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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
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2016
AROUND THE NATION
TODAY IN HISTORY
Saturday, March 19
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Easter Egg Hunt. 3 p.m. Bruni Plaza Branch Library, 1120 San Bernardo Ave. Free. Easter egg coloring, crafts, face painting, Easter bunny pictures, Easter egg hunt, food. El Centro de Laredo Farmers Market. 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Jarvis Plaza, 1353 Matamoros St. Free and open to the public. Fresh, local, seasonal produce available for purchase. Live music by Nixon Boys & DJ The Pop Rocks. Baile folklorico with Gabriela GarciaMendoza. Emmy Award-winning soprano Adrienne Danrich with Laredo Philharmonic. 7:30–9:30 p.m. Recital Hall, TAMIU. $15–$20. They will perform Heitor Villa Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 and Henry Purcell’s Dido’s Lament. “Jesus Christ Superstar.” 8 p.m. Laredo Little Theatre, 4802 Thomas Ave. Discover TAMIU. University-wide program offered to everyone. Allows a first-hand perspective on the ideals represented within campus. For more information, contact Raquel Urrutia at 956-326-2273 or email at raquel.urrutia@tamiu.edu.
Today is Saturday, March 19, the 79th day of 2016. There are 287 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On March 19, 1966, the Texas Western Miners defeated the heavily favored Kentucky Wildcats, 72-65, to win the NCAA Championship played in College Park, Maryland; making the contest especially noteworthy was that Texas Western became the first basketball team to start five black players in a national title game as it faced an all-white Kentucky squad. On this date: In 1891, future California governor and Chief Justice of the United States Earl Warren was born in Los Angeles. In 1918, Congress approved daylight saving time. In 1920, the Senate rejected, for a second time, the Treaty of Versailles (vehr-SY’) by a vote of 49 in favor, 35 against, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed for approval. In 1931, Nevada Gov. Fred B. Balzar signed a measure legalizing casino gambling. In 1941, Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra recorded “Green Eyes” and “Maria Elena” for Decca Records. In 1951, Herman Wouk’s World War II novel “The Caine Mutiny” was first published by Doubleday. In 1976, Buckingham Palace announced the separation of Princess Margaret and her husband, the Earl of Snowdon, after 16 years of marriage. In 1979, the U.S. House of Representatives began televising its floor proceedings; the live feed was carried by CSPAN (Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network), which was making its debut. In 1987, televangelist Jim Bakker resigned as chairman of his PTL ministry organization amid a sex and money scandal involving Jessica Hahn, a former church secretary. In 1991, Polish President Lech Walesa arrived in Washington for his first state visit to the United States. In 2003, President George W. Bush ordered the start of war against Iraq. Ten years ago: President George W. Bush marked the anniversary of the Iraq war by touting efforts to build democracy there, without ever mentioning the word “war.” Five years ago: President Barack Obama arrived in Brazil for the start of a threecountry, five-day tour of Latin America. One year ago: Days after winning re-election, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backtracked from hardline campaign statements against the establishment of a Palestinian state in the face of a diplomatic backlash. Today’s Birthdays: Actress Ursula Andress is 80. Singer Clarence “Frogman” Henry is 79. Singer Ruth Pointer (The Pointer Sisters) is 70. Actress Glenn Close is 69. Film producer Harvey Weinstein is 64. Actor Bruce Willis is 61. Actress-comedian Mary Scheer is 53. Playwright Neil LaBute is 53. Actor Connor Trinneer is 47. Rock musician Gert Bettens (K’s Choice) is 46. Rapper Bun B is 43. Rock musician Zach Lind (Jimmy Eat World) is 40. Actress Abby Brammell is 37. Actor Craig Lamar Traylor is 27. Actor Philip Bolden is 21. Thought for Today: “The heaviest baggage for a traveler is an empty purse.” — German proverb.
Sunday, March 20 “Jesus Christ Superstar.” 3 p.m. Laredo Little Theatre, 4802 Thomas Ave.
Monday, March 21 Chess Club. Every Monday from 4–6 p.m. LBV – Inner City Branch Library. Free for all ages and skill levels. Basic instruction is offered. For more information call John at 956-795-2400 x2520. World Down Syndrome Day Event. 10 a.m.–12 p.m. UISD Cherish Center at the United High School 9th Grade Campus, 8800 McPherson Road. Information will be distributed and parents can get a tour of the center. Mayoral proclamation of WDSD will be at 10 a.m.
Tuesday, March 22 Knitting Circle. 1–3 p.m. McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St. Please bring yarn and knitting needles. For more information, contact Analiza Perez-Gomez at analiza@laredolibrary.org or 7952400 x2403. Crochet for Kids. 4–5 p.m. McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St. Please bring yarn and a crochet needle. For more information, contact Analiza Perez-Gomez at analiza@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2403. Rock wall climbing. 4–5 p.m. LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Free. Take the challenge and climb the rock wall! Fun exercise for all ages. Must sign release form. For more information, contact John Hong at 795-2400 x2521. Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium show. 5–7 p.m. TAMIU. Showings include “Back to the Moon.” Open to the public. Admission for children and TAMIU faculty and staff is $4. General admission is $5 for adults. For more information, contact Claudia Herrera at 956-326-2463 or email at claudia.herrera@tamiu.edu.
Wednesday, March 23 Spanish Book Club. 6–8 p.m. Laredo Public Library – Calton. For more information, call Sylvia Reash at 7631810. Holi: Festival of Colors. 2–5 p.m. TAMIU’s Senator Zaffirini Student Success Center Green. Open to the TAMIU student community. For more information, contact Triana Gonzalez at 956326-2565 or email triana.gonzalez@tamiu.edu.
Thursday, March 24 Preschool Read & Play. 11 a.m.–12 p.m. McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St. Story time and crafts for preschoolers. For more information, contact Priscilla Garcia at priscilla@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2403. Family Story Time & Crafts. 4–5 p.m. McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St. For more information, contact Priscilla Garcia at priscilla@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2403. Solo organ performance by Dr. Colin Campbell. 12:15–1 p.m. TAMIU’s Center of Fine & Performing Arts Recital Hall. Free and open to the TAMIU community. For more information, call Dr. Campbell at 956-326-3071 or email colin.campbell@tamiu.edu.
Photo by Bill Sikes | AP
Mark Ross, of Robbinsville, N.J., takes a lunch break on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Friday, during a business trip to Boston. Weather forecasters say residents of the mid-Atlantic and New England states may see a few inches of snow starting Sunday -- the first day of spring -- and possibly continuing into the Monday morning commute.
More wintry weather By PHILIP MARCELO ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON — After a mild winter, a weekend storm is bearing down on the Northeast just as residents are looking forward to Sunday’s official start of spring. Over 6 inches of accumulation is possible, mostly in New England and along coastal parts of the region. New York and Philadelphia should at least get a few inches, forecasters say. “I was thinking that winter was over, but I have learned there is always a surprise around the corner,” said Pete Kusinski, a 32year-old Cambridge resident. “If it’s Monday, it’s really going to screw up the commute. But if it’s over the weekend, it’s less of a big deal.” The snow should start Sunday morning in mid-Atlantic cities like Washington, D.C,
Man pleads guilty for attempting to join IS ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A northern Virginia man admitted Friday that he attempted to join the Islamic State, going so far as to check in at the airport on a flight to Jordan before being arrested in what turned out to be a sting operation. Joseph Farrokh, 28, of Woodbridge, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to a single count of conspiring to support a terrorist group. He faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced July 15. At Friday’s plea hearing, Farrokh admitted he made arrangements to join the Islamic State with three men he believed were ISIL facilitators. In reality, though, the men were part of a government sting. Farrokh first discussed his interest in joining ISIL with one of the three government sources at his own wedding reception, prosecutor Dennis Fitzpatrick said at Friday’s hearing.
Philadelphia and New York, but higher temperatures should help mitigate snow accumulations, said Thomas Kines, a Pennsylvania-based meteorologist for AccuWeather. “We’re most concerned with New England with this storm,” Kines said. “I don’t think there will be many problems in the D.C./Baltimore area. New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia is a little bit iffier.” New England, in contrast, won’t see the brunt of the inclement weather until Sunday night, when temperatures drop. And the snow could stick around through Monday morning in New England, possibly creating a messy commute and prompting school cancellations, says Frank Nocera, a Massachusetts-based meteorologist for the National Weather Service. “There’s still a lot of uncertainty, still a lot of moving parts,” he said.
Farrokh was arrested in January after checking in at the Richmond airport on a flight itinerary that would have taken him to Jordan. In conversations recorded by the FBI, Farrokh said he wanted to die a martyr. According to a court affidavit, Farrokh told his own mother, when she expressed concern about his anger, that he wanted Allah to destroy Christians and “make their faces burn in hell’s fire.” Court records indicate that Farrokh was wary of a government sting and worried that his statements could be fodder for a criminal prosecution, but he still agreed to pledge allegiance to the Islamic state in front of the men who turned out to be government sources. A second defendant who allegedly helped Farrokh by driving him to the airport, Mahmoud A.M. Elhassan of Woodbridge, remains jailed awaiting trial. At Friday’s hearing, Fitzpatrick revealed new details about Elhassan’s alleged involvement, saying that Elhassan planned to eventually follow Farrokh and join the
Islamic State as well. Elhassan’s lawyer, Ashraf Nubani, did not return a phone call Friday seeking comment. Farrokh had initially been scheduled to plead guilty Thursday, but prosecutors sought a one-day delay, saying that Justice Department supervisors had not fully signed off on the deal. Prosecutors and defense lawyers were hammering out the final wording of the plea in the minutes leading up to Friday’s hearing. In the final deal, both sides agree that a “terrorism enhancement” should be applied to Farrokh under federal sentencing guidelines. The terrorism enhancement will greatly increase the prison term recommended under federal guidelines, though the judge is not obliged to follow those guidelines when he hands down his sentence. Also this week, another northern Virginia man, Mohamad Jamal Khweis of Alexandria, turned himself in to Kurdish forces after entering the Islamic State and deciding to defect. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND TEXAS Pianist finds daughters dead, wife to be examined BENBROOK, Texas — An award-winning concert pianist arrived at his estranged wife’s home to pick up their two daughters and found the girls slain in their beds, police said Friday. Authorities say their mother faces a mental health exam. Vadym Kholodenko stopped Thursday morning at the home where he formerly lived to pick up Nika, 5, and 1-year-old Michela, Benbrook police Cmdr. David Babcock said. The Ukrainianborn musician found his wife, Sofya Tsygankova, in an “extreme state of distress” and discovered the dead girls. The pianist then called 911, police said. Kholodenko, a previous winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, is not a suspect and is cooperating with police, Babcock said. Police said no suspects were being sought in the deaths
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In this 2014 file photo, award-winning concert pianist Vadym Kholodenko, poses with his wife Sofya Tsygankova and daughters Nika, 4, and Michela, at their home. Police say the two daughters of Kholodenko have been found slain. of the girls or the stabbing of Tsygankova, who was recovering Friday at a Fort Worth hospital. “At this time we don’t believe that there’s any immediate risk to anybody in the neighborhood,” said Babcock. The wife was being held on a mental
health evaluation, he said. Autopsy results were pending on the children, who had no visible trauma, police said. Tsygankova’s wounds were from a knife, said Babcock. He declined to say whether a knife was recovered. — Compiled from AP reports
SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted. The Zapata Times is free. The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500. The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail thezapatatimes.net
Local
SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2016
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
Zapata arrests (Feb. 28 — March 8) Andres Botello Jr., drug possession
Andres Perez Jr., marijuana possession
Coronado Gabriel Barrera, assault
Daniela Nicole Longoria, drug possession
Edgar Alaniz, assault by threat
Francisco Manuel Rios, marijuana possession
Homero Resendez, no driver’s license
Jaime David Tejada Jr., liquor violation
Jose Francisco Solis, property theft
Mario Alonso Ramos-Sanchez, disorderly conduct
Mario Medina Jr., terroristic threat
Michael James Garcia, assault
Man arrested for burglarizing home By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
A man was arrested for allegedly breaking into a home and stealing several items, county authorities said this week. The suspect, Rigoberto Barrientos, was charged with burglary of habitation. Barrientos, 39, remained at the Zapata County Regional Jail on Friday. Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office deputies responded to a burglary call March 7 in the 1500 block of Weslaco Lane in the Siesta Shores neighborhood. Reports state that someone forced the back door to gain access. Items stolen included a 55-inch Vizio TV and a 42inch TV with a built-in DVD player, green weed eater, an HP printer and about $300.00 in change. Authorities said they received an anonymous tip regarding the stolen items. The Sheriff ’s Office said they identified the suspect as Barrientos. Reports state Barrientos took a television, an iPhone, metal bracelets, a green weed eater and a
Convention today THE ZAPATA TIMES
The Zapata County Chamber of Commerce would like to invite the community to the Zapata
County Democratic Convention. The convention starts today, March 19 2016 at the Zapata County Courthouse Commissioners
Court located at 200 E. 7th Street. Registration begins at 9 a.m. and the meeting is set to start at 10 a.m.
Man allegedly picked up immigrants By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Courtesy photo
A man was arrested for allegedly breaking into a home and stealing several items, such as an iPhone, camera and metal bracelets. computer printer from inside the home. Investigators said they were able to recover a 55inch television, an iPhone
and eight-assorted colored metal bracelets. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
A man who allegedly picked up illegal immigrants in the San Ygnacio area has been indicted in a federal court in Laredo, according to court documents. Hector Ramon Ortiz Jr. was charged with conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants within the United States and attempt to transport undocumented people for money. Ortiz could serve up to 10 years behind bars if he is convicted. U.S. Border Patrol detained Ortiz on Feb. 22. Prior to the detention, agents said they had responded to reports of a
Upon approach, the deputy discovered Ortiz and eight Mexican citizens suspected of entering the country illegally. silver Chevrolet Avalanche loading illegal immigrants in the high rest
area of San Ygnacio. Agents requested assistance from the Webb County Sheriff ’s Office to perform a traffic stop on the Avalanche. Records state the deputy pulled over the vehicle for displaying an expired buyer tag and failing to signal a lane change. Upon approach, the deputy discovered Ortiz and eight Mexican citizens suspected of entering the country illegally, court documents state. In post-arrest statements, Ortiz allegedly admitted to picking up the immigrants for financial gain. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 7282568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2016
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
Supporting the Kurdish region By TRUDY RUBIN THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
The Kurds of Syria announced on Thursday that they are setting up a federal region — a move that could help defeat the Islamic State in the heart of its caliphate in the Syrian city of Raqqa. Of course the Assad regime denounced the move. But so did the U.S.backed Syrian opposition, while a State Department spokesman also expressed disapproval. Having just visited the Syrian Kurdish region (known as Rojava) — and having just interviewed one of Rojava’s top leaders, Salih Muslim — I think the naysayers are mistaken. Here’s why. The Kurds are practically the only ally the United States has to fight the Islamic State in Syria. After the start of the rebellion against the Assad regime, Kurdish activists organized self-governing structures in their northern heartland, near the Turkish border. They created three separate cantons and lately linked up two of them by ousting Islamic State fighters from intervening towns (inhabited mainly by Sunni Arabs). Muslim told me the Kurds felt they needed to expand their governing system in order to administer the new territory. Their self-declared region will be called Rojava and North Syria, to emphasize that it doesn’t only involve Kurds. This move will impact U.S. efforts to fight the Islamic State in Syria. Washington linked up with Syrian Kurds because they were focused on fighting the Islamic State, which threatens their region. Syrian Arab rebels backed by the United States, on the other hand, were far more interested in battling Assad than taking on the jihadis. The more secular Syrian Kurds produced tough fighters, including all-female units. So the Obama administration began supporting them with air strikes, and sent in 50 U.S. special forces to coordinate. This gets complicated. NATO ally Turkey is neuralgic over U.S. help to Rojava, because Kurdish leaders have historic ties to Turkey’s Kurdish rebels known as the PKK (Washington considers the PKK a terrorist organization, but not the Syrian Kurds, a distinction I believe is correct.) But if the West wants to defeat the Islamic State it needs the Kurds of Rojava. Which brings me to why their creation of a federal region is a good thing. In order to liberate Raqqa (a Sunni Arab town) from the Islamic State jihadis, Kurds need to ally with local Arab fighters. A purely Kurdish force might scare local Sunnis into standing by the Islamic State. Kurdish officials also need to convince Sunni Arabs in the areas already liberated, as well as in Raqqa, that the Kurds won’t seek revenge against them after the Islamic State is gone. There is also the question of who will govern liberated Sunni Arab areas to prevent the next variant on the Islamic State from
taking root. Some Sunni Arab fighters, along with Christians and other minorities, have joined Kurds in the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). But there aren’t enough Arabs for a Raqqa offensive. "Our priority is to liberate Raqqa," Salah Muslim told me, in an interview at a forum sponsored by the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani. "But we need Arab fighters." I asked whether this new federal arrangement might encourage more Arab fighters to join the SDF. Muslim quickly responded, "Surely." "We also have to think who will be there afterwards to govern," he added. "We need Arab Sunnis who would administrate these areas." At minimum, the federal region will give local Arabs a chance to test the Kurds’ bona fides. Muslim told me that Syrian Kurds had just convened a conference with 200 Sunni and other minority leaders and chosen a 31-person committee to set up an administration for new areas liberated from the Islamic State. On my trip to Rojava I briefly attended a preparatory meeting for this conference. I asked one Sunni attendee, Mohammed Bonian, his opinion about the new dispensation. "We want to keep Syria united," he said, "but with a federal system where everyone has their rights." He added that Sunnis were "not for division by ethnic group." This new federal region will test whether Kurds can live up to such a promise, and whether Sunni Arabs will feel their rights are protected. Muslim told me that, if the system works, there could be "another conference to decide for all Syria" whether a federal system would work for the whole country. The concept of federalism is already being widely discussed by Syrians as a possible way to end the fighting in the future. So even if no one presently recognizes the Kurds’ new region, they are leading the way. Skeptics have asked why the Syrian Kurds would want to expend blood liberating Raqqa. After all, their first priority has been to link up two of the three Kurdish cantons with the third, Afrin, which is under Islamic State (and Turkish) siege. Muslim told me that both Afrin and Raqqa are Kurdish priorities. "Raqqa is important to us because all the attacks on us come from Raqqa," he said. "Our people won’t accept that those extremists remain there. We want to be safe in our homes." If declaring a federal region can help Syrian Kurds convince Sunni Arab fighters to join them in liberating Raqqa, it is a development Washington should be supporting. Yes, the declaration may be premature, but federalism is probably where Syria is headed. So two cheers for the federal region of Rogava and North Syria, with a third reserved until we see whether the Kurds can make it work.
COLUMN
Kasich staying in the race only damages his party By JONATHAN BERNSTEIN BLOOMBERG VIEW
Could John Kasich be single-handedly destroying a political party? Either by helping Donald Trump win the Republican nomination or by dragging the party into an ugly contested convention, Kasich seems to be causing a lot of trouble. Serious presidential candidates normally leave the race when they no longer have a chance to win. This is an important part of how the nomination system functions. If losers drop out, then voters in subsequent states — voters who might not follow politics enough to know which candidates are serious contenders and which aren’t — won’t waste their voters on the also-rans. Winnowing is how most nomination fights are decided: Eventually, only one candidate, the winner, remains. That’s important too, because (as we’re learning now) the national conventions aren’t really well-equipped to function as decision-making bodies. Decisions are supposed to be made in the primaries and caucuses. For a nomination season that has seemed chaotic at times, winnowing has — with this one exception — proceeded ex-
actly as one would expect. Fears that super PACs or social media or whatever else would disrupt the normal functioning of the system proved mostly unfounded. Scott Walker, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio: All of them proved capable of raising plenty of money, but none of them survived defeats at the polls. Except for John Kasich. The Ohio governor chose to campaign as a moderate, despite having at least as conservative a record as previous GOP candidates such as John McCain and Mitt Romney, or as Chris Christie and Jeb Bush in the current cycle. Kasich instead campaigned as if he were Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor who ran in 2012: by emphasizing his differences with conservative orthodoxy, instead of papering them over. Kasich then chose to skip Iowa and focus on New Hampshire. This strategy has never produced a nominee since the Iowa caucuses became the first contest back in 1972. Candidates don’t have to win in Iowa, but they do have to compete there. After Iowa, there has never been a point where he should have remained in the race: In New Hampshire,
his 16 percent was disappointing: second place, but well behind Donald Trump, and only matching the 17 percent Huntsman won in 2016. South Carolina (8 percent of the vote) and then Nevada (4 percent) were wipeouts. On Super Tuesday, he lost one state he campaigned in — Vermont — and was clobbered in the other, Massachusetts. Meanwhile, he won less than 10 percent of the vote in the other nine states. He targeted Michigan on March 8 and managed to finish third there, while ignoring (and losing) several other states in the first half of the month. Even on March 15, when he won in his own Ohio, he failed to impress overall, placing a distant third in Illinois and worse in the other three states. Yet Kasich’s choice to stay in the race has mattered. There’s a decent argument that he singlehandedly destroyed Rubio, who almost certainly would have had many more delegates if Kasich had dropped out when it made sense to. And his current campaign makes no sense at all. Kasich inexplicably declined to debate Ted Cruz on March 21 after Donald Trump dropped
out of that debate, thus costing both candidates a decent-sized opportunity to impress voters. Even weirder is his decision to campaign in Utah before that state’s caucuses on March 22. Utah has a 50 percent winner-take-all trigger, and is thought to be a good Cruz state. If Kasich wants a contested convention, he needs Cruz to get that 50 percent and win all of Utah’s delegates, thereby locking out Trump. The Ohio governor has other states where he should be devoting his limited resources. It’s as if his campaign strategist was a Magic 8 Ball. If only Cruz and Trump remained, it’s possible Trump would just win. Cruz hasn’t shown the ability to win the votes of anyone but the most conservative Republicans, and perhaps he can’t. Theoretically, Kasich and Cruz could coordinate their efforts to focus on each candidate’s strengths (even given that Kasich’s strengths are still largely theoretical at this point). But apparently neither of these would-be Trump stoppers plays any better with others than does the man they’re chasing. All in all, Trump couldn’t have asked for a better opponent.
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DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
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State
SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2016
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
Solar farm uses the sun on a small scale By NANCY SARNOFF HOUSTON CHRONICLE
SEALY, Texas — Joey Romano, a Houstonian who has worked in real estate development and in the renewable energy field, is combining the two in his newest project: a 12-acre solar farm 50 miles west of Houston. Romano refers to his new endeavor as “farm-to-market solar energy,” borrowing a phrase typically associated with country roads or, in the foodie world, with organically grown fruits and vegetables. The recently completed solar plant stands in stark contrast to the rural properties alongside it where horses roam amid stacks of hay. “It’s on an FM road, but it’s a similar model to farmers taking their produce to market,” Romano told the Houston Chronicle, squinting under the bright sun on a recent visit to the site. Unlike traditional solar programs, he said, the farm-to-market approach will give consumers the ability to buy electricity harvested from a local farm. The project has the capacity to power 300 homes within CenterPoint’s distribution area. Romano wants the farm to be a place where his customers and locals can visit. He plans to hold events there, partnering with other like-minded businesses or non-profits, and host educational tours though area schools. “We want to make it a space where customers can come out and see where their electricity is produced,” said Romano, president of Harvest Moon Renewable Energy Co., a familyrun business. “We plan to have honey bees out there and wildflowers.” Their farm is on FM 3013 just south of Interstate 10 in Austin County. It was previously pasture land, like much of the property around it. “There are a lot of great sites like this that would be prime for this type of low-impact development where it otherwise would be farmland,” Romano said. “And that’s kind of the
Photo by Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle | AP
In a March 4, 2016 photo, Joey Romano talks about his solar farm in Sealy, Texas. Romano’s family company, Harvest Moon Renewable Energy Co., has developed a 12-acre solar farm with more than 15,000 solar panels. model. When we call it farm-tomarket solar energy we’re trying to take the model that’s out there in terms of local farmers, family farms that are planting, harvesting and bringing it to market.” Solar is booming across the state amid lower costs and regulations and growing consumer enthusiasm about the environment. While the biggest solar plants are in West Texas, smaller ones ranging from 15 to 30 megawatts have been built in Austin, San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth as local utilities have offered rebates and other incentive programs to encourage solar development. Houston hasn’t seen those incentives and therefore has had little of the expansion, said Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas, an Austin-based environmental advocacy group. But with solar having become much less expensive, the incentives are no longer as much of an issue, he said. Plus, an investment tax credit was recently renewed on the federal
level. “With the new tax credit being renewed, and the fact that solar is cheap now and with the public appetite for solar, they could make some money on it while also doing good,” Metzger said. Harvest Moon’s solar array was installed and completed at the end of last year. It includes about 15,000 panels that cam produce 1.5 megawatts of power. Robust transmission lines already exist in the area, in part because of a large Wal-Mart distribution center nearby. The installation was remarkably simple, Romano said. The panels, each able to provide about 100 watts of electricity, are relatively light. They clamp together and are mounted to 1,000 poles built into the ground. The system is designed to sustain high winds of 150 miles per hour. All that’s left to do on the property, Romano said, is “dress it up.” There will be parking added for visitors and room for people to gather. But there won’t be
any flashy signs or lights. Romano said he prefers to keep it low key. He’s taken the same approach to other his projects. Before the Sealy project came along, Romano spent several years developing solarpowered shipping containers. In 2011, he developed a small apartment building in Montrose where he incorporated solar power, a rainwater collection system and a green roof. Harvest Moon partnered with MP2 Energy, a retail electricity provider based in The Woodlands, to market the solar energy through a fully renewable power plan. The plan is designed in part for those who are interested in renewable energy but can’t put solar panels on their homes or offices because they rent, or they don’t want to commit to the upfront costs in case they have to move. “It’s a low-risk way to engage in solar,” said Maura Yates, vice president of sustainable solutions with MP2 Energy.
The company is marketing Harvest Moon’s farm-to-market program as a fixed-rate plan for five years to hedge against future price increases. There’s no penalty to cancel. For consumers, the cost works out to be between 12 and 13 cents per kilowatt hour, comparable to other renewable plans. Commercial customers can have plans tailored to their needs. “While that’s higher than what other retail electric prices go for today if natural gas prices go up again it’s possible you could end up saving money by having locked in these rates,” Metzger said. The way the system works is that Harvest Moon sells the power directly to MP3, which then blends it with other power from renewable plants in Texas that the retailer manages, including landfill gas plants, wind farms and biomass facilities. Nationwide, solar is gaining huge traction in the electricity market. A recent report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration said that for the first time more large-scale solar farms are expected to be built this year than any other power source. A good bit of that growth is in West Texas where wide-open landscapes bake under the sun. Still, solar only accounts for about 1 percent of the nation’s total power supply, the EIA said. Harvest Moon’s Sealy project, which cost about $3 million to build, is small potatoes compared to the big solar plants. “There are people out in the desert doing 100 megawatts,” Romano said. “We’re a family company. It fits our scale.” Romano sees the Sealy farm as one of many long-term investments for the family business, like the apartment building, which was financed with family money. “It’s things we feel like will benefit the community long term, be financially sustainable, but something at the end of the day we can feel proud of,” he said.
PÁGINA 6A
Zfrontera
Agenda en Breve BÚSQUEDA CASCARONES DE PASCUA La Comisión de Parques y Entretenimiento de Roma, Texas. Invita a la 4ª Búsqueda de Cascarones de Pascua el sábado 19 de marzo a partir de las 10 a.m. en el Parque Municipal Roma. Habrá comida, premios, juegos y fotografías con el Conejo de Pascua.
DPS: HIJO DE COMISIONADO SE IMPACTÓ CONTRA CERCA
Doble acusación POR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
CHARREADA Se llevará a cabo la cuarta charreada anual a beneficio de la Cruz Roja Mexicana en Miguel Alemán, México. La cita es el domingo 20 de marzo en el Lienzo Charro de la colonia Linda Vista, a partir de las 4 p.m. Participará la Asociación de Charros del Rancho Nuevo H.G. de Reynosa, México y la Asociación de Charros La Ribereña, quienes realizarán nueve suertes. Igualmente se tendrá la presencia de la Escaramuza Charra Juvenil de Reynosa, y la Escaramuza Charra Infantil de Miguel Alemán. El costo es de 20 pesos por persona, y los niños menroes de 10 años entran gratis. Todo lo recaudaro se destinará a la Cruz Roja.
SÁBADO 19 DE MARZO DE 2016
Una persona sospechosa de conducir intoxicada se estrelló contra la cerca de Zapata County Shop el fin de semana pasado, de acuerdo con autoridades estatales. El Departamento de Seguridad Pública de Texas identificó al hombre como Norberto Garza Jr., de 23 años de edad. Se trata del hijo del Comisionado del Precinto 4 en el Conda-
do de Zapata, Norberto Garza. El funcionario no quiso realizar comentarios. El accidente fue reportado alredeGARZA JR. dor de las 2:20 a.m. del 12 de marzo en la tienda del condado entre Texas 16 y 12th Avenue, donde vehículos y otra maquinaria del condado reciben mantenimiento. DPS dijo que se reportó daño mínimo a la cerca. De acuerdo
con DPS, autoridades sostuvieron que encontraron drogas en el vehículo. Garza Jr. fue acusado con conducir intoxicado y posesión de marihuana. Fue trasladado a la Cárcel del Condado de Zapata, de donde posteriormente salió libre bajo fianza de 3.000 dólares, de acuerdo con la Oficina del Alguacil del Condado de Zapata. (Localice a César G. Rodriguez en el 728-2568 o en cesar@lmtonline.com)
FRONTERA TEXAS-LUISIANA
CIERRE DE CAMINO
ZUMBATÓN El jueves 24 de marzo se celebrará un Zumbatón en la Presa Falcón por el lado de Nueva Ciudad Guererro. El objetivo es apoyar en los gastos médicos de una familia de ésa ciudad. Instructores certificados ofrecerán la clase. Costo: 50 pesos, adultos; y 10 pesos, niños. Adquiera su boleto con Divas de Zumba. Por otra parte se estará rifando un “Kit de Pachanga” que consta de un kilo de carne, una bolsa de pollo, surtido de bebidas, y una bolsa de carbón. Costo: 50 pesos.
B&G CLUB DE ZAPATA PIDE APOYO El Boys and Girls Club de Zapata tiene proyectado una búsqueda de cascarones de pascua para sus integrantes el viernes 25 de marzo. Por esta razón están solicitnado el apoyo de los padres de familia y comunidad en general para que donen cascarones de pascua o snacks. Informes en el 956-7653892.
FIESTA El Gobierno de Nueva Ciudad Guerrero, México, invita a disfrutar los eventos por las Vacaciones de Semana Santa 2016 el viernes 25 de marzo a partir de las 10 a.m. en el Parque Nuevo Amanecer.
BRAVO FEST La ciudad de Miguel Alemán, México, invita al evento “Bravo Fest” del 25 al 27 de marzo en las márgenes del Río Bravo, debajo del puente internacional que conecta con Roma, Texas. El festival tiene como objetivo promover el turismo local y regional, especialmente en el Valle de Texas.
PINTA DE BARDAS La comisión de agua de Miguel Alemán, México, premió a los tres primeros lugares del concurso “Pinta de Bardas”. Alumnos del Jardín de Niños Las Américas obtuvieron el premio de 3.000 pesos; el Jardín de Niños Mi Aventura, 2.000 pesos; y el Jardín de Niños Eagle College y el Mundo de los Niños, recibió 1.000 pesos, al haber quedado en primer, segundo y tercer lugar, respectivamente. Con “Pinta de Bardas” los alumnos tuvieron que participar en pintar la barda de sus escuelas donde destacaron el mensaje de cuidar el agua.
Foto por Brett Coomer | Houston Chronicle
El oficial Jeff Cox toma fotos mientras patrulla la zona inundada por las aguas del río Sabine, el miércoles, en Deweyville.
Existe temor de que llueva nuevamente POR DALE LEZON LA VOZ DE HOUSTON
La Interestatal 10 seguía cerrada la mañana del viernes en ambas direcciones en la zona fronteriza entre Texas y Luisiana y cerca del río Sabine, ante la continua amenaza de inundaciones en el área. El miércoles, el Departamento de Transporte de Texas ordenó el cierre de los carriles hacia el este cuando el agua se esparció por la autopista. En Luisiana, sus homólogos tuvieron que cerrar el martes los carriles hacia el oeste. No se sabe cuándo reabrirán esa vía. Se cree que el desbordamiento del río Sabine ha alcanzado su nivel culminante y se espera el agua retroceda en pocos días, de acuerdo con TxDOT. Cuando la inundación
concluya, trabajadores inspeccionarán el pavimento y los puentes para garantizar que el tránsito en esa carretera no corre peligro. No obstante, la autopista puede permanecer cerrada por días. Autoridades revelaron que es posible llueva más en la región esta semana y durante el fin de semana, lo que aumenta los temores de que se produzcan más inundaciones. El Servicio Nacional de Meteorología indicó que la región podría recibir hasta una pulgada adicional de lluvia, pero que es posible que esto no aumente las inundaciones. Hace varios días, esa área estuvo anegada en agua debido a las tormentas que azotaron la zona. El agua liberada por el reservorio Toledo Bend, al norte de la I-10,
fluye cuesta abajo y ha contribuido a las inundaciones. Otras rutas entre Texas y Luisiana también están cerradas. Los puentes sobre el río Sabine, en las autopistas 12 y 63, también permanecen cerrados. Los conductores que viajen hacia el este y el oeste deben tomar la Interestatal 20 hasta nuevo aviso. En el caso de los que viajan por I-10, de oeste a este, existen recomendaciones según el punto de partida. Desde El Paso tome I-20 East de Van Horn; desde San Antonio tome I-35 North hacia I-20 East a Shreveport; desde Houston tome US 59 North hacia I-20 East a Shreveport; desde Beaumont tome US 96 North para US 69 North después a US 59 North y finalmente a I-20 East a Shreveport.
MIGUEL ALEMÁN, MX
Foto de cortesía
El Gobernador de Tamaulipas, Egidio Torre Cantú, y el Presidente Municipal de Miguel Alemán, Mexico, Ramiro Cortés, encabezaron la ceremonia de inauguración de la sala del nuevo sistema de justicia penal en Tamaulipas en la ciudad fronteriza.
Abre sala del poder judicial TIEMPO DE LAREDO
Fue inaugurada la sala de control del poder judicial del estado la cual dará servicio a los municipios ubicados en la zona ribereña que conforman la quinta región judicial de Tamaulipas. La sala de control del nuevo sistema de justicia penal se ubica en Miguel Alemán, México, y el objetivo es brindar servicios de defensoría pública, procuración e impartición de justicia regionalizada, de acuerdo con un comunicado de prensa del Gobierno de Tamaulipas. En la citada ubicación serán atendidos casos relativos a 86 delitos, y se implementarán los juicios orales que la nueva legislación ordena homologar para junio en todo México. “Con esto no solo daremos cobertura territorial, sino que con el concurso de nuestro capital humano… daremos cumplimiento a lo que nos mandata la Constitución”, dijo el Gobernador Egidio Torre Cantú. “En el fortalecimiento de este nuevo sistema, la infraestructura juega un papel fundamental”. En la ceremonia estuvo presente Hernán de la Garza Tamez, Magistrado Presidente del Supremo Tribunal de Justicia; Ismael Quintanilla Acosta, Procurador General de Justicia; Manuel Miranda Castro, Secretario Técnico para la Implementación del Nuevo Sistema de Justicia Penal y Ramiro Cortés Barrera, Presidente Municipal de Miguel Alemán. La sala de control del nuevo sistema de justicia penal cuenta con oficinas de la Procuraduría General de Justicia, Ministerio Público, Instituto Tamaulipeco de Defensoría Pública, Poder Judicial del Estado y salas de juicios orales. De igual forma, Torre Cantú visitó Ciudad Mier, México, donde inauguró un parque de barrio y recorrió la nueva museografía en el Museo Casa de los Frijoles Pintos.
COLUMNA
Banderas españolas tenían origen turbio Nota del Editor: Durante un tiempo México conservó dos banderas españolas. Eran de tropas que buscaban revertir la independencia nacional, pero al no lograrlo debieron moverlas.
POR RAÚL SINENCIO CHÁVEZ ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
En 1829 Fernando VII envía al brigadier Isidro Barradas, acompañado de 3.000 huestes, a Veracruz con la encomienda de reconquistar México. Barradas emprende la marcha rumbo al río Pánuco, para después decidir ocupar y concentrarse en Tampico. Resuelto a combatirlo, Antonio López de Santa Anna se posiciona en Pueblo Viejo. Realiza imprudentes operativos y cerca
está de caer prisionero. Manuel Mier y Terán afina la contraofensiva. En consecuencia, los reconquistadores son quebrantados por el hambre y enfermedades tropicales, quedando reducidos a dos únicos emplazamientos, en la urbe porteña y La Barra, respectivamente. Aunque los adversarios doblan sus manos, lejos de rendirse en forma abierta, prefieren hacerlo bajo ciertos términos. Es decir, recurren a la capitulación, que presupone en lo militar dos requisitos insoslayables: una retirada honrosa y establecer por escrito los acuerdos. El convenio es suscrito y ratificado el 11 de septiembre de 1829. Tanto a Santa Anna como a Mier les cabe el mérito de la capitulación. El
mismo 11 de septiembre, Santa Anna reporta a la superioridad que “Los orgullosos españoles […] mañana […] abatirán sus banderas”. Evitemos ahondar por el momento y concedámosle nomás que para el día siguiente estaba previsto cumplir algunos compromisos”. Después el sábado 19 de septiembre escribe “He ordenado […] un inventario […] de las banderas […] y demás útiles […] tomados al enemigo […] El coronel […] José Antonio Mejía” y “mis ayudantes” presentarán “dos banderas y un pabellón español”. Dos años después publica sus memorias. “El 11 de septiembre de 1829… la división” invasora “me entregaba sus armas y banderas”. Detectemos las
discrepancias. Primero anticipa que el sábado 12 “los orgullosos españoles […] abatirán sus banderas”. Luego suelta que los pendones le fueron “tomados al enemigo”. Y acaba por referir que el 11, no el 12, la fuerza hispana “me entregaba” dichos lábaros.. Varios elementos despiertan suspicacias. Capitular –enfatizan los especialistas—se justifica si garantiza el honor castrense de los capitulantes. Ello queda en duda al producirse el abatimiento, la entrega o la toma de las máximas insignias. Puede aducirse que el supuesto convenio de 1829 en su artículo 2 contempla: el “general español […] entregará las armas, banderas y cajas de guerra” o tambores. En otra versión del si-
glo XIX, el propio artículo 2 indica: el “general español […] entregará las armas y cajas de guerra” – excluyendo los pendones. Siendo que era imposible que estos últimos pasaran a dominio contrario al margen de Barradas, y que a Santa Anna solo le interesaba torcer las estipulaciones, lo anterior sugiere oscuros arreglos entre ambos. En 2010 el gobierno mexicano recibe de España dos antiguas banderas insurgentes. Cede en reciprocidad el par de piezas que comentamos. Una, de manera definitiva, y presta la otra durante cinco años. Vistas las circunstancias, nos convino el intercambio. (Con permiso del autor según fuera publicado en La Razón de Tampico, México, el 4 marzo 2016)
SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2016
NY foster parent charged with abusing boys, dog By FRANK ELTMAN
gaburu was brought in for questioning, he called a 28-year-old adoptee. When that adoptee went MINEOLA, N.Y. — A suburban to a police station, detectives told New York foster parent who cared him about the allegations and that for up to 140 boys over the past man began cooperating with investwo decades has been tigators. charged with sexually “That opened the floodabusing seven of them gates,” the prosecutor and prosecutors say said. there are more victims. Spota said it appears Cesar Gonzalez-Muthe boys were sheltered gaburu, 59, of Ridge, from the community, and New York, on Long Iswere not permitted to parland, was ordered held ticipate in extracurricular on $1 million bond Friactivities at school, nor day after being any athletics programs. charged in a 17-count GONZALEZ-MUGABURU He said he children were indictment with child fed twice a day and were endangerment and sexual miscon- made to eat on the floor. duct. He is accused of victimizing “He’s trying to devise every way children as young as 8. He is also he can to keep these kids conaccused of sexually abusing a fe- tained,” Spota said. male dog in front of a child last Authorities the foster children September. were placed in his care by BrentHis attorney did not immediate- wood, New York, non-profit St. ly return a telephone message Christopher Ottilie and the New seeking comment. York City Administration for ChilSuffolk County District Attor- dren Services. Rose Anello, a ney Thomas Spota told The Asso- spokeswoman for St. Christopher ciated Press that Gonzalez-Muga- Ottilie, says the organization buru earned as much as $18,000 a placed 71 children with Gonzalezmonth as a foster parent for the Mugaburu over the past 19 years. children. He cared for between six “This investigation should exand eight children at a time since pand well beyond the offender to at least 1996, the prosecutor said. those who helped to enable this ofSome of the foster children, fender to access potential victims,” some of whom were developmen- said Laura Ahearn, a victims’ tally disabled, were subsequently rights advocate and executive diadopted by Gonzalez-Mugaburu, rector of Parents for Megan’s Law, although Spota said he did not im- which tracks alleged sex offenders. mediately have details on how Spota said the investigation is many. ongoing, and will include how the He said prosecutors were only alleged abuse went undetected for able to charge Gonzalez-Mugaburu so long. with abusing seven children in the Gonzalez-Mugaburu had no priindictment unsealed Friday, be- or arrests, prosecutors said; Spota cause statute of limitations laws said investigators also are trying prevent filing charges involving to determine how the suspect was other victims. He said two boys permitted to be a foster parent, became forward in January and re- cause he said the man has no emported the alleged abuse to a case- ployment record. worker, who contacted police. De“He claims to be self-employed,” tectives then launched a wider in- Spota said. vestigation. Statements issued by both the “We know there were other vic- ACS and the non-profit said they tims,” Spota said. were cooperating with the ongoing He said that when Gonzalez-Mu- investigation. ASSOCIATED PRESS
National
THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A
Man pleads guilty to Baltimore riot charges By JULIET LINDERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
BALTIMORE — A 20-yearold Baltimore man pleaded guilty to charges stemming from fires and looting during the unrest after Freddie Gray’s death, and to an unrelated assault. Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein announced the plea Friday. Court documents say Donta Betts tried to set a police car on fire, looted a CVS pharmacy and lit a roll of toilet paper on fire, placing it atop propane cylinders and squirting it with lighter fluid to try to prevent officers from coming inside the pharmacy during a riot on April 27. After he ignited the fire, the propane tanks explod-
ed, sending metal and debris flying onto the crowded streets. The CVS burned down and has become a symbol for the anger that engulfed the city in the wake of Gray’s death. Gray, a 25-year-old black man from West Baltimore, died April 19, a week after his neck was broken in the back of a police transport van. The statement of facts attached to the plea agreement says that on April 27, Betts threw rocks at police officers at Mondawmin Mall, where the unrest began. Later in the afternoon, Betts created makeshift explosive devices and set fires on Pennsylvania and North avenues, the intersection at the center of the unrest. The plea agreement also
says Betts tried to tip over MTA and police vehicles and set them on fire; at Pennsylvania and North avenue,s Betts stuffed flammable material into the fuel filler pipe of a police car and ignited the material. Months later, on July 2, Betts shot a woman who’d purchased heroin from him because she owed him $20 for the deal, according to court documents. Betts saw the individual in the driver’s seat of a car, walked up and shot her in the leg. She was taken to the hospital and treated for severe injuries. According to the agreement, Betts will be sentenced to between 14 and 16 years in prison. He will be sentenced June 24.
Attack showed need for secure radio, vests By AMY TAXIN ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.— The terror attack that killed 14 people in California in December showed police need a protected radio channel and ambulance personnel need safety gear, emergency responders said Friday. Police, fire and medical personnel lauded interagency working relationships during a state legislative hearing convened to learn what worked in the hours after a husband and wife opened fire on a luncheon for county health inspectors. But they underscored the need for officers from diverse agencies to be able to communicate safely without worrying about details of a crime being broadcast live. “Our radio traffic was playing out in real time across the nation,” said San Bernardino po-
lice Lt. Michael Madden, urging lawmakers to support efforts to enhance the security of communications. “That is an extremely precarious situation for first-responders in an incident of this magnitude to be put in.” His comments came at a hearing of a joint legislative committee on emergency management called by state Assemblyman Freddie Rodriguez. A similar hearing was held by the committee after the 2013 shooting death of a Transportation Security Administration worker at Los Angeles International Airport. The lessons learned from that hearing prodded state lawmakers to pass legislation requiring agencies to cooperate on active-shooter training, Rodriguez said. Since the San Bernardino attack, law enforcement and medical personnel have been evaluating how they responded after
Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik killed 14 and wounded 22 others at the gathering for Farook’s colleagues at the San Bernardino County public health department. Farook and Malik died hours later in a shootout with police on a busy street in the largely suburban community east of Los Angeles. The couple carried out the deadliest terror strike on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001. But David Molloy, operations manager of private ambulance company American Medical Response, said he was concerned medical responders went without helmets or safety vests to an active shooting scene when the whereabouts of Farook and Malik were still unknown. “What would have happened if they would have come back to the scene, or the triage area, and my folks were not protected?” he said.
Politics
8A THE ZAPATA TIMES
1st woman nominated for combatant command By LOLITA C. BALDOR ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will nominate the first woman to head a U.S. military combatant command, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Friday, a major milestone in a department that this year opened all combat jobs to women. Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson is being nominated to head U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command. If confirmed by the Senate, Robinson, would be
Photo courtesy of the US Air Force | AP
This undated photo provided by the U.S. Air Force shows Gen. Lori J. Robinson. the seventh commander to head the Coloradobased command. She currently is head of the Pa-
cific Air Force. Northern Command was created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to coordinate and improve homeland defense and to provide support for national disasters. She would replace Adm. William Gortney, who is retiring. Carter also said that Obama will nominate Gen. Vincent Brooks to head U.S. Forces Korea. Brooks currently is in charge of U.S. Army Pacific Command. Brooks’ nomination also is subject to Senate confirmation.
Romney to vote for Cruz in Utah caucuses ASSOCIATED PRESS
Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Friday he will vote for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the upcoming caucuses in his home state of Utah, intensifying his attack against front-runner Donald Trump. “There is a contest between Trumpism and Republicanism,” Romney wrote on his official Facebook page. “Through the calculated statements of its leader, Trumpism has become associated with racism, misogyny, bigotry, xenophobia, vulgarity and, most recently, threats and violence. I am repulsed by each and every one of these.” Responding on Twitter, Trump noted that Romney had previously supported the candidacies of Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. “Mitt Romney is a mixed
up man who doesn’t have a clue,” Trump wrote. “No wonder he lost!” Kasich tried to brush off Romney’s endorsement of Cruz. “This is his view and he’s entitled to it. Frankly, I don’t think anybody’s going to have enough delegates to get to the convention,” Kasich said after a town hall in Orem, Utah, on Friday. “This is really about who we want to run the country. This is not a parlor game.” Romney delivered a scathing attack on Trump in a speech at the University of Utah earlier this month, in which he called Trump “a phony” who is “playing the American public for suckers.” A number of Republican officials have shown their support for Cruz in recent days while falling short of endorsing the senator, who is currently in second place in the race for the GOP
nomination. On Thursday, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said he would help Cruz’s fundraising efforts but stopped short of offering his endorsement to his senate colleague. Romney also said in his statement Friday that he likes Kasich, who currently trails both Trump and Cruz, but said “a vote for Gov. Kasich in future contests makes it extremely likely that Trumpism would prevail.” Utah is one of four contests scheduled for Tuesday. Early polling shows Cruz leading among the state’s predominantly Mormon voters. Trump currently leads his rivals, having won 678 delegates in contests held thus far, according to a count by The Associated Press. Cruz is in second place with 423 delegates, and Kasich is in third with 143. Needed to win: 1,237.
SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2016
Kelley’s federal lawsuit collapsing By TED BRIDIS AND ERIC TUCKER ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — A Florida woman’s federal lawsuit over an investigation that led to the resignation of former CIA director David Petraeus is collapsing after her lawyers asked a judge Friday to let them withdraw from the case. The lawyers cited irreconcilable differences, just weeks after the Justice Department declined a secret $4.35 million settlement proposal. Jill Kelley of Tampa, along with her husband, Scott, had sued the government in June 2013 in Washington, alleging that officials violated the U.S. Privacy Act by disclosing information about them during the FBI’s investigation of Petraeus. The first signs that Sidley Austin LLP, a prominent corporate law firm, and Sands Anderson PC, which handled related parts of the lawsuit, intended to abandon the case were in a brief court docket entry directing Kelley by next week to hire new lawyers, object to hers quitting or advise the judge that she planned to represent herself going forward. In a different court filing Friday, both firms formally and openly asked U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson to permit them to quit. They cited local court rules that apply in cases of “irreconcilable differences between the lawyer and client.” The Justice Department last summer offered to settle Kelley’s claims, but she declined the deal. Sidley lawyers more recently proposed a $4.35 million settlement but the Justice Department in late February declined to pay that amount and abruptly ended further
Photo by Chris O’Meara | AP file
Jill Kelley’s federal lawsuit is collapsing after her lawyers asked a judge to let them withdraw from the case. negotiations, saying it suddenly viewed the case “in a much different way than when we made offers of judgment that your clients did not accept,” according to communications obtained by The Associated Press. Kelley said Friday in a written statement that it was “truly unfortunate that both monetary and governmental pressures have forced our counsel to file a motion to withdraw.” The New York Post reported earlier Friday that Kelley was writing a book about her experiences, called “Collateral Damage,”
and that it would be published soon. Lawyers for Kelley did not immediately return phone messages Friday from the AP. The Justice Department declined to comment through a spokeswoman. Sidley Austin told the judge it would still be owed any money that Kelley might win in a future settlement or judgment against the government, but it did not specify its fees or litigation costs so far. Kelley’s lawyers had originally sought to file their request to withdraw privately under seal. The judge said that was inappropriate. She noted intense publicity that has surrounded the case and blamed Kelley and her lawyers for some of the news coverage. “The case is a matter of public record, and indeed, its filing and the events that have transpired thereafter have been broadly publicized by plaintiffs themselves and/or members of their legal team,” the judge wrote. Jill Kelley had complained to the FBI in 2012 when an unknown person sent her harassing emails.
SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2016
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
SeaWorld has made a smart business move By SCOTT MAXWELL ORLANDO SENTINEL
SeaWorld’s decision to stop whale breeding — and ultimately end its practice of whales in captivity — is a big, blubbery deal. It’s like Disney ending its relationship with Mickey Mouse. Except Mickey never killed any of Disney’s cast members with guests watching. Which is why SeaWorld’s decision was also necessary. Quite simply: Captive whales are no longer good for business. There are some who will take to online message boards to scream at SeaWorld for CAVING IN TO ANIMAL-RIGHTS NUTS! These people don’t understand how business works. Or at least they haven’t taken the time to look at SeaWorld’s business record. I have. And it is a downward trend. Lower attendance. Lower revenues. Lower profits. From 2013 to 2015, most every key metric was down.
Attendance dropped by 1 million guests. Adjusted net income dropped 37 percent. The stock value plummeted in half. All while competing parks, like Disney and Universal, experienced booms. The screamers urging SeaWorld to stay the course would have told the Apollo 13 crew to pay no attention to all that carbon dioxide filling their ship. Evolution is necessary for the park to survive. And the world today is much different than when SeaWorld first opened its tanks in 1964. Today, people care more — and know more — about how animals are treated. If they care enough to pay a higher price for cagefree eggs or free-range chicken, you can bet they pay attention to the living conditions of gigantic, splash-on-demand mammals. SeaWorld wasn’t caving to PETA. It was catering to the average soccer mom who started realizing her
Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack | AP file
In this file photo, killer whale Tilikum watches as SeaWorld Orlando trainers take a break during a training session. choices for a family vacation were either SeaWorld (where she’d seen something about a dead trainer and bloody whale battles) or Universal (where Harry Potter finds freedom every day, escaping Gringotts). SeaWorld’s evolution will be painful. You try running a whale park without any
Market finishes 5th week of gains
whales. But by doing it this way — announcing that the whale program will end when the existing whales die in a couple of decades or more — gives the park plenty of time to prepare. If there’s a motto for SeaWorld’s future plans, it should be: Bigger rides,
By MARLEY JAY
By JEFF MARTIN ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Another strong gain for stocks Friday extended the market’s recovery from a dismal start to the year to a fifth week in a row. The Standard and Poor’s 500 index closed up for the year for the first time. The Dow Jones industrial average turned positive Thursday. Both had been down more than 10 percent for the year a little more than a month ago. The Dow rose 120.81 points Friday, or 0.7 percent, to 17,602.30. It is up 1 percent for the year. The S&P 500 gained 8.97 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,049.56, and is now up 0.3 percent for 2016. The Nasdaq composite picked up 20.6 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,795.65, though the Nasdaq remains down 4 percent for the year. Stocks had plunged early this year as investors feared that Chinese economy, which has been the engine of global growth, was slowing faster than expected and that China’s slide would be enough to pull the U.S. economy into recession. “The market tended to focus on the negative and ignore the good” at the start of this year, said Lowell Yura, head of Multi-Asset Solutions for BMO Global Asset Management.
ATLANTA — Atlanta’s airport — the world’s busiest — and Los Angeles officials want to force Uber drivers to get fingerprintbased background checks to pick up passengers, but the ride-hailing service is balking. Officials in both cities are weighing measures to require Uber and similar companies to tighten standards in an effort to ferret out drivers who have had serious trouble with the law. The debate over safety has come amid rapid growth by Uber and other app-based ride-booking services and intensified last month, when police say an Uber driver went on a shooting spree in Michigan that led to six deaths. The Atlanta City Council will review a proposed fingerprint requirement on March 30 that airport officials have been advocating. Officials at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport said they might be inclined to lift the current ban on ride-booking services if fingerprint-based background checks are implemented. Such a requirement “gives everybody confidence in the system,” Airport General Manager Miguel Southwell told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He added that “it really
Trader Mark Muller, right, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday. But over the course of the five-week rally, reports on hiring, manufacturing and construction spending showed the U.S. economy is doing fairly well. Industrial, consumer and technology stocks benefited from the more positive outlook in the U.S. Energy and materials stocks climbed as oil and precious metals prices rose. And this week the Federal Reserve said it expects to slow the pace of interest rate increases this year. Lower rates make stocks look more attractive to investors, and they help boost economic growth by reducing borrowing costs and reducing the risk associated with starting or expanding businesses. The biggest gainers Friday were health care stocks and banks, the worst-performing parts of the market this year. Companies that make aircraft,
machinery and chemicals also rose as the dollar fell against other currencies on hopes that the weaker dollar will boost their sales outside of the U.S. Starwood Hotels climbed $4.18, or 5.5 percent, to $80.57 after the hotel chain said it accepted a new buyout offer from a group led by Anbang Insurance Group of China. The bid is worth more than $14 billion. Competitor Marriott, which agreed to buy Starwood last year, said it is considering its options and noted it has the right to make another offer. Columbia Pipeline Group climbed after TransCanada Corp. agreed to buy the company for $10 billion, or $25.50 per share, in an attempt to expand further into the U.S. Columbia Pipeline stock advanced $1.33, or 5.7 percent, to $24.84.
on CBS, SeaWorld CEO Joel Manby sat next to former foe Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society of the United States, and the two patted each other’s backs nonstop. The CBS hosts were so smitten, they labeled the new partnership a "bromance" and asked if the two men could teach Congress to get along so well. There are still plenty of challenges and questions. Chief among them: If it’s whales today, will it be dolphins next? And then sea lions? But for now, SeaWorld has basically said to its customers: We hear you. We understand that orcas are in a class of their own. And while we can’t just turn them loose, because whales born in captivity might not survive in the wild, we can let you know that we’re ready to evolve. That sentiment earned good will, good press and, by close of business Thursday, a 9 percent jump in the stock price.
Uber balks at rules proposed by airport
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Richard Drew | AP
smaller animals. The truth is: SeaWorld has known this for years. It began investing in impressive rides years ago and has since stepped on the accelerator. Oh, and there’s another reason for SeaWorld to evolve beyond the whale shows — a reason you don’t hear as much about: They’re boring. If you haven’t seen one in a few years, you may have memories of trainers riding on whales and being blasted into the air. Those days are long gone. After Tilikum drowned trainer Dawn Brancheau, the in-water interaction ended. Nowadays, it’s 25 minutes of whales splashing in the tank while trainers stand on dry land, dancing in wetsuits and throwing out dead fish. The announcement also gave SeaWorld something it hasn’t had much of in a long time: good press. On Thursday, SeaWorld swam in it. In a truly surreal scene
Photo by David Goldman | AP
Passengers check in at the domestic passenger terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. should be a welcome part of the process.” But Uber has sharply opposed the proposal. Company spokesman Bill Gibbons said in an interview Friday that such a requirement would add “substantial, additional bureaucratic barriers for drivers,” many of whom work part-time driving customers when they can. Uber said the proposal for fingerprint-based background checks is out of step with operating agreements it has with about 50 U.S. airports, which it says don’t require fingerprintbased background checks. Among them is Denver International Airport, which allows regular Uber drivers to drop off and pick up passengers in the same public areas where family members and friends pick up passengers, airport spokesman Heath Montgomery
said. In Los Angeles, meanwhile, Mayor Eric Garcetti and two council members have asked California regulators to allow the city to implement a pilot program requiring fingerprinting of drivers for ride-booking services. “Keeping the riding public safe is something we should strive to do and requiring full and fair fingerprint background checks across the board will push us in that direction,” Los Angeles City Council member Paul Krekorian said in a statement. Many law enforcement experts say a fingerprint search is the most comprehensive way to check someone’s background. Uber counters that its checks — which it says includes searches of motor vehicle department files — are strong.
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Zentertainment
SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2016
New ‘Daredevil’ season Swift surprises children arrives on Netflix By KRISTIN M. HALL ASSOCIATED PRESS
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Pop star Taylor Swift made a surprise appearance at a Nashville, Tennessee, children’s hospital to help “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest open a broadcast studio for patients. Swift on Friday met with children at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center following the ribbon cutting on the new Seacrest Studio built at the hospital. She told the crowd that she visited one of the now 10 studios that Seacrest’s foundation had built at children’s hospitals across the country and wanted to be involved when he opened the latest one in Music City. “What I saw when I
By MIKE HALE NEW YORK TIMES
The second season of “Daredevil” arrived on Netflix on Friday less than a year after Season 1, but it already feels as if it’s falling behind in the Marvel antihero race. “Jessica Jones,” another Netflix series based on a Marvel comics character, and the Marvel film “Deadpool” came along in the meantime and seduced audiences and critics with moody noir fatalism and wisecracking, fourth-wall-breaking nihilism. “Daredevil,” with its sincerity and the broad comic-book strokes of its storytelling, seems square in comparison. That in itself isn’t a reason to prefer one show over another, and “Daredevil” is still a solid crime-fighter drama, with handsome, dimly lighted camerawork reflecting the point of view of its blind hero (the cinematographer this season is Martin Ahlgren) and fight choreography that’s economical but effective. A scene in the new season’s third episode in which Daredevil (Charlie Cox) has to escape a building down a long stairwell, fighting at every step — and carrying a gun that he refuses to fire — is a balletic exercise in brutality and claustrophobia. Season 2 represents a falling-off from the pulpy highs of Season 1, however, at least in the early episodes. It’s mostly about the villain. The Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) was a more vivid and frightening foe than this year’s model, the gun-happy former soldier called the Punisher (Jon Bernthal), and D’Onofrio’s performance was bigger in every way than Bernthal’s. The Kingpin’s overscaled
Courtesy of Netflix-Marvel | AP
Charlie Cox returns for more Hells Kitchen hero work in Season 2 of Marvel/Netflix’s “Daredevil.” rage and narcissism gave the story energy, and the contrast with Daredevil’s problematic idealism was fertile ground for comicbook melodrama. In the new season, the dynamic is different and less interesting — Daredevil and the Punisher are both vigilantes, with different methods and different levels of concern for collateral damage. This leads to long, windy exchanges about heroism and truth that leave you fidgeting, waiting for the next fight to break out. Most of the time, you don’t have to wait long, though given the Punisher’s preferences, a higher percentage of the action this season involves gunfire rather than fists and batons. Once again, the lawyers Foggy Nelson and Matt Murdock (whose su-
per senses and martial-arts training compensate for his blindness when he dons the Daredevil costume), along with their assistant, Karen Page, try to defend the poor residents of Hell’s Kitchen from war-zone levels of crime and violence. Gentrification was an issue in Season 1, but the current season moves back into timeless comic-book territory, with the Punisher taking on Irish, Latino and biker gangs straight out of central casting. Cox and Elden Hanson, as Foggy, do earnestness well and put across the sometimes dopey dialogue better than you’d have a right to expect. There’s not, however, a lot of wit or shading to their performances — the writing can be blamed, but they could be doing more to amplify it.
Photo by George Walker/The Tennessean | AP
Ryan Seacrest and singer Taylor Swift join young patients at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Seacrest Studio. went there was an opportunity for the kids to find excitement and to express their creativity and to learn about what it is to create content, whether you would like to make your own radio show or whether you want to record,” Swift said. “It was
so exciting to see the excitement that it brought to this one hospital.” It wasn’t the first time that Swift made a surprise visit to a children’s hospital: She previously visited others, including Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island.
SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2016
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
Top fugitive in Paris attacks captured By RAF CASERT AND JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRUSSELS — Police raiding an apartment building captured Europe’s most wanted fugitive Friday, arresting the prime suspect in last year’s deadly Paris attacks in the same Brussels neighborhood where he grew up. Hours later, the French president said more people were involved in the attacks than initially thought, and predicted more arrests would follow. Salah Abdeslam, 26, is a childhood friend of the suspected ringleader of the attacks. Investigators believe he drove a car carrying a group of gunmen who took part in the shootings, rented rooms and shopped for detonators. He may have been planning a suicide attack himself. After the bloodbath, he slipped through a dragnet to return to Brussels and eluded capture for four months, despite an international manhunt. He was believed to have slipped
through police fingers multiple times. At one point, Belgian authorities locked down their capital for several days but failed to find him. His capture brought instant relief to police and ordinary people in France and Belgium who had been looking over their shoulder for Abdeslam since Nov. 13, when Islamic extremist attackers fanned out across the French capital and killed 130 people at a rock concert, the national stadium and cafes. It was France’s deadliest attack in decades. Abdeslam and four other suspects were detained in Friday’s raid, including three members of a family that sheltered him. Abdeslam was shot in the leg and was hospitalized, and another arrested with him was also wounded, officials said. During Friday’s police operation, a phalanx of officers in camouflage, masks and riot helmets marched through the neighborhood with guns and automatic weapons drawn, escorting
people out of buildings. A witness described hearing gunshots and officers repeatedly yelling over a loudspeaker to suspects holed up inside the apartment building. Authorities first sealed off the neighborhood. Then police began shouting to a particular apartment, demanding that the occupants come out with their hands up, said Fatiha Hrika, a 39-year-old child-care worker who lives a few doors down from where the raid happened. After shots were fired, she told The Associated Press, “they piled in. We heard noises all around. And that’s when they pulled out the Salah (guy.) They put him to the ground.” She described seeing the suspect put into an ambulance followed by a SWAT team. France’s BFM television broadcast images of police tugging a man with a white hooded sweatshirt toward a police car, as he dragged his left leg as if it were injured.
Abdeslam was not armed but did not immediately obey orders when confronted by police, Belgian prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said. It was possible he had spent days, weeks or months in the apartment, according to Van der Sypt, who said the investigation would continue day and night. French President Francois Hollande said authorities will continue hunting for anyone who aided the attacks in any way. He said those people are much more numerous than authorities had believed, and that the French government would seek to have Abdeslam extradited. Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel called Friday’s arrests a success in the “fight against terrorism.” President Barack Obama congratulated the leaders of Belgium and France over the arrest, in phone calls with both men, the White House said in a statement. Two other people be-
lieved linked to the attacks were still being sought, including fellow Molenbeek resident Mohamed Abrini and a man known under the alias of Soufiane Kayal. Friday’s capture of Abdeslam came after Belgian authorities said they found his fingerprints in an apartment raided earlier this week in another Brussels neighborhood. In that raid, a man believed to have been an accomplice of Abdeslam — Mohamed Belkaid — was shot dead, Belgian prosecutors said. But two men escaped from the apartment, one of whom appears to have been Abdeslam. Most of the Paris attackers died on the night of the attacks, including Abdeslam’s brother Brahim, who blew himself up. Brahim Abdeslam was buried in the Brussels area Thursday. Salah’s Abdeslam’s role in the attacks has never been clearly spelled out. The car he drove was abandoned in northern Paris, and his mobile phone and an explosive vest he may have used were later found
in the Paris suburb of Montrouge, raising the possibility that he aborted his mission, either ditching a malfunctioning vest or fleeing in fear. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks. Another person arrested Friday had been stopped and fingerprinted with Abdeslam in Ulm, Germany on Oct. 3, Belgian prosecutors said. Papers issued to the mystery man were discovered in an apartment raided by police in the Forest area of Brussels where Abdeslam’s fingerprints were found. There was a false Syrian passport in the name of Monir Ahmed Alaaj and a fake Belgian identity card under the name of Amine Choukri, prosecutors told a Friday night news conference. On Tuesday, a joint team of Belgian and French police showed up to search the residence in the Forest neighborhood in connection with the Paris investigation.
lanes could have been built for the amount of money that was spent expanding a highway that rings the city. “You have a policy of promoting the use of the car, and this has not been only the present administration,” Dyer said, adding that the tendency is even more pronounced in suburbs that are home to over half the metropolis’ 20 million-plus residents. “There’s a huge market for increasing mass public transit,” Dyer said. “But there’s very little interest I suppose in doing this because the electoral payoffs are not as high.” Announcing the end of
the four-day alert Thursday evening, federal Environment Secretary Alejandro Pacchiano promised to beef up the system of smog inspections and study tougher vehicle restrictions. Some would like to see more drastic measures. “I have thought that they should take half of the cars off the road on any given day, and the other half the next,” said Ricardo Juarez, a 54-year-old salesman who relies on the subway, buses and occasional taxis to get around. This week’s alert may be a good thing, he said, if it “sends up red flags for the government.”
there’s never been an industrial base here. So when people say industry is leaving, well, I think there never was any industry to leave,” Rader said, jokingly adding that his factory is the sole industry in town. Rader’s business can employ as many as 20 people, but a shortage of laborers has always been a challenge. “We pay well, but it’s just a lot of people who don’t want to live in a small town,” Rader said. “First thing, they come out, they say, ‘Where’s the Taco Bell, where’s the Wal-Mart, where’s the movie theater?’ So that’s a big issue. We try to bring in families, but they say the kids want to play regular football. Here we play six-man football.” Of the hundreds of people his business has employed since opening 12 years ago, none have made Dell City their permanent home. Despite the challenges, Rader’s fondness for small-town life expands to the peace and quiet. Here, he said, the residents have to find their own entertainment. Every night he personally enjoys spotlighting, which, for those who have never shined a spotlight on cottontail rabbits while the dogs begin the chase, can be an amusing way to hunt. Fifteen minutes before the lunch rush hits the Spanish Angel Cafe on Main Street, the waitress begins placing glasses of tea and water on tables in front of empty chairs that will soon be occupied. She effortlessly knows where the restaurant’s regulars will sit. Craig Gentry bought the cafe in January when its retiring owner considered closing its doors. As the last restaurant in town with its doors still open, he said, he couldn’t allow the town to go without it. “Dell City, this is something this town needs. It needs a place for people to come sit down eat, talk,
visit,” Gentry said. “Imagine a town without a little cafe, imagine a town without a grocery store or a gas station. That’s what people out here fail to understand, is that we really have it pretty good.” Craig Gentry, who is Gerald Gentry’s son, is a farmer who moonlights as a business owner and member of the school board. He says that he sees a community slowly coming back to life, not dying. For a city whose population is trending toward long-term decrease, the question becomes whether to embrace the change that’s brought it to this point in the hope that it will help pull it out of tough times. But the town had an opportunity to embrace change and rejected it, voting down the establishment of a prison and a manufacturing corporation, both projects that never made it to Dell City. “They didn’t want it; they didn’t want the change,” he said of the locals, all of whom he knows on a first-name basis. Despite the precarious position of Dell City, some longtime residents say the town still has a chance if a few more minds can be opened up to the possibilities. “There are a lot of really good people out here and it is a peaceful community to live in, but small-town politics, like everywhere, can get you. But if you can handle that and laugh about it, it’s a good place to live,” Craig Gentry said. None of the old-timers or business owners who want things to stay the same, nor the superintendent fighting for progress or even the 19-yearold ready to put her home in her rear-view mirror, can say for certain what Dell City will be like in five more years. It could be on the verge of becoming a ghost town — or make the “growing community” sign prophetic.
SMOG Continued from Page 1A many of them older, morepolluting models. As traffic jams increased, overall emissions were boosted even more because cars were forced to idle, experts say. This week’s emergency prompted authorities to say they are studying more stringent restrictions on vehicles — including smokebelching government trucks that are now exempt from smog tests — though there are likely to be more smogbound days before those have any effect. Bernardo Baranda, Latin America director for the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy,
said that officials ought to re-establish limits on car circulation and improve cooperation across the various jurisdictions that make up the Valley of Mexico. Longer-term, he called for more investment in public transportation as well as tolls on cars and creation of areas open only to foot and bicycle traffic. “The root problem is the growth of the vehicle fleet,” Baranda said. Air quality in Mexico City today is generally far better than much of China, India and other parts of Asia. For example, while the alert was still in place on Thursday, Mexico City
recorded a pollution index of about 150 while levels were topping 400 in Beijing, according to the World Air Quality Index, which tracks air quality around the globe. Even with the Supreme Court ruling, vehicles still must pass smog checks every six months. But every car owner knows that slipping the equivalent of about $20 to a verification center worker is enough to ensure the inspection will come out “clean.” Authorities in Mexico City say vehicles are responsible for 87 percent of nitrogen oxide emissions, a precursor to ozone, the
most problematic contaminant. Critics also say a series of city administrations have been enthusiastic about building things like doubledecker highways for cars and less aggressive about better public transportation, though the area has expanded its subway, bus and urban train systems. A bikeshare program has been wildly popular and dedicated bus lanes have attracted huge ridership since their inception in 2005. Dwight Dyer, energy and environment editor for the online publication El Daily Post, argued that at least four more dedicated bus
DELL CITY Continued from Page 1A the 1950s, the U.S. Census Bureau said the town had 500 souls. Today, the city population sign reads “Population 413.” The 2014 U.S. census count puts its residents at 336. The average age, according the Census Bureau, is 50. Gentry is one of the residents who doesn’t think the town is about to die. Despite several closed storefronts, aged buildings and a dropping student population, Gentry said Dell City is just going through a typical up-anddown stage. “Times change,” Gentry told the El Paso Times. “For a few years it (farming) faded out and now a lot of this farm land that faded out is now back in production." But the small-town appeal that Gentry said makes Dell City a great place to live isn’t enough for some of its younger residents. Nineteen-year-old Janae Richardson speaks over her shoulder about leaving town as she stocks the shelves with essentials like bread and eggs at the only grocery in town. She drives about 60 miles to Sierra Blanca twice a week to a community college. She firmly, yet remorsefully, said when she graduates she has no reason to stick around. “I’m gone,” Richardson said. “As soon as I graduate, I’m gone. I’m not a farmer; there’s nothing here.” Founded in the late 1940s following the discovery of an underground aquifer, Dell City was a rich farming community in its heyday. At one time the town featured several bars, three grocery stores, a true mercantile and a community of migrant families who worked on family owned farms and two cotton gins. Now, Dell City has one grocery store, one restaurant and fewer farms than before. The city’s school district has 73 students — 11 of whom will graduate this year.
When the town’s school superintendent, Fabian Gomez, 43, returned to Dell City in 2013, the faces in his town were mostly new to him. So were the faces of the children in the school district he’d just taken over, the same school district he attended all his life and graduated from. His old kindergarten classroom is the new superintendent’s office. Every year there are fewer faces at the school district which is no longer being fed by a community of farm laborers. In 2000, the student population recorded by the Texas Education Department for the Dell City Independent School district was 236 students in grades ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade. Now the district has a yearly average of 70 students. The rural school district has a student population in which 79 percent of the children are considered “economically disadvantaged” and 39 percent of the students are English language learners, meaning English is their second language. Peggy Beltran, English and writing teacher at Dell City Elementary School, drives 70 miles from El Paso to Dell City every school day. Even if she wanted to live in Dell City, Gomez said there just isn’t any housing available. But Beltran is happy working in Dell City. “This is ideal. We have, I have, less kids in class and I get to spend time with them on those areas where they need help,” Beltran said, adding that she left the El Paso school system because of changes to instruction time. Now she has a classroom equipped with a SmartBoard, new books and only nine students to teach. Beltran has 28 years of teaching experience, with only two months of them in Dell City. She isn’t the only new member of the staff; Gomez said that only one of the teachers em-
ployed by the district when he arrived remains. Following state trends for filling teaching staff positions, Gomez said that the district has been forced to get creative with technology to help students continue to achieve. “We try to do everything we can to retain those teachers, but honestly they resign and move to a larger city, or maybe not larger but a school district that’s closer to a larger city.” Currently, Dell City lacks a science teacher for secondary students. Students now take those courses online through the Texas Virtual School Network. Dell City lost its agricultural teacher, a position that still has not been filled, along with a technology teaching position. “We’ve departmentalized, just like a bigger school,” Gomez said, adding that in many ways the rural district faces the same challenges as larger schools. But keeping focused on a system that allows him to track teacher performance and improve their impact on student learning has become a game of pointing fingers. Gomez said he’s fielding accusations about felling dead trees on the school grounds and spending funds on new technology, rather than concerns about how to better educate the children of Dell City. One of his toughest critics is Tracie Kelley, who questions Gomez’s decisions as she rings up customers at the Two T’s Grocery store that she coowns. “I was so excited when I heard he (Gomez) was coming back, but some of the changes he’s made aren’t necessarily good for a small community,” Kelley said. “He weeded out a lot of the older teachers who’d been there for a while, who cared about the kids, and brought a bunch of strangers in.” When Kelley came to Dell City in 1979, there
were four bars, three grocery stores, a mercantile and a community of migrant families. Now Kelley spends her days at the Two T’s Grocery, which she co-owns with her daughter. The converted barracks and former bar stocks everything from the bare necessities like soap and butter to luxuries like T-shirts with a print of the original town welcome sign declaring Dell City “The Valley of Hidden Waters.” “I’ve seen it change from small farms with a whole lot of workers — you know, busy all the time — to the small ones being bought up by the larger ones. I’ve seen it going to machinery doing the work and migrant and farmworkers drop tremendously,” Kelley said as two teenagers, including Richardson, balance stocking groceries and manning the grill. The 80-year-old former school nurse doesn’t like the changes assailing her adopted hometown even if it might make it more appealing for her four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. About two miles down a dirt road, business owner Steven Rader sat on the tailgate of his pickup, admiring the view of El Capitan in the Guadalupe Mountains from his farm. It’s a drastic change from more than 12 years ago when he called the busy city of Houston home. He said that without a little change there’s not much more the town can do to continue to survive. Twelve years ago, Rader founded Chaffhaye Inc., a company that special processes alfalfa into feed for performance livestock. His 1,200 acres of alfalfa farmland abuts farmland owned by large dairies and agricultural corporations, meaning that his growing company will soon find no room in Dell City to keep expanding. “Well, the town is decreasing in size because it’s always been an agricultural community;
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2016
SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2016
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Sports&Outdoors NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION: SAN ANTONIO SPURS
West showdown Warriors head to San Antonio Saturday By RAUL DOMINGUEZ ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN ANTONIO — The Golden State Warriors have spent the last 18 months rising to the gold standard in the NBA, a peerless team that has blown the doors off the rest of the league both during their title run last season and the recordsetting pace they have set this year. As good as they have been through it all, they have rarely been better than they were at home on Jan. 25 against the organization that has for two decades been the NBA’s standard bearer. The Warriors thumped the San Antonio Spurs that night, a 30-point vic-
tory that delivered a resounding message to the rest of the league. Yet for all of the obstacles they’ve obliterated along the way, one more remains: a win in San Antonio. The Warriors — the team that almost never loses these days — have lost a staggering 32 straight regular-season games against the Spurs in San Antonio, a skid that predates 39-year-old Tim Duncan’s entrance into the league. The last time they won in San Antonio was Feb. 14, 1997. Golden State could end that skid on Saturday night. “We know what the Spurs have been doing
all year,” Stephen Curry said before the Warriors started a tough back-toback with Dallas on Friday and the Spurs on Saturday. “We’ll talk about we haven’t won there in the regular season for so long. We’d love to end that streak. Other than that it’s just focusing on what we expect to be playoff atmospheres these next two games. " The Warriors are eyeing one of the league’s magic numbers: the 72 wins the Chicago Bulls piled up in 1995-96. But the Spurs (58-10) are right on their heels and have been there all season long, and when the two meet it will be the best combined record among opponents this
late in the season in league history. The Spurs have always downplayed regular-season matchups, keeping their eyes fully focused on being as ready as possible once the playoffs begin in April. “It’s whatever you want to make it,” said Duncan, who did not play in the first meeting. “We’re going to show up for the game and we’re going to play it. It’s not going to change our season or anything else. It will be a great matchup for us. Obviously, two best records in the league. They’re playing exceptionally well. It’s a good test for us. Playoff-
Photo by Carlos Avila Gonzalez | The Chronicle
The Spurs and Warriors meet on Saturday in San Antonio with the Spurs’ 43-game home winning streak on the line. Golden State has lost 32 straight regular season games in San Antonio but is 61-6 in 2016 and is eyeing the all-time record of 72 wins in a season.
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NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DALLAS COWBOYS
NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
MORRIS ON THE RADAR RB visits Dallas By CHAREAN WILLIAMS FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
The Cowboys, in the hunt for a running back to pair with Darren McFadden, will host Alfred Morris for a freeagent visit Monday, according to a source. In four seasons in Washington, Morris started all 64 games, rushing for 4,713 yards and 29 touchdowns on 1,078 attempts. He had career lows in 2015 with 202 carries for 751 yards and one touchdown, losing carries to rookie Matt Jones with Chris Thompson and Pierre Thomas also getting playing time. McFadden, signed last
Photo by David Zalubowski | AP
Seton Hall guard Derrick Gordon walks off the court after the sixthseed lost to No. 11 seed Gonzaga 68-52 Thursday.
Double-digit seeds make Indianapolis to honor Manning an impact File photo by LM Otero | AP
Former Washington running back Alfred Morris is visiting Dallas as the Cowboys entertain the possibility of pairing him with Darren McFadden.
By MICHAEL MAROT ASSOCIATED PRESS
INDIANAPOLIS — Peyton Manning took one more victory lap around Indianapolis on Friday. It’s not likely to be his last. Less than two weeks after announcing his retirement in Denver, the record-breaking quarterback returned to his first NFL home to reminisce, thank supporters and receive a fitting send-off from the team he first played for. Colts owner Jim Irsay said Manning’s No. 18 jersey will be retired and the team will erect a statue of him at Lucas Oil Stadium in honor of the man who did a lot more than win games in Indy. “When I got here, it was basketball, basketball, basketball and it was car racing, car racing, car racing. Football was probably in the third place and that’s no longer the case. It’s a
Photo by Michael Conroy | AP
Indianapolis owner Jim Irsay, left, poses with former quarterback Peyton Manning after announcing the retirement of Manning’s jersey during a press conference Friday. football town,” Manning said. “It was fun to be a part of that transformation.” For Manning, this was more like a second trip down memory lane. He recounted tales of incredible comebacks and bitter disappointments,
former teammates and the bonds they formed, and he acknowledged how grateful he was that the city embraced him from the day he arrived. A smattering of fans — some dressed in the Colts’ blue-and-white, other dressed in Denver’s or-
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ange and blue — stood outside the front gate of the team’s complex. Inside, it was emotional. At one point, Manning’s voice cracked, though he drew a lot more laughter, including a roar after remembering Jim Mora’s infamous “playoffs” rant was actually directed at him after he threw four interceptions against the 49ers. It was a stark contrast to the last time Manning and Irsay stood together inside the same room in March 2012. Back then, both shed tears during as Irsay announced the parting of ways to make room for Manning’s successor, Andrew Luck. This time, Irsay and Manning laughed and joked as they told stories, and Manning flew into town on Irsay’s personal plane one more time. Before speaking with report-
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
DENVER — The only thing "double-digits" about Wichita State and Gonzaga have been their margins of victory. They are 11 seeds this year. They have played a combined three games. Nobody has come within 10 points of them. That the Shockers and Bulldogs have moved past the first round of the NCAA Tournament is hardly anything new - surprises happen all the time in March Madness, as Michigan State will certainly attest. The bigger questions are: Were these really upsets? And, given the most unpredictable regular season that just ended, did the selection committee have a fighting chance of getting this, or anything else, right this year? "We don’t have basketball people in that group," said Kentucky coach John
Calipari, during an entertaining rant after the brackets came out. One of Calipari’s main complaints was that when teams get seeded improperly, they don’t suffer as much as the teams they have to play. Arizona and Seton Hall, a pair of No. 6 seeds with decent resumes, would certainly agree. The Wildcats fell by 10 to Wichita State on Thursday, and the Pirates lost by 16 to Gonzaga. Vanderbilt also got the wrong end: Wichita State beat the Commodores, another 11 seed, 70-50 in the play-in game Tuesday. "Typically, the talk is that teams that are in those play-in games shouldn’t be in the tournament," said Wichita State guard Fred VanVleet, who was part of Shockers teams that went to the Final Four in 2013 and went undefeated the next regu-
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Zscores
SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2016
Sox ace Sale accuses VP of lying about LaRoche By MIKE TULUMELLO ASSOCIATED PRESS
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The uproar over Adam LaRoche’s abrupt retirement from the Chicago White Sox turned ugly Friday, with ace Chris Sale accusing an executive vice president of lying to the team about the reasons LaRoche’s son needed to spend less time around the clubhouse. LaRoche announced this week he was leaving after Kenny Williams asked him to cut the amount of time his 14year-old son, Drake, was spending with the White Sox. The incident sparked anger from players across the major leagues and prompted questions about the balance between work and parenting. LaRoche, who joined Chicago after playing for the Washington Nationals, for the first time spoke publicly Friday about what happened and he singled out Williams. “Prior to signing with the White Sox, my first question to the club concerned my son’s ability to be a part of the team,” he wrote in a statement posted to his Twitter account. “After some due diligence on the club’s part, we reached an agreement. The 2015 season presented no problems as far as Drake was concerned. (My bat and our record are another story!). “With all of this in mind, we move toward the current situation which arose after White Sox VP Ken Williams recently advised me to significantly scale back the time that my son spent in the clubhouse. Later, I was told not to bring him to the ballpark at all.” The 36-year-old LaRoche said he instead chose to retire and walk away from a $13 million salary. White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf declined specific comment.
File photo by Jim Mone | AP
White Sox pitcher Chris Sale accused vice president Ken Williams of lying as the team remained in an uproar over the retirement of Adam LaRoche.
White Sox No. 1 starter Chris Sale accused Chicago’s vice president Ken Williams of lying to the team regarding the Adam LaRoche situation stating, “We got bold-faced lied to by someone we’re supposed to be able to trust.” “This is an internal issue, and we are in the process of holding a number of discussions with players, staff and the front office,” Reinsdorf said in a statement. “As a result, we do not want to comment until that process is completed. I have instructed members of the organization not to talk about this issue and get our focus back on the field and winning baseball games.” Outfielder Adam Eaton said he had reached out to
the Major League Baseball Players Association on the matter. Union spokesman Gregory Bouris said the MLBPA was monitoring the situation. Current players, including Bryce Harper and former slugger Chipper Jones, took to social media to back LaRoche, using #FamilyFirst on Twitter. But their anger was nothing like that of Sale, the team’s All-Star pitcher who hung Drake’s uniform outside his locker
COWBOYS Continued from Page 1B year to replace DeMarco Murray, had his second career 1,000-yard season with 1,089 yards and three touchdowns on 239 carries. But he turns 29 this summer and had a history of injuries during his seven seasons in Oakland.
The Cowboys re-signed thirddown back Lance Dunbar on Thursday, getting him back for a one-year, $1.75 million deal. But they lost free agent Robert Turbin, who backed up McFadden the last seven games of 2015, to the Colts.
SPURS Continued from Page 1B type atmosphere and playoff-type intensity. Good experience for us.” But there may be a little extra motivation for a proud franchise that was won five championships but left Golden State in January with coach Gregg Popovich saying “it was like men and boys out there.” “They’re the defending champs and they’ve been playing unbelievable this year,” Spurs guard Tony Parker said. “We’ve been playing great, too, so we get another shot at it.” The Spurs are 20-3 since losing to the Warriors and have fully evolved from a veteran team guided by its Big Three of Duncan, Parker and Manu Ginobili to one that leans heavily on All-Stars Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge. Like Golden State, San Antonio
has already clinched a playoff berth and division title. But clinching the top seed would be huge for either team given their success at home. Golden State has won 50 straight home games dating back to last season, which is the longest streak in league history. The streak includes 32 straight home victories to open this season, which is fourth all-time. San Antonio is 34-0 at home this season and has won 43 straight overall dating back to March 2015, which is third all-time. Both Popovich and Warriors coach Steve Kerr have taken to resting players in the regular season — no matter the opponent — to ensure everyone is ready for the postseason. But this one feels different. “I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Parker said.
at the spring training complex in suburban Phoenix. White Sox players were told three different stories about what happened, Sale said. “This is a bigger issue than being told his son can’t be around. It’s a much deeper issue,” Sale said, then referred directly to Williams: “We got bold-faced lied to by someone we’re supposed to be able to trust.” “He came to the players
and said it was the coaches. He went to the coaches and said it was the players. Then he came in here and said it was the owner,” Sale said. “If we are all here to win a championship, this kind of stuff doesn’t happen.” In a brief response issued by the club, Williams said: “While I disagree with Chris’ assertions today, I certainly always have appreciated his passion.” Pitcher David Robert-
son said “the entire clubhouse” supported LaRoche, while Todd Frazier wondered why the issue wasn’t addressed during the offseason. White Sox manager Robin Ventura had little to say about the controversy. “The timing of it, no matter where you put it, I don’t think it would have been any better if it had been the first day of spring,” he said. As for his players, he said, “One thing for sure is that they’re together, 100 percent.” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman recalled manager Billy Martin, perhaps at the behest of owner George Steinbrenner, telling Ken Griffey Jr. to stay out of the clubhouse when Ken Griffey Sr. was on the team. “There is definitely no part of a workplace that is owned by the players above the company, including clubhouse,” Cashman said. “The is the New York Yankees club, New York Yankees training room, the New York Yankees dugout, the New York Yankees field. We dictate access.” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said every team had to find a balance in having children around their fathers and having to go play. Dusty Baker of the Nationals said he believed both LaRoche and the White Sox did what they had to. “I see the basketball players have their kids at interviews and stuff. Steph Curry . everybody talks about the family, the importance of family, but how are you supposed to have a family sometimes if you don’t bring your kids to work?” Baker said. Players on other teams speculated about the origin of the dispute. “I would have to imagine there’s more to it than we know for it to end up being this dramatic of an outcome,” Yankees reliever Andrew Miller said.
UPSETS Continued from Page 1B lar season. "So, we just take all of that as ammunition and just keep letting that chip on our shoulder get bigger and bigger." It wasn’t hard to see this coming. This season included six changes atop The Associated Press poll, one short of the record. It gave us a season-ending Top 10 of teams that combined for 68 losses. It featured 31 conference tournaments, only 10 of which were won by the same team that earned top seeding in the regular season. Gonzaga may have well have been the poster child for all this upheaval. The Bulldogs started the season ranked ninth and considered, as always, a Final Four contender. But when center Przemek Karnowski went out with a season-ending back injury in December, everything changed. The Zags lost six games - a catastrophe by their standards - in December, January and February. They were considered a bubble team. All the while, their forward, Domantas Sabonis, was improving almost every day and their guards were turning into playmakers, not liabili-
ties. The Bulldogs won the West Coast Conference tournament to make March Madness. The program making its 18th straight trip to the tournament was rewarded with an 11 seed. The Zags didn’t fight it. "In some ways, it’s going to be kind of nice to be a doubledigit seed," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "We just haven’t done it in a while and it will be kind of fun to have to play that role." Fun, it was. Led by 21 points and 16 rebounds from Sabonis, Gonzaga rolled to a 68-52 win over Seton Hall on Thursday night. There have been some other double-digit seeds moving on in this tournament, though their stories - including No. 15 Middle Tennessee’s shocker over No. 2 Michigan State have more traditional feels to them. -No. 12 seeds Yale and Little Rock had nothing to complain about their seedings. But their wins over Baylor and Purdue added to an already massive pile of evidence showing the ever-shrinking gap between small and big conferences.
-No. 10 seed Syracuse got lambasted after making the tournament but, much like UCLA did last year after it inexplicably got in, did everything it could to have the committee’s back. The Orange beat Dayton 70-51 on Friday. "Anybody that said we didn’t deserve to be in obviously doesn’t know anything about basketball," coach Jim Boeheim said. -Nobody argued much about the seeding of either No. 13 Hawaii or No. 4 Cal before the Rainbow Warriors won that game 77-66. But Cal’s 10 losses this season despite having two potential lottery picks on the roster - Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb - raised red flags about the Bears. -Finally, many experts thought Michigan State should’ve been a 1, not a 2. The Spartans’ loss goes as Exhibit A of how crazy this season has been. "It’s all about the team that you’re playing, not the number in front of it," said Gregg Marshall, the coach of Wichita State, which plays No. 3 seed Miami on Saturday. "And that’s what I love about the NCAA Tournament."
MANNING Continued from Page 1B ers, Manning met with Luck and others in the team complex. “It was always strange to watch 18 out there without a horseshoe on his helmet, and it wasn’t always easy for us,” Irsay said as a slideshow of Manning played on two screens behind the podium. “I think I speak for all Colts fans. We feel like he’s ours.” Manning did wear the horseshoe, in the form of a lapel pin on his dark sport coat, and explained how he will always consider himself a Colt even though he
retired officially with the Broncos. During his 14 seasons with the Colts, he won four of his record five MVP Awards, led the Colts to two Super Bowls and delivered the first world championship in city history following the 2006 season. He added his second Super Bowl title last month as the Broncos beat Carolina. His personality, success and off-the-field contributions are widely credited with helping to generate public support for building
Lucas Oil Stadium, which hosted the Super Bowl in February 2012. And through his Peyback Foundation, Manning hosted high school football games at the RCA Dome and Lucas Oil Stadium, provided Thanksgiving meals for low-income families and held Christmas parties for children in need. He also teamed up with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and reached out to help American service members and ordinary citizens who were enduring trying times.
Manning also acknowledged again that one of the best rewards he ever received came when an Indianapolis hospital renamed the children’s wing the Peyton Manning’s Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent. Each spring, even after he joined the Broncos, Manning returned to Indy to host an A-list fundraiser that included auctioning off prized possessions. Among the items were an autograph from Mother Teresa, a clipping from a contract signed by
Marilyn Monroe, an autographed photo of former American presidents George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon and baseballs signed by Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams. “On the field, I just can’t say enough about what he has meant to this franchise, to this city and state,” Irsay said. “You just run out of words.” Manning struggled to express his own emotions. “I can’t tell you how spe-
cial this news is to me,” he said after Irsay’s announcement. Still to be determined is when Manning will be inducted into the Colts’ Ring of Honor and a possible 10year reunion of the Colts’ Super Bowl title team. Most of all, Manning was just happy to be back home. “That was a tough emotional day four years ago. We shed some tears that day,” Manning said. “But it felt comfortable coming back here. It felt right.”
SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2016
Dear Heloise: I know your husband is a plumber, and you have mentioned in your column that the only thing that should be FLUSHED down the toilet is toilet paper. My husband flushes facial tissue, paper towels, cat hairballs, cat hair and who knows what else down the toilet. When I told him what I had read, he said that he’s always done it, and that it hasn’t been a problem yet. Maybe if he sees it in print, he will change this bad habit. Thank you! – A Dover, N.H., Fan I usually try NOT to get in the middle of a "discussion" between husband and wife, but on this one I will. My husband is a retired plumbing, heating and airconditioning contractor, and he built our house. We and waste-management engineers agree on this: DO flush only human waste and toilet paper. DO NOT flush anything else! All of the items mentioned may be "flushable," which means they go
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through the toilet, but they don’t just "go away." They go through (or NOT) the plumbing system, then either into your septic system or out to the main sewer system. Your husband may never have had a problem, but millions have. Plus, it’s costing MILLIONS OF DOLLARS to unclog, keep free-flowing and remove all of the items that people flush. The toilet is meant for one thing. It’s not a catchall for trash! To flush or not to flush – that’s the question. – Heloise DRIVING WITH GPS Dear Heloise: I was disturbed by your answer to Robert C., who has his wife blindly follow their GPS while driving to a mystery date location for dinner. We live in a world where drivers are dangerously distracted by their electronic devices. Following GPS commands also can be distracting, especially if you don’t know your destination. – Douglas M., Bolivar, Ohio
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SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2016