LISD has been described byits former and current leadersas a district where a problemis found under every rockthat’s turned over.

From academics, securityand safety issues to mainte-nance and employee account-ability, Superintendent A.Marcus Nelson and his cabi-net said they will continue tohammer away at the many is-sues facing a district onetrustee described as being“on fire.”

“I will not leave any stoneunturned because I’m notafraid of what’s underneaththat rock,” Nelson said inlate December. “I believe inaccountability for all.”

This semester, increasingstandardized test scores, thebilingual program, and se-curity and safety top the to-do-list for Nelson and theLaredo Independent SchoolDistrict Board of Trustees.Another issue is healthand wellness.

“It’s going to be a chal-lenge,” said Nelson, joking-ly noting the $42,000 Blue

PUBLIC EDUCATION

LISD: THE GOOD,THE BAD, THE UGLY

By NICK GEORGIOU LAREDO MORNING TIMES

See LISD PAGE 16A

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COWBOYS WIN BIG

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MAJORITY LEADER REGRETSOBAMA RACE REMARKS

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128th Year,No. 201, 159 pages

Hundreds of elderly citi-zens bundled up ingloves, jackets, bea-nies and sweaters —

and some with a double set ofsocks— to protect themselvesfrom the cold weather Saturdaymorning.

Dressed up in many layers aspossible, they walked inside theSouth Texas Food Bank to pickup their monthly bag of grocer-

ies.About 500 elderly people

picked up the bags as part ofCommunity Supplemental FoodProgram, where people olderthan 60 and children not on theWIC program receive a bag offood.

Also inside the STFB, agroup of volunteers fromFriends Health Care wanted togive back to the people.

On their table, they had cook-ies and coffee.

Roxanne Reyna, a registered

nurse, said volunteers were onboard checking people’s bloodpressure and glucose levels.

“We do volunteer work aspart of our community hours tohelp assess the needs of thecommunity,” Reyna said.

She added that concerns inthe community are diabetes andhypertension.

“We’re checking on that,” shesaid.

Mario Esparza, 79, arrived af-

CHARITY

Gustavo Gonzalez slowly goes down the steps outside the South Texas Food Bank after recieving two boxes of food Sat-urday morning.

Photo by Ulysses S. Romero | Laredo Morning Times

FOR ELDERLY, A BAG OFHELP ON COLD MORNING

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ LAREDO MORNING TIMES

See HELP PAGE 16A

LA FLORIDA, Mexico — Notso long ago, grateful villagerswho fled to jobs across the Unit-ed States erected a monument tothe dollar bill in this communityof dirt farmers staked to the bar-ren highlands of central Mexico.

Today, amid the worst hardtimes in even great-grandpar-ents’ memories, many of thosesame migrants have returnedhome for good to the hungerthey’d hoped to escape.

And the metal dollar monu-ment stands rusting at the en-trance to a small horse trackcarved into the cornfields, a fad-ing memorial to dreams post-poned or abandoned.

“Those who come back willhave nothing,” said Gloria Rami-rez, 36, who was helping relativesa few weeks ago hand-harvest apatch of scraggly corn in theshadow of the sign. “There justisn’t anything here.”

Few of Mexico’s poorer cor-

LABOR

Mexicanssuffer ineconomicrecessionMigrant workers, dirtfarmers fare poorly

By DUDLEY ALTHAUSHOUSTON CHRONICLE

See MEXICO PAGE 14A

LivingArtof

Laredo Morning Times

A&E EDITOR|KIRSTEN CROW, 728-2543

SUNDAYJANUARY 10, 2010

SECTION C

ON THE WEB|LMTONLINE.COM

I recently had the oppor-tunity to visit Austinfor a long weekend —

and while I’ve traveled tothe capital city severaltimes in the past few years,this was one of those tripswhere I had a chance tospend some time enjoyingthe sites.

It was a bittersweet expe-rience reminiscing aboutmy college days in the ’80s.At the time, my sister and Iran a retail store on SixthStreet, which turned out tobe quite an adventure.

Back then, most of Aus-tin was still feeling the eco-nomic pains of the late ’70s.

Austinites never gave up,though. Weekly and month-ly meetings were heldthroughout the city to dis-cuss solutions for the fu-ture. A master plan, whichincluded a convention cen-ter and downtown revital-ization, seemed like only adream.

Twenty years later, I findthat dream became a reali-ty. A vibrant downtown

with condos nestled aboveretail spaces, filled withboutiques, restaurants,spas and bookstores, nowmake up most of the land-scape.

Austin friends tell methere are still issues thatneed to be addressed, butfor the most part, the com-munity followed throughwith its commitment.

Laredo is now embark-ing on a master plan of itsown.

Despite the naysayers,there is a possibility forgreat things to come if welearn to work together, oneday at a time. Meetings will

be taking place to discussthe future of the masterplan, and it’s expected the“average Joe” citizens willbe heard.

This process will taketime and perseverance, butI believe it can be anotherdream that can become areality.

We all need to make acommitment for the longhaul. Patience will be vitalto make this master plan areality.

Dentists host debsLocal dentists Dr. Joe

Castellano and Dr. VanessaCarpenter Castellanobrought bright smiles totheir guests over the holi-days when they openedtheir beautiful home in Re-gency Park for a Society ofMartha Washington debu-tante party, which also hon-ored this year’s George andMartha Washington, Johnand Anna Galo.

Assisting with hostingduties were Karen and Da-vid Hopson, Angela andFred Hopson, Debbie andBarry Gilpin, Tracy andTodd Willliams, Lety andMico Garcia, and ArturoAlexander.

The Castellanos’ homewas elegantly adorned inthe Christmas spirit, pro-viding warm surroundingsfor loads of camaraderie.

Big birthdayCelebrating a bench-

mark birthday, Ramon Sali-do received warm wishesfrom many family mem-bers and friends who de-scended upon Tokyo Gar-den restaurant for a festiveevening.

Liling Huang, owner of

Patience is a virtue when planning for the future

“GABRIEL CASTILLOSurfing the city

See CASTILLO PAGE 6C

Laura Contreras-Rowe beat the odds — atleast according to statistics.

Faced with financial hardship andbearing a great deal of responsibility

from a young age, Contreras-Rowe found herself“through the looking glass,” embodying a storynot unlike Horatio Alger as she reaped successas an adult. It wasn’t easy, she said. She had towork hard to gain her footing and climb inpursuit of her success. But once she found herinspiration, there was no deterrent.

Contreras-Rowe knows,though, that many young Hispan-ic girls struggle to find their ownmotivation.

“The (statistics) aren’t verygood for Hispanic girls,” she said,citing figures that rank Hispanicwomen and girls as having thehighest attempted suicide rate,pregnancy rate and high schooldropout rate, all while being atincreased risk for gang, alcoholand drug activity.

But instead of shaking herhead and mourning the stats,Contreras-Rowe felt motivated totake action.

Troubled by a lack of adequaterole models for girls outside thefamily, the first-time author dovedeep into research to find suc-cessful Hispanic women to fea-ture in her coffeetable book,“Aim High: Extraordinary Storiesof Hispanic and Latina Women,”in order to make those women“more visible.”

“I’m now a successful realtorand entrepreneur — and I want-ed to make a difference,” shesaid. “A couple of people told meto write my story — about Lare-do, about where I came from.(And I thought), ‘I bet there’smore women like me out there.”

She did. Among the womenfeatured in the story are RebeccaGomez Diamond, a Fox Business

Network anchor; Anna EscobedoCabral, former U.S. treasurer;Laura Lopez Cano, an award-win-ning artist; celebrity chef Laura“Chef Lala” Diaz; Anjelah John-son, comedian and actor; and Er-ica Ann Ortiz, drag racer.

There are women of moremodest recognition, but formida-ble ambition: a basketball coachfrom inner-city L.A., a psycholo-gist, a project manager for NA-SA, a U.S. Navy commander.

And among the many whograce the pages, five are from La-redo, including flamenco legendand dance teacher, Cristina Go-dines Greco — the first to agreeto participate in the ambitiousproject — while the “legacy”page features the Ramirez wom-en, including Minerva Ramirez,former principal of Zachary Ele-mentary and owner of Carmin’sFlower Shop; Dr. Carmen Rami-rez-Rathmell, dentist; and MinitaRamirez, Ph.D., dean of TexasA&M International University.

“Aim High” is intended to bearmessages of faith, hope and love,Contreras-Rowe said, and “in-spire you to see beyond your cur-rent circumstances and see thatyou can triumph over any situa-tion in your life.”

“I will never say that it is go-

Author shoots to make Latina role models visible in new book

By KIRSTEN CROWLAREDO MORNING TIMES

See AUTHOR PAGE 5C

SUNDAY, JANUARY 10, 2010 Art of Living LAREDO MORNING TIMES 5C

Jose Luis “Boni” Benavides Lopez shares the holiday spirit with his grandmother, Teresa Martinez Lo-pez, who recently celebrated her 92nd birthday.

Courtesy photos

The St. Augustine advisory board hosted a Christmas gathering for faculty and staff including, stand-ing, left to right, Vidal Cantu, Mercurio Martinez, Fred Santos, Sabas Zapata, Bishop James Tamayo andJesus Romero. Seated, left to right, are Olga P. Gentry and Sylvia Cortez.

Gathering after the baptism of baby Mauricio Esteban Gomez are, left to right, godmother Judi Cruz,parents Miguel and Melissa Gomez, and Marco Heras, godfather.

Tricia Cortez and Alex Iada-paolo are all smiles at a re-cent gathering.

Sonya Sanchez andRobert Lopez taketime out for the cam-era after exchangingwedding vows.

Surfing the City II

By Gabriel Castillo

she ensured the “look” ofit, as well as the editingand writing, were of a pro-fessional caliber.

Each of the 33 stories isaccompanied by a featurephoto of its teller, while thestory itself is told in first-person, as written by Con-treras-Rowe. Many detaildifficult backgrounds, over-come by sheer will power.Contreras-Rowe’s is the lasttold in the book.

The campaignGetting “Aim High” pub-

lished was just one piece ofthe puzzle, Contreras-Rowesaid. The arguably tougherchallenge is getting it intothe hands of the youth it

ing to be easy,” she wrotein her forward. “But I willsay that with tenacity anda positive attitude, you, too,can aim high and over-come.”

Growing upBorn to Olga Ramirez

Brunken and George Con-treras, both originally ofLaredo, Contreras-Rowespent her early childhoodin Dallas, where Hispanicsremained a minority in the’60s and ’70s, she said.

“My parents would notspeak Spanish to us be-cause we were discriminat-ed against so badly,” Con-treras-Rowe said. “I regretthe decision they made, butI understand why they didit.”

Following the divorce ofher parents, Contreras-Rowe returned with hermother and sister to Lare-do due to financial strug-gles. The hardships didn’tend upon arrival. The fam-ily was eviceted from fouror five homes before finallyfinding a permanent resi-dence in a trailer parked inher mother’s parents back-yard.

Both Contreras-Rowe andher sister, Cordy, were fend-ing for themselves at ayoung age. Contreras-Rowe’s mother was a full-time nurse working longhours at Baylor Hospital,leaving the girls often un-supervised in the evenings,and making them respon-sible for getting to schoolin the mornings.

By the time Contreras-Rowe was in middle school,she had already begun ex-perimenting with cigarettesmoking and drugs.

But two circumstancesaltered the path she hadembarked on.

One inspiration was hercousin from New York,

who visited Laredo in thesummers and cast a lighton other lifestyles, big ci-ties and big dreams forContreras-Rowe.

“I wanted to be like themone day — rock stars whocame into town every sum-mer,” she said.

At the same time, she,like many of the women inher book, found salvationin sports as she pursuedgolf and swimming, discov-ering a competitive naturewithin that she didn’tknow she had. It endowedher focus and drive, whiledeterring her from some ofthe poorer choices availa-ble.

Seeking successAfter graduating from

Nixon High School as amember of the Class of1984, Contreras-Rowe firstattended community col-lege before her father invit-ed her to take a job at a fac-tory in Garland. Her em-ployment there, though,didn’t last long — she near-ly lost her hand in a con-veyor-belt accident, result-ing in 50 stitches and a re-turn to Laredo.

Back in the GatewayCity, though, somethingclicked: If she wanted out,she would need to get aneducation.

By 1986, Contreras-Rowewas enrolled in Oral Ro-berts University, located inTulsa, Okla., where shegraduated with a bache-lor’s degree in broadcastdesign and telecommunica-tions in 1990. Shortly after,she moved to VirginiaBeach, Va., where she stillresides, to continue hereducation. That was whereshe met her husband,Keith, who she wed in 1993,and had two children with:Joshua and Austin.

By 2000, Contreras-Rowe

found herself interested inbecoming a realtor to earnextra money for vacations.She discovered that shehad a real knack for thebusiness, and her competi-tive nature made her a nat-ural.

“I had lived in a trailermy whole childhood andnow I was selling theAmerican dream!” shewrote.

The bookIt all started with the sta-

tistics, she said.Disturbed by the num-

bers that prominently fea-tured Hispanic girls at highrisk for destructive behav-ior, she decided to take ac-tion, first by founding the“Why Be Average?” organi-zation, and then, at theprompting of friends andfamily, she began writingher own story. But as shetold her tale, she wonderedhow many other womenout there had similar sto-ries.

“It spun into so manythings,” she said.

Soon, the book took on alife of its own. Contreras-Rowe cut back her hours asa realtor to focus on it, in-vesting countless hours ofresearch, interviews andtraveling the country tomeet her subjects in per-son.

“When I started thebook, I didn’t tell (my sub-jects) what I was doing,”she confessed. “But thesewomen trusted me. Andthat’s one of the coolestthings, I think… there isthis unique sisterhood, abond.”

Unable to sell the book toa publisher, Contreras-Rowe decided to take mat-ters into her own handsand self-published it. Be-fore reaching the actualproduction process, though,

targets. She is currently search-

ing for sponsors to helpfund a campaign to donate50,000 of the books to un-derprivileged schoolchil-dren.

In the process, she wenton a book tour throughoutTexas in December — in-cluding stops in Austin,San Antonio and Laredo —and was featured on theFox Business Network. Theinterview is posted on Con-trera-Rowe’s Web site,www.aimhighbook.com.

The book is scheduled tobe available locally at theTexas A&M InternationalUniversity bookstore, andpossibly as soon as Monday.

Now, Contreras-Rowe ispursuing several follow-up

books to act as a series tothe first, including one“Aim High: ExtraordinaryStories Hispanic and Lati-no men,” as well as a faith-based work.

During an interview inDecember, the authorwinked when she saidshe’d been interviewingsubjects that very weekendfor the upcoming projects,but declined to specify whothe possible subjects maybe.

“I believe God has a pur-pose, and the purpose is tooffer hope and inspirationto this generation of kids,”she said. “I’m excited.”

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

AUTHOR Continued from Page 1C