Laredo Morning Times (Newspaper) - January 5, 2007, Laredo, Texas Lost in Mexico GPS for migrants mm Dallas extends win streak to 12 sw I IB Woman rules House Nancy Pelosi takes ove LAREDO I SECURITY FBI Crime spike in 06 Laredo police say FBI numbers are way different than ours WEBB COUNTY I COURTS LAREDO MORNING TOES Violent crimes in rob bery aggravated assault forcible rape and during the first of 2006 according to the recently released FBI Preliminary Semiannual Crime Report The report finds the city with 548 violent crimes committed during the period of Jan uary through June 2006 up from 475 com mitted during the same period in 2005 Although the report seems grim Laredo Po lice Department spokesman Juan Rivera said the UCR does not reflect records kept inhouse 1 dont know how they are doing their tal ly he said The UCR numbers are way different than ours According to the report forcible rape is up from 26 cases in 2005 to 44 cases in 2006 rob rose from 104 in 2005 to 118 in 2006 and aggravated assault cases jumped from 534 in 2005 to 576 in 2006 The report listed murder as down from 11 victims in 2005 to 10 victims in 2006 al though by the end of 2006 the city would ring in the New Year with 24 homicides the most it has seen since 2005 The statistics provided by city county and federal agencies and compiled by the FBI do not provide the whole picture statistics for all 12 months of 2006 have not been released Rivera said counts by the police depart ment were lower than the and that See PAGE i A f i ABOVE The sign says ft all the Suite Nino Branch Library at 2200 Zacatecas St closes today for renovations that will take about a year BROW Custodians at the library cart away computers Thursday in preparation for the remodeling that will more than double the space available to patrons Santo Mno Library to dose for a year LAREDO MORNING TIMES Residents of south Laredo have to do without it for almost a year but in late 2007 an improved San to Nino Branch Library will reopen If s going to be boring without the said seven year old Albert Salinas Salinas is a regular at Santo Ninos computer center The computer games are my favorite he said Santo Nino located at 2200 Zacatecas St will close to day at 6 and open again between September and De cember after being renovated According to Homero dry library outreach services manager there will be a few more computers for Salinas Mends when the project is completed Conviction overturned Lancon could be set free in couple of months LAREDO MORNING TIMES A state appeals court has over turned the 2004 conviction of Fer nando Lancon who was sent to prison after a jury found him guilty of murdering an old baby Fernando Soliz III was inad killed in a shooting on June 11 2005 Three men were arrested and charged with murder Prosecutors bad argued that the three men started shooting at two other individuals during an argument and the bullets missed accidentally killing the child A jury found one of the defen dants not guilty and the other two including Lancon were sent to prison Lancon was 17 years old at the time of his conviction In a rare move last week the Fourth Court of Appeals over turned the jurys decision hold ing that the facts of the case do not support a guilty verdict The vote was 2 to 1 with Justice Rebecca Simmons dissenting The target of the shooting Hector Dominguez had fied Lancon as the shooter but other witnesses said it was Lan cons brother Eduardo According to the s ion Dominguez first testified that he did not recognize anyone in po lice lineups shown to him the night of the shooting but he later agreed that he was 100 percent certain that the shooter was Lancon Lancon had told the jury that he was driving around with a friend at the time of the shooting See PAGE ZAPATA COUNTY Angel Garza steps down LAREDO MORNING TIMES After more than 50 years of public service San An gel Garza is stepping down The longtime Zapata County commissioners term ended Dec 51 and Garza chose not to run for reelection because he believes if s time to give someone else a shot at the job And he didnt want to hang around too long he said Commissioner Garza ed exceptional service not only to the people of his district but also to the entire county said Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonza lez Garza is known as a commis who is dedicated to the people Gonzalez said He was a friend of law enforcement and the fire department and will be sore ly missed he added Garza was elected to six terms on the Zapata County Commis GARZA Court I believe government is about listening to the people Garza said He started teaching school in 1970 after at tending Texas Kingsville and Laredo Junior College and kept teaching at Zap ata Independent School District after being elected justice of the peace in 1974 He said that he ran for office because he was fresh out of col lege and saw an opportunity to participate in government some thing that interested the young history mejor As a justice of the peace Garzas job was mostly dealing with the Department of Public Safety on weekends He didnt like LAREDO I CRIME STOPPERS kick off Menudo Bowl Laredo Crime Stoppers kicked off publicity for its annual Menudo Bowl on Thursday serving up what else but menudo along with other treats at their headquarters on Washington Street hi its 12th year the fundraiser will be held from 11 ajn to 7 pjm on Jan 20 at the Laredo Interna tional Fair and Exposition grounds and will include several old favorites team roping a mo show live music food booths beverages a childrens area with rides and games and a newly announced addition a car show Adult admission is and free for children 12 years of age and younger Event proceeds are Crime Stoppers primary funding source for its administrative activities educational resources and re wards program Crime still looking for participants for the main spec tacle the Menudo said Carolyn Leyendecker executive director Were really excited she said We have 30 teams signed np al ready and we have a limit of 50 teams so people need to hurry The competition which in cludes the Peoples Choice Award is operated under strict cooking guidelines no mixes or menudo may be used plus all in must be added individ on site The winning teams are eligible for cash prizes In the open divi sion winners can take home while second place of fers third place touts a prize and fourth and fifth places receive a plaque A showmanship award also has a prize Hector Morales program director with Guerra Communi cations was among last years win ners but said he couldnt give out his secret ingredient because it was a culmination of teamwork But whatever it was the secret sauce made the menudo very popular Last year we made 50 pounds and it was finished in a matter of 15 minutes he said This year we will try to make 100 Tasting for the famous Menudo begins at 1 pm Another big draw to the grounds is the fifth annual mo show which has three Officers of the Laredo Crime Stoppers gather of menudo Thursday as they announced the 12th Annual Menudo Bml to be held at the grounds Jan 20 Pictured from the left are Amador Juarez Colleen Rodriguez Lynne Nava and Estella Quintanilla
