S. District CourtJudge Diana Saldaña toserve 37 years and threemonths in federal prison.Ernesto “Zombie” Zaragoza-Solis, 31, was sentenced to30 years.

Also sentenced were Ni-colas “Nico” Sanchez Reyes,52, and Grace Diaz Marti-nez, 35. Sanchez, who wasconvicted in 2014 of killing aman in Laredo on behalf ofthe Zetas, will serve 10years in prison for conspir-acy to export firearms des-tined for the Zetas. Diaz wassentenced to 48 months be-hind bars.

A fifth co-defendant, Pa-blo “Panda” Cerda, 38, wassentenced Tuesday to 16years in federal prison.

Members and associatesof the Hermanos PistolerosLatinos were ordered by theZetas to execute the kidnap-ping after a person stole $2million in drug proceeds,prosecutors allege. The pro-ceeds were delivered fromChicago to a warehouse inLaredo on Sept. 14, 2010, au-thorities said. The personwho stole the money wassupposed to deliver it to theZetas in Nuevo Laredo,Mexico, according to theU.S. Attorney’s Office.

Authorities said the co-conspirators were taskedwith kidnapping the thiefand his or her family mem-bers. They were to kill themif the money was not re-turned.

At about 11:30 p.m. Sept.19, 2010, the Laredo PoliceDepartment received a 911call indicating a woman hadbeen abducted at gunpointin the 1300 block of EistetterStreet. The woman turned

FEDERAL COURT

Off to prison

See ZETAS PAGE 12A

GARZA ZARAGOZA-SOLIS SANCHEZ DIAZ CERDA

Five who worked for Zetas sentencedBy PHILIP BALLI

THE ZAPATA TIMES

HOUSTON — Floodwa-ters submerged highwaysand threatened homesFriday in Texas as anoth-er round of heavy rainadded to the damage in-flicted by storms thathave killed at least 22 peo-ple and left 13 missing.

The line of thunder-storms that stalled overDallas dropped as muchas 7 more inches over-night. That rainfall con-tributed to another death

early Friday, when fire-fighters in a Dallas sub-urb said a man drownedin his truck after it wasswept into a culvert.Houston-area authoritiesconfirmed the death of an87-year-old man who wasswept away when a boatattempting to rescue himfrom a bayou overturned.The man had previouslybeen counted among themissing. His body was re-covered from the HoustonShip Channel.

The rain also seeped

TEXAS

Flood waters from the Brazos River encroach upon homes inthe Horseshoe Bend neighborhood, Friday, in Weatherford.Floodwaters submerged Texas highways and threatened morehomes Friday after another round of heavy rain added to thedamage inflicted by storms.

Photo by Brandon Wade | AP

More rain,more serious

floodingDeath toll rises to 22, 13 missing

after days of severe weatherBy JUAN A. LOZANO AND SETH ROBBINSASSOCIATED PRESS

See FLOOD PAGE 12A

SAN ANTONIO — Whenthe vans from South Texas’simmigrant detention cen-ters arrive at the San Anto-nio Greyhound station, agroup of volunteers waits togreet women and childrenwho face a long bus ridethrough a foreign countrywith little more than the

clothes on their backs.Members of San Anto-

nio’s Interfaith WelcomeCoalition offer them cellphones to call relatives, ex-plain their bus tickets, andgive them food and blanketsfor the journey ahead.

At the bus station recent-ly, Azuzucha Sanchez, 33,from Guatemala, threw herarms around Yanira Lopez,a friend from the Karnes

County detention centerwho has been staying forseveral weeks with the coa-lition, a network of localchurches and religiousgroups that provides sup-port for Central Americanfamilies crossing the borderin Texas.

“I didn’t imagine shewould be here,” Sancheztold the San Antonio Ex-press-News. “I arrived and

saw people from the church,and they said come in. I wasafraid of the journey, butnow it’s better.”

San Antonio’s bus stationis the first stop for most ofthe women released fromdetention centers in KarnesCounty and the town of Dil-ley. Combined, the two cen-ters are holding about 1,500

IMMIGRATION CRISIS

FAMILIES RECEIVE HELP

Mirian Escobar Perez, 23, of Honduras cries as she prays on her knees in her room as the Mennonite Casa de Maria y Marta shelter onApril 2 in San Antonio. The Mennonite Casa de Maria y Marta is where immigrant women and their children stay after being released fromdetention centers in South Texas and participates as part of the Interfaith Welcome Coalition.

Photo by Bob Owen/The San Antonio Express-News | AP

After being released from dentention, shelterBy JASON BUCH

SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

See FAMILIES PAGE 11A

Texas has officiallyasked Congress to lift its40-year-old ban on crudeoil exports.

Gov. Greg Abbott onFriday signed a resolutioncalling the federal ban a“relic from an era of scar-city and flawed price con-trol policies” that shouldbe lifted at a time whenthe country is awash inlow-priced crude. A trio ofTexans in Congress ispushing legislation thatwould overturn the ban.

Supporters of lifting theban – including virtuallyall Texas lawmakers and

industry regulators – ar-gue that finding morebuyers for U.S. crudewould prompt more drill-ing, pouring more cash in-to the state treasury. Pro-ponents of the status quofear that a repeal could in-crease gas prices and spurmore drilling that harmsthe environment.

American companiesmay export refined petro-leum products such asgasoline or diesel, butmost crude here is stuckat home.

That’s due to a policydating back to themid-1970s, when the U.S.

CRUDE OIL

Abbott wantsexport ban liftedTexas governor calls 40-year-old ban

a ‘relic from an era of scarcity’By JIM MALEWITZ

TEXAS TRIBUNE

See CRUDE OIL PAGE 11A

PAGE 2A Zin brief SATURDAY, MAY 30, 2015

SATURDAY, MAY 30LCC’s Rio Grande Arts Festival

from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. at LCC FortMcIntosh Campus West End. This cele-bration includes contests in playwriting,play production, short film, song writ-ing, battle of bands and dance. Admis-sion is free. Martinez Fine Arts Centerat martinezfineartscenter@laredo.edu or721-5334.

LCC presents “Girl in a Coma” aspart of the Rio Grande Arts Festival,from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Admission isfree.

Laredo Northside Market Associ-ation is hosting the May “Fifth Satur-day Market” at Slaughter Park. Manyof the regular Laredo Northside Marketvendors will be present, and there willalso be activities with prizes for kids.For more information, visit their Face-book page at facebook.com/laredo-northsidemarket.

Polly Heil-Mealey, naturopath andcertified iridologist, will be at Light-house Assembly of God Church, 8731Belize Dr at Puig at 7 p.m., speakingon whole body wellness. Admission isfree. Call 281-312-2860.

Planetarium Shows at TAMIU La-mar Bruni Vergara Planetarium from 1– 5 p.m. 2 p.m.: Accidental Astronaut;3 p.m.: Cosmic Adventures; 4 p.m.:Back to the Moon; 5 p.m.: Black Holes.General Admission is $4 for childrenand $5 adults. Admission is $4 for TA-MIU students, faculty and staff. Formore information, call 956-326-DOME(3663).

Spiritual Wisdom on Karma andReincarnation. Free Bilingual Discussionwith booklet included. From 1 – 2:30p.m. in Room A of Laredo Public Li-brary, 1120 E. Calton. Se habla espa-ñol. For more info please call 210-831-7113 or got to www.Eckankar-Texas.org.

SUNDAY, MAY 31LCC’s Rio Grande Arts Festival

from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. at LCC FortMcIntosh Campus West End. Contestsin playwriting, play production, shortfilm, song writing, battle of bands anddance. Admission is free. Martinez FineArts Center at martinezfineartscen-ter@laredo.edu or 721-5334.

TUESDAY, JUNE 2Alzheimer’s support group will

meet at 7 p.m. at the Laredo MedicalCenter, building B, meeting room 2.The support group is for family mem-bers and caregivers taking care ofsomeone who has Alzheimer’s. For in-formation, please call 956-693-9991.

THURSDAY, JUNE 4Elysian Social Club will be host-

ing its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m.Herlinda Nieto-Dubuisson at 956-285-3126.

SATURDAY, JUNE 6Villa San Agustin de Laredo Ge-

nealogical Society meeting with speak-er Albino Salinas Arreola on the Found-ing of Nuevo Laredo at the LaredoPublic Library-Calton, from 10 a.m. tonoon. Sanjuanita Martinez-Hunter at722-3497.

First United Methodist Churchused book sale from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30p.m. at 1220 McClelland. Hardcovers,$1; paperbacks, $.50; magazines, $.25;childrens books, $.25.

MONDAY, JUNE 8The Laredo Stroke Support Group

will be holding its monthly meeting at7 p.m. at the San Martin de PorresChurch Family Life Center. Please visitwww.laredostrokesupport.com for moreinformation.

SATURDAY JUNE 13South Texas Food Bank bucket

brigade fundraiser 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. atseven Laredo corners: Hillside-McPher-son, Zacatecas-Zapata Highway,McPherson-Shiloh, Saunders-Bartlett,Arkansas-Clark, Guadalupe-Meadow,Springfield –Del Mar. For informationplease call Salo Otero, 956-324-2432.

THURSDAY, JUNE 18Elysian Social Club will be host-

ing its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m.Herlinda Nieto-Dubuisson at 956-285-3126.

(Submit calendar items atlmtonline.com/calendar/submitor by emailing edito-rial@lmtonline.com with theevent’s name, date and time, lo-cation and purpose and contactinformation for a representa-tive. Items will run as space isavailable.)

CALENDARASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Saturday, May 30,the 150th day of 2015. Thereare 215 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in His-tory:

On May 30, 1935, Babe Ruthplayed in his last major leaguebaseball game for the BostonBraves, leaving after the firstinning of the first of a double-header against the Philadel-phia Phillies, who won bothgames (Ruth announced hisretirement three days later).

On this date:In 1431, Joan of Arc, con-

demned as a heretic, wasburned at the stake in Rouen,France.

In 1814, the first Treaty ofParis was signed, ending warbetween France and the SixthCoalition (the United King-dom, Russia, Austria, Sweden,Portugal and Prussia).

In 1883, 12 people weretrampled to death in a stam-pede sparked by a rumor thatthe recently opened BrooklynBridge was in danger of col-lapsing.

In 1922, the Lincoln Memo-rial in Washington D.C. wasdedicated in a ceremony at-tended by President Warren G.Harding, Chief Justice Wil-liam Howard Taft and RobertTodd Lincoln.

In 1937, ten people werekilled when police fired onsteelworkers demonstratingnear the Republic Steel plantin South Chicago.

In 1958, unidentified Ameri-can service members killed inWorld War II and the KoreanWar were interred in theTomb of the Unknowns at Ar-lington National Cemetery.

In 1980, Pope John Paul IIarrived in France on the firstvisit there by the head of theRoman Catholic Church sincethe early 19th century.

In 1996, Britain’s Prince An-drew and the former SarahFerguson were granted an un-contested decree ending their10-year marriage.

Ten years ago: Americanteenager Natalee Hollowayvanished in Aruba after leav-ing a bar with three youngmen, including the chief sus-pect in her disappearance, Jo-ran van der Sloot; her fate re-mains unknown.

Five years ago: Joran vander Sloot, the prime suspect inthe disappearance of NataleeHolloway in Aruba, was seenleaving a hotel room in Lima,Peru, where the body of 21-year-old Stephany Flores wasfound three days later. (Vander Sloot later confessed tomurdering Flores, and is serv-ing a 28-year prison sentence.)

One year ago: Beset bygrowing evidence of patientdelays and cover-ups, embat-tled Veterans Affairs Secreta-ry Eric Shinseki resignedfrom President Barack Oba-ma’s Cabinet, taking theblame for what he decried as a“lack of integrity” in thesprawling health care systemfor the nation’s military veter-ans.

Today’s Birthdays: ActorClint Walker is 88. Actress Ru-ta Lee is 80. Actor Michael J.Pollard is 76. Pro and CollegeFootball Hall of Famer GaleSayers is 72. Actor Colm Mea-ney is 62. Country singer Wy-nonna Judd is 51. Movie direc-tor Antoine Fuqua is 50. Rap-per Cee Lo Green is 40. ActorJake Short is 18. Actor SeanGiambrone is 16. Actor JaredGilmore is 15.

Thought for Today: “Forhappiness one needs security,but joy can spring like a flow-er even from the cliffs of de-spair.” — Anne Morrow Lind-bergh, American writer (1906-2001).

TODAY IN HISTORY

Texas lawmakers in both chambers on Fri-day overwhelmingly approved a $209.4 bil-lion two-year budget, a 3.6 percent increaseover the current one. It now heads to Gov.Greg Abbott’s desk.

The budget leaves $6.4 billion unspent, in-cluding $2.9 billion under the state’s consti-tutional spending cap, which limits thegrowth of some state funds. Lawmakers alsoleft untouched another $11 billion in thestate’s Rainy Day Fund, which is fed by oiland gas production taxes.

The budget also includes funding to cover$3.8 billion in property tax relief and fran-chise tax cuts for Texas businesses.

A 133-15 House vote was preceded byhours of occasionally heated debate in whichboth Democrats and Republicans took issue

with certain levels of funding.“I’m very happy to support this budget,”

House Appropriations Chairman John Otto,R-Dayton, told House members. “Does it doeverything I want to do? No. Anybody whothinks they can get 100 percent of what theywant is crazy. It doesn’t happen.”

The votes against the budget in the lowerchamber included state Rep. Sylvester Turn-er, D-Houston, who served as Otto’s vicechairman on the Appropriations Committeeand was the only House Democrat to serveon the conference committee that worked tohash out differences between the two cham-bers’ budgets. Turner called the amount allo-cated for public education in the final budget“woefully inadequate” and also cited frustra-tions with spending levels for transportationand physician reimbursement payments forMedicaid.

AROUND TEXAS

Legislators congratulate Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton, after HB1 passes on Friday. The budget leaves $6.4 billion unspent, in-cluding $2.9 billion under the state’s constitutional spending cap, which limits the growth of some state funds. Lawmakersalso left untouched another $11 billion in the state’s Rainy Day Fund.

Photo by Marjorie Kamys Cotera | Texas Tribune

$209.4B budget approvedBy AMAN BATHEJA AND JULIÁN AGUILAR

TEXAS TRIBUNE

Lawmakers approve newteen abortion restrictions

AUSTIN — Texas lawmakershave voted to tighten rules forteenagers seeking to get an abor-tion without parental consent.

The bill sent to Gov. Greg Ab-bott on Friday requires girls toshow ID to prove they are under18 and extends the time for ajudge to make a ruling. It alsobars girls from using abuse as areason to apply for an applica-tion for a judicial bypass.

Abbott signs law givingreporters extra protection

AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbotthas signed into law a measurefurther shielding journalistsfrom libel lawsuits if they accu-rately report a whistleblower’sallegations — even if they turnout to be false.

The protection initially ap-peared stalled, but rallied afterlengthy negotiations between or-ganizations that represent jour-nalists and trial lawyers.

Search for missing girl offGalveston Island resumes

GALVESTON — The searchfor a 12-year-old Houston girlwho disappeared while swim-ming off Galveston Island is setto continue after being suspend-ed for the night.

Houston media outlets reportSamira Carlon was at the beachwith a school group of about 20from KIPP Voyage Academy forGirls in Houston on Thursday af-ternoon.

10 injured in gas leak atPanhandle chemical plant

BORGER — Ten people weretaken to hospitals after a gasleak at a chemical plant in theTexas Panhandle.

The incident happened about4:15 p.m. Thursday at the Agri-um plant in Borger, about 40miles northeast of Amarillo.

Borger police Lt. BrandonStrope says the 10 were taken toPanhandle hospitals by ambu-lance and helicopter.

Superintendent arrested,faces bribery charges

DONNA — The superintend-ent of a South Texas school dis-trict faces charges on accusa-tions he and another official paidthe school police chief to drop aninvestigation into theft and in-surance fraud.

The Monitor reports that Don-na school district SuperintendentJesus Rene Reyna was arrestedThursday and is charged withbribery and obstruction.

Gas prices drop slightly to$2.51 average in TexasCOPPELL — Gas prices

across Texas dropped by onecent this week. AAA Texas saidThursday that the statewide av-erage for a gallon of regular un-leaded gasoline in Texas is nowat $2.51. That’s 94 cents less pergallon than last year.

Texans are paying 23 centsless than the national average,which now sits at $2.74.

— Compiled from AP reports

Fuel and potential fires forthe US economy aheadWASHINGTON — The US

economy should get better aftera sputtering first quarter, buthow much better? It’s complicat-ed.

Steady hiring and low gasprices should help power solidgrowth through the rest of 2015.The harsh winter and a labordispute that slowed trade at WestCoast ports are both over. Homesales and construction are re-bounding, along with businessinvestment.

But risks remain: A strongerdollar will likely continue tokeep the trade deficit wide. Andfurther cutbacks in oil drillingcould depress spending in the en-ergy industry.

American Expresspresident dies suddenlyNEW YORK — American Ex-

press says president Ed Gilligan

died suddenly Friday after fall-ing ill while flying on a corpo-rate plane to New York.

The company says the 55-year-old executive was coming backfrom a business trip. It said theplane made an emergency land-ing. Gilligan began working at

American Express Co. 35 yearsago as an intern and becamepresident of the credit card com-pany in 2013.

The company says he is sur-vived by his wife and four chil-dren.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

In this April 27 photo, rodbusters install rebar on the new Comcast Innovationand Technology Center under construction, in Philadelphia. The Commerce De-partment released first-quarter gross domestic product on Friday.

Photo by Matt Rourke | AP

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CONTACT US

SATURDAY, MAY 30, 2015 State THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

AUSTIN — Texas law-makers voted Friday todismantle the state’shigh school steroids test-ing program after eightyears and more than $10million spent collectingthousands of samplesthat turned up only ahandful of cheaters.

Once lauded as amodel for the nation, theprogram instead turnedinto a target for criticswho called it an ineffec-tive waste of money. Sev-eral lawmakers defend-ed it Friday as an effec-tive deterrent againststeroid use, but said itwas no longer needed.

“We spent a lot ofmoney. We raised aware-ness. We saved lives,”said Rep. Dan Flynn, aRepublican who helpedwrite the original test-ing law in 2007.

Friday’s vote strippedall money for the testingprogram out of the nextstate budget, which wassent to Gov. Greg Abbottto sign into law.

Texas started the pro-gram in response tofears that performance-enhancing drug use inprofessional sports wasrapidly growing amongteenagers in a statewhere the love of highschool football is secondto none. Texas initiallycreated a massive pro-gram that sent testersswarming across thestate to randomly collecturine samples from highschool athletes in allsports.

The first 30,000 testsproduced just 11 positiveresults of steroid use.Few saw those numbersas good news of cleanathletes or even as proofthe program could be asuccessful deterrent.Most saw it as fodder forcritics that the state waswasting money.

Lawmakers have beenscaling down the pro-gram ever since. By2013, its budget had beencut from $3 million peryear to $500,000. Soon, Il-linois and New Jerseywill be the only stateswith testing programs.

The move was expect-ed. Lt. Gov. David Dew-hurst championed theprogram from its startand kept it afloat in re-cent years, but he lost abid for re-election in2014. A special commit-tee that reviews stateagencies last year rec-ommended eliminatingthe program.

“While I am disap-pointed to see the test-ing program disappear,its demise was inevita-ble,” said Don Hooton,who started the TaylorHooton Foundation afterhis 17-year-old son’s 2003suicide was linked tosteroid use, and was oneof the key advocates increating the Texas pro-gram.

An initial supporter,Hooton became one theprogram’s chief critics,complaining of loop-holes in sample collect-ing and concerns that itdidn’t test for enoughdifferent types of ste-roids, creating easyways for students toavoid detection.

“The chances of this

program catching one ofour Texas high-school-ers using steroids wassomewhere betweenslim and none,” Hootonsaid.

State officials scram-bled briefly Friday to de-termine if cutting themoney really killed theprogram. The legislativesession ends Mondayand lawmakers have noteliminated the portionof state law passed in2007 that required test-ing. But key lawmakers,from the original authorto the budget architects,said it was a minor mis-step and testing will notbe required.

“The legislature votedto de-fund it, so I thinkthe legislative intent ispretty clear,” said Sen.Jane Nelson, the Repub-lican chairman of theSenate budget commit-tee.

Flynn, however, saidthe hiccup could allowlawmakers to bring test-ing back in the future.

“If we find there’s aproblem again, we couldtest again,” Flynn said.

Don Hooton posses for a photo in a room with remembrances of his late son Taylor Hooton at his home on March 17, in McKin-ney. Hooton, who started the Taylor Hooton Foundation for steroid abuse education after his 17-year-old son’s 2003 suicidewas linked to steroid use, was one of the key advocates in creating the Texas program.

Photo by LM Otero | AP

High school steroids tests endBy JIM VERTUNO

ASSOCIATED PRESS

After a months-long staringcontest between the House andthe Senate, the lower chambergave a sweeping border securitybill a final blessing Thursday.

State Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, agreed to acceptchanges the Senate made to hisHouse Bill 11, which would beefup staffing for the Texas De-partment of Public Safety, keepthe Texas National Guard onthe border and establish atransnational intelligence cen-ter on the border to analyzecrime data, among other things.

“I think the people of Texascan be very proud of the greatdeal of respect and dignity”shown through the process,Bonnen said. “We are going tostep forward where Washingtonfails.”

The final vote on the bill was122-22 and came after severalHouse Democrats questionedBonnen about what oversightmechanisms are in the bill. Anearlier version included aHouse provision that wouldhave created an oversight com-mittee to monitor DPS spendingand activities. That was

stripped and replaced by a gen-eral oversight committee thatdidn’t include the DPS mandate.

Bonnen did his best to reas-sure members that the commit-tee would look at an array of is-sues during the interim, andthat the DPS would be undersunset review in 2019, whenlawmakers can implementchanges to the agency.

The bill has a price tag ofabout $310 million, which is al-located for in the $800 millionlawmakers earmarked for bor-der security through the 2016-17biennium.

The bill creates a new offensefor smuggling if a person know-ingly transports or harborssomeone in the country illegallyfor profit. It also requires DPSto form a plan to establishsouthbound checkpoints on in-ternational bridges to search forweapons and bulk cash.

The bill was considered a“must-pass” proposal after Gov.Greg Abbott declared border se-curity an emergency item inJanuary. Because the House ac-cepted the Senate’s final ver-sion, there won’t be a need for aconference committee, and themeasure should be at Abbott’sdesk for a signature soon.

Border bill sentto Gov. Abbott

By JULIÁN AGUILARTEXAS TRIBUNE

WACO — A Texas motorcy-clist arrested with more than170 others after a motorcycleclub meeting ended in gunfirehas filed a federal civil rightslawsuit.

WFAA-TV reports MatthewAlan Clendennen alleges hewas arrested and detained“without probable cause.”

He says he took cover in ahallway inside Twin Peaks, theWaco restaurant where themeeting was to take place, and

had nothing to do with the vio-lence that ensued. Nine peoplewere killed in the shootout.

The lawsuit filed Friday inWaco federal court names asdefendants the city of Waco,McLennan County and Wacopolice officer Manuel Chavez,who drafted the warrant forClendennen’s arrest.

Clendennen remains jailedon a $1 million bond.

Waco police spokesman Sgt.Patrick Swanton could not im-mediately be reached for com-ment.

Jailed biker suesWaco for arrest

ASSOCIATED PRESS

PAGE 4A Zopinion SATURDAY, MAY 30, 2015

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

There’s little more en-tertaining, predictable ordepressing about watch-ing people throw theirpolitical good sense outthe window just becausethey don’t like the bene-ficiaries of a practicethey might otherwisesupport.

Such has been the casewith the hysteria overso-called “wife bonuses,”the subject of a May 16piece in the New YorkTimes.

“A wife bonus, I wastold, might be hammeredout in a pre-nup or post-nup, and distributed onthe basis of not only howwell her husband’s fundhad done but her ownperformance — how wellshe managed the homebudget, whether the kidsgot into a ‘good’ school— the same way theirhusbands were rewardedat investment banks,”author Wednesday Mar-tin explained.

It’s easy to get dis-tracted by the amountsof money Martin is talk-ing about and what thewomen who receive thesebonuses do with them.

“Their self-care wasno less zealous or com-petitive. No ponytails ormom jeans here: they ex-ercised themselves to arazor’s edge, wore expen-sive and exquisite outfitsto school drop-off andlooked a decade youngerthan they were. Manyran their homes (plural)like C.E.O.s,” Martinnoted.

“Oil prices aside, Ican’t help dreamingabout what I might beable to afford with my2016 bonus,” mused PollyPhillips in a New YorkPost piece designed tocourt this specific ire. (“Iget a wife bonus and Ideserve it, so STFU,”screams the headline.)“Might it be the ultimatein wife bonus purchases— a Birkin bag? I’d abso-lutely kill for a $15,000starter model in taupe.”

But hating on richwomen obscures an im-portant point: House-work and child care arework, or at least they’retreated that way whensomeone other than theperson who lives in thehouse or gave birth tothe child in questiondoes them. If one personin a marriage is going totake on these responsib-ilities, which rightfullybelong to both partners,then maybe they shouldbe paid. And if we thinkit’s so important thatchildren have their par-ents present and have acertain standard of liv-ing at home, maybe weshould make a collectiveinvestment and pay simi-lar stipends to familieseven where one partnerisn’t making an invest-

ment banking or oil ex-ecutive’s fortune, or fam-ilies headed by a singleperson.

“I’ve been surprisedand disappointed by thereaction I’ve receivedfrom other women,”when disclosing that shegets a bonus, Phillipswrote. And while she issort of skipping over thefact that talking aboutyour spending incessant-ly might not make yougreat company, shemakes an excellent point.

“Many of them havesniggered, assuming thatmy bonus is bedroom de-pendent, or have accusedme of betraying femi-nism and living in the‘50s like a desperatehousewife. To me, therecan be nothing morefeminist than believingthat staying home to takecare of our daughter —as well as the day-to-daywashing, ironing, cook-ing and cleaning — isjust as worthy of a wageas going out to a job out-side the home.”

Or, as Shane Ferro putit in Business Insider,“One parent working andone doing the unpaid up-keep of the house andkids is unfair and too of-ten split down typicalgender lines, but it’s noteconomically irrational.”

My biggest point of ob-jection is to the way Phil-lips’ bonus is structured.

“The size of my bonushas nothing to do withmy performance in thekitchen or the bedroom.It’s entirely dependenton how my husband doesat work, and how wellhis company performs,”she explains. “Whichmeans, judging by theprice of oil at the mo-ment, my critics mightbe pleased to hear thatnext year, I might not getmuch of a wife bonus atall.”

But if she’s going to bepaid for managing herfamily’s home and doingchild care, Phillipsshould be getting a setsalary that reflects thevalue of her work, ratherthan a cut of her hus-band’s bonus. It’s not herfault if the price of crudefalls or her husband hasa bad year despite the en-vironment she has creat-ed for him at home.

It’s not getting paid forwork that’s necessarilycondescending or sexist;it’s tying that payment tothe performance of theperson who’s paying thesalary, rather than theperson who’s actuallyundertaking the labor inquestion. And it’s dolingthat money out like ayear-end treat, ratherthan delivering it regu-larly like the wage that itis.

So down with the wifebonus. And up with thewife (or husband, orstay-at-home partner)salary.

COMMENTARY

Housewivesshould get

salariesBy ALYSSA ROSENBERGTHE WASHINGTON POST

OTHER VIEWS

The Zapata Times doesnot publish anonymousletters.

To be published, let-ters must include thewriter’s first and lastnames as well as aphone number to verifyidentity. The phone num-ber IS NOT published; itis used solely to verifyidentity and to clarifycontent, if necessary.Identity of the letter writ-er must be verified be-fore publication.

We want to assure our

readers that a letter iswritten by the personwho signs the letter. TheZapata Times does not al-low the use of pseudo-nyms.

Letters are edited forstyle, grammar, lengthand civility. No name-calling or gratuitousabuse is allowed.

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 POLICYCLASSIC DOONESBURY (1982) | GARRY TRUDEAU

It’s a familiar classroomritual — every June,teachers assign summerreading. And every Sep-tember, students comeback to school having readtoo few books.

This is frustrating forteachers, and challengingfor students. When kidsaren’t in school, they for-get crucial skills theylearned during the year —at least a month of readingachievement, on average.

This so-called “summerslide” is particularly per-nicious in children fromlow-income families.

Already behindLow-income students of-

ten walk through the doorof their kindergartens al-ready behind their morefortunate peers because ofa mix of poverty, poorerhealth, less parental edu-cation, and higher rates ofsingle and teenage par-ents. With limited accessto books and other aca-demic opportunities in thesummer, these children ex-perience the summer slidethreefold .

Over time, this adds up.By third grade, childrenwho can’t read at theirgrade level (a whopping 73percent of students eligi-ble for free or reduced-price lunch) begin tostruggle with other sub-jects.

At risk studentsStudents living in pov-

erty who cannot read pro-ficiently by third gradeare 13 times less likely tograduate from highschool. By ninth grade,some have estimated thattwo-thirds of the readingachievement gap can beexplained by unequal ac-

cess to summer learningopportunities.

There is good news:Stemming the summerslide isn’t impossible. Stu-dents who read just fourto six books over the sum-mer maintain their skills(they need to turn morepages to actually becomebetter readers.)

Summer readingSchools have tried to en-

force this with a summerreading list. Students areassigned several booksthat they must write a re-port about or take a teston once they return in thefall.

These programs ofteninclude a mailed packageof books selected by well-intentioned educators,who evaluate the materialon educational and litera-ry merits and then shipbooks home sight-unseenby students.

I wondered if there wasa way to make this pro-gram more effective. So in2013, I tested a smalltweak in two low-incomeclassrooms in Rochester,New York: I asked theteachers to let the kidschoose the books theyread over the summer.

We started with two sec-ond-grade classrooms inschools with low-incomestudents. Although 84 per-cent of students in theRochester City School Dis-trict qualify for the freeand reduced-price lunchprogram, this school had aparticularly high concen-tration of poverty, with 96percent of students eligi-ble for the program.

Choosing booksFor one class, research-

ers ran a book fair, whereeach student picked 13books to take home at theend of the school year.

Books are availableThe fair featured a

broad range of selections— fiction and nonfiction,classics and newer works— and students eagerlypassed the books back andforth, reveling in the op-portunity to pick thosematching their personalinterests while chatteringwith one another about fa-miliar stories.

(An adaptation of Dis-ney’s “Frozen” was espe-cially popular.)

Many also chose worksconsiderably above or be-low their reading levels sothey could share with sib-lings.

The other class of stu-dents received books bymail from the already-in-place community pro-gram.

Both classes were givenliteracy tests before sum-mer vacation and againwhen they returned in thefall. Sure enough, the stu-dents who chose their ownbooks did better, improv-ing from the previoussummer. Those in thecommunity programshowed no improvement.

Few differencesA follow-up study in-

volved six classes, with atotal of 87 students, andcompared those who se-lected all of their summerbooks with those whochose some of their ownbooks, while educatorspicked the rest.

There was no signifi-cant difference betweenthe two groups. Seventy-five percent of the stu-dents either maintained orimproved their readinglevels over the summer,which is much better thantypically expected.

Clearly, the small sam-ple size is a limitation, butother reading researchbacks this up.

Study resultsA three-year study of

Florida students foundthat kids who selectedbooks to take home for thesummer had significantlyhigher reading proficiencyscores compared to stu-dents who received noth-ing.

A Scholastic Corp.study of 1,000 readersfound that middle andhigh school students whoare given the opportunityto choose the books theyread are more likely toread more frequently forfun.

“You become a lifelongreader when you’re able tomake choices about thebooks you read, and whenyou love the books youread,” Pam Allyn, a litera-cy advocate, told TheWashington Post. “Youtend to get better at some-thing you love to do.”

Book choicesThe Rochester City

School District seems toagree. This summer, forthe first time, all kinder-garten through second-grade students will receivefive books selected by edu-cators and five more theywill pick themselves.

Tackling the academicachievement gap betweenthe rich and poor is a stag-gering undertaking.

This is a relatively sim-ple piece of the puzzle.Many districts alreadyhave summer reading pro-grams — we just have tolet the children have a sayin what they take home.And if that means a few ofthem pick “Frozen” ratherthan “Charlotte’s Web,”that’s a sacrifice weshould be willing to make.

(Kelly is a fourth-yearresident in the InternalMedicine-Pediatrics pro-gram at the University ofRochester Medical Center.)

COLUMN

Allow kids to choose theirown summer reading books

By ERIN KELLYSPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON POST

SATURDAY, MAY 30, 2015 National THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

NEW YORK — A SanFrancisco man who createdthe underground drug-sell-ing website Silk Road wassentenced Friday to life inprison by a judge who citedsix deaths from drugsbought on his site and fivepeople he tried to havekilled.

U.S. District Judge Kathe-rine Forrest told 31-year-oldRoss Ulbricht he was acriminal even though hedoesn’t fit the typical profile— he has two collegiate de-grees — and she brushedaside his efforts to charac-terize the business as mere-ly a big mistake.

“It was a carefullyplanned life’s work. It wasyour opus,” she said. “Youare no better a person thanany other drug dealer.”

Ulbricht’s 2013 arrest shutdown what prosecutors de-scribed as an unprecedentedone-stop online shoppingmall where the supply ofdrugs was virtually limit-less, enabling nearly 4,000drug dealers to expand their

markets from the sidewalkto cyberspace, selling drugson a never-before-seen scaleto more than 100,000 buyersin markets stretching fromArgentina to Australia, fromthe United States to Uk-raine.

The government said incourt papers that Ulbrichtleft a blueprint that othershave followed by establish-ing new “dark markets” insophisticated spaces of theInternet that are hard totrace, where an even broad-er range of illicit goods aresold than were available onSilk Road.

Forrest said the sentencecould show copycats thereare “very serious conse-quences.” She also ordered$183 million forfeiture. Pros-ecutors had not asked for alife sentence, saying onlythey wanted substantiallymore than the 20-year man-datory minimum.

Ulbricht was convicted inFebruary of operating thesite for nearly three yearsfrom 2011 until 2013.

Prosecutors say he col-lected $18 million in bitcoinsthrough commissions on awebsite containing thou-

sands of listings under cate-gories like “Cannabis,”’’Psychedelics” and “Stimu-lants.” They said he broker-ed more than 1 million drugdeals worth over $183 mil-lion while he operated onthe site under the aliasDread Pirate Roberts — areference to the swashbuck-ling character in “The Prin-cess Bride.”

The judge said Ulbricht’sefforts to arrange the mur-ders of five people hedeemed as threats to hisbusiness was proof that SilkRoad had not become the“world without restrictions,of ultimate freedom” that heclaimed he sought. Ulbrichtalso is charged in Baltimorefederal court in an attempt-ed murder-for-hire scheme.

“You were captain of theship, Dread Pirate Roberts,”Forrest said. “It was a worldwith laws you created. ... Itwas a place with a lot ofrules. If you broke the rules,you’d have all kinds ofthings done to you.”

Prosecutors cited at leastfive deaths traced to over-doses from drugs bought onSilk Road, and two parentswho lost sons spoke in

court.Before the sentence was

announced, a sniffling andapologetic Ulbricht told For-rest he’s a changed man whois not greedy or vain by na-ture.

“I’ve essentially ruinedmy life and broken thehearts of every member ofmy family and my closestfriends,” he said. “I’m not aself-centered sociopathic per-son that was trying to ex-press some inner badness. Ido love freedom. It’s beendevastating to lose it.”

His lawyer, Joshua Dratel,said he was “disappointedtremendously” by the sen-tence.

Outside court, Ulbricht’smother, Lyn, called the waron drugs a failure and saidtwo of the victims in thecase died during the fourmonths that authorities in-vestigated but did not shutdown the website.

His hands folded beforehim, Ulbricht was stoic asthe sentence was an-nounced. As he left thecourtroom, he carried withhim photographs of thosewho died as a result of drugspurchased on Silk Road.

This Feb. 4 file courtroom sketch shows defendant Ross William Ulbricht as the deputy recites the word “guilty” multiple times duringUbricht’s trial in New York. Ulbricht was sentenced Friday to life in prison.

Sketch by Elizabeth Williams | AP file

Man gets life for drug websiteBy LARRY NEUMEISTER

AND JAKE PEARSONASSOCIATED PRESS

DETROIT — GeneralMotors and Subaru areadding vehicles to thegrowing list of modelsbeing recalled by 11 auto-makers due to potential-ly exploding air bags.

The U.S. government’sNational Highway Traf-fic Safety Administrationreleased the model infor-mation on Friday. Thevehicles are equippedwith air bag inflatorsmade by Takata Corp. ofJapan that can inflatewith too much force,spewing shrapnel intothe passenger compart-ment.

Six people have beenkilled and more than 100injured due to the prob-lem.

Last week NHTSA andthe government agreedto double the number ofinflators it recalled to33.8 million. But themakes and models werenot available. The in-crease made it the large-st auto recall in U.S. his-tory, according to theagency.

The best way to tell ifyour car or truck is be-ing recalled is to key inthe vehicle identificationnumber at https://vinrcl.safercar.gov/vin/.The number is stampedon the driver’s side of thedashboard near thewindshield and also ison many state registra-tion cards. Automakersare still posting recall in-formation by number,and the task may takeseveral days or evenweeks. So it’s wise to

keep checking periodical-ly.

Here’s a breakdown ofthe vehicles added to therecall Friday:

General Motors:About 375,000 ChevroletSilverado, GMC SierraHD trucks from the 2007and 2008 model years toreplace passenger airbags, mainly acrossNorth America. About330,000 of the trucks weresold in the U.S. Dealerswill replace the inflatorsat no cost to customers.GM says it knows of nocrashes or injuries dueto performance of the airbags in these vehicles.

Subaru: About60,000 vehicles added to aprevious recall along theGulf Coast for passengerair bag inflators. Recallnow expanded nationally.Brings total Subaru vehi-cles recalled to about81,000. Additional modelsinclude 2004-2005 Impre-za and the 2005 Saab9-2X, which was manu-factured by Subaru.

On Thursday, Honda,Fiat Chrysler, BMW, Fordand Mitsubishi releasedtheir models added tothe recall. Eleven auto-makers have vehicles in-cluded in the Takata re-call expansion. Othercompanies include Daim-ler Trucks, Mazda, Nis-san, and Toyota. Nissansaid it would not addU.S. vehicles in the latestrecall expansion. Vehi-cles from other automak-ers will be announcedlater.

For more details onthe recall, go towww.safercar.gov/rs/ta-kata/index.html

GM, Subarumodels

added to airbag recallBy TOM KRISHER

ASSOCIATED PRESS

6A THE ZAPATA TIMES National SATURDAY, MAY 30, 2015

INDIANOLA, Miss. —Blues guitarist Buddy Guysays he always intended totour the B.B. King Museumwhile its namesake, hislongtime friend, was stillliving.

The 78-year-old Guy wasamong more than 4,000 peo-ple who filed past King’sopen casket at the museumFriday, the eve of the blueslegend’s funeral in the Mis-sissippi Delta.

“His left hand was a spe-cial effect,” Guy said, de-scribing King’s talent forbending strings to makethe guitar sing.

King was 89 when hedied May 14 at his home inLas Vegas. A public view-ing and invitation-only me-morial service were held inthat city before his bodywas flown to Memphis,Tennessee, for a tributeWednesday.

He will be buried at B.B.King Museum and Delta In-terpretive Center in hishometown of Indianola,Mississippi.

George “Buddy” Guy, a Chicagoblues and electric blues guita-rist, speaks about his friendshipwith B.B. King during a publicviewing Friday.

Photo by Rogelio V. Solis | AP

PublicviewsB.B.King

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUSASSOCIATED PRESS

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — JamesHolmes said his “mind was kindof falling apart” and he began tohave homicidal thoughts monthsbefore he killed 12 people and in-jured 70 others in a Coloradomovie theater, according to avideo excerpt presented Fridayat his murder trial.

Holmes told a state-appointedpsychiatrist in the videotaped in-terview that he had contractedmononucleosis in late 2011 andbecame depressed and lacked en-ergy partly because of a breakupwith a girlfriend in early 2012.

“My mind was kind of fallingapart,” he told Dr. William Reidin the interview at a state men-tal hospital two years after theJuly 20, 2012, Aurora theater at-tack. “I don’t know what else tosay.”

Asked by Reid whether he ev-er thought about hurting or kill-ing himself, Holmes replied:“No.” Asked about killing otherpeople, Holmes said: “Yes.”

Holmes said he associated de-pression with suicidal thoughtsand added: “I kind of transferredmy suicidal thoughts into homi-cidal.”

Holmes told Reid that he won-dered if the FBI was surveillinghim as he was preparing to at-tack moviegoers and that hehoped agents would stop him.

When questioned by DistrictAttorney George Brauchlerabout those comments in thevideo, Reid said: “It suggeststhat he knew that he was doingsomething wrong or was plan-ning something wrong.”

The clip is part of a promised22 hours of redacted videotapedinterviews the jury will see ofHolmes’ state-ordered evalua-tion. Reid testified Thursdaythat following the exam, he de-termined that Holmes was legal-ly sane at the time of the shoot-ing.

Holmes’ attorneys have yet toquestion Reid, a key witness forthe prosecution that has the bur-den of proof in trying to con-vince the jury to reject Holmes’plea of not guilty by reason of in-sanity. Prosecutors are seeking aguilty verdict and the death pen-alty; if jurors find for Holmes, hewould spend his life in a state

mental hospital.On screen, Holmes appeared

cautious, even wary, his handsclasped as he answered with fewwords. In court, Holmes did notglance at the video screen butstared straight ahead, swivelinglightly in his chair.

Reid did the vast majority oftalking in the video clip, appar-ently trying to get Holmes toopen up as he asked the defend-ant about a wide range of topics,including faith, his parents, hispreference for being alone, bookshe liked and childhood night-mares.

Holmes said faith was impor-tant to his mother but that hewas “never really a believer.”Asked about his parents’ rela-tionship, he said he “could seelove between them” and that healso felt loved.

He said he sympathized withLennie Small, a troubled mi-grant worker in John Stein-beck’s “Of Mice and Men.” Hesaid he suffered nightmares as achild and sometimes experi-enced a catatonic state, a “frozenfeeling.” He preferred to livealone in an apartment at college.

In a segment shown Thursday,Holmes told Reid he sometimescries before he goes to bed be-cause he regrets the shooting.

But the details were seeming-ly random and so far sketchy asprosecutors launch into the pro-cess of drawing a profile ofHolmes — one largely shroudedfrom the public in part becauseof pre-trial gag orders andHolmes’ penchant for solitude,including his time in Denver asa graduate student in neuros-cience at the University of Col-

orado medical center.This week, prosecutors intro-

duced into evidence a notebookin which Holmes methodicallyweighed pros and cons of a thea-ter attack and included notes onhis mental condition.

Holmes wrote about how heliked to keep his distance frompsychiatrists and therapists whotreated him: “Prevent buildingfalse sense of rapport. Speaktruthfully and deflect incrimi-nating questions. Oddly theydon’t pursue or delve farther(sic) into harmful omissions.”

Judge Carlos A. Samour toldthe jury they should considerwhat they see and hear in the in-terviews only for the purpose ofdetermining the issue ofHolmes’ sanity.

Colorado law defines a defend-ant as insane if he or she was somentally diseased or deficient atthe time of committing a crimeas to be incapable of telling rightfrom wrong, or of being able toform a culpable state of mind.

Reid has acknowledged thatbetween the attack and his inter-view, Holmes suffered a physicaland mental breakdown and be-gan taking anti-psychotic andother medications.

Holmes: Mind was ‘falling apart’By DAN ELLIOTT

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A handout image from the Colorado Judicial Department shows a portion of a diary kept by James Holmes, the Aurora theatergunman. The journal was presented as evidence in his murder trial.

Photo by Colorado Judicial Department/The New York Times | AP

This week, prosecutors introduced intoevidence a notebook in which Holmesmethodically weighed pros and cons of atheater attack and included notes on hismental condition.

SATURDAY, MAY 30, 2015 National THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A

CHICAGO — FormerU.S. House Speaker Den-nis Hastert agreed to pay$3.5 million in hush mon-ey to keep a person fromthe town where he was alongtime high schoolteacher silent about “pri-or misconduct” by the Illi-nois Republican who oncewas second in line to theU.S. presidency, accordingto a federal grand jury in-dictment handed downThursday.

The indictment, whichdoesn’t describe the al-leged misconduct by Has-tert, charges the 73-year-old with one count ofevading bank regulationsby withdrawing $952,000in increments of less than$10,000 to skirt reportingrequirements. He also ischarged with one count oflying to the FBI about thereason for the unusualwithdrawals.

Each count of the in-dictment carries a maxi-mum penalty of five yearsin prison and a $250,000fine.

Hastert did not returnemail and phone messagesfrom The AssociatedPress seeking comment onthe allegations. Hastert,who had worked as a lob-byist in Washington, D.C.,since shortly after he leftCongress in 2007, resignedfrom Dickstein ShapiroLLC, a spokesman for thelobbying and law firmsaid Thursday.

The indictment allegesHastert withdrew a totalof around $1.7 million incash from various bankaccounts from 2010 to2014, then provided themoney to a person identi-fied in the indictment on-ly as “Individual A.” Has-tert allegedly agreed topay the person $3.5 mil-lion, but never apparentlypaid that full amount.

It notes that Hastertwas a high school teacherand coach from 1965 to1981 in suburban York-

ville, about 50 miles westof Chicago. While the in-dictment says IndividualA has been a resident ofYorkville and has knownHastert most of IndividualA’s life, it doesn’t describetheir relationship.

The indictment saysHastert agreed to the pay-ments after multiple meet-ings in 2010. It says that“during at least one of themeetings, Individual A

and defendant discussedpast misconduct by de-fendant against IndividualA that had occurred yearsearlier” and Hastertagreed to pay $3.5 million“in order to compensatefor and conceal his priormisconduct against Indi-vidual A.”

The indictment saysthat between 2010 and2012 Hastert made 15 cashwithdrawals of $50,000

from bank accounts atOld Second Bank, People’sState Bank and CastleBank and gave cash to In-dividual A around everysix weeks.

Around April 2012,bank officials began ques-tioning Hastert about thewithdrawals, and startingin July of that year, Has-tert reduced the amountshe withdrew at a time toless than $10,000 — appar-

ently so they would notrun afoul of a regulationdesigned to stop illicit ac-tivity such as money laun-dering, according to theindictment.

Among the focuses ofthe FBI investigation waswhether Hastert, in thewords of the indictment,was “the victim of a crim-inal extortion related to,among other matters, hisprior positions in govern-ment.” The court docu-ment does not elaborate.

Legal experts said ex-tortion cases can betricky.

In mulling over whomto charge, prosecutors of-ten must decide who isthe greater victim: theperson being extorted orthe person doing the ex-torting, said Chicago-based attorney and for-mer federal prosecutorPhil Turner.

Jeff Cramer, a formerfederal prosecutor andhead of the Chicago officeof the investigation firmKroll, said investigatorscould have concluded Has-tert’s alleged misconductwas “more egregious thanthe extortion.”

Investigators ques-tioned Hastert on Dec. 8,2014, and he lied aboutwhy he had been with-drawing so much moneyat a time, the indictmentalleges. He told investiga-tors he did it because hedidn’t trust the bankingsystem, the indictmentsays.

“Yeah ... I kept thecash. That’s what I am do-ing,” it quotes Hastert assaying.

Hastert, who also main-tains a home in the Chica-go suburb of Plano sever-al miles northwest ofYorkville, was a little-known lawmaker fromsuburban Chicago whenchosen to succeed conser-vative Newt Gingrich asspeaker. Hastert waspicked after favored Loui-siana Rep. Bob Livingstonresigned following his ad-mission of several sexual

affairs.As speaker, Hastert

pushed President GeorgeW. Bush’s legislative agen-da, helping pass a massivetax cut and expandingMedicare prescriptiondrug benefits.

He retired from Con-gress in 2007 after eightyears as speaker, makinghim the longest-servingRepublican House speak-er. He was second in lineto the presidency duringthose years after the vicepresident.

David Corwin of York-ville said his son, Scott,wrestled for Hastert inhigh school, then later be-came a wrestling coachhimself.

“You won’t get anyoneto say anything bad abouthim out here,” said DavidCorwin. “Everybody lovedhim. The kids loved him,and they still do.”

Illinois has a long his-tory of politicians gettingin legal trouble.

Former U.S. Rep. JesseJackson Jr. served a yearand a half for illegallyspending $750,000 in cam-paign funds on furs, vaca-tions and other luxuryitems. Two successive gov-ernors in the 2000s, Re-publican George Ryan andDemocrat Rod Blagojev-ich, were convicted oncorruption charges.

In the Hastert case, it’snot clear whether themoney was paid in rela-tion to his former posi-tion in government. Has-tert started making thepayments to the person inabout 2010, according tothe indictment.

Reached by telephoneafter the announcement,former Gov. Ryan de-scribed Hastert as an ef-fective legislator.

“I’m just surprised ifthis is true,” said Ryan,who has lived in Kanka-kee, Illinois, since his re-lease from prison.

A spokesman for Bushdeclined Thursday to com-ment on the chargesagainst Hastert.

Indictment: Ex-Speaker paid man off

House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois is seen in Philadelphia on July 31, 2000. Hastert’s career asHouse speaker both arose and ended amid the sex-related scandals of others. Now, eight years afterleaving Congress, Hastert’s own legacy is threatened by an indictment charging financial misdeeds —and cryptically referring to “misconduct” against an unnamed person.

Photo by Amy Sancetta/file | AP

By MICHAEL TARMASSOCIATED PRESS

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES International SATURDAY, MAY 30, 2015

HAVANA — The Obamaadministration formally re-moved Cuba from the U.S.terrorism blacklist Friday,a decision hailed in Cubaas the healing of a decades-old wound and an impor-tant step toward normaliz-ing relations between theCold War foes.

Secretary of State JohnKerry signed off on re-scinding Cuba’s “statesponsor of terrorism” des-ignation exactly 45 days af-ter the Obama administra-tion informed Congress ofits intent to do so on April14. Lawmakers had thatamount of time to weigh inand try to block the move,but did not do so.

“The 45-day congression-al pre-notification periodhas expired, and the secre-tary of state has made thefinal decision to rescindCuba’s designation as astate sponsor of terrorism,effective today, May 29,2015,” the State Departmentsaid in a statement.

“While the United Stateshas significant concernsand disagreements with awide range of Cuba’s poli-cies and actions, these falloutside the criteria rele-vant to the rescission of astate sponsor of terrorismdesignation,” the statementsaid.

The step comes as offi-cials from the two coun-tries continue to hash outdetails for restoring fulldiplomatic relations, in-cluding opening embassiesin Washington and Havanaand returning ambassadorsto the two countries for thefirst time since the U.S. se-vered diplomatic relationswith the island in January1961. The removal of Cubafrom the terrorism list hadbeen a key Cuban demand.

The Cold War-era desig-nation was levied mainlyfor Cuba’s support of leftistguerrillas around the worldand isolated the communistisland from much of theworld financial system be-cause banks fear repercus-

sions from doing businesswith designated countries.Even Cuba’s Interests Sec-tion in Washington lost itsbank in the United States,forcing it to deal in cashuntil it found a new bankerthis month.

Banks continue to take acautious tone about doingbusiness with Cuba sinceU.S. laws still make the is-land off limits for U.S. busi-nesses. Leaders of the Re-publicans-controlled Househave shown zero interest inrepealing the laws from the1990s that codified the U.S.embargo on trade with Cu-ba.

“Taking Cuba off the ter-rorism list is one step to-ward normalization, butfor doing business downthere, we have a long wayto go,” said Rob Rowe, vicepresident and associatechief council at the Ameri-

can Bankers Association.In a blog post, the White

House called the decisionon the terrorism list anoth-er step toward improvingrelations with Cuba.

“For 55 years, we triedusing isolation to bringabout change in Cuba,” itsaid. “But by isolating Cu-ba from the United States,we isolated the UnitedStates from the Cuban peo-ple and, increasingly, therest of the world.”

The terrorism list was aparticularly charged issuefor Cuba because of theU.S. history of supportingexile groups responsible forattacks on the island, in-cluding the 1976 bombingof a Cuban passenger flightfrom Barbados that killed73 people aboard. The at-tack was linked to Cubanexiles with ties to U.S.-backed anti-Castro groups

and both men accused ofmasterminding the crimetook shelter in Florida,where one, Luis PosadaCarriles, currently lives.

“I think this could be apositive act that adds tohope and understandingand can help the negotia-tions between Cuba andthe United States,” said di-rector Juan Carlos Crema-ta, who lost his father inthe 1976 bombing.

“It’s a list we nevershould have been on,” saidIleana Alfonso, who alsolost her father in the at-tack.

Top U.S. Republicanscriticized the move, withHouse Speaker JohnBoehner of Ohio saying theObama administration had“handed the Castro regimea significant political winin return for nothing.”

“The communist dicta-torship has offered no as-surances it will address itslong record of repression

and human rights athome,” Boehner said in astatement.

Former Florida Gov. JebBush said the decision wasa mistake and called it“further evidence thatPresident Obama seemsmore interested in capitu-lating to our adversariesthan in confronting them.”

House Minority LeaderNancy Pelosi, a CaliforniaDemocrat, praised themove, saying it is a “criti-cal step forward in creatingnew opportunities forAmerican businesses andentrepreneurs, and instrengthening family ties.”

U.S. and Cuban officialshave said the two sides areclose to resolving the finalissues needed for restoringdiplomatic relations, butthe most recent round oftalks ended May 22 with noannouncement of an agree-ment.

White House press secre-tary Josh Earnest said Fri-

day that “there continue tobe issues that need to beworked out.” He said im-portant progress had beenmade, but would not give atime frame for an an-nouncement. “That’s obvi-ously among the next mile-stones,” he said.

Washington and Havanaare wrangling over U.S. de-mands that its diplomatsbe able to travel through-out Cuba and meet withdissidents without restric-tions. The Cubans are wa-ry of activity they see asdestabilizing to their gov-ernment.

Both the U.S. and Cubasay reopening embassieswould be a first step in alarger process of normaliz-ing relations. That effortwould still have to tacklebigger questions such asthe trade embargo as wellas the future of the U.S.military base at Guantana-mo Bay and Cuba’s democ-racy record.

Cuba off US list of terrorism sponsorsBy ANDREA RODRIGUEZ AND

MATTHEW LEEASSOCIATED PRESS

President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro meet at the Summit of the Americas, in Panama City, Panama, on April 11. The Obama administration formally re-moved Cuba from the U.S. terrorism blacklist Friday, a decision hailed in Cuba as the healing of a decades-old wound and an important step toward normalizing relations.

Photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais | AP

RECAUDACIÓN DE FONDOSEl Boys and Girls Club

del Condado de Zapata seencuentra recaudando fondospara sus programas juvenilesy eventos programados parael 2015. Interesados en apo-yar la causa, la compañíaTupperware se encuentraofreciendo que por cada pro-ducto Tupperware que secompre, un 40 por ciento delas ventas se destinará direc-tamente al club de Zapata.Le meta es recaudar 3.000dólares. Pida informes lla-mando al (956) 765-3892.

MERCADO AGRÍCOLA Y DEARTESANOS

El Mercado Agrícola yde Artesanos de Zapata serealizará el sábado 6 de ju-nio, de 9 a.m. a 1 p.m. en elestacionamiento del CentroComunitario, 605 N US Hig-hway 83. Pida informes en el(956) 536-7171.

CAMPAMENTO DE VERANODel 9 de junio al 2 de

julio, tendrá lugar un Campa-mento de Verano, para losestudiantes de ZCISD desdepreescolar a quinto año. Lassesiones serán de 8 a.m. a12 p.m. y de 12 p.m. a 4p.m.

El desayuno y el almuerzoserán proporcionados. No ha-brá transporte.

El campamento es gratui-to, sin embargo, los estudian-tes deberán cumplir con lasnormativas de fin de año pa-ra ser elegibles.

Las solicitudes de ingresodeberán ser entregadas antesdel 14 de mayo.

Para más informaciónpuede llamar a Gerardo Gar-cía al (956) 765-6917; a DaliaGarcía, al (956) 765-4332; aAna Martínez, al (956) 765-5611; o a Marlen Guerra al(956) 765-4321.

CAMPAÑAMÉDICO-ASISTENCIAL

MIGUEL ALEMAN — Seimplementará la primer cam-paña médico asistencial pro-puesta por miembros de losministerios nacionales “Betel”el 11 de junio, de 8 a.m. a 5p.m.

El grupo de 15 personas,entre médicos y enfermeros,estarán representados por lamisionera Deana Gatlin. Ade-más traerán consigo ropa,medicamentos y despensas.

El Presidente Municipal,Ramiro Cortez, informó quelos misioneros evangélicosviajarán a las comunidadesrurales del sur de Miguel Ale-mán el 13 de junio.

EXHIBICIÓN DE ARTEEl Boys and Girls Club

de Zapata tendrá una exhibi-ción de arte, el sábado 27 dejunio, de 1 p.m. a 4 p.m.

Los integrantes del clubinteresados en participar pue-den llamar al (956) 765-3892.

La participación es exclusi-va para integrantes del club.Las personas que gusten ins-cribirse pueden acudir al clubo llamar al (956) 765-3892.

DESFILE DE MODASMIGUEL ALEMAN —

Damas representantes de laFundación “Vive en Paz y Hazel Bien” invitan a un Desfilede Modas que se llevará acabo el 8 de julio en el Casi-no Milenium. La fundaciónque lucha contra el cáncer,espera que con el desfile demodas se recauden fondosque les permitirán continuarcon su misión.

TORNEOEl Torneo Anual de

Pesca Infantil ‘Back to Scho-ol’ organizado por la Cámarade Comercio de Zapata, ensu quinta edición, se realizaráel sábado 22 de agosto. Elevento se realizará de 7 a.m.a 3 p.m. en Bravo Park Pond.

Se están aceptando patro-cinadores desde 300 dólareshasta 2.000 dólares.

Ribereñaen Breve

El jueves finalizó la etapa de sen-tencia en contra de cinco lareden-ses, por su participación en un in-tento de secuestro frustrado y unaconspiración para exportación dearmas de fuego, en una corte fede-ral de Laredo. Supuestamente ellostenían lazos con Los Zetas,

Las audiencias de sentencia paraPablo “Panda” Cerda, de 38 años,Ernesto “Zombie” Zaragoza-Solís,de 31 años de edad, Efrain Garza,de 33, Grace Díaz-Martínez, de 35años, Nicolás “Nico” Sánchez-Re-yes, de 52 años, y José “Minutitos”Roberto Obregón, fueron programa-das para esta semana ante la Juezde Distrito de EU, Diana Saldaña.

Una acusación formal sustituidapresentada el 31 de julio de 2012, losacusó de secuestro y contrabandode armas.

El martes, Cerda recibió unasentencia total de 16 años en pri-sión. Él se declaró culpable de uncargo por conspiración para secues-tro y un cargo por usar y descargar

un arma durante un crimen violen-to.

Zaragoza-Solís y Garza se decla-raron culpables de los mismos car-gos.

El jueves, Saldaña los sentenció aellos, a Sánchez-Reyes y a Díaz-Martínez.

A Zaragoza-Solís se le dictó unasentencia de 20 años por conspira-ción para secuestro y una sentenciade 10 años por conspirar para usarun arma de fuego en un crimenviolento, dándole un total de 30años en prisión.

Garza recibió la sentencia máxi-ma en prisión. Saldaña dictó 27años y tres meses por conspiraciónpara secuestro y una sentencia de10 años, por utilizar un arma defuego en un crimen violento, dandoun total de 37 años y tres meses enprisión.

Díaz Martínez recibió una sen-tencia menor. Se le dictaron cuatroaños después de declararse culpablea un cargo por ser cómplice des-pués del incidente de secuestro.

Sánchez-Reyes se declaró culpa-ble de un cargo por conspiración

para exportar armas de fuego, quesupuestamente estaban destinadasal Cártel de Los Zetas en México.

A él se le dictó una sentencia de10 años, que es la sentencia máxi-ma que se puede otorgar por el deli-to.

PeticiónEsta semana, Obregón fue el úni-

co acusado que no fue sentenciado,después de que enviara una cartaescrita a mano para Saldaña, solici-tando un nuevo abogado y permisopara retirar su declaración de cul-pabilidad.

Obregón se declaró culpable enfebrero de 2013 a un cargo por cons-piración para exportar armas defuego.

Saldaña acordó asignar un nuevoabogado para Obregón y programa-rá el caso para una fecha posterior.

Sánchez-Reyes, Obregón, Cerda yotros que se alega tuvieron relacióncon Los Zetas, también fueron acu-sados formalmente en una corte es-tatal por su supuesta participación

en los homicidios de Guillermo Ro-dríguez, de 48 años, en junio de2010; Ramón Lucero Ramírez, de 47años, en julio de 2010 y de FidencioRíos-Cárdenas, de 31 años, en sep-tiembre de 2010.

Sánchez-Reyes está acusado porla fiscalía de liderar una célula delCártel de Los Zetas en Laredo.

Los fiscales alegan que los homi-cidios fueron por encargo de Sán-chez y ejecutados a nombre de LosZetas.

Después de aproximadamentedos semanas de juicio en la Cortede Distrito 49, Sánchez-Reyes yObregón se declararon culpablesdel homicidio de Ríos-Cárdenas, aprincipios de abril de 2014.

Como parte de su acuerdo de cul-pabilidad, Sánchez-Reyes cumplirá35 años en prisión, condena que se-rá ejecutada simultáneamente conlos 10 años dictados el jueves en lacorte federal por exportación de ar-mas de fuego.

La sentencia de Obregón tam-bién sería ejecutada simultánea-mente con la sentencia de la cortefederal del jueves.

CORTE FEDERAL

Dictan condenasPOR PHILIP BALLITIEMPO DE LAREDO

Zfrontera PÁGINA 9ASÁBADO 30 DE MAYO DE 2015

HOUSTON— Varias carreteras de Texas amane-cieron sumergidas el viernes y más hogares estabanbajo amenaza luego de una nueva ronda de lluviasque se sumó a los daños de las tormentas que handejado al menos 20 muertos y 14 desaparecidos.

La línea de tormentas que se paralizó sobre Da-llas dejó hasta 18 centímetros (7 pulgadas) de lluviadurante la noche. La lluvia se coló a las casas y dejóa cientos de conductores varados, muchos de ellos alo largo de las carreteras que quedaron práctica-mente cerradas ante los elevados niveles de agua ylos vehículos abandonados.

Los cuerpos de rescate respondieron a cerca de260 llamados entre los que se incluían vehículosatascados y accidentes, de acuerdo con las autorida-des.

El Río Colorado en Wharton y los ríos Brazos ySan Jacinto cerca de Houston, eran los principalesfocos de preocupación mientras las aguas se movíandel norte y centro de Texas hacia el Golfo de Méxi-co.

En tanto, la cifra de decesos aumentó luego deque los equipos de rescate examinaran los escom-bros a lo largo del paso de los ríos. Los cadáveresencontrados el jueves elevaron el número de falleci-mientos confirmados a 24, incluso los fallecidos enOklahoma.

El Río Brazos, cuyo nivel se había ido reduciendo,nuevamente creció el viernes por encima de su ni-vel en el condado de Parker, al oeste de Fort Worth,y se esperaba que aumentara ante la apertura pla-neada de las compuertas de la presa en el PossumKingdom, río arriba. Se solicitó la evacuación vo-luntaria de unas 250 casas en la zona cercana al río.

Con el agua circulando rápidamente río abajo, seesperaban inundaciones graves en las comunidadesde Simonton y Thompsons. De acuerdo con el jefede policía del condado de Fort Bend, Troy Nehls, yase solicitó el desalojo de algunos residentes de Si-monton.

Los meteorólogos señalan que el Río Colorado enWharton podría desbordarse el sábado, provocandouna gran inundación en la comunidad ubicada a 96kilómetros (60 millas) al suroeste de Houston. Ya serealizan evacuaciones voluntarias en la parte bajade la ciudad.

TEXAS

Tormentasdejan nuevasinundaciones

en EstadoPOR JUAN A. LOZANO Y SETH ROBBINS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Tras dar refugio a nume-rosos perseguidos por con-denas a agresiones contraotros países, México mante-nía neutralidad ante la IIGuerra Mundial.

Recientemente quedó aldescubierto torva red de es-pías y provocadores finan-ciada por el Tercer Reich,

con ramificaciones locales.

LlamadoEn Tampico se llama a

constituir en Tamaulipas laUnión Nacional Antisinar-quista y en Defensa de laDemocracia, según el pro-grama, hay sesiones el 11 y12 de abril de 1942.

Acuden líderes del gober-nante del Partido de la Re-volución Mexicana, hoy Re-volucionario Institucional(PRI), y del Partido Comu-nista Mexicano, así comoUnificación de Veteranos de

la Revolución, VanguardiaAvilacamachista y el Comi-té de Orientación PolíticaMagdaleno Aguilar.

Las delegaciones sindica-les resultan variadas y deciudades como Nuevo Lare-do, MéxicoMatamoros, Ciu-dad Victoria, Mante, Tampi-co y Ciudad Madero.

MedidasSe compone un comité

estatal. Lo presiden IsidoroGómez Gámez y Miguel Ra-mírez, directivo tamaulipe-co de la Confederación de

Trabajadores de México.Enfrentaremos a quienes“tratan de […] implantar-nos un régimen totalitario”,manifiestan el 20 de abril.

Pronto se reafirma queen Tamaulipas están lasmaniobras enemigas con-centradas en la parte sures-te. El nuevo agrupamientoimplementa estrecha vigi-lancia. Cierto extranjero“de la Falange Española”reúne “periódicamente […]simpatizadores nazi-fascis-tas” en Tampico, detallaninformes remitidos a las au-toridades el 8 de mayo de1942. Puntualizan que “el

capitán del vapor italianoAtlas […] lo trató de dina-mitar” “cuando [distintosbarcos de Roma y Berlín]fueron incautados por el go-bierno”.

Convertido en “Choapas”,el buque-tanque Atlas figu-ra entre las embarcacionesciviles torpedeadas por elFührer. Ávila Camacho de-clara el 22 de mayo la gue-rra a las potencias del Eje ydecreta medidas de controlpor el conflicto bélico.

(Publicado con permisodel autor conforme apareceen La Razón, Tampico,Tamps.)

COLUMNA

Narra reacción de Tamaulipas ante guerraPOR RAÚL SINENCIO

ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Nota del Editor: Esta es elsegundo de dos artículos so-bre la postura de Tamauli-pas y México durante la Se-gunda Guerra Mundial.

ZCISD

FERIA DE CIENCIAS

Estudiantes delZapata County

IndependentSchool District,participaron en

una feria deciencias nivel

distrito, eljueves. En lasimágenes dos

estudiantes ex-plican sus

proyectos a losjurados.

Fotos de cortesía | ZCISD

Una candidata a la Dipu-tación Federal por el PrimerDistrito de Tamaulipas vis-itó a los habitantes de Nue-va Ciudad Guerrero, Méxi-co, para presentar suproyecto legislativo.

Yahleel Abdala Carmona,candidata del Partido Revo-lucionario Institucional(PRI) visitó a los residentesde la ciudad para solicitar-les salir a votar el próximo 7de junio.

La candidata del Revolu-cionario Institucional tam-

bién saludó alos menores, yles entregó his-torietas ilus-tradas dondese da a conoc-er, de formasencilla suspropuestas, y

parte de su vida profesionaly política, señala un comun-icado de prensa.

“Estamos muy contentoscon el recibimiento de lagente, es reconfortante vercómo familias nos reciben yme brindan su confianza”,señaló Abdala a través de

un comunicado de prensa.“Hay que regresar a la polít-ica que te atiende, te escu-cha y te ayuda y esa es lapolítica que gusta practicarpues así me lo enseñó mipadre”.

Durante pláticas con losresidentes Abdala señaló“que el político se debe al ci-udadano y está para servir-los”, añade el comunicado

“La gente es la que meirá marcando el camino, yyo haré lo que ellos me di-gan”, añadió.

El recorrido se prolongópor alrededor de 2 horas.

NUEVA CIUDAD GUERRERO, MÉXICO

Abdala presenta proyectoTIEMPO DE ZAPATA

ABDALA

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES International SATURDAY, MAY 30, 2015

BANGKOK — A region-al conference called to ad-dress the swelling tide ofboat people in SoutheastAsia ended Friday with nomajor breakthroughs, asMyanmar criticized thoseblaming it for fueling thecrisis and warned that“finger pointing” wouldnot help.

But delegates agreed onone thing at least— theneed to keep talking.

In Myanmar, state televi-sion announced the navyhad seized a boat carrying727 migrants a few dozenmiles (kilometers) off thecoast of the Irrawaddy Del-ta region, the latest vesselfound in the last fewweeks. The report identi-fied those on board as“Bengalis” — a referenceto Bangladesh — and saidthey were taken to a near-by island. Forty-five ofthem were children.

Friday’s meeting inBangkok was attended byrepresentatives of 17 coun-tries directly or indirectlyaffected by the growing cri-sis, along with the UnitedStates and Japan and offi-cials from international or-ganizations such as theU.N. refugee agency andthe International Organiza-tion for Migration. That somany countries — includ-ing Myanmar — participat-ed was considered progressin itself.

“The most encouragingresult was the general con-sensus that these discus-sions need to continue,”said IOM Director-GeneralWilliam Lacy Swing. “Itcannot be a one-off.”

Southeast Asia has beenbeset for years by growingwaves of desperate mi-grants from Bangladeshand Myanmar. In the lastseveral weeks alone, atleast 3,000 people have beenrescued by fishermen orhave made their wayashore in Indonesia, Ma-laysia and Thailand. Sever-al thousand more are be-lieved to still be at sea afterhuman smugglers aban-doned their boats amid aregional crackdown thathas unearthed the graves

of dozens of people whodied while being kept hos-tage in illegal traffickingcamps.

Some are Bangladeshiswho left their impover-ished homeland in hope offinding jobs abroad. Butmany are Rohingya Mus-lims who have fled perse-cution in Buddhist-majori-ty Myanmar, which has de-nied them basic rights,confined more than 100,000to camps and denies themcitizenship. There aremore than 1 million Rohin-gya living in the countryformerly known as Burma.

At the start of the meet-ing, the U.N.’s assistanthigh commissioner for ref-ugees responsible for pro-tection, Volker Turk, saidthere could be no solutionif root causes are not ad-dressed.

“This will require fullassumption of responsibili-ty by Myanmar toward allits people. Granting citi-zenship is the ultimategoal,” he said. “In the in-terim ... recognizing thatMyanmar is their owncountry is urgently re-quired (as well as) accessto identity documents andthe removal of restrictionson basic freedoms.”

Htin Linn, the acting di-rector of Myanmar’s For-eign Affairs Ministry, shotback in a speech after-ward, saying Turk should“be more informed.” He al-so cast doubt on whether“the spirit of cooperation

is prevailing in the room. ...Finger pointing will notserve any purpose. It willtake us nowhere.”

The word “Rohingya”did not appear on the invi-tation for the meeting, afterMyanmar threatened toboycott the talks if it did,and most people who spokeat Friday’s meeting avoidedsaying it. Myanmar’s gov-ernment does not recognizeRohingya as an ethnicgroup, arguing instead theyare really Bangladeshis.Bangladesh also does notrecognize the Rohingya ascitizens.

An official summary ofthe meeting included a listof proposals and recom-mendations that were “putforward,” including ensur-ing the U.N. has access tomigrants and addressing

the issue’s root causes. Itwas not clear that any ofthem had been agreed on,however, or that they wouldbe implemented.

There were small signsof progress. Thai ForeignMinister Thanasak Patima-prakorn said Bangkokagreed to allow the U.S. mil-itary to operate flights outof Thailand to search formigrants stuck on boats —one week after Washingtonput in a request to do so.And the U.S. pledged $3 mil-lion to help the IOM dealwith the crisis, while Aus-tralia pledged $4.6 milliontoward humanitarian as-sistance in Myanmar.

Southeast Asian govern-ments have largely ignoredthe issue for years. Theproblem has recently at-tracted international atten-tion amid increased mediascrutiny as more migrantsand refugees pour out ofthe Bay of Bengal. In manycases, they pay humansmugglers for passage toanother country, but are in-stead held for weeks ormonths while traffickers ex-tort more money from theirfamilies back home. Rightsgroups say some migrantshave been beaten to death.Human rights groups haveurged those involved in thetalks to find a better way ofsaving the people stillstranded at sea, and to putpressure on Myanmar toend its repressive policiesthat drive Rohingya to flee.

Delegates discuss boat people

Rohingya migrants read the Quran in a makeshift mosque in Lang-sa, Indonesia, Friday. The Myanmar government forcefully rejectedassertions by UN that the root cause of Southeast Asia’s migrationcrisis is Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya.

Photo by Sergey Ponomarev/New York Times | AP

ABUJA, Nigeria — Nige-ria’s new president wassworn in on Friday andpledged to tackle Boko Ha-ram “head on,” assertingthe fight against the Islamicextremists wouldn’t be wonuntil hundreds of school-girls abducted last year andother kidnapping victimswere brought home alive.

Muhammadu Buhari’snew administration won asignal of support from theUnited States, which indi-cated it was prepared to in-crease military aid.

The inauguration turnedinto a nationwide celebra-tion by Nigerians welcom-ing their country’s newly re-inforced democracy afterBuhari became the firstcandidate to defeat a sittingpresident at the polls sincethe end of military rule in1999.

With dancing and the re-lease of white doves symbol-izing peace, Nigerianshailed the handover of pow-er in an African nationmarked by superlatives: themost populous nation, thebiggest oil producer, thelargest economy.

Nigeria also confrontsthe most deadly conflict onthe continent — the insur-gency by Boko Haram thathas killed more than 13,000people and driven morethan 1.5 million from theirhomes.

Blaming official bun-gling, negligence, compla-cency and collusion for al-lowing the Islamic extre-mists to grow into “aterrifying force,” Buharipledged to take on Nigeria’smyriad problems. “We aregoing to tackle them headon,” he declared.

“But we cannot claim tohave defeated Boko Haramwithout rescuing the Chi-bok girls and all other inno-cent persons held hostageby insurgents,” he said, re-ferring to the hundreds ofgirls seized more than ayear ago from their schoolin Chibok in northeasternBorno state.

“This government will doall it can to rescue themalive.”

The military has freedhundreds of captured wom-en and children in recentweeks as it hemmed BokoHaram into its strongholdin the Sambisa Forest, butthere has been no word ofthe schoolgirls whose abduc-tion brought an internation-al outcry.

U.S. Secretary of StateJohn Kerry was the firstforeign official to meet withNigeria’s new leader afterthe inauguration, accompa-nied by head of U.S. AfricaCommand, Gen. David M.Rodriguez. A senior StateDepartment official saidWashington was ready to in-crease military aid andcould quickly send more ad-visers.

“Congratulations to@MBuhari & the Nigerianpeople. A privilege to behere to celebrate #Nigeria’shistoric & peaceful demo-cratic transition,” Kerrytweeted.

The 72-year-old Buharihad earlier pledged to rootout human rights violationsby the Nigerian military —abuses that had preventedfull military cooperationfrom the U.S. and Britain.

Departing PresidentGoodluck Jonathan lastyear halted U.S. training ofa battalion of Nigerian

troops to fight Boko Haram.No reason was given but hisofficials had expressed an-ger at U.S. refusals to sellNigeria weapons, includinghelicopter gunships.

The United States andformer colonizer Britainwere hindered by laws pre-venting certain weaponssales to countries whosemilitaries are accused ofgross human rights viola-tions. Nigeria’s military isaccused of killing detaineesand civilians and burningtheir homes in revenge forBoko Haram attacks.

Buhari addressed thoseconcerns Friday, promisingto overhaul rules of engage-ment to prevent abuses andto take “disciplinary steps”against violators of humanrights.

He also thanked the lead-ers of neighboring Cam-eroon, Chad and Niger forsending troops for a multi-national offensive that thisyear has driven Boko Ha-ram from towns where ithad declared an Islamic ca-liphate.

Suicide bombings, abduc-tions and hit-and-run at-tacks continue in northeast-ern Nigeria by what Buharicalled “a mindless, godlessgroup as far away from Is-lam as you can think of.”Hours before his inaugura-tion a double-explosionblamed on the insurgents inthe Borno village of Tashan-Alede killed seven peopleand injured several others,said survivor Ibrahim Bi-trus.

Gov. Kashim Shettima,who was sworn in Fridayfor a second term as gover-nor of Borno, the birthplaceof Boko Haram, pledged torebuild the hundreds ofcommunities destroyed bythe insurgents.

The insurgency has“preyed on our young girls,and did all it could to termi-nate their hope for educa-tion and a good life, whileturning our women into ob-jects of enslavement and assex objects,” Shettima said.

However, he surprisedthose in attendance by say-ing he would appeal to thefederal government to allowthe rehabilitation of BokoHaram fighters who comeout of the bush and de-rad-icalize — a move he saidwas essential for nationalreconciliation.

Muhammadu Buhari gives a speech after receiving the certificationfrom the Electoral Chief Attahiru Jega on April 1 in Abuja, Nigeria.

Photo by Yang Yang//Xinhua/Zuma Press | TNS

Presidentpledges to

fight terrorBy MICHELLE FAULASSOCIATED PRESS

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SATURDAY, MAY 30, 2015 THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A

the families to the bus station.Coalition members realizedthere were many more familiesbeing released than just RAIC-ES’s clients.

“We sort of accidentally dis-covered that … ‘Oh my goshthere are sometimes 10 or 12people being released that we’venever heard about,”’ Allen said.ICE was “taking them to busstation and dropping them off,sometimes to spend the night.”

Meanwhile, the number ofpeople in detention has been in-creasing. In December, ICE con-verted a former camp for oil-field workers in Dilley into afamily detention center and be-gan expanding it, with the ulti-mate goal of making it a 2,400-bed facility. In February a feder-al judge in Washington, D.C.,told ICE to change its bond pol-icy for families. As a result, theagency has been setting bondsfor many of the detainees inKarnes and Dilley, althoughsome bonds exceed $7,000.

“Initially whenever we start-ed the bus reception in Decem-ber … for that month it wasmaybe a trickle of families,”said Mohammad Abdollahi, anorganizer with RAICES. “Twoor three days a week there wasno one getting out, thenWednesday suddenly therewould be like six families,Thursday there would be likeone family, Friday two families.”

After the federal court deci-sion, “I don’t think we’ve had aday since Feb. 20 that no oneshowed up from Karnes,” hesaid.

Rosie Maldonado, 49, got herfirst call from Allen in Novem-ber. She went to the bus stationwith tacos and $50 to help awoman and her teenage son.When Maldonado got there, shesaw that the existing volunteerefforts were just scratching thesurface.

“There were four othermoms, and they said ‘Can youhelp?”’ Maldonado said. “Theywere carrying babies with nobackpacks or diapers or milk tomake the trip to Florida.”

One woman and her threechildren spent the night. Afterthat, Maldonado said, she andher husband started showing upto the bus station every day.

She came to the U.S. 17 yearsago without papers, Maldonadosaid, and tries to be an exampleof what immigrants can do inthe U.S. The volunteer work hashad an impact on her as well.

“When I heard the stories ofthese women and children,they’ve seen violence, it justchanged my perspective on life,how I’m using our natural re-sources, how I’m using what I’mgiven,” Maldonado said. “Sonow it’s like I’ve been put inthis position so I can give.”

More than 100 people havestayed at her house, she said, in-cluding one night when shehosted five families. Maldonadosaid she’s heard stories frompeople fleeing violence in theirhome countries and young girlswho were raped as they crossedMexico. There are rewards, too.On Mother’s Day, she said, chil-dren from all over the countrycalled her.

The volunteers don’t focus ex-clusively on Dilley and Karnesdetainees. Later in the evening,when young men show up from

people, with facilities under con-struction to hold another 2,000,part of a federal policy to avoid arepeat of last year’s influx of100,000 children and families whoillegally crossed the border inthe Rio Grande Valley.

About 2,700 people have passedthrough the two family detentioncenters since last year, accordingto immigration officials. Ofthose, 274 have been deported.The rest have been released for avariety of reasons, including onbond or because a judge ap-proved their asylum claims.

Harvey Howell, one of the coa-lition’s co-moderators and a na-tional response team member ofPresbyterian Disaster Assistance,likened the arrival of women andchildren to a previous diasporathat came to San Antonio: Hurri-cane Katrina.

“It’s a large population of folkswho don’t think they have ahome anymore, or don’t. Whatare they going to do?” Howellasked. “They’re not American ci-tizens at this point, yet they arein the country with the govern-ment’s permission, so to speak,pending the outcome of their(court case).”

Most of them have familymembers in this country, andU.S. Immigration and CustomsEnforcement usually makes suredetainees have a place to stay be-fore they’re released on bond, anofficial said during a media tourof the Karnes center last month.

When Karnes opened last year,many of the women and childrenshowed up in the clothes theywere wearing when the crossedthe Rio Grande, volunteers said.Now they often show up withoutfits issued by the detentioncenters, sometimes even withboxes of food.

Still, many are unprepared fora cross-country journey that cantake days, members of the coali-tion said.

If their bus doesn’t leave untilthe next day, volunteers are onhand to drive them to a housenear downtown, a fairly recentaddition after volunteers formonths offered up spare bed-rooms or couches to sleep on.Coalition members describedrushing out to find diapers, car-ing for children and hearingtales of violence in home coun-tries and rape on the route to theU.S.

“It’s just hard for us to fathompeople living like that,” said theRev. Bert Clayton, a retired Meth-odist minister. “You feel likeyou’re doing one little thing, notthat it’s going to solve the entireproblem. There’s got to be awhole lot more.”

Clayton and his wife hostedfamilies at their home for severalmonths, and are regulars at thebus station.

“I guess it’s got its reward, butthat’s not the issue,” he said.“The issue is dealing with a realneed. I guess the part that ismost heartbreaking is to see thelittle children.”

The Interfaith Welcome Coali-tion —volunteers from 200 reli-gious groups including Menno-nites, Quakers, Presbyterians,Catholics and Methodists — wasformed last year as various faithgroups here became aware of theinflux of unaccompanied minorscrossing the border in South Tex-as. The crisis first made head-lines last May when U.S. Health

and Human Services opened anemergency shelter on Joint BaseSan Antonio-Lackland.

By the end of the year, the Bor-der Patrol apprehended 50,000children, most of them from Gua-temala, El Salvador and Hondu-ras, illegally crossing the borderin the Rio Grande Valley.

Nearly 200 people showed up toa meeting in August, wonderingwhat they could to to help, saidthe Rev. Kelly Allen, one of thecoalition’s leaders.

“Very soon, what we realizedwas that the kids were taken careof by the federal governmentthrough the Office of Refugee Re-settlement, and it is very verydifficult to get access to the kids,”Allen said.

Receiving less attention werethe other 50,000 immigrants,mostly mothers and children,who also crossed the Rio Grandelast year. Much like the unaccom-panied children, the vast majori-ty just surrendered to the firstlaw enforcement official to comeacross them and claimed asylum.

The initial crisis was in theValley, where local communitieswere dealing with dozens of fam-ilies dropped off every day at lo-cal bus stations. The U.S. govern-ment had all but abandoned de-taining families, so after a fewdays in overcrowded Border Pa-trol stations, they were releasedwith notices to appear in immi-gration court.

In the Valley, churches re-sponded by opening shelters, andlocal governments chipped in,providing security and emergen-cy tents equipped with showers.

Meanwhile, in the face of in-tense criticism over the hundredsof women and children being leftat bus stations in Brownsvilleand McAllen and to dispel themisconception that women andchildren were being releasedwith permits to enter the U.S.,ICE began detaining families.

By the time the coalition gotrolling, ICE had converted theKarnes center into a family de-tention facility. It had been a 500-bed center for low-risk male im-migrants.

“There was an obvious sort ofinjustice to the policy,” Allensaid. “There was a desire to helpthese women and children be-cause of what they’d gonethrough. So there was a desire tostart some visitation, and therewas a desire to help the womenand children who’ve been re-leased.”

Although they have asked forasylum, most of those who havebeen released were let out onbond while their immigrationcourt cases are still in progress.They’re not considered refugeesby the U.S. government andaren’t eligible for any aid.

The coalition partnered withthe Refugee and Immigrant Cen-ter for Education and Legal Ser-vices, a San Antonio nonprofitknown as RAICES that providesfree and reduced cost legal repre-sentation and operates a fund tobond women out of detention.When RAICES clients were re-leased from detention in Karnes,coalition volunteers would drive50 miles to pick them up anddrive them to the bus station or avolunteer’s house.

The trips to Karnes Countywere putting a strain on volun-teers, Allen said, and the deten-tion center was willing to shuttle

another detention center in Pear-sall, coalition members will givethem what they have left. Maldo-nado said she’ll hand out food toanyone in the bus station whoneeds it.

Families no longer stay at vol-unteers’ houses. The coalition nowrents two houses south of down-town and every weeknight, volun-teers gather at the bus stationaround 7 p.m. Most detainees fromKarnes arrive in the early eve-ning, and are helped onto buses —usually the 8:15 p.m. Greyhoundheading west. The van from Dilleyarrives any time between 9 p.m.and 11, so families released fromthat detention center often have tospend the night.

Since late February, when thecoalition started hosting familiesat the two leased houses, it hashosted about 40 people per week,Allen said.

A couple of weeks ago, SandraLopez, 25, sat chatting with Maldo-nado in one of the houses whileher 7-year-old daughter Milda gother hair braided by Yanira Lopez,a former Karnes detainee who’sbeen staying with the coalitionlong-term.

Sandra Lopez said she left ayoung son in her native Guatema-la. After her arrest in Texas, shewas held for 22 days in Dilley be-fore an aunt in Oakland got a loanto pay her bond. She arrived at theSan Antonio bus station late, terri-fied she and Milda would be kid-napped.

When members of the coalitionapproached her, “I started prayingto God and wondering if it wastrue,” she said. “I asked God, ‘Didyou send these people to help me?’I was shaking with fear.”

After calling her aunt, whospoke on the phone with the vol-unteers, she agreed to spend thenight. On Wednesday, as she killedtime before heading to the bus sta-tion with coalition members,Sandra Lopez said she’s grateful.

“When I came here, I thoughtno one was going to help me,” shesaid. “When I came to the bus sta-tion, I didn’t have anything. Ididn’t have clothes, I didn’t havefood, I didn’t have a comb, I didn’thave a bag.”

The coalition is not a nonprofit,so donations are collected throughUniversity Presbyterian and vol-unteers have been paying foritems out of pocket. The group istrying to become more structured,Allen said. A pair of AmeriCorpsVolunteers in Service to Americamembers have been added, mean-ing there are now two full-timecoalition members, and the groupis trying to sketch out a budget toapply for grants.

Allen wants to expand volunteerrecruitment and training, as wellas the coalition’s ability to hostmore people.

There are a number of supportnetworks for people who the gov-ernment considers refugees, butnot for immigrants whose asylumcases are pending, she said.

“I hope we will be able to ex-pand our capacity to host refugeefamilies … and maybe providesupport to people who have beenin detention from elsewhere in theworld,” Allen said. “Part of thereason I’m saying that, is this needhas been there since before lastsummer, the need to support peo-ple who have been released fromdetention and are seeking asylum,and there hasn’t been in San Anto-nio a strong program for that.”

FAMILIES Continued from Page 1A

produced far less oil and the 1973Arab oil embargo caused globaloil prices to skyrocket. In 1975,President Gerald Ford signed theEnergy Policy and ConservationAct, which banned crude oil ex-ports with few exceptions — an ef-fort to keep oil here and protectagainst price shocks.

Since then, the U.S. — led byTexas — has become the world’stop oil producer, largely due totechnological advances like hy-draulic fracturing that allow oper-ators to tap resources once consid-ered unreachable. But that surgeof production is filling up thecountry’s pipelines and storagetanks, driving down U.S. pricesand slowing drilling across thecountry, with big implications forthe Texas economy.

Hovering around $60 a barrel inrecent days, crude prices are upfrom lows around $45 in late Janu-ary but remain far below the $100-plus levels seen last summer.

Supporters of lifting the ban saythe move would bring U.S. pricesmore in line with internationalprices, softening the blow of thedrilling downturn.

Critics argue that shipping U.S.crude overseas would threaten thecountry’s energy security andraise gasoline prices.

It’s unclear how the changewould affect prices at the pump orripple through other sectors of theeconomy.

In an October 2014 report, thefederal Energy Information Ad-ministration concluded that gaso-line prices at the pump are moreclosely linked to global crude pric-es than the value of U.S. oil. Themarket research firm IHS agrees,estimating that exports could ac-tually lower gas prices over time.

Some refiners have opposed lift-ing the ban, fearing they wouldlose their discount on domesticcrude.

The Brookings Institution, aleft-of-center think tank, projectedin September that a repeal couldincrease the country’s GDP by$550 billion to $1.8 trillion over thenext 25 years. But it also statesthat lifting the repeal could hurtrefineries in some regions andthat “these issues are serious forthose companies involved and willentail real economic costs whichshould not be underestimated.”

Texans in Congress have al-ready received the message Austinsent to Washington on Friday. U.S.Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, hasjoined U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul,R-Austin, and U.S. Rep. Joe Bar-ton, R-Ennis, in pushing bills tooverturn the export ban. Butthose proposals face a number ofpolitical obstacles, making theirprospects tenuous.

Also on Friday, Abbott signed aresolution urging the federal gov-ernment to speed up natural gasexports, drawing cheers from Tex-as petroleum groups.

“We applaud Governor Abbottfor his support in repealing ournation’s outdated crude oil exportban and for encouraging an expe-dited process for liquefied naturalgas exports from the U.S., both ofwhich would drive further growthand security for our country,while offering supply diversityand support to our allies abroad,”Ed Longanecker, president of theTexas Independent Producers andRoyalty Owners Association saidin a statement.

CRUDE OILContinued from Page 1A

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, MAY 30, 2015

Mak-90. Also recovered wasthe duct tape used to blind-fold and bound the victim.

Cerda was tied to the caseby phone calls made be-tween him and the kidnap-pers. In the calls, he dis-cussed plans for taking thevictim to Mexico. Prosecu-tors allege that Sanchezoversaw a Zetas cell in Lare-do and smuggled weapons toMexico.

One defendant in the case,Jose “Minutitos” RobertoObregon, has not yet beensentenced. He sent a hand-written letter to Judge Salda-ña asking for new counseland for permission to with-draw his guilty plea. Obre-gon pleaded guilty in Febru-ary 2013 to conspiracy to ex-port firearms.

Sanchez, Obregon, Cerdaand others have also been in-dicted in state court for theiralleged involvement in the2010 killings of GuillermoRodriguez, 48, Ramon Luce-ro Ramirez, 47, and FidencioRios-Cardenas, 31. They al-legedly carried out the slay-

out to be a relative of theperson who stole the load ofcash, authorities said.

A 14-year-old girl told po-lice that several people tookher mother by force. She toldLPD they tried to take her aswell but were unable to doso.

The daughter identifiedGarza as one of the kidnap-pers.

The next day, Drug En-forcement Administrationagents received informationthat the victim was beingkept at Garza’s house in the1400 block of Piedra ChinaStreet. When agents ap-proached the house, a per-son opened the door and thevictim ran outside, sayingshe had been bound andgagged.

Police apprehended Garza,Zaragoza-Solis and Diaz atthe house.

They found at the resi-dence three weapons, includ-ing a Smith and Wesson .38-caliber revolver, a 7.62-cali-ber pistol and a Norinco7.62-caliber rifle, Model

ings on behalf of the Zetas. Sanchez and Obregon

pleaded guilty in April 2014to the murder of Rios-Carde-nas.

As part of his plea agree-ment, Sanchez will serve 35years, which will run con-current with the 10-year sen-tence he received Thursdayin federal court.

Obregon’s plea agreementhas him serving 32 years inprison for the murdercharge.

His sentence would haverun concurrent with the fed-eral court sentence.

The investigation into thekidnapping, homicides andgun-trafficking began withan operation by the DrugEnforcement Administrationin Chicago targeting Zetaswho were smuggling drugproceeds.

That investigation led tothe seizure of more than $20million in cash headingsouth from Chicago, Phila-delphia and Dallas and it ledagents to Sanchez, who pros-ecutors say answered to the

gang’s leadership in Mexico.Millions of dollars wereseized in and near San Anto-nio.

A Laredo police detectivetestified during a 2011 courthearing that the departmentwas contacted in September2010 by DEA agents involvedin the money smuggling in-vestigation.

More than $1 million ofthe Zetas’ money had gonemissing, the detective testi-fied, and agents tapping thegang member’s phones hadoverheard Zetas leaders or-dering a Laredo-based cell tofind the thief.

The investigation revealeddetails about the three hom-icides ordered by the Zetas,overseen by Sanchez andcarried out by members ofthe Hermandad PistolerosLatinos prison gang, the de-tective said.

(Philip Balli may bereached at 728-2528 or pbal-li@lmtonline.com. JasonBuch, staff reporter for theSan Antonio Express-News,contributed to this report.)

ZETAS Continued from Page 1A

into homes and strandedhundreds of drivers, manyof whom lingered alonghighways that were nearlygridlocked from the highwater and abandoned vehi-cles.

Fire rescue crews re-sponded to about 260 callsthat included trapped vehi-cles and accidents, author-ities said.

Exacerbating the problemfor first-responders are peo-ple who have been goingaround barricades to takepictures of the floodwaters,said Dallas County JudgeClay Jenkins. He said thosepeople are endangeringthemselves and stretchingthin the first responders’ re-sources.

“Floodwaters are neversafe to play around, take apicture around, walkaround,” Jenkins said. “Wedon’t need any more loss oflife.”

Jenkins also said he isconsidering issuing evacua-tion orders for Dallas-areaneighborhoods dependingon the latest flood projec-tions.

The Colorado River inWharton and the Brazosand San Jacinto rivers nearHouston were the main fo-cus of concern as floodwa-ters moved from North andCentral Texas downstreamtoward the Gulf of Mexico.

Floodwater was creepinginto neighborhoods in thesuburban Houston city ofKingwood near the swollenSan Jacinto River, whereresidents were keeping aclose eye on water levels.

“Everybody’s worriedabout it,” James Simmssaid from his second-storybalcony, looking down at aflood that had reached hisgarage. “Those people whoare going to leave are al-ready gone. There’s otherslike us who are going towait until it’s mandatory.”

Teams continued tosearch through debris pilesalong rivers. Bodies foundon Thursday raised the con-firmed death toll to at least26, including storm victimsfrom Oklahoma.

The Brazos River, whichhad been receding, roseabove flood stage again Fri-

day in Parker County,west of Fort Worth, andwas expected to climbhigher with theplanned opening of theflood gates at PossumKingdom Lake up-stream. People in about250 homes near the riv-er were asked to volun-tarily evacuate.

With the water mov-ing rapidly down theriver, serious floodingwas expected in thedownstream communi-ties of Simonton andThompsons. Fort BendCounty Sheriff TroyNehls said some resi-dents of Simonton hadalready been asked toleave.

Forecasters said theColorado River atWharton could crest onSaturday, causing ma-jor flooding in the com-munity 60 miles south-west of Houston. Volun-tary evacuations wereunderway in the city’slow-lying west side.

FLOOD Continued from Page 1A

Sports&OutdoorsSATURDAY, MAY 30, 2015 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

ZURICH — In the end, nothingcould stop Sepp Blatter.

Not a far-reaching corruptionscandal. Not a tarnished interna-tional image. Not a young princewho gave him a stronger-than-ex-pected challenge.

Despite the biggest crisis in FI-FA’s 111-year histo-ry, Blatter emergedvictorious onceagain Friday, win-ning re-election aspresident of worldsoccer’s governingbody for a fifthterm and provinghe is the sport’s ul-

timate survivor."I am now the president of ev-

erybody," the 79-year-old Blattercrowed after defeating Prince Alibin al-Hussein of Jordan to se-cure another four years in officeas one of the most powerful menin sports.

Blatter was declared the victorafter Prince Ali withdrew follow-ing the first round of secret bal-loting among FIFA’s 209 memberfederations. Blatter won the firstballot 133-73, seven votes short ofthe two-thirds majority requiredfor victory.

Before the start of the secondround, where a simple majoritywould be enough for victory, the39-year-old prince conceded de-feat. By preventing Blatter fromsecuring an outright first-roundtriumph, Prince Ali gave Blattera symbolic bloody nose andshowed that his previous irongrip on the organization hasweakened.

"I want to thank all of you whowere brave enough to supportme," Prince Ali told the delegates.

With FIFA in turmoil amid apair of U.S. and Swiss corruptioninvestigations, Blatter had re-mained defiant and refused tostep down - as demanded by Eu-ropean soccer’s governing body,UEFA.

See FIFA PAGE 2B

FIFA’sBlatter

re-electedScandal can’t keep

Blatter from newfour-year term

By GRAHAM DUNBAR ASSOCIATED PRESS

BLATTER

ARLINGTON — Josh Hamiltonstepped into the batter’s box to a loudovation. The Texas Rangers fans goteven louder when he lined the first pitchhe saw into the right-field corner for adouble.

“It’ll be a game I’ll remember forever.Coming back and getting a warm recep-tion like that, all through the game, peo-ple in the stands ’Welcome back Josh,glad to have you back,”’ Hamilton said.“It just makes you feel good. I hope thefans know that I’m giving them every-thing I’ve got being back, just like I didwhen I was here before.”

A month and a day after being re-ac-quired by the Rangers, Hamilton playedhis first home game in Texas since the2012 AL wild-card game, one in which

the soon-to-depart slugger was booedlustily — like he would be the next twoseasons when returning with the LosAngeles Angels.

Hamilton finished 2 for 4 Thursdaynight, including an RBI single in theninth — on another sharply hit ball toright — that accounted for the Rangers’only run in a 5-1 loss to the Boston RedSox.

“As long as he just keeps getting bet-ter and feeling comfortable, he’s going todo his thing,” shortstop Elvis Andrussaid. “Same guy. He hasn’t changed atall. He’s been the same person since hegot here Day One, and you can see in hiseyes he just wants to play.”

The only thing that would have beenbetter for Hamilton would have been awin, but Eduardo Rodriguez threw 7 2/3scoreless innings to become the young-est Red Sox starter to win in his major

league debut on the road since 1967.Already the youngest Red Sox pitcher

to make his MLB debut on the roadsince 21-year-old Roger Clemens in 1985,Rodriguez became the youngest sinceBilly Rohr was 21 when winning his de-but at the New York Yankees on April14, 1967.

“He was outstanding. Very impres-sive, he was poised,” said Red Sox man-ager John Farrell, whose team snappeda three-game losing streak.

Before the game, Hamilton said he al-ways has good memories at the Rangers’ballpark, and those started goingthrough his mind when turning ontoBallpark Way earlier in the day.

This was his home from 2008-12, astretch of five seasons when he was the2010 AL MVP, an All-Star each year and

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: TEXAS RANGERS

Hamilton homecoming

Rangers fans show their support for outfielder Josh Hamilton as he played his first home game with Texas after being reacquired from the Los Angeles An-gels.

Photo by Brandon Wade | AP

2010 AL MVP back in Arlington for RangersBy STEPHEN HAWKINS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

See HAMILTON PAGE 2B

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. —Coach Bill Belichick shed littlelight Friday in his first publicremarks since the report wasissued on the Patriots’ use ofdeflated footballs.

He avoided direct answers tomost of the 10 questions he wasasked about Tom Brady, back-up quarterback Jimmy Garop-polo and how the team washandling the fallout from theinvestigation.

Brady, who is appealing hisfour-game suspension, did notspeak with reporters after NewEngland’s organized team ac-tivity.

Patriots owner Robert Krafthas accepted the team penaltyof a $1 million fine and loss oftwo draft picks.

Asked if he agreed with thatdecision, Belichick said, “Hemade a statement on it lastweek.”

The rest of his answers fo-

NFL: NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

See PATRIOTS PAGE 2B

New England head coach Bill Belichick declined to address the latest Deflate-gate findings on Friday in his first comments since the Wells report.

Photo by Elise Amendola | AP

Belichick: We’re onto next year

By HOWARD ULMANASSOCIATED PRESS

OAKLAND — The initial hitcaused Klay Thompson plentyof pain. The final diagnosis de-livered another blow to him andthe Golden State Warriors asthey prepare for the NBA Fi-nals.

Two days after he got kneedin the head by Houston’s TrevorAriza, the Warriors said Fridaythat Thompson has a concus-sion and will not return to prac-tice until he is symptom free.

The All-Star guard wentthrough neurological tests thatconfirmed the concussion. Hewas injured in the fourth quar-ter of Golden State’s 104-90 winover the Rockets in the WesternConference finals clincherWednesday night.

The NBA Finals start Thurs-day against Cleveland. Andwhile the Warriors are optimis-tic Thompson will be cleared be-fore then, he must pass throughthe league’s concussion protocolfirst.

“This break has turned out tobe good for us,” Warriors coachSteve Kerr said after Friday’spractice. “And maybe good forCleveland, too, because they’vegot some injuries. It’s just some-thing we’ve got to work throughand we’ll see how it goes.”

Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving

has been slowed by knee tendin-itis and a sore foot, and four-time NBA MVP LeBron Jameshas been banged up as well.

But neither of those injuriesseems as serious as the one theWarriors are facing now.

Thompson was at the team’sfacility Friday but did not parti-cipate in the workout. The War-riors will practice again Satur-day and take Sunday off.

Kerr said he’s not concernedabout Thompson staying sharp.

“Klay picks up his rhythm ve-

ry quickly,” Kerr said.It’s unclear how long Thomp-

son could be away from thecourt — and that’s the concernfor the Warriors.

The NBA’s concussion policyrequires players to pass a seriesof steps without experiencingsymptoms before they can re-turn. That starts with riding astationary bike and progressesto jogging, agility work and non-contact team drills, according to

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION: GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS

Thompson has concussion

Golden State guard Klay Thompson took a knee to his head from Rockets forwardTrevor Ariza during the second half of Game 5 in the Western Conference Finals.His status is now uncertain as his Warriors teammates enter the NBA Finals nextweek against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Photo by Tony Avelar | AP

By ANTONIO GONZALEZASSOCIATED PRESS

See THOMPSON PAGE 2B

the league. Players must start overif they experience any symptoms.

The protocol also requires theteam physician to discuss the pro-cess with Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher, thedirector of the NBA’s concussionprogram, before a player can re-turn.

Kerr insisted he will heed the ad-vice of the medical staff as he al-ways has with injuries.

“I just do what the doctors saywe should do,” Kerr said. “Obvious-ly, we want to be as careful as pos-sible and make sure our players aresafe and sound and healthy. Sowe’ll follow this protocol that theleague provides and we’ll have Klayout here when he’s ready.”

Team doctors initially clearedThompson to return to the game.He ended up not playing, and theteam said he started developingsymptoms after the game, fuelingquestions about the league’s con-cussion protocol.

Thompson’s father, former NBA

player Mychal Thompson, had todrive his son home after the gamebecause he was feeling ill. He saidThursday that Klay vomited a cou-ple of times but had been feeling“better by the hour” and was confi-dent that doctors would clear himbefore the finals begin.

Thompson also needed stitcheson his right ear after the hit causedblood to spill down the side of hishead.

It was the second consecutivegame the Warriors were underscrutiny for letting an All-Star play-er return after getting banged up.

Point guard and MVP StephenCurry got hurt in the second quar-ter of Game 4 when he jumped asAriza was about to go up for a shot.Ariza saw him and stopped abrupt-ly, causing Curry to tumble overhim. Curry’s head and right armhit the court, where he remainedfor several minutes.

Curry returned in the third quar-ter after passing the concussion

protocol. He was diagnosed with abruised head and a bruised rightarm — but has not shown anysigns of a concussion, the teamsaid.

Curry called it a strange coinci-dence and said he’s confident in thesystem in place.

“The amount of times that that’shappened, I don’t think that’s tooprevalent in basketball,” Currysaid. “You kind of just go based onhow you feel, the test that they run,and you have confidence that ifthey say you’re OK to go out andplay. But in the cases that I had, ifyou feel not yourself, you let themknow and they pull you out andkind of reassess.

“That’s why the protocol is whatit is. You go through tests, if youpass, you’re able to go back inthere. You make a judgment call.Hopefully in basketball you don’tput yourself in too much danger asin other sports where you might betaking those big hits.”

THOMPSON Continued from Page 1B

PAGE 2B Zscores SATURDAY, MAY 30, 2015

helped the Rangers get totheir only two World Se-ries.

In his last home gamefor Texas, Hamilton twicestruck out on three pitch-es and grounded into adouble play in the wild-card loss to Baltimore.That came after 18 strike-outs in the last 10 regular-season games, and adropped routine popup inthe finale that allowedOakland to go ahead tostay and clinch the divi-sion title that day.

Hamilton left in freeagency to the Angels twomonths later, but strug-gled with injuries and per-formance during his twoseasons on the WestCoast.

Asked before the gameif he felt he could still putup the kind of numbers hedid in the past for theRangers, Hamilton saidthe only way to find outwas to go out and play.But, yes, he has confi-dence that he can.

“When you don’t getnervous when you go outthere and play, whetherfirst at-bat or you’re inthe field for the first timeagain, if you’re not nerv-

ous, then you don’t needto do it,” he said. “I stillhave all those things.Yeah, I think I can dowhat I’ve done in thepast.”

Hamilton hit .305 with152 homers and 506 RBIshis previous five seasonsas a Ranger. He led the ALwith 130 RBIs in his 2008Texas debut, led the ma-jors with .359 average in2010 and had a career-high43 homers in 2012.

The Angels traded Ha-milton back to Texas onApril 27. After an offsea-son when he had shouldersurgery and a self-report-ed relapse with cocaineand alcohol, the sluggerwent to Arizona for ex-tended spring training be-fore 12 games split be-tween Triple-A RoundRock and Double-A Frisco.

“Over this last month,it’s just been fun in gener-al,” Hamilton said. “It’sbeen fun for me to see allaspects of it. You knowyou appreciate it.

“Anytime you gothrough those levels likethat, you can appreciate iteven more. ... It’s gonewell. Physically feel good,mentally feel even better.”

HAMILTON Continued from Page 1B

ganization that has been left batteredand reeling from years of corruptionaccusations.

"I have been made responsible forthis storm," he said in his finalspeech to the voters before the elec-tion. "That’s fine, that’s fine. I takethat responsibility. I take it. I take itupon myself and I also want to ac-cept this responsibility, get back onthe path, to fix FIFA, together withyou."

The election went ahead after U.S.and Swiss federal investigationsstruck at the heart of Blatter’s circle.Two FIFA vice presidents and a re-cently elected executive committeemember were still in custody Fridayas the votes were counted.

"I thank you that you accepted mefor the next four years," Blatter toldthe assembly. "I will be in commandof this boat called FIFA and we willbring it back off shore and bring itback to the beach."

He cited God and Allah in hisspeech, saying they would help guideFIFA out of its crisis.

"I promise you, in the end of myterm I will give this FIFA to my suc-cessor in a very, very strong position,a robust FIFA and a good FIFA," hesaid.

Blatter won despite direct calls forhis resignation from UEFA presidentMichel Platini, who sat still duringthe congress and did not clap duringthe victory remarks.

"I am proud that UEFA has defend-ed and supported a movement forchange at FIFA, change which in myopinion is crucial if this organizationis to regain its credibility," Platinisaid.

The result of the one-vote-per-coun-try election proved that Blatter re-tains the loyalty of the many smallercountries in Africa and Asia, a blocthat is enough to counter his criticsin Europe and elsewhere.

"I like you. I like my job," Blattersaid to the assembly after receiving amix of cheers and jeers as he steppedto the stage for his victory speech. "Iam not perfect, nobody is perfect, butwe will do a good job together I amsure."

Then he exhorted the delegates:"Together we go! Let’s go FIFA! Let’sgo FIFA!"

The election took place two daysafter seven soccer officials were ar-rested in dawn raids at a luxury Zur-ich hotel. The U.S. Justice Depart-ment indicted 14 people on chargesof bribery, racketeering, money-laun-dering and other charges. In a sepa-rate investigation, Swiss authoritiesare looking into FIFA’s awarding ofthe 2018 World Cup to Russia and the2022 tournament to Qatar. And Bri-tain’s Serious Fraud Office said Fri-day it is assessing "material in itspossession" relating to allegations ofFIFA corruption.

Blatter himself was not implicatedin the U.S. indictments, but prosecu-tors have said the investigations arefar from over.

FIFA’s big-money sponsors have al-so called for change within FIFA. Vi-sa warned it could pull out of its con-tract, which is worth at least $25 mil-lion a year through 2022.

Blatter, who has been in office for17 years, portrayed himself as theman who can guide FIFA throughthe tumult and restore trust in an or-

UEFA is scheduled to hold meet-ings next week in Berlin ahead of theChampions League final. Platini saidbefore the vote that UEFA could pullout of FIFA and withdraw from theWorld Cup if Blatter was re-elected.

In what appeared to be a warningto UEFA, Blatter pledged Friday tochange the representation of his in-fluential executive committee, whereEurope currently has eight of 25 vot-ing members. Blatter also said hewould retain a 32-team World Cupand resist expanding what is FIFA’scash cow.

England Football Associationchairman Greg Dyke, who voted forPrince Ali, said Europe’s oppositionto Blatter would not wane.

"This isn’t over by any means," hesaid. "The events of this week are sotraumatic for FIFA that I cannot seeFIFA reforming itself under Blatter -he’s had (17) years to reform it andhe hasn’t done it."

Sunil Gulati, president of the U.S.soccer federation and a member ofFIFA’s executive committee, also vot-ed against Blatter.

"While we are disappointed in theresult of the election, we will contin-ue to push for meaningful changewithin FIFA," he said. "Our goal isfor governance of FIFA that is re-sponsible, accountable, transparentand focused solely on the best inter-ests of the game."

Blatter did have one big ally in Eu-rope - Russia, the site of the nextWorld Cup.

"Russia staunchly supported Blat-ter," Sports Minister Vitaly Mutkotold The Associated Press, "so we arevery satisfied with a result like this."

FIFA Continued from Page 1B

ORLANDO — The Orlando Magichave hired former player ScottSkiles as their next head coach.

General manager Rob Henniganannounced the hiring Friday. An in-troductory news conference was setfor later in the day. The 51-year-oldSkiles becomes the 12th coach infranchise history. He follows JacqueVaughn, who was fired in February.

In a statement Hennigan laudedSkiles’ 13 years as an NBA headcoach.

“Scott clearly distinguished him-self as a tremendous fit,” Hennigansaid. “Our young roster will benefitgreatly from Scott’s extensive headcoaching experience and commit-ment to teaching smart, physical,unselfish basketball. We believe inScott’s ability to establish a cultureof winning habits and accountabilitythat will help guide our team in apositive direction.”

Skiles was a member of the Mag-ic’s inaugural team in 1989-90 andplayed point guard for a total of fiveseasons in Orlando as part of his 10-year playing career.

He is 13-year veteran NBA coach,with stops in Phoenix, Chicago andMilwaukee. He owns a 443-433 over-all coaching record, with his bestseason coming with the Suns in2000-01 when they went 51-31.

The Magic’s front office was most-ly mum during the coaching search,with Hennigan only acknowledgingat the outset that they planned to in-terview interim coach James Borre-go. Borrego led the Magic to a 10-20record following Vaughn’s dismissal.

It was clear that Magic were inter-ested in hiring a more veteran coachto lead the next step of the Magic’srebuilding process, following threestraight seasons of 25 or fewer winsunder Vaughn, a first-time coach.

Though Skiles has only the lone50-win season as a head coach, hedid help the Bulls improve from 23

wins in 2003-04 to 47 victories in hisfirst full season in Chicago. He wenton to guide the Bulls to three consec-utive playoff appearances, whichended a six-year postseason droughtfor Chicago.

Skiles also has a reputation of be-ing a no-nonsense presence in thelocker room, an extension of hisplaying days in which he was knownas an intense competitor.

He inherits a young roster in Or-lando, headlined by big man Nik Vu-cevic and guards Victor Oladipo andElfrid Payton. That list also includesforward Tobias Harris, who previ-

ously played under Skiles in Mil-waukee as a rookie and for part ofhis second year in the league.

Harris has been a solid part of theMagic’s nucleus since his arrival inOrlando, but becomes a restrictedfree agent July 1. After hiring acoach, and navigating the upcomingdraft, deciding what to do with Har-ris’s contract is likely the Magic’snext offseason priority.

Orlando, which finished 25-57 andat the bottom of the Southeast divi-sion for the third straight season,owns the fifth overall pick for nextmonth’s draft.

Magic hire Skiles as coachBy KYLE HIGHTOWER

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Former Bucks head coach Scott Skiles has been hired by Orlando to helm the Magic nextseason.

File photo by Alan Diaz | AP

cused mostly on the needto improve every day andto work hard.

Asked if he was prepar-ing to start the seasonwith Garoppolo as thestarter, Belichick said,“I’m just going day by dayright now. Everybody’sworking hard trying to getbetter.”

How tough was it towatch the scandal unfoldduring the past month?

“We’re just workinghard every day to come outhere and get better, coach-es, players, everybody inthe organization,” he said.

Did the issue detractfrom the team’s enjoymentof its Super Bowl win overthe Seattle Seahawks?

“That’s a long time ago,”Belichick said. “We’re onto next year.”

Brady spent the workoutlofting passes, handing theball off and waiting histurn while other quarter-backs got theirs.

In a 243-page report is-sued May 6, NFL investiga-tor Ted Wells found thatPatriots employees violat-ed NFL rules coveringgame balls and that Bradywas “at least generallyaware” of plans to doctorthe footballs to his liking.

The following night atan appearance before afriendly crowd at SalemState University, Bradysaid he hadn’t read the re-port and would reservecomment. He did say “ab-solutely not” when asked ifthe investigation taintedthe Super Bowl win.

On May 11, the NFL an-nounced its punishment.

But it was business asusual on Friday on thethird and final day of

OTAs this week.“It’s cool being on this

team and in this atmo-sphere just because youwouldn’t know (about) ev-erything going on outsidewhen you come in thisbuilding,” safety DevinMcCourty said. “Every daywe come in here, coachBelichick has a list of stuffwe need to get done inpractice.

“Guys are so focused onthose little things and try-ing to get better that wereally don’t have time tofocus on other stuff.”

Brady took nearly everysnap last season. But hemay not take any in thefirst four games this year.

“We’re not even thinkingabout the first fourgames,” said Julian Edel-man, Brady’s top receiver.“We’re still thinking abouttrying to get this offensegoing and learning every-one’s names.”

That’s the approach Ga-roppolo, last year’s second-round draft pick, is taking.

His thinking with Bradyfacing a four-game suspen-sion?

“I just have the mindsetI’m trying to get better,”Garoppolo said. “That’s allyou can control at the endof the day.”

With no contact permit-ted during OTA’s, playersparticipated in 11-on-11drills and quarterbacksthrew passes with only onereceiver and one defender.

“Being back on the fieldkind of brings a calmness,”McCourty said. “It’s whereeveryone’s comfortable at,not all the other stuff thatgoes into being in the NFL,but the actual football partof being in this league.”

After winning the Super Bowl, Bill Belichick and the Patriots haven’tbeen able to escape the Deflategate drama.

Photo by Elise Amendola | AP

PATRIOTS Continued from Page 1B

SATURDAY, MAY 30, 2015 THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

Dear Heloise: To SAVEWATER, my wife and Ishower one right after theother. She goes in, showers,jumps out, and I go in im-mediately afterward to keepthe water hot. While soap-ing up, I turn off the wateruntil I need it to rinse. Thedishwasher is now run ev-ery other day, or even less.There are many othersthings, but these are the big-gest users of our dwindlingwater supply. My lawn willsuffer, our cars will be dirt-ier, and our lives will be dif-ferent from now on. –– Lar-ry in Garden Grove, Calif.

Water is a precious re-source, and we in Texas un-derstand how serious it is,since many parts of thestate are under extremedrought conditions andhave been for years. Theysay this is the worstdrought in hundreds ofyears. Every drop counts!Some folks have evensprayed their yard greensince they can’t water. Nowthat’s a Heloise hint! –– He-loise

NO LOST PETDear Readers: If your pet

runs away or gets lost, whatis the best way to help en-sure that it will be reunitedwith you? First is, of course,a collar with tags. But a mi-crochip is the best defense.A tiny, tiny chip that con-tains contact info is insert-ed with a quick injection.Any veterinarian office,shelter or rescue groupshould have a scanner toread the chip to identify thepet, and then you can becontacted. –– Heloise

EASY TEADear Readers: Looking

for a delicious, cold andsimple way to make icedtea? It’s sun tea! Pick abright, sunny day. In a glassor clear container, put inthe tea bags and cold water.I also added a handful ofpeppermint candy. Coverand place in direct sunlight.This is solar tea! No energywasted at all. Thanks, Moth-er Nature! –– Heloise

“HELOISE

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, MAY 30, 2015