Victoria Advocate from Victoria, Texas • 9

SECTION 2006. VICTORIA ADVOCATE PUBLISHING CO. The last buzz cut locks Obituaries B2 B3 forward to Victoria Advecata VktoriaAdvocate.com fnCryan yfVCl It was 2006, and it was a year to remember Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN It was a time of war and painful sacrifice, and renewed fears over two newcomers to the nuclear arms club. It was a time when the reins of government in America were handed over to a different political party.

And as it came to a close, time also ran out for a ruthless dictator who died at the hands of his America that wants a new direction in policy. And the issue of illegal immigration from Mexico revealed some deep-seeded differences between Anglo- and Mexican-Americans. Latinos took to the streets in protest of harsher immigration laws, often waving Mexican flags. This seemed to stir up racial turmoil to a level it had not reached in a long time. And the debate is not nearly, over.

SEE JIM, B6 on everyone's list, and in 2006 many of them were sad ones, like the conflict in Iraq. WORLD EVENTS The agonizing cost of American and Iraqi lives in the war-torn country reached a peak, with many Americans who originally supported the invasion of Iraq palling on President Bush to find a way to get our soldiers out of there. During the year, the painful reality of that war struck close to home, as families in this area force? What would happen if Israel took out the nuclear test sites in Iran? How good are the missiles being developed to deliver North Korea's nukes? Many questions, few good answers. BACK AT HOME All those issues may have had something to do with the fact that the Democratic Party was able to take back control of the Congress in the so-called midterm elections. Indeed, most pundits and analysts said the elections definitely signaled an had to bury their sons and were left with only an American flag from the casket as a symbol of gratitude from the nation.

And the hanging of Saddam Hussein could bring more peace to the country or more bitter secular conflict. Time will tell. Our individual Doomsday Clocks may have moved closer to midnight as Iran and North Korea continued research into nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver those weapons. The questions flew fast and furious: Should the U.S. stop them by Crackdown on border is boon for smugglers own people.

It was 2006, and it was one to remember. In late Decern- i i Der eacn year, all 1T1 news organi23" Bishop NEWS TO ME Liima nave uic habit of looking back to gauge the top stories or news events of the year that is passing. I'm sure your list doesn't always agree with theirs. I know mine doesn't. But some events are sure to be one to commit a crime.

And the survey excludes those who made it across and remain in the United States a successful crossing often depends on the expertise of a hired guide. "You're less likely to get caught if you're using a smuggler," said David Spener, an immigration expert at Trinity University in San Antonio. While smugglers have spirited people into the United States since Congress first limited immigration in the 1880s, the current spike coincides with heightened border security following the 2001 terrorist attacks. COMPETITION HEATING UP In this market, where customers pay several times what they did a decade ago, increasingly brazen organizations compete for business. While most smugglers walk their customers several nights across the deserts that dominate the frontier's nearly 2,000 miles, others take frightening risks.

Inspectors at a San Diego crossing found a 14-year-old girl strapped under the metal bars of a car seat, the driver sitting atop her, and occasionally find children inside compartments that once served as the gas tanks. HUACKED CUSTOMERS Smugglers in Arizona have hijacked loads of customers from rivals in one case, resulting in a highway shootout that killed four people in 2003. In Tijuana, across from heavily fortified San Diego and the world's busiest border crossing, three bullet-ridden bodies were found in May, covered with roasted chickens. Spanish slang for a smuggler includes "pollero," literally a poultry handler. "It's become a very good business more dangerous, but a good business," said Daniel Rivera, 63, who recruits migrants walking the streets of Tijuana.

The Border Patrol has grown from 8,400 agents in 1999 to 12,400 agents today and is pro- SEE SMUGGLERS, B5 Sgpf hKW W'W WL raMi SfeF lT.kmtxj,. hi BY ELLIOT SPAGAT THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Toughened U.S. border enforcement has prompted substantially more illegal immigrants to hire smugglers to help them cross over from Mexico -and competition among sophisticated criminal networks for customers has spawned violence and sometimes death. The evidence is abundant in border boomtowns, where human traffickers rustle together flocks of immigrants for the journey north. Further evidence comes from tens of thousands of interviews of illegal border crossers in surveys by a Mexican government-funded research institution, which were analyzed by The Associated Press.

"What was once a discretionary expense has now become a necessity," said Jorge Santibanez, who oversaw the surveys while president of Tijuana-based El Colegio de la Fron-tera Norte. THOSE WHO GOT CAUGHT AP's examination of the sweeping data found the use of smugglers on the rise among those surveyed. The interviewees were border crossers who returned to Mexico within three years or were caught and kicked out by the Border Patrol. About half of those surveyed in 2005 said they had hired a smuggler. That compared to about 1 in 3 in 2004 and just 1 in 6 in 2000.

The actual percentage of illegal immigrants who hire smugglers may be even higher than what the AP analysis found. That's because people may hesitate to admit they hired some- Corrections and Clarifications The Advocatt wonts to correct promptly any error in fact or clarify any misleading information we publish To report any error or need for clarification, phase call Regional To submit events in the region around Victoria, e-mail planner vicad. com; fax 361-S74-1220; or write P. O. Box 1518, Victoria 77902.

Mug shots accepted. Deadline is noon the day before publication. TODAY TOURS OF THE BERCLAIR MANSION IN BERCLAIR, 2-4 p.m. Tickets are $10. Private tours available for 20 or more.

For information, call Debbie, 1-800-248-3859; Lena Mary, 361-358-352; or Shirley, 361-343-3119. NEW YEAR EVE'S DANCE, Polka and Waltz Club will have its New Year Eve's Dance, doors open at 7 p.m., dance 8 p.m.-12:30 a.m., DaCosta Sons of Hermann Hall in DaCosta. Music by the Twilights. Memberships are available and guest fees will be $15 per person. For information, call Don Orsak, 361-782-0284; Margaret Boedeker, 361-578-8681; or Frances Mozisek, 578-5878.

NEW YEAR'S EVE DANCE, Alpha Sigma Psi Chapter of Beta Sigma Phi will sponsor a New Year's Eve dance and breakfast buffet, Edna K.C. Hall. Music will be provided by Touch of Gold. Appetizers start at 7:30 p.m. with dance at 8:30 p.m.

Door prizes and appetizers are included. Tickets are $25 per person and available at Eddie's Barber and Beauty Salon, Davis Jewelry and Gifts, City Motors and Gana-do Medical Center. For information, call Tara Orsak, 361-782-0536; Jewel Buchanan, 782-7476 or Kim Cason, 361-781-0258. NEW YEAR'S EVE DANCE, Eagles Lodge in Edna, 8:30 p.m.-12:30 p.m. Gone Country will perform.

Admission: $12 per person or $20 per couple. For information, call 361-782-6767. TEXAS DREAM WILL PERFORM, 8:30 p.m.-midnight at Bubba-Clyde's, 4532 Highway 77-A, halfway between Hal-lettsville and Yoakum. For more information, call 361-772-4407. NEW YEAR'S EVE DANCE at Gruenau, 8 p.m.-1 a.m., eight miles northwest of Yorktown on FM 108.

Music by Cris Rybak; $7 per person. Party favors and black-eyed peas will be served. For information, call Annie Do-mann, 361-564-3119. TEXAS TEA will perform at The Four Corners Bar, 5354 FM 447 in Mission Valley from 8 p.m. to midnight.

For inicrmation, call 361-582-4000' OCEANWAVES NEW YEAR'S EVE SQUARE DANCING, Paws and Taws Convention Center, 402 Fulton Beach Road in Rock-port. NEW YEAR'S EVE DANCE, Whiskey River Band will perform 8:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Nordheim Shooting Club Hall in Nordheim. $10 per person; kitchen will be open. NEW YEAR'S EVE DANCE, with the Taylor Brothers at Schroeder Hall.

Doors open at 8 p.m.; dance 9 p.m.-1 a.m. Admission is $10. Party favors while they last. All ages welcome. For information, visit www.schroederdancehall.com.

A man walks near broken trees near the touched down near Groesbeck. area where a disabled veteran was killed in a group home when a tornado MM? Residents begin cleaning up after Friday's tornado that left one dead A tragic night that changed three young lives forever. Story on B6 DUANEA LAVERTYAS50CIATED PRESS in a hallway during the storm, said James Vincent, the home's live-in assistant manager. He also is a volunteer firefighter who had rushed home Friday afternoon as soon as he saw the twister pass and his fire truck could get by. Vincent was also worried about his wife and 14-month-old son, who it turns out didn't even SEE TORNADO, B8 DUANE A LAVERTYASSOCIATEO PRESS James Vincent left, and Iris Matchett look over tornado damage at the Vincent Personal Care Home on Saturday.

1U BY ANGELA K. BROWN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS GROESBECK A crumpled wheelchair, a prescription bottle, blankets and shredded clothing were strewn across the muddy yard of an assisted living center for military veterans Saturday, the day after one man died and several were injured in a tornado. Ryan Douglas Roper, 51, died behind a chair while apparently trying to crawl into the hallway, Limestone County authorities said. The room in which he was found had the most damage, including the roof torn off and numerous boards and other debris lodged inside. The home was one of about 50 damaged in Limestone County, where about 20 people were injured after two twisters touched down Friday afternoon.

Because of the same upper-lev- i el storm system, some 15 to 20 twisters were reported from Mineral Wells to Waco and Palestine to College Station, according to the National Weather Service Office in Fort Worth. The heaviest rainfall reported was about 4 inches in Corsicana, said meteorologist Ted Ryan. No other deaths or serious injuries were reported. In Groesbeck, the other four veterans in the house crouched MICHAEL STRAVATCVASSOCIATED PRESS- David Tuck, wen arrMog In court to testify in hh accomplice's trial In this Dec 7 file photo, was sentenced to lift in prison for his part In a brutal attack on a young Hispank male In the Houston area. -y fwr ''vi A a4.mi a i.