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RUNNING AT STATELUIS GARZA TO RUN HIS FINAL RACE FOR HAWKS, 1B

LAREDO — A man accused of stab-bing to death a Zapata native in SouthLaredo has pleaded guilty to murderTuesday in the 341st District Court, theWebb County district attorney’s officeannounced late Thursday.

Luis Jimenez, 33, pleaded guilty tokilling Roberto Carlos Benavides beforeJudge Rebecca “Beckie” Palomo. Prose-cutors and the defense agreed for Jime-nez to serve a 30-year sentence in pris-

on, court records show.Jimenez will be sen-

tenced at 8 a.m. Monday.Benavides’ mother dis-

covered her son stabbed todeath Feb. 9, 2012, in hisbedroom at a home locatedin the 3500 block of CuatroVientos Drive. The mother,

Maria Herlinda Benavides, went tocheck on her son since he had not re-turned phone calls and had not gone towork, according to court records.

Police said they later learned that Ji-

menez stabbed Benavidesbecause Benavides “want-ed to be intimate withhim,” according to thecriminal complaint. Policefound Benavides with mul-tiple stab wounds to theleft side of his neck, headand shoulder, according to

prosecutors. Before leaving town to California, Ji-

menez confessed to a female cousin that

341ST DISTRICT COURT

Pleading guiltyMan to serve 30 years in death of Zapata native

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES

See PLEA PAGE 3A

JIMENEZ BENAVIDES

AUSTIN — State Representative RyanGuillen (D- District 31) and State Represen-tative Tracy King (D- District 80) will bejointly hosting a field hearing in Zapata todiscuss issues related to the declining basspopulation in Falcon Lake, on Friday.

The hearing will be held at the ZapataTechnical and Advanced Education Center,room 128, 605 North U.S. Highway 83, at1:30 p.m.

The hearing is also open to the publicfor oral and written testimony.

Falcon Lake Reservoir, located in Starrand Zapata counties, has had a historicallystrong largemouth bass population and hasreceived global recognition as a prime fish-ing location for the species.

However, in recent years the bass pop-ulation in Falcon Lake has declined. Theissue was first brought to light by local

FALCON LAKE

Hearingto look atdeclininglake bassSome think alligator gar is

to blame for fewer bassSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

See BASS PAGE 7A

LAREDO — ICE Special Agent JaimeJ. Zapata would have turned 36 years oldTuesday.

But his life was cut short Feb. 15, 2011,when suspected Zetas drugcartel members ambushedhim and a fellow agent inSan Luis Potosi, Mexico.

To celebrate his birthday,his parents, Amador andMary Zapata, came to Lare-do to give away scholar-ships in their son’s honorWednesday afternoon at

the Guerra Communication ReceptionHall.

The Zapata family and the Friends andJaime J. Zapata committee presentedscholarships to 30 students from Laredo,Mercedes, San Antonio, San Ygnacio andZapata. Laredo Community College stu-dents and siblings Katheryn Tytler, 16,and Stephen Tytler, 17, both of Nigeria,said they were honored to receive theaward.

JAIME J. ZAPATA

30 receivemoney foreducation

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZLAREDO MORNING TIMES

See BIRTHDAY PAGE 3A

ZAPATA

Members of the Zapata HighSchool Class of 1964 are sched-uling a reunion in June to cele-brate their 50th anniversary ofgraduation from high school.

The Class of 1964 had 30 peo-ple, according to alumnus Do-ra Martinez.

“We’ve been trying to findas many people as we can,”

Martinez said. “We know thatsome have changed addresses,and unfortunately others havedied.

“We hope to hold the re-union at the Steak House Res-taurant in Zapata on Wednes-day, June 25,” Martinez said.

Organizers hope the re-union will allow class mem-bers to recall their days as stu-dents and catch up with eachother on the paths their liveshave taken.

“I remember wanting (tostudy) medicine, but I had hadan internship with a doctor

and realized that at least it wasnot for me,” Martinez said.“Anyway, I made a career inthe medical field but as a tech-nician in the laboratory.”

She said she later studiedjournalism, operated a Hispan-ic-oriented newspaper in SanAntonio, and was the first fe-male promotor of artists inTexas.

ZAPATA HIGH SCHOOL

Class of ’64 members eye reunionBy MALENA CHARUR

THE ZAPATA TIMES

See REUNION PAGE 7A

MARTINEZ GRACIA

HOUSTON — AmberGalloway Gallegowas in bed when afriend texted her:

“Turn on Jimmy Kimmel.”“I was like, ‘Why?”’ said

Galloway Gallego, who livesin Houston. Then she flippedon the late-night talk showand saw herself on TV.

Kimmel was showing a clipof Galloway Gallego on stageat Lollapalooza, dancing anddoing sign language as rapperKendrick Lamar rapped exple-tives. An audience memberhad captured about a minuteof her performance, shakycamera and all, and posted iton YouTube.

In the nine months sincethat Chicago music fest, Gallo-way Gallego’s sign-language

spectacle has been viewedabout 4 million times on You-Tube. With a rapper’s swagger,she lets it fly, signing rapid-fire lyrics and dirty wordsthat look like dirty words. Her

performance is lewd. It is star-tlingly, hilariously cool. It’s al-so her job.

Galloway Gallego, an Amer-ican Sign Language interpret-er who specializes in music,

has done the same thing athundreds of concerts. She’shired to stand at the side ofthe stage and interpret Ma-

AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE

SIGNING ALL THE HITS

Amber Galloway Gallego, 37, a sign language instructor at Houston Community College, signs “interpreting”on April 23. Gallego specializes in interpreting music. She signs to make concerts accessible to the deaf.

Photo by Marie D. De Jesus/Houston Chronicle | AP

Her fingers‘sing’ forthe deaf

By ALYSON WARDHOUSTON CHRONICLE

See SIGN LANGUAGE PAGE 7A

PAGE 2A Zin brief SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2014

Saturday, May 101964 Zapata High School Class

50th reunion. Dinner at The SteakHouse on Wednesday, June 25. CallDora Martinez at 324-1226 or NinfaGracia at 500-5219.

Laredo National Letter CarriersFood Drive. Postal customers urged toplace non-perishable food items in abag next to mailbox for pickup by let-ter carrier. Benefits South Texas FoodBank and Laredo Regional Food Bank.Call Luis Palacios at 645-1062.

Founders’ Day Celebration. Noon.TAMIU Student Center Ballroom. Inau-guration of President of the Republic ofthe Rio Grande and presentation ofHeritage Awards. Call 727-0977 or visitwebbheritage.org.

Monday, May 12Zapata County Commissioners

Court meeting. 9 a.m. Zapata CountyCourthouse. Call Roxy Elizondo at 765-9920.

Tuesday, May 13South Texas Food Bank’s 25th

anniversary, fundraiser. 6 p.m. to 11p.m. Hal’s Landing, 6510 Arena Blvd.Admission $10. Featuring music of Lit-tle Sister at indoor stage; Kombo DelSol, Inalcanzable, La Mision Vallentaand Zenzible at patio. For tickets, call324-2432.

“The Calling” series of Bibletalks. 6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. LaredoChurch of Christ Chapel, 1505 Calle delNorte, Suite 340. Contact Miguel Zuñi-ga at 286-9631 or mglzuñiga@ya-hoo.com.

Wednesday, May 141964 Zapata High School Class

50th reunion. Dinner at The SteakHouse on Wednesday, June 25. CallDora Martinez at 324-1226 or NinfaGracia at 500-5219.

“The Great Salt Challenge” class,Lesson 2. Noon to 1 p.m. First UnitedMethodist Church, 1220 McClellandAve. Focuses on sodium in diet, dailyconsumption limits, how to read a foodlabel and strategies for reducing saltintake. Three lessons. Meets everyWednesday in May. English. Free.

Thursday, May 15Grief support group. Noon to

1:30 p.m. First United MethodistChurch, 1220 McClelland Ave. Free andopen to public. Contact Patricia Cisne-ros at 722-1674 or pcisneros@mhm.org.

Saturday, May 171964 Zapata High School Class

50th reunion. Dinner at The SteakHouse on Wednesday, June 25. CallDora Martinez at 324-1226 or NinfaGracia at 500-5219.

J.W. Nixon’s Class of 1989 sellingtickets for 25th reunion. 2 p.m. to 5p.m. 317 E. Calton Road #1. $25 perperson for event on Friday, July 25 atLife Fair, Branding Iron; and $25 perperson for event on Saturday, July 26at Embassy Suites.

Sunday, May 18The St. Patrick Catholic Church

Men’s Club steak plate sale, 11 a.m. to2 p.m. on church grounds, 555 DelMar Blvd. $5 per plate. Proceeds toscholarships. For information call (956)324-2432.

Tuesday, May 20“The Calling” series of Bible

talks. 6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. LaredoChurch of Christ Chapel, 1505 Calle delNorte, Suite 340. Contact Miguel Zuñi-ga at 286-9631 or mglzuñiga@ya-hoo.com.

Wednesday, May 211964 Zapata High School Class

50th reunion. Dinner at The SteakHouse on Wednesday, June 25. CallDora Martinez at 324-1226 or NinfaGracia at 500-5219.

“The Great Salt Challenge” class,Lesson 3. Noon to 1 p.m. First UnitedMethodist Church, 1220 McClellandAve. Focuses on sodium in diet, dailyconsumption limits, how to read a foodlabel and strategies for reducing saltintake. Three lessons. Meets everyWednesday in May. English. Free.

Thursday, May 22Grief support group. Noon to

1:30 p.m. First United MethodistChurch, 1220 McClelland Ave. Free andopen to public. Contact Patricia Cisne-ros at 722-1674 or pcisneros@mhm.org.

Submit calendar items at lmton-line.com/calendar/submit or by email-ing editorial@lmtonline.com. Items willrun as space is available.

CALENDARASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Saturday, May 10,the 130th day of 2014. Thereare 235 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in His-tory:

On May 10, 1994, NelsonMandela took the oath of of-fice in Pretoria to becomeSouth Africa’s first black pres-ident.

On this date:In 1775, Ethan Allen and his

Green Mountain Boys, alongwith Col. Benedict Arnold,captured the British-held for-tress at Ticonderoga, N.Y.

In 1863, during the CivilWar, Confederate Lt. Gen.Thomas “Stonewall” Jacksondied of pneumonia, a compli-cation resulting from being hitby friendly fire eight days ear-lier during the Battle of Chan-cellorsville in Virginia.

In 1869, a golden spike wasdriven in Promontory, Utah,marking the completion of thefirst transcontinental railroadin the United States.

In 1933, the Nazis stagedmassive public book burningsin Germany.

In 1939, the Methodist Epis-copal Church, the MethodistEpiscopal Church South andthe Methodist ProtestantChurch merged to form theMethodist Church.

In 1941, Adolf Hitler’s depu-ty, Rudolf Hess, parachuted in-to Scotland on what heclaimed was a peace mission.(Hess ended up serving a lifesentence at Spandau Prisonuntil 1987, when he apparentlycommitted suicide.)

In 1960, the nuclear-poweredsubmarine USS Triton com-pleted its submerged naviga-tion of the globe.

In 1977, actress Joan Craw-ford died in New York.

In 1984, the InternationalCourt of Justice said the Unit-ed States should halt any ac-tions to blockade Nicaragua’sports (the U.S. had alreadysaid it would not recognizeWorld Court jurisdiction onthis issue).

In 1994, the state of Illinoisexecuted serial killer JohnWayne Gacy, 52, for the mur-ders of 33 young men andboys.

Ten years ago: PresidentGeorge W. Bush reacted with“deep disgust and disbelief”during a Pentagon visit as heexamined new photos and vid-eo clips of American soldiersabusing Iraqi prisoners.

Five years ago: Pope Bene-dict XVI urged Middle EastChristians to persevere intheir faith as 20,000 peoplefilled a Jordanian sports stadi-um where the pontiff celebrat-ed the first open-air Mass ofhis Holy Land pilgrimage.

One year ago: The Inter-nal Revenue Service apol-ogized for what it acknowl-edged was “inappropriate” tar-geting of conservative politicalgroups during the 2012 elec-tion to see if they were violat-ing their tax-exempt status.

Today’s Birthdays: AuthorBel Kaufman (“Up the DownStaircase”) is 103. Author Bar-bara Taylor Bradford is 81.Rhythm-and-blues singer Hen-ry Fambrough (The Spinners)is 76. Actor David Clennon is71. Writer-producer-directorJim Abrahams is 70. SingerDonovan is 68. Singer-song-writer Graham Gouldman(10cc) is 68. Singer Dave Ma-son is 68. Actor Mike Hagertyis 60. Actor Bruce Penhall is57. Former Sen. Rick Santo-rum, R-Pa., is 56.

Thought for Today: “Cre-ative minds always have beenknown to survive any kind ofbad training.” — Anna Freud,Austrian-born psychoanalyst(1895-1982).

TODAY IN HISTORY

DALLAS — Homeowners, businesses andutility crews cleaned up around the Dallas-Fort Worth area Friday after savage thun-derstorms with winds of up to 70 mph torethrough North Texas, leaving widespreaddamage in their wake.

The storms Thursday afternoon toppledlarge trees, tore holes in warehouse roofsand peeled away the front wall of a church.In west Dallas, the wind flipped a semi-trucktrailer.

By Friday morning, about 200 homes re-mained without power in the area, accordingto Oncor — a significant improvement onthe 34,000 homes reportedly in the darkThursday afternoon.

Strong winds on Thursday had destroyeda mobile home near Joshua, about 45 miles

to the southwest. Johnson County Emergen-cy Management Coordinator Jamie Mooresays a mother and child were hurt, but theirinjuries didn’t seem life-threatening.

Hours earlier, emergency workers rescuedfive teens from a rapidly filling creek insouthern Dallas after up to 4 inches of rainflooded the stream.

A neighbor noticed the five teen boys, whohad skipped school Thursday, in the WoodyBranch Creek Thursday morning. It was un-clear if they had been playing in the wateror were swept into the creek. All five weretaken to a hospital for evaluation.

“They were very lucky to make it outOK,” Lt. Robert Brey of the Fire-Rescue swiftwater team told the Dallas Morning News.“When you have that many who are stillalive after being stuck in the water, it is pret-ty miraculous.”

AROUND TEXAS

Neighbors survey the damage after a large tree had fallen onto a Volkswagen car and Mazda car on Winton Street nearStonewall Jackson Elementary, on Thursday, in Dallas. Homeowners, businesses and utility crews cleaned up around theDallas-Fort Worth area Friday after savage thunderstorms with winds of up to 70 mph tore through North Texas.

Photo by Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News | AP

Storms leave damageASSOCIATED PRESS

Plano to vote on Toyota USheadquarters agreement

PLANO — The city of Plano isscheduled to vote on an agree-ment with Toyota on Mondaythat moves the automaker’s U.S.headquarters to the Dallas sub-urb.

Toyota announced last monththat it was moving its U.S. head-quarters from California to Tex-as. Gov. Rick Perry said that Tex-as offered the company $40 mil-lion in incentives from thetaxpayer-funded Texas Enter-prise Fund.

Police: Drug that causedillness came from Dallas

AUSTIN — Central Texas po-lice say synthetic marijuana thatcaused more than 30 people tofall ill was obtained in Dallasand sold by dealers in downtownAustin.

Austin police said Friday theyhaven’t been able to obtain asample of the so-called K2 syn-thetic drug.

5 Houston teachersfired in cheating case

HOUSTON — The Houstonschool board has decided to firefive elementary school teachersfor allegedly helping studentscheat on state exams last year.

A district investigation intocheating allegations preceded thedecision. The teachers, from Jef-ferson Elementary, had arguedthat the evidence comes fromchildren who confused gettinghelp on practice tests with the of-ficial state exams.

6 arrested in Wacoin rape of teen girl

WACO — Six men have beenarrested on charges they raped agirl younger than 16.

Waco police told the Waco Tri-bune-Herald that the girl had leftschool early Thursday with sev-eral people she knew. They tookher to a north Waco home wherethey sexually assaulted her. Themen were all students and for-mer students of that school.

Rooster at hardwarestore popular bird

DALLAS — A Dallas hard-ware store owner isn’t surprisedwhen new customers have theirfeathers ruffled over the shop’smascot.

Store co-owner Andrea Ridoutsays Prince George, a Buff Or-pington rooster, started rulingthe roost after a little girl return-ed him after she learned hewouldn’t become a hen.

Quadruplets born ontheir dad’s 36th birthday

GRAPEVINE — Quadrupletsborn to a Dallas-area ministerand his wife already share some-thing with their father.

The boy and three girls deliv-ered Monday at Baylor RegionalMedical Center at Grapevine ar-rived on their dad’s 36th birth-day.

Brooks, Sadie, Elle and Ivyjoin two sisters — 4-year-old Zoeand 2-year-old Kaytlin.

— Compiled from AP reports

Massachusetts: Pledge ofAllegiance not religiousBOSTON — The Pledge of Al-

legiance does not discriminateagainst atheists and can be recit-ed at the start of the day in pub-lic schools, Massachusetts’ high-est court ruled Friday.

The Supreme Judicial Courtsaid the words “under God” re-flect patriotic practice, not a reli-gious one. They acknowledgedthat the wording has a “religioustinge” but said it is fundamental-ly patriotic and voluntary.

The court was ruling in a 2010lawsuit filed by an atheist familyfrom Acton who claimed that thedaily recitation of the pledge inclassrooms violated children’sequal protection rights under thestate constitution, which protectsagainst discrimination.

Mudslide fire departmentaids Afghanistan victims

OSO, Wash. — A Washington

state fire department is stillworking on a mudslide thatkilled more than 40 people inMarch, but it’s also thinkingabout a community in Afghani-stan also hit by a mudslide.

The Oso Fire Department is-sued a statement Tuesday asking

the local community to considerdonating to Save the Children In-ternational in support of a re-mote village in northeast Af-ghanistan hit early this monthby a mudslide. As many as 2,500people in Abi Barik were buried.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

Guests look down from the Tilt!, a new tourist attraction that provides a uniqueview of the downtown area from the 94th floor of the John Hancock Building, inChicago, on Thursday. The glass and steel facade tilts forward 30 degrees.

Photo by Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times Media | AP

Publisher, William B. Green........................728-2501Account Executive, Dora Martinez ...... (956) 765-5113General Manager, Adriana Devally ...............728-2510Adv. Billing Inquiries ................................. 728-2531Circulation Director ................................. 728-2559MIS Director, Michael Castillo.................... 728-2505Copy Editor, Nick Georgiou ....................... 728-2565Sports Editor, Zach Davis ..........................728-2578Spanish Editor, Melva Lavin-Castillo............ 728-2569

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

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

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

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

CONTACT US

SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2014 Local THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

he had stabbed Bena-vides, the complaintstates.

Jimenez was arrestedFeb. 29, 2012, in San Die-go, Calif. Texas Gov. RickPerry signed the gover-

neys Aaron Bundoc andCristina Alva prosecutedthe case.

(César G. Rodriguezmay be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmton-line.com)

nor’s warrant May 16,2012, to bring Jimenez toWebb County to face themurder charge, districtattorney’s office officialssaid.

Assistant district attor-

PLEA Continued from Page 1A

“I feel very happy thatthey could give me thisscholarship. It’s to pay mytuition,” Katheryn Tytlersaid. “At the same time, Ifeel sad for the loss be-cause I know how it feelsto lose someone.”

More than 75 studentshave been scholarships re-cipients in the past threeyears. Mary Zapata saidshe wants to keep herson’s legacy alive and forstudents to do well in life.

“Today, there’s a lot of

Zapata said. “He was arighteous person … Hefought for righteousnessto the last day.”

Rosy Gregory, coordina-tor for Friends of Jaime J.Zapata, said the commit-tee chose to honor the stu-dents on Zapata’s birth-day. This way, Zapata isremembered, Gregorysaid.

(César G. Rodriguezmay be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmton-line.com)

crime. There are a lot ofdrugs,” she said. “Youwant (young people) tochoose the right road.Jaime (Zapata) chose it.

“I’d like for them tochoose their education.”

She said she hopes foryouth to go to college andcome back home to makea positive impact in theircommunity like her sondid.

“I know he would’vebeen a great person if lifehad granted him time,”

BIRTHDAY Continued from Page 1A

LAREDO — Two menaccused of transportingmarijuana worth nearly$6.5 million through Zapa-ta County recently pleadedguilty in federal court inLaredo, according to courtdocuments.

Elmer Oswaldo Camposand Juan Manuel Perez Jr.pleaded guilty April 29 toconspiracy to possess withintent to distribute 1,000kilograms of marijuana ormore. A third suspectidentified as AndrewJames Escamilla pleadedguilty to the same offenseDec. 10. Sentencing datesfor the trio have not beenset up.

Special agents with theFederal Bureau of Investi-gation received informa-tion that during the earlymorning hours of Oct. 2, apneumatic tractor-trailerloaded with pot would

allege. Authorities identi-fied Perez as the driver onthe pickup.

A search of trailer yield-ed 590 bundles of marijua-na. That was about 8,068pounds with an estimatedstreet value of $6,454,400.

In post-arrest inter-views, Escamilla admittedhe was given a prepaidphone to keep in touchwith the scouts. Phone re-cords showed Escamillahad been in contact withPerez, according to courtdocuments.

“Escamilla admitted hewas being paid $15,000 totransport the marijuana toHouston,” plea agreementrecords state. Meanwhile,Campos was identified asthe man who was taskedwith guiding Escamillathrough the Border Patrolcheckpoints, court recordsstate.

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

travel from Zapata to Lare-do.

During surveillance,agents spotted a tractor-trailer traveling north onU.S. 83 and a Golf pickupdriving directly in front ofit. At one point, the trac-tor-trailer made a U-turnand parked a Pepe’s GasStation in San Ygnacio.Two men were spottedhaving a conversation be-hind trailer before depart-ing southbound followedby the pickup.

“The tractor-trailerswerved numerous timesonto the shoulder, commit-ting a traffic code viola-tion,” court records state.A Department of PublicSafety trooper assisted inpulling over the tractor-trailer while the FBIstopped the pickup.

“Andrew James Esca-milla was the driver of thetractor-trailer and ElmerOswaldo Campos was thepassenger,” court records

Two plead guilty inmarijuana conspiracy

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZTHE ZAPATA TIMES

A group of 15 studentswill be the first in historyto earn a certificate in Oil& Gas Accounting fromTexas A&M InternationalUniversity’s A.R. Sanchez,Jr. School of Business forprofessional opportunitiesin the booming oil and gasindustry.

The ARSSB will hold aspecial ceremony for thosereceiving the CertificateThursday at 4 p.m. in theWestern HemisphericTrade Center, room 116. Areception will follow, at4:45 p.m., attended by oiland gas industry leaders,ARSSB Advisory Boardmembers, as well as uni-versity administratorsand faculty.

Receiving certificates atthe ceremony will beAdrian Becerra, Amy LeeCapetillo, Griselda EmilyCepeda, Michelle Cortez,Ramón Estrada, John Ri-dley Goodpasture, RaúlHumberto Granados, Enri-queta Benavides Limón,Licely López, Priscilla Li-zette Martínez, FranciscoAlejandro Ortega, MarthaAlejandra Peña, Leslie Pé-rez, and Edgar GerardoTorres.

The Oil and Gas Ac-counting Certificate Pro-gram is a 12-semestercredit hour class taughtby oil and gas industry ex-perts and is designed toprovide additional educa-tion for business studentsand professionals whowish to enter the global oiland gas industry, with im-mediate job opportunitiescreated by the Eagle FordShale formation.

The program providesstudents fundamental,

functional skills in ac-counting as well as an un-derstanding of oil and gasindustry opportunitiesavailable.

Students in the pro-gram learn the role andimportance of the oil andgas industry for the U.S.economy, the industry’sdifferent accounting as-pects and elements of oiland gas exploration andproduction.

Instructors for the fourcourses in the CertificateProgram include CliffeKillam, partner, corporateplanning and business de-velopment, Killam OilCompany; Oscar Cisneros,vice president for TexasCommunity Bank; DonatoRamos Jr., partner, LawOffices of Donato D. Ra-mos; and José Luís Cebal-los, founder and owner,Totem LLC.

Stephen Sears, ARSSBdean, said that the ARSSBplans to explore the devel-opment of additional cer-tificate programs relatedto the energy business ar-ea.

“We believe that thisnew program greatly en-hances the education ofour students and will pro-vide them with new careeropportunities in a rapidlygrowing industry in SouthTexas,” Sears said.

Candidates for the cer-tificate program includethose working for variousorganizations includingSCAN, Inc.; U.S. Customsand Border Protection,Killam Oil and Develop-ment, C&L Carriers, TA-MIU, Uni-Trade Forward-ing and H.K. Global For-warding.

One of the candidates,Amy Capetillo, said she

decided to pursue the cer-tificate because of thegrowth in oil and gas in-dustry and job availability.

“I think that this is agood course TAMIU is of-fering because the oil andgas industry is one of theindustries increasing inTexas,” Capetillo said.

Another student, LicelyLópez, said she decided topursue the certificate be-cause of the prominentrole the industry plays inthe economy.

“I think that the oil andgas industry is very im-portant nowadays, andhaving a certificate in Oiland Gas Accounting willgive me better opportuni-ties to work in the indus-try,” López said.

Enriqueta Limón, an-other student, said shepursued the certificate sothat she could have moreoptions in her career.

“I wanted to learn moreabout the oil and gas in-dustry,” she said, “I amconsidering opening abusiness on the serviceside to cater to the oil andgas industry.”

Limón said she enjoyedthe classes because it ex-posed her to many oppor-tunities that she was un-aware of not only locallybut also globally.

“I would highly recom-mend this or any certifi-cate to anyone,” she said,“The more knowledge youacquire, the more opportu-nities you will have.”

For more informationcontact Maggie Blasco, un-dergraduate admissionscounselor, at 326-2483, e-mail Maggie@tamiu.eduor visit offices located inthe Western HemisphericTrade Center, room 204 B.

15 to get oil and gasaccounting certificates

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Some of the city’s small-est and youngest readers,all participants in an inno-vative Early Literacy Pro-gram dubbed “Read 3,”stood tall as they “gradu-ated” at Texas A&M Inter-national University on Fri-dayin the Student Center239.

Ranging in age from twoto four-years of age, thestudents are part of theRead 3 — Early LiteracyProgram, an innovativeemergent literacy programbetween HEB Stores, TA-MIU and the Laredo PublicLibrary. They and theirfamilies were honoredwith a special graduationceremony.

For six weeks, all parti-cipated in a workshop fo-cused on early reading andnutrition for the youngstudents and their parents.It was led by XuesongWang, TAMIU College ofEducation assistant profes-sor of early childhood edu-cation.

Wang has directed theprogram for the past threeyears, and says it deliversan impact through fourmajor, linked components.

Thirteen families were en-rolled in this spring’s pro-gram.

“The program consistsof four major components:structured instructions onbasic emergent readingskills to help children be-gin early reading experi-ences; parental involve-ment that enables them tobetter initiate interactiveliteracy activities withchildren; parental instruc-tion on nutrition and abook drive that involves allpeople in the community,”Wang explained.

“Both our experiencesand research data haveshown that children andtheir parents really benefitfrom the program. Manyparents have brought theirfriends to the new pro-gram based on their pastexperiences,” Wang noted.

By offering free literacyand nutrition workshopsthat value both the imme-diate benefits and sustain-able developmental effectson children, Read 3 is par-ticular beneficial to low-in-come families in localcommunities, she added.

“Our goal is to not onlyhelp young children andtheir parents now, but also

encourage and ensure sus-tainable development ofliteracy skills for youngchildren from low-incomefamilies,” Wang said.

Assisting Wang thisSpring were two TAMIUstudents, Diana Hamblenand Christine Rojas, fromthe College of Education’sAlternative CertificationProgram. Both served asteachers at the literacyworkshops for children.

TAMIU Dean of the Col-lege of Education Cath-eryn Weitman said the col-lege is enormously proudof the Read 3 Program col-laboration with its part-ners.

“Dr. Wang’s creativitybrought the HEB Read 3program from a singleschool setting to one thatis open to the communityof young readers and theirfamilies. Of all the H.E.B.Read 3 programs, this isthe only one deliveredthrough a public library.We are proud of Dr. Wang’swork with this veryunique community pro-gram and to be able to col-laborate with H.E.B. inhelping families link read-ing with healthy living,”Dr. Weitman said.

Children finish programSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

PAGE 4A Zopinion SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2014

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Tuesday night didn’t gothe way Kay Hagan hadhoped.

North Carolina stateHouse Speaker Thom Til-lis, widely regarded by po-litical observers as thestrongest potential challen-ger to Hagan (D) for herSenate seat, not only fin-ished first in the Republi-can primary but avoided apossibly costly runoff bywinning more than 40 per-cent of the vote.

Hagan — and nationalDemocrats — had hopedthat Tillis would have thesame kinds of problemsthat other “establishment”Republicans experiencedin 2010 and 2012 whenfaced with challenges fromtea-party-backed candi-dates.

Hoping to spur on sucha squabble, Hagan’s cam-paign paid for direct-mailpieces and radio ads tar-geting Republican votersand reminding them thatTillis had once called theAffordable Care Act “agreat idea.” (Democraticsenators such as ClaireMcCaskill, of Missouri,and Harry Reid, of Neva-da, have successfully dab-bled in GOP primaries tokeep the most electable Re-

publicans from becomingthe nominees againstthem.)

But despite that spend-ing — and the fact that for-mer Arkansas governorMike Huckabee and Sen.Rand Paul (Ky.) endorsedhis opponents — Tillis pre-vailed in convincing fash-ion.

So rather than spendingthe next two months in anideological intraparty bat-tle, Tillis — and nationalRepublicans — are free tofocus on Hagan.

North Carolina is aswing state, and the na-tional political winds areblowing in the GOP’s favor,meaning that an alreadydifficult race for Hagan, afreshman Democrat, justgot harder. The day afterthe Republican primary,independent politicalhandicapper Stuart Roth-enberg moved the race in-to the “toss up” category.

“Hagan does not have asignificant advantage,” hiswebsite said.

Kay Hagan, for watch-ing your narrow edge col-lapse overnight, you hadthe worst week in Wash-ington. Congrats, or some-thing.

Cillizza covers the WhiteHouse for The WashingtonPost and writes The Fix, itspolitics blog.

WORST WEEK IN WASHINGTON

Win is goodfor GOP inNovember

By CHRIS CILLIZZATHE WASHINGTON POST

OTHER VIEWS

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY

DOONESBURY CLASSICS (1973) | GARRY TRUDEAU

DALLAS — If we cantrust both men seeking theGOP nomination for lieu-tenant governor — andwhy would we not trust apolitician? — we can’t trusteither of the men seekingthe GOP nomination forlieutenant governor.

Either way it goes in theMay 27 runoff, we’re toldwe’ll get a November favor-ite of low character.

Incumbent David Dew-hurst says challenger Hous-ton state Sen. Dan Patrickwelshes on debts, hides as-sets, can’t get things doneand just is an all-aroundbad guy. Patrick says Dew-hurst is a nasty, lying cam-paigner who lacks leader-ship skills and — and thismight be the meanest cut ofall in a GOP contest —might possibly not be asconservative as he could be.

But, and this is my favor-ite part, despite all the fireand damnation, each sayshe’d vote for his low-char-acter foe in November.

The two got nasty at aWednesday debate at Dal-las’ WFAA TV. Great fun, ifnot democracy at its issue-oriented high point. The ac-tion continued post-debatein the media work room, aspace, I’m told, that housed“The Julie Benell Show,”which was interrupted Nov.22, 1963, for coverage of theJFK assassination.

On Wednesday, it was thescene of character assassi-nation as Dewhurst, thenPatrick, continued whathad begun in the debate.

“He’s all talk,” Dewhurstsaid of Patrick, a radio talkshow host by trade.

Respectfully remindingDewhurst of all the badthings he’s said about hisfoe, I asked if Patrick is un-qualified to be lite guv.

“That decision,” Dew-hurst said, “is for the peo-ple of the state of Texas.”True, but Dewhurst is aperson of the state of Texas.Does he think Patrick isqualified?

“I don’t believe that myopponent has the abilitythat I do to get tough billspassed,” Dewhurst said,adding, “I don’t think hehas my integrity ... .”

I nagged a bit moreabout the character allega-tions, launching Dewhurstinto a monologue about Pa-trick’s long-ago bankruptcy,grandstanding, cheatingbusiness partners, hidingassets and not letting us seehis income tax filings.

“How can people believein their leaders if they’reafraid they’re hiding some-thing?” Dewhurst said. “Ithink this all speaks tocharacter.”

Yes, it does, and it cer-tainly raises questions inmy mind as to whether Icould vote for Patrick ifhe’s on the November bal-lot. But the allegationsraise no such doubts for thealleger.

Despite all that bad, badstuff, I asked Dewhurst,

you’d vote for Patrick ifhe’s the GOP nominee?Realizing it would be politi-cal suicide to say other-wise, he said he “absolute-ly” will vote a straight GOPticket in November, whichmeans he’d back that cheat-ing, all-talk scoundrel Pa-trick.

Next into the post-debateroom was Patrick. Yep, hereaffirmed, Dewhurst is abad man who last year waseating chicken at a steakplace (reason enough for aTexan not to vote for some-one?) while senatorsworked on a key bill.

So does Dewhurst lackthe character needed in alite guv?

“I’ll let the people makethat decision,” Patrick saidprior to listing bad stuffDewhurst has done in thecampaign.

“And it’s a lack of char-acter,” he concluded.

Despite all of this, you’dvote for Dewhurst if he’sthe nominee?

“I’m not going to vote fora Democrat,” Patrick re-plied. “I’m not going to votefor a Libertarian.”

So you’d vote for a Re-publican you’re telling us isof questionable character?

“Yes, of course,” Patricksaid.

So any Republican is bet-ter than any Democrat?

“That’s not the question.The question you asked meis would I vote for him overLeticia Van de Putte,” hesaid. “She’s a pro-choice,big-government, big-liberal,no-border-security Demo-crat.”

But Patrick is telling usDewhurst is a big-money,big-lying, low-character,low-performing Republican.

“What’s more important,issues or character?” Iasked.

“Both are important,”Patrick said. “And I’m go-ing to be the nominee.”

And if he’s not, he’s go-ing to vote for one he sayswe can’t trust.

I’m not exactly sure onthe take-away from this, butI’m sure the Democrats willtake away some sound bitesthey’ll play this fall.

Post script: Land Com-missioner Jerry Patterson,who ran fourth in March inthe GOP lite guv primary,endorsed Dewhurst onThursday and said hewould not vote for Patrickif he’s the November nomi-nee.

Ken Herman is a column-ist for the Austin American-Statesman. E-mail: kher-man@statesman.com.

COLUMN

Trusting the untrustworthyYep, he reaffirmed, Dewhurst is abad man who last year was eatingchicken at a steak place whilesenators worked on a key bill.

“KEN HERMAN

In September, the Cen-ters for Disease Controlsounded the alarm: Un-less we stopped misusingand overusing antibiotics,they could become use-less against disease-caus-ing bacteria that are be-coming resistant to them— evolving into so-called“superbugs.”

We could find our-selves living in a “post-antibiotic” era, the CDCwarned, one in whichcommon infections andminor injuries could onceagain prove fatal becauseantibiotics are no longereffective.

Now the World HealthOrganization is sayingthat era is already here.Superbugs able to resistthe most powerful anti-biotics — drugs known ascarbapenems — havebeen found all over theglobe. And the problem isonly getting worse.

Staph woesOne of the most com-

mon superbugs is MRSA,a staph infection thatkills an estimated 19,000Americans each year,mostly in hospitals andconvalescent facilities.

Many countries — in-cluding Canada, GreatBritain, Japan and Aus-tralia — report they havepatients with the danger-ous sexually transmitteddisease gonorrhea that isresistant to all availableantibiotics. And morethan half the patients inmany countries can nolonger be treated for E.coli, which can causemeningitis and infections

of the blood and kidneys.A Doctors Without Bor-

ders physician reports,“We see horrendous ratesof antibiotic resistancewherever we look in ourfield operations.”

It continues to be im-portant for doctors to re-sponsibly prescribe anti-biotics; for patients to usethem as intended; and tostop routine, low-dosageuse of the drugs in thelivestock and poultry in-dustries.

Lawmakers must givethe Food and Drug Ad-ministration greater au-thority over use of anti-biotics among farm ani-mals.

Currently, more than70 percent of all antibiot-ics in the United Statesare given to farm ani-mals, either to bulk themup faster or as a preven-tive measure in crowded,dirty conditions.

But the existing preva-lence of superbugs sug-gests those steps alonearen’t enough anymore.We’ll need to take strong-er measures to preventinfections in the firstplace, since it’s becomeharder to treat them afterthe fact. And the worldwill need to invest in re-search to develop newmedicines that will bemore effective againstbacteria resistant towhat’s available now.

That investment isn’tlucrative to drug compa-nies more interested indeveloping long-termmaintenance medicinesrather than ones that aretaken for short periods oftime. A federal Manhat-tan Project-style initiativemight be called for in thiscase.

EDITORIAL

Humans toblame forsuperbugs

THE NEWS TRIBUNE

SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2014 THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

Un hombre acusado de apuñalar y dar muerte,en el Sur de Laredo, a un hombre nacido en Zapa-ta, se declaró culpable de homicidio el martes en laCorte de Distrito 341, anunció la oficina del fiscalde distrito del Condado de Webb, el jueves por lanoche.

Luis Jiménez, de 33 años de edad, se declaró cul-pable del homicidio de Roberto Carlos Benavides,ante la Juez Rebecca “Beckie” Palomo. Fiscales yla defensa acordaron que Jiménez cumpla una sen-tencia de 30 años en prisión, mostraron archivosde la corte.

Jiménez será sentenciado el lunes a las 8 a.m.La madre de Benavides descubrió el cuerpo apu-

ñalado de su hijo en su recámara, el 9 de febrerodel 2012, en el domicilio ubicado en la cuadra 3500de Cuatro Vientos Drive. La mamá, María Herlin-da Benavides, fue a ver cómo estaba su hijo siendoque éste no le había llamado y no había ido a tra-bajar, de acuerdo a archivos de la corte.

La policía dijo que ellos posterior-mente supieron que Jiménez apuña-ló Benavides porque Benavides “de-seaba tener intimidad con él”, deacuerdo a la querella criminal. Lapolicía encontró a Benavides conmúltiples heridas corto punzante enel lado izquierdo de su cuello, cabeza

y hombro, de acuerdo a los fiscales.Antes de salir de la ciudad rumbo a California,

Jiménez confesó a una prima que había apuñaladoa Benavides, indica la querella.

Jiménez fue arrestado el 29 de febrero del 2012,en San Diego, California. El Gobernador de TexasRick Perry firmó la orden de arresto del goberna-dor el 16 de mayo del 2012 para traer a Jiménez alCondado de Webb a fin de que enfrentara el cargode homicidio, dijeron oficiales de la oficina del fis-cal de distrito.

Los abogados asistentes de distrito, Aaron Bun-doc y Cristina Alva estuvieron a cargo del caso.

(Localice a César G. Rodriguez en el (956) 728-2568 o en cesar@lmtonline.com)

HOMICIDIO

CulpablePOR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

JIMÉNEZ

PÁGINA 6A Zfrontera SÁBADO 10 DE MAYO DE 2014

El Agente Especial de ICE,Jaime J. Zapata, hubiera cum-plido 36 años de edad el martes.Pero su vida fue truncada el 15de febrero de 2011, cuando su-puestos miembros de Los Zetaslo emboscaron a él y a un com-pañero agente en San Luis Poto-sí, México.

Para celebrarsu cumpleaños enel cielo, sus pa-dres Amador yMary Zapata acu-dieron el miérco-les por la tarde alSalón de Recep-ciones Guerra

Communication de Laredo paraentregar becas escolares ennombre de su hijo.

La familia Zapata y el comitéFriends of Jaime J. Zapata hizoentrega de becas a 30 estudian-tes de Laredo, Mercedes, SanAntonio, San Ygnacio y Zapata.

Los hermanos, ambos estu-diantes del Laredo CommunityCollege, Katheryn Tytler, de 16años, y Stephen Tytler, de 17,originarios de Nigeria, dijeronhaber tenido el honor de recibirtal reconocimiento.

“Me siento muy feliz de queme pudieran dar esta beca. Es

para pagar mi inscripción”, dijoKatheryn Tytler. “Al mismotiempo, me siento triste por lamuerte (de Zapata), porque sé loque se siente perder a alguien”.

Más de 75 estudiantes han si-do beneficiados con la beca du-rante los últimos tres años.

María Zapata desea mantenervivo el legado de su hijo, y quea los estudiantes les vaya bienen la vida.

“Hoy en día, hay mucha de-lincuencia. Hay muchas drogas.Quieres (que los jóvenes) elijanel camino correcto. Jaime (Za-pata) lo eligió”, dijo ella. “Megusta que eligieran su educa-ción”.

Ella espera que los jóvenesvayan a la universidad y vuel-van a casa para hacer el bien ensus comunidades, así como lohizo su hijo.

“Sé que hubiera sido unagran persona si la vida le hubie-ra concedido tiempo”, dijo MaryZapata. “Era una persona jus-ta… Luchó por la justicia hastasu último día”.

Rosy Gregory, coordinadorade Friends of Jaime J. Zapata,dijo que el comité eligió a los es-tudiantes en honor al cumplea-ños de Zapata.

De esta manera, se recuerdaa Zapata, sostuvo. (Localice aCésar Rodríguez en 728-2568)

EDUCACIÓN

Reciben becas enmemoria de agente

POR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZTIEMPO DE ZAPATA

JAIME ZAPATA

Fondos recibidospor empresariosde la frontera chi-ca les permitirán

capacitarse, tener asesoríay financiar sus negocios.

Apoyos por 5.5 millonesde pesos, a través del Fon-do Tamaulipas, fueron en-tregados a 1.000 microem-presarios de los munici-pios de Guerrero, Mier,Miguel Alemán, Camargoy Díaz Ordaz, el miércoles.

Para algunos de los due-ños de negocios el chequerecibido representa la posi-bilidad de adquirir inmo-biliario, mercancía y/o deremodelar su local, indicaun comunicado de prensadel Gobierno de Tamauli-pas.

Un empresario benefi-ciado, Hexiquio RodríguezPeña, cuenta con un labo-ratorio de análisis clínicosy dijo que fue sencillo re-cabar los requisitos que so-licitaban para adquirir elcrédito.

Rodríguez agradeció lasfacilidades para sacar lospréstamos, agregando quedestinará el dinero a lacompra de equipos para sulaboratorio.

Igualmente, RobertoGuajardo y su esposa, reci-bieron recursos para unatienda de abarrotes.

Guajardo comentó quecon el crédito podrán am-pliar el lugar a fin de sur-tir el negocio familiar.

“Es la segunda vez quesaco el crédito, no batallocon los trámites y nos tra-tan muy bien”, dijo Gua-jardo.

De manera simbólica, laSecretaria de DesarrolloEconómico y Turismo, Mó-nica González García, en-

tregó los cheques en Mier, Mi-guel Alemán y Camargo.

Consejo ConsultivoPor otra parte, Nuevo Laredo,

México, fue sede el miércoles yjueves de un curso de capacita-ción dirigido a representantesdel sector turismo en la fronteranorte de Tamaulipas.

Jorge Viñals Ortiz de la Peña,secretario de Desarrollo Econó-mico en Nuevo Laredo, dijo queel objetivo es formar ConsejosConsultivos Turísticos Municipa-les en cada ciudad, incluyendoNuevo Laredo, Matamoros, Rey-nosa, Valle Hermoso, Río Bravo,

Miguel Alemán, Mier, Camargo,Guerreo, y Díaz Ordaz.

“El consejo será factor importan-te para conocer la situación de estesector del desarrollo económico enel estado, además de la utilizacióneficiente de los recursos con los quese cuenta para la promoción del te-rritorio tamaulipeco”, sostuvo Vi-ñals.

Corresponderá a los consejos pre-sentar proyectos fundamentados pa-ra obtener recursos estatales parasu realización, indica un comunica-do de prensa.

El Curso de Capacitación para laIntegración de los Consejos Consul-tivos Turísticos Municipales fue im-partido por Cecilia González, capa-citadora de la Ciudad de México.

FRONTERA RIBEREÑA

BENEFICIOS

La Secretaria de Desarrollo Económico y Turismo en Tamaulipas, Mónica González García, hizo entrega de cheques a mi-croempresarios de los municipios de Guerrero, Mier, Miguel Alemán, Camargo y Díaz Ordaz, en el marco del Programa deAtención Prioritaria “Región Fronteriza”.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

Comunidades reciben apoyos para avanzarTIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Con el fin de celebrar los 50años de haberse graduado depreparatoria, miembros de lageneración 1964 de Zapata HighSchool, se reunirán en junio.

Treinta personas egresaronen 1964, recordó la ex alumna deZapata HS, Dora Martínez.

“Hemos estado tratando de lo-calizar el mayor número de per-sonas. Sabemos que algunoshan cambiado su residencia yotros desgraciadamente ya hanfallecido”, dijo ella. “Nuestro de-seo es reunirnos en el restau-rante Steak House en Zapata elmiércoles 25 de junio”.

Los organizadores esperanque la reunión les permita re-cordar anécdotas de sus días co-mo estudiantes y ponerse al díasobre los caminos que tomaronsus vidas.

“Recuerdo que quería (estu-diar) medicina, pero tuve un in-ternado donde realicé prácticascon un médico y me di cuentaque al menos eso no era paramí”, dijo Martínez. “De cual-quier modo realicé una carreraen el área médica pero comotécnica en laboratorio”.

Indicó que más tarde estudió

periodismo, logró tener un pe-riódico hispano en San Antonioy fue la primera promotora ar-tística en Texas.

Ahora vive en Laredo dondetambién ha incursionado en losnegocios.

Ninfa Gracia, otra de las estu-diantes que se graduó con lageneración de 1964, coincide conMartínez acerca de lo agradableque será recordar otros tiempos.

“Nunca nos hemos juntado.Algunos nos casamos y otros sefueron a estudiar al colegio. Se-rá muy bonito juntarnos y vol-ver a recordar los viejos tiem-pos”, dijo Gracia.

Gracia estudió cosmetologíay posteriormente empezó a tra-bajar como asistente de maes-tra, ahí continuó sus estudioscomo maestra de escuela pri-maria, de lo cual se retiró des-pués de 28 años de servicio.

Agregó que espera que todoslos que pertenecieron a esa gen-eración puedan reunirse aun-que ya no vivan en Zapata.

Para mayores informes puedellame al (956) 324-1226 con DoraMartínez o al (956) 500-5219 conNinfa Gracia.

(Localice a Malena Charur enel 728-2583 o en mcharur@lmton-line.com)

COMUNIDAD

Generación 1964de Zapata HS

convoca a reuniónPOR MALENA CHARUR

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2014 THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A

Jorge Luis Serna, 61,passed away on Wednesday,May 7, 2014, at Laredo Medi-cal Center in Laredo, Texas.

Mr. Serna is preceded indeath by his parents, Conra-do V. and Eva H. Serna and asister, Sylvia Amparo Perez.

Mr. Serna is survived byhis wife of 34 years, Dora G.Serna; son, Jorge IgnacioSerna; daughter, JulyannaAimee (Efrain Jr.) Morales;grandchildren, Ethan J. Mo-rales and Julyssa A. Morales;brothers, Conrado Serna,Andres (Diana) Serna, Artu-ro Serna, Eloy (Maria Elena)Ramirez and by numerousfamily and friends.

Mr. Serna was a teacher atZ.C.I.S.D. for 33 years, he hadretired and was director atBusy Babies Learning Cen-ter.

Visitation hours were Fri-day, May 9, 2014, from 6 p.m.to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7p.m. at Rose Garden FuneralHome.

The funeral processionwill depart Saturday, May 10,2014, at 8:30 a.m. for a 9 a.m.

funeral Mass at Our Lady ofLourdes Catholic Church.Committal services will fol-low at Zapata County Ceme-tery.

Funeral arrangements areunder the direction of RoseGarden Funeral Home, Da-niel A. Gonzalez, funeral di-rector, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy. 83,Zapata.

JORGE LUIS SERNA

Dec. 24, 1952 – May 7, 2014

donna and Paul McCartney, LadyGaga and Rage Against the Machinefor deaf audience members. Sheworks South By Southwest everyyear, and she’s in high demand atmusic festivals such as Austin CityLimits and Lollapalooza.

“I don’t play anything. I don’t sing.But I can sign really well, and I havegood rhythm and I love music,” shetold the Houston Chronicle.

She wants to share that love withpeople who can’t hear it for them-selves. Galloway Gallego’s interpre-tations are full-body physical. Shemoves to give a sense of the beat andwhat’s happening in the music. Ifthere’s a guitar solo, she plays airguitar. If keyboards are driving themelody, she’ll play chords on animaginary keyboard. And when thelyrics begin, she shares both thewords and the meaning, acting it outwith full emotion as she translates.

“Music does something to mysoul,” she said. “I feel like if we’renot able to show that, then what arewe doing up there interpreting?”

Galloway Gallego, 37, didn’t planto become an interpreter. When shewas a kid, she wanted to be a rapper.“I was from the hood” in San Anto-nio, she said. “Rap music was ahuge part of my life.” She’d writeher own rhymes and dream of beingon stage.

She also was learning sign lan-guage from an early age.

When Galloway Gallego was 5, herfather dated a woman whose sonwas deaf. “He taught me my firstsigns,” she said. A few years later,she was cared for by a baby sitterwho had two deaf children. In highschool, she was a trainer for the foot-ball team when a deaf player torehis ACL and needed therapy. And acouple of years later, when she her-self needed therapy after a car acci-dent, her roommate at the rehabhospital was deaf.

“It’s funny,” Galloway Gallegosaid, “to have all those incidenceshappen to you and still not realizeyour life’s purpose.”

When she enrolled at St. Philip’sCollege in San Antonio with plans to

become a physical therapist, Gallo-way Gallego became friends withthe deaf community there. One nightat a party, Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby GotBack” came on the stereo, and shespontaneously got up to interpret.

“I was doing it with all the move-ments and the rhythm,” she said,“and I was dancing and signing, andone of my deaf friends said, ‘Whatare you doing?’ I said, ‘I’m interpret-ing music.’ She said, ‘I’ve never seenmusic like that before.”’

It was an off-the-cuff interpreta-tion, but it looked like nothing anyof Galloway Gallego’s deaf friendshad ever seen.

“For years,” she said, “deaf peoplewould tell me, ‘Music’s a hearingthing. We don’t get it.”’ But Gallo-way Gallego didn’t agree. “I said,‘Have you seen music? You can seemusic.”’

Soon after, she went to a Wallflow-ers concert at the San Antonio Ro-deo and saw that the small section ofdeaf concertgoers had a team of in-terpreters — but the interpreterswere merely standing there, recitinglyrics with their hands.

“All the deaf people were talkingin the deaf section,” she said. “Noone was paying attention to the con-cert. It was disheartening to me be-cause some of the songs are so great,you know? I thought: Maybe I canchange something somehow so thatdeaf people love music.”

That’s when Galloway Gallego gotserious about music interpretation.She enrolled in an ASL interpreterprogram at San Antonio College andapproached the San Antonio Rodeoabout coordinating concert inter-preters, showing them what shecould do with a song. For the nextfew years, until she moved to Hous-ton in 2005, Galloway Gallego was incharge of arranging interpreters foreach of the rodeo’s 20-odd nightlyconcerts. She handled many of theshows herself.

Preparing a song takes hours.“I listen to it over and over,” Gallo-

way Gallego said, memorizing thelyrics and forming a story board inher head. She’ll learn about the art-

ist’s background and influences,then pore over fan boards and dis-cussion groups online to get a senseof what each lyric really means. Fi-nally, she’ll create and memorize herown interpretation.

Interpretation isn’t a word-for-word translation of a song; the pre-sentation is more conceptual. “ASLis grammatically different” fromEnglish, Galloway Gallego said, andit takes effort to explain songs thatare full of metaphor or wordplay.

When interpreting Cyndi Lauper’s“True Colors,” she’ll explain that“true colors” can mean more thanactual color. “If I said it in ASL, itwould come out ‘real color,”’ shesaid. “That doesn’t really makesense. But if I say, ‘True colorsmeans personality, character, theperson that you are’ and go fromthere, they’ll know exactly what I’mtalking about.”

Galloway Gallego doesn’t shyaway from interpreting the raun-chiest of lyrics.

“Oh my gosh, no,” she said, laugh-ing. “I don’t mind dirty language,cursing, any of that. I know it’s notmine — it’s somebody else’s.” Sowhen the expletive-laced song “.Problems” became her 15 minutes ofnational fame, Galloway Gallegodidn’t worry for a second about thecontent. “My first thing was: Is itgood language?” she said. “I wantedto make sure it was clear, it was un-derstandable, that the ASL was clear,that it was conceptually accurateand that it made sense. And it did.”

Jo Rose Benfield, who lives in Aus-tin, is a deaf performer and musiclover. When she goes to concerts, shesaid, “Amber is one of the very fewinterpreters that I actually appre-ciate” because “she takes the time toget familiar with the music and hasthat mentality of a visual artist.”

“Amber is one of the few interpret-ers that have grown up in the deafcommunity,” Benfield said in anemail. “That is why deaf audienceslove her — because she actuallygives us the full-on experience ofwhat the artists are actually express-ing through their music.”

SIGN LANGUAGE Continued from Page 1A

fishermen, who have attributed blame to the over-population of alligator gar in the lake.

Since then, legislators have been working withthe Falcon Lake community and the Parks andWildlife Commission to identify solutions to the is-sue.

The purpose of the field hearing is to provide aforum for expert and public input in an effort toexamine what the state can do to replenish thebass population.

The hearing will feature invited testimony fromthe Texas Parks and Wildlife Inland Fisheries Divi-sion, including Director Gary Saul, Chief of Man-agement and Research Dave Terre, and Chief of In-formation and Regulations Ken Kurzawski.

“Helping restore the bass population to FalconLake is a top priority,” said Guillen, chairman ofthe Committee on Culture, Recreation & Tourism.“By opening a working dialogue between the fish-ermen, local authorities, and the TPWD InlandFisheries Division, we hope to make further pro-gress toward a coordinated response to this crisis.”

“The bass depletion in Falcon Lake is a seriousconcern,” said King, chairman of the Committeeon Agriculture & Livestock. “I want to thank thecommittee for taking the time to visit the area andgain a better understanding for the importance offinding solutions to improve the bass population atthe lake.”

This event will be the Committee on Culture,Recreation, and Tourism’s second field hearingthis year.

BASS Continued from Page 1A

Melecio Chapa, 79,passed away on Sunday,May 4, 2014, at EdinburgNursing and Rehab Cen-ter in Edinburg.

Mr. Chapa is precededin death by his wife, EliaG. Chapa; parents, Alfonsoand Teresa Chapa; broth-ers, Miguel A. Chapa, RoelChapa, Javier Chapa; andsisters, Alicia (Fernando)Muñoz and Dora C. (Al-berto) Chapa.

Mr. Chapa is survivedby his daughter, Linda C.(Pete) Smith; grandchil-dren, Sean and RyanSmith; brothers, AlfonsoJr. (Irma) Chapa, Arman-do Chapa, Roehl (DoraMaria) Chapa; sisters,Magda (Antonio) Lopez,Norma Chapa, BlancaChapa, Alma (Rodolfo†)Garcia and by numerousnephews, nieces andfriends.

Visitation hours wereheld Tuesday, May 6, 2014,at 8 a.m. at Rose GardenFuneral Home, followedby a 10 a.m. funeral Mass

at Our Lady of LourdesCatholic Church. Commit-tal services followed at Za-pata County Cemetery.

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

MELECIO CHAPA

Nov. 15, 1934 — May 4, 2014

Juan M. Benavides, Jr.52, passed away on Tuesday,May 6, 2014, at LaredoNursing and Rehab Centerin Laredo, Texas.

Mr. Benavides is preced-ed in death by his parents,Juan M. Benavides and Ra-mona G. Benavides.

Mr. Benavides is sur-vived by his sons, Juan M.Benavides III and GerardoA. Vasquez; sister, JuanaMaria B. (Gerardo III) Gu-tierrez; brother, Benito Jr.(Nilda) Solis; former wife,Diana R. Benavides; neph-ew, Gerardo Gutierrez IV;niece, Gabriella B. Gutier-rez and by numerous fam-ily and friends.

Visitation hours will beheld Monday, May 12, 2014,at 8 a.m. with a rosary at 9a.m. at Rose Garden Funer-al Home.

A funeral Mass will fol-low at 10:30 a.m. at Our La-dy of Refuge Mission in SanYgnacio. Committal servic-

es will follow at PanteonDel Pueblo in San Ygnacio.

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

JUAN M. BENAVIDES JR.

Martinez new lives in La-redo where she is now abusinesswoman.

Ninfa Gracia, anotherClass of 1964 graduate,agreed that it would be niceto recall her days as a stu-dent.

“We have never gotten to-gether. Some married andothers went away to college.It will be nice to get togetheragain and reminisce,” Graciasaid.

Gracia studied cosmetolo-gy, and later worked as ateacher’s aide. She then at-tended college and becamean elementary school teach-er, from which she retired af-ter 28 years.

She said she hopes all

class members who no long-er live in Zapata can attendthe reunion.

For more information callMartinez at 324-1226 or Gra-cia at 500-5219.

(Contact Malena Charur at728-2583, or mcharur@lmton-line.com. Translated byMark Webber of the Timesstaff.)

REUNION Continued from Page 1A

The reunionwill allow classmembers torecall their daysas students.

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2014

Sports&OutdoorsSATURDAY, MAY 10, 2014 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

NEW YORK — JohnnyFootball may not have appre-ciated the excruciating waituntil he was drafted by theCleveland Browns with the22nd pick, but ESPN sure did.

The Nielsen company saidFriday that the first round ofthe NFL draft drew 9.9 mil-lion viewers to ESPN Thurs-day night, shattering the pre-vious record for the eventthat the network has telecastsince 1980. The previous highwas 7.3 million viewers in2010.

Another 2.4 million peoplewatched the draft coverageon The NFL Network, Niel-sen said. That makes for a to-tal of about 12.4 million forthe event as a whole.

The drama about whereformer Heisman Trophy win-ning quarterback JohnnyManziel of Texas A&M wouldland is considered the biggestfactor in the ratings success.Draft forecasters suggestedManziel would go much high-er.

Viewership Thursday was60 percent higher than lastyear’s 6.2 million.

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: NFL DRAFT

Buffalo linebacker Khalil Mack, right, and all the players selected in theNFL draft were watched by more viewers than any draft in history.

Photo by Craig Ruttle | AP

NFL draft setsrecord ratings

ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON - Instead ofa quarterback, the Tex-ans took the guy who’shard on them.

Even harder than aHouston franchise thathas endured the likes ofDavid Carr, Matt Schauband Case Keenum in avain attempt to reach aSuper Bowl.

So why not wait a lit-tle longer to get a great,or even a good, quarter-back. Where’s the rush?

Well, mostly from the

defensive end position.But then the Texans

always lean toward de-fense, so it shocked noone when commissioner

Roger Goodell read Jade-veon Clowney’s namefirst on Thursday night.

It worked out prettywell for the last two Su-

per Bowl winners. Balti-more’s Ravens won it twoyears ago, and Seattle’sSeahawks claimed themost recent one in Febu-ary, and I’m not evensure the losing DenverBroncos have a firstdown yet on that iron-clad defense with Rich-ard Sherman and EarlThomas. And San Fran-cisco, which is just a hairbehind those winningteams, also makes its liv-ing on defense.

There’s not a thing

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: HOUSTON TEXANS

Clowney-ing aroundTexans take DE Clowney with top pick

See TEXANS PAGE 2B

By KIRK BOHLSMCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

Top pick Jadeveon Clowney (center) sits with new generalmanager Rick Smith, left, and coach Bill O’Brien.

Photo by Pat Sullivan | AP

BEREA, Ohio — JohnnyManziel expects life inthe NFL to be even cra-zier than college.

Selected in the first round of thedraft by the Cleveland Browns,Manziel was introduced Friday toa soundtrack of whirring camerasas he took the initial steps of hispro career. Humble and self-as-sured, Manziel, who raised TexasA&M’s profile with his playmak-

ing ability and “Johnny Football”persona, said he’s entering theleague expecting the spotlight tobe brighter.

“I’m going in expecting mad-ness,” he said.

Manziel says he’s learned frompast mistakes and the 21-year-oldvowed to earn the respect of hisnew Cleveland teammates, some ofwhom may have their doubtsabout him.

His arrival in Cleveland has al-ready triggered “Manzielmania”as the Browns have been over-

whelmed with sales of season tick-ets in the hours since they draftedthe former Heisman Trophy win-ner with the No. 22 overall pick onThursday night. There were fanswaiting outside the team’s head-quarters to welcome Manzielwhen he arrived shortly beforenoon.

“It means a lot to me obviously,getting a lot of support already,”Manziel said of the buzz he’s cre-ated. “But there’s work that needs

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: CLEVELAND BROWNS

HERE’S JOHNNY!

Johnny Manziel poses with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after being selected by the Cleveland Browns at the 2014 NFL drafton Thursday in New York.

Photo by Gregory Payan | AP

‘Manzielmania’ takes over ClevelandBy TOM WITHERS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

See MANZIEL PAGE 2B

IRVING — If Zack Martin isforever known as the player theDallas Cowboys drafted instead ofJohnny Manziel, the Notre Dameoffensive tackle is fine with it.

“I can live up to that,” Martinsaid Thursday night a few min-utes after the Cowboys took himwith the 16th pick in the firstround of the NFL draft.

With anticipation growing thatCowboys owner and general man-

ager Jerry Jones wouldn’t be ableto pass on the flashy former Heis-man Trophy winner from TexasA&M, Dallas instead went with anoffensive lineman in the firstround for the second straight year— and third time in the past fourdrafts.

Jones said college football’smost exciting player was neverreally a consideration. The Cow-boys used most of their 10 min-utes considering offers to tradedown.

“There’s no way any quarter-

back comes in here and beats outTony Romo,” Jones said. “As youwell know in here, Romo is bycontract as well as by commit-ment is going to be the quarter-back for the Cowboys for severalyears to come. There’s no movingaround it. I don’t care who youdraft.”

Instead of his potential replace-ment joining the roster, the 34-year-old Romo gets another pieceto protect a back that underwent

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DALLAS COWBOYS

Notre Dame offensive tackle Zack Martin was selected in the first round, 16thoverall, by the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL draft on Thursday.

File photo by David Zalubowski | AP

Dallas takes NotreDame lineman Martin

By SCHUYLER DIXONASSOCIATED PRESS

See COWBOYS PAGE 2B

ZAPATA – When Zapatarunner Luis Garza was inmiddle school, he alwaysenvisioned a successfulhigh school run. Withsome old fashioned hardwork, he has been able tolive up to all his expecta-tions.

For the second consecu-tive year, Garza will berunning at the UIL Class3A track and field statetrack meet which unfoldstoday at Mike A. Mayers

Stadium on the groundsat the University of Texas– Austin.

"Luis is very relaxedand that will be an advan-tage to him compared tolast year," Zapata long dis-tance coach Mike Villar-real said. "Some of therunners that are runningthe mile had to run Fri-day, and Luis was able torelax and enjoy the day.He is not nervous and thatis due to experience."

Garza will be running

See ZAPATA PAGE 2B

HIGH SCHOOL TRACK: ZAPATA HAWKS

Garza readyfor final race

at stateZapata’s Garza to run in AustinBy CLARA SANDOVAL

THE ZAPATA TIMES

wrong with taking Jadeveon Clowney,the fire-breathing, dreads-blowing-in-the-wind defensive end from South Car-olina who will start at outside lineback-er but also will play end as well. I mean,the guy was a 6-foot, 200-pound runningback at one time as a freshman in highschool. And he’s grown since then.

New coach Bill O’Brien likely won’tuse him in the backfield, but Clowneywill sure be in opposing backfields abunch when he’s running down theColts’ Andrew Luck and others.

No other team figures to have the dou-ble-barreled, pass-rushing tandem thatHouston now has with Clowney and 2012defensive player of the year J.J. Watt.There was a clear need there on a 2-14team whose sacks dipped from 44 eachof the previous two seasons to 31 lastyear.

"I just talked to him," Clowney said ofWatt in a conference call. "He told mehe’s going to stay on my butt when I getthere."

Houston was smart to take him andwas smart to shop the pick because theymight have gotten a king’s ransom likeCleveland, which fleeced the BuffaloBills for three draft picks and I thinkThurman Thomas’s helmet, if anyonecan find it.

No one bit on the Texans’ standing of-fer of the No. 1 pick in the draft, prob-ably because nobody but the Jackson-ville Jaguars thought that highly of thequarterbacks. Central Florida’s BlakeBortles was the only one taken in thefirst 20 picks as A&M’s Johnny Manzielslipped and slipped. Maybe the Texanscan scoop up a quarterback with thefirst pick in the second round Fridaynight.

There were reports that Houston wastalking about trading for New Englandbackup quarterback Ryan Mallett.O’Brien worked as Bill Belichick’s offen-sive coordinator before going to PennState, and new Texans quarterbackscoach George Godsey coached the Patri-ots tight ends the last four years, so bothare more than a little familiar with Mal-lett’s abilities.

While questions remain about Clow-ney’s work ethic and some wonder whyhis sack totals slipped from 13 as a soph-omore to three as a junior, the 6-5, 266-pound specimen would be the blueprinta defensive coordinator would use todraw up a pass rusher. The risk of tak-ing anyone else was greater, though.

"Sometimes, the media can be wrong,"Clowney said. "I think I’ve got a lot toprove to people."

Added Texans general manager RickSmith, "Did he play with his hair on fireevery snap? No, he did not, but we’re notworried about it. He played a lot ofsnaps."

He certainly doesn’t suffer from a lackof confidence. The day before the draft,Clowney said Luck "better have his headon a swivel."

So should O’Brien and Smith, whosurely won’t put all their eggs or even afew of them in Ryan Fitzpatrick’s bas-ket. Fitzpatrick, Houston’s free-agentquarterback pickup, wasn’t even goodenough to stick in Buffalo, remember,but Houston will get another quarter-back.

Clowney was the safe, if not the sur-prise, pick.

After all, he becomes the Texans’ 10thfirst-round selection in the last 12 yearsto come from the defensive side of theball. And most experts are expectinghim to become the next Bruce Smith ifWatt doesn’t beat him to it.

The Texans still don’t have their quar-terback, but at least every other quarter-back in the AFC South may have thefirst of many sleepless nights. O’Brien,on the other hand, should sleep like ababy, knowing he has bookend dynamitedefensive ends for the foreseeable future.

TEXANS Continued from Page 1B

PAGE 2B Zscores SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2014

two surgeries last season. Thelatter was for a herniated disksustained against Washingtonthat knocked Romo out of theplayoff-or-bust loss to Philadel-phia in the season finale.

Jones took Martin a year af-ter trading down 13 spots to No.31 and getting center TravisFrederick, later explaining thestrategy as wanting to get an“extra half-second” for Romo tothrow. Frederick started all 16games as a rookie.

The Cowboys stayed put thistime, just as they did in 2011when they drafted ninth andtook left tackle Tyron Smith,who has played 47 of 48 gamesin his career — all as a starter.

“Can’t wait to learn underthose veterans and learn howto be a pro and go into battlewith them each week,” saidMartin, who holds a Notre

Dame record with 52 consecu-tive starts.

Jones said he was surprisedManziel was still around — heeventually went at No. 22 toCleveland. And the Cowboysowner was equally surprisedthat the prospect of gettingManziel didn’t lead to a “bo-nanza” of trade offers.

The marketing-savvy Jonesturned down a chance to getManziel under one of the big-gest brands in sports — in hishome state, no less — withoutso much as a second glance. Orso he said.

“The idea of flair, flash, showbusiness, all that kind of thingwas never a consideration andwe never discussed that type ofthing,” Jones said.

The Cowboys figure to start2014 with three first-roundpicks in their starting offensive

line, which has been a rebuild-ing project throughout JasonGarrett’s four drafts as coach.

“You look at the best teamsin the league now and for a lotof years, they’re able to controlthe line of scrimmage on the of-fensive side of the ball,” Garrettsaid. “We did that for yearshere when we won champion-ships in the ’90s. You need tobuild the infrastructure of yourteam. We feel like we’ve got agreat start with that.”

Martin was a tackle with theIrish but could see time atguard with the Cowboys. DougFree is the starter at right tack-le and was better in 2013 afterhaving a rough season a yearearlier. Ron Leary and Macken-zy Bernadeau were the startingguards, but neither has a stran-glehold on the job.

Martin was the fourth player

on the Cowboys’ primary list oftargets behind three defensiveplayers — Pittsburgh defensivetackle Aaron Donald and line-backers Anthony Barr of UCLAand Ryan Shazier of Ohio State.All three were gone by the timeDallas picked.

The Cowboys figure to turntheir attention to the defensiveline at some point in the draft.They are revamping their frontfour after releasing franchisesacks leader DeMarcus Ware ina salary-cap move following theworst season of his nine-yearcareer.

Dallas re-signed defensiveend Anthony Spencer, but hemissed 15 games last seasonwith a left knee injury. TheCowboys added three other de-fensive linemen in free agentsHenry Melton, Jeremy Minceyand Terrell McClain.

COWBOYS Continued from Page 1B

the 1,600-meter run at 2:45 p.m. to closeout his high school track career. He willthen head to Our Lady of the Lake Uni-versity in San Antonio next year to con-tinue his long distance career.

"There is a lot of excitement and aspressure as well," Garza said. "This ismy last high school meet and I wouldlike to do well. I have been supported byfamily and friends plus the Zapata com-munity, because here in Zapata we areone big family. It has been great to seethe support for the past four years. "

He made his first trip to the UIL Class3A state meet last year in track and fieldto cap off a successful junior campaignthat started off with a trip to the statemeet in cross country. The first time hestepped on the track, Garza was nervousand did not fare well as the experiencewas new to him and it showed at thestate meet.

"I was really nervous last year and Ijust did not know what to expect," Garzasaid. "I just did not do as well as I hadhoped, but for this year I have been onthe track and have run at the state meet.

"I had a lot of pressure to make it tostate and was really focused. This timearound I know what to expect."

Garza then kicked off his senior yearby winning the District 31-31 title andeasily winning the Region IV-3A individ-ual cross country championship topunch his ticket to the state meet.

Garza was the runner to beat headinginto the track season and he knew thatthe target on his back got a little bit big-ger with his recent success in the fall.What he accomplished at the districtand the regional cross country meethelped him start his senior spring cam-paign just where he left off last year.

Heading into the regional meet, Garzawas ranked among the top three andwas able to pull off a second place finishat the Region IV-3A meet in Kingsville.He fended off a late surge by the bronzemedalists which almost caught him atthe finish line.

Garza earned a place at the state meetthis morning and is vying to finish offhis senior season on a good note, despitebeing ranked No. 9 heading into themeet with a 4:40 which he ran at the re-gional meet.

"At regionals it was very windy so weran a very strategic race," Villarrealsaid. "Our goal was just to get into thestate meet and we were able to accom-plish that in Kingsville."

ZAPATAContinued from Page 1B

to be done. There’s thingsthat need to be done. I’m veryexcited, very eager to be hereand really get things rolling.”

Manziel was joined at hisintroductory news conferenceby fellow first-round pick Jus-tin Gilbert, the No. 8 overallpick. A cornerback from Ok-lahoma State, Gilbert said herolled down his car windowand screamed when he heardManziel was taken by theBrowns.

Gilbert was asked if hekept tabs on Manziel’s collegecareer.

“Who didn’t follow him?”the soft-spoken Gilbert said.

Manziel, who posed forphotos holding his new No. 2jersey, insists he’s not bur-dened by all the attention hereceives, and said he’s confi-dent he can separate his ce-lebrity and football lives.

“I think I’m Johnny Man-ziel,” he said. “Johnny Foot-ball is what I am in themedia. I accept it, but I knowwho I am. I’m Johnny Man-ziel. I don’t let that weigh medown.”

Manziel doesn’t expect toreceive any preferential treat-ment with the Browns. Hewasn’t surprised to hearstarter Brian Hoyer said“bring it on” when he wastold he will be competingwith Manziel in trainingcamp.

Manziel acknowledged hehas a lot to learn, and thathis sole focus is on helpingthe Browns end years of futil-ity.

“I want to win,” he said.“That’s the main thing forme. I don’t handle losing verywell.”

He’s gotten better at hand-ling the constant swirlaround him. After he wasdrafted following a nearlythree-hour wait, Manzielwent out in New York andcelebrated with his familyand friends, which reportedlyincluded rapper Drake andCavaliers All-Star point guardKyrie Irving. There are pho-tos circulating on the Inter-net of Manziel drinking froma large bottle of champagne.

“I’m 21 years old,” he saidwhen asked about the bubbly.

MANZIELContinued from Page 1B

In a franchise that hasno time for spotlights,with a roster that has nointerest in headlines, R.C.Buford may be the veryembodiment of the all-for-one San Antonio Spurs.

For more than two dec-ades he has toiled in theshadows, happy to let theattention fall on coachGregg Popovich and theteam that Buford hasplayed such a pivotal rolein assembling. He quietly— happily — lives in theback channels and hasbuilt a reputation as oneof the most respected ex-ecutives in the NBA.

Yet for all his impres-sive work over the previ-ous 11 years as a generalmanager and architect ofthe most enduring suc-cess story in modernAmerican sports, Bufordhad never been honoredby his peers as theleague’s executive of theyear. Until now.

Buford won the awardWednesday, and as is thecustom in the Alamo City,did as much as he couldto downplay his signifi-cant contributions to ateam that posted the bestrecord in the NBA.

“I think it’s not why wedo what we do,” Bufordsaid. “I think it’s a greathonor for the group ofpeople that have beenhere and have beenthrough here that havebuilt and an ownershipgroup that’s allowed acontinuity to build a pro-gram that we’re proud ofso to be recognized as aprogram that people re-spect by your peers, that’srewarding.”

That Buford had neverwon the award beforewhile helping to put to-gether a team that wonfour championships andhas posted a staggering15 straight 50-win seasonshas been one of the greatmysteries in league an-nals. He’s helped put the

Spurs at the forefront ofthe international inva-sion, implemented a sys-tem that demands com-mitment and humilityover recognition and indi-vidual achievement, andhas been partly respon-sible for so many teamspilfering his staff to runfront offices or teamsacross the league.

Yet he may have finallyearned the award in his12th season as GM be-cause of what he didn’tdo.

In the wake of a devas-tating loss to Miami inthe NBA Finals last sea-son, Buford didn’t panic.He didn’t give up on anaging Manu Ginobili. Hedidn’t let Tiago Splitterget lured away by bigmoney elsewhere.

He followed the Spurs’

creed: Stay the course.Believe in the system.Never give in to outsideinfluence.

While other teamschased huge stars andmade big splashes, Bu-ford quietly re-signedGinobili and Splitter andadded second-tier freeagent Marco Belinelli.The moves weren’t flashy,but were exactly what theSpurs, who enter Game 2of the Western Confer-ence semifinals on Fridaynight leading Portland1-0, needed to recoverfrom that bitter defeat.

“It’s pretty cool,”Popovich said. “We’re allexcited for him; longoverdue. He’s done agreat job for a very longtime. We’re giving himthe requisite amount ofyou-know-what all over

the offices. He walksdown the halls we hit thewalls we hit the sides tomake room for him.”

Buford received ninefirst-place votes and 58 to-tal points to win theaward. Phoenix’s RyanMcDonough (47) finishedsecond for his superb jobin turning the Suns froman afterthought into a 48-win team that just missedthe playoffs.

Neil Olshey, who addedRobin Lopez, DorellWright and Thomas Rob-inson to bolster the TrailBlazers’ depth and getthem into the playoffs,finished third in the vot-ing with 34 points. Toron-to’s Masai Ujiri and Mia-mi’s Pat Riley roundedout the top five.

Popovich and Bufordhave made the Spurs the

envy of the league, assem-bling one of the mostuniquely stable systemsin professional sportsbuilt around Tim Dun-can, Tony Parker andGinobili, a trio that haswon three championshipstogether and keep comingback for more.

“We’ve been workingwith each other for a longtime,” Popovich said. “Weparticipate in everything.It’s been a great relation-ship in that regard. Weshare everything it’s ben-efited both of us and theorganization without adoubt. Just having thatability to communicateand having an owner thatallows us to do that.”

Popovich gets more ofthe credit for making theSpurs machine go, andthat’s just fine with Bu-ford. But most around theleague, and certainly ev-eryone in San Antonio,recognizes what a bigrole Buford has played inhelping the Spurs avoidthe teardowns that almostevery franchise has en-dured since he and Poptook over.

“You recognize howdifficult that is and howfortunate we’ve been thatan ownership group hasallowed us to stay togeth-er and have the opportu-nity to survive throughthe growing pains,” Bu-ford said. “To have agroup of players that havewanted to be a part ofwhat this community ofSan Antonio and whatour fans mean to them.To have wanted to staywith an ownership groupthe sacrifices that they’vemade to make this aunique environment andthen how they’ve handledthemselves that presentsa platform that otherplayers want to comejoin.

“Again, we’re not inthis to win an award.We’re in this to try to wina championship. That’sthe reward we’re all hop-ing for.”

Buford named NBA’s top execBy JON KRAWCZYNSKI

ASSOCIATED PRESS

San Antonio general manager received the NBA Executive of the Year award prior to Game 2 of theWestern Conference semifinal against Portland.

Photo by Eric Gay | AP

SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2014 THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

DAILY CRYPTOQUOTES — Here’s how to work it:

FAMILY CIRCUS

PEANUTS

GARFIELD

DILBERT

DENNIS THE MENACE

HINTS | BY HELOISEDear Heloise: Your re-

cent column in The Kerr-ville (Texas) Daily Timesbrought attention to Na-tional Poison PreventionWeek. This important topicof protecting ourselves andfamily members fromhousehold and other dan-gers is just as importantfor our FURRY FAMILYMEMBERS.

Perhaps you can makeother readers aware of theAmerican Society for thePrevention of Cruelty toAnimals’ Poison ControlCenter website. It charges afee for an emergency call tocover the cost of the veter-inarians who man thelines. — Debra S., via email

Debra, you are right thatour furry family membersdeserve just as much careas any others. If there is apotential poison emergency,you also can try callingyour veterinarian or a localemergency animal hospital.Depending on whether anoffice visit is determinednecessary, you may be ableto avoid the fee.

There are things we cando as pet owners to protect

our furry loved ones frompotential poisonings: Makesure all medications andcleaning supplies are some-where out of reach of pets.Be aware of the plants inyour yard and whetherthey are poisonous to pets.Keep any insecticides, pes-ticides and fertilizers awayfrom your pet. — Heloise

SOUP DAYDear Heloise: One thing

I always do in anticipationof a “make soup day” issave all of the broth fromany vegetables that I havecooked (even broccoli andasparagus). After we finishthe veggies, I simply pourthe leftover waters into aplastic, freezer-safe bag andfreeze it until I make soupagain. It adds a delightful“punch” to my soups. Onsoup day, all I have to do isgo through my freezer andselect some bags to use asliquid for my soups! — Sa-ra S., via email

I love this idea, becauseyou are not wasting any-thing! And there are just somany soups you can makewith vegetable broth! —Heloise

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2014