Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 129, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 16, 2009 Page: 3 of 10
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Sweetwater/Nolan County City-County Library.
- Highlighting
- Highlighting On/Off
- Color:
- Adjust Image
- Rotate Left
- Rotate Right
- Brightness, Contrast, etc. (Experimental)
- Cropping Tool
- Download Sizes
- Preview all sizes/dimensions or...
- Download Thumbnail
- Download Small
- Download Medium
- Download Large
- High Resolution Files
- IIIF Image JSON
- IIIF Image URL
- Accessibility
- View Extracted Text
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Sweetwater Reporter
Thursday, April 16, 2009 ■ Page 3
„ . w , RUBEN HERRERA
Holy Mass of Christian burial for Ruben Herrera, 43, of
Roscoe, will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 18, 2009, at
Immaeulate Heart of Mary Catholic Church with Father
Michael Rodriguez officiating. Burial will follow at Roscoe
Cemetery under the direction of McCoy Funeral Home.
J’os5!3' he held at 7 p.m. Friday, April 17, 2009, at
McCoy Chapel of Memories.
Herrera died Wednesday, April 15, 2009, at Hendrick
Medical Center.
US captain freed
by Navy snipers
arrives in Kenya
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERS
MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — The American sea captain held
hostage for five days by Somali pirates reached port
rhursday, with the U.S. destroyer that rescued him docking
to the strains of "Sweet Home Alabama" hours after his crew
reunited with their families back home.
Capt. Richard Phillips of the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama
cargo shin was brought into Mombasa harbor aboard the
USS Bainbridge, which blared out the Lvnyrd Skynyrd hit
that includes the words "I'm coming home to you." The
destroyer hoisted the U.S. flag as it arrived.
Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, gave himself up as a
hostage to ensure the safety of his crew. He was freed
Sunday by Navy SEAL sharpshooters who killed his three
captors with three single shots taken from the Bainbridge
amid choppy seas.
Phillips wife, Andrea, and two children were still home in
Vermont and did not know when or where they would meet
him, according to her mother, Catherine Coggio.
"We’re just so thankful that things have turned out the way
they have," Coggio told The Associated Press from her home
in Richmond, Vt.
Phillips plans to spend Thursday night on the Bainbridge
because "he is among people he knows, that's how he wants
it," said Maersk shipping line spokesman Gordan van Hook.
He would not say when Phillips planned to fly home.
A charter plane has been on standby to whisk Phillips
home, according to a security official at Mombasa airport
who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to speak to the media.
Phillips’ crew members held a joyful reunion with their
families early Thursday at Andrews Air Force Base in
Maryland after a long flight from Mombasa. One crewman,
carrying a child toward the terminal, shouted, "I'm happy to
see mv family!" Another exclaimed, "God bless America."
Earlier Thursday, another U.S. cargo ship, the Liberty Sun,
arrived in Mombasa, its bridge damaged by rocket-propelled
grenades and its windows shattered by gunfire after a pirate
attack Tuesday.
The attack on the Liberty Sun underscored the outlaws'
ability to act with impunity despite international naval oper-
ations and mounting concern worldwide over how to halt the
escalating piracy off the Horn of Africa.
A pirate whose gang attacked the Liberty Sun also claimed
his group was targeting American ships and sailors.
"We will seek out the Americans, and if we capture them,
we will slaughter them," said a 25-year-old pirate based in
the Somali port of Harardhere who gave only his first name,
Ismail. "We wall target their ships because we know their
flags."
The Liberty Sun's 20 American crew members crew suc-
cessfully blockaded themselves in the engine room and
warded off the attack with evasive maneuvers.
The ship, carrying food aid for hungry Africans — includ-
ing Somalis — was damaged "pretty badly" on its bridge, a
U.S. official said on condition of anonymity because he was
not authorized to speak on the record.
On Wednesday, French naval forces launched an early-
morning attack on a suspected pirate supply ship 550 miles
(880 kilometers) east of Mombasa, seizing 11 men and
thwarting an attack on the Liberian cargo snip Safmarine
Asia, the French Defense Ministry said. No one was injured.
The ministry said the vessel was a larger ship that pirates
use to allow their high-speed skiffs to operate hundreds of
miles off the coast.
In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
announced new diplomatic efforts to freeze the pirates’
assets and said the Obama administration will work with
shippers and insurers to improve their defenses against
pirates.
"These pirates are criminals, they are armed gangs on the
sea. And those plotting attacks must be stopped, Clinton
said at the State Department.
Clinton did not call for military force, although she men-
tioned "going after" pirate bases in Somalia, as authorized by
tlie U.N. several months ago. She urged the U.S. and others
to "explore ways to track and freeze pirate ransom money
and other funds used in purchases of new boats, weapons
and communications equipment.
The measures outlined by Clinton are largely stopgap
moves while the administration weighs more comprehensive
diplomatic and military action.
Maritime experts say military force alone cannot solve the
problem because the pirates operate in an area so vast it ren-
ders the flotilla of international warships largely ineffective.
The European Union said Thursday it is boosting its anti-
piracy fleet off the Somali coast to 11 ships, with the addition
of three Swedish frigates in May. The European force's main
task is to escort cargo ships carrying U.N. World Food
Program aid to hungry Somalis.
Nearly a dozen countries, including the United States,
have anti-piracy operations in the Gulf ot Aden, off the
Somali coast, one of the world's most important shipping
areas.
Most hijackings are resolved by shipping companies,
which pav million-dollar ransoms and more to get their
ships and crews back. They then recoup the money from
insurance companies, which charge high premiums to tra-
verse the dangerous waters off Somalia.
The Gulf of Aden, which links the Suez Canal and the Red
Sea to the Indian Ocean, is the shortest route from Asia to
Europe. More than 20,000 ships cross the vital sea lane
every year. It is becoming more dangerous by the day.
In 2003, there were only 21 attacks in these waters. In less
than four months this year, there have been 79 attacks, com-
pared with 111 for all of 2008, according to the International
Maritime Bureau.
Somali pirates are holding more than 280 foreign crew-
men on 15 ships - at least 76 of those sailors captured in
recent days.
Halfway across the world, a passing ship rescued 10 sailors
left adrift in a lifeboat by Indonesian pirates who hijacked
their tugboat in the South China Sea last week. Philippine
officials say the pirates held the sailors for six days before
setting them adrift on the lifeboat.
Associated Press tvriters contributing tins report include
Mohamed Olad llasson in Mogadishu, Somalia; Michelle
haul, Malkhadir M. Muhumed and Todd Pitman in Nairobi,
Kcnna; Eliane Enqeler in Geneva; Jenny Barchfield in
Paris; and Pauline Jelinek in Washington.
Manteca woman mistaken
for girl's alleged killer
MANTECA, Calif. (AP) — Melissa Huckaby, the Tracy
woman accused of kidnapping, raping and murdering a
neighbor girl, has been described as a 28-year-old Sunday
school teacher and single mother of a 5-year-old.
A woman with the same name who lives 14 miles away is
also a 28-year-old Sunday school teacher and single moth-
er of a 5-year-old.
The improbable similarities have created inevitable con-
fusion.
News crews keep calling or approaching Melissa
Huckaby of Manteca looking for the woman accused of
killing 8-year-old Sandra Cantu. And so many people post-
ed threatening messages on her MySpace page that the
misidentified Huckaby says she canceled her account.
"I get death threats all the time," Manteca's Huck
told the Tracy Press. "I've had news vans at my house. My
picture has been all over the media. I'm honestly scared for
my safety."
Her relatives say the arrest of the Tracy woman have put
an unwelcome spotlight on them, too. Pat Huckaby, an
uncle who lives in Tracy, said his three sons dread going
back to school after spring break because of their locally
infamous surname.
She and her parents, with whom she lives along with her
children, said they are speaking out about their ordeal in
hopes of clearing up the matter.
"All it takes is for one person to take matters into their
own hands," Cyndi Huckaby told the Press, of the unfortu-
nate coincidences between her daughter and Sandra’s
alleged kilwr. "All of a sudden our lives are turned around.
And it's not our fault."
Huckaby, the murder suspect, is being held without bail
at a San Joaquin County jail.
Meanwhile, the other Huckaby said she has spoken to
co-workers, the staff at her children's daycare and mem-
bers of her church about the situation.
"So everyone in my life knows about the mix-up," she
told the Press. "I just want everyone else in the country to
know."
Public memorial
planned for Tracy girl
TRACY, Calif. (AP) — Thousands of people are expected
to attend a memorial service Thursday for an 8-year-old
Tracy girl who was found dead in a pond last week, 10 days
after she disappeared from the mobile home park where
she lived.
About 2,600 mourners are expected to fill a high school
gymnasium to pay tribute to Sandra Cantu, who was
allegedly killed by a Sunday school teacher who was the
mother of Sandra's playmate.
Another 500 people are expected at an overflow room
with video of the service and audio will also be piped to
loudspeakers at the West High School football field, which
seats 7,000 people.
State Attorney General Jerry Brown and Sen. Barbara
Boxer, D-Calif., are expected to speak at the service.
Cantu's gruesome death has shocked and terrified resi-
dents in Tracy, a city of about 78,000 people, 60 miles east
of San Francisco.
Several dozen people, including family, friends and some
police officers who've worked on the case, gathered
Wednesday for a private funeral for Sandra. A horse-
drawn carriage then carried the casket to the Tracy
Mausoleum.
Sandra's burial came a day after her alleged killer, 28-
year-old Melissa Huckaby, was arraigned on a murder
charge with the special circumstances of kidnapping and
sexual assault. The woman lived down the street from the
Cantu family and is the mother of one of Sandra's play-
mates.
Police have not said how', where or why Huckaby may
have killed the little girl, whose body was found April 6
stuffed in a suitcase that was pulled from an irrigation
pond about two miles from home.
Republicans hope to
capitalize on anti-tax
sentiment expressed by tea
party crowds nationwide
ATIANTA (AP) — Republicans have lost their grip on
Congress and the White House, but they claim to have
American anger over taxes and the economy on their side
as tens of thousands turned out for anti-tax "tea parties"
around the country.
Wednesday's rallies used the dreaded April 15 — the U.S.
deadline to file income taxes — as a hook to vent about
government spending and corporate bailouts in an homage
to the Boston Tea Party.
The tea parties were promoted by FreedomWorks, a con-
servative nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington
and led by former Republican House Majority Leader Dick
Armey of Texas, who is now a lobbyist.
Organizers said the movement developed organically
through online social networking sites such as Facebook
and Twitter and through exposure on Fox News and pro-
motion from conservative pundits and bloggers
While FreedomWorks insisted the rallies were nonparti-
san, they have been seized on by many prominent
Republicans who view them as a promising wax for the
party to reclaim its momentum against President Barack
Obama's administration and other Democrats.
Avondale Baptist Church
Spring Revival
Evangelist Robert Barge
Special Music - Ken Northcutt
Sunday April 19
10:50 am £r 6:00 pm
Monday April 20th
Tuesday April 21st
Wednesday April 22nA
Nightly at 6:30 pm
1405 Hoyt Street
Sweetwater, Texas
For more information contact the
( linn h Office 235 5H35
National Briefs
US crew who thwarted pirates
return to US to reunite with
families without hero captain
ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md. (AP) - A rainy morn-
ing outside the nation's capital couldn't dampen the spirits of
the crew of the Maersk Alabama, who returned to the U.S. a
week after their ordeal off the coast of Somalia.
After they disembarked the charter flight from Kenya early
'lliursday, one crewman, carrying a child toward the terminal,
shouted, "I'm happy to see my family."
Another exclaimed, "God bless America."
The crewmen were greeted at Andrews Air Force Base
around l a.m. EDT by several dozen family members who
crowded onto the wet tarmac near the arriving plane, waving
small flags in the unseasonably cool air. A bevy of reporters
and cameras captured the scene, which included a banner
adorned with yellow ribbons reading "Welcome Home
Maersk Alabama" that shipping company employees erected
near the ninway.
The crowd erupted in cheers and whistles and applause as
the crewman, carrying bags and belongings, climbed down a
ramp from the plane to hugs and kisses from family members.
Obama heads to Mexico to
offer solidarity in drug war,
launching 1st Latin America trip
WASHINGTON (AP) — Confronting a security threat on
America's doorstep, President Barack Obama is venturing into
the heart of Mexico. His swift diplomatic mission is meant to
show solidarity with a neighbor — and to prove that the U.S. is
serious about halting the deadly flow of drugs and weapons.
During his stop in Mexico City on Thursday, Obama will
emphasize cross-border cooperation and probably put a focus
on clean energy, but the economic crisis and the bloody drug
trade have set the tone.
Among the other touchy points are disagreement over a
lapsed U.S. assault weapons be.., a standoff over cross-border
trucking and immigration.
The escalating drug war in Mexico is spilling into the United
States and onto Obama's lap as a foreign crisis much closer
than North Korea or Afghanistan. Mexico is the main hub for
cocaine and other drugs entering the U.S.; the United States is
the primary source of guns used in Mexico's drug-related
killings.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon's aggressive stand
against dmg cartels has won him the aid of the United States
and the prominent political backing of Obama — never as evi-
dent as on Thursday, when the popular U.S. president is sure
to stand with Calderon on his own turf and note his courage.
Expelled UN nuclear inspectors
remove seals, cameras from
reactor before leaving North Korea
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) U.N. nuclear experts ordered to
leave by North Korea amid an escalating standoff over the
regime's recent rocket launch departed the country Thursday.
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency left
the main site in Yongbyon north of Pyongyang after removing
seals and surveillance cameras, a diplomat close to the U.N.
agency said Wednesday. He spoke on condition of anonymity
because he was not authorized to release the information.
They arrived in Beijing on a flight Thursday from Pyongyang,
but declined to speak to reporters.
Four U.S. experts monitoring the nuclear plant in Yongbyon
also were preparing to depart after North Korea ordered them
out, the State Department said.
The expulsions come after the Security Council unanimously
condemned North Korea's April 5 rocket launch as a violation of
previous resolutions barring the North from ballistic missile-
related activity. The U.S., Japan and other nations have accused
North Korea of using the launch to test long-range missile tech-
nology since the delivery systems for sending satellites and mis-
siles are similar.
Today's Trading
Change
DOW
7,975 77
-53 85
NASDAQ
1.630.05
+3.25
S&P
848 20
-3 86
General Motors
1 87
-0 02
Ford Motor Co
4 02
-0 02
ATS T
25.76
+0.31
PepsiCo, Inc.
51 37
-067
USG Corp.
10.72
+0.37
Archer-Daniels
25 87
-0 02
GE
11,93
+0.10
Deere S Co
3883
-031
McDonalds Corp.
54,30
+0.35
Chevron Texaco
6563
-1.07
Exxon Mobil
67.32
-0.82
Fst Fin Bnkshs
48.03
-076
Coca-Cola
44 63
-0.40
Dell
10.51
+0.31
SW Airlines
663
-1.01
Microsoft
19.20
+0.37
Sears Holdings Corp.
54 18
+0.81
Cisco
17.97
+0.41
Wal-Mart
51 39
+0.10
Johnson S Johnson
51 84
+0.07
YOU CAN’T CONTROL
THE WORLD,
BUT YOU CAN CONTROL YOUR DECISIONS.
Sometimes the market reacts poorly to world
events, but just because the market reacts
doesn't mean you should. Still, if current events
are making you feel uncertain about your
finances, you should schedule a complimentary
portfolio review. That way. you can make sure
your in control of where you want to go and how
you get there.
Call or visit your local finacial advisor today.
«rww c(1ward|ones com
JasonS Blake
financial Advisor
H
SvcnctW.llfl
w am <*> •*'
. v;
.NS, i,
■t ■>
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Rodriguez, Tatiana. Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 129, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 16, 2009, newspaper, April 16, 2009; Sweetwater, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth559840/m1/3/?q=%22~1~1~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sweetwater/Nolan County City-County Library.