1. THE SILENT
FEATURE
By Bradley Wilson, Ph.D.
bradleywilson08@gmail.com
©2014
!
Photos remain copyrighted
by the original photographers.

6. Spring forward
Remember to set your
clocks one hour ahead.
SUNDAY, MARCH 9, 2014 SERVING THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY SINCE 1909 75 CENTS DAILY
Bieber fever culminates at concert
By Karen Antonacci
and Elizabeth Findell
The Monitor
HIDALGO — As the open-
ing act took the stage Saturday
night at State Farm Arena, a
group of young girls waited at
the back exit, hoping to catch
a glimpse of someone not even
scheduled to perform.
Four Fossum Middle School
seventh-graders screamed at
the mere mention
of Justin Bieber’s
name. They said
they could not
get into Saturday
night’s Selena Go-
mez concert, as it
had been sold out
for weeks.
No matter. They
had other business to attend to
Saturday night.
“Being a Belieber, following
him is like our job,” said Caro-
lina Villarreal, 13. “We follow
him, even through all the nega-
tive press, his Beliebers are
here.”
For those of you who, like,
don’t know (and you totally
should), “Belieber” is what the
Canadian superstar’s diehard
fans call themselves.
Hype about Gomez’s concert
— the second time she’s taken the
stage at State Farm Arena — ex-
ploded Friday when word spread
of Bieber’s unannounced arrival
Activists
question
useof
drainage
money
By Jacob Fischler
The Monitor
EDINBURG — In a time
of increased public scrutiny
of Hidalgo County’s drain-
age district, some activists
are complaining Precinct 3
has been keeping the blinds
closed on its finances.
In a period over the past
fewweekswhentheHidalgo
County Drainage Board has
sought to increase trans-
parency on the process of
spending the $185 million
county voters approved in
two recent bond elections,
about $1.4 million in money
allocated for colonia drain-
age projects in Precinct 3
remained unaccounted for
until Friday.
Drainage district manag-
ers passed out documents
at a citizen’s advisory board
meeting last month that
broke down some of the
spending and provided sta-
tus updates on the related
projects. Although the pa-
perwork showed Precinct 3
Commissioner Joe Flores’
officehascommittedalmost
$2 million — more than any
other precinct — for ru-
ral drainage development
projects, no projects from
that precinct appeared on
another document outlin-
ing the status of all the other
rural drainage projects.
In a Friday letter to
County Judge Ramon Gar-
cia, Flores said the total is
closer to $1.4 million. The
county’s public relations
office also forwarded to The
Monitor a list of 12 colonias
impacted by drainage work
under way in the La Joya
Watershed in Precinct 3. But
constituents and commu-
nity activists have had more
trouble getting access to
that information.
Wikileaks
founder
talksat
Austin
festival
By Barbara Ortutay
The Associated Press
AUSTIN — Speaking over
Skype from the Ecuadorian
embassy in London, fugi-
tive WikiLeaks founder Ju-
lian Assange
said his living
situation is a
bit like pris-
on — with a
more lenient
visitor policy.
He also
hinted that
new leaks
are coming from WikiLeaks,
though he gave no specifics
on what these might be.
Assange, who has been
confined to the embassy
since June 2012, discussed
government surveillance,
journalism and the situation
in Ukraine on Saturday in a
streaming-video interview
beamed to an audience of
3,500 attendees of the South
By Southwest Interactive
festival in Austin.
Assange’s hourlong re-
moteappearancewasspiked
with technical glitches. As
the audio cut out, he some-
times asked audience mem-
bers to raise their hands
if they could hear him.
See ASSANGE | 12A
See MONEY | 12A
See STARS | 12A
Julian Assange
hints at more
releases while
appearing via Skype
About $1.4M in
funds for Precinct 3
colonia projects are
unaccounted for
A girl
and her pigAbove, Karina
Vela gets a hug
and kiss from her
father, J.J.Vela,
after placing third
in the STAR Show
Feb. 27 at
Edinburg
Municipal Park.
At left, Sophie
looks up at Karina
during feeding
time Feb. 27 at
the Ag Farm in
Edinburg.
Photos by Delcia
Lopez | dlopez@
themonitor.com
By Elizabeth Findell | The Monitor
I
n jeans, sweatshirts and
spangled belts, the teenagers
lined up against the Edinburg
stock show grounds rail last
month, laughing and talking with
friends, snapping photos, a few
crying, and all scanning anxiously
for their own charges.
The emotion intensified as the pigs were
herded down the aisle, hopping and squeal-
ing. Karina Vela, 16, clustered with her
friends Priscilla Zarate and Yulissa Cabello,
joking with other friends nearby.
See COMPETITION | 14A
When youths raise
competition livestock,
emotions run high
Barbara Ortutay | The AP
Fugitive Wikileaks founder
Julian Assange speaks
Saturday via Skype at the
South By Southwest Interactive
festival in Austin.
There is more than $129
in savings via coupons in
today’s issue of ‘The Monitor.’
INSIDE
SMART AVINGS$
Assange
Pop star
Selena
Gomez
sings
Saturday in
a show at
BorderFest
at State
Farm Arena
in Hidalgo.
Joel
Martinez |
jmartinez@
themonitor.
com
Selena Gomez performs
Saturday at BorderFest;
star sightings continue
Bieber

7. By Jacob Fischler
The Monitor
EDINBURG — In a time
of increased public scrutiny
of Hidalgo County’s drain-
age district, some activists
are complaining Precinct 3
has been keeping the blinds
closed on its finances.
In a period over the past
fewweekswhentheHidalgo
County Drainage Board has
sought to increase trans-
parency on the process of
spending the $185 million
county voters approved in
two recent bond elections,
about $1.4 million in money
allocated for colonia drain-
age projects in Precinct 3
remained unaccounted for
until Friday.
Drainage district manag-
ers passed out documents
at a citizen’s advisory board
meeting last month that
broke down some of the
spending and provided sta-
tus updates on the related
projects. Although the pa-
perwork showed Precinct 3
Commissioner Joe Flores’
officehascommittedalmost
$2 million — more than any
other precinct — for ru-
ral drainage development
projects, no projects from
that precinct appeared on
another document outlin-
ing the status of all the other
rural drainage projects.
In a Friday letter to
County Judge Ramon Gar-
cia, Flores said the total is
closer to $1.4 million. The
county’s public relations
office also forwarded to The
Monitor a list of 12 colonias
impacted by drainage work
under way in the La Joya
Watershed in Precinct 3. But
constituents and commu-
nity activists have had more
trouble getting access to
that information.
By Barbara Ortutay
The Associated Press
AUSTIN — Speaking over
Skype from the Ecuadorian
embassy in London, fugi-
tive WikiLeaks founder Ju-
lian Assange
said his living
situation is a
bit like pris-
on — with a
more lenient
visitor policy.
He also
hinted that
new leaks
are coming from WikiLeaks,
though he gave no specifics
on what these might be.
Assange, who has been
confined to the embassy
since June 2012, discussed
government surveillance,
journalism and the situation
in Ukraine on Saturday in a
streaming-video interview
beamed to an audience of
3,500 attendees of the South
By Southwest Interactive
festival in Austin.
Assange’s hourlong re-
moteappearancewasspiked
with technical glitches. As
the audio cut out, he some-
times asked audience mem-
bers to raise their hands
if they could hear him.
See ASSANGE | 12A
See MONEY | 12A
releases while
appearing via Skype
funds for Precinct 3
colonia projects are
unaccounted for
A girl
and her pigAbove, Karina
Vela gets a hug
and kiss from her
father, J.J.Vela,
after placing third
in the STAR Show
Feb. 27 at
Edinburg
Municipal Park.
At left, Sophie
looks up at Karina
during feeding
time Feb. 27 at
the Ag Farm in
Edinburg.
Photos by Delcia
Lopez | dlopez@
themonitor.com
By Elizabeth Findell | The Monitor
I
n jeans, sweatshirts and
spangled belts, the teenagers
lined up against the Edinburg
stock show grounds rail last
month, laughing and talking with
friends, snapping photos, a few
crying, and all scanning anxiously
for their own charges.
The emotion intensified as the pigs were
herded down the aisle, hopping and squeal-
ing. Karina Vela, 16, clustered with her
friends Priscilla Zarate and Yulissa Cabello,
joking with other friends nearby.
See COMPETITION | 14A
When youths raise
competition livestock,
emotions run high
Barbara Ortutay | The AP
Fugitive Wikileaks founder
Julian Assange speaks
Saturday via Skype at the
South By Southwest Interactive
festival in Austin.
Assange

8. www.BeaumontEnterprise.com SUNDAY, MARCH 9, 2014 $2.00
ENTERPRISE
BEAUMONT
65/45
30% showers
BE......................1B
Classified ...........6D
Need to Know..... 4A
Obituaries........... 6A
Opinions........... 19A
Puzzles...............2B
Real Estate.........1C
TV......................2B
YourSports..........1D
YourWorld ........... 8A
Vol. CXXXIV, No. 124 Section designed and copy edited by Vic Odegar and Christopher Clausen,VOdegar@BeaumontEnterprise.com
A
fter his legs carried
him 51 miles in a little
over four hours, Seth
Cooke just wanted to take off
his clothes.
He did not want a bite to
eat. Or something to drink. Or
a blow of oxygen.
The Tyler native wasn’t even
thinking about his medals.
Instead, after winning the
Gusher Marathon and then
medaling in the event-first Heads or Tails
Cycling Time Trials on Saturday, Cooke
bypassed the finish line and kept going
— all the way to his white Toyota Yaris
in the Montagne Center parking lot to
get out of his spandex.
GUSHER, page 12A
The burning question from the Tex-
as Education Agency’s flame-throwing
report of the Beaumont school
district’s litany of failures in gover-
nance and administration is whether
the board of trustees and possibly the
superintendent will be swept aside in
favor of state-appointed managers.
The preliminary investigation re-
port, released late last week, details
the district’s failures to detect fraud,
waste and abuse and protect the
BEAUMONT
BISD, page 9A
BEAUMONT
Marathon, half marathon
and 5K results: 16-18A
And now for Boston: 1D
Tyler native Seth Cooke crosses
the finish line first in the Gusher
Marathon on Saturday in Beaumont.
Cooke later placed third in the 40K
Heads or Tails Cycling Time Trials.
Buy photos of the big event:
BeaumontEnterprise.com
.com
View more Gusher photos:
13A and 18A and Beaumont
Enterprise.com/photos
Robert McCallum, left, helps Logan Sofjan with
his numbers before the cycling time trials.
Photos by Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
and Guiseppe Barranco/@spotnewsshooter
Saturday’s competitions in Beau-
mont included a marathon, half
marathon, 5K run and — new this
year — cycling time trials.

9. Need to Know..... 4A Real Estate.........1C
A
fter his legs carried
him 51 miles in a little
over four hours, Seth
Cooke just wanted to take off
his clothes.
He did not want a bite to
eat. Or something to drink. Or
a blow of oxygen.
The Tyler native wasn’t even
thinking about his medals.
Instead, after winning the
Gusher Marathon and then
medaling in the event-first Heads or Tails
Cycling Time Trials on Saturday, Cooke
bypassed the finish line and kept going
— all the way to his white Toyota Yaris
in the Montagne Center parking lot to
get out of his spandex.
GUSHER, page 12A
The burning question from the Tex-
as Education Agency’s flame-throwing
report of the Beaumont school
district’s litany of failures in gover-
nance and administration is whether
the board of trustees and possibly the
superintendent will be swept aside in
favor of state-appointed managers.
The preliminary investigation re-
port, released late last week, details
the district’s failures to detect fraud,
waste and abuse and protect the
BEAUMONT
BISD, page 9A
BEAUMONT
Marathon, half marathon
and 5K results: 16-18A
And now for Boston: 1D
Tyler native Seth Cooke crosses
the finish line first in the Gusher
Marathon on Saturday in Beaumont.
Cooke later placed third in the 40K
Heads or Tails Cycling Time Trials.
Buy photos of the big event:
BeaumontEnterprise.com
.com
View more Gusher photos:
13A and 18A and Beaumont
Enterprise.com/photos
Robert McCallum, left, helps Logan Sofjan with
his numbers before the cycling time trials.
Photos by Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
and Guiseppe Barranco/@spotnewsshooter
Saturday’s competitions in Beau-
mont included a marathon, half
marathon, 5K run and — new this
year — cycling time trials.

10. It’s your job
• Photojournalism is more than just snapping pictures.
That’s for amateurs.
• Photojournalists are ‘paid’ to report.
Photographers are not.
Photojournalism is more than just snapping pictures. That’s for
amateurs. When on assignment, it is as important to gather
written notes about a scene, including information from the
people in the photo, as it is to capture the visual image. Caption
information is vital, and without it a photo will not be published.

11. Photo by Pete Ellis

12. JASON IVESTER

13. Have a notepad and pen
Well, first and foremost, as obvious as this sounds,
EVERY photojournalist should have a notepad
and a pen with them.
Jason Ivester, photojournalist, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

14. A student crowd surfs during the Avett Brothers' performance at Pack Howl. Photo by Aria Behrouzi

15. SURFING
Eli Tiller, a senior in biochemistry, crowd surfs during The Avett
Brothers’ performance at Pack Howl. “I have crowd surfed before,
but the crowd surfing in Reynolds was the best I’ve ever done,”
Tiller said. “Everyone was tossing me back and forth like the first
place hot potato at the State Fair. It seemed like I was up there for a
couple of hours.” Photo by Aria Behrouzi

16. Julio Aparicio, one of Spain's most famous matadors, was gored in the throat May 22, 2010 during a bullfight. The injury left him in critical condition. “[The horn] went
through the tongue and penetrated the roof of the mouth, fracturing the jawbone,” one of the medics who worked on Aparicio told AFP news in Madrid. After two
operations, surgeon Maximo Garcia Pedros saved Aparicio's life. Other matadors, however, quickly killed the bull. The incident took place during the Festival of Saint
Isidro, considered to be the most important event in the bullfighting calendar, at the Plaza de Toros las Ventas bullring, which can seat up to 24,000 people.

17. ROUND ONE: BULL
Julio Aparicio, one of Spain's most famous matadors, was gored in the throat May 22, 2010 during a bullfight. The
injury left him in critical condition. “[The horn] went through the tongue and penetrated the roof of the mouth,
fracturing the jawbone,” one of the medics who worked on Aparicio told AFP news in Madrid. After two
operations, surgeon Maximo Garcia Pedros saved Aparicio's life. Other matadors, however, quickly killed the bull.
The incident took place during the Festival of Saint Isidro, considered to be the most important event in the
bullfighting calendar, at the Plaza de Toros las Ventas bullring, which can seat up to 24,000 people.

18. Parts of caption
A good caption has four parts:
• a headline,
• an identification sentence,
• a secondary information sentence,
• a quote.

19. Headline
The headline should be a clever title
verbally linked to the photograph.
A pun works well here when appropriate.

20. What might be a good
headline for this image of a
student at the U.S. Naval
Academy crowd-surfing at a
football game?

21. Identification
The identification sentence explains exactly
what is going on in the photo, names all visible people
and is written in present tense.
Avoid beginning with a name
and don’t overuse gerund phrases.

22. Identification
In short, the first sentence in a caption
at least answers the questions
who
what
when
where

23. A NEW STAR
N.C. State Men's Tennis freshman
David Chermak poses for a photo
outside the J.W. Isenhour Tennis
Center. Chermak joins the
Wolfpack's team after an
impressive record at Sanderson
High School, where he went
88-10 in his singles career. At
State, Chermak is 7-6 in singles
play and 2-5 in doubles play with
fellow teammate Derek Stephens.
Photo by John Cosgrove

24. A NEW STAR
Freshman David Chermak joined
the team after going 88-10 in his
singles career at Sanderson High
School. Chermak is now 7-6 in
singles play and 2-5 in doubles
play with teammate Derek
Stephens. Photo by John
Cosgrove

25. Who would you talk to
and what questions would you ask?

26. Ask questions
As for the second or more sentences,
the photographer should ask reporter-style
questions to find more information
that isn’t quite obvious.
Jason Ivester, photojournalist, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

27. Secondary
The secondary information sentence…
ADDS INFORMATION that is not obvious in the photo
and is written in past tense.
Includes information from the interview.
Maybe answers the questions why and how.

28. HOWL
Jenny Randol, a
freshman in
industrial
engineering, and
Josh Fisher, a
freshman in
biochemistry,
enjoy themselves
during Playfair at
Convocation in
the RBC Center on
Monday. Photo by
Dreier Carr.

29. Who would you talk to
and what questions would you ask?

30. Quotation
A quote at the end adds the feeling of being there.
Use feelings and opinion in quotes.
Don’t just quote facts.

31. Get quotations
It doesn’t hurt to get quotes while on assignment.
There’s nothing wrong with putting a good quote in a cutline.
Jason Ivester, photojournalist, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

32. AUSTIN DOWD

33. Get quotations
A photo without a caption is like a movie without sound.
Austin Dowd

34. Shimmying out of the water, Tim Scranton, a sophomore in middle school math education, makes his way out of the 39-degree water of Lake Raleigh during
the 2008 Polar Plunge. Scranton plunged as a part of the Sadlack's Heroes team who raised between $450 and $500 for the event. Rose Schwetz, the owner
of Sadlack's Heroes and winner of the Oldest Polar Plunger award, put up the first $250 and the rest came from tip jars for customers and whoever else to
add to. Scranton has volunteered for the Special Olympics off and on for the past 10 years and helped out at the Summer World games when they were held
in Raleigh. "We just thought it was a great cause, Special Olympics is a worthy cause and always needing more support," Scranton said, "Whatever we could
do we were more than happy to do it." Photo by Logan Smith.

35. COLD WATER
Shimmying out of the water, Tim Scranton, a sophomore in middle school math education, makes his way out
of the 39-degree water of Lake Raleigh during the 2008 Polar Plunge. Scranton plunged as a part of the
Sadlack's Heroes team that raised between $450 and $500 for the event. Rose Schwetz, owner of Sadlack's
Heroes and winner of the Oldest Polar Plunger award, put up the first $250 and the rest came from customer tip
jars. Scranton has volunteered for the Special Olympics off and on for the past 10 years and helped out at the
Summer World games when they were held in Raleigh. “We just thought it was a great cause, Special
Olympics is a worthy cause and is always needing more support,” Scranton said, “Whatever we could do, we
were more than happy to do it.” Photo by Logan Smith.

36. Final thought
Without a doubt, the captions are
the most-often-read copy in any publication.
Make them worth reading.

37. By Bradley Wilson, PhD
Midwestern State University
bradley.wilson@mwsu.edu
bradleywilson08@gmail.com
Twitter: @bradleywilson09
The End
M
UP IN FLAMES u Chemical changes and physical
changes such as the one Trey Grubb watches in
chemistry class were an ordinary part of the new
science

38. curriculum.

39. “Sometimes

40. the

41. flames

42. went

43.
up about three feet causing the heat to somewhat
‘singe’ the ceiling,” said freshman Mike Payne.
Photo by Cameron Livingston.
Looking at a picture
without a caption is
like watching televi-
sion with the sound
turned off.
captions
y yearbook editor brought me a great re-
action photograph to use on a division page.
I remembered the moment in the photo and
didn’t want to include it in the book even
though it was up close and in focus.
The photo showed a girl who was the
last to be named to our homecoming court.
Whoopee. Her name was the last called at the
end of the pep rally, and she tumbled down
the bleachers squealing in front of the entire
student body. Finally she made it to the gym
floor where she collapsed into the arms of her
best friend. I had never seen a more ridicu-
lous display in my entire life; furthermore, I
thought this child seriously needed to get a
life if being on homecoming court made her
this happy.
My editor countered that this was a great
photo. I argued that we shouldn’t encourage
this type of reaction by rewarding it with a
dominant photograph on the division page.
It was up to her, but I would never use it.
Period.
As a rule, we included a quote in each cap-
tion in the yearbook. So the editor, Glenda,
interviewed the girl, Krista, thinking a quote
better than “I can’t believe they called my
name,” would persuade me to bestow my
blessing upon her using the photo.
A GREAT STORY
Glenda interviewed Krista at length and
found a wonderful story, a story no one would
have known without an in-depth caption.
Krista’s last name began with a “W,” and
by some goof from the office, the names were
called out alphabetically though few had real-
ized it. Fourteen other girls made the court;
only one spot remained. The world was grow-
ing dim for Krista as each slot passed by.
Neither popularity, a chance for queendom,
nor a new suit, none of these things, had been
the motivation for Krista’s excitement. Krista
had five older sisters who had attended the
same school, and all five had been members of
the homecoming court. Krista, the youngest,
didn’t want to be the only one in her family
not to make the court.
She couldn’t recall exactly what had hap-
pened that afternoon, she just remembered
the rush of relief she felt when she heard her
name.
A great story would have been lost had an
obstinate adviser had her way. It became the
dominant photo on the spread. Glenda was
right.
BY LORI OGLESBEE
LAYOUT AND DESIGN
BY ADAM FORTNER AND BRADLEY WILSON