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The Zapata County Commis-sioners were more than glad toapprove all necessary repairsand upgrades of several commu-nity buildings at their last meet-ing Monday; however, they haveyet to determine a solution toprevent scenic rest stops fromclosing.

Texas Department of Trans-portation project manager Mari-sa Ramirez presented the courtwith an ultimatum: find a solu-tion to maintain the scenic reststops or they will be closed andtorn down, she said.

Maintenance budget cuts havecaused the closure of the reststops, Ramirez said.

Both rest stops at risk for clos-ing are in Precinct 2, and Com-

missioner Gabriel Villarreal an-nounced he does not have themanpower to maintain them.

County Judge Rosalva Guerraand commissioners presentedideas to Ramirez, including theinstallation of cameras and a ju-venile detention clean-up pro-gram.

“(The rest stops) are historicaland we need to go after thesepeople because I’d hate to see

these parks go,” Guerra said.Commissioners have set up a

meeting with TxDOT Area Engi-neer Eddie Gracia Jr. to decidethe fate of the rest stops.

Also at the meeting, the re-quest by Buckner Housing As-sistance Program to help demol-ish a dilapidated house ownedby the Atilano and Rosa Flores

FINANCES

Fix up or shut downCounty gets rest stop ultimatum from TxDOT

By LORRAINE L. RODRIGUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES

See COMMISSIONERS PAGE 10AJuvenile detention service con-

tracts between Zapata County andWebb and Duval counties were ap-proved at a special Commission-ers Court meeting on Friday.

Zapata County does not providea facility to house troubled youthand the nearest facilities are inWebb and Duval, noted Chief Ju-venile Probation Officer SandyPippen-Gomez.

Contracts began on Sept. 1 andwill end Aug. 31, she added.

There are between 60-80 juve-niles from Zapata County housedat the Webb and the Duval deten-tion facilities, Pippen-Gomez said.

Juveniles end up in the facili-ties after committing criminal of-

JUVENILE DETENTION

Dealswith

countiesOK’dBy LORRAINE L. RODRIGUEZ

THE ZAPATA TIMES

See DETENTION PAGE 10A

In observance of VeteransDay, all the Zapata County Inde-pendent School District campus-es paid tribute to veterans in thecommunity with ceremonieswhich included the traditionalmoment of silence, the singingof the national anthem, the 21-gun salute and the playing ofTaps.

Fidel and Andrea R. VillarrealElementary invited more than40 veterans to join in the cele-bration in front of the campus.

“It was a special day. We gath-ered around our flag pole and in-

vited veterans of this communi-ty to join us and they partook inthe ceremony at the eleventhhour of the eleventh day of theeleventh month,” said PrincipalCarmen Zavala.

During the ceremony a few ofthe veterans helped to raise theflags for the Pledge of Allegianceand the singing of the nationalanthem.

“One of our teachers, NidiaMesquita, sang the national an-them while our students paidtribute to the flag and veterans,and we concluded the ceremonywith Taps played by Victor Gar-

HONORING VETERANS

Zapata County war veterans, from left, Jaime Gonzalez, Teo Garza and Gerardo Gutierrez Jr., joined students for a Veterans Day ceremony at Villarreal Elementaryon Thursday morning.

Photo by Cuate Santos | The Zapata Times

Vets join students to honorthose who served

By LORRAINE L. RODRIGUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES

Zapata County veterans Teo Garza, left, Jaime Gonzalez and Gerardo GutierrezJr., raise the American flag during the Veterans Day ceremony Thursday.

Photo by Cuate Santos | The Zapata Times

See VETERANS DAY PAGE 10A

Nora G. Garcia began workingin the U.S. without any knowa-ledge of English language. In Jan-uary 2008, she enrolled with Liter-acy Volunteers of Laredo. Sinceshe began, she has learned a lotabout English. She is now able tocommunicate in English, thoughshe prefers Spanish.

Nora has begun reading classicliterature such as “Little Women”and “The Adventures of Tom Saw-yer.” Last year, Nora was recog-nized by Literacy Volunteers ofLaredo as the student of the year.She is on the sixth level (of seven)

UNITED WAY

Groupteaches

languageskills

See READING PAGE 10A

(Editor’s note: This is one in a se-ries of profiles of the 26 agenciesfunded by United Way. The 2010campaign is now under way.)

By ERIC GARZASPECIAL TO THE TIMES

PAGE 2A Zin brief SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2010

SATURDAY, NOV. 13TAMIU will host the “Healing

Cambodia Bicycle Race and Fun Run/Walk/Bike” fundraiser to demonstratethe impact of this year’s “Reading theGlobe” common read book. Cost to par-ticipate is $30; proceeds will go to theSomaly Mam Foundation and PEPY, anorganization devoted to improving thequality of education offered in govern-ment schools in rural Cambodia. Regis-tration begins at 7 a.m. and the race be-gins at 8 a.m. Bicycle Race participantswill depart from TAMIU, and ride to Doc-tor’s Hospital and back. Fun Race partici-pants will walk, jog, or ride along TA-MIU’s loop inside the campus. Theevents are open to the public and aresponsored by the TAMIU Reading theGlobe Ambassadors. For more informa-tion, contact Dr. Hayley D. Kazen at hka-zen@tamiu.edu or 326-2134, or visit of-fices in the University Success Center,room 223.

The Monte Mucho Audubon So-ciety is hosting a field trip to two ranch-es from 6:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. This is agreat opportunity to explore and discovertwo new bird watching paradises. Thegroup will see a variety of habitats fromriver frontages to Tamaulipan ThornScrub areas. Peacefield and La Lajaranches are both located off South Hwy83. The target birds for the morning willbe the white-collared seedeater, orioles,warblers, ducks and shore birds. Publicand novice bird watchers are welcome.The group is bilingual. Departure is at6:15 a.m. RSVP would be appreciated.Contact Raul Delgado at rcdelg@sbcglo-bal.net or Matthew Adams at mat-thew.adams@laredo.edu for more infor-mation.

A medley of jazz instruments andvoices will be heard as Laredo Communi-ty College’s Performing Arts Departmentpresents six of its own during the FacultyJazz Recital. The event will take placefrom 7:30-8:45 p.m. in the Lilia andGuadalupe Martinez Fine Arts Center. Ad-mission is $10 per person, and $5 forstudents with a valid ID. VeteransHelping Veterans will meet in TAMIU’sWestern Hemispheric Trade Center, Room126, from noon to 2:30 p.m. today, Nov.27, and Dec. 11 and 18. Meetings areconfidential and for military veterans on-ly. For more information, contact GeorgeMendez at 794-3057 or georgem@bor-derregion.org, or Jessica Morales at 794-3091 or jessicam@borderregion.org.

SUNDAY, NOV. 14The Texas A&M International Uni-

versity Organ Recital Series continueswith organist Dr. Eun Joo Chung todayfrom 4-7 p.m. in the Center for the Fineand Performing Arts Recital Hall. Theevent is free and open to the public. Theprogram will feature pieces by DieterichBuxtehude, Cesar Franck, SamuelScheidt, J. S. Bach, Joe Utterback, andJean Langlais. For more information,please call 326.2654. For a list of up-coming fine arts events, call 326-ARTSor visit tamiu.edu/coas/fpa/coe.

The Laredo Public Library’sFriends of the Library is trying to raise$250,000 for books for two branch li-braries. The group will hold its secondfundraiser, a bowling tournament at JettBowl North, 701 Gale St., at noon Sun-day. The cost is $125 per team of five,which includes three games and shoerentalFor more information or to sign upa team, contact Friend of the LibraryJackie Ramos at 744-2336 or the LaredoPublic Library at 795-2400.

MONDAY, NOV. 15International Week 2010 at TAMIU

starts today and ends Nov. 19. Today at11 a.m., view the AIS Post Card Art Exhi-bition, located in the Student Center Ro-tunda, or visit the Division of Internation-al Programs Information Tables, locatedin the Western Hemispheric Trade CenterFoyer and in the Student Center (SC)Rotunda. The Flag Walk begins at noonat Killam Library, and the “Proclamation”begins at 12:45 p.m. in the Student Cen-ter Rotunda. View a Jordan presentationat 1:30 p.m. and a Turkish presentationat 1:50 p.m. in the Student Center Ro-tunda. These events are free and opento the public. For more information, con-tact the Division of International Pro-grams, at 326.2282, e-mail iss@ta-miu.edu or visit Anthony J. and GeorgiaA. Pellegrino Hall, room 303.

CALENDAR

ASSOCIATED PRESSToday is Saturday, Nov. 13,

the 317th day of 2010. Thereare 48 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in His-tory:

On Nov. 13, 1974, Karen Silk-wood, a technician and unionactivist at the Kerr-McGee Ci-marron plutonium plant nearCrescent, Okla., died in a carcrash while on her way tomeet a reporter.

On this date: In 1789, Benjamin Franklin

wrote in a letter to a friend,“In this world nothing can besaid to be certain, exceptdeath and taxes.”

In 1909, 259 men and boyswere killed when fire eruptedinside a coal mine in Cherry,Ill.

In 1927, the Holland Tunnelopened to the public, provid-ing access between lower Man-hattan and New Jersey be-neath the Hudson River.

In 1940, the Walt Disney ani-mated movie “Fantasia” hadits world premiere in NewYork.

In 1956, the U.S. SupremeCourt struck down laws call-ing for racial segregation onpublic city and state buses.

In 1960, entertainer SammyDavis Jr. married actress MayBritt (the marriage lasted un-til 1968).

In 1969, speaking in DesMoines, Iowa, Vice PresidentSpiro T. Agnew accused net-work television news depart-ments of bias and distortion,and urged viewers to lodgecomplaints.

In 1971, the U.S. space probeMariner 9 went into orbitaround Mars.

In 1982, the Vietnam Veter-ans Memorial was dedicatedon the National Mall in Wash-ington, D.C.

In 1985, some 23,000 resi-dents of Armero, Colombia,died when a volcanic mudslideburied the city.

Ten years ago: Lawyers forGeorge W. Bush failed to win acourt order barring manualrecounts of ballots in Florida.Florida Secretary of StateKatherine Harris announcedshe would end the recountingat 5 p.m. Eastern time the nextday — prompting an immedi-ate appeal by lawyers for AlGore. Joe Mullen and DenisSavard were among those in-ducted into the Hockey Hall ofFame.

Five years ago: Secretaryof State Condoleezza Rice, inJerusalem, strongly rebukedIran’s leadership, saying “nocivilized nation” can call forthe annihilation of another —a reference to Iranian Presi-dent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’sremark that Israel should be“wiped off the map.”

Today’s Birthdays: Jour-nalist-author Peter Arnett is76. Producer-director GarryMarshall is 76. Actor JimmyHawkins is 69. Country singer-songwriter Ray Wylie Hub-bard is 64. Actress Sheila Fra-zier is 62. Actress FrancesConroy is 57. Musician An-drew Ranken (The Pogues) is57. Actress Tracy Scoggins is57. Actor Chris Noth (nohth)is 56. Actress-comedian Whoo-pi Goldberg is 55. Actor RexLinn (“CSI: Miami”) is 54. Ac-tress Caroline Goodall is 51.Actor Neil Flynn (“Scrubs”) is50.

Thought for Today: “If welike a man’s dream, we callhim a reformer; if we don’tlike his dream, we call him acrank.” — William Dean Ho-wells, American author (1837-1920).

TODAY IN HISTORY

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry expects to beselected next week as chairman of the Re-publican Governors Association, a Perryaide said Friday.

The group, now led by Mississippi Gov.Haley Barbour, is expected to vote at itsweeklong meeting next week in San Diego.

Perry spokesman Mark Miner said theTexas governor has been lobbying for the jobso he can champion his pet issues of state’srights and limited federal government.

Perry has been an oft-mentioned name inthe run-up to the 2012 presidential race, buthe has insisted he’s not interested.

Since being re-elected to a third full term,Perry has been promoting his new book onstate’s rights, "Fed Up!: Our Fight to SaveAmerica from Washington."

Perry pointed to the book and its attackson Washington as evidence that he doesn’twant to run for president.

In the book, Perry calls Social Security a"failure" and compares it to an illegal Ponzischeme. He also criticizes the modern imple-mentation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, say-ing that Texas and other states — most ofthem from the South — should no longerhave to get pre-clearance from federal au-thorities to make changes affecting voting.

It would be Perry’s second stint as leaderof the association.

The RGA gives campaign money to andpromotes Republican candidates for gover-nor. According to the association’s website,the group spent $50 million on races in 10key swing states that Republicans believe arecritical to their chances of taking back theWhite House in 2012.

AROUND TEXAS

Texas Gov. Rick Perry signs copies of his book "Fed Up!: Our Fight to Save America from Washington," during a stop in Tyler,on Friday. Perry expects to be selected as chairman of the Republican Governors Association next week, according to anaide. In the book, Perry calls Social Security a "failure" and compares it to an illegal Ponzi scheme.

Photo by Jaime R. Carrero/Tyler Morning Telegraph | AP

Perry eyes leadershipBy APRIL CASTROASSOCIATED PRESS

Former UT staffer arrestedfor shower videotapingAUSTIN — A former Universi-

ty of Texas women’s track equip-ment manager has been accusedof videotaping athletes in thelocker room shower.

Rene Zamora was arrestedand charged with improper pho-tography or visual recording, astate jail felony.

Police seized a laptop comput-er and memory cards from Zam-ora’s home.

Change death penaltylaws: Innocence ProjectHOUSTON — Anti-death pen-

alty lawyers say the execution ofa Texas man whose plea for DNAtesting was ignored shows proce-dures and laws covering capitalpunishment need to be changed.

The Innocence Project saidFriday the execution of ClaudeJones 10 years ago occurred be-cause then-Gov. George W. Bushwasn’t aware Jones’ lawyer wasasking for DNA testing.

Dad sought after SUVwreck, girl in street

DALLAS — Dallas policesought a driver who fled whenhis SUV wrecked and his 5-year-old daughter was ejected througha window and was left on astreet.

The man’s three sons, ages 9, 6and 11 months, also were in thevehicle and two were hurt.

The oldest child told policethat his father had been “drink-ing heavily.”

Ike FEMA trailers inGalveston to stay a yearGALVESTON — City Council

approved a plan so 17 familiesstill living in government-provid-ed mobile homes since Hurri-cane Ike won’t have to move.

The council voted to extendthe Federal Emergency Manage-ment Agency’s Jan. 7floodplainelevation deadline for a year.

The action was taken sincethe trailers were handed to a pri-vate nonprofit organization.

70 whooping cranes reachrefuge in Texas

AUSTWELL — At least 70 en-dangered whooping cranes haveflown to Aransas National Wild-life Refuge in Texas.

Last week’s cold snap appar-ently led more whooping cranesto head south.

Six of 10 birds fitted with ra-dio transmitters for trackinghave arrived.

Lewisville repeat drunkendriver gets life term

DENTON — A repeat drunkendriver from Lewisville blamedfor an Easter morning wreck inwhich two people were killed hasbeen sentenced to life in prison.

A jury sentenced John PatrickBarton, 30, who apologized incourt.

Barton pleaded guilty Mondayto two counts of murder andthree counts of intoxicated as-sault with a vehicle. He did nothave a plea agreement.

— Compiled from AP reports

Trial set in death of girlhit by rock

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Atrial has been set for a 16-year-old boy accused of kicking a rockoff a cliff that killed a Michigangirl vacationing in Colorado.

Freddie Henderson Bailey IIIof Katy, Texas, pleaded not guiltyFriday to manslaughter in thedeath of 17-year-old Audra Brow-nell of Sparta, Mich., in June.

If Bailey is convicted, the max-imum sentence would be twoyears in a juvenile facility.

Miss. DEQ seeks help inassessing spill damageOCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. —

Officials with the Mississippi De-partment of EnvironmentalQuality are seeking help in de-termining how much BP shouldpay for damaging natural re-sources during the DeepwaterHorizon oil spill.

Steinem: notion of ‘havingit all’ is a myth

PHILADELPHIA — GloriaSteinem says women grapplingwith the pressure for perfection

that can wreak havoc in theirlives need to realize the notion of“having it all” is largely a myth.

The women’s movement iconspoke at an annual meeting ofeating disorder clinicians in Phi-ladelphia on Friday.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

Students play disc golf as the sun sets on campus at the University of North Car-olina in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Friday.

Photo by Gerry Broome | AP

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CONTACT US

The blotter in the Nov. 6edition incorrectly identifiedthe man charged with posses-sion of a controlled substance.In fact, Ramon Tanguma wasarrested and Deputy MichaelRay Alvarez was the arrest-ing officer.

SETTING IT STRAIGHT

Members of the ZCISDfacilities committee werebriefed Tuesday on the sta-tus of future renovationsand building upgrades inthe district, including thepossible construction of anew campus for ZapataNorth Elementary.

“The options for NorthElementary are still underexploration. At this pointwe are possibly looking atrenovating it or building anew (school),” Superin-tendent Norma Garciasaid. “Our architect isworking on different op-tions for us to present toour school board.”

If the board approves theconstruction of a newbuilding, the facilities com-mittee will have to find away to fund the project,Garcia said.

Garcia hopes to obtainfunding sources for theproject by the next schoolboard meeting, which is setfor Tuesday.

The committee alsoheard renovation optionsfor the Building Tradesand Administration build-ings.

“The building tradesproposal was way beyondour budget. That projectstill needs further study,”Garcia said.

Both buildings are locat-ed at Zapata High Schooland were not a part of theoriginal blueprint, Garciaadded.

“It appears it was an af-terthought, so teachers arestruggling with the facilitybecause it is not adequatefor their needs,” she said.

Also at the meeting,

Chief Financial OfficerLaura McCoy presentedthe board with a solutionfor central office control ofair conditioning and com-munication at the schoolpavilions.

Automated logic controlswould be installed at fourelementary schools, Garciasaid.

“This is particularlynecessary because they arenot on a timer,” she said.“When schools and build-ings are centrally con-trolled there will be a greatsavings to the district.”

At the same time, thedistrict is setting up a facil-ities use plan for individu-als requesting the usage ofany district buildings or fa-cilities.

“We’ve had some confu-sion about which buildingsand facilities can be usedand if there is a cost in-volved in using any of ourbuildings or facilities,”Garcia said. “I just want tomake sure individualshave some kind of guide-lines to follow.”

A draft of the facilitiesuse plan was supposed tobe presented by McCoy, butlack of input by stakehold-ers delayed the presenta-tion.

“We need more time toprepare it,” Garcia said.“Presently, we don’t havethe appropriate protocolfor the community to seekout the use of any of ourfacilities.”

Garcia and school ad-ministrators also discussedthe old Zapata South Ele-mentary project schedule.

“The old South Elemen-tary School is scheduled tobe demolished beginningearly December,” Garcia

said. “That project willtake approximately twomonths and we just wantedto give the board an up-date.”

Other district improve-ments include landscapingin all four elementaryschools and the ZapataMiddle School constructionproject, according to theagenda.

“All of the new elemen-tary (schools) lack land-scaping,” Garcia said.“That is just the next stepwe want to take to com-plete the schools.”

Prior to the meeting,Garcia, board members,key members of the con-struction team, ZapataMiddle School administra-tors, and district adminis-trators did a walk-throughof the Zapata MiddleSchool campus to updateboard members on the sta-tus of the construction pro-ject.

“Our expectations arethat (the architects) honorthe Dec. 17 date they gaveus to start moving in,”Garcia said. “We are con-cerned because there isstill a lot that needs to becompleted.”

“They promised us thatthe school would be readyfor us to move in by the17th, and the administra-tion and staff of ZMS areanxiously waiting for themove,” she added.

(Lorraine L. Rodriguezmay be reached at (956)728-2557.)

New campus possibleBy LORRAINE L. RODRIGUEZ

THE ZAPATA TIMES

The intersection ofpsychology and informa-tion systems is exploredin a new text edited byTexas A&M Internation-al University professorof Information SystemsNed Kock.

“Evolutionary Psy-chology and InformationSystems Research: ANew Approach to Study-ing the Effects of Mod-ern Technologies on Hu-man Behavior” (Spring-er, 2010), compilescurrent research on howour evolving psycholog-ical traits, such as our

capacity to understand oracquire language, can af-fect the way we approachand understand technolo-gy.

Kock, considered one ofthe leading scholars inevolutionary psychology-information systems re-search, brings together theresearch of other leadingworld researchers. Amongthe chapter authors are

another TAMIU facultymember, Christopher Fer-guson; and two former TA-MIU doctoral students.

The book initiallyframes evolutionary psy-chology concepts and theo-ries to form a foundationfor research, and then fo-cuses on examples of cur-rent EP-IS research inpractice. It concludes witha look at breaking issues.

Professor writes bookSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

SPECS SHADE OUT DRUGS

Courtesy photo

Students in Liliana R. Martinez’s third grade class wore sunglasses to Shade Out drugs during drugprevention week at Villarreal Elementary. Pictured from left are, top, Raul Garza, Yesenia Montalvo,Leilani Delgado, Yesenia Vaughn, Evelyn Lara, Rolando Martinez and Erik Chapa; bottom, Eusebio Lo-baton, Cindy Zuñiga, Gisselle Ibarra, Diana Alvarez, Jadir Gonzalez, Jordy Castillo and Luis Rangel.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2010 Local THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

PAGE 4A Zopinion SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2010

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

WASHINGTON —Never mind thetalk of tsunamis

and tidal waves, lastweeks election results re-vealed some stormclouds ahead for bothparties. (Okay, I promiseto stop sounding like thepolitical Weather Chan-nel.)

Let’s start with theDemocrats. Beyond theobvious, such as losingindependent voters by 16points and moving back-ward with nearly everymajor demographicgroup compared to thelast two elections, Demo-crats should be wary offive other pitfalls.

First, call them the Pe-losi Democrats. Strate-gists were shocked lastweek to learn that thespeaker plans to runagain for party leader inthe new Congress thatconvenes in January. TheDemocratic leadershipteam is out of step withmany districts in theSouth, Midwest andWest. About half of theRepublican gains lastweek were from districtsthat Sen. John McCainwon in his 2008 presiden-tial bid and that hadelected a DemocraticHouse member. Now inthe hands of the GOP,they will not easily flipback to candidates close-ly aligned with the Sirenof San Francisco.

Next there’s the 2012presidential map. Flor-ida, Georgia, Texas andArizona are among thestates that will gainHouse seats — and elec-toral votes — before thenext election, while oth-ers like Illinois, Ohio,Michigan and New Yorkwill lose. At the presi-dential level, it meansmany of the states thatObama won in 2008 willlose clout in the Elector-al College, while thosewhere Republicans per-formed well will gainvotes.

Third, beyond presi-dential politics, Demo-crats also struggle withcongressional reappor-tionment. Post-2010 Cen-sus seat gains in keystates could help cushionthe GOP’s House majori-ty for the next several cy-cles.

“Republicans fullycontrol redistricting in15 states, including thebattlegrounds of Florida,Michigan, North Caroli-na, Ohio, Pennsylvania,Minnesota, and Wiscon-sin,” the National Jour-nal’s Josh Kraushaarwrote last week. “Theycontrol the mapmakingfor 193 House districts,compared to 44 for theDemocrats,”

Fourth, Democrats nolonger enjoy the moneyadvantage that they heldover the past several cy-cles. Not only havegroups like AmericanCrossroads and Ameri-can Action Networkhelped close the gap thatunions provide for Dem-ocrats, but GOP gains inCongress means partycommittees, like the Na-tional Republican Con-gressional Committee(NRCC), will out-raisethe Democrats in 2012.

Typically, the majorityparty in Congress re-ceives about 60 percentof PAC contributions.The Democratic Congres-sional Campaign Com-mittee enjoyed that typeof advantage in 2008 and2010. With Republicansback in the House major-

ity, expect them to recap-ture the money edge.

Finally, compared tothe last two cycles, 2012in the Senate looks par-ticularly challenging forthe Democrats. Of the 33senators up for reelec-tion, only 10 are Republi-cans and 23 are Demo-crats.

Yet 2010 also revealedsome Republican softspots. Consider turnout.Republicans did well fortwo reasons in 2010.First, independentsswung against Demo-crats by that gaping 16-point margin.

But the composition ofthe electorate also favor-ed the GOP. About 41.5percent of the voting agepopulation turned outlast week, according toProfessor Michael McDo-nald of George MasonUniversity, compared to61.6 percent in 2008 —roughly a 30 percentdrop between the presi-dential and midtermelections. The peoplewho turned out at lowerrates — younger voters,African Americans andLatinos —are higher pro-pensity Democratic sup-porters. They will showup in higher numbers intwo years. And unlesssomething changes, theywill not support GOPcandidates.

Long term, the Latinovote is an ongoing Re-publican vulnerability.Republicans electedthree new Hispanic of-fice holders (Senator-elect Marco Rubio fromFlorida, as well as newlyelected governors Susa-na Martinez from NewMexico and Brian Sand-oval from Nevada). Butstrength among Hispanicvoters in other contestswas mixed. Weaknessamong Latinos probablycost Republicans Senateseats in Nevada and Col-orado, and perhaps evenCalifornia.

Third, if the economyimproves, GOP strate-gists will have to closelywatch the Obama Repub-licans — the over 50 dis-tricts now held by theGOP that Obama won in2008. These lawmakershad smoother sailing in2010 because of favorablepolitical winds; 2012might be a different sto-ry. Just like Republicansbeat about 75 percent ofthe Democrats inMcCain districts thisyear, many of the ObamaRepublicans could facetough sledding in twoyears.

Fourth, Republicansmay have run out ofroom on the electoralmap. There are a dozenor less (depending on thefinal tallies) Democraticincumbents left that rep-resent districts won byMcCain in the last presi-dential election (therewere just under 50 beforethe Nov. 2 elections).These are normally fer-tile political huntinggrounds. But 2010 consid-erably thinned the herd.

Finally, no one knowswhat the Republicanpresidential primary willproduce. The GOP mightnominate more candi-dates like ChristineO’Donnell who stand forconservative principles,but lack electoral cross-over appeal. Some in theGOP would rather loseand stay 100 percent trueto a particular issueagenda. If that mindsetprevails, Nancy Pelosiwill take back the speak-er’s gavel and join Ba-rack Obama at a reelec-tion party in 2012.

Both groupsget sternwarningsBy GARY ANDRES

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY

DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

The ancient Greeksgave us democracy,the rule of the peo-

ple. They also gave us theelements of tragedy, whichhave been hard to miss inthe political events of thelast two years, in the 2010elections and in their after-math.

The Greek tragic cyclebegins with “koros,” theperiod of a protagonist’shappiness. It moves to “hu-bris,” a show of excessivepride that offends the gods.In the stage of “ate,” theprotagonist ignores thewarnings of the gods andcommits an act of folly,which invites “nemesis,”retributive destruction.

In November 2008, Dem-ocrats were euphoric, cele-brating the results of a his-toric election. Two years af-ter they had regainedmajorities in both housesof Congress, they paddedthose majorities while alsotaking control of the WhiteHouse. “Let’s resist thetemptation to fall back onthe same partisanship andpettiness and immaturitythat have poisoned our pol-itics for so long,” President-

elect Barack Obama told arapturous crowd on elec-tion night.

Three days after his in-auguration, Obama invitedcongressional leaders tothe White House. Republi-cans raised concerns aboutthe scope of the so-calledstimulus bill and presentedtheir ideas for boosting theeconomy and increasingemployment. The presidentswatted them away withtwo words: “I won.”

Democrats rammedthrough the $814 billionstimulus package, with theadministration touting pro-jections that it would keepunemployment from ex-ceeding 8 percent. As thejobless rate rose above 9percent and onto 10 per-cent, the Democratic ma-jority used taxpayer moneyto bailout automakers andpushed a climate changecap-and-trade scheme thatwould cripple the economy.

There were warningsigns in the polls. This wastoo much spending, toomuch government intru-sion. Then the gods — in ademocracy, the people —hurled a thunderbolt, elect-ing a Republican, ScottBrown, to succeed Ted Ken-nedy as senator from Mas-

sachusetts. The Democrats ignored

the warnings. They forcedthrough a $938 billion take-over of health care withoutbothering to read their ownlegislation. They presidedover a $3 trillion increasein the national debt in lessthan two years. Theysneered at the people, call-ing them bigots and xeno-phobes who were too dumbto acknowledge the Demo-crats’ Olympian greatness.

Then they were shockedat the destruction on Nov.2. Democrats suffered theirbiggest midterm rout inthe House since 1938, losingat least 61 seats, in additionto six Senate seats. Butthose numbers don’t beginto tell the tale of voter retri-bution across the country,where Republicans gained,at minimum, an astonish-ing 675 seats in state legis-latures, taking 19 statechambers and 10 governor-ships from Democrats.

In ancient Greece, thiswould normally be the end,with the vanquished pro-tagonist exiting or, often asnot, being carried from thestage. But this Democratictragedy continues.

An unchastened Obama,who blamed the Demo-

crats’ electoral disaster onthe impatience of theAmerican people and a fail-ure to communicate, willremain in the White Housefor at least two more years.In an act of hubris worthyof Oedipus, House SpeakerNancy Pelosi — while cele-brating her magnificent ac-complishments — will seekto retain her position asleader of a truncated mi-nority in the House.

Meanwhile, a new narra-tive has developed, buildingon the theme that this na-tion of gun-clinging reli-gious zealots is unworthyof the Democrats’ enlight-ened leadership. Accordingto this narrative, the elec-toral backlash was not theresult of pushing an agen-da that was too extreme.Rather, it was not extremeenough. More should havebeen rammed through, andnow that the moderateBlue Dog caucus has beenannihilated, progressiveDemocrats are free to soarlike Icarus.

Even people only remote-ly familiar with the classi-cal world know how thatmyth ends.

(E-mail Jonathan Gur-witz at jgurwitz@express-news.net)

COLUMN

Dems should heed warningsBy JONATHAN GURWITZ

SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

If the Supreme Courtrenders justice in a caseit heard this month,

Schwarzenegger v. Enter-tainment Merchants Asso-ciation, it will strike down

a California law barringthe sale or rental of violentvideo games to anyoneyounger than 18. Thatwould end a violation offree expression — but notprevent the states fromfinding other ways to sup-

port parents who do notwant their children to playviolent games.

Some of these games aregrotesquely violent.

Restricting the contentof games, however, wouldmean adding to the short

list of expression excludedfrom the First Amend-ment’s protection. In April,the court said the Constitu-tion does not permit a re-striction “simply on the ba-sis that some speech is notworth it.”

Court faces tough spot in video game caseNEW YORK TIMES

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2010 THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

PAGE 6A Zentertainment SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2010

One of Tejano music’smost celebrated male starsis coming back to Laredoin a month.

The legendary EmilioNavaira, who suffered alife-threatening accidentwhile in a tour bus inHouston two years ago,will be playing at the Lare-do Energy Arena on Sat-urday, Dec. 11.

Dubbed “The Return ofEmilio Navaira,” the con-cert and dance will alsofeature Los Palominos, thepopular band of Arreolabrothers.

According to Richard A.Marini of the San AntonioExpress-News, Emiliomade his first public ap-pearance after the 2008 ac-cident in April of thisyear, alongside countryartist Clay Walker, at thePearl Brewery Complex indowntown S.A.

In May 2009, a separateExpress-News articlestated that Navaira, at thetime, was still sufferingfrom memory and motor

skills problems.Given Emilio’s popular-

ity in the Gateway City,it’s good news that he’smaking a comeback andthat his tour will onceagain stop in Laredo. So,far only the AmericanBank Center in CorpusChristi has booked Emilio— for Nov. 27.

The December event atthe arena is being present-ed by Family Chevroletand Unitrade, along withLULAC Council No. 12.

“Not only will this be amemorable event, but allproceeds will go to schol-arships for graduates,”said Amando Chapa, Pres-ident of LULAC No. 12.

“Emilio Navaira is a Te-jano icon and so we here

at the LEA think it’s fit-ting that the Laredo Ener-gy Arena plays a big partin his career comeback.This event is what Tejanofans have been waiting for,it’s more than just a con-cert, and it’s a perform-ance of a Texas legend,who is coming back fromall odds.” said Xavier Vil-lalon, LEA general manag-er, in a press release.

Tickets for “The Re-turn” go on sale today at10 a.m. at the LEA box of-fice and through Ticket-master.

A special buy-one-get-one-free promotion will beavailable for the first 500fans who purchase theirtickets at the LEA box of-fice today only. The box of-fice will be open until 8p.m., LEA officials said.General admission tickets,for seating in the upperand lower bowls, are $25and are included in thepromotion. They will be$30, plus fees, on the dayof event.

For more information,call the LEA box office at523-7700.

A Tejano legend returnsBy EMILIO RÁBAGO III

LAREDO MORNING TIMES

Express-News file photo

A couple of days after at-tending the Latin Grammysin Las Vegas and right be-fore hitting stages in Mexi-co, reggaeton artist Tito “ElBambino” is stopping in theGateway City.

The Laredo Energy Are-na will host the concert,which will also feature an-other reggaeton/Latin mu-sic veteran, Big Boy. Recent-ly added to bill were localDJ Laidback Lou, Yanuis“The Beat Machine” fromPuerto Rico and Julio “ElCartas” from Cuba, plustwo other performers.

Armed with a new hotsingle and a career thatdates back to the begin-nings of the reggaetongenre, Tito “El Bambino”will visit Laredo for the firsttime Saturday.

Formerly of the duo Hec-tor y Tito, the Puerto Ricanreleased his first solo al-bum, titled “Top of theLine,” in April 2006. The al-bum featured 20 tracks thatfeatured artists such as Dad-dy Yankee. The albumreached No. 1 status inPuerto Rico.

Tito’s second album, ti-tled “It’s My Time,” fea-tured artists such as rapperand producer Pharell andR.K.M. y Ken-Y. “It’s MyTime” made the Top 10 onBillboard’s Top Latin Al-bums chart.

Born Efraín Fines Neva-rez, Tito “El Bambino” re-cently released the track“Underground,” which sam-ples beats from an old-school Daddy Yankee song.

Tito has previouslyworked with Yankee on sev-eral tracks, and started his

career at approximately thesame time, in the early tomid-2000s.

Along with Hector “ElBambino,” Tito could beconsidered one of the firstin the genre. He’s recordedwith the likes of Don Omarand Beenie Man. As Hectory Tito, the duo got off to asuccessful start, earning aLatin Billboard Award anda Tu Musica Award.

“Underground” is off Ti-to’s upcoming album, titled“Invencible.”

Another recent track byTito, “Te Pido Perdon,” fea-tures la Banda El Recodo.It’s a danceable tune thatfeatures a little bit of salsaand banda mixed with ro-mantic lyrics. “Te Comenzea Querer” and “El Amor”go along the same salsa/me-

rengue lines, and are alsooff his album “El Patrón: LaVictoria,” his most recentfull-length album release.

“The Laredo Energy Are-na is proud to host Tito ‘ElBambino’ for his first visitto Laredo. Our city has al-ways embraced reggaeton,”said Xavier Villalon, generalmanager at the LEA.

Tickets to Tito “El Bam-bino’s” half-house show atthe arena, which is set for 8p.m., are $13 to $68, plus ser-vice fees, and are availablevia Ticketmaster or at theLEA box office.

The event is being pre-sented by Twisted Enter-tainment and E11even Pro-motions.

(Emilio Rábago III maybe reached at 728-2564 or era-bago@lmtonline.com)

Singer Tito El Bambino performs during the Latin Billboard Awards at the Seminole Hard Rock Live inHollywood, Fla., on Thursday, April 27, 2006.

Photo by Lynne Sladky | AP

‘El Bambino’ stopsin Laredo tonight

By BY EMILIO RÁBAGO IIILAREDO MORNING TIMES

SÁBADO 13 DE NOVIEMBREHoy es el Bazar de

San Agustin, una exposiciónde artesanías en San Agus-tin Plaza. Más informaciónllamando al 753-4406 ó al237-0627.

Hoy habrá una cam-paña para recaudación defondos en TAMIU titulado“Healing Cambodia BicycleRace and Fun Run/Walk/Bi-ke”. El costo por persona esde 30 dólares y las ganan-cias se destinarán a la So-maly Mam Foundation yPEPY. El registro será a par-tir de las 7 a.m. y la carre-ra iniciará a las 8 a.m. Elevento es abierto al públicoen general.

Hoy es el Festival pa-ra Padres de UISD en la Se-cundaria United de 8 a.m. a2 p.m. La inscripción y de-sayuno será a las 8 a.m.,las sesiones de 8:30 a.m. a1:20 p.m. y la comida seservirá de 11:15 a.m. a 11:45a.m. El conferencista invita-do es Simón Silva con eltema “Cultura, creatividad yarte: una fuente de oportu-nidad”. También habrá acti-vidades para los primeros400 niños que asistan. Másinformación en el 473-6452.

El Consulado de Mé-xico en Laredo invita a suJornada Sabatina hoy de 9a.m. a 1 p.m., para quienno pueda acudir en día há-bil a realizar sus trámites.Puede solicitar previa cita,desde EU llamando al 1-877-MEXITEL (1-877-639-4835) ydesde México en el 01-800-9000-SER.

Estudiantes, padresde familia, ex alumnos yamigos de Mary Help ofChristians School están invi-tados a asistir a la Misacon motivo de su 75 Aniver-sario, hoy a las 10:30 a.m.en el gimnasio de la escue-la. Habrá refrigerios des-pués de la Celebración.

El Club de Maestrosde TAMIU explorará “Colors”durante la “Saturday StoryHour” de 2 p.m. a 3 p.m.en la Biblioteca Pública deLaredo (1120 E. Calton Ro-ad), de 2 p.m. a 3 p.m. Lasesión es para niños de 3 a8 años, acompañados de unadulto.

Veteranos AyudandoVeteranos tendrán una reu-nión de grupo en el aula126 del Western Hemisphe-ric Trade Center de TAMIU,a las 2:30 p.m. de hoy. Lareunión es confidencial yexclusiva para veteranos mi-litares. Habrá otras reunio-nes el 27 de noviembre, el11 de diciembre y el 18 dediciembre.

La Asociación de Ve-teranos de Afganistán-Irakdel Sur de Texas estará te-niendo su Día de Agradeci-miento a Veteranos — Díade Diversión Familiar el díade hoy de 3 p.m. a 7 p.m.en Alexander Crossings(6911 Rosio Dr). Posterior-mente habrá música en vivocon Mick Cruz y Diamon-dback de 8 p.m. a la me-dianoche.

Pase la tarde en elPlanetario Lamar Bruni Ver-gara de TAMIU y disfrute“The Zula Patrol: Under theWeather” a las 5 p.m., “Be-lla Gaia: A Poetic Vision ofEarth from Space” a las 6p.m., y Pink Floyd’s “DarkSide of the Moon” a las 7p.m. La entrada general esde 5 dólares.

Disfrute el partidobenéfico Guns ‘n’ Hoses en-tre el Departamento deBomberos de Laredo y elDepartamento de Policía deLaredo en el Edificio de Ki-nesiology-Convocation deTAMIU, a partir de las 6:30p.m. La entrada general esde 5 dólares y 10 dólares.En el medio tiempo se pre-sentará el Diana RendonGutierrez Dance Studio,además de que habrá jue-gos y otros atractivos.

Agendaen Breve

Zfrontera PÁGINA 7ASÁBADO 13 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2010

MEXICO — Una conver-sación telefónica grabadaen la que aparentementedos directivos de compa-ñías farmacéuticas nego-cian sobornos para obtenerun contrato del gobiernomexicano ha generado in-vestigaciones y sancionespara varias personas.

La cinta parece demos-trar que la corrupciónsigue activa en México apesar de años de reformas.

Dos voces masculinas enla cinta discuten los por-centajes a pagar en rela-ción con un contrato por 80millones de pesos (6,5 mil-lones de dólares) con el go-bierno.

Finalmente acuerdan"por lo menos 5 por ciento"y mencionan el nombre depor lo menos un funciona-rio de gobierno del sectorde la salud.

Una de las compañíasinició una investigación in-terna, la otra suspendió ados directivos y el gobier-no hizo lo mismo con uncoordinador de adquisi-ciones.

Investigansobornos

defarmacias

Conversacióngrabada

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CD. VICTORIA, Tamau-lipas — En el marco de laconmemoración del DíaMundial de la Diabetes, laSecretaría de Salud realizala "Semana Nacional deSalud para Gente Grande",la cual tiene el propósitode promover la importan-cia de la actividad físicamediante la realización decaminatas, el fomento delconocimiento sobre cuálesson los riesgos de saludmás frecuentes y la mane-ra de controlarlos.

El doctor Juan Guiller-mo Mansur Arzola, Secre-tario de Salud en la enti-dad, dijo que del 15 al 19de noviembre se llevará acabo la Semana paraGente Grande, además derealizar la Tercera SemanaEstatal de "Chécate, Tomael Control", en donde seofrecerán diferentes inter-venciones como la vacuna-ción, la estrategia de los "5Pasos por tu Salud", entreotras actividades.

Refirió que este año, lacampaña se centra en Edu-cación y la Prevención dela Diabetes", tema seleccio-nado para el día mundialde la diabetes a partir del2009 y hasta el 2013, mismaque se conmemora este 15de noviembre para hacerun llamamiento a todosaquellos responsables de laatención diabética a tomarcontrol de esta enferme-dad.

La campaña, en la que

se beneficia al público gen-eral y las personas en ries-go de desarrollar diabetes,se enfoca en aumentar laconciencia sobre la enfer-medad y tratar de evitaraquellas conductas quepueden derivar en esta, asícomo en reconocer los si-gnos de alarma.

Para las personas condiabetes, se les proporcio-nará la información quemejore el conocimiento pa-ra que puedan entendermejor su condición y pre-venir complicaciones.

El evento, el cual se

tiene programado su inau-guración el próximoviernes 12 de noviembre,se llevará a cabo en las in-stalaciones del gimnasioMultidisciplinario de estaciudad, contando con lapresencia del gobernadordel estado Eugenio Her-nández Flores, además decontar con el apoyo y par-ticipación de la asociaciónDIAVIVIR, así como de losintegrantes de los gruposGAM, Grupos de AyudaMutua.

Por último el titular desalud destacó que durante

esta "Semana Nacional deSalud para Gente Grande"y durante esta "Tercera Se-mana de Chécate, Toma elControl", el estado une susesfuerzos con los esfuerzosfederales, para fortalecerlas acciones tendientes acontribuir de manera im-portante en la promociónde la salud, prevención ycontrol de las enferme-dades de mayor prevalen-cia en las personas de latercera edad, para favorec-er al auto cuidado y fo-mentar un envejecimientoactivo y sano.

Buscan prevenir diabetesESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

En el marco de la conmemoración del Día Mundial de la Diabetes, la Secretaría de Salud realiza la"Semana Nacional de Salud para Gente Grande", la cual tiene el propósito de promover la impor-tancia de la actividad física mediante la realización de caminatas, el fomento del conocimiento sobrecuáles son los riesgos de salud más frecuentes y la manera de controlarlos.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

NUEVO LAREDO — Aliniciar aquí el programa deconductor designado, seanunció que existen 318 ac-cidentes provocados porconductores intoxicados deenero hasta noviembre, loscuales han dejado decenasde heridos y muertos.

Existe preocupación pordescender las estadísticas,se explicó en conferenciade prensa, en la sede delgobierno local.

“Tenemos que llegar a laconciencia de los jóvenes.Ellos están en riesgo”, dijoel jefe de gobierno RamónGarza Barrios. “La empre-sa Cervecería Cuauhtémoc-Moctezuma que inició elprograma, que sólo se ejec-uta en 21 ciudades de Méx-ico, ha incluido a nuestraciudad para orientar anuestra comunidad”.

A la conferencia asistie-ron el CPA Luis Márquez

Rosy; Omar Enrique Már-quez Estrada, el educadorAdán Hernández Ríos, asícomo el regidor ErnestoSaldaña.

Jaime Aguilar Garza, di-jo que en el 2008, ocurrie-ron 594 accidentes con heri-dos y decesos por las coli-siones reportadas en esetiempo; en el año 2009 seincremento el número decasos por conductores in-toxicados a 639.

“Hemos realizado esfuer-zos de conciencia en lacalle, escuelas y lugares pú-blicos”, dijo Aguilar Garza.“Al encontrarnos frente auna estadística de 318 deenero hasta ayer lunes 8 denoviembre, creemos quehemos sido exitosos”.

Aguilar Garza, dijo queen cada accidente hubomás de un herido, perotambién muertos, pero nomostró estadísticas, tampo-co refirió los daños colater-ales.

Verónica Galleros, re-

sponsable del Programa“Conductor Designado” di-jo que no solo los jóvenesse han visto envueltos deaccidentes de alcohol op-erando un vehículo.

“Los adultos también es-tán dentro de ese patrón deconducta. Ellos no hanmostrado ser responsa-bles”, dijo Gallegos. “Peronuestro mensaje es para to-dos, debemos evitarlo”.

El interés de la empresaCervecera que sí algún gru-po de amigos desean disfru-tar el momento, pueden in-gerir bebidas moderadas,pero una persona debe es-tar asignada para conducir.

Gallegos es empleada dela empresa cervecera,asiste a escuelas, clubes, lu-gares públicos motivandoal conductor designado.

“Cada mes se están reg-istrando como 50 casos deaccidentes bajo intoxica-ción”, dijo Gallegos. “Se hadescendido hasta un 20 porciento”.

Hernández Ríos, respon-sable en el gobierno delConductor designado, dijoque se han registrado acci-dentes mortales, así comootros con consecuenciasgraves, donde los actores deestos eventos truncan su vi-da y su destino al verseafectados en sus movimien-tos físicos.

UnidadEl gobierno firmó un

programa con la empresacervecera para trabajarunidos por evitar acci-dentes.

“Se unirán esfuerzos pa-ra aplicar la labor socialaplicados con los estu-diantes de niveles medio ysuperior de las escuelas lo-cales”, dijo Hernández.“Cuando tenemos frente aun problema de alcohol, de-bemos orientar y prevenirque pueda evitar los acci-dentes y perder hasta la vi-

da”.Márquez Estrada, dijo

que la inclusión del gobier-no en el programa de con-ductores designados ha si-do determinante para evi-tar víctimas.

“Esta ciudad es la únicaen Tamaulipas en la que seaplica el programa. Se havisto exitoso y considere-mos que debe continuarparta ayudar a conduc-tores”, dijo Márquez. “Esta-mos comprometidos comoempresa cervecera a usarlas herramientas para ori-entar a los jóvenes, para nomezclar el alcohol con elvolante”.

Márquez Rosy, dijo queel programa de “ConductorDesignado” fue instituidoen 1992, en el InstitutoMexicano e Estudios Supe-riores, después de revisarque los accidentes iban cre-ciendo desfavorablementeen la seguridad ciudada-na”.

Acción contra conducción intoxicadaPOR MIGUEL TIMOSHENKOV

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

EN HONOR A VETERANOS

Foto de cortesía | L C C

Un árbol roble fue plantado frente al Edificio de Servicios de Porteccion del Congresista Henry Cuellar en Laredo Community College, Campus South, en honor a todos losVeteranos militares de EU. La ceremonia fue hecha posible a traves de los esfuerzos de American Electric Power (AEP), el Departamento del Alguacil del Condado de Webb yLCC. Manjeando las tareas honorarias estaban, de izquierda, el Alguacil Martin Cuellar; Juan Maldonado, Presidente de LCC; Alcalde Raul Salinas; Don Fields de AEP y HenryCuellar.

JACKSON, Miss. — TheSouth still loses.

Of course, that’s no sur-prise to the 1,300 Civil Warbuffs gathering in northernMississippi this weekend tore-enact a battle that ac-tually took place in Tennes-see.

People dressed as Unionand Confederate soldiersare recreating the Battle ofFort Donelson, which tookplace in February 1862 nearDover, Tenn., northwest ofNashville.

The battle was a victoryfor the North, and it helpedkeep Kentucky in theUnion.

Organizers say they’reexpecting re-enactors fromas far away as Texas, Okla-homa, Illinois, Pennsylva-nia and Maine for the eventoutside tiny Michigan City,Miss., a stone’s throw southof the Tennessee state line.

The Fort Donelson Na-tional Battlefield in Tennes-see doesn’t host full-scaleCivil War re-enactments be-cause the park is home totwo bald eagles. Officialsthere don’t want the boom-ing of cannons and musk-ets to bother the eagles,said Doug Richardson, thetop park ranger at the bat-tlefield. Richardson saidparking at the battlefield isalso limited, with space foronly a few dozen vehicles.

Re-enactors say they’retrying to create an authen-tic experience of a war thatended slavery and pre-served the union. “Civil-ian” re-enactors are mak-ing period crafts and sell-ing reproductions of CivilWar-era clothing.

Skirmishes startedThursday evening. Battlesare open to the public Sat-urday and Sunday.

Mark Way of Navarre,Fla., who portrays a Con-federate soldier with theCleburne’s Division of Re-enactors, said recreatinghistory is a way for himand his relatives to escapethe stress of everyday lifeand enjoy each other’s com-pany. They gather aroundcampfires rather than in

front of TV sets. “My whole family actual-

ly comes,” Way said. “Myfather is a general. I’m anadjutant for him. My sisterrides courier for him.”

Way doesn’t go complete-ly cold turkey with thetechnology — he’s still tot-ing a cell phone and re-turned a call Friday duringa break in the battle. Hesaid the gathering thisweekend is one of the firstlarge-scale re-enactmentsmarking the 150th anniver-sary the Civil War.

Although smaller-scalere-enactments are commonon several weekends of theyear, organizers say the onethis weekend is a “nation-al” event, meaning it’s oneof the two largest re-enact-

ments planned for thisyear.

Other national eventsare scheduled for the ses-quicentennial over the nextseveral years, includinglate next July at Manassas,Va., and in late March andearly April 2010 at Shiloh,Tenn.

Dave Eisele of Rockford,Ill., is part of a federal artil-lery re-enactment groupparticipating in the eventthis weekend in Mississip-pi. He said his great-great-grandfather, Jacob Eisele ofIndiana, fought for theUnion during the Civil Warand contracted pneumoniaduring the Battle of StonesRiver in December 1862and January 1863 nearMurfreesboro, Tenn.

“They weren’t allowed toput up tents or build camp-fires because that wouldgive away positions to theenemy,” Dave Eisele saidFriday. “They were out inthe freezing rain with nocampfire, no tents.”

He said his great-great-grandfather, who was 20,survived the pneumoniabut wrote on his applica-tion for his military pen-sion 20 years later that hehad chronic bronchitis.

Eisele won’t have rela-tives at this weekend’s re-enactment.

“I tried to get my wife in-volved,” Eisele said. “Andshe said, ’Unless there’s aHoliday Inn, no way.”’

Civil War meet to fight againBy EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Civil War re-enactor Greg Belcastro, of Randolph, N.J., is dressed asa soldier, outside the New Jersey Statehouse in Trenton, N.J.

Photo by Mel Evans | AP

CHARLESTON, S.C. —Almost 100 years after hisdeath, a black Union CivilWar vet from South Car-olina finally has a veter-ans marker on his grave.

The gravestone for Hen-ry Benjamin Noisette wasunveiled Thursday in ablack Charleston cemete-ry. Noisette escaped slav-ery and joined the U.S.Navy in 1862. The Charles-ton native served on the

USS Huron and saw ac-tion against Confederatedefenses on the Stono Riv-er near Charleston andthe Ogeechee River southof Savannah, Ga.

After the war, he stayedin Charleston and died in1911.

Descendants, black re-enactors and Citadel ca-dets watched as Noisette’sgreat-granddaughter un-veiled the marker. Re-searchers only recentlydiscovered Noisette’s mili-tary past.

This is the veterans grave marker for Henry Benjamin Noisettededicated Thursday, during a ceremony in Charleston, S.C.

Photo by Bruce Smith | AP

Black Civil Wargets markerBy BRUCE SMITH

ASSOCIATED PRESS

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES Nation SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2010

CHRISTMAS IS ON ITS WAY

Photo by Richard Drew | AP

Workers position the 2010 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York’s Rockefeller Plaza, on Friday.The 74-foot Norway Spruce was cut from the yard of a New York City firefighter in Mahopac, N.Y.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2010 THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

ALBANY, N.Y. — Yearsbefore leading his vastlyoutnumbered troops to theirdoom at Little Bighorn, ayoung George ArmstrongCuster was described as ac-curate in math.

Nearly 30 years before hisMarch to the Sea laid wasteto a large swath of Georgia,William Tecumseh Sher-man was deemed a “fine en-ergetic boy.”

And two decades beforehe would earn the nick-name “Stonewall,” ThomasJ. Jackson’s dreams of amilitary career got a boostfrom a man who would helpstart the Civil War.

Those are some of the tid-bits gleaned from more than115,000 U.S. Military Acade-my application documentsbeing posted online for thefirst time by Ancestry.com.The Provo, Utah-based gene-alogy website said the infor-mation can be viewed forfree until Sunday.

After Sunday, it will cost$12.95 a month for unlimit-ed access to the West Pointrecords and the website’smore than 100 million mili-tary documents, companyofficials said.

The oldest West Pointdocuments being posted on-line date to 1805, three yearsafter the academy’s found-

ing, and run through 1866, ayear after the Civil War end-ed. The records and otherrelated documents from thatperiod were culled from theNational Archives in Wash-ington, D.C., said QuintonAtkinson, director of con-tent acquisition for Ances-try.com.

The documents representsome 16,000 individuals ac-cepted into the Corps of Ca-dets, he said. Missing fromthe collection are the appli-cation records of notablessuch as Edgar Allen Poe,who briefly attended WestPoint, and Robert E. Lee,who graduated in 1829, At-kinson said.

“These are the rich as-pects of the research thatyou can add to the morefundamental tree-buildingthat family historians do,”Atkinson told The Associat-ed Press in a telephone in-terview. “You can under-stand who these peoplewere.”

Back then, as it is now,the process for applying foradmission to West Point in-cluded being nominated bya member of Congress. Law-makers, governors, guardi-ans, businessmen and otherprominent citizens in aprospective cadet’s homestate would write recom-mendation letters. Althoughthe handwritten letters areoften hard to decipher, they

can offer insights abouthow others viewed the bud-ding military leaders, Atkin-son said.

Ohio Congressman JohnBingham, in his 1856 nomi-nation letter for Custer, de-scribed the then-17-year-oldas being a shade under 5-foot-10, with “no deformity.”

Custer, Bingham wrote,“reads well, spells correctly,writes a fair and legiblehand, able to perform withfacility and accuracy theground rules of arithmetic...”

A letter written in 1835by Sherman’s guardian re-ferred to the future Union

general, then 16, as “a goodscholar and a fine energeticboy.”

Thomas J. Jackson wasseeking acceptance to WestPoint in 1842 when a SouthCarolina politician wrote aletter to the academy onJackson’s behalf. Jacksongraduated four years later.

In April 1861, that politician— Francis W. Pickens —was governor of South Car-olina when he approved thebombardment of Fort Sum-ter in Charleston, the open-ing salvos of the Civil War.

Three months later inManassas, Va., Jacksonearned the nickname“Stonewall” when his Vir-ginia brigade repulsed aUnion assault during theFirst Battle of Bull Run.

And George Pickett, theConfederate officer whowould find immortalityleading what becameknown as Pickett’s Chargeat the Battle of Gettysburgin 1863, gave an early hint ofhis vanity in a letter hewrote to President JamesPolk in 1845, seeking admis-sion to West Point.

“I am a young man, nine-teen years old, six feet talland moderately good-look-ing (as I am told),” Pickettwrote.

Atkinson said, “I guessyou could surmise that hewas moderately modest.”

The National Archivesdoesn’t have West Point’sapplication records beyond1866, Atkinson said. WestPoint is believed to havethose records, he said.

Calls to West Point’s pub-lic information office forcomment on the projectweren’t immediately return-ed.

Website publishes 1800s West Point applicationsBy CHRIS CAROLAASSOCIATED PRESS

This May 20, 1862, photograph from the Library of Congress shows Lt. George A. Custer reclining witha dog for a portrait with fellow staff members of General Fitz-John Porter, during the Civil War in Virgin-ia. Years before leading his troops to their doom at Little Bighorn, a young George Armstrong Custerwas described as accurate in math. This is just one tidbit gleaned from more than 115,000 U.S. MilitaryAcademy applications being posted online by Ancestry.com.

Photo by James F. Gibson/Library of Congress/ | AP

MEXICO CITY — Mexi-co’s federal prison popula-tion has more than doubledin recent years amid thecrackdown on drug cartelsand the overcrowded systemneeds to be revamped toprevent violence, the coun-try’s top policeman said Fri-day.

Public Safety SecretaryGenaro Garcia Luna saidone prison in particular, Is-las Marias, has seen its in-mate population quadruplesince President Felipe Cal-deron launched a nationalassault on organized crimein late 2006. Located off thecoast of Sinaloa state, theprison now houses 3,946 in-mates, up from 915.

“Where more disorder ex-ists, there will be more vio-lence,” Garcia Luna said,adding the governmentneeds space. “The penitenti-aries can be places wherenot only do people completetheir punishments, butwhere future delinquentconduct is prevented.”

In 2008, the federal prisonsystem had 4,500 inmates insix locations. Now there arenearly 11,000 inmates ineight penitentiaries.

“We are trying to abate

the deficit of space and mod-ernize our prison system,”he said.

In the case of Islas Ma-rias, the government ex-panded so it can house morethan 5,000 inmates, butmore needs to be done, espe-cially as cartel violence con-tinues, Garcia Luna said.

In recent years the gov-ernment has detained thou-sands of suspected drug traf-fickers. In addition to theeight federal prisons, thecountry has 92 state and 333municipal jails. The mostdangerous nonfederal crimi-nals are housed in the feder-al prisons.

In September, 85 prison-ers escaped from a prison inthe northern border city ofReynosa — the biggestbreakout in recent history.Federal officials contendsome jailbreaks are due tocartels seeking to recovermembers because newrecruits are hard to come by.

More than 28,000 Mexi-cans have been killed sincelate 2006 in drug-related vio-lence, and 2010 is on track tobe the bloodiest so far.

In Acapulco on Friday,three men were shot todeath in separate incidents,including one found dead onCostera Miguel Aleman, the

main boulevard of the tour-ist zone.

In Morelia, the state cap-ital of Michoacan, two bill-boards put up by the federalAttorney General’s Officeoffering rewards for infor-mation about members ofLa Familia cartel werefound torched.

The burning came a dayafter a letter surfaced pur-portedly signed by “La Fam-ilia Michoacana.” It claimedthe cartel wants to protectMichoacan and its residentsand says the group will dis-band if federal police prom-ise to act honestly and fightto the death to defend thestate. There was no way toknow whether the letter waslegitimate.

Meanwhile, the Mexicangovernment plans to auc-tion luxury jewelry andcars, planes and helicoptersseized from drug traffickersand use the money to helppay for its campaign againstorganized crime.

The items to be auctionednext Thursday and Fridayinclude a Rolex watch madeof white gold and encrustedwith 60 18-karat white dia-monds and a gold ring witha 12.25-carat diamond thatwill start bidding at$114,000.

Prison population surges amid drug warBy COLLEEN LONGASSOCIATED PRESS

A seized Rolex watch made of 18 carat white gold, 48 embedded white diamonds and 12 sapphires sits in a plastic bag at the governmentoffice for seized property in Mexico City, on Friday. The government will auction property allegedly seized from drug dealers and criminals.

Photo by Miguel Tovar | AP

family in the Lopeño com-munity was approved.

The program is knownfor building new homes forneedy families. It also helpsunderprivileged childrenby providing clothing,shoes and school supplies,said mission group coordi-nator Gabriel Flores. TheFlores family is no relationto Gabriel Flores.

A group of volunteerswill start the constructionproject on the Flores’ newhome on Nov. 20 by demol-ishing and disposing of alldebris, Gabriel Flores said.

“They need a home real-ly bad,” he said. “This isout of heart, we don’t wantany recognition and theydon’t have to pay for any-thing.”

Volunteers are still need-ed to put up dry wall andpaint the new 3-bedroomhome that will be con-structed for the Flores fam-ily, Gabriel Flores said.

Flores asked the commis-sioners if the county wouldhelp with the demolitionprocess and Zapata CountyAttorney Said Figueroa ad-vised the court that the

county can not help be-cause the home is on pri-vate property; however, ifthe home was identified ashazardous to the family orto the community by Zapa-ta County Fire Chief JuanJose Meza, the countycould step in.

Meza agreed to inspectthe condition of the resi-dence.

Commissioner Jose E.Vela estimated the cost ofthe removal of debris at$1,500, which is a manage-able price to pay, he said.

Gabriel Flores estimatesthe entire project will takeapproximately two weeksto complete at a cost of$15,000 for the 768 squarefoot home.

“The family also helpswith the labor,” GabrielFlores said.

Repairs and upgrades tothe Zapata County StateGuard Post Headquarterswere also approved alongwith the remodeling of of-fice buildings for storagepurposes to benefit the Za-pata County Museum ofHistory.

In a previous article, Ve-

la expressed concern re-garding a contract withLinebarger Goggan Blairand Sampson, a companyhired to collect delinquentfines and fees. He demand-ed the company show re-ports on any collections af-ter none have been report-ed as yet.

The company did notmake an appearance at themeeting and failed to re-port on any collections.

Vela has asked to hear areport at the next Commis-sioners Court meeting.

In other business, com-missioners approved acounty employee Thanks-giving luncheon, whichwill double as a workshopwith two guest speakers.Despite initial doubts, Velavoted with other commis-sioners to approve theevent.

The commissioners reap-pointed Joe Medrano toserve as a Zapata CountyEconomic DevelopmentCenter board member for aone year term.

(Lorraine L. Rodriguezmay be reached at (956)728-2557.)

COMMISSIONERS Continued from Page 1A

za, the brother of one ofour teachers,” Zavala said.

Most students wore patri-otic hats they had coloredin the classroom as part oftheir Veterans Day activ-ities, Zavala said.

“The counselor re-searched and gave teachersdifferent activities for theclassroom,” Zavala said.

Nearly 700 students fromPre-K3 to fifth grade werepresent at the ceremony,along with faculty andstaff, including Superin-tendent Norma Garcia.

“The students were allwell behaved,” Zavala said.

Zavala led the students

in a shout-out for all veter-ans present at the ceremo-ny.

“They got to say thankyou and hip, hip hooray,”Zavala said. “They alwayslove the hip, hip hooray,and they all yelled out a bigthank you for all the sacri-fices that (veterans) havedone for us and our coun-try.”

Also present at the cere-mony were the Zapata HighSchool Junior R.O.T.C. ca-dets, as well as SergeantLewis Martinez and a rep-resentatives from U.S. Rep.Henry Cuellar’s office, Ma-ria Gonzalez.

After the ceremony a fewof the students, faculty andstaff shook hands and tookpictures with some of theveterans dressed in uni-form.

“Some have served invarious wars and somehave just been active mem-bers of the armed forces,”Zavala said. “(The ceremo-ny) turned out really niceand it was a real honor.”

The student council alsohosted a lunch for veteranson Friday at the school li-brary, Zavala said.

(Lorraine L. Rodriguezmay be reached at (956)728-2557.)

VETERANS DAY Continued from Page 1A

fenses, she added.“We always have the best

interest of the child,” Pip-pen-Gomez said. “We’repositive to help the kids.”

Zapata County detentionservice staff includes Pip-pen-Gomez, five certifiedprobation officers and sup-port personnel, she said.

After a child commits a

crime, probation officerswill pick the child up, callthe parents or guardians,and take the child to aclose juvenile facility, Pip-pen-Gomez said.

“It’s a long procedure,”Pippen-Gomez said.

The process includes adetention hearing with ajuvenile referee who will

order the child to behoused in a detention facil-ity for a certain number ofdays, Pippen-Gomez said.

“This is not a growingproblem, but it is every-where. It’s been like thisfor years,” she said.

(Lorraine L. Rodriguezmay be reached at (956)728-2557.)

DETENTION Continued from Page 1A

for GED readiness. Nora’sgoal is to be able to workas an accountant at an of-fice or store once sheachieves her GED.

What is LiteracyVolunteers of Laredo?

Literacy Volunteers ofLaredo is a nonprofit agen-cy that provides basic read-ing classes and tutoringsessions for free to Englishas a Second Language stu-dents. Literacy Volunteershas about 18 volunteersand about 100 students.United Way supports Liter-acy Volunteers of Laredo.

The classesClasses are held each se-

mester, lasting between 12and 14 weeks. Classes meetonce a week for threehours and are availableduring the morning, after-

noon and evening. Missedclasses can be recovered ifarrangements are madewith the tutor for a make-up session. Class sizes varyfrom two to about 15 stu-dents. One-on-one tutoringalso is available. The usualcontent of classes consistsof teaching the basics ofthe English language anddoing reading and writingexercises. To aid with pro-nunciation skills, readingaloud is a frequent class ac-tivity. Homework is givenfor students for practice athome. Often, the home-work consists of looking updefinitions of words, writ-ing assignments or readingselected titles. At the end ofeach semester, a post-testwill be given to measureprogress. Once a studentreaches a certain level ofEnglish proficiency, Litera-cy Volunteers can refer thestudent to LCC to taketheir GED exams.

EnrollingTo enroll with Literacy

Volunteers of Laredo, visitits office on the LCC maincampus. If you are interest-ed, call ahead to confirmtime availability. For any-one unable to go during of-fice hours, arrangementscan be made to meet dur-ing outside of office hours.The Literacy Volunteerswill try to place students inclasses at the students’ pre-ferred times and locations.Students will be requiredto take exams to measuretheir English reading andwriting skills. The exam isprovided by the agency andserves only to place stu-dents in classes of similarskill levels. Students willalso be asked about theirgoals, so that tutors canbetter aid them in achiev-ing them. The Literacy Vol-unteers also offers suppliesto students without the ba-sic necessities for class.

READING Continued from Page 1A

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2010

eatery following the storm.Greenville is about 50

miles northeast of Dallas.Elsewhere, skies will be

clear to partly cloudy inWest and South Texas.

Highs will be in themid-70s in North and Cen-tral Texas and the ConchoValley and the EdwardsPlateau of West Texas, low60s in the rest of West Tex-as, low 50s in the SouthPlains and mid-40s in thePanhandle as the cold

Rain and cooler temper-atures are expected forNorth and Central Texasand the Panhandle on Fri-day as a cold front makesits way into the state, ac-cording to the NationalWeather Service.

In Greenville, highwinds ripped the roof off aBraum’s ice cream storeand several other build-ings received damagewhen a storm passedthrough Friday.

City spokesman DoyleDick told The AssociatedPress that straight-linewinds were to blame fordamage that also was re-ported at a car rental busi-ness and a gas station.Fire and police officialswere responding on Fridayafternoon. Dick said oneperson may have receivedminor injuries when asign toppled onto a car.

KTVT television stationin Dallas showed a largepiece of the Braum’s roofin the parking lot of the

front passes. Ahead of thefront in South Texas, highswill reach the 80s. Windswill be southerly at 5 to 10mph, shifting to the northat 15 to 20 mph.

More rain is likely inthe eastern half of TexasFriday night and early Sat-urday, with skies clearingin the western half. Lowswill be in the upper 20s inthe Panhandle, SouthPlains and West Texasmountains. variable

Coolness on its wayASSOCIATED PRESS

A Texas Department of Transportation snow plow works Friday, inAmarillo. After floods Thursday, people woke up Friday to snow.

Photo by Michael Norris/Amarillo Globe-News | AP

Sports&OutdoorsSATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2010 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

While most teams dream ofcompeting at the state crosscountry meet at least one timeduring their high school ca-reers, it has become a secondhome for the Zapata LadyHawks.

Zapata is making its thirdconsecutive trip after a strongshowing at the regional meetlast weekend.

This morning, the LadyHawks are competing at thestate meet in Round Rock onthe grounds of Old SettlersPark.

The Lady Hawks are sched-

uled to run this morning at 10a.m.

At the inception of the sea-son, during those long, scorch-ing summer months, the LadyHawks set their goal of re-turning to the state meet.

“It has been a long process,consisting of 24 weeks oftraining that leads up to the

pinnacle of all meets,” Zapatacoach Mike Villarreal said.“Week in and week out, theLady Hawks competed againstlarger classifications, puttingthemselves in difficult and un-comfortable situations, to pre-pare them for whatever chal-

CROSS COUNTRY

STATEMENT RACE

The Zapata Lady Hawks’ cross country team is participating in the Class 3A state meet this morning in Round Rock.

Photo by Clara Sandoval | Laredo Morning Times

Hawks reach state meet for third year straightBy CLARA SANDOVAL

ZAPATA TIMES

See CROSS COUNTRY PAGE 2B

HOUSTON — Andre Johnson isn’t him-self.

When people ask how he feels, he’ll sayhe’s OK, but he’s still struggling with asprained right ankle almost two monthsafter it was injured.

But Johnson hates excuses and theproblem won’t keep him from helping theHouston Texans. It can’t.

The star receiver has been waiting hisentire career to reach the playoffs andhe’ll need a big second half to get the Tex-ans (4-4) to that goal.

“When I’m out there I’m just playingand I’m going to give it everything I’vegot, whether it’s a hurt ankle or not,” hesaid. “I’m going to keep battling and justdoing what I’ve got to do to try to be ashealthy as I can so I can go out and per-form well on Sunday.”

Johnson has 635 yards receiving withthree touchdowns, missing one game be-cause of the ankle. But it just hasn’thealed as quickly and he has been forcedto wear a brace. He hasn’t practiced thisweek after an MRI on Monday revealedthat there was still swelling and he wasadvised to take it easy.

The Texans expect him to play thisweek at Jacksonville. Coach Gary Kubiakraved about the toughness Johnson hasshown in dealing with this injury.

“It just tells you what he’s made of,”Kubiak said. “He’s out there playing, not

See TEXANS PAGE 2B

NFL

Johnsonstrugglesthroughinjuries

By KRISTIE RIEKENASSOCIATED PRESS

Garrett has a lot of clean-ing up to do if he wants tomake a good impression. Dal-las is 1-7 and could be playingits worst football since the1960 expansion season, whenTom Landry’s cast of has-beens and never-weres went0-11-1. The Cowboys have lostfive straight, giving up 121points over the last threegames, at least 35 each time.The offense is sputtering be-hind a line that’s not block-ing, runners who aren’t run-ning and a 38-year-old, fill-inquarterback who hasn’t wonsince 2007.

The baffling part is that

IRVING — Jason Garrett isin a hurry.

As interim coach of theDallas Cowboys, and still theoffensive coordinator, he hasno time for chitchat, no timefor anything but work. Allthose congratulatory calls,texts and e-mails piling upwill have to wait.

"I’m not overly concernedabout getting back with ev-erybody," he said during oneof his brief news conferencesthis week. "I think they un-derstand that I appreciate thesupport."

Garrett can’t slow down be-cause there is always some-thing to do next. His world isan NFL assembly line ofmeetings, walkthroughs,practices and more meetings,all culminating in a game —and he has only has eight ofthem to show Jerry Joneshe’s the right man to leadAmerica’s Team.

Jones flipped over theteam’s leadership structurethis week, tossing out coach-defensive coordinator WadePhillips and promoting Gar-rett, a 44-year-old Princetongrad who’s never been a headcoach at any level but haslong been viewed as a greatcandidate.

With the playoffs a lostcause, Jones made thischange to recalibrate thestakes for the second half ofthe season. How everyoneperforms from now on will goa long way toward decidingwho remains with the organi-zation and who doesn’t.

Since that includes thecoach, it’s little wonder he’smoving so quickly. And how’sthis for added pressure?Jones said Friday on KRLD-FM in Dallas that, even be-fore he fired Phillips, SuperBowl-winning coaches wereinquiring about the job. Hedidn’t name names.

this team won the NFC Eastand a playoff game last yearwith virtually the same cast.They were widely thought tohave a chance of playing inthe Super Bowl, which hap-pens to be coming to Cow-boys Stadium. Instead,they’re contending for thefirst pick in the draft.

This roster was built towin now, which makes thingstougher for Garrett. He can’ttry a youth movement be-cause there aren’t manyyoungsters to try.

Bad drafts have interrupt-ed the cycle of having kidsready to replace the veterans

in front of them. For instance,the Cowboys gave up on aneighth member of their 2009draft class just this week,leaving only kicker DavidBuehler, linebackers VictorButler and Brandon Williams,and quarterback StephenMcGee. All you need to knowabout McGee is that Dallas issticking with Jon Kitna asthe replacement for Tony Ro-mo when the Cowboys playthe New York Giants on Sun-day.

Garrett isn’t big on sharinginformation, especially aboutthe lineup. While he speakspolitely and enthusiastically,he’s mastered the art of talk-ing without really saying any-thing.

"There might be some sub-tle changes," Garrett said."There might be some thatare more obvious to people.We’ll obviously continue toevaluate how we practice thisweek and certainly the gameevaluations will be signifi-cant going forward."

Garrett has been on thestaff for 3½ years, so he prob-ably already has an idea whooverachieved last year andwho is underachieving thisyear. Perhaps he’s givingthem all one last chance tosnap out of it; once they re-veal themselves, then he’llstart shaking things up.

Phillips refused to make anexample out of anyone. Hetalked a lot about account-ability, but with guys rarelygetting benched, demoted orcut, it was just talk.

Jones essentially told theplayers they got Phillips firedby not responding. Garrett’smessage to players was thathe’s not going to let them lethim down. He laid out expec-tations and the consequencesfor failing to fulfill those ex-pectations.

"He got his point across,"Kitna said. "He’s really not

See COWBOYS PAGE 2B

NFL

’Boys hope for quick turnaroundBy JAIME ARON

ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Oct. 25 file photo, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant scores atouchdown as New York Giants cornerback Terrell Thomas defends duringthe second half in Arlington.

Photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP

The Zapata Lady Hawks played withgrit and determination all season longand were rewarded for that hard workwhen the district coaches released theall-district 32-3A volleyball selection list.

The Lady Hawks picked up a slew ofawards after concluding the season witha district title in hand and a state rank-ing.

Senior Brandi King was named theMost Valuable Player by the district

VOLLEYBALL

See VOLLEYBALL PAGE 2B

Zapata senior Cassandra Quintanilla was namedDistrict 32-3A’s Libero of the Year for her solid ef-forts this season.

Courtesy photo

All-districthonors Hawks earnrecognition

By CLARA SANDOVALZAPATA TIMES

PAGE 2B Zscores SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2010

asking us to do anythingthat ’Wow, that’s revolu-tionary’ or we weren’t try-ing to do before. Therewas just a little more em-phasis on the things hefeels like are going to helpus win."

When Garrett says "itdoesn’t matter where play-ers come from, whetherthey’re Pro Bowl players,drafted players or undraft-ed free agents, we’re goingto play the best guys," onelook at his bio shows hemeans it.

This is a guy who spenta year as a college assist-ant coach, then a seasonin the World League andanother in the CFL beforeever making an NFL ros-ter, only to last for 12 sea-sons. He made himself akeeper despite being goodenough to play in just 25games. It only makessense that he’s looking totrust guys with the in-stincts and passion hehad.

Even guys with thick re-sumes and secure con-

tracts consider themselvesput on notice.

"Guys like myself or (co-captain Keith Brooking) orwhoever else is supposedlysupposed to be here ... youhave to show the youngerguys never to give up,"linebacker DeMarcusWare said.

Jones doesn’t expectGarrett to perform mira-cles this half-season. Winswould be great, but he’llsettle for improved effort.

The decision on whetherto keep Garrett for 2011and-or beyond probablywon’t require a detailedbreakdown of game filmsor statistical analysis. Itshould be apparent to ev-eryone if the redheadedcoach lights a fire underthis club.

He’s already awakenedsomething within corner-back Mike Jenkins.

Jenkins has gone frommaking the Pro Bowl lastseason to making all thehighlight shows this weekfor a play that under-scored why Phillips had to

go. Against Green Bay lastSunday, Jenkins had achance to tackle a runningback a few yards from theend zone and didn’t evenbother trying. He was al-lowed to stay in the gameand wasn’t publicly chas-tised for it. Why wouldn’the have a sense of entitle-ment — especially sincehe’s also kept his job de-spite repeatedly gettingbeaten and often drawingpass interference penaltieswhen he fears getting beat-en?

Yet when Jenkins gotword Tuesday that he hadto be at team headquartersby 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday,he snapped to attention.

He brought a notebookand an open mind to Gar-rett’s first meeting.

"I thought he pointedout a lot of good things,"Jenkins said. "I took a lotof notes and took down alot of key words that heused. I’m going to take itwith me. ... It’s a new dayfor me. It’s a new day foreverybody."

COWBOYS Continued from Page 1B

at 100 percent, but he’splaying. And to not onlybe not 100 percent andthen to get double teamed,he has his work cut outfor him. But he knowshow important he is to theteam and how importantit is that he’s out there. Sohe’s giving us everythinghe has.”

The injury has beenparticularly bothersomefor Johnson because dif-ferent things seem to irri-tate it.

“You never know whenit will bother you,” hesaid. “Sometimes it’s a lit-tle nagging pain that youfeel. I can’t predict whenit’s going to happen. Some-times I may go up andcatch a ball and comedown on it and I may notfeel nothing. Sometimes Imay go up and catch a balland come down and itpains me.”

He has learned to thinkof it as simply another ob-stacle he has to deal with.The few times he’stweaked it in games he’lljust go to the sideline andwalk around for a coupleof minutes and then letthe team know he’s readyto return.

Though he’s not 100 per-cent, he has still been able

to be effective since the in-jury. That was most evi-dent he was injured onSept. 19. Johnson left thegame against Washingtonin the third quarter, butreturned in the fourthquarter to make a leapingtouchdown catch in theend zone that tied thegame that the Texanseventually won 30-27.

Dealing with the injuryin that game was onething, but still fighting

with it weeks later hasbeen trying.

“It’s very frustrating be-cause you’ve been dealingwith it for so long,” hesaid. “It gets frustrating attimes but it’s somethingyou have to learn how tofight through. I don’t feellike it’s holding me back.But I do wish it was feel-ing a lot better.”

So do the Texans, whoneed a win Sunday againsttheir AFC South foe.

TEXANS Continued from Page 1B

Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson, front, scores infront of Indianapolis Colts cornerback Kelvin Hayden in the thirdquarter in Indianapolis on Monday.

Photo by Michael Conroy | AP

lenges the next meet pre-sented.”

The Lady Hawks headedto the regional meet in ausual position, as the dis-trict runner-up instead ofa place that they held forsix years: district cham-pions.

They were dethroned byLa Feria, but that did notwaver their motivation toreturn to the to the statemeet despite taking thecourse with four newfaces.

Zapata had to fend off178 runners from 24 teamsand eight different dis-tricts.

The Lady Hawks, whoare veterans of the region-al meet, put themselves ina great position at thesound of the gun, some-thing that lacked earlier inthe season.

Senior Marlena Garcia,the defending individualregional champion, andnewcomer freshman Jaz-mine Garcia went outwith the leaders of therace running side by sidefor the entire race.

Jazmine found her sec-ond gear in the last half-mile and crossed the fin-ish line in second placewith a time of 11:48, whileMarlena fought to the endbut was edged out by adistrict foe and crossedthe finish line in fourthplace with a time of 11:57.

This marks the firsttime two runners from Za-pata in the same yearqualified for the state meetas individuals.

The fate of the team wasin the hands of the otherfive runners.

Erica Hernandez hit a

personal record and cross-ed the finish line at 12:40and was followed by Cas-sie Pena.

Senior Gloria Jaueguialso hit a personal mark of12:49.

Clarissa Villarreal andKristina Garcia broke the13-minute barrier to markthe first time in schoolhistory all seven runnerscame under the 13-minutemark at the regional meet.

When the dust had set-tled and the results wereannounced, the LadyHawks punched their tick-et to state with a runner-up finish to district rivalLa Feria.

Each of the last threeyears, both teams haveshared the top two spotsin the region, speakingvolumes of the quality ofrunners in District 32-3A.

CROSS COUNTRY Continued from Page 1B

named Libero of the Yearfor her defensive prowessin the back row that ignit-ed the Lady Hawks of-fense.

Setter of the Year hon-ors went to Port Isabel ju-nior Gabriela Gonzalez.

First team honors wentto Zapata junior EstellaMolina and senior SelinaMata, La Feria seniorAlyssa De La Rosa, PortIsabel senior HelenaLoya, Rio Hondo seniorKaylene Betancourt andProgreso junior MelissaTorres.

Second team honorswent to La Feria juniorDesiree Serna, Port Isabelsophomore Mary Garcia,Progreso junior RebecaOchoa, Rio Grande CityLa Grulla junior Bethany

coaches. King was spec-tacular all season long forthe Lady Hawks with hergreat offensive firepower.

She was a force at thenet, putting the ball downevery opportunity.

Junior Shelby Biglercomplemented King atthe net and was namedthe district’s Newcomerof the Year, along with LaFeria sophomore JulieZamora and Port Isabelsophomore KatherineBowles.

Offensive Player of theYear honors went to PortIsabel senior Morgan Ma-lik, while Zapata sopho-more Kristina De Leonpicked up the DefensivePlayer of the Year award.

Zapata senior Cassan-dra Quintanilla was

Martinez, Rio Hondo ju-nior Savanna Gonzalez andDonna Idea senior MelissaSutiata.

Honorable Honors wentto Zapata’s Jackie Salinas,Abby Aguilar and KarenVilla; La Feria’s Lea Jua-rez, Jade Morales, MikaylaJohnson and Jennifer Exi-nia; Port Isabel’s BelindaBarrera, Marissa Hernan-dez, Kristian Watkins, Lau-ra Perez and Wundi Flores;Rio Hondo’s Clarissa Cruz,Audry Cuellar, AnnaReyes, Cynthia Cruz andRonnie Tijerina; DonnaIdea’s Marlissa Candanosaand Cassandra Cortez; Pro-greso’s Dulce Velez, KarlaMunoz and Selena Amaya;Rio Grande City La Grul-la’s Marina Flores, MonicaEscott and Jessica Falcon.

VOLLEYBALL Continued from Page 1B

COLLEGE STATION —Jerrod Johnson was sup-posed to be the quarter-back to lead Texas A&Mback into contention thisseason after years of medi-ocrity and worse.

Instead, the senior whoholds most of A&M’s pass-ing records has struggledand the Aggies droppedthree games in a row.

Then Texas A&M coachMike Sherman decided totake a gamble. He split thesnaps between Johnsonand Ryan Tannehill in onegame, even though thebackup had thrown just 13career passes, and thenbenched Johnson twoweeks ago.

So far, the move has paidoff with Tannehill 2-0 as astarter and the Aggies (6-3,3-2 Big 12) back in the huntfor the Big 12 South enter-ing Saturday’s game atBaylor (7-3, 4-2).

Tannehill threw for 155yards and three touch-downs in the win over Kan-sas where he shared timewith Johnson. Then the ju-nior, who had spent most ofhis time at receiver, threwfor a school-record 449yards with four touch-downs in his first careerstart, a 45-27 win over Tex-as Tech.

Last week, he had 225yards passing and twotouchdowns to help TexasA&M knock off Oklahoma33-19 and enter the Top 25for the first time since 2007at No. 23.

Tannehill doesn’t believethe turnaround is becauseof him and credits his teamfor staying positive.

“We had a three-gamelosing streak, and that’shard on everyone,” he said.“But no one ever gave up.You’d look in everyone’seyes and see that no one isgiving up.”

Tannehill is happy tohave a couple of games ofexperience and believes

bouncing back after throw-ing a pair of interceptionsagainst the Sooners willhelp his development.

“I think I learned morein this game than in anyother game,” he said.“They are probably thebest defense we’ve playedso far. I didn’t play realwell and I realize that. Ihave to learn to take careof the ball and throw theball away in certain situa-tions.”

Sherman loves how Tan-nehill has helped the of-fense become a more up-tempo group and the play-ers enjoy playing at aquicker pace.

“It’s a lot of fun when weget the tempo going and weare executing and makingbig plays, and the defensegets tired,” receiver RyanSwope said. “It just opensup the whole field.”

Baylor coach Art Brilesis more familiar with Tan-nehill than most aftermeeting him when thequarterback was starringin high school in Big

Spring. “I guess the change kind

of provided a little sparkand it has certainly doneit,” he said. “(Ryan is) verycompetitive, very intelli-gent and a guy that justhas the ability to makeplays. He’s a multi-sportathlete coming out of highschool and is a (player) thatguys will rally around a lit-tle bit.”

Briles hopes Tannehill,whose two starts havecome at home, will be a bitless comfortable playing ina hostile road environment.

“It is imperative that weget him out of a comfortzone,” Briles said. “I thinka lot of that can be done byour crowd in the stadium.When you can’t hear ortalk to the guy next to you,it’s different and it makes abig difference in the foot-ball game.”

The Bears are looking tobounce back after a tough55-28 loss to OklahomaState last week that endeda three-game winningstreak. Robert Griffin

threw for 267 yards, buthad an interception withno touchdowns.

He isn’t worried aboutthe bad feelings from thegame bleeding into thisweek.

“I took a lot of blame forthe game,” he said. “Thatis what I am supposed todo because I’m a leader. Wedidn’t play well and thingsdidn’t go our way. It doesn’tmatter who made the mis-takes, we lost the game andthat is that. I will take thaton my shoulders and I willmake sure that everyone isready to play this week-end.”

“They can be a hot of-fense,” Sherman said. “Thequarterback can take offand take it the distanceanytime he wants to.”

Bears play host to AggiesBy KRISTIE RIEKENASSOCIATED PRESS

Baylor running back Terrance Ganaway, right, scores past Oklahoma State linebacker Shaun Lewis,left, in the second half on Saturday in Stillwater, Okla.

Photo by Rod Aydelotte | AP

AUSTIN — Next in linefor Texas’ miserable sea-son: fast-rising No. 12 Ok-lahoma State.

The Cowboys (8-1, 4-1Big 12) roll into Austinwith an express train ofan offense and seriouspayback on their minds af-ter a 12-year losing streakto the Longhorns that in-cludes some excruciatingdefeats.

A win Saturday nightwould also tighten theirsurprising grip on firstplace in the Big 12 South.

That’s where most ex-

pected the Longhorns (4-5,2-4) to be. But losers of fiveof their last six games, in-cluding three in a row athome, they’re stuck in lastplace just one season afterwinning the Big 12 title.

“Everybody is enjoyingus struggling right now,”Texas coach Mack Brownsaid. “We’ve got to turn itaround.”

The Longhorns havebeen so bad — they trailedKansas State 39-0 lastweek before scoring twolate touchdowns — thatTexas won’t even get to abowl game unless theywin two of their finalthree games.

In this photo taken Oct. 30, Texas head football coach MackBrown looks on against Baylor in Austin.

Photo by Harry Cabluck | AP

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2010 THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

DAILY CRYPTOQUOTES — Here’s how to work it: FAMILY CIRCUS DENNIS THE MENACE

Dear Readers: OVER-WEIGHT CATS may lookcute and roly-poly, but thatextra fat can be dangerous.They can suffer from ach-ing joints, liver problemsand diabetes, just to men-tion a few repercussions.

How to tell if your cat isfat? Can you feel the spineand ribs? If you can’t, yourcat is probably overweight.

Losing weight can in-volve increasing the cat’sactivity level while main-taining the same calorie in-take.

Talk to your veterinarianabout weight management.You may need to changesome of your habits, too! Alot of cat treats, for exam-ple, can pack on the ounc-es.

Also important? Feedingthe cat several small mealsper day, and increasing playand exercise time. Monitorthe cat if he is a hunter;this could add on extra cal-ories, too.

After time, you shouldnotice an improvement inthe cat’s health and generalwell-being. If not, pleasework with your veterinar-ian to keep your four-pawedfurry friend in good health.-- Heloise

DOGS DIGGINGDear Heloise: The prob-

lem of my dogs digging inthe yard had gotten bad.For every hole I filled, theywould dig up another. So Isprinkled some red-pepperflakes around the hole andinto the dirt I shoveledback in. It’s still a game,but I’m winning. No more

digging! -- R.B. in West Vir-ginia

TOO CUTEDear Heloise: I have a lit-

tle Chihuahua named Pesowho sleeps in his dog bed. Iput an extra blanket on thebed so he stays warm, andhe likes to burrow underthe covers.

To make his bed warm, Iput the blanket in the dryerfor a few minutes. When Iplace it on the bed, Pesocomes running and imme-diately goes under cover forthe night! -- Keralyn R., Col-orado Springs, Colo.

NO SHOCKDear Heloise: I have a be-

tta fish in a fishbowl andtry to keep the bowl clean.When I clean it, I takeHomer out and put him in-to another container with alittle bit of the water fromthe tank to keep him fromgetting temperature“shocked” since I keep himin the same water.

I then clean the bowl andany gravel, plants, etc.,with water only. Then I puteverything back in thebowl, fill with water, andHomer’s back in! -- KaseyAnn in Utah COMICS ASPLACE MATS

Dear Readers: A way toreuse the colorful Sundaycomics? As a liner under-neath pet dishes. The paperis absorbent, but change itas needed. -- Heloise

HINTS BY | HELOISE

“HELOISE

4B LAREDO MORNING TIMES Sports SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2010

NORMAN, Okla. — Thefans in Oklahoma’s largesthome crowd ever startedjumping up and down, andthe players joined in onthe sidelines. The lopsidedvictory against one of thenation’s few remaining un-defeated teams had vaultedthe Sooners back into thenational championship pic-ture.

The last time TexasTech visited Norman, itproduced memories thatcould last a lifetime for Ok-lahoma’s players.

“We really came out anddominated that game,”said linebacker Travis Le-wis, who recalls jumpingalong with the fans when“Jump Around” blaredover the loudspeaker withthe Sooners up five touch-downs in the first half. “Tothis day, I’ve played in anational championship,Big 12 championships. It’sthe best game I’ve playedin.”

That 65-21 blowout bythe Sooners two years agoforged a three-way tie be-tween Oklahoma, Texasand the previously unbeat-en Red Raiders atop theBig 12 South. Oklahomawould end up ahead in thetiebreaker and play for theconference and national ti-tles.

“It was great to see thefans and everything just goat it. That’s one of the fewgames I’m going to reallyremember just because ev-erybody got into it. It wassuch a lot of fun,” Soonersoffensive tackle Eric Men-sik said. “Hopefully we’llbe able to repeat that.”

Texas Tech got its re-venge last year by wallop-ing Oklahoma 41-13 in Lub-bock — punctuated by itsown rendition of “JumpAround.” That continued atrend of wins by the hometeam in the series each ofthe past six years.

“The last time we played

them, we went to theirhouse and they put awhoopin’ to us,” Mensiksaid. “You can’t just goand play some teamthinking that you’re go-ing to win. It’s not likethat. You’ve got to pre-pare and you’ve got to besound.”

The Sooners (7-2, 3-2Big 12) have lost bothtimes they’ve played at anopponent’s stadium thisseason, including a 33-19defeat at Texas A&M lastweek, while winning 35in a row on Owen Fieldfor the nation’s longesthome winning streak.

“Oklahoma hasn’t losta game at home in a long,long time, but it’s time wego play and continue toplay the way we’re play-ing,” Tech coach TommyTuberville said. “Get a lit-tle bit more consistentand see what happens.”

The Red Raiders (5-4,3-4) beat Missouri lastweek for their first victo-ry over a ranked teamunder Tuberville, andthey’ll playing in their

fifth road game this seasonhaving split the previousfour.

“We’re pretty muchroad-tested, but it’s an ob-vious advantage anywhereyou go — not just Oklaho-ma. If you look at all theteams across the country,the home-field advantage ishuge in college football,”Tuberville said.

“You’ve just got to go inand play your game. I talk-ed to the players about it,and there’s not been muchsuccess of Texas Tech oranybody going to Normanin the last three or four orfive years. We’ll just go try

to play our game and real-ly not worry about it.”

Tuberville has said Tay-lor Potts will return as thestarter after he threwthree touchdown passes inrelief of Steven Sheffieldfor a come-from-behindvictory a week ago. Pottsthrew for 388 yards andtwo touchdowns againstthe Sooners last year.

“I thought we were agreat defense last year. Ithought we played goodpractically the whole year,except for that game,” Le-wis said. “It’s disappoint-ing, but it’s something youcan learn from.”

Raiders hope to upset OU

Texas Tech quarterback Taylor Potts looks for an open receiver against Missouri during the first halfat Jones AT&T Stadium on Saturday in Lubbock.

Photo by John A. Bowersmith | AP

By JEFF LATZKEASSOCIATED PRESS

FORT WORTH — Nowcomes the real challenge forthird-ranked TCU: Matchthe intensity of the 40-pointvictory in the big game thathas already passed.

A week after the HornedFrogs (10-0, 6-0 MountainWest) won impressively atthen-undefeated Utah, theyplay their home finale Sat-urday against upstart SanDiego State (7-2, 4-1).

“We have to find a wayby Saturday to emotionallyplay at the same peak thatwe played at last Saturday.There’s a lot riding on whatcan be accomplished,” TCUcoach Gary Patterson said.“They have a lot to provecoming in here, and wehave a lot to hold on to.”

The Aztecs have theirfirst four-game winningstreak since 1998 and havereached seven wins thisquickly for the first timesince 1977. They had onlyseven wins their previous28 games going into thisseason.

Yet, TCU is still a nearlyfour-touchdown favorite ina game with Mountain

West title implications. “I’ve watched them

enough to know that ifthey’re not the best, they’reone of the best,” Aztecscoach Brady Hoke said.

TCU guarantees itself atleast a share of the Moun-tain West title with a win.That would also get theHorned Frogs to 11 victo-ries for the sixth time ineight seasons and keepthem in contention for apossible BCS national titleshot.

The Frogs solidified theirspot at No. 3 in the BCSstandings — behind Oregonand Auburn, and ahead ofBoise State — with that 47-7victory last weekend atUtah.

With an upset this week,San Diego State would re-main in contention for theMountain West title. TheAztecs are coming off amistake-filled comebackwin over Colorado State.

“It’s a new feeling to beupset with yourself after awin,” quarterback RyanLindley said. “It’s a testa-ment to what coach Hokehas done and how he’schanged all of our mindsetsto make us better.”

TCU tight end Corey Fuller (86) and TCU running back WaymonJames (32) celebrate against Utah on Saturday in Salt Lake City.TCU won 47-7.

Photo by Jim Urquhart | AP

Frogs face AztecsBy STEPHEN HAWKINS

ASSOCIATED PRESS