SATURDAYJANUARY 30, 2010

FREE

DELIVERED EVERY SATURDAY

A HEARST PUBLICATION ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

TO 4,000 HOMES

HISTORIC VICTORYBOYS’ SOCCER PROGRAM GETS FIRST WIN, 1B

The Zapata County Sher-iff ’s Office and U.S. CBPBorder Patrol seized morethan 3,200 pounds of mari-juana in two cases.

Due to an anonymouscall reporting two aban-doned vehicles, the ZapataCounty Sheriff deputies dis-covered more than 3,000pounds of marijuana Thurs-day afternoon in one of thecases.

Deputies were dispatchedat 5:30 p.m. Thursday to aranch about 12 miles northof Zapata concerning aban-doned vehicles.

According to Sgt. MarioElizondo, deputies arrivedand noticed a strong odor ofmarijuana coming from thevehicles.

“Deputies checked the ve-hicles and found severalbundles of marijuana,” Eli-zondo said.

Deputies seized 268 bun-dles of marijuana weighing3,029 pounds, with a streetvalue of $1,335,789.

No arrests were made.No suspects were named.

The Zapata County Sher-iff ’s office is investigating

the case.Zapata County Sheriff Si-

gifredo Gonzalez Jr. said itis common to make bigbusts along the border.

Zapata is no exception.In 2009, Border Patrol

agents assigned to the Zapa-ta station seized 3 tons ofmarijuana near FalconShore Drive.

“It’s common all alongthe border. There’s so muchof it coming across,” Gonza-lez said.

With increased patrols,he hopes to work with local,state and federal agencies tostop as much contraband aspossible.

But the sheriff realizeslaw enforcement needs as-sistance from the communi-ty.

Gonzalez noted how vitalit is for residents of Zapataand law enforcement towork together.

“It’s very important toknow that the community ison board with law enforce-ment to put a stop to drugtrafficking in the communi-ties,” he said.

Thursday morning, U.S.CBP Border Patrol agents

LAW ENFORCEMENT

No arrestsin two potseizures

Marijuana valued at $1.5 millionBy CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ

THE ZAPATA TIMES

See SEIZURES PAGE 9A

pendent School Districttrustees to not extend hiscontract unless he movedZCISD to a Recognized sta-tus by the state.

He didn’t achieve thatfeat in 2009 as the districtwas rated AcademicallyAcceptable based on stu-dents’ scores on the TexasAssessment of Knowledgeand Skills (TAKS).

But even though he re-quested the non-extensionof his contract, BoardPresident Jose “Pepe” Ra-mirez III said trustees

None of the ZCISDtrustees made a motionWednesday to extend Su-perintendent Romeo Rodri-guez’s contract through2011, which would markhis 10th year leading thedistrict.

Trustees will review hiscontract again in January2011.

In a surprising moveearly last year, Rodriguezasked Zapata County Inde-

based theirdecisionWednesdayon his per-formance,which theymeasuredusing anevaluation

instrument. “We thought his per-

formance was averagebased on the overall per-formance of the district,which mostly has to dowith student perform-ance,” he said.

Ramirez and the sixothers trustees spent morethan an hour and a half inclosed session late Wednes-day conducting their an-

nual evaluation of the su-perintendent’s perform-ance. They also consideredmodifications to his con-tract, whether it was anextension or salary in-crease.

After reconvening inopen session, trustees, atthe recommendation oftheir attorney Juan Cruz,approved Rodriguez’s eval-uation as discussed inclosed session. Cruz thenasked the board if therewould be a motion tomake any modifications tothe superintendent’s con-tract.

No motion was made.

EDUCATION

Board likes performanceSuperintendent rates high marks in

finance, constructionBy NICK GEORGIOU

LAREDO MORNING TIMESRODRIGUEZ

See ZCISD PAGE 8A

ZAPATA SOUTH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

SURPRISE VISIT FROM A LAREDO BUCK STAR

Zapata South Elementary School students are all grins Thursday after they received a surprise visit from Laredo Bucks hockeystar Jeff Bes, back, center. In front are students Perla Alva, Madison Guerra, Clarissa Castillo, James To, Eddie Garcia, AlbertoGonzalez, C.J. Uribe, Clarissa Garcia and Ronnie Sanchez. In back are Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez; students Anto-nio Perez, Mirely Muñoz, Alynna Arambula and Franco Arce; Bes; students Bryana Saldana, Jasmyn Hernandez and Gisselle Cha-pa; and Beto Oliveros. As loud music played on the intercom, students stood outside their classrooms and cheered loudly. Manystudents know about Bes because they travel to Laredo to watch him play hockey. He autographed pictures, jerseys and shirts.

Courtesy photo

Small Business Develop-ment Center-TAMIU is nowproviding a full-time busi-ness advisor for businessesin Zapata County and thearea.

SBDC Director Richard P.Perez, the new full-timebusiness advisor ConradoM. Hein Jr. and PeggyUmphres Moffet, presidentof the Zapata Economic De-velopment Center, said thepartnership will help im-prove the business and eco-nomic development of theregion.

“I’m happy to be a part ofthis project,” Hein said at anews conference earlier thisweek. “It gives me an oppor-tunity to come back to myhometown.”

Local business ownershave mixed feelings aboutthe SBDC and ZEDC servic-es.

Mi Tierra Restaurant,owned by Manuel GarciaIII, has been open for aboutfour months.

“I would consider theiradvice to see if I’m going onthe right track,” Garciasaid. “I had a previous busi-ness I had to close becauseit turned out to be a bad in-vestment.”

El Paraiso Restaurant, onthe other end of the spec-trum, is well establishedand has more than 40 yearsof service in Zapata. It hasbeen recognized by TexasMonthly magazine as one ofthe Top 40 Best Small TownRestaurants. Its owner, JuanA. Mercado, took over fiveyears ago after his mother,the former owner, passedaway.

“I have nothing againsttheir services but it is betterfor newer businesses,” Mer-cado said, referring toSBDC and ZDEC.

According to Moffett, theZDEC is a private, non-prof-it corporation founded in2006. It exists to assist andsupport businesses and toexpand and enhance the re-gion’s economic base by de-veloping and/or supportingprojects that create jobs.

ZEDC’s mission is to en-hance Zapata County’s eco-nomic growth and develop-ment by facilitating themost pro-business friendlycounty in the region and byadvocating aggressive pro-grams, business retentionand expansion, new devel-opment and revitalization,business attraction, work-force development, educa-

BUSINESS

Partnership’sadvisor readyto help area

By LORRAINE L. RODRIGUEZLAREDO MORNING TIMES

See SBDC PAGE 8A

January was a busy month forTexas game wardens assigned toZapata County.

Game wardens working FalconLake seized eight Mexican fishingvessels, arrested six Mexican fish-ermen and seized 43,230 feet of gillnet.

The two most recent incidentswere recorded on Jan. 18.

Game wardens heard reports ofMexican vessels setting out gillnets on the upper end of FalconLake.

According to reports from theTexas Parks & Wildlife, officerscould hear several Mexican boatsworking close to the brush line onthe main lake near their location.

Just after sunset, the officers ob-served a Mexican fishing vessel en-tering Texas waters from Mexico

and begin to set out a gill net onthe brush line across from their lo-cation.

The officers could hear a secondvessel close by and decided to letthe Mexican fishermen work theirway out to open water, away fromthe brush, while the second Mexi-can vessel worked its way to theirlocation.

A few minutes later, the gamewardens spotted the second Mexi-can fishing vessel heading to theback of the cove where they weresitting.

According to reports, the game

wardens tried to make contactwith the Mexican vessel headingtheir way, but the occupants of thevessel refused to stop. After a shortpursuit, the officers were able toslow the fleeing vessel downenough, so they could jump onboard and take control of the vesseland the two fishermen. Theirnames were not released.

Game wardens seized two boats,two motors, and about 9,240 feet ofgill net, according to reports.

The Mexican fishermen weretransported to the Zapata CountyJail and charged with fishing with-out a valid commercial fishing li-cense and possessing illegal equip-ment in prohibited waters.

On that same afternoon, gamewardens patrolling the south endof Falcon Lake observed a Mexicanfishing vessel enter Texas watersfrom Mexico.

The game wardens sought tostop the vessel, but the occupantsrefused to stop. After a short pur-

ZAPATA COUNTY

Wardens seize fishing boatsAccording toreports, gamewardens seized twoboats, two motors,and approximately9,240 feet of gill net.

See WARDENS PAGE 8A

6 fisherman snared bythe law at Falcon Lake

THE ZAPATA TIMES

PAGE 2A Zin brief SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2010

SATURDAY, JAN. 30Boys and Girls Club will be host-

ing their annual Shootout and Cook-off today. For more information callthe Zapata County Chamber of Com-merce at 765-4871.

SUNDAY, JAN. 31Pull out your red wear and head

out to see a traditional bull fight to-day. Bull fighters are students fromthe Santa Maria Bullfighting Schoollocated at the Renk’s La QuerenciaRanch in La Gloria, Texas. Zapata FunTours will leave for La Gloria at 2:30p.m. and expect to return by 8 p.m. Afriendly reminder, this is a bloodlessbullfight. For more information, call765-9056.

SATURDAY, FEB. 6Noche de Cabaret, presented by

LULAC Council No. 7, will take placetonight from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. at theLaredo Civic Center Ballroom. StateRep. Richard Raymond will be honoredwith the annual Higher EducationAward. The 15th annual gala dancewill feature the music of Henry “Mr.Ritmo” Brun and the Latin Playerz.Tickets are $17.50 per person. Fortickets or more information, call 717-1727, 693-7853 or 753-6656.

King’s Way Church is offeringFirst Aid and CPR certification today.Classes start at 9 a.m. for first aid andat 12:30 for CPR. Prices for the class-es vary. RSVP is requested by Feb. 1.Contact Mary Pulido at 693-0124 formore information.

MONDAY, FEB. 8AARP is hosting a Safety Drivers

class for drivers 50 years of age andup at the Masonic Hall from 8 a.m. to12 p.m. The four hour class is $14 fornon members and $12 for AARP mem-bers. For information, call 765-8546.

THURSDAY, FEB. 11Join the American Auxiliary for

their general meeting day at 1:30 p.m.in the American Legion Building.

SATURDAY, FEB. 20Bass Champs Tournament Trail,

South Texas Division, is scheduled fortoday at Falcon Lake. For more in-formation call the Zapata CountyChamber of Commerce at 765-4871,or visit www.basschamps.com.

FRIDAY, FEB. 26Winter Texan and Senior Appre-

ciation Day. For more information callthe Zapata County Chamber of Com-merce at 765-4871.

TUESDAY, MARCH 2Primary elections are today.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

THURSDAY, MARCH 11The Zapata County Fair begins

today. For more information call theZapata County Chamber of Commerceat (956) 765-4871, or go online atwww.zapatacountyfaironline.com

FRIDAY, MARCH 12The Zapata County Fair contin-

ues today. For more information callthe Zapata County Chamber of Com-merce at (956) 765-4871, or go onlineat www.zapatacountyfaironline.com

SATURDAY, MARCH 13The Zapata County Fair ends to-

day. For more information call the Za-pata County Chamber of Commerce at(956) 765-4871, or go online atwww.zapatacountyfaironline.com

SATURDAY, MARCH 20The 60th annual Flower and Art

Show, sponsored by the United Metho-dist Women of the First United Metho-dist Church, will display beautifulflowers and paintings in the FellowshipHall from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Public is in-vited. Admission tickets will be sold atthe door.

SUNDAY, MARCH 21The 60th annual Flower and Art

Show, sponsored by the United Metho-dist Women of the First United Metho-dist Church, continues today from 1p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall.The public is invited, and admissiontickets will be sold at the door.

To submit an item for thedaily calendar, send the nameof the event, the date, time, loca-tion and a contact phone num-ber to editorial@lmtonline.com

CALENDARASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Saturday, Jan. 30,the 30th day of 2010. There are335 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:On Jan. 30, 1948, Indian po-

litical and spiritual leader Mo-handas K. Gandhi was shotand killed by a Hindu extre-mist.

On this date:In 1649, England’s King

Charles I was beheaded.In 1882, the 32nd president of

the United States, Franklin De-lano Roosevelt, was born inHyde Park, N.Y.

In 1933, Adolf Hitler becamechancellor of Germany. Thefirst episode of the “Lone Rang-er” radio program was broad-cast on station WXYZ in De-troit.

In 1960, the American Foot-ball League awarded a fran-chise to Oakland, Calif.

In 1962, two members of“The Flying Wallendas” high-wire act were killed when theirseven-person pyramid collapsedduring a performance in De-troit.

In 1964, the United Stateslaunched Ranger 6, an un-manned spacecraft carryingtelevision cameras that crash-landed on the moon, but failedto send back images.

In 1968, the Tet Offensive be-gan during the Vietnam War asCommunist forces launchedsurprise attacks against SouthVietnamese provincial capitals.

In 1972, 13 Roman Catholiccivil rights marchers were shotto death by British soldiers inNorthern Ireland on what be-came known as “Bloody Sun-day.”

In 1979, the civilian govern-ment of Iran announced it haddecided to allow Ayatollah Ru-hollah Khomeini (hoh-MAY’-nee), who’d been living in exilein France, to return.

In 2003, Richard Reid, theBritish citizen and al-Qaida fol-lower who’d tried to blow up atrans-Atlantic jetliner with ex-plosives hidden in his shoes,was sentenced to life in prisonby a federal judge in Boston.

Ten years ago: Elian Gonza-lez’s grandmothers returnedhome to a hero’s welcome inCuba, vowing to continue thestruggle to wrest the six-year-old shipwreck survivor fromrelatives in Miami. A KenyaAirways A-310 crashed shortlyafter takeoff from Abidjan, Ivo-ry Coast, killing 169 people (10people survived). The St. LouisRams won Super Bowl XXXIV(34), defeating the TennesseeTitans 23-16.

Today’s Birthdays: ActressDorothy Malone is 85. Pro-ducer-director Harold Prince is82. Actor Gene Hackman is 80.Actress Tammy Grimes is 76.Actress Vanessa Redgrave is 73.Chess grandmaster BorisSpassky is 73. Country singerJeanne Pruett is 73. Countrysinger Norma Jean is 72. For-mer Vice President Dick Che-ney is 69. Rock singer MartyBalin is 68. Rhythm-and-bluesmusician William King (TheCommodores) is 61. Singer PhilCollins is 59. Actor Charles S.Dutton is 59. World Golf Hall ofFamer Curtis Strange is 55.Maine Gov. John Baldacci is 55.Actress-comedian Brett Butleris 52. Singer Jody Watley is 51.The King of Jordan, AbdullahII, is 48. Actor Norbert LeoButz is 43. Country singer Tam-my Cochran is 38.

Thought for Today: “Historyrepeats itself in the large be-cause human nature changeswith geological leisureliness.”— Will (1885-1981) and ArielDurant (1898-1981), Americanhistorians.

TODAY IN HISTORY

OKLAHOMA CITY — A storm that top-pled power lines, closed major highways andburied parts of the southern Plains in heavyice and snow began moving into the Southearly Friday, leaving tens of thousands ofpeople in the dark — possibly for severalmore days.

More than two dozen flights were canceledFriday morning at Will Rogers World Air-port in Oklahoma City following the cancel-lation of more than 100 flights Thursday dueto concerns about ice buildup on planes, ac-cording to the airport’s Web site. Flights

were also canceled Thursday in Tulsa and inTexas out of Lubbock, Amarillo and WichitaFalls, officials said.

The Texas Department of Transportationclosed I-40 east and west of Amarillo on Fri-day and a few other major roadways.Downed power lines and icy, dangerous roadconditions also temporarily closed a 50-milestretch of I-44 southwest of Oklahoma Cityand parts of I-40 in far western Oklahomaand eastern New Mexico on Thursday.

Texas Tech University in Lubbock on Fri-day canceled classes for the second straightday due to the winter weather. Classes werescheduled to resume Monday.

AROUND THE NATION

A horse stands covered with snow and ice in Edmond, Okla., on Friday. Officials closed roads in Texas, and Texas Tech Uni-versity in Lubbock cancelled classes Friday.

Photo by Steve Gooch/The Oklahoman | AP

Snow, ice bury southBy TIM TALLEY

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Hawaii kills same-sex civilunions bill

HONOLULU — Hawaii law-makers declined to vote Fridayon a bill that would have allowedsame-sex civil unions, effectivelykilling the measure.

The state House of Representa-tives decided to indefinitely post-pone a decision on whether togrant gay and lesbian couples thesame rights and benefits the stateprovides to married couples.

Activist convicted inabortion doctor’s deathWICHITA, Kansas — A jury

took 37 minutes Friday to convictan anti-abortion activist of mur-der for putting a gun to the headof a abortion provider and shoot-ing him in a church foyer.

Attorneys for Scott Roederhad hoped to argue for a lesserconviction of voluntary man-slaughter. He faces a mandatorysentence of life in prison.

Body found ID’d asmissing lottery millionaire

PLANT CITY, Florida — Win-ning millions of dollars in theFlorida Lottery should have beenthe best thing that ever happenedto Abraham Shakespeare.

But with his newfound wealthin 2006 — $17 million in a lumpsum payment — came a string ofhangers-on. Nine months ago, hevanished.

-- Compiled from AP reports

Stomach flu limitingstate’s prison visitors

HUNTSVILLE — An outbreakof stomach flu is continuing toplague Texas prisons, forcingstate corrections officials to scrapusual visiting hours this weekendat seven prisons.

Texas Department of CriminalJustice officials said while otherprisons may be open for inmatevisits, they may have visiting re-strictions.

Rain adds to sliding soilthreat in SA

SAN ANTONIO — A companysaid — despite heavy rains Fri-day — the site where a landslidethreatened about two dozenhomes in San Antonio is stable.

A Pulte Homes spokespersonsaid a lot of the measures thecompany took helped minimizethe soil movement. Channelsbuilt to divert rainwater from theaffected homes worked.

Two homeowners yesterdaysued over the Jan. 24 landslide,which forced the evacuation ofabout 90 homes as crevices, up to15 feet deep, emerged on a hilltop.

Galveston parking metersfree on Sunday

GALVESTON — A compro-mise means electronic parkingmeters in Galveston to replacehundreds damaged by HurricaneIke will be free on Sundays.

The Galveston City Council onThursday reversed a previous de-cision and voted to allow freeparking downtown on Sundays.

Critics wanted street parkingfees eliminated in an effort to at-tract more visitors and business,which suffered heavy damagewhen Ike hit on Sept. 13, 2008.

Donley the rescued dolphingoing to Sea World

GALVESTON — A young bot-tlenose dolphin rescued nearlythree months ago from a sandbar near Port Aransas is movingto Sea World in San Antonio.

The Texas Marine MammalStranding Network, on its Website, announced the calf dubbedDonley has improved and will beleaving the group’s rehabilitationsite in Galveston.

Specifics on the transfer arebeing worked out for the maledolphin that was rescued Nov. 3.

Endowments down at someuniversities in Texas

DALLAS — Tough economictimes left some universities inTexas with losses in their endow-ments, part of a national trend, anew study finds.

The University of Texas Sys-tem’s endowment, the fifth large-

st of any university or college sys-tem in the country, fell from $16.2billion in 2008 to $12.2 billion in2009.

Texas A&M System’s slid from$6.7 billion to $5.1 billion whileSouthern Methodist University inDallas saw its endowment shrinkfrom $1.4 billion to $1 billion.

Bald eagle shot near lakehas wing amputated

COLLEGE STATION — Veter-inarians at Texas A&M amputat-ed a wing from a bald eagle thathad been found shot.

The bird has been taken toBellville Lonestar Wildlife Rescue.

The male bird was found in apasture near Lake Livingston. Itwas treated, then taken to A&M.

Bald eagles are no longer listedas endangered, but they are pro-tected and fines up to $250,000 ap-ply for killing the majestic birds,which are the nation’s officialsymbol.

-- Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE STATE

Jimmy Salinas uses his bike to get to work Friday, January 29, 2010., in Amarillo.The Texas Department of Transportation closed I-40 east and west of Amarillo onFriday and a few other major roadways.

Photo by Michael Norris/The Amarillo Globe News | AP

Publisher, William B. Green........................728-2501Business Manager, Dora Martinez ...... (956) 324-1226Chief Accountant, Thelma Aguero .............. 728-2553General Manager, Adriana Devally ...............728-2510Retail Adv. Manager, Alice Arce .................. 728-2511Classified Manager, Sandra Valderrama....... 728-2525Adv. Billing Inquiries ................................. 728-2531Circulation Director ................................. 728-2559Creative/Production Director, Raul Cruz ...... 728-2528MIS Director, Michael Castillo.................... 728-2505Editor, Diana Fuentes ................................ 728-2581City Editor, Julie Daffern .......................... 728-2565Sports Editor, Dennis Silva II......................728-2579Business Journal Editor, Joe Rutland .......... 728-2529A&E Editor, Kirsten Crow .......................... 728-2543

SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY(956) 728-2555

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, JANUARY 30, 2010 Zlocal PAGE 3A

collided with a parked vehicle and was later ar-rested on charges of driving while intoxicated atmidnight Jan. 23 in the intersection of 13thStreet and Diaz Avenue. He was booked andtransported to Zapata Regional Jail.

THEFTDeputies responded to a theft call at 3 p.m.

Jan. 23 in the 200 block of Lozano Road. Accord-ing to reports, someone stole a compressor anda vacuum from the complainant’s property.

Deputies responded to a theft call at 2:30p.m. Jan. 24 in the 1100 block of Bravo Avenue.According to reports, unknown people stole fourvehicle tires from the residence.

A 29-year-old man reported at 9:15 a.m.Tuesday in the 1700 block of Bravo Avenue thetheft of a tailgate from his 2008 Ford F250.

HARASSMENTA male juvenile was detained on charges of

endanger a child at 11 p.m. Jan. 22 in the 5400block of Pharr Lane. The juvenile was booked andturned over to juvenile probation.

ASSAULTNoel Zamora, 19, was arrested on charges

of assault family violence at 7 a.m. Jan. 22 in the2400 block of Elm Street. He was booked andtransported to Zapata Regional Jail.

A 19-year-old woman reported a knownwoman assaulted her at 2:30 a.m. Jan. 23 in the1600 block of Roma Avenue in the Medina Addi-tion.

Deputies responded to an assault call at3:30 p.m. Jan. 24 in the 400 block of Ocampo

Avenue. According to reports, a man kicked hissister on the buttocks.

BURGLARYA 44-year-old woman reported at 10:15

p.m. Tuesday in the intersection of 16th Avenueand Lincoln Street that someone attempted tobreak into her pickup truck causing damage tothe door handle.

Deputies responded to a burglary of build-ing call at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at Lopeño in the100 block of First Street. According to reports,unknown people entered the building and stolefour tires and rims.

DWIDeputies say Ricardo Daniel Bautista, 20,

THE BLOTTER

The Zapata CountySheriff ’s Office is investi-gating a shooting that oc-curred after a heated con-versation between twomen at a car wash Jan. 23.

According to Sgt. MarioElizondo, the men were atAmerica’s Car Wash, 10thStreet and Guerrero Ave-nue.

Their names were notreleased.

After a verbal confron-tation at about 5 a.m., anunidentified man pulledout a revolver and shot a37-year-old man in theback.

“It was a verbal argu-ment that escalated toshots fired,” Elizondosaid.

Zapata Fire Chief J.J.Meza said paramedics

rendered aid to the pa-tient.

“He was stabilized andtransported,” Meza said.

The man was taken toLaredo Medical Centerand later released.

Elizondo said the twogunshot wounds were notlife threatening.

“He was alert and con-scious, talking to depu-ties,” he said.

No arrests had beenmade as of Friday.

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

Confrontationresults in

wounded man

“It was a verbalargument thatescalated toshots fired.”SGT. MARIO ELIZONDO

Duo clash prior togunfire incident

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

VILLARREAL ELEMENTARY LIBRARY

Courtesy photo

The FAR VillarrealElementary SchoolLibrary is available tostudents in firstthrough fifth grades,Monday-Thursday,from 3:15-4:30. Here,students use thecomputer lab.Shown, back to front,are Ricardo Minor,Ramon Sanchez,Francisco Tovar andRene Garcia. Stu-dents reading andtest on AR books andby working on home-work. Kids can alsostudy for the TAKStest online.

PAGE 4A Zopinion SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2010

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

To the editor:It was with a great

sense of grief that I readyour article on the dam-age to the Historic JesusTreviño Fort in San Ygna-cio, Texas.

My sadness reached avery deep and personallevel.

You see, the “Fort” wasour home. My sister and Iwere born in La CasaLarga; and we and ourbrother grew up there.Even after we moved, itcontinued to be home tous and our children untilrecently.

This latest careless mis-take is not the first one.There have been othersimilar incidents.

We should all be proudof these old buildings thatconnect us to our past.

The first room to theFort (El Cuarto Viejo) was

built in 1830 long beforeTexas became a state.

It is time for all of usto unite and save our his-tory with great respect. Itis an honor that the Fortand San Ygnacio havebeen listed in the Nation-al Register of HistoricPlaces.

We should all takepride in these old build-ings and take care ofthem. I really hope thatthe damage to this nation-al historic building can berepaired quickly andproperly.

We need to realize thatevery time one of theseprecious buildings is dam-aged, destroyed or disre-spected, we are robbingour future generations oftheir inheritance.

Signed,Raquel Herrera Rami-

rez

YOUR OPINION

Damage to historic fort in San Ygnaciocauses personal sorrow, calls for respect

OTHER VIEWS

The Zapata Times doesnot publish anonymousletters.

To be published, lettersmust include the writer’sfirst and last names aswell as a phone number toverify identity. The phonenumber IS NOT published;it is used solely to verifyidentity and to clarify con-tent, if necessary. Identityof the letter writer must

be verified before publica-tion.

The Zapata Timesdoesn’t publish letterswith just an initial and alast name.

People who want to airtheir opinions publiclymust do so openly. Wewant to assure our readersthat a letter is written bythe person who signs theletter. TZT does not allow

the use of pseudonyms.Letters are limited to

500 words. No name-call-ing or gratuitous abuse isallowed. Letters are editedfor style, grammar, lengthand civility.

Via e-mail, send lettersto editorial@lmtonline.comor mail them to Letters tothe Editor, 111 EsperanzaDrive, Laredo, TX 78041.Letters also may be

dropped off at The ZapataTimes office, which is at1309 N. U.S. 83 at 14thAve., Suite 2.

When sent by regularmail or dropped off in per-son, letters must be hand-signed. Letters sent by e-mail do not need to have ahandwritten signature, butthey must include thename and phone numberas explained above.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY

DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

ALBANY, N.Y. — Asbest I can under-stand it, a valve in

my heart has two littledoors on it, rather than thenormal three. This doesn’tseem to present a problemjust now, since my doctorassures me I’m a “healthyyoung man,” a kind de-scription I attribute to hermyopia.

So I was telling a friendwho is my age about theheart murmur that led tothe detection of this littledefect, and he said, “Youknow, one of the Mercuryastronauts got groundedbecause of a heart mur-mur.” And at the same mo-ment, we both said, “DekeSlayton.”

Of course. You knewthat, right?

Common historyOne of the elements that

defines a culture is sharedknowledge. Other factorshold a society together —language, myths, tradi-tions, political institutionsand more — but if a groupof people have sharply dif-ferent understandings ofwhat is going on aroundthem or of their history, itis difficult to achieve thecohesion that creates com-munity. Information is thusa building block of society.

All Americans remem-ber certain things in ourhistory — what we weredoing when we first heard

about the 9/11 attacks, and,if you’re a certain age, howyou felt on the day JFKdied. But those are big pub-lic occurrences that youcan’t miss.

Cultural cornerstoneThere’s a different level

of information youwouldn’t want to havemissed but that youcouldn’t get by osmosis,such as, for example, thatan outdoor rock concertnear Bethel, N.Y., haddrawn 400,000 fans, or thatAmericans had been takenhostage at our embassy inTehran, or that SaddamHussein used chemicalweapons in the 1980s butdidn’t have any when theUnited States invaded Iraqin 2003.

That sort of informationis what everybody mightagree is news — stories ei-ther important enough thatevery American shouldknow or interestingenough that no Americanwould want to miss. Formost of our history, the pri-mary conveyor of that in-formation has been a news-paper.

Yes, more Americansnow say TV is their pri-mary news source, but a lotof what you see on thescreen is derived fromnewspapers. A recent studyfound that more than 60percent of original report-ing is done by newspaperjournalists. It is not areach, then, to see newspa-pers as a cornerstone of the

culture. For years, the newspa-

pers most Americans readwere remarkably alike.They all contained uniquelocal content, but much ofwhat was reported on na-tional and world newscame from either the samesources (a few wire servic-es) or from a similar per-spective (a certain demo-graphic who became jour-nalists).

Now we are in the thickof an information deliveryrevolution, by which I amnot referring to the factthat newspaper carriersaren’t kids on bikes any-more. We’re several yearsalong a path toward theday when most people willaccess information bysome sort of digital device.One of the issues this shiftraises is how society willbe changed by the unlimit-ed number of informationsources empowered by theWeb and our ability (or in-ability) to choose amongthem.

Google easeSoftware enables each

Web user to select particu-lar sources of news or cate-gories of information. Ifyou don’t care about worldaffairs, say, you can ignorethem while information onother stuff zips to yourFacebook home page. Be-cause search engines are sopowerful, you can find in-formation when you needit.

Should we worry, then,

that broad knowledge maycome to seem like an a-nachronism? After all, whybother to follow the news ifyou can Google any topicwhen you need to knowsomething?

It’s likely that informa-tion that might have beenwidely known in a previ-ous generation will be ig-nored in the future. Forgood and for ill, our culturewill be different if a major-ity of citizens don’t knowthe same set of facts. TheWeb is giving us an infor-mation range that is broad-er and more diverse, but itis a base of shared knowl-edge that is narrower.

So much dataTo a newspaper editor

staring into the growingthicket of information —perhaps 200 million blogs,and 10,000 new Web sitescreated every hour — it’scomforting to hope peoplewill always need someoneto parcel data into digest-ible journalism. But that’snot entirely clear.

I’ll concede that theknowledge my friend and Ishare about the career ofan astronaut almost a half-century ago is of littleworth. But it’s not so easyto dismiss the value of ashared understanding ofbroader stories that affectus all.

If we lose that, what elsehave we lost?

(Rex Smith is editor of theAlbany Times Union inNew York)

COLUMN

News is the tie that binds usBy REX SMITH

ALBANY TIMES UNION

To the editor:I just learned of the

damage done by a care-less contractor at the Je-sus Treviño Fort in SanYgnacio, Texas. It sad-dened me to see how littlerespect is shown to theseold buildings which repre-sent our past. There is somuch history attached notonly to the fort but to somany other buildings inand around San Ygnacioand we as direct descend-ants of the original own-ers of these historicalbuildings should keep vig-ilant that there are noother such mishaps.

Until recently the JesusTreviño Fort belonged tomy cousins (children ofMaria and Aureliano Her-rera). The fort now be-longs to the River PierceFoundation. I am confi-dent that the foundationwill do the right thingand have the messcleaned up without de-stroying the structure.Maybe I am expecting toomuch but I have faith inthem and know that theywill take action and dowhatever has to be done.

My ties to the JesusTreviño Fort are verystrong since I was born

there. Although I wasbrought up in Laredo, mybrothers and I spent mostof our summer vacationsin San Ygnacio visitingour family. We have somany fond memories ofthe time we spent there.We were in and out of thefort constantly and whenwe stayed there overnight,I remember Tío Aurelianoentertaining us by point-ing out the North Starand the constellations aswell as telling us interest-ing stories.

My tíos and tías havealways been very specialand much loved. I am ve-ry thankful to all of themfor the wonderful child-hood memories and forenriching my life withtheir stories and familyhistory. I am also veryproud of my heritage anddo not like it when peopleshow disrespect for thethings I value. So let usstop allowing our histori-cal monuments to be des-ecrated or destroyed. Let’spreserve these landmarksfor future generations toenjoy and learn from.

Signed,Marcia E. Uribe Gon-

zalesLos Angeles, Calif.

Historic buildings deserve protection;preserve landmarks for future generations

On Jan. 29, 2009,President BarackObama signed his

first bill into law, the LillyLedbetter Fair Pay Act. Itoverturned a notorious 5-4Supreme Court decisionfrom 2007 that had deniedLedbetter restitution foryears in which her em-ployer, the Goodyear Tireand Rubber Co., had paidher less than her male col-leagues.

The new law could notrestore Ledbetter’s lostwages because her casecould not be retried. But itbrought justice, if belated-ly, by ensuring that legalprotections and civilrights denied to Ledbetterwould not be denied toothers.

It is past time for Oba-ma to see that similar jus-tice is done for EvelynCoke, albeit posthumously.

In 2007, the Jamaican-born Coke had her day inSupreme Court — andlost. A retired home careaide, she had sued her em-ployer for decades of un-paid overtime. No one dis-puted that she had workedextra long hours for no ex-tra pay. But in a 9-0 deci-sion, the justices upheld a1975 federal labor regula-

tion that defines homecare aides as “compan-ions,” even though theytypically help to feed,dress and move their el-derly and disabled clientsplus keep house. But thatdesignation as “compan-ions” exempts home careagencies from having topay the federal minimumwage or time-and-a-halffor overtime.

The justices were clearthat the law gives the La-bor Department the powerto change the regulation.Congress also couldchange the rule. Yet therule stands more than twoyears after the Coke deci-sion and a year after law-makers and Obama took abow for the Ledbetter fair-pay law.

After signing the LillyLedbetter law last year,Obama gave Ledbetter thelast of many pens used inthe ceremony. Coke diedlast July before she sawjustice, let alone a WhiteHouse ceremony. In hermemory, Obama shouldinstruct his Labor Depart-ment to undo the compan-ionship exemption. If hedoes not act, Congressshould introduce and pass,without delay, the EvelynCoke Fair Pay for Caregiv-ers Act.

EDITORIAL

Obama shouldOK all fair pay

NEW YORK TIMES

SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2010 THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

PAGE 6A Zlifestyle SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2010

It’s said that menudohas some mystical quali-ties — the ability tosoothe even the mostbrain-drilling, dehydrat-ing of hangovers. But forLaredo Crime Stoppers,the tasty, traditional souphas a different kind ofmagic — the ability tobring in much-neededfunds to support a safercommunity.

Whether you’re an afi-cionado of the spicy stew,a fanatic of Tejano, con-junto and cumbia bands,or just looking for a hotway to lend a helpinghand to the community,there’s no better place tobe this weekend than atthe Menudo Bowl, whichwill be held from 11 a.m.to 7 p.m. today at the Lare-do International Fair andExposition grounds.

“There’s a lot happen-ing in one afternoon,”said Carolyn Leyendecker,executive director of Lare-do Crime Stoppers.“There’s something for ev-eryone . . . for almost anyage in the family.”

The foodOf course, the Menudo

cook-off has less to dowith the cash prizes andtrophies than with thebragging rights as 50teams go head to head inthe People’s Choice com-petition.

Stewart Title took thosehonors last year, whileLos Federales — com-posed of various law en-forcement agents —snagged first in the cook-ing contest in the open di-vision, Leyendecker said,noting that Stewart Titlehas taken first-place sev-

eral times over the years.“I asked them once,

‘How do y’all do it?’” shesaid. “(They told me), ‘Wehave grandma in thebooth with us.’ ”

The public will have itsopportunity to throw inits two cents about whoreigns supreme when me-nudo lovers line up andtry as many of the brewsas possible beginning at 1p.m.

Voting will be heldfrom 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. —that’s if you remember tovote, amid all the “judg-ing.”

The entertainmentIn addition to the food,

another highlight of theannual Menudo Bowl isits on-site entertainment,including a lengthy rosterof musicians set to hit thestage. Bands scheduled toperform throughout the

day, beginning at 11 a.m.,are Zenzible, Patty y SuSonora, Dezzeo, Grupo LaJuventud, La Fricxion,Diskreto, Evarardo Rami-rez, Deztino and AltaTenzzion.

And while the backdropof the bands keeps theboots of music-lovers mov-ing, other contests and ac-tivities will continue,among them being a mo-torcycle show for customand stock divisions, aclassic car show, teamroping, a silent auction,the Brush Country Trailriders and a children’s ar-ea, which will include afew free children’s ridesand a moonwalk.

There will also be anarea to play paintball — anew addition to MenudoBowl this year — an exhi-bition of martial artistsshowing their Pan LeileiGung skills and ponyrides for $1.

The detailsAdmission to Menudo

Bowl is $3 for adults,while children 12 andyounger get in free.

Cheaper than catchinga matinee, the proceedsbenefit Laredo CrimeStoppers, which pays outrewards for anonymoustips regarding criminalactivity.

Last year, the MenudoBowl raised about $25,000,while the organizationpaid out about $25,880 forcriminal information,Leyendecker said.

“With that, we took(more than $18 million)worth of narcotics off thestreets,” she said. “We al-so solved several murders,several hit and runs.

“I’d like to raise anoth-er $10,000 this year, if it’sconceivable.”

(Kirsten Crow may bereached at 728-2547 or kir-sten@lmtonline.com)

It’s menudo time

Daniel Garcia, 3, tries Menudo during the 2009 CrimeStoppers Menudo Bowl at LIFE Fairgrounds.

Photos by Cuate Santos | Laredo Morning Times

By KIRSTEN CROW LAREDO MORNING TIMES

Although now its 12thyear, the annual Boys andGirls Club Wine Tasting istaking its inspirationfrom a time and place thatreached its heyday morethan 20 years ago, “Studio54” in New York City.

Known as a haunt forany variety of pop culturefigures and celebrities ofthe 1970s, this year’s fund-raiser derives its splashy,funky theme from the ed-ificial icon, bringing inDJs, soul and disco sing-ers to set the tone for anight out “with the stars”and pay homage to themusic of the ’70s.

“We’re turning backthe clock” to what was theheight of a significantgenre, that being disco, ofcourse,” said Carlos Bena-vides III, a board memberof the Boys and Girls Clubof Laredo. “We’re settingup a club atmosphere.”

To be held at the Lare-do Country Club begin-ning at 7:30 p.m. on Satur-day, Feb. 6, proceeds bene-fit the Boys and GirlsClubs of Laredo, whosefour nonprofit centersserve about 25,000 chil-dren annually by provid-ing a safe environment foreducation, sports andmeal programs.

The wine tasting, Bena-vides’ brainchild, providesa way to give back, hesaid.

“Of course, at the endof the day, it’s all aboutthe kids and our mis-sion,” Benavides said.

The entertainmentIn correlation with the

disco theme, Martha

Wash and Evelyn “Cham-pagne” King, powerful vo-calists who each boast astring of hits, will kick offthe program.

“(Martha Wash) is com-pared to the likes ofAretha Franklin — it’sthat amazing voice,” Bena-vides noted.

Wash, a member of theGrammy-nominatedWeather Girls for the hit“It’s Raining Men,” has al-so performed vocals forBlack Box’s “Strike It Up”and “Everybody Everybo-dy” and C&C Music Fac-tory’s “Gonna Make YouSweat (Everybody DanceNow,” among many oth-ers.

King, on the otherhand, is best known forher work in one of thebest-known singles of the’70s, “Shame.” Other hitsinclude “I Don’t Know IfIt’s Right,” ‘I’m in Love”and “Love Come Down.”“We’ll take people on ajourney of club sounds,”Benavides said.

The detailsTables of 10 may be re-

served for $2,500, while in-dividual tickets are $250.

In addition to the wine,food and entertainment,organizers are also plan-ning giveaways and liveand silent auctions, whichwill include items such astrips, jewelry and gour-met baskets.

For more information,to reserve tables or pur-chase tickets, contact Hec-tor Noyola, executive di-rector of the Boys andGirls Club of Laredo, at723-5223.

(Kirsten Crow may bereached at 728-2543 or bye-mail at kirsten@lmton-line.com)

It’s time againto sample wine

By KIRSTEN CROWLAREDO MORNING TIMES

SÁBADO 30 DE ENEROLAREDO — Hoy es el

Menudo Bowl para benefi-ciar al programa de Alto alCrimen en terrenos del LI-FE Downs, Highway 59East, Laredo de 11 a.m. a5 p.m.

LAREDO — El LatinAmerican InternationalSports Hall of Fame comoparte de su 35 Aniversariode Ceremonia de Induc-ción, tiene hoy el entierrode una cápsula del tiempoy recepción para mediosde comunicación al medio-día en la entrada del Aero-puerto Internacional de La-redo.

LAREDO — Holy Re-deemer Church realizará su101 Baile de Aniversario enRoli’s Music Hall (100 Tay-lor St.) hoy de 8 p.m. a lamedianoche. La música es-tará a cargo de Premier.Los boletos son de 15 dó-lares por persona y estándisponibles en la iglesia.Más información llamandoal 286-3050 ó 723-7171.

LAREDO — Pase latarde en el Planetario La-mar Bruni Vergara de TexasA&M International Univer-sity y explore “Violent Uni-verse: Catastrophes of theCosmos” a las 5 p.m. y 6p.m. También se presentará“Dark Side of the Moon”de Pink Floyd a las 7 p.m.La entrada general es de 6dólares.

ZAPATA — Hoy sellevará a cabo el Torneo deTiro y Cocina del Boys &Girls Club. Más informaciónllamando a la Cámara deComercio del Condado deZapata al (956) 765-4871.

DOMINGO 31 DE ENEROLA GLORIA — Luzca

su atuendo rojo y acuda ala tradicional corrida de to-ros el día de hoy. Los tore-ros son estudiantes de laEscuela de Toreo SantaMaria ubicada en el Renk’sLa Querencia Ranch en LaGloria, Texas. Zapata FunTours saldrá hacia La Glo-ria a las 2:30 p.m. y seespera que regrese a las 8p.m. Se les recuerda queen esta corrida no habrásangre. Más informaciónllamando al 765-9056.

LUNES 1 DE FEBREROLAREDO — El equipo

de baloncesto de TexasA&M International Univer-sity recibe a la Universityof Texas – Permian Basin alas 12 p.m. y 3 p.m. en lascanchas de la Universidad.La entrada general es de 5dólares. Más informaciónllamando al 326-2891.

ZAPATA — Hoy es elúltima día para reservar sulugar para el curso de cer-tificación de Primeros Au-xilios y CPR que ofrecerála King’s Wat Chursh el sá-bado 6 de febrero. Las cla-ses inician a las 9 a.m. pa-ra primeros auxilios y a las12:30 p.m. para CPR. Losprecios para las clases va-rían. Más información lla-mando al 693-0124.

MIÉRCOLES 3 DE FEBREROLAREDO — Hoy es el

debate de la carrera paraJuez del Condado de Webbal mediodía en el HolidayInn Civic Center, organiza-do por el Laredo RotaryClub. Los candidatos son elHonorable Juez Danny Val-dez, Tano Tijerina, el exJuez de la Corte de Distri-to Andy Reyes, y el exJuez del Condado Louis H.Bruni. Más información lla-mando al (956) 235-4645

VIERNES 5 DE FEBREROLAREDO — El Center

for the Arts (500 SanAgustin) invita a la comu-nidad a visitar las nuevasexhibiciones hoy de 6 p.m.a 8 p.m. con la ceremoniade recepción. Más informa-ción llamando al 725-1715.

Agendaen Breve

NUEVO LAREDO — Tras quela Suprema Corte de Justicia de laNación, en una decisión colegiada,ordenó anular la fecha de las elec-ciones para noviembre y adelan-tarlas al cuatro de julio, se acorta-ron los tiempos para registros decandidatos a la gubernatura de Ta-maulipas, las 43 presidencias mu-nicipales (con regidores y síndi-cos) y las 32 diputaciones locales.

Para esta elección Tamaulipasse divide en 22 distritos electora-les. En el caso de Nuevo Laredoahora tendrá tres diputados loca-les (Distrito 1 — Norte, Distrito 2— Sur y Distrito 3 — Oriente). EnMiguel Alemán, el Distrito 4, se in-cluyen a las ciudades de MiguelAlemán, Camargo, Guerrero, G.Diaz Ordaz, Mier y una parte nor-

te de Reynosa.Al momento, el Partido Revolu-

cionario Institucional (PRI) es elúnico que ha dado a conocer almenos a un pre-candidato paraocupar la silla que dejará el Go-bernador Eugenio Hernández Flo-res.

Hoy al mediodía los militantesdel PRI serán testigos del registrode Rodolfo Torre Cantú como supre-candidato a la gubernatura deTamaulipas. El domingo Torre re-cibiría su constancia de manos delInstituto Electoral de Tamaulipas(IETAM) y el lunes daría inicio asu pre-campaña en esta ciudad.

“Hemos trabajado en la hege-monía de nuestro partido con lagente. No hemos descuidado nues-tro territorio ni espacios”, dijo elPresidente del Comité DirectivoMunicipal del PRI Ramiro RamosSalinas.

Además hizo un llamado a fun-cionarios electorales para ejercersu responsabilidad histórica en elproceso con profesional desempe-ño.

“Buscamos responsabilidad yser respetuosos de la ley”, dijo Ra-mos. “Como partido, ofrecemos undiálogo constante y una colabora-ción permanente”.

Los otros dos partidos fuertesdel estado, el Partido Acción Na-cional (PAN) y el Partido de la Re-volución Democrática (PRD) nohan informado oficialmente de al-gún precandidato, aunque sí va-rios de sus militantes ó simpati-zantes han expresado sus intencio-nes.

En el PAN se escucha el nombredel actual Senador José Julián Sa-cramento Garza. Ángel Sierra,quien también aspirada a la candi-datura, declinó de contender, el

jueves.El Comité Ejecutivo Nacional

del PAN informó que será el 2 defebrero cuando se anuncie el nom-bre del pre-candidato oficial y pue-da iniciar su pre-campaña al inte-rior del mismo partido.

En el PRD los nombres que sehan mencionado son Mario JorgeSosa Pohl, Jorge Valdez y Francis-co Chavira.

Lino Korrodi, el jueves declinóde participar en la contienda.

El Presidente del Comité Muni-cipal del PRD Rafael del Orbe in-formó que la decisión para elegirpre-candidato a la gubernatura sedará a conocer los primeros díasde febrero pero antes del día 15.

“Tras conocer el nombre denuestro pre-candidato, entonces seempezarían a dar a conocer pre-candidatos a las alcaldías y diputa-ciones”, dijo del Orbe.

Tamaulipas prepara eleccionesPOR MIGUEL TIMOSHENKOV

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

CIUDAD GUERRERO —El 22 de enero Ciudad Gue-rrero recibió la visita de tu-ristas de EU.

“Ellos vinieron a visitary conocer los lugares de laciudad”, dijo Elizondo. “Re-corrieron las calles en bici-cleta”.

Correspondió a la Alcal-

desa Olga Juliana ElizondoGuerra darles la bienveni-da, en tanto que una ambu-lancia y tránsito los escol-taron por la ciudad.

Unidad MóvilLa Unidad Móvil de Sa-

lud instalada frente a la Ca-sa del Adulto Mayor delSistema para el Desarrollo

Integral de la Familia (DIF)ofrece servicio dental gra-tuito a los adultos mayores.

Elizondo y la Presidentadel DIF Isela Flores recibie-ron a los adultos mayoresque se dieron cita para seratendidos.

Igualmente Elizondo yFlores hicieron entrega decolchas enviadas por el Go-bierno de Tamaulipas.

La Casa del Adulto Ma-

yor también fue adaptadacomo albergue temporalpara cuando la temperatu-ra disminuye a grados decongelación.

Elizondo dijo que si laspersonas requieren ayudapueden llamar al 976-0370 yal 976-0317.

(Ekaterina Gutiérrez Ar-guello es encargada de infor-mación de Ciudad Guerre-ro).

Turistas de EU recorrieron en visita Ciudad Guerrero donde pudieron disfrutar puntos históricos de la ciudad.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Ciudad Guerrero

Turistas recorren GuerreroPOR EKATERINA GUTIERREZ ARGUELLO

ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Zfrontera PÁGINA 7ASÁBADO 30 DE ENERO DE 2010

CIUDAD MIER — Esta ciudad seprepara para los festejos de su 257Aniversario, razón por la cual se dioa conocer que Carmen Alicia Guer-ra Ríos presidirá el Comité central acargos de las actividades.

Con Guerra estarán Maribel Bar-rera Salceda como secretaria y Blan-ca Delia Alanís Barrera como tesor-era elaborando el plan de trabajo.

En una primera reunión de traba-jo celebrada el 21 de enero, donde secontó con la participación de insti-tuciones educativas y fuerzas vivas,se informó que Daniela BarreraReyna fue seleccionada como Reinadel Bicentenario y para las fiestasde la ciudad.

Guerra dio a conocer que aunquea finales de febrero entregaría elplan de trabajo completo, las activ-idades ya agendazas son la inaugu-ración de las Fiestas del 257 Aniver-sario y encendido de la lámpara vo-tiva el 5 de marzo, la Coronación dela Reina el 6 de marzo y la clausurade actividades el 14 de marzo.

“Estamos invitando especial-mente a los presidentes municipalesde Camargo José Correa Guerrero yde Cerralvo, Nuevo León, José Este-ban Quintanilla”, dijo Guerra. “Gra-cias a familias de dichos municipiosfue que Mier se pobló”.

Adultos MayoresEl 19 de enero el Sistema para el

Desarrollo Integral de la Familia(DIF) en esta ciudad recibió unaUnidad Móvil Dental ‘Abuelito Sano’

que atenderá a personas de la terce-ra edad de manera gratuita.

También se instaló un modulo decredencialización para adultos may-ores, a fin de que tramiten de formacómoda su credencial del DIF.

“Nos seguimos esforzando porquetodos los más necesitados tengan laayuda debida”, dijo la Presidenta delSistema DIF Isabel Cristina TreviñoRuiz. “Buscamos que en estos tiem-pos de crisis no sufran tanto”.

Dentro de el mismo marco, seanunció que el miércoles 3 de febr-ero se hará la entrega de los apoyosdel programa “70 y Más” a sus bene-ficiarios.

El enlace municipal del programaSilvia Ramos dijo que el objetivo esque las personas de la tercera edadvivan de una mejor manera.

“Esperamos que este año máspersonas reciban la ayuda”, dijo Ra-mos.

El evento de entrega de apoyos se-rá a las 9 a.m. en el Casino Ar-güelles de Ciudad Mier.

DespensasA través del programa Unidos

Avanzamos Más cada mes se entre-gan 678 despensas a igual númerode familias.

José Guerra Ríos, Enlace Munici-pal del programa informó que lasdespenas se llevan directamente alos domicilios.

“Las personas solicitan el apoyo yposteriormente se realiza un estudiosocioeconómico de los hogares”, dijoJesús Guerra Ríos. “Así garantiza-mos la entrega exacta de las despen-sas del programa”.

(Yahaira L. Zambrano es la Direc-tora de Comunicación Social del Go-bierno de Ciudad Mier).

Preparan fiestas de Cd. MierPOR YAHAIRA L. ZAMBRANO

ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Las integrantes del Comité para los Festejos del 257 Aniversario de Ciudad Mier son, de iz-quierda a derecha, Maribel Barrera Salceda, secretaria; Carmen Alicia Guerra Ríos, presi-denta; y, Blanca Delia Alanís Barrera, tesorera.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Ciudad Mier

NUEVO LAREDO —Para seguir combatiendola corrupción de los ser-vidores públicos, es esen-cial que la ciudadaníaafectada tenga el valorcivil de presentar sus de-nuncias ante la Contralo-ría Municipal, con la se-guridad de que son escu-chados y atendidos ensus quejas, señaló Rober-to Herrera Juárez, secre-tario de la ContraloríaMunicipal.

A través del programa“Cero Tolerancia”, el go-bierno municipal buscaevitar que cualquier ser-vidor público incurra enabuso de autoridad, pre-potencia o falta de crite-rio al momento de servira la comunidad.

Durante el 2009 másde 300 funcionarios mu-nicipales se vieron en-vueltos en alguno de los270 expedientes que seformularon a este respec-to.

Personal de la depend-encia estuvo al pendientede que en los operativosanti-alcohol, del cinturónde seguridad y límite develocidad, los agentes deSeguridad Vial no incur-rieran en algún atropellocontra la ciudadanía.

“Esto no es novedadpara nosotros, lo hemosmanejado desde que in-ició la administración.Hemos combatido este ti-po de actitudes de losservidores, (pero) necesi-tamos la participaciónciudadana para denun-ciar estos actos. Si noso-tros no contamos con ladenuncia no podemossustentar alguna sancióncontra algún funcionariopúblico”, insistió Herre-ra Juárez.

En todos estos casos laciudadanía ha sido aten-dida y escuchada. Las es-tadísticas indican que en90 por ciento de estasquejas, el ciudadanotiene la razón.

“Este programa le ay-uda al gobierno munici-pal para detectar a losservidores que están in-curriendo indebida-mente y hemos emitidosanciones, destituciones,suspensiones de laboresy sus derechos por haberincurrido en algunas fal-tas, amonestaciones yapercibimientos”, agre-gó.

La oficina de la Con-traloría Municipal se ub-ica en el tercer piso de latorre administrativa co-nocida como “El Palo-mar” y los números tele-fónicos son 711-3500 y711-3501. También, sepuede enlazar a través dela página Web del Muni-cipio: www.nuevolaredo-.gob.mx y a través de lalínea telefónica 070.

Pidenhablarsobre

abusosESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Carmen Ramirez - Rathmell, D.D.S.“Let your smile be

a sign of happiness& good health”

1520 Corpus Christi StreetTelephone (956) 726-0160

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2010

Gonzalez; great-grandchil-dren, Andrea Meza, CarlosG. Meza, Alexis Meza, Aly-son Meza, Angela C. Cuellar,Ana D. Cuellar and AlyssaA. Cuellar; great-grandchild,Carlos Adrian Meza; sister,Evangelina Elizondo; sister-in-law, Valentina Escobar;and by numerous nephews,nieces and many friends.

Visitation hours wereheld Monday, Jan. 25, 2010,from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with arosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Gar-den Funeral Home.

The funeral processiondeparted Tuesday, Jan. 26,2010, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10a.m. funeral Mass at OurLady of Lourdes CatholicChurch. Committal servicesfollowed at Zapata CountyCemetery.

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

Ramona E. Gonzalez, 80,of Zapata passed away Fri-day, Jan. 22, 2010, in McAl-len.

Ms. Gonzalez is precededin death by her husband,Joel F. Gonzalez; parents,Pedro (Sixta) Escobar;mother, Santos Escobar;brothers, Arturo Escobarand Vicente Escobar; sister,Gabriela Villarreal andbrother-in-law, Octavio Eli-zondo.

Ms. Gonzalez is survivedby her sons, Carlos L. (AnaC.) Gonzalez, Joel JaimeGonzalez, Juan Angel (Ani-ta) Gonzalez, Jose Ramon(Ludivina) Gonzalez and Is-mael R. Gonzalez; grand-children, Melissa (Carlos)Meza, Roxana (Jorge) Cuel-lar, Sergio Rojas, Alan RojasJr., Joel Gonzalez, AshleyGonzalez, Jose Ramon Gon-zalez Jr. and Yesenia N.

Funeral arrangementswere under the direction ofRose Garden Funeral Home,Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeraldirector, 2102 U.S. 83 Zapata.

RAMONA E. GONZALEZ

held Sunday, Jan. 17,2010, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.with a rosary at 7 p.m. atRose Garden FuneralHome.

The funeral processiondeparted Monday, Jan. 18,

San Juana Guerra, 91,passed away Friday, Jan.15, 2010, at her residencein Falcon.

Ms. Guerra is precededin death by her husband,Abel Guerra, and a son,Ramiro Guerra.

Ms. Guerra is survivedby sons Remigio Guerra,Rene (Sylvia) Guerra,Abel J. Guerra, Derly(Isabel) Guerra, Carlos D.(Leticia) Guerra, Jose EliGuerra and Rudy (Anna)Guerra; daughter, SylviaGuerra; numerous grand-children, great-grandchil-dren, great-great grand-children, nephews, niecesand many friends.

Visitation hours were

2010, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10a.m. funeral Mass at San-ta Ana Mission. Commit-tal services followed atFalcon Cemetery.

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

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

SAN JUANA GUERRA

His annual pay remains at$124,400.

Ramirez said that eventhough trustees want to seebetter academic improve-ment, especially among theLimited English Proficien-cy students, the district’sother operations, such asfinance and construction,are in good shape.

“I think in both of theseareas we have done very,very well,” he said. “Wehave a healthy fund bal-ance, which in turn has ledto the improvement aroundcampuses and improvingthe overall environment forour children.

“I feel we are very fortu-nate based on our locationand resources. We haven’thad to borrow money orhave a bond election,which in turn helps tax-payers.”

Another important com-ponent to Rodriguez’s eval-uation, as spelled out inthe appraisal instrument,is his relations with theBoard of Trustees and thecommunity.

“We’ve had a long, verygood (professional) rela-tionship,” Ramirez said.

(Nick Georgiou may bereached at 728-2582 ornickg@lmtonline.com)

ZCISD Continued from Page 1A

tion, and technology led de-velopment through action-able information and ini-tiatives, according to theZEDC Web site.

Hein will be working fulltime in Zapata to covervarious business needs ofthe community, from finan-cial books maintenanceand inventory to businessexpansion. Zapata previ-

ously had a person advis-ing small businesses onlyonce a month.

The ZEDC has createdpartnerships with theCounty of Zapata, SouthTexas Development Corpo-ration, Workforce Solutionsof South Texas, ZapataCounty Independent SchoolDistrict, Laredo Communi-ty College and Texas A&M

International University aswell as the private sector,including small businessand industry.

“Partnerships are one ofthe most important thingswe can develop in our at-traction effort to bring inmore business,” Moffetsaid.

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

SBDC Continued from Page 1A

suit, the occupants beached the vesseland fled on foot through the brush.

As the game wardens were recover-ing the beached vessel, another Mexi-can fishing vessel was heard nearby.

The vessel was traveling from theback of the same cove toward Mexicanwaters. The game wardens attempted to

stop the second vessel, but these occu-pants also refused to stop. The occu-pants of the second Mexican fishingvessel beached the vessel and fled onfoot through the thick brush. The gamewardens seized the boats, motors andabout 3,300 feet of gill, according totheir report.

WARDENS Continued from Page 1A

SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2010 THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

Maria Juana Garcilazoof Zapata passed awayWednesday, Jan. 20, 2010, atLaredo Specialty Hospital.

Ms. Garcilazo is preced-ed in death by her hus-band, Jose M. Garcilazo;sons, Rodolfo Garcilazoand Jose Guadalupe Garci-lazo and a daughter, MariaGuadalupe Garcilazo.

Ms. Garcilazo is sur-vived by her sons, Ramiro(Maria Aurora) Garcilazo,Juan Angel (Maria Luisa)Garcilazo, Roberto (Moni-ca) Garcilazo, Martin(Nancy) Garcilazo, Raul(Maria De La Luz) Garcila-zo, Jose Manuel Garcilazoand Rolando Garcilazo;daughter, Rosa G. Guerra;grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren, and by nu-merous other relatives andfriends.

Visitation was held Sun-day, Jan. 24, 2010, from 6p.m. to 9 p.m. with a ros-ary at 7 p.m. at Rose Gar-den Funeral Home.

The funeral processiondeparted Monday, Jan. 25,2010, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10a.m. funeral Mass at Our

Lady of Lourdes CatholicChurch. Committal servic-es followed at ZapataCounty Cemetery.

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

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

MARIA JUANA GARCILAZOMiguel T. Martinez, 92,

of Zapata passed away Sun-day, Jan. 17, 2010, at DoctorsHospital in Laredo.

Mr. Martinez is precededin death by his parents, Mi-guel (Maria R.) Martinez;brother, Tomas (Teresa)Martinez; and a sister, Ma-ria De La Luz (Alfonso)Bustamante.

Mr. Martinez is survivedby his wife, Adelfa R. Mar-tinez; sons, Miguel A. (Ale-jandra D.) Martinez andSaul Martinez; daughters,Alma M. Valadez (OscarGarcia), Thelma A. Marti-nez, Rosa A. Martinez andElva E. Martinez; grand-children, Miguel A. Jr.(Imelda) Martinez, MyrnaA. (Felix) Hinojosa, MarcoA. Martinez, Max A. Marti-nez, Maria A. Martinez,Saul Martinez Jr., JoelMartinez, Omar Martinez,Elsa I. Valadez, Jose M. Va-ladez, Mario C. Valadez, Jr.Shelly A. Mastin and Wm.Michael Mastin; eightgreat-grandchildren; sister,Teresa M. Chapa and bynumerous nephews, niecesand many friends.

Visitation hours wereheld Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010,from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with arosary at 7 p.m. at Rose

Garden Funeral Home.The funeral procession

departed Wednesday, Jan.20, 2010, at 9:45 a.m. for a 10a.m. funeral Mass at OurLady of Lourdes CatholicChurch. Committal servic-es followed at Zapata Coun-ty Cemetery.

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

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

MIGUEL T. MARTINEZ Hector Manuel Medina,

beloved husband and fa-ther, joined our HeavenlyFather on Monday, Jan. 18,2010, at the age of 63.

He is preceded in deathby a granddaughter, AlishaLynn Solano.

He leaves behind thelove of his life, Gloria A.Medina; sons, Hector M. Jr.(Patricia) Medina, Jorge F.(Leila) Medina, David J.Medina; daughter, Monica(Rick) Solano, JoAnn(Jorge) Garcia, Debra (Chi-to) Garcia, Ana M. Medina;grandchildren, Arissa, Ash-ley, Abigail, Amber, Audrey,Georgie, Kaylee, Bryan Me-dina, R.J., Janssa, Isaac, Ja-cob Solano, Dante, Noah,Nadia, Peter, Victor Garcia,Natalie Lozano; parents,Manuel (Matha Lee) Medi-na; brothers, Jose D. (Syl-via) Medina, Juan (Dolores)Medina, Manuel (Priscilla)Medina, Gerardo (Viola)Medina; sister, Vita Mesqui-ti and by numerous otherrelatives and many friends.

Upon graduation fromZapata High School, he wasdrafted into the U.S. Army1st Ranger Bn 16th U.S. In-fantry serving two years inthe Vietnam War. Duringhis tour of duty, Hector re-ceived various heroic med-als including being the re-cipient of the Purple Heartfor wounds received in ac-tion and the Bronze Starwith V device for heroismin ground combat, complet-ing with an honorable dis-charge with valor.

As a civilian, he joinedSouthwestern Bell Tele-phone Co. He retired after35 years of service.Through his life, he alwayshelped everyone aroundhim grow and prosper.

Hector was a devotedhusband, a wonderful lov-

ing father, loved to playwith his grandchildren andloved having early morningbreakfast with his closestfriends. He will long bemissed and never forgotten,for his strong character, de-voted Catholic faith, kindspirit and unconditionallove. We miss you Dad.

Visitation was heldWednesday, Jan. 20, 2010,from 6 to 9 p.m. with a ros-ary at 7 p.m. at Rose Gar-den Funeral Home.

The funeral processiondeparted Thursday, Jan. 21,2010, at 9:30 for a 10 a.m. fu-neral Mass at Our Lady ofLourdes Catholic Church.Committal services fol-lowed at Zapata CountyCemetery, including fullmilitary honors by theAmerican Legion Post 486Color Guard.

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

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

HECTOR MANUEL MEDINA

assigned to the Zapata Sta-tion stopped a vehicle onU.S. 83.

Agent Jason Darling, Bor-der Patrol public affairs offi-cer, said the three occupantsof the vehicle ran into thebrush.

The suspects were notfound.

Darling said the bustcame as a result of agentsworking to secure the bor-

der.Agents later discovered 14

cellophane-wrapped bundlescontaining marijuanaweighing 217.6 pounds val-ued at $174,080.

To report suspicious ac-tivity, call the sheriff ’s de-partment at 765-9960 or Bor-der Patrol at (800) 343-1994.

(César G. Rodriguez maybe reached at 728-2568 or ce-sar@lmtonline.com)

SEIZURES Continued from Page 1A

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2010

Sports&OutdoorsSATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2010 ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

The Zapata girls’ basketballteam split a pair of District32-3A games against Lyford andLa Feria over the past week.

The Lady Hawks picked up a59-39 win over the Lady Bull-dogs last Friday.

On Tuesday, things did not goaccording to plan, as Zapatadropped a close game to the sec-ond-place Lady Lions, 55-43.

District standingsThe Lady Hawks (6-4 32-3A,

14-13 overall) were tied for third

place with Port Isabel (6-4)heading into a key district gameagainst Raymondville.

Hidalgo (10-0) is still burningthrough the district in firstplace, while La Feria (9-1) staysright behind in second place,followed by Zapata and Port Isa-bel.

In fifth place are the Lady

Bearkats, who beat the LadyHawks in their first meeting.

Key matchup“The Raymondville game is

going to be a key district game,”Zapata coach Clyde Guerra Jr.said. “We have to come out and

play our game. It is going to bea good game.”

The Lady Hawks and LadyBearkats mirror each other inmany ways, as they both pos-sess offensive weapons and playgreat defense.

In the first meeting, it was

Lady Hawks stay in third placeGirls holding onto a playoff position as District 32-3A basketball season begins to near its end

By CLARA SANDOVALSPECIAL TO THE TIMES

See BASKETBALL PAGE 2B

The Zapata boys’ soccerteam made some morehistory on Monday nightas the Hawks picked uptheir first win, blankingProgreso 3-0.

The victory was thefirst ever for the program,achieved in only the sec-ond game of its inauguralseason.

“It was very enjoyable,and it was historic,” Zapa-ta coach Blake Garza said.“The kids were the talk of

the town, and they workedhard for this win.”

The Hawks bestowed anice bath on Garza to com-memorate the victory.

“I got my first ice show-er after the game,” Garzasaid. “I have been coach-ing for 15 years, and that

a win against the RedAnts.

“In the first game wewanted to get the win, butthings did not go ourway,” Garza said. “Thekids were determined to

scored two late goals to se-cure the game with threeminutes left to play.

The Hawks pressed onoffense and found theback of the net threetimes.

In the first half, Zapatacame out determine to get

had never happened tome.”

Pressing offenseZapata (1-1-0) was led by

the legs of offensive dyna-mo Renato LeDuc, who

ZAPATA HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER

A VICTORY FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS

Members of the Zapata High School boys’ soccer team pose with coaches and volunteers following a game at Hawk Stadium.

Courtesy photo

Soccer team beats Progreso for first win of inaugural seasonBy CLARA SANDOVAL

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

See SOCCER PAGE 2B

MIAMI — For 86 of theNFL’s best players, the sea-son is ending where theywanted: in Miami.

Their timing’s off,though.

With a new venue andnew slot on the league cal-endar, the Pro Bowl will beplayed Sunday as a prelim-inary to next week’s SuperBowl on the same field.

It definitely feels like awarmup act.

“There’s a bittersweettaste,” said quarterbackTony Romo, a late additionto the NFC roster after hisDallas Cowboys came uptwo wins shy of a SuperBowl berth. “You’re al-ways hoping to play in thebig game.”

Making changesThe NFL is trying to

transform the Pro Bowl in-to a bigger game by play-ing it before the SuperBowl for the first time. Ina one-year experiment, the

league also moved thegame from Honolulu, itshome since 1980.

The results: increasedmedia coverage and thebest attendance in 51years, with a sellout crowdof more than 70,000 expect-ed.

The changes haven’thelped participation,though. Seven Colts andseven Saints are missingbecause they’re preparingfor the Super Bowl, adrawback to playing thePro Bowl first.

Defections by playersciting injuries were high,as usual. More than a doz-en pulled out, leaving theall-star teams with onlysome stars.

“That has been histor-ic,” said Frank Supovitz,the NFL’s senior vice pres-ident for events. “That’snothing new.”

And that’s not what theleague sought to fix bychanging the date and siteof the game, Supovitz said.

“The changes weremeant to look at twothings: Whether we couldcreate more excitement

with the Pro Bowl beingthe first event of SuperBowl week, and whether itwould have an impact onTV ratings,” he said.

Higher anticipationTicket sales show the

Pro Bowl feels bittersweetNFL’s best in the right place at the

wrong time with Super Bowl loomingBy STEVEN WINE

ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Jan. 17 file photo, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romowarms up before a divisional playoff game against the MinnesotaVikings in Minneapolis.

Photo by Andy King | AP

See PRO BOWL PAGE 2B

Seven prominent ath-letic figures will be in-ducted into the LatinAmerican InternationalSports Hall of Fame to-night for the organiza-tion’s 35th anniversary.

The ceremony will beheld at the Laredo CivicCenter at 7 p.m.

“The fact that we start-ed back in 1975 makesthis sports Hall of Famereally special,” said PeterLizcano, one of four foun-ders that also include Pi-tin Guajardo, Andy Ra-mos and Eduardo Cava-zos. “It is a tribute toLaredo and the supportwe have gotten over thesemany years.”

The seven inducteesare:

Milka Duno: An ac-tress, author and one ofthe most successful fe-male race car drivers inthe world. She was thefirst woman in history towin a major internation-

al race in North Ameri-ca, and the first Hispanicwoman to qualify for andcompete in the Indy 500.

Juan Manuel “Dinami-ta” Marquez Mendez: One ofMexico’s boxing greats.He compiled a record of29-1 and defended theNABO title seven times.

Juan Francisco OchoaZazueta: Long-time Mexicoand Laredo businessmanand sports enthusiast. Hedevoted endless financialcontributions to the localyouth’s educational andsports activities over thelast 22 years.

Shashi and Priya Vaswa-ni: Established the Lare-do Heat Soccer Club in2004. They also establish-ed the Laredo Heat YouthLeague and are strongambassadors for thesport in Laredo.

Magdalena Rosales Or-tiz: Honored for her workwith the Mexican Profes-sional Baseball Hall ofFame. She was involved

HOF to honorathletes todayInductees, others will be recognized

By DENNIS SILVA IITHE ZAPATA TIMES

See HALL OF FAME PAGE 2B

PAGE 2B Zscores SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2010

heavily in the museum, itsadministration and theprocess of electing thosewho are enshrined there.

Armando Gonzalez: Atthe age of 22, has 17 yearsof experience in Tae KwonDo, eight as an amateurboxer. He won the NationalBlackbelt League SuperGrands World Games inNiagara Falls, Canada, in1999. He fought 16 times tocapture the world cham-pionship. He has been na-tionally-ranked No. 2 andNo. 5 by the NationalBlackbelt League, and No.7 by the World Sports Kar-ate Federation.

Joanne Bruni Maddox:“The Little Laredo Golferwith the Big Swing.” Atthe age of 16, she made thecover of “Golf World”, a na-tional magazine, as a“Promising Young Star.”

The honors began Fri-day, when the inducteeswere given a Laredo wel-come at the Palenque Grill,hosted by FranciscoOchoa, who was acknowl-edged as this year’s Sports-man of the Year.

Also on Friday, some ofthe inductees toured Lare-do and made several stopsat local schools to visit

with students from theUnited and Laredo inde-pendent school districts.

“We have been able tobring major sports figuresfrom every sport to our

city to honor them fortheir athletic excellence,while also recognizing ath-letes and supporters of ath-letics from the local andsurrounding area,” Guajar-

do said. “This unique op-portunity opens Laredo tothe world of sports and fo-cuses attention on our cityevery year at this time.”

A time capsule will be

buried at the Laredo Inter-national Airport today at 2p.m. to commemorate theorganization’s 35th anni-versary.

It will be reopened in

2045. Items placed in thecapsule will outline howthe Latin Sports Hall ofFame got started and howit has recognized many in-ternational, national andlocal sports figuresthroughout the past 35years.

The event is open to thepublic.

“This is a great opportu-nity for families to bringtheir children and visitwith our honorees,” Ramossaid.

Along with the seven in-ductees, the organizationwill also recognize:

The 2008 Del Mar base-ball team: Southwestern Re-gional champs that repre-sented Laredo at the Ju-nior League World Seriesin Taylor, Michigan.

The 1958 St. Joseph’s A-cademy Antlers: UndefeatedTCIL District champion-ship football team.

The 1993 Hustlers men’ssoftball team: Captured theTexas ASA State slowpitch Class C champion-ship.

Arlene Averill: NixonHigh girls’ basketballcoach who reached a ca-reer milestone with 500wins in December 2009.

HALL OF FAME Continued from Page 1B

The 2008 Del Mar baseball team, which represented Laredo at the Junior League World Series, will be honored tonight.

Courtesy photo

excitement level is up, Supovitzsaid. And he’s optimistic aboutthe television audience for thegame.

“It’s being shown on a week-end when there’s usually nofootball and interest in the NFLis at its highest,” he said.

Those tuning in will see es-tablished stars such as Ray Le-wis, Antonio Gates and DeMar-cus Ware, as well as first-timePro Bowlers such as DeAngeloWilliams, Clay Matthews andMatt Schaub. The TV audiencethey attract will help the NFLdecide where and when to playfuture Pro Bowls.

The game will return to Ho-nolulu in 2011 and 2012, but theleague hasn’t decided whetherto hold those games before orafter the Super Bowl. The ProBowl site for 2013 and beyondhasn’t been determined.

Mixed reactionPlayers had mixed reactions

to this year’s changes. Manysaid they preferred the oldschedule so those in the SuperBowl could also be available forthe Pro Bowl.

“I’d rather have it after theSuper Bowl,” 49ers linebacker

Patrick Willis said. “I truly be-lieve next year we’re going to bein the Super Bowl, and I wantto play in the Pro Bowl too.”

But Romo said he could seethe appeal of putting the ProBowl first.

“There’s something to be saidfor playing the game during the

season,” he said. “I think morepeople are interested.”

By moving the game to theSuper Bowl site, the NFL creat-ed a bigger spotlight for the ProBowl. There are 1,076 creden-tialed media members thisweek, compared with 334 in Ho-nolulu a year ago.

That’s good for the league,and maybe not so good for theall-stars.

“There’s a lot more mediahere, that’s for sure,” said eight-time Pro Bowl center Kevin Ma-wae, addressing a throng of re-porters after an AFC practice.“It’s not as relaxed here. There’s

a little more hustle and bustlehere than there would be at theresort where we stay in Ha-waii.”

Staying relaxedStill, practices this week were

pretty laid back. AFC offensivelinemen ran pass patterns.Browns kick returner JoshuaCribbs took a wildcat snap. Ea-gles receiver DeSean Jacksonthrew a pass on an end-around.Bengals receiver Chad Ochocin-co practiced punting and kick-ing and said he may boot one inthe game.

The primary goal seemed tobe having a few laughs, whichat the end of a long season wasunderstandable. For playerswho came up short of the SuperBowl, the Pro Bowl can be aconsolation prize worth accept-ing.

Running back Adrian Peter-son decided not to play, thenchanged his mind two days af-ter his Vikings lost in the NFCchampionship game.

“I was beating myself up, andthen I realized that reallywasn’t the right route to go,”Peterson said. “I’m here, andI’m going to enjoy myself.”

PRO BOWL Continued from Page 1B

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo (9) and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb (5) throw during a prac-tice for the Pro Bowl on Friday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Photo by David J. Phillip | AP

come out and perform betterthan the first game. They wantedto win.”

Historic goalThe first goal of the game was

scored by Edgar Martinez in the10th minute of the contest.

Martinez will go down in theschool’s record as the first personto score a goal for the ZapataHigh School soccer program.

The Hawks played great de-fense that kept the Red Ants atbay through out the first half.

Goalkeeper Mario Gonzalezprotected the net from any would

be score by diving and deflectingballs away from the net to givehis teama 1-0 lead heading intohalftime.

“He plays with the most heartand courage because he plays themost demanding position,” Garzasaid. “In soccer, being a goalie isvery demanding because you willget tested.”

Staying hungryDuring halftime Garza remind-

ed his team that the lead wasgreat but they had to continue tomove the ball on offense andtighten their defense if they

hoped to preserve a win.The Hawks responded to Gar-

za’s words and picked up theirlevel of play a notch with an ag-gressive offense.

Zapata was not satisfied withits 1-0 lead because a goal by Pro-greso would knot the game upand possibly keep the Hawksfrom collecting their first win.

“I told them that they neededto be more aggressive on offenseif they were determined to keepthe lead,” Garza said.

Locking it upWith the clock ticking away,

Garza could feel the excitementin the air, but in the game of soc-cer all you need is that one op-portunity to score and Zapatawas not going to let the game getaway.

The Hawks added their secondand third goals in the last threeminutes to secure the victory.

LeDuc becomes the first Zapatasoccer player to score two goals.

When time expired, all thatGarza could think about was histwo assistant coaches, Sergio Pe-rez and Tommy Rodriguez, whohave been instrumental in theteam’s early success.

“I can not say enough aboutmy assistant coaches,” Garza

said. “They have helped the kidstremendously.”

Upcoming gamesThe Hawks will have another

opportunity when the face the Hi-dalgo JV this morning and Garzahas the same expectations for theteam.

“Their varsity won the state ti-tle last year, and that means thatthe JV will be just as tough,” hesaid. “We are expecting a bigchallenge.”

(Clara Sandoval can be reachedat csandovalzapata-times@gmail.com)

SOCCER Continued from Page 1B

Raymondville who walkedaway with a five-point vic-tory, but Zapata did nothelp its cause, missingmany key free throws.

Sluggish startAgainst the Lady Lions,

the Lady Hawks had asluggish start and dugthemselves in a hole early

on in the game.“We did not come out

and play our game,” Guer-ra said. “We missed toomany layup and easyshots underneath the bas-ket.”

Zapata fell behind 32-17at halftime, and thingscontinued to go downhill,as the team was down byas many as 25 points inthe third quarter.

The Lady Hawks dugdown deep inside andmounted a comeback ofhistoric proportions tomove within six points ofLa Feria.

Comeback heroesLeading the comeback

heroics was Mela Marti-nez, who pumped in nine

points and played somestingy defense that startedto keep the Lady Lionsaway from the basket.

“We were down, but thegirls kept fighting,” Guer-ra said. “I am very proudof them.”

Guerra lauded the playof Martinez and super subsophomore Estela Molina,who scored 12 points inthe second half.

games left in district anddoes not take any oppo-nent lightly.

Zapata has the LadyTarpons, Progreso and thefirst-place Lady Piratesleft on its schedule.

“The season comesdown to the last threegames, and we have tocontinue to work hard inpractice to see positive re-sults,” Guerra said.

“She came off the benchand scored 12 points, allin the second half,” Guer-ra said. “She is maturingas a player with eachgame, and I am proud ofher.”

Big games leftGuerra knows the im-

portance of the last three

BASKETBALL Continued from Page 1B

TRANSACTIONSBASEBALL

Major League BaseballMLB: Suspended Florida minor league 1BAdam Kam (GCL Marlins) 50 games after test-ing positive for the performance-enhancingsubstances and free agent 3B Duanel Jones50 games for violating the minor league drugprevention and treatment program.

National LeagueCHICAGO CUBS: Agreed to terms with OF Xa-vier Nady on a one-year contract.

FLORIDA MARLINS: Agreed to terms with RHPDerrick Turnbow on a minor league contract.WASHINGTON NATIONALS: Agreed to termswith RHP Miguel Batista on a minor leaguecontract.

American AssociationLINCOLN SALTDOGS: Acquired OF Argelis Nu-nez from Laredo (United) for cash.ST. PAUL SAINTS: Signed LHP Ryan Morse.SHREVEPORT-BOSSIER CAPTAINS: SignedLHP Richard Salazar.SIOUX CITY EXPLORERS: Signed OF DustinJones.

Can-Am League

WORCESTER TORNADOE: Released RHP JusefFrias.

BASKETBALLAmerican Basketball Association

MUSIC CITY STARS: Announced the suspend-ing operations for the remainder of the sea-son.

FOOTBALLNFL

ARIZONA CARDINALS: Announced the retire-ment of QB Kurt Warner.PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: Promoted Howie Ro-

seman to general manager.WASHINGTON REDSKINS: Signed LS NickSundberg to a reserve/futures contract.

HOCKEYNHL

DETROIT RED WINGS: Assigned C Justin Ab-delkader to Grand Rapids (AHL).PHOENIX COYOTES: Recalled F Mikkel Boedk-er from San Antonio (AHL).

ECHLKALAMAZOO WINGS: Announced D Will Col-bert was called up by Worcester (AHL).READING ROYALS: Signed F Chase Watson.

Loaned F Bryan Ewing to Springfield (AHL).

SOCCERMLS

COLUMBUS CREW: Named Mike Tremblestrength and fitness coach.RED BULL NEW YORK: Announced it acquiredallocation money from the Philadelphia forswitching places with Philadelphia in theMLS allocation order, moving from first tosixth.

COLLEGEARKANSAS STATE: Named Tafadzwa Ziyenge

women’s soccer coach.MINNESOTA: Agreed to terms with footballcoach Tim Brewster on a two-year contractextension through the 2013 season.NORTH TEXAS: Named Mike Canales offen-sive coordinator.UNC-WILMINGTON: Announced the resigna-tion of Benny Moss, men’s basketball coach.Named Brooks Lee men’s interim basketballcoach.SAN DIEGO STATE: Signed Mike Friesen, wom-en’s soccer coach, to a three-year contractthrough 2012.WESLEYAN, CONN.: Named Shem Johnston-Bloom men’s lacrosse coach.

Administrator of Home HealthPlans implements,evaluates overall

development,management andadministration of home care agency,its branches and services. We are a

fast growing company located in Laredo looking for exceptional tal-ent. If you would like to apply for theposition and have a Home Health,

Hospice,or other HealthcareAdministrator experience,please fax

your resume to (956) 796-3266,attn: Casey Wilson.

Sales RepresentativeResponsible for developing and main-

taining customer relationships withidentified target or geographic targetmarkets,particularly physicians and

industry in Agency’s region. Toapply, fax resume to (956)

796-3226, attn: Casey Wilson

TRUCKS FOR SALE 198

03’ Dodge Caravan SXT 85k, DVD, CD changer,$5,999 Call 237-1730

‘99 Jeep Wrangler,6 cyl.,Auto &Air,Hard-Top,Clean.$ 5900,

722-6239 or 744-6239

‘04 Dodge Ram Lonestar edition 1500, blue title, 6cyl.,Chrome “20 rims, 60Kmiles,sand/gray color, $6.800 OBO

call: 333-5863; 333-0496

Chevrolet Surburban 02’,LT, 104k miles, leather

int., $8,999 call 237-1730Expedition ‘05,Aire aconditionado,

Piel,72K mil.,2301 SAnchez

956-333-1915 $8,300

GMC 1976 work truck,new paint, motor & lots of

new parts, 2,800 OBO,Call 206-0604

Trail Blazer ‘04 LS,Low miles,Very

clean, $7,500 obocall 645-3757

CARS FOR SALE 200‘06 Malibu, 4cyl., Grey.Blue Title $4000 Call

724-1514

Chrysler 300 Touring ‘06,73k mi., lthr. interior,all pwr., new rims 22.

$10,800 OBO Call:(956)771-0053

235-7554

‘94 Buick Roadmaster, 5.7L $2,700 OBO. Must See Call 744-3351Buick Le Sabre ‘00,Tan,

excellent cond., 56k mil.,$5,900, call 754-4066

Chevy Malibu ‘05,$4,800, 72k mil.,

4cyl, good condition,reg in Texas, call

284-5882

G6 Pontiac 06’,4dr,digital,MP3,HID,4cyl, very clean,blue

title,$5,100 obo call265-0217

Nissan Altima ‘02,blue title, $5,000, good condition,

Call 284-5882

ARTICLES FOR SALE 136

TV 52” HD,Excellent Condition $250 Call

763-9506

TRANSPORTATION

HEAVY EQUIPMENT 192

1996 1.5 Ton Isuzu truck,A/c, good Condition

$4,200, 693-9452 Mr RiosVendo

MontacargasDeawood a gasmodelo GC255

capasidad 5,000lbs, $3,300 Call

956-235-2311AUTOMOTIVE PARTS 194

1 Rim & tire for Expedition 6 lugs, $120 OBO

Call 645-9650

20” Chrome Rims& Tires, universal,

$550 Call235-8916

Ford Lincoln Towncar 4.6 motor y transmission completo y accesorios

$500 OBO Call: 775-2767

MOTORCYCLES 196

2003 Honda 4wheeler400EX red, exec. cond.

$2,200 OBO call:775-0086;

721-6405 with Angie orOscar

TRUCKS FOR SALE 198

‘04 Ford Excursion XLT,blackw/tan interior,125Kmiles,

loaded,XM satellite radio,DVDw/2 screens, ‘20 rims.$8,500

or $6500 w/originalrims&Tires

call 744-5400

‘00 Durango 3 seats, dual a/c,$3,200 OBO Call: 235-4506;

135*841*5373

‘00 Ford E-450 Super Duty 50k mi.w/air compresor & welder,ReadyTo Work. $12,500 OBO Call

Joe 956-645-2399

1996 GMC 24 Flatbead w/forklift.$60,000 OBO call: 235-72721998 Ford Expedition super clean$3,750 OBO call: 401-8878

‘03 Chev.Silverado Z-71,Ext.Cab,W/Head-Rack & Tie Down Bars.Clean $7300 722-6239 or

744-6239

‘04 Grand Cherokee,LimitedEdition,Perfect Condition,Blue

Title.$7800 OBO Call 774-1806

PETS & SUPPLIES 1283yr old pure breed male boxer $150

Call 956-236-6694Anatolian Shepherd

7mo.w/shots,1 Female $300 Call 237-1333

Golden Retriever puppies,6 wks.old, $100 ea.

Call:(956)324-5667Gouldian Finches.

$95. Call 722-6209JACK RUSSELL TERRORS6wks,1st shots,4m,2f,$200ea

Call 319-0088

Lady Gouldian Finches 1-red faced finched male,1-orange faced finched female with cage $250

Call 744-5400Male rabbits for Sale $10ea. Call

236-6694

Min.Schnauzer Puppies Blk,tan,1st shots,dewormed,tail clipped,registered parents, $300 Call

956-337-8947Toy Chihuahua Apple head puppies for sale, AKC, 1st shots, dewormed,

$250 call: 319-2469Yellow Labrador, male, 1 yr old.

$100 call:237-1333

LIVESTOCK & SUPPLIES 130

Chihuahua Toy Puppies M/F $150 & up 229-4027

Minature Pony for sale $900 OBO female, gentle good for kids.

Call:229-0306Se venden 2 borregas, 1 chiva, 1 cabra . starting

$225.Filiberto Longoria220-0008

MISCELLANEOUS

ARTICLES FOR SALE 136

Bar-B Que Pits Heavy Duty1/4inch new casing.Top quality

weld.Last a lifetime,all sizes available $175 & up

Call Cesar 763-0143

Estufa de gas, buenas condiciones $250

956-568-2525For sale dinning table w/ 8

chairs, chinet & buffet.$1,500 OBO call:251-2401Jack La Lanne’s Power Juicer $50

Call:722-7477Picnic tables-6ft. tables $125other sizes available Call

722-1731Refrigerator & Stove,Whirlpool,

Perfect Condition. $450220-6895

Se hacen pasteles 3 leches y normales para

fiestas. $25 & up.Inf:(956) 401-1976;

(956) 206-1586Vendo Rejas de fierro para portony ventanas.Y Porton electrico 15

pies.$450 Info:956-775-9349

HELP WANTED

HELP WANTED 122

HELP WANTED 122

Attn: DriversOTR Singles and Teams Needed!!

NationalDistributors Leasing

Recruiting Company Drivers and Owner

Operators!* Great Pay and Benefits!

* Excellent Home Time Hazmat and TWIC a Plus 607 Grande Central Blvd. Laredo,

TX 78045877-334-9677

www.drive4ndl.com

ConstructionSuperintendent

5 years experience in large ground up construction required. Salary position with Benefits, pay negotiable based on

experience Fax resumes to 361-851-1717

DOCK SUPERVISORNight Shift

Responsibilities:Set up Dock for shift,assist anager,phones / assist in office,coordi-nate pickups/deliveries,overseedockworkers & proper loading of

freight. Other duties as ssigned.Requirements:HS

diploma/GED,LTL freight knowl-edge,dock management & dis-

patch exp.req.,prior trucking exp& good computer skills (AS400 &MS office req.) Solid knowledgeof area Competitive Pay &

BenefitsApply in person atEstes Express Lines

630 Enterprise StreetLaredo,TX 78045Or fax resume to956-712-3374EOE/M/F/D/V

DriverLooking For Stability?

Find It Here!

We Pay Weekly!!* 100% No-Touch Freight* Late-Model Equipment

* NO Hazmat* Paid Vacation

* Health Insurance, 401 (k)Class A CDL, 1 Yr OTR

Food Grade Tank Carrier800-877-2430

www.indianrivertransport.com

Washer & Gas-Dryer Good Condition, $320

Call 337-8701

PETS & SUPPLIES

REAL ESTATE

HOMES FOR SALE 612 homes 2615 Salinas

L.I.S.D, CAH, brick $85,000neg

956-729-77533304 Morelos Dr. 3bd/2ba /1cg $120,000 negotiable

744-0480CONDOS FOR SALE 64

3/2.5 1327 sqft.On Loop 20 rearcovered patio,appliances

includes.1020 Dickey Ln #1$105,000 Call 337-8859

Regency Oaks Townhomes for sale, 4246 Dorrel 2 & 3 bed-

room, starting $87,900. Close to Target South. Call

956-237-2377MOBILE HOMES FOR SALE 67

Mobile home for sale! 5008 Misson Ln 2bd/1ba +7 lots, $20,000 OBO Call

martha 830-556-2280 Hablo Espanol!

LOTS FOR SALE 70

Se Vende terreno en Nuevo Laredo, $10,000,Sr. Juarez Tel 645-2761

ACREAGE FOR SALE 762 acres for sale, fenced, in Ranchito Las Lomas w/ 3bd/2ba Home, a/c,2 ponds, big palapa & bar-bq grill &

other extras $75,000 No Finance Available. Call 764-0316

100ac. mile 60 Hwy 35 High fence,$330,000 Finance Call 722-4447

UNFURNISHED HOUSES 100

Can you afford $500 month(includes taxes, insurance) for ahome of your own? TRUE “0”

interest/30 years.Habitat for Humanity. 724-3227.Equal Housing Leander

Helpcontrol your

owndestiny bystaying intouch withthe world

around you.

Start YourSubscription

Now ByCalling

728-2555

To place anad in our

Classifiedscall

728-2527

THE ZAPATA TIMES | 3BSATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2010

A WINDOW OF WORRYDear Readers: BIRDS some-

times have a hard time tellingthe difference between the reflec-tion in a window or a slidingdoor, and the sky. We have hadthem fly into our window and beseriously hurt and even killed!It’s a sad sight to see a dead birdoutside the sliding door. Here arefew hints from our friends at theAudubon Society to help preventthis:

* Hang “sun catchers” on theoutside of windows.

* Install a full screen on a win-dow.

* Put decals on the outside. * Hang tinsel in small clumps

of strands on the top of the out-side window frames.

Birds tend to collide withglass windows more during mi-gration and breeding seasons.Making a few changes couldhelp save lives. -- Heloise

CANDLE BURNINGDear Heloise: For years I have

avoided burning candles becauseI feared my rambunctious catmight set the house on fire. I re-alized today that I can burn can-dles in my kitchen sink and inmy tiled walk-in shower, wherethey can do no harm. They’renot pretty, but I do get the benefitof the wonderful aromasthroughout the house. -- TinaWinnett, via e-mail

SEND A GREAT HINT TO:HeloiseP.O. Box 795000San Antonio, TX 78279-5000Fax: 210-HELOISEE-mail: Heloise@Heloise.com

HINTS BY HELOISE

“HELOISE

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES Sports SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 2010

MIAMI — Peyton Man-ning, the Big Easy.

Hardly a stretch for anickname, you know. TheNFL’s dominant playercan claim New Orleansheritage, after all. At 6-foot-5, 230 pounds, he’s noshrimp. And as the onlyfour-time league MVP, hemakes this quarterbackingthing look simple.

Yet when Manning leadshis Indianapolis Colts ontothe field next Sundayagainst the Saints in asjuicy a Super Bowl match-up as anyone could imag-ine, all of Nawlins — heck,pretty much any place inBayou Country — will bewishing the worst on theirnative son.

Sorry, Peyton, the Saintstake precedence in theirquest for a first NFLchampionship.

Exciting chanceManning, whose father

Archie was the first Saintssuperstar, understands.

“It’s certainly an excit-ing opportunity for ourteam to be going back tothe Super Bowl down inMiami, and I’m very hap-py for the New OrleansSaints and, of course, theentire city of New Or-leans,” Peyton Manningsays. “My parents livethere, my older brotherCooper lives there. Eli andI have both participated inphilanthropic organiza-tions down in New Or-leans, whether it’s Katrinarelief or just various char-ities. So New Orleans is ahuge part of my life, aswell as Eli’s life. My dad’sbeen a part of the Saintsorganization for 39 yearsin some ways. We definite-ly have strong ties.

“The Saints have had agreat year. They deserveit, and I know the city isexcited. And the New Or-

leans Saints players dojust wonderful things forthe community downthere. It’s been a great re-lationship between theplayers and fans, and whata great way for these play-ers to reward them with atrip to the Super Bowl.”

Party spoilerBut it’s Manning’s job to

spoil the party, to put mi-sery into the Miami MardiGras for those Saints andtheir fans. Nobody is bet-ter equipped to do so.

Manning once was crit-icized for failing to winbig games, and his careerplayoff record is just 9-8.He’s won six of the lasteight, though, and led theColts to the championshipthree years ago, in therain in Miami. Indy is 16-2this time around, and itmight have been a perfect18-0 if the Colts hadn’tpulled Manning and other

starters in the final tworegular season games.

Manning set an NFL re-cord for 300-yard playoffgames with his seventh inlast week’s AFC cham-pionship win over the Jets.He has 22 TD passes andaverages 284 yardsthrough the air in thepostseason.

Against two of theleague’s stingiest defenses— Indy beat the Ravens be-fore the Jets — Manningwas masterful.

The Saints (15-3) aren’texactly the 1985 Bears. Ondefense, they’re not eventhe 2009 Colts.

Still, Manning is cau-tious.

The unexpected“You know a team is go-

ing to have a Super Bowlpackage,” he says. “Thereare two weeks to prepare.You have to prepare forthe unexpected.”

The unexpected? Suchas the Aints in the SuperBowl?

Let that one roll aroundyour mind like the goodtimes on Bourbon Street.

The Saints were one offive teams never to get thisfar; the Lions, Jaguars,Browns and Texans arethe remaining outsiders.Clearly, now, the Aints aredead, and a franchise thathad no home in 2005 afterHurricane Katrina rav-aged New Orleans has be-come one of the most suc-cessful clubs in the na-tion’s most popular sport.

And while Indy has be-come as much a footballtown as a basketball haventhanks to Manning andhis minions, it’s difficultto find any city as infat-uated with — or as de-pendent on — its team asNawlins is now.

Nothing has providedquite the boost that theSaints’ ascendancy hasgiven New Orleanians.

Saints-Colts a Super storyBy BARRY WILNERASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Jan. 24 file photo, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning passes during a win over theNew York Jets in the AFC Championship game in Indianapolis. The Colts play the New Orleans Saints inSuper Bowl XLIV on Sunday, Feb. 7, in Miami.

Photo by Mark Duncan | AP

Super Bowl XLIV couldeasily become a battle ofoffenses.

When the Saints havethe ball, Drew Brees willbe its biggest weapon.

New Orleans scored 510points to lead the leagueand has 76 in two playoffgames.

The Saints have gotteneveryone involved, withBrees, the NFL’s most ac-curate passer, throwing forsix TDs while not beingintercepted.

Brees has more mobili-ty than Indianapolis quar-terback Peyton Manningand is effective, even bril-liant at times, throwing onthe run.

When he uses shortdrops for quick-hittingplays over the middle,Brees can be unstoppable.

So Colts defensive endsRobert Mathis and All-ProDwight Freeney need toget in his face rapidly.

If not, Brees will findwide receivers MarquesColston, Devery Hender-son, Robert Meachem,Lance Moore and tightends Jeremy Shockey andDavid Thomas.

Shockey has beenplagued by right kneeproblems and Thomas hascapably filled in.

Indy will deploy lots ofcornerbacks to handle thewideouts, including KelvinHayden, a hero of the Su-per Bowl win over theBears; rookies Jacob La-cey and Jerraud Powers,who missed the AFC titlegame with a left foot prob-lem; and Tim Jennings.

What the Colts must

avoid is winding up withstandout safeties AntoineBethea or Melvin Bullittin single coverage on run-ning back Reggie Bush.

The dynamic Bush is amake-or-break propositionfor New Orleans, and he’smost dangerous in thepassing game.

Nose tackle Dan Muirand active linebackers Ga-ry Brackett and Clint Ses-sion are key to slowingthe running attack led byPierre Thomas, Bush andMike Bell.

Head coach Sean Pay-ton is the architect of theSaints’ on-field turn-around from stumblingnomads to offensive pow-erhouse and NFC cham-pions. Brees was his hand-picked quarterback, andtogether they’ve gotten theSaints to their first twoconference title gamesand, now, the Super Bowl.

Brees key tohis team’sgame plan

By BARRY WILNERASSOCIATED PRESS

In this Jan. 16 file photo,Saints quarterback DrewBrees points during a playoffvictory in New Orleans.

Photo by Patrick Semansky | AP