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LAREDO — With anotherThanksgiving come and gone,people flocked to area shop-ping centers like Mall delNorte to take advantage of thelong weekend and seasonalbargains. Amid the din of tin-kling cash registers and piped-in Christmas carols, throngsof holiday shoppers walked off

so many of yesterday’s extracalories in search of new ex-cesses.

Gift huntingAmong the patrons in the

food court of Mall del Nortewho couldn’t resist the sirensong of savings was LaredoMayor Raul Salinas.

“I have some gifts in mind

for my children and friends.For myself, I’m very easy, verylow maintenance. I just need acouple of shirts,” Salinas said.

Though most shoppersseemed to grudgingly contendwith the crowds, Salinas saidhe was elated by the turnoutso far.

“I want to see people shopin Laredo. Local shopping

THANKSGIVING HOLIDAYS

HOPING FOR A HOLIDAY BARGAIN

Shoppers from all over line up on Mall del Norte Drive for a chance at a Mall del Norte parking space on a busy Black Friday afternoon.

Photos by Ulysses S. Romero | Laredo Morning Times

Long lines of vehicles with Texas and Mexico license plates wait on Esperan-za Drive to enter Mall del Norte on Friday afternoon. Shoppers from all overwent to the mall, hoping to take advantage of Black Friday sales.

Many turn out for Black Friday dealsBy ZACH BROOKETHE ZAPATA TIMES

See SHOPPING PAGE 8A

The Zapata County ISD trust-ees voted on Tuesday to tableany decisions relating to a griev-ance case brought against thedistrict by a fired employee.

The board met in closed ses-sion for almost three hours, dur-ing which they also discussedresignations, retirements, leavesof absence, new employment andcontract renewals for teachersand administrators, as well as asecond grievance case.

After emerging, the board vot-ed to settle the case of Romeo Al-

varez by adjusting his salary,working schedule and duties astransportation supervisor. How-ever, the case of Diana Brandonremained unresolved.

The case dates to June 2012when Brandon claims she was

improperly terminated as aschool improvement facilitator.

The case was heard in July byPatricia L. Palafox, an independ-ent hearing examiner from theTexas Education Agency. Palafoxrecommended Brandon not beterminated.

In August, the board then ac-cepted the findings of fact, butchanged the conclusions of law,rejected the recommendationand upheld Brandon’s termina-tion.

Brandon then filed an appealwith Education Commissioner

ZAPATA COUNTY ISD

Job grievanceStaff member struggles to keep position

By RICARDO R. VILLARREAL THE ZAPATA TIMES

See SCHOOLS PAGE 8A

The boardaccepted thefindings, butchanged theconclusions of law. A man, along with a co-defend-

ant, who claimed unknown gun-men in Mexico forced him tosmuggle 273 pounds of marijuanawas indicted in federal court thisweek, according to court records.

U.S. Border Patrol agents de-tained Nelson Alexander Iza-guirre-Figueroa and FulgencioGuerra-Davila on Nov. 3 in Jim

Hogg County when they were al-legedly smuggling $218,400 worthof marijuana, according to acriminal complaint.

An indictment filed Tuesdaycharges both men with conspir-acy to possess with intent to dis-tribute 100 kilograms or more ofmarijuana and possession withintent to distribute 100 kilogramsor more of marijuana.

WAR ON DRUGS

Federal courtindicts man inmarijuana case

Man claims Mexican forced him to smuggleBy CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ

THE ZAPATA TIMES

See COURT PAGE 8A

PAGE 2A Zin brief SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2012

MONDAY, NOV. 26The Zapata County Commission-

ers Court meeting is set for 9 a.m. atthe Zapata County Courthouse.

THURSDAY, NOV. 29Mariachi Vargas is scheduled at

Zapata High School.

FRIDAY, NOV. 30The Webb County Heritage

Foundation will host an opening recep-tion for the exhibit of entries in theHistoric Laredo Photo Competitionfrom 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Villa Anti-gua Border Heritage Museum, 810 Za-ragoza St. The winning 13 selectionswill be featured in the 2013 HistoricLaredo Calendar, which will be unveiledduring the event and available for saleto the public. The public is invited toview all the competition entries, whichreflect historic architecture, significantlandmarks and other notable historicalfeatures in Laredo and Webb County.For more information, visit www.webb-heritage.org or call 956-727-0977.

The Texas A&M InternationalUniversity Lamar Bruni Vergara Plane-tarium will show “Holiday Music Mag-ic” at 6 p.m. and “Mystery of theChristmas Star” at 7 p.m. General ad-mission is $4 for children and $5 foradults. For more information, call 956-326-3663. Girl Scouts Troop No. 9111is collecting non-perishable food itemsthroughout November to benefit Volun-teers Serving the Need. In exchange offive items, the Planetarium will give afree adult ticket.

SATURDAY, DEC. 1The Texas A&M International

University Lamar Bruni Vergara Plane-tarium will show: “Season of Light” at2 p.m.; “Holiday Music Magic” at 3p.m.; “Mystery of the Christmas Star”at 4 p.m.; and “2012: Ancient Skies,Ancient Mysteries at 5 p.m. Matineeshow is $4. General admission is $4for children and $5 for adults. Premi-um shows are $1 more.

TUESDAY, DEC. 4The board of the Zapata County

Chamber of Commerce meets at 6:30p.m. at the chamber offices.

South Texas Food Bank fund-raiser, Hal’s Landing Restaurant andBar, 6510 Arena Blvd., 6 to 11 p.m.,featuring music by Ross and Friendsand several raffle prizes. Donation $10to the South Texas Food Bank.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 5The board of the Zapata County

Fair Association meets from 6:30-8p.m. The location will be announced.

The Texas A&M InternationalUniversity Lamar Bruni Vergara Plane-tarium will show “One World, One Sky:Big Bird’s Adventure” at 3:30 p.m. and“The Future Is Wild” at 4:30 p.m. Thespecial holiday price is two shows for$5.

THURSDAY, DEC. 6The Christmas Parade and

Lighting of the County Plaza is set for5:30-9 p.m.

Texas A&M International Univer-sity Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Cen-ter will be showing “The Zula Patrol:Under the Weather” at 3:30 p.m. and“Force 5 Nature Unleashed” at 4:30p.m. The special holiday price is twoshows for $5.

FRIDAY, DEC. 7The Texas A&M International

University Lamar Bruni Vergara Plane-tarium will show “Holiday Music Mag-ic” at 6 p.m. and “Mystery of theChristmas Star” at 7 p.m. General ad-mission is $4 for children and $5 foradults.

SATURDAY, DEC. 8The Texas A&M International

University Lamar Bruni Vergara Plane-tarium will present Family Movie Day.“The Muppets Christmas Carol” willshow at noon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6p.m. General admission is $4.

MONDAY, DEC. 10The Zapata County Commission-

ers Court meeting is set for 9 a.m. atthe Zapata County Courthouse.

THURSDAY, DEC. 12The Texas A&M International

University Lamar Bruni Vergara ScienceCenter and Planetarium will show “TheLittle Star that Could” at 3:30 p.m.and “New Horizons” at 4:30 p.m. Thespecial holiday price is two shows for$5.

CALENDARASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Saturday, Nov. 24,the 329th day of 2012. Thereare 37 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in His-tory:

On Nov. 24, 1987, the UnitedStates and the Soviet Unionagreed on terms to scrapshorter- and medium-rangemissiles. (The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treatywas signed by President Ro-nald Reagan and Soviet leaderMikhail S. Gorbachev the fol-lowing month.)

On this date:In 1784, Zachary Taylor, the

12th president of the UnitedStates, was born in OrangeCounty, Va.

In 1859, British naturalistCharles Darwin published “Onthe Origin of Species,” whichexplained his theory of evolu-tion by means of natural selec-tion.

In 1862, Confederate Presi-dent Jefferson Davis appointedGen. Joseph E. Johnston tocommand the Department ofthe West during the Civil War.

In 1922, Irish nationalistand author Robert ErskineChilders was executed in Du-blin by Free State forces.

In 1939, British OverseasAirways Corp. (BOAC) wasformally established.

In 1941, the U.S. SupremeCourt, in Edwards v. Califor-nia, unanimously struck downa California law prohibitingpeople from bringing impover-ished non-residents into thestate.

In 1950, the musical “Guysand Dolls,” based on the writ-ings of Damon Runyon andfeaturing songs by FrankLoesser (LEH’-suhr), openedon Broadway.

In 1963, Jack Ruby shot andmortally wounded Lee HarveyOswald, the accused assassinof President John F. Kennedy,in a scene captured on live tel-evision.

In 1969, Apollo 12 splasheddown safely in the Pacific.

In 1971, a hijacker callinghimself “Dan Cooper” (butwho became popularly knownas “D.B. Cooper”) parachutedfrom a Northwest Orient Air-lines 727 over the PacificNorthwest after receiving$200,000 dollars in ransom —his fate remains unknown.

In 1982, Barack HusseinObama Sr., a Kenyan govern-ment economist and father ofthe president, was killed in anautomobile accident in Nairo-bi; he was 46.

In 1992, a China SouthernAirlines Boeing 737 crashed insouthern China, killing all 141people on board.

Ten years ago: In a letterto U.N. Secretary-General KofiAnnan, the Iraqi governmentcomplained that the smallprint behind upcoming weap-ons inspections would giveWashington a pretext to at-tack. Lucio Gutierrez, a pop-ulist former army colonelwho’d led a coup in 2000, waselected Ecuador’s sixth presi-dent in six years. ChancellorWolfgang Schuessel’s conser-vative party dominated parlia-mentary elections in Austria.

Today’s Birthdays: Rockdrummer Pete Best is 71. For-mer White House news secre-tary Marlin Fitzwater is 70.Former Motion Picture Asso-ciation of America ChairmanDan Glickman is 68. Rock mu-sician Clem Burke (Blondie;The Romantics) is 58. Recordproducer Terry Lewis is 56.Actor Ruben Santiago-Hudsonis 56.

Thought for Today: “Be-tween flattery and admirationthere often flows a river ofcontempt.” — Minna Antrim,American writer (1861-1950).

TODAY IN HISTORY

BEAUMONT — Two people died and morethan 80 people were hurt Thursday when atleast 140 vehicles collided in Southeast Texasin a pileup that left trucks twisted on top ofeach other and authorities rushing to pullsurvivors from the wreckage.

The collision occurred in extremely foggyconditions at about 8:45 a.m. ThanksgivingDay on Interstate 10 southwest of Beaumont,a Gulf Coast city about 80 miles east of Hous-ton.

A man and a woman were killed in a Che-vy Suburban SUV crushed by a tractor trail-er, the Texas Department of Public Safetytold KFDM-TV.

DPS trooper Stephanie Davis late Thurs-day identified the dead as Debra Leggio, 60,and Vincent Leggio, 64.

Jefferson County sheriff ’s Deputy RodCarroll said in a news release that 80 to 90people were transported to hospitals with 10to 12 of those in serious to critical condition.He said 140 to 150 vehicles were involved inthe pileup.

According to DPS, a crash on the east-bound side of the highway led to other acci-dents in a dangerous chain reaction. Therewere multiple crashes on the other side ofthe highway as well.

Carroll told The Associated Press the fogwas so thick that deputies didn’t immediate-ly realize they were dealing with multiple ac-cidents.

“It is catastrophic,” Carroll said. “I’ve gotcars on top of cars.”

I-10’s eastbound lanes were re-openedThursday evening after more than eighthours.

AROUND TEXAS

An emergency worker walks past a pile of cars from the accident on Interstate 10 in Southeast Texas on Thursday. The TexasDepartment of Public Safety says at least 35 people have been injured in a more than 50-vehicle pileup.

Photo by Guiseppe Barranco/The Beaumont Enterprise | AP

2 die in massive pileupASSOCIATED PRESS

San Antonio man held inax slaying of father

SAN ANTONIO — A 19-year-old San Antonio man is in custo-dy after police say he fatally at-tacked his sleeping father withan ax.

Police say Marshall Lee Gilesdied of his injuries hours afterthe attack late Wednesday night.

Giles’ son, also named Mar-shall Lee Giles, originally washeld on a $20,000 bond on an ag-gravated assault charge but thecharge is expected to be upgrad-ed to murder.

Handed down paintingworth $1 million

CORPUS CHRISTI — A SouthTexas man who inherited apainting from his mother took itto appraisers with the popularPBS program “Antiques Road-show” and has learned it’s worthup to $1 million.

Rue Ferguson says his great-grandparents bought the paint-ing by Diego Rivera in the 1920s.

Man charged in death killshimself

DECATUR — A man chargedwith killing his girlfriend earlierthis month after leading police toher body has been found dead inhis Wise County jail cell.

Sheriff David Walker says 29-year-old David Malone hangedhimself Wednesday night.

Malone was arrested last weekon a sexual assault charge inParker County and then led dep-uties to the remains of his 28-year-old girlfriend, SamanthaMcNorton.

Coyote believed to killpets in Galveston caught

GALVESTON — A coyote be-lieved responsible for the recentkillings of several pets in a Gal-veston County neighborhood hasbeen caught.

Police tell The GalvestonCounty Daily News the animalhas been snagged in a trap setplaced by the department’s ani-mal control division.

2 hurt as pickup slamsinto Houston apartmentHOUSTON — Two people are

recovering in a Houston hospitalafter a pickup truck veered off aHouston freeway and slammedinto their apartment building.

The driver of the truck sayssomeone in another vehicle waschasing him Friday morningalong Interstate 45 and he lostcontrol. The truck driver hasbeen taken into police custody.

Sexual assault atUniversity of North Texas

DENTON — University ofNorth Texas police are urgingstudents to be cautious after astudent reported being abductedand sexually assaulted this week.

The student said he was walk-ing Tuesday evening when occu-pants of a car pulled up andasked for directions.

He jumped inside to help themand one of the passengers pulleda knife.

— Compiled from AP reports

Cops: Mass. shopper tookhome TV, left tot

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Po-lice say a Massachusetts man lefthis girlfriend’s 2-year-old son in acar while he went shopping forBlack Friday bargains, thenwent home with his new 51-inchflat screen television and left thetoddler behind.

Police, alerted by store securi-ty, found the boy asleep in the ve-hicle in a Kmart parking lot atabout 1:30 a.m. Friday.

The man told police he lostthe boy while shopping, pan-icked and called someone else fora ride.

Police say they expect tocharge the man with reckless en-dangerment to a child.

Postcard mailed duringWWII arrives at NY home

ELMIRA, N.Y. — A postcardmailed nearly 70 years ago has fi-nally arrived at the former up-

state New York home of the cou-ple who sent it.

The postcard was sent July 4,1943, from Rockford, Ill., to sis-ters Pauline and Theresa Lei-senring in Elmira.

Their brother, George Leisenr-ing, was stationed at Rockford’s

Medical Center Barracks atCamp Grant, an Army post dur-ing World War II. Their parentswere visiting him when theymailed the postcard home.

The postcard arrived last weekat the family’s former home.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

This undated photo shows a postcard delivered to an address in Elmira, N.Y. dur-ing the week of Nov. 12. The postcard was originally sent nearly seven decadesago.

Photo by Jennifer Kingsley/The Star-Gazette | AP

Publisher, William B. Green........................728-2501Business Manager, Dora Martinez ...... (956) 324-1226General Manager, Adriana Devally ...............728-2510Adv. Billing Inquiries ................................. 728-2531Circulation Director ................................. 728-2559MIS Director, Michael Castillo.................... 728-2505Copy Editor, Nick Georgiou ....................... 728-2565Managing Editor, Mary Nell Sanchez........... 728-2543Sports Editor, Adam Geigerman..................728-2578Spanish Editor ........................................ 728-2569

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

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

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

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

CONTACT US

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2012 Local THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

ASSAULTGloria Arambula, 27, was arrested and

charged with assault Nov. 17. She remained atthe Zapata County Jail as of Friday afternoon.

Roberto Piedra, 31, was arrested andcharged with assault Nov. 19. He is out on bail.

CHILD ABANDONMENTBlanca Lizeth Serrato-Garza, 22, was ar-

rested and charged with abandoning, endanger-ing a child Nov. 16. She is out on bond.

POSSESSIONJuan Carlos Salinas, 23, was arrested

and charged with possession of marijuana Nov.17. He is out on bail.

TERRORISTIC THREATLuis Antonio Arambula, 44, was arrested

and charged with terroristic threat against apublic servant Nov. 16. He is out on bail.

UNAUTHORIZED VEHICLEDavid Andrew Garza, 33, was arrested

and charged with unauthorized use of a motorvehicle Nov. 19. He is out on bond.

THE BLOTTER

The Zapata County Mu-seum of History, the TorresHomes and La Hacienda delas Flores will be featuredin the Christmas Town andCountry Tour Homes onSunday, Dec. 9. Proceedswill benefit the museum.

Guests can view Christ-mas displays and a samplefrom a merienda includingMexican and Spanishtreats.

Tickets are $5 per personand are available at the Za-pata County Museum ofHistory, 805 N. U.S. 83.

Maps of the tour will beavailable at the museumbeginning at 1 p.m.

ToursplannedDec. 9

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Zapata County received about 1¼inches of rain as of Friday after-noon, but little to no precipitation isexpected over the weekend, thoughcooler temperatures will remain.

The front is expected to moveacross the area southward over theweekend, according to the NationalWeather Service.

Temperatures will reach lows inthe 50s Sunday morning, but willclimb back up to the mid-70s laterin the day.

Although no rain is expected pastSaturday afternoon, skies are ex-pected to be cloudy throughout theweekend.

(Mikaela Rodriguez may bereached at 956-728-2567 or mrodri-guez@lmtonline.com)

Countyreceives

some rainBy MIKAELA RODRIGUEZ

THE ZAPATA TIMES

A state education agency isslated to dish out a $1.3 mil-lion grant aimed in part atmaking South Texans employ-able amid the Eagle FordShale boom.

Laredo Community College,one of five community colleg-es receiving the grant, is get-ting a little more than a fifthof the share.

LCC plans to use the ap-proximately $280,000 in fundsfrom the Texas Higher Educa-tion Coordinating Board toprovide support services forstudents in certificate pro-grams looking to gain employ-ment in industries or obtain apost-secondary education, col-lege administrators said.

“It’s a great opportunity forstudents to be able to combinetheir learning with hands-onskills application and to beable to get out into the work-force a lot quicker,” said Dian-na Miller, LCC vice president

for instruction.The initiative will take aim

at monitoring student pro-gress so as to better retainand graduate students in ca-reer and technical areas.

The consortium of colleges— which also includes AlamoColleges in San Antonio,Coastal Bend College in Bee-ville, Southwest Texas JuniorCollege in Uvalde and Victo-ria College — will target 800students, mainly lower-skilledadults who have earned theirGEDs or lack high school di-plomas.

Further, students must beenrolled in an oil and gas,commercial truck driving orwelding certificate program.

Driving the grant is an ev-er-growing oil and gas indus-try in South Texas, where re-sources in the 14-county EagleFord Shale area are beingtapped.

A trend over the last fiveyears has seen a decline in en-rollment in adult basic educa-tion programs, such as the oil

and gas certificate programsLCC offers, while funding forthem has increased, accordingto the Texas Higher EducationCoordinating Board.

The grant initiative is anattempt by state policymakersto reverse that trend.

Miller said the programswill appeal to students be-cause of the tangibility of thetraining.

“Instead of just learningthe language without any con-nection to it, this allows themto give meaning related to thetrade they are going into,” shesaid. “Students are more in-terested in that type of careerand spending more time prac-ticing and working in thoseareas.”

Anyone interested in thetraining programs may con-tact LCC’s adult basic educa-tion department at 956-721-5436 or continuing educationat 956-721-5374.

(JJ Velasquez may bereached at 728-2579 or jjvelas-quez@lmtonline.com)

Grant to fund oil field programBy JJ VELASQUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES

PAGE 4A Zopinion SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2012

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

The use of drones tokill suspected terroristsis controversial, but solong as a human beingdecides whether to firethe missile, it is not aradical shift in how hu-manity wages war.

Since the first archerfired the first arrow,warriors have been in-venting ways to striketheir enemies while re-moving themselves fromharm’s way.

Soon, however, mili-tary robots will be ableto pick out human tar-gets on the battlefieldand decide on their ownwhether to go for thekill.

An Air Force reportpredicted two years agothat “by 2030 machine ca-pabilities will have in-creased to the point thathumans will have be-come the weakest compo-nent in a wide array ofsystems.”

Self controlA 2011 Defense Depart-

ment road map forground-based weaponsstates: “There is an ongo-ing push to increase au-tonomy, with a currentgoal of ‘supervised au-tonomy,’ but with an ulti-mate goal of full autono-my.”

The Pentagon still re-quires autonomousweapons to have a “manin the loop” — the robotor drone can train itssights on a target, but ahuman operator must de-cide whether to fire. Butfull autonomy with nohuman controller wouldhave clear advantages. Acomputer can process in-formation and engage aweapon infinitely fasterthan a human soldier.

As other nations devel-op this capacity, the Unit-ed States will feel com-pelled to stay ahead. Arobotic arms race seemsinevitable unless nationscollectively decide toavoid one.

Fictional charactersI have heard few dis-

cussions of robotic war-fare without someonejoking about the Matrixor Terminator; the dan-ger of delegating warfareto machines has been acentral theme of modernscience fiction.

Now science is catch-ing up to fiction. Andone doesn’t have to be-lieve the movie versionof autonomous robots be-coming sentient to betroubled by the prospectof their deployment onthe battlefield.

After all, the decisionsethical soldiers mustmake are extraordinarilycomplex and human.

Could a machine sol-dier distinguish as wellas a human can betweencombatants and civil-ians, especially in socie-ties where combatantsdon’t wear uniforms andcivilians are oftenarmed?

Would we trust ma-chines to determine thevalue of a human life, assoldiers must do whendeciding whether firingon a lawful target isworth the loss of civil-ians nearby?

Could a machine rec-ognize surrender? Couldit show mercy, sparinglife even when the lawmight allow killing? Andif a machine breaks the

law, who will be held ac-countable — the pro-grammer or manufactur-er? No one at all?

Some argue that theseconcerns can be ad-dressed if we programwar-fighting robots to ap-ply the Geneva Conven-tions.

Ethics questionedMachines would prove

more ethical than hu-mans on the battlefield,this thinking goes, neveracting out of panic or an-ger or a desire for self-preservation. But mostexperts believe it is un-likely that advances inartificial intelligencecould ever give robots anartificial conscience, andeven if that were possi-ble, machines that cankill autonomously wouldalmost certainly beready before the break-throughs needed to “hu-manize” them. And un-scrupulous governmentscould opt to turn the eth-ical switch off.

Of course, human sol-diers can also be “pro-grammed” to commit un-speakable crimes. Butbecause most human be-ings also have inherentlimits — rooted in moral-ity, empathy, capacity forrevulsion, loyalty to com-munity or fear of punish-ment — tyrants cannotalways count on humanarmies to do their bid-ding.

Think of the leaderswho did not seize, orstay, in power becausetheir troops would notfire on their people: thecommunist coup plotterswho tried to resurrectthe Soviet Union in 1991,the late Slobodan Milo-sevic of Serbia, HosniMubarak of Egypt, Zineel-Abidine Ben Ali of Tu-nisia.

Even Syria’s BasharAssad must considerthat his troops have abreaking point. Butimagine an Assad whocommands autonomousdrones programmed totrack and kill protestleaders or to fire auto-matically on any groupof more than five peoplecongregating below.

He would have a weap-on no dictator in historyhas had: an army thatwill never refuse an or-der, no matter how im-moral.

Nations have succeed-ed before in banningclasses of weapons —chemical, biological andcluster munitions; land-mines; blinding lasers.

It should be possible toforge a treaty banning of-fensive weapons capableof killing without humanintervention, especiallyif the United States,which is likely to developthem first, takes the ini-tiative. A choice must bemade before the technol-ogy proliferates.

Killer robotscould be

dangerousBY TOM MALINOWSKI

THE WASHINGTON POST Could amachinerecognizesurrender?Could it showmercy,sparing lifeeven when thelaw mightallow killing?

OTHER VIEWS

The Zapata Times doesnot publish anonymousletters.

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

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

We want to assure our

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

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

ing or gratuitous abuse isallowed.

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

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY

DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

WASHINGTON — Oneof the glories of nucleartechnology is also one ofits frustrations: You candesign a reactor in ahundred ways. It is likethe French cheese dilem-ma: Because there aresome 500 cheeses inFrance, who is to saywhich is the best?

In the world of cheese,the decision has beenmade by those who havemost successfully broughttheir cheeses to market,hence the domination byBrie, Camembert and Ro-quefort.

So it has been with nu-clear reactors.

The man who made themarket decisions was thelate U.S. Navy Adm. Hy-man G. Rickover, the crus-ty father of the nuclear na-vy. An autocratic vision-ary, Rickover feared that iftoo many reactor typescame on the market, therewould be expensive chaos,first in the Navy and thenin the civilian nuclear in-dustry. He believed that astandardized reactor con-cept was needed.

Rickover settled on so-called light water reac-tors: They are the world-standard for military andcivilian nuclear reactors,with only the serious ex-ception of Canada’s heavywater reactors. The fuel inthese is unenriched natu-ral uranium, but the mod-erator and coolant isheavy water — water com-

posed of deuterium, thehydrogen isotope with amass double that of ordi-nary hydrogen.

Largely left out of thereactor mix have been gascooling, sodium, thorium,liquid metal, graphite,pebble bed and other con-cepts, which were triedand orphaned or nevertried at all.

Light water is king.With 400 or so reactorsworking and almost 80more on the drawingboards or under construc-tion, its supremacy is invi-olate. China alone is build-ing 26 new reactors andplans many more.

Now the Department ofEnergy is pushing — gent-ly, to be sure — the minia-turization of light waterreactors in the form of thesmall modular reactor.

On Tuesday, it choseone of four competitors,the Babcock & Wilcox Co.,to receive $225 million inmatching funds for the de-sign and licensing of thefirst of these SMRs.

The idea is that thesereactors will be built in

factories and then trans-ported by rail, truck orbarge to the site wherethey are to be installed inphases. They will use pas-sive cooling, obviating theneed for pumps in anemergency; will be buriedunderground; and will befueled much less frequent-ly than the 18-24 monthstheir big sisters require.

The DOE says this newgeneration of reactorshould produce under 300-megawatts (MWe) of elec-trical power, but the man-ufacturers are hoping formuch smaller units, assmall as 45 MWe. A bignuclear power plant is1,000 MWe and more.

To get an idea of thepower of a nuclear plant,the average windmill be-ing deployed today gener-ates just 1 MWe when thewind is blowing. New, big-ger wind turbines arecoming, but the maximumland-based design is un-likely to exceed 3 MWe.

Therein lies the real ap-peal of nuclear plants:They create just so muchelectricity. A new, 1,000-

MWe plant — some aremuch bigger — is theequivalent of 1,000 windturbines when the wind isblowing.

DOE’s grant is not thefinal trip to its piggybank. The three failedcontestants, particularlyNuScale Power and West-inghouse, say they are go-ing to hang in for a secondround, when another $225million of matching fundswill be coming along. DOEdoes not want to be ac-cused of picking winnersand losers, even if that iswhat it is doing.

U.S. nuclear industrytypes hope that the newinitiative to push SMRswill reinvigorate the na-tion’s nuclear supplychain with new technolo-gy and more jobs. Thischain has so deterioratedthat, according to DavidBlee, executive director ofthe U.S. Nuclear Infras-tructure Council, 30 per-cent of the components ofnew large nuclear plantshave to be imported.

Industry observers be-lieve that B&W won theaward because its consor-tium of B&W, engineeringgiant Bechtel and the Ten-nessee Valley Authoritywas especially powerful.TVA is prepared to buildone of the new modularreactor plants on a site onthe Clinch River in Ten-nessee, notably at a timewhen most utilities are re-lying on natural gas fornew generation.

(Email: lking@kingpub-lishing.com.)

COLUMN

US wants smaller reactorsBy LLEWELLYN KING

HEARST NEWSPAPERS Therein lies the real appeal ofnuclear plants: They create just somuch electricity. A new,1,000-MWe plant is the equivalentof 1,000 wind turbines when thewind is blowing.

COLUMN

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2012 THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

About 350 Thanksgivingdinners were offered to el-derly residents of Zapata onThursday courtesy of ElParaiso Restaurant.

Owner Juan MercadoMedina said the traditionwas started by his mother,Hortencia Medina, morethan 30 years ago.

Hortencia Medina cameto Zapata in the early 1960sfrom Mexico and beganworking in the restaurantbusiness. She soon openedher own place, the originalEl Paraiso.

She passed away onEaster Sunday, 2003. Merca-do said although she wasseriously ill, on the lastThanksgiving Day before

her death she and anotherson, Daniel, deliveredplates to elderly residents.

Medina raised nine chil-dren and three of them op-erate restaurants in Zapata.Mercado said people stillcome in his restaurant toreminisce about his moth-

er. A portrait of her hangsat the entrance.

“She was a very charis-matic person. I wish Icould have been at leasthalf the person she was interms of working hard andhow she related to people,”Mercado said.

The original El Paraisoburned accidentally as thenew restaurant began oper-ating in 1994, althoughmuch of the equipment anddécor from the original arestill in use.

“Thanksgiving Day isthe one day of the yearwe’re the busiest and makethe least money, but we feelgood about it,” Mercadosaid.

(Rick Villarreal may bereached at 728-2528 or rvil-larreal@lmtonline.com)

Restaurant serves 350meals to local elderly

By RICARDO R. VILLARREALTHE ZAPATA TIMES “Thanksgiving

Day is the oneday of the yearwe’re thebusiest.”JUAN MERCADO MEDINA

Texas A&M Internation-al University’s Lamar Bru-ni Vergara Planetariumhas an early present for itsvisitors — a new show, thereturn of some older holi-day shows and Wednesdayand Thursday showingsduring December.

The new holiday showsrun through Friday, Dec.21.

The newest feature atthe Planetarium is “Mys-tery of the Christmas Star.”The show takes audienceson a journey back morethan 2,000 years in pursuitof a scientific explanationfor the star of Bethlehem.The modern retelling of theChristmas story is filledwith beautiful imagery andscored with choir music tocharm and captivate audi-ences of all ages.

“Holiday Music Magic”features a variety of festive

holiday classics fromMannheim Steamroller toBurl Ives and Brenda Lee.The soundtrack is en-hanced with 3-D artisticanimation and all-domescenery. The program isfun and entertaining for allaudiences, especially fam-ilies.

“Season of Light” tracesthe history and develop-ment of many of theworld’s most endearing ho-liday customs, all of whichinvolve lighting up the win-ter season—from burningthe Yule log, sparklingChristmas tree lights, can-dles in the windows, tolighting of luminarias inthe American Southwestand the traditional ritual ofthe Hanukkah Menorah.

The Wednesday andThursday showings featureshows for the entire family.Admission is $5 per personfor each double feature.

Wednesday, Dec. 5:

3:30 p.m., “One World,One Sky: Big Bird’s Adven-ture”

4:30 p.m., “The Future isWild”

Thursday, Dec. 63:30 p.m., “The Zula Pa-

trol: Under the Weather”4:30 p.m., “Force 5: Na-

ture Unleashed”Wednesday, Dec. 12

3:30 p.m., “The Secret ofthe Cardboard Rocket”

4:30 p.m., “Star Signs”Thursday, Dec. 13

3:30 p.m., “The LittleStar That Could”

4:30 p.m., “New Hori-zons”

Wednesday, Dec. 193:30 p.m., “Earth, Moon

and Sun”4:30 p.m., “One World,

One Sky: Big Bird’s Adven-ture”

For more informationand for complete show de-scriptions, visit www.ta-miu.edu/planetarium orcall 956-326-DOME (3663).

TAMIU planetariumoffers holiday shows

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

The slew of pre-filed im-migration-enforcementbills that piled up in theHouse clerk’s office aheadof the 82nd legislative ses-sion seems like an anoma-ly nowadays.

In November 2010, twomonths before the 82ndsession’s members weresworn in; dozens of suchbills were filed on the firstday of pre-filing. They in-cluded bills on repealingbirthright citizenship, re-quiring school districts toreport the immigrationstatus of their students,and making the use of theelectronic employmentverification system, or E-Verify, mandatory.

But a week after law-makers were first allowedto pre-file legislationahead of the 2013 session,only a handful of immigra-tion-enforcement legisla-tion is on the books.

The reason for the slow-down could be that severalkey members of the 82ndsession are leaving. Thoseoutgoing members includestate Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, whose bills last ses-sion included efforts toprevent a county’s localregistrar from issuing abirth certificate to a childborn to undocumented im-migrants in Texas. He losta primary faceoff to MattSchaefer. Rep. Burt Solo-mon, R-Carrollton, who fil-ed the divisive “sanctuarycities” bill, decided not torun again. Other outspo-ken legislators on immi-gration enforcement, likeRep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, who camped outat the Capitol overnight tofile several immigrationbills two years ago, haveyet to file such legislationahead of the next session.

But it’s still early. Last

session’s sanctuary citiesbill, which would have de-nied state funds to local orstate entities that prevent-ed their law enforcementofficers from inquiring in-to the immigration statusof a person arrested or de-tained, was not filed untilFebruary 2011. It was themost contentious bill thatmade it to the floor for avote, though it failed topass. That defeat came de-spite the bill being placedon the emergency itemslist by Gov. Rick Perry.

Perry this month reiter-ated his support for a billto ban sanctuary cities.But Catherine Frazier, aspokeswoman for the gov-ernor, said his office hasnot determined what, ifany, items would bedeemed an emergency.

Immigrant rightsgroups said Republicanlegislators are heeding awarning gleaned from thegeneral election, in whichLatinos overwhelminglysupported Democrats. Andthough immigration is afederal issue, they say thepost-election environment,which is moving awayfrom hard-line immigra-tion policies, has trickledto the state level.

“The obvious answer isthe Latino vote,” CristinaParker, a spokeswoman forthe El Paso-based BorderNetwork for HumanRights, said of the dearthof immigration-enforce-ment filings so far. “It isfair to say that Republi-cans are afraid of what theLatino vote means.”

The theme is playingout across the country,with the most recent evi-dence being the launch ofa Republican Super PAC,Republicans for Immigra-tion Reform, that supportsGOP hopefuls who don’ttake a hard-line stance onimmigration.

But Parker said the net-work fully expects to seesanctuary cities legisla-tion before the sessionends, and she pointed to afew bills that have been fil-ed as proof the battle linesare again being drawn.

They include a bill torepeal in-state tuition forundocumented students,HB 122, by Rep. Lyle Lar-son, R-San Antonio. In2001, Perry signed into lawa measure that allows stu-dents living in Texas atleast three years to receivethe in-state rate. That is-sue was used against himduring the GOP presiden-tial primary race, whenhis opponents said the lawshowed that the governorwas too soft on illegal im-migration.

Larson said the in-statetuition bill gave undocu-mented students an unfairadvantage over other stu-dents trying to get into thesame universities, specifi-cally the University ofTexas at Austin and TexasA&M University.

“It has an impact on allkids raised in Texas,” nomatter what their ethnici-ty is, he said, and addedthat he didn’t think mostpeople realized how far-reaching the law was untilPerry raised it during hiscampaign.

Larson also filed HB177, which would allow formore access to “tents” asdetention units as opposedto standard jails. “Tent”detention facilities are of-ten used in immigrationdetention centers.

A former Bexar Countycommissioner, Larson saidimmigration detentionwasn’t his motivation forfiling the tent bill, but in-stead said it would be acost-saving measure forcounties which usuallypay other entities to housetheir low-risk offenders.

Pre-filed bills showimmigration bias

By JULIAN AGUILARTEXAS TRIBUNE

6A THE ZAPATA TIMES International SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2012

EL PASO — A Dallastrucker imprisoned forseven months in Mexicoon accusations that he hadtried to smuggle in assaultrifle ammunition brokedown in tears Friday as hereturned to the UnitedStates, saying he had attimes given up hope.

Jabin Bogan claimed hewas on his way to Phoenixto deliver the ammunitionin April when he took awrong highway exit andaccidentally crossed theborder into Mexico. The27-year-old was arrestedand taken to a Mexicanmaximum security prison.

“Some days I gave uphope. Some days I felt likeGod was, to be honest inmy heart, like God waslaughing. Like he was justpunishing me for no rea-son. I felt like just givingup,” he said during a briefnews conference in El Pa-so, just minutes after ar-riving back in the U.S.

Bogan tearfully thankedhis supporters, and saidthat at times he felt liketaking his own life orsomeone else’s.

“I was the only blackAmerican person in thewhole prison. God broughtme through and I madeit,” he said.

Bogan was releasedfrom the Mexican prisonlast week but had been de-tained by immigration au-

thorities until Friday. Hewas found guilty of posses-sion of military ammuni-tion and sentenced tothree years, but the rulingwas later commuted fortime served and a fine.

He was arrested onApril 17 in Ciudad Juarez,Mexico, just across theborder from El Paso. Bo-gan said he was headed toPhoenix to deliver ammu-nition when he got lostand told Mexican author-ities that a law enforce-ment officer told him tocontinue driving acrossthe international bridge.

Bogan said he attempt-ed to turn back when herealized he had crossed in-to Mexico, but the layoutof the traffic lanes pre-vented him from return-ing without first crossinginto the truck inspection

area in Juarez, where histruck was searched.

He said Friday thatwhen he acknowledged tothe agents he had ammu-nition, “they said, ‘in thisside of the country it’s ille-gal to have bullets.’ Andthat’s when everythingwent upside down, theytook me in and never letme out.”

During his trial, Mexi-can customs agents con-tradicted prosecutors’claim that Bogan had268,000 bullets hidden un-der the floorboards of his18-wheeler’s trailer whenhe was arrested. Agentstestified in June that Bo-gan was trying to make aU-turn back into the U.S.when they found the am-munition bundled on topof wooden pallets insidethe trailer.

Mexico frees US trucker

Officials meet in June at the Las Americas Bridge in Juarez, Mex-ico, while doing a reconstruction of the events that led to the ar-rest of trucker Jabin Bogan.

Photo by Juan Carlos Llorca/file | AP

By JUAN CARLOS LLORCAASSOCIATED PRESS

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip— Israeli troops fired onGazans surging toward Is-rael’s border fence Friday,killing one person but leav-ing intact the fragile two-day-old cease-fire betweenHamas and the Jewishstate.

The truce, which callsfor an end to Gaza rocketfire on Israel and Israeliairstrikes on Gaza, cameafter eight days of cross-border fighting, the blood-iest between Israel and Ha-mas in four years.

In a letter to the U.N. Se-curity Council, the Palesti-nian U.N. observer RiyadMansour called the situa-tion in Gaza “extremelyfragile” and said Israel’scease-fire violations andother illegal actions riskundermining the calm thatwas just restored.

Hundreds of Palestiniansapproached the borderfence Friday in several lo-cations in southern Gaza,testing expectations Israelwould no longer enforce a300-meter-wide no-go zoneon the Palestinian side ofthe fence that was meant toprevent infiltrations into Is-rael. In the past, Israeli sol-diers routinely opened fireon those who crossed intothe zone.

In one incident capturedby Associated Press video,several dozen Palestinians,most of them young men,approached the fence, com-ing close to a group of Is-raeli soldiers standing onthe other side.

Some Palestinians brief-ly talked to the soldiers,while others appeared to betaunting them with chantsof “God is Great” and“Morsi, Morsi,” in praise ofEgyptian President Mo-hammed Morsi, whosemediation led to the truce.

At one point, a soldiershouted in Hebrew, “Gothere, before I shoot you,”and pointed away from thefence, toward Gaza. Thesoldier then dropped to oneknee, assuming a firing po-sition. Eventually, a burstof automatic fire washeard, but it was not clearwhether any of the casual-ties were from this inci-dent.

Gaza health official Ash-raf al-Kidra said a 20-year-old man was killed and 19people were wounded by Is-raeli fire near the border.

Mansour, the PalestinianU.N. observer, said Israeli

forces fatally shot AnwarAbdulhadi Qudaih in thehead and injured at least 19other Palestinian civiliansin a border area east ofKhan Younis.

During the incidents,Hamas security tried to de-fuse the situation and keepthe crowds away from thefence.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, atop Hamas official at theongoing negotiations inCairo, told The AssociatedPress that the violencewould have no effect on theceasefire.

The crowds were mainlymade up of young men butalso included farmers hop-ing to once again farmlands in the buffer zone.Speaking by phone fromthe buffer zone, 19-year-oldAli Abu Taimah said heand his father were check-ing three acres of familyland that have been fallowfor several years.

“When we go to ourland, we are telling the oc-cupation (Israel) that weare not afraid at all,” hesaid.

Israel’s military saidroughly 300 Palestiniansapproached the securityfence at different points,tried to damage it andcross into Israel. Soldiersfired warning shots in theair, but after the Palesti-nians refused to moveback, troops fired at theirlegs, the military said. APalestinian infiltrated intoIsrael during the unrest,but was returned to Gaza,it said.

The truce allowed bothHamas and Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netan-yahu to step back from thebrink of a full-fledged war.Over eight days, Israel’saircraft carried out some1,500 strikes on Hamas-linked targets, while Gaza

fighters fired roughly thesame number of rockets atIsrael.

The fighting killed 166Palestinians, includingscores of civilians, and sixIsraelis. Mansour, the Pal-estinian U.N. envoy, saidmore than 1,230 Palesti-nians were injured.

In Cairo, Egypt is host-ing separate talks with Is-raeli and Hamas envoys onthe next phase of the cease-fire — a new border dealfor blockaded Gaza. Hamasdemands an end to borderrestrictions, while Israel in-sists Hamas halt weaponssmuggling to Gaza.

Mansour also accused Is-rael of intensifying its useof “excessive and lethalforce” against Palestiniancivilians in the West Bankand East Jerusalem in re-cent days and of arrestingat least 230 Palestinian ci-vilians since the Gazafighting began, includingseveral members of the Pal-estinian Legislative Coun-cil who were detained atdawn Friday.

The Palestinian U.N. ob-server called on the Securi-ty Council and the interna-tional community “to re-main vigilant in theirdemands for a completecessation of hostilities andfor compliance by Israel.”

A poll Friday showedabout half of Israelis thinktheir government shouldhave continued its Gaza of-fensive.

The independent MaagarMohot poll showed 49 per-cent of respondents felt Is-rael should have kept pur-suing squads that fire rock-ets into Israel, 31 percentsupported the decision tostop and 20 percent had noopinion. Twenty-nine per-cent thought Israel shouldhave sent ground troops in-to Gaza.

A Hamas police officer prevents Palestinians from approaching the Israeli-Gaza border fence on Friday.Hundreds surged toward the fence, in a no-go-zone Israel has kept for years to prevent infiltrators.

Photo by Bernat Armangue | AP

Crowds surge at fenceBy KARIN LAUB AND SARAH EL DEEB

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SÁBADO 24 DE NOVIEMBRENUEVO LAREDO, Mé-

xico — Ballet “Mágica Navi-dad: El Sueño de Clarita” sepresenta a las 12 p.m. y 5p.m. en el Teatro Principaldel Centro Cultural NuevoLaredo. Entrada libre. Co-reografía de Carlos JavierGonzález y Samuel Villa-grán.

NUEVO LAREDO, Mé-xico — Vértices 1er Festivalde Teatro presenta “El Lla-no” (Tamaulipas) a las 7p.m. en el Teatro del IMSS.Entrada libre.

NUEVO LAREDO, Mé-xico — Sport Gym Papá Mi-lo presenta “El Retorno”,función de box, en la Can-cha de Fut-Rap, a las 7:30p.m. Pelea estrella a 10rounds presenta al Campe-ón Juvenil del CMB, VíctorHernández “La Cobrita” vsJosé Cabrera “Matador”. Ad-quiera boletos en taquilla.

DOMINGO 25 DE NOVIEMBRENUEVO LAREDO, Mé-

xico — Ballet “Mágica Navi-dad: El Sueño de Clarita” sepresenta a las 12 p.m. en elTeatro Principal del CentroCultural Nuevo Laredo. En-trada libre. Coreografía deCarlos Javier González y Sa-muel Villagrán.

JUEVES 29 DE NOVIEMBRELAREDO— Inicie la

temporada Navideña con lapresentación de villancicosa cargo de alumnos de va-rias escuelas primarias deLaredo, en la Biblioteca Pú-blica de Laredo, 1120 E.Calton Road, a las 6 p.m.Habrá chocolate caliente ygalletas. Evento organizadopor las Damas De La Cultu-ra De Oro.

LAREDO— Ceremoniade apertura del Arte Estu-diantil “Juried Exhibition” de6 p.m. a 7:30 p.m. en elEdificio de Fine and Perfor-ming Arts en TAMIU. Entra-da gratuita.

LAREDO— Disney OnIce presenta “Treasure Tro-ve” a las 7:30 p.m. en Lare-do Energy Arena. Costo: 20dólares general; 30 dólaresVIP; y 40 dólares, en pri-mera fila. Adquiera boletoen Ticketmaster o taquillade LEA.

VIERNES 30 DE NOVIEMBRELAREDO— Planetario

Lamar Bruni Vergara de TA-MIU presenta a las 6 p.m.,“Holiday Music Magic”; alas 7 p.m., “Mystery of theChristmas Star”. Costo ge-neral: 4 dólares (niños) y 5dólares, adultos.

LAREDO— “Las Posa-das 2012” de TAMIU ten-drán presentaciones del Ba-llet Folklórico, Ballet Folkló-rico Juvenil y MariachiInternacional en el teatrodel Center for the Fine andPerforming Arts de TAMIU alas 7 p.m. Costo: 5 dólares(niños menores de 10 añosentran gratis).

LAREDO— 11vo Con-cierto Anual Guitarras deNavidad de TAMIU a las7:30 p.m. en el Fine andPerforming Arts (CFPA) Re-cital Hall de la Universidad.Evento gratuito.

LAREDO— Conciertodel Laredo Community Co-llege Show Band a las 7:30p.m. en el teatro del Guada-lupe and Lilia Martinez FineArts Center del Fort McIn-tosh Campus. Evento gratui-to.

LAREDO— Disney OnIce presenta “Treasure Tro-ve” a las 7:30 p.m. en Lare-do Energy Arena. Costos:20 dólares general; 30 dóla-res VIP; y 40 dólares, enprimera fila. Adquiera boletoen Ticketmaster o taquillade LEA.

NUEVO LAREDO, Mé-xico — Vértices 1er Festivalde Teatro presenta “Nacidode un Muslo” (Nuevo León)a las 7 p.m. en el Teatrodel IMSS. Entrada libre.

Agendaen Breve

Esta semana, los tamaulipecosdespidieron los restos mortales deAmalia González Caballero de Cas-tillo Ledón, los cuales fueron ingre-sados a la Rotonda de las PersonasIlustres en la Ciudad de México.

El miércoles, el Gobernador Egi-dio Torre Cantú entregó a un re-presentante del gobierno federal laurna que contiene los restos huma-nos de la ilustre tamaulipeca.

Previamente los restos de doñaAmalia fueron extraídos de la Ro-tonda de los Tamaulipecos Ilustres,tocando al presidente municipal deJiménez, Jorge Salazar Méndez, re-cibir la urna.

“De esta forma, doña Amalia de-ja la Rotonda de los TamaulipecosIlustres para ser honrada y recor-dada por todos los mexicanos comouna de las más grandes entre lasgrandes”, dijo Torre en solemneevento de despedida realizado en elTeatro Amalia del Centro CulturalTamaulipas. “La entregamos paragloria y honor de todo México”.

Asistieron al homenaje en Ciu-dad Victoria, Amalia Castillo Le-dón Gregory y Rodrigo Blanco Cas-tillo Ledón, nietos de la primeramujer en formar parte de un gabi-nete presidencial, al ocupar la Sub-secretaría de Asuntos Culturalesde 1959 a 1964.

Ambos agradecieron a los ta-maulipecos todo el cariño que leentregaron a su abuela, reflejado

particularmente en sus 25 años defallecida con un extenso programacultural por parte del gobierno deEgidio Torre Cantú, mencionandoademás que para doña AmaliaGonzález, los tamaulipecos eran sugente y también los amó mucho.

ImportanciaDoña Amalia, quien se definiera

a sí misma como “escrutadora dehorizontes, exploradora”, se ha di-cho que es una de las damas repre-sentativas de la intelectualidad me-xicana y es considerada la mujertamaulipeca más importante de lahistoria mexicana del Siglo XX.

Fue una defensora del arte y cul-tura, a favor de las causas socialesmás justas.

“Día tras día de su existencia, sededicó a enriquecer las raíces cul-turales de nuestra patria, a alcan-zar el justo desarrollo social de to-dos y a transformar la vida políticade los mexicanos”, añadió Torre.

Enfatizó que sin lugar a dudas,su máxima labor fue haber encabe-zado el movimiento en México yAmérica Latina por los derechosciviles y políticos de la mujer.

“Los méritos de la ilustre huma-nista tamaulipeca la llevan ahora adescansar en el mausoleo dedicadoa los próceres de la patria, erigidoen honor a aquellos que son refe-rentes, rumbo y esperanza para lasgeneraciones venideras”, sostuvo.

IlustreEl jueves, en la Ciudad de Méxi-

co, Torre, el Secretario de Goberna-ción, Alejandro Poiré Romero y elRector de la Universidad NacionalAutónoma de México, José NarroRobles, encabezaron la ceremoniade ingreso de los restos mortalesde doña Amalia a la Rotonda de lasPersonas Ilustres.

El gobierno federal, por conduc-to de Poiré Romero, reconoció laaportación de cuatro ilustres mexi-canos a la cultura, música, pinturay la lucha social de las mujeres, enel homenaje en la Rotonda de losHombres Ilustres a Amalia Gonzá-lez, José Pablo Moncayo, María Iz-quierdo Gutiérrez y EdmundoO’Gorman.

La ceremonia se inició con elizamiento y honores a la banderanacional, en tanto que 16 cadetestrasladaron al centro de la Rotondaurnas cubiertas con el lábaro pa-trio que contenían los restos decuatro ilustres mexicanos.

Posteriormente sus restos fue-ron trasladados a los monumentosen su honor y se entregó una ban-dera a los familiares, entre los queestaba la señora Beatriz Caballero,hija de doña Amalia González.

El Gobernador Egidio TorreCantú y el Secretario de Goberna-ción, Poiré Romero, montaron unaguardia de honor, mientras que enla Rotonda se escuchaba la piezamusical “El Huapango de Monca-

yo”, de José Pablo Moncayo.Correspondió a la directora del

Instituto Tamaulipeco para la Cul-tura y las Artes, Libertad GarcíaCabriales, mencionar la filosofíaque inspiró a Amalia González ycitó parte de uno de sus textos enel que dice: “Confío en el alientosiempre vivo de las mujeres. Somosde una raza dulce y valiente al mis-mo tiempo, compañeras del hom-bre, al que hemos unido nuestro es-fuerzo en la tarea común, grandio-sa, de abrir la tierra y renovar elaire, camino arriba y con un hazde frutos en la mano”.

CEREMONIA

MERECIDO HONOR

Autoridades del Gobierno de Tamaulipas y del Federal, así como familiares, encabezaron el jueves en la Ciudad de México, la ceremonia de ingreso de los restos mortales de lailustre tamaulipeca Amalia González Caballero de Castillo Ledón a la Rotonda de las Personas Ilustres.

Fotos de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

Un cuadro en homenaje a Doña AmalizaGonzález Caballero de Castillo Ledón,ilustre tamaulipeca.

Ingresan restos de Amalia González aRotonda de Personas Ilustres en México

ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Zfrontera PÁGINA 7ASÁBADO 24 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2012

BEAUMONT — Dos per-sonas murieron y más de80 resultaron heridas eljueves en un choque de almenos 140 vehículos quese apilaron en el surestede Texas.

La colisión ocurrió alre-dedor de las 8:45 a.m. delDía de Acción de Graciasen medio de una espesaniebla en la carretera in-terestatal 10, al suroestede la ciudad de Beaumont,que está en la costa delGolfo de México a unos129 kilómetros (80 millas)al oriente de Houston.

Un hombre y una mujerfallecieron en una camio-neta deportiva Chevy Sub-urban que fue aplastadapor un camión con remol-que, informó el Departa-mento de Seguridad Públi-ca de Texas a la televisoraKFDM-TV.

Por la noche, la agenteestatal Stephanie Davisidentificó a las víctimasfatales como Debra Leg-gio, de 60 años, y VincentLeggio, de 64.

El subcomisario delcondado de Jefferson, RodCarroll, dijo en rueda deprensa que de 80 a 90 per-sonas fueron llevadas ahospitales y que entre 10 y12 iban en estado grave.Indicó que entre 140 y 150vehículos participaron enla colisión.

De acuerdo con la poli-cía estatal, un choque enlos carriles hacia el ori-ente provocó otras coli-siones hasta crear una re-acción en cadena. Tam-bién hubo choquesmúltiples en los carrilesen el otro sentido de lacarretera.

Carroll informó a TheAssociated Press que laniebla era tan densa quelos policías no se percata-ron de inmediato queatendían varias colisionesen serie.

“Esto es catastrófico”,describió Carroll. “Tengoautomóviles encima de au-tomóviles”.

Los carriles hacia eloriente estuvieron cerra-dos más de ocho horashasta que fueron reabier-tos por la noche.

Carroll dijo que los con-ductores que no estabanheridos trataron de ayu-dar mientras las autori-dades se abrían paso enmedio de los fierros retor-cidos.

“Sólo es gente ayudandogente”, dijo el oficial. “Lomás importante de estedía feriado es cómo losotros viajeros nos ayuda-ban cuando estábamosabrumados, (y lo hicieron)manteniendo sentadas ysosteniendo (a víctimas),ejerciendo presión sobrelas heridas de las person-as”.

TEXAS

Múltiple choquedeja dos muertos

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Uno de tantos conflictos bélicos quenuestro país enfrentó al comenzar su vidaindependiente lleva curioso nombre. Lorecordamos como la Guerra de los Pas-teles. Se le denominó así por razones na-da simpáticas.

Sucedió que en Tacubaya un empresa-rio francés de apellido Rimontel puso unrestaurante. Ya de noche, varios mandosdel ejército concurrieron al estableci-miento. Cenaron exquisitos platillos y, ex-cedidos de tragos, encerrarían al propie-tario en la bodega anexa. Hecho esto, losoficiales engulleron cuantos pasteles lo-calizaron, hasta empalagarse.

Francia exigió más tarde que les pag-aran daños y perjuicios a varios ciudada-nos suyos. Reclamos de Rimontel inclui-dos, el monto alcanzaba 600.000 pesos. Lapotencia europea fondeó su flota en 1838frente a playas veracruzanas. Con estre-mecedor cañonazo inició al cabo de sema-nas la Guerra de los Pasteles.

VínculoSus antecedentes implicaban directa-

mente a Tamaulipas. Porque hacía tresaños el general José Ignacio Mejía remon-tó la bocana del río Pánuco, con planes deinvadir Tampico hacia finales de 1835. Loacompañaban combatientes de cuna va-riopinta. No obstante perder la mitad desus embarcaciones –conste que eran dos--,alcanzaron el puerto tamaulipeco, dondetrabarían batalla cerca del muelle.

Diversas proclamas indican que estu-vieron lejos de sorprender al coronel Gre-gorio Gómez Palomino, comandante delcontingente militar estacionado ahí. “Laplaza es inexpugnable”, dijo en breve co-municado, reproducido por la imprenta

de La Gaceta de Tamaulipas. DerrotadoMejía, 28 compinches, mercenarios todos,se rindieron de plano.

Un decreto expedido con anterioridadordenaba pena de muerte para la pirate-ría. En consecuencia, Gómez Palominomandó fusilar a los prisioneros, entre losque hubo dos galos, Saucien y Demous-sent. Para familiares de estos últimos, en1838 Francia pretendía 20.000 pesos, acom-pañados del cese de Gregorio Gómez. Talfue el vínculo tamaulipeco con la Guerrade los Pasteles.

RicosLa Concordia, periódico del gobierno

tamaulipeco, impreso en Ciudad Victoria,reveló: “El 21 [de abril] del corriente[1838], como a las 2 p.m. se presentaron ala vista” de Tampico “dos bergantines deguerra franceses, de los cuales uno an-cló”, informaba el tabloide.

Después La Concordia estimó pérdidasen la desembocadura del Pánuco arriba“de 150.000 pesos […] por el bergantín deguerra francés que […] ha detenido”buques “que conducían ricos cargamen-tos”. Más tarde sus páginas anunciaron:“El […] 17 [de julio] en la noche se hizo ala vela el bergantín que bloquea el puertoy […] entró una goleta procedente de Liv-erpool,” Inglaterra.

Luego de bombardear Veracruz, lafuerza enemiga volvería al sureste de Ta-maulipas. Bajo las órdenes del contralmi-rante Charles Baudin, una corbeta y dosbergantines amagaron Tampico el 26 dediciembre. El general José Urrea los pusoen retirada. México cedió en febrero. Lepagaría a Francia la estratosférica suma.Rechazó en cambio sancionar a GregorioGómez Palomino.

(Según fue publicado en La Razón,Tampico, Tamps., el 5 octubre 2012)

COLUMNA

Cómo participó Tamaulipasen Guerra de los Pasteles

POR RAÚL SINENCIO CHÁVEZESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2012

Michael L. Williams earlier thismonth.

“The commissioner issued adecision finding that the ZapataCounty Independent School Dis-trict Board acted illegally andimproperly by not following theindependent hearing examiner’sdecision and by changing theconclusions of law,” said Edward“Tony” Connors, Brandon’s law-yer.

According to Connors, theboard is now faced with three op-tions: the reinstatement of Bran-don with back pay, paying herone year’s salary in addition toback pay, or filing an appeal.

“I’m excited about the decisionmade by the commissioner ofeducation. I hope the board con-siders the recommendation andgets me back to working with thedistrict,” Brandon said.

(Rick Villarreal may bereached at 728-2528 or rvillar-real@lmtonline.com)

SCHOOLSContinued from Page 1A If convicted, Izaguirre-Figueroa and Guerra-Da-

vila could face a punishment of five to 40 years infederal prison. Arraignment has been set for 11a.m. Nov. 29 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Guiller-mo R. Garcia.

The case came to light Nov. 3 when Border Pa-trol agents responded to reports of people carryingbundles near Allen Weeds Property in Jim Hogg.A criminal complaint alleges Guerra-Davila led agroup of seven people carrying bundles.

Federal authorities also allege Guerra-Davilawas followed by Izaguirre-Figueroa. All peopledropped the contraband and ran away whenagents approached them, according to court re-cords.

When arrested, Izaguirre-Figueroa said he hadknowledge the bundles had marijuana. Accordingto the complaint, Guerra-Davila had led the groupfrom Mexico. Federal authorities allege the menmet and obtained the marijuana in Miguel Ale-man, Tamaulipas, which borders Roma in StarrCounty.

“Izaguirre-Figueroa further stated that the rea-son he transported the marijuana into the UnitedStates was because he was forced by unknowngunmen in Mexico,” Izaguirre-Figueroa allegedlytold agents, according to court documents.

(César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568or cesar@lmtonline.com)

COURT Continued from Page 1A

helps create jobs, maintain jobs andhelps the local economy. Keep Laredodollars in Laredo,” Salinas said.

For Jesus Orosco, a manager at LaPerfumeria, an island store next to thefood court, it today has been a long day.

Starting work at 3 a.m, big Friday af-ternoon Orosco bows his head andrubs his eyes in between pushing prod-uct to passers-by.

“A lot of Red Bull,” he says, whenasked how he’s able to cope with hislong shift.

Busy sales dayBut so far it’s been worth it. He says

his biggest sale of the day has beenaround $600, and he’s not done yet.Orosco and his staff will remain atwork until 11 p.m.

The toll of a long day was also appar-ent for Irwin Ramirez, another earlybird. Ramirez, 18, and his father wereamong the most hardcore Black Fridayshoppers, arriving at Sears shortly be-fore doors opened at 4 a.m.

“People were pushing each other,”

Ramirez said of the crowds. “Therewere lines from the cashier to the backof the store.”

After Ramirez and his father madetheir purchases — tools and a tablet —he had to go to work at the RockyMountain Chocolate Factory from 7a.m. to 4 p.m. There, he saw Black Fri-day from the other side of the cash reg-ister. Surprisingly though, he says hisstore wasn’t noticeably more busy thenusual.

At restBy late afternoon, Ramirez was off

work and lounging in the lobby of Star-bucks, waiting for his mother to finishher shift at the Rocky Mountain Choco-late Factory. Like Thanksgiving, BlackFriday had become a family tradition,albeit one far more demanding thenanything that happened yesterday.

“I’m waiting for my mom to get outof work so I can sleep finally,” said Ra-mirez.

(Zach Brooke may be reached at 728-2538 or zbrooke@lmtonline.com)

SHOPPING Continued from Page 1A

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2012 THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

Felipe De Jesus Morales,88, passed away Friday,Nov. 16, 2012, at LaredoMedical Center in Laredo,Texas.

Mr. Morales is precededin death by his wife, Anto-nia C. Morales; sons, Fer-nando Morales and Fran-cisco Caballero; parents,Serapio and Vidala Mo-rales; brothers, Manuel(Emma) Morales, Fabian(Sara) Morales, Serapio Jr.(Beatriz) Morales and Zara-goza (Petra) Morales; andsisters, Andrea Villarreal,Petra (Amador) Mendoza,Vidala (Saul) Gonzalez,Amada (Alfonso) Busta-mante and Francisca (Ge-novevo) Bustamante.

Mr. Morales is survivedby his sons, Ismael Mo-rales, Felipe Jr. (Rosita) Mo-rales, Braulio (Sylvia) Mo-rales and Efrain (Leticia)Morales; daughters, OlgaM. (Humberto) Perez, Glo-ria M. (Corando) Thatcher,Adelaida M. Piña, YolandaM. (Armando) De Los San-tos, Amada M . (Sherman)Thompson, Antonia M.(Hugo) Guzman, Maria Isa-bel (Javier) Lerma and Ofe-lia (Sergio) Mora; numer-ous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren; brothers,Agapito (Olivia) Morales,Antonio (Victoria) Moralesand Jose C. (Eloisa) Mo-rales; sister, Maria (†Ama-dor) Martinez; daughter-in-law, Amanda Caballero;and by numerous nephews,nieces and friends.

Visitation hours wereheld Monday, Nov. 19, 2012,

from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with arosary at 7 p.m. at RoseGarden Funeral Home, andTuesday, November 20,2012, from 8 a.m. to 8:35a.m.

The funeral processiondeparted Tuesday, Nov. 20,2012, at 8:30 a.m. for a fu-neral Mass at 9 a.m. at OurLady of Lourdes CatholicChurch. Committal servic-es followed at Zapata Coun-ty Cemetery.

The family would like tothank Dr. Luis Benavidesand staff and ChampionCare Home Health of Zapa-ta, Texas.

Condolences may be sentto the family at www.rose-gardenfuneralhome.com.

Funeral arrangementswere under the direction ofRose Garden FuneralHome, Daniel A. Gonzalez,funeral director, 2102 N.U.S. 83, Zapata.

FELIPE DE JESUS MORALES

Leopoldo Garcia, 82,passed away Friday, Nov. 16,2012, at Falcon Lake Nurs-ing Home in Zapata, Texas.

Mr. Garcia is preceded indeath by his daughter, Dia-na Garcia; parents, Teoduloand Enedina Garcia; broth-ers, Benito, Juan, Roberto,Heberto, and Teodulo Gar-cia; and sister, Elena Sali-nas.

Mr. Garcia is survived byhis former wife, RosalinaGutierrez; son, Leopoldo Jr.(Yolanda) Garcia; daugh-ters, Alma Rosa (Greg) Av-ery, Enedina (Johnny) Teje-da, and Leticia (David) Be-navides; grandchildren,Leopoldo III (Stephanie)Garcia, Melissa A. (Sergio)Martinez, Lee Ann Garcia,Kristina Garcia, Diana Li-na (Adrian) Duran, Jessica(Rick) Elizondo, ClaudiaVeronica Garcia-Bisher,Ashley M. McDermott, Mi-chael James McDermott,Kevin Cody McDermott,Erica M. (Jimmy) Moore,Liza (Israel III) Lozano andCelina Benavides; great-grandchildren, Derek,Nathan, Christine, Triny,Shelby, Jacee, Mackenzie,Gavin, Skyler, Mary-Eve-lyn, Ariel, Matilda, andChristian; brother, Adalber-to Garcia; sisters, Elma Ze-peda, Elmira De Los Santosand Elva Gonzalez; and bynumerous nephews, niecesand friends.

Visitation hours were

held Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012,from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with arosary at 7 p.m. at RoseGarden Funeral Home, andon Monday, Nov. 19, 2012,from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

The funeral processiondeparted Monday, Nov. 19,2012, at 9:30 a.m. for a fu-neral Mass at 10:30 a.m. atOur Lady of Lourdes Cath-olic Church. Committal ser-vices followed at ZapataCounty Cemetery.

Condolences may be sentto the family at www.rose-gardenfuneralhome.com.

Funeral arrangementswere under the direction ofRose Garden FuneralHome, Daniel A. Gonzalez,funeral director, 2102 N.U.S. 83 Zapata.

LEOPOLDO GARCIA

Julian Villarreal Flores,68, passed away Thursday,Nov. 15, 2012, at Doctor’sHospital in Laredo.

Mr. Villarreal is preced-ed in death by his son,Francisco Javier Villar-real; parents, Simon andJuana Villarreal; and abrother, Antonio Villar-real.

Mr. Villarreal is sur-vived by his wife, San Jua-na Escamilla; sons, Julian(Amalia) Villarreal and Si-mon Villarreal; daughters,Ruby (Seferino Jr.) Sala-zar, Erica and Julie;grandchildren, Emily Vil-larreal, Francisco JavierVillarreal, Ruben JavierSanchez, Alheli Sanchezand Joseph Salazar; broth-ers, Roel Villarreal, OzielVillarreal and RigobertoVillarreal; sisters, OraliaSerna and Yolanda San-chez; and by numerousnephews, nieces, andmany friends.

Visitation hours wereheld Saturday, Nov. 17,2012, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.with a wake at 7 p.m. atRose Garden FuneralHome.

Committal services fol-lowed at Cementerio LosColorados de Abajo in LosColorados, Nuevo Leon.

Condolences may besent to the family atwww.rosegardenfuneral-home.com.

Funeral arrangementswere under the directionof Rose Garden FuneralHome, Daniel A. Gonza-lez, funeral director, 2102N. U.S. 83, Zapata.

JULIAN VILLARREAL FLORES

SAN YGNACIO — Ja-vier E. Benavides, 15,passed away Sunday, Nov.18, 2012.

Javier is preceded indeath by his grandpar-ents, Ramon and MariaBenavides.

Javier is survived byhis parents, Alfonso andLydia Z. Benavides; broth-ers, Juan Paredes III, LuisA. Paredes, Arturo J. Be-navides, Alfonso Bena-vides Jr. and Luis ReneBenavides; sisters, DahliaParedes, Erica Vela andAdela Benavides; mater-nal grandparents, Alfonsoand Nelda Zepeda; and bynumerous uncles, aunts,cousins and many friends.

Visitation hours wereFriday, Nov. 23, 2012, from6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a ros-ary at 7 p.m. at Rose Gar-den Funeral Home, andSaturday, Nov. 24, 2012,from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

The funeral processiondeparted Saturday, Nov.24, 2012, at 9:30 a.m. for a10 a.m. funeral Mass atOur Lady of Refuge Cath-olic Church. Committal

services followed at Pante-on Del Pueblo in San Yg-nacio, Texas.

Condolences may besent to the family atwww.rosegardenfuneral-home.com.

Funeral arrangementsare under the direction ofRose Garden FuneralHome, Daniel A. Gonza-lez, funeral director, 2102N. U.S. 83, Zapata.

JAVIER E. BENAVIDES

Maria Dora Chapa, 75,passed away Monday, Nov.19, 2012, at her residence inZapata, Texas.

Ms. Chapa is precededin death by her parents,Alfonso Chapa and TeresaMartinez; husband, Alber-to J. Chapa; son, AmadoChapa; brother, Javier Cha-pa; and a sister, Alicia Mu-ñoz.

Ms. Chapa is survivedby her children, Cynthia(Luis Angel) Herrera, Ma-ria Teresa (Jaime) Chapa,Dora Isela Chapa and Al-berto Chapa; grandchil-dren, Marlen, Luis Angel,Luis Alonso, Jesus Ricar-do, Arian, Jaime Jr., Jona-than, Felipe, Lauro, Carlos,Amanda, Amado and Al-berto; great-grandchildren,Jerson, Carlos, Santiagoand Sofia; brothers, Mele-cio (Elia†) Chapa, Alfonso(Irma) Chapa, Armando(Martina) Chapa and Roehl(Dora) Chapa; sisters, Mag-da (Antonio) Lopez, Alma(Rodolfo†) Garcia, NormaChapa and Blanca Chapa;and by numerous neph-

ews, nieces, other relativesand friends.

Condolences may besent to the family atwww.rosegardenfuneral-home.com.

Funeral arrangementsare under the direction ofRose Garden FuneralHome, Daniel A. Gonzalez,funeral director, 2102 N.U.S. 83, Zapata.

MARIA DORA CHAPAVirginia Guzman, 87,

passed away Wednesday,Nov. 14, 2012, at LaredoMedical Center in Laredo,Texas.

Ms. Guzman is preced-ed in death by her hus-band, Jose Maria Guz-man; sons, Jose MariaGuzman Jr., Miguel Guz-man and Ovidio Guzman;grandson, Miguel AntonioGarza; parents, Pedro andMaria Garcia; brother, Ro-gelio Garcia; and sisters,Maria Candelaria (Jesus)Dominguez and EmmaBernal.

Ms. Guzman is sur-vived by her sons, Derly(Maria Guadalupe) Guz-man, Lucio Guzman, Mi-guel Guzman and PedroGuzman; daughters, Car-lota G. (Hugo) Garza andMartha Elena (Remigio)Guerra; grandchildren,Derly Guzman Jr., OvidioGarza, Hugo (Veronica)Garza, Blanca (Jesus)Araiza, Santiago (Maria)Garza, Blanca (Jesus)Araiza, Santiago (Maria)Garza, Rene Guerra, RaulGuerra, Erika Guerra andRhonda Guerra; numer-ous great-grandchildren;and a sister, Maria Gar-cia.

Visitation hours wereheld Friday, Nov. 16, 2012,from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with

a rosary at 7 p.m. at RoseGarden Funeral Home.

A chapel service washeld Saturday, Nov. 17,2012, at 10 a.m. at RoseGarden Funeral Home.The funeral procession de-parted at 10:45 a.m. Com-mittal services followed atZapata County Cemetery.

Condolences may besent to the family atwww.rosegardenfuneral-home.com.

Funeral arrangementswere under the directionof Rose Garden FuneralHome, Daniel A. Gonza-lez, funeral director, 2102N. U.S. 83, Zapata.

VIRGINIA GUZMAN

passed away Tuesday, Nov.20, 2012, at Laredo MedicalCenter in Laredo, Texas.

Mr. Garza is preceded indeath by his parents, Fran-cisco and Vicenta Garza.

Mr. Garza is survivedby his wife, Albeza Garza;sons, Margarito (SanJuanita) Garza, Felipe deJesus (Maria de Jesus)Garza, Mario Alberto(Beatriz) Garza and JoseAlonzo (Yajaira) Garza;daughters, Yesenia (MarioAlberto) Garcia, Dora Syl-Margarito Garza, 68,

via (Delfino) Garcia andAlbeza Veronica (Rafael)Cervantes; brothers, En-rique Garza Carrion andGilberto Martinez Car-rion; and by numerousgrandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Visitation hours wereWednesday, Nov. 21, 2012,from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. witha wake at 7 p.m. at RoseGarden Funeral Home.

A chapel service washeld Friday, Nov. 23, 2012,at 9 a.m. at Rose Garden

Funeral Home. Committalservices followed at ZapataCounty Cemetery.

Funeral arrangementswere under the directionof Rose Garden FuneralHome, Daniel A. Gonzalez,funeral director, 2102 N.U.S. 83 Zapata.

MARGARITO GARZA

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2012

Sports&OutdoorsSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2012 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

The volleyball season hasbeen over for three weeksand the District 31-3A

coaches have finally released theAll-District volleyball list.

Zapata swept the top spot andcaptured its third consecutive dis-trict title as it headed to the play-offs.

The Lady Hawks took homefour of the top honors includingMVP, Newcomer of the Year, Co-Offensive Player and Coach of theYear.

Senior Kristina De Leon led Za-pata all season long and was re-warded for her hard work on thecourt as the district coaches votedher Co-MVP.

De Leon dazzled the crowdswith her overall play, competingat any position on the court andwas rarely on the sidelines.

De Leon could pound the leath-er out of the ball with great forceor send it over where no defensewas around.

She was also a great back rowplayer for the Lady Hawks as sheconsistently came in second instatistics for defensive specialties.

“Kris was big force for us forthe past two years.” Zapata coachRosie Villarreal said. “Playingclub ball with that elite team thispast summer really helped herstep up her game. It helped her topush the girl on the court andthey responded to her.

“She will be missed by herteammates and the underclass-man that really looked up to her.”

Zapata junior Celia Rathmellwas named Newcomer of the Yearas she was part of the defensiveforce at the net for the LadyHawks.

Rathmell spent last season onthe junior varsity team and reallyflourished this year with eachpassing week and team started tonotice her.

She came in as an unsure andinexperienced varsity player andbecame Zapata’s main blocker atthe net.

“She just came along and reallyblossomed towards the end wherewe really needed her,” Villarrealsaid. “Celia was really not thatstrong but was willing to take onthat role as our blocker.

“We saw a really big differencein her hitting when she was com-fortable with her blocking. Shewas by far the most improve play-er and the district coaches took anote of that. I can not wait to see

what we will do next year.”Gina Jasso was named Co-Of-

fensive Player of the Year for herhitting ability at the net.

Villarreal has really becomeand icon in Zapata for buildingthat volleyball program to one ofthe best in the district and wasnamed Coach of the Year this sea-son .

Villarreal knows how to put thepieces of the puzzle together tobuild a championship team yearin and year out, taking the Lady

HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL

Award winning

District 31-3A coaches announced Zapata’s Kristina De Leon as Co-Most ValuablePlayer.

Photo by Clara Sandoval | The Zapata Times

Zapata takeshome four

major honorsBy CLARA SANDOVAL

THE ZAPATA TIMES

See ZAPATA PAGE 2B

AUSTIN — For much of theseason, if Texas quarterbackDavid Ash didn’t play at ahigh level, Case McCoy would.

Ash was off his gameagainst Oklahoma. Ditto atKansas. And then there wasThursday night, against TCU.Against the Sooners, McCoycame in and sparked the of-fense - somewhat - in a blow-out loss. Then he salvaged avictory in Lawrence.

But on Thanksgiving night,it didn’t happen.

TCU’s ferocious and ball-hawking defense stifled bothquarterbacks, and the resultwas a 20-13 Horned Frogs vic-tory before a mostly subduedcrowd - the smallest homecrowd of the season - at RoyalMemorial Stadium.

The 18th-ranked Longhorns’third straight defeat in a homefinale, and the Frogs’ first winin Austin since 1967, wasn’t

NCAA FOOTBALL

See TEXAS PAGE 2B

Texas quarterback David Ash, right, and the No. 18 Longhorns scored just 13points in a 20-13 loss at home to TCU.

Photo by Jack Plunkett | AP

Texas QBs strugglein loss to TCU

By RANDY RIGGSMCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE INFORMATION SERVICES

HOUSTON — The HoustonTexans won another thriller,but coach Gary Kubiak hasgrowing concerns about thehealth of his team.

The Texans (10-1) rallied lateto force overtime for the secondstraight game and beat Detroit34-31 on Thanksgiving. Kubiakwas back at Reliant Stadiumearly Friday morning, mullingover a sobering list of injuriesto key players.

Linebackers Brooks Reed(groin) and Bradie James(hamstring), and starting righttackle Derek Newton (rightknee) underwent MRI exams onFriday after getting hurtagainst the Lions. Tight endGarrett Graham hurt his leftshoulder in the game, andHouston was already playingwithout starting cornerbackJohnathan Joseph (hamstring),nose tackle Shaun Cody (back),linebacker Tim Dobbins (leftshoulder) and backup runningback Ben Tate (hamstring).

“We’ve got some damage thismorning, no doubt about that,”Kubiak said Friday, “but it is ahuge win.”

The Texans next play at Ten-nessee (4-6) on Dec. 2. Kubiak isgiving his players the weekendoff after a draining five days in

which they played nearly 21/2games.

On Sunday, Houston cameback from 14 points down tobeat Jacksonville 43-37 late inovertime, then rallied from a 10-point deficit in the third quar-ter to beat the Lions after justtwo days of light practice. TheTexans gritted out a 13-6 win inrainy Chicago the previousweek.

“I’m amazed at the playersand the way they held up,” Ku-biak said. “During that shortperiod of time, to play thatmuch football and in that com-petitive environment and theway we had to win the last

week together, and even if youthrow Chicago in there, it’sbeen very taxing on the team.

“I just said that I think thebiggest thing is, after whatwe’ve been through physically,winning was so important.”

Kubiak says he’d know moreabout the latest injuries onMonday.

Newton won the starting jobat right tackle in training campand has started every game.Ryan Harris, signed just beforethe season began, replacedNewton Thursday.

The linebacking corps, mean-

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Injuries piling up for Texans

Texans head coach Gary Kubiak is growing concerned about the injuries piling upon Houston’s roster.

Photo by Paul Sancya | AP

By CHRIS DUNCANASSOCIATED PRESS

See TEXANS PAGE 2B

ARLINGTON — TonyRomo will spend much ofhis extended weekend try-ing to figure out how theDallas Cowboys can get offto better starts.

Jason Witten knowsthey have to do that andfast — if it’s not alreadytoo late.

Dallas (5-6) has fallen be-hind by 10 points or morebefore halftime in each ofits last four home games.The Cowboys lost three ofthose games, including aThanksgiving Day gamewhen rookie quarterbackRobert Griffin III ledWashington to a 28-3 half-time lead.

“We know where we’reat, no question to that,”Witten said. “We have along way to go, and a shorttime to do it. ... It’s thattime, we have to start do-ing it, and playing betterearly in games so that youcan stay with the gameplan. You can’t play foot-ball and try to win in thosesituations.”

After building somemuch-needed momentumwith consecutive victories,while the NFC East-leadingNew York Giants (6-4) losttwo in a row, the Cowboysnow are tied for secondplace with the Redskins.

And Cowboys ownerJerry Jones is already

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Dallas quarterback Tony Romo and the Cowboys fell behind 28-3at halftime of their 38-31 loss to Washington on Thursday.

Photo by Tim Sharp | AP

Slow startsdooming

DallasCowboys hoping it’s not too late to

fix their trend of starting slowBy STEPHEN HAWKINS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

See DALLAS PAGE 2B

dreading the regular season finale Dec. 30 atWashington in another game against Griffin.

“I’m not trying to be negative, but we’ve gotto play these guys again,” the ever-optimisticJones said minutes after Thursday’s 38-31 loss.“And with how impressed I am with how theyplayed, we’ve got our hands full for that lastgame.”

In a homecoming of sorts for the HeismanTrophy winner from Baylor, the Redskinsscored 28 points in the second quarter. It wastheir first four-touchdown quarter in 13 years.

The Cowboys tried to make a comeback inthe second half, when Romo threw three touch-downs. There were two to Dez Bryant, includinga career-long 85-yarder and an 11-yarder with8:18 left that got the Cowboys within 35-28.

Washington then went 50 yards in 11 plays,taking more than 5 minutes off the clock, for agame-sealing field goal.

Including the Cowboys’ 23-20 overtime win athome against two-win Cleveland, when theytrailed 13-0 at halftime, Romo threw 112 passesin a five-day span.

“It’s just not going to be a fun few days. It’s

just going to eat at you and consume all of yourthoughts. You think about what you can do tohelp this football team get better,” Romo said.“I’m exhausting my brain thinking about thingsto do and things to help us get off to betterstarts and move the ball better.”

With the Cowboys falling behind so often athome, Romo has attempted at least 50 passes ineach of his last three home games, after onlythree 50-pass games his first 83 starts overallsince taking over in the middle of the 2006 sea-son.

Romo attempted 62 passes Thursday againstthe Redskins. That matched his career recordset less than a month earlier in a 29-24 homeloss to the Giants, who led 23-0 early in the sec-ond quarter.

“Can’t spot good teams, we’ve talked aboutthat all along. That’s what’s disappointing, wecontinue to do it and it’s just too hard to over-come,” Witten said. “You get away from yourplan. All the work you put in the week to study,and the formations how you’re going to attackthem, it goes out the window. ... We’ve got tostart better in these games and give ourselves a

chance.”The Cowboys return to practice Monday to

start preparations for their third consecutivehome game, Dec. 2 against Philadelphia. Theywon 38-23 at Philly on Nov. 11.

Dallas was down 10-0 in less than 5 minutes atSeattle in the second week of the season. Sincethen, all of the early double-digit deficits havecome at home.

The Chicago Bears took a 10-0 lead on theirway to a 34-18 Monday night victory Oct. 1. Dal-las actually rebounded from that 23-point deficitOct. 28 against the Giants to take a lead into thefourth quarter before New York kicked two fieldgoals.

Cleveland surprisingly put Dallas in a quickhole, and the Redskins responded with their 28-point outburst in the second quarter after theCowboys kicked a field goal on their openingdrive.

“Everything we want is still in front of us,”Witten said. “But at some point, it has to turnfor us. Yeah, we fight. Yeah, we’ve got will. Butlet’s fix it. You’ve got to show it. That’s the onlything you can do about it.”

DALLAS Continued from Page 1B

PAGE 2B Zscores SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2012

entirely due to Ash and McCoy. Therewas plenty of blame to go around - thedefense reverted back to giving up toomany big plays, for example. But Ashdidn’t help the cause, especially in thefirst half when Texas was in position toscore. Twice.

The Longhorns committed four turn-overs to just one for the Frogs. Ash wasresponsible for three of them, all com-ing in the first half - two interceptionsin the red zone and a fumble deep inTexas territory. TCU converted the giftsinto 14 points.

"It kills you when you throw inter-ceptions," Texas coach Mack Brownsaid. "It really kills you when you’re inthe red zone."

Consequently, Texas (8-3 overall, 5-3in the Big 12) likely needs to beat for-merly top-ranked Kansas State nextweek in Manhattan to salvage a CottonBowl bid. Otherwise the Longhorns areprobably looking at the Alamo Bowl.

Texas’ woes inside TCU’s 20-yard linebegan on its first possession, a crispmarch that ended with startling sud-denness as cornerback Jason Verrettintercepted his Big 12-best sixth passwhen Ash tried to find Mike Davis atthe Frogs’ 6-yard line.

That mistake was compounded whenTCU promptly marched 94 yards for atouchdown, beginning the drive with a35-yard pass from redshirt freshmanquarterback Trevone Boykin to tightend Corey Fuller.

Early in the second quarter, Ash was

victimized again in the shadow of theTCU goal. From the Frogs’ 18-yard line,he threw over the middle for JaxonShipley in the end zone. But safety El-isha Olabode was waiting for the balland intercepted.

Ash, treated for a rib injury after thegame, was 10 of 21 for 104 yards and thetwo interceptions. McCoy completed 11of 17 for 110 yards and an interception.

About two minutes later after his sec-ond pick, Ash fumbled while attempt-ing to pass from deep in Texas’ end.Frogs’ defensive end Stansly Mapongarecovered at the 16, and TCU scoredthree plays later on a 1-yard run.

"It’s hard to overcome three turn-overs early, plus the fourth one at theend," co-offensive coordinator BryanHarsin said. "It was going to be verydifficult, and that’s what happened to-night."

The fourth turnover was an intercep-tion by McCoy at the end, which sealedTexas’ fate. On the series before that,he had driven Texas 82 yards for its on-ly touchdown, a 5-yard run by JeremyHills. On the second play after TCUwent three-and-out, McCoy’s long passfor Cayleb Jones slipped out of hishand as he released it, and safety SamCarter logged the Frogs’ 20th intercep-tion of the season, which is tops in theleague.

"We can talk about it all night, butfour turnovers to one is going to getyou beat most of the time," he said. "It’sabout 100 percent of the time."

TEXAS Continued from Page 1B

while, is suddenly the Texans’ most de-pleted unit. Brian Cushing was alreadygone for the season with a torn left kneeligament. Dobbins stepped into Cush-ing’s spot in the starting lineup, but hehurt his left shoulder in the Chicagogame.

Reed, who has 21/2 sacks and 15 solotackles this season, pulled up chasingJoique Bell on Thursday, and James leftin the fourth quarter after assisting on atackle of Mikel Leshoure.

Luckily for Kubiak, Darryl Sharptonis back after missing a year with a tornright quadriceps. Sharpton saw his firstaction since Oct. 30, 2011 against Jack-sonville and then started in Detroit. Theinjuries also create more opportunity forfirst-round pick Whitney Mercilus, whohad four solo tackles and two for loss onThursday.

“We are in a mode of survival rightthere at that position until we get someguys healthy,” Kubiak said.

Aside from the injuries, Kubiak isstarting to have concerns about the de-fense, which was ranked fourth overalland seventh against the pass coming in-to the Lions game.

But Houston has given up 791 yardspassing and six touchdown passes in thelast two games, and Kubiak says themounting injuries are becoming a factor.

“We have not played to our standardthe last two weeks defensively,” Kubiaksaid. “Obviously, if we lined up today,we’re missing three of our four startinglinebackers,” Kubiak said. “I mean,

that’s a concern. Then, when your topcorner sits down. There are some thingsthere to say, ’OK, we can be better if wecan get healthy here.’ But still, we’ve gotto look at it and say, ’That’s not us.”’

The Texans escaped Detroit with a winwhen Shayne Graham kicked a 32-yardfield goal with 2:21 left in overtime. Gra-ham is 20 for 25 this season, but hemissed a 51-yarder that would’ve givenHouston the victory earlier in the extraperiod. He also badly hooked a 47-yarderat the end of regulation against Jackson-ville.

Kubiak is also concerned that Gra-ham’s kickoffs are coming up short.

“He’s just inconsistent hitting the balland it’s something we’ve been workingon,” Kubiak said. “It is a concern be-cause field position is so huge in thegame. He has kicked pretty well for us.We expect him to make that kick at theend of the game. I know it’s a 50-yarder,but that’s our business, that’s what he’shere to do.”

Graham won the job when rookie Ran-dy Bullock tore a groin muscle in train-ing camp. Kubiak says he still has confi-dence in Graham, despite the recent mis-ses.

“He’s kicked in a lot of big games. He’smade a lot of big kicks,” Kubiak said.“The situation with our kickoffs is some-thing we’re concerned about, but wehave a lot of other issues with our teamright now. So it’s hard to go solve thatwith some of the other things we’ve gotgoing on.”

TEXANS Continued from Page 1B

Hawks to the top for thethird consecutive year witha district title.

Making the first All-Dis-trict Team for the LadyHawks was Leann Flores,Ceci Mata and Abby Agui-lar.

Anissa Garcia wasnamed Second Team All-District along with Vanes-sa Martinez, Gabby Gutier-rez and Clarissa Villarreal.

Zapata was a balancedteam who burned the can-dle at both ends as the La-dy Hawks had 11 on theAll-Academic Team, con-sisting of De Leon, Rathe-mell, Jasso, Flores, Mata,Aguilar, Garcia, Martinez,Gutierrez, Villarreal andStephanie Briseno.

ZAPATAContinued from Page 1B

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Fam-ily and friends of former boxingchampion Hector ’Macho’ Camachokept a somber vigil Friday at thehospital in Puerto Rico where he re-mains on life support.

Doctors in San Juan have saidCamacho is clinically brain deadfrom a shooting earlier this week inhis hometown of Bayamon. But rela-tives and friends told The Associat-ed Press they are still wrestlingwith whether to remove him fromlife support.

“It is a very difficult decision, avery delicate decision,” said formerpro boxer Victor “Luvi” Callejas, alongtime friend, in a phone inter-view. “The last thing we lose is hopeand faith. If there is still hope andfaith, why not wait a little more?”

Camacho’s oldest son, Hector Ca-macho Jr., told reporters his fatherhas not been disconnected from anartificial respirator and that he be-lieves he is still alive.

“My father is a boxer and we’regoing to let him fight for his life,”he said. “The doctors have said a lotof things, but he is alive, he’s in thefight.”

Two of Camacho’s sisters haveasked that he remain on life supportuntil Saturday.

Aida Camacho, one of the boxer’saunts, said in an interview that thefamily could decide by late Fridaywhether to donate his organs.

As some relatives and friendscontinued to pray for a miracle, con-dolences kept coming in for the box-er’s family and preparations havebegun for memorials and a funeralMass.

Gov. Luis Fortuno said he lament-ed what he called a sudden loss.

“’Macho’ will always be remem-bered for his spontaneity and cha-risma in and out of the ring,” hesaid.

Also offering condolences wasgovernor-elect Alejandro Garcia Pa-dilla, who defeated Fortuno in No-vember.

“The life of Macho Camacho, likeother great athletes of ours, unitedthe country,” he said. “We celebrat-ed his triumphs in the streets andwe applauded him with noble

sportsmanship when he didn’t pre-vail.”

Camacho was shot Tuesday nightas he sat in a car with a friend, 49-year-old Adrian Mojica Moreno,who was killed in the attack. Policespokesman Alex Diaz said officersfound nine small bags of cocaine inthe friend’s pocket, and a 10th bagopen inside the car.

Police have made no arrests andcontinue to interview potential wit-nesses. Capt. Rafael Rosa told re-porters Friday that they are track-ing down several leads, but addedthat very few witnesses are cooper-ating. He declined to say whetherpolice have identified any suspects.

Camacho Jr. lamented the vio-lence that has consumed Puerto Ri-co, a U.S. island territory of nearly 4million people that reported a re-cord 1,117 homicides last year.

“Death, jail, drugs, killings,” hesaid. “That’s what the streets arenow.”

Camacho’s sisters have said they

would like to fly Camacho’s body toNew York and bury him there. Ca-macho grew up mostly in Harlem,earning the nickname the “HarlemHeckler.”

He won super lightweight, light-weight and junior welterweightworld titles in the 1980s and foughthigh-profile bouts against Felix Tri-nidad, Julio Cesar Chavez and Sug-ar Ray Leonard. Camacho knockedout Leonard in 1997, ending the for-mer champ’s final comeback at-tempt. Camacho had a career recordof 79-6-3.

Camacho also battled drug, alco-hol and other problems throughouthis life. He was sentenced in 2007 toseven years in prison on burglarycharges, but a judge eventually sus-pended all but one year of the sen-tence and gave Camacho probation.He wound up serving two weeks injail, though, after violating that pro-bation. A wife also filed domesticabuse complaints against him twicebefore their divorce.

Vigil held for Camacho By DANICA COTO

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Hector "Macho" Camacho won a unanimous decision over Roberto Duran in an IBC mid-dleweight title fight in 1996. He was shot Tuesday and is clinically brain dead.

File photo by Donna Connor | AP

More than a third of theNHL regular season andtwo of its marquee eventshave now been called off.

The league announced itslatest round of cancellationson Friday — Day 69 of its la-bor lockout. All gamesthrough Dec. 14 were wipedout, and this time All-StarWeekend, scheduled for Jan.26-27 in Columbus, Ohio,was lost, too. The NewYear’s Day outdoor WinterClassic already wasscratched.

NHL Deputy Commis-sioner Bill Daly said losingthe All-Star festivities is “ex-tremely disappointing.”

“We feel badly for NHLfans and particularly thosein Columbus, and we intendto work closely with theBlue Jackets organization toreturn the NHL All-Starevents to Columbus andtheir fans as quickly as pos-sible,” Daly said in a state-ment Friday.

Brian Jack, a 35-year-oldIT director who grew up inPittsburgh, moved to Co-lumbus 17 years ago andconverted from a Penguins

fan to a Blue Jackets sup-porter after the expansionteam hit the ice.

“We knew the All-StarGame, the longer it went,was probably going to beone of the first specialevents they cancelled,” aseason-ticket holder for allof the Blue Jackets’ 12 sea-sons.

“You knew it was com-ing, but I hoped that theywould get together and fix it(labor problems) up. Forseason-ticket holders whohave watched the Blue Jack-ets struggle for a number ofyears with the product onthe ice, the All-Star gamewas supposed to be a brightspot. Now that’s gone.”

A lockout in the 1994-95season shortened that cam-paign to 48 games. A similarscenario could play out thistime if the sides can findsome common ground. Orthe whole season could belost, as it was in 2004-05.

Owners and players hadan unproductive negotiatingsession on Wednesday thatproduced no movement tobreak an impasse over split-ting more than $3 billion inrevenue and also player con-tracts.

The NHL cancelled all games through Dec. 14 as well as All-StarWeekend due to the lockout.

Photo by Sean Kilpatrick | AP

NHL cancelsAll-Star Game

By IRA PODELLASSOCIATED PRESS

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2012 THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

DENNISTHE MENACE

PARDON MY PLANET

DAILY CRYPTOQUOTES | HERE’S HOW TO WORK IT:

JUDGE PARKER

REXMORGAN M.D.

FOR BETTER OR WORSE

HINTS | BY HELOISEOPTIONS FOR A POTA-

TO MASHERDear Heloise: My favorite

use for a POTATO MASH-ER is to make interestingdecorations and patterns oncake icing. Just use a lighttouch. — Jim G., via e-mail

Good idea. Here are someuses we came up with atHeloise Central:

Crush fruit when mak-ing jams or jellies.

Make designs on pea-nut-butter cookies.

Mix up items in around pot or bowl.

Break up ground meatwhen cooking.

Mash eggs when mak-ing egg salad.

And here is a potato-masher use from Peg L. ofMansfield, Ohio: “I use thepotato masher for my creamsoups. Cook potatoes, broc-coli or cauliflower in water.When cooked well, use thepotato masher to mash upthe chunks, and finish thesoup. Great cream soup.”

Send your favorite use fora potato masher, and I willprint as many as possibleand pick 10 favorites to re-ceive a Heloise pamphlet.Send your hint to: Heloise(at)Heloise.com; fax to: 210-HELOISE (435-6473); or mailto: Heloise/Potato Masher,P.O. Box 795000, San Anto-nio, TX 78279-5000. Hope tohear from you soon. — He-

loisePET PALDear Readers: Frank of

Laurelville, Ohio, sent aphoto of his black-and-whitecat, Moo, waking up in herBuckeyes bed. Frank says,“She is a sweetheart!” Tosee Moo, visit www. Heloise-.com and click on “Pets.” —Heloise

SHELL-CURTAIN PRES-ERVATION

Dear Heloise: I bought ashell curtain when I was atthe Texas coast and hung itover the bathroom entrance(since my bathroom is deco-rated with fish). I loved it,but every time my husbandwould go through it, I wasafraid he was going tobreak the shells.

We were having a party,and I worried that with thetraffic in and out of thebathroom, the shells wouldget broken. So, I pulled allthe strands together andlooped them around a largecandle sconce by the door.This way, everyone could gothrough the door without aproblem. Worked great, andno broken shells. — Kay inLouisiana

“HELOISE

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES Football SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2012

COLLEGE STATION —Texas A&M coach KevinSumlin doesn’t have to saymuch this week to motivatehis team.

The ninth-ranked Aggies(9-2, 5-2 SEC) know what’sat stake as they aim fortheir first 10-win seasonsince 1998, and try to breaka three-game losing streakto Missouri.

“We’re playing a teamthat no one on this footballteam has ever beaten,”Sumlin said. “It’s seniorday. That’ll be enough toget our attention rightthere.”

Sumlin also knows thathis team can’t take Missou-ri (5-6, 2-5) lightly with theTigers needing a win to be-come bowl eligible.

“Both sides have a lot toplay for,” Sumlin said.“Last time I checked, theyhaven’t lost here in a while.I don’t think they’ll be lack-ing any confidence at allwalking into this place.”

Because of a schedulingquirk, Missouri is playingagainst the Aggies in Col-lege Station for the thirdstraight season. The Tigersgot a 30-9 win in 2010 andescaped with a 38-31 win inovertime last season in theBig 12 before both teamsmoved to the SoutheasternConference for this season.

“This has to be a worldrecord, third time goingdown there,” Missouricoach Gary Pinkel joked.“All teams are different.Our players have great re-spect for A&M and it is agreat place to play a foot-ball game. That being said,the reason we won thosegames was because weplayed well and made playsat the end to win.”

The Tigers’ big task onSaturday will be trying tocontain Texas A&M quar-terback Johnny Manziel.

The redshirt freshman issecond in the nation in to-tal offense with more than378 yards a game, and the20.73 points a game he’s re-sponsible for are tied forthird in the country.

He’s the fifth player andfirst freshman in FBS histo-ry to pass for at least 3,000yards with at least 1,000yards rushing in a season,and his 4,161 yards are aschool record for total of-fense in a season.

“He’s a very, very im-pressive player,” Pinkelsaid. “He’s athletic, hethrows the ball well andhe’s accurate. He can throwoff balance, he’s creative.When you watch film youwonder how he pulls stuffoff but he does. He playswith a lot of confidence.”

Pinkel is certainly im-pressed with Manziel’swork, but noted that it hasbeen helped by playing be-hind a talented and experi-enced offensive line. Thegroup is led by senior cen-ter Patrick Lewis, who hasstarted 46 straight games,and has junior tackles LukeJoeckel and Jake Matthews,who have started 37 and 31straight games, respectively.

Manziel accounted for

five touchdowns in justmore than a half of TexasA&M’s 47-28 win over SamHouston State on Saturday.He needs another stronggame to impress HeismanTrophy voters one moretime before they make theirdecision.

Sumlin wouldn’t directlyanswer the question whenasked if he thought Manzielshould become the firstfreshman to win the award.But he did rave about hisquarterback.

“If you look at his num-bers and what he’s donecompared to everyone else,they speak for themselves,”he said. “I’ll take it a stepfurther, if you look at hisnumbers compared to any-one else who has everplayed the game, theyspeak for themselves.”

Texas A&M offensive co-ordinator Kliff Kingsburyhas enjoyed watching Man-ziel develop this season.

“To be a freshman anddo what he’s done in thatconference is hard to be-lieve unless you’re a part ofit and have watched it ev-ery day and how much he’simproved from Day 1 untilnow,” Kingsbury said. “It’sreally been fun to watch.”

Texas A&M aims for10-win season

Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin has the Aggies a game away fromtheir first 10-win season since 1998.

Photo by Dave Martin | AP

By KRISTIE RIEKENASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — The rulethat negated using videoreplay to confirm a Hous-ton Texans touchdown“may be too harsh” andwill be re-examined imme-diately, NFL director offootball operations RayAnderson said Friday.

Anderson, also co-chair-man of the competitioncommittee that suggestsrules changes to the own-ers, said a change couldcome this year. The NFLtraditionally resists chang-ing rules during a season.

“We will certainly dis-cuss the rule with thecompetition committeemembers, as we do all sit-uations involving uniqueand unusual circumstanc-es, and determine if wefeel a change should berecommended to owner-ship,” Anderson said in astatement.

“Not being able to re-view a play in this situa-tion may be too harsh, andan unintended conse-quence of trying to pre-vent coaches from throw-ing their challenge flag forstrategic purposes in sit-uations that are not sub-ject to a coaches’ chal-lenge.”

Anderson added theNFL is not bound by pastevents when a rule is

proved to have loopholes,and that a 15-yard penaltyfor throwing the challengeflag on a play that is auto-matically reviewed mightbe enough. For now,throwing the challengeflag also eliminates theuse of replay. All scoringplays otherwise are re-viewed.

Justin Forsett’s third-quarter 81-yard run in theTexans’ 34-31 overtime vic-tory at Detroit on Thurs-day initially was ruled atouchdown, although re-plays clearly showed hisknee and elbow touchedthe turf when he was hitby Lions defenders. De-troit coach Jim Schwartzchallenged, resulting in a15-yard unsportsmanlikeconduct penalty and thenegated use of video re-play.

In 2011, instant replayrules were changed tohave the replay official ini-tiate a review of all scor-ing plays. The rule statedthat a team is preventedfrom challenging a play ifthat team commits a foulthat prevents the nextsnap, or if a challenge flagis thrown when an auto-matic review would takeplace. A 15-yard unsports-manlike conduct penaltyis assessed as well as theelimination of the replayreview for the play.

But, as Anderson noted,

getting the calls right isparamount and that theleague may have over-looked the scenario thatoccurred in Detroit.

Similar incidents not in-volving scores happenedlast season in San Francis-co’s win, coincidentally atDetroit, and last weekwhen the Falcons beat Ari-zona.

The rule was adopted inpart because of a situationin a Redskins-Giants gamein December 2010.

Officials on the fieldruled a fumble recoveredby the Giants, and the ballwas made ready for play.But Washington veteranlinebacker London Fletch-er kicked the ball and wascalled for delay of game.While the penalty was be-ing enforced, Washingtonchallenged the ruling of afumble.

The competition com-mittee felt that a teamcould benefit from com-mitting a penalty in thatsituation, giving it moretime to challenge a play. Itwas decided that the newrule would also applywhen a team throws thechallenge flag on a playthat can’t be challenged —including scoring plays,turnovers, when the teamis out of challenges ortimeouts, and inside the fi-nal two minutes of a halfor game, or in overtime.

Texans running back Justin Forsett (28) ran for an 81-yard touchdown that was unreviewable afterDetroit threw a challenge flag during an automatic review.

Photo by Paul Sancya | AP

NFL reviews replay ruleBy BARRY WILNERASSOCIATED PRESS