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ASTROS, RANGERS TALK TRADESHOUSTON AND TEXAS SEARCHING FOR PACKAGE FOR COLE HAMELS, 10A

McALLEN — A crimi-nal complaint unsealedthis week accuses a SouthTexas police officer ofstealing cocaine from ahome in 2012 and then try-ing to cover up the theftby claiming he found thedrugs in a car that heseized.

Hector “Jo Jo” Mendezfaces a charge of posses-sion with intent to distrib-ute more than 5 kilogramsof cocaine, The Monitornewspaper in McAllen re-ported. Mendez is a 17-year veteran of the Mis-sion Police Departmentwho was assigned to adrug enforcement taskforce.

Mendez’s defense attor-ney, Carlos Garcia, toldThe Associated Press onTuesday that he has re-viewed the criminal com-plaint and that his clientdenies the allegations.

Mendez is accused ofstealing the drugs in July2012 — several months af-ter he lost a primary forHidalgo County Precinct 2constable.

He was questioned sev-eral times, including earli-er this month, after inves-tigators said he made sev-eral inconsistentstatements. The complaintunsealed Monday statesthat Mendez has deniedknowing of any drug theft.

Two former Mission po-lice officers, Alexis Espi-noza and Jonathan Trevi-no, were sentenced lastyear to lengthy terms fortheir roles in a drug-traf-ficking conspiracy that in-volved other law enforce-ment officers in the re-gion.

Mendez could receiveup to life in prison and a$10 million fine if convict-ed on the possession withintent to distributecharge.

MCALLEN

Officeraccused

ofstealingdrugs

Policeman tookcoke from home

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Three Zapata residentsarrested in Novemberduring a thwarted humansmuggling attempt on U.S.83 were sentenced Tues-day in federal court in La-redo.

A grand jury formallyindicted Misti Lea Grand-

staff, Mario HumbertoGarza III and Manuel Ale-jandro Garza on chargesof conspiracy and twocounts of transportingand attempting to trans-port illegal immigrantsfor financial gain.

The human smugglingcharges are punishable byup to 10 years in prison.

Grandstaff and Mario

Humberto Garza acceptedplea agreements andpleaded guilty Jan. 12 toone count of transportingillegal immigrants for fi-nancial gain.

Manuel Alejandro Gar-za accepted a plea agree-ment and pleaded guiltyApril 23 to the conspiracycharge.

As part of each of their

plea agreements, prosecu-tors agreed to dismiss theremaining charges of theindictment.

During the sentencinghearing before U.S. Dis-trict Judge Diana Salda-ña, Grandstaff was hand-ed a prison sentence ofeight months and 16 days.

Saldaña further or-dered that she be placed

on a three-year term ofsupervised release with aspecial condition that shebe placed in home con-finement for six monthswith electronic monitor-ing. Grandstaff must alsocomplete 50 hours of com-munity service within thefirst two years of her su-

FEDERAL COURT

Smugglers sentencedThree Zapatans get prison time for human smuggling

By PHILIP BALLITHE ZAPATA TIMES

See SMUGGLING PAGE 13A

WASHINGTON — Thetwo Texans running forpresident are tied in a newnational poll.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz andformer Texas Gov. RickPerry each had the sup-port of 4 percent of regis-tered voters who identifiedthemselves as Republicansin a new Washington Post/

ABC News poll. At first blush, 4 percent

appears to be an insignifi-cant number. But bothmen will make the cut ifFox News takes this pollinto account when decid-

ing which 10 Republicanpresidential candidates ap-pear in the upcoming Aug.6 presidential debate.

Cruz had a slight leg upover Perry in the surveywhen all self-identified Re-

publican respondents werepolled — not just regis-tered voters. In that group,Cruz got 4 percent whilePerry got 3 percent.

WASHINGTON POST/ABC NEWS

CRUZ, PERRY TIED IN POLL

Former Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz are shown in this compilation image.

Image by Cooper Neill | Texas Tribune

Two Texans each have support of 4 percent of votersBy ABBY LIVINGSTON

TEXAS TRIBUNE

See POLL PAGE 13A

Corruption. Extradition. Bor-der violence. Those were thestandard talking-point topics byTexas lawmakers following Joa-quín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s bra-zen escape last week from amaximum-security Mexicanprison.

Now, some advocates hope toadd “drug policy reform” to thelist, arguing that Guzmán’s cata-pult back to power of the Sina-loa cartel should lead to newdiscussions on how much out-

lawing drugs empowers theworld’s most ruthless druglords.

Organizations like Law En-forcement Against Prohibition,or LEAP, a worldwide groupwhose members include currentand former peace officers, pros-ecutors and correctional offi-cers, wasted little time in sound-ing the alarms about a possibleincrease in violence after Guz-mán’s escape.

Rusty White, a former correc-tional officer, K-9 handler andwatchtower sniper who is one ofLEAP’s 17 Texas-based mem-

bers, said Guzmán’s escapecould escalate a war with rivalcartels that sought to gain trac-tion in disputed turf after Guz-mán’s arrest in February 2014.

“Chapo’s been controlling theborders of the United States for-ever. Now that he’s back out,with whoever he put in place,there’s [likely] going to be moreviolence when the power strug-gle starts again,” he said.

He added of law enforcementofficials: “Someday, these peopleare going to have to look in the

TEXAS LAWMAKERS

This photo shows the opening of a tunnel, authorities claim was used by drug lordJoaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, to escape from his prison cell at the Altiplano maxi-mum security prison, in Almoloya, west of Mexico City, July 15.

Photo by Eduardo Verdugo | AP

El Chapo’s escape shouldlead to drug law reform

By JULIÁN AGUILARTEXAS TRIBUNE

See EL CHAPO PAGE 13A

PAGE 2A Zin brief WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2015

WEDNESDAY, JULY 22Planetarium shows at TAMIU

Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetariumfrom 3 to 5 p.m. 3 p.m.: AccidentalAstronaut; 4 p.m.: Extreme Planets;5 p.m.: Zula Patrol: Under theWeather. General admission is $3.Call 956-326-DOME (3663).

THURSDAY, JULY 23Planetarium shows at TAMIU

Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetariumfrom 3 to 5 p.m. 3 p.m.: AccidentalAstronaut; 4 p.m.: Extreme Planets;5 p.m.: Zula Patrol: Under theWeather. General admission is $3.Call 956-326-DOME (3663).

SATURDAY, JULY 256th Annual Cat Appreciation

Day from 2 – 3 p.m. Registrationand judging of Live Cat Categories 2– 2:30 p.m. and Photo/Cell PhoneCategories 2 – 3 p.m. at Petconorth, 2450 Monarch Dr. $1 dona-tion for each participating category.Donations will go toward projects toprotect free-roaming community catsincluding a Trap, Neuter, and ReturnProgram. For more details, call Bird-ie at 286-7866.

Planetarium shows at TAMIULamar Bruni Vergara Planetariumfrom 2 to 5 p.m. 2 p.m.: AccidentalAstronauts; 3 p.m.: Wonders of theUniverse; 4 p.m.: New Horizons; 5p.m.: Led Zeppelin. General admis-sion is $3. Call 956-326-DOME(3663).

SUNDAY, JULY 26Operation Feed the Homeless.

3 p.m. at Jarvis Plaza. The LaredoFree Thinkers is organizing thisevent. Free food, good fun and freeliterature. See Facebook page, Oper-ation Feed the Homeless-SummerFeast for more information.

TUESDAY, JULY 28Planetarium shows at TAMIU

Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetariumfrom 3 to 5 p.m. 3 p.m.: AccidentalAstronaut; 4 p.m.: Extreme Planets;5 p.m.: Zula Patrol: Under theWeather. General admission is $3.Call 956-326-DOME (3663).

WEDNESDAY, JULY 29Planetarium shows at TAMIU

Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetariumfrom 3 to 5 p.m. 3 p.m.: AccidentalAstronaut; 4 p.m.: Extreme Planets;5 p.m.: Zula Patrol: Under theWeather. General admission is $3.Call 956-326-DOME (3663).

THURSDAY, JULY 30Spanish Book Club from 6 – 8

p.m. at the Laredo Public Library onCalton Road. Contact Sylvia Reashat 763-1810.

Planetarium shows at TAMIULamar Bruni Vergara Planetariumfrom 3 to 5 p.m. 3 p.m.: AccidentalAstronaut; 4 p.m.: Extreme Planets;5 p.m.: Zula Patrol: Under theWeather. General admission is $3.Call 956-326-DOME (3663).

SATURDAY, AUGUST 1Planetarium shows at TAMIU

Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetariumfrom 2 to 5 p.m. 2 p.m.: AccidentalAstronauts; 3 p.m.: Wonders of theUniverse; 4 p.m.: New Horizons; 5p.m.: Led Zeppelin. General admis-sion is $3. Call 956-326-DOME(3663).

TUESDAY, AUGUST 4Grief Support Group “The

Comfort Café” meets the first Tues-day of every month at 6:30 p.m. atDanny’s Restaurant, 2406 JacamanRoad. For those 18 and older whoare experiencing the loss of a lovedone. Contact Yeseenia Dickey at 740-9374 or email her at yeseniadick-ey@gmail.com to reserve a seat orfor more information.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 6Renacer Couple’s Club meeting

at Northtown Professional Plaza,6999 McPherson Rd. Suite 221, from6:30 to 9 p.m. Free and open to thepublic. Contact Rosario Navarro atrossnavarro83@gmail.com.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 11Texas A&M International Uni-

versity is hosting no-cost, one-dayworkshops for K-5 educators inter-ested in teaching computer science.Curriculum guide and supplies willbe provided. Contact Dr. Pat Abregoat TAMIU at 326-2302.

CALENDARASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Wednesday, July22, the 203rd day of 2015. Thereare 162 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in His-tory:

On July 22, 1975, the U.S.House of Representativesjoined the Senate in voting torestore the American citizen-ship of Confederate Gen. Rob-ert E. Lee. (President GeraldR. Ford signed the measure onAugust 5.)

On this date:In 1587, an English colony

fated to vanish under myste-rious circumstances was es-tablished on Roanoke Islandoff North Carolina.

In 1796, Cleveland, Ohio,was founded by General Mos-es Cleaveland.

In 1893, Wellesley Collegeprofessor Katharine Lee Batesvisited the summit of PikesPeak, where she was inspiredto write the original version ofher poem “America the Beau-tiful.”

In 1916, a bomb went offduring a Preparedness Day pa-rade in San Francisco, killing10 people.

In 1946, Jewish extremistsblew up a wing of the King Da-vid Hotel in Jerusalem, killing90 people.

In 1950, former CanadianPrime Minister William LyonMackenzie King died inKingsmere, Quebec, at age 75.

In 1957, Walter “Fred” Mor-rison applied for a patent for a“flying toy” which becameknown as the Frisbee.

In 1963, Sonny Listonknocked out Floyd Pattersonin the first round of their re-match in Las Vegas to retainthe world heavyweight title.

In 1983, Samantha Smithand her parents returnedhome to Manchester, Maine,after completing a whirlwindtour of the Soviet Union.

In 1995, Susan Smith wasconvicted by a jury in Union,South Carolina, of first-degreemurder for drowning her twosons. (She was later sentencedto life in prison, and will notbe eligible for parole until2024.)

In 2011, Anders Breivikmassacred 69 people at a Nor-wegian island youth retreat af-ter detonating a bomb in near-by Oslo that killed eight oth-ers in the nation’s worstviolence since World War II.

Ten years ago: Jean Char-les de Menezes, a Brazilianelectrician, was shot to deathby London police who’d mis-taken him for a terrorist.

Five years ago: PresidentHugo Chavez severed Venezue-la’s diplomatic relations withneighboring Colombia overclaims he was harboring left-ist guerrillas.

One year ago: A Hamasrocket exploded near Israel’smain airport, prompting a banon flights from the U.S. andmany from Europe and Cana-da.

Today’s Birthdays: For-mer Senate Majority LeaderBob Dole, R-Kan., is 92. Actor-comedian Orson Bean is 87.Game show host Alex Trebekis 75. Former Sen. Kay BaileyHutchison, R-Texas, is 72. Ac-tor Danny Glover is 69. SingerMireille Mathieu is 69. Moviecomposer Alan Menken is 66.Actor Willem Dafoe is 60. Ac-tor-comedian David Spade is51. Actor Rhys Ifans is 48. Ac-tress Diana Maria Riva is 46.Singer Rufus Wainwright is42. Actress Selena Gomez is23. Britain’s Prince George ofCambridge is 2.

Thought for Today: “Lifeis the art of drawing withoutan eraser.” — John W. Gardn-er, American government offi-cial (1912-2002).

TODAY IN HISTORY

HEMPSTEAD — The operators of a Texasjail where a black woman died after she wasarrested in a traffic stop have acknowledgedviolating state rules on guard training andthe monitoring of inmates.

The Waller County Jail, about 60 milesnorthwest of Houston, is under investigationin the death of Sandra Bland, a Chicago-areawoman whose family disputes authorities’finding that she hanged herself with a plas-tic garbage bag in her cell.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standardslast week cited the jail for not providing doc-uments proving that jailers in the past yearhad undergone training on interacting withinmates who are mentally disabled or poten-tially suicidal.

The citation also showed that jailers fell

short by not observing inmates in person atleast once every hour.

The sheriff ’s office said Friday in a state-ment that jailers checked on the 28-year-oldBland via intercom on one occasion ratherthan in person.

Commission Executive Director BrandonWood has declined to say if the citation is re-lated to Bland’s death. But sheriff ’s officialsmention her when explaining the violations,noting that they don’t believe “either one ofthese deficiencies had any part in the deathof Ms. Bland.”

The Texas trooper who pulled Bland overfor failing to signal a lane change said in anaffidavit that after handcuffing her for be-coming combative, she swung her elbows athim and kicked him in his right shin.

Bland was taken to the jail on July 10 andfound dead in her cell July 13.

AROUND TEXAS

State and local officials gather for an inquiry looking into the death of Sandra Bland on Tuesday in Houston. Bland, a 28-year-old African American woman was arrested July 10 after being stopped by a Department of Public Safety trooper forfailing to signal a lane change. A DPS spokesman said she was arrested after becoming "uncooperative."

Photo by Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle | AP

Jail admits breaking rulesBy MICHAEL GRACZYK

ASSOCIATED PRESS

‘Archie’ cartoonist TomMoore dies in El Paso

EL PASO — Tom Moore, thecartoonist who brought to lifethe escapades of a freckled-face,red-haired character named Ar-chie, has died.

The El Paso native was 86.Sunset Funeral Home Director

Howard Holderfield in El Pasoconfirmed that Moore died earlyMonday morning. Moore drewArchie Andrews and his friendson and off from 1953 until thelate 1980s when he retired.

Vandals deface DentonConfederate monumentDENTON — Authorities are

searching for three people whothey say defaced a Confederatemonument in North Texas withthe words, “This is racist.”

Surveillance video providedMonday by the Denton Countysheriff ’s office shows two figuresscaling the monument to spray-paint the words in red beforefleeing with a third person.

Heavy rains bring floodingto parts of West TexasAMARILLO — Heavy rains in

West Texas have brought flood-ing to parts of the region, includ-ing Amarillo and El Paso.

Parts of major arteriesthrough Amarillo were closed tomotorists due to standing waterand emergency crews respondedto high-water rescues Mondayevening and Tuesday morning.The National Weather Servicehad issued a flash flood warningfor the city until 2 a.m. Tuesday.

Wrong-way driver, 2others die in I-45 collision

FAIRFIELD — Three peoplehave died on Interstate 45 in ahead-on collision caused by adriver traveling the wrong wayon the highway.

Texas Department of PublicSafety Trooper James Colungasaid that among those killed wasthe wrong-way driver, 78-year-oldJames Edward Warren of Ri-chland.

Man charged in beatingdeath of his boyfriendAUSTIN — A 20-year-old man

has been charged with murderin the beating death of his boy-friend in Austin following afight.

The affidavit says the men’sroommate told police the couplehad been fighting since about4:15 a.m. after coming home fromdrinking. The roommate droveStephen Sylvester, 18, who wasbleeding from the head, to thehospital.

Police officer pleadsguilty to drug charge

HOUSTON — A former Hous-ton police officer has been con-victed of a drug charge after ad-mitting to helping her then-boy-friend with a cocaine deal lastyear. Federal prosecutors say 27-year-old Jasmine Bonner pleadedguilty Monday to aiding andabetting possession with the in-tent to distribute cocaine.

— Compiled from AP reports

Washington wildfires burn1 home, threaten othersWALLA WALLA, Wash. —

Several wildfires lit up Washing-ton state on Tuesday, destroyingat least one home and threaten-ing dozens of others.

In eastern Washington, abrush fire burned at least oneproperty and forced a handful ofhomes in a rural neighborhoodto evacuate, said Patty Courson,a spokeswoman with the WallaWalla County Emergency Man-agement. The blaze briefly forcedresidents to flee about 30 homesMonday.

Winds and hot, dry conditionscould spread the flames andthreaten more buildings, fire offi-cials said.

Cosby’s lawyers ask judgeto keep settlement sealed

PHILADELPHIA — Lawyersfor Bill Cosby argue in a newcourt filing his admission he

used quaaludes in the 1970sdoesn’t mean he drugged andsexually assaulted women.

The lawyers on Tuesday askeda court to preserve the confiden-tiality of his 2006 settlement in asexual-battery lawsuit.

Cosby’s lawyers are attacking

the weekend release of his depo-sition by a court reporting ser-vice. They say the deposition andother filings unsealed this monthhave led to inaccurate reportsbranding the Philadelphia nativea rapist.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

This Monday photo provided by the Washington State Patrol shows a brush fireburning in central Washington near the town of George. Several wildfires lit upWashington state on Tuesday, closing freeways and destroying at least one home.

Photo by Darren Wright/Washington State Patrol | AP

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2015 Local THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

Officers at the ZapataMasonic Lodge were in-stalled July 11 in Laredo.

The Laredo MasonicLodge #547 was the scenefor the joint installation ofofficers for both the LaredoLodge, founded in 1881, andthe Zapata Lodge, foundedin 1963.

Outgoing WorshipfulMaster Larry Lowe wel-comed the group and thenInstallation Officer DrewClaes spoke of the MasonicOrder’s history and the dif-ferences between Masonryand other benevolent or-ganizations, emphasizingMasonic support of theShrine Hospitals, the Scot-tish Rite Hospital andLearning Centers, theKnights Templar Eye Foun-dation, scholarships and

blood drives. The LaredoLodge alone, said Claes,has awarded over $135,000in scholarships to WebbCounty public high schoolgraduating seniors in thepast 15 years.

Installed as worshipfulmaster of the Laredo Lodgewas Eduardo Esquivel,with Thomas Morris as se-nior warden, Miguel Inclanas junior warden, CharlesWhitfield as treasurer,Drew Claes as secretary,Larry Lowe as chaplain,Anthony Cabello as seniordeacon, Enrique Ceballosas senior steward, Jona-than Scott as junior stew-ard, and Greg Moore as til-er. Whitfield presentedeach new officer with thejewels of his office.

Next came the installa-tion of the Zapata officers,beginning with Chris

Turner as worshipful mas-ter, O.J. Martinez as seniorwarden, Elias Mendiola Jr.as junior warden, BoydCarter as treasurer, IrvingH. “Skip” Smith as secreta-ry, Eduardo Esquivel as se-nior deacon, Larry Lowe asjunior deacon, and CharlesWhitfield as tiler. The Zapa-ta officers were also pre-sented with jewels of theiroffice.

New Worshipful MastersEsquivel and Turner madeclosing remarks before Lar-ry Lowe presented theGolden Trowel Award toGreg Moore. This awardrecognizes a Mason whohas not had a leadershipposition for three years andwho has consistently dem-onstrated his dedication tothe fraternity in his attend-ance, participation and ex-ample.

Zapata Masonic Lodge officers installedSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Pictured in the first row, left to right, are O. J. Hale, Chris Turner, Elias Mendiola, Skip Smith and LarryLowe. In the second row, left to right, are Charles Whitfield, Boyd Carter and Eduardo Esquivel

Courtesy photo

Zapata ISD teachers col-laborated with Laredo’sUnited ISD Middle Schooland Laredo ISD teachersas they visited local com-munity worksites to con-duct action research on“High Demand Occupa-tion Opportunities” in thecommunity.

The project was madepossible by a South TexasWorkforce grant. Over 30real world, learner-cen-tered lesson plans weredeveloped reflecting 11 lo-cal industries. All lessonsare TEKS and STAARaligned and are sure tomotivate and prepare stu-dents for a brighter fu-ture. Conway, Frank’s Ar-

chitect, Buckland Cus-toms Broker, Kristi Lins,Biomat-Grifols, Border Re-gion, U.S. Border Patrol,Ruth B. Cowl, Mercy Kids,HJH Forwarding, Skintol-ogy and to the South Tex-as Workforce Solutionshelped make this distinctopportunity for profes-sional development possi-ble.

Zapata ISD teachers visited local community worksites to conduct action research on “High DemandOccupation Opportunities” in the community

Courtesy photo

ZCISD teachers researchSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Starting July 27 turbid-ity barriers will be placed

across the entire width ofFalcon Lake on the eastand west sides of the Vele-ño Bridge to 8 feet below

water surface elevation.Boaters are cautioned

not to cross under VeleñoBridge.

Barriers will be placed in Falcon Lake that will reach 8 feet below the water’s surface. Boaters arecautioned not to cross under Veleño Bridge.

Courtesy photo

Boaters cautionedSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

PAGE 4A Zopinion WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2015

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

Donald Trump’s self-de-struction will soon mani-fest itself in his drop in thepolls. The problem re-mains for those GOP vot-ers still seeking a candi-date who is a viable alter-native to Jeb Bush. It isnot likely to be Sen. TedCruz, R-Texas, who hasbeen outshone by morecredible candidates andagain showed bad judg-ment in trying to ingra-tiate himself with Trump.Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.seems practically irrele-vant to the race, and hispreference to let the Oba-ma administration nego-tiate with Iran rather thanpress for sanctions may bethe death knell of his ef-fort.

Who then stands to ben-efit from the end of theTrump boomlet?

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is one of several. Inhis recent trip to Iowa, hecontinued to demonstratemastery and commonsense on foreign affairs.On the National SecurityAgency, he is sober: “Thiscountry has lost access tovaluable intelligence at atime when we can least af-ford it, and the massacrein Chattanooga, Tenn. isan example of it. … Radi-cal jihadists have reachedour own country, and theyare reaching it online andthey are radicalizing peo-ple here. And we need toknow as much about themas possible to prevent fu-ture attacks, or we’re go-ing to have more of them.”His best argument for hiscandidacy may be that themess President Obamaleaves behind will take tre-mendous skill, knowledgeand nerve to undo. (“Thenext president of the Unit-ed States has to be com-mitted to intelligence pro-grams, to cyber defense ca-pabilities, someone that’scommitted to a strong for-eign policy in which ourallies trust us.”) In the de-bates, Rubio will have achance to show he canthrow a punch and takeone. His encyclopedicknowledge of policy willserve him well. He won’tneed to cram for the de-bates.

In the aftermath of theTrump train wreck, for-mer Texas governor RickPerry may also grab alarge share of disaffectedRepublicans. He has avoid-ed pandering on the Con-federate battle flag, hasbeen critical but sober onthe gay marriage decisionand has stood up toTrump well before the lat-ter attacked a war hero.He smacked him downwhen he called Mexicanimmigrants “rapists,” andon “Meet the Press” hegave no quarter: “I don’tthink he has the characteror the temperament tohold the highest positionin this country.” He wenton to say, echoing hismuch-praised speech onrace, “The Republican Par-ty needs to be reaching outto people of different cul-tures and races and ethnic-ities, what we’ve done in

the state of Texas.” He willneed excellent debate per-formances (in part to re-place the memories of2012), but if conservativeGOP alternatives to Bushkeep self-destructing, Per-ry may be the last onestanding. Key to his cam-paign will be showing howhis long and successfulgovernorship make him abetter contestant thanyounger, less experiencedand less accomplished con-tenders.

There is also WisconsinGov. Scott Walker, who hadthe quickest start of anycandidate and has strug-gled since, confoundingconservatives otherwise re-ceptive to his candidacy byzigzagging on issues suchas ethanol, a constitutionalamendment on gay mar-riage and even the BoyScouts. (Reihan Salamspeaks for many who wor-ry that instead of “offeringa serious and substantivereform agenda, Walkerwill simply tell the mostvocal pressure groupswithin the Republican coa-lition what they want tohear.”) Through no fault ofhis own, Walker’s an-nouncement week waspartially overshadowed byTrump (whom Walkerwould not criticize untilTrump imploded). Thefirst debate offers the bestchance for Walker to turnthe corner on these prob-lems, show he can with-stand scrutiny and comethrough as ready for thenational stage. If he canstanch the flow of “clarifi-cations” of his remarksand pair his pugnacioustone with smart policy, hewill be a threat. The goodnews is that no one candi-date will have to talk forvery long; the bad news isthat a gaffe will be hard toconceal.

And finally, there isBush himself. He benefitsso long as a pack of oppo-nents carve up the vote,with no single standout.He benefits if candidatescede him the moderate,mainstream voters andfight one another just forthe most conservative partof the base. He still has toshow he can rev up hisparty, connect emotionallywith voters and convincevoters that being inclusivedoes not mean being a“squish” on the issues. Hiswonkishness is an assetbut can’t get in the way ofsharply enunciated posi-tions. The debates will testhim insofar as he may bethe target of a pile-on ascompetitors vie to showhow conservative they areby attacking Bush. He willneed to be specific andnon-defensive — no easytask in a crowded debatewith multiple candidatesgunning for him.

We may go through thiscycle for many months:One newcomer or lesser-known figure rises, gets at-tention, stumbles and losessupport that shifts to oneor more other candidates.The trick for Bush is tohold and expand his sup-port, and for one opponentto consolidate the not-Bushvote. We are a long wayfrom either happening.

COLUMN

Who will ruleafter Trump?

By JENNIFER RUBINTHE WASHINGTON POST

President Barack Oba-ma’s opening to Cuba isbased on the hope that, af-ter more than a half-centu-ry of hostility from theUnited States, a surge ofcommerce, informationand travel will somehowerode the rigid authoritar-ian state built by Fidel Cas-tro and now presided overby his brother, Raúl. Theassumption is questiona-

ble: The opening, includingMonday’s reestablishmentof embassies, could well en-hance rather than under-mine the regime. The Unit-ed States has diplomatic re-lations with manyauthoritarian governmentsthat flout human rights, in-cluding China, Saudi Ara-bia and Russia. What willmatter with Cuba is not theraising of flags in Washing-ton and Havana but howthe United States applies

its influence.Negotiations that led to

this point included “a pret-ty robust conversation”about the abysmal humanrights situation in Cuba, asenior administration offi-cial told reporters lastweek. Cuba has releasedsome political prisoners.But frequent reports fromthe island make it plainthat routine harassmentcontinues of dissidents andthose who speak out. Short-

term detentions and beat-ings are common.

The opening of embas-sies upgraded the status ofU.S. officials in Havana,who will now be full-fledged diplomats, withfreedom to move aroundCuba. Perhaps they shouldskip a diplomatic receptionor two and use this new-found access to examineone of the most unsettlingchapters in the history ofthe Castro dictatorship.

EDITORIAL

Human rights should be focus in CubaTHE WASHINGTON POST

OTHER VIEWS

The Zapata Times doesnot publish anonymousletters.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

Ah, thank you Lord, forthe advent of unisex hairsalons.

Not only has my agingmind become broaderwith my body, so have theminds of us all. Growingup, it did seem unfair tome that males were al-lowed to “do” women’shair, but the fairer sexwas not allowed to legallylay hands on men in anon-healing way. Ofcourse, the way hairgrows on some of us mem-bers of the uglier sex, itlooks as if it could use“healing.”

Finally, society saw fitto allow women to cut, oras we now say “style,”men’s locks as well. Foryears men have been al-lowed to style women’shair, but the opposite is arelatively new develop-ment, a few decades oldcompared to centuries ofthe chauvinist way.

Now, this is not to dis-parage barber shops oreven male stylists in uni-sex salons, but my stylistis the only female otherthan my wonderful LifeMate Julie that I allow thedistinct privilege of run-ning their fingers throughwhat is left of my hair.

As a kid growing up, Igot those raggedy soup

bowl trims country boysget, all “gapped,” so thatthe sides of my head looklike a pair of white side-wall tires and the rest ofmy head like BusterBrown, the shoe kid.

When I was eight yearsold, I was finally allowedto get a “town-bought,”barbershop haircut.

We approached thefront of the shop and Imarveled at what ap-peared to be a huge pep-permint stick whirling tobeat the band, but youcouldn’t see where it be-gan in the bottom of thattube, nor where it waswhirling to out the top.“Gee whillikers,” Ithought, “I wonder ifthey’ve got a littler one ofthose for me if I’m a goodboy.”

As we entered, on theleft was a black man ev-eryone knew as Fox. Hewas working his magic ona pair of shoes and mak-ing that shine rag pop likeone I’d heard to “Chatta-nooga Shoeshine Boy” onThe Grand Ole Opry via

our four-foot-tall TruetoneRadio the previous Satur-day night. Fox was alreadya legend in Teague for hismirror shines and for hissecond job as a janitor atthe First National Bank,both so he could supporthis family. All the barbersteased Fox and said hecould be the bank becausehe had so much money.

I envisioned having apair of fancy dress shoeswith a Fox Mirror Shineand with taps on the heeland toe sections of the soleso I could walk down thesidewalk and, as Bro. DaveGardner used to say,“make the sparks fly sopeople would marvel atme.”

“Wow, this is someplace,” I thought.

Then I saw the barbers.There was Doyle Taylorwith his ample middlesticking out just a littlefurther than the huge ci-gar in his mouth as hebuzzed away with the clip-pers on what was becom-ing a young boy’s burrcut.

Manning the secondchair was a tall, dour-look-ing man who resembledthe pointy-haired man intoday’s Dilbert comicstrip. Towering (to me)Sam Moncrief had a de-

vice strapped on top of hishand, which was on aman’s head. The buzzingand vibrating said the cus-tomer was getting a sooth-ing head massage. That issupposed to help the bloodflow which makes the hairgrow, much to a barber’spoetic delight. It benefitscustomer and purveyor.

A third barber was giv-ing a man a shave with astraight razor. Thosethings have always mademe shudder, but, as I oftensay, that’s a whole ‘nothercolumn.

My turn came inDoyle’s chair and I nerv-ously climbed up in it andwas swallowed by the bar-ber’s cloth. I suppose I wasnervous and wiggly be-cause Doyle grabbed myhead with his huge handand manipulated methrough a haircut with on-ly one minor nick.

That was my introduc-tion to “store-bought hair-cuts.” They did a good job,following the regimen ofthe times, but I’m glad wenow are in the unisex era.Buzz away, Darlin’.

Willis Webb is a retiredcommunity newspaper edi-tor-publisher of more than55 years experience. He canbe reached via email atwwebb1937@att.net.

COLUMN

Hair salons without women

WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2015 THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

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6A THE ZAPATA TIMES WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2015

WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2015 Nation THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A

CHICAGO — A federalappeals court Tuesdayoverturned some of themost sensational convic-tions that sent former Illi-nois Gov. Rod Blagojevichoff to a lengthy stint inprison, ruling that theDemocrat did not break thelaw when he sought to se-cure a Cabinet position inPresident Barack Obama’sadministration in exchangefor appointing an Obamaadviser to the president’sformer U.S. Senate seat.

The 7th U.S. CircuitCourt of Appeals in Chica-go also ordered the resen-tencing of Blagojevich, of-fering the 58-year-old a rayof hope that he could endup serving less than hisoriginal 14-year term.

The three appellate judg-es dismissed five of 18 cor-ruption counts against Bla-gojevich, while affirming13 counts. In a blow to thedefense, the panelists alsosuggested the original sen-tence wasn’t necessarily ex-treme, even when factoringin the newly tossed convic-tions.

Speaking outside theBlagojevich family home inChicago, his wife, Patti,told reporters her husbandhad expressed disappoint-ment the court didn’t handhim a clear legal victory.

“He’s disappointed, ofcourse,” she said, the cou-ple’s 18-year-old daughter ather side. She added moreoptimistically, “Possiblythis is a step in right directof getting Rod home to hisfamily.”

The court’s unanimousruling addressed a keyquestion: Where is the linebetween legal and illegalpolitical wheeling and deal-ing? The panel’s answer:When it came to Blagojev-ich’s attempt to land a Cab-inet seat, he did not crossthe line. His attempts totrade the Senate seat forcampaign cash, however,were illegal, the court con-cluded.

Blagojevich floated the

idea of a Cabinet job in ex-change for appointing Oba-ma adviser Valerie Jarrettto Obama’s vacant Senateseat. After Blagojevich’s ar-rest, the seat went to Ro-land Burris, who servedless than two years before asuccessor was elected.

In its ruling, the appealscourt pointed to allegationsthat President Dwight Ei-senhower named Earl War-ren to the U.S. SupremeCourt after Warren offeredEisenhower key politicalsupport during the 1952campaign. The judges saidthat under the logic used tocharge Blagojevich, Eisen-hower and Warren mighthave been convicted.

“If the prosecutor isright, and a swap of politi-cal favors involving a jobfor one of the politicians isa felony, then ... both thePresident of the UnitedStates and the Chief Justiceof the United States shouldhave gone to prison,” theruling says.

Still, the ruling was byno means a resoundingwin for Blagojevich.

The appellate judges up-held allegations that hesought to sell the Senateseat, saying the evidenceagainst him was strong.Blagojevich had argued hedidn’t break the law be-cause he never stated expli-citly that he was willing totrade an appointment forcampaign cash. The panelbalked at the notion that

crimes are crimes only ifthey are overtly stated.

“Few politicians say, onor off the record, ‘I will ex-change official act X forpayment Y,”’ the opinionsays. “Similarly personswho conspire to rob banksor distribute drugs do notpropose or sign contractsin the statutory language.”

Defense attorney Leo-nard Goodman sharplycriticized the court for notquashing more counts. Hesaid he would urge his cli-ent to challenge the panel’sfinding, by possibly by ask-ing the full appeals court torehear the case.

“My advice to him isthat we fight on,” he said.“It is not justice in myview.”

As for prosecutors, theycould choose to retry Bla-gojevich on the droppedcounts, though prosecutorsoften decline to retry a caseif most counts are upheld.A spokesman for the U.S.attorney’s office declined tocomment on the ruling.

The two-term governorproclaimed his innocencefor years — on televisionand on the stand at his de-cisive retrial in 2011, wherea sometimes-tearful Blago-jevich said he was a flawedman but no criminal.

Eleven of the counts ju-rors convicted him on dealtwith allegations that hetried to swap an appoint-ment to the Senate seat forcampaign cash or a job.

Court overturns claimsBy MICHAEL TARMASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Dec. 7, 2011 file photo, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich,left, speaks to reporters as his wife, Patti, listens in Chicago.

Photo by M. Spencer Green | AP file

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Gar-rison Keillor, creator andlongtime host of the pop-ular “A Prairie HomeCompanion” radio show,says he means it this time:He’s retiring.

In an interview Mondaywith The AssociatedPress, Keillor said heplans to step down as hostafter next season, follow-ing four decades of enter-taining listeners with hisbaritone voice and folksycomedy sketches aboutLake Wobegon, his mythi-cal Minnesota hometown“where all the women arestrong, all the men aregood-looking, and all thechildren are above aver-age.”

The show is heard by 4million listeners nation-wide on nearly 700 publicradio stations each week.Keillor also takes summerbus tours for live shows,and his 30-city “Americathe Beautiful” cross-coun-try tour, billed as his fare-well tour, starts next week.

“I have a lot of otherthings that I want to do. Imean, nobody retires any-more. Writers never retire.But this is my last season.This tour this summer isthe farewell tour,” the 72-year-old Keillor said,laughing and joking as hesat in his book-lined officein St. Paul wearing hissignature red socks.

Keillor said he tappedmusician Chris Thile ofthe bands Punch Brothersand Nickel Creek to suc-ceed him full time as hostin September 2016, follow-ing guest-hosting spots. Hesaid Thile — a mandolinwhiz — will help return“Prairie Home” to itsroots as a music show.

Thile, now 34, was 15when he made his first ap-pearance on the show in1996. In a statement Mon-day, Thile said he andKeillor “have lengthily dis-cussed the future of theshow with me as host andagree that we should giveit a go. There are, of

course, plenty of details toiron out, but I’m very ex-cited!”

Keillor will end his ten-ure as host with perform-ances at some of his favor-ite outdoor venues, includ-ing Wolf Trap nearWashington, D.C., Ravinianear Chicago and Tangle-wood in Massachusetts,according to “A PrairieHome Companion”spokesman David O’Neill.The location of Keillor’s fi-nal show as host, in July2016, has not been deter-mined yet, O’Neill said.

The Berkshire (Massa-chusetts) Eagle first re-ported last month on Keil-lor’s plans to “transition”out of the show. But givenKeillor’s history — hetalked about retiring whenhe turned 70 in 2013 —many media outlets werecautious. The MinneapolisStar Tribune noted Keillorhad “announced an up-coming retirement somany times that he couldbe called the Brett Favreof broadcast radio.”

He did leave the air-waves briefly in the 1980sto move to Denmark, butreturned to broadcastingin New York two years lat-er with “American RadioCompany of the Air.” Hefinally returned to St. Paul— and “A Prairie HomeCompanion” — in 1992.

Keillor insisted Mondaythat his retirement deci-sion is solid. He said heplans to stay on as execu-

tive producer, but only “anadmirer” and “a gray emi-nence” of the on-air show,which he said will keep itsMidwestern focus.

“I’m perfectly willing todo whatever needs to bedone. I can certainly comeon the show as a guest,you know, I can do thewarm-up. I can stand inthe wings and wind up mi-crophone cord,” Keillorsaid.

Keillor said that meansretiring his weekly mono-logue “News from LakeWobegon,” a homey re-counting of the doings ofNorwegian bachelor farm-ers and other Lake Wobe-gon residents, along withhis sketches about hard-boiled detective Guy Noirand hapless modern-daycowboys Dusty and Lefty.

As for retirement, Keil-lor has a few plans, includ-ing traveling.

“I’ve been everywhere,and I’ve seen very little.I’ve seen a lot of hotels, alot of airports, I’ve seenthe backseats of cabs andI’ve seen back stages oftheaters,” he said. “I go toall these wonderful placesand I never walk aroundand I never see things. Be-cause I’m working.”

Keillor also said hewould like to make anoth-er movie. A movie versionof “A Prairie Home Com-panion” hit theaters in2006 to critical acclaimand modest box-office suc-cess.

Keillor says he’s retiringBy JEFF BAENEN

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Garrison Keillor, creator and host of “A Prairie Home Companion,”said Monday that he plans to step down after next season.

Photo by Jim Mone | AP

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES Politics WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2015

BLUFFTON, S.C. — Do-nald Trump pushed backever harder Tuesdayagainst Republicans fed upwith his provocations, dis-closing one opponent’s cellnumber in a fiery speechand lashing out at an influ-ential newspaper as part ofan in-your-face escalation ofthe feud.

Fellow GOP presidentialcontender Sen. Lindsey Gra-ham called him a “jackass,”only to see floods of Trumpsupporters jam his phoneline after Trump read Gra-ham’s number to an audi-ence.

Trump is now at oddswith much of the Republi-can establishment after a se-ries of incendiary com-ments, topped by his week-end mocking of ArizonaSen. John McCain’s experi-ence as a tortured prisonerof war in Vietnam.

Since then the real estatedeveloper and reality TVhost has intensified his crit-icism of McCain and his re-cord on veterans issues inthe Senate, even as politic-ians from both parties andveterans groups haverushed to McCain’s defense.

In a speech to hundredsof supporters in Bluffton,South Carolina, on Tuesday,Trump kept on McCain, ac-cusing him of being soft onillegal immigration.

“He’s totally about openborders and all this stuff,”Trump said.

McCain sparked Trump’stemper last week when thesenator said the business-man’s inflammatory re-marks about Mexican immi-grants had brought out the“crazies.” McCain saidTuesday he would no longerrespond to Trump’s com-ments.

Graham, a McCain friendand one of the 16 notableRepublicans running for thepresidential nomination, be-trayed the growing exasper-ation and anger of many inthe party when he appearedon “CBS This Morning.”

“Don’t be a jackass,” Gra-ham said. “Run for presi-dent. But don’t be theworld’s biggest jackass.”

He said Trump had“crossed the line with theAmerican people” and pre-dicted this would be “the be-ginning of the end with Do-nald Trump.”

Trump responded duringhis speech by calling Gra-ham an “idiot” and a “light-weight.” He then held up apiece of paper and read outthe senator’s cellphonenumber to the capacitycrowd of 540 people and the

TV audience.“Give it a shot,” Trump

encouraged. “He won’t fixanything, but I think he’lltalk to you.”

Graham’s voice mailboxwas full Tuesday afternoon.Spokeswoman BrittanyBrammell confirmed thenumber was his. Grahamtweeted later: “Probably get-ting a new phone. iPhone orAndroid?”

Christian Ferry, Gra-ham’s campaign manager,said Trump “continues toshow hourly that he is ill-prepared to be commanderin chief.”

Trump also ordered theAmerican flags on his U.S.properties to be lowered, anact he said was to honor thefive service members killedin last week’s shooting inChattanooga, Tennessee.

The symbolism served,too, to underscore his claimthat he has been a strongersupporter of veterans thanMcCain, despite the sen-

ator’s central work in pass-ing laws that overhauled theDepartment of Veterans Af-fairs and strengthened pro-grams against suicide byservice members.

Elsewhere in South Car-olina on Tuesday, one of hisrivals, former Florida Gov.Jeb Bush, walked a fine lineon Trump, criticizing his fel-low candidate’s rhetoric onimmigration and McCainbut saying Trump’s support-ers are “good people” with“legitimate concerns.”

“I respect the sentimentspeople feel when they hearTrump talk. The problemwith Mr. Trump’s languageis that it’s divisive, it’s ugly,it’s mean-spirited,” Bushtold a gathering of Republi-can women in Spartanburg.“We have to separate himfrom the people that have le-gitimate concerns about thecountry.”

Another GOP rival, RandPaul, said, “People have todecide what’s more impor-

tant in trying to fix thecountry — real solutions orbombast.” The Kentuckysenator predicted the GOPcampaign will “get beyondthe novelty of a reality TVstar.”

The back-and-forth is thelatest in a series of show-downs between Trump andfellow GOP candidates frus-trated by Trump’s brashcampaign, which has oftenovershadowed their own inrecent weeks.

In his speech, Trumpbrushed off the criticismhe’s faced, both from politi-cal rivals and others an-gered by his comments. Hesaid he’s had business suc-cess even with countrieshe’s criticized, such as Chi-na, and negativity doesn’taffect him. He also said hiswealth insulates him be-cause he’s not beholden todonors who might not likewhat he says.

“It turned out I’m muchwealthier than peoplethought,” Trump said. “No-body has to give to me.”

An editorial in The DesMoines Register urged himto “pull the plug on his blo-viating side show” and quitthe race.

“Trump has proven him-self not only unfit to hold of-fice, but unfit to stand onthe same stage as his Re-publican opponents,” the pa-per said. The first debate,next month, will host thetop 10 candidates in nation-al polling, meaning Trumpis almost certain to qualifyto be on stage.

Trump-GOP fued escalates

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump holds up a sheet ofpaper as he talks about calling Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

Photo by Stephen B. Morton | AP

By MEG KINNARD AND JILL COLVINASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBUS, Ohio —Saying “big ideas changethe world,” Ohio Gov. JohnKasich declared his candi-dacy for the Republicannomination Tuesday andpitched his well-roundedresume to voters who havea multitude of high achiev-ers to size up.

Kasich, 63, launched hiscampaign at Ohio StateUniversity before a crowdof 2,000 at an event mark-ing the entry of a strong-willed and sometimesabrasive governor in anomination race now with16 notable Republicans.

“I am here to ask youfor your prayers, for yoursupport, for your effortsbecause I have decided torun for president,” Kasichsaid in a scattered 43-min-ute speech packed withfamily anecdotes, histori-cal references and calls fornational renewal.

A veteran congressmanas well as governor, Kas-ich is telling voters he isthe only GOP candidatewith experience in threebroad areas of politicalleadership — the federalbudget, national securityand state government. Healso spent nearly a decadeat Lehman Brothers.

“I have the experienceand the testing,” he said,“the testing which shapesyou and prepares you forthe most important job inthe world and I believe Iknow how to work andhelp restore this greatUnited States.”

As budget chairman inthe House, he became anarchitect of a deal in 1997that balanced the federalbudget.

Now in his second termin swing-state Ohio, he’shelped erase a budget def-icit projected at nearly $8billion when he entered of-fice, boost Ohio’s rainy-dayfund to a historic high andseen private-sector em-ployment rebound to itspre-recession level.

This,throughbudget cut-ting, privati-zation ofparts ofOhio’s gov-ernmentand other,

often business-style inno-vations. “We didn’t reallyhave to slash things,” Kas-ich said of the budgetsqueeze. “We just had touse a 21st century formu-la.”

Former state Sen. NinaTurner, a Cleveland Demo-crat who’s allied with Kas-ich on such efforts as com-munity-police relations,said she voted against ev-ery one of what she saidwere “pass-the-buck bud-gets” by Kasich.

“We cannot be celebrat-ing and dancing happilyon the state level, mean-while there are moreschool levies on the ballotand local governmentshave to look into the facesof their citizens and say, ‘Ieither have to raise yourtaxes or I have to cut thisservice,”’ she said.

Unions, which turnedback an effort by Kasichand fellow Republicans tolimit public workers’ col-lective bargaining rights,say Kasich’s successeshave come at a cost to localgovernments and schools,and that new Ohio jobslack the pay and benefitsof the ones they replaced.

As a marching bandkept up a spritely cadencebefore Kasich spoke,scores of demonstratorsgathered across the streetto protest his cuts to thebudget and to school dis-tricts specifically, as wellas his closing of centersfor people with develop-ment disabilities.

“I’m here to make surethat the nation knows, asJohn Kasich announceshis run for president, thathe is not an advocate foranybody that is vulnera-ble,” said Melissa Svigelj,42, an educator from sub-urban Cleveland.

With Kasich, 16in GOP running

By JULIE CARR SMYTHASSOCIATED PRESS

KASICH

WASHINGTON — With adeadline looming for a cut-off of highway aid to states,Senate Republicans failedTuesday to muster enoughvotes to take up a bill thatwould extend transportationprograms for six years.

Democrats complainedthey’d had only an hour toread the 1,040-page bill. Sen-ate Majority Leader MitchMcConnell, R-Ky., said hewould give Democrats moretime, but added he intendsto push forward with thebill even if it means keepingthe Senate in session overthe weekend.

A motion to begin debatefailed 41 to 56, falling farshort of the 60 votes needed.

Sen. Charles Schumer ofNew York, the No. 3 Demo-cratic leader, said, “I can’tremember a time where Ihave been asked in all myyears in the Congress tovote yes ahead of time on abill we haven’t seen, andthere are no amendments”allowed.

While the bill would au-thorize highway and transitprograms for six years, itcontains only enough mon-ey — about $47 billion, ac-cording to a list of offsetssupplied by McConnell’s of-fice — to close the currentfunding gap for transporta-tion programs for threeyears. The government cur-rently spends about $50 bil-lion a year on highway andtransit aid, but the federalgas tax and other transpor-

tation taxes and fees raiseonly about $35 billion a year.

Some Republicans alsoexpressed unhappiness withthe bill. Banking CommitteeChairman Richard Shelby,R-Ala., said he objected toone of its money-raising pro-visions that would reducethe dividend that the Feder-al Reserve pays to memberbanks, worth $16.3 billion.

“You’re taking moneyand there’s no connectionbetween small banks, medi-um-sized banks and build-ing highways and transitand you’re going to weakenthe banking system. I’d beagainst that,” he told report-ers.

The banking provision isthe biggest source of moneyin the legislation to pay fortransportation programs,according to a list providedby McConnell’s office. An-other $9 billion would comefrom the sale of oil from theStrategic Oil Reserve, thenation’s energy stockpile foremergencies. Indexing cus-

toms fees to rise with infla-tion would raise $4 billion.Extension of TransportationSecurity Administrationfees paid by airline passen-gers would raise another$3.5 billion.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal,D-Conn., called the bill “ablack hole.” He said Demo-crats have been told changeshave been made to auto,trucking and rail safety pro-visions that were agreed tolast week on a party-linevote by the Senate com-merce committee, but no de-tails were provided beforethe vote. Some Democratshave described the provi-sions as giveaways to indus-try that would underminesafety.

Safety advocates poringover the bill text late Tues-day said some of the contro-versial provisions were“tweaked,” but remain inthe bill. One provision al-lows some states to effective-ly reduce the eligible age foran interstate commercial

truck driving license from21 to 18. The trucking indus-try says more drivers areneeded to relieve a shortage.

The bill would also pre-vent the public from seeingthe government’s safety rat-ings of truck and bus com-panies. The trucking indus-try says the government’smethodology for the ratingsis flawed.

Congress faces a July 31deadline to act. That’s whenauthority for transportationprograms expires, eliminat-ing the Transportation De-partment’s ability to processpromised highway and tran-sit aid payments to states.

But simply renewing thedepartment’s authorizationisn’t enough. Without an in-fusion of cash, the balancein the federal HighwayTrust Fund is forecast todrop by the end of themonth below $4 billion, theminimum cushion neededto keep money flowing tostates without interruption.

The House last weekpassed its own $8 billion billkeep transportation pro-grams going until Dec. 18while lawmakers try towork out a longer-termfunding plan. But McCon-nell has said that he wantsto pass a bill that keeps pro-grams going at leastthrough next year’s presi-dential election, if not long-er.

“I think the Senateshould take up our short-term bill as is, and passthat,” House Majority Lead-er Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.,told reporters.

Negotiators fail to reach deal

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., listens to remarkswhile addressing the media after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hill.

Photo by Molly Riley | AP

By JOAN LOWYASSOCIATED PRESS

WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2015 International THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

BUJUMBURA, Burundi— Overnight gunfire andexplosions kept turnout lowTuesday in Burundi’s presi-dential election, with threepeople killed in unrest overPresident Pierre Nkurunzi-za’s bid for a third term thathis opponents say is uncon-stitutional.

Turnout was low in thecapital, Bujumbura, and oneprovince but 16 other prov-inces had a good level ofvoters, said the head of Bu-rundi’s electoral commis-sion Claver Ndayicariye. Re-

sults are expected in twodays, he said.

With some of the opposi-tion boycotting the electionand others charging thatthey were not allowed tocampaign, Nkurunziza, 51,is not facing a strong elec-toral challenge.

The U.S. State Depart-ment warned Tuesday thatthe election is not credible.

“The legitimacy of theelectoral process in Burundiover the past few monthshas been tainted by the gov-ernment’s harassment of op-position and civil societymembers, closing down ofmedia outlets and political

space, and intimidation ofvoters,” U.S. State Depart-ment Spokesman John Kir-by said in a statement.

The U.S. is consideringsanctions, including visabans for those found respon-sible in the promotion of in-

stability in the country, hesaid.

Many fear that Burundi’selection may provoke wide-spread violence. Since inde-pendence from Belgium in1961, Burundi has had fourcoups and a civil war thatan estimated 250,000 dead.Kirby said the “fragile pro-gress” made since the endof the civil war in 2006 is atrisk of unraveling. The Brit-ish government also issueda statement saying the pollis “discredited.”

Burundi has been rockedby unrest since April whenthe ruling party announcedNkurunziza would run for a

third term. More than 100people have died in streetprotests against the presi-dent’s bid to extend his timein power. The strife trig-gered an attempted militarycoup in mid-May that wasquickly put down by pro-Nkurunziza forces.

Two policemen were shotdead in the capital Mondaynight, said Willy Nyamitwe,the presidential adviser forinformation and media. Thebody of an opposition offi-cial was found on a roadTuesday morning. The op-position and the govern-ment blame each other forthe overnight violence.

Burundi president seeks 3rd term; polls closeBy TOM ODULA

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Election officials start counting the ballots after polls closed in thepresidential elections in Bujumbura, Burundi, Tuesday.

Photo by Jerome Delay | AP

ISTANBUL — Officialshave raised concerns thata deadly bombing insoutheastern Turkey ispart of a campaign of re-taliation by the IslamicState group for a recentcrackdown on its oper-ations in the country.

If they are right, Tur-key would be a particular-ly vulnerable target forthe extremists.

The country shares a775-mile border with Iraqand Syria, putting it near-by to strongholds of theself-proclaimed IslamicState. And, as recent ar-rests show, the extremistgroup already has estab-lished its reach into Tur-key.

In an intensified crack-down, Turkish officialssay they have detainedmore than 500 people sus-pected of working with ISin the last six months. Anoperation this month net-ted 21 terrorism suspectsin an investigation ofrecruitment networks inmultiple parts of the coun-try, the officials said.

The moves suggest anattempt to dismantle anentrenched presence in-side Turkey. And author-ities fear that Monday’sbombing in the town ofSuruc that killed 32 peopleand wounded nearly 100 isa warning by the extre-mists against such a cam-paign.

“This attack wasagainst Turkey; againstTurkey’s democracy;against the peace and wel-fare of our people; againstpublic order,” Prime Min-ister Ahmet Davutoglusaid after the attack thatofficials called a suicidebombing. He vowed to goafter those behind thebombing and made clearhe believes it was the Is-lamic State.

Turkish officials saythey were early to declareIS a terrorist group andhave taken extensive ef-forts to impede and de-grade it. The recent movesagainst the militants aremerely an extension ofthese efforts, they say, theresult of close monitoringof IS militants in Turkey.

But Western countrieshave long complained thatthe government of Presi-dent Recep Tayyip Erdo-gan has done too little toprevent IS militants and

recruits from crossing itsborders into Syria andIraq.

Some analysts say thatbecause of Turkey’s ag-gressive policies againstSyrian President BasharAssad in that country’scivil war, it has allowedmilitants of many stripesto operate in Turkey, pro-viding cover to the IslamicState group.

They say the recent ar-rests are evidence that au-thorities were too slow toprevent IS from establish-ing a presence and build-ing an infrastructure forthe extremists.

As a result, IS militantsare better positioned tocarry out attacks in Tur-key. Even a restrainedcampaign could shutdown the country’s vi-brant tourism industry, asmilitants have done in Tu-nisia.

“When the Syrian warfirst started, Erdogan’sgovernment wanted thedownfall of the Assad re-gime, and without West-ern military intervention,it thought that these for-eign fighters would turnthe tide,” said MohamadBazzi, a Middle East ana-lyst at New York Universi-ty. “Now that strategy isbackfiring as the IslamicState becomes more em-boldened.”

It’s still too early to saythat IS has turned its at-tention to target Turkey. Ifit has, it would be a riskymove for the group, alsoknown as ISIS or ISIL.

No one has claimed re-sponsibility for the Mon-day’s bombing in Suruc,and Turkish officials haveoffered little evidence thatan IS suicide bomber wasinvolved. Social media af-filiated with the IslamicState group have been

conspicuously silent.The attack could also be

the work of an admirer orfollower without ordersfrom IS leaders. Whateverthe intention, the bomb-ing appeared targeted at aleftist group that was inSuruc as part of a missionto rebuild the Syrian Kur-dish city of Kobani, justover the border.

Kobani, where Kurdishfighters beat back an ISassault begun last year,has become a symbol ofKurdish resistance. Whilemost if not all of the vic-tims of the bombing wereTurkish citizens, it’s notclear that the Turkish gov-ernment was the target,even if the governmenthas viewed it that way.

With a campaign of at-tacks in Turkey, IS wouldrisk a more robust re-sponse from a major re-gional power that has un-til recently been more fo-cused on bringing downAssad than the extremists.

Turkey has joined aU.S.-led coalition againstIS, but has so far limitedits participation becauseit says Washington’s over-all strategy for Syria isflawed. Turkey has heldout support, includingopening its key Incirlikair base near the Syrianborder as leverage to getthe U.S. to broaden itsmission to take on Assad.

But if the Islamic Statebecame enemy No. 1 inTurkey, the government’sstance could open up amore direct assault.

“It’s mutually assureddestruction,” said AaronStein, non-resident fellowat the Atlantic Council’sRafik Hariri Center forthe Middle East. “If ISISattacks Turkey, they aregoing to provoke a dispro-portionate response.”

Turkey target for ISBy DESMOND BUTLER

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Family members and friends of Osman Cicek, 24, and Kasim De-prem, 21, two of Monday explosion victims, mourn during their fu-nerals in Suruc, Turkey, Tuesday. Authorities suspected the IslamicState group was behind an apparent suicide bombing Monday.

Photo by Emrah Gurel | AP

VATICAN CITY — May-ors from around the worlddeclared Tuesday that cli-mate change is real, man-made and must be stoppedas a matter of moral im-perative, gathering at theVatican to announce newmeasures to fight globalwarming and bask in PopeFrancis’ ecological starpower.

The Vatican invited the60 mayors to a two-dayconference to keep up pres-sure on world leadersahead of U.N. climate nego-tiations in Paris later thisyear. The meeting alsoaimed to promote Francis’environment encyclical,which denounced what hecalls a fossil fuel-basedworld economy that ex-ploits the poor and de-stroys the Earth.

One by one, the mayorslined up to sign a final dec-laration stating that “hu-man-induced climatechange is a scientific real-ity and its effective controlis a moral imperative forhumanity.”

Francis told the gather-ing that he had “a lot ofhope” that the Paris nego-tiations would succeed, but

also warned the mayors:“You are the conscience ofhumanity.”

Experts have long saidthat cities are key to re-ducing global warmingsince urban areas accountfor nearly three-quarters ofhuman emissions. Mayorafter mayor made an indi-vidual plea Tuesday forthe world to change itsways.

Drawing rousing ap-plause, California Gov. Jer-ry Brown denounced glob-al warming deniers whohe said were “bamboo-zling” the public and poli-ticians with false informa-tion to persuade them thatthe world isn’t gettingwarmer. California has en-acted the toughest green-house gas emissions stan-dards in North America.

“We have a very power-ful opposition that, at leastin my country, spends bil-lions on trying to keepfrom office people such asyourselves and elect troglo-dytes and other deniers ofthe obvious science,” saidBrown, a former Jesuitseminarian.

New York City MayorBill de Blasio announcednew greenhouse gas emis-sions targets for the BigApple and urged other ci-ties to follow suit.

“The Paris summit isjust months away,” de Bla-sio said. “We need to see itas the finish line of asprint, and take every localaction we can in the com-ing months to maximizethe chance that our nation-al governments will actboldly.”

Mayors at VaticanBy NICOLE WINFIELD

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pope Francis signs a declaration in the Synod Hall during a con-ference on Modern Slavery and Climate Change at the Vatican.

Photo by L’Ossservatore Romano | AP

Sports&OutdoorsWEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2015 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

Bill Foley has put hismoney down on an NHLexpansion team in Las Ve-gas. And Quebec City isgetting a second chance atbeing a pro hockey mar-ket.

The two cities movedone step closer to joiningthe NHL as expansionteams after the league an-nounced Tuesday it has re-ceived applications fromprospective ownershipgroups in both markets, aday after a deadline forsubmissions.

The Las Vegas bid wassubmitted by Foley, a bil-lionaire businessman whohas spent the past sevenmonths exploring the levelof interest for professionalhockey in the gamblingmecca. Montreal-basedQuebecor, a Canadianmedia and telecommunica-tions giant, submitted thebid for Quebec City, whichpreviously served home tothe NHL’s Nordiques.

Quebecor also has tiesto the NHL after its cablenetwork, TVA Sports, wonthe rights to become theleague’s official French-language broadcaster lastyear.

As part of their applica-tion, bidders were re-quired to submit a $10 mil-lion down payment, $2 mil-lion of which was

nonrefundable. There areat least two more steps inthe expansion process, andthe bids require approvalfrom the NHL’s Board ofGovernors.

The league doesn’t anti-cipate expanding beforethe 2017-18 season andNHL Commissioner GaryBettman has proposed anexpansion fee of at least$500 million. That’s a sig-nificant jump from the $80million fee paid by the Co-lumbus Blue Jackets andMinnesota Wild, when theNHL last expanded to 30teams in 2000.

Without going into spe-cifics, the NHL said it re-ceived and responded toapplication requests from16 separate groups sincethe process opened July 6.

The league placed anemphasis on groups hav-ing the financial capacityto establish a franchise, aswell as an arena either inplace or under construc-tion.

“Our purpose in initia-ting the expansion processin the manner we did wasnot only to explore the pos-sibility of admitting newmembers to the NHL butalso to set out realisticguideposts to distinguishbetween bona fide expres-sions of interest fromthose indications of poten-tial interests which were,at best, merely hopes oraspirations,” the league

said.“Apparently only Foley

and Quebecor have theconfidence in their abilityto secure an arena andsuitable ownership capa-bility to move forwardwith this process,” theleague added.

The conditions quicklythinned the ranks of pros-pective markets, includingSeattle and a second fran-chise in Toronto.

Several separate Seattlegroups have expressed in-terest in establishing anNHL team in the PacificNorthwest, where the lackof an arena plan in placeremains a major stum-bling block. Portland, Ore-gon, and Kansas City werealso mentioned as poten-tial markets.

With the applicationprocess closed, the leagueintends to “focus exclusive-ly” on the two applicationsthat were submitted.

In Las Vegas, Foley hassecured more than 13,200season-ticket deposits for apotential team. And there’sa multipurpose arena un-der construction near theLas Vegas Strip and set toopen next spring.

A team in Las Vegaswould have natural and ex-isting regional rivals be-cause of its proximity toArizona and California.

Las Vegas would be anewcomer to North Amer-ica’s major professional

sports landscape. The Can-adian Football League hada brief foray into Las Ve-gas during its failed U.S.-expansion bid in 1994. TheLas Vegas Posse lasted justone season in town.

In Quebec City, the pub-licly funded, 18,259-seatVideotron Centre is set toopen in September. It re-places the small and out-dated Colisee, which previ-ously served home to theNordiques, who relocatedto Colorado to become theAvalanche in 1995. Quebe-cor manages and owns thenaming rights to the newarena.

With Quebec City, theNHL would add an eighthCanadian franchise.

Quebec City is but a 2-1/2 hour drive from Mon-treal and a team therewould re-establish whatwas a once-heated provin-cial rivalry with the Cana-diens.

The potential additionswould lead to the NHLtweak its divisional align-ment, though it’s uncer-tain whether it would re-sult in a major change tothe league’s unbalancedconference setup. TheEastern Conference cur-rently features 16 teams,two more than the West.

Bettman has previouslysaid that if a 16-14 splitworks, he doesn’t see areason why a 17-15 splitwouldn’t.

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

Expansion in NHL?

Commissioner Gary Bettman and the NHL received bids by Las Vegas and Quebec City as they are interested in being a new expansionteam.

Photo by L.E. Baskow | AP

NHL receives bids from Las Vegas, Quebec CityBy JOHN WAWROWASSOCIATED PRESS

DENVER — With 10 daysto go before the trade dead-line, the Rangers remain ve-ry much involved in talkswith Philadelphia over acelefty Cole Hamels, majorleague sources said Tuesday.

Philadelphia has spentmuch of the last twomonths scouting the farmsystems of potential tradesuitors for Hamels. TheRangers and Houston As-tros appear to line up astwo of the most desiredpartners. It could create abest-case scenario for Phila-delphia with two AL Westteams bidding against oneanother.

Hamels, 31, is 5-7 thisyear for Philadelphia with a3.91 ERA. He has seen hisERA rise nearly a full runover his last two starts, inwhich he has allowed 14runs in 61/3innings.

Hamels is signed through2018 at a cost of $23.5 mil-

lion per year. His contractincludes provisions for botha team and vesting optionbased on innings pitched for2019. The deal includes a $6million buyout if the teamoption is not picked up. It’sexpected that Philadelphiawill have to send some cashalong with Hamels to com-plete a deal for the bestpackage of prospects.

Acquiring Hamels wouldbe a boost to the Rangers’sagging 2015 chances, butwould be aimed more at so-lidifying the rotation for2016-17, the final two yearsof Yu Darvish’s contract.

The Rangers would likelyhave to give up a top pros-pect other than Joey Galloto headline the deal. Themost likely options: Out-fielder Nomar Mazara orcatcher Jorge Alfaro, who isout for the year with an an-kle issue but is still highlyregarded. It is unclear whatthe Phillies would be seek-ing from Houston’s deepfarm system.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

Phillies starting pitcher Cole Hamels is in high demand with the As-tros and Rangers pursuing him.

Photo by Michael Perez | AP

Astros, Rangerspursuing Hamels

By EVAN GRANTMCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

SAN FRANCISCO —The U.S. Department ofJustice formally droppedits criminal prosecution ofBarry Bonds, MajorLeague Baseball’s careerhomerun leader.

The decade-long investi-gation and prosecution ofBonds for obstruction ofjustice ended quietly Tues-day morning when theDOJ said it would not chal-lenge the reversal of his fe-lony conviction to the U.S.

Supreme Court. A jury convicted Bonds

in 2011 of obstruction ofjustice for giving a mean-dering answer to a federalgrand jury when askedabout injections. A federalappeals court overturnedthat conviction in April.

The DOJ could haveasked the high court totake the case. But the DOJhas filed a one-paragraphnotice with the appealscourt saying it wouldn’tchallenge the lower courtruling.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

Bonds’ chargesdropped

ASSOCIATED PRESS

OPERATIVOSMATAMOROS, México

— Juan Padilla Moreno,Eduardo Lozoya Leal y Pe-dro Sarmiento Plata fuerondetenidos por elementosde la Policía Estatal en elEjido El Empalme, comosospechosos de formarparte de un grupo delin-cuencial que opera en Va-lle Hermoso-Matamoros.Oficiales lograron asegurarcinco vehículos, ocho ar-mas, 73 bolsitas con mari-huana, 1.233 cartuchos, 42cargadores, tres forniturasy 50 ponchallantas.

MATAMOROS, México— Tomás Rodríguez Salazary/o o Tomás RodríguezSánchez y Emilio Tovar Ra-mírez fueron arrestadostras intentar darse a la fu-ga en la colonia ErnestoElizondo de Matamoros.Ambos estaban en dos ve-hículos estacionados, e in-teractuaban entre sí, loque pareció sospechosos alos agentes. Autoridadeslograron decomisar 28 pa-quetes y 17 bolsas con 312kilos 475 gramos de mari-guana, 91 dosis de mari-huana, 406 dosis de cocaí-na, 1.270 dosis de cocaínaen piedra, cuatro básculasgrameras y cuatro radiosde comunicación, ademásde un camioneta y un au-tomóvil.

MIGUEL ALEMÁN,México — El Grupo de Co-ordinación Tamaulipas de-comisó el 17 de julio,2.798 kilos de marihuanadentro de 277 paquetes,que estaban escondidos enel interior de la residenciaubicada en el 181 de calleMacario Gómez Sáenz, enla colonia Linda Vista. Ahí,indica el reporte, fue habi-litada una bodega que tie-ne acceso a través de untúnel. Un sospechoso logródarse a la fuga.

Informes indican que setrata del tercer decomisoen el mes en Miguel Ale-mán. El 10 de julio, fueronasegurados 38 paquetescon 377 kilogramos de ma-rihuana en la Colonia LosPresidentes; en tantoq ueel 16 de julio se asegura-ron 182 paquetes con1.450,5 kilogramos de ma-rihuana en el Fracciona-miento Colinas del Pedre-gal.

FESTIVALLAREDO — La Ciu-

dad de Laredo será anfi-triona del 13er Festival In-ternacional Ciudades Her-manas de Laredo enLaredo Energy Arena, 6700Arena Boulevard, del vier-nes 24 de julio al domingo26 de julio.

La ceremonia de inau-guración está programadapara el viernes a las 9a.m., y la expo abre ofi-cialmente al público a par-tir de las 11 a.m.

El horario para el vier-nes será de 11 a.m. a 8p.m.; sábado será de 10a.m. a 7 p.m.; domingo, de10 a.m. a 5 p.m.

Este año se espera re-presentantes de ciudadesmexicanas como: Tepatit-lan, Jalisco; León, Guana-juato; Amacuzac, Morelos;Totolapan, Morelos; Fran-cisco I. Madero, Coahuila;Cuautla, Morelos; Cienegade Flores, Nuevo León; yde los estados de Nayarit yMéxico. El Estado de Méxi-co es el invitado de honoreste año. De manera adi-cional, los módulos estaránrepresentando a estadosAguascalientes; Distrito Fe-deral; Guanajuato; Michoa-cán; Tamaulipas; Veracruz;San Luis Potosi; Coahuila;Estado de México; Jalisco;Morelos; Nayarit; Nuevo Le-ón; Oaxaca; Puebla; Zaca-tecas y Querétaro.

Más información acercadel festival visitando visit-laredo.com

Ribereñaen Breve

Autoridades del estado de Ta-maulipas han evitado el robo demás de un millón y medio de li-tros de combustible en lo que vadel presente año.

Durante la celebración de lareunión ordinaria del Grupo deCoordinación Tamaulipas (GCT)en Ciudad Victoria, México, sedio a conocer que del 1 de eneroal 16 de julio se ha logrado la de-

tención de 102 personas, el asegu-ramiento de un millón 678 mil650 litros de combustible; el ase-guramiento de 53 tracto-camio-nes, 190 vehículos, 72 auto-tan-ques y 1.095 bidones.

Los datos fueron parte del roboque contra el combate al robo dehidracarburos realizan elementosde la Secretaría de la Defensa Na-cional, Armada de México, Poli-cía Militar, Policía Federal, PGR,CISEN, Procuraduría General de

Justicia y Secretaría de Seguri-dad Pública del Estado.

Comparando los logros con lorealizado en el 2014, en cuanto alaseguramiento de hidracarburos,se informó que el año pasado fue-ron detenidas 195 personas, ase-gurados 131 tracto-camiones, 742vehículos, 207 auto-tanques y2.405 bidones.

En el 2014 fueron recuperados4 millones 889.0 litros de combus-tible.

Recientemente fue implemen-tado un operativo especial entrePetróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) yla Policía Federal, GendarmeríaNacional y Secretaría de la De-fensa Nacional.

Así, del 11 al 17 de julio fue po-sible detectar 15 tomas clandesti-nas en los municipios de Gonzá-lez, Llera de Canales, Altamira, yMadero; así como en el pobladode Estación Manuel, y algunosranchos.

OPERATIVO EN TAMAULIPAS EVITA ROBO DE COMBUSTIBLE

HidrocarburosTIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Zfrontera PÁGINA 11AMIÉRCOLES 22 DE JULIO DE 2015

HEMPSTEAD — Las autori-dades federales están investigan-do la muerte de una mujerafroamericana a la que hallaronahorcada en una celda, un he-cho que sus familiares y amista-des alegan fue un asesinato.

Las autoridades dicen queSandra Bland, de28 años, se ahorcócon una bolsa deplástico el 13 dejulio, tres días des-pués de su arrestoen un retén poli-cial de tránsito.Su muerte en unacárcel de Texas se

produjo en momentos que lasfuerzas del orden son objeto deinvestigación tras varios casosde gran repercusión de muertede afroamericanos a manos dela policía.

Un fiscal que supervisa el ca-so dijo el domingo que aún nose podía determinar si era suici-dio o asesinato, pero que se in-vestigaba la muerte de Bland“como se lo haría en un caso deasesinato”.

“Hay muchas preguntas en elcondado de Waller, en todo elpaís y en el mundo sobre estecaso. Necesita una investigaciónexhaustiva”, dijo el fiscal delcondado de Waller, Elton Mat-his.

Aunque un forense declaróque fue suicidio, los parientes yotras personas que los apoyaninsisten que Bland era optimistay estaba por iniciar un trabajonuevo en una universidad local.

“Este no fue un caso de suici-dio sino de homicidio”, dijo elreverendo Jamal Bryant, quienparticipa del caso por pedido dela familia Bland.

La hermana de Bland, ShanteNeedham, dijo que ella la llamódesde la cárcel la tarde que fuearrestada para decir que la ha-bían detenido pero no sabía porqué. También dijo que un agen-te le había colocado una rodillaen la espalda y que creía que lehabía fracturado el brazo. El De-partamento de Seguridad Públi-ca dijo que Bland se puso a dis-cutir y se negó a cooperar en elretén y al ser detenida por asal-to a un empleado público, y quese llamó a los paramédicos al lu-gar, pero ella rechazó la evalua-ción médica.

TEXAS

Indagansobre

muertede presa

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BLAND

Al iniciar la vida federativa,Tamaulipas cuenta con tres puer-tos de altura, por lo que destacaen México. También florece elcontrabando.

En Soto la Marina, fundada enla medianía del siglo XVIII, se in-corporan las maniobras de estibay alijo. En breve son abandona-

das por órdenes superiores. Mástarde adquiere relevancia, ya queXavier Mina escoge sus playas en1817 para desembarcar. Cuando elproscrito Agustín de Iturbide ha-ce lo propio en 1824, permaneceincorporada a la navegación ma-yor.

Sin embargo, goza de pésimafama. “Un cañonazo muy dentrodel mar era la seña de presentar-se un buque en la costa, pues laaduana de Soto la Marina distadel puerto 15 o más leguas, trán-sito todo destinado al contraban-do”, alerta José Ignacio Estevarecién entrega la Secretaría de

Hacienda en 1827.Tras la muerte de Felipe de la

Garza Cisneros, mandamás dellugar, en 1832, fue en 1833 que secierra al tráfico internacional.Lo recupera de 1838 a 1839 por elbloqueo francés a Veracruz yTampico en la Guerra de los Pas-teles.

Análoga categoría retiene porlo contrario Matamoros desde1821. Padece altibajos serios, aun-que tampoco está a salvo de malaimagen. Asentado en la riberasureña del río Bravo, lo separande la bocana varias leguas. De es-to deriva “la facilidad del fraude”

y “la dificultad de evitarlo” dicesaberse en la presidencia de Gua-dalupe Victoria.

El municipio de marras evi-dencia “prosperidad […] extraor-dinaria” al transcurrir la Inter-vención Francesa, subraya ciertotestimonio. Da pie a lo anteriorel bloqueo unionista de Texas enla Guerra de Secesión estadouni-dense, de modo que por la orillamexicana del Bravo los confede-rados exportan irregularmentevolúmenes de algodón.

(Publicado con permiso del au-tor conforme aparece en La Razón,Tampico, México.)

COLUMNA

Tráfico surge en puertos de TamaulipasNota del Editor: Este es el segundo

de dos artículos donde se habla delcontrabando en puertos de Tamauli-pas hacia 1800.

POR RAÚL SINENCIOESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Se llevó a cabo los nombra-mientos conjuntos de laLogía Masónica de Laredo#547, fundada en 1881, y

de la Logía de Zapata, fundada en1963, el 11 de julio por la tarde.

Eduardo Esquivel fue instaladocomo Venerable Maestro para laLogía de Laredo, con Thomas Mo-rris como Primer Vigilante, Mi-guel Inclán como Segundo Vigi-lante, Charles Whitfield como Te-sorero, Drew Claes comoSecretario, Larry Lowe como Ca-pellán, Anthony Cabello comoDiácono Superior, Enrique Ceba-llos como Primer Mayordomo, Jo-nathan Scott como Segundo Ma-yordomo, y Greg Moore como Vi-gilante Externo.

Lowe fue el Venerable Maestrosaliente.

Por su parte el Maestro de Ce-

remonias, Charles Whitfield, en-tregó a cada nuevo oficial con lasjoyas de su oficina.

Durante la instalación de losoficiales de Zapata, se inicio conChris Turner como VenerableMaestro, O. J. Martínez como Pri-mer Vigilante, Elias Mendiola,Jr., como Segundo Vigilante, BoydCarter como Tesorero, Irving H.“Skip” Smith como Secretario,Eduardo Esquivel como DiáconoSuperior, Larry Lowe como Se-gundo Diácono, y Charles Whit-field como Vigilante Externo.

Los oficiales de Zapata tambiénrecibieron joyas de su oficina.

Claes hizo referencia a la histo-ria de la Orden Masónica y las di-ferencias entre los Masones yotras organizaciones.

Los Masones brindan ayuda alos Hospitales Shrines, al ScottishRite Hospital and Learning Cen-ters, al Knights Templar Eye

Foundation.Igualmente entregan becas,

realizan campañas para donaciónde sangre, entre otras activida-des.

“La Logía de Laredo ha otorga-do 135.000 dólares en becas paraestudiantes egresando de escue-las preparatorias públicas de Te-xas en los pasados 15 años”, dijoClaes.

Agregó que los Masones pose-en un sentimiento de seguridad,amistad e igualdad, y un sentidode pertenencia.

Antes de concluir, Lowe hizoentrega del Premio Golden Trowla Greg Moore.

El premio reconoce a un Ma-són que no haya ocupado unpuesto de liderazgo en tres años,pero que haya demostrado de for-ma constante su dedicación a lafraternidad con su asistencia,participación, y ejemplo.

MASONES

NUEVOS OFICIALES

Los nuevos oficiales Masones de Zapata son, primera fila, de izquierda a derecha, O. J. Hale, Chris Turner, Elias Mendiola, SkipSmith, y Larry Lowe. Segunda fila, mismo orden, Charles Whitfield, Boyd Carter, y Eduardo Esquivel.

Foto de cortesía

Entregan joyas a logias de Webb y ZapataTIEMPO DE ZAPATA

PAGE 12A Zentertainment WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2015

NEW YORK — TaylorSwift’s star-studded “BadBlood” music video is pay-ing off: She’s the top nomi-nee at next month’s MTVVideo Music Awards.

Swift is nominated fornine moonmen, includingvideo of the year for “BadBlood,” starring SelenaGomez, Lena Dunham andmore of the pop star’s fa-mous friends.

Kendrick Lamar, who isfeatured on “Bad Blood,”is nominated for video ofthe year thanks to his ownhit, “Alright.” Other nomi-nees for the top prize in-clude Beyonce’s “7/11,” EdSheeran’s “Thinking outLoud” and “UptownFunk” by Mark Ronson.

The 2015 VMAs, hostedby Miley Cyrus, will airlive Aug. 30 from the Mi-crosoft Theater in Los An-geles.

Sheeran has six nomi-nations, while Beyonce,Lamar and Ronson havefive each.

Swift’s “Blank Space”

will compete for best fe-male video and pop video,while “Bad Blood” is upfor best collaboration, di-rection, editing, visual ef-fects, art direction andcinematography.

Fans can begin votingTuesday.

Beyonce, Sia, Nicki Mi-naj and Ellie Gouldingwill battle Swift for bestfemale video, while Shee-ran, Lamar, Ronson, theWeeknd and Nick Jonaswill compete for best malevideo.

Diplo, FKA twigs, Skril-lex and Minaj earnedthree nominations each,while the Weeknd, ArianaGrande and Fetty Wap aredouble nominees.

Cyrus, who won videoof the year last year for“Wrecking Ball,” dominat-ed the 2013 VMAs whenshe grinded on RobinThicke during a perform-ance that trended heavilyon social media. Cyruswrote in an Instagrampost Monday that “MTVwon’t let me perform ... soI’m hosting this year’sVMAs.”

In this July 10 file photo, Taylor Swift performs during her“1989” world tour at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision | AP file

Swift leadsMTV’s VMAnominarions

By MESFIN FEKADUASSOCIATES PRESS

NEW YORK — The punis as fitting as it is inevi-table, so let’s go ahead andget it out of the way:“Sharknado 3” has defi-nitely jumped the shark.

It airs Wednesday at 8p.m. CDT on Syfy as thelatest in what, before now,was settling into a much-anticipated summer TVrite.

Beware: Seek guiltypleasure elsewhere.

Two years ago, the orig-inal “Sharknado” film de-picted a weather aberra-tion on the Southern Cali-fornia coast that causedbloodthirsty sharks to cas-cade on hapless Angele-nos. But hunky beach-barowner Fin Shepard (getit?) saved the day with amakeshift shark explo-sion. Both as cinema andmarine biology, “Sharkna-do” was gleefully idioticwhile sinking its teeth inthe funny bones of everyviewer in its path. A hor-ror-spoof franchise wasborn.

For last summer’s em-phatically titled sequel,“Sharknado 2: The SecondOne,” Fin was back. Againplayed by “Beverly Hills,90210” alum Ian Ziering,he headed to New York forquiet post-sharknado re-pose with his beloved,April (Tara Reid). But aneven bigger, badder shark-nado storm awaited himin the Big Apple, where herallied take-no-guff NewYawkers in a feisty coun-terstrike. “Sharknado 2”was a hilarious treat.

Now comes the incredi-bly aptly titled “Sharkna-do 3: Oh Hell No!”

First problem: the storycenters on a bigger-than-ever shark attack alongthe entire east coast. Thissounds epic in theory, butin practice only watersdown the action, withWashington quickly left in

ruins before the mayhemshifts to South Floridaand points in between.

Another problem: Thefilm forgot to be funny.Perhaps the most clevertouch lampoons thethrough-the-gun-barrelpoint-of-view with whichevery James Bond film be-gins (though here, it’sthrough the gaping jaws ofa shark), but that gag isover in the film’s openingseconds.

As with its predeces-sors, the film is chock-fullof odd-ball guest roles andcameos.

Mark Cuban is frighten-ingly credible as the presi-dent, with Ann Coulterhis vice president.

Frankie Muniz is onhand, trying for and fail-ing at a comeback. (Heused to be so CUTE!)

Other semi-bold-facenames include Bo Derek,David Hasselhoff, PennJillette and Teller, Lou

Ferrigno, and former Con-gressman Anthony Wein-er, far less conspicuoushere than he used to be onTwitter. But this flurry offamiliar faces seems moreforced than funny.

The biggest shortcom-ing: The film and its storyseem to have been cobbledtogether not to entertainthe audience, but to servethe varied interests of Sy-fy owner Comcast as amulti-pronged marketingassault.

As before, this filmheavily promotes Syfy sis-ter network NBC. Thesharknado siege is “cov-ered” by NBC News per-sonalities Matt Lauer, Sa-vannah Guthrie and AlRoker. This was funny be-fore, but feels uncomfort-able now as NBC Newsstruggles to restore itscredibility after Brian Wil-liams’ story-fudging fias-co. Maybe NBC News starsshould try keeping a safe

distance from fish tales.More brazenly, the film

spends lots of time in acertain Florida themepark owned by NBC Uni-versal, which results in“Sharknado 3” servingless as a comedy than as atravelogue for UniversalStudios Orlando.

And it doesn’t stopthere. The film even jamsin a NASCAR event, withwhich Comcast has asponsorship deal.

Packed like sardines asthey are, the only productplug missing, it seems, isFin and April seen back athome enjoying their XFin-ity cable service.

Unlike the first “Shark-nado” film, which at-tacked without warning,and the second, an instantcampy classic, this thirdouting is being hyped as amajor television event.Far from it. It’s product-placement chum. Don’ttake the bait.

Just say no to ‘Sharknado’By FRAZIER MOOREASSOCIATED PRESS

In this image released by Syfy, Ryan Newman as Claudia Shepard, left, and Jack Griffo as Billy appearin a scene from “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!” premiering on Wednesday, at 8 p.m. CDT on Syfy.

Photo by Raymond Liu | AP

WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2015 THE ZAPATA TIMES 13A

Maria de Jesus Brisenopassed away on July 16,2015, at St. Lukes BaptistHospital in San Antonio,Texas.

Mrs. Briseno is preced-ed in death by her father,Teodoro Briseno; andbrother, Teodoro BrisenoIII.

Mrs. Briseno is survivedby her husband, LorenzoGuzman, Jr.; sons, AlfonsoAraiza Jr. and Alex DanielAraiza; daughter, BrandyMikayla Guzman; mother,Micaela Briseno; brother,Juan (Isela) Briseno; sis-ters, Micaela (Martin) Fer-nandez, Veronica (IsraelJr.) Morales, and Claudia(Richard) Gonzalez; and bynumerous aunts, uncles,nephews, nieces, otherfamily members andfriends.

Visitation hours wereheld on July 20, 2015, from6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a me-morial rosary at 7 p.m. atRose Garden FuneralHome.

The funeral procession

departed on July 21, 2015,at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m.memorial mass at Our La-dy of Lourdes CatholicChurch.

Funeral arrangementsare under the direction ofRose Garden FuneralHome Daniel A. Gonzalez,Funeral Director, 2102 N.U.S. Hwy 83 Zapata, Texas.

MARIA DE JESUS BRISENO

Aug. 19, 1967 – July 16, 2015

mirror, like all of us did,and realize we were partof the problem and notpart of the solution.”

Guzmán’s disappearancemakes him the world’smost-wanted criminalonce again. The Mexicangovernment has offered a$3.8 million reward for hiscapture. And his escapethrough a mile-long chan-nel has increased tensionsbetween Mexico and theUnited States and perma-nently stained MexicanPresident Enrique PeñaNieto’s legacy. Guzmán isstill wanted in the UnitedStates and remains on themost-wanted list for theDrug Enforcement Agen-cy’s El Paso division.

Advocates pushing todecriminalize drugs con-cede they face an uphillbattle in the United States,but they say Guzmán’s es-cape has prompted a con-versation. While there issignificant opposition tolegalizing drugs like co-caine and heroin, support

is growing for looseningmarijuana laws.

A study by the Pew Re-search Center in Aprilshowed that 53 percent ofAmericans think marijua-na should be legal. That’scompared with 12 percentin 1969.

White said legalizingmarijuana in Coloradoand Washington has al-ready proved effective as ahit to the cartels’ pocket-books.

“In the case of mostdrug dealers, regulatedpot would take away about60 percent of their profitsright away,” said Ana Yá-ñez-Correa, the executivedirector of the TexasCriminal Justice Coali-tion, which lobbies forchanges to drug policiesand incarceration stan-dards.

“It’s time that Texastakes a look and do it in away that’s going to makesense,” she said.

Changing laws on mari-juana would affect the

lives of the 73,000 Texansarrested every year for potcrimes, Yáñez-Correa add-ed, citing Department ofPublic Safety data.

Guzmán’s escape camethe same week PresidentObama pushed a newWhite House agenda oncriminal justice reform.

“Meaningful sentencingreform, steps to reduce re-peat offenders and reformof the juvenile justice sys-tem are crucial to improv-ing public safety, reducingrunaway incarcerationcosts and making ourcriminal justice systemmore fair,” a White Housespokesperson said in astatement.

U.S. Senator John Cor-nyn, R-Texas, said thatwhile he supports somecriminal justice over-hauls, he said drug poli-cies are generally left tostates because federalagencies concentrate ongoing after larger criminalnetworks.

“I think what we will

weigh on is to make surethe penalty fits thecrime,” he said. “I suspectwe’ll be looking at all ofthat, [but] I don’t thinkwe’ll be looking at legali-zation effort. I think thatwould send the wrongmessage, although I un-derstand the argument.”

Texas could be one ofthe best testing groundson whether illegal traf-ficking would decline iflawmakers changed druglaws. According to statis-tics from the Departmentof Homeland Security,there were more than 2.36million pounds of drugsseized in the 2014 budgetyear on the Southwestborder, with just morethan 1.02 million poundsseized in Texas. That’sjust below Arizona’s 1.12million and is well aboveCalifornia’s 183,100 andNew Mexico’s 48,000.

U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke,D-El Paso, said that sinceGuzmán’s escape, it wasreasonable to be con-

cerned about violence inEl Paso’s sister city, Ciu-dad Juárez. Before Guz-mán’s arrest in 2014, thekingpin’s Sinaloa cartelparticipated in a years-long battle with the Juá-rez cartel for control ofthe lucrative smugglingroutes that extend fromChihuahua to West Texasand beyond. Thousandswere killed from 2008 to2011. In response,O’Rourke in 2011 co-au-thored with Susie Byrd,his former colleague onthe El Paso City Council,Dealing Death and Drugs,a book about marijuanaprohibition and its out-comes.

Guzmán’s successeswere partially funded bysales of marijuana,O’Rourke said, calling it a“cornerstone of the U.S.drug trade.”

“Anyone who buys [ille-gal] marijuana in the U.S.is contributing to theproblems like the ones wesaw in Juárez,” he said.

“So I am really grateful toLEAP and [pro-reformgroup] the Drug Policy Al-liance. Part of the way youget at the Chapo Guzmánsis through drug policy.”

Yáñez-Correa suggestedit will take lawmakerswith nerve to change thecurrent politics in Texas,though very small stepshave been taken.

In May, a Texas Housecommittee approvedHouse Bill 2165, by stateRep. David Simpson, R-Longview, which wouldhave legalized the use anddelivery of marijuana. Butit was a symbolic vote,and the legislation nevermade it to the lower cham-ber’s floor.

“Politicians are listen-ing to their consultants,and their consultants aretelling them, ‘You don’twant to take a position onpot because we don’t knowhow people feel about it,’”Yáñez-Correa said. “Butthe polls say somethingdifferent.”

EL CHAPO Continued from Page 1A

The numbers in this latestpoll showed a decline forCruz since his late-Marchannouncement. Meanwhile,the survey reflected a sharprise for billionaire DonaldTrump, who appeared to betaking support away fromTexas’ junior senator. Perry,conversely, showed slightgrowth. He registered at 1and 2 percent in WashingtonPost/ABC News surveys ear-lier this year.

The Washington Post andABC News conducted thepoll from July 16 to July 19.

The full survey showedTrump with a commandinglead, but a sharp day-to-daydrop off after his controver-sial comments about Sen.John McCain, R-Ariz.

The total poll had a sam-ple size of 1,002 respondents,351 interviewed over lan-dline phones and 651 inter-viewed by cellphone. Thefull survey had a 3.5-pointmargin of error.

The Republican portion ofthe poll had 341 respondents,with a 6.5-point margin oferror.

POLL Continued from Page 1A

pervised release.Mario Humberto Garza

was sentenced to twoyears. Garza is an allegedValluco gang member.

Manuel Alejandro Gar-za was handed a three-year probated sentence.He was also ordered tocomplete 100 hours ofcommunity service with-in two years of his proba-tionary sentence.

The three defendantswere arrested Nov. 5.

At about 3 p.m. Nov. 5,Zapata County Sheriff ’s

Office investigatorsflagged down a BorderPatrol agent, requestinghelp with a traffic stopon U.S 83.

They told the agentthey saw a driver, lateridentified as Grandstaff,picking up four peoplenear the brush on U.S. 83.

That information wasrelayed to a sheriff ’s dep-uty, who then pulled overthe vehicle, a 1999 silverPontiac Grand Prix.

Grandstaff allegedlyadmitted to picking up

the illegal immigrantsand that she had beenhired by Mario Humber-to Garza to transportfour of them to Zapatafor $100.

Investigators had seena red Ford Mustang usu-ally driven by Garza fol-lowing the Pontiac.

Deputies pulled overthe Mustang and de-tained Garza and hisbrother, Manuel Alejan-dro Garza.

Mario Garza later toldauthorities he was a

member of the Vallucogang.

In a post-arrest inter-view, Grandstaff claimedthe Garzas were involvedin the smuggling at-tempt.

Mario Humberto Garzaacted as the foot guidefor the group of immi-grants while Manuel Ale-jandro Garza was thescout, she told law en-forcement.

(Philip Balli may bereached at 728-2528 orpballi@lmtonline.com)

SMUGGLING Continued from Page 1A

NEW YORK — Thenumber of global fliers isexpected to more than dou-ble in the next two decades.In order to carry all thoseextra passengers, airlinesare turning to a technologyvery few can make work ona large scale: convertingtrash into fuel.

They have no otherchoice.

As people in countriessuch as China, India andIndonesia get wealthierthey are increasingly turn-ing to air travel for vaca-tion or business, creatingan enormous financial op-portunity for the airlines.The number of passengersworldwide could more thandouble, to 7.3 billion a year,in the next two decades, ac-cording to the Internation-al Air Transport Associ-ation.

But many in the indus-try believe that without a

replacement for jet fuel,that growth could bethreatened by forthcomingrules that limit global air-craft emissions.

“It’s about retaining, asan industry, our license togrow,” says Julie Felgar,managing director for envi-ronmental strategy at planemaker Boeing, which is co-ordinating sustainable bio-fuel research programs inthe U.S., Australia, China,

Brazil, Japan and the Unit-ed Arab Emirates.

Cars, trucks and trainscan run on electricity, nat-ural gas, or perhaps evenhydrogen someday to meetemissions rules. But liftinga few hundred people, suit-cases and cargo 35,000 feetinto the sky and carryingthem across a continent re-quires so much energy thatonly liquid fuels can do thetrick. Fuel from corn,

which is easy to make andsupplies nearly 10 percentof U.S. auto fuel, doesn’tprovide enough environ-mental benefit to help air-lines meet emissions rules.

“Unlike the groundtransport sector, they don’thave a lot of alternatives,”says Debbie Hammel, a bio-energy policy expert at theNatural Resources DefenseCouncil.

That leaves so-called ad-vanced biofuels made fromagricultural waste, trash,or specialty crops that hu-mans don’t eat. United Air-lines last month announceda $30 million stake in Ful-crum Bioenergy, the big-gest investment yet by aU.S. airline in alternativefuels. Fulcrum hopes tobuild facilities that turnhousehold trash into dieseland jet fuel. FedEx, whichburns 1.1 billion gallons ofjet fuel a year, promisedTuesday to buy 3 milliongallons per year of fuel thata company that hopes tomake out of wood waste.

Airlines must push for biofuelsBy JONATHAN FAHEY

AND SCOTT MAYEROWITZASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Jan. 30, 2009 file photo, a Japan Air Lines staffer checksthe biofuel-loaded No. 3 engine of Japan Airlines Boeing 747-300.

Photo by Itsuo Inouye | AP file

14A THE ZAPATA TIMES WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2015