SPURS-WARRIORS SHOWDOWN
SATURDAY MARCH 19, 2016
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SHERIFF’S OFFICE
TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY
Suspected saddle thief arrested
Alleged drunk driver crashes
By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Man smashed into the gate of county shop By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
A suspected drunk driver crashed into the gate of the Zapata County Shop over the weekend, according to state authorities. The Texas Department of Public Safety identified the man as Norberto Garza Jr., 23. He is the son of Zapata County Pct. 4 Commis-
GARZA
FREE
sioner Norberto Garza. He opted not to comment. The crash was reported at about 2:20 a.m. Saturday at the county shop, where county vehicles and other machinery are maintained between Texas 16 and 12th Avenue. DPS said there was minor damage to the fence. Authorities alleged they found drugs in the vehicle, according to DPS.
POLLUTION ALERT
Garza Jr. was charged with driving while intoxicated and possession of marijuana. He was taken to the Zapata County Jail, where he was later released on a $3,000 bond, according to the Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 7282568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
A man was arrested this week for allegedly stealing a saddle, authorities said. On Wednesday, the Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office announced the arrest of Orlando Rocha. He was charged with theft of property. Deputies responded to a reported stolen saddle from a barn in the 900 block of Fresno Street. Rocha was employed there, the Sheriff ’s Office said. Reports state the Zapata Crime Stoppers received an anonymous tip on the stolen saddle.
“The tip led to two saddles and a small welding machine, ROCHA which were pawned at the local pawn shop by the suspect Orlando Rocha …” states the report. Investigators said Rocha was identified as the suspect in the case. Rocha was charged with theft of property and taken to the Zapata County Jail. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 7282568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
DELL CITY, TEXAS
THE DISAPPEARING WEST TEXAS TOWN Photo by Rebecca Blackwell | AP
Smog blankets skyscrapers along Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City, Thursday.
Mexico City braces for more smog Choking haze returned in very high levels not seen in over a decade By PETER ORSI ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO CITY — Choking smog returned to the skies of Mexico City this week at levels not seen in more than a decade, prompting fears of more eye-watering days to come as efforts to curb pollution run afoul of the courts and the realities of life. The haze that shrouded the second-largest city in the Western Hemisphere for four days never reached the worst periods in the 1980s and 1990s, but ultimately resulted from the fact that there are still too many cars on the crowded streets. “You have to recognize that we are doing better, but it’s still not ideal,” Javier Riojas, a specialist in environmental sustainability at the Universidad Iberoamericana, said Friday. Authorities declared the city’s first Phase 1 pollution alert since 2005 on Monday due to high ozone levels blamed on a thermal inversion, which traps airborne contaminants from releas-
ing upward into the atmosphere. Mexico City typically sees its worst air smog during the winter-spring dry season when warm, still air settles in the high-altitude basin ringed by volcanic mountains. At one point on Monday, the pollution index edged past 200 — double the level considered acceptable but far short of the record of 398 set in March 1992. Since the 1990s, Mexico City has become a vastly different place. Factories have been cleaned up or moved away, leaded gasoline was banned and tough emissions standards have been imposed on cars. Despite much grumbling the government imposed a rule that forced cars more than eight years old to stay parked for at least six days each month even if they passed smog checks. But the Supreme Court last year overturned that rule, putting an estimated additional 1.4 million vehicles back on the streets,
See SMOG PAGE 11A
Photo by Mark Lambie/El Paso Times | AP
In this Feb. 26, 2016, photo, a sign promoting Dell City sits at the turnoff from Highway 62/180 in Dell City, Texas. Some residents are wondering if the former farming community is changing its way out of existence as its population declines and ages.
Dell City changes as population shrinks By JESSICA ONSUREZ EL PASO TIMES
DELL CITY, Texas — Right where the Chihuahua Desert meets the Guadalupe Mountains between El Paso and Carlsbad, the unobtrusive turnoff to Farm Road 1437 sports a new sign announcing the entrance to Dell City, “A Growing Community.”
The wording on the sign might be little more than symbolic for a town that’s less than a dot on the map. That’s because the small, isolated town that has weathered more than eight decades of life in the middle of the West Texas desert is not growing. It’s changing. It might be dying, some say. It might not, according to
others. But it is changing. And it’s that change that has some residents wondering if the former farming community is changing its way out of existence as its population declines and ages. “People are not the same,” said Gerald Gentry after finishing a plate of enchiladas at the Spanish Angel Cafe, the
town’s lone restaurant. “Nowadays all these newer people are moving in and asking, ‘What’s in it for me? What can you do for me?’ and that’s the change people are talking about.” When the 65-year-old farmer, whose skin is a tough as a tanned hide, was born in Dell City in
See DELL CITY PAGE 11A